Chapter Summaries

Zhuang Jin broke through to the Yin Spirit Realm, forced Xuanyuan Zhengji and Cen Zhongxuan to apologize and offer compensation, and received a Qiu Long Token before the public memorial crowd. Afterward, he went to speak privately with Shangguan Jin Feng, while the Cen and Ge Families reconsidered how to deal with his rise.

• Zhuang Jin confronted Xuanyuan Zhengji, who publicly apologized and blamed Cen Zhongxuan, then Cen Zhongxuan agreed to apologize and compensate Zhuang Jin after Shangguan Jin Feng pressed him.
• Ge Daogan proposed promoting Zhuang Jin’s token, and the Three Great Prominent Family Heads activated the Hanging Sky Mirror to transform it into a Qiu Long Token.
• Zhuang Jin privately considered how he had used the confrontation to divide the Three Great Prominent Families and strengthen his position with the Shangguan Family, then asked Shangguan Jin Feng to talk.
• Cen Zhongxuan reviewed the consequences of Zhuang Jin’s breakthrough and decided to placate him rather than treat him as an enemy.
• Ge Daogan instructed Ge Zhaoxu to support the younger generation’s wishes, recognizing Ji Tongwei’s connection to Zhuang Jin through Ji Tongxiu.

After reaching an accommodation with Shangguan Jin Feng, Zhuang Jin secured resources and room to cultivate while advising Shangguan Yun Chang on breaking through without relying too heavily on the Hanging Sky Mirror. Half a month later, Qin Douzhan visited to ask whether Zhuang Jin planned to establish a Yin God family or faction.

• Zhuang Jin and Shangguan Jin Feng agreed that he would not seek the Shangguan Family's foundations, and Shangguan Jin Feng granted him status, authority, and cultivation provisions.
• Zhuang Jin defeated Shangguan Jin Feng in a sparring match, then began studying three Yin Spirit Martial Skills.
• Shangguan Yun Chang asked Zhuang Jin about his breakthrough, and he reassured her that their relationship and his support for her had not changed.
• Shangguan Yun Chang explained the risks and benefits of using Hanging Sky Mirror power to break through, and Zhuang Jin advised her to rely on her own foundations and their Dual Spirit Union Art.
• After half a month of cultivation, Zhuang Jin used Ice Spirit Flash to appear before Qin Douzhan, who asked whether he intended to establish a Yin God family or faction.

Zhuang Jin rejected Qin Douzhan’s proposal to establish a Yin Spirit power and focused on cultivating the Eight Gates Sword Array, while Qin Douzhan and the Ge Family tested his intentions. A month later, Ge Mingzhi married Ji Tongwei into the Ji Family, and Zhuang Jin continued cultivating until an Innate Corpse Slaying Realm Martial Artist from another prefecture came to call.

• Zhuang Jin turned down Qin Douzhan’s proposal to found a Yin Spirit family, then gave him a Fire God Moth Beast Core in recognition of their past friendship.
• Qin Douzhan revealed that the Ge Family had sent him to probe Zhuang Jin, but he shattered the Beast Core rather than risk advancing beyond the boundary imposed on rogue martial artists.
• Ge Daogan decided that Ge Mingzhi would marry into the Ji Family, avoiding a marriage that might let Ji Tongwei escape suppression as Zhuang Jin had.
• Zhuang Jin cultivated the Eight Gates Sword Array and stayed out of public power struggles, while the Three Great Prominent Families continued watching him.
• One month later, Ge Mingzhi and Ji Tongwei married in a grand ceremony, and the prefectural city remained outwardly calm as Zhuang Jin cultivated.
• After several Yin Spirit Martial Skills reached the beginner stage, Zhuang Jin focused on accumulating cultivation, and an Innate Corpse Slaying Realm Martial Artist from another prefecture came to visit him.

Zhuang Jin rejected Xiao Lin Ye’s request for support in changing Great Qian, then used the newcomer’s ambitions to divert the Three Great Prominent Families’ attention. Xiao Lin Ye built the Azure Dragon Society and stirred up conflict in Cang Prefecture City, while Zhuang Jin continued cultivating and advanced his Yin God abilities.

