Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Viteo learns that surveys have found no large energy-stone vein, but more than 1,500 stones in a short stretch of underground river. Researchers estimate the full river may contain at least 5,000 and perhaps over 10,000.
• Because energy stones could dramatically strengthen espers—and potentially help produce several ninth-rank Esper Emperors—Viteo decides to hide the discovery rather than report it. He withdraws the remaining troops and secretly establishes a base beneath the lake to search the river.
• The Bragg family restores contact with its underground headquarters after Qin Shaofeng’s destruction severed its link to the surface. Rebuilding the special Negative 99th Level is delayed by two berserk gene black bears, which the family eventually kills.
• While the Bragg family suspends experiments and repairs its headquarters, it stops dumping failed test subjects into the Underground Space. The genetically modified creatures there go hungry and grow increasingly hostile.
• A roar from deeper underground frightens even the seven tenth-rank specimens. The creatures then attack one point together, break through a rock wall, and let the underground river flood in. The beasts have escaped.

Character developments and interactions

• Viteo shifts from seeking energy stones to advance his standing against a rival to pursuing a far greater prize: secret control of the river’s supply. His ambition and willingness to conceal the discovery take priority over his grievances.
• The researcher gives Viteo the survey findings and cautious projections, while an officer reports the initial disappointing results.
• The Bragg family regains operational control of its headquarters but focuses on recovery, temporarily setting aside experiments. Its earlier losses leave it bitter toward Qin Shaofeng, though it considers the matter closed because he is believed dead.
• The Underground Space’s creatures, previously dependent on the family’s discarded test subjects, turn on one another under starvation, then unite in response to the mysterious roar and break through toward the river.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: Energy stones promise immense advancement, and Viteo’s discovery tempts him to pursue personal power through secrecy.
• Unintended consequences: The Bragg family’s practical decision to pause experiments disrupts the creatures’ food supply, helping trigger a dangerous escape.
• Containment and control: The family’s control over its underground facility and engineered organisms proves fragile; once the beasts lose their food and restraint, they become a collective threat.
• A looming escalation: Viteo’s secret operation and the beasts’ breakout unfold in parallel, suggesting the underground river will soon become a focus of both human ambition and danger.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shaofeng emerges from seclusion to find that Liu Ya has begun cultivating in seclusion. She and the other women are training seriously because advancing on Earth could strengthen them when they return to Qiyuan Star and fuse with their original bodies.
• Qin has reached Martial Emperor Peak, with his physical strength at the third stage of Martial Emperor, but both forms of progress have stalled. He needs four-star Ninefold Spirit Pills to advance further, and those require rare, roughly three-thousand-year-old high-grade spirit herbs.
• The Nine Spirit Palace lacks enough spiritual energy to strengthen herbs to that age. Qin considers harvesting Spirit Stones from a dangerous underground site in the United States, but decides against it for now because it contains seven Tenth Rank Genetically Modified Organisms, alongside many others.
• Although he postpones that expedition, Qin still intends to return to the United States and make the Bragg family pay for his losses.
• Bai Yifan arrives at Elegant Villa with Wang Feiran and several others. Wang Feiran, a second-stage Martial King from the powerful reclusive Wang Family, has come because the family wants Qin’s pills—and Qin himself.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shaofeng shows restraint: despite his confidence, he recognizes the underground site is beyond his safe reach at present. He is also frustrated by Liu Ya’s absence but respects her reasons for cultivating.
• Liu Ya and the other women are prioritizing cultivation, aiming to improve their future prospects across both worlds.
• Wang Feiran is introduced as powerful, calculating, and accustomed to authority. He regards Qin’s alchemy as valuable and suspects it comes from a significant legacy.
• Bai Yifan treats Wang Feiran with unusual deference, reflecting the Wang Family’s dominance over the Hundred Families. He brings Wang Feiran to meet Qin, whose pills he has been selling.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: Qin seeks stronger cultivation and resources, while the Wang Family wants to control his alchemical ability.
• Prudence versus confidence: Qin’s refusal to underestimate the underground threat contrasts strength with recklessness.
• Cultivation as long-term investment: Liu Ya and the others train not only for the present, but to gain advantages after returning to Qiyuan Star.
• Control of knowledge: The reclusive lineages have restricted alchemy to preserve their superiority, making Qin’s independent success a threat to their established order.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Feiran arrives at Elegant Villa expecting Qin Shaofeng to be an insignificant alchemist. The villa’s many capable fighters—and their unusually stable auras—make him realize Qin’s followers have access to powerful cultivation techniques.
• Qin’s own strength is impossible for Wang Feiran to read. Even Wang’s Martial King Eighth Layer guard cannot identify Qin’s realm, prompting Wang to reconsider his assumptions.
• Wang Feiran meets Qin politely and asks him to make pills, abandoning his earlier intention to pressure Qin for pill formulas and methods.
• During their handshake, Wang secretly tests Qin and senses an overwhelming power comparable to a Martial Emperor. Convinced Qin is far beyond him, Wang decides the Wang Family should seek friendship rather than provoke him.
• Qin offers to refine a pill that will raise Wang Feiran’s realm by one full layer without side effects, provided Wang supplies high-grade spirit medicines. Wang is interested partly because the arrangement could provide him with valuable ingredients.

