Chapter Summaries

Li Yuan entered the Yaoguang Secret Realm, excelled in its assessments, and won first place in the competitive round. He claimed three manuals from the Secret Realm Library and left with their contents stored in his divine sense, though he still needed time to study them.

• Li Yuan contributed the original Demon-Spirit Fusion Technique to the secret realm, reaching the maximum knowledge contribution limit and earning its highest cultivation bonus.
• Li Yuan completed assessments in formations, alchemy, spells, artifact refining, and talismans, gaining insights that raised his proficiencies, including his Third-Order Artifact Refining Technique to Mastery.
• Li Yuan competed against six other cultivators, scored highly across all five fields, and won first place, earning permission to select three manuals and a pouch of Enlightenment Tree Tea Leaves.
• Li Yuan selected a foundational Nascent Soul cultivation method, the Third-Order Mid-Grade Soul Condensing and Consciousness Controlling Art, and the Third-Order Mid-Grade Space Fixing Technique from the Secret Realm Library.
• Li Yuan received the three manuals' contents through information streams, used Split-Mind Multitasking to process them, and saw an exit passage appear.

After leaving the Yaoguang Secret Realm, Li Yuan negotiated with Dragon Abyss Pavilion for Nascent Soul Formation manuals in exchange for investigating a sealed region during his next visit. Back in Wulin Marketplace, he studied his new techniques and continued consolidating the insights he had gained.

• Liu Heng told Li Yuan that Dragon Abyss Pavilion wanted him to investigate a sealed region using the first-place winner’s extra authority, and Li Yuan agreed in exchange for Nascent Soul Formation manuals.
• Liu Heng said Dragon Abyss Pavilion would accelerate the Secret Realm’s opening and deliver the manuals when it opened again in several years.
• Li Yuan left Yaoguang Island, returned to Liang Province, and shut himself in his cultivation chamber at Wulin Marketplace.
• Li Yuan cultivated Soul Condensing and Consciousness Controlling Art and learned the principles of the Space Fixing Technique, bringing both to Entry Level.
• Li Yuan reviewed the Secret Realm’s trial insights, and his Third-Order Talisman Crafting Art reached Mastery.

Li Yuan studied the Nascent Soul Foundation-Solidifying Art and learned the broad requirements for Nascent Soul Formation before helping Tianyue Sect establish new markets and completing several missions. He built an Alchemy Array at Wulin Marketplace and advanced the Tide Array Heart Scripture to Mastery.

• Li Yuan studied the Nascent Soul Foundation-Solidifying Art and identified Golden Core quality, divine soul strength, cultivation, and resources as important for Nascent Soul Formation.
• Ji Wenyuan brought Li Yuan Tianyue Sect’s plans for three new markets, and Li Yuan arranged supplies and agreed to deploy their defensive arrays.
• Li Yuan completed missions supporting Tianyue Sect and found a Mystic Lock Fragment while clearing a Demonic Cultivator sentry post.
• Li Yuan built an Alchemy Array at Wulin Marketplace and successfully refined Tianyuan Pills within it.
• Li Yuan cultivated the Tide Array Heart Scripture in his own array and advanced it from Proficiency to Mastery.

Li Yuan learned that the Tianyue Sect had absorbed much of Liang Province and helped establish its new marketplaces, then found a third tracking-marked item and divined that a powerful force was tracking whoever touched them. He left the marks in place and broke through to the Late Golden Core Stage.

• Ji Wenyuan told Li Yuan that two Yuanyang Sect elders and their disciples had merged into the Tianyue Sect, which now controlled most of Liang Province.
• Li Yuan transferred supplies and installed a defensive array for the Tianyue Sect’s first new marketplace, with further arrangements proceeding smoothly.
• Li Yuan found a jade pendant carrying the same tracking aura as two items he had encountered elsewhere and bought it, adding a third mark to himself.
• Li Yuan used divination to learn that a force involving Golden Core cultivators was tracking people who touched the marked items, and decided to leave the marks in place as bait.
• Li Yuan’s cultivation reached the Late Golden Core Stage, fulfilling one condition for permanentizing Source Assimilation on his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact.

