Chapter Summaries

After finishing his New Year visits and spending the holiday with his family, Mo Hua was pulled into an inspection of Immortal City by Zhang Lan and Chief Administrator Zhou. The uneventful duty kept Mo Hua from enjoying a free day in the streets.

• Mo Hua gave the New Year gifts he had received to his parents and said he had returned gifts and thanked everyone who needed it.
• Mo Hua celebrated the New Year with his family, visited An Xiaofu at Fortune Meal Pavilion, and met Zhang Lan while strolling through the fair.
• Mo Hua teased Zhang Lan about avoiding his lineage and a possible arranged marriage, and Zhang Lan claimed he was on duty for the Dao Court Office.
• Mo Hua noticed Chief Administrator Zhou calling Zhang Lan, but Zhou beckoned to Mo Hua as well and made them accompany him on his holiday inspection.
• Mo Hua answered Zhou's questions as they walked through Immortal City all day without incident, leaving Zhou satisfied and Mo Hua weary.

Mo Hua invited Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi to his home, where Liu Ruhua welcomed them with a meal and pastries. The siblings enjoyed her cooking, and Aunt Xue asked Liu Ruhua to teach her how to make it.

• Mo Hua met Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi after visiting Mr. Zhuang, and Bai Zisheng asked to visit Mo Hua's home for meat.
• Mo Hua told Liu Ruhua about the visit, and she happily prepared to welcome the Bai siblings.
• Aunt Xue brought Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi to Mo Hua's home, where Liu Ruhua served them food and pastries.
• Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi felt envy as they watched Liu Ruhua treat Mo Hua warmly, but the meal and pastries soon drew their attention.
• Aunt Xue asked Liu Ruhua to teach her how to cook, and Bai Zixi listened closely to the instructions.
• Mo Shan returned home, greeted the guests, and Bai Zisheng asked whether he was a Monster Hunter.

Mo Hua learned from Mo Shan about the dangers of Great Black Mountain’s Inner Mountain, then invited the Bai siblings and Aunt Xue to watch fireworks made with his arrays. On the fifteenth, Mo Hua activated his riverbank Fireworks Compound Array, lighting up the night over Immortal City.

• Mo Shan told Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng that the Inner Mountain held deadlier miasma and monster beasts, and posed dangers from criminals and other cultivators.
• Mo Shan changed the subject to monster-hunting stories, and Liu Ruhua invited Bai Zisheng and Aunt Xue to stay for dinner before they prepared to leave.
• Mo Hua invited Aunt Xue, Bai Zisheng, and Bai Zixi to watch his fireworks arrays on the fifteenth, and Aunt Xue agreed after learning he had drawn them himself.
• Mo Hua checked the Fireworks Compound Array he had drawn on the riverbanks and arranged for Elder Yu to reimburse its Spirit Stones.
• Mo Hua activated the array at the hour of the Dog, and colorful fireworks burst above Immortal City as he watched with his family and the Bai siblings.

Mo Hua spent the festival night drinking with Elder Yu and learned that poverty kept most Rogue Cultivators from reaching Foundation Establishment. Elder Yu explained how Array Techniques could help them earn Spirit Stones and change their lives, and Mo Hua resolved to use cultivation and arrays to change his own fate and theirs.

• After his family and friends went their separate ways, Mo Hua found Elder Yu drinking alone on a rooftop and joined him.
• Mo Hua asked about Foundation Establishment, and Elder Yu explained that it required strong Spirit Roots, spiritual items, and at least ten thousand Spirit Stones.
• Elder Yu told Mo Hua that poverty trapped Rogue Cultivators at Qi Refining, and that Array Techniques could help them make a living and advance.
• Elder Yu said Mo Hua's Array Techniques could benefit all Rogue Cultivators more than even several new Foundation Establishment cultivators could.
• Watching the lights of Immortal City, Mo Hua resolved to master Array Techniques, change his own fate, and help Rogue Cultivators across the world escape poverty.

Mo Hua broke through the bottleneck in his Sea of Consciousness and reached the Seventh-Layer Qi Refining, or Late Qi Refining Stage. As he considered what to study next, Mr. Zhuang warned that the increasingly advanced Riddle Arrays might make Foundation Establishment very difficult for him.

