Chapter Summaries

Cheng Buzheng gathered the White Cloud Sect’s Golden Core elders to introduce his Dao companion, Murong Wanwan, and announce that she would oversee the sect while he traveled. Murong Wanwan gave the elders Azure Essence Cold Sand, then began closely examining the sect’s affairs.

• The White Cloud Sect’s Golden Core elders assembled in the Back Mountain Forbidden Area after Cheng Buzheng summoned them.
• Murong Wanwan appeared beside Cheng Buzheng, and he introduced her as his Nascent Soul Dao companion and their Martial Aunt.
• Murong Wanwan greeted the elders and gifted each of them Azure Essence Cold Sand, earning their enthusiastic thanks.
• Cheng Buzheng announced that he would soon travel and that Murong Wanwan would oversee the sect in his absence.
• The elders introduced themselves, and Murong Wanwan questioned them in detail about the sect’s personnel, resources, and revenues, prompting them to worry that they could no longer hide discrepancies.

Cheng Buzheng stopped Murong Wanwan from pressing the Golden Core elders for detailed accounts, while news that White Cloud Sect had two Nascent Soul Ancestors began spreading and prompted cultivators to seek safety and opportunity in its immortal cities. Far away in Green Mist Marsh, an abrupt miasma outbreak turned the marsh’s poisonous fog into an even deadlier dark-green miasma.

• Cheng Buzheng ended Murong Wanwan’s questioning, and the Golden Core elders left after he dismissed them.
• A young Rogue Cultivator told his friend that White Cloud Sect had two Nascent Soul Ancestors and urged him to renew his Cave Mansion lease before rents rose.
• An old Talisman Master decided to move with his granddaughter Yu'er from Clear River Market to North Azure Immortal City after becoming a First-order High-grade Talisman Master.
• A group of Mortal Cultivators emerged from Green Mist Marsh after a sudden miasma outbreak and discussed their losses and narrow escape.
• A torrent of dark-green mist erupted from the swamp, transforming the pale-green miasma into a more terrifying poisonous miasma.

Young Master Bai exposed the [Nine-Yang Mysterious Gold Vine] and used a vast supply of Spirit Stones to sacrifice seven fruits and the vine to ripen two [Nine Mystic Yang Fruits]. Their fragrance drew Demonic Beasts and cultivators toward the hidden island, where the White Immortal Clan's formation stopped the first wave of the beast tide.

• Young Master Bai ordered the Golden Core cultivators to guard their positions while Bai Yuan prepared to conceal and activate the formation.
• Bai Yuan made the five-colored Light Screen and the island disappear beneath the marsh's poisonous mist.
• Young Master Bai revealed the [Nine-Yang Mysterious Gold Vine] and began a formation that consumed Spirit Stones to ripen two fruits at the cost of the other seven and the vine.
• The two fruits turned Red Gold and released a fragrance that spread beyond the island, drawing Demonic Beasts and nearby cultivators toward it.
• The White Immortal Clan's cultivators withdrew behind the formation as the beast tide arrived, and the five-colored Light Screen reappeared to block the Demonic Beasts.

A beast tide battered the five-colored formation surrounding the island as Bai True Person waited for the [Nine Mystic Yang Fruit] to ripen. Bai Yuan detonated a backup array to unleash a devastating blast, but surviving Demonic Beasts and treasure-seeking cultivators began rushing onto the island.

• Five-colored lightning slaughtered most of the Demonic Beasts attacking the formation, while cultivators hid nearby and waited for a chance to seize the treasure.
• Bai True Person saw that the two [Nine Mystic Yang Fruit] were nearly ripe and replenished the array with his remaining Spirit Stones as the formation weakened under the beast tide.
• Bai Yuan returned to the Canyon and warned Young Master Bai that the formation could hold for only about half a quarter-hour, so Young Master Bai ordered him to detonate it when it neared collapse.
• Bai Yuan set up a third-rank array in the Canyon, then detonated the formation as the island's defenders gathered, unleashing a massive blast that killed Demonic Beasts and fleeing cultivators alike.
• Surviving Demonic Beasts charged onto the island, and treasure-seeking cultivators slipped in behind them.

