Chapter Summaries

Ye Zhiqiu questioned Hong Yuan about the mountain imp and discovered his extraordinary strength, then explained Nongtu’s peoples and the Wu Dynasty’s cultivation system. Hong Yuan learned about the True Martial Heavenly Venerable and asked Ye Zhiqiu to explain the True Martial Method in more detail.

• Ye Zhiqiu took Hong Yuan aside and confirmed that he had killed the mountain imp, while Hong Yuan said he had never cultivated and relied on innate strength.
• Ye Zhiqiu tested Hong Yuan’s strength with firecloud iron essence, and Hong Yuan left deep finger impressions in the thousand-jin ore.
• Ye Zhiqiu described Nongtu’s Spiritfolk, Other Species, and Otherworlders, and suggested Hong Yuan might carry primordial Othergod blood.
• Ye Zhiqiu explained the cultivation realms from warm nourishment through primal elixir and said the True Martial Heavenly Venerable had created a path that let ordinary people cultivate.
• Hong Yuan asked about the True Martial Method, and Ye Zhiqiu began explaining how cultivators nourished essence, qi, and spirit.

Hong Yuan explained the cultivation path to Ye Zhiqiu, learned about the demonic practitioner Granny Mi, and used his unusual perception to locate her. That night, three fishermen brought a terrified woman to a ruined residence to sacrifice her to the Water God.

• Ye Zhiqiu explained the warm nourishment and burning fire realms, the dangers of burning fire, and the major cultivation schools of the Wu Dynasty.
• Ye Zhiqiu invited Hong Yuan to join Cinnabar Glow Abbey and suggested that the Qu Ling Cui Clan might support his cultivation, but Hong Yuan declined the abbey and teased Ye about the proposal.
• Ye Zhiqiu revealed that he had tracked Granny Mi, a wanted spirit medium who practiced evil arts, to Sanyuan County.
• Hong Yuan used a red cord to locate Granny Mi and claimed his abilities came from a Primordial Aberrant God, prompting Ye Zhiqiu to renew his recruitment offer.
• Hong Yuan and Ye Zhiqiu agreed to gamble, with Ye promising not to press him to join the abbey if he lost.
• After nightfall, three fishermen arrived at a ruined residence with bundles and prepared to sacrifice a terrified woman to the Water God so they could catch more fish.

Li Ming interrupted the fishermen’s sacrifice of Ying Niang and two other girls, then was dragged into the pond by a water ghost before Hong Yuan and Ye Zhiqiu intervened. After Li Ming killed the fishermen, Ye Zhiqiu captured Granny Mi, who threatened to take them all to the grave.

• Three fishermen bound Ying Niang and two other mute girls and prepared to sacrifice them to the Water God.
• The ritual summoned a white, hair-covered water ghost, which seized the girls and dragged Li Ming into the pond when he tried to rescue them.
• A copper coin’s warmth helped Li Ming break free and strike the ghost, while Granny Mi attacked him with a blade of sinister wind.
• Ye Zhiqiu’s flying sword destroyed the ghost and stopped Granny Mi’s attack, then Ye Zhiqiu defeated and captured her.
• Li Ming rescued the girls, killed the three fishermen, and offered to serve Hong Yuan, who refused repayment.
• Granny Mi warned Ye Zhiqiu and Hong Yuan that she would rather die than return to the Monster-Slaying Division and threatened to take them with her.

Ye Zhiqiu and Hong Yuan discovered that Granny Mi belonged to the Mountain Ghost Society after her death cursed them as sacrifices to the Mountain Ghost. They uncovered and sealed a Miasma Calamity in Sanyuan County, and Ye Zhiqiu prepared to report it to the Dark Guards.

