Chapter Summaries

Liu Yu hesitated to accept Zhang Tao’s request to take Zhang Yi away from the dangers facing the Zhang Household, but changed his mind after learning the boy had a fire-attribute heavenly spiritual root and seeing the offered pill formulas. He began discussing conditions for accepting Zhang Yi as his personal disciple.

• Zhang Tao revealed Zhang Yi, his young descendant, and explained that he wanted Liu Yu to take the boy somewhere safe in case the Zhang Household’s uprising failed.
• Liu Yu refused, arguing that other cultivators would make more suitable guardians and that he did not want to take on a burden.
• Zhang Tao revealed that Zhang Yi possessed a fire-attribute heavenly spiritual root and urged Liu Yu to accept him as a personal disciple.
• Zhang Tao offered three third-tier cultivation-advancing pill formulas as an apprenticeship gift, and Liu Yu reconsidered.
• Liu Yu agreed in principle to take Zhang Yi as his disciple and privately stated his conditions to Zhang Tao.

Liu Yu accepted the third-grade Impermanence Heart Flame as Zhang Yi’s apprenticeship gift, then formally took Zhang Yi as his Personal Disciple. After the ceremony, Liu Yu agreed to travel with the Zhang Household’s party to Great Qian’s Divine Capital.

• Zhang Tao gave Liu Yu the Impermanence Heart Flame, and Liu Yu resisted its power to magnify emotions before identifying how it affected him.
• Zhang Tao explained the flame’s properties, and Liu Yu accepted it along with the three pill formulas and agreed to teach Zhang Yi.
• Zhang Yi completed the apprenticeship ceremony, offered Liu Yu tea, and heard the rules for his new school.
• Zhang Tao invited Liu Yu to travel with the Zhang Household’s party to the Divine Capital, and Liu Yu accepted.
• Liu Yu left with Zhang Tao and Zhang Yi, gently patting his new disciple’s head as they went.

Liu Yu and the others left Lingwu City with the surviving cultivators, heading to the Ling Province border to escape the Annam Six Provinces. They reached the Thousand Mountains Spirit-Locking Formation, where Liu Yu began examining the barrier for a way through.

• Liu Yu introduced Zhang Yi to Zhuo Mengzhen as his newly accepted personal disciple, while Zhang Yi privately wondered about their relationship.
• Zhang Tao explained that the Zhang Household could open a temporary breach in the border formation now that the Nine-Gate Heavenly Demon Formation had been destroyed.
• Zhang Tao led the waiting cultivators out of Lingwu City, and Liu Yu carried Zhang Yi along in his escape light.
• Zhang Tao told Liu Yu that the fifth-tier Thousand Mountains Spirit-Locking Formation blocked the sky and underground, while the Astral Wind Layer route was too dangerous to cross unnoticed.
• Liu Yu brought Zhuo Mengzhen and Zhang Yi down near the border and examined the formation with his divine sense.

Liu Yu and the other cultivators watched the Zhang Household’s six Nascent Soul True Lords break open the Thousand Mountains Spirit-Locking Formation, allowing the trapped cultivators to escape the Annam Six Provinces. After Zhang Tao departed and left Zhang Yi with Liu Yu, the freed cultivators began separating to face their uncertain futures.

• Liu Yu, Zhuo Mengzhen, Zhang Yi, and the other cultivators gathered before the formation as Zhang Tao summoned True Lord Tianling and five other Zhang Household elders.
• Guided by Zhang Tao to a weak point, the six Nascent Soul True Lords attacked until they opened a breach in the formation and held it open for the cultivators to pass through.
• The trapped cultivators crossed the breach, vented their relief and grief, and reflected on how their ordeals would continue to shape their lives.
• Zhang Tao told Liu Yu that the Zhang Household had arranged a route to the Divine Capital, entrusted Zhang Yi to his instruction, and then departed, leaving Zhang Yi grieving.
• Liu Yu advised Zhang Yi to cultivate diligently and learn to stand on his own; Zhang Yi gradually regained his composure as the freed cultivators began bidding one another farewell and leaving.

