Chapter Summaries

Fang Qing used his Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix Dao Foundation to secretly hear Zhan Hongxiu and Turtle Elder’s thoughts while posing as a treasure appraiser. He discovered that Zhan Hongxiu had concealed Turtle Elder’s original shell, and learned that his Dao-Born Pearl protected him from thought-reading.

• Fang Qing displayed his Five-Elements Spirit Fruits, and Zhong Lingxiu promised Zhan Hongxiu a Golden Core Pill if the alchemy batch yielded more than two.
• Turtle Elder warned Zhan Hongxiu that she had damaged her bonded spirit pet’s potential by using a lifespan-burning pill, but offered a way to restore some of its vitality.
• Fang Qing left the hall, changed his Dao Foundation and appearance, then returned disguised as Zhong Lingxiu’s guest elder and treasure appraiser.
• Zhan Hongxiu revealed her secret-realm treasures, including Ten-Thousand-Year Stone Milk and a supreme-grade spirit stone, while Turtle Elder explained that his original shell was hidden on her person.
• Fang Qing overheard their thoughts and realized that the Dao-Born Pearl made him immune to the Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix thought-reading ability.

Fang Qing prepared to refine Golden Core Pills while learning from Zhan Hongxiu and Gui Ling that the Water-Moon Palace and Thunderclap Temple might have split from the fallen All-Heaven Star Palace. He left Zhan Hongxiu increasingly wary after probing her about the Devouring Sea Method, which Gui Ling linked to the Star Palace’s downfall.

• Zhong Lingxiu tallied Zhan Hongxiu’s secret-realm haul and said its ingredients could complete most of the Golden Core Pill formula.
• Zhan Hongxiu asked Zhong Lingxiu about the Eastern Sea’s powers, and Gui Ling recognized the Water-Moon Palace and Thunderclap Temple as former branches of the All-Heaven Star Palace.
• Fang Qing reviewed the gathered pill ingredients, decided to begin refining, and invited Zhan Hongxiu into the Ice Soul Cave.
• Zhan Hongxiu gave Fang Qing a jade slip containing a Golden Core Pill formula and extensive alchemy notes from a Fourth-Order grandmaster, and Fang Qing estimated his chance of success at fifty percent.
• Fang Qing asked Zhan Hongxiu about ancient secret arts and mentioned the Devouring Sea Method, prompting Gui Ling to reveal that the Devouring Sea Demon Sect may have caused the All-Heaven Star Palace’s decline.

Fang Qing refined two Prime Quality Golden Core Pills and watched Zhan Hongxiu choose not to expose his concealed cultivation. With Zhong Lingxiu preparing to attack the Azure Sea Sect, Fang Qing began his final preparations to attempt Core Formation.

• Fang Qing let Gui Ling reveal that he had reached Foundation Establishment Perfection, prompting Zhan Hongxiu to weigh whether to report him to Zhong Lingxiu.
• Fang Qing learned of Heaven Cauldron's death and spent two years refining Golden Core Pills at Ice Soul Cave.
• Fang Qing presented two Prime Quality Golden Core Pills to Zhong Lingxiu, who gave one to Zhan Hongxiu and offered her a Third-Order cave dwelling for Core Formation.
• Zhan Hongxiu refused Turtle Elder's urging to report Fang Qing, deciding she owed him a debt.
• Fang Qing asked Zhong Lingxiu to attack the Azure Sea Sect, then entered a Third-Order cave dwelling and began preparing to attempt Core Formation.

Fang Qing began attempting Core Formation under Supreme White Island’s grand formation, while Xiang Dahu used a staged show of loyalty to secure the formation and eliminate a defiant Zhong Family cultivator. Fang Qing formed a Mid-Grade True Core, but its power reached a bottleneck, leaving its final quality uncertain.