• Granny Mi burned to ash in a backlash of yin fire, and emerald flames marked Ye Zhiqiu, Hong Yuan, and Li Ming with the Soulfire Ghost Curse.
• Ye Zhiqiu identified Granny Mi as a member of the Mountain Ghost Society and warned that the curse could draw the Mountain Ghost’s attention.
• A tongue attacked from the dry well, but Hong Yuan and Ye Zhiqiu struck back, and Ye Zhiqiu sealed the well with a talisman.
• Ye Zhiqiu identified the well as a Calamity Abomination and explained the four categories of Miasma Calamities to Hong Yuan.
• Ye Zhiqiu revealed bones in the nearby pond, destroyed the Water Wraith haunting them, and said he would report the Calamity to the Dark Guards.

Key plot points and events

• Hong Yuan asks Ye Zhiqiu about the Miscellaneous Records of the Bai Sea, an ancient, fragmentary compendium of the strange peoples, kingdoms, spirits, and calamities of Nongtu. Ye explains that even the Wu Dynasty’s strongest cultivators fear exploring the boundless world beyond its borders.
• Hong Yuan decides to seek out surviving copies of the book, both to learn about this world and to investigate its mysteries.
• Ye offers to take Hong Yuan to Cinnabar Glow Abbey to remove their Mountain Ghost marks, but Hong Yuan declines. Ye then gives him two booklets to settle their earlier wagers: a cultivation formula and a copy of the abbey’s surviving section of the Miscellaneous Records.
• Ye leaves for the Monster-Slaying Division with Li Ming, whom he has recruited after recognizing his courage and aptitude. Li, like Hong Yuan and Ye, bears a mark connected to the Mountain Ghost Society.
• Hong Yuan recognizes that the “minor art” Ye gave him is actually Cinnabar Glow Abbey’s Crimson Sun Qi-Gathering Formula. By examining a trace of Ye’s qi, he has already understood and improved upon the method, though he dissolves the small amount he cultivated.
• The copied records describe unusual peoples and kingdoms, including the Undying Kingdom, whose inhabitants do not age or die but periodically lose awareness and cannot easily cultivate. Hong Yuan wonders whether the legendary Bai Sea might be the Endless Sea.
• Hong Yuan’s dao seed gains a fourth leaf, named Path of the Earth Immortal, after his initial understanding of the local cultivation method. He resolves to study this world’s native cultivation systems and gather more techniques rather than rely on his other powers.
• He travels toward Xihe Commandery, where rogue cultivators trade information, methods, and treasures. Nearly a month later, black-clad figures arrive at the ruins and question why they were sent to deal with a largely immobile, second-tier calamity abomination.

Character developments and interactions

• Hong Yuan remains cautious and self-directed. He declines Ye’s recruitment offer, but values Ye’s honesty and kindness, and plans to repay the favor. His curiosity about the world broadens into a deliberate plan to collect records and cultivation methods.
• Ye Zhiqiu continues trying to recruit Hong Yuan, impressed by his extraordinary ability despite sensing no obvious cultivation. He acts generously by sharing the formula and book, and offers Li Ming a path into the Monster-Slaying Division.
• Li Ming earns Ye’s respect through his bravery in confronting a ghost. His strong aptitude and willingness to join the Division mark a promising new direction for him.
• The parting between Hong Yuan and Ye is cordial: Ye warns him about the Mountain Ghost Society, while Hong Yuan politely declines to travel with him.

Significant themes

• The vastness and danger of the unknown: Nongtu is so immense and perilous that even powerful cultivators rarely venture far.
• Knowledge as a path to power: The fragmentary Miscellaneous Records offers insight into the world, while Hong Yuan pursues both information and cultivation methods.
• Adaptation and independent cultivation: Hong Yuan studies local methods selectively, aiming to build a system suited to himself rather than follow one tradition blindly.
• Mortality and the limits of immortality: The Undying Kingdom’s ageless inhabitants are physically vulnerable and unable to retain power, showing that long life alone does not guarantee strength or security.

The Dark Guards sealed the dry-well Miasma Calamity, while Qi Yunyi left to pursue Hong Yuan and seek the Cui Clan’s favor. Hong Yuan sensed someone’s hostility as he repaired the Phoenix-Perching Boat in the Taisui Blessed Land.

