Chapter Summaries

Lü Yanyan joined Zhao Yu’s team to bid for the right to spar with Chen Yu, intending to make Zhao Yu lose his contribution points. Zhao Yu’s team won the first auction with a bid of 40 points, and Chen Yu asked him to verify the payment and settle the team’s share.

• Zhao Yu invited Lü Yanyan to join his team, which had pooled 54 contribution points, and she added her 10 points.
• Chen Yu announced the auction rules for the day’s sparring slot and started the bidding.
• Zhao Yu opened with a bid of 10 points as Lü Yanyan subtly signaled Chen Yu.
• The disciples raised their bids until Zhao Yu’s team offered 40 points and no one outbid them.
• Chen Yu awarded Zhao Yu the sparring slot pending verification, and Zhao Yu asked his teammates how to divide the 40 points.

Lü Yanyan manipulated Zhao Yu’s teammates into organizing a wagering pool for Chen Yu and Zhao Yu’s sparring match, then placed the first bet on Chen Yu. The match began as the crowd overwhelmingly backed Zhao Yu.

• Zhao Yu and his teammates pooled 40 contribution points, with Zhao Yu putting in 12 and the others dividing the remaining 28.
• Chen Yu checked Zhao Yu’s Token and invited him to spar on the platform above his residence.
• Lü Yanyan prompted Zhao Yu’s teammates to organize a wagering pool, using a gambler among them to get the scheme started.
• The four teammates attracted a crowd, but everyone initially bet on Zhao Yu to win.
• Lü Yanyan bet four contribution points on Chen Yu, and the sparring match began.

Chen Yu faced Zhao Yu in a sparring match over forty contribution points, while Lü Yanyan alone bet on Chen Yu to win. Zhao Yu opened with his Dragon-Tiger Fist, but his punch somehow missed Chen Yu, leaving the crowd stunned.

• Zhao Yu boasted of his superior cultivation and martial skills and urged Chen Yu to concede, but Chen Yu refused, saying he wanted to gain experience from the match.
• Chen Yu set a fifteen-minute limit and declared that Zhao Yu had to make him willingly concede within that time to win.
• The betting pool closed with eight disciples backing Zhao Yu and only Lü Yanyan betting on Chen Yu.
• Zhao Yu launched his Dragon-Tiger Fist as the crowd expected him to defeat Chen Yu with one blow.
• Chen Yu remained motionless as Zhao Yu's punch came at him, but Zhao Yu missed, astonishing Lü Yanyan and the watching disciples.

Chen Yu used the Bewildering Soul Flower to disorient Zhao Yu, won their spar, and collected forty contribution points. Lü Yanyan also made twenty-six points from the wagering pool, leaving Chen Yu with sixty-six toward his goal as Zhao Yu’s teammates and angry bettors went to confront him.

• Zhao Yu grew dizzy during the spar and repeatedly missed his attacks on Chen Yu.
• Chen Yu declared victory when the fifteen-minute limit ended and transferred Zhao Yu’s forty contribution points to his Token.
• Lü Yanyan claimed the wagering pool’s points and slipped away, while Zhao Yu’s teammates and four bettors went to confront Zhao Yu.
• Chen Yu returned to his residence and explained that he had used the Bewildering Soul Flower’s fragrance to disorient Zhao Yu.
• Lü Yanyan visited Chen Yu and reported that they had earned twenty-six contribution points from the wagering pool.

Chen Yu continued developing his Hidden Weapon Device and found a book on alchemy that he dismissed as full of lies. He won another sparring match through an unexplained trick, then offered the wary disciples Anti-Trick Cards and handicaps, leaving them tempted to challenge him again.

• Chen Yu decided to focus on the basic principles of artifact refining and discovered Wei Yang's book, Great Dao of Alchemy, which he rejected as unbelievable.
• Chen Yu auctioned off a sparring match, and Li Hu paid fifty-three contribution points for the chance to fight him.
• During the match, Li Hu scratched himself uncontrollably for a quarter of an hour, and Chen Yu claimed victory without exchanging blows.
• When five disciples demanded an explanation, Chen Yu defended his tactics and made them clear his way by threatening to make them suffer the same fate.
• Chen Yu offered to sell Anti-Trick Cards and fight with one hand in future matches, renewing the disciples' interest in challenging him.