Character developments

• Wang Feiran shifts from arrogance and presumed dominance to caution, respect, and open cooperation once he recognizes Qin’s strength.
• Qin Shaofeng remains composed and perceptive. He notices Wang’s covert test but does not expose it, instead turning the encounter into a potential source of rare materials.
• Bai Yifan is surprised by Wang’s sudden politeness. Concerned for Qin, he had planned to warn him to avoid antagonizing Wang, but the change in circumstances makes the warning unnecessary.

Significant themes

• Strength determines social conduct: Wang’s attitude changes dramatically when he believes Qin may be a Martial Emperor.
• Appearances can mislead: Qin seems to have no detectable aura, yet this concealment signals power rather than weakness.
• Powerful resources create influence: Qin’s pills and the promise of rapid advancement make him valuable to a hidden family.
• Caution over arrogance: Wang’s decision to reassess Qin prevents a potentially dangerous confrontation.

Character interactions

• Wang greets Qin with unexpected courtesy, while Qin responds calmly and asks the purpose of his visit.
• Bai introduces Wang and watches in confusion as the anticipated confrontation becomes a business discussion.
• Wang secretly probes Qin during their handshake; Qin detects the attempt but lets it pass.
• Qin offers Wang a major advancement pill in exchange for rare medicinal ingredients, leaving Wang astonished.

Chapter Summary: “Trade”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Shaofeng tells Wang Feiran that he can refine pills capable of raising a Martial King’s cultivation by three levels within a month, provided he has sufficiently potent spirit herbs.
• He initially requests at least three-thousand-year-old high-grade spirit herbs. Wang Ankai, an eighth-level Martial King accompanying Wang Feiran, objects because herbs of that age are extraordinarily valuable and are normally reserved for breakthroughs to Martial Emperor.
• Qin clarifies that ordinary thousand-year-old high-grade spirit herbs could also produce the pills, but they might cause serious side effects and permanently damage the user’s future cultivation potential.
• To test whether Qin is exaggerating his abilities, Wang Feiran asks whether the pills could help his cousin, who is stuck at the tenth level of Xiantian Great Grandmaster, break through to Martial King.
• Qin states that one pill would be enough to make the breakthrough. Continued use could potentially raise the cousin to Martial King Peak, but afterward his cultivation would never advance again.
• Impressed, Wang Feiran asks to purchase three pills immediately. He offers three earth-attributed Spirit Stones, known as Earth Spirit Jade, as payment.
• Qin accepts the trade and uses his powerful God-Demon Inner Qi to pull the jade box from Wang Feiran’s hand. The precision and concealment of his technique surprise everyone, revealing that Qin is far stronger than they had assumed.
• Qin leaves to refine the pills immediately. Soon afterward, Old Scorpion appears at the ninth level of Martial King, serving as Qin’s deterrent and further intimidating Wang Feiran’s group.

