Chapter Summaries

Fang Qing traded a Resentment-Marriage Fruit through Shang Yuanxin to secure the Clearbright Spirit Spring, then vanished after warning Shang to look after the Zhong Alliance. On Sea Serpent Island, a cultivator’s Core Formation drew greedy onlookers and the attack of the notorious Heartless Daoist.

• Fang Qing revealed himself to Shang Yuanxin as Fang Shui and offered the Resentment-Marriage Fruit in exchange for the Clearbright Spirit Spring.
• Shang Yuanxin agreed to obtain the spring and secure the opportunity to form a Nascent Soul, while Fang Qing asked him to look after the Zhong Alliance.
• Fang Qing vanished using his Void-related Divine Ability, leaving Shang Yuanxin impressed by his growing strength and cautious planning.
• On Sea Serpent Island, turbulent spiritual energy signaled that someone was attempting Core Formation, and nearby cultivators gathered hoping to profit if the attempt failed.
• The gathered Foundation Establishment cultivators found a powerful formation and a peak Second-Order Longevity Tortoise guarding the cultivator’s cave.
• Heartless Daoist attacked the formation during the Core Formation attempt, prompting several female Foundation Establishment cultivators to flee.

Zhan Hongxiu formed a High-Grade True Pill on Sea Serpent Island and faced the Heartless Daoist, while Fang Qing learned of her breakthrough and traded the Resentment-Marriage Fruit to Shang Yuanxin for the Clearbright Spirit Spring. Fang Qing accepted a Shang Clan Token for a premier auction and promised Shang Yuanxin one favor.

• The Heartless Daoist used a Third-Order Forbidden-Breaking Talisman to enter Zhan Hongxiu’s formation and drove the Longevity Tortoise back toward her cave.
• The Longevity Tortoise activated a low-grade Third-Order talisman, and Zhan Hongxiu completed core formation with a High-Grade True Pill.
• Zhan Hongxiu endured the heavenly lightning tribulation with a tortoise-shell treasure and prepared to kill the Heartless Daoist.
• Fang Qing divined that Zhan Hongxiu had formed her core and concluded that the opportunity involving the All-Heaven Star Palace was nearing.
• Fang Qing met Shang Yuanxin at the Zhong Alliance and exchanged the Resentment-Marriage Fruit for the Clearbright Spirit Spring.
• Shang Yuanxin gave Fang Qing a Shang Clan Token for the Merchant Alliance’s premier auction, and Fang Qing promised to repay him with one safe, principled favor.

Fang Qing, disguised as Bai Jianfeng, saved Zhan Hongxiu from the Huanhua Adept and met with her on a desolate island. Zhan Hongxiu repaid him with a remaining piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Skyblue Essence.

• Fang Qing examined the Shang Clan's auction token, then divined Zhan Hongxiu's whereabouts.
• Zhan Hongxiu fled the Huanhua Adept, who had tracked her using a mark left by the Heartless Daoist.
• Fang Qing arrived as Bai Jianfeng and joined Zhan Hongxiu against the Huanhua Adept.
• Fang Qing destroyed the Huanhua Adept's artifacts and defenses with his sword, killing him with one strike.
• Fang Qing purified a scent the Huanhua Adept had left on Zhan Hongxiu, and they moved to a desolate island.
• Zhan Hongxiu offered Fang Qing a partly used piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Skyblue Essence to repay him for saving her.

Fang Qing accepted Ten-Thousand-Year Skyblue Essence and agreed to explore an East Sea secret realm with Zhan Hongxiu after they cultivated further. In the Central Plains, Great True Person Purple Origin escaped the Secret Treasury's assault, but the Aster Sect was destroyed, leaving Jiumoluo Jie questioning the purpose of the attack on the Harmonious Bliss Sect.

• Fang Qing accepted Zhan Hongxiu's invitation to explore a secret realm for Azure Emperor Wood and other treasures after a period of cultivation.
• Fang Qing consumed Ten-Thousand-Year Skyblue Essence to strengthen his True Core.
• Jiumoluo Jie used the Heavenly-Wind Hidden-Treasure Pearl to break the Aster Sect's purple-qi formation and confronted Liu Bin, Great True Person Purple Origin.
• Liu Bin fought off the Secret Treasury forces with his Divine Abilities, then escaped after Jiumoluo Jie survived his sword strike using Dust-Cleansing Karmic Affinity.
• Jiumoluo Jie ordered the monk-soldiers to destroy the Aster Sect and wondered whether the question about Liu Bin's final Divine Ability explained the attack on the Harmonious Bliss Sect.