• Xiao Lin Ye described his vision of ending exploitation and asked Zhuang Jin to back his efforts in Cang Prefecture, but Zhuang Jin refused to support or oppose him.
• After Xiao Lin Ye left, Zhuang Jin examined his records and decided his activities might distract the Three Great Prominent Families from himself.
• Xiao Lin Ye became Assistant Prefect with Xuanyuan Zhengji’s backing and founded the Azure Dragon Society, recruiting rogue cultivator martial artists and taking the title Dragon King.
• The Three Great Prominent Families held back from acting against Xiao Lin Ye, while Zhuang Jin continued cultivating and completed nearly thirty percent of his Tranquil Thought accumulation.
• Zhuang Jin’s Ice Spirit Flash reached minor mastery as conflicts involving the Azure Dragon Society and rogue cultivator martial artists made Cang Prefecture City tense.

Xiao Lin Ye broke through to the Third Layer of the Innate Corpse Slaying Realm while the Sky Hanging Division and the Prefecture Yamen prepared to destroy his Azure Dragon Society. Zhuang Jin agreed to join the operation, tracked Xiao Lin Ye into the Funiu Mountain Range, and intercepted him, leaving Xiao Lin Ye injured after he tried to use a secret art to sway him.

• Xiao Lin Ye reflected on the Nine-Nine Qiankun Art and feared that Prefecture Governor Xuanyuan Zhengji would abandon him as the Three Great Prominent Families moved against the Azure Dragon Society.
• Shangguan Jin Feng told Zhuang Jin about the planned operation and persuaded him to act, citing the Azure Dragon Society's misuse of his name and its harm to Rogue Cultivator Martial Artists.
• The Prefecture Yamen and the Sky Hanging Division attacked the Azure Dragon Society, whose members were exposed and purged as Xiao Lin Ye fled Cang Prefecture City.
• Zhuang Jin used Xiao Lin Ye's meditation cushion and the secret art Thousand Mile Soul Lock to pursue him despite Xiao Lin Ye's attempts to hide his aura.
• Xiao Lin Ye changed course into the Funiu Mountain Range but encountered Zhuang Jin, then suffered a backlash when Zhuang Jin detected and rejected his persuasive secret art.

Zhuang Jin questioned Xiao Lin Ye about the Azure Dragon Society, then pursued and killed him after Xiao Lin Ye tried to escape. After discovering a strange Azure Orb on Xiao Lin Ye’s corpse, Zhuang Jin faced an Adamantine Realm Tengshe and prepared to fight it with his Eight Gates Sword Array.

• Zhuang Jin asked Xiao Lin Ye whether he had deceived people into joining the Azure Dragon Society, abandoned them, and borrowed Zhuang Jin’s name; Xiao Lin Ye admitted his methods and defended his sacrifices for his cause.
• Zhuang Jin gave Xiao Lin Ye thirty breaths to flee, but Xiao Lin Ye attacked with the Human Emperor Sky Imprisoning Palm and was struck by his own Red Dust Five Aggregates Qi when Zhuang Jin shattered the attack.
• Xiao Lin Ye fled toward Thousand-Wall Cliff and detonated his Void Realm Stone to obstruct Zhuang Jin, but Zhuang Jin suppressed and took the damaged treasure.
• After Xiao Lin Ye threatened Zhuang Jin and jumped from Thousand-Wall Cliff, Zhuang Jin pursued him and killed him with a sword, then destroyed the corpse and collected a half-real, half-illusory Azure Orb.
• Zhuang Jin confronted an approaching Adamantine Realm Tengshe, found that his God Slaying Thorn barely affected it, and summoned seven swords to form the Eight Gates Sword Array.

Zhuang Jin killed an Adamantine Realm Tengshe in the Funiu Mountain Range Triple Death Zone, then returned to Cang Prefecture City with its Beast Core and Xiao Lin Ye’s belongings. While examining the items, he strengthened the Sacred Spirit Pearl and discovered that the Azure Orb could display information about his cultivation and warn him about the difficulty of reaching the Yang God realm.