Bai Yuan poisoned the Bai Family cultivators with Heaven-Shrouding Spirit-Reviving Incense, killed them, and took the two Nine Mystic Yang Fruits. Just as he was about to kill Young Master Bai, a Thought Attachment Bead summoned the Bai Family Ancestor, who killed Bai Yuan and rescued Bai Jun.

• Bai Yuan revealed that he had poisoned the Bai Family cultivators with a spirit pill and killed them one by one while explaining that he wanted the Nine Mystic Yang Fruits.
• Bai Yuan took the two Nine Mystic Yang Fruits and told Young Master Bai that he planned to fake his own death and escape the clan’s pursuit.
• Young Master Bai secretly used a thread of divine sense to activate the Thought Attachment Bead on his chest, summoning the Bai Family Ancestor’s phantom.
• The Bai Family Ancestor crushed Bai Yuan, recovered his Storage Bag, and warned Bai Jun to be more cautious.
• The Bai Family Ancestor sent a streak of radiance into Bai Jun, and medicinal fragrance began to drift from him.

Bai Jun survived the Demonic Beast assault after the Bai Family Ancestor’s incarnation burned the island, then escaped Green Mist Marsh with the Nine Mystic Yang Fruits and valuable poison powders. He recovered the [Spirit-Hiding Soul-Bewildering Art] from Bai Yuan’s Storage Bag and planned to test it after returning to the sect.

• The Bai Family Ancestor’s incarnation unleashed a thousand-mile domain of fire, killing the attacking Demonic Beasts and the Mortal Cultivators who had not fled.
• The incarnation spent its remaining power and vanished, and Bai Jun collected the shattered Thought Attachment Bead before escaping into the green mist.
• After reaching a concealed cavern, Bai Jun recovered the Nine Mystic Yang Fruits from Bai Yuan’s Storage Bag and inspected its other contents.
• Bai Jun tested Spirit-Releasing Thought-Dissipating Powder on a Golden-Clawed Eagle and confirmed that it reversed the effects of Heaven-Shrouding Spirit-Reviving Incense.
• Bai Jun discovered the [Spirit-Hiding Soul-Bewildering Art], which could sever soul imprints and make a cultivator appear dead to those tracking them through Soul Lamps or Soul Registers.

Bai Jun left to cultivate before searching for Chu Linger, who received a precious escape divine ability and a transmission talisman from Murong Wanwan. Half a year later, Cheng Buzheng learned that Cheng Liu’s lifespan was nearly over and hurried to the Boundless Sea, while Murong Wanwan planned to visit him through a Soul Puppet.

• Bai Jun finished inspecting Bai Yuan’s Storage Bag, resolved to meet Chu Linger after advancing his cultivation, and departed for the Return to Origin Mountain Range.
• Murong Wanwan gave Chu Linger the Cloud-Piercing Light-Breaking Escape divine ability and a mother-and-child Sound Transmission Jade Talisman, and offered guidance on reaching the Golden Core realm.
• Chu Linger left the ancient hall using a secret art that concealed her from view, while Murong Wanwan closed the hall and went to join Cheng Buzheng in the rear chamber.
• After half a year, Cheng Buzheng learned that Cheng Liu’s lifespan was nearly exhausted and decided to travel immediately to the Boundless Sea.
• Cheng Buzheng told Murong Wanwan she could see Cheng Liu through her No. 2 Soul Puppet, then left the sect and flew toward the Boundless Sea.

The Cheng Immortal Clan’s dying founder, Cheng Liu, prepared his Golden Core descendants for the arrival of the mysterious ancestor who had founded the clan and supplied its powerful inheritances. The chapter left Cheng Liu and the clan’s three Golden Core True Persons ready to welcome Cheng Buzheng, whom Cheng Liu identified as at least a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

• Qi Refining cultivators returning to the Cheng Immortal Clan discussed the clan’s danger and noticed Clan Granduncle Changming’s swift golden sword light.
• Cheng Liu told the three Golden Core cultivators to remain at the clan and ensure that a puppet stayed behind whenever their true bodies had to leave.
• Cheng Changyuan, Cheng Changming, and Cheng Changsong speculated about Cheng Liu’s hidden inheritance and the selection of the next clan head.
• Cheng Liu, weakened and longing to see Cheng Buzheng again, sent three Sound Transmission Talismans to summon the Golden Core cultivators.
• Cheng Liu told the three cultivators to prepare to welcome the ancestor, revealing that the ancestor was at least a Nascent Soul Realm Mortal Cultivator and had provided the clan’s treasures and techniques.