As the Zhang Household gathered its forces, Liu Yu spoke with Guo Poyun, who revealed his involvement in a rogue cultivator organization and invited Liu Yu to join. Liu Yu declined for now and set out with Zhang Ziping, Zhuo Mengzhen, and Zhang Yi for the Divine Capital of Great Qian.

• Ten Nascent Soul True Lords and roughly two hundred Golden Core Cultivators arrived to join the Zhang Household's operation.
• Guo Poyun greeted Liu Yu, and the two discussed their mission payment and the dangers they had survived in the Annam Six Provinces.
• Guo Poyun condemned the Central Region's powerful factions for monopolizing resources and invited Liu Yu to join his rogue cultivator organization.
• Liu Yu declined for the present, saying he planned to enter secluded cultivation, while leaving open the possibility of joining later.
• Guo Poyun exchanged Communication Jade Token numbers with Liu Yu, then departed for Cloud Province.
• Zhang Ziping called Liu Yu to leave, and Liu Yu departed with Zhuo Mengzhen and Zhang Yi for the Divine Capital.

After leaving Lingwu City, Liu Yu and the Zhang Household group traveled through Demon-Suppressing City and crossed the Central Region by teleportation formations. They reached the Divine Continent near the Divine Capital, where Liu Yu recognized the journey as a new beginning.

• Liu Yu flew away from Ling Province with Zhuo Mengzhen, Zhang Yi, Zhang Ziping, and the others, while Zhang Yi looked back toward his great-grandfather.
• The group reached Demon-Suppressing City, where Zhang Ziping used the Zhang Household’s connections to secure their entry and arrange onward travel.
• Liu Yu observed the Central Region’s fortified city, cultivators, and richer spiritual energy as the group traveled by teleportation formations across its provinces.
• The group reached Xuanyuan Immortal City on the edge of the Divine Continent, and Zhang Ziping reflected on leaving the Annam Six Provinces before the coming war.
• Liu Yu carried the still-dizzy Zhang Yi out of the teleportation formation and looked ahead to the Divine Capital as a new beginning.

Liu Yu and the Zhang Household party arrived in Great Qian’s Divine Capital and saw how common Golden Core cultivators were among its powerful residents. Before their audience with the Qian Emperor, Liu Yu decided to conceal his Southern Heaven origins and let Zhang Ziping report the Annam Six Provinces’ news, leaving Liu Yu’s mission and future safety unresolved.

• Zhang Ziping led Liu Yu and the others through successive teleportations to the Divine Capital, where Liu Yu saw Nascent Soul cultivators and learned that flight was restricted to powerful or specially authorized people.
• The group traveled through the Divine Capital to the Great Qian Imperial Palace, where Zhang Ziping presented the Zhang Household’s Token and secured permission to enter.
• At Triumph Gate, Liu Yu asked Zhang Ziping for a private accommodation, then chose to keep his Southern Heaven identity secret and wait for a chance to pass the Seven Kingdoms Alliance’s information to the Great Qian Court.
• Zhang Ziping and Liu Yu entered Zichen Hall before the gathered Nascent Soul True Lords and the Spirit Transformation ruler, while Zhang Yi, Zhuo Mengzhen, and the other Zhang Household cultivators remained at Triumph Gate.
• Zhang Ziping bowed before the Qian Emperor and began reporting the news concerning the Annam Six Provinces.

After leaving the Great Qian palace, Liu Yu and Zhuo Mengzhen accepted Zhang Ziping’s offer to stay at his residence while they learned more about Divine Capital. There, Liu Yu began merging the Impermanence Heart Flame’s origin into the Azure Yang Demonic Flame, and the original flame ultimately dispersed.

• Liu Yu and Zhuo Mengzhen agreed not to reveal their Southern Heaven information directly and left the Great Qian Imperial Palace with Zhang Ziping and the others.
• Zhang Ziping invited Liu Yu and Zhuo Mengzhen to stay at his residence, and they accepted before settling in for two days of rest.
• Liu Yu opened the sealed Jade Box and tested the Impermanence Heart Flame’s ability to magnify desire, suppressing its influence with his will.
• Liu Yu used the Nine Demonic Flame Transformations to weaken the Impermanence Heart Flame and extract its origin despite its fierce resistance.
• Liu Yu joined the Impermanence Heart Flame’s origin with the Azure Yang Demonic Flame, while the depleted white flame dissolved into sparks of spiritual energy.

