Chapter Summaries

Yue Shuo watched his big brother undergo a bloodline awakening on Heaven-Ascending Peak and learned that their family might carry a powerful dragon bloodline. When another elimination mark appeared on his brother, Yue Shuo alerted Senior Ze, who explained that Yue Shuo’s free-class seat grabbing had drawn unwanted attention.

• Yue Shuo praised his own diligence to Senior Ze before hearing a strange cry from his big brother.
• Yue Shuo saw his big brother’s body flush and sweat as an elimination mark appeared, and he memorized the appearance and aura of a flustered assessment overseer.
• Senior Ze identified the event as Bloodline Resonance triggered by the Heaven-Ascending Stairway, which had been refined from the spinal bones of an Evil Thunder Flood Dragon.
• Yue Shuo realized that his big brother’s Thunder Dragon Battle Body was awakening and suspected their Household had a dragon-related bloodline, though he chose not to awaken his own unknown bloodline yet.
• Yue Shuo spotted a second elimination mark on his big brother and alerted Senior Ze, who blamed the attention on Yue Shuo’s repeated free-class seat grabbing.

Yue Shuo suspected his panel and unusual good fortune might be connected to the calamities that had followed his journey, while Senior Ze reassured him and handled accusations of cheating. Senior Ze then intervened with the sect elders to protect Yue Shuo and announced his alchemical talent and provisional appointment as acting Peak Master of Pill Peak.

• Yue Shuo sensed cultivators watching from the clouds as onlookers accused someone of cheating, but Senior Ze concealed and protected his elder brother.
• Yue Shuo noticed that his brother's Thunder Dragon Battle Body had made progress, then wondered whether using the Sub-Panel increased his Tribulation Aura and caused past calamities.
• Senior Ze praised Yue Shuo's talent, character, and contributions, noting that his Supreme-Grade Spirit Pills had replenished the sect's dwindling reserves.
• Senior Ze sent thoughts to the Nascent Soul elders, telling them Yue Shuo was a Third-Tier Peak-Grade Alchemist with Pill Immortal aptitude and naming him acting Peak Master of Pill Peak.

Yue Shuo received reassurance from the Nascent Soul elders after the examination trouble and watched the top examinees choose their sect positions. His eldest brother completed his bloodline awakening, and Thundercry Peak’s Tong Fengqi asked Yue Gu to become his disciple.

• The Nascent Soul elders sent Yue Shuo kind messages, reassuring him that the sect would protect the examinees and treat the innocent fairly.
• Senior Ze encouraged Yue Shuo not to worry about Calamity Fortune, and Yue Shuo realized Senior Ze had seen more of his Illusory Life trial than he had admitted.
• Yue Shuo left Ascension Peak with the other steward disciples and watched the top twenty examinees begin choosing Inner Sect masters.
• Yue Shuo asked Senior Ze how he could tell whether his own bloodline awakening would be good or bad, and Senior Ze told him to wait.
• Yue Gu completed his bloodline awakening and arrived at the main hall with the examinees ranked twentieth through fiftieth.
• Tong Fengqi of Thundercry Peak asked Yue Gu whether he was willing to take him as his master.

Yue Shuo watched the new disciples choose their masters while Senior Ze explained that he had arranged for Yue Shuo to become Pill Peak’s acting peak master after reaching the Golden Core Realm—or sooner if he became a Fourth-Tier Alchemist. Yue Shuo left to focus on alchemy, with Senior Ze watching over his family, and wondered how his brothers ranked among the new disciples.

• A newly inducted disciple objected to Yue Gu being chosen as a disciple despite having no ranking.
• Senior Ze told Yue Shuo he had arranged for him to become Pill Peak’s acting peak master once he reached the Golden Core Realm, and agreed to appoint him after he became a Fourth-Tier Alchemist.
• The elders announced the mutual selection results for the top new disciples, and Yue Shuo left without speaking to his bewildered elder brother.
• Yue Shuo asked Senior Ze to watch over his Household while he devoted himself to alchemy.
• After being teleported to his Spirit Peak, Yue Shuo asked Senior Ze how his eldest and third brothers ranked in talent among the new disciples.