After reaching the Late Golden Core Stage, Li Yuan cultivated the Blazing Sun Bright Fire Art and gained the Purple Trait Array Dao Pivot, sharply improving his formation perception and cultivation. He also made Initial Casting Spirit Rhyme permanent, continued nurturing his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact, and ended the chapter consolidating his cultivation after drinking Enlightenment Tree Tea.

• Li Yuan tested the Blazing Sun Bright Fire Art and reached Entry Level, using its framework to operate multiple fire-attribute spells at once.
• Li Yuan made Array Breath Symbiosis permanent, and it fused with three other affixes into the Purple Trait Array Dao Pivot.
• Li Yuan used his improved formation perception to correct three losses in the Alchemy Array's spirit power circuits, increasing its operating efficiency by ten percent.
• Li Yuan made Initial Casting Spirit Rhyme permanent, improving his artifact refining attainment and making his spellcasting faster, steadier, and less costly.
• Li Yuan fed essence blood to his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact and drank Enlightenment Tree Tea before consolidating his cultivation.

Li Yuan made Ten Thousand Arts Mastery permanent by mastering more than one hundred spells and talismans, then prepared to leave Wulin Marketplace under concealment. He traveled southwest, detected a faint spatial trace near an abandoned ancient road, and settled in a remote valley to cultivate while waiting for his pursuers.

• Li Yuan reviewed Tianyue Sect’s new market plans with Ji Wenyuan and approved the northern and central-southern sites for array deployment.
• Li Yuan bought Light Gathering Technique and Insect Repelling Technique, mastered them, and made Ten Thousand Arts Mastery a Permanent Affix.
• Li Yuan bought a Spirit Vein Cornerstone and made its Mineral Vein Afterglow affix permanent.
• Li Yuan concealed his Golden Core cultivation, left Wulin Marketplace, and traveled southwest while rapidly improving his two new spells.
• Li Yuan detected a faint spatial spell residue near an Abandoned Ancient Road and marked the location for later investigation.
• Li Yuan reached a remote valley, cultivated his array and soul techniques, and waited for his visitors.

Li Yuan used the Tracking Marks on himself as bait to draw out Yuan Sect agents, then defeated them and learned why the sect was tracking marked items. After killing two pursuers and removing his own marks, he followed the fleeing Demonic Cultivator with a hidden tracking mark toward the Yuan Sect’s trail.

• Li Yuan waited in the valley until an Early Golden Core Stage Cultivator and two Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivators arrived to inspect his unusually strong Tracking Mark aura.
• The gray-robed cultivator’s detection spell failed to strip Li Yuan’s disguise, so he ordered the two Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivators to attack.
• Li Yuan revealed his Late Golden Core Stage cultivation, marked the fleeing black-robed Demonic Cultivator with demonic qi, and subdued the other two pursuers.
• The gray-robed cultivator revealed that the Yuan Sect used marks distributed across markets to locate disciples of the White Underworld Sect, and Li Yuan killed him and the western cultivator.
• Li Yuan found a Sound Transmission Rune Stone in the gray-robed cultivator’s storage bag, removed his own Tracking Marks, and followed the black-robed man’s signal northeast.

Li Yuan completed array work for Tianyue Sect’s new marketplaces, then returned to Wulin Marketplace to study Nascent Soul Formation and plan his Qingyuan Pill ingredients. He resumed cultivation while keeping the moving Demonic Qi Mark under observation.

• Li Yuan gave Ji Wenyuan a Shangyuan Pill and instructed him to settle marketplace affairs before attempting Foundation Establishment.
• Li Yuan surveyed the northern site, installed its defensive and early-warning arrays, found the western site unsuitable for a permanent array, and completed work at the other selected locations.
• Li Yuan reported the results to True Person Xuanpu, received contribution points, and learned that access to Nascent Soul Formation scriptures might require deeper cooperation with Tianyue Sect.
• Li Yuan studied the Nascent Soul Foundation-Solidifying Art for two days and organized several routes for obtaining Spirit Fruit Cores to refine Qingyuan Pills.
• Li Yuan resumed closed-door cultivation while tracking the Demonic Qi Mark moving northeast and postponing an investigation of the Yuan Sect stronghold.

