Chapter Summaries

Summary: “Seeing Jiu Si Again”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun reminds the group that the Thief Lineage cultivators from the Seven Emotions Dao may be hiding in the Insectoid World. Their possible defection poses a major threat, especially if Heavenly Zither’s cultivation methods have been leaked.
• Yi Jue admits that publicly announcing the list of suspected cultivators may have been impulsive, but Qing Yao reassures her that the Thief Lineage’s behavior is notoriously unpredictable.
• The group travels to the Insectoid World passage rather than entering directly, where they meet Xiao Dong, the Venerable overseeing the passage. Xiao Dong acknowledges the seriousness of the situation and summons Jiu Si, the Seven Emotions Dao’s Venerable.
• Jiu Si congratulates Yi Jue on reaching the Soul Emergence Realm but complains that her actions have created difficulties for the Seven Emotions Dao. The group makes clear that they intend to investigate and arrest the suspected Thief Lineage cultivators.
• The group argues that the Thief Lineage members may have defected through the passage opened by the Two Sects. Because Huan Hai previously entered the Insectoid World, they suspect that some of the listed cultivators may already be there.
• Jiu Si reveals that he has long known the Thief Lineage was deeply established within the Seven Emotions Dao. He tolerated them as long as they cultivated discreetly and did not harm fellow disciples, but now admits that the situation has become impossible to ignore.
• Jiu Si asks to accompany the investigation, hoping to protect the interests of Seven Emotions Dao disciples. However, Qing Yao and the others remain suspicious that he might warn the suspects or shield them.
• Xiao Dong formally informs the Two Sects’ cultivators, emphasizing that the matter involves not only the Thief Lineage but also the possible leakage of Heavenly Zither’s cultivation techniques to the Human Federation.
• With the Two Sects’ cooperation and Jiu Si’s unwillingness—or inability—to interfere, the group conducts a two-month arrest operation. They capture only two True Immortals, despite eleven suspected Thief Lineage True Immortals having entered the Insectoid World.

Character Developments

• Yi Jue shows some self-doubt about releasing the list but quickly regains her resolve. Her recent advancement to the Soul Emergence Realm has increased both her authority and the scale of the problems surrounding her.
• Jiu Si is portrayed as hesitant and conflicted. He knows the Thief Lineage has long been entrenched in his sect, yet he has deliberately tolerated them to avoid disrupting other disciples’ cultivation. Although he wants to defend his sect, he recognizes that the danger has become too serious to dismiss.
• Qing Yao takes an uncompromising stance, treating the Thief Lineage as enemies of all cultivators and arguing that defectors should be executed. She distrusts Jiu Si and insists that the investigation cannot be restrained merely to protect Seven Emotions Dao disciples.
• Xiao Dong acts pragmatically and responsibly. He supports the investigation because a defection through the Two Sects’ passage would damage their reputation and endanger Heavenly Zither.
• Feng Jun and the other Venerables reinforce the idea that the issue is not limited to internal sect politics but concerns the security of the entire cultivation civilization.

Significant Themes

• Loyalty versus sectarian responsibility: Jiu Si must choose between protecting his disciples and acknowledging the danger posed by the Thief Lineage.
• The danger of hidden corruption: The Thief Lineage’s long-standing infiltration shows how tolerated behavior can grow into a deeply rooted threat.
• Interworld conflict and cultural survival: The possibility that Heavenly Zither’s cultivation methods have reached the Human Federation raises fears of a future conflict between two rapidly developing human civilizations.
• Suspicion and imperfect justice: The group accepts that some arrests may be mistaken, believing that allowing even one dangerous defector to escape could be disastrous.
• Factional unity under external threat: Though family and sect cultivators frequently distrust one another, they recognize that the Federation represents a far greater common danger.

Character Interactions

• Yi Jue and Qing Yao share a moment in which Qing Yao comforts Yi Jue and helps restore her confidence.
• Yi Jue exchanges polite but pointed remarks with Xiao Dong, subtly reminding him that she and Feng Jun helped create the Energy Conversion Formation benefiting the Insectoid World.
• Jiu Si attempts to negotiate restraint, but Qing Yao, Xuanyuan Buqi, Vast Sea, and the Jiang Family’s Venerable confront him directly.
• The Jiang Family’s Venerable and Xuanyuan Buqi openly accuse the Seven Emotions Dao of serving as the Thief Lineage’s headquarters, while Jiu Si can only respond defensively.
• Xiao Dong mediates between the factions by insisting that the issue must be treated as a matter of collective security and by arranging cooperation from the Two Sects.
• Jiu Si ultimately joins the operation only under suspicion, reflecting the group’s lack of trust in both his judgment and his sect’s past tolerance of the Thief Lineage.

Chapter Summary: “Hidden Dangers”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Eleven True Immortals from the Seven Emotions Dao, all secretly affiliated with the Thief Lineage, fled into the Insectoid World after the Asuras exposed the organization.
• Jiu Si the Venerable had previously ignored their arrival, assuming they were merely seeking a place to hide. He now realizes that their actions may constitute betrayal of the Heavenly Zither Cultivators and that the Seven Emotions Dao has been deeply compromised.
• Feng Jun and the allied Venerables capture two Thief Lineage True Immortals in the Insectoid World. Because of the group’s past experience with the Thief Lineage, the prisoners are heavily restrained and prevented from committing suicide or escaping.
• Jiu Si requests control over the interrogation because the prisoners are members of the Seven Emotions Dao. The other Venerables distrust the Seven Emotions Dao and insist that the captives be interrogated or subjected to Soul Search under outside supervision.
• Qingyao and Yi Jue pressure Jiu Si to resolve the matter internally, comparing it to the Spirit Plant Dao’s recent, often brutal, internal rectification of its own faction. Jiu Si reluctantly agrees.
• The two prisoners respond differently: one offers information before the Soul Search, while the other claims to protect fellow disciples by warning that restrictions might be triggered. In practice, he offers little resistance.
• Soul Searching reveals that both are mid-level Thief Lineage members and provides numerous names. The Seven Emotions Dao represents slightly less than half of the known members, while the rest come from various other forces.
• Jiu Si laments the Seven Emotions Dao’s losses, but Xuanyuan Buqi angrily points out that his own family was also harmed after being targeted by Thief Lineage members.
• The group continues capturing Thief Lineage members, particularly lower-level reserve members. Other forces cooperate, leading to a much higher capture rate over the following ten days.
• Feng Jun confirms that Kuxin the Venerable has likely learned of the arrests. Since Thief Lineage members can silently notify a Venerable by mentally reciting his name, Kuxin is expected to flee.
• The group discovers that some Thief Lineage members may escape to the Insectoid World, join the Human Federation, or even defect to the Insectoids, demonstrating the organization’s lack of moral restraint.
• Xuanyuan Buqi kills a captured Lesser Gold Core cultivator in disgust, while Qian Zhong reports that Kuxin repeatedly evades their deductions. Yi Jue suspects that Kuxin intends to leave Heavenly Zither entirely.

Character Developments

• Jiu Si the Venerable moves from passive negligence to reluctant acknowledgment of the Seven Emotions Dao’s responsibility. He recognizes that his former refusal to investigate the refugees allowed the Thief Lineage to spread and that the scandal may damage or divide his entire faction.
• Yi Jue demonstrates political caution and maturity. Rather than speaking rashly, she asks Qingyao to state her position first, then supports an internal resolution once she understands its implications.
• Qingyao the Venerable acts forcefully and pragmatically. She is willing to pressure Jiu Si and suggests that the Seven Emotions Dao handle its own corruption, partly because she believes Feng Jun may be connected to her opportunity to reach the Spirit Division Realm.
• Xuanyuan Buqi remains blunt, aggressive, and resentful. He rejects Jiu Si’s attempt to frame the Xuanyuan Family’s losses as partly deserved and insists that his family was also an innocent victim.
• Feng Jun and the allied Venerables become more coordinated and cautious in dealing with the Thief Lineage, applying lessons from previous encounters to prevent escape or self-destruction.
• Kuxin the Venerable emerges as highly vigilant and resourceful. Though he is not directly captured, he repeatedly escapes deduction and is expected to abandon Heavenly Zither.

Significant Themes

• Betrayal and moral corruption: The central danger is not merely the Thief Lineage’s crimes but its willingness to betray Humanity, abandon loyalties, and defect to hostile powers.
• Institutional responsibility: Jiu Si’s failure to question the refugees shows how indifference and factional protection can allow corruption to spread.
• Factional complicity and collective punishment: Although many Seven Emotions Dao members are involved, the entire Dao risks being condemned because of the actions of a significant minority.
• Pragmatism versus loyalty: The characters debate whether the prisoners should be protected as fellow disciples or treated as enemies whose information must be extracted.
• The consequences of unchecked ambition: The Thief Lineage’s pursuit of freedom and survival has destroyed trust among the major forces and placed all of its members under suspicion.
• Differences between cultivation realms: True Immortals and lower-level cultivators have much more to lose by leaving Heavenly Zither, while Soul Emergence Venerables can benefit from exploring other worlds because their future advancement depends less on a single world’s environment.

Character Interactions

• Jiu Si versus the allied Venerables: Jiu Si tries to retain authority over the prisoners, but Wei Sancai and the Jiang Family Venerable openly challenge the integrity of the Seven Emotions Dao.
• Jiu Si and Qingyao/Yi Jue: Qingyao pressures him to accept outside demands and repair the problem internally; Yi Jue follows her lead and supports the arrangement.
• Jiu Si and the captured True Immortals: He appeals to their identity as Seven Emotions Dao disciples, asking them not to resist and worsen the faction’s situation. Their contrasting responses reveal divided loyalties.
• Jiu Si and Xuanyuan Buqi: Xuanyuan Buqi harshly rejects Jiu Si’s attempt to justify the Seven Emotions Dao’s role in the Xuanyuan Family’s losses, forcing Jiu Si to stop evading responsibility.
• Xuanyuan Buqi and the captured cultivators: His violent reaction to the Lesser Gold Core cultivator reflects his disgust toward those willing to betray Humanity.
• Yi Jue, Qian Zhong, and the group: They discuss Kuxin’s continued escapes and the likelihood that he will flee Heavenly Zither, reinforcing the sense that the investigation is expanding beyond the Seven Emotions Dao.

Chapter Summary: “Couldn't Hold Back Anymore”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Kuxin Venerable has abandoned Heavenly Zither and gone into hiding after his connection to the Thief Lineage was exposed. The other Venerables debate whether he might eventually return, though most expect him to remain hidden or perish while seeking advancement.
• Feng Jun asks whether Kuxin’s disciples have been detained. He wants to use their Causal Lines to locate and deduce Kuxin’s whereabouts, not to hold them hostage.
• Jiu Si resists arresting all of Kuxin’s disciples, arguing that they are not Thief Lineage cultivators, many are fighting on the front lines, and Kuxin has not been conclusively judged.
• Feng Jun and the others provoke Kuxin through deliberate insults and accusations. Their goal is to disturb his emotions and force him to reveal himself.
• The most effective accusation concerns the karma Kuxin may bear if the Thief Lineage’s cultivation arts are leaked to the Human Federation, the Insectoid World, or the Asura World.
• Feng Jun argues that Kuxin, as the long-time controller of the Thief Lineage and a member of the Seven Emotions Dao, cannot escape responsibility for the actions of its cultivators.
• The hidden “big shot” detects unusual Soul Emergence Divine Thought and confirms that Kuxin has been located.
• Kuxin manifests as a phantom of Divine Thought and confronts Feng Jun. He angrily blames Feng Jun’s pursuit for creating the current crisis.
• With Kuxin exposed and unable to escape because powerful cultivators surround him, Jiu Si agrees that Kuxin’s disciples must be apprehended.
• Kuxin’s internal reasoning reveals why he finally appeared: insults and accusations alone could not shake him, but the possibility of bearing enormous plane-wide karma over leaked cultivation arts became unbearable.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun demonstrates strategic boldness and psychological insight. Rather than relying solely on force or deduction, he identifies Kuxin’s deepest fear—karma—and uses it to draw him out.
• Kuxin Venerable is revealed as cautious, calculating, and highly knowledgeable about karma. He had successfully hidden for a long time and believed leaving the Thief Lineage would limit his responsibility, but Feng Jun’s argument undermines that confidence.
• Jiu Si Venerable continues to act as the most procedural and protective figure among the group. He initially defends Kuxin’s disciples’ right to avoid collective punishment but changes position once the possible connection to the Asura World and the scale of the karma become clear.
• Yi Jue shows growing understanding of Feng Jun’s intentions and cooperates with his baiting strategy, adding credible accusations about Kuxin’s responsibility.
• Xuanyuan Buqi remains openly hostile toward Kuxin and rejects any attempt to shift blame onto those pursuing the Thief Lineage.
• Qian Zhong and the other Venerables reinforce the psychological pressure through mockery and comments about the Thief Lineage’s recklessness.
• Jiu Si’s private reaction suggests concern that Feng Jun is becoming increasingly formidable as his abilities and influence develop.