Character Developments

• Qin Shaofeng: Demonstrates confidence in his alchemy and strategic intelligence. He distinguishes between pills made from ordinary herbs and those made from three-thousand-year-old herbs, making clear that he understands both their benefits and dangers. His effortless use of concealed Inner Qi reveals a level of strength beyond what the others expected.
• Wang Feiran: Begins excited and somewhat skeptical, but gradually develops genuine respect for Qin. He realizes Qin is not merely a talented alchemist but also a formidable powerhouse. His cautious decision to test Qin with his cousin reflects his mistrust, while his later trade shows his eagerness to benefit from Qin’s abilities.
• Wang Ankai: Initially challenges Qin’s demand for rare spirit herbs, emphasizing their value. After Qin explains the risks of weaker ingredients and demonstrates his power, Wang Ankai falls silent and becomes more cautious.
• Wang Feiran’s cousin: Although limited by poor talent, he becomes intensely hopeful after learning that Qin’s pills could carry him to Martial King Peak, even at the cost of his future advancement.
• Old Scorpion: His appearance at the ninth level of Martial King reinforces Qin’s influence and provides protection while Qin is absent.

Significant Themes

• Power and potential: The chapter contrasts natural talent and cultivation limits with the ability of powerful pills to force rapid advancement.
• The cost of shortcuts: Pills made from ordinary herbs can produce dramatic gains, but they may permanently destroy a cultivator’s future prospects.
• Value and exchange: The trade of Earth Spirit Jade for cultivation pills reflects how rare resources and specialized abilities create power-based negotiations.
• Hidden strength and respect: Qin’s concealed Inner Qi and Old Scorpion’s presence show that true strength often lies beneath appearances. Wang Feiran’s attitude shifts once he recognizes Qin’s capabilities.
• Trust and verification: Wang Feiran does not immediately accept Qin’s claims; he tests them through his cousin before committing valuable resources.

Character Interactions

• Qin and Wang Feiran negotiate over the ingredients and benefits of the pills, with Qin carefully warning him about the consequences of using inferior materials.
• Qin and Wang Ankai clash verbally when Ankai criticizes the demand for rare herbs. Qin responds dismissively but rationally, silencing him by explaining the difference in pill quality.
• Wang Feiran uses his cousin as a practical test of Qin’s claims, while Qin immediately recognizes the test and answers without hesitation.
• The exchange of Earth Spirit Jade for three pills establishes a mutually beneficial relationship between Qin and Wang Feiran.
• Qin’s display of power, followed by Old Scorpion’s arrival, changes the group’s attitude from suspicion and negotiation to caution and respect.

Chapter Summary: “Excited Wang Feiran”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Shaofeng retreats to the Nine Spirit Palace to refine Ninefold Spirit Pills for Wang Feiran.
• Because he wants to reserve the best pills for himself and his allies, Qin deliberately produces defective Two-Star Ninefold Spirit Pills using ordinary medicinal materials and a small amount of low-grade spirit medicine.
• These pills can rapidly elevate a tenth-level Xiantian Great Grandmaster to the Martial King realm, potentially even reaching Martial King Peak with repeated use. However, they exhaust the user’s future potential, permanently limiting them to Martial King Peak.
• Qin refines more than a dozen pills but deliberately waits several hours before appearing, making the process seem more difficult and valuable.
• He gives Wang Feiran the three pills requested. Wang, suspicious of their effectiveness, asks his cousin to test one immediately.
• Wang Feiran’s cousin consumes a pill and breaks through to the Martial King realm in fewer than ten breaths, stunning everyone present.
• Convinced by the result, Wang Feiran asks about pills without side effects. Qin claims he lacks three-thousand-year-old high-grade spirit medicine and offers a pricing arrangement:
  • Three ordinary high-grade spirit medicines for a defective Martial King Pill.
  • Ten ordinary high-grade spirit medicines for a pill without side effects.
• Wang Feiran accepts the arrangement but must return to the Wang Family to obtain the necessary materials and permission. He leaves eager to acquire pills for himself and improve his position in the family’s succession struggle.

