Chapter Summaries

Su Shi'er identified a strange, intelligent aura as possibly connected to the soul and proposed that a living being’s soul might be the Nine Revolutions Pill’s missing main ingredient. He left the gathered cultivators stunned by his theory that the pill’s nine spirit pills corresponded to two souls and seven spirits.

• Yin Qingxue suggested adapting the Nine Revolutions Pill to refine a Breakthrough Pill, and Blood Cloud Daoist praised his insight while asking about a substitute ingredient.
• Su Shi'er recalled a concealed aura and his past experience of forming a body from Essence, Qi, and Spirit, then suspected the aura was connected to a soul.
• Du Ziwén ended the sect mission and invited Yin Qingxue to stay and study the Nine Revolutions Pill.
• Su Shi'er stepped forward and proposed that the missing main ingredient might not be a spiritual medicine but the soul of a living being.
• Su Shi'er theorized that the Nine Revolutions Pill’s nine spirit pills corresponded to two souls and seven spirits, leaving everyone frozen in shock.

Su Shi'er argued that the Nine Revolutions Pill had been refined from cultivators’ souls and spirits, using records about the Ancient Medicine King Mo Huaigu to persuade Blood Cloud Daoist. After the explanation was accepted, Blood Cloud Daoist invited Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue to help with further experiments, while Su Shi'er had a sudden realization about the pill and changed his plans.

• Su Shi'er linked Mo Huaigu’s soul-related arts and attempts to incorporate souls into pills to the Nine Revolutions Pill.
• Su Shi'er cited Mo Huaigu’s descent into madness and loss of cultivation after refining pills for twenty years as evidence that the pill consumed souls and spirits.
• Blood Cloud Daoist agreed that the Nine Revolutions Pill had been refined using souls and spirits, astonishing Du Ziwén and the others.
• Du Ziwén questioned why Mo Huaigu would have paid such a price, and Blood Cloud Daoist said the reason was uncertain before inviting Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue to assist with pill-refining experiments.
• Su Shi'er considered the pill’s spiritual consciousness, experienced a sudden realization, and changed his plans before speaking ahead of Yin Qingxue.

Su Shi'er declined Blood Cloud Daoist's invitation to join the Nine Revolutions Pill trials but received a Sacred Spirit Token and a pill manual for his help. After leaving the Pill Hall, he received secret paper-kite messages from someone who claimed to see through his disguise and summoned him to a meeting.

• Su Shi'er refused to take part in the later trials, and Blood Cloud Daoist gave him the Complete Compendium of the Dao of Pills and a Sacred Spirit Token.
• Yin Qingxue also declined to stay, and Blood Cloud Daoist gave him a Sacred Spirit Token before Elder Chu led everyone out of the cave.
• The group returned to the Pill Hall courtyard, where Su Shi'er dismissed the Nine Revolutions Pill's promise of instant ascension as a scam.
• A paper kite delivered a message claiming its sender had seen through Su Shi'er's disguise, then invited him to meet outside the Pill Hall courtyard.
• Su Shi'er noticed concealed formation fluctuations around the courtyard and decided to investigate the sender's meeting place.

Su Shi'er met Yin Qingxue, who had recognized the Nascent Soul concealed in Su Shi'er's secondary body. They concluded that the Nine Revolutions Pill was a trap that would gradually merge its taker's soul with the pill's, and Su Shi'er asked Yin Qingxue to explain why he had summoned him.

• Su Shi'er followed the Paper Kite Message to a courtyard, where Yin Qingxue welcomed him inside.
• Yin Qingxue revealed that he had seen through Su Shi'er's concealed Nascent Soul, and Su Shi'er proposed they speak openly about cooperation.
• Yin Qingxue asked why Su Shi'er had abandoned the chance to obtain the Nine Revolutions Pill, and Su Shi'er challenged him to explain why he had left as well.
• They wrote their conclusions on stone slabs: Su Shi'er wrote “Fraud,” while Yin Qingxue wrote “Body Seizure.”
• They agreed that the Nine Revolutions Pill could gradually fuse its taker's soul and spirit with those of its creator, Mo Huaigu.
• Su Shi'er asked Yin Qingxue to explain the matter he wanted to discuss.

