Chapter Summaries

Chen Luo joined Elder Jiang He on the journey to Qionghua Sect and stayed on Grand Void Peak while the patriarch remained in seclusion. After half a month without scrutiny, Chen Luo used Ancient Moon True Person's brain to locate a hidden tomb on the peak's rear mountain.

• Elder Jiang He brought Chen Luo to Qionghua Sect, where Chen Luo passed the Heart Questioning Steps and registered on Grand Void Peak.
• Jun Yao introduced Chen Luo to Guardian Elder Hua Qing, who approved his presence, and then arranged a temporary residence for him among the Outer Disciples.
• Jun Yao told Chen Luo to wait until the patriarch emerged from seclusion before his identity could be confirmed.
• After half a month without anyone checking on him, Chen Luo went to the rear mountain at night to search for a senior's brain.
• Ancient Moon True Person's brain guided Chen Luo to a hidden stone tomb, where a third-rank Geng Metal Restriction wounded his finger but did not stop him.

Chen Luo searched the Qionghua Sect ruins, then encountered the Grand Void Ancestor, who tested his claim that he was Ancient Moon True Person’s disciple. After watching Chen Luo refine pills and examining his cultivation, the Daoist accepted him as Ancient Moon’s true direct disciple.

• Chen Luo explored a sealed cave, found a Core Formation cultivator’s charred corpse, and buried it after learning its memories were too confused to help.
• The Grand Void Ancestor appeared and took Chen Luo to a vast cultivation chamber, where he called the Daoist his Senior Martial Uncle.
• The Daoist questioned Chen Luo about Ancient Moon’s death and his cultivation, while Chen Luo claimed he had found Ancient Moon in a strange remnant of Divine Land.
• Chen Luo demonstrated the Spark Alchemy Technique and refined three High-grade Spirit Pills, convincing the Daoist of his connection to Ancient Moon.
• The Daoist suppressed Chen Luo with his aura, judged his cultivation too mixed, and concluded that Chen Luo was truly Ancient Moon’s direct disciple.

After emerging from seclusion, Gu He made Chen Luo his Direct Disciple and promoted him to True Disciple of Grand Void Peak. Chen Luo visited the other main peaks, learned more about Myriad Demon Mountain, and received a True Disciple Token empowered by the Seven Patriarchs; the chapter ended with Gu He turning his attention to the last person present.

• Gu He accepted Chen Luo as his Direct Disciple and announced his promotion to True Disciple of Grand Void Peak.
• When elders reported that Zhang Zhonglin had gone missing, Chen Luo argued that Medicine King City should be spared, and Gu He granted it a path of survival.
• Gu He sent Jun Yao to introduce Chen Luo to the other main peaks, and she explained the origins of Myriad Demon Mountain and the Heart Demon.
• Chen Luo and Jun Yao visited the other peaks, where the Nascent Soul True Lords recognized Chen Luo and empowered his True Disciple Token with the Seven Patriarchs' Sword Qi.
• Jun Yao explained the token's power and cautioned Chen Luo against relying on it against Core Formation cultivators.

Chen Luo settled into Grand Void Peak, studied the Grand Void Ancestor's collection, and discovered a Blood Pool of Heart Demon Power hidden inside a pill furnace. He entered the furnace, broke the Inner Demon Ancestor's illusion, and found that the skull was a readable dead person's brain.

• Gu He reviewed the investigation into Chen Luo's background and learned that Chen Luo had once been in the Extreme West.
• Chen Luo reunited with Mu Xiao Yu and began cultivating in the chamber prepared for him on Grand Void Peak.
• After half a month, the Grand Void Ancestor gave Chen Luo the peak's highest authority, and Chen Luo studied his collection of cultivation arts.
• Chen Luo sensed a Blood Pool of Heart Demon Power inside the Grand Void Ancestor's pill furnace and entered it.
• The Inner Demon Ancestor tried to tempt Chen Luo with an illusion of his loved ones, but Chen Luo shattered it and grabbed the skull.
• Chen Luo detected the skull as a damaged dead person's brain and chose to extract it.