Fang Qing broke through to middle-stage Core Formation without using his exceptional Mystic Star Flying-Waterfall Pill and examined the benefits to his artifacts and cultivation. He then discussed Zhan Hongxiu’s secret-realm expedition and secured her promise to lend him her turtle shell when he attempted to reach Nascent Soul.

• Fang Qing advanced to middle-stage Core Formation without taking a pill, and his Spiritual Sense expanded to cover roughly ten miles.
• Fang Qing’s Devouring Sea Flask advanced to a Third-Order, middle-grade artifact, while his Dark Nether Mirror neared the same rank.
• Fang Qing met Zhan Hongxiu after emerging from seclusion and concealed his breakthrough by changing the apparent nature of his Dao Foundation.
• Zhan Hongxiu explained that Third-Order demonic beasts guarded the route to the secret realm, while Fang Qing learned from her thoughts that Turtle Elder had not taught her a promised concealment technique.
• Fang Qing asked Zhan Hongxiu to lend him her Fourth-Order, high-grade turtle shell and protect him during his future Nascent Soul tribulation, and she agreed.

Fang Qing watched Zhan Hongxiu’s Longevity Tortoise survive its tribulation and reach the Third Order, then learned that she planned to explore a nearby secret realm. Meanwhile, the Esoteric Treasuries gathered to attack the Harmonious Bliss Sect, where Great True Person Xin Yi failed to condense her Golden Nature and died, prompting the invaders to break the formation.

• The Longevity Tortoise endured nine layers of heavenly thunder and advanced to the lower Third-Order stage, growing two horns.
• Fang Qing congratulated Zhan Hongxiu, who said she was ready to explore the nearby secret realm with him.
• Tian Youliang and the gathered monk-soldiers saw the Esoteric Treasuries assemble outside the Harmonious Bliss Sect’s mountain gate.
• Dharma King Vilu accused Great True Person Xin Yi of orchestrating the conflict to delay the Esoteric Treasuries while she prepared to prove her Golden Nature.
• Great True Person Xin Yi used her four Divine Abilities and the Sun and Moon’s essences to attempt her breakthrough, but her Golden Nature failed to solidify and her body shattered.
• Xin Yi’s death brought a cursed land and strange phenomena over the Harmonious Bliss Sect, and a Buddhist chant called for the attackers to break the formation.

Fang Qing and Zhan Hongxiu crossed the dangerous Outer Sea and found a way into the hidden Star Palace secret realm. Inside, they began searching for the core area, where Zhan Hongxiu hoped to find the Azure Emperor Wood and a soul-nourishing treasure.

• Fang Qing and Zhan Hongxiu used the Jingfeng Pearl and Heaven-Shielding Curtain to conceal themselves as they traveled deeper into the Outer Sea, avoiding a Seat-King Whale and a swarm of Soul-Devouring Jellyfish.
• Fang Qing silently killed the Stone Azure Ray with his magic treasures and sword, allowing them to enter its cave and find the star chart marking the secret realm entrance.
• Zhan Hongxiu activated the chart with the Fourth-Order tortoiseshell, but the passage failed to open, so Fang Qing used his void treasure and Duzi's status to take them into the realm.
• Fang Qing and Zhan Hongxiu found the Star Palace, its damaged teleportation arrays, and a landscape with Fourth-Order spiritual energy and restricted treasure sites.
• Zhan Hongxiu asked Fang Qing to let her take any soul-nourishing treasures they found, and he agreed before they began gathering treasures along their route.

Fang Qing and Zhan Hongxiu crossed a secret realm and fought a Three-Eyed Evil Flood Dragon in the Three-Thousand Weak Water. Fang Qing killed the dragon, but Zhan Hongxiu was left badly injured by its Divine Sense attack, and Fang Qing discovered that its third eye was a weakened Abyssal Eye Pearl magic treasure.

• Fang Qing and Zhan Hongxiu found the Three-Thousand Weak Water, and Fang Qing used two water-element treasures to drain a path through it.
• Fang Qing and Zhan Hongxiu drew out a Third-Order Upper Grade Three-Eyed Evil Flood Dragon and attacked it together.
• Fang Qing wounded the Flood Dragon with the Water-Separating Ring and a sword strike, while Zhan Hongxiu hit it with her Myriad Transformations Thunder Pearl.
• The badly injured Flood Dragon attacked Zhan Hongxiu with a Divine Sense strike, leaving her disoriented and the Longevity Tortoise unconscious.
• Fang Qing killed the Flood Dragon before it could swallow Zhan Hongxiu and collected its blood.
• Fang Qing discovered that the Flood Dragon's third eye was a weakened Abyssal Eye Pearl magic treasure and saw that Zhan Hongxiu had been gravely affected by its attack.