Yin Qingxue asked Su Shi'er to help find an ancient Buddhist Cultivator who might know how to break the Dark Evil Formation. He explained the senior's history but left Su Shi'er questioning whether the Sacred Spirit Cult would have allowed such a powerful figure to remain undiscovered.

• Yin Qingxue asked Su Shi'er to help him find someone outside the Sacred Spirit Cult, while Su Shi'er initially refused.
• Yin Qingxue revealed that Su Shi'er and Mu Yingluo were seeking a way to break the darkness and offered answers in exchange for help.
• Su Shi'er suspected Yin Qingxue had secretly learned about their purpose through Mu Yingluo, but concealed his reaction.
• Yin Qingxue said the person he sought was a Buddhist Cultivator from three thousand years ago who had used a secret technique to heal in seclusion.
• Su Shi'er connected the story to Zen Master Shanfa's message about a Buddhist Sect expert emerging from seclusion.
• Su Shi'er questioned whether the Sacred Spirit Cult would have left the ancient senior alive after occupying the area.

Yin Qingxue proposed that Su Shi'er help him search beneath the Sacred Spirit Cult for a Buddhist Sect senior from three thousand years ago, but Su Shi'er withheld his answer while investigating Yin Qingxue’s identity. On the city streets, Su Shi'er encountered Ji Xun Jin and Lu Xiaosheng, an old acquaintance whose identity he kept concealed, and agreed to speak with them somewhere private.

• Yin Qingxue told Su Shi'er that the missing Buddhist Sect senior might be hidden beneath the Sacred Spirit Cult’s mountain and invited him to cooperate in the search.
• Su Shi'er declined to decide immediately, saying he would discuss the proposal with his companion, and Yin Qingxue warned that delay might leave only a corpse to find.
• Su Shi'er considered Yin Qingxue’s unknown origins and decided he needed to learn more before agreeing to work with him.
• Ji Xun Jin found Su Shi'er and introduced Lu Xiaosheng, who had previously asked him to help refine pills.
• Su Shi'er recognized Lu Xiaosheng but hid their past connection, then agreed to follow him to his residence for a private conversation.

Su Shi'er learned that Lu Xiaosheng wanted him to refine a Heavenly Spirit Pill, the only known means that might remove the Heavenly Doom Stone impurities in Su Shi'er's body. Lu Xiaosheng had only one portion of ingredients, and Su Shi'er ended the chapter hinting that he had another method.

• Su Shi'er asked Lu Xiaosheng about the Fire Dragon Red Fruit, and Lu Xiaosheng said it had been gifted by a senior whose identity he would not reveal.
• Lu Xiaosheng asked whether Su Shi'er knew of the Heavenly Spirit Pill, and Su Shi'er recognized it as a pill that countered the power of the Heavenly Doom Stone.
• Su Shi'er realized the pill might be his only way to remove the impurities in his body after the Nine Revolutions Pill plan had failed.
• Su Shi'er questioned whether Lu Xiaosheng had enough ingredients to make the pill, and Lu Xiaosheng admitted he possessed only one portion.
• Su Shi'er initially refused to refine the pill, then hinted that another method was available, prompting Lu Xiaosheng to urge him to explain.

Su Shi'er persuaded Lu Xiaosheng to seek help from a Nascent Soul alchemist in refining the Heavenly Spirit Pill, then asked what Lu knew about Yin Qingxue. Lu revealed that Yin was a Nascent Soul cultivator posing as a Golden Core cultivator and began recounting a witness’s account of a masked figure descending from the sky.

• Su Shi'er offered Lu Xiaosheng a route map and token to reach a Nascent Soul alchemist who could refine the Heavenly Spirit Pill.
• Lu Xiaosheng accepted the help and promised to repay Su Shi'er for the favor.
• Su Shi'er asked Lu Xiaosheng about Yin Qingxue, an alchemist in the Sacred Spirit Cult's Pill Hall.
• Lu Xiaosheng warned that Yin Qingxue was a Nascent Soul cultivator concealing his true cultivation as Golden Core.
• Lu Xiaosheng began describing a Qi Refining cultivator who had seen an azure-armored figure wearing a silver mask descend through the darkness, and Su Shi'er was visibly shaken.

