Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan rescues Zhao Feng—whom he calls “Brother Chang” after learning his surname is Chang Geng—from a terrifying illusion within the Secret Realm’s second formation layer.
• Xing Shuang, Ling Juexiao, and Su Yuan eventually emerge from the first illusion and reunite with Zhao and Ji Yuan. Ling Juexiao and Su Yuan apologize for previously underestimating Ji Yuan’s Golden Core cultivation, though Ji Yuan recognizes that their new friendliness is motivated by a desire to rely on his ability to overcome the illusion.
• Ji Yuan reveals that his Dream Butterfly can resist the illusion. Zhao, traumatized by his previous experience and lacking a similar defense, refuses to continue. Ji Yuan proceeds alone, while Xing Shuang, Ling Juexiao, and Su Yuan enter the illusion and fall into meditation.
• Thanks to the Dream Butterfly, Ji Yuan crosses the illusion without difficulty and reaches a rocky wasteland. He obtains the second trial’s reward: a drop of extremely valuable Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk.
• Ji Yuan discovers that the rocky wasteland is inhabited by numerous Yin Beasts, including powerful Third Tier creatures. He returns to retrieve Xing Shuang, Ling Juexiao, and Su Yuan from the illusion.
• Xing Shuang receives Yin-Yang Soil as her reward, while Ling Juexiao and Su Yuan obtain similar spirit-material resources. These materials are useful for Ji Yuan’s Level 5 Spirit Field upgrade, although the quantities are insufficient.
• The group begins crossing the rocky wasteland. Ling Juexiao leads, Xing Shuang guards the rear, Su Yuan collects the Yin Crystals left by defeated Yin Beasts, and Ji Yuan follows while concealing his true strength.
• Their progress becomes increasingly dangerous as numerous Mid-Third Tier Yin Beasts join the battle. Ji Yuan initially relies on ordinary sword techniques and the Thousand-Needle Basket, pretending to be struggling.
• When Lightning-Chaser is mysteriously suppressed by an unknown force, Ji Yuan is forced to reveal part of his true power. Using the Thunder Sword and Zixiao Divine Thunder, he kills two Mid-Third Tier Yin Beasts and exposes his strength to the others.
• Su Yuan is badly injured and begs for help. Ji Yuan refuses to risk himself, especially after observing that Ling Juexiao also had the ability to help but chose not to.
• Su Yuan detonates her pill-furnace Dharma Treasure to create an opening and attempts to flee. Ling Juexiao follows her, but instead of rescuing her, he brutally kills her with his Life-bound Flying Sword and takes her Storage Bag and other possessions.
• Ling Juexiao claims he had an old grudge against Su Yuan. He then uses a Blood Shadow technique to escape the surrounding Yin Beasts, though his body is left covered in severe wounds.
• Ji Yuan and Xing Shuang escape the rocky wasteland with Ling Juexiao and arrive at the next treasure area, where a new set of treasure pearls appears.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Becomes increasingly cautious and opportunistic. He helps others when useful but refuses to endanger himself unnecessarily. He hides his strongest techniques until forced to reveal them, collects Yin Crystals for his formations and Dharma treasures, and continues pursuing materials needed to upgrade his Spirit Field. His reaction to Ling Juexiao’s cruelty also highlights Ji Yuan’s comparatively restrained and “orthodox” morality.
• Zhao Feng/Chang Geng: Shows that beneath his bold speech he is highly cautious. After nearly dying in the illusion, he refuses to entrust his life to Ji Yuan and withdraws from the Secret Realm, missing the opportunity to obtain further treasures.
• Xing Shuang: Acts as the most cooperative and reliable member of the group. She recognizes Ji Yuan’s value, works with him in combat, protects him when possible, and demonstrates overwhelming archery power against the Yin Beasts.
• Ling Juexiao: His pragmatic and self-serving nature becomes clearer. He initially flatters Ji Yuan to secure his assistance, avoids rescuing Su Yuan despite having the ability to do so, and ultimately kills her to seize her belongings. He is powerful, ruthless, and willing to exploit alliances while maintaining a surface appearance of cooperation.
• Su Yuan: Remains focused on obtaining resources and protecting herself. Her cautious, opportunistic behavior earns Ji Yuan’s distrust. Once surrounded and abandoned, she sacrifices her Dharma treasure to escape, but is ultimately killed by Ling Juexiao.
• Dream Butterfly: Its ability to nullify illusions proves extremely valuable and allows Ji Yuan to cross the second trial effortlessly. Ji Yuan begins considering how to cultivate it to the Third Tier so it can create illusions and fight actively.

3. Significant Themes

• Trust and self-interest: The group’s cooperation is conditional. Everyone is willing to work together only while the benefits outweigh the risks.
• Fortune and choice: Zhao’s withdrawal illustrates how a single moment of hesitation can determine whether a cultivator gains an opportunity or misses it entirely.
• Strength and deception: Ji Yuan conceals his true abilities, while Ling Juexiao uses both diplomacy and hidden techniques to gain advantages. The chapter repeatedly shows that apparent weakness can be a disguise.
• Survival over morality: When Su Yuan is endangered, both Ji Yuan and Ling Juexiao prioritize their own survival. Ling Juexiao takes this principle to its extreme by killing her and looting her possessions.
• Resource cultivation and long-term planning: Ji Yuan views the Secret Realm not only as a place of danger but also as a source of materials for upgrading his Spirit Field, Yin Ghost Banner, Thousand-Soul Banner, and other treasures.
• The contrast between “orthodox” and ruthless cultivation: Ji Yuan considers himself relatively principled after witnessing Ling Juexiao kill Su Yuan, though he has also chosen not to save her. The chapter questions how meaningful such moral distinctions are in a deadly cultivation environment.

4. Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and Zhao develop a temporary bond after Ji Yuan saves him, but Zhao’s fear prevents him from continuing to rely on Ji Yuan.
• Xing Shuang mediates between Ji Yuan and Ling Juexiao, helping form a temporary alliance for crossing the illusion and the Yin Beast wasteland.
• Ling Juexiao and Su Yuan privately question whether Ji Yuan is trustworthy, while Ling Juexiao simultaneously attempts to secure Ji Yuan’s cooperation.
• Xing Shuang repeatedly coordinates with Ji Yuan in battle and shows concern for his safety, eventually telling him to follow her closely.
• Su Yuan asks Ji Yuan for help when overwhelmed, but Ji Yuan refuses, believing that neither she nor Ling Juexiao has shown enough loyalty to justify risking his life.
• Ling Juexiao pretends to answer Su Yuan’s pleas for rescue but instead kills her, revealing the depth of his ruthlessness and his personal grudge against her.
• By the end of the chapter, Ji Yuan and Xing Shuang continue forward together, while Ling Juexiao rejoins them after eliminating Su Yuan and looting her remains.

Chapter Summary: “What Divine Thunder Do You Have Left?!”

Plot Points and Major Events

• Ji Yuan reaches the secret realm’s treasure stage and discovers several valuable rewards: a jin of Yao Earth Sand, a Jade Bamboo Shoot, and a Forged Golden Pill. He selects the Yao Earth Sand, realizing it is enough to help upgrade his Spirit Field.
• He suspects the secret realm is being controlled by a powerful entity because his use of a wondrous treasure was forcibly interrupted earlier, followed by unusually generous compensation.
• The group arrives at a vast basin containing a distant stone platform that may hold an exit or entrance to another layer of the secret realm.
• Xing Shuang confronts Ling Juexiao about killing Su Yuan. Ling claims their relationship was fraudulent and accuses Su Yuan of betraying him in the past, but Xing remains distrustful of his character.
• The three cultivators approach the stone platform. A hidden attacker suddenly strikes Xing Shuang, revealing himself as Long Zhanye, a powerful Golden Core Late Stage cultivator and former Northern Expedition General of the Kingdom of Jin.
• Long Zhanye demands Xing Shuang’s seal and threatens all three cultivators. Ling Juexiao insults him, provoking a battle.
• Ling, Xing, and Ji attack together, but Long Zhanye’s superior cultivation, golden armor, Fangtian Halberd, and mountain-shaped Life-bound Dharma Treasure overwhelm them.
• Long Zhanye severely injures both Ling Juexiao and Xing Shuang. Ling attempts to betray the others and negotiate for his life, but Long kills him by crushing him beneath his mountain Dharma Treasure.
• Xing Shuang tries to hold Long off so Ji Yuan can escape, but Ji reveals his true strength. His Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain directly overpowers Long’s Thick Earth Peak.
• Ji abandons his disguise and uses four Azure Waves Swords to unleash Zixiao Divine Thunder. The lightning repeatedly damages Long Zhanye’s defenses and Life-bound Dharma Treasure.
• Long briefly breaks through the divine thunder using a hidden blood-powered horse-chopping saber fused with his Fangtian Halberd, but Ji replenishes his strength with Millennium Spirit Milk and summons the divine thunder again.
• Long Zhanye is ultimately burned to death by the fourth and final wave of Zixiao Divine Thunder.
• Ji collects Long’s corpse, Storage Bag, Dharma Treasure, and soul. He uses the Thousand-Soul Banner to summon Long’s yin soul, causing Xing Shuang to conclude that Ji is likely the infamous “Old Devil Ji.”

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Demonstrates increasing confidence and tactical maturity. He remains cautious despite defeating a stronger opponent, recognizing that his victory depended on surprise, overwhelming force, Long’s prior exhaustion, and assistance from Xing Shuang and Ling. He also reveals his true appearance and formidable arsenal, including Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain, four Azure Waves Swords, Zixiao Divine Thunder, and the Thousand-Soul Banner.
• Xing Shuang: Becomes increasingly wary of Ling Juexiao but continues to act with integrity. She protects Ji and fights Long despite knowing she is outmatched, revealing loyalty and courage. Her perception of Ji changes dramatically after witnessing his true strength and identity.
• Ling Juexiao: His manipulative and selfish nature becomes undeniable. Though initially useful in battle, he abandons any pretense of loyalty when threatened, attempting to sacrifice the others to save himself. He is killed as a direct consequence of his betrayal and earlier cruelty.
• Long Zhanye: Introduced as a formidable, arrogant survivor with immense defensive and offensive power. His confidence turns to desperation as Ji’s divine thunder destroys his defenses. His defeat highlights the danger of underestimating Ji.
• Su Yuan: Though already dead, her past relationship with Ling reveals the distrust, betrayal, and moral ambiguity among the cultivators.

Significant Themes

• Trust and betrayal: The chapter contrasts Xing Shuang’s loyalty with Ling Juexiao’s opportunism. Ling’s death mirrors the kind of betrayal he himself inflicted on others.
• Strength versus cultivation level: Ji is only at the Golden Core Early Stage, yet his unusual treasures, divine thunder, tactics, and hidden abilities allow him to defeat a stronger Golden Core Late Stage opponent.
• Caution and strategic thinking: Ji repeatedly avoids overconfidence and understands that defeating Long does not mean he can routinely contend with stronger cultivators.
• Moral ambiguity and reputation: Ji uses demonic equipment such as the Thousand-Soul Banner despite displaying righteous energy and Zixiao Divine Thunder. This creates tension between his actual character and his reputation as “Old Devil Ji.”
• Fate and personal nature: Ji reflects that people’s outcomes follow from their character. Xing Shuang’s loyalty earns Ji’s protection, while Ling’s selfishness ultimately leads to his death.
• Hidden identities and power: Ji’s disguise, concealed strength, and true identity become central to the chapter’s tension, especially after Xing Shuang recognizes him.

