Chapter Summaries

Lin Fan bought talisman materials at the Market Below the Mountain despite learning that masked killers had been murdering Blood Demon Sect disciples nearby. After he left, he detected two masked figures following him and confronted them.

• Shi Tao told Zhao Wang that absolute loyalty mattered most and warned him that remnants of feudal princes had killed disciples near the market.
• Lin Fan learned that the market had emptied after several disciples were murdered and their vital essence drained.
• Lin Fan bought an Azure Goat Talisman Brush, talisman paper, and cinnabar from a veiled female stall owner who recognized him from his previous visit.
• The female stall owner noticed two figures following Lin Fan after he left the market.
• Lin Fan stopped and challenged the two masked pursuers, who emerged after a quarter-hour and remarked that he had detected them.

Lin Fan killed two cultivators from Prince Guangling's Estate who came seeking revenge, then returned to his cave dwelling to inspect their possessions. He found a useful sword, pills, spirit-worm materials, and a mysterious map, and began preparing to practice making talismans.

• Lin Fan swiftly killed the Red-patterned Masked Man and the Skinny Man, then buried their bodies and took their storage pouches.
• A Black-and-White Masked Man and two Formal Disciples discovered the bodies and identified the dead as remnants of Prince Guangling's Estate.
• Lin Fan examined the pouches and found the Azure Gavel Sword, Spirit Absorption Pills, Blood Burst Pills, spirit-worm supplies, and a mysterious map.
• Lin Fan took out the Talisman Materials he had bought and prepared to practice making talismans.

Lin Fan practiced making talismans, then learned that the second floor of the Hidden Scripture Pavilion copied Rune Patterns for Blood Soul Peak’s talisman masters. He copied them with remarkable speed and earned lifespan rewards, while Zhao Wang decided to report his talent.

• Lin Fan made several Fire Spirit Talismans and successfully created a First-Grade Wind Blade Talisman, using more than half of his Internal Breath.
• Lin Fan returned to the Hidden Scripture Pavilion, where Zhao Wang explained that Formal Disciples copied Rune Patterns for Blood Soul Peak’s talisman masters.
• Lin Fan agreed to copy Zhao Wang’s share of the Rune Patterns while letting Zhao keep the Contribution Points.
• Lin Fan accurately copied a Rune Pattern in less than half a shichen, impressing Zhao Wang.
• Lin Fan copied several books of Rune Patterns and received lifespan rewards for his work.
• Zhao Wang praised Lin Fan’s talent and decided to report him to a Senior Brother.

Feng Ling delivered maps of the Blood Demon Sect to a Flowing Cloud Sword Sect disciple, but an ambush left a rescuer dead and strengthened her resolve to destroy the sect. Meanwhile, Lin Fan impressed Yun Peng with his rune-copying and talisman-making talent, then began practicing with a booklet of talisman-crafting techniques.

• Feng Ling delivered two maps to a Flowing Cloud Sword Sect disciple and said Senior Sister Qiao'er had sacrificed herself.
• The disciple attacked Feng Ling, a figure died protecting her, and other cultivators killed the spy before he could strike again.
• Feng Ling refused to abandon her infiltration, saying she could not give up after Senior Sister Qiao'er and the other figure had died.
• Zhao Wang arranged for Yun Peng to assess Lin Fan, and Yun Peng demonstrated how to craft a powerful Fire Spirit Talisman.
• Lin Fan copied a Rune Pattern into a crude half-finished talisman, impressing Yun Peng enough to leave him a booklet of crafting advice, which Lin Fan bought for fifty Contribution Points.
• Lin Fan continued copying Rune Patterns and practiced talisman crafting in his free time, making gradual progress.

Lin Fan accepted Wang Yuyao’s offer to serve him and spent the night with her and Zhou Wanqing. He rejected Feng Ling’s proposal to become Dao companions, then used his talent to advance his talisman-making and realized he needed a stronger cultivation technique.