Senior Ze assessed Yue Shuo’s family’s talents and explained why the sect’s elders wanted to cultivate them. Yue Shuo realized his schemes had changed Senior Ze’s opinion of him, and Senior Ze began explaining that shift by recalling Yue Shuo’s advice to Tang Ze in Illusory Life.

• Senior Ze told Yue Shuo that Yue Gu’s bloodline awakening had raised his prospects, while Yue Shuo’s third brother had strong potential despite a possibly defective Spirit Body.
• Senior Ze explained that Zhu Ling’s pure disposition gave her a rare advantage in beast taming, and said elders would soon seek to take her and Yue Shuo’s third brother as disciples.
• Yue Shuo recognized how his future authority as Pill Peak master could let him exploit sect rules to inconvenience people, prompting Senior Ze to call him scheming.
• Yue Shuo asked whether Senior Ze had misunderstood him, and Senior Ze recalled Yue Shuo asking about Tang Ze from Illusory Life and offering him advice and analysis.

Yue Shuo grew more familiar with Senior Ze and asked about taking office at Pill Peak and his brothers’ plans to take masters. He then entered the alchemy chamber to refine pills while considering the Fourth-Tier formula, leaving Senior Ze to monitor the Outer Sect Grand Competition.

• Yue Shuo adjusted how he spoke about the Beast Taming Sect and its disciples, treating the sect as his own future territory.
• Yue Shuo teased Senior Ze and asked what conditions would let him learn the truth, then returned to asking about Pill Peak and his younger brothers.
• Senior Ze told Yue Shuo that he would need to become a Fourth-Tier Alchemist before taking part in the arena defense as a peak leader.
• Yue Shuo practiced Rhino Nirvana Fire, refined two batches of pills, and asked Senior Ze to watch the Outer Sect Grand Competition while he worked on alchemy.

Yue Shuo used Rhino Nirvana Fire to refine pills and cultivate, filling its Mastery proficiency and considering whether to advance it to Minor Achievement. He then reasoned that his unusually fast progress came from absorbing Heaven-Earth Spiritual Essence efficiently, possibly because of his Wood Spirit Root 10, his cheat, or both.

• Yue Shuo refined pills with Rhino Nirvana Fire while cultivating with Azure Feather, discovering that Alchemy also increased the art's proficiency.
• After eight or nine days of refining, Yue Shuo filled Rhino Nirvana Fire's Mastery proficiency and could advance it to Minor Achievement.
• Yue Shuo hesitated to advance the art because he had only recently mastered its flames and because Azure Feather's Nirvana Fire Divine Ability Crystal was nearly depleted.
• Yue Shuo estimated that further proficiency would accumulate slowly through Alchemy and wondered whether controlling more flames could improve the rate.
• Yue Shuo speculated that Heaven-Earth Spiritual Essence was limited and that his Wood Spirit Root 10 or his cheat let him absorb it unusually efficiently.

Yue Shuo discussed how to perfect his Chaos Body with Senior Ze and realized that his Five-Elements and Yin-Yang Divine Ability Dao Arts might nourish its awakening. He revealed that he was ready to break through Nirvana Fire to the Minor Divine Ability Art level, then sincerely vowed to grow stronger and repay Senior Ze by repairing the damage to his mirror body.

• Yue Shuo asked Senior Ze whether he could cultivate and perfect his Chaos Body at the place they would visit after the arena challenge.
• Senior Ze said Yue Shuo could perfect the Chaos Body in stages and suggested that the Five Elements and Yin-Yang might transform into chaos.
• Yue Shuo asked why a Chaos Sacred Body could not be born in this realm, and Senior Ze warned him that the sentient Heavenly Dao feared returning to chaos.
• Yue Shuo surprised Senior Ze by announcing that he was ready to break through Nirvana Fire to the Minor Divine Ability Art level after refining pills and cultivating for days.
• Yue Shuo vowed to follow Senior Ze's path toward becoming a sect master and grow strong enough to repair the cracks in Senior Ze's mirror body.

