Chapter Summaries

After waking from his ordeal in the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm, Li Mo sorted through the many investment rewards he had received, including a powerful scripture that could shape Profound Pills into stars within a grotto-heaven. He was left too weak to stand properly, and Ying Bing prepared restorative soup and offered to regulate his meridians.

• Li Mo woke to system notifications and received investment returns that included the Eight Treasures Gold-Devouring Art and the Startling Cloud Sword Art.
• Li Mo sorted his gains from the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm, including martial arts, seals, wealth, and rare treasures.
• Li Mo examined Ying Bing's rewards and found a Gilded Heavenly Book Seal and the Celestial Star Profound Pill Scripture.
• Li Mo realized the scripture required a grotto-heaven and wondered whether his Small World could serve instead when he reached the Profound Pill Realm.
• Li Mo nearly fell while getting out of bed, and Ying Bing caught him, then prepared restorative soup and offered to regulate his meridians.

Li Mo recovered at home while Ying Bing cared for him, and the two shared a quiet reunion with his parents. After two more days, Li Mo began preparing to condense a Profound Pill, while Clear Abyss Sect elders visited Ying Bing to congratulate her and ask about the secret realm.

• Ying Bing fed Li Mo his prescribed soup and guided his Internal Breath through his tangled meridians as he recovered.
• Li Dalong and Gu Xueqin peeked in on Li Mo and Ying Bing, then joined them and received the healing items Li Mo had brought for them.
• Ying Bing saw the system announce that the next ranking comparison was seven days away and felt uncertain about taking first place after Li Mo had helped her.
• Two days later, Li Mo recovered quickly with pills from the System Space and began preparing to condense a Profound Pill.
• Shangguan Wencang and other Clear Abyss Sect elders praised Ying Bing’s two Profound Pills and invited her to enter the main peak’s Ancestral Hall after returning to the sect.
• Qian Bufan asked Ying Bing to recount what had happened in the secret realm.

Li Mo used martial arts insight to reach the entry level of the Celestial Star Profound Pill Scripture, then began condensing his Profound Pill. As the sect leaders gathered to learn what had happened in the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm, Li Mo’s rising Extreme Yang aura made them realize he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

• Li Mo assessed his restored meridians, infused twenty years of martial arts insight into the Celestial Star Profound Pill Scripture, and reached its entry level.
• Li Mo swallowed a seven-striped pill and began refining its vital energy while cultivating a growing sun and lotus within the World Seed.
• Shangguan Wencang and the sect leaders gathered at Li Mansion, where Ying Bing explained the Secret Realm’s events and the threat posed by Han Zhen and the Demon Summoning Cult.
• Ying Bing confirmed that she and Li Mo had fought Yin Huaxuan and Han Zhen, and Shangguan Wencang revealed that Li Mo had two Profound Pills and a connection to Han Zhen’s treasure.
• The leaders questioned how Li Mo could have smashed the Secret Realm, then felt his Extreme Yang aura and heard Ying Bing say he was about to condense his Profound Pill.

Li Mo condensed a deep-red Karmic Fire Profound Pill, reaching the late stage of the Inner Breath Realm and unsettling the gathered experts with an aura that reacted to their karma. After returning to Clear Abyss Sect, he planned to build a hot spring in the courtyard, while Ying Bing prepared to enter the Ancestral Hall and pursue Divine Observation.

• Li Mo compressed his Profound Pill inside the World Seed, and the Karmic Fire aura made the gathered Inner Scene experts feel heat according to their karma.
• Xue Jing and Shangguan Wencang concluded that the aura resembled Karmic Fire, while Li Dalong and Gu Xueqin worried until Xue Jing assured them Li Mo was safe.
• Li Mo stabilized the sun in his Small World, condensed a deep-red Profound Pill, and officially reached the late stage of the Inner Breath Realm.
• Li Mo and the others returned to Clear Abyss Sect, where Shangguan Wencang had arranged for Ying Bing to enter the Ancestral Hall the following day.
• Li Mo struggled to observe the three suns, and Ying Bing told him only the imperial clan of Great Yu could observe the God of the Great Sun.
• Li Mo measured the courtyard at Autumn Water Pavilion and told Ying Bing he planned to build a hot spring there.

