Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: Spirit-Division Thought-Transformation

Key Plot Points and Events

• Over three thousand years, Chen Jichuan’s Wu River Immortal Sect establishes a powerful headquarters in the starry sky, centered around the Nine Mountains, Eight Seas, and Four Domains.
• The sect’s population and influence flourish. Its four continents support two billion mortals, while more than two hundred Spirit Transformation cultivators and thousands of True Persons emerge.
• The sect now has two hundred four Spirit Transformations in total, though only one hundred sixty-five remain alive. Many died while exploring dangerous regions, through cultivation accidents, or from old age.
• The former patriarchs Silver River and True Martial eventually pass away after reaching the limits of their lifespans. Chen Jichuan reflects that, unlike them, he still has the potential to reach much higher realms.
• Chen Jichuan strengthens the sect through superior alchemy. By teaching optimized pill formulas, he enables the sect to earn enormous quantities of Origin Stones, giving him abundant resources for cultivation and Enlightenment.
• After roughly fifteen hundred Enlightenments, all seven of Chen Jichuan’s Transcendent Arts reach the fifth level. His combat power rises dramatically: he can defeat peak Third Realm cultivators and, with his formations, contend with powerful Fourth Realm opponents.
• His alchemy remains at the lower level of the Third Rank, but his formation mastery improves greatly. He completely refines the Fourth-Rank Inverted Eight Gates Immortal-Sealing Banner and advances his understanding of the Lesser Sumeru Upright-Reverse Nine-Palace Immortal Formation.
• The sect’s mountain gates become extremely well defended. The Inverted Eight Gates formation specializes in killing enemies, while the Lesser Sumeru formation protects the headquarters. Even Fourth Realm intruders could face grave danger.
• Chen Jichuan begins considering additional cave abodes, escape routes, and defensive formations in the real world, emphasizing the importance of survival and having multiple “burrows.”
• The chapter then focuses on his newly derived Spirit-Division Thought-Transformation Technique, which can split the Primordial Spirit into up to nine Spirit Separations. However, the technique damages the practitioner’s foundation and reduces comprehension, making it difficult for Chen Jichuan to master.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan becomes substantially stronger after three thousand years of cultivation, Enlightenment, alchemy, and formation study. He grows from a powerful cultivator into someone capable of confronting formidable Fourth Realm experts.
• He becomes a more capable sect leader, organizing the Wu River Immortal Sect, cultivating new Spirit Transformations, teaching alchemy, and building powerful defensive infrastructure.
• Despite his strength, Chen Jichuan remains cautious. He prioritizes survival, escape routes, and defensive preparations rather than relying solely on his combat power.
• He develops a deeper awareness of the limits of his predecessors. Silver River and True Martial helped establish the Wu River human race but died without seeing the sect’s later prosperity or reaching the higher Immortal Dao realms.
• Chen Jichuan’s interest in spirit-separation techniques reflects his concern over dividing his time and attention between reality and the Dao Fruit World.

Significant Themes

• Time, mortality, and legacy: Three thousand years bring prosperity, but also the deaths of old companions and patriarchs. Even powerful cultivators cannot always escape aging.
• Accumulation and long-term growth: Chen Jichuan’s progress comes from sustained investment in cultivation, Enlightenment, alchemy, formations, and sect development.
• Security and survival: The chapter repeatedly stresses preparation, defensive formations, hidden retreats, and escape routes in a dangerous starry sky.
• Power versus limitations: Although Chen Jichuan’s abilities have grown enormously, the Spirit-Division technique shows that every powerful method carries serious costs.
• Inheritance and institutional strength: The Wu River Immortal Sect’s success is no longer dependent solely on Chen Jichuan; its population, cultivators, resources, and systems have developed across generations.
• The nature of spirit separation: Primordial Spirit Marks and clones are presented as powerful tools for surveillance, body seizure, control, preservation of life, and independent combat.

Character Interactions

• Chen Jichuan reflects on his deceased seniors, Silver River and True Martial, comparing their achievements and limitations with his own future potential.
• His relationship with Gan Chen remains important as an example of both his sect’s history and the danger of Primordial Spirit Marks. Gan Chen once used such a mark to plot against Xiao Lan and seize her body.
• Xiao Lan is mentioned as a former target of Gan Chen’s body-seizure scheme, illustrating the manipulative uses of spirit-separation techniques.
• Nine Peaks Daoist and Yellow Springs Manor’s three lords serve as further examples of powerful figures using Primordial Spirit Marks to preserve influence, monitor others, or control enslaved cultivators.
• Chen Jichuan’s Second Primordial Spirit continues studying the Sumeru Immortal Sect’s formation elsewhere, functioning as an extension of his own cultivation and contributing to his growing mastery of formations.

Chapter Summary: “Underhanded Attack!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan reflects on Spirit Separation, explaining that dividing one’s Primordial Spirit preserves life but damages comprehension and cultivation potential. Ordinary cultivators therefore avoid it, while special races such as the Immortal Vine Clan can use it with fewer drawbacks.
• Treasures like the Pure Yang Immortal Lotus Root can create avatars without damaging one’s foundation, but such avatars are limited in potential and cannot advance beyond the Third Rank.
• Chen realizes that Spirit Separation would solve his greatest problem: he could leave one Primordial Spirit cultivating in reality while sending the other into the Dao Fruit World. Previously, both bodies became inactive whenever he went offline, wasting enormous amounts of cultivation time.
• Because Chen is re-cultivating and can have his comprehension restored inside the Dao Fruit World, he believes Spirit Separation’s usual disadvantages will not affect him significantly. After reaching the Spirit Division Realm, he finally understands the Spirit-Division Thought-Transformation Technique and prepares to test it, though he first intends to stabilize his cultivation.
• Elsewhere, a black-robed cultivator locates the hidden headquarters of the Wu River Immortal Sect. He uses a treasure mirror to uncover the sect’s protective formation and then deploys the Form-Seizing Divine Lamp.
• A red-robed cultivator from the Fallen Star Pavilion secretly observes the black-robed man. He intends to let the black-robed man destroy Wu River Immortal Sect so that suspicion will not fall on his own organization.
• The black-robed cultivator provokes a Wu River expert into leaving the sect, successfully luring him away. After refining the divine lamp for forty-nine days, he obtains a clear image of the sect’s ancestor, Xu Ning, within the lamp.
• Believing Xu Ning to be dead and the Wu River Immortal Sect effectively doomed, the black-robed man travels to intercept another target.
• After roughly a dozen days, he attacks Chen Jichuan with a massive wave of fiery lamplight. Chen appears startled and asks who the attacker is, but the black-robed man confidently attempts to seize and refine his body and spirit with the Form-Seizing Divine Lamp.
• The chapter ends as the lamp’s power enters Chen’s brow, apparently beginning the process of burning away his consciousness and true soul.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan demonstrates his careful, analytical nature. Rather than recklessly using Spirit Separation, he studies its costs, recognizes how his unique circumstances eliminate most risks, and plans to test it safely in the Dao Fruit World first.
• His advancement into the Spirit Division Realm significantly improves his understanding of Primordial Spirit techniques, allowing him to comprehend the Spirit-Division Thought-Transformation Technique fully.
• The black-robed old man is revealed as a treacherous and arrogant attacker who specializes in ambushes and underhanded methods. He possesses the Form-Seizing Divine Lamp and greatly overestimates his control over the situation.
• The red-robed middle-aged man is shown to be an even more calculating conspirator. He plans to exploit the black-robed man’s attack to destroy Wu River Immortal Sect while concealing the Fallen Star Pavilion’s involvement.
• Xu Ning, the Wu River Immortal Sect’s ancestor, becomes the target of the lamp’s soul-seizing technique, though the chapter leaves unclear whether the figure captured by the lamp is truly his main body or some other manifestation.

Significant Themes

• The cost of survival: Spirit Separation can preserve life but often sacrifices comprehension and the possibility of attaining immortality.
• Trade-offs between power and potential: The Immortal Vine Clan’s strength and longevity come with difficulty advancing to higher realms.
• Exploiting unique advantages: Chen’s dual existence between reality and the Dao Fruit World allows him to bypass disadvantages that would cripple ordinary cultivators.
• Deception and hidden agendas: Multiple parties manipulate one another, with the red-robed cultivator using the black-robed attacker as an unwitting instrument.
• Overconfidence and misdirection: The attacker believes Chen is helpless, while Chen’s apparent panic may be deliberate, setting up a possible reversal.

Character Interactions

• The black-robed cultivator manipulates a Wu River Immortal Sect expert into leaving the sect, then uses the Form-Seizing Divine Lamp against the sect’s ancestor, Xu Ning.
• The red-robed cultivator secretly follows and observes the black-robed man, hoping to benefit from the destruction of Wu River Immortal Sect without exposing the Fallen Star Pavilion.
• The black-robed cultivator attacks Chen Jichuan and boasts that the lamp will refine his form and spirit within forty-nine days. The chapter ends before Chen reveals his response or whether the attack succeeds.

