Chapter Summaries

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi led the survivors into Watching Waves Sea Pavilion, where they explored its courtyards and discovered a pond linked to an underground volcano. Li Yunjing proposed that his group claim one of the four palaces, but Wang Zi challenged his right to a quarter of the benefits.

• The survivors reached Watching Waves Sea Pavilion, broke open its vermilion gates, and entered the courtyard after forcing the Rogue Cultivators to go first.
• The cultivators explored the pavilion grounds and found a bubbling pond in the rear garden that Li Yunjing recognized as the cave abode's volcanic energy source.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi decided to keep the pond's significance from the others while they considered how to deal with the rival cultivators.
• Li Yunjing formed an alliance with Rogue Cultivators Han and Ye, then proposed that the four of them take the western palace.
• Wang Zi objected that Li Yunjing's group should not claim a quarter of the benefits when twenty-seven Foundation Establishment cultivators were present.

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi killed the Liu Family cultivators who threatened them, then secured the right to explore the West Hall with their two allies. They entered the hall and discovered a Golden Core cultivator’s library, where they began negotiating how to divide its books.

• Wang Zi and another cultivator urged the crowd to attack Li Yunjing and the other Rogue Cultivators, so Li Yunjing killed a Liu Family Foundation Establishment cultivator to silence the challenge.
• Li Yunjing fought the Liu Family’s last Foundation Establishment cultivator while Yu Yunyi killed the family members who rushed to defend him; together they finished him and wiped out the Liu Family group.
• Li Yunjing proposed that his group take the West Hall while the other factions divided the remaining palaces, and Wang Zi and Zhu Heming accepted the arrangement.
• Li Yunjing, Yu Yunyi, and their allies went to the West Hall and used Qi Refining Rogue Cultivators to test its entrance, where lightning killed two cultivators before the group broke open the gate.
• The group found hundreds of books in the hall and recognized it as a Golden Core cultivator’s library; Li Yunjing proposed dividing the higher-level inheritances and copying the Qi Refining books.

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi divided the West Hall’s cultivation manuals with two other Foundation Establishment cultivators, then entered a battle in the East Hall over a Golden Core cultivator’s Treasure Artifact. After being badly injured by a powerful Grey-Clad Elder, they escaped to the rear courtyard, where a mighty beast’s roar sounded.

• Li Yunjing, Yu Yunyi, the Han-surnamed cultivator, and the Ye-surnamed cultivator divided the Golden Core and Foundation Establishment manuals, then copied the remaining books for Qi Refining cultivators.
• After hearing that a Treasure Artifact was in the East Hall, Li Yunjing, Yu Yunyi, and the other two cultivators rushed there as fighters converged on the treasure.
• The Grey-Clad Elder attacked Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi, discovered they were Qi Refining cultivators, and pressed them with powerful spiral true qi.
• Li Yunjing used Palm Lightning to create an opening and fled with Yu Yunyi, while the Grey-Clad Elder returned to the fight over the Treasure Artifact.
• Li Yunjing gave Yu Yunyi a healing pill and led her toward the rear courtyard, where a beast roared with overwhelming force.

Lin Kai and Daoist Canglan arrived at the manor, where Canglan’s group and the Sea Wave Sect revealed their plot and confronted the remaining cultivators. Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi hid in a volcanic underwater cavern to recover, and Li Yunjing’s cultivation reached the peak of perfection as he felt ready to break through the Qi Refining Realm.

• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi fled to the rear courtyard pond when Lin Kai arrived with Daoist Canglan and a red-clad young married woman on a Lava Tiger.
• Daoist Canglan’s group entered the East Hall, killed several Foundation Establishment cultivators, and revealed that Canglan had lured the factions there with information about the treasure.
• Wang Zi and the Sea Wave Sect attacked their supposed allies and joined Canglan, declaring that they had pledged allegiance to him as a Golden Core Realm True Person.
• The remaining cultivators confronted Canglan’s group, while Xuan Ziyan refused Canglan’s offer to spare him and challenged him to fight.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi dived into the pond, found a cavern by the underwater volcano, and hid inside it with a Lesser Five Elements Formation.
• Li Yunjing healed his injuries using his cultivation techniques, perfected his Qi Refining Realm cultivation, and felt ready to break through.