Li Mo hollowed out Autumn Water Pavilion's rockery and built a spirit hot spring for himself, Shang Wu, and Ying Bing, though Ying Bing declined to join them. As Li Mo soaked with Shang Wu and poured Earth Vein Spirit Milk into the pool, he asked whether Jade Cluster Peak had any Divine Observation Diagrams or foundational diagrams.

• Li Mo decided to hollow out the rockery to make a hot spring, and Shang Wu punched open an entrance and cave for him.
• Li Mo finished the pool, decorated its interior, and filled it with Mist Flower Ageless Spring.
• Li Mo offered Shang Wu and Ying Bing bathrobes and invited them to soak, but Ying Bing refused.
• After dinner, Li Mo received Pine Pattern Purple Smoke Beast Ink and a Qilin Fragrance-Producing Inkstone as investment returns.
• Li Mo and Shang Wu soaked in the spring, and Li Mo poured half a bottle of Earth Vein Spirit Milk into the water.
• Li Mo asked Shang Wu whether Jade Cluster Peak had any Divine Observation Diagrams or foundational diagrams.

Li Mo learned how Shang Wu had destroyed Jade Cluster Peak’s Divine Observation sculptures and received her explanation of how to cultivate the Divine Observation Realm before she fell asleep. The next morning, he went to Ruyi Peak seeking guidance and discovered that disciples were queuing for Ouyang’s latest artwork, which turned out to be an illicitly sold art book that enraged him.

• Shang Wu told Li Mo that she had drunkenly mistaken Jade Cluster Peak’s Divine Observation sculptures for enemies and smashed them all.
• Li Mo gave Shang Wu Red Ganoderma Wine, and she explained how Divine Observation diagrams tempered the Will Soul before falling asleep while telling him to visit Ruyi Peak.
• Ying Bing prepared to enter the main peak’s Ancestral Hall, believing it might contain a Great Dao Divine Form that would strengthen her Divine Observation Realm.
• The next morning, Li Mo went to Ouyang’s courtyard, where disciples from across the sect were queuing for his newest work, and he met Murong Xiao.
• An inner sect disciple sold Li Mo a scalped copy of Ouyang’s art book, and Li Mo angrily recognized it as Uncle Imperial.

Ying Bing visited Clear Abyss Sect’s ancestral hall and learned its founder’s connection to Great Shang and the Bronze Divine Tree. As she studied the tree, its bird Form-Wills gathered around her and began guiding her comprehension.

• Murong Xiao took Li Mo’s illustrated book, claiming he needed to confront temptation to practice Buddhist teachings, and Li Mo warned him not to spread his interpretation.
• Shangguan Wencang brought Ying Bing to the ancestral hall, where the old guardian admitted them using the Sect Master’s token.
• Shangguan Wencang revealed that Clear Abyss Sect’s founder was the last member of Great Shang’s imperial clan and that the sect stood above Great Shang’s imperial mausoleum.
• Shangguan Wencang explained that the Bronze Divine Tree held the imperial clan’s Form-Wills and that the founder’s missing Golden Crow Form had left the Hundred Birds path incomplete.
• Ying Bing approached the Divine Tree, and a Green Phoenix Form-Will bowed to her before the other birds descended and gathered around her as she began comprehending their forms.

Li Mo sought Ouyang’s advice on choosing a Divine Observation Diagram, but his attempts to contemplate two paintings destroyed their artistic conceptions. After paying Ouyang for the second ruined work and receiving a painting method as an investment reward, Li Mo wondered whether he would have to paint a diagram himself.