Chapter Summary: “Eight Extremes Venerable!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Wu Gu, the notorious “Wu Old Devil,” ambushes Chen Jichuan using the Form-Seizing Divine Lamp after luring him away from the Wu River Immortal Sect.
• Chen had already detected Wu Gu’s presence and deliberately played along with the scheme. His Taiyi Azure Spirit Bamboo Leaf Divine Talisman activates and counterattacks.
• The talisman’s azure light shatters Wu Gu’s twenty-three defensive shields, disperses his Rogue Immortal body, and inflicts severe damage. Its cold-star power continues multiplying and pursuing him despite his attempts to destroy it.
• Chen traps Wu Gu inside the Seven-Star Sword Diagram, then seizes two of his treasures: the golden bell and the Vermilion Bird Ring.
• Realizing that his treasures and many of his techniques are ineffective, Wu Gu abandons the fight and flees in thunderfire form. The divine talisman will continue tormenting him for thirty-six days, likely making his next Rogue Immortal Tribulation extremely dangerous.
• Chen then turns his attention to the red-robed cultivator who had been hiding nearby: Gu Xian, the Eight Extremes Venerable. Chen recognizes that Gu Xian had intended to use Wu Gu to weaken or kill him.
• Chen attacks Gu Xian without hesitation. Gu Xian uses a long spear and powerful fire techniques, transforming into a blazing sun, and the two begin a massive battle.
• Their fight approaches Ten-Ring Star, attracting numerous Spirit Transformation cultivators. The spectators identify Chen as the Seven-Star Sword Venerable of the Wu River Immortal Sect and Gu Xian as a cultivator from the Fallen Star Pavilion.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan / Xu Ning: Demonstrates his superior perception, planning, combat ability, and confidence after his recent breakthrough. He is able to see through concealment, anticipate ambushes, counter evil techniques, seize enemy treasures, and calmly force a Two-Tribulation Rogue Immortal to retreat.
• Wu Gu, the Wu Old Devil: His reputation as a dangerous and experienced Rogue Immortal is confirmed, but he is shown to be cautious rather than reckless. After suffering severe injuries and losing two treasures, he chooses survival over revenge and flees.
• Eight Extremes Venerable / Gu Xian: Revealed as the mastermind observing the ambush. His attempt to manipulate Wu Gu fails, and he is exposed before he can take advantage of the situation. He is forced into direct combat with Chen.
• Wu River Immortal Sect: Chen’s strength continues to support the sect’s rapid rise and growing influence in the Eighth District.

Significant Themes

• Preparation overcoming ambush: Chen succeeds because he detects the plot in advance and turns his enemy’s scheme against him.
• The danger of underestimating opponents: Both Wu Gu and Gu Xian misjudge Chen’s abilities, especially his perception and defensive talisman.
• Pragmatism and survival: Wu Gu recognizes when the battle has become unfavorable and retreats instead of risking death.
• Power and reputation: Chen’s identity as the Seven-Star Sword Venerable becomes increasingly famous, while the battle demonstrates why the Wu River Immortal Sect is now a major force.
• Hidden schemes and retribution: Gu Xian secretly watches Wu Gu’s attack, only to be exposed and targeted immediately afterward.

Character Interactions

• Chen taunts Wu Gu for using underhanded tactics against a junior and mocks his inadequate concealment.
• Wu Gu is shocked that Chen discovered him and becomes increasingly frantic as his defenses, lamp flame, and treasures fail.
• Chen and Wu Gu engage in a brief but decisive battle, ending with Wu Gu’s retreat and the loss of two magic treasures.
• Chen confronts Gu Xian directly, calling out his attempt to manipulate the situation. Gu Xian responds diplomatically, but Chen refuses to exchange empty words and attacks.
• The chapter ends with Chen and Gu Xian locked in a spectacular battle witnessed by many cultivators near Ten-Ring Star.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xu Ning, known as the Seven-Star Sword Venerable and Patriarch of the Wu River Immortal Sect, battles Gu Xian, the Fallen Star Pavilion’s Eight Extremes Venerable.
• Xu Ning overwhelms Gu Xian with powerful swordsmanship and a restrictive sleeve technique, despite revealing neither his true cultivation nor his ultimate immortal array.
• The spectators realize that Xu Ning’s strength is far beyond their previous estimates, likely comparable to a Three- or Four-Metamorphosis mighty figure.
• Xu Ning publicly accuses Gu Xian of secretly bringing Wu Old Devil of the Yellow Springs Manor to attack the Wu River Immortal Sect. He reveals that he severely injured Wu Old Devil during the attack.
• Although Gu Xian denies involvement, Xu Ning’s public accusations convince many observers. The Fallen Star Pavilion’s reputation suffers as people begin associating it with Wu Old Devil’s past atrocities.
• Xu Ning deliberately drives Gu Xian toward the Ten-Ring Star, using the battle to spread his own reputation throughout the Nine Dragons River System.
• Gu Xian attempts to enter the Ten-Ring Star for protection, but Barefoot Star Lord kicks him away, enforcing the rule that no mighty figure may enter without invitation.
• Gu Xian respectfully asks the Ten Star Lords for forgiveness, but the ninth Star Lord, Big-Mouth Nine, bluntly orders him to leave.
• As Gu Xian departs in humiliation, the tenth Star Lord, Big-Eyes Ten, invites Xu Ning into the Ten-Ring Star for a discussion.

Character Developments

• Xu Ning/Chen Jichuan: Demonstrates shocking combat power, strategic cunning, and excellent control of public perception. Rather than simply defeating Gu Xian, he stages the confrontation so witnesses will spread his reputation and believe the Fallen Star Pavilion is involved in the attack on his sect.
• Eight Extremes Venerable/Gu Xian: Shown to be far weaker than expected despite being a powerful Two-Tribulation Rogue Immortal. His confidence collapses into frustration and humiliation as Xu Ning suppresses him, exposes his involvement, and prevents him from using the Ten-Ring Star as shelter.
• The Ten Star Lords: Their overwhelming authority is established. Even a Rogue Immortal from the Fallen Star Pavilion must behave respectfully before them, and they refuse to be pressured into protecting him. Their invitation to Xu Ning suggests they are interested in his strength or intentions.
• The Observers: Their view of Xu Ning changes dramatically. They now regard him as a genuine mighty figure and begin judging the Fallen Star Pavilion based largely on his accusations.

Significant Themes

• Hidden strength and misjudgment: Xu Ning’s concealed cultivation causes others to underestimate him, while Gu Xian realizes that the intelligence about Xu Ning was dangerously inaccurate.
• Reputation as a weapon: Xu Ning uses the battle not only to defeat an enemy but also to build public prestige and weaken a rival faction politically.
• Power and authority: The Ten Star Lords’ refusal to shelter Gu Xian demonstrates that absolute strength commands more respect than wealth or affiliation.
• Public perception versus truth: Xu Ning lacks definitive proof of the Fallen Star Pavilion’s involvement, yet his confident accusations are widely believed because of the surrounding circumstances and the Pavilion’s existing reputation.
• Humiliation and restraint: Gu Xian suffers repeated public humiliation but must suppress his anger because he cannot afford to offend the Ten Star Lords or further endanger himself.

Character Interactions

• Xu Ning and Gu Xian: Their confrontation is both a physical battle and a war of accusations. Xu Ning attacks relentlessly while verbally condemning Gu Xian, whereas Gu Xian denies responsibility but cannot defend himself effectively.
• Gu Xian and the Ten Star Lords: Gu Xian seeks protection but is rejected. Barefoot Star Lord physically repels him, Big-Mouth Nine orders him away, and the Ten Star Lords refuse to acknowledge his status or the Fallen Star Pavilion’s influence.
• Big-Eyes Ten and Xu Ning: Big-Eyes Ten offers Xu Ning entry into the Ten-Ring Star, creating a sharp contrast with Gu Xian’s rejection and hinting at a significant upcoming conversation.
• Xu Ning and the spectators: Xu Ning intentionally performs before a large audience, ensuring that his victory, the injury to Wu Old Devil, and his accusations against the Fallen Star Pavilion become widely known.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan enters Ten-Ring Star with Water Virtue Star Lord after confronting Gu Xian of Fallen Star Pavilion. The Star Lords explain that they spared Gu Xian because killing him could cause turmoil, given Fallen Star Pavilion’s influence.
• Barefoot Star Lord and Wind-Thunder Star Lord join them. They reveal their support for Chen Jichuan by recounting how they kicked and insulted Gu Xian, though they could not help Chen kill him outright.
• In Star Lord Hall, the Star Lords question Chen Jichuan about his recent strength. He uses the Origin-Returning Concealment Method to disguise his cultivation as the peak of the Spirit Division Realm, concealing the true extent of his battle power.
• Chen announces that Wu River Immortal Sect intends to leave the Eighth District and return to its original home in the Ninth District. After three thousand years of development under Ten-Ring Star’s protection, he believes it is time for the sect to establish itself independently and avoid future conflicts over territory.
• The Star Lords accept his decision and offer assistance if needed. Their interest in Chen is largely connected to his relationship with the immensely powerful Xiao Lan and Dong He.
• After Chen departs, the Star Lords discuss him privately. Wind-Thunder and Barefoot Star Lords look down on him for relying on the protection and resources of Xiao Lan and Dong He, while Water Virtue Star Lord values his cautious temperament and willingness to leave Ten-Ring Star voluntarily.
• A mysterious voice suddenly interrupts the Star Lords’ conversation, prompting them to rush outside.
• Chen returns to Wu River Immortal Sect and discovers that Xiao Lan has arrived. Her avatar remains at the Divine Metamorphosis stage, but her true body—the Cloudveil Vine—has advanced to the Fourth-Rank Cauldron-Claiming Realm: Inner Landscape.
• Xiao Lan’s breakthrough makes her fully qualified to ascend and marks a major turning point in her cultivation. Chen is deeply excited and relieved, especially because her unusual constitution and limited lifespan made her advancement exceptionally difficult.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Demonstrates increased power and confidence by defeating or severely injuring powerful opponents, though he remains cautious about revealing his true abilities. He formally begins separating Wu River Immortal Sect from Ten-Ring Star and shows political foresight by returning to the Ninth District before territorial tensions arise.
• Water Virtue Star Lord: Acts as Chen’s diplomatic host and shows understanding toward his desire to return home. He is the most measured of the three present Star Lords and recognizes Chen’s prudence.
• Barefoot Star Lord and Wind-Thunder Star Lord: Display rough, direct personalities and genuine, if informal, support for Chen. However, they privately regard him as dependent on Xiao Lan and Dong He rather than as an exceptional cultivator in his own right.
• Xiao Lan: Makes a tremendous breakthrough. Her true body advances from Spirit Transformation to the Fourth Rank, overcoming the severe limitations of her Cloudveil Vine nature and nearing the level required for ascension. Her achievement confirms her status as one of the most extraordinary figures in the Nine Dragons River System.
• Dong He: Though absent from the immediate events, her reputation and connection to Xiao Lan continue to influence how the Ten Star Lords treat Chen.

