Chapter Summaries

Li Fuchan arrived at Zongshedu Mountain and fought Gao Gongjin, whose Immovable Seal and Inch Silk bow had let him kill Qu Cong and hold back the Immortal Sect disciples. After Li Fuchan killed Gao Gongjin with the Thunder Escape Sword Art, he revealed that the battle had brought Muffled Crow in Ambush to the turning point he had awaited.

• Gu Tong told Qu Chengong and Jiang Yan that Quan Yong was dead and revealed that Zongshedu Mountain held the key to Quan Yong's plans.
• Gao Gongjin used the Immovable Seal to restrain the Immortal Sect disciples and shot Qu Cong dead with Inch Silk.
• Li Fuchan arrived amid dark thunderclouds and attacked Gao Gongjin, breaking the Immovable Seal's restraint and destroying Gao Gongjin's three arrows.
• Mu Suli briefly transformed the Immovable Seal into a prohibition character to save Gao Gongjin, but True Lord Changshu intervened and suppressed Mu Suli.
• Gao Gongjin drew Inch Silk again, but Li Fuchan unleashed the Thunder Escape Sword Art, shattered two arrows, and killed him despite being pierced by the third.
• Li Fuchan declared that killing Gao Gongjin would not end Muffled Crow in Ambush, and True Lord Xiue laughed as Li Fuchan's eyes turned golden with crimson pupils.

Li Fuchan survived the arrival of True Lord Changshu, who explained that Muffled Crow in Ambush was the foretold transformation of Li Thunder and ordered him to go overseas. When Changshu tried to seize him, a thunder art activated and a grotto heaven summoned Li Fuchan away, leaving the Welcome Ying Isle True Lords to wonder what had happened.

• True Lord Xiue departed with the demon, and True Lord Changshu sent Mu Suli out of the Unseen Heavens.
• Li Fuchan waited at Zongshedu Mountain, having survived the first of three predicted death points and prepared for the second.
• True Lord Changshu arrived and identified Muffled Crow in Ambush as Li Thunder’s long-foreseen transformation, then told Li Fuchan to go overseas.
• Li Fuchan asked Changshu whether he had eaten people and ever lost, prompting Changshu to try to seize his life force.
• The Jade Pivot Thunder Canon activated through Embrace-Lock Crouching Cicada, and its lightning pinned the Unseen Heavens in place.
• A grotto heaven summoned Li Fuchan away as the thunder erupted, and the Great True Lord of Welcome Ying Isle arrived to question Changshu.

Li Fuchan used the Jade Pivot Thunder Canon’s doorway to escape a Purple Mansion Lord and discovered it led to the ruined Grotto Heaven of Separation, once belonging to the Thunder Palace. While investigating the palace, he triggered a crimson immortal book that stripped away his Outer Scenery and Li Thunder’s blessing, leaving him to wonder what had happened.

• Li Fuchan entered the doorway in the Jade Pivot Thunder Canon and confirmed he could escape a Purple Mansion Lord by entering the world beyond.
• He explored the desolate Heaven of Separation, found the Jade Pivot Palace, and realized the Grotto Heaven had belonged to the destroyed Thunder Palace.
• Li Fuchan reviewed the gains from his Tribulation Divination, including his near-breakthrough to Inner Vision and the Errant Thunder Drum he had retained in reality.
• When Li Fuchan touched the Errant Thunder Drum, a palace opened and a crimson immortal book’s radiance enveloped him before the doors shut again.
• Li Fuchan discovered that his Outer Scenery and Li Thunder’s attention had vanished, though his Dao Attainment remained, and he wondered whether the immortal books had caused it.

Li Fuchan discovered that the Crimson Slips could suppress Muffled Crow in Ambush and lock away his Li Thunder cultivation, giving him a way to change Dao Lineages while retaining his Great True Person-level strength. He returned from the Heaven of Separation and deliberately challenged True Lord Changshu, breaking through to Inner Vision and forming his Dao Fruit before the Purple Mansion Lord survived his attack.

