Chapter Summaries

Chen Daoxuan completed his second Lifebound Artifact, a lotus that could store and return True Qi while easing the pressure of a Foundation Establishment breakthrough. He named it the second-grade White Lotus of Creation and recognized its potential for the Chen Family.

• Chen Daoxuan returned to his Spirit Mansion after testing the Lotus-shaped Artifact with Luo Li and confirmed it could store True Yuan safely.
• Chen Daoxuan spent three days refining a second-grade high-grade Lotus of Creation into a Lifebound Artifact.
• Chen Daoxuan placed the white lotus in his Dantian and confirmed it only absorbed or returned True Qi when he commanded it.
• Chen Daoxuan tested the lotus by storing nearly all his True Qi and then restoring it to his Dantian.
• Chen Daoxuan noted that Chen Daochu had begun teaching Artifact Refining to younger Dao generation cultivators and named his new artifact the second-grade White Lotus of Creation.

Chen Daoxuan visited Changping First Cultivation Primary School after emerging from seclusion and praised Chen Beiwang for his years of work building the school and clan infrastructure. He honored Chen Beiwang’s service and promised to handle the school’s formations while Chen Beiwang completed the student residences.

• Chen Daoxuan found the craftsmen repairing his damaged courtyard and learned that Chen Beiwang was overseeing construction of the Clan School.
• Chen Daoxuan arrived at Changping First Cultivation Primary School, met Chen Daochu, and praised him for reaching the seventh layer of Qi Refining.
• Chen Daoxuan thanked Chen Beiwang for his contributions to the family and announced that deserving Chen family members could enter the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall and receive the family’s offerings.
• Chen Beiwang showed Chen Daoxuan around the completed school, and Chen Daoxuan agreed to handle its formations while Chen Beiwang finished building the student residences.

Chen Daoxuan integrated water Dao patterns into his sword art and comprehended the Silk Rain Sword Intent, then used it to refine his Dantian True Qi into stronger Sword Qi. He left the chapter with two Foundation Establishment preparations complete and his remaining progress depending on tempering his True Qi over time.

• Chen Daoxuan advanced his Chasing Wind Overturning Rain Sword Art by studying water Dao patterns and using Enlightenment to deepen his understanding of the Water Sword Dao.
• Chen Daoxuan comprehended Silk Rain Sword Intent, allowing his rain curtain and white-trace sword techniques to shift freely and increasing their power.
• Chen Daoxuan recognized that he had completed two preparations for Foundation Establishment, while his True Qi still needed time to reach perfect harmony.
• Chen Daoxuan returned to his Spirit Mansion Courtyard and noted that the Chen Family's growing population was putting pressure on its first-tier Spirit Vein.
• Chen Daoxuan secluded himself for three days and refined all the True Qi in his Dantian into Sword Qi, which he found to be at least three times stronger than ordinary True Qi.

After a year of Sword Dao progress, Chen Daoxuan realized his low cultivation was limiting his comprehension and prepared to pursue Foundation Establishment. Three years later, he traveled to Guang'an Prefecture with Chen Xianhe to buy another Foundation Establishment Pill from an acquaintance, leaving Chen Xianhe puzzled about whom he meant.

• Chen Daoxuan refined his Silk Rain Sword Intent, compressing its White Trace Rain Curtain while realizing his cultivation was too low to advance further.
• Fearing the danger of Foundation Establishment after comprehending Sword Intent during Qi Refining, Chen Daoxuan decided to buy another Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Chen Xianhe celebrated Chen Daoxuan's rapid progress and hoped the Chen Family would soon have its first Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Three years later, Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe traveled to Guang'an Prefecture and entered the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop.
• Chen Daoxuan told Chen Xianhe he planned to buy the pill from an acquaintance, then clarified that he did not mean Zhou Mucheng.

Chen Daoxuan visited Zhou Mubai, who praised his resolve as a Sword Cultivator but warned that Chen Xianhe was too old to achieve Foundation Establishment because his divine soul was insufficient. Chen Daoxuan returned to the shop with a Foundation Establishment Pill and concealed his disappointment from Chen Xianhe.