Important Character Interactions

• Xing Shuang warns Ji not to trust Ling, while Ji accepts the warning without escalating the conflict.
• Ling praises Ji’s hidden strength, and Ji modestly claims to have merely exhausted his trump cards.
• Xing Shuang and Ling temporarily coordinate against Long Zhanye, though both remain cautious of one another.
• Ling provokes Long with insults, unintentionally triggering the battle.
• Xing protects Ji by ordering him to flee, while Ji instead stays and reveals his true strength to defend her.
• Ji and Long engage in a direct contest between divine thunder and defensive earth-and-metal techniques.
• After witnessing Ji’s appearance, weapons, and Thousand-Soul Banner, Xing realizes he may be the notorious Old Devil Ji, leaving their relationship uncertain.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan defeats Long Zhanye, a Golden Core Late Stage cultivator, and stores his yin soul in the Thousand-Soul Banner. He also takes the Storage Bags of Long Zhanye and Ling Juexiao.
• He gives Su Yuan’s Storage Bag—and its contents, except for the Yin Crystals—to Xing Shuang as compensation for helping him enter the Secret Realm and survive the ordeal.
• Xing Shuang realizes that “Chang Geng” is not Ji Yuan’s real name. Ji Yuan avoids confirming his identity and instead gives the alias Liu Changsheng.
• Xing Shuang explains the Secret Realm’s origins:
  • Decades earlier, she discovered half of a treasure map after being rescued by a sinner.
  • She later found the other half in the possession of Hua Qianqing, also known as True Person Thousand Flowers.
  • Combining the maps revealed the Secret Realm and the seal token needed to access it.
  • The Secret Realm is likely far more significant than the Cave Abode of a deceased Nascent Soul cultivator, since it contains treasures beyond what such a cultivator should possess.
• Ji Yuan and Xing Shuang recover, then use the seal token to activate a stone platform. A stone archway appears, and both are forcibly teleported through it.
• They emerge above the black waters of the North Sea, confirming that the “door” was actually an exit from the Secret Realm. Each receives a new seal token, allowing them to return later.
• After flying south for roughly half a month, they reach the desert west of the Bone Nightmare Sect.
• Ji Yuan plans to re-enter the Secret Realm to hunt more Yin Beasts and obtain Yin Crystals. Xing Shuang returns to Winterfrost City to exchange her gains for cultivation resources and prepare for a breakthrough to the Golden Core Late Stage.
• Ji Yuan warns Xing Shuang to deny knowing him if questioned in Winterfrost City, fearing that the Bone Nightmare Sect or the Black-and-White Divine Hall may trace his identity.
• The chapter then shifts to a peaceful island, where the Bone-Nightmare Old Devil and the Soul-Refining Hall Master discuss major political and cultivation matters:
  • The possible reappearance of the Rakshasa Sea, the former sacred ground of the Yin Ghost Sect.
  • The secrets of Nascent Soul formation and Spirit Transformation supposedly hidden within it.
  • Whether the Black-and-White Divine Hall’s Spirit Transformation ancestor is dead or merely near the end of his lifespan.
  • Alliances involving Heavenly Fiend Mountain and the Demon Race.
  • The possibility that Ji Yuan resembles the Bone-Nightmare Old Devil’s former master, Nightmare.
• The two leaders agree to coordinate their sects and prevent the Black-and-White Divine Hall from monopolizing the Rakshasa Sea’s opportunities.
• They also emphasize cultivating powerful Golden Core disciples, specifically mentioning Magui and the Soul-Refining Hall Master’s third disciple.
• The chapter ends humorously with Ji Yuan, back in the Secret Realm, echoing the Bone-Nightmare Old Devil’s attitude: “Ji Yuan’s Storage Bags—the more, the better!”

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Demonstrates overwhelming strength by defeating Long Zhanye and preserving his yin soul. He becomes increasingly cautious about concealing his identity and abilities. His interest in the Secret Realm deepens, especially because of its unexplained treasures and mysterious purpose.
• Xing Shuang: Gains confidence in Ji Yuan and accepts his assistance and compensation. She shows sound judgment by choosing not to accompany him back into the Secret Realm and prepares to pursue her own cultivation breakthrough.
• Hua Qianqing: Though deceased or absent, she becomes important to the Secret Realm’s history. Her title, True Person Thousand Flowers, and tragic fate are revealed.
• Bone-Nightmare Old Devil: Is shown to be politically cautious and highly concerned with the Rakshasa Sea. The mention of his former master provokes a rare emotional reaction, hinting at unresolved hostility and insecurity.
• Soul-Refining Hall Master: Appears shrewd and politically informed. He probes the Bone-Nightmare Old Devil about the Black-and-White Divine Hall, Ji Yuan, and the possible alliances among major powers.

Significant Themes

• Concealed identity and mistrust: Ji Yuan continually hides his real name, appearance, and strength, while powerful sects speculate about his origins.
• The pursuit of cultivation opportunities: Yin Crystals, Storage Bags, the Rakshasa Sea, and Secret Realm treasures all represent resources that can determine future breakthroughs.
• Political uncertainty among major powers: The possible death or decline of a Spirit Transformation ancestor creates tension and encourages rival sects to test one another cautiously.
• The legacy of the Yin Ghost Sect: The Rakshasa Sea represents lost power, ancient secrets, and the possibility of transforming the balance of power across the continent.
• Pragmatism and survival: Both Ji Yuan and Xing Shuang prioritize caution, preparation, and avoiding unnecessary enemies.
• Irony and contrast: The chapter contrasts terrifying Nascent Soul-level conspiracies with ordinary scenes of farming, drinking, and Ji Yuan’s lighthearted obsession with acquiring Storage Bags.

Important Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and Xing Shuang divide the spoils from their battle, establishing mutual trust and fairness.
• Xing Shuang questions Ji Yuan’s identity, but he deflects her suspicions with the alias “Liu Changsheng.”
• The two exchange information about the Secret Realm, Hua Qianqing, the seal token, and the route of escape.
• Ji Yuan warns Xing Shuang to distance herself from him to avoid becoming involved in his enemies’ pursuit.
• The Bone-Nightmare Old Devil and Soul-Refining Hall Master engage in a strategic discussion disguised as a casual meeting, revealing their concerns about the Rakshasa Sea, the Black-and-White Divine Hall, and future sect alliances.
• Their conversation also touches on Ji Yuan, suggesting that his resemblance to the Bone-Nightmare Old Devil’s former master may become politically or personally significant.

Chapter Summary: “Yin Ghost Sect’s Ji Yuan!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan finally inventories the Storage Bags taken from Zhou Jin, Ling Juexiao, and Long Zhanye, three Golden Core Cultivators he previously killed.
• Zhou Jin’s bag contains nearly 40,000 Spirit Stones and the Bloodfang Hook, a powerful Life-bound Dharma Treasure capable of piercing defenses, draining vitality, and helping its user escape.
• Ling Juexiao’s possessions include the Blood-Marrow Sword, the dangerous Seven-Kill Sword Art, the incomplete Blood-Shadow Escape technique, one jin of Voidspace Stone, and medicinal herbs useful for raising Dream Butterfly and the Ant King.
• Long Zhanye’s Storage Bag contains the Thick Earth Peak, the Sky-Splitting Halberd, a large amount of Yin-Yang Soil, several Third-Order Monster Cores, and the Golden-Radiance Light-Splitting Art. Ji Yuan keeps the halberd for body cultivation but plans to sell the inferior Thick Earth Peak.
• Ji Yuan returns to the rocky desert of the secret realm and begins systematically hunting the Yin Beasts. He uses the Thousand-Soul Banner, Yin Ghost Banner, Blood-Marrow Sword, and Zixiao Divine Thunder to kill them and collect their valuable Yin Crystals.
• After a year of slaughter, Ji Yuan eliminates nearly every Yin Beast in the realm and gathers a vast stockpile of Yin Crystals, intending to trade them for Soul-Eroding Ghost Willow and strengthen his banners.
• Upon leaving through the final stone archway, Ji Yuan is unexpectedly transported to a hidden stone chamber instead of the North Sea. There, he encounters Ghost Envoy, the spirit of the Yin Ghost Sect’s Sect-Guarding Grand Formation.
• Ghost Envoy initially tries to kill Ji Yuan for destroying the Yin Beasts he had cultivated, but recognizes Ji Yuan’s Yin Ghost Sect ring and realizes that Ji Yuan is a sect deacon. He therefore spares him and accepts him as a genuine sect member.
• Ghost Envoy reveals that the secret realm is connected to the Rakshasa Sea and warns that the Black-and-White Divine Hall will eventually invade. Ji Yuan is expected to earn merit by helping defend the Yin Ghost Sect when the Rakshasa Sea opens.
• Ji Yuan returns to the Endless Sea, disguises himself, and establishes a new cave abode on an uninhabited island. He protects it with the Inverted Big Dipper Formation.
• He experiments with two Skeleton Tokens, discovering that they merge into a more powerful Bronze Skeleton Token. The token summons a Yin Ghost Sect door, but Ji Yuan cannot open it fully.
• Ji Yuan begins cultivating his Yin Ghost Banner. He feeds it numerous Yin Crystals, allowing two Pseudo-Core Realm Yin Ghosts to enter a cocoon-like breakthrough state, while the Thousand-Soul Banner absorbs excess yin energy.
• At the chapter’s end, a mysterious gray-robed cultivator penetrates Ji Yuan’s defensive formations by drawing and opening a door. He introduces himself as Gu Yan, widely known as the Bone-Nightmare Old Devil.

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan becomes significantly wealthier and more powerful after acquiring several Dharma Treasures, rare materials, cultivation arts, and massive quantities of Yin Crystals.
• He demonstrates greater caution and strategic thinking. Rather than rushing into unknown danger, he disguises himself, relocates, builds layered defenses, and carefully investigates the Yin Ghost Sect’s secrets.
• Ji Yuan’s connection to the Yin Ghost Sect deepens. The Skeleton Ring identifies him as a sect deacon, and he gains recognition from Ghost Envoy as a legitimate disciple.
• He remains opportunistic and shamelessly practical, quickly offering the Yin Crystals to save his life, then discreetly putting them away when Ghost Envoy accepts him as a sect member.
• Ji Yuan grows increasingly wary of the future conflict surrounding the Rakshasa Sea and immediately decides that participating in the sect’s defense may be far too dangerous.
• Ghost Envoy is introduced as powerful, unpredictable, and deeply hostile toward the Black-and-White Divine Hall. Although he appears greedy and threatening, he follows sect rules and ultimately acknowledges Ji Yuan as one of his own.
• Xing Shuang returns to Winterfrost City and finds it unnaturally peaceful because the Black-and-White Divine Hall has begun actively patrolling and arresting people. She realizes that Ji Yuan has returned and anticipates the chaos his presence may cause.
• Gu Yan, the Bone-Nightmare Old Devil, is introduced as a mysterious and highly capable cultivator who can effortlessly perceive and bypass Ji Yuan’s defensive formations.

Significant Themes

• Power and status: Ghost Envoy’s attitude changes instantly once he discovers Ji Yuan is a Yin Ghost Sect deacon, showing how identity and authority determine whether one is prey or ally.
• Survival through adaptability: Ji Yuan survives by fleeing, bargaining, disguising himself, exploiting sect connections, and preparing multiple layers of defense.
• Accumulation and resourcefulness: The chapter emphasizes Ji Yuan’s habit of collecting every useful treasure, material, Yin Crystal, and cultivation technique rather than wasting anything.
• Hidden histories and ancient factions: The Yin Ghost Sect, the Rakshasa Sea, and the Black-and-White Divine Hall are revealed to be connected to a much larger historical conflict involving the northwestern Sand Prison and the Abyssal Continent.
• Righteousness and demonic power: Ji Yuan combines the Zixiao Divine Thunder with the Thousand-Soul Banner and Yin Ghost Banner, embodying a strange fusion of orthodox and demonic methods.
• The danger of future obligations: Ji Yuan gains access to the Yin Ghost Sect but may now be expected to defend it when the Rakshasa Sea opens, turning his newfound affiliation into a potential burden.
• Unknown doors and unexplored realms: The fused Skeleton Token and the Yin Ghost Sect door hint at further secrets, treasures, and possible routes connected to the sect.

Important Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan examines and appropriates the treasures of Zhou Jin, Ling Juexiao, and Long Zhanye, converting their deaths into new resources for his cultivation.
• Xing Shuang learns that Ji Yuan has returned to Winterfrost City and reflects on how much more dangerous he has become after reaching Golden Core.
• Ji Yuan confronts Ghost Envoy, first attempting to negotiate with Yin Crystals, then proving his identity through the Yin Ghost Sect Skeleton Ring and swearing he is not affiliated with the Black-and-White Divine Hall.
• Ghost Envoy recruits Ji Yuan into the sect’s future struggle, asking him to return when the Rakshasa Sea opens and help restore the Yin Ghost Sect’s glory.
• Ji Yuan encounters Gu Yan, whose effortless breach of his formations immediately places Ji Yuan in a position of uncertainty and danger, setting up the next conflict.

Chapter Summary: Old Devil Ji’s Second “Master”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan encounters Bone-Nightmare Old Devil, the Nascent Soul Middle-Stage master of the Bone Nightmare Sect, while using the alias Hu Beizhi and concealing his true appearance.
• Bone-Nightmare immediately notices Ji Yuan’s exceptional Formation skills, Thousand-Soul Banner, and other unusual treasures. He questions Ji Yuan’s claim of being a Rogue Cultivator but cannot identify his true origins.
• Impressed by Ji Yuan’s cultivation of Corpse Yin Demonfire, Bone-Nightmare decides to recruit him into the Bone Nightmare Sect. Rather than personally accepting him as a disciple, he plans to introduce him to another Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Bone-Nightmare takes Ji Yuan back to the sect, which is a bleak, snow-covered archipelago filled with yin energy. Its main island, Nightmare Island, contains a hidden springlike courtyard that contrasts sharply with the rest of the demonic sect.
• Ji Yuan is brought before Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother, Bone-Nightmare’s wife. She was formerly the wife of Bone-Nightmare’s deceased master, Nightmare True Lord.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother accepts Ji Yuan as her founding and likely final disciple after seeing his Corpse Yin Demonfire.
• The couple reveal their distrust of him and attempt to control him with a Soul-Devouring Coldfire, which would prevent him from forming a Nascent Soul without their permission.
• Instead of accepting the Coldfire, Ji Yuan offers them a strand of his Divine Soul, claiming that they may destroy it if he ever betrays them. This shocks both cultivators and convinces them of his apparent loyalty.
• Ji Yuan leaves to recover and await Magui, while the couple privately discuss him. They believe he sincerely wants their protection and acknowledge that they will need him for their future plans in the Rakshasa Sea.