Character Developments

• Qin Shaofeng: Demonstrates his alchemical skill, strategic cunning, and willingness to exploit outsiders while protecting himself and his allies. He intentionally hides the ease of refining the pills and sets prices that will bring him valuable spirit medicine.
• Wang Feiran: Moves from cautious skepticism to excitement and respect. After witnessing the breakthrough, he begins treating Qin as an equal, changing his address from “Young Master Qin” to “Brother Qin.” His desire to strengthen his cultivation and compete for the Wang Family patriarchal position becomes more urgent.
• Wang Feiran’s cousin: Becomes the first successful test subject, advancing instantly to the Martial King realm and reacting with overwhelming excitement.
• Wang Family: Its internal competition is emphasized, as higher cultivation directly improves one’s chances of inheriting leadership.

Significant Themes

• Power and ambition: Cultivation strength determines status and political opportunity, especially within the Wang Family.
• Deception and manipulation: Qin is honest about the pills’ side effects, yet deliberately presents them in a way that maximizes their perceived value and his profit.
• Short-term gain versus long-term potential: The pills offer an immediate breakthrough but permanently destroy the user’s chance to advance beyond Martial King Peak.
• Mutual benefit and transactional relationships: Qin frames the deal as beneficial to both sides—Wang gains pills, while Qin obtains rare medicinal materials and improves his alchemy.
• Trust through proof: Wang Feiran’s doubts disappear only after witnessing his cousin’s rapid breakthrough firsthand.

Character Interactions

• Qin and Wang Feiran negotiate indirectly through Qin’s demonstration of the pills’ power.
• Wang Feiran tests Qin’s claims by having his cousin consume a pill, revealing his caution and lack of complete trust.
• Qin remains outwardly calm and accommodating while privately recognizing Wang’s motives.
• After the successful breakthrough, Wang Feiran’s attitude becomes more respectful, and their relationship shifts from a buyer-and-seller arrangement toward an alliance between perceived equals.

Key plot points

• Wang Feiran returns with a large supply of herbs and commissions three True Martial King Pills and twenty ordinary Martial King Pills. Qin Shaofeng charges generously, though his actual ingredient costs are far lower, making the deal extremely profitable.
• Wang uses three precious, 3,000-year-old herbs originally reserved for his own future Martial Emperor breakthrough. He accepts the sacrifice, intending to gain more valuable resources through the pills.
• Qin turns those herbs and additional ingredients into ten Four-Star Ninefold Spirit Pills. He cannot yet use them to advance his cultivation because his body is not strong enough.
• Qin asks Wang to collect elemental Spirit Jade Stones, offering three Martial King Pills per stone. These stones could help him complete the Nine Spirit Gathering Fire Formation and temper his body, but he needs many more.
• Wang changes his original plan and trades all twenty Martial King Pills to people from hidden Lineages who lack the talent to reach Martial King on their own. He gains a 3,000-year-old herb, over a thousand ordinary premium herbs, and several Spirit Jade Stones—far more than the pills cost him. His successful trade also creates a market for Qin’s pills, though it may bring trouble later.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shaofeng remains pragmatic and unapologetic about selling pills that consume the user’s potential: he sees Martial King status as a worthwhile benefit for those who otherwise could not attain it. He focuses on profiting from the deal and gathering materials for his cultivation.
• Wang Feiran proves shrewd and ambitious. He sacrifices resources meant for his own advancement, then turns the pills into a lucrative business opportunity that could strengthen his standing and ambitions within the Wang Family.
• Their relationship is mutually beneficial: Qin supplies powerful pills, while Wang provides herbs, potential buyers, and access to rare Spirit Jade Stones. Neither knows the full extent of the other’s gains.

