Chapter Summaries

Li Yao and Zhao Feifeng uncovered the secret of their matching jade fragments, but Nangong Jie stole them and was killed when the inheritance rejected his demonic power. Aaron memorized the revealed Hundred Yang Illustrated Record, reflected on fate and karma, then returned to Yu Kang Town disguised as Fang Yuan.

• After Nangong Jie fled, Zhao Feifeng attempted suicide, and Li Yao noticed the jade fragment at her neck matched the one his family possessed.
• Li Yao sneaked into Zhao Feifeng's room to take her fragment, but she woke and poisoned him with her sword before he showed her his own half.
• Nangong Jie returned, subdued Li Yao and Zhao Feifeng, and joined the jade fragments, triggering a five-colored light that killed him for using demonic power.
• The jade revealed the Hundred Yang Illustrated Record, which Aaron memorized while Li Yao and Zhao Feifeng retained only parts of its contents and agreed to share the inheritance.
• Aaron considered the role of affinity and karma, left Yuanjia City, and returned to Yu Kang Town as Fang Yuan with medicinal herbs.
• Fang Xi welcomed Aaron at Half-Leisure Hall and believed his story that he had gotten lost while gathering herbs.

Aaron staged his own funeral, left Yu Kang Town to avoid the hidden mastermind behind past events, and cultivated in seclusion until a sudden premonition led him to Yuanjia City. There, he bought a black tortoiseshell from a young vendor, taking possession of the treasure he had been waiting for.

• Aaron disguised himself among the mourners at his funeral and decided to return later to claim his place in the Fang clan.
• Li Yao attended the funeral feast and offered Fang Xi the Li Family’s support.
• Aaron left Yu Kang Town to avoid possible retaliation from Bat Duke’s hidden master and resumed cultivating the five viscera qi in his valley.
• Aaron completed cultivation of his Heart Fire and Spleen Earth palaces, then sensed that a fortuitous chance had arrived.
• Aaron entered Yuanjia City and bought a black tortoiseshell from a languid young vendor for ten taels of silver.

Aaron examined the black tortoise shell and discovered it could serve as the key material for refining the Heaven Derivation Gu, a Gu that enhanced divination and concealed its host from being calculated. He began refining the shell with his own lifespan, aiming to raise the Gu to nine refinements and hide his origins even from the strongest divinations.

• Aaron paid the youth for the black tortoise shell and left without haggling, avoiding further karmic entanglement.
• Aaron celebrated at Spring Breeze Tower, then returned to his valley and examined the shell.
• Aaron activated the shell and found the Great Evolution Divine Art, but judged its lifespan-consuming divination inferior to his own abilities.
• Aaron recognized the shell as material for the Heaven Derivation Gu and recalled that advancing the Gu required sacrificing his own lifespan.
• Aaron fed the shell his essence blood, mana, and a century of his lifespan to begin refining it.

Aaron refined the Heaven Derivation Gu to its eighth refinement, used it to uncover the past behind Yu Kang Town, and joined the Fang clan as Fang Tianze. After spending decades cultivating his five viscera qi, he detected that Bat Duke, now likely a Mystic Light Realm cultivator, had begun divining him and might target the Li and Zhao families instead.

• Aaron spent a million years of lifespan refining the Heaven Derivation Gu to the eighth refinement, gained the Beyond Calculation talent, and deduced that Bat Duke was tied to the old plot against him.
• Aaron arrived in Yu Kang Town as Fang Tianze, was recognized as a relative by the dying Fang Xi, and received a house and poor farmland from Fang Wuming.
• Aaron paid respects at Li Yao's grave and learned that Zhao Feifeng's branch had taken control of the Li family's estate and influence.
• After more than sixty years of cultivating on Little South Mountain, Aaron completed the qi of his five viscera and prepared to continue with his six bowels.
• Aaron sensed Bat Duke divining him and realized the Mystic Light Realm cultivator might retaliate against the Zhao and Li families, now ruled by Zhao Feifeng's two sons.

