Chapter Summaries

Summary

Key plot points and events

• After advancing to the Golden Core stage, Wen Xu reassesses the Wind-Stacking Formations he had inscribed onto his Windfold Fan, realizing that his formerly “clever” but complicated approach may be too easy to counter.
• Practicing the Nine-Turn Sword Technique leads him to a breakthrough in his understanding of wind. He realizes that wind need not remain invisible and fleeting; it can be tangible, concentrated, and wielded directly.
• Wen Xu studies and copies Lord Jun Zhaoying’s Wind-Riding Insights, expanding it into three versions based on his own interpretations. Through this, he gains a glimpse of Jun’s overwhelming mastery of wind while recognizing that his own path must be different.
• Rather than ruling wind through absolute domination, Wen Xu seeks to “conquer” it and make it his own, using it to protect himself, his sect, and his friends.
• He manifests an invisible but tangible Wind Sword within his palm and practices in his cave on Springless Peak, where all the surrounding wind responds to his movements.
• During his practice, Wen Xu merges the Nine-Turn Sword Technique with the Wind-Searing Sword Art, creating a seamless, swift, ghostly new sword style. The experience leaves him exhilarated and makes him wonder whether he possesses genuine swordsmanship talent.

Character development

• Wen Xu becomes more diligent and intellectually engaged after recognizing the shallowness of his previous understanding of his Wind Spiritual Root and the principle of Myriad Things in Concert.
• His formerly lazy and restrained nature gives way to intense curiosity and enthusiasm. He discovers that he genuinely enjoys experimenting with wind arts.
• He develops a clearer personal Dao: control without simple tyranny, and a relationship with wind based on mutual integration rather than absolute hierarchy.
• Wen Xu experiences an unfamiliar youthful passion and emotional freedom through sword practice. He also gains new self-confidence, cautiously acknowledging a possible innate talent for swordsmanship.
• His intense connection with the Wind Sword helps him understand Chen Zui’s obsession with saber practice and the profound satisfaction of perfect union between practitioner and weapon.

Significant themes

• Self-discovery and reinterpretation: Wen Xu’s breakthrough comes from questioning assumptions about wind, swordsmanship, and his own abilities.
• Control versus harmony: His cultivation reflects a balance between mastering wind and allowing himself to move in harmony with it.
• Innovation through synthesis: By naturally combining two sword techniques, Wen Xu creates something new rather than mechanically applying established methods.
• Passion and emotional release: Swordsmanship awakens a fervor that his structured, utilitarian mortal life never provided.
• Individual paths of cultivation: Although Jun Zhaoying’s dominance over wind inspires him, Wen Xu understands that true mastery does not require imitating another person’s Dao.

Character interactions

• Wen Xu’s main “interaction” is with the wind itself, which responds to his will while also seeming to teach and guide his swordsmanship.
• His study of Jun Zhaoying’s writings creates an indirect intellectual connection between them; he admires her mastery but deliberately chooses a different philosophy.
• His newfound understanding also connects him emotionally to Chen Zui, allowing him to comprehend Chen’s devotion to saber practice.

Chapter Summary

• Wen Xu’s cultivation: Wen Xu becomes completely absorbed in practicing swordsmanship during seclusion, to the point of forgetting his original goal of forming a Nascent Soul. Cheng Wei, observing from afar, recognizes that his disciple has found his own path and decides not to interfere. He reflects that respecting another person’s fate can be a virtue, while amusingly taking credit for being an excellent teacher after giving only a few casual pointers.
• Other disciples’ cultivation: Chen Zui-Zui enters the Back Mountain Secret Realm for long-term cultivation. Bian Chunchou chooses not to seclude himself because his cultivation has advanced too quickly and he needs time to stabilize his control over his unique water-and-fire cultivation method. Since he is exploring an unprecedented path, he values careful experimentation and believes that experiencing failure is safer than succeeding too easily.
• Bian Chunchou as forced labor: Because Bian remains available, Sect Master Gu Wufang repeatedly drags him to Sect Master Peak to process administrative documents. Bian compares himself to a palace eunuch screening memorials for an emperor. He reads excessively flattering monthly messages from smaller sects and lineages, as well as requests for financial support from cities under Yonglu Mountain’s protection.
• Administrative humor: Bian finds the bureaucratic work surprisingly interesting, especially a request from Feidu City, whose population has an extreme gender imbalance. The city asks for Spirit Stones to attract more women, but Gu jokingly suggests approving only Disguise Pills so unmarried men can turn themselves into women. Despite Gu’s irreverent attitude, the sect’s procedures are shown to be organized: Bian approves a modest request provisionally, pending investigation and verification.
• Bian’s exhaustion: After a month of serving as Gu’s assistant, Bian is visibly emaciated and mentally exhausted. He dramatically declares that anyone who avoids seclusion will eventually die and blames the terrifying pressure of working under a Spirit Transformation Venerable. His increasingly bizarre remarks make another disciple worry that he has suffered cultivation deviation.
• Character interactions: Cheng Wei observes Wen Xu with detached amusement and confidence in his disciple’s independence. Gu Wufang and Bian Chunchou develop a comic master-servant dynamic, with Gu exploiting Bian’s availability and Bian reluctantly enjoying the work before being overwhelmed by it. Bian’s younger martial nephew reacts with concern to his deteriorating state, especially when Bian ominously announces that he is going to Sect Master Peak “to visit a grave.”
• Themes: The chapter highlights the importance of following one’s own cultivation path, respecting individual fate, and balancing ambition with caution. It also contrasts the lofty seriousness of cultivation with mundane sect administration, using bureaucracy, exhaustion, and exaggerated humor to portray the burdens of leadership and the dangers of overwork.

Chapter 316: “Proper Business” — Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bian Chunchou continues serving as an unwilling substitute worker at Sect Master Peak, where he handles documents and responds to strange requests from across the Cultivation Realm.
• A letter arrives from the City Lord of Feidu City, proposing the use of a Disguise Pill to solve the city’s severe gender-ratio problem. Gu Wufang recognizes that the suggestion is useless, since changing appearances cannot alter biological reality.
• Gu Wufang investigates Feidu City’s location and realizes that it is an isolated, difficult-to-reach settlement built atop Blade Peak. Rather than approve the City Lord’s request, he considers sending someone to investigate the situation or even relocating the entire city to a plain.
• Before Bian can remain at Sect Master Peak much longer, his master, Ruoshui Venerable, summons him to assist with a research project involving a fragile spirit plant.
• Ruoshui’s real goal is not the plant itself but testing a Healing Talisman she accidentally created. The talisman is only marginally useful for saving people but can prolong a dying plant’s life.
• Bian suggests altering the plant’s resistance to harsh conditions rather than endlessly recreating its environment. His idea is acknowledged as sensible, though Ruoshui continues with her talisman experiments.
• Bian is relieved to leave Sect Master Peak and work with his master, temporarily withdrawing from public attention alongside his two friends.
• The chapter then jumps forward two years. Wen Xu emerges from seclusion, surprised that what he expected to be a few months lasted so long. Cheng Wei explains that long periods of seclusion distort a cultivator’s sense of time, sometimes lasting decades or even a century.

Character Developments

• Bian Chunchou becomes increasingly accustomed to being treated as useful labor by powerful cultivators, though he remains internally exasperated by the lack of payment and the absurdity of his assignments.
• He demonstrates practical intelligence through his suggestion that the spirit plant’s abilities should be modified directly, rather than merely adjusting its environment.
• Gu Wufang shows unusual protectiveness toward Bian, recognizing his value and joking that he would have taken Bian as a disciple if he had realized how useful he was.
• Ruoshui Venerable is portrayed as opportunistic and research-minded, willing to accept a project primarily for its funding and to test an accidental invention.
• Wen Xu returns from seclusion noticeably disconnected from ordinary time, while Cheng Wei provides perspective based on his own experience with extremely long periods of meditation.

Significant Themes

• Exploitation disguised as opportunity: Positions at Sect Master Peak and Ruoshui’s research both appear prestigious but primarily involve unpaid or underpaid labor.
• Absurdity of cultivation society: The chapter humorously depicts bizarre requests, irrational city planning, strange personal problems, and extreme solutions such as moving an entire city.
• Practical innovation versus conventional methods: Bian’s suggestion to change the spirit plant itself reflects a more efficient, problem-solving approach than endlessly accommodating its weaknesses.
• The distortion of time through cultivation: Seclusion separates cultivators from ordinary human experiences, making months, years, or even centuries feel indistinguishable.
• Research and funding: The chapter satirizes how even cultivators’ scholarly projects are influenced by money and institutional funding.

