Chapter Summaries

At the Taihang Marketplace council building, Ye Xingliu pressed the Chen and Li Families over their alleged role in the attack on the Ye Family, while Chu Xiyu accused the Xu and Mo Families of aiding rogue cultivators. The disputes were sent toward a Taiyi Sect investigation, but Mo Hongyuan’s question about the identity of the evil cultivator left the confrontation unresolved.

• Ye Xingliu demanded that Chen Xuanzhou and Li Muhe produce their ancestors to answer for the attack on the Ye Family, while they denied involvement.
• Jiang Jinghe decided to submit the families’ evidence and statements to the Taiyi Sect for judgment.
• Chu Xiyu asked Jiang Jinghe to report the Chu Family’s dispute with the Xu and Mo Families and called for a joint effort against evil cultivators.
• Chen Xuanzhou and Li Muhe claimed their ancestors were in seclusion, but Ye Xingliu gave them three days to produce them and demanded a Heavenly Dao oath.
• Mo Hongyuan asked who the alleged evil cultivator was.

Ye Xingliu refused to settle the conflict with the Chen and Li Families privately and demanded that they answer to the Taiyi Immortal Sect. When Qian He, Xu Chunlin, and Mo Wenchen arrived at the Ye Family shop with compensation, Ye Xingliu examined a Blue Jade Lotus and an unusual young spirit beast.

• Ye Xingliu rejected the families’ pleas and said the Chen and Li Families should await a summons from the Taiyi Immortal Sect.
• Jiang Jinghe declined to resolve the dispute for the Chen and Li Families, while Mo Hongyuan urged them to prepare valuable gifts for the Ye Family.
• Ye Xingliu returned to the shop with Ye Jingyu, and Ye Xinghe praised Ye Jingyu before learning that the family had suffered enormous losses.
• Qian He, Xu Chunlin, and Mo Wenchen arrived at the Ye Family shop with jade slips showing Chen Xuan'an and Li Yulan unharmed, along with gifts from the sect.
• Ye Xingliu inspected the gifts and recognized a third-rank Blue Jade Lotus and a lively, winged young spirit beast with peak mid-first-rank spiritual aura.

Ye Xingliu secured a favorable judgment against the Li and Chen Families after Taihao Master and Master Tianzhen arrived to support the Ye Family. Meanwhile, Ye Jingcheng woke to find the Jade-Scale Snake had broken through to the second rank, leaving him with a hungry and transformed spirit beast.

• Qian He offered the Ye Family a choice of two treasures, but Ye Xingliu asked for more time before deciding.
• Taihao Master and Master Tianzhen arrived, and Ye Xingliu served them rare spirit tea as they joined the judgment.
• Qian He presented records claiming the Li and Chen Family clan chiefs had left to pursue breakthroughs, then proposed fines, compensation, and apologies.
• At Taihao Master's prompting, Qian He increased the punishment to four spirit or herb mountains, and Master Tianzhen approved the judgment.
• Ye Xingliu thanked Taihao Master and Master Tianzhen, then hosted them for spirit cuisine and wine.
• Ye Jingcheng awoke from cultivation and saw that the Jade-Scale Snake had broken through to the second rank and grown larger.

Ye Jingcheng watched the Jade-Scale Snake display its growing power and improved his Falling Flame Fire Feathers to major mastery. After learning that Ye Xingliu had returned and a costly Three-Color Cloud Deer had been added to the Lineage’s exchange list, he headed to the council hall to learn more.

• The Jade-Scale Snake ate Blackwater Python flesh and pills, and Ye Jingcheng sensed that its head bump might conceal a future flood dragon inheritance requiring further bloodline advancements.
• The Jade-Scale Snake demonstrated a devastatingly fast Jade-Scale Tail Blade slash, then ate an Azure Cloud Wolf as a reward from Ye Jingcheng.
• The Golden-Scaled Beast wanted pills to help it break through, but Ye Jingcheng lacked the resources to advance it and worried that it would hinder his cultivation.
• Ye Jingcheng practiced Falling Flame Fire Feathers at sunrise and reached major mastery, condensing three powerful, feather-marked flames.
• Ye Jingcheng received Ye Haiyun’s message that Ye Xingliu had returned and learned that the Lineage had listed a Three-Color Cloud Deer for four thousand Clan Contribution points, prompting him to head to the council hall.