2. Character Developments

Ji Yuan

• Adopts the alias Hu Beizhi and successfully maintains his disguise before Bone-Nightmare Old Devil.
• Becomes increasingly cautious and politically adaptable, carefully changing his forms of address and flattering his new superiors.
• Reluctantly accepts membership in the Bone Nightmare Sect because it may help him obtain the Voidspace Stone and escape Winterfrost City’s pursuit.
• Internally resents being threatened and controlled, secretly resolving to surpass and eventually take revenge on both Bone-Nightmare and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother.
• Demonstrates considerable cunning by offering a strand of Divine Soul. The gesture appears self-sacrificing but is also part of his strategy to gain trust and secure protection.

Bone-Nightmare Old Devil / Gu Tian

• Presents himself as refined, friendly, and scholarly despite his fearsome reputation.
• Becomes unusually enthusiastic about Ji Yuan after discovering that he possesses Corpse Yin Demonfire.
• Acts domineeringly when necessary, openly threatening Ji Yuan when he hesitates.
• Reveals a hidden and morally suspicious relationship with his former master’s wife, suggesting that his rise to power may involve darker secrets.

Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother

• Appears gentle and elegant, but quickly reveals a ruthless, calculating, and intimidating nature.
• Accepts Ji Yuan as her disciple largely because of his Corpse Yin Demonfire and his usefulness.
• Uses the Soul-Devouring Coldfire to restrict his future cultivation, showing that she values control over trust.
• Is impressed by Ji Yuan’s willingness to surrender a strand of his Divine Soul and begins to regard him as potentially trustworthy.

Magui

• Is mentioned as Bone-Nightmare’s disciple and Ji Yuan’s future senior brother.
• His prior hostility toward Ji Yuan creates an ironic situation: Ji Yuan, once pursued by Magui, is now being brought into the sect as his junior brother.

3. Significant Themes

• Forced allegiance and survival: Ji Yuan does not freely choose the Bone Nightmare Sect; he joins because refusing would likely mean death. The chapter emphasizes how powerlessness forces individuals to submit outwardly while planning privately.
• Appearance versus reality: Bone-Nightmare looks like a mild scholar rather than an “old devil,” while Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother appears delicate and graceful despite her terrifying power. Their civilized appearances conceal ruthless personalities.
• Trust, manipulation, and control: The supposed master-disciple relationship begins with mutual suspicion. Ji Yuan uses apparent loyalty to gain protection, while his new masters impose magical safeguards to control him.
• Lineage and master-disciple bonds: The chapter contrasts Ji Yuan’s pride in his own lineage with the sinister history of the Bone Nightmare Sect, where the relationship between master, disciple, and spouse is morally corrupted.
• Hidden ambition and revenge: Ji Yuan outwardly submits but privately vows to grow strong enough to retaliate. His obedience is strategic rather than sincere.
• Irony and dark humor: Ji Yuan becomes the junior disciple of the very sect connected to his enemies, while Bone-Nightmare’s wife becomes his “second master.” His sarcastic inner commentary highlights the absurdity and danger of the situation.

4. Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and Bone-Nightmare: Their conversation alternates between polite flattery and veiled threats. Bone-Nightmare praises Ji Yuan’s abilities, pressures him into joining the sect, and orders him to conceal where they met.
• Bone-Nightmare and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: They behave affectionately as husband and wife, but their partnership is also built on shared secrecy, suspicion, and manipulation. They privately evaluate Ji Yuan’s loyalty and usefulness.
• Ji Yuan and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: She tests him immediately by demanding submission to the Soul-Devouring Coldfire. Ji Yuan counters by offering his Divine Soul, convincing her—at least temporarily—that he is sincerely seeking their protection.
• Ji Yuan and his future sect: Ji Yuan regards the Bone Nightmare Sect as dangerous but useful. Its possession of the Voidspace Stone and its protection from outside enemies make joining strategically valuable despite the obvious risks.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother and Bone-Nightmare Old Devil discuss Ji Yuan—currently disguised as Hu Beizhi—and their plans for him. They hope to raise his cultivation to the Golden Core Middle or even Late Stage so he can assist them in the Rakshasa Sea.
• They also consider a darker contingency: if the Rakshasa Sea yields nothing, they may refine Hu Beizhi’s Corpse Yin Demonfire to help Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother break through to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother decides to favor Hu Beizhi openly, suggesting that he gradually take over sect affairs from Magui. Bone-Nightmare Old Devil agrees to support the plan.
• Their conversation reveals that Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother is actually an ancient, horribly aged woman who uses replacement human-skin disguises to maintain her youthful appearance. This confirms Ji Yuan’s judgment that the pair are “beasts in human clothing.”
• After secretly overhearing them, Ji Yuan resolves to grow stronger and eventually kill them, while recognizing that the Spirit-Cutting Technique saved him and successfully earned their trust.
• Magui arrives to receive Hu Beizhi, having been ordered to arrange his residence and resources. He is shocked by the extraordinary favoritism shown toward the new disciple and suspects Hu Beizhi may have a special connection to the old devils.
• Magui gives Ji Yuan a passage token that allows him to enter and leave the central formation freely. He also offers him access to sect resources, cultivation techniques, Dream Profound Liquid, and other privileges.
• Ji Yuan tours the Bone Nightmare Sect and chooses a remote, snow-covered island in the north as his residence. He prefers the isolation because it will allow him to cultivate quietly and keep his distance from the sect’s Nascent Soul experts.
• Ji Yuan meets An Yue, his neighboring Golden Core cultivator. She appears shy and socially awkward, though Ji Yuan remains cautious about whether this is genuine.
• Ji Yuan asks Magui for Soul-Eroding Ghost Willow, a material needed for his cultivation and for upgrading his magical Chicken Coop. Magui promptly retrieves three large pieces from the sect treasury.
• Magui informs Ji Yuan that the sect will hold a Golden Core Gathering for him, allowing him to meet the other Core Formation cultivators and likely receive gifts.
• Ji Yuan finishes constructing his cave abode, strengthens its defenses with formations, and returns to Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain, his true secure refuge.
• He uses one piece of Soul-Eroding Ghost Willow to rebuild the Chicken Coop. Discovering that the willow contains living, heart-like growths that scream when cut, he burns them with Corpse Yin Demonfire before completing the structure.
• The Chicken Coop successfully upgrades from Level 3 to Level 4 after Ji Yuan supplies 1,500 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones.
• The upgrade causes a strange celestial phenomenon involving black, vein-like formations across the sky, followed by spiritual starlight raining down on the spirit poultry.
• Several chickens improve in cultivation, and one Second-Tier Blackfeather Chicken mutates into a Third-Tier Golden-Plume Thunderclap Chicken.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Becomes more calculating and pragmatic. Although he despises his new masters, he recognizes the Bone Nightmare Sect as an excellent source of protection, techniques, materials, and cultivation resources. He decides to exploit his position fully while secretly preparing for eventual revenge.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: Shows intense possessiveness toward Ji Yuan as her disciple and insists on granting him special treatment. Her hatred of a former enemy and desire to break through to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage reveal her desperation and resentment.
• Bone-Nightmare Old Devil: Appears affectionate and accommodating toward his wife, but remains cold and utilitarian regarding Ji Yuan. He views Hu Beizhi primarily as a resource, tool, or possible sacrificial material.
• Magui: Changes from a former enemy into an eager and deferential senior brother because of Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother’s explicit orders. He becomes highly attentive to Ji Yuan, both out of fear of punishment and curiosity about Ji Yuan’s mysterious status.
• An Yue: Is introduced as a quiet, apparently unsociable neighboring cultivator. Her behavior leaves Ji Yuan uncertain whether she is merely timid or deliberately concealing something.
• The spirit poultry: Gain new potential after the Chicken Coop upgrade, including the ability to mutate into higher-grade creatures. The Golden-Plume Thunderclap Chicken demonstrates the system’s new benefits.

3. Significant Themes

• Trust as manipulation: Ji Yuan uses the Spirit-Cutting Technique to create the illusion of vulnerability, turning the old devils’ suspicion into trust. At the same time, he plans to exploit their confidence.
• Appearance versus reality: Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother’s youthful form is revealed to be a disposable human-skin disguise, reinforcing the chapter’s focus on deceptive appearances and hidden monstrosity.
• Moral corruption and betrayal: The old devils’ willingness to kill or refine their own disciple, combined with their past betrayal of their master, shows the ruthless ethics of the demonic cultivation world.
• Pragmatism over pride: Ji Yuan initially views joining the Bone Nightmare Sect as dangerous, but quickly realizes its resources and protection outweigh the risks. He chooses to benefit from the situation rather than resist it emotionally.
• Opportunity within danger: Becoming the disciple of a powerful Nascent Soul cultivator gives Ji Yuan access to rare techniques, materials, and status, even though it places him under the control of dangerous enemies.
• Cultivation and transformation: The upgraded Chicken Coop illustrates how Ji Yuan’s unusual magical resources can create unexpected growth, mutation, and new forms of power.

4. Character Interactions

• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother and Bone-Nightmare Old Devil display an intimate but sinister relationship, comforting each other while calmly discussing whether to sacrifice Ji Yuan.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother insists that Ji Yuan receive preferential treatment, and Bone-Nightmare Old Devil agrees to support her out of affection and mutual interest.
• Ji Yuan silently overhears them and internally contrasts their affectionate behavior with their cruelty, strengthening his resolve to deceive and eventually destroy them.
• Magui cautiously questions Ji Yuan about his background, but Ji Yuan gives a fabricated rogue-cultivator history while allowing Magui to believe he has an unusual connection with the old devils.
• Magui repeatedly offers assistance, resources, and personal guidance, while Ji Yuan responds with calculated politeness and carefully performed gratitude.
• Ji Yuan and An Yue exchange a brief, awkward introduction. She offers to help him, but quickly retreats when he suggests meeting again.
• Ji Yuan ultimately interacts with the spirit poultry through the upgraded Chicken Coop, witnessing their cultivation improvements and the emergence of the Golden-Plume Thunderclap Chicken.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The [Chicken Coop] upgrades to Level 4 and produces a new Four-Color Spirit Egg, which can purify spiritual power and improve the quality of a Golden Core.
• Ji Yuan examines the Level 5 upgrade. It would produce a Five-Color Spirit Egg capable of replenishing Nascent Soul dharma power and strengthening the Nascent Soul body, but upgrading requires Nascent Soul cultivation and rare materials.
• He celebrates the upgrade by slaughtering a spirit bird and a spirit pig, then enters meditation to restore and strengthen his Divine Soul.
• Ji Yuan plans his future: cultivating within the Bone Nightmare Sect, nurturing Dream Butterfly with Dream Profound Liquid, seeking Voidspace Stone, developing a body-refinement building, meeting Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother, and eventually holding a Golden Core banquet.
• Three months later, Ji Yuan refines another Four-Color Spirit Egg, further purifying his Golden Core. He decides not to sell his thousands of Tri-color Spirit Eggs until he is strong enough to protect them.
• Dream Butterfly consumes Dream Profound Liquid and immediately falls asleep, showing that the liquid is highly effective and may help it advance to the Third Tier.
• Ji Yuan travels through the Bone Nightmare Sect and witnesses the brutality of demonic cultivators, including blood sacrifices, human trafficking, and the refinement of cultivators into Blood Cores.
• He visits Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother, who gives him:
  • The core of a Ten-Thousand-Year Qiong Pine, which can nourish and strengthen his Corpse Yin Demonfire.
  • A Fourth-Tier Formation Master’s inheritance, supposedly passed down by Bone-Nightmare Old Devil.
  • Permission to select one of the sect’s Nascent Soul cultivation methods in the future.
• Ji Yuan becomes suspicious that the Ghost Mother and Bone-Nightmare Old Devil may be plotting to exploit or possess him, particularly because of his Corpse Yin Demonfire.
• He suspects the Qiong Pine may be intended to help fuse or strengthen his Demonfire for their own purposes.
• Magui intercepts Ji Yuan afterward, asks about his secluded cultivation and Golden Core celebration, and reveals that many sect elders are interested in meeting the Ghost Mother’s new disciple.
• Ji Yuan returns to Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain, safely purifies the Qiong Pine core with Zixiao Divine Thunder, and stores his Demonfire inside it. The Demonfire is greatly strengthened and may now serve him through the Golden Core Peak stage.
• He begins preparing to upgrade the [Wine Cellar], intending to brew at least twenty kinds of spirit wine, starting with Nine-Nether Lifeburn Brew.

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Becomes increasingly cautious and strategic. He continues improving his Golden Core, Divine Soul, Demonfire, spirit pets, and cultivation resources while concealing his true abilities. Although he enjoys imagining future dominance, he remains aware of his current limitations.
• Dream Butterfly: Shows strong compatibility with Dream Profound Liquid and may advance to the Third Tier within a few years.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: Treats Ji Yuan warmly as her sole disciple and provides extremely valuable treasures, though her generosity causes Ji Yuan to suspect hidden motives.
• Bone-Nightmare Old Devil: Remains indirectly influential. His gifts and actions suggest he may be interested in Ji Yuan’s Corpse Yin Demonfire.
• Magui: Becomes wary of Ji Yuan’s hidden strength and privileged status. He realizes that Ji Yuan, despite acting modestly, is protected by the Ghost Mother and difficult to provoke.
• Blood Spirit Island Lord: Learns that Ji Yuan is the Ghost Mother’s disciple and is shocked by the implications.

