Chapter Summaries

Li Yuan traded a Fire Fiend Sword for materials and a Red Flame Pill, then permanently acquired the Fire Fiend Edge affix. He improved the reclaimed Spirit Fields and raised his Demonic Origin Technique to Mastery as the marketplace faced growing pressure from the war in Yun Province.

• Li Yuan monitored the suspected Dark Abyss Society mole and reviewed records showing a surge of displaced cultivators arriving from Yun Province.
• Li Yuan traded a Fire Fiend Sword to two rogue cultivators for Mystic Wind Iron, Sinking Crystal, and a Red Flame Pill, then bought more materials from the crowded trading street.
• Li Yuan equipped the Fire Fiend Sword, swallowed the Red Flame Pill, and permanently acquired the Fire Fiend Edge affix.
• Li Yuan used the Soil Cultivation Art to improve several hundred mu of newly reclaimed Spirit Fields.
• Li Yuan cultivated the Demonic Origin Technique through the night and reached Mastery, making his demonic qi faster to cultivate and harder to detect.

Li Yuan completed the Fire Cultivation Array and gained a permanent fire-sensing affix as Yuanyang Sect and the Demon Sect clashed over the missing Golden Core Formation Platform. He then perfected his body-refining technique and fused his body-tempering affixes into a powerful new trait.

• Li Yuan accepted Wang Ting'an's terms for the Fire Cultivation Array and used salvaged materials to build and activate it at the mine intersection.
• Li Yuan equipped a Fire Sun Stone, made Fire Vein Stimulation permanent, and watched the array filter residual fire qi back into the mine veins.
• Golden Core cultivators from the Demon Sect and Yuanyang Sect confronted each other in the sky, while Chen Yi said the Demon Sect denied taking the Golden Core Formation Platform.
• Li Yuan cultivated the Nameless Body Refining Technique until it reached Perfection and made Medicine-Refined Strong Body permanent.
• Li Yuan made Iron Wall Strong Body permanent and fused it with his other body-tempering affixes into Medicine-Refined True Body, which further strengthened his physique.

Li Yuan broke through his Soul-Condensing and Spirit-Guiding Art, tested his expanded soul control in talisman drawing and alchemy, and accepted a mission to clear nearby Demonic Cultivator strongholds. While preparing pills for the mission, he advanced his Second-Order Alchemy Art to Major Accomplishment.

• Li Yuan used a Soul-Condensing Pill to advance his Soul-Condensing and Spirit-Guiding Art to Minor Accomplishment, stabilizing five Divine Sense Threads that he operated in parallel.
• Li Yuan successfully drew a First-Order Fireball Talisman with soul power but ruined a Second-Order Spirit Water Talisman, then found that he could not reliably refine pills in three furnaces at once.
• Chen Yi brought Li Yuan a sect mission to clear nearby Demonic Cultivator strongholds and gave him the Qi-Tracking Art; Li Yuan accepted and planned to depart the next day.
• Li Yuan prepared Meridian-Repairing Pills and Soul-Condensing Pills in two furnaces, then advanced his Second-Order Alchemy Art to Major Accomplishment after producing three Meridian-Repairing Pills.

Li Yuan raided a Dark Abyss Society outpost and used a Sha Crystal to strengthen his Fiend Cultivation Array. After buying a Rock-Splitting Bear skull, he discovered its Bone Condensation trait but could not activate it permanently until he obtained and mastered a third Second-Order Body-Tempering Cultivation Method.

• Li Yuan and three rogue cultivators killed two demonic cultivators at a Dark Abyss Society outpost and found two Sha Crystals among their spoils.
• Li Yuan equipped one Sha Crystal in his Fiend Cultivation Array, greatly increasing its absorption and compression of Fiend Qi and speeding the formation of Fiend Stones.
• Yuanyang Sect's extermination teams uprooted Dark Abyss Society strongholds and hunted high-level Demonic Beasts, improving security while flooding Wulin Marketplace with Monster Materials.
• Li Yuan bought a Second-Order Middle Grade Rock-Splitting Bear skull at a reduced price and discovered its Bone Condensation Green Trait.
• Li Yuan found that permanent activation required three Second-Order Body-Tempering Cultivation Methods to reach Proficiency, but he still lacked a suitable third method.