Ye Jingcheng received the family’s reward for his Heavenly Soul Art and exchanged for the Three-Color Cloud Deer and a second-tier demonic beast core. Back in his courtyard, he calmed the wary young deer with Treasure Radiance, then realized he needed to make more Spirit Feeding Pills.

• Ye Xingliu and the others decided how to manage the four spirit mountains the Ye Family had acquired.
• Ye Xingliu offered Ye Jingcheng thirty thousand contribution points for the Heavenly Soul Art, and Ye Jingcheng swore not to sell it outside the family.
• Ye Jingcheng exchanged for the Three-Color Cloud Deer and a second-tier earth-attribute demonic beast core, while Ye Xingliu warned him about the limits of his Beast-Link Mark.
• Ye Jingcheng gave Ye Jingyu a bottle of Spirit Nurturing Pills in thanks for helping him, and Ye Jingyu accepted them.
• Ye Jingcheng brought the Three-Color Cloud Deer to his courtyard and used Treasure Radiance to calm it, then discovered he lacked Spirit Feeding Pills and began making more.

Ye Jingcheng refined Spirit Feeding Pills and used them to form a Soul Pact with the Three-Color Cloud Deer, discovering that it could evolve into a True Spirit. The deer revealed its powerful Scatter Wood into Soldiers ability, leaving Ye Jingcheng excited about its potential despite the damage to his house.

• Ye Jingcheng refined twelve Spirit Feeding Pills, then used them to entice the wary Three-Color Cloud Deer to approach.
• Ye Jingcheng formed a Blood Pact with the Three-Color Cloud Deer using Treasure Radiance, and the Treasure Book revealed its Nine-Colored Mystic Cloud Deer True Spirit potential.
• The Three-Color Cloud Deer asked Ye Jingcheng for more pills, and he offered one in exchange for activating an Ironwood Plaque.
• The deer scattered seeds that grew into enormous trees, then transformed one into a mid first-rank wooden puppet with its Scatter Wood into Soldiers ability.
• Ye Jingcheng stopped the deer after its trees damaged his house and fed it spirit beast meat, pleased with its potential and flying ability.

Ye Jingcheng discovered that his Three-Color Cloud Deer could absorb vitality from spirit beast meat and settled into a routine of cultivation and beast care. After half a year of progress on his defensive secret art, Ye Xinghe arrived with orders for the Ye Family to move against the Li Family’s pill-refining market.

• Ye Jingcheng found that the Three-Color Cloud Deer drained vitality and spiritual energy from Dense Forest Pig meat, revealing that it had a second talent alongside Scatter Wood into Soldiers.
• Ye Jingcheng introduced the Three-Color Cloud Deer to the Crimson Flame Fox, Jade-Scale Snake, and Golden-Scaled Beast, then stopped the Golden-Scaled Beast from attacking it.
• Ye Jingcheng returned to his routine of pill refining, cultivation, and nurturing his spirit beasts, while his Profound Cold Ice Shield advanced rapidly.
• Ye Jingcheng watched the Jade Ring Rat redirect the Greenstone Bamboo’s spreading underground runners away from his spirit fields.
• Ye Xinghe visited Ye Jingcheng on the family head’s orders and told him that the Ye Family planned to seize the Li Family’s pill-refining market.

Ye Xinghe told Ye Jingcheng that the sect supported the Ye Family’s campaign to dismantle the Li Family, and gave him several of the Li Family’s pill formulas. Ye Jingcheng accepted the task of preparing to use them, determined to help bring down the Li Family and profit from the conflict.

• Ye Xinghe explained that the sect intended to weaken the Li Family and that the Xu Family would not intervene.
• Ye Xinghe handed Ye Jingcheng a jade slip containing five pill formulas, including the second-rank Purplewood Pill.
• Ye Jingcheng warned that he needed enough spirit herbs to refine the new pills and teach others, and Ye Xinghe promised supplies and mentioned a second-rank pill furnace at the upcoming auction.
• Ye Xinghe left to visit the Treasure Pavilion and arrange for a second-tier alchemist to serve at the Ye Family Shop.
• Ye Jingcheng reflected on the dangers of cultivation, then entered his room to study the formulas and prepare to help defeat the Li Family.

