Chapter Summaries

Feng Jun explained two flaws in Xia Nishang’s teachings, then discovered that Sun Rongxun’s Golden Crow Nirvana Art had mutated, making their earlier deductions uncertain without access to the Glory Merit Drum. The chapter ended with Feng Jun asking whether the mutation had caused any other changes in Sun Rongxun’s cultivation.

• Xia Nishang asked Feng Jun to explain their past disputes, and he showed her a flaw in how Faith entered and circulated through the body.
• Feng Jun explained a second point, warning that spreading it would strengthen the Yin Sha Sect’s theoretical foundation.
• Sun Rongxun asked whether becoming the Glory Merit Drum’s Artifact Spirit was feasible, and Feng Jun said she appeared uniquely suited because she cultivated Golden Crow Nirvana.
• Xia Nishang provided Sun Rongxun’s technique for Feng Jun to compare, and he discovered that her Golden Crow Nirvana Art had mutated.
• Feng Jun said they could not determine whether Sun Rongxun could embrace her core without the Glory Merit Drum, which Xia Nishang could not bring without approval from Red Phoenix elders and its Sect Master.
• Feng Jun told Sun Rongxun that their earlier assumptions were not entirely useless and asked whether the mutation had caused any unusual changes in her cultivation.

Feng Jun investigated Sun Rongxun’s chances of reaching Core Embrace and found that nourishing poison with poison during her third Nirvana might help. After learning that diluted Golden Crow Essence Blood could further improve her odds, he asked Xia Nishang about obtaining it, and she asked how much it would help.

• Sun Rongxun told Feng Jun that refining flames had become slower after her mutation and that, as a Falcon-Swan, she liked eating venomous creatures.
• Feng Jun divined that Sun Rongxun might improve her chances of Core Embrace by nourishing poison with poison during her third Nirvana.
• The Big Shot suggested adding Golden Crow Essence Blood to Sun Rongxun’s third Nirvana to help temper away impurities.
• Feng Jun asked Qu Jianlei whether the Red Phoenix Sect had Golden Crow Essence Blood, and Xiaomeng said the sect might have diluted blood.
• Xia Nishang told Feng Jun that she had three drops of diluted Golden Crow Essence Blood and asked how much a drop would increase Sun Rongxun’s chances.

Xia Nishang secured Golden Crow Essence Blood and rare poisons from the Red Phoenix Sect for Sun Rongxun’s hoped-for third Nirvana, while keeping Feng Jun’s plans for the Glory Merit Drum secret. She returned to Liba Beach to find Feng Jun missing.

• Xia Nishang asked the Red Phoenix sect leader for Golden Crow Essence Blood and permission to collect poisons, explaining that Feng Jun was dangerous, reliable, and knew things from a higher plane.
• The sect leader agreed to lend one drop of Golden Crow Essence Blood and let Xia Nishang take poisons from the Grand Vault and Elder Vault, but refused to release the Glory Merit Drum.
• Xia Nishang hinted that Feng Jun’s plan for the Glory Merit Drum might involve Incense Faith, and the sect leader realized the idea could change Guan Hongxiu’s cultivation path.
• Xia Nishang gathered rare poisons with help from her friend, the master of Bai Luan, and departed after warning the sect leader that she could not reveal more.
• Xia Nishang arrived at Liba Beach two days later and discovered that Feng Jun was not there.

Feng Jun returned to Pacify Arms Mountain with a group of cultivators and found the territory under pressure from counterfeiters and armed outsiders. After Qu Jianlei subdued two Emergence from Dust Stage cultivators, Feng Jun had the area contained and asked Lang Zhen to explain what had happened during his absence.

• Feng Jun traveled through the Teleportation Arrays to Qiuchen Market with Qu Jianlei, Sun Rongxun, Kong Ziyi, and others, then invited Mi Yunshan to return with him while Chen Junsheng stayed behind.
• Feng Jun and his party reached Pacify Arms Mountain and found yamen runners demanding to inspect them; Chen Junwei struck two, and Sun Rongxun forced two more to kneel.
• Feng Jun used the Soul-Suppressing Bell on the approaching soldiers, while Qu Jianlei overpowered and captured two independent Emergence from Dust Stage cultivators from the Hunting Alliance of the Endless Sea.
• Lang Zhen welcomed Feng Jun back, and Elder Liao arrived with eight people he had captured for trying to forcibly buy goods from Pacify Arms Mountain.
• Feng Jun ordered Qu Jianlei to seal off the territory and told Lang Zhen to explain how shortages, counterfeit Boiler Engines, and the departure of Master Yan, Wang Bocai, and others had weakened the settlement.