Li Yunjing smoothly advanced to the first level of Foundation Establishment, uncovering a mysterious thunder scepter in his sea of consciousness and greatly increasing his combat power. After Yu Yunyi resolved to cultivate harder, Li Yunjing suggested they return to compete for the treasures, and she questioned whether he could face the stronger opponents.

• Li Yunjing compressed his magical power into true essence and broke through to Foundation Establishment while drawing on spirit stones and a Spirit Gathering Array.
• Li Yunjing discovered a thunder scepter deep in his sea of consciousness and experienced visions that explained his extraordinary transformation.
• Li Yunjing tested his new spiritual power, senses, body, and spiritual artifacts, finding that his combat strength had increased many times over.
• Yu Yunyi asked whether Li Yunjing had reached Foundation Establishment, then vowed to return to seclusion until she established her own foundation.
• Li Yunjing suggested they return to compete for the treasures, and Yu Yunyi asked whether he could contend with Lin Kai and the other experts at the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment or higher.

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi returned to the Underground Palace, where Li Yunjing fought Lin Kai and the other cultivators over the Treasure Artifacts. The battle was still raging when Lin Kai unleashed a high-grade second-tier talisman at Li Yunjing.

• Yu Yunyi gave Li Yunjing a third-grade Samadhi True Fire Talisman and agreed to stay far away if he used his thunder formation.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi returned to the front hall, where Lin Kai attacked them from atop the Lava Tiger, then fled into the East Hall after recognizing Li Yunjing had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.
• Li Yunjing sent Yu Yunyi to search the North and South Halls while he returned to the ruined East Hall and targeted Lin Kai amid the ongoing battle.
• Li Yunjing wounded the Lava Tiger with his Azure Sea Listening Waves Sword as Lin Kai tried to escape the fight.
• Lin Kai used a high-grade second-tier Fire Bird Seal talisman to summon a firebird against Li Yunjing, who gathered Palm Lightning to counter it.

Li Yunjing fought Lin Kai until Lin Kai mistook him for a highly ranked Divine Firmament Dao Sect prodigy and agreed to negotiate. Lin Kai revealed that the cultivation site was a trap, and the two reached terms for peace, leaving the original versions of two manuals and compensation to be settled.

• Li Yunjing destroyed Lin Kai's firebird talisman with Water God Thunder, prompting Lin Kai to fear he had offended a Divine Firmament Dao Sect prodigy.
• As Li Yunjing pursued him, Lin Kai claimed that his siblings were fallen Golden Core Realm cultivators and that he himself had once been a Golden Core expert whose body was destroyed.
• Lin Kai offered Spirit Stones to make peace, but Li Yunjing kept pressing until both men displayed third-grade talismans and settled into a wary standoff.
• Li Yunjing asked about the treasure, and Lin Kai admitted that the site was a trap and that the Golden Core manuals had been altered while the East Hall's Treasure Artifacts were bait.
• Li Yunjing demanded four hundred thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones and the original versions of the Heavenly Fire Divine Flame Seal and Fire Dragon Divine Light Transformation, and Lin Kai agreed.

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi accepted Lin Kai’s payment for the copied technique, then realized the original arrays of the Watching Waves Sea Pavilion might conceal a valuable energy-conversion system inside the Submarine Volcano. They entered the lava to investigate, where Li Yunjing discovered strange fire beasts and drew the attention of a swarm.

• Lin Kai gave Li Yunjing two Jade Slips and four hundred thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones, and Li Yunjing left with Yu Yunyi.
• After asking about the dojo’s arrays, Li Yunjing deduced that Lin Kai’s group had overlooked an original array and returned with Yu Yunyi to investigate the pool.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi searched the Submarine Volcano, entered its lava, and encountered a hostile winged lion-like fire beast.
• Li Yunjing killed the fire beast and a flaming lizard, and he and Yu Yunyi collected a strange flame-like stone.
• Two more fire beasts attacked, and their deaths drew several dozen more beasts that surrounded Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi.
• Li Yunjing blasted several pursuing beasts with Palm Lightning as the swarm closed in.

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi reached the volcano’s depths and found a Bagua Altar channeling energy into the Underground Palace. They dismantled it for its valuable stones, triggering a catastrophic eruption and freeing a Third-Order Fire Flood Dragon as they escaped aboard the damaged Azure Cloud Boat.

