Chapter Summaries

After inheriting the memories of a doomed Heavenly Dao Sect disciple, Zhu Yu opened his Divine Sea by visualizing the Three-Ring Pattern and awakened the True Sight Eye. He began analyzing the visualization technique while discovering that the Sect’s rules threatened failed disciples with becoming consumables.

• Zhu Yu absorbed the previous owner’s memories, including the warning that disciples who failed to reach Qi Refining within a year would become consumables.
• Zhu Yu visualized the Three-Ring Pattern, gathered his soul power, and opened his Divine Sea.
• Zhu Yu discovered the True Sight Eye and learned it could collect and analyze information.
• Zhu Yu set the True Sight Eye to analyze the Basic Visualization Diagram from beginner to Mastery, with an estimated time of half an hour.
• Zhu Yu read the Code of Discipline and learned that mutual slaughter was forbidden, while questioning whether the Heavenly Dao Sect was righteous.

Zhu Yu opened his Divine Sea and condensed his first Soul Particle, but realized he needed many more to reach Qi Refining before the Gloomy Old Man’s deadline. With no money for Soul Dispersing Pills, he planned to earn Contribution Points by teaching and began checking whether the Heavenly Dao Sect allowed it.

• Zhu Yu used the Basic Visualization Method to form the Three-Ring Pattern and open his Divine Sea, condensing one Soul Particle.
• Zhu Yu calculated that his third-grade soul aptitude would let him condense about forty-five Soul Particles in a month, but the minimum needed to materialize the pattern was thirty and a stronger pattern would improve his chance of reaching Qi Refining.
• Zhu Yu found that a Soul Dispersing Pill could nourish soul power, but he had no Contribution Points or Spirit Stones to buy one.
• Zhu Yu decided to teach the Basic Visualization Method for payment and used his panel to analyze the method from proficient to minor accomplishment.
• Zhu Yu picked up the Code of Discipline to check whether the Heavenly Dao Sect permitted disciples to teach one another.

Zhu Yu reached Minor Mastery in the Basic Visualization Method, gaining the Spirit Condensing trait and greatly speeding up his cultivation. He went to the Sutra Lecture Hall to find customers for his lessons and approached Liang Kuan, who was eager to sell him Meditation Fluid.

• Zhu Yu refined the Three-Ring Pattern until the Basic Visualization Method reached Minor Mastery and granted him Spirit Condensing, reducing the time needed to condense a Soul Particle from three hours to one.
• Zhu Yu left his room and crossed the Earth Cavern, avoiding Qi Refining cultivators whose aura could harm mortals.
• Zhu Yu arrived at the Sutra Lecture Hall and reviewed the day's basic courses and lecturers as disciples entered the pagoda.
• After listening to disciples discuss their classes, Zhu Yu spotted Liang Kuan boasting about his Meditation Fluid and approached him as a potential customer.

Zhu Yu tried to earn Spirit Stones by teaching the Basic Visualization Method outside the Stone Pagoda, but found the area crowded with rival sellers. After making one sale, he returned to his stone house with Liang Kuan’s Meditation Fluid and opened it.

• Liang Kuan tried to sell Zhu Yu Meditation Fluid, but Zhu Yu declined and offered to teach him the Basic Visualization Method instead.
• Zhu Yu taught Liang Kuan several meditation techniques, stopped at a cliffhanger, and collected one Spirit Stone as payment.
• Zhu Yu attempted to approach disciples leaving the Stone Pagoda, but rival sellers chased off his potential customer.
• Zhu Yu watched a bustling Market of cultivators selling goods and lessons, then decided to arrive earlier the next day to find customers.
• Zhu Yu returned to his stone house, examined Liang Kuan’s Meditation Fluid, and opened the bottle.

Zhu Yu discovered that Meditation Fluid was dangerously toxic and focused on advancing his Basic Visualization Method instead. The next morning, after several days of progress nurturing his soul, he headed to the Sutra Lecture Hall, where Liang Kuan greeted him.

• Zhu Yu tested a drop of Meditation Fluid and used his True Sight Eye to analyze its effects.
• Liang Kuan persuaded Xiang Sui to help bring disciples to Zhu Yu’s lessons in exchange for a share of the Spirit Stones.
• Xiang Sui insisted Meditation Fluid’s severe side effects were Dao Heart tempering, then drank some as Liang Kuan fled.
• Zhu Yu learned the fluid could cause soul-power loss, hallucinations, sexual arousal, diarrhea, vomiting, permanent mental aberration, and physical weakness, and decided not to drink it.
• Zhu Yu spent the night meditating and modeling an improvement to the Basic Visualization Method; after several days, eleven Soul Particles had formed and raised his soul to 3.9.
• The next morning, Zhu Yu went to the Sutra Lecture Hall, where someone greeted him as he approached.