Feng Jun returned to Pacify Arms Mountain and confronted the cultivators and families who had exploited his absence. After asserting his authority and promising to resume operations, he heard that Qiuchen Market had more than five hundred thousand Zhan Xiu, and the Big Shot sensed an aura of the Great Dao.

• Feng Jun learned that two Emergence from Dust cultivators and their allies had pressured Pacify Arms Mountain, imposed fees, and forced the sale of goods while he was away.
• Feng Jun confronted Si Xiaoguang over destroying the warning boundary stele, while Sun Rongxun identified himself as Chi Feng Rongxun and revealed that Dragon Wanderer was dead.
• Feng Jun ordered Elder Liao to capture the Qi Condensation cultivators and left the martial cultivators to Chen the Innate Expert.
• Mu Fengtang called for the invading clans to be exterminated, and Kong Ziyi offered Supreme Clarity Sect's cooperation.
• Zhan Xiu from Qiuchen Market greeted Feng Jun, who promised to keep operating Pacify Arms Mountain; Mi Yunshan said Qiuchen Market had more than five hundred thousand Zhan Xiu.
• The Big Shot emerged from the Spirit Beast Bag and said it sensed an aura of the Great Dao.

Feng Jun discovered that Qi Refining cultivators had secretly tunneled into Pacify Arms Mountain to excavate Celestial Mechanism Stones and recovered two from Si Xiaoguang's Storage Pouch. After exposing the enormous stone to the gathered Adepts, he left them to reckon with the mountain's valuable secret.

• Elder Liao reported that intruders had been digging tunnels in Pacify Arms Mountain, and Feng Jun flew there to investigate.
• Feng Jun found deep tunnels near two missing Spirit Stones in Condensation, returned, seized Si Xiaoguang's Storage Pouch, and knocked the two Emergence from Dust Adepts unconscious.
• After Sun Rongxun warned him about soul restrictions and repeated Soul Searches, Feng Jun discovered that three captives had restrictions and ordered Elder Liao and Lang Zhen to arrest people who had trespassed.
• Feng Jun used a Soul Search on an unrestricted Qi Refining cultivator and learned that the miners had been ordered to stop and alert the Adepts if they found spiritual energy.
• Feng Jun cleared the onlookers away, showed the gathered Adepts a cartwheel-sized Celestial Mechanism Stone, and heard Yu Pao estimate its value at twenty thousand Spirit Stones.

Feng Jun’s group captured and Soul Searched the cultivators who had plotted against Pacify Arms Mountain, uncovering their plans and concerns about the Celestial Mechanism Stones. After Kong Ziyi’s Soul Search attempt triggered a fatal backlash, Feng Jun took off to test whether Footprint could teleport him on the Phone Plane.

• Feng Jun Soul Searched Si Xiaoguang and learned he had found the Celestial Mechanism Stones with a damaged Treasure-Seeking Disc and had not told the Hunting Alliance.
• Yu Pao Soul Searched an Early Emergence from Dust cultivator and discovered he had secretly contacted an Emergence from Dust High Stage alliance steward for help.
• Sun Rongxun Soul Searched a Seventh Layer Qi Condensation cultivator and found he had arranged for a yamen runner to reveal information if he disappeared.
• Kong Ziyi used a Soul-Search Talisman on a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, whose head exploded from the backlash.
• Feng Jun suddenly flew away to test whether Footprint could teleport him on the Phone Plane.

Feng Jun tested Footprint by teleporting a frail captive between Pacify Arms Mountain and Mingsha Market, confirming that the journey caused temporary weakness and consumed considerable Energy Points. He then negotiated a deal for the Supreme Clarity Sect and Red Phoenix to buy Celestial Mechanism Stones and help guard the mountain, while Qu Jianlei began setting up a stele.

• Feng Jun teleported a frail young man to Mingsha Market and back, finding that the trip caused temporary weakness and used substantial Energy Points, then left the young man an idiot.
• Yu Pao and Qu Jianlei discussed the captives and the risks of Feng Jun trying to hold Pacify Arms Mountain without more support.
• Feng Jun agreed to sell three Celestial Mechanism Stones each year to the Supreme Clarity Sect and Red Phoenix, provided they sent people to guard the mountain.
• Feng Jun estimated that about fifty or sixty Celestial Mechanism Stones could be deduced at Pacify Arms Mountain.
• Qu Jianlei flew to the mountain gate and dropped a huge boulder there to begin erecting a stele.