Character Interactions

• Bian and Gu Wufang: Bian brings the Feidu City request to Gu Wufang, who reacts with disbelief but considers a broader investigation. Their exchange highlights Gu’s growing appreciation for Bian’s usefulness.
• Bian and Ruoshui: Bian assists his master with her spirit-plant experiment and questions her approach. Ruoshui listens to his idea but reveals that the project is mainly a trial for her Healing Talisman.
• Wen Xu and Cheng Wei: Wen Xu is startled by the passage of two years, while Cheng Wei calmly explains that seclusion naturally alters one’s perception of time and shares his own experience of sleeping through much of a century-long retreat.

Chapter Summary: “Comparable”

• Wen Xu completes his seclusion: Wen Xu emerges from seclusion having made major progress in the sword path. Though he has not yet found the path to Nascent Soul Formation, he has reached a level where Grand Completion Golden Core is within reach. Cheng Wei proudly asks to see his sword, and Wen Xu demonstrates his mastery by using the Wind Sword to send the snow flying across Springless Peak. Cheng Wei believes his disciple will soon rank among the Cultivation Realm’s top prodigies and gives him gifts to take to his younger disciples.
• Reunion with Chen Zui: Shortly after descending the mountain, Wen Xu encounters Chen Zui, who has just returned from training in a secret realm. Chen Zui is so unkempt and covered in hair that he is barely recognizable, but Wen Xu identifies him immediately. Chen Zui eagerly asks Wen Xu to test his blade, though Wen Xu first directs him to see Yanshan Venerable. After being cleaned up and changing clothes, Chen Zui reveals a more powerful and resolute presence. His blade has clearly advanced during his training.
• The friends spar: Wen Xu and Chen Zui send a Communication Talisman to Bian Chunchou and begin sparring before he arrives. When Bian finally reaches them, he finds that both friends have made significant progress despite claiming they were only tempering themselves or adjusting their cultivation. Wen Xu is close to Grand Completion Golden Core, while Chen Zui has also advanced substantially. Their progress has pushed both of them into the top thirty of the Prodigies Ranking, amusing and frustrating Bian, who feels he is the only one whose outward appearance matches his actual level of cultivation.
• A new journey is proposed: Bian Chunchou suggests that the three continue training by traveling down the mountain. He has accepted what he calls a letter-delivery mission, but Wen Xu immediately suspects the task may be more complicated than advertised. Bian admits that he is also searching for the physical body of his “Second Dad,” Shu Wenzhou, the black mist-like being they encountered in No-Shu City. Shu Wenzhou has sensed that his body may be located near Feidu City.
• The Feidu City problem: The letter Bian must deliver is actually an ultimatum from Yonglu Mountain. Feidu City suffers from a severe imbalance between men and women, threatening its population growth. After a previous investigation, Yonglu Mountain advised relocating the city, but the residents have resisted for two years. The mission is therefore to deliver the final order and determine how the city lord responds. Bian emphasizes that Yonglu Mountain cannot simply force the population to move.

Themes and character development

• Cultivation and steady progress: Wen Xu’s advancement reflects patient, disciplined growth rather than an immediate breakthrough to Nascent Soul. Chen Zui likewise develops through relentless physical and martial training.
• Friendship through competition: Wen Xu and Chen Zui’s instinctive desire to spar shows their close bond and shared motivation. Their rivalry is affectionate, with each recognizing and testing the other’s improvement.
• Humor and self-awareness: Cheng Wei’s teasing, Chen Zui’s indifference to his appearance, and Bian’s anxiety over being called “improper” maintain the chapter’s comedic tone.
• Authority versus individual choice: The Feidu City dispute introduces a conflict between Yonglu Mountain’s administrative authority and the residents’ unwillingness to abandon their home.
• Cultivator values and family: The discussion questions the importance of marriage and reproduction in cultivation society, especially when childbirth may harm a female cultivator’s spiritual power and Dao Heart.
• Key interactions: Cheng Wei proudly encourages and praises Wen Xu; Wen Xu shows concern for Chen Zui’s condition while acknowledging his growth; Chen Zui eagerly seeks Wen Xu’s evaluation and a sparring match; Bian Chunchou serves as the more cautious and practical member of the trio, though his questionable mission description causes Wen Xu and Chen Zui to doubt him.

Chapter 545 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Wen Xu, Bian Chunchou, and Chen Zui decide to descend Yonglu Mountain and travel toward Feidu City. Wen Xu accepts several sect missions along the way, despite already having enough contribution points.
• Gu Wufang regrets not being able to claim Wen Xu as temporary labor, but fears provoking Wen Xu’s powerful grand-uncle-master.
• After leaving Langyuan City, the trio disguises themselves by removing their Yonglu Mountain uniforms. Wen Xu also removes the ribbon over his eyes, allowing them to blend into the crowds.
• Since many cultivators now imitate the famous “Yonglu Mountain trio” after the Five Sects Assembly, the real trio avoids detection.
• Chen Zui’s blunt criticism of sword cultivators provokes one of them into challenging him to a duel. Despite Bian Chunchou’s attempts to defuse the situation, Chen Zui continues insulting the man’s swordsmanship.
• The duel takes place outside the city, where Chen Zui easily wins. He remains confused about why the sword cultivator became angry in the first place.
• Wen Xu reveals that he intentionally allowed the duel to happen after noticing that the sword cultivator possessed a distinctive Feidu City travel permit and carried an unusual wind aura.
• Using his heightened sensitivity to wind after comprehending the Wind Sword, Wen Xu determines that the man had left Feidu City within the past three days.
• Chen Zui confirms that the man’s spiritual power was unusually restless, supporting Wen Xu’s suspicion.
• Bian Chunchou begins worrying that their mission in Feidu City may be more dangerous or morally questionable than expected.

Character Development

• Wen Xu: Demonstrates increased investigative ability and confidence in his Wind Sword comprehension. He can now trace people and locations through lingering wind, and he uses Chen Zui’s duel strategically to inspect a suspicious cultivator’s condition.
• Bian Chunchou: Continues acting as the group’s mediator, repeatedly trying to prevent Chen Zui from escalating conflicts. His concern grows as Wen Xu uncovers signs of trouble connected to Feidu City.
• Chen Zui: Remains blunt, socially insensitive, and incapable of understanding why others take offense at his remarks. However, his observations in battle are accurate, and he recognizes the instability of the sword cultivator’s spiritual power.
• Gu Wufang: Appears briefly as someone who values Wen Xu’s abilities and labor but is too intimidated by Wen Xu’s powerful family connections to interfere.

Significant Themes

• Imitation and reputation: The trio’s fame has spread so widely that their clothing and techniques are being copied, ironically allowing the real group to hide among the imitators.
• Bluntness versus social tact: Chen Zui’s honesty repeatedly creates conflict, while Bian Chunchou’s diplomacy struggles to contain him.
• Observation and deduction: Wen Xu’s mastery of wind transforms seemingly minor details—the travel permit and lingering aura—into important investigative clues.
• Hidden danger: The sword cultivator’s recent departure from Feidu City and unstable spiritual power suggest that the city may be connected to a developing threat.
• Friendship and tolerance: Despite Chen Zui’s offensive behavior, the others understand and accommodate his nature rather than abandoning him.

Character Interactions

• Bian Chunchou and Wen Xu tease each other about the trio’s popularity and the many imitators copying their appearance.
• Chen Zui insults the sword cultivators, prompting a challenge that Bian Chunchou tries unsuccessfully to prevent.
• Bian Chunchou repeatedly apologizes for Chen Zui, while Chen Zui objects to being restrained and insists he merely stated the truth.
• Wen Xu quietly guides the confrontation toward a useful purpose, allowing Chen Zui to duel so he can investigate the stranger’s connection to Feidu City.
• The chapter ends with Bian Chunchou expressing concern that the group’s upcoming mission may not be as straightforward—or as proper—as expected.