Cheng Buzheng and Murong Wanwan arrived at Hidden Immortal Island, where Cheng Liu had built a cautious and prosperous clan base before reaching the end of his life. Cheng Buzheng reunited with his clan, praised its traditions, and heard Cheng Liu ask for support to help its Golden Core cultivators advance.

• Cheng Liu prepared to welcome Cheng Buzheng and Murong Wanwan, while Cheng Buzheng explained to Murong Wanwan how Cheng Liu had secured Hidden Immortal Island and its small Spirit Vein.
• Cheng Liu insisted on greeting his Ancestor and Grand Ancestress despite his poor health, and Cheng Buzheng and Murong Wanwan accepted his filial gesture.
• Cheng Buzheng arrived with Murong Wanwan and was welcomed by Cheng Liu and the Golden Core cultivators Cheng Changyuan, Cheng Changsong, and Cheng Changming.
• Cheng Buzheng praised Cheng Liu after seeing that the workers across the island were Soul Puppets and hearing that the clan had avoided deaths in conflict.
• Cheng Liu hinted that the clan needed Spirit Materials for more Third-order Soul Puppets, and Cheng Buzheng agreed to consider supporting them as the group headed deeper into the island.

Cheng Buzheng and Murong Wanwan rewarded the Cheng Immortal Clan’s Golden Core cultivators and helped settle the branch’s succession, with Cheng Changyuan becoming clan head. As Cheng Liu lay dying, he asked Murong Wanwan to protect the family and sought Cheng Buzheng’s forgiveness for choosing to refine a portion of Nascent Soul origin.

• Cheng Buzheng gave Cheng Changyuan, Cheng Changsong, and Cheng Changming three powerful low-grade Magic Treasures, while Murong Wanwan gifted them third-order Spirit Pills.
• Cheng Buzheng gave Cheng Liu a Storage Bag of Soul Puppet materials, and he and Murong Wanwan answered the three juniors’ cultivation questions.
• Cheng Buzheng chose Cheng Changyuan as the next clan head of the Boundless Sea branch, and Cheng Changyuan formally assumed the position the following day.
• Cheng Liu became too weak to wield Magic Power and, on his deathbed, urged Cheng Changyuan, Cheng Changming, and Cheng Changsong to uphold the clan’s foundations and support one another.
• Cheng Liu asked Murong Wanwan to look after the family, and she promised to station a Soul Puppet in the secret grounds for them to contact.
• Cheng Liu asked Cheng Buzheng to forgive him for refining a portion of Nascent Soul origin, though he said he had never regretted that choice.

Cheng Liu died after Cheng Buzheng freed him from years of guilt, and Cheng Buzheng left the Cheng clan with renewed resolve to pursue immortality. Before departing, he entrusted the family to its Golden Core elders and prepared Murong Wanwan to use an ancient teleportation array if the clan needed her help.

• Cheng Buzheng told Cheng Liu he had never blamed him for sacrificing his Immortal Path to protect the family, and Cheng Liu died peacefully as the clan mourned.
• Several days later, the clan cremated Cheng Liu and sealed his ashes in a Jade Box before burying them.
• Cheng Buzheng told Cheng Changyuan, Cheng Changsong, and Cheng Changming to keep his existence secret, announced his century-long closed-door cultivation, and left the family in their care.
• Cheng Changyuan refused to reveal what he had given Cheng Buzheng, explaining that clan restrictions allowed only the Patriarch and the future Supreme Grand Elder to know the secret.
• Cheng Buzheng brought Murong Wanwan to the underground plaza and used her spiritual blood to alter the ancient Teleportation Array so she could use it to aid the clan.

Cheng Buzheng showed Murong Wanwan the clan’s hidden treasure vault and explained how its resources would eventually be managed between the two branches. He appointed Cheng Changyuan to guard the vault and departed, leaving Changyuan to confront the temptation of its riches.

