Chapter Summaries

Heavenly Crafting Cave learned that the Great Zhou and the Incense Fire Sect had destroyed several sects, and Hong Baichuan decided they must relocate. As preparations began, Xu Yunfan joined the injured Yan Yuwei to mine beneath Hump Mountain.

• Xu Yunfan and Zhan Yan entered the council hall as Heavenly Crafting Cave counted its dead and wounded.
• Mo Han reported that the Azure Phoenix Sword Sect, the Red Flood Dragon Gang, and five other Cangzhou sects had been destroyed, with the Cang Province Navy helping the attacks.
• The hall masters argued over whether Heavenly Crafting Cave could survive a Supreme Grandmaster of Qi Refining, and Hong Baichuan ordered the sect to relocate.
• Mo Han presented three possible relocation sites, and Hong Baichuan set a decision for half a month later while ordering preparations for supplies and weapons.
• Three days later, Xu Yunfan found Yan Yuwei mining despite her injuries and recalled that Zhan Yan had agreed to let him study the other halls' arts after learning he had completed the third refinement.

Xu Yunfan mastered the Melting Gold Forging Iron Art with astonishing speed while mining alongside Yan Yuwei, then headed to the Heavenly Crafting Department to study the Mystic Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength. He hoped to restore the incomplete Heavenly Crafting Forging Art before the sect relocated.

• Yan Yuwei taught Xu Yunfan the Melting Gold Forging Iron Art, but he entered it with one swing and quickly reached the third-level Gold Severing Hand.
• Yan Yuwei revealed her muscular physique, pushed herself to keep pace with Xu Yunfan, and resumed mining despite reopening her wounds.
• Xu Yunfan mined throughout the day, increased his Mining and Melting Gold Forging Iron Art proficiency, and restored part of the Heavenly Crafting Forging Art.
• Yan Yuwei collapsed from exhaustion as Xu Yunfan left for the Heavenly Crafting Department to learn the Mystic Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength.
• After dinner, Xu Yunfan went to the department for its evening lesson, intent on completing the Heavenly Crafting Forging Art before the sect's relocation.

Xu Yunfan learned the Heavenly Crafting Cave’s history and advanced his training in forging, mining, and martial arts. After mastering the Mystic Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength, he began training with the Mechanism Hall’s Mo Shisan.

• Zhang Yue taught the Heavenly Crafting Department’s students its blunt rules for dealing with outsiders and reflected with Xu Yunfan on the sect’s history and future.
• Zhang Yue began teaching Xu Yunfan the complete Mystic Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength.
• Xu Yunfan found a piece of Blazing Fire Iron in the mine, and Yan Yuwei declared that he had graduated after his Melting Gold Forging Iron Art reached Minor Accomplishment.
• Xu Yunfan redirected and returned Wan Chen’s axe strike during Zhang Yue’s test, impressing Zhang Yue with his mastery of the Mystic Turtle Strength.
• Mo Shisan used hundreds of Thousand Mechanism Silk threads to ensnare Xu Yunfan and began teaching him the principles of Hundred Refined Entangling Silk Strength.

Xu Yunfan completed the Heavenly Crafting Forging Art, gaining a powerful new physical transformation and mastery of mechanisms. He demonstrated his skill to Mo Shisan by rebuilding a humanoid mechanism armor, leaving Mo Shisan astonished by how he solved its balance problem.

• Xu Yunfan absorbed the completed Heavenly Crafting Forging Art and fused its principles with his martial arts, restoring the Mohist School’s supreme art.
• Xu Yunfan dismissed Mo Shisan’s Grade-C mechanism puppet as trash and criticized its outdated design.
• Mo Shisan explained why humanoid mechanism armor was impractical, citing the Tang Clan’s failed puppet and the challenges of balance and weight-bearing.
• Xu Yunfan dismantled the puppet and forged its parts into a seven-foot-six humanoid mechanism armor with liquid joints cushioning its bipedal weight.

Xu Yunfan forged a Mystic Steel Mechanism Box that concealed its aura, then accidentally triggered a violent disturbance in the Thunderfire Pool and discovered a divine weapon beneath it. After he activated the Mystic Steel Cover to suppress the pool, Hong Baichuan and Mo Han investigated the surge in earthfire and traced it to Melting Gold Hall’s unusually heavy extraction.

