Chapter Summaries

Mu Liuxi explained the Mu Family’s succession dispute and her arranged betrothal to Yun Yao, who offered to help during the Auction Feast. While Yun Yao secretly bought medicine to guard against an unwanted pregnancy, Lin Heng refined Golden Scale to cultivate his Gold Element Body and later went out to eat, where a Zhao Family carriage stopped before him.

• Mu Liuxi told Yun Yao that the Mu Family’s Conservative and Reform factions both wanted her to take power, though she preferred a quiet life and had returned to address her arranged betrothal to the Li Family.
• Yun Yao offered to help Mu Liuxi during the Auction Feast, then secretly went to a pharmacy to buy medicine in case she had conceived a child with Lin Heng.
• Lin Heng returned to the inn, considered his plans involving Sun Hao and Ye Tian, and began refining Golden Scale to cultivate the Gold Element Body.
• After three days, Lin Heng had refined only a tenth of Golden Scale, so he decided to focus on opening more spirit wheels before continuing.
• Lin Heng went out for mutton soup, and a Zhao Family carriage stopped in front of him.

Lin Heng returned Zhao Wanqing’s jade pendant and accepted five thousand Spirit Stones from her, then asked to attend the Treasure Pavilion auction under the Zhao Family’s name. Zhao Wanqing agreed to have someone pick him up the next day, giving Lin Heng cover to compete with Ye Tian for treasures.

• Zhao Wanqing came to Lin Heng’s roadside stall and asked for the White Tiger Essence Jade, which he returned after guessing that its paired pendant had guided her to him.
• Zhao Wanqing offered Lin Heng five thousand Spirit Stones as thanks, and he accepted the pouch while hinting that she could repay him another way.
• Rou'er accused Lin Heng of wanting more compensation, so he seized her by the throat with spiritual power until Zhao Wanqing apologized and asked him to let her go.
• Lin Heng asked Zhao Wanqing to let him attend the Treasure Pavilion auction under the Zhao Family’s name so he could avoid trouble leaving Swallow Cloud City with a winning bid.
• Zhao Wanqing agreed to send someone to the inn to collect Lin Heng the next day, and he looked forward to competing with Ye Tian for opportunities.

Lin Heng and Sun Hao divided the treasures they had gathered in Swallow Cloud City, while Zhao Wanqing’s mother recognized Lin Heng as the Chosen One tied to the White Tiger Essence Jade and urged Zhao Wanqing to keep away from the dangers in Hedong Land. The next morning, a Zhao Mansion servant arrived to take Lin Heng to the Auction Feast.

• Lin Heng and Sun Hao split their haul of crystals and essence ores, then parted ways before the Auction Feast.
• Zhao Wanqing told her mother that Lin Heng had recognized the White Tiger Essence Jade and knew another piece existed.
• Zhao Mother concluded that Lin Heng was the Chosen One and suggested Zhao Wanqing use the auction to grow closer to him.
• Zhao Mother warned Zhao Wanqing not to get involved in Hedong Land, where several generations of the Zhao Family had vanished or died.
• The next morning, Lin Heng found a Zhao Mansion carriage waiting outside, with the servant who had accompanied Zhao Wanqing in Zigu standing beside it.

Lin Heng attended the Treasure Pavilion’s massive Auction with Zhao Wanqing while Yun Yao watched from another chamber and seethed over their past encounter. The chapter ended with an unrelated system notice reporting that a host had defeated the Ancestral Dragon’s remaining soul and claimed several rewards.

• Liu Feng escorted Lin Heng to the Treasure Pavilion, where Zhao Wanqing welcomed him in Room No. 5 and showed him the Auction Catalog.
• Lin Heng learned that the Auction had 237 items and would run for two days, and he planned to watch for Ye Tian’s bids.
• In Room No. 10, Yun Yao saw Lin Heng chatting with Zhao Wanqing and privately vowed to kill him after the Auction.
• Mu Liuxi asked Yun Yao about her anger toward Lin Heng and reminded her that she had slapped Ye Tian the previous night.
• Yun Yao concealed the truth about the Sunfall Pill, fearing the shame and gossip if anyone learned what had happened with Lin Heng.
• A system notice announced that a host had slain the Ancestral Dragon’s remaining soul and obtained Dragon Soul Source, an Ancestral Dragon Bone, Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon Blood, and a True Dragon’s Golden Body skill fragment.

