Chapter Summaries

Cheng Buzheng reconsidered Jiang Fugui’s invitation to Sea Suppressing City and agreed to accompany him after learning that Jiang Fugui had a map to an ancient Golden Core cultivator’s abandoned mansion. While preparing in Immortal Alliance City, Cheng Buzheng bought rare materials and medicines for his upcoming duties, then headed to the Teleportation Hall to meet Jiang Fugui.

• Jiang Fugui uncovered a piece of low-grade Spirit Gathering Jade from his third Spirit Jade God-Restricting Stone, then invited Cheng Buzheng to Sea Suppressing City for a reason he would explain later.
• Jiang Fugui revealed that he had destroyed the map to an ancient cultivator’s abandoned mansion, likely once owned by a Golden Core cultivator, and asked Cheng Buzheng to explore it with him and his younger sister.
• Cheng Buzheng agreed to go after insisting Jiang Fugui tell him the whole story, and they arranged to meet at the Teleportation Hall the next day.
• Cheng Buzheng spent the day visiting major shops in Immortal Alliance City, learning about prices and the vast distances across the Endless Sea.
• Cheng Buzheng bought three pieces of Spirit Heart Ore and three Purple Flow Flowers, spending over half his fortune to prepare for his upcoming garrison duty.

Cheng Buzheng arrived in Sea Suppressing City with Jiang Fugui, then chose to explore the city on his own before their planned reunion. He hired a young broker to help him find a shop associated with the Bipolar Pill and began learning about the city's shops and cultivators.

• Cheng Buzheng toured Immortal Alliance Island's Teleportation Hall and waited for Jiang Fugui to arrive.
• Jiang Fugui paid for their trip to Sea Suppressing City, and the two agreed to meet again in ten days after Jiang went to see his younger sister.
• Cheng Buzheng left Jiang Fugui and hired a young broker after asking about the Bipolar Pill's Alchemical Formula.
• The broker explained that the Bipolar Pill had only one percent of the efficacy of similar pills and led Cheng Buzheng toward the shop that sold it.
• The broker showed Cheng Buzheng around Sea Suppressing City and introduced him to its shops and varied cultivators.

Cheng Buzheng visited Qiaodan Pavilion to obtain the Bipolar Pill formula and discovered that the old woman's Golden Light Civet housed her grandson's soul. After he deduced that she was Master Ming, the formula's alchemist, she asked what he intended to do with his discovery.

• Cheng Buzheng entered Qiaodan Pavilion, where the old woman mistook him for a customer seeking a refund for Bipolar Pills.
• Cheng Buzheng asked the old woman for the Bipolar Pill formula, and she said she would trade it only for a Third-order Spirit Pill that nurtured the soul.
• Cheng Buzheng revealed that he knew the Golden Light Civet held the old woman's grandson's soul, then offered her a Second-order Soul-Nurturing Pill.
• Cheng Buzheng suggested that the old woman was Master Ming, and she denied being the alchemist who had refined the Bipolar Pills.
• Cheng Buzheng explained that the old woman's grandson had taken soul-nourishing pills for years and that her alchemical skills and the pill fragrance on her revealed her identity.
• The old woman accepted that Cheng Buzheng had uncovered her secret and asked whether he planned to make it public.

Cheng Buzheng traded a Soul-Nurturing Pill and an oath for the old woman's incomplete Bipolar Pill Formula, then used his Small Plate to perfect the formula and advance the Heart Spirit Treasure Eye. He began carving and imprinting a Phoenix Eye with Divine Sense, leaving the delicate cultivation process underway.

• Cheng Buzheng agreed to keep the Bipolar Pill Formula secret and traded a Soul-Nurturing Pill for the old woman's incomplete formula.
• Cheng Buzheng learned that the old woman had schemed to obtain a high-grade soul-nourishing pill for her Golden Light Civet grandson, whose mind she hoped would awaken before her death.
• Cheng Buzheng left the Qiaodan Pavilion, rented an inn room, and spent Spirit Stones to perfect the Bipolar Pill Formula and advance the Heart Spirit Treasure Eye.
• Cheng Buzheng spent more Spirit Stones deriving the Heart Spirit Treasure Eye further, leaving only a little over 1,000 Spirit Stones in his storage bag.
• Cheng Buzheng carved a Phoenix Eye from Spirit Heart Ore and began carefully imprinting it with strands of Divine Sense.

