Chapter Summaries

Guan Xi urged Wang Ping to leave as attacks erupted across Capital City, but Wang Ping chose to join the battle and helped Jiang Cun strike down a Taiyan cultivator. He escaped the collapsing enemy’s transformation, then turned his attention to an approaching Fire Cultivator and the red crystal Yue Ziyu had given him.

• Guan Xi found Wang Ping and warned that the Daoist Scripture Hall’s order had collapsed and enemies were coming for him.
• Wang Ping saw Xia Ji’s residence attacked, Jiang Cun fighting a Taiyan cultivator, and the Emperor destroy part of the Upper City District with Divine Art.
• Wang Ping launched his Iron Bamboo Sword formation at the Taiyan cultivator fighting Jiang Cun, then pursued him after Jiang Cun’s altered space forced him to escape with a Transfer Talisman.
• Wang Ping trapped the Taiyan cultivator’s Primordial Spirit with the Purgatory Banner, pierced his spirit body, and took his Storage Bag before transferring away.
• The Taiyan cultivator transformed into a twisted mass and was assimilated by a golden streak of Divine Art, while Wang Ping focused on an approaching Fire Cultivator and Yue Ziyu’s red crystal.

Wang Ping fought off the attackers and captured the Fire Cultivator’s spirit body after using the Cave Heaven Mirror to unleash a True Spirit. The battle ended in a standoff, and Daoist Huo De invited the surviving attackers to the Daoist Scripture Hall for a discussion.

• Jiang Cun transformed into a Flood Dragon and held off two Gold cultivators while Wang Ping assessed the battlefield.
• Wang Ping trapped the Fire Cultivator with Golden Armored Soldiers and a Killing Formation, then used the Cave Heaven Mirror to make a True Spirit absorb his Primordial Spirit before capturing his spirit body.
• The battle fell silent as both sides reached a stalemate, and Jiang Cun declared that the attackers had suffered grievous losses.
• Guan Xi confronted the injured Le Xin and Leng Zhixing in the upper city ruins while Jiang Cun demanded that the Gold cultivators and Earth cultivator reveal their master.
• Wang Ping appealed to the Daoist Scripture Hall, and Daoist Huo De invited the three surviving cultivators to discuss the matter there and asked Guan Xi to hand over Le Xin and Leng Zhixing.

After a clash in Capital City, Wang Ping learned that a Third Realm cultivator had died protecting him and prepared to leave. At the west courtyard gate, Yang Kui confronted him over the death of his son, Yang Jing.

• Guan Xi joined Wang Ping as the fighters dispersed, and Wang Ping returned to Phoenix Tower West Courtyard.
• Wang Ping reflected on the Emperor’s hidden power after Jiang Cun reported that Xia Ji had died because of information he had provided.
• Jiang Cun said Daoist Wuma and Lord Rongyang were the attack’s direct instigators, while Guan Xi identified the Jimin Association and Earth Cave Sect as involved.
• Wang Ping promised to record the dead cultivator’s story in Thousand Wood Temple’s sect chronicle and said he would leave immediately.
• Jiang Cun and Guan Xi warned that they might become Wang Ping’s enemies, and Guan Xi urged him to be careful on the way back.
• At the gate, Yang Kui asked Wang Ping whether he had killed Yang Jing.

Wang Ping rebuffed Yang Kui’s accusations in Capital City and left with the Emperor’s gift, then joined Guan Xi in capturing two men who had followed him. Guan Xi identified their leader as Yang Guangyuan, who had plotted against Thousand Wood Temple more than two hundred years earlier.

• Wang Ping admitted freezing Yang Jing and defended his actions by showing those present Yang Jing’s memories.
• An imperial ritual officiant delivered a Wooden Box containing a captured Taiyan cultivator’s Primordial Spirit and offered Wang Ping an escort, which he declined.
• Yang Kui ordered his companions to enter the palace, while Wang Ping left Capital City and used Wood Spirit Qi to accelerate the winter cabbages in nearby fields.
• Two men tracked Wang Ping to an abandoned riverside campsite, where pillars of light killed them and Guan Xi appeared with their Primordial Spirits and Eight Trigrams Disk.
• Guan Xi told Wang Ping that the captured leader, Yang Guangyuan, had plotted against Thousand Wood Temple more than two hundred years earlier.

