Chapter Summaries

Shu Changsheng’s group began searching the Blood Shark King’s island lair while Li Ling located the king’s minor cave heaven and discovered it contained a deadly sacrificial secret realm. After learning that the realm likely held the remains of the Sea-Treading Demon Emperor, Li Ling considered how to handle the remains and their dangerous laws.

• Shu Changsheng and representatives from Northsky Island factions landed near Wolf Fang Reef, defeated the pirates guarding the Blood Shark King’s island lair, and began preparing to search it.
• Li Ling sensed the Blood Shark King’s minor cave heaven and discovered the Hundred-Shark Devouring secret realm, whose rules required at least one hundred participants to fight until only survivors who advanced remained.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi found that the secret realm lay inside the skeleton of a giant shark demon emperor and speculated that the remains powered its laws.
• Li Ling visited Madam Zhao at the Snail Shell Sanctuary, shared his progress on Dust-Transcending Incense, and asked about the Blood Shark King’s origins.
• Madam Zhao explained that the Blood Shark King was the son of the Sea-Treading Demon Emperor and may have reached Core Formation by consuming his mother’s remains, leading Li Ling to consider whether the recovered skeleton’s deadly rules could be changed.

Li Ling learned more about innate dao bodies and found the Blood Shark King’s hidden treasure, while Shu Changsheng’s expedition repelled an attack linked to the Xingfeng Merchant Association. Back at the sect, Li Ling recognized that rumors about the Blood Shark King’s secrets were meant to draw him into a larger scheme, just as a special envoy arrived from the General Association.

• Madam Zhao explained to Li Ling that innate dao bodies were embryonic dharma bodies and that even Spirit Transformation adepts could not escape extinction.
• Li Ling found the Blood Shark King’s hidden treasure, including pills, artifacts, spirit materials, Frozen Jiao tea, and hundreds of millions in talisman currency.
• Shu Changsheng’s party defeated a fleet of ten Whale Class warships, and their captured Foundation Establishment attacker died while trying to escape.
• Min Lian told Li Ling that the Xingfeng Merchant Association might have helped the Black Market target the treasure, and Li Ling resolved to deal with the association later.
• Min Lian warned Li Ling that rumors about the Blood Shark King’s treasures and the Demon Emperor’s remains were aimed at him, and Li Ling recognized the hidden scheme.
• A spirit talisman summoned Li Ling and Elder Xu to Northsky Island to meet the General Association’s special envoy.

Li Ling met the General Association’s envoy, Xu Yan, and learned that the Four Seas Commerce Guild planned to support the Great Qian Dynasty and expand onto Mystic Continent. As Northsky Island prepared for a political reshuffle, Ma Wanbao privately proposed that Li Ling join forces with him to take command of the North Sea.

• Li Ling met Xu Yan, Ma Wanbao, Xiao Zhihe, and the Northsky Island elders as they gathered to discuss the region’s future.
• Xu Yan called for the recovery of Huang Lu and Cheng Xiong’s remains and the rebuilding of the Shark-Slaying Alliance to hunt down the Blood Shark Bandits’ remnants and rogue cultivators.
• Ma Wanbao pledged five hundred million to the alliance, while Elder Shang warned Li Ling that the Myriad Treasures Tower was using its wealth to regain influence.
• Xu Yan announced that the Four Seas Commerce Guild would cooperate with the Great Qian Dynasty, build naval infrastructure, supply weapons, and restrict trade with its enemies.
• Elder Shang urged Li Ling to prepare the Incense Market to move inland, and Li Ling grew wary of choosing a side in the coming conflict.
• Ma Wanbao invited Li Ling to meet privately and proposed that they join forces to take command of the North Sea; Li Ling asked to hear his plan.

Li Ling rejected Ma Wanbao’s plan to control Northsky Island and focused instead on building the Incense Accumulation Sect’s independent trade network. After learning of a possible Black Market route to Gathering Cave Continent, he declared the Incense Path’s purpose and began a new era for the sect by entering partial seclusion.

