Chapter Summaries

Guan Hongxiu completed a Golden Crow Nirvana during her Core Formation, then survived the tribulation with Feng Jun’s guidance. She recovered in the cave dwelling while Feng Jun closed his doors to visitors after attracting widespread attention.

• Feng Jun and Xia Nishang watched Guan Hongxiu’s aura contract as tribulation clouds gathered, worried that she still lacked one Nirvana.
• Guan Hongxiu underwent Golden Crow Nirvana before forming her core, briefly lodging her soul in the Glory Merit Drum and using Feng Jun’s Soul Guidance technique to reforge her body.
• The tribulation clouds held back for hours before a bolt of lightning struck the Golden Core Cave Dwelling, and Guan Hongxiu survived the Core Formation with severe injuries.
• Xiaomeng protected Guan Hongxiu while Feng Jun’s estate sheltered the weaker Red Phoenix disciples from the Core Formation aura.
• Three days later, Guan Hongxiu recovered and sent Feng Jun a message of thanks through Xia Nishang, while Feng Jun turned away visitors, including Yue Qing, who sought his advice about elderly cultivators forming cores.

Feng Jun discussed what he could offer Yue Qing and Guyue, then advised Yan Yuxi on preparing for Core Embrace with dual-attribute aura guides. The chapter ended with him warning her to keep his guidance secret and recruit the needed cultivators without force.

• Yue Qing asked Feng Jun to help Azuresteel Sect disciples, but Feng Jun questioned what they had done to deserve his full support.
• Guyue asked Feng Jun to divine a path toward Nascent Soul Formation, and Feng Jun agreed after Guyue gathered information on heavenly treasures and auxiliary cultivation arts.
• Feng Jun told Guyue that Nie Chifeng had obtained a Soul-Substitution Puppet and might soon undergo Core Embrace.
• Yan Yuxi asked Feng Jun for cauldron seedlings to assist with Core Embrace, but he refused to transfer the people who had taken refuge with him.
• Feng Jun gave Yan Yuxi secret guidance explaining that dual-attribute cultivators could help correct deviations and improve the grade of her core, then told her not to spread the information or use force.

After Guan Hongxiu’s Core Embrace revealed Feng Jun’s ability to guide older cultivators, powerful factions competed to secure access to him, while the Gongyang Clan tried to establish a presence near Liba Beach. Feng Jun rejected their attempt to approach him directly, and the clan instead joined the crackdown on furnace-cauldron traffickers, ending with Qi Yu agreeing to treat them as potential clients for aura guidance.

• News of Guan Hongxiu’s Core Embrace spread, and cultivators realized Feng Jun could help others divine their chances of forming a core.
• Feng Jun rebuffed the Gongyang Clan’s offer of protection, while the Yan Clan warned them not to approach him with ulterior motives.
• The Gongyang Clan established a camp near Liba Beach and began hunting organizations that trafficked furnace cauldrons.
• Gongyang Youyu found that Qi Yu was sheltering Zhao, a trafficker whose business was tied to existing buyers and deposits.
• Qi Yu explained that Feng Jun had not forbidden his brokerage business, and Gongyang Youyu agreed to spare Zhao while asking Qi Yu to cooperate if the clan needed furnace cauldrons for aura guidance.

True Adept Qi Yu persuaded the Dantai Family to invest in land around Liba Beach rather than demand priority access to cauldrons. By the time they tried to buy, most of the land had been claimed, including a large tract purchased on Feng Jun’s behalf, leaving the Dantai Family to reconsider its options.

• The Dantai Family confronted True Adept Qi Yu and demanded his cauldron candidates and priority service, but Qi Yu refused and warned that Heavenheart Platform had also made arrangements.
• Qi Yu proposed that the Dantai Family buy land around Liba Beach and resell plots to visitors seeking Feng Jun’s divinations; the idea appealed to them.
• While the Dantai Family spent two days finding a buyer, the Tiantong Merchant Alliance, Pine-Cypress Peak, and Zhan Xiu bought large tracts, leaving less than sixty li of boundary available.
• The Dantai Family questioned Tiantong and Zhan Xiu about their purchases, then demanded land from Pine-Cypress Peak.
• Yan Yuxi told the Dantai Family that Pine-Cypress Peak held most of its land for Liba Beach, whose people had asked them to buy it on Feng Jun’s behalf.

