Chapter Summaries

Wang Ping attended his first gathering with the hidden alliance, where its members discussed Lord Xiaoshan’s ambitions and exchanged help and resources. Daoist Yucheng secured support for Changqing’s bid for the Fifth Seat, though Wen Yang warned that the Baishui Sect might obstruct him over the incident at Yongming Port.

• Gu Heng welcomed Wang Ping to the gathering and assigned him a seat as Daoist Yucheng’s Personal Disciple.
• Wen Yang explained that the True Sun Sect wanted to prevent Mozhou Road from worsening and asked Yuan Zheng to arrange covert action.
• Liaoyuan said Lord Xiaoshan was pursuing the fortune needed to advance to the Fifth Realm, while the gathering agreed to wait for an opportunity to act.
• Liaoyuan offered the first two tribulations of the Six Tribulations of the Golden Body in exchange for Yuan Zheng delivering his rogue Martial Uncle during a battle, and Wen Yang agreed to provide Yuan Zheng with materials for his advancement.
• Old Daoist Wu asked Yuan Zheng to help improve his Spiritual Root in exchange for an Earth Spirit, and Yuan Zheng agreed to seek someone who could do it.
• Daoist Yucheng announced Changqing’s plan to advance to the Fifth Seat of the Daoist Scripture Hall, and Wen Yang said the members would support him but the Baishui Sect might interfere.

Wang Ping learned how Daoist Yucheng was positioning the sect and its disciples for the coming political upheaval, then submitted his advancement application. Months later, Zhao Qing reported a possible Baishui Sect plot to cut off irrigation water in Huxin County, threatening a famine.

• Daoist Yucheng explained that the secret gathering traded intelligence, materials, and missions, and warned Wang Ping to keep his identity concealed at similar gatherings.
• Daoist Yucheng admitted he had arranged for Liu Zixiu and Wang Kang to enter the imperial court as bargaining leverage, while their families and disciples might be sacrificed in the coming upheaval.
• Daoist Yucheng told Wang Ping that Eldest Senior Brother might have infiltrated First Day or joined the Taiyin Evil Cultivator, then took Wang Ping to submit his advancement application.
• Wang Ping returned to Thousand Wood Temple, where Yulian questioned him about the gathering and he reflected on the dangers of cultivation.
• Zhao Qing reported that Power Pill prices had fallen and that Baishui Sect might have cut off Huxin County's water supply, putting the early-spring rice crop and the county at risk of famine.

Wang Ping witnessed the bloody aftermath of a water dispute in Huxin County and intervened when a youth’s blade began turning demonic, clashing with Gao Zishi of the Iron Art Sect. After Gao Zishi escaped with the youth, Daoist Yucheng explained the Iron Art Sect’s likely use of an Outer Realm Demonic Creature and revealed the Daoist Scripture Hall was only about nine hundred years old.

• Huxin County villagers destroyed Huaifu County’s dam after its river diversion left their farmland without water, and the two prefectures avoided escalating the resulting conflict.
• Yulian detected a youth killing farmers with a black woodcutter’s blade that was evolving into a demonic weapon.
• Wang Ping sent Puppet Zi Hong to stop the youth, but Gao Zishi attacked Wang Ping from the sky and rescued the youth.
• Yulian corroded Gao Zishi’s axes while Wang Ping’s Long Swords struck him, but Gao Zishi’s Metal Spirit defense let him escape with the youth.
• Wang Ping reported the encounter to Daoist Yucheng, who explained Outer Realm Demonic Creatures and said the Daoist Scripture Hall had existed for only around nine hundred years.

Wang Ping refined Iron Bamboo swords while the Daoist Scripture Hall repeatedly postponed its Dharma Assembly amid disputes over candidates and accusations from the Baishui Sect. After taking Su Dun’s grandson Su Hai as a Registered Disciple, Wang Ping began considering how to deal with the sect that had helped delay the assembly again.

