Chapter Summaries

Long Xuan discovered that he had extraordinary talent for pill refining, then used the Hundred Flower Pills to advance his cultivation while studying the Divine Ice Flame Formula. After a year, he reached the mid Spirit Gathering stage and completed the formula, but its rare, costly materials left him unsure how he would gather them.

• Long Xuan refined a full batch of eighty-one Hundred Flower Pills with no defective pills and ate several before continuing his research into the Divine Ice Flame Formula.
• Long Xuan used Hundred Flower Pills to boost his cultivation, searched market stalls for treasures and formula materials, and sold spirit pills for a time before deciding the work was less worthwhile than refining Gu insects.
• Long Xuan refined Hundred Flower Pills for himself while researching the Spirit Flame Formula, and he broke through to the mid Spirit Gathering stage a year later.
• Long Xuan completed the Divine Ice Flame Formula after a year of research and learned that its three hundred materials, including Millennium Ice Marrow, would cost far more than the materials for Old Long's Violet Demon Flame.
• Long Xuan worried about how he could obtain the formula's rare and expensive materials.

Long Xuan harvested mature spirit herbs and delivered them to Old Long, who explained how the Ten Extremity Physique made cultivation difficult without its lost method. The conversation ended with Old Long dismissing Long Xuan’s suggestion that he might create a suitable cultivation method himself.

• Long Xuan harvested the mature spirit herbs after the Spirit Bees gathered nectar and pollen from their blossoms.
• Long Xuan delivered the herbs to Old Long, who noticed that he had reached the mid Spirit Gathering stage.
• Old Long explained that the Ten Extremity Physique had exceptional combat potential but needed a lost cultivation method and progressed slowly without one.
• Long Xuan asked whether someone could create a new method for the physique, and Old Long insisted that creating a top-tier method was far beyond him.

Long Xuan decided to create a cultivation method suited to his Ten Extremity Physique, but realized he lacked the knowledge and references to begin. He then considered using his Origin Realm Illusion Technique on himself to study books inside a powerful sect’s library without entering it in reality.

• Long Xuan resolved to make creating a cultivation method for the Ten Extremity Physique his next project and pretended to leave Old Long in despair.
• Long Xuan analyzed the three essentials of cultivation methods: spiritual power circulation routes, divine abilities, and matching spiritual arts.
• Long Xuan considered researching Mutated Spiritual Power by combining multiple spiritual power attributes, but admitted he lacked cultivation methods and the expertise to develop his ideas.
• Long Xuan remembered Origin Realm, his Illusion Technique, and wondered whether its perfectly replicated Illusion Realm could let him read books inside a great power’s library unnoticed.

Long Xuan tested the limits of his Illusion Technique and used it to copy the Qian Clan Merchant Association’s Treasure Pavilion, pulling Qian Jinjin’s consciousness into the illusion. After he accidentally saw her bathing and ended the technique, Qian Jinjin realized she had been deceived and ordered an investigation.

• Long Xuan determined that the Illusion Realm could realistically copy places he had seen and draw living creatures’ consciousness into it, though larger scenes and high-grade treasures took longer to reproduce.
• Long Xuan rented a room opposite the Qian Clan Merchant Association’s Treasure Pavilion and copied the pavilion into the Illusion Realm.
• Long Xuan pulled Qian Jinjin’s consciousness into the illusion, where she continued reading without noticing anything amiss.
• Long Xuan saw Qian Jinjin undress and bathe, then ended the Illusion Technique in a panic.
• Qian Jinjin realized the scene had changed, suspected a terrifying Illusion Technique, and ordered Qian Shaoshao to investigate experts at the Marrow Cleansing Stage or above who had entered the market.

Long Xuan spent a year studying the Qian Clan’s cultivation methods and developing the Ten Absolutes Scripture, a five-element method designed for his Ten Extremity Physique. He had completed only three percent of it, but had established its core concept and the first stages of its mutated spiritual powers.

• Long Xuan copied the Qian Clan’s Treasure Pavilion into an Illusion Realm and learned its cultivation methods while researching a method suited to his Ten Extremity Physique.
• Long Xuan named his self-created method the Ten Absolutes Scripture and based it on a five-element cycle intended to overcome the difficulty of breaking through his firm Spirit Sea.
• Long Xuan experimented in the Illusion Realm and created five mutated spiritual powers: Tri-Metal, Forest, Twin-Water, Blazing, and Mountain-Earth.
• Long Xuan outlined three layers of the method, each combining more attributes, but could not yet develop its strongest forms.
• Long Xuan recognized that only the Ten Extremity Physique could safely contain all five mutated spiritual powers, since other cultivators’ Spirit Seas would be destroyed by them.

