Chapter Summaries

Old Daoist Zeyi and Solitary Cold True Lord were pressured into accepting decrees issued by powerful alliances to Nascent Soul cultivators near the end of their lifespans. Cheng Buzheng accepted the decree through his Solitary Cold True Lord dharma body, hoping to discover the secret purpose behind it.

• The Ten Thousand Immortals Sect’s Grand Elder forced Old Daoist Zeyi to accept a decree, and Zeyi suspected the Immortal and Demon Alliances were concealing a major event.
• Old Daoist Zeyi investigated and learned that decrees had gone to exhausted Nascent Soul cultivators across several top sects, while most knew nothing about their purpose.
• Several eccentric Nascent Soul cultivators were killed, and the Immortal Alliance publicly labeled the incidents rebellions.
• Ji Longzi confronted Solitary Cold True Lord with a decree and evidence of 6,700 killings, forcing him to accept an Identity Token and remain available to the Sea Suppressing Alliance.
• Solitary Cold True Lord learned that Ji Longzi did not know the decree’s purpose and decided to use his dharma body’s position to uncover the opportunity the Venerables were pursuing.

Cheng Buzheng weighed delaying his Spirit Transformation breakthrough so he could preserve his three Dharma bodies’ preparations for the Harvest Plan, then emerged from seclusion and spent time with his family and clan. Two years later, his Gongzhi Yang identity judged that the Harvest Plan could begin preliminarily, though most of the soul-type spiritual herbs were not ready to harvest.

• Solitary Cold True Lord learned that Venerable Zongbao’s decrees targeted Nascent Soul cultivators with little backing or exhausted potential, and he continued preparing for the Harvest Plan while the Sea Suppressing Alliance grew tense after suppressing a rebellion.
• After nearly thirty years in seclusion, Cheng Buzheng reached 99% of the early stage of Spirit Transformation and decided to postpone his breakthrough and keep his Dharma bodies active until the Harvest Plan was completed.
• Cheng Buzheng emerged from seclusion, spent a year teaching Murong Wanwan, and celebrated with his descendants at a banquet in Ping'an City.
• Cheng Buzheng began teaching at the school in Ping'an City and sent Murong Wanwan back to cultivate because her cultivation had regressed.
• Two years later, Gongzhi Yang decided to set the Harvest Plan in motion preliminarily, despite most soul-type spiritual herbs not yet being ready for harvest.

Gongzhi Yang’s intelligence gathering revealed that increased cultivation of soul-type Spirit Medicine was cooling its market, while a shopkeeper in Guiping Immortal City explained how his shop tracked prices through Clear Bamboo Shop. The shopkeeper warned his nephew to stay inside after Clear Bamboo Shop’s owner was attacked, then recounted how a Nascent Soul senior identified and destroyed the Wu Immortal Clan.

• Gongzhi Yang received detailed intelligence on the Nascent Soul Ancestors as soul-type Spirit Medicine began appearing in greater quantities and its prices cooled.
• A shopkeeper sent Wei Sheng to check competitors’ prices and explained to Ming Shu how his shop used informants and followed Clear Bamboo Shop’s purchase prices.
• The shopkeeper told Ming Shu to keep soul-type Spirit Medicine from remaining in their shop overnight and warned him not to leave Guiping Immortal City after Clear Bamboo Shop’s owner was attacked.
• The shopkeeper said a Nascent Soul senior found the culprit within half a day, and the Wu Immortal Clan was wiped out.

Shopkeeper Zhang warned his nephew against provoking Clear Bamboo Shop and dismissed rumors that its owner was a Qi Refining cultivator, while the shop’s actual proprietor was revealed to be one of Cheng Buzheng’s Soul Puppets. After gathering a large supply of soul-type Spirit Medicine, Shopkeeper Zhang received pills as payment and asked whether they should lower the purchase price again.

• The shopkeeper told his nephew that the Sea Suppressing Alliance had barely investigated the destruction of Wu Immortal Island and warned him not to provoke Clear Bamboo Shop or trust rumors about its owner.
• The nephew argued that the owner might be a young cultivator from a powerful clan, but the shopkeeper claimed he had met the owner and hurried away before his nephew could ask for an introduction.
• Wei Sheng rushed back to Clear Bamboo Shop, fearing that delays and the falling Spirit Medicine prices would cost him his monthly allowance.
• The Peak Qi Refining proprietor watching Wei Sheng was revealed to be a low-grade Soul Puppet created by Cheng Buzheng.
• Shopkeeper Zhang delivered ten thousand portions of soul-type Spirit Medicine to the proprietor, who rewarded him with three Wood Yang Pills.
• Shopkeeper Zhang pledged his service and asked whether the shop should lower its purchase price further the next day.

