Chapter Summaries

Lu Qing rebounded Ning Shaohua’s Sword Qi, injuring the Seventh Stage Purple Mansion cultivator before flying on to his mission. Ning Shaohua and the watching disciples tried to identify the mysterious attacker, while Lu Qing stayed cautious and altered his Flying Boat’s appearance.

• Lu Qing’s defensive formation redirected Ning Shaohua’s Sword Qi and injured him, so Lu Qing noted Ning Shaohua’s name and hurried away.
• Ning Shaohua was embarrassed and baffled by the attack, while nearby disciples saw an Image Projection of his injury and speculated that a powerful hidden master had struck him.
• Lu Qing considered the possibility of further trouble but saw that his Divination showed no new warning related to the incident.
• Lu Qing left the mountain gate and changed his Flying Boat’s appearance to make it look ordinary but faintly treasure-like.

Lu Qing traveled to Water Province to clear a Killing Intent point and discovered that Peach Blossom Village concealed something supernatural. After questioning a villager, he followed him into the abandoned village and saw the man turn into a shadow.

• Lu Qing chose Water Province as his first destination and flew toward a nearby Killing Intent point.
• Ning Shaohua accepted several pursuit tasks at the Dao Academy and attacked a disciple who tried to warn him.
• Lu Qing reached Peach Blossom Village, where the lively scene of villagers and farmers seemed out of place for a Killing Intent zone.
• Lu Qing questioned an old man about reports of black mist and ghostly cries, but the man denied anything was wrong.
• Lu Qing followed the old man into the deserted village and saw him become transparent and lose the aura of a living person.

Lu Qing discovered and destroyed a nearly sentient mass of Killing Intent that had created the illusion of Peach Blossom Village. He reported the location and began clearing the battlefield’s lingering Killing Intent, reflecting on how its baleful influence could affect weaker cultivators.

• Lu Qing found a dilapidated earthen temple where the village ancestral hall should have been and sensed a concealed aura inside its clay idol.
• Lu Qing destroyed the idol, trapped the escaping black shadow, and crushed the sentient Killing Intent within it.
• Lu Qing realized that the old man, villagers, and rice paddies had all been fabrications, while skeletons showed that real people had died there.
• Lu Qing reported Peach Blossom Village’s location to the Mission Hall and noted that the area could attract yin entities because of its terrain and lingering resentment.
• Lu Qing used a formation and Flying Boat to survey the village and farmland, then began purifying the remaining Killing Intent.

Lu Qing traveled to Phoenix-Tail Marsh to continue his assigned tasks and discovered that cultivators had gathered there for a Phoenix-Tail Water Kingdom princess’s prince-consort selection. He changed course to avoid a tower ship carrying several Purple Palace cultivators, leaving the local gathering and its potential conflicts unexplored.

• Lu Qing set out for Phoenix-Tail Marsh, where he expected to find another former battlefield area.
• He sailed into the vast marsh and noticed that many of the boats around him carried cultivators.
• Lu Qing used his divine sense to learn that cultivators had come to compete for the Phoenix-Tail Princess’s hand and the position of prince consort.
• Lu Qing recalled that the Phoenix-Tail Water Kingdom was a Golden Core power founded by the Phoenix-Tail Ancestor.
• Lu Qing sensed a tower ship carrying several Purple Palace cultivators and steered away from it.

Lu Qing declined Zhu Longxiang’s invitation, then traveled to Phoenix-Tail Prefecture to accept missions clearing Killing Intent. He left the city with missions near the southern Great Marsh, away from the coming Water Kingdom conflict.

• Zhu Longxiang invited Lu Qing to travel with his group, but Lu Qing declined, and Zhu judged him to be someone who was not simple.
• Zhu Longxiang’s companions discussed Lu Qing and the Profound Heaven Dao Academy, while Zhu reflected on his choice to join the Heavenly Mountain Sect.
• Lu Qing decided Zhu Longxiang had been probing him and continued toward Phoenix-Tail Prefecture.
• Lu Qing entered Phoenix-Tail Prefecture and found the Profound Heaven Dao Academy’s mission station.
• Lu Qing accepted several unclaimed Killing Intent-clearing missions near the southern Great Marsh and prepared to leave.