Liu Yu advanced the Azure Yang Demonic Flame to third grade, examined several pill formulas, and made plans to gather ingredients and spirit stones in the Divine Capital. He continued cultivating and guiding Zhang Yi as two years passed.

• Liu Yu sensed that advancing the Azure Yang Demonic Flame to fourth grade would require 120,000 units of fuel, then tested its strengthened traits.
• Liu Yu studied the Essence Refining Pill, Origin-Congealing Pill, and Azure Nether Pill formulas and found that the Essence Refining Pill's ingredients were easiest to gather from the Immortal Mansion.
• Liu Yu decided against relying on the Zhang Household and planned to exchange pills for spirit stones in the Divine Capital, prioritizing ingredients for the Essence Refining Pill.
• Liu Yu cultivated the Astral True Form and resolved to buy a treasure-grade magical robe when he had more money.
• Liu Yu kept a low profile in the Divine Capital, observed its prices and rules, and guided Zhang Yi's cultivation as two years passed.

Two years after arriving in the Divine Capital, Liu Yu had built a profitable pill-refining business and steadily advanced his cultivation, but still had no lead on the continuation of his Azure Yang Art. After mentoring Zhang Yi, he received Guo Poyun’s message describing the recovery of Ling Province and urging him to join an organization.

• Liu Yu refined seven Essence Refining Pills with his Azure Pill Cauldron and reflected on how selling pills had helped him accumulate five hundred thousand spirit stones and gather herbs for several pill recipes.
• Liu Yu considered moving out of the Zhang Household and worried that he had made no progress finding the continuation of the Azure Yang Art.
• Zhang Yi asked Liu Yu about a delay in casting the Fire Dragon Technique, and Liu Yu explained that his magic power was not sufficiently condensed at the outset.
• Liu Yu dismissed Zhang Yi after answering most of his questions, deliberately leaving some for the boy to work through on his own.
• Liu Yu read Guo Poyun’s message reporting that Qian Court reinforcements and the Zhang Family Spirit Transformation ancestor had helped repel the Fire Phoenix Clan’s Demon Emperor, allowing Ling Province to reclaim more than half its territory.
• Guo Poyun urged Liu Yu to join his organization, saying the Divine Capital was no place to stay for long.

Liu Yu kept Guo Poyun as an information contact, sparred with Zhang Ziping, and accepted his invitation to the Consort Snow Pavilion. There, Liu Yu and Zhang Ziping watched a rogue cultivator lose his partner to a more powerful senior before their own entertainment arrived.

• Liu Yu replied to Guo Poyun that he would focus on cultivation for now but wanted to hear more about the Central Region.
• Zhuo Mengzhen told Liu Yu that Zhang Ziping was waiting in the Martial Arena, where Liu Yu defeated him in a sparring match.
• Zhang Ziping invited Liu Yu to the Consort Snow Pavilion, and Liu Yu agreed despite Zhuo Mengzhen’s displeasure.
• At the pavilion, Liu Yu and Zhang Ziping saw a white-robed female cultivator leave Xinghe to become Senior Liu’s concubine, while the pavilion’s enforcers dragged Xinghe outside.
• Liu Yu and Zhang Ziping discussed the breakup over food and wine, and the female cultivators arranged to entertain them finally arrived.

Liu Yu accompanied Zhang Ziping to the Consort Snow Pavilion, but refused to pursue the entertainers and left to preserve his relationship with Zhuo Mengzhen. On his way back through the Divine Capital, he reflected on how its grandeur left most cultivators feeling like insignificant outsiders.

• Zhang Ziping and Liu Yu chose female entertainers at the Consort Snow Pavilion and enjoyed the music, dancing, and food.
• Zhang Ziping, aroused by the entertainers, took two women into a side chamber while Liu Yu remained with his companions.
• Liu Yu stopped the entertainers from becoming too intimate, thinking of Zhuo Mengzhen and the value of keeping their relationship intact.
• Liu Yu dismissed the entertainers, left instructions for Zhang Ziping, and departed the Consort Snow Pavilion.
• Liu Yu walked through the Divine Capital at dusk and reflected that its cultivators seemed like insignificant passersby in a city that was not his home.