• At thirteen, Mo Hua reached perfection at the Sixth-Layer Qi Refining and began facing the bottleneck to the Late Qi Refining Stage.
• Mo Hua spent a month solving the Five Elements Riddle Arrays in his Sea of Consciousness, using his Array Techniques to unravel them all.
• The Riddle Arrays dissolved, expanding Mo Hua's Sea of Consciousness and deepening his divine sense as he advanced to the Seventh-Layer Qi Refining.
• Liu Ruhua and Mo Shan hosted a feast, and Mo Hua received gifts from Elder Yu, Master Chen, Elder Feng, the Monster Hunters, and other Array Masters.
• Mo Hua visited Mr. Zhuang to ask what Array Techniques he should study and described the advanced Riddle Arrays he had overcome.
• Mr. Zhuang told Mo Hua to continue studying Compound Arrays, then sighed that Foundation Establishment would be very difficult for him.

Mr. Zhuang explained that Mo Hua’s unusually strong divine sense made the Heavenly Derivation Art’s bottleneck increasingly difficult, requiring him to exceed the Qi Refining limit before he could unravel the next Riddle Array. The chapter left Mo Hua understanding that he must reach Foundation Establishment-level divine sense before he can become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

• Mr. Zhuang told Mo Hua that the Heavenly Derivation Art’s bottleneck grew stronger with divine sense, while its benefits also increased.
• Mr. Zhuang explained that the more complex arrays Mo Hua unraveled, the more his divine sense control would improve, speeding up his array drawing and spellcasting.
• Mr. Zhuang said that Qi Refining divine sense could reach Nine-Pattern, while Foundation Establishment divine sense was Ten-Pattern and twice as strong.
• Mo Hua realized he needed to possess Foundation Establishment-level divine sense to unravel the Riddle Array and break through the Heavenly Derivation Art’s bottleneck.

Mo Hua learned that reaching Foundation Establishment might require strengthening his unusually powerful divine sense, so Mr. Zhuang gave him Array Dissection theories and an incomplete Reverse Spirit Array to study. As Mo Hua began practicing, Mr. Zhuang revealed his hope that the Heavenly Derivation Art could let him achieve Foundation Establishment Divine Sense before Foundation Establishment.

• Mo Hua asked how to strengthen his divine sense, and Mr. Zhuang warned him against relying on dangerous Visualization Diagrams.
• Mr. Zhuang gave Mo Hua a manual on Array Dissection and a Reverse Spirit Array with nine and a half patterns, explaining that its complete ten-pattern form was a Heavenly Dao anomaly.
• Mr. Zhuang explained that Array Dissection could train divine sense, covertly break arrays, and shake an Array Master's Dao Heart.
• Mo Hua took the materials to study, while Mr. Zhuang and Old Kui discussed whether he could gain Foundation Establishment Divine Sense before Foundation Establishment.
• Mr. Zhuang said the Heavenly Derivation Art was worth any price if it could break through, and watched Mo Hua with expectation.

Mo Hua studied array dissection and practiced the Reverse Spirit Array to strengthen his divine sense as he prepared for Foundation Establishment. After demonstrating that his improved Movement Technique let him evade Mo Shan, he won permission to enter the Inner Mountain.

• Mo Hua reviewed array dissection theory, then began learning the Reverse Spirit Array and practiced it on the Dao Stele to temper his divine sense.
• After practicing through the night, Mo Hua found that the Reverse Spirit Array strengthened his divine sense more effectively than his previous methods.
• Mo Hua decided he needed Late First-Grade Monster Blood from the Inner Mountain to improve the quality of his Spirit Ink, and asked Mo Shan for permission to go there.
• Mo Shan challenged Mo Hua to evade him in a spar, and Mo Hua used his Flowing Water Step to avoid being caught for most of the hour.
• Mo Shan concluded ordinary Ninth-Layer Qi Refining cultivators could not catch Mo Hua and agreed to let him enter the Inner Mountain.

