Chapter Summaries

As the Orthodox-Demonic War engulfed Shangdong, Ji Yuan stayed away from Shang Mountain and supplied the front by refining Spirit-Restoring Pills. He returned to the Water Dragon Sect to meet Dong Qian, but found her Jade Slip saying she had gone far away and they likely would never meet again.

• Li Changhe warned Ji Yuan that Shang Mountain and the Six Immortal Sects might fall, and said the Li Family would shelter Hua Yaoyue at its Alchemy Workshop.
• Nine strikes of the Golden Bell summoned the Water Dragon Sect’s cultivators, and the Profound Water True Person announced that the sect faced destruction.
• Ji Yuan supplied the Six-Sect Alliance with Spirit-Restoring Pills and remained at the Alchemy Workshop while Ran Kui and Feng Zhitáo went to defend Shang Mountain.
• Ji Yuan left the workshop to return to the Water Dragon Sect and visit Dong Qian, whose one-year promise was nearly due.
• Tu Yue gave Ji Yuan Dong Qian’s Jade Slip, in which she said she had gone far away and they likely would not meet again in this life.

Ji Yuan learned that Dong Qian had been taken back to the Demon God Continent and found a contemptuous poem left by her clan, but he resolved to grow strong enough to confront them. After speaking with Hua Yaoyue, he returned to Carefree Island with three Demon Cores, while Hua Yaoyue set out over the Boundless Marsh toward a vast turtle-bodied, dragon-headed creature.

• Ji Yuan listened to Dong Qian's farewell recording, learned she had been taken to the Demon God Continent, and suspected a powerful Heavenly Fox Clan member had erased part of her message.
• Ji Yuan found a poem at Dong Qian's empty Cave Abode that belittled him and praised her noble lineage, then kept the Image-Recording Pearl and resolved to reach the Demon God Continent.
• Ji Yuan searched Carefree Island and found nothing missing, then met Hua Yaoyue, who told him to remain at the sect until his breakthrough and later accompany her to Medicine King Valley.
• Hua Yaoyue explained that the Heavenly Fox Clan was formidable, said Ji Yuan would need to awe a Void Refinement ancestor to become its honored guest, and reported that Feng Zhitáo and Ran Kui had defended the mountain twice.
• Hua Yaoyue gave Ji Yuan three Third-Order Monster Cores, and he left to upgrade the Scripture Pavilion.
• Hua Yaoyue declared that she believed Ji Yuan could subdue the Demon God Continent, then appeared above the Boundless Marsh and looked down at a huge turtle-bodied, dragon-headed shadow beneath the water.

Ji Yuan upgraded the Scripture Pavilion, raised his Sword Canon proficiency to 90, and learned how the pavilion could improve his techniques. He then accompanied Hua Yaoyue into Medicine King Valley to reach the Ageless Spring, where an old man discovered them.

• Ji Yuan upgraded the Scripture Pavilion to level two, and its Dao-enhancing effects helped him raise his Sword Canon proficiency to 90, allowing him to condense his final natal flying sword.
• Ji Yuan examined his techniques and found that proficiency increased through repeated practice; he also learned that the level-three Scripture Pavilion could improve alchemy, formations, talismans, and artifact refining.
• Hua Yaoyue returned and took Ji Yuan west toward Medicine King Valley, where his Truth-Piercing Divine Eye revealed the sect's formation and its flaws.
• Hua Yaoyue changed her appearance, gave Ji Yuan an illusory mask, and led him through Medicine King Valley's sect-protecting formation and into its forbidden valley.
• Ji Yuan and Hua Yaoyue reached the emerald spring, where a white-haired old man opened his eyes in surprise.

Ji Yuan refined the Evergreen Sword Embryo at Medicine King Valley’s Nether Ageless Spring and advanced to Peak Foundation Establishment. After he and Hua Yaoyue took most of the spring water, they flew south, leaving the Apothecary King to discover the nearly emptied spring when he returned.