Yue Shuo completed the Rhino Nirvana Fire Minor Divine Ability Art, awakening the Eye of Spiritual Insight, and Senior Ze teleported him to the arena challenges. He arrived as the competition was about to begin and waited for his opponent.

• Yue Shuo refined the final wisp of Rhino Nirvana Fire and broke through to Minor Achievement in the art.
• Yue Shuo discovered that the art had changed his eyes, allowing him to see Heaven-Earth Spiritual Essence and observe distant arenas.
• Senior Ze told Yue Shuo that the arena challenges had begun and offered to teleport him there without disrupting the competition.
• Yue Shuo thanked Senior Ze and accepted his offer to attend the challenges.
• Senior Ze teleported Yue Shuo to a vast arena, where Yue Shuo listened to the regulations and waited for his opponent.

Yue Shuo faced Chang Jing, the first Outer Sect disciple to challenge an arena defender, and used a controlled exchange to guide him while demonstrating his overwhelming strength. The match remained in Yue Shuo’s hands, leaving the other challengers unable to learn much about his abilities.

• Chang Jing challenged Yue Shuo first, hoping to draw the elders’ attention rather than win a top-ten opportunity slot.
• Chang Jing attacked with his azure spirit serpent, but Yue Shuo used the Eye of Spiritual Insight and tiny Spirit Blazes to counter the wind blades.
• Yue Shuo invited Chang Jing to continue and resolved his attacks with precise, minimal force.
• Chang Jing shifted to close combat with a serpent spear and coordinated attacks with his spirit serpent, while Yue Shuo bound them with Spirit Blaze ropes.
• Chang Jing fought at full strength under Yue Shuo’s guidance, but the onlookers recognized that Yue Shuo remained firmly in control.

Yue Shuo’s astonishing eye technique left the Outer Sect disciples wondering who he was, while his cousin Gu Yang watched the match and recognized him. As Chang Jing struggled to keep up, Yue Shuo prepared to end the fight with a more dramatic display of strength.

• The Outer Sect disciples discussed Yue Shuo’s powerful eye technique and realized that almost none of them knew him.
• The steward disciples who recognized Yue Shuo kept quiet about him, remembering that elders had warned them not to provoke him.
• Gu Yang watched Yue Shuo’s arena match and wondered if his cousin was controlling a refined high-grade Spirit Flame.
• Yue Shuo decided to end the battle after tiring out Chang Jing and his partner with his fire control.
• Chang Jing welcomed the apparent end of Yue Shuo’s eye technique, but Yue Shuo began transforming through the Chaotic Godfiend Body.

Yue Shuo effortlessly defeated Chang Jing in a Body Tempering fight, leaving the Outer Sect disciples stunned by his strength and suspected Innate Divine Ability. Another Outer Sect disciple, Duan Yiguang, then quickly won his challenge, prompting Yue Shuo to wonder whether the Inner Sect defenders were weak.

• Yue Shuo transformed using the God-Devil Body and grabbed Chang Jing's giant Spirit Beast snake after Chang Jing strengthened himself with a jade talisman.
• Yue Shuo wielded the snake like a whip and knocked Chang Jing out of the arena, then tossed Qingqing back toward him.
• Chang Jing warned the other Outer Sect disciples that Yue Shuo's Body Tempering and spells were overwhelmingly powerful, and suspected he possessed an Innate Divine Ability.
• An Outer Sect disciple ranked in the top five chose a challenger at random and entered another arena.
• Duan Yiguang quickly succeeded in his challenge, and Yue Shuo wondered if the Inner Sect defenders were all as weak as his opponent had seemed.

