Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Yao Jingfeng tells Ji Yuan, Luo Tian, and Du Wanyi what Dong Qian learned about Foundation Establishment for cultivators with False Spiritual Roots: past sect members needed five, seven, or even eleven Foundation Establishment Pills. Pills aren’t available for purchase; cultivators must obtain rare ingredients and arrange for an alchemist to refine them.
• The group agrees to focus on improving their strength first and postpone worrying about Foundation Establishment. They discuss their activities, trading, and ways to earn Spirit Stones, and establish contact locations.
• Yao Jingfeng emphasizes that the four should share useful information and resources when they can. Ji Yuan agrees, understanding that mutual support is voluntary but important to maintaining the group.
• Back at his cottage, Ji Yuan uses River-Suppressing Sand, Clear Spirit Jade, and Spirit Stones to upgrade his Level One Cave Abode to Level Two. It now increases spiritual qi concentration by 10% during the day and 30% at night, and provides soundproofing.
• The Panel reveals that a Level Three Cave Abode would offer further cultivation benefits and automatically generate the Second Tier Star-Spiral Cloud Barrier Formation. Ji Yuan resolves to prioritize this upgrade after reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Lin Hu and his wife visit to congratulate Ji Yuan, but he reassures them that their relationship need not change.
• Meanwhile, at the Qin Household, Qin Long and He Laosan warn Qin Old Blind Man that Ji Yuan has joined Yao Jingfeng’s circle. Concerned by the group’s influence, the old man decides to leave and personally pursue Qiu Qianhai, saying there are things he must obtain.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan gains a clearer understanding of cultivation beyond mere survival, becomes more integrated into his new circle, and invests in improving the safety and benefits of his home.
• Yao Jingfeng, Du Wanyi, and Luo Tian share hard realities about Foundation Establishment and reinforce the group’s cooperative, reciprocal approach. Du Wanyi and Yao Jingfeng also reveal their market-trading business.
• Qin Long and He Laosan fear the consequences of Ji Yuan’s new alliances and bring their concerns to Qin Old Blind Man.
• Qin Old Blind Man, initially reluctant to involve the household with Ji Yuan, shifts focus to a personal mission involving Qiu Qianhai and a mysterious object or goal.

Significant themes

• Cultivation’s cost and uncertainty: False Spiritual Roots make advancement especially difficult, requiring many scarce pills and rare ingredients.
• Cooperation and reciprocity: Information and resources can help a group prosper, but trust depends on members contributing rather than merely taking.
• Security and preparation: Ji Yuan’s Cave Abode upgrades reflect the growing importance of cultivating safely and planning for future advancement.
• Changing power dynamics: Ji Yuan’s associations make him more consequential to the Qin Household, while Qin Old Blind Man’s secret departure hints at a deeper conflict.

Key plot points and events

• Decades earlier, Qin Shu and a friend found a glowing skeleton and an empty jade slip in an underwater cave. After fighting over the treasure, Qin Shu won the skeleton but was injured in the struggle, eventually becoming Blind Qin. The skeleton could frighten demon beasts, but it was missing a finger bone.
• Qin Shu suspected the finger bone had been taken by Qiu Qianhai’s grandfather, a fisherman who had been in the area. When the man denied knowing anything, Qin Shu killed him—but found no bone. Years later, he learned that the man’s son had been killed by Qin Long and that the grandson, Qiu Qianhai, had reached the middle Qi Refining stage. He concluded that Qiu must possess the bone and became determined to find him.
• During the following three months, Ji Yuan lived comfortably and focused on cultivation. He bought back his late father’s spirit vessel from Luo Tong, exchanged gifts with his friends, declined an invitation to hunt a demon beast, improved his techniques and yin ghosts, and tended his household and spiritual resources.
• Meanwhile, Qiu Qianhai killed Deng Lang and Sun Dazhi, then hid at Clearwave Pool. Still anxious that someone was hunting him, he planned to move to Jingde Ward.
• Qin Old Blind Man received another report that Qiu was at Clearwave Pool and went there alone. He confronted Qiu and demanded the finger bone. Qiu secretly pressed it into the sand, then denied knowing anything about it.
• Qin Old Blind Man overwhelmed Qiu with a water-dragon strike and trapped him with a flying sword. As the bone appeared between them, it snapped, immobilizing Qiu. A mysterious voice then spoke of shaping a genius through hatred and hardship, suggesting Qiu’s fate is being manipulated.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Old Blind Man is revealed as both a victim of betrayal and a perpetrator: his friend tried to kill him, but Qin later killed Qiu’s grandfather over a suspicion he never proved. His obsession with the finger bone now drives him to hunt Qiu personally.
• Qiu Qianhai is cautious and determined to protect the bone, honoring his family’s warning even when faced with a much stronger opponent. His fear and isolation contrast with his resolve.
• Ji Yuan grows increasingly secure and self-sufficient, choosing safety and steady cultivation over unnecessary risks.
• Qin Long and He Laosan defer to Qin Old Blind Man’s fixation, despite recognizing its troubling intensity.
• The confrontation between Qin Old Blind Man and Qiu shifts abruptly when the bone’s mysterious power intervenes, placing Qiu in the hands of an unknown force.

