Chapter Summaries

Ye Jingcheng refined his first top-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill and prepared to have his alchemy skill appraised. He visited the Ye Family's Alchemy Pavilion, where Ye Haitian realized he had become a first-tier top-grade alchemist.

• Ye Jingcheng used the Two-Stage Furnace-Warming Method and Three-Part Alchemy Method to refine one top-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill with the Crimson Flame Fox's help.
• Ye Jingcheng noted that he still lacked Water Cloud Grass and several supplementary ingredients needed to refine Jade-Scale Pills, while the Jade-Scale Snake neared a breakthrough and the Five Poison Bees lacked poisonous flower honey.
• Ye Jingcheng gathered offerings and went to the Alchemy Pavilion to seek an appraisal of his alchemy skill.
• Ye Haitian teased Ye Jingcheng for rarely visiting, then asked in astonishment whether he had become a first-tier top-grade alchemist.

Ye Jingcheng had his first-rank top-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill appraised and learned he could receive family support to open a spirit field. With Ye Jingyu’s help, he surveyed the land and began preparing a field near his courtyard, then planned to ask Ye Xinghan about poison flower seeds.

• Ye Haitian confirmed that Ye Jingcheng had refined a first-rank top-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill and explained the family’s alchemy elder privileges and spirit-field support.
• Ye Jingcheng examined the Jade Ring Rat’s hidden claws and fed it two Spirit Feeding Pills.
• Ye Jingyu visited Ye Jingcheng and used a Qi-Observing Formation to locate the best site for a spirit field near his courtyard.
• At dusk, Ye Jingyu set up a Spirit-Gathering Formation, enriched and marked out a one-mu plot, and explained how Ye Jingcheng should prepare its soil over the next two months.
• Ye Jingyu advised Ye Jingcheng to ask Ye Xinghan about poison flower seeds, and she departed.

Ye Jingcheng assigned the Jade Ring Rat to tend his spirit field and continued cultivating toward the eighth level of Qi Refinement while waiting for the Jade-Scale Snake to advance. The next morning, he visited Ye Xinghan to ask about obtaining spirit seeds, bringing him six spirit apricots.

• Ye Jingcheng set up a Three Talents Spirit-Trapping Formation and instructed the Jade Ring Rat to turn over the spirit field in exchange for better food and pills.
• The Jade Ring Rat eagerly dug through the field, and Ye Jingcheng rewarded it with an Azure Spirit Pill.
• Ye Jingcheng cultivated through the night and considered his future breakthroughs, deciding not to attempt Foundation Establishment without a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Ye Jingcheng fed Azure Cloud Wolf meat to the Jade-Scale Snake, which showed signs of an imminent breakthrough and asked for more food and Spirit Feeding Pills.
• Ye Jingcheng found the Jade Ring Rat resting beside the freshly turned field, then went to Ye Xinghan's cave residence with six spirit apricots to discuss obtaining seeds.

Ye Jingcheng visited Ye Xinghan and obtained Purple Illusion Flower seeds, spirit-enhancing liquid, and spring-welcoming tea cuttings in exchange for a future offer to bring back materials from a second-rank wood demon. Back in his courtyard, he prepared to test whether his treasure book could affect the seeds.

• Ye Jingcheng admired Ye Xinghan’s spirit-plant courtyard and shared tea with him while learning about his research into imbued seeds and wood-demon contracts.
• Ye Xinghan showed Ye Jingcheng his late first-rank Heavenly Wood Spirit Monkey, prompting Ye Jingcheng to wonder whether his treasure book could benefit spirit plants or improve wood-demon contracts.
• Ye Jingcheng asked for poisonous flower seeds, and Ye Xinghan offered thirty Purple Illusion Flower seeds in return for future second-rank wood-demon materials.
• Ye Jingcheng chose ten inferior seeds and twenty average ones, then received spirit-enhancing liquid and spring-welcoming tea cuttings from Ye Xinghan.
• Ye Jingcheng recorded Ye Xinghan’s cultivation instructions and the monkey’s methods, then prepared four seeds of different qualities in spirit-enhancing liquid to test his treasure book.

Ye Jingcheng tested whether Treasure Radiance could improve Purple Illusion Flower seeds, then watched the Jade-Scale Snake complete a breakthrough and advanced to the eighth level of Qi Refinement himself. By summer, his spirit fields had become fertile enough for planting, and the Jade Ring Rat had grown stronger.

