Chapter Summaries

Yuan Yan considered how to earn more Merit and Fortune, then devised a plan to restore the Western Continent while strengthening the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage. He left with a long-term strategy to funnel resources into recovering the continent and expanding the lineage.

• Yuan Yan reflected that the Merit he and his companions had earned would not be enough to support their eventual breakthroughs to Hunyuan Great Firmament Golden Immortals.
• Yuan Yan planned to direct most of the Heaven-Earth Origin Force into restoring and advancing the Western Continent's existing Innate Earth Veins, while withholding spiritual energy from its barren regions.
• Yuan Yan intended to let the restored regions gradually expand and swallow the barren regions, ultimately restoring the Western Continent beyond its former peak.
• Yuan Yan decided to strengthen the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage so it could gather more Fortune and help the Heaven-Earth Origin-Returning Formation restore the continent faster.
• Yuan Yan considered using his companions' expertise in alchemy, formations, artifacts, and talismans, as well as trading with the Three Thousand Purple Firmament Palace Guests, to obtain cultivation resources.

Yuan Yan considered creating Immortal Script to unite the Primordial World’s many peoples and earn Merit and Fortune, but recognized that rival factions might resist its spread. He planned to seek Dao Ancestor Hongjun’s backing after the Third Lecture at Purple Firmament Palace, then turned his attention to the Northern Continent’s damaged and polluted earth veins.

• Yuan Yan considered creating Immortal Script because existing scripts were either too profound, too limited, or unsuitable for other races.
• Yuan Yan recognized that powerful factions might promote their own scripts and block Immortal Script to retain its Merit and Fortune.
• Yuan Yan rejected using force to impose Immortal Script and saw that waiting until he reached a higher realm could leave him too late.
• Yuan Yan planned to ask Dao Ancestor Hongjun after the Third Lecture at Purple Firmament Palace to establish Immortal Script as the orthodox writing system of the Immortal Dao.
• Yuan Yan considered the Northern Continent’s damaged earth-vein network and the decline of the Changbai Mountain Ancestral Vein after the Ferocious Beast Clan occupied the region.
• Yuan Yan noted that Beast Sovereign Shen Ni had gathered the Primordial World’s resentment and violent baleful qi in the Northern Continent to pollute its Innate Earth Veins.

Yuan Yan considered restoring the Northern Continent, whose Earth Veins remained fused with powerful Grievance Fiendish Qi left by the Creation Calamity. Although his Dao and divine ability could transform the corruption, the work would be slow and costly, leaving the value of the undertaking uncertain.

• Yuan Yan learned that the Northern Continent's polluted Earth Veins produced mixed spiritual and fiendish energy, sustaining a harsh environment and the threat of ferocious beasts.
• Powerful cultivators, including the Witch Clan, had tried and failed to restore the continent because they could not separate the Grievance Fiendish Qi Origin from the Innate Earth Vein Origin efficiently.
• Yuan Yan, Yuan Jie, Yuan Lun, and Yuan Ling were capable of transforming the fused origins through their respective Dao paths, but the process remained difficult.
• Yuan Yan weighed whether the Merit, Fortune, and cultivation benefits of restoring the Northern Continent could justify the time and effort required.

Yuan Yan considered how to accelerate the Northern Continent’s restoration by using formations to convert its Grievance Fiendish Qi into Earth Vein Origin. Though the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage lacked enough formation materials and lotus cores at present, he concluded that abundant resources and time would let him cultivate more Postnatal Spiritual Roots and trade for what he needed.

• Yuan Yan reasoned that the others would not help restore the Northern Continent unless the work greatly increased their speed of earning Merit and Fortune.
• Yuan Yan planned to create formations that converted the Grievance Fiendish Qi fused with Innate Earth Vein Origin into Earth Vein Origin, using lotuses or refined Formation Flags as cores.
• Yuan Yan found that the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage had limited Immortal Materials and Divine Materials, and only a little over five hundred Postnatal Lotus Platforms suitable for the formations.
• Yuan Yan calculated that the Mid-Grade Innate Lotus Platforms could produce many more mature seeds, which he could cultivate into Postnatal Spiritual Roots using resources from the restored Western Continent.
• Yuan Yan concluded that he could trade with the Three Thousand Purple Firmament Palace Guests for materials to make Formation Flags, so neither formation cores nor flags would remain a lasting obstacle.

