Chapter Summaries

Wang Daoyuan entered the Seven Stars Heavenly Palace to search for Fifth-order spirit herbs, gathering nearly all the ingredients he needed for two pills. After finding the missing herbs at Shennong Pavilion, he was discovered by a Divine Pill Sect cultivator who sensed spatial fluctuations.

• Wang Daoyuan searched Qing Mang Mountain and other spirit veins, found them stripped of useful herbs, and repaired his damaged Natal Artifacts before heading to the heavenly palace.
• Wang Daoyuan slipped over the palace wall and found that Ziwei Palace remained sealed by a powerful formation.
• Wang Daoyuan searched the Spirit Fields around Black Tortoise Lake, gathering many ingredients but avoiding the island guarded by a Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator.
• Wang Daoyuan heard cultivators in Shennong Pavilion discuss the Soul Nurturing Wood and its role in the Spirit Taming Sect's rise.
• Wang Daoyuan entered Shennong Pavilion's courtyard and collected Soul Revival Grasses and Jade Dew Flowers, along with other spirit herbs.
• A Divine Pill Sect cultivator sensed spatial fluctuations and suspected someone was stealing spirit plants with a spatial treasure.

After stealing spirit herbs, Wang Daoyuan escaped detection and hid inside the Heavenly Palace, planning to wait until the Secret Realm closed. Meanwhile, the Divine Pill Sect investigated the theft, and accusations between the Jade Heng Sword Sect and the Blood Shark Pirates nearly sparked a fight before a scent-tracking spirit beast pointed the search toward the palace’s inhabitants.

• Wang Daoyuan ignored the cultivators who had discovered the missing herbs and fled Shennong Pavilion without revealing himself.
• The guardian of Black Tortoise Lake discovered that spirit herbs had also been stolen from his fields and gathered other Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators to investigate.
• Wang Daoyuan found the palace walls heavily guarded, chose to hide until the Secret Realm closed, and concealed his aura in a secluded spot.
• A Jade Heng Sword Sect cultivator implied that the Blood Shark Pirates had stolen the herbs, provoking an argument that nearly became a fight.
• A burly cultivator persuaded the factions to investigate together, and Mo Jian’s black dog traced the thief’s route to a point near the East Grand Gate before losing the trail.
• The cultivators agreed to summon their disciples and have Mo Jian inspect them one by one.

Wang Daoyuan evaded a scent search by hiding underwater, but the searchers discovered his likely hiding place and drove him into a desperate escape. He reached Ziwei Hall after sensing a power connected to Returning Origin Sword Intent.

• Mo Ao failed to find the spirit-herb thief among the cultivators, so the searchers spread out to investigate the Heavenly Palace.
• Wang Daoyuan hid in the Bishui River to evade Mo Ao, but True Lord Wusheng realized the thief could be underwater and ordered the river searched.
• Wang Daoyuan swam upstream and tried to break through the western palace wall, but a Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator attacked him and exposed his position.
• Wang Daoyuan fled through gaps in the search formations as cultivators converged on him, then sensed a familiar power tied to Returning Origin Sword Intent.
• Wang Daoyuan arrived at the entrance of Ziwei Hall.

Wang Daoyuan was cornered outside Ziwei Hall, but the hall's sword-intent resonance made him valuable to the cultivators seeking to break its formation. After he helped weaken the barrier, the formation shattered and a tide of killing aura surged out.

• Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators surrounded Wang Daoyuan, and he used the Demon Slaying Sword to kill a Jade Heng Sword Sect disciple with one slash.
• The cultivators agreed to spare Wang Daoyuan and compensate the Jade Heng Sword Sect if he helped them break Ziwei Hall's formation, and they promised to let him leave afterward.
• True Lord Fengmo analyzed the formation and marked its weak point after more than seven hours.
• Wang Daoyuan struck the marked point with his sword intent, causing the hall's sword intent to weaken the barrier.
• The cultivators attacked the weakened barrier together until it shattered, releasing a tide of killing aura.

