Chapter Summaries

After solving the problem that had troubled him for three years, Zhou Qing entered cultivation and completed a Heavenly Cycle. His achievement astonished Chen Qingxuan and left the other disciples, especially Wei Kuang, feeling outclassed.

• Zhou Qing arrived at the Instruction Platform with a newly confident bearing, and Wei Xu and Wang Xiaohu remarked that he seemed different.
• Zhou Qing recognized that Nie Yunxi had been injured by privately attempting to sense spiritual energy, and she admitted that her qi had gone berserk before she regained control.
• Wang Xiaohu told Zhou Qing that he had learned gossip from Azure Cloud Sect disciples, and Zhou Qing stopped him before Chen Qingxuan noticed.
• Chen Qingxuan sensed that Zhou Qing had completed a Heavenly Cycle the previous night, and Zhou Qing explained that he had tried the cultivation method and succeeded.
• The disciples were stunned by Zhou Qing’s progress, while Wei Kuang compared it with his own failed attempts; Chen Qingxuan struggled to reprimand Zhou Qing because he recognized how extraordinary the feat was.

After Zhou Qing completed a Heavenly Cycle in one night, Chen Qingxuan appointed him to watch over the other disciples as they sensed spiritual qi. Once the disciples departed, Chen taught Zhou the Spirit Concealment Art and explained how Spirit Pressure revealed a cultivator’s strength.

• Chen Qingxuan dismissed the disciples’ concerns about Zhou Qing’s rapid progress and told Zhou to protect his junior brothers and sisters while they sensed spiritual qi.
• Zhou Qing watched the meditating disciples and tried to analyze their life auras with magnetic fields, but found that spiritual qi interference made the task too difficult.
• At dusk, Chen Qingxuan sent the disciples away and kept Zhou behind, telling him he intended to make Zhou the Senior Apprentice.
• Chen Qingxuan taught Zhou the Spirit Concealment Art, a mnemonic for hiding Spirit Pressure.
• Chen explained that compressed spiritual qi produced Spirit Pressure, whose range and intensity indicated a cultivator’s level.

Zhou Qing learned why cultivators concealed their Spirit Pressure, received sect supplies, and assessed how his magnetic field ability could help him defend himself. He came up with a way to obtain iron for a weapon but still lacked a test subject for his mind-shaking technique when someone knocked at his door.

• Chen Qingxuan explained that the Four Great Dao Palaces spread Spirit Concealment Art because Spirit Pressure could harm mortals and disrupt spiritual energy.
• Chen Qingxuan flew to Azure Cloud Mountain to discuss recommending Zhou Qing as Senior Apprentice to Elder Jin Mang.
• Zhou Qing found sect robes, shoes, socks, and Bigu Pills outside his courtyard, then burned his old clothes.
• Zhou Qing noticed that his cultivation and magnetic field ability had improved, and he reviewed his Hypersonic Iron Pellet and mind-shaking technique.
• Zhou Qing decided to request iron tools under the pretext of repairing his house, but he could not find a test subject for his other technique.
• Someone knocked at Zhou Qing's door.

Zhou Qing learned that Elder Jin Mang had arranged for Wei Kuang to compete with him for the Senior Apprentice position by giving him a Heart Strengthening Pill. The chapter ended with Zhou Qing recognizing that the position’s privileges, including access to spells and secret techniques, strongly appealed to him.

• Wang Xiaohu told Zhou Qing that Elder Jin Mang had given Wei Kuang a Heart Strengthening Pill to help him become Senior Apprentice.
• Wei Xu explained Azure Cloud Sect’s factional divisions and identified Jin Mang as a powerful Elder of the Hall of Skill Transmission.
• Wang Xiaohu revealed that Zhou Qing and Wei Kuang would compete for the position after three months, with Zhou Qing needing to reach half of Wei Kuang’s cultivation.
• Nie Yunxi said she believed Zhou Qing could overcome the odds despite his single spiritual root.
• Wang Xiaohu described the Senior Apprentice’s status, resources, and Inner Disciple privileges, and Zhou Qing became interested in access to the Scripture Pavilion and combat techniques.