Chapter Summary: “Strange”

Daoist Bian, accompanied by two others, travels to Feidu City to deliver a letter from Yonglu Mountain. The city is hidden high among the clouds and accessible only through a suspension bridge and passage tokens. Its isolated, barren environment and impoverished condition explain why Yonglu Mountain has been financially supporting it. The city’s population is overwhelmingly male, with no women visible in the streets.
At the City Lord’s Office, the group meets Lin Xiangshui, the first woman they have seen in the city. Although she is gentle and respectful, Bian is surprised that the seemingly mild cultivator is the same City Lord who had repeatedly pleaded with Yonglu Mountain for assistance. Lin, a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, admits that Feidu City desperately depends on Yonglu Mountain and asks whether it can provide further aid.
Bian suggests that the residents simply relocate, but Lin explains that the people are deeply attached to their homeland and will return even if forcibly removed. Feidu City was originally founded as a refuge for survivors displaced by evil demons. Yonglu Mountain sheltered them on Feidu Mountain, and although the demons were eventually defeated, the survivors became fearful of the outside world and permanently settled there.
Lin then reveals the source of the city’s strange gender imbalance. When she was young, women were common in Feidu City, but after she returned from training outside the mountain, fewer than one in ten remained. The women had not been killed, injured, or transformed through any identifiable spell or cultivation technique. Instead, they had gradually lost their feminine features and physically come to resemble men. Previous investigations by Yonglu Mountain found no signs of Evil Cultivation, Demon Seeds, or other abnormalities. The cause remains unexplained, leaving the city’s future—and its ability to produce descendants—in serious doubt.

• Character development: Bian shifts from treating the mission as a routine delivery to becoming concerned about Feidu City’s survival. Lin is established as a compassionate but burdened leader who understands the city’s history and helplessness.
• Themes: Isolation, attachment to homeland, cultural stagnation, dependence on outside assistance, and the unsettling limits of rational explanation.
• Character interactions: Bian questions Lin about the city’s refusal to relocate, while Lin respectfully explains both the residents’ loyalty and the mysterious transformation affecting its women.

Chapter 547 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Feidu City has been suffering from a bizarre phenomenon in which women gradually develop male characteristics and become men, with no apparent side effects.
• The change initially caused panic, but residents eventually accepted it. As more women transformed, women’s social status paradoxically became more respected because the disadvantages they had previously faced disappeared.
• The city once had around one hundred thousand residents, but fewer than a hundred women remain. City Lord Lin Xiangshui has gathered the remaining women in the City Lord’s Office for protection, yet transformations continue to occur.
• Lin Xiangshui explains that she sought help from Yonglu Mountain after the situation worsened, but multiple investigations found nothing unusual. The failure has damaged her confidence in her cultivation and Dao Heart.
• Wen Xu, Bian Chunchou, and Chen Zui decide to stay in Feidu City and investigate, suspecting that Lin Xiangshui has concealed important information.
• Wen Xu analyzes Lin’s original request to Yonglu Mountain: she wanted them to use financial incentives to attract more women to the city. He concludes that this solution treats the symptom rather than the cause and that Lin’s insistence on such a plan may indicate ulterior motives.
• Bian Chunchou suggests publicizing Feidu City’s abnormality to attract capable investigators, then jokingly proposes developing a method for men to become pregnant.

Character Developments

• Lin Xiangshui: Reveals her desperation and fear that the city’s transformation may affect not only bodies but also souls. Her inability to solve the mystery has become a serious obstacle to her cultivation. However, the protagonists suspect she is exaggerating her helplessness and withholding information.
• Wen Xu: Demonstrates caution and analytical thinking. Rather than accepting Lin’s account, he examines her motives and works backward from her requested solution to identify possible hidden intentions.
• Bian Chunchou: Remains suspicious of Lin but is easily overwhelmed by Wen Xu’s darker speculations. He also provides comic relief through his misunderstandings and unconventional suggestions.
• Chen Zui: Remains straightforward and uninterested in the mystery, believing that the residents have accepted their situation. His lack of understanding of the city’s social and romantic implications adds humor.

Significant Themes

• Identity and transformation: The chapter questions whether gender is merely a physical condition or something connected to the soul, especially through Lin’s concern about what happens to residents’ spirits after death.
• Social adaptation: Feidu City’s residents have normalized a phenomenon that would be horrifying elsewhere, even finding practical and social advantages in it.
• Power and hidden motives: The protagonists question whether Lin Xiangshui is genuinely seeking help or deliberately trying to draw outside attention to the city.
• The limits of common sense and cultivation: Even powerful cultivators and a major sect have failed to explain the phenomenon, emphasizing its supernatural absurdity.
• Comedy amid the bizarre: The chapter balances an unsettling mystery with humorous misunderstandings about same-sex relationships and exaggerated proposals.

Character Interactions

• Lin Xiangshui explains Feidu City’s crisis to the three visitors and urges them to stay.
• Wen Xu and Bian Chunchou privately debate whether Lin is truthful, with Wen Xu suggesting she may even be a transformed man using a Disguise Pill.
• Chen Zui’s confusion about the city’s customs and the phrase “cut sleeves and shared peaches” becomes a source of comic relief.
• Wen Xu challenges Bian Chunchou to reconsider Lin’s request to Yonglu Mountain, shifting their investigation from the visible phenomenon to Lin’s possible motives.

Chapter Summary: “Pill Fragrance”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Wen Xu, Chunchou, and Chen Zui discuss Birth Pills, a rare cultivation invention that can allow men to bear children.
• Chen Zui explains that although Birth Pills were successfully created in the past, they are extremely difficult and costly to refine, with a very high failure rate. The Heavenly Dao appears to prevent their widespread use.
• The group debates whether this restriction exists to preserve the social and biological balance between men and women. Chunchou extends the discussion by asking why humans cannot reproduce by laying eggs, prompting Chen Zui to mention his mother’s unconventional views.
• The conversation shifts to Feidu City, whose gender imbalance and unusual social customs had initially made Chunchou suspect that the Heavenly Dao might need to intervene.
• The next day, the three characters explore the city. They discover that Feidu’s poverty has led to a substantial underground industry centered on male companionship. The city’s residents also misunderstand the visitors’ relationships and assume they are men who favor male company.
• After exploring Feidu City for three days, the group concludes that the proposed relocation to a more fertile area near a major city would likely offer residents better living conditions.
• Despite City Lord Lin’s attempts to persuade them to stay, they leave as planned. Chen Zui strongly dislikes the city, though he cannot fully explain why.
• Chunchou admits that the mission has become frustrating. Although Feidu’s residents are poor and unhappy from an outside perspective, they insist that their lifestyle is voluntary and that they do not want to return to their former lives as women. He realizes that intervening may violate their personal wishes.

Character Developments

• Wen Xu reflects on his conservative mindset and becomes more open to unfamiliar or unconventional ideas.
• Chunchou remains curious and idealistic, questioning the logic of gender roles, reproduction, and the Heavenly Dao. However, he begins to recognize the limits of imposing his own sense of justice on others.
• Chen Zui remains blunt, practical, and uninterested in abstract social debates. His instinctive discomfort with Feidu City suggests a deeper emotional or moral reaction that he cannot articulate.
• Chunchou also continues to worry about finding his father’s corpse, though his second father has stopped providing guidance.

Significant Themes

• Natural and social balance: The discussion of Birth Pills raises questions about whether biological differences are maintained by fate, divine law, or social necessity.
• Gender equality and social roles: The characters debate whether giving men the ability to bear children would promote equality or instead displace women from important social roles.
• Individual choice versus outside intervention: Feidu City’s residents claim to have chosen their lifestyle freely, forcing Chunchou to question whether poverty or social dysfunction justifies interfering in their decisions.
• Cultural relativism: The visitors’ discomfort reveals that their judgment is shaped by their own values and assumptions. What seems exploitative or unnatural to them may be accepted as normal by Feidu’s residents.
• Poverty and reform: The proposed relocation represents practical humanitarian improvement, but the chapter questions whether better material conditions alone make a community’s chosen way of life invalid.

Character Interactions

• Chunchou and Chen Zui engage in a humorous but thoughtful debate about Birth Pills, reproduction, and the Heavenly Dao, with Chen Zui relaying his mother’s radical opinions.
• Wen Xu acts as the more cautious and reflective participant, attempting to explain the possible social consequences of reproductive change.
• Chunchou and Chen Zui challenge each other’s assumptions: Chunchou wants to understand and perhaps help Feidu’s people, while Chen Zui argues that they should accept the residents’ choices.
• The trio’s shared exploration of Feidu City strengthens their recognition that the situation is more complicated than they first believed.
• At the end, Chunchou confides in Wen Xu that he regrets accepting the mission, while Wen Xu listens sympathetically and reminds him—implicitly—that good intentions do not always produce clear solutions.

