Chapter Summaries

At an Exchange Meeting, Madam White Bone announced the deaths of Nanmen Wuwo and Cang Jiuhuang and warned that the Alliance was preparing for a final battle against the Prayer Cult. She then sought spiritual herbs and male favorites, while Chen Lin watched Zhang Qingfeng and his companions eagerly compete for the positions.

• Chen Lin attended High Person Yunhai's Exchange Meeting and avoided drinking the spirit tea.
• Madam White Bone arrived and announced that Desire Demon Gumei had killed Nanmen Wuwo while he tried to rescue his daughter.
• Madam White Bone revealed that Cang Jiuhuang had died during a failed attempt to form a nascent soul, and said the Alliance would soon fight the Prayer Cult to the death.
• High Person Yunhai began the exchange and sought yumo grass, Xianji Stones, and lingyu flowers, while Madam White Bone offered rewards for herbs or Millennium Spirit Milk.
• Madam White Bone invited cultivators to become her male favorites, and Zhang Qingfeng and his two companions rose to apply as Chen Lin watched in shock.

At the Exchange Meeting, Chen Lin traded spirit milk with Madam White Bone for enough ink gold to pursue refining the Ink-Hidden Spirit Boat, while acquiring other useful materials. He left satisfied but puzzled about why so many cultivators wanted to become Madam White Bone’s male consorts.

• Madam White Bone selected Zhang Qingfeng and another cultivator as her male consorts, and the Exchange Meeting began.
• Chen Lin offered his Heavy Water Bead for ink gold, turned down a Foundation Establishment Pill, and failed to attract another trade.
• Madam White Bone offered to supply Chen Lin with ink gold if he joined her Inner Palace, but he refused and proposed trading spirit milk instead.
• Madam White Bone accepted Chen Lin’s spirit milk and gave him a Storage Bag containing three large chunks of ink gold.
• Chen Lin traded for auxiliary materials and ink-scaled flood dragon essence blood, then left the meeting with only two of his three companions.
• Chen Lin asked his two neighbors why cultivators were eager to become Madam White Bone’s male consorts.

After the Alliance ordered all unassigned cultivators to register for the impending battle, Chen Lin chose a high-ranking Demon-Hunting Squad and used the lull to refine an Ink-Hidden Spirit Boat. The Alliance’s assignment summons arrived, and he headed to the city to report.

• Chen Lin learned that the Alliance had issued a Conscription Order and decided he would have to join a Demon-Hunting Squad.
• Chen Lin met Qian Li, collected three pieces of ink gold, and learned that Master Mu had left Danding City with Sect Master Luo.
• Chen Lin registered at the West City Gate and used his Pill Pavilion privileges to qualify for a Grade Yi squad.
• Chen Lin stayed near the city, practiced artifact refining, and began making the Ink-Hidden Spirit Boat.
• Chen Lin received orders to report to the assignment hall immediately and flew toward the city.

Chen Lin joined the Yi-Three Demon-Hunting Squad under High Person Yunhai, took command of ten veteran subordinates, and completed his Ink-Hidden Spirit Boat. He learned that his squad would join the Yi-Nine Squad to attack a Prayer Cult base and divert attention while Formation Grandmaster Zhou Yangming traveled secretly to Lanyu City.

• Chen Lin received the Yi-Three assignment and High Person Yunhai recognized him despite his assumed identity, then advised him not to rely too much on concealment.
• Chen Lin learned that the Yi-Three Squad had over a hundred members, served under the First Jia Squad, and made him a deputy captain with ten Qi Condensation subordinates.
• Chen Lin dismissed his skeptical subordinates and spent several days refining the Ink-Hidden Spirit Boat, which reached the level of a perfect Upper-Grade Spiritual Tool.
• Zhao Qiankun arrived at a squad meeting and acknowledged that Chen Lin's Great Returning Spirit Pill had helped him survive an encounter with a Desire Demon.
• High Person Yunhai told the deputy captains that they would join the Yi-Nine Squad in attacking a Prayer Cult base to divert attention from Zhou Yangming's secret journey to Lanyu City.
• Chen Lin and the other deputy captains led their subordinates out of the city for the joint mission.

