Chapter Summaries

Pei Ling subdued all seven Rakshasa Main Souls and completely refined the Bewitching Bone Rakshasa Painting, gaining the ability to imprison opponents and suppress their cultivation. After learning Jade Snow Bat had won the Shapeshifting Pill, he left Cui Lei Mountain to secretly seek another helper for his trip to the Ten Thousand Viper Sea.

• Pei Ling used the Heart-Dying Art to endure Xiang Man’s drowning trial and subdued the second Rakshasa Main Soul.
• Pei Ling realized Xiang Man’s trial required him to experience her pain and despair rather than simply survive.
• Pei Ling entered further trials and subdued Ru Chou, Cui Se, Yun He, Bao Yin, and Mei Yun, refining the Bewitching Bone Rakshasa Painting and unlocking its ability to imprison enemies and suppress their cultivation.
• Wu Liu told Pei Ling that Jade Snow Bat had won the Shapeshifting Pill by defeating a Core Formation Realm demonic beast.
• Pei Ling told Wu Liu to have Jade Snow Bat impersonate him and oversee the Jian Sang lineage, then left to secretly visit the Outer Sect’s southern region.

Pei Ling visited Southern Region Domain Lord Mo Zhenyi to ask him for a favor, while Mo Zhenyi tried to avoid becoming involved in the political stakes surrounding Pei Ling’s future. The chapter ended with Pei Ling asking Mo Zhenyi to deliver a secret message, and Mo Zhenyi pouring him another cup of Sea Spirit Wine after discovering the first had not made him pass out.

• Li Ping brought Pei Ling to Mo Zhenyi’s residence on Ruoxiu Peak after concealing Pei Ling’s identity from those around them.
• Mo Zhenyi recalled his promise to grant Pei Ling one favor and worried that helping him could entangle him in a struggle over the Sacred Sect’s future true disciple and Holy Son positions.
• Mo Zhenyi offered Pei Ling Sea Spirit Wine, expecting its potency to knock him unconscious, but Pei Ling drank a cup without passing out.
• Pei Ling told Mo Zhenyi he had come to ask for a favor and requested that Mo Zhenyi deliver a message that no one else could know about.
• Mo Zhenyi poured Pei Ling another cup of wine and suggested the first flask had lost its potency.

Pei Ling paid Mo Zhenyi with rare pills to pass a message to Zhou Miaoli, hoping to enlist her help in the Ten Thousand Viper Sea. After returning to Cui Lei Mountain, he checked on Jin Sumian’s progress and then secretly set out for the Ten Thousand Viper Sea.

• Pei Ling gave Mo Zhenyi two high-grade pills in exchange for help, and Mo Zhenyi agreed after confirming the request had nothing to do with the Holy Son contest.
• Pei Ling asked Mo Zhenyi to tell Zhou Miaoli to buy a strand of the Medicine Fairy’s hair, offering another pill as a down payment and arranging to meet her at the Ten Thousand Viper Sea.
• Mo Zhenyi accepted the message and pill, believing the request was connected to Saintess Li and deciding to keep the matter secret.
• Pei Ling asked Xiao Ci about Jin Sumian’s alchemy work and instructed her to suggest that Jin Sumian seek Elder Shen Chun’s guidance if she remained stuck.
• Pei Ling disguised himself with the [Bloodless Face] and secretly departed for the Ten Thousand Viper Sea.

Pei Ling used the Bewitching Bone Rakshasa Painting to hunt and devour a Core Formation Realm Bear Demon in Qianzhou Marsh, then traveled onward through Chongming Sect territory. Zhou Miaoli received Pei Ling’s offer to buy a lock of the Medicine Fairy’s hair and a pill asking her to meet him at the Ten Thousand Viper Sea.