The Blue Star Realm visitors sought Spirit Stones to invest in land around Feng Jun’s growing settlement, and Zhang Caixin and Yu Qingzhu negotiated for a partner and financing. After Feng Jun refused to provide capital, they approached Yan Yuxi, while Qu Jianlei offered to lend them Spirit Stones; Yan Yuxi reconsidered when she realized their influence with Feng Jun made them valuable partners.

• Yang Yuxin judged that land near the settlement could rise in value, and Gazi and Zhang Caixin asked Feng Jun to support an investment.
• Feng Jun approved the visitors’ plan but refused to provide Spirit Stones, leaving them to raise their own capital.
• Zhang Caixin and Yu Qingzhu invited Yun Buyao, Mi Yunshan, and Mei Jiushan to join their investment effort.
• Zhang Caixin and Yu Qingzhu asked Yan Yuxi to partner with them, and Yu Qingzhu warned that they would seek another partner if Yan delayed.
• Qu Jianlei offered to lend them Spirit Stones, but Yu Qingzhu said they needed a partner rather than merely a lender.
• Yan Yuxi realized the visitors’ influence with Feng Jun made them valuable partners and asked whether they truly expected to profit.

Yan Yuxi joined Liba Beach’s land investment and faced a request from the Dantai Family to buy into its share. Yu Qingzhu proposed giving the Dantai Family land for free, and Yan Yuxi’s uncle recognized the strategy behind the saying that the most expensive things were free.

• Yan Yuxi agreed that the Yan Clan would finance the land purchase and share the land and risks equally with Liba Beach, while Tiantong and the Zhan Xiu also bought plots.
• The Dantai Family asked Yan Yuxi to sell it land, but she refused to give up the Yan Clan’s share and explained that the family could buy the remaining boundary instead.
• After the Dantai Family clarified that it wanted the Yan Clan to hold land on its behalf, Yan Yuxi consulted Zhang Caixin and Yu Qingzhu about selling them part of the plot.
• Yu Qingzhu argued that the Dantai Family should receive only ten percent and suggested lending it the land for free; Zhang Caixin agreed with her reasoning.
• Yan Yuxi asked her paternal uncle what the saying meant, and he praised it as incisive after hearing the full account.

Yan Yuxi used the saying “free is the most expensive” to persuade the Dantai Family to buy land at five times the price, while Liba Beach’s boundary became coveted after Guan Hongxiu achieved Core Embrace. Guan Hongxiu emerged from seclusion and tried to repay Feng Jun by serving him, but Qu Jianlei and Xia Nishang stopped her as Feng Jun prepared for his own Core Embrace.

• Yan Yuxi offered the Dantai Family free use of land, but the Dantai True Person feared hidden consequences and bought more than forty li of boundary at five times the price.
• The Dantai Family and other major forces acquired land around Liba Beach, while Huangfu Wuxia’s family secured ten li and left Feng Jun’s required twenty-li buffer untouched.
• Guan Hongxiu emerged after stabilizing her Golden Core cultivation and went to thank Feng Jun for guiding and protecting her.
• Feng Jun declined Guan Hongxiu’s offer to follow him for a hundred years because he was preparing for Core Embrace.
• Guan Hongxiu and Qu Jianlei argued over whether she should stay with Feng Jun, until Xia Nishang ordered them to stop and Guan Hongxiu returned to her retreat.

Xia Nishang and Guan Hongxiu planned to gather support for building a Spirit Vein at Liba Beach, hoping it would help them form Nascent Souls and strengthen their ties with Feng Jun. Guyue recognized the plan as an opportunity for Supreme Clarity Sect to join the undertaking.

• Xia Nishang and Guan Hongxiu discussed Guan Hongxiu’s hopes of forming a Nascent Soul and her desire to stay close to Feng Jun.
• Xia Nishang proposed drawing a Spirit Vein at Liba Beach, and she and Guan Hongxiu agreed that they would need other powers to help fund and build it.
• Xia Nishang suggested publicizing the plan rather than immediately approaching Supreme Clarity Sect, while Guyue was occupied with reforms to the sect’s disciple selection.
• Supreme Clarity Sect considered using Feng Jun’s divination to aid elderly Merit Honorees and Guyue searched for promising seedlings.
• Guyue heard that Red Phoenix was seeking a place for a Spirit Vein, realized Xia Nishang wanted to befriend Feng Jun, and decided Supreme Clarity Sect should join the undertaking.