Chen Luo’s attempt to extract energy from the white skull destabilized Gu He’s pill furnace and destroyed his cultivation chamber. Gu He spared Chen Luo and revealed why he regarded him as the last heir to their clan, while the skull crumbled into dust.

• As Chen Luo extracted the skull’s dense energy, the Blood Pool heated up and its Bloody Clothes barrier began to break apart.
• Gu He sensed trouble with the pills, pulled Chen Luo from the furnace, and tried to suppress its unstable energy.
• The pill furnace exploded, destroying Gu He’s cultivation chamber and scattering its formations and restrictions.
• Gu He healed Chen Luo and sent him to cultivate in another chamber instead of blaming him.
• Gu He touched the white skull, which crumbled into silver-white dust, and reflected that Chen Luo had inherited their clan’s Spark Alchemy Technique and was its last remaining member.

Chen Luo used the Nascent Soul Realm brain to refine his cultivation plan and spent more than half a year building up his Pseudo Core with Qionghua Sect’s resources. City Master Yan then visited and pledged Medicine King City’s allegiance to Qionghua Sect, delivering seventy percent of its earnings to Chen Luo.

• Chen Luo learned that his Inner Demon Art and his master’s teachings descended from scattered fragments of the slain Inner Demon Ancestor, then used a Nascent Soul Realm brain to assess Golden Core cultivation methods.
• Chen Luo swallowed Origin Returning Pills and cultivated until gold covered nearly half his Pseudo Core, but he chose to keep building his chances rather than risk forming his core at fifty percent odds.
• After more than half a year in seclusion, Chen Luo learned that City Master Yan of Medicine King City had arrived at the foot of the mountain.
• Gong Xiang saw Chen Luo’s near-Core Formation aura and abandoned his thoughts of exploiting the rumored lucky disciple.
• City Master Yan pledged Medicine King City to Qionghua Sect and gave Chen Luo seventy percent of the city’s earnings; Chen Luo accepted and saw him off.

Grand Void Ancestor Gu He guided Chen Luo in Fourth-Rank alchemy and shared his method for preparing to face the Inner Demon Tribulation. When a crisis in the Mysterious Bird Tribe brought Gu He back into contact with Xuan Su, he left Chen Luo in charge of the tribe’s envoys.

• Gu He taught Chen Luo Fourth-Rank Fire Control Technique, gave him a Third-Rank Golden Saint Pill, and lent him a Jade Slip about the Inner Demon Tribulation.
• Chen Luo learned that Gu He had prepared for his own tribulation by sealing his cultivation and living an ordinary life for a hundred years.
• A Message Magic Sword summoned Gu He to the Meeting Hall, where a Mysterious Bird Tribe Core Formation cultivator sought help for the dying Xuan Su.
• Gu He recognized Xuan Su’s seven-colored feather and departed to settle their past entanglements and visit her.
• Gu He told the Mysterious Bird Tribe leader to follow Chen Luo during his absence, and the leader and his two companions obeyed.

Chen Luo learned about the Mysterious Bird Tribe and the Qionghua Sect, then arranged for the tribe to rescue Gong Xiang’s abducted family from the Yin Yang Sect. That night, he discovered that the Inner Demon Ancestor’s brain had rearranged the circulation of his cultivation arts, revealing a different world to him.

• A Mysterious Bird Tribe Core Formation Cultivator explained the tribe’s history, its ties to Grand Void Ancestor, and the Qionghua Sect’s power and internal rivalries.
• Gong Xiang learned that the Yin Yang Sect had killed City Lord Yan and abducted his younger siblings, including Yun Zhi, who was carrying his brother’s child.
• Chen Luo asked about the Yin Yang Sect and ordered two Mysterious Bird Tribe Foundation Building Cultivators to secure the captives’ release or kill those responsible.
• Gong Xiang and his younger brother thanked Chen Luo before leaving with the two cultivators to save their family.
• Chen Luo returned to his residence and cultivated, finding that the Inner Demon Ancestor’s brain had rearranged the order of his Inner Demon Art, Seed Demon Art, and Black Stone Secret Technique.

Chen Luo discovered that the Inner Demon Art let him enter a cultivator’s heart demon, feed on their cultivation, and extract a Demon Seed. After taking decades of cultivation from Cai Ri Kun, Chen Luo understood that the art treated all living beings as Spirit Veins.