Lu Qing left Phoenix-Tail Prefecture after sensing dangerous cultivators plotting around the Water Kingdom’s Consort Selection Gathering and headed south to fulfill a Killing Intent-cleansing task. On the way, he rescued Dao Academy disciples trapped by a Baleful Eerie, cleared the area, and continued onward.

• Four veiled cultivators agreed to act against the Phoenix-Tail Water Kingdom, believing its Phoenix-Tail Ancestor was near death and unlikely to intervene.
• Lu Qing departed Phoenix-Tail Prefecture, noted the strange and dangerous auras gathering there, and chose a route south across the Great Marsh.
• A group of Dao Academy disciples became trapped in white mist created by a Baleful Eerie, and their formation began to fail.
• Lu Qing arrived, suppressed the white mist with his formation, and rescued the trapped disciples.
• Lu Qing cleared the surrounding Killing Intent and flew off toward the next location.

Lu Qing crossed into the frozen and scorched battlefield south of the Great Marsh, where he discovered ancient traces of overwhelming power and let White Rainbow absorb some of the local Killing Intent. He ventured farther into the blood-soaked fields and found a golden-boned corpse bearing the name Liu Chen, then continued searching for the source of the Killing Intent.

• Lu Qing left the disciples he had rescued and headed south toward the Great Marsh, sensing a violent impulse in the growing Killing Intent.
• He reached an immense battlefield where frozen waters and scorching land coexisted, and realized a cultivator’s power had created the scene.
• Lu Qing released White Rainbow, which absorbed some of the Killing Intent and grew slightly stronger before he put it away.
• He crossed onto land carpeted with bones and congealed blood, finding a golden-boned corpse beside a plaque bearing the name Liu Chen.
• Lu Qing avoided touching Liu Chen’s bones and plaque, traveled deeper without finding other disciples, and took out his map to search for the Killing Intent’s source.

Lu Qing found and destroyed a newly awakened Purple Mansion Realm Demonic Aberration at Blood Bone Hills. After reporting the battle to a Dao Academy Elder, he left the threat of similar creatures to the stronger cultivators.

• Lu Qing followed the inaccurate map to Blood Bone Hills and established a trapping formation around the hills.
• Lu Qing sensed a Purple Mansion Realm presence in the black mist and recognized it as a Demonic Aberration.
• Lu Qing struck the creature with the spell “Exterminate!” and used successive formations to kill it.
• Lu Qing suspected the collapsed entrance to the Minor Realm had caused the resentment that spawned the Demonic Aberration.
• A purple-robed Dao Academy Elder arrived, heard Lu Qing's account, and praised him for exterminating the creature.

Lu Qing cleared Killing Intent in the southern marsh while the Phoenix-Tail Water Kingdom opened its consort selection to arriving cultivators. They were required to cross a mountain path inside the Landscape-Form Water Painting to enter the selection, and the first contestants began entering the painting.

• The purple-robed elder left after suggesting Lu Qing receive an additional reward, and he ordered his youngest disciple to enter seclusion.
• Lu Qing recognized the elder as Elder Lin, who had helped oversee his second test upon entering the sect, then continued clearing Killing Intent.
• At the Water Kingdom's entrance, a palace-robed maid announced that contestants had to pass through the Landscape-Form Water Painting's mountain path to reach the capital and qualify for the consort selection.
• A White Dragon Envoy from Jade Mountain entered the painting first, prompting other cultivators to follow.

Wind and Clouds entered the painting and challenged Zhu Longxiang after hearing him disparaged, while Lu Qing used the Wooden Fish Bell to purify Killing Intent above a lava field. Lu Qing left the area cleared and considered its potential as a body-refinement ground.

• Wind and Clouds joined the cultivators entering the painting, and the maid recognized him as a possible match for the ancestor’s wishes.
• Zhu Longxiang mocked Wind and Clouds and dismissed his victory over Xu Zhihan, prompting Wind and Clouds to ask if he wanted to fight.
• Lu Qing found Killing Intent gathered above a deep lava flow and avoided using a formation that might disturb the Earth Qi below.
• Lu Qing struck the Wooden Fish Bell with a Spiritual Power mallet, and its chimes purified the Killing Intent over the lava.
• Lu Qing surveyed the cleared area and considered developing it as a treasured ground for body refinement.

Lu Qing reached Rainy Slope, where rain of all four seasons fell at once, and destroyed the final source of Killing Intent. He discovered that the rain’s strange quality came from the air, then left the mystery for later investigation.