Chen Yu tried to exchange his contribution points for a high-grade Rhyme Spirit, but Elder Sun refused and raised the price of low-grade ones, so Chen Yu used 330 points to repay his loan. Desperate to obtain a high-grade Rhyme Spirit before the Immortal Relic erased him, Chen Yu considered learning to refine one himself, then heard that someone wanted to spar for a high-grade Rhyme Spirit.

• Chen Yu arrived at Elder Sun's residence with 529 contribution points and asked to exchange 500 for a high-grade Rhyme Spirit.
• Elder Sun claimed high-grade Rhyme Spirits were unavailable and offered low-grade ones for 200 points each; Chen Yu declined and used 330 points to repay his loan.
• Chen Yu wondered how to obtain a high-grade Rhyme Spirit and considered learning to refine one, potentially by targeting disciples who had committed evil deeds.
• Chen Yu returned home and turned away the disciples seeking sparring matches, saying he would stop offering them.
• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that someone wanted to spar with him for a high-grade Rhyme Spirit.

Chen Yu accepted a sparring challenge from inner sect disciple Ding Yiliu, who offered high-grade spirit essence and seemed to know about his private affairs. After learning that Ding Yiliu had known Wu Wenjie, Chen Yu told her Elder Sun had refined Wu into spirit essence, leaving her furious.

• Chen Yu agreed to meet an inner sect disciple at Ten Thousand Mountains Peak after hearing the sparring stake was high-grade spirit essence.
• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu the challenger had set the meeting for noon the next day at Ten Thousand Mountains Peak.
• Chen Yu went to the peak, prepared to protect his secrets, and met the challenger, who introduced herself as Ding Yiliu.
• Ding Yiliu asked Chen Yu how Wu Wenjie had died, and Chen Yu said Elder Sun had refined him into spirit essence.
• Ding Yiliu reacted with disbelief and fury after Chen Yu explained Wu Wenjie's death.

Chen Yu learned more about Ding Yiliu’s connection to Wu Wenjie and used Wu’s ashes to secure information about the group investigating him. After arranging to return the ashes, Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins and threw spirit essence at the figure in the corridor.

• Ding Yiliu gave Chen Yu mid-grade spirit essence after he told her how Wu Wenjie had died.
• When Ding Yiliu threatened him, Chen Yu revealed that he had secretly preserved Wu Wenjie’s ashes and offered them in exchange for answers.
• Ding Yiliu said someone was interested in Chen Yu, had gathered information about him, and might eventually invite him to join them.
• Chen Yu arranged to meet Ding Yiliu at Emerald Cloud Peak the next day so she could trade spirit essence for Wu Wenjie’s ashes.
• Chen Yu returned to his residence, entered the Immortal Ruins, and hurled the spirit essence at the figure in the corridor.

Chen Yu completed the corridor challenge by sending a fragment of spirit essence into the figure, clearing the black miasma and gaining access to the side hall. He found Hong Lian’s Poison Scripture, antidote pills, and four refreshed poisons, and began examining what he had obtained.

• Chen Yu hurled high-grade spirit essence toward the figure, and its final fragment apparently touched her, completing the challenge and removing the corridor’s black miasma.
• Chen Yu tested the corridor with an azure spirit stone, then entered the side hall after confirming it was safe.
• Chen Yu opened the stone chest, took four antidote pills, and read that Hong Lian was a Nascent Soul Cultivator and poison expert of the Ruins Sect.
• Chen Yu found the Poison Scripture too obscure to study immediately and decided to examine the four refreshed items.
• Chen Yu read the labels on four poisons, including one for paralysis and another intended to torture foundation establishment cultivators.

Chen Yu used Poison No. 38 and heart-calming grass to cultivate the True Essence Profound Canon, gaining experience points until the technique reached its limit. After leaving the Immortal Ruins, he gave Senior Brother Wu’s ashes to Ding Yiliu, who offered him two Rhyme Spirits.

• Chen Yu realized Poison No. 38 might help compress his true qi and tested it alongside heart-calming grass, successfully cultivating despite the pain.
• Chen Yu repeatedly used the poison pill to cultivate and gained 20 allocatable experience points before the True Essence Profound Canon reached its cultivation limit.
• Chen Yu spent the experience points, liquefying some of his true qi, then prepared Senior Brother Wu’s remains and left the Immortal Ruins.
• Chen Yu returned to his room and began to study the True Yang Technique while waiting for Ding Yiliu.
• Ding Yiliu arrived to collect Senior Brother Wu’s remains, and Chen Yu handed her the box of ashes.
• Ding Yiliu thanked Chen Yu and offered him two Rhyme Spirits.

