Chapter Summaries

Liu Yu tried to buy a copy of the Huang Household's alchemy inheritance from Xie Junjie, while Yan Hongyu acted as intermediary. Xie kept pressing for a higher price, and Liu Yu finally ended the negotiation and prepared to leave.

• Xie Junjie realized Liu Yu wanted the Huang Household's pill formulas and decided to use the trade to demand more resources.
• Xie claimed he had promised an alchemist friend first access to any pill formulas he acquired, and Liu Yu recognized the excuse as a bargaining tactic.
• Liu Yu praised Xie's integrity and explained that new formulas could help him overcome a bottleneck in his alchemy arts, while assuring Xie the deal would remain secret.
• Yan Hongyu urged Liu Yu to offer more, so Liu added low-tier cultivation resources worth five hundred spirit stones to his offer.
• Xie remained dissatisfied, and Liu Yu refused to raise his offer further, concealing his anger and deciding to leave with his payment.

Liu Yu bought four unfamiliar Foundation Establishment Pill Formulas from Xie Junjie and learned the scale of the sect’s losses in the civil war. After leaving Xie Junjie and compensating Yan Hongyu, Liu Yu returned with the others to Moonwatch Immortal Fate City.

• Xie Junjie agreed to copy the Huang Household’s Foundation Establishment Pill Formulas for Liu Yu in exchange for two thousand five hundred spirit stones, provided the transaction stayed secret.
• Liu Yu examined the copied formulas, found no apparent problems, and paid Xie Junjie the agreed spirit stones.
• Yan Hongyu told Liu Yu and Xie Junjie that the war had killed thirty-five sect Foundation Establishment cultivators and nearly three thousand sect disciples, and she expected the conflict to end within several years or a little longer.
• Liu Yu and Yan Hongyu left Xie Junjie’s room, and Liu Yu gave Yan Hongyu cultivation resources worth four hundred spirit stones as her agreed reward for helping him.
• The Origin Returning Boat reached Moonwatch Immortal Fate City and descended near the city gate.

Liu Yu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators reported the destruction of the Huang Household to Elder Yan, who praised their mission and dismissed them. Afterward, Yan Hongyu invited Liu Yu to her cave abode, saying she had something concerning him to discuss.

• Liu Yu and the others returned to the City Lord's Mansion after Yue Liang took the City Guard Army back to report.
• Xie Junjie offered to treat Liu Yu to a meal, but Liu Yu politely declined, leaving Xie Junjie inwardly resentful.
• Wu Yuhan directed the returning cultivators to report to Elder Yan in the main hall.
• Li Butong and Yan Hongyu recounted how the group had exterminated the Huang Household, and Elder Yan praised their actions.
• Liu Yu concealed his cultivation from Elder Yan with the Spirit-Concealing Art and left the mansion with the others.
• Yan Hongyu stopped Liu Yu with a Divine Sense transmission and invited him to her cave abode to discuss a matter concerning him.

Liu Yu visited Yan Hongyu, explained his determination to pursue the Golden Core Dao, and shared Red Mist Spirit Tea with her. Yan Hongyu raised the prospect of a match with Yan Qun'er and asked whether a Golden Core elder had taken Liu Yu as a disciple, leaving him to wonder if she intended to offer him a patron.

• Liu Yu apologized for not visiting the Yan Household and told Yan Hongyu that he devoted himself to cultivation in hopes of reaching the Golden Core bottleneck.
• Yan Hongyu welcomed Liu Yu to her cave abode and served him rare Red Mist Spirit Tea, which eased his mind and contained docile spiritual energy.
• Yan Hongyu explained why she and Yan Qun'er's father had once kept Liu Yu apart from Qun'er, then offered to arrange for them to spend more time together.
• Liu Yu declined the possibility of a Dao companion, saying he intended to focus on the Golden Core Dao until he formed his core.
• Yan Hongyu asked whether a Golden Core elder had considered taking Liu Yu as a disciple, and Liu Yu said none had shown him favor in the fourteen years since he reached Foundation Establishment.