• Li Fuchan tested the Errant Thunder Drum and confirmed that the Crimson Slips could repeatedly suppress Muffled Crow in Ambush and Li Thunder's blessing.
• Li Fuchan decided to pursue his third point of certain death by attacking a Purple Mansion Lord, then entered the gateway in the Jade Pivot Thunder Canon.
• True Lord Changshu realized that the qi traces he had placed on several disciples had vanished, while those on Ning Xiuqing and Jiang Chengzi remained.
• Li Fuchan returned before True Lord Changshu and released his suppression of Muffled Crow in Ambush, causing his cultivation aura to surge as his body began to collapse.
• Li Fuchan confronted True Lord Changshu and broke through to Inner Vision, forming the Dao Fruit Muffled Crow in Ambush.
• Li Fuchan's thunderfire engulfed the three men; the Welcome Ying Isle Great True Lord emerged unharmed, while True Lord Changshu departed to heal a burn on his hand.

Li Fuchan reached early-stage Inner Vision and used a death vision to witness the Gao Household’s grief after Gao Gongjin’s death, then saw Ning Xiu Cong and Jiang Chengzi encounter a deadly secret within the Great Zhi Pivot’s Secret Seal. He concluded the Secret Seal might conceal a dangerous Grotto Heaven and chose not to pursue it.

• Li Fuchan formed the Muffled Crow in Ambush Dao Fruit, strengthened by his merit for striking two Purple Mansion Lords with Li Thunder.
• Li Fuchan’s death vision showed Gao Gonglu telling his sons that Gao Gongjin was dead, naming Gao Changchen as the next Household Head, and assigning Gao Changling and Gao Changchuan their duties.
• Gao Gonglu entered seclusion to attempt a breakthrough, while Gao Changling found his letter asking that Gao Gongjin’s body be brought home if it was found.
• Li Fuchan watched the vision of Gao Gongjin’s death and reflected that the Gao Household had lost both brothers to the power of Purple Mansion Wisdom Kings.
• Li Fuchan saw Wei Qingcheng and Pivot Court disciples dead inside the Great Zhi Pivot’s Secret Seal, while Jiang Chengzi disappeared into what seemed to be a Grotto Heaven.
• Li Fuchan suspected the Grotto Heaven was linked to the Great Zhi Pivot’s inheritance but decided not to seek it because of the danger.

Gao Huan was captured and killed after slaying Xu Xuan, while Qifu Zhen searched for him and learned that Gao Huan, his sister-in-law, and their unborn child had died. Qifu Zhen left the Gao Household carrying his sister-in-law’s coffin, intending to take them home to the Grasslands before returning.

• Gao Huan led the Gao clan troops in driving Ming Beasts back and saved Qifu Zhen from a Lion-Shaped Ming Beast.
• Gao Huan vanished from the Hunting Grounds, later killed Xu Xuan with the ancient great medicine’s help, and was taken away by a Purple Mansion Lord as pill material.
• Qifu Zhen repeatedly tried to enter the Hunting Grounds to find Gao Huan, then returned to the Gao Household and asked Gao Changchen for help.
• Gao Changling showed Qifu Zhen Gao Huan’s shattered Life Tablet and told him that his sister had died by suicide and her unborn child had also died.
• Qifu Zhen asked to take his sister-in-law home, insisting that Gao Huan’s true name was He Liuhun and that their home was in the Grasslands.
• Qifu Zhen left the Gao Household carrying a jade coffin and promised to return after burying He Liuhun’s belongings, his sister-in-law, and their child in the Grasslands.

The vision showed the Northern Wei Six Mountains gathering to return south, while Gu Tong arranged protection for the Fei Household and Jiang Yan waited for Qu Chengong. After the vision shattered, Li Fuchan killed Quan Yong, declared his first act of pursuing his own wishes would not be his last, and entered the portal.