• Lu Qing noted that the map gave unreliable distances and that his Qingling Spiritual Power transformation was more than halfway complete.
• Lu Qing flew to Rainy Slope and found spring, summer, autumn, and winter rain falling in different directions.
• Lu Qing spotted a black stone formed from Killing Intent and shattered it with Sword Qi, causing the Killing Intent to dissipate.
• Lu Qing examined the rain and discovered that its four-season mystery existed only while it drifted through the air.
• Lu Qing decided to investigate Rainy Slope’s origins after returning and considered visiting again in the future.

Lu Qing completed his mission in Water Province and headed southeast, avoiding an unfamiliar cultivator before reading news about deaths among Dao Academy disciples and the Phoenix-Tail Water Kingdom’s Consort Selection Gathering. Near the provincial border, he heard an enraged roar from far away.

• Lu Qing finished his Water Province mission and chose a southeast route out of the province by tossing a leaf to divine his direction.
• Lu Qing avoided Wang Xingchen, who tried to call out to him while practicing divination in the wilderness.
• Lu Qing read a message reporting that Liu Mo had died before his arena fight with Cheng Du, who had vanished, and that Ning Shaohua had been killed by Evil Cultivators in Central Province.
• Lu Qing noticed that Wind and Clouds had reportedly taken part in the Phoenix-Tail Water Kingdom’s Consort Selection Gathering and turned back to calculate the distance.
• Lu Qing neared Water Province’s border as an enraged roar sounded from thousands of miles away.

Lu Qing witnessed the Phoenix-Tail Ancestor's sudden death and learned that the Great Marsh calamity had killed many cultivators, including disciples from the three Immortal Sects. He continued toward the Golden Core Realm while avoiding Senior Brother Feng, as Chen Fan faced his own confrontation at the Servant Academy.

• Lu Qing saw the Phoenix-Tail Ancestor kill several evil cultivators, then watched an unseen attacker assassinate the wounded Golden Core cultivator in an instant.
• Elders from the Sword Sect, Jade Mountain, and Heavenly Mountain Sect arrived, but the killer escaped before their leader could strike.
• Lu Qing glimpsed the Consort Selection Gathering's aftermath, where most candidates had died or vanished and only a few remained.
• Cultivators in a nearby city spread news that the Phoenix-Tail Ancestor had been severely wounded and that sect disciples had died, with only Zhu Longxiang rescued.
• Lu Qing hid in the clouds, heard people discuss Senior Brother Feng, and decided to keep his distance if they met again.
• Chen Fan faced a confrontation at Servant District Number Eighteen of the Servant Academy.

Liang Shan confronted Chen Fan at the mountain gate, while Lu Qing found a secluded, unremarkable mountain that resonated with him and began cultivating there. As the moon rose, strands of Moon Essence descended onto the mountain and enhanced Lu Qing’s clarity and vision.

• Liang Shan taunted Chen Fan and claimed that offending Senior Brother Qiu and Senior Sister Jiang Yue'er would leave him without protection.
• Chen Fan called Liang Shan a dead dog, and a disciple launched a fireball at him, sparking a battle that drew attention across No. 18 Servant District.
• Lu Qing followed a faint resonance to an unremarkable mountain, inspected it with his pupils and Divine Consciousness, and found a broad, quiet place suitable for cultivation.
• Lu Qing set up a Spirit-Gathering Formation, cleared the mountain platform, enlarged his Flying Boat, and began cultivating there while watching the sky.
• A full moon rose over the mountain, and strands of Moon Essence descended onto Lu Qing’s palm, sharpening his mind and extending his vision.

Lu Qing discovered that the remote platform gathered unusually pure Moon Essence during a brief alignment of the full moon and the Heavenly Stems. He used the essence to cleanse and strengthen his Divine Soul, then identified the timing that caused the rare phenomenon.

• Lu Qing drew Moon Essence onto the platform and realized it could be absorbed directly while cleansing his mind and spirit.
• Lu Qing gathered the Moon Essence into his Purple Mansion Realm, advancing his Divine Soul to the Eighth Realm of the Purple Mansion and forming stars in its manifested sky.
• Lu Qing stored some Moon Essence in a bottle made of Spiritual Power, though he knew he could not preserve it for long without a Jade Radiance Bottle.
• Lu Qing used the Timekeeping Spell to calculate the precise time and discovered the Moon Essence had appeared during the Full Moon Festival, when the Heavenly Stems completed one Celestial Sphere.

