Chapter Summaries

Meng Hui escaped the Liulan Emperor after attacking the Liulan Dynasty, while Pei Ling faced the awakened Medicine Fairy in his alchemy room. The Medicine Fairy recognized his demonic techniques and confronted him about stirring up trouble despite his low cultivation.

• Meng Hui found the Chongming Sect gone and pulled the injured Jue Xinzi to safety.
• Meng Hui told Jue Xinzi to treat their conflict with the Liulan Emperor as a chance to temper their Dao Hearts, then taunted the Emperor as he fled.
• Meng Hui unleashed corrosive rain and attacked a nearby city, forcing the Liulan Emperor to stop pursuing him and defend the Dynasty.
• The Medicine Fairy awoke in Pei Ling's furnace and asked whether he intended to use her to make pills.
• Pei Ling tried to claim he had been rescuing the Medicine Fairy from Wushi Villa, but she identified his demonic cultivation techniques and criticized his poor disguise and reckless actions.

Medicine Fairy restored Lesser Freedom Heaven and gave Pei Ling another chance to complete her master's inheritance task, promising to take him as her disciple if he failed. Pei Ling arranged for her main body to leave, then prepared to use the system to deliberately fall short of the task.

• Medicine Fairy sent Pei Ling back to Lesser Freedom Heaven and restored the shattered space around him.
• Medicine Fairy let Pei Ling continue the inheritance task, requiring him to refine a top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill within three days, and offered to teach him Pill Refining Technique if he failed.
• Pei Ling agreed and decided to aim for a high-grade pill instead, so Medicine Fairy would accept him as her disciple without losing confidence in him.
• Pei Ling urged Medicine Fairy to help the Liulan Dynasty after its attack, and she left a clone to watch him while her main body went to learn about the situation.
• Pei Ling asked the clone not to detoxify him, swallowed a delayed poison pill, and activated One-Click Hosting for Pill Refining Technique.

After the battle devastated Lan Jing City and the Liulan Dynasty, Medicine Fairy healed the wounded and urged the Emperor and Empress not to wage war. She returned to Lesser Freedom Heaven as Pei Ling finished refining pills, where she neutralized the poison in his body.

• The Emperor and Empress prepared to attack Chongming Sect and Wushi Villa after Old Demon Meng Hui's assault and Medicine Fairy's abduction.
• A wave of vitality and gentle rain healed the injured and restored life throughout the Liulan Dynasty.
• Medicine Fairy told the Emperor that she was safe, urged him to avoid war, and returned to Lesser Freedom Heaven.
• The Emperor agreed not to wage war but vowed to make Wushi Villa and Chongming Sect pay for their repeated attacks.
• Pei Ling completed a batch of Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pills under the System's control, and Medicine Fairy neutralized the poison in his body.

Pei Ling revealed his identity to the Medicine Fairy, who accepted him as her disciple Yao Qingying and taught him the Spirit Nurturing Art. She gave him her original blood essence to help him form his core, and he prepared to begin the breakthrough in Lesser Freedom Heaven.

• After opening the furnace to reveal a top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill, Pei Ling admitted his real name and appearance to the Medicine Fairy.
• Yao Qingying accepted Pei Ling as her disciple after he promised not to use her pill-refining teachings to harm anyone.
• Yao Qingying taught Pei Ling the Spirit Nurturing Art, which the system recorded, and gave him a drop of her original blood essence as a core-forming material.
• Pei Ling decided the time was right to form his core and thanked Yao Qingying for her gift.
• Pei Ling took out the materials Li Lieyue had prepared and his Nanke Dream Fire, which Yao Qingying freed from its seal, then also brought out the Nine Souls Blade.

Pei Ling began forming his core in Slumbering Valley with Yao Qingying’s help, while the System took over his cultivation and unexpectedly chose her as his Dao Companion. As his transformation continued, tribulation clouds gathered over Lesser Freedom Heaven, and the Nanke Dream Fire began changing his cultivation, physique, and soul.

• Pei Ling summoned the Nine Souls Blade, warned its bloodthirsty blade spirit to stay quiet, and swallowed the source essence blood Yao Qingying had given him.
• The source essence blood’s medicinal force threatened to overwhelm Pei Ling, so Yao Qingying restrained it and urged him to form his core immediately.
• Pei Ling had the System take over his cultivation; it began a Nameless Cultivation Method, grabbed Yao Qingying’s wrist, and proceeded after detecting her essence blood in his body.
• Three days later, Pei Ling’s growing aura caused tribulation clouds to gather over Lesser Freedom Heaven, alarming its creatures and putting the Wood Spirit Guards on alert.
• Under the System’s control, Pei Ling absorbed the Nanke Dream Fire, which engulfed him as his cultivation, physique, and soul began to transform.

