Chapter Summaries

After paying off part of Kun’s enormous tofu-ticket debt, Li Fan learned that his reconstruction of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul had achieved a rare return to life and received the ancient Lou Guan Dao inheritance from Real Person Liang. The chapter ended when Li Fan recognized Qin Baichuan, who had approached him with a strange stone, as Cangsong of Emei.

• Li Fan paid three hundred tofu tickets toward Kun’s debt and discovered that he had little money left, then asked Xu Quan to summon Xu Ziqing with all of Heavenly Clothes’ tickets.
• Li Fan visited Real Person Liang, explained how he had reconstructed his Gui Xu true essence, and heard that he had crossed the threshold to a Gui Xu Primordial Spirit of Return to Life.
• Real Person Liang entrusted Li Fan with the ancient Lou Guan Dao inheritance and its assets, warning him not to pawn Lou Guan Tower to cover Kun’s debts.
• A white-bearded stranger offered Li Fan a tofu ticket in exchange for touching a stone, and Li Fan noticed that his system was offline.
• Li Fan asked the stranger’s name and recognized Qin Baichuan as Cangsong of Emei.

Li Fan touched Cangsong’s Three Lives Stone and learned that he had been an Emei disciple in his previous life, though Cangsong still could not determine whether he was a future Tai Su Dao demonic heir. A second touch showed Li Fan entering the old capital as a conquering ruler, leaving Cangsong demanding to know who he was.

• Li Fan hosted Cangsong, who revealed that Emei planned to ascend and asked Li Fan to touch the Three Lives Stone to identify his past life.
• The stone showed Li Fan taking an exam as a child Emei disciple, and Cangsong realized that Li Fan had been raised in Emei’s South Branch before dying at the Golden Core Stage.
• Cangsong admitted he could not tell whether Li Fan was one of the three future Tai Su Dao founders and gave him the stone to explore further.
• Li Fan touched the stone a second time and saw himself entering Wang Jing as a victorious ruler, while a song foretold that he would bring peace to the realm at thirty-five.
• Cangsong recognized the vision as an imperial mandate and angrily asked Li Fan who he was.

Li Fan rejected the Emperor’s path, and Cangsong warned him that the tofu vouchers had become talismans carrying the power of Li Qingyue’s name. After Cangsong offered ways to handle the vouchers and made peace with Li Fan, a visiting Emei Dao Lord mistook him for Nanxin’s Dao Companion, prompting Cangsong to molt into a giant moth and fly off with Li Fan.

• Li Fan resisted the temptation of imperial authority and refused to follow that path, so Cangsong stopped him from using the Three Lives Stone again.
• Cangsong gave Li Fan his talismanic insights and explained that the tofu vouchers had become talismans able to invoke Li Qingyue’s power.
• Cangsong proposed settling the voucher debts with material goods, accepting the holders as disciples, or killing them, and Li Fan rejected the violent option.
• Cangsong agreed to spare Li Fan and asked him to spare an Emei disciple in return, then departed after meeting Feng Qingniu and another Emei Dao Lord.
• The ponytailed Dao Lord asked whether Li Fan was Nanxin’s Dao Companion, and Cangsong burst out of his shell as a giant moth and carried Li Fan into the sky.

Li Fan received Cangsong’s remains and learned that the temple master’s care for him came from Ink Bamboo Mountain’s belief that disciples should choose their own paths, regardless of past lives. The temple master entrusted Li Fan with new duties and revealed Lou Guan Dao’s ancestral ground and Supreme Righteous Zhenyang Technique, declaring that the age of their Way had begun.