• Ye Jingcheng infused two inferior Purple Illusion Flower seeds with Treasure Radiance and observed them absorb spiritual liquid faster than the comparison seeds.
• The Jade-Scale Snake grew hungry, consumed pills and an Azure Cloud Wolf, and began breaking through while Ye Jingcheng activated the Spirit-Nurturing Array and had the Golden-Scaled Beast keep watch.
• After a month, the Jade-Scale Snake emerged three feet longer, with a blade-like aura and corrosive jade venom mist.
• Ye Jingcheng intensified his cultivation, took pills, and broke through to the eighth level of Qi Refinement, though his fire-aspect spiritual power became imbalanced.
• By summer, Ye Jingcheng found the spirit fields fully cultivated and the Jade Ring Rat stronger, and prepared to plant the Purple Illusion Flower seeds.

Ye Jingcheng planted Purple Illusion Flower seeds and tea stems in his spirit field, then tested his improved pill refining and beast-training methods. His Crimson Flame Fox grew stronger after training and consuming a Spirit Nurturing Pill, while Ye Jingcheng settled into a busy routine of cultivation and tending to his plants and beasts.

• Ye Jingcheng planted all thirty Purple Illusion Flower seeds and three Spring Welcoming Tea stems, with the Jade Ring Rat helping cover the seeds.
• Ye Jingcheng used the Cloud-Summoning Rain-Dispelling Art on the spirit field, then successfully warmed the Azure Elephant Furnace quickly and refined nine Azure Spirit Pills.
• Ye Jingcheng gave two Azure Spirit Pills to the Crimson Flame Fox but refused its request for a Spirit Nurturing Pill, then ordered it to train with Gold Scale.
• Ye Jingcheng healed the Crimson Flame Fox with Treasure Radiance after training and gave it a Spirit Nurturing Pill, which it refined over a day and night.
• Ye Jingcheng refined two Spirit Nurturing Pills and continued pouring the pill residue into the spirit field as he balanced plant care, pill study, beast training, and cultivation.

Ye Jingcheng’s Purple Illusion Flowers bloomed, allowing his Five Poison Bees to gather nectar, while his Spring Welcoming Tea yielded a small but potent harvest. After meeting Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingyong, he learned that Taiyi Sect would auction at least eight Foundation Establishment Pills at Taihang Marketplace the following year, giving the Ye Family a chance to obtain one.

• Ye Jingcheng found more than forty Purple Illusion Flower buds in bloom and harvested Spring Welcoming Tea from his three tea trees.
• Ye Jingcheng released six Five Poison Bees to gather nectar, then moved their hive beside the spirit terrace so they could work without repeatedly opening the formation.
• Ye Jingcheng prepared to visit Ye Xingqun and other clan members to discuss raising Five Poison Bees and share his tea and spirit honey.
• Ye Jingcheng encountered Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingyong returning from Jade Dragon Valley after their five-year assignment, and congratulated Ye Jingyu on reaching the ninth level of Qi Refinement.
• Ye Jingyu told Ye Jingcheng that Taiyi Sect would auction at least eight Foundation Establishment Pills at Taihang Marketplace the following year, leaving the Ye Family a strong chance to acquire one.

Ye Jingcheng presented Ye Haiyun with a method for a pill that could benefit fire-attributed spirit beasts, and Ye Haiyun successfully refined two pills after correcting it. Ye Haiyun promised to secure Ye Jingcheng a Foundation Establishment Pill if testing confirmed the results, while Ye Jingcheng prepared to strengthen the Jade-Scale Snake with Azure Water Pills.

• Ye Jingcheng visited Ye Haiyun, shared Spring Welcoming Tea, and discussed his concerns about competing for a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Ye Jingcheng gave Ye Haiyun a jade slip and pill dregs for a formula that could benefit spirit beasts, and Ye Haiyun agreed to test it at the Pill Pavilion.
• After five attempts over three days, Ye Haiyun refined two pills and promised Ye Jingcheng a Foundation Establishment Pill if the tests succeeded.
• Ye Jingcheng shared Spring Welcoming Tea with Ye Haitian, asked him alchemy questions, and left before Ye Haitian could ask his own.
• Ye Jingcheng exchanged for alchemy ingredients and an Azure Water Pill formula to improve the Jade-Scale Snake's cultivation.

Ye Jingcheng obtained a secret method for breeding his Five Poison Bees and began preparing the ingredients and array it required. After learning that Ye Jingteng had entered seclusion to attempt Foundation Establishment, Ye Jingcheng resolved to strengthen his spirit beasts and study the Jade-Scale Pill recipe while preparing for a future Clan operation.

