Chapter Summaries

Daoist Ming Shui explained how Fan Yehuang’s sacrifice helped Daoist Ming Xin and him defeat Ouyang Qianqiu, though Ouyang escaped after losing his Cave True Realm cultivation. He gave Zhang Qingyuan the damaged Spirit Tool Sword Pellet, and Zhang Qingyuan realized he might be able to use it despite its lingering Spiritual Sense.

• Daoist Ming Shui recounted how Ouyang Qianqiu’s prepared formation and a crisis at the border forced him and Daoist Ming Xin to withdraw from their assault.
• Fan Yehuang attacked Ouyang Qianqiu from within the formation, then destroyed the formation with the Spirit Tool Sword Pellet’s power, allowing Daoist Ming Shui and Daoist Ming Xin to defeat him after a day and night of battle.
• Ouyang Qianqiu escaped using a Great Qiankun Teleportation Talisman, but his cultivation fell from the Cave True Realm and his Dao arts were shattered.
• Daoist Ming Shui explained that the Sword Pellet had lost its rank and divine might after Fan Yehuang’s sacrifice and Ouyang Qianqiu’s attack.
• Daoist Ming Shui gave the Sword Pellet to Zhang Qingyuan, who believed he could use it despite Fan Yehuang’s residual Spiritual Sense.

Zhang Qingyuan reflected on Daoist Ming Shui’s plan to use him as bait, then left after receiving guidance and compensation, with the Spirit Tool Sword Pellet foremost in his mind. He returned safely to the Moon Liên Islands, where refugees and cultivation industries had fueled rapid growth amid widespread turmoil.

• Zhang Qingyuan realized he had once hoped Fan Yehuang’s rebirth would leave the Spirit Tool Sword Pellet easier to claim, but events had overwhelmed his plans.
• Daoist Ming Shui explained that he had used Zhang Qingyuan as bait to ambush Ouyang Qianqiu and apologized, while Zhang Qingyuan accepted the explanation without resentment.
• Daoist Ming Shui retrieved Peng Li’s backup plan, ended his guidance, and let Zhang Qingyuan leave with the Spirit Tool Sword Pellet.
• Zhang Qingyuan declined an invitation to form a team and traveled home through regions devastated by fighting, where his presence deterred anyone from attacking him.
• Zhang Qingyuan reached the Moon Liên Islands and saw that refugees, merchants, and developing industries had brought the islands greater prosperity.

Zhang Qingyuan returned to the prosperous Moon Liên Islands, where abundant resources and the Cloud Water Sect’s protection had attracted cultivators and refugees. After greeting Zhang Changyang, he went to his Cave Dwelling to deal with the Spirit Tool Sword Pellet.

• The Moon Liên Islands’ resource production, employment, and stability under Cloud Water Sect protection drew rogue cultivators and displaced people, boosting its prosperity and income.
• Zhang Qingyuan considered making the islands his future Cave Dwelling as he looked over the bustling harbor.
• Patrol boats approached Zhang Qingyuan, and their guards recognized and saluted him as the Island Master.
• Zhang Changyang welcomed Zhang Qingyuan and discussed his return and harvest; he had advanced to the Half-step True Essence Realm.
• Zhang Qingyuan exchanged brief pleasantries with Zhang Changyang, then went to his Cave Dwelling to enter seclusion and handle the Spirit Tool Sword Pellet.

Zhang Qingyuan restored and refined the damaged Sword Pellet, then saw it fuse with his Sword Seed and repair itself. After refining the energy released by their fusion, his cultivation advanced to the perfected Third Layer.

• Zhang Qingyuan used the Proficiency Panel to restore the Sword Pellet over three months, bringing it back to a damaged Low-grade Magic Treasure.
• Zhang Qingyuan recovered his Spiritual Sense, then endured severe exhaustion while refining the Sword Pellet as his Natal Magic Tool.
• Zhang Qingyuan drew the refined Sword Pellet into his dantian, where his Sword Seed fused with it and helped repair its surface.
• Zhang Qingyuan refined the energy released by the fusion for several days and advanced from the late Third Layer to the perfected Third Layer.