• Ouyang explained the costs and difficulties of making Divine Observation Diagrams and offered Li Mo paintings to test which Form-Will suited him.
• Li Mo contemplated Ouyang’s Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain Diagram, causing the tiger to cower and the painting’s artistic conception to collapse.
• Ouyang showed Li Mo an Upper Form diagram depicting a beast with Baize bloodline, and Li Mo accidentally ruined that painting too.
• Li Mo paid Ouyang fifty thousand taels for the ruined work and received The Record of Ink-Washing, Where the Brush Blooms with Flowers as an investment reward.
• Li Mo lamented that he could not contemplate even an Upper Form work and wondered whether he would have to paint one himself.

Li Mo tried to learn painting so he could create Divine Observation Diagrams, but found the art difficult even with martial arts insights. After Ying Bing helped him pose, he painted her figure, surprising Elder Shang Wu with how vividly it resembled her.

• Li Mo told Ouyang he wanted to learn painting, and Ouyang warned him that painting demanded rare talent and expensive supplies.
• After returning to Autumn Water Pavilion, Li Mo found that his attempts to observe divine forms had ruined the Night Ghost statue and Flesh Buddha diagram, while the Golden Crow Sun-Transformation Diagram did not improve his Will Soul.
• Li Mo studied Record of Ink-Washing, Wonderful Brushwork Bringing Flowers to Life and used martial arts insights, reaching Initial Mastery but failing to advance far enough to paint a Divine Observation Diagram.
• Seeing Ying Bing beneath the evening sun, Li Mo asked her to help him practice painting, and she agreed.
• During dinner, Li Mo painted Ying Bing while Elder Shang Wu watched; when she saw the vivid figure on the Green Vein Jade Slip, she stopped objecting.

Li Mo tried to paint Ying Bing smiling and struggled to make her laugh, until her genuine smile inspired him to finish the portrait. Ying Bing saw the completed painting and was moved by its lifelike image of her.

• Li Mo explained that he had left the face blank because he wanted to paint Ying Bing smiling, and Shang Wu urged her to try smiling.
• Ying Bing forced a cold, intimidating smile, so Li Mo and Shang Wu attempted to make her laugh with jokes.
• Shang Wu laughed at the jokes, but Ying Bing remained puzzled until Li Mo accidentally smeared ink across his face and she softly laughed.
• Li Mo saw Ying Bing's smile in the evening light and added it to the portrait.
• Ying Bing recognized the finished painting as herself and quietly looked at its vivid, smiling image.

Li Mo used the Creation Seal on his portrait of Ying Bing, transforming it into a stronger Divine Observation Diagram that showed her as the future Cold Yama. He experienced the painting’s sword intent and began his first Divine Observation cultivation.

• Ying Bing admired Li Mo’s portrait and told him it was not a Divine Observation Diagram, though its painting technique was similar.
• Li Mo tried to observe the Golden Crow Sun-Transformation Diagram but found he could resonate only with his portrait of Ying Bing.
• Li Mo stamped the portrait with an Ancient Bronze Creation Seal, which produced a second image of Ying Bing as the older Cold Yama.
• Li Mo entered the new painting’s Form-Will and faced Ying Bing’s dazzling sword strike before pulling his Will Soul free.
• Li Mo recognized the sword techniques in the painting and began cultivating through his first Divine Observation.

Li Mo helped Jiang Chulong break through and taught her the story of Journey to the West. He then used Creation Seals to deduce Ying Bing’s painting all the way to her Ascension to Dao.

• Li Mo wondered why he could observe his painting of Mona Ice-Sand but not the original portrait.
• Jiang Chulong arrived for her lesson, and Li Mo used spirit materials and Profound Crystals to help her break through.
• Li Mo realized Jiang Chulong had already condensed her Internal Breath and praised her progress.
• Li Mo told Jiang Chulong the story of the monkey born from a stone in Journey to the West.
• Li Mo used the Ancient Bronze, Mithril, and Gilded Creation Seals on Ying Bing’s painting, deducing it into a depiction of her Ascension to Dao.