• Chen Luo touched the heart demon of Elder Yu Si’s disciple Cai Ri Kun and planted a Demon Seed in him.
• Chen Luo entered Cai Ri Kun’s heart demon, where Cai Ri Kun imagined himself as an emperor surrounded by beautiful female disciples and humiliating Yu Si.
• Chen Luo absorbed Cai Ri Kun’s accumulated spiritual power, then crushed his head in the illusion and extracted a Demon Seed.
• Cai Ri Kun suffered cultivation deviation and spat blood, while Yu Si stabilized him with spiritual power.
• Chen Luo left the Cultivation Chamber and realized the Inner Demon Art refined other cultivators’ cultivation into Demon Seeds.

Chen Luo left Grand Void Peak to pursue his cultivation in the mortal world, bringing Yu Jun Yao and a Mysterious Bird Tribe protector to Medicine King City. He settled into a secluded courtyard there, ready to continue cultivating away from sect conflicts.

• Elder Yu Si stabilized Cai Ri Kun, whose cultivation fell from Qi Refining Completion to Qi Refining Early-stage, and warned the disciples to cultivate their hearts as well as their methods.
• Grand Void Ancestor Gu He returned from the Mysterious Bird Tribe after suppressing the Ghost Temple and gave Chen Luo its third-rank prayer beads.
• Chen Luo asked to go down the mountain, and Gu He arranged for Yu Jun Yao to accompany him and a Mysterious Bird Tribe Core Formation cultivator to protect him.
• Yu Jun Yao explained Qionghua Sect's internal conflict over whether to expand outward or pursue Spirit Transformation, and recommended Medicine King City as their destination.
• Chen Luo and his companions reached Medicine King City after three days, where the elders welcomed them and the city master arranged a secluded courtyard for Chen Luo.

Chen Luo revealed his varied cultivation methods to Yu Jun Yao, then fought her at the desolate outskirts of Medicine King City. He quickly defeated her with overwhelming force and a curse, leaving her to wonder how he had applied it so early.

• Yu Jun Yao asked why Chen Luo had refused servants and resources, and he said he had come to cultivate and mentioned the Mortal World Method.
• Chen Luo demonstrated Sword Intent, Body Cultivation, a fire spell, and Wood Spirit Catalysis, surprising Yu Jun Yao with how many techniques he knew.
• Yu Jun Yao challenged Chen Luo to assess his strength, and the two flew outside the city to fight while Xuan Ji watched from the shadows.
• Yu Jun Yao launched several Grand Void Sword techniques, but Chen Luo evaded her attacks and struck her into a pit with raw strength.
• Chen Luo disrupted Yu Jun Yao's spiritual power with a curse and pressed a finger to her brow, ending the fight before she could unleash her full strength.
• Yu Jun Yao accepted that Chen Luo had beaten her and asked when he had cursed her; he said it had happened as soon as she drew her sword.

Chen Luo settled in mortal Yunxiao County to cultivate the Mortal World Method and began using the Inner Demon Art to reach people beyond the city. Meanwhile, the Seven Patriarchs of Qionghua discussed a murderous Centipede Spirit threatening the Millennium Ancient Kingdom and agreed that Gu He would investigate.

• Chen Luo sent Yu Jun Yao and Xuan Ji away from Yunxiao County, though Xuan Ji stayed nearby at the Green Pine Sect to watch over him.
• Chen Luo reviewed his path to Core Formation and began circulating the Inner Demon Art in a secret chamber, extending his divine sense toward a distant flame.
• At Qionghua Sect, the Seven Patriarchs discussed a Spirit Pool disturbance and the Centipede Spirit, which had devastated the Millennium Ancient Kingdom and killed two elders.
• Grand Void Ancestor Gu He agreed to deal with the Centipede Spirit, while Supreme Simplicity Ancestor complained that Chen Luo had not performed a sect task.
• Gu He said Chen Luo's task contributions would count under his name, ending the dispute.

Chen Luo discovered that adjusting the Inner Demon Art let him enter a powerful strand of Tribulation Qi formed from overlapping obsessions. Inside it, he became a landowner trying to handle the consequences of his son’s prank, and the chapter ended as he returned home to his worried wives.