Wang Ping learned that the Empty Mountain Association had targeted him because it believed he might know about Ancestor Master Yuxiao’s relics. Guan Xi explained the group’s history, gave Wang Ping a valuable Eight Trigrams Disk, and promised to share what they learned from the captured Primordial Spirits.

• Guan Xi told Wang Ping that Commander Yang Guangyuan had been hidden in the Imperial Court’s ancestral temple for centuries and asked whether Wang Ping knew of the Empty Mountain Association.
• Guan Xi explained that the Empty Mountain Association followed the Southern Sea Daoist, a powerful Wood Spirit cultivator whose followers had caused widespread spiritual chaos before the Xia Dynasty was founded.
• Guan Xi said the Association had returned to search for Ancestor Master Yuxiao’s relics and had attacked Wang Ping because it suspected he had received gifts from Yuxiao.
• Guan Xi said he had come to investigate the Association and protect Wang Ping, and promised to send him information after someone examined the captured Primordial Spirits’ memories.
• Guan Xi gave Wang Ping the Eight Trigrams Disk, a Daoist Scripture Hall treasure that could reveal nearby past events or attempt to predict the next five breaths, though its use caused severe Primordial Spirit pain.
• Wang Ping accepted the disk and learned that Guan Xi had also dealt with the pursuers following him.

The divination rules changed so that results meant permitted, undetermined, or not permitted rather than auspicious or inauspicious. The rules allowed further throws for undetermined and forbidden results, as explained in later text.

• Divinations were divided into permitted and not permitted outcomes instead of auspicious and inauspicious ones.
• A Sacred Divination with one yin and one yang meant permission.
• A yang hexagram with both sides flat meant the result was undetermined, and further throws could be made.
• A Yin Hexagram with both sides convex meant the action was not permitted, and further throws could be made.

Wang Ping visited his deceased junior and senior brothers before returning to Nanlin Road, where he checked on Guangxuan’s advancement and discussed the mysterious Empty Mountain Association with Daoist Yucheng. He left planning to seek answers from Lord Xiaoshan while Liu Shuang prepared to advance to the Second Realm.

• Wang Ping paid his respects at Wang Kang’s grave, then traveled west to visit the town near Liu Zixiu’s tomb without disturbing it.
• Wang Ping returned to Nanlin Road and learned from Liu Chang that Guangxuan’s advancement remained stable under the guard of a Second Realm cultivator.
• Wang Ping met Daoist Yucheng and discussed the Empty Mountain Association, the possibility that Daoist Wuma and the Southern Sea Daoist had dealings, and the risks of trusting Guan Xi’s account.
• Daoist Yucheng advised Wang Ping to investigate Bai Zhuo and those around him, and suggested asking Lord Xiaoshan about the mystery.
• Wang Ping checked on Liu Shuang’s secluded cultivation and judged that she was on track to awaken her Wood Spirit Spiritual Meridian and advance to the Second Realm.

Wang Ping examined the spoils from Tang Ye’s Storage Bag and discovered Daoist Wuma’s notes on cultivating poison through the spirit body. The Light Screen Panel helped him devise an incomplete Wood Spirit method for entering a new realm, leaving him considering raising a suitable spiritual consciousness in captivity.

• Wang Ping and Yulian inspected Tang Ye’s belongings, finding Vinewood Cores, research notes, and an ID Badge identifying Tang Ye as Daoist Wuma’s fourth Disciple.
• Wang Ping opened the restricted jade slip and read Tang Ye’s summary of Daoist Wuma’s research into Wood Spirit poison and the Body Erosion method.
• After reading the method, Wang Ping received a Light Screen Panel guide describing how to cultivate poison’s spiritual consciousness and merge it with his Primordial Spirit.
• Wang Ping derived an incomplete Wood Spirit secret method for entering a realm, which required a compatible spiritual consciousness and a stable formation.
• Wang Ping decided that he might need to raise a suitable spiritual consciousness in captivity because the Demon Race’s spiritual consciousnesses would not cooperate.

