Chapter Summaries

True Person Taiyin tried to kill Lin Chen, but Azure Cloud Sect’s Golden Core cultivators intervened and turned the battle against him and True Person Yunshi. Taiyin escaped with Yunshi and their allies, leaving seven Golden Core True Persons facing off for a larger battle.

• True Person Taiyin attacked Lin Chen from behind, but the Unquenchable Wood blocked his ghost claw and True Person Qingyang struck back with Great Sun True Fire.
• True Person Taiyin summoned a host of ghosts to attack Lin Chen while using soul-summoning to hinder True Ancestor Changqing, but True Person Zhen Tian protected Lin Chen with overlapping formations and True Person Jian Xuan attacked Taiyin.
• True Ancestor Changqing, True Person Zhen Tian, and True Person Jian Xuan combined their attacks, which Taiyin redirected toward True Person Yunshi.
• A Ghost Tide shielded True Person Yunshi from the attacks, but True Person Taiyin was badly wounded when Qingyang’s flames struck the ghosts.
• True Person Taiyin used Five Ghosts Moving to retreat with True Person Yunshi and the Blood Shadow, while Yunshi summoned three Golden Core zombies and the seven Golden Core True Persons gathered for a standoff.

Azure Cloud Sect and Mysterious Yin Gate debated whether to fight over the Enlightenment Stone or withdraw, but both sides chose to wait rather than risk a deadly battle. As the standoff continued, figures began appearing at the canyon mouth.

• Lin Chen handed the Enlightenment Stone to True Person Qingyang, who secured it.
• True Person Jian Xuan urged True Person Qingyang to attack, while True Ancestor Changqing warned that Blood Shadow made the fight too dangerous.
• True Person Zhen Tian said he was prepared to form the Nine-Lock Chain Formation and would follow True Person Qingyang's decision.
• Blood Shadow advised the demonic cultivators to give up, but True Person Taiyin remained suspicious of his indifference to the Enlightenment Stone and ordered them to wait for an opportunity.
• True Person Qingyang also chose to wait, explaining that a battle could cost the sect two Golden Cores, and figures appeared at the canyon mouth as the standoff continued.

The Azure Cloud Sect returned from the Land of Fallen Spirit Transmutation with the Enlightenment Stone after Lin Chen broke through to Foundation Establishment and helped defeat the Mysterious Yin Gate. Back at the sect, Lin Chen secured freedom to choose his own actions and broad access to the sect’s resources as a reward.

• The disciples emerged from the canyon, and Ye Ming realized Lin Chen had reached Foundation Establishment after seeing him fly unaided.
• True Person Taiyin withdrew with the Mysterious Yin Gate cultivators aboard a bone ship and ordered his people to kill Lin Chen when the sects went to war.
• True Ancestor Changqing brought the Azure Cloud Sect group back, and several days later True Person Qingyang summoned Lin Chen and the other four survivors to hear their requests.
• Wang Cheng, Xu Mengyun, Zhang Zhiming, and Zhang Hao each received their requested rewards, with Zhang Hao obtaining the Foundation Establishment Pill recipe under a Spirit Contract.
• Lin Chen asked to decide his own actions freely, and True Person Qingyang approved the request and gave him a token granting access to every part of the Azure Cloud Sect except Azure Cloud Mountain.

Azure Cloud Sect’s four Golden Core True Persons agreed to prepare for True Person Qingyang’s Nascent Soul breakthrough despite the threat of war. They approved a scheme to extract resources from cultivators and factions across their territories, setting the stage for upheaval in the Lingnan Cultivation Land.