• The Peaceful Way Abbey’s Quan disciples cried out to return south, and Gu Tong prepared to lead the Hidden Worthies Gate south with them.
• Fei Yangxie offered Gu Tong the Twenty-Month Azure Fish Ring in exchange for protection, and Gu Tong gave him a letter offering several paths to safety.
• Jiang Yan learned that Jiang Chengzi remained missing and waited for Qu Chengong before leading Boyue Mountain south.
• Qu Chengong arrived, and Jiang Yan called for the gathered cultivators of the northern sects to return south.
• Li Fuchan killed Quan Yong with Sword Qi, then entered the portal after declaring that acting according to his own wishes would not be his last such act.

After the Crimson Slips took away Li Fuchan’s “Muffled Crow in Ambush,” he explored the Heaven of Separation and considered how to change his cultivation path. He decided to seek other Dao Lineages by summoning masters of Secret Seals, and began drawing one up for an audience.

• Li Fuchan studied “Muffled Crow in Ambush” for three months before striking the Errant Thunder Drum and allowing the Crimson Slips to take the Dao Fruit.
• The Crimson Slips hesitated briefly, apparently recognizing Li Fuchan’s merit for subduing and slaying an Immortal Mystic, but still stripped away his Dao Fruit, Dharma Power, and cultivation realm.
• Li Fuchan sensed the Secret Seals and Blessed Lands beneath the Grotto Heavens and realized he could summon Secret Seal masters’ consciousnesses into the Heaven of Separation.
• Li Fuchan ruled out the “Wandering Gold” path as too difficult and risky, and considered the “Shi Water” path while seeking other cultivation arts.
• Li Fuchan used the “Jade Pivot Thunder Canon” to inspect Secret Seals and began summoning the master of one he considered promising.

Zhang Yuanqing refined pills and traded through his Cinnabar Pool Cave secret seal before Li Fuchan unexpectedly drew his consciousness into another place. Li Fuchan sent him back unharmed and continued searching secret seals for what he wanted.

• Zhang Yuanqing killed an armored sea monster, refined its carcass, and began preparing pills in a secluded cave abode.
• Zhang Yuanqing entered Cinnabar Pool Cave, traded for two sword pellets, and arranged to obtain Snow Toad skins.
• Li Fuchan pulled Zhang Yuanqing's consciousness into a gloomy world as he emerged from his secret seal.
• Zhang Yuanqing prostrated himself and begged an unseen senior to spare his life.
• Li Fuchan found nothing useful among Zhang Yuanqing's possessions, kicked him out, and resumed searching for secret seal masters.
• Zhang Yuanqing awoke in his cave abode with his belongings intact and tried to forget what had happened.

Li Fuchan summoned Liu Cuo into the Grotto Heaven and recognized that the Liu Clan’s cultivation formula followed the Lesser Yin Dao Lineage. After Liu Cuo offered the formula and sword pellets, Li Fuchan sent him away, apparently connecting the pellets to a previous visitor.

• Li Fuchan rejected a third-grade Duan Wood cultivation method and summoned Liu Cuo through the Jade Pivot Thunder Canon.
• Liu Cuo introduced himself, surrendered his possessions, and waited cautiously for Li Fuchan to reveal his intentions.
• Li Fuchan recognized that Liu Cuo’s aura resembled Muffled Crow in Ambush and deduced that the Liu Clan followed the Lesser Yin Dao Lineage.
• Liu Cuo offered additional Spirit Objects and the Autumn Union Shaoling Embracing the Alchemy Classic, but Li Fuchan remained silent.
• Liu Cuo presented twenty-three silver-white sword pellets, and Li Fuchan recognized them as matching those carried by a previous visitor before throwing Liu Cuo out.