Wang Ping devised an unfinished secret art and examined Cang An’s storage bag, then agreed to trade Cang An’s Primordial Spirit for vinewood seeds and the first two realms of Cang An’s cultivation technique. The chapter left Wang Ping preparing to make the exchange with Ruan Chunzi and Wen Yang.

• Wang Ping wrote down ideas for an unfinished secret art for entering a realm, and Yulian admired his insights.
• Yulian told Wang Ping that Hu Qianqian was preparing to advance into the Nurturing Core realm.
• Wang Ping searched Cang An’s storage bag and found little beyond money, pills, Fire Spirit Crystal Blocks, and an ID Badge.
• Ruan Chunzi and Wen Yang visited Wang Ping and asked for Cang An’s Primordial Spirit, offering ten vinewood seeds and their planting method.
• Wen Yang offered to provide the first two realms of Cang An’s self-deduced cultivation technique, and Wang Ping agreed to the trade.

Wang Ping tested the B-Lower-03 demon weapon Guan Xi had given him and discovered that viewing the past was harmless while predicting the future caused intense Primordial Spirit pain. As political tensions grew and he waited to meet Lord Xiaoshan, Guangxuan and Wen Hai both advanced to the Second Realm and came to visit him.

• After Wen Yang left with Cang An's sealed Primordial Spirit, Wang Ping activated the B-Lower-03 demon weapon and viewed the past half hour, but the experience left him with severe Primordial Spirit pain.
• Daoist Tongyu used the Eight Trigrams Disk to predict five breaths into the future, suffered a brief distortion, and agreed to wait until the next day before trying again.
• Wang Ping waited for Lord Xiaoshan while Zuo Xuan reported that First Day and the Taiyin Evil Cultivator had returned to Mozhou Road amid an influx of Cultivators and refugees.
• Zi Luan told Wang Ping that Leng Zhixing had been sentenced to three Hundred Years of imprisonment and Le Xin and the others to face the wall for a Hundred Years, while Lord Xiaoshan remained unavailable.
• Wang Ping learned that Guangxuan and Wen Hai had both advanced to the Second Realm, and the two arrived together at Thousand Wood Temple on the first day of the seventh month to visit him.

Wang Ping discussed Wen Hai’s future, the northwest, and a secret chamber with Guangxuan while they played Go, then returned to his Puppet research. As autumn arrived, Guangxuan scheduled a gathering, and Wang Ping sensed a sudden disturbance in the spiritual energy southwest of Nanlin Road.

• Wang Ping offered Wen Hai a choice between the Daoist Scripture Hall and the northwest, and Wen Hai chose to remain at the hall, where Wang Ping placed He Jiu and Li Lin under his command.
• Wang Ping told Guangxuan that their people in the northwest had secured support from the imperial family, and Guangxuan agreed to send two Disciples and Inner Sect members there once they advanced.
• Wang Ping revealed the communication device and instructed Guangxuan to build a concealed secret chamber beneath Sanhe Prefecture’s waterways and caverns.
• After losing two Go games, Guangxuan proposed holding an intelligence-sharing gathering within three months, then went to visit Daoist Yucheng.
• Wang Ping continued his Puppet work through the changing seasons, received Guangxuan’s notice that the gathering would take place on October twentieth, and advanced his Heaven Connecting Talisman fusion to (3/100).
• On the third day of the tenth month, Wang Ping detected an abrupt spiritual-energy imbalance southwest of Nanlin Road as he prepared to go fishing at Baishui Lake.

Wang Ping and Zi Luan arrived at Ganhua County after Taiyin Evil Cultivators slaughtered its population in a sacrificial ritual that spread spiritual contamination. Wang Ping began cleansing the corrupted land, while he and Zi Luan set out to find the demonic weapon behind the ritual.

• Refugees in Ganhua County rebelled after clashes with local villagers, killed the county officials, and imprisoned tens of thousands of civilians in a pit.
• The prefectural soldiers sent to suppress the rebellion were wiped out, and a surge of Taiyin aura plunged much of Ning'an Prefecture into darkness.
• Yun Shan and Hong Yuan reached Ganhua County and found the city destroyed, its dead drained of life, and survivors transformed into living dead.
• Wang Ping and Zi Luan arrived, and Wang Ping ordered Yun Shan and Hong Yuan to guard the Daoist Scripture Hall.
• Yulian identified the black substance as resembling Star God corrosion altered by a demonic weapon, and Wang Ping used Wood Spirit Qi to erase it and restore the land with Spirit Grass Seeds.

