Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Lu Ming’s first alchemical divine ability, Nine Turns, lets him use a “Fate-Reversing Wind” to refine a pill again from its failed state. Each turn gives him unusually vivid, valuable experience of the pill-making process.
• He uses three turns on a ruined Tendon-Strengthening Grand Pill, improving it from charred dregs to an ordinary pill and then to a fine-quality pill—matching the quality of Medicine Emperor Xie Yun’s pills.
• The ability heavily drains his mental energy, limiting him to three turns for now. A pill can be refined by Nine Turns only once; once the process ends, it cannot be restarted. Lu Ming hopes greater cultivation will eventually let him complete all nine turns.
• Elder Wu Qingfeng tells Lu Ming that the contest for influence in sect affairs will be decided by tasks. Lu Ming must obtain a Marrow-Cleansing Realm Breakthrough Pill and ten thousand jin of demon meat, while his rival Qin Huaiyuan has similarly high-level tasks. Wu thinks the challenge is unfair and urges Lu Ming to withdraw, but Lu Ming chooses to compete.
• With a half-month deadline and medicinal ingredients rapidly disappearing, Lu Ming and Wu rush to the outer storehouse, only to find it nearly empty. They seek Elder Fang Heng, who refuses to provide ingredients, claiming he needs them for his own alchemical breakthrough.
• Lu Ming detects that Fang is lying. After Lu Ming and Wu leave, Qin Huaiyuan appears: Fang has reserved the ingredients for Qin’s Breakthrough Pill in exchange for Qin’s promise to seek Fang a Longevity-Extending Pill if he enters the Formless Dao Sect.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ming gains a major advantage in alchemy: Nine Turns accelerates his learning dramatically and makes him confident he can eventually produce a Breakthrough Pill. He remains determined despite the apparent imbalance of the contest.
• Wu Qingfeng is protective and skeptical, fearing the tasks favor Qin and could help him advance. He warns Lu Ming against taking part but ultimately accompanies him to find ingredients.
• Fang Heng is revealed as self-interested and deceptive. Though he claims to need the ingredients for his own research, he is actually helping Qin, motivated by the hope of obtaining a Longevity-Extending Pill.
• Qin Huaiyuan secures Fang’s support and promises repayment, strengthening his position in the competition.

Significant themes

• Growth through experience: Nine Turns turns failure into both a better pill and intensive practical knowledge.
• Determination against unequal odds: Lu Ming refuses to abandon the contest despite his lower cultivation and difficult tasks.
• Power, patronage, and self-interest: Access to resources depends on alliances and personal favors, not just merit.
• Limits and future potential: Nine Turns is powerful but constrained by Lu Ming’s current mental strength, leaving room for further growth.

Key plot points

• Lu Ming and Wu Qingfeng realize that securing a Breakthrough Pill will be difficult: rare ingredients are scarce and expensive, and the city’s best alchemists cannot guarantee success. Wu also worries about Lu Ming’s other requirement—ten thousand jin of demon meat—and suggests he abandon the attempt.
• Qian Xiaofu visits Lu Ming after Liu Qingqing reneges on her promise to help her find an alchemist. Qian needs a Breakthrough Pill for her father, whose advancement would protect the Golden Tripod Bank.
• Lu Ming claims he can reach a reclusive master alchemist through Wei Jinlin. Qian offers three sets of Breakthrough Pill ingredients, help acquiring the demon meat, and political support in exchange for a future Myriad Manifestations Sect banking contract.
• Lu Ming also asks Qian’s family to find him a first-rate health-nurturing cultivation art. She returns with the Treasure-Gathering Art and a large supply of medicinal ingredients.
• Lu Ming considers disguising himself to refine pills at the Grand Martial Arts Arena, but abandons the idea because powerful observers—and possible Blood-Worshipping Demon Cult infiltrators—make it too risky. He plans instead to work in a secluded location and keep his alchemy secret.
• After studying the Treasure-Gathering Art, Lu Ming uses the Myriad Illusion Powder while practicing the Formless Divine Art. The medicine triggers a major breakthrough: he can now practice three martial arts simultaneously.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ming remains cautious and strategic. He hides his own emerging alchemy ability behind a fabricated connection to a master, weighs the risks of exposure, and makes a mutually beneficial but carefully bounded deal with Qian.
• Wu Qingfeng is concerned for Lu Ming and advises him to recognize when a challenge is beyond reach. Lu Ming reassures him that he will not overextend himself.
• Qian Xiaofu proves shrewd and transactional, using the chance to secure a Breakthrough Pill and advance her family’s interests. Though she initially approaches Lu Ming cautiously and partly plays on his sympathy, she ultimately commits substantial resources to the deal.
• Liu Qingqing’s broken promise has weakened Qian’s trust in her, helping prompt Qian to place her support elsewhere.
• Lu Ming also grows more suspicious of Lei Heng, whose apparent ignorance of the strange events around his disciple Guo Yuan suggests a possible connection to the Blood-Worshipping Demon Cult.

Significant themes

• Trust, bargaining, and self-interest: Lu Ming and Qian cooperate because their goals align, but both understand the agreement as a calculated exchange rather than blind trust.
• Secrecy and risk: Lu Ming’s abilities could attract dangerous attention, so he prioritizes concealment even when a public route might offer easy resources.
• Resource scarcity and ambition: Expensive ingredients, demon meat, and scarce expertise threaten Lu Ming’s goals, making financial alliances crucial.
• Growth through adaptation: Lu Ming combines martial arts and tests the Myriad Illusion Powder, turning an apparent dead end into a breakthrough.

