Chapter Summaries

Lu Xuanji visited Ye Linglong after the Ye Family Patriarch passed away and reflected on how time had outlasted nearly everyone he once knew. Ye Wanyi and Ye Linglong reunited and spoke about their lives, leaving Ye Wanyi to reveal that True Lord Xi Yue planned to become Dao companions with Lu Xuanji.

• Lu Xuanji mourned the many cultivators of his generation who had died and considered how loss gradually weakened a cultivator’s ties to the mortal world.
• Lu Xuanji offered Ye Linglong condolences for her father’s peaceful death, and Ye Linglong apologized for what had happened between them in the past.
• Ye Wanyi led Ye Linglong aside, and the two discussed Ye Linglong’s rise to Golden Core Sixth Revolution and Ye Wanyi’s life with Lu Xuanji and their sons.
• Ye Linglong praised the harmony between Lu Xian and Purple Cloud True Lord, while Ye Wanyi thought about how True Lord Xi Yue had eclipsed her place beside Lu Xuanji.
• Ye Wanyi told Ye Linglong that True Lord Xi Yue intended to become Dao companions with Lu Xuanji, and Ye Linglong remarked on Xi Yue’s exceptional talent.

Ye Wanyi urged Ye Linglong to join the Lu Clan as Lu Xuanji’s concubine, partly from loneliness and partly from jealousy toward True Lord Xi Yue. Ye Linglong hesitated over the offer, while Ye Wanyi and Lu Xuanji returned home with the question unresolved.

• Ye Wanyi reflected on how her cultivation lagged behind Lu Xuanji’s and True Lord Xi Yue’s, then urged Ye Linglong to marry into the Lu Clan.
• Ye Linglong refused, but Ye Wanyi offered her a token and three months to reconsider, claiming the Lu Clan could improve her chances of reaching Nascent Soul.
• After Ye Wanyi left, Ye Linglong held the token and hesitated, recognizing that Ye Wanyi had changed over the centuries.
• On the way home, Ye Wanyi told Lu Xuanji she had urged Ye Linglong to become his concubine and explained her jealousy and loneliness.
• Lu Xuanji apologized, while Ye Wanyi insisted Ye Linglong might accept because time had softened her pride.

Ye Wanyi feared that her ordinary aptitude and shorter lifespan would leave her behind Lu Xuanji, so she urged him to take Ye Linglong as a companion. Lu Xuanji reassured her with a Rank 7 Timefruit and, after returning to the Lu Clan, planted a Rank 5 Pan Tao Tree that began raising Changyuan Mountain’s spirit vein toward Rank 5.

• Ye Wanyi told Lu Xuanji that she feared becoming a burden and wanted Ye Linglong to accompany him after she died.
• Lu Xuanji comforted Ye Wanyi and showed her a Rank 7 Timefruit that could grant ten thousand years of lifespan, though she could not consume it at her current cultivation level.
• Lu Xuanji reassured Ye Wanyi that he had other treasures to extend her lifespan, and she leaned against him, more resolute in her decision.
• Lu Xuanji returned with Ye Wanyi to the Lu Clan and saw that Changyuan Mountain’s spirit vein had advanced to mid-grade Rank 4.
• Lu Xuanji transplanted a Rank 5 Pan Tao Tree into the medicine garden, where it took root and helped Changyuan Mountain’s spirit vein advance toward Rank 5.

After Lu Xuanji brought a Rank 5 Spirit Peach Tree to Changyuan Mountain, the Lu Clan prepared an extravagant True Lord Banquet to secure its place among Nascent Soul powers. The banquet began as guests streamed through the mountain gate, leaving the clan facing a costly celebration and a new circle of potential allies.

• Lu Xuanji told Ye Wanyi he had found the Rank 5 Spirit Peach Tree in a cultivation bandit's lair, and she considered how to propagate it and use its spirit peaches.
• The tree raised Changyuan Mountain's Spirit Vein toward Rank 5, attracting greedy divine-sense probes from nearby Nascent Soul Cultivators; Lu Xuanji countered them and demonstrated his strength.
• Nascent Soul Cultivators who had tested Lu Xuanji began considering friendship and attending the banquet rather than attempting to seize the tree.
• The Grand Elder spent heavily on supplies for the True Lord Banquet despite Lu Xuanji's concern that the Lu Clan would face decades of financial hardship.
• After a month of preparations, the Lu Clan opened Changyuan Mountain to guests and welcomed cultivators with or without invitations.