Zhou Qing considered competing for Senior Apprentice but decided he could not reveal cultivation talent beyond his recorded single spiritual root. He agreed to help Nie Yunxi, Wei Xu, and Wang Xiaohu sense spiritual energy, then used his magnetic field to study their bodies and discovered he could perceive their lifelines as fragile threads.

• Zhou Qing decided that concealing his secret mattered more than competing for Senior Apprentice, since he could not safely display unusually fast cultivation.
• Nie Yunxi asked Zhou Qing to stand guard while she sensed spiritual energy, and Wei Xu and Wang Xiaohu revealed they had come with similar intentions.
• Zhou Qing invited the three to visit each night and refused Nie Yunxi's offer of spirit stones in exchange for his help.
• After the three began sensing spiritual energy in his courtyard, Zhou Qing used his magnetic field to examine their electromagnetic signals.
• Zhou Qing perceived each person's overall electromagnetic state as a slender thread that he felt he could snap with slight force.

Zhou Qing tested his magnetic-field ability and accidentally disturbed Nie Yunxi’s communion with heaven and earth, then helped her recover and encouraged her. He requested tools and building materials from the Azure Cloud Sect and began preparing to cultivate and work on his own projects, before Wang Xiaohu arrived with news of another strange thing.

• Zhou Qing increased his magnetic field until the thread in his hand scattered into chaotic points of light.
• Zhou Qing interrupted Nie Yunxi when her communion with heaven and earth turned painful, and she thanked him after regaining consciousness.
• Nie Yunxi spoke with Zhou Qing about adjusting to the Cultivation World and promised to repay his guidance.
• Zhou Qing requested an iron hammer, an anvil, and other materials, then collected them after returning from the Instruction Platform.
• Zhou Qing noticed that he had grown stronger and cultivated for two hours before Nie Yunxi, Wei Xu, and Wang Xiaohu arrived.
• Wang Xiaohu told Zhou Qing that he had learned about another strange thing.

Wang Xiaohu told Zhou Qing and Wei Xu that Wei Kuang had given Feng Yuan a Heart Strengthening Pill rather than take it himself, prompting Zhou Qing to reflect on pride and the contest of the heart arts. After Wei Xu and the others learned to sense spiritual qi, they began studying a cultivation art, but their first attempt to circulate qi nearly injured them before Chen Qingxuan rescued them and explained how to control their intent.

• Wang Xiaohu told Zhou Qing and Wei Xu that Wei Kuang had given Feng Yuan his Heart Strengthening Pill because he did not want to win by relying on it.
• Zhou Qing told Wei Xu and the others that concern over winning could ruin their chances in the contest of the heart arts, and the group began cultivating.
• After five days, Wei Xu and the other two learned to sense spiritual qi and asked Chen Qingxuan to teach them the Floating Cloud Sun-Obscuring Art.
• Wei Xu and the other two asked Zhou Qing what it meant to guide qi with the proper degree, then tried circulating qi under Chen Qingxuan's supervision.
• Their intent made the spiritual qi surge wildly through their meridians, but Chen Qingxuan soothed it before it could cause lasting harm.
• Chen Qingxuan explained that excessive intent could make new spiritual qi uncontrollable and told the three to try circulating the art again.

Nie Yunxi struggled to control her qi until Zhou Qing instinctively adjusted her posture and helped her find the right degree of force. After the disciples practiced for two hours, Chen Qingxuan explained why they had to limit their daily qi circulation.

• Wang Xiaohu stopped trying to move the spiritual energy, while Wei Xu carefully adjusted his intent and Nie Yunxi tried raising hers in larger increments.
• When Nie Yunxi's spiritual energy surged out of control, Zhou Qing pressed several acupoints and adjusted her posture, calming the energy enough for her to guide it to the Platform Passage.
• Chen Qingxuan explained that Nie Yunxi's spiritual energy was insufficient to pass the Platform Passage, and praised Zhou Qing's instinctive guidance as evidence of a rare harmony with the Dao.
• After Zhou Qing helped them several times, Nie Yunxi and the other two gradually learned to guide their spiritual energy themselves.
• Chen Qingxuan ended the practice after two hours and explained that longer sessions could damage the meridians and cultivation foundation.
• Zhou Qing realized that the exhaustion he had felt during his first qi-circulation session might have come from the pressure of compressed spiritual energy as well as the drain on his energy.

