Chapter Summaries

Ye Jingcheng discovered five-hundred-year-old Redwood Ginseng, completing the main ingredients for second-tier Crimson Flame Pills, then began fusing a Five Poison Bee’s divided soul. Its memories showed a battle between Ye Family and Mo Family cultivators and revealed the Ye Family’s powerful great demon spirit beasts.

• Ye Jingcheng found five-hundred-year-old Redwood Ginseng, the final main ingredient for second-tier Crimson Flame Pills, and securely stored it with the other ingredients.
• Ye Jingcheng finished sorting the storage pouch’s treasures and prepared to sell its spare magical artifacts and storage pouches to the family.
• Ye Jingcheng settled his four spirit beasts, took out a Five Poison Bee, and began soul fusion after years of preparation.
• Ye Jingcheng’s fused memories showed a vast ocean and a battle between Ye Family and Mo Family cultivators.
• Ye Jingcheng saw that the Ye Family possessed three great demon spirit beasts with rare abilities and recognized that his own beasts needed more coordination and Spirit-Transforming Pills.

After merging souls, Ye Jingcheng greatly strengthened his divine sense and successfully refined eight Fire Heart Pills. He headed to the Treasure Pavilion to prepare for another soul split, but a clan meeting turned to the Ye Family restaurant’s opening and the Xu Family’s offer to reconcile.

• Ye Jingcheng discovered that merging souls had expanded his divine sense to two hundred zhang and sharpened his thoughts.
• Ye Jingcheng refined eight Fire Heart Pills, two of them bearing faint pill patterns, and cleaned and stored his furnace.
• Ye Jingcheng fed his spirit beasts and gave the Wood Demon more treasure light after realizing its spirit peaches might extend lifespans.
• Ye Jingcheng received a clan meeting summons on his way to the Treasure Pavilion and arrived as Ye Xinghe and the other family members gathered.
• Ye Xingliu asked Ye Jingcheng to preside over the restaurant’s opening, and Ye Xinghe reported that the Xu Family had killed the remaining Li Family members and offered the Ye Family a banquet to reconcile.

Ye Jingcheng led the Ye Family to reject the Xu Family’s banquet and maintain their standoff, then approved plans for the family’s restaurant and Taihang Marketplace. He visited Ye Haiyun, where he saw Ye Jinghu making rapid progress in cultivation, and learned that Ye Haiyun had advanced his work on the Bloodrage Pill.

• Ye Jingcheng said the Ye Family would refuse the Xu Family’s banquet and keep resisting them, since Taihang Commandery’s control mattered more than peace with the Xu Family.
• Ye Xingliu demanded that the Xu Family hand over the Li Family cultivator with the ice spiritual root, dead or alive, to prevent possession and soul-slip schemes.
• Ye Jingcheng approved the restaurant plan, and Ye Xingliu assigned Ye Jingyu to oversee Taihang Marketplace.
• Ye Jingcheng visited Ye Haiyun and saw Ye Jinghu nearing the first level of Qi Refinement after only a little over a month of training.
• Ye Haiyun told Ye Jingcheng that he had made progress on the Bloodrage Pill but might not have time to refine it soon.

Ye Jingcheng noticed Ye Haiyun’s failing health and offered him longevity peaches, but Ye Haiyun refused, urging the family to save them for younger cultivators. They discussed the Bloodrage Pill and demon-core pills before Ye Jingcheng prepared to return to Taichang Market with a plan for Mo Hongyuan.

• Ye Jingcheng served Ye Haiyun Floating Cloud Tea and noticed his trembling hand and unstable spiritual aura.
• Ye Haiyun admitted he might live only another two or three years and refused Ye Jingcheng’s offer of longevity peaches for the sake of the family’s cultivators.
• Ye Haiyun and Ye Jingcheng discussed the Bloodrage Pill formula and exchanged their pill-refining insights.
• Ye Jingcheng showed Ye Haiyun two second-rank pills refined from demon beast cores and asked him to research them for the family.
• Ye Haiyun warned Ye Jingcheng to be careful at Taichang Market and let the family handle Mo Hongyuan if necessary, but Ye Jingcheng said he had a plan to lure him out.

