Chapter Summaries

After surviving the explosion, Zhang Hao confronted Lin Chen, who had killed the sound cultivator. Both men held back, and Zhang Hao offered the Foundation Establishment Secret Method to secure his escape, but Lin Chen demanded high-grade cultivation techniques and treasures instead.

• Zhang Hao survived the explosion by using defensive artifacts, a talisman, and Rejuvenation Pills, then resolved to kill the sound cultivator.
• Zhang Hao found Lin Chen beside the sound cultivator’s corpse and recognized him as the opponent from the Outer Sect Grand Competition.
• Lin Chen recognized Zhang Hao’s wealth and suspected he possessed an immortal artifact, but restrained his urge to attack because he feared Zhang Hao’s fortune.
• Zhang Hao offered Lin Chen the Foundation Establishment Secret Method, but Lin Chen refused and demanded high-grade cultivation techniques and treasures.

Lin Chen extorted Zhang Hao for cultivation methods and a rare teleportation talisman as other cultivators approached. After Lin Chen vanished, Zhang Hao fled into the night, wary of provoking him again.

• Zhang Hao offered Lin Chen the Five Elements Primordial Chaos Method, but Lin Chen refused to let him pass without more.
• Zhang Hao gave Lin Chen the Great Evolution Spirit Dream Art, and Lin Chen again demanded more as nearby cultivators drew closer.
• Zhang Hao handed over an Instant Thousand Mile Talisman and explained that only Golden Core Realm cultivators could use it.
• Lin Chen accepted the talisman and vanished, leaving Zhang Hao wary of him.
• Zhang Hao used an Earth Escape Talisman to flee as the approaching cultivators neared.

At a charred battlefield, Zhang Zhiming and his companions investigated the mysterious cultivator who had escaped, while Luo Ziyan used Dream-Holding Grass to divine the source of a Foundation Establishment secret method. Her dream led her to a Blood Pool and a terrifying Blood Lotus, but golden flames shattered the dream just as a Blood Shadow appeared within the lotus.

• Zhang Zhiming learned that investigators suspected an unseen cultivator had been present at the battle and hoped Luo Ziyan's divination would reveal useful intelligence.
• Luo Ziyan entered the dreamscape and traced Zhang Hao to an underground auction, where Zhao Ming and a blurred elder discussed the Situ Family and the Mysterious Yin Gate.
• Luo Ziyan followed the divination deeper into a cave and found an enormous Blood Pool, where a Blood Lotus began to emerge as the Dream-Holding Grass broke apart.
• Luo Ziyan realized a terrifying presence had misled her divination, but the Blood Lotus invaded her dream and froze her in place.
• Golden flames and the phantom of an Unquenchable Wood engulfed and shattered the dream, while Luo Ziyan glimpsed a Blood Shadow seated inside the lotus.

True Person Qingyang and Old Demon Taiyin witnessed a spiritual energy tide erupt in the canyon where two Spirit Transmutation cultivators had fallen, creating treasures and an opportunity to form an [Enlightenment Stone]. The tide subsided with both Golden Core leaders gone from sight, but the anomaly’s consequences were only beginning.

• True Person Qingyang sensed [Unquenchable Wood] appear and noticed a surge from the canyon where life and death met.
• True Person Qingyang forged spiritual treasures from the tide using Five Elements spirit stones as Old Demon Taiyin and his Ghost Tides arrived to claim treasures of their own.
• True Person Qingyang and Old Demon Taiyin recognized that the opposing wills in the canyon could produce an [Enlightenment Stone] that might help its holder reach the Nascent Soul Realm.
• True Person Qingyang considered sending Qi Refining Stage Cultivators into the canyon during a lull, while both leaders continued collecting treasures.
• After the spiritual energy tide dispersed, Qingyang and Taiyin vanished, and a tiny butterfly drifted over the calm area.

After reviewing the previous night’s battle, Lin Chen inventoried more than twenty Storage Bags and uncovered valuable treasures, unusual techniques, and evidence of a broader threat to the Azure Cloud Sect. He secured the Hundred Year Jade Marrow for his research and resolved to prepare for a breakthrough while increasing his strength.