Significant Themes

• Responsibility and collective karma: The chapter questions whether a leader can escape responsibility by formally separating from an organization whose actions were enabled under his control.
• Causality and perception: Karma is presented as both an objective force and something shaped by collective belief, accusation, and the strength of causal connections.
• Justice versus procedure: Jiu Si favors formal fairness and individual judgment, while Feng Jun prioritizes practical justice based on evidence and logical responsibility.
• Psychological warfare: Feng Jun defeats Kuxin’s concealment not through direct combat but by identifying the one subject he cannot emotionally ignore.
• The consequences of power: The Thief Lineage’s willingness to spread cultivation methods beyond Heavenly Zither risks consequences affecting the entire plane, showing how individual ambitions can create civilization-wide danger.
• Fear beneath caution: Kuxin’s extreme caution is not simple cowardice; it is a deliberate survival strategy. Nevertheless, his fear of unbearable karma ultimately overrides that strategy.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Yi Jue display tacit cooperation as she recognizes and supports his attempt to lure Kuxin out.
• Feng Jun clashes ideologically with Jiu Si over whether Kuxin’s disciples should be detained without definitive proof.
• Xuanyuan Buqi aggressively challenges Kuxin’s attempt to blame the pursuers for the Thief Lineage’s crisis.
• Kuxin directly confronts Feng Jun, accusing him of causing the escalation, while Feng Jun calmly redirects the blame toward Kuxin’s leadership and responsibility.
• The gathered Venerables collectively pressure Kuxin through insults, accusations, and discussion of his karma, while the hidden big shot guides Feng Jun by reporting Kuxin’s reactions.
• Kuxin’s appearance marks the success of their coordinated psychological and causal strategy: he could endure mockery, but not the possibility that the entire Heavenly Zither Plane would hold him responsible for the Thief Lineage’s actions.

Chapter Summary: “Old Grudges”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Kuxin Venerable appears before Xuanyuan Buqi, Feng Jun, and Yi Jue because the Thief Lineage’s suspected involvement in the Insectoid World and Asura World has caused karma to accumulate around him.
• Feng Jun’s reasoning has made Kuxin a likely target: since he is believed to be the last surviving Thief Lineage Venerable, public suspicion could amplify the karma attached to him, even if he was not directly responsible.
• Kuxin confirms that the Thief Lineage has produced no new Venerable. He argues that he cannot be blamed for the actions of Thief Lineage cultivators outside the Seven Emotions Dao, especially since he has not managed the lineage for many years.
• Xuanyuan Buqi accuses the Thief Lineage of helping establish influence in the Asura World and of being connected to the people who stole the Xuanyuan Family’s coordinate point. Kuxin admits that the Seven Emotions Dao discovered the world first and knew of its danger, but denies personally initiating or approving the later dealings.
• Kuxin refuses to accept responsibility for the Xuanyuan Family’s losses and prepares to leave. Xuanyuan Buqi threatens to attack him, leading to a tense but verbally restrained confrontation.
• Kuxin shifts the conversation toward Yi Jue, revealing that one of his former disciples, Ming Xuan, once helped save Yi Jue during the dangerous Nanwan Illusion Realm incident.
• Ming Xuan had secretly warned the Spirit Plant Dao about Yi Jue’s danger rather than intervening directly, because she was carrying out a Thief Lineage mission and could not reveal herself.
• Yi Jue learns that the mysterious aid she had spent centuries investigating came from a Thief Lineage cultivator. Kuxin explains that Ming Xuan acted because Thief Lineage members still followed certain principles and would help a fellow member of the Eighteen Daos.

Character Developments

• Kuxin Venerable: He is shown as politically cautious, argumentative, and skilled at distancing himself from collective blame. Though he refuses to acknowledge the Xuanyuan Family’s “debt,” he reveals genuine knowledge of the Thief Lineage’s history and its internal rules. His pride and temper also emerge when he refuses to submit to Xuanyuan Buqi’s intimidation.
• Xuanyuan Buqi: He acts aggressively and bluntly, pressuring Kuxin through both threats and clever verbal traps. His primary goal is to identify whoever stole the Xuanyuan Family’s coordinate point, but he also resents the Thief Lineage’s apparent irresponsibility.
• Yi Jue: Initially skeptical and emotionally detached, Yi Jue becomes visibly affected when Kuxin mentions the Nanwan Illusion Realm. She finally receives an answer to a long-standing mystery concerning the person who saved her, though the exact identity of that person remains uncertain.
• Ming Xuan: Although already dead, she becomes an important off-screen presence. She was Kuxin’s only disciple in the Thief Lineage and was intended to inherit it. Her actions demonstrate that she possessed both loyalty and moral restraint.
• Feng Jun: His earlier analysis continues to shape the confrontation. By explaining the connection between Kuxin and the Thief Lineage so clearly, he has helped intensify the karma and political pressure surrounding Kuxin.

Significant Themes

• Karma and public belief: The chapter emphasizes that karma can be magnified when large numbers of people accept a particular interpretation of guilt, even if the accused person is only indirectly connected to the event.
• Collective responsibility versus individual guilt: Kuxin repeatedly argues that he should not be held responsible for every Thief Lineage member, especially those acting outside his authority. The others counter that leadership and lineage traditions create obligations that cannot be dismissed so easily.
• Hidden histories and delayed revelations: Yi Jue’s old mystery is solved only after hundreds of years, showing how secrets and incomplete information shape relationships between powerful factions.
• Honor among morally ambiguous groups: Despite its criminal reputation, the Thief Lineage is portrayed as having rules and principles. Ming Xuan’s decision to save Yi Jue suggests that even thieves may feel solidarity and moral responsibility.
• Pride and verbal power: Much of the conflict is fought through accusations, sarcasm, and probing questions rather than direct combat. Both Xuanyuan Buqi and Kuxin rely on their tempers and rhetoric to avoid yielding.

Character Interactions

• Xuanyuan Buqi and Kuxin: Their exchange is openly hostile. Buqi presses Kuxin to admit responsibility, while Kuxin denies the debt and challenges Buqi’s assumptions. Their confrontation nearly becomes physical but remains primarily verbal.
• Feng Jun and Kuxin: Feng Jun’s blunt logic frustrates Kuxin because it exposes the connection between him and the Thief Lineage too convincingly to dismiss.
• Yi Jue and Kuxin: Their interaction begins with mutual skepticism but becomes more personal when Kuxin reveals Ming Xuan’s role in saving Yi Jue. Yi Jue questions him carefully, seeking to verify a mystery that has troubled her for centuries.
• Kuxin and Ming Xuan: Through Kuxin’s recollection, their mentor-disciple relationship is shown to have involved trust and succession plans. Ming Xuan’s death left the Thief Lineage without the successor Kuxin intended.
• Ming Xuan and Yi Jue: Though they never meet directly in the present, Ming Xuan’s past decision creates an unexpected connection between them and softens Yi Jue’s view of the Thief Lineage.

Chapter Summary: “The Reason for Its Existence”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Kuxin reveals the truth behind the mystery from four hundred years ago: Yi Jue’s benefactor was Ming Xuan, who has since fallen.
• Since Kuxin’s actions apparently did not alter causality, Qian Zhong confirms that his testimony is likely truthful.
• Yi Jue asks Feng Jun to decide how Kuxin should be treated. The group considers whether allowing Kuxin to live would properly repay the karmic debt owed to him.
• Qian Zhong and Qingyao offer to verify Kuxin’s account through causal deduction. Qingyao emphasizes that personal connections will not interfere with her judgment.
• Feng Jun refuses to simply pardon Kuxin. Instead, he asks Kuxin to explain the Thief Lineage and the origins of its involvement with the Asura World.
• Kuxin explains that the Thief Lineage is not solely a force of evil: it often exploits corrupt organizations and can prevent even greater chaos by occupying that role. However, Feng Jun insists that the organization has become too powerful and must be restrained.
• Kuxin recounts how the Seven Emotions Dao branch of the Thief Lineage entered the Asura World more than ten thousand years earlier. They discovered ruins belonging to ancient human cultivators but were unable to defeat the Asuras guarding them.
• To obtain the ruins, the Thief Lineage began slowly drawing the Asura World toward Heavenly Zither, intending to let other cultivators conquer the Asuras while they secretly plundered the remains.
• Several thousand years ago, a terrifying and mysterious being appeared, drove away or killed many Thief Lineage cultivators, and forced the Seven Emotions branch to withdraw.
• The being may have been a powerful human cultivator. Its existence was so dangerous that the Asura World became a forbidden zone to the Thief Lineage.
• Kuxin believes the Spirit Plant Dao later encountered this same being. Qian Zhong identifies the location as Iron Hammer King’s former base, which was ultimately destroyed.
• Qingyao confirms that Kuxin’s account contains no causal inconsistencies. The chapter ends with everyone waiting for Feng Jun’s final decision.

Character Developments

• Yi Jue: Her pride makes her uncomfortable with owing Kuxin a debt, especially one involving causality. She relies on Feng Jun’s judgment when emotionally conflicted.
• Feng Jun: Demonstrates balanced judgment. He does not blindly condemn the Thief Lineage, acknowledging its possible social function, but believes its growing power and recklessness require punishment or reform.
• Kuxin: Presents himself as a restrained former leader who tried to reform the Thief Lineage. He remains unwilling to betray the organization but cooperates by revealing information about the Asura World.
• Qian Zhong: Uses causal deduction to verify Kuxin’s honesty and provides important deductions about the mysterious being and Iron Hammer King’s base.
• Qingyao: Acts objectively despite her past acquaintance with Kuxin and the Thief Lineage’s previous harassment of the Profound Water Sect. She confirms the truth of Kuxin’s testimony.
• Xuanyuan Buqi: Although still resentful over the coordinate-point incident, he defers to Feng Jun and Yi Jue’s decision because of his trust in Feng Jun.
• Vast Sea: Initially argues that eliminating the Thief Lineage would reduce evil, though Kuxin challenges his simplistic view of human nature.