• Pei Ling chose a Core Formation Realm demonic beast in Qianzhou Marsh to feed the Bewitching Bone Rakshasa Painting.
• The painting’s seven Rakshasa Main Souls overwhelmed and devoured the Bear Demon while Pei Ling watched from his magic boat.
• Pei Ling flew past Qianzhou Marsh, reached a teleportation array, and paid to use it while posing as a Rogue Cultivator.
• Zhou Miaoli inspected the treasures sent by the Si Hong Clan for her Nascent Soul Formation and found nothing wrong.
• Mo Zhenyi delivered Pei Ling’s request to buy a lock of the Medicine Fairy’s hair and gave Zhou Miaoli a jade bottle as a down payment.
• Zhou Miaoli examined the unfamiliar Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill, which urged her to come to the Ten Thousand Viper Sea.

Zhou Miaoli weighed Pei Ling’s invitation while checking on his and Li Lieyue’s movements, and Pei Ling investigated the dangerous Joyful Pavilion in the Ten Thousand Viper Sea. He learned that the pavilion was run by a powerful Innate Religion disciple, then reviewed Zhou’s Pharmacy’s accounts as its business declined.

• Zhou Miaoli learned that Li Lieyue remained in seclusion and decided to wait three days before considering Pei Ling’s invitation.
• Pei Ling inspected a Ten Thousand Viper Sea shop and used the Netherflame Delusion-Breaking Mirror to uncover its mind-clouding dresses and the depleted female cultivator working there as a cauldron.
• Pei Ling revealed his identity to Xiang Xia at Zhou’s Pharmacy and asked her to investigate the Joyful Pavilion and its owner.
• Xiang Xia reported that an Innate Religion disciple had opened the Joyful Pavilion ten years earlier and that its owner was at least at the Core Formation Realm.
• Xiang Xia said a Rogue Cultivator who had caused trouble at the pavilion disappeared, while that cultivator’s disciples were turned into cauldrons and attendants.
• Pei Ling ordered Xiang Xia to continue investigating, then asked to see the pharmacy’s account books after learning that its stock was low and business had slowed.

Pei Ling inspected Zhou's Pharmacy, confirmed its accounts and dwindling inventory were accurate, and ordered Xiang Xia to buy herbs for several pill recipes. After Zhou Miaoli's medicine bottle arrived, Pei Ling realized she had come to see him.

• Pei Ling reviewed the pharmacy's accounts and found that supplies from the Zhou Family had stopped, causing revenue to fall and stock to dwindle.
• Pei Ling inspected the Spirit Stones and inventory storerooms, confirmed the accounts were accurate, and left the Spirit Stones for the pharmacy's future needs.
• Pei Ling gave Xiang Xia a list of herbs to buy in large quantities and told her not to worry about the price.
• Xiang Xia acquired some herbs at great expense, but Pei Ling found that few were the ingredients he actually needed.
• Xiang Xia told Pei Ling that a female cultivator had come with a medicine bottle, and Pei Ling recognized it as the one he had sent to Zhou Miaoli.

Pei Ling told Zhou Miaoli that the Medicine Fairy she had brought to the Si Hong Clan was a fake and that the real one remained in Lesser Freedom Heaven. Zhou Miaoli demanded an explanation in her hidden chamber after securing it against surveillance.

• Pei Ling received Zhou Miaoli in the pharmacy and asked whether she had come alone.
• Zhou Miaoli explained that the Medicine Fairy was still being suppressed by her clan's ancestor and said she would provide its hair after the Si Hong Clan refined it.
• Pei Ling secretly told Zhou Miaoli that the Medicine Fairy she had taken was fake.
• Zhou Miaoli brought Pei Ling to her concealed chamber beneath the pharmacy and activated its protective arrays.
• Pei Ling claimed that the real Medicine Fairy remained in Lesser Freedom Heaven and that Zhou Miaoli had brought back a Nascent Soul cultivator's corpse.

Pei Ling revealed that Zhou Miaoli had unknowingly helped him replace the real Medicine Fairy with a female Nascent Soul corpse, and she realized he had outmaneuvered the Si Hong Clan. He offered her three ways to survive the clan’s eventual discovery, leaving her to choose among them.

