Chapter Summaries

Li Ling survived the Dream Butterflies, discovered rainbow flowers that could improve his Spirit-Bewildering Incense, and explored beyond their valley. The chapter ended when a one-eyed giant spotted him and charged, revealing what might be an intelligent being in the Dream Realm.

• Li Ling woke after using Spirit-Bewildering Incense to trap dozens of Dream Butterflies in a dream, then collected them in a cage.
• Li Ling entered the valley, found rainbow flowers that the Dream Butterflies fed on, and gathered some to study.
• When the Dream Butterflies returned, Li Ling drove them back with fire and escaped the valley by misleading them with incense essence.
• Li Ling discovered that plants in the Dream Realm could shift between appearing real and illusory, then began extracting rainbow flower incense essence to strengthen his art.
• Li Ling continued into a desolate region and saw a ten-foot Cyclops flying overhead.
• The Cyclops spotted Li Ling and swooped down, while Li Ling wondered whether it was an intelligent being or a fellow explorer.

Li Ling fought and defeated a powerful Cyclops in the Dream Realm, where the laws increasingly favored physical strength over dream abilities. He found a mysterious gem left by the Cyclops and reached a river marked by Void Rifts, realizing it was a node where the dream invaded reality and wondering what lay beyond.

• Li Ling used Spirit-Bewildering Incense and Sword Qi to wound the Cyclops, then pursued him from the forest into the desert as the creature’s physical strength grew.
• Li Ling realized that the desert’s rules were weakening his Dream Spirit while strengthening the Cyclops, who lured him deeper and immobilized him with red light from his eye.
• Li Ling evaded the Cyclops’s attack with the Incense-Form Art, then used Dharma-Form Transformation and his battle halberd to defeat him.
• The Cyclops’s Dream Spirit disintegrated and left behind a blood-colored gem, which Li Ling collected as a possible source of unusual power.
• Li Ling explored the desert for a day and a night, gathering plants, stones, sand, and soil before reaching a blood-red river surrounded by eerie haze and black rifts.
• Li Ling recognized the black wisps as Void Rifts and concluded that the river marked a node where the dream invaded reality, then wondered what lay on the other side.

Li Ling explored a rift at the boundary of reality and dreams, encountered a powerful member of the Underworld’s One-Eye Tribe, and returned with a gemstone containing immense spiritual potency. He and the Ninth Princess considered how to use their new finds and planned to ask Mo Qingping to help explore Dream Butterfly Valley at the upcoming December Market Gathering.

• Li Ling sensed Underworld influence in a blood-red river, fled when a cyclops’s power spread, and vanished using his Dao marker.
• After Li Ling left, a towering One-Eye Tribe figure widened a rift, sending bloody light into the Dream Realm.
• Li Ling told the Ninth Princess about the encounter, and she identified the cyclopes as the powerful One-Eye Tribe and the immobilizing ability as Soul-Seizing Divine Light.
• Li Ling produced the blood-red gemstone he had brought back from the dream, and the Ninth Princess recognized it as a superior spirit material with immense spiritual potency.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess discussed selling the gemstone or commissioning its refinement, then decided to ask Mo Qingping to help explore Dream Butterfly Valley.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess prepared dream butterflies, rainbow flowers, and other finds to investigate at Dreamlike Island during the December Market Gathering.

Li Ling and the Ninth Princess sold unusual Dream Realm materials at the Market Gathering, drawing attention from cultivators on Dreamlike Island. Li Ling later met Mo Qingping in the guise of True Person Zixu and offered a dao marker to a location in the Dream Realm in exchange for having a crystallized One-Eye Tribe eyeball refined into a magic treasure; Mo Qingping recognized the location as Dream Butterfly Valley.

• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess set up a stall and sold Dream Realm sand, stones, plants, and rainbow flowers for nearly a hundred thousand jade coins.
• Dreamlike Island disciples learned that Li Ling was selling natural Dream Realm creations, and Mo Qingping concluded that Senior Zixu was behind his access to them.
• Li Ling manifested as True Person Zixu and showed Mo Qingping a crystallized One-Eye Tribe eyeball containing powerful law energy.
• Li Ling asked Mo Qingping to find someone to refine the eyeball into a magic treasure for Li Ling, offering Dream Realm objects and a dao marker in return.
• Mo Qingping recognized the marked location where the Dream Realm and Underworld intersected as Dream Butterfly Valley.

Li Ling gave Mo Qingping Dream Butterflies and the Dao Marker for Dream Butterfly Valley in exchange for help refining a treasure, while warning him that the valley might soon sink into the Great Void. After leaving Mo Qingping with materials and a request to guide Li Ling’s junior, Li Ling and the Ninth Princess shopped for dream-world supplies as Li Ling considered how to contain Lin Rouniang, now a Blood Spirit Bride.

• Mo Qingping described Dream Butterfly Valley’s dangers and learned that Li Ling had entered it through the Great Void, then warned that its low sky suggested the valley might be reverting to chaos.
• Mo Qingping asked about Dream Butterflies, and Li Ling offered him more than fifty living specimens and the valley’s Dao Marker as payment for refining a magic treasure.
• Li Ling left Mo Qingping an eyeball crystal and other Dream Realm materials, asking him to guide Li Ling’s junior, and Mo Qingping decided to refine the treasure himself.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess sold some of their gains and bought supplies to strengthen their dream worlds.
• Li Ling focused on finding a lasting way to contain the Blood Spirit Bride Lin Rouniang by remodeling his dream into a cage.

Li Ling studied ways to contain the Blood Spirit Bride and learned that balanced rainbow-flower petals could keep her calm. Months later, Mo Qingping completed a Soul-Seizing Treasure Mirror for him, and tests with the Ninth Princess showed it could restrain opponents, especially when its wielder had the advantage in cultivation.

• Li Ling kept the Blood Spirit Bride imprisoned in his dreamscape and found that balanced rainbow-flower petals quieted her, while Dream Butterflies could not harm her.
• Over the following months, the Old Ancestor advanced Mystic Xin Peak’s ties with the sect’s central administration and planned ways to protect Li Ling, the Ninth Princess, and their descendants.
• Mo Qingping sent Li Ling a concave treasure mirror that focused the Soul-Seizing Divine Light and could either fire a brief pulse or sustain its restraint by drawing on the wielder’s Divine Sense.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess refined the mirror and tested its powers, finding that its brief pulse restrained Li Ling for about half a breath and its sustained light forced him into a short struggle.
• Li Ling used the mirror against the Ninth Princess and found that he could immobilize her while spending little Divine Sense.

Li Ling traveled with Mo Qingping into the Dream Realm, where the Core Formation cultivator taught him how Dream Dao practitioners could solidify dream creatures and use their remains to strengthen themselves. The pair set out for Dream Butterfly Valley, leaving Li Ling with a new insight into the boundary between illusion and reality.

• Li Ling discussed the Soul-Seizing Mirror and the risks of entering the Dream Realm without a stable connection with the Ninth Princess.
• Li Ling met Mo Qingping on Dreamlike Island and demonstrated his Dream-Weaving Art preparations before guiding Mo Qingping into the Dream Realm.
• Mo Qingping observed that the Dark Abyss of the Great Void was pressing down over the Dream Realm and led Li Ling toward Dream Butterfly Valley.
• Mo Qingping killed a Dream Serpent and explained that Dream Dao cultivators could solidify dream creatures instead of letting them disperse.
• Mo Qingping extracted the serpent's gallbladder and explained how its yin qi could strengthen a dream spirit, while warning Li Ling against relying on external gains.
• Li Ling extracted the gallbladder's incense essence and absorbed it, sensing that the substance was real and had strengthened him.

Li Ling and Mo Qingping traveled through a strange dream forest, where Mo Qingping taught Li Ling to manipulate distance and explained how the Dream Realm formed. They reached Dream Butterfly Valley, but Li Ling noticed that it was shrouded in mist unlike the last time he visited.

• Li Ling used the Time-Knowing Art and Earth-Recognition Art in the dream to map the terrain and regain his sense of time.
• Mo Qingping taught Li Ling to shorten distances by exploiting the dream world's rules, and Li Ling gradually mastered the technique.
• Li Ling followed a fresh scent to a malformed spirit plant; Mo Qingping warned that such dream projections could be dangerous, but Li Ling picked it to examine later.
• Li Ling and Mo Qingping continued past other strange dream objects, while Li Ling considered using his fragrance-sensing talent to study them on a future trip.
• Mo Qingping and Li Ling reached a stone tablet marked Dream Butterfly Valley, and Li Ling noticed that the valley was shrouded in unfamiliar mist.

Li Ling and Mo Qingping explored Dream Butterfly Valley and found it devastated by the One-Eye Tribe and tainted by a Void Rift leaking Underworld aura. They discovered Nether Butterflies formed from surviving Dream Butterflies and planned to capture them, leaving Li Ling about to try a method to enthrall the whole group.

• Li Ling warned Mo Qingping that Senior Zixu had not left the ancient stele, so Mo Qingping placed his Dao Marker elsewhere before they entered the valley.
• Mo Qingping identified a new Void Rift leaking blood mist and Underworld aura, then found giant footprints that he recognized as belonging to members of the One-Eye Tribe.
• Li Ling and Mo Qingping found Dream Butterfly wings and ruined Rainbow Flowers, collected the surviving materials, and learned the valley would remain damaged until it reset.
• Li Ling spotted Nether Butterflies that had absorbed the Blood River's power, and Mo Qingping pulled him into hiding and explained their danger.
• Li Ling proposed using another method to enthrall all fourteen Nether Butterflies, and Mo Qingping agreed to try in exchange for splitting the catch equally.

Li Ling and Mo Qingping captured Nether Butterflies, then encountered One-Eye Tribe attackers and fled an ambush by hidden experts. Near the Black Forest, a giant white wolf seized the injured Mo Qingping and carried him away, leaving Li Ling stunned.

• Li Ling used Spirit-Bewildering Incense to subdue all fourteen Nether Butterflies, and he and Mo Qingping divided them evenly.
• Li Ling traded his share of the butterflies to Mo Qingping for rare books and heard his advice about nightmares and controlling ghost spirits.
• Li Ling and Mo Qingping reached the Wandering Soul Plain, where they killed a group of ordinary One-Eye Tribe members.
• Hidden enemies struck Mo Qingping with divine light and powerful attacks, so he and Li Ling fled back toward the Black Forest.
• A giant white wolf burst from the forest, grabbed the wounded Mo Qingping in its jaws, and carried him away while Li Ling watched in shock.

After Mo Qingping vanished into the forest while fleeing a white wolf, Li Ling searched for him and discovered that his Fragrance-Sensing Talent could identify and extract useful Incense Essence from the Dream Realm’s malformed plants. He consumed a preparation of Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance, greatly sharpening his senses, and reached an enormous willow tree without finding Mo Qingping.

• Mo Qingping fled from the white wolf, and Li Ling continued into the fog-shrouded forest to search for him.
• Li Ling found the site of Mo Qingping and the wolf’s battle but could not determine whether Mo Qingping had escaped.
• Li Ling discovered an orchid-like spiritual material whose fragrance improved his sight and hearing, and he identified its Incense Essence as Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance.
• Li Ling gathered matching Incense Essence from several malformed plants, prepared a medicinal juice, and swallowed it.
• Li Ling’s hearing and vision became dramatically sharper, and he reached an enormous willow tree while continuing to search the forest.

Li Ling encountered a green-clad woman beneath a giant willow and discovered that she was part of a monstrous nine-headed serpent. He defeated one of its heads, but the serpent’s dream form began to collapse, leaving him to try Mo Qingping’s methods to preserve its remains.

• Li Ling approached the green-clad woman and realized that her foul aura matched the giant willow, revealing that they were one entity.
• The woman’s hypnotic power drew Li Ling beneath the willow, where the tree transformed into a framework bearing nine enormous corpse pythons.
• Li Ling used the Soul-Seizing Divine Light and Blazing Cloud Gourd to restrain and burn the serpents while Spirit-Bewildering Incense weakened them.
• The creature split into nine giant pythons and wounded Li Ling, but he concentrated the incense into baleful force and struck a serpent with the Golden Scissors.
• Li Ling poured blazing clouds into the serpent’s wound until it died, then watched the other serpents vanish as their dream spirits collapsed.
• Li Ling feared the slain serpent would disappear too and recalled Mo Qingping’s methods for stabilizing spirit bodies and extracting spiritual anchors.

Li Ling preserved the Nine-Headed Great Serpent’s dream corpse and absorbed its blood core, gaining a powerful serpent transformation while resisting its mental contamination. He discovered that incense could bless and enhance his dream spirit body, and planned to investigate whether he could use these effects in reality.

• Li Ling used Netherdream Incense to stabilize the serpent’s dream corpse, then found and drew out its Spirit Resonance-filled blood core.
• The blood core merged into Li Ling, greatly strengthening his dream spirit body but also embedding the serpent’s residual consciousness within him.
• Li Ling transformed into a Nine-Headed Great Serpent, tested its immense strength, and regained his human shape before the influence could cause cultivation deviation.
• Li Ling named his new ability the Serpent Transformation Art and tested its enhanced power, physical strength, and breath attacks in the Dream Realm.
• Li Ling used Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance to sharpen his transformed body’s senses and realized incense could bless and enhance its user.

After returning from Dream Butterfly Valley, Li Ling studied the Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance, tested its effects, and began reverse-refining its incense essence into usable materials. He also heard back from Mo Qingping, who insisted he was fine after his Dream Spirit’s disastrous encounter with a wolf, though he did not explain what had happened.

• Li Ling told the Ninth Princess about Dream Butterfly Valley, his gains, and Mo Qingping being carried off by a wolf, then examined the Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance and snake blood pellet.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess discussed using dream exploration to gather incense essence and develop the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art.
• Li Ling manifested the Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance at the Fragrant Incense Pavilion and discovered its heightened perception overwhelmed the mind; the Ninth Princess experienced the same effect when he shared the fragrance with her.
• Li Ling began testing binding powder, fragrant tree wax, and mystic origin true water as carriers for the fragrance’s incense essence.
• Mo Qingping contacted Li Ling through a Spirit Talisman, invited him to collect the Nether Butterfly trade items, and claimed he had lured the wolf away to protect Li Ling.

Li Ling developed low-cost hearing-reach herb incense pills after finding perfume made with mystic origin true water was too expensive, and he considered ways to sell the products while preserving his independence. Yellow Cloud True Person suggested potential sales channels and offered to introduce him to the Four Seas Commerce Guild, hinting that he should explore opportunities beyond the sect.

• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess discussed whether he would explore the Dream Realm with Mo Qingping again, and Li Ling judged that another trip could still be useful.
• Li Ling discovered that mystic origin true water preserved hearing-reach herb fragrance effectively, but its high cost made perfume too expensive for ordinary buyers.
• Li Ling replaced the costly medium with agarwood and made inexpensive incense pills, then decided to test the products through Beyond-the-World Valley's Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
• Li Ling contacted Yellow Cloud True Person, explained the new incense without revealing its formula, and asked where the Immortal Sects might use it.
• Yellow Cloud True Person said the incense could aid reconnaissance at the Demon Cavern and offered sales connections, including the Four Seas Commerce Guild, while warning Li Ling about its dangers.

Yellow Cloud True Person arranged for Li Ling and Qing Si to build a livelihood overseas through the Four Seas Commerce Guild, warning them not to lose sight of cultivation. Li Ling planned which incense products and formulas to trade, and the chapter ended when a representative arrived to meet them.

• Yellow Cloud True Person explained that she intended to connect Li Ling and Qing Si with the Four Seas Commerce Guild so they could pursue cultivation away from Mystic Continent.
• Yellow Cloud True Person advised Li Ling and Qing Si to delay having children until they had advanced further in cultivation.
• Li Ling reviewed the Money Guild’s customer ranks and decided to offer Spirit-Communing Incense, Cloud-Producing Incense, and Returning Soul Incense formulas while selling Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance as his main product.
• Li Ling decided to reserve Teaweed Incense for small-scale sales and avoid improving Returning Soul Incense until he had greater protection and standing.
• A servant reported that a cultivator had delivered a visiting card, and Li Ling invited Qing Si to meet the visitor.

Li Ling and the Ninth Princess met with Money Guild stewards Cui Zhi and Min Lian to discuss his incense craft and demonstrate its products. Impressed by the Incense Pills and Perfume, Cui Zhi agreed to sell them through the guild.

• Cui Zhi and Min Lian discussed why the Money Guild had sent them to the Prince Consort's Residence and concluded they should honor Yellow Cloud True Person's recommendation while assessing Li Ling's products.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess met the stewards, described their circumstances and the Incense Path, and explained their plans for developing incense products.
• Li Ling demonstrated Spirit-Communing Incense, Cloud-Producing Incense, Teaweed Incense, and Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance, then presented Incense Pills and Perfume.
• Cui Zhi and Min Lian tried the Incense Pills and Perfume and experienced improved sight and hearing, with the Perfume producing stronger effects.
• Cui Zhi judged the products suitable for the guild's sales halls and agreed to sell them on Li Ling's behalf.

Li Ling negotiated a consignment and purchasing arrangement with Cui Zhi, joined the Four Seas Commerce Guild, and learned how its Money Dao priced goods and services. He left with access to the guild’s trading channels and a new understanding that time formed the basis of its valuations.

• Cui Zhi offered Li Ling independent client status, a thirty-seventy incense consignment split, and guild account services, while Li Ling considered the safeguards worth the commission.
• Li Ling consigned goods worth about fifty thousand and exchanged roughly thirty thousand in notes and spirit stones for talisman currency, then asked about buying rare materials and learned about delivery delays and fees.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess received guild tokens, and Li Ling registered his blood essence and mental imprint in the Money Ledger to become an official client.
• Li Ling asked whether the guild could arrange a Nascent Soul expert to change a mortal’s fate, sell magic treasures, and procure higher-grade treasures, learning the costs could reach tens or hundreds of millions.
• Cui Zhi explained that the Money Guild used time to calculate the value of cultivation, spirit materials, and other goods, and Li Ling admired the method.

Li Ling shared his insights into the Money Dao with Cui Zhi and Min Lian, recasting commerce as a way to measure all things and connect wealth with Human Dao Fortune, divinity, and karma. Cui Zhi and Min Lian eagerly sought his guidance as Li Ling continued by explaining how money could function as a god and a source of power.

• Li Ling impressed Cui Zhi and Min Lian by describing mortal commercial practices and arguing that the Money Dao’s essence was measuring all things.
• Li Ling explained that pricing reflected the relationship between the priceless and the valued, and urged Cui Zhi to seek beyond mortal measures for the Dao.
• Li Ling connected the Money Dao to time, changing patterns, market efficiency, and Human Dao Fortune, suggesting that wealth could gather power and lead people toward divinity.
• Li Ling argued that money could reach the Dao of cause and effect, while Cui Zhi described how Money Dao treasures could purchase cultivation and avert calamities.
• Li Ling contrasted the Money Dao with the Divine Path and described money as a god that could command labor, control fortune, and wield gathered resources.

After Cui Zhi and Min Lian reported Li Ling’s insights into the Money Dao, Elder Shang recognized that his ideas matched the Money Guild’s secret treasures and decided to assess his potential. She brought his materials to the Weighing Officer, where the Gold-Splitting Scale was set to measure the fortune and opportunities tied to Li Ling.

• Cui Zhi compiled Li Ling’s words into a booklet and sent a confidential report to Elder Shang, while Min Lian agreed that Li Ling seemed destined for greater things.
• Elder Shang read the report aboard a Flying Vessel and told Shang Yuxian about the Money Guild’s three secret treasures: the Gold-Splitting Scale, the Treasure-Gathering Basin, and the Greenfly Coin.
• Elder Shang and Shang Yuxian realized that Li Ling’s ideas matched the powers of all three secret treasures, though outsiders were not supposed to know about two of them.
• Elder Shang decided to take Li Ling’s booklet, incense formula, finished products, and contract Jade Scroll to headquarters so the Weighing Officer could judge his value.
• Elder Shang paid the Weighing Officer ten thousand in Talisman Currency to use the Gold-Splitting Scale, then placed Li Ling’s materials upon it for assessment.