• Lu Song and Qi Yunyi argued over the mission and Qi Yunyi’s interest in Cui Yingying until Commander Yang Fan ordered them to stop.
• Yang Fan, Qi Yunyi, Lu Song, and another Dark Guard sealed the dry well inside a scroll, designating it “Seventy-Nine” and “One Well.”
• Qi Yunyi requested leave, then questioned the Qi Clan’s spy chief about Hong Yuan and learned that Hong Yuan had left Sanyuan County nearly a month earlier.
• Qi Yunyi examined the gambling house where Hong Yuan had killed the Mountain Imp and set out to track him, intending to win the Cui Clan’s favor.
• Hong Yuan refined the damaged Phoenix-Perching Boat in the Taisui Blessed Land and sensed that someone had become hostile toward him.

Hong Yuan explored the martial world while concealing his other cultivation arts, then found an injured red fox and left her a chicken-drumstick-shaped stone that restored her demonic power. The fox vowed to repay the kindness, while Hong Yuan wondered whether she would seek him out someday.

• Hong Yuan expanded his blessed land, concealed the immortal-cultivation traces on his treasures, and planned to attract enemies and opportunities in this world.
• While traveling toward Xihe Commandery, Hong Yuan studied the Earth Immortal Method and learned that the Heavenwater Sect's Talisman Seeding True Person was the only major cultivator he had encountered.
• Hong Yuan found a disguised giant lizard on a snowy mountainside, wounded it with a snowflake, and continued onward.
• Hong Yuan discovered an injured red fox, frightened her by pretending he might skin her, and left a drumstick-shaped stone before walking away.
• The red fox bit the stone, which dissolved and restored her strength and demonic power; she resolved to repay Hong Yuan, while he wondered whether she would come find him.

Hong Yuan entered Xihe Commandery and investigated a black-shadow miasma calamity before arriving at Guiyuan Market, where he discovered the Hanging Corpse Lineage’s Mo Yuan and studied his minor divine ability. After exploring the market’s powerful families, Hong Yuan began turning stones into true essence stones to use as currency.

• Hong Yuan detected a black-shadow calamity form hiding in his shadow, struck it with his Divine Intent Sword, and suspected it had caused the red fox’s misfortune.
• Hong Yuan reached Guiyuan Market and learned that the Li Family’s True Person, Li Chengkun, served the Hanging Corpse Lineage.
• Hong Yuan observed Mo Yuan discuss obtaining netherworld flowers to cultivate the minor divine ability Han Shan Water, then secretly took aura from both Mo Yuan and Li Chengkun and tested the ability.
• Hong Yuan searched the Li, Zhao, and Wu family estates and libraries, but found no Miscellaneous Records of the Bai Sea.
• Hong Yuan returned to the market and used Six Void Cycle of Creation and Destruction to transform a pebble into a true essence stone.

Hong Yuan bought a strange hide paper and other treasures at Guiyuan Market, drawing the attention of a hidden cultivator and several robbers. After killing the mole-faced man who pursued him, he found himself surrounded by four stronger attackers while the gray-robed stallholder watched from concealment.

• Hong Yuan used true essence to create unusually high-quality origin gravel and bought a beast token and several other items at Guiyuan Market.
• Hong Yuan bought a Crimson Blood Saber, a jar, a short sword, and a strange hide paper from the gray-robed stallholder, recognizing the paper's aura as belonging to a Divine Ability Practitioner.
• Hong Yuan left the market and traveled into a mountain hollow, where the mole-faced man demanded his treasures and attacked him.
• Hong Yuan killed the mole-faced man with his bare hand, then faced four accomplices who attacked and questioned him about his origin gravel.
• Hong Yuan sensed that the gray-robed stallholder had followed him and watched from the rock wall as the remaining attackers pressed their assault.

Hong Yuan killed the Burning Fire cultivator Iron-Cane Elder, then followed a mysterious hide-paper map toward a fallen Divine Ability Practitioner's Cave Abode. At a temple where he sheltered from the rain, he recognized a powerful girl in red before a Mountain Ghost ambush erupted and targeted him.