Ye Jingcheng expanded his spirit field and prepared his Five Poison Bee to advance before being summoned to meet visitors from the Chu Family. At the council hall, he discovered the families were discussing a marriage alliance that would bring brides into the Ye Family.

• The old man concealed Hai Cheng’s breakthrough at the spirit lake, ordered a cultivator to secretly buy Blue Wave Wine, and used a leech and mirror to observe a cultivator in seclusion.
• Ye Jingcheng planted his spirit field to capacity and fed a Five Poison Pill to one of his Five Poison Bees in hopes of advancing it.
• Ye Jingcheng prepared a spiritual meal for his stalled Jade Ring Rat, then received a summons about visitors from the Chu Family.
• Ye Jingcheng joined Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingyong at the council hall, where Family Head Chu and Ye Xingliu discussed a marriage alliance that would bring brides into the Ye Family.

The Ye Family hosted a marriage-alliance gathering with the Chu Family, where Ye Jingcheng suspected the visitors were also investigating his sudden breakthrough. After the Chu Family departed, Ye Jingyong surprised his brothers by naming Chu Yanliu as a woman he liked.

• Ye Xingliu introduced the Ye Family youths to Chu Xiyu and the Chu Family women, then sent Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingyong to show them around.
• Chu Yanqing sat with Ye Jingcheng, teased him about his cultivation, and left after their conversation turned prickly.
• Ye Jingcheng watched Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingyong mingle with the Chu Family women while keeping the Ye Family's secrets guarded.
• Chu Yanqing returned with the Chu Family sisters, and the gathering ended with Chu Xiyu taking his people away.
• Ye Xingliu asked whether anyone had found a suitable match, and Ye Jingyong said Chu Yanliu seemed good to him.

Ye Jingcheng collected Jade Soul Grass and other pill ingredients from the Ye Family, then moved into a new, better-equipped cave abode on Soaring Cloud Peak. After the Ye Family's marriage proposal party departed, he set out with Ye Xinghe for Taihang Marketplace.

• Ye Jingcheng visited Ye Haitian at the Treasure Pavilion and received Jade Soul Grass and other spirit herbs, with the family requiring thirty percent of the pills he refined from them.
• Ye Haitian gave Ye Jingcheng a jade talisman showing his new loft, which had stronger spiritual energy, a spirit field, beast rooms, and defensive formations.
• Ye Jingcheng inspected the new courtyard cave abode and released his four beasts there, but returned to his previous small courtyard.
• The Ye Family's marriage proposal party set off on the third day.
• Ye Jingcheng and Ye Xinghe departed for Taihang Marketplace on the fifth day, and Ye Jingcheng reflected on how much time had passed since his first visit.

Ye Jingcheng joined Ye Xinghe and Ye Haiyun at the Bamboo Forest Marketplace to plan the Ye Family’s campaign against the Li Family. He proposed a Ban Li Order that rewarded customers for avoiding Li Family businesses, and Ye Xinghe planned to discuss the scheme with the Chu Family.

• Ye Xinghe led Ye Jingcheng and the others into Bamboo Forest Marketplace, where they saw the Ye Family shop thriving on growing demand for spirit beasts.
• Ye Xinghe introduced the new clansmen helping at the shop before he, Ye Jingcheng, and Ye Haiyun went to the inner courtyard to discuss the Li Family.
• Ye Jingcheng reviewed the plan to give away Spirit Feeding Pills with purchases of pills sold by the Li Family.
• Ye Jingcheng proposed a Ban Li Order that offered discounts and free pill refining to cultivators who pledged not to buy from the Li Family and helped recruit others.
• Ye Xinghe and Ye Haiyun approved the proposal, and Ye Xinghe planned to share the commercial strategy with the Chu Family.

Li Xiangfei and Li Mutian struggled to explain the Li Family’s collapsing spirit pill sales and blamed the Ye Family’s influence. Li Mutian ordered a series of schemes against the Ye and Chen Families while tightening the Li Family’s finances and investigating its enemies.