Mo Hongyuan struggled to maintain the Mo Family’s standing while Li Mubin recovered in the Xu Family’s courtyard. Meanwhile, the Ye Family opened a successful restaurant and discussed expanding into Taichang Market, with Ye Jingyu affirming that Ye Jingcheng would succeed as family head.

• Mo Hongyuan reassured the Mo Family cultivators that Mo Wenchen would return, ordered Mo Qianyu to arrange sect placements for female cultivators, and asked about brewing Grand Profound Wine.
• Li Mubin watched a guard leave her secluded cultivation courtyard, then told Xu Wenchang that she needed decades to recover and warned him not to stir up trouble.
• The Ye Family replaced the Mo Family restaurant’s plaque with its own and drew a large crowd to the restaurant’s opening in Taihang Marketplace.
• Jiang Jinghe and Chu Xiyu attended the opening, and Ye Jingyu welcomed them inside as the restaurant quickly filled with customers.
• Chu Xiyu asked about the Ye Family’s planned shops in Taichang Market, and Ye Jingyu said Ye Jingcheng was handling preparations and would become the next family head.
• When Jiang Jinghe questioned why Ye Jingyu’s father was not succeeding him, Ye Jingyu replied that the family head position belonged to the capable.

Ye Jingcheng recovered from dividing his soul, watched his spirit beasts grow stronger, and harvested life-extending spirit peaches before preparing to travel to Taichang Market. He left gifts for several Ye Family members and met the five-person group that would accompany him.

• Ye Jingcheng completed his second soul division, used a Jade Soul Pill to ease his pain, and found that the spirit peaches and spirit beasts had continued to grow during his seclusion.
• Ye Jingcheng learned that the Peachwood Demon’s spirit peaches would mature in two months, then trained his beasts and saw the Six-Color Bee Queen advance to the second order and display its speed.
• Ye Jingcheng continued studying pills while waiting for the peaches to ripen, then harvested five life-extending peaches from the Peachwood Demon and thirty-five ordinary spirit peaches.
• Ye Jingcheng collected spirit fruits, tea, and nectar, took the Peachwood Demon and his beasts with him, and left two life-extending peaches and other gifts at Ye Haiyun’s residence.
• Ye Jingcheng arrived at the Lineage’s Treasure Hall and joined Ye Jingyun, Ye Xingyi, Ye Jinghao, and Ye Jingyu as the group preparing to travel to Taichang Market.

Ye Jingcheng led Ye Jingyu and the others to Taichang Market to establish the Ye Family’s shop and learn the local rules. After gathering information about the Chu and Mo families, he learned that the Mo Family had rented rooms under the name of a guide’s missing friend.

• Ye Jingyu confirmed that she wanted to go to Taichang Market and pursue one last chance to advance beyond spirit planting.
• Ye Jingcheng and his companions crossed the plains and reached Taichang Market, where he paid for entry tokens and explained their use.
• Ye Jingcheng hired a female cultivator as their guide and had her explain the market’s rules, districts, and places to buy treasures.
• The guide described the Chu Family’s artifact shop and the Mo Family’s troubled array-plate business.
• Ye Jingcheng paid the guide and offered her rewards for referring customers to the Ye Family’s shop.
• The guide told Ye Jingcheng that the Mo Family had rented rooms under her missing friend’s name and that the Ye Family co-renting the Chu Family shop had not yet arrived.

Ye Jingcheng shopped in Taichang Market for ingredients to advance his pills and spirit beasts while keeping his identity and interests concealed. After reuniting with his family members, he visited the Chu-Ye Pavilion, where he met Chu Yanqing again as a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

• Ye Jingcheng sent Ye Jingyu, Ye Jinghao, and Ye Xingyi to browse stalls and investigate the Chu, Mo, and Xu Families, while warning them to treat Chen Ya's rumors cautiously.
• Ye Jingcheng visited the Jin Family shop in disguise, bought ingredients for the second-rank Crimson Flame Pill and Wood Demon advancement medicine, and avoided revealing his alchemy interests.
• Ye Jingcheng browsed a magic artifact shop without buying anything, then suppressed his cultivation and met up with Ye Jingyu and the others.
• Ye Jingcheng and the group went to the Chu-Ye Pavilion, where Chu Yanyu told him that her fifth sister had been waiting for him.
• Ye Jingcheng found Chu Yanqing on the second floor and learned she had become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Ye Jingcheng inspected the Ye Family’s new shop, met Chu Xiyu at a banquet, and prepared to open for business in Taichang Market. He recruited Chen Ya to help attract customers and sell unusual Qi Replenishing Pills, though his plan remained unexplained.