• Zhuang Jin used the Eight Gates Sword Array and Thousand Mile Ice Seal to kill the Tengshe before several other Adamantine Realm Exotic Beasts arrived, then took its Adamantine Sarira and escaped.
• Zhuang Jin returned to Cang Prefecture City and gave Shangguan Jin Feng Xiao Lin Ye’s Dragon King Token, saying he had killed Xiao Lin Ye after entering the Triple Death Zone and encountering an Adamantine Realm Exotic Beast.
• Zhuang Jin examined Xiao Lin Ye’s Nine-Nine Qiankun Art and rejected its follower-gathering path and its reliance on fortune.
• Zhuang Jin planned to use the Tengshe’s Adamantine Sarira to make cultivation pills and body-strengthening pills for himself and Shangguan Yun Chang.
• Zhuang Jin let the Sacred Spirit Pearl absorb the damaged Void Realm Stone, strengthening its functions and enabling it to store and shape soul power for battle.
• Zhuang Jin resonated with the Azure Orb and saw a status panel that recommended a soul-defense technique and warned that his current chance of breaking through to the Yang God realm was 7%.

Zhuang Jin assessed the Azure Orb, while the Sky Hanging Division destroyed the Azure Dragon Society and Cang Prefecture’s powers grew wary of him. Shangguan Yun Chang completed her Ice Soul Glazed Body, broke through to the Yin Spirit Realm, and was set to inherit the Shangguan Family.

• Zhuang Jin learned the Azure Orb’s three functions and chose to use its appraisal and advice without refining it into his soul.
• The Sky Hanging Division uprooted the Azure Dragon Society after Zhuang Jin killed Xiao Lin Ye, and its purge caught Rogue Cultivator Martial Artists previously ensnared by the society.
• After learning that Zhuang Jin had killed an Adamantine Realm Exotic Beast, the prominent families and Xuanyuan Zhengji stopped probing him and sought to appease him.
• Zhuang Jin used the Azure Orb to appraise Shangguan Yun Chang’s breakthrough chances, then watched over her as she began cultivating beneath the moon osmanthus tree.
• Shangguan Yun Chang passed the three stages and broke through to the Yin Spirit Realm, after which Shangguan Jin Feng decided to hand her the Shangguan Family.

Shangguan Yun Chang became head of the Shangguan Family after breaking through to the Yin God Realm, while Zhuang Jin cultivated in seclusion. At the end of the 67th year of Qianyuan, he advanced to the Yin God Second Layer, Tai Ding Realm, and sought Shangguan Yun Chang to learn what would happen at the approaching large Qi Tide.

• Xuanyuan Zhengji, Cen Zhongxuan, and Ge Daogan reacted to Shangguan Yun Chang's breakthrough and reconsidered their positions toward the Shangguan Family and Zhuang Jin.
• Shangguan Jin Feng transferred the Shangguan Family leadership and Hanging Sky Mirror Authority to Shangguan Yun Chang, who held her Yin God Grand Ceremony and governed quietly.
• Zhuang Jin spent more than a year cultivating until he completed his Yin God First Layer accumulation, then broke through to the Tai Ding Realm.
• Zhuang Jin discovered that his breakthrough strengthened his Yin God Domain and granted him the ability to perceive Heaven and Earth Origin Energy.
• Zhuang Jin recalled the suspicious changes in the Funiu Mountain Range Triple Death Zone and went to ask Shangguan Yun Chang about the approaching large Qi Tide.

Zhuang Jin and Shangguan Yun Chang negotiated their share of the Sixty-Year Cycle Demon Purge, which activated the Hanging Sky Mirror to cleanse the Funiu Mountain Range. The purge instead helped the Spring Spirit Tree evade detection and unleash the energy beneath the range, leaving Exotic Beasts across the mountains turning into puppets.

• Shangguan Yun Chang explained that the Hanging Sky Mirror’s Sixty-Year Cycle Demon Purge would eliminate Overlimit Adamantine Realm Exotic Beasts and yield valuable spoils.
• Shangguan Jin Feng, Zhuang Jin, and Shangguan Yun Chang negotiated with Xuanyuan Zhengji, Cen Zhongxuan, and Ge Daogan, settling on a joint expedition and a thirty-five-percent share for the Shangguan Family.
• Shangguan Yun Chang, Cen Zhongxuan, and Ge Daogan activated the Hanging Sky Mirror, and its formation spread across the Funiu Mountain Range.
• The Spring Spirit Tree gathered the Adamantine Realm Exotic Beasts, put them into a dormant puppet state, and used the Prism Beast to deflect the purge’s strike toward a weak point beneath Thousand-Wall Cliff.
• The deflected energy shattered Thousand-Wall Cliff and released a vast surge of energy, which transformed the Spring Spirit Tree and caused Exotic Beasts touched by its drifting Tunla Fluff to become puppets.