Wang Ping and Zi Luan investigated a sacrificial pit and found a new sect on White Crane Mountain, where they killed its cultivators and discovered two Puppets. They returned to Jinhuai Prefecture City, where Wang Ping healed the gravely injured Zuo Xuan and asked what had happened.

• Wang Ping examined the sacrificial victims, received no clear answer from his divinations, and ordered Pingdong Gate disciples to investigate.
• Wang Ping and Zi Luan used B-Lower-03 to travel to Mozhou Road and found Duan Shui Men being rebuilt on White Crane Mountain.
• Wang Ping and Zi Luan killed the cultivators at Duan Shui Men, but the two who had stayed behind were Puppets whose cores and memories could not be recovered.
• Wang Ping noticed a Five Elements Pattern toward Nanlin Road, and he and Zi Luan hurried back to Jinhuai Prefecture City.
• Wang Ping found Zuo Xuan and Yun Shan badly injured, healed Zuo Xuan, and asked her what had happened.

Wang Ping learned that Wu Fu, a Third Realm Daoist authorized to eliminate evildoers, had attacked Zuo Xuan and Yun Shan. Wu Fu then came to Wang Ping’s territory seeking refuge from the chaos he believed was coming.

• Zuo Xuan told Wang Ping that a Star God resembling a beggar had attacked her and Yun Shan after slaughtering a deputy general’s family.
• Wang Ping learned that the beggar was Wu Fu, who targeted people who preyed on the weak and had been granted authority by the Daoist Scripture Hall to eliminate those guilty of heinous crimes.
• Hong Yuan announced that Wu Fu had arrived with a calling card, while Wang Ping received a message that Hu Qianqian planned to attempt a breakthrough at Baishui Lake.
• Wang Ping sent Yulian and a trusted Second Realm cultivator to Baishui Lake to guard Hu Qianqian.
• Wu Fu admitted injuring Zuo Xuan and Yun Shan, then told Wang Ping and Zi Luan he had come to seek refuge because great chaos was approaching.

Wang Ping and Zi Luan agreed to let Wu Fu stay in Nanlin Road without a title or Daoist ground, while they arranged a secret investigation into White Crane Mountain. At Baishui Lake, Hu Qianqian underwent a bloodline advancement, and her consciousness vanished as Starlight Power tore through the void.

• Wu Fu told Wang Ping and Zi Luan he sought only a safe place to meditate and would help Nanlin Road in a crisis, so they welcomed him with tea.
• Wang Ping informed Wu Quan and Gan Xing about Wu Fu, while Zi Luan went to Mozhou Road to oversee a secret investigation into White Crane Mountain.
• Wang Ping checked on Yun Shan and then traveled to Baishui Lake, where Hu Xin and Yulian waited anxiously as Hu Qianqian advanced.
• Hu Qianqian's false core absorbed energy from the lake and moonlight as her bloodline changed, and she recovered her lost spiritual essence by dawn.
• Half a month later, Hu Qianqian fused with an illusory pillar of light; Wang Ping sensed that her consciousness had vanished and Starlight Power was tearing through the void.

Hu Qianqian awakened after drawing in starlight, strengthening her false core and returning to human form. She tested her spells in a match with Yulian, then joined Wang Ping by the lake as he asked about Daoist Guan Mao.

• Wang Ping cast three divinations, and all three were Sacred Divinations as Hu Qianqian absorbed starlight inside the dojo.
• Hu Qianqian's false core grew more solid, and she transformed back into human form before greeting Wang Ping.
• Wang Ping praised Hu Qianqian's steady state of mind, while Yulian advised Hu Xin to form a false core within twenty years.
• Yulian and Hu Qianqian fought in the sky, trading attacks with water, swords, barriers, and starlight before Yulian tried a copied heating spell.
• Yulian flew down to catch shrimp, while Hu Qianqian watched Wang Ping fish and he asked whether she had learned anything from monitoring Daoist Guan Mao.

