Chapter Summaries

Song Wen approved the Spirit Plant Academy’s new examination format, which used the Heavenly Heart Jewel to assess disciples across all levels. Lu Qing registered for the examination and entered a formation-isolated testing space as his written assessment began.

• Zhou Yaoming revealed that the academy planned to use the Heavenly Heart Jewel to create an illusory realm for every level of the examination, and Song Wen approved the plan.
• Song Wen said the new format could be promoted to other academies and recorded merit for Zhou Yaoming.
• Lu Qing registered at a guidance marker and received a teleportation talisman on his Spirit Plant token.
• Lu Qing crushed the talisman and arrived at an enormous examination plaza, where a formation isolated him from the other examinees.
• Lu Qing settled into the silent space, confirmed that he was ready, and watched his examination paper appear on the desk.

Lu Qing completed the Beginner Spirit Planter Examination, answering questions about spirit herbs and whether being a spirit planter restricted cultivation. The examination papers vanished through the formation as the isolated exam continued across the grounds.

• Lu Qing identified the Cloud-Swallowing Core and answered questions about unfamiliar spirit plants.
• Lu Qing argued that spirit planting did not restrict cultivation and offered a path to cultivate while earning spirit stones.
• Lu Qing finished the examination in a little over forty minutes and placed his token on the paper, causing it to vanish.
• A vast formation enclosed each disciple in a silent space, separating the beginner, intermediate, and advanced examination grounds.
• Song Wen and Zhou Yaoming observed that the improved formation helped disciples settle their minds and revealed their mental state.

Lu Qing endured the Dao Academy’s mind-testing examination and entered the Void Realm, where his cultivation was suppressed for a practical test of planting Tiger-Subduing Vine. He found a damp pool suited to the plant and began preparing to open a spirit field.

• Several disciples gave up or faltered during the formation’s isolation test, while Lu Qing remained composed.
• Song Wen watched Lu Qing and praised his steady temperament to Zhou Yaoming.
• After Lu Qing completed his paper, the formation transported him into the Void Realm and assigned him to plant one Tiger-Subduing Vine within a day.
• Lu Qing realized the realm had suppressed his cultivation and that he would need to prepare the field without relying on his usual spiritual power.
• Lu Qing followed the sound of water into the forest and found a shadowed pool with farming tools nearby, choosing a small plot beside it.

Lu Qing planted a Tiger-Subduing Vine in the Spirit Plant Academy’s illusory assessment, relying on pond water when his spiritual power ran out. The examiners awarded him a high excellence rating, and he left the assessment unsure how it had been judged as disciples compared their different experiences.

• Lu Qing sowed the Tiger-Subduing Vine seeds, then fetched water from the nearby pond to nourish them after he could not cast the Minor Cloud Rain Technique.
• The Spirit Plant Academy elders debated the disciples’ methods while Song Wen observed the new illusory assessment format.
• The examiners gave Lu Qing a high excellence rating because he had cultivated a healthy, high-quality Tiger-Subduing Vine using sound methods.
• Lu Qing left the assessment weary and wondered whether his cultivated vine would be enough to pass.
• Lu Qing returned to the cultivation city and heard other disciples complain about the exhausting assessment and compare how strong their bodies had felt without spiritual power.

After completing the Spirit Plant Academy assessment, Lu Qing learned that disciples had faced very different virtual trials and then went to the Formation Academy for a lesson. The elders began evaluating the results, while Lu Qing arrived at the academy’s spectacular pocket world.

• Lu Qing overheard disciples compare their varied assessment experiences and realized the virtual realm’s trials differed according to assessment level.
• Lu Qing left the Spirit Plant Academy and headed for the Formation Academy instead of waiting for the results due in three days.
• Zhou Yaoming and Song Wen reviewed the assessments and discussed the lack of exceptional spirit plant candidates and the need to renew the assessment.
• Lu Qing used his disciple token to enter the Formation Academy’s pocket world and emerged on a platform overlooking its vast cities and palaces.

Lu Qing arrived at the Formation Academy to attend Elder Liu’s lecture and was tested by a series of formations. He broke through the first two formations and continued deeper into the assessment.

