Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuanbing defeated Bihai Immortal Sect’s Xu Haolong in one move, allowing the Zhang Family to claim victory and the stakes. After the guests departed, Zhang Xuanchen celebrated the clan’s future with his family, then discovered Jun Xiaoyao had apparently eaten most of the banquet leftovers.

• Zhang Xuanchen rebuked Pang Quan after Pang Quan implied the Zhang Family would be destroyed, and Bihai Immortal Sect’s disciples carried the injured Xu Haolong away.
• Pang Quan ended the sparring match, conceded the loss and the stakes to the Zhang Family, then departed with his disciples on a Red-crowned Spirit Crane.
• After the guests left, Zhang Hongzhan praised Zhang Xuanchen, who promised to lead the Zhang Clan toward a greater future and announced plans to reveal Lineage reforms the next day.
• Zhang Xuanchen visited the Guest Welcoming Hall and warned the servants not to overeat the leftover spirit fruits.
• Zhang Xuanchen found Jun Xiaoyao eating the last spirit fruit beside a huge pile of food remains and asked Xiao Cui whether he had eaten it all.

Jun Xiaoyao, posing as Li Xiao, impressed Zhang Xuanchen with his rapid cultivation and was accepted into the Zhang Family. The next morning, Zhang Xuanchen gathered the family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators to begin discussing reforms.

• Jun Xiaoyao explained his fabricated tragic past to Zhang Xuanchen, who decided to investigate his background but suspected he had a special constitution.
• Zhang Xuanchen offered Li Xiao a place in the Zhang Family, and Li Xiao agreed after confirming he would be allowed to eat his fill.
• Zhang Xuanchen ordered Zhou Tai to register Li Xiao and show him around the family for half a month.
• The next morning, fifteen of the Zhang Family’s nineteen Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered for a meeting about reforms.
• Zhang Xuanchen took his seat as Clan Leader, and the elders stopped smiling and observed the proper respect for his authority.

Zhang Xuanchen reorganized the Zhang Lineage into eleven halls, assigning elders and relatives to lead them and laying down strict enforcement rules. The meeting ended with Zhang Hongqing accepting the dangerous role of Dark Hall master.

• Zhang Xuanchen announced the creation of eleven halls and warned that the Enforcement Hall would punish every clan-rule violation regardless of rank or merit.
• Zhang Xuanchen appointed Zhang Guangyao, Zhang Zujun, Zhang Zonggan, Zhang Zonghui, Zhang Hongzhan, and Zhang Guangli to lead the six cultivation-arts halls, with the elders agreeing to serve until they trained successors.
• Zhang Xuanchen appointed Zhang Xuanbing to the Enforcement Hall, Zhang Zu'an to the Merit Hall, and Zhang Hongyi to the General Affairs Hall.
• Zhang Xuanchen renamed the Monster Hunting Team the War Hall, appointing Zhang Guangxin as its master and Zhang Hongxi as his assistant.
• Zhang Xuanchen tasked Zhang Hongqing with building the secretive Dark Hall to gather intelligence, handle covert missions, recruit gifted people, and preserve the Lineage in a catastrophe.
• Zhang Hongqing accepted the position of Dark Hall master.

Zhang Xuanchen finalized reforms to strengthen the Zhang Family and checked on Jun Xiaoyao, who had adapted well as Li Xiao. Yan Ruyu arrived at Xuanxiao Mountain and revealed that Jun Xiaoyao possessed the Taotie Body, a physique that could grow stronger by eating.

• Zhang Xuanchen assigned Zhang Hongqing to establish the Dark Hall and Zhang Hongwen to oversee the Transmission Tower, then discussed the family’s reforms with the clan.
• Yan Ruyu asked Elder Xu whether her master would accept Xiao Chen and decided to visit Xuanxiao Mountain.
• Zhang Xuanchen found Zhou Tai and Jun Xiaoyao on patrol, and Jun Xiaoyao told him that he was happy with his new life in the Zhang Family.
• Yan Ruyu arrived with Elder Xu, insisted that Jun Xiaoyao stay with her, and exchanged teasing voice transmissions with him.
• Zhang Xuanchen asked Yan Ruyu about Jun Xiaoyao’s physique, and she identified it as the Taotie Body, which allowed him to grow stronger by eating.