Li Mo’s painting of the Phoenix Heavenly Empress triggered a solar eclipse and a mysterious upheaval that affected the world. The painting vanished into his Small World, where he gained a Taiyin Profound Pill and opened an aperture in his Will Soul.

• Li Mo watched the Phoenix Heavenly Empress appear in his painting as the moon eclipsed the sun and three Divine Rays shook the sky.
• Ying Bing sensed something important happening, while the Bronze Divine Tree reacted to the upheaval at Clear Abyss Main Peak.
• Qian Bufan reported the eclipse, and a Ruyi Peak disciple revealed that Yin Huaxuan had escaped; Shangguan Wencang ordered a search.
• The old woman at Heaven Derivation Sect injured herself while using the Jade Disk and sent her disciple to Yun Province because of the Hidden Dragon Ranking.
• Li Mo discovered that his painting had vanished and that a bright moon had appeared in his Small World alongside the sun.
• Li Mo studied the Great Dao Divine Form in his Small World, understood that his Immortal Body could bear all living beings from beyond the outside world, and opened an aperture in his Will Soul.

After opening his apertures, Li Mo discovered heightened perception and rapidly improved his swordsmanship, then learned that escaped elder Yin Huaxuan was still hiding within the sealed sect. As Li Mo left to report for the search, Shang Wu persuaded Ying Bing to soak in the Mist Flower Ageless Spring, triggering an investment reward for Li Mo.

• Li Mo woke after what Shang Wu claimed had been a month, and Ying Bing corrected her that he had slept only an afternoon.
• Li Mo tested his new perception while cooking and practicing sword techniques, advancing his mastery of the Sun Wheel Sword Canon.
• Li Mo told Ying Bing and Shang Wu that he had opened his apertures during the strange celestial change, and Shang Wu explained that escaped Yin Huaxuan was hiding inside the sealed sect.
• Shang Wu told Li Mo that Divine Observation Realm disciples had to search for Yin Huaxuan in pairs, so Li Mo went to report to the External Affairs Hall.
• Shang Wu persuaded Ying Bing to soak in the Mist Flower Ageless Spring, and Li Mo received Seven-Star Cloud-Stepping Boots as an investment reward.

Li Mo showed off his newly opened aperture and joined the search for the escaped Yin Huaxuan near Rare Beast Peak. The search was underway when the peak’s strange beasts suddenly went berserk.

• Li Mo tested his Seven-Star Cloud-Stepping Boots, flew into the External Affairs Hall, and crashed through its floor before paying Qian Bufan to repair it.
• Li Mo revealed that he had opened an aperture, and Qian Bufan let him join the mission with Ouyang’s team.
• Li Mo scanned the gathered disciples with his Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye and learned that Xu Zhiqing would injure her right hand during the search.
• Li Mo, Ouyang, Xu Zhiqing, and Miao Jinyin searched the forest near Rare Beast Peak for Yin Huaxuan.
• At night, strange beasts roared and stampeded as a Rare Beast Peak disciple ran toward the group, shouting for them to flee.

Li Mo fought the rampaging beasts at Rare Beast Peak while Yin Huaxuan escaped with Futu disguised as Murong Xiao. Li Mo caught up with them and exposed the imposture, confronting them with his true essence restored.

• Xu Zhiqing sent up a signal and ordered the disciples to stop the rampaging beasts, while Li Mo rushed ahead to intercept them.
• Li Mo blasted a powerful Rock Bear aside with the power of his two Profound Pills and continued fighting while searching for Yin Huaxuan.
• At Divine Weapon Peak, Futu gave Yin Huaxuan Blood Spirit Pills and a human-skin mask after the other disciples left to investigate Rare Beast Peak.
• Futu escorted Yin Huaxuan, disguised as Murong Xiao, through Brook Stone Forest, where Yin Huaxuan summoned his white-horned goshawk to escape.
• Li Mo crashed down beside Yin Huaxuan and Futu after chasing the goshawk, recognized the fake Murong Xiao, and rejected his hidden sword attack.
• Li Mo declared his true essence had recovered and hurled his hammer at Yin Huaxuan and Futu.

