Chapter Summaries

Lu Mingyu received advice from Chen Changsheng about love, then returned to his Beast Race arrangements while Chen Changsheng continued working in seclusion. Elsewhere, an infiltrator prepared to assassinate Lu Mingyu, and Cui Hao Yu’s father considered drawing Chen Changsheng into the Cui family as trouble threatened the Pill Domain.

• Chen Changsheng told Lu Mingyu that love meant giving one’s heart without regret, and Lu Mingyu left understanding the answer he sought.
• Shui Yue asked Chen Changsheng about the face she bore, but he postponed answering and returned to their work before the Pills Convention finals.
• A disguised assassin infiltrated the Pill Domain and planned to lure away Lu Mingyu’s protectors before killing him.
• Cui Hao Yu’s father rebuked him for interfering in the Lu Family’s affairs, then explained that he would watch over Lu Mingyu and his mother until circumstances demanded action.
• Cui Hao Yu reported that Chen Changsheng had fought the Tower Master to a draw and had ties to the Beast Race, prompting his father to consider arranging Cui Ling Shuang’s marriage to Chen Changsheng.
• Cui Hao Yu’s father predicted upheaval in the Pill Domain because Chen Changsheng resented the Tower Master’s offer and might turn the region upside down.

Chen Changsheng and Guan Ping entered the Pill Tower for the final round, while Lu Mingyu considered how to escape the Lu Family’s dangerous political tangle without returning to violence. Qian Ya described the horrors of war and revealed that she had once been forced to abandon lives on the battlefield.

• Chen Changsheng explained that contestants could question the Pill Tower’s alchemists, ascend when they were dissatisfied with an answer, and potentially reach the Tower Master.
• Guan Ping hurried into the Pill Tower, and Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze followed her, with Bai Ze predicting they would reach the ninth floor.
• At the Lu Family Auction House, Lu Mingyu focused on helping Chen Changsheng’s arrangements and wondered whether the auction would attract its intended target.
• Qian Ya advised Lu Mingyu to abandon what held him back and act decisively, but Lu Mingyu rejected violence to avoid dragging Chen Changsheng back into slaughter.
• Qian Ya recalled the Era of Chaos and explained that battlefield orders could force a commander to abandon someone, adding that she had done so herself.

Qian Ya recounted the brutal choices she made during the war and explained to Lu Mingyu why the current, less deadly situation was preferable. Meanwhile, Chen Changsheng visited Immortal Guang Han in the Pill Tower, where Bai Ze began wrecking her formation and swallowed her golden rope.

• Qian Ya told Lu Mingyu how she ordered her companions, including the Phoenix Empress, to cover her retreat during an attack by eight Heavenly Emperors.
• Qian Ya described the losses of the Investiture of the Gods War and urged Lu Mingyu to value a situation in which fewer people had to die.
• Qian Ya invited Lu Mingyu to clear their heads and proposed holding a celebration feast for Chen Changsheng when he emerged.
• Chen Changsheng entered the Pill Tower with Bai Ze, who detected the Divine Fire scents of twenty-seven Immortal Pill Refiners and led him to Immortal Guang Han.
• Chen Changsheng taunted Immortal Guang Han, while Bai Ze dug at her formation; Immortal Guang Han's golden rope flew at Bai Ze, who swallowed it and demanded more.

Chen Changsheng confronted Yuan Yang Supreme over the Pill Domain’s attempt to reclaim Bai Ze’s treasure and dismiss him, then drank poisoned tea and left the bamboo grove. Outside, he began shedding his old body to overcome the poison.

• Immortal Guang Han attacked Bai Ze, but Yuan Yang Supreme appeared, restrained the beast, and revealed that its swallowed rope was a magic treasure.
• Chen Changsheng stopped Yuan Yang from retrieving the rope, argued that the Pill Domain could not dismiss him, and challenged Yuan Yang to show his strength.
• Yuan Yang returned the rope and offered Chen Changsheng a path to the ninth floor, but Chen Changsheng refused to leave on those terms.
• Yuan Yang served poisoned tea; Bai Ze collapsed after smelling it, and Chen Changsheng drank it before carrying the beast away.
• Yuan Yang revealed that Chen Changsheng had cursed him, while Chen Changsheng used his Fishing Rod to draw poison from Bai Ze.
• As Bai Ze urged him to retreat, Chen Changsheng said the poison was manageable and stepped out of his old body as a new Chen Changsheng.

