Chapter Summaries

Zhang Qingyuan recognized Ouyang Shihong, his old enemy, who mistook him for a Cloud Water Sect disciple and attacked him with overwhelming force. As Ouyang Shihong’s palm strike descended, Zhang Qingyuan drew his sword and launched a powerful counterattack.

• Zhang Qingyuan recognized Ouyang Shihong, whom he had fought over a decade earlier at the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins.
• Ouyang Shihong accused the disguised Zhang Qingyuan of being a Cloud Water Sect disciple and blamed the sect for his and Ouyang Qianqiu’s injuries.
• Ouyang Shihong unleashed a crushing palm strike that trapped Zhang Qingyuan beneath its power.
• Zhang Qingyuan resisted the pressure and drew his sword, sending a thousand-zhang river of Sword Qi toward the heavens.

Zhang Qingyuan survived Ouyang Shihong’s attack and joined forces with Little Fire to withstand his next strike. He used a jade box to open a passage in the seabed and escaped, leaving Ouyang Shihong unable to find him.

• Zhang Qingyuan weakened Ouyang Shihong’s palm strike with his sword intent, then survived its remaining force and plunged into the sea.
• Ouyang Shihong unleashed Boundless Vast Sea, sending a Flood Dragon of power after Zhang Qingyuan beneath the water.
• Zhang Qingyuan called Little Fire, and the two combined Little Fire’s beam with Zhang Qingyuan’s Sword Domain Reincarnation to resist the attack.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Little Fire struck the seabed, where Zhang Qingyuan used the jade box to open a passage and escaped into the fissure.
• Ouyang Shihong arrived after the fissure closed and found Zhang Qingyuan gone.

Zhang Qingyuan escaped Ouyang Shihong by using the Breath Soil, an earth-attributed Heaven and Earth Rare Treasure, to burrow underground. He suspected Ouyang Shihong and Ouyang Qianqiu had allied with the Sea Clan, resolved to warn the Cloud Water Sect, and saw the Breath Soil as a chance to quickly raise his cultivation.

• Ouyang Shihong failed to track Zhang Qingyuan underground, regretted losing the Earth Attribute Supreme Treasure, and decided to eliminate Zhang Qingyuan after recovering from his injuries.
• Zhang Qingyuan emerged from the seabed several hundred li away and confirmed that Ouyang Shihong had stopped pursuing him.
• Zhang Qingyuan suspected Ouyang Qianqiu had secretly joined forces with the Sea Clan and decided to report the possible threat to the Cloud Water Sect.
• Zhang Qingyuan examined the Breath Soil from the Thick Earth Sect's hidden treasury and realized it could help him reach the True Essence Eighth Layer quickly, with the Ninth Layer also possible.

Zhang Qingyuan decided to use Breath Soil to rapidly raise his Cultivation Realm, trusting the Great Evolution Technique to stabilize his foundation. The chapter then showed how his policies had transformed the Moon Liên Islands into a thriving frontier marketplace and improved the lives of ordinary cultivators like Wang Dagang.

• Zhang Qingyuan considered Breath Soil's uses and chose to refine it to advance his Cultivation Realm, relying on the Great Evolution Technique to make up for any unstable foundation.
• Zhang Qingyuan worried about Ouyang Qianqiu, the restless Sea Clan, and an uneasy feeling surrounding the Sect, and concluded that greater strength was essential.
• Zhang Qingyuan put away the jade box and traveled beneath the seabed toward the Moon Liên Islands.
• The Moon Liên Islands prospered as a major marketplace and forward base for sea exploration, drawing cultivators and traders with its supplies and industries.
• Wang Dagang credited the Island Master's policies for his improved prospects as island exchange points let low-level cultivators trade gathered resources for Spirit Stones or Contribution Points.

The chapter explained how Zhang Qingyuan built the Moon Liên Islands’ cultivation economy by relying on low-level cultivators to gather raw materials and selling them mass-produced goods. Wang Dagang’s story showed how access to a Cultivation Method and installment payments gave a poor fisherman a path to cultivation, leaving the old man admiring the Island Master’s influence.

• The chapter described how the Moon Liên Islands used large-scale processing and low-level cultivators’ labor to profit from cultivation goods.
• The old man told Wang Dagang that without the Island Master’s changes, he would likely have had to marry into a cultivation family to obtain a Cultivation Method and resources.
• The old man recounted how Wang Dagang found and ate half a spiritual fruit, achieving Successful Enlightenment despite his mortal fisherman family background.
• Zhang Qingyuan’s arrival let Wang Dagang obtain a basic Cultivation Method and the Water Avoidance Art through a loan.
• Wang Dagang gathered spiritual seagrass and used his earnings to repay the loan and buy further cultivation goods, while the old man praised the Island Master’s installment payment model.