Mo Hua received a special Monster Hunting Token from Elder Yu and entered Great Black Mountain’s Inner Mountain with Mo Shan to learn its terrain. After mapping the main paths, he began setting up Sinan arrays to help himself and the Monster Hunters navigate and detect danger.

• Elder Yu gave Mo Hua a Monster Hunting Token made from the center of a Bone Tree and explained how the tokens recorded Monster Hunters’ merits.
• Mo Hua entered the Inner Mountain with Mo Shan, carrying pills and supplies to protect himself from the stronger miasma and poison.
• Mo Shan guided Mo Hua along the main mountain paths and warned him about the shifting fog and the danger of unfamiliar routes.
• Mo Hua spent about half a month learning the Inner Mountain’s terrain and adding details to its topographical map.
• Mo Hua asked Monster Hunters to help place Stone Needles for two Sinan Parent-Child Compound Array sets, and Yu Chengyi welcomed the added safety and coordination.

Mo Hua joined Yu Chengyi, Mo Shan, and six Monster Hunters to hunt a Late First-Grade Red-Eyed Sheep Monster using his reusable Earth Fire Array Compasses. The team killed the monster with an ambush and coordinated attacks, demonstrating the array’s power.

• Yu Chengyi led the team into the Inner Mountain, where Mo Hua used a Topographical Map to locate the Red-Eyed Sheep Monster beyond the range of the hunters’ divine sense.
• Mo Hua explained that Master Chen had refined iron Compasses to serve as reusable mediums for his Earth Fire Arrays.
• The Monster Hunters set traps with three array Compasses, baited the sheep monster with Monster-Scented Grass, and waited as it tested the trap before returning.
• Yu Chengyi fired an arrow that shattered the Spirit Stones and activated all three Earth Fire Arrays, grievously injuring the Red-Eyed Sheep Monster.
• The eight Monster Hunters surrounded the injured monster and took turns attacking until it fell in less than half an hour.

The Monster Hunters killed a Red-Eyed Sheep demon after Mo Hua exposed its feigned death with Fireball Techniques. Back at camp, Mo Hua improved the array on the gate and showed Yu Chengyi the Earth Fire Array compass, which promised safer hunts despite its crude appearance.

• Mo Shan recognized that the wounded Red-Eyed Sheep demon was feigning death, and the Monster Hunters waited for it to weaken.
• Mo Hua repeatedly struck the demon with Fireball Techniques until it rose, prompting Yu Chengyi to order the Monster Hunters to attack and then scatter from its blood mist.
• The Monster Hunters killed the exhausted demon, and Mo Hua collected its blood and learned how its demonic power changed after death.
• Back at camp, Mo Hua painted a first-grade Earth Stone Array on the stone gate using the demon's blood.
• Yu Chengyi praised the reusable Earth Fire Array compass, and Mo Hua explained that it could be used seven or eight times before Master Chen could rework it.

Mo Hua’s arrays made the Monster Hunters’ hunts safer and more efficient, while their growing trade in monster materials brought prosperity to Immortal City. With the hunters’ help, Mo Hua gathered more Monster Blood and Spirit Ink as he prepared to strengthen his divine sense for Foundation Establishment, even as more outsiders arrived in the prosperous city.

• Yu Chengyi taught the late-stage Qi Refining Monster Hunters to use Mo Hua’s First-Grade Earth Fire Array, and the hunters began equipping Iron Armor and weapons enhanced with arrays.
• Mo Hua drew Golden Armor Arrays on the hunters’ armor and learned the First-Grade Golden Blade Array, while the Sinan Parent-Child Compound Array helped detect threats.
• Mo Hua searched the Inner Mountain for battles, gathered Monster Blood from slain late first-grade monsters, and occasionally helped hunters with Fireball Techniques.
• The hunters’ growing strength brought in more late first-grade monster materials, which the Artifact Refining Guild and Alchemy Guild turned into goods that enriched Immortal City’s Rogue Cultivators.
• As Immortal City became more prosperous, increasing numbers of outside cultivators of unclear origins arrived.