• Zhan Hongxiu and Bei Lingshu wondered who on Supreme White Island was attempting Core Formation when spiritual energy gathered above a cave residence.
• Xiang Dahu activated the island’s Third-Order Grand Formation by Fang Qing’s order and killed a Zhong Family cultivator who defied him.
• Zhan Hongxiu realized Xiang Dahu’s apparent surrender had been a performance arranged to protect Fang Qing’s Core Formation attempt.
• Fang Qing passed the blood-and-vitality and Spiritual Sense stages, swallowed a Prime Quality Golden Core Pill, and formed an azure-green True Core.
• Fang Qing used the Dao-Born Pearl and spiritual energy to raise his True Core from the limit of Low-Grade to Mid-Grade, where its power struck another bottleneck.

Fang Qing formed a High-Grade True Core with the aid of the Everlasting Spring, then endured his Core Formation Heavenly Tribulation and deepened his attainment in Winnowing Basket Water. After sparing the Zhong Family, he took Bei Lingshu and Xiang Dahu to aid the Azure Sea Sect, while the cultivators on Supreme White Island fled.

• Fang Qing used the Everlasting Spring to raise his True Core to High-Grade, and Zhan Hongxiu and Turtle Elder watched the Core Formation phenomenon spread across Supreme White Island.
• Fang Qing faced the Heavenly Tribulation with his Third-Order Body Refinement and Tide-Birth Pearl, discovering that directly enduring the lightning helped him question heaven and deepen his Winnowing Basket Water attainment.
• Fang Qing survived all nine bolts, completed Core Formation, and realized his Dao attainment might let him break through to Late Dao Foundation without supplementary pills.
• Zhan Hongxiu, Bei Lingshu, Xiang Dahu, and the Zhong Family cultivators approached Fang Qing, who forgave the family and invited Bei Lingshu to join him in aiding the Azure Sea Sect.
• Fang Qing flew away with Bei Lingshu and Xiang Dahu, while Zhan Hongxiu and the other Supreme White Island cultivators scattered.

Fang Qing ambushed and defeated Black Origin True Person, then tracked down and destroyed his remaining soul with Yu Xiang’er’s help. He returned to the Azure Sea Sect as a newly formed Core Formation cultivator, carrying Black Origin True Person’s head and looking for Senior Sister Ruan and Senior Brother Shi.

• Fang Qing ambushed Black Origin True Person at his hidden cave dwelling and overwhelmed him with his Core Formation power, knowledge of the Black Profound Scripture, and coordinated attacks.
• Black Origin True Person used a blood escape technique, but Fang Qing caught him and smashed his body with the Sea-Transforming Pearl.
• Fang Qing located Black Origin True Person’s surviving soul in a spirit tablet, where Yu Xiang’er helped him confront the soul and he used Soul-Severing Soul Search to kill it.
• Fang Qing promised to suppress Yu Xiang’er’s restriction backlash and free her, and she agreed to secretly command what remained of the Sea-Extinguishing Alliance.
• Fang Qing returned to the Azure Sea Sect with Black Origin True Person’s head and announced that he had formed his core, leaving two gossiping Foundation Establishment cultivators to realize Qin Ruxue could regain her standing.

Fang Qing returned to the Azure Sea Sect after killing Black Origin True Person, where Ruan Zhixuan and Shi Tiexin welcomed him and offered him a place of influence. Meanwhile, Zhong Lingxiu prepared to flee Supreme White Island, and Zhan Hongxiu accepted a rare inner core from him before learning White Guest Official had supplied it.

• Fang Qing explained his rise to Core Formation to Ruan Zhixuan, and the sect's cultivators welcomed him as a patriarch after he slew Black Origin True Person.
• Ruan Zhixuan and Shi Tiexin gave Fang Qing spirit herbs and the Core Formation portion of the Azure Sea Method, then asked him to refine Golden Core Pills using the sect's Five-Elements Spirit Fruit.
• Fang Qing declined rewards for alchemy and asked to guard Supreme White Island, which Ruan Zhixuan and Shi Tiexin agreed to let him reclaim.
• Zhong Lingxiu prepared to evacuate his relatives and followers from Supreme White Island aboard a spirit vessel bound for the Eastern Sea Cultivation Realm.
• Zhong Lingxiu gave Zhan Hongxiu a Second-Order High Grade Longevity Tortoise Inner Core, and she learned he had obtained it from White Guest Official.