• Pei Ling showed Zhou Miaoli the Heavenly Scar Tear, and she recognized it as proof that he had met the real Medicine Fairy and received her favor.
• Zhou Miaoli realized Pei Ling had switched the real Medicine Fairy with the Nascent Soul corpse and had used her, the Si Hong Clan, and Wushi Villa to advance his plan.
• Zhou Miaoli offered to transfer the resources the Si Hong Clan had returned to her, then asked what Pei Ling planned to do next.
• Pei Ling asked why the Si Hong Clan wanted the Medicine Fairy, and Zhou Miaoli said she believed they wanted to improve their descendants’ aptitude.
• Pei Ling offered Zhou Miaoli three options: use the Heavenly Scar Tear to save her, send her to sleep in Lesser Freedom Heaven for thirty years, or give her top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pills to take back to the Si Hong Clan.

Pei Ling agreed to give Zhou Miaoli top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pills in exchange for her help, then prepared to cultivate the [Ghostly Escape Technique]. He secretly refined two pills for her and began training with the vengeful souls in his Soul Nurturing Bag.

• Zhou Miaoli chose to bargain with the Si Hong Clan using top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pills made with the Medicine Fairy's hair.
• Pei Ling promised Zhou Miaoli a pill after she completed several tasks and asked her to gather the resources listed on his jade slip.
• Zhou Miaoli supplied most of Pei Ling's requested resources and agreed to guard the secret chamber while he cultivated.
• Pei Ling used the system to refine two top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pills, then hid them and erased all traces of pill refining.
• Pei Ling started cultivating the [Ghostly Escape Technique], and the system had him summon and swallow the vengeful souls from his Soul Nurturing Bag.

Pei Ling mastered [Ghostly Escape Technique] and advanced his cultivation with the system, then learned that Kang Shaoyin was behind his trouble at Joyful Pavilion. Zhou Miaoli offered to help him settle the score and teach him [Soul Devouring Life Merging Technique] in exchange for another top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill.

• Pei Ling tested [Ghostly Escape Technique], finding it faster in shadows and better at concealment than [Blood Ghost Escape Technique], though it could not pass through formation barriers.
• Pei Ling used the system to cultivate [Netherflame World-Burning Subtle Art] for five days, consuming a hundred Cold Nether Pills and improving his cultivation.
• Zhou Miaoli attacked Pei Ling to test his escape technique, then used her greater cultivation to force him out of the shadows.
• Pei Ling told Zhou Miaoli he needed to investigate who had cheated him at Joyful Pavilion, and she identified Kang Shaoyin as the culprit.
• Zhou Miaoli offered to deal with Kang Shaoyin and teach Pei Ling [Soul Devouring Life Merging Technique] if he gave her another top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pill.

Pei Ling learned that Kang Shaoyin, an Innate Religion true disciple, would be at the Ten Thousand Viper Sea market in five or six days, and arranged with Zhou Miaoli to contact him. Meanwhile, Zhou Miaoli demolished Joyful Pavilion in the market and killed those inside, leaving one maidservant alive.

• Pei Ling agreed to wait for Zhou Miaoli to locate Kang Shaoyin and exchanged plans to communicate with Sound Transmission Talismans.
• Pei Ling returned to the medicine shop’s cultivation room and began hosting his cultivation of [Netherflame World-Burning Subtle Great Art].
• Zhou Miaoli attacked Joyful Pavilion with a blood-red palm, shattering its protective formation and collapsing the building.
• Market officials warned Zhou Miaoli that the market was neutral territory, but she declared that the Chongming Sect acted as it pleased.
• Zhou Miaoli struck again and crushed Joyful Pavilion flat, killing its occupants except for the maidservant at the entrance.

Kang Shaoyin traveled to the Ten Thousand Viper Sea market to punish a Rogue Cultivator who had damaged Joyful Pavilion, while secretly waiting for a mysterious Floating Island to reappear. He intended to kill the troublemaker and make his skull into a wine cup.

• Kang Shaoyin rode to the market in a lavish sedan chair while four Core Formation maids served and praised him.
• Kang Shaoyin recalled that a cauldron Rogue Cultivator had spotted the Floating Island that vanished ten years earlier, but it disappeared again before he could reach it.
• Kang Shaoyin had stayed in Ten Thousand Viper Sea for months, keeping his search for the island secret from even his parents.
• Kang Shaoyin decided that the Rogue Cultivator who damaged Joyful Pavilion had run out of blessings and said he would turn the man's skull into a wine cup.
• Kang Shaoyin's sedan chair arrived at the Ten Thousand Viper Sea market and headed straight inside.