Chen Lin led his squad cautiously to avoid Prayer Cult ambushes, reaching the rendezvous point just as the agreed time ended. After learning that the operation's information had leaked and the main force had suffered heavy losses, he suddenly punched Shi Yuan as the deputy captain reached for his Storage Bag.

• Chen Lin persuaded his squad to prioritize survival and follow his cautious, concealed route instead of rushing ahead for merit.
• Chen Lin's squad reached the northern slope at the last moment, and he sent two subordinates to verify Shi Yuan before approaching him.
• Shi Yuan told Chen Lin that the Prayer Cult had ambushed many squads, wiping out two Ninth Squad squads and causing heavy losses to the Third Squad.
• Shi Yuan said Captain Yun and Captain Zhao had gone to attack the target and that he had orders to send late arrivals as reinforcements.
• When Shi Yuan reached for his Storage Bag to retrieve a map, Chen Lin punched him in the face without warning.

Chen Lin killed the Divine Child impersonating Shi Yuan, rescued Shi Yuan’s unconscious subordinates, and led his squad back to Danding City after High Person Yunhai recalled them. At headquarters, he reported the encounter and handed over an Image-Recording Bead as proof.

• Chen Lin used Demon-Suppression Talismans and Golden Body Transformation to destroy the Divine Child posing as Shi Yuan, then burned its divine seed and collected its Divine Crystal.
• Chen Lin pretended to be badly injured to discourage his subordinates’ admiration, then sent Wei Dazhao to investigate the Illusion Array.
• Chen Lin examined and questioned Shi Yuan’s unconscious subordinates, found no evidence that they were involved, and led everyone to a concealed site to recover.
• High Person Yunhai ordered Chen Lin’s squad to return, and Chen Lin brought them back to Danding City.
• Chen Lin learned that the Prayer Cult had intercepted the other squads and caused devastating losses, then showed High Person Yunhai the Image-Recording Bead as evidence that Shi Yuan had been a Divine Child.

After proving that Shi Yuan had been a Prayer Cult spy and killing the Divine Child attached to him, Chen Lin earned a huge merit reward and was transferred to the Logistics Department to make Demon-Suppression Talismans. As the Alliance’s siege dragged on, he quietly stockpiled supplies and studied ways to improve his chances of escape, including a technique for creating a pseudo thunder spiritual root.

• High Person Yunhai watched the Image-Recording Bead footage, accepted Chen Lin’s account, and learned that Chen Lin could make Demon-Suppression Talismans.
• After several rounds of questioning, the Alliance confirmed that Shi Yuan was an undercover agent and awarded Chen Lin twenty thousand merit points, raising his merit level to twenty-six.
• The Alliance transferred Chen Lin from the Demon-Hunting Squad to the Logistics Department, where he began making talismans full-time.
• Over the following months, Chen Lin stockpiled talismans, prepared his Ink-Hidden Spirit Boat, studied spells and other inheritances, and obtained materials for the Azure Flood Dragon Halberd while lacking a suitable flood dragon soul.
• When raw materials ran low, Chen Lin studied the Golden Fire Generating Thunder Technique, which could produce a pseudo thunder spiritual root and might help him learn Lightning Escape.

Chen Lin sought a thunder-attribute spiritual object to strengthen his pseudo lightning spiritual root, but Nanmen Lingyue arrived with a Thunder Apricot Spirit and asked him to dual cultivate with her. After learning that demonic thoughts from their paired spirit fires had damaged her dao foundation, Chen Lin still refused her request.

• Chen Lin abandoned his search for thunder-attribute spiritual objects and focused on cultivation until He Yuqing told him Nanmen Lingyue had come to see him.
• Nanmen Lingyue offered Chen Lin a Thunder Apricot Spirit in exchange for dual cultivation.
• Chen Lin asked why Nanmen Lingyue had chosen him, and she explained that the paired spirit fires they absorbed in Black Water Marsh had carried demonic thoughts into her foundation.
• Chen Lin realized his own Buddhist protection and the spirit fire's power had kept him free of the demonic thoughts, then refused Nanmen Lingyue's proposal.