Li Yuan refined Tianyuan Pills while practicing his Blazing Sun Bright Fire Art, completed a smuggling-route mission, and permanently affixed Bone-Eroding Cold Edge. He returned to Wulin Marketplace and continued cultivating his divine soul and nourishing his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact.

• Li Yuan refined his first furnace of Tianyuan Pills using the alchemy arrays and cultivated the Blazing Sun Bright Fire Art between alchemy sessions.
• Li Yuan noticed more Yuanyang Sect disciples seeking work and resources across the region as he completed Tianyue Sect missions.
• Li Yuan found a smuggling stronghold at the Liang Province–Yun Province border and seriously wounded its Foundation Establishment Late Stage Demonic Cultivator.
• The Panel made Bone-Eroding Cold Edge a Permanent Affix, causing Li Yuan's spell attacks to carry demonic qi erosion.
• Li Yuan recovered the smuggling list, marked the stronghold on his mission document, and returned to the increasingly crowded Wulin Marketplace.
• Li Yuan cultivated the Soul Condensing and Consciousness Controlling Art and continued feeding essence blood to his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact.

Li Yuan developed a Fire-Guiding Furnace-Stabilizing Talisman and refined ten consecutive furnaces of Qingyuan Pills, advancing his Third-Order Alchemy Art to Mastery and making two new affixes permanent. The resulting Entry Fusion created Hunyuan Spirit Pool, greatly increasing his spirit qi capacity and improving its stability, efficiency, and purity.

• Li Yuan studied and tested a Fire-Guiding Furnace-Stabilizing Talisman, confirming that it steadied the Alchemy Flame and discovering its Fire Ink Traction affix.
• Li Yuan gathered ten Spirit Fruit Cores, drank Enlightenment Tree Tea, and used the talisman while refining ten successful furnaces of Qingyuan Pills.
• Li Yuan advanced his Third-Order Alchemy Art to Mastery during the ninth furnace and made Qingyuan Condensation permanent after the tenth.
• Li Yuan gained insights into fusing conflicting medicinal properties and made Fire Ink Traction permanent.
• Li Yuan fused seven Permanent Affixes into Hunyuan Spirit Pool, which expanded his spirit qi capacity and improved Spirit-Demon Fusion stability, spellcasting efficiency, and spirit qi quality.

Li Yuan advanced his soul and wood-attribute cultivation, making the Enlightenment Clear Tea Affix permanent after a breakthrough. He continued nurturing his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact and searching for ancient cultivator spaces as Tianyue Sect expanded its influence in Liang Province.

• Li Yuan nurtured his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact with essence blood and advanced the Soul Condensing and Consciousness Controlling Art to Proficiency.
• Ji Wenyuan reported that Tianyue Sect was rebuilding Yunyang Marketplace and establishing a disciple recruitment point there.
• Li Yuan used Enlightenment Clear Tea to advance the Burning Wood Eternal Spring Art to Major Accomplishment, making Enlightenment Clear Tea a Permanent Affix.
• Li Yuan kept up his daily cultivation, talisman making, and artifact nurturing while scanning for ancient cultivator spaces with the Spatial Seeking Technique.
• Li Yuan continued to remember the faint signal near the Abandoned Ancient Road and planned to investigate it once his Spatial Seeking Technique improved further.

Li Yuan completed the Lingxi Ferry marketplace’s defenses, improved his Spatial Seeking Technique, and received a request to build a Teleportation Array before the Spirit Transformation Ceremony. As he began preparing, he exchanged for and started cultivating the Black Iron Body-Tempering Art.

• Li Yuan completed the marketplace’s array formations at Lingxi Ferry and made the Vein Sense Psychic affix permanent after finding a Natural Vein Stone.
• Li Yuan’s repeated use of the Spatial Seeking Technique at the Spirit-Gathering Node raised it to Proficiency and expanded its detection range to over ten li.
• Lingxi Ferry opened to a larger-than-expected crowd, and True Person Xuanpu sent word that only half a month remained until the Spirit Transformation Ceremony.
• Tianyue Sect asked Li Yuan to build a Teleportation Array between Tianyue Marketplace and Baijing Marketplace, while the President of the Mingyuan Chamber of Commerce worried that the sect’s control would expose the chamber’s trade.
• Li Yuan exchanged Contribution Points for the Black Iron Body-Tempering Art and reached Entry Level after cultivating through the night.

