Chapter Summaries

Lin Changheng fused Wind Escape and Thunder Escape to flee Tianzhu Daoist’s second Nascent Soul across the Yan Kingdom, but the pursuer’s soul attack brought him down. With Truefire Flood Dragon’s aid, Lin Changheng counterattacked with his treasures and Dragonkin Breath as they neared the Zhao and Lu lands.

• The Illusion-Breaking True Lord and Tianzhu Daoist fought while the Azure Firmament True Lord and Jingyuan Daoist faced off, allowing Lin Changheng to escape underground.
• Tianzhu Daoist’s second Nascent Soul pursued Lin Changheng, who fused Wind Escape and Thunder Escape and used the Sun-Chasing Cloak to outpace him.
• Lin Changheng fled tens of thousands of li toward the Zhao and Lu Kingdoms, replenishing his power with millennium spirit milk as Tianzhu Daoist’s second Nascent Soul continued the chase.
• Lin Changheng and Truefire Flood Dragon agreed to use the dragon’s essence-blood attack when Tianzhu Daoist’s second Nascent Soul prepared a devastating soul strike.
• Tianzhu Daoist’s second Nascent Soul struck Lin Changheng’s soul, making him fall from the sky, but Truefire Flood Dragon’s dragon roar stunned the pursuer.
• Lin Changheng endured the pursuer’s jade-green fire and unleashed the River-Calming Pearl, the Dust-Returning Vase, and Dragonkin Breath toward Tianzhu Daoist’s second Nascent Soul.

Lin Changheng grievously wounded Tianzhu Daoist’s second Nascent Soul and forced him to flee, then escaped to the Zhao Kingdom to recover and seek help with lingering injuries. After choosing to visit Dragon Granny, he arrived at Dragon Household disguised as Fang Yuan.

• Lin Changheng used Dragonkin Breath and his flying swords to cripple Tianzhu Daoist’s second Nascent Soul, who escaped by repeated instantaneous teleportation and later attacked a market ward to restore his strength.
• Lin Changheng took the ruined shell and Storage Bag, fled across the Zhao-Jin border, and drove off a Foundation Establishment cultivator before renting a cave abode to recover for three months.
• Tianzhu Daoist sensed his second Nascent Soul’s injuries during the battle outside the secret realm and fled, followed by Jingyuan Daoist, while the surviving cultivators wondered how the black-robed Core Formation Cultivator had escaped.
• After recovering much of his strength, Lin Changheng decided to seek help in the Zhao and Lu Kingdoms and chose Dragon Granny as his first contact.
• Lin Changheng traveled to Dragon Household in disguise as Fang Yuan.

Lin Changheng visited the Dragon Household under the name Fang Yuan and sought a way to remove a lingering injury caused by a Fourth-Tier Demon King. Dragon Granny indicated that a remedy might be available for a suitable price, then asked about the strength of his soul and divine sense.

• Lin Changheng studied the Dragon Household’s strength and entered its estate after revealing his Late Core Formation aura to the gatekeepers.
• True Person Qingluo welcomed Lin Changheng and escorted him to a lavish banquet hosted by Dragon Granny.
• Lin Changheng learned more about the Dragon Household’s extensive foundations and attended the feast with its senior cultivators.
• After the banquet, Lin Changheng asked Dragon Granny and Qingluo for help treating a friend afflicted by a Demon King’s power.
• Dragon Granny treated the request as a transaction and asked how Lin Changheng’s soul and divine sense had developed since reaching Late Core Formation.

Lin Changheng spent ten years clearing the foreign power and emerald fire from his wounds while helping Dragon Granny’s lineage break an ancient restriction, and he advanced his Pill Dao. After healing, he learned from Azure Mist Rogue Person’s recording about a pill that could improve his golden core, then completed the Molten-Rock Turtle-Dragon Treasure Seed’s transformation.