Chen Lin agreed to help Nanmen Lingyue treat her condition by intermingling their divine souls and mana, despite the sensual visions and demonic thought that tested his restraint. After half a month of sessions, Nanmen Lingyue finished treatment and left after jokingly suggesting they become companions someday.

• Nanmen Lingyue offered Chen Lin the Thunder Apricot Spirit and proposed dual cultivation, but he refused because his cultivation technique required abstinence.
• Nanmen Lingyue proposed intermingling their divine souls and mana instead, and Chen Lin agreed to hold the sessions at his residence after work.
• Chen Lin and Nanmen Lingyue began treatment, while He Yuqing guarded the door; their spiritual union brought intense visions that Chen Lin suppressed with Buddhist power.
• Chen Lin found the Demon-Hunting Squad headquarters deserted and sensed that a major upheaval might be near.
• Nanmen Lingyue asked for two treatment sessions a day after hearing rumors of a major Alliance operation, and their increasingly intense sessions continued for half a month.
• After the final session, Nanmen Lingyue jokingly suggested becoming companions someday, thanked Chen Lin, and left.

As the Alliance prepared to retreat from Danding City, Chen Lin suspected the powerful factions had abandoned the remaining cultivators as cannon fodder. He learned that Madam White Bone was organizing a small independent group and had to decide whether to join before it left that night.

• Chen Lin finished refining the Thunder Apricot Spirit and continued slowly merging it into his body while the Alliance's resources dwindled.
• The Alliance ordered a retreat toward the Distant Sea, and He Yuqing told Chen Lin about the Sea King Sect's ship before leaving with her household group; he gave her supplies for protection.
• Chen Lin found Zhao Qiankun, High Person Yunhai, and other important figures absent, and suspected they had already escaped through special channels.
• After Chen Lin was assigned to a large first-wave group led by the aging Golden Core Real Person Pang, he met Qian Li and concluded that the remaining cultivators were being used as cannon fodder.
• Qian Li revealed that Madam White Bone was organizing a group of fewer than thirty Foundation Establishment Cultivators and offered to introduce Chen Lin before the group left that night.
• Chen Lin declined to decide immediately, claiming his cultivation technique forbade intimacy with women, and promised Qian Li an answer before nightfall.

Chen Lin captured Qian Yuyan, who claimed to be delivering a letter from Mu Xingchen, and discovered he had opened the letter and sought its secrets. The Jade Talisman revealed a teleportation formation on Island Number Nine that might lead to the Main Continent, leaving Chen Lin to consider the route and its costly activation.

• Chen Lin captured Qian Yuyan after the old man approached him with a letter from Mu Xingchen, then brought him back to his lodgings.
• Chen Lin sealed Qian Yuyan's mana and searched his Storage Bag, finding an opened letter, a sea chart, and a Jade Talisman.
• Chen Lin learned Qian Yuyan had opened the letter out of greed and killed him after the old man threatened to report his disappearance.
• Chen Lin used a Talisman Treasure containing Vermilion Bird power to activate the Jade Talisman and hear Luo Qinglan's message about a teleportation formation on Island Number Nine.
• Chen Lin studied the sea chart and learned the formation might lead to the Main Continent and required one Top-Grade Spirit Stone and nine high-grade spirit stones.

Chen Lin joined Madam White Bone’s party as they fled Danding City, secretly circumvented the Soul Contract, and hid in the mountains while waiting for the Alliance’s retreat. There, he revealed his former identity to Zhang Qingfeng and learned that dual cultivation with Madam White Bone seemed to benefit her male consorts.

• Madam White Bone made the fleeing cultivators sign a ten-day Soul Contract, and Chen Lin secretly used Qian Yuyan’s soul from the Soul-Detaining Talisman to mark it.
• Hai Mingyue and Li Xuanming watched from Danding Peak and exchanged remarks about Madam White Bone, their cultivation techniques, and their own progress.
• Madam White Bone led the party into the mountains, concealed them with a formation, and summoned Qian Li into her tent.
• Chen Lin revealed to Zhang Qingfeng that he had once appeared as Ye Fan, then asked whether Zhang had found their mutual friends Wugui and the others.
• Madam White Bone summoned Zhang Qingfeng into her tent after Qian Li emerged, and the other cultivators realized that her dual cultivation seemed to strengthen her male consorts.