Yuan Yan planned to establish the Primordial World's first commerce guild and use pills as a currency system to support trade. He had the resources, power, and reputation to make the guild viable, and he began defining the grades and purpose of its foundational currency.

• Yuan Yan determined that a commerce guild could circulate goods, improve trade rules, and earn Merit, but would require valuable goods, strength, credibility, and a recognized currency.
• Yuan Yan’s group and the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage possessed abundant treasures, pills, formations, talismans, spiritual roots, and other resources for trade.
• Yuan Yan and his allies had enough strength and reputation to deter theft and reassure cultivators that trades would be safe.
• Yuan Yan chose pills as currency because they had practical value for cultivation and could be widely sought by living beings.
• Yuan Yan selected Yin-Yang Creation Pills, Law Pills, and Origin Dao Pills as foundational currency, beginning with four grades of Yin-Yang Creation Pills.

Yuan Yan divided plans for earning Merit and Fortune among himself, Yuan Jie, Yuan Ling, and their Dao Bodies. They began work on creating Immortal Script, restoring the Western Continent, cultivating lotus roots, deducing purification formations, and establishing a merchant association.

• Yuan Yan explained the grades and exchange rates of Yin-Yang Creation Pills, Law Pills, and Origin Dao Pills, then assigned tasks to Yuan Ling, Yuan Jie, and Yuan Lun.
• Yuan Ling's Obsession Corpse Dao Body traveled among the Myriad Tribes of the Primordial World, offering guidance in exchange for studying their writings and cultures to create Immortal Script.
• Yuan Jie awakened Nuwa and Fuxi, and they used the Heaven-Earth Origin-Returning Formation to nourish the Western Continent's Innate Earth Veins and expand its restored regions.
• Yuan Ling and his two remaining Three Corpse Dao Bodies used mature lotus seeds as formation cores and nourished them with Heaven-Earth Origin Force to cultivate more lotuses.
• Yuan Jie's Obsession Corpse Dao Body began deducing the Yin-Yang Myriad Transformation Fiend Refining Formation and the Innate World-Purifying Formation to remove Grievance Fiendish Qi Origin and improve the transformation of Chaos Qi.
• Yuan Yan and Yuan Lun prepared to establish a merchant association with help from their Three Corpse Dao Bodies.

Yuan Yan and the others prepared resources, pills, and the Yin-Yang Great Dao Furnace for the Yingzhou Commerce Association. After more than forty Epochs, they completed the preparations and sent invitations to powerhouses across the Primordial World, leaving the ceremony one Epoch away.

• Yuan Yan and Yuan Lun’s Obsession Corpse Dao Bodies designed the Yin-Yang Great Dao Furnace to refine pills using resources, spiritual energy, and Chaos Qi.
• Yuan Yan, Yuan Jie, Yuan Lun, Yuan Ling, Nuwa, Fuxi, and their Dao Bodies gathered enough goods and pills for the commerce association after more than forty Epochs of work.
• Yuan Yan decided to hold a banquet and ceremony on Yingzhou Immortal Island one Epoch later to establish the Yingzhou Commerce Association.
• Yuan Yan and the others refined invitation cards and sent envoys to invite Great Firmament Golden Immortals and cultivators above them across the Primordial World.
• Yuan Yan assigned Fuxi to coordinate the banquet and association matters, while the others returned to the Three Lights Divine Water Pool to cultivate.

Jinxuan delivered Yuan Yan’s invitations for the founding banquet of the Yingzhou Commerce Association, prompting the Three Pure Ones and the Witch Clan to consider the influence its Merit and Fortune would bring. The Three Pure Ones accepted, and Dijiang and Jiufeng decided that the Witch Clan would attend together.

• Jinxuan visited the Three Pure Ones at Kunlun Mountain and explained that Yuan Yan would establish the Yingzhou Commerce Association one yuanhui later.
• The Three Pure Ones recognized the association’s potential to bring Yuan Yan’s group great Merit and Fortune, accepted their invitations, and returned to cultivation after Jinxuan departed.
• Jinxuan and dozens of Great Firmament Golden Immortals traveled through the Primordial World to deliver invitations to powerful beings.
• At Pangu Hall, Dijiang and the Ancestral Witches agreed that the Witch Clan should attend the banquet and witness the ceremony.
• Jiufeng agreed that all the Witches should go and noted that Di Jun and Taiyi would also receive invitations and attend.