Lin Heng examined Zhao Wanqing and explained that her mortal body contained surging spiritual power, while Liu Feng mistook the examination for lechery and challenged his medical skill. As Treasure Pavilion’s auction began, Lin Heng started describing Zhao Wanqing’s body as a broken net through which spiritual energy flowed.

• Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi spotted Ye Tian arriving with the Prince's Mansion steward and watched him proceed to the fourth floor.
• Lin Heng examined Zhao Wanqing by touching her cheek and hand, then asked to inspect her mouth, alarming Liu Feng.
• Liu Feng drew his saber and accused Lin Heng of trying to take advantage of Zhao Wanqing, but Zhao Wanqing defended Lin Heng and demanded an apology.
• Treasure Pavilion’s Chief Auctioneer opened the auction while Zhao Wanqing asked Lin Heng about his diagnosis.
• Lin Heng explained that Zhao Wanqing’s body was like a damaged net through which spiritual energy entered and spread.

Lin Heng diagnosed Zhao Wanqing’s dangerous excess of spiritual power and suggested a way to save her, while she accepted his offer to help if necessary. At the auction, Lin Heng received a mission to seize Ye Tian’s coming treasure, and Ye Tian wrongly suspected Lin Heng had hidden the Sunfall Pill.

• Lin Heng explained that Zhao Wanqing’s body was filling with spiritual power she could not refine, leaving her at risk of dying within three years.
• Lin Heng proposed that a cultivator could absorb Zhao Wanqing’s excess spiritual power through a method harmonizing yin and yang, and Zhao Wanqing said she would rely on him if her life depended on it.
• The auction began, and Lin Heng received a choice between following the main storyline or taking the treasure before Ye Tian could obtain it.
• Lin Heng decided he would not let Ye Tian collect the treasures and reviewed the auction’s Detailed List.
• Ye Tian, nursing bruises from Yun Yao, concluded that Lin Heng had secretly kept the Sunfall Pill and resolved to retrieve it from him.

Lin Heng left the auction with Zhao Wanqing and went to Drunken Immortal Inn, hoping to avoid meeting Mu Liuxi. He was surprised when Yun Yao found him there and addressed him as her Junior Brother.

• Lin Heng watched the auction pass its early lots without seeing Ye Tian bid, then left with Zhao Wanqing before the morning session ended.
• Mu Liuxi saw Yun Yao leave the auction and warned her against causing trouble, but Yun Yao said she only wanted to meet Lin Heng.
• Lin Heng and Zhao Wanqing went to Drunken Immortal Inn, where Zhao ordered the inn's Full Feast and Spirit-Transforming Wine.
• Yun Yao approached Lin Heng from behind, leaned close, and greeted him, leaving him to ask why his Senior Sister was there.

Lin Heng faced Yun Yao about what happened in Golden Horse City and admitted that he had knowingly given her the Sunfall Pill, then confessed his desire and affection for her. Yun Yao seemed to accept his promise to take responsibility, but promptly punched him into the mud.

• Yun Yao joined Lin Heng and Zhao Wanqing for lunch, then asked Lin Heng to speak with her privately after Zhao Wanqing left.
• Yun Yao confronted Lin Heng about Golden Horse City, pressured him to his knees, and threatened him with a knife.
• Lin Heng admitted he had known the pill was the Sunfall Pill and explained that he had acted from both desire and affection for Yun Yao.
• Yun Yao questioned Lin Heng’s claim that he liked her personality, then said she would dote on him by beating him.
• Yun Yao punched Lin Heng, sending him flying headfirst into the mud.

