Chapter Summaries

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Xuanyi visits He Sheng, bearing a Comprehension Fruit as a gift for his False Core achievement.
• He Sheng plans to take over the Southern Mountain Society and hosts a Core Formation celebration banquet.
• Heavenly Talisman Elder gifts He Sheng the 'Secret Record of the Twelve Spirit Treasures of High Heaven'.
• Heavenly Talisman Elder warns He Sheng about Zhang Tuo's background and potential troublemaking at the banquet.

Character Developments

• He Sheng: Realizes the importance of maintaining relationships with his fellow Southern Mountain Society members and plans to take over the society. Shows appreciation for Heavenly Talisman Elder's gift and warns him about Zhang Tuo.
• Liu Xuanyi: Proves himself useful by helping He Sheng with the banquet preparations and delivering invitations. Demonstrates his shrewdness and connections.
• Heavenly Talisman Elder: Shows concern for He Sheng's well-being and warns him about Zhang Tuo. Reveals his knowledge of each society member's background.
• Zhang Tuo: Revealed to be arrogant and stubborn, with two transcendent arts. His true name is Zhang Yaozu, and he has a history of offending people.

Significant Themes

• The importance of relationships and connections in cultivation and society.
• The value of knowledge and information, as demonstrated by Heavenly Talisman Elder's understanding of each society member.
• The power dynamics within the Southern Mountain Society and the potential for conflict.

Character Interactions

• He Sheng and Liu Xuanyi: Liu Xuanyi shows his usefulness and shrewdness, while He Sheng appreciates his help and entrusts him with tasks.
• He Sheng and Heavenly Talisman Elder: They exchange gifts and discuss the society's future. Heavenly Talisman Elder warns He Sheng about Zhang Tuo.
• He Sheng and Zhang Tuo: Tension builds between them, with Zhang Tuo showing disdain for He Sheng and Heavenly Talisman Elder hinting at potential trouble.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Heavenly Talisman Elder appoints He Sheng as the Vice Leader of the Southern Mountain Society, giving him authority over major and minor decisions.
• Zhang Tuo, the former second-in-command, challenges He Sheng's authority and is swiftly defeated, leading to the establishment of a new rule: anyone of lower rank who attacks someone of higher rank must face a compulsory trade if they lose.
• He Sheng uses this rule to force Zhang Tuo to hand over a Golden Core Formation Pill.

Character Developments

• He Sheng demonstrates his strength and cunning, earning respect and fear from the other cultivators.
• Zhang Tuo shows his true colors, revealing a cowardly side despite his initially bold demeanor.
• Heavenly Talisman Elder shows favor towards He Sheng, offering him a generous gift in exchange for a favor.

Significant Themes

• Power dynamics and the struggle for dominance within the Southern Mountain Society.
• The value of reputation and respect in the cultivation world.
• The importance of strategic thinking and planning in combat and decision-making.

Character Interactions

• He Sheng and Zhang Tuo: Their conflict highlights He Sheng's strength and cunning, while Zhang Tuo's defeat reveals his cowardice.
• He Sheng and Heavenly Talisman Elder: Their interaction shows the Society Leader's favor towards He Sheng and his willingness to entrust him with important tasks.
• The other cultivators: They show reverence and fear towards He Sheng after his display of power, and many support his new rule.

Concise Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Heavenly Talisman Elder offers He Sheng—still using the identity Xiang Yue—a deal: in exchange for guarding him during his dangerous Golden Core tribulation, He Sheng may resonate with and copy the original Flame-Slaying Origin Traversal Art. If the Elder succeeds, He Sheng will also receive his complete talisman inheritance, including the Five Thoughts Resonance Talisman and other advanced techniques.
• He Sheng agrees without swearing a Dao-heart oath, and the Elder lends him the original Trueflame Jade Fragment.
• Resonating with the cultivation method reveals the terrifying blue Separation Flame. Because He Sheng lacks the corresponding fire-related fate, touching it causes severe backlash to his divine sense.
• He successfully resonates with a gentler fire lotus and obtains the Technique Divine Ability Scarlet Helm, a defensive art that condenses flames into armor. He considers using the Mystic Scorching Iceflame Seed to cultivate it but ultimately rejects the idea because it could compromise the purity of his True Water cultivation and create future complications.
• He realizes Heavenly Talisman Elder deliberately allowed him to test the original method, knowing He Sheng likely lacked the required fate. He plans to return to Long Sun Mountain and have He Jingxing copy the method instead.
• He Sheng leaves Primordial Mist Immortal City, restocks materials, and travels south. Before departing, he informs Zhu Hong that he must continue refining artifacts for the Moon Mist Sect. Zhu Hong mentions the next auction, but He Sheng has no time for additional projects.
• At Heavenly Moon Lake, Ying Ruyue completes her Golden Core formation. She merges four Divine Ability Embryos into the Divine Ability Seed Still Water Cave Truth, producing the Water Moon Lineage phenomenon Water Moon Twin Wheels.
• After stabilizing her cultivation, Ying Ruyue learns that the Water Moon Branch has flourished. Her disciples have advanced rapidly, largely due to the Cold Moon Arc Light Swords and her personal instruction.
• Tension emerges between her eldest disciple Fang Yuelin and second disciple Wen Yuexin. Fang credits Ying Ruyue and her artifacts for the branch’s success, indirectly diminishing Wen Yuexin’s role.
• Ying Ruyue learns that He Sheng has successfully formed a False Core and become an elder of Primordial Mist Immortal City. Displeased that he has joined a rival power, she orders Lin Yuejing to invite him to her upcoming Core Formation Ceremony and, if necessary, escort him back to the sect.

Character Developments

• He Sheng: Demonstrates caution, strategic thinking, and growing strength. He accepts the Elder’s offer for practical reasons but avoids binding himself with a Dao oath. His failed attempt to comprehend Separation Flame deepens his understanding of the dangers and requirements of Qi-Absorption Divine Way cultivation. He prioritizes the long-term purity of his True Water path over acquiring a powerful defensive technique.
• Heavenly Talisman Elder: Reveals himself as calculating and experienced. His generous offer is partly a test, since he suspects He Sheng lacks the necessary fate to use the Flame-Slaying Origin Traversal Art effectively.
• Ying Ruyue: Successfully reaches the Golden Core realm and becomes even more powerful. Her normally detached demeanor conceals strong ambition and possessiveness toward the Water Moon Sect’s future. She begins viewing He Sheng as a potentially valuable but strategically important asset.
• Fang Yuelin and Wen Yuexin: Their rivalry becomes more apparent. Fang uses the branch’s achievements to challenge Wen Yuexin’s status, while Wen Yuexin reacts with resentment.
• Lin Yuejing: Continues to act as a reliable intermediary between Ying Ruyue and He Sheng. Her reaction suggests she understands her master may be attempting to recruit or control He Sheng.