Liu Cuo was manipulated into killing Zhang Yuanqing, then Li Fuchan used the resulting confusion to seize Liu Cuo’s Secret Seal and set up a way to obtain a Handwritten Order from the Liu Household. Li Fuchan chose to cultivate Lesser Yin and prepared to pursue the Yang Aspect required by his chosen cultivation classic.

• Liu Cuo suspected that Rogue Person of Cinnabar Pool had tricked him in the blessed land, then learned from Liu Kang that his eldest son had died during a failed breakthrough.
• Liu Cuo encountered Zhang Yuanqing at Sea-Watching Tower, recognized his reaction to a sword pellet, and chased him from the Market Ward.
• Liu Cuo killed Zhang Yuanqing with Lesser Yin Spell Light, realized he had been manipulated, and hurried back to Evening Yin Island before entering the Secret Seal.
• A drumbeat cleared Liu Cuo’s thoughts, and Li Fuchan used the Errant Thunder Drum to leave him suspended between life and death while inheriting his Secret Seal.
• Li Fuchan explained that he had arranged Liu Cuo’s public return to the Liu Household so he could later obtain a Handwritten Order, then chose Lesser Yin cultivation and retrieved the Autumn Union Shaoling Embracing the Alchemy Classic.

Li Fuchan destroyed Liu Cuo's fetal elixirs, completed his lesser yin Outer Scenery, and impersonated Liu Cuo to enter Transformation-Contemplation Cave. Meanwhile, a possible chance to obtain a Spirit Object from the Flood Dragon Palace left Liu Hui fearing a deadly conflict between the Liu clan's two branches.

• Li Fuchan discovered that Liu Cuo's sword pellets were refined from infants, destroyed the fetal elixirs, and renamed the Secret Seal Fetal Breath Cave.
• Li Fuchan locked away the increasingly dangerous "Li Thunder" and spent a year cultivating the "Autumn Union Shaoling Embracing the Alchemy Classic" until his Outer Scenery was complete.
• Li Fuchan forged Liu Cuo's Handwritten Order and entered Transformation-Contemplation Cave in Liu Cuo's guise to seek the Yang-Moving Aspect.
• Liu Hui gave Liu Kang a newborn child for the ancestor and refused to abandon the childbirth-based cultivation that had killed previous Household Heads.
• Liu Kang bribed a red-scaled monster and learned that serving the Flood Dragon Palace at a gathering twenty years later could earn the clan a needed Spirit Object.
• Liu Hui sent Liu Kang to inform the ancestor, then hurried after him when he realized that Liu Cuo's possible refusal to risk the lesser yin branch could provoke bloodshed within the clan.

Li Fuchan resisted Muffled Crow in Ambush’s attempt to drive him into killing the Liu Clan, then used Tribulation Divination to destroy its image and confront Li Thunder. After Liu Hui killed him in the divination, Li Fuchan reclaimed Li Thunder’s Yang Aspect and returned to his Lesser Yin cultivation.

• Li Fuchan halted his urge to seize the Liu Clan’s Spirit Objects and returned to the Heaven of Separation, recognizing that Muffled Crow in Ambush was manipulating his thoughts to provoke him into killing.
• Li Fuchan entered Tribulation Divination, used the Errant Thunder Drum to kill Liu Cuo, and attacked Evening Yin Island with golden thunder and crimson fire.
• Li Fuchan destroyed the island’s protective formation while sparing mortals and Lesser Yin cultivators, but killed the First Lineage members who had eaten humans.
• Liu Kang tried to protect Liu Hui and help him escape, while Liu Hui’s fellow Lesser Yin cultivators gathered to shield him from Li Fuchan.
• Li Fuchan relinquished control of his aura and invited Liu Hui to kill him; Liu Hui pierced his heart, causing the image of Muffled Crow in Ambush to collapse.
• Li Fuchan chose consciousness in the Heaven of Separation, reclaimed Li Thunder’s Yang Aspect through the Alchemy Book, and declared himself a cultivator of Lesser Yin.