Significant themes

• Greed and inherited grudges: A dispute over treasure sets off a chain of violence spanning generations.
• Fate and manipulation: The mysterious voice implies Qiu’s suffering is being used to manufacture a “peerless genius.”
• Security versus ambition: Ji Yuan thrives by avoiding danger, while Qiu’s pursuit of safety cannot protect him from the past.
• The cost of obsession: Qin’s fixation consumes his judgment and draws him into a conflict rooted in an old, unverified suspicion.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Qiu Qianhai is rescued by Ji Yuan: Qin Old Blind Man is about to kill Qiu Qianhai when Ji Yuan arrives and overturns the stone house with his massive sword. Ji Yuan shields Qiu Qianhai and battles Qin, despite the enormous gap between his Seventh-Layer and Qin’s Tenth-Layer Qi Refining cultivation.
• Ji Yuan is apparently killed: Ji Yuan is repeatedly knocked into Clearwave Pool but continues returning to protect Qiu Qianhai. Qin eventually pierces him with countless flying swords and severs his head. Ji Yuan’s apparent death causes Qiu Qianhai to mentally collapse and lose consciousness.
• The mysterious gray-mist figure intervenes: After Qiu Qianhai faints, a terrifying gray-mist entity emerges from Qin’s Storage Bag, possessing a black skeleton. Its gaze reveals a horrifying slaughter to Qin, who dies of fear. The entity burns Qin’s corpse and restores its missing finger bone.
• Qiu Qianhai is taken to the Abyss: The skeleton reveals that Qiu Qianhai is a genius cultivated over three generations in a “Dragon-Nurturing Land.” It transports him through a magical green campfire to the Land of the Abyss, also called Abyss Island, a chaotic region somewhere among the three thousand vessels of the Endless Sea.
• Qiu Qianhai accepts the skeleton as his master: Awakening in a stone chamber, Qiu attacks the skeleton in grief and confusion, but his saber shatters. The skeleton offers to teach him revenge, and Qiu immediately bows and becomes his disciple.
• Ji Yuan’s continued life and breakthrough: The narrative shifts back to Ji Yuan, revealing that the earlier death scene was not his actual end. During the following half-year, he remains secluded and avoids danger while cultivating. He eventually advances from the Seventh to the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining after consuming nearly five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Ji Yuan returns to ordinary life: After emerging from seclusion, Ji Yuan harvests his Spirit Fish, gathers rooster blood and Spirit Eggs, and visits Zengtou City. His increased strength earns him respect from local fishermen and the Water Dragon Sect cultivator.
• Lin Hu becomes a father: Ji Yuan visits Lin Hu’s lively courtyard and learns that Lin Hu and Wu Qin have had a daughter. Ji Yuan congratulates them, while Wen Lin’s family is also present to offer support.
• The chapter ends with Wen Lin hinting at a serious matter: After accompanying Wen Lin’s family home, Ji Yuan notices Wen Lin lingering outside and asks whether he has something to say.

2. Character Developments

• Qiu Qianhai: His grief over Ji Yuan’s apparent death becomes the emotional turning point of the chapter. Having lost his protector and friend, he is taken under the wing of a terrifying master and begins a new path centered on revenge and survival in the Abyss.
• Ji Yuan: He demonstrates loyalty and courage by repeatedly risking his life for Qiu Qianhai. In the later portion, his personality becomes more cautious and withdrawn: he avoids unnecessary conflicts, focuses on cultivation, and successfully reaches the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining.
• Qin Old Blind Man: His confidence and authority collapse when confronted by the gray-mist skeleton. Despite being a powerful Tenth-Layer cultivator and alliance leader, he dies helplessly from terror, emphasizing the vast hierarchy of power in the cultivation world.
• The black skeleton/master: He is revealed as an ancient, immensely powerful, eccentric figure with a terrifying past. He sees Qiu Qianhai as the result of generations of cultivation and intends to shape him into someone capable of taking revenge.
• Lin Hu: He enters a new stage of life as a father. His excitement and concern for Wu Qin and their daughter show his warmth and responsibility.
• Wen Lin: He remains a knowledgeable and socially connected neighbor, but his lingering at the end suggests he has an important matter to discuss with Ji Yuan.
• Ji Yuan’s neighbors and local community: Their behavior toward Ji Yuan changes after his cultivation improves. They now treat him with respect rather than suspicion or hostility.

3. Significant Themes

• The cost of friendship and loyalty: Ji Yuan’s apparent sacrifice for Qiu Qianhai reinforces the depth of their bond, while Qiu’s devastation shows how profoundly he depends on Ji Yuan.
• Death, transformation, and rebirth: Ji Yuan appears to die but continues living, while Qiu Qianhai’s old life effectively ends when he is transported to the Abyss and accepts a new master.
• Strength determines social treatment: Ji Yuan observes that when he was weak, danger and ill intent seemed to surround him; after becoming stronger, everyone appears friendly. The chapter presents power as both protection and social authority.
• The vastness of the cultivation world: Qin’s death at the hands of a being far beyond his understanding, along with the introduction of the Abyss and Dragon-Nurturing Land, reveals deeper realms of power and hidden forces.
• Order versus chaos: The Abyss is described as a place where the “bigger fist” is the only truth, yet it also contains figures seeking to establish a new order. This sets up a major ideological and political conflict.
• Cultivation and patience: Ji Yuan’s steady, risk-averse approach contrasts with more reckless cultivators. His breakthrough comes through prolonged preparation and disciplined effort rather than dangerous shortcuts.
• Ordinary life amid extraordinary events: Lin Hu’s childbirth, neighborhood relationships, fish farming, and talisman work provide a grounded contrast to death, revenge, ancient powers, and interregional conflict.

4. Character Interactions

• Ji Yuan and Qiu Qianhai: Ji Yuan protects Qiu without hesitation, while Qiu watches helplessly and later grieves intensely over Ji Yuan’s apparent death. Their friendship is the emotional core of the opening sequence.
• Ji Yuan and Qin Old Blind Man: Their battle highlights the overwhelming difference between Ji Yuan’s current strength and Qin’s Tenth-Layer cultivation. Ji Yuan’s persistence delays Qin but cannot defeat him.
• Qin Old Blind Man and the black skeleton: Qin’s arrogance turns into terror when he realizes the entity’s true nature. The skeleton treats him as an incompetent servant and kills him almost casually.
• The black skeleton and Qiu Qianhai: The skeleton adopts Qiu as a disciple, promising to teach him revenge and revealing that Qiu’s development has been deliberately cultivated over generations.
• Ji Yuan and Lin Hu: Their friendship continues in a warm, domestic manner. Lin Hu seeks Ji Yuan’s help with his child, though Ji Yuan modestly refuses to become the child’s godfather or name her.
• Ji Yuan and Wen Lin: They exchange friendly remarks about rising prices for pills and talismans, but Wen Lin’s hesitation at the end signals a more serious conversation to come.
• Ji Yuan and the local community: His interactions in Zengtou City show how his improved cultivation has changed his social standing; fishermen and sect cultivators now greet him respectfully.