Zhou Miaoli captured Kang Shaoyin after defeating him in the Ten Thousand Viper Sea market, then brought him to Zhou's Pharmacy for Pei Ling. Pei Ling remained under the system's control and could not answer her.

• Kang Shaoyin recognized that the palm print at Joyful Pavilion had been made by someone who controlled his furnace-maidservant, then tried to flee the market.
• Zhou Miaoli intercepted Kang Shaoyin and crushed him in a brief fight, killing his four furnace-maidservants and turning them into Blood Puppets.
• Zhou Miaoli had Kang Shaoyin restrained and unconscious as rumors spread that a demonic-sect cultivator had attacked the master of Joyful Pavilion.
• At Zhou's Pharmacy, Pei Ling continued cultivating under the system's control and could not respond when Zhou Miaoli told him she had captured Kang Shaoyin.

Pei Ling had Kang Shaoyin design a Magic Robe after Zhou Miaoli stopped him from leaving the medicine shop. Kang Shaoyin realized the robe was meant as a gift for Pei Ling’s enemy when he read its requirements.

• The system made Pei Ling leave his cultivation chamber, but Zhou Miaoli intercepted him and ended the cultivation session.
• Pei Ling told Zhou Miaoli he was going to deal with Kang Shaoyin, and she agreed to return to the sect with him afterward.
• Pei Ling cut off Kang Shaoyin’s legs and demanded that he design a set of Magic Robe blueprints.
• Kang Shaoyin planned to sabotage the robe subtly, then read the jade slip and saw that it had to attack its wearer at intervals while hiding its aura.

Pei Ling had Kang Shaoyin design a Magic Robe blueprint and forged it while Zhou Miaoli watched, delaying their plans until he could inspect the finished robe. Meanwhile, the Floating Island reappeared near the Ten Thousand Viper Sea marketplace, where several powerful figures gathered as Kang Shaoyin’s hidden ally watched from beneath the water.

• Kang Shaoyin demanded a Heart Demon Oath before cooperating, but Zhou Miaoli persuaded him that Heaven’s will would keep him safe.
• Kang Shaoyin designed a Magic Robe blueprint and gave it to Pei Ling, then asked for a thousand high-grade Spirit Stones in exchange for his release.
• Pei Ling refused to decide Kang Shaoyin’s fate until after the robe was forged and confirmed, and he gathered the required materials from Kang Shaoyin’s ring.
• Pei Ling’s system took control and forged the Magic Robe with great skill, convincing Kang Shaoyin that Heaven’s will had arranged events in his favor.
• A concealed female cultivator beneath the Ten Thousand Viper Sea spotted the Floating Island near the marketplace as Ancestor Woqiu, Fairy Yumeng, and the Four Elders of the Xiao Clan arrived.

Pei Ling completed a Magic Robe that could attack its wearer, then had Zhou Miaoli refine it so the system would treat its attacks as hers and interrupt his automated cultivation. Zhou Miaoli killed Kang Shaoyin after he recognized their identities, and the chapter ended with one of his cauldrons arriving at Zhou's Pharmacy.

• Pei Ling finished forging the Magic Robe and tested it by making it tighten around Kang Shaoyin's neck.
• Pei Ling asked Zhou Miaoli to refine the robe, intending to use its attacks to interrupt his system-assisted cultivation.
• Kang Shaoyin offered Pei Ling spirit stones, dress-artifact blueprints, and spirit tea, but Zhou Miaoli killed him because he had guessed their identities.
• Zhou Miaoli extracted and imprisoned Kang Shaoyin's soul, then told Pei Ling to sell his other resources quickly to avoid retaliation from the Innate Religion.
• Zhou Miaoli noticed that one of Kang Shaoyin's cauldrons had arrived at the pharmacy.

Pei Ling impersonated Kang Shaoyin to meet one of his cauldrons, Liu Zimian, who revealed that the Floating Island tied to the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment Method had appeared again. Pei Ling traded two top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pills for Zhou Miaoli’s agreement to return to the sect while he pursued the island’s opportunity alone.