Yun Yao discovered that Lin Heng had developed a Water Element Body and advanced to Qi Refining Fourth Layer, then privately acknowledged their relationship as Dao companions. As they headed to the Auction, Yun Yao revealed she was nearly seventy-two, and Lin Heng credited his rapid cultivation to their past dual cultivation.

• Yun Yao found Lin Heng unharmed after his fall and sensed his Water Element Body, rapid recovery, and Qi Refining Fourth Layer cultivation.
• Lin Heng accidentally grabbed Yun Yao while stumbling, and she threw him down before they argued about becoming Dao companions.
• Yun Yao told Lin Heng to keep their relationship secret within the sect, partly to avoid gossip and protect him from Ye Tian.
• Lin Heng joked about what Dao companions should do and was shocked when Yun Yao said she would turn seventy-two in about half a year.
• Yun Yao asked about Lin Heng's recent opportunities, and he said their all-night dual cultivation had helped him advance.

Yun Yao rejected Lin Heng’s claims about Dual Cultivation, though she eventually let him hold her hand before they parted for the auction. At the auction, Sun Daoya bought back his family’s armor, and Lin Heng recognized the value of an incomplete scroll from the Black Wasteland when someone bid on it.

• Yun Yao dismissed Lin Heng’s claims that Dual Cultivation would improve their cultivation, then let him hold her hand after he kept pestering her.
• Lin Heng and Yun Yao parted ways, and he said he would visit Lady Zhao for dinner while Yun Yao returned to Room No. 10 with Mu Liuxi.
• Sun Daoya recognized the Seventh-Order Armor that Lin Heng had sold and bought it back for fifteen thousand Spirit Stones.
• The auctioneer presented an incomplete scroll from the Black Wasteland, but the crowd mocked its starting price and declined to bid.
• A voice from Room No. 3 on the fifth floor bid three thousand Spirit Stones, and Lin Heng jumped up, declaring that the treasure had arrived.

Lin Heng provoked Ye Tian into a bidding war over a Scroll, using the Zhao Family to keep raising the price while concealing his role. Ye Tian eventually gave up after bidding twenty thousand Spirit Stones, and Lin Heng won the Scroll as Ye Tian’s killing intent filled the auction hall.

• Lin Heng asked Liu Feng to bid on the Black Wasteland Scroll, and Liu Feng warned that the Zhao Family risked breaking auction etiquette and offending the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Zhao Wanqing believed Lin Heng had his reasons, and Liu Feng continued bidding for the Zhao Family as Ye Tian raised the price.
• Lin Heng had Liu Feng raise the bid by five hundred Spirit Stones, then by only one hundred after Ye Tian’s bid reached twenty thousand.
• Ye Tian gave up after three calls, and Lin Heng won the Scroll while Ye Tian released his killing intent across the auction.
• In Room No. 10, Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi suspected Lin Heng had manipulated the Zhao Family’s bids, and Mu Liuxi asked what Yun Yao thought of Lin Heng and Ye Tian.

Yun Yao warned Mu Liuxi that Ye Tian seemed dangerously deep while describing Lin Heng as foolish but not truly bad. Meanwhile, Lin Heng activated the mysterious Scroll and discovered it was the Mountains and Rivers Map, which then shrank and lodged itself in his dantian.

• Yun Yao told Mu Liuxi that Ye Tian seemed sinister beneath his respectful manner and that Lin Heng was silly, hesitant, and in need of more senior-sister care.
• Lin Heng examined the Scroll he had won at auction, found that the system could not identify it, and tried activating it with his blood.
• The Scroll released Black Mist that overwhelmed Lin Heng and drew his consciousness into a dark spiritual domain.
• The Scroll revealed its name as the Mountains and Rivers Map, an unknown-grade artifact from the Black Wasteland with a hazy inner world.
• Lin Heng woke to find the shrunken Mountains and Rivers Map lodged in his dantian and tried unsuccessfully to make it leave.