• Lin Changheng agreed to help Dragon Granny’s lineage wear away a fourth-tier restriction in exchange for its inherited healing medicine, and Dragon Granny confirmed his divine sense was powerful enough.
• Lin Changheng tested the medicine on demon beasts before taking it himself, then spent ten years using it to dissolve the foreign Nascent Soul power and emerald fire in his wounds.
• Lin Changheng and three other Late Core Formation Cultivators spent three months breaking the Dragon Household’s restriction, then parted after exchanging tokens and making friendly ties.
• Lin Changheng opened Azure Mist Rogue Person’s jade box and learned that its Five-Element Rotation Core-Refining Pill could raise a golden core’s quality by one rank; he stored it until his affliction was gone.
• Lin Changheng raised his Pill Dao to third-tier superior grade, confirmed Xiao Hei had formed a pure core, and completed the Molten-Rock Turtle-Dragon Treasure Seed’s transformation into a supreme true core.

Lin Changheng refined his golden core to the mid tier, bought rare spirit soil, and learned that the Yue Kingdom’s Demonic Path had invaded the Song Region. After reviewing reports of the front’s collapse, he faced the prospect of the conflict spreading and of the Xu Family of Flying Cloud Valley being endangered.

• Lin Changheng’s lifespan rose to 837 years after he absorbed the molten-rock turtle-dragon true core, and his divine sense expanded to cover fifty-nine li.
• Lin Changheng consumed the Five-Element Rotation Core-Refining Pill and spent a month refining it, raising his golden core from lower tier to mid tier.
• Lin Changheng bought all of the Divine Soil Pavilion’s high heaven mystic mud and large quantities of three varieties of third-tier spirit soil for his medicine garden.
• Lin Changheng overheard that the Yue Kingdom’s Demonic Path had invaded the Song Region and hurried to the Dragon Household to ask True Person Qingluo for reports, worried about the Xu Family of Flying Cloud Valley.
• Lin Changheng learned that the Song Region’s second defensive line was near collapse, its Nascent Soul cultivator faced two enemies, and the Zhao Kingdom was debating whether to join the war and shelter fleeing cultivators.

Lin Changheng returned to Yuanshan Kingdom after baiting and killing two Core Formation Middle Stage cultivators, then reunited with Su Shuangjiang and True Person Dong in Origin Immortal City. Su Shuangjiang’s intelligence revealed how a five-kingdom conflict drew the Yue Kingdom’s Demonic Path into war with the Song Region, though the enemy’s recent actions remained unexplained.

• Lin Changheng declined to trade for Nascent Soul formation records, gathered spirit soil and materials in Zhao territory, and deliberately attracted two cultivators seeking to rob him.
• Lin Changheng lured the two Core Formation Middle Stage cultivators into a forest, stunned them with a divine sense attack, killed them, and took their belongings.
• Lin Changheng returned to Origin Immortal City, found the Great Shun Merchant Association’s new headquarters, and reunited with Su Shuangjiang and True Person Dong.
• Su Shuangjiang gave Lin Changheng intelligence tracing the conflict among Song, Jin, Yue, Liang, and Yan, including the Demonic Path’s invasion of the Song Region and the Righteous Path Alliance’s intervention.
• Lin Changheng learned that both Demonic Path Nascent Soul cultivators had recently begun appearing together and wondered what had changed, while concluding that the Xu Family of Flying Cloud Valley had likely withdrawn to safety.

Lin Changheng returned to the Great Shun Merchant Association, ordered True Person Dong and Su Shuangjiang to eradicate the Nine Seas Merchant Association, and received the demon essence blood he had requested. In his cave abode on Origin Sacred Mountain, he transformed the Soulweaving Demon Butterfly and Dark Underworld Demon Wolf treasure seeds, strengthening his life spring and Golden Skin demonic art while his divine sense reached sixty-five li.