Liu Yu agreed to make Zhuo Mengzhen his fourth concubine after she demanded clarity about their relationship, then attended a gathering in Divine Capital and decided the city’s restrictions made it unsuitable for him. He planned to leave once he gathered the spirit herbs needed for three pills.

• Liu Yu returned to his residence, where he found Zhang Yi diligently cultivating and went to Zhuo Mengzhen’s room.
• Zhuo Mengzhen confronted Liu Yu about the scents of cosmetics on him, and he reassured her that nothing had happened with the brothel cultivators.
• Zhuo Mengzhen asked what their relationship meant, and Liu Yu named her his fourth concubine while refusing to make her his Dao companion.
• Liu Yu attended a gathering at Zhang Ziping’s urging but declined to socialize with the powerful young cultivators there.
• After recalling how Chu had overcome others’ contempt through strength, Liu Yu decided to leave Divine Capital once he gathered the herbs for the Origin-Congealing Pill, Azure Nether Pill, and Soul-Congealing Pill.

Liu Yu continued gathering rare spirit herbs and cultivating in the Divine Capital, then learned that the Fire Phoenix Clan had used the Nirvana Sea of Fire to devastate Ling Province and that the Zhang Household's Spirit Transformation ancestor had disappeared. Fearing the Zhang Household would face a reckoning, Liu Yu warned Zhang Ziping and ordered Zhuo Mengzhen and Zhang Yi to prepare to leave the Divine Capital.

• Liu Yu returned to his residence with spirit herbs and reflected on his pill-making profits, cultivation progress, and preparations to leave the Divine Capital.
• Guo Poyun sent Liu Yu a grave report that the demon race had routed the allied army at Lingwu City with the Nirvana Sea of Fire, while the Zhang Household's Spirit Transformation ancestor had disappeared.
• Liu Yu suspected human factions had contributed to the Zhang Household's defeat and concluded that remaining at its residence could put him in danger.
• Liu Yu recognized that he had gathered the herbs for Origin-Congealing Pills and Azure Nether Pills, though he still lacked half the ingredients for Soul-Congealing Pills and had no lead on the continuation of the Azure Yang Art.
• Liu Yu sent Zhang Ziping urgent warnings, then summoned Zhuo Mengzhen and Zhang Yi and ordered them to pack up and leave the Divine Capital immediately.

After learning that the Zhang Household had been devastated, Liu Yu hurriedly took Zhuo Mengzhen and Zhang Yi out of the Divine Capital. He arranged their departure through the teleportation hall and sent them toward Jiang Province, determined to seek power and allies beyond Great Qian’s control.

• Liu Yu ordered Zhuo Mengzhen and Zhang Yi to pack, checked their residence for anything bearing their auras, and left with them.
• Liu Yu told Zhuo Mengzhen that the Zhang Household had suffered a devastating blow in the Annam Six Provinces, while he withheld the details from Zhang Yi.
• Liu Yu used his connections at the teleportation hall to obtain three Teleportation Talismans for a trip to Jiang Province.
• Liu Yu rejected serving the Qian Court, remaining a lone rogue cultivator, or joining a major power as a Guest Elder, and resolved to join a rogue cultivator organization.
• Liu Yu, Zhuo Mengzhen, and Zhang Yi departed the Divine Capital on the teleportation formation bound for Jiang Province.

Liu Yu arrived in Jiang Province with Zhuo Mengzhen and Zhang Yi, settled in Xunyang City, and waited before contacting Guo Poyun’s rogue cultivator organization. When Guo renewed his invitation, Liu Yu asked what organization stood behind him, leaving their negotiations unresolved.

