Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen’s clone struggled to withstand a Foundation Establishment Realm Blood Zombie, while Lin Chen searched for a way to exploit its limited energy. Unable to avoid using higher mathematics to predict its movements, he ordered Body God to calculate a trajectory model.

• The Blood Zombie overwhelmed Lin Chen’s clone with its speed and reflexes, forcing the clone to rely on layered spirit shields.
• Lin Chen realized the zombie’s energy would eventually run low, but concluded that its reflexes would still make a counterattack difficult.
• Lin Chen determined that predicting when and where the zombie would slow down required higher mathematics.
• Lin Chen ordered Body God to establish a mathematical model for predicting the trajectory of high-speed moving objects.

The Blood-robed Cultivator sent every nearby squad to help kill Lin Chen, while Lin Chen used mathematical models to predict the Blood Zombie’s movements and prepare a counterattack. As the Blood Zombie slowed to replenish its energy, Lin Chen’s clone launched a waiting strike.

• The Blood-robed Cultivator ordered nearby squads and skinless Blood Corpses to converge on Lin Chen, insisting they eliminate him even if the Blood Zombie failed.
• The Blood-robed Cultivator ordered the Blood Pool to keep replenishing the Blood Zombie’s energy while the squads rushed to the area.
• Lin Chen’s first movement prediction was two seconds late, so he adjusted his model to account for the Blood Zombie slowing as its energy ran low.
• Lin Chen repeatedly tested his calculations, then incorporated his clone’s speed and reaction time to determine when it could catch the Blood Zombie.
• As the Blood Zombie’s speed fell below the calculated threshold, Lin Chen’s clone formed a heated Miao saber and struck it with a dazzling blade light.

Lin Chen destroyed the Blood Zombie and then used his flames and a surprise attack to wipe out the demonic cultivators who tried to besiege him. With his clones in position, he began connecting to them through Body God to build a terrain information network and locate the enemy’s control center.

• Lin Chen split the Blood Zombie with his clone’s blade, burned its halves with pale blue-white flames, and cut it into ashes to prevent it from recovering.
• After sensing the Blood Zombie’s death, the Blood-robed Cultivator ordered the Blood Slave Army and demonic cultivators to advance on Lin Chen.
• Lin Chen countered the approaching Blood Mist with his fire technique, then used a spinning Water Ball to shred the burning Blood Slaves with Water Blades.
• Once his clones reached their assigned regions, Lin Chen unleashed a rain of fire that destroyed the Blood Mist and drove the demonic cultivators into the open.
• Lin Chen used an Earth Escape Talisman to appear among the fleeing cultivators, froze them with Pressure Light, and killed them with his scythe.
• Lin Chen connected his main body to his clones through Body God to construct a terrain information network and reverse-lock the enemy’s position.

Lin Chen linked his clones into a sensory network and searched Moon Lake Mountain for the Demonic Cultivators’ control center, while Xu Mengyun kept one clone safe. He found a place blocking his perception, and the chapter ended with him locating the control center and telling its leaders, “Found you.”

• Xu Mengyun received Lin Chen’s signal, hid with his clone, and sensed someone approaching nearby.
• Lin Chen connected with his clones through the Body Gods and built a sensory net across part of Moon Lake Mountain.
• Overwhelmed by incoming information, Lin Chen narrowed the network to sight and sound and searched for the enemy’s control center.
• The blood-robed cultivator ordered his forces to avoid Lin Chen, target other Azure Cloud Sect Disciples, and use Corpse Eyes to track him.
• Lin Chen sensed a force blocking his perception, focused on that location, and appeared on a Corpse Eye’s screen.
• The blood-robed cultivator and his subordinate realized Lin Chen seemed to see them as he mouthed, “Found you.”

Lin Chen sent a clone to attack the Demonic Cultivators’ lair, leaving Xu Mengyun and the badly wounded Yang Cheng behind. He reached the cave and struck the Blood Pool, where the blood-robed cultivator saw him emerge through the smoke.

