Chapter Summaries

Fang Qianyuan visited the Artifact Sect to meet Master Gongshu and saw the sect’s mechanical beast puppets on the way to his manor. He arrived at the South Garden and was welcomed by Master Gongshu’s steward, though Gongshu was still in the refining chamber.

• Fang Qianyuan and the disciples reached Eight Directions City, obtained permission to visit the Artifact Sect, and parted ways at its Headquarters.
• Fang Qianyuan asked the guards to arrange his visit to Master Gongshu, and Ling Ning arrived to escort him.
• Ling Ning introduced himself as a Mechanist and took Fang Qianyuan, Little White, Ning'er, Lin Xiong, and Lin Bao to the South Garden in a puppet Dire Wolf.
• The group reached Master Gongshu’s manor, where Ling Ning learned that Gongshu was in the refining chamber.
• The blue-robed steward welcomed Fang Qianyuan after Ling Ning introduced him as an Earth Rank elder of the Azure Cloud Sect.

Fang Qianyuan commissioned Gongshu Ban to refine fragments of a deity statue into a magic treasure capable of housing spirit creatures. Gongshu Ban accepted the job, and Fang Qianyuan stayed overnight to choose a ring design the next day.

• Gongshu Ban met Fang Qianyuan after Ling Ning introduced him as a guest from the Azure Cloud Sect.
• Fang Qianyuan showed Gongshu Ban the deity statue fragments, and Gongshu Ban identified them as black soul jade that could become a treasure for housing spirit creatures.
• Gongshu Ban offered to refine the fragments within six months, keeping thirty percent of the material and charging Fang Qianyuan three hundred thousand in total.
• Fang Qianyuan paid a hundred-thousand deposit and chose a ring as the treasure's form.
• Gongshu Ban invited Fang Qianyuan to stay for a meal and select a ring design from an illustrated catalog the next day, while Fang Qianyuan considered exploring the Artifact Sect headquarters.

Fang Qianyuan stayed overnight at Gongshu Ban’s estate, where he learned about the Artifact Sect’s mechanical devices and Automatons. The next morning he met firearms master Su Xueqiong, who discovered he was an Earth Rank Expert and immediately tried to sell him firearms.

• Gongshu Ban arranged a meal and guest quarters for Fang Qianyuan, whose room was equipped with Artifact Sect devices and an Automaton servant.
• A household servant explained the devices and described why the Artifact Sect gave its Automatons crude, unmistakably mechanical bodies.
• Fang Qianyuan left Gongshu Ban’s estate the next morning and encountered Su Xueqiong and a little girl.
• Su Xueqiong flirted with Fang Qianyuan, then realized he was an Earth Rank Expert.
• Su Xueqiong introduced herself as a firearms master and invited Fang Qianyuan to visit her workshop and buy firearms, leaving him inwardly stunned.

Fang Qianyuan met Su Xueqiong, a young Master Craftsman from the Su Household, and followed her to her workshop after Master Gongshu warned him against entrusting her with high-grade artifacts. There, Su Xueqiong showed him a collection of newly made firearms that appeared to be entirely mundane.

• Fang Qianyuan learned that Su Xueqiong was a Master Craftsman and that her elder brother, Su Beichen, was an Artifact Sect elder.
• Su Xueqiong tried to persuade Fang Qianyuan to commission a magic treasure, but Master Gongshu warned him to rely on Su Beichen for high-grade work.
• After leaving the Gongshu Residence, Fang Qianyuan accepted Su Xueqiong's invitation to visit her workshop, and she learned he had come on his own behalf.
• Su Xueqiong took Fang Qianyuan to her workshop outside the Artifact Sect's Headquarters and complained about its limited resources and remote location.
• Su Xueqiong ordered Uncle Qi to bring out her new guns and cannons, and Fang Qianyuan saw about thirty firearms that emitted no origin energy.

Su Xueqiong demonstrated her mechanically crafted firearms to Fang Qianyuan and challenged him to withstand them. Fang Qianyuan and Little White emerged unharmed from a concentrated barrage, leaving Su Xueqiong stunned.

• Su Xueqiong explained that her inexpensive mortal firearms could be used without Origin Energy and claimed that a coordinated force could threaten powerful experts.
• Fang Qianyuan agreed to test the weapons under Su Xueqiong's condition that he only endure their attacks and not fight back.
• A craftsman fired one rifle at Fang Qianyuan, who caught the bullet between his fingers.
• The craftsmen fired a volley, and Fang Qianyuan dodged the bullets while Little White sliced them apart with her claws.
• Su Xueqiong ordered a larger barrage of bullets and cannon shells, but Fang Qianyuan and Little White stood unharmed after the explosion, leaving her dumbstruck.

Fang Qianyuan tested Su Xueqiong’s mortal firearms and discussed her belief that they could empower ordinary people, while he considered their limits and the history of the Artifact Sect. He bought two sets from her, and Su Xueqiong immediately tried to sell him ammunition and equipment for making more.

• Fang Qianyuan showed Su Xueqiong that his robe had stopped the firearm fragments, then explained that mortal firearms could still help ordinary people and Human-tier experts.
• Su Xueqiong argued that firearms and mechanical puppets could let mortals challenge cultivators, and said the Artifact Sect’s main lineage remained in Heaven Beyond Heaven.
• Fang Qianyuan connected Su Xueqiong’s remarks to the Flying Immortal Records and the Other Shore, but decided to investigate their origins later.
• Fang Qianyuan judged that mortal firearms were limited in combat and that magical artifact-grade weapons would be more useful to his subordinates.
• Fang Qianyuan bought two sets of Su Xueqiong’s firearms for three thousand spirit jade.
• Su Xueqiong urged Fang Qianyuan to buy her workshop’s exclusive ammunition or an ammunition-making artifact and materials.

Fang Qianyuan visited Su Beichen to discuss firearms and learned how the Artifact Sect and great clans preserved their inheritance. Su Beichen gifted him a magical pistol, and Fang Qianyuan arranged to buy two more for his guards.

• Fang Qianyuan rejected Su Xueqiong's expensive ammunition offer, and she took him to meet Su Beichen.
• Su Beichen welcomed Fang Qianyuan and explained how aristocratic clans, sects, and the Artifact Sect maintained their inheritances.
• Su Beichen presented Fang Qianyuan with a Gold-Pattern Dragon Spear and explained its abilities and ammunition.
• Fang Qianyuan offered to buy pistol artifacts for Lin Xiong and Lin Bao, and Su Beichen agreed to sell him two Silver-Pattern Dragon Spears for five thousand spirit jade.

Fang Qianyuan visited Su Beichen’s workshops, learned about the Artifact Way and the Su Household’s legacy, then prepared to travel to the Spirit Taming Sect to investigate his father’s past. Before leaving, he advised Su Xueqiong to build her standing through established magical artifacts before pursuing Mortal Firearms, but she rejected his advice as he departed.

• Fang Qianyuan toured Su Beichen’s workshops and tested firearms and magical artifacts, deepening his understanding of the Artifact Way.
• Fang Qianyuan declined Su Beichen’s offer to commission a magic treasure and observed how the Su Household trained its disciples and younger clan members.
• Fang Qianyuan told Su Beichen he planned to visit the Spirit Taming Sect and investigate his father Fang Hai’s origins and misfortunes.
• Su Xueqiong asked Fang Qianyuan to fund her Mortal Firearms research, but he advised her to first achieve success in magical artifacts and magic treasures.
• Su Xueqiong rejected Fang Qianyuan’s advice, and he left with Ning'er, Lin Xiong, and Lin Bao for the Teleportation Array as she watched with lingering hesitation.

Fang Qianyuan visited Wang Xuanji at the Spirit Taming Sect Headquarters and learned about dangers in the Star Realm and the nine fragments of the Flying Immortal Records. He realized his only lead to finding the lost record was the enemy who had taken it from his father, Fang Hai.

• Fang Qianyuan arrived at the Spirit Taming Sect Headquarters and visited Wang Xuanji, an old friend of his master's mentor.
• Wang Xuanji explained that the Star Realm offered great opportunities but faced threats from Ancient Cultivators, the Demon Realm, and other beings.
• Fang Qianyuan asked about the Flying Immortal Records, and Wang Xuanji said the ancient treasure had been divided into nine fragments and could summon a Heavenly Immortal to guide its possessor's ascension.
• Fang Qianyuan recalled that his father, Fang Hai, had once possessed the Flying Immortal Records before an enemy killed him and took it.
• Fang Qianyuan concluded that the enemy who had seized the record was his only lead to finding it.

Fang Qianyuan secretly investigated the Spirit Taming Sect for clues about his father Fang Hai, then traveled to the Stellar Origin Training Institute to search its records. After observing the site in disguise, he slipped inside while its Earth Rank Expert visited the market district.

• Fang Qianyuan asked Elder Cao to let him tour the Spirit Taming Sect's courts and offices without fanfare.
• Fang Qianyuan visited the Ascension Academy and Merit Hall, gathering leads about Fang Hai's records, mission, and visits to the market district.
• Fang Qianyuan decided to investigate the Stellar Origin Training Institute and left the Spirit Taming Sect's Headquarters on June eighth.
• Fang Qianyuan arrived near the Golden Source Market District and Stellar Origin Training Institute, disguised himself, and began watching the area.
• Fang Qianyuan waited until the stationed Earth Rank Expert visited the market district, then quietly entered the training institute.

Fang Qianyuan secretly searched the institute’s archives for records of his father, Fang Hai, and discovered a likely link to a grotto-heaven at Saltwater Ravine. As he tried to leave with a copied map, the institute’s Earth Rank Expert returned to the main gate.

• Fang Qianyuan used Invisibility and Wind Transformation to enter Ascension Hall and found Fang Hai’s membership record, which showed he had gone missing and was declared deceased.
• Fang Qianyuan searched Merit Hall’s archives and found that Fang Hai had been sent to the Goldsource Mountains with Ma Cheng, Liu Jie, and Feng Yan.
• Fang Qianyuan found a record of an earth dragon turning over near Saltwater Ravine and a suspected grotto-heaven, then copied the location and surrounding terrain onto a Memo Talisman.
• Fang Qianyuan erased traces of his search and headed for the main gate, but stopped when the institute’s Earth Rank Expert returned on a Windrider Beast.

Xia Yifeng sensed an intruder at the Stellar Origin Training Institute and pursued Fang Qianyuan as he fled. Fang Qianyuan headed for the crowded Golden Source Market District to lose his pursuer without revealing his Spirit Tamer abilities.

• Xia Yifeng returned from the Ruin Fair and sensed someone sneaking around the institute’s main gate.
• Xia Yifeng blew his whistle-shaped magical artifact, alerted the warrior guards, and descended on his Windrider Beast.
• Fang Qianyuan realized Xia Yifeng had spotted him and fled toward the mountain ridges, struggling to keep his aura concealed.
• Xia Yifeng pursued Fang Qianyuan, hoping to capture a spy and earn merit.
• Fang Qianyuan made for the Golden Source Market District, where crowds and mingled auras could help him escape detection.

Fang Qianyuan struggled to evade Xia Yifeng’s aerial attacks and realized he could not identify how his opponent tracked him. Recalling Jiang Yunfeng’s lesson about defining traits, he understood that Xia Yifeng’s Windrider Beast and hit-and-run tactics formed his combat specialty.

• Xia Yifeng pursued Fang Qianyuan on the Windrider Beast and attacked him with a controllable Wind Turning Wheel.
• Fang Qianyuan used invisibility grass and the forest to hide, but Xia Yifeng continued targeting his position with wind blades.
• Fang Qianyuan considered how Earth Rank Experts perceived their surroundings and recognized that he was being forced onto the defensive.
• Fang Qianyuan recalled Jiang Yunfeng explaining that renowned experts developed defining traits by mastering their individual strengths.
• Fang Qianyuan recognized that Xia Yifeng’s aerial mobility and ranged hit-and-run attacks formed a defining trait that gave him an advantage.

Fang Qianyuan evaded Xia Yifeng’s diving Wind Turning Wheel and realized that Xia relied on precise control of distance, speed, and momentum. The insight shifted the fight in Fang Qianyuan’s favor as he prepared to use his own strengths.

• Xia Yifeng sent his Windrider Beast diving and launched a faster Wind Turning Wheel at the fleeing Fang Qianyuan.
• Fang Qianyuan abruptly stopped and reversed direction, causing the attack to miss and lose momentum.
• Fang Qianyuan revealed himself and explained how Xia’s aerial tactics depended on predictable distances and angles.
• Fang Qianyuan reflected on how the restricted fight had taught him to understand and use defining strengths.
• Fang Qianyuan prepared to unleash his own defining strengths against Xia Yifeng.

Fang Qianyuan outmaneuvered Xia Yifeng in their aerial assault and injured him with a stone, forcing him to retreat. Fang Qianyuan then headed for the Golden Source Market District.

• Xia Yifeng struggled to land a Wind Turning Wheel strike as Fang Qianyuan repeatedly dodged it.
• Xia Yifeng unleashed Windrider Thunder Flash and charged Fang Qianyuan with a prepared Wind Turning Wheel.
• Fang Qianyuan threw a stone with his physical strength, fracturing Xia Yifeng’s shoulder and disrupting his attack.
• Xia Yifeng lost control of the Wind Turning Wheel, then ordered the Windrider Beast to retreat.
• Fang Qianyuan watched Xia Yifeng fly away and sprinted toward the Golden Source Market District.

After evading detection at the Training Institute, Fang Qianyuan realized that the Wind Path’s trait of “nothingness” could perfect his concealment. He achieved minor mastery of the Wind Transformation Formula and then headed toward Saltwater Ravine, where his father may have found the Flying Immortal Records.

• Fang Qianyuan rented a room in the Golden Source Market District and reviewed how he had concealed his identity and escaped the earlier battle.
• Fang Qianyuan reasoned that Xia Yifeng’s Windrider Beast likely used sound waves to locate targets, and he reflected on building a coherent fighting style around his strengths and Wind Path power.
• Fang Qianyuan drew inspiration from his failed infiltration of the Training Institute and decided the Wind Path should embody the trait of “nothingness.”
• Fang Qianyuan used the Windbody Technique to disappear without spiritual fluctuations, then reappear as a breeze, and realized he had reached minor mastery of the Wind Transformation Formula.
• Fang Qianyuan discovered that the trait let him erase his scent and aura as well as conceal himself from sight, hearing, smell, and touch.
• Fang Qianyuan visited the Earth Baleful Gate to obtain information, then hurried toward Saltwater Ravine, where his father may have discovered the Flying Immortal Records.

Fang Qianyuan searched the ruins where his father had found a fragment of the Flying Immortal Records, hoping to uncover clues about his father’s enemy. He found the abandoned grotto-heaven palace and deciphered the inscription on a shattered stele: “Great Is Qianyuan!”

• Fang Qianyuan considered three possible identities for his father’s enemy and decided to search the ruins in person.
• Fang Qianyuan used Wind Transformation to enter a hidden cavern in the Goldsource Mountains and crossed into the grotto-heaven world.
• Fang Qianyuan examined the ruined hall and concluded that Earth Rank experts had already searched the place thoroughly.
• Fang Qianyuan followed the destruction to the main chamber, where the treasure basin was empty and a stone stele lay broken.
• Fang Qianyuan deciphered the stele’s ancient immortal-script inscription as “Great Is Qianyuan!”

Fang Qianyuan followed his father Fang Hai’s strange instructions to Moonview Mountain and discovered a gathering of spirit cats led by an elderly cat who recognized Fang Hai’s name. The old cat demanded to know where Fang Qianyuan was, and he revealed himself to the cats.

• Fang Qianyuan painted the Great Qianyuan Stele as it had appeared before its destruction, then left after finding no clues in the cave.
• Remembering Fang Hai’s instructions, Fang Qianyuan traveled ten thousand li north toward Moonview Mountain and spotted a wildcat hunting a mountain rat.
• Fang Qianyuan called out Fang Hai’s name to the wildcat, then used the Windbody Technique to follow it when it fled.
• The wildcat joined several others and led Fang Qianyuan to a secluded valley, where more than ten cats gathered around an upright, robed old cat.
• The old cat lit a bonfire with a glow from its paw, then learned that a human had called out Master Fang’s name.
• The old cat scolded the wildcat for not bringing Fang Qianyuan to the gathering, and Fang Qianyuan dispelled his spell and revealed himself.

Fang Qianyuan learned that his father, Fang Hai, had taught the Lynx-Cat Tribe and entrusted its elders with a secret to pass on. After the tribe contacted its grand elder, a powerful demon arrived at the cave the following day.

• The old cat recognized Fang Qianyuan as Fang Hai’s son by his scent and explained how Fang Hai had taught the Lynx-Cat Tribe twenty years earlier.
• The old cat revealed that Fang Hai had left an unknown secret with the tribe’s grand elder, who now served under Great King Baiye at White Tiger Hall.
• The old cat broke a Communication Orb to summon the grand elder and asked Fang Qianyuan to wait.
• The next afternoon, Little White sensed an approaching presence as a streak of fire descended toward the cave.

Fang Qianyuan met Miao Shihong, the grand elder of the Lynx-Cat Tribe, who revealed that Moonview Mountain was Fang Qianyuan’s birthplace and gave him a sealed scroll entrusted by Fang Hai. Miao Shihong departed after offering the tribe’s future help and a token seal.

• Fang Qianyuan watched the old cat teach the wildcats and met Miao Shihong, who introduced himself as the Lynx-Cat Tribe’s grand elder.
• Miao Shihong recalled that Fang Hai had entrusted the tribe to protect Fang Qianyuan, and Fang Qianyuan accepted the lynx-cats’ mistaken belief that his father died in the catastrophe nineteen years earlier.
• Miao Shihong told Fang Qianyuan that he had been born at Moonview Mountain and secretly watched over by the tribe before Fang Hai took him away.
• Miao Shihong created a warded space and gave Fang Qianyuan a scroll from Fang Hai, warning him that it could only be opened by a particular method.
• Miao Shihong left for his duties at White Tiger Hall, promised the Lynx-Cat Tribe would help Fang Qianyuan, and gave him a small seal as a token.