Cheng Buzheng continued his scheme to control the price of soul-related Spirit Medicine through Clear Bamboo Shop, while reflecting on the assassination attempt that led Solitary Cold True Lord to destroy the Guiping Wu Immortal Clan. He left the story preparing to strengthen his shops and Soul Puppets before the large-scale medicine harvest, while weighing whether he might need to share the profits to protect his plan.

• Cheng Buzheng rejected Shopkeeper Zhang’s proposal to buy Spirit Medicine below market prices and kept paying him in Spirit Pills to maintain the shops’ reach and influence.
• Cheng Buzheng reflected that his expanding network of Spirit Medicine shops let him shape market prices, and planned to stockpile medicine so he could undercut powerful cultivators when they tried to raise prices.
• A Soul Puppet observed the Golden Core True Person who had assassinated another Soul Puppet, and Solitary Cold True Lord tracked the attacker to the Guiping Wu Immortal Clan’s stronghold and destroyed the clan.
• Cheng Buzheng’s remaining Soul Puppet claimed Clear Bamboo Shop’s array had killed the Golden Core True Person and added protective arrays to guard the shop’s scarce Soul Puppets.
• Cheng Buzheng considered accelerating his collection of formation materials and decided he might share some profits if losses among the shops’ Soul Puppets became too severe.

Cheng Buzheng continued overseeing the Harvest Plan while teaching children at the family academy in Ping'an City, where he introduced them to the concept of capital. The chapter left him preparing to call on the hesitant children to explain what they had learned.

• Cheng Buzheng endured the mental strain of controlling three Dharma bodies and thousands of Soul Puppets while waiting for his cultivation to advance.
• At the family academy, Cheng Buzheng began a lesson for the children and heard them discuss their monthly family-ethos assessment and Er Leng's willingness to fight for the family.
• Cheng Buzheng promised the children that his new lesson could help them earn Spirit Stones, prompting him to consider that the family needed new sources of wealth.
• Cheng Buzheng introduced the word “capital” and explained how it encompassed wealth, resources, cultivation, status, and market transactions.
• When the children lowered their heads instead of volunteering answers, Cheng Buzheng declared that he would call on them one by one.

Cheng Buzheng taught the Cheng clan children about capital and the cultivation world's economy, while their answers and questions revealed both their insights and suspicions about him. He ended class by assigning them to reflect on the lesson and share their thoughts the next day.

• Cheng Wendao argued that capital inevitably pursued profit because it reflected human nature, citing how the Three Great Alliances had come under the control of powerful sects.
• Cheng Wencai compared sect resource hierarchies to capital, while Cheng Wenqing described the Cheng Immortal Clan as extracting resources through Contribution Points and blood ties, making Cheng Buzheng uneasy.
• Cheng Buzheng introduced capital economy and warned the children that mastering it could bring wealth, while pursuing it without sufficient cultivation or understanding could lead to ruin.
• Cheng Wenzhang questioned why Cheng Buzheng taught the clan if he already had plenty of Spirit Stones, and Cheng Buzheng told him to ask their Ancestor and noted that some treasures could not be bought.
• Cheng Buzheng explained the cultivation world's low-end market economy, then dismissed class and told the children to prepare insights for the next day.

Cheng Wenqing was punished by his parents for criticizing the family, while Cheng Wenzhang asked Cheng Decai about their upcoming mission and learned why outsiders faced strict rules when entering and leaving Ping'an City. Cheng Decai and his wife planned to leave the next day, and Cheng Wenzhang warned them to be careful.

• Cheng Wenqing's parents whipped him for calling the family capital, while he insisted his metaphor had been correct.
• Cheng Wenzhang asked Cheng Decai when he and his wife would leave on their family mission, and Cheng Decai admitted they planned to go the next day.
• Cheng Wenzhang reminded Cheng Decai not to leave without telling him, and Cheng Decai claimed he had wanted to help his son grow accustomed to being alone.
• Cheng Decai explained that outsiders such as Cheng Wenzhang's mother needed the Soul Seed secret art and Heart-Questioning Mirror checks to use the Teleportation Array into or out of Ping'an City.
• Cheng Wenzhang offered his parents an extra Soul Puppet, but Cheng Decai declined and said he and his wife would leave the next day.