• Wen Lin visits Ji Yuan with a proposal: he knows the location of a rare ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills in Cloud-Rain Marsh, but wants Ji Yuan to help defeat three late Qi Refining cultivators guarding it.
• Ji Yuan declines for now, judging the risk too high after only recently reaching late Qi Refining. He prefers to strengthen his cultivation first rather than gamble his life for the ingredient. Wen Lin agrees that there is no urgent need to act.
• Ji Yuan asks Wen Lin for help getting started in alchemy. His panel shows that the Alchemy Room can be upgraded by successfully refining a Hundred-Herb Pill, among other requirements.
• Wen Lin observes Ji Yuan’s failed attempt and identifies the problem: Ji Yuan’s Cold Ice Art is too strong during impurity removal, cooling the furnace too quickly and leaving impurities behind. Ji Yuan adjusts his spiritual-energy output on the next attempt and successfully produces two pills.
• Wen Lin offers further practical advice, including warning Ji Yuan to watch for damage to his pill furnace from repeated heating and cooling. After Wen Lin leaves, Ji Yuan upgrades his Alchemy Room to level one.
  Character development and interactions: Ji Yuan shows caution and patience, prioritizing long-term cultivation over a dangerous opportunity. He also demonstrates willingness to learn and quickly applies Wen Lin’s advice. Wen Lin proves a helpful and knowledgeable neighbor, sharing both valuable intelligence and alchemical guidance; their exchange is warm and cooperative.
  Themes: Prudence over greed, steady self-improvement, the value of mentorship, and the practical risks involved in cultivation and alchemy.

Key plot points and events

• Ji Yuan discovers that upgrading his Level Two Alchemy Room will automatically teach him the Foundation Establishment Pill formula and improve his pill-refining success rates. He resolves to focus on alchemy and pursue the upgrade.
• Wen Lin tells his wife, Zhao Yuechan, that Ji Yuan declined to help with their revenge against the Yue Household for now. Wen Lin interprets this as caution rather than rejection and decides to strengthen their friendship by sharing an incomplete Foundation Establishment Pill formula.
• Wen Lin gives Ji Yuan the formula, which lists rare ingredients and demanding refining conditions. He reveals that he knows where to find the Millennium Green Hui Grass, one of the ingredients. Ji Yuan promises to help once he is strong enough and plans to share copies with his three allies, as their agreement requires.
• The next day, Du Wanyi visits Ji Yuan with news of her own discovery related to Foundation Establishment. She invites him to meet the group on Twin Swallow Island the following day, withholding details.
• Ji Yuan reveals that he also has Foundation Establishment-related news, but playfully refuses to share it early. Du Wanyi is annoyed at being teased, and the two agree to wait until the group meets.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan shifts his practical ambitions toward alchemy after realizing the Panel can teach him an exceptionally valuable pill formula. He also shows loyalty to his alliance by preparing to share Wen Lin’s formula.
• Wen Lin puts friendship and future trust ahead of immediate revenge. He gives Ji Yuan a valuable formula, while asking that his name remain private.
• Zhao Yuechan is initially shocked that Wen Lin would part with the formula, but supports his judgment once he explains his reasons.
• Du Wanyi enjoys keeping the others curious, but discovers she dislikes being teased in return. Her playful rivalry with Ji Yuan ends with her storming out in mock anger.

Significant themes

• Long-term planning over impulsive action: Ji Yuan and Wen Lin both defer dangerous pursuits until they are better positioned.
• Trust and reciprocity: Wen Lin’s gift builds goodwill, while Ji Yuan intends to honor both his promise and his alliance.
• Opportunity and ambition: The Foundation Establishment Pill represents a major path toward cultivation advancement and future wealth.
• Playful fellowship: The secret-sharing contest between Ji Yuan and Du Wanyi offers a lighthearted contrast to the chapter’s high-stakes cultivation goals.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Ji Yuan arrives at Twin Swallow Island at dawn to meet Luo Tian, Yao Jingfeng, and Du Wanyi. Du Wanyi teases him for keeping her in suspense, but the group soon turns to serious business.
• Du Wanyi reports that an Azure Flood-Dragon Fruit, a rare treasure that can improve the odds of Foundation Establishment by ten percent, will be auctioned in Greenmount City in ten days. The group recognizes that they cannot afford to compete for it.
• Ji Yuan reveals that he has obtained an incomplete Foundation Establishment Pill recipe and shares copies with the others. They identify several ingredients to search for, including millennium green hui grass, century gentian grass, and three-flower jade dew.
• The group divides its search: Du Wanyi and Yao Jingfeng will travel to Greenmount City, while Luo Tian and Ji Yuan will look for ingredients around Cloud-Rain Marsh. Ji Yuan ultimately stays home to focus on cultivation and his work.
• Back at his lakeside house, Ji Yuan makes a successful attempt at a high-grade Waterburst Talisman. He counts this achievement as becoming an upper first-tier talisman master.
• The following day, Ji Yuan begins studying the more practical Water-Escape Talisman. At noon, Lin Hu returns from Zengtou City with a letter from Lu Suo.

Character developments

• Ji Yuan continues to advance through practical skill and generosity. He shares the pill recipe rather than keeping it for himself, and successfully expands from mid-grade to high-grade talisman-making.
• Du Wanyi shows both a teasing, familiar side and a serious commitment to helping the group prepare for Foundation Establishment. She takes the lead in sharing the news about the auction and volunteers to investigate ingredients.
• Yao Jingfeng acts as the group’s practical strategist, assessing their chances, organizing the ingredient search, and deciding to accompany Du Wanyi to Greenmount City.
• Luo Tian is initially excited by the prospect of the Azure Flood-Dragon Fruit but quickly accepts that the group cannot afford it. He joins Luo Tian’s local search? Wait. The passage assigns the local search to Luo Tian and Ji Yuan.
• Qiu Qianhai, absent from the chapter, remains on Ji Yuan’s mind; Ji Yuan wonders whether he is preparing to break through to late Qi Refining.

Significant themes

• Cooperation and shared fortunes: The four cultivators pool information and divide tasks, reflecting their commitment to supporting one another.
• The limits of ambition: A rare Foundation Establishment treasure is available, but its cost puts it beyond the group’s reach, highlighting the gap between aspiration and resources.
• Preparation and persistence: Sharing the pill recipe gives the group a concrete path forward, while Ji Yuan’s repeated effort and costly materials lead to his talisman-making breakthrough.
• Practical choices: Rather than pursue an unaffordable auction, the group focuses on gathering information and ingredients they may realistically obtain.

Character interactions

• The gathering opens with playful teasing about Ji Yuan’s habit of keeping people in suspense. Du Wanyi grumbles at him but still provides him with a chair.
• Ji Yuan’s recipe prompts genuine gratitude from the others, though he treats sharing it as natural among companions.
• Yao Jingfeng and Du Wanyi coordinate their trip, while Luo Tian and Ji Yuan are assigned to search locally.
• Alone at home, Ji Yuan reflects briefly on Qiu Qianhai before returning to his disciplined routine.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Hu delivers a letter from Lu Wan to Ji Yuan. In return, Ji gives Lin Hu some Spirit Pig meat for his recently postpartum wife, Wu Qin.
• Lu Wan reports that the Qin Household has become unusually restrained and suggests its ancestor, Qin Old Blind Man, may have died. She also says the household has heard nothing more about Qiu Qianhai.
• Ji burns the letter and decides not to pursue revenge against the Qin Household until he reaches Peak Qi Refining. He remains unable to locate Qiu Qianhai.
• After failing to find Foundation Establishment Pill ingredients in local markets, Ji joins Du Wanyi, Yao Jingfeng, and Luo Tian on a mission to seize Century Gentian Grass from two Ninth-Layer Qi Refining Demonic Cultivators.
• Du has secretly marked one target with Mother-and-Child Incense, allowing the group to track him. The four leave Cloud-Rain Marsh and follow the incense through a forest.

