Chapter Summaries

Lin Changheng exchanged messages with Talisman Master He and planned his trip to Jade Capital Mountain before the nearby secret realm opened, then seized an opportunity to break through to the Foundation Establishment middle stage. After stabilizing his cultivation and emerging from seclusion, he learned that Mo Zhaoli had written again and Deng Changsheng had returned from the Beast Tide Frontier.

• Lü Tong brought Lin Changheng Talisman Master He's invitation to Jade Capital Mountain and gave him a route map.
• Lin Changheng planned to visit Jade Capital Mountain before the secret realm opened, while deciding to trade with its participants rather than enter it.
• Lin Changheng sensed an opportunity to advance, entered seclusion, and used Ice Pool Jade Spring and Azure Spirit Milk to break through to the Foundation Establishment middle stage.
• Lin Changheng discovered his spiritual sense could reach nearly four hundred zhang after his breakthrough.
• After a month of seclusion, Lin Changheng emerged, and Yan Mingyi told him that Mo Zhaoli had written and Deng Changsheng had returned from the Beast Tide Frontier.

Lin Changheng received Mo Zhaoli’s news that she had reached the Foundation Establishment middle stage and that a spirit-beast deal had fallen through. He refined new talents from the Deep Lake Spirit Clam and Black-Armored Earth Turtle, tested his improved abilities, and continued strengthening his spiritual roots.

• Yan Mingyi gave Lin Changheng Mo Zhaoli’s letter and a message talisman for Deng Changsheng, whom Lin summoned to meet the next day.
• Lin read that Mo Zhaoli had reached the Foundation Establishment middle stage, while the sect senior she had negotiated with sold the Mountain and Marsh Spirit to someone else; Lin wrote back to congratulate and reassure her.
• Yan Mingyi gave Lin the essence blood collected from the Deep Lake Spirit Clam and Black-Armored Earth Turtle, and Lin used it to refine the clam’s Spirit-Nurturing Art and the turtle’s Earth Control talent.
• Lin tested Earth Control by raising and hardening walls, shaping soil into traps, and forming a stone spear; the talent also improved his Earth Escape Demonic Art.
• Lin noted that Bai Hengwan’s contributions had advanced the Azure Rain Mist Toad Treasure Seed to Threefold and let him refine Illusion Otherworldly Art: Clarity, which could affect seasoned Foundation Establishment middle-stage cultivators.
• Lin’s spiritual-root resonance stood at forty-four strands for fire, twenty-seven for wood, eighteen for earth, twelve for water, and ten for metal.

Lin Changheng received the Three-Legged Fire Civet essence blood Deng Changsheng had procured and rewarded him for his work. He then attended Luo’s Treasure Exchange Gathering, where he suspected Bai Hengwan’s senior sister had exposed his Spirit-Communing Pill connection, and the gathering was about to begin.

• Deng Changsheng delivered twelve hundred portions of Three-Legged Fire Civet essence blood and information about the demon beast to Lin Changheng.
• Lin Changheng praised Deng Changsheng and rewarded him with three bottles of elixirs.
• Lin Changheng went to Luo’s Cave Abode for a Treasure Exchange Gathering, where the Foundation Establishment cultivators greeted him as a renowned pill master.
• Lin Changheng reasoned that Bai Hengwan’s senior sister had likely revealed his role in the Spirit-Communing Pill and resolved to stay alert.
• Luo welcomed the guests and explained that the gathering would let them exchange treasures before the proceedings began.

Lin Changheng attended the Treasure Exchange Gathering, where cultivators traded rare materials and treasures. He exchanged a Pill Formula for Lightning-Struck Grass suited to his body-tempering method, leaving with a valuable aid to strengthen his body.

• Scholar Luo opened the gathering by presenting three treasures, and Lin Changheng watched without making an offer.
• An elderly cultivator offered Bintie Iron for a rare spirit herb, a Premium Foundation Establishment Pill, or Foundation Establishment Spirit Treasures, but no one accepted his terms.
• Lin Changheng exchanged a rare Pill Formula for a cultivator’s Lightning-Struck Grass.
• Lin Changheng sealed away the Lightning-Struck Grass, recognizing it as an ideal aid for tempering his body with lightning.

