Chapter Summaries

Li Ling’s use of the Dragon Heart Stone caused spirit vitality to spread across the surrounding region, creating strange phenomena that prompted Great Qian officials and sect cultivators to investigate. After misleading the searchers and relocating, he returned months later to the area around Soul-Rending Mountain and began the second stage of using the treasure.

• Li Ling concealed the Dragon Vein with the Dragon Heart Stone, and shoals of fish and other unusual phenomena appeared throughout the lower reaches.
• A county magistrate reported the incidents, prompting the Demon Suppression Bureau and Dao Registry Bureau to investigate upstream.
• Li Ling sensed the investigators, misled them, removed the Dragon Heart Stone, and left disguised as an itinerant physician.
• Two True Disciples questioned the local River Earl, then began searching the wilderness between his jurisdiction and the next River Earl’s.
• Months later, Li Ling returned to the area near Soul-Rending Mountain and settled in a spirit valley near a destroyed demon stronghold to begin his second stage of using the treasure.

Li Ling studied the Dragon Heart Stone while revising the foundations of the Incense Path, and Bai Xiaohuan advanced to become a Great Demon. When former Demon Kingdom fugitives brought Bai Xiaohuan to meet the returned King Azure Ji, Li Ling followed and discovered Ju Huang among Qing Ji’s gathered forces.

• Li Ling decided to comprehend the Dragon Heart Stone’s laws and overhaul the Incense Path rather than absorb the stone’s power directly.
• Over several months, Li Ling refined his cultivation theories while Bai Xiaohuan tended a garden and nearby beasts gathered to absorb the leaking spiritual vitality.
• A wild boar Great Demon and two demon cultivators arrived and ordered Bai Xiaohuan to meet King Azure Ji, who had returned.
• Li Ling instructed Bai Xiaohuan to go with them and secretly followed as they led her to a secluded valley where demon survivors had gathered.
• Li Ling recognized Ju Huang among the gathered demons and suspected she had helped Qing Ji escape the battle at Soul-Rending Mountain.

Li Ling took control of Copper Bell Mountain by subduing Ju Huang and Qing Ji, binding them with the Bone-Burning Curse Art and claiming the hidden blessed land while letting them manage it openly. He learned about the Bashan Demon Kingdom and the looming threat from Great Qian, and left Qing Ji recovering as he continued developing the spirit spring under True Person Zixu’s identity.

• Bai Xiaohuan followed a Great Demon snake into Copper Bell Mountain, where Ju Huang questioned her and sensed her unusual dragon vein resonance.
• Li Ling revealed his Dharma form, restrained Ju Huang and injured her, then promised to spare the sisters if they surrendered control of the blessed land.
• Li Ling treated Qing Ji’s injuries, bound both sisters with the Bone-Burning Curse Art, and ordered them to keep the mountain quiet while continuing to manage its demons.
• Li Ling’s physical body arrived, and Ju Huang recognized the Dragon Heart Stone he had seized before; Li Ling confirmed he was the one who took it.
• Li Ling learned from Qing Ji about Copper Bell Mountain, the Bashan Demon Kingdom, Bai Yu’s disappearance, and the danger of Great Qian or other forces reaching the area.
• Qing Ji explained that she and Ju Huang had lured Great Demons to the mountain as blood food, while Li Ling’s curse and surveillance left them unable to resist him.

Li Ling deceived the Iron Household into abandoning its attempt to establish a settlement near Copper Bell Mountain, then completed a new incense-based cultivation method. He taught the Incense-Sensing Breath-Nurturing Art to Ju Huang, whose body began absorbing the incense essence.

• Li Ling sent Ju Huang to lead Senior Xue and the Iron Household to a false spirit-vein site, then used more decoys to make their survey seem unreliable and their investment worthless.
• After the Iron Household withdrew, Li Ling instructed Ju Huang and Qing Ji to keep the Great Demons hidden and drive away intruders without killing them.
• Ju Huang and Qing Ji privately questioned Li Ling's claimed identity as a wilderness rogue cultivator, but decided they could only wait for a chance to investigate.
• Li Ling spent nearly half a year nurturing the dragon vein and developing a method that turned incense essence into a dark red powder.
• Li Ling taught Ju Huang the Incense-Sensing Breath-Nurturing Art and ignited the powder, causing her to draw its red, smoke-like essence into her body as Qing Ji watched in amazement.