Lu Xuanji learned from True Lord Xi Yue how Chu Kingdom’s Nascent Soul cultivators were organized under five Spirit Transformation Celestial Venerables. He discovered that the Lu Family belonged to Pill Aura Celestial Venerable’s lineage and that he was distantly descended from the Celestial Venerable.

• Lu Xuanji asked True Lord Xi Yue about the number and influence of Nascent Soul cultivators in Chu Kingdom, and she explained that more than one hundred and thirty True Lords shared power under five Celestial Venerables.
• True Lord Xi Yue said the five factions maintained peace among Chu Kingdom’s cultivators and united against threats from Yue Kingdom and other demons.
• True Lord Xi Yue described the origins and surviving descendants of the Eastern Extremity, Life, Profound Earth, Northern Dipper, and Pill Aura lineages.
• True Lord Xi Yue told Lu Xuanji that he belonged to Pill Aura Celestial Venerable’s lineage and was a descendant of Danyang True Lord.
• Lu Xuanji questioned whether his distant ancestor, Pill Aura Celestial Venerable, could be relied upon.

Lu Xuanji learned about the distant ties and lingering family of Spirit Transformation cultivators before welcoming Nascent Soul guests to celebrate his breakthrough. The gathering ended with the guests discussing his past victory over Gu Changfeng and the threat posed by Five Colors Celestial Venerable.

• True Lord Xi Yue explained how longevity left powerful cultivators with few surviving family members and warned Lu Xuanji about the grief of losing disciples and descendants.
• True Lord Xi Yue sensed guests arriving, and Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi went to welcome them.
• Ink Feather True Lord congratulated Lu Xuanji and gave him a gift before joining the gathering.
• Flying Feather True Lord, Bright Moon True Lord, Flying Snow True Lord, Nether Fire True Lord, Savage True Lord, and Empress Earth True Lord arrived, and the cultivators exchanged polite but guarded conversation.
• Bright Moon True Lord recognized a distant bloodline connection to Lu Xuanji and invited him to visit Bright Moon Peak.
• Flying Feather True Lord warned Lu Xuanji that the Demon Race wanted him dead, and Lu Xuanji asked whether the others had considered killing Five Colors Celestial Venerable, a reincarnated Spirit Transformation cultivator.

At the True Lord Convention, Lu Xuanji learned why Gu Changfeng was rebuilding his cultivation slowly and gained the Lu Clan new standing and benefits among the cultivation powers. After Flying Feather True Lord gave him a protective token, Nether Fire True Lord confronted him about cultivating a technique from the Joyful Union Demonic Vein.

• Flying Feather True Lord explained that cultivators who Live a Second Life can rebuild their foundations, and that Gu Changfeng had spent centuries correcting flaws in his former cultivation.
• The True Lords discussed Gu Changfeng's search for immortal gold and the balance of power among the human and demon Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• The True Lord Convention ended with the Lu Clan gaining access to marketplaces, secret realms, disciple quotas, auctions, and sect materials.
• Flying Feather True Lord asked Lu Xuanji to visit Pill Aura Celestial Venerable when he returned and gave him a token capable of unleashing a Nascent Soul ninth-layer strike.
• Nether Fire True Lord returned and asked Lu Xuanji whether he was cultivating the Yin Yang Transformation technique of the Joyful Union Demonic Vein.

Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi agreed to join Nether Fire True Lord on an expedition to a suspected Spirit Transformation Cave Dwelling in the Yue Kingdom, hoping its treasures would help fund their cultivation. After gathering with two Danyang Sect True Lords and agreeing on risks and spoils, they reached Willow Tree Village, where Nether Fire revealed the Great Cauldron that had led her to the discovery.