• The temple master gave Li Fan Cangsong’s remains and explained the power of the Heavenly Silkworm Skill, which Cangsong had mastered to its ninth turn.
• The temple master told Li Fan that Ink Bamboo Mountain did not judge disciples by their past lives, and Li Fan vowed to follow his chosen path as Li Qingyue.
• The temple master used the flowerpot of Ink Mountain’s severed heads to assess the disciples’ recovery, and Li Fan destroyed Yue Lanzi’s rampaging Non-Thing body with his Crimson Eyes.
• The temple master gave Li Fan the Ink Mountain Fetal Nurturing Skill and assigned him responsibilities concerning the sect’s recovery and its forbidden realm, Beyond Heavens.
• The temple master led Li Fan to the Thousand-Faced Immortal’s shrine, warned him about intruders and spies, and then took him underground to Zhenyang Temple, the ancestral ground of Lou Guan Dao.
• The temple master began teaching Li Fan the Supreme Righteous Zhenyang Technique and proclaimed that the age of their Way had begun.

Li Fan awakened the True Yang Dao Fire by cultivating the Supreme Righteous Zhenyang Technique, transforming his Dao Body and gaining immense power. He tested the new energy on Thunder Monkeys and discovered its strength and limitations as Louguan Dao gained a viable path to revival.

• Li Fan dreamed of a Louguan Daoist who questioned what stars were, then awoke from a dream within a dream to find dawn approaching.
• Li Fan followed Guanzhu Feng’s instructions, absorbed the first sunlight, and successfully kindled True Yang Dao Fire within his Gui Xu Dao Body.
• Li Fan regained control after the fire’s power nearly overwhelmed him and realized that his cultivation had begun an irreversible transformation toward the True Yang Nascent Soul.
• Li Fan considered how his ancient cultivation method differed from Guanzhu Feng and Yao Xuanzhou’s newer paths, which together offered Louguan Dao a way forward.
• Li Fan tested his True Yang Dao qi on Thunder Monkeys, finding that it burned bodies, baleful qi, and souls, and could power spells and formations but could also damage weaker equipment.

Li Fan organized his cultivation plans and returned to Li Family Village, where he turned its epiphyllum infestation into a demon-blocking barrier and began transforming the settlement into a cultivation stronghold. He discovered that two giant fish had become baleful fish demons and prepared them for a possible transformation that night.

• Li Fan decided to focus on Ink Bamboo Mountain’s four complementary cultivation methods, keep cultivating the Tai Sha Sword Embryo when circumstances allowed, and study the technological and auxiliary knowledge he needed.
• Li Fan flew to Ink Mountain and found that epiphyllum had covered Li Family Village, where Ink Bamboo Mountain had left the flowers as a barrier against demons from the Ten-thousand-mountains.
• Li Fan cleared and marked out the village stronghold, arranged Celestial Devil Statues and formations, and began converting the area into a cultivation haven.
• Li Fan discovered that the two fish in the village pond had grown into enormous baleful fish demons after eating epiphyllum, and he fed them his system-raised fish and prepared yin-yang Dan Pools to help them mutate.
• Li Fan brought Kun, Leopard, Tangyuan, and Lin Xiang to the village and served them epiphyllum petals, which only Lin Xiang ate eagerly.

Li Fan learned how Lin Xiang and Lin Chen had reached Ink Bamboo Mountain, then began teaching Lin Xiang to control her fiend-corpse body. Her training awakened a heartbeat and let her briefly transform into a powerful, adult-sized fighter, while Li Fan realized he might be able to use her condition to help ordinary people survive the fiendish environment.

• Li Fan viewed Lin Xiang's memories and learned that Kun had brought the siblings to Real Person Liang, where Lin Xiang received care and Lin Chen recovered before leaving to seek cultivation.
• Li Fan promised to teach Lin Xiang to control her body's changes so she and Lin Chen could become disciples of Ink Bamboo Mountain, then demonstrated Ghost Hand for her.
• Lin Xiang quickly learned Ghost Hand, synchronized her breathing with her movements, and began making her heart beat as she circulated fiend-tainted blood.
• Lin Xiang unleashed a powerful claw strike that tore through the flower field, and Li Fan taught her an Immortal Palace body-tempering technique to distribute her strength.
• Lin Xiang grew into a powerful, adult-sized form for a few seconds before exhausting her fiendish energy and falling asleep; Li Fan considered using the fiend corpse pill formula to help ordinary people survive.
• Li Fan returned to Li Family Village, cooked for Kun and the others, and realized he had met someone at Ink Bamboo Mountain who could help with the cooking and childcare.

