Chapter Summaries

Li Ling handed Seven Waters Pass over to the Fushan Five Friends, returned to the Royal City with the Ninth Princess, and considered the Old Ancestor’s plans to recruit rogue cultivators. When Lian Xiong and Yang Zhi visited to ask about rumors of registration, Li Ling received them at his residence.

• Li Ling met Jiang Binghua, Shi Yuan, Fang Lisong, Ximen Zhu, and Huang Yue, explained the situation at Seven Waters Pass, and arranged for the Fushan Five Friends to take over its defense.
• Li Ling promised to help rogue cultivators gain access to cultivation resources and a market, then departed for the Royal City with the Ninth Princess while Zhou Cheng and Yi Yi returned to Spirit Peak.
• Li Ling told the Ninth Princess they would remain in the Royal City for the Old Ancestor’s plans, and promised to use Teaweed Incense for her Incense Fumigation Therapy.
• Li Ling reflected on the Old Ancestor’s crisis and his task of bringing rogue cultivators into the Mystic Xin Kingdom’s service, while keeping the Immortal Sects’ hidden motives from the Ninth Princess.
• Lian Xiong and Yang Zhi visited Li Ling, and Lian Xiong asked whether Xu Xin planned to require rogue cultivators to register.

Li Ling defended the purpose of registering rogue cultivators to Lian Xiong, who rejected government control and warned that cultivators would resist. Yellow Cloud True Person explained her urgency and plans to recruit cultivators, while Li Ling suspected her tribulations might be manipulated; meanwhile, Xue Ping and Qiu Qingxuan prepared a violent scheme against Xu Xin and Mystic Xin Peak.

• Lian Xiong argued that cultivators were born free and declared that the Beyond-the-World Valley would resist compulsory registration, then left the Prince Consort's Residence.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess reported Lian Xiong's position to Yellow Cloud True Person, who said people believed her time was short and urged them to reward and recruit promising rogue cultivators.
• Li Ling wondered whether the forces affecting Yellow Cloud True Person's tribulations could also be manipulating her wind and fire tribulations.
• Lian Xiong returned to the Beyond-the-World Valley and told its elders that he had made their opposition clear.
• Xue Ping and Qiu Qingxuan revealed that they planned to kill investigators and royal descendants, then exploit the resulting response to attack Xu Xin and Mystic Xin Peak.

Li Ling investigated rumors about a planned registration system for rogue cultivators and discovered a murderous foundation establishment cultivator preying on people inside Beyond-the-World Valley. The chapter ended when Qiu Qingxuan’s sword reacted to killing intent.

• Li Ling traveled to Beyond-the-World Valley as Wu You and overheard cultivators discussing plans by the kingdoms under the Skycloud Sect to register rogue cultivators and recruit some as Attendants.
• Liu Daocheng told Li Ling that he had refused to join the authorities because he preferred his independent life and could earn more by exploring on his own.
• Li Ling detected a powerful scent of blood and followed it to the valley residents’ stone caves, where he found Xue Ping feeding on a freshly killed cultivator while Qiu Qingxuan watched.
• Xue Ping dismissed Qiu Qingxuan’s warning about tribulation karma, and Qiu Qingxuan’s longsword stirred as it sensed killing intent.

Li Ling discovered two Foundation Establishment cultivators, Xue Ping and Qiu Qingxuan, plotting an attack on the Mystic Xin Royal Family, but Xue Ping injured his soul projection before he escaped. Mystic Xin Peak sent forces to hunt them down, yet Xue Ping escaped, and the palace alarm rang as Li Ling and the Ninth Princess took refuge.

• Li Ling overheard Xue Ping and Qiu Qingxuan planning to attack the Royal City and palace, but Xue Ping's blood palm injured his soul projection.
• Li Ling used Returning Soul Incense to return to his body and reported the plot to Yellow Cloud True Person, who ordered the information concealed.
• Yellow Cloud True Person suspected enemies had hired the cultivators through a black market commission targeting his descendants.
• Mystic Xin Peak sent Granduncle-Master Han, Granduncle-Master Lin, and other allies to investigate and eliminate the attackers, but Xue Ping escaped after one enemy died and the other was wounded.
• When the palace alarm rang and Luo Mu reported a plea for help, Li Ling ordered the residence to prepare for battle and led the Ninth Princess and her attendants into a secret refuge chamber.
• Worried about the danger outside, Li Ling performed day wandering again and flew out to investigate.

