Chapter Summaries

The Wei Kingdom launched a surprise attack and seized the gold mine before Zhao could prepare, costing Prince Gao a major source of income and reigniting war between the kingdoms. At court, Zhao officials urged their sovereign not to let the Wei Kingdom keep the mine.

• The Wei Kingdom secretly assembled millions of troops and martial experts near the border while Zhao remained unaware and left the mine poorly defended.
• The Wei army crossed the border in a surprise attack and overwhelmed the mine’s low-level Zhao guards, taking control in less than half an hour.
• Prince Gao learned that the mine had fallen and grew angry over losing its profits after earning more than ten billion taels from it.
• A courier brought news of the defeat to the Zhao capital, and the report provoked an uproar in court.
• The Zhao sovereign heard ministers argue that the kingdom must not surrender the still largely unmined gold mine to Wei.

The Zhao Kingdom mobilized its troops and martial organizations after the Wei Kingdom seized a gold mine, while Lin Fan learned that the Azure Elixir Sect had to answer the Imperial Court’s summons. The sect master presented the choice of sending disciples to fight or supplying the army with pills.

• The king of the Zhao Kingdom ordered the kingdom to prepare for war and instructed commanders to hold their positions until the army assembled.
• The Imperial Court summoned sects and martial artists, promised rewards for military service, and organized weapons, supplies, and troops for the border.
• Lin Fan received word of the war at the Azure Elixir Sect and went to the Council Hall after informing his family.
• The sect master read the Imperial Court’s decree and explained the sect’s quotas for personnel and supplies.
• The sect master told the elders that the Azure Elixir Sect had to obey the summons and presented two options: send disciples to battle or produce pills for the army.

Lin Fan chose to stay at the Azure Elixir Sect and refine pills to support the war effort while the Sect Master prepared to lead disciples to the border. The chapter ended as hundreds of sect disciples assembled in formation to depart for battle.

• The elders divided the Azure Elixir Sect’s forces, assigning martial artists to the front and pill refiners to stay and supply the army.
• Lin Fan chose to remain at the sect, where his quota required him to refine one hundred and fifty top-grade high-grade pills every half month.
• The Sect Master announced that he would lead three elders and more than a hundred disciples to the Border Camp while the remaining pill refiners prepared medicines.
• Chu Lingxi was relieved that Lin Fan would stay and offered to help sort herbs and package pills, while mentioning Ruo Ruo’s worries about the war.
• At daybreak, hundreds of elite Azure Elixir Sect disciples gathered in orderly ranks on the Main Peak square, ready to head to the front.

The Azure Elixir Sect sent its Sect Master, three elders, and hundreds of disciples to defend Zhao against Wei, while Lin Fan stayed behind to cultivate and supply the army with pills. The expedition departed for the border, and Lin Fan resolved to grow strong enough to protect those he cared about as the sect shifted to wartime work.

• The Sect Master urged the Azure Elixir Sect’s departing disciples to defend Zhao and survive the campaign, and they vowed to fight before marching out.
• The Sect Master and the expeditionary force left Azure Elixir City on demon beast steeds for the Zhao-Wei border.
• Lin Fan watched the force depart and resolved to advance his cultivation so he could protect those he cared about.
• The remaining alchemists took shifts refining pills, while Lin Fan supplied the army with high-grade pills for military merit points and cultivated toward late steel force.
• After finishing his pill-refining assignment, Lin Fan returned to his courtyard, where Chu Lingxi followed and Su Qingwei sat with Lin Ruoruo.

Lin Fan advised Lin Ruoruo on her footwork while Chu Lingxi agreed to spar with her. At the Zhao-Wei Border, the two kingdoms fought a bloody battle over the gold mine, which ended in a stalemate as Lin Fan continued supplying the Zhao army with pills.

• Lin Ruoruo asked Lin Fan for footwork pointers, and he helped her understand the moves.
• Lin Ruoruo invited Chu Lingxi to practice fist techniques, and Chu Lingxi agreed to spar without trying to hurt her.
• The Zhao Kingdom assembled its forces and launched a major assault on the Wei Kingdom's positions around the gold mine.
• The battle ended with heavy casualties and neither side taking the whole mine, leaving the armies facing each other across the valley.
• Both kingdoms continued mobilizing supplies and launching raids as the conflict became a war of attrition.
• Lin Fan refined pills at the Azure Elixir Sect and sent his high-grade pills through government logistics to support Zhao's troops.