• Hua Yaoyue threatened the Apothecary King with her spear and ordered him away from the spring while Ji Yuan cultivated.
• Ji Yuan absorbed the abundant Water Fortune, formed the Evergreen Sword Embryo, and broke through to Peak Foundation Establishment.
• Hua Yaoyue explained that the spring was a Nether Ageless Spring and told Ji Yuan about a true Ageless Spring on the Demon God Continent.
• Ji Yuan and Hua Yaoyue filled two jade flasks with most of the spring water and left the rest behind.
• Hua Yaoyue took Ji Yuan south, breaking through Medicine King Valley’s Three Mountains Overturning Peak Formation as they departed.
• After waiting several days, the Apothecary King returned and found the spring nearly dry, then thanked the senior bitterly for what she had left.

Ji Yuan unlocked the Heavenly Grotto, a Golden Core Realm core building and Life-bound Dharma Treasure, but spent nearly all his Spirit Stones to obtain it. Desperate to raise the 30,000 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones needed to upgrade it, he visited Dong Qian’s shop and discovered she had left him her savings.

• Ji Yuan filled his Dantian at the peak of Foundation Establishment, and the Construction Panel revealed the Heavenly Grotto as his new core building.
• Ji Yuan unlocked the Heavenly Grotto by spending all his Spirit Stones, leaving himself penniless and learning that upgrading it required 30,000 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Ji Yuan gathered what little he could from Tu Yue and planned to sell his remaining valuables or seek a loan.
• Ji Yuan visited Dong Qian’s shop, where Shi Xiu’er told him Dong Qian had left the shop and a Storage Bag for him.
• Ji Yuan found 8,232 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones, 234 Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and 9 Spirit Fragments in Dong Qian’s Storage Bag, then sat alone grieving over her generosity.

Ji Yuan returned to the Alchemy Workshop, confronted Flame Python True Person and Huang Richeng, and killed Huang Richeng after discovering what had happened to Spirit-Restoration Street. As Flame Python True Person moved against him, Icefire Old Man intervened and revealed that he knew Ji Yuan’s identity as Changshou.

• Ji Yuan left the Marvelous Medicine Shop, sold his goods at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, and restored Carefree Island’s Spirit Vein by adding more than a thousand Middle-Grade Spirit Stones.
• At the Alchemy Workshop, Flame Python True Person accused Ji Yuan of abandoning his post and threatened to dock his pay, but Wonderful Medicine True Person intervened and smoothed things over.
• After learning that Huang Richeng had taken alchemists and medicinal herbs from Spirit-Restoration Street, Ji Yuan led the remaining alchemists to demand their return and compensation.
• When Huang Richeng refused and challenged him, Ji Yuan killed him with the Heavenly Venom Needle and took his Storage Bag and protective Spirit Artifacts.
• Flame Python True Person tried to attack Ji Yuan, but Wonderful Medicine True Person shielded him; Icefire Old Man then arrived, crushed Flame Python True Person’s fire python, and asked Ji Yuan whether to call him Changshou or Ji.

Li Changhe returned with the Icefire Old Man, who took control of the Alchemy Workshop and drove off Flame Python True Person. Ji Yuan learned his purple eye had vanished, then revealed a bottle of Medicine King Valley’s Ageless Spring to Li Changhe.

• The Icefire Old Man arrived with Li Changhe, drove away Flame Python True Person, and took charge of the Alchemy Workshop on City-Overlooking Mountain.
• Li Changhe told Ji Yuan that Huang Richeng was the Third Elder Xuan Xiao True Person’s illegitimate son.
• The Icefire Old Man reassigned workshop duties, doubled Ji Yuan’s stipend, and warned the Foundation Establishment Cultivators to obey him.
• Ji Yuan told the Icefire Old Man that his purple eye had disappeared, and the Icefire Old Man revealed that his own vertical eye was gone too.
• Ji Yuan showed Li Changhe a bottle of Ageless Spring from Medicine King Valley, and Li Changhe eagerly asked him to entrust the matter to him.