Wang Daoyuan entered Ziwei Hall ahead of the major factions and encountered its strange, spatially vast interior and hostile puppets. He discovered how one puppet tracked intruders and evaded it as he continued searching deeper inside.

• Wang Daoyuan used the Hidden Demon Art and Cloud Smoke Evasion to enter Ziwei Hall while the major factions hesitated outside.
• True Lord Heng Hai sent a Three-Eyed Golden Monkey into the hall to scout, and the monkey soon screamed amid a clash with a puppet.
• Wang Daoyuan found that the hall stretched far beyond its apparent size and was filled with dense mist that limited his sight.
• Wang Daoyuan encountered a puppet that attacked whenever he put at least thirty jin of force on a floor tile, revealing that it tracked intruders by weight.
• Wang Daoyuan lured the puppet away with rotten wood and used Cloud Smoke Evasion and the floor-tile lines to reach successive pillars until it stopped pursuing him.

Wang Daoyuan passed the Returning Origin Sword Immortal’s test and received his inheritance, becoming the sword immortal’s successor. As the hall’s killing intent vanished, True Lord Wusheng and the other cultivators prepared to force their way inside and seize the treasures.

• Wang Daoyuan encountered a powerful puppet wielding Returning Origin Sword Intent, which stopped attacking him and let him pass.
• A hidden chamber opened to reveal a metal book and a blank scroll containing a sword image and immense Sword Qi; the scroll pulled Wang Daoyuan into a trial.
• In an illusion, Wang Daoyuan chose to defend fleeing women and children from a Blood Demon stronger than himself, passing the sword immortal’s test.
• The Returning Origin Sword Immortal named Wang Daoyuan his successor and urged him to grow stronger against the Devil Race.
• Wang Daoyuan stored the scroll and Golden Book in the Spirit Pearl Space, causing the chamber’s killing intent to disappear.
• True Lord Wusheng urged the gathered Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators to enter the hall before Wang Daoyuan escaped with its treasures.

Seven Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators and three Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivators entered Ziwei Hall, defeated two puppets, and abandoned a dangerous Sword Cultivator Puppet after it killed one of them. Wang Daoyuan hid near an artifact refining room, where True Lord Heng Hai and a Wen family cultivator destroyed its guardian and discovered a vast workshop with a cauldron.

• True Lord Wusheng persuaded the group to enter Ziwei Hall, and seven Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators and three Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivators set out together.
• The group defeated two puppets, then a Sword Cultivator Puppet killed a Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator, so the others left it alone and searched for treasures.
• Wang Daoyuan used Big Black’s sense of smell to locate a place where something had been burned, then hid near a burly puppet instead of fighting it.
• True Lord Heng Hai and a Wen family cultivator arrived, froze the burly puppet with an icy blue pearl, and knocked it down with a tiger puppet.
• True Lord Heng Hai and the Wen family cultivator destroyed the guardian and entered an artifact refining room filled with Fire Eyes and a large cauldron.

Wang Daoyuan waited outside the refining room as four Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators fought over artifact refining inheritances, then seized the remaining Golden Books amid an attack by a powerful puppet. With the secret realm about to close, he was caught between flames from the Artifact Refining Cauldron and True Lord Yuji’s iron caltrop.

• True Lord Heng Hai and the Wen family cultivator failed to take the Artifact Refining Cauldron, then found a bookshelf of Golden Books protected by an array.
• True Lord Yuji and True Lord Fengmo joined them, and True Lord Fengmo spent six hours figuring out how to break the bookshelf’s restriction.
• The four cultivators broke the restriction and each grabbed two Golden Books, but a sword-wielding puppet appeared and attacked them for trespassing.
• Wang Daoyuan entered the refining room while the puppet chased the four, stored the seven remaining Golden Books in the Spirit Pearl Space, and evaded their attacks.
• Wang Daoyuan hid beside the Artifact Refining Cauldron as flames burst from it, while True Lord Yuji threw an iron caltrop at him.

