Chapter Summaries

Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe were ambushed by Mo Changsheng and the Mo Family over Chen Clan's artifact shop, but Chen Daoxuan slaughtered most of the attackers with his sword art. A Zhou Family Spirit Void Warship arrived as Mo Yuqing begged its crew to save him.

• Chen Daoxuan secretly recorded Mo Changsheng threatening Chen Xianhe and ordering the Mo Family to attack.
• Chen Daoxuan unleashed the Chasing Wind Overturning Rain Sword Art, killing seven late-stage Qi Refining cultivators and overwhelming the Mo Family's defenses.
• Mo Changsheng charged Chen Daoxuan, but Chen Daoxuan's White Trace pierced his sword light and Golden Shield Art before killing him.
• Chen Daoxuan stopped attacking with Mo Yuqing and the black-robed Rogue Cultivator still alive, while eleven Mo Family cultivators lay dead and the others were badly injured.
• A Zhou Family Spirit Void Warship descended, and Mo Yuqing cried out for its crew to save him from Chen Daoxuan.

Zhou Mucheng arrived with the Zhou Family patrol team and captured Mo Yuqing after Chen Daoxuan defeated the Mo Family cultivators. The Mo Family’s attempt to buy its way out failed, and Mo Yuqing was left in despair as Zhou Mucheng examined proof of their ambush.

• Mo Yuqing fled toward the Spirit Void Warship, but Zhou Mucheng seized him and sealed his Dantian sea of Qi.
• Chen Xianhe and Chen Daoxuan greeted Zhou Mucheng, who decided to befriend Chen Daoxuan after witnessing his exceptional Sword Dao talent.
• Mo Yuqing accused Chen Xianhe of plotting against the Mo Family, and Chen Daoxuan struck him for insulting his uncle.
• Mo Yuqing offered the Mo Family’s supposed thirty thousand Spirit Stones in exchange for mercy, but Zhou Mucheng and Chen Xianhe questioned where the money had come from.
• Chen Daoxuan handed Zhou Mucheng a Memory Recording Stone, and Zhou Mucheng showed the evidence of the Mo Family’s ambush, leaving Mo Yuqing in despair.

Chen Daoxuan boarded the Zhou Family’s Spirit Void Warship with Zhou Mucheng, learned about its capabilities, and received a defensive Sword Art. Zhou Mucheng revealed that he wanted Chen Daoxuan to support Zhou Siliang and gave the Chen Family the Guang'an Prefecture Rogue Cultivator Artifact Market as the warship headed for the Mo Family’s Spirit Island.

• Zhou Mucheng invited Chen Daoxuan to accompany him to the Mo Family, and Chen Daoxuan boarded the Spirit Void Warship with him.
• Zhou Mucheng explained that the warship’s Spirit Core Pool supplied spiritual qi and that its coordinated attack could match a late stage Purple Mansion cultivator’s full-strength strike, though it lacked such a cultivator’s flexibility.
• Zhou Mucheng gave Chen Daoxuan the first-tier defensive Stone Wall Sword Art, and Chen Daoxuan accepted it.
• Zhou Mucheng explained that he hoped Chen Daoxuan would spend more time with Zhou Siliang and become a future backer for his son.
• Zhou Mucheng granted the Guang'an Prefecture Rogue Cultivator Artifact Market to the Chen Family as the Spirit Void Warship raced toward the Mo Family’s Spirit Island.

Chen Daoxuan accompanied Zhou Mucheng and the Zhou Family patrol team as they destroyed the Mo Family’s defenses and captured its surviving cultivators for ambushing fellow cultivators. After helping open the Mo Family treasury, Chen Daoxuan claimed a Leopard-Type Puppet Beast and declined a share of the remaining treasures.