• Li Xiangfei questioned the Li Family Twin Beauties about the shop’s dwindling customers, but they could not explain why cultivators praised the pills yet refused to buy them.
• Li Xiangfei told Li Mutian that Rogue Cultivators would not reveal the reason for the sales decline, and Li Mutian rejected his suggestion to lower prices.
• Li Mutian ordered Li Xiangfei to demand that the Chen Family cover half the Li Family’s lost sales, arrange a marriage alliance, and seek leverage against the Ye Family.
• Li Mutian told Li Xiangfei to investigate the Ye Family’s ties to the Chu Family, reduce clan stipends by twenty percent, and spread rumors about the Ye Family’s treasures and Ye Haicheng’s breakthrough.
• Li Xiangfei recalled seeing Ye Jingcheng and Ye Jingteng’s senior brother at the alchemy trade conference, while Li Mutian ordered more Rogue Cultivators to investigate after the Li Family’s previous searchers died.

Ye Jingcheng successfully refined two Jade Soul Pills and trained the Three-Color Cloud Deer, which appeared close to advancing into the late first rank. As he brought the deer inside to break through, Ye Jingcheng sensed a black glow from another spirit beast pouch.

• Ye Jingcheng refined two Jade Soul Pills with the Crimson Flame Fox’s help, using the Spirit-Raising Method to enhance them.
• Ye Jingcheng rewarded the Crimson Flame Fox with a Fire Heart Pill, then released and fed his other spirit beasts.
• Ye Jingcheng trained the Three-Color Cloud Deer in leaping and its Scatter Wood into Soldiers technique.
• Ye Jingcheng realized the Three-Color Cloud Deer was nearing advancement and fed it Wood Cloud Grass and Dense Forest Pig flesh.
• Ye Jingcheng brought the Three-Color Cloud Deer inside to break through, then noticed a faint black glow from another spirit beast pouch.

Ye Jingcheng’s Five Poison Bee advanced into a Six-Color Bee King, and he prepared to attend the market auction with Ye Xinghe and Ye Jingyun. The auction’s Three Thousand Harmony Furnace drew his interest, and he intended to use the event to strike another blow against the Li Family.

• Ye Jingcheng saw that his Five Poison Bee had become a Six-Color Bee King, whose potential likely ended at the mid-stage of the second rank.
• Ye Jingcheng fed the bee king spirit honey and Spirit Nurturing Pills, then let it reunite with the remaining Five Poison Bees.
• Ye Xinghe told Ye Jingcheng that the auction’s finale was the sect’s mid-grade second-rank Three Thousand Harmony Furnace and warned that the Chen Family might aid the Li Family.
• Ye Jingcheng, Ye Xinghe, and Ye Jingyun arrived early at the auction, where Li Mutian and Li Yufu were already waiting in a private room.

Ye Jingcheng attended the Taihang Marketplace auction, where he bought materials for the Crimson Flame Pill and competed for a rare second-tier pill furnace. The bidding for the Threefold Taihe Furnace reached fifteen thousand spirit stones as Li Yufu’s friendly demeanor began to falter.

• Silver Moon opened the auction, and Ye Jingyun bid on the Heavenfire Ring before giving up when its price rose beyond its value.
• Ye Jingyun bought the Cloud Iron Furnace for two thousand eight hundred spirit stones, while Ye Jingcheng bought supplementary materials for the Crimson Flame Pill.
• Ye Jingcheng noticed that the Li Family had stayed out of the earlier bidding and grew wary of Li Yufu’s calm smile.
• Silver Moon presented the Threefold Taihe Furnace, and Ye Jingcheng, the Xu Family, and Li Yufu took turns bidding.
• Ye Jingcheng and Li Yufu drove the furnace’s price to fifteen thousand spirit stones, and Ye Jingcheng remarked that a pill furnace needed to suit its buyer.

Ye Jingcheng used the auction to advertise the Ye Family’s strength and undermine the Li Family, winning the Three Thousand Harmony Furnace and selling his Fire Heart Pills for a high price. The auction ended with intense bidding on a rare Supreme Mystery Spirit Wine recipe that could extend one’s lifespan.