Cheng Buzheng completed the Heart Spirit Treasure Eye and tested how far it could maintain a connection to his puppet before visiting the Treasure Pagoda in Sea Suppressing City. He traded for pill ingredients, accepted honorary alchemist status, and left prepared for several years of cultivation.

• Cheng Buzheng used Spirit Heart Ore to complete a mid-grade Heart Spirit Treasure Eye and installed a Heart-Mind Dharma Eye in his Treasure-Class No. 1 Puppet.
• Cheng Buzheng tested the puppet's range and found he could maintain contact across more than three million miles.
• Cheng Buzheng entered the Treasure Pagoda under the alias Jiang Liu and negotiated with its third-floor manager, Qu He.
• Cheng Buzheng declined to become a resident alchemist but agreed to serve as an honorary alchemist in exchange for discounts and priority access to supplies.
• Cheng Buzheng traded his Spirit Medicines for ingredients for seven batches each of Bipolar Pills and Spirit-Increasing Pills, leaving him with more than four thousand Spirit Stones.

Cheng Buzheng examined his new Honorary Alchemist token and returned to Sea Suppressing City without taking on any tasks. In Liuming City, Jiang Fugui persuaded Jiang Siling to help him, and the siblings set out to meet Cheng Buzheng about an abandoned Cave Mansion.

• Cheng Buzheng checked the Honorary Alchemist token's task list and learned that Honor Points could be used for discounted purchases at Treasure Pagoda branches.
• Cheng Buzheng sealed the token in a jade box and flew back toward Sea Suppressing City.
• Jiang Fugui told Jiang Siling about finding Azure Sea Spirit Jade and explained why he needed her help with an abandoned Cave Mansion.
• Jiang Siling made Jiang Fugui promise to visit regularly and bring thoughtful gifts before agreeing to help him.
• Jiang Fugui and Jiang Siling discussed their grandfather's final message, exchanged gifts, and headed for the Teleportation Hall after Jiang Siling said she would inform her master.

Cheng Buzheng joined Jiang Fugui and Jiang Siling to search for a hidden Cave Mansion on a remote island. They found a God-Restricting Stone slab beneath the seabed, which concealed the entrance from Divine Sense.

• Cheng Buzheng met Jiang Fugui and Jiang Siling at Yaoguang City, and the three left together on Jiang Siling’s flying Treasure Tool.
• After searching the sea for several days, Jiang Fugui identified a turtle-shaped island as their destination from the map.
• Jiang Fugui led the group underwater to the island’s seabed, where he cleared away mud and sand to reveal a dark stone slab.
• Cheng Buzheng recognized the slab as God-Restricting Stone, which explained why their Divine Sense had not detected it.

Cheng Buzheng, Jiang Fugui, and Jiang Siling reached a powerful compound array blocking their path and found that ordinary attacks only strengthened its counterattack. Cheng Buzheng offered to use his Array Breaking Talisman, leaving the group ready to test whether it could breach the array.

• Jiang Fugui led Cheng Buzheng and Jiang Siling onto a hidden God-Restricting Stone slab, which flipped and brought them to a passage ending at a white Light Screen.
• Jiang Fugui tested the Light Screen and discovered it reflected attacks with roughly ten times their force, identifying it as at least a Second-order High-grade compound Great Array.
• Jiang Fugui explained that exhausting the array's stored Spirit Power was the conventional way to break it, but the process could be dangerous and prolonged.
• Cheng Buzheng admitted he could not analyze the array, then said he might have a way to break it.
• Cheng Buzheng produced a Second-order High-grade Array Breaking Talisman, and Jiang Fugui welcomed the chance to use it.