Li Ling developed the Incense-Sensing Breath-Nurturing Art and tested its power, while Ju Huang and Qing Ji argued over whether to trust it. He revealed that Great Qian forces had drawn near Copper Bell Mountain, then promised the sisters freedom after ten years if he completed his cultivation research.

• Li Ling used Blood Orchid Incense and the new cultivation art to bring Taxue, a leopard cat spirit, to perfected Qi Refining in just over a hundred days.
• Ju Huang urged Qing Ji to cultivate the art, but Qing Ji suspected Li Ling was trying to gain control over them and refused.
• At New Year, Qing Ji confronted Li Ling about their confinement and poor treatment, demanding freedom to hunt and recover.
• Li Ling explained that Great Qian scouts and a Market Ward at Toadmouth Mountain made the area dangerous, but said the sisters could now roam within five thousand li.
• Li Ling promised to leave Copper Bell Mountain and free Ju Huang and Qing Ji within ten years after completing his cultivation research, but refused to remove their Curse Arts.

Li Ling completed the Incense-Sensing Breath-Nurturing Art and continued developing its cultivation method while Qing Ji teased Bai Xiaohuan by roasting rabbits. By the eightieth year of Incense Accumulation, Li Ling used the art to transform Lin Rouniang into a tangible Ghost Spirit Bride, and she greeted him as her master.

• Qing Ji hunted and roasted a gray rabbit, then offered its meat to Bai Xiaohuan, Taxue, and Xiandie, horrifying Bai Xiaohuan until Ju Huang stopped the teasing.
• Li Ling explained the new Incense-Sensing Breath-Nurturing Art to Mu Qingsi and used the Dragon Heart Stone's source essence to produce Blood Orchid Incense.
• Qing Ji repeatedly tormented Bai Xiaohuan with rabbit meat, while Li Ling let the incidents continue as a lesson about the dangers of the world.
• In the eightieth year of Incense Accumulation, Li Ling channeled the art's power into Lin Rouniang, transforming her ghostly body into a tangible form and awakening her intelligence.
• Lin Rouniang lifted her bridal veil and greeted Li Ling as her master.

Li Ling used the Dragon Heart Stone and Blood Orchid Incense to advance Lin Rouniang to Core Formation and strengthen Taxue and Xiandie, while refining his Incense-Sensing Breath-Nurturing Art. He planned for Mu Qingsi to test the method and began considering selling the depleted Dragon Heart Stone, but Ju Huang had no suitable treasure to offer in exchange.

• Li Ling introduced the newly awakened Lin Rouniang to Ju Huang and told the mountain demons to let her come and go freely.
• Li Ling refined Blood Orchid Incense and used it with the Dragon Heart Stone to raise Lin Rouniang to Core Formation, then used the remaining incense to help Taxue and Xiandie become great demons.
• Li Ling proposed that Mu Qingsi test his unfinished Core Formation method, and she agreed to cultivate with her own essential scent and resources from her sect.
• Li Ling questioned Ju Huang about Lord Bashan and learned she had come to Soul-Rending Mountain on her own, without his orders.
• Li Ling offered to sell Ju Huang the Dragon Heart Stone, but she could only offer her Spirit Peak, which he did not want.

Li Ling sensed danger near the hidden Dragon Heart Stone as Zhuang Dongwang and the Divine Dragon Cult searched Copper Bell Mountain for its spirit vein. Zhuang Dongwang dispatched search parties toward three suspected locations, while Li Ling ordered Ju Huang to patrol the area.

• Li Ling decided he would only exchange the Dao Fruit for a middle-grade-or-higher Spirit Peak Blessed Land or equivalent treasures, rather than sell it outright.
• Zhuang Dongwang learned that the Iron Household's survey at Copper Bell Mountain had failed and recruited the former geomancer Xue Ping to guide his party there.
• Xue Ping led Zhuang Dongwang's group through the abandoned mine sites, where they found only dry wells and other signs of failed surveys.
• Zhuang Dongwang used an Earth Spirit Dragon to locate likely spirit-vein directions and sent his cultivators to search three areas.
• Li Ling felt a premonition of danger around the hidden Dragon Heart Stone and ordered Ju Huang to patrol a hundred-li radius for intruders.

The Divine Dragon Cult’s search for the Dragon Heart Stone led its forces to Copper Bell Mountain, where Bai Xiaohuan and the cat demons repelled an attack. Ju Huang confronted Zhuang Dongwang, and Li Ling revealed himself as True Person Zixu, prompting Zhuang Dongwang to realize he had been deceived about the Dragon Heart Stone.