Bat Duke reached the Mystic Light Realm and slaughtered the Li Family and many people in Yu Kang Town, but Aaron’s Golden Silkworm Gu forced him to leave. Aaron checked on the surviving Fang family and watched the authorities investigate days later.

• Bat Duke burned down the Zhao estate, then flew to Yu Kang Town to avenge Nangong Jie and search for the hidden treasure.
• Bat Duke wiped out the Li Family and unleashed countless bats on Yu Kang Town, killing many residents.
• Aaron sent out his Golden Silkworm Gu to protect the townspeople, and Bat Duke withdrew rather than risk fighting a mysterious Mystic Light Realm cultivator.
• Aaron rushed into Half-Leisure Hall and found Fang Wuming and Fang Tianwang alive after they narrowly escaped the attack.
• Three days later, officials arrived to investigate the deaths, while Aaron recognized that their monks and Daoist priests were charlatans.

Aaron used divination to confirm the Li Family had a sliver of hope, then arranged for Li Qi’s grandson to inherit the family and gave him a cultivation manual. Li Rubi took charge of the Li estate, while Aaron hoped the Li Family would produce cultivators who could help him learn about the cultivation world.

• Aaron divined that the Li Family might yet have hope and decided to intervene, while concluding that cultivators had not heard about the tragedy in the small town.
• Li Qi proposed adopting her grandson Zhang Rubi into the Li Family so he could continue its lineage, and Zhang Rubi’s father agreed on his behalf.
• A month later, Zhang Rubi became Li Rubi, inherited the Li Family estate, and followed Li Qi’s orders concerning Zhao Feifeng’s grave and place in the family records.
• Li Rubi searched the estate for clues about the families’ destruction, then received a cultivation manual titled Hundred Yang Illustrated Record when it fell from the sky.
• Aaron revealed that he had given Li Rubi the manual to encourage the Li Family to produce cultivators and help him explore the path to immortality.

Aaron watched Li Rubi break through to the Innate realm with powerful third-rank Dry Yang True Qi, then revealed Bat Duke’s threat and urged him to seek an orthodox mystic sect. Back home, Aaron began devising a Bone-Altering Gu to disguise his age and decided he might discard his inferior cultivation before infiltrating a sect.

• Aaron cultivated on Little South Mountain and reflected on the long time required to advance through his current path.
• Li Rubi mastered the Hundred Yang Illustrated Record and broke through to the Innate realm, gaining potent Dry Yang True Qi.
• Aaron tested Li Rubi in combat, but Li Rubi’s high-quality true qi resisted Aaron’s poison and impressed him.
• Aaron demonstrated the Golden Snake Hook, warned Li Rubi that Bat Duke threatened the Li Family, and advised him to seek an orthodox mystic sect.
• Li Rubi resolved to leave and seek immortals, while Aaron returned home and began developing the Bone-Altering Gu.
• Aaron concluded that his inferior Hundred Poisons cultivation might be better discarded than concealed.

Aaron spent decades cultivating and refining his treasures, eventually raising the Golden Snake Hook to the fifth refinement and mastering the advanced swordsmanship of refining the sword into silk. He turned his attention to improving the Mysterious Female Pearl next.

• Aaron cultivated the six fu organs over decades as Fang Tianze, received news of Fang Wuming's death, and watched the Li Family grow while Li Rubi remained away pursuing immortality.
• At age 139, Aaron reflected on the slow, difficult process of refining artifacts and continued strengthening the Mysterious Female Pearl and Golden Snake Hook with his dharma power.
• The Golden Snake Hook reached the fifth refinement, and Aaron discovered that he could refine its sword light into a thread like silk.
• Aaron judged the upgraded Golden Snake Hook powerful enough to threaten some Mystic Light cultivators and decided to focus on raising the Mysterious Female Pearl from the fourth transformation to the fifth.

