Chapter Summaries

Fang Qianyuan led the seizure of the Qian Clan’s estate and assets in Golden Embankment City, using Luo Clan survivors and local neutral factions to help capture its holdings. He left the surviving Qian Clan members for the Heavenly Dao Alliance to punish and began inventorying the recovered wealth with Wu Longjie and Lu Feiyang.

• Fang Qianyuan learned that the injured Third Elder of the Luo Clan was safe but set aside the matter while he moved to seize the Qian Lineage’s assets.
• Fang Qianyuan led local factions and Luo Clan disciples in attacking Qian Clan holdings, while his spirit creatures helped overcome resistance.
• Wu Longjie, Lu Feiyang, Yu Hong, Luo Zhengye, and others arrived, and Fang Qianyuan assigned Luo Zhengye and his clansmen to guide the searches with help from his demon-hunting hound.
• Fang Qianyuan’s forces captured the Qian Clan’s treasuries and residences, and the surviving Qian Clan members surrendered after their expected reinforcements failed to appear.
• Fang Qianyuan ordered the captives held for the Heavenly Dao Alliance, and by the night of December tenth, most movable assets had been moved to the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Fang Qianyuan began reviewing the treasures, documents, and registers with Wu Longjie and Lu Feiyang.

Fang Qianyuan divided the seized Qian Clan assets, returning former Luo Clan holdings and arranging for local clans to manage valuable properties while supporting his plans for the Chuanlan Mine. As he inspected the remaining spoils, he discovered a bottle of Ten-Thousand-Year Stalactite Milk worth around one hundred thousand spirit jade.

• Fang Qianyuan decided to return established holdings that had originally belonged to the Luo Clan so they could recover and help control Golden Embankment City.
• Fang Qianyuan selected valuable Qian Clan properties for himself and entrusted their management to the Luo Clan and the city's aristocratic clans in exchange for a fixed annual payment.
• Fang Qianyuan assigned the Qian Clan's remaining holdings to the arriving elders Hua and Xie and the Heavenly Dao Alliance to secure support for his share of the Chuanlan Mine profits.
• Fang Qianyuan examined the Qian Clan's assorted treasures, pills, and herbs, many of which had likely come from the Luo Clan's plundered wealth.
• Fang Qianyuan found a bottle of Ten-Thousand-Year Stalactite Milk, a rare substance worth around one hundred thousand spirit jade, likely in Qian Wei's room.

Fang Qianyuan and his companions inventoried the Qian Clan’s stores of treasures, magical artifacts, materials, and spirit creatures. They discovered a Five-Colored Flower, whose diverse abilities made it powerful but difficult to use effectively.

• Fang Qianyuan assessed the value of the spirit medicines and reflected on the wealth and burdens of an aristocratic clan.
• Wu Longjie and Lu Feiyang counted the magical weapons, clothing, armor, and other artifacts stored in the chests.
• Fang Qianyuan examined three chests of valuable materials and helped uncover the clan’s large stock of sealed spirit creatures.
• Fang Qianyuan spotted a Five-Colored Flower and explained that its five petal colors restored spirit essence, steadied the mind, attacked enemies, healed allies, and countered harmful forces.
• Fang Qianyuan explained that the flower had to produce all five colors at once, making it difficult to use and best suited to skilled Spirit Tamers on a battlefield.

Fang Qianyuan discussed his plans to obtain healing and travel spirit creatures, while considering how to draw those abilities from Little White and his own Dao Path cultivation. He and Wu Longjie and Lu Feiyang then found several treasures containing sealed supreme-grade spirit creatures.

• Fang Qianyuan told Wu Longjie he wanted a healing spirit creature and a swift mount, but said he might instead develop Little White’s Wind Path abilities and cultivate the Windbody Technique.
• Fang Qianyuan explained how studying a spirit creature’s powers could help a Spirit Tamer understand and apply the underlying Dao, while Wu Longjie and Lu Feiyang said they had to focus on mastering their existing creatures.
• Fang Qianyuan, Wu Longjie, and Lu Feiyang resumed examining the spirit creatures and found sealed supreme-grade fire-thunder beast, golden coin mouse, Sea Maiden Shell, Three-Headed Ghost Hound, fire dragon python, Blazing Mad Lion, and fire-eyed xian.
• Fang Qianyuan identified the golden coin mouse as a treasure-finding support creature, the Three-Headed Ghost Hound as a ferocious close-combat creature, and the fire-eyed xian as a canine-shaped beast with the innate divine ability Clear Sight.

Fang Qianyuan assessed the Fire-Eyed Xian’s Clear Sight ability and decided to keep it, while planning to manifest several spirit creatures outside his spirit sea. He then distributed a generous share of the recovered treasures to his companions and the people who had helped.

• Fang Qianyuan classified spirit creatures by their strengths and recognized that the Fire-Eyed Xian combined spell-type traits with some special-type qualities.
• Fang Qianyuan decided to keep the Fire-Eyed Xian for its Clear Sight ability and considered using the Lifeform Manifestation Art to free space in his spirit sea.
• Fang Qianyuan planned to house six spirit creatures in the Moon-Reflecting Wolf Fang Chain after manifesting them one at a time.
• Fang Qianyuan told Wu Longjie to distribute treasures among the helpers and assigned valuable shares and items to Yu Hong, Luo Zhengye, Wu Longjie, Lu Feiyang, Lin Xiong, and Lin Bao.
• Wu Longjie and Lu Feiyang hesitated to accept the rewards, but Fang Qianyuan insisted.

Fang Qianyuan laid out how Golden Embankment City would handle the Qian Clan’s defeat and divided the spirit mine’s expected proceeds among the Azure Cloud Sect, the Luo Clan, and other clans. Before the three Azure Cloud Sect experts could set out to reclaim the mine, Xue Pingchuan and Qian Yuxiang offered to withdraw from Chuanlan, and Fang Qianyuan considered accepting their terms.

• Fang Qianyuan welcomed Elders Hua Yisheng and Xie Tao and asked them to help bring Golden Embankment City’s aristocratic clans under the Azure Cloud Sect’s rules.
• Fang Qianyuan, Hua Yisheng, and Xie Tao summoned the city’s clans, ordered them to return property taken from the Luo Clan, and announced the Qian Clan’s expulsion and pursuit by the Heavenly Dao Alliance.
• Fang Qianyuan proposed that the Azure Cloud Sect take sixty percent of the spirit mine, the Luo Clan take twenty-five percent, and the other clans take fifteen percent.
• Wu Longjie reported that the Demon Alliance’s three Earth Rank Experts had withdrawn from the spirit mine and delivered letters from Xue Pingchuan and Qian Yuxiang.
• Fang Qianyuan learned that Xue Pingchuan had persuaded Qian Yuxiang to leave Chuanlan, and he considered Qian Yuxiang’s requests to take several Qian Clan members and spare other captives.

After Qian Yuxiang surrendered, Fang Qianyuan helped settle the Chuanlan Lands dispute and secured a major share of the Spirit Mine’s profits. While remaining in the city to handle lingering threats, he tested the abilities of the Five-Colored Flower and Fire-Eyed Xian.

• Fang Qianyuan received Jiang Yunfeng’s reply awarding him twenty percent of the increased Spirit Mine gains, while Hua Yisheng and Xie Tao shared ten percent.
• Fang Qianyuan reflected on Jiang Yunfeng’s support, then folded the letter after reading that his master accepted the treasures but refused the Qian Clan holdings.
• Fang Qianyuan refined his Wolf Spirit and kept his six Spirit Creatures in the Moon-Reflecting Wolf Fang Chain while watching over the city’s remaining dangers.
• Fang Qianyuan used Plant Transformation and manifestation methods to test the Five-Colored Flower, discovering that its black petals drained a tree’s vitality and its other petals healed injured and sick mortals.
• Fang Qianyuan used the Fire-Eyed Xian’s Borrowing Art to gain Clear Sight and saw the world through temperature patterns.

Fang Qianyuan mastered a fusion of Clear Sight and the Golden-Eyed Thunder Eagle’s Eagle Eye Art, then drank poisoned soup despite recognizing its taste. The maid who brought it attacked him with a dagger, but his Dharma Robe stopped the blade.

• Fang Qianyuan combined Clear Sight with the Golden-Eyed Thunder Eagle’s shared vision and successfully fused their powers into a reconnaissance technique.
• Fang Qianyuan manifested a spirit body for another Gray Wolf and finished his morning cultivation.
• A maid brought Fang Qianyuan spiritual soup, and he recognized that it tasted bitter with poison but drank it anyway.
• The terrified maid drew a dagger and thrust at Fang Qianyuan, but his Gold-Woven Cloud-Patterned Dharma Robe broke the blade and repelled her.

Fang Qianyuan spared Qian Fang, the mortal maid who tried to assassinate him, and reflected on his pursuit of transcendent power beyond worldly judgments of good and evil. After an investigation uncovered retaliatory attacks against the Luo Clan, a search of West City revealed a suspicious underground tunnel.

• Qian Fang accused Fang Qianyuan of killing her parents, but he spared her and ordered the guards to give her money and send her away.
• Wu Longjie told Fang Qianyuan that Qian Fang was the sole daughter of a collateral Qian Clan household whose parents died when Fang Qianyuan attacked Golden Embankment City.
• Fang Qianyuan explained to Wu Longjie that he sought transcendent power rather than answers from mortal notions of good and evil.
• Wu Longjie suspected Qian Fang's strange behavior might point to a hidden influence, but a thorough investigation initially found no evidence.
• Reports emerged that members of the Luo Clan had suffered retaliatory attacks, and Wu Longjie found that those involved were connected to the same West City neighborhood as Qian Fang's former household.
• Fang Qianyuan sent people to search the neighborhood, where they discovered a suspicious underground tunnel.

Fang Qianyuan and the City Guard Army uncovered an underground hall containing a strange Deity Statue whose vision overwhelmed everyone who looked at it. After using the Thunder Civet to wake his companions and order them out, Fang Qianyuan stayed behind and took the statue.

• Fang Qianyuan went to West City after the Demon-Hunting Hound led the City Guard Army to a hidden cellar.
• Fang Qianyuan and his companions entered an underground passage and found a large hall concealed by an illusion Formation Array.
• Fang Qianyuan and the others saw a sinister Deity Statue on a white jade altar, and its black mist swept them into a vision of a vast starry void.
• Fang Qianyuan realized the vision had left his companions frozen, so he summoned the Thunder Civet to jolt them awake and ordered everyone not to look at the statue.
• Fang Qianyuan stayed behind despite the vision's lingering effects and took the Deity Statue from the table.

Fang Qianyuan secured the strange deity statue and asked his master, Jiang Yunfeng, to identify it. Jiang Yunfeng revealed that it was a Deification Artifact linked to divine spirits and warned Fang Qianyuan to keep people away from it, leaving him to weigh the dangers against the value of investigating further.

• Fang Qianyuan wrapped the statue, sealed it in a metal box, and ordered the gathered clans to keep the discovery secret.
• Wu Longjie and Lu Feiyang warned Fang Qianyuan that the boxed statue still made them feel ill, so he took it to the City Lord's Mansion and restricted access to it.
• Fang Qianyuan wrote to Jiang Yunfeng, who replied that the statue was a Deification Artifact used for illicit worship.
• Jiang Yunfeng explained the differences between true gods, false gods, and divine abominations, and warned Fang Qianyuan to avoid exposing mortals or weak cultivators to the statue.
• Jiang Yunfeng advised destroying the artifact but noted that investigating the Qian Clan's worship might reveal secrets of the Great Dao and valuable treasures.

Fang Qianyuan discovered that the deity statue’s will had infected his divine sense and that Little White could devour it. After the will was consumed, the statue shattered, leaving its power gone.

• Fang Qianyuan woke from a strange dream and learned from Wu Longjie that laborers had died or gone mad, while others attacked people.
• Fang Qianyuan ordered Wu Longjie to calm the city by blaming the violence on Qian Clan infiltrators and sending elite men to hunt them down.
• Fang Qianyuan inspected himself and discovered that the deity’s black-and-red will had stained his divine sense.
• Little White poured her divine sense into Fang Qianyuan and devoured the foreign will, sharing the resulting power with him.
• Fang Qianyuan heard a scream in the rear courtyard and found the deity statue shattered into powerless fragments.

Fang Qianyuan and his trusted men uncovered how the Qian Clan used a deity statue and the Deification Sacrifice Rite to gather fear and resentment for the Dark Heavenly Demon God. After deciding the danger could be stopped in Golden Embankment City by removing the statue and destroying the underground hall, Fang Qianyuan resolved to learn Divine Path cultivation.

• Fang Qianyuan enlisted Lin Xiong, Lin Bao, Wu Longjie, and Lu Feiyang to search the Qian Clan's records.
• Fang Qianyuan found Qian Wei's secret record, which revealed that the deity statue was made from Treasure Crystal taken from a Middle Antiquity ruin and activated with the Deification Sacrifice Rite.
• Fang Qianyuan identified the worshipped deity as the Dark Heavenly Demon God, Maha Diluo Ye, and explained how the statue absorbed prayer power carrying fear and resentment.
• Wu Longjie asked whether other secret worship sites existed, and Fang Qianyuan said subsidiary formations were likely but removing the central statue and destroying the underground hall would end the danger to Golden Embankment City.
• Fang Qianyuan considered the broader threat posed by the Dark Heavenly Demon God and resolved to acquire introductory knowledge of Divine Path cultivation.

Fang Qianyuan used the Qian Clan’s Divine Path methods to purge the Dark Heavenly Demon God’s foreign will and discovered a way to condense his own will. He began adapting the method to strengthen his black wind true meaning, leaving him to gather resources for the demanding cultivation ahead.

• Fang Qianyuan learned that Little White’s instinct had removed the malice from the foreign will, then used her example to condense and seal the will at the center of his brow.
• Fang Qianyuan studied the Deification Sacrifice Rite and recognized that its method of condensing will could help him control and strengthen his black wind true meaning.
• Fang Qianyuan connected the Dark Heavenly Demon God’s origins of darkness and fear with the black wind’s nature, then gained insight by recalling the Black Wind Calamity.
• Fang Qianyuan ordered the city’s aristocratic clans to destroy illicit altars and images of the Dark Heavenly Demon God, while collecting pills and materials that benefited the divine soul.
• Fang Qianyuan began adapting the Divine Path method to cultivate his own will, but its heavy demands on the divine soul forced him to seek further resources.

Fang Qianyuan refined his Black Wind True Meaning with a self-worship-based method and advanced to Earth Rank Second Transformation. After completing his mission at Chuanlan Mine, he returned to Azure Cloud Sect Headquarters and focused on strengthening his cultivation.

• Fang Qianyuan used the Deification Sacrifice Rite and Spirit Tempering Art to refine his Black Wind True Meaning with his own divine soul and thoughts.
• Fang Qianyuan drank Pure Condensation Dew to recover from the method’s heavy toll on his divine soul.
• Fang Qianyuan advanced to Earth Rank Second Transformation and found that his Spirit Essence and ability to draw on Heaven and Earth Essence had increased.
• By the end of March, the Azure Cloud Sect had restored order in Golden Embankment City and reopened Chuanlan Mine, completing Fang Qianyuan’s mission.
• Fang Qianyuan returned to Azure Cloud Sect Headquarters with Wu Longjie and the others, reported to the Administrative Affairs Institute, and paid his respects to his master.
• Fang Qianyuan resolved to incorporate Black Wind True Meaning into Wind Blade Frost Sword.

Fang Qianyuan refined his black wind true meaning and discovered that it could dramatically augment Wind Blade Frost Sword by drawing on heaven and earth essence. Sun Zhuo then arrived to tell him that their master planned to treat his eye injury with a Desolate Beast body transplant.

• Jiang Yunfeng advised Fang Qianyuan to study his annotated Soul Dao texts alongside the originals in the Azure Cloud Sect's Library Pavilion.
• Fang Qianyuan used the sect's records to improve his will-tempering method and refined his black wind true meaning into visible threads.
• Fang Qianyuan manifested the black wind true meaning and infused it into Wind Blade Frost Sword, unleashing a storm that devastated and froze the grassland.
• Fang Qianyuan realized the black wind true meaning could greatly amplify his spells, but his Golden-Wing Grub was too weak to support his other killing moves.
• Sun Zhuo told Fang Qianyuan that the sect had failed to find medicine for their master's eye injury and that their master planned to perform a Desolate Beast body transplant.

Fang Qianyuan and Sun Zhuo learned that Jiang Yunfeng had chosen Warrior modification to recover his strength despite the risk to his lifespan and Heaven Tier potential. They left believing his decision came from the pain of losing his power and his refusal to wait for a cure.

• Fang Qianyuan and Sun Zhuo confronted Jiang Yunfeng about rumors that he would undergo Warrior modification, and he confirmed he had requested it himself.
• Jiang Yunfeng explained that a Desolate Beast transplant could restore his strength but would merge the beast's will with his divine soul and likely end his chances of reaching the Heaven Tier.
• Jiang Yunfeng told Fang Qianyuan and Sun Zhuo that he would undergo Warrior modification at the end of the month, and they bowed and left.
• Sun Zhuo revealed that a transport document at the Administrative Affairs Institute had disclosed the plan and suspected the sect wanted them to persuade Jiang Yunfeng.
• Fang Qianyuan argued that Jiang Yunfeng had chosen modification because he could not bear to wait for a cure, and said he would make the same choice.

After receiving a Desolate Beast Body transplant, Jiang Yunfeng prepared to take over the Warrior Hall, despite the political dangers and the sect's hostility toward Warriors. Yu Shixian warned him that the Warrior Hall's history and growing power could bring disaster, but Jiang Yunfeng remained committed to his decision.

• Fang Qianyuan visited Jiang Yunfeng and saw that his eyes had changed after a successful Desolate Beast Body transplant.
• Situ Sheng revealed that Jiang Yunfeng had promised to become the Warrior Hall's Main Hall Master once he settled his affairs.
• Yu Shixian visited Jiang Yunfeng after Chief Hall Master Wu submitted his resignation and questioned whether Jiang Yunfeng truly intended to join the Warrior Hall.
• Yu Shixian warned that the sect and other Righteous Path powers feared Warriors, citing the Warrior Hall's strength and the past Warrior Calamity.
• Jiang Yunfeng acknowledged the risks but stood by his decision, and Yu Shixian left.

After Jiang Yunfeng prepared to return to the Star Realm Battlefield, he entrusted Fang Qianyuan and Sun Zhuo with responsibilities and cultivation advice. Fang Qianyuan then chose Central Province as his next destination, where he hoped to pursue resources, experience, and answers about his family’s murder.

• Sun Zhuo told Fang Qianyuan that he had become Chief Merit Officer and that Jiang Yunfeng was being summoned back to the Star Realm Battlefield.
• Jiang Yunfeng confirmed his departure, entrusted Sun Zhuo with the Jiang Clan and taught him the Thunder-Summoning Divine Eye, while advising Fang Qianyuan on cultivation and ascension refinement.
• Jiang Yunfeng gave Fang Qianyuan the key to his protected study before setting out for the Star Realm.
• Sun Zhuo explained why Earth Rank experts traveled to explore secret realms and seek rare resources.
• Fang Qianyuan decided to travel to Central Province to advance his Spellcasting Gu, recover materials from the Dark Heavenly Demon God statue, and investigate his family’s murder and the Flying Immortal Records.

Fang Qianyuan received travel credentials and a letter of recommendation from Sect Master Yu Shixian before setting out for Central Province with Ning'er, two guards, and Azure Cloud Sect disciples bound for the Artifact Sect. He arrived at the Central Province transit station, where his identity as a celebrated young Earth Rank cultivator caused a stir.

• Yu Shixian signed Fang Qianyuan's letter of recommendation and asked him to accompany a group of sect disciples to the Artifact Sect, and Fang agreed.
• Fang Qianyuan collected his travel credentials, handed over matters concerning the chuanlan mine, and made arrangements for Wu Longjie, Lin Ziguan, and the others.
• Fang Qianyuan met the disciples at the Teleportation Array and led them through it to the Central Province transit station.
• A patrolling disciple directed the group toward Eight Directions City, and Fang Qianyuan rode Little White there with the disciples on her back.
• Onlookers identified Fang Qianyuan as a young Earth Rank cultivator, and the array guards realized that the famed Azure Cloud Sect genius had arrived in Central Province.