Zhang Qingyuan consolidated his cultivation after the Sword Seed fused with his Sword Pellet, then left seclusion to review the Moon Liên Islands’ affairs. After Zhang Changyang reported the islands’ growing income, he asked Qingyuan to guide the younger members of the family.

• Zhang Qingyuan tested the fused Sword Pellet and found that even a small draw on its power produced Sword Qi comparable to an ordinary True Essence Third Layer cultivator’s attack.
• Zhang Qingyuan remained in seclusion to stabilize his cultivation, practice his sword arts, and refine Spirit Pills rather than immediately attempting another breakthrough.
• After another month, Zhang Qingyuan ended his seclusion and read Zhang Changyang’s account of the Moon Liên Islands’ affairs.
• Zhang Qingyuan learned that the islands had earned three hundred thousand Spirit Stones amid the growing chaos in the South Sea and thanked Zhang Changyang for his work.
• Zhang Changyang asked Zhang Qingyuan to find time to guide the younger members of the family in their cultivation.

Zhang Qingyuan agreed to guide deserving Zhang Clan members and other cultivators on the Moon Liên Islands, while Zhang Changyang hoped his help would preserve the Zhang Family through an impending calamity. Zhang Qingyuan then expanded his Spiritual Medicine Field and began preparing for his first public teaching.

• Zhang Changyang nervously asked Zhang Qingyuan to offer guidance to the family’s juniors.
• Zhang Qingyuan agreed to teach meritorious Zhang Clan members as well as deserving local and foreign rogue cultivators.
• Zhang Changyang left the City Lord Mansion, hoping Zhang Qingyuan’s support would help the Zhang Family survive a calamity.
• Zhang Qingyuan planted Spiritual Medicines from the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins near the Spirit Spring Mouth, strengthening the area’s growth toward a Micro Spirit Vein.
• Zhang Qingyuan finished arranging the Spiritual Medicine Field and began preparing notes for his public teaching.

Zhang Qingyuan’s planned lecture stirred excitement across the Moon Liên Islands as cultivators gathered for a rare chance to receive his guidance. While Zhang Wenliang and the other attendees eagerly awaited him, Zhang Shaoping reflected on how far Zhang Qingyuan had risen since their days as Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect Disciples.

• Zhang Wenliang and his friend hurried to the Main Peak, eager to attend Zhang Qingyuan’s lecture.
• Cultivators across the Moon Liên Islands gathered early after Zhang Changyang selected attendees, prioritizing rogue cultivators who had served the islands.
• A youth told Zhang Wenliang that Zhang Qingyuan had become a Named Disciple of an important Cloud Water Sect figure, and Zhang Shaoping told them to keep their voices down.
• Zhang Shaoping looked at the empty seat on the platform and remembered Zhang Qingyuan as a quiet, overlooked youth from their journey to the Cloud Water Sect.

Zhang Shaoping reflected on Zhang Qingyuan’s rise from an overlooked Zhang Clan disciple to a powerful cultivator before Zhang Qingyuan arrived to give a lecture on cultivation. Zhang Qingyuan’s clear, detailed explanations helped the gathered cultivators understand obstacles in their cultivation.

• Zhang Shaoping remembered how Zhang Qingyuan had been ignored by their fellow Zhang Clan disciples until he entered the Inner Sect and rose rapidly in strength.
• Zhang Shaoping watched as a Sword Light crossed the sky and Zhang Qingyuan descended onto the platform.
• Zhang Qingyuan greeted the gathered cultivators, lifted them to their feet, and began his lecture.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained the essence of cultivation and the Spirit Essence Realm, drawing on his own path and carefully organized reflections.
• The listeners focused on Zhang Qingyuan’s words, and many Spirit Essence Realm cultivators suddenly understood the bottlenecks that had troubled them.