Significant themes

• Ambition and calculated sacrifice: Wang trades away a future cultivation advantage to pursue influence and resources now.
• Unequal value and opportunism: Qin and Wang both profit by recognizing how valuable the pills are to people with limited prospects.
• Power comes at a cost: Ordinary Martial King Pills grant strength by consuming the user’s potential, while Qin’s own progress is limited by his body’s readiness.
• A growing market brings risk: Wang’s successful resale helps Qin acquire resources, but the pills’ popularity may attract unwanted consequences.

Key plot points

• The Gao Family, a powerful reclusive lineage, secretly has thirteen Martial Kings and—until now—one Martial Emperor. Their estate’s Spirit Eye provides unusually dense spiritual energy.
• Gao Yangfeng, a Ninth-Level Martial King, uses all three Martial King Pills his youngest son bought from Wang Feiran. The pills force him into the Martial Emperor Realm, though the breakthrough drains his vitality and may shorten his life.
• Excited by the prospect of creating more powerful experts with the pills, Gao Yangfeng investigates their source. A Gao Family disciple learns from her lover, a cousin of Wang Feiran, that Qin Shaofeng makes them.
• Believing Qin has no meaningful protection from the Wang Family, Gao Yangfeng plans to kidnap him and monopolize the pill supply. He sets out for Elegant Villa with eight Martial King experts.
• Meanwhile, Qin completes another trade with Wang Feiran, receiving medicinal ingredients and Spirit Jade. Since the jade lacks several necessary attributes, Qin cannot yet form the Nine Spirit Gathering Fire Formation.
• Qin hints that more varieties of Spirit Jade could improve his pills and allow Wang Feiran to take them more often. Wang Feiran promises to find the stones.

Character developments and interactions

• Gao Yangfeng changes from a cautious patriarch into an ambitious, confident aggressor after his breakthrough. He accepts the personal cost of his forced advancement and decides the potential gains justify risking conflict with Qin.
• Wang Feiran continues to trust Qin and eagerly pursues the stronger pills, unaware that his cousin’s indiscretion has exposed Qin’s secret to the Gao Family.
• Qin Shaofeng conceals the pills’ true limits: the supposed three-pill cap was deliberately built into them. He uses Wang Feiran’s desire for greater power to secure more useful Spirit Jade.
• The Gao Family disciple and Wang Feiran’s cousin become an unwitting channel for the secret. The disciple draws the information from him during an intimate encounter.

Significant themes

• Power and temptation: The pills promise rapid advancement, driving Gao Yangfeng to sacrifice longevity and pursue Qin.
• Secrecy and miscalculation: The Wang Family’s efforts to hide Qin’s role fail through a private disclosure, while Gao Yangfeng’s assumption that Qin is unprotected encourages his plan.
• Resource-driven advancement: Spiritual energy, rare medicine, and Spirit Jade determine who can strengthen themselves and how far they can progress.
• Control through deception: Qin manages the trade by shaping Wang Feiran’s understanding of the pills’ limits and potential.

Qin Shaofeng learned that a Gao Family force was approaching the Elegant Villa and went out to confront them. Gao Yangfeng, a first-level Martial Emperor leading eight Martial Kings, tried to make Qin Shaofeng surrender, unaware that Qin Shaofeng had reached the peak of the Martial Emperor Realm.

• Qin Shaofeng considered using his four types of Spirit Jade Stones to form a Nine Spirit Gathering Fire Formation but decided to wait for more stones.
• Andrew's alarm alerted Qin Shaofeng to powerful enemies, and the Super Detector identified one first-level Martial Emperor and eight Martial Kings approaching the Elegant Villa.
• Gao Yangfeng led his eight Martial King subordinates toward the villa, intending to capture Qin Shaofeng and kill everyone else.
• Qin Shaofeng appeared at the villa's side entrance, and Gao Yangfeng mistook his concealed aura for evidence that he was not especially strong.
• Gao Yangfeng demanded that Qin Shaofeng come quietly with him, while Qin Shaofeng judged the attackers no threat to his peak Martial Emperor strength.