• Zhou Mubai learned that Lingzhou City's growth had cost the Zhou Family market many Rogue Cultivators and customers, while hardliners pushed him to take action.
• Chen Daoxuan met Zhou Mubai, who agreed to address him as an equal after hearing that he would pursue the Sword Cultivator path without regret.
• Chen Daoxuan asked whether Chen Xianhe could still achieve Foundation Establishment, but Zhou Mubai explained that his aging divine soul could not be remedied with Spirit Herbs.
• Zhou Mubai gave Chen Daoxuan a Foundation Establishment Pill and promised to protect the Chen Family if Chen Daoxuan died.
• Chen Daoxuan returned to the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop and hid his sadness from Chen Xianhe, who scolded him for incurring a debt of gratitude.

Chen Daoxuan asked to use the Merfolk Tribe’s third-tier Spirit Vein for Foundation Establishment, while the tribe faced growing pressure from the neighboring Azure Water Ape Tribe. Luo Xiuyuan allowed him to use Demon Ape Mountain’s Main Spirit Eye, and Chen Daoxuan arrived at its vast Spirit Lake to begin preparing for his breakthrough.

• Chen Daoxuan told Luo Li he was about to undergo Foundation Establishment and asked to borrow the Merfolk Tribe’s Spirit Vein.
• Luo Xiuyuan and the elders discussed how the Azure Water Ape Tribe was probing their borders, possibly aware of Luo Xiuyuan’s grave injuries and seeking to seize Demon Ape Mountain.
• Chen Daoxuan arrived at Luo Xiuyuan’s cave mansion and explained that he needed the Spirit Vein for Foundation Establishment.
• Luo Xiuyuan agreed, ordered the Merfolk Tribe to avoid cultivating with spiritual energy for several days, and told Luo Li to guide Chen Daoxuan to the Main Spirit Eye.
• Luo Li led Chen Daoxuan to the enormous Spirit Lake above Demon Ape Mountain’s Main Spirit Eye, where he could draw ample spiritual energy for his breakthrough.

Chen Daoxuan endured a dangerous Foundation Establishment breakthrough in the Spirit Lake, with the White Lotus of Creation stabilizing his expanding Qi Sea and his Divine Sense growing to an extraordinary range. As Luo Li guarded him, the Azure Water Ape Tribe invaded Demon Ape Mountain and challenged the tribe outside its main vein.

• On a cargo ship, the cultivator surnamed Sun and his elder brother discussed seeking the Divine Absolute Immortal Mansion’s inheritance and rising to greater realms.
• Chen Daoxuan entered the Spirit Lake and began Foundation Establishment, using the Foundation Establishment Pill and the second-grade White Lotus of Creation to control his violent transforming True Yuan.
• As Spiritual Qi flooded his body, Chen Daoxuan’s Qi Sea and Sea of Consciousness expanded while his Divine Sense grew beyond thirty li.
• Luo Li stayed beside Chen Daoxuan for a month, guarding him as his breakthrough continued.
• A female clanswoman reported to Luo Li that the Azure Water Ape Tribe had invaded Demon Ape Mountain and was challenging them outside the main vein.

Luo Li and Xiao Qing chose to stay and protect Chen Daoxuan while he completed his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. His cultivation surged, expanding his Sea of Consciousness and advancing his Silk Rain Sword Intent, which let him refine his True Yuan into Sword Essence of extraordinary strength.

• Luo Li refused to leave Chen Daoxuan behind, and Xiao Qing chose to stay with her despite the danger from the Azure Water Ape Tribe.
• Chen Daoxuan's Dantian sea of Qi and Sea of Consciousness expanded to their limits as he established his Foundation.
• Chen Daoxuan discovered his Divine Sense could reach one hundred li and suspected the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture had greatly expanded his Sea of Consciousness.
• Chen Daoxuan's Silk Rain Sword Intent became tangible after his breakthrough, revealing starlike threads in his Dantian.
• Chen Daoxuan used his Sword Intent to refine his True Yuan a second time, raising its quality to roughly ninety times that of his former True Qi.