Zhang Xuanchen brought Elder Xu to the Zhang Family’s alchemy hall to plan a powerful formation, while Li Xiao secured his place in the family despite the cost of his Taotie Body. The formation’s expense threatened the family’s finances, and Zhang Xuanchen ended by asking how much of his Earth Core Fire Crystal it would require.

• Yan Ruyu explained that Li Xiao’s Taotie Body made him costly to feed, but Zhang Xuanchen refused to drive him from the Zhang Family and promised to guide him.
• Li Xiao thanked Zhang Xuanchen and secretly taunted Yan Ruyu, while Zhang Xuanchen sent him to find Zhou Tai.
• Zhang Xuanchen brought Yan Ruyu and Elder Xu to the former alchemy site and told Zhang Zujun that Elder Xu would establish a grand formation there.
• Elder Xu recommended a Third-grade Top-tier Nine Yang Heaven Melting Array and estimated it would cost at least two hundred thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones each year to operate.
• Zhang Xuanchen considered the strain on the family’s finances, produced a large Earth Core Fire Crystal, and asked Elder Xu how much was needed for the formation.

Zhang Xuanchen sold some Earth Core Fire Crystal, arranged for Elder Xu to build the Nine Yang Heaven Melting Array, and made other preparations for the Zhang Family before entering seclusion. Two years later, he emerged with stabilized Foundation Establishment cultivation and improved sword and physical abilities, ready to see how the Lineage had changed.

• Yan Ruyu bought a piece of Zhang Xuanchen’s Earth Core Fire Crystal, and Elder Xu estimated that raising the Zhang Family’s Spirit Vein to Third-grade Top-tier would cost at least one hundred thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
• Zhang Zujun advised Zhang Xuanchen not to rush the Spirit Vein upgrade, and Zhang Xuanchen asked Elder Xu to establish the Nine Yang Heaven Melting Array.
• Zhang Xuanchen retrieved a White Fur Rat with Treasure Seeking Rat bloodline, selected the Primordial Spirit Returning Divine Art and several sword techniques, and entered seclusion when the Ancestor had not returned.
• After two years, Zhang Xuanchen emerged with his Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivation stabilized, several techniques improved, and his physical strength at Second Revolution Mid Stage Peak.
• Zhang Xuanchen left the cultivation chamber to find out how the Lineage had fared during his seclusion.

Two years after Zhang Xuanchen entered seclusion, the Zhang Family had expanded and grown stronger, but the Nine Splendor Sword Sect's summons drew away much of its fighting force. After learning that the Soul Devouring Cult had crushed the sect's first campaign, Zhang Xuanchen realized the coming war would likely bring devastating losses.

• Zhang Xuanchen emerged from two years of seclusion and learned from Zhang Xuanlong that Zhang Chongxian had led one hundred clansmen and one hundred and fifty Family Generals away in response to the Nine Splendor Sword Sect's summons.
• Zhang Xuanchen rushed to the family Main Hall, where Zhang Hongzhan explained that the Zhang Family had reorganized its businesses and expanded its halls and merchant guild, but had lost half its fighting strength to the summons.
• Zhang Hongzhan told Zhang Xuanchen that the Nine Splendor Sword Sect's first campaign against the Soul Devouring Cult had ended in a crushing defeat, with its Nascent Soul Ancestor badly injured and most of its forces killed or wounded.
• Zhang Xuanchen warned Zhang Hongzhan that the Soul Devouring Cult might be stronger than the Nine Splendor Sword Sect and that the summoned forces would suffer heavy losses.
• Zhang Hongzhan said the Zhang Family had no choice but to join the battle to protect and develop the clan, despite the danger.

Zhang Xuanchen decided to join the campaign against the Soul Devouring Cult as a rogue cultivator, hoping to use Blood Spirit Beads to cultivate and verify his Immortal Fate Information. He left before the family’s Spirit Testing Ceremony and learned that Zhang Guangli had already taken the transformed White Fur Rat.

• Zhang Xuanchen told Zhang Hongzhan he would go to war as a rogue cultivator, despite his father’s objections.
• Zhang Xuanchen explained that the Blood Spirit Bead refined by Soul Devouring Cult disciples could help him cultivate the Divine Dragon Hegemony Body Art, and he wanted to test his Immortal Fate Information outside seclusion.
• Zhang Hongzhan accepted his son’s decision and urged him to think of his mother before taking risks.
• Zhang Xuanchen refused to wait for the Spirit Testing Ceremony because the journey to Sacred Sword Immortal City would take nearly a year.
• Zhang Xuanchen went to the Beast Taming Hall to check on the White Fur Rat, only to find that Zhang Guangli had taken it after its transformation.