Character developments

• Ji Yuan remains cautious, concealing his true cultivation and abilities—even allowing his superior Flying Boat to appear ordinary. He agrees to the dangerous mission only after hearing the group’s plans.
• Du Wanyi shows initiative and confidence by tracking one of the Demonic Cultivators; she also knows Ji is more capable in combat than he lets on.
• Yao Jingfeng is enthusiastic about acquiring the Gentian Grass and believes the group has enough strength to succeed.
• Luo Tian readily joins because he hates Demonic Cultivators and gives Ji a Water Thunder Pellet for protection.
• Lu Wan appears more secure and self-assured than before, openly passing along useful information.

Significant themes

• Caution versus ambition: Ji prefers to avoid unnecessary risks, while his companions urge him to seize opportunities.
• Concealment and distrust: Ji hides his cultivation, combat ability, and equipment, reflecting the dangers of a world where others’ motives and capabilities are uncertain.
• Brotherhood and mutual support: The group shares resources and reassurance before setting out together.
• Power and opportunity: Scarce materials for Foundation Establishment attract fierce competition, turning a chance discovery into a deadly pursuit.

Character interactions

• Ji and Lin Hu share a warm, familiar exchange, with Ji helping Lin’s family through a gift of nourishing meat.
• Lu Wan’s letter reconnects her with Ji and provides a warning about the Qin Household, though Ji chooses not to reply.
• Yao, Du, and Luo discuss the risks and divide of the mission; Luo’s boldness contrasts with Ji’s reserve, while Du quietly recognizes Ji’s concealed strength.
• Luo offers Ji a protective pellet, and Ji’s reluctant acceptance of the group’s help reinforces their growing camaraderie.

Plot points and events

• Four Demonic Cultivators have been using a fake Gentian Grass sale to lure and kill people who try to steal it. Ji Yuan and his companions walk into their ambush.
• The attackers survive the first Water Thunder Pellet blast and reveal that the supposed buyer and seller are working together. The fight splits into several battles, with Ji Yuan targeted as the least powerful cultivator.
• Ji Yuan uses talismans, his shield, and his Flying Sword to kill Meng Zhe, despite being badly outmatched in cultivation.
• He then helps rescue the gravely wounded Yao Jingfeng. Mo Fenghua pursues them, but Ji Yuan activates his boat’s Thunder-Gathering Essence and escapes with Yao Jingfeng.
• Ji Yuan leaves Yao Jingfeng sheltered and returns to help Du Wanyi and Luo Tian. A catastrophic explosion collapses much of the mountain. Luo Tian and the Demonic Cultivators are missing afterward; Ji Yuan finds Du Wanyi unconscious in a stream and rescues her.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan begins eager for his first battle at Late Qi Refining, but quickly recognizes the ambush’s danger. Though pragmatic and reluctant to risk himself, he repeatedly chooses to aid his companions rather than abandon them. His resourcefulness and combat skill enable him to kill Meng Zhe and escape Mo Fenghua.
• Yao Jingfeng, once enthusiastic about the plan, is left near death and offers Ji Yuan the chance to flee without him. He is surprised and grateful when Ji Yuan refuses to abandon him.
• Du Wanyi fights through a difficult battle and is later found unconscious, but alive.
• Luo Tian fights defensively against a stronger opponent and urges Ji Yuan to save Yao Jingfeng. His fate remains unknown after the enormous explosion.
• The companions’ dangerous predicament contrasts with the Demonic Cultivators’ calculated teamwork; once exposed, both sides rely on quick coordination, talismans, and explosive weapons.

Significant themes

• The precariousness of life and death: Strength and experience offer no guarantee of survival; a single decision or explosion can change everything.
• Immortality’s hardship: Ji Yuan reflects that the path of cultivation is perilous and without end.
• Pragmatism and loyalty: Ji Yuan weighs self-preservation against responsibility to his companions, ultimately returning to help them despite the risk.
• Deception and consequences: The Demonic Cultivators’ carefully repeated trap draws a group into a chaotic battle whose outcome even its planners cannot control.

Summary

This chapter is an author’s note rather than a story installment. Little Dream announces a May update campaign: at least three chapters and 10,000 words daily, with extra chapters earned through monthly passes and reader support. He also thanks readers and invites them to subscribe, vote, and support the book.
The author explains that, although he is experienced in folklore fiction, he chose to write xianxia because of his personal love for cultivation stories—especially tales of an ordinary protagonist rising to greatness. Despite the novel’s weak initial subscriptions and friends’ advice to return to folklore, he remains committed to it and hopes to find readers who share his taste.
He also describes the novel’s core inspiration and a future possibility: Ji Yuan may refine his life-bound Dharma Treasure into a Cave Abode that contains buildings, with upgrades to those buildings strengthening the treasure. The author hints that Ji Yuan could eventually treat the entire Cloud-Rain Marsh as a “Fish Pond,” though the details are not yet written.

Character and thematic notes

• Ji Yuan: No new actions occur in this chapter. He is presented as a humble, still-rising protagonist whose eventual power and Cave Abode treasure embody the story’s long-term promise.
• Little Dream: The author reveals his enthusiasm, persistence, and personal investment in the project, choosing the xianxia novel he wants to write despite its poor start.
• Themes: Perseverance in pursuing a creative ambition; the appeal of humble beginnings and gradual cultivation; author-reader support and shared enthusiasm for xianxia.
• Interactions: The chapter is a direct conversation with readers. The author thanks them, asks for support, and shares his plans and hopes for the novel.