• Hong Yuan evaded Iron-Cane Elder, doubled back, and killed him with the Crimson Blood Saber.
• A gray-robed elder examined Iron-Cane Elder's corpse and hoped Hong Yuan could help uncover the secrets of his hide paper.
• Hong Yuan used his spiritual intent to reveal a location on the hide-paper map and traveled there several days later.
• At a rain-soaked temple, Hong Yuan recognized the girl in red as a powerful Demon Marshal linked to the red fox.
• Burly martial wanderers killed a sheep and mocked the girl, while a Furry Child revealed that the group feared Lord Mountain Ghost's anger over missing sacrifices.
• The sheep's severed head spoke, the Old Shepherd's Rain Cape flew toward Hong Yuan, and the old monk attacked him with a fist-shaped blast.

Hong Yuan and Xin Shiniang defeated the Mountain Ghost Society ambush at the ruined temple, and she revealed that a Dao Thief Calamity Form had been released from a lamp. After warning Hong Yuan that his Soulfire Ghost Curse made him a sacrifice for the Mountain Ghost, Xin Shiniang offered to teach him cultivation, and he responded with sudden Killing Intent.

• Xin Shiniang wounded the underground Furry Child while Hong Yuan brought down the temple and killed the Great Monk, the Old Shepherd, and the other attackers.
• Hong Yuan learned that Xin Shiniang was the younger sister of Xin Jiuniang, whom he had saved on the snowy mountain.
• Xin Shiniang explained that she had accidentally released a human-shadow Calamity Form called the Dao Thief, which had once stolen a Grand Divine Ability Practitioner's attainment.
• Xin Shiniang said the Mountain Ghost Society would pursue Hong Yuan because its Talisman Seeding True Persons had to offer him, marked by the Soulfire Ghost Curse, as a sacrifice.
• Xin Shiniang offered to teach Hong Yuan a cultivation method for Spiritfolk, and Hong Yuan warned her about revealing secrets before raising his Killing Intent.

Hong Yuan and Xin Shiniang were confronted by True Person Mu, who revealed his intent to claim Xin Shiniang and the legacy of a Great Divine Ability Practitioner for himself. Qi Yunyi realized Mu meant to kill everyone else and urged Hong Yuan and Xin Shiniang to join forces against him.

• Xin Shiniang intercepted True Person Mu's surprise attack on Hong Yuan with her flying sword.
• True Person Mu identified Xin Shiniang as a fox demon and threatened to kill her after she recognized him as the Monster-Slaying Division's garrison Commander in Xihe Commandery.
• Qi Yunyi arrived with two Burning Fire Experts, but True Person Mu rebuked him when he tried to remind Mu of their agreement.
• Qi Yunyi revealed a Soul-Seizing Talisman bestowed by Qi Wenjing, but True Person Mu refused to be deterred by the Qi Clan's power.
• Qi Yunyi realized Mu intended to monopolize Xin Shiniang's legacy and kill the witnesses, so he called on Hong Yuan and Xin Shiniang to attack together.

Key plot points and events

• Qi Yunyi realizes True Person Mu intends to kill everyone to keep the opportunity for himself. He abandons any chance of negotiation and calls on Hong Yuan and Xin Shiniang to fight beside him.
• True Person Mu attacks. His arrows of true essence instantly kill Qi Yunyi’s two guards and destroy Qi’s saber, killing Qi Yunyi despite his desperate attempt to draw on both Yin and Yang Fire.
• Xin Shiniang proves far more capable: she deflects the arrows aimed at her, protects Hong Yuan, and engages True Person Mu in a fierce sword fight.
• The Soul-Seizing Talisman releases a fleeing wisp of soul intent. True Person Mu fails to capture it, and the gray-robed stallholder—revealed as Jin—also tries and fails to trap it.
• Jin decides Xin Shiniang is more valuable than the hidden cave abode he had hoped to find through Hong Yuan. He plans to capture her and Hong Yuan while they are occupied, leaving True Person Mu to take the blame.
• A second Hong Yuan appears behind Jin, holding the soul intent. The original Hong Yuan remains beside the battlefield, revealing that the figure confronting Jin is an extraordinary double or other manifestation. When Jin tries to flee, Hong Yuan kills him with a single finger.