Zhu Yu met Xiang Sui through Liang Kuan and demonstrated his skill at explaining the Basic Visualization Method, leading them to arrange paid lessons. After learning more about the cultivation world and agreeing to split the lesson fees, Zhu Yu returned to his stone house and noticed a strange smell.

• Liang Kuan introduced Zhu Yu to Xiang Sui, who tested Zhu Yu by asking him to explain the Basic Visualization Method.
• Zhu Yu's explanation gave Xiang Sui new insights, and Xiang Sui proposed arranging lessons for him.
• Zhu Yu learned about Liang Kuan's and Xiang Sui's backgrounds, the Spirit Desert and Spirit Ruins regions, and the Heavenly Dao Sect's mansions and towers.
• Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan agreed to bring students for a trial lesson in three days, with Xiang Sui taking forty percent, Zhu Yu fifty percent, and Liang Kuan ten percent of the fees.
• After the two left, Zhu Yu returned to his stone house and noticed a strange smell.

Zhu Yu taught five wealthy new disciples the Basic Visualization Method and earned fifteen Spirit Stones. Examining one, he realized the Gloomy Old Man's “consumables” were people raised as cultivators to produce Spirit Stones and spiritual materials for the Sect.

• Zhu Yu welcomed Xiang Sui, Liang Kuan, and five new disciples into his room for a lesson.
• Zhu Yu explained meditation and the Basic Visualization Method, then had the five disciples practice.
• Xiang Sui told Zhu Yu that the Basic Visualization Method was restricted to Heavenly Dao Sect disciples and introduced the five disciples’ powerful backgrounds and aptitudes.
• After the lesson, Zhu Yu, Xiang Sui, and Liang Kuan divided the thirty Spirit Stones they had collected, giving Zhu Yu fifteen.
• Zhu Yu studied a Spirit Stone and understood that the Gloomy Old Man’s consumables were cultivators kept by the Sect to produce Spirit Stones and spiritual materials.

Zhu Yu signed a one-year teaching contract with Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan, then learned about dangers awaiting him after reaching Qi Refining. His experiments showed that Soul Dispersing Pills and Meditation Fluid could neutralize each other’s neurotoxins, so he drank the Meditation Fluid to prepare for a breakthrough despite its worsening physical effects.

• Xiang Sui presented Zhu Yu with a Sect-sealed contract, and Zhu Yu agreed to teach for at least thirty days a year for one year.
• Xiang Sui told Zhu Yu that Yinming Mansion contained a Demon Cave and an Insect Nest where disciples fought dangerous beasts for resources.
• Zhu Yu used fifteen Spirit Stones to have a duty servant buy five Soul Dispersing Pills, then took one and suffered severe pain after drawing a Three-Ring Pattern.
• Zhu Yu learned that Soul Dispersing Pill toxins could neutralize Meditation Fluid toxins, though combining them intensified toxins that weakened the body.
• Zhu Yu drank the Meditation Fluid and experienced hallucinations as its neurotoxin was neutralized and its diarrhea-inducing and vomiting toxins increased drastically.

Zhu Yu dealt with the Meditation Fluid’s harmful side effects while continuing to teach meditation, and his students’ quick success boosted demand for his lessons. Xiang Sui gave him a technique that could help him withstand the fluid, leaving Zhu Yu and Liang Kuan stunned by the gift.

• After taking the Soul Dispersing Pill and Meditation Fluid, Zhu Yu condensed three Soul Particles but permanently lost 0.1 Physique and felt severely weakened.
• Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan brought five new disciples to Zhu Yu for lessons, and Zhu Yu agreed to teach before asking Liang Kuan about buying more Meditation Fluid.
• Xiang Sui worried about the Meditation Fluid’s side effects and left while Zhu Yu taught the five disciples.
• After the disciples opened their Divine Seas and spread word of Zhu Yu’s teaching, Liang Kuan and Xiang Sui discussed possibly raising the lesson price.
• Xiang Sui gave Zhu Yu a booklet containing the technique Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating and told him to stop taking Meditation Fluid until he had mastered it.

Zhu Yu received the incomplete Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating technique from Xiang Sui and learned how its stomach-enhancement method could be cultivated. After discovering that the True Sight Eye could optimize part of it, Zhu Yu headed to the Sutra Lecture Hall to seek more cultivation knowledge.