Chapter Summary

Plot and events

• On the journey home, Ji Yuan and the surviving members of the group mourn Luo Tian, who sacrificed himself to let Du Wanyi escape after their mission went disastrously wrong. His remains—and most of his belongings—were destroyed in the explosion.
• Ji Yuan gives Yao Jingfeng and Du Wanyi their shares of the Century Gentian Grass and Spirit Stones, and takes them home to recover. Yao Jingfeng is badly injured, and Du Wanyi fears the damage may have harmed his cultivation foundation.
• Back home, Ji Yuan examines the defeated demonic cultivator’s Storage Bag. He finds the three Gentian Grass plants needed for one Foundation Establishment Pill batch, mysterious medicinal seeds, a damaged Flying Boat, Yin-Nourishing Pills, numerous high-grade talismans, and a jade slip containing the Corpse Puppet Technique.
• Ji Yuan experiments by adding Spirit Soil from his Chicken Coop to his Spirit Field. The field’s growth reduction improves from 30% to 50%, confirming that the effects of his buildings can combine—though growing century- or millennium-old herbs will still take decades or centuries.
• He feeds Yin-Nourishing Pills to his two Yin Ghosts, strengthening them, then stores them away to refine the pills.
• Intrigued by the Corpse Puppet Technique as a way to automate chores and guard his home, Ji Yuan seeks a suitable fresh corpse. He visits Pockmarked Wang, an illicit corpse dealer, and orders a young, well-preserved corpse of a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

Character development

• Ji Yuan becomes more cautious after Luo Tian’s death. He recognizes that preparation and apparent numerical advantage cannot prevent defeat when opponents are cunning, and resolves not to take similar risks before he is stronger.
• He remains practical and resourceful: he shares some of the mission’s gains with his companions and Luo Tian’s family, while also salvaging useful tools and planning for the future.
• Du Wanyi is grief-stricken and shaken by the loss, while Yao Jingfeng tries to maintain composure despite severe injuries and uncertain prospects.
• Luo Tian’s final sacrifice reveals the depth of his loyalty to his companions.

Character interactions

• Yao Jingfeng and Du Wanyi decline to claim most of the recovered goods, insisting Ji Yuan deserves them for helping save their lives. Ji Yuan gives each of them Gentian Grass and Spirit Stones, with Yao taking the share intended for Luo Tian’s family.
• Du Wanyi confides her fear that Yao Jingfeng’s injuries may have damaged his foundation and reflects on the danger of greed. Ji Yuan answers that ambition is not wrong, but caution matters until one has sufficient strength.
• Pockmarked Wang treats Ji Yuan with deference, recognizes that he knows the hidden trade, and agrees to procure the corpse for a deposit.

Significant themes

• The cost of cultivation: the pursuit of resources and advancement can lead to sudden, devastating loss.
• Caution and humility: strength and cleverness are never absolute; hidden skills, experience, and deception can overturn apparent advantages.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Luo Tian’s death saves Du Wanyi, and the survivors honor his family.
• Pragmatism and moral compromise: Ji Yuan values convenience and secrecy enough to consider using a corpse puppet and entering the illicit corpse trade.
• Patient growth: even helpful cultivation systems have limits, so progress requires experimentation, planning, and long-term thinking.

Key events

• Ji Yuan continues practicing alchemy, improving his success rate with Hundred-Herb Pills while struggling with the newly learned Mystic Qi Pills. His yin ghosts remain inactive.
• He buys a recently deceased, fifth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator from Pockmarked Wang: a young woman who died from a potent poison.
• To make her into a corpse puppet, Ji Yuan gathers Soul-Controlling Talismans, rootless water, yin-baleful mud, and spirit needles. He discovers poison remains in her body and nearly enters his own spiritual energy.
• His neighbor Wen Lin lends him a poison-drawing insect and explains how to extract and preserve the poison. Ji Yuan removes the toxin, then clears the corpse’s residual spiritual energy and prepares her body.
• Ji Yuan spends twenty-four hours channeling spiritual power into the corpse, enduring strain on his meridians while replenishing his energy with pills and spirit stones.
• The corpse reanimates. Ji Yuan restrains her with talismans and inscribes the “Puppet” seal on her chest, establishing control. His first order sends her to feed the pigs—until he realizes he forgot to dress her.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan remains practical and opportunistic, but his discomfort and self-reproach while washing the corpse reveal his awareness of the impropriety of the task. He ultimately focuses on its usefulness as a farmhand.
• His persistence through the painful, day-long ritual reflects his determination to free himself from routine farm labor.
• Pockmarked Wang acts as a discreet supplier, selling the corpse and warning Ji Yuan about the poison. Wen Lin provides specialized help without probing into Ji Yuan’s plans, reinforcing their quiet, reciprocal trust.
• Ji Yuan’s dealings with the chicken cultivator remain transactional: he processes the Red-Crowned Chickens and continues ordering the more profitable Lushui Chickens.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and survival: Ji Yuan turns even death and poison into potential resources.
• Power through cultivation: His skills, supplies, and physical endurance let him transform a dangerous corpse into a servant.
• Moral discomfort versus utility: Ji Yuan recognizes the strangeness of handling the woman’s body but rationalizes the process by treating her as a future worker.
• Persistence and self-reliance: Completing the demanding ritual requires Ji Yuan to endure pain and manage his own spiritual resources.

Key plot points and events

• After keeping watch over the newly raised corpse for a full day, Ji Yuan names her Tu Yue and gives her household duties. Exhausted, he sleeps for three days; afterward, he finds his meridians tougher and his spiritual energy circulating faster.
• Du Wanyi visits the badly weakened Yao Jingfeng. He confirms that Ji Yuan is exceptionally powerful—already at the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining, with a remarkably fast Flying Boat—and both agree to keep his abilities secret. They plan to cultivate at home for two years before the next Water Dragon Sect selection.
• Du notices Yao’s unease when she asks whether he delivered Luo Tian’s assigned Spirit Stones. Suspecting his answer, she discreetly checks with Luo Tian’s elderly mother, who says Yao never visited. Du does not disclose Luo Tian’s death.
• Ji Yuan buys women’s clothing for Tu Yue and two Lushui Chickens, then settles into home cultivation. Half a month later, his two Yin Ghosts finish refining Yin-Nourishing Pills, break through to Late Qi Refining, and further strengthen his Yin Ghost Banner.
• The New Year passes quietly for Ji Yuan, who feels isolated as familiar companions are absent. On its fifth day, he uses the Dao Comprehension Chamber to refine his first middle-grade Cultivation Pill and becomes a Middle First-Tier Alchemist.
• Half a year later, after enjoying a good peach harvest, Ji Yuan receives an unexpected visitor: a thin Fourth-Layer cultivator carrying a Seashell from an unnamed sender.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan shifts from exhausting hands-on work toward a more stable, secluded routine, using Tu Yue’s help to devote himself to cultivation and alchemy. His power continues to grow.
• Tu Yue is given a name and a practical role as Ji Yuan’s silent, obedient assistant.
• Yao Jingfeng is physically diminished by his injuries and now plans to lie low. His suspicious response about Luo Tian raises doubts about his honesty and possible role in Luo’s fate.
• Du Wanyi shows loyalty to Ji Yuan by agreeing to secrecy, while her close knowledge of Yao makes her alert to his evasions.
• Lin Hu’s family recovers: Wu Qin is well again after receiving enhanced Spirit Pig meat, while Lin Hu bears the burden of supporting the household.
• Ji Yuan maintains ties with Du, Lin Hu, and Wen Lin’s family, but the quiet New Year underscores his growing loneliness.