• Zhou Wanqing told Lin Fan that Wang Yuyao had agreed to serve him, and Wang Yuyao explained that she had accepted her situation and wanted to survive.
• Lin Fan slept with Wang Yuyao and Zhou Wanqing, then gave them Foundation Replenishing Pills.
• Feng Ling proposed that she and Lin Fan become Dao companions, but Lin Fan refused and hurried to the Hidden Scripture Pavilion.
• Lin Fan successfully demonstrated a Fire Spirit Talisman, prompting Zhao Wang to stop asking him to copy Rune Patterns.
• Lin Fan spent twenty years of lifespan to cultivate the Talisman Secret Tome to proficiency and made a Golden Thunder Talisman.
• Lin Fan concluded that his cultivation had stagnated and decided he needed to obtain a stronger technique.

After Lin Fan’s Fire Spirit Talisman impressed the sect’s elders, he received an invitation to a Blood Talisman Gathering at Roaming Cloud Valley. He then spent all his remaining Contribution Points to buy the Advanced Demonic Arts from the veiled market stall owner, and his lifespan-based advancement prompt appeared.

• Zhao Wang showed Shi Tao Lin Fan’s Fire Spirit Talisman, and Shi Tao secured him an invitation to the Blood Talisman Gathering.
• Zhao Wang told Lin Fan he could attend the gathering in Roaming Cloud Valley and warned him that he could not exchange for the Advanced Demonic Arts through official channels yet.
• Lin Fan decided to search the Market Below the Mountain for a cultivation method and invited the two women to a restaurant.
• Lin Fan found the veiled stall owner and bought the Advanced Demonic Arts for one hundred Contribution Points.
• Lin Fan opened the booklet in a secluded corner, and a prompt asked whether he would spend forty years of his lifespan to advance it to the introductory level.

Lin Fan used the Advanced Demonic Arts to break through in cultivation, then discovered that the food served to him and the women was poisoned. Zhao Wang’s crackdown on the culprits exposed the Blood Demon Sect’s brutal treatment of prisoners, while Lin Fan declined an offer to take another furnace slave.

• Lin Fan practiced the Advanced Demonic Arts, absorbed Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, and advanced to the Second Grade of the Meridian Condensing Realm.
• Lin Fan noticed that Zhou Wanqing’s fallen piece of pork belly had corroded the table and warned Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao that the meal was poisoned.
• Lin Fan took the poisoned food to Zhao Wang, who led disciples to the marketplace and arrested the restaurant’s cooks and workers.
• Cui Wuyuan denounced the Devil Dao and died by bleeding from all seven orifices, while Zhao Wang used the Soul Searching Technique on the remaining workers and ordered the restaurant destroyed.
• Zhao Wang told Wang Biao that the Feudal Princes were being hunted or had fled to the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect, then offered Lin Fan another furnace slave, which Lin Fan declined.

After surviving the restaurant poisoning, Lin Fan advanced his Talisman Secret Tome and crafted a Mysterious Ice Talisman. A month later, he traveled to Roaming Cloud Valley to observe Master Ruan’s search for an inheritor, keeping his abilities and ambitions concealed amid the rival factions.

• Lin Fan worried about threats from the Feudal Prince's remnants and used thirty years of lifespan to advance the Talisman Secret Tome to minor mastery.
• Lin Fan crafted a Mysterious Ice Talisman and resolved to practice making Blood Demon Talismans.
• A month later, Lin Fan boarded a flying boat bound for Roaming Cloud Valley with other disciples seeking Master Ruan’s mantle.
• Lin Fan learned that Yun Peng and Wang Zhaofeng led rival factions competing to become Master Ruan’s inheritor.
• Lin Fan stayed apart from the factions and concealed his true abilities, intending only to observe and learn.

Lin Fan attended the Roaming Cloud Valley Blood Talisman Gathering, where he studied captured demon beasts and learned about creating Blood Demon Talismans. When Master Ruan asked him to explain the Golden Mane White Deer’s form and spirit, Lin Fan had to answer in front of the gathering.