Chen Changsheng showed Bai Ze a new technique before heading to the second floor of the Pill Tower. In Pill City, Qian Ya recognized an assassination attempt against Lu Mingyu, separated from him to confront an old beggar, and Shui Yue fled with Lu Mingyu toward the Pill Tower before seven Life Lamp Realm cultivators cornered them.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that he had derived his new technique from Black Water Lake and Buddhist Sect principles, then went to the second floor of the Pill Tower.
• Qian Ya noticed that Lu Mingyu's guards and hidden protectors had disappeared, and Lu Mingyu decided to seek safety near his Teacher and the Tower Master at the Pill Tower.
• Qian Ya stayed behind to confront an Old Beggar whose bowl seemed unable to fill, while Shui Yue carried Lu Mingyu away from their pursuers.
• Lu Mingyu reasoned that the assassination might be connected to someone gathered near the Pill Tower, but said its witnesses and protectors made it their best destination.
• A powerful blow sent Shui Yue and Lu Mingyu crashing through two houses, but Lu Mingyu survived because of his jade pendant.
• Shui Yue drew her trident and attacked the seven coordinated Life Lamp Realm assassins while Lu Mingyu watched for a weakness in their formation.

Lu Mingyu and Shui Yue escaped an assassination attempt and headed for his teacher’s residence, expecting another attack. At the Pill Tower, Chen Changsheng learned that the Supreme Pill Masters would let him climb freely, though they were prepared to defend the Immortal Pill Formula by force.

• Lu Mingyu directed Shui Yue to exploit a flaw in the assassins’ formation, and his attack killed their leader before the other six retreated.
• Lu Mingyu explained that more assassins would come and told Shui Yue to take him to his teacher’s heavily guarded residence instead of the Pill Tower.
• Shui Yue followed Lu Mingyu’s plan, saying she would abandon him if she could not save him and his plan proved wrong.
• At the Pill Tower’s second floor, Chen Changsheng met a square-faced Supreme Pill Master who said Chen could climb the tower without competing.
• Chen Changsheng threatened to seize the Immortal Pill Formula by force, and the Supreme Pill Master invited him to try, citing the Pill Tower’s many powerful defenders.

Chen Changsheng refused to leave the Pill Tower to save Lu Mingyu, while Shui Yue brought the endangered Lu Mingyu to a secret chamber to search for his teacher’s hidden backup plan. An assassin concealed in Lu Mingyu’s shadow revealed herself and prepared to kill him.

• Chen Changsheng mocked the square-faced Supreme Pill Master and refused to leave the Pill Tower, warning the nine Supremes that he would defeat the pill refiners if any of them departed.
• The square-faced man consulted Yuan Yang Supreme, who told him to trust the Tower Master’s orders and confirmed that he was very ugly.
• Shui Yue took Lu Mingyu into a secret chamber and went outside to buy him time while he searched for his teacher’s defenses.
• Lu Mingyu found no obvious safeguards and began examining a box of paper figures, but his shadow rose and an assassin revealed she had hidden inside it.
• Lu Mingyu deduced that the chaos outside was a diversion intended to let the assassin kill him and escape amid the disorder.

Lu Mingyu tried to bargain with the Shadow Assassin as she broke through his protective treasure, while Chen Changsheng confronted the Pill Domain’s Supreme Pill Masters in the Pill Tower. The mysterious young man intervened in their fight and led Chen Changsheng away, as Immortal Guang Han continued to watch over Guan Ping’s cultivation.

• Lu Mingyu offered the Shadow Assassin ten times her reward to spare him, but she kept breaking through his protective treasure and asked whether he had any other contingencies.
• Chen Changsheng refused to leave the Pill Tower or let the Supreme Pill Masters depart while Lu Mingyu’s situation remained unresolved.
• A white-haired Supreme Pill Master attacked Chen Changsheng, and they fought until the mysterious young man stopped them.
• Chen Changsheng challenged the young man to continue their contest, and the two walked away together.
• Guan Ping left an Immortal Pill Refiner after seeking guidance, and the refiner praised her talent to Immortal Guang Han.

Chen Changsheng watched the assassination of Lu Mingyu unfold, confident that his newly prepared safeguard would turn the attack aside. When Lu Mingyu was cornered by the Shadow Assassin, his desperate words activated the hidden formation, releasing a swarm of paper figures that rescued him.

• At the Pill Tower, Chen Changsheng and the young man discussed the assassins targeting Lu Mingyu and wagered over the outcome.
• In the small courtyard, the Shadow Assassin broke down Lu Mingyu’s protective jade pendant while Shui Yue tried to buy him time.
• Lu Mingyu shouted for his teacher, praised Chen Changsheng, and then cursed himself, triggering a formation in the secret chamber.
• Spirit Liquid awakened the paper figures inside a chest, and they swarmed the Shadow Assassin, drove her back, and treated Lu Mingyu’s injuries.

Lu Mingyu learned that his Teacher had developed a new puppetry method using External Incarnation to create inexpensive, intelligent paper puppets that could grow stronger. The paper figures trapped the Shadow Assassin and began absorbing World Spiritual Energy, while Chen Changsheng described the still-immature method to a young man at Pill Tower.

• Lu Mingyu's Teacher explained that he had applied the External Incarnation divine ability from the Eight Nine Mysterious Technique to special paper, creating puppets that could act independently, grow stronger, and evade most Divine Sense Realm detection.
• The paper figures fought the Shadow Assassin with spells and tactics, but she blasted through their encirclement and charged at the injured Lu Mingyu.
• A paper figure leaped from Shui Yue's arms and used a Teleportation Array to send Lu Mingyu ten zhang away, then helped the oversized paper figure deploy ordinary paper figures to trap the Shadow Assassin.
• The Shadow Assassin destroyed many paper figures before some withdrew and absorbed World Spiritual Energy, rapidly increasing their auras and alarming her.
• At Pill Tower, the young man asked Chen Changsheng whether the new puppets could defeat him, and Chen Changsheng said they could not but were fun.

Chen Changsheng confronted the Pill Domain’s Tower Master over the use of Lu Mingyu as leverage and warned the Nine Supremes not to interfere in his affairs. He returned to the besieged courtyard, where he tasked Bai Ze with dealing with the assassins and using the City Guard to keep the matter quiet.

• Chen Changsheng told the Tower Master he treated the conflict as a game only while no lives were being wagered, then threatened him with the Silver Box if there was a next time.
• The Tower Master rebuked Feng Hua Supreme for using Lu Mingyu and the City Guard to pressure Chen Changsheng, then ordered the Nine Supremes to leave Chen Changsheng’s matter to him.
• Eagle Old and his companions judged Chen Changsheng worth approaching for cooperation and discussed the Pill Tower’s failure to respond to the courtyard attack.
• Chen Changsheng arrived at the courtyard, let Shui Yue rest, and told Bai Ze to incapacitate the assassins without getting blood on himself.
• Bai Ze asked whether Chen Changsheng meant to kill the assassins by borrowing the City Guard’s hand, and Chen Changsheng confirmed it.

After the attack on Chen Changsheng’s courtyard, Lu Mingyu asked him to spare a Shadow Assassin so he could investigate the Black Shadow organization and uncover the powerful interests behind it. The Pill Domain launched a sweeping hunt, while a surviving Black Shadow Assassin escaped into the wilderness.

• Bai Ze killed the attackers but left the Shadow Assassin trapped by Chen Changsheng’s Paper figures, whom Chen Changsheng wanted to use as a test for his unfinished figures and to question about the plot.
• Chen Changsheng praised Lu Mingyu for staying calm during the attack, and Lu Mingyu asked him to spare the Shadow Assassin so he could investigate the Black Shadow organization.
• Lu Mingyu explained that the organization’s decision to attack in the Pill Domain was more intriguing than identifying the mastermind, and Chen Changsheng released the Shadow Assassin and agreed to alert the Pill Tower.
• The City Guard and factions across the Pill Domain hunted the assassins, and hundreds of Immortal Kings overwhelmed the experts who had fought Qian Ya and Butler Wang.
• A wounded Black Shadow Assassin learned that an Immortal King Rank Six elder had died in the assault, changed her appearance, and staggered away into the wilderness.

Guan Ping questioned the Pill Tower’s young master about the ideal of alchemy and received a Registered Disciple token for herself and another for Chen Feng. After the Pills Convention, Immortal Guang Han was stunned to learn that Chen Changsheng had been listed as her disciple.

• Guan Ping met the young man on the Pill Tower’s tenth floor and asked whether he had refined the pill he was most satisfied with and whether he could create the world’s best pill.
• Guan Ping explained that she loved alchemy and wanted a clear standard to guide her forward, prompting the young man to praise her aspirations and give her two tokens.
• The young man told Guan Ping to pass one token to Chen Feng and explained that the tokens would grant them access to places in the Pill Domain; he also warned her to be careful in the Cultivation World.
• The Pills Convention ended, and the announcement that the Tower Master had made Chen Feng and Guan Ping Registered Disciples caused an uproar in the Pill Domain.
• Cui Ling Shuang asked Immortal Guang Han why she had accepted Chen Changsheng as a disciple, and Immortal Guang Han told her to focus on alchemy and consider her father’s letter carefully.

Cui Ling Shuang agreed to return to her family in six months for an arranged marriage, unaware that the order was part of a plan Chen Changsheng and the Cui Family had made. After the Pill Domain and the Lu Family settled the assassination scandal with compensation, Chen Changsheng left with Lu Mingyu and Bai Ze, who revealed that the injured Black Shadow assassin was hiding in the courtyard.

• Cui Ling Shuang told Immortal Guang Han she would return home in six months to complete her marriage, while Immortal Guang Han recognized the arrangement as part of Chen Changsheng’s plan with the Cui Family.
• The Pill Tower’s Supreme Pill Master secretly negotiated with the Lu Family, and the two sides chose to settle the assassination attempt without widening the scandal.
• Chen Changsheng explained to Guan Ping that neither the Lu Family nor the Pill Domain wanted the assassination investigated further, and Lu Mingyu described how the inquiry could implicate senior Pill Domain figures.
• Chen Changsheng told Guan Ping and Lu Mingyu that they would become Pill Domain disciples in three days, then agreed to take Lu Mingyu with him as he left the courtyard.
• Lu Mingyu asked Bai Ze whether the Black Shadow assassin was hiding in the courtyard’s northern corner, and Bai Ze confirmed it, warning that her serious injuries threatened her life.

Chen Changsheng arranged for the Black Shadow Assassin to be cornered by Chen Feng while he and Lu Mingyu went to negotiate with the Beast Race. Chen Feng captured the injured assassin without killing her, while Lu Mingyu began offering the Beast Race a business alliance and a share of the Beast Taming Lineage's territory.

• Chen Changsheng told Lu Mingyu that the Black Shadow Assassin would be lured into Chen Feng's room, and Lu Mingyu asked to join him in profiting from the conflict between the Beast Race and the Beast Taming Lineage.
• Guan Ping and Shui Yue left the little courtyard to go shopping, and Chen Feng returned to his room after agreeing to refine pills.
• The Black Shadow Assassin entered Chen Feng's room, but she collapsed before their fight could continue, and Chen Feng restrained her.
• Lu Mingyu asked Chen Feng to drive the assassin away without harming her, then joined Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze at the Beast Race Residence.
• Lu Mingyu offered the Beast Race access to the Lu Family's commercial network and began discussing the Beast Taming Lineage's territory, but a blue-haired elder challenged his authority.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Lu Mingyu represented only himself and was his disciple, surprising the blue-haired elder.

Chen Changsheng confronted the Beast Race elders over their attempt to claim his Dragon Pearl, then left them to negotiate with Nine-Headed Xiang Liu and his disciple. The elders recognized that they could neither seize the pearl nor safely oppose Chen Changsheng.

• Chen Changsheng offered the Beast Race only an opportunity to cooperate and produced the True Dragon Dragon Pearl as a way to win Nine-Headed Xiang Liu's support.
• The blue-haired old man tried to take the Dragon Pearl and then insisted the Beast Race would buy it, but Chen Changsheng refused to sell it.
• Chen Changsheng threatened the elders and challenged them to leave with the pearl; the blue-haired old man returned it after realizing he could not take it by force.
• Chen Changsheng gave the Dragon Pearl to Bai Ze, left with Lu Mingyu and Bai Ze, and told the Beast Race to negotiate with Nine-Headed Xiang Liu and his disciple.
• The blue-haired old man pointed out the holes in the elders' clothes and explained that Chen Changsheng could have killed them, while the Tower Master's silence showed confidence in him.

Chen Changsheng warned Lu Mingyu that remaking the Lu Family could unleash widespread conflict and might not create a better world, though he promised to help him pursue his ideals. Meanwhile, the Beast Race elders left their reform effort to Bai Feng and the younger generation, ordering them to remove anyone who obstructed it.

• The Beast Race elders concluded that Chen Changsheng was too dangerous to oppose and ordered Bai Feng and the younger ones to pursue reforms without regard to bloodline or status.
• Chen Changsheng asked Lu Mingyu whether he could withstand the attacks that would follow his departure from the Pill Domain, and Lu Mingyu admitted he lacked confidence.
• Chen Changsheng recognized that Lu Mingyu wanted to create a new Lu Family and cautioned that overturning the existing order could bring war and suffering.
• Chen Changsheng explained that cultivators depended on resources and that even he seized what he could not obtain through trade.
• Chen Changsheng told Lu Mingyu he would help him but urged him to consider the consequences of slaughter; Lu Mingyu thanked his teacher for clarifying his doubts.

Chen Changsheng urged Lu Mingyu to reconsider the Lu Family from another perspective, while the wounded Shadow Assassin sought refuge at the group’s courtyard. After Chen Feng and Guan Ping spared her, Chen Feng came to question her about why she had not taken pills to heal herself.

• Chen Changsheng told Lu Mingyu to understand the Lu Family from different angles before deciding whether it needed to be changed or destroyed.
• Chen Feng dropped the injured Shadow Assassin in the courtyard and said he would kill her if they met again.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Lu Mingyu and Qian Ya were preparing for the next day’s auction, then stopped Guan Ping from attacking the Shadow Assassin.
• Chen Changsheng and the others ate together while the Shadow Assassin watched from alone; she later settled for scraps left by Ming Snake.
• Chen Feng visited the Shadow Assassin at night and asked why she had not taken pills to heal her injuries.

Chen Feng gave Liu Qingqing food and asked Chen Changsheng to stop humiliating her, though he did not try to save her from the consequences of her actions. The next morning, Chen Changsheng and the others left for the auction while Liu Qingqing remained alone in the courtyard.

• Liu Qingqing told Chen Feng she was penniless and asked him to give her a quick death, but he left her food and told her to eat it instead of what she held.
• Chen Feng asked Chen Changsheng to stop humiliating Liu Qingqing, and Chen Changsheng agreed not to make things difficult for her.
• Chen Changsheng explained to Guan Ping that Chen Feng had helped Liu Qingqing so she could die with dignity, and Guan Ping agreed not to harm her unless she attacked again.
• The next morning, Chen Changsheng and the others set out for the auction while Liu Qingqing remained alone in the courtyard, tormented by loneliness.

Chen Changsheng and his companions arrived at the Lu Family Auction House, where the aristocratic heirs took note of his growing influence. Lu Mingyu opened the auction by introducing the Sky Lantern bidding rule, and the auction was poised to begin.

• Chen Changsheng greeted Bai Feng and entered the auction house with Bai Feng and the Beast Race Heaven's Chosen following him.
• Zheng Ling recognized Chen Changsheng as a formidable rival because of his ties to the Beast Race and the Lu Family.
• The auction house gave each guest in an upper-floor private room a ten-million-Source-Pill credit limit without collateral.
• Chen Changsheng opened his private-room window, and Bai Ze steadied Guan Ping when the powerful guests' attention unsettled her.
• Lu Mingyu introduced the Sky Lantern rule, explaining that its holder would outbid other guests but must meet the room's credit limit or pass asset verification.