Zhang Qingyuan returned to the Moon Liên Islands and found its harbor and cultivation economy thriving under his guidance. The chapter ended with him satisfied that his growing force provided resources and steady income for his cultivation.

• An old man reflected on his unfulfilled dreams of becoming an important cultivator and admired the popular unfinished novel The Tale of Xiao Ming's Immortal Cultivation.
• The old man lamented that the anonymous author had stopped the story at its climax, leaving readers frustrated by decades of failed continuations.
• Zhang Qingyuan flew over the island in a streak of Sword Light, prompting the crowd below to look up in reverence.
• Zhang Qingyuan surveyed the busy harbor and flourishing island, then approved of how it had developed while he was away.
• Zhang Qingyuan appreciated that his growing force supplied cultivation materials and Spirit Stones without requiring him to gather everything himself.

After returning from the deep-sea region, Zhang Qingyuan rested at his thriving island stronghold and decided to report the Sea Clan threat to Tianheng Island after a month. He tended his vast medicinal fields and planned to use Breath Soil to improve his Cultivation Realm.

• Zhang Qingyuan surveyed the prosperous island and reflected on how it had grown into a lively logistics base shaped by his ideas.
• He chose to rest before personally carrying news of the Sea Clan's preparations and Ouyang Qianqiu's possible alliance to Tianheng Island.
• Zhang Qingyuan judged that the Third Prince's severe injuries would delay the Sea Clan's revenge for several years, and planned to spend a month resting and testing Breath Soil.
• He left Elder Zhang Changyang in charge of the island and spent several days tending the medicinal fields.
• Zhang Qingyuan watched Spiritual Rain nourish the island's vast, valuable fields and felt his exhaustion fade.

After recovering his state of mind through several days of Spiritual Rain, Zhang Qingyuan used the Breath Soil from the Thick Earth Sect Secret Treasury to accelerate his cultivation. A month later, he had reached the True Essence Seventh Layer Peak and believed the treasure could carry him further.

• Zhang Qingyuan admired his Dreamlike Spiritual Medicine Field in the rain and reflected on his journey from the Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect to his current strength.
• After several days of rest, Zhang Qingyuan entered his secret chamber and unsealed the Breath Soil using the Thick Earth Sect's Secret Technique.
• Zhang Qingyuan used his True Essence to contain the Breath Soil's immense pressure and began refining it to convert spiritual energy into cultivation.
• Zhang Qingyuan spent a month drawing in spiritual energy, consuming three thousand mid-grade spirit stones to sustain the process.
• Zhang Qingyuan sealed the dimmed Breath Soil back into its jade box and found that his cultivation had risen to the True Essence Seventh Layer Peak.

After a month of seclusion, Zhang Qingyuan assessed his cultivation progress and considered how to prepare for the Cave True Realm. He left seclusion to organize information gathering for his faction and inspect the Moon Liên Islands before strolling through its market.

• Zhang Qingyuan estimated that half a year of cultivation with the Breath Soil could bring him to the True Essence Eighth Layer, and he resolved to begin preparing his own path to Cave True.
• Zhang Qingyuan decided to seek Gold and Wood inheritances and asked Elder Zhang Changyang to post a mission seeking information about Secret Realms and other inheritances.
• Zhang Qingyuan discussed the Moon Liên Islands' population, industry, and Zhang Clan descendants with Zhang Changyang, then offered suggestions and encouraged several diligent workers.
• Zhang Qingyuan left Zhang Changyang and visited the island's cultivation market, whose central plaza, shops, and official supermarkets brought in substantial trade and profits.

Zhang Qingyuan reflected on why the Cultivation World had changed so little over hundreds of thousands of years, while his previous world’s civilization had advanced rapidly. At the Cultivation Supermarket, he sensed that his thoughts had stirred something important, but he could not identify what it was.

• Zhang Qingyuan compared the Cultivation World’s long, stagnant history with the scientific and civilizational advances of his previous life.
• He concluded that a culture focused on cultivation and practical advancement had little incentive to pursue research considered useless, helping explain the world’s lack of broader change.
• Zhang Qingyuan recognized that his previous life’s institutions and commercial ideas had helped the Moon Liên Islands prosper and contributed to the conflicts that followed the Yang Yuntian attack incident.
• Zhang Qingyuan entered the Cultivation Supermarket, browsed among its customers, and bought a few items.
• As he wandered, Zhang Qingyuan felt that his reflections had resonated with something significant, but he could not recall what he had sensed.