Significant Themes

• Hidden strength and strategic restraint: Chen deliberately conceals his true cultivation because openly displaying power beyond his apparent realm would attract unnecessary danger and suspicion.
• Dependence versus genuine ability: The chapter questions whether Chen’s success comes from his own talents or from the protection of Xiao Lan and Dong He. The Star Lords dismiss him as someone “living off a woman,” while Chen accepts the practical benefits without embarrassment.
• Returning to one’s roots: After three thousand years away, Chen chooses to bring Wu River Immortal Sect back to its homeland, emphasizing independence, belonging, and long-term stability.
• The difficulty of cultivation and ascension: The Ten Star Lords still face five more Rogue Immortal Tribulations, while Xiao Lan’s breakthrough highlights how difficult advancement can be for beings with unusual bodies and limited lifespans.
• Power reshaping relationships: Xiao Lan’s advancement changes the balance of power. Her strength not only protects Chen and the sect but also places her among the few figures capable of influencing the entire river system.

Character Interactions

• Water Virtue Star Lord escorts Chen into Ten-Ring Star and apologizes for the Star Lords’ intervention against Gu Xian.
• Barefoot and Wind-Thunder Star Lords warmly greet Chen, boasting about their role in humiliating Gu Xian.
• Chen and the three Star Lords exchange polite praise, though the conversation contains an undercurrent of evaluation as they assess his true strength.
• Chen respectfully informs the Star Lords of his plan to leave, and Water Virtue responds with support and an offer of future assistance.
• The Star Lords later discuss Chen among themselves, revealing both their respect for his caution and their doubts about his independent capabilities.
• Chen’s reaction to Xiao Lan’s breakthrough is one of sincere joy and anticipation, reflecting their close relationship and his gratitude for the resources and protection she has provided throughout his cultivation.

Chapter Summary: Immortal Bone and Treasure Elixir!

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan reveals that he has advanced from the Second to the Third Stage of Spirit Transformation. He hopes that Xiao Lan’s imminent breakthrough to the Fourth Rank will provide him with cultivation guidance and access to treasures she no longer needs.
• Chen plans to relocate the Wu River Immortal Sect back to Wu River Star, but Xiao Lan asks him to delay the journey because she has an important mission.
• Xiao Lan reveals that Fairy Dong He has already reached the Fourth Rank and will soon ascend. Dong He is a variant Cloudveil Vine of the Immortal Vine Clan and possesses a rare Supreme Bone.
• The Immortal Vine Clan has repeatedly hunted Dong He to seize her Supreme Bone. Before ascending, she intends to attack the clan’s Ancestral Land and settle this long-standing grudge.
• Dong He needs Chen’s help to break through the Ancestral Land’s powerful protective formation. Xiao Lan and the Ten Star Lords will handle the clan’s experts.
• The Ancestral Land is rumored to contain a Qilin Immortal Bone and Qilin Treasure Elixirs. The elixirs can greatly strengthen the Primordial Spirit and potentially allow a Spirit Transformation cultivator to reach the Ninth Transformation—or even break through to the Fourth Rank.
• Dong He only wants the Qilin Immortal Bone, while Xiao Lan promises Chen and herself one Qilin Treasure Elixir each. Chen remains suspicious, recognizing that Xiao Lan may be hiding her true motives or exaggerating the number of elixirs available.
• Despite his doubts, Chen agrees because the potential reward could help him reach the Fourth Rank.
• Xiao Lan gathers Chen, her true body, Fairy Dong He, and the Ten Star Lords. The twelve-person group travels to the Immortal Vine Ancestral Land using Dong He’s Fourth-Rank Bodhi-Leaf Immortal Shuttle.
• The shuttle crosses the 3,400-light-year journey in only three months through continuous starry-sky teleportation.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Advances to the Third Stage of Spirit Transformation and becomes increasingly ambitious about reaching the Fourth Rank. He remains opportunistic and cautious, willing to act as a formation expert in exchange for rare treasures while carefully considering the possibility of betrayal.
• Xiao Lan: Her true body has reached the Fourth Rank and is preparing to ascend, but she continues arranging one final dangerous expedition. She demonstrates strategic skill by recruiting both Chen and the Ten Star Lords and using the promise of treasure to secure their cooperation.
• Fairy Dong He: Revealed to be a Fourth-Rank cultivator on the verge of ascension. Once hunted by her former clan, she now plans to retaliate against the Immortal Vine Clan before leaving this realm.
• The Ten Star Lords: Introduced as ten Seventh-Tribulation Rogue Immortals connected by bloodline. Their combined strength is formidable enough to challenge far stronger opponents, making them valuable allies for the assault.

Significant Themes

• Opportunity and risk: Chen is drawn to the expedition because of the extraordinary potential of the Qilin Treasure Elixir, even though he suspects Xiao Lan may be manipulating him.
• Betrayal and hidden motives: The uncertain number of elixirs and Xiao Lan’s unclear intentions create tension. Everyone may be cooperating temporarily while pursuing separate objectives.
• Accumulated cultivation and transformation: The chapter emphasizes the vast difference between cultivation stages and the importance of treasures that can overcome major bottlenecks.
• Revenge and liberation: Dong He’s attack on the Immortal Vine Clan represents a final act of vengeance against those who persecuted her before she ascends.
• Knowledge as power: Chen’s formation expertise and broad knowledge of ancient rumors make him valuable despite his lower cultivation realm.

Character Interactions

• Chen and Xiao Lan continue their long-standing partnership based on mutual benefit. Xiao Lan relies on Chen’s formation skills, while Chen follows her in hopes of obtaining treasures and opportunities.
• Xiao Lan informs Chen about Dong He’s advancement and mission, persuading him to join by promising him a Qilin Treasure Elixir.
• Chen questions the plan and points out the difficulty of satisfying the Ten Star Lords if only two elixirs exist, showing his distrust and analytical nature.
• Dong He and the Ten Star Lords form a temporary alliance: Dong He supplies transportation and the main strength, while the Star Lords assist in overcoming the Immortal Vine Clan’s defenders.
• The expedition begins with all twelve participants cooperating uneasily, united by the enormous rewards hidden within the Immortal Vine Ancestral Land.

Chapter Summary: “Storming the Mountain!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fairy Dong He reveals the strength of the Immortal Vine Clan, which has over forty Spirit Transformation cultivators, including a Ten-Tribulation Rogue Immortal, a Nine-Transformation powerhouse, and a Nine-Tribulation Rogue Immortal.
• The group reaches Qilin Mountain, the Immortal Vine Clan’s ancestral land, and uses the Great Star Lord’s Far-Sight and Second Star Lord’s Wind-Hearing to scout it.
• They discover that only twenty-five Spirit Transformation cultivators are currently present, including six Fourth Realm experts. The clan’s two strongest figures, Luo He and Qu Can, are absent.
• Fairy Dong He assigns herself to fight Mo Yanzhen, while Xiao Lan and the Ten Star Lords deal with the remaining defenders. Chen Jichuan is tasked with breaking and navigating the mountain’s formations.
• Upon entering Qilin Mountain, the group encounters the Fourth Rank Twenty-Four Flower Baleful-God Celestial Formation, which creates powerful Immortal Qilin Beasts from flower-based killing intent.
• Guided by Chen Jichuan, the attackers evade and dismantle the formation’s attacks while advancing toward the mountain’s center.
• Mo Yanzhen and five other Immortal Vine Clan experts emerge to confront them. Fairy Dong He immediately engages Mo Yanzhen.
• Xiao Lan’s human avatar and the Ten Star Lords battle the remaining defenders. Although the attackers gain the upper hand, the fights become a stalemate rather than ending quickly.
• Fearing that reinforcements may return, Chen Jichuan suggests entering the ancestral land to obtain the Qilin Immortal Bone and Qilin Treasure Elixir before the battle drags on.
• Fairy Dong He agrees, using a strand of her hair to send Chen Jichuan into the formation-protected mountain. Concealed and guided by his formation expertise, he races toward the ancestral land.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan demonstrates exceptional formation knowledge and tactical judgment. Rather than attempting to fight opponents far beyond his strength, he recognizes his role as the group’s guide and strategist.
• Fairy Dong He takes command of the assault and shows complete trust in Chen Jichuan. Her willingness to send him alone into the ancestral land highlights both their cooperation and her confidence in his abilities.
• Xiao Lan is revealed to have mastered the Azure Lotus Descends into the World technique to a level surpassing even Chen Jichuan’s expectations. Her power allows her to gain the advantage over Mo Yanzhen.
• Mo Yanzhen, despite being a Ten-Tribulation Rogue Immortal, is shown to be inferior to Xiao Lan in individual combat ability. His surprise at Fairy Dong He’s technique also suggests a history and unresolved conflict between them.
• The Ten Star Lords display their strength as a coordinated group, using their complementary abilities to fight multiple higher-level opponents without being overwhelmed.