• Lin Chen learned that disguised Demonic Cultivators had ambushed and poisoned Yang Cheng, who had escaped using a second-rank Life-Saving Talisman.
• Yang Cheng offered to join Lin Chen, then gave him his Storage Ring and a Chariot Horse Herb when Lin Chen refused.
• The blood-robed cultivator decided to move the Blood Pool to a backup location, despite insisting Lin Chen could not find the cave.
• Lin Chen’s clone killed the Demonic Cultivators guarding the entrance and sent a pale, sky-blue flame into the Blood Pool, triggering a massive explosion.
• The blast injured the blood-robed cultivator, who saw Lin Chen enter the cave carrying a scythe.

Lin Chen ambushed the Demonic Cultivators, destroyed their Blood Pool, and killed most of them before the blood-robed cultivator struck back with deadly traps and explosions. Though Lin Chen's bodies repeatedly appeared to die, another Lin Chen survived, surrounded by numerous clones.

• Lin Chen burned the Blood Pool, suppressed the Demonic Cultivators with Pressure Light, and cut down everyone in the room except the blood-robed cultivator.
• The blood-robed cultivator used Blood Mist, Vengeful Souls, and a Blood Jade to strengthen a phantom, whose killing intent apparently killed the Lin Chen fighting him.
• A second Lin Chen arrived and attacked, prompting the blood-robed cultivator to detonate the blood-colored high platform and escape the explosion with the Blood Burning Secret Technique.
• The blood-robed cultivator encountered another Lin Chen outside the cave, but a Blood Talisman emerged from his corpse and melted that Lin Chen into blood.
• A further Lin Chen woke in a nearby forest among many differently built figures who all had his face.

After the battle, Lin Chen gathered useful artifacts and considered how the Demonic Cultivators’ surveillance methods could improve his research and reduce the cost of his Online Search. He decided to pursue Golden Core cultivation and find a remote Mortal Dynasty, but the appearance of the attacked Unquenchable Wood phantom left the danger unresolved.

• Lin Chen searched the collapsed cave and recovered a piece of Blood Pool power, along with the [Hundred Eyes Corpse Bead] and [Earth Listening Corpse Ear].
• Lin Chen realized the Demonic Cultivators’ surveillance network could inspire a system that monitored a region while consuming less Soul Power.
• Lin Chen concluded the ambush was likely the start of open conflict and resolved to advance to Golden Core as quickly as possible.
• Lin Chen rejected betraying the Azure Cloud Sect and worried that a sect mission in a Mortal Dynasty could lead to dangerous experiments, so he planned to ask Elder Yang Cheng for help.
• Lin Chen sensed the Unquenchable Wood phantom under attack, then watched a sphere of light envelop it and explode across Moon Lake Mountain.

True Person Taiyin attacked True Person Qingyang while the Azure Cloud Sect’s True Disciples came under threat, leaving Qingyang trapped away from the sect. At Moon Lake Mountain, Yang Cheng sacrificed himself to break the Blood Mist as Lin Chen disrupted the formation and sent up a vast signal of fire.

• True Person Qingyang discovered that three True Disciples’ life-saving measures had activated, then fought off True Person Taiyin’s assault with the Unquenchable Wood.
• Yang Cheng recognized Qingyang’s distant fire as the sign that the True Disciples were in danger and asked Lin Chen whether he could send a signal through the Blood Mist.
• Yang Cheng volunteered to break the Blood Mist while Lin Chen interfered with the Peak Protection Great Formation, and Lin Chen promised to take responsibility afterward.
• Yang Cheng shared his final counsel with Lin Chen, then left to sacrifice himself despite Xu Mengyun’s distress.
• Lin Chen explained that Yang Cheng had chosen to die rather than abandon his principles, and his clones disrupted the Peak Protection Great Formation.
• Yang Cheng burned himself and his talismans and Spirit Artifacts against the Blood Mist; Lin Chen exhausted his true qi to create a huge fireball visible across the Azure Cloud Sect.

Elder Zhentian learned that Azure Cloud Sect strongholds had gone silent and that dozens of soul lamps had gone out after Moon Lake Mountain’s Blood Pool was destroyed. The sect’s leaders put aside their factional disputes and appointed him to direct the response as they launched a counterattack.