• Ma Wanbao proposed that he, Li Ling, and Elder Shang jointly control the Council of Elders, but Li Ling questioned the plan’s flaws and reserved his decision.
• Li Ling told Mu Qingsi he would withdraw from Northsky Island’s power struggle, develop Auspicious Ward and the Incense Market, and use his departure to secure compensation and recruit resources.
• Ma Wanbao reorganized Northsky Island and expanded the Myriad Treasures Tower’s influence, while Li Ling’s Incense Market established trading venues and worked toward independence.
• Shu Changsheng reported that the pirates’ holdings had revealed a Black Market channel that might connect the sect to Gathering Cave Continent, and Li Ling ordered him to investigate cautiously.
• Li Ling explained that the Incense Path should transform people and the world through spirit and conviction, then declared the Incense Accumulation era and entered partial seclusion, leaving his true disciples to manage their own affairs.

Thirty years after the Blood Shark Bandits’ rampage, Li Ling continued developing incense and educating the Incense Accumulation Sect’s disciples. A confidential letter revealed that Ma Wanbao was pushing the Money Guild to issue more talisman currency, and Li Ling ordered the sect to prepare for the resulting inflation.

• Li Ling caught Qingfeng and Mingyue skipping lessons and doubled their studies through Qin Yi.
• Li Ling discussed the sect’s education strategy with Mu Qingsi and described four new incenses with cultivation, healing, and life-extending effects.
• Li Ling learned from a letter that Ma Wanbao wanted the Money Guild to issue more talisman currency to cover market losses from the Blood Shark Bandits’ rampage.
• Li Ling explained that the plan would shift losses onto ordinary rogue cultivators through inflation while powerful figures received loans, subsidies, and raises.
• After seeing the benefits offered to the Incense Accumulation Sect, Li Ling decided not to go to Northsky Island and ordered the sect to stockpile spirit stones, materials, pills, and incense ingredients.

Northsky Island’s merchants raised purchase prices for spirit materials while restricting supplies of pills and other goods, drawing rogue cultivators into a growing currency squeeze. Ma Wanbao prepared a major expansion of talisman currency, while Min Lian reported that the Incense Accumulation Sect had stockpiled enough supplies to weather the coming disruption.

• The Rare Treasures Tower announced higher purchase prices for spirit materials, and rogue cultivators sold their stock for extra talisman currency.
• Rogue cultivators found pills and other goods out of stock across Northsky Island, while merchants accumulated supplies and their currency became harder to spend.
• Ma Wanbao inspected bulk purchases at North Wharf and said the Money Guild planned to inject an initial ten billion talisman currency into the North Sea.
• Ma Wanbao predicted that prices would more than double and that the exchange rate for spirit stones would rise, while promising to reduce prices within a hundred years.
• Min Lian checked the Incense Accumulation Sect’s cargo and accounts and said the sect had stockpiled enough spirit materials to manage the coming shortages.

A rogue cultivator returned from thirty years of secluded cultivation to find that inflation had sharply raised the cost of his supplies, while other cultivators discovered that old savings and treasures had lost much of their value. Lin Ji and Master Jin secured emergency Spirit Stones from Li Ling, but ordinary cultivators were beginning to face disorder without such connections.

• A middle-aged rogue cultivator emerged from seclusion, retrieved his savings, and learned that century vermilion fruits now cost several times what he remembered.
• Eight Ruins Seekers opened a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s cave abode and found that his fortune and manuals were worth far less than they had expected.
• Lin Ji paid steeply increased prices for Spirit Stones, then borrowed reserves from Master Jin.
• Master Jin explained the recent market changes, and Lin Ji lamented that merchant associations were fiercer than bandits.
• Lin Ji and Master Jin went to the Incense Accumulation Sect, where Li Ling provided them with Spirit Stones.
• Ordinary cultivators began to show the first signs of disorder as prices rose and support remained out of reach.

Li Ling recognized that the commerce guild’s expanding money calamity was gathering into a human-made disaster, and he sensed the birth of a Tribulation-Bound One in the western sea. Fourteen years later, the boy Luo Jingwei found a Greenfly Coin and, while working with his brother, faced the commerce guild’s exploitation.

• Pirates attacked treasure ships near Northsky Island, prompting Ma Wanbao and the branch elders to discuss the growing raids and their limited funds for fighting them.
• Li Ling smelled a copper stench in the sea mist and warned Mu Qingsi that the commerce guild’s money policies were creating a calamity.
• Li Ling sensed tribulation energy descend in the west and concluded that a Tribulation-Bound One had been born.
• A baby named Luo Jingwei was born in the Coin Kingdom, and his father unexpectedly won a fortune gambling on the day of his birth.
• Fourteen years later, Luo Jingwei found a Greenfly Coin in the mud and followed his older brother to deliver goods for the commerce guild.
• Steward Jin docked the brothers’ pay and begrudgingly ordered someone to exchange their remaining coins for herbs to treat their mother’s consumption.