Li Yuan oversaw construction of the Baijing end of Tianyue Sect’s dual-ended teleportation array, surveying the site and directing seven Array Masters. As the array neared completion, his Spatial Seeking Technique reached Mastery.

• Li Yuan received the teleportation array blueprints from Zhou Ping and inspected the Baijing anchor site, shifting its position two zhang east for a more stable Earth Vein supply.
• Li Yuan gained the Pile Core Orientation Permanent Affix and examined a calibration disk whose Anchor Pattern Calibration affix required helping calibrate a Third-Order or higher teleportation array.
• Li Yuan met the seven Tianyue Sect Array Masters, assigned their work, and began analyzing a Space Stabilization Talisman, though he could not yet fully understand its advanced spatial patterns.
• Li Yuan carved the core Array Patterns and marked precise routes for the Array Masters, guiding the Baijing array construction with an efficient division of labor.
• Li Yuan repeatedly practiced the Spatial Seeking Technique during construction, and on the fifth evening it reached Mastery as the array’s main structure neared completion.

Li Yuan completed the Baijing End of the Teleportation Array, and its resonance test with Tianyue End succeeded. After gaining permanent Anchor Pattern Calibration, he followed a demonic qi tracking mark to discover a Yuan Sect hidden sentry post and traded its location to Tianyue Sect for Contribution Points and a Third-Order pill formula.

• Li Yuan finished calibrating Baijing End, while True Person Xuanpu invited him to Tianyue Sect’s upcoming Spirit Transformation Ceremony.
• The two ends of the Teleportation Array resonated successfully, and tests confirmed that both a Spirit Stone and a living Array Master arrived safely.
• Li Yuan gained permanent Anchor Pattern Calibration and learned the principles of fine-tuning Teleportation Array Anchor Points.
• Li Yuan followed a demonic qi tracking mark to Jing Province’s western frontier and discovered a concealed Yuan Sect sentry post beneath a small town.
• Li Yuan sent the sentry post’s information to True Person Xuanpu and received Contribution Points and a Third-Order medicinal pill formula.

Li Yuan returned to Wulin Marketplace after advancing the Soul Condensing and Consciousness Controlling Art, then traveled to Tianyue Mountain Range to attend the Tianyue Sect Master’s Spirit Transformation Ceremony. While the breakthrough preparations continued, Li Yuan gathered cultivation knowledge and acquired a rare ore with a Blue Trait.

• Li Yuan advanced the Soul Condensing and Consciousness Controlling Art to Mastery, expanding his Divine Sense Threads from fourteen to fifteen.
• Li Yuan reviewed Wulin Marketplace’s progress with Ji Wenyuan and told him he would attend the Spirit Transformation Ceremony.
• Li Yuan reached the ceremony and sensed five Nascent Soul auras, including Yuan Sect Master’s, before discussing the public breakthrough’s risks with True Person Xuanpu.
• Li Yuan traded and exchanged Array Dao knowledge with visiting cultivators during the ceremony and recorded useful information.
• Li Yuan bought a Spirit Pivot Raw Ore that revealed the Blue Trait Spirit Pivot Insight and stored it in his Portable Space.

Li Yuan attended the Tianyue Sect Master's Spirit Transformation breakthrough ceremony, then followed divination to the Abandoned Ancient Road in western Liang Province. There, he found a Mysterious Nether Ancient Coin whose Blue Trait could reveal traces of vanished Spatial Passages.

• The Tianyue Sect Master lectured on cultivation before beginning his breakthrough and drawing spiritual energy from the Large Spirit Vein.
• Li Yuan observed the breakthrough's effects and gathered fragments of the sect master's insights while the Yuan Sect Master and Kunpeng Alliance cultivators remained on guard.
• Li Yuan divined that his next destination lay at the Abandoned Ancient Road and left the Tianyue Mountain Range after informing True Person Xuanpu.
• Using Mastery-level Spatial Seeking Technique, Li Yuan detected traces of a vanished Spatial Rift near a collapsed mountainside and found an ancient copper coin in the rubble.
• Li Yuan identified the coin as a Mysterious Nether Ancient Coin, activated its Void Trace Retracing Blue Trait, and sensed the area's residual spatial fluctuations more clearly.

