Chapter Summaries

Yun Shu’s Hall of Life and Death continued expanding by recruiting overlooked talents across the dynasties while officials shielded it from suppression. When Old Lei brought in a youth with an extraordinary Spiritual Root, Yun Shu tested him and reacted with alarm.

• Dynasty ministers united in condemning frontier generals, while the Hall of Life and Death’s generous payments helped it avoid government suppression.
• Old Lei slowed the gang’s expansion and focused on finding talented youths after its growth created enemies.
• A month after Yun Shu issued the mission, Old Lei brought him a newly recruited youth whose talent he said was exceptional.
• Yun Shu tested the youth, and the Testing Stone revealed a profound Dark Shadow Hue that made Yun Shu and his true body react at once.

Yun Shu discovered Yuan Xi, a boy with an exceptionally rare Shadow Spiritual Root, and accepted him as a disciple. He rewarded Old Lei for finding Yuan Xi by offering him a choice, and Old Lei chose to have Yun Shu raise his cultivation to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

• Yun Shu identified Yuan Xi as a rare upper-grade single Shadow Spiritual Root and asked him to become his disciple.
• Yuan Xi explained that his parents had died after being driven from their home and that he wanted enough power to stop others from bullying him.
• Yun Shu offered Old Lei fifty thousand Spirit Stones, a recommendation to the Golden Cauldron Sect, or Empowerment to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
• Old Lei chose Empowerment, accepting that it would exhaust his cultivation potential unless he underwent Empowerment again.
• Yun Shu empowered Old Lei on Snow Mountain, raising him from Qi Refining First Level to the Second Level of Foundation Establishment.
• After Yun Shu left, Old Lei guessed that the powerful, youthful cultivator who performed the Empowerment was an ancient Golden Core expert.

Yun Shu stabilized his strength, continued building his gang and sect, and went to Hidden Sword Peak to recruit Chu Huangyue for a mission. He found her sealed away in seclusion, leaving it unclear whether he would be able to reach her.

• Yun Shu postponed breaking through because he wanted more Spirit Stones, while Yuan Xi advanced quickly and Mu Qing confirmed his background checked out.
• Yun Shu discussed suspicious activity around the sect and the Wuji Immortal Sect with Liu Chuan, then told him to keep the sect's talented disciples equipped with Jade Talismans.
• Yun Shu climbed Hidden Sword Peak, where disciples praised him and told him Chu Huangyue had been avoiding visitors since the Four Sects Grand Competition.
• Yun Shu greeted a Senior Brother who had written about his rise, and the two spoke amicably before Yun Shu continued on.
• Yun Shu reached Chu Huangyue's room and found Talismans and Formation Arrays covering its entrance.

Yun Shu invited Chu Huangyue to join him in searching the Ancient Mine for the missing Chen Hong, and she agreed after reaching the next realm. He planned to make the dangerous journey while also seeking Blood Ore to fund his cultivation, then asked Liu Chuan how many Spirit Stones the sect could spare.

• Yun Shu visited Chu Huangyue and asked her to accompany him to the Ancient Mine to search for Chen Hong, who had vanished ten years earlier.
• Chu Huangyue agreed to go after breaking through to the False Core Realm and considered preparing a pill to dispel Chen Hong’s possible Baleful Intent.
• Yun Shu returned to his lodgings, where Liu Chuan warned him about the Ancient Mine’s dangers and advised him not to explore too deeply.
• Yun Shu planned to gather Blood Ore in the Ancient Mine to gain Cultivation Points and support his future breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Stage.
• Yun Shu asked Liu Chuan how many Spirit Stones the sect could spare.

Yun Shu arranged for Myriad Sword Pavilion to screen children for Spiritual Roots while continuing cultivation and refining pills. After mastering the Azure Water Art and rapidly advancing in Demonic Cultivation, he learned from the Patriarch that practicing both Immortal and Demonic cultivation would make his future Lightning Tribulations more powerful.