• Lin Fan arrived at Roaming Cloud Valley with the other disciples and was introduced to Master Ruan as a former menial servant from Blackwood Cliff.
• At the gathering, Lin Fan observed the caged demon beasts and studied their forms while Master Ruan explained how their spirits and blood were used to create Blood Demon Talismans.
• Yun Peng and Wang Zhaofeng discussed the Golden Mane White Deer, identifying its bloodlust and cunning as important traits.
• The Golden Mane White Deer revealed its fanged maw and spread a threatening Killing Intent.
• Master Ruan pointed to Lin Fan and asked him to explain the Golden Mane White Deer’s form and spirit.

After Lin Fan was publicly reprimanded at the Blood Talisman Gathering, Shi Tao drew him into his faction, while Lin Fan secretly used the gathering to advance his talisman skills. Master Ruan planted a Black Demon Gecko to watch Lin Fan and discovered his growing ability, leaving the possibility of an inheritance open.

• Master Ruan reprimanded Lin Fan at the Blood Talisman Gathering, then waited in vain for him to visit that night.
• After returning to Blackwood Cliff, Lin Fan learned that rumors of his reprimand had spread, and Shi Tao explained that Yun Peng and Wang Zhaofeng had targeted him to protect their chances at Master Ruan's inheritance.
• Lin Fan pledged himself to Shi Tao and realized he had been pulled into a factional struggle.
• Lin Fan advanced the Talisman Secret Tome to mastery and successfully outlined a Blood Demonic Rune.
• Master Ruan secretly used a Black Demon Gecko to monitor Lin Fan, and the gecko witnessed Lin Fan complete a Blood Demonic Rune even faster than before.

Lin Fan explained the Golden Feather White Deer’s divine form to Master Ruan, inspiring him to create a far stronger blood demon talisman. Lin Fan continued improving his talisman skills and went to Demon Calling Valley to study fierce beasts.

• Master Ruan confronted Lin Fan in his immortal cave and demanded to know the Golden Feather White Deer’s divine form.
• Lin Fan described it as concealing its edge and guarding its simplicity, prompting Master Ruan to gain insight and craft a more powerful blood demon talisman.
• Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao woke after Master Ruan left, and Lin Fan told them they had been too tired.
• Half a month later, Master Ruan examined Lin Fan’s increasingly refined rune patterns and noticed they carried a trace of a unique divine form.
• Lin Fan copied rune patterns in the Hidden Scripture Pavilion, gained twenty-eight years of lifeforce, and then went to Demon Calling Valley to observe snow demon wolves.

Lin Fan collected Snow Demon Wolf blood for talisman-making, then was caught between two patrolling disciples and an infiltrating Flowing Cloud Sword Sect fighter. After killing the wounded fighter and looting the three corpses, he buried them and returned to Blackwood Cliff with a Sword Control Technique manual and other spoils.

• Lin Fan killed three Snow Demon Wolves and collected their blood to make a Blood Demon Talisman.
• Two patrolling Blood Soul Peak disciples confronted Lin Fan and ordered him to put on iron shackles, suspecting him of being a spy.
• A Flowing Cloud Sword Sect disciple attacked the three men, and Lin Fan hid while they fought.
• After a fierce battle, the two patrolling disciples died and the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect fighter was left badly wounded.
• Lin Fan killed the fighter with Fist Momentum and looted his Sword Control Technique manual, silver notes, and identity token.
• Lin Fan found only identity tokens on the two disciples, buried all three bodies, and returned to Blackwood Cliff.

Lin Fan perfected the Talisman Secret Tome, became a first-grade Blood Talisman Master, and advanced to the third grade of the Meridian Condensing Realm. Master Ruan gave him the more complete Talisman Secret Manual, while Yun Peng flirted with Beautiful Mistress outside Master Ruan’s cave.

