Chapter Summaries

After the Ascension Conventions on thirteen islands brought Wang Mu’s cultivation returns to a massive scale, he expanded the project to smaller islands and organized a dedicated team. The system upgraded, and Wang Mu’s Primal Chaos Stance surpassed its limits as his body refinement advanced.

• Li Yuanhua reported that the Ascension Conventions on all thirteen islands had concluded, with over a million people found to have Spiritual Roots, while Wang Mu had reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
• Wang Mu ordered Li Yuanhua to expand the conventions to medium and small islands, recruit personnel openly, and create an Ascension Convention Project Team.
• Wang Mu rewarded Li Yuanhua with Spirit Stones and selected more than a hundred islands for the first phase of expansion.
• The system upgraded and began displaying Wang Mu’s investment returns as data, showing that his elemental control had grown tremendously.
• Wang Mu’s Primal Chaos Stance broke through its limits and became the Primal Chaos Ultimate Intent Art, triggering a powerful body-refinement breakthrough.

Wang Mu transformed the Primal Chaos Stance into a Second-Stage body-tempering art that surpassed the Qiankun Sacred Ground’s supreme technique. Meanwhile, the Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation opened on Feixian Island and revealed its exploitative approach to donations, leaving two young cultivators insulted and driven away.

• Wang Mu tested his newly advanced Primal Chaos Stance and measured its strength at one dragon, or roughly 125,000 jin.
• Wang Mu decided that cultivating body and magical power together could let him overwhelm ordinary Golden Core Stage cultivators.
• Shopkeeper Zhong invited a young pair of Dao Companions into the newly opened Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation and claimed that every coin donated there earned merit.
• The couple offered several dozen Spirit Stones, but Shopkeeper Zhong insulted them, pocketed the money, and refused to put their names on the Merit List.
• Shopkeeper Zhong called in several hostile cultivators, and the young pair left without challenging him.

Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation won wealthy patrons with its lavish Merit List, but its contempt for ordinary Cultivators damaged its reputation while its executives profited through deceptive donations. Wang Mu predicted that the foundation’s lack of trust would catch up with it, then sent everyone to respond to a Sea Demon invasion.

• Ordinary Cultivators complained that Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation mocked small donors and excluded them from its Immeasurable Merit List, while wealthy customers received special treatment.
• Young Master Zhao looked down on the Rogue Cultivators, and wealthy clans competed to donate to Penglai Yunhai, where Young Master Shi rose to the top with more than a million Spirit Stones.
• Gou Ansheng, Su Yujiao, and Tang Qian celebrated the foundation’s profits and discussed hiding how little they actually donated.
• Wang Mu told Nie Tingting that the foundation’s concealment would eventually cause a crisis of trust, and told her to watch rather than respond.
• A messenger reported that Sea Demons had invaded fifteen islands thirty thousand li south, and Wang Mu ordered everyone to depart immediately.

After the Sea Demon invasion devastated the Starry Archipelago, the badly injured Zhou Ping hoped the arriving charity foundations would save him. He saw Langya Foundation volunteers treating survivors promptly with valuable medicine, while the Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation’s workers acted reluctantly; the chapter ended as one of them offered Zhou Ping two foul-smelling black pills.

• The Sea Demon invasion left the Starry Archipelago in ruins, and Nascent Soul Early Stage elder Zhou Ping survived only because of a life-saving talisman.
• Flying Ships from the Langya Charity Foundation and Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation arrived to aid survivors.
• Langya volunteers quickly began treating the wounded, while Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation workers moved slowly and complained about the devastation.
• A Langya volunteer gave a Foundation Establishment Realm Rogue Cultivator a costly Jade Void Pill, raising Zhou Ping’s hopes for his own treatment.
• A Penglai Yunhai disciple examined Zhou Ping and offered him two black pills with a smell of scorched vegetation, making Zhou Ping frown.

Zhou Ping struggled to survive his injuries and bought an overpriced Jade Void Pill from the Penglai Yunhai Charity Foundation, while Zhang Yang ordered his stewards to exploit other badly wounded Cultivators the same way. After recovering, Zhou Ping encountered Ouyang Chu, who credited the foundations with his own swift recovery.

• Zhou Ping rejected the defective free Rejuvenation Pill and agreed to pay ten thousand Spirit Stones for a Jade Void Pill after signing a heart demon contract.
• Zhang Yang praised his young master-in-law’s scheme and instructed the Charity Foundation stewards to charge severely injured Cultivators as much as they could.
• Zhou Ping cursed the foundation’s poor-quality pill while refining it, then recognized Ouyang Chu nearby.
• Ouyang Chu reassured Zhou Ping that their former sect rivalry no longer mattered and revealed that the foundation had helped him recover from his injuries.