• Li Yunjing used Palm Lightning to defeat pursuing demonic beasts and collected the flaming stones they left behind.
• At the volcano’s base, Li Yunjing identified the Bagua Altar as a Fuxi Bagua Orientation that sent energy underground toward the Underground Palace.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi attacked the altar, then prepared the Azure Cloud Boat to escape as the volcano grew unstable.
• Li Yunjing removed all eight Sun Black Stones, causing the altar to collapse and the volcano to erupt; he collected the Yin Yang Twin Fish and Yin Yang Orbs.
• A Fire Flood Dragon burst from beneath the altar, and Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi fled upward through the magma aboard the damaged Azure Cloud Boat.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi escaped through the sea’s surface as the volcano erupted and the Underground Palace began to collapse.

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi escaped the collapsing volcano aboard the Azure Cloud Boat, only to be pursued by the Third-Order Fire Flood Dragon King. After destroying their boat to escape its attack, they fled underwater through the Strange Rock Sea Region, where sharks and a dangerous Octopus Monster threatened them.

• Canglan True Person recovered his hidden Treasure Artifact as the volcano erupted, and the surviving cultivators fled the collapsing Underground Palace.
• The Third-Order Fire Flood Dragon emerged from the crater, trapped Canglan True Person's group, and attacked Xuan Ziyan's group before pursuing the Azure Cloud Boat.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi used the Sky Thunder Cannon, a Divine Firmament Thunderbolt Bead, and the exploding Azure Cloud Boat to halt the Fire Flood Dragon King and escape into the sea.
• The Fire Flood Dragon King turned to pursue Canglan True Person after spotting his Treasure Artifact, while Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi swam away from the battle.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi fought off pursuing sharks underwater, then surfaced when they spotted the dangerous Octopus Monster entering the area.

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi escaped the Strange Rock Sea Region and returned to White Sand Island, where news of the Watching Waves Sea Pavilion disaster had left the island tense and deserted. After deciding to rest for a night before returning to Sea-Gazing City, they recovered together, and Li Yunjing ended the night cultivating beneath the stars.

• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi escaped the octopus demon beast and swam out of the Strange Rock Sea Region, recovering their strength as they traveled north.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi reached White Sand Island and found its marketplace nearly empty as residents awaited news about the Watching Waves Sea Pavilion disaster.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi learned that sects and families had withdrawn behind their defenses and agreed to leave for Sea-Gazing City after resting for a day.
• Li Yunjing promised Yu Yunyi that they would replace their destroyed Azure Cloud Boat with the best improved version, despite her concern about the cost.
• Li Yunjing taught Yu Yunyi the Mystic Perception Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Art, then let her sleep and went outside to cultivate beneath the moon and stars.

Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi returned from White Sand Island to Sea-Gazing City, where they reported the upheaval and received rewards from the city’s Golden Core leaders. After traveling back to the Divine Firmament Dao Sect, Yu Yunyi prepared to return to Morning Sun Peak and cultivate in seclusion.

• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi left White Sand Island by ship as fighting erupted there after the returning survivors exposed the losses suffered by the various sects and Lineages.
• After three days at sea, Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi reached Sea-Gazing City and reported what they had learned about Canglan True Person, the Fire Flood Dragon King, and the others to the City Lord and Deputy City Lords.
• The City Lord rewarded Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi with ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones each, while the leaders praised their useful intelligence and noted their achievements for the Divine Firmament Dao Sect.
• Li Yunjing and Yu Yunyi traveled by teleportation array and returned to the Divine Firmament Mountain Range three days later.
• Yu Yunyi told Li Yunjing that she was returning to Morning Sun Peak to enter seclusion, and she looked reluctant to part from him.

Li Yunjing returned to Seven Stars Peak after seeing Yu Yunyi off and told Xu Wuyi that he had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. He chose to pursue True Disciple status, leaving Xu Wuyi to report his advancement and begin the assessment process.

• Li Yunjing saw Yu Yunyi off through the teleportation array, then returned to Seven Stars Peak.
• Li Yunjing met Xu Wuyi and revealed that he had advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
• Li Yunjing told Xu Wuyi he wanted to become a True Disciple rather than take a deacon's position.
• Xu Wuyi explained that Li Yunjing would need his advancement reviewed and would have to complete a True Disciple trial.
• Li Yunjing asked whether Yu Yunyi and other companions could enter Seven Stars Palace, and Xu Wuyi said he could register up to ten people after becoming a True Disciple.