As Pei Ling underwent his Golden Core tribulation, he was pulled into a terrifying game that recalled Penglai Temple before breaking free and returning to reality. The system then forced him to attack the Tribulation Lightning, leaving him badly injured as the lightning continued.

• Yao Qingying moved the living beings and resources in Lesser Freedom Heaven to safety and wove protective nets around the valley.
• Pei Ling saw a familiar endgame and faced a Shadowy Figure whose game threatened to erase his body, soul, fate, and memories.
• Pei Ling's body flipped the board and attacked the Shadowy Figure with the Nine Souls Blade, causing the figure and the surrounding illusion to vanish.
• Pei Ling remembered that the game resembled the endgame from Penglai Temple, then saw three serpents of Tribulation Lightning descend.
• The system controlled Pei Ling and made him attack the Tribulation Lightning with the Nine Souls Blade, but the lightning struck him down into a crater.
• The system ended its cultivation session, returning control to Pei Ling, who endured severe pain and dizziness while Yao Qingying's essence blood healed him.

Pei Ling endured the final rounds of his Core Formation Tribulation, drawing on his past experiences to unleash a blade strike that glimpsed the Great Dao. After the tribulation ended, Yao Qingying warned him to continue forming his core while the Tribulation Power remained.

• Pei Ling absorbed Tribulation Power to heal and refine the Nanke Dream Fire as the second round of lightning descended.
• Pei Ling recalled his past battles and unleashed an instinctive blade strike that shattered all three thunder pythons.
• Pei Ling absorbed the remaining Tribulation Power and returned to peak condition as the later rounds of lightning gathered.
• As the ninth and final round approached, Pei Ling glimpsed the Great Dao and poured all his strength and power into one blade strike.
• Pei Ling survived the final bolt, and Yao Qingying told him to keep forming his core before the Tribulation Power dispersed.

Pei Ling survived the Heavenly Tribulation and formed a first-grade Golden Core, though the system took control of his body and licked medicinal energy from Yao Qingying’s hand to restore him. Meanwhile, the Si Hong Clan suppressed the captured Medicine Fairy and prepared to answer Li Lieyue’s challenge concerning Si Hong Miaoli.

• After the final Tribulation Lightning exhausted him, Pei Ling used the system to cultivate, and it took control of his body and licked Yao Qingying’s hand to absorb medicinal power.
• The system used the Six Desires Secret Canon to absorb the remaining Tribulation Power, allowing Pei Ling to form a flawless first-grade Golden Core.
• The system announced that it would upgrade while continuing to cultivate Pei Ling’s Myriad Beasts Devouring Spirit Technique and offering him a Dao Companion.
• Si Hong Lunshan reported to the Si Hong Clan Old Ancestor that Little Zhong Kui had mobilized people, their spies in the Liulan Dynasty had been rooted out, and Li Lieyue had invited Si Hong Miaoli to debate the Dao.
• The Old Ancestor told Si Hong Lunshan to ask Li Lieyue to wait a few years, promising that the Si Hong Clan would send the Jiu A Li Clan one of the Medicine Fairy’s fingers after refining her.

Pei Ling successfully refined a top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill, earning Yao Qingying's praise and the next Pill Ancestor inheritance task. The task required him to create an antidote to a deadly poison pill, and he realized he could not rely on the system to complete it.

• Pei Ling used the system to refine a top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill while Yao Qingying watched.
• Yao Qingying praised Pei Ling, gave him three Void Heaven Realm Seeds, and handed him a jade slip containing the next inheritance task.
• Pei Ling learned that the task was to refine an antidote to the Silent Life-Suppressing Pill, a poison with no cure that could incapacitate even a Nascent Soul Cultivator.
• Pei Ling realized he could not use the system to complete the task, while Yao Qingying shed three tears that solidified into crystals.

After Yao Qingying gave Pei Ling three teardrops and returned to slumber, he decided to leave Lan Jing City before his identity as a Chongming Sect disciple was exposed. He passed the Dynasty’s strict gate inspection and departed after giving the inspecting soldiers his pills.

• Yao Qingying gave Pei Ling a life-saving tear, a healing tear for others, and a poisonous tear, then sent him back to Xin Cui Pavilion before falling asleep for thirty years.
• Pei Ling disguised himself as Wang Gao, packed pills and a farewell letter for the pavilion members, and left Xin Cui Pavilion.
• Pei Ling reached Lan Jing City’s guarded gates and presented his Fifth-Rank Pill Master jade token.
• At the soldiers’ request, Pei Ling proved his identity by refining top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills in front of them.
• Pei Ling gave the pills to the soldiers in gratitude and continued out of the city.