Chapter Summary: “Empty”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Sui Yi, Wen Xu, and Bian Chunchou continue investigating the disappearance of Sui Yi’s father. They complete sect missions and search the surrounding region, but find no trace of him or No-Shu City.
• They speculate that something may have happened to No-Shu City inside the Bright Moon Secret Realm, though this seems unlikely because the realm has already closed and should not reopen for a century.
• The group decides to travel to Pill Fragrance City, a major eastern port known for producing and distributing medicinal pills.
• Pill Fragrance City is highly prosperous, with pill shops, spiritual-herb businesses, custom pill services, and nighttime performances along the harbor. Bian Chunchou enthusiastically purchases numerous inexpensive and unusual pills.
• At the seaside, the three enjoy the moonlit ocean. Their peaceful evening is interrupted by a massive explosion from within the city, accompanied by an overwhelming wave of pill fragrance.
• While residents and visitors rush toward the explosion to witness a high-level pill furnace failure, Wen Xu notices that the fragrance has spread unnaturally quickly and in an incorrect wind direction.
• Suspecting that the event may be a trap or conceal something sinister, the three decide not to investigate immediately.
• Chen Zui observes that Pill Fragrance City gives him the same unsettling feeling as Feidu City, despite their completely different appearances. Wen Xu takes this instinct seriously and begins to suspect that both cities may share a hidden problem.

Character Developments

• Wen Xu demonstrates increased caution and leadership. His wind spiritual root detects the abnormal spread of the pill fragrance, and he trusts his instincts rather than following the crowd.
• Bian Chunchou remains energetic and curious, enjoying the city’s unusual pill culture and buying novelty and prank pills. His lighter attitude contrasts with Wen Xu’s growing suspicion.
• Chen Zui continues to rely on instinct rather than logical explanation. His vague comparison between Pill Fragrance City and Feidu City becomes significant because Wen Xu recognizes that his impressions may reveal hidden truths.
• The trio’s teamwork has improved considerably. They remain prone to danger and mischief, but their cultivation and ability to protect one another have grown stronger.

Significant Themes

• Appearances versus reality: Pill Fragrance City appears prosperous and vibrant, while Feidu City appears barren and declining, yet Chen Zui senses that both may conceal similar dangers.
• Instinct and intuition: Chen Zui’s unexplained feelings and Wen Xu’s response to the wind show that instinct can reveal truths that reason and appearances overlook.
• Caution amid curiosity: Although the city’s residents rush toward the explosion, the protagonists resist the urge to join the spectacle, emphasizing the importance of questioning abnormal events.
• Fate and interference: The group remains aware that cultivators cannot forcibly interfere with another person’s fate, influencing their restrained approach to their investigation.
• Friendship and teamwork: The trio’s shared experiences have strengthened their coordination and mutual trust, especially Wen Xu’s instinctive protection of his companions.

Important Character Interactions

• Wen Xu shields Bian Chunchou and Chen Zui from the suspicious pill fragrance using his wind spiritual power.
• Bian Chunchou jokes about customized pill flavors and enthusiastically shares his excitement over his purchases.
• The three bond while experiencing the sea and harbor together, with Wen Xu and Chen Zui seeing the ocean for the first time.
• Wen Xu challenges the assumption that the explosion is an ordinary accident, and Bian Chunchou accepts his reasoning.
• Chen Zui’s comparison between Pill Fragrance City and Feidu City prompts Wen Xu to reconsider the city’s cheerful surface and suspect a deeper connection.

Chapter Summary

Key events and plot developments

• After arriving in Pill Fragrance City, Wen Xu, Chen Zui, and Bian Chunchou spend the night by the sea and watch the sunrise. Bian Chunchou records it with a Shadow Recording Stone as a keepsake.
• When they return toward the city, they discover that the streets are unnaturally empty. Shops and stalls are closed despite it being daytime, and even Pill Fragrance Avenue is nearly deserted.
• The city gates are sealed by powerful formations, preventing anyone below the Body Integration Realm from leaving. Communication Talismans also fail, suggesting that someone has deliberately isolated the city.
• Suspecting that the previous night’s “furnace explosion” may be connected to the strange situation, the three head southwest toward its source. Other frightened cultivators follow them.
• The city appears eerily lifeless, with almost no traces of the crowds that had gathered the previous night. Wen Xu begins to wonder whether the prosperous city they saw had been an illusion.
• They meet a cultivator searching for a missing female companion. A paired jade communication talisman led him to the exact intersection where they are standing, implying that something significant happened there.
• The location is outside a closed seafood shop. Rather than entering recklessly, Bian Chunchou proposes using a spirit-controlling talisman to investigate safely.

Character developments

• Bian Chunchou shows a sentimental side by preserving the sunrise, while also demonstrating increased caution and competence. His past experiences have taught him not to enter danger impulsively, and he now possesses the ability to draw useful scouting talismans.
• Wen Xu continues to act as the group’s leader, making quick decisions when the city’s abnormal condition becomes apparent. His wind-based perception is unable to locate the explosion’s traces, increasing his suspicion that reality itself may have been manipulated.
• Chen Zui contributes his exceptionally sharp hearing, identifying the general direction of the previous night’s explosion.
• The three work together calmly, and their composure reassures the frightened cultivators who follow them.

Significant themes

• Illusion versus reality: The absence of physical traces and the city’s abrupt transformation raise the possibility that the earlier version of Pill Fragrance City was not real.
• Isolation and entrapment: Sealed gates and disabled communication methods leave the city completely cut off, creating a growing sense of conspiracy and danger.
• Caution versus recklessness: Bian Chunchou’s refusal to break into the shop reflects the group’s increasing discipline and awareness of hidden threats.
• The importance of people: The deserted city demonstrates that a city’s vitality comes from its inhabitants rather than its buildings.
• Uncertainty and hidden forces: The unexplained explosion, missing citizens, absent city authorities, and failed talismans suggest a larger supernatural or political mystery.

Character interactions

• Wen Xu directs the group’s movements, while Chen Zui supplies sensory information and Bian Chunchou speaks on the group’s behalf.
• The trio encounters another worried cultivator whose missing companion and malfunctioning jade talisman connect the group to the suspected explosion site.
• Bian Chunchou balances the cultivator’s desire to investigate with a safer method, proposing the spirit-controlling talisman instead of entering the seafood shop directly.

Heading Out to Sea — Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Events

• Bian Chunchou and Wen Xu investigate the mysterious disappearance of everyone in Pill Fragrance City. Using a Spirit-Taming Talisman, Bian searches several buildings, discovering that each contains only four empty walls, as if the city were a collection of hollow models.
• The situation becomes increasingly ominous: the city is deserted, no one noticed anything unusual during the night, and the atmosphere feels oppressive. Bian worries that they may be trapped permanently, though Wen Xu calmly reassures him.
• Shu Wenzhou, the spirit residing in the family heirloom sword, finally emerges after a period of seclusion. Bian eagerly treats his appearance as a rescue, while Shu jokingly criticizes Bian, Wen Xu, and Chen Zui for always traveling together.
• Shu identifies the phenomenon as possibly being a Pill-Scent Grand Formation, an ancient type of formation created through specially refined pills and their fragrances.
• He explains the history of the Scarlet Pill Clan, an ancient lineage descended from knowledge related to Shennong’s Hundred Herbs Spirit Formula. Their pill formations were extremely dangerous, capable of killing enemies without warning and allowing weak cultivators to defeat stronger opponents.
• The Scarlet Pill Clan eventually disappeared, likely because their power provoked fear, suspicion, jealousy, and possible persecution.
• Shu reveals that Pill Formations are far more difficult to break than ordinary formations because they rely on pills refined by the formation’s master rather than fixed formation stones. The three protagonists therefore have no realistic chance of breaking free by force.
• He theorizes that the group accidentally entered only the outer layer of a massive formation planned over at least a century. The missing citizens may have been drawn into the formation’s central region, leaving the real city outside completely empty.
• Although the formation’s master apparently bears them no hostility, Shu can offer no immediate way out; they may simply have to wait until the formation releases them.