After advancing to the Foundation Establishment Realm, Li Yunjing reflected on his growing responsibilities and planned to recruit disciples and deliver resources to the Star Moon Trading Firm. Xu Wuyi summoned him to meet the Palace Master of Seven Stars Palace, whose examination of Li Yunjing revealed that his spiritual roots differed from the sect’s records, prompting Li Yunjing to explain that he did not know why.

• Li Yunjing slept for three days after returning to Qiwu Villa, then considered how his cultivation and duties left him little time.
• Li Yunjing planned to recruit capable Inner Disciples, bring promising acquaintances under his command, and deliver resources to the Star Moon Trading Firm.
• Xu Wuyi sent Li Yunjing a map and instructed him to visit the Palace Master of Seven Stars Palace.
• Li Yunjing followed the map to a forbidden cliff, entered the mist along a revealed path, and met the Palace Master and three other seniors in a thatched cottage.
• The Palace Master examined Li Yunjing and observed that his spiritual roots differed from the sect’s records.
• Li Yunjing said he did not know why his cultivation had progressed so quickly and admitted he had once believed his spiritual roots were ordinary.

Li Yunjing confessed that he had killed four disciples in self-defense and revealed his exceptional spiritual roots to Palace Master Qin and three other sect leaders. Palace Master Qin cleared him of the past affair with a hundred-kill punishment but sent him to the Frontier Battlefield to prove himself in a resource-vein battle, and Li Yunjing learned from Xu Wuyi that the mission might be manageable.

• Li Yunjing told the four great figures that he had a Supreme Five Elements Spiritual Root and hidden Supreme Thunder Spirit Root, then admitted he had killed his four companions in Red Sun Valley after they tried to kill him.
• Li Yunjing named Wei Henian and the Ten Thousand Laws Society as responsible for sending the men after him, and Palace Master Qin accepted his honesty while declaring that the killing still required punishment.
• Palace Master Qin sentenced Li Yunjing to kill a hundred Foundation Establishment enemies within a hundred years and made his True Disciple assessment a battle at the front lines, where his side had to win a resource-vein battle.
• Palace Master Qin explained to the other three great figures that he wanted the Frontier Battlefield to train Li Yunjing and test his potential against powerful young cultivators.
• Li Yunjing told Xu Wuyi what had happened, and Xu Wuyi reassured him that the battlefield offered ample opportunities to complete the hundred-kill punishment.

Xu Wuyi explained that the Outer Realm Battlefield was being fought over because it contained a rare Ancestral Vein, and warned Li Yunjing to be cautious when he went there. Li Yunjing returned to Qiwu Villa, organized his vast resources and prepared the grounds for a long absence, then decided to get Yunyi an Azure Cloud Boat before leaving.

• Xu Wuyi told Li Yunjing that the Outer Realm Battlefield had become a contested zone after the discovery of an Ancestral Vein rich in Spirit Stones, including rare Top-grade Spirit Stones.
• Li Yunjing insisted he was not afraid of the battlefield, and Xu Wuyi warned him not to underestimate veteran Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators; Xu Wuyi also gave him ten identity jade slips for Qiwu Villa.
• Li Yunjing asked Xu Wuyi for access to the second floor of the Scripture Library, then returned to Qiwu Villa and spent a day and night inventorying his accumulated wealth.
• Li Yunjing sorted his resources, stored items for the Star Moon Trading Firm, arranged looted manuals in his study, and stocked his crafting rooms with materials.
• Li Yunjing planted spiritual plants, fed the koi, and set ten Puppet Mechanism Beasts to maintain Qiwu Villa while he was away.
• Li Yunjing noticed the empty spirit beast enclosure and wondered when his spirit beast egg would hatch, then decided to obtain an Azure Cloud Boat for Yunyi and messaged Yang Wenzheng.

Li Yunjing traveled to Donghua Market to buy a flying boat at the Heavenly Craft Shop, where he was mocked by He Bao for claiming an Inner Disciple could afford one. He Bao recognized Li Yunjing and confronted him, but then suspected the encounter was a trap designed to get him arrested again.