• Cheng Buzheng explained that the Secret Realm was not yet accessible beyond its Teleportation Room, then showed Murong Wanwan a hidden chamber beneath the underground plaza.
• Cheng Buzheng opened the clan’s treasure vault and described its stored spiritual items; he told Murong Wanwan that the vault would eventually move into the Secret Realm and that the branches’ resources would later be divided.
• Murong Wanwan argued that the branches should wait to divide resources until their strengths were more equal, while privately resolving to secure the Secret Realm’s treasures for her future son.
• Murong Wanwan chose a Quiet Room for her Soul Puppet, and Cheng Buzheng summoned Cheng Changyuan and entrusted him with guarding the treasure vault.
• Cheng Buzheng told Cheng Changyuan to seek help from Murong Wanwan if trouble arose, then teleported away.
• Cheng Changyuan inspected the treasure vault, felt greed at the sight of its riches, and lamented the test posed by the Soul Seed’s restrictions.

Cheng Buzheng altered the Teleportation Arrays so Murong Wanwan could travel between the Boundless Sea and the Jin Kingdom, then brought her to Qingshan Town to help him enter mortal life. After sealing his body, Magic Power, and divine sense and creating false memories, Cheng Buzheng became Ye Fan, an unrecognized scholar, while Murong Wanwan guarded him.

• Cheng Buzheng modified three Teleportation Arrays with Murong Wanwan’s spiritual blood, enabling her to travel to and from the Boundless Sea.
• Cheng Buzheng and Murong Wanwan traveled to the desolate mountain outside Qingshan Town, where he planned to pursue a breakthrough by living as a mortal.
• Cheng Buzheng and Murong Wanwan changed their appearances, and Cheng Buzheng handed his Storage Bags to her before beginning his self-sealing.
• Cheng Buzheng sealed his physical body and Magic Power, then used the Ten Thousand Dragon Sealing Array to confine his divine sense while keeping the Chaos Dao Tribulation Sword’s spirituality subdued.
• Cheng Buzheng fabricated more than thirty years of memories for Ye Fan and merged his mind and will into them, entering mortal life as an unrecognized scholar.

Ye Fan awakened from Murong Wanwan’s soul secret art with fabricated memories of a life in Qingshan Town, and she played the role of his new wife as they returned to town. They reached the bookshop with their shared cover story intact, while news of Ye Fan’s return and marriage spread through town.

• Ye Fan opened his eyes after Murong Wanwan’s secret art and believed he had simply fallen while watching the sunset with her.
• Murong Wanwan went along with Ye Fan’s memories, and the two headed back to Qingshan Town as husband and wife.
• Ye Fan told Sister-in-law Zhang that he and Murong Wanwan had married in the city, and Murong Wanwan promised the townspeople wedding candy.
• Ye Fan worried that he could not afford the candy, but Murong Wanwan said she had prepared the silver and reminded him that he had promised she would handle household matters.
• As Ye Fan and Murong Wanwan continued toward the bookshop, townspeople began gossiping about his return and his beautiful new wife.

Ye Fan and Murong Wanwan returned to the bookstore in Qingshan Town, where they reunited with his regular visitors and discussed the Jin Kingdom’s new restrictions on imperial princes. After Ye Fan fell asleep, Murong Wanwan secretly built an underground Secret Chamber so she could use a secret art to improve her chances of conceiving.

• Ye Fan and Murong Wanwan returned to the bookstore, tidied the shop and courtyard, and welcomed visitors who brought wine and food.
• Ye Fan told the visitors how he had married his benefactor’s daughter, while Murong Wanwan listened from the rear bedroom and guarded him with her divine sense.
• Ye Fan assessed the Jin Kingdom’s decree confining imperial princes, warning that supporting their growing descendants could burden the dynasty in the long term.
• Murong Wanwan paid the visitors for the food and wine, and they later remarked that Ye Fan seemed more approachable than before.
• After Ye Fan and Murong Wanwan went to bed, she realized his mortal body was weakened and decided to seal her own physical body to improve their chances of conceiving.
• Murong Wanwan secretly built an underground Secret Chamber, then returned to bed beside her sleeping husband.

After more than a year living as mortals, Murong Wanwan secretly became pregnant and gave birth to a son with Ye Fan. The baby’s first cry awakened Cheng Buzheng’s true consciousness and showed him a green light that could lead him to the Spirit Transformation realm, but he chose to return to the seal and leave Murong Wanwan to care for their son.