Significant Themes

• Power concealed beneath humility: Ji Yuan presents himself as cautious and unassuming while quietly accumulating powerful treasures, techniques, and advantages.
• Suspicion and manipulation: Gifts from powerful Nascent Soul cultivators may carry hidden intentions. Ji Yuan recognizes that generosity in the demonic world rarely comes without a price.
• Cultivation through purification: The Four-Color Spirit Egg symbolizes Ji Yuan’s pursuit of greater quality rather than merely greater quantity of magical power.
• The brutality of the Demonic Dao: The chapter emphasizes the horrific practices of demonic cultivators, contrasting them with Ji Yuan’s comparatively restrained methods.
• Resource accumulation and long-term planning: Ji Yuan constantly plans for future advancement, from spirit-beast cultivation and new buildings to rare materials, formations, wines, and Nascent Soul techniques.
• Mutual power and political hierarchy: The Ghost Mother’s authority, Bone-Nightmare Old Devil’s influence, and Magui’s concern reveal the sect’s complicated internal power structure.

Important Character Interactions

• Magui explains to Blood Spirit Island Lord that the Ghost Mother’s authority may surpass even that of the sect master, and reveals that Ji Yuan is her only disciple.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother formally acknowledges Ji Yuan as her disciple, gives him valuable gifts, and offers future cultivation guidance.
• Ji Yuan carefully avoids revealing his most important cultivation secrets when questioned by the Ghost Mother.
• Magui meets Ji Yuan after his visit and probes his plans while pretending the encounter is accidental. Ji Yuan responds politely but remains suspicious, recognizing that Magui likely monitors his movements.
• Ji Yuan and Dream Butterfly share a nurturing master-and-spirit-pet relationship, with Ji Yuan actively testing and providing it with resources for advancement.

Chapter Summary: The Eve of the [Wine Cellar] Upgrade

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan studies five spirit-wine recipes suited to Foundation Establishment cultivators: Azure-Glaze Wine, Spirit-Affinity Wine, Moon-Dew Brew, Blood-Amber Wine, and Frost-Soul Wine.
• He determines that, even with the [Wine Cellar]’s assistance, the wines will require roughly five years to produce their original liquid. He gathers the necessary ingredients and reviews the remaining upgrade requirements:
  • 888 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones
  • One jin of Heart-Devouring Water
  • Three liang of Nine-Nether Incense
  • Knowledge of at least twenty spirit-wine brewing methods
• Ji Yuan begins studying the Fourth-Tier formation inheritance left by Array True Lord, a respected Rogue Cultivator and renowned Formation Master. He hopes to advance his formation skills and eventually upgrade his Level 2 Spirit-Energy Cannon into a Level 3 Meteor Cannon.
• He acknowledges that defeating Bone-Nightmare Old Devil is still beyond his current ability and decides to focus on cultivation and preparation rather than seek immediate revenge.
• Ji Yuan returns openly to Winterfrost City to purchase brewing materials, deliberately maintaining the appearance of a wine-loving cultivator. Magui follows him under Bone-Nightmare Old Devil’s orders, but Ji Yuan detects the surveillance.
• After purchasing nearly all the ingredients, Ji Yuan finds that Unity-Heart Flowers are extremely scarce. A winery owner directs him to Twin Blossom Palace in Black-Clad Lane.
• At Twin Blossom Palace, Ji Yuan purchases nearly one hundred Unity-Heart Flowers from Qi Hong. The palace attempts to recruit him for assistance, but he refuses, unwilling to become involved in their troubles. Qi Hong later realizes that the supposedly Pseudo-Core cultivator was actually a Core Formation cultivator concealing his strength.
• Ji Yuan contacts several auction houses regarding Nine-Nether Incense, planning to ask the Bone Nightmare Sect’s Core Formation cultivators and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother for help as well.
• Back at the Bone Nightmare Sect, he prepares five vats of spirit wine. The ingredients require careful, specialized processing, which he completes in three days. The wines will now ferment for four or five years before the [Wine Cellar] can be upgraded.
• Magui organizes a Golden Core Assembly for Ji Yuan. Ji Yuan learns that the event will bring together more than fifty Core Formation cultivators from the Bone Nightmare Sect.
• At the assembly, Ji Yuan enters under his identity as Hu Beizhi. Most cultivators rise to greet him, but High Person Yin Bone and the Six Extremes Youth remain seated.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother suddenly appears and confronts the two disrespectful cultivators, declaring that she intends to take Ji Yuan as her disciple and challenging them for looking down on him.

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Demonstrates careful planning, confidence, and increasing influence. He balances brewing, formation study, artifact development, intelligence gathering, and political maneuvering. He becomes more adept at concealing his cultivation and manipulating others’ perceptions, while remaining cautious about forming alliances.
• Magui: Acts as Ji Yuan’s protector and organizer within the Bone Nightmare Sect. Although ordered to investigate Ji Yuan, he treats him cordially and helps arrange the Golden Core Assembly.
• Bone-Nightmare Old Devil: Remains suspicious of Ji Yuan and orders Magui to follow him, but does not yet discover anything significant.
• Array True Lord: Her posthumous inheritance introduces a respected historical figure whose knowledge may help Ji Yuan become a Third-Order Formation Master.
• Qi Hong: Initially tries to persuade Ji Yuan to aid Twin Blossom Palace, but recognizes his true cultivation only after he leaves. Her response reveals the palace’s desperate need for powerful support.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: Shows strong support for Ji Yuan and publicly asserts her authority on his behalf, revealing that she is willing to defend his status and perhaps formally accept him as a disciple.

Significant Themes

• Preparation versus revenge: Ji Yuan understands that revenge against Bone-Nightmare Old Devil must wait until he is stronger, so he invests in long-term cultivation, brewing, formations, and weapon development.
• Concealed strength and misdirection: Ji Yuan repeatedly hides his identity and cultivation, allowing others to underestimate him while he gathers resources and information.
• The value of networks and reputation: His connection to Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother, Magui, auction houses, and various sects gives him access to resources and protection.
• Decline of sects and shifting power: Twin Blossom Palace’s fall from a major sect to a struggling organization illustrates how quickly immortal factions can decline when they lose powerful leaders.
• Legacy and inheritance: Array True Lord’s formation knowledge survives through her inheritance, emphasizing the importance of passing down expertise and preserving the Dao.
• Sect hierarchy and etiquette: The Golden Core Assembly highlights the strict status-conscious culture of the Demonic Dao, where a cultivator’s backing can matter as much as personal strength.

Important Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and Magui: Their relationship is outwardly cordial, but both remain aware of the political circumstances surrounding Ji Yuan’s arrival. Magui helps arrange the assembly while secretly monitoring him.
• Ji Yuan and the winery shopkeeper: The shopkeeper provides information about Unity-Heart Flowers after recognizing Ji Yuan as a valuable customer. Magui later pressures the shopkeeper for details.
• Ji Yuan and Qi Hong: Qi Hong attempts to exchange the flowers for Ji Yuan’s assistance, but he firmly insists on a simple business transaction. His refusal leaves Twin Blossom Palace disappointed but impressed by his hidden cultivation.
• Ji Yuan and Array True Lord: Though they never meet, Ji Yuan begins a mentor-student relationship with her through her inheritance.
• Ji Yuan and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: Their bond becomes publicly significant when she intervenes at the Golden Core Assembly and defends him against High Person Yin Bone and the Six Extremes Youth.
• Ji Yuan and the Bone Nightmare Sect elders: His entrance creates immediate curiosity and tension. Most elders show respect, while the two highest-status dissenters provoke Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother’s confrontation.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• At the Golden Core Assembly, Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother publicly defends Ji Yuan, punishing Six Extremes Youth and forcing High Person Yin Bone to treat Ji Yuan as her equal. She declares that seeing Ji Yuan is equivalent to seeing her, establishing his protected status within the Bone Nightmare Sect.
• After Ghost Mother leaves, the other Core Formation cultivators become much friendlier toward Ji Yuan, eager to build connections with someone backed by a Nascent Soul expert.
• Ji Yuan uses the gathering to ask about Nine-Nether Incense, a rare ingredient needed for his wine-brewing plans. Demon Slave, also known as Poison Consort, secretly informs him that she possesses three taels and agrees to trade with him privately.
• During the ensuing trading fair, Ji Yuan acquires a Divine-Fire Ant and several other resources intended to support his spirit beasts and upgrade his Ant Nest.
• After returning to Great Dream Island, Ji Yuan meets Demon Slave. She offers the Nine-Nether Incense without requesting payment, but asks to move her island beside his for protection from Feng Ma and, more importantly, Magui.
• Ji Yuan agrees, partly because he already considers Magui an enemy and has the backing of Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother. Demon Slave relocates beside him, creating a visible political confrontation with Magui and attracting attention throughout the sect.
• Ji Yuan spends the next five years in seclusion, cultivating, nurturing his spirit pets, and waiting for his wine-making system to become upgradeable.
• After five years, the Wine Cellar reaches level four. Ji Yuan performs the upgrade using Spirit Stones, Heart-Devouring Water, and Nine-Nether Incense. The process produces a new wine jug containing Nine-Nether Lifeburn Brew, while also temporarily enhancing his cultivation and Sword Canon comprehension.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Yuan becomes increasingly established within the Bone Nightmare Sect. Although he recognizes that much of his influence comes from Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother’s protection rather than his own strength, he learns to use that reputation strategically.
• He demonstrates greater confidence and decisiveness by accepting responsibility for Demon Slave’s safety and openly opposing Magui’s influence.
• Ji Yuan remains cautious and pragmatic. He avoids unnecessary attention, hides his interest in the Nine-Nether Incense, carefully manages his formations, and prefers secluded cultivation over social involvement.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother reinforces her possessive and domineering protection of Ji Yuan, making it clear that harming or disrespecting him is equivalent to challenging her.
• Demon Slave is shown to be both alluring and extremely cautious. Rather than publicly seeking Ji Yuan’s help, she negotiates privately and moves her island only after securing his protection.
• Magui emerges as a significant political and personal rival. His interest in Demon Slave and his previous role in exposing Ji Yuan to the Black-and-White Divine Hall deepen their hostility.
• Six Extremes Youth and High Person Yin Bone adjust their behavior toward Ji Yuan after witnessing Ghost Mother’s intervention, revealing the importance of status and backing in the cultivation world.

3. Significant Themes

• Power determines social standing: The cultivators respect Ji Yuan largely because of Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother’s strength and reputation. The chapter emphasizes that influence in the cultivation world depends on whose power stands behind someone.
• Protection creates obligations: Demon Slave’s “gift” of the Nine-Nether Incense is not truly free; it is exchanged for access to Ji Yuan’s protection and, indirectly, Ghost Mother’s authority.
• Political alliances and hidden currents: Demon Slave’s relocation appears simple on the surface but is understood by the sect as a declaration against Magui, reshaping the internal balance of power.
• Caution and survival: Nearly every major character acts indirectly—Demon Slave trades privately, Ji Yuan hides his intentions, and cultivators avoid openly challenging Ghost Mother. Survival depends on reading motives and avoiding unnecessary exposure.
• Cultivation as long-term accumulation: Ji Yuan’s progress comes through years of preparation, resource gathering, system upgrades, spirit-beast nurturing, and patient seclusion rather than a single dramatic breakthrough.
• Freedom versus dependence: Ji Yuan enjoys increased status but remains uneasy about relying on Ghost Mother’s protection, recognizing that his apparent authority is partly borrowed power.