Li Fan found Yan Liuyun’s hidden family and learned that the North Star Guard was coming to Ink Bamboo Mountain amid a gathering of powerful factions. After warning Lou Guan Dao, he was surprised to learn that Manager Xu had distributed his tickets as blessings and brought him clothes made by someone he had once helped.

• Li Fan used divination to locate Madam Yan’s hidden home, where her two fox sons attended school disguised as human boys and her half-demon daughter watched other children play.
• Jiyue visited Madam Yan, used a pill to disguise Xiao Ling, and warned that the North Star Guard and other factions were gathering on Ink Bamboo Mountain and might soon fight there.
• Madam Yan worried about Jiyue, while Jiyue dismissed her warning about their mother and urged her sister to protect the three kits.
• Li Fan left the foxes’ home, then informed the deans at Lou Guan Tower about the North Star Guard and asked nearby disciples to prepare to call for help.
• Manager Xu told Li Fan he had distributed the tickets to friends and brought him handmade clothes from A Guang, whose family believed Li Fan’s blessing would protect them.

Li Fan planned to use tofu tickets to protect Luo Sect followers, then tested a method of giving carp spirits humanlike Dao Bodies. The Yin Fish and Yang Fish revealed they could use the fish bodies to smuggle clients through the Gate, leaving Li Fan to consider the risks and value of earning legitimate transaction records.

• Li Fan studied talisman arts and devised a plan to send his True Yang Dao Qi through tofu tickets to protect believers from monsters and demons.
• Li Tangyuan and Kun told Li Fan that two fish had stolen their food, and Li Fan found two carp spirits gorging themselves in the kitchen.
• Li Fan fed the carp spirits until they could speak and transform into humanlike Dao Bodies, then returned them to the Dry-Celestial Dan Pool.
• The Yin Fish and Yang Fish told Li Fan they could clone fish bodies and smuggle clients through the Gate by reincarnating them as fish before they transformed into humans.
• The Yin Fish and Yang Fish explained that Gate-side money could buy immense resources but warned Li Fan to keep legitimate transaction records to avoid surveillance and losing his system access.

Li Fan added fish farming to his partnership with the Mood System while planning to smuggle people through the Gate, but a raid on Ink Bamboo Mountain drew him into a wider crisis. After learning that attackers had abducted new disciples from all nine peaks, he searched for clues and concluded the kidnappings might be a diversion for another target.

• Li Fan and the Mood System planned to establish a fishery that could support smuggled arrivals and generate income, though the child attendants still needed time to adapt before construction began.
• Li Fan received Qingting Sou’s distress signal, flew to Qingting Peak, and helped defend a village from demons before finding the badly injured elder.
• Qingting Sou told Li Fan that four Nascent Soul experts had attacked him and abducted the six new disciples at Qingting Peak, apparently using techniques resembling those of the Black Lotus Sect.
• Li Fan searched Ink Bamboo Mountain and discovered that new disciples had gone missing from the other peaks as well, while the sect’s main forces were occupied elsewhere.
• Li Fan suspected the abductions were meant to distract Ink Bamboo Mountain from a separate operation, so he concealed himself and watched for the attackers to reveal their true target.

Lin Chen escaped a monster’s cave after freeing himself from a shackle and ran through the forest seeking help for his kidnapped fellow disciples. He stumbled into the Divine Sect’s formation, where Saintess Ban Yu threatened him and Qin Nanxin of Emei arrived to confront her.