Fang Qing secured Supreme White Island for Azure Sea Sect, then entered seclusion and advanced his Breath-Nourishing Dao cultivation to Late Dao Foundation. He examined his methods and artifacts, experimented with the Tortoise-Crane Longevity Formula, and turned his attention toward finding a path to Purple Mansion.

• Bei Lingshu found Supreme White Island deserted and its mature spirit herbs harvested, while Qin Ruxue and Xiang Dahu took charge of the island's new Third-Order formation.
• Fang Qing inspected his authority over the island and its resources, assessed his cultivation and planned to refine Golden Core Pills after improving himself.
• Fang Qing reviewed Zhong Lingxiu's gift of the Longevity Tortoise Inner Core to Zhan Hongxiu and began seclusion.
• Fang Qing advanced to Late Dao Foundation, tested his Dao Foundations, and formed a Winnowing Basket Water sword with his talent-born spell.
• Fang Qing considered pursuing Purple Mansion through the Qi Refinement Way, refined Black Origin True Person's Black Heaven Halberd, and converted his True Core to the Tortoise-Crane Longevity Formula.

Fang Qing consolidated his Core Formation cultivation, delivered the Golden Core Pill to the Azure Sea Sect, and returned to Ancient Shu, where he discussed the limits of his new demonic method and inspected a powerful but unfinished treasure. Meanwhile, Fang Shanglin pushed his family to invest heavily in an Azure Jade Ore venture with the Zeng Clan, and Fang Yixin and Fang Wujiu feared he would commit the family before they could stop him.

• Fang Qing considered using the Devouring Sea Method to absorb water-attributed treasures and demon beasts, but rejected consuming cultivators and planned to seek resources in the Eastern Sea Cultivation Realm.
• Fang Qing brought his Bronze Halberd to Sangji, who judged it an excellent blank for a Purple Mansion Magic Treasure but said it needed a master artifact refiner.
• Fang Qing returned to Ancient Shu after consolidating his cultivation and delivering the Golden Core Pill he had promised the Azure Sea Sect.
• Fang Shanglin urged Fang Yixin and Fang Wujiu to invest fifty thousand jin of Spirit Rice for a thirty-percent share of an Azure Jade Ore Vein with the Zeng Clan, but they questioned the deal and refused to approve it.
• Fang Shanglin left after arguing with his elders, and Fang Wujiu realized he might use the family head’s seal to finalize the deal, prompting Fang Yixin to order them to bring him back.

Xu Hei bought Fa Yuan’s debt contract against the Fang Family while Fang Shanglin committed the family’s grain to a deal with the Zeng Clan. After learning the ore profits would mostly go to Deathless Temple, Fang Shanglin left to confront Zeng Yuancheng, while Le Mingxue prepared to seek help from her father-in-law.

• Xu Hei paid Fa Yuan a premium for the Fang Family’s promissory note and said he wanted their spiritual root and spirit fields as well as repayment.
• Fang Wujiu found Fang Shanglin at Drunken Fragrance Tower and demanded that he recover the Spirit Token for the borrowed grain.
• Fang Shanglin refused to back out of his deal with Zeng Yuancheng, and Zeng and the other young men welcomed his commitment.
• Fang Yixin confiscated Fang Shanglin’s family-head seal and guarded the warehouse, preventing him from moving the pledged grain.
• Le Mingxue told Fang Shanglin that Deathless Temple would take most of the Azure Jade Ore Vein’s proceeds and the Zeng Clan would receive only thirty percent.
• Fang Shanglin left for Yuyi Market to confront Zeng Yuancheng, while Le Mingxue decided to apologize to her father-in-law and seek a way to cover the family’s losses.