• True Person Qingyang estimated that preparing for his Nascent Soul breakthrough would take at least thirty years, and the Golden Core True Persons discussed the risks posed by the Mysterious Yin Gate and foreign Demonic Cultivators.
• True Person Qingyang proposed that the sect could retreat into the Hengduan Mountain Range if necessary, while True Person Zhen Tian, True Person Jian Xuan, and True Ancestor Changqing agreed to support his plan.
• True Person Zhen Tian outlined measures to strengthen the sect, including replenishing disciples, helping True Ancestor Changqing advance, building defensive formations, and upgrading the spirit veins.
• True Person Qingyang and True Ancestor Changqing introduced the Spirit Vein Cave Mansion Rental Scheme, which would use loans and residence rights to draw Spirit Stones and resources from rogue cultivators and local factions.
• True Person Qingyang explained that the scheme could also channel cultivators into a coming war against the Mysterious Yin Gate, and the four Golden Core True Persons approved it.

Liu Qiqiang urged Xu Mengyun to exploit new rules for leasing spirit-vein Cave Mansions, but she questioned the harm and the relentless pursuit of Spirit Stones. Seeking a different path, she followed footprints through the snow and reunited with Lin Chen, who invited her to share wine.

• Liu Qiqiang visited Xu Mengyun and presented the sect's new regulations on leasing spirit-vein Cave Mansions.
• Liu Qiqiang proposed buying Cave Mansion rights, driving Rogue Cultivators out, and profiting from rising prices.
• Xu Mengyun challenged Liu Qiqiang's plan and questioned whether cultivators lived only for Spirit Stones and pills.
• Xu Mengyun left her Cave Mansion and followed fresh footprints through the snow to a pavilion on a mountain.
• Lin Chen greeted Xu Mengyun with a poem and invited her to share a cup of wine.

Lin Chen told Xu Mengyun how he planned to handle the spirit-vein Cave Mansions and revealed that he would leave the Azure Cloud Sect for Dagan to pursue his Golden Core Great Dao. The chapter ended with Lin Chen preparing to depart immediately for a journey expected to last decades.

• Xu Mengyun asked Lin Chen how they should respond to the Golden Core Patriarch’s Cave Mansion leasing regulations, and Lin Chen chose to buy some spirit veins, house cultivators, and sell others at half price to talented rogue cultivators.
• Lin Chen warned Xu Mengyun that a coming war could spread across the Lingnan Great Land, but said he had the Patriarch’s permission to avoid the battlefield unless the sect faced destruction.
• Xu Mengyun proposed exploiting information gaps during the coming conflict, but Lin Chen told her he would be away from the Azure Cloud Sect for decades.
• Lin Chen asked Xu Mengyun to send designated cultivation spirit items to him every three years while he was in Dagan seeking immortals and spreading the Dao.
• Xu Mengyun asked whether Lin Chen had to leave and when he would go; Lin Chen said he was leaving right now.

True Ancestor Changqing and True Person Zhen Tian discussed Lin Chen’s promise and reflected on devoting a lifetime to one’s Dao. Lin Chen departed, leaving Xu Mengyun with his Foundation Establishment knowledge and her belief that he would go far.

• True Person Zhen Tian noted Lin Chen’s exceptional cultivation and suggested he carried a great secret, while True Ancestor Changqing pointed out Zhang Hao’s suspicious resources and techniques.
• True Ancestor Changqing recalled his childhood in the sect and explained that preserving its upright, fair, and warm character mattered more to him than obtaining treasures.
• True Person Zhen Tian said his devotion to formations had carried him farther than rivals who chased power or spiritual items, and declared that one’s Dao had to be sought rather than seized.
• Lin Chen gave Xu Mengyun a jade slip containing Foundation Establishment knowledge and warned her not to share it carelessly before departing into the snow.
• Xu Mengyun watched Lin Chen leave and reflected on his steadfast pursuit of longevity, believing he would travel far.

During a storm, Lin Chen met a group of black-clad riders sheltering in a ruined temple, and their leader suspected Lin Chen was a formidable martial artist. The group remained wary as the leader questioned him, and Lin Chen gave his name before the chapter ended.