Qu Jianlei, Yu Pao, and Kong Ziyi marked Feng Jun’s authority at Pacify Arms Mountain as the purge and revenge against the Wang Family and Jiang Clan escalated. Elder Liao confronted Zhao Commandery Governor and ordered him to appear at the mountain within three days, leaving him offering a treasure in hopes of securing help.

• Qu Jianlei inscribed a warning on a stone monument, and Yu Pao and Kong Ziyi added their Supreme Clarity Sect signatures.
• Pacify Arms Mountain captured more than a thousand people, while Tian Yang Ni and Mu Fengtang sought revenge for their fallen men; Feng Jun authorized hundredfold retribution.
• Yu Pao proposed drawing lots to make up the required executions, and a soldiers’ uprising left hundreds dead or wounded.
• Elder Liao forced his way into the Commandery Governor’s Residence, frightened its guards with his gu insects, and ordered Zhao Commandery Governor to reach Pacify Arms Mountain within three days.
• Zhao Commandery Governor asked Elder Liao to take him there and offered him a treasure, but Elder Liao had not yet accepted.

Zhao Commandery Governor tried to bribe Elder Liao with Yuanfang, a virgin said to possess the Nine Yin Physique, while seeking advice on how to appease Feng Mountain Lord. Elder Liao accepted Yuanfang for himself but still ordered Zhao Commandery Governor to prepare to leave, leaving him a chance to ask what offering Feng Jun would accept.

• Elder Liao dismissed Zhao Commandery Governor's offer until Yuanfang arrived, then became interested when he heard she supposedly had the Nine Yin Physique and was still a virgin.
• Zhao Commandery Governor explained Yuanfang's family troubles and how he had kept her hidden while waiting for an opportunity to secure her cultivation.
• Zhao Commandery Governor admitted he had sided with Si Xiaoguang against Feng Jun and now feared the consequences of Feng Jun's return.
• Elder Liao refused to let Zhao Commandery Governor appease Feng Jun by giving Yuanfang to him, but accepted her as his own travel expense.
• Elder Liao gave Zhao Commandery Governor one incense stick to pack, and Zhao asked what kind of sincerity Feng Mountain Lord preferred.

Elder Liao brought Zhao Commandery Governor, the prefect, and the fleeing county magistrate to Pacify Arms Mountain, where Feng Jun considered the Nine Yin Physique of Yuanfang and Elder Liao’s reward. As Feng Jun turned to question Zhao Commandery Governor about the conflict, the purge of those involved continued.

• Elder Liao accepted Zhao Commandery Governor’s goods and Yuanfang, then persuaded him to come to Feng Jun and brought along the prefect and Deng Yifu.
• Elder Liao tracked down Magistrate Ruan after he fled, knocked him and his companions unconscious, and took them to Pacify Arms Mountain.
• Feng Jun halted plans to exterminate every implicated family after learning how many people and major powers were involved, while Pacify Arms Mountain demanded explanations from the guilty families.
• Elder Liao presented Yuanfang to Feng Jun, who divined that her Nine Yin Physique could support cultivation and advised Elder Liao to wait until she reached Emergence from Dust before making her a cultivation partner.
• Feng Jun ignored Zhao Commandery Governor’s attempt to offer sincerity and asked whether Pacify Arms Mountain had provoked him.

Feng Jun confronted Zhao Commandery Governor over his role in the attack on Pacify Arms Mountain and weighed his apology and compensation. He accepted a Wild Beast egg and ordered further payment, but Zhao objected to kneeling at the mountain gate, leaving their dispute unresolved.

• Zhao Commandery Governor admitted that greed and ambition had led him to interfere in the conflict and apologized to Feng Jun.
• Feng Jun accused Zhao Commandery Governor of making him look weak and explained that his interference had put Elder Liao in danger.
• Elder Liao presented Zhao's compensation, including valuables, paintings, and a Flood-Dragon-Whisker Azure Carp Egg, which the Big Shot identified as a growth-type Wild Beast egg.
• Feng Jun accepted the egg, demanded ten times more wealth, and ordered Zhao to kneel at Pacify Arms Mountain for ten days.
• Zhao objected that kneeling would damage the imperial court's dignity and argued that Feng Jun's killings and the soldiers' deaths had evened the matter out.
• Feng Jun rejected Zhao's argument and demanded compensation for the property requisitioned and damaged by the troops.

Feng Jun held Qingning officials accountable for abuses against Pacify Arms Mountain, ordering Ruan County Magistrate to be hanged and demanding compensation from the prefectural governor and Zhao Commandery Governor. The prefectural governor offered uninhabited land north of the mountain, and Zhao tried to match him by offering adjoining land, though he did not know which prefecture bordered his commandery.