Long Xuan created the Five Elements Jade spiritual art for the Ten Absolutes Scripture but remained stuck on designing its divine abilities. Old Daoist Li visited him at the inn, teased him about rumors linking him to Qian Jinjin, and was about to explain why he had come.

• Long Xuan set aside the divine abilities he could not yet create and focused on making a supporting spiritual art for the Ten Absolutes Scripture.
• Long Xuan devised and completed Five Elements Jade, a five-element attack with four forms based on different circulation methods.
• Long Xuan tested Five Elements Jade in the illusion realm and blasted the Qian Clan's Treasure Pavilion, then continued to worry about designing divine abilities.
• Old Daoist Li found Long Xuan at the inn and teased him about rumors that he admired Qian Jinjin.
• Long Xuan demanded that Old Daoist Li stop gossiping and explain why he had come.

Long Xuan refused Old Daoist Li’s invitation to explore a dangerous ancient tomb, choosing to keep cultivating safely. When the badly injured Old Daoist Li returned with a damaged Sun-Moon Heart Sutra, Long Xuan discovered a divine ability that could solve the Ten Extremity Physique’s slow cultivation speed.

• Old Daoist Li invited Long Xuan to join a team exploring an ancient tomb, but Long Xuan firmly refused because the expedition was too dangerous.
• A month later, Old Daoist Li returned severely injured and said the major clans had forced Rogue Cultivators to scout the tomb, where many people had died.
• Old Daoist Li gave Long Xuan a damaged Sun-Moon Heart Sutra in exchange for Detoxification Pills.
• Long Xuan read that the method could create three Externalized Clones that cultivated independently and returned their gains to the main body.
• Long Xuan realized the Sun-Moon Heart Sutra’s divine ability could address the Ten Extremity Physique’s slow cultivation speed.

Long Xuan completed the first layer of the Ten Absolutes Scripture by adapting a clone-cultivation technique, creating five Externalized Clones that cultivated for him. With his cultivation method established, he turned to improving his combat strength, his most urgent weakness.

• Long Xuan found that the Sun-Moon Heart Scripture had been authored by the Yao Guang Empress and decided to adapt its clone ability for his Ten Absolutes Scripture.
• Long Xuan spent a year using his cheat to test and revise the clone-cultivation method until the first layer of the Ten Absolutes Scripture was complete.
• Long Xuan created Metal Clone, Wood Clone, Water Clone, Flame Clone, and Earth Clone, which cultivated mutated spiritual power and transferred their gains to him.
• Long Xuan considered the first layer a success but recognized that his Ten Extremity Physique still made his cultivation slower than that of heaven-grade geniuses.
• Long Xuan decided to focus on improving his combat strength because the Five Elements Jade and Origin Realm were his only current ways to harm enemies.

Long Xuan sought to raise his combat power and find a new source of income after Cockroach Gu sales dried up, so he attended a secret Treasure Exchange Fair. There he met its host, Di Xin, a wealthy formation master and notorious Formation Raider who feared cockroaches.

• Long Xuan decided to refine a powerful External Gu to improve his combat strength, but realized he first needed money because Cockroach Gu sales had stalled.
• Long Xuan learned that a Treasure Exchange Fair for Spirit Gathering Stage Rogue Cultivators was being held and hoped to find a valuable bargain.
• Long Xuan entered the secret chamber, where fewer than a hundred wealthy Rogue Cultivators had gathered to trade and socialize.
• Di Xin, the beautiful host of the fair, teased Long Xuan about attending, and he flattered her by saying he had come because she was hosting.
• Long Xuan recognized Di Xin as a renowned Formation Raider who stole from Gu cultivator Lineages and refused to buy his Cockroach Gu because she feared cockroaches.

At Di Xin’s Treasure Exchange Fair, a female Rogue Cultivator acquired a Soundproof Formation, and a Gu Cultivator traded for the high-grade Twin-Tailed Flying Scorpion. Long Xuan conceived a way to use his Eye of Heavenly Secrets to improve formations and left with books to study Formation Crafting.