Ji Yuan sold Li Changhe a bottle of Ageless Spring for 55,000 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones and uncovered evidence that Huang Richeng had been embezzling pills for the Demonic Dao. He used the Spirit Stones to upgrade his Life-bound Dharma Treasure, which took shape as a small mountain he named Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain.

• Li Changhe agreed to buy Ji Yuan’s Ageless Spring with Spirit Stones, and Ji Yuan discovered nearly ten thousand Spirit-Gathering Pills in Huang Richeng’s Storage Bag.
• Ji Yuan received a message revealing Huang Richeng’s embezzlement and connection to the Demonic Dao, then reported it to Icefire Old Man, who told him to keep the contact engaged.
• Ji Yuan reorganized the alchemists, focused on cultivation and artifact refining, and waited for Li Changhe to return with the Li Family’s offer.
• Li Changhe paid Ji Yuan 55,000 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones for the Ageless Spring and agreed to ask the Li Family about trading another bottle for Voidspace Stone.
• Ji Yuan secured his workshop, spent 30,000 Middle-Grade Spirit Stones to upgrade the Heavenly Grotto, and summoned its completed form from his Dantian.
• Ji Yuan named his small blue-green divine mountain Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain.

Ji Yuan explored the powers of his Life-bound Dharma Treasure, Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain, and discovered the Panel had created a Sword Forge for his nine Sword Embryos. After meeting Icefire Old Man, he disguised himself as Huang Richeng and traveled to Pure Mountain to meet the person demanding Cultivation Pills.

• Ji Yuan entered Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain, tested its ability to shrink and hide, and planned how he would eventually arrange buildings inside it.
• The Panel revealed a Level One Sword Forge that could store swords and boost sword specialization, while Ji Yuan confirmed his Sword Embryos remained in his Dantian.
• Ji Yuan examined the Level Two Heavenly Grotto’s powerful Spirit Effects and tested the Voidspace Stone costs for housing several buildings.
• After receiving another message from the person demanding Cultivation Pills, Ji Yuan called Icefire Old Man, who disguised him as Huang Richeng with a Talisman Treasure.
• Ji Yuan arranged to meet the contact at Pure Mountain in two days, and Icefire Old Man accompanied him north before watching from a distance.
• Ji Yuan landed at Pure Mountain, where the familiar contact greeted him as Brother Huang.

Ji Yuan infiltrated a Demonic Dao branch hidden inside the Fallen Star River and met its Golden Core leader, Divine Eagle High Person. After the leader gave him a Jade Slip to deliver to his father, he revealed Huang Richeng and asked how he had returned from the dead.

• Ji Yuan handed Liu Tian ten thousand Spirit-Gathering Pills in exchange for being taken to the Demonic Dao branch.
• Liu Tian led Ji Yuan and Huang Richeng's Dao companion through the Phantom Array of Gathering Waters into a Demon Grotto hidden beneath the Fallen Star River.
• Divine Eagle High Person examined Ji Yuan, accepted the pills, and ordered him to complete the branch's identity process.
• Ji Yuan received a spirit robe and identity token, lit his Soul Lamp, and was told he was already bound by a Bloodline Curse.
• Divine Eagle High Person showed Ji Yuan the Blood Clasp controlling his life and instructed him to deliver a Jade Slip to his father.
• A familiar figure emerged from the locked room, and Divine Eagle High Person asked Huang Richeng how he had come back from the dead.

Ji Yuan escaped Divine Eagle High Person and Flame Python True Person by hiding inside his life-bound treasure, Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain, and learned that the Six-Sect Alliance planned to abandon Shang Mountain. As Dark Venerable prepared to join the fight, Icefire Old Man began freezing the Fallen Star River to force a way into the Demon Grotto.