While Chen Daoxuan refined his True Yuan, an Azure Water Ape squad attacked Luo Li and Xiao Qing at the Spirit Lake. Chen Daoxuan arrived in time to destroy the apes, and Luo Li realized he had succeeded in his cultivation.

• The Azure Water Ape Tribe Leader sent twenty elite apes to test the Merfolk Tribe's strength and ordered them to kill Luo Li and Xiao Qing.
• Luo Li and Xiao Qing fought the apes, but the apes focused their attacks on Xiao Qing and overwhelmed them.
• Luo Li used a forbidden technique and her Lifebound Spirit Armor to protect Xiao Qing, but her Crimson Shadow Swords could barely injure the apes.
• As the apes prepared to strike Xiao Qing again, Chen Daoxuan appeared and tore all twenty apes apart with a surge of starlight.
• Luo Li recognized Chen Daoxuan and asked whether he had succeeded.

Chen Daoxuan went with Luo Li to face the Azure Water Ape Tribe, whose leader had cornered the Merfolk Tribe at Demon Ape Mountain. He drove the leader to kneel by letting it mistake him for an envoy of the Sea Suppressing Hall, leaving him newly aware of the Hall’s power over the foreign races.

• Chen Daoxuan learned that the Azure Water Ape Tribe Leader was an early stage third-tier Demonic Beast, equivalent to an early stage Purple Mansion cultivator, and hesitated to risk confronting it.
• Luo Li told Chen Daoxuan to leave rather than die helping the Merfolk Tribe, but he said he had a plan and asked how much the Sea Suppressing Hall intimidated the Azure Water Ape Tribe.
• The Azure Water Ape Tribe Leader challenged the Merfolk Tribe at the main vein while probing for news of the scouts it had sent around Demon Ape Mountain.
• Chen Daoxuan flew out with an Azure Water Ape’s head, ordered the invaders to leave, and struck the tribe leader with a powerful sword attack.
• The Azure Water Ape Tribe Leader mistook Chen Daoxuan for an envoy of the Sea Suppressing Hall and knelt, begging forgiveness.

Chen Daoxuan saved Luo Xiuyuan, then left the Myriad Star Sea Underworld with Luo Li and returned to Twin Lakes Island. He reunited with Chen Xianhe, who had been worrying about his Foundation Establishment.

• Chen Daoxuan healed Luo Xiuyuan's chest wound and learned that every race in the Myriad Star Sea Underworld feared the Sea Suppressing Hall.
• Chen Daoxuan and Luo Li returned to the human world, and he departed for Twin Lakes Island after hearing how accustomed she was to the hardships of life underwater.
• While flying, Chen Daoxuan mourned the badly damaged Flying Snow Sword and Shadow-Bearing Sword, then continued toward Twin Lakes Island.
• Chen Daoxuan saw the growing, orderly market town at Twin Lakes Island and watched the ordinary Chen family members at work.
• Chen Daoxuan found Chen Xianhe teaching the young Fu-generation children at Changping First Cultivation Primary School and called out to him from outside the window.

Chen Daoxuan taught the Fu generation about the economic problems behind artifact refining and introduced industrialized artifact forging. He then inspected the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Factory and considered how its limited production would struggle to support the Chen Family’s growing number of cultivators.

• Chen Daoxuan asked his students why people refined artifacts, and Fulai and Fu Yuan gave answers he explained were both correct.
• Chen Daoxuan told the class that low production efficiency made artifacts too costly for Rogue Cultivators and artifact refining too unprofitable to attract small families, then began a lesson on industrialized artifact forging.
• Chen Daoxuan visited the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Factory, where Chen Liangyu showed him the facility’s nine Spirit-Melding Furnaces.
• Chen Daoxuan reflected on the growth of the Chen Family’s Dao generation cultivators, including Chen Daochu and Chen Daolian reaching the ninth layer of Qi Refining and Chen Daochuan reaching the sixth.
• Chen Daoxuan worried that the factory could not earn enough to cover the Meridian-Opening Pills and cultivation resources needed by the 108 Fu generation Immortal Seedlings and future recruits.