The Spirit Toon Tree’s control of Exotic Beast puppets triggered an early Qi Tide and revealed a spreading infection and strange energy that Zhuang Jin suspected was free spiritual energy. Recognizing the threat to Cang Prefecture, the Three Great Prominent Families and the others agreed to confront the tree, and the six Yin Spirits set out with the Hanging Sky Mirror.

• The Hanging Sky Mirror showed the Spirit Toon Tree controlling a Prism Beast, whose final attack helped trigger an early Qi Tide in the Funiu Mountain Range.
• Shangguan Jin Feng and the others concluded that the Spirit Toon Tree could evade the mirror’s detection with puppets and might have accumulated several Adamantine Realm Exotic Beasts.
• Zhuang Jin sensed a spreading vitality and an energy that attracted his body, speculating that it was an infection from the Spirit Toon Tree and free spiritual energy.
• Shangguan Jin Feng urged the Three Great Prominent Families to attack before the tree grew stronger, and Cen Zhongxuan and Ge Daogan agreed.
• Zhuang Jin agreed to join the expedition, and Xuanyuan Zhengji was persuaded to go as well.
• The six Yin Spirits organized their groups, prepared the Hanging Sky Mirror, and set out for the Funiu Mountain Range.

Zhuang Jin and his allies raced toward the spirit toon tree in the Funiu Mountain Range while Tunla Fluff spread through the Exotic Beasts and drove a beast tide toward Cang Prefecture City. As they fought through waves of self-destructing attackers, a massive flesh ball ambushed them, and Zhuang Jin struck at it with his sword.

• Shangguan Yun Chang identified Tunla Fluff as a parasite that controlled Exotic Beasts, and Zhuang Jin used the Mysterious Sky Mirror to discover that fire was its weakness.
• Zhuang Jin rescued Ning Tongxuan from infected Exotic Beasts, then Xuanyuan Zhengji sheltered the group with his Yin God Domain as they flew deeper into the mountains.
• Shangguan Jin Feng, Cen Zhongxuan, and Ge Daogan took the Hanging Sky Mirror from Cang Prefecture City, and the ensuing beast tide sent flying Exotic Beasts into the city.
• Zhuang Jin's warning helped the Ji and Teng Families and his other contacts avoid the most dangerous parts of Cang Prefecture City, while the Black Fiend Tiger defended the Ji Family's refuge.
• Xuanyuan Zhengji shielded the group as controlled flying Exotic Beasts rammed and detonated themselves against his domain on their way to the Triple Death Zone.
• The group sensed a huge flesh ball approaching through the flying beasts, and Zhuang Jin sent his eight swords after it as it split open and began to explode.

Zhuang Jin and his allies reached the Spring Spirit Tree and launched a coordinated attack, destroying its tree form but forcing it to emerge as a half-step Great Adamantine Realm monster. As the transformed monster threatened them, Shangguan Jin Feng, Cen Zhongxuan, and Ge Daogan decided to use the Three Great Prominent Families’ costly trump card.

• Zhuang Jin entered the Transparent World, froze the Chaos Insect’s clones, and killed its hidden true body with his swords.
• Zhuang Jin’s party reached the Spring Spirit Tree, where they saw it draining controlled Exotic Beasts to fuel its transformation.
• Zhuang Jin and Shangguan Yun Chang trapped the six Adamantine Realm guardians while Shangguan Jin Feng, Cen Zhongxuan, and Ge Daogan attacked the tree with a chaotic orb of light.
• The Spring Spirit Tree forced the six guardians toward self-destruction, but Zhuang Jin redirected their power into the tree as his allies struck it again.
• The tree collapsed, but a seventy- or eighty-zhang half-step Great Adamantine Realm monster emerged from its remains.
• Shangguan Jin Feng, Cen Zhongxuan, and Ge Daogan chose to use their families’ costly trump card and asked Zhuang Jin to hold the monster off.