• Divine Eagle High Person and Flame Python True Person revealed that they had trapped Ji Yuan to recruit him and use him to lure Icefire Old Man into a killing trap.
• Ji Yuan pretended to accept their offer, then vanished into Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain when an energy disturbance distracted the two men.
• Divine Eagle High Person and Flame Python True Person searched the Demon Grotto but failed to find Ji Yuan, who stayed concealed inside his treasure.
• Divine Eagle High Person and Flame Python True Person discussed the Six-Sect Alliance's plan to abandon Shang Mountain and summoned Dark Venerable for help against Icefire Old Man.
• Icefire Old Man ordered the cultivators on Pure Mountain to leave, then froze three hundred li of the Fallen Star River with a single step.

Icefire Old Man confronted Dark Venerable as Divine Eagle High Person and Fire True Person fled the battlefield. Ji Yuan intercepted the wounded Fire True Person and launched a prepared attack, leaving their duel poised to begin in earnest.

• Divine Eagle High Person and Flame Python True Person prepared to flee the Demon Grotto, while Icefire Old Man attacked its Formation and Dark Venerable arrived to challenge him.
• Icefire Old Man and Dark Venerable clashed, shattering the frozen Fallen Star River and destroying the Formation as Divine Eagle High Person and Flame Python True Person emerged.
• Divine Eagle High Person fled north, and Flame Python True Person escaped underwater before resurfacing on the southern bank, where Ji Yuan was waiting.
• Ji Yuan used Heavenly Thunder Pellets and his Ice Flood Dragon to ambush Flame Python True Person and his Fire Python.
• Ji Yuan sent nine Sword Embryos into a Heaven-Slaying strike while a Heavenly Net blocked Flame Python True Person's escape, and Flame Python True Person summoned his Crimson Wave Whip.

Ji Yuan killed Flame Python True Person and his Fire Python, then returned to the Alchemy Workshop as the six sects gathered forces there. The chapter ended with Icefire Old Man racing north after a blazing clash, leaving Ji Yuan unsure whether he had won.

• Ji Yuan used Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain and the formation’s stardust to cripple Flame Python True Person’s Fire Python, allowing Monday to kill it and take its Demon Core.
• Ji Yuan killed the weakened Flame Python True Person with a Heavenly Venom Needle, captured his ghost in the Thousand-Soul Banner, and took his treasures and intact corpse.
• Ji Yuan took the Fire Python’s Demon Core, treated the wounded Ice Flood Dragon, and fled south when the battle between Icefire Old Man and Dark Venerable shook the ground.
• Ji Yuan returned to the Alchemy Workshop, where Li Changhe told him that six Golden Core True Persons had gathered and Spirit-Energy Cannons had been placed along the walls.
• A pillar of flame erupted to the north, and Icefire Old Man laughed before flying away; Ji Yuan wondered whether he had won.

After Icefire Old Man broke through during his battle with the Dark Venerable, the Six Immortal Sects abandoned the defense of Shang Mountain and prepared to hold the Alchemy Workshop instead. Icefire Old Man invited Ji Yuan and five other cultivators to form a Demon-Hunting Squad, but Ji Yuan tried to refuse and yield his place to Tongyou of Corpse-Driving Mountain.

• Icefire Old Man returned to the Alchemy Workshop after breaking through, and Ji Yuan traded a flask of Ageless Spring to Li Changhe for eleven jin of Voidspace Stone.
• Ji Yuan told Li Changhe that the Six Immortal Sects planned to abandon Shang Mountain, and Li Changhe explained that rogue cultivators had failed to support the defense and might even aid the Demonic Dao.
• Icefire Old Man announced that the sects would stop defending Shang Mountain and concentrate on holding the Alchemy Workshop, then assigned Ji Yuan and Li Changhe to serve under Liexiao True Person.
• Icefire Old Man kept six cultivators behind and proposed that they form a Demon-Hunting Squad, offering them first claim to resources, including treasures that could aid Golden Core Formation.
• When a Spirit-Controlling Sect cultivator questioned Ji Yuan's selection over Tongyou of Corpse-Driving Mountain, Ji Yuan agreed that Tongyou should take his place.