Fang Qing and Zhan Hongxiu crossed the Three-Thousand Weak Water to explore Lake Heart Island, where they found rare treasures and records of the island’s former master. The story then shifted to Tian Youliang and the Esoteric Treasury assaulting Acacia Mountain Gate with the Jambudvipa Hell Diagram.

• Fang Qing extracted the Three-Thousand Weak Water water vein, shared some Flood Dragon spoils with Zhan Hongxiu, and led her across the river to Lake Heart Island.
• Fang Qing and Zhan Hongxiu found an ancient Azure Emperor Wood and a garden of rare Spirit Herbs, including ingredients for a Nascent Infant Pill and a Nine-Illusion Heart Orchid that could heal their Spiritual Sense injuries.
• Fang Qing discovered the Tortoise-Crane Longevity Formula, two valuable treasures, and a blank-faced portrait in the island’s thatched huts.
• Tian Youliang joined the assault on the Acacia Mountain Gate, while Dharma King Vilu revealed the Jambudvipa Hell Diagram and brought its layers of hell crashing down on the formation.

Zhan Hongxiu recovered and claimed the Spirit Monarch’s inheritance while Fang Qing realized the Qi Refinement Way might be a vast Grotto-Heaven connected to his own world. Meanwhile, the Harmonious Bliss Sect neared destruction until a strange infant appeared beneath a moon that halted the battlefield.

• Zhan Hongxiu woke healed, and Turtle Elder told her that the secret realm held the legacy of Spirit Monarch Fuyu, including a Spirit Transformation technique.
• Fang Qing shared the five treasures with Zhan Hongxiu, who took the technique and Seven-Star Lamp while he kept the Heaven-Hearing Bell, Clear-Heart Meditation Mat, and Soul-Nourishing Prayer Beads.
• Turtle Elder recognized the Spirit Monarch as Fuyu, prompting Fang Qing to connect the Qi Refinement Way to a vast Grotto-Heaven and suspect a link between the two worlds.
• At the Acacia Mountain Gate, Vilu Dharma King and the Great Black Heaven Temple’s forces devastated the Harmonious Bliss Sect while its hidden True Lord did not intervene.
• Tian Youliang saw rain fall as a moon appeared, then watched it reveal a white-limbed infant whose first cry shook heaven and earth.

A monstrous being named Chi devastated the Secret Treasury Domain and nearly destroyed its Dharma Kings before the Great Peng Wisdom King intervened. Fang Qing realized the crisis had revealed the identities and hidden bargain of powerful beings, while the rescued monks returned with their memories erased.

• Dharma King Roga burned away, and a female infant emerged from his golden body as Chi appeared above the Thirty-Six Heavens of Tiangang and destroyed the troops in the Secret Treasury Domain.
• Sangji and the other Dharma Kings, Duzi, and Dumu began to burn and swell with pregnancy until a mysterious breeze and the Great Peng Wisdom King’s call and wing rescued them.
• The Dharma Kings returned to the Secret Treasury Domain with their memories of the intervention erased, and Dharma King Vilu ended the eastern expedition.
• Fang Qing recovered from a burst of Dao Transformation power and told Zhan Hongxiu to leave with him.
• Fang Qing inferred that Chi was the offspring of beings tied to [Room Sun] and [Rooftop Moon], and that the Great Peng Wisdom King was a Vacant-Position True Lord of the [Xun Wind] lineage.

After leaving Zhan Hongxiu, Fang Qing considered the secrets behind the Qi Refinement Way and whether its Spirit Transformation cultivators could attain the Golden Seat after ascending. He hid his secret-realm treasures in a remote cave and began refining them, gaining a powerful Flood Dragon soul and a vertical eye that greatly expanded his Spiritual Sense.

• Fang Qing left Zhan Hongxiu and entered the Great Void to reconsider the origins and purpose of the Qi Refinement Way.
• Fang Qing compared the ancient Breath-Nourishing Dao methods with the newer cultivation methods and speculated that Spirit Transformation ascension helped cultivators attain the Golden Seat.
• Fang Qing wondered whether a Thunder Fruit Seat existed in Primordial Beginning Heaven and considered cultivating a thunder technique.
• Fang Qing settled in a temporary cave on a desolate island and decided to keep his secret-realm treasures after divination gave him a result of great fortune.
• Fang Qing refined the Flood Dragon inner core, causing his Devouring Sea Method to produce a powerful Flood Dragon soul.
• Fang Qing refined the Abyssal Eye Pearl, which formed a vertical eye on his brow and expanded his Spiritual Sense from ten li to thirty li.

