Chapter Summaries

Li Ling and Mu Qingsi returned to the Skycloud Sect after learning that Yellow Cloud True Person was suffering the final illness tribulation. They visited her as she prepared for her death, then reunited with Mystic Xin Peak’s remaining disciples and learned that the sect’s restructuring had scattered their former community.

• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi traveled to the Skycloud Sect and entered its blessed land after requesting to see Luo Mu.
• Han Gusheng escorted Li Ling and Mu Qingsi to Yellow Cloud True Person, whose body and dharma power had weakened under the old calamity and illness tribulation.
• Yellow Cloud True Person told Li Ling and Mu Qingsi that she expected to die in mid-July, had settled her affairs, and wanted them to care for the descendants of Zhou Cheng and the others.
• Li Ling reunited with Luo Mu, Han Gusheng, Lin Li, Han Peiquan, and Yu Lanxin, who discussed the dissolution of Mystic Xin Peak and their new duties in the sect.
• Li Ling asked Luo Mu whether the changes to Mystic Xin Peak were connected to events on the Mystic Continent, and Luo Mu promised to explain later.

As Yellow Cloud True Person neared death, Luo Mu explained the division of her inheritance and warned Li Ling about upheaval surrounding the Great Lin River and Mystic Heaven Dao Venerable's plans. On July fifteenth, the Old Ancestor gathered her household to oversee the distribution, and the chapter ended as Li Ling and Mu Qingsi's turn began.

• Luo Mu told Li Ling that Yellow Cloud True Person's inheritance would be divided among her relatives and disciples after her death.
• Luo Mu explained that Great Qian had unified the Mystic Continent, but rogue cultivators and demonic remnants were plotting to unseal the Great Lin River God's body.
• Luo Mu revealed that the Dragon-Slaying Expert was Mystic Heaven Dao Venerable and said he might soon return to the world as a Heavenly Emperor Avatar.
• Before dawn on July fifteenth, Yellow Cloud True Person summoned her household and personally approved Luo Mu's inventory of her remaining treasures.
• Luo Mu distributed inheritances to the senior disciples and relatives, then announced that Li Ling and Mu Qingsi were next.

After Yellow Cloud True Person died, Mystic Xin Peak divided its remaining assets and buried her at Origin Return Mountain. As Li Ling and Mu Qingsi prepared to leave, a cargo ship belonging to the Incense Accumulation Sect vanished, and Li Ling suspected someone was targeting him.

• Luo Mu divided Mystic Xin Peak’s remaining treasures and spirit materials among its people, including Li Ling, before Yellow Cloud True Person passed away.
• Chi Yun-Zi and other True Persons attended Yellow Cloud True Person’s funeral, where Li Ling learned her personal name was Huang Ruo Yun.
• Mu Qingsi reminded Li Ling of the Immortal Register divine talisman Yellow Cloud True Person had given them, and Li Ling activated it, but no one answered.
• Nine days later, Luo Mu and Chi Yun-Zi buried Yellow Cloud True Person at Origin Return Mountain, bringing Mystic Xin Peak’s affairs to a close.
• Li Ling received word that a cargo ship traveling between Northsky Island and Auspicious Ward had vanished, and he suspected the incident was aimed at him.

Li Ling traced the missing cargo ship to Blood Lion and realized the Blood Shark Bandits wanted to force the Incense Accumulation Sect into becoming a Shoreland Household. He began rallying allies and planned to use the crisis to strengthen the sect and pursue Core Formation, while arranging a search-and-rescue effort.

• Li Ling told Luo Mu and Elder Shang about the North Sea incident, and Elder Shang promised that the guild and Shang Family would support him.
• Using Dreamscape Reversal, Li Ling saw a One-Horned White Whale attack the cargo ship and recognized a following vessel as Blood Lion's flagship.
• After returning to the North Sea, Li Ling concluded that Blood Lion was trying to coerce the Incense Accumulation Sect into becoming a Shoreland Household.
• Li Ling told Mu Qingsi that they needed to build their own strength and pursue Core Formation, and he considered capturing the white whale for its flesh and blood.
• Li Ling concealed Blood Lion's involvement from Elder Shang and gathered guild personnel, ships, and rogue cultivators for a search-and-rescue effort.