After forty years of upheaval, Aaron completed his cultivation of the five viscera and six bowels and broke through to the Outer Gang realm. He returned to Yu Kang Town disguised as a young mortal, intending to restore Half-Leisure Hall for the Second Branch, but discovered that Li Rubi had become a heterodox sword immortal and taken the Li Family away.

• Aaron watched the Fang and Li families suffer through decades of war without intervening, then completed his cultivation of the five viscera and six bowels.
• Aaron broke through to the Outer Gang realm, forming the Lesser Five Elements Mystic Gang and the Six Ren Strange Gang while his true qi improved.
• Aaron refined the Bone-Altering Gu and Breath-Concealing Gu, changing his appearance and hiding his cultivation and aura.
• Aaron visited the ruined Half-Leisure Hall disguised as Fang Bida, gave food to the children, and planned to restore it under the Second Branch.
• Aaron saw Li Rubi arrive at the Li Family residence on a jade-green sword and take several people away, then realized his plan concerning the Li Family had come to nothing.

Aaron emerged from seclusion after centuries, learned that the Fang clan was preparing to divide and relocate as war approached, and set out to settle old debts with Li Rubi and Bat Duke. At the Yin Mountain Sect, the aged Li Rubi reflected on his failed prospects for reaching the Golden Core and his long rivalry with Bat Duke.

• Aaron considered Li Rubi’s rise to the Mystic Light Realm and continued planning to refine a Five Viscera Gu when he eventually restarted his cultivation.
• Fang Bida led the Fang Family through years of peace and prosperity before growing old and leaving his estate to his eldest son.
• Three hundred and seventeen years later, the Fang clan held an ancestral rite and decided to divide into branches and relocate to avoid renewed warfare.
• Aaron, now at the Mystic Radiance Realm, calculated Li Rubi’s whereabouts and flew toward the Yin Mountain Sect with the Golden Snake Hook.
• Li Rubi lamented that the Yin Mountain Sect’s flawed cultivation method had likely cost him the chance to reach the Golden Core, and recalled that Bat Duke had killed his promising disciple.

Aaron settled near the Li Family estate in North Giant City while Li Rubi hired the Three Friends of Winter to help him kill Bat Duke. The four cultivators set out for Bat Duke’s cave abode, leaving Aaron’s plans to settle his karmic debt unresolved.

• Aaron rode into North Giant City, bought a residence near the Li Family estate, and opened a teahouse.
• Li Rubi met with the Three Friends of Winter and agreed to teach them a secret method for cultivating Profound Radiance in exchange for their help against Bat Duke.
• The chapter recounted how Great Song Daoist gained extraordinary strength after eating pastries infused with the power of nine oxen, two tigers, and one dragon.
• Li Rubi and the Three Friends of Winter flew toward Bat Duke’s secretly located cave abode.

Li Rubi and the Three Friends of Winter killed Bat Duke and recovered the Bloodthirsty Tome, while Aaron sent his Golden Silkworm Gu toward the Li Family. Mortally wounded, Li Rubi told the Li Family patriarch to return the Jade Water Sword to the Yin Mountain Sect before he died.

• Great Song Daoist and Plum Blossom Daoist prepared to abandon their cultivation and start anew, while Great Song Daoist kept his astral force.
• Li Rubi pursued Bat Duke, and Great Song Daoist blocked Bat Duke’s escape with his Great Strength Divine Fist.
• Bean Curd and Plum Blossom trapped Bat Duke with their paired jade discs, allowing Li Rubi to kill him and avenge his family.
• Great Song Daoist and his brothers noticed the Bloodthirsty Tome that fell from Bat Duke’s corpse.
• Aaron ended his Demon Ape Chronicle story, then sent a Golden Silkworm Gu from his Mysterious Female Pearl toward the Li Family.
• Li Rubi returned to the Li Family mortally wounded and instructed the patriarch to return the Jade Water Sword to the Yin Mountain Sect.

After Li Rubi died, Aaron killed the Li Family head, took Li Rubi’s treasures and records, and learned about the major cultivation sects. He chose to seek out the Emei Sect in Shu Mountain Prefecture and persuaded the Fang Family’s Fourth Branch to relocate there, leaving Aaron poised to enter the cultivation world.