Significant themes

• Caution and secrecy: The survivors conceal Ji Yuan’s strength and avoid unnecessary risks.
• Growth through cultivation and discipline: Ji Yuan’s improved body, stronger Yin Ghost Banner, and new alchemical rank mark steady progress.
• Trust and suspicion: Du’s probing of Yao suggests that shared hardship does not erase doubts or conflicting loyalties.
• Isolation and community: Ji Yuan’s solitude contrasts with the warmth of neighbors’ celebrations and the mutual support among local families.

Key plot points and events

• A messenger from Blackwater Ward delivers Ji Yuan a seashell left by Qiu Qianhai two years earlier. Qiu had instructed the messenger to deliver it if he did not return, suggesting he expected he might disappear or die.
• Ji pays the messenger and realizes Qiu has not been heard from since they parted a year ago. Unsure whether the Qin Household, a demon beast, or some other danger was responsible, Ji follows their old signal to Autumn Rain Island.
• Searching the island, Ji finds a rock that was not there before. Beneath it is a locked iron box containing a letter addressed to him.
• In the letter, Qiu reveals a possible cultivation opportunity: a rare second-tier movement spell hidden on an island deep in Cloud-Rain Marsh, near a poisonous second-order demon beast. He warns Ji not to pursue it unless he can survive the danger.
• Qiu also asks Ji not to seek reckless revenge against the Qin Household, especially Qin Old Blind Man. He urges him to live long enough to surpass them.
• Qiu explains that the finger bone he used while mining was inherited from his grandfather and may hold a secret. After dreaming that someone taught him a demonic cultivation art, he began to hope he might have encountered an opportunity rather than died.
• The letter ends with Qiu’s determination to believe the world is bigger than Cloud-Rain Marsh—and his desperate plea that he does not want to die.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan moves from hopeful anticipation of Qiu’s return to grave concern when he learns the seashell was left as a contingency. He follows Qiu’s clues patiently and discovers the hidden letter, while remaining uncertain whether his friend is dead.
• Qiu Qianhai, speaking through the letter, reveals both his practical foresight and his playful, irreverent humor. Beneath the jokes, however, he is frightened of dying and clings to the possibility that he has found a path to survival or greater power.
• The messenger is nervous around Ji and primarily motivated by the promised payment. Ji nevertheless gives him the agreed ten spirit stones.
• Qiu’s letter reflects a close friendship: he trusts Ji to recognize the clues, teases him, shares a valuable opportunity, and asks him to avoid throwing his life away for revenge.

Significant themes

• Friendship and trust: Qiu leaves a carefully arranged trail so Ji can receive his message, relying on their shared understanding.
• Uncertainty and survival: Qiu’s fate remains unknown, and the letter itself alternates between joking about his death and hoping he is still alive.
• Ambition and the wider world: Qiu challenges the idea that Cloud-Rain Marsh is the limit of their lives, expressing a desire for a greater path.
• Patience over vengeance: He urges Ji to survive and grow stronger rather than risk his life pursuing immediate revenge.
• Opportunity and danger: The promised spell could be transformative, but reaching it requires facing a formidable demon beast.

Key plot points

• Ji Yuan learns that Qiu Qianhai has disappeared. He suspects the Qin Household may be involved and resolves to hold them responsible, though he postpones revenge until he is stronger.
• Qiu’s map points to a valuable movement technique on an island in Cloud-Rain Marsh. Ji Yuan decides not to risk facing a second-order demon beast while still at the eighth layer of Qi Refining.
• Over the next year and a half, he earns eleven middle-grade spirit stones through extensive trading, while wartime demand drives up prices for supplies and cold iron sand.
• The Water Dragon Sect abruptly advances its selection by a year and begins recruiting immediately. Ji Yuan abandons plans to finish preparing his home and sets out to join, hoping to avoid waiting another three years.
• The Lin and Wen households visit to see him off. As Ji Yuan prepares to answer them, a mysterious messenger delivers a letter.
• The letter, signed by Xu Fugui, warns: “It’s a trap. Don’t go. Everyone who joins today will be sent to the front lines.”

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan remains cautious and pragmatic: he puts survival ahead of revenge or a dangerous treasure hunt, and relies on his speed and escape options rather than fighting recklessly.
• He has grown more capable and financially secure, becoming a skilled alchemist and talisman-maker, but worries that the Water Dragon Sect might forcibly recruit him if it discovers his talents.
• Lin Hu and Wen Lin show concern and affection as friends, though Wen Lin also hopes Ji Yuan will honor their agreement after joining the sect. When the apparent attack arrives, they sensibly leave rather than become a liability.
• Ji Yuan protects the group from the incoming object, then uses his corpse puppet Tu Yue to open the letter, choosing to risk the replaceable puppet rather than himself.

Significant themes

• Survival through caution: Ji Yuan avoids fights and opportunities that exceed his current strength.
• Uncertainty and mistrust: Qiu Qianhai’s disappearance and the sudden recruitment leave major threats unexplained.
• Opportunity versus danger: Joining the sect could advance Ji Yuan’s prospects, but the letter suggests it may instead send recruits directly into war.
• Loyalty and self-preservation: Ji Yuan’s friends care about him, yet recognize that staying close during danger could put them all at risk.