After the Treasure Exchange Gathering, Lin Changheng returned home shaken by a hidden cultivator’s surveillance and resolved to strengthen his body and defenses. He began assimilating the Three-Legged Fire Civet’s Fire Resistance talent, reaching Transcendent Mastery as its effects continued to deepen.

• The scholarly cultivator surnamed Luo concluded the gathering and announced that he would host it every five years.
• Lin Changheng exchanged courtesies with the guests, then accepted the ink-black-robed cultivator’s request to visit him the next day.
• A concealed gaze followed Lin Changheng outside, prompting him to prepare for an attack before the watcher withdrew.
• Back at his residence, Lin Changheng decided to pursue a Body Tempering breakthrough and strengthen his defenses against higher-stage cultivators.
• Lin Changheng used the Three-Legged Fire Civet essence blood to create and assimilate five treasure seeds, choosing Fire Resistance over Spirit Scent and Berserk.
• Lin Changheng reached Transcendent Mastery in the Fire Resistance Art and felt its gentle power spread throughout his body.

Lin Changheng completed the Three-Legged Fire Civet bloodline transformation, greatly strengthening his innate fire resistance, then used lightning-struck grass to begin tempering his body and loosening a breakthrough bottleneck. A letter from Tantai Feiyue brought news of the Xu Family, including Xu Fugui’s son’s death, which explained why Fugui had stopped writing.

• Lin Changheng completed the Three-Legged Fire Civet transformation and gained an instinctive ability to resist, guide, and absorb fire attacks.
• Lin Changheng began using lightning-struck grass to temper his body, drawing on the Glorious Life Divine Ability to heal lightning damage and loosen his bottleneck.
• Lin Changheng left seclusion the next morning, expecting a visitor, but received a letter from Tantai Feiyue instead.
• Tantai Feiyue wrote that she had struggled to advance to Foundation Establishment Third Layer, while Xu Hanji had reached the Second Layer faster.
• Tantai Feiyue reported that the Xu Family had transferred its secret-realm slot to a trusted rogue cultivator rather than enter the realm themselves.
• Tantai Feiyue told Lin Changheng that Xu Fugui’s fifth son had died by suicide after a magical duel injury destroyed his cultivation prospects, explaining Fugui’s silence.

Lin Changheng exchanged a Premium Foundation Establishment Pill for Zhang Shouyi’s bintie iron and Treasure Artifact Embryo refining method, then received a cryptic warning to stay in the Immortal City’s Outer Lake. After a month of seclusion, Yan Mingyi reached the Qi Refining ninth layer while Lin Changheng launched an assault on his body-tempering bottleneck with Lightning-Struck Grass.

• Lin Changheng learned that Xu Wufang had sacrificed his Dao path to give resources to his younger sister, while the Huang Household had grown defensive amid rumors that Huang Jiuyuan was near death.
• Zhang Shouyi visited Lin Changheng and traded a piece of bintie iron and a Treasure Artifact Embryo refining method for Lin Changheng’s Premium Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Zhang Shouyi warned Lin Changheng not to leave the Immortal City’s Outer Lake, and Lin Changheng decided to strengthen his body before facing possible danger.
• After a month, Yan Mingyi broke through to the Qi Refining ninth layer while Lin Changheng remained in seclusion.
• Lin Changheng circulated the Evergreen Azurewood Body and struck the Lightning-Struck Grass, which erupted into a ball of silver lightning as he attempted to break through his body-tempering bottleneck.

Lin Changheng endured a brutal lightning tempering breakthrough, advancing the Evergreen Azurewood Body to its sixth layer and greatly increasing his strength, defense, speed, and reactions. After warning Yan Mingyi to stay inside while he traveled, he reached Jade Capital Mountain and was escorted to Golden Embroidery Peak to meet Senior He.

• Lin Changheng used the lightning's destructive force and the Glorious Life Divine Ability's vitality to break through to the sixth layer of the Evergreen Azurewood Body, reaching the second tier late stage.
• Lin Changheng tested his enhanced defenses and strength, shattered a meteoric iron testing stone with a Mountain-Bearing Divine Ability-empowered punch, and found that his speed and reactions had also improved.
• Lin Changheng emerged from seclusion, urged Yan Mingyi to advance toward foundation establishment, and told her he would be away for six months to a year and that she must not go out during the coming year.
• Lin Changheng disguised himself and left the Immortal City, traveling south by Spell Boat toward Jade Capital Mountain in Azure Rosy Clouds Temple territory.
• Lin Changheng arrived at Jade Capital Mountain, met its steward Xiang Yuanshan, and asked to see Senior He of Golden Embroidery Peak.
• Xiang Yuanshan escorted Lin Changheng through the mountain-protecting formation and into Golden Embroidery Peak.