After his mother and eldest brother were killed by the Jin Family, Luo Jingwei survived, became a cultivator, and joined the pirates to take revenge. He built a disciplined pirate force and began uniting pirates across the North Sea Region, earning fame as the Pirate Commander.

• Luo Jingwei discovered that the Jin Family had given his family the wrong medicine, and his eldest brother confronted Steward Jin before the Jin Family's eldest young master killed both brothers.
• The Medicine Garden's steward and Attendant An saved Luo Jingwei, discovered his exceptional Five Elements spirit roots, and Attendant An took him as a disciple.
• On Luo Jingwei's sixteenth birthday, Attendant An revealed that he and Steward Fang were former Blood Shark Bandits and told Luo Jingwei about the Sea Wolf Gang's planned raid.
• Luo Jingwei joined the Sea Wolf Gang, helped raid a Merchant Association ship, and killed the Jin Family's eldest young master to avenge his brother.
• Luo Jingwei formed his own pirate force, recruited cultivators, and grew wealthy by targeting powerful but poorly defended factions.
• Luo Jingwei developed pirate theories and codes, organized fleets, and gained supporters and fame throughout the North Sea Region.

Li Ling refined Heart-Cleansing Jiangzhen Incense, which dispelled the Money Causality and calamity stench, and sent a batch to Madam Zhao to test. After confirming it worked and discussing the Dao, he told her about the rising Foundation Establishment cultivator known as the Pirate Commander.

• Li Ling developed a reproducible formula for Heart-Cleansing Jiangzhen Incense and concluded that it brought him closer to creating Dust-Transcending Incense.
• Li Ling decided to supply Auspicious Ward before Northsky Island to build his Incense Market’s reputation, then prepared incense for Madam Zhao.
• Madam Zhao burned the incense in the Snail Shell Sanctuary and felt its effect ease the Money Causality lingering around her.
• Li Ling and Madam Zhao discussed the Dao while Redfish recorded their insights for future generations of the Incense Accumulation Sect.
• Li Ling told Madam Zhao that the Pirate Commander had rapidly grown powerful by accurately predicting treasure-ship routes and the locations of people and treasures.

Li Ling discussed the potential of ordinary people with Madam Zhao while Pirate Commander Luo Jingwei built his forces and raided the Myriad Treasures Association. When Wang Erxi attacked HLD, Luo used the Greenfly Coin to turn the battle around, leaving the association’s leaders questioning how he possessed and repeatedly used the treasure.

• Li Ling told Madam Zhao that gifted cultivators could arise from among ordinary people and eventually surpass today's powerful figures.
• Luo Jingwei returned to HLD after Brother An, Fellow Daoist Wang, and Feng Qing reached Foundation Establishment, then arranged ships, weapons, and support for them.
• Luo used the Greenfly Coin to divine for resources, and its influence over his financial fortune grew denser as he planned his next move.
• Luo led a surprise raid that captured twelve Treasure Ships, prompting Ma Wanbao to mobilize the Shark-Slaying Alliance and send Wang Erxi after the pirates.
• When Wang Erxi attacked HLD, Luo used the Greenfly Coin to disable the association's fleet, then ordered his men to seize its ships and drove Wang Erxi into retreat.
• The defeat spread across the North Sea, and Branch Headquarters senior members wondered how Luo had obtained the Greenfly Coin and could use it repeatedly.

Li Ling watched the Merchant Association’s forces gather to seize Luo Jingwei and the secret behind his Greenfly Coin, while a stroke of fortune threw their fleets into chaos. The attack finally cornered Luo Jingwei’s warship, but an enormous sea beast rose from beneath it and challenged the attackers.

• Li Ling told Nie Yingzhi that the Merchant Association could not easily withstand the Greenfly Coin’s money causality, and Nie Yingzhi chose to keep the Incense Accumulation Sect out of the campaign against Luo Jingwei.
• Ma Wanbao planned to recruit pirates under amnesty and sent Wang Erxi with ten warships and twelve Foundation Establishment attendants to attack HLD, intending to confront Luo Jingwei himself.
• Ma Wanbao found Yun Li, Qi Heng, Xiu Yexin, and other Core Formation cultivators near HLD, and Li Ling secretly watched their forces assemble.
• A sudden sea fog caused the attackers’ fleets to mistake one another for enemies and fight among themselves, while Li Ling recognized the danger posed by Luo Jingwei’s fortune.
• Yun Li evaded Luo Jingwei’s Golden Coinfall and the Treasure Ship’s weapons, then pinned the ship in place with a talisman as Ma Wanbao, Qi Heng, and the others moved in.
• A gigantic sea beast rose from beneath the warship with the iron anchor on its head and roared at the attackers.