Zhang Qingyuan gave a three-day lecture on cultivation, drawing on his systematic understanding of the path from Spirit Essence to True Essence. The lecture ended with many cultivators breaking through, while Zhang Qingyuan was left exhausted from using his Spiritual Sense and Qiankun Dao to amplify his teaching.

• Zhang Qingyuan reflected on how the reasoning and analysis he had developed in his previous life had shaped his cultivation and helped him build a deep foundation.
• Zhang Qingyuan organized his cultivation knowledge into a systematic explanation of the path from Spirit Essence to True Essence and taught it to the cultivators gathered in the square.
• As Zhang Qingyuan lectured, listeners grasped the guidance, and many broke through their bottlenecks and advanced their realms.
• Zhang Qingyuan concluded the lecture after three days, and the cultivators thanked him as their Teacher before departing.
• After the square emptied, Zhang Qingyuan revealed his exhaustion and explained that he had used his Spiritual Sense and Qiankun Dao to recreate the resonance of Daoist Ming Shui's lecture.

After preaching for three days, Zhang Qingyuan discovered that the session had greatly strengthened his cultivation and brought him close to a breakthrough into the True Essence Fourth Layer. As he prepared to recover, Master Lu arrived and asked him to take a Sect mission as Outer Sect Dean to watch over and guide his granddaughter.

• Zhang Qingyuan realized that preaching had helped him digest Daoist Ming Shui’s teachings and refine his cultivation, bringing his True Essence Third Layer to complete perfection.
• Zhang Qingyuan decided to remain in the Moon Liên Islands until he could advance to the True Essence Fourth Layer and prepare for the Inner Sect Grand Competition.
• Master Lu appeared before Zhang Qingyuan, praised his preaching, and introduced himself as the Formation Master invited to build the Space Teleportation Array.
• Master Lu asked Zhang Qingyuan to accept a mission as Outer Sect Dean for a few years and guide his granddaughter at the Outer Sect Branch.

Zhang Qingyuan brought Master Lu to his Medicine Garden to choose a site for the Teleportation Array, and explained how he had cultivated its valuable Spiritual Medicines. Master Lu learned that Zhang Qingyuan's One Origin Gui Water Scripture was nearing the fifth level and regarded him with renewed interest.

• Master Lu set aside his request for Zhang Qingyuan to instruct his granddaughter until after the Inner Sect Grand Competition, then asked where to place the Teleportation Array.
• Zhang Qingyuan decided the Moon Liên Islands would suit the array and led Master Lu to his Medicine Garden.
• Master Lu was surprised by the garden's abundance of rare Spiritual Medicines and noticed Zhang Qingyuan's reluctance to reveal their origins.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained that he used Essence of Gui Water to force-ripen the medicines and that his One Origin Gui Water Scripture was nearing the fifth level.
• Master Lu recognized the Scripture's level and looked at Zhang Qingyuan with a deeper interest.

Master Lu recognized the significance of Zhang Qingyuan's One Origin Gui Water Scripture and transformed the Moon Liên Islands' Earth Vein, strengthening its Spirit Spring and establishing an Island Protection Array. He left after creating a Secret Realm leading to the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins, while the Spirit Spring began its path toward becoming a Micro Spirit Vein.

• Master Lu recalled what Daoist Ming Shui had told him about the One Origin Gui Water Scripture and understood why the old Daoist had accepted Zhang Qingyuan as a disciple early.
• Master Lu assessed the Moon Liên Islands and said their Spirit Spring could not continue growing without outside help.
• Master Lu used Spirit Stones and a formation to alter the islands' Earth Vein, causing the Spirit Spring's capacity to grow and setting it on course to become a Micro Spirit Vein.
• Master Lu gave Zhang Qingyuan a Jade Slip explaining how to control the Island Protection Array he had set up.
• Master Lu created a Secret Realm leading to the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins, gave Zhang Qingyuan a few instructions, and left the islands.