Character Development

• Bian Chunchou shifts from investigative confidence to unease as he realizes the entire city may be an elaborate trap. He remains anxious and sarcastic, even reflecting bitterly on his supposedly fortunate ability to turn misfortune into fortune.
• Wen Xu continues to act as the calm, stabilizing presence. His composed voice helps Bian manage his fear, though he privately regrets bringing them to Pill Fragrance City.
• Shu Wenzhou takes on the role of an experienced mentor and historian. He provides crucial knowledge about ancient pill formations while also teasing the younger cultivators and warning them about the limits of their abilities.
• Bian’s attachment to his companions is emphasized. He sees traveling and cultivating with Wen Xu and Chen Zui as a natural expression of friendship, unlike Shu, who believes even close companions are unlikely to remain together throughout the endless years of cultivation.

Significant Themes

• The danger of unexplained power: The empty city and invisible formation demonstrate how overwhelming ancient cultivation techniques can be.
• Lost knowledge and forgotten civilizations: The Scarlet Pill Clan and its methods have vanished, leaving only fragmentary records and legends.
• Friendship versus the passage of time: Bian’s sincere belief in lifelong companionship contrasts with Shu’s more cynical understanding of how cultivation and immortality separate people.
• Fear of exceptional talent: The Scarlet Pill Clan’s destruction reflects how extraordinary power can inspire not only admiration but also distrust, exclusion, and persecution.
• Illusion and hidden reality: The apparently normal city is revealed to be part of a layered formation, suggesting that appearances cannot be trusted.

Character Interactions

• Bian affectionately calls Shu “Second Dad,” creating a warm, humorous relationship between them. Shu enjoys the title and responds playfully.
• Shu teases the three young cultivators for always traveling together, while Bian passionately defends their friendship.
• Bian repeatedly asks Shu for explanations and a possible method of escape, treating him as their main source of hope and knowledge.
• Wen Xu’s calm reassurance balances Bian’s panic, while Bian’s anxious reactions highlight the seriousness of their predicament.

Chapter Summary: “Sea Beast”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Black Mist warns Bian Chunchou, Chen Zui, and Wen Xu not to remain in the Pill Formation too long. He advises them to head toward the shore, where the pill fragrance is weakest, and escape across the sea if necessary.
• The Black Mist retreats into the spirit sword before addressing the crucial matter of locating the corpses, leaving Bian Chunchou unable to ask further questions.
• The three decide that escaping the formation and sending a message for help must take priority over searching for the missing people in the city.
• At the shore, they discover that the fishing boats are deserted. Their crews have vanished, and even supplies such as dried fish have inexplicably rotted despite having been brought in that same morning.
• Realizing that the formation may be tightening and trapping them more securely, they consider finding someone who knows how to operate a boat. Wen Xu unexpectedly proves capable of learning the spirit-stone-powered fishing vessel quickly.
• They choose a medium-sized, relatively new boat and set out to sea. Chen Zui remains eager to fight the sea beasts, while Bian Chunchou focuses on survival and escaping the formation.
• As night falls, the boat reaches the open water. The formation still affects the area, but the distant sounds of sea beasts gradually grow louder. Since the formation has disrupted their sense of direction, Chen Zui’s unusually sharp hearing becomes their best means of navigation.

Character Developments

• Bian Chunchou becomes the practical decision-maker, prioritizing escape and communication with reinforcements over investigating the city immediately. He also serves as the group’s voice of caution, repeatedly restraining Chen Zui’s recklessness.
• Chen Zui remains fearless, battle-hungry, and largely unconcerned by their dangerous circumstances. Rather than fearing the sea or the beasts, he looks forward to fighting them. His sharp hearing, however, gives him an important practical role.
• Wen Xu demonstrates his reliability and adaptability by quickly learning to operate the unfamiliar fishing boat. His calm competence allows the group to proceed despite their lack of sailing experience.
• The Black Mist is weakened by the Pill Formation and can no longer remain outside the spirit sword for long. His silence regarding the corpses suggests that he may be withholding information or is unable to act freely.

Significant Themes

• Survival versus curiosity: The group must postpone investigating the city and missing people in favor of escaping the formation and seeking help.
• Adaptability under pressure: With no sailors available, Wen Xu learns to operate the boat, showing how the characters must improvise in an abnormal and hostile environment.
• Contrasting responses to danger: Bian Chunchou responds with caution and anxiety, while Chen Zui meets danger with excitement, creating both tension and comic relief.
• Disorientation and confinement: The Pill Formation distorts direction, isolates the characters, and gradually closes around them, emphasizing their vulnerability.
• Reliance on companions: Each member contributes differently—Bian Chunchou’s judgment, Wen Xu’s competence, and Chen Zui’s senses and combat ability—making cooperation essential.

Character Interactions

• The Black Mist gives Bian Chunchou strategic instructions but withdraws before explaining the mystery of the corpses.
• Bian Chunchou and Chen Zui defer to the group’s “external brain” and agree to escape first.
• Bian Chunchou repeatedly argues with Chen Zui over his desire to fight sea beasts, teasing and criticizing him for treating a dangerous escape attempt like an opportunity for combat.
• Wen Xu quietly resolves the practical problem of sailing, earning the others’ admiration and reinforcing his reputation as dependable.
• By the end of the chapter, Chen Zui’s heightened hearing becomes the group’s guide, turning his characteristic combat-oriented ability into a crucial survival tool.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• At night, the three cultivators—Chen Zui, Bian Chunchou, and Wen Xu—continue sailing through dense fog toward the suspected boundary of Pill Fragrance City’s waters.
• Hearing unusual sounds, they investigate the seawater. Bian Chunchou uses talismans to send a Shadow Recording Stone underwater, but the poor visibility reveals little beyond a possible flicker of light.
• Impatient and reckless, Chen Zui dives into the sea himself. After roughly half an hour, he returns carrying severe cold and reports that an array appears to lie on the seabed.
• The recordings confirm that the waters beyond the array are darker and deeper. Chen Zui was unable to cross it, even with his considerable cultivation, suggesting the fishing boat cannot pass through either.
• The group debates whether to retreat or find another way across. Wen Xu proposes luring sea beasts toward the array, hoping one might force a temporary passage.
• Bian Chunchou warns that this could attract creatures as powerful as Nascent Soul or Spirit Transformation cultivators, potentially killing them. He suggests first using the array to weaken the beasts rather than confronting them directly.

Character Developments

• Chen Zui remains bold, impulsive, and eager for combat. He dives into dangerous waters without waiting for permission and dismisses the possibility that Spirit Transformation-level creatures are unbeatable.
• Bian Chunchou acts as the cautious, practical member of the group. He supplies talismans, worries about the dangers of the deep sea, and repeatedly tries to restrain Chen Zui’s recklessness.
• Wen Xu demonstrates increasing initiative and strategic thinking by proposing the sea-beast plan. However, he remains modest about his limited knowledge of arrays and recognizes the potential danger of his own suggestion.
• The group’s trust and familiarity are evident in their teasing, shared concerns, and willingness to consider dangerous plans together.

Significant Themes

• Courage versus recklessness: Chen Zui’s fearlessness allows him to investigate dangers directly, but Bian Chunchou emphasizes that bravery without caution can become fatal.
• Respect for nature and the unknown: The dark sea, deep water, fog, and unseen sea beasts create an atmosphere of overwhelming natural danger.
• Limits of strength: Even powerful cultivators cannot simply overcome the seabed array, reinforcing that cultivation alone is not always enough.
• Risk and strategy: Rather than retreating immediately, the group searches for a way to exploit the array while balancing curiosity and survival.

Character Interactions

• Bian Chunchou and Chen Zui bicker over Chen Zui’s impulsive diving, while Wen Xu observes their contrasting personalities.
• Bian Chunchou uses fire talismans and gives Chen Zui Waterborne Flame to warm him after the dive, showing practical concern despite his complaints.
• Wen Xu and Bian Chunchou jointly analyze the recording and discuss the array’s possible connection to Pill Fragrance City.
• Chen Zui enthusiastically supports confronting sea beasts, while Bian Chunchou tries to prevent the group from provoking an overwhelming enemy.
• Wen Xu’s proposal shifts the discussion from exploration to a dangerous tactical plan: using sea beasts and the array to create a path forward.