Zhou Qing discovered that his unusual method of drawing in spiritual energy let him cultivate longer than other cultivators, though his magnetic field’s drain on his mental energy remained his limit. As the new disciples began practicing qi circulation, Chen Qingxuan explained why he had not asked Zhou Qing to guide them: he wanted the favor to belong to Zhou Qing if they sought his help themselves.

• Zhou Qing observed that the cells near his meridians kept repairing themselves after two hours of qi circulation and realized his body strengthened faster than spiritual energy compressed because it absorbed four-fifths of the energy he drew in.
• Zhou Qing cultivated for another hour before his mental energy began to run dry, concluding that his three daily hours of cultivation gave him a speed comparable to someone with six spiritual roots.
• Five days later, Wei Xu and two other disciples had advanced past the Platform Passage, while most of the new disciples were ready to begin cultivating the manual.
• Chen Qingxuan taught the manual and supervised the disciples’ first attempts at qi circulation in batches.
• Zhou Qing asked Chen Qingxuan why he had not asked him to stand guard over the other disciples, and Chen Qingxuan said he wanted any favor they received from Zhou Qing to be credited to him rather than himself.

Zhou Qing gained the disciples’ trust by guiding them in qi circulation, while Chen Qingxuan quietly remembered a lost senior sister. The next morning, the disciples’ greeting to Zhou Qing exposed a sharp divide between two factions on the Instruction Platform.

• Zhou Qing chatted with Wei Xu, Nie Yunxi, and Wang Xiaohu about the Azure Cloud Sect and learned that Chen Qingxuan was a candidate to enter death-seclusion.
• Yuan Hongying asked Zhou Qing to guide her qi circulation, and he helped her reach the Platform Passage; Nie Yunxi silently left while he instructed her.
• Other disciples sought Zhou Qing’s guidance, and Chen Qingxuan sent his own students to Zhou Qing before recalling his Eldest Senior Sister.
• After cultivating overnight, Zhou Qing returned to the Instruction Platform and found that most disciples stood to greet him while Wei Kuang and the Azure Cloud Sect-born disciples stayed seated, revealing two opposing factions.

Zhou Qing gained the disciples’ respect for his skill at guiding qi circulation, while Wei Kuang struggled to break through the ninth gate. After Wei Kuang suffered qi deviation attempting to cultivate in secret, Zhou Qing saved him, and Wei Kuang accepted his rebuke.

• Zhang Shan and the Azure Cloud Sect Native Faction disciples dismissed Zhou Qing’s early achievements, while Feng Yuan suggested seeking Zhou Qing’s guidance.
• Wei Kuang, unable to pass Flying Pavilion Pass, secretly circulated his qi despite Feng Yuan’s warnings.
• Feng Yuan hurried to Zhou Qing’s residence and begged him to save Wei Kuang, who had suffered qi deviation.
• Zhou Qing restrained the rampaging spiritual energy in Wei Kuang’s body until Wei Kuang recovered and woke.
• Wei Kuang thanked Zhou Qing for saving his life, and Zhou Qing warned him against letting impatience unsettle his heart and nature.
• Wei Kuang admitted that Senior Brother’s rebuke was right.

Wei Kuang stopped competing with Zhou Qing and publicly recognized him as Senior Brother, while Zhou Qing helped the new disciples establish their Heavenly Cycles ahead of schedule. As the training period ended, Jin Mang planned to name Wei Kuang Senior Apprentice, and Chen Qingxuan and Jin Mang arrived to oversee the designation.