Significant Themes

• Justice versus repayment: The group must balance punishing Kuxin for the Thief Lineage’s crimes against repaying the debt owed for his past actions.
• The ambiguity of good and evil: The Thief Lineage is morally corrupt, yet Kuxin argues that it sometimes restrains worse forces by exploiting evil factions.
• Causality and responsibility: The characters rely on causal deduction to determine whether Kuxin is truthful and whether he is responsible for past disasters.
• Checks on power: Feng Jun accepts that the Thief Lineage may have a purpose but insists that no organization should become too powerful or uncontrollable.
• Human nature: Kuxin argues that evil exists independently of the Thief Lineage and that removing one organization would merely create a vacuum for another.
• Hidden human history: The Asura World contains ruins tied to ancient human powers, suggesting a larger mystery involving lost civilizations, forbidden zones, and powerful figures beyond the current characters’ understanding.

Important Character Interactions

• Yi Jue asks Feng Jun to resolve her conflict over Kuxin, showing her trust in his principles.
• Qian Zhong and Qingyao cooperate in verifying Kuxin, while Qingyao maintains emotional distance despite their shared history.
• Kuxin praises the younger generation, especially Vast Sea and Feng Jun, but Xuanyuan Buqi dismisses his self-importance.
• Feng Jun and Kuxin debate the Thief Lineage’s role, with Feng Jun accepting some of Kuxin’s reasoning while still demanding accountability.
• Qian Zhong and Kuxin collaborate indirectly to identify the mysterious location as Iron Hammer King’s base, providing the chapter’s final major revelation.

Chapter Summary: The Art of Lying (Second Update)

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun questions Venerable Kuxin about the cultivators who once operated outside the sect. Kuxin explains that a traitorous Venerable from the Youxiong Family was originally responsible, but disappeared later. Afterward, the unaffiliated Thief Lineage cultivators became leaderless until Qinghuo took control.
• Kuxin insists that he has already withdrawn from the Thief Lineage and is no longer responsible for its affairs. However, he acknowledges that he must prevent the Heavenly Zither Cultivation Method from being leaked.
• Feng Jun pressures Kuxin to locate and capture all Thief Lineage cultivators who fled into the Insectoid World, arguing that they might reveal the cultivation method. Kuxin objects that not every cultivator will necessarily betray the lineage, but Feng Jun uses the threat of karma to force him to reconsider.
• Kuxin eventually agrees to investigate the fugitives, though he complains that the others are imposing an exhausting responsibility on him. The group argues over how the captured cultivators should be treated. Yi Jue says they will at least be sent to mine, while the Jiang Family Venerable rejects the idea that cultivating “for cultivation’s sake” excuses their crimes.
• Feng Jun exposes Kuxin’s concealed intentions. Although Kuxin’s statements are technically truthful and his Causal Line shows no deception, he deliberately omits crucial information and misleads the group. This becomes the chapter’s central example of the “highest realm of lying.”
• Kuxin reveals that he can locate the fugitives but demands two conditions: the others must help capture them, and his identity must not be disclosed. Yi Jue rejects the first condition but is willing to consider the second.
• Qing Yao suggests that protecting Kuxin’s dignity may be acceptable, then immediately asks what he plans to do afterward, implying concern about whether he will return to or influence the Thief Lineage.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun demonstrates greater understanding of the Thief Lineage than Kuxin expected, especially its use of hidden marks and fallback arrangements. He skillfully turns Kuxin’s own concerns about karma against him.
• Venerable Kuxin is portrayed as evasive, pragmatic, and highly skilled at exploiting loopholes. Though he claims to have abandoned the Thief Lineage, his continued concern for its members reveals lingering responsibility and attachment. He ultimately submits because he wants to survive.
• Yi Jue shows mercy toward Kuxin because of his connection to Ming Xuan, but remains firm about requiring him to help resolve the threat.
• Xuanyuan Buqi becomes increasingly impatient with Kuxin’s resistance and openly threatens him, while also appreciating the sophistication of his deception.
• Qing Yao takes a diplomatic stance, balancing respect for a Venerable’s dignity with concern over his future intentions.
• Wei Sancai and the Jiang Family Venerable challenge Kuxin’s complaints and reject his attempts to shift blame for the Thief Lineage’s spread.

Significant Themes

• Truth versus deception: Kuxin does not utter an outright lie, yet his omissions create a false impression. The chapter emphasizes that deception can be achieved through selective truth rather than direct falsehood.
• Responsibility and karma: Kuxin argues that he no longer bears responsibility for the Thief Lineage, but the others insist that his former leadership and hidden influence still connect him to its actions.
• Power and coercion: Although the group frames its demands as negotiations, Kuxin is effectively forced to cooperate through threats of karma and death.
• Identity and reputation: Kuxin’s request for secrecy highlights the importance of dignity and public perception among powerful cultivators, especially one who once led the Thief Lineage and later opposed it.
• Moral ambiguity: The group debates whether all Thief Lineage cultivators deserve punishment, recognizing that some may be merely misguided practitioners rather than deliberate criminals.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Kuxin engage in a tense verbal contest, with Feng Jun gradually cornering him through carefully framed questions.
• Kuxin attempts to redirect responsibility toward Qinghuo, but Feng Jun and the others refuse to let him escape accountability.
• Xuanyuan Buqi and the Jiang Family Venerable confront Kuxin aggressively, while Yi Jue acts as the final authority in deciding his fate.
• Feng Jun, Qian Zhong, and Xuanyuan Buqi identify and comment on Kuxin’s sophisticated method of lying, reinforcing the chapter’s focus on manipulation through technically accurate statements.
• Qing Yao’s final question—what Kuxin intends to do after his dignity is preserved—shifts the discussion from his immediate cooperation to the larger threat posed by his future actions.

Chapter Summary: Mortal World Calamity — Third Update

Key Plot Points and Events

• Venerable Kuxin negotiates for his survival after his connection to the Thief Lineage is exposed. He asks that his status remain undisclosed and that the other Thief Lineage cultivators be spared.
• Qing Yao agrees to Kuxin’s second condition, while Hanhai follows her lead. Xuanyuan Buqi withholds judgment, leaving Kuxin’s future uncertain.
• Yi Jue refuses to guarantee the survival of the Thief Lineage members, saying they must prove they deserve to live. The Jiang Family Venerable argues that all Thief Lineage cultivators should die, but Yi Jue maintains that some may deserve a chance.
• Feng Jun demands that the Thief Lineage’s middle-ranking organizational structure on the Heavenly Zither Plane be destroyed and that all of its training camps be eliminated. The camps are revealed to be brutal systems for producing cultivators through bloodshed.
• Kuxin accepts that he has lost and cooperates. With Feng Jun’s assistance, he enters the Insectoid World and provides Yi Jue with an obsidian record identifying Thief Lineage cultivators he can sense.
• The information includes even Gold Core cultivators who joined long after Kuxin entered seclusion, demonstrating that the Thief Lineage uses an ancient, tree-structured control system.
• Yi Jue and the others debate whether to warn the Venerables before beginning the purge. Yi Jue initially intends to act without notification, remembering that previous warnings allowed suspects to flee.
• At Feng Jun’s suggestion, Yi Jue compromises: she informs the Venerables that the purge’s next stage will begin but withholds the names of the targets and asks them not to spread the information.
• Most Venerables accept the decision and ask only that family members be spared if possible. The Luo Family, however, volunteers to participate directly, claiming the Thief Lineage previously targeted its Small Realm.

Character Developments

• Kuxin shifts from attempting to manipulate the negotiations to acknowledging defeat. His admission that the Thief Lineage’s rapid cultivation carried hidden dangers marks a reluctant acceptance of responsibility, though it is motivated more by misjudging the Mortal World Calamity than by genuine remorse.
• Yi Jue demonstrates firm authority and pragmatism. She offers conditional mercy but refuses to make unconditional promises. Her willingness to revise her plan after Feng Jun’s advice also shows that she values practical political considerations.
• Feng Jun acts as the group’s strategic thinker and mediator. He proposes the destruction of the Thief Lineage’s organizational core and training camps, then suggests a diplomatic compromise concerning the other Venerables.
• Xuanyuan Buqi remains suspicious and confrontational toward Kuxin, accusing him of trying to mislead the group, but he also emphasizes that Kuxin’s attitude will determine whether cooperation remains possible.
• The Jiang Family Venerable is driven by personal grief and anger after killing his own family’s genius, whom the Thief Lineage had corrupted. His desire for total extermination conflicts with Yi Jue’s more measured approach.
• Luo Yuanhua eagerly seeks a role in the operation, partly out of concern for the Heavenly Zither Plane and partly from rivalry with the other major families.

Significant Themes

• Justice versus mercy: The group debates whether membership in the Thief Lineage is enough to warrant death or whether individuals should be judged by their own actions.
• Atonement and responsibility: Kuxin’s cooperation is framed as repayment for the damage caused by the lineage, though his motives remain morally ambiguous.
• The danger of corrupt institutions: Destroying the training camps and middle ranks reflects the need to eliminate the systems that reproduce violence, not merely punish individual members.
• Trust and manipulation: Kuxin’s attempted deception makes the others wary, while the negotiations show that cooperation depends heavily on attitude and credibility.
• Political diplomacy: Yi Jue’s revised plan balances secrecy with courtesy, preventing the major families from feeling disregarded while reducing the chance that suspects will escape.
• Hidden consequences of cultivation paths: The Thief Lineage’s methods offer rapid advancement but create severe karmic and organizational dangers.

Character Interactions

• Qing Yao and Hanhai support Kuxin’s limited request, while Xuanyuan Buqi keeps him under suspicion.
• Yi Jue directly challenges both Kuxin’s demands and the Jiang Family Venerable’s call for indiscriminate execution.
• Xuanyuan Buqi and the Jiang Family Venerable jointly confront Kuxin over his earlier attempt to mislead them, although Xuanyuan later adopts a more balanced position.
• Feng Jun and Yi Jue develop a practical working dynamic: Yi Jue relies on his judgment, even as Feng Jun privately resents being treated as a convenient tool.
• The Venerables respond to Yi Jue’s notification with cautious cooperation, revealing their willingness to tolerate harsh action so long as their families are treated with consideration.
• The Luo Family’s offer to participate introduces an element of competition among the major families, particularly irritating the Ji Family Venerable.

Chapter Summary: “Casting the Net”

Key Plot Points and Events

• With Luo Yuanhua joining the operation, Feng Jun’s alliance expands to seven Venerables and two True Lords. They divide into nine teams to hunt down known members of the Thief Lineage throughout Heavenly Zither and its Lower Realms.
• Feng Jun partners with the Jiang Family Venerable, while the sect-affiliated Venerables—Yi Jue, Qing Yao, and Hanhai—deal with Thief Lineage members connected to sects.
• The Jiang Family Venerable is the sole remaining Venerable of a declining ancient family. He is furious that a talented family junior joined the Thief Lineage and is concerned that the family’s weakened reputation may make the operation less efficient.
• Feng Jun chooses to accompany him, despite concerns from Yi Jue and the True Lords. His presence, combined with the Venerable’s authority, proves extremely effective. Most forces cooperate immediately once they recognize either the Venerable or “Master Feng of Libo Shoal.”
• While helping capture Thief Lineage members, Feng Jun is frequently asked to perform Deduction services. He accepts, but charges discounted fees rather than working for free.
• Over more than half a year, the operation captures over ten thousand Thief Lineage members, including nearly a thousand important figures, destroys almost a hundred training camps, and rescues more than forty thousand people.
• Venerable Kuxin separately searches the enormous Insectoid World and captures more than 120 members, though roughly ten die. He eventually claims that no known Thief Lineage cultivators remain there.
• Only two low-level cultivators on the original lists remain missing. Yi Jue blocks them from entering other controlled worlds and places bounties on them.
• The crackdown severely damages the Thief Lineage, making its resurgence unlikely for one or two thousand years.
• Interrogations follow. More than half of the captives are executed, most of the rest receive punishment, and only a tiny minority are judged nearly innocent.
• The chapter ends by raising the unresolved issue of how Venerable Kuxin should be punished.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun demonstrates growing confidence and independence. He rejects the image of being merely a vulnerable Gold Core cultivator, pointing out that he can escape most dangers and has powerful protection through Bamboo Gentleman.
• His cooperation with the Jiang Family Venerable strengthens their mutual trust. The Venerable is surprised that Feng Jun is willing to travel with him and recognizes Feng Jun’s sincerity.
• Feng Jun’s reputation expands dramatically. People across Heavenly Zither witness his ability to perform miraculous Deductions and revive individuals believed to be beyond saving.
• Despite enjoying his rising fame, Feng Jun becomes conflicted: greater recognition brings more customers and work. He realizes that while personal fame is burdensome, expanding Libo Shoal’s influence is necessary for its long-term survival.
• The Jiang Family Venerable is portrayed as proud, angry, and anxious about his declining family. His partnership with Feng Jun compensates for the family’s weakened prestige.
• Yi Jue is displeased that Feng Jun does not accompany her, but respects his decision and avoids openly challenging Bamboo Gentleman or the mystery surrounding his condition.
• Venerable Kuxin becomes increasingly suspicious. Feng Jun suspects he intentionally allowed some captives to die, suggesting that his methods may have been harsher or more politically motivated than those of the other teams.