After Master Lu departed, Zhang Qingyuan agreed to return to his family after the Sect Inner Sect grand competition and studied the teleportation array and formation he had left behind. Zhang Qingyuan then entered the collapsing Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins Secret Realm, where he declared that it would belong to him.

• Master Lu left the Moon Liên Islands after setting up the two-way Teleportation Array and leaving instructions for its operation.
• Zhang Changyang asked Zhang Qingyuan to visit the family, and Zhang Qingyuan agreed to return after the Sect Inner Sect grand competition.
• Zhang Qingyuan studied the Jade Slip and the formations, gaining a vague new insight into the Qiankun Dao.
• After checking that the teleportation array was safe, Zhang Qingyuan used it to enter the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins Secret Realm.
• Zhang Qingyuan arrived in the badly damaged, seemingly collapsing ruins and claimed the Secret Realm as his own.

Zhang Qingyuan returned to the Secret Realm to search the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Gate and Yangjin Peak for treasures and a way to restore his Sword Pellet. After killing an ambushing Demonic Beast, he found Essence of Gengjin that stirred the Sword Pellet’s hunger and continued toward Yangjin Peak.

• Zhang Qingyuan decided to search the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Gate first and then investigate Yangjin Peak for clues to repair his Sword Pellet.
• A Demonic Beast ambushed Zhang Qingyuan in midair, but he killed it with a single sword strike and stored its corpse.
• Zhang Qingyuan discovered Essence of Gengjin beneath the trees and sensed that the Sword Pellet reacted to it.
• Zhang Qingyuan concluded that the Sword Pellet needed to consume Gengjin Qi and resolved to search Yangjin Peak’s records for a way to feed and repair it.
• Zhang Qingyuan stored the Essence of Gengjin and flew toward Yangjin Peak.

Zhang Qingyuan searched the ruins of Yangjin Peak for information on repairing the Sword Pellet but found no useful records. He headed for the Daluo Golden Pool and, after two cautious days crossing the shattered Secret Realm, reached its core region.

• Zhang Qingyuan searched Yangjin Peak's ruined palaces and recovered Jade Slips containing Artifact Refinement methods and journals, but found no clues about repairing the Sword Pellet.
• Zhang Qingyuan concluded that the Spirit Sea Sword Sect's leaders had likely concealed information about forging the Sword Pellet from the rest of the Sect.
• Zhang Qingyuan gave up searching Yangjin Peak and decided to investigate the Daluo Golden Pool, where the Sword Pellet had originated.
• Zhang Qingyuan cautiously crossed the collapsing Secret Realm, avoiding Space Rifts and chaotic storms as he made his way toward the Daluo Golden Pool.
• After two days, Zhang Qingyuan reached the core region of the Daluo Golden Pool.

Zhang Qingyuan discovered that his Sword Pellet could absorb the Desolate Sky Tree and Geng Metal Power, renewing his hope of repairing it. Far away, Daoist Ming Shui told Master Lu that he had spent three hundred years pursuing a task and was staking his remaining hopes on multiple young geniuses, including Zhang Qingyuan.

• Zhang Qingyuan searched the devastated ruins around the Desolate Sky Tree but could not understand its runes.
• Zhang Qingyuan summoned his Sword Pellet, and the Desolate Sky Tree transformed into golden liquid and fused into it.
• Zhang Qingyuan fed the Sword Pellet the Essence of Gengjin, and its roots absorbed the Geng Metal Power.
• Daoist Ming Shui met Master Lu on a Divine Mountain and asked what he thought of Zhang Qingyuan.
• Master Lu judged that Zhang Qingyuan had a fifty percent chance of attaining Cave True, but Daoist Ming Shui lamented that three hundred years had passed without completing his task.
• Daoist Ming Shui said he would keep placing his hopes on geniuses, and accepted that his final gamble might fail.