4. Character Interactions

• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother and Ji Yuan: She forcefully establishes his position, while Ji Yuan remains puzzled and somewhat uncomfortable with the extent of her intervention. Nevertheless, he benefits from the authority she lends him.
• Ji Yuan and High Person Yin Bone: Yin Bone formally acknowledges Ji Yuan as an equal under Ghost Mother’s command. Ji Yuan responds politely despite the awkward power dynamics.
• Ji Yuan and Six Extremes Youth: After being punished, Six Extremes Youth immediately adopts a friendly attitude, and Ji Yuan responds diplomatically, both pretending the earlier conflict never occurred.
• Ji Yuan and Demon Slave: Their relationship begins as a private trade but becomes a political alliance. Demon Slave offers him the Nine-Nether Incense, while Ji Yuan gives her sanctuary beside his island.
• Ji Yuan and Magui: Though Magui does not confront him directly, their mutual hostility becomes more explicit. Ji Yuan uses Demon Slave’s relocation as an opportunity to challenge Magui’s influence without directly provoking a battle.
• Demon Slave and Feng Ma: Feng Ma’s attraction to her makes him one of the threats driving her request for protection.
• Demon Slave and An Yue: After Ji Yuan remains distant, Demon Slave forms a friendship with his other neighbor, An Yue.
• Ji Yuan and his spirit beasts: His cultivation routine includes caring for the Dream Butterfly, Blazing-Fire Army Ants, Spirit-Devouring Bees, Ice Flood Dragon, and Golden-Plume Thunderclap Chickens, emphasizing his growing responsibilities beyond personal cultivation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan obtains the newly upgraded Nine-Nether Lifeburn Brew but immediately enters cultivation to take advantage of the Wine Cellar’s temporary upgrade insights. Five days later, he examines its effects.
• The Nine-Nether Lifeburn Brew can burn fifty years of lifespan to temporarily raise a cultivator’s realm by one major stage, up to the Nascent Soul Peak. Ji Yuan realizes it could reverse the outcome of a deadly battle, but he decides to reserve it carefully rather than use or trade it casually.
• The Level 5 Wine Cellar also produces Nine-Yang Lifebuilding Brew, which restores fifty years of lifespan when consumed under the sun. However, each person may consume it only once, and one tael takes two years to produce. Ji Yuan is frustrated by its slow production and the Wine Cellar’s lack of a third spirit effect.
• The Wine Cellar’s future upgrade requires vast resources, including Evergreen Water, Essence of the Nine Yangs, and mastery of fifty brewing methods. Ji Yuan is still thirty brewing methods short and resolves to continue experimenting.
• Ji Yuan’s Azure Billows Nine Tribulations Sword Canon reaches 180/400 proficiency, bringing him closer to the Golden Core Middle Stage. He estimates that continued secluded cultivation could allow him to break through within roughly ten years.
• His spiritual cultivation is progressing well, but his body cultivation has stagnated at the late stages of Sinew Tempering. Because accumulated vitality and blood are making further progress difficult, Ji Yuan decides to create a new building suited for body cultivation, tentatively calling it a Martial Practice Arena.
• Despite constructing a practice area with weapons and bonfires, the building fails to manifest. Ji Yuan suspects he has not discovered the correct activation conditions.
• Bone Demon Old Devil and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother discuss major political developments. The Black-and-White Divine Hall has discovered a deeply buried gate using a Fourth Tier mutated Gold-Seeking Mouse, but the gate cannot be opened by Nascent Soul cultivators. The discovery has nevertheless produced numerous smaller secret realms.
• The two speculate that the gate may be connected to the Rakshasa Sea and plan to use the situation to test whether the Black-and-White Divine Hall’s supposedly deceased Spirit Transformation patriarch is still alive.
• They also discuss rumors that Heavenly Fiend Mountain and the Sea Ruins Lord may have secretly colluded with the Demon Race, suggesting that the struggle for power among the Human Race’s major factions is becoming much more dangerous.
• Demon Slave, using An Yue as an intermediary, tells Ji Yuan that many secret realms have appeared around the Northwest Sand Prison. Several Golden Core opportunities and even possible Nascent Soul opportunities have attracted cultivators from across the Primordial Holy Land.
• Demon Slave invites Ji Yuan to explore a newly discovered secret realm with her and An Yue, but Ji Yuan refuses, believing involvement would bring unnecessary danger.
• Ji Yuan instead decides to travel to Winterfrost City. He wants to search for Du Wanyi and Liu Yuan, purchase resources to advance the Ant King and upgrade the Ant Nest, and look for rare materials needed for the Martial Practice Arena.
• Disguised as the rogue cultivator Li Changshou, Ji Yuan reaches Winterfrost City. He cannot contact Du Wanyi or Liu Yuan and concludes that neither has arrived.
• He spends several days gathering information and purchasing spirit-beast resources, exhausting two years of Spirit Vein output. However, he finds no suitable high-grade building materials.
• Ji Yuan finally meets Wen Jiu, who reveals that he suffered serious injuries while the Black-and-White Divine Hall was being tested by outside factions. Wen Jiu also reveals that he is now married.
• Wen Jiu offers Ji Yuan the locations and entry methods for three secret realms, but Ji Yuan again declines involvement. Wen Jiu then hints that he has another piece of potentially useful information and begins transmitting it privately, ending the chapter on a cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan becomes more cautious and strategically minded. He recognizes the Nine-Nether Lifeburn Brew as a powerful emergency weapon but refuses to waste it or let others exploit him in a trade.
• He remains committed to secluded cultivation, yet acknowledges the weakness of his body cultivation and begins seeking a systematic solution rather than relying solely on consumed treasures.
• Ji Yuan’s caution toward secret realms and suspicious allies is reinforced. Although he is curious about the opportunities, he prioritizes long-term safety and preparation.
• Bone Demon Old Devil and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother appear increasingly ambitious and politically aware. They are prepared to manipulate the Rakshasa Sea crisis to test their rivals and challenge the established order.
• Demon Slave continues trying to repay Ji Yuan for protecting her, while also displaying her usual boldness and social confidence. An Yue, by contrast, remains timid and uncomfortable acting as an intermediary.
• Wen Jiu has become visibly worn down, having suffered injuries and aged prematurely in appearance. His marriage suggests a new stage in his personal life, but his injuries and the political pressure on the Black-and-White Divine Hall indicate growing instability.

Significant Themes

• Power versus cost: The Nine-Nether Lifeburn Brew offers overwhelming strength, but at the price of fifty years of life. Its counterpart, the Nine-Yang Lifebuilding Brew, restores lifespan but is severely limited.
• Caution and survival: Ji Yuan repeatedly rejects tempting opportunities because he recognizes that secret realms and factional conflicts conceal greater dangers.
• Preparation over recklessness: His focus on brewing more wines, improving cultivation, strengthening the Ant King, and developing the Martial Practice Arena reflects a long-term strategy.
• Political upheaval: The possible emergence of the Rakshasa Sea and rumors of alliances with the Demon Race threaten to destabilize the entire Human cultivation world.
• Cultivation bottlenecks: Ji Yuan’s spiritual progress contrasts with his stalled body cultivation, emphasizing that different paths require different resources and methods.
• Hidden identities and information: Ji Yuan travels under the Li Changshou identity, while major factions conceal their true motives. Information itself becomes a valuable and dangerous form of power.

Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan internally evaluates how best to use or trade the Nine-Nether Lifeburn Brew.
• Bone Demon Old Devil and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother discuss Hu Beiji, Magui, the Black-and-White Divine Hall, Heavenly Fiend Mountain, the Rakshasa Sea, and possible Demon Race collusion.
• Demon Slave and An Yue approach Ji Yuan about exploring a secret realm; Ji Yuan refuses and leaves before they can persuade him.
• Ji Yuan meets Wen Jiu at a tavern in Winterfrost City. They exchange updates about their lives, the Black-and-White Divine Hall’s situation, and the secret realms.
• Wen Jiu ends the meeting by offering Ji Yuan confidential information, setting up the next chapter’s revelation.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Wen Jiu reveals that a powerful secret realm will eventually appear in the Northwest Sand Prison, containing numerous treasures and opportunities. He warns Ji Yuan to obtain as many Skeleton Rings as possible if he encounters them, though he cannot reveal more.
• Ji Yuan encourages Wen Jiu to view the dangers surrounding Winterfrost City as potential opportunities rather than misfortune.
• Ji Yuan gives Wen Jiu a large supply of Improved Qi-Blood Pills, Peerless Wine, and three drops of Millennium Spirit Milk. One pill immediately heals Wen Jiu’s long-standing injuries, restores his vitality, and turns his graying hair black. Wen Jiu accepts Ji Yuan as a true friend and promises to repay his kindness.
• Ji Yuan is summoned to the Bone Demon Sect’s inner circle, where Bone Demon Old Devil orders him and Magui to participate in the destruction of the Zhou Household.
• The Zhou Household once helped found the Bone Demon Sect but has declined over the centuries. Its remaining valuable asset is a Voidspace Stone Vein on Black Wind Island. After forming ties with the Black-and-White Divine Hall, the family had temporarily been protected, but the Bone Demon Sect now decides to eliminate it.
• Bone Demon Old Devil places Ji Yuan in command of the operation, ordering Magui to follow him. Magui is angered and humiliated but is forced to obey.
• The Bone Demon Sect attacks Black Wind Island. Its overwhelming force easily destroys the island’s defenses. Magui kills Zhou Xinghu with his Life-bound Dharma Treasure, the Demon Marrow Drill, while Zhou Yan is killed separately in Black-and-White City.
• The Zhou Household makes a final stand and triggers a devastating explosion within the Voidspace Stone Vein, killing many members of both sides and causing widespread collapses.
• Ji Yuan and Magui enter the mine to investigate. Ji Yuan secretly uses his Thousand-Soul Banner to absorb the Yin energy and souls of the dead.
• Magui briefly considers killing Ji Yuan and blaming his death on the Zhou Household, but abandons the plan because he cannot be certain of defeating Ji Yuan in one strike.
• The two agree to split up for three days to rescue surviving sect members. Ji Yuan instead uses the opportunity to search for Voidspace Stones.
• Ji Yuan rescues surviving Bone Demon Sect cultivators, absorbs the dead into his Human Sovereign Banner, and eventually reaches the deepest part of the mine, where he discovers a large concentration of Voidspace Stones.
• The chapter ends with Ji Yuan preparing to test whether he can construct the [Voidspace Stone Vein] building inside the actual mineral vein.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Demonstrates generosity, strategic thinking, and growing confidence. He treats Wen Jiu sincerely while also exploiting the chaotic mine operation to gather resources. His cultivation and physical strength have advanced enough that he is no longer intimidated by Magui’s aura, and he quietly evaluates the possibility of killing him.
• Wen Jiu: Recovers completely from his injuries and becomes more optimistic about his future. Ji Yuan’s advice helps him reinterpret danger as an opportunity, strengthening his resolve to remain in Winterfrost City.
• Magui: Reveals resentment toward the Zhou Household due to past humiliation. Although he is powerful and ruthless, he feels increasingly threatened by Ji Yuan and becomes jealous and suspicious of him. His inability to intimidate Ji Yuan further deepens his unease.
• Bone Demon Old Devil and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: Their conversation reveals that they view Ji Yuan as a useful but temporary asset. They are impressed that he formed a Golden Core despite possessing a False Spiritual Root, but they ultimately plan to refine and kill him after the Rakshasa Sea matter is resolved.
• Zhou Household: Its downfall is completed. Once a respected founding family, it is reduced to a desperate final stand and is exterminated after refusing to surrender its remaining privileges and resources.

3. Significant Themes

• Friendship versus political utility: Ji Yuan’s relationship with Wen Jiu is based on genuine trust and generosity, contrasting with the Bone Demon Sect’s manipulative alliances and plans to dispose of Ji Yuan.
• Danger as opportunity: Both Ji Yuan and Wen Jiu recognize that dangerous circumstances can provide access to rare opportunities and resources.
• Decline of old powers: The Zhou Household’s fall illustrates how aristocratic families lose influence when they can no longer produce powerful cultivators or protect their privileges.
• Hidden ambition and betrayal: Nearly every faction is maneuvering for advantage. The Zhou Household sought outside protection, the Bone Demon Sect plans to eliminate Ji Yuan eventually, and Magui considers murdering him for personal gain.
• Resource accumulation and survival: Ji Yuan’s actions in the mine show his pragmatic priorities. Even during a disaster, he focuses on acquiring Voidspace Stones and strengthening his foundation for future construction and cultivation.
• Appearance versus reality: Ji Yuan appears refined and restrained but possesses powerful, sinister tools such as the Thousand-Soul Banner. Similarly, Magui’s outward obedience conceals resentment and murderous thoughts.

4. Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and Wen Jiu: Their conversation establishes a sincere friendship. Ji Yuan gives Wen Jiu crucial information, emotional encouragement, and healing resources, while Wen Jiu offers Ji Yuan intelligence about future opportunities.
• Ji Yuan and Magui: Their relationship is tense and competitive. Ji Yuan politely defers to Magui at first but gradually asserts authority. Magui attempts to intimidate him, yet Ji Yuan remains unaffected and later insists on accompanying him into the dangerous depths of the mine.
• Ji Yuan and Bone Demon Old Devil/Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: Ji Yuan behaves respectfully toward his nominal superiors, but the reader learns that they secretly intend to kill him after using him. Their approval is therefore conditional and deceptive.
• Magui and the Zhou Household: Magui’s attack is fueled by an old grudge. Killing Zhou Xinghu gives him emotional satisfaction and a sense of revenge.
• Bone Demon Old Devil and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother: Their discussion exposes their concerns about Ji Yuan’s slow cultivation, his extraordinary achievement with a False Spiritual Root, and their decision to eventually sacrifice him for the Rakshasa Sea plan.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan attempts to activate the Voidspace Stone Vein as a panel building, but discovers the panel does not recognize or possess such a building. He abandons the attempt and instead uses his Blazing-Fire Army Ants to mine the vein directly.
• Over three days, Ji Yuan secretly excavates nearly a hundred jin of Voidspace Stone, disguising the damage with a flying spirit artifact so that it appears the vein was naturally damaged during his guarding duties. He eventually stops to avoid attracting Bone Demon Old Devil’s suspicion.
• After returning to Dream Demon Island, Ji Yuan is granted five years of leave. Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother also gives him an Azure Bamboo Profound Spirit, claiming it can help him reach the Golden Core Middle Stage within three years.
• Magui becomes suspicious of Ji Yuan’s favored treatment and realizes that Ji Yuan may merely be “consumable material” for the Bone Demon Sect, while Magui himself is being groomed as Bone Demon Old Devil’s successor. Bone Demon Old Devil reinforces this belief by warning Magui not to interfere in matters beyond his concern.
• Ji Yuan suspects that the Bone Demon Old Devil and Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother intend to refine or devour the Corpse Yin Demonfire within him. He decides not to use the gifted treasure directly, fearing it may contain a hidden method of control.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother reveals that she wants Ji Yuan to accompany her into the Northwest Sand Prison’s upcoming secret realm. She needs him to assist her against powerful Golden Core cultivators and their Nascent Soul-backed disciples.
• Ji Yuan realizes the secret realm may provide a chance to escape the Bone Demon Sect and change his identity. He stores the Azure Bamboo Profound Spirit safely and instead cultivates using his own resources, including the Scripture Pavilion, Dao Comprehension Chamber, and Dan Yuan Fruit.
• In a parallel storyline, Qiu Qianhai recovers from pursuit by Blood Luo Mountain. He and Dream-Demon True Lord decide to return to the Abyssal Continent because of the disturbances in the Northwest Sand Prison and the possibility of obtaining a major opportunity.
• After four years of secluded cultivation, Ji Yuan finally breaks through from the Golden Core Early Stage to the Golden Core Middle Stage.