Chapter Summary: “It’s Over”

Plot and key events

Chen Zui, Bian Chunchou, and Wen Xu attempt to escape the underwater formation surrounding Pill Fragrance City by luring in powerful Sea Beasts. They drain fish blood and spread cultivators’ spiritual aura around the formation, successfully attracting a group of extremely powerful beasts—possibly led by a Nascent Soul Late Stage creature. The three retreat to a safe distance and wait for the beasts to break through the barrier.
The Sea Beasts repeatedly ram the formation, creating thunderous impacts but leaving it apparently undamaged. Eventually, they coordinate their attacks on a single point, producing a faint tearing sound that makes the group believe the formation may be breaking. However, the real damage occurs to their boat: the formation’s controller deliberately causes it to spring a leak as a warning. This reveals that the formation is not failing but remains under precise control.
As the boat rapidly fills with water, the three enter the sea and work together to repair it, aided by one person’s Water Spiritual Root. The Sea Beasts then unexpectedly retreat, apparently driven away by the formation. The group realizes they cannot continue using the beasts without provoking the formation’s owner, and their escape plan comes to an end.

Character developments

• Bian Chunchou shifts from excitement and curiosity about fighting a Sea Beast to fear and frustration. He recognizes that the creatures are far stronger than the group and that they may be manipulated by the formation’s controller.
• Chen Zui becomes increasingly discouraged by their helplessness. His failed hope of confronting the Sea Beasts strengthens his determination to form a Nascent Soul, believing greater power is necessary for survival and independence.
• Wen Xu remains cautious and practical, recognizing that the Sea Beasts would relentlessly pursue them if they escaped into the ocean. His silence and observations emphasize the danger of the situation.
• All three demonstrate cooperation when repairing the damaged boat, but their plan ultimately fails.

Significant themes

• Powerlessness before greater forces: The cultivators’ clever strategy cannot overcome either the Sea Beasts or the formation’s hidden controller.
• Manipulation and control: What initially appears to be a weakening formation is revealed to be a deliberate warning, showing that the trio’s actions are being carefully managed.
• Limits of cultivation and ambition: Chen Zui’s frustration reinforces the importance of reaching Nascent Soul and gaining enough strength to control his own fate.
• Survival versus recklessness: Although Bian Chunchou wants to fight, the others understand that confronting the Sea Beasts directly would be suicidal.

Character interactions

The three debate how to weaken the formation, with Bian Chunchou pushing toward action while the others emphasize caution. Wen Xu warns that escaping could provoke an endless pursuit by the Sea Beasts. When the boat begins sinking, they cooperate to repair it, briefly setting aside their disagreements. In the end, their shared frustration reveals that they are not escaping on their own terms but are being allowed—or prevented—from acting by a much stronger unseen power.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Trapped at sea and unable to escape, Chen Zui concludes that he must advance to the Nascent Soul Realm. Though Bian Chunchou warns him that Nascent Soul Formation is extremely difficult, Chen responds with his usual blunt determination to overcome any obstacle.
• Wen Xu also accepts that escape may be impossible for now and suggests that the group focus on cultivation instead. He proposes using their advancement—and possibly the Prodigies Ranking—to send an indirect distress signal to Yonglu Mountain.
• The sea proves ideal for Bian Chunchou’s cultivation and experimentation with Waterborne Flame. Since the Sea Beasts have stopped attacking and no other cultivators are nearby, he can practice safely. Despite their misfortune, the group recognizes this as a rare opportunity.
• Meanwhile, Pill Fragrance City has mysteriously fallen silent. Its gates remain sealed, the city lord’s token hangs outside, and no citizens or patrols appear.
• Concerned outsiders report the situation to Yonglu Mountain. Two Nascent Soul elders investigate but discover no obvious abnormalities; even the Sea Beasts do not seem to notice anything unusual.
• Gu Wufang sends Yanshan Venerable, a Spirit Transformation cultivator, to investigate. Yanshan finds that the city’s defensive formation has become extraordinarily powerful: breaking through the gates would require a Body Integration cultivator, while attacking the sea-side formation would require a full-strength strike from a Late Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• Yonglu Mountain is therefore unable to intervene without potentially killing everyone inside, destroying the city, or provoking the powerful overlords of the sea. Gu Wufang realizes that Pill Fragrance City may have suffered a catastrophic and unprecedented disaster.

Character Developments

• Chen Zui: His defeat and helplessness strengthen rather than weaken his determination. He immediately sets his sights on Nascent Soul Formation, displaying his characteristic straightforward, relentless cultivation mentality.
• Wen Xu: Becomes calmer after accepting the possibility that escape is unavailable. Instead of panicking, he turns toward practical action: cultivation and finding a way to communicate with Yonglu Mountain.
• Bian Chunchou: Initially resents being dragged into another cultivation project and feels unlucky that his communication talismans have failed to help his companions. Nevertheless, he accepts the situation and recognizes that the isolated sea offers an extraordinary chance to master Waterborne Flame.
• Gu Wufang: Shifts from routine concern to serious alarm as the investigation reveals that Pill Fragrance City’s defenses are beyond ordinary control.
• Yanshan Venerable: His usually composed attitude is shaken by the scale and complexity of the crisis. He recognizes that even powerful cultivators cannot act recklessly without causing greater destruction.

Significant Themes

• Adversity as an opportunity: The group transforms being trapped at sea into a chance for focused cultivation and experimentation.
• Determination versus reality: Chen Zui’s confidence contrasts with the immense difficulty of Nascent Soul Formation and the overwhelming power of their enemies.
• The limits of power: Even Spirit Transformation and Body Integration cultivators cannot simply solve the crisis because intervention could kill innocents or provoke dangerous sea forces.
• Communication and isolation: The characters struggle to send a meaningful message, while Pill Fragrance City becomes completely cut off from the outside world.
• Unexplained disaster: The sudden disappearance of an entire city creates a growing sense of mystery and threatens political consequences for Yonglu Mountain.

Character Interactions

• Bian Chunchou repeatedly tries to temper Chen Zui’s impulsive ambitions, but ultimately gives up arguing and encourages him to work hard.
• Wen Xu joins Chen’s cultivation-focused mindset, surprising Bian Chunchou and effectively drawing him into the plan.
• The trio’s banter highlights their contrasting personalities: Chen’s blunt determination, Wen Xu’s pragmatic calm, and Bian Chunchou’s reluctant but capable practicality.
• Gu Wufang and Yanshan discuss the investigation in increasingly urgent terms, with both recognizing that Pill Fragrance City’s condition may be the greatest crisis Yonglu Mountain has faced in centuries.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Gu Wufang goes to Springless Peak to ask Cheng Wei for advice about the crisis in Pill Fragrance City, whose gates are sealed by an extremely powerful formation.
• Cheng Wei initially refuses to intervene, recalling that Pill Fragrance City had once been the relocated Feidu City.
• He then discovers that the jade slip he placed on his disciple A-Xu has lost contact, strongly suggesting that A-Xu is trapped inside Pill Fragrance City.
• Cheng Wei decides that rescuing his disciple would not violate the rule against powerful cultivators interfering in continental affairs. He plans to leave Yonglu Mountain, investigate the sea beasts, and eventually break or examine the city’s formation.
• Cheng Wei contacts Jun Zhaoying, who confirms that Little Zhaoxia also cannot reach A-Xu. Their conversation brings Wushan into the discussion.
• Wushan analyzes the formation through a Shadow Recording Stone. He explains that the original formation was created by the ancient formation master Fuguang and could only defend against Spirit Transformation cultivators. The current formation is far more powerful and appears to be an ingenious, deliberately disguised modification.
• Wushan cannot yet determine who created it, though he suspects the formation resembles something he has encountered before.
• Jun Zhaoying and Wushan jokingly compete over where Cheng Wei’s disciples should study after being rescued, each attempting to recruit them to his sect.
• Cheng Wei dismisses their concerns about a trap and confidently prepares to act, declaring that fear of death should not stop him.