Fang Shanglin’s crippling debts forced the Fang Family to surrender Spirit Rice, a family tree, and spirit fields to the Four Directions Merchant Association. At Deathless Temple, Fang Qing learned more about the ill-omened Turtle Beak Fire and prepared to pursue his own plan while watching the Fang Family’s decline.

• Meng Qing returned Fang Shanglin to Azure Departure Mountain with his meridians severed and Dantian Qi Sea damaged, explaining that a Zeng Clan cultivator had crippled him.
• Fang Yixin agreed to repay Fang Shanglin’s debt with Spirit Rice and valuables, then accepted Xu Hei’s demand for Master Fa Yuan’s debt to be settled with the Azure Mulberry Jujube Tree and nine mu of spirit fields.
• Fang Qing discussed Turtle Beak Fire’s history with Empty Peacock Tara and learned that many cultivators who inherited the position had met disastrous ends.
• Fang Qing told Empty Peacock Tara that he and Moonlight White Tara would leave on an important matter, while privately planning to set his own scheme in motion.
• Through the Dao-Born Pearl, Fang Qing watched the Fang Family surrender its Spirit Rice and fields and reflected on how one poor family head could squander generations of prosperity.

Fang Qing and Moonlight White Tara visited the Eastwater White Clan to seek Winnowing Basket Water cultivation methods and spiritual objects, and found Bai Mu crippled by a failed attempt to cultivate a second Divine Ability. Bai Mu refused to trade the clan’s Purple Mansion methods but agreed to exchange spiritual objects, then described the Harmonious Bliss Sect and revealed Room Sun True Lord’s honorific title.

• Fang Qing and Moonlight White Tara reached the Eastwater White Clan’s Purple Mansion formation and were admitted by Bai Mulin after Bai Mu sent word that he could not welcome them in person.
• Bai Mulin brought the visitors to Lone Wood Grove, where Fang Qing discovered that Bai Mu had fused with a banyan tree and was suffering from the backlash of a failed Divine Ability cultivation.
• Bai Mu explained that he had tried to cultivate Forestbank Concealment after mastering Longlasting Sweet Rain, but an incomplete inheritance and the momentous proving of the Kitchen Lord’s Dao had left him trapped in his current state.
• Fang Qing asked to trade for the White Clan’s Purple Mansion Winnowing Basket Water methods and spiritual objects, but Bai Mu said the methods would require a Purple Mansion Magic Treasure and agreed only to trade spiritual objects.
• Bai Mu discussed the Harmonious Bliss Sect and said Room Sun True Lord had not appeared for a long time, then identified her honorific title as Primordial Sovereign.

Fang Qing rejected Bai Mu’s request to retrieve Golden Peony Yang Essence after divining that the task carried moderate ill fortune, then left with Miao Shan. Bai Mu revealed to Bai Mulin that his clan was vulnerable and urged him to guard its inherited cultivation path and promising descendants.

• Fang Qing asked Bai Mu about the Vast Sea Sect, and Bai Mu described its [Chariot Water] inheritances and warned him that the Orthodox Taiyi Mystic Gate’s eastern territory was dangerous for demonic cultivators.
• Bai Mu explained that Golden Peony Yang Essence could cure his cultivation deviation and offered his clan’s Purple Mansion cultivation art in exchange for it.
• Fang Qing’s divination indicated moderate ill fortune, so he refused Bai Mu’s request and departed with Miao Shan.
• After they left, Bai Mu admitted to Bai Mulin that he was in severe pain and had concealed his weakness to protect the clan from its enemies.
• Bai Mu ordered Bai Mulin to reject the Esoteric Treasury’s arts, safeguard the clan’s Purple Mansion prospects, and preserve the clan’s own cultivation traditions.

Fang Qing investigated the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land and planned to send two Maiden Earth Mingzi inside before Sangji followed. As the White Bone Way mobilized against the Corpse Yin Sect, Monk Fa Yuan summoned the Azure Departure Fang Family to raise Brahma Soldiers and march south.