Plot points and events

• Ji Yuan receives Old Master Xu’s warning and realizes the Water Dragon Sect has moved its selection forward to recruit large numbers of rogue cultivators before its plans become widely known. He suspects recruits will be used as expendable front-line troops.
• Ji Yuan decides to avoid the selection and wait three years, choosing safety over joining the sect early. He stays home, keeps Tu Yue on household duties, and avoids going to Zengtou City.
• Du Wanyi visits because the accelerated selection seems suspicious to her. She and Ji Yuan agree to wait, though Ji Yuan keeps Old Master Xu’s warning to himself.
• Neighbor Wen Lin reports that the sect has relaxed its requirements: it will accept late Qi Refining cultivators and skilled practitioners of pills, talismans, or artifacts, but will not test spiritual roots. Ji Yuan and Du Wanyi take this as evidence the sect is trying to recruit as many useful people as possible.
• Du Wanyi recalls an earlier Water Dragon Sect scheme that lured low-level cultivators into dangerous mining work under the guise of recruitment, reinforcing their distrust.
• Yao Jingfeng never arrives with news. Later, Wen Lin and the others return from Zengtou City with the announcement that the selection is already over and that next year’s will proceed normally.

Character development and interactions

• Ji Yuan’s caution deepens: he chooses to stay out of danger, considers waiting until he is stronger, and recognizes that even a future sect member may need to be ready to flee.
• Du Wanyi has become more wary since Luo Tian’s death and increasingly trusts Ji Yuan’s judgment over Yao Jingfeng’s. She independently decides to delay joining.
• Ji Yuan and Du Wanyi share their suspicions and reach the same conclusion without Ji Yuan revealing his confidential warning.
• Wen Lin acts responsibly, bringing back practical information and checking in with Ji Yuan; Ji Yuan regards him as a good man.
• Ji Yuan’s relationship with Tu Yue remains mostly practical, centered on chores and keeping their household running.

Significant themes

• Institutional exploitation: The Water Dragon Sect appears willing to use outsiders and low-level cultivators as disposable labor or soldiers.
• Caution and survival: Ji Yuan and Du Wanyi value patience over advancement when the risks are unclear.
• Trust and information: Old Master Xu’s warning protects Ji Yuan, while Du Wanyi’s growing trust in Ji Yuan contrasts with her uncertainty about Yao Jingfeng.
• The harshness of cultivation: Joining a powerful sect offers opportunity, but not necessarily safety or fair treatment.

Key plot points and events

• The Water Dragon Sect’s recruitment ends, and its new disciples are taken away, most likely to the front lines. Ji Yuan learns that Qin Long and He Laosan joined, leaving the Qin Household without its senior cultivators.
• The Wu Family has been wiped out. Lu Suo joined the sect through her talent for talisman-making, offering it a method she had developed in exchange for revenge. A Foundation Establishment cultivator killed Wu Wenbin and his father, and sect disciples killed the rest of the family.
• Ji Yuan and Du Wanyi visit Yao Jingfeng, only to discover he has also joined the sect. Du worries because Yao was badly injured and may have little hope of Foundation Establishment; Ji Yuan suspects Yao joined out of desperation, gambling on a slim chance to change his fate.
• Ji Yuan and Du agree to stay in touch and discuss future problems together. He returns to Zengtou City, where his remaining neighbors are relieved he did not join the sect.
• Four months later, Ji Yuan’s talisman skills have improved, and his cultivation is nearing a breakthrough. Concerned that joining the sect may bring complications, he decides to seek a second-level spell opportunity beforehand. Ten days later, he senses that his breakthrough is imminent.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan remains cautious and observant. He recognizes the risks behind the recruitment and tries to prepare independently before entering the sect.
• Lu Suo is revealed as patient, talented, and ruthless in pursuing revenge. Her offer to the sect turns her skill into the means of destroying the Wu Family.
• Yao Jingfeng appears to have made a desperate gamble, likely driven by his damaged foundation and dwindling prospects. Du Wanyi is deeply worried about him.
• Du Wanyi and Ji Yuan reaffirm their bond, agreeing to face future difficulties together as their circle of companions shrinks.
• Wen Lin and Lin Hu share the news of the Wu Family’s fall; their satisfaction reflects the resentment ordinary residents feel toward powerful families.

Significant themes

• Revenge and justice: Lu Suo’s vengeance is celebrated by people who felt oppressed by the Wu Family, though the sect’s swift violence leaves little room for process or mercy.
• Desperation and risk: Yao’s decision to join reflects how people with few prospects may gamble on dangerous opportunities.
• Power and survival: Joining the Water Dragon Sect offers advancement but may mean being sent to the front lines; families and personal ties are sacrificed for a chance at security or status.
• Preparation amid uncertainty: Ji Yuan responds to an unstable future by improving his skills and seeking opportunities before circumstances change.

Key plot points and events

• Ji Yuan prepares to break through from the eighth to the ninth layer of Qi Refining. He seals his residence with protective talismans, gathers nearly five hundred low-grade spirit stones, and cultivates with the Azure Sea Tide Art.
• At the Water Dragon Sect, Qin Long and He Laosan visit Lu Suo, asking her to recommend them to their upcoming mission captain, Zhou Wuyan, so they might receive safer assignments at the front lines.
• Lu Suo writes a courteous letter of recommendation. After they leave, she reveals that she expects Zhou—her resentful senior brother—to give them especially dangerous work.
• Three days after beginning his breakthrough, Ji Yuan emerges successfully at the ninth layer. He checks Tu Yue’s nearly full storage bag and estimates its contents could sell for five or six hundred spirit stones, with Waterbloom Dew and blood essence especially valuable.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Yuan is methodical and protective of his breakthrough, then pleased by how easily he advances and by the steady accumulation of resources.
• Lu Suo appears gracious toward Qin Long and He Laosan, but her kindness is deliberate revenge. She remembers that the Qin Household planned to exploit and eventually kill her, and that one of its members was implicated in the deaths of Ji Yuan’s parents. She uses her new influence to put the two men in danger.
• Mei Chen questions Lu Suo’s decision to help the Qin men, prompting her to explain her true motives.
• Lu Suo also reflects on Ji Yuan’s past kindness: when others treated her as a curse, he gave her blood essence that represented hope and the chance to live. She looks forward to his eventual arrival at the sect and considers the two men’s deaths a fitting welcome gift.

Significant themes

• Revenge and justice: Lu Suo turns an apparently benevolent favor into payback for past betrayal and violence.
• Kindness and loyalty: Ji Yuan’s lifesaving gift remains deeply meaningful to Lu Suo and motivates her concern for him.
• Power and survival: At the front, a captain’s assignments can determine whether disciples live or die; within the sect, talent and connections offer protection.
• Cultivation as material progress: Ji Yuan’s advancement and growing stockpile of resources show the practical link between spiritual power, preparation, and wealth.