• Nether Fire True Lord invited Lu Xuanji to explore a Cave Mansion in the Yue Kingdom, but Lu Xuanji initially refused until Jin Xi agreed to accompany him.
• Jin Xi said her calculations showed the journey was auspicious and argued that they needed the resources; Lu Xuanji then agreed to go.
• Three months later, Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi met Nether Fire True Lord, Wang Qing, and Yaochi at a tavern, where Nether Fire described the site as a possible Spirit Transformation Cave Dwelling.
• The group discussed the dangers, agreed to divide the spoils, and signed Heart Demon oaths before setting out.
• At Willow Tree Village, Nether Fire True Lord explained that she had discovered a body-tempering martial arts method on a stone cauldron more than thirty years earlier and secretly replaced the village's cauldron with a fake.

Lu Xuanji and the True Lords discovered that an ordinary stone cauldron contained a Spirit Transformation cultivator’s legacy and followed its aura to the Yin Yang Cave Dwelling. They opened the hidden entrance beneath a lake but found its stone gate unyielding and self-repairing.

• The cultivators examined the Great Cauldron and dismissed its Spirit Transformation Art as useless to them.
• Lu Xuanji and the other True Lords were injured when the Yin Yang mark revealed a trace of Spirit Transformation intent, while Jin Xi gained inspiration from it.
• Nether Fire True Lord explained that a Spirit Transformation Expert had left a Cave Mansion nearby and persuaded the others to explore it together.
• Yaochi True Lord and Jin Xi located the illusion array beneath a lake, and Yaochi broke it to reveal the Cave Mansion entrance.
• Yaochi True Lord and True Lord Wang Qing tried to force open the Yin Yang Cave Dwelling’s stone gate, but it resisted their attacks and repaired its damage.

Lu Xuanji and the other True Lords opened the Yin Yang Cave Dwelling and entered after Jin Xi and Yaochi True Lord secured the entrance with a defensive formation. Inside, they found a sparse retreat and discovered that the pills in its Great Cauldron had decayed.

• Jin Xi identified the stone gate's Yin-Yang requirement, and Lu Xuanji and Nether Fire True Lord used their essence blood to open it.
• Yaochi True Lord urged the group to secure the entrance, so Jin Xi and Yaochi True Lord spent three days setting up an attack-and-defense formation outside.
• Lu Xuanji, True Lord Wang Qing, Nether Fire True Lord, and the others entered the Cave Mansion, while Jin Xi, Yaochi True Lord, and the others sent Golden Core avatars inside.
• Nether Fire True Lord explained that the Cave Mansion was a sparsely furnished resting place with few, if any, interior formations.
• Lu Xuanji opened the Great Cauldron in the main hall and found that its fifth-grade pills had crumbled into ashes.

Lu Xuanji and the other True Lords explored the Cave Mansion, found several rare treasures, and divided the spoils. As they prepared to leave, a Nascent Soul ninth-layer cultivator attacked the entrance arrays and threatened to trap them inside.

• Nether Fire True Lord took the fifth-grade Great Cauldron, and the group discovered three pills, including a Nascent Soul Pill and a Dragon Blood Pill, in the alchemy room.
• The group broke into the central seclusion room and found a storage bag containing a thousand Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Nether Fire True Lord estimated the treasures’ values, then she, True Lord Wang Qing, Yaochi True Lord, Lu Xuanji, and Jin Xi divided the spoils.
• Yaochi True Lord and Jin Xi sensed an approaching cultivator as the group gathered at the Cave Mansion entrance.
• A Nascent Soul ninth-layer cultivator attacked the entrance arrays, and Nether Fire True Lord confronted him.

Lu Xuanji and his companions survived an attack by a concealed Nascent Soul ninth layer cultivator and returned to Willow Tree Village, where Lu Xuanji gained a new artistic conception. An ancient Willow Tree revealed that it guarded a treasury and invited the younger cultivators to take one treasure each.

• The Black-Clothed Man attacked the Cave Mansion’s formation, but the cultivators held him off until he left after a hundred exchanges.
• Nether Fire True Lord and the others teleported to the Joyful Union Sect, while Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi searched the Cave Mansion again and found nothing.
• Lu Xuanji returned to Willow Tree Village and, after contemplating the aging Willow Tree, comprehended the Wither and Flourish Artistic Conception.
• The ancient Willow Tree revealed its face and aura, and Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi respectfully greeted it.
• The Willow Tree said it had stayed behind to guard a treasury and invited the fated younger generations to take one treasure each.

Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi received their treasures from the village treasury and returned to the Danyang Sect, where they planned to stay hidden from the black-clothed man. Lu Xuanji then used his phone to identify an unknown pill from the cave mansion’s spoils, learning that it could improve comprehension but risked driving its user mad.

• Lu Xuanji drew a gourd containing seven Big Dipper Fate Changing Pills from the starry treasury, while Jin Xi received a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• The willow tree sent Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi back to Creation Peak in the Danyang Sect, and Jin Xi suspected the tree was at least a Void Refining expert.
• Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi decided to remain in the Danyang Sect for decades or longer to evade the black-clothed man who had ambushed them.
• Lu Xuanji and Jin Xi entered the Chaos Palace to sort their spoils; Long Xuan took the Dragon Blood Pill, and Jin Xi began cultivating with one hundred Supreme-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Lu Xuanji used his phone to examine an unknown pill and learned that it could increase comprehension but cause heightened sensitivity and madness.

After swallowing an Enlightenment Pill, Lu Xuanji glimpsed the world’s underlying particles and threads but nearly lost his humanity to the Great Dao. Ye Wanyi’s presence and their Yin Yang Transformation restored his emotions, leaving him to wonder how ancient masters resisted Great Dao Erosion.

• Lu Xuanji swallowed the azure Enlightenment Pill and perceived the world as black-and-white Yin Yang Qi, particles, and interwoven threads.
• Lu Xuanji realized that his fading emotions were drawing him toward Dao Transformation, so he summoned Ye Wanyi and told her he missed her.
• Lu Xuanji and Ye Wanyi practiced dual cultivation, and the Yin Yang Transformation’s emotional threads helped return him to human nature.
• Lu Xuanji concluded that the Enlightenment Pill had nearly erased his desires and suspected that the Yin Yang Transformation could resist Great Dao Erosion.
• Lu Xuanji wondered how Feathered Ascension Dao Lord, Great Emperor Samsara, Joyful Union Old Devil, White Bone Dao Lord, and other experts had resisted the erosion, but found no answers in his materials.

Lu Xuanji completed a powerful blade technique and improved his escape technique before advancing to the Nascent Soul second layer after eighty years of cultivation. When Jin Xi reached the Nascent Soul fifth layer, she explained that Demonic Path shortcuts could speed cultivation but brought terrifying tribulations.

• Lu Xuanji completed the Great Five Elements Yin Yang Primordial Magnetism Starlight Cosmic Extinction Divine Blade, whose power rivaled a Nascent Soul ninth-layer strike but exhausted his magical power.
• Lu Xuanji cultivated his Ground Shrinking Golden Light to level 5, then returned to secluded cultivation with Jin Xi and the others.
• After eighty years, Lu Xuanji advanced to the Nascent Soul second layer and worried that reaching the peak would take centuries more.
• Lu Xuanji refined large batches of pills and learned from the Grand Elder that the Lu Clan was doing well.
• Ten years later, Jin Xi emerged from secluded cultivation at the Nascent Soul fifth layer.
• Lu Xuanji asked whether secret techniques could speed cultivation, and Jin Xi compared the Righteous and Demonic Paths, warning that demonic shortcuts invited severe tribulations.

Lu Xuanji rejected the idea of advancing through plunder and returned to the Lu Clan with Jin Xi after a century in seclusion. There, Lu Fan announced his attempt to form a Golden Core and began arranging his family affairs before the tribulation.

• Jin Xi warned Lu Xuanji that killing too many Nascent Soul cultivators for pills would draw the attention of Spirit Transformation experts, and he decided to focus on bitter cultivation.
• Ten years later, Jin Xi emerged from seclusion with her foundation consolidated, and she and Lu Xuanji left the Danyang Sect for the Lu Clan.
• Lu Xuanji saw that the Lu Clan had grown into a prosperous Nascent Soul family with a vast population and orderly administration.
• Lu Fan told Lu Xuanji that he would attempt Golden Core formation in three days, despite his ordinary aptitude and dwindling lifespan.
• Lu Fan notified his descendants, prepared for the tribulation, and began dividing family property and arranging matters for his surviving wives and concubines.