Character developments

• Qi Yunyi shifts from plotting against Hong Yuan to seeking his help, but his sudden desperation cannot overcome the vast gap between his strength and True Person Mu’s.
• True Person Mu shows that his ambition and fear of aging outweigh caution: he is willing to murder witnesses to seize a chance at a thousand-year lifespan and greater power.
• Xin Shiniang emerges as a formidable fighter, able to withstand Mu’s assault and protect Hong Yuan while taking him on directly.
• Jin, the stallholder, reveals himself as a schemer who treats others as pieces on a board. His confidence collapses when he encounters Hong Yuan’s hidden power.
• Hong Yuan remains outwardly composed during the battle, then demonstrates a startling level of strength and a mysterious ability to appear in two places at once.

Significant themes

• Ambition and mortality: Mu’s fear of death drives him to risk everything for the promise of extended life and power.
• The limits of desperate effort: Qi Yunyi’s brief surge of strength cannot bridge the gulf between him and a far stronger opponent.
• Hidden power and deception: The apparent battlefield stalemate conceals Hong Yuan’s greater capabilities, while Jin’s seemingly harmless role masks his predatory plans.
• Fortune and blame: Jin believes he can seize the reward and shift the consequences onto others, but his scheme is undone by the very person he underestimated.

Character interactions

• Qi Yunyi’s plea to Hong Yuan reverses their earlier hostility, though Hong Yuan does not meaningfully join the fight.
• Xin Shiniang repeatedly intervenes to shield Hong Yuan, then confronts Mu herself.
• Mu’s attack kills Qi Yunyi’s guards and Qi Yunyi, leaving Xin Shiniang as his main opponent.
• Jin watches the battle, hopes to exploit the conflict, and is confronted—and killed—by Hong Yuan before he can act.

After killing Qi Yunyi, Hong Yuan realized Xin Shiniang’s special karmic calamity power could improve his Dao Seed, so he decided to seek out Fortune Children. As True Person Mu tried to seize Hong Yuan during his battle with Xin Shiniang, an unseen force slammed him into the ground and left him dying.

• Hong Yuan killed Qi Yunyi and let his soul consciousness escape with information about the Legacy of the Great Divine Ability Practitioner, hoping the Qi Clan would pursue it.
• Hong Yuan discovered that interacting with Xin Shiniang’s karmic calamity power had increased his comprehension and resolved to collect Fortune Children.
• Xin Shiniang fought True Person Mu, who coveted her cultivation method and believed he could defeat her despite her strong defense.
• True Person Mu rushed toward Hong Yuan to take him hostage, but an unseen force struck him out of the sky and shattered his body.

Hong Yuan defeated True Person Mu and insisted that Xin Shiniang repay her debt by becoming his adopted pet, despite her misunderstanding his intentions. Days later, Xin Shiniang used the Shadow Lotus Lamp to reveal the Dao Thief hiding in a mountain valley.

• Hong Yuan defeated True Person Mu, and Xin Shiniang realized how powerful he was.
• Hong Yuan reminded Xin Shiniang that he had saved her and her ninth sister, then said he wanted to take her in as a pet.
• Several days later, Xin Shiniang used the Shadow Lotus Lamp to locate the Dao Thief.
• Hong Yuan and Xin Shiniang reached a mountain valley, where the lamp's flames revealed a humanoid black shadow.

Xin Shiniang trapped the Dao Thief with the Shadow Lotus Lamp, allowing Hong Yuan to capture it and study its strange nature. After learning more about the Lotus Lamp Palm Manual, Hong Yuan and Xin Shiniang set out for the Divine Ability Practitioner's Cave Abode.