• Lin Changheng praised Dong Lide and told True Person Dong and Su Shuangjiang that leaving the Nine Seas Merchant Association alive was dangerous, ordering them to eliminate it despite the Alliance Headquarters’ possible objections.
• Dong Lide delivered the Soulweaving Demon Butterfly and Dark Underworld Demon Wolf essence blood, and Lin Changheng told the Dong father and son to involve him in the campaign against Nine Seas.
• Su Shuangjiang arranged a cave abode for Lin Changheng in the Radiant Mist District and confirmed that he had reached late Core Formation.
• Lin Changheng absorbed the Soulweaving Demon Butterfly essence blood, transformed its treasure seed into a supreme true core, and expanded his Spirit-Sealing Life Spring to ten soul slots.
• Lin Changheng transformed the Dark Underworld Demon Wolf essence blood into a supreme true core, greatly strengthened his Golden Skin demonic art, and measured his divine sense at sixty-five li.
• Lin Changheng sensed the Alliance Headquarters’ celebration for True Person Huanshu’s breakthrough from afar, then withdrew his divine sense without being detected.

Lin Changheng learned that Su Shuangjiang possessed the [luan song body], then received news that True Lord Zhengyang had lost his physical body, placing the Song Region in danger. As he prepared for the worsening conflict, he backed the campaign against the [Nine Seas Merchant Association] and revealed that Old Devil Fang had returned, leaving President Chen and his allies terrified.

• Lin Changheng gave True Person Dong a list of five-element spirit materials and gave Dong Lide precious [Core Formation insights and reflections].
• Su Shuangjiang visited Lin Changheng, revealed her [luan song body], and explained how the Luan-Feng Harmony Secret Art purified her primordial yin energy.
• Lin Changheng learned that [True Lord Zhengyang] had been ambushed and forced to flee without his physical body, then sent Su Shuangjiang to [Fire Sacred Mountain] to seek Nether Void Fire Beast essence blood.
• The [Great Shun Merchant Association], the [Treasure-Passing Merchant Association], and the [Myriad Treasures Merchant Association] intensified their campaign against the [Nine Seas Merchant Association], while [True Person Huanshu] accepted the latter's wealth.
• Lin Changheng ordered the Dong family to announce his return but conceal his Late Core Formation cultivation, and invoked the name Old Devil Fang to intimidate his enemies.
• President Chen panicked upon hearing that Old Devil Fang had returned, while Lingyunzi and True Person Shengxiao urged him to rely on [True Person Huanshu] and surrender the association if necessary.

Lin Changheng rejected True Person Feng Yue’s attempt to mediate his dispute with True Person Huanshu, then accepted Huanshu’s challenge to decide the Nine Seas Merchant Association’s fate in a duel. At the Dharma Arena, Lin wagered for Huanshu’s [Minor Teleportation Talisman] and defeated him with a sudden attack, leaving Huanshu embedded in the arena wall.

• True Person Feng Yue visited Lin Changheng and failed to dissuade him from opposing True Person Huanshu, though Lin urged him to keep the Alliance Headquarters separate from Huanshu’s private dispute.
• Three days later, True Person Huanshu challenged Lin to a duel in the Dharma Arena, and Lin replied that he would see the matter through to the end.
• At the arena, Lin and Huanshu wagered a [Minor Teleportation Talisman] and a treasure crystal stone, respectively, with Rogue Person White Cloud holding the stakes.
• True Person Huanshu attacked with his inkstone Treasure Artifact, but Lin evaded it and trapped him inside the [Mist-Scattering Divine Ability].
• Lin struck Huanshu with a rapid, three-colored escape-light attack and sent him crashing into the arena wall, stunning the spectators.

Lin Changheng defeated True Person Huanshu, secured the Nine Seas Merchant Association’s surrender, and commissioned a fourth-tier True Flood Dragon Armor from Old Ghost Jinlian. After secretly returning to the Yue Region to gather resources and refining the armor, he learned that the Song Region’s second defensive line had fallen.

• Lin Changheng defeated True Person Huanshu in under three breaths, accepted the Minor Teleportation Talisman, and agreed to let True Person Dong negotiate the Nine Seas Merchant Association’s transfer.
• True Person Huanshu apologized to Lin Changheng at True Person Feng Yue’s banquet, and Feng Yue introduced him to Old Ghost Jinlian of Fireforging Hall.
• Lin Changheng gave Old Ghost Jinlian fourth-tier flood dragon scale hide and treasure crystal stone to forge armor, then collected the finished armor and other defensive treasures three months later.
• During his absence, Lin Changheng secretly traveled to the Yue Region, reached Heavenly Pool Lake despite encountering a Demonic Path army, and collected a Core Formation Spirit Object and essence byproducts that raised his nether abyss iceflame to third-tier mid-grade.
• Lin Changheng finished refining the True Flood Dragon Armor, then received a communication announcing that the Song Region’s second defensive line had fallen.