Significant Themes

• The danger of pursuing power without compatibility: Qi-Absorption Divine Way techniques require matching fates and attributes; forcing comprehension can cause spiritual backlash.
• Long-term cultivation strategy versus immediate strength: He Sheng rejects Scarlet Helm despite its defensive value because it might damage the purity and future potential of his True Water path.
• Trust, obligation, and calculated bargains: The agreement between He Sheng and Heavenly Talisman Elder rests on mutual trust rather than binding oaths, highlighting the political nature of cultivation relationships.
• Ambition beneath tranquility: Ying Ruyue’s calm exterior contrasts with her desire to secure He Sheng and strengthen the Water Moon Sect.
• Factional rivalry and internal politics: The Water Moon Branch’s success produces both pride and resentment, while He Sheng’s appointment to Primordial Mist Immortal City creates tension between competing powers.

Important Character Interactions

• He Sheng and Heavenly Talisman Elder: Negotiate a mutually beneficial exchange centered on Golden Core protection, cultivation inheritance, and talisman knowledge.
• He Sheng and the Flame-Slaying Origin Traversal Art: His resonance exposes the difference between merely possessing a cultivation method and truly having the fate required to cultivate it.
• Ying Ruyue and her disciples: She manages their reports while subtly handling the rivalry between Fang Yuelin and Wen Yuexin.
• Fang Yuelin and Wen Yuexin: Their disagreement over credit reveals ongoing competition within the Water Moon Branch.
• Ying Ruyue and Lin Yuejing: Ying entrusts Lin with inviting He Sheng to the sect, signaling that she wants to draw him away from Primordial Mist Immortal City and potentially make use of his artifact-forging abilities.

Summary

This passage is an editorial announcement asking readers to help choose a new title for the story because the current title has not attracted enough readers. The editor presents seven alternative titles, all emphasizing elements such as immortal cultivation, Foundation Establishment, rogue cultivators, divine abilities, fortune-seeking, transmigration, and becoming a powerful Dao or demonic figure.
Readers are instructed to comment “111” after any title they support, or to suggest an entirely new title in the chapter comments.

Character and Theme Information

• Plot/events: No story events occur; the passage only discusses renaming the work.
• Character development: None presented.
• Character interactions: The editor addresses the readers directly and invites their opinions.
• Significant themes: Reader engagement, marketing, title selection, and cultivation-fiction conventions.

Chapter Summary: “Heaven-and-Earth Common Fruit”

Key Plot Points and Events

• He Sheng returns to the top floor of the East Garden Trial Tower using the Trial Token and activates the dormant Flood Dragon Puppet.
• The puppet awakens as a Core Formation-level opponent, releasing an overwhelming aura and attacking with a powerful brown beam called the Heavenly Abyss Condensed Light.
• He Sheng uses the Thousand Waters Phantom Dharma Body, enhanced by Subtle Ripple, to create hundreds of indistinguishable watery clones. He exploits the puppet’s limited intelligence and impulsive nature, gradually distracting and exhausting it.
• The first trial requires defeating or outmaneuvering the puppet’s initial assault. The second requires surviving a thousand breaths. He Sheng passes both while preserving most of his mana.
• The third trial requires destroying three of the puppet’s scales. He combines poisonous water from the River Pearl with the Blood Poison Mother-and-Child Blades, using Subtle Ripple to identify weak points between the scales. He successfully removes three scales.
• After the third trial, the Flood Dragon Puppet transforms into a fist-sized sphere and becomes He Sheng’s reward. He receives the incomplete Spirit-Source Puppet Control Art, which allows him to control the puppet.
• The tower reveals a map leading to another East Garden Trial Tower in the southeastern region of the Silver Sand River. He Sheng memorizes its location.
• A vision then reveals the history and revelations of an ancient Heavenly River Sect elder. The elder argues that cultivators who form Dao Fruits through the Breath-Absorbing Divine Way are “thieves” who steal the laws of heaven and earth.
• The vision explains the origin of the Twelve Origins, also called the Heaven-and-Earth Common Fruits: immense collections of laws created by the Heavenly Dao to counterbalance Dao Fruit cultivators. Their power can be borrowed but not permanently possessed.
• He Sheng discovers that Subtle Ripple, along with Spirit Origin, Origin Communion, and True Nature, belongs to the Divine Ability system associated with the Supreme Purity Creation Spirit-True Origin. The revelation suggests that his existing abilities may allow him to borrow power from this great Origin.

Character Developments

• He Sheng demonstrates greater tactical maturity. Rather than confronting the Flood Dragon Puppet directly, he studies its behavior, identifies its lack of intelligence, and wins through deception, endurance, poison, and precision.
• His mastery of Subtle Ripple deepens significantly. He uses it not only to strengthen his clones but also to perceive the puppet’s scale gaps, restriction patterns, and circulation of spiritual power.
• He gains a powerful new asset in the Flood Dragon Puppet, whose Core Formation-level beam and physical body greatly exceed He Sheng’s current offensive capabilities.
• He Sheng becomes increasingly aware that his own cultivation and Divine Abilities are connected to a much larger conflict involving the Heavenly Dao, Dao Fruits, and the structure of the world’s laws.
• His curiosity and ambition intensify when he realizes that three of the four abilities linked to the Supreme Purity Creation Spirit-True Origin are already within his reach.