Qin Shaofeng defeated Gao Yangfeng’s group and searched Gao Yangfeng’s soul to learn that the Gao Family had targeted him for his Martial King Pills. He suspected the Wang Family had schemed against him, leaving him displeased with Wang Feiran and his family.

• Gao Yangfeng ordered Gao Yongquan to seize Qin Shaofeng, but Qin Shaofeng sent him crashing into a boulder.
• Gao Yongquan’s elder brother charged Qin Shaofeng and was knocked through several trees.
• Qin Shaofeng vanished from sight and struck down the six remaining Gao Family Martial Kings.
• Qin Shaofeng used divine sense to search Gao Yangfeng’s soul, killing him and learning about the Gao Family’s interest in his Martial King Pills.
• Qin Shaofeng recalled Wang Feiran’s earlier visit and suspected the Wang Family had schemed against him.

Qin Shaofeng concluded that the Wang Family had used the Gao Family to test his strength and set out to confront them. After confirming that Martial King Pills could push a Martial King into the Martial Emperor Realm, Wang Shihao decided to bring Qin Shaofeng back to the Wang Family and secure the pills.

• Qin Shaofeng used Gao Yangfeng's memories to conclude that the Wang Family had arranged for the Gao Family to probe his strength, then set off for the Gao Family.
• Wang Shihao summoned Wang Feiran and Wang Shijie after learning that Gao Yangfeng had advanced to Martial Emperor after taking Martial King Pills.
• Wang Shihao sent Wang Shijie to give Martial King Pills to their tenth-level Martial King Seventh Brother as a test.
• Wang Shijie returned and reported that two pills brought Seventh Brother to the peak of Martial King and a third pill made him advance to Martial Emperor.
• Wang Shihao ordered his men assembled and declared that he would lead them to the Elegant Villa to bring Qin Shaofeng back and obtain the Martial King Pills.

Wang Shihao delayed his plans to capture Qin Shaofeng after learning that Gao Yangfeng and his men had been killed in a strange and unsettling manner. Qin Shaofeng reached the Gao Family and began his revenge by striking down the guards at its gates.

• Wang Feiran persuaded Wang Shihao to wait for Gao Yangfeng’s visit to the Elegant Villa to reveal more about Qin Shaofeng and any forces behind him.
• A Wang Family Martial Emperor found Gao Yangfeng and his men dead, and reported that Gao Yangfeng had died without wounds and with a look of terror.
• Wang Shihao abandoned his plan to attack Qin Shaofeng and waited to see whether he would survive entering the Gao Family alone.
• Qin Shaofeng arrived openly at the Gao Family’s gates after three hours of travel, intending to warn the hidden lineages not to provoke him.
• Qin Shaofeng blasted the four Xiantian Grandmaster guards into a wall and walked through the gates while the Gao Family remained unaware of his arrival.

Qin Shaofeng entered the Gao Family estate and slaughtered the young master and the fighters who confronted him, deliberately drawing out the family’s experts. He killed the Ninth Elder and then the Eighth-Level Martial King Sixth Elder, leaving the Gao Family in shock.

• The Gao Family’s young master mocked Qin Shaofeng and ordered him to roll over, so Qin crushed the young master and his guards with a single press.
• Qin let the Gao Family gather around him, then killed more than thirty disciples with two punches.
• The Ninth Elder attacked Qin, but Qin killed him with one punch.
• The Sixth Elder rushed to avenge his father and struck Qin without effect.
• Qin punched through the Sixth Elder’s chest, killing him.

Qin Shaofeng slaughtered the Gao Family’s elders after their failed operation against him, then faced the former Patriarch as he arrived. The former Patriarch threatened Qin Shaofeng, who dismissed his third-level Martial Emperor cultivation as insignificant.

• The Gao Family’s First Elder recognized Qin Shaofeng and realized the operation against him had failed, while the Twelfth and Thirteenth Elders sent a messenger to summon the former Patriarch.
• Qin Shaofeng killed the First Elder with one punch, then blasted the Twelfth and Thirteenth Elders apart with two more punches.
• Qin Shaofeng sensed a Martial Emperor approaching from the depths of the estate and waited as the former Patriarch arrived.
• The former Patriarch angrily threatened Qin Shaofeng, who mocked him as a mere ant at the third level of the Martial Emperor realm.