• The Zhou Family Spirit Void Warship reached the Mo Family Spirit Island, where Zhou Mucheng accused the Mo Family of ambushing cultivators and displayed evidence of the attack led by Mo Changsheng.
• Zhou Mucheng ordered the warship to destroy the Mo Family’s Mountain Protection Formation, and Zhou Family cultivators captured twelve Mo Family cultivators while killing those who resisted.
• Zhou Siyuan led Zhou Mucheng and Chen Daoxuan to the Mo Family treasury, where a Leopard-Type Puppet Beast ambushed them.
• Chen Daoxuan subdued the Puppet Beast by removing its Spirit Stone and stored it in his Storage Bag.
• Chen Daoxuan refused a share of the treasury’s other treasures, and Zhou Mucheng let Zhou Siyuan and the other Zhou Family cultivators divide them.

After helping the Zhou Family seize the Mo Family’s treasury, Chen Daoxuan traveled with Zhou Mucheng and Zhou Siyuan toward Guang'an Prefecture. They encountered a Frontline Transport Ship, prompting Zhou Mucheng to reflect on how the fall of Zhennan Pass had cost Cangzhou its access to battlefield resources.

• The Zhou Family cultivators removed over thirty thousand Spirit Stones from the Mo Family treasury, and Chen Daoxuan returned to the Spirit Void Warship with the patrol team.
• Chen Daoxuan asked Zhou Mucheng to take him to Guang'an Prefecture, and Zhou Siyuan invited him to drink when they arrived.
• The Spirit Void Warship reached Guang'an Prefecture in a few hours, where the crew spotted a Frontline Transport Ship returning from the battlefield.
• Zhou Siyuan explained that the transport ships brought seized supplies to Cangzhou every few years, and Zhou Mucheng recalled when they had arrived annually.
• Zhou Mucheng explained that Zhennan Pass’s fall had cut Cangzhou off from its former Cloud Country resources and reduced its battlefield supply allocations.

Chen Daoxuan prepared to expand the Chen Family’s resources ahead of a major Zhou Family auction and bought a ship and Spirit Rice for the Merfolk Tribe. He left Guang'an Prefecture for Twin Lakes Island with half a shipload of goods.

• Chen Daoxuan considered how the Chen Family could gather Spirit Stones for the Zhou Family Auction House’s grand auction in a year.
• Chen Daoxuan visited the Yang Family Shipwright and told Yang Jiye he wanted a Cargo Ship for transporting Spirit Rice.
• Yang Jiye explained the available Spirit Rice Transport Ship models, and Chen Daoxuan chose a ten-thousand-stone ship to avoid drawing attention.
• Chen Daoxuan bought five thousand stone of Spirit Rice from the Zhou Family and met with Zhou Siyuan and the others.
• Chen Daoxuan set sail for Twin Lakes Island with half a shipload of goods.

Chen Daoxuan returned to Twin Lakes Island after securing the artifact market and convened the Chen Family’s first cultivator-led Clan Meeting in fifty years. He reviewed the family’s income and expenses, leaving the clan with a large surplus held mostly as Spirit Mine and Water Spirit Pearls.

• Chen Daoxuan returned with Spirit Rice and told Chen Xianhe that the Rogue Cultivator Market’s artifact market now belonged to the Chen Family.
• Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe held a Clan Meeting with Chen Daochuan, Chen Daolian, and Chen Daochu to discuss the family’s finances and development.
• Chen Xianhe reported that Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop earned 92,250 Spirit Stones after taxes, while Chen Daoxuan described the family’s trade with the Merfolk Tribe and its stockpiled Spirit Mine and Water Spirit Pearls.
• Chen Daoxuan explained that the Flying Sword Factory cost about 114,425 Spirit Stones and that cultivation expenses for the ten Dao generation cultivators totaled 30,250 Spirit Stones.
• Chen Daoxuan reported that the Chen Family spent 169,479 Spirit Stones and retained a surplus of about 920,000 Spirit Stones, mostly held as Spirit Mine and Water Spirit Pearls.

Chen Daoxuan laid out plans to invest the Chen Family’s wealth in cultivation and pursue the Magic Artifact market ahead of the Zhou Family’s auction. After resting, he examined a Leopard-Type Puppet Beast from the Mo Family and dismantled it, but could not uncover how it released spells.