• Fang Qing reviewed his gathered Dao Foundation manuals and found two Deer in the Forest lineages among them, but no Purple Mansion manual fragments.
• Fang Qing visited the Four Directions Merchant Association, where Meng Qing reported its purchases and the losses suffered by the Azure Departure Fang Family.
• Sangji told Fang Qing that the temple had ordered him to investigate the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land, which was connected to Maiden Earth cultivators.
• Fang Qing decided to create two Maiden Earth Dao Foundation Mingzi and send them into the Blessed Land ahead of Sangji to investigate its dangers.
• Monk Fa Yuan arrived at Azure Departure Mountain and ordered the Fang family to raise Brahma Soldiers and march against the Brahma Enemies in the Southern Border.

Fang Yixin’s family prepared for a deadly campaign against Black Miao Village as the Corpse Yin Sect and Esoteric Treasury negotiated over a coming war and the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land. The attack began with Xu Hei confronting Black Miao Village’s defenders, while Meng Qing unexpectedly achieved a White Bone Visualization Dao Foundation.

• Fang Yixin and Fang Wujiu agreed to send family members into the war, with Le Mingxue, Shang Qing, and Shang Xuan joining them.
• Fang Qing observed Dharma King Sangji negotiate with True Person Lie Yu, who agreed to share the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land and demanded a blood sacrifice of Dao Foundation and Qi Ingestion cultivators.
• Fang Wujiu told his family they would depart with Xu Hei to attack Black Miao Village, and Fang Yixin taught them the Wind Traverses Lotus Marsh spell for survival.
• Meng Qing gained a White Bone Visualization Dao Foundation and concealed his new aura, believing Fang Qing wanted the next day’s battle to proceed without mishap.
• Xu Hei led the assault on Black Miao Village with his Ten-Thousandfold Mountain artifact, and Old Drum Elder rejected a young Gu Master’s plea to surrender.

Xu Hei and Meng Qing defeated Black Miao Village’s Dao Foundation cultivator while the Fang family fought to survive the battle, but Fang Yixin died protecting Le Mingxue. From afar, Fang Qing and Empty Peacock Tara tracked the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land’s likely location and prepared to investigate it cautiously.

• Xu Hei used Ten-Thousandfold Mountain to crush Old Drum Elder, while Black Miao clansmen sacrificed themselves in vain to delay him.
• Fang Yixin fought through the attackers, killed a Miao Saber wielder, then used a secret art to save Le Mingxue at the cost of his life.
• Meng Qing trapped Old Drum Elder in his white-bone manifestation, and Xu Hei crushed him, causing the Black Miao fighters to flee.
• Meng Qing gave Fang Wujiu a Wall Water pill for Fang Shangqing, but he found that Fang Yixin had already died.
• Empty Peacock Tara told Fang Qing that the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land would likely appear on Black Marsh Plain, and Fang Qing decided to send two Mingzi to investigate rather than Sangji.

Fang Qing entered the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land through Meng Qing and discovered that its terrain formed the face of a dead Neck Metal True Lord. After the corpse killed Meng Qing and the other cultivators, Fang Qing absorbed the True Lord’s cultivation insights and began to suspect the Corpse Yin Sect was turning the remains into a Refined Corpse.

• After many cultivators died on Black Marsh Plain, the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land opened and drew Meng Qing and other Maiden Earth Dao Foundation cultivators inside.
• Fang Qing possessed Meng Qing and explored the Blessed Land, where he found two Corpse Yin Sect cultivators fighting over three Golden Peony Yang Essence blossoms.
• Fang Qing recognized the Blessed Land’s terrain as a gigantic head and realized the land was the face of a fallen Neck Metal True Lord.
• The head awakened and devoured Meng Qing and the nearby Corpse Yin Sect cultivators, while Fang Qing suffered backlash and gained cultivation insight through the Dao-Born Pearl.
• Fang Qing learned that the Golden Peony Yang Essence had formed from the True Lord’s blood and that the corpse had feared the original Neck Metal Year Guardian.
• Fang Qing noticed a talisman on the True Lord’s forehead and suspected that someone behind the Corpse Yin Sect had brought the remains into the Blessed Land to make a Refined Corpse.