• Xu Yunfan’s demonstration of the Humanoid Mechanism Armor failed, and Mo Shisan examined the fallen armor with fascination.
• Xu Yunfan forged a Mystic Steel Mechanism Box that gathered qi and concealed its mechanism, despite his limited cultivation.
• Xu Yunfan opened his refined steel case, but the Thunderfire Pool erupted and he glimpsed a shadow wrapped in nine Blazing Fire Iron chains beneath the magma.
• Xu Yunfan used the chains and connecting rod to activate the Mystic Steel Cover, suppressing the Thunderfire Pool before fleeing.
• Hong Baichuan and Mo Han investigated the earthfire disturbance and learned that Melting Gold Hall had been extracting eighty thousand jin of fire daily.

Xu Yunfan reached the introductory level of the Pure Yang One Qi Art and gained a new understanding of the External Three Harmonies. As Heavenly Crafting Cave began its relocation to Ghost Cry Abyss, he discovered that Heavenly Crafting City was a mobile fortress and watched it rise from Hump Mountain.

• Hong Baichuan proposed summoning the sect elders and hall masters to decide where Heavenly Crafting Cave should relocate.
• Xu Yunfan practiced the Pure Yang One Qi Art at dawn, absorbed Purple Qi Comes From The East, and reached its introductory level.
• Xu Yunfan discovered that his body had coordinated its tendons, bones, and skin with remarkable precision, bringing him closer to the Flesh Refining Realm.
• Zhan Yan told Xu Yunfan that the sect had decided to move to Ghost Cry Abyss and revealed that Heavenly Crafting City could move.
• Mo Han activated the Armillary Sphere, and the Heavenly Crafting Fortress broke free from Hump Mountain as Xu Yunfan watched from inside.

Heavenly Crafting Cave revealed its thousand-year-old mobile fortress and used it to devastate the Incense Fire Sect’s camp. As the fortress began moving, Xu Yunfan helped repair an overloaded transmission shaft and redirected its dangerous vibrations into the ground.

• Heavenly Crafting Fortress rose from Hump Mountain on sixteen mechanical legs and advanced toward the Incense Fire Sect’s camp.
• The fortress’s blade wheels and iron-lotus defenses drenched the Incense Fire Sect’s vanguard in quenching fluid, while Hump Mountain collapsed around the emerging city.
• Xu Yunfan learned from Zhan Yan that Heavenly Crafting Cave had spent generations building the mobile fortress, then joined its disciples in handling the many problems caused by its movement.
• Xu Yunfan examined an overloaded Mystic Steel transmission shaft and used his hammer to fuse its damaged joint despite Han Qiushan’s protests.
• Xu Yunfan used Mystic Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength to guide the shaft’s vibrations into the ground, easing its overheating.

Xu Yunfan repaired the Heavenly Crafting Fortress and rushed toward a pressure chamber explosion, while Guo Lang began the Incense Fire Sect’s earth-vein formation atop Jade Capital’s Star Gazing Platform. The earth veins started turning, and Beichen Zi detected a disturbance far stronger than a historic earthquake.

• Xu Yunfan used advanced techniques to repair the Heavenly Crafting Fortress, impressing Han Qiushan, Mo Shisan, and the Mechanism Hall disciples.
• A pressure chamber exploded, and Xu Yunfan ran toward it before the other disciples.
• By dawn, Mo Han, Mo Shisan, and Xu Yunfan had led teams in repairing the fortress, while Mo Han lamented that he had not met Xu Yunfan sooner.
• Guo Lang activated the Star Gazing Platform formation with the Incense Fire Sect ritual masters, using the blood from the sacrifice and the bronze Blood Urns to turn Jade Capital’s earth veins.
• The earth veins surged beneath Jade Capital, the ancient wells erupted with blood, and ghostly winds swept across Great Zhou.
• Beichen Zi observed the Nine Luminaries Sect’s Seismograph and found Jade Capital’s earth-vein disturbance more than ten times greater than a past major earthquake.

Guo Lang began a blood sacrifice at Jade Capital to summon the Heaven and Earth Primal Spirit, while the Empress absorbed its spiritual light and regained her youth. The upheaval awakened Dugu Jiu from a two-hundred-year slumber, and he flew toward Jade Capital after seizing weapons from the Blood Flag Guard.