Character Developments

• Cheng Wei: His normally irritable and detached attitude gives way to obvious concern for A-Xu. His protective instincts motivate him to break his long-standing restraint and leave the mountain. His bold, fearless personality is emphasized, as is his tendency to provoke and tease old acquaintances.
• Gu Wufang: He acts cautiously and tries to placate Cheng Wei, but he is clearly terrified that the situation will push the Divine Venerable into taking action. His familiarity with Cheng Wei’s behavior allows him to predict that A-Xu’s disappearance will lead to intervention.
• Wushan: He demonstrates exceptional knowledge of formations and becomes genuinely excited by the possibility that a formation genius created the enhanced barrier. Despite his scholarly nature, he is willing to challenge Cheng Wei and even attempts to recruit his disciples.
• Jun Zhaoying: He remains sarcastic and mischievous, quickly joining the discussion and provoking Cheng Wei and Wushan. His inability to contact A-Xu confirms the seriousness of the situation.

Significant Themes

• Protective bonds between master and disciple: Cheng Wei’s decision to intervene shows that his attachment to A-Xu has overcome his usual reluctance to become involved in worldly affairs.
• Power and responsibility: The older cultivators must balance their immense abilities against the danger of disrupting the Cultivation Realm’s affairs.
• Mystery and hidden forces: The altered formation suggests that a powerful and highly skilled individual is operating behind the scenes.
• Loyalty versus fear: Cheng Wei refuses to be deterred by the possibility of a trap, contrasting his fearless determination with Gu Wufang’s anxiety.
• Friendship expressed through banter: The exchanges among Cheng Wei, Wushan, and Jun Zhaoying are full of insults and teasing, but their willingness to help reveals enduring camaraderie.

Character Interactions

• Gu Wufang cautiously reports the crisis to Cheng Wei and unintentionally confirms that A-Xu is probably trapped inside the city.
• Cheng Wei contacts Jun Zhaoying for information, and their sarcastic exchange reflects their long familiarity.
• Wushan provides the crucial technical analysis of the city’s formation, while Cheng Wei mocks his uncertain memory.
• Wushan and Jun Zhaoying temporarily unite in teasing Cheng Wei and competing to claim his disciples for their respective sects.
• Despite their arguments, all three elders show concern about A-Xu and recognize that the formation may conceal a major threat.

Chapter Summary: “Evil Cultivator”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cheng Wei decides to leave Yonglu Mountain to investigate the mysteries surrounding Pill Fragrance City and Feidu City. His decision is prompted by Cheng Wei’s ominous intuition that the disaster in Pill Fragrance City is more complicated than it appears.
• Although Gu Wufang worries about him, Cheng Wei suppresses his cultivation to the Late Golden Core stage and travels to Feidu City.
• In Feidu City, Cheng Wei notices that the city’s inhabitants appear unable to reproduce, suggesting that someone has cursed or deliberately doomed the entire population.
• He confronts Lin Xiangshui, the city lord, who is disguised as a woman. Cheng Wei easily restrains her and threatens to send the city’s inhabitants to Pill Fragrance City unless she explains why the people of Feidu City refuse to leave.
• Lin Xiangshui breaks down and agrees to speak. Cheng Wei realizes that A-Xu had previously visited the city and may have already recognized its corrupt nature.
• Before continuing his investigation, Cheng Wei sends Wushan a message mentioning the Pill Formation, hoping it will draw him down the mountain. Cheng Wei himself plans to investigate the sea route first.
• Meanwhile, others begin copying the three protagonists’ route across the sea. Attempts to use Sea Beasts as transportation become less effective because the creatures have already been deceived once and are now reluctant to respond.
• Conflict breaks out among the cultivators traveling toward the sea. Bian Chunchou encounters the smell of blood underwater and rescues someone who has fallen from above. The injured person turns out to be only a Low Qi Refining cultivator, raising questions about why people are fighting and who attacked him.

Character Developments

• Cheng Wei: Demonstrates his protective feelings toward A-Xu and his confidence in his own strength. He is impulsive and intimidating, but his investigation is driven by genuine concern and a strong instinct that hidden forces are at work. He also shows a mischievous side by disguising himself as Little Martial Uncle before leaving the mountain.
• Gu Wufang: Acts as the responsible and worried junior, recognizing that Cheng Wei’s actions may damage Little Martial Uncle’s reputation and fearing the consequences of his departure.
• Lin Xiangshui: Her disguise is exposed, revealing her resentment toward her male body and the curse that has prevented her advancement. Her terror under Cheng Wei’s pressure shows how powerless Feidu City’s leadership is against higher-level cultivators.
• Bian Chunchou: Shows caution by avoiding the developing fight, but also compassion and quick thinking by catching the falling cultivator with a spirit talisman.
• Wen Xu and Chen Zui: Continue supporting Bian Chunchou and quickly bring the boat to him after he rescues the injured stranger.

Significant Themes

• Protectiveness and attachment: Cheng Wei’s eagerness to intervene reflects the deep bond between powerful cultivators and those they regard as their juniors.
• Hidden corruption and curses: Feidu City’s inability to reproduce suggests deliberate manipulation, while Lin Xiangshui’s curse hints at a broader pattern of suffering and control.
• Power imbalance: Cheng Wei can overpower Lin Xiangshui without moving, emphasizing the enormous gap between Divine Venerables and lower-level cultivators.
• Deception and distrust: Disguises, manipulated Sea Beasts, and hidden motives dominate the chapter. No one can assume that appearances reflect reality.
• Growing disorder: As more cultivators attempt the sea route, cooperation gives way to competition and violence, suggesting that the larger crisis is escalating.

Character Interactions

• Jun Zhaoying and Cheng Wei discuss Cheng Wei’s determination to rescue A-Xu, with Jun Zhaoying amused by Cheng Wei’s exaggerated protectiveness.
• Gu Wufang tries to caution Cheng Wei before his departure, but Cheng Wei dismisses his concerns and leaves immediately.
• Cheng Wei confronts Lin Xiangshui, using threats and overwhelming spiritual pressure to force her to reveal Feidu City’s secrets.
• Bian Chunchou, Wen Xu, and Chen Zui work together after Bian rescues the wounded cultivator, ending the chapter with a new mystery surrounding the attack.

Chapter 558 Summary

Key plot points and events

• Bian Chunchou realizes that an injured Qi Refining cultivator has been thrown into the sea as human bait to attract Sea Beasts. He gives the victim a Blood-Replenishing Pill and helps rescue him.
• Wen Xu and Chen Zui confront the people responsible. Their leader, a Nascent Soul cultivator, claims the two injured Qi Refining cultivators are Evil Cultivators who attacked his ship.
• Wen Xu immediately sees through the lie, recognizing that the victims were framed and that the supposed “righteous” leader is actually an Evil Cultivator.
• Chen Zui battles the Nascent Soul cultivator. Despite the difference in cultivation levels, Chen overwhelms him with ease, revealing that his combat strength far exceeds that of an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.
• When the Evil Cultivator releases his full evil aura and attempts to kill everyone, Chen Zui decisively pins him to the deck with a single blade.
• At Wen Xu’s suggestion, Chen cripples the Evil Cultivator’s cultivation rather than killing him immediately, intending to interrogate him.
• The Evil Cultivator’s former followers realize they have been manipulated and turn against him, feeling ashamed and enraged at having harmed innocent people.

Character developments

• Bian Chunchou demonstrates compassion and clear judgment by understanding the purpose of the sacrifice and immediately treating the injured victim.
• Wen Xu continues to act as the group’s strategist and moral guide. He exposes the deception, gives Chen permission to fight seriously, and chooses to cripple rather than immediately kill the Evil Cultivator.
• Chen Zui displays extraordinary martial strength and confidence. His combat ability has improved so greatly that he can defeat a Nascent Soul opponent alone. Although he enjoys fighting, he follows Wen Xu’s guidance about controlling his violence.
• The two rescued Qi Refining cultivators move from despair to relief after realizing that their rescuers can defeat the Evil Cultivator.
• The Evil Cultivator is exposed as arrogant, deceitful, and cruel. His authority collapses once his cultivation is crippled.

Significant themes

• Justice versus hypocrisy: The Evil Cultivator disguises himself as a righteous authority while committing atrocities, showing that appearances and titles do not determine morality.
• Abuse of the weak: Using injured cultivators as bait highlights the exploitation of powerless people by those in positions of strength.
• Strength and restraint: Chen Zui possesses overwhelming power, but Wen Xu encourages him to use it responsibly rather than indiscriminately.
• Truth eventually exposed: The Evil Cultivator’s attempt to frame his victims fails once the protagonists investigate instead of accepting his claims.
• Manipulation and shame: His subordinates are forced to confront how they were deceived and made complicit in harming innocents.