Madam White Bone led Chen Lin and the others out as the Alliance began its retreat from Danding City, revealing that the escape was governed by a secret agreement with the Prayer Cult. After seeing the fleet attacked, the group set off under Madam White Bone’s orders, facing a breakout in which no more than thirty percent could escape.

• Madam White Bone declined the other cultivators’ advances and told Chen Lin that dual cultivation could rapidly improve his cultivation, but he kept his distance.
• The Alliance’s flying boats rose from Danding City, and Chen Lin watched Real Person Pang’s Dragon-Head Giant Boat get split apart by Crimson Swordlight.
• Madam White Bone ordered her group to fly close to the ground and avoid the Earth Escape Technique, explaining that the Alliance had made an agreement with the Prayer Cult.
• Madam White Bone revealed that the agreement allowed no more than thirty percent of the cultivators to escape and forbade surrender, while the Prayer Cult’s powerful beings would slaughter those left behind.
• Madam White Bone packed away the formation flags and led the group forward, ordering them to follow her instructions.

Chen Lin and Madam White Bone’s group were ambushed by Prayer Cult pursuers while fleeing toward the coast. Madam White Bone killed the Blood-Colored Figure, and the group resumed its journey after slaughtering the surviving attackers.

• Chen Lin’s group encountered a larger Prayer Cult force led by a Blood-Colored Figure, whose aura caused a Foundation Establishment cultivator to lose control.
• Madam White Bone confronted the Blood-Colored Figure while Chen Lin and the others fought the Prayer Cult cultivators.
• Chen Lin defeated Lu Li by luring him into a close-range clash and using lotus true fire before cutting off his head with the Azure Dragon Sword.
• Chen Lin helped Qian Li kill a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator, then held back while watching Madam White Bone’s duel.
• Madam White Bone merged her skulls into a skeletal hand, killed the Blood-Colored Figure, and collected a black crystal from the blood mist.
• The Prayer Cult survivors fled, but Madam White Bone ordered their pursuit and slaughter before the group continued toward the coast.

Chen Lin and the retreating cultivators reached the Wuding Sea, but Nanmen Wuji ambushed them and revealed that he had reached the Golden Core Stage. As Chen Lin fled during the clash, Madam White Bone triggered a lightning tribulation and disappeared.

• Madam White Bone led the group to the coast and told them to wait for the annual mist before crossing the sea.
• Nanmen Wuji shattered their Isolation Array, and Madam White Bone accused him of sacrificing Nanmen Wuwo to attain the Golden Core Stage.
• Madam White Bone drained the cultivation of Zhang Qingfeng and eight other male favorites to reach the Pseudo-Core Realm, but Nanmen Wuji attacked her with his White Bone Folding Fan.
• The collision between Madam White Bone's skull and Nanmen Wuji's Light Sword sent Chen Lin and the others flying, allowing them to flee.
• Madam White Bone crushed the Soul Contract and absorbed the gathered energy, summoning a lightning tribulation as Nanmen Wuji retreated and she vanished.

Chen Lin escaped Nanmen Wuji and reached the Distant Sea, where he sailed through the gale thunderstorm and discovered it could strengthen his body and help fuse the Thunder Apricot Spirit within him. After weeks of drifting and cultivating, he spotted a tiny black dot in the distance and cautiously steered toward it.

• Chen Lin escaped underground and through the water, while Nanmen Wuji searched for him near the Distant Sea and eventually gave up.
• Chen Lin reached the Distant Sea, mourned Qian Li and the others, and set out into open water aboard the Ink-Hidden Spirit Boat.
• Chen Lin sailed for weeks, fought a few first-rank monster beasts, and used his time at sea to cultivate and study spells.
• Chen Lin discovered the gale thunderstorm could temper his body and speed the fusion of the Thunder Apricot Spirit within him.
• Chen Lin spotted a tiny black dot in the distance and cautiously steered the spirit boat toward it.