• Yun Shu told Liu Chuan to organize a sect-wide Spiritual Root test for every child under sixteen, with the Mortal Dynasties cooperating and Qi Condensation disciples handling the work.
• Yun Shu spent his time cultivating and refining third-grade pills, bringing his Alchemy realm to the Sixth Stage.
• Yun Shu practiced the Azure Water Art and perfected the Qi Condensation Stage method within an hour, advancing into the Foundation Establishment Realm as Demonic Energy surged through him.
• Yun Shu examined the Wuji Demonic Cultivation Technique, and the Patriarch warned him that Demonic Cultivation would intensify Lightning Tribulations and that dual Immortal-Demonic cultivation would trigger another tribulation at the Golden Core Stage.

Yun Shu rapidly advanced his Demonic Cultivation and prepared to break through to the Golden Core Stage. After absorbing a million Spirit Stones at the Snow Mountain, he triggered another Lightning Tribulation and began absorbing its power.

• Yun Shu cultivated the Wuji Demonic Cultivation Technique until he reached the peak of the False Core Stage, prompting the Patriarch to warn that he was nearing a Lightning Tribulation.
• The Patriarch examined Yun Shu and found no Demonic Cultivation physique, though Yun Shu’s Metal Attribute Spiritual Root showed signs of advancing.
• Yun Shu told Mu Qing he would be away for up to three days, then went to the Snow Mountain and absorbed a million Spirit Stones, raising his Cultivation Points to fourteen thousand.
• Yun Shu’s Demonic Energy darkened the sky, and an Old Man and a child speculated that the Great Demon facing Heaven’s punishment was the same person as before.
• Yun Shu broke through to the Golden Core Stage in fifteen minutes, then sat through the Lightning Tribulation as his halo absorbed the lightning.

Yun Shu endured a powerful lightning tribulation and raised his Body Cultivator strength to the Nascent Soul Stage, then went to investigate a mysterious observer at the Patriarch’s direction. He found a secluded hut and a plain-looking old man, and the Patriarch appeared beside him when Yun Shu hesitated to press the man.

• Yun Shu survived nearly an hour of lightning tribulation, reaching Body Cultivator strength comparable to the Nascent Soul Stage while nearly exhausting his Cultivation Points.
• The Patriarch praised Yun Shu’s unprecedented progress and told him to find a powerful observer whose Mental Energy carried the Spirit Refining Art.
• Yun Shu worried the observer might be a dangerous Myriad Sword Pavilion elder, but went after the Patriarch promised to protect him.
• Yun Shu followed the Patriarch’s directions to a snow-covered plain beyond Canglan Sect’s territory and found a wooden hut, a toddler, and a Linen-clad Old Man.
• The old man denied being a senior and asked why Yun Shu had come; when Yun Shu considered leaving, the Patriarch took shape beside him.

Yun Shu and the Patriarch met an elderly survivor of the Myriad Sword Pavilion, who revealed how he had spent centuries evading enemies and secretly helping the sect. The Old Man declined Yun Shu’s offer to return, and the Patriarch gave him a talisman to conceal him from divination.

• The Old Man recognized the Patriarch, knelt, and offered his body, but the Patriarch told him to rise and asked about his past.
• The Old Man recounted escaping after the sect fell, enduring pursuit, faking his death, and spending nine hundred years recovering while secretly aiding Myriad Sword Pavilion disciples.
• Yun Shu realized the Old Man might have passed down the Spirit Refining Art he had received, and the Patriarch reassured him that the sect’s enemies were unlikely to keep searching.
• The Old Man recognized Yun Shu’s Nascent Soul Stage Body Cultivation, and the Patriarch revealed Yun Shu was seventeen and praised him as a genius who could restore the sect.
• Yun Shu invited the Old Man to live at the sect, but the Old Man declined because he preferred solitude and did not want to revisit the past.
• The Patriarch offered the Old Man a crystalline talisman that would shield him from the Heavenly Secrets.