Li Ling tracked Blood Lion's flagship and used incense to lure Mo Yan away from it, then drove him into a dangerous encounter underwater. Mo Yan surfaced beside the Merchant Association's search fleet, where the Foundation Establishment cultivators recognized him and attacked.

• Blood Lion learned that Li Ling was organizing a search and ordered his subordinates to avoid the search party unless Li Ling went out to sea himself.
• Li Ling used Day Wandering to locate Blood Lion's flagship and spotted Mo Yan among its pirate leaders.
• Li Ling followed Mo Yan underwater and used the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art to make him obsess over catching fish and wander farther from the ship.
• Mo Yan's water-repelling spell was broken, and he fled from what seemed to be a Stone Octopus-type demon king before surfacing.
• Mo Yan surfaced among the Merchant Association's search-and-rescue fleet, where cultivators recognized him and launched attacks.

Li Ling arranged for Mo Yan’s capture and planned to use the proposed execution to provoke the Blood Shark Bandits and expose their allies. As Blood Lion left to rescue Mo Yan, Li Ling used the Water-Moon Mirror to capture the bandits’ One-Horned White Whale, leaving the flagship’s crew stunned.

• The North Sea cultivators captured and bound Mo Yan, and Li Ling arranged for him to be taken to Northsky Island for interrogation.
• Li Ling learned that Lin Ti was coming to help, then urged Elder Shang to consider executing Mo Yan to strengthen the merchant association’s standing and provoke Blood Lion.
• Li Ling had Mu Qingsi impersonate him, disguised himself as a rogue cultivator, and followed the ships carrying Mo Yan toward Northsky Island.
• After learning of Mo Yan’s capture, Blood Lion decided to leave the flagship and rescue him before he reached Northsky Island.
• Li Ling waited for the One-Horned White Whale to follow Blood Lion, then used the Water-Moon Mirror to draw it into the mirror’s cave heaven.

Li Ling stole the Water-Moon Mirror and abducted the One-Horned White Whale, while Blood Lion withdrew after suspecting the theft was tied to a mysterious figure from the past. Li Ling rejected the Blood Shark Bandits’ offer to involve his sect in their illicit trade, then brought the whale to Little Olive Island, where it awoke and fought the Face Tree.

• Li Ling escaped Blood Lion’s flagship with the Water-Moon Mirror, while the pirates hesitated to pursue him.
• Attendant Cheng and Elder Yang arrived to aid the Merchant Association, and Blood Lion fled after clashing with them.
• Blood Lion concluded that the Water-Moon Mirror’s unknown wielder might have taken Bai Xiu, then ordered his men to approach Li Ling with a proposed trade.
• Mu Qingsi warned Li Ling that the Blood Shark Bandits wanted his help supplying their ships, and Li Ling refused to participate in their illicit business.
• Li Ling carried the One-Horned White Whale to Little Olive Island and dropped it into the Inner Valley, where its cry briefly impaired him.
• The whale tried to escape, and the Face Tree attacked it with vines and poisonous thorns.

Li Ling watched the One-Horned White Whale devastate Little Olive Island’s Inner Valley and destroy the Face Tree, while the chaos prevented him from recalling the whale with the Water-Moon Mirror. He used his newly developed Mind-Harmony Incense to calm the whale, leaving it docile and shrinking as the floodwaters receded.

• The Face Tree attacked the One-Horned White Whale with tendrils and explosive flames, but the whale’s hide resisted its strikes.
• Li Ling considered using the whale to strengthen his cultivation and replace the portion of the Three-Origin Great Medicine that Lin Rouniang had taken, but saw the Face Tree was outmatched.
• Li Ling used Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance to ease the whale’s cry, then watched it grow over three thousand feet tall and unleash a flood that uprooted the Face Tree and wrecked the Inner Valley.
• Li Ling tried to pull the whale into the Water-Moon Mirror, but the chaotic energy, debris, and whale’s immense size prevented the mirror from capturing it.
• Li Ling approached the whale and released Mind-Harmony Incense, calming it until it shrank and the floodwaters drained away.