After the Harmonious Bliss Sect fell, Bai Ziye led Fang Wujiu and the other survivors out of Eastwater while hordes of walking corpses overran the area. Elsewhere, the Eight Demon Tribes attacked the Daughter Nation, surrounding True Person Ban Yue as she defended its people.

• Fang Wujiu, Le Mingxue, and Fang Shangxuan discovered that endless female walking corpses were attacking the Esoteric Treasury Mandala formation.
• Fang Wujiu and the other cultivators found Fang Qing's meditation chamber empty, but Bai Ziye appeared and announced that they would evacuate Eastwater.
• Bai Ziye concealed the group with his divine ability as the formation collapsed and walking corpses flooded the settlement without detecting them.
• Yingzhu Demon King and the Eight Demon Tribes attacked the Daughter Nation, and Ban Yue realized they had joined forces under orders from Fallen Phoenix Mountain.
• Ban Yue refused to abandon the people, and several demonic shadows emerged to surround her.

After the Demon Race destroyed the Daughter Nation, Fang Qing learned of the upheaval and considered the hidden forces behind the recent conflicts. With his Wind-Approaching Dao Foundation perfected and the Monster Demon Way weakened, he decided the time was right to prepare for his Purple Mansion breakthrough, then felt he should revisit where it all began.

• The Eight Demon Tribes destroyed the Daughter Nation, while Great True Person Demon Moon vanished, and the Demon Kings discussed their next targets and the Esoteric Treasury.
• White Bone Dharma King ordered Moonlight White and Void Sparrow to guard Xituo Commandery, then told Fang Qing that the monk soldiers had returned under Bai Ziye’s protection.
• Fang Qing approved Sangji’s decision to abandon Wu Mountain and the other commanderies and concentrate the White Bone Way’s defenses in Xituo.
• After hearing about the Daughter Nation’s destruction, Fang Qing connected the recent upheavals to Stomach Earth’s attainment of Golden Nature and reflected on the schemes of powerful Dao lineages.
• Fang Qing concluded that the weakened Monster Demon Way offered a good opportunity to attain the Purple Mansion, reviewed his preparations, and considered returning to where it all began.

Fang Qing returned to the Lesser Vast Sea and decided to hide on a remote island while preparing to break through to the Purple Mansion stage. After secretly saving Yu Xiang'er from the Azure Sea Sect, he asked whether she wanted to form a core.

• Fang Qing visited Ice Heaven Island and Supreme White Island, where he saw Qin Ruxue, Bei Lingshu, and the others, then judged Supreme White Island too conspicuous for his long seclusion.
• Fang Qing emerged from his cave dwelling, revealed his Core Formation Middle Stage aura, and celebrated with the Azure Sea Sect to make the sect believe he had advanced during his seclusion.
• Cui Zhe led the Azure Sea Sect in an attack on the Hai Clan and confronted Yu Xiang'er, who fought him with demonic techniques and escaped after Fang Qing secretly intervened.
• Fang Qing met Yu Xiang'er on a deserted island, and she thanked him for rescuing her.
• Fang Qing asked Yu Xiang'er whether she wanted to form a core.

Fang Qing returned to the Azure Sea Sect, remembered the dead and gave Cui Zhe a healing treasure and a Core Formation treasure. He then protected Yu Xiang'er as she began Core Formation seclusion and planned to strengthen his Dark Nether Mirror by consuming the Tide-Birth Pearl.

• Fang Qing gave Yu Xiang'er a Golden Core Pill and Heaven-Cleansing Water, then promised to protect her while she attempted Core Formation.
• Fang Qing revisited Dahua Fishing Village and Carefree Peak, where he paid respects at Heaven Cauldron's grave and met the injured Cui Zhe.
• Fang Qing gave Cui Zhe Sweet Rain Springwater and Earthfire Fluid to heal his injuries and aid his Core Formation attempt.
• Ruan Zhixuan met Fang Qing and learned he had reached mid-stage Core Formation with a High-Grade True Core, while he said he had returned only to pay his respects.
• At Iron Mountain Fortress, Yu Xiang'er entered seclusion to attempt Core Formation as Fang Qing stood guard and planned to use the Tide-Birth Pearl to improve his Dark Nether Mirror.