• Li Yunjing gave up waiting for Yang Wenzheng to reply and traveled from Qiwu Villa to the Eastern Mountain Region to buy a flying boat.
• Li Yunjing toured the Heavenly Craft Shop and decided its high-grade magical furnishings were too expensive to buy.
• A Heavenly Craft Shop attendant asked what Li Yunjing wanted, and he said he wanted to buy a flying boat.
• He Bao and his followers mocked Li Yunjing for being an Inner Disciple who claimed he could afford a flying boat.
• Li Yunjing recognized He Bao and taunted him about his earlier time in the Law Enforcement Hall.
• He Bao revealed he had reached Foundation Establishment and become a sect deacon, then lowered his hand when he suspected Li Yunjing was baiting him into another arrest.

Li Yunjing went to Heavenly Craft Hall to buy an enhanced Azure Cloud Boat, explaining that he had destroyed his previous boat to escape a Third-Order Demon King. Elder Yu agreed to upgrade a boat beyond the standard model, and Li Yunjing began paying the costly price with his stored treasures.

• Li Yunjing ignored He Bao's taunts and followed a female disciple upstairs to the flying boat department, while He Bao and his lackeys discussed their plans for the Outer Sect Competition betting pool.
• Elder Yu recognized Li Yunjing as the previous year's Outer Sect Competition winner and learned that he had recently reached Foundation Establishment.
• Li Yunjing asked for an Azure Cloud Boat with stronger defense, offense, and speed, along with greater comfort, and Elder Yu offered to improve those features by up to twenty percent.
• Elder Yu quoted Li Yunjing three and a half million Low-grade Spirit Stones for the enhanced boat, and Li Yunjing offered resources in place of some of the payment.
• Elder Yu valued Li Yunjing's pills, talismans, and flying sword at 500,000 Low-grade Spirit Stones, then valued his Dharma artifacts at another 350,000.

Li Yunjing paid heavily to commission upgrades to his Azure Cloud Boat and bought equipment for Xing'er and Yue'er, while making plans to expand the Star Moon Trading Firm. He left the Heavenly Craft Shop with the boat due in six months, then continued shopping despite having nearly exhausted his Spirit Stones.

• Li Yunjing negotiated with Elder Yu and agreed to pay 20,000 Mid-grade Spirit Stones and 550,000 Low-grade Spirit Stones for the remainder of the transaction.
• Li Yunjing and Elder Yu finalized a contract for an upgraded Azure Cloud Boat, but Elder Yu said delivery would take about six months.
• Li Yunjing contacted Xing'er and Yue'er, learned their trading firm was doing well, and discussed opening a branch in Ten Thousand Sword City with Feng Xueting in charge.
• Li Yunjing inspected the Jade Slip contract, accepted the delivery schedule, and said Yu Yunyi could collect the boat if he could not.
• Li Yunjing bought two sets of top-grade magic artifacts for Xing'er and Yue'er, then purchased second-tier talisman paper and spent nearly four million Low-grade Spirit Stones overall.

Li Yunjing returned to Splendid Peak, revealed his Foundation Establishment cultivation, and studied five disciplines in the Scripture Library while news of his rapid advancement spread. As the Divine Firmament Dao Sect prepared a decisive front-line battle, he emerged from seclusion to find his Communication Talismans overwhelmed with messages.

• Li Yunjing returned to Splendid Peak, astonished the guards with his Foundation Establishment cultivation, and promised his acquaintances a future gathering.
• Two elders watched Li Yunjing from the Scripture Library’s fourth floor and discussed his prospects, his possible inheritance, and the Sect Leader’s plans for a decisive war against the demonic forces.
• Li Yunjing exchanged Spirit Stones and techniques for contribution points, then entered seclusion to study the second volumes on artifact refining, alchemy, arrays, puppetry, and talisman-making.
• News of Li Yunjing’s Foundation Establishment spread while he studied with his Communication Talismans switched off.
• The Sect Leader ordered preparations for a major front-line battle, and Golden Core experts drafted and submitted plans for approval.
• After ten days, Li Yunjing emerged with seventy-two thousand contribution points, switched on his Communication Talismans, and drew astonished looks as they buzzed with messages.