• Lu Qing received a guidance token from a divine bird and followed it to Elder Liu’s lecture hall.
• Elder Liu told Lu Qing to walk through seven formations and said he could call out to exit if he faced danger.
• Lu Qing entered the Ghost-Wailing Killing Formation and recognized that he needed to protect his mind and deal with the resentful ghosts.
• Lu Qing used the Gale Formation and Golden Light Formation to expose and destroy the ghosts, breaking the first formation.
• Lu Qing stepped into the next formation, which was a restriction formation, and continued the test.

Lu Qing broke through the fifth step of Elder Liu’s formation trial before reaching his limit, then asked to study the foundations of formations. Elder Liu began his lesson by challenging him to build a formation in a miniature wilderness using only mortal methods, and Lu Qing started laying out a maze.

• Lu Qing endured the Heaven-and-Earth Severing Formation’s pressure and shattered its moon-shaped core with a spiritual-power bow and arrow.
• Elder Liu stopped the trial after Lu Qing admitted that the fifth step was his limit, then praised his timing while noting that his formation execution was crude.
• Lu Qing told Elder Liu he wanted to study the foundational system of formations because he had never truly entered the field.
• Elder Liu conjured a miniature wilderness and ordered Lu Qing to set up a formation without spiritual power or divine sense.
• Lu Qing surveyed the terrain and began arranging thorny vines and other features to deceive the eye and lead intruders into a dead end.

Lu Qing entered Elder Liu’s Illusion World, where he built a lethal formation and then gained a breakthrough in understanding formations as a Dao rather than a collection of techniques. After discussing his insight with Elder Liu, Lu Qing returned to Spirit Leaf Island to reflect on what he had learned.

• Lu Qing completed a mountain-rock formation that trapped intruders and drained their strength amid the lethal aura of Sword Bamboo and stone.
• Elder Liu changed the Illusion World into a snowy wilderness populated by Snow Wolves to test whether Lu Qing could adapt his approach.
• Lu Qing realized that his assumptions, not a lack of formation methods, had constrained his understanding, and his cultivation advanced a step.
• Lu Qing told Elder Liu that formation theory was only one school of thought and that a cultivator had to follow their own path in the Formation Dao.
• Elder Liu began teaching Lu Qing his own school of formations, starting with the Dao Academy’s formations.
• Lu Qing returned to Spirit Leaf Island to organize his gains, while Elder Liu reflected on Lu Qing’s insight.

Lu Qing broke through his bottleneck in formations and formed a prototype of the Formation Golden Light divine ability while in seclusion. After his Dragonheart Fruit and Purple Moon Fruit ripened, he harvested them and headed to Cultivation City to claim his beginner spiritual planter badge.

• Lu Qing understood the deeper principles of formations, broke through his bottleneck, and drew the Formation Golden Light divine ability prototype into his Purple Mansion.
• Lu Qing practiced formations for three days, and the resulting spiritual resonance ripened the Dragonheart Fruit and Purple Moon Fruit.
• Lu Qing emerged from seclusion, judged the fruit harvest ready, and used a spell to gather the fruits into his storage pouch.
• Lu Qing rode to Cultivation City to claim his beginner spiritual planter badge and saw crowds gathered before three jade stones displaying names.

Lu Qing passed the Junior Spirit Planter Master assessment with a Superior Grade evaluation and went to register for his rank. Steward Luo recognized how much Lu Qing had advanced in two years and updated his token with the Junior Spirit Planter Master mark.

• Lu Qing saw the posted pass lists and confirmed that he had passed the junior assessment with a Superior Grade evaluation.
• Lu Qing avoided the crowd gathering around Wei Yi and the other disciples who had received Highest Superior Grade evaluations, then planned to settle his mission and prepare for seclusion.
• Lu Qing went to the Spirit Plant Academy Registration Office to collect his Junior Spirit Planter Master token.
• Steward Luo recognized Lu Qing's rapid progress to the Purple Mansion Realm and registered him as a Junior Spirit Planter Master.

Lu Qing accepted the Wooden Fish Bell as a gift from Steward Luo, then asked him for guidance on approaching Core Formation. Steward Luo explained the role and dangers of gathering Innate Qi, leaving Lu Qing confident that he could take the time to find a suitable strand.