Fang Qing watched Yu Xiang'er successfully form her True Core, then took her into seclusion on a hidden Outer Sea island. After preparing the island and refining pills to aid a breakthrough, he began readying himself to advance to Purple Mansion.

• Yu Xiang'er survived nine bolts of tribulation lightning and formed a mid-grade True Core, while Fang Qing agreed to help her stabilize it.
• Months later, the Azure Sea Sect arrived at Iron Mountain Fortress and found it abandoned after Yu Xiang'er and Fang Qing had left.
• Fang Qing and Yu Xiang'er found a concealed island with a Spirit Spring, and he chose it as their secluded cultivation site.
• Yu Xiang'er built a cave abode and set up an array that hid the island, cutting off contact with the outside world as Fang Qing instructed.
• Fang Qing refined Three Profound One-Heart Pills and gathered his treasures and resources before sitting on the Clear-Heart Meditation Mat to prepare for his breakthrough.

Fang Qing refined his Wind-Approaching Foundation into a Divine Ability and entered the Purple Mansion Heart Demon Tribulation, where he faced countless illusions and finally fell into the perilous Nirvana Tribulation. Yu Xiang'er waited anxiously outside, while a fleeing mid-Core Formation scholar arrived in the distant Lesser Vast Sea.

• Fang Qing used Lingshi Jade Rinse to help his Wind-Approaching Foundation absorb his vital essence and transform into a Divine Ability.
• Fang Qing took the Three Profound One-Heart Pill and used the Dark Nether Mirror, Soul-Nourishing Prayer Beads, and Clear-Heart Meditation Mat before sinking his True Spirit into the Heart Demon Tribulation.
• Fang Qing saw illusions of past calamities, the Sea Dragon King Festival, Sangji seeking the Dao-Born Pearl, and imagined lives, but kept a thread of clarity and saw through them.
• Fang Qing's True Spirit entered the final Nirvana Tribulation, leaving him unable to rely on outside help as Yu Xiang'er worried over his safety.
• A middle-aged mid-Core Formation scholar fled a thunderstorm in the Lesser Vast Sea, cursed the Xue Clan, and decided to find a nearby market.

Fang Qing survived the final Heart Demon Tribulation and attained the Purple Mansion, transforming the Desolate Island and empowering Qin Ruxue with a share of his status. After learning that Yuan Hongxu had devastated the Lesser Vast Sea, Fang Qing sent Qin Ruxue to kill him while he remained in seclusion.

• Fang Qing completed his Purple Mansion breakthrough, refined his Divine Ability, and transformed the Desolate Island’s Spirit Vein and Spirit Spring into Third-Order treasures.
• Fang Qing learned through the Dao-Born Pearl that Yuan Hongxu had killed Ruan Zhixuan, captured Heavenly Heart and Supreme White Islands, and founded the Sacred Heart Alliance.
• Qin Ruxue was ambushed at a fishery by three Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivators, but Fang Qing’s bestowed status let her unleash Core Formation power and kill them and the sect traitor who exposed her location.
• Yuan Hongxu arrived, but Qin Ruxue escaped through the void before he could catch her.
• Qin Ruxue reached Fang Qing’s island, and Fang Qing gave her a talisman inscribed to kill Yuan Hongxu before she departed through the Great Void.

Fang Qing used his new [Words Become Law] wondrous power to kill Yuan Hongxu, then explored how the Dao-Born Pearl could transform his Divine Abilities. He planned his next Purple Mansion breakthrough while weighing the risks of taking shortcuts toward the Golden Seat.

• Yuan Hongxu returned to the Azure Sea Sect and tried to seize Qin Ruxue’s spatial treasure, but Qin Ruxue appeared and activated a talisman that made him kill himself before the Blazing Sun Divine Bird burned his body to ash.
• Cui Zhe watched Qin Ruxue collect Yuan Hongxu’s treasures and wondered whether he was trapped in a Heart Demon illusion.
• Fang Qing sensed Yuan Hongxu’s death and explained that his [Words Become Law] wondrous power had cut off Yuan Hongxu’s fortune and life force.
• Fang Qing used the Dao-Born Pearl to transform his Divine Ability into the [Bond Metal] “Sharp Edge Chapter,” gaining sword insights, then tested several other Divine Abilities.
• Fang Qing discovered he could keep only one Divine Ability active at early Purple Mansion and considered methods for reaching mid Purple Mansion, but worried that shortcuts could weaken his foundation for proving the Golden Seat.