Liu Yu accepted Yan Hongyu’s offer to introduce him to a Golden Core elder at the Primordial Yang Sect’s Disciple-Selection Ceremony, strengthening his ties with the Yan Household. After selling the Huang Household’s low-tier resources, he returned to his cave and entered the Immortal Mansion.

• Yan Hongyu offered to introduce Liu Yu to a Golden Core elder at the upcoming Disciple-Selection Ceremony, and Liu Yu accepted her goodwill as an investment in their relationship.
• Liu Yu asked whether the ceremony would proceed despite the war, and Yan Hongyu assured him that he could attend with the Yan Household’s support.
• Liu Yu discussed cultivation questions with Yan Hongyu, then left her cave abode after she encouraged him to spend more time with Qun'er.
• Liu Yu sold the Huang Household’s remaining low-tier cultivation resources to Manager Jia at the Many Treasures Pavilion for 1,730 spirit stones.
• Liu Yu returned to his cave abode, rested, and entered the Immortal Mansion, where a dozen or so Storage Bags appeared in his arms.

Liu Yu searched the Storage Bags he had taken from the Huang Household and found a Foundation Establishment Pill, which he planned to give Jiang Qiushui on credit in exchange for her continued service and a restriction on her primordial spirit. After cultivating, he harvested a mature soul-calming grass from the Immortal Mansion and replanted its seedlings.

• Liu Yu opened Huang Yonghua’s Storage Bag, found valuable pills and a Foundation Establishment Pill, and kept the illustrated booklets he had intended to destroy.
• Liu Yu searched the remaining Storage Bags and sorted roughly five thousand Spirit Stones’ worth of low-tier cultivation resources into bags for later sale.
• Liu Yu decided to offer Jiang Qiushui the Foundation Establishment Pill on credit, with a primordial-spirit restriction as a condition, and considered Sun Ju as a possible replacement manager if she refused.
• Liu Yu swallowed an Azure Origin Pill, cultivated for six hours, and estimated that he needed about ten more years to reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.
• Liu Yu harvested the five-hundred-year-old soul-calming grass in the Immortal Mansion, replanted its five seedlings farther apart, and returned to his cave abode with the grass in a jade box.

Liu Yu tested soul-calming grass while cultivating the Divine Preservation Art and found that it reduced the strain while improving his divine sense. After weighing the high cost of his cultivation and postponing plans to profit from refining pills, he studied the Huang Household’s alchemy inheritance and discovered it was the Green Bamboo Alchemy Classic.

• Liu Yu swallowed half a stalk of soul-calming grass and used its medicinal potency to ease the pain and damage of cultivating the Divine Preservation Art.
• Liu Yu completed five circulations, found his divine sense had reached five li, and decided to limit his practice to three times a day to avoid hidden injuries.
• Liu Yu calculated that his cultivation would cost nearly nine thousand spirit stones a year and considered earning money by refining Essence-Refining Pills, but set the plan aside for now.
• Liu Yu examined the Huang Household’s alchemy inheritance and recognized that its original name was the Green Bamboo Alchemy Classic.
• Liu Yu finished studying the classic, learned its more advanced alchemy techniques and formulas, and recorded answers and new ideas in his alchemy handbook.

Liu Yu advanced his alchemy, cultivation, and divine sense during a month of secluded study, then disguised himself and went to Moonwatch City’s East Market to sell resources. After selling two portions, he entered Fine Goods Residence with the last portion and encountered an unexpected situation.

• Liu Yu studied the Green Bamboo Alchemy Classic and reviewed his physical recovery, cultivation methods, and plans to strengthen his body.
• Liu Yu followed a demanding daily routine of cultivation, study, alchemy, and tending spirit plants, increasing his divine sense over the next month.
• Liu Yu disguised his face and raised his apparent cultivation aura before leaving his Cave Abode for the East Market.
• Liu Yu sold the first two portions of low-tier cultivation resources at separate shops, earning over a thousand spirit stones from each.
• Liu Yu entered Fine Goods Residence to sell the final portion and encountered a different situation.