• The Divine Dragon Cult party followed vegetable gardens up Copper Bell Mountain, suspecting they marked a hidden power base.
• The altar master and his men attacked Bai Xiaohuan, but Taxue and Xiandie revealed their great-demon strength and drove them off.
• The fleeing cultivators found their remaining men dead and encountered Ju Huang, who poisoned one of them.
• Zhuang Dongwang arrived and attacked Ju Huang with his skeletal-claw flying blade.
• Li Ling dodged Zhuang Dongwang’s strike, and Zhuang Dongwang recognized him as True Person Zixu and realized the Dragon Heart Stone deception.

Li Ling and Zhuang Dongwang fought over the Dragon Heart Stone after Zhuang Dongwang tracked Li Ling to his hideout. Li Ling escaped the battle and gathered his companions, deciding to abandon the cavern before the Divine Dragon Cult and Great Qian Court found it.

• Zhuang Dongwang mistook Li Ling and Ju Huang for conspirators who had engineered Great Qian’s campaign, then admitted that the Divine Dragon Cult had tracked Li Ling through the Dragon Heart Stone.
• Li Ling offered to sell the Dragon Heart Stone, but he abandoned the negotiation when he sensed Zhuang Dongwang’s distrust and attacked instead.
• Zhuang Dongwang pierced Li Ling’s Water-Moon Mirror illusion, pursued him with the Dragon-Claw Flying Knife, and transformed into a giant golden dragon using the Great Void Dragon-Transformation Art.
• Li Ling used the Soul-Seizing Mirror and Incense-Form Art to evade Zhuang Dongwang, then summoned seven smoke dragons to cover his retreat.
• Li Ling returned to the cavern, gathered Ju Huang, Bai Xiaohuan, Taxue, Xiandie, Qing Ji, and Lin Rouniang, and announced that they would leave before their location was exposed to the Great Qian Court.

Li Ling escaped Zhuang Dongwang by using smoke dragons as a diversion, then gave Ju Huang and Qing Ji Blood Orchid Incense in exchange for ending their agreement early. After reaching Dreamlike Island, he asked Mo Qingping to spread word that he was selling the Dragon Heart Stone.

• Li Ling offered Ju Huang and Qing Ji a choice between continuing to serve him or ending their agreement early, and they chose to end it in exchange for some of the Dragon Heart Stone’s source essence.
• Li Ling gave Ju Huang fifty portions of Blood Orchid Incense and Qing Ji twenty-five, lifted their Bone-Burning Curse Art, and left the cavern with Lin Rouniang, the two cats, and the rabbit.
• Ju Huang stayed behind to absorb the remaining spirit resonance in the spring while Qing Ji guarded the cavern, and Zhuang Dongwang later found Ju Huang’s shed skin and realized the Dragon Heart Stone was gone.
• Li Ling traveled far from the mountain, concealed his trail, and headed toward Windward Harbor while continuing his journey through the dreamscape.
• At Dreamlike Island, Li Ling met Mo Qingping and asked him to spread word that he wanted to sell the Dragon Heart Stone.

Li Ling arranged to sell the Dragon Heart Stone and negotiated with the Dragon-Seeking Society over a suitable exchange. He secured skywind crystal, two rare refining materials, and a White Bone Visualization Method, while the trade itself remained to be completed.

• Li Ling asked Mo Qingping to find a buyer for the Dragon Heart Stone in exchange for a top-tier treasure or materials suited to the Incense Path.
• Mo Qingping publicized the treasure discreetly, while Li Ling contacted Yin Changming using Yin Changming’s Edict Talisman.
• Yin Changming and Elder Fu discussed Li Ling’s influence and decided to negotiate with him sincerely on the Dragon-Seeking Society’s behalf.
• Yin Changming offered skywind crystal, a rare wind-born treasure that could serve as a spirit pet or be refined into a Magic Treasure.
• Li Ling bargained for additional materials and cultivation methods, and they settled on moonlight essence, condensed light marrow, and a White Bone Visualization Method.

Li Ling and Yin Changming arranged to trade for the Skywind Crystal and other artifact-refining materials, while the Dao Registry Bureau learned of the plan and began tracing the Dragon-Seeking Society’s movements. Su Yongdao chose to let the trade proceed so his forces could focus on capturing the Dragon Heart Stone.