Li Yuan watched Wulin Marketplace and its trade routes recover, using the renewed commerce to expand his cultivation and business operations. After his Soul-Controlling Art reached Mastery, he successfully crafted a Second-Order Water Spirit Talisman without using his hands.

• Li Yuan observed Rogue Cultivators and Traveling Merchants flood into Wulin Marketplace as reopened trade routes revived the marketplace.
• Li Yuan inspected his shop and Spirit Fields, where workers harvested mature Spirit-Gathering Flowers for use in pills that would fund further expansion.
• Li Yuan saw Zhou Yuan's Artifact Refining Shop attract a growing queue as demand for artifact repairs and replacements increased.
• Li Yuan's repeated practice controlling the Alchemy Furnace strengthened his soul power, advancing his Soul-Controlling Art to Mastery.
• Li Yuan used his soul power to guide a Talisman Brush and successfully crafted a Second-Order Water Spirit Talisman, advancing his Tier 2 Talisman Crafting Art to Minor Accomplishment.

Li Yuan detected Demonic Cultivators probing Wulin Marketplace’s defenses as the war drove refugees toward the rear. After advancing his soul cultivation and fusing three affixes into Soul Origin Return to Truth, he learned of an upcoming Yuanyang Sect Trading Fair and prepared to seek powerful resources.

• Li Yuan sensed three Foundation Establishment Realm Demonic Cultivators testing the western Sense-Perception Array before retreating into Ghost Mist Forest, then reported them to Chen Yi.
• Chen Yi told Li Yuan that Demonic Cultivators had breached three cultivation Lineage strongholds and that Yuanyang Sect planned to expand its defenses and hold a Trading Fair.
• Li Yuan bought the Turbid Fiend Art and advanced it to Mastery before cultivating the Soul-Condensing and Spirit-Guiding Art to Major Accomplishment.
• Li Yuan permanently converted Soul Concentration Guard and Soul-Condensing Amplification, then fused them with Soul Light Tempering to create Soul Origin Return to Truth.
• Li Yuan received Chen Yi’s notice that Yuanyang Sect would hold a Trading Fair in ten days and decided to turn his accumulated resources into crucial trump cards.

Li Yuan welcomed Ji Huaiyuan and the Ji Family into Wulin Marketplace after demonic cultivators forced them to abandon their damaged residence. In exchange for land for shops and a home for the clan, Li Yuan obtained the Shangyuan Pill formula and began preparing to refine it.

• Li Yuan observed that Dark Abyss Society attacks had shifted toward cultivation lineages and rogue Foundation Establishment cultivators, then continued practicing his body-tempering method.
• Li Yuan sensed a large group approaching Wulin Marketplace and recognized Ji Huaiyuan among the arriving cultivators, accompanied by newly Foundation Establishment Ji Mingyuan.
• Ji Huaiyuan told Li Yuan that demonic cultivators had damaged the Ji Family's protective formation and spirit vein, forcing the clan to flee and seek refuge in the marketplace.
• Ji Huaiyuan offered the Shangyuan Pill formula in exchange for a free batch of pills once the Ji Family gathered the materials, twelve shops, and a residential courtyard for the clan.
• Li Yuan accepted the terms, examined the Shangyuan Pill formula, and decided to have his shop assistants purchase its auxiliary herbs.

Li Yuan settled the Ji Family into the market’s new South District and arranged to use their connections to distribute his medicinal pills. He prepared goods for the Trading Fair while continuing to investigate a stationed cultivator whose repeated late-night visits coincided with traces of fiend qi.

• Li Yuan allocated twelve storefronts and their courtyards to the Ji Family, and Ji Mingyuan offered to manage the South District for the usual stipend.
• Ji Huaiyuan planned two artifact-refining shops and other family businesses, then agreed to distribute Li Yuan’s pills through the Ji Family’s outside connections in exchange for basic pills at cost.
• Li Yuan inspected the matured Meridian-Repairing Grass and brewed Meridian-Repairing Pills and Origin Recovery Pills in two furnaces at once.
• Li Yuan sorted medicinal pills and high-quality Fire Fiend Stones for the Trading Fair, prioritizing a Second-Order body-tempering method and ingredients for Shangyuan Pills.
• Li Yuan followed a stationed cultivator on a late-night patrol and detected a faint underground fiend-qi fluctuation at the same alley corner where the man had lingered seven days earlier.