The Ancestral Witches debated whether to ambush Di Jun and Taiyi after Yuan Yan’s banquet, but Houtu argued against risking Yuan Yan’s displeasure and damage to the fragile Western Continent. Di Jun and Taiyi reluctantly prepared to attend the banquet, with Di Jun planning to rely on Yuan Yan’s intervention if the Witches attacked them there.

• Gonggong and several Ancestral Witches urged an ambush against Di Jun and Taiyi after the banquet, hoping to injure them and slow their cultivation.
• Houtu warned that an ambush could anger Yuan Yan and that a battle might damage the still-fragile Western Continent, leading him and others to intervene.
• Jiufeng agreed with Houtu and suggested bringing treasures to Yingzhou Immortal Island to trade through Yuan Yan’s new commerce association; the Twelve Ancestral Witches approved.
• On the Sun Star, Di Jun and Taiyi worried that Yuan Yan’s commerce association would bring him and his followers more merit, fortune, and cultivation progress.
• Di Jun said they could not afford to skip the banquet and hoped to trade for Great Firmament Dao Pills, while Taiyi feared an ambush by the Ancestral Witches and Jiufeng.
• Di Jun proposed fighting in the Western Continent if they were attacked, trusting Yuan Yan and the others to intervene before the battle wrecked it.

Xi He and Changxi discussed attending Yuan Yan’s Yingzhou Commerce Association ceremony to seek Three Lights Divine Water and recover from their injuries. The chapter explained how they had refused to join the Witch Clan but accepted its offer of two Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, and they prepared to pursue their cultivation without taking sides in the conflict.

• Changxi asked Xi He whether she would attend Yuan Yan’s ceremony, and Xi He agreed because they might trade for Three Lights Divine Water.
• Xi He recalled that Xuanming, Houtu, and Jiufeng had offered the sisters a choice between joining the Witch Clan as guest elders or swearing oaths of neutrality in exchange for treasures.
• Xi He and Changxi rejected the guest-elder offer and swore oaths not to aid Di Jun and Taiyi or become enemies of the Witch Clan unless it harmed them.
• Xuanming, Houtu, and Jiufeng gave each sister a compatible Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, which they took back to Moon Star to refine.
• Xi He and Changxi severed their Three Corpse Dao Bodies using the treasures they possessed and devised a method to sacrifice a Benevolent Corpse’s possessions to its sustaining treasure without damaging it.

After nearly an epoch of preparation, Yuan Yan and his companions hosted powerful cultivators from across the Primordial World to witness the establishment of the Yingzhou Commerce Association. As the guests arrived bearing gifts, Dongwang Gong wrestled with envy and doubts about his ambitions, then resolved to press on.

• Dongwang Gong resented Jinxuan's invitation ranking him behind many other powers and feared he could not compete with Yuan Yan's lineage, but he reaffirmed his determination to pursue supremacy.
• Zhen Yuanzi, Hong Yun, Minghe, Kunpeng, and the other invitees decided to attend the ceremony despite their varying feelings of envy and dissatisfaction.
• Nearly an epoch later, powerful guests arrived at Yingzhou Immortal Island, and Yuan Yan, Yuan Jie, Yuan Lun, Yuan Ling, and Nuwa prepared to appear after the gathering was complete.
• Yuan Yan intended the guests' recognition of the Yingzhou Commerce Association and its pill-based currency to help secure Merit and Fortune for its founders.
• Fuxi received the guests as they arrived, including Dongwang Gong, Di Jun and Taiyi, Jieyin and Zhunti, Zhen Yuanzi, the Three Pure Ones, and the Thirteen Ancestral Witches, who presented congratulatory gifts.

Yuan Yan and the others hosted the gathered powerhouses, arranging guests by rank and presenting them with pills whose effects and grades were explained. The guests were surprised by the unusual spread, while Jieyin and Zhunti avoided provoking the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage over the Western Continent.

• Zhunti called the Western Continent barren, but Jieyin stopped him and Zhunti changed his claim to Mount Sumeru being barren.
• Yuan Yan, Yuan Jie, Yuan Lun, Yuan Ling, and Nuwa entered the hall and guided the arriving powerhouses to their seats.
• The hosts seated guests according to status and provided different spiritual fruits, brews, and grades of Yin-Yang Creation Pills, Law Pills, and Origin Dao Pills.
• The chapter explained how the pills enhanced cultivation or comprehension at different levels and warned that pills far above a user's grade could be dangerous.
• The powerhouses were surprised to be entertained with pills, a practice Yuan Yan introduced using his Obsession Corpse Dao Body's Alchemy Dao method.