Liu Yu sold low-tier cultivation resources at the Fine Goods Residence and paid manager Qiu Zongxing to guarantee his entry to a secret Foundation Establishment cultivator exchange gathering. He left the East Market still searching unsuccessfully for more pill formulas and body cultivation techniques.

• Liu Yu met Qiu Zongxing at the Fine Goods Residence and sold him cultivation resources for 1,600 spirit stones.
• Liu Yu asked Qiu Zongxing about Foundation Establishment pill formulas, and Qiu Zongxing said the shop had none for sale.
• Liu Yu paid Qiu Zongxing 200 spirit stones to guarantee his entry to a secret exchange gathering scheduled for seven days later.
• Liu Yu left the shop and spent eight to ten hours searching East Market shops for pill formulas and body cultivation techniques, but found nothing.

Liu Yu searched the East Market for a suitable body cultivation method but found none, then refined Essence-Refining Pills to prepare for an exchange gathering. He met Qiu Zongxing at the East Market and reached the Wu Family Inn, where he asked the host, Fellow Daoist Wu, for permission to attend.

• Liu Yu failed to find a complete, useful body cultivation method in the East Market and decided he might have to seek one through the Primordial Yang Sect.
• Liu Yu refined thirty batches of ingredients using the Green Bamboo Alchemy Classic, producing seventy-five Essence-Refining Pills as trading goods.
• Liu Yu spent the day before the gathering cultivating, then reapplied his disguise and took a roundabout route to the East Market.
• Liu Yu met Qiu Zongxing at the East Market entrance, and the two traveled to the Wu Family Inn in the west of the city.
• Qiu Zongxing introduced Liu Yu, disguised as Hong Hao, to Fellow Daoist Wu, and Liu Yu requested entry to the exchange gathering.

Liu Yu attended the Wu Household’s masked exchange in Moonwatch City, where the Purpleheart Barrier-Breaking Pill was traded after competitive bidding. Unable to afford the treasures on offer, he decided to target Zhou Zunfa and hoped to track him after he left the city.

• Liu Yu bought a white mask from the elderly man surnamed Wu and entered the exchange with Qiu Zongxing.
• Wu Weiguang opened the exchange and presented a Purpleheart Barrier-Breaking Pill in return for rare cultivation treasures.
• Zhou Zunfa and a ghost-masked cultivator competed for the pill, and Zhou won it after offering silver essence and eleven hundred spirit stones.
• Liu Yu decided he would try to take the pill from Zhou Zunfa after he left Moonwatch City.

Liu Yu watched the exchange gathering and acquired several second-tier spiritual herbs before examining a demon beast egg that Qiu Zongxing identified as a Heavenfrost Eagle. The yellow-faced cultivator offered the rare egg in exchange for a core-formation treasure, and the gathering ended this excerpt with a new offer of two complementary spiritual treasures.

• Liu Yu observed the exchanges and successfully obtained several second-tier spiritual herbs with intact roots.
• The yellow-faced cultivator presented a demon beast egg, and Liu Yu sensed that it was alive but could not identify it.
• Qiu Zongxing recognized the egg as a Heavenfrost Eagle, prompting Liu Yu and the other cultivators to regard the yellow-faced cultivator with caution.
• The yellow-faced cultivator asked to trade the Heavenfrost Eagle egg for a Golden Core Condensation Pill or another treasure that aided core formation.
• Wu Weiguang offered Ice-Fire Spirit Liquid for the egg, but another cultivator countered with Profound Light Cold Liquid and a drop of three yang essence.

At a Moonwatch City exchange gathering, Liu Yu sought pill formulas or a suitable body cultivation technique in return for his pills. He obtained a Spirit-Nourishing Pill formula from the Yellow-Skirt Female Cultivator by bargaining, completing the exchange for five bottles of pills and two hundred spirit stones.