• A black-clad group led by a middle-aged man arrived at the ruined temple during a downpour and asked to shelter inside.
• The leader and Xiao Wu entered and saw Lin Chen reading beside the fire; the leader recognized him as a possible danger.
• The leader warned Xiao Wu that Lin Chen might be close to the Innate realm and told him to follow signals without speaking.
• After changing into dry clothes, the leader asked Lin Chen where he was headed, and Lin Chen said he was traveling to Jiangling to study.
• The leader asked Lin Chen for his name, and Lin Chen introduced himself as Lin Chen.

After years of failed attempts to spread the Inner Core Technique, Lin Chen wondered what people truly sought and realized Xiao Wu’s desire to earn a good life through his own labor pointed toward fairness. Their conversation was interrupted by approaching riders, and Lin Chen suspected the travelers sheltering in the temple had not arrived by chance.

• Lin Chen explained that he studied history to learn what ordinary people and people of lofty ideals pursued, reflecting on how poverty, greed, and distrust had thwarted his efforts to spread the Inner Core Technique.
• Lin Chen questioned whether people sought longevity, power, fame, or dreams, while the middle-aged man praised his concern for the common people.
• Xiao Wu accused Lin Chen of being a privileged young master who could not understand the poor, and Lin Chen agreed that he could not truly empathize.
• Xiao Wu said he wanted to live well through his own efforts instead of having his labor exploited, leading Lin Chen to recognize fairness as a central human pursuit.
• Hoofbeats and shouts approached the temple, prompting Lin Chen to notice the others tensing and suspecting their gathering was no accident.
• The temple door opened, letting in a cold gust and rain as new arrivals entered.

Lin Chen and a band of greenwood heroes rescued Zhang Zhiping, the former Dagan Prime Minister, from an official prisoner escort by drugging the guards. Zhang Zhiping insisted on returning to court to resume his reforms, and Lin Chen challenged his belief that expanding benefits could win over the powerful.

• A dark-faced official and his escort entered the rain-soaked temple with the shackled Zhang Zhiping, and the official mocked a young constable for trying to help the old prisoner.
• The greenwood group used sleeping powder in the roast-duck fragrance to incapacitate the escort, then freed Zhang Zhiping and gave him an antidote.
• Zhang Zhiping asked the rescuers to knock out the guards and leave them in the side hall rather than harm them.
• Zhang Zhiping asked the greenwood heroes to take him back to the imperial court so he could continue his reforms despite the danger.
• Lin Chen appeared beside Zhang Zhiping and questioned whether expanding benefits would truly secure a share for the common people, arguing that peace depended on the human heart.

Lin Chen argued to Zhang Zhiping that the human heart, rather than profit, drove the changes of history, and used reform and selfless service as examples. Their discussion led Lin Chen to realize that spreading the Inner Core Martial Way would require new ideas that could break the rigid thinking of the Lingnan Cultivation World.

• Lin Chen told Zhang Zhiping that reforms could benefit both rulers and commoners, yet people blocked them because of their desires and the human heart.
• Lin Chen asked why Zhang Zhiping pursued reform if all actions were motivated by profit, leaving Zhang unable to answer.
• Lin Chen cited people who sacrificed themselves for their country, the common people, or truth as evidence that some actions came from the heart rather than self-interest.
• Lin Chen explained that people’s inclinations toward good or evil shaped the course of history, and Zhang Zhiping fell into deep contemplation.
• Lin Chen concluded that the rigid Mortal Dynasty and cultivation world needed new ideas to inspire innovation, and considered using the Inner Core Martial Way to spread them.

Lin Chen explained to Zhang Zhiping and the others that morality and righteousness could shape and restrain human hearts, while their repeated erosion drove dynastic decline. When Zhang Zhiping asked how to restore the sages’ way and establish lasting peace, Lin Chen said he did not know.