Lin Changheng exchanged a Youth-Preserving Pill with He Yunshu for five genuine Treasure Talismans, then began nurturing the talismans while traveling toward the Sixty-Year Secret Realm. He arrived at the vast river where the secret realm lay and found Foundation Establishment cultivators gathering near Green Mountain.

• Lin Changheng met He Yunshu, traded her a Youth-Preserving Pill for five genuine Treasure Talismans, and heard her offer to notify him if a cultivation abode became available.
• Lin Changheng used Spirit-Nurturing Art: Spirit Motion to nurture two genuine Treasure Talismans and assigned two others to Xiao Bai, while deciding to keep the semi-finished talisman in cultivation.
• Lin Changheng traveled north for several months, passing through a region of rivers and lakes where water spiritual energy was especially abundant.
• Lin Changheng reached the vast river containing the Sixty-Year Secret Realm and spotted Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered near Green Mountain.

Lin Changheng waited at the river for the Under-River Secret Realm to open, reunited with Liu Yuhan, and arranged to buy materials the Liu Family might retrieve inside. After the Purple Pole Sect’s Core Formation cultivator opened the entrance, a terrifying gale swept across the river, interrupting the cultivators as they prepared to enter.

• Lin Changheng waited three days before the Purple Pole Sect arrived, and its Core Formation woman announced that the secret realm would open in three days.
• The Beast-Taming Sun Clan’s False Core patriarch and the Song Family’s patriarch arrived with their descendants, while Lin Changheng spotted Liu Yuhan and the Qiu Family patriarch among the gathered cultivators.
• Lin Changheng revealed his identity to Liu Yuhan and arranged for her Liu Family companions to seek listed materials in exchange for Spirit Stones or pill-refining services.
• The Purple Pole Sect’s Core Formation woman opened the Under-River Secret Realm and warned that only cultivators with tokens could enter safely.
• As the Foundation Establishment cultivators prepared to enter, a tremendous gale tore across the river, and Lin Changheng and the assembled cultivators turned toward its source.

True Person Lingfeng of the Extreme South Palace arrived at the secret realm and joined the other powers’ cultivators in entering it. While waiting for the realm to close, Lin Changheng agreed to cooperate with a portly cultivator to seek out and trade for resources.

• True Person Lingfeng arrived aboard the Extreme South Palace’s Moon-Gathering Immortal Vessel and stopped the devastating gale near the secret realm.
• True Person Lingfeng greeted True Person Xuanji, then ordered the assembled cultivators to enter the secret realm.
• After the sect and lineage cultivators entered, True Person Xuanji closed the entrance, and Lin Changheng waited while planning which cultivators might sell him resources.
• Three days later, a portly foundation establishment cultivator proposed exchanging resource lists and buying items for each other.
• Lin Changheng agreed to cooperate with the portly cultivator, and they exchanged lists and swore matching Dao oaths.

Lin Changheng waited for the secret realm to reopen and watched fewer than half of its entrants emerge, many wounded or shaken. After a dispute between Chen Dongming and Purple Pole Sect cultivators was settled by True Person Lingfeng, Lin Changheng met the surviving Liu Family members and learned they had found two items from his list.

• Lin Changheng rejected other proposed partnerships and watched the Core Formation Cultivators while waiting for the secret realm to reopen.
• True Person Xuanji reopened the gateway, and fewer than half of the cultivators who had entered returned alive.
• A Purple Pole Sect cultivator accused Chen Dongming of ambushing him, stealing spirit herbs, and cutting off his hand, while Chen Dongming mocked him and threatened the sect’s disciples.
• Chen Dongming accused Purple Pole Sect cultivators of killing lineage cultivators, but True Person Lingfeng ordered him and the injured cultivator to apologize and called the dispute a misunderstanding.
• Lin Changheng found the surviving Elder Liu and Liu Yuhan, offered them more elixirs, and learned they had collected two items from his list.