• Zhao Commandery Governor pleaded with Feng Jun to change the demand that he kneel at Pacify Arms Mountain's gate, but Feng threatened to kill him or his family if he withdrew his offer.
• Feng Jun ordered Ruan County Magistrate hanged after Ruan blamed Shangguan and offered his family's inherited treasures; Elder Liao took him away.
• The prefectural governor claimed he had opposed action against Pacify Arms Mountain but admitted he had failed to protect Feng Jun's rights, so Feng demanded compensation.
• The prefectural governor offered Feng Jun a free grant of forest and plains north of Pacify Arms Mountain, and Feng told Deng Yifu to oversee the arrangement.
• Elder Liao returned after hanging Ruan County Magistrate from a pole and said he would let him suffer for seven days and nights before dying.
• Zhao Commandery Governor offered Feng Jun adjoining land, but when Feng asked which prefecture bordered his commandery, Zhao could not answer.

Feng Jun negotiated land and punishments with Commandery Governor Zhao, then oversaw Pacify Arms Mountain’s purge and recovery. While examining his gains, he and the Big Shot realized the damaged Treasure-Seeking Disc could be a tool for finding Earth Veins, leaving Feng Jun to consider how to develop and use it.

• Commandery Governor Zhao agreed to allocate land for Pacify Arms Mountain after Feng Jun and the Qingning Prefecture governor warned him to avoid disturbing the people, and Zhao accepted kneeling and compensation as punishment.
• Pacify Arms Mountain’s purge continued for over a month as its people retaliated against offenders, while disciples from Supreme Clarity Sect and Red Phoenix guarded the Celestial Mechanism Stone.
• Feng Jun stayed at Pacify Arms Mountain for over two months as the mountain recovered and more than ten thousand outside offenders were executed.
• Feng Jun and the Big Shot examined their gains and recognized that the damaged Treasure-Seeking Disc might actually search for Earth Veins.
• The Big Shot urged Feng Jun to use divination to repair or upgrade the disc, but Feng Jun said improving Earth Veins required a proven theory and suggested pressuring Supreme Clarity Sect.

Feng Jun set strict conditions for Yuan Ming of the Supreme Clarity Sect to investigate Pacify Arms Mountain’s Celestial Mechanism Stones, refusing excavation without his approval and a fee. Yuan Ming failed to recruit Feng Jun with an offer to teach him the Earth Vein Art, then received permission to examine no more than three pits with Sun Rongxun overseeing him.

• Feng Jun recognized that the Supreme Clarity Sect would investigate the Celestial Mechanism Stones, which his phone identified as Spirit Stones in the process of condensing.
• Yuan Ming arrived to study how the stones formed, and Feng Jun required him to request approval and pay before excavating.
• Yuan Ming offered to teach Feng Jun the Earth Vein Art if he became an offering of Radiant Peak, but Feng Jun declined because he would not abandon his own inheritance.
• Yuan Ming began surveying Pacify Arms Mountain and tried to clear one of Feng Jun’s backfilled pits, but Sun Rongxun stopped him.
• Feng Jun allowed Yuan Ming to inspect up to three pits, and Yuan Ming cleared the first with a sweep of his sleeve.

True Adept Yuan Ming investigated Feng Jun’s excavation sites and Pacify Arms Mountain’s Earth Veins, then asked to alter several points to continue his divination. Feng Jun refused to let him touch the mountain’s Earth Vein, but confirmed that Yuan Ming had correctly located a buried Celestial Mechanism Stone.

• True Adept Yuan Ming examined Feng Jun’s refilled pits and concluded that Feng Jun had deliberately found Celestial Mechanism Stones, unlike the Hunting Alliance’s haphazard excavations.
• After a day of divination, True Adept Yuan Ming detected Feng Jun’s Earth Vein experiments and judged that Feng Jun had raised the Earth Vein only slightly through force rather than a proper method.
• True Adept Yuan Ming showed Feng Jun a map of proposed investigation points, but Feng Jun rejected any that could affect Pacify Arms Mountain’s Earth Vein.
• Feng Jun pointed out Yuan Ming’s planned diagonal excavation and asked whether he was seeking a Celestial Mechanism Stone, prompting Yuan Ming to recognize Feng Jun’s exceptional divination ability.
• Feng Jun confirmed the stone lay roughly eighty to one hundred zhang deep, a shallower estimate than Yuan Ming’s own prediction.