Li Yuan sold his medicinal pills at Yuanyang Sect’s Trading Fair, then bought cultivation and crafting materials, including a Second-Order body-tempering method. After trading for supplies and selling some to Ji Huaiyuan, he ended the day studying the Mystic Iron Bone-Forging Technique.

• Li Yuan set up a stall at Yunyang Marketplace’s Trading Fair and quickly sold most of his medicinal pills for a large sum of Spirit Stones.
• Li Yuan bought a damaged Jade Slip containing the complete Mystic Iron Bone-Forging Technique for eight hundred Spirit Stones.
• Li Yuan purchased formation materials, pill ingredients, Body Tempering pills, and crafting scraps, and traded Fire Fiend Stones for artifact-refining materials.
• Li Yuan met Ji Huaiyuan and sold him several artifact-refining materials the Ji Family had previously sought.
• Li Yuan rented a room at an inn and carefully studied the Mystic Iron Bone-Forging Technique.

Li Yuan bought a Spirit Beast Inner Core at the Trading Fair, made its spiritual-power recovery Affix permanent, and received information about a rare Jade Marrow Ganoderma. Back in Wulin Marketplace, he began cultivating the Mystic Iron Bone-Forging Technique and learned that the Wang Family was courting the Ji Family.

• Li Yuan bought a Second-Order Middle Grade Spirit Beast Inner Core for seven hundred Spirit Stones and made its Spirit Beast Essence Blood Affix permanent by consuming three Second-Order Qi-Gathering Essence Pills.
• Sun Tong offered Li Yuan the location and access method for his family's secret chamber, which held a three-hundred-and-twenty-year-old Jade Marrow Ganoderma, in exchange for five hundred Spirit Stones and residency in Wulin Marketplace.
• Li Yuan returned to Wulin Marketplace and reached Entry Level in the Mystic Iron Bone-Forging Technique after channeling spiritual power through his femur.
• Li Yuan instructed the Steward to arrange a residence for Sun Tong and learned from Chen Yi that Wang Ting'an had approached the Ji Family to discuss cooperation in mineral materials.
• Li Yuan decided not to interfere with the Wang Family's attempt to win over the Ji Family.

Li Yuan balanced alchemy, cultivation, and marketplace duties as he dealt with a Spirit Silkworm infestation and advanced the Turbid Fiend Art to Major Accomplishment. With new arrivals overwhelming Wulin Marketplace, he delegated more administration to Ji Mingyuan before returning to his cultivation routine.

• Li Yuan used the Soil Cultivation Art and Insect-Repelling Talismans to clear Spirit Silkworms from the newly reclaimed Meridian-Repairing Grass fields.
• Li Yuan cultivated the Turbid Fiend Art through the night and advanced it to Major Accomplishment.
• Over three hundred cultivators fleeing the Dark Abyss Society arrived at Wulin Marketplace, filling most available rooms and shops.
• Li Yuan assigned Ji Mingyuan responsibility for registering newcomers, allocating rooms, and maintaining order in the South District and Southwest Sector.
• Li Yuan returned to his stone house and resumed alchemy and cultivation with his five Divine Sense Threads.

Li Yuan practiced talisman crafting while cultivating, learned to make a Gold Sword Talisman, and announced that he would refine Shangyuan Pills for cultivators who supplied rare ingredients. He gathered leads on scarce materials and returned to his stone house to continue crafting and alchemy.

• Li Yuan used his five Divine Sense Threads to cultivate and craft Tier 2 talismans with steadily improving precision.
• Li Yuan bought a Gold Sword Talisman refinement method, crafted the talisman, and received a panel preview showing its metal-element spell power bonus and permanentization condition.
• Li Yuan posted an offer to refine Shangyuan Pills for clients who supplied the main ingredients.
• More than thirty cultivators visited Li Yuan's shop, and he recorded clues about Mist-Condensing Grass and Earth Spirit Fruits, along with contacts willing to help search.
• Li Yuan returned to his stone house and resumed cultivating, crafting talismans, and refining pills.