Yun Shu received an ancient Heavenly Fox child named Little Jiu'er from the old man and formed a contract with him using Spirit Stones. After bringing Little Jiu'er to Spirit Sword Peak, Yun Shu discovered that the others mistook the child for his son and heir.

• The old man gave Yun Shu a talisman and Cultivation Resources for the Sect, then entrusted Little Jiu'er to him.
• The old man removed Little Jiu'er's golden lock, releasing the power of his ancient Heavenly Demon Bloodline.
• Yun Shu offered Little Jiu'er Spirit Stones, and the child pressed his hand on a contract pattern to form a bond with him.
• Yun Shu took Little Jiu'er from the old man's cabin and promised to bring him more shiny stones.
• When Yun Shu arrived at Spirit Sword Peak, Liu Chuan mistook Little Jiu'er for Yun Shu's child and questioned whether he was a boy or a girl.

Yun Shu brought Little Jiu'er into his care, made him a Spirit Beast Bag, and continued building the gang as a force that could act for the Myriad Sword Pavilion. He then discussed the sect’s mounting expenses with Liu Chuan and suggested a way for Mysterious Sword Peak to earn back its costs.

• Yun Shu told Liu Chuan that Little Jiu'er was a Heavenly Demon, warned him to keep it secret, and instructed the child to claim he was Human Race around others.
• Yun Shu asked about Chu Huangyue’s seclusion, then gave Little Jiu'er a list of materials to pass to Liu Chuan.
• Yun Shu crafted a Spirit Beast Bag for Little Jiu'er, filling its spacious interior with Spirit Stones that helped the Heavenly Demon grow.
• Yun Shu reflected on the gang’s expansion across more than thirty cities and the strength of its trained members, while the Golden Cauldron Sect remained slow to respond.
• Liu Chuan told Yun Shu that the sect spent about two million Spirit Stones each month on Mysterious Sword Peak and struggled to fund its other projects.
• Yun Shu suggested assigning Mysterious Sword Peak missions to produce second-grade pills so the disciples could cover their expenses while pursuing their own work.

Yun Shu expanded the sect by selecting and testing talented newcomers, then prepared to leave with Chu Huangyue for a mission at the Ancient Mine. He expected to use the mine’s Spiritual Energy to support his cultivation while Chu Huangyue joined to assess his strength.

• Liu Chuan reported that the recruiters had returned with five hundred people, including at least two hundred with Dual Spiritual Roots and three with Single Spiritual Roots.
• Yun Shu selected twenty promising recruits for personal training and used three Illusion Array trials to test their will, character, and comprehension; three failed, leaving seventeen.
• Yun Shu assigned the remaining recruits places to live, cultivation tasks, and his Body Tempering insights, then left their further guidance to the Transmission Elder.
• Chu Huangyue arrived as Yun Shu prepared to practice Alchemy, and they agreed to depart together for the Ancient Mine.
• Yun Shu planned to gather Blood Ore and absorb its Spiritual Energy, while Chu Huangyue treated the trip as a sect mission and hoped to judge his strength.

Yun Shu and Chu Huangyue entered the Ancient Mine to search for Senior Brother Chen Hong, braving Blood Rain that corroded their power and hordes of skeletal creatures. After discovering that he could absorb the power in a Blood Crystal Stone, Yun Shu plunged into the mine and began tearing through the monsters as Chu Huangyue watched in shock.

• Yun Shu and Chu Huangyue reached the Ancient Mine, and Yun Shu chose to enter despite the Patriarch’s warning that its aura had grown more dangerous.
• Yun Shu and Chu Huangyue headed east to find Senior Brother Chen Hong, whose body was believed to be in a hill range.
• Skeletal creatures surrounded them, and the Blood Rain began dissolving their power, so they used Talismans to protect themselves.
• Yun Shu smashed a giant bird skeleton and discovered a Blood Crystal Stone whose power he could absorb.
• Yun Shu told Chu Huangyue to keep moving while he plunged downhill and tore apart the skeletal creatures, including some as strong as Golden Core Stage; Chu Huangyue stared in shock.