• Chen Daoxuan proposed increasing investment in the Chen Family’s cultivators, and Chen Daochu suggested producing Flying Swords to trade at the coming Zhou Family auction.
• Chen Daoxuan set the clan’s goal for the next year as seizing and developing the Magic Artifact market in the Rogue Cultivator Market.
• Chen Xianhe advised Chen Daoxuan to balance caution with decisiveness, and Chen Daoxuan promised to remember his counsel.
• Chen Daoxuan slept for more than ten hours, then examined the Stone Wall Sword Art and a Leopard-Type Puppet Beast he had taken from the Mo Family.
• Chen Daoxuan dismantled the Puppet Beast but failed to discover how it released spells.

Chen Daoxuan traded Jade Crystal Rice with Luo Li and found comfort in her song. A month later, the Mo Family’s extermination raised the Chen Family’s standing, and Chen Xianhe received invitations from Foundation Establishment families, especially the Yang Family.

• Chen Daoxuan met Luo Li at Wanghai Pavilion and showed her a Cargo Ship loaded with Jade Crystal Rice.
• Luo Li’s Merfolk Tribe loaded the rice and paid with Chen Family Contribution Points.
• Luo Li sang for Chen Daoxuan, easing his exhaustion, before he returned to Twin Lakes Island.
• News spread that the Zhou Family patrol team had exterminated the Mo Family after catching it ambushing Chen Family cultivators.
• Evidence of the Mo Family’s attack spread, and Rogue Cultivators concluded the Chen Family was likely backed by the Zhou Family.
• Chen Xianhe received many invitations from Foundation Establishment families and paid special attention to the Yang Family’s invitation.

Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe discussed the Yang Family Patriarch’s breakthrough to the Purple Mansion stage and the growing rivalry with the Zhou Family. They also reviewed the Chen Family’s expanding Magic Artifact business and its plans to raise more Immortal Seedlings.

• Chen Daoxuan read the Yang Family’s Invitation announcing Yang Linyuan’s Purple Mansion Grand Banquet and recognized that the Zhou and Yang Families’ rivalry could bring trouble to Guang’an Prefecture.
• Chen Xianhe said the Yang Family might use the banquet to renew its push for the Guang’an Immortal Alliance, while he and Chen Daoxuan agreed the Chen Family should stay out of the great clans’ struggle.
• Chen Xianhe reported that most Artifact Shops in the Rogue Cultivator Market had closed and that the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop was selling about six hundred Flying Swords each month.
• Chen Daoxuan told Chen Xianhe that the Chen Family had selected 108 Immortal Seedlings from 9,877 children born to the first group of women from Cloud Country.
• Chen Daoxuan said he planned to set aside ten thousand Spirit Stones to encourage childbirth, and Chen Xianhe approved the plan.

Chen Daoxuan realized that Chen Xianhe’s declining health left him little hope of Foundation Establishment, then traveled to Golden Crow Island for the Yang Family’s Purple Mansion banquet. There, he attracted attention as a Chen Family representative and befriended a cultivator from the Zhang Family of Spirit Gourd Island.

• Chen Xianhe told Chen Daoxuan he planned to take Daochuan to Guang'an Prefecture and train him as a successor for the family's Magic Artifact Shop.
• Chen Daoxuan remembered that the Zhou Family Auction Gala might offer a Thousand Year Vermillion Fruit, but understood that a life-extending treasure could not restore Chen Xianhe’s lost vitality or Foundation Establishment prospects.
• Half a year later, Chen Daoxuan arrived aboard the Azure Cloud at Golden Crow Island, where cultivators had gathered for the Yang Family’s Purple Mansion banquet.
• Chen Daoxuan, now at the eighth layer of Qi Refining, drew attention because he had arrived alone as a representative of the Chen Family.
• A fat cultivator from the Zhang Family of Spirit Gourd Island recognized Chen Daoxuan from the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop, and Chen Daoxuan invited him to travel together.

Chen Daoxuan attended Old Ancestor Yang’s Purple Mansion Grand Banquet, intending to avoid involvement in the Zhou and Yang families’ conflict. The banquet took an unexpected turn when Old Ancestor Yang summoned him privately, leaving Chen Daoxuan uneasy.