Significant Themes

• Strategy over brute force: He Sheng defeats a stronger opponent by exploiting its limited intelligence and using layered illusions, poison, and timing.
• The dangers of power and greed: The ancient elder condemns Dao Fruit cultivators for absorbing the laws of heaven and attempting to replace the Heavenly Dao with themselves.
• Balance between cultivators and the Heavenly Dao: The Twelve Origins represent the Heavenly Dao’s attempt to preserve itself by allowing access to powerful laws without permitting anyone to claim them outright.
• Borrowed versus possessed power: The Heaven-and-Earth Common Fruits can be borrowed but not attained, emphasizing limits, interdependence, and the distinction between using power and owning its source.
• Hidden origins of cultivation systems: The chapter reframes Divine Abilities and Dao Fruits as products of a cosmic struggle over who controls the laws of reality.
• The Heavenly Dao as a conscious force: The lightning that destroys the Heavenly River Sect elder suggests that the Heavenly Dao possesses awareness and can actively punish threats to its existence.

Important Character Interactions

• He Sheng and the Flood Dragon Puppet: Their battle evolves from direct confrontation into a contest of deception and attrition. He Sheng manipulates the puppet’s confusion and anger, while the puppet relies on overwhelming physical power and its Heavenly Abyss Condensed Light.
• He Sheng and the Trial Tower: The tower communicates through an emotionless voice, sets increasingly demanding trials, rewards him with the puppet, and reveals the location of another trial site.
• The Heavenly River Sect elder and the Heavenly Dao: The elder openly challenges the Heavenly Dao, accusing it of allowing or creating the conditions that led to Dao Fruit cultivators’ rise. The Heavenly Dao responds with lethal punishment.
• He Sheng and the ancient revelation: Though he does not meet the elder directly, He Sheng interprets the vision and connects its teachings to his own abilities, especially Subtle Ripple and the Supreme Purity Creation Spirit-True Origin.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The He Family holds its biennial tournament for disciples under twenty, intended to identify promising young cultivators.
• He Ziyang returns to the family after years away. Although rumors claim he remains only at the second layer of Qi Refinement, he has secretly advanced to roughly the fourth layer.
• He Jingxing, now fifteen and at the seventh layer of Qi Refinement, is considered the tournament’s certain champion. He has matured into a composed, respected, and talented young disciple.
• He Ziyang refuses to participate in the tournament but challenges its eventual winner afterward. Since He Jingxing dominates the competition, the challenge becomes an anticipated confrontation between the family’s two foremost young talents.
• He Ziyang proposes deciding the outcome with a single sword strike, wagering a top-grade magic artifact if He Jingxing can withstand it.
• Despite He Jingxing’s powerful defensive mirror and Fire Shield Art, He Ziyang’s pale-golden Sword Qi effortlessly pierces both defenses. He redirects the strike at the last moment, sparing He Jingxing’s life but badly injuring his shoulder.
• The spectators are shocked, and the family’s earlier mockery of He Ziyang turns into fear and awe. He Jingxing is left questioning how he could be defeated so completely by someone with supposedly lower cultivation.
• He Ziyang criticizes He Jingxing for treating cultivation as merely accumulating spiritual power and learning spells. He orders him to recover for three days, then report daily to Returning Origin Cave for instruction in the Sword Path.
• He Jingxing undergoes severe training under He Ziyang. He is repeatedly injured by Sword Qi driven through his meridians, yet continues attending every morning and practicing even when He Ziyang is absent.
• He Jingxing’s mother, He Linxue, pleads for the elders to stop the harsh treatment. Instead, First Elder He Weixian sends her away to the mortal world, fully supporting He Ziyang’s methods.
• In Returning Origin Cave, He Ziyang explains to He Sheng that he is deliberately cultivating He Jingxing as the He Family’s future protector. He expects to leave for the Mysterious Heaven Sect within ten years and worries about the family’s future after his departure.
• He Sheng recognizes He Ziyang’s deep loyalty to the family and gives him a fiery red jade stone, implying that it may be connected to the next stage of his plans.

Character Developments

• He Ziyang: Revealed to be far stronger and more accomplished than his apparent fourth-layer cultivation suggests. His Sword Path has reached a frightening level, allowing him to defeat a seventh-layer cultivator with one restrained attack. He has become proud, self-assured, and intimidating, but his harshness is motivated by responsibility and concern for the He Family.
• He Jingxing: Develops from a confident, admired prodigy into a humbled and determined student. His defeat shatters his assumptions about talent and cultivation, but rather than becoming resentful, he accepts He Ziyang’s guidance and perseveres through brutal training.
• First Elder He Weixian: His attitude toward He Ziyang shifts from cautious distance and family criticism to respect and awe. He fully supports the decision to make He Jingxing endure the Sword Path training.
• He Sheng: Understands He Ziyang’s intentions and recognizes how much he has matured. He sees that He Ziyang’s loyalty to the He Family is exceptionally deep.
• He Linxue: Acts as a protective mother, opposing the cruel training, but is ultimately powerless against the elders’ decision.

Significant Themes

• True strength versus apparent cultivation: He Ziyang’s victory demonstrates that battle power depends on more than cultivation level, including technique, Sword Intent, experience, and comprehension.
• Humility through defeat: He Jingxing’s loss dismantles his pride and forces him to recognize the limits of conventional cultivation.
• Harsh mentorship and sacrifice: He Ziyang’s brutal methods are intended to prepare He Jingxing for future responsibility rather than simply punish him.
• Family loyalty and succession: He Ziyang plans for the He Family’s survival after his departure, deliberately creating a successor capable of protecting it.
• Outsider becoming protector: Though treated as an outsider and criticized by his clansmen, He Ziyang proves himself deeply devoted to the family.
• Fate and transformation: He Sheng reflects on how far He Ziyang has come—from an abused and marginalized youth to a potential Sword Immortal and the family’s strongest future pillar.