Yue Shuo easily secured one of the ten quotas in the Outer Sect Grand Competition while Senior Ze warned him not to reveal his Fourth-Tier alchemy skills and explained the Upper Realm. After the competition, Senior Ze revealed that the Minor World tied to the quotas had opened early and asked whether Yue Shuo would go.

• Yue Shuo cultivated on the arena while waiting for challengers and asked Senior Ze why he could not refine pills there.
• Senior Ze stopped Yue Shuo from revealing his Fourth-Tier alchemy ability, citing the attention it could attract and the Calamity Fortune hanging over him.
• Senior Ze explained the difference between the Lower and Upper Realms and shared general knowledge of the world with Yue Shuo.
• The challenges ended without anyone challenging Yue Shuo again, and he became one of the ten quota holders as seven Outer Sect Disciples won quotas.
• Senior Ze teleported the ten quota holders together and told Yue Shuo that their Minor World had opened early, asking whether he wanted to go.

Yue Shuo agreed to enter a Minor World and planned to practice Taiji and advance his Alchemy while there. Before departure, Elder Du gave him spirit materials as a meeting gift and reserved a place in Yue Shuo’s future Fourth-Tier pill-refining queue; Yue Shuo then returned to his room aboard the flying Treasure Artifact.

• Yue Shuo reviewed the Minor World mission list, found the rewards meager, and asked Senior Ze to prepare materials for his attempt to become a Fourth-Tier Alchemist.
• Senior Ze explained more about Minor Worlds while a sect elder briefed the ten selected disciples and asked whether anyone wanted to withdraw.
• The Nascent Soul elder placed the disciples aboard a flying Treasure Artifact, but Yue Shuo stopped him to ask about obtaining spirit materials for Alchemy.
• Elder Du introduced himself, gave Yue Shuo Third-Tier and Fourth-Tier spirit materials as a meeting gift, and asked to reserve a place in Yue Shuo’s future pill-refining queue.
• Yue Shuo accepted Elder Du’s gift, exchanged pleasantries with him, and returned to his spacious room aboard the flying Treasure Artifact.

Yue Shuo prepared to travel to a Minor World, receiving a powerful bronze-mirror trump card from Senior Ze and bringing his contracted Spirit Cranes along. Elder Du was baffled by Yue Shuo’s ability to store hundreds of them as they awaited departure.

• Senior Ze gave Yue Shuo a bronze mirror containing power that could return him to the sect or strike a target, enough to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator or badly wound a Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• While waiting aboard Elder Du’s flying Treasure Artifact, Yue Shuo contacted his Spirit Cranes and arranged to bring his contracted beasts into the Minor World.
• He Tian arrived with more than three hundred Spirit Cranes and Alchemy materials, and Yue Shuo stored the cranes in his Spirit Bird Space while carrying Azure Feather in his robes.
• Elder Du watched the Spirit Cranes disappear into Yue Shuo’s room, then asked Inner Sect acquaintances about Yue Shuo’s unusual flock and learned of his earlier connection with He Tian.
• Elder Du remained unable to understand how Yue Shuo had contracted so many Spirit Cranes, as Yue Shuo asked when they would depart and whether he could perform Alchemy aboard the artifact.

Yue Shuo traveled with Elder Du and used the journey to reflect on spatial power and his unsettling Illusory Life experience. He found comfort in Azure Feather and began teaching He Tian and the Spirit Cranes alchemy while refining Third-Tier Spirit Pills.

• Yue Shuo told Elder Du that his contracted Spirit Cranes could receive remote instructions and continue attending lessons back at the sect.
• Elder Du announced that the flying Treasure Artifact was leaving the sect's territory and told Yue Shuo to make himself at home during the journey.
• Yue Shuo sensed the Treasure Artifact's spatial fluctuations and reflected on how his Illusory Life had sharpened his perception of spatial Dao Resonance.
• Yue Shuo stroked Azure Feather to soothe himself, then summoned He Tian and more than ten Late Second-Tier Spirit Cranes to learn alchemy.
• Yue Shuo used Nirvana Fire to ignite the pill furnace and began refining Third-Tier Spirit Pills.