Chen Daoxuan assessed the Chen Family’s growing need for cultivation resources and Spirit Vein capacity, then recognized that the Flying Sword Factory’s Spirit-Melding Furnaces were consuming Spirit Stones unsustainably. He left the factory considering how to solve the industry’s power problem.

• Chen Daoxuan calculated that the expanding Chen Family would need far more cultivation resources and spiritual qi, and concluded that its first-tier Spirit Vein was inadequate.
• Chen Daoxuan and Chen Liangyu walked through the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Factory, where Chen Daoxuan praised the expanded apprentice system.
• Chen Daoxuan asked about the factory’s Spirit Stone use, and Chen Liangyu explained that each Spirit-Melding Furnace consumed a Spirit Stone in less than three days at full capacity.
• Chen Daoxuan realized that scaling up the factories would waste vast numbers of Spirit Stones and their precious Creation Force.
• Chen Daoxuan set aside the power problem to consider how the artifact-refining industry could use spiritual qi instead.

Chen Daoxuan discovered that exhausted Spirit Stones could be melted into Spirit Threads that transmitted spiritual energy with almost no loss, though he had yet to find a way to drive the flow. Meanwhile, the Sun brothers entered the Divine Absolute Immortal Mansion seeking its legacy and encountered the zombified Divine Absolute True Person.

• Chen Daoxuan melted powder from an exhausted Spirit Stone into a thread and confirmed that it transmitted spiritual energy with almost no loss.
• Chen Daoxuan failed to discover the Spiritual Pressure needed to drive spiritual energy through a network of Spirit Threads.
• The Sun brothers opened the entrance to the Divine Absolute Immortal Mansion and entered its secret realm, where they found no Spirit Vein.
• The Sun brothers searched for several days, found a grand palace, and knelt before an ancient immortal's corpse without noticing a nearby silver coffin shift.
• Divine Absolute True Person, now a Ten-Thousand-Year Corpse King, appeared behind the Sun brothers and demanded to know what they were seeking.

Chen Daoxuan refined new Lifebound Flying Swords and perfected his Sword Flight technique while tempering his newly formed True Yuan. After learning that Lingzhou City was complete, he decided to visit it with Chen Xianhe.

• Chen Daoxuan refined a second-grade top-quality Flying Snow Sword and Shadow-Bearing Sword as his Lifebound Flying Swords.
• Chen Daoxuan practiced Sword Flight and focused on tempering his True Yuan instead of rushing to cultivate a Foundation Establishment Stage Technique.
• After six instances of Enlightenment, Chen Daoxuan perfected Sword Light Turns Rainbow and flew between Redwood Island and Twin Lakes Island at extraordinary speed.
• Chen Xianhe told Chen Daoxuan that Lingzhou City had been completed, and Chen Daoxuan proposed going to see it.

Several months later, Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe visited the newly completed Lingzhou City on Golden Crow Island and saw its crowds and thriving markets. As the city’s success challenged Guang'an Prefecture’s old power structure, Chen Daoxuan considered the Zhou Family’s likely response and the Chen Family’s growing strength.

• Chen Daoxuan flew Chen Xianhe to Golden Crow Island in a few hours, far faster than their journey would have been as Qi Refining cultivators.
• Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe entered Lingzhou City, where more than a million cultivators had gathered for its completion and its busy markets rivaled those of Guang'an Prefecture immortal city.
• Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe discussed how Lingzhou City had quickly grown and dealt a major blow to Guang'an Prefecture immortal city, then wondered how the Zhou Family would respond.
• Chen Daoxuan assessed the families of Guang'an Prefecture by strength and judged the Chen Family an especially strong third-tier family, though its public reputation still lagged behind its actual power.

Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe arrived at Lingzhou City’s completion celebration, where Yang Gongwan intervened after an attendant tried to bar Chen Xianhe from the banquet. Yang Linyuan later chastised Gongwan for provoking discord between the Chen and Wu families, while worrying that the Zhou Family may have caused a recent tragedy that could destabilize Guang’an Prefecture.