• Li Ling and Yin Changming agreed to conduct the trade themselves, with the Dragon-Seeking Society arranging escorts and other security along the route.
• Li Ling told Mu Qingsi to prepare resources for refining the Skywind Crystal and explained why he would fund the artifact with his own assets rather than the sect’s communal funds.
• Su Yongdao rejected an investigation of Dreamlike Island, but an anonymous report then brought the Dragon Heart Stone’s whereabouts to the Dao Registry Bureau’s attention.
• Su Yongdao ordered the Yue Prefecture bureaus to investigate, and their intelligence network linked Moonlight Essence shipments and Elder Fu’s return to the planned trade.
• Su Yongdao decided to let the Dragon-Seeking Society complete the trade before acting, so the Bureau could concentrate on the Dragon Heart Stone and its current holder.

Su Yongdao’s court forces closed in on the Dragon-Seeking Society while Yan Heming’s undercover group prepared to intercept the Dragon Heart Stone. Li Ling and Yin Changming completed their exchange, but a false treasure and a sudden ambush exposed a larger plot, leaving Elder Fu facing the attacking court attendants.

• Su Yongdao ordered covert agents and sentries to tighten the encirclement around the suspected Dragon-Seeking Society operation.
• Yan Heming killed the Society subordinates in his cave, then joined Zhuang Dongwang’s group as they disguised themselves using the dead men’s blood and appearances.
• Elder Fu and Yin Changming assembled the trade goods, and Yan Heming assured them that the court’s movements posed no threat.
• Li Ling and Yin Changming exchanged the Dragon Heart Stone and other treasures, but Li Ling identified the light-condensing marrow as counterfeit and sensed they were being watched.
• A divine attack struck Yin Changming, and Li Ling healed him before Elder Fu arrived with the Dragon Tooth Sword.
• Elder Fu slashed at empty air and revealed several Core Formation court attendants, whom he recognized as his enemies.

Li Ling used Formless Incense to erase his presence and help Elder Fu and Yin Changming escape as the three bureaus and their reinforcements overwhelmed the battlefield. The pursuers became distracted by the arriving Dragon-Seeking Society reinforcements, leaving the group to flee into the woods.

• Elder Fu killed one of the Great Qian Attendants with the Dragon Tooth Sword, but Su Yongdao used armor and scales containing Zhu Wu's origin power to hold him in place.
• Reinforcements from the Dao Registry Bureau, the Demon Suppression Bureau, and the Unusual Events Bureau arrived and joined the assault on Elder Fu.
• Yin Changming told Li Ling that a Dragon-Locking Formation prevented his escape, and Li Ling agreed to help by using Formless Incense.
• The Dragon-Seeking Society's reinforcements arrived, and Li Ling used Formless Incense to erase his presence and break the group's lock on Elder Fu and Yin Changming.
• Li Ling led Elder Fu and Yin Changming into the woods while Su Yongdao and the others became distracted fighting the arriving reinforcements.

Li Ling helped Elder Fu and Yin Changming escape with the Dragon Heart Stone, then detected that Yan Heming and his men were impostors and warned the two elders. Yan Heming revealed himself as a Dragon-Seeking Society mole and attacked, but escaped the Water-Moon Mirror's cave heaven after Elder Fu struck him down; Zhuang Dongwang arrived as the group emerged.

• Li Ling led Elder Fu and Yin Changming to safety, gave them Evil-Repelling Incense to conceal the Dragon Heart Stone, and joined them on their journey north.
• At the rendezvous, Li Ling sensed that Yan Heming's subordinates carried disguised, mismatched auras and detected traces of Zhuang Dongwang, so he secretly warned Elder Fu and Yin Changming.
• When Yan Heming offered to escort the elders back, Elder Fu arranged to split up, prompting Yan Heming to expose himself and order his disguised men to attack.
• Li Ling used the Water-Moon Mirror to pull Yan Heming, Elder Fu, and Yin Changming into its minor cave heaven, where the two elders fought Yan Heming.
• Li Ling weakened Yan Heming with Spirit-Bewildering Incense, and Elder Fu split his head with the Dragon Tooth Sword; Yan Heming shed his body and escaped by breaking through the mirror's seal with his true core.
• Li Ling released the group from the Water-Moon Mirror, and they found Zhuang Dongwang and two other Core Formation cultivators waiting outside.

Li Ling joined Elder Fu and Yin Changming in fighting Zhuang Dongwang, who transformed into a powerful dragon and overwhelmed them. Yin Changming unleashed a sealed sword strike from the west that crippled Zhuang Dongwang, leaving Li Ling to contemplate the strange law power behind it.