Significant Themes

• Strategy over brute force: The assault succeeds through scouting, formation-breaking, coordination, and target assignment rather than direct confrontation alone.
• The importance of specialized abilities: Far-Sight, Wind-Hearing, formation mastery, concealment techniques, and coordinated combat each contribute to the group’s advantage.
• Old grudges and rivalries: Fairy Dong He and Mo Yanzhen appear to share a longstanding history, making their battle personal as well as strategic.
• Growth and mastery: Xiao Lan’s improvement of Chen Jichuan’s technique illustrates how characters continue to develop and surpass their former teachers or allies.
• Risk and urgency: The group must secure the Qilin treasures quickly before absent Immortal Vine Clan powerhouses return and turn the battle against them.

Character Interactions

• Fairy Dong He briefs Xiao Lan, Chen Jichuan, and the Ten Star Lords on the enemy’s strength and directs the operation.
• The Great Star Lord and Second Star Lord combine their unique perception abilities to scout Qilin Mountain.
• Chen Jichuan guides Fairy Dong He, Xiao Lan, and the Ten Star Lords through the guardian formation.
• Fairy Dong He and Mo Yanzhen engage in a fierce, seemingly personal duel, with her technique temporarily draining his life force.
• Xiao Lan’s avatar intimidates several Immortal Vine Clan experts with her overwhelming flames, while the Ten Star Lords work together against the remaining defenders.
• Fairy Dong He sends Chen Jichuan ahead using her hair, entrusting him with the crucial task of retrieving the Qilin Immortal Bone and Qilin Treasure Elixir.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan secretly enters the now largely undefended Qilin Mountain while Mo Yanzhen and the Immortal Vine Clan are occupied fighting Xiao Lan, Fairy Dong He, and the Ten Star Lords.
• He discovers that the cave containing the Qilin Immortal Bone is protected by the vicious Fourth-Rank All-Heaven Poisonfire Divine Sand, which can strip away cultivation and dissolve victims.
• Xiao Lan reveals that she secretly followed Chen through a strand of hair transformed into Fairy Dong He’s appearance. She brings out the Myriad Demons Register, a powerful Fourth-Rank treasure capable of imprisoning and controlling numerous demons, including Spirit Transformation experts.
• Xiao Lan summons the Barbarian Monk, a powerful demon from the register, to open a path through the poisonous sand. The Barbarian Monk is quickly sacrificed when the sand closes behind Chen and Xiao Lan.
• Inside the cave dwelling, Chen serves as a guide through its complicated formations. Xiao Lan repeatedly summons Spirit Transformation demons to break through obstacles, accepting their deaths or severe injuries as the price of speed.
• Mo Yanzhen detects the intrusion and launches the Beast God’s Roar, assisted by twenty-four Spirit Transformation experts and the Twenty-Four Flower Baleful-God Celestial Formation. The attacks reverberate through the cave, forcing Xiao Lan’s demons to shield them.
• The losses mount rapidly: out of eighty-two Spirit Transformation demons, most are killed or crippled. Chen realizes they will soon be in danger if the register’s remaining forces are exhausted.
• Chen finally locates the Qilin Immortal Bone, which is surrounded by dazzling Immortal Light and accompanied by two extraordinary lingzhi-like Qilin Treasure Elixirs.
• Attempts to approach the treasure fail catastrophically. Two Seventh-Transformation Spirit Transformation demons are instantly annihilated upon touching the Immortal Light, while Chen’s eyes are burned out merely by looking at it directly.
• Xiao Lan attempts to use magic treasures to collect the Immortal Bone, but the Immortal Light burns away their Primordial Spirit Marks, causing the treasures to fall uselessly to the ground.
• With Mo Yanzhen’s attacks continuing and their defenses collapsing, Chen and Xiao Lan are left searching urgently for a way to seize the treasure.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan demonstrates his value as a strategist and navigator, using his understanding of formations and divination-like calculations to guide Xiao Lan through the cave. He remains calm under extreme pressure but recognizes that his survival depends on finding the treasure quickly.
• Xiao Lan is shown to be exceptionally cautious, resourceful, and ruthless. Her secret involvement confirms that she does not trust Chen to handle the mission alone. She willingly sacrifices her enslaved demons because obtaining the Qilin Immortal Bone is more important than preserving them.
• Xiao Lan’s possession of the Myriad Demons Register reveals the depth of her wealth and preparation. It is implied that this treasure is one of her major sources of confidence and may be the true reason she can challenge powerful enemies.
• Mo Yanzhen becomes increasingly enraged by the intrusion. His fury leads him to attack the cave indiscriminately, intensifying the danger for everyone inside.
• Fairy Dong He continues restraining Mo Yanzhen outside, intercepting part of his attacks and preventing him from immediately returning to the cave.

Significant Themes

• The cost of ambition: Xiao Lan sacrifices demon servants without hesitation, emphasizing the ruthless choices required to pursue a treasure capable of transforming her future.
• Preparation and hidden strength: Xiao Lan’s secret use of the Myriad Demons Register shows that apparent strength may conceal even greater reserves and carefully prepared contingencies.
• Treasure accompanied by danger: The Qilin Immortal Bone is immensely valuable, but its protective Immortal Light is so destructive that even powerful Spirit Transformation experts cannot approach it.
• Time and mounting pressure: Chen and Xiao Lan must act before Mo Yanzhen breaks through or all of Xiao Lan’s demon servants are destroyed.
• Cooperation built on self-interest: Chen and Xiao Lan work together effectively, but their alliance remains pragmatic. Both seek the Qilin treasure for their own purposes and continually assess the risks and benefits.

Character Interactions

• Chen and Xiao Lan cooperate closely, with Chen guiding her through the cave and Xiao Lan providing overwhelming but expendable combat support.
• Xiao Lan thanks Chen for leading the way but secretly follows him, revealing both respect for his abilities and distrust of leaving the mission entirely in his hands.
• Chen is impressed—and somewhat alarmed—by the scale of Xiao Lan’s resources and her willingness to sacrifice Spirit Transformation demons.
• Mo Yanzhen and Fairy Dong He remain locked in battle outside. Dong He repeatedly interferes with his attacks, while Mo Yanzhen attempts to reach Chen and Xiao Lan through the cave.
• The final race for the Qilin Immortal Bone creates tension between Chen and Xiao Lan, as both move toward the treasure while also confronting its deadly defenses.

Chapter Summary: “Thirty-Three Heavens Supreme Great Shift!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xiao Lan attempts to collect the Qilin Immortal Bone using several Fourth Rank magic treasures, including the Black Cloud Divine Shark Net and other treasure-collecting artifacts. None can withstand the bone’s powerful Immortal Light.
• As the Spirit Transformation demons guarding them are gradually killed by the cave’s terrifying attacks, Xiao Lan’s avatar is destroyed, leaving Chen Jichuan alone.
• Chen Jichuan uses the Taiyi Azure Spirit Bamboo Leaf Divine Talismans to defend his Primordial Spirit from the cave’s soul-shaking roars. However, each attack destroys a large number of talismans.
• He retrieves Xiao Lan’s abandoned magic treasures and uses the Great Luo Heavenly Sleeve to pull objects from the Immortal Light.
• After repeated attempts, Chen Jichuan successfully collects two Qilin Treasure Elixirs, but the Qilin Immortal Bone remains extremely difficult to move.
• On his thirteenth attempt, he finally begins drawing the bone into his sleeve. At that moment, Mo Yanzhen, the Immortal Vine Clan’s Ten-Tribulation Rogue Immortal, arrives and attacks him.
• Chen Jichuan is severely injured but escapes using the “Thirty-Three Heavens Supreme Great Shift.” Before leaving, he sees Immortal Dong He seize the Qilin Immortal Bone.
• Chen returns to Red Maple Valley in the real world, relieved to have survived. He reflects on the loss of the immortal bone but accepts the two treasure elixirs as an enormous gain.
• He decides not to re-enter the Dao Fruit World immediately, choosing to wait several years in reality so that more than a thousand years will pass inside the world. By then, the Immortal Vine Clan may have weakened, and Qilin Mountain may be easier to approach.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Demonstrates resourcefulness, restraint, and quick judgment. Though badly wounded, he prioritizes survival and escapes rather than risking death for the immortal bone. He also honestly questions whether he would have surrendered the bone to Xiao Lan if he had obtained it, revealing his awareness of his own moral limitations.
• Xiao Lan: Exhausts every available method to retrieve the bone and sacrifices her avatar in the process. Her dependence on Chen Jichuan is emphasized, as is the complicated relationship between her trust in him and her suspicion of him.
• Mo Yanzhen: Appears as a furious and overwhelmingly powerful protector of the Immortal Vine Clan’s interests. His sudden attack nearly kills Chen Jichuan.
• Immortal Dong He: Arrives just after Mo Yanzhen and ultimately captures the Qilin Immortal Bone, suggesting that she may oppose or compete with Mo Yanzhen despite their shared interest in the treasure.