Chen Lin cultivated on an island in the Distant Sea, only to discover it was the back of a sea beast undergoing a powerful tribulation. After surviving a bolt of tribulation lightning and fleeing two fearsome monsters, he drifted through dangerous waters until an enormous warship appeared.

• Chen Lin found spirit herbs on a small island, cultivated there for several months, and advanced to the foundation establishment second layer.
• Chen Lin discovered that the islands around him had vanished, then realized his island was a moving sea beast as it began undergoing a tribulation.
• Chen Lin used a silver talisman and a lightning-weakening formation to survive a bolt of tribulation lightning, which nearly destroyed his body.
• Chen Lin refined the Thunder Apricot Spirit while recovering, then submerged and fled when another powerful monster arrived to attack the tribulating sea beast.
• Chen Lin drifted into unfamiliar waters, endured repeated sea-beast attacks, and eventually spotted an enormous warship.

Chen Lin encountered a battered Sea-Crossing Ship from Lanyu City and joined its surviving crew after learning its Golden Core cultivator had abandoned it. Though the ship’s leadership was divided and its location uncertain, Chen found several Sea Charts that helped him orient himself and was surprised to recognize someone among the lowest-deck cultivators.

• Chen Lin followed the damaged ship, met Du Cheng, and learned that only a little over two hundred people remained after the Golden Core cultivator and several Foundation Establishment cultivators had left.
• Chen Lin presented his Alliance Identity Token to the ship’s seven Foundation Establishment cultivators and was accepted aboard.
• Chen Lin saw that the ship’s upper-deck cultivators held power while Qi Condensation cultivators faced shortages, dangerous assignments, and coercion.
• Liang Shuozhen asked Chen Lin about pill refining, and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators visited him while trying to draw him into their factions.
• Chen Lin traded for Sea Charts and worked out that the ship was north of the Tianyuan Continent and traveling in the right general direction.
• Chen Lin found another crude Sea Chart among the lowest-deck cultivators and recognized a familiar face there.

Chen Lin reunited with Zhao Mengru aboard the ship and rescued her from Xu Dachang’s harassment. After hearing how she had survived and reached Qi Condensation, Chen Lin offered to help her establish an orthodox foundation in exchange for her loyalty, and the chapter ended with him giving her pills to improve her cultivation.

• Zhao Mengru bluffed that she knew Senior Chen, but Xu Dachang mocked her and continued pressuring her.
• Chen Lin revealed his Foundation Establishment cultivation, reprimanded Xu Dachang with his divine sense, and took Zhao Mengru to his quarters.
• Zhao Mengru recognized Chen Lin and recounted how she had escaped the Prayer Cult and reached the Qi Condensation Late Stage.
• Chen Lin offered to help Zhao Mengru establish an orthodox foundation if she became his loyal partner, and she swore an Inner Demon Oath acknowledging him as her master.
• Chen Lin gave Zhao Mengru Ninghua Pills and a Marrow-Cleansing Pill, told her to advance to Qi Condensation Level 9, and ordered her to keep the arrangement secret and stay beside his room.

Chen Lin helped Zhao Mengru reach Foundation Establishment, shifting the balance aboard the ship and drawing new attention from its cultivators. At an exchange meeting, he learned that Zhao Hetang’s jade slip held something he wanted, while Liang Shuozhen pressed him to refine a Shuiyun Spirit Pill.

• Chen Lin gave Zhao Mengru five Foundation Establishment Pills before she successfully broke through, then rejected her offer to repay him by becoming his woman.
• Zhao Mengru revealed her new Foundation Establishment cultivation, killed the old cultivator who had humiliated her, and attracted both allies and hopeful female cultivators to Chen Lin.
• Chen Lin traded pills for two sea charts and other treasures, then agreed to attend an exchange meeting arranged by Zhao Hetang.
• Liang Shuozhen offered her possessions to anyone who could refine a Shuiyun Spirit Pill, while Zhao Hetang offered Chen Lin a jade slip in exchange for three Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Chen Lin declined Zhao Hetang’s requested price and offered to refine pills if Zhao Hetang supplied the herbs; Liang Shuozhen then insisted Chen Lin try refining her Shuiyun Spirit Pill.