• Di Xin introduced her Soundproof Formation, which a female Rogue Cultivator traded for after asking whether it could block the sounds of battle.
• Di Xin displayed her high-grade Twin-Tailed Flying Scorpion, and a frenzied Gu Cultivator quickly traded for it.
• Long Xuan considered using his Eye of Heavenly Secrets to carve tiny Formation Inscriptions and create stronger formations for his own Medicine Garden.
• Long Xuan asked Di Xin to sell him books about formations, and she placed a stack of formation texts and diagrams on the table.
• Long Xuan checked the books, agreed to the trade, and decided to focus on Alchemy while learning the basics of other special professions.

Long Xuan traded five hundred Hundred Flower Pills for Di Xin’s formation books, then learned the books were stolen and their diagrams had to remain secret. He continued watching the Rogue Cultivators’ trades, but found no bargains.

• Di Xin asked Long Xuan for a cultivation treasure in exchange for her formation books, and he offered her a Hundred Flower Pill.
• Long Xuan meant to offer five thousand pills, but Di Xin mistook his five fingers for five hundred and accepted; Long Xuan let her believe that was the intended amount.
• Long Xuan exchanged five hundred Hundred Flower Pills for Di Xin’s formation books and hurried to pack them away.
• Di Xin warned Long Xuan that the formation books and diagrams had been stolen from a formation master and must not be exposed.
• Long Xuan warned Di Xin that his Hundred Flower Pills were stolen too, then returned to watching the trades, where he found no bargains.

Long Xuan recognized Little Apothecary selling a damaged treasure map and realized he could use his progress ability to restore it by guessing. He bought the map with spirit pills, hoping it would lead to a great treasure.

• Little Apothecary presented a treasure map with one-tenth burned away and argued that someone might still find or restore it.
• The crowd mocked Little Apothecary, but Long Xuan considered using his ability to guess the missing lines and complete the map.
• Long Xuan offered to buy the damaged map, and Little Apothecary recognized him as a repeat buyer of junk.
• Little Apothecary asked for a hundred spirit pills, but Long Xuan negotiated him down to ten and slammed a pill bottle onto the table.

Long Xuan traded away his goods at the Treasure Exchange Fair and collected nearly half the materials for the Frost Divine Flame Formula. As he headed toward Great Stone Village late that night, three Rogue Cultivators ambushed him, but his constant use of the Eye of Heavenly Secrets had alerted him to danger.

• Long Xuan traded his Spirit Insects, pills, and other treasures to Di Xin for materials, then exchanged the rest of his goods at the fair.
• Old Daoist Li offered harmful Internal Gu, and several Rogue Cultivators traded for them, including the woman who took his Rock Gu.
• After the fair, the female Rogue Cultivator and two burly men followed Long Xuan and planned to kill him on the road to Great Stone Village.
• Long Xuan spent the evening eating and strolling through the market before heading toward Great Stone Village late at night.
• The ambushers waited in the grass for Long Xuan, unaware that he kept the Eye of Heavenly Secrets activated as he traveled.

Long Xuan discovered that three Rogue Cultivators had ambushed him and trapped the road with a Soundproof Array Disk. He revealed five Externalized Clones, and the first clash showed that the Ten Extremity Physique let him overpower a higher-realm opponent.

• Long Xuan spotted Rock Gu waiting in ambush and detoured toward Great Stone Village, but the three Rogue Cultivators blocked his path.
• The female Rogue Cultivator demanded Long Xuan surrender his valuables and blood-bound Gu Insects, relying on the Soundproof Array Disk to prevent anyone from hearing him.
• Long Xuan summoned five Externalized Clones, turning the three-against-one fight into a six-against-three battle.
• The bald Rogue Cultivator recognized the Externalized Clones and realized they had chosen a far more dangerous target than expected.
• Long Xuan's Flame Clone struck the bald Rogue Cultivator with Flame Jade, sending him staggering back and coughing blood despite his higher cultivation realm.

Long Xuan killed three Rogue Cultivators who tried to rob him, then concluded that fighting for treasure was too risky and turned to completing his Treasure Map Fragment. The map’s progress vanished after he copied onto blank paper, but he took that change as proof his method could work.

• Long Xuan used his five Externalized Clones and Origin Realm to kill the three Rogue Cultivators, then gathered their storage bags and fled.
• The market guardians arrived and examined the battle site, while Gu Dalong and Shi Jian discussed Long Ao’s decade-long seclusion in Great Stone Village.
• Long Xuan found nothing valuable in the storage bags and decided that farming was safer than killing for treasure.
• Long Xuan scribbled over the missing portions of his Treasure Map Fragment using blank paper, causing its recorded progress to vanish.
• Long Xuan concluded that the change proved his method could complete the map if he kept at it.