Character Interactions

• The young disciples gossip about He Ziyang’s failure and his occupation of Returning Origin Cave, while He Jingxing refuses to participate in their mockery.
• He Ziyang and He Jingxing exchange polite but increasingly tense words before their duel. He Ziyang’s confident provocation awakens He Jingxing’s indignation.
• Their confrontation ends with He Ziyang becoming He Jingxing’s teacher, transforming their relationship from family rivals into harsh instructor and determined student.
• He Linxue confronts the clan elders over He Jingxing’s treatment, but He Weixian sides with He Ziyang.
• He Ziyang and He Sheng discuss the He Family’s future, revealing He Ziyang’s plans and his trust in He Jingxing’s eventual loyalty.
• The chapter ends with He Sheng presenting He Ziyang with a mysterious fiery red jade stone.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• He Ziyang examines a fiery-red jade containing the incomplete Flame-Slaying Origin Traversal Art, recognizing it as a cultivation method from the powerful Breath-Absorbing Divine Way.
• He and He Sheng discuss whether He Jingxing should abandon his current cultivation method. They decide Jingxing should first cultivate the Sword Path and form Sword Intent before dispersing his cultivation and rebuilding with the new art.
• He Jingxing arrives and asks why he was defeated so easily by He Ziyang despite having a higher cultivation level. He Sheng explains the vast difference between ordinary Qi Refining/Void-Unifying methods and Breath-Absorbing Divine Way arts, revealing that He Ziyang’s Violet Firmament Annihilation Sword Art is vastly superior.
• Jingxing chooses the more difficult path: stop advancing his current cultivation, train under He Ziyang, and eventually switch to the Flame-Slaying Origin Traversal Art.
• He successfully resonates with the jade and receives the cultivation method. He Sheng learns that its core Fate Divine Ability, [Flamebane], requires absorbing highly poisonous Earth-Lung Sulfurfire Qi and enduring forty-nine periods of intense internal suffering.
• He Sheng identifies the Toxic Miasma Marsh as a likely source of the needed fire-baleful Qi and agrees to have Green Snake collect it.
• He Sheng then begins cultivating the Spirit-Source Puppet Control Art using the Flood Dragon Puppet. After initially failing, he strengthens his divine sense with the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm and successfully implants thirty-six divine-sense threads into the puppet’s restriction nodes.
• Using the Time-Reversing Water Clock, He Sheng rapidly advances the art to Transcendent Mastery, developing a new method called the Spirit-Source Net. This gives the Flood Dragon Puppet independent judgment, fluid movements, and the ability to react without constant direct commands.
• He extends the Spirit-Source Net to his Water-Shadow Dharma Bodies, allowing nine bodies and the Flood Dragon Puppet to operate together in a coordinated killing formation.
• He concludes that the missing portions of the True Spirit Puppet Art may exist in another East Garden Secret Realm southeast of the Silver Sand River and plans to investigate it after recovering.

Character Developments

• He Jingxing moves from confusion and self-doubt after his defeat to renewed determination. He accepts that his weakness stemmed largely from an inferior cultivation method and commits to the harsher Sword Path and eventual reconstruction.
• He Ziyang demonstrates strategic insight and concern for Jingxing’s future. Rather than rushing him into a dangerous cultivation art, he insists that Jingxing first temper his will through swordsmanship.
• He Sheng acts as a mentor and decision-maker, clarifying the differences between cultivation lineages, securing the new art for Jingxing, and planning the collection of the necessary Earth-Lung Sulfurfire Qi.
• He Sheng also makes a major breakthrough in puppet control, transforming the Flood Dragon Puppet from a controlled artifact into an almost autonomous combat partner.

Significant Themes

• The importance of cultivation foundations: Higher cultivation does not guarantee strength when the underlying lineage and technique are inferior.
• Perseverance and character refinement: Jingxing must forge a stronger will before attempting a dangerous, high-level cultivation method.
• Risk and opportunity: The Flame-Slaying Origin Traversal Art offers enormous potential but demands extreme physical suffering and rare resources.
• Mastery through innovation: He Sheng improves an inherited secret art by combining it with the Subtle Ripple Divine Ability and Scattered Stars Transcendence Art.
• The boundary between life and puppetry: The Spirit-Source Net gives puppets and Dharma Bodies independent reactions, making them appear almost alive.
• Preparation for greater exploration: The chapter points toward another secret realm and the possible completion of the True Spirit Puppet Art.

Character Interactions

• He Ziyang and He Sheng debate Jingxing’s cultivation future, balancing his exceptional aptitude against the danger and incompleteness of the new art.
• Jingxing respectfully seeks answers from He Sheng after his defeat, while He Sheng explains the hidden differences between cultivation systems.
• He Ziyang directly presents Jingxing with the choice between remaining on his current path or rebuilding through the Sword Path and Breath-Absorbing Divine Way.
• He Sheng and He Ziyang cooperate to prepare Jingxing for the transition, with He Ziyang teaching swordsmanship and He Sheng handling the cultivation art and required resources.
• He Sheng’s relationship with the Flood Dragon Puppet changes from external control to a deeper spiritual connection through the Spirit-Source Net.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• He Sheng advances the Soul Imprint Art from mastery to perfection using his strengthened False Core divine sense. He learns the final technique, the Origin Soul Seal, which requires refining a powerful soul with life essence and divided consciousness.
• The Origin Soul Seal grants the ability to hear hidden soul whispers. Though potentially useful, it can also disrupt meditation and cultivation, so He Sheng considers it of limited immediate value.
• He reviews his discoveries from the East Garden Trial Tower, especially information about the Heaven-and-Earth Common Fruit and its Twelve Origin Qi. He plans to pursue the Spirit-Mysterious Origin-True Divine Ability Seed if he eventually obtains the necessary cultivation method.
• He identifies several obstacles in developing the Divine Ability Seed:
  • Subtle Ripple is already complete.
  • Origin Communion requires Everbright to mature.
  • Spirit Origin requires spiritual materials and time he currently lacks.
  • True Nature remains difficult to locate, possibly requiring searches of the Primordial Mist Immortal City archive, future trial realms, or the Moon Mist Sect.
• After recovering and regulating his breath, He Sheng searches Long Sun Mountain for the hidden Heavenly River Sect Secret Realm using his improved divine sense and Subtle Ripple. He finds nothing and suspects the realm may require opening smaller secret realms first.
• During his search, he observes He Ziyang harshly training He Jingxing in swordsmanship. He Ziyang teaches that a sword must be treated as an extension of the mind rather than a lifeless object.
• Watching this instruction gives He Sheng an insight into the sword technique contained in the Water Moon Sword Token. He begins practicing Moon in Water and quickly progresses it from initiation to Transcendent Mastery.
• Through persistent practice and the assistance of Subtle Ripple and the True Illusion Intent Realm, He Sheng comprehends the Moon in Water Sword Intent, reaching minor accomplishment.
• He imagines combining the sword intent with his Thousand Waters Phantom Dharma Body to create a powerful technique based on the interaction between illusion and reality.
• Having consolidated his gains and arranged matters at Long Sun Mountain—including He Ziyang’s marriage—He Sheng departs to search for another East Garden Trial Secret Realm.
• In the Bladewind Wasteland, he spends several days searching the location indicated by the trial map. By sensing subtle spiritual-energy movements rather than merely looking for formations, he discovers a buried stone door containing a familiar green jade token.
• Just as he finds the entrance, an undetectable stranger speaks beside him. Before He Sheng can escape, a vast sheet of bloody light descends and traps him.