After learning that the Yue Kingdom’s Demonic Path had broken through the Song Region’s defenses, Lin Changheng traveled to Floating Life Immortal City to check on Bai Hengwan and assess the occupation. He reunited with Bai Hengwan and learned that the Blood Moon Cult planned to install a deputy city lord, while a distant ancient teleportation formation also showed signs of activation.

• Lin Changheng collected cultivation materials from the Dong father and son, approved their takeover of the Nine Seas Merchant Association, and warned them to act cautiously before setting out for the Song Region.
• Lin Changheng disguised himself, learned through a soul search that the Demonic Path was using lenient terms and Floating Life Immortal City as an example to encourage surrender, then entered the city and secretly contacted Bai Hengwan’s steward.
• Lin Changheng detected that the formation around the ancient teleportation array in the Miasma-Shadow Ancient Forest had been triggered, but confirmed that Mo Zhaoli remained far to the east, and resolved to investigate later.
• Bai Hengwan met Lin Changheng, confirmed that she had reached the eighth layer of Core Formation, and explained that she would not bind him to the Immortal City despite her feelings for him.
• Bai Hengwan told Lin Changheng that the Blood Moon Cult intended to appoint a deputy city lord to share in the city’s profits, and Lin Changheng advised her to pay the same share she had paid the Extreme South Palace.

Lin Changheng gathered intelligence from Bai Hengwan, traded for rare Nascent Soul pill ingredients, and gave her formation insights and pill inheritances before traveling south through the occupied Song Region. After visiting the Zheng and Xue families, he returned to the allied camp, where True Person Ten Thousand Longevity rushed out to greet him.

• Bai Hengwan told Lin Changheng that the Demonic Path was advancing through the Song Region, Liang's True Lord had struck Yue's rear, and Yan had pushed Jin back toward Song.
• Lin Changheng traded a dragon-saliva nascent soul-nurturing herb to Bai Hengwan for Rootless Thought-Cutting Water, then gave her Nascent Soul formation insights and two Pill Dao inheritances for Master Kong.
• Lin Changheng traveled south, confirmed through captured demon cultivators that the Xue Family and Zheng Family had surrendered, and found the Azure Rosy Clouds Temple occupied by the Demonic Path.
• Lin Changheng visited the Zheng Family Patriarch, learned where the Xue Family had relocated, and left the patriarch healing elixirs after reassuring him about his unsuccessful search for flame-essence ore.
• Lin Changheng discovered that Xue Mingyuan had died and that Xue Mingyan now led the Xue Family, then spoke privately with him before departing.
• After Lin Changheng returned from the Jin Territory, True Person Ten Thousand Longevity hurried from the command tent to greet him outside the allied forces' defensive line.

Lin Changheng returned to the Song Region, reunited with Tantai Feiyue, Yan Mingyi, and Xu Hanji, and arranged protections and Core Formation resources for them. After announcing that he would refine pills for the Song-Jin forces, he opened his cave in Extreme Mountain Immortal City to his first clients.

• Lin Changheng entered the Song Region’s final defensive line, where Boy Zhengwang told him about the secret realm’s heavy losses and the Song-Jin alliance talks.
• Boy Zhengwang explained that the Xu Family and Huang Household had been relocated safely, and Lin Changheng arranged to visit the Xu Family and announced he would accept pill commissions in seven days.
• Lin Changheng secretly entered the Xu Family’s new settlement and reunited with Tantai Feiyue, Yan Mingyi, and Xu Hanji.
• During his seven days with the Xu Family, Lin Changheng took soul and true-spirit traces from the three women, assessed the household’s members, and gave Tantai Feiyue Core Formation resources.
• Lin Changheng returned to Extreme Mountain Immortal City, rented a cave abode, and received four True Core or False Core cultivators seeking elixirs.