Cheng Buzheng, Jiang Fugui, and Jiang Siling broke through the Cave Mansion’s formation and explored its empty main hall, where carvings showed a cultivator’s life and failed breakthrough. They followed a passage to a cavern and discovered a legendary Reincarnation Tree.

• Cheng Buzheng used an Array Breaking Talisman to dissolve the Light Screen, and the three cultivators rushed into the Cave Mansion before the formation recovered.
• The three inspected the main hall’s nine carvings, which depicted a cultivator’s life from entering cultivation to dying after a failed Nascent Soul breakthrough.
• Jiang Siling lamented the cultivator’s fate, while Jiang Fugui urged them onward and set off through the passageway.
• After walking for a quarter of an hour, the three reached a cavern containing a giant tree that Cheng Buzheng recognized as the legendary Reincarnation Tree.

Cheng Buzheng discovered that the first coffin held only ruined spiritual items and used clues in the cave’s feng shui and array patterns to reveal a hidden jade coffin. He explained that a later cultivator had concealed his remains beneath the Reincarnation Tree, leaving the group to face the newly uncovered coffin.

• Jiang Fugui opened the black coffin and found the old cultivator’s body and a storage pouch filled with spiritual items that had decayed over time.
• Cheng Buzheng found that one object had become dust, while Jiang Siling teased him for receiving nothing and wasting an Array Breaking Talisman.
• Cheng Buzheng activated a pattern on the stone platform, causing a jade coffin to rise from beneath the Reincarnation Tree.
• Cheng Buzheng explained that the cave’s Land of Rebirth formation and irregular Array Patterns revealed that a later cultivator had replaced the original burial and hidden his own remains.
• Jiang Siling pressed Cheng Buzheng about how he had noticed the clues, then called out his skill at keeping his discovery to himself.

Cheng Buzheng, Jiang Fugui, and Jiang Siling opened the Jade Coffin beneath the Reincarnation Tree and found a former Foundation Establishment cultivator’s belongings. After dividing the treasures and respectfully reburying the displaced body, they left the Cave Mansion, and Cheng Buzheng flew off alone to pursue other matters.

• Jiang Fugui opened the Jade Coffin, releasing Bone-Corroding Soul-Melting Smoke, which he collected in his Orange Big-Bellied Bottle.
• Jiang Fugui searched the dead cultivator’s golden storage bag and found Spirit Stones, Treasure Tools, pills, and Jade Slips containing a cultivation technique and Magic Treasure plans.
• Cheng Buzheng received Willow Leaf Blades, a Jade Sword, and Spirit Stones, while the three each copied the Jade Slips and shared the other spoils.
• Jiang Fugui burned the old man’s body, buried him beneath the Reincarnation Tree, and replaced the coffin lid.
• Cheng Buzheng warned Jiang Fugui not to force open the God-Restricting Stone door because it was linked to the Cave Mansion’s Great Array.
• Cheng Buzheng declined Jiang Fugui’s invitation to Liuming City and flew away alone after Jiang Fugui and Jiang Siling departed.

Cheng Buzheng refined Treasure Tools in a seabed chamber, then examined a mysterious Jade Sword and three blueprints for constructing Magic Treasures. He learned the sword was likely a key beyond his ability to refine, while the blueprints revealed potential treasures he could pursue later.

• Cheng Buzheng carved a Secret Chamber into a seabed mound and spent three days refining a set of high-grade Treasure Tools.
• Cheng Buzheng examined the small white Jade Sword and found incomplete Spirit Restrictions that suggested it had been crafted by a fourth-tier or higher Artifact Refiner.
• Cheng Buzheng put away the Jade Sword because he could neither refine it nor determine what mechanism or formation it might unlock.
• Cheng Buzheng studied blueprints for the Zhenxuan Lotus Platform, the Flowing Cloud Book, and a set of Flying Swords, noting their distinct defensive, support, and combat uses.
• Cheng Buzheng learned that Magic Treasures required numerous Spirit Restrictions and rare materials, and that compatible newly made treasures could become powerful Life-Bound Magic Treasures.