Ji Yuan refused to join the Demon-Hunting Squad and instead settled into his Cave Abode, where he examined Flame Python True Person’s treasures and began refining swords to upgrade the [Sword Forge]. While Ji Yuan worked, Li Changhe confronted cultivators who mocked the Water Dragon Sect over Ji Yuan’s withdrawal.

• Icefire Old Man explained that the Demon-Hunting Squad was meant to temper Peak Foundation Establishment Cultivators and help them reach Golden Core Formation, but Ji Yuan refused to join because he feared dying and preferred to rely on Dan Yuan Fruit.
• Ji Yuan met Liexiao True Person and the Water Dragon Sect cultivators stationed at the Alchemy Workshop, then returned home and refined Flame Python True Person’s Crimson Wave Whip and Fire Willow flying dagger.
• Ji Yuan speculated that Icefire Old Man controlled an ice-aspect person to hide his true strength, then discovered Flame Python True Person’s artifact-refining equipment, materials, and notes in a separate Storage Bag.
• Ji Yuan studied the notes, spent ten days preparing his equipment and materials, and began forging sword-type Spirit Artifacts to upgrade the [Sword Forge].
• Li Changhe heard Island Lord Qingshan complain that other sects mocked the Water Dragon Sect because Ji Yuan had withdrawn from the Demon-Hunting Squad, then flew off to defend his brother’s honor.
• Ji Yuan finished forging a High-Grade Spirit Artifact sword.

Ji Yuan refined Heaven Thunder Pellets, survived an explosion, and clashed with Zhou Sanbao before upgrading his Sword Forge. The chapter ended with news that the Demon-Hunting Squad had been ambushed and three of its six members, including Zhou Sanbao, had died.

• Ji Yuan forged his first High-Grade Spirit Artifact, named it White Rift, and began refining Heaven Thunder Pellets.
• Ji Yuan accidentally detonated a pellet, destroying his courtyard and injuring himself, but Icefire Old Man and Liexiao True Person found him alive.
• Ji Yuan recovered, continued refining pellets, and later went to guard the eastern city wall, where Li Changhe told him Zhou Sanbao had mocked him.
• Ji Yuan confronted Zhou Sanbao when the Demon-Hunting Squad returned, taunting him about Feng Zhitáo and prompting Li Changhe to step between them.
• After returning from guard duty, Ji Yuan gathered the required swords and Spirit Stones and upgraded the Sword Forge.
• Li Changhe and Liu Qingshan informed Ji Yuan that the Demon-Hunting Squad had been ambushed, while the Red Flower Island Master told him that two Flying Sword Letters had arrived from the sect.

Ji Yuan received messages from Liu Yuan and Hua Yaoyue, then spent Voidspace Stone to bring the Chicken Coop into Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain. After a Demonic Dao attack and a meeting with the surviving Demon-Hunting Squad members, he saw a Water Dragon Sect flying boat arrive and suspected it carried a new candidate for the squad.

• Ji Yuan collected two Flying Sword Letters and learned that Liu Yuan was coming to the Alchemy Workshop while Hua Yaoyue had moved his Carefree Island beside hers and warned him that Ran Kui and Feng Zhitáo were injured.
• Ji Yuan compared the Voidspace Stone costs of several buildings and used ten pounds to bring the Chicken Coop into the first level of Lingtai Square-Inch Mountain.
• A group of Demonic Cultivators attacked the Alchemy Workshop, but the defenders drove them off without any Foundation Establishment Cultivators being killed.
• Ji Yuan met Changkun, Ling Yue, and Linglong, the surviving members of the Demon-Hunting Squad, and declined their invitation to rejoin.
• A Water Dragon Sect Tower-Ship Flying Boat arrived as Li Changhe said the sect needed someone for the Demon-Hunting Squad, and Ji Yuan remarked that it seemed to bring a candidate.