Lin Changheng spent three years refining pills for Song and Jin, advanced his pill, formation, and artifact arts, and broke through to the eighth layer of Core Formation. After setting out for Jin Territory, he encountered the domineering Shi family Treasure Boat and secretly marked it as he pursued his next plans.

• Lin Changheng welcomed Boy Zhengwang and four cultivators seeking dual core formation pills, then returned True Person Cloud Crane’s fee in gratitude for Fairy Xuanji’s help protecting the Xu Family.
• Over three years, Lin Changheng refined pills for Song and Jin, earned widespread renown, and helped the allied kingdoms strengthen their defenses while avoiding the battlefield and its rewards.
• Lin Changheng advanced his pill dao, became a third-tier artifact refiner, and broke through to the eighth layer of Core Formation.
• Lin Changheng delivered his remaining commissions, gave Huang Lingsu a standard-quality Dust-Descending Pill, and visited the three women before departing for Jin Territory.
• At the Far-Pacifying Fortress, Lin Changheng saw the Shi family Treasure Boat batter nearby cultivators with its gale and secretly marked it before following it into Jin Territory.

After Song and Jin opened their borders, Lin Changheng followed the Shi clan’s Treasure Boat into Black Abyss, killed Young Master Shi and two Core Formation cultivators, and obtained an ingredient for the Illusion-Breaking Pill. He then met True Person Xuan Ci near Medicine King Valley, where Xuan Ci presented the complete amount of the requested fire elephant essence blood with the nethervoid bloodline.

• Lin Changheng followed the Shi clan’s Treasure Boat into Black Abyss and discovered Young Master Shi guarding a cave while two other Core Formation cultivators searched inside.
• Lin Changheng ambushed Young Master Shi, used Soul Search to learn about the Shi clan’s expedition, and killed him as the other two cultivators arrived.
• Lin Changheng killed the middle-aged scholar and the burly Late Core Formation cultivator, then found the Vermilion Heart Dust-Cleansing Fruit and the tree that bore it.
• Lin Changheng concealed the battle’s traces, left the Shi clan’s surviving Foundation Establishment cultivators unharmed, and traveled to a Market Ward near Medicine King Valley.
• Lin Changheng summoned True Person Xuan Ci, who presented him with the full amount of fire elephant essence blood with the nethervoid bloodline he had requested.

The Shi lineage learned that its heir and another Core Formation cultivator had died, leaving it severely weakened, while Lin Changheng received demonic elephant essence blood and used it to gain a powerful escape talent and his first heavenly spiritual root. After confirming his new aptitude’s effects, Lin Changheng stood poised to explore the changes it would bring.

• A shrine keeper discovered that two Shi lineage members, including its heir, had died, and sent an urgent message before dying while praying.
• A Core Formation cultivator at the Shi lineage confirmed the deaths and decided to inform the lineage head while keeping the news from outsiders, especially the Qu lineage.
• Lin Changheng received hundreds of bottles of nether void essence blood and learned that the Nascent Soul entity that had pursued him was likely Tianzhu Daoist’s second nascent soul, which could rebel against its creator.
• Lin Changheng used the Crimson-Winged Fire Elephant essence blood to refine the Flame Substitute Otherworldly Art, gaining a life-saving ability similar to a Substitute Talisman.
• The spirit resonance of Lin Changheng’s fire-attribute spiritual root rose to ninety-three, crossing the heavenly spiritual root threshold, and he tested its greatly improved cultivation and fire perception.

Lin Changheng tested the Flame Substitute demonic art, then discovered that a Grand Teleportation Token was needed to safely use the ancient formation and search for Li'er. While cultivating with his heavenly spiritual root, his Golden Core underwent another transformation, reaching the upper tier.