Significant Themes

• Greed versus restraint: Chen Jichuan desires the Qilin Immortal Bone but recognizes that pursuing it further would likely cost him his life.
• Moral uncertainty and human nature: Chen admits that possessing the bone would have placed his loyalty to Xiao Lan against his personal interests. He doubts whether his character could withstand such a test.
• Survival and patience: Rather than immediately returning to danger, Chen chooses to wait for time and circumstances to weaken his enemies.
• The instability of power: The loss of the Qilin Immortal Bone may fracture the Immortal Vine Clan, weaken its cohesion, and disrupt its control over Qilin Mountain.
• Fortune amid failure: Although Chen fails to obtain the greatest prize, securing two Qilin Treasure Elixirs and surviving a Ten-Tribulation Rogue Immortal’s attack are presented as major victories.

Character Interactions

• Xiao Lan relies on Chen Jichuan to inspect formations and guide the expedition while keeping him under close surveillance.
• Chen collects Xiao Lan’s abandoned treasures with the intention of returning them, reflecting their complicated but genuine cooperation.
• Mo Yanzhen attacks Chen to reclaim the immortal bone, while Immortal Dong He intervenes and takes the bone herself.
• Chen’s internal reflection shows that his relationship with Xiao Lan has developed into one involving trust, obligation, and moral conflict, even though neither fully trusts the other.

Chapter Summary: “Forty Years Old: Short on Money!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan carefully examines the information he received about the Qilin Treasure Elixir after leaving the Starry Sky World.
• He realizes why Xiao Lan desperately wanted both the Qilin Immortal Bone and the elixir:
  • The elixir can raise a Spirit Transformation cultivator directly to the Ninth Transformation.
  • More importantly, it can break cultivation limits and give Xiao Lan’s Ninth-Transformation human clone a chance to advance to Fourth Rank.
  • This would allow both her true body and clone to reach Fourth Rank before ascending, greatly strengthening her future position.
• Chen Jichuan also possesses four Fourth-Rank treasures that originally belonged to Xiao Lan, including the Myriad Demons Register and Black Cloud Divine Shark Net. He had intended to return them, but cannot safely re-enter the Starry Sky World.
• Because Xiao Lan’s true body is preparing to ascend and her clone is nearing the end of its lifespan, Chen fears he will never be able to return the treasures in time. He resolves that someone from the Wu River Immortal Sect might deliver them to Xiao Lan in the Upper Realm later.
• Chen decides not to enter the Starry Sky World again for at least two or three years. His priority shifts toward improving his real-world cultivation and securing enough resources.
• He calculates that opening another Dao Fruit World and condensing a Subsidiary Dao Fruit will require approximately 4.2 billion Origin Force, equivalent to forty-two million Standard Spirit Stones.
• Although his pill-refining income is substantial, his cultivation expenses consume nearly everything. The Seven Profound Sect’s limited resources and channels can no longer support his growing needs.
• Chen concludes that he must seek a much larger source of wealth rather than relying solely on refining pills, artifacts, and talismans.
• After eleven years in reality, Chen has advanced from the Seventh Qi-Refining Layer to the Fourth Aperture-Opening Layer, equivalent to the Fourth Heaven of the True Person realm.
• With his extensive techniques, treasures, and combat abilities, he now believes he can survive encounters with Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• He plans to investigate the political and military situation of Coiling Dragon Mountain, including the strength of the four great Immortal Sects and the number of Spirit Transformation experts in the region.
• Chen leaves his cave abode to begin gathering intelligence and preparing for his next move. He also intends to master the Spirit-Division Thought-Transformation Technique, though using it will require spiritual items to repair and nourish his divided soul.

Character Development

• Chen Jichuan becomes more cautious and strategically minded. Rather than recklessly returning to the Starry Sky World or pursuing immediate gains, he prioritizes survival, information gathering, and long-term preparation.
• His rapid cultivation progress has made him far stronger and more independent, but it has also created greater financial demands.
• Chen increasingly recognizes that his previous low-profile methods of earning Spirit Stones are insufficient. He begins considering more ambitious and potentially dangerous ways to obtain wealth.
• His relationship with Xiao Lan remains complicated. He understands the enormous value of what he possesses and regrets being unable to return her treasures, but he places his own survival first.

Significant Themes

• The cost of cultivation: Advancement requires enormous quantities of Spirit Stones, pills, Origin Force, and other resources.
• Opportunities and regret: Chen and Xiao Lan have each obtained something the other needs, but circumstances prevent them from completing their exchange.
• Survival versus obligation: Chen wants to return Xiao Lan’s treasures but recognizes that risking his life to do so would be irrational.
• Strategic patience: With the Starry Sky World temporarily inaccessible, Chen chooses preparation and intelligence gathering over impulsive action.
• Limits and transcendence: The Qilin Treasure Elixir symbolizes the possibility of breaking through innate bloodline and cultivation restrictions.
• Growing power, growing burdens: Chen’s rapid rise brings greater ability, but also greater expenses, responsibilities, and danger.

Character Interactions

• Chen Jichuan and Xiao Lan: Their interaction is mostly indirect in this chapter. Chen reflects on Xiao Lan’s ambitions, her need for the Qilin Treasure Elixir, and the treasures of hers currently in his possession.
• Chen recognizes that the elixir could transform Xiao Lan’s future by allowing her clone to reach Fourth Rank, but his inability to contact her leaves both sides with unresolved benefits and regrets.
• Chen and the Seven Profound Sect: The sect has supported his development and provided useful resources, but its limited scale now restricts his earning potential. Chen is beginning to outgrow the organization’s ability to help him.
• Chen and the wider cultivation world: He prepares to expand his activities beyond the Seven Profound Sect by investigating Coiling Dragon Mountain and the major Immortal Sects.

Chapter Summary: Wu He the Daoist Peddles Techniques!

Key Plot Points and Events

• Coiling Dragon Mountain is introduced as an enormous cultivation region divided into five major domains and numerous smaller territories. The Seven Emotions Waters and Flame Dragon Grotto are among the many areas within the Dragon Scale Domain.
• The cultivation world is shown to be vast and hierarchical. Spirit Transformation Patriarchs are extremely rare, with the four great immortal sects and their patriarchs dominating Coiling Dragon Mountain. The Flowing Mist Immortal Sect is one of the powerful Nine Sects of the Dragon Scale Domain.
• Chen Jichuan disguises himself as an ordinary middle-aged Daoist named Wu He and secretly enters the Flowing Mist Immortal Sect’s heavily protected grounds.
• He appears directly inside the cave abode of Zhou Yuncong, the sect’s Supreme Grand Elder and true authority. Zhou is startled and alarmed by the intrusion, realizing that Wu He possesses extraordinary abilities.
• Wu He explains that he has come to trade cultivation resources for powerful secret arts. He first offers the Azure Python Sword Art, a High-Tier sword technique, for 250,000 spirit crystals.
• Zhou Yuncong quickly recognizes the art’s immense value. Although the price is substantial, it is reasonable for a technique that can benefit the sect for generations, so he agrees to purchase it.
• Wu He then reveals two additional High-Tier Arts: the Cloudflow Shield, a defensive technique, and Gale Step, an escape and movement technique. Together, the three arts cost 850,000 spirit crystals.
• Zhou hesitates, partly fearing that Wu He may be testing or targeting the Flowing Mist Immortal Sect’s wealth. Wu He accommodates the sect by requesting only 100,000 spirit crystals directly.
• He asks that the rest be converted into:
  • 300,000 spirit crystals’ worth of ordinary spirit stones
  • 450,000 spirit crystals’ worth of medicinal herbs and refining materials from a provided list
• The sect cannot immediately gather all the requested herbs and materials, so Wu He agrees to return in ten days.
• Before leaving, he hints that he possesses a vast collection of cultivation methods and techniques, suggesting that future transactions are possible.
• Wu He then vanishes from Zhou’s cave abode without leaving any detectable trace, deepening Zhou’s fear and respect.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan/Wu He is presented as highly resourceful, confident, and commercially minded. Rather than spending years refining pills or forging artifacts to accumulate wealth, he uses his superior inheritance of cultivation techniques to trade directly with powerful sects.
• His disguise and effortless entry into the Flowing Mist Immortal Sect demonstrate his profound strength and mastery of concealment or movement techniques.
• Chen also reveals his practical planning: he has prepared offensive, defensive, and escape techniques as a complete package and carefully arranges payment in forms most useful to his cultivation.
• Zhou Yuncong is shown to be cautious, intelligent, and politically experienced. He immediately recognizes the danger posed by Wu He but also understands the unparalleled value of the techniques.
• Zhou’s attitude shifts from alarm and suspicion to cautious cooperation. He attempts to protect the sect by delaying payment and avoiding openly revealing the full extent of its resources.