Character Developments

• He Sheng becomes significantly stronger in both soul techniques and combat ability. His False Core cultivation allows him to overcome the Soul Imprint Art’s bottleneck and master the Moon in Water Sword Intent.
• He demonstrates increased patience and strategic thinking. Rather than rushing to acquire every component of the Divine Ability Seed, he accepts that some resources and inheritances may take centuries to obtain.
• His understanding of swordsmanship deepens through observation rather than direct instruction. He learns from He Ziyang’s teaching and applies that insight to his own cultivation.
• He Ziyang is shown as a severe but capable sword instructor. Though his methods are painful and uncompromising, he adjusts his tone slightly when He Jingxing is injured, revealing restrained concern.
• He Jingxing endures difficult training and begins to understand the deeper principles of swordsmanship. Despite the pain, he remains determined and even looks forward to continuing his practice.
• He Sheng’s confidence is tempered by caution: despite his powerful divine sense and Subtle Ripple, the mysterious attacker completely bypasses his detection.

Significant Themes

• Progress through persistence: He Sheng achieves Sword Intent not through exceptional natural talent, but through repeated practice, careful observation, and patient refinement.
• The relationship between mind and weapon: Swordsmanship is presented as an extension of consciousness. True mastery requires treating the sword as part of oneself rather than as a mere tool.
• Foundation versus technique: He Sheng recognizes that combat techniques directly improve strength, but they cannot replace the deeper foundation provided by cultivation methods and divine arts.
• Illusion and reality: The Moon in Water technique emphasizes their inseparability, using mist, moonlight, and sword qi to make true and false indistinguishable.
• Hidden dangers and incomplete knowledge: Secret realms, ancient inheritances, soul whispers, and concealed enemies all demonstrate that He Sheng’s knowledge remains limited despite his growing power.
• Patience amid long-term cultivation: With centuries of lifespan remaining, He Sheng chooses methodical preparation over reckless urgency.

Character Interactions

• He Ziyang and He Jingxing: Their training session reveals He Ziyang’s harsh teaching style and He Jingxing’s perseverance. He Ziyang uses Sword Intent directly to force He Jingxing to understand the sword through physical experience.
• He Sheng and He Ziyang: Although they do not directly converse in this section, He Sheng learns from observing He Ziyang and gains the breakthrough needed to master Moon in Water.
• He Sheng and the unknown attacker: Their encounter ends abruptly and ominously. The attacker is powerful enough to evade He Sheng’s enhanced perception and immediately imprison him in bloody light, setting up the chapter’s cliffhanger.

Chapter Summary: The Divine Puppet Shows Its Might

Key Plot Points and Events

• He Sheng is trapped by a powerful blood-light formation created by a hidden demonic cultivator. The blood light suppresses his spiritual power and divine sense, contaminates spiritual essence, and severely weakens water-based techniques and artifacts.
• Recognizing the blood light as a technique from the Turbid Water path, He Sheng uses Subtle Ripple and the Thousand Waters Phantom Dharma Body to create nine bodies and escape the initial attack.
• The demonic cultivator activates a huge blood-red barrier around the area. When one of He Sheng’s Water-Shadow Dharma Bodies touches it, the barrier corrupts it and attempts to spread through the spiritual connection to He Sheng’s true body. He immediately severs the connection.
• Forced to rely on his strongest defense, He Sheng summons the Flood Dragon Puppet and hides inside it. Using the puppet’s innate technique, Heavenly Abyss Condensed Light, he breaks through the blood barrier and escapes.
• The enemy pursues him across the Bladewind Wasteland. He Sheng deliberately leads the pursuer to Cold Dew Marsh, where the abundant water will give him a tactical advantage.
• At the lake, the enemy—an intimidating black-robed demonic cultivator—reveals four Divine Ability Embryos and demonstrates overwhelming control over Turbid Water. He easily defeats He Sheng’s venomous flood dragon attack and captures the Blood Poison Mother-and-Child Blades, one of He Sheng’s most trusted weapons.
• He Sheng analyzes the enemy’s abilities and realizes that ordinary spiritual power, divine-sense attacks, and water artifacts are all vulnerable to contamination. The Flood Dragon Puppet’s physical body is his only reliable means of resistance.
• He launches a prolonged battle using the puppet, Water-Shadow Dharma Bodies, triple Water-Gathering Breaks, and an illusion formation. Though the enemy repeatedly destroys his Dharma bodies and uses a blood-red pill to restore his spiritual power, He Sheng gradually wears down his defenses.
• He Sheng then separates the puppet’s dragon head from its body. The puppet’s body transforms into a giant sword and unleashes the Moon in Water Sword Intent, drawing on the lake’s True Water to pierce and restrain the enemy’s Turbid Water defenses.
• While the sword intent traps the demonic cultivator, the concealed dragon head fires Heavenly Abyss Condensed Light at close range. The beam pierces through the enemy’s chest, after which the Moon in Water sword gleams finish him off by shredding his body.

Character Developments

• He Sheng displays rapid tactical judgment and adaptability. Rather than confronting the enemy directly under unfavorable conditions, he escapes, studies the opponent’s techniques, chooses a favorable battlefield, and constructs a layered counterattack.
• He becomes more cautious after witnessing how easily his spiritual essence and artifacts can be contaminated. He correctly identifies the need to isolate himself inside the Flood Dragon Puppet.
• His combat style evolves from desperate evasion into deliberate coordination of puppetry, illusion, water techniques, and sword intent. His final attack reveals considerable foresight and restraint, as he hides his true killing move until the enemy’s defenses are fully compromised.
• The black-robed demonic cultivator is initially arrogant and confident, relying on his Turbid Water techniques, powerful artifacts, and ability to restore spiritual power. He underestimates He Sheng as a mere False Core cultivator.
• His confidence turns to surprise and fury when He Sheng’s Dharma bodies weaken his defenses and the Moon in Water Sword Intent counters his Turbid Water. His attempt to unleash a hidden technique is interrupted before it can be used, leading to his death.