• Ye Jingcheng inspected Chu-Ye Pavilion with Chu Yanqing, then secured his room with formations and spirit beasts before studying how the Ye Family could establish itself and investigate the Xu and Mo Families.
• At the Chu Family banquet, Chu Xiyu welcomed Ye Jingcheng, discussed the Ye Family’s pills and the coming sect entrance competition, and suggested using rogue cultivators and market stalls to promote their shop.
• Ye Jingcheng visited Taichang Market’s pill shops, bought ingredients for Jade-Scale Pills, and gathered the spirit medicines needed for the Peachwood Demon’s advancement.
• Ye Jingcheng summoned Chen Ya, who had recruited two fellow cultivators to help solicit customers, and gave her first-tier high-grade Qi Replenishing Pills containing spirit fragrance to sell at a market stall.

Ye Jingcheng launched the Ye Family’s pill business in Taichang Market with spirit-tea promotions and an opening-day spectacle. The promotion drew crowds to Chu-Ye Pavilion, where the prepared stock of Qi Replenishing Pills and Red Ganoderma Pills quickly sold out.

• Ye Jingcheng gave Chen Ya pill bottles to sell through a tea stall, offered her a commission, and secretly marked her clothing with tea-blossom honey so his Five Poison Bees could track her.
• Ye Jingcheng and the Ye Family opened Chu-Ye Pavilion, attracting onlookers when Ye Xingyi’s Mountain-Devouring Rats ate various materials outside the shop.
• Ye Jingcheng, Ye Jingyu, Ye Xingyi, and Jingyun sold first-rank pills in the shop while Ye Jingcheng handled second-rank pills upstairs.
• An old Daoist sold pills at a West City stall while offering Spring Welcoming Tea, and buyers learned through him that the Ye Family sold Qi Replenishing Pills for ninety-one spirit stones each.
• Cultivators followed the old Daoist to Chu-Ye Pavilion, where they crowded in to buy the Ye Family’s discounted pills until more than one hundred Qi Replenishing Pills and Red Ganoderma Pills were sold out.

Ye Jingcheng helped the Ye Family establish its business at Taichang Market, then used the first day’s earnings to prepare an advancement medicine for the Peachwood Demon. The Xu Family investigated the Ye Family but held back, while the Peachwood Demon began producing more peach gum after absorbing the spirit liquid.

• Xu Wenyuan told Xu Qingyu that the Ye Family posed little threat, warned him not to act against them yet, and said the sect might soon clear the Taihang Mountain Range.
• Ye Jingcheng sold second-order pills at Chu-Ye Pavilion and earned seven hundred spirit stones, while Chu Yanqing thanked him for the day’s business and offered him Cloud Leisure Tea.
• Ye Jingcheng refused to restock the discounted pills, closed the shop, and explained to his family that limited discounts would attract customers without disrupting the market.
• After dinner, Ye Jingcheng refined Woodheart Spirit Liquid with the Crimson Flame Fox’s help and carried it outside for the Peachwood Demon.
• Ye Jingcheng infused the peach tree with Treasure Radiance and poured in the spirit liquid, causing the Peachwood Demon to enter its true body and produce more peach gum.

Ye Jingcheng’s shop business stabilized, bringing in substantial profits while leaving him and the others more time to cultivate. He tended to his advancing spirit beasts and prepared to practice refining second-tier Crimson Flame Pills, then was surprised by a visit from Ye Xingyi and Ye Jingteng.

• Ye Jingcheng calculated the shop’s profits and arranged for the family members to take turns guarding its two floors.
• Ye Jingcheng cultivated beneath the peach tree and observed the Wood Demon’s vigorous growth after applying advancement spirit fluid.
• Ye Jingcheng released the Golden-Scaled Beast and Three-Color Cloud Deer, and the deer showed signs of another breakthrough after consuming spirit herbs and beast blood essence.
• Ye Jingcheng planned to practice refining second-tier Crimson Flame Pills after securing the courtyard’s formation.
• Ye Xingyi and Ye Jingteng arrived, surprising Ye Jingcheng after Ye Jingteng had entered death-seclusion following his Foundation Establishment breakthrough.