Ding Yiliu returned Wenjie’s remains to Chen Yu and gave him spirit essences and a cultivation manual, warning him to enter the Inner Sect as soon as possible. After Senior Sister Lü reunited with Chen Yu, he gave her one spirit essence and the manual so she could strengthen her cultivation.

• Ding Yiliu thanked Chen Yu for bringing Wenjie’s remains back and gave him two spirit essences and a manual for absorbing them.
• Ding Yiliu warned Chen Yu that registered and Outer Sect disciples were treated like livestock and urged him to enter the Inner Sect quickly.
• Ding Yiliu drove away the Emerald Cloud Peak disciples gathered outside Chen Yu’s room, and Chen Yu decided to accelerate his cultivation cautiously.
• Senior Sister Lü found Chen Yu, embraced him in relief, and learned that Ding Yiliu had not challenged him to spar.
• Chen Yu gave Lü Yanyan one of Ding Yiliu’s spirit essences and the cultivation manual so she could cultivate faster.

Chen Yu studied the True Yang Technique in the Immortal Ruins but could not figure out how to cultivate it without a fire spirit embryo, so he searched the Poison Scripture for a solution. After leaving the ruins, he met Lü Yanyan, who hurried over to tell him that something big had happened.

• Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins and considered its unopened side halls and the missing Black-Robed Men before deciding to focus on cultivation and the coffin in the Pill Hall.
• Chen Yu studied the True Yang Technique and realized he needed a fire spirit embryo to ignite a fire seed in his dantian.
• Chen Yu searched the Poison Scripture for a way to cultivate the technique, but found no solution and instead became interested in its poison formulas.
• Chen Yu left the Immortal Ruins in the evening and found the area around his residence quiet after Senior Sister Ding drove the other disciples away.
• Lü Yanyan ran into Chen Yu and told him that something big had happened.

Chen Yu learned that Ding Yiliu had challenged Elder Sun and died, then received another warning that the Outer Sect was becoming dangerous. He decided to prepare to enter the Inner Sect, raised his cultivation to the peak of the fourth level of Qi Refining, and returned to the immortal vestige to study the Poison Classic for a way to cultivate the True Yang Art.

• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that Ding Yiliu had challenged Elder Sun and been refined into spirit essence after failing.
• Chen Yu urged Lü Yanyan to focus on cultivating and transferred his 199 points to her for fasting pills.
• Xiang Baiwei visited Chen Yu and warned him to enter the Inner Sect before he died in the Outer Sect.
• Chen Yu used the Aura Concealment Art to raise his aura to the peak of the fourth level of Qi Refining.
• Chen Yu entered the immortal vestige and continued searching the Poison Classic for the key to cultivating the True Yang Art.

Over four months, Chen Yu watched a surge of obscure Outer Sect disciples advance to the Inner Sect while the Dao Sect remained silent, and he continued cultivating cautiously and researching poisons. He tested several homemade formulas in the immortal ruins, but the person in the coffin still gave him no feedback.

• Five obscure Outer Sect disciples advanced to the Inner Sect in the first two months, and Chen Yu suspected hidden factions were withdrawing while the Dao Sect watched without reacting.
• Chen Yu's apparent cultivation reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining, while Senior Sister Lü also broke through; Liu Jun died after Elder Sun's lending business overwhelmed him with debt.
• Four more Outer Sect disciples advanced during the next two months, and the Dao Sect still showed no response.
• Lü Yanyan celebrated reaching the middle stage of the fifth layer of Qi Refining, then discovered Chen Yu's cultivation seemed to surpass hers.
• Chen Yu prepared Poison No. 49, Poison No. 53, and Poison No. 41 in the immortal ruins, but the person in the coffin provided no feedback after consuming his earlier poisons.

Chen Yu abandoned his attempt to use poison to cultivate the True Yang Technique and discovered that Elder Sun’s new rules were making life harsher for Emerald Cloud Peak’s disciples. After Lü Yanyan survived her cultivation inspection, she returned with news that Elder Sun wanted Chen Yu to come see him.

• Chen Yu tested poison No. 61 and suffered scorching pain in his dantian, so he decided cultivating with poison was too dangerous.
• Chen Yu visited the mission board and saw new rules imposing heavier duties and monthly cultivation inspections on Emerald Cloud Peak’s disciples.
• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that all three disciples inspected the previous month had died and that Elder Sun had summoned her for an inspection.
• Lü Yanyan transferred her 93 contribution points to Chen Yu before leaving for Elder Sun’s inspection.
• Lü Yanyan returned safely about fifteen minutes later and told Chen Yu that Elder Sun wanted him to come over.