Character interactions

• Bian Chunchou works to save the injured cultivator while noticing that Wen Xu and Chen Zui are already confronting the enemy.
• Wen Xu and Chen Zui cooperate smoothly: Wen identifies the truth and gives instructions, while Chen acts immediately and decisively.
• Chen silently seeks Wen Xu’s permission to attack the arrogant Nascent Soul cultivator, showing his trust in Wen’s judgment.
• Wen informs Chen that the opponent is truly an Evil Cultivator, allowing Chen to abandon his usual restraint.
• After Chen defeats and pins the enemy, he asks Wen whether they should kill him; Wen instead orders his cultivation crippled for questioning.
• The Evil Cultivator’s followers, realizing they were deceived, turn against their former leader.

Chapter Summary: “Silence”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Two abandoned Qi Refining cultivators thank Wen Xu, Chen Zui, and Bian Chunchou for rescuing them. They reveal that the Evil Cultivator intended to use them as expendable bait to distract the Sea Beasts while he escaped.
• Although the Evil Cultivator’s cultivation has been crippled, he remains capable of using his techniques. He angrily curses the group and self-destructs.
• His explosion damages half the fishing boat, but more dangerously, his Nascent Soul-level flesh and blood dissolve into the sea, attracting the surrounding Sea Beasts.
• The survivors flee toward Pill Fragrance City while the Sea Beasts attack the city’s barrier. Their numbers and ferocity make everyone fear that the barrier will fail and the city will be overrun.
• Numerous cultivators attempt to escape, but Wen Xu and the others are slowed by their small fishing boat. With the barrier weakening and escape seemingly impossible, Chen Zui and Bian Chunchou prepare to fight together.
• Just as they are ready to make a last stand, the Sea Beasts suddenly stop roaring and become strangely docile.
• Cheng Wei appears on the sea. His immense Dragon Pressure instantly stills the ocean, suppresses the Sea Beasts, and forces the seabirds from the sky.
• Cheng Wei casually captures one unusual five-eyed, six-armed Sea Beast, amusingly complaining that he cannot determine which side of its body is its face. The terrified creature silently submits.

Character Developments

• Wen Xu, Chen Zui, and Bian Chunchou: Their willingness to rescue the abandoned cultivators shows compassion and loyalty. When escape becomes impossible, they demonstrate courage and solidarity, choosing to confront death together rather than abandon one another.
• Chen Zui: Displays determination and confidence by offering to act against the Sea Beasts, apparently intending to use his abilities to create a path to survival.
• Bian Chunchou: Initially tries to stop Chen Zui, but ultimately chooses to join him, emphasizing his loyalty and willingness to share danger.
• The Evil Cultivator: His loss of power exposes his desperation and cruelty. Even in defeat, he attempts to kill everyone by turning his own remains into bait for the Sea Beasts.
• Cheng Wei: Reveals the overwhelming authority of his Dragon bloodline and Body Integration Realm cultivation. Though immensely powerful, he behaves casually and humorously, treating the crisis as an irritating inconvenience rather than a serious threat.

Significant Themes

• Self-sacrifice and solidarity: The rescuers refuse to abandon weaker cultivators, while Chen Zui and Bian Chunchou choose to face danger together.
• The cruelty of survival: The Evil Cultivator views other people as disposable tools, contrasting sharply with the protagonists’ willingness to protect strangers.
• Power and hierarchy: The Sea Beasts that terrify countless cultivators instantly submit to Cheng Wei’s Dragon Pressure, demonstrating the natural dominance of superior beings.
• Fear versus absolute control: The chapter builds intense suspense around the approaching Sea Beasts before abruptly shifting to comedy once Cheng Wei arrives and neutralizes the threat effortlessly.
• Humanity and monstrous identity: Cheng Wei’s Half-Demon and Dragon heritage gives him extraordinary authority. Despite his potentially terrifying power, he uses it with a detached, almost playful attitude.

Character Interactions

• The rescued cultivators express gratitude toward Wen Xu, Chen Zui, and Bian Chunchou while explaining the Evil Cultivator’s plan.
• The Evil Cultivator taunts the group before self-destructing, attempting to drag them to death with him.
• Chen Zui and Bian Chunchou silently understand each other’s resolve and agree to fight side by side, despite Bian Chunchou’s initial objection.
• Cheng Wei’s interaction with the captured Sea Beast is comic rather than threatening: he critiques its strange appearance while the creature, overwhelmed by fear, cannot even look at him.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cheng Wei interrogates several Sea Beasts about the situation around Pill Fragrance City. Their limited intelligence reveals little, though he learns that someone has been feeding them.
• He reaches the invisible barrier surrounding the city and determines that it is an ancient Pill Formation. Although weaker than the formation on land, the Sea Beasts reinforce it, making it extremely difficult to break.
• Cheng Wei realizes that shattering the formation would require Late Spirit Transformation-level power—enough to destroy the trapped people along with the barrier. Since he lacks the formation expertise to free them safely, he decides not to attack it directly.
• Instead, he sends his voice through the formation, warning the prisoners to stop throwing corpses into the sea and claiming that he is too injured to break the barrier. He falsely assures them that Yonglu Mountain is working to rescue them.
• Wen Xu, Bian Chunchou, and Chen Zui recognize Cheng Wei’s voice. Wen Xu is shocked because he never informed Cheng Wei that he was trapped, leading him to wonder how his master discovered the situation.
• The prisoners beg Cheng Wei for help, but the formation prevents them from hearing his actual explanations. Wen Xu and Chen Zui infer that Cheng Wei is pretending to be injured because breaking the formation directly could kill everyone inside.
• The formation’s master suddenly causes the sea to convulse violently, destroying boats and throwing the trapped cultivators into the water. Wen Xu suspects this is meant to stop them from investigating the formation.
• Before being submerged, Wen Xu sends a drop of his blood through the water toward the formation’s boundary as a signal that he is alive.
• Cheng Wei senses the blood and realizes that Wen Xu is trapped inside Pill Fragrance City but still safe.

Character Developments

• Cheng Wei: Demonstrates overwhelming strength by controlling the Sea Beasts, but also shows restraint and practical judgment. Rather than recklessly breaking the formation, he recognizes the danger to the hostages and uses deception and indirect communication to protect them.
• Wen Xu: Remains analytical and resourceful under pressure. He quickly understands that Cheng Wei is lying about being injured and correctly deduces that his master is avoiding a direct attack to protect the prisoners. His blood-signal shows his loyalty and determination to reassure Cheng Wei.
• Chen Zui: Displays clear insight into Cheng Wei’s true condition, immediately questioning the claim that he is injured. His reasoning supports the conclusion that the formation can likely be broken, but not without harming those inside.
• Bian Chunchou: His devotion to Cheng Wei allows him to recognize the Divine Dragon’s voice instantly, reinforcing his admiration and loyalty.

Significant Themes

• Power restrained by responsibility: Cheng Wei has enough strength to potentially destroy the formation, but refuses to do so when it would endanger innocent lives.
• Communication under isolation: The characters must rely on indirect signals, inference, and shared knowledge because the formation blocks normal communication.
• Trust and loyalty: Wen Xu trusts Cheng Wei’s intentions, while Cheng Wei recognizes his disciple’s aura and worries about his safety.
• Cunning over brute force: Both Cheng Wei and Wen Xu use subtle methods—deception, deduction, and a blood signal—to overcome a situation that cannot be solved through force alone.
• The danger of the unknown: The formation’s master escalates the threat once the prisoners begin investigating, emphasizing the precariousness of their confinement.

Character Interactions

• Cheng Wei questions the Sea Beasts and casually threatens to turn one into a mount for Wushan.
• He addresses the trapped cultivators through the formation, pretending to be injured while indirectly encouraging them to remain hopeful.
• Wen Xu, Bian Chunchou, and Chen Zui exchange silent reactions upon recognizing Cheng Wei’s voice, with Bian Chunchou’s familiarity confirming its authenticity.
• Wen Xu and Chen Zui analyze Cheng Wei’s words and realize that his apparent helplessness is deliberate.
• Wen Xu sends a blood signal to Cheng Wei, who successfully senses it and confirms that his disciple is alive.