• Wang Ping’s first Iron Bamboo sword shattered when he summoned it before properly refining it, so he spent months refining the swords and later found the finished blade more powerful to use.
• The Daoist Scripture Hall postponed its Dharma Assembly after no unaffiliated sects produced qualified candidates for promotion to Fifth Seat, and Wang Ping learned that the Hall was tacitly counted among the five Mystic Sect teachings.
• Zhao Qing told Wang Ping that the Mozhou Road Rebels had been defeated, Niu Man had been rewarded and transferred to the Upper Capital, and Su Dun had become a senior official on Nanlin Road.
• Su Dun brought his sons and grandsons to Wang Ping to test their cultivation potential, and Wang Ping agreed to observe them; he later accepted the thirteen-year-old Su Hai as a Registered Disciple and assigned him to Liu Shuang.
• The Daoist Scripture Hall postponed the Dharma Assembly again after the Baishui Sect accused Wang Ping of organizing an attack on its disciples during the Yongming Port war, and Wang Ping began plotting how to deal with the sect.

Wang Ping and Daoist Yucheng developed a secret plan to destroy Baishui Sect by implanting people with the Five Elements Condensation Technique and detonating them inside the sect. Wang Ping then asked Liu Shuang to help find suitable candidates, and she suggested seeking desperate but dependable people in war-torn regions.

• Wang Ping conceived using people implanted with the Five Elements Condensation Technique as human bombs against Baishui Sect and went to seek Daoist Yucheng's guidance.
• After waiting for Daoist Yucheng to return, Wang Ping explained his idea, and Daoist Yucheng approved it while warning that the plan required years of preparation and secrecy.
• Wang Ping and Daoist Yucheng agreed that Liu Shuang would select candidates, Wang Ping would implant the technique, and Zhao Qing would handle the candidates afterward; Daoist Yucheng also planned to investigate Baishui Sect's backers.
• Wang Ping and Daoist Yucheng spent two days and nights refining the plan without writing anything down, then divided responsibilities for its execution.
• After ten days of quiet reflection, Wang Ping summoned Liu Shuang and told her about the plan.
• Liu Shuang said desperate people could be found among families suffering from poverty, illness, hunger, and war, but stressed that the candidates needed dependable characters and backgrounds that could withstand scrutiny.

Wang Ping received his Fifth Seat appointment as the empire’s politics grew increasingly unstable and Wang Kang took command of Imperial Guard Troops on the Northern Border. Years later, Liu Shuang returned with Li Xiangwen, a dying scholar whose family Wang Ping had rescued, and Wang Ping began deciding whether he could be trusted.

• Wang Ping was promoted to Fifth Seat and gained authority to establish an inheritance and weigh in on local affairs.
• After Fan Wenzhi died, the new emperor reorganized the government and appointed Wang Kang Light Chariot Commandant to defend the Northern Border.
• Zhao Qing told Wang Ping that the emperor planned to restore Liu Yue’s family name to secure his surrender, and they discussed the danger facing Wang Kang.
• Liu Shuang returned to Thousand Wood Temple with Li Xiangwen, explaining that a rat Yao had been draining his spiritual inspiration in exchange for extending his family’s lives.
• Wang Ping sent a Wood Spirit into Li Xiangwen to save him, had Zi Hong carry him to the Alchemy Room, and told Liu Shuang to visit her disciples.

Wang Ping recruited the dying scholar Li Xiangwen by promising to reunite him with his family and assigning him a mission at the Baishui Sect. After six months of quiet cultivation, Liu Shuang returned with another dying man, Yang Tian, whom Wang Ping intended to prepare for the same broader plan.

• Wang Ping told Li Xiangwen to retrieve an important item from the Baishui Sect and monitor an assigned companion in exchange for his life and a chance to see his family.
• Wang Ping secretly watched as Li Xiangwen reunited with his family, then reasoned that the scholar would follow the plan despite his private calculations.
• Wang Ping spent the next six months cultivating, teaching his disciples, refining Ironwood Swords, and practicing a killing formation as his Spirit Talisman digestion reached 10%.
• Liu Shuang returned with Yang Tian, a young man whose severe illness left him only two months to live, and explained that he had endured pain to save money for his sons.
• Wang Ping judged Yang Tian simpler than Li Xiangwen and told Liu Shuang to teach him, while she mentioned having two backups.

Wang Ping tested the Five Elements Condensation Technique on Li Xiangwen and Yang Tian, turning them into short-lived Immortal Realm cultivators for a plan against Baishui Sect and Iron Art Sect. Daoist Yucheng told Wang Ping that the plan had changed, leaving the two men to appear as independent cultivators in Five Dao Prefecture.