Chen Yu went to meet Elder Sun, who tried to refine him into spirit essence because of his false spirit embryo. An urgent summons interrupted the attack, and Chen Yu returned determined to kill Elder Sun before he could strike again.

• Chen Yu prepared Poison No. 57 in case Elder Sun tried to harm him and went to the elder's residence.
• Elder Sun questioned how Chen Yu had advanced and refused to exchange spirit essence for him in the future.
• Elder Sun suddenly used his true qi to begin refining Chen Yu into spirit essence.
• An Inner Sect disciple summoned Elder Sun to see Elder Wu, forcing him to stop and leave.
• Chen Yu put away the poison and resolved to improve his chances of ambushing Elder Sun next time.

After Elder Sun tried to kill him, Chen Yu decided to assassinate the elder before he could be summoned again next month. He gave Lü Yanyan 300 contribution points and began preparing an attack using poison and hidden weapons.

• Chen Yu concluded that Elder Sun had to die and decided to take the initiative rather than wait for another summons.
• Chen Yu returned to his residence, where Lü Yanyan saw that he was troubled and offered to help.
• Chen Yu transferred 300 contribution points to Lü Yanyan and told her to focus on cultivation without asking where the points came from.
• Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins and assessed how to overcome Elder Sun's greater cultivation and combat experience.
• Chen Yu planned to use every suitable poison and hidden weapon he had, then began preparing for the assassination.

Sun Shengcheng obtained spirit embryo essence in advance and prepared to absorb it to break through his cultivation bottleneck. After noticing signs of an intruder in his thatched cottage, he dismissed his suspicions—only to find a dark figure in the room.

• Sun Shengcheng recalled that he needed one more portion of spirit embryo essence to break through to the third layer of Foundation Establishment, but was still two pieces of spirit essence short.
• Sun Shengcheng visited Elder Wu and persuaded him to grant the spirit embryo essence in advance, agreeing to owe fifty-two additional pieces of Rhyme Spirit.
• Sun Shengcheng returned to his cottage, drove away the disciples waiting to repay their loans, and prepared to absorb the spirit embryo essence.
• Sun Shengcheng noticed disordered bedding and pale-yellow dust, but decided no one would attack an Outer Sect elder at the Dao Sect.
• Sun Shengcheng turned back toward his meditation cushion and saw a dark figure standing in his room.

Chen Yu infiltrated Sun Shengcheng’s cottage and used Poison No. 57 while concealing his cultivation to pose as a powerful senior. After questioning Sun Shengcheng about his identity, cultivation, skills, and kills, Chen Yu revealed his voice and left Sun Shengcheng recognizing him.

• Chen Yu emerged from the Immortal Ruins inside Sun Shengcheng’s cottage and noticed that Sun Shengcheng had likely inhaled a small dose of Poison No. 57.
• Sun Shengcheng mistook the silent, cultivation-concealing Chen Yu for a powerful senior, and Chen Yu vanished back into the Immortal Ruins.
• Sun Shengcheng found yellow powder where Chen Yu had stood and decided to report the mysterious intruder to Elder Wu.
• Chen Yu appeared again, gave Sun Shengcheng written questions, and learned that he was a Dao Sect elder at the Second Layer of Foundation Establishment with three mystic-grade Martial Skills.
• Sun Shengcheng challenged Chen Yu’s identity when asked how many disciples he had killed, and Chen Yu told him to guess who he was.
• Sun Shengcheng recognized Chen Yu’s voice and began to exclaim in surprise.

Chen Yu confronted Sun Shengcheng in the thatched hut and baited him into revealing his strength. The chapter ended as Chen Yu’s dust-covered hand broke through Sun Shengcheng’s restraint and struck him.

• Sun Shengcheng recognized Chen Yu and angrily confronted him for disguising himself.
• Chen Yu said he had come to discuss Sun Shengcheng dying in his place, provoking the elder.
• Sun Shengcheng restrained Chen Yu with true qi, but Chen Yu found the binding unexpectedly weak.
• Chen Yu tricked Sun Shengcheng into approaching to inspect his supposedly concealed object.
• Chen Yu opened his empty, dust-covered hand, broke through Sun Shengcheng’s restraint, and slapped him.