• Ye Jingcheng visited Ye Xingqun, received a jade slip describing two methods to spur Five Poison Bee breeding, and agreed to buy bees from Ye Xingqun's next generation if his attempt failed.
• Ye Xingqun gave Ye Jingcheng stone bamboo shoots and a bamboo runner, which Ye Jingcheng fed to his Jade Ring Rat and planted in his spirit field before nurturing it with Treasure Radiance.
• Ye Jingcheng studied the breeding technique and learned that its practical method required a low-grade illusion array, a secret technique, and a Heavenly Passion Pill.
• At the Treasure Pavilion, Ye Haiping gave Ye Jingcheng a century-old Jade Beauty Fruit from Ye Jingteng, who had entered seclusion to attempt Foundation Establishment, and Ye Jingcheng exchanged for the pill ingredients and illusion array.
• Ye Haiping warned Ye Jingcheng that an operation a year later would count toward Clan Contribution, prompting Ye Jingcheng to focus on breeding his bees, strengthening his Crimson Flame Fox, and studying the Jade-Scale Pill recipe.

Ye Jingcheng bred Five Poison Bees in an illusion array, refined an Azure Water Pill, and tested the Jade-Scale Snake against the Golden-Scaled Beast. He discovered that the snake used mist escape and found the bee queen had laid more than fifty eggs, leaving him to wonder whether Treasure Radiance could boost spirit insect reproduction.

• Ye Jingcheng sent four Five Poison Bees into the illusion array and fed them Heavenly Passion Pills to encourage breeding.
• Ye Jingcheng refined an Azure Water Pill, then gave the Crimson Flame Fox a Red Ganoderma Pill and a Crimson Flame Pill, but it did not break through.
• Ye Jingcheng had the Jade-Scale Snake and Golden-Scaled Beast spar, and the snake shattered the beast's stone armor with its Jade-Scale Tail Blade.
• Ye Jingcheng realized the Jade-Scale Snake used poison mist to perform mist escape, then supplied purple illusion poison mist so it could defeat the Golden-Scaled Beast again.
• Ye Jingcheng healed the Golden-Scaled Beast and barred the Jade-Scale Snake from eating it.
• After the Crimson Flame Fox woke without advancing, Ye Jingcheng found more than fifty bee eggs in the hive and suspected Treasure Radiance increased the queen's egg production.

Ye Jingcheng spent the months raising Five Poison Bees and helping his spirit beasts advance, then learned the Ye Family's operation was about to begin as the Taihang Marketplace auction approached. He arrived at a solemn Inner Hall council attended by nearly every late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator in the family.

• Ye Jingcheng watched the queen bee lay seven hundred Five Poison Bee eggs, including three queen bees and thirty drones, and waited for them to hatch.
• The Crimson Flame Fox reached the ninth level of Qi Refinement, while Ye Jingcheng sensed the Five Poison Bee larvae hatching and found that one queen bee had awakened the treasure tome and gained the potential to evolve into a Six-Color Spirit Bee.
• Ye Jingcheng tended the young bees, harvested spirit tea, and watched Purple Illusion Flowers sprout and bamboo shoots emerge.
• Ye Jingcheng received notice that the Ye Family's Inner Hall council had convened as the Taihang Marketplace auction and its Foundation Establishment Pill drew near.
• Ye Jingcheng reached the Treasure Pavilion and joined a gathering of more than thirty family cultivators before Ye Xingliu appeared with an aura suggesting he had reached the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

Ye Xingliu assigned the Ye Family’s secret operations to fund and protect its spirit vein upgrade, then tasked Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi with secretly buying a third-order Spirit-Gathering Formation and Spirit-Attracting Stone at Taichang Market. The pair prepared a Rogue Cultivator disguise and supplies, and Ye Jingcheng also planned to search for the Water Cloud Grass needed for the Jade-Scale Snake’s Jade-Scale Pill.

• Ye Xingliu ordered the clan to prioritize upgrading the spirit vein, manipulate the Foundation Establishment Pill auction, sell clan goods to raise prices, and target the Chu Family’s mine on Jade Snow Mountain.
• Ye Xingliu assigned Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi to secretly purchase a third-order Spirit-Gathering Formation and Spirit-Attracting Stone, revealing that the clan’s eldest granduncle needed the coming spiritual energy tide to break through to the Purple Palace.
• Ye Haiyi explained why he had chosen Ye Jingcheng and gave him a false identity as Tang Haobo, grandson of the Rogue Cultivator Tang Xushan, along with disguises and advice on acting like a Rogue Cultivator.
• Ye Jingcheng exchanged Azure Spirit Pills for contribution points and bought alchemy materials, talismans, an array disk, and spirit stones to prepare for the journey.
• Ye Jingcheng noted that Water Cloud Grass was the last ingredient missing for the Jade-Scale Snake’s Jade-Scale Pill and hoped to find it at Taichang Market.