Lin Changheng bought rare materials from cultivators who had escaped the secret realm, including a voidstar stone, azure flower moon lotus rootstock, and celestial crystal spirit lotus root. After obtaining useful leads from one seller, he turned toward the late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator dressed as a woodcutter.

• Lin Changheng bought the Liu Family’s voidstar stone with elixirs and spirit stones, then purchased their azure flower moon lotus rootstock for spirit stones.
• Liu Yuhan told Lin Changheng that a Purple Pole Sect cultivator had obtained a supplementary herb he wanted for Core Formation, but the cultivator had returned with his sect.
• Lin Changheng searched the survivors for sellers, found no Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Huang Household, and noted that the Qiu Family’s ancestor had returned looking dejected.
• A gray-robed elder offered Lin Changheng a living section of celestial crystal spirit lotus rootstock for two thousand low-grade spirit stones and shared leads about other listed materials.
• Lin Changheng completed the purchase and turned toward the woodcutter-dressed Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivator surrounded by other buyers.

After the secret realm closed, Lin Changheng traded for a large [Molten Rock Crystal] to strengthen his [Redcloud Mystic Flame] and obtained [Golden-Thread Purple Sandalwood] for his body-tempering cultivation. He befriended merchant Zhu Fugui, who suggested he might help source powerful demon-beast essence blood after securing a stronger position in three years.

• True Person Xuanji closed the secret realm and warned the remaining cultivators that the Purple Pole Sect's party would leave in three days.
• Lin Changheng bought Ye Wugui's [Molten Rock Crystal] for twenty-four thousand spirit stones after bargaining over its price.
• Lin Changheng purchased an item the fat cultivator needed, then exchanged it with him for low-grade third-tier [Golden-Thread Purple Sandalwood].
• Lin Changheng and Zhu Fugui exchanged names and tokens, and Zhu Fugui invited him to visit [Extreme Mountain Immortal City].
• Lin Changheng asked Zhu Fugui about acquiring powerful demon-beast essence blood, and Zhu Fugui said he might be able to help in three years.

Lin Changheng followed the Qiu Family patriarch and a green-robed cultivator, waiting for them to weaken each other so he could avenge himself and claim their belongings. After the green-robed cultivator killed the patriarch, Lin Changheng ambushed him and left the confrontation as the sole survivor.

• Lin Changheng secretly followed the Qiu Family patriarch after a green-robed cultivator began pursuing him, planning to attack whoever survived their fight.
• The green-robed cultivator ambushed the Qiu Family patriarch with a Black Seal Platform and smashed through his defenses despite the patriarch’s talismans and pleas for mercy.
• The green-robed cultivator killed the Qiu Family patriarch and moved to take his Storage Bag and belongings.
• Lin Changheng used an illusion to distract the green-robed cultivator, then decapitated him with a swift azure-gold strike.

Lin Changheng killed the green-robed cultivator who had attacked the Qiu Family patriarch, then discovered a rare dormant dragon grass root among the patriarch’s belongings. After returning to Blackwater River to report the patriarch’s death and claim a share of the Qiu Family’s assets, he confronted the Xu Family estate.

• Lin Changheng used Illusion Otherworldly Art: Clarity to disorient the green-robed cultivator, then killed him with the Flowing Light Sword and collected his belongings.
• Lin Changheng inspected the green-robed cultivator’s Storage Bag, kept the Black Seal Platform, and found a hundred-year-old yellow phoenix fungus and a dormant dragon grass root in the Qiu Family patriarch’s Storage Bag.
• Lin Changheng recognized the dormant dragon grass as an auxiliary herb for the Dust-Descending Pill and carefully sealed it away as a major opportunity for his future core formation.
• After more than a month of travel, Lin Changheng returned to Blackwater River to visit Tantai Feiyue, pay respects with his enemy’s ashes, and inform the Xu Family High Council of the Qiu Family patriarch’s death.
• Lin Changheng released his Foundation Establishment Realm spiritual pressure before the Xu Family estate, triggering its protective formation and warning bells as three figures flew out to meet him.