Key events

• Lu Ming’s cultivation gains double again, thanks to the Divine Art Elixir working through the Formless Divine Art. He can now advance three divine abilities at once and expects to evolve more as he masters the complete art.
• Liu Qingqing and Qin Huaiyuan confront Qian Xiaofu and pressure her to stop supporting Lu Ming. They threaten to cut the Golden Tripod Bank off from the Myriad Manifestations Sect’s deposits. Qian Xiaofu reluctantly agrees, so the bank will not buy Lu Ming the ten thousand jin of demon meat he needs.
• Lin Feng warns Lu Ming that Qian Xiaofu has withdrawn her help. Lu Ming is unsurprised and decides to focus on improving his pill-refining ability; a successful extra Breakthrough Pill might attract other suppliers.
• Lu Ming evolves Bearing the Mountain, his second Health-Nourishing Dao ability. It doubles the force he can withstand, strengthening his movement and blade aura and greatly increasing his close-combat power.
• Lu Ming moves to a secluded valley, where he can refine pills without attracting attention. He continues training and pill-making, with a small housewarming gathering attended by a few friends and outcasts.
• His third Health-Nourishing Dao ability, Returning to Origin, evolves. Its description suggests a resurrection-like power, though its exact limits are not yet revealed.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ming grows more confident in his cultivation and combat prospects. He remains composed about losing Qian Xiaofu’s financial support and prioritizes becoming skilled enough at pill refining to secure help elsewhere.
• Qian Xiaofu is caught between her belief in Lu Ming’s potential and her family’s financial vulnerability. Qin Huaiyuan and Liu Qingqing’s threats force her to withdraw, leaving her frustrated and resentful.
• Qin Huaiyuan uses his influence to undermine Lu Ming indirectly by pressuring Qian Xiaofu. Liu Qingqing follows his lead and shows growing intimacy with him, despite her former resistance to being matched with him.
• Lin Feng shows good sportsmanship after losing to Lu Ming and remains on friendly terms, warning him about the pressure on Qian Xiaofu.
• Lu Ming’s move and gathering underscore his connections with Wu Qingfeng, Qian Xiaofu, Lin Feng, and other marginalized disciples.

Significant themes

• Power and dependence: Lu Ming’s rise threatens established figures, who use economic and political influence to restrict his support.
• Pragmatism under pressure: Qian Xiaofu must weigh loyalty and ambition against her family’s survival.
• Steady cultivation and strategic growth: Lu Ming turns setbacks into reasons to strengthen his skills and make himself valuable to potential allies.
• Escalating potential: The new abilities transform Lu Ming’s combat capabilities, while Returning to Origin hints at a dramatic new dimension to his power.

Lu Ming gained the Returning to Origin divine ability and advised the Myriad Manifestations Sect against joining the war between Medicine King Valley and the Lingyun Sect, but Qin Huaiyuan led volunteers into battle. As Lin Feng decided to join the fighting, Lu Ming broke through to tendon refining grand completion.

• Lu Ming discovered that Returning to Origin could restore his body to a condition from within the past three days, though it had limits and required a month to recharge.
• Wan Baichuan convened the elders after Medicine King Valley declared war on the Lingyun Sect, and Lu Ming warned against joining the conflict and questioned the Celestial Balance Sword Sect's involvement.
• Wan Baichuan allowed Qin Huaiyuan to lead volunteers into battle without committing the Myriad Manifestations Sect, and Lu Ming declined to join when Lin Feng and Qian Xiaofu asked him.
• Feng Qingzhu offered to help Lu Ming apply to join the City Lord's Mansion's demon-hunting team, and he agreed to pursue the opportunity.
• Lin Feng decided to join the fighting after hearing that a disciple had broken through in battle, while Lu Ming used Breath Regulation and reached tendon refining grand completion.

Lu Ming refined his first Marrow-Cleansing Pill while the sect war ended with the Lingyun Sect’s destruction, then the enraged Lingyun Sect Master attacked Medicine King Valley and killed nearly everyone from the Myriad Manifestations Sect who had gone there. The chapter left Lu Ming summoned to an Elders’ Council meeting as Wan Baichuan said the Lingyun Sect and Medicine King Valley had both effectively been destroyed.

• Lu Ming reached Tendon Refining Grand Completion, developed the Fire-Subduing divine ability, and increased his divine abilities’ ranges through daily training and medicine refining.
• The Lingyun Sect fell, and Lu Ming refined an ordinary-quality Marrow-Cleansing Pill before the furious Lingyun Sect Master flew toward Medicine King Valley.
• Wan Baichuan stayed to guard the Myriad Manifestations Sect and sent Liu Qiushui, Wu Qingfeng, and other elders to retrieve the sect members at the Lingyun Sect.
• Qian Xiaofu told Lu Ming that the Lingyun Sect Master had killed nearly everyone from the Myriad Manifestations Sect at Medicine King Valley, including Elder Chen and Lin Feng, while Qin Huaiyuan survived injured.
• Wu Qingfeng brought Lu Ming to the Elders’ Council meeting, where Wan Baichuan said the Lingyun Sect and Medicine King Valley had effectively been destroyed.