• Elder Zhentian ended his cultivation after sensing that he was nearing a breakthrough to the Golden Core realm.
• After spotting the distress fireworks, Elder Zhentian checked the Sound Wind Wood and saw dozens of soul lamps go out.
• Elder Zhentian learned that the sect had lost contact with major peaks and that Qingxuan Mountain’s control center might have been seized.
• The heads of the three factions and the other elders asked Elder Zhentian to take charge of the crisis.
• Elder Zhentian ordered the factions to retake Qingxuan Mountain, rescue disciples, secure vital routes, and activate the sect’s grand formation while he investigated True Ancestor Changqing.

Azure Cloud Sect elders reclaimed Qingxuan Mountain’s control hub, while True Ancestor Changqing was freed from a blood curse and learned that the sect’s new disciples had suffered grievous casualties. At Moon Lake Mountain, Lin Chen helped survivors receive reinforcements as dawn broke after the long night of attacks.

• Elder Zhang’s faction used a Third Order Talisman to break Qingxuan Mountain’s defenses, retake the hub, and capture Situ Feng.
• Elder Zhang ordered Situ Feng taken for Soul Extraction and Spirit Refining after rejecting his justification for betraying the sect.
• Elder Zhentian and the formation purified the Blood Mist around True Ancestor Changqing, who learned that the sect’s new generation had suffered grievous casualties.
• Xu Mengyun and Liu Qiqiang thanked Lin Chen for defeating most of the Demonic Cultivators and protecting Moon Lake Mountain’s disciples.
• Azure Cloud Sect disciples descended on Moon Lake Mountain aboard Dandelion Grass as Lin Chen watched the dawn arrive.

After the attack on the Azure Cloud Sect, Lin Chen kept his role in the fighting quiet to avoid resentment while ensuring the sect’s leaders knew enough to reward him. Elsewhere, True Person Jian Xuan hurried back to the sect, while True Person Qingyang faced a choice between pursuing True Person Taiyin and responding to the sect’s crisis as the struggle at the Land of Fallen Spirit Transmutation neared a decisive stage.

• A middle-aged cultivator questioned Lin Chen and the survivors, and Lin Chen credited Elder Yang with the sacrifice that had saved them; the cultivator vowed the sect would answer the bloodshed.
• Lin Chen left with Xu Mengyun and Liu Qiqiang, who questioned why he had concealed his achievements; Xu Mengyun explained the dangers of public fame, and Liu Qiqiang understood that Lin Chen was balancing rewards against risks.
• At Jiang City, True Person Jian Xuan discovered that Sword Grass could draw killing intent from the earth and use it to temper his sword and improve his cultivation.
• After receiving news of the sect attack and Senior Brother Changqing’s danger, True Person Jian Xuan left a Spiritual Energy Clone to assist Zhang Mengyao and flew toward the Azure Cloud Sect.
• True Person Taiyin escaped True Person Qingyang by using the Five Ghosts Moving technique, and True Person Qingyang received the sect’s message as the forces within the Land of Fallen Spirit Transmutation gathered for a coming clash between the two great sects.

The Azure Cloud Sect’s Golden Core True Persons traced the disciples’ massacre to a foreign demonic force and realized the Mysterious Yin Gate had attacked to gain an advantage in the soon-opening Land of Fallen Spirit Transmutation. With their strongest young disciples dead or injured, they planned to recruit replacements and seek help from a hidden talent; the chapter ended with Lin Chen heading to the General Affairs Hall to look for a mission.

• True Ancestor Changqing accepted responsibility for the attack, but True Person Qingyang said an unknown foreign demonic force was behind it.
• True Person Jian Xuan raised the possibility that the foreign force had masterminded the Jiang City incident, and Qingyang judged that the threat was constrained for now.
• True Person Qingyang revealed that the Land of Fallen Spirit Transmutation had opened and that obtaining its Enlightenment Stone could give him a strong chance of reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.
• True Ancestor Changqing realized the Mysterious Yin Gate had attacked the Azure Cloud Sect’s Qi Refining disciples to weaken its competition for the Enlightenment Stone.
• True Person Qingyang proposed selecting new True Disciples and offering Golden Core cultivation support to anyone who helped the sect win; Changqing said he knew a disciple capable of competing.
• Lin Chen went to the General Affairs Hall to search for a Mortal Dynasty mission suitable for spreading the Inner Core Martial Way.