Lu Fan prepared his wives and concubines for the possibility that he would die attempting the Golden Core tribulation, distributing his remaining resources and telling them whom to seek for help. After most of them left, Murong Xue, Ye Qingqing, and Zhao Rumeng stayed to speak with him, and Zhao Rumeng recalled how she had once resented being given to him as a concubine.

• Lu Fan told his fifty-three wives and concubines that they could remarry or remain with the Lu Clan if he died, and named his parents and their maidservants as people who could help them.
• Lu Fan divided his remaining pills and Spirit Stones among the women, who withdrew after some expressed satisfaction and others disappointment.
• Murong Xue asked Lu Fan about his chances of surviving the tribulation and said she would remain chaste if he died.
• Ye Qingqing announced that she planned to attempt her own tribulation, but Lu Fan urged her to wait and strengthen her foundation.
• Lu Fan gave Zhao Rumeng a letter that would let her become his mother's disciple if he died, and Zhao Rumeng recalled her resentment when the Zhao Clan had offered her to Lu Fan to escape ruin.

Lu Fan prepared his descendants for his Tribulation Crossing, distributing instructions and giving Lu Mingxuan a letter for Xuanji True Lord in case he failed. On the third day, Lu Fan faced the tribulation as his family watched and prayed, and the Heavenly Tribulation intensified through its sixth strike.

• Zhao Rumeng received Lu Fan's letter asking that Mother take her as a disciple and promised to wait for her husband as he prepared to undergo Tribulation Crossing.
• Lu Fan gathered thousands of surviving descendants, explained how his inheritance would support the Lineage, and urged them to help the Lu Clan prosper.
• Lu Fan gave Lu Mingxuan a letter to take to his grandfather if Lu Fan died, while Lu Qiwen declared he would surpass Patriarch Xuanji.
• On the third day, tribulation clouds gathered and lightning swallowed Lu Fan as Murong Xue, Ye Qingqing, Zhao Rumeng, Lu Xian, and Lu Xuanji silently encouraged him.
• The Heavenly Tribulation grew stronger, and by its sixth strike Heavenly Lightning, Nightmare Wind, and Heavenly Fire swept down.

Lu Xuanji watched Lu Fan and two of his concubines overcome their tribulations and attain Golden Core, then expounded the Dao to a vast gathering of cultivators. After the lecture, he offered the Lu Clan’s six Golden Core cultivators help with cultivation resources and other requests.

• Lu Fan survived the Golden Core Three Tribulations and became a Golden Core True Person.
• Ye Qingqing and Zhao Rumeng passed their tribulations and attained Golden Core.
• Ten days later, Lu Xuanji lectured hundreds of thousands of cultivators, setting rules and explaining cultivation from Qi Refining through Golden Core and Nascent Soul.
• After the crowd dispersed, Lu Xuanji praised the Lu Clan’s six Golden Core cultivators and offered them cultivation arts, pills, magic treasures, or other assistance.

Lu Xuanji granted clan members their requested gifts and showed Lu Qiwen how formidable his Golden Core combat skills had been. As the Lu Clan grew capable of standing on its own, Lu Xuanji stepped down as Patriarch and appointed Lu Fan in his place.

• Lu Xuanji offered each clan member one request, giving Cheng Yun battle armor, Lu Fan a Gold Token, Ye Qingqing a cultivation manual, Zhao Rumeng a Supreme Divine Ability, and Lu Mingxuan alchemy notes.
• Lu Qiwen challenged Lu Xuanji’s Golden Core clone and was swiftly defeated, then asked how he could surpass his Ancestor.
• Lu Xuanji explained that his exceptional comprehension had let him master Supreme Divine Abilities unusually early, despite his ordinary aptitude.
• Jin Xi urged Lu Xuanji to entrust the clan to the younger generation, and he decided Lu Fan should succeed him as Patriarch.
• Lu Xuanji announced his resignation at a clan assembly, appointed Lu Fan as Patriarch, and became Grand Elder as the clan established rules for both positions.