Zhang Xuntong visited Zhang Hongyu in Xuan Shi City before the Zhang Family's Spirit Testing Ceremony. Zhang Hongyu explained that he had accepted his limited cultivation prospects and chosen to raise many children in hopes that they would possess stronger Spiritual Roots, then joined Xuntong to begin testing the city's children.

• Zhang Xuanchen shared one last meal with Lin Wanqing before leaving her.
• Zhang Xuntong arrived at Xuan Shi City and found that Zhang Hongyu had two wives, forty-seven concubines, and seventy-two children.
• Zhang Hongyu told Zhang Xuntong that his Five-element Spiritual Roots made Foundation Establishment unlikely, so he had chosen to father many children and hope one would have better aptitude.
• Zhang Hongyu urged Zhang Xuntong to keep pursuing Foundation Establishment, then offered to help test the children gathered in the city square.
• Zhang Xuntong and Zhang Hongyu flew to the square, where more than twenty thousand people had gathered for the Spirit Testing Ceremony.

Zhang Hongyu’s son Zhang Ce awakened a Triple Spirit Root at the Spirit Testing Assembly and became Zhang Xuance, while the testing revealed that only twenty-eight of more than forty-four thousand children could cultivate. Elsewhere, Zhang Xuanchen reached a desert route to Sacred Sword Immortal City and learned of mutated bamboo that would produce Sword Heart Jade Bamboo in three days.

• Zhang Xuntong began the Spirit Testing Assembly, and Zhang Jing failed to awaken a Spiritual Root.
• Zhang Ce awakened a Triple Spirit Root, and Zhang Hongyu gave him his saved spirit stones and magical artifacts before Zhang Xuntong welcomed him.
• After seven days of testing, the assembly found twenty-eight cultivators among more than forty-four thousand children, including Zhang Xuanxue with a Triple Spirit Root.
• Zhang Xuanchen reached a desert wasteland and considered taking a Flying Boat to Sacred Sword Immortal City.
• Zhang Xuanchen received information that three mutated bamboo stalks in a Clear Spring Oasis would produce Sword Heart Jade Bamboo in three days.

Zhang Xuanchen headed toward Clear Spring Oasis after learning of a Sword Heart Jade Bamboo, and easily killed a Drought Demon Corpse Monster on the way. Meanwhile, Xu Yanran’s caravan was attacked by a powerful Sandstorm Scorpion Beast as she returned to the Xu Family with an Ice Soul Pill for her ailing father.

• Zhang Xuanchen learned that a Sword Heart Jade Bamboo capable of serving as a Sword Pellet vessel was located at Clear Spring Oasis and set out to find it.
• Zhang Xuanchen killed a first-grade late-stage Drought Demon Corpse Monster and used Earth Vein Profound Sun Fire to remove the toxin from its Fire Pill.
• Two days later, Xu Yanran traveled with Xu Tiezhu and about a hundred guards toward the Xu Family, carrying an Ice Soul Pill for her father.
• Xu Tiezhu ordered the guards to stop when a Sandstorm Scorpion Beast burst from beneath the desert and threw the camels into chaos.
• Xu Tiezhu told the guards to protect Xu Yanran and abandon the fleeing camels.

Xu Yanran’s caravan was ambushed by a pack of Sandstorm Scorpion Beasts, and Jin Xingyu revealed that he had orchestrated the attack. Zhang Xuanchen rescued the survivors and then asked Xu Yanran to let him take a few dozen Green Jade Bamboo for free.

• Dozens of Sandstorm Scorpion Beasts surrounded Xu Tiezhu’s caravan, killed many guards, and left the survivors badly wounded.
• Xu Yanran used Little Moon’s Moonlight Healing to treat the remaining guards while Xu Tiezhu ordered Yao Yang to get her out of the encirclement.
• Jin Xingyu appeared, admitted he had arranged the ambush, and threatened to kill the Xu Family guards and assault Xu Yanran.
• Zhang Xuanchen unleashed Golden Crow Patrols the Heavens, killed all twenty-five remaining Sandstorm Scorpion Beasts, and cut down Jin Xingyu as he tried to flee.
• Zhang Xuanchen asked Xu Yanran if he could visit the Xu Family and take a few dozen Green Jade Bamboo for free.