Wang Daoyuan used the Spirit Pearl to absorb the flames and seize the great cauldron before the Seven Stars Secret Realm expelled him. After escaping to sea, he treated his injuries and learned the Returning Origin Sword Immortal's cultivation and artifact-nurturing inheritance.

• True Lord Yuji wounded Wang Daoyuan with an iron caltrop and trapped him in flames from the great cauldron, demanding the Golden Book.
• Wang Daoyuan released the Spirit Pearl, which absorbed the flames and pulled the great cauldron away as the secret realm began closing.
• Wang Daoyuan and True Lord Yuji's group were expelled from the secret realm, and Wang Daoyuan found himself at sea southwest of Yin Yuan Island.
• Wang Daoyuan sent Liao Yang to pilot a flying boat westward while he burned away the metal spiritual power in his wound and healed himself.
• Wang Daoyuan's avatar inventoried their gains and read the Returning Origin Record, which detailed the sword immortal's cultivation, sword intent, and Three Treasures Artifact Nurturing Technique.

Wang Daoyuan uncovered the Divine Refining Puppet Art, a Sword Embryo, and other artifact-refining inheritances in the Seven Stars Secret Realm. Expecting the major powers to pursue him, he fled to a remote volcanic island and sealed himself in a chamber to resolve the problem with his cultivation technique.

• Wang Daoyuan learned that Forging Immortal Divine Venerable had left a low-grade seventh-order Returning Origin Sword Sword Embryo inside the Artifact Refining Cauldron in the Spirit Pearl Space.
• Wang Daoyuan discovered artifact-refining inheritances and the Divine Refining Puppet Art among the Golden Books from the refining room.
• Wang Daoyuan anticipated that the Seven Stars Alliance, Blood Shark Pirates, and Mysterious Ice Island would issue arrest warrants and pursue him.
• Wang Daoyuan flew more than five hundred thousand li west, then headed southwest toward a remote volcanic island beyond the Seven Stars Sea.
• Wang Daoyuan arrived at the nameless volcanic island, sealed the entrance to the chamber beneath its Teleportation Array, and went into seclusion to address his cultivation technique.

Wang Daoyuan combined three cultivation techniques into a revised Five Spirits Immortal Transformation Art, then refined a Sword Embryo from the Ziwei Hall cauldron into a Natal Artifact. With his cultivation and strength improved, he prepared to leave and explore the Seven Stars Sea Cultivation World.

• Wang Daoyuan entered the Spirit Pearl Space and spent nearly two hundred years deducing a new technique from the Five Spirits Immortal Transformation Art, the True Dragon Body Tempering Art, and the Returning Origin Record.
• Wang Daoyuan tested and revised the technique over several rounds, settling on a version with no obvious flaws that cultivated Essence, Qi, and Spirit at great resource cost.
• Wang Daoyuan found that the cauldron's artifact spirit remained asleep, but confirmed that it contained a Sword Embryo matching the sword in the Returning Origin Sword Diagram.
• Wang Daoyuan planned to use the Three Treasures Artifact Nurturing Technique to develop his Five Elements Subduing Demon Seal and sought the remaining three Essences of the Five Elements.
• Wang Daoyuan refined the Sword Embryo into a Natal Artifact using Low-grade Fifth-order Returning Origin Sword artifact patterns, taking more than a month.
• Wang Daoyuan concluded that his new technique and Returning Origin Sword had greatly improved his strength, allowing him to protect himself against ordinary Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators.

After years of cultivation, Wang Daoyuan disguised himself as a body cultivator and traveled to Rare Treasures Island to buy the Essence of the Five Elements. He arrived at the island’s colorful coral reefs and headed for its marketplace.

• Wang Daoyuan learned at Monster Hunting Island that the three major powers had issued a huge bounty for the wanted sword cultivator surnamed Zhou, and he heard rumors about the Ziwei Hall inheritance.
• Wang Daoyuan chose Rare Treasures Island because its auctions often offered rare spirit objects, including the Essence of the Five Elements.
• Wang Daoyuan traveled southeast for half a year, stopping at islands to trade artifact-refining materials and earn High-grade Spirit Stones.
• Wang Daoyuan reached Rare Treasures Island, admired the vast, colorful coral reefs, and walked toward the marketplace.