Cheng Buzheng set aside plans to refine a Life-Bound Magic Treasure and traveled to his assigned island to begin a guarding mission. There, he witnessed a puppet kill a First-order High-grade Desolate Beast, confirming the creatures’ formidable physiques and instinct for slaughter.

• Cheng Buzheng decided to save his Spirit Stones for cultivation rather than pursue a Life-Bound Magic Treasure blueprint and rare materials.
• Cheng Buzheng returned to Immortal Alliance City, used his mission token ring to teleport to Xuanfeng City and Huanqiu City, then flew the remaining distance to his assigned island.
• Cheng Buzheng reached the uninhabited island and recovered his magic power underground while a stern-faced cultivator stood guard above.
• A First-order High-grade Desolate Beast charged the guard, and the stern-faced young man struck it with a punch that sent it flying and killed it.
• Cheng Buzheng observed that the Desolate Beast’s body remained largely intact and recognized its exceptional physical strength.

Cheng Buzheng reached Xuanli Island and met City Lord Kong and Guardian Si at Xuanli City. After exchanging the garrison post and receiving a Sound Transmission Talisman for emergencies, he was left to take up his new duties.

• Cheng Buzheng arrived at Xuanli Island and flew to Xuanli City.
• Cheng Buzheng showed his ring at the City Lord Mansion, and City Lord Kong welcomed him as the new Garrison Commander.
• City Lord Kong summoned Guardian Si and the city's department heads, and Guardian Si arrived to meet Cheng Buzheng.
• Guardian Si explained the dangers of the post, including occasional packs of Demonic Beasts and Desolate Beasts.
• Cheng Buzheng and Guardian Si exchanged rings and updated the mission records, and Guardian Si gave Cheng Buzheng a Jade Talisman to request aid from Huanqiu City.
• Guardian Si departed, leaving Cheng Buzheng in charge of the garrison.

Cheng Buzheng received Xuanli City's academy leaders as its new Garrison Commander, while City Lord Kong warned them to show respect. The chapter introduced the Immortal Alliance Academy's history and system for educating cultivators, leaving Cheng Buzheng acquainted with the academy's head and its role in the alliance.

• Hu Niu worried that the new Garrison Commander might trouble him, and the academy leaders teased him about overseeing Xuanli City's finances.
• City Lord Kong warned Elder Cai not to speak carelessly about Cheng Buzheng and reminded the group that the Garrison Commander protected the city.
• City Lord Kong led Hu Niu, Elder Cai, Elder Li, and Elder Tong to meet Cheng Buzheng, who welcomed them and learned that Elder Cai headed the Immortal Alliance Academy.
• City Lord Kong praised Elder Cai for mentoring an artifact-refining prodigy who had joined the Divine Craftsman Sect, and Cheng Buzheng asked about the sect.
• Cheng Buzheng recalled the Immortal Alliance Academy's history and learned how its students advanced through schools, joined sects, became instructors, or entered the Rogue Cultivator ranks.

Cheng Buzheng met the officials serving Xuanli Island, learned about their duties, and assigned them tasks as the new garrison commander. After warning himself against violating the Immortal Alliance’s rules, he asked City Lord Kong to show him to his Cave Mansion.

• City Lord Kong introduced Cheng Buzheng to Tong Li, Li Wu, Feng Zhan, and Hu Niu, the deans responsible for the garrison, supervision, law enforcement, and spirit sources.
• Cheng Buzheng acknowledged the officials and asked them to support him in carrying out his duties.
• Cheng Buzheng recalled how the Immortal Alliance’s Heavenly Dao Pursuit Order had hunted down Qin Hui and his allies, and resolved not to risk misusing city funds.
• Cheng Buzheng asked City Lord Kong to reserve an Alchemy Chamber for him and told Hu Niu to purchase Spirit Materials using Cheng Buzheng’s own Spirit Stones.
• Cheng Buzheng declined City Lord Kong’s invitation to dine and asked him to lead the way to the garrison cultivator’s Cave Mansion.