Ye Jingcheng met with Ye Jingteng, who had emerged from seclusion without breaking through, and supplied him with pills while asking for help finding spirit herbs and potential buyers. After Ye Jingteng left, Ye Jingcheng returned to deducing pill formulas as he focused on reaching the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

• Ye Jingcheng brewed Floating Cloud Tea for Ye Jingteng and learned that his elder brother regretted missing the family’s recent developments.
• Ye Jingteng asked about Jade Soul Pills to help with his stalled cultivation, and Ye Jingcheng sold him two at a discounted price.
• Ye Jingcheng gave Ye Jingteng two pill-patterned Purplewood Pills and asked him to help find spirit herbs and introduce potential buyers.
• Ye Jingteng agreed to seek rare ingredients and connect Ye Jingcheng with suppliers from Golden Core families.
• After Ye Jingteng departed, Ye Jingcheng returned to the courtyard and resumed deducing pill formulas.

Ye Jingcheng used two furnaces to compare medicinal liquids, then focused on refining a second-rank Crimson Flame Pill. He successfully made a second-tier pill from precious herbs and rested afterward, promising the Crimson Flame Fox it could use the pill in two days.

• Ye Jingcheng refined golden medicinal liquid in two furnaces at once and sent Ye Xingyi and Ye Jingyun to watch the shop while he prepared to make the Crimson Flame Pill.
• Ye Jingcheng restored his soul power, reviewed the pill formula, and set up formations before beginning the refinement with the Three Thousand Harmony Furnace and Crimson Flame Fox.
• Ye Jingcheng added the Fox Red Grass, Redwood Ginseng, and eight-hundred-year Heavenly Red Fruit together, carefully controlling the flames as the ingredients fused.
• Ye Jingcheng used the Spirit-Enhancing Secret Art and successfully condensed a second-tier Crimson Flame Pill, which he stored in a jade vial.
• Ye Jingcheng replenished the Crimson Flame Fox with treasure light, promised it could use the pill in two days, and began cultivating the Heavenly Soul Art.

Ye Jingcheng returned from seclusion and took charge after the Ye Family’s spirit herb suppliers refused to sell to them. He arranged a meeting with the Jin Family’s Golden Jade Hall and ordered the family to retaliate against the Xu and Mo Families, leaving the Ye Family preparing to defend its business in Taichang Market.

• Ye Jinghao reported that the Ye Family could not find anyone willing to supply spirit herbs, and Ye Xingyi suspected someone was targeting them.
• Ye Jingcheng returned Ye Jingyun’s pill furnace and learned that the Crimson Flame Fox, Wood Demon, and Three-Color Cloud Deer were nearing breakthroughs.
• Ye Jingcheng offered to handle the herb shortage through the Jin Family’s Golden Jade Hall and asked Ye Jingyu to accompany him.
• Ye Jingcheng told the family to continue issuing the Ban Xu Order, undercut the Xu Family’s best-selling pills, and have Chen Ya and the others return more formation plates to hinder the Mo Family.
• Ye Jingcheng used Ye Jingteng’s token to contact a Jin Family shop and arranged to meet Golden Jade Hall at Zhong Family Restaurant.

Ye Jingcheng met Jin Yutang at Zhong Family Restaurant to secure spirit herbs for the Ye Family and arrange a pill furnace for his cousin. Jin Yutang accepted the deal and offered to continue supplying the family, while Ye Jingyu remained puzzled by the negotiation.

• Ye Jingcheng brought Ye Jingyu to Zhong Family Restaurant and paid to reach its third floor.
• Ye Jingcheng welcomed Jin Yutang, ordered an expensive spirit banquet, and asked about the spirit herbs he had brought.
• Ye Jingcheng exchanged nearly ten thousand spirit stones and a Jade Soul Pill for Jin Yutang’s spirit herbs.
• Ye Jingcheng bought a beginner’s first-tier pill furnace from Jin Yutang for six hundred spirit stones.
• Jin Yutang offered to supply the Ye Family with spirit herbs in the future, and Ye Jingyu remained confused by the arrangement.