• Wei Kuang told Feng Yuan that competing with Zhou Qing had distracted him from his own cultivation, so he had decided to stop fighting for superiority.
• At the Instruction Platform, Wei Kuang greeted Zhou Qing as Senior Brother, prompting the Native Faction disciples to acknowledge Zhou Qing too.
• Zhou Qing helped the new disciples establish their Heavenly Cycles, and within two months everyone was ready to cultivate independently.
• Chen Qingxuan announced the final lecture and monthly spirit-stone allotment, and the disciples thanked him and Zhou Qing for their guidance.
• Chen Qingxuan asked Jin Mang to attend the designation ceremony, and Jin Mang decided that Wei Kuang would become Senior Apprentice rather than Zhou Qing.
• Jin Mang visited Xu Jingfeng, who let him handle the ceremony, and the next morning Chen Qingxuan and Jin Mang arrived at the Instruction Platform.

Zhou Qing became the Azure Cloud Sect’s Senior Apprentice after Wei Kuang withdrew and the disciples unanimously supported him. Elder Jin Mang accepted their choice and gave Zhou Qing the Senior Apprentice’s jade token.

• Elder Jin Mang explained that Zhou Qing and Wei Kuang had agreed the position would go to Zhou Qing only if his cultivation reached at least half of Wei Kuang’s.
• Wei Kuang withdrew from the selection, saying Zhou Qing had saved his life and guided him in cultivation.
• Wei Xu and the other disciples declared that they wanted Zhou Qing as Senior Apprentice.
• Elder Jin Mang realized Zhou Qing had earned the class’s support and agreed to appoint him.
• Elder Jin Mang gave Zhou Qing the Senior Apprentice’s jade token, and the disciples congratulated him.

Zhou Qing addressed his junior disciples as their Senior Apprentice and received his monthly Spirit Stones. After learning how to use the stones, he returned alone to his residence and reflected on the solitude of cultivation.

• Wei Xu apologized to Wei Kuang, and the disciples urged Zhou Qing to give them his instructions as Senior Apprentice.
• Zhou Qing told the disciples to focus on cultivation and encouraged them to support one another in the Cultivation World.
• Chen Qingxuan distributed Spirit Stones, giving Zhou Qing a separate share of higher-grade stones.
• Chen Qingxuan explained the Stone Boiling Method and how Low-Grade and Mid-Grade Spirit Stones increased cultivation speed.
• Wang Xiaohu and Feng Yuan joked about cultivators taking spiritual energy from heaven and earth, then the disciples returned to their residences.
• Zhou Qing returned to his courtyard at noon and reflected that cultivators were destined for solitude.

Zhou Qing discovered how the Spirit Realm Network worked and realized his magnetic field abilities could let him bypass its limits. He then used a Spirit Stone to cultivate directly, reaching three inches of Spirit Pressure after two months of diligent cultivation.

• Zhou Qing entered the Spirit Realm Network and learned that, as Senior Apprentice, he could assign tasks to disciples and wield significant authority over them.
• Zhou Qing sensed spiritual energy fluctuations after using the network and concluded that it was a virtual space carried by spiritual energy, with the jade tablet serving as its interface.
• Zhou Qing considered whether he could analyze the fluctuations to hack the network, then set the idea aside to focus on cultivation.
• Zhou Qing used his magnetic field to draw spiritual energy directly from a Spirit Stone, cultivating six times faster than normal.
• Zhou Qing released the Spirit Concealment Art and found that his Spirit Pressure had reached three inches.

Zhou Qing discovered that Mid-Grade Spirit Stones temporarily raised his cultivation speed beyond Wei Kuang’s, but their limited supply would soon run out. He tested his growing physical strength and magnetic-field control, and realized further development might eventually let him create lightning.

• Zhou Qing calculated that his two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones would last only about three days, so he recognized that he needed more resources and planned to assess his current abilities.
• Zhou Qing used lumber, stone locks, and millstones he had obtained from the sect to prepare for strength testing.
• Zhou Qing lifted a fifteen-hundred-pound millstone overhead and found that his strength had grown enormously in two months.
• Zhou Qing tested his magnetic field and found he could levitate a hundred-pound iron anvil, divide and vary magnetic fields, and change their direction.
• Zhou Qing reasoned that sufficiently powerful, rapidly alternating magnetic fields might generate lightning attacks in the future.