Su Shi'er heard Lu Xiaosheng’s account linking Yin Qingxue to a mysterious visitor and learned that people were disappearing within the Sacred Spirit Cult’s territory. He decided to leave with Ji Xun Jin while continuing to seek information about the Heavenly Capital through Yin Qingxue.

• Lu Xiaosheng told Su Shi'er that a Qi Refining Stage cultivator had glimpsed a masked figure resembling Yin Qingxue during a strange disturbance, though the identification remained uncertain.
• Su Shi'er thanked Lu Xiaosheng and resolved to investigate the Sacred Spirit Cult and learn more about the Heavenly Capital.
• Lu Xiaosheng warned Su Shi'er and Ji Xun Jin that peripheral cultivators and mortals had been disappearing from the Sacred Spirit Cult’s territory, then left.
• Ji Xun Jin said she had noticed Qi Refining Stage cultivators disappearing in the city and worried about where they could go.
• Su Shi'er proposed leaving for the Demon Shadow Palace or Yun Ge Sect, arguing that visible dangers were preferable to hidden threats, while keeping his focus on learning about the Heavenly Capital from Yin Qingxue.

Ji Xun Jin told Su Shi'er that Mu Ying had vanished during a sect mission, prompting him to hurry his plans with Yin Qingxue. Later, Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue investigated the Sacred Spirit Cult’s towering peak and discussed Blood Cloud Daoist’s hidden aims, ending with Yin Qingxue pointing out who ruled the region a hundred years ago.

• Ji Xun Jin advised Su Shi'er that the Yun Ge Sect might be a safer destination than the Demon Shadow Palace and asked about his plans.
• Ji Xun Jin revealed that Mu Ying had joined a sect mission three months earlier and that none of the Pill Hall alchemists who went on it had returned.
• Su Shi'er warned Ji Xun Jin to keep their conversation secret, then sent a Communication Talisman to Yin Qingxue.
• At night, Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue discussed how the Sacred Spirit Tokens could let them enter the peak while distracting the Sacred Spirit Cult.
• Su Shi'er suggested Blood Cloud Daoist had given them the tokens to divert attention, and Yin Qingxue judged that Blood Cloud Daoist wanted the fifth-turn Spirit Pill of the Nine Revolutions Pill.
• Yin Qingxue countered Su Shi'er's doubts by reminding him which force had ruled the region a hundred years earlier.

Yin Qingxue and Su Shi'er concluded that Blood Cloud Daoist had a hidden motive for giving the Sacred Spirit Token and agreed to turn the scheme against him. Yin Qingxue prepared a blood-haired decoy resembling Blood Cloud Daoist to probe the Sacred Spirit Cult's forbidden ground, and Su Shi'er urged them to act quickly.

• Yin Qingxue reasoned that Buddhist techniques were needed to retrieve the Nine Revolutions Pill and considered why Blood Cloud Daoist had cooperated with the Sacred Spirit Cult.
• Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue agreed that Blood Cloud Daoist was plotting against them and decided they could use a scheme of their own.
• Yin Qingxue formed a figure from a jade figurine and infused it with True Yuan.
• Yin Qingxue used his blood to give the figure a living appearance and a face resembling Blood Cloud Daoist.
• Su Shi'er recognized that the decoy could draw the Sacred Spirit Cult's suspicion toward Blood Cloud Daoist and urged Yin Qingxue to proceed.

Yin Qingxue and Su Shi'er sent a disguised figure carrying a Sacred Spirit Token toward the main peak, prompting Du Ziwén to leave the cave guarding the Nine Revolutions Pill. The Blood Cloud Daoist then sealed Feng Yuanxiu and revealed his plan to seize the pill and reach the Out-of-Body stage, though the cauldron remained protected by a Buddhist formation.

• Yin Qingxue gave a Sacred Spirit Token to a disguised figure, while he and Su Shi'er concealed themselves nearby.
• Du Ziwén and Feng Yuanxiu detected someone entering the main peak with a Sacred Spirit Token and debated who should intercept them.
• Du Ziwén left the cave to capture the intruder, while Feng Yuanxiu stayed behind to guard the Nine Revolutions Pill.
• The Blood Cloud Daoist suddenly attacked Feng Yuanxiu, sealed his Nascent Soul, and declared that he meant to take back the pill.
• The Blood Cloud Daoist's strike failed to break the Buddhist formation protecting the cauldron, and Feng Yuanxiu realized the Daoist had deliberately leaked the Blood Sea Alchemy Furnace method.