Zhang Qingyuan discovered that the book he had abandoned nearly thirty years earlier had become a hugely popular story in the South Sea. He learned that Elder Zhang Changyang had deliberately promoted it to motivate workers, leaving Zhang Qingyuan to hide his authorship and say nothing.

• Zhang Qingyuan heard a storyteller reciting a tale that closely resembled The Tale of Xiao Ming's Immortal Cultivation, which he had abandoned after writing it years earlier.
• Zhang Qingyuan wondered how his old novel had remained popular for nearly thirty years and worried that a powerful reader might track him down to demand a continuation.
• Zhang Qingyuan sought out Elder Zhang Changyang and indirectly asked about the novel's recent popularity on the island.
• Elder Zhang Changyang explained that he had promoted the story in taverns to encourage workers, and that their work efficiency had risen by more than thirty percent.
• Zhang Qingyuan said nothing about having written the novel and decided to pretend he had no connection to it.

Zhang Qingyuan set out from the Moon Liên Islands for Tianheng Island to report the Sea Clan’s movements and investigate matters concerning his Cheap Master, while planning to visit Black Markets along the way. After gathering treasures and techniques, he found a possible clue to comprehending Wood Life Intent in the Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning technique.

• Zhang Qingyuan left the Moon Liên Islands after arranging their affairs with Zhang Changyang and sent Peng Li a Messaging Talisman about his trip to Tianheng Island.
• Zhang Qingyuan studied a sea chart and decided to detour through Black Markets to collect Natal Magic Treasures and seek Gold- and Wood-related knowledge.
• Zhang Qingyuan visited roughly eight Black Markets, acquiring twenty-three Natal Magic Treasures and several Jade Slips containing techniques and records.
• Zhang Qingyuan examined the Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning technique and considered whether its life-giving concept could help him comprehend Wood Life Intent.

Zhang Qingyuan realized that the Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning technique shared a mysterious resemblance to the life-like changes in his Sword Seed and Sword Pellet, so he returned to seek the black-robed cultivator who had sold it to him. Meanwhile, an emaciated man who had been watching Zhang Qingyuan fled the Black Market and reported losing him to a scarred gang leader.

• Zhang Qingyuan reflected on the Sword Seed’s eight years of accumulated power and kept his one-use trump card in reserve because unleashing it would take years to replenish.
• After studying the Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning technique, Zhang Qingyuan sensed that its Seal Formulas gave summoned treants a possibility of life, like the changes in his Sword Seed and Sword Pellet.
• Zhang Qingyuan suspected the technique had an unusual origin and hurried back through the Black Market to find the black-robed female cultivator who had sold it to him.
• An emaciated man watched Zhang Qingyuan leave, slipped out of the Black Market through alleys, and hurried to a secluded courtyard.
• The emaciated man told the scarred villainous big man that he had lost Zhang Qingyuan, and the boss demanded to know what had happened.

Scarred Villainous Big Man and Grey Clothed Big Man learned that the Emaciated Man had lost track of Zhang Qingyuan, but Grey Clothed Big Man memorized Zhang Qingyuan’s Aura before killing him. They decided to capture the woman they had been tracking, while Zhang Qingyuan failed to find the vanished female cultivator and continued cultivating the Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning Secret Technique.

• The Emaciated Man explained that his target had suddenly turned around and left, and Grey Clothed Big Man killed him and absorbed his blood mist.
• Grey Clothed Big Man confirmed the Emaciated Man’s account and said he had memorized the Aura of the person who met the woman.
• Scarred Villainous Big Man decided they would capture the woman ahead of schedule and use torture or Soul Search to learn the Divine Wood Seal’s whereabouts.
• Zhang Qingyuan returned to the female cultivator’s empty stall after realizing the Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning technique was extraordinary.
• Zhang Qingyuan searched the Black Market for three days without finding the female cultivator, but cultivated the technique to its beginner stage using the Great Evolution Technique.

After failing to find the female cultivator in the Black Market, Zhang Qingyuan left for Tianheng Island and stopped at a deserted island to test Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning. He successfully awakened six treants, but their arrival was interrupted by a pursuit approaching from the horizon.

• Zhang Qingyuan resolved to pursue the Five Elements Great Dao through patient cultivation and the Great Evolution Technique, even without an inheritance.
• Zhang Qingyuan left the Black Market and flew toward Tianheng Island, then landed on a deserted, tree-covered island to test Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning.
• Zhang Qingyuan noticed that his water-element cultivation strengthened the wood-element technique and completed its seals, spending thirty percent of his True Essence.
• Zhang Qingyuan summoned six treants from the island’s trees, and they knelt before him.
• Zhang Qingyuan sensed two auras rapidly approaching as one figure chased another.