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan becomes increasingly cautious and strategic. He refuses to rely blindly on the Bone Demon Sect’s gifts, recognizing that their generosity likely serves a larger scheme. He also begins planning several escape routes and prepares to conceal his cultivation with the Breath-Concealing Formula.
• Ji Yuan’s confidence grows as he strengthens his resources: his sword formations, Demonfire, spirit beasts, and stored treasures all advance, giving him more options against his powerful enemies.
• Magui shifts from resentment and jealousy toward fear. After learning that Ji Yuan is considered expendable while he is viewed as Bone Demon Old Devil’s successor, Magui becomes excited by his supposed favored status, though he remains uncertain whether his master is deceiving him.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother is shown to have a complicated and possibly unsettling emotional attachment to Ji Yuan. Her behavior softens when he reminds her of people from her past, but her true motives remain only partly revealed.
• Bone Demon Old Devil confirms that he regards Ji Yuan as a tool while viewing Magui as a potential heir, though his words may themselves be manipulative.
• Qiu Qianhai remains determined to reach the Golden Core Middle Stage and return to the Abyssal Continent to confront those who once pursued him.
• Dream-Demon True Lord continues concealing the truth about Qiu Qianhai’s old friend, believing that hatred is necessary to sustain Qiu Qianhai’s will to survive and grow stronger.

Significant Themes

• Paranoia and survival: Ji Yuan must treat every act of generosity as potentially dangerous because his masters may be preparing to exploit or consume him.
• Manipulation and uncertainty: Nearly every major character hides information or manipulates others, making appearances unreliable.
• Strength as protection: Ji Yuan views cultivation not merely as advancement but as the minimum condition for preserving his life and freedom.
• Identity and escape: The secret realm offers Ji Yuan a potential opportunity to abandon his current identity and escape the Bone Demon Sect’s control.
• Master-disciple relationships: The chapter contrasts genuine-seeming affection with exploitation, questioning whether loyalty and care can exist within relationships built on power.
• Resourcefulness over talent: Despite poor spiritual aptitude, Ji Yuan compensates through planning, treasures, spirit beasts, formations, and system-related abilities.

Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan directs the Blazing-Fire Army Ants while carefully concealing his mining operation from the demon guards.
• Magui observes Ji Yuan’s special treatment and privately reassesses both Ji Yuan and his own position within the sect.
• Bone Demon Old Devil privately reassures and intimidates Magui, calling Ji Yuan expendable while naming Magui as a future successor.
• Ji Yuan confronts Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother indirectly about the purpose of her gifts. She admits that she needs him for the Northwest Sand Prison secret realm but does not fully reveal her broader motives.
• Fire-Spirit Ghost Mother’s intimate gesture and nostalgic remarks unsettle Ji Yuan, leaving him uncertain whether her feelings are maternal, sentimental, or dangerous.
• Qiu Qianhai and Dream-Demon True Lord discuss returning to the Abyssal Continent, while Dream-Demon True Lord continues withholding information about Qiu Qianhai’s past.
• The chapter ends with Ji Yuan achieving the Golden Core Middle Stage, greatly improving his chances of surviving—and potentially escaping—the schemes surrounding him.

Summary

• Key events: A “double monthly votes” event has started and will run until October 7. The author urges readers to cast their monthly votes in support.
• Character developments: The author, referring to themself as Little Dream, expresses gratitude and humility toward the readers.
• Themes: Reader support, appreciation, community participation, and urgency due to the limited voting period.
• Character interactions: Little Dream directly addresses the audience as “fellow Daoists,” playfully acknowledging that they were once “lured” into reading and now asks them to return that support through votes.

Chapter Summary: “The New Building for Containment! [Double Request for Monthly Tickets]”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan successfully advances his Golden Core to the Middle Stage after four years of secluded cultivation. He conceals the breakthrough with the Breath-Concealing Formula, making himself appear to remain at the Early Stage so the Corpse Spirit Mother will underestimate him.
• He consumes a Four-Color Spirit Egg to purify and stabilize his Golden Core, then focuses on improving his Divine Sense through the Nine-Gate Soul-Calming Scripture.
• Ji Yuan plans to strengthen his body cultivation and create the [Martial Demonstration Arena], while also investigating the growing turmoil surrounding the Northwest Sand Prison, the Rakshasa Sea, and the rumored great secret realm.
• The demon servant reveals that the Northwest Sand Prison has become extremely dangerous due to:
  • Rumors of a vast secret realm containing opportunities to advance from Nascent Soul to Spirit Transformation.
  • Numerous Core Formation bandits preying on explorers.
  • The Eight Sacred Grounds and Black-and-White Divine Hall hunting descendants of the Yin Ghost Sect.
• An Yue explains that the Black-and-White Divine Hall may be trying to use the sinners’ blood to form a seal and reopen the secret-realm gate. Ji Yuan privately knows the gate may possess a living formation spirit, making the situation more complicated.
• Ji Yuan decides to leave the Bone Demon Sect and travel to Winterfrost City, despite the risk of attracting the Corpse Spirit Mother’s attention.
• Before leaving, he checks his treasures and spirit creatures:
  • Dream Butterfly has reached the Late Second Tier and may soon advance to the Third Tier.
  • Winter Worm remains asleep despite his efforts to awaken it.
  • The Blazing-Fire Army Ants have recovered and multiplied, while the Ant King remains at the Peak Second Tier.
• Ji Yuan successfully contains the [Spirit Field] within the fourth level of Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain. The new building greatly increases the weight and burden of the Life-bound Dharma Treasure, leaving room for only one more inexpensive building, such as the [Kitchen], before his cultivation improves.
• He meets Fire Spirit Ghost Mother, who is disappointed that he has not yet broken through after refining the Green Bamboo Mystic Spirit. Ji Yuan pretends that his poor aptitude caused the failure. She permits him to visit Winterfrost City but warns him not to enter the Northwest Sand Prison.
• Upon reaching Winterfrost City, Ji Yuan receives messages from several acquaintances:
  • Mu Xueyao has returned and gone to the Northwest Sand Prison with other sinners to rescue their captured clansmen.
  • Wen Jiu has had a daughter and invites Ji Yuan to visit, while also warning him about the danger in the Sand Prison.
  • A major auction hosted by the Wave-Listening Pavilion is scheduled for the following month.
• Ji Yuan prepares gifts for Wen Jiu and his daughter, including wine, Millennium Spirit Milk, and a specially crafted Demon-Warding Ring. Wen Jiu immediately urges him to come over.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Becomes significantly stronger and more cautious. He now possesses hidden Middle-Stage Golden Core cultivation, expanding Divine Sense, improved body-cultivation potential, and a growing collection of powerful spirit creatures and treasures. He continues to rely on disguises and deception while balancing personal advancement with concern for his friends.
• An Yue: Reveals that she possesses deeper knowledge and a more decisive personality than she usually displays. Her observation of Ji Yuan’s “purple qi” convinces her that he has escaped the deadly situation posed by two Nascent Soul cultivators.
• The Demon Servant: Remains outwardly charming and flirtatious but shows genuine concern for An Yue and awareness of the dangerous political situation. She appears to possess hidden secrets connected to the hunted sinners.
• Fire Spirit Ghost Mother: Initially angry that Ji Yuan has not broken through, but her concern for him leads her to allow his trip to Winterfrost City while warning him against unnecessary danger.
• Mu Xueyao: Demonstrates loyalty and courage by returning to Winterfrost City and entering the Northwest Sand Prison to help rescue her fellow sinners.
• Wen Jiu: Has begun a family and now has a daughter. His relationship with Ji Yuan remains warm and enthusiastic, and he appears to have obtained an important treasure.

3. Significant Themes

• Concealment and deception: Ji Yuan hides his true cultivation from the Bone Demon Sect, while larger factions manipulate rumors and disguise their intentions surrounding the secret realm.
• Power versus caution: Ji Yuan’s increased strength gives him confidence, but he continues to avoid revealing himself or directly confronting powerful enemies.
• Loyalty and personal bonds: Mu Xueyao’s decision to rescue her clansmen and Ji Yuan’s willingness to help friends emphasize that relationships can matter more than cultivation.
• The cost of advancement: Ji Yuan’s spirit creatures and magical buildings require enormous resources, showing that progress demands sustained investment.
• Fate and survival: An Yue’s observation of Ji Yuan’s changing omen suggests that he has escaped a previously fatal predicament and may now be entering a period of rising fortune.
• Living treasures and hidden potential: Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain, the secret-realm gate, the Winter Worm, and the various spirit creatures all hint that seemingly static objects may contain immense, unrealized power.

4. Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan consults the demon servant and An Yue about the Northwest Sand Prison. An Yue unexpectedly contributes crucial information, earning Ji Yuan’s attention and prompting the demon servant’s concern.
• An Yue and the demon servant privately discuss Ji Yuan after he leaves, concluding that he has likely overcome the threat posed by the two Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Ji Yuan deceives Fire Spirit Ghost Mother by claiming that his breakthrough failed because of his poor aptitude, while she responds with reluctant sympathy and advice.
• Ji Yuan reconnects with Mu Xueyao through her voice transmissions, reflecting on their friendship and her willingness to risk herself for the sinners.
• Ji Yuan prepares to visit Wen Jiu and meet his daughter, strengthening their longstanding friendship through gifts and personal effort.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan visits Wen Jiu’s mountain residence in Winterfrost City, where he meets Wen Jiu’s wife, Yan Lanlan, and younger brother, Wen Jun.
• He gives Wen Jiu and his family valuable gifts, including a protective jade ring for Wen Yuer and a Talisman Treasure for Wen Jun.
• Wen Jiu reveals that he obtained a small amount of Divine Spirit Incense, which temporarily enhances comprehension. He invites Ji Yuan and his family to use it together.
• During the meditation session, Ji Yuan uses the incense to study his Fourth-Tier Formation inheritance. The enhanced comprehension helps him break through to become a Third-Order Formation Master.
• Ji Yuan tests his newly improved formation understanding on his Yin Ghost Formation, discovering and correcting several flaws.
• He then repairs a problem in Wen Jiu’s mountain-protecting formation, identifying that Yan Lanlan’s earth-based techniques had disrupted its water-and-wood foundation.
• Ji Yuan celebrates his breakthrough with Wen Jiu’s family and learns about the upcoming Wave-Listening Pavilion Auction.
• At the auction, Ji Yuan successfully purchases three portions of Demon-Seizing Powder for nearly nine thousand middle-grade spirit stones. He intends to use it to help his peak second-tier spirit beasts break through to the third tier.
• Ji Yuan spends additional time studying Winterfrost City’s Martial Practice Arena, realizing that genuine sparring may be necessary to activate the special arena he constructed himself.
• After saying farewell to Wen Jiu, Ji Yuan deliberately travels east before turning north, concealing his true route and avoiding revealing matters connected to his other identities.
• While traveling north, he discovers Xing Shuang being pursued by the Kuixing Island Twin Fiends: the Mountain-Splitting Devil Master, a Golden Core Late Stage cultivator, and his Golden Core Middle Stage wife.
• Although Ji Yuan’s first instinct is to avoid the conflict, he chooses to intervene because he regards Xing Shuang as a friend.
• Xing Shuang recognizes Ji Yuan’s disguised identity as “Brother Liu.” Ji Yuan gives her instructions to heal and stall the female pursuer while he confronts the stronger Mountain-Splitting Devil Master.
• The chapter ends as the Mountain-Splitting Devil Master attacks Ji Yuan with a massive axe projection.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: Makes a major advancement by becoming a Third-Order Formation Master. His confidence in his formation abilities grows, and he begins actively seeking opportunities to practice. He also demonstrates generosity toward Wen Jiu’s family and a willingness to risk himself for Xing Shuang despite usually avoiding unnecessary conflicts.
• Wen Jiu: Reveals himself to be warm, sociable, and deeply protective of his family. He enthusiastically shares the Divine Spirit Incense and trusts Ji Yuan enough to ask him to repair his sect-protecting formation.
• Yan Lanlan: Shows herself to be a capable Golden Core cultivator and a supportive wife. Her earth-based cultivation unintentionally interfered with Wen Jiu’s formation, but she remains attentive to Ji Yuan’s abilities and suspicious of his connection to demonic formations.
• Wen Jun: Is cheerful, outspoken, and optimistic. The Divine Spirit Incense helps him approach the Pseudo-Core realm, while Ji Yuan’s gift of a Talisman Treasure gives him an important defensive trump card.
• Xing Shuang: Despite being badly injured and pursued by powerful enemies, she still worries about Ji Yuan’s safety and urges him to escape. Her willingness to face death rather than endanger him strengthens their friendship.
• Ji Yuan’s spirit beasts: Though absent from the chapter’s main events, their future advancement becomes an important goal through Ji Yuan’s purchase of the Demon-Seizing Powder.