• The Yellow-Skirt Female Cultivator exchanged two jade bottles of Golden Core-forming spiritual substances for the yellow-faced cultivator’s Heavenfrost Eagle egg, while Wu Weiguang’s offer went unanswered.
• Liu Yu offered two bottles of Azure Origin Pills and three bottles of Essence-Refining Pills for Foundation Establishment cultivation formulas or a complete body cultivation technique, but rejected several incomplete techniques.
• The Yellow-Skirt Female Cultivator offered Liu Yu a pill formula, and he recognized it as the Spirit-Nourishing Pill formula, which could increase divine sense.
• Liu Yu argued that the formula’s rare ingredients and limitations reduced its value, and he and the Yellow-Skirt Female Cultivator settled on five bottles of pills plus two hundred spirit stones.
• Both cultivators verified the exchange, and Liu Yu obtained the Spirit-Nourishing Pill formula.

Liu Yu tried to track down the cultivator surnamed Zhou and seize the Purpleheart Barrier-Breaking Pill, but his hidden mark vanished before he could act. He returned to cultivation, acquired the Spirit-Nourishing Pill formula and began preparing to refine it; three years later, another sect assignment arrived.

• After the exchange gathering ended, Liu Yu secretly marked the cultivator surnamed Zhou, who had obtained the Purpleheart Barrier-Breaking Pill, and followed him through the tracking technique.
• Liu Yu waited in central Moonwatch City while Zhou moved around the city, but the mark vanished, so Liu Yu abandoned the pursuit and returned to his Cave Abode.
• Liu Yu reviewed the exchange gathering and studied the Spirit-Nourishing Pill formula, discovering that the Immortal Mansion held seeds for all its required spirit herbs.
• Liu Yu planted the seeds, practiced the Azure Yang Art and Divine Preservation Art, and refined Azure Origin Pills to master a new Alchemy Technique before attempting the Spirit-Nourishing Pill.
• Three years passed, and Liu Yu was running through a forest when another sect assignment arrived.

Liu Yu joined Zhou Zhuofeng and other Primordial Yang Sect cultivators in a night raid on the Hehuan Sect’s Amethyst Mine. After the mine’s sentries discovered them, the attackers rushed the site and battered its barrier, which still held as the defenders tried to restore its power.

• Liu Yu assessed the mission force and recognized Zhou Zhuofeng as its strongest cultivator and appointed leader.
• Zhou Zhuofeng ordered the group to hide near the Amethyst Mine and wait until the hour of the rat to attack.
• The Primordial Yang Sect cultivators advanced through the darkness, eliminating concealed Hehuan Sect sentries along the way.
• Lookouts spotted the attackers and sent warnings, so Zhou Zhuofeng ordered fifteen disciples to clear the sentries while the others charged the mine.
• Liu Yu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators struck the formation before it fully recovered, forcing a defender to spend blood essence to sustain it.
• The attackers intensified their bombardment of the formation while the Hehuan Sect defenders held out for reinforcements.

Liu Yu and the Primordial Yang Sect cultivators attacked the Hehuan Sect’s formation protecting the Amethyst Mine, but the defenders reinforced it before the breach could be widened. The battle continued with the formation still intact and Liu Yu’s Pink Seal badly damaged.

• Liu Yu and seven Primordial Yang Sect Foundation Establishment cultivators launched a coordinated assault on the red barrier while Hehuan Sect disciples fought back with spells, artifacts, and talismans.
• The alluring woman reinforced the formation with blood essence and used three Foundation Establishment talismans to intercept the attackers, damaging Liu Yu’s Pink Seal and disabling another cultivator’s Yellow Flying Sword.
• Seven top-grade magical artifacts and the palace-robed woman’s Green Hairpin struck the barrier, opening a small breach before the hairpin lost momentum and withdrew.
• The alluring woman’s three arriving fellow disciples joined the defense, and six Foundation Establishment cultivators reorganized to control the formation and intercept attacks.
• Liu Yu put away his damaged Pink Seal, brought out his Golden Steel Banner and Gleaming Gold Bow, and joined the next assault with a Golden Wind Dispersal Talisman.
• The Hehuan Sect defenders strengthened the formation, darkening the barrier and firing red beams at the attackers as the next wave struck.