Li Ling captured the Face Tree and One-Horned White Whale, then considered Blood Lion’s invitation to a Black Market Trade and the threat posed by the Blood Shark Bandits. After Lin Ti arrived, he agreed to help Li Ling turn the invitation into an opportunity to kill Blood Lion.

• Li Ling repeatedly restored the Face Tree while it fought the One-Horned White Whale, then used the Water-Moon Mirror to capture both creatures.
• Li Ling learned from Mu Qingsi that the Merchant Association planned to interrogate Mo Yan and that Blood Lion had sent an invitation and contact details for a Black Market Trade.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi discussed Blood Lion’s network and the usefulness of the Blood Shark Bandits to people operating in the underground world.
• Lin Ti arrived from the South Sea, and Li Ling explained Blood Lion’s threats and attempts to recruit him.
• Lin Ti claimed that neither Blood Lion nor the Blood Shark Bandits’ chief could match him, and he and Li Ling agreed to use the Black Market invitation to hunt Blood Lion.

Li Ling and Lin Ti entered a hidden black market, where Li Ling posed as an associate of the Incense Accumulation Sect to investigate its wares and draw Blood Lion out. After inspecting the market’s sinister goods and hearing its seller offer fragrances, Li Ling sensed Blood Lion arrive at Core Formation strength.

• Li Ling and Lin Ti found the concealed black market entrance and used Li Ling’s token to gain entry.
• Li Ling claimed Blood Lion had sent him, and the guards let him and Lin Ti inside while secretly notifying the Third Chieftain.
• The market’s overseer showed Li Ling and Lin Ti Blood Effigies, Mother-and-Child Ghosts, blood resentment, demon spirits, and other wares.
• Li Ling rejected the sinister goods and grew interested when the overseer offered aromatic spirit materials.
• Li Ling sensed a powerful aura approach and recognized it as Blood Lion’s; Lin Ti confirmed he knew, and Blood Lion appeared.

Lin Ti defeated Blood Lion in a single devastating attack, then killed the Black Market’s sinister members while sparing the innocent. Blood Lion revealed that the Merchant Association’s powerful North Sea branch was entangled with the Blood Shark Bandits, but Li Ling still ordered Lin Ti to kill him.

• Li Ling turned incorporeal as Lin Ti revealed his Core Formation power and froze the hidden arrays beneath the Black Market.
• Lin Ti destroyed Blood Lion’s attack, overwhelmed him with frost swords, and killed the fleeing members while leaving the mortal women and servants unharmed.
• Lin Ti explained that he came from the South Sea, and Blood Lion survived long enough to offer Li Ling a place among the Blood Shark Bandits and warn that the Merchant Association secretly supported them.
• Blood Lion claimed that the Merchant Association and the Blood Shark Bandits were intertwined through the Earthly Sha Sect, and warned Li Ling that his allies could pose a greater danger than his enemies.
• After considering Blood Lion’s revelation, Li Ling told Lin Ti to kill him rather than accept the offer or let others manipulate him.

Lin Ti killed Blood Lion and helped Li Ling conceal his role while delivering the corpse to Northsky Island. Li Ling discovered that much of the commerce guild’s leadership secretly belonged to the Blood Shark Bandits, and, with the immediate danger quieted, he resolved to settle the remaining trouble and form his true core.

• Lin Ti destroyed Blood Lion’s escaping true core, took his corpse, and gave Li Ling Blood Lion’s Treasure Pouch.
• Li Ling arranged safety for the abducted mortals and asked Lin Ti to disguise himself and deliver Blood Lion’s corpse to Northsky Island.
• Li Ling attended the elders’ meeting and pretended to be surprised by Blood Lion’s death while Elder Shang’s adviser suspected him.
• Li Ling sensed that most of the guild leaders at a secret meeting were connected to the Blood Shark Bandits and realized they were trying to identify a mole within their ranks.
• The commerce guild reported the killing, and the Blood Shark Bandits withdrew their peripheral forces without retaliating, though they later recruited a new Core Formation expert.
• Li Ling recognized that the Blood Shark Bandits would eventually target him and resolved to handle the danger quickly before forming his true core.