Ye Jingcheng’s Three-Color Cloud Deer prepared to break through as his family expanded its business in Taichang Market, but his attention turned to the Wood Demon’s advancement. The Wood Demon reached the second order, revealed its new abilities and spirit peaches, and left Ye Jingcheng puzzling over its odd behavior.

• Ye Jingcheng gave the Three-Color Cloud Deer spirit pills and Purple Cloud Ginseng as it prepared to break through.
• Ye Jingcheng learned that the Ye Family had established itself in Taichang Market, then concealed the Wood Demon’s breakthrough from the Chu Family.
• The Wood Demon absorbed spiritual energy for three hours, advanced to the second order, and bowed before Ye Jingcheng.
• The Wood Demon demonstrated its stronger roots and its ability to absorb formations, then said its spirit peaches could extend a person’s lifespan by about ten years.
• Ye Jingcheng praised the Wood Demon, gave it advancement spirit liquid, and told it to stabilize its cultivation before coming to his room that night.

Ye Jingcheng completed Beast-Linking with the Wood Demon and discovered that it let him absorb wood-attributed spiritual energy from the earth to heal injuries and slightly strengthen his body. After ten days of cultivation, the Three-Color Cloud Deer began advancing to the ninth level of Qi Refinement, while the Crimson Flame Fox began evolving from two tails to three.

• Ye Jingcheng used multiple formations, Five Poison Bees, and the Jade-Scale Snake’s poisonous mist to secure his Beast-Linking with the Wood Demon.
• Ye Jingcheng completed the Beast-Linking and found that the Wood Demon’s spiritual power greatly improved his wood cultivation, though it did not extend his lifespan.
• Ye Jingcheng discovered that he could root his spiritual power into the earth to absorb energy that healed injuries and slightly strengthened his body.
• After ten days, the Three-Color Cloud Deer began breaking through toward the ninth level of Qi Refinement, and the Crimson Flame Fox resumed absorbing fire-attributed spiritual energy.
• Ye Jingcheng enclosed the Crimson Flame Fox with formations and began preparing to conceal its evolution from two tails to three.

Ye Jingcheng watched the Crimson Flame Fox advance and gain powerful new abilities, then used the resulting fire-attributed energy to prepare for a breakthrough. As the Mo Family’s secret activities raised the stakes, he beast-linked the Three-Color Cloud Deer and began closed-door cultivation to reach the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

• The Crimson Flame Fox advanced to the second-tier middle stage, created three convincing phantoms, and combined their power into a massive fireball.
• Ye Jingcheng absorbed the Fox’s pure fire-attributed spiritual energy through the Beast-Link Mark and gained new insight into his fire techniques.
• Ye Jingcheng feigned weakness at the shop to obtain a storage pouch, then continued refining pills while learning that the Xu Family had hired Xu Qingyu and that the Mo Family was secretly brewing spirit wine.
• Ye Jingcheng worried that the Mo Family might discover the Ye Family’s involvement sooner than expected, but decided not to react hastily.
• The Three-Color Cloud Deer reached the peak of the late first rank, and Ye Jingcheng beast-linked it to enhance his wood-attribute abilities.
• Ye Jingcheng hung a sign on his door and entered closed-door cultivation to break through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

Ye Jingcheng cultivated in seclusion for three months and broke through to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, then concealed his progress and refined Bloodrage Pills. He left his room and met Ye Xingyi, who asked how the pill refinement had gone.

• Ye Jingcheng used a Purplewood Pill and the Spirit-Gathering Array to cultivate, drawing on his Beast-Link Marks to improve his spiritual energy circulation.
• After three months, Ye Jingcheng broke through to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage at age forty-five.
• Ye Jingcheng used the Great Turtle Breath-Hiding Art to disguise his cultivation as peak Foundation Establishment Early Stage.
• Ye Jingcheng refined three Bloodrage Pills and considered selling them despite their harmful effects.
• Ye Jingcheng left his room and encountered Ye Xingyi and the others, and Ye Xingyi asked how the pill refinement had gone.