Liu Yu and the Primordial Yang Sect cultivators assaulted the Hehuan Sect’s mine, but Zhou Zhuofeng held back while studying its formation. He finally unleashed Divine Firmament Raging Thunder, and nine bolts struck the barrier, leaving the outcome unresolved.

• Liu Yu attacked the mine’s formation while keeping his strength concealed, and Zhou Zhuofeng arrived with more than fifty Qi Refining Period disciples.
• Zhou Zhuofeng ordered the disciples to divide into six groups and focus their attacks on two points of the barrier.
• As the assault continued and Liu Yu grew suspicious of Zhou Zhuofeng’s delay, Zhou Zhuofeng raised a purple shield and began casting a powerful lightning spell.
• Three Hehuan Sect cultivators used talismans to try to interrupt Zhou Zhuofeng, but his shield blocked their spells.
• The Hehuan Sect’s voluptuous female cultivator sent two Black Bird Flame Talismans toward the thundercloud, but the Palace-Robed Female Cultivator’s Green Hairpin stopped them.
• Zhou Zhuofeng completed Divine Firmament Raging Thunder, and nine bolts of deep-blue lightning struck the center of the formation’s barrier.

Zhou Zhuofeng’s Divine Firmament Raging Thunder crippled and then destroyed the Hehuan Sect mine’s formation, allowing the Primordial Yang Sect to storm the mine. As the Hehuan Sect cultivators fled, Zhou Zhuofeng pursued the injured female cultivator in charge, while Liu Yu joined the hunt for the remaining enemies.

• Zhou Zhuofeng’s Divine Firmament Raging Thunder pierced the crimson barrier, severely damaging the formation and weakening its controllers.
• Liu Yu recognized the enormous gap between his strength and Zhou Zhuofeng’s, while Zhou recovered from casting the powerful spell.
• The Primordial Yang Sect’s combined assault shattered the mine’s formation, and its cultivators charged inside.
• The Hehuan Sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivators and many Qi Refining disciples fled as the miners scattered in panic.
• Zhou Zhuofeng ordered Liu Yu and the others to handle the remaining cultivators, then pursued the injured female cultivator in charge.

Liu Yu and Yao Yunsong pursued an injured Hehuan Sect cultivator, refusing his offers of payment and gradually overpowering him. When the pink-robed man unleashed a desperate secret art and charged at Yao Yunsong, Liu Yu weighed whether to intervene or let the two weaken or kill each other.

• Liu Yu and Yao Yunsong chased the wounded pink-robed Hehuan Sect cultivator toward Skyvault City, ignoring his offers of firefly amethyst and spirit stones.
• Liu Yu used the Gleaming Gold Bow to slow the fleeing man, while Yao Yunsong attacked with a Yellow Flying Sword and spells.
• Liu Yu and Yao Yunsong forced the pink-robed man to land and pressed him with their magical artifacts.
• The pink-robed man activated two talismans, fed blood essence to his artifacts, and unleashed a desperate secret art before charging at Yao Yunsong.
• Liu Yu considered whether to help Yao Yunsong or let the opponents injure or kill each other for his advantage.

Liu Yu allowed Yao Yunsong to die, then killed the pink-robed Hehuan Sect cultivator and took both men's possessions. He returned to the Amethyst Mine, reported Yao Yunsong's death as a failed rescue, and joined Zhou Zhuofeng's plan to destroy the mine passages.

• Liu Yu withheld help while Yao Yunsong fought the pink-robed man, and three Yin Thunder Pearls struck Yao Yunsong and left him badly injured.
• The pink-robed man killed Yao Yunsong with his Pink Folding Fan, and Liu Yu unleashed his strongest artifacts and Spirit-Shocking Thorn against him.
• Liu Yu killed the pink-robed man, collected both men's storage bags, concealed the evidence, and flew back to the Amethyst Mine.
• Liu Yu told Zhou Zhuofeng that Yao Yunsong had died after the enemy struck while Liu Yu was held up, then handed over Yao Yunsong's storage bag.
• Zhou Zhuofeng accepted Liu Yu's account and ordered the Foundation Establishment cultivators and Qi Refining disciples to destroy as many mine passages as possible.