Li Yuan discovered a spatial research chamber beneath the collapsed mountain and explored its damaged arrays and traces of hundreds of Spatial Rifts. After making Void Trace Retracing permanent, he learned from a vision that the Mysterious Nether Sect's Sect Master had pursued a path to the Upper Realm, but Li Yuan left without locating the chamber's hidden spatial anomaly.

• Li Yuan carved through the rock and entered a vast folded space containing a damaged Spatial Observation Array and experimental Spirit Pattern traces.
• Li Yuan found signs that hundreds of Spatial Rifts had opened in the chamber, but no tools or supplies remained.
• Li Yuan used the Spatial Seeking Technique and sensed an abnormal spatial structure, though Spatial Folding prevented him from locating it precisely.
• Li Yuan opened enough Spatial Rifts to make Void Trace Retracing a Permanent Affix and saw a vision of the Mysterious Nether Sect's Sect Master discussing failed spatial research and possible routes to the Upper Realm.
• Li Yuan left the chamber, concealed the fissure entrance, and flew back toward Wulin Marketplace.

Li Yuan continued cultivating, refining a new pill, and studying spatial talismans while preparing to join the Sea Region Loose Cultivator Alliance’s assault on a monster stronghold. Afterward, he studied the Alliance’s scattered records on the Nascent Soul Realm and clarified parts of his understanding of Nascent Soul Formation.

• Li Yuan completed the first round of deep-layer tempering with the Black Iron Body-Tempering Art, bringing it to Proficiency alongside his Flood Dragon Blood Body-Tempering Art.
• Li Yuan learned that Ji Wenyuan had entered closed-door cultivation with a Shangyuan Pill to attempt Foundation Establishment.
• Li Yuan refined a Divine Detective Pill and discovered its Blue Pill Essence Condensation affix, then continued studying the Space Stabilization Talisman.
• Li Yuan agreed to attend a Sea Region Loose Cultivator Alliance discussion, where the President proposed an assault on a monster stronghold containing three Third-Order Monster Beasts and a mineral vein.
• Li Yuan volunteered for the assault and traded Contribution Points for scattered materials about the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Li Yuan compared the Alliance’s records with his Nascent Soul Foundation-Solidifying Art and past observations, clarifying his understanding of Nascent Soul Formation.

Li Yuan joined a raid that captured a seabed mineral vein, then tracked an escaping sea turtle to a vast Demonic Beast gathering led by a Fourth-Order beast. He returned to the group with the mineral-vein share, keeping the discovery to himself as he headed for the Teleportation Array.

• Li Yuan and four Golden Core cultivators approached the stronghold and divided their attacks among its Third-Order and lower-ranked Demonic Beasts.
• Li Yuan killed a Black-Scaled Flood Dragon Snake guarding the mineral-vein entrance with Void-Splitting Slash.
• A Third-Order High-Grade sea turtle fled after seeing the flood dragon snake's corpse, and Li Yuan secretly placed an aura mark on its shell.
• Li Yuan followed the marked turtle to an underwater mountain range containing a large Demonic Beast force and an oppressive Fourth-Order Demonic Beast aura.
• Li Yuan returned to the stronghold, reported that the perimeter was clear, accepted his share of the mineral vein, and flew toward the Teleportation Array.

Li Yuan completed the Space Stabilization Talisman and fulfilled the hundred-day condition to make Source Assimilation a Permanent Affix on his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact. After testing its faster transformations, he put it away and resumed cultivation.

• Li Yuan returned to Wulin Marketplace and congratulated Ji Wenyuan on reaching Foundation Establishment Early Stage, then arranged for him to delegate routine marketplace affairs.
• Li Yuan finished analyzing the Space Stabilization Talisman, crafted one successfully, and made several more for later use.
• On the hundredth day, Li Yuan fed the final drop of essence blood to his Life-Bound Dharma Artifact, making Source Assimilation a Permanent Affix.
• Li Yuan tested the transformed Dharma Artifact as a sword, shield, and mirror, finding that it changed forms faster and used almost no spirit power.
• Li Yuan put away the Dharma Artifact and began his daily cultivation.