• Guo Lang used the Taiyi Dividing Light Sword Qi to open the earth beneath the Star Gazing Platform and continued the sacrifice of millions across Great Zhou.
• The blood urns cracked and the earth veins shook as Guo Lang summoned the Primal Spirit, while the Empress absorbed its light and grew young again.
• Xuanxiao Zhenren sensed the disturbance from Jiannan Province and ordered the Thirty-Six Peaks sealed rather than intervene.
• Dugu Jiu awoke in the Sword Tomb, broke free of his ice coffin, and recognized the blood sacrifice as an artificial summoning of the Primal Spirit.
• Dugu Jiu flew toward Jade Capital and borrowed three thousand Steel Sabres from the Blood Flag Guard marching through Longxi Province.

The Empress and Guo Lang’s attempt to force open the Heaven and Earth Primal Spirit collapsed as the earth veins erupted across Jade Capital City and other regions. As the Empress confronted Guo Lang over his failed plan, Dugu Jiu appeared above the clouds, and swords throughout the city rang toward him.

• The blood sacrifice failed to complete the bridge between heaven and man, destroying the Taiyi Dividing Light Sword and causing the earth veins to destabilize.
• The Empress ordered the Incense Fire Sect to spread across several provinces, while earthquakes damaged Jade Capital City and Amitabha Temple’s abbot Liao Chen recognized the Earth Dragon Turnover.
• The Empress cut into the blood pool with the Golden Radiance Sword despite Guo Lang’s warning, triggering further destruction at the Star Gazing Platform and causing Yun Lan to order the opening of the sea eye.
• The earth beneath all thirty-six wards collapsed, the remaining Blood Urns melted, and Guo Lang told the Empress that her plan could not overcome the Heavenly Mandate.
• The Empress accused Guo Lang of deceiving her, but their confrontation was interrupted when Dugu Jiu appeared above the clouds and swords across Jade Capital City rang toward him.

Xu Yunfan discovered that dawn cultivation of the Pure Yang One Qi Art now let him absorb primal spirit qi, while he continued training aboard the Heavenly Crafting Fortress. Seven days later, messengers reported Jade Capital City had fallen and the major sects had sealed their gates as the Incense Fire Sect ravaged Longxi.

• Dugu Jiu and the Empress clashed with their swords above the Star Gazing Platform, collapsing it and destroying the surrounding structures.
• Xu Yunfan absorbed a grain of primal spirit qi while cultivating at sunrise, and Zhan Yan explained that the Incense Fire Sect had stirred seven earth veins across Cangzhou.
• Xu Yunfan trained in the Pure Yang One Qi Art each dawn, practiced forging under Zhan Yan, and cultivated the Lin Character Secret at night.
• After seven days, Giant Kite Guards arrived at the Heavenly Crafting Fortress and reported that Jade Capital City had fallen and the Nine Luminaries Sect and Dao Sect of Qingwei Mountain had sealed their gates.
• Mo Han realized that Great Zhou's six top sects were standing by while the Empress sought to restore the Heaven and Earth Primal Spirit and the Incense Fire Sect slaughtered Longxi's seven prefectures.

Xu Yunfan cultivated the Pure Yang One Qi Art as Great Zhou weakened after the Empress’s defeat and signs of the primal spirit’s return stirred fears of demons. A month later, his blood qi steamed with red mist as the art neared minor mastery.

• Xu Yunfan sensed the Pure Yang One Qi Art progressing rapidly and estimated that he could enter the Flesh Refining Realm within half a year.
• Reports described the Empress’s battle with Dugu Jiu, the destruction of Jade Capital City, and Mo Han’s conclusion that the primal spirit might disperse again within decades.
• Zhan Yan told Xu Yunfan and Fu Jin that the wounded Empress had recalled the Tiger Brave Black Armor and that Great Zhou’s rule was nearing collapse.
• Zhan Yan revealed that the Yang Province Governor backed Prince Jing’s Heir and that Qingwei Mountain’s Dao Child had set out to attack the Incense Fire Sect.
• Zhan Yan warned that traces of the primal spirit could awaken demons and monsters, though Heavenly Crafting Cave’s disciples failed to sense it.
• After a month of cultivating Eastern Purple Qi on the Thunder Fire Platform, Xu Yunfan’s blood qi steamed into red mist as his Pure Yang One Qi Art neared minor mastery.

As Heavenly Crafting Cave reached Ghost Cry Abyss, Xu Yunfan wanted to join the scouting expedition, but Zhan Yan assigned him to inspect the Black Tortoise Mechanism Array instead. The fortress and its disciples began surveying the abyss while the sect’s relocation drew attention from forces across the realm.