Li Yuan broke through to Proficiency in the Mystic Iron Bone-Forging Technique and fused two bone-related affixes into Iron Bone Golden Body, strengthening his body and increasing the benefits of his body-tempering methods. After completing an array assignment at Yunyang Marketplace, he returned to Wulin Marketplace and resumed his cultivation and crafting.

• Li Yuan completed a deep circulation of spiritual power through every bone in his body, advancing the Mystic Iron Bone-Forging Technique to Proficiency.
• Li Yuan made Bone Condensation permanent and fused it with Bone Solidification to create the Iron Bone Golden Body affix.
• After receiving a mobilization order from Chen Yi, Li Yuan traveled to Yunyang Marketplace to help build its outer defensive arrays.
• Li Yuan quickly completed and passed inspection of the defensive arrays assigned to him, then received notice of future expansion assignments.
• Li Yuan returned to Wulin Marketplace and resumed cultivating, refining pills, and making talismans.

Li Yuan inspected the growing Fire Fiend Stone output and agreed to establish a second mining point with the Wang Family, while deciding to study Wang Ting'an’s proposal to accelerate the veins’ fusion. He permanently transformed the Gold Sword Talisman’s Sharp Metal Infusion affix, then returned to his usual cultivation work.

• Li Yuan found that the Intersection Zone’s Fire Fiend Stone yield and quality had improved, then confirmed both cultivation arrays were operating properly.
• Wang Ting'an proposed opening a deeper mining point, and Li Yuan agreed on the condition that the Wang Family provide patrols and manpower.
• Li Yuan and Wang Ting'an discovered that the Fire Vein and Fiend Vein were naturally merging, and Wang Ting'an suggested swapping the arrays to accelerate their fusion.
• Li Yuan declined to alter the arrays until he had studied the risks, and Wang Ting'an agreed to proceed with opening the second mining point first.
• Li Yuan equipped the Gold Sword Talisman and killed ten Demonic Beasts with metal-element spells, making Sharp Metal Infusion a Permanent Affix.
• Li Yuan re-equipped Meridian Concealment and Breath Hiding, then resumed his alchemy and talisman work.

Li Yuan perfected the Turbid Fiend Art, made several fiend- and demonic-qi affixes permanent, and fused four related affixes into Dark Fiend Insight. He left three hidden monitoring arrays around the marketplace and used his new perception to detect fiend-qi flows and demonic activity beyond it.

• Li Yuan perfected the Turbid Fiend Art, permanently converting Sha Source Condensation and Fire Sha Fusion into affixes.
• Li Yuan built and secretly deployed three Miniature Demonic Qi Monitoring Node Arrays beneath the marketplace and nearby routes.
• Li Yuan equipped the Demonic Gathering Array Eye and permanently converted Demonic Gathering and Flow-Guiding into an affix.
• Li Yuan fused Sha Source Condensation, Demonic Gathering and Flow-Guiding, Fiend Qi Perception, and Demon-Sense Amplification into the Blue Trait Dark Fiend Insight.
• Li Yuan sensed his monitoring arrays, fiend-qi seepage from the direction of Ghost Mist Forest, the Fiend Cultivation Array, and demonic-qi movements within the forest.

Li Yuan reviewed how his marketplace, Spirit Fields, and mineral vein formed a profitable self-sustaining operation before traveling to Yunyang Marketplace to deploy a new Earth Vein Array. After activating its first Array Eye, he gained the Earth Vein Resonance trait and continued burying Array Eyes to meet its permanentification condition.

• Li Yuan inspected the mature Spirit Fields, harvested herbs, and refined Meridian-Repairing Pills at a lower cost using his own crops.
• Li Yuan consolidated the accounts for his marketplace, Spirit Field, and mineral vein operations, finding that their linked production and sales formed a growing economic cycle.
• Li Yuan received Yunyang Marketplace’s requisition for the Earth Vein Array and learned that its Array Eyes had to be buried at least three zhang underground.
• Li Yuan surveyed the southern expansion belt, found an Earth Vein tributary, and buried the first Array Eye to activate the array.
• Li Yuan equipped an Earth Vein Stone and gained passive spirit-power recovery and the ability to sense vibrations within ten zhang underground.
• Li Yuan began setting up the next Array Eye, with one hundred buried Array Eyes required to permanently acquire Earth Vein Resonance.