• Chen Daoxuan carried Chen Xianhe by Escape Light to the Guang'an Immortal Alliance’s floating Spirit Mountain above Lingzhou City.
• An attendant allowed Chen Daoxuan into the celebration but tried to stop Chen Xianhe, until Yang Gongwan smoothed over the dispute by claiming she had forgotten to inform the attendant.
• Yang Gongwan invited Chen Daoxuan to travel with her, and Chen Daoxuan hinted that he recognized her deliberate attempt to sow discord between the Chen and Wu families.
• Yang Gongwan told Yang Linyuan about the encounter, and he rebuked her for using petty tricks before consoling her that the incident might still benefit the Yang Family.
• Yang Linyuan worried that Guang'an Prefecture was nearing a major upheaval and suspected the Zhou Family had caused the Wu Family’s tragedy two months earlier.

At Lingzhou City's completion celebration, Chen Daoxuan learned that Zhou Mucheng was being blamed for the disappearance of a Wu Family convoy and its more than one hundred Foundation Establishment escorts. The celebration was interrupted when Wu Guangyi demanded that Yang Linyuan deliver justice to the Wu Family immediately.

• Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe greeted Zhou Siliang and Zhou Mucheng at the celebration, congratulating Zhou Siliang on reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Zhou Mucheng explained that he had come to apologize to the Wu Family because the Zhou Family had been responsible for securing the route taken by a Wu Family convoy that vanished two months earlier.
• Chen Daoxuan learned that the convoy carried Second-Grade Artifacts and spirit ore and had been escorted by 136 Wu Family Foundation Establishment cultivators, none of whom had returned.
• Zhou Mucheng said families across Guang'an Prefecture suspected the Zhou Family had destroyed the convoy to intimidate the other members of the Guang'an Immortal Alliance.
• Yang Linyuan began his speech at the celebration and promised to help the alliance prosper.
• Wu Guangyi interrupted Yang Linyuan and insisted that the Wu Family receive justice that day.

Wu Guangyi accused the Zhou Family of causing the deaths of more than a hundred Wu Family cultivators and demanded Zhou Mubai apologize and swear an oath. When Zhou Mucheng offered his life in a duel instead, the two fought before the gathered cultivators, and Zhou Mucheng was left defeated with Wu Guangyi’s sword in his chest.

• Wu Guangyi publicly accused the Zhou Family of killing 136 Wu Family cultivators, and Zhou Mucheng denied the accusation but accepted responsibility for failing to protect them.
• Wu Guangyi demanded that Zhou Mubai apologize and swear an oath; Zhou Mucheng instead wagered his life against the Wu Family’s promise to let the matter rest.
• Wu Guangyi and Zhou Mucheng made a life-and-death pact, while Yang Linyuan feared the dispute would deepen the divide between the Guang'an Immortal Alliance and the Zhou Family.
• Chen Daoxuan reassured Zhou Siliang as Zhou Mucheng and Wu Guangyi battled with Spirit Armor and sword arts for more than an hour.
• Wu Guangyi’s greater reserves of True Yuan wore Zhou Mucheng down, and his sword broke through Zhou Mucheng’s Spirit Armor and pierced his chest.

Chen Daoxuan and Yang Linyuan explained why the Zhou and Wu Families chose not to report their dispute to the Qianyuan Sword Sect: both needed to protect their standing and stabilize their clans. When Zhou Siliang rushed to defend his father, Chen Daoxuan intervened and revealed himself as a Sword Cultivator.

• Chen Xianhe and Yang Linyuan said the Zhou Family sacrificed Zhou Mucheng to calm Guang'an Prefecture and gain time to investigate without damaging its ambition to become Cangzhou's Number One Family.
• Yang Linyuan explained that Wu Guangyi needed to unite the Wu Family after losing more than one hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators and could not afford to become the Zhou Family's irreconcilable enemy.
• Zhou Siliang charged Wu Guangyi to protect his father despite Zhou Mucheng's attempt to stop him.
• Chen Daoxuan knocked away Wu Guangyi's Flying Sword and stood between him and Zhou Siliang.
• Chen Daoxuan identified himself as a Sword Cultivator from the Chen Family of Twin Lakes Island and warned Wu Guangyi not to touch Zhou Siliang.