• Lin Chen judged that the sect would have difficulty identifying him from the battle and decided to advance his cultivation to improve his standing and safety.
• Lin Chen opened more than twenty Storage Bags, finding nearly forty thousand Spirit Stones’ worth of Spirit Stones and Azure Cloud Spirit Leaves, dozens of Spirit Artifacts, and valuable medicinal pills.
• Lin Chen examined the Blood Sacrifice Fortune Seizing Method, Blood Curse Gu, and an incomplete Curse Method as possible sources for his research.
• Lin Chen found the Blood Refining Spirit Returning Great Law in multiple Storage Bags and concluded that someone was spreading demonic cultivation methods to undermine Azure Cloud Sect.
• Lin Chen set aside the Instant Thousand Mile Talisman and three valuable cultivation methods, deciding to find people to test the two Golden Core methods on.
• Lin Chen opened the jade box and found the Hundred Year Jade Marrow, giving his plan to mistify true qi a firmer foundation as he prepared to break through.

Lin Chen used his Foundation Establishment Yuan Transformation Secret Ritual to refine his true qi into a stable mist state, giving him a deeper foundation and a path to bypass the usual trials when he eventually breaks through. As the experiment ended, a sudden surge of memories overwhelmed him and revealed a point of spiritual light rising from darkness.

• Lin Chen activated his ritual and endured the pain as Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy flooded his body.
• Lin Chen used Spirit Beads, runes, and Hundred Year Jade Marrow to control the spiritual energy and condense liquid true essence.
• Lin Chen reversed the formation and transformed the liquid true essence into stable mist state true qi.
• Lin Chen concluded that his mist state true qi would surpass cultivators of the same rank and allow him to bypass the physical body and true qi trials during his eventual breakthrough.
• Lin Chen was struck by intense pain as countless memories replayed in his mind, ending with a point of spiritual light rising from darkness.

Lin Chen endured a painful review of his memories that revealed glimpses of his death, transmigration, and apparent dimensional reduction. He could not explain what had happened, but after recovering, he opened his eyes and found the world looked vastly different.

• Lin Chen saw his memories from his previous life continue beyond his death, shifting to a view of his own corpse.
• Lin Chen realized that he himself was being reduced in dimension as the world flattened, vanished, and collapsed into darkness.
• Lin Chen endured the pain until he saw his journey through the Sea of Chaos and his reincarnated life replay before him.
• Lin Chen pondered whether dimensional reduction and the existence of souls explained his transmigration, but could not verify his theories.
• Lin Chen recovered, opened his eyes, and was shocked that the world looked vastly different.

After an upheaval gave Lin Chen Spiritual Sense and opened the embryonic Purple Mansion, he analyzed how spiritual energy might transform life and mapped out a path toward cultivation. He left with a clearer view of the cultivation system and questions about how its civilization had declined; the remainder of the chapter was an author’s note about the worldbuilding and story direction.

• Lin Chen awakened Spiritual Sense, which let him perceive spiritual energy and influence cultivators with weaker souls.
• Lin Chen discovered that he had opened the embryonic Mud Pill Palace, or Purple Mansion, despite not yet reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Lin Chen reasoned that cultivation might refine the body and consciousness into a self-aware spiritual energy creature.
• Lin Chen wondered why the ancient cultivation civilization had declined into resource-strife and whether the Lingnan Great Land differed from the outside world.
• The author explained that the setting added spiritual energy to a world resembling reality and said the early story would focus on exploration before creation and change.

Lin Chen went to Azure Spring Peak to complete the procedures for becoming an inner disciple after reaching the Late Qi Refining Stage. Yang Cheng approved his promotion, leaving Lin Chen with inner disciple status and the prospect of choosing a private cave mansion.

• Lin Chen set out for Azure Spring Peak to gain inner disciple status and secure better cultivation conditions.
• Gate Protecting Grass verified Lin Chen’s identity and let him enter the Diwu Tree’s hall.
• Yang Cheng examined Lin Chen’s cultivation and recognized him from the Outer Sect Grand Competition.
• Lin Chen presented his identity plaque, and Yang Cheng updated it to confirm his promotion to inner disciple.
• As Lin Chen prepared to leave, Yang Cheng called him back.

Yang Cheng gave Lin Chen a secluded Cave Mansion and urged him to pursue the True Disciple position, explaining that the sect’s rare spiritual plants could aid his cultivation and Dao Path. After Lin Chen left, Yang Cheng reflected on the loneliness of longevity and hoped Lin Chen would go farther than he had and keep a Heart of Longevity.

• Yang Cheng gave Lin Chen the address of a secluded Cave Mansion with a Spirit Spring and advised him to temper his true qi.
• Yang Cheng urged Lin Chen to strive for the True Disciple position and described rare spiritual plants whose powers could aid their holders.
• Lin Chen thanked Yang Cheng and vowed to devote himself to the Azure Cloud Sect before taking his leave.
• Yang Cheng watched Lin Chen depart and remembered his own youthful years.
• Yang Cheng reflected on how long life could bring weariness and loneliness, then wished Lin Chen a lasting Heart of Longevity.