Zhou Ping learned that Ouyang Chu had been rescued and treated generously by the Langya Foundation, while the Penglai Yunhai Foundation had cheated Zhou Ping with a poor-quality pill. News of the two foundations’ contrasting relief efforts spread across the Starry Archipelago, leaving Zhang Yang and his allies uneasy.

• Ouyang Chu lent Zhou Ping a high-quality Jade Void Pill and explained that the Langya Foundation had given him pills, treated his injuries, and refused his offered treasure.
• Xiao Rou urged Ouyang Chu to rest and receive a massage, prompting Zhou Ping to realize she belonged to the Langya Foundation.
• Ouyang Chu guessed that Penglai Yunhai had sold Zhou Ping his defective pill for ten thousand Spirit Stones and mocked him for being fleeced.
• Cultivators across the Starry Archipelago compared Langya’s free, considerate aid with Penglai Yunhai’s profiteering and began demanding that Penglai Yunhai leave.
• Zhang Yang and the other Penglai Yunhai Foundation members sensed the backlash and grew uneasy.

Tang Qian’s scheme to profit from disaster relief collapsed when the Langya Foundation gave away high-quality Jade Void Pills for free, forcing the Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation to withdraw. On Jade Balance Island, Meng Qiuyue met young men boasting about their charitable donations, while Shi Yiming challenged Liu Ruo’an’s claims.

• Tang Qian imagined expanding the Penglai Merchant Association’s profits by opening medical halls and keeping patients dependent on treatment.
• A communication talisman informed Tang Qian that Langya Foundation was distributing Jade Void Pills for free and Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation’s relief workers were being beaten and forced to refund their payments.
• Gou Ansheng and a Cloud Palace Merchant Association representative told Tang Qian that Langya’s free, high-quality aid had turned the disaster victims against them.
• Tang Qian ordered the Penglai relief workers to withdraw and decided they would have to consider another solution.
• On Jade Balance Island, Shi Yiming told Meng Qiuyue he had persuaded his family to donate one million Spirit Stones to the Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation.
• Liu Ruo’an claimed he had spent two or three million Spirit Stones on charity, and Shi Yiming accused him of counting money he had spent on himself.

Shi Yiming tried to outshine Liu Ruo'an over their charitable donations, but disaster survivors warmly praised Liu for supporting the Langya Foundation and turned on Shi for backing Penglai Yunhai. The chapter ended with the crowd attacking Shi.

• Shi Yiming mocked Liu Ruo'an for donating only a small share to the Langya Foundation, while Meng Qiuyue praised Shi's generosity.
• Liu Ruo'an regretted spending his money on the Langya Foundation before he could compete with Shi's donation to Penglai Yunhai.
• At a gathering of injured Cultivators, Shi revealed that Liu had donated tens of thousands of Spirit Stones to the Langya Foundation, and the survivors hailed Liu as their benefactor.
• Shi announced that he had donated one million Spirit Stones to Penglai Yunhai, but the elderly Cultivator ordered the crowd to beat him.
• The elderly Cultivator seized Shi by the collar and threw him into the crowd.

Shi Yiming was mistaken for a Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation collaborator and beaten, while Liu Ruo'an praised the Langya Foundation to impress Meng Qiuyue. Shopkeeper Zhong dismissed complaints about his foundation until angry donors arrived at its door demanding answers.

• Enraged cultivators beat Shi Yiming, accusing him of profiting from the Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation’s disaster relief scams.
• Liu Ruo'an explained the Penglai foundation’s corruption and praised the Langya Foundation, earning Meng Qiuyue’s admiration.
• The crowd gave Liu Ruo'an face but kicked Shi Yiming once more before leaving, and Shi Yiming fainted after seeing Meng Qiuyue admire Liu.
• At the Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation, Shopkeeper Zhong dismissed reports of its damaged reputation and said wealthy donors would not confront them.
• The foundation’s donors arrived at the entrance, demanding that Shopkeeper Zhong explain what had happened.

Angry donors confronted the Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation over its disastrous relief efforts, while its leaders struggled to understand why the public favored the Langya Charity Foundation. The chapter ended with Xu Yanshuang questioning whether the money they had earned mattered beside the lives they had saved.

• Donors who had been beaten after revealing their ties to Penglai Yunhai gathered outside its foundation to demand refunds and an explanation.
• Shi Yiming accused Shopkeeper Zhong of making him lose love, and the crowd denounced the foundation's relief work and threatened to smash its shop.
• Shopkeeper Zhong blamed temporary hires and refused to return the donations, but the crowd rejected his explanation and attacked him.
• Tang Qian, Gou Ansheng, and Xu Yanshuang discussed how more than a hundred Penglai foundations had been smashed, with one shop attacked five times in a day.
• Xu Yanshuang wondered why the Langya Charity Foundation was beloved while Penglai Yunhai was hated, asking whether the money earned from relief efforts was really so important.