Significant Themes

• Adaptability over brute force: He Sheng survives by changing tactics rather than matching the demonic cultivator’s strength directly.
• Countering opposing principles: The battle emphasizes the conflict between Turbid Water and True Water, with Moon in Water Sword Intent proving especially effective against the enemy’s blood-based techniques.
• Hidden strength and deception: Both sides conceal abilities, but He Sheng’s layered feints—Dharma bodies, illusion formation, the puppet body, and the concealed dragon head—ultimately decide the battle.
• The power of preparation and battlefield selection: He Sheng leads the pursuit to Cold Dew Marsh, transforming an environment that hindered his escape into one that empowers his counterattack.
• The danger of overconfidence: The demonic cultivator’s contempt for He Sheng causes him to overlook the puppet’s full capabilities and fall into the final trap.

Character Interactions

• He Sheng and the demonic cultivator engage in a prolonged pursuit and psychological contest, with the enemy repeatedly taunting and dismissing him.
• The demonic cultivator captures and mocks He Sheng’s Blood Poison Mother-and-Child Blades, believing he has neutralized He Sheng’s main weapon.
• He Sheng responds indirectly rather than through confrontation, concealing his true plan and using his puppet and Dharma bodies to exhaust and mislead the enemy.
• Their final clash becomes a contest between the demonic cultivator’s Turbid Water suppression and He Sheng’s True Water sword intent, ending when He Sheng combines the puppet’s sword body with its hidden dragon head for a decisive ambush.

Summary: “Blood King Sect”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After destroying the black-robed demonic cultivator, He Sheng discovers that the man’s blood-colored seal contains a remnant soul. The cultivator had survived multiple devastating attacks through an unusual blood-path technique.
• He Sheng captures and soul-searches the remnant soul, learning that the man was Zhong Qi, a true disciple of the powerful Blood King Sect, one of the Eight Sacred Sects of the True Dao of Netherworld Communion.
• Zhong Qi’s master is Blood River True Person, a mid-Golden Core cultivator. Zhong Qi had entered the East Garden Trial Secret Realm and completed its Body Trial Tower, but had found no information about the Heavenly River Sect elder or the Twelve Origin Qi inheritance.
• He Sheng uses a Five Thoughts Resonance Talisman to divine the consequences of remaining in the secret realm. The vision reveals a great calamity connected to the blood seal, which likely contains a tracking mark left by Blood River True Person.
• He Sheng abandons most of Zhong Qi’s belongings, keeping only spirit stones, Blood Origin Crystal, medicinal pills, Nether Soul Grass, jade slips, and a parchment scroll. He throws the blood seal into a deep earth chasm to mislead his pursuer.
• Blood River True Person arrives, retrieves the seal, and uses it to reconstruct the battle and track He Sheng through a karmic pursuit technique. However, because the trail points toward True Province—where Golden Core cultivators are forbidden to enter under a truce—he chooses not to pursue directly.
• He Sheng returns to his Water Palace but divines another, weaker calamity. Concluding that Blood River True Person may still locate him, he decides to relocate to Primordial Mist Immortal City, where the protection of Heavenly Centipede True Person and proximity to the Supreme Mystery Orthodox Unity offer greater safety.
• Before leaving, He Sheng instructs Green Snake to guard the Water Palace and collect Earth-Lung Sulfurfire Qi for the He Family over three years.
• He rewards Green Snake with a Mystic Scorching Iceflame Seed. Green Snake absorbs it successfully, awakening more of its bloodline, reaching peak first-rank cultivation, and gaining the potential to become a second-rank great demon.
• He Sheng reaches Primordial Mist Immortal City, but before using his final divination talisman, he receives a visit from Lin Yuejing, a true disciple of the Water Moon Lineage of the Moon Mist Sect.

Character Developments

• He Sheng becomes more cautious and strategically minded after realizing the danger posed by Zhong Qi’s sect and master. He relies on divination, deception, and rapid relocation rather than attempting to confront a mid-Golden Core expert.
• He Sheng’s interest in the Twelve Origin Qi Dao and the Heavenly River Sect inheritance remains unresolved, strengthening his determination to continue investigating despite the danger.
• Zhong Qi is revealed to have been a high-status Blood King Sect disciple, but his incomplete remnant soul shows that even his powerful background could not save him.
• Blood River True Person is established as a formidable and calculating pursuer. He quickly identifies He Sheng’s possession of a Heavenly River Sect puppet and recognizes that He Sheng may have obtained part of the sect’s inheritance.
• Green Snake proves loyal to He Sheng and receives a major opportunity for advancement. The Iceflame Seed enhances both its cultivation and bloodline, potentially making it a much stronger future ally.

Significant Themes

• Caution and survival: He Sheng’s victory is followed by an even greater threat, emphasizing that defeating one enemy does not mean the danger has ended.
• The peril of powerful inheritances: The Heavenly River Sect legacy and Twelve Origin Qi Dao attract the attention of powerful forces, making knowledge itself a source of danger.
• Fate and divination: The Five Thoughts Resonance Talismans reveal possible calamities and guide He Sheng’s decisions, though their visions remain symbolic and incomplete.
• Karmic pursuit and hidden methods: Blood River True Person’s tracking techniques demonstrate the difficulty of escaping demonic-path cultivators and the lasting consequences of taking seemingly valuable items.
• Loyalty and reward: Green Snake’s faithfulness is recognized and rewarded, showing He Sheng’s willingness to invest in dependable subordinates and spirit companions.
• Political boundaries and restraint: The truce preventing Golden Core cultivators from entering True Province provides He Sheng with indirect protection, showing how larger sect conflicts shape individual survival.

Character Interactions

• He Sheng cautiously commands the Void-Piercing Rat King to open Zhong Qi’s storage pouch, using the beast’s special ability while avoiding possible traps.
• He Sheng interrogates Zhong Qi’s remnant soul through soul-searching, extracting crucial information about the Blood King Sect and the secret realm.
• Blood River True Person examines Zhong Qi’s belongings and uses the blood seal to view the battle and trace He Sheng’s movements.
• He Sheng gives Green Snake detailed instructions for collecting Earth-Lung Sulfurfire Qi and entrusts it with guarding the Water Palace.
• He Sheng rewards Green Snake for its loyalty with the Mystic Scorching Iceflame Seed. Green Snake gratefully accepts it, undergoes a painful transformation, and swears continued loyalty.
• The chapter ends with Lin Yuejing requesting an audience with He Sheng, introducing a new connection to the Water Moon Lineage and setting up the next development.