After using his Foundation Establishment Spiritual Sense to study dawn’s spiritual qi, Lin Chen gathered it into a Cloud Ganoderma, a valuable treasure formed from the morning clouds. He headed to Danxia Peak to try refining the Non-toxic Qi Pill he had researched for years.

• An Inner Disciple noticed Lin Chen standing on a cliff at dawn and reflected on how the sect’s competitions could earn talented cultivators recognition and resources.
• Lin Chen used his Spiritual Sense to observe how spiritual qi formed and nourished the world, then gathered the dawn’s qi into a Cloud Ganoderma.
• Lin Chen decided to use the Cloud Ganoderma to test his research on refining the Non-toxic Qi Pill.
• After days passed, Lin Chen arrived at Danxia Peak, where Azure Cloud Sect disciples refined pills.

Lin Chen rented an alchemy room and used his Foundation Establishment Spiritual Sense and knowledge of chemistry to develop a Five Elements method of refining pills. He successfully created a Non-toxic Qi Pill that he could swallow directly, opening a new path for his cultivation.

• Lin Chen rented an earthfire alchemy room from a short-haired disciple who recognized him from the Outer Sect Grand Competition.
• Lin Chen argued that alchemy should focus on extracting useful medicinal properties and removing impurities, connecting the process to chemical reactions.
• Lin Chen used fire refining to separate active medicinal properties from inert spiritual qi, then water refining to extract the water, fire, and earth attributes he needed.
• Lin Chen mixed the three medicinal liquids in blood soil and used a living plant to grow impurity-free Non-toxic Qi Pills.
• Lin Chen stored the pills in Spirit-Containing Jade and concluded that his Five Elements refining method had established his own Pill Dao.

Lin Chen reflected on Pill Dao and absorbed a pure spiritual pill, confirming that his path to Foundation Establishment was clear. He then searched for a safe way to investigate Golden Core cultivation and ended by wondering whether ordinary people could help him explore Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

• Lin Chen distinguished inferior, middle, and superior Pill Dao, and concluded that the Golden Core-to-Nascent Soul transformation represented pill refinement reaching the creation of life.
• Lin Chen absorbed the jade-green spiritual pill, which became true qi in his dantian without refinement and filled about one-thousandth of it.
• Lin Chen reviewed the three Foundation Establishment stages and realized his prior research and experiments had already prepared him for Condensing Liquid, Refining Form, and Purple Mansion cultivation.
• Lin Chen considered experimenting on a Golden Core cultivator but rejected the plan because his previous laboratory experiment had been too dangerous.
• Lin Chen proposed turning his research into a cultivation method for other cultivators to test, then discarded the idea because of distance, scarce resources, and his lack of leverage over any successful practitioner.
• Lin Chen considered using ordinary people as safer experimental subjects, but questioned how they could explore Essence, Qi, and Spirit through only Qi and Blood or Internal Strength.

Lin Chen discovered a promising way to pursue the Golden Core by applying the Inner Core Technique to the spiritual qi and Essence, Qi, and Spirit of this world. After giving Liu Qiqiang advice on gaining support by showing his value and borrowing another’s influence, he left Liu with a newly opened alchemy chamber and an opportunity to prove himself.

• Lin Chen emerged from his alchemy chamber and found Liu Qiqiang arguing with the short-haired disciple over access to the occupied rooms.
• After Lin Chen checked out, Liu Qiqiang explained that heavy sect assignments had delayed his alchemy work, prompting Lin Chen to connect Grain Abstinence Pills with the Inner Core Technique and a possible path to the Golden Core.
• Lin Chen praised Liu Qiqiang and advised him to show his value and borrow another person's influence to gain help.
• Liu Qiqiang claimed a connection to Lin Chen, and the short-haired disciple allowed him to rent the chamber Lin Chen had vacated.
• Liu Qiqiang entered the alchemy room determined to make the most of the opportunity through his own efforts.

Lin Chen compared the Inner Core Technique from his previous life with the cultivation and martial arts of this world, then drafted a tentative method for cultivating Great Human Medicine. He decided he lacked the ability to develop a Golden Core method alone and planned to test the idea by spreading a martial arts version among mortals.

• Lin Chen reviewed his knowledge of medicine and cultivation while considering how the Inner Core Technique treated the human body as medicine.
• Lin Chen concluded that the Inner Core Technique had greater potential than this world's mortal martial arts, but admitted he did not know how to practice it.
• Lin Chen outlined six steps for cultivating Great Human Medicine, from refining the self and establishing a foundation to returning the elixir.
• Lin Chen stopped short of defining how to smelt essence, qi, and spirit into a Golden Core and recognized that he could not create a complete core-forming method alone.
• Lin Chen decided to spread the method among mortals by merging it with martial arts, calling the proposed path the Inner Core Martial Way.