• Wang Ping learned that the Imperial Guard had crushed the Rebels of Liuzhou Prefecture while cultivators above the Fourth Realm attended a secret Dharma assembly.
• Wang Ping implanted Five Elements spiritual objects into Li Xiangwen, whose cultivation rapidly advanced to the Immortal Realm at the cost of his meridians and Qi Sea.
• Daoist Yucheng examined Li Xiangwen and remarked that unorthodox methods might one day produce a Fifth Realm cultivator, though the process would be extraordinarily difficult.
• Wang Ping also implanted Five Elements spiritual objects into Yang Tian after helping him recover his health.
• Wang Ping handed Li Xiangwen and Yang Tian over to Daoist Yucheng, who later explained that he had canceled the final encirclement plan and arranged for the pair to pose as cultivators who had found a secret technique and settled in Five Dao Prefecture.

Li Xiangwen and Yang Tian settled near Shangyang Mountain while concealing their motives, and Wang Ping learned they had joined Baishui Sect. Daoist Yucheng planned to strike during the sect’s welcome assembly and sent Wang Ping away to investigate missing Corpse Soldiers in Mozhou Road.

• Li Xiangwen and Yang Tian bought land near Shangyang Mountain and discussed whether to escape, but neither revealed his full intentions.
• Wang Ping allowed Thousand Wood Temple disciples to join Wang Kang’s northern campaign and suggested recruiting more children from lower-class families.
• Daoist Yucheng told Wang Ping that the two Rogue Cultivators had joined Baishui Sect and that the sect would welcome them at a Dharma assembly in ten days.
• Daoist Yucheng proposed using the Rogue Cultivators’ self-destruction to destroy the assembly and arranged for Wang Ping to investigate missing Corpse Soldiers in Mozhou Road.

Wang Ping returned to Changwen Prefecture, where the city was under heavy security and commerce had largely halted. At the Daoist Scripture Hall, Daoist Xuanhe assigned him a difficult investigation into an underground prison incident and sent Ajiu to assist him as they set out to inspect the prison.

• Wang Ping entered Changwen Prefecture and saw soldiers patrolling, laborers repairing the city walls, and shuttered businesses amid the unrest.
• Wang Ping passed through the crowded west gate and reported to the Daoist Scripture Hall, where a guide led him to Daoist Xuanhe.
• Daoist Xuanhe introduced Wang Ping to Wen Yang and gave him a case file about an incident at the underground prison, explaining that the concealed aura had made the investigation a Fifth Seat task.
• Daoist Xuanhe assigned Ajiu to help Wang Ping with local matters, and Ajiu proposed that they visit the underground prison first.
• Wang Ping sensed the case file for implanted consciousness before reading it as he and Ajiu left to investigate.

Wang Ping entered the Daoist Scripture Hall’s underground prison to investigate the stolen Corpse Soldiers with Ajiu and met Leng Feng, a Commandant of the Guards officer already examining the scene. Leng Feng suspected an inside traitor, while Wang Ping began inspecting the damaged Sealing Array.

• Ajiu presented Daoist Wen Yang’s order, and a guard opened the secret entrance to the underground prison for Wang Ping and Ajiu.
• Wang Ping observed the prison’s extensive formations and followed the guard into an area saturated with Taiyin energy, where Ajiu used a crimson sphere for protection.
• Wang Ping encountered Leng Feng, a Fourth-Rank Commander of the Guards who had entered the prison ahead of them to investigate the stolen Corpse Soldiers.
• Ajiu challenged Leng Feng’s authority to investigate the Daoist Scripture Hall’s affairs, but Leng Feng recognized him and asked Wang Ping to identify himself.
• Leng Feng said the Sealing Array had been cleanly destroyed and accused the prison guards of stealing the Corpse Soldiers from their own treasury.
• Wang Ping ignored Leng Feng’s accusation and stepped forward to inspect the damaged Sealing Array.

Wang Ping investigated the damaged sealing array and learned it had been sabotaged by an Artifact Cultivator, but he found no clear culprit. He left the archives to visit Feng Miao at White Crane Mountain and suddenly remembered that Baishui Sect was welcoming Li Xiangwen and Yang Tian that day.