Ji Yuan and his companions grew wary of the Demonic Dao’s suspicious calm while Shangdong’s Nascent Soul leaders met to discuss a likely attack and agreed to aid whichever sect was targeted. The chapter revealed that the Demonic Dao was preparing to enter a hidden gate, with Blood Luo King planning to destroy one sect and expose another that had defected.

• Ji Yuan, Li Changhe, and Liu Yuan discussed the escalating attacks on the Water Dragon Sect, traitors inside its formation, and Liu Yuan’s return from the Demon-Hunting Squad.
• Over the following half year, Ji Yuan saw the Demonic Dao remain strangely inactive, and he, Liu Yuan, and Li Changhe concluded that it was preparing a major move.
• Lu Shi, Kong Xifeng, Xu Sheng, Mei Zhuang, Ten Spirits Ancestor, Joyful Madam, and Apothecary King met to discuss which of the Six Immortal Sects might be attacked.
• Mei Zhuang identified Apothecary King’s damaged heart meridians and broken spine, and suggested that a Heart Demon was holding him back after a powerful cultivator had injured him.
• The gathered leaders agreed to aid whichever sect the Demonic Dao attacked, while Mei Zhuang concealed that one of their six sects had already defected.
• Blood Luo King, Demonflame True Lord, and Devil Lord White Bone discussed the nearly completed gate and Blood Luo King’s plan to destroy one sect and expose a defecting sect.

Ji Yuan was assigned to the Demon-Hunting Squad and prepared to leave the Alchemy Workshop with them after learning how its members fought. Meanwhile, Hua Yaoyue offered the dying Kong Xifeng ten more years of life and promised to bring the Water Dragon Sect to the Desolate Ancient Continent, prompting Kong Xifeng to realize Hua Yaoyue had been behind something.

• Ji Yuan learned that Wang Luo had been killed by a False Core Cultivator, and Icefire Old Man ordered him to join the Demon-Hunting Squad.
• Ji Yuan persuaded Icefire Old Man to add Wei Chen as the squad’s healer, and Changkun agreed to delay their revenge mission until the team had rested.
• Ji Yuan trained with the squad for half a month, studied the members’ fighting styles, and packed his belongings before their first trip outside the city.
• Hua Yaoyue appeared before Kong Xifeng and asked whether she had made up her mind about the Water Dragon Sect’s future.
• Hua Yaoyue gave Kong Xifeng a flask of Ageless Spring that would extend her life by ten years and promised to take the Water Dragon Sect to the Desolate Ancient Continent.
• Kong Xifeng recognized Hua Yaoyue as the person responsible for something she had just realized.

Ji Yuan left Changkun’s Demon-Hunting Squad, disguised himself as the Demonic Cultivator Qiu Qianhai, and infiltrated the Demonic Dao stronghold at Hundred-Year Town. There, he learned that Jiang Hong had become Shangxi’s foremost young master, backed by two Nascent Soul parents, and began asking for more information about the other young masters.

• Ji Yuan took over the cave’s concealment Formation, then told Changkun he would scout Hundred-Year Town alone and urged the squad to wait for his message before acting.
• Ji Yuan changed into his Demonic Dao disguise, met Luo Ma, and agreed to follow him to Hundred-Year Town after claiming to be a local Shangdong cultivator.
• Luo Ma brought Ji Yuan to the White Bone Sect’s stronghold, where Soulsunder Wanderer welcomed him and questioned his background over wine.
• Ji Yuan claimed he had once belonged to the Great Love Sect near Ghost-Seeking Hollow, and Soulsunder Wanderer accepted his account and promised to introduce him to the Young Master if he earned merit.
• Luo Ma told Ji Yuan that Jiang Hong had gained the recognition of his Nascent Soul father, the Blood Luo King, and his Nascent Soul mother, Blood Lady, and could now fight Golden Core Cultivators.
• Ji Yuan asked Luo Ma to explain the backgrounds of the White Bone Sect and Demonflame Palace young masters.