• Liu Yu brought Zhuo Mengzhen and Zhang Yi to Xunyang City and rented a third-tier middle-grade residence at the Ethereal Abode.
• Liu Yu spent four years in Xunyang City before meeting Guo Poyun to discuss joining his organization.
• Guo Poyun urged Liu Yu to join, describing the hardships rogue cultivators faced and the organization’s goal of changing the world’s order.
• Liu Yu said he agreed with the organization’s ideals but wanted better prospects for his cultivation before joining.
• Liu Yu asked Guo Poyun to reveal the identity of the organization behind him, and Guo left after their lengthy discussion without the chapter disclosing his answer.

Liu Yu evaluated the Cloth-Clad Alliance’s offer and learned that its public moderation concealed radical goals. After Guo Poyun delivered the requested spirit herbs and explained the alliance’s position, Liu Yu accepted the invitation to join.

• Liu Yu discussed the Cloth-Clad Alliance’s offer with Zhuo Mengzhen and considered its resources, factions, and political stance.
• Half a month later, Guo Poyun returned with sixteen third-tier spirit herbs Liu Yu had requested, and Liu Yu paid him for them.
• Guo Poyun said the alliance would grant Liu Yu a Nascent Soul Realm divine sense cultivation technique after he joined and completed a mission.
• Liu Yu asked whether the Cloth-Clad Alliance was truly moderate, and Guo Poyun explained that its core members were radicals who hid their aims to avoid suppression.
• Liu Yu accepted the invitation, and Guo Poyun celebrated their new alliance and raised a cup of spirit tea.

Liu Yu planted the herbs needed for Soul-Congealing Pills in the Immortal Mansion and prepared to wait for them to mature. He then joined the Cloth-Clad Alliance at its induction ceremony and received a red membership ring.

• Liu Yu received sixteen spirit herbs from Guo Poyun and learned that the Alliance induction ceremony and his first assignment would soon follow.
• Liu Yu planted the herbs in the Immortal Mansion's Red Spirit Field, used spirit stones to accelerate their growth, and estimated how long the millennium herbs would take to mature.
• Liu Yu traveled with Guo Poyun to Ten Thousand Immortals Mountain, where dozens of rogue cultivators gathered for the Alliance's induction ceremony.
• True Lord Qingshui explained the Alliance's rules, and Liu Yu and the other recruits swore their oaths and submitted personal information and a drop of blood.
• Liu Yu received a red ring bearing a tiny sword as his token of core membership in the Cloth-Clad Alliance.

Liu Yu joined the Cloth-Clad Alliance, received a Red Ring that could identify and track him, and learned of True Lord Qingshui’s standing among rogue cultivators. He returned to Xunyang City to improve his pill refining while waiting for his first assignment, until a message arrived a month and a half later.

• Liu Yu accepted the Cloth-Clad Alliance’s Red Ring and considered how the Ruined Sword could sever the blood-based tracking connection.
• True Lord Qingshui welcomed the new members with an impassioned speech, and Guo Poyun told Liu Yu about Qingshui’s service to the alliance and a rumored link to Divine Lord Nine Dragons.
• Liu Yu left the ceremony wondering whether rogue cultivator organizations such as the Cloth-Clad Alliance, Purple Turban Army, and Black Dragon Society were connected.
• Liu Yu returned to his cave abode in Xunyang City and spent a month and a half refining pills to improve his mastery and prepare to make the Soul-Congealing Pill.
• A Communication Jade Token stirred while Liu Yu was refining pills, interrupting his work.

Liu Yu received a secret mission to kill Qian Court cultivators and recover the fourth-tier Misty Stone, then spotted a well-guarded woman leaving Jiangzhou City after the Black Sky Auction. He followed her south, setting the mission’s encounter in motion.

• Liu Yu failed to refine the Soul-Congealing Pill, reviewed the setback, and read a Cloth-Clad Alliance order assigning him to kill Qian Court cultivators and retrieve the Misty Stone.
• Liu Yu concluded that killing every target would give him the best chance of securing the Misty Stone, then went to cultivate before carrying out the mission.
• The decennial Black Sky Auction ended in Jiangzhou City, and an azure-dressed woman left with four Golden Core guards after refusing to return by teleportation formation.
• The woman flew south of the city to meet the Jiang Family’s legitimate daughter, while Liu Yu watched her depart from a teahouse.
• Liu Yu left the teahouse and followed the woman and her guards south.