• Xu Yunfan trained with the Pure Yang One Qi Art as the Heavenly Crafting Fortress approached Ghost Cry Abyss.
• Zhan Yan told Xu Yunfan that Fu Jin would lead the Casting Hall scouts through the eastern Sword Mark Secret Passage, but ordered Xu Yunfan to inspect the Black Tortoise Mechanism Array with Mo Shisan.
• Xu Yunfan accepted the decision and noticed that Qi Huan had become isolated after his master Bao Yan was exposed as a spy.
• Four scouting teams descended into Ghost Cry Abyss using mechanical platforms, birds, drills, and other devices to survey the terrain.
• The Heavenly Crafting Fortress advanced along the Sword Gate Ancient Road as the seven lords’ cavalry and other observers watched from a distance.

Hong Baichuan brought Xu Yunfan and a Precious Artifact to pay respects at the Azure Peak Profound Truth Sect, Lingnan Province’s foremost martial power. As Su Zhenhe escorted them up the mountain, he subtly tested Xu Yunfan, who quietly countered him.

• Hong Baichuan personally carried the Gilded Heavy Iron Box up the Heavenly Questioning Ladder, while Xu Yunfan carried his weapons and worried about attracting danger from the local sect.
• Su Zhenhe greeted Hong Baichuan beneath the mountain steps and said Mountain Gazing Taoist was waiting at the gate.
• Su Zhenhe praised Xu Yunfan’s bearing, and Xu introduced himself as a core disciple of Heavenly Crafting Cave’s Casting Hall.
• As they climbed, Xu Yunfan noticed Su Zhenhe using the Seven Stars Step to interfere with his aura circulation.
• Xu Yunfan shifted his steps to break Su Zhenhe’s maneuver, making Su’s expression briefly stiffen while Hong Baichuan remained unaware.

Xu Yunfan accompanied Hong Baichuan to Mystic Truth Sect, where the Seven Star Xuanji Blades impressed the sect’s leaders and revealed the strength of Heavenly Crafting Cave’s inheritance. The gathering ended with Taoist Guan He hinting that Hong Baichuan’s old injury had cost Heavenly Crafting Cave its chance at greater martial mastery, while the return of Heaven and Earth Primal Spirit might offer hope.

• Hong Baichuan and Xu Yunfan reached Mystic Truth Sect’s mountain gate, where Su Zhenhe showed them the Mountain Suppressing Cauldron and its Peacock Sand mist.
• Hong Baichuan displayed the Seven Star Xuanji Blades, whose force shook the cauldron and drew Su Zhenhe’s attention.
• Su Zhenhe’s folding fan sliced Xu Yunfan’s shoulder fabric, but Xu Yunfan remained calm and continued through the gate.
• Mountain Gazing Taoist and Guan He Zhenren welcomed Hong Baichuan, and Guan He used the Seven Star Xuanji Blades to demonstrate the Heavenly Dipper Formation.
• Guan He revealed that his display had consumed three days of accumulated vital essence, then told Hong Baichuan that the Empress’s return of Heaven and Earth Primal Spirit might offer hope despite his old injury.

Hong Baichuan formally asked Mystic Truth Sect to let Heavenly Crafting Cave reestablish its sect at Ghost Cry Abyss, offering the Seven Star Xuanji Blade and arranging materials for the Dragon Suppressing Piles. Xu Yunfan toured Mystic Truth Sect with Su Zhenhe and enjoyed a lavish banquet, where Hong Baichuan became drunk.

• Hong Baichuan recalled how Mountain Gazing Taoist had taken a Vajra Palm strike for him at the Monan Quicksand Eye nearly forty years earlier.
• Hong Baichuan formally requested Ghost Cry Abyss for Heavenly Crafting Cave and presented the Seven Star Xuanji Blade as a gift to Mystic Truth Sect.
• Mountain Gazing Taoist agreed to provide seven thousand jin of Crimson Dragon Iron, and Hong Baichuan said he had brought ten shiploads of Sunken Sand for forging Dragon Suppressing Piles.
• Su Zhenhe showed Xu Yunfan Mystic Truth's peaks and praised his sayings, while Xu Yunfan learned that the sect raised powerful strange beasts.
• At the banquet, Xu Yunfan ate Crimson Scale Dragon Eye, felt its spiritual energy strengthen him, and Hong Baichuan grew drunk on Immortal's Downpour.