The Zhao–Wei war spread across the kingdoms’ long border, drawing in armies and martial artists who raided settlements and fought for territory, resources, and military merit. As refugees fled the devastation and casualties mounted, Lin Fan continued cultivating far from the front, relying on his alchemy and acceleration rather than joining the fighting.

• Lin Fan practiced alchemy and cultivation in the Azure Elixir Sect, while his high-grade pills were sent to support Zhao soldiers at the gold mine front.
• After decisive battles at the gold mine, fighting there shifted into raids and standoffs as warfare spread along the Zhao–Wei border.
• Zhao and Wei armies and martial artists broke through defenses, raided towns and villages, destroyed supplies, and slaughtered opposing forces.
• Ordinary people fled the growing war zones as refugees, while soldiers and martial artists pursued military merit and the resources taken from enemies.
• Battles erupted across passes, forests, plains, and supply routes, where soldiers and martial artists from both kingdoms suffered heavy losses.

The Zhao Kingdom and Wei Kingdom’s war spread across the ten-thousand-li border and into both nations’ heartlands, with supplies strained and casualties mounting. After reading a grim front-line report, Lin Fan and the others confronted the war’s growing cost as Lin Fan continued refining pills and cultivating.

• The war expanded into raids behind enemy lines, and Wei Kingdom cavalry began appearing near Azure Elixir Sect as Azure Elixir City strengthened its defenses.
• Lin Fan continued refining pills and cultivating while reports and letters arrived from Azure Elixir Sect members at the front.
• A sect messenger delivered a battle report to the sect, and Lin Fan read about supply shortages, raids, and heavy casualties.
• The front-line elder described the gold mine and border as killing grounds and urged the sect to send more pills.
• Lin Ruoruo grew pale, Su Qingwei comforted her, and Chu Lingxi looked toward the border with concern as Lin Fan remained solemn.

As the war between the Zhao and Wei Kingdoms consumed vast resources, Lin Fan continued cultivating while the Zhao court reviewed its battlefield setbacks and planned its next moves. The Zhao Kingdom summoned Innate Realm experts to oversee the front, and the chapter explained their hierarchy and the kingdom’s five experts.

• Chu Lingxi promised Lin Fan she would work harder sorting herbs to help ease his burden.
• Lin Fan checked his balance and cultivation-acceleration countdown, then resumed cultivating to advance beyond the mid Steel Force Realm.
• Zhao Kingdom officials analyzed the war’s losses and debated strategies for the battles ahead.
• As the fighting intensified, both kingdoms called on Innate Realm experts to oversee the front lines.
• The chapter described the Three Innate Realms and revealed that Zhao Kingdom had five Innate Realm experts, four in the Heavenheart Realm and one in the Heavenly Human Realm.

The chapter explained how wars between the Zhao Kingdom and the Wei Kingdom were decided by armies and Innate Realm experts, then followed Lin Fan as he approached the Late Steel Force Realm. He decided to find a secluded place at sea to break through without revealing his cultivation.

• The chapter described the Heavenly Human Realm and Heavenly Intent Realm, and outlined how the armies and Innate Realm experts determined the outcome of wars.
• Lin Fan ended a month of cultivation and sensed that he was close to the Late Steel Force Realm, with his Inner Qi nearing five million strands.
• Lin Fan judged his former underground cavern too dangerous for another secluded breakthrough because the war had drawn high-level experts into the area.
• Lin Fan considered the Zhao Kingdom’s vast seas, where Innate Realm sea beasts were rare, as a safer place to cultivate.
• The chapter explained that the Zhao and Wei Kingdoms chose war to gain resources and power, while their rulers paid little heed to the weak.

Lin Fan left the Azure Elixir Sect to seek seclusion far out at sea, planning to break through to the late steel force realm in the ocean depths. He reached the Zhao Kingdom’s coast after shaking off an elder who had followed him, and prepared to venture into the waters.

• Lin Fan decided to travel thousands of li into the ocean to cultivate and told Chu Lingxi, Lin Ruoruo, and Su Qingwei to remain safely in the courtyard.
• Lin Fan ignored the remaining elders’ warnings and departed the Azure Elixir Sect for the coast.
• An elder secretly followed Lin Fan, but Lin Fan accelerated away and lost him on the road.
• Lin Fan reached the coast, sensed the crushing pressure and distant sea beasts, and judged that he could withstand the deep waters.