Wang Daoyuan entered the Rare Treasures Island Market under the name Wu Chuan and bought a courtyard with a Fire Eye, along with a fifth-order alchemy inheritance. He settled in to study the Outer Sea Alchemy Scripture while asking Wu Yan to find sources for artifact-refining materials.

• Wang Daoyuan obtained an identity token at the market gate and entered the market after giving his name as Wu Chuan.
• Wang Daoyuan asked Wu Yan about property prices and hired him to find a courtyard with a Fire Eye.
• Wu Yan brought Wang Daoyuan to a courtyard whose Peak Golden Core owner offered it for six hundred High-grade Spirit Stones and also offered his alchemy inheritance.
• Wang Daoyuan bought the courtyard and inheritance for seven hundred High-grade Spirit Stones, then asked Wu Yan to find shops selling artifact-refining materials.
• Wang Daoyuan inspected the courtyard formation and began studying the Outer Sea Alchemy Scripture, which described the sea world's reliance on Demon Beast ingredients.

Wang Daoyuan, using the name Wu Chuan, joined Li Chen’s demon-hunting group after selling his pills and magical artifacts. At Bloodstone Beach, the group discovered valuable Star Pattern Sea Cucumbers, and Li Chen asked Wu Chuan to help capture them.

• Wang Daoyuan spent more than two months refining Beast Blood Returns to Heaven Pills, then set up a market stall with pills and magical artifacts.
• Li Chen bought everything on Wang Daoyuan’s stall and invited him to join his group of Golden Core cultivators on a demon-hunting trip.
• Wang Daoyuan accepted the invitation under the name Wu Chuan, and Li Chen introduced him to the group as their Second Shopkeeper.
• Three days later, Li Chen led the group to Bloodstone Beach, where Deng Hai used his concealment skills to search the coral reef for spiritual creatures.
• Deng Hai found more than thirty five-star and five seven-star Star Pattern Sea Cucumbers, and Li Chen asked Wang Daoyuan to help capture them.

Wang Daoyuan and Li Chen collected Star Pattern Sea Cucumbers and a valuable coral before discovering that Deng Hai and the others had been captured by the Blood Sea Twin Flood Dragons. The twins threatened them in the name of Old Master Huang, whose ties to the brothers complicated Li Chen’s plan to rescue his people.

• Wang Daoyuan and Li Chen dove into the sea and reached the Star Pattern Sea Cucumbers’ reef.
• Li Chen trapped five Seven Stars Sea Cucumbers while Wang Daoyuan and Li Chen collected thirty-one Five Stars Sea Cucumbers.
• Wang Daoyuan found and uprooted a coral tree that Li Chen recognized as valuable Fifth-order material.
• Wang Daoyuan and Li Chen returned to the reef and found Deng Hai and the others gone.
• The Blood Sea Twin Flood Dragons emerged and demanded the sea cucumbers, threatening the captives and invoking Old Master Huang.
• Li Chen told Wang Daoyuan that the twins were Half-demons connected to the powerful Huang Family and urged him not to kill or cripple them.

Wang Daoyuan and Li Chen fought the Blood Sea Twin Flood Dragons to rescue Li Chen’s subordinates, then sold their Star Pattern Sea Cucumbers for a large profit. Wang Daoyuan went with Li Chen to seek a use for his Crimson Blood Coral, where Old Master Huang’s eldest son took an interest in it.

• Wang Daoyuan subdued one of the Blood Sea Twin Flood Dragons, and the brothers stopped fighting after Li Chen negotiated for the release of his seven subordinates.
• Li Chen recovered the seven Peak Golden Core cultivators, and the group left Bloodstone Beach for Rare Treasures Island.
• Li Chen sold the Star Pattern Sea Cucumbers for more than eighty-four thousand High-grade Spirit Stones and gave Wang Daoyuan fifty thousand.
• Li Chen advised Wang Daoyuan to refine his Tier Five Crimson Blood Coral into a halberd rather than sell it cheaply on Rare Treasures Island.
• Li Chen brought Wang Daoyuan to Tian Ji Artifact Refining Workshop, where Young Master Huang arrived seeking a rare birthday gift for his father.