Yun Shu gathered Blood Crystal Stones while using the Patriarch’s map to travel toward Immortal Slaying Mound, where Senior Brother Chen Hong was believed to be trapped. He and Chu Huangyue found the hill surrounded by a natural Formation Array, and Yun Shu began preparing to break through it.

• Yun Shu harvested Blood Crystal Stones from skeletons as the Patriarch explained their Killing Intent made them difficult to use or purify.
• The Patriarch gave Yun Shu a map of the Ancient Mine and identified a Blood River with Spirit Fish along the route to Immortal Slaying Mound.
• Yun Shu continued toward Immortal Slaying Mound, collecting crystals and finding ruined artifacts and Storage Bags among the remains.
• Yun Shu and Chu Huangyue reached the hill, saw its natural Formation Array and covering Blood Mist, and considered whether Chen Hong was inside.
• Yun Shu said the array might be breakable, circled the hill, then drew diagrams on the ground and asked Chu Huangyue to help him.

Yun Shu and Chu Huangyue worked together to break the natural formation in the Ancient Mine, with Yun Shu destroying its Array Eye and gathering the scattered Blood Ore. They discovered a figure on the mountain absorbing Killing Intent, and Yun Shu identified him as Senior Brother Chen Hong, whose Five Elements Physique was circulating the Killing Intent within his body.

• Yun Shu gave Chu Huangyue diagrams and Spirit Stones, explaining how she could disrupt the formation while he attacked its Array Eye.
• Chu Huangyue realized Yun Shu’s knowledge of formations surpassed her own, and Yun Shu told her he would handle the Array Eye.
• Chu Huangyue struck the marked points, destabilizing the formation as Yun Shu waited for the right moment to attack.
• Yun Shu smashed the blood-red boulder, broke the formation, and gathered the Blood Ore scattered by the impact.
• Yun Shu and Chu Huangyue saw a figure on the mountain breathing in Killing Intent, and Yun Shu said the figure was likely Senior Brother Chen Hong with a Five Elements Physique.
• Chu Huangyue warned that the Killing Intent circulating inside Chen Hong might be impossible to remove and could transform him into a monster.

Yun Shu fought and subdued the Killing Intent-dominated Chen Hong in the Ancient Mine, then planned to bring him back to Myriad Sword Pavilion and find a way to cure him. Chu Huangyue learned that Yun Shu intended to use Alchemy to dispel the Killing Intent.

• Yun Shu told Chu Huangyue he could dispel the Killing Intent in Chen Hong and flew upward to face him.
• Chen Hong attacked Yun Shu in a bloodthirsty frenzy, and Yun Shu repeatedly overwhelmed him while wearing down the Killing Intent.
• Chu Huangyue watched Yun Shu's overwhelming strength and wondered whether he could restore Myriad Sword Pavilion to its former glory.
• Yun Shu knocked Chen Hong unconscious, bound him with Talismans, and said he would take him back to the sect as a potential Nascent Soul Stage expert.
• Chu Huangyue warned that Chen Hong's Killing Intent could replenish itself, and Yun Shu said he would suppress him with Formation Arrays while seeking a cure through Alchemy.

Yun Shu sent Chu Huangyue away with Chen Hong and continued exploring the dangerous Ancient Mine. He reflected on Chu Huangyue’s character and his own solitary path before digging into the mountain in search of Blood Ore.