Zhong Kui Jingyi and Zhong Kui Xi went to invite Wang Gao back for another round of the Pill Refining Grand Ceremony, but found he had left. They discovered his Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill and realized his inheritance mission score made him the clear champion.

• Zhong Kui Jingyi and Zhong Kui Xi discussed the Demonic Sect attack and the casualties as their carriage traveled to Xin Cui Pavilion.
• Zhong Kui Jingyi and Zhong Kui Xi went to Wang Gao's lodgings, intending to bring him back for a new round of the ceremony.
• The siblings found Wang Gao gone, with a Storage Pouch and a letter left behind.
• Zhong Kui Jingyi recognized the unfamiliar pill in the pouch as Wang Gao's Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill inheritance mission.
• Zhong Kui Jingyi ordered the pill taken to the Attendants for verification, concluding that Wang Gao's score made another round unnecessary.

Pei Ling traveled through Langgan County after forming a first-grade Golden Core, reflecting on his new powers and the Nine Souls Blade’s growth. When the Jiu A Li Clan’s talisman began glowing, he descended into a forest and checked the area with his newly strengthened Spiritual Sense before responding.

• Pei Ling reviewed how the Grievance Nightmare divine ability could absorb malice to restore him and strengthen his Eternal Curse Divine Ability.
• Pei Ling considered his new ability to wield the Law, his improved strength, and the Nine Souls Blade’s growth after the Heavenly Tribulation.
• Pei Ling told the Nine Souls Blade Spirit to return to her blade while they traveled through the righteous Liulan Dynasty.
• Pei Ling received a signal from the Jiu A Li Clan’s Sound Transmission Talisman, descended into a forest, and probed his surroundings with Spiritual Sense.

Pei Ling contacted Li Wumei and waited in the mountains for him, but a late Core Formation Corpse Puppet appeared instead and attacked. Pei Ling revealed his Blood Ghost Escape Technique to evade a lethal blow and drew the Nine Souls Blade as the battle continued.

• Pei Ling told Li Wumei that he was hiding in the mountains southwest of Yi'an City, and Li Wumei tested him by asking about Li Yanling before promising to come find him.
• Pei Ling waited until nightfall while concealing his presence, then used Cold Marrow Fire to signal his location when he sensed a powerful Spiritual Sense.
• A gold-faced, heavily armored Corpse Puppet arrived and attacked Pei Ling instead of Li Wumei.
• Pei Ling fought back with Nanke Dream Fire and Myriad Beasts Devouring Spirit Technique, but the Corpse Puppet blasted through his attacks with corpse qi.
• Pei Ling escaped the Corpse Puppet's punch with Blood Ghost Escape Technique and summoned the Nine Souls Blade to continue fighting.

Pei Ling defeated a late Core Formation Corpse Puppet, and Li Wumei confirmed that Pei Ling had formed a first-grade Golden Core. Li Wumei accepted him as a candidate the Jiu A Li Clan would support for the position of Holy Son and took him away.

• Pei Ling used his techniques and the Nine Souls Blade's Blood Fiend Saber Souls to restrain and destroy the Corpse Puppet, then concealed his aura and fled in a new appearance.
• Li Wumei watched Pei Ling's fight from a nearby peak and judged that his swift victory proved his strength.
• Li Wumei recalled that he had tested Pei Ling to determine whether the Jiu A Li Clan should keep backing him against Su Zhenhe for the Holy Son position.
• Li Wumei concluded that Pei Ling had formed a first-grade Golden Core and remained worthy of the clan's full support.
• Li Wumei appeared beside Pei Ling, grabbed his shoulder, and took him away beneath the night sky.

Pei Ling traveled with Li Wumei from a hidden stronghold in the imperial dynasty to the Ten Thousand Viper Sea marketplace, where Li gave him a prerequisite ghost escape technique. Pei Ling searched for a meaningful gift for Senior Sister Li but found nothing suitable before something in a fabric shop caught his eye.

• Li Wumei brought Pei Ling to a hidden Li Clan stronghold and gave him a jade slip containing the Ghostly Escape Technique.
• Li Wumei and Pei Ling used a Teleportation Array to reach the Ten Thousand Viper Sea marketplace, where they planned to teleport onward to the sect.
• Pei Ling disguised himself and searched the marketplace for a gift for Senior Sister Li, ruling out pills he considered unsuitable.
• After browsing most of the shops without success, Pei Ling entered a fabric shop and noticed something that caught his eye.

Pei Ling traveled with Li Wumei back toward Chongming Sect territory, buying a large selection of revealing clothes and accessories as gifts for Senior Sister Li along the way. While the system refined a pill for her aboard their flying vessel, it announced a new upgrade that made Pei Ling wary of letting it manage his cultivation again.