Significant Themes

• Power and reputation: Authority is not based solely on cultivation. The combination of the Jiang Family Venerable’s status and Feng Jun’s reputation is much more effective than either working alone.
• Decline and legacy: The Jiang Family’s weakening influence contrasts with the ancient strength and enduring threat of the Thief Lineage.
• Faith and organization: The Thief Lineage is dangerous not simply because of its numbers, but because of its ancient inheritance, secret arts, strong organization, and ideological faith.
• The cost of fame: Feng Jun wants Libo Shoal to become influential, yet greater fame threatens to overwhelm him with demands.
• Justice and punishment: The mass interrogations and executions raise moral and political questions, culminating in the unresolved matter of Kuxin’s own punishment.
• Expansion and preparation: Feng Jun recognizes that Libo Shoal cannot rely on him forever and must develop broader foundations and capable successors.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun’s discussions with Yi Jue and the two True Lords reveal that they genuinely worry about him, though they still underestimate his actual capabilities.
• Feng Jun and the Jiang Family Venerable develop an effective working partnership based on trust and complementary strengths.
• Local factions eagerly cooperate with the Venerable but often try to keep Feng Jun behind to obtain personal Deductions, creating a recurring tension between the official mission and private requests.
• Feng Jun maintains a polite compromise by offering discounted rather than free services.
• Yi Jue takes administrative action against the two remaining fugitives by restricting their access to other worlds and issuing bounties.
• The final focus shifts from cooperation among the hunters to internal judgment of the captured Thief Lineage members—especially the question of whether Kuxin’s conduct warrants punishment.

Chapter Summary: “Breaking Them One by One”

Plot and Major Events

After observing Venerable Kuxin for over six months, Feng Jun and the other powerful cultivators assess his history and conduct as leader of the Thief Lineage. Kuxin is recognized as an aggressive, morally questionable cultivator who cultivated Desire and Anger. However, during his leadership, he redirected the Thief Lineage away from indiscriminate robbery and toward attacking evil factions and other criminals. He also reaffirmed the principle that the Lineage should oppose unjust systems rather than humanity itself.
Despite these reforms, the Thief Lineage continued harming ordinary cultivators, became increasingly corrupt, and even engaged in activities such as operating brothels. Because Kuxin was responsible for the organization, he still deserved punishment. On the other hand, he had captured every Thief Lineage member who fled into the Insectoid World, greatly contributing to Heavenly Zither’s stability. His disciple Ming Xuan had also once helped Yi Jue, further supporting the case for sparing his life. The nine decision-makers ultimately agree that Kuxin’s merits and faults roughly balance, though they do not want to pardon him without compensation.
Kuxin then negotiates with each of them individually. He first approaches the Jiang Family Venerable, who deeply resents him. Kuxin offers two sets of ancient formations in exchange for his support. The Jiang Family Venerable accepts, partly because of his family’s passion for formations and partly because Kuxin’s desire to settle his karmic ties convinces him of Kuxin’s sincerity.
Luo Yuanhua demands information about the death of a Luo Family elder from eight thousand years earlier, seeking the truth rather than revenge. Kuxin cannot answer because the matter is unrelated to the Thief Lineage, but Venerable Jiu Si and the Seven Emotions Dao investigate and provide the truth with evidence. Luo Yuanhua is satisfied and agrees to spare Kuxin.
Kuxin successfully persuades the other great powers one by one, leaving only Feng Jun. Feng Jun claims that he has no voting authority and that Yi Jue’s position represents his own. Kuxin insists Feng Jun’s opinion matters because he can influence the others and may be needed to defend Kuxin in the future. When Kuxin asks Feng Jun to name his price, Feng Jun brings up the Immortal-Slaying Gourd.

Character Development

• Venerable Kuxin: Reveals a more calculating but also more reflective side. He acknowledges his past responsibilities and seeks to resolve his karmic debts so he can remain in Heavenly Zither openly. Rather than relying on force, he uses resources, information, and personal relationships to secure forgiveness. His emotional insight and willingness to compensate others suggest possible progress toward advancing his Spirit Division Realm.
• Jiang Family Venerable: Though hostile toward Kuxin because of past grievances, he is persuaded by the offer of rare formation inheritances. His passion for formations and concern for his family’s interests outweigh his personal resentment.
• Luo Yuanhua: Demonstrates the importance of historical truth and ancestor honor. He is willing to spare Kuxin in exchange for clarifying an old family disgrace, emphasizing that truth and preserving family history matter even without the possibility of revenge.
• Venerable Jiu Si: Supports Kuxin’s rehabilitation, partly because Kuxin’s change benefits the reputation of the Seven Emotions Dao. He mobilizes the sect’s resources to uncover the truth for Luo Yuanhua.
• Feng Jun: Remains cautious and self-effacing, denying that he has meaningful influence. Nevertheless, Kuxin sees him as strategically important and saves him for last. Feng Jun’s final request introduces a potentially significant new negotiation.

Themes

• Justice versus redemption: Kuxin’s crimes cannot be erased, but his later contributions complicate the question of punishment.
• Merit and fault: The chapter examines whether major contributions can offset serious wrongdoing, especially when someone bears responsibility for an entire organization.
• Karma and emotional cultivation: Kuxin believes unresolved karmic ties invite future calamity. Settling old obligations becomes both a moral act and a means of spiritual advancement.
• Power through negotiation: Kuxin avoids confrontation and instead trades resources, information, and influence to secure support.
• History and ancestor worship: Luo Yuanhua’s demand shows that preserving the truth about the past can be as important as future prosperity.
• Institutional decline: The Thief Lineage’s transformation from an anti-injustice movement into a more self-interested and corrupt organization illustrates how long-lived institutions lose their original ideals.

Character Interactions

• Kuxin negotiates directly with the Jiang Family Venerable, exchanging two ancient formation sets for his support.
• He benefits from the past relationship between his deceased disciple Ming Xuan and Yi Jue.
• Venerable Jiu Si intervenes on Kuxin’s behalf, using the Seven Emotions Dao’s authority and resources to resolve Luo Yuanhua’s demand.
• Kuxin and Feng Jun have a tense but lightly humorous exchange over Feng Jun’s importance and influence. Kuxin insists Feng Jun matters more than Yi Jue, while Feng Jun denies having such authority.
• The chapter ends with Feng Jun naming the Immortal-Slaying Gourd as the condition for his support, setting up the next negotiation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun asks Venerable Kuxin about the “Immortal-Slaying Gourd,” which Kuxin recognizes as the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger, a weapon associated with the mysterious cultivator Lu Ya.
• Kuxin reveals that the Thief Lineage once attempted to rob Lu Ya. Lu Ya retaliated by killing their supervising Venerable with the flying dagger. A second Venerable who tried to curse Lu Ya was struck by a counter-curse and died within forty-nine days.
• Feng Jun learns that Lu Ya may have previously stayed in three major worlds, likely because of karma or an opportunity. Two of those worlds overlap with World Markers given to Feng Jun by the Guardians.
• Feng Jun vaguely confirms that Lu Ya is at least at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, horrifying Kuxin and reinforcing how reckless the Thief Lineage had been.
• Kuxin promises to investigate Lu Ya’s whereabouts. Although Feng Jun says the information is not essential, Kuxin becomes determined to provide useful clues.
• The dismantling of the Thief Lineage continues. Interrogating prisoners and sorting out its many industries and connections to powerful factions may take several years. Yi Jue assigns the cleanup to the Spirit Plant Dao rather than handling it personally.
• Feng Jun returns to Libo Shoal, where his activities have increased its reputation and attracted more cultivators, helping stabilize its declining population and Kindred-Path Aura.
• After resting and clearing accumulated Deduction requests, Feng Jun consults the Guardians. They advise him to treat Lu Ya respectfully, especially because Feng Jun carries Blue Star’s aura, but refuse to explain the deeper meaning of the World Markers.
• Feng Jun inspects the Space Bubble in Chaori County and supplies Luohua with Energy Stones. Blue Star’s energy consumption is rising, but Xia Nation is beginning to show early signs of spiritual-energy recovery.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun demonstrates caution and diplomacy. He deliberately withholds information about Lu Ya’s true background and cultivation while trying to learn more from Kuxin.
• His attitude toward Lu Ya is a mixture of curiosity, respect, and concern, particularly because Lu Ya may be connected to Blue Star’s surviving powerful figures.
• Venerable Kuxin is revealed to be deeply traumatized by the Thief Lineage’s past encounter with Lu Ya. His survival instincts make him wary of investigating Lu Ya, but Feng Jun’s casual attitude pushes him to search for clues anyway.
• Kuxin also appears more cooperative and sincere, wanting to prove that his promise to help Feng Jun is not empty.
• Yi Jue shows her pragmatic temperament by delegating the lengthy Thief Lineage cleanup instead of personally wasting time on administrative complications.
• The Guardians remain secretive. They reassure Feng Jun about Lu Ya but clearly conceal the real importance of the World Markers.