Significant Themes

• Power and hierarchy in the cultivation world: The chapter emphasizes the enormous scale of Coiling Dragon Mountain and the gulf between ordinary sects, large sects, and Spirit Transformation-level powers.
• Knowledge as wealth: High-Tier Arts are more valuable than vast quantities of spirit stones because they can strengthen a sect for generations.
• Strategic commerce: Chen turns rare cultivation knowledge into a reliable source of resources, showing that power can be accumulated through trade as well as cultivation.
• Strength concealed beneath ordinariness: Wu He’s plain appearance contrasts sharply with his terrifying abilities, reinforcing the danger of judging cultivators by appearances.
• Mutual suspicion and self-interest: Both sides seek cooperation while guarding against exploitation. Chen wants resources, while Zhou wants valuable techniques without exposing the sect to danger.

Character Interactions

• Wu He’s calm, friendly manner contrasts with Zhou Yuncong’s tension and guarded questions.
• Zhou initially focuses on Wu He’s mysterious intrusion, but the Azure Python Sword Art forces him to reassess the visitor as a potentially valuable merchant rather than an immediate enemy.
• Their negotiation reveals both characters’ intelligence: Wu He understands the sect’s needs and resources, while Zhou carefully evaluates price, risk, and timing.
• Wu He’s final offer to provide more techniques establishes a continuing business relationship, though Zhou remains unsettled by Wu He’s unexplained disappearance and overwhelming concealment abilities.

Key plot points and events

• Over six months, Chen Jichuan travels across Coiling Dragon Mountain, selling cultivation arts and techniques to major sects. He sells 104 High-Tier Arts and one Exquisite Grade Cultivation Method, earning 37.2 million Spirit Crystals.
• He spends much of the fortune on cultivation resources, spirit herbs, and refining materials, while gathering information from the sects.
• He learns that Coiling Dragon Mountain is enclosed by the deadly Maze Realm. Even the region’s most powerful sects and Spirit Transformation cultivators appear unable to escape, leaving the mountain isolated from outside powers.
• In Crane Ridge Realm, he establishes a secluded base and decides to cultivate the Spirit-Division Thought-Transformation Technique, hoping to manage his responsibilities in both the real world and the Dao Fruit World.
• The technique successfully splits his soul into two. Although this initially dulls his thinking in the real world, he discovers that entering the Dao Fruit World restores his soul and leaves his comprehension there unaffected. He can now attend to both worlds at once.

Character developments

• Chen grows wealthier, better informed, and more confident about acting freely within Coiling Dragon Mountain.
• His research eases his fear of hidden outside powers, but raises a longer-term concern: whether the mountain can provide enough resources—and whether he can ever escape—once he reaches the peak of Spirit Transformation.
• By mastering spirit division, he resolves the chronic strain of dividing his time between worlds. He adapts to the technique’s unusual effects and feels newly relieved and optimistic.

Significant themes

• Freedom and confinement: Chen gains room to maneuver within Coiling Dragon Mountain, yet the entire region remains trapped by the Maze Realm.
• Preparation and foresight: He uses wealth and information to plan for challenges that may arise decades or centuries ahead.
• Growth through trade and cultivation: Knowledge becomes a source of both enormous wealth and personal advancement.
• Balancing divided worlds: Spirit division offers a solution to the competing demands of two lives, though it comes with a cognitive cost.

Character interactions

• Chen’s dealings with the major sects are primarily transactional: he sells them techniques, buys scarce materials, and speaks with their leaders to learn about the mountain’s situation.
• He does not yet approach the Spirit Transformation ancestors or other powerful recluses he hopes to consult; he only recognizes that their knowledge of the Maze Realm may be greater.
• His relentless schedule has left little time for friendship or even visiting his younger brother, Chen Shaohe, underscoring how much the demands of his two worlds have constrained his personal life.

Chapter Summary

Chen Jichuan’s ability to remain active without repeatedly logging in and out gives him far more usable time in both reality and the Dao Fruit World. He plans to use the extra hours to cultivate, maintain his formation and relationships with the local sects, oversee trading and information gathering, and teach his disciples more carefully. In the Dao Fruit World, he can now make full use of its four-hundred-to-one time advantage.
He reveals that he has forged a Spirit Separation, allowing his original body to cultivate and refine treasures in reality while the separation focuses on the Dao Fruit World. His first major result is the Third-Rank Inverted Eight Gates Immortal-Sealing Banner, a set of formation banners capable of deploying a powerful Sumeru Immortal Sect formation. With an Orthodox Grade cultivation method, transcendent arts, and this treasure, Chen believes his strength now rivals that of an ordinary Spirit Transformation cultivator. He continues refining his other treasures and works to advance the Azure Dragon Longevity Scripture.
Meanwhile, Chen’s secret identity, the Martial River Adept, has attracted attention across Coiling Dragon Mountain. Over the past two years, he has sold more than a hundred distinct high-tier secret arts to major sects in the mountain’s four domains, receiving goods worth over thirty million Spirit Crystals. Because he avoided the Four-Claw Domain and is unusually difficult to detect, the Myriad Swords Sect’s Patriarch Wu suspects he may be a newly advanced Spirit Transformation cultivator.
Wu Patriarch orders Sect Master Zhang Feng to send three million Spirit Crystals to the Long River Sect and use it to contact the Martial River Adept, hoping to buy top secret arts. The other great sects and their patriarchs are also investigating. Chen, having already gathered what he needs, pauses his sales and settles down while the sects rebuild their resources.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Chen Jichuan becomes more confident and ambitious, using his Spirit Separation to pursue two paths of cultivation at once. His improved control over time also lets him take on broader responsibilities.
• Wu Patriarch is introduced as a powerful, perceptive Spirit Transformation cultivator. Despite his legendary status and grief over his late wife, he approaches the mystery of the Martial River Adept with patience and curiosity.
• Zhang Feng serves as Wu Patriarch’s informant and follows his order to establish contact with the mysterious seller.
• Chen’s dealings with numerous sects have made him a major subject of interest, even though he has not met the patriarchs directly.

Significant Themes

• Time and opportunity: Greater freedom from interruptions allows Chen to use his time more effectively and expand his ambitions.
• Secrecy and growing influence: Chen’s hidden identity lets him reshape the sects’ interests while concealing his true strength.
• Preparation and escalation: Chen’s cultivation and treasure-making progress as the powerful sects begin closing in on the mystery surrounding him.

Key plot points and events

• In Coiling Dragon Mountain, where Third Rank artisans are scarce, Chen Jichuan relies on his own skills in cultivation, pill refining, artifact forging, talisman drawing, and array formation.
• He begins establishing four secret cultivation bases across Coiling Dragon Mountain. His main project is at Crane Ridge Realm, where he builds the Lesser Sumeru Upright-Reverse Nine-Palace Immortal Formation, a powerful defensive array.
• For nearly two years, he trains in Crane Ridge Realm’s magma depths, using poisonous earth-core fire and subterranean thunder to temper his body, soul, and magic power. With abundant resources and Origin Force, he rises from the early Fourth Aperture-Opening Layer to the Seventh Heaven of the True Person realm in three years.
• In the Central Continent World, he completes the Azure Dragon Longevity Scripture and integrates the Black Tortoise Blackwater Scripture. These join his White Tiger and Vermilion Bird methods to form his Four Symbols Method, giving him mastery over all five elements in principle.
• Though stronger, Chen Jichuan avoids confronting Spirit Transformation cultivators until he can reach that realm himself, which he expects to do within three to five years. He leaves Crane Ridge to develop another base and return to his disciples and family.
• His Spirit Separation returns to the Starry Sky World after twelve hundred years away. Finding Qilin Mountain gone, he reconstructs the past through a technique: Xiao Lan had taken the Qilin Immortal Bone, provoking Mo Yanzhen and a massive battle between the Immortal Vine Clan and the Ten Star Lords. The fighting devastated the mountain and spread into space. Half a month later, a divine sword struck the ruins, and an enraged figure arrived.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Jichuan grows rapidly through disciplined, resource-intensive training, while remaining cautious about risks beyond his current strength. His long-term ambition is to perfect the Four Symbols Method and eventually reach the Great Dao.
• His cultivation methods reflect a deliberate effort to eliminate weaknesses: the four symbols correspond to the five elements, allowing him to resist or overcome elemental counters.
• In the Starry Sky World, Xiao Lan’s theft of the Qilin Immortal Bone brings her into direct conflict with Mo Yanzhen. The Ten Star Lords support her, while Mo Yanzhen and the Immortal Vine Clan pursue them.
• Chen Jichuan witnesses the aftermath and past events but is not involved in the battle itself.

Significant themes

• Preparation and patience: Chen Jichuan builds secure retreats and delays dangerous confrontations until he is ready.
• Wealth exchanged for progress: He spends vast resources to accelerate cultivation and strengthen body, soul, and magic power.
• Balance and overcoming opposition: The Four Symbols Method seeks comprehensive command of the five elements.
• Conflict and destruction: The struggle over the Qilin Immortal Bone leaves an entire continent ruined, showing the devastation caused by clashes among powerful factions.