Xu Yunfan and Su Zhenhe sparred in the courtyard of Star Plucking Pavilion, trading blows with their Precious Artifacts. After a hundred exchanges, Xu Yunfan’s hammer grew fiercer and Su Zhenhe began to falter.

• Su Zhenhe challenged Xu Yunfan after Guan Shan suggested the two newly advanced martial artists spar.
• Xu Yunfan and Su Zhenhe exchanged a brief attack inside the pavilion, where Xu Yunfan used Thousand Mechanism Silk to block Su Zhenhe’s fan.
• Xu Yunfan and Su Zhenhe moved into the courtyard, where Xu Yunfan revealed the Thunder Fire Qilin Hammer was a Precious Artifact.
• Xu Yunfan and Su Zhenhe fought with their weapons, breaking tiles and snapping Guan Shan’s ginkgo tree as they exchanged attacks.
• After a hundred exchanges, Xu Yunfan’s Cloak Hammer grew more powerful while Su Zhenhe’s fan slowed and its ribs reddened from the impacts.

Xu Yunfan defeated Su Zhenhe in their sparring match, and the Mystic Truth Sect agreed to support Heavenly Crafting Cave as it relocated to Ghost Cry Abyss. As Heavenly Crafting Cave settled in, rival forces began testing its defenses, and the Hu Family’s Third Elder arrived at the fortress.

• Xu Yunfan disarmed Su Zhenhe and stopped his hammer just before it struck, ending their sparring match.
• Taoist Guan He revealed that the uprooted ginkgo tree belonged to Ye Linyun, so Hong Baichuan hurried Xu Yunfan away; Mountain Gazing Taoist ordered an elder to escort Heavenly Crafting Cave.
• Taoist Guan Ming, also known as Xiong Kun, approached Hong Baichuan to ask Heavenly Crafting Cave to forge him a replacement spear.
• At Ghost Cry Abyss, Mo Shisan reported that Blood Banner Alliance scouts had withdrawn after placing climbing spikes on the western cliff, and Hall Master Zhan had prevented a fight.
• Hu Zhenyue led sixteen riders toward the Heavenly Crafting Fortress, but three flying iron swords blocked their road.

Xu Yunfan’s group returned with Mystic Truth Sect disciples as the sect’s Law Enforcement Hall moved against the Hu Family under the Six Paths Covenant. They reached Heavenly Crafting Cave and saw its enormous mobile fortress, while Hong Baichuan explained that it was only a modest imitation of the ancient Mohist School Machinery City.

• Hu Zhenyue turned his cavalry back toward the sect after seeing Azure Peak Profound Truth Sect’s Sword Banner.
• Xu Yunfan returned with Mystic Truth Sect disciples, and Xiong Kun criticized the sects for invoking the Six Paths Covenant selectively.
• Azure Peak Profound Truth Sect’s Law Enforcement Hall riders intercepted the Hu Family, and cries and the smell of blood came from below the mountain.
• The Mystic Truth Sect group encountered Heavenly Crafting Cave’s colossal mobile fortress, equipped with mechanical limbs and concealed ballistae.
• Hong Baichuan told Xiong Kun that the fortress was only an iron shell with legs compared with the ancient Mohist School Machinery City.

Xiong Kun granted Heavenly Crafting Cave the deed to Ghost Cry Abyss, where the sect planned to establish Heavenly Crafting Fortress. Far below, Qi Huan and the Sixteen Guards discovered signs of the Mohist School’s ancient underground city while tensions over their treatment stirred among the guards.

• Xiong Kun gave Hong Baichuan a deed assigning Ghost Cry Abyss to Heavenly Crafting Cave, and Hong Baichuan noticed the Lingnan Province Military Governor’s seal on it.
• Mo Han told the hall leaders that Heavenly Crafting Fortress could be established in Ghost Cry Abyss, and Zhan Yan, Mo Han, and Wan Chen discussed its underground resources and plans to visit Shu Province’s six sects.
• Qi Huan led the Sixteen Guards through the abyss, identified poisonous Ghost Painted Skin and Earth Meridian Crayfish, and found a ruined bronze Mechanism Beast beside the skeletons of missing Army Destroyer Guards.
• Yan Qi complained that the Sixteen Guards had been mistreated since Bao Yan’s actions, and Qi Huan silenced the group with his sword case.
• Qi Huan remembered Xu Yunfan killing his master and urged the guards to accept the other halls’ resentment until tempers cooled.