• Chen Daoxuan learned that Zhang Zhixian’s small Zhang Family had been invited because its cultivators excelled at crafting Paper Talismans.
• Chen Daoxuan traveled with the Zhang Family cultivators to the Yang Family’s Spirit Mountain and presented his invitation and congratulatory gift.
• At the banquet, Chen Daoxuan resolved to avoid taking sides or joining the Guang'an Immortal Alliance.
• A Yang Family maid approached Chen Daoxuan and told him that Old Ancestor Yang requested his presence.
• Chen Daoxuan grew alarmed as the other guests wondered why Old Ancestor Yang had summoned him.

Chen Daoxuan met Yang Linyuan, who tested his willingness to join the Guang'an Immortal Alliance through a fishing allegory. Chen refused to risk offending the Zhou Family, and Yang let him leave without joining, asking only that the Chen Family open a magical artifact shop in a future Immortal City.

• Yang Gongwan escorted Chen Daoxuan to meet Yang Linyuan at his Spirit Lake.
• A Rank 2 Purple Thunder Crocodile Turtle erupted from the lake, but Yang Linyuan stopped its waves with an invisible barrier.
• Yang Linyuan used the turtle and the Azure Spirit Fish to hint that Chen Daoxuan should join the Guang'an Immortal Alliance, but Chen refused because his family feared the Zhou Family.
• Yang Linyuan accepted Chen Daoxuan's refusal and asked the Chen Family to open a magical artifact shop in the next Immortal City.
• Chen Daoxuan left relieved that the Yang Family had not forced his family into the alliance.

Yang Linyuan explained the Guang'an Immortal Alliance’s strategy to support the Chen Family and attract Rogue Cultivators by building Spirit Veins. He named the planned Immortal City Lingzhou City, while Yang Gongwan remained determined to pursue Sword Intent for ten more years.

• Yang Linyuan told Yang Gongwan that the Chen Family could provide an alternative to the Wu Family and recalled how the Battle of Zhennan Pass weakened the Yang, Wu, and Zhao Families while the Zhou Family remained dominant.
• Yang Linyuan urged Yang Gongwan to cultivate Water-Attribute Arts and advance to Purple Mansion, but she asked for ten more years to comprehend Sword Intent.
• Yang Linyuan explained that the Guang'an Immortal Alliance would build Spirit Veins for Rogue Cultivators, who would cultivate Spirit Fields, repay loans, and sell their harvests in Alliance Immortal Cities.
• Yang Gongwan asked whether the Zhou Family might copy the plan, and Yang Linyuan argued that the Alliance could still benefit by attracting even a fraction of the Rogue Cultivators.
• Yang Gongwan asked what the new Immortal City would be called, and Yang Linyuan named it Lingzhou City.

After the Purple Mansion banquet, Chen Daoxuan went to the Rogue Cultivator Market and saw how the Chen Family was expanding its flying sword business. The last rival Artifact Shop closed, and Chen Xianhe promised customers that the family would not exploit its newfound dominance by raising prices.

• Chen Daoxuan learned that Chen Xianhe had opened a Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop branch on West Street to challenge the remaining Artifact Shops.
• Chen Daoxuan praised Chen Daochuan for keeping up with his cultivation while helping manage the shops.
• Chen Daoxuan visited the West Street branch and saw that Crimson Shadow Flying Swords were being sold for forty-five Spirit Stones.
• An elderly Rogue Cultivator announced that the Wang Family's Artifact Shop had closed, leaving the Chen Family as the Rogue Cultivator Market's only Artifact Shop.
• Chen Xianhe reassured the customers that the shop would restore its original fifty-Spirit-Stone price if Red Copper Mine became more expensive, but would not raise prices beyond that.

Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe counted the Spirit Stones available for the auction, but Chen Xianhe realized Chen Daoxuan planned to bid on a Thousand Year Vermillion Fruit for him. Chen Xianhe refused to risk the Chen Family’s safety for the life-extending treasure and reminded him to accept life and death.