Key events and plot

• Chen Jichuan recognizes Qu Can, the Immortal Vine Clan’s Nine-Tribulation Rogue Immortal, in an image of Qilin Mountain’s destruction. Qu Can had waited outside the starry sky for Chen to emerge, hoping to reclaim the Qilin Treasure Elixir. When Chen did not appear, Qu Can destroyed Qilin Mountain Continent in frustration, then hurried away to help Mo Yanzhen reclaim the Qilin Immortal Bone.
• Chen concludes Xiao Lan likely kept the Qilin Immortal Bone and is now either ascended or gone; he regrets still holding four of her treasures but cannot return them. He prioritizes cultivating with the Qilin Treasure Elixir.
• Over the following century, Chen reaches the peak of Spirit Transformation. Thirteen hundred years after the battle at Qilin Mountain, he returns to Ten-Ring Star.
• The battle’s aftermath is recounted: the Immortal Vine Clan suffered devastating losses and fell into decline, while the Ten Star Lords grew powerful, each reaching the eighth Rogue Immortal Tribulation and approaching the ninth.
• Chen meets the remaining Star Lords—Water Virtue, Wind-Thunder, and Barefoot—who are astonished by his return after so long. The chapter ends as they wonder how powerful he has become.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan has advanced from the Third Realm of Spirit Transformation to the Fourth Realm and reached the Ninth Primordial-Spirit Transformation, thanks to the Qilin Treasure Elixir. His confidence and status have transformed dramatically.
• Xiao Lan is presumed to have ascended in her true body; her avatar is believed no longer to exist. Chen continues to safeguard her belongings.
• Qu Can responds to his failed ambush by destroying the Immortal Vine Clan’s own ancestral continent, then leaves to pursue the clan’s conflict over the Qilin Immortal Bone.
• The Ten Star Lords have risen from allies of Chen’s former companions to major powers in their own right. Their reunion with Chen is cordial, but the passage notes that their old connection was partly based on his association with Dong He and Fire Lotus.

Significant themes

• Fortune and opportunity: A single rare treasure can overturn years of uncertainty and propel a cultivator to the peak.
• The cost of power: The Qilin treasures were won through a formidable assault, with many Spirit Transformation demons sacrificing themselves.
• Impermanence and changing relationships: Centuries alter both the balance of power and personal ties; former companions may meet again as very different people.
• Decline and ascent: The Immortal Vine Clan wanes after its losses, while the Ten Star Lords expand their influence.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan returns to Ten-Ring Star after a long absence, explaining that his earlier escape from Mo Yanzhen left him badly injured and further damaged his foundation.
• He asks about Fairy Dong He and Xiao Lan. Dong He has ascended; no one knows what became of Xiao Lan, and the Star Lords assume she may also have ascended or gone into seclusion.
• Barefoot Star Lord asks whether Chen will give up one of the two Qilin Treasure Elixirs he obtained. Chen claims he has already traded it away, concealing that he still possesses valuable treasures.
• After Chen leaves, Barefoot and Wind-Thunder Star Lords decide they want his Qilin Treasure Elixir and the Myriad Demons Register, a powerful artifact that can imprison and control demons. They regard Chen as an easy target because they believe he is only a Two-Tribulation Rogue Immortal.
• Water Virtue Star Lord reveals he has already alerted the other brothers and advises waiting until all ten are assembled before attacking.
• Chen recognizes that the Star Lords are plotting against him. He lets himself be tracked, anticipating their move. Thirteen days after leaving, Wind-Thunder Star Lord calls him to stop; Divine-Roving Star Lord approaches with the other nine Star Lords gathered in his palm.

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan remains outwardly courteous and composed, but is observant and wary. He understands the Star Lords’ greed and deliberately conceals his true intentions while preparing for their attack.
• Barefoot and Wind-Thunder Star Lords shift from dismissive politeness to open covetousness, rationalizing that Chen’s treasures should belong to them.
• Water Virtue Star Lord appears more cautious and diplomatic than his brothers, but still participates in the plan to seize Chen’s possessions.
• Chen’s thoughts about Xiao Lan reveal lingering regret that he never got to say goodbye, though he accepts that he may never learn what happened to her.

Significant themes

• Greed and moral compromise: Even powerful figures known for fair conduct can abandon their principles when tempted by rare treasures.
• Appearances versus reality: The Star Lords underestimate Chen by judging him as a weak, low-tribulation Rogue Immortal, while he quietly assesses and anticipates them.
• Regret and uncertainty: Chen’s unanswered questions about Xiao Lan underline the losses and unresolved farewells of a long life.
• Power and value: The Qilin Treasure Elixir and Myriad Demons Register represent not merely wealth but longevity, influence, and strategic advantage.

Character interactions

• Chen and Water Virtue Star Lord speak courteously about Chen’s survival and ask after the absent fairies; Water Virtue shows curiosity about Chen’s escape technique.
• Barefoot Star Lord’s request for the elixir tests Chen’s willingness to surrender it; Chen deflects the request with a plausible lie.
• After Chen departs, Barefoot and Wind-Thunder persuade themselves that taking his treasures is justified, while Water Virtue urges them to wait for their brothers.
• Chen and the Star Lords’ relationship turns from formal hospitality into a looming confrontation as the assembled ten pursue him.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Ten Star Lords track down Chen Jichuan in the starry sky, pretending to negotiate for the Qilin Treasure Elixir and Myriad Demons Register.
• Chen reveals that the Qilin Treasure Elixir has already been sold, but claims he still possesses the Myriad Demons Register. He deliberately haggles with the Star Lords to discover what treasures they are willing to offer.
• Water Virtue Star Lord successively raises the price, offering Kuqing Pills, Transcendent Arts, cultivation methods, and Righteous Qi Pills. Chen rejects every offer, recognizing that the Star Lords intend to seize the treasures by force.
• Wind-Thunder Star Lord finally exposes their true intentions. The ten brothers deploy formation flags to surround Chen and block his escape.
• Chen attacks first. He instantly captures Wind-Thunder Star Lord’s Wind-Thunder Soul-Swaying Bell with the Great Luo Heavenly Sleeve and kills him with the Ten Thousand Leaf Sword River.
• Water Virtue Star Lord attempts to use the formation to escape, but Chen confiscates his formation flag and kills him as well.
• Barefoot Star Lord attacks Chen with a powerful kick comparable to a fifth-level Transcendent Art. Chen counters with his Wind-Thunder escape technique and Seven-Origin sword art, killing Barefoot Star Lord despite aid from the Great Star Lord and Mountain-Moving Star Lord.
• Chen traps the remaining Star Lords inside the Seven-Star Sword Diagram. Realizing they cannot defeat him, the survivors detonate six Fourth Rank magical treasures to break open the formation and flee.
• During the escape, Steel-Head Star Lord and Iron-Bone Star Lord sacrifice themselves to block Chen’s sword river, allowing the remaining five Star Lords to escape through a spatial rift.
• By the end of the battle, five of the Ten Star Lords are dead, while the remaining five flee.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan is revealed to be vastly stronger than the Star Lords expected. Despite believing him to be only a low-level Rogue Immortal, they discover that he can effortlessly suppress and kill powerful Eight-Tribulation Rogue Immortals.
• Chen displays ruthless decisiveness. Once the Star Lords reveal their hostile intentions, he immediately abandons negotiation and kills them without hesitation, confiscating their treasures.
• Water Virtue Star Lord shifts from confident negotiator to shocked and desperate combatant. He cannot understand how Chen’s strength exceeds the limits he had calculated from Chen’s age and cultivation history.
• Wind-Thunder Star Lord is the first to fall, dying before he can properly activate the formation.
• Barefoot Star Lord responds to the deaths of his brothers with uncontrolled rage, but his emotional attack proves ineffective.
• The Great Star Lord and the surviving brothers show strong loyalty and grief. Their tightly connected brotherhood allows them to coordinate their escape, and several willingly sacrifice themselves to protect the others.

Significant Themes

• Hidden strength and misjudgment: The Star Lords underestimate Chen because of his apparent age and expected cultivation level, failing to account for the mysteries of his Dao Fruit and extraordinary foundation.
• Greed and betrayal: The Star Lords disguise their attempt to seize Chen’s treasures as a fair negotiation, but their predatory intentions become clear once Chen refuses their inadequate offers.
• Power overwhelming numbers: Although the Ten Star Lords arrive together and possess superior numbers and a formation, Chen’s individual strength is so great that he kills several of them almost instantly.
• Brotherhood and sacrifice: The Star Lords’ unity is genuine despite their initial treachery. The surviving brothers mourn the fallen and sacrifice themselves so others can escape.
• Ruthless justice: Chen treats the Star Lords according to their intentions. Because they came to rob and kill him, he responds with overwhelming force and gives them no opportunity to recover.