Li Ling watched Luo Jingwei escape a sea-beast attack with the Greenfly Coin, then trapped him in a minor cave heaven to warn him about its danger. When Luo attacked, Li Ling caught the coin and discovered that the Heart-Cleansing Jiangzhen Incense could suppress its power.

• A giant sea beast attacked the Merchant Association warship, and Luo Jingwei used the Greenfly Coin to pin Wang Erxi while the beast wounded Qi Heng and drove Ma Wanbao and Yun Li into retreat.
• Luo Jingwei led the pirates away from HLD and dispersed them to escape the Merchant Association, but he remained uneasy about a danger he could not identify.
• Li Ling isolated Luo Jingwei inside a minor cave heaven with the Water-Moon Mirror and warned him that using the Greenfly Coin deepened his Money Causality.
• Luo Jingwei attacked Li Ling with the Greenfly Coin, but Li Ling saw through its treasure illusion, seized it, and suppressed its power with the Heart-Cleansing Jiangzhen Incense.

Li Ling overcame Luo Jingwei’s Greenfly Coins, then offered him a deal that would fund his fleet and forces. Afterward, Luo Jingwei learned from Fellow Daoist Wang that his mysterious opponent was likely the famed Li Ling, who had killed the Blood Shark King.

• Luo Jingwei used the Greenfly Coin to defend himself and attempt escape, but Li Ling repeatedly seized it and explained that Luo Jingwei lacked the strength to wield its full power.
• Li Ling gave Luo Jingwei his own Greenfly Coin to test, and the two coins let Luo Jingwei unleash a powerful attack that Li Ling dispelled with his Incense Accumulation Divine Domain.
• Li Ling purified the power in both coins, then told Luo Jingwei they should make a deal.
• Luo Jingwei emerged from the ship’s tower and told the pirates he had only been testing a few things, then asked the cultivator surnamed Wang to stay behind.
• Luo Jingwei described Li Ling, and Fellow Daoist Wang identified him as the renowned elder who had killed the Blood Shark King.
• Luo Jingwei revealed that Li Ling had offered supplies to build and maintain his fleet in exchange for the Greenfly Coin, leaving Fellow Daoist Wang astonished.

After Luo Jingwei’s escape crippled Northsky Island’s authority, Li Ling explained to Nie Yingzhi how the Merchant Association’s exploitation and the Incense Path’s disruption had fueled the North Sea’s unrest. As prices and disorder spiraled into a vicious cycle, someone finally went ashore to plunder, beginning a true war.

• Ma Wanbao failed to locate Luo Jingwei with the Merchant Association’s compass and withdrew his forces, while Northsky Island’s defeat damaged its standing and Luo Jingwei’s fame spread.
• Pirate factions and demon kings rose across the North Sea, and attacks on shipping worsened after Northsky Island lost control of the pirates.
• Li Ling told Nie Yingzhi that the unrest stemmed from resource exploitation and explained how the Incense Path had challenged the powerful factions’ profits.
• Li Ling revealed that he was supporting Luo Jingwei as an ally among the pirates and planned to unite useful practitioners and merchants against Ma Wanbao’s faction.
• In the sixtieth year of Incense Accumulation, rising prices, currency depreciation, and disrupted trade impoverished cultivators and deepened the North Sea’s crisis.
• Someone went ashore to plunder, bringing the North Sea to the brink of true war.

Shu Changsheng repelled a probe by the Mirage Tower while Li Ling used illusions and incense on Little Olive Island to expose the General Association’s search for the Greenfly Coin. The chapter ended with Li Ling confronting Elder Qiu and writing a false location for the coin.

• Shu Changsheng drove the Mirage Tower’s demons and ghosts from the Divine Incense Gate and warned his disciples not to rely on Li Ling’s protection.
• Nie Yingzhi told Li Ling that blocked shipping routes were hurting trade, and Li Ling said he expected the situation to change in three to five years.
• Li Ling trapped infiltrators on Little Olive Island in a dream and used illusions to make another group believe they had found Elder Cheng Xiong’s remains there.
• The investigators realized they were still on Little Olive Island and fled as Black Demon Corpses emerged around them.
• Li Ling appeared in Elder Qiu’s residence on Northsky Island, restrained him, and wrote that the Greenfly Coin was in Windless Gorge.