• Chen Luo accepted meat from Butcher Li’s son, Li Fugui, and agreed to teach him to read and write.
• Chen Luo continued cultivating the Inner Demon Art, changing its circulation after sensing the Inner Demon Ancestor’s guidance.
• Chen Luo found a golden heart demon flame and entered a complete strand of Tribulation Qi.
• Chen Luo learned that his son Chen Yuanzhi and Squire Wang’s son had frightened Teacher Cen into a cesspit and faced losing their right to study.
• Chen Luo arranged a costly apology to Teacher Cen, then returned to the Chen Residence, where his wives greeted him.

Chen Luo continued investigating the Inner Demon Tribulation while living as a local gentryman and raising Chen Yuanzhi, who was secretly a Tribulation Taker. After Chen Luo arranged a county office position for his son, he suspected Yuanzhi’s heart demon stemmed from vanity and a desire to make others fear him.

• Chen Luo recognized his bruised son Chen Yuanzhi as a Tribulation Taker, but passed by his practiced apology without responding.
• After Chen Yuanzhi and other troublemakers were barred from studying, they were sent to train in martial arts, and Chen Luo spent the following years managing his household and clan.
• Ten years later, Chen Luo remained unable to identify the tribulation around Yuanzhi, who spent his days practicing spearwork and roaming with his companions.
• Chen Yuanzhi said he wanted to become a high official because people feared him, and Chen Luo arranged a position for him in the County Yamen.
• Chen Luo gave Chen Yuanzhi the Appointment Letter and instructed him to learn the work before returning home to study household management.

Chen Yuanzhi rose through the militia by relying on his family’s money and gathered a hundred men, while Chen Luo tried to understand his son’s Inner Demon Tribulation and County Magistrate Tan warned that war with the Xiongnu was approaching. As Bishui County faced unrest and mounting danger, Tan began considering how to cover his retreat.

• Chen Yuanzhi took a minor militia post, then turned the barracks into a place for drinking and disorder after discovering that most of the militia’s men were absent.
• Chen Yuanzhi and the Wang Brothers forced their way into Yingchun Brothel, beat a man who had claimed Miss Cuiping, and seized the private room for the night.
• Chen Luo discussed Chen Yuanzhi’s military post and the threat of war with County Magistrate Tan, whose aura reminded him of a Heart Demon.
• Chen Luo pondered whether County Magistrate Tan was the Heart Demon leading Chen Yuanzhi into tribulation, but could not connect Tan’s warnings with Chen Yuanzhi’s vanity.
• Three years later, Chen Yuanzhi had risen in rank and commanded a hundred men as the Xiongnu prepared to march south and Bishui County grew unsettled.
• County Magistrate Tan heard that bandits and possible enemy scouts were gathering outside Bishui County and considered leaving scapegoats behind to cover his retreat.

Chen Luo learned that the Xiongnu had breached the northern defenses and that Bishui County’s powerful families planned to flee, leaving Chen Yuanzhi and his men behind. He told Chen Yuanzhi to join a supposed bandit-suppression mission, forcing him to choose between abandoning his brothers and risking his family’s safety.

• County Magistrate Tan gathered the family heads and arranged to send their men out of Bishui County under the pretense of suppressing the bandit Zuòshāndiāo.
• The family heads, including Chen Luo, agreed on how many men they would take, and County Magistrate Tan invited Chen Luo to speak privately that night.
• County Magistrate Tan told Chen Luo that the first northern defense line had fallen and suggested leaving Chen Yuanzhi’s ruffians behind to cover the retreat.
• Chen Luo told Chen Yuanzhi that he was expected to leave the city to suppress bandits while the powerful families escaped.
• Chen Yuanzhi challenged his father over abandoning the people and his brothers, but Chen Luo asked him to consider what would happen to his mother and sisters if they stayed.

Chen Yuanzhi struggled between fleeing with his family and defending Bishui County, finally choosing to stay after the refugees’ gratitude reminded him of his responsibility. When the Xiongnu arrived in force, he and his brothers formed up on the city wall to protect the people.