Lin Chen searched Azure Cloud Sect’s records for a remote Spiritless Land where he could spread the Inner Core Martial Way and study the Golden Core path. As he considered how to leave the sect without losing its resources, the mission-room elder unexpectedly asked whether he wanted to become a True Disciple.

• Lin Chen concluded that the coming war between the great sects made it dangerous to remain involved and resolved to seek a way to leave while retaining Azure Cloud Sect’s support.
• Lin Chen used a Spiritual Light Screen to examine the sect’s Mortal Factions and ruled out immortal cities and mortal dynasties as places to spread the Inner Core Martial Way.
• Lin Chen found the Dagan Mortal Dynasty beyond a perilous range of snow mountains, in a Spiritless Land that suited his plans.
• Lin Chen realized he could not justify traveling there through a sect mission and considered asking the mission-room elder for help, offering him a newly popular book.
• The elder interrupted Lin Chen and asked whether he was interested in becoming a True Disciple.

Lin Chen hesitated to accept a vacant True Disciple position because its benefits came with wartime risks, but he agreed to retrieve an important item from the Land of Fallen Spirit Transmutation in exchange for conditions. He asked for Nine-ear Millet, True Disciple privileges without the responsibilities, and a wisp of Golden Core Origin, shocking the old man with his final demand.

• The old man urged Lin Chen to become a True Disciple, but Lin Chen declined, citing his inadequate strength and unwillingness to bear the responsibility.
• The old man recognized Lin Chen's reluctance and revealed that he wanted him to enter a dangerous place and retrieve an item vital to the sect's survival.
• Lin Chen inferred that the place was the Land of Fallen Spirit Transmutation and agreed to help if the old man accepted three conditions.
• Lin Chen asked for the sect's Nine-ear Millet, and the old man agreed on the condition that it remained secret.
• Lin Chen requested True Disciple privileges without the associated duties, which the old man said he needed to consider.
• Lin Chen requested a wisp of Golden Core Origin, and the old man's expression changed as he demanded to know why.

Lin Chen negotiated with True Ancestor Changqing for Golden Core Origin in exchange for joining the struggle over the Land of Fallen Spirit Transmutation, offering a mass-producible Soul Nurturing Incense recipe as further leverage. Changqing agreed to discuss Lin Chen’s demands with the sect, leaving Lin Chen to await his decision.

• True Ancestor Changqing refused to give Lin Chen Golden Core Origin, explaining that it was a precious sect resource, and Lin Chen revealed that he had already identified him as the Azure Cloud Sect’s Golden Core Patriarch.
• Lin Chen argued that he needed generous rewards to commit fully to the dangerous struggle, and Changqing said he could agree to at most two of Lin Chen’s three conditions.
• Lin Chen offered Changqing a recipe for an effective, mass-producible version of Soul Nurturing Incense and proposed helping promote it throughout the sect.
• Changqing recognized the recipe’s potential to strengthen the sect’s disciples, while Lin Chen maintained that his own combat power was more urgently needed than the recipe.
• Lin Chen explained that he wanted Golden Core Origin to study the path ahead of him and argued that cultivation required seeking knowledge as well as raising one’s realm.
• Changqing praised Lin Chen’s insight, said he needed to discuss the proposal, and sent him away to await news.

True Ancestor Changqing judged that Lin Chen might have the potential of an ancient Law Cultivator and reported his demands to True Person Qingyang and Elder Zhentian. Qingyang approved an advance of valuable rewards but required Lin Chen to prove his ability, while Lin Chen returned to his Laboratory to consider his research into spiritual energy Activity Level.

• True Ancestor Changqing concluded that Lin Chen had likely developed his improved prescription himself and might possess the potential of an ancient Law Cultivator.
• True Ancestor Changqing met with True Person Qingyang and Elder Zhentian and recounted Lin Chen's conditions for becoming a True Disciple.
• Elder Zhentian objected to Lin Chen's demands, but True Person Qingyang argued that talented disciples deserved generous treatment.
• True Person Qingyang offered Lin Chen Nine-ear Millet and a complete Golden Core, while requiring him to complete assigned tasks and prove his value.
• Lin Chen returned to his Laboratory and reviewed his research, focusing on progress in spiritual energy Activity Level that had emerged through the Inner Core Technique.