Li Mo fought Yin Huaxuan, Futu, and a White-Horned Goshawk in Brook Stone Forest, using moonlight from his newly opened Divine Observation aperture to outmaneuver them. As the battle turned against Yin Huaxuan, Futu betrayed him and removed the Beast Seed from his abdomen.

• Li Mo’s Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye revealed that Yin Huaxuan was badly injured and that Futu had planted a hidden move inside him to help him escape.
• Yin Huaxuan and Futu attacked Li Mo alongside the White-Horned Goshawk, but Li Mo used moonlight to perceive time differently and counter their assault.
• At Rare Beast Peak, Elder Han He learned that Li Mo had slain the rampaging exotic beasts and followed the White-Horned Goshawk’s trail.
• At Autumn Water Pavilion, Ying Bing’s aperture began to form as she soaked in the Mist Flower Ageless Spring, while Shang Wu watched over her.
• Futu stabbed Yin Huaxuan from behind, drained his power, and removed the Beast Seed from his abdomen, declaring that he could not let Yin Huaxuan survive in the Clear Abyss Sect.

Li Mo killed Yin Huaxuan and Futu with the Calamity Meteor Hammer, then learned that Ying Bing had opened her aperture at Autumn Water Pavilion. The chapter left Li Mo entering the spring to relax while Ying Bing, wearing a bathrobe, faced an awkward encounter just before the rankings began.

• Futu completed Hundred Beast Blood Refining and attacked Li Mo, but Li Mo broke his arm with the Calamity Meteor Hammer.
• Futu fled on fleshy wings and used Yin Huaxuan's bone whistle to send the White-Horned Goshawk after Li Mo, who wounded the bird with Crimson Firmament.
• Li Mo caught Futu in midair, smashed him into the earth, and finished him with Sun Wheel Sword Canon despite Han He wanting him captured alive.
• Ying Bing opened her aperture at Autumn Water Pavilion, forming a Little Phoenix Bird and exhausting her mental strength and Internal Breath.
• As midnight and the rankings approached, Li Mo entered Mist Flower Spring to relax and found Ying Bing still there wearing a bathrobe.

Li Mo returned from killing Yin Huaxuan and joined Ying Bing in the Mist Flower Ageless Spring, where they waited for the second young prodigy ranking. The list placed Li Mo first and Ying Bing second, leaving her stunned once again.

• Li Mo told Ying Bing that he had killed Yin Huaxuan, and she invited him to bathe with her in the Mist Flower Ageless Spring.
• Ying Bing said she had opened her acupoints, while Li Mo received Soul-Cleansing Bodhi Fruits and Focus-Condensing Lotus Tea from the system for helping Xu Zhiqing and Miao Jinyin avoid injury.
• The second Eastern Wasteland Domain young prodigy ranking began, and Li Mo noticed that the Clear Abyss Sect disciples had risen in rank.
• The ranking named Shang Li third, Ying Bing second, and Li Mo first, leaving Ying Bing dazed.

Ying Bing discovered that she had lost to Li Mo despite her extraordinary cultivation and system-granted abilities, then faced the system’s punishment of bathing with him in a revealing outfit. The chapter ended with them trapped together in the hot spring for two quarter-hours while Li Mo sat facing the wall.

• Ying Bing learned that Li Mo ranked first and she ranked second after losing to him in most of their simulated life-and-death battles.
• Ying Bing’s system withheld her rewards and ordered her to bathe with Li Mo while wearing its Flirtatious Outfit.
• As the outfit appeared, Ying Bing covered Li Mo’s eyes and told him not to look or leave.
• Ying Bing made Li Mo sit facing the wall while she stayed nearby in the hot spring.
• Ying Bing’s system announced that the bathing punishment would last two quarter-hours.