After spending three months restoring a treasure map, Long Xuan traveled north and found a concealed cave that held a Fossil Ore Vein. He discovered the bones and diary of its previous finders, but their account ended before revealing how they dealt with the challenge of mining the vein.

• Long Xuan completed the map, packed supplies, left Wood Clone to tend the medicinal garden, and traveled north.
• Long Xuan found a hidden cave near the map's marked location and sent his clones inside to scout it.
• Long Xuan and his clones discovered three skeletons, nine storage pouches, and many insect fossils.
• Long Xuan identified the cave as a Fossil Ore Vein and used the diary to learn that four Rogue Cultivators had found it long ago.
• The diary revealed that the four Rogue Cultivators struggled to mine the vein because they lacked the means to mobilize mortal labor.

Long Xuan decided to sell the Fossil Ore Vein to the great clans for Spirit Stones, then let them mine it while he bought valuable excavated insects cheaply. Before leaving, he searched the shallow tunnels and uncovered a fossil containing a Supreme-grade Spirit Insect, giving him the rare material he needed to pursue a second supreme-grade Gu worm.

• Long Xuan learned that the Rogue Cultivators who had discovered the vein fought over whether to sell it, leaving one survivor who later died and left behind the burned map.
• Long Xuan chose to sell the vein because he needed Spirit Stones for the Divine Ice Flame and could not mine it alone, while planning to benefit from the clans' labor and buy their excavated insects cheaply.
• Long Xuan and his clones entered the cave maze and began excavating fossils in its shallow layers, avoiding the deeper tunnels because of the danger and risk of getting lost.
• Long Xuan spotted a deep fossil with progress of [３８．１７９０３％] and realized it might contain a mature Supreme-grade Spirit Insect.
• Long Xuan and his four Externalized Clones spent two days excavating the fossil, and Long Xuan embraced it excitedly after uncovering the Supreme-grade Spirit Insect within.

Long Xuan returned to Far Western Market with the Supreme-grade Spirit Insect and prepared to auction his Fossil Ore Vein under layers of disguises and precautions. At the Qian Clan Auction House, he presented a rare Spirit-Gathering Pill to suggest that a powerful alchemist master backed him.

• Long Xuan left the mine with his four clones and returned to Far Western Market after half a month.
• Long Xuan disguised himself, used a clone as his representative, and went to the Qian Clan Auction House to arrange the Fossil Ore Vein’s sale.
• Qian Duoduo recognized Long Xuan as a likely seller of valuable goods and approached him.
• Long Xuan handed Qian Duoduo a Spirit-Gathering Pill and claimed it was fit for auction, intending to imply that his alchemist master had refined it.

Long Xuan brought forty Spirit-Gathering Pills and a map to an ownerless Fossil Ore Vein to the Qian Clan Merchant Association, drawing the attention of the auction house and the great Lineages. Qian Duoduo agreed to auction the map and proposed verifying it with the Integrity Gu while Long Xuan kept the location secret.

• Qian Duoduo inspected Long Xuan’s Spirit-Gathering Pills and inferred that a powerful alchemist stood behind him.
• Long Xuan announced that he had forty Spirit-Gathering Pills to auction, then revealed that he had a map to an ownerless Fossil Ore Vein.
• People throughout the hall reacted greedily to the news and hurried to inform their Lineages.
• Qian Jinjin told Qian Duoduo to arrange the auction quickly so the great clans could not prepare their funds.
• Qian Duoduo proposed auctioning the map without taking it from Long Xuan and using the Integrity Gu publicly to verify his claim.

Long Xuan attended the Qian Clan Merchant Association’s hastily arranged auction, hoping to sell his map before powerful Gu cultivators arrived. The first item, a bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills, drew fierce bidding, and the arrival of the Far West Seven Great Clans and rival merchant associations left the auction poised for a major contest.

• Long Xuan took a VIP seat and reflected that holding the auction quickly would limit the danger of attracting Gu Kings to the Fossil Ore Vein map.
• Qian Jinjin opened the auction without delay and introduced ten Spirit-Gathering Pills as the first item.
• Bidders drove the bottle’s price from one hundred thousand to one million Spirit Stones, prompting Long Xuan to wonder whether he had been too cautious about selling pills.
• As Qian Jinjin prepared to close the bidding, a representative of the Long Family bid one million one hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
• The Far West Seven Great Clans and leaders of other merchant associations entered the hall, and Qian Jinjin realized the Qian Clan Merchant Association faced formidable competition.