Qin Shaofeng killed the Gao Family's former Patriarch after the man tried to claim his spirit-grade cultivation art. The Gao Family disciples launched a desperate attack, and Qin Shaofeng wiped them out with Thunder Devour Flash, leaving the family destroyed.

• The former Patriarch attacked Qin Shaofeng, but Qin Shaofeng easily deflected his blows and left him unimpressed.
• Qin Shaofeng used Thunder Devour Flash, and the former Patriarch recognized it as a spirit-grade cultivation art and demanded that Qin Shaofeng hand it over.
• Qin Shaofeng unleashed seven or eight lightning bolts; five struck the former Patriarch and killed him.
• The Gao Family disciples and higher-ups charged Qin Shaofeng in a desperate attempt to avenge their dead and resist their enemies.
• Qin Shaofeng unleashed countless Thunder Devour Flash bolts and engulfed the Gao Family disciples, destroying the family.

After Qin Shaofeng destroyed the Gao Family, the Wang Family spread news of his strength and the Martial King Pills to test him and attract rivals. Qin Shaofeng returned to the Elegant Villa, where he enjoyed several quiet days while hidden-lineage experts began watching him.

• Wang Shihao abandoned his plan to attack Qin Shaofeng, then secretly spread news that Qin Shaofeng had destroyed the Gao Family and refined the Martial King Pills.
• Hidden lineages investigated the Gao Family’s ruins, identified signs of Qin Shaofeng’s powerful lightning-element spirit-grade cultivation art, and speculated about his origins.
• Wang Shihao withheld the pills’ ability to help ninth- and tenth-level Martial Kings advance to Martial Emperor, hoping to provoke rivals without triggering a wider struggle for the pills.
• Qin Shaofeng returned to the Elegant Villa disappointed that the Gao Family ancestor had not appeared, and suspected the ancestor had died long ago.
• The Elegant Villa faced no attacks for several days, but Andrew reported that Martial Kings and Martial Emperors from hidden lineages were appearing nearby to investigate Qin Shaofeng.

Qin Shaofeng strengthened his subordinates with illusion training and sent pills to help the Evil Blood Daoist recover, while waiting for the Wang Family’s next trade. Wang Shihao delayed the deal after testing the pills and realizing how dramatically they could raise Martial Kings to the Martial Emperor Realm.

• Old Scorpion entered the Martial Emperor Realm, and Qin Shaofeng trained him and other subordinates in illusion formations inside the Nine Spirit Palace.
• The Evil Blood Daoist told Qin Shaofeng he had recovered to the Qi Transformation Realm, so Qin Shaofeng sent Old Scorpion with ten four-star Ninefold Spirit Pills to help him advance.
• Qin Shaofeng waited for Wang Feiran to arrange the Wang Family’s third trade but wondered whether the family had been frightened by his destruction of the Gao Family.
• Wang Shihao delayed the trade because he feared that Qin Shaofeng could use high-grade herbs to make even stronger pills.
• Wang Shihao tested Martial King Pills and found that they could advance high-level Martial Kings to the Martial Emperor Realm, sometimes reaching the second level.
• The Wang Family tested True Martial King Pills and discovered that three could advance a tenth-level Martial King without damaging their potential or vitality.

Qin Shaofeng’s plans to use the Martial King Pills to draw hidden families into supplying spiritual herbs advanced when the Tang Family came to buy pills. He was surprised to find Old Master Tang Lietian accompanied by Tang Ning’er and his powerful son, Tang Yuanjun.