• Wang Ping examined the prison’s damaged array and discovered through his Light Screen Panel that an Artifact Cultivator had damaged it.
• Wang Ping questioned Leng Feng and inspected the four Qi practitioners who had guarded the dungeon, but found no useful leads.
• Wang Ping asked Ajiu about the Spirit Gathering Array, then visited the archives but left without reading any files.
• Wang Ping decided to visit friends and traveled with Ajiu to White Crane Mountain to see Feng Miao.
• At the sect gate, Wang Ping sensed that Baishui Sect lay to the northeast and recalled its assembly welcoming Li Xiangwen and Yang Tian.

Baishui Sect’s assembly ended in the sect’s destruction when Li Xiangwen and Yang Tian unleashed a five-colored energy storm. Wang Ping then visited Feng Miao’s fire-aspected Daoist grounds, where Feng Miao explained the dangers and requirements of entering the Immortal Realm through True Sun Inheritance.

• Hong Chengde and Gao Zishi discussed luring Changqing and others into Five Dao Prefecture to kill them and seize their cultivation method.
• Li Xiangwen and Yang Tian arrived at Baishui Sect’s Inner Sect training grounds, and Hong Chengde welcomed them.
• A disciple formed a hand seal, triggering five-colored spiritual energy that destroyed Baishui Sect and its central island.
• Wang Ping and Ajiu visited Feng Miao’s Daoist grounds on White Crane Mountain, where Yulian complained about the heat.
• Feng Miao explained that entering the First Realm of True Sun Inheritance required absorbing the rising sun’s power and gaining a true spirit’s recognition.

Wang Ping visited Cheng Ji and Feng Miao at White Crane Mountain for help investigating the theft of Corpse Soldiers from the Daoist Scripture Hall. After settling into the residence assigned to him in the prefectural city, he learned that Commander Leng Feng had come to see him.

• Wang Ping told Cheng Ji and Feng Miao about the stolen Corpse Soldiers, and Feng Miao agreed to gather information on recently registered Immortal Realm Artifact Cultivators in Mozhou Road.
• Feng Miao and Cheng Ji advised Wang Ping to focus on finding the Corpse Soldiers and offered to watch Commander Leng Feng's covert agents.
• Cheng Ji discussed the Daoist Scripture Hall's factional conflicts with Wang Ping, who then left White Crane Mountain with Ajiu and Yulian.
• Wang Ping flew to the prefectural city and settled into the Daoist Scripture Hall's assigned courtyard.
• The next morning, Ajiu told Wang Ping that Commander Leng had requested an audience.

Wang Ping and Commander Leng watched the city while four guards were interrogated, waiting for the people behind the suspected conspiracy to act. After Wang Ping uncovered a market stronghold and sent Ajiu to report it, two Daoists from the Daoist Scripture Hall headquarters arrived to question him about the Baishui Sect.

• Wang Ping brought Commander Leng and the Squad Leaders to interrogate four guards with demonic instruments while Daoist Scripture Hall practitioners supervised.
• Wang Ping and Yulian watched the city from above as Commander Leng kept the courtyard under guard, but no one made a move for two days.
• On the third day, a Commandant's Office guard visited a deserted eastern market, and on the fourth night a Daoist Scripture Hall practitioner went there too.
• The market sent four riders toward different city gates, so Wang Ping placed tracking talismans on them and gave their locations to Commander Leng.
• Commander Leng sent Ajiu to report to Wen Yang, while Wang Ping also told him where the market stronghold was.
• Two Daoists from the Daoist Scripture Hall headquarters arrived and asked Wang Ping about the Baishui Sect.

Wang Ping was questioned by Lan Chen'an and Lan Shiliu about the destruction of the Baishui Sect by Power Pills, which he denied causing. He left knowing that Bai Zhuo might seek revenge and was advised to stay in the city.

• Lan Chen'an asked Wang Ping whether he had destroyed the Baishui Sect, and Wang Ping pretended not to know it had been destroyed.
• Lan Chen'an said witnesses and Bai Zhuo blamed Power Pill explosions for the sect's destruction and the deaths of four Immortal Realm cultivators.
• Lan Shiliu questioned Wang Ping about the Power Pills' power, and Wang Ping claimed powerful materials could produce extremely destructive pills at great expense.
• Wang Ping told Lan Chen'an and Lan Shiliu that he had found the Power Pill method in a Demon Race ruin witnessed by many people.
• After questioning Wang Ping for one shichen, Lan Chen'an warned him that Bai Zhuo might come seeking revenge and advised him to remain in the city.