Feng Jun agreed to let the factions develop a Spirit Vein near Liba Beach, while setting limits on the location and proposing facilities for future cultivators. The plan expanded to include at least four Core Formation caves, but Yue Qing warned that the work would disrupt Feng Jun’s upcoming Core Embrace attempt.

• Yue Qing joined Guyue and Xia Nishang’s Spirit Vein plans and insisted on discussing them with Feng Jun, who agreed to meet him despite being in seclusion.
• Yue Qing asked Feng Jun to perform Divination for two junior brothers, but Feng Jun said he would not make exceptions and would only do so after his Core Embrace.
• Guyue explained that drawing in a Spirit Vein could take centuries and cost heavily, while Feng Jun said Liba Beach should have one eventually and suggested moving it away from the crude oil beneath the site.
• Nie Chifeng bought four thousand square miles from Qi Yu, whose replacement land left the former site available for Liba Beach’s main cultivation base and Spirit Vein.
• Feng Jun proposed building cultivation caves for Golden Core and Core Formation, and Yue Qing argued that the plan needed at least four Core Formation caves.
• Xia Nishang questioned whether the expanded Spirit Vein could be built soon, and Yue Qing warned that altering the Earth Vein would greatly affect Feng Jun’s coming Core Embrace attempt.

Feng Jun intervened in Nie Chifeng’s unstable Core Embrace, helping her regain her course, but his involvement created karmic ties to her tribulation. After foreseeing the danger, he brought his people to Blue Star and returned alone, believing he needed to achieve Core Embrace soon.

• Nie Chifeng entered the repaired Golden Core Cave Dwelling, and her aura began rising toward Core Formation a few days later.
• Feng Jun noticed Nie Chifeng’s progress was unstable and briefly enveloped her with his Divine Sense, helping her overcome her impatience and steady her cultivation.
• After Nie Chifeng’s aura settled, Feng Jun foresaw her surviving the Tribulation Lightning, which came close to him and confirmed that he had incurred karmic ties.
• Feng Jun took Zhang Caixin and the others through Giant Wood Market to Blue Star, then explained that he had to return because delaying could draw down the Will of Heaven’s Dao.
• Feng Jun refused to leave Nie Chifeng bearing the karma and returned alone so his people would not be implicated.

Feng Jun realized that his involvement in Nie Chifeng’s Core Embrace had deepened their karmic connection, forcing him to form his core quickly without disrupting her recovery. Nie Chifeng survived her powerful Tribulation Lightning with the help of the Heavenly Fragrance Fruit, while Feng Jun was left searching for a safe place to undergo Core Formation.

• Feng Jun sent the estate’s cultivators away and told Qu Jianlei, Xia Nishang, Guyue, and Yue Qing that his Divine Sense assistance to Nie Chifeng had caused unexpected karma.
• The True Adepts discussed the Spirit Vein with Feng Jun until Nie Chifeng’s Tribulation Lightning began, then hurriedly left.
• Nie Chifeng swallowed the Heavenly Fragrance Fruit during her stronger-than-expected tribulation, endured the final bolt, and survived with her Golden Core cracked but recovering.
• Feng Jun realized that his help and the fruit had strengthened the karmic thread and intensified Nie Chifeng’s tribulation, while also increasing the difficulty of his own Core Embrace.
• After Nie Chifeng began stabilizing her realm, Feng Jun felt he could not delay his own Core Formation, but feared forming his core nearby would ruin her recovery.
• Feng Jun ruled out his estate and the Supreme Clarity Annex as too close to Nie Chifeng, then questioned whether a marketplace Core Formation Cave Dwelling would be safe.

Feng Jun realized his Core Embrace karma was making his barrier grow heavier, but he refused to interrupt Nie Chifeng’s stabilization or form his core elsewhere. As Guyue prepared to divine for him, Yue Qing sought a Soul-Substitution Puppet that might help Feng Jun, and learned an Azuresteel Sect steward could sell one.

• Feng Jun told Qu Jianlei that his Core Embrace karma was worsening and considered waiting for Nie Chifeng to stabilize before forming his core at his estate.
• Qu Jianlei asked Xiaomeng how long Nie Chifeng needed to stabilize, and she estimated half a month; Feng Jun told them not to disturb her because he could slow the barrier’s growth.
• Guyue offered to divine for Feng Jun, while Qu Jianlei explained that helping Nie Chifeng had caused Feng Jun’s Core Formation barrier to grow heavier.
• Yue Qing asked Li Chengqiong and another cultivator whether the elders’ treasury held a Soul-Substitution Puppet, and learned none remained there.
• Yue Qing ordered Mingyang to contact the Azuresteel Sect steward who had acquired a Soul-Substitution Puppet and offer to buy it without forcing a sale.