Zhang Xuanchen secured the Xu Family’s promise of Green Jade Bamboo after saving Xu Yanran and killing Jin Xingyu, then traveled with her group toward the Xu Family. At the Jin Family, Jin Enzheng learned of Jin Xingyu’s death and was confronted by a mysterious black-robed figure.

• Xu Yanran agreed to give Zhang Xuanchen Green Jade Bamboo and invited him to travel with the Xu Family, while Xu Tiezhu worried about her safety.
• Zhang Xuanchen declined to ride in Xu Yanran’s carriage, promised not to interfere in the Xu Family’s affairs, and flew alongside it as the group set out.
• Xu Yanran admired Zhang Xuanchen, while he wondered whether she liked older men before dismissing the thought.
• A young man told Jin Enzheng that Jin Xingyu had fallen, and Jin Enzheng reacted furiously after learning he had disobeyed orders to stay home.
• A black-robed figure appeared before Jin Enzheng and told him not to panic, claiming no one could take Clear Spring Oasis from the Jin Family.

Young Master Lei ordered Jin Enzheng to pressure the Xu Family without destroying it until the conflict between the Nine Splendor Sword Sect and the Soul Devouring Cult was settled, because he sought the family’s Devil Gourd Treasure Fragment Map. At Clear Spring Oasis, Zhang Xuanchen received permission to collect Green Jade Bamboo, while Xu Tiande tried to separate him from Xu Yanran and continued to pursue his family’s grim plan for revenge.

• Young Master Lei warned Jin Enzheng not to destroy the Xu Family and explained that he needed Xu Tiande alive to obtain the Devil Gourd Treasure Fragment Map.
• Zhang Xuanchen arrived at Clear Spring Oasis after traveling for two hours.
• Xu Tiande recovered after taking the Ice Soul Pill and thanked Zhang Xuanchen for saving him and Xu Yanran.
• Zhang Xuanchen asked for second-grade low-tier Green Jade Bamboo, and Xu Tiande offered all forty-six plants in the family forest.
• Xu Tiande ordered Xu Qingwu to escort Zhang Xuanchen and stopped Xu Yanran from following him.

Xu Yanran protested Xu Tiande’s treatment of Zhang Xuanchen, but Zhang harvested the hidden Sword Heart Jade Bamboo and left the Xu Family. In Sacred Sword Immortal City, Luo Lingshuang wondered whether Xuan Chen would attend the coming battle and planned to visit the Zhang Family afterward.

• Xu Tiande dismissed Zhang Xuanchen’s role as the Xu Family’s benefactor and threatened him if he did not leave after taking Green Jade Bamboo.
• Xu Yanran tried to defend Zhang Xuanchen, but Xu Tiande ended the discussion and his Half-step Foundation Establishment subordinate stopped her from seeing him.
• Xu Qingwu showed Zhang Xuanchen to the Green Jade Bamboo Forest and waited in a pavilion while Zhang went into the depths alone.
• Zhang Xuanchen found three Sword Heart Jade Bamboos and uprooted them along with the surrounding bamboo and soil into his Myriad Spirit Ring.
• Zhang Xuanchen greeted Xu Qingwu and left the Xu Family before dawn.
• Luo Lingshuang stood atop a sword-shaped pavilion in Sacred Sword Immortal City, wondering whether Xuan Chen would come to the battle and deciding to visit the Zhang Family afterward.

Luo Lingshuang accepted Jian Yuntian’s request to destroy a Soul Devouring Cult hideout in Falling Moon Gorge, while the cult’s leader revealed a personal grudge against Lu Qinghan, the Nine Splendor Sword Sect’s strongest Ancestor. The story left Luo Lingshuang setting out alone and the cult leader preparing to settle old blood debts.

• Zhou Tianjian summoned Luo Lingshuang to meet Jian Yuntian, treating her with deep respect after the Sky Dragon Secret Realm battle.
• Jian Yuntian asked Luo Lingshuang to lead an attack on a Soul Devouring Cult hideout in Falling Moon Gorge, where the strongest cultivator was believed to be at Foundation Establishment Peak.
• Luo Lingshuang agreed to go alone and reserved the right to withdraw if she encountered a Golden Core cultivator.
• Jian Yuntian wondered what the Ancestors were hiding about the Soul Devouring Cult’s campaign against the sect.
• The Soul Devouring Cult leader examined a Nine Splendor Sword Sect disciple’s Storage Ring and declared that she would repay her blood debts to Lu Qinghan, the sect’s strongest Ancestor.