• Pei Ling bought revealing skirts and assorted accessories for Senior Sister Li at a shop in the Ten Thousand Viper Sea marketplace.
• Li Wumei took Pei Ling through a hidden Teleportation Array, and several days later they reached Chongming Sect territory by flying vessel.
• Pei Ling used the system to refine a top-grade Death-Defying Fate-Reversing Pill for Senior Sister Li and stored it with her gifts.
• The system announced that Intelligent System 3.0 had improved its detection, accident prediction, attack judgment, and free gift features.
• Pei Ling grew wary of using the upgraded system to cultivate the Ghostly Escape Technique.

After returning to the Chongming Sect, Pei Ling learned that the Li Clan wanted him to hide his first-grade Golden Core and received the Cicada Breath Technique to conceal his cultivation. As Pei Ling went to meet Senior Sister Li, Jiao Ni told Li Wumei that the clan wanted him to take command of the dangerous Soul Devouring Cave, though she concealed that the assignment was intended to last for life.

• Li Wumei advised Pei Ling to keep his Golden Core secret and pretend he was still in the Foundation Establishment Realm to avoid provoking the Su Clan and the Floating Light Si Hong Clan.
• Li Wumei gave Pei Ling a jade slip containing the Cicada Breath Technique, which could disguise his cultivation.
• Pei Ling and Li Wumei returned to the Chongming Sect, where Jiao Ni and Wu Liu welcomed Pei Ling on behalf of Senior Sister Li and escorted him to the Chao Na Temporary Palace.
• Jiao Ni privately told Li Wumei that unusual activity had occurred in the Soul Devouring Cave and that the clan wanted him to take command there.
• Li Wumei asked whether he would guard the Soul Devouring Cave for a few months, and Jiao Ni avoided revealing that the assignment was intended to last for life.

Pei Ling returned to the Inner Sect and congratulated Li Lieyue on becoming Saintess, bringing her gifts from his travels. After they cultivated together for three days and nights, Li Lieyue left for business, and Pei Ling went to bathe before being escorted to see her.

• Pei Ling arrived at Chao Na Temporary Palace with Wu Liu and congratulated Li Lieyue on taking her place as Saintess.
• Pei Ling told Li Lieyue that he had formed a first-grade Golden Core and credited her guidance, then offered her a Storage Pouch of gifts.
• Li Lieyue sent the maids out, took Pei Ling and the gifts to the Cloud Bed, and cultivated with him for three days and nights without opening the pouch.
• Pei Ling woke alone in the bedchamber, saw that the Storage Pouch was still unopened, and went with Jiao Ni and Wu Liu to bathe before they escorted him to see Li Lieyue.

Pei Ling returned to Li Lieyue and recounted his dangerous journey, including the events that led to his first-grade Golden Core. Li Lieyue suspected an Outer Tribulation had struck before his breakthrough and warned him to prepare for another one when he advances to Nascent Soul.

• Pei Ling bathed in a medicinal pool, accepted cultivation resources prepared by Li Lieyue, and joined her in a cultivation chamber.
• Li Lieyue told Pei Ling that he would take on clan affairs once he reached the late stage of Core Formation.
• Pei Ling described his travels through the Ten Thousand Viper Sea, the Liulan Dynasty, and Lesser Freedom Heaven, while concealing details about the Suzhen Heaven woman and the Medicine Fairy.
• Li Lieyue concluded that Pei Ling had suffered an early Outer Tribulation before forming his Golden Core and warned him to prepare for one during his Nascent Soul breakthrough.

Li Lieyue warned Pei Ling about the risks of an early Outer Tribulation and advised him to cultivate safely until he could form his Nascent Soul. She then revealed that the Si Hong Clan had captured a supposed Medicine Fairy, but Pei Ling proved their captive was a fake, leaving the Si Hong Clan’s plans in danger and Zhou Miaoli exposed to their retaliation.

• Li Lieyue advised Pei Ling to seek a safe place once he reached the late stage of Core Formation and continue until he formed his Nascent Soul.
• Li Lieyue said she could not yet deal with Zhou Miaoli, who was hiding in the Si Hong Clan, but promised she would eventually settle their scores.
• Li Lieyue told Pei Ling that the Si Hong Clan had captured a Medicine Fairy and was refining her in the Floating Light Pool.
• Pei Ling realized the Si Hong Clan had likely mistaken a female corpse for the real Medicine Fairy and insisted their captive was fake.
• Pei Ling showed Li Lieyue a Heavenly Scar Tear, which confirmed that the Medicine Fairy had recognized him and that the Si Hong Clan had been deceived.
• Li Lieyue told Pei Ling to stay out of the matter and said the Si Hong Clan would likely kill Zhou Miaoli.