Feng Jun waited until Nie Chifeng’s realm had stabilized before returning to Blue Star, hoping to reduce the backlash his Core Embrace would cause her. He began making final preparations at Luo Hua, where Zhang Caixin questioned whether helping Nie Chifeng was worth the increased barrier to his own breakthrough.

• Yue Qing sent two Emergence from Dust disciples to find an artifact that could perform deductions on its user, while Guyue’s deduction revealed that Feng Jun was neither present nor absent.
• Feng Jun hid inside the phone for ten days, relocating whenever the Core Embrace barrier thickened, until Qu Jianlei confirmed that Nie Chifeng’s realm was stable enough to move.
• Red Phoenix arranged to transfer Nie Chifeng five hundred li away, and Xia Nishang and Guan Hongxiu moved her there by flying vessel so Feng Jun could form his core at Liba Beach.
• Nie Chifeng suffered backlash while cultivating and realized Feng Jun had taken risks to help her achieve Core Embrace; she regretted using the Soul-Substitution Puppet’s final use.
• Feng Jun left the Phone Plane for Blue Star to reduce the harm to Nie Chifeng and prepare himself for Core Embrace, then returned to Luo Hua.
• Zhang Caixin asked Feng Jun whether the increased Core Embrace barrier was worth the risk he had taken for Nie Chifeng.

Feng Jun prepared to form his core on Bell's Mountain while arranging for Gao Qiang to stand watch, then told Yu Qingzhu that her grandfather could safely take the Evergreen Fruit. Yu Qingzhu rushed to give it to Elder Yu, while Lin Beauty's surveillance team argued over whether to report the fruit to their superiors.

• Feng Jun rejected forming his core on Blue Star and agreed to prepare a Traveling Residence on Bell's Mountain, where Gao Qiang would keep watch.
• Feng Jun activated the Golden Core Spirit-Gathering Formation and told Zhang Caixin to have Ma Sanniang cover the Blessing Courtyard sessions.
• Feng Jun told Yu Qingzhu that Elder Yu should take the Evergreen Fruit in two doses and explained that it could work alongside a Longevity Pill.
• Yu Qingzhu hurried to Elder Yu and called the Evergreen Fruit an Immortal Fruit that would let him live another twenty years.
• Lin Beauty ordered her team to cut the recorded conversation, fearing that reporting the fruit would bring pressure from their superiors onto Luo Hua.

Elder Yu recovered dramatically after eating the Evergreen Fruit, while Luo Hua’s observers suppressed and stalled rumors about its effects. Feng Jun then began forming his Golden Core in Kunhao, and his unprecedented tribulation left the gathered cultivators bracing for a possible sixth bolt of lightning.

• Lin Beauty’s superior ordered her team to verify the Evergreen Fruit’s effects, but Yu Qingzhu found Little Wang’s phone and stopped him from spreading the news.
• Elder Yu ate the remaining half of the fruit in a Small Traveling Residence and emerged the next day walking with a cane, restored to roughly the condition he had been in eight years earlier.
• Liang Siyu asked Zhang Caixin whether she could obtain a fruit for her mother, and Zhang Caixin urged her to cultivate until she reached the Qi Refining Stage.
• Elder Yu’s health and memories continued to improve, and he asked Yu Qingzhu about meeting Feng Jun, who was in seclusion.
• Feng Jun began his Golden Core breakthrough at Liba Beach Manor and formed his core after his aura surged over several days.
• Feng Jun’s tribulation lightning reached a fifth bolt, prompting Guyue to warn everyone not to probe with Divine Sense in case a sixth bolt followed.

Feng Jun endured the sixth Tribulation Lightning, and the gathered cultivators realized he had survived the Samsara Tribulation Lightning as the clouds continued to thicken. The chapter ended when a powerful Divine Sense targeted his manor and triggered Core Embrace karma, prompting Xia Nishang to order Xiaomeng and another ally to surround the intruder.