• Xiang Sui gave Zhu Yu the Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating technique and offered him medicinal ingredients for strengthening his stomach wall.
• Liang Kuan explained that Spirit Ruins natives had no one-year deadline to reach Qi Refining but needed at least fourth-grade soul aptitude and many Spirit Stones to enter the sect.
• Zhu Yu read the technique and learned that its surviving stomach-wall enhancement formula was complete, while the methods for the other parts were incomplete.
• Zhu Yu instructed the True Sight Eye to analyze the stomach-wall formula and decided that the Sutra Lecture Hall could provide knowledge needed to study the rest.
• Zhu Yu went to the bustling square by the stone tower and selected three basic lectures on meridians, technique construction, and technique categories.

Zhu Yu entered the Sutra Lecture Hall, obtained a temporary Identity Jade Token, and attended a lecture on the Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian. After learning how a cultivator’s Dharma Veins shaped their spell affinities, he began scanning his own meridian diagram.

• Zhu Yu entered the Sutra Lecture Hall and sensed that its young attendant gave off high-risk radiation.
• The attendant gave Zhu Yu a temporary Identity Jade Token, which explained the hall’s floors and granted him ten contribution points.
• Zhu Yu spent one contribution point to attend a lecture on the Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian.
• An elderly Foundation Establishment lecturer explained how cultivators’ Dharma Veins differed and influenced their spell affinities.
• Zhu Yu began using his recorded diagrams as templates to scan and construct his own Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian Diagram.

Zhu Yu used the cultivation knowledge he gathered to fully infer his technique and brew a prescription that strengthened his stomach wall and digestion. The next day, Xiang Sui brought Zhu Yu’s five apprentices to his house, and Zhu Yu welcomed them warmly.

• Zhu Yu studied several cultivation subjects in the Stone Pagoda and used the new information to infer the full Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating technique.
• Zhu Yu analyzed the Medicine Stone and other herbs, then brewed and drank a medicinal liquid that strengthened his stomach wall and digestion.
• Zhu Yu repeated the doses until they stopped working, then planned to buy Meditation Fluid from Xiang Sui and entered meditation after taking a Soul Dispersing Pill.
• The next day, Xiang Sui brought Xun Su, Ni Ying, Qiao Hewei, Bai Meng, and Fu Hongxi to Zhu Yu’s stone house, where Zhu Yu welcomed his apprentices inside.

Zhu Yu taught the outer disciples the Three-Ring Pattern and earned praise for helping them progress in meditation. Xiang Sui doubled Zhu Yu’s teaching fee and arranged additional afternoon lessons, while Zhu Yu agreed to expand their classes.

• Zhu Yu explained meditation and the Three-Ring Pattern to the students, while Liang Kuan listened closely.
• Xiang Sui promised to send Zhu Yu a jar of Meditation Fluid and reminded him to complete three doses of the stomach-strengthening medicine.
• Xiang Sui raised Zhu Yu’s teaching fee to two Spirit Stones per half-hour after three students from the previous lesson opened their Divine Seas.
• Xiang Sui proposed adding afternoon lessons to attract more students, and Zhu Yu agreed to teach four hours a day.
• Xun Su, Ni Ying, and the other students thanked Teacher Zhu and left the stone house.

Zhu Yu tested how much Meditation Fluid and Soul Dispersing Pills his body could endure, discovering he could safely condense nine Soul Particles but risked severe damage if he pushed further. He began teaching a new class as an unseen young man observed him and dismissed him as an unremarkable cultivator.

• Zhu Yu spent his Spirit Stones on Soul Dispersing Pills and Blood Qi Pills, then received a large jar of Meditation Fluid from Xiang Sui.
• Zhu Yu consumed Meditation Fluid and Soul Dispersing Pills through the night, using the True Sight Eye to monitor toxins and bodily damage.
• Zhu Yu found that he had condensed nine Soul Particles, but his Soul could withstand no more than the energy of eight particles dissipating before risking collapse.
• Tong Xuan warned Zhu Yu that only seventeen days remained before the one-year deadline and urged him not to become expendable material.
• Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan brought five students to Zhu Yu for lessons, while an ordinary-faced young man appeared nearby and remarked that Zhu Yu had not even reached Qi Refining.

Zhu Yu condensed Divine Sense after raising his soul to 9.8, then discovered that his True Sight Eye could analyze spells faster and work on two methods at once. He continued teaching and meditating, and Xiang Sui asked whether he had condensed Divine Sense.

• Zhu Yu's growing reputation brought more students to his lessons, while he spent his spare time studying foundational cultivation knowledge.
• After condensing fifty-five Soul Particles with Soul Dispersing Pills and Meditation Fluid, Zhu Yu reached 9.8 Soul and formed Divine Sense.
• Zhu Yu sensed nearby Wood and Earth Spiritual Energy but avoided drawing it into himself before forging a place to bear it.
• Zhu Yu discovered that Divine Sense improved the True Sight Eye's analysis speed and let it analyze two methods at once, then began analyzing the Basic Visualization Diagram.
• Zhu Yu resumed teaching students and meditated until nine full moons rose over the dome.
• Xiang Sui asked Zhu Yu whether he had condensed Divine Sense.