Character Interactions

• Chen and Water Virtue Star Lord engage in a deceptive negotiation, with both sides understanding that the exchange is merely a prelude to conflict.
• Wind-Thunder Star Lord initiates the attack and directly confronts Chen, but Chen seizes his magic treasure and kills him in a single exchange.
• Water Virtue Star Lord attempts to rely on the formation, yet Chen overwhelms him before he can use it effectively.
• Barefoot Star Lord attacks Chen out of grief and anger. The Great Star Lord and Mountain-Moving Star Lord intervene to save him, but their combined efforts fail.
• The remaining Star Lords cooperate closely during their retreat. Steel-Head Star Lord and Iron-Bone Star Lord sacrifice themselves by blocking Chen’s sword attack, enabling the others to escape.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan defeats the Ten Star Lords, killing five Eight-Tribulation Rogue Immortals in succession. The remaining five severely injure themselves, destroy their magic treasures, and use spatial techniques to escape.
• He concludes that the survivors will probably die during their ninth tribulations, though he remains cautious in case they possess powerful healing treasures.
• Chen Jichuan takes control of Ten-Ring Star, seizes the Star Lord Hall, and searches the Ten Star Lords’ treasuries.
• Among his spoils are four ordinary Fourth Rank magic treasures, numerous cultivation materials, tribulation-supporting pills, and 132 drops of the exceptionally valuable Myriad Sages Elixir.
• The Myriad Sages Elixir can restore Magic Power, vital blood, and mental strength instantly, improve Dao attainment, assist tribulation breakthroughs, and even restore a Nine-Tribulation Rogue Immortal to peak condition.
• The fall of the Ten Star Lords throws Ten-Ring Star into chaos. Spirit Transformation cultivators, sects, merchants, and major organizations flee or begin investigating.
• The Beast Spirit Palace and other great powers reconstruct the battle and learn that Chen Jichuan—operating under the name Xu Ning—effortlessly killed five Star Lords and forced the others to flee.
• News of his connection to Dong He Fairy, his shared sect background with Fire Lotus Fairy, and his role in the battle at Qilin Mountain spreads throughout the starry sky.
• Chen Jichuan becomes known as “Patriarch Xu,” recognized as one of the strongest figures beneath the starry sky, possibly surpassing even Mo Yanzhen and Dong He Fairy.
• He refuses most visitors seeking an audience, telling them to return in two hundred years, and instead focuses on cultivation.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: His victory establishes him as an unrivaled or nearly unrivaled supreme powerhouse. His standards have risen so high that vast quantities of Spirit Crystals, Origin Stones, and ordinary Fourth Rank treasures no longer excite him. He remains cautious and pragmatic, preserving valuable pills and elixirs for future use or trade. He also becomes increasingly isolated and focused on advancing to the Fourth Rank.
• The five surviving Star Lords: They are reduced to desperate fugitives after destroying their own treasures and injuring themselves to escape. Their survival is uncertain, especially with their ninth tribulations approaching.
• The Ten Star Lords collectively: Their defeat ends their long-standing rule over Ten-Ring Star and exposes the limits of their combined strength against Chen Jichuan.
• The major powers: The Beast Spirit Palace, Four Directions Gate, Fallen Star Pavilion, and others shift from uncertainty to alarm and respect as they investigate Chen Jichuan’s identity and power.
• Dong He Fairy/Xiao Lan: Her relationship with Chen Jichuan becomes public, and the discovery of the Myriad Sages Elixir reveals how she persuaded the Ten Star Lords to oppose the Immortal Vine Clan.

Significant Themes

• Power and reputation: Chen Jichuan’s overwhelming victory transforms him from a mysterious expert into the legendary “Patriarch Xu.”
• The fleeting value of wealth: Treasures that once seemed priceless become insignificant to someone who has reached Chen Jichuan’s level.
• Preparation and long-term planning: Despite his dominance, Chen Jichuan continues preparing for future enemies, tribulations, and possible setbacks.
• Mortality and tribulation: The chapter emphasizes the constant threat of Rogue Immortal tribulations and the enormous value of resources that can help experts survive them.
• Isolation at the peak: As Chen Jichuan’s fame grows, he increasingly withdraws from the world, choosing cultivation over social or political engagement.
• Mystery and mythmaking: The investigation into Xu Ning reveals fragments of his history while leaving his true cultivation and full capabilities unknown, increasing his legendary status.

Character Interactions

• Chen Jichuan directly confronts the Ten Star Lords, killing five and forcing the remaining five to flee.
• He takes possession of their territory and treasures, symbolically replacing them as the ruler of Ten-Ring Star.
• His past relationship with Dong He Fairy becomes a major point of interest to the various powers.
• The major organizations investigate and reconstruct his battle, attempting to understand his strength and origins.
• Powerful Fourth Realm experts repeatedly seek audiences with him, but Chen Jichuan rejects them and orders them to return after two hundred years.
• He sends word to the Spirit Transformation cultivators of the Wu River Immortal Sect, preparing to bring them to Ten-Ring Star while he continues cultivating.

Key plot points and events

• Back in the Starry Sky World, Chen Jichuan decides to use the Seven Sages’ Name-Calling Divine Curse against the five surviving Star Lords, who escaped after he killed their five brothers.
• Rather than attack immediately, he spends another hundred years strengthening the curse and consolidating his cultivation, hoping to weaken the Star Lords before their ninth Rogue Immortal Tribulation.
• He also studies the Myriad Demons Register, planning to make copies that can enslave powerful Demon Race cultivators and provide reliable helpers for exploring Coiling Dragon Mountain and finding a way out.
• As the five Star Lords prepare for their ninth tribulation, the Great Star Lord warns them to stay focused. The others are driven both by revenge against Chen Jichuan and by the hope of becoming immortal and resurrecting their dead brothers.
• Chen Jichuan’s curse reaches them across the stars. It summons the voices of their dead brothers, disorients the Star Lords, and overwhelms their protective talismans and even the Great Star Lord’s Astral Jade Pendant.
• All five collapse unconscious. A month later, the ninth tribulation strikes before they can recover, and they are reduced to ash.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan is patient and methodical, balancing revenge with cultivation, Dao comprehension, and long-term preparation. He recognizes that his Spirit Transformation Peak cultivation has outpaced his understanding of the Dao and works to close the gap.
• The Great Star Lord tries to protect and steady his remaining brothers, but realizes the attack is a powerful name-calling curse and identifies Xu Ning as its likely source. His protective treasure slows the curse but cannot stop it.
• The four younger Star Lords remain united with their eldest brother. Their grief has hardened into a shared resolve: avenge their brothers, attain immortality, and bring the dead back.
• Their bond becomes the curse’s weakness: the voices of their deceased brothers draw them out of meditation and leave them vulnerable just as the tribulation approaches.

Significant themes

• Preparation and patience: Chen Jichuan chooses to improve his technique and wait for the right moment rather than rush into combat.
• Power and its limits: Strong cultivation and protective treasures cannot guarantee survival against a carefully chosen supernatural attack.
• Grief, hope, and revenge: The Star Lords’ desire to restore their family sustains them, but their longing also makes them susceptible to the curse.
• Cultivation as a balance: Dao understanding and physical, spiritual, and magical strength reinforce one another, though progress in one can outpace the others.
• Control and trust: Chen Jichuan’s plan to use the Myriad Demons Register reflects his preference for dependable, enslaved allies over cultivating uncertain disciples.

Key plot points and events

• After killing the first five Star Lords in battle, Chen Jichuan uses the Seven Sages’ Name-Calling Divine Curse to cripple the remaining five just as their Rogue Immortal Tribulations arrive. All ten Star Lords die. The curse drains his vitality, but not his lifespan.
• Chen resumes his long-term cultivation plan: raising his remaining transcendent arts to the fifth level, advancing his Black Tortoise Blackwater Scripture, and developing alchemy and artifact-refining skills—especially the Myriad Demons Register, which will shape his future path.
• As his reputation spreads, major powers and Rogue Immortal elites come to Ten-Ring Star. Chen assures them that its order will remain unchanged, and the star becomes prosperous again.
• The Wu River Immortal Sect visits, led by Tu Zhang, Chen’s former pupil and now its sole Fourth-Realm cultivator. Many of Chen’s original disciples have died without reaching the Fourth Realm.
• Over the centuries, Chen travels the Golden Radiance River Domain, exchanging knowledge with master craftsmen and attending the tribulations of people he befriends. He gains fame both as a terrifyingly powerful fighter and as a trustworthy, generous protector.
• 3,941 years after the battle at Qilin Mountain, Chen’s lifespan is exhausted. His death is imminent.

Character developments

• Chen is increasingly formidable and disciplined, but remains aware that cultivation requires careful management of time and effort. He balances combat arts, cultivation, crafts, and relationships.
• His public image evolves from feared killer to respected figure. His willingness to protect others through tribulations earns him a reputation for loyalty and kindness.
• Tu Zhang represents the Wu River Sect’s surviving legacy, while the deaths of Huang Quan and the other original disciples underscore the passage of generations and the rarity of advancement.

Significant themes

• Mortality and time: Even centuries of power and achievement cannot prevent death without true immortality.
• Legacy and generational change: Chen watches former disciples pass away and new figures rise, becoming both witness to and maker of history.
• Reputation versus character: Chen’s violence makes people fear him, but his conduct gradually reveals his generosity and principles.
• Preparation and perseverance: Chen’s steady cultivation, study, and practical planning reflect the long, demanding work behind lasting strength.

Character interactions

• Chen receives powerful visitors and reassures them that Ten-Ring Star’s affairs will continue as before.
• He reconnects with the Wu River Immortal Sect through Tu Zhang, who greets him with admiration and excitement.
• He builds friendships with elite cultivators and skilled grandmasters, exchanging expertise rather than seeking their treasures.
• By attending tribulations and defending acquaintances, Chen earns trust across the star sea—though he limits his close circle to exceptionally accomplished cultivators.