Lin Fan descended nearly eight thousand meters beneath the sea and cultivated until he broke through to the Late Steel Force Realm. His body was destroyed and rebuilt from Inner Qi, and he worked to suppress the eruption’s deadly waves before they could reach the coast.

• Lin Fan traveled far from shore, sank to the seabed, and built a platform where he could cultivate undisturbed.
• After more than ten two-hour periods, Lin Fan’s Inner Qi exceeded five million strands, and he began attacking the barrier to the Late Steel Force Realm.
• Lin Fan broke through, and his body turned to ash before his Inner Qi rebuilt his flesh, bones, and meridians.
• The breakthrough unleashed a tremendous surge of power that raised towering waves and killed nearby sea creatures.
• Lin Fan sensed the danger to the coast and used his Inner Qi to halt and flatten the spreading waves.

After quelling the sea disturbance and completing his breakthrough to the late steel force realm, Lin Fan met a merfolk named Qing and learned about her people. He warned her that the war on land made her vulnerable, then left for the Azure Elixir Sect.

• Lin Fan confirmed his late steel force realm breakthrough and concealed his aura as he rose from the seabed.
• Lin Fan waited for a powerful newcomer and met a blue-haired woman who identified herself as a merfolk.
• Qing said she had come to investigate the war on land, and Lin Fan warned her that martial artists might try to seize her.
• Qing invited Lin Fan to visit the merfolk cities about a million li away, and they exchanged information about the sea and the war.
• Qing returned to the deep sea, while Lin Fan headed toward the Azure Elixir Sect in the Zhao Kingdom.

Lin Fan rescued three Zhao Kingdom cultivators from Wei Kingdom warriors and returned to the Azure Elixir Sect, where he learned the sect and border front remained stable. He headed to his courtyard and saw Chu Lingxi cultivating on his Stone Platform.

• Lin Fan diverted to a town and found Wei Kingdom warriors attacking its residents and fighting the town's three Zhao Kingdom cultivators.
• Lin Fan immobilized and subdued the Wei Kingdom warriors, saving the three cultivators, who bound the attackers and gave him ten million taels of silver in thanks.
• Lin Fan declined a banquet and continued to the Azure Elixir Sect, where he greeted the elders and gave them gifts.
• The elders told Lin Fan that the sect's affairs and pill production were proceeding normally, while the border war remained at a stalemate and scattered Wei Kingdom cavalry posed little threat.
• Lin Fan left the main hall and saw Chu Lingxi cultivating on the Stone Platform in his courtyard.

Lin Fan returned to his family and discovered that the system’s new Enlightenment Function could rapidly raise his cultivation at a steep cost. Short of the silver needed to use it enough to safely enter the Wei Kingdom, he decided to take funds from the Azure Elixir Sect’s treasury.

• Lin Fan returned to the courtyard, where Chu Lingxi and Lin Ruoruo greeted him and Su Qingwei welcomed him home.
• Lin Fan checked the system panel and learned that each Enlightenment session cost ten billion taels and raised his cultivation by one minor realm, with up to three sessions daily.
• Lin Fan decided he needed enough silver to reach the late Heavenheart Realm before entering the Wei Kingdom.
• Lin Fan chose to borrow from the Azure Elixir Sect’s treasury, located it with his inner qi, and silently knocked out its guards.
• Lin Fan arrived before the treasury’s massive rune-covered gates, which resonated with the protective formation.

Lin Fan broke into the Azure Elixir Sect treasury and absorbed enough of its gold and silver to raise his system balance above thirty billion. He planned to spend it on three sudden enlightenments, advance to the late Innate Realm, and perfect his Wind Dao Righteousness.

• Lin Fan restrained the Vault Guardian Puppets, shattered the Protective Formation, and opened the treasury doors.
• He opened chests of gold and silver and used the system to absorb their contents, initially raising his balance to just over twenty-eight billion.
• Lin Fan took more silver from the remaining chests, leaving some behind, until his balance passed thirty billion.
• Lin Fan decided the money would fund three sudden enlightenments and help him reach the late Innate Realm while perfecting his Wind Dao Righteousness.
• Lin Fan considered the strengths of different Dao Intents and noted that cultivators had to perfect their first Dao Intent before comprehending a second.

Lin Fan planned to spend the Azure Elixir Sect treasury’s silver to perfect his Wind Dao Intent and break through to the late Heavenheart Realm. He took his companions to a remote plain outside Azure Elixir City and erected a protective barrier before beginning his breakthrough.