Zhang Qingyuan spent a month searching the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins, restoring his Sword Pellet to a Mid-grade Magic Treasure and gathering extensive resources and inheritances. He left the ruins with his doubts about the Sword Pellet unresolved, but with enough knowledge and materials to strengthen his cultivation and potentially establish a small sect.

• Zhang Qingyuan searched the island for Geng Metal Power, slaughtering True Essence Realm Demonic Beasts and bringing Little White to help locate buried minerals.
• Zhang Qingyuan fed the Geng Metal minerals to his Sword Pellet, restoring it and raising it to the rank of a Mid-grade Magic Treasure.
• Zhang Qingyuan wondered whether the Sword Pellet was a living thing rather than an ordinary Magic Tool, but confirmed that it was safely branded as his Natal Magic Treasure.
• Zhang Qingyuan collected Spiritual Medicine and Spirit Materials, moved the medicine to the Moon Liên Islands, and stored the remaining materials in his treasury.
• Zhang Qingyuan recovered more than a thousand Jade Slips from the ruins, including records of cultivation, alchemy, artifact refinement, and formations, and resolved to broaden his studies.

Zhang Qingyuan decided to study the Jade Slips he had collected, believing broad knowledge would support his future cultivation. After noticing he was on the verge of advancing to the True Essence Realm Fourth Layer, he left the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins Secret Realm and began a secluded breakthrough on the Moon Liên Islands.

• Zhang Qingyuan stored the Jade Slips and reflected on how knowledge from many disciplines had enabled great discoveries in his previous life.
• Zhang Qingyuan concluded that his growing Spiritual Sense would help him study and comprehend the thousand-odd Jade Slips.
• Zhang Qingyuan chose to leave the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins Secret Realm without searching its remaining unexplored areas.
• Zhang Qingyuan recognized that his True Essence Third Layer cultivation had reached perfection and that he was close to breaking through.
• Zhang Qingyuan returned to the Moon Liên Islands, took out the Tongxuan Pill, and began secluded cultivation.

After three months of seclusion, Zhang Qingyuan advanced to the True Essence Fourth Layer and found the Moon Liên Islands thriving amid the South Sea’s upheaval. The Sect summoned him to report after his ten-year term, so he planned to claim the islands as his private Cave Dwelling before another Island Master could take over.

• The South Sea’s conflicts reshaped its powers, while the Cloud Water Sect largely ignored the remote region.
• War refugees and wary rogue cultivators flocked to the Moon Liên Islands, turning them into a prosperous Cultivation City.
• Zhang Qingyuan emerged from three months of seclusion after breaking through to the True Essence Fourth Layer.
• A Sect Messaging Talisman told Zhang Qingyuan that his ten-year term had ended and summoned him to report for his duties.
• Zhang Qingyuan realized another Island Master might replace him and planned to use his right to establish a Cave Dwelling there, keeping the islands and their spatial Teleportation Array.

Zhang Qingyuan decided to secure the Moon Liên Islands as his base, since their growing prosperity meant the Sect would require him to complete missions for the privilege. After handling the matter at Tiannan City, he left with a new assignment to investigate the missing Inner Sect Disciple and the vanished Mad Saber Nangong Bantian.

• Zhang Qingyuan reasoned that his backing from Daoist Ming Shui would deter rivals, but the Moon Liên Islands' rising value meant he could not claim them without meeting the Sect's requirements.
• Zhang Qingyuan decided to formalize his claim before leaving for the Inner Sect Grand Competition and gave Elder Zhang Changyang a few instructions.
• Zhang Qingyuan traveled to Tiannan City and handled the matter through the Sect's branch there.
• Zhang Qingyuan received a mission to investigate whether Nangong Bantian had killed a missing Inner Sect Disciple and to find where Nangong Bantian was hiding.
• Zhang Qingyuan left Tiannan City carrying the investigation mission, which offered extra Merit Points if Nangong Bantian could be slain.