Wang Ping received Daoist Yucheng’s warning about Bai Zhuo and Cheng Ji’s findings on two suspicious Immortal Realm Artifact Cultivators. He destroyed the files and returned to the investigation, where Commander Leng was examining the guards’ memories, while Wang Ping secretly sent Puppet Zi Hong into the city.

• Wang Ping read Daoist Yucheng’s coded letter, which recounted the Baishui Sect’s destruction and warned him to beware of Bai Zhuo’s revenge.
• Wang Ping received Cheng Ji’s files on Yang Jingwu and Zhang Jinglong, the only two Immortal Realm Artifact Cultivators recently registered at the Daoist Scripture Hall.
• Wang Ping and Yulian suspected both men might be involved, and Wang Ping destroyed the files after deciding the investigation could reveal what the hidden hand behind Mozhou Road intended.
• Commander Leng told Wang Ping that he was reading the negligent guards’ memories to identify their contacts and expected to prepare a list within three days.
• Wang Ping returned to his assigned courtyard, entered Meditation, and secretly sent Puppet Zi Hong into the city.

Wang Ping traced Zhang Jinglong’s movements and discovered his repeated contact with Deputy Commander Yu Er, while an investigation uncovered a First Day stronghold and sacrificial altars. He suspected Daoist priest Wen Hai had helped destroy the underground prison’s sealing formation, and Commander Leng prepared to bring Zhang Jinglong in.

• Wang Ping reviewed Zi Hong’s memories and noticed Deputy Commander Yu Er meeting Zhang Jinglong each morning at a mutton soup shop.
• Ajiu reported that the guards’ leads had exposed First Day’s people, including a market official and a northern forest stronghold with sacrificial altars.
• Wang Ping searched the portraits and identified Zhang Jinglong, Daoist priest Wen Hai, and Deputy Commander Yu Er as connected figures.
• Wang Ping told Commander Leng that Zhang Jinglong was his leading suspect in the destruction of the underground prison’s sealing formation.
• Commander Leng urged them to bring Zhang Jinglong in and asked Wang Ping who the other Artifact Cultivator was.

Wang Ping and Leng Feng planned their next investigations after Zhang Jinglong disappeared, but Bai Zhuo ambushed Wang Ping inside the city. Daoist Wen Yang intervened, and their clash of fire and ice devastated the city as a golden sword suddenly flew toward Wang Ping.

• Wang Ping, Leng Feng, and Ajiu agreed to investigate Zhang Jinglong, the arrested deputy, and the case's other leads.
• A middle-aged Daoist approached Wang Ping, revealed himself as Bai Zhuo, and attacked him with water and ice techniques.
• Daoist Wen Yang confronted Bai Zhuo, who threatened to destroy the city unless Wang Ping surrendered or left.
• Wang Ping dodged Bai Zhuo's tracking Ice Spikes with the Jia Talisman and Void Escape while Yulian tried to shield him.
• The clash between Bai Zhuo's ice and Wen Yang's fire caused widespread destruction, and a golden sword shot toward Wang Ping's chest.

Wang Ping fought a Gold Spirit Cultivator assassin from First Day, who attacked him with weapons and preparations designed to counter him and Yulian. Wang Ping killed the attacker with Daoist Tongyu’s help, then searched his head for memories as Commander Leng arrived and returned to the battle overhead.

• Wang Ping evaded the Gold Spirit Cultivator’s attack and used his seven Iron Bamboo swords, transformed spiritual energy, and awakened Wood Soldiers to hold him off.
• Yulian summoned water droplets to corrode the golden swords, but the attacker countered with crimson banners that set the forest ablaze and filled it with smoke.
• Wang Ping tried to retreat, but the Gold Spirit Cultivator pursued and broke through his Jia Talisman’s protection.
• Wang Ping called on Daoist Tongyu, whose imprisonment technique stopped the attacker long enough for Wang Ping’s swords to cut him apart.
• Wang Ping collected the attacker’s weapons and Storage Bag, used Soul Searching Technique on his head, and told Commander Leng that the man was an Evil Cultivator from First Day who might be connected to the stolen Corpse Soldiers case.
• Commander Leng confirmed Wang Ping was safe, then flew back toward the Commandant of the Guards while the battle in the sky continued.