3. Significant Themes

• Friendship and mutual aid: Ji Yuan’s relationship with Wen Jiu’s family is strengthened through gifts, shared opportunities, and cooperation. His decision to save Xing Shuang shows that friendship can outweigh caution.
• Cultivation through opportunity: The Divine Spirit Incense illustrates how rare resources can accelerate comprehension, but personal talent and persistence remain essential.
• Formation mastery and practical knowledge: Ji Yuan’s breakthrough is not merely theoretical. He immediately applies his understanding to improve his own formation and repair Wen Jiu’s.
• Generosity and trust: Wen Jiu and Yan Lanlan offer financial assistance to Ji Yuan, while Ji Yuan freely gives treasures to their family. Their exchanges build genuine trust.
• Orthodox and Demonic Dao distinctions: The chapter questions rigid moral divisions, presenting demonic techniques as potentially legitimate tools depending on how they are used.
• Hidden identities and strategic caution: Ji Yuan continues concealing his true background and deliberately alters his travel route, balancing secrecy with the need to help others.
• Facing stronger opponents: Ji Yuan’s intervention against the Twin Fiends marks a potential test of his true combat strength against a Golden Core Late Stage cultivator.

4. Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and Wen Jiu share a warm friendship, with Wen Jiu welcoming him into his home and Ji Yuan helping repair his formation.
• Ji Yuan and Wen Jun develop a friendly rapport. Ji Yuan secretly gives him a Talisman Treasure, while Wen Jun openly asks for formation guidance.
• Ji Yuan’s interactions with Yan Lanlan are respectful and cordial, though she remains curious and somewhat wary of his Yin Ghost Formation.
• Wen Jiu and Yan Lanlan show strong marital cooperation, discussing their cultivation progress and jointly offering Ji Yuan financial support.
• Wen Jiu treats Wen Jun like a teasing but responsible elder brother, encouraging him to pursue genuine Golden Core Formation rather than becoming complacent with the Pseudo-Core stage.
• Ji Yuan and Xing Shuang renew their connection under dangerous circumstances. Xing Shuang initially tries to protect him by urging him to flee, but Ji Yuan instead organizes their counterattack.
• Ji Yuan confronts the Kuixing Island Twin Fiends, who underestimate him because of his apparent Golden Core Early Stage cultivation. The chapter closes with their first direct clash.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan intervenes when Xing Shuang is attacked by the Kui Star Twin Fiends, throwing her a Qi-Blood Pill and using Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain to block the Mountain-Splitting Devil Master’s axe.
• The restored Xing Shuang consumes her last drop of Millennium Spirit Milk, regains her strength, and engages the female fiend.
• Ji Yuan traps the Mountain-Splitting Devil Master inside a Yin Ghost Formation and attacks him with Corpse Yin Demonfire. The devil master mistakenly assumes Ji Yuan is the demonic cultivator Mo Tusheng.
• The Mountain-Splitting Devil Master unleashes his Demonic Baleful Earthsplitter Art, transforming into a powerful three-zhang-tall demonic body whose strength approaches the Golden Core Peak Stage.
• Ji Yuan counters with Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain and Zixiao Divine Thunder, exploiting the thunder’s power against demonic and evil techniques.
• After breaking free of the formation, the devil master is ambushed by flying swords Ji Yuan had secretly concealed underground. A second wave of Zixiao Divine Thunder nearly kills him.
• The devil master uses a damaged True Treasure, the Bronze Glazed Lamp, to resist the thunder and flee. Ji Yuan pursues him with Lightning-Chasing Cloud, revealing speed comparable to or exceeding that of a Golden Core Peak cultivator.
• The devil master attempts to bargain, but Ji Yuan refuses, saying that killing him will yield all his possessions anyway.
• After exhausting the lamp’s protection, Ji Yuan closes in physically, proving he is also a body cultivator. With help from two Third-Order Ice Flood Dragons, he seizes and severely injures the devil master, then kills him with Zixiao Divine Thunder.
• Ji Yuan captures the devil master’s Golden Core Late Stage soul in the Thousand-Soul Banner and stores his corpse and belongings inside Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain.
• Xing Shuang kills the female fiend and erases the traces of battle. The two return to Winterfrost City before separating.
• Xing Shuang explains that the Twin Fiends pursued her because she had obtained treasures from inside an injured Third-Order Demon Beast. She gives Ji Yuan one of them: a Yin Ghost Sect token connected to the mysterious Rakshasa Sea.
• Ji Yuan returns to the Bone Nightmare Sect, then enters the newly acquired Martial Practice Arena to investigate its function.
• He challenges Monday, one of his Flood Dragons, by offering Millennial Cold Spirit Milk as a reward. After dodging Monday’s freezing breath and striking it, the arena activates and displays: [Martial Practice Arena: lv0].

2. Character Developments

• Ji Yuan reveals the full extent of his strength and resources. Though publicly disguised as a weaker cultivator, he demonstrates mastery of formations, demonic fire, Zixiao Divine Thunder, flying swords, body cultivation, powerful movement techniques, and multiple spirit beasts.
• Ji Yuan also shows increasing ruthlessness and practicality. He refuses the devil master’s offer of surrender, reasoning that killing him will provide greater rewards.
• Xing Shuang recovers from near death and displays her actual combat ability, overwhelming the female fiend once her injuries and spiritual power are restored. Her trust in Ji Yuan deepens, and she openly shares her history and the treasure she found.
• Mountain-Splitting Devil Master shifts from arrogance to panic. He initially looks down on Ji Yuan, then becomes increasingly shocked by Ji Yuan’s formations, thunder techniques, speed, physical strength, and two Flood Dragons. His desperation culminates in attempting to flee and bargain before being killed.
• The female fiend loses confidence after seeing her husband defeated. Her plea for mercy reflects her collapse from aggressive confidence to desperation.
• Monday is motivated by the promise of Millennial Cold Spirit Milk and becomes Ji Yuan’s first opponent in the Martial Practice Arena.

3. Significant Themes

• Hidden strength and deception: Ji Yuan’s disguises conceal a far greater cultivation level and arsenal than his enemies expect.
• Preparation and strategy: Ji Yuan wins not through a single overwhelming technique, but by layering formations, concealed swords, spirit beasts, defensive treasures, and coordinated attacks.
• The danger of arrogance: The Mountain-Splitting Devil Master repeatedly underestimates Ji Yuan, giving him opportunities to counterattack and ultimately die.
• Survival and betrayal: When defeat becomes certain, the Twin Fiends abandon one another, showing how quickly alliances based on self-interest collapse.
• Power and resources: Treasures such as the Bronze Glazed Lamp, Zixiao Stone weapons, and the Yin Ghost Sect token demonstrate the importance of rare artifacts in cultivation.
• Mystery and future cultivation opportunities: The Yin Ghost Sect token expands the mystery surrounding the Rakshasa Sea, while the Martial Practice Arena introduces a new unexplored system or training function.
• Practical ruthlessness: Ji Yuan treats defeated enemies, corpses, and souls as resources, reflecting the harsh logic of the cultivation world.

4. Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan saves Xing Shuang and supplies her with the Qi-Blood Pill, allowing her to recover and fight effectively.
• Xing Shuang provides Ji Yuan with information about the Mountain-Splitting Devil Master’s technique and later gives him the Yin Ghost Sect token.
• Ji Yuan and Xing Shuang coordinate during battle through voice transmissions, dividing their opponents and ensuring neither fiend escapes.
• Ji Yuan and the Mountain-Splitting Devil Master engage in a prolonged battle of formations, demonic arts, thunder techniques, and treasures, ending with Ji Yuan’s physical execution of the devil master.
• Xing Shuang’s repeated interaction with Ji Yuan reinforces their mutual trust and growing partnership, while her plan to attempt another breakthrough to Golden Core Late Stage gives her a continuing personal objective.
• Ji Yuan’s humorous exchange with Monday introduces a lighter tone after the intense battle and leads directly to the activation of the Martial Practice Arena.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan activates the newly formed Martial Practice Arena by sparring with Monday, the Ice Flood Dragon. Monday initially defeats him through a sneak attack, but Ji Yuan quickly subdues him and rewards him with Millennial Cold Spirit Milk.
• The encounter reminds Ji Yuan of Giant Toad, his oldest and most deeply bonded spirit beast, who disappeared after refusing to leave Mist Island. Ji Yuan briefly worries that they may never meet again.
• Ji Yuan upgrades the Martial Practice Arena using 100 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones and 100 jin of Inkmetal. The upgraded arena grants:
  • Increased body-tempering efficiency.
  • Access to the first floor of the mysterious Martial God Tower through the “Heaven-Piercing Martial God” Spirit Effect.
• He acquires the materials needed for further upgrades through the Bone Nightmare Sect’s trading island, Floating Dream Ruins. The sect’s Foundation Establishment manager helps him obtain Mother Inkmetal and Black Flint, though the latter takes over half a month to arrive.
• Ji Yuan enters the Martial God Tower and discovers that:
  • His spiritual power and Golden Core cannot be used inside, but his physical body and blood qi remain.
  • The tower is a body-tempering trial ground.
  • A ranking stele records the names of those who clear its floors.
• On the first floor, Ji Yuan battles successive waves of armored soldiers:
  • Early Skin Tempering Black Iron Soldiers.
  • Middle Skin Tempering Bronze Soldiers.
  • Late Skin Tempering Silver Soldiers.
  • Peak Skin Tempering Golden Soldiers.
• After clearing the floor, Ji Yuan receives a blood-qi reward and unlocks a teleportation formation, though it cannot function until the Martial Practice Arena is upgraded further.
• Ji Yuan discovers that he has entered the tower through consciousness rather than physically. His body remains in the cave abode, confirmed by Monday, yet the tower’s blood-qi rewards still return to his actual body.
• He hears mysterious voices mentioning the Martial God Continent and lamenting the absence of a Martial God Tower there, suggesting that the tower may be connected to that continent or to events from the past.
• Ji Yuan later obtains the remaining materials and upgrades the Martial Practice Arena again. Its body-tempering bonus rises to 60%, and he gains access to the second floor of the Martial God Tower.
• After replaying the first floor without receiving another reward, Ji Yuan enters the second floor. The enemies are now early Sinew Tempering Black Iron Soldiers. Unlike the first floor’s opponents, they are strong enough to react to his attacks and threaten him through their overwhelming numbers.
• The chapter ends as Ji Yuan takes up a stolen black blade and prepares to fight thousands of Sinew Tempering soldiers alone.

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan becomes increasingly focused on strengthening his body cultivation before the approaching Rakshasa Sea. He recognizes the Martial God Tower as an exceptional opportunity to improve his blood qi and physical strength.
• He demonstrates confidence bordering on arrogance after effortlessly crushing the first-floor soldiers, but the second floor immediately forces him to become more cautious and adaptive.
• Ji Yuan’s emotional attachment to Giant Toad is revealed. Despite possessing many stronger or more useful spirit beasts, Giant Toad remains irreplaceable because of their shared history from his weaker, poorer days.
• Ji Yuan continues to treat Monday as both a subordinate and companion. Their interaction is comedic and affectionate: Monday seeks rewards, sneak-attacks Ji Yuan, then tries to comfort him after hearing about Giant Toad.
• Ji Yuan shows practical judgment by using sect connections to obtain resources rather than personally searching for every material, while still paying fairly instead of exploiting the trading manager’s goodwill.
• His resentment toward Mei Zhuang remains unresolved, and Ji Yuan jokingly—or seriously—marks him as the first target he will kill once he becomes strong enough.

Significant Themes

• Body cultivation and perseverance: The Martial God Tower is presented as a sacred training ground where repeated combat, danger, and blood-qi refinement help body cultivators advance.
• Growth through challenge: Ji Yuan’s overwhelming superiority on the first floor gives way to genuine pressure on the second, emphasizing that each stage is designed to test cultivators at their appropriate realm.
• Companionship and loyalty: Ji Yuan’s memories of Giant Toad show that long-term emotional bonds matter more to him than mere strength or usefulness.
• Mystery and hidden history: The tower, its ranking stele, its oppressive inscriptions, and the voices about the Martial God Continent suggest a much larger history and unresolved connection to the wider cultivation world.
• Limits of power: Although Ji Yuan retains immense physical strength, the tower seals his spiritual power, forcing him to rely on martial skill, reflexes, and bodily cultivation alone.
• Preparation for future danger: Ji Yuan’s urgency to upgrade the arena and improve his body reflects the looming threat of the Rakshasa Sea and the need to increase his strength quickly.