• Li Rubi died after entrusting his artifacts and records to the Li Family, but the Golden Silkworm Gu killed the Li Family head when he reached for the Jade Water Sword, and Aaron took the treasures and erased the evidence.
• Venerable Great Kun declared himself headmaster of the Yin Mountain Sect, accused the Li Family of taking Li Rubi’s relics, and ordered the family detained; a Yin Mountain Sect elder killed a protesting young disciple.
• Aaron read Li Rubi’s records about the cultivation world and chose to pursue the Emei Sect in Shu Mountain Prefecture, planning to settle a branch of the Fang Family there.
• At Yu Kang Town, the Fourth Branch’s clan chief discussed the family’s impending move with Aaron, who recommended Shu Mountain Prefecture as a refuge from the coming turmoil.

Aaron lived undercover as Fang Yu in Fang Family Village beneath Mount Emei and watched for signs that the Emei Sect was recruiting disciples. After Fang Xiaolong and Fang Jing followed his warnings into the forest, Aaron secretly drew a tiger toward them to create a fortuitous encounter.

• Aaron hunted near Mount Emei and saw two streaks of sword-light enter the sect, leading him to consider sending Fang Family children to investigate.
• Aaron returned to the village and attended the Fang Clan ancestral rite alongside Fang Jing and Fang Xiaolong.
• While feeding the boys roasted rabbit, Aaron told them about a giant demon toad near Old Dragon Pool and warned them not to go there.
• Fang Xiaolong and Fang Jing secretly entered the forest, hoping to find the toad or encounter immortals, while Aaron secretly guarded them.
• Aaron scattered bait derived from the Demon-Luring Manual, and a huge tiger appeared before the frightened boys.

Aaron led Fang Jing and Fang Xiaolong to a cave where they found the Hundred Yang Illustrated Record, while he observed their attempts to learn it. At Old Dragon Pool, Emei elder White Plum took the thousand-year Vermilion Toad’s inner core and offered it earthfire liquid, but the toad suddenly attacked him.

• Aaron rescued Fang Jing and Fang Xiaolong from a tiger, and the three fled down a slope into a valley.
• Aaron found a cave and brought the boys inside, where they discovered carvings of the Hundred Yang Illustrated Record.
• Fang Xiaolong practiced the movements while Fang Jing memorized the carvings, and Aaron secretly assessed their progress.
• Aaron saw the thousand-year Vermilion Toad tempering its inner core under the moon, then watched White Plum sever its demon aura and seize the core.
• White Plum offered the Vermilion Toad a bottle of Hundred-Year Earthfire Liquid and invited it to become Emei’s mountain-guarding spirit beast, but it sprayed scarlet mist at him.

Aaron helped White Plum defeat a thousand-year Vermilion Toad, then arranged to offer the Hundred Yang Illustrated Record as a gift for entering Emei Sect. After secretly dispersing his cultivation so Emei elders would find no magic power in him, Aaron and the Fang youths traveled with White Plum toward Emei's main mountain.

• White Plum was poisoned when the Vermilion Toad attacked, but Aaron threw a boulder that let White Plum regain the advantage and kill the demon.
• White Plum met Aaron, Fang Jing, and Fang Xiaolong, then inspected the cave's cultivation method and considered taking one of them as a disciple.
• Aaron used a Five Viscera Gu to disperse his cultivation to the Innate realm and hide his magical power before returning with mountain chickens.
• White Plum recovered from the poison overnight and shared beggar's chicken with the three youths, then warned them to keep the cave's immortal cultivation art secret.
• Fang Xiaolong offered the cultivation art as a gift for entering Emei Sect, and White Plum took Aaron, Fang Jing, and Fang Xiaolong toward Emei's main mountain.

White Plum brought Fang Xiaolong, Fang Jing, and Fang Yu to Mount Emei after they helped him slay a thousand-year-old vermilion toad and obtain a foundational Daoist text. Headmaster Qi Miaoyi welcomed them and prepared to assess the youths as Emei began gathering disciples for its plan to ascend before a coming great tribulation.