• Lin Chen discovered that monsters had kidnapped the Ink Bamboo Mountain disciples and left them unconscious in a cave.
• Lin Chen broke his own right wrist to escape his shackle, then followed the glowing tofu IOU out of the cave and ran for help.
• Lin Chen found a red lamp and screen formation, where Duan Protector departed to fight nearby enemies and Ban Yu invited him inside.
• Ban Yu showed Lin Chen human skins caught in the screens and told him she sought a female disciple to awaken the Saintess’s Heavenly Soul.
• Ban Yu’s spell was interrupted by Qin Nanxin, who arrived with Dao Breath and carried two unconscious disciples to Lin Chen.
• Ban Yu recognized Qin Nanxin and called for Duan Ye to save her.

Duan Ye fought four Black Lotus Sect Devil Embryos while Qin Nanxin protected the rescued Ink Bamboo Mountain disciples and Lin Chen guarded them. When the Eyeless Man broke through Qin Nanxin’s barrier, she suddenly reached the Nascent Soul Realm and tore him apart with her pure Qi.

• Duan Ye fought Tian Silang and the other Black Lotus Sect demons, unleashing bloodflames that destroyed the formation and exposed her opponents.
• Duan Ye’s outburst revealed Qin Nanxin shielding the rescued disciples, Lin Chen tending to them, and Ban Yu bound under a talisman.
• Ban Yu taunted Lin Chen and urged him to attack the exhausted Qin Nanxin, but Lin Chen silenced her and refused to betray Ink Bamboo Mountain.
• The Eyeless Man tore through Qin Nanxin’s barrier and confronted Lin Chen, then retreated after Qin Nanxin emerged with a newly awakened Nascent Soul.
• Qin Nanxin transformed her pure Qi into a heavenly dragon and tore apart the Eyeless Man, who had become a heavenly demon.

Qin Nanxin used the Dry Heavenly Dragon to destroy the Man Without Eyes, then fought Zhou Xiong while Duan Ye battled Tian Silang. As the Black Lotus Sect fighters revealed their strength and Qin Nanxin retreated to the Qiankun, three purple-robed sword cultivators appeared and ordered everyone killed.

• Qin Nanxin unleashed the Hundred Fierce Dragon Tooth Fist and blasted the Man Without Eyes's demonic body into dust.
• Duan Ye abandoned the Bloodflame Blade Formation and focused on one demonic fetus while Zhou Xiong challenged Qin Nanxin to fight.
• Qin Nanxin used Mount Emei techniques against Zhou Xiong, pierced his eye, and blasted away the top of his head, but he began regenerating.
• Tian Silang broke through Duan Ye's bloodflame and protective robes, punched her into the woods, and left her fate unknown.
• Qin Nanxin retreated to the Qiankun and asked who the newcomers were when three purple-robed figures appeared in the sky.
• The central purple-robed figure ordered the others killed.

Li Fan was ambushed by Divine Transformation assassins while a supposed North Star Guard protection detail fractured into infighting, and he fought off the attackers with his sword techniques. After killing three enemies and surviving with severe injuries, he headed toward the battle at Bamboo Mountain, intending to go south first and north afterward.

• Li Fan identified Yan Benjing, Cai Zhun, Pei Shiqing, Jiyue, and a Shenxiao Sect cultivator as the group that had gathered around him, and Pei Shiqing and Jiyue warned him that the North Star Guard had come to assassinate him.
• Jiyue and Pei Shiqing revealed that the Beichen Sword Sect descended from the North Star Guard, while two masked Divine Lords arrived and attacked Li Fan with their swords.
• Li Fan fought the two Divine Lords, evaded ambushes from hidden attackers, and killed the Shenxiao Sect cultivator with the Crimson Vein Child Sword.
• A flaming hand killed the Divine Lord in green, and Li Fan pursued the fleeing Divine Lord in purple to the Li River and cut her in two.
• Four True Lords of Mount Heng blocked Li Fan and protected the Divine Lord in purple's remains, while Li Fan recognized that the temple master had saved him from the green Divine Lord.
• Li Fan destroyed the Divine Lord in purple's remaining body, then flew toward the flames of war at Bamboo Mountain.