Significant Themes

• The danger of underestimating powerful beings: The Thief Lineage’s attempt to rob Lu Ya leads to the death of one Venerable and the eventual death of another through a curse backlash.
• Caution and survival: Kuxin’s refusal to investigate Lu Ya recklessly reflects the Thief Lineage’s hard-earned understanding that excessive curiosity can be fatal.
• Hidden truths and incomplete knowledge: Feng Jun, Kuxin, and the Guardians all possess partial information, while the significance of Lu Ya and the World Markers remains concealed.
• Rebuilding and responsibility: The chapter contrasts grand mysteries with the practical work of managing the Thief Lineage’s confiscated assets and restoring Blue Star’s spiritual environment.
• Hope for Blue Star’s revival: Feng Jun’s continued support through Energy Stones is gradually producing measurable signs of spiritual-energy recovery.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun questions Kuxin about Lu Ya and carefully controls how much he reveals.
• Kuxin recounts the Thief Lineage’s disastrous confrontation with Lu Ya, creating a shared understanding of Lu Ya’s terrifying power.
• Feng Jun and Kuxin negotiate indirectly: Feng Jun claims the information is unimportant, while Kuxin interprets this as doubt and becomes more determined to help.
• Feng Jun consults the Guardians about Lu Ya and the World Markers, but they provide only limited reassurance and deliberately vague answers.
• Feng Jun continues coordinating with Yi Jue, Luohua, and the Guardians while balancing personal investigations with the broader tasks of rebuilding and protecting Blue Star.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Life Potions become hugely popular, but Feng Jun has lost interest in them and leaves their management to Luohua’s other members.
• Luohua discovers faint spiritual energy emerging from places that lack Spirit-Gathering Arrays or Energy Conversion Formations.
• The most notable case is Weiyu Grotto-Heaven, once a major sacred site but now heavily developed into residential land. Despite its destruction, spiritual energy begins seeping from underground.
• Feng Jun investigates and uses Deduction to determine that the phenomenon is the lingering “resonance” of the former Grotto-Heaven. The remaining Spirit Plant Garden likely helped preserve its foundation.
• He visits Jade Sect Grotto-Heaven, ranked first among the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, and finds that it too is experiencing spiritual energy revival—more strongly than Weiyu—though neither site can return to its former glory.
• Feng Jun decides not to pursue his old conflict with Jade Sect, recognizing that the coming spiritual revival and the Blue Star Realm’s changing order require the Daoist sects to remain united.
• Beauty Lin seeks clarification about whether Weiyu Grotto-Heaven should be reclaimed. Mei Jin explains that the boss confirms it is part of the spiritual energy revival but refuses to advise Luohua on how to act.
• Mei Jin cryptically tells her, “The bloom fades from the mirror, the flowers leave the tree,” suggesting that Feng Jun and Luohua’s relationship with the mortal world is changing.
• Feng Jun returns to the Insectoid World to continue mining Energy Stones. The rising value of Asura has made cultivators less willing to work there, creating a labor shortage.
• To solve the manpower problem, Feng Jun negotiates for convicted cultivators from the Wood Spirit Dao to perform mining labor as a form of atonement. The arrangements take nearly two months, while Feng Jun continues searching for additional Mineral Planets.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun has become more detached from mundane commercial matters and more focused on large-scale developments involving spiritual energy, the future of the world, and Energy Stone supplies. His growth into a Half-Step Nascent Soul cultivator is reflected in his greater tolerance and willingness to set aside past grudges.
• Flower Flower remains emotionally attached to the old sacred sites. Her excitement at visiting Weiyu Grotto-Heaven turns into disappointment when she sees how thoroughly it has been transformed.
• Beauty Lin is increasingly concerned about Luohua’s changing relationship with Feng Jun. She feels that Luohua has supported him significantly and is unsettled by the possibility that he is becoming distant.
• Mei Jin/Hao Fengjing has advanced to Qi Refining Level Seven and is increasingly devoted to cultivation at Libo Shoal. Her attachment to ordinary work has diminished, though she remains grateful to Beauty Lin for caring for her mother.
• Luohua’s organization is transitioning from managing products such as Life Potions to dealing with broader, world-changing developments that cannot be handled through past experience alone.

Significant Themes

• Spiritual revival and historical memory: The return of spiritual energy is not limited to places actively maintained by formations; even ruined sacred sites retain traces of their former existence.
• The irreversible passage of time: Weiyu Grotto-Heaven and Jade Sect may recover partially, but neither can regain its ancient state. Human development and historical change permanently reshape the world.
• Detachment from the mortal world: The phrase “the bloom fades from the mirror, the flowers leave the tree” symbolizes beauty, power, and relationships gradually slipping away from their former roots.
• Changing priorities and unintended consequences: Feng Jun’s success in raising Asura’s value creates a labor shortage, showing how actions taken for one purpose can produce unexpected difficulties elsewhere.
• Cooperation amid global transformation: Feng Jun recognizes that the Daoist sects must unite against outside forces as the Blue Star Realm enters a new order, making old conflicts increasingly insignificant.
• The limits of prediction and control: Even Feng Jun, an expert in Deduction, could not foresee that his own actions would undermine his mining operations.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and Beauty Lin: Beauty Lin tries to discuss Life Potions and later seeks his opinion on Weiyu Grotto-Heaven, but Feng Jun remains unavailable and uninterested in minor administrative matters.
• Beauty Lin and Mei Jin: Beauty Lin presses Mei Jin for an explanation of the spiritual changes and whether Luohua should reclaim Weiyu. Mei Jin gives Feng Jun’s conclusion but leaves the decision to Luohua.
• Beauty Lin and Hao Fengjing: Hao Fengjing dismisses her concerns about Luohua’s contributions, emphasizing that Luohua cannot assume Feng Jun will remain tied to the mortal world forever.
• Feng Jun and Jade Sect: Though their relationship has been hostile, Feng Jun chooses not to retaliate or demand an apology, prioritizing cooperation during the coming upheaval.
• Feng Jun and the Spirit Plant Dao: Feng Jun negotiates with Yi Jue and other members to obtain criminal cultivators as laborers, showing his reliance on broader alliances and the difficulty of balancing competing interests.

Chapter Summary: Extortion (Third Update—Double Monthly Passes Requested)

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun spends two months searching for mineral-rich planets for the Human Federation. Although he discovers several, resources are scarce because the Federation has already exhausted most nearby reserves during its war with the Insectoids.
• He visits his territory, where Qing Ping and Roland remain under heavy Federation protection. The Federation treats the area as forbidden ground because of the dangerous and unpredictable Humanoid Civilization.
• Feng Jun learns that Qing Ping and Roland are deeply in love and are discussing having children. However, Qing Ping refuses to have children because he must eventually return to Heavenly Zither and fears accidentally passing on cultivation techniques that could expose the Federation to powerful Heavenly Zither cultivators.
• Qing Ping asks Feng Jun to deduce a way for Roland to reach the Dust-Free Stage quickly. He also asks Feng Jun to devise training methods for Roland’s soldiers so that at least one Dust-Free Stage warrior can be produced.
• Feng Jun agrees to help Roland, partly because Qing Ping is Yi Jue’s grand-disciple, but warns Qing Ping never to reveal Heavenly Zither’s cultivation techniques. He provides a cultivation plan and resources, many of which must be brought from Heavenly Zither.
• Qing Ping then asks Feng Jun to deduce methods for other ability warriors. Feng Jun refuses to provide Heavenly Zither resources directly to them and instead requests samples of specialties from every Federation planet.
• The Federation initially refuses, claiming that planetary resources are confidential, and proposes trading Energy Blocks instead. Feng Jun rejects this offer.
• Eventually, the Federation compromises because it wants to understand the potential of Third-Level Form ability warriors and fears that Roland may leave with Qing Ping after advancing.
• The Federation secretly withholds the origins of the resource samples it provides. Angered by this lack of trust, Feng Jun cancels the proposed cooperation.
• To compensate him, the Federation reveals the location of a planet rich in Energy Stones. The planet lies in Insectoid-controlled territory but has not yet been exploited because of its harsh environment.
• Feng Jun accepts the information and considers exploiting the Federation for further rewards, but ultimately preserves the image of the Humanoid Civilization by declaring that the arrangement is a one-time deal.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun remains practical, calculating, and protective of his position. He helps Qing Ping but refuses to compromise Heavenly Zither’s security. He also skillfully uses the Federation’s desire for assistance to obtain valuable information.
• Qing Ping is shown as deeply devoted to Roland but increasingly desperate to arrange their future. He wants her to advance quickly so they can leave together, yet he understands the danger of revealing his cultivation system and remains cautious.
• Roland is committed both to Qing Ping and to the Federation. She wants to remain loyal to the Federation and plans to leave only after personally training a Dust-Free Stage warrior. Her loyalty makes the Federation uncertain about her future.
• The Federation demonstrates strong secrecy and vigilance. It protects Feng Jun’s territory, guards its resource information, and reluctantly cooperates only because it urgently wants insight into higher-level ability cultivation.

Significant Themes

• Love versus duty: Qing Ping and Roland’s relationship crosses world and civilization boundaries, forcing them to choose between personal affection and loyalty to their respective homes.
• The danger of knowledge: Heavenly Zither cultivation techniques are powerful enough to threaten the entire Federation if exposed, making secrecy essential.
• Unequal cultivation systems: Ability warriors can advance rapidly but currently lack a path beyond the equivalent of the Gold Core Stage, while Heavenly Zither cultivation offers far greater long-term potential.
• Trust and political bargaining: The Federation’s secrecy clashes with Feng Jun’s expectations, turning cooperation into a negotiation shaped by suspicion and leverage.
• Pragmatism over sentiment: Even while surrounded by romance, Feng Jun and the Federation continue to prioritize survival, strategic advantage, and resource security.

Character Interactions

• Qing Ping repeatedly appeals to Feng Jun for help with Roland’s advancement, using their relationship and his connection to Yi Jue to persuade him.
• Feng Jun teases and criticizes Qing Ping for becoming consumed by his romance but ultimately assists him.
• Roland acts as the link between Qing Ping and the Federation, reporting Feng Jun’s demands and representing both her lover’s interests and the Federation’s institutional concerns.
• Feng Jun and the Federation engage in a tense negotiation: the Federation initially refuses to share planetary information, while Feng Jun rejects its substitute offer and forces it to provide a more valuable concession.
• The chapter ends with Feng Jun accepting the Energy Stone planet while maintaining an aloof, superior stance toward the Federation.

Chapter Summary: “Spirit Plant Karma”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feng Jun spends ten days helping more than ten thousand Federation soldiers undergo Deduction, publicly disguising the process as expensive “testing.” Each participant is charged one hundred thousand tons of Energy Stones, earning him over a billion tons in total.
• The Deduction identifies more than a hundred soldiers with potential to reach the Dust-Free Realm. Feng Jun provides individualized cultivation requirements, leaving the Federation frustrated that his methods cannot be easily standardized or replicated.
• The Federation attempts to continue the cooperation through Qingping, but Qingping refuses, emphasizing that Feng Jun had declared the arrangement finished and that the two civilizations must maintain limits in their cooperation.
• The experience makes Feng Jun recognize the danger posed by the technological–cultivator civilization divide. He worries that if Heavenly Zither discovers Blue Star’s technological origins, it might treat Blue Star as a rival rather than merely a weak world. He decides to accelerate his search for Lu Ya, a powerful cultivator originally from Blue Star.
• Upon returning to Libo Shoal, Feng Jun learns that Jiangzhu Grass is close to entering the Soul Emergence Realm. The Mirror Spirit requests more Ultimate Spirit Stones to continue refining the Heaven-Deriving Mirror, and Feng Jun lends it ten despite his own shortage of time.
• Feng Jun complains that the widespread effort to farm the Asura World dungeon has disrupted many of his plans. Yi Jue defends the effort, arguing that strengthening Heavenly Zither’s foundation is worthwhile, even if it affects everyone.
• Yi Jue reveals that she wants to accompany Feng Jun on his future travels to other worlds, both to broaden her experience and likely to ensure his safety.
• Feng Jun and the others inspect Jiangzhu Grass. The Bamboo Gentleman confirms that it can reach Soul Emergence within thirty to fifty years, but its condition is unusual: it is extremely lethargic and barely responds to anyone.
• Feng Jun initially believes the plant must be transplanted to a superior secret land, requiring substantial effort, protection, and potentially burdensome favors. Yi Jue offers assistance through the Spirit Plant Dao.
• The Bamboo Gentleman then reveals that Jiangzhu Grass can break through where it currently is, though doing so may interfere with his own plans.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun: Becomes more aware of the strategic dangers surrounding Blue Star and realizes that hiding his origins may not be enough. He also feels increasingly burdened by responsibilities involving the Federation, Blue Star, the Asura World, and Jiangzhu Grass.
• Qingping: Demonstrates loyalty to Feng Jun and refuses to let the Federation exploit divisions between them. He firmly maintains boundaries between civilizations.
• Yi Jue: Shows both responsibility and concern for Feng Jun. Although her Venerable celebration has been disrupted, she is more interested in accompanying him and gaining wider experience. She also willingly takes responsibility for Jiangzhu Grass’s breakthrough.
• Jiangzhu Grass: Moves toward a major advancement but becomes unusually sluggish and irritable. Its dismissive response to Xuanyuan Buqi shows that, despite its weakened energy, its aloof personality remains intact.
• The Bamboo Gentleman: Acts as the most knowledgeable authority on Jiangzhu Grass’s condition and offers a solution, though this solution may come at the cost of disrupting his own plans.
• Xuanyuan Buqi: Provides comic relief by joking that Jiangzhu Grass resembles a pregnant woman, provoking its brief, contemptuous response.