Mo Hua found Ji Qingbai, Ji Li, and two other cultivators surrounded by seven outsiders and decided to help them survive. He used fireworks to make it seem that Immortal City's Monster Hunters were approaching, then attacked one of the outsiders with a Fireball Technique.

• Mo Hua noticed that outside cultivators and violent clashes had become more common in Great Black Mountain’s Inner Mountain.
• Mo Hua recognized Ji Qingbai, Ji Li, and a burly cultivator among four people struggling against seven outsiders, while an injured female cultivator was close to collapse.
• Mo Hua fired fireworks from three locations to make the attackers believe Monster Hunters were coming to help.
• When the outsiders hesitated but did not retreat, Mo Hua struck one of them with a Fireball Technique, startling their leader.

Mo Hua rescued Ji Qingbai and his companions from seven outsider cultivators, then led them to a campsite to recover. As they rested, Ji Qingbai explained that his family had left Qingxuan City because they could no longer make a living there.

• The seven outsider cultivators fled after Mo Hua’s Fireball Technique made them believe a Monster Hunting Squad was nearby.
• Mo Hua revealed himself to Ji Qingbai and urged the group to leave before their attackers returned.
• Mo Hua guided Ji Qingbai, Ji Li, and the injured female cultivator through the Inner Mountain with their Storage Boxes in tow.
• At a campsite, Mo Hua gave the group healing Pills refined by Elder Feng, and Ji Li stayed beside the unconscious female cultivator.
• Mo Hua teased Ji Li about marrying the female cultivator, and Ji Qingbai promised to invite Mo Hua to their wedding.
• Ji Qingbai told Mo Hua that his family had come from Qingxuan City because they could no longer survive there.

Ji Qingbai explained why he and the children fled Qingxuan City, where the Kong Family oppressed Rogue Cultivators and the Dao Court Office ignored their crimes. As they rested, Mo Hua discovered that the quiet, burly Yu Chengwu was Elder Yu’s son and learned he disliked Mo Shan because he could not beat him.

• Ji Qingbai told Mo Hua that Rogue Cultivators in Qingxuan City had lost their Foundation Establishment protector and suffered worsening oppression from the Lineages.
• Ji Qingbai explained that the Kong Family killed Fu Lan’s mother after she refused to let Young Master Kong take Fu Lan as a concubine, so Ji Qingbai and Ji Li retaliated and fled with the children.
• Ji Qingbai said the Kong Family had bought off Qingxuan City’s Dao Court Office, leaving Rogue Cultivators without justice, and Mo Hua reassured him that Immortal City was safer.
• Mo Hua recognized Yu Chengwu as Elder Yu’s son and learned that Yu Chengwu had a grudge against Mo Shan because he could not beat him.
• Yu Chengwu told Mo Hua he had watched Qian Xing’s trouble with Da Zhu but intervened when later-stage Qian Family cultivators bullied Rogue Cultivators.
• Mo Hua dismissed Yu Chengwu’s rivalry with his father as adult business and asked whether Yu Chengwu had a Wolf-Tooth Mace.

Mo Hua inspected Yu Chengwu’s Wolf-Tooth Mace and decided he wanted one, then led Yu Chengwu, Ji Qingbai, and the others safely back to Immortal City. Yu Chengwu was stunned by the city’s Iron-Armed Monster Hunters and the community-run Artifact Refining Guild and Alchemy Guild, unsure whether what he saw was real.

• Mo Hua examined Yu Chengwu’s heavy Wolf-Tooth Mace and said he wanted to get one himself.
• Mo Hua treated Yu Chengwu to fruit wine, and the group resumed traveling after their injuries had stabilized.
• Mo Hua sensed Monster Hunters nearby and told everyone they could slow down; successive groups greeted Mo Hua first and many wore Iron Armor.
• Yu Chengwu and Ji Qingbai wondered why Immortal City had so many Iron-Armed Monster Hunters and why they treated Mo Hua with such respect.
• The group entered Immortal City and saw its enormous Artifact Refining Guild and Alchemy Guild, which Mo Hua explained belonged to everyone.
• Yu Chengwu struggled to believe the city had changed so much and wondered whether he was dreaming or seeing an illusion.