Chapter summary

Plot and events

• Lin Yuejing returns on behalf of her master, Ying Ruyue, now a Core Formation cultivator. She invites He Sheng to the Moon Mist Sect in Qi Province for Ying’s core-formation ceremony. He Sheng accepts, partly because the sect offers a safe refuge from Blood River True Person, whose disciple Zhong Qi he killed.
• Before leaving in half a month, He Sheng arranges for the Heavenly Talisman Elder and Liu Xuanyi to purchase Foundation Establishment Pills for him. He also buys Wind Spirit’s entire supply of Sinking Water and orders more Five Thoughts Resonance Talismans.
• He reviews his battle with Zhong Qi and concludes that attributes are central to the Breath-Absorbing Divine Way: they give attacks special effects, weaken opponents, and strengthen their users. His Moon in Water Sword Intent let him draw on True Water qualities to counter Zhong Qi’s Turbid Water attribute.
• He Sheng examines Zhong Qi’s spoils: valuable crafting and medicinal materials, unidentified Blood King Sect pills, a map that may mark three Heavenly River Sect secret realms, a blood-pollution technique, and the True Water Chain-Form Art. He decides the body-tempering art suits him and begins practicing it with Lake Moon Bright Water.

Character development and interactions

• Lin Yuejing is markedly more respectful toward He Sheng than before, reflecting his improved standing with Ying Ruyue and the Moon Mist Sect.
• He Sheng is more confident after killing Zhong Qi, recognizing that he has risen far beyond his former helplessness against Ye Shaochen. Yet he stays cautious, aware that established Core Formation cultivators remain dangerous and that he still needs to grow stronger.
• The Heavenly Talisman Elder admires He Sheng’s connection to the Moon Mist Sect but privately doubts that his False Core will allow him to advance further. He nevertheless agrees to help with talismans and pills. Liu Xuanyi also becomes one of He Sheng’s allies in gathering supplies.

Significant themes

• Cultivation paths and power gaps: Attributes can overturn apparent differences in cultivation strength, helping explain why Breath-Absorbing cultivators can defeat stronger opponents and why older Dao traditions were eclipsed.
• Caution amid ambition: He Sheng is eager to explore the Heavenly River Sect’s inheritance, but questions why it failed to preserve its sect or spread through the cultivation world.
• Preparation and self-improvement: He Sheng stockpiles pills, seeks protection, studies his defeat-risking battle, and takes up body tempering to prepare for future core formation.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Yuejing and He Sheng reach Upper Talisman Immortal City after traveling north through Qi Province. The city is protected by a formidable formation and surrounded by busy markets, warehouses, and skyports.
• Entry is costly and tightly regulated: visitors pay fees and customs taxes, while the city posts extensive rules. He Sheng is struck by the strict controls and by the privileges enjoyed by Eight Scenery Sect lineage families.
• As they explore, He Sheng repeatedly overhears lineage disciples mocking the sect leader and displaying their wealth. Their behavior deepens his doubts about the great sects and their stability.
• Lin Yuejing takes He Sheng to a quiet inn connected to her sect, then later shows him Moonlit Lake. There, she says her master’s personal interest in him may lead to a position in the Moon Mist Sect.
• Kang Yushu, a prominent member of the Kang Family, interrupts their conversation and summons Lin Yuejing to join a gathering of lineage disciples. She goes alone, and He Sheng hears them compete in extravagant displays of possessions.
• After Lin Yuejing returns, she explains that He Sheng may be recruited as an Attendant artifact refiner. She then asks him for a favor, but the chapter ends before revealing what it is.

Character developments and interactions

• He Sheng remains observant and guarded. He is interested in the possible Moon Mist Sect position—especially whether it might grant access to its sword-art inheritance—but conceals his motives. His view of the sects shifts from respect to suspicion as he sees their inequities and excesses.
• Lin Yuejing shows a more relaxed, personal side while guiding He Sheng around the city, but remains constrained by her sect’s hierarchy. She dislikes the lineage aristocracy yet must treat Kang Yushu deferentially. Her invitation and later request suggest she wants to build a closer alliance with He Sheng.
• He Sheng and Lin Yuejing maintain polite, strategic rapport: she offers insight and hospitality, while he carefully probes the prospects of joining her sect without revealing his true priorities.
• Kang Yushu and the other lineage disciples embody inherited privilege and self-indulgence. Their gathering centers on boasting about luxuries, while He Sheng and Lin Yuejing view them with contempt.

Significant themes

• Aristocratic privilege and hypocrisy: The Eight Scenery Sect’s rules bind ordinary visitors more than its elite families, whose members openly disregard them.
• Institutional decay: He Sheng and Lin Yuejing suspect that the sect’s wealth, factionalism, and contempt for practical governance could eventually invite upheaval.
• Cultivation and worldly ambition: Despite lofty talk of spiritual freedom, the lineage disciples are preoccupied with status and possessions.
• Strategic alliances: He Sheng and Lin Yuejing both approach their relationship with an eye toward future benefits, even as they develop a measure of trust.

Plot points and events

• He Sheng returns to Heavenly Moon Lake with Lin Yuejing and meets Ying Ruyue, the Water Moon Lineage’s master, who has recently advanced to Core Formation. He presents her with Dragon Peach Wood as a congratulatory gift.
• Ying Ruyue and her eldest disciple, Fang Yuelin, recruit He Sheng into the Moon Mist Sect. Rather than offer him a minor artifact-refiner position or an outer-sect steward post, Ying appoints him an Outer Sect Elder of the Water Moon Lineage.
• As part of the appointment, Ying cancels He Sheng’s prior obligation to deliver two swords and grants him the Vast Tide Art, a top-tier cultivation method from the ancient Heavenly River Sect. Merit may eventually let him study the Water Moon Lineage’s fifth-grade inheritance, the Water Moon Cave Void True Union Sword Art.
• Lin Yuejing shows He Sheng his new residence at Lake Spirit Abode on Falling Star Sandbar. It includes spirit fields, a Lake Moon Bright Water well, and five powerful spirit springs that could greatly improve his artifact refining.
• Alone at his new residence, He Sheng uses a divination talisman to ask what fortune or danger awaits him at the sect. It reveals a sign of great fortune—a crystalline seed—but the vision turns ominous, ending with a sword beam rushing toward him.