• Chen Daoxuan met with Chen Xianhe and learned that Wei Sihai had been hired to help at the West Street Branch.
• Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe counted roughly three hundred and ten thousand Spirit Stones for the auction.
• Chen Daoxuan tried to arrange to attend the auction alone, but Chen Xianhe saw through his plan to buy the Thousand Year Vermillion Fruit.
• Chen Xianhe explained that desperate, powerful cultivators might seize the fruit from the Chen Family even if they won the bidding.
• Chen Xianhe refused to endanger the clan for more years of life and recalled Chen Xianzhou’s words at Zhennan Pass: “When it is time to live, live. When it is time to die, die!”

Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe attended the Zhou Family Auction Grand Event, where they saw Yang Gongwan and Zhou Mubai before the auction began. The first item was revealed as an inheritance slip for crafting a rare defensive Spirit Armor Lifebound Artifact, and the hall erupted with excitement.

• Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe entered the Zhou Family Auction House with their invitation and were assigned a first-floor private room.
• Yang Gongwan greeted Zhou Mubai, then noticed Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe as she headed upstairs.
• Zhou Mubai spotted Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe and ordered a disciple to investigate them.
• After an hour, two Foundation Establishment Late Stage Zhou Family cultivators opened the auction and introduced its first item, an inheritance slip for a First-tier Spirit Armor Magic Artifact.
• The auction guests grew excited as the hosts explained that Spirit Armor offered more reliable all-around protection than shield-shaped and bell-and-bowl artifacts.

Chen Daoxuan won a First-tier Lifebound Artifact inheritance at the Zhou Family auction and spent more than 200,000 Spirit Stones on treasures as the event continued. The auction then presented a shackled Foundation Establishment Alchemist from Cloud Country as a “Living Pill Codex,” and she tried to break the seal on her Dantian.

• The Zhou Family began bidding on a First-tier Lifebound Spirit Armor inheritance, and Chen Daoxuan won it for 65,000 Spirit Stones.
• Chen Daoxuan bid on numerous treasures during the five-hour auction and spent over 200,000 of his original 310,000 Spirit Stones.
• The Zhou Family auctioneers unveiled a shackled Foundation Establishment Alchemist from Cloud Country and introduced her as a Living Pill Codex.
• The Cloud Country cultivator silently tried to break the seal on her Dantian while the crowd mocked her.

Chen Daoxuan watched the Zhou Family auction and bought an Invisibility Talisman inheritance after outbidding Yang Gongwan. He left the auction satisfied with the inheritances he had obtained, but with too few Spirit Stones to compete for the later treasures.

• A Foundation Establishment family bought the Cloud Country Alchemist for 210,000 Spirit Stones after fierce bidding.
• The Zhou Family demonstrated an Invisibility Talisman, and Chen Daoxuan bid against Yang Gongwan for its inheritance and ten talismans.
• Chen Daoxuan won the Invisibility Talisman inheritance for 10,000 Spirit Stones after Yang Gongwan stopped bidding.
• Chen Daoxuan reflected that the inheritances he had acquired could help the Chen Family develop into a powerful Foundation Establishment family.
• The Thousand Year Vermillion Fruit sold for 3,000,000 Spirit Stones to a Purple Mansion perfection cultivator nearing the end of his lifespan.

After the auction, Chen Daoxuan hid the escaped Female Cultivator of Cloud Country from the Wu Family search party. He agreed to help her leave Guang'an Prefecture in exchange for her Alchemy Inheritance and Breath Concealment Secret Technique.

• Chen Daoxuan pulled the injured Female Cultivator of Cloud Country into the shop and concealed her with an Invisibility Talisman.
• A Wu Family elder searched the shop for the missing Living Pill Codex, but Chen Daoxuan blocked the search of the upper floor and the Wu Family Disciples found no one.
• The Wu Family stopped searching after the Zhou Family's Enforcement Team intervened, and the Chen uncle and nephew realized the woman's inheritance might be valuable.
• Chen Daoxuan explained that she would need at least six Invisibility Talismans to escape Guang'an Prefecture, prompting her to appear and ask if he had more.
• Chen Daoxuan offered the talismans in exchange for her Alchemy Inheritance and Breath Concealment Secret Technique, and she agreed to record them before he helped her leave at dawn.