Yuan Yan revealed that Yin-Yang Creation Pills, Law Pills, and Origin Dao Pills could serve as standard currency and proposed making their refining methods public to establish a currency system throughout the Primordial World. With the guests’ approval, he and five companions swore an oath to the Heavenly Dao and released the pill recipes, leaving the new system’s establishment underway.

• Yuan Yan welcomed the guests to the banquet and invited them to examine the pills on their tables.
• Dongwang Gong dismissed the low-grade Yin-Yang Creation Pills, while Taiqing Laozi recognized that their refining method was profound.
• Yuan Yan revealed pills of different grades and opened the Heavenly Secrets, allowing the guests to understand their effects and his plan to use them as currency.
• Yuan Yan announced that he would make the three pill-refining methods public and use the pills to establish a currency system, and the Queen Mother of the West and the other guests approved.
• Yuan Yan, Yuan Jie, Yuan Lun, Yuan Ling, Fuxi, and Nuwa swore an oath to the Heavenly Dao and spread the pill-refining methods throughout the Primordial World.

Yuan Yan and the other five earned Heavenly Dao merit by establishing pill methods and founding the Yingzhou Commerce Association, while the Twenty-Fourth-Rank Creation Azure Lotus suppressed their growing Fortune. Their lineage’s cultivators advanced in enlightenment, with several dozen Taiyi Golden Immortals nearing Great Firmament and six Purple Firmament Palace Guests reaching the Quasi-Sage realm.

• Yuan Yan and the other five swore to share pill-refining methods, earning merit that transformed the Yin-Yang Great Dao Furnaces into Merit Spiritual Treasures.
• Yuan Yan used the Twenty-Fourth-Rank Creation Azure Lotus to suppress the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage’s growing Fortune, astonishing the assembled powerhouses.
• Yuan Yan and the other five swore to establish the Yingzhou Commerce Association and received further merit, with a portion distributed among the lineage’s cultivators.
• The Twenty-Fourth-Rank Creation Azure Lotus suppressed the Commerce Association’s initial Fortune as the group and the lineage’s cultivators entered a state of enlightenment.
• Several dozen Taiyi Golden Immortals condensed Great Firmament Dao Fruits, and six Purple Firmament Palace Guests severed one corpse and advanced to the Quasi-Sage realm.

After awakening from their enlightenment, Yuan Yan and the others hosted their guests and described the Yingzhou Commerce Association’s planned goods and prices. The guests eagerly considered what to buy, especially Origin Dao Pills, as the association prepared to begin business.

• Yuan Yan and the others emerged from enlightenment with greatly improved cultivation and a forty-percent increase in their Fortune.
• Yuan Yan apologized to the waiting guests, then had music and dancing begin as the banquet resumed.
• Yuan Yan and the others told the guests about the treasures and resources the Yingzhou Commerce Association planned to sell and their prices.
• Taiqing Laozi, the Three Pure Ones, Kunpeng, Di Jun, Taiyi, Xi He, Changxi, and other guests showed interest in goods suited to their needs, including pills, treasures, talismans, formations, and Three Lights Divine Water.
• Powerful figures sought Origin Dao Pills to improve their cultivation, break through bottlenecks, and strengthen their Three Corpse Dao Bodies.

After an eighty-one-year banquet, Yuan Yan opened the Yingzhou Commerce Association’s trading halls, where guests exchanged resources and treasures for pills and other goods. Demand far exceeded the association’s supply, so Yuan Yan prioritized buyers and arranged future transactions, leaving many guests unable to obtain what they wanted.

• Yuan Yan told the guests that trades would take place after the banquet and that the association could conceal the identities of those making private transactions.
• After the eighty-one-year banquet ended, most guests followed Yuan Yan and the others to the trading halls, while some left to retrieve possessions before returning.
• The guests completed their trades, but many were disappointed because they lacked funds or the association had insufficient supplies, especially Supreme-Grade Postnatal Spiritual Treasures and Origin Dao Pills.
• Yuan Yan ranked guests by status and strength, limited how much each could buy or sell, and prioritized higher-ranked guests.
• Yuan Yan accepted reservations and arranged for future transactions once the association had prepared the agreed pills, resources, and treasures.