Significant Themes

• Civilizational distrust: The Federation and Heavenly Zither represent fundamentally different civilizations, each wary of the other. Cooperation is possible, but only within strict boundaries.
• Individual aptitude and the limits of standardization: Feng Jun’s customized cultivation prescriptions show that advancement depends on personal differences, making mass production of powerful warriors extremely difficult.
• Responsibility and karma: Feng Jun worries that abandoning or mishandling Jiangzhu Grass would create karmic consequences. Favors, protection, transplantation, and cultivation all carry obligations.
• The burden of power and success: Feng Jun’s growing influence gives him access to resources but also creates more responsibilities and complications. He feels that even immense strength and wealth may not be enough to manage everything.
• Long-term cultivation and patience: Jiangzhu Grass’s breakthrough highlights the vastly different timescales of spirit plants and cultivators, while also showing that exceptional origins can dramatically shorten the process.
• Strengthening collective foundations: Yi Jue’s defense of the Asura World campaign emphasizes the importance of sacrificing individual convenience for the broader strength of Heavenly Zither.

Character Interactions

• Feng Jun and the Federation clash over the price and limits of cooperation, with the Federation seeking greater access to his methods and Feng Jun refusing further exploitation.
• Qingping acts as Feng Jun’s intermediary but rejects the Federation’s attempt to bypass Feng Jun, insisting on loyalty and civilizational boundaries.
• Feng Jun and Yi Jue discuss the consequences of the Asura World campaign and her desire to accompany him. Their exchange suggests mutual trust and concern beneath their teasing conversation.
• Feng Jun, Yi Jue, the Bamboo Gentleman, and Xuanyuan Buqi examine Jiangzhu Grass together. The Bamboo Gentleman provides the crucial diagnosis, while Xuanyuan Buqi’s joke reveals Jiangzhu Grass’s continuing arrogance.
• Yi Jue offers practical support, while the Bamboo Gentleman presents an unexpected alternative, leaving Feng Jun with a potentially simpler but still complicated solution.

Chapter Summary: “A Big Shot’s Awkwardness”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bamboo Gentleman reveals that it must reclaim its original body, which remains inside a self-repairing sealed space created before its tribulation transcendence.
• Its original body was damaged when Bamboo Gentleman was ambushed and reduced to a Remnant Soul, but enough remnants apparently remain for it to restore its Integration Stage cultivation.
• After absorbing the remnants, Bamboo Gentleman expects to recover fully, eventually reaching the Tribulation Transcendence Stage again. However, merging with its original body may be dangerous, since the original body could potentially overpower or absorb its current consciousness.
• Bamboo Gentleman wants Feng Jun to help prepare an avatar capable of assisting during the fusion. It has some materials, but may need additional resources, possibly including Jianmu, a supreme treasure entrusted to Yi Jue.
• Feng Jun initially worries that asking the Guardians for help refining the avatar might be inappropriate. Bamboo Gentleman explains that the senior Guardian is exceptionally skilled in artifact refinement, far beyond merely creating Protective Talismans.
• Following Bamboo Gentleman’s advice, Feng Jun first asks Yi Jue to lend him Jianmu. Yi Jue agrees immediately and does not question his purpose, though she must return to the Spirit Plant Dao to retrieve it.
• Feng Jun then plans to visit the Verdant Lower Realm to retrieve one of Bamboo Gentleman’s secret caches.
• Qian Zhong asks to accompany them, offering to run errands in exchange for rewards. Xuanyuan Buqi also volunteers to help.
• Bamboo Gentleman assigns both of them to protect Jiangzhu Grass while it attempts to advance to the Soul Emergence Realm. Because Jiangzhu Grass has been affected by Feng Jun and Bamboo Gentleman’s karma, ordinary protection would be insufficient.

Character Developments

• Bamboo Gentleman becomes more open about its weakened condition and long-term plans. Though powerful and usually composed, it displays unusual hesitation when asking Feng Jun for help, showing its awareness of the difficulty of requesting favors from mighty beings.
• Feng Jun demonstrates loyalty and gratitude toward Bamboo Gentleman. Although concerned about burdening the Guardians and borrowing Jianmu, he agrees to help and carefully follows Bamboo Gentleman’s strategic advice.
• Yi Jue shows great trust and generosity by agreeing to lend Jianmu without demanding an explanation. Her relaxed response highlights her confidence in Feng Jun and their close relationship.
• Xuanyuan Buqi and Qian Zhong reveal their eagerness to gain benefits and participate in Bamboo Gentleman’s plans. Both are initially disappointed when their role turns out to be guarding Jiangzhu Grass rather than participating in a major treasure hunt.
• Jiangzhu Grass is revealed to be approaching a major breakthrough into the Soul Emergence Realm, making its protection and cultivation environment an urgent concern.

Significant Themes

• Trust and mutual obligation: Feng Jun’s willingness to help Bamboo Gentleman reflects the assistance and resources Bamboo Gentleman once provided him.
• The dangers of recovery and rebirth: Bamboo Gentleman’s attempt to reunite with its original body carries significant risk, emphasizing that power restoration is neither simple nor guaranteed.
• Respect for powerful figures: Bamboo Gentleman cautions Feng Jun against casually disturbing the Guardians, stressing that even favored juniors must behave carefully around supreme beings.
• Hidden abilities and mistaken assumptions: Feng Jun realizes that the Guardians’ expertise extends far beyond Protective Talismans, particularly into artifact refinement and the creation of extraordinary treasures.
• Karma and responsibility: Jiangzhu Grass’s advancement has been complicated by its connection to Feng Jun and Bamboo Gentleman, making them responsible for ensuring that it survives the breakthrough.
• Comedic awkwardness amid serious matters: Despite the grave plans involving a damaged Tribulation Transcendence body, the chapter includes humor through Bamboo Gentleman’s reluctance to ask for help, Qian Zhong’s flirtatious bargaining, and Xuanyuan Buqi’s exaggerated willingness to act as a “thug.”

Character Interactions

• Xuanyuan Buqi and Yi Jue discreetly leave when Bamboo Gentleman begins discussing its private plans, demonstrating tact and awareness.
• Feng Jun and Bamboo Gentleman have a respectful but familiar conversation, with Feng Jun waiting for Bamboo Gentleman to speak freely rather than pressing it for details.
• Bamboo Gentleman and Feng Jun jointly consider the materials and risks involved in creating an avatar, showing their cautious and cooperative approach.
• Feng Jun asks Yi Jue for Jianmu, and she agrees without questioning him, reinforcing their mutual trust.
• Xuanyuan Buqi jokes with Qian Zhong about Feng Jun and Yi Jue’s generosity, while Qian Zhong expresses interest in joining Feng Jun’s expedition.
• Bamboo Gentleman negotiates with Qian Zhong and Xuanyuan Buqi, promising future rewards in exchange for helping protect Jiangzhu Grass.
• The chapter ends with Bamboo Gentleman bluntly explaining that two True Lords are needed because Jiangzhu Grass carries their karma, and a single Venerable would not provide adequate protection.

Chapter Summary: “So Speechless”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xuanyuan Buqi and Qian Zhong agree to protect the Jiangzhu Grass and Feng Jun’s group, provided the powerful Bamboo Gentleman compensates them generously. They leave Libo Shoal after reaching an arrangement.
• Qingyao and Hanhai arrive too late and learn that Feng Jun and the others have gone to the Verdant Lower Realm. They decide to follow, partly because Verdant is renowned for its Spirit Plant Dao resources.
• Yi Jue leads the group into Verdant, where their arrival causes excitement among the Spirit Plant Dao’s Lower Sects. Yi Jue is highly respected for defeating Iron Bone Elder, reaching the Soul Emergence Realm, developing a technique for converting Asura Space bubbles, and defeating Yuan Zhe to unify the Wood Spirit Dao.
• The Lower Sects are particularly anxious about unification. They fear being absorbed by the hostile Wood Spirit Dao and would prefer the Spirit Plant Dao to retain control of its own destiny.
• Bamboo Gentleman investigates the area and suddenly becomes furious. It discovers that its hidden treasury is no longer where it was buried.
• The group realizes that the Spirit Plant Dao’s Mountain Gate was relocated approximately eleven thousand years earlier—long after Bamboo Gentleman hid the treasury. The old location has since become part of the sect’s developed territory.
• Yi Jue investigates and learns that the hidden treasury may lie near a waterfall more than three thousand li east of the new Mountain Gate’s main hall. The area is now a nursery supplying spirit plants to the Upper Sects.
• Bamboo Gentleman confirms that the waterfall is the landmark it remembers, though the surrounding terrain has been heavily altered.

Character Developments

• Bamboo Gentleman becomes increasingly irritated and embarrassed over yet another ruined hidden treasury. Its anger reveals its long history of misfortune and poor luck with buried treasures.
• Xuanyuan Buqi and Qian Zhong show their practical side, readily accepting the protective assignment once they learn the reward will be substantial. They also struggle not to laugh at Bamboo Gentleman’s predicament.
• Qingyao continues to present herself as a serious elder who values opportunities, while Hanhai privately rejects her advice, believing that excessive caution might have prevented his own advancement.
• Yi Jue’s status grows clearer. She is revered throughout the Spirit Plant Dao because of her strength, accomplishments, and role in unifying the Wood Spirit Dao. Despite her usually cold and composed personality, she can barely suppress her amusement at Bamboo Gentleman’s situation.
• Feng Jun remains largely an observer, reacting with silent exasperation to Bamboo Gentleman’s strange behavior and repeated treasury disasters.

Significant Themes

• Misfortune and the passage of time: Bamboo Gentleman’s hidden treasure has survived for millennia, but historical changes and shifting landscapes have made its recovery extremely difficult.
• Institutional change: The relocation and expansion of the Spirit Plant Dao’s Mountain Gate demonstrate how sects evolve, while also showing how later generations may forget important historical details.
• Power and political anxiety: The Lower Sects fear being forcibly unified, revealing the unequal relationship between powerful factions and subordinate sects.
• Reputation and influence: Yi Jue’s achievements have made her a legendary figure whose arrival can stir an entire realm.
• Humor amid high stakes: The chapter contrasts ancient treasures, sect politics, and powerful cultivators with the comic spectacle of Bamboo Gentleman discovering that its treasury was buried beneath a thriving sect’s nursery.