Blood Cloud Daoist stole the Nine Revolutions Pill, while Feng Yuanxiu and Du Ziwén pursued him. Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue took advantage of the Sacred Spirit Cult’s diverted forces to enter its main peak, as the Saintess’s ritual underground was interrupted.

• Blood Cloud Daoist activated a hidden blood array, broke the Buddhist Formation, stole the Nine Revolutions Pill, and escaped through the Teleportation Array.
• Du Ziwén returned and learned from Feng Yuanxiu that Blood Cloud Daoist had trapped him and taken the pill; Du helped Feng dispel the blood-energy seal before they set off in pursuit.
• Du Ziwén explained that an illusory image resembling Blood Cloud Daoist had distracted him, and Feng Yuanxiu hurried to pursue the thief with him.
• Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue concluded that the Sacred Spirit Cult’s other Nascent Soul cultivators were occupied and entered the main peak using Su Shi'er's Sacred Spirit Token.
• The Sacred Spirit Cult Saintess abruptly stopped chanting during her underground ritual as five Nascent Soul cultivators guarded and empowered her golden lotus.

The Sacred Spirit Cult Saintess oversaw the final stages of the Blood Sea Alchemy Furnace while reassuring Elder Feng that intruders posed no threat. Meanwhile, Mu Yingluo suspected the cult was hiding a sinister plan, and Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue entered the main peak and tried to find a way through its maze-like passages.

• The Sacred Spirit Cult Saintess told Elder Feng that the Blood Sea Alchemy Furnace would be completed within three days and could weaken the Cang Mountain Demon Sealing Seal.
• Elder Feng worried about her husband, Elder Ning, who had gone to Cang Mountain years earlier and had not returned, but the Saintess reassured her.
• Mu Yingluo observed the furnaces and the Saintess, suspected the cult's repair of the Hope Fire was a cover for a sinister scheme, and wished to alert Su Shi'er.
• Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue passed the outer formation and found themselves in a maze of Spirit Ore passageways that blocked divine sense.
• Su Shi'er suggested breaking through the ground to reach the depths, and Yin Qingxue agreed to the plan.

Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue entered a hidden chamber beneath the Sacred Spirit Cult and were caught in a deadly Level Four formation. Yin Qingxue broke the formation and revealed a sea of blood below, where a Buddhist Sect senior was reportedly trapped.

• Su Shi'er opened a passage beneath the corridor with a golden flying sword and invited Yin Qingxue to descend first, then followed him underground.
• A Level Four formation engulfed Su Shi'er in blade force and sword qi, shattering his defensive sword-qi barrier as he searched for the formation core.
• Yin Qingxue broke the formation with a single strike, revealing a vast underground chamber and displaying his formidable Nascent Soul Stage cultivation.
• Su Shi'er thanked Yin Qingxue and claimed hidden injuries had kept him from using his full strength; Yin Qingxue accepted the explanation and said a Buddhist Sect senior was trapped in the sea of blood below.
• Su Shi'er looked into the crimson mist with his divine sense and saw something that made his scalp tingle.

Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue discovered a vast sea of blood filled with hundreds of thousands of corpses and inferred that the Sacred Spirit Cult meant to drive an injured Buddhist senior into demonic deviation. Yin Qingxue revealed the Fire Origin Bead and said Su Shi'er’s fire essence could unleash its full power to help them search for the senior.

• Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue found an underground lake of blood covering mountains of corpses, surrounded by overwhelming resentment and sinister energy.
• Su Shi'er estimated that hundreds of thousands had died, while Yin Qingxue suggested the Sacred Spirit Cult intended to disrupt the injured Buddhist senior’s cultivation and cause demonic deviation.
• Su Shi'er warned that disturbing the sea of blood could unleash a backlash too dangerous for the two of them to withstand.
• Yin Qingxue said Su Shi'er was the key because his Nascent Soul was formed from fire essence and contained Southern Bright Leaving Fire.
• Yin Qingxue produced the fifth-grade fire-element Magical Treasure called the Fire Origin Bead and explained that Su Shi'er could use it to unleash its full power.