After the Yingzhou Commerce Association’s opening brought major gains, Yuan Yan and the others planned branch offices, expanded pill production, and organized other efforts to develop the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage. As their plans took effect, pills and cultivation methods spread across the Primordial World, accelerating breakthroughs and the growth of its cultivators.

• Yuan Yan and the others planned to establish branch offices throughout the Primordial World, increase Origin Dao Pill production, spread four cultivation inheritances, restore and govern parts of the world, and supply the Commerce Association with treasures.
• Yuan Yan, Yuan Jie, Yuan Lun, Yuan Ling, Fuxi, and Nuwa ordered the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage to carry out the plan, with Fuxi coordinating the work.
• Yuan Yan and the others and their obsession corpse dao bodies refined Yin-Yang Great Dao Furnaces and organized shifts to maintain production while preserving time for cultivation.
• The Commerce Association opened branch offices, increased the availability of Origin Dao Pills, and spread methods for refining pills across the Primordial World.
• Many Purple Firmament Palace Guests broke through to the Quasi-Sage realm, while newly advanced Great Firmament Golden Immortals and other cultivators surged in number.

After more than a hundred Epochs, Nuwa contacted Yuan Yan, whose affection for her had become unmistakable. She responded with shy, conflicted warmth, then explained that her friends wanted the Yingzhou Commerce Association to provide them with more Origin Dao Pills.

• More than a hundred Epochs passed as cultivators advanced their cultivation with the help of Origin Dao Pills, while the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage progressed even faster.
• Nuwa contacted Yuan Yan, who left his cultivation at the Three Lights Divine Water Pool and appeared beside her.
• Yuan Yan realized Nuwa was receptive to his feelings and gently took her hand, while she blushed and let him hold it.
• Nuwa told Yuan Yan that Queen Mother of the West, Xihe, Changxi, Purple Light, Wusheng, Xuanming, Houtu, and Jiufeng had asked her to secure a larger share of Origin Dao Pills from the Yingzhou Commerce Association.

Nuwa told Yuan Yan that Xuanming, Houtu, and Jiufeng had offered treasures in exchange for the Yingzhou side cutting off trade with Di Jun and Taiyi and helping the Witch Clan kill them. Yuan Yan had agreed to give Nuwa’s allies a modestly increased Origin Dao Pill quota, but the chapter ended with Nuwa asking whether they should accept the Witch Clan’s tempting offer.

• Nuwa explained that she had raised Queen Mother of the West, Xi He, Changxi, and the others’ request out of consideration for their relationship, not to challenge the Origin Dao Pill quotas.
• Yuan Yan let Nuwa decide whether to grant Queen Mother of the West, Xi He, Changxi, Purple Light, Wusheng, Xuanming, Houtu, and Jiufeng an additional twenty percent each.
• Nuwa asked whether the extra Origin Dao Pills should come from the Three Thousand Purple Firmament Palace Guests’ quotas, and Yuan Yan said they should provide more themselves rather than break faith with the guests.
• Nuwa revealed that Xuanming, Houtu, and Jiufeng had offered a Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure for the Yingzhou Commerce Association to cut off trade with Di Jun and Taiyi, and two more treasures if Yingzhou helped kill them.
• Nuwa considered the offer’s substantial rewards and low risk, then asked Yuan Yan whether they should accept the two deals.

Yuan Yan explained to Nuwa why he refused to kill Di Jun and Taiyi, warning that the Witch Clan’s formation could threaten the Yingzhou Immortal Island Lineage. Nuwa accepted his reasoning and decided not to interfere, leaving their strategy of staying out of the coming conflict unchanged.

• Yuan Yan told Nuwa he would not agree to act against Di Jun and Taiyi, then summoned the Twenty-Fourth-Rank Creation Azure Lotus to conceal their conversation.
• Yuan Yan explained that he had glimpsed a future in which the Witch Clan and Demon Clan fought to mutual destruction, and described the power of their opposing formations.
• Yuan Yan said he feared killing Di Jun and Taiyi would let the Witch Clan pursue supremacy, while leaving them alive would keep the Ancestral Witches occupied and buy time for his side to attain the Dao.
• Nuwa considered whether her friendship with Xuanming, Houtu, and Jiufeng justified helping Di Jun and Taiyi weaken the Witch Clan, but dismissed the idea.
• Nuwa trusted Yuan Yan’s judgment and resolved not to act rashly or involve their lineage in the conflict.