Zhuang Jin and the others killed the Spring Spirit Monster after the Hanging Sky Mirror projected the Yang God ancestor Cen Xuantong, but the mirror then acted on its own and cut off the supply of free Spiritual Energy. After returning to Cang Prefecture City and helping restore order, Zhuang Jin examined the Spiritual Energy he had managed to gather.

• Zhuang Jin used the Eight Gates Sword Array and Sacred Spirit Pearl to shield Shangguan Jin Feng, Cen Zhongxuan, and Ge Daogan while they activated the Hanging Sky Mirror, costing Ge Daogan his life.
• The Hanging Sky Mirror projected Cen Xuantong, whose sword attack forced the Spring Spirit Monster to explode its Adamantine Sarira; Zhuang Jin and the others destroyed nearly all of its released origin.
• The Hanging Sky Mirror flew to Thousand-Wall Cliff and cut off the free Spiritual Energy, while Zhuang Jin sensed a hidden spirit within it and the group secretly absorbed what they could.
• Zhuang Jin and the others returned to Cang Prefecture City, where the uncontrolled Exotic Beasts scattered and the city’s forces began suppressing the remaining chaos.
• Zhuang Jin settled in a Fourth Ring courtyard and released the Sacred Spirit Pearl, examining the crystalline blue Spiritual Energy he had gathered.

Zhuang Jin decided to refine half the Sacred Spirit Pearl’s Spiritual Energy into three powerful attacks and entered seclusion to strengthen his cultivation. As Cang Prefecture recovered from the beast tide, the Imperial Court dispatched an inspector in response to the Spring Calamity.

• Zhuang Jin realized the Sacred Spirit Pearl had absorbed most of the Spiritual Energy from the battle and chose to preserve half while refining the rest into three trump-card attacks.
• Zhuang Jin resolved to cultivate in seclusion, use the spoils from the battle to advance, and prepare for a future breakthrough to the Yang God Realm.
• The Three Great Prominent Families restored order in Cang Prefecture, sought aid and relief from the Imperial Court, and hunted the escaped Spring Spirit Monster.
• The Three Great Prominent Families updated the Hanging Sky Mirror’s records and identification methods, while the continuing Qi Tide brought new resources and trade to Cang Prefecture.
• The Shangguan Family and Cen Family helped cultivate Ge Daogan’s chosen successor but each claimed five portions of the Ge Family’s authority.
• The Imperial Court dispatched an inspector to Cang Prefecture in response to the Spring Calamity.

Shangguan Yun Chang warned Zhuang Jin that Inspector Xuanyuan Shiji intended to exploit Cang Prefecture’s weakened families and target him. Zhuang Jin revealed a powerful sword strike that cleaved Gourd Valley, forcing Xuanyuan Shiji to abandon his plans and greet him deferentially.

• Shangguan Yun Chang told Zhuang Jin about Xuanyuan Shiji’s ruthless reputation, his likely interest in the Spiritual Energy, and his ties to Li Shicong’s mother.
• Shangguan Yun Chang proposed that she and Zhuang Jin use the Dual Spirit Union Art to deter the inspector, but Zhuang Jin offered to handle him in exchange for compensation from the Cen and Ge Families.
• Xuanyuan Shiji planned to use Zhuang Jin as a pretext to intimidate Cang Prefecture’s aristocratic families and intended to cripple him under the guise of giving him instruction.
• Xuanyuan Shiji arrived at Gourd Valley and asked why Zhuang Jin had not come to welcome him, while Shangguan Yun Chang explained that her husband was pursuing a remnant of the Spring Spirit Autumn Monster.
• Zhuang Jin flew in after a six-tailed white fox and used an amplified sword strike to destroy it and split Gourd Valley with a deep ravine.
• Xuanyuan Shiji recognized that Zhuang Jin’s strength surpassed his own, dropped his hostile plans, and greeted him with conspicuous respect.

Five years after the Spring Calamity, Cang Prefecture had largely recovered while Zhuang Jin cultivated in seclusion and guarded against the spirit in the Hanging Sky Mirror. By the chapter’s end, he had reached the peak of the Yin God Realm’s Void Extremity and was still preparing for the Three Passes of the Yang God.