While expanding Yunyang Marketplace’s defenses, Li Yuan permanently acquired Earth Vein Resonance and accepted Sun Tong’s revised offer for information about the Sun Family’s hidden caches. He entered Broken Valley, killed a guarding Demonic Cultivator, equipped a Magic Pattern Round Shield, and headed for the secret chamber.

• Li Yuan completed his hundredth array eye and permanently acquired Earth Vein Resonance, then studied Yunyang Marketplace’s regional Sub-Array defense system.
• Sun Tong offered Li Yuan coordinates for four Sun Family supply caches in exchange for their existing terms and help refining a batch of Shangyuan Pills if Sun Tong obtained Jade Marrow Ganoderma.
• Li Yuan traveled to Broken Valley and used concealment to approach the former Sun Family residence, where he sensed a Demonic Cultivator standing guard.
• Li Yuan killed the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Demonic Cultivator with a punch and searched his storage bag.
• Li Yuan equipped the Magic Pattern Round Shield, whose Magic Pattern Body Protection affix required him to endure more than thirty spell attacks to become permanent.
• Li Yuan collected the remaining spoils and headed toward the secret chamber marked by Sun Tong.

Li Yuan recovered the Jade Marrow Ganoderma and other supplies from the Sun Family's hidden storerooms, then sought expert guidance on cross-attribute arrays. After completing another Defense Array optimization in Wulin Marketplace, his Second-Order Array Technique reached Major Accomplishment.

• Li Yuan entered the Sun Family garrison's Secret Room, took the three-hundred-and-twenty-year-old Jade Marrow Ganoderma, and collected Spirit Stones and materials from its hidden storerooms.
• Li Yuan returned to Wulin Marketplace and observed the improvements under Ji Mingyuan's management before checking that the Jade Marrow Ganoderma remained preserved.
• Li Yuan asked Ji Huaiyuan about placing mutually nurturing arrays across Fire Veins and Fiend Veins, and Ji Huaiyuan referred him to Lu Pingyuan.
• Li Yuan met Lu Pingyuan in Yunyang Marketplace, where Lu Pingyuan explained how to begin the arrays at reduced output and gradually increase them over three to four months.
• Li Yuan organized Lu Pingyuan's advice into a plan and continued his cultivation, alchemy, and array work.
• Li Yuan completed an eastern node optimization for Wulin Marketplace's Joint Defense Array, and his Second-Order Array Technique reached Major Accomplishment.

Li Yuan set up low-output cultivation arrays in the mine and planted false patrol information to test whether a mole was passing it to the Dark Abyss Society. After advancing his body-tempering manual, he accepted He Zongming’s Shangyuan Pill commission and bought a high-grade furnace to prepare for the refinement.

• Li Yuan activated Fire and Fiend cultivation arrays at thirty percent output, then marked the veins’ boundaries to track their gradual mixing.
• Li Yuan altered the patrol schedule with genuine and false information so he could identify whether the mole passed it to the Dark Abyss Society.
• Li Yuan broke through an obstruction in his body-tempering cultivation and advanced the Iron Wall Body Refining Manual to Major Accomplishment.
• He Zongming brought the Shangyuan Pill ingredients he had gathered and paid Li Yuan five hundred Spirit Stones to refine the pill.
• Li Yuan bought a Second-Order high-grade Alchemy Furnace from Ji Huaiyuan and arranged the Shangyuan Pill ingredients for the coming refinement.

Li Yuan refined two Shangyuan Pills, gave one to He Zongming, and equipped the other to gain Foundation Solidification. After his spirit power reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage limit, the Affix became permanent, leaving him ready to pursue Golden Core Formation.

• Li Yuan refined two above-average Shangyuan Pills while He Zongming watched, then gave one pill to He Zongming.
• Li Yuan equipped the remaining Shangyuan Pill and gained the Foundation Solidification Affix, which increased his dantian stability and spirit power limit.
• Li Yuan cultivated for three days until his spirit power reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage limit.
• The Panel made Foundation Solidification a Permanent Affix and freed the equipment slot.
• Li Yuan recognized that his spirit power was full and that the opportunity for Golden Core Formation was within reach.