• Yun Shu asked Chu Huangyue to take Chen Hong away while he stayed behind to handle a few matters, and she agreed.
• Yun Shu reconsidered his impression of Chu Huangyue, judging her capable, kind-hearted, and burdened by trials imposed by the plot.
• Yun Shu discussed Chu Huangyue and Myriad Sword Pavilion with the Patriarch, insisting the sect could not keep her and that he needed no one’s help on his path to immortality.
• Yun Shu continued into the Ancient Mine despite its growing turmoil, wary of the lethal blood rain and dangers deeper inside.
• Yun Shu used the Ten Provinces Famous Sword to dig into the mountain, seeking the Blood Ore vein shown on his map.

Yun Shu crossed a dangerous Blood River and caught a Spirit Fish with a Spirit Stone and the Ten Provinces Famous Sword. He wondered what the ugly, powerful fish was useful for, but the chapter ended before he learned more.

• Yun Shu collected roughly fifty Blood Ore pieces after excavating an entire vein, then continued onward.
• Yun Shu and the Patriarch discussed the river's Killing Intent, and Yun Shu decided not to absorb it or enter the water.
• The Patriarch explained that Yun Shu could lure Spirit Fish with Spirit Stones and warned him that he needed to catch the first one.
• Yun Shu tossed a Spirit Stone into the Blood River, seized the Spirit Fish that emerged, and pinned it to the riverbank with the Ten Provinces Famous Sword.
• Yun Shu learned that the Spirit Fish had great force and thick skin rather than true Nascent Soul Stage strength, and asked the Patriarch what it was good for.

Yun Shu caught a Spirit Fish in the Ancient Mine and learned it could help purge Killing Intent, though it could not fully cure Chen Hong. After a Giant Blood Python emerged from the Blood River, Yun Shu escaped the mine and heard a serious fight nearby.

• Yun Shu learned from the Patriarch that the Spirit Fish could purge Killing Intent but that one fish could not fully clear Chen Hong's condition.
• Yun Shu continued tossing Spirit Stones into the Blood River, but no more fish appeared.
• A Giant Blood Python rose from the river, and Yun Shu retreated after the Patriarch identified it as a powerful Ancient Mine overlord.
• Yun Shu left the Ancient Mine, reflecting on its dangers and the need to quit while ahead.
• Yun Shu heard the sounds of a serious fight not far from the mine's exit.

Yun Shu arrived as Chu Huangyue struggled against a powerful Wuji Immortal Sect cultivator and killed him with an overwhelming strike. The man’s Nascent Soul tried to escape, but the Patriarch used the Illusion Immortal Bead to bind it, and Yun Shu collected it along with the man’s valuables.

• Yun Shu sensed a familiar aura and hurried toward the battle, where he found Chu Huangyue fighting a stern middle-aged man cloaked in black energy.
• Yun Shu recognized that Chu Huangyue had grown strong enough to match a Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivator, but the Nascent Soul Middle Stage opponent began wearing her down.
• Yun Shu struck without restraint, immobilized the middle-aged man with his aura, and crushed his head with a punch.
• The man’s Nascent Soul fled, but the Patriarch used the Illusion Immortal Bead to bind it before it could escape.
• Yun Shu put away the Nascent Soul and searched the middle-aged man’s Storage Bag, finding about two million Spirit Stones and advanced techniques.

Yun Shu and Chu Huangyue discussed the consequences of killing a Wuji Immortal Sect cultivator and how their sect should prepare for conflict. Yun Shu decided to bring the enemy’s Nascent Soul back as a bargaining tool, then returned to the sect and spoke to Liu Chuan.

• Yun Shu checked on Chu Huangyue, gave her pills, and heard her warn that the Wuji Immortal Sect would likely retaliate.
• Yun Shu and Chu Huangyue agreed that the sect needed to strengthen itself quickly as tensions with the Wuji Immortal Sect grew.
• Yun Shu proposed returning the enemy’s Nascent Soul in exchange for payment, while Chu Huangyue considered destroying it.
• Yun Shu returned to the sect and told the dozing Liu Chuan that he had three things to discuss.