Zhu Yu visited the Disciple Market after forming Divine Sense, hoping to explore its wares and find overlooked treasures. He entered the bustling market and began browsing after using his Divine Sense to block out the noise and chaotic auras.

• Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan congratulated Zhu Yu on condensing Divine Sense and promised to protect him during his breakthrough in nine days.
• Zhu Yu helped Liang Kuan identify weaknesses in his meditation and visualization practice after the students left.
• Zhu Yu examined the Spirit Stones he had earned from teaching and decided to visit the Disciple Market.
• Zhu Yu followed a star-lit avenue to the market, admiring its spirit beasts and busy stalls along the way.
• Zhu Yu entered the market and used his Divine Sense to shield himself from the clamor before a nearby stall caught his attention.

Zhu Yu bought a Bucktooth Insect cub and an incomplete inheritance jade slip containing the Cicada Pact from a dishonest stall owner. He left the stall with the cub, having learned about Insect Cultivators and recorded the spell.

• A stall owner tried to sell Bucktooth Insect cubs as rare Bucktooth Beasts, but a passerby exposed his claims as a scam.
• Zhu Yu listened as the stall owner described how insects could become Insect Beasts or awaken as Insect Cultivators who nurtured Spirit Seeds.
• The stall owner offered Zhu Yu a cub and an incomplete inheritance jade slip containing the first-rank high-grade Cicada Pact for twenty-eight Spirit Stones.
• Zhu Yu recorded the Cicada Pact, then haggled the price down and paid roughly fifteen or sixteen Spirit Stones for the cub and jade slip.
• Zhu Yu left the stall and examined the Bucktooth Insect cub as the stall owner resumed calling for customers.

Zhu Yu studied the Bucktooth Insect larva, named it Little Black, and used a Divine Sense Mark to establish control over it. After gathering plants to feed it, he learned from Tong Xuan that Yuan Gan had killed himself, leaving only her and Zhu Yu from the Great Yong Dynasty.

• Zhu Yu learned that the Bucktooth Insect larva needed fresh flesh, Firefly Petal, and Snake-Thread Grass to grow.
• Zhu Yu reviewed the incomplete Cicada Pact spell and successfully used his essence blood and Divine Sense to mark and control the larva.
• Zhu Yu named the larva Little Black and discovered that it could communicate its hunger to him.
• Zhu Yu picked a Firefly Flower and Snake Thread Grass to feed Little Black, then encountered Tong Xuan.
• Tong Xuan told Zhu Yu that Yuan Gan had killed himself and warned him not to become expendable material; Zhu Yu invited her to talk the next day.

Zhu Yu continued cultivating while teaching Tong Xuan and the mountain-opening apprentices about the Basic Visualization Diagram, and Tong Xuan began visiting him to learn. Eight days later, Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan helped prepare for Zhu Yu's Qi Refining breakthrough, leaving him with a booklet of Three-Ring Pattern advice.

• Zhu Yu invited Tong Xuan into his stone house and resumed meditating, gaining three Soul Particles overnight.
• Zhu Yu taught Xun Su, Ni Ying, and the other apprentices about the Three-Ring Pattern while Tong Xuan listened and realized he was teaching the Basic Visualization Diagram.
• Tong Xuan asked to return the next day, and Zhu Yu agreed and advised her to rest; he then checked Little Black's cultivation progress and worried about its source Insect Mother.
• Eight days later, Xiang Sui gave Zhu Yu a booklet containing his family's elders' advice on constructing the Three-Ring Pattern before Zhu Yu's Qi Refining breakthrough.
• Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan left Zhu Yu alone to read the booklet and prepare for his breakthrough.

Zhu Yu broke through to Qi Refining, tested his new Spiritual Power, and received a Wood Spirit Flower seed from Liang Kuan. After Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan left, Zhu Yu considered the favor he now owed them.

• Zhu Yu formed the Three-Ring Pattern, absorbed spiritual energy, and advanced to early Qi Refining.
• Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan sensed Zhu Yu's breakthrough and discussed his prospects for cultivation.
• Zhu Yu examined his improved cultivation and tested how Spiritual Power could strengthen his body and manipulate objects.
• Xiang Sui told Zhu Yu to adapt to his cultivation and register at the Affairs Hall, while Liang Kuan gave him a Wood Spirit Flower seed.
• Zhu Yu accepted the seed, returned to his room, and reflected that he owed Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan favors.