Lin Heng left the auction with Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi and went to Mu Manor, where Ye Tian apologized for the danger in Golden Horse City. Lin Heng’s careless remarks about Ye Tian’s failed scheme made Mu Liuxi suspicious, and she warned Ye Tian to bear the consequences of his actions before turning to her family matter.

• Zhao Wanqing won a Child Spirit Stone at the auction, and Lin Heng prepared to leave with her.
• Yun Yao and Mu Liuxi summoned Lin Heng to Mu Manor, where he joked about becoming a live-in son-in-law.
• At Mu Manor, Lin Heng encountered Ye Tian, who apologized to Mu Liuxi for her danger in Golden Horse City.
• Lin Heng’s thoughts about Ye Tian’s failed scheme alarmed Mu Liuxi, while Yun Yao secretly pinched Lin Heng.
• Mu Liuxi told Ye Tian that apologies were worthless without accepting consequences, then called everyone to discuss her matter.

Mu Liuxi explained the Mu Family’s crisis to Yun Yao, Ye Tian, and Lin Heng, and the group agreed to help with the Spirit Mine trouble. While alone with Lin Heng, Mu Liuxi overheard his thoughts about her tragic fate with Ye Tian and tried to learn what he knew, as Lin Heng received a new mission to keep Ye Tian away from her.

• Mu Liuxi described the forced marriage, the conflict over changing the family’s matriarchal tradition, and the City Lord’s Mansion’s efforts to block the Mu Family from mining a rich Spirit Mine.
• Yun Yao volunteered Lin Heng and herself to deal with the Western Suburb bandits, and the group went their separate ways.
• Lin Heng followed Mu Liuxi to the kitchen, where she overheard his thoughts predicting that Ye Tian would make her his unwilling partner and that the Mu Family would fall apart.
• Mu Liuxi asked Lin Heng for advice about her troubles, and he suspected Ye Tian had already misled her with bad counsel.
• Lin Heng received a new system mission offering a high-grade reward for advancing Ye Tian’s plot or a top-grade reward for stopping Ye Tian from pursuing Mu Liuxi.

Lin Heng warned Mu Liuxi that Ye Tian planned to exploit the Mu Family’s troubles and helped her see how the City Lord’s Mansion and Li Family could bring the clan down. He promised to find a solution, then left Mu Liuxi wondering about his playful request that she smile at him.

• Lin Heng warned Mu Liuxi not to let Ye Tian interfere in the Mu Family’s affairs and asked which of her problems she most wanted resolved.
• Mu Liuxi said she wanted to avoid becoming a live-in son-in-law’s bride and did not want to inherit the family head position.
• Lin Heng explained that Ye Tian could provoke Young Master Li into a fatal confrontation, allowing the Li Family and City Lord’s Mansion to join forces against the Mu Family.
• Mu Liuxi connected Lin Heng’s warning to Ye Tian’s close dealings with the City Lord’s Mansion and suspected a scheme to make her dependent on him.
• Lin Heng teased Mu Liuxi by lifting her cheeks into a smile, promised to handle the live-in son-in-law matter and seek a solution to the City Lord’s Mansion, then left.
• Mu Liuxi practiced the smile Lin Heng had made and wondered whether she looked good when she smiled.

Mu Liuxi kept Ye Tian at a distance while pretending to trust him, and Lin Heng continued cultivating in the guest room. His nighttime attempt to peek into Yun Yao’s Attic ended with her catching him at the door.

• Ye Tian told Mu Liuxi that the City Lord's Mansion had recruited Golden Core cultivators to target the Mu Family, then offered to gather information and help.
• Mu Liuxi refused Ye Tian’s offer to handle the Li Family matter and sent him away, relieved that Lin Heng had advised her.
• Lin Heng refined the Golden Scale and considered his cultivation progress, Foundation Establishment, and the need to find a Foundation Stone.
• After hearing footsteps, Lin Heng went to Yun Yao’s Attic to peek, but Yun Yao caught him by the neck.