Plot points and events

• Ji Yuan decides to investigate the inheritance Qiu Qianhai described: a second-order movement technique carved into a cliff on a remote island in Cloud-Rain Marsh. Despite the danger, he reasons that his flying boat and ample combat supplies give him a safe way to scout.
• He prepares carefully, bringing talismans, magical artifacts, pills, and two water-thunder pellets. He leaves Tu Yue to manage things at home and tells Wen Lin he will be away.
• Ji Yuan reaches the marsh’s deep, misty waters and navigates cautiously, spotting a huge second-order snake demon beneath the surface before continuing.
• He finds the island and its cliff. A massive toad attacks from below, but its tongue cannot reach him in the air. It leaps up the mountainside to try again.
• Ji Yuan recognizes it as a Big-Mouthed Frog-Eater, whose powerful suction draws in mist and prey. Rather than fight, he tests his theory by tossing it a piece of spirit-pig meat. The toad swallows it and abruptly stops its attack, ending the chapter on Ji Yuan’s surprised reaction.

Character developments

• Ji Yuan is cautious and pragmatic, but willing to take calculated risks when prepared. His stockpile of talismans and equipment reflects his belief that survival matters more than saving resources.
• He is increasingly wary of the Water Dragon Sect after its treatment of rogue cultivators as expendable, and already considers the possibility of leaving the faction.
• Ji Yuan sees Qiu Qianhai’s recklessness as inherited from his adventurous grandfather, while judging himself comparatively cautious.

Character interactions

• Ji Yuan gives Tu Yue instructions for managing affairs during his absence and informs Wen Lin that he will be away for several days.
• Du Wanyi has been visiting Ji Yuan frequently, partly because she fears he might leave her as Yao Jingfeng did.
• Ji Yuan’s encounter with the toad is a cautious contest of observation: he avoids its attacks, recognizes its behavior, and uses food to test whether he can neutralize it without a fight.

Significant themes

• Preparation and survival: Ji Yuan’s resources and caution let him confront danger on his own terms.
• Calculated risk versus recklessness: He admires the grandfather’s daring but prefers to reduce uncertainty before acting.
• Distrust of institutions and self-reliance: Ji Yuan questions the Water Dragon Sect’s motives and seeks independence rather than relying on it for protection.
• Knowledge as a weapon: Identifying the toad’s nature may turn a dangerous encounter into an opportunity.

Key plot points and events

• Ji Yuan recognizes the island’s resident frog as a Big-Mouthed Frog-Eater, a normally docile but extremely gluttonous Second-Order Demon Beast. He considers poisoning it, then decides that befriending it could make the fog-shrouded island an ideal secret refuge and future Cave Abode.
• Using small portions of enhanced Spirit Pig meat, Ji Yuan earns the frog’s trust. It leads him beneath a cliff and clears away vegetation, revealing the carved record of a Tier Two movement technique.
• Ji Yuan copies the technique, Shadow-Following Technique, several times. Its first volume, Shadow, enables rapid close-range movement for combat, evasion, and ambushes; its second, Following Along, provides exceptional escape speed, briefly comparable to that of a flying Spirit Artifact.
• Hoping to make the frog accept him as a resident, Ji Yuan struggles to communicate his intentions through gestures and offers it more meat. The frog then leads him to the island’s northern side, where it moves cautiously and exposes a cave entrance hidden behind a boulder.
• Ji Yuan suspects the cave belonged to a Foundation Establishment cultivator who once kept the frog there. He cautiously illuminates the cave and uses a Night-Vision Talisman before entering further; the chapter ends as he sees that the cave is shallow and its interior is revealed.

Character developments

• Ji Yuan shifts from considering the frog a threat to seeing it as a potential ally, gatekeeper, and key to securing a hidden home. He remains cautious, preparing protective measures even as he grows more confident.
• The Big-Mouthed Frog-Eater proves gentle and cooperative when treated kindly. Though its intelligence is limited, it appears to understand food-based exchanges and willingly shows Ji Yuan important places.

Significant themes

• Trust and reciprocity: Ji Yuan gains the frog’s cooperation by feeding it, and the frog rewards him with discoveries.
• Prudence and opportunity: Ji Yuan balances excitement over valuable finds with protective precautions.
• Finding security and belonging: The foggy island offers the prospect of a secluded home, while the newly discovered cave may hold further rewards.

Character interactions

• Ji Yuan and the frog communicate through food, gestures, and following one another rather than speech. The frog leads; Ji Yuan rewards it with Spirit Pig meat.
• Their relationship develops from wary hunter-and-beast tension into tentative cooperation, though Ji Yuan still protects himself and does not yet know what lies inside the cave.

Plot points and events

• Ji Yuan explores an abandoned cave on a foggy island, but worries that Big Clam might trap him inside. He lures the frog-like demon beast away with spirit-pig meat, then returns alone to investigate.
• Inside a hidden chamber, he discovers that the stone bed is largely made of valuable cold iron sand, with a harder, unfamiliar blue ore at its core. He salvages about two hundred jin of cold iron sand and stores the remaining ore.
• After sealing the cave entrance, Ji Yuan feeds Big Clam and tests whether he can safely live on the island. He builds a small cabin and stays for two days, finding the beast mostly docile—especially when given roasted pork.
• On the third day, Ji Yuan heads back to Zengtou City to collect his belongings and relocate. Big Clam tries to restrain him, but Ji Yuan escapes quickly using the Thunder Falcon Boat’s power.

Character developments

• Ji Yuan proves cautious and resourceful: he plans around the danger of the cave and Big Clam, secures valuable materials, and tests the island before committing to the move. His discovery brings a rare stroke of wealth and opportunity.
• Big Clam appears increasingly tame and food-motivated, bonding with Ji Yuan through repeated meals. However, his attempt to hold Ji Yuan back shows that he remains a powerful, unpredictable demon beast.

Significant themes

• Caution and survival: Ji Yuan never mistakes apparent docility for safety and takes precautions before exploring or settling.
• Practical opportunity: He turns an unexpected discovery into a potential resource for his future.
• Trust built through exchange: Food helps establish a peaceful relationship with Big Clam, though that relationship remains fragile.
• Independence and preparation: The island offers Ji Yuan a potential refuge before he joins the Water Dragon Sect.

Character interactions

• Ji Yuan uses spirit-pig meat to direct Big Clam away from the cave and later keeps him calm while building his cabin.
• Their interactions are largely wordless: Ji Yuan gestures, while Big Clam responds with croaks and by following the food.
• Big Clam’s final attempt to restrain Ji Yuan reveals an attachment—or at least a desire to keep his source of roasted meat nearby—while Ji Yuan’s escape preserves his freedom and plans.