Lin Changheng returned to the Xu Family, where its members welcomed him and learned that he had killed the Qiu Family's ancestor. The Xu Family began preparing to destroy the Qiu Family, while Lin Changheng went with Tantai Feiyue to her pavilion after learning that Master Mo was near death.

• Lin Changheng reunited with Tantai Feiyue, Xu Xujun, and Xu Hanji, then received a heartfelt welcome from the Xu Family members.
• At the Council Hall, Lin Changheng learned that Master Mo was gravely ill and planned to visit him the next day.
• Lin Changheng told the Xu Family leaders that he had killed the Qiu Family's ancestor and showed them the man's identifying token.
• Xu Xuheng, Xu Xujun, Xu Qianyan, and Xu Hanji began planning a final war to wipe out the Qiu Family and seize its resources.
• Lin Changheng left the Council Hall with Tantai Feiyue, and they shared a quiet moment at her pavilion as she described her cultivation progress.

Lin Changheng visited the dying Master Mo, comforted his old friend Xu Fugui, and helped the Xu Family prepare to destroy the Qiu Family. After honoring Bai Fengxian, he entered secluded cultivation and swallowed a second-tier Youth-Preserving Pill to investigate lifespan extension.

• Lin Changheng gave Master Mo a Life-Stabilizing Pill and promised to continue along the Pill Dao and care for Mo Zhaoli.
• Lin Changheng told Xu Fugui that the Qiu Family patriarch was dead and that the Xu Family would soon attack the Qiu Family; Xu Fugui celebrated Bai Fengxian's coming vengeance and described how he had cared for Bai Fengxian's family.
• Lin Changheng learned that the woman Xu Xuzhong had once tried to match him with had been killed by Qiu Family cultivators, deepening his anger toward the Qiu Family.
• Lin Changheng and Xu Fugui paid their respects to Bai Fengxian, then the Xu Family's senior members announced preparations to wipe out the Qiu Family while concealing their true target.
• Lin Changheng entered secluded cultivation at Tantai Feiyue's residence and swallowed a genuine second-tier Youth-Preserving Pill to explore lifespan extension.

Lin Changheng absorbed the lifespan-preserving effects of a Youth-Preserving Pill, mourned Master Mo’s death with Mo Zhaoli, and returned to Floating Life Immortal City to plan a move. He refined the Insight talent from Black-Spined Vulture essence blood into the Path-peeking Otherworldly Art.

• Lin Changheng gained ten years of lifespan from a second-tier Youth-Preserving Pill, then confirmed that a second pill of the same quality could not repeat the effect, while a higher-quality pill could supersede a lower one.
• Mo Zhaoli arrived at the Xu Family estate, and Lin Changheng’s pill briefly revived Master Mo enough for him to speak with her before he died.
• The Xu Family buried Master Mo with honors, and Lin Changheng and Mo Zhaoli departed in different directions after Xu Xujun promised to deliver the family’s gains to the Immortal City.
• The Xu Family began its final war against the Qiu Family, with Tantai Feiyue breaking the Qiu Family’s formation and helping secure a one-sided victory.
• Lin Changheng returned to Floating Life Immortal City, decided to seek a larger cave abode, and discussed the move with Yan Mingyi.
• Lin Changheng spirit-seized Black-Spined Vulture essence blood and refined its Insight talent, acquiring the Path-peeking Otherworldly Art.

Lin Changheng gained a heightened vision from the [Insight] talent and began searching for spirit land outside Floating Life Immortal City. Steward Shangguan identified several suitable properties but warned that two carried risks tied to their former owners and hidden secrets.

• Lin Changheng refined more [Black-Spined Vulture] essence blood and gained [Insight Otherworldly Art · Spirit Motion], which let him see minute details and faint flows of spiritual energy.
• Lin Changheng asked Artifact Master Guo to repair the cracked [Copper Bowl] and told him he planned to leave Floating Life Immortal City for more spacious spirit land.
• Lin Changheng searched brokerage houses for second-tier spirit land, then visited the [Purple Pole Sect]'s station and asked to meet whoever handled rentals.
• The disciple surnamed Li introduced Lin Changheng to Steward Shangguan, who heard his requirements and mentioned several suitable Spirit Lands.
• Steward Shangguan warned Lin Changheng that two of the properties had risks involving their former owners and certain secrets.