Li Ling used Life-Cherishing Incense to interrupt Xue Ping’s rampage, but the demonic cultivator continued fighting and threatened palace civilians to escape. When Li Ling turned Xue Ping against killing and feeding, his blood art spiraled out of control and killed him.

• Li Ling found blood spirits and numerous casualties along the trail to the palace, then discovered Xue Ping fighting six Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Xue Ping unleashed poisonous blood rain, and Li Ling used Life-Cherishing Incense to calm his murderous intent.
• The cultivators attacked Xue Ping while he was weakened, but he transformed into blood and escaped their strikes.
• Xue Ping hid among palace maids and eunuchs, using them as shields and consuming their blood essence to recover.
• Li Ling used Life-Cherishing Incense again, stopping Xue Ping from feeding and causing his demonic art to reverse until his body exploded.

Li Ling earned four merit golden clouds after killing Xue Ping, then learned that the Immortal Sects and Mystic Xin court planned to seize control of Beyond-the-World Valley. He received a Book Spirit and a dual-cultivation method for himself and the Ninth Princess, who urged them to begin practicing.

• Xue Ping died after Li Ling used Cherishing Life to stop him from slaughtering people, and Immortal Sect disciples destroyed the remaining blood spirits in the Royal City.
• Li Ling gained three additional merit golden clouds, bringing his total to four, and realized that killing those guilty of heinous crimes could earn heaven’s favor.
• Luo Mu told Li Ling that the sect would use Xue Ping’s attack as a pretext to take control of Beyond-the-World Valley and install the Fushan Five Friends and allied cultivators as its leaders.
• Lu Zheng delivered Li Ling refined Teaweed Incense, the Violet-Gold Radiance Profound Cavern Secret Record, and a century-old Book Spirit.
• Li Ling examined the dual-cultivation method, and the Ninth Princess proposed that they begin practicing it immediately.

Li Ling and the Ninth Princess struggled to cultivate the Violet-Gold Radiance Profound Cavern Secret Record, so Li Ling prepared refined Teaweed Incense to transform her into a pure yang Dao body. Meanwhile, Mystic Xin Peak pressured Beyond-the-World Valley over its role in the Royal City massacre, and Han Gusheng secretly bribed Elder Ge to weaken Lian Xiong’s resistance.

• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess failed to harmonize their origin energy during their first attempt at the secret record and lost qi through more than thirty circulation cycles.
• Li Ling concluded that their differing physiques hindered their cultivation and decided to transform the Ninth Princess into a pure yang Dao body with refined Teaweed Incense, which she agreed to.
• Li Ling refined blood-red Teaweed Incense at the Fragrant Incense Pavilion and began preparing extra supplies for the Ninth Princess’s transformation.
• Lian Xiong urged Beyond-the-World Valley’s elders to resist Mystic Xin Peak, while Elder Ge and others worried about the Foundation Establishment cultivators Han Gusheng and Lin Li.
• Han Gusheng visited Elder Ge in secret, promised that Mystic Xin Peak would target only Lian Xiong’s faction, and left him a pouch of spirit jade and Spirit Materials.
• Elder Ge accepted the bribe and concluded that Mystic Xin Peak could undermine Lian Xiong through covert tactics rather than a direct fight.

Li Ling began the Ninth Princess’s rebirth using Ji Earth Grand Tai Sui and Teaweed Incense, guarding her body and mind as her flesh rotted away and her bones transformed. After her skeleton took on the sheen of spirit jade, he lit the incense to restore her flesh and call her soul back.

• Li Ling brought the prepared Teaweed Incense to the Ninth Princess and persuaded her to undergo the transformation despite her fear of appearing hideous.
• Li Ling secretly transported the Ninth Princess to a remote cave, prepared the site, and began the process with inactivated ji earth tai sui spores.
• As the Ninth Princess’s body decayed and her heartbeat stopped, Li Ling projected his soul into her dream and protected her mind from the spores’ baleful influence.
• Li Ling accelerated the decay until the Ninth Princess became a skeleton, whose bones transformed into a substance with the luster of spirit jade.
• Li Ling lit the Teaweed Incense to fumigate her transformed bones, causing flesh and blood to return as the Ninth Princess’s soul began to return.

Li Ling and the Ninth Princess completed her rebirth as a Dao Body, discovering that their complementary yin-yang bodies let them cultivate together with remarkable efficiency. Li Ling began exploring whether the rebirth process could reveal how to reshape Dao Bodies and decided to test a fragrant-pill recipe as a way to improve their cultivation further.

• The Ninth Princess awoke in a newly reborn body that looked several years older, and Li Ling explained that her spiritual consciousness may have influenced its growth.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess found that her pure yin Dao Body complemented his pure yang Dao Body, allowing his Spirit Essence to circulate through her with little loss.
• The couple returned to the residence, where Chao Shu, Li Ju, Luo Zhen, Jie Hua, and the others were astonished by the Ninth Princess's new appearance.
• After many cultivation circulations, Li Ling discovered that the Ninth Princess had become a virgin again and speculated that awareness could rewrite some aspects of innate life information.
• Li Ling considered using his Incense Path abilities to circulate their Divine Sense and Origin Energy as Incense Essence, then decided to test a recipe for Fragrant Body Pills.

Li Ling tested Fragrant Body Pills, taught the Ninth Princess Dream Path techniques, and began exploring whether she could learn his Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art. In Beyond-the-World Valley, accusations against Lian Xiong weakened his control, so he resolved to strike first with his allies.

• Li Ling refined and swallowed Fragrant Body Pills, but they only freshened his breath and had no effect on his body.
• The Ninth Princess showed Li Ling that her spiritual power had risen to late-stage Qi Refining and that she could move more than five hundred jin.
• Li Ling taught the Ninth Princess Soul-Possession Dream Transmission in a lucid dream, then proposed teaching her the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess left the dream to practice the art in reality because the dream could not support its intricate spiritual details.
• Han Gusheng and the Unusual Events Bureau investigated rumors that Lian Xiong, Xue Ping, and Qiu Qingxuan had preyed on rogue cultivators, and evidence against Xue Ping drove many people from Beyond-the-World Valley.
• Lian Xiong concluded that his opponents had cornered him, rallied his confidants to fight, and ordered them to strike immediately.

Lian Xiong led a desperate uprising against Han Gusheng’s takeover of Beyond-the-World Valley, briefly broke through to Foundation Establishment, and died after striking Han Gusheng. Li Ling later learned that the uprising had devastated the valley and that families of rogue cultivators who had joined Han Gusheng were slaughtered after their registration records were stolen.

• Lian Xiong and his followers attacked Han Gusheng’s forces, killing many of his people and destroying parts of the valley’s defenses.
• Han Gusheng overcame the attackers’ protections, and Lian Xiong awakened Foundation Establishment power in a final charge that killed him after he slammed Han Gusheng into a cliff.
• Lian Xiong’s surviving followers fought on, while surrender attempts and opportunistic looting added to the violence and destruction throughout Beyond-the-World Valley.
• Han Gusheng restrained the chaos, protected the valley’s core formations and families, and watched many rogue cultivators flee.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess learned that the valley’s formations and facilities were badly damaged and that several families had been slaughtered after registration records were stolen.

After helping Mystic Xin Peak stabilize Beyond-the-World Valley, Li Ling investigated unusual events while considering whether his scent-sensing ability could help him discern the Heavenly Dao’s judgments. He learned that Lian Xiong’s followers and Demonic Path remnants planned to massacre Five Harvest City, and saw the operation as a chance to stop them and earn great merit.

• A messenger told Li Ling that Han Gusheng and Lin Li were rebuilding Beyond-the-World Valley, and Li Ling offered support through the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
• Li Ling secretly explored the Unusual Events Bureau, Beyond-the-World Valley, and his family’s home, then investigated a blood-drinking creature in Hua River Commandery.
• Li Ling tracked a zombie to a mountain and killed it, reflecting that he needed more powerful and wicked targets to gain meaningful merit.
• Commander Huo announced that Lian Xiong’s followers and Demonic Path remnants planned to massacre Five Harvest City, and Li Ling resolved not to let them succeed.

Li Ling infiltrated the cultivators plotting to massacre Five Harvest City and learned they planned to trade thousands of lives for passage to Yuanzhou. He entered a young cultivator’s dream to question Old Monster Yin, where he discovered the Ghost Soul Sect would also claim the victims’ souls.

• Li Ling reached Five Harvest City ahead of the Unusual Events Bureau and found seven cultivators preparing to attack during a sandstorm.
• He identified Old Monster Yin and Lian Xiong's Remnant among the conspirators and learned their plan depended on poison from the Corpse Immortal Sect disciples.
• The cultivators discussed earning passage tickets to Yuanzhou by slaughtering people, and Li Ling recognized it as the Ghost Soul Sect’s territory.
• Li Ling entered a young cultivator’s dream and questioned Old Monster Yin about why rogue cultivators sought to leave the Mystic Continent for Yuanzhou.
• In the dream, Corpse Immortal Sect disciples said their sect would take the corpses while the Ghost Soul Sect collected the victims’ souls, darkening Li Ling’s expression.

Li Ling uncovered a plot by the Corpse Immortal Sect and Old Monster Yin to sacrifice a city’s inhabitants, then explored how his ability to sense fragrance and stench revealed the intentions and karmic ties behind people’s actions. He began killing the conspirators by controlling a sleeping cultivator, but Old Monster Yin noticed the bloodshed and Li Ling attacked the remaining rogue cultivators.

• Li Ling entered a sleeping rogue cultivator’s dream and learned that the Corpse Immortal Sect disciples planned to poison a city and use its inhabitants’ death energy and souls.
• Li Ling sensed that Xin Yuan was consumed by resentment and that Old Monster Yin carried both the stench of past crimes and a delicate fragrance suggesting he had secretly alerted the authorities.
• Li Ling concluded that his ability to sense fragrance and stench could reveal intentions and their links to cause and effect, though Old Monster Yin’s past sins still remained.
• Li Ling used Dreamwalking Technique to control the sleeping rogue cultivator and silently killed several of his accomplices with hidden attacks.
• Old Monster Yin smelled blood and realized something had happened, so Li Ling abandoned his disguise and attacked the remaining rogue cultivators.

Li Ling lured the Corpse Immortal Sect disciples and their allies out of the city, killed several of them, and discovered that killing those tied to wrongdoing strengthened his Golden Cloud Canopy. After resting, he tracked Senior Brother Yan, a Ghost Soul Sect disciple who had captured powerful vengeful spirits, and rushed toward him.

• Li Ling used Wu You's appearance to lure the Corpse Immortal Sect disciples, Old Monster Yin, and Xin Yuan away from the city, then killed three disciples with his strange manifested form and Sword Qi.
• Old Monster Yin and Xin Yuan fled, but Li Ling ambushed them after sunrise, killed Xin Yuan, and slew Old Monster Yin despite his talismans and Thunderclap Bombs.
• Li Ling gained a fifth cloud in his Golden Cloud Canopy and concluded that fragrance let him discern karma, then hid his spoils and headed for the Long Mountain Great Gold Mine.
• Senior Brother Yan left an abandoned mine with several captured vengeful spirits, unaware that the others had been attacked, and continued searching the mountains for treasures.
• Li Ling followed Senior Brother Yan's scent to a mountainside, recognized him from the dream, and accelerated toward him.

Li Ling defeated Senior Brother Yan of the Ghost Soul Sect despite the sunlight weakening his incarnation, then gathered the fallen cultivator’s possessions. Among them, he found passage tickets and exchange notes from the Four Seas Commerce Guild, prompting him to worry that Granny Wu’s hidden Treasure Pouch might be lost.

• Senior Brother Yan attacked Li Ling’s incarnation with sword strikes, a ghost-suppressing art, and Crow-Blood Oil, but Li Ling dispelled the incarnation and struck him from hiding.
• Li Ling used Cloud-Producing Incense to obscure the area and screen the sunlight, then poisoned Senior Brother Yan with impure stench.
• Senior Brother Yan released the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, but Li Ling bypassed its ghosts and pierced him repeatedly until he died.
• Li Ling recovered his hidden belongings and examined the dead cultivator’s loot, finding seven passage tickets and ten Four Seas Commerce Guild exchange notes.
• Li Ling remembered Granny Wu’s hidden Treasure Pouch and decided to retrieve it before someone else found it.
• Li Ling turned his attention to the half-finished Ten Thousand Souls Banner, the evil Magic Treasure the Ghost Soul Sect cultivators had tried to refine.

Li Ling investigated the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and found that evil-repelling incense could suppress its tortured ghosts but not destroy them, so he sought a better way to free them. Meanwhile, the Unusual Events Bureau found the Corpse Immortal Sect disciples, Old Monster Yin, and Xin Yuan dead, realizing someone had killed them all before the bureau arrived.

• Li Ling examined the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and saw that it trapped the wronged souls of commoners, whose suffering and corruption strengthened the Demonic Path’s evil treasure.
• Li Ling tried destroying a ghost with gang baleful energy, but it repeatedly re-formed until he scattered its body, and he realized it would revive again.
• Li Ling used evil-repelling incense to trap the ghosts and cut off their nourishment, then rolled up the banner and returned to seek an incense that could deliver the dead and cleanse the filth.
• Deputy Commander Ma, Elder Gong, and the Unusual Events Bureau inspected the Corpse Immortal Sect disciples’ bodies outside Five Harvest City and sent teams to hunt Corpse Monsters and track Old Monster Yin.
• The bureau found Old Monster Yin and Xin Yuan dead amid signs of a desperate fight, concluding that an unknown person had reached them first and killed everyone.

Li Ling developed Heavenly Ascension Spirit Incense, which purified ghosts by removing their yin baleful qi and turbid energies. He used it to release the wronged souls trapped in the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, but the merit golden cloud in his inner grotto-heaven vanished afterward.

• Li Ling considered incense for repelling and delivering ghosts, then prepared several Jiangzhen-based formulas to test.
• The Unusual Events Bureau cleared the monsters in Five Harvest City while Li Ling hunted ghosts emerging near a flood-ravaged village and captured one in a Soul-Capturing Pearl.
• Li Ling tested Heavenly Ascension Spirit Incense and watched it purify a captured ghost until the soul faded away.
• Li Ling burned the incense beneath the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, freeing its wronged souls as they regained their appearances and disappeared peacefully.
• Li Ling sensed the merit golden cloud in his inner grotto-heaven break away and vanish.

Li Ling discovered that freeing and guiding the wronged souls established a new Heavenly Dao law of transcendence, earning him merit and revealing the truth of feathering and ascension. After the phenomenon drew attention across the cultivation world, Yellow Cloud True Person told him that Immortal Sect experts might question people connected to Senior Zixu.

• Li Ling realized that cleansing and dispersing the souls cost him merit, then opened the River God's Divine Domain to give the cleansed ghosts temporary godhood and guide them into ascension.
• The souls' transcendence created a heavenly phenomenon across northwestern Mystic Xin, awakening cultivators and drawing the attention of the Ghost Soul Sect, Yellow Cloud True Person, and Yin Changming.
• Li Ling comprehended the transcendence law, gained Transcendence Incense, and accumulated enough merit golden clouds to bring his total to eighty-one.
• Yellow Cloud True Person contacted Li Ling and said she and Yin Changming believed Senior Zixu had comprehended the transcendence path.
• Li Ling denied gaining any insights, and Yellow Cloud True Person warned him that Immortal Sect experts might question people connected to Senior Zixu.

Li Ling learned that True Person Zixu faced a Heavenly Tribulation after drawing the attention of forces tied to the altered Heavenly Dao. Recognizing the burnt bone stench as a portent of his own thunder calamity, Li Ling left the Royal City to confront it, protected by his merit golden cloud.

• Li Ling answered an Immortal Sects envoy’s questions about his dream visitation, Teaweed Incense, Yin Changming, and his Blood Essence Gourd.
• Li Ling discovered that the Immortal Sects’ Returning Soul Incense had been refined with Dharma Power and stayed home while they investigated True Person Zixu.
• After the burnt bone stench filled the land, Li Ling learned from Yellow Cloud True Person that someone had seized control of calamities and that True Person Zixu faced heavenly punishment.
• Li Ling realized the stench foretold his own Heavenly Thunder Calamity and decided to face it before it endangered those around him.
• Li Ling left the Royal City as a black storm gathered and used Dharma-Form Transformation, summoning eighty-one golden clouds to conceal his body.