• Lin Fan left the Azure Elixir Sect Treasury after tidying it and woke the guards, telling them to watch the treasury carefully.
• Lin Fan decided to break through in the wilderness outside Azure Elixir City, where he could avoid the dangers of the sea and outrun anyone drawn by the resulting phenomena.
• Lin Fan summoned Su Qingwei, Chu Lingxi, Lin Ruoruo, and Mao Mao, told them to pack for a few days away, and brought them along.
• Lin Fan flew with his companions several hundred li beyond Azure Elixir City and chose an open plain for his breakthrough.
• Lin Fan set up a Protective Barrier around the group to shield them from the force of his breakthrough.

Lin Fan used sudden enlightenment to complete his initial comprehension of wind dao intent and then broke through to the innate realm. The Zhao Kingdom’s patriarch sensed the unfamiliar breakthrough and raced toward its source.

• Lin Fan sent the pursuing Azure Elixir Sect elders and disciples back to their sect, then activated a quarter hour of sudden enlightenment for ten billion taels of silver.
• Lin Fan mastered the initial comprehension of wind dao intent and broke through to the innate realm, unleashing a vast wave of inner qi and wind.
• The Azure Elixir Sect elders recognized the innate realm aura as Lin Fan’s, while the disturbance disrupted the sect’s alchemy work and made people in nearby cities stumble.
• The Zhao Kingdom’s mid-stage heavenly human realm patriarch detected the unfamiliar breakthrough and hurried toward its source.

Lin Fan used another system-funded epiphany to deepen his wind Dao Intent, shaping the wind into lifelike figures and gaining awareness of everything the breeze touched nearby. As his cultivation neared the middle Heavenheart Realm, the chapter left him just short of breaking through.

• Lin Fan spent ten billion taels of silver to begin a second fifteen-minute epiphany.
• Lin Fan controlled the wind to form lifelike women, a divine general, a building, a mountain, Su Qingwei, Chu Lingxi, Lin Ruoruo, and Mao Mao.
• Su Qingwei, Chu Lingxi, Lin Ruoruo, and Mao Mao watched the wind sculptures in astonishment, while Mao Mao excitedly greeted its giant likeness.
• Lin Fan hovered amid the winds and sensed air currents and disturbances across several hundred li, though his wind Dao Intent had little offensive power against Innate Realm experts.
• Lin Fan's five million strands of Inner Qi fused further with wind Dao Intent, bringing his cultivation close to the middle Heavenheart Realm before the epiphany ended.

Lin Fan broke through from the early to the middle Heavenheart realm, unleashing a storm so powerful that it shook towns and alarmed the Azure Elixir Sect and the Zhao Kingdom’s patriarch. With his strength and lifespan increased, he believed no Innate realm expert in the Zhao Kingdom could catch him.

• Lin Fan used his wind Dao intent and inner qi to assault the barrier to the middle Heavenheart realm, causing violent distortions and gales across the region.
• The Azure Elixir Sect elders were stunned by Lin Fan’s second rapid breakthrough, while the middle Heavenly Human realm patriarch hurried toward him.
• Lin Fan’s wind Dao intent fused with his inner qi, shattering the realm barrier and bringing him into the middle Heavenheart realm.
• Lin Fan calmed his new power, and the raging winds across the wilderness and nearby settlements gradually subsided.
• Lin Fan assessed his increased strength and lifespan, concluding that no Innate realm expert in the Zhao Kingdom could catch up to him.

After breaking through, Lin Fan gained powerful control over the wind and used it to flee with Su Qingwei and the others when a Zhao Kingdom Heavenly Human Realm ancestor approached. He outran his pursuer and landed with his companions in an unfamiliar mountain range, tens of thousands of li away and beyond the Zhao Kingdom's border.

• Lin Fan tested his new Wind Dao Intent and found it let him control distant winds, sense faraway voices, and travel at tremendous speed.
• Lin Fan noticed a middle Heavenly Human Realm ancestor approaching and decided to avoid a fight that could endanger Su Qingwei and the others.
• Lin Fan lifted the protective formation along with the ground beneath it and carried everyone away on the wind.
• The Zhao Kingdom ancestor pursued Lin Fan, recognized his Wind Dao Intent, and eventually gave up when the distance kept growing.
• Lin Fan traveled tens of thousands of li before descending with his companions into an unfamiliar mountain range outside the Zhao Kingdom.