Important Character Interactions

• Xuanyuan Buqi and Qian Zhong negotiate their reward with Bamboo Gentleman, emphasizing their willingness to help so long as the compensation is worthwhile.
• Qingyao criticizes Hanhai’s casual attitude, while Hanhai silently doubts her philosophy.
• Yi Jue offers assistance to Bamboo Gentleman, unaware that her own Lower Sects may have unknowingly built over its treasury.
• Xuanyuan Buqi and Qian Zhong explain the Mountain Gate’s relocation to Yi Jue, while trying not to laugh.
• Yi Jue attempts to comfort Bamboo Gentleman by offering Jianmu as compensation, but the offended big shot refuses to take advantage of her.
• Bamboo Gentleman finally reveals the treasury’s location, leading to the discovery that it is now situated within a Spirit Plant Dao nursery.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The characters confirm that the Spirit Plant Lower Sect established its Mountain Gate in the area more than ten thousand years ago, radically altering the surrounding environment through renovations.
• Yi Jue and the “big shot” suspect that the Lower Sect’s flourishing nursery resulted from a hidden treasure cache leaking its power into the land.
• The big shot considers recovering the cache, but warns that doing so could destroy the nursery—or even the entire Lower Realm. Yi Jue offers to bear the resulting karma if the Mountain Gate must be sacrificed.
• They decide to have Feng Jun perform deductions first. With Yi Jue’s authority, Feng Jun and his companions gain access to the Spirit Plant Dao’s heavily guarded nursery.
• The nursery’s elderly guardian, a nearly three-thousand-year-old High-Tier Nascent Soul cultivator from the Merit Hall, fiercely objects. He insults Yi Jue and refuses to cooperate, but ultimately has no choice because she is a Venerable and major contributor to the Dao.
• Qing Yao and Hanhai arrive after hearing of possible opportunities connected to Feng Jun. Qing Yao openly asks to participate in hopes of finding an opportunity for her Spirit Division Realm. Yi Jue agrees and invites both Venerables into the nursery.
• Feng Jun’s deductions confirm that the hidden cache has leaked and been severely damaged. He identifies Diwu Wood and Emperor’s House Essence among the original materials.
• The Diwu Wood’s immense Life Force explains the nursery’s extraordinary prosperity: the Spirit Plant Lower Sect unknowingly benefited from Bamboo Gentleman’s buried treasure.
• The remaining treasures—pills, Magic Treasures, and sealed Ultimate Spirit Stones—are located more than ten miles underground. After the nursery formations are disabled, Yi Jue uses accelerated-growing vines to excavate the cache.
• The surviving treasures are recovered. Although the Spirit Plant Dao elder still resents the outsiders, the evidence proves that the cache existed. The big shot, disappointed by the loss of the most valuable materials, gives Feng Jun everything recovered except the Ultimate Spirit Stones.

Character Developments

• Bamboo Gentleman/the big shot becomes increasingly frustrated and dejected over losing his hidden cache, especially the Diwu Wood and Emperor’s House Essence. Despite his power, he ultimately accepts the situation and gives away the surviving treasures.
• Yi Jue demonstrates both authority and responsibility. She is willing to risk destroying the nursery and bear the karma, but ultimately chooses a less destructive approach. She accepts that the Spirit Plant Dao’s actions caused the damage and insists on returning the remaining treasures.
• Feng Jun proves the reliability of his Divination Art, successfully determining both the cache’s condition and its remaining contents. His role shifts from investigator to the practical means of recovering the treasure.
• Qing Yao becomes less distant and more direct, openly seeking help and opportunities rather than maintaining her previous aloofness.
• Hanhai remains more reserved, accompanying Qing Yao but hesitating to state his intentions himself.
• The Merit Hall elder is shown to be proud, combative, and deeply protective of the nursery. His confidence collapses when he learns the site was built over Bamboo Gentleman’s treasure and realizes the Spirit Plant Dao may bear responsibility.
• Xuanyuan Buqi reinforces the power hierarchy by silencing the elder when he tries to interrupt, making clear that seniority within the Lower Sect means little before the visiting Venerables.

Significant Themes

• Power and responsibility: The strongest cultivators possess the ability to destroy entire realms, but their decisions carry immense karmic and moral consequences.
• Cause and effect: The Spirit Plant Dao’s prosperity was not merely the result of natural advantages; it was unknowingly sustained by the leaking Life Force of Bamboo Gentleman’s cache.
• Authority versus seniority: The elder’s age and service history cannot protect him from the authority of Venerables or from the broader political reality.
• Justice determined by strength: The chapter acknowledges that disputes without clear standards are often settled by whichever side possesses greater power.
• Loss, acceptance, and compensation: Though Bamboo Gentleman suffers a significant loss, Yi Jue seeks to compensate him, while he ultimately accepts the surviving treasures being given to Feng Jun.
• Cooperation among powerful figures: Yi Jue balances the interests of Bamboo Gentleman, the Spirit Plant Dao, Feng Jun, Qing Yao, and Hanhai rather than allowing the dispute to escalate into destruction.

Character Interactions

• Yi Jue and Bamboo Gentleman debate whether retrieving the cache is worth the potential destruction and karma.
• Yi Jue confronts the nursery guardian, who curses her for threatening an important Spirit Plant Dao resource; she responds by emphasizing the outsiders’ importance to their Dao.
• Qing Yao approaches Yi Jue courteously but directly, asking to join Feng Jun’s group in search of opportunities. Yi Jue accepts rather than create hostility.
• Feng Jun reports the cache’s damage and contents to Bamboo Gentleman and Yi Jue, confirming their suspicions.
• The nursery elder reacts with alarm when the cache is identified as Bamboo Gentleman’s treasure, while Xuanyuan Buqi forcibly prevents him from interrupting.
• Yi Jue takes responsibility for the Spirit Plant Dao’s role and orders the surviving treasures recovered and returned, while Bamboo Gentleman relinquishes nearly everything to Feng Jun.

Chapter Summary: “All Part of the Same Routine”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yi Jue uses the Withering-Flourishing Secret Art to retrieve a senior cultivator’s hidden cache without significantly damaging its formation. The senior takes only five useful Ultimate Spirit Stones and gives the remaining treasures to Feng Jun.
• Feng Jun and the others leave without explaining the matter to the Lower Sects, maintaining the authority and secrecy expected of a Venerable.
• At the Spirit Plant Dao, Yi Jue returns the Jianmu to Feng Jun. He then brings everyone to the Icefield Sector before leaving alone with the senior.
• Feng Jun returns to Blue Star and enters the Guardian Space, where he asks the Guardians to refine an avatar for the senior.
• The Guardians demand 500,000 High-Grade Spirit Stones. They are surprised that Feng Jun intends to use Jianmu as the avatar’s material, considering it wasteful, but accept the arrangement.
• The Guardians deduce that the senior plans to merge the avatar with the remaining portion of its original body, which had been damaged during Tribulation Transcendence. The senior admits it is preparing for a possible future conflict with its original body, though a battle is not certain.
• The senior negotiates for the Jianmu to remain only minimally altered so it can later be returned to Yi Jue. The Guardians set the avatar’s lifespan at fifty years and charge two Ultimate Spirit Stones, while also giving the senior a Protective Talisman.
• The senior voluntarily offers an additional Ultimate Spirit Stone out of gratitude and propriety. The Guardians begin refining the avatar.
• After about half an hour, the finished avatar appears as a tall clump of grass resembling oversized chives rather than Jianmu, leaving the senior surprised but accepting.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun shows increasing concern for the Jiangzhu Grass and the senior, admitting that he may be overly invested in helping them advance or recover. He also demonstrates confidence in dealing with the Guardians and takes responsibility for the resources needed.
• The senior reveals a cautious, pragmatic personality. It is preparing for the possibility of confronting its original body and is careful to preserve its agreements with Yi Jue by requesting that the Jianmu not be excessively damaged. It is also generous and principled, offering extra payment for the Protective Talisman.
• Yi Jue remains helpful and considerate, returning the Jianmu and quietly wishing to obtain treasures for the Spirit Plant Dao, though she refrains from asking because her own accounts with the senior remain unsettled.
• Qing Yao becomes skeptical of Feng Jun’s unexplained urgency, questioning whether the Jianmu is truly necessary for the Jiangzhu Grass’s advancement.
• The Guardians are portrayed as powerful, blunt, calculating, and highly knowledgeable. They can see through the senior’s plans, charge substantial prices, and still provide fair terms and additional protection.

Significant Themes

• Karma and responsibility: Feng Jun feels compelled to help the immortal plants and the senior because of their connections and shared karma, even when the Guardians warn him not to neglect more important duties.
• Preparation and caution: The senior’s plan to create an avatar reflects the importance of preparing for possible future threats rather than waiting until conflict is unavoidable.
• Trust and repayment: The senior’s insistence on returning the Jianmu properly and offering an additional Ultimate Spirit Stone highlights the value placed on honoring agreements.
• Power and transaction: Even extremely powerful beings conduct their relationships through bargaining, payment, and mutually beneficial exchanges.
• Secrecy and hierarchy: Feng Jun and the others do not explain their actions to weaker factions, while the Guardians’ superior insight and authority remain unquestioned.
• Irony and routine: Despite the extraordinary materials, immortal plants, and ancient secrets involved, the characters treat bargaining, borrowing, repayment, and artifact refinement as familiar everyday business.

Character Interactions

• Yi Jue and Feng Jun cooperate in handling the cache and the Jianmu, while Qing Yao observes their unexplained plans from the outside.
• Feng Jun debates the Guardians over his obligations and then negotiates the avatar-refining request on the senior’s behalf.
• The Guardians repeatedly expose details of the senior’s past and intentions, making the senior both impressed and uneasy.
• The senior and the Guardians engage in a mixture of formal negotiation and humorous mutual appraisal: the senior flatters them, while they dismiss its verbosity and demand direct answers.
• Feng Jun privately praises the Guardians’ straightforward conduct, and the senior responds by admiring Feng Jun’s good fortune in having such powerful protectors.

Chapter Summary: “Near at Hand”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Guardian completes a powerful combat avatar and protective talisman for the “big shot,” using formations, rare materials, and Guardian Power. The big shot pays three Ultimate Spirit Stones, with Feng Jun covering the remaining High-Grade Spirit Stone cost.
• Although the avatar significantly boosts combat ability, the big shot dislikes its ugly appearance and orders Feng Jun to keep it hidden unless needed.
• Feng Jun suggests informing Yi Jue and the other powerful cultivators about the big shot’s weakened condition so they can provide protection. The big shot initially resists because it is embarrassed to reveal its state, but agrees to first inspect the tribulation location.
• The chosen tribulation space is surprisingly close to the Kunhao Domain—roughly a billion li away. Feng Jun travels there using the Jianmu Avatar, which carries him rapidly through the dangerous gales and spatial currents.
• The tribulation space is hidden more than a million li from their arrival point and is positioned against a sturdy spatial barrier linking the Heavenly Zither Plane with the unknown outside world.
• The big shot explains that it selected the location to avoid damaging Heavenly Zither, minimize outside interference, and potentially use a successful tribulation to open a passage between Kunhao and the Main Plane. This could elevate Kunhao from a Lower Realm.
• After confirming that the space is suitable, Feng Jun takes the big shot to the Ice Plains to gather witnesses and allies.
• Xuanyuan Buqi, Qian Zhong, Qing Yao, Vast Sea Venerable, and Yi Jue agree to accompany Feng Jun and the big shot. They prepare for possible danger, though Yi Jue urges everyone not to create unnecessary panic.
• The chapter ends with Qing Yao revealing that she has already informed others by text message, making Feng Jun’s proposed half-day preparation unnecessary.

Character Developments

• The big shot: Remains powerful and ambitious despite its weakened condition. It is highly concerned with appearances, refusing to display the ugly avatar casually, but also demonstrates careful planning and long-term ambition by designing a tribulation site that could transform Kunhao’s status.
• Feng Jun: Shows continued concern for the big shot’s safety and takes responsibility for organizing support. He is increasingly weary from constant crises but remains practical, cautious, and willing to acknowledge his own limitations.
• Yi Jue: Takes on a calm, supervisory role. She understands the likely purpose of the expedition and emphasizes restraint rather than alarm.
• Xuanyuan Buqi, Qian Zhong, Qing Yao, and Vast Sea Venerable: Demonstrate loyalty and willingness to share risk. Xuanyuan Buqi is especially eager to participate, while Qian Zhong openly jokes about staying close to Feng Jun for protection.
• The Guardian: Appears proud of its craftsmanship and provides unusually high-level equipment in exchange for valuable Spirit Stones.