• Xin Shiniang used the Shadow Lotus Lamp to trap the Dao Thief, and Hong Yuan caught it in a spatial crystal when it escaped the flame cage.
• Hong Yuan destroyed the Dao Thief inside the crystal, but it re-formed, confirming that the Miasma Calamity creature could not be killed normally.
• Hong Yuan reflected on the Dao Thief's ability to steal cultivation and insights, and noted that capturing it had strengthened his karmic calamity power.
• Hong Yuan reviewed the Lotus Lamp Palm Manual, a powerful but incomplete divine art, and deepened his understanding of the world's cultivation methods.
• Hong Yuan suppressed the Dao Thief inside his Dao Seed and told Xin Shiniang they should continue to the Divine Ability Practitioner's Cave Abode.

Plot points and events

• In the Qi Clan estate, Qi Wenjing struggles to condense a Divine Ability seed, despite being close to the peak of Talisman Seeding. He sees the next step as essential to his pursuit of longevity.
• A Soul-Seizing Talisman linked to his son, Qi Yunyi, returns to him, apparently signaling Yunyi’s death. But the memories carried by the talisman reveal that Yunyi encountered a powerful Divine Ability Practitioner’s legacy.
• Rather than inform the Qi Clan’s two Divine Ability ancestors, Qi Wenjing decides to pursue the opportunity himself. He believes the Fox Demon and the legacy have fallen into the hands of “Old Mu,” whom he thinks he can overcome.
• Meanwhile, a funeral convoy carrying the late Chancellor Cui’s coffin stops at Universal Aid Temple. His widow, Madam Cui, recalls visiting the temple with her husband and mourns him.
• Madam Cui’s daughter, Cui Yingying, helps her mother settle in. Madam Cui laments that Yingying would have married this year if her father had lived. She also condemns Zheng Heng, the cousin once connected to Yingying by a Marriage Contract, for his dissolute conduct and the disgrace surrounding the contract.

Character developments

• Qi Wenjing shifts from frustrated cultivator to determined opportunist. The prospect of a powerful legacy revives his hopes of advancing, and his fear of losing the chance outweighs any loyalty to the clan’s ancestors.
• Madam Cui is grieving her husband but remains protective of her daughter. Her anger over the lost Marriage Contract is mixed with relief that Zheng Heng is dead.
• Cui Yingying is introduced as graceful and composed despite mourning her father and facing the collapse of her marriage prospects.

Significant themes

• Ambition and longevity: Qi Wenjing’s longing for immortality shapes his choices and makes him willing to conceal a major opportunity.
• Inheritance and power: A legendary practitioner’s legacy may alter the balance of power, making family ties secondary to self-interest.
• Grief, duty, and social expectations: The Cui family’s mourning is intertwined with the practical consequences of a father’s death, including Yingying’s expected marriage.
• Reputation and scandal: Zheng Heng’s conduct and the loss of the contract threaten the family’s dignity, even as his death removes the immediate dilemma.

Character interactions

• Qi Wenjing’s bond with Qi Yunyi is shown through the talisman he gave his son and his strong reaction to Yunyi’s fate; he interprets the returned memories as a chance for himself.
• Madam Cui confides her sorrow to Yingying, who supports her physically and answers her mother’s comments about marriage with embarrassment.
• Madam Cui’s words reveal both her protectiveness toward Yingying and her contempt for Zheng Heng.

After Chancellor Cui’s death, Cui Yingying and Madam Cui stayed at Universal Aid Temple, unaware that the Severed Love Lineage planned to exploit Yingying’s passionate constitution. Hongniang, Zhang Junrui, and their master Black Ji arranged to use the person who obtained Yingying’s Marriage Contract as a substitute for the dead Zheng Family fiancé.

• Madam Cui worried that the Qu Ling Cui Clan had abandoned her and Cui Yingying, while Yingying asked Hongniang to find out who had obtained her Marriage Contract.
• Hongniang met Zhang Junrui on a riverboat and revealed that the Severed Love Lineage had allied with the Qu Ling Cui Clan to use Yingying’s passionate constitution for their cultivation.
• Hongniang and Zhang Junrui planned to bring Yingying and Zhang together at Universal Aid Temple in three days, while ensuring neither used power beyond the mortal realm during the ritual.
• Hongniang explained that the dead Zheng Family fiancé would have made an ideal obstacle to awaken Yingying’s constitution, but the person who won the Marriage Contract could take his place.
• Black Ji arrived and said she had borrowed the other Marriage Contract and drawn a thread of affection from it, allowing her to locate its holder.