Cheng Wenzhang deduced that Master Ye was the mysterious Ancestor, while Cheng Wenqing extorted Cheng Wenhe at the academy after being punished at home. Cheng Buzheng watched the incident in disguise and left to prepare his lesson, as Cheng Wenhe fled and vowed to use a Soul Puppet outside from then on.

• Cheng Wenzhang reasoned that Master Ye was likely the Cheng Immortal Clan's rarely seen Ancestor and planned to take advantage of the discovery.
• After his parents confiscated his Spirit Stones, Cheng Wenqing decided to target Cheng Wenhe when his rival mocked him at the academy.
• Cheng Wenqing struck Cheng Wenhe with a practice Magic Tool brick, threatened him with a dagger, and forced him to admit wrongdoing and surrender eight Alchemical Pills in exchange for a Written Confession.
• Cheng Buzheng, disguised as Master Ye, watched the confrontation without intervening and then went to prepare the day's lesson.
• Cheng Wenhe hurried home after giving up the pills and resolved never to go out in his true body again.

Cheng Buzheng caught Cheng Wenhe using a Soul Puppet to attend the academy while reading a storybook at home, then taught the students about capital economies through the fluctuating market for soul-related Spirit Medicine. The lesson ended with Cheng Wenzhang explaining why prices had fallen and what could cause them to rise again.

• Cheng Buzheng discovered Cheng Wenhe reading a storybook at home instead of attending the academy in person, burned the book, and ordered him to cultivate.
• Cheng Buzheng approved of Cheng Wenqing and noticed Cheng Wenzhang's complicated gaze, then asked the students to discuss their understanding of the capital economy.
• Cheng Wenling and the other schoolchildren presented conclusions they had reached, often after discussing the subject with their parents.
• Cheng Buzheng taught the students to study reliable market information and distributed Jade Slips recording thirty years of soul-type spiritual herb prices.
• Cheng Wenfei judged that falling prices made a profit unlikely, and Cheng Wenzhang explained that past overbuying had left the market oversupplied and that a new Spirit Pill could restore demand.

Cheng Buzheng taught the academy students how to profit from market trends in soul-type Spirit Medicine while avoiding risks and attracting stronger cultivators’ attention. Cheng Wenzhang offered a perceptive analysis that impressed the class, while continuing to suspect Cheng Buzheng was the clan’s Ancestor.

• Cheng Wenzhang inferred from the Spirit Medicine price data that Cheng Buzheng was likely a powerful clan cultivator, perhaps the Ancestor in disguise, and resolved to learn a way to control Soul Puppets beyond the Secret Realm.
• Cheng Buzheng challenged the students to look beyond ordinary buying and selling, rejecting their suggestions to dominate the market or hoard Spirit Medicine.
• Cheng Buzheng called out Cheng Wenzhang for shaking his head, and Cheng Wenzhang avoided his classmates’ resentment by explaining his broader view of the market.
• Cheng Wenzhang described how to profit by steering market forces, and Cheng Buzheng praised his insight before teaching the class to use scarcity, market intelligence, public opinion, and decoys to guide prices while hiding their true identities.
• Cheng Buzheng warned the students not to pursue wealth beyond what their cultivation could protect, explaining that conspicuous riches would attract stronger cultivators, and then resumed the lesson.

A Five-Colored Wind Tribulation struck an island in the Boundless Sea, destroying its defenses and revealing a spatial vortex. Nascent Soul cultivators found they could not open the spatial node and learned that overcoming it might require a fifth-rank formation master.

• Cultivators pursued the Five-Colored Wind Tribulation and fought over the Spiritual Items it hurled across the sea.
• The storm collided with a five-colored Light Screen protecting a small island, and the resulting shockwave devastated the island.
• A spatial vortex appeared above the ruined island, but it vanished before the gathered Golden Core cultivators could agree on what to do.
• Nascent Soul True Lords arrived and discovered that the vortex was a spatial node they could not open.
• A Nascent Soul Formation Master said that opening the node might require a formation master whose attainments surpassed the fourth rank and reached the fifth.