Wang Ping investigated the sacrificial incident and considered whether to commit all his resources to uncovering its hidden instigator. He chose to preserve his strength and returned to making puppets, hoping to restore Cang An’s spirit body and pair it with a third-realm Fire Spirit.

• Wang Ben reported that Demon Race connections had been found in three Daoist temples in Mozhou Road and among an inspector in Haizhou Road, and Wang Ping ordered continued surveillance without disrupting Nanlin Road.
• Daoist Zi Luan’s puppet bird brought Wang Ping intelligence about Duan Shui Men, the Earth Cave Sect, and the Taiyin Sect, while Yulian warned that someone familiar with Wang Ping might have destroyed the sacrificial site to conceal clues.
• Li Lin told Wang Ping that a scholar named Ding Fu had organized the rioters and died in the sacrificial ritual, but that investigators had yet to verify his connections at the Provincial Governor’s Yamen.
• Wang Ping’s divinations indicated that investigating with all his resources could produce results but would require great effort, so he and Yulian decided it was not worth the risk.
• Wang Ping entered the carpentry room to make puppets and considered finding a third-realm Fire Spirit to pair with Cang An’s spirit body.

Wang Ping attended Guangxuan’s gathering with Yulian after Daoist Yucheng declined to go, revealing that Yucheng had to reach the Third Realm within fifty years. At the gathering, Wang Ping encountered Old Daoist Wu and Yue Ziyu, while Guangxuan told him a newcomer who knew him would soon be introduced.

• Wang Ping meditated beneath the Clouds to restore his State of Mind, then cast a Sacred Divination before breakfast.
• Daoist Yucheng told Wang Ping he would stop attending gatherings and asked him to take Yulian instead.
• Wang Ping told Yulian that Yucheng had to advance to the Third Realm within fifty years or lose his chance.
• Wang Ping and Yulian traveled through the sealed underground caverns to the gathering, where Guangxuan said Yuan Zheng and Liaoyuan had recommended a newcomer Wang Ping knew.
• Old Daoist Wu and Yue Ziyu arrived and praised Wang Ping for defeating two Third Realm cultivators.

Wang Ping hosted a gathering of Third Realm cultivators, where Liaoyuan sought help advancing and Yue Ziyu offered a lead on the demonic weapon Jiaxia Zero Six. Wang Ping offered Thousand Wood Temple as a concealed place for Liaoyuan's advancement, and Liaoyuan asked what he would need to offer.

• Old Daoist Wu and Guangxuan reflected on Wang Ping's rapid rise as cultivators arrived for the gathering.
• Wang Ping greeted Daoist Yuanzheng, Liaoyuan, Sun Shulin, Wen Yang, and Yang Ye, then joined them in Guangxuan's pavilion.
• Yulian assessed the gathered cultivators, noting that most had chaotic humanity while Yang Ye remained neutral.
• Liaoyuan said he had prepared to advance to the Third Realm but needed help because his sect had no available slot.
• Yue Ziyu offered to connect Liaoyuan with someone who could help him use Jiaxia Zero Six, and Wen Yang agreed to assist discreetly.
• Wang Ping offered Thousand Wood Temple as a concealed advancement site, and Liaoyuan asked what he must offer.

Wang Ping secured Liaoyuan’s promise to aid Thousand Wood Temple if he advanced, then coordinated a plan to force Yuan Hu out of the Demon Domain and requested intelligence on the Empty Mountain Association. The gathering ended with Yang Ye seeking wind- and lightning-affinity Demon Race bloodlines.

• Wang Ping set conditions for providing Liaoyuan a place to advance, and Liaoyuan accepted while postponing the advancement until his Disciple succeeded and he obtained a quota.
• Daoist Yuanzheng reported that Yuan Hu was in the Demon Domain, and the group discussed how to track him and intercept him after he left.
• Wen Yang proposed negotiating openly with the Demon Domain to drive Yuan Hu out, Daoist Yuanzheng offered witness memories as evidence, and Wang Ping agreed to arrange the plan after the gathering.
• Wang Ping asked for intelligence on the Empty Mountain Association, and Old Daoist Wu and the others agreed to investigate it secretly.
• Yang Ye requested Demon Race bloodlines with wind and lightning attributes, and Sun Shulin offered information about wind.