• Elder Fu recognized Zhuang Dongwang as the Divine Dragon Cult’s leader, and Zhuang Dongwang wounded him with the Dragon-Claw Flying Knife before Elder Fu survived through a Paper Effigy Substitute-Life Art.
• Elder Fu recovered and fought Zhuang Dongwang while Li Ling used Netherdream Incense to confuse two enemy Core Formation cultivators, allowing Yin Changming to kill them.
• Zhuang Dongwang transformed into a dragon and resisted Li Ling, Yin Changming, and Elder Fu, then spread rain and mist that corroded their Dharma Power.
• Yin Changming broke the seal on a yellow paper Talisman, summoning a sword strike from the west that cut off Zhuang Dongwang’s arm and blasted a vast chasm through the land.
• Li Ling sensed the strike’s law of destruction and annihilation, while Zhuang Dongwang reverted to human form with his arm and part of his life force permanently destroyed.

Li Ling, Elder Fu, and Yin Changming killed Zhuang Dongwang and delivered the Dragon Heart Stone to One-Mind Daoist, who explained the struggle over Zhu Wu’s remains and Dao Fruits. When Li Ling asked about Zhu Wu’s true spirit and the Heavenly Book, One-Mind Daoist suspected that Li Ling himself was the senior who had told him.

• Li Ling helped Elder Fu and Yin Changming defeat Zhuang Dongwang and held off the Divine Dragon Cult disciples as they tried to rescue their Grand Elder.
• Elder Fu killed Zhuang Dongwang, and a golden radiance entered the Dragon Tooth Sword while the Dragon-Claw Flying Knife came into Elder Fu’s hand.
• Yin Changming told Li Ling about One-Mind Daoist and explained that their society sought power from Zhu Wu’s remains and the Mystic Continent’s Earth Immortal veins.
• Elder Fu and Yin Changming presented the Dragon Heart Stone to One-Mind Daoist, who thanked Li Ling for helping them escape.
• Li Ling asked One-Mind Daoist about Zhu Wu’s true spirit and the Heavenly Book, and One-Mind Daoist wondered whether Li Ling himself was the senior who had told him about them.
• The Heavenly Book briefly opened and rustled in a distant golden tower before falling silent again.

One-Mind Daoist revealed the history behind Zhu Wu, the Heavenly Court, and the factions’ struggle over the Earth Immortal legacy. Li Ling learned that the Heavenly Book was a register for appointing gods and that the Mystic Continent had become a chessboard for Mystic Heaven’s plans.

• One-Mind Daoist saw through Li Ling’s soul projection and explained that Li Ling had not truly attained Nascent Soul cultivation.
• One-Mind Daoist told Li Ling how Zhu Wu gained an ancient dragon vein, terrorized the Mystic Continent, and was eventually slain and sealed by a powerful cultivator.
• One-Mind Daoist explained that the Heavenly Court was created to contain Zhu Wu and prevent the factions from exploiting his essence, though cultivators continued scheming to claim it.
• Li Ling considered why sects and powerful cultivators would resist surrendering the chance to gain Zhu Wu’s Earth Immortal essence and advance their own power.
• One-Mind Daoist revealed that Mystic Heaven used the Heavenly Book to record merit and confer divine titles, making the Mystic Continent a vast chessboard for his plans.

Li Ling learned from One-Mind Daoist that the Heavenly Court was part of a vast plan to merge a powerful being’s Dao with the Great Dao, then returned to Windward Harbor and shared the secrets with Mu Qingsi. Just as he prepared to leave for the North Sea, blood rain covered the Mystic Continent, and One-Mind Daoist revealed that Spirit Transformation powerhouse Yan Buyong had perished.

• One-Mind Daoist explained the Heavenly Court’s role in controlling karma and fortune, and Li Ling realized that factions sought to destroy it while also coveting its power.
• Li Ling returned to Windward Harbor, arranged preparations to sail back to the North Sea, and told Mu Qingsi that the Old Ancestor might still be alive and that the Heavenly Court’s upheaval threatened the cultivation world.
• Li Ling urged Mu Qingsi to pursue Core Formation and explained that the heavenly troops who had helped them were likely cultivators who had entered the Old Ancestor’s Heavenly Court.
• Blood-red rain fell across Great Qian and the Mystic Continent, alarming Li Ling and the people around him.
• One-Mind Daoist told Li Ling that the supposed fallen immortal was actually Yan Buyong, a Spirit Transformation powerhouse who had died.