Lin Chen studied how spiritual energy shifted between active and inert states and considered whether the gradual loss of spiritual energy's activity explained cultivators' lifespans. His research led him to suspect that the Inner Core Technique could increase spiritual energy's activity level.

• Lin Chen reviewed his theory that spiritual energy's activity level distinguished cultivators from mortals and found that changing between active and inert states was difficult in either direction.
• Lin Chen measured a pool of purified water beneath dense Water Spiritual Energy and found its mass had increased by only 0.0...1 grams over the previous year.
• Lin Chen reasoned that low-level cultivators' spells only transformed spiritual energy temporarily, since created flames and other objects soon reverted to spiritual energy.
• Lin Chen speculated that the gradual decline of spiritual energy's activity and energy levels might cause cultivators to lose their imprinted information and eventually die.
• Lin Chen concluded that Spiritual Roots were the active spiritual energy that let cultivators influence spiritual energy, then recalled that the Inner Core Technique might increase its activity level.

Lin Chen used death-row prisoners to test and refine the Inner Core Technique, discovering that it could give mortals’ qi elemental properties. He wondered whether continued cultivation could create a path to immortality that did not require spiritual roots, leaving him imagining how his work might change the world.

• Lin Chen reviewed his experiments refining the Inner Core Technique and used prisoners from the Immortal City to test its dangerous procedures.
• Lin Chen forced the prisoners to fight for survival and tricked them into cultivating the flawed technique, using their deaths and insights to improve it.
• By the thirteenth batch, Lin Chen achieved preliminary success as two martial artists produced waves of heat and cold that formed mist while fighting.
• Lin Chen realized that the Inner Core Technique could increase the activity of mortal qi by giving it special properties.
• Lin Chen considered whether continued cultivation could let mortals trace themselves back to spiritual energy and gain immortality without spiritual roots.
• Lin Chen reflected on how his scientific exploration might eventually change the cultivation world.

Lin Chen refined the Inner Core Martial Way through experiments while pondering the vanished Ancient Cultivators and the secrets of the world. After receiving the Azure Cloud Sect’s message agreeing to his conditions and setting a Dao Heart trial, he noticed an unexpected name among the chosen True Disciples.

• Lin Chen reflected that the Ancient Cultivators had likely vanished after a great upheaval, and resolved to explore the world beyond the Lingnan Great Land.
• A savage-looking man won the cage fight, and Lin Chen spared the defeated lean man before taking the victor as his servant.
• The servant tried to attack Lin Chen in the passageway but collapsed after Lin Chen’s hidden safeguards disabled him.
• Lin Chen revealed his laboratory of captured martial artists and continued dissecting the servant to gather data for perfecting the Inner Core Technique.
• Lin Chen received a message that the Azure Cloud Sect had accepted his conditions and would provide items in advance, including Golden Core Origin.
• Lin Chen learned that the True Disciples would take a Dao Heart trial in three days, and frowned when he saw an unexpected person on the list.

Lin Chen reflected on Zhang Hao’s rise to True Disciple and prepared to protect himself from the sect’s Soul Lamp safeguards. He created a substitute source of Life Essence Blood and devised the Same Breath Curse Soul Method, then set out to take up the True Disciple position.

• Lin Chen learned that Zhang Hao, an outsider with Five-Element Pseudo Spirit Roots, had become a True Disciple and wondered whether he could borrow some of Zhang Hao’s fortune.
• Lin Chen considered whether destiny and Heavenly Secret Art were foreign to the cultivation system, then set the question aside and returned to preparations for becoming a True Disciple.
• Lin Chen used his Blood Pool to nurture a heart carrying his Natal aura, intending to provide its essence blood for the sect’s Soul Lamp.
• Lin Chen extracted a drop of his own Life Essence Blood and used the Blood Pool and raised platform to create the Same Breath Curse Soul Method, which could render a connected Soul Lamp ineffective.
• Lin Chen fused the substitute heart’s blood with his own essence blood, healed his chest, and prepared to take up the True Disciple position.