Ye Jingcheng trained his Five Poison Bees, tended his spirit fields, and traveled with Ye Haiyi to Taichang Market while posing as Tang Haobo. At the market’s outskirts, he recognized Xu Xiuqing fleeing a cultivator, and the chapter ended as their skiff entered Taichang Market with other cultivators.

• Ye Jingcheng selected and trained two hundred Five Poison Bees, harvested Spring-Welcoming Tea, and arranged for Ye Jingyu to watch his spirit fields.
• Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi traveled toward Taichang Market in a black-canopied skiff, with Ye Jingcheng posing as Tang Haobo and listening to Ye Haiyi’s advice.
• Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi reached the plains near Taiyi Peak and continued toward Taichang Market, wary of bandit cultivators.
• Ye Jingcheng recognized Xu Xiuqing being pursued by an eighth-level Qi Refinement cultivator, but he chose not to intervene.
• Ye Haiyi’s skiff moved closer to the pursuer, who soon left; the Ye family then entered Taichang Market alongside several other cultivators.

Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi arrived at Taichang Market under assumed identities, met Meng Xuan, and browsed the marketplace while seeking help for Ye Jingcheng’s illness. After settling into a cheap room, Ye Haiyi warned that rival families had arrived and told Ye Jingcheng to keep his illness and connection to the Ye Family hidden.

• Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi paid the entry fee and entered Taichang Market, where a local cultivator described its powers, auction, and Ascension Immortal Assembly.
• Ye Haiyi avoided hiring the guide and met Meng Xuan, who had arranged a place for them to stay.
• Ye Jingcheng browsed the stalls and bought several herbs needed for the Five Poison Bee’s advancement after bargaining with a vendor.
• Meng Xuan led Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi to their modest room, where Ye Haiyi set up an array and used an induction jade slip.
• Ye Haiyi revealed that members of the Li, Xu, Mo, Chen, and Chu Families had arrived, then told Ye Jingcheng to conceal his illness and avoid the woman surnamed Xu.

As the Taihang Marketplace auction approached, the Li Family prepared to secure Foundation Establishment Pills while the six families learned the sect had reduced the allocation to six. The Ye Family investigated the Chu Family’s defenses, and Ye Jingcheng’s encounter with Xu Xiuqing left him wary before Ye Haiyi summoned him for a secret meeting.

• Li Yufu told Li Xiangyu and Li Xiangfei to keep searching for the Ye Family and warned that Ye Haicheng might have broken through, while urging them to watch the Chu Family.
• Jiang Jinghe announced that the auction would offer six Foundation Establishment Pills instead of eight and required each family to provide two Foundation Establishment cultivators to guard the marketplace, allowing the Ye Family to use second-tier spirit beasts instead.
• Ye Xingliu agreed to the guard arrangement and asked the other families to let the Ye Family auction more goods; Ye Xingyu then sent Ye Xingqun to investigate the Chu Family’s loosened defenses and Fire-Pattern Rabbits.
• Ye Jingcheng sold pills to Xu Xiuqing, rejected her attempt to probe him, and accepted her Black Cloud Flower seeds while returning her payment.
• Ye Jingcheng found the herbs needed for the Five Poison Bee’s advancement, then Ye Haiyi told him to skip his stall for two days and attend an alchemist exchange gathering before checking his Beast-Link Mark and giving him a storage pouch and spirit beast pouch.

Ye Jingcheng learned that the Ye Family had arranged its auction transactions in advance and refined a spirit beast pouch containing Turtle Ancestor, whose true form revealed itself in his treasured book. He attended the Hidden Dragon Hall alchemist exchange, where the arrival of Li and Xu Family cultivators raised his suspicions just before the meeting began.

• Ye Haiyi gave Ye Jingcheng a jade slip identifying the person who would exchange storage pouches, and Ye Jingcheng realized the Ye Family had completed its important purchases before the auction.
• Ye Jingcheng refined the spirit beast pouch and sensed Turtle Ancestor inside; his treasured book identified it as an immature third-rank Vast Azure Turtle.
• Ye Jingcheng studied pill formulas for three days before Meng Xuan took him to the Hidden Dragon Hall alchemist exchange with a Hidden Dragon Token.
• Ye Jingcheng entered the exchange in a spirit-isolating gauze robe and noticed three Taiyi Sect disciples seated at the front.
• Li Xiangfei and Li Xiangyu arrived and greeted the Taiyi disciples, followed by a Xu Family cultivator, prompting Ye Jingcheng to suspect other major families might also be present.
• Xu Haoyi of Taiyi Dharma Peak opened the meeting and reminded attendees to keep its proceedings and what they learned confidential.