Yue Shuo traveled with nine Foundation Establishment disciples to the entrance of a Minor World while his family and sect elders made plans to protect his parents’ identities. He learned that his mother had given birth to his fourth and fifth siblings just before entering the Minor World, where he emerged onto a snowfield.

• Yan Ning and Ning Xin discussed concealing Yue Shuo’s parents’ ages and waiting until they could reach Foundation Establishment before introducing them to masters.
• Yue Shuo refined pills and watched the young cranes during his journey, unaware that his mother was about to give birth.
• At the Minor World entrance, He Qing'er told Yue Shuo that his mother had given birth, and he used her to see his new siblings.
• Elder Du led Yue Shuo and the nine other disciples through a formation at a Beast Taming Sect resource station and opened the Minor World passage.
• After the other disciples entered, Yue Shuo bowed to Elder Du and passed through the vortex, emerging onto a snowfield.

Yue Shuo entered the Minor World, established a temporary cave dwelling in the south, and sent He Tian and spirit cranes to patrol while he prepared to cultivate Taiji and the Nirvana Fire. He discovered that He Tian remained at full strength, then began observing the Fire Dao resonance and his Nirvana Fire.

• Yue Shuo flew south from the northern entrance and set up a Temporary Cave Dwelling in an area rich in Fire Dao resonance and spiritual essence.
• Yue Shuo released He Tian, who found that the Minor World had not suppressed his Golden Core strength and suspected the world was unusual.
• Yue Shuo suggested He Tian’s strength came from their contract, then gave him spirit pills and instructed him to patrol with the spirit cranes.
• He Tian divided the spirit cranes into patrol teams while Yue Shuo considered the Minor World’s missions, fierce beasts, and the sect’s alchemists.
• Yue Shuo observed his Nirvana Fire slowly absorb the Minor World’s spiritual nature and Dao Resonance, then decided to practice Taiji first.

Yue Shuo discovered that cultivating Taiji in the small world strengthened his body, while He Tian explored and cleared dangerous regions on his behalf. The chapter ended with He Tian reporting that a dangerous region held over a million unknown insects and a Red Crystal Spirit Treasure.

• Yue Shuo cultivated Taiji repeatedly and absorbed an unusual power that improved his Body Tempering and physical strength.
• Yue Shuo let his Nirvana Fire grow on its own and continued cultivating with Azure Feather nestled in his robes.
• He Tian and the spirit cranes explored the small world, gathered spirit treasures, and cleared dangerous regions while Yue Shuo cultivated.
• Yue Shuo stopped cultivating when the local spiritual energy ran thin and considered the risks of forming a False Core in a small world.
• Yue Shuo rushed to He Tian after receiving an urgent report from a dangerous region.
• He Tian and several second-rank peak cranes retreated while fighting a swarm of over a million unknown insects, and He Tian reported that no insect mother had been found and that a Red Crystal Spirit Treasure grew there.

He Tian led several young cranes through a dangerous region filled with strange insects, then joined up with fellow Beast Taming Sect cultivators and helped them retreat. Yue Shuo arrived at the region’s edge and discovered that an enormous formation surrounded it.

• He Tian led the young cranes in battle and changed their route to search for the insect mother after suspecting a natural formation was trapping them.
• He Tian used the cranes’ bloodline burst to charge ten li through the insect tide, then gave them spiritual pills and refused to abandon them.
• He Tian encountered five Beast Taming Sect cultivators, including Duan Yiguang, and shared restorative pills with the exhausted disciples.
• He Tian and the cultivators coordinated with the spirit cranes to fight the insects as they retreated from the source of a terrifying howl.
• Yue Shuo reached the place where He Tian had left his message and found it enclosed by an enormous formation.