• Lin Changheng refined the Crimson-Winged Fire Elephant true core, learned Flame Substitute, and tested it against Little Qing's attacks.
• Lin Changheng measured his divine sense at sixty-nine li and entered the Primeval Jungle to investigate the disturbance at the ancient teleportation formation.
• Lin Changheng activated the formation with a puppet, which shattered during teleportation, and learned from the Truefire Flood Dragon that a Grand Teleportation Token could withstand the spatial pressure.
• Lin Changheng planned to seek a token through his covert agents and set warning, illusion, and binding formations around the ancient formation.
• Lin Changheng began cultivating with his heavenly spiritual root, which cleansed his mid-tier Golden Core and transformed it into an upper-tier Golden Core.

Lin Changheng completed his transformation into an upper-tier golden core, then used True Person Yujie's lead to uncover an ambush by True Person Lustrous Light. After defeating and soul-searching Lustrous Light, he learned that True Person Stele-Splitter possessed the Grand Teleportation Token, leaving him intent on finding Stele-Splitter.

• Lin Changheng cultivated with his new upper-tier golden core and confirmed that his divine sense carried an embryonic trace of Nascent Soul pressure.
• Lin Changheng asked True Person Yujie to help locate a Grand Teleportation Token, and she recalled hearing True Person Lustrous Light discuss it with someone from the Iron Bone Gate.
• Three days later, Lin Changheng sensed an ambush in a remote valley and used the Candle Gaze Divine Ability to see through the illusion formation and discover Lustrous Light hiding inside.
• Lin Changheng and Little Qing shattered the formation and overwhelmed Lustrous Light, who had also secretly controlled Yujie and prepared a killing formation.
• Lin Changheng soul-searched Lustrous Light, confirmed Yujie had not betrayed him, and learned that True Person Stele-Splitter possessed the Grand Teleportation Token.
• Lin Changheng gave Yujie pills and left the valley, resolving to seek out Stele-Splitter for the token and materials needed for Nascent Soul formation.

Lin Changheng mastered the Jade Radiance Sky-Covering Art and learned that True Person Stele-Splitter had been killed by True Person Wild Crane and Qingfengzi. After killing Wild Crane and recovering a key ingredient for the Nascent Soul Transformation Pill, Lin Changheng tracked down Qingfengzi and ambushed him alongside a bronze-masked cultivator.

• Lin Changheng reached the Mastery realm with the Jade Radiance Sky-Covering Art, then infiltrated Iron Rampart City's City Lord's Manor and questioned a False Core Cultivator about Stele-Splitter.
• The False Core Cultivator confirmed that Yan Kingdom cultivators True Person Wild Crane and Qingfengzi had killed Stele-Splitter and taken his Grand Teleportation Token.
• Lin Changheng spent half a year tracking the killers, killed True Person Wild Crane, and found the Spirit-Gathering Ginseng Fruit in his storage bag, but learned the Grand Teleportation Token had gone to Qingfengzi.
• Lin Changheng followed Qingfengzi and a bronze-masked cultivator toward a heavily defended Immortal City, then attacked before they could reach it.
• Lin Changheng and Little Qing engaged the two cultivators; Lin Changheng's giant sword struck Qingfengzi's earthen-yellow cauldron as Little Qing attacked the bronze-masked cultivator through a blinding mist.

Lin Changheng killed Qingfengzi and exposed True Person Lieshan as a Demonic Path cultivator connected to the Huang Household, then pursued and killed him before two Nascent Soul cultivators arrived. True Lord Youtan recognized the fleeing Lin Changheng as Fang Yuan and prepared to confront him.

• Lin Changheng overcame Qingfengzi's treasures and killed him while Little Qing battled the bronze-masked cultivator.
• Little Qing damaged the mask, and Lin Changheng recognized the man beneath it as True Person Lieshan, his former acquaintance from the Huang Household.
• True Person Lieshan revealed Demonic Path powers and fled, prompting Lin Changheng to pursue him to prevent suspicion from falling on himself and the Xu Family.
• True Person Lieshan called for help from a Demonic Path Sage Lord, drawing True Lord Youtan and Jingyuan Daoist toward the chase.
• Lin Changheng pierced True Person Lieshan with Dragonkin Breath, killed him, and fled as True Lord Youtan's divine sense tracked him.
• True Lord Youtan recognized Lin Changheng's escape aura as Fang Yuan and declared that they had finally met again.