Li Ling deceived the General Association’s envoys, stole their tracking compass, and used its Greenfly Coins to help the Boli Kingdom’s sovereign and Imperial Preceptor establish their Dao Foundations. After sixty years in seclusion amid a North Sea power struggle, he emerged to summon allies to Nine Orchid Fields and plan a reorganization of the Branch Headquarters and the pacification of the North Sea.

• Li Ling made Elder Qiu copy and seal a false report, and Elder Qiu agreed to keep supporting the deception rather than risk the General Association’s punishment.
• The General Association’s envoys followed Li Ling’s planted clues to Windless Gorge, where Li Ling ambushed them and stole their tracking compass.
• Li Ling refined the compass with incense offerings and confirmed that it detected more than nine Greenfly Coins, then placed two coins in the Boli Kingdom’s sovereign and Imperial Preceptor to help them reach Foundation Establishment while dissolving their tribulation.
• Li Ling used the ritual to deepen his understanding of the Money Dao and began preparing to transform the North Sea and challenge the Merchant Association’s dominance.
• Pirate and Merchant Association forces fought for control of the North Sea, and the Sea Wolf Gang conquered seven kingdoms as new powers rose.
• After sixty years in seclusion, Li Ling emerged and invited disciples, followers, and allies to Nine Orchid Fields to discuss reorganizing the Branch Headquarters and pacifying the North Sea.

Li Ling united North Sea factions under his leadership and organized a campaign to eliminate pirate kings and restore order. He personally attacked Mirage Tower in the Wandering Fire Waters, piercing its soul with a spear.

• Ma Wanbao learned that the North Sea factions had sent their leaders to Li Ling’s gathering and raged at their abandonment of him.
• Li Ling accepted unanimous election as supreme alliance leader and told Nie Yingzhi how reputation and timing had helped him gather support.
• Li Ling outlined plans to eliminate pirate leaders, restore shipping and commerce, and prevent cultivators from returning to robbery.
• Li Ling used Fragrance-Guided Dream Entry to locate pirate leaders, assigned forces to target them, and marked which groups would remain as a counterbalance.
• Li Ling reached the Wandering Fire Waters and attacked Mirage Tower, flattening the island on its back and scattering the souls forming its ghostly dragon.
• Li Ling drove a spear through Mirage Tower’s primary soul.

Li Ling crushed the Mirage Tower and led his allies to destroy the pirate bands, restore trade, and redistribute North Sea resources while promoting the Incense Path. As Ma Wanbao began plotting to kill him, Li Ling sensed that his own Heavenly Dao tribulation had arrived early.

• Li Ling overwhelmed the Mirage Tower, annihilated its remnant soul, and collected its black pearl.
• Li Ling and his allies hunted down the pirate kings and strongholds; Old Money escaped to Gathering Cave Continent, while the other listed pirate leaders were killed.
• Li Ling restored production and shipping, promoted the Incense Path and spirit incense, and helped his allies claim resources and territories as traditional merchant groups lost influence.
• Ma Wanbao blamed Li Ling for his declining fortunes and decided to eliminate him to reverse the situation.
• Li Ling sensed that his actions had brought Heavenly Dao backlash and that his tribulation had arrived ahead of time.

Li Ling went to Little Olive Island to face the heavenly tribulation caused by his growing karmic burden, while Ma Wanbao discovered his destination and began gathering enemies to ambush him afterward. As a Five-Nine Heavenly Tribulation formed over the island, Mu Qingsi sensed an intruder approaching.

• Li Ling told Mu Qingsi that his accumulated karma had brought on a tribulation, then took her to Little Olive Island to prepare.
• Ma Wanbao and Tian used a secret art to locate Li Ling and concluded that he was facing a tribulation; Ma Wanbao planned to attack him while he was weakened.
• Li Ling burned the Face Tree on Little Olive Island and asked Mu Qingsi to learn the Grand Array so she could protect him.
• Tribulation clouds formed, and Li Ling identified the coming calamity as a Five-Nine Heavenly Tribulation with forty-five lightning strikes.
• Mu Qingsi sensed that someone had intruded onto Little Olive Island as Li Ling prepared to face the tribulation.