Li Fan found that assassins had slaughtered young Ink Bamboo Mountain disciples across several peaks while he searched for survivors. Lin Chen and Ban Yu escaped a rampaging demon god with help from a country girl and Dang Kang, then Lin Chen saw a golden star destroy the monster before he lost consciousness.

• Li Fan returned to Ink Bamboo Mountain's battlefield, found the attackers gone, and discovered that young disciples had been massacred at the Seven Stars, Crane's Head, and Yangshuo peaks.
• Lin Chen woke among the dead with a severed wrist and leg, confronted the surviving Ban Yu, and learned that three purple-robed sword immortals had killed his fellow disciples.
• A four-headed demon god formed from Black Lotus Sect members pursued Lin Chen and Ban Yu as they tried to escape, while two sword fighters fled and a wounded white moth-like figure fell into a ravine.
• A country girl rescued Lin Chen and Ban Yu with help from Dang Kang as the demon god approached them.
• A golden star pierced the demon god's black lotus and destroyed its body, then flew toward the ravine where the white figure had fallen.
• Lin Chen passed out after watching the golden star depart, hoping the other survivors were still alive.

Li Fan rescued Qin Nanxin from mortal wounds and sought Immortal Spirit Jade Marrow, risking his life to harvest it from the bones of an otherworldly immortal guarded by the mountain master's Taotie form. Qin Nanxin could survive and might rebuild her cultivation through the Heavenly Silkworm Skill, but Li Fan learned that Emei had also been attacked and its Golden Summit reached.

• Li Fan abandoned his pursuit of the fleeing North Star Guard assassins and carried the dying Qin Nanxin to Ink Bamboo Mountain Grotto-Heaven, where Yao Xuanzhou and Xuantian began treating her.
• Xuantian agreed to save Qin Nanxin after Li Fan invoked Qin Baichuan's favor, and Li Fan followed Flower Slave through a fissure to gather Immortal Spirit Jade Marrow.
• Li Fan and Flower Slave approached the Taotie in the secret realm and harvested bones from the giant skeleton, but the awakened beast bit off several of Li Fan's Guiche heads before he escaped.
• Li Fan split the otherworldly immortal's bones and made Immortal Spirit Jade Marrow, which helped Qin Nanxin condense her Qianyuan Divine Nascent Soul again.
• Xuantian said Qin Nanxin could live and might use the Cicada-Shedding Immortal Robe to overcome the Qin Family of Emei's Heavenly Silkworm Skill flaw, but neither he nor Li Fan knew the technique.
• Li Fan learned that Emei had been attacked during the night and that the attackers had reached the Golden Summit.

After Ink Bamboo Mountain’s new generation was nearly wiped out, Li Fan and the sect’s leaders identified the North Star Guard assassins, Black Lotus Sect Devil Embryos, and a possible Divine Sect protector as threats. Yao Xuanzhou organized a limited pursuit of the assassins and left Li Fan to guard Ink Bamboo Mountain Grotto-Heaven.

• Li Fan joined the search and found that only four people claiming ties to Ink Bamboo Mountain had survived, including the injured Lin Chen, the resurrected Xiang Kong, Song Xiaoliu, and Ban Yu, an impostor carrying God Lord Jade.
• Ban Yu claimed she had rescued disciples from Black Lotus Sect pursuers and sought the missing reserve Saintess Huo Hongmian; Yao Xuanzhou ordered her held under guard while Lin Chen and Xiang Kong were accepted as Inner Sect disciples.
• Real Person Qingyue and Li Fan explained how three North Star Guard assassins had used sword formations to ambush and kill the disciples, while four Black Lotus Sect Devil Embryos had abducted others.
• Ink Bamboo Mountain’s leaders agreed to pursue the North Star Guard assassins for seven days and investigate the Black Lotus Sect remnants and the Divine Sect protector.
• Yao Xuanzhou sent Yuhengzi, Shang Jiannan, and Qiao Zhian after the assassin fleeing south, chose to pursue the other himself, and assigned Li Fan to guard Ink Bamboo Mountain Grotto-Heaven.