Zhang Qingyuan recognized the fleeing Yang Yuyan as the seller of Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning, just as her pursuers reached his island. After the Scar-faced Big Man’s attack sent Yang Yuyan crashing down, he ordered his group to kill Zhang Qingyuan too.

• Zhang Qingyuan sensed a group pursuing a woman toward his island and decided to wait rather than flee.
• Zhang Qingyuan recognized Yang Yuyan by the shared aura of Grass and Trees Soldier Summoning.
• Yang Yuyan became distracted by Zhang Qingyuan’s six Treant soldiers, and the Scarred Villainous Big Man struck her with his iron hammers, sending her crashing into the island.
• The Grey Clothed Big Man identified Zhang Qingyuan as the man who had traded with Yang Yuyan.
• The Scar-faced Big Man assumed Zhang Qingyuan was allied with Yang Yuyan and ordered his men to attack him.

Zhang Qingyuan was mistaken for a Medicine King Valley remnant and Yang Yuyan’s lover by the Scar-faced Big Man and his companions, who believed he was helping her protect the Divine Wood Seal. They attacked, and six Treants appeared to shield Zhang Qingyuan as their techniques struck.

• The Scar-faced Big Man concluded that Zhang Qingyuan and Yang Yuyan had conspired to evade pursuit and conceal Medicine King Valley’s Divine Wood Seal.
• The Grey Clothed Big Man and the others accepted the Scar-faced Big Man’s explanation and prepared to seize the Divine Wood Seal.
• The Scar-faced Big Man and his companions launched a coordinated attack on Zhang Qingyuan and Yang Yuyan.
• Zhang Qingyuan remained bewildered by their accusations as six Treants rushed in front of him.
• The attackers’ techniques crashed into the Treants, unleashing a powerful storm of energy across the island and sea.

Scarred Villainous Big Man concluded that Yang Yuyan had exhausted her True Essence summoning the Treants and led his companions into battle against them. Zhang Qingyuan realized the scar-faced man had badly misread the situation, while Yang Yuyan worried that they might not escape.

• Scarred Villainous Big Man declared that Yang Yuyan’s Treants would weaken once their True Essence ran out and urged his companions to destroy them.
• Scarred Big Man attacked a Treant with his Golden Hammers, and the Treant fought back with powerful branches and Wood Attribute True Essence Energy.
• Grey Clothed Big Man and the others gained confidence and joined the fight, trading attacks with the six Treants in the sky.
• Yang Yuyan struggled out of a crater and worried that Zhang Qingyuan had exhausted his True Essence, but withheld her explanation that she barely knew him.
• Zhang Qingyuan watched Scarred Villainous Big Man and realized the man’s conclusions came from wild assumptions.

Scar-faced Big Man and his companions struggled against six Treants that continually regenerated, so he decided to spend his life essence on a decisive attack. He empowered the Golden Hammer with his heart's blood and sent it crashing toward the gathered Treants.

• The Treants regenerated after the Golden Hammer blasted away half their bodies, leaving Scar-faced Big Man frustrated by their resilience.
• Scar-faced Big Man worried the prolonged battle might attract witnesses and expose their pursuit of Yang Yuyan and the Medicine King Valley treasure.
• Scar-faced Big Man ordered Taiheng to prepare a follow-up attack and told his companions to draw the Treants together.
• Grey Clothed Big Man and the others retreated toward Scar-faced Big Man, gathering all six Treants in one place.
• Scar-faced Big Man sacrificed a drop of his heart's blood to empower the Golden Hammer, then launched it at the Treants.

The Scarred Villainous Big Man and his companions battered the six Treants until they could no longer defend Zhang Qingyuan, and the Grey Clothed Big Man launched a sudden blade attack at him. Zhang Qingyuan stopped the supposedly decisive strike between two fingers, leaving the Grey Clothed Big Man unable to move his blade.

• The Scarred Villainous Big Man used his blood-colored hammer to severely injure all six Treants, and his companions followed with attacks that destroyed them.
• The Grey Clothed Big Man rushed across the island and swung his War Blade at Zhang Qingyuan while Yang Yuyan warned him.
• Zhang Qingyuan caught the Grey Clothed Big Man's blade between two fingers, stopping the attack in midair.
• The Grey Clothed Big Man tried with all his strength to pull his War Blade free, but it remained trapped between Zhang Qingyuan's fingers.