Hong Yuan explored Lu Zhiqian’s underground cave abode, learned about the Heaven and Earth Great Elixir and the Longbo Divine Power of Great Strength, and took the aura Lu Zhiqian had preserved. He staged the emergence of the Phoenix-Perching Boat to draw attention, while Qi Wenjing sensed the disturbance and headed toward it.

• Hong Yuan found Lu Zhiqian’s cave abode beneath the mountains and seized the dead Divine Ability Practitioner’s recorded thoughts after destroying the binding gentleman’s pact rune.
• Lu Zhiqian’s thoughts revealed his betrayal and exile, the Heaven and Earth Great Elixir that could grant the Origin Core Realm, and the Longbo Divine Power of Great Strength he had left as a reward.
• Hong Yuan discovered a mysterious aura hidden in the stone platform, but could not use it to locate the Heaven and Earth Great Elixir.
• Hong Yuan summoned the Phoenix-Perching Boat and made the cave’s destruction look like a rare treasure emerging, sending its aura across the region.
• Qi Wenjing sensed the distant disturbance while searching for the little Fox Demon and True Person Mu, then flew toward it.

Key plot points and events

• A massive upheaval opens an abyss and releases a powerful aura. Xin Shiniang recognizes it as possibly belonging to a Divine Ability Practitioner.
• Qi Wenjing, a Talisman Seeding expert, ambushes Xin. She dodges his first assault, but he overwhelms her when he attacks in earnest.
• Hong Yuan’s enormous flying ship rises from the abyss and rescues Xin. Qi tries to claim the ship and attacks Hong Yuan.
• Hong Yuan reveals extraordinary power for someone at the Burning Fire stage. One punch shatters Qi’s attack, crushes his arms and chest, and sends him crashing into a distant mountain.
• Hong Yuan detects Black Ji, a mid-stage Divine Ability Practitioner who had been secretly tracking him. He drives the ship at her, then shields himself from her three emotion-manipulating Divine Abilities with a beam from the ship’s five-colored sail.
• The ship’s speed and force catch Black Ji off guard, and she is left behind. She later pursues, but suddenly loses consciousness and awakens in Hong Yuan’s courtyard beside the gravely injured Qi.
• Hong Yuan asks Black Ji whether she wants to live or die and demands that she open her mind.

Character developments and interactions

• Hong Yuan is revealed to be far more powerful than his apparent stage suggests. He acts decisively to protect Xin, defeats a much stronger opponent, detects a hidden pursuer, and captures Black Ji.
• Xin Shiniang displays agility and skill against Qi, but recognizes the limits of her newly developing Astral Body. After Hong Yuan saves her, she remains at his side and massages his shoulders, visibly astonished by his power.
• Qi Wenjing begins confident and greedy, seeing Xin, the ship, and the ruins as prizes. Hong Yuan’s single punch reduces him to a near-death state.
• Black Ji shifts from hunter to captive. Initially intrigued by Hong Yuan and confident she can take him, she is shaken by his power and her unexplained capture. Choosing survival, she agrees to hear his terms.
• The contrast between Hong Yuan’s calm control and his opponents’ changing confidence drives the confrontations: Qi boasts and attacks, while Black Ji’s certainty gives way to fear and surrender.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus true strength: Hong Yuan’s Burning Fire stage conceals power capable of overwhelming advanced cultivators.
• Greed and overconfidence: Qi’s desire to seize every treasure leads directly to his defeat; Black Ji’s confidence in her abilities also fails her.
• Power and control: Battles are decided not only by cultivation rank, but by unusual abilities, the ship’s capabilities, and Hong Yuan’s ability to control the situation.
• Reversal of pursuit: Those who come seeking to capture or exploit Hong Yuan instead become his prey.