True Person Lie Yu revealed that Corpse Yin had used the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land to test Sangji on the Secret Treasury Domain’s behalf, while Fang Qing reflected on cultivation and advanced through two years of seclusion. Sangji then received a Great Sun Golden Edict ordering the White Bone Way to invade eastward toward the Harmonious Bliss Sect.

• Sangji refused True Person Lie Yu’s invitation to enter the Earth-Submerging Blessed Land, but Lie Yu went inside and reported to the Sect Master of Corpse Yin.
• The Sect Master explained that the blessed land was a test of Sangji’s fortune, arranged for the Secret Treasury Domain, and ordered Lie Yu to report Sangji’s fate to different sects depending on the outcome.
• Fang Qing learned that Sangji had returned safely, considered his own future Dao path, made third-order pills, and cultivated for another two years.
• Dharma King Vilu appeared at night with a Great Sun Golden Edict and commanded Sangji to lead the White Bone Way east against the Harmonious Bliss Sect.
• Dharma King Vilu instructed Sangji to break the Profound Earth Sect and cross Wushan Commandery, revealing that the Secret Treasury Domain had no binding agreement with the Harmonious Bliss Sect.

Fang Qing learned that the White Bone Way was preparing to invade the Harmonious Bliss Sect and discovered he could use Sangji’s status to travel through the Great Void and disguise his power. As war approached Xituo Commandery and the east, Monk Fa Yuan ordered the Fang family to mobilize, while Fang Qing considered exploiting the conflict to obtain Bai Mu’s cultivation-method inheritance.

• Fang Qing learned that the Secret Treasury Domain was advancing east and anticipated a war that would force the White Bone Way through the Land of Ancient Shu.
• Fang Wujiu and Le Mingxue discussed the ominous manifestation of Yang and their lack of safe places to flee as the Fang family farmed on Azure Departure Mountain.
• Monk Fa Yuan arrived with the White Bone Way’s order to mobilize all Brahma Soldiers against the Profound Earth Sect, then pleaded with the Fang family to save him.
• Fang Qing used his new insight into Sangji’s status to enter and travel through the Great Void, inspecting Jade Island, Heavenly Heart Island, and the All-Heaven Star Palace Secret Realm.
• Fang Qing dissolved his True Core and formed a glowing White Bone Visualization, creating a disguise that could pass as Sangji’s Duzi before powerful Esoteric Treasury Dharma Kings.
• Fang Qing considered obtaining Golden Peony Yang Essence from the Corpse Yin Sect, then decided he might instead invade and convert the Eastwater White Clan to seize its treasures and Purple Mansion methods.

Fang Qing watched Sangji promote Auspicious Green and Demon-Subduing Black to Dumu before the White Bone Way launched its eastward offensive against the Profound Earth Sect. Sangji confronted True Lord Profound Earth in the Great Void, while the battle left the sect’s forces facing defeat below.

• Sangji initiated two Dao Foundation cultivators, naming the [Well Wood] cultivator Auspicious Green Tara and the [Maiden Earth] cultivator Demon-Subduing Black Tara.
• Fang Qing assessed the newly appointed Dumus and his own combat strength as Sangji declared it was time to march east.
• Sangji and the other Purple Mansion combatants arrived at the Profound Earth Sect’s mountain gate, where True Lord Profound Earth challenged their invasion.
• Sangji and the Dumus forced True Lord Profound Earth into the Great Void, and Sangji pierced his Sinking Dusk Haze with White Bone Visualization and the Bone Sarira.
• True Lord Profound Earth escaped into the mortal world, while Tu Yuanzi realized the Profound Earth Sect was about to lose as the White Bone Way’s army pressed its attack.