• Xiao Wu and Zhang Zhiping questioned whether unpredictable human hearts made people helpless before the cycle of dynastic decline.
• Lin Chen used an ant and the group’s willingness to risk their lives for Zhang Zhiping and the common people to show that people valued moral principles beyond survival.
• Zhang Zhiping realized that sages’ classics had taught morality and righteousness, which could change human hearts and support civilization.
• Lin Chen argued that corrupt behavior repeatedly undermined morality, causing social decline and the collapse of dynasties.
• Zhang Zhiping asked how to restore the sages’ way and create lasting peace, and Lin Chen replied that he did not know.

Lin Chen proposed using transparent mathematics and moral education to build a just society, then urged Zhang Zhiping to seek the Dao through evidence rather than ask others for it. He departed after directing Zhang Zhiping toward Jiangling, leaving Zhang and Xiao Wu to wonder whether their encounter would change history.

• Lin Chen admitted he did not know the Heaven-Reaching Great Dao, but suggested restraining human greed through mathematics and ending deception by cultivating good character.
• Lin Chen explained that public data and impartial enforcement could curb exploitation, while instilling kindness and honesty could change society's customs.
• Zhang Zhiping and the others knelt and asked Lin Chen to teach them the Dao to save the world, but he told them to investigate things and test ideas for themselves.
• Zhang Zhiping resolved to pursue a path to peace and asked to follow Lin Chen, who refused and advised him to visit Jiangling.
• Lin Chen left the temple, and Zhang Zhiping and Xiao Wu found the fire and its remains had vanished, then wondered whether arithmetic and goodness could bring lasting peace.
• A damaged historical account from centuries later described the encounter, Lin Chen's direction toward Yunmeng Marsh, and a later celestial event that began great changes in the world.

Lin Chen raced down the flood-swollen river to Jiangling while planning to spread the Inner Core Technique by creating a mysterious Ruins site that would attract exceptional cultivators. After displaying power that calmed the Nine-Bend River Bay, he reached Jiangling at dawn.

• Lin Chen paid boatmen for their boat, rode the floodwaters, and used his perception to navigate the river at tremendous speed.
• Lin Chen realized that displaying miracles would make powerful figures wary, so he planned to manipulate events from behind the scenes and draw ambitious people toward the Inner Core Technique.
• At Nine-Bend River Bay, Lin Chen blasted apart the enormous waves and transformed the turbulent river into calm water.
• Lin Chen decided to build an immortal Ruins site or grand tomb to attract influential families and gifted cultivators, with Jiangling as the ideal location.
• Lin Chen rode the river through the night and arrived at Jiangling at dawn.

Lin Chen arrived in prosperous Jiangling City and learned about the dangers of Yunmeng Marsh from a restaurant waiter. He planned to make the marsh the site of a conspicuous supernatural event and sailed toward its depths the next day.

• Lin Chen entered Jiangling by boat and saw the city’s bustling streets.
• Yun Meng Dao Ren sensed an unusual aura from Lin Chen but soon continued on with another Daoist.
• Lin Chen paid a waiter for information and learned that Tingfeng Pavilion had the best sources in Jiangling.
• The waiter told Lin Chen that Yunmeng Marsh was famous for its resources but its depths were perilous.
• Lin Chen considered how to make the world notice a possible immortal ruin or ancient tomb, then sailed toward the depths of Yunmeng Marsh the next day.

Lin Chen transformed a deadly island in Yunmeng Marsh into an enchanted land by using Five-Element Alchemy to reshape its miasma, forest, and natural resources. He left the island ready to serve as a place for testing visitors and spreading his Inner Core Technique.

• Lin Chen crossed the poisonous miasma and surveyed the island, weighing how to make it a trial site without discouraging visitors or causing too many deaths.
• Lin Chen decided to combine a weakened outer trial with a blessed land at the island’s center, and devised a way to spread his Inner Core Technique through the experience.
• Lin Chen ignited the forest and shaped the flames into an alchemy furnace, turning the burned vegetation into earth qi.
• Lin Chen drew gold and groundwater from beneath the island, using the five elements to extinguish the fire and nourish the ginseng and ganoderma he had planted.
• Lin Chen gradually transformed the dangerous island into a place where immortals dwelled.