• Qi Miaoyi calculated that White Plum had gained hope of forming a Golden Core in his second life of cultivation.
• White Plum led the three Fang youths through Mount Emei’s perilous formation and up the mountain path, where Aaron sensed the formation’s connection to Xin Chen, Golden Daoist, and Myriad Gu True Lord.
• Fang Xiaolong, Fang Jing, and Fang Yu arrived at Resting Heart Hall and paid respects to Qi Miaoyi.
• White Plum reported slaying the thousand-year-old vermilion toad and gave Qi Miaoyi the Hundred Yang Illustrated Record, which the headmaster recognized as Canghezi’s foundational Daoist art.
• Qi Miaoyi considered Emei’s plan to gather talent and resources for the whole sect’s Ascension before the coming tribulation, then summoned the three youths with a radiant mirror.

Aaron and Fang Xiaolong failed to gain entry to the Emei Sect after the Illuminating Rhinoceros Mirror revealed their ordinary aptitudes and Aaron’s lost primal yang. White Plum Daoist took Fang Jing as his disciple and arranged for Aaron and Fang Xiaolong to study with a friend on the Eastern Sea Immortal Continent, while Aaron planned to leave at the first opportunity.

• Qi Miaoyi used the Illuminating Rhinoceros Mirror to examine Fang Xiaolong, Fang Jing, and Aaron, finding their aptitudes mediocre and revealing that Aaron had lost his primal yang.
• Qi Miaoyi left the choice to White Plum Daoist, who considered taking Aaron and Fang Jing as disciples.
• Bitter Ascetic interrupted and argued that Aaron was unfit to join the Emei Sect because he had lost his primal yang.
• White Plum Daoist accepted Fang Jing as his disciple and offered to send Aaron and Fang Xiaolong to his friend on the Eastern Sea Immortal Continent.
• Fang Xiaolong and Aaron agreed to go, while Aaron resolved to escape when he found an opportunity.

Aaron and Fang Xiaolong traveled toward Luo Fu Mountain aboard Bitter Ascetic’s magical shuttle, where Yang Xumi introduced them to Emei Sect’s treasures and nine famous flying swords. When they spotted a whale demon attacking female cultivators at sea, Yang Xumi refused to intervene, and the group continued on.

• Bitter Ascetic sent his disciple Yang Xumi to escort Aaron and Fang Xiaolong to Luo Fu Mountain, giving him the Ground-Traveling Golden Light Shuttle.
• Yang Xumi flew the two youths across the sea, while Fang Xiaolong tried to learn the shuttle’s control incantation and Aaron rested.
• Yang Xumi used his Shadowless Sword to catch fish, and Aaron cooked fish soup that prompted Yang Xumi to explain Emei Sect’s scriptures and nine famous flying swords.
• Aaron and Yang Xumi spotted a whale demon attacking female cultivators aboard a treasure ship in the Eastern Sea.
• Yang Xumi declined to help, citing his master’s warning about women, and Aaron agreed to leave the cultivators to their fate.

After Yang Xumi worried that they had offended the Flower Goddess Estate, Aaron broke through to the Innate Realm and gained powerful Dry Yang True Qi. The group reached Luo Fu Mountain, where Aaron considered joining the sect to learn its magnetism arts and later pursue Mount Emei.

• Yang Xumi lamented that the women they had encountered might have been disciples of an elder from the Flower Goddess Estate.
• Aaron cultivated the Hundred Yang Illustrated Record, broke through to the Innate Realm, and used his Dry Yang True Qi to pull a great white shark onto the deck.
• Several days later, Yang Xumi brought Aaron and Fang Xiaolong to Luo Fu Mountain, explaining its magnetism-based sect-defending arts and transmissions.
• Aaron considered joining Luo Fu Mountain, learning its inheritances, and eventually seeking entry to Mount Emei.