• The Three Great Prominent Families cooperated with Xuanyuan Shiji’s Spiritual Energy investigation while concealing the Hanging Sky Mirror’s mutation, and Zhuang Jin helped mislead the inspector.
• After half a month in Cang Prefecture, Xuanyuan Shiji accepted the families’ gifts and departed, leaving Zhuang Jin wary that his visit would trigger future conflict.
• Over five years, Cang Prefecture rebuilt the Third Ring, Exotic Beasts returned to the Funiu Mountain Range, and the Three Great Prominent Families restored their leadership by celebrating Ge Zhaozhen’s breakthrough to the Yin God Realm.
• Zhuang Jin remained in a secluded Fourth Ring courtyard, where Ji Heya came to confide in him after her father Ji Tongwei died attempting to reach the Innate Realm.
• Zhuang Jin used his divine soul to tame an Adamantine Realm Azure Bird and reflected that he had reached Void Extremity, completed his accumulation there, and had not yet attempted the Yang God Realm’s Three Passes.

Zhuang Jin weighed the dangers of advancing to the Yang God Realm and decided to wait until his chances improved. Thirteen years after leaving Diannan, an azure bird carried word toward him as Shen Xianhong prepared for death and the women he had left behind continued to miss him.

• Zhuang Jin assessed the Three Yang God Gates, concluded that Spirit Movement was his greatest obstacle, and chose to delay his breakthrough until he had greater confidence.
• Zhuang Jin sent an azure bird bearing a message toward Penglai.
• Shen Xianhong told Shen Xuchen to protect Shen Xujun, Mu Qing, and Chen Yun, preserve the Mu Family’s retreat, and spare Shen Xujing after his death.
• Chen Yun remembered watching snow with Zhuang Jin and suffered a coughing fit, while Shen Xujun continued to keep the letters she had written him.
• Mu Qing said she believed Zhuang Jin would return as the first under heaven, as an azure bird approached through the snow.

After Emperor Qian Yuan died during the Qi Tide and political turmoil spread from the capital, Zhuang Jin decided to leave Cang Prefecture for Yong'an. He departed with Shangguan Yun Chang, while the capital’s upheaval and his search for a Yang Spirit secret art and Yang Extreme Divine Artifact awaited him.

• Shangguan Yun Chang broke through to the Yin God Second Layer and told Zhuang Jin that Emperor Qian Yuan had died after a disaster at Pine Ridge in Capital Yong'an.
• Empress Dowager Yuwen placed her young son on the throne, summoned the Yuwen Family’s Black Dragon Cavalry, and backed Yuwen Shentong’s Pine Ridge Reclamation Order.
• As the situation in the capital developed, Zhuang Jin decided the upheaval was an opportunity to seek a Yang Spirit secret art and a Yang Extreme Divine Artifact.
• Zhuang Jin told the Three Great Prominent Families he was leaving, then informed old acquaintances and said farewell to Ji Tongxiu.
• Zhuang Jin departed Cang Prefecture in a merchant caravan, and Shangguan Yun Chang joined him after transferring the Hanging Sky Mirror Authority back to Shangguan Jin Feng.

Zhuang Jin and Shangguan Yun Chang joined a gathering of the Nine Provinces’ great families, where they discussed the political upheaval and formed an alliance. After Zhuang Jin subdued a valuable Mirage Dragon and drew attention to the journey to the capital, Mei Weichen resolved to seek his own opportunity there, and the provincial parties set out for Capital Yong'an.

• Zhuang Jin and Shangguan Yun Chang arrived in Yun Prefecture, where Meng Duangui welcomed them with a Water Spirit Pearl and invited them to the gathering of great families.
• Meng Duangui hosted representatives from five provinces, who discussed the late Emperor’s death, the struggle between the Five Great Clans, and cooperation among the great families.
• Zhuang Jin traded cultivation items for a Spirit Pearl, then absorbed it and the Water Spirit Pearl into the Sacred Spirit Pearl.
• Zhuang Jin subdued a fifth-transformation Adamantine Realm Mirage Dragon at Dragon Marsh Lake, surprising Meng Duangui and raising the other representatives’ estimation of him.
• Mei Weichen heard stories about Zhuang Jin and opportunities in the capital, then decided to quit his shop job and go to Capital Yong'an.
• Zhuang Jin's party departed with teams from the other four provinces and reached the capital more than a month later.