Lin Chen prepared a dangerous island sanctuary and planned to use a spectacular falling-star illusion to draw the Dagan Dynasty’s attention to his demonstration of the Inner Core Method. He began raising a specially bound spiritual plant into the night sky, positioning it for the spectacle that would launch his plan to seize an Inner Core Dao Fruit.

• Lin Chen surveyed the transformed island, with the Great Peach Wood and Bronze Alchemy Cauldron at its center and deadly derivative plants guarding its outskirts.
• Lin Chen decided to attract people from across the Dagan Dynasty with a staged Stars Descend Upon the World, followed by an illusion of an immortal ascending.
• Lin Chen planned to make the display visible across the dynasty while keeping the spiritual plant below the sightline of cultivators in the Lingnan Cultivation World.
• On a midsummer night in the seventh month, Lin Chen released the spiritual plant and watched it rise toward a calculated height of just over eight thousand meters.

Emperor Yuan Tai questioned Xie Yu about whether immortals existed, then privately wondered if a Daoist had deceived him about immortality. A brilliant star appeared near the Purple Star and plunged toward the mortal world, while Zhang Zhiping and his companions hurried toward Jiangling.

• Emperor Yuan Tai summoned Xie Yu at night and asked whether immortals and gods existed; Xie Yu said they were imagined by ordinary people and did not exist.
• Emperor Yuan Tai appointed Xie Yu as the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor, and Xie Yu left the palace.
• Emperor Yuan Tai asked Eunuch Zhou whether Xie Yu had lied, then wondered if the Daoist who promised immortality pills had deceived him.
• Xie Yu and people throughout Yun Jing saw a golden light blaze near the Purple Star and descend through the sky as alarm bells rang.
• Zhang Zhiping declared that the turning point lay in Jiangling and urged his companions to hurry there.

Old Daoist of Yunmeng set out to investigate reports of an immortal, but witnessed a celestial vision over Jiangling that revealed a young Daoist refining a Golden Core and ascending. The vision vanished, leaving the city convinced that an immortal had risen from Yunmeng Marsh.

• The Sect Master told Old Daoist of Yunmeng that disciples had reported an immortal appearing in a remote county, and the Old Daoist decided to investigate.
• A young Daoist rushed in to report that a star had fallen, and Old Daoist of Yunmeng saw a blazing comet plunge toward Yunmeng Marsh before it disappeared.
• A vast vision of Yunmeng Marsh appeared over Jiangling, and its growing shadow astonished the city's officials, scholars, and commoners.
• The vision revealed an Immortal Blessed Land and a Young Immortal refining and swallowing a Golden Core while reciting a Daoist scripture.
• The vision vanished, and the people of Jiangling saw Purple-Gold Flowing Light rise from Yunmeng Marsh and disappear into the moonlight.

After news of the immortal’s ascension spread from Jiangling, aristocratic clans, the court, the Daoist Ancestral Court, and people from across the realm rushed toward Yunmeng Marsh and its Immortal Ascension Site. Lin Chen watched the arrivals gather and declared that the realm’s heroes had entered his game.

• Jiangling’s clan patriarchs discussed the ascension, sealed the river, and plotted to use commoners to explore the Immortal Ascension Site and seize anything they found.
• Tavern rumors about immortal arts and treasures spread, while Master Chu, Guo Heizi, and other martial artists decided to risk entering Yunmeng Marsh.
• The Old Emperor abandoned court and led Three Thousand Elite Capital Troops toward Jiangling.
• The Northern Barbarians sent the Third Prince and a Barbarian Innate with an elite group into Dagan, while the Daoist Ancestral Court dispatched its Daoist Soldiers and hidden weapons.
• Martial artists, bandits, assassins, Gu Masters, sects, and curious scholars arrived in Jiangling as Lin Chen watched and said that the realm’s heroes had entered his game.