• Steward Luo stopped Lu Qing from leaving and gave him the Wooden Fish Bell, explaining its defensive and sound-based abilities.
• Lu Qing accepted the artifact as a meeting gift and thanked Steward Luo.
• Steward Luo invited Lu Qing to sit and asked how much he knew about Core Formation.
• Lu Qing admitted he knew little, so Steward Luo explained how gathering Innate Qi could strengthen a Golden Core and why the Qi had to suit the cultivator.
• Steward Luo advised Lu Qing to seek out suitable Heaven-and-Earth Qi, and Lu Qing decided that waiting for the right strand was preferable to forming an ordinary Golden Core.

Lu Qing learned about the three Tribulations required to form a Golden Core from Steward Luo, who encouraged him to rely on his Wooden Fish Bell when the time came. He then collected the rewards for his completed missions and planned to buy supplies before returning to secluded cultivation.

• Steward Luo explained that forming a Golden Core involved the Restless Mind Tribulation, the Karmic Tribulation, and the Lightning Tribulation, all crossed together.
• Lu Qing worried about facing the three Tribulations but resolved to trust his talent and abilities.
• Steward Luo advised Lu Qing to use his Wooden Fish Bell to block some of the strikes.
• Lu Qing went to the Spirit Plant Academy Mission Hall and collected 6,800 Spirit Stones and 3,000 contribution points for his completed tasks.
• Lu Qing considered his upcoming purchases and decided to enter seclusion when he returned.

Lu Qing traded twenty-five Dragonheart Fruits to Chen Yuyi for Spirit Stones and a low-grade spirit artifact embryo, then decided to buy Artifact Fire so he could refine it. He learned that Chen Yuyi cultivated the Red Dust Seven Desires Dao and remained in Cultivation City to shop.

• A reception disciple brought Lu Qing to meet a buyer urgently seeking Dragonheart Fruits.
• Chen Yuyi offered three thousand Spirit Stones and a low-grade spirit artifact embryo for thirty fruits, and Lu Qing sold him the twenty-five he had available.
• Lu Qing asked about the gloomy buyer and learned that Chen Yuyi was wealthy, close to the academy master, and cultivating sorrow through the Red Dust Seven Desires Dao.
• Lu Qing realized the spirit artifact embryo gave him a new path to obtain a spirit artifact and decided to purchase Artifact Fire before leaving Cultivation City.

Lu Qing bought the ordinary Artifact Fire White Rainbow and returned to Spirit Leaf Island, where he tested the Wooden Fish Bell and discovered its soul-attacking and formidable defensive abilities. He then took out his artifact embryo and prepared to refine it.

• Lu Qing bought White Rainbow at the Myriad Treasures Trading Association and flew back to Spirit Leaf Island.
• Lu Qing refined the Wooden Fish Bell and found that its toll could cleanse the mind, seize souls, and draw out Divine Soul Energy Flow.
• Lu Qing enlarged the Wooden Fish Bell and tested its defense, finding that it absorbed or resisted nearly all his attacks.
• Lu Qing took out his artifact embryo and decided to refine it while his luck was still favorable.

Lu Qing completed his first spiritual artifact, a low-grade flying boat that could shrink into the shape of a leaf, and prepared to enter seclusion on Spirit Leaf Island. He hoped to break through to the seventh level of the Purple Mansion Realm before leaving for an outside mission.

• Lu Qing shaped the artifact blank with the White Rainbow Artifact Flame and created a Spirit Leaf that could transform into a flying boat.
• Lu Qing examined the artifact and learned it could fly through the sky, dive underwater, and might develop spirituality if nourished with spiritual power.
• Lu Qing cast spiritual rain over the Dragonheart Fruit trees and Purple Moon Fruit trees before his seclusion.
• Lu Qing returned to his pavilion, where his improved Spirit Gathering Formation gathered dense spiritual energy, and planned to advance to the seventh level of the Purple Mansion Realm.

While Lu Qing cultivated in seclusion on Spirit Leaf Island, the Outer Academy’s rising prodigies began reclaiming attention and rankings. Cheng Du challenged Liu Mo to a fight in the Life-and-Death Arena, and the looming change in who would host the next Grand Competition fueled speculation about the elders’ rivalry.