• Wang Shihao regretted sending the Gao Family to test Qin Shaofeng and decided the Wang Family should avoid acting against him while other hidden families watched.
• Qin Shaofeng deliberately prepared to attract hidden families with the Martial King Pills and arranged for his subordinates and the Evil Blood Daoist to gather ordinary medicinal ingredients.
• Old Master Tang Lietian, Tang Ning’er, and Tang Yuanjun visited Qin Shaofeng at the Elegant Villa; Qin Shaofeng recognized Tang Yuanjun as a fifth-level Martial Emperor and Old Master Tang’s son.
• Tang Lietian told Qin Shaofeng he wanted to buy Martial King Pills and produced a large pile of spiritual herbs from his Storage Ring.
• Qin Shaofeng saw that the pile contained at least three thousand high-grade spiritual herbs, many thousands of years old.

Qin Shaofeng learned that the Tang Family urgently needed pills to raise its strength and explained the hidden lifespan cost of ordinary Martial King Pills. He refined far more powerful Ninefold Spirit Pills for them, leaving Old Master Tang with three secret Four-Star pills that could raise someone beyond the Martial Emperor realm.

• Old Master Tang Lietian asked Qin Shaofeng to refine Martial King Pills and True Martial King Pills for the Tang Family without charge, citing Tang Xin'er.
• Qin Shaofeng warned Old Master Tang and Tang Yuanjun that those pills shortened users' lifespans, then revealed their proper name was Ninefold Spirit Pills and described their stronger effects.
• Qin Shaofeng arranged accommodations for the Tang visitors and spent three days refining pills in the Nine Spirit Palace.
• Qin Shaofeng gave the Tang Family one thousand Two-Star Ninefold Spirit Pills, one hundred Three-Star pills, and secretly handed Old Master Tang three Four-Star pills.
• Old Master Tang and Tang Yuanjun left the Elegant Villa delighted, while Old Master Tang realized the Four-Star pills could correspond to the realm above Martial Emperor.

Qin Shaofeng considered how to grow the spiritual herbs he had saved into earth-tier medicine and planned to obtain spirit stones from the Bragg family's underground space. Meanwhile, Tang Ning'er stayed at the Elegant Villa, where her boundless curiosity and refusal to cultivate became a new headache for him.

• Qin Shaofeng planted five hundred high-grade spiritual herbs in the Nine Spirit Palace and explained that they could become earth-tier medicinal herbs if supplied with enough spiritual energy.
• Qin Shaofeng planned to gather spirit jade stone, strengthen his cultivation, and clear the genetically modified organisms from the Bragg family's underground space to obtain its spirit stones.
• Tang Lietian and Tang Yuanjun left, while Tang Ning'er stayed behind and cheerfully called Qin Shaofeng her brother-in-law.
• Qin Shaofeng discovered that Tang Ning'er had become a fifth-realm Xiantian Grandmaster but had no interest in cultivating despite receiving pills and access to the Nine Spirit Palace.
• Tang Ning'er grew bored after one day in the Nine Spirit Palace, and Qin Shaofeng realized that her restless behavior was becoming a major nuisance.

Qin Shaofeng took Tang Ning'er on a tour of coastal cities while learning that Tang Cloud Island was about to seal itself off because of an unknown crisis. Meanwhile, a giant-lizard mutant and Wen Lai’s Esper squad converged underground, setting the stage for a dangerous encounter.

• Tang Ning'er wore down Qin Shaofeng’s training plan, and he spent the next several weeks taking her around coastal cities.
• Tang Xin'er told Qin Shaofeng that Tang Cloud Island had used its stock of spiritual herbs for pills and was preparing to conceal the island and sever outside contact.
• Qin Shaofeng offered help and Ninefold Spirit Pills, but Tang Xin'er refused and asked him to care for Tang Ning'er until the island reopened.
• Qin Shaofeng agreed to look after Tang Ning'er and asked Tang Xin'er to contact him if the Tang Family faced a crisis it could not handle.
• A seventh-rank giant-lizard mutant followed the underground river toward the scent of humans as Viteo’s search squads expanded their hunt for Energy Stones.
• Wen Lai detected more than twenty Energy Stones and called his three squad members over, unaware that the giant lizard was approaching.