Character developments and interactions

• He Sheng moves from wary outsider to respected sect elder. He welcomes the opportunity to advance his cultivation and craft, but remains suspicious of Ying Ruyue’s unusually generous terms.
• Ying Ruyue shows rare warmth and great patience, strategically offering He Sheng status, resources, and valuable teachings. Privately, she hopes he will develop his sword and formation skills, eventually help with a major artifact, and become loyal to the sect.
• Fang Yuelin acts as Ying’s capable administrative head and helps open the discussion of recruitment. She greets He Sheng respectfully and guides his sect-entry procedures.
• Lin Yuejing serves as He Sheng’s guide and explains the position and its benefits. After he joins the lineage, she drops her former reserve and encourages him to address her informally.

Significant themes

• Generosity and hidden motives: He Sheng’s rewards are substantial, but Ying Ruyue’s private plans make clear that the appointment is also a long-term investment.
• Opportunity versus caution: The sect offers He Sheng a path toward powerful cultivation and improved craft, yet he refuses to assume that good fortune is without a cost.
• Ambition and belonging: His new status and resources mark a dramatic rise from precarious rogue cultivator to member of a major sect, while the ominous divination suggests that advancement may bring danger.

Key plot points and events

• He Sheng realizes that a previous prediction’s “sword light” omen signals hidden danger within or around the Moon Mist Sect. Unsure whether it concerns him or the Water Moon Lineage, he decides not to panic and instead learn the sect’s power dynamics.
• He sets his priorities: forge Thousand Waters Moon Condensation Swords to earn the major merits needed to enter the Water Moon Langhuan Blessed Land, while cultivating the True Water Chain-Form Art and studying formations when time permits.
• He examines the Vast Tide Art and finds its Sea Moon Vast Tide Sword Formation far beyond his present skill. He uses over a decade of cultivation time to advance to a low-grade second-tier formation master, leaving about twenty-five years of general cultivation time.
• Qi Wanhe, an influential elder of the Mist-Joining Branch, visits. He is courteous but probing, hinting that outer sect elders have duties without revealing what he wants. He Sheng remains cautious and decides to consult Ying Ruyue and Fang Yuelin before taking on obligations.
• Fang Yuelin brings two young attendants chosen by the subordinate lineages: Liu Jinnian, a boy with high-grade metal-and-earth spiritual roots, and Fang Mengling, a girl with high-grade water-and-wood roots and an interest in artifact refinement.
• He Sheng accepts them and assigns Fang Mengling to assist with artifact refining. He also arranges to buy up to three thousand drops of lake moon bright water annually from the sect, securing supplies for his plans.

Character developments and interactions

• He Sheng responds to uncertainty with practical caution: rather than obsess over the omen or commit to unfamiliar sect duties, he focuses on gathering information and building a stable position. His ambitions become clearer as he balances merit-earning, body refinement, and study.
• Qi Wanhe presents himself as a friendly fellow elder, but He Sheng recognizes his visit as a calculated test of their relationship.
• Fang Yuelin acts on Ying Ruyue’s behalf by providing attendants and arranging access to spiritual water. Her attitude toward He Sheng warms when he accepts Fang Mengling and offers to teach her.
• Fang Mengling shows serious interest and knowledge of artifact refining despite her youth; He Sheng recognizes her promise and gives her a practical role. Liu Jinnian is introduced as disciplined and exceptionally gifted.

Significant themes

• Caution amid hidden danger: He Sheng knows the sect may conceal threats but chooses preparation over speculation.
• Time and resource management: His cultivation clock, limited practice time, and need for rare spiritual water force him to prioritize carefully.
• Value shaped by context: Sect merits and outside market prices differ because sect disciples value compatible Dao artifacts for both combat and cultivation.
• Power, obligation, and relationships: Courtesy and offers of help carry political implications, while accepting Fang Mengling creates a connection between He Sheng and the Fang Family.

Four years later, He Sheng’s repeated absences from outer-sect instruction angered a group of disciples, but Lin Yuejing stopped them from confronting him. At Lake Spirit Abode, Lin Yuejing and Zhen Yu competed to secure He Sheng’s work on a Thousand-Lights Water Moon Sword, and He Sheng gained an epiphany about improving his artifacts.

• Wu Qingming rallied the outer disciples to confront He Sheng over his neglected teaching duties, but Lin Yuejing intercepted and sent them away.
• Lin Yuejing visited Lake Spirit Abode and discovered Zhen Yu asking He Sheng to make her a Thousand-Lights Water Moon Sword.
• Lin Yuejing explained the sword’s rarity and high price, but Zhen Yu offered ten thousand drops of sinking water and fifteen major merits for delivery within three years.
• Worried Zhen Yu’s order would delay her own plans, Lin Yuejing offered He Sheng Third-Tier Mid-Grade Thousand-Moon Red and served him a cup.
• He Sheng experienced an epiphany and conceived ways to improve the Thousand-Lights Water Moon Sword and charge more for his artifacts.

He Sheng negotiated orders for upgraded water-themed Dao Artifacts from Zhen Yu and Lin Yuejing, then completed his first-generation True Water Moon-Shadow Sword. After calculating that the commissions could bring him close to the merits he needed for the Water Moon Langhuan Blessed Land, he realized Ying Ruyue had appeared at the hall entrance and was watching him.

• He Sheng stopped Lin Yuejing and Zhen Yu from quarreling, accepted Zhen Yu's order for a Thousand-Lights Water Moon Sword, and offered Lin Yuejing a third-grade Dao Artifact for fifty Major Merits.
• He Sheng inspected the completed Thousand-Lights Water Moon Sword and planned a modular True Water Moon-Shadow Sword using five Thousand Waters Moon Condensation Swords and Primordial Heavy Water.
• He Sheng began refining the first-generation True Water Moon-Shadow Sword and completed it after two months.
• He Sheng tested the new sword, which produced a hundred moon shadows and ten thousand sword lights when infused with his [Moon in Water] sword intent.
• He Sheng calculated that fulfilling Lin Yuejing's and Zhen Yu's orders could bring him sixty Major Merits, then discovered Ying Ruyue watching him from the hall entrance.