After Blood Lion’s death, Li Ling used rumors and secret maneuvers to turn Northsky Island’s pirate-linked clans against the Black Market and organize resistance. As the island’s power balance shifted, two special envoys from the General Association arrived.

• Elder Shang and Shang Yuxian discussed the rumors implicating Northsky Island’s clans and suspected someone was exploiting Blood Lion’s death.
• Disguised as a mysterious expert, Li Ling visited the Ning Family and other senior members of the Merchant Association, burning evidence and convincing them their pirate dealings could be left behind.
• Li Ling persuaded the Council of Elders to unite against pirates, and its members agreed to absolve past collusion and suppress the Black Market.
• Northsky Island’s forces exposed and attacked Black Market dens, while former pirate collaborators turned against their accomplices.
• Li Ling arranged resources for his advancement and obscured traces of his role, then the General Association’s two special envoys arrived on Northern Firmament Island.

Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun arrived at the North Sea Branch Headquarters to investigate Blood Lion’s death and identify the expert responsible. Li Ling resisted their questioning and sent Mu Qingsi into hiding, while the envoys secretly plotted to have the Blood Shark Bandits capture him and deliver him to Lord Bashan.

• Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun arrived at the North Sea Branch Headquarters and said they would investigate Blood Lion’s death and seek the expert who killed him.
• Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun privately pressed the branch elders to question Li Ling, suggesting the unknown expert might be connected to him.
• Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun visited Li Ling and questioned him about Gao Qingchen, but Li Ling denied knowing anything about Gao’s death.
• Li Ling sensed that the envoys still posed a threat and sent Mu Qingsi away with the Mystic Traversal Talisman before covertly following them.
• Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun planned to arrange a surprise attack by the Blood Shark Bandits, capture Li Ling, and deliver him to Lord Bashan.

Li Ling used his influence and a staged disappearance to frustrate Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun’s attempt to seize him, then lured Cheng Xiong to Little Olive Island. There, the One-Horned White Whale swallowed Cheng Xiong, but he struck back from inside and pierced the whale’s jaw.

• Li Ling overheard Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun discussing Blood Lion’s lineage and their plan to capture him, then escaped after Yin Sujun sensed his presence.
• Cheng Xiong failed to find Li Ling at his residence, where the household raised an alarm over Li Ling’s supposed abduction and drew the Northsky Island elders into the investigation.
• Elder Shang arranged Li Ling’s escape and promised to report the envoys’ conduct to the General Association, while Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun realized the North Sea factions had rallied behind Li Ling.
• After the General Association recalled the envoys, Cheng Xiong chose to keep searching with a secret treasure, and Li Ling reunited with Mu Qingsi on Little Olive Island.
• Cheng Xiong followed Li Ling’s planted trail to Little Olive Island, where the One-Horned White Whale ambushed and swallowed him before he burst out through its lower jaw.

Li Ling defeated the Blood Shark Bandits’ One-Horned White Whale through Cheng Xiong, then used incense arts and a dreamscape to keep Cheng Xiong occupied while the whale’s remains were refined into a Blood Pill. He left Mu Qingsi to oversee the refinement and planted the Face Tree seed in the whale’s corpse, where it began to grow.

• Cheng Xiong fought and killed the One-Horned White Whale, while Li Ling watched from a distance using Soul Projection.
• Li Ling appeared before Cheng Xiong, provoked his greed with Copper Stench Mind-Bewildering incense, and lured him into attacking an Avatar.
• Li Ling unleashed Dragonfire Incense, which split into seven smoke dragons after Cheng Xiong’s earth essence bound the first dragon.
• Li Ling explained to Mu Qingsi that Cheng Xiong was trapped in a dream and warned her to monitor the Blood Pill refinement while he prepared further barriers around Cheng Xiong’s real body.
• Li Ling used the island’s Grand Array to draw the whale’s essence into a Blood Pill, then placed the Face Tree seed in its rotting flesh, where it sprouted amid the spreading growth.