Li Fan realized the attack on Ink Bamboo Mountain was a diversion while Heng Mountain, the Divine Sect, and their allies seized an opportunity to strike Emei during its weakest moment. Xuantian doubted outsiders could destroy Emei outright, but agreed that internal divisions might leave the Golden Summit in danger.

• Yao Xuanzhou and three Bamboo Mountain experts pursued the North Star Guard's enemies while Li Fan observed Heng Mountain's prolonged chess game at Lou Guan Tower.
• Reports revealed that Emei's Golden Summit had been sealed off amid a fierce battle, while many of its allies had left to seek Heavenly Treasures or fight elsewhere.
• Li Fan connected Heng Mountain's movements, the Divine Sect's actions, and other clues, concluding that they were likely preparing to attack Emei while its strongest experts were absent.
• Li Fan consulted Xuantian, who argued that Emei could withstand an external siege as long as its Inner Sect remained united.
• Li Fan pointed out that Emei's old cultivation methods might fail in the changing era, and Xuantian revealed that Emei had adapted its methods and might have factions with conflicting aims.
• Xuantian concluded that internal divisions could be unfolding at the Golden Summit, where a storm of blood might be sweeping across Emei.

Li Fan searched for the Divine Sect guardian hiding beneath Ink Bamboo Mountain and unexpectedly uncovered four wounded cultivators who ambushed him. After Li Fan killed them, the guardian emerged and mistook his True Yang-enhanced Blood Talisman Sword for the Saint Flame, bowing to him as the Wisdom Dharma King.

• Li Fan patrolled Ink Bamboo Mountain day and night, then stopped sweeping the area with his Divine Sense after Qiao Chunhua complained that it frightened her Dang Kang.
• Li Fan investigated the battlefield where Qin Nanxin and the North Star Guard had fought the Black Lotus Sect, used the God Lord Jade to locate someone underground, and sealed the earth with talismans.
• Li Fan disguised himself as a Divine Sect cultivator and called for the hidden guardian, but Pei Shiqing, Yan Benjing, Cai Zhun, and the North Star Guard swordsman emerged and attacked him together.
• Li Fan's red robe and Blood Talisman Sword killed all four attackers in a single exchange, and he discovered that True Yang Dao Qi strengthened the sword with bloodfire.
• The naked Divine Sect guardian Duan Ye emerged from underground, hailed Li Fan's sword as the true Saint Flame, and prostrated herself before him as the Wisdom Dharma King.

Li Fan questioned Duan Ye after she mistook his True Yang Dao Fire for the Divine Cult’s Holy Flame and addressed him as the Wisdom Dharma King. He hid her in a cave on Qingting Peak and tried to learn why she thought he was in Ink Bamboo Mountain, but her guesses left him silent as he walked away.

• Duan Ye praised Li Fan as the Wisdom Dharma King, and he examined her blood to learn that she was the Light Dharma King’s daughter and a protector assigned to a candidate Saintess.
• Li Fan disguised his ignorance of the Holy Flame and threatened Duan Ye, who explained that a blood curse would destroy her if Ink Bamboo Mountain captured her.
• Li Fan took Duan Ye to a cave on Qingting Peak, gave her a Changchun Pill, and asked whether she would work for him.
• Duan Ye guessed that Li Fan was hiding to recover the Divine Cult’s lost art, compete for leadership, and possibly possess Li Qingyue, leaving Li Fan to walk out without replying.