Li Fuchan left the sea where Zhang Yuanqing had died and assessed the losses and gains from his Tribulation Divination. He planned to cultivate the Lesser Yin path, refine his accumulated tribulation qi, and advance toward Outer Scenery Great Accomplishment.

• Li Fuchan watched cultivators from the Looking Seaward Tower stage a fight to carry Zhang Yuanqing’s Pill Furnace away, while a red-robed youth fell for their bait and planned to investigate the tower.
• Li Fuchan secluded himself on a deserted island and realized Tribulation Divination had cost him more than half his Li Thunder Dao attainment, though it had purged Li Thunder’s influence and yielded Lesser Yin spell arts.
• Li Fuchan decided to refine tribulation qi with spiritual Kan Water and Di Fire, and reviewed how to cultivate the form and intent of Autumn Moon Joining Frost.
• Li Fuchan copied Wu-Gui Di-Yin Spell Light and the Shaoling Sword Scripture, considering how to combine the latter with his Thunder Escape Sword Art.
• Li Fuchan set aside the copied spell arts and began circulating the Autumn Union Shaoling Embracing the Alchemy Classic.

Three years after reaching full mastery of Outer Scenery intent, Li Fuchan prepared for a rite and went to Looking Seaward Tower to seek supplies. There, its manager Wenren Qingyi recognized signs of his Northern Lands origins and recounted her turbulent journey to the Western Sea.

• Li Fuchan reflected on his cultivation and planned to use the Autumn Moon Joining Frost Qi he had taken from Transformation-Contemplation Cave for two rites.
• Li Fuchan decided he needed a Lesser Yin Spirit Object to complete his Life Force before using Tribulation Qi to augment Embrace-Lock Crouching Cicada.
• Li Fuchan rode to Looking Seaward Tower, a major Market Ward near Evening Yin Island, to look for the items he needed.
• Wenren Qingyi, the tower's Outer Scenery manager, came downstairs to welcome Li Fuchan after spotting him approach.
• Li Fuchan asked whether Wenren Qingyi came from the Northern Lands, and she revealed how calamities had driven her from the Northern Lands through several seas before she settled at Looking Seaward Tower.

Li Fuchan traded a measure of Autumn Moon Joining Frost Qi for the Longxu Golden Branch and returned to his secluded island. There, he completed a sacrificial rite that strengthened his Autumn Moon Joining Frost form, leaving him at peace beside a lake beneath the moon.

• Li Fuchan visited Wenren Qingyi at Looking Seaward Tower and offered Autumn Moon Joining Frost Qi for a Longxu Golden Branch.
• Wenren Qingyi gave Li Fuchan a handwritten order to collect the branch at a nearby branch tower, and he exchanged a measure of qi for it.
• Li Fuchan returned to his deserted island, renewed the cave's restrictions, and prepared the sacrificial rite recorded in the Autumn Union Shaoling Embracing the Alchemy Classic.
• On a clear moonlit night, Li Fuchan stirred his Outer Scenery and inserted the Longxu Golden Branch into the frost and snow beneath his feet.
• The Longxu Golden Branch dissolved, strengthening Li Fuchan's Autumn Moon Joining Frost form, and he found tranquility while looking at his reflection in a lake.

Wenren Qingyi tracked down Suo He and killed him, believing she had avenged her family, but Li Fuchan discovered that Suo He’s strange injury could preserve his life and destroyed him after studying his Talisman Sound Art. As Li Fuchan left the Western Sea, a Purple Mansion Edict ordered the clans of Hong Commandery to execute anyone cultivating Wandering Gold.