Lin Heng visited Yun Yao, persuaded her to allow more affection between them, and asked her to help stage a beating to address the Li Family’s matrilocal marriage trouble. He left before dawn to advise Mu Liuxi, arriving as an old woman scolded her and her mother over the Mu Family’s authority.

• Lin Heng entered Yun Yao’s room after her bath, teased her, and held her waist while she adjusted to his status as her dao companion.
• Yun Yao agreed to let Lin Heng look at and touch her in the future, but refused his tentative request to Dual Cultivate and warned him against using Spring Poison.
• Lin Heng arranged Yun Yao’s hair into a Cloud-Peak Bun and asked her to pretend to beat him in front of the Li Family’s young master; she did not understand his plan but promised not to hurt him.
• Lin Heng left Yun Yao’s room as dawn approached and went to the main hall to keep his promise to help Mu Liuxi.
• Lin Heng heard an old woman scolding Mu Liuxi and her mother, accusing them of risking the Mu Family’s authority by letting relatives return.

Mu Xuting defied Old Madam Mu’s demand that Mu Liuxi inherit the family and accept a matrilocal marriage, revealing how the family’s ancestral rule had caused her husband’s death. Lin Heng then presented Mu Liuxi with a strategy for the West Suburb Spirit Mine dispute and asked whether she knew about a shareholding responsibility system.

• Mu Xuting refused to let Old Madam Mu pressure Mu Liuxi into taking over the Mu Family or marrying into the Li Family, and Old Madam Mu fainted from anger.
• Mu Xuting explained that Old Madam Mu had forced her husband to climb White Cloud Mountain to follow the Mu Family’s ancestral rule, and he had died in heavy rain.
• Lin Heng overheard the argument, met Mu Xuting, and corrected her when she mistook him for Ye Tian.
• Lin Heng showed Mu Liuxi a diagram of the factions competing over the West Suburb Spirit Mine and explained that the Mu Family could no longer count on Li Family support.
• Lin Heng pointed to the Zhao Family on his diagram and asked Mu Liuxi whether she had heard of a shareholding responsibility system.

Lin Heng advised Mu Liuxi to secure the West Suburb Spirit Mine by sharing its profits with the Zhao and Li Families, while Ye Tian headed toward the Western Suburb and insisted he would make Mu Liuxi his Dao companion. After discovering Lin Heng had left a bite mark on her belly, Yun Yao remembered her plans with Mu Liuxi and hurried to go out.

• Lin Heng explained that the Mu Family should share mined Spirit Stone profits with the Zhao and Li Families to bind their interests and prevent the City Lord's Mansion from claiming a share.
• Mu Liuxi agreed to trust Lin Heng, who planned to contact the Zhao and Li Families before the Treasure Pavilion Auction.
• Mu Liuxi told Lin Heng that Ye Tian had gone toward the Western Suburb Mountain after leaving Mu Manor, and Lin Heng suspected Ye Tian knew the later auction lots were poor.
• Hua Qi warned Ye Tian that raising the price of the Scroll had been unwise and advised him to wait until his Overlord Blood and Wild Bone Body matured, but Ye Tian insisted Mu Liuxi would have to become his Dao companion.
• Yun Yao found a bite mark on her belly, realized Lin Heng had left it there, and remembered that she had agreed to patrol the Mu Family's industries with Mu Liuxi after the Auction.

Lin Heng followed Li Nan to Spring Dawn Pavilion, hoping to change the Li Family heir’s views on marrying into another family. While waiting, he examined the pavilion’s register of women and cultivators, then encountered Sun Hao carrying an intoxicated Young Master Wang.

• Lin Heng watched Li Nan leave the Li Residence and followed him to Spring Dawn Pavilion.
• Lin Heng paid the steward for information and learned that Li Nan had gone upstairs with a Qi Refining Realm girl.
• Lin Heng browsed the Flower Pavilion register and read about the backgrounds of its ordinary women and cultivators.
• Sun Hao arrived with a companion, carrying an intoxicated Young Master Wang, and asked the steward to take Wang upstairs.