• Murong Wanwan secretly visited her underground chamber and used a cultivation art to become pregnant without Ye Fan’s knowledge.
• Ten months later, Ye Fan anxiously waited while the midwife helped Murong Wanwan give birth.
• When the baby cried, Cheng Buzheng’s true consciousness awakened and he saw a green point of light that he recognized as his breakthrough opportunity.
• After hearing that Murong Wanwan had delivered a boy, Cheng Buzheng’s vision of the misty world shattered and he returned his consciousness to Ye Fan’s memories.

Ye Fan and Murong Wanwan welcomed their son, and Murong Wanwan secretly arranged for him to take the Cheng surname by telling Ye Fan a fabricated story about his ancestry. The chapter ended with the infant officially named Cheng Ping'an and the Ye Family Bookstore renamed Cheng Bookshop.

• Ye Fan held his newborn son and introduced him to Murong Wanwan, who had lost cultivation from Nascent Soul Late Stage to Nascent Soul Middle Stage after giving birth.
• The midwife grew frightened by Murong Wanwan's unusual ease in childbirth and hurried home to leave town.
• Ye Fan and Murong Wanwan chose the name Ye Ping'an, then Murong Wanwan claimed Ye Fan was descended from the Cheng clan and had been given a new name and surname as a child.
• Ye Fan accepted Murong Wanwan's story, and their son officially became Cheng Ping'an.
• The next day, the Ye Family Bookstore was renamed Cheng Bookshop, and townspeople began addressing Ye Fan as Mr. Cheng.

Six years later, Murong Wanwan watched over Cheng Ping'an, whose extraordinary strength concealed the uncertainty of his spiritual roots. After learning he had no hope of cultivation, she ordered White Cloud Sect to find talented young women, leaving the sect scrambling to fulfill her decree.

• Murong Wanwan coaxed Cheng Ping'an down from a tree, scolded him for sneaking out and taking a millstone, and warned him to hide his immense strength.
• Murong Wanwan tested Cheng Ping'an's spiritual roots while he slept and concluded that he had no hope left.
• Murong Wanwan resolved to find a suitable daughter-in-law and raise another heir, then continued practicing her pregnancy secret art.
• The First Elder announced Murong Wanwan's order for White Cloud Sect to find talented young women twelve years later, offering rewards based on their spiritual roots.
• The elders began seeking candidates, and the decree sparked a surge in matchmaking and recruitment across White Cloud Sect.

Twelve years after Cheng Ping'an’s first wedding, Murong Wanwan continued arranging immortal cultivators to marry him, but each wife eventually left or died, and townsfolk blamed him for bringing misfortune. As Cheng Fan and his wife decided to leave Qingshan Town, Cheng Ping'an agreed to take their twelve children and return with them to Cheng Fan’s hometown.

• Cheng Ping'an married his first bride, and Murong Wanwan warned her to conceal her cultivation and treat him well in exchange for the chance to pursue the Immortal Path after bearing a child.
• After the first wife died, Murong Wanwan arranged more marriages for Cheng Ping'an, whose wives repeatedly left for cultivation or died, earning him a reputation as a wife-killer.
• Pregnant Yuan'er told Murong Wanwan she would return to the sect after giving birth rather than spend her life in the mortal world, and Murong Wanwan agreed.
• Cheng Fan and his wife decided to leave Qingshan Town, and Cheng Ping'an agreed to go with their twelve children after Yuan'er died from postpartum hemorrhaging.
• Three carriages carried Cheng Fan, his family, and Cheng Ping'an’s children out of town the next morning.

After years of preparation, Chu Linger left the White Cloud Sect to seek revenge on Bai Jun, but he tracked her to Wild Origin Immortal City and followed her as she departed. Bai Jun intended to wait until they were far from the city before confronting her, and both continued into the wilderness.

• Chu Linger, now secretly a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, prepared her array and treasures, then left the White Cloud Sect on a Spirit Medicine-gathering mission.
• Murong Wanwan's Soul Puppet sensed Chu Linger's departure and reflected that she could not wait any longer.
• Chu Linger arrived at Wild Origin Immortal City disguised as a masked male cultivator, but the gate formation revealed her true appearance to the city official.
• The official notified Bai Jun, who waited a month for Chu Linger to leave the city and rewarded the official with Spirit Pills for his assistance.
• Bai Jun followed Chu Linger beyond the city's no-flying zone, planning to attack only after they reached a remote place.