Li Ling refined the One-Horned White Whale’s heart blood into a Blood Pill and absorbed it to build the cultivation needed to attempt Core Formation. Its overwhelming vitality nearly overwhelmed him, but he redirected some of its power into three Incense Deities and, with Mu Qingsi’s help, assimilated it, raising his cultivation to four hundred years.

• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi collected and purified the whale’s heart blood, and Li Ling sensed a trace of the Great Kun bloodline in it.
• Li Ling merged the Blood Pill into his heart, and its fierce vitality made his body burn and overflow with power.
• Li Ling used the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art to nourish the Spirit-Communing Incense, Evil-Repelling Incense, and Teaweed Incense deities with blood essence and Origin Energy.
• Li Ling pulled Mu Qingsi into a joint cultivation session so they could release the Blood Pill’s excess power through their intermingled energies.
• Li Ling successfully assimilated the Blood Pill and reached four hundred years of cultivation.

Li Ling completed Core Formation as Cheng Xiong used the Greenfly Coin to locate him and appeared before him. The chapter ended with Li Ling’s Nascent Soul manifesting as a thousand-zhang-tall, three-headed, eight-armed youth aspect.

• Cheng Xiong realized Li Ling had trapped him in a dreamscape, then decided his hidden opponent was powerful but not strong enough to risk a direct fight.
• Cheng Xiong found the Face Tree among the demon monsters at the One-Horned White Whale’s corpse and destroyed it after his first attack triggered a warning about karmic burden.
• Li Ling began fusing his three treasures to form a core, while the Heavenly Dao warned him that Cheng Xiong might use the Greenfly Coin to find him.
• Li Ling explained the Greenfly Coin’s power to Mu Qingsi and hurried through a secret passage to draw Cheng Xiong away from her.
• The Greenfly Coin brought Cheng Xiong face-to-face with Li Ling, whose Core Formation finished as his Nascent Soul manifested in a thousand-zhang-tall form.

After attaining Core Formation, Li Ling awakened a new ability to shift his dharma form between immense size and compact physical form, then used his many arms, magic treasures, and incense arts to defeat Cheng Xiong. He captured Cheng Xiong’s escaping true core and declared that only a handful of legendary Core Formation cultivators could compare with him.

• Li Ling’s dharma form matured, gaining eight arms and the ability to turn dharma power into a physical body that could grow or shrink.
• Li Ling transformed into a giant and battered the landscape, but Cheng Xiong’s agility and falling boulders showed the form’s limits against a mobile opponent.
• Li Ling returned to a compact form, summoned his stored magic treasures, and overwhelmed Cheng Xiong with attacks from multiple directions.
• Li Ling spread Spirit-Communing Incense across a hundred li, used Heaven and Earth Have Fragrance to overwhelm Cheng Xiong’s mind, and killed him.
• Li Ling captured Cheng Xiong’s escaping true core with the Water-Moon Mirror and celebrated his victory over a powerful Core Formation cultivator.

After defeating Cheng Xiong, Li Ling assessed the levels of power in the cultivation world, secured the damaged Face Tree, and cleansed his karmic trail. A dream revealed a Merchant Association elder’s plans and the Greenfly Coin’s location, so Li Ling left to seek it while remaining missing.

• Li Ling reassured Mu Qingsi that he was unharmed and explained the ranks of powerful cultivators, placing Cheng Xiong among the third tier of the truly strong.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi surveyed Little Olive Island, collected the Face Tree’s remains, and Li Ling lit Heavenly Ascension Spirit Incense to erase traces of karma.
• Li Ling entered a dreamscape and saw a mysterious Merchant Association elder tell Cheng Xiong and Yin Sujun to prepare the North Sea Region for changes coming from the Mystic Continent.
• Li Ling saw the Greenfly Coin on a southern North Sea beach, where a boy named A-Ping picked it up and put it in his pouch.
• After waking, Li Ling decided to follow the coin’s karmic connection and left with Mu Qingsi’s knowledge, carrying the Water-Moon Mirror, the Blazing Cloud Gourd, and his other treasures.