• Ye Jingcheng bid sixteen thousand spirit stones for the Three Thousand Harmony Furnace, ignored Li Yufu, and revealed that he had refined the upcoming pills.
• Li Yufu stopped bidding, and the Ye Family secured the furnace as Silver Moon declared Ye Jingcheng the winner.
• Silver Moon introduced three second-rank Fire Heart Pills, including one with pill patterns, and the Xu Family and Mo Family bid until they sold for seven thousand two hundred spirit stones.
• Silver Moon presented a top-grade second-rank Supreme Mystery Spirit Wine recipe, explaining that it could boost water-attributed cultivators’ cultivation and slightly extend their lifespan but required a rare Supreme Mystery Turtle spirit gallbladder.
• Bidders quickly raised the wine recipe’s price above its twenty-thousand-spirit-stone starting bid.

Ye Jingcheng helped drive up the price of the Supreme Mystery Turtle wine formula, which sold for 45,000 spirit stones, while he acquired the Three Thousand Harmony Furnace. The Mo Family Patriarch obtained the formula and grew suspicious of a plot involving Blue Wave Wine and the Ye Family.

• Ye Jingcheng joined the bidding for the wine formula as Ye Xinghe had instructed, and the Mo and Xu Family ancestors raised their offers.
• An unknown first-floor bidder offered 45,000 spirit stones, and Silver Moon sold the formula after no one bid higher.
• Ye Jingcheng settled the auction costs, took the Three Thousand Harmony Furnace, and planned to refine Purplewood Pills after returning.
• Cultivators searched Taihang Marketplace for the winning bidder, but most lost track of him within fifteen minutes.
• A Spirit-Isolating Robe cultivator gave the Mo Family Patriarch a jade slip containing the Supreme Mystery Turtle wine formula.
• The Mo Family Patriarch ordered the family to keep selling Blue Wave Wine while withholding the formula, and he questioned whether the Ye Family’s recent purchases were connected.

Ye Jingcheng continued refining pills and supporting the Ye Family’s campaign against the Li Family while refusing a risky trade involving a partial Bloodburst Pill formula. After ten more days of relative calm, Ye Xinghe arrived with grave news.

• Ye Jingcheng refined ten Spirit Nurturing Pills in the Three Thousand Harmony Furnace and continued training with his spirit beasts.
• Ye Xinghe told Ye Jingcheng that the Ye Family had received more Ban Li Orders and that three cultivators qualified for spirit pills, while the Li Family’s shop stood nearly empty.
• Ye Xinghe presented three pill formulas, including half of a second-tier Bloodburst Pill formula from the rogue cultivator who had auctioned the wine recipe.
• Ye Jingcheng refused to travel to Severing Harmony Valley for the trade and proposed copying the formula fragment before sending it to the cultivator.
• The Li Family pressured the sect over Ye Jingcheng’s cultivation, then began selling spirit pills at street stalls as its business declined.
• After another ten days, Ye Xinghe entered with a storm-dark expression.

After Ye Jingfeng and Ye Xingyu were killed while transporting spirit herbs, Ye Xinghe asked Ye Jingcheng to help the family bait the attacker. Ye Jingcheng agreed to prepare for the trap, while the Ye Family tightened security and warned its members to stay in the market.

• Ye Xinghe told Ye Jingcheng that Ye Jingfeng and Ye Xingyu had been killed in an attack that destroyed their jade slips and spirit beasts within moments.
• Ye Jingcheng suspected the attack might target him, and Ye Xinghe asked whether he could hold off a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator for three breaths as bait.
• Ye Xinghe offered Lizard Elder, the Blood Hawk, Turtle Ancestor, and the operation's gains; Ye Jingcheng agreed to wait two months before participating.
• Ye Xinghe said he would buy spirit herbs from the Xu Family to cover the shortage, while Ye Jingcheng fed his spirit beasts and studied the Heavenly Soul Art.
• The Ye Family changed its travel routes, began surveilling members without Beast-Link Marks, and Ye Xinghe warned everyone to stay in the market and report any trips outside their shops.