• Lu Qing entered secluded cultivation, while White Crane Boy returned to flying spirit stones and fishing alone.
• As the prodigies’ cultivation advanced, Gu Xuantian, Su Xinyue, Cheng Du, Li Xuan, and Wan Feiyu rose in the arena rankings and drew hostility from older disciples.
• Cheng Du sent Liu Mo a provocative Life and Death challenge letter, which a strand of Sword Qi drove into the cliff outside Liu Mo’s cultivation cave.
• Outer Academy disciples learned that Cheng Du and Liu Mo would fight in three months, by which time Cheng Du might reach the Purple Mansion Fourth Realm.
• Disciples speculated that the challenge’s timing was tied to Elder Song’s upcoming departure as Grand Competition host and the other elders’ long seclusions.

Outer Academy disciples debated how the Grand Competition and Inner Academy entry rules disadvantaged those who had waited for years, while rumors of a fight between Cheng Du and Liu Mo stirred the academy. Unaware of the uproar, Lu Qing reached a breakthrough in his cultivation, but a violent aura arose and was quickly suppressed.

• A Purple Mansion disciple reflected that only the Outer Academy’s three chief elders could preside over the Grand Competition and that long periods between competitions left disciples struggling to enter the Inner Academy.
• Disciples received messages that Cheng Du’s flying sword had pierced Liu Mo’s Cultivation Cave, and rumors spread that they would meet at the Life-and-Death Arena.
• Outer Academy disciples split into camps and placed bets on whether Liu Mo or Cheng Du would win, while older disciples worried about competing against Gu Xuantian and the other returning prodigies.
• Lu Qing continued cultivating in seclusion on Spirit Leaf Island, glimpsed deeper aspects of the Purple Mansion Realm, and condensed another drop of Spiritual Power.
• A violent aura appeared around Lu Qing, but it was suppressed almost immediately.

Lu Qing broke through to the Seventh Stage of the Purple Mansion Realm and left seclusion to choose a mission. He spotted an old pursuit mission tied to Ningfeng County, the place his earlier divination had warned contained a dangerous secret.

• Lu Qing stopped trying to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth and confirmed that he had reached the Seventh Stage of the Purple Mansion Realm.
• After nearly two months in seclusion, Lu Qing left his courtyard and searched the Mission Hall for a suitable assignment.
• Lu Qing dismissed missions involving demonic cultivators and criminals, then noticed an Earth Vein investigation at White Ape Mountain offering entry to Firecloud Grotto-Heaven.
• Lu Qing found an unresolved pursuit mission for the evil cultivator Zhang Renfeng, who had massacred tens of thousands of people in Ningfeng County.
• Lu Qing recognized Ningfeng County from his earlier Greatly Ominous Hexagram and connected the pursuit mission to the secret that had put him in danger.

Lu Qing used Calamity Avoidance to assess missions and found that the assignments in Ping Prefecture and against Zhang Renfeng were dangerous ambushes. He accepted three safer missions in Cold River Prefecture, Nether Province, and Southern Province, preparing to depart from Spirit Leaf Island.

• Lu Qing recognized Zhang Renfeng as a powerful Evil Cultivator and recorded his name in his notebook as a reminder to stay vigilant.
• Lu Qing used Calamity Avoidance and learned that the White Ape Mountain and Zhang Renfeng missions carried grave danger from ambushes.
• Lu Qing identified several Calming Hexagram missions and decided to avoid the mission in Spirit Prefecture because it involved slight disturbances.
• Lu Qing chose the Cold River Prefecture mission to clear Killing Intent, the Nether Province mission to capture Moon-Eating Demons, and the Southern Province mission.
• Lu Qing accepted the three missions and prepared to leave Spirit Leaf Island.

Lu Qing left Spirit Leaf Island aboard a flying boat equipped with a formation that let him cultivate in flight. When Ning Shaohua attacked the boat, its new defensive formation reflected his sword qi and left him gravely wounded.

• Lu Qing strengthened the formations on Spirit Leaf Island, informed White Crane Boy of his departure, and prepared a disguised flying boat with a Spirit-Gathering Formation.
• Lu Qing flew toward the sect while practicing the Profound Heaven Origin Scripture aboard the boat.
• After birds struck the boat, Lu Qing modified its defenses to redirect incoming attacks.
• Ning Shaohua emerged from failed seclusion, saw the boat overhead, and fired sword qi at it.
• The boat’s formation reflected Ning Shaohua’s sword qi with greater force, injuring him and collapsing a mountaintop.
• Lu Qing sensed Ning Shaohua’s injuries and realized the flying boat’s defense had caused the damage.