The leaders of the Three Great Merchant Associations realized Wang Mu had used the Charity Foundation to reclaim the Langya Merchant Association’s market share, though Tang Qian blamed their defeat on underestimating him. Wang Mu continued his seaside stroll with Nie Tingting, who grew more convinced that he was far more capable than he appeared.

• Gou Ansheng told Tang Qian and Liu Yanshuang that Langya’s reputation had surged and more than seventy percent of cultivators chose its services and resources.
• The three leaders recognized that Wang Mu’s Charity Foundation had helped Langya win back markets across the North Sea at the cost of only one percent of its profits.
• Tang Qian argued that they had lost because they had underestimated Wang Mu, then vowed to defeat him in the future.
• Wang Mu sneezed during a seaside walk, and Nie Tingting draped a cloak over his shoulders.
• Wang Mu teased Nie Tingting about bumping into him, and she backed away, embarrassed.
• Nie Tingting reflected on how Wang Mu’s single move had left the rival foundation nearly abandoned and marveled at his hidden ability.

Wang Mu’s disaster-relief investments and rapidly expanding Ascension Convention project pushed his cultivation to Foundation Establishment Peak. He concealed his breakthrough and planned broader investments as the Foundation spread across the North Sea, while a massive vortex appeared days later.

• Wang Mu received cultivation returns from disaster survivors, broke through to Foundation Establishment Peak, and suppressed the signs of his breakthrough with the Suspended Void Restriction pendant.
• Wang Mu reflected that the survivors’ hardship made them more profitable investment targets and resolved to keep his cultivation hidden.
• Li Yuanhua organized the Ascension Convention project, hiring local Cultivators with generous wages and promotion paths as work expanded across more than a hundred islands.
• Wang Mu’s Foundation headquarters was fortified by Luo Xuanshuang, while Li Yuanhua rebuilt the royal city around it to guard the Foundation.
• Wang Mu wrote that the Ascension Convention could cover the North Sea within three months and that investments in Low-Level Cultivators should begin.
• Several days later, a massive vortex appeared somewhere in the North Sea, shaking heaven and earth and seemingly threatening to release another world from beneath the sea.

Wang Mu learned about the Ink-Scaled Dragon Lord’s relic and asked Li Yuanhua about the Secret Realm, while Lin Yan prepared to seek the flood dragon’s essence blood for his cultivation. A black-robed Spirit Transformation expert shattered the relic’s restrictions on the order of Wang Mu’s royal lineage, opening the way for the young cultivators.

• Li Yuanhua told Wang Mu that the Ink-Scaled Dragon Lord had been a Nascent Soul peak-stage flood dragon whose relic had surfaced twice before.
• Wang Mu asked Li Yuanhua about the Secret Realm, then stopped him from clearing it and gave him another task.
• Lin Yan and Dan Xuan decided to search the relic for the flood dragon’s essence blood to help Lin Yan cultivate the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Technique.
• A black-robed expert shattered the relic’s restrictions with a single strike, leaving the gathered cultivators stunned.
• The black-robed expert announced that he had opened the way on the order of the Young Master of his royal lineage and wished the young talents success.

Wang Mu’s Foundation welcomed Cultivators to a Secret Realm by giving them free treasure maps, moving Lin Yan to reconsider Wang Mu’s motives. After Lin Yan entered, Wang Mu learned that a dragon’s corpse had vanished from the Secret Realm and suspected Lin Yan would find it.

• Wang Mu arranged for a Spirit Severing expert to clear the way to the island, where Foundation members gave the arriving Cultivators free treasure maps.
• Lin Yan received a map and, recalling Wang Mu’s warnings about an approaching catastrophe, wondered whether he had been wrong to leave without saying goodbye.
• Dan Xuan told Lin Yan that the map’s missing details likely included the dragon’s corpse, which no previous visitors had found.
• Wang Mu spotted Lin Yan but decided not to try to bring him back under control.
• Li Yuanhua told Wang Mu that a wicked dragon’s corpse had disappeared in the Secret Realm, and Wang Mu believed Lin Yan might obtain it as a Child of Luck.

Wang Mu arranged rewards for Cultivators who escaped the Secret Realm and insisted the Ascension Conventions continue despite the Foundation's shortage of funds. He traveled to the Northern Darkness Sacred Ground's Casting God Island, where the Disciples fled from him in fear.