Feng Jun and Yuan Ming wagered on how deep a Celestial Mechanism Stone lay, and Yuan Ming lost when it appeared at eighty-one zhang. After agreeing to pay Feng Jun two hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, Yuan Ming warned him to keep the payment quiet, and Feng Jun asked whether he could help repair a damaged Treasure-Seeking Disc.

• Yuan Ming insisted the Celestial Mechanism Stone lay beyond eighty-five zhang, and Feng Jun disagreed, so they wagered on its depth and set compensation terms.
• Yuan Ming secretly watched the excavation overnight to ensure Feng Jun had not tampered with the site.
• The Celestial Mechanism Stone appeared at eighty-one zhang, and Yuan Ming acknowledged his loss in front of the Merit Honoree from Red Phoenix.
• Yuan Ming agreed to pay Feng Jun two hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, though he could only hand over seventy or eighty immediately.
• Yuan Ming cautioned Feng Jun not to reveal the Spirit Stones, and Feng Jun asked him to repair a damaged Treasure-Seeking Disc.

Feng Jun showed Yuan Ming True Adept the damaged Treasure-Seeking Disc, which Yuan Ming recognized might reveal Earth Veins and desperately wanted to study. Feng Jun refused to sell it, leaving Yuan Ming puzzled by his determination to master Earth Vein methods himself.

• Yuan Ming True Adept reached for Feng Jun’s compass, but Sun Rongxun and Qu Jianlei stopped him and reminded him to ask permission before inspecting Feng Jun’s spoils.
• Feng Jun let Yuan Ming examine the disc, and Yuan Ming used Vitality for Divination before concluding that its underlying methods came from beyond the Kunhao Plane.
• Yuan Ming paid twenty Mid-Grade Spirit Stones to photograph and record the disc, while Feng Jun explained that surface observations alone would reveal little of its secrets.
• Sun Rongxun told Yuan Ming that her sect’s Supreme Elder had praised Feng Jun’s Divination, then refused to identify the elder when Yuan Ming asked.
• Yuan Ming offered to buy the disc and suggested that Supreme Clarity Sect could improve Earth Veins for Feng Jun, but Feng Jun refused to sell it or rely on the sect.

Feng Jun learned that Pacify Arms Mountain would not become a true Spirit Stone Mine, while he and the Yin Soul Big Shot agreed to stay and address problems at the site. Liang Chao of the Azuresteel Sect arrived with three heads from the Hunting Alliance, bringing Feng Jun’s old conflict with the sect back into focus.

• Yuan Ming True Adept advised Feng Jun to take his Treasure-Seeking Disc to Tiantong for repairs, then divined at Pacify Arms Mountain and concluded it could only form scattered Spirit Stones, not a true mine.
• Yuan Ming True Adept confirmed that the Mortal World’s scarce spiritual energy and depleted Spirit Veins made a future Spirit Stone Mine at Pacify Arms Mountain impossible.
• Feng Jun persuaded the Yin Soul Big Shot to consider opening its next hidden cache after taking it on a brief journey to Liba Beach and back.
• Liang Chao arrived at Pacify Arms Mountain with three heads belonging to Emergence from Dust Adepts from the Hunting Alliance.
• The Supreme Clarity Sect and Red Phoenix searched for a Hunting Alliance deacon who had threatened revenge, while the Azuresteel Sect realized the deacon had mistaken it for a potential ally against the Supreme Clarity Sect.

Liang Chao met Feng Jun at Pacify Arms Mountain, offering teleportation discs and proposing that the Azuresteel Sect share its Earth Vein knowledge in hopes of improving relations and driving a wedge between Feng Jun and the Supreme Clarity Sect. After Liang Chao left, Yu Pao confronted him and warned that the Supreme Clarity Sect would not let his scheme succeed.

• The Azuresteel Sect traced its feud with Feng Jun to its earlier attempt to abduct someone, and Liang Chao brought three heads and two pairs of Teleportation Array Discs to Pacify Arms Mountain.
• Liang Chao offered to pay for a Red Phoenix Sect teleportation array and suggested the Azuresteel Sect could help guard Pacify Arms Mountain, but Qu Jianlei rejected the idea.
• Feng Jun asked for Earth Vein manuals, and Liang Chao offered manuals and Azuresteel Sect instructors in exchange for a chance to improve relations.
• Qu Jianlei and Feng Jun recognized that Liang Chao hoped to sow discord between Feng Jun and the Supreme Clarity Sect, but Feng Jun agreed to discuss the manuals after seeing them.
• Yu Pao confronted Liang Chao outside the mountain gate and said the Supreme Clarity Sect would not let the Azuresteel Sect drive a wedge between it and Feng Jun.