• Chen Yuanzhi took over as County Lieutenant after County Magistrate Tan fled, helping Chen Luo fortify the city and hunt down Xiongnu spies.
• A patrol clash with ten Xiongnu cavalrymen left more than twenty militiamen dead, and Chen Yuanzhi agreed to flee south with his family when Chen Luo offered him a chance to escape.
• An old woman offered Chen Yuanzhi her ration in gratitude for saving her, and the refugees’ faith in him made him question abandoning the city.
• At the city gates, Chen Yuanzhi handed Chen Luo his escape arrangements and chose to stay with his brothers; Chen Luo accepted his decision.
• Five days later, after the second line of defense collapsed, Xiongnu forces attacked Bishui County, and Chen Yuanzhi and his brothers formed a battle line on the city wall.

Chen Yuanzhi defended Bishui County against the Xiongnu until the city fell and he died, while Chen Luo passed the Inner Demon Tribulation and discovered that the Ghost Temple prayer beads held the Tribulation Qi. Two Ghost Temple cultivators revealed that they had used the beads to set a trap and intended to exploit Gu He's grief.

• Chen Yuanzhi and his defenders held Bishui County through repeated Xiongnu attacks as refugees arrived and supplies dwindled.
• Chen Yuanzhi refused the Xiongnu offer to surrender and killed the envoy with an arrow, prompting the Xiongnu Left Worthy King to launch an assault.
• The Xiongnu breached the city wall, and Wang Dacai died while shielding Chen Yuanzhi from an arrow; Chen Yuanzhi retreated with the survivors and later fell in battle.
• Chen Luo watched Chen Yuanzhi's death as the tribulation world vanished, then returned to Yunxiao County and sensed Tribulation Qi from the Ghost Temple Prayer Beads.
• Two Ghost Temple cultivators discussed how Chen Luo's absorption of the Tribulation Qi completed their plan to unsettle Gu He, then left to prepare their next move.

Gu He attacked Yin Yue Town with the Grand Void Sword and discovered that the Millennium Ancient Kingdom’s corruption involved both Myriad Demon Mountain and Ghost Temple remnants. After defeating the centipede and the fleeing Ghost Temple remnants, he crossed into the ancient kingdom to confront its chancellor, leaving the chancellor’s formation broken and his own power overwhelming.

• Gu He confirmed that Yin Yue Town’s inhabitants were dead and that insects had taken their place, then ordered the Qionghua Sect disciples to retreat.
• Gu He killed the giant centipede that attacked him and sensed that two Ghost Temple remnants were hiding nearby.
• Gu He cut down both fleeing Ghost Temple remnants before crossing the mountain range toward the Millennium Ancient Kingdom.
• The Millennium Ancient Kingdom’s chancellor attacked Gu He with a Fourth-rank Magic Artifact, but Gu He shattered its chess pieces and damaged the artifact.
• Gu He suppressed the surrounding Heaven and Earth Vital Qi and advanced on the fallen chancellor, declaring that he was not Nascent Soul.

Gu He defeated the Millennium Ancient Kingdom’s Three Dukes and destroyed the National Preceptor’s projection before rushing to check on Chen Luo. Chen Luo absorbed a curse from the Ghost Temple Prayer Beads, reached Foundation Establishment Perfection, and prepared to meet Li Fugui as Gu He departed to investigate the forces targeting the Qionghua Sect.

• Gu He killed the Millennium Ancient Kingdom’s Three Dukes, destroyed the National Preceptor’s projection, and returned to the Qionghua Sect.
• Gu He learned that Chen Luo had entered the Inner Demon Tribulation and realized the Ghost Temple Prayer Beads he had given him might be dangerous.
• The prayer beads shattered and released a curse, but Chen Luo absorbed it with help from the Inner Demon Ancestor’s Brain, completing his accumulation for Foundation Establishment Perfection.
• Chen Luo decided to pursue Core Formation and planned to meet Li Fugui, who was coming with his father to ask Chen Luo to become his master.
• Gu He sensed Chen Luo’s perfected aura above Yunxiao County, confirmed he was safe, and returned to the mountain to discuss the hidden threat with the remaining six.