After spending four months crossing the Ten Thousand Bones Sand Ruins, Zhang Xuanchen discovered that he had been trapped in a death illusion and broke free by using the True Self Sword. His Spiritual Sense advanced to Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and Sansheng awakened before him.

• Helian Shiyue vowed to avenge her murdered family and punish the Nine Splendor Sword Sect's hypocrites.
• Zhang Xuanchen realized that the oasis in the Ten Thousand Bones Sand Ruins was an illusion that kept returning him to the lake.
• He meditated on the Primordial Spirit Returning Divine Art and discovered that the illusion changed according to his thoughts.
• Zhang Xuanchen channeled his spirit, will, and Spiritual Sense into the Dragon Abyss Sword and shattered the illusion with the True Self Sword.
• Zhang Xuanchen's Spiritual Sense reached Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and Sansheng awakened and praised him for breaking the Mirage Crystal's illusion.

After escaping the Mirage Illusion Realm, Zhang Xuanchen gained Sansheng’s acknowledgment and renamed her Zhang Xuanjing. He learned that a rare Mirage Crystal could strengthen his family’s disciples, but its powerful guardian made him reconsider seeking it.

• Zhang Xuanjing revealed that Zhang Xuanchen had spent ten days in the illusion and had strengthened his Spiritual Sense to Foundation Establishment Late Stage by escaping it.
• Zhang Xuanjing acknowledged Zhang Xuanchen as her master, forming a bond that let him use some of her abilities through the Three Lives Samsara Realm.
• Zhang Xuanchen renamed her Zhang Xuanjing and asked her to call him Brother Chen instead of Master; she accepted.
• Zhang Xuanjing said they would leave the Ten Thousand Bones Sand Ruins in less than a day and explained that a Mirage Crystal could temper disciples’ Divine Soul Power.
• Zhang Xuanchen turned back toward the Mirage Crystal, then immediately changed course again after learning it was guarded by an early Fourth Stage Phantom Sand Fox.
• After insisting he was not interested in the crystal, Zhang Xuanchen asked Zhang Xuanjing where it was.

Zhang Xuanchen and Zhang Xuanjing arrived at Shaxu Town after crossing the Ten Thousand Bones Sand Ruins, where the town’s sharp divide between rich and poor became clear. Zhang Xuanchen defended two children from bullying and chose to lodge at their home, but Zhang Xuanjing warned that his intervention might leave them in danger after he departed.

• Zhang Xuanjing explained that Treasure Tools ranked above spirit tools, and Zhang Xuanchen listened as they traveled.
• Zhang Xuanchen entered Shaxu Town and learned from Zhang Xuanjing that its eastern district prospered around a Spirit Lake while most residents lived in poverty in the west.
• A crowd of innkeepers surrounded Zhang Xuanchen, and a burly man shoved aside a boy and his little sister as they tried to offer him lodging.
• Zhang Xuanchen used his martial artist’s blood-and-vitality pressure to disperse the crowd, then gave the boy ten copper coins and agreed to stay at his home.
• Zhang Xuanjing warned Zhang Xuanchen that the crowd might retaliate against the children after he left, and Zhang Xuanchen realized his intervention could put them at risk.

Zhang Xuanchen discovered that the siblings who had offered him shelter planned to drug and rob him, and he pretended to fall for their trap to draw out their master. After killing Black Sha Old Man and the siblings, he continued toward Sacred Sword Immortal City and received information about a Void Crystal Stone ahead.

• Zhang Xuanjing used the Spirit Mirror to reveal the siblings’ deceitful Heart Lights and warned Zhang Xuanchen that their cultivator accomplices would act that night.
• Zhang Xuanchen pretended to accept the siblings’ hospitality and let them believe he had drunk the Spirit Sealing Powder, though he burned the drugged water away.
• Black Sha Old Man arrived, believing the siblings had weakened Zhang Xuanchen, and entered his room to attack him.
• Zhang Xuanchen killed Black Sha Old Man, then used sword qi to kill the boy and his family before leaving town.
• Zhang Xuanchen continued toward Sacred Sword Immortal City and received information about a Soul Devouring Cult stronghold, a White Crystal Vein, and a Void Crystal Stone ahead.