Cheng Buzheng guarded Xuanli Island while cultivating, refining pills through his puppet and using his position to arrange supplies. After years of steady progress, he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and began planning his next steps.

• City Lord Kong showed Cheng Buzheng his Cave Mansion and gave him an Earth Fire Chamber token before taking his leave.
• Cheng Buzheng established himself on Xuanli Island, while his Treasure-Class No. 1 Puppet handled island defenses, errands, and pill refining as Cheng Buzheng cultivated.
• Over the following years, Cheng Buzheng used pills and the Spirit Materials Hu Niu gathered to advance his cultivation and profit from the beasts his puppet slew.
• After six more years, Cheng Buzheng reached the Foundation Establishment Early Stage Peak and withdrew his consciousness from the puppet to focus on a breakthrough.
• Cheng Buzheng broke through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, stabilized his cultivation for a month, and resolved to get busy again.

Cheng Buzheng left Xuanli Island in City Lord Kong’s care with a Talisman Treasure and a distress talisman, then arrived at the Treasure Pagoda to collect ingredients for a pill-refining task. Steward Xuemei welcomed him and asked whether he would sell her any leftover pills.

• Cheng Buzheng told City Lord Kong he would be away for up to two months and gave him a distress talisman to summon aid from Huanqiu Immortal City.
• Cheng Buzheng entrusted City Lord Kong with a pale golden Talisman Treasure to defend the island, urging him to use it carefully and hold out for reinforcements.
• More than half a month later, Cheng Buzheng reached the Treasure Pagoda disguised as the pale, clean-shaven Old Jiang and showed his Identity Token to an attendant.
• Xuemei checked Cheng Buzheng’s Jade Slip and Identity Token, then sent an attendant to gather the Spirit Medicines required for his pill-refining task.
• Xuemei told Cheng Buzheng that the pagoda’s pill supplies had been running short and asked him to sell her any leftover pills.

Cheng Buzheng sold Lady Xue a bottle of Azure Cloud Pills, completed his long pill-refining assignment, and used his Honor Points to buy spiritual materials. After retrieving his Treasure Tools, he left Huanqiu City through the Teleportation Array to seek a High-grade Deep Sea Spirit Pearl elsewhere.

• Cheng Buzheng agreed to sell Lady Xue one bottle of Azure Cloud Pills and used two top-grade Treasure Tools as collateral for Spirit Medicines when he lacked enough Spirit Stones.
• After returning to Xuanli Island, Cheng Buzheng learned that no dangerous beasts had attacked and finished refining enough pills to cover his Treasure Pagoda assignments for twenty years.
• Cheng Buzheng met Treasure-Class No. 1 Puppet outside Xuanli Island, then traveled to Huanqiu Island and handed in his assignment to Lady Xue, who returned his Treasure Tools.
• Lady Xue told Cheng Buzheng that her Treasure Pagoda had no Second-order High-grade Deep Sea Spirit Pearls, but she exchanged his Honor Points for the other spiritual items on his Jade Slip.
• Cheng Buzheng went to the seabed, returned to Huanqiu City, and used the Teleportation Array to depart.

Cheng Buzheng visited Xuanfeng City to spend his Honor Points, claim ten years of Contribution Points, and browse the Myriad Techniques Pavilion. He found a secret art and considered selling his improved Alchemical Formulas, but decided to wait until he could protect himself.

• Cheng Buzheng bought rare Spirit Materials at the Treasure Pagoda, using nearly all his Honor Points and gathering what he needed to refine Second-order Puppets.
• Cheng Buzheng went to the City Lord Mansion and learned that he could claim Contribution Points for ten years guarding Xuanli Island.
• Cheng Buzheng received 850 Contribution Points after the Contribution Hall verified his ring.
• Cheng Buzheng browsed the Myriad Techniques Pavilion, found a secret art, and compared the cost of ordinary and improved Alchemical Formulas.
• Cheng Buzheng considered selling his Peerless Version Alchemical Formulas but decided against it because powerful cultivators might take the proceeds.