Island-Moving Venerable failed to open the ancient spatial node above the shattered island and concluded that it led to a Secret Realm created by a powerful ancient cultivator. Venerable Zongbao found records of a Spirit Transformation expert who had vanished from the region, and more Venerables arrived to investigate the potential Secret Realm.

• The Nascent Soul cultivators and other onlookers abandoned the island after deciding that only Spirit Transformation experts might open the spatial node.
• Island-Moving Venerable arrived, examined the node, and used a Seal Technique to test it, but the node endured the spatial turbulence and resisted his attempt.
• Island-Moving Venerable told Venerable Zongbao that the node could likely be refined only through the combined strength of the Venerables.
• Venerable Zongbao searched the Sea Suppressing Alliance's records and discovered that a Spirit Transformation expert had appeared in the region during the primordial era before disappearing.
• Blood Sea Demon Venerable arrived, and several dozen Venerables gathered above the island to discuss the Secret Realm.

Several dozen Spirit Transformation Venerables agreed to use a compass to measure their contributions as they joined forces to break open the spatial node. Island-Moving Venerable opened a dangerous vortex into the Secret Realm that only cultivators below Spirit Transformation could safely enter, and the Venerables departed to prepare Nascent Soul cultivators for a return in half a month.

• The Venerables argued over how much Law Origin each should contribute, then agreed to use a compass that measured Magic Power and Law Origin.
• The formation expert handed the compass to Island-Moving Venerable to control, and Island-Moving Venerable recognized that it had been refined using a Law Spiritual Item.
• Island-Moving Venerable combined the Venerables’ power into a law mark and sent it into the spatial turbulence to attack the hidden node.
• The law mark broke through a concealed trap and cracked the spatial node, but the resulting vortex could only be safely crossed by cultivators below Spirit Transformation.
• The Venerables decided to dispatch Nascent Soul cultivators and agreed to meet again on the island in half a month before leaving to make preparations.

Cheng Buzheng learned that a Secret Realm was drawing powerful cultivators away and planned to send Gongzhi Yang and Solitary Cold True Lord there to protect his Harvest Plan. To let Solitary Cold True Lord leave unnoticed, Cheng Buzheng gathered Spirit Stones and began deducing a sealing divine ability, but his efforts had not yet succeeded.

• Cheng Buzheng left his lesson early after sensing that his Soul Puppet had encountered trouble, and Cheng Wenzhang suspected Ancestor was involved.
• Cheng Buzheng reasoned that the Secret Realm likely barred Venerables from entering and decided to send Gongzhi Yang to explore it so the Venerables would be occupied.
• Cheng Buzheng chose to send Solitary Cold True Lord as well, but realized he had to conceal the hidden danger placed on him before he could leave the Sea Suppressing Alliance unnoticed.
• Cheng Buzheng decided to deduce a sealing divine ability powerful enough to hide Solitary Cold True Lord from Venerables.
• Cheng Buzheng used Spirit Stones reserved for the Harvest Plan to raise his Deduction Value above a thousand, then began rebuilding sealing arts into a spell model.
• After half a day and millions of failed attempts, Cheng Buzheng had still not created a sealing spell model.

Cheng Buzheng exhausted himself deriving a sealing Treasure Art, then used the Small Plate to advance it into the ninth-rank divine ability Heaven-Severing Earth-Sealing. He cultivated the ability and reflected on its cost and the Cultivation World's dwindling Spirit Stones, leaving him prepared to use his new sealing power while resolving to avoid costly ninth-rank deductions unless necessary.

• Cheng Buzheng repeatedly derived a sealing technique, restoring his depleted mental strength with meditation and Spirit Medicines until he finally created a sealing Treasure Art.
• Cheng Buzheng placed the Treasure Art into the Small Plate and spent more than seven hundred Deduction Value to derive the ninth-rank divine ability Heaven-Severing Earth-Sealing.
• Cheng Buzheng reviewed his cultivation progress and considered how the new ability's power to seal divine abilities, spell techniques, and even Laws might fit into his combat methods.
• Cheng Buzheng noted the rising value and dwindling circulation of Spirit Stones, resolved to avoid deriving ninth-rank divine abilities unless necessary, and thought about preserving resources for his descendants.
• Cheng Buzheng condensed a divine ability Dao Seal and successfully cultivated Heaven-Sealing Forbidden Land, leaving him mentally exhausted.