Significant Themes

• Concealment versus trust: The big shot wants to hide its vulnerable condition, while Feng Jun argues that allies should be informed for safety. The chapter explores the tension between pride, reputation, and accepting help.
• Preparation and strategic foresight: The tribulation site reflects careful consideration of safety, karma, spatial stability, and future advancement.
• Ambition beyond survival: The big shot is not merely trying to survive tribulation; it is already planning to ascend further and potentially improve Kunhao’s position in the broader world.
• Practicality versus aesthetics: The ugly but effective Jianmu Avatar highlights the recurring contrast between usefulness and appearance.
• Collective responsibility: The gathered cultivators willingly accept danger and prepare to bear the consequences of their choices together.

Character Interactions

• The big shot and Feng Jun exchange teasing and mildly exasperated remarks, especially over the avatar’s appearance and Feng Jun’s supposed need for protection.
• Feng Jun presses the big shot to let Yi Jue verify the Jianmu and to accept assistance from the other cultivators, while the big shot slowly recognizes that his insistence comes from genuine concern.
• The big shot explains its spatial strategy to Feng Jun, revealing its deeper plans for Kunhao and its understanding of karma.
• At the Ice Plains, Feng Jun directly recruits the great powers. Xuanyuan Buqi immediately volunteers, Qian Zhong responds playfully, and Qing Yao and Vast Sea Venerable offer their support.
• Yi Jue moderates the group’s enthusiasm, warning them not to cause unnecessary commotion, while Vast Sea Venerable openly expresses hope that they will encounter a meaningful challenge.

Chapter Summary: “Soul Fragment Appears”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Libo Shoal’s Mundane Communications network has spread to the Heavenly Zither Main Plane. Qingyao the Venerable has adopted text messaging because written messages provide evidence, unlike Divine Sense communication.
• Feng Jun brings Qingyao, Qian Zhong, Yi Jue, Xuanyuan Buqi, and others to the Skyflight Layer, where Bamboo Gentleman has established a hidden Grotto-Heaven space near a spatial barrier.
• The group discovers that the Grotto-Heaven cannot be concealed because of the distortion it causes to space and time. Bamboo Gentleman asks everyone except Feng Jun and Yi Jue to remain outside while they enter.
• Qian Zhong and Qingyao deduce that Bamboo Gentleman intends to use the spatial barrier for tribulation cultivation. This is an extremely dangerous “forbidden art” because it may generate karma affecting Heavenly Zither or even an entire sect.
• Inside the Grotto-Heaven, Feng Jun and Yi Jue find a vast space roughly one million li across, containing a Supreme-Grade Spirit Vein. The intense spiritual energy is capable of causing “Spirit Intoxication.”
• Feng Jun releases a giant green leek-like plant carried from outside. Yi Jue mistakes it for a Soul-Cleansing Lily or medicinal Spring Leek, failing to recognize its true origin.
• A powerful, apparently benevolent Divine Thought suddenly appears. Its owner praises the plant’s Dao resonance, claims Feng Jun and Yi Jue have disturbed its cultivation, and demands the plant as an apology.

Character Developments

• Qingyao the Venerable is shown as adaptable and practical, embracing new technology while remaining cautious about forbidden cultivation techniques. Her experience in the Void gives her exceptional spatial perception and allows her to recognize Bamboo Gentleman’s plan.
• Yi Jue demonstrates both caution and trust. She carefully surveys the Grotto-Heaven and understands its dangers, but chooses not to press Bamboo Gentleman for secrets after seeing Feng Jun’s confidence.
• Qian Zhong proves capable of deducing the Grotto-Heaven’s true purpose, though she refuses to reveal her conclusions because discussing the forbidden art could create karma.
• Xuanyuan Buqi initially tries to question the others but respects the boundary once he realizes the matter involves a secret art. His family’s own records allow him to recognize the technique.
• Feng Jun continues acting as the bridge between different worlds and cultivation systems. He remains calm in the dangerous Grotto-Heaven and relies on the leek-like plant to reveal the presence of another powerful entity.
• Vast Sea Venerable is left confused because he lacks the age and status required to access the ancient records concerning the forbidden technique.
• Bamboo Gentleman is revealed to be undertaking an extremely bold and potentially perilous plan involving spatial barriers and tribulation.

Significant Themes

• Technology changing tradition: Mundane Communications is gradually altering behavior in the Cultivation Realm, especially by creating written evidence and reducing disputes.
• Secrets, karma, and responsibility: The forbidden spatial-barrier technique is not merely powerful; revealing or spreading it could cause karmic consequences for individuals, families, or entire sects.
• Trust versus curiosity: Several characters understand more than they are willing to say. They choose restraint because knowledge itself may be dangerous.
• The risks of advancement: Bamboo Gentleman’s method represents extraordinary ambition, but also threatens hidden dangers to Heavenly Zither.
• Recognition and misunderstanding: Yi Jue cannot identify the mysterious plant, while the newly appearing entity immediately recognizes its unusual Dao resonance, suggesting that the leek may conceal a much greater secret.

Character Interactions

• Qingyao and Qian Zhong exchange restrained hints about Bamboo Gentleman’s purpose, carefully avoiding explicit discussion.
• Xuanyuan Buqi questions both women but is repeatedly denied an explanation; he eventually recognizes the forbidden art through his family’s inheritance.
• Vast Sea asks Qingyao and Qian Zhong for clarification, but they refuse because naming the technique further could invoke karma.
• Yi Jue and Feng Jun discuss the Grotto-Heaven’s spiritual energy and its similarity to a previous secret land, showing their mutual understanding and cautious cooperation.
• Yi Jue protects herself and Feng Jun with a Spirit-Qi Shield while surveying the unfamiliar space.
• The chapter ends with the mysterious inhabitant confronting Feng Jun and Yi Jue, expressing desire for the leek and asserting authority over the Grotto-Heaven.

Chapter Summary: “Provocation and Divine Abilities”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yi Jue and Feng Jun enter the Grotto-Heaven without a formal battle plan, relying instead on their mutual understanding and ability to adapt.
• Yi Jue provokes the mysterious Divine Thought by claiming that she and Feng Jun are acting under a sect bounty to capture remnants of the Thief Lineage. She emphasizes both her sect’s authority and Feng Jun’s powerful backing.
• The Divine Thought, arrogant and disdainful of sects, decides to punish them. It cannot directly harm Feng Jun because of the powerful Protective Talisman around his neck, so it uses a spatial confinement technique to trap him and intends to let him die of old age.
• The Divine Thought questions Yi Jue about Feng Jun, suspecting that he may have an influential Dao protector or powerful elders. Yi Jue carefully provides selective truths, highlighting Feng Jun’s exceptional Deduction abilities and implying that his sect may contain even greater experts.
• Seeking compensation rather than risking a conflict, the Divine Thought offers to release Feng Jun in exchange for two hundred Ultimate Spirit Stones. It partially loosens his confinement so that he can speak.
• Feng Jun refuses to submit and verbally mocks the Divine Thought. When it boasts about the value of the “large leek” beside them, the plant suddenly rises to an enormous height.
• The plant’s appearance reveals that it is connected to the Divine Thought’s past. The Divine Thought recognizes it as an ancient “Big Sister,” apparently a powerful spirit plant or former occupant of the same true body.
• The two plant entities begin arguing about their shared history, including the destruction of their former home during the Big Sister’s Tribulation Transcendence and the Big Sister’s occupation of the Divine Thought’s true body.
• The Divine Thought releases Feng Jun completely once it becomes distracted by the family dispute.
• Feng Jun pretends to prepare for battle with the offensive talisman given to him by the Guardians, while secretly signaling Yi Jue to be ready to escape. The more powerful “big shot” warns him not to interfere because the conflict is a family matter.
• Yi Jue explains that spirit-plant seniority is complicated and suggests that the seemingly separate beings may actually originate from the same plant. Feng Jun jokingly speculates that their family relationship could result from plant cuttings.

Character Developments

• Feng Jun: Demonstrates composure, resourcefulness, and confidence despite being trapped. He deliberately provokes the Divine Thought, conceals the fact that he may be able to escape, and uses his talisman as a show of support for Yi Jue. His behavior also reveals his trust in Yi Jue and his willingness to act as a protective or confrontational ally even when the danger is uncertain.
• Yi Jue: Shows her characteristic calmness and strategic intelligence. Rather than fight recklessly, she manipulates the Divine Thought through carefully chosen truths, emphasizing Feng Jun’s importance and backing. Her trust in Feng Jun’s ability to survive allows her to remain composed, while she also stays alert and prepares for escape.
• The Divine Thought: Is introduced as powerful but arrogant, impulsive, and overly confident. It dismisses Feng Jun as insignificant, attempts to imprison him rather than kill him, and tries to extort Ultimate Spirit Stones. However, its confidence collapses when it recognizes the awakened plant, revealing fear and a complicated personal history.
• The “Big Sister”/large leek: Emerges as a vastly more intimidating presence than expected. Its overwhelming pressure causes the Divine Thought to panic, suggesting that it possesses an ancient and superior status among the spirit plants.
• Xiao Yao/the younger Divine Thought: Despite its fear, it attempts to defend its version of the past, claiming that the Big Sister destroyed their shared home during Tribulation Transcendence and that the current body was not truly hers.

Significant Themes

• Power concealed behind appearances: Feng Jun appears to be a weak Lesser Gold Core, while possessing extraordinary protection and unknown backing. The “large leek” likewise appears harmless until it reveals overwhelming strength.
• Strategic provocation and psychological warfare: Yi Jue and Feng Jun manipulate the Divine Thought by provoking its pride, emphasizing their connections, and allowing it to underestimate them.
• Arrogance versus caution: The Divine Thought’s excessive confidence causes it to overlook Feng Jun’s potential threat and fail to inspect the plant properly. Its arrogance is sharply contrasted with Yi Jue’s restraint and Feng Jun’s calculated boldness.
• The complexity of identity and kinship: The plant beings’ argument suggests that spirit plants may share bodies, roots, or lineages in ways unlike ordinary creatures. Their “family” relationship may be based on biological or spiritual propagation rather than conventional birth.
• Hidden history and unresolved grievances: The argument hints at an ancient catastrophe involving Tribulation Transcendence, a destroyed shared home, and control over a true body. The full relationship between the Divine Thought and the Big Sister remains unclear.
• Sect authority versus individual strength: Yi Jue invokes the sect bounty to pressure the Divine Thought, while the Divine Thought dismisses sects as unlikely to retaliate over a minor cultivator. The real deterrent is the mysterious power behind Feng Jun.

Character Interactions

• Yi Jue and Feng Jun: They cooperate without a formal plan, instinctively supporting one another. Yi Jue creates psychological pressure, while Feng Jun provides provocation and apparent readiness to fight. Their mutual trust is strong enough that Yi Jue assumes he can survive the confinement, and Feng Jun delays escape partly because she has not been harmed.
• Yi Jue and the Divine Thought: Yi Jue remains composed and evasive, answering questions truthfully but selectively. She repeatedly reminds the Divine Thought that Feng Jun has powerful connections without making direct threats.
• Feng Jun and the Divine Thought: Their exchange is antagonistic and sarcastic. Feng Jun mocks the Divine Thought’s recklessness, while it belittles him and attempts to extort him. Neither fully reveals their actual capabilities.
• The Divine Thought and the Big Sister: Their interaction shifts from domination to fear and familial confrontation. The Divine Thought initially acts as an untouchable superior, but immediately becomes submissive once the Big Sister appears. Their argument exposes a shared past and competing claims over their original home and true body.
• Feng Jun and Yi Jue after the revelation: Feng Jun is confused by the “family matter,” while Yi Jue offers a calm explanation of spirit-plant lineage. His final joke about propagation through cuttings lightens the tension and underscores the strangeness of the plant beings’ relationship.