• Wang Mu told Li Yuanhua to give every survivor of the Secret Realm supplies and to personally deliver a special Storage Bag to a Human Race Cultivator he had identified.
• Wang Mu considered investing in Lin Yan after maxing out Little Nannan's investment progress, hoping to gain more Cultivation Effect rebates.
• Nie Tingting told Wang Mu that the Foundation lacked funds for the Ascension Conventions planned across more than a thousand outer islands.
• Wang Mu refused to slow the Ascension Conventions, declined to transfer more chamber of commerce funds, and promised to find another way to pay for them.
• Wang Mu rode the Golden Lion to Casting God Island, where Sacred Ground Disciples saw him and fled in fear.

Wang Mu visited the Refining Equipment Pavilion to commission Xia Yaoyao to modify Communication Jade Talismans, despite her contempt for the low-grade work. When he mentioned an order for one million units, Xia Yaoyao stopped him.

• Wang Mu went to the Refining Equipment Pavilion and saw Xia Yaoyao forging a weapon.
• Xia Yaoyao recognized Wang Mu, rebuked him for staring, and demanded to know why he had come.
• Wang Mu showed Xia Yaoyao a blueprint and asked her pavilion to modify Communication Jade Talismans.
• Xia Yaoyao refused, calling the work an insult to the Refining Equipment Pavilion.
• Wang Mu said he would give the one-million-unit order to someone else, and Xia Yaoyao called him back.

Wang Mu paid Xia Yaoyao a huge deposit for the Refining Equipment Pavilion to produce Communication Talismans, easing the pavilion’s severe financial strain. Tiangong Elder initially ordered Xia Yaoyao to refuse the work, but froze when he learned the deposit was fifty million Spirit Stones.

• Wang Mu offered the Refining Equipment Pavilion an order for over a million Communication Talismans, and Xia Yaoyao stopped him from leaving so she could accept it.
• Wang Mu gave Xia Yaoyao a Spatial Ring containing a large deposit, and she agreed to have the talismans made in about half a month.
• Xia Yaoyao watched Wang Mu leave and then went to tell her master, Tiangong Elder, about the deal.
• Tiangong Elder condemned Xia Yaoyao for accepting the order and told her to return the money.
• Xia Yaoyao revealed that the deposit was fifty million Spirit Stones, and Tiangong Elder froze mid-sentence.

Xia Yaoyao’s Master accepted Wang Mu’s fifty-million order with renewed enthusiasm, while three cultivators explored the Flood Dragon Lord’s Tomb using a Langya Foundation treasure map. Two died after pursuing mysterious Spiritual Fruit, and the surviving woman escaped badly wounded, where white-clad figures gathered to help her.

• Xia Yaoyao revealed Wang Mu’s fifty-million payment, and the Tiangong Elder stopped being angry and stressed the importance of fulfilling the order.
• Three injured cultivators praised the Langya Foundation’s treasure map for helping them survive the Flood Dragon Lord’s Tomb and find a spiritual herb.
• Two male cultivators flew toward mysterious Spiritual Fruit in the lake despite the map’s warning, and a demonic crocodile swallowed them.
• The demonic crocodile attacked the female cultivator as she fled; it bit off her lower body, but she escaped the Secret Realm with her upper body and one arm remaining.
• White-clad figures found the dying woman and called for healing medicine.

Gu Qiu woke in a Langya Foundation infirmary, where she learned its people treated the wounded without charge. Lin Yan left the Secret Realm with Flood Dragon Essence Blood, then received a mysterious gift and message from Wang Mu’s envoy that made him reconsider pledging allegiance.

• Gu Qiu woke with her injuries greatly improved and learned a Langya Foundation woman had treated her and other Secret Realm survivors without asking for payment.
• Lin Yan emerged from the Secret Realm with Flood Dragon Essence Blood to cultivate the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Technique.
• Li Yuanhua isolated Lin Yan in his Heaven and Earth Domain and delivered Wang Mu’s Storage Bag and the message that their time was running out.
• After Li Yuanhua vanished, Lin Yan opened the Storage Bag, froze, and asked Dan Xuan whether it was too late to pledge allegiance to Wang Mu.

Wang Mu completed his investment in Lin Yan and received returns when Little Nannan broke through to Foundation Establishment. He visited her concealed residence, praised her progress, and took her out for a bath and a meal.

• Wang Mu maxed out his investment progress in Lin Yan and reflected on his approaching Golden Core breakthrough and the importance of forming a powerful Golden Core.
• Little Nannan broke through to Foundation Establishment, and Wang Mu received cultivation returns that strengthened his Enlightenment Immortal Heart and advanced his comprehension of the Heaven-Seizing Creation Technique.
• Wang Mu went to Little Nannan's concealed residence and waited while she stabilized her new realm.
• Little Nannan ran into Wang Mu's arms and proudly told him she had succeeded, while he praised her.
• Wang Mu carried Little Nannan out for a bath and a meal, and she protested when he teased her about smelling bad.