Su Shi'er used his Southern Bright Leaving Fire and Yin Qingxue's Fire Origin Bead to send a firebird into the Blood Sea, hoping to locate the Buddhist Sect senior's true body. The Blood Sea's evil energy quickly weakened the firebird, and Su Shi'er plunged it beneath the blood mist to search before it collapsed.

• Yin Qingxue asked Su Shi'er to use the Fire Origin Bead to find the Buddhist Sect senior's true body within the Blood Sea.
• Su Shi'er summoned a firebird with the Four Symbols Secret Art, drawing on the Southern Bright Leaving Fire in his Nascent Soul.
• The firebird swallowed the Fire Origin Bead, multiplying its fire energy and power.
• Su Shi'er sent the enhanced firebird toward the Blood Sea, where resentful evil energy surged up and dimmed its flames.
• Su Shi'er judged that the firebird could not last long and controlled it to plunge through the blood mist into the Blood Sea.

Su Shi'er discovered a stone lotus in the Blood Sea that likely held the Buddhist Sect senior’s true body, but a sinister array blocked his attempt to retrieve it. His firebird was destroyed and his secondary body badly injured, while Yin Qingxue concealed his interest in the missing Fire Origin Bead and reconsidered attacking him.

• Su Shi'er spotted a Sanskrit-covered stone lotus in the Blood Sea and suspected the Buddhist Sect senior was hidden inside it.
• Su Shi'er sent the Fire Origin Bead toward the lotus, but a sinister array destroyed the firebird and trapped the bead inside.
• Su Shi'er suspected Great Master Shanxian had previously attempted to break the array with the Sandalwood Buddhist Beads and worried about his friend.
• Yin Qingxue prepared to seize the Fire Origin Bead, then recognized signs that Su Shi'er had cultivated a Second Nascent Soul and suppressed his intent to act.
• Su Shi'er coughed up blood as his secondary body’s interior was ruined, but he stabilized it with Nascent Soul essence and told Yin Qingxue the attempt had failed.

Su Shi'er told Yin Qingxue that a sealed stone lotus beneath the Blood Sea held the Buddhist Sect senior’s true body, and proposed using a Sandalwood Buddhist Bead to break the formation. Yin Qingxue realized Su Shi'er knew some Buddhist Sect Dharma, leaving Su Shi'er wary of revealing more about himself.

• Yin Qingxue approached Su Shi'er under the pretense of treating his injuries, but Su Shi'er redirected him toward retrieving the Fire Origin Bead from the Blood Sea.
• Su Shi'er revealed that a closed stone lotus beneath the Blood Sea contained the Buddhist Sect senior’s true body and was bound by another sinister formation.
• Yin Qingxue used an eye art to inspect the Blood Sea, discovered the formation’s link to its resentment, and asked Su Shi'er where hope remained.
• Su Shi'er pointed out the Sandalwood Buddhist Bead at the formation’s center and suggested using its Buddhist power to retrieve the Fire Origin Bead and contact the senior.
• Yin Qingxue noted that only someone with Buddhist Sect Dharma could wield the bead, and Su Shi'er admitted he knew a little while concealing the full extent of his ability.

Su Shi'er used Buddhist Sect Dharma to channel Buddha Essence into the stone lotus and suppress the Dark Evil Formation in the Blood Sea. The lotus began to show signs of life, but Su Shi'er and Yin Qingxue still needed to determine whether the Buddhist Sect senior inside was alive and conscious.

• Su Shi'er decided to use his Nascent Soul to activate Buddhist Sect Dharma and strike the Blood Sea with the Great Brahma Holy Palm.
• The Buddhist palm's power quickly dissipated in the Blood Sea, but its Buddha aura reached the stone lotus and activated the Sandalwood Buddhist Beads.
• The beads released Buddha Essence that restored the Sanskrit on the stone lotus and suppressed the Dark Evil Formation.
• Buddhist light forced back the Blood Sea, revealing the stone lotus within a crimson waterspout and showing signs of life within it.
• Yin Qingxue concluded that the ancient Buddhist Sect senior was inside the lotus, while Su Shi'er cautioned that the senior's condition and consciousness still had to be confirmed.