Mo Hua helped Ji Qingbai’s group find support in Immortal City, then discussed growing dangers for monster hunters with Elder Yu and commissioned Master Chen to forge a weapon for him. Afterward, Mo Shan explained how powerful groups profited by squeezing Rogue Cultivators.

• Mo Hua suggested that Fu Lan seek work making tofu at Fortune Meal Pavilion once her injuries healed, and told Ji Qingbai to ask Mo Shan for help if needed.
• Mo Hua accompanied Yu Chengwu to Elder Yu and warned that increasing numbers of unknown outside cultivators could lead to more disputes and danger for monster hunters.
• Elder Yu said he had already discussed the problem with the Chief Administrator of the Dao Court Office, while Yu Chengwu reunited with his father.
• Mo Hua asked Master Chen to forge a sturdy, lightweight club without spikes so he could draw formations on it, and selected a design to modify.
• Mo Hua told Mo Shan about Ji Qingbai’s plight, and Mo Shan explained that clans and sects often gained strength by taking benefits from weaker Rogue Cultivators.

Mo Shan helped Ji Qingbai’s family settle in Immortal City, while Mo Hua’s growing reputation helped Fu Lan find work. Mo Hua completed a heavy iron rod fitted with a Thousand-Jun Array and tested its smashing power.

• Mo Shan visited Ji Qingbai and gave him Spirit Stones to help his family through their financial difficulties.
• Fu Lan found work at Fortune Meal Pavilion after mentioning Mo Hua, and Ji Qingbai resolved to repay Mo Hua and protect him.
• Ji Qingbai suggested that Ji Li and Fu Lan start a family and become cultivation partners, leaving them both embarrassed.
• Mo Hua received a sturdy iron rod from Master Chen and drew a Thousand-Jun Array on it.
• Mo Hua tested the rod at Great Black Mountain, smashed a large stone, and named the weapon the Thousand-Jun Rod.

Mo Hua practiced two Thousand-Jun Rod techniques and gathered Monster Blood in the Inner Mountain, where he encountered Yu Chengwu searching for the Cultivators who had ambushed him. Yu Chengwu captured two of them, and Mo Hua urged the Demon Hunters to break their arms to prevent them from attacking.

• Mo Hua practiced smashing and sweeping with the Thousand-Jun Rod, naming the moves Force of a Thousand Jun and Sweeping Thousand Jun.
• Mo Hua asked Fu Lan to make tofu and shared it with his family, Mr. Zhuang, Bai Zisheng, and Bai Zixi.
• Mo Hua collected Monster Blood in the Inner Mountain and ran into Yu Chengwu and several Demon Hunters searching for the Cultivators who had attacked Yu Chengwu.
• Mo Hua parted from the Demon Hunters, then encountered them again at dusk escorting two captured Cultivators who had ambushed them.
• Mo Hua noticed the captives still had abundant spiritual power and advised Yu Chengwu to have their arms broken so they could not attack.

After learning that the captured attackers belonged to a band of wanted Sinful Cultivators, Mo Hua and the Monster Hunters grew more cautious in the Inner Mountain. When fog isolates Mo Hua, he encounters the wounded Ji Li and lures a pursuing Sinful Cultivator onto a hidden formation, leaving the man realizing he is in danger.

• Yu Chengwu learned from the two captured cultivators that they were Sinful Cultivators in a group of more than twenty, while Elder Yu ordered them sent to the Dao Court Office and warned the Monster Hunters to stay alert.
• Yu Chengwu suspected the prisoners had concealed the true size and purpose of their group, so Elder Yu told the hunters to patrol carefully and cautioned Mo Hua against entering the Inner Mountain alone.
• Mo Hua waited out a sudden bank of thick fog after secretly drawing and concealing several Array Techniques around himself.
• Ji Li, badly wounded, ran toward Mo Hua and warned him to run, but a burly black-clad man struck Ji Li down and approached Mo Hua.
• The black-clad man stepped on Mo Hua’s hidden formation and realized too late that Mo Hua had calmly lured him into danger.