• Zhou Miaoli told Pei Ling to impersonate Kang Shaoyin and meet Liu Zimian while Xiang Xia disposed of Kang Shaoyin’s body and scattered his soul.
• Pei Ling disguised himself as Kang Shaoyin and went to the main hall with Zhou Miaoli, where Liu Zimian was waiting.
• Liu Zimian told Pei Ling that the Floating Island had reappeared near the market and that Rogue Cultivators had tried to board it.
• Pei Ling recognized the island as the source of the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment Method and asked Zhou Miaoli to let him investigate it alone.
• Pei Ling offered Zhou Miaoli two top-grade Mind-Opening and Acupoint-Connecting Pills, and she agreed to return to the sect while he pursued the opportunity.
• Pei Ling handed over the pills, and Zhou Miaoli inspected them before putting them away.

Pei Ling took Kang Shaoyin’s identity and sealed soul so he could travel without being recognized, while Zhou Miaoli arranged for the corpse to be disposed of. As Pei Ling headed toward the Floating Island with Liu Zimian, Rogue Cultivators waited outside its barrier, and forces from the Liulan Dynasty and Suzhen Heaven arrived.

• Pei Ling told Zhou Miaoli he would use Kang Shaoyin’s identity and keep his cauldrons, and she warned him not to reveal his lack of Innate Religion techniques or dual cultivate with them.
• Zhou Miaoli gave Pei Ling Kang Shaoyin’s sealed soul so it would not be destroyed near the apothecary, and Pei Ling stored it before leaving with Kang Shaoyin’s belongings.
• Zhou Miaoli ordered Xiang Xia to dispose of Kang Shaoyin’s corpse without leaving a trace.
• Liu Zimian told Pei Ling that the other cauldrons were waiting near the Floating Island, and Pei Ling took her there in Kang Shaoyin’s ornate flying sedan chair.
• Rogue Cultivators gathered around the Floating Island and discussed its barrier, the Nine Great Sects, and the opportunity it might offer.
• Shi Wanli’s Liulan Dynasty ship arrived, followed by Qiao Ciguang’s flying treasure from Suzhen Heaven.

Qiao Ciguang and Shi Wanli arrived at the Floating Island, where rogue cultivators hesitated to approach despite the opportunity. Qiao hoped the island would draw the Demonic Cultivator responsible for Mo Lilan’s death, while Shi reported a recent clash between two Demonic Cultivators; an extravagant sedan then rushed toward the island.

• Shi Wanli and the rogue cultivators saw Qiao Ciguang arrive with Suozhen Heaven’s disciples, and the crowd held back without leaving.
• Shi Wanli recalled that the Floating Island’s opportunity was dangerous and hoped the Liulan Dynasty would send help before the rogue cultivators risked their lives.
• Qiao Ciguang continued searching for the Demonic Cultivator linked to Mo Lilan’s death and believed the island’s opportunity would lure the culprit out.
• Qiao asked Shi Wanli about suspicious Demonic Cultivators, and he described a woman who destroyed the Joyful Pavilion and defeated Kang Shaoyin before carrying him away.
• An extravagant sedan came roaring from the direction of the marketplace.

Pei Ling arrived at the Floating Island in Kang Shaoyin’s palanquin and felt an eerie call growing stronger, causing his divine abilities to activate on their own. As his companions gathered around him, they discussed the Rogue Cultivators and warned him that Qiao Ciguang and Shi Wanli were nearby.

• Rogue Cultivators recognized the arriving palanquin as belonging to the Innate Religion’s Kang Shaoyin and feared his arrival.
• Qiao Ciguang considered killing Kang Shaoyin but held back to protect the surrounding Rogue Cultivators from the danger of a fight.
• Pei Ling felt a mysterious call from the Floating Island, and strange runes appeared in his eyes as his divine abilities activated involuntarily.
• Liu Zimian summoned seven female cultivators into the palanquin, including favored twins who clung to Pei Ling.
• One of Pei Ling’s companions suggested the Rogue Cultivators might be sacrificed to open the opportunity and reminded him that Qiao Ciguang and Shi Wanli were present.