While Cheng Buzheng recovered from his exhaustion, the Demon Alliance assembled powerful devil cultivators under Blood Sea Demon Venerable’s order to explore a mysterious Secret Realm. After the Demon Venerables arrived, the group set out together, while a Golden Core demon cultivator suffered a backlash from his demonic art.

• Cheng Buzheng swallowed a Nourishing Spirit Pill and began recuperating, postponing his work on the Chaos Laws and teaching the younger generation.
• At the Demon Alliance headquarters, Gongzhi Yang told the Devil Lords they had to wait for more powerful figures before the Ancestor arrived.
• Netherflame Half-Venerable appeared, struck a Nascent Soul Devil Master from the Supreme Sacred Sect into a wall, and threatened him before Gongzhi Yang explained that Spirit Transformation Ancestors from every great Sacred Sect would descend.
• Half-Venerable experts from the major top-tier devil sects gathered, and Blood Sea Venerable led them and the other demon cultivators toward the Teleportation Hall.
• After the Demon Venerables flew over Heavenly Demon City and departed, a Golden Core demon cultivator vomited blood from a backlash caused by the Calm Heart Demon Art.

The Sea Suppressing Alliance, Immortal Alliance, and Demon Alliance gathered at the shattered island to prepare to enter a secret realm, while their leaders arranged defenses and revealed their plans for its treasures. Blood Sea Demon Venerable tasked the Demon Alliance cultivators with finding spirit herb gardens and warned them against hiding discoveries or sending false information.

• The Demon Alliance arrived aboard a demonic vessel, bringing concealed Half-Venerables whose presence alarmed the Nascent Soul cultivators of the other alliances.
• Venerable Zongbao and Venerable Tianzhao alluded to the Demon Alliance’s stronger entrants, while Gongzhi Yang suspected the other alliances were concealing their own plans.
• Island-Moving Venerable called for the secret realm to be opened, but Blood Sea Demon Venerable and Ten Thousand Souls Venerable urged the alliances to set up a protective array first.
• The three alliances selected six Spirit Transformation cultivators to lay the array around the spatial node.
• Blood Sea Demon Venerable told the Demon Alliance cultivators to seize spirit herb gardens and other valuable treasures, distributing storage bags and communication magic treasures to them.
• Blood Sea Demon Venerable promised rewards for major gains and threatened anyone who spread false information.

Solitary Cold True Lord concealed Venerable Zongbao’s mark and prepared a Soul Puppet to impersonate him, but chose to wait before approaching the Secret Realm. At the shattered island, the Spirit Transformation cultivators raised the Earth-Surging Golden Light Array, and forces from all three alliances entered its sealed space.

• Solitary Cold True Lord sealed Venerable Zongbao’s mark with Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking and planted a false mark in a Soul Puppet.
• Solitary Cold True Lord used his sole Pressure Talisman to raise the Soul Puppet’s aura to the Nascent Soul Realm and left it meditating in his place.
• Solitary Cold True Lord decided to wait at his Cave Mansion while Gongzhi Yang observed the array’s formation.
• Spirit Transformation cultivators raised the Earth-Surging Golden Light Array, sealing the shattered island’s surrounding space and freezing everything inside.
• Gongzhi Yang recognized the array’s power and its fifth-rank grandmaster, while Blood Sea Demon Venerable ordered the forces to proceed.
• Cultivators from the Devil Alliance, Immortal Alliance, and Sea Suppressing Alliance flew into the golden space.

Gongzhi Yang entered the damaged spatial vortex using his [Spatial Dharma Escape] and reached a lush Secret Realm valley, while many other cultivators were swept into spatial turbulence and died. After collecting a rare white lotus and a piece of spirit material, he headed north toward denser spiritual energy.

• Gongzhi Yang realized the damaged spatial node made entry perilous, and cultivators with Venerable-bestowed protections entered the vortex before the remaining elderly Nascent Soul cultivators and Demon Alliance forces.
• Several cultivators were swept into spatial turbulence, including the Blood Fiend Gate Half-Venerable, Netherflame Half-Venerable, and an Immortal Alliance cultivator.
• Gongzhi Yang entered the vortex, used [Spatial Dharma Escape] to survive the spatial turbulence, and emerged in a lush valley within the Secret Realm.
• Gongzhi Yang used his communication compass to confirm that two companions had died, then collected a rare white lotus and a piece of rare spirit material from the valley.
• Gongzhi Yang sensed that spiritual energy was densest to the north and left the valley to search in that direction.