Chapter Summaries

Meng Qingyi used the Yan Kingdom expedition to sideline Xiong Pohai and other cultivators tied to Dai Sangyu, while Ji Shuxuan and Xu Guike prepared to seek opportunities amid the danger. Li Ping gave both men talismans and urged Xu Guike to consider seeking refuge in Jixia Academy.

• Meng Qingyi ordered Xiong Pohai, Xu Guike, Lin Yue, and other cultivators associated with Dai Sangyu to fight in the Yan Kingdom, and Xiong Pohai secured five treasury treasures for each participant.
• Ji Shuxuan told Li Ping he would join the expedition for a chance to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill, and Li Ping gave him Spirit Talismans and pills.
• Zhang Tie told Li Ping that Xu Guike had been assigned to the Yan Kingdom, easing Li Ping's worry about his immediate safety but disrupting his plan to verify Xu Guike's identity in the Jiang Kingdom.
• Li Ping met Xu Guike privately, suggested that Xu Guike might be his reincarnated old acquaintance, and advised him to seek refuge in Jixia Academy rather than risk being used as cannon fodder.
• Li Ping gave Xu Guike twenty second-tier mid-grade Spirit Talismans and five second-tier upper-grade Spirit Talismans to help him survive the expedition.

Li Ping obtained the Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art from Yu Menghan and began practicing it so he could strengthen his divine sense and search Yan Liming’s soul. Meanwhile, Xiao Changkong and the Academy’s leaders postponed investigating Dai Sangyu’s alleged betrayal and decided to withdraw their forces from the Yuan Kingdom to defend the Qi Kingdom.

• Yu Menghan paid Li Ping with thirty feet of millennial ironwood, and Li Ping asked her for a method to strengthen his divine sense.
• Yu Menghan gave Li Ping an incomplete first level of the Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art, which could strengthen divine sense by twenty percent and split it into three strands.
• Li Ping studied the art and began practicing it, hoping to gain enough strength to perform a Soul Search on Yan Liming.
• Xiao Changkong, Yan Changqiu, and Qiu Changfeng discussed Huang Yunzi’s report that Dai Sangyu had murdered her master, but they deferred judgment and investigation because of the invasion.
• Xiao Changkong decided to withdraw the Defender Alliance’s cultivators from the Yuan Kingdom and make the Qi Kingdom their main battlefield.

Li Ping finished healing Yu Menghan’s Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly, which showed an unexpected attachment to him before obeying Yu Menghan’s call. After learning the war was likely to remain deadlocked, Li Ping asked about escaping the Western Wasteland, and Yu Menghan offered a way out if he joined her company.

• Li Ping completed the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly’s treatment, and it landed on his shoulder instead of flying to Yu Menghan.
• Yu Menghan summoned the butterfly through their spirit pact, then put it in her Spirit Beast Bag after enjoying its illusionary beauty effect.
• Yu Menghan told Li Ping that the Defender Alliance was struggling in the east while the northern front remained deadlocked, and that Donghua Mountain could hold for decades.
• Li Ping asked whether the Yinghai Trading Company could help him leave the Western Wasteland because he sensed danger approaching.
• Yu Menghan confirmed that her company had a secret route out but said Li Ping would need to join the company to use its resources.

Li Ping weighed Yu Menghan’s offer to leave the Western Wasteland through the Yinghai Trading Company, then discovered a safer alternative while searching Yan Liming’s soul. He learned of a hidden secret realm cave abode where he could shelter and cultivate, and decided to delay any escape.

• Yu Menghan offered Li Ping a route out of the Western Wasteland in exchange for swearing to serve the Yinghai Trading Company for a hundred years, and gave him a Grade-D Yinghai Token.
• Li Ping mastered the first level of the Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art and prepared to strengthen himself and gather supplies before deciding whether to flee.
• Li Ping disguised himself and used the Blood Spirit Myriad Transformations Scripture to search Yan Liming’s living soul.
• Li Ping learned that Yan Liming had found the Silver Page and a Foundation Establishment Pill in a secret realm cave abode in the Cloudmist Mountains, whose core was protected by a Third-Tier Formation.
• Li Ping decided he could hide in the secret realm cave abode and cultivate instead of serving the trading company, postponing his escape unless circumstances worsened.

Li Ping sacrificed Yan Liming’s living soul and the Ten-Thousand-Work Puppet to inherit the Heavenly Craft Sect’s third-tier puppet-making knowledge. He resolved to make second-tier puppets and realized Yan Liming’s soul may have been behind the danger warning that had troubled him.

• Li Ping fed millennial ironwood, spirit stones, the Ten-Thousand-Work Puppet, and Yan Liming’s living soul to the Inheritance Tree.
• Li Ping experienced the Ten-Thousand-Work Puppet’s history as generations of Heavenly Craft Sect puppet masters developed and improved it over thousands of years.
• Li Ping awoke with third-tier lower-grade puppet-making skills and found the Inheritance Tree had grown a new branch.
• Li Ping calculated that second-tier upper-grade puppets would be costly but decided to make at least five, since he could control three at once.
• Li Ping noticed his danger warning had vanished and suspected Yan Liming’s living soul had been connected to it, resolving to stay more cautious around demon cultivators.

After Yan Liming’s death removes the danger to Li Ping, he stays in Windmist Immortal City and arranges to gather materials for refining puppets. The chapter leaves him in seclusion after news of the Bo Family Ancestor’s and Old Lin’s deaths, while Zhang Tie plans to honor Old Lin by giving his youngest son the Lin surname.

• A Bloodshadow Sect cultivator learns that Yan Liming’s life token has shattered and realizes he is dead.
• Li Ping visits Gu Musheng at the Ten Thousand Arts Pavilion and asks him to gather materials for second-tier upper-grade puppets, but the war delays most of the supplies.
• Li Ping leaves thirty second-tier lower-grade spirit talismans as a deposit, then returns to Immortal Peach Mountain to cultivate in seclusion.
• Bai Qing tells Li Ping that the Bo Family Ancestor has died and that the Bai Family seized Five Cloud Pool, giving it two second-tier spirit lands.
• Zhang Tie arrives grieving to tell Li Ping that Old Lin has passed away, and says he intends to give his youngest son the Lin surname and have him mourn as Old Lin’s grandson.

Li Ping attended Old Lin’s funeral, rejected Meng Qingyi’s offer to join the Immortal City, and learned from Yan Hengchuan’s letter that his former companions were settling into family life while he continued cultivating alone. He planned to attend Yan Hengchuan’s wedding next year and visit his aging third senior brother.

• Li Ping attended Old Lin’s funeral, greeted Meng Qingyi, and saw Zhang Tie’s five-year-old child, Lin Zhien.
• Meng Qingyi invited Li Ping to become an Immortal City guest elder, offering a third-tier talisman-making legacy and a share of Essence-Origin Pills, but Li Ping refused.
• Li Ping received Yan Hengchuan’s letter describing the Eight Nations Alliance’s campaign in the Liang Kingdom and Ji Shuwen’s participation in the war.
• Yan Hengchuan told Li Ping that he and Yu Peiling planned to become Dao companions, and invited him to their wedding in the Jiang Kingdom.
• Yan Hengchuan said he would remain in the Jiang Kingdom to care for his aging family, leaving Li Ping feeling lonely as those close to him gave up pursuing the Dao Path.

Li Ping learned that Ji Shuxuan had gone missing in the Yan Kingdom while he prepared to refine a puppet, and a young woman arrived in Windmist Immortal City to investigate Yan Liming. The Meng Family Ancestor later celebrated Meng Qingyi’s breakthrough to Foundation Establishment late stage, invited Li Ping to the ceremony, and shared his concerns about the war.

• Gu Musheng delivered the spirit materials Li Ping had requested and told him that Ji Shuxuan had gone missing during a battle in the Yan Kingdom.
• A coldly beautiful young woman arrived in Windmist Immortal City, suspected the Azure Dragon Mountain Lineage had sheltered Yan Liming, and chose to wait before confronting it.
• The Meng Family Ancestor told Li Ping that Meng Qingyi had used an Essence-Origin Pill to reach Foundation Establishment late stage and invited Li Ping to the celebration ceremony.
• The Meng Family Ancestor tried to persuade Li Ping to join the Immortal City, but Li Ping declined and accepted the invitation to Meng Qingyi’s ceremony.
• The Meng Family Ancestor voiced fears about the wars in Yan, Liang, and Qi, while Li Ping reassured him that the Tuluo People and Four Demonic Sects might eventually be forced to retreat.

Li Ping attended Meng Qingyi’s celebration and learned that Xiong Pohai had advanced and that Xu Guike, Lin Yue, and A Yun had gone missing in the Yan Kingdom. As Li Ping resumed crafting a powerful puppet, Hua Hong arrived in Windmist Immortal City and plotted to drug Wei Yiling with Soft Wyrm Powder.

• Li Ping attended Meng Qingyi’s celebration, where Wu Feng and Ning Wuxu discussed how the war had raised prices and made the Immortal City seem comparatively safe.
• Li Ping told Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng that he planned to return to the Jiang Kingdom, and learned that Xiong Pohai had advanced to the late stage of Foundation Establishment before Meng Qingyi.
• Gu Musheng told Li Ping that Xu Guike, Lin Yue, and A Yun had disappeared during a battle in the Yan Kingdom, leaving Li Ping worried about Xu Guike’s fate.
• Li Ping asked Gu Musheng to keep collecting spirit materials, then calmed himself and resumed crafting his second-tier upper-grade puppet.
• Hua Hong arrived to assist Wei Yiling, but she rejected him and forced him to stay at another inn.
• Hua Hong revealed that he had obtained Soft Wyrm Powder and plotted to use it against Wei Yiling.

Li Ping visited Little Plum Mountain after finishing a powerful but spirit-stone-hungry puppet, and caught up with Ji Shuchen about the Ji and Yan lineages. He learned Yan Hengchuan had chosen to stay in the Jiang Kingdom and that Ji Shuxuan had gone missing on the Yan Kingdom battlefield.

• Li Ping tested his second-tier upper-grade puppet, Jia Yi, then traveled by Floating Shadow Shuttle to Little Plum Mountain.
• Ji Shuchen welcomed Li Ping, who gave him pills to help him reach the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
• Ji Shuchen explained how the Ji and Yan lineages had grown, and told Li Ping that Yan Hengchuan planned to become dual cultivation companions with Yu Peiling and remain in the Jiang Kingdom.
• Li Ping told Ji Shuchen not to reveal Little Plum Mountain's underground spirit vein to Yan Hengchuan yet.
• Ji Shuchen reported that the Yu Household had sent cultivators to the war, while the Ji Lineage had avoided conscription through Ji Shuwen's intervention.
• Li Ping told Ji Shuchen that Ji Shuxuan had gone missing in the Yan Kingdom, and Ji Shuchen grieved while accepting that his cousin had chosen to seek Foundation Establishment on the battlefield.

Li Ping returned to Swordforging Manor for Yan Hengchuan’s wedding and learned that Ji Shuxuan had gone missing. Meanwhile, Xu Guike, Lin Yue, and A Yun fled north from the Yan Kingdom, and Xu Guike spotted someone unexpected among the Tuluo tribe.

• Li Ping reunited with the aged Yan Jingxing and discussed Yan Hengchuan’s plans to settle at Azure Peak Lake after his wedding.
• Li Ping told Yan Hengchuan that Ji Shuxuan had gone missing, and Yan Hengchuan hoped his friend was still alive.
• Xu Guike took over steering the flying boat as Lin Yue worried that they had deserted the battle against the Tuluo people.
• Xu Guike explained that he had fled to protect himself and Lin Yue, avenge their murdered master and grandmaster, and avoid relying on the Defender Alliance.
• Xu Guike revealed that he had killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator and four Qi Refining cultivators before escaping the Grasslands with Lin Yue and A Yun.
• After two days of travel north, Xu Guike noticed someone unexpected while surveying the Tuluo tribe below.

Xu Guike rescued Ji Shuxuan from a Tuluo tribe and took him toward the Far North rather than back to the Western Wasteland. Meanwhile, Li Ping attended Yan Hengchuan and Yu Peiling’s Dao companion ceremony, where he reunited with Yu Xuewei, an old friend from his youth.

• Xu Guike recognized Ji Shuxuan among the Tuluo tribe’s slaves, chose to save him, and destroyed the tribe before leaving with him.
• Yan Hengchuan and Yu Peiling became Dao companions at their ceremony, and Li Ping gave Yu Peiling a bottle of essence-nourishing pills.
• Yu Xuewei approached Li Ping at the banquet, and the two reminisced about their youth and their parting decades earlier.
• Ji Shuxuan thanked Xu Guike for rescuing him, then learned they were traveling to the Far North instead of returning to the Western Wasteland.
• Xu Guike said he would return to the Western Wasteland only if he eventually achieved core formation.

Li Ping returned toward Windmist Immortal City and fled when Wei Yiling tried to draw him into her pursuit by Hua Hong. Wei Yiling and Hua Hong followed his flying boat, leaving Li Ping facing the possibility of a fight.

• Li Ping left the Jiang Kingdom aboard his flying boat and headed toward Windmist Immortal City.
• Hua Hong lured Wei Yiling into a hidden cave, poisoned her, and pursued her when she escaped.
• Wei Yiling detected Li Ping's flying boat and pleaded with him to stop Hua Hong so she could get away.
• Li Ping suspected the pair were using a cultivator's version of an Immortal Hustle and fled instead of helping Wei Yiling.
• Wei Yiling and Hua Hong pursued Li Ping's boat as he realized they were coming after him.

Li Ping fled from Hua Hong, but after Hua Hong destroyed his Flying Boat, the two fought with powerful artifacts and Jia Yi, Li Ping’s puppet. Hua Hong raised a third-tier barrier and began activating a formidable Talisman Treasure, leaving Li Ping to reach for the Third-Tier Poison Wyrm’s venom sac.

• Hua Hong pursued Li Ping while Wei Yiling succumbed to the poisons, and Hua Hong caught her on a shield before leaving a spirit beast to guard her.
• Hua Hong caught up to Li Ping, crushed his Phantom Shuttle with a blood-colored hand, and attacked him; Li Ping retaliated with the Violet Gold Fork and Blood-Transforming Shield.
• Hua Hong recognized the Blood-Transforming Shield and suspected Li Ping was connected to Yan Liming, then tried to capture him with another blood-colored hand.
• Li Ping summoned Jia Yi, whose bow destroyed Hua Hong’s pