Chapter Summaries

Fang Qianyuan and Sun Zhuo learned that Ye Tianming had fled after committing an offense, then bought heavenly wind and frost essence fragments at the Universal Trade Association. After spending six thousand pieces of spirit jade, they left to meet Jiang Yunfeng, who had returned and was ready to take them back.

• Fang Qianyuan and Sun Zhuo read Gong Yuan's letter about Ye Tianming's offense and regretted that he had run away.
• Sun Zhuo told Fang Qianyuan about new heavenly wind and heavenly frost essence fragments for sale at the Universal Trade Association.
• Sun Zhuo explained that heavenly essence came from the Outer-Domain Void, prompting Fang Qianyuan to think of the Flying Immortal Records and the legendary Other Shore.
• Fang Qianyuan bought thirty heavenly wind essence fragments and sixteen heavenly frost essence fragments for six thousand pieces of spirit jade.
• Sun Zhuo received word that Jiang Yunfeng had returned, and he and Fang Qianyuan went outside the city to meet him.
• Jiang Yunfeng asked why they had stayed in the city, then agreed to return with them.

Jiang Yunfeng explained that Fang Qianyuan’s value lay in his potential to reach Earth Rank and urged him to strengthen his cultivation and improve his fighting methods. He ordered Fang Qianyuan to spar with Sun Zhuo daily until he could win without suffering even a scratch.

• Fang Qianyuan asked Jiang Yunfeng what his promised special training would involve.
• Jiang Yunfeng praised Fang Qianyuan’s Human Rank strength but stressed that his potential to advance to Earth Rank mattered more.
• Fang Qianyuan identified cultivation, understanding Spirit Creatures, and insight into heaven and earth as factors in reaching Earth Rank.
• Jiang Yunfeng told Fang Qianyuan to focus on defeating opponents intelligently rather than charging into dangerous fights.
• Jiang Yunfeng ordered Fang Qianyuan to spar with Sun Zhuo every day and keep going until he could win without a scratch.

Fang Qianyuan trained under Sun Zhuo and Jiang Yunfeng, learning to fight without relying solely on his strength while rapidly advancing his cultivation and refining his spirit creatures. By July, he had reached the seventh transformation and understood that Jiang Yunfeng was preparing him to become the righteous path’s greatest young expert.

• Sun Zhuo defeated Fang Qianyuan in another sparring match, prompting Fang to consider orthodox ways Spirit Tamers avoided injury.
• Fang realized Xu Pingshan lacked the methods and advantages of a well-trained Spirit Tamer, and decided to stay out of Sun Zhuo’s sight from the outset.
• Fang advanced to the sixth transformation and improved his Wind Blade Frost Sword by having Little White control the Heavenly Frost Power.
• After three more months, Fang reached the seventh transformation and began withstanding Sun Zhuo’s ordinary attacks using stronger Frost Armor.
• Jiang Yunfeng taught Fang the Thunder Essence Body Tempering Art and spirit-creature techniques, while Sun Zhuo taught him about regional customs and sects.
• By July, nearly a year after entering Cang Mountain Academy, Fang realized Jiang Yunfeng intended to mold him into the righteous path’s greatest young expert.

Fang Qianyuan learned that Jiang Yunfeng was keeping him out of the Demon Calamity until he could make a more impressive debut, while preparing to leave on a sect mission. Before departing, Jiang Yunfeng sent Sun Zhuo to Headquarters and tasked Fang Qianyuan with attending Moonlight Fairy’s fiftieth birthday to represent him and meet influential figures.

• Fang Qianyuan overheard Sun Zhuo suggest sending him to the northern Demon Calamity, but Jiang Yunfeng refused because he wanted to reserve Fang Qianyuan for a more dazzling debut.
• Sun Zhuo explained that Jiang Yunfeng hoped to make Fang Qianyuan the foremost young expert of the righteous path and had kept him training until the right opportunity arose.
• Jiang Yunfeng announced that a sect mission would keep him away for a long time and arranged for Sun Zhuo to enter Headquarters as a steward.
• Jiang Yunfeng told Fang Qianyuan to continue training diligently and said Sun Zhuo would monitor his progress, though Sun Zhuo would also need to pursue his own future.
• Jiang Yunfeng asked Fang Qianyuan to attend Moonlight Fairy’s fiftieth birthday in three months, present a congratulatory gift, and meet elders and young talents from across the lands on his behalf.

Fang Qianyuan set out on a journey to deliver Jiang Yunfeng’s birthday gift to the Moonlight Fairy and gain experience beyond home. After arriving at Golden City Ward, he thought he saw Senior Brother Ye, whom he recognized as Ye Tianming.

• Jiang Yunfeng tasked Fang Qianyuan with delivering a birthday gift to the Moonlight Fairy and gave him a brocade box that could not fit in a Storage Bag.
• Fang Qianyuan decided to travel at leisure, and after bidding farewell to Sun Zhuo, he left the Jiang Residence on Little White.
• Fang Qianyuan used a Teleportation Array to reach Golden City Ward, the nearest city to the Flowing Cloud Grotto.
• Fang Qianyuan spotted a familiar figure across the street and wondered if he had seen Senior Brother Ye, Ye Tianming.

Fang Qianyuan unexpectedly reunited with Ye Tianming, who revealed that he had fled his aristocratic life and become a ruthless rogue cultivator. After Fang recognized the dark change in Ye Tianming, the two faced off, and Ye Tianming attacked without warning.

• Fang Qianyuan spotted Ye Tianming on a crowded street and chased after him, but lost sight of him.
• Ye Tianming appeared behind Fang Qianyuan and led him to a secluded wasteland near the northern city wall.
• Ye Tianming told Fang that he had fled the life arranged for him and gained freedom as a rogue cultivator.
• Ye Tianming revealed that killing and plundering had brought him to the peak of the ninth transformation, while he planned to break through to the tenth.
• Fang Qianyuan sensed Ye Tianming's sinister aura and declared that he had fallen; as their tension rose, Ye Tianming suddenly attacked.

Fang Qianyuan encountered Ye Tianming, whose strange new abilities let him escape with help from several allies. Troubled by Ye Tianming’s transformation, Fang hired the Earth Baleful Gate to investigate him for one thousand spirit jade.

• Fang Qianyuan blocked Ye Tianming’s Crescent Blades with his Frostflower Garment and Wind Blade, and the two acknowledged each other’s increased strength.
• Ye Tianming spoke of fate and vanished into black smoke, then escaped with several figures who had been waiting nearby.
• Fang Qianyuan abandoned the pursuit when he judged the group too dangerous and later considered how to learn what had happened to Ye Tianming.
• Fang Qianyuan visited the Earth Baleful Gate’s Branch Headquarters and offered one thousand spirit jade for a thorough investigation of Ye Tianming.

Fang Qianyuan learned that Ye Tianming had been hunting outlaws and had joined the Demon Alliance, so he arranged to keep receiving updates about him. As Fang cultivated and watched the moon, Ye Tianming killed several Spirit Tamers and declared he was not like them.

• Fang Qianyuan read the Earth Baleful Gate's report and learned that Ye Tianming had killed Greenwood and Unorthodox Path opponents without abandoning his principles.
• Fang Qianyuan discovered that Ye Tianming had joined the Demon Alliance, an organization tied to the search for the Flying Immortal Records, and paid for ongoing reports.
• Fang Qianyuan cultivated his water spirit root with heavenly wind power and reflected on the potential and cost of nurturing a spirit of heaven and earth.
• Fang Qianyuan watched the moon from his room while Ye Tianming watched it from a nearby cliff beside the bodies of several Spirit Tamers he had killed.
• Ye Tianming answered a dying Spirit Tamer's question by saying he was not the same kind of person as them.

Fang Qianyuan crossed the Greenstone Plains to reach Great Camp Market, intending to explore the ancient battlefield and seek treasures. After arriving, he found a way to receive additional spirit jade through the Universal Trade Association.

• Fang Qianyuan set out east across the Greenstone Plains toward Great Camp Market and planned to explore the ancient battlefield along the way.
• Fang Qianyuan traveled for several days, camping in the wilderness and having his spirit creatures guard him at night.
• Fang Qianyuan reached Great Camp Market on the evening of the sixteenth day of the eighth month and saw its busy streets and caravans.
• Fang Qianyuan entered the Market District and went to the Universal Trade Association's Branch Headquarters to ask about accessing more spirit jade.
• The Branch Headquarters told Fang Qianyuan that Sun Zhuo could deposit money at any branch and that Fang Qianyuan could redeem the money draft the next day.

Fang Qianyuan explored the Great Camp Market and bought what he believed was a genuine ancient short sword, only to discover at the inn that a stallholder had tricked him. He accepted the loss as his first lesson in the wider world and kept the counterfeit as a memento.

• Fang Qianyuan left the Universal Trade Association and browsed the rogue cultivators’ stalls in the Great Camp Market.
• A stallholder sold Fang Qianyuan a cloud-patterned short sword for seventy spirit jade after claiming it was a genuine ancient weapon.
• Fang Qianyuan examined the sword at the inn and realized its earth energy had vanished, exposing it as a modern counterfeit.
• Fang Qianyuan decided not to look for the stallholder and kept the sword as a reminder of his first swindle.

Fang Qianyuan learned that Ye Tianming had disappeared from the Earth Baleful Gate’s spies, then witnessed a young Wen family master struggle to recover a stolen birthday gift. The chapter ended when a beautiful girl in white arrived and called the young master her second brother.

• Fang Qianyuan heard that Ye Tianming had killed Greenwood experts again and vanished from the Earth Baleful Gate’s surveillance.
• Young Master Wen berated the Earth Baleful Gate for failing to locate One Nest of Bees, who had stolen his family’s gift for Moonlight Fairy’s birthday banquet.
• Young Master Wen paid five hundred spirit jade for the Earth Baleful Gate to find useful information within a day.
• Young Master Wen pursued Fang Qianyuan after realizing he had overheard about the gift, but his companions stopped him from revealing more.
• A girl in white arrived with a sword-bearing maid and a Crimson-Patterned Tiger, then asked Young Master Wen why he was there.

Fang Qianyuan agreed to help Wen Qingfei and Wen Xianzong with their conflict involving One Nest of Bees after learning of the Wen clan’s ties to the Flowing Cloud Grotto. The group returned to the inn, where Wen Qingfei began explaining the affair so Fang could decide how to assist.

• Wen Qingfei arrived with Li Yan and apologized to Fang Qianyuan for Wen Xianzong’s behavior.
• Wen Qingfei asked Fang Qianyuan to help her family, and he learned that she was Wen Yufei’s younger sister from the Wen clan of Yi City.
• Fang Qianyuan recognized Wen Yufei as the Jade Fairy and agreed to help, declining the promised rewards because his master knew the Moonlight Fairy.
• Wen Qingfei and Li Yan recognized Fang Qianyuan as the Lord of a Thousand Miles, while Wen Xianzong doubted his ability and provoked Li Yan.
• Fang Qianyuan asked Wen Qingfei to explain the dispute with One Nest of Bees, and she agreed.

Fang Qianyuan accompanied Wen Qingfei and her family to track down One Nest of Bees, the outlaws who stole their gifts, using information from the Earth Baleful Gate. After locating the gang in the Ancient Battlefield, Fang Qianyuan volunteered to scout ahead alone.

• Fang Qianyuan learned that One Nest of Bees had stolen Wen Qingfei's family gifts and agreed to help recover them.
• Fang Qianyuan accompanied the Wen family to the Earth Baleful Gate, which gave them a map and access to its scouts.
• The group traveled east into the Ancient Battlefield and found the Earth Baleful Gate's concealed scout beneath a dead tree.
• The scout reported that One Nest of Bees was near a large hill fifteen li north and was likely preparing to camp.
• Wen Qingfei proposed scouting the gang before setting up a late-night ambush, and Fang Qianyuan volunteered to go ahead alone.

Fang Qianyuan rode ahead to confront One Nest of Bees alone, confident that his tenth transformation strength could handle the bandits. He reached their camp and identified the five outlaws gathered by the fire, while two others patrolled nearby.

• Wen Qingfei assessed One Nest of Bees’ likely numbers and strength, then chose two Wen guards to accompany Fang Qianyuan.
• Fang Qianyuan told the guards to wait below the hill and charged toward the bandits’ camp by himself.
• The guards worried for his safety and hurried to bring Wen Xianzong, Wen Qingfei, and Li Yan to reinforce him.
• The bandits spotted Fang Qianyuan approaching and relaxed when they mistook him for a seventh transformation fighter.
• Fang Qianyuan recognized Tigerhead Bee, Big Wasp, Big Yellow Bee, Flower-Head Bee, and Thorn-Head Bee, and sensed that Black-Wing Bee and Hairy-Foot Bee were patrolling nearby.

Fang Qianyuan confronted the Nest of Bees bandits and used his frost and wind abilities with Little White to kill most of them. Tigerhead Bee escaped the first attack, but turned back to fight as the divine ability weakened.

• Fang Qianyuan accepted the bandits' invitation, drank their drugged wine, and revealed that he had come to kill them.
• Fang Qianyuan killed Flower-Head Bee with wind blades and a Heavenly Frost Palm.
• Tigerhead Bee and the other bandits summoned bee swarms and attacked, but Fang Qianyuan froze the insects and slowed the bandits.
• Fang Qianyuan joined forces with Little White to unleash Wind Blade Frost Sword, freezing most of the bandits and destroying their spirit creatures.
• Tigerhead Bee fled as Black-Wing Bee and Hairy-Foot Bee arrived, but the cold began freezing them too.
• Tigerhead Bee turned back, formed the Hand Seal of Battle, and roared at Fang Qianyuan to die.

Fang Qianyuan fought Tigerhead Bee’s swarm and survived its forbidden Spirit Burst Art with his Endless Frost defense. Little White killed the exhausted bandit chief, leaving Fang Qianyuan to reflect on how close the battle had come to injuring him.

• Fang Qianyuan weakened his Wind Blade Frost Sword after killing one of Tigerhead Bee’s bandits, and Tigerhead Bee seized the chance to counterattack.
• Tigerhead Bee used the forbidden Spirit Burst Art, making his venomous bees absorb heaven and earth essence and explode against Fang Qianyuan.
• Fang Qianyuan maintained Endless Frost, repeatedly restoring Frostflower Garment and blocking the swarm’s relentless explosions.
• Tigerhead Bee exhausted his spirit essence and lost most of his venomous bees without breaking Fang Qianyuan’s defense.
• Little White pinned and killed the helpless Tigerhead Bee.
• Fang Qianyuan approached across the ice and acknowledged that Tigerhead Bee had nearly injured him.

Fang Qianyuan had single-handedly defeated the bandits who ambushed the Wen siblings, and the group recovered a sealed box containing Beauty-Nourishing Pills. While the Wen guards offered Fang Qianyuan the bandits’ remaining loot, he opened the bundle and found a book titled Spirit Burst Art.

• The Wen siblings and their companions arrived to find Fang Qianyuan uninjured after defeating the bandits, while Little White resisted his attempt to wipe her mouth.
• Wen Xianzong joked that the bandits had been weak, and Li Yan mocked him for claiming they could have fought them themselves.
• Wen Qingfei gently wiped Little White’s mouth, and the guards found a sealed brocade box on Tiger-Head Hornet’s body.
• Wen Qingfei and Li Yan identified the box’s contents as eighty Beauty-Nourishing Pills made for the Wen family by Master Jue Mingzi of the Pill Sect.
• The guards gave Fang Qianyuan the bandits’ remaining spoils, and he opened the bundle to find a forbidden art called Spirit Burst Art.

Fang Qianyuan discovered that Tigerhead Bee’s lotus-seedpod container concealed a magic treasure holding a queen bee and a swarm of spirit bees. The swarm escaped and attacked the group, who defeated it, though Wen Xianzong was badly stung on the nose.

• Fang Qianyuan examined Tigerhead Bee’s loot, including a Spirit Burst Art manual, spirit jade, and a blackwood lotus seedpod.
• Fang Qianyuan recognized the seedpod as a concealed magic treasure and opened it with his blood and spirit essence.
• Fang Qianyuan found a queen bee and hundreds of spirit bees inside the hive, which Tigerhead Bee had cultivated and shared with One Nest of Bees.
• The hive released a swarm of venomous bees, and Fang Qianyuan, Li Yan, and the guards fought them off.
• Wen Xianzong complained that a bee had stung his nose, which swelled and turned purple.

Fang Qianyuan discovered that the Blackwood Beehive was a grotto-heaven treasure used to breed swarms of venomous bees, and he kept it while the others divided the spoils. At camp, he considered how to handle its wild queen bee and concluded that offering the treasure to the Wen siblings might be safer and more profitable than selling it elsewhere.

• Fang Qianyuan identified the Blackwood Beehive as a treasure that housed a manifested queen bee and produced swarms for use with the Spirit Burst Art.
• Fang Qianyuan and Wen Qingfei pieced together how Tigerhead Bee had used the beehive and an Ancient Cultivator Manual to build One Nest of Bees.
• Fang Qianyuan kept the Blackwood Beehive, while Wen Qingfei divided the remaining spoils among Li Yan and the guards.
• Fang Qianyuan examined the wild queen bee at camp and considered, then dismissed, using the forbidden Spirit-Seizing Art to subdue it.
• Fang Qianyuan weighed selling the beehive or exchanging it and decided that the Wen siblings might be the best buyers.

Fang Qianyuan and Wen Qingfei negotiated a price for the Blackwood Beehive and agreed to travel together to the Flowing Cloud Grotto after the Myriad Treasures Gathering. When Wen Qingfei's Third Uncle arrived to inspect the treasure, he presented six spirit crystals for the deal.

• Fang Qianyuan and Wen Qingfei bargained over the Blackwood Beehive and settled on sixty thousand.
• Wen Qingfei sent a guard to contact her lineage, and she and Fang Qianyuan agreed to attend the Myriad Treasures Gathering and travel to the Flowing Cloud Grotto together.
• Fang Qianyuan and the others explored the Ancient Battlefield, collected local materials, and fought yakshas and malevolent spirits without suffering injuries.
• Wen Shixian arrived with a servant, inspected the Blackwood Beehive, and brought out six spirit crystals as payment.