• A veiled woman searched the battlefield traces near Demon Calling Valley, worried that Senior Brother Luo had been discovered, then left when she found no one.
• Zhao Wang warned Lin Fan to avoid Demon Calling Valley because spies and missing Outer Disciples had been reported there.
• Lin Fan used fifty years of lifespan to perfect the Talisman Secret Tome and successfully made a Blood Wolf Talisman, becoming a Blood Talisman Master.
• Lin Fan advanced the Intermediate Demonic Arts and broke through to the third grade of the Meridian Condensing Realm, then spent the night with Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao.
• Master Ruan gave Lin Fan the Talisman Secret Manual and warned him not to share it; Lin Fan decided to study it despite suspecting it would make him Master Ruan’s inheritor.
• Master Ruan watched from a main peak as Yun Peng flirted with Beautiful Mistress outside his cave.

Lin Fan killed the Heir of Prince Guangling before he could expose Feng Ling as an outside-sect spy, then rejected her invitation to practice Dual Cultivation. At the Hidden Scripture Pavilion, he learned the Sword Control Technique and gained a new method to protect his life.

• Feng Ling confronted the Heir of Prince Guangling, who tried to flee and shout that there was a spy, but Lin Fan killed him with a pebble.
• Lin Fan explained that he had helped Feng Ling because she had helped him before, then rejected her invitation to practice Dual Cultivation because of the danger of her spy identity.
• At the Hidden Scripture Pavilion, Zhao Wang rebuked Wang Biao for asking for another cauldron, then offered to arrange more cauldrons for Lin Fan.
• After finishing his copying work, Lin Fan read the Sword Control Technique and used his panel to advance it to Beginner.
• Lin Fan practiced with the Azure Gavel Sword until he could control it in flight and confirmed the technique's advancement on his panel.

Lin Fan learned that dangerous Demon Cultivators dwelled beneath Blackwood Cliff and later tried to use the area as a refuge when the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect invaded the Blood Demon Sect. Two Flowing Cloud Sword Sect cultivators intercepted him in the snow, leaving him in immediate danger.

• Lin Fan advanced the Blood Gathering Art to Grand Mastery and discovered that it concealed his aura exceptionally well.
• When Blood Mist rose from beneath Blackwood Cliff in daylight, Zhao Wang told Lin Fan that Demon Cultivators lived below and could drain vital essence or seize bodies.
• Half a month later, the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect attacked the Blood Demon Sect, and Lin Fan told Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao how to protect themselves in his cave abode.
• Lin Fan used the Blood Gathering Art to conceal his aura and hurried toward the Hidden Scripture Pavilion, intending to reach the Demon Vein Desolate Land beneath the cliff.
• A white-clad man and a woman from the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect intercepted Lin Fan with flying swords and prepared to kill him.

Lin Fan killed two Flowing Cloud Sword Sect disciples and hid at the bottom of Blackwood Cliff while their invasion continued. He discovered that Shi Tao and Blood Soul Peak Master Yuan Tu were Demon Cultivators leading Blood Talisman Masters into the Demon Vein Desolate Land.

• Lin Fan killed the two Flowing Cloud Sword Sect disciples, then fled toward the Demon Vein Desolate Land as a powerful cultivator arrived and found their bodies.
• Lin Fan concealed himself beneath the snow at the bottom of the cliff and waited while the battle raged through the night.
• Shi Tao brought Yun Peng and the other Blood Talisman Masters to the Demon Vein Desolate Land, revealing that he had deceived them and was a Demon Cultivator.
• Lin Fan suspected a powerful Demon Cultivator was helping Shi Tao conceal his identity and feared that the Blood Soul Peak Master might be involved.
• Yuan Tu appeared and confirmed that she and Shi Tao were Demon Cultivators, then ordered the Blood Talisman Masters to follow them into the Demon Vein Desolate Land.

After surviving the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect’s attack and the Demon Cultivators’ infiltration, Lin Fan returned to find Blackwood Cliff devastated and many disciples dead or missing. He resolved to grow stronger, then went with Zhao Wang to meet the Blood Demon Sect Master.