Important Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and Monday: Their sparring match establishes their playful but combative relationship. Monday’s desire for food drives him to fight, while Ji Yuan disciplines him after the sneak attack and rewards him afterward.
• Ji Yuan and Giant Toad: Though Giant Toad is absent, Ji Yuan’s comparison between Monday and Giant Toad triggers nostalgia and reveals his strongest emotional attachment among his spirit beasts.
• Ji Yuan and the Floating Dream Ruins manager: Their relationship demonstrates the benefits of sect affiliation. The manager assists Ji Yuan in locating rare materials, and Ji Yuan responds with fairness and maintains the connection through a Communication Talisman.
• Ji Yuan and the Martial God Tower: The tower functions almost like a silent opponent or teacher, restricting his abilities, presenting progressively stronger enemies, rewarding successful trials, and recording his name as the first-ranked challenger.
• Ji Yuan and the Black-Armored Soldiers: The first-floor battles highlight his overwhelming advantage, while the second-floor confrontation forces him to abandon reckless techniques and fight more strategically.

Summary

This chapter is an author’s announcement for a monthly-ticket bonus event rather than a narrative chapter.

• Key events: The author announces that the double monthly-ticket campaign will run until October 7. Readers are encouraged to vote quickly and search for “TWKAN” on Google. By midnight on October 7, the novel’s ranking will determine the number of bonus chapters:
  • Top 200: 1 extra chapter
  • Top 150: 3 extra chapters
  • Top 100: 6 extra chapters
• Each bonus chapter will contain at least 8,000 words, potentially adding more than 50,000 words at the top-100 ranking.
• The author acknowledges not having organized bonus-chapter events in recent months and offers an initial extra chapter immediately as a sign of sincerity.

Character/Author Development

The author presents themself as highly confident in their productivity and writing output, joking that their “inherent strength” speaks for itself. They also emphasize a commitment to substantial chapter lengths rather than short bonus installments, attempting to reassure readers that their support will be rewarded.

Themes

• Reader-author cooperation: The event depends on readers’ monthly-ticket votes.
• Sincerity and reciprocity: The author frames the bonus chapters as repayment for reader support.
• Productivity and dedication: The large word-count promises highlight the author’s confidence and work ethic.
• Promotion and audience engagement: The announcement uses humor, rewards, and ranking goals to motivate participation.

Character Interactions

There are no fictional-character interactions. The central interaction is between the author and the readership: the author requests votes and promises increasingly large rewards based on the book’s ranking.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan confronts hundreds of Black Iron Armored Soldiers on the second floor of the Martial God Tower. Unlike the limited Golden Armored Soldiers from the previous trial, the overwhelming numbers force him into a desperate, prolonged battle.
• He discovers that life-and-death combat is refining the excess blood qi accumulated from the Profound Yang Blood Amber and Scarlet Yang Bone. Realizing that danger accelerates the refinement, he abandons defense and fights with reckless determination.
• After an exhausting slaughter, Ji Yuan kills every Black Iron Armored Soldier. The blood qi sphere then enters his body, restoring him and allowing him to break through from the Middle to the Late Sinew Tempering Realm.
• Immediately after his breakthrough, he is attacked by Bronze Armored Soldiers from the Middle Sinew Tempering Realm. Despite his improved cultivation, he is badly outmatched, struggles to seize a weapon, and discovers that the soldiers’ strength and combat ability are extraordinary.
• The Martial God Tower’s artifact spirit appears, destroys the Bronze Armored Soldiers, and mocks Ji Yuan as an unworthy cultivator. It recognizes that he practices the Ninefold Profound Yang Technique but criticizes his poor mastery, declaring that he must cultivate a “great sun” before speaking to it again.
• The artifact spirit removes Ji Yuan’s ability to retreat from future trials. From then on, he must either kill all the armored soldiers or die. Ji Yuan is eventually killed after defeating more than thirty Bronze Armored Soldiers, then awakens safely in the Martial Practice Arena with his cultivation progress preserved.
• Ji Yuan uses the Meditation Room to recover mentally and realizes that experiencing death has strengthened both his combat instincts and state of mind. He repeatedly challenges the tower’s second floor, but the repeated deaths eventually exhaust him physically and mentally.
• Elsewhere, Magui reports to the Bone Demon Old Devil that Hu Beiji purchased Inkmetal, Mother Inkmetal, and Black Flint. They also discuss the increasing Demon Race presence in Western Border City and possible cooperation between Heavenly Fiend Mountain and the Sea Ruins.
• Magui suggests exposing Heavenly Fiend Mountain’s dealings to weaken it, but the Bone Demon Old Devil rejects the idea because it offers no clear benefit and could make the Bone Demon Sect a target. He suspects Heavenly Fiend Mountain may be preparing to join the Demon Race in attacking the Black-and-White Divine Hall.
• The chapter ends with Ji Yuan’s Divine Sense finally breaking through its previous limit.

Character Development

• Ji Yuan grows far more battle-hardened. He learns to exploit extreme danger to refine his blood qi and becomes willing to fight without regard for injury or death.
• His breakthrough to the Late Sinew Tempering Realm confirms that the Martial God Tower can directly transfer beneficial trial results to his real body without carrying over injuries.
• Ji Yuan gains a stronger state of mind after genuinely experiencing death. He begins to think that having already faced death leaves him with little else to fear.
• At the same time, he recognizes his shortcomings: although he possesses the powerful Ninefold Profound Yang Technique, he lacks sufficient combat experience and specialized body-refining methods.
• The Martial God Tower’s artifact spirit is established as arrogant, insulting, and demanding, but also knowledgeable about the Ninefold Profound Yang Technique and apparently aware of its creator or an associated supreme expert.
• The Bone Demon Old Devil is portrayed as calculating and politically cautious. He refuses to act merely for prestige and analyzes the broader strategic consequences of exposing Heavenly Fiend Mountain.
• Magui is shown to be competent but comparatively inexperienced in long-term political schemes, becoming impressed and intimidated by his master’s deductions.

Significant Themes

• Growth through life-and-death combat: Ji Yuan’s cultivation advances most rapidly when he is forced into genuine mortal danger.
• The gap between cultivation realm and actual combat strength: Reaching the Late Sinew Tempering Realm does not automatically allow Ji Yuan to defeat opponents of a similar realm, especially when they possess superior weapons, formations, or combat instincts.
• The cost of power: The Martial God Tower grants extraordinary opportunities, but its trials demand extreme suffering and may leave lasting psychological strain.
• Mastery versus potential: Ji Yuan possesses a supreme technique but has not yet learned to use it properly. His talent and resources are contrasted with his lack of experience.
• Strategic restraint and hidden conflicts: The Bone Demon Old Devil’s discussion highlights the danger of acting without understanding the larger political struggle among human holy lands, demons, and the Black-and-White Divine Hall.
• Mysteries of the Martial God Tower: The tower may originate from a higher realm, and its artifact spirit appears connected to ancient figures and knowledge far beyond the Human Realm.

Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan repeatedly attempts to question and negotiate with the artifact spirit, but it responds with ridicule and refuses to explain how to cultivate the “great sun.”
• The artifact spirit insults Ji Yuan’s technique and demands that he form the first great sun before communicating with it again, while also imposing the tower’s deadly no-retreat rule.
• Ji Yuan and the artifact spirit’s exchange establishes a hostile but potentially instructive relationship: the spirit is contemptuous of him yet clearly interested in his cultivation method.
• Magui reports directly to the Bone Demon Old Devil, praising his master while seeking approval for his own progress in puppet refinement.
• The Bone Demon Old Devil challenges Magui’s assumptions about Heavenly Fiend Mountain, guiding him from a simplistic political reaction toward a more cautious understanding of hidden alliances and possible traps.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Yuan’s Divine Sense breaks through unexpectedly after his physique advances. His Divine Soul becomes more solid within the Soul-Calming Bell, but its facial features remain indistinct, proving that it has surpassed Golden Core Peak yet has not fully reached the Nascent Soul Realm. He classifies it as Half-Step Nascent Soul Divine Sense.
• Ji Yuan tests his enhanced Divine Sense on the eastern and western islands. Because of his formation knowledge, he silently penetrates their Third-Order defensive formations.
• He discovers that the beautiful “unfamiliar” female cultivator with Demon Slave is actually An Yue’s true appearance. An Yue and Demon Slave are discussing makeup when Ji Yuan spies on them.
• However, An Yue’s Purifying Spirit Jade detects the spying Divine Sense. She concludes that a Nascent Soul cultivator is watching them and immediately orders Demon Slave to flee, unaware that the observer is Ji Yuan.
• Seeking greater combat power, Ji Yuan focuses on upgrading his Level 2 Spirit-Energy Cannon into the Level 3 Meteor Cannon, which could kill cultivators up to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage. The upgrade requires enormous resources, including Energy-Gathering Stones, Radiant-Sun Meteorite Rock, and a Fourth-Order Monster Core.
• Ji Yuan inspects the Ant King, which has been absorbing Demon-Seizing Powder and is close to advancing. Two months later, the Ant King breaks through to the Third Order, emitting powerful demonic energy.
• Ji Yuan upgrades the Ant Nest using spirit stones, monster cores, and a Divine-Fire Ant body. The upgrade produces several new Second-Tier Blazing-Fire Army Ants and unlocks the Spirit Effect Fire God Spear.
• The Fire God Spear is formed from the Ant King and the army ants. Ji Yuan finds it perfectly suited to him and combines it with his Spirit-Devouring Armor before testing his fighting ability in the Martial God Tower.
• Although he defeats more Bronze Armored Soldiers than before, he still loses during the second stage against Bronze Shentu. His improved performance convinces him that he is ready to travel to Winterfrost City.
• In Winterfrost City, Ji Yuan investigates the materials needed for the Meteor Cannon. He learns that Energy-Gathering Stones are extremely rare and generally controlled by the Eight Sacred Grounds, while Radiant-Sun Meteorite Rock is produced mainly near Black-and-White Divine Mountain and possibly by Heavenly Craft Valley.
• Ji Yuan meets Wen Jiu, who is exhausted from missions against the sand bandits in the Northwest Sand Prison. Wen Jiu agrees to help obtain the Radiant-Sun Meteorite Rock through his connections, though he cannot directly secure Energy-Gathering Stones.
• News also spreads that a major secret realm may soon appear in the Northwest Sand Prison, drawing increasing numbers of Core Formation cultivators to Winterfrost City.
• After nearly two months, Wen Jiu returns with ten jin of Radiant-Sun Meteorite Rock and further information about Energy-Gathering Stones.

Character Developments

• Ji Yuan: His Divine Soul advances to the Half-Step Nascent Soul level, greatly improving his perception and formation-breaking ability. He becomes increasingly focused on obtaining external weapons to compensate for the limits of his current cultivation. His combat potential rises significantly through the Fire God Spear, Spirit-Devouring Armor, and the planned Meteor Cannon.
• An Yue: Her true beauty and identity are revealed. She is shown to be cautious and perceptive, immediately recognizing the danger of a powerful cultivator spying on her island.
• Demon Slave: She remains close to An Yue and is visibly unsettled by the possibility that a Nascent Soul cultivator is observing them. Her relationship with An Yue appears trusting and familiar.
• Wen Jiu: Despite being burdened by Black-and-White Divine Hall missions, he remains loyal and helpful to Ji Yuan. He uses his connections to obtain rare materials and even sends Yan Lanlan to assist when he cannot travel himself.
• Ant King: It successfully advances to the Third Order and becomes the core component of Ji Yuan’s new Fire God Spear, greatly increasing Ji Yuan’s battlefield strength.

Significant Themes

• Power gained through indirect advancement: Ji Yuan’s Divine Sense improves because of his physique breakthrough, demonstrating how different cultivation paths can reinforce one another.
• The limits of incomplete breakthroughs: Although Ji Yuan surpasses Golden Core Peak, he remains dissatisfied because he cannot fully reach the Nascent Soul level.
• Preparation and external power: Since his cultivation cannot rise rapidly, Ji Yuan relies on formations, spirit treasures, monster cores, and specialized weapons to bridge the gap between realms.
• Caution and hidden identities: An Yue’s concealed appearance and immediate reaction to Ji Yuan’s Divine Sense emphasize the danger of revealing one’s true strength or identity.
• Political manipulation: Ji Yuan suspects the Black-and-White Divine Hall is destroying the sand bandits not out of justice, but because they have become inconvenient and can now be used to restore the Hall’s reputation.
• Friendship and mutual assistance: Wen Jiu’s willingness to help Ji Yuan obtain nearly impossible resources highlights the value of personal connections in the cultivation world.

Important Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and An Yue/Demon Slave: Ji Yuan secretly observes them through their island formations. Demon Slave speaks respectfully to An Yue, while An Yue identifies the spying Divine Sense and orders an immediate escape.
• Ji Yuan and the Ant King: Ji Yuan restrains the newly enlarged Ant King from approaching too enthusiastically, then uses it as the spearhead of the Fire God Spear.
• Ji Yuan and the Martial God Tower’s senior: Ji Yuan asks for a spear, receives one only after being mocked, and uses it to improve his performance against the tower’s armored opponents.
• Ji Yuan and Wen Jiu: Their meeting is cordial and strengthened by wine and mutual trust. Ji Yuan requests help acquiring rare materials, and Wen Jiu promises to use his connections despite his own dangerous obligations.
• Ji Yuan and Yan Lanlan: Though they do not meet directly in this chapter, Wen Jiu plans to have Yan Lanlan travel to Black-and-White City to obtain the Radiant-Sun Meteorite Rock for Ji Yuan.