Ye Jingcheng attended the Hidden Dragon Pavilion’s alchemy exchange, learned from the lectures, and refined Azure Spirit Pills for its contest. After placing among the top three, he was summoned to meet the martial uncle and discovered that the senior brother was Ye Jingteng’s fellow disciple.

• Xu Haoyi explained pill-pattern alchemy, and the cultivators exchanged their theories, with Rogue Cultivator Lin Tianyong proposing the use of formations during herb fusion.
• Ye Jingcheng described a furnace-warming method, then safely tested and drank the Pavilion’s Golden Fame Tea.
• Xu Haoyi announced the Azure Spirit Pill contest, and Ye Jingcheng entered Earthfire Chamber No. 36 and refined pills with confidence.
• Xu Haoyi ranked Jin Haoli first, Xu Haoshui second, and Rogue Cultivator Tang Haobo third, prompting Li Xiangyu to accuse the contest of being unfair.
• Xu Haoyi took the four top participants to meet his martial uncle, and Ye Jingcheng recognized Ye Jingteng’s senior brother when he entered the meeting room.

Ye Jingcheng traded for a third-rank Spirit Gathering Formation and painted a pill furnace mural at Hidden Dragon Hall, using the Jade Ring Rat’s spiritual power after being warned about the wall. He left with a Hidden Dragon Token and celebrated with Meng Xuan, then sensed that his pursuer had finally gone.

• Ye Jingcheng chose a personal treasure over joining the sect, exchanged spirit stones for a third-rank Spirit Gathering Formation and Spirit-Attracting Stone, and received his pills back.
• At the trading meet, Ye Jingcheng bought a common alchemy material for sixty spirit stones while keeping watch on the Xu Family cultivator.
• Ye Jingcheng painted his pill furnace mural using the Jade Ring Rat’s spiritual power, then received a Hidden Dragon Token granting discounts at Soaring Dragon Pavilion.
• Ye Jingcheng showed the token to Meng Xuan, who celebrated with wine and spirit food at a nearby tavern.
• After drinking with Meng Xuan, Ye Jingcheng left with two bottles of Red Languid and sensed that the person tracking him had departed.

Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi prepared to attend Taichang Market’s grand auction after securing first place and acquiring valuable treasures. The auction began with a Cold Jade Toad hatchling, while Ye Jingcheng planned to leave after the Foundation Establishment Pill was sold.

• Ye Haiyi praised Ye Jingcheng for taking first place and promised him a Foundation Establishment opportunity when the family next distributed them.
• Ye Jingcheng spent the following days selling spirit pills and buying Poison Thorn Flower seeds while avoiding spirit beast shops.
• Ye Jingcheng and Ye Haiyi put on Spirit-Isolating Robes and entered the crowded auction hall, concealing themselves among the attendees.
• Ye Haiyi explained that auctioneer Qiu Xianyun was a popular third-rank alchemist in Taichang Market.
• Qiu Xianyun opened the auction by offering a second-rank top-grade Cold Jade Toad hatchling with a starting bid of one thousand spirit stones.

Ye Jingcheng attended an auction, passed on a Cold Jade Toad and Cold Jade Grass, and lost a bidding contest for Water Cloud Grass after Xu Haoshui appeared to drive up the price. The auction reached the Foundation Establishment Pills, where the first pill sold for 18,300 spirit stones, while Xu Haoshui suspected Ye Jingcheng was a Ye Family clansman seeking Purple Palace Jade Liquid.

• Qiu Xianyun demonstrated a juvenile Cold Jade Toad's strength, and it sold for 2,400 spirit stones as Ye Jingcheng watched without bidding.
• The Cold Jade Grass sold for 380 spirit stones, and Ye Jingcheng competed with Xu Haoshui and a Rogue Cultivator for Water Cloud Grass before giving up at 990 spirit stones.
• Xu Haoshui told Xu Wencheng that he suspected Ye Jingcheng was a Ye Family clansman and had tested his available spirit stones by bidding against him.
• Qiu Xianyun began the Foundation Establishment Pill auction, and Ye Haiyi bid up to 16,000 spirit stones before withdrawing.
• The first Foundation Establishment Pill sold for 18,300 spirit stones.