• Lin Fan hid beneath a cliff until the Blood Demon Sect Master’s aura forced the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect to retreat and prompted orders to assess casualties and rescue abducted Blood Talisman Masters.
• Lin Fan emerged to find the Menial Disciples’ homes wrecked and most of their residents dead, while elders descended to enter the Demon Vein Desolate Land.
• Feng Ling withdrew from the sect’s outskirts after her operation failed, and Lin Fan later returned to his cave abode and reunited with Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao.
• Lin Fan learned that Shi Tao had betrayed Blackwood Cliff, Wang Biao had died, Zhao Wang was badly injured, and Feng Ling had been exposed as a Flowing Cloud Sword Sect spy.
• Lin Fan buried Wang Biao, reflected on the need to grow stronger, and followed Zhao Wang back to Blackwood Cliff after learning the Sect Master had arrived.

The Blood Demon Sect dismissed its low-ranking disciples and forced them to take a poison that would kill them unless they returned within three years. As Lin Fan traveled east with Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao, Master Ruan sent him supplies, an antidote, and a warning, while Lin Fan advanced his talisman technique and worried about running out of lifespan.

• The Blood Demon Sect's leader ordered disciples below the fifth grade of the Meridian Condensing Realm to leave and gave them pills that would kill them if they failed to return within three years.
• Lin Fan departed with Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao, told Zhao Wang he was heading east, and explained that he planned to take the women back to the King of Linzi's City.
• Master Ruan sent Lin Fan a warning to avoid Dangyang City along with Spirit Jade, talisman-making notes, and an antidote with instructions tied to the sect leader's fate.
• Lin Fan used his lifespan to advance the Talisman Secret Manual to the Initiate stage and successfully drew a Blood Demonic Rune.
• Lin Fan noticed that his lifespan had fallen and realized he could no longer replenish it by copying texts after leaving the sect.

Lin Fan traveled east with Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao while avoiding Dangyang City and the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect’s search. After advancing his cultivation, he ambushed and killed a pursuing sword cultivator, then hurried away as Wang Yuyao watched from the carriage in fear.

• Lin Fan planned to take the women to the King of Linzi’s City and find a place to hide in the turbulent Eastern Territory.
• Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao woke and set out with Lin Fan, who detoured to avoid Dangyang City.
• Flowing Cloud Sword Sect riders passed the carriage, prompting Lin Fan to spend sixty years of lifespan advancing Advanced Demonic Arts and reach the Meridian Condensing Realm’s Fourth Grade.
• A white-robed Flowing Cloud Sword Sect swordsman ambushed Lin Fan, but Lin Fan killed him and several followers with the Azure Gavel Sword and a Snow Demon Wolf talisman.
• Lin Fan searched the bodies, buried the dead, and drove away quickly as Wang Yuyao watched from inside the carriage and grew pale.

Lin Fan escaped the Blood Demon Sect’s territory with Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao, then confronted Wang Yuyao for leaving a trail that could lead the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect to them. He forgave her and promised to send the women to King of Linzi's City, but made clear he would not stay with them, leaving the three to sleep with conflicting feelings.

• Flowing Cloud Sword Sect disciples found the buried bodies of Junior Brother Yan and the others, identified their wounds as sword wounds, and pursued the carriage tracks.
• Lin Fan led Zhou Wanqing and Wang Yuyao through the forest, bought a crude carriage, and took them beyond the Blood Demon Sect's territory.
• Lin Fan accused Wang Yuyao of scattering ashes behind the carriage to alert the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect, and she admitted she had wanted to return sooner.
• Lin Fan spared Wang Yuyao and asked her to care for Zhou Wanqing when they reached King of Linzi's City.
• Lin Fan, Wang Yuyao, and Zhou Wanqing spent the night together, and Lin Fan said he would not stay in King of Linzi's City.