Zhou Qing practiced firing his Hypersonic Iron Pellet but struggled to hit his target. When his friends visited, Wei Kuang warned him about two unusually well-paid sect tasks, and Zhou Qing asked about the danger of Living Dead Cliff.

• Zhou Qing practiced launching an iron pellet from his magnetic field and missed his target through more than a thousand attempts.
• Wei Xu arrived with Wang Xiaohu and Nie Yunxi, while Zhou Qing also encountered Feng Yuan, Yuan Hongying, and Wei Kuang outside his courtyard.
• Yuan Hongying asked Zhou Qing to remember her if a sect task that could earn spirit stones became available.
• Wei Kuang explained that Thunder Serpent Cave and Living Dead Cliff offered the sect's highest task rewards but should never be accepted.
• Wei Kuang described how disciples cleaning the Golden Core Realm Thunder Serpent's scales endured painful shocks, and Zhou Qing asked what made Living Dead Cliff dangerous.

Zhou Qing confronted Fang Yuhe after Fang insulted Wei Kuang and demanded that Zhou resign as Senior Apprentice. Fang Yuhe left without fighting, and Zhou revealed that his courtyard’s restriction formation had protected them.

• Wei Kuang described the dangers of Living Dead Cliff and explained that the troublesome missions could be passed to Outer Disciples from earlier batches.
• Fang Yuhe arrived with Liu Bingxuan and other disciples, then berated Wei Kuang for losing the Senior Apprentice position to Zhou Qing.
• Zhou Qing defended Wei Kuang and rejected Fang Yuhe’s demand that he resign, criticizing Fang for caring about the sect’s reputation instead of cultivating.
• Fang Yuhe stopped his companions from attacking Zhou Qing and led them away.
• Wang Xiaohu praised Zhou Qing, and Zhou explained that Fang Yuhe had been deterred by the restriction formation covering his courtyard gate.

Zhou Qing’s friends comforted Wei Kuang after a confrontation with Fang Yuhe’s group, while Fang Yuhe arranged for the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall to block Zhou Qing from taking tasks. Zhou Qing continued training and cultivation, but after his Spirit Stones ran out, he found no tasks available and learned something was amiss when Yuan Hongying came to visit.

• Zhou Qing, Wei Xu, and their companions reassured Wei Kuang and shared cultivation insights before leaving Zhou Qing’s residence.
• Liu Bingxuan complained about Zhou Qing, and Fang Yuhe said he would find another way to teach him a lesson.
• Fang Yuhe asked Elder Chengguang to delay releasing tasks until Fang Yuhe entered the Spirit Realm Network, and Chengguang agreed to keep Zhou Qing from getting any tasks.
• Zhou Qing practiced iron pellets until his accuracy improved, then began increasing their speed.
• After his two Mid-Grade Spirit Stones ran out, Zhou Qing’s cultivation slowed, and he found no tasks despite checking the Spirit Realm Network daily.
• Yuan Hongying came to Zhou Qing’s home while he waited for tasks.

After Yuan Hongying revealed that tasks were being posted despite Zhou Qing seeing none, Zhou Qing and Wei Kuang suspected Fang Yuhe was using advance information to take them all. They confronted Elder Chengguang at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, but Zhou Qing withdrew without an explanation and resolved to keep checking the Spirit Realm Network.

• Yuan Hongying told Zhou Qing that disciples in other classes were receiving frequent tasks, even though he had found none in half a month.
• Zhou Qing visited Wei Kuang, who suspected Fang Yuhe was warned about tasks before they were posted and distributed them to his associates.
• Wei Kuang explained that Fang Yuhe had an ancestor in secluded cultivation at Living Dead Cliff, and the two went to the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall to question Elder Chengguang.
• Elder Chengguang claimed Zhou Qing had overlooked the postings, and Fang Yuhe rebuked Wei Kuang for disrespecting his elders.
• Zhou Qing stopped Wei Kuang from arguing and left, saying he would check the Spirit Realm Network more closely.