Lu Qing broke through to the eleventh layer of his cultivation method and gained a powerful new spell before traveling from Water Province to Yingxian City in Nether Province. He arrived at the bustling city and saw a procession of beast-taming cultivators riding demonic beasts.

• Lu Qing watched beasts worship the moon, then continued cultivating through the night.
• Lu Qing broke through to the eleventh layer and comprehended a thunderous spell that consumed one-third of his spiritual power.
• Lu Qing set off for the Twelve Cities of Nether Province, then detoured to sell the Moon Essence he had collected.
• Lu Qing reached Yingxian City, where he saw beast-taming cultivators riding a variety of enormous demonic beasts.

Lu Qing entered Yingxian City, sold Moon Essence at the Myriad Treasures Trading Association, and bought a Jade Radiance Bottle. After disguising his appearance to avoid attention, he followed the sound of beast roars toward a crowded street.

• Lu Qing arrived in Yingxian City and admired its busy streets, grand buildings, and demon-beast thoroughfare.
• Lu Qing sold his Essence of Moon Radiance to a steward at the Myriad Treasures Trading Association for two hundred and twenty Spirit Stones.
• Lu Qing bought a Jade Radiance Bottle and left the trading association.
• Three cultivators mistook Lu Qing for an easy target, but recognized his Purple Mansion aura and abandoned the idea.
• Lu Qing concealed his aura and changed his appearance while wandering through the city.
• Lu Qing heard a commotion of beast roars and looked toward the crowded place where it began.

Lu Qing explored Nether Province, learned about the Beast Taming Sect and the region’s powerful cultivators, and studied the Moon-Eating Demon mission. After discovering that a rare Mountain Rush had drawn the demons out, he set off toward the Twelve Cities to complete his mission.

• Lu Qing visited the Beast Taming Sect, learned that its demon beasts cost at least three thousand Spirit Stones, and left without buying one.
• Lu Qing bought intelligence about Nether Province and learned that the Beast Taming Sect was the province’s greatest Immortal Sect, with several Golden Core cultivators.
• Lu Qing read about Jiang Baiwen, the renowned Golden Core stationed cultivator known for wielding thunder and defeating local Golden Core cultivators.
• Lu Qing learned that Moon-Eating Demons had appeared in the Twelve Cities during their Mountain Rush season, when demon beasts and treasures emerged across Nether Province.
• Lu Qing decided to complete his mission in the Twelve Cities and set off toward them.

Lu Qing traveled through Nether Province to Twelve Cities and bought information about the Moon-Eating Demons before heading to hunt them. While using the Windchaser Art, he entered a new state of cultivation and overshot their location; the chapter ended with the Moon-Eating Demon King gathering its followers at White Bone Ridge.

• Lu Qing arrived at Twelve Cities and learned about its demon-beast customs and Heart-Calming Bells.
• Lu Qing bought information about the Moon-Eating Demons from Clearwind Pavilion and decided to target their Demon King.
• Lu Qing used the Windchaser Art to travel, discovering that it had developed a trace of true spirit.
• Lu Qing realized he had drifted nearly a hundred li beyond the Moon-Eating Demons' location and began restoring his spiritual power.
• At White Bone Ridge, the Moon-Eating Demon King gathered the instinct-driven Moon-Eating Demons and mimicked swallowing the moon.

Lu Qing captured the Moon-Eating Demon King, completing his Nether Province mission, then discovered that the Treasure Basin had erupted across the region. He reached Yu City as cultivators rushed out toward the treasure sites.

• Lu Qing captured the Moon-Eating Demon King with a Trapping Formation and collected the Moon Essence left behind by the other Moon-Eating Demons.
• Lu Qing confirmed that his Nether Province mission was complete, then noticed a golden object emerging from the ground beneath him.
• Lu Qing heard that the Treasure Basin had erupted and saw pillars of treasure light appearing across Nether Province.
• Lu Qing concealed the golden object with an Illusory Formation and flew to Yu City, where he learned the eruption was concentrated around Twelve Cities, Yingxian City, and Book Mountain.
• Cultivators in Yu City rushed out into the night toward the treasure sites while Lu Qing checked into an inn and watched from his room.