Lin Chen conceived the Inner Core Martial Way, a cultivation path using the human body and ordinary nourishment to develop Essence, Qi, and Spirit. He planned to refine the technique, establish it in a remote mortal dynasty, and draw on collective research to advance his own cultivation.

• Lin Chen envisioned transforming the human body’s qi and blood, internal strength, and soul through the Great Human Medicine into several martial cultivation paths.
• Lin Chen decided to incorporate his research and unfinished experiments, including insights from the Great Evolution Spirit Dream Art, Five Elements Primordial Chaos Method, and Marrow Cleansing Method.
• Lin Chen resolved to spread the Inner Core Martial Way so cultivators could improve it and he could later reclaim their accumulated discoveries.
• Lin Chen recognized that the technique remained largely speculative and decided to test it and fix its most obvious flaws before promoting it.
• Lin Chen planned to find a remote mortal dynasty for his experiments, avoid attracting cultivators’ attention, and reach the Foundation Establishment Realm first.
• Lin Chen imagined that completing the technique could give mortals a path to immortality and make him the founder of a new Dao.

After three months of studying the Great Evolution Spirit Dream Art, Lin Chen entered a dream to investigate its cultivation methods. He discovered he could recognize and control parts of the dream, but it collapsed before he could master it.

• Lin Chen decided to enter a dream himself, then lit Soul Nurturing Incense and Dream Deriving Incense and fell asleep in the Laboratory.
• In a dream of the Azure Cloud Lower Courtyard, Lin Chen killed the disciples who had attacked him and realized the scene was a dreamscape.
• Lin Chen found that he could not change his Cultivation Level or reshape himself by will, but speculated that mastering dreams could let him create a virtual world.
• The dream began to dissolve when Lin Chen's Soul Power could no longer sustain it, leaving him in the void as it shattered.

Lin Chen developed Blood Gu that could produce Spirit Blood as a safer route to body refinement and marrow cleansing, and began testing them in a subject. Nearly out of Spirit Stones, he left the Laboratory planning to sell books, monopolize the market, and establish a platform.

• Lin Chen concluded that directly modifying bone marrow was too dangerous and decided to evolve the body with Spirit Blood first, letting the marrow adapt afterward.
• Lin Chen spent tens of thousands of Spirit Stones and cultivated Blood Gu that could convert nutrients into Spirit Blood after hundreds of generations of experiments.
• Lin Chen also discovered a Blood Gu that could sustain a corpse and let him control it remotely, inspiring him to consider cloned bodies as avatars.
• Lin Chen began a Blood Gu transplant experiment on a subject whose nerves he had removed and whose body he had rigged with Detonation Talismans.
• Two months later, Lin Chen emerged because his Spirit Stones were nearly gone and planned to sell books and establish a platform, with <Senior Sister, Please Conduct Yourself with Dignity!> atop his stack.

Lin Chen presented Xu Mengyun with illustrated books and proposed turning them into a profitable publishing business aimed at cultivators seeking easy entertainment. After persuading her of their market potential, he revealed that he wanted to control the platform rather than become the sole seller.

• Lin Chen recited a poem to Xu Mengyun and then shifted their conversation to business.
• Xu Mengyun read Lin Chen’s illustrated book, was startled by its contents, and learned he wanted her to sell his books.
• Lin Chen explained that direct language and illustrations would appeal to tired, lower-level cultivators and satisfy desires they could not fulfill in real life.
• Xu Mengyun accepted Lin Chen’s reasoning and recognized the potential profits of the market.
• Lin Chen clarified that he wanted to become a platform controller, not the only seller.

Lin Chen persuaded Xu Mengyun to establish a book-selling platform and negotiated an equal share of the profits, while privately admitting that he needed her influence and business skills to make the venture work. After receiving a message, he decided it was time to settle the Lin Family’s affairs, and Xu Mengyun realized he might eventually earn money while leaving most of the work to her.

• Lin Chen explained to Xu Mengyun how a platform could connect book sellers and buyers, expand across the Azure Cloud Sect’s territory, and serve cultivators with different interests.
• Xu Mengyun and Lin Chen argued over their roles and shares before signing a Spirit Contract that divided the proceeds equally.
• After Xu Mengyun left, Lin Chen reflected that he needed her resources and business ability, then received a message and said it was time to settle the Lin Family’s affairs.
• Xu Mengyun reviewed their agreement and realized that she might handle most of the work while Lin Chen eventually collected his share with little effort.