• Wenren Qingyi learned that Suo He had been hiding on Muddy Cloud Island and went there with her followers, but found only a spirit talisman carrying his recorded voice.
• Suo He’s voice taunted Wenren Qingyi, who used the Talisman Sound Art to appear in his guest room and confront him.
• Wenren Qingyi told Suo He she pursued him to fulfill her duty to her grandfather, then killed him with the Turbid Flow Calamity and left for the Northern Sea.
• Suo He revived because his strange injury preserved his life, but Li Fuchan subdued him, examined his Talisman Sound Art, and learned it derived from the Myriad Transformations at Will Register.
• Li Fuchan took Suo He to a deserted island and used Lesser Yin Spell Light to destroy him over three days, then left the Western Sea for South of the Yangtze.
• A Purple Mansion Edict descended at Azure Ram Temple in Hong Commandery, ordering the execution of anyone cultivating Wandering Gold.

The Yang Family discussed the Azure Ram Temple’s purge of cultivators practicing “Wandering Gold” and decided to probe the Pivot Court’s position through Ning Xiu Cong. Lord Yang Hu pressured Ning Xiufu into writing his brother a letter, while secretly weighing how useful Xiufu would remain to the Yang Family.

• Yang Houjia and Lord Yang Hu discussed the Azure Ram Temple’s killings and worried that the Yang Family’s hidden “Wandering Gold” practitioners could be targeted next.
• Yang Houjia ordered the family’s disciples, especially Bo Zhuo, to stay on Mount Huayu and assigned the Ning Family to test the Pivot Court’s attitude.
• Lord Yang Hu summoned Ning Xiufu, treated him warmly, and used Ning Xiu Cong’s cultivation at Azure Fish Peak as a pretext to ask for a letter to him.
• Ning Xiufu realized the Yang Family wanted information about the Pivot Court’s stance on the Azure Ram Temple, then reluctantly began writing to Ning Xiu Cong.
• Lord Yang Hu watched Ning Xiufu write and privately considered keeping him useful to the Yang Family for now.

Gongyang Ling gave Ning Xiu Cong a movement technique and a cryptic reply to the Yang Family’s probe about the Azure Ram Temple. Yang Houjia interpreted the four-character message as the Pivot Court’s stance and ordered the Yang Family to attack Azure Ram Temple cultivators.

• Gongyang Ling learned that Ning Xiu Cong had reached greater accomplishment in Aperture Opening and gave him the fourth-grade Long Qi Flying Rainbow Scripture to practice.
• Ning Xiu Cong told Gongyang Ling that Yang Houjia had sent a letter through the Ning Family to ask whether the Pivot Court would act against Azure Ram Temple cultivators who practiced Wandering Gold.
• Gongyang Ling wrote a reply for Ning Xiu Cong to send to the Ning Family, and he kowtowed to thank her for her support.
• After the letter reached Mount Huayu, Ning Xiufu delivered it to Lord Yang Hu and Yang Houjia, who dismissed him after reading it.
• Yang Houjia ordered the Yang Family to kill or wound Azure Ram Temple Lesser Yin cultivators they encountered and told Lord Yang Hu that the message, “Like fire, like flowering reeds,” expressed the Pivot Court’s meaning.

Li Fuchan entered Great Night Lake on his way to the Azure Ram Temple, but found the area unusually quiet and learned that it was under lockdown. When Yang Family disciples mistook his Lesser Yin Spell Light for a sign that he belonged to the Azure Ram Temple, he fled, while they prepared to alert their ancestor and Household Head.

• Li Fuchan traveled south toward the Azure Ram Temple, confident that his Lesser Yin cultivation gave him a clean identity.
• Li Fuchan sensed that Great Night Lake was unusually quiet and turned back to take another route.
• Yang Family disciples stopped Li Fuchan and claimed that outsiders needed permission to enter the locked-down lake.
• Li Fuchan revealed his Lesser Yin Spell Light and told the Yang Family disciples to stand aside.
• The Yang Family disciples mistook Li Fuchan for someone from the Azure Ram Temple and attacked, so he escaped.
• Xi Hong claimed that Aperture Opening cultivation was equivalent to Outer Scenery and chased after Li Fuchan while the others went to inform their ancestor and Household Head.