• Qu Jianlei tried to approach Feng Jun’s manor, but Xiaomeng stopped him to avoid worsening Feng Jun’s karma if more Tribulation Lightning fell.
• The sixth Tribulation Lightning flattened more than ten li of the manor, and Yan Yuxi and Guyue urged the others to hope for Feng Jun’s survival through the legendary seventh bolt.
• Qi Yu arrived with promising young cultivators and sought help, so Yue Qing beckoned him over while Xiaomeng told him to wait.
• Sumiao recognized that Feng Jun had passed the Samsara Tribulation Lightning, and Xia Nishang confirmed that the clouds were gathering for another strike.
• A powerful Divine Sense targeted Feng Jun’s manor and triggered Core Embrace karma, so Xia Nishang condemned the Blood-Red Old Dog and ordered Xiaomeng and another ally to surround him.

Feng Jun endured a sixth tribulation lightning strike while undergoing Core Embrace, then fled to the Blue Star Plane to recover as the clouds threatened a seventh strike. After he vanished from Luo Hua to recuperate, Yang Yuxin discovered he was missing and went to find her daughter.

• Yue Qing drove Blood-Red Adept out of hiding, and a massive lightning bolt pursued him while a smaller branch struck Feng Jun's manor.
• Feng Jun survived the sixth tribulation lightning strike but, badly injured and facing a possible seventh, debated whether to escape to the Blue Star Plane.
• A malicious Divine Sense swept over Feng Jun, so he retreated to the Blue Star Plane and took a healing pill at Luohua Manor.
• Feng Jun went to Bell's Mountain, asked Gao Qiang to maximize the Spirit-Restoring Formation, and later shut it down before returning to Luo Hua to recuperate.
• Feng Jun vanished from Luo Hua, and Yang Yuxin woke to find him missing before going to look for her daughter.

After Feng Jun vanished, Zhang Caixin ordered everyone to keep the news secret while Luo Hua searched for him and feared the worst. Feng Jun returned injured after enduring the sixth Tribulation Lightning, reassured everyone, and prepared to recover before facing the final bolt.

• Zhang Caixin issued a gag order after Gu Jiahui reported that Feng Jun was missing, and Luo Hua's people searched the manor and its surroundings.
• Huahua showed no sign that Feng Jun was in danger, easing the group's fears, though they still could not find him.
• Feng Jun appeared beside the tent, and his Divine Sense alerted everyone in the manor that he had returned injured.
• Feng Jun apologized for staying away to recover, promised to return to Luo Hua if injured again, and assured Liang Siyu that Luo Hua was safe.
• Feng Jun revealed that Core-Embrace Karma was involved and that he had endured six Tribulation Lightning bolts, prompting Zhang Caixin and the others to urge caution before the final bolt.
• Feng Jun said he understood the danger of the Annihilation Divine Lightning, then laughed that an idiot was willing to take the lightning for him.

After surviving most of his Core Embrace tribulation, Feng Jun returned to Luo Hua to recuperate and discussed what should happen if he disappeared. Once he recovered from his serious injuries, he prepared to return to Kunhao despite Yang Yuxin warning him to weigh the risks to himself and Blue Star.

• Feng Jun told everyone about his Core Embrace, and Yu Qingzhu proposed staging a disappearance drill to strengthen Luo Hua's emergency plans.
• Zhang Caixin urged Feng Jun to recover quickly and teased him about Zhong Lijing and Chang Yuqing, then explained to Yu Qingzhu that his seventh Tribulation Lightning had been World-Destroying Lightning.
• After two days of rest, Feng Jun told Yang Yuxin that if he failed to return from Kunhao, she should protect her own interests.
• Yang Yuxin criticized Feng Jun for accumulating karma by helping so many people and warned him to consider whether risking himself for outsiders was worth it.

Feng Jun endured the seventh World-Destroying Tribulation Lightning after diverting most of it onto Blood-Red Adept, then recovered with the aid of Heaven and Earth's power and Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. After a final bout of karmic backlash, the tribulation clouds began to disperse.

• Feng Jun explained to Yang Yuxin that he had deliberately deepened his karmic connection to make Blood-Red Adept bear more of the tribulation lightning.
• Feng Jun moved between Blue Star and the Kunhao Plane, causing most of the seventh World-Destroying Tribulation Lightning to strike Blood-Red Adept, who fled as the lightning pursued him.
• Feng Jun endured the remaining lightning until it stopped, then used Heaven and Earth's power, medicine, and a Spirit-Restoring Formation Plate to heal himself.
• Feng Jun used uncut Mid-Grade Spirit Stone ore to replenish his spiritual energy, leading the watching True Adepts to suspect a Secret Realm supported him.
• Feng Jun spat blood from karmic backlash, then saw the sky brighten as the tribulation clouds began to disperse.