Wang Daoyuan sold a rare coral tree to Young Master Huang and used a discount from Tian Ji Palace's shop to buy a powerful halberd and a ring for storing living creatures. He left with new tools suited to his cultivation and a way to keep marine life without exposing the Spirit Pearl Space.

• Wang Daoyuan had Elder Shen appraise the coral tree, and Young Master Huang bought it for thirty thousand High-grade Spirit Stones.
• The shopkeeper offered Wang Daoyuan a twenty percent discount, and Wang Daoyuan chose the Ink Dragon Halberd for sixteen thousand High-grade Spirit Stones.
• Wang Daoyuan examined the shop's auxiliary artifacts and learned that a Living Ring could hold living creatures in a spacious interior.
• Wang Daoyuan bought the Living Ring for two thousand High-grade Spirit Stones and planned to use it inside the Spirit Pearl Space to raise coral and sea cucumbers.

Wang Daoyuan attended an auction at the Crimson Flame Auction House to acquire Essence of the Five Elements, hoping to use it to improve his spirit vein. He bid on a piece of Mid-grade Fifth-order Essence of Guishui, but Young Master Huang also entered the competition.

• After a year of cultivation and gathering news, Wang Daoyuan learned that the Crimson Flame Auction House would sell Essence of the Five Elements.
• Wang Daoyuan went to the auction openly and took a private room among the Nascent Soul Cultivators.
• The auction began with pills and artifact refinement materials, which Wang Daoyuan did not bid on.
• The auctioneer presented a piece of Mid-grade Fifth-order Essence of Guishui and set the starting bid at seven thousand High-grade Spirit Stones.
• Wang Daoyuan bid ten thousand High-grade Spirit Stones, and Young Master Huang raised the price to twelve thousand.

Wang Daoyuan won a Mid-grade Fifth-order Essence of Guishui at the Crimson Flame Sect's auction, angering Young Master Huang. After the auction, the sect's shopkeeper tried to recruit him by offering protection from the Huang Family, but Wang Daoyuan declined.

• Wang Daoyuan outbid Young Master Huang for the Essence of Guishui, and the auctioneer warned Young Master Huang against threatening bidders on Crimson Flame Sect territory.
• Young Master Huang won a High-grade Fifth-order Star Core for ninety-five thousand High-grade Spirit Stones, bringing the auction to a close.
• A Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivator escorted Wang Daoyuan to meet the Crimson Flame Sect's shopkeeper after he paid for the Essence of Guishui.
• The shopkeeper explained that the Huang Family wanted the Essence of the Five Elements to improve a spirit vein on Tian Xuan Island and offered Wang Daoyuan the sect's protection if he joined.
• Wang Daoyuan refused to join, saying he intended to establish his own power, while remaining puzzled about the shopkeeper's motives.

Wang Daoyuan refused the Huang Family’s demand for the Essence of Guishui and kept to his courtyard, where he advanced his artifact-refining skills. After three months, he sensed an assassin had entered and exposed the intruder with a soul-shaking technique.

• Wang Daoyuan rejected the Crimson Flame Sect shopkeeper’s offers to join the sect or become a Guest Elder and returned to his courtyard with the Essence of Guishui.
• Li Chen brought a Huang Family cultivator to demand that Wang Daoyuan hand over the Essence of Guishui, but Wang Daoyuan refused and the cultivator threatened him before leaving.
• Wang Daoyuan spent three months refining a High-grade Fourth-order shield and became a High-grade Fourth-order Artifact Refiner.
• When the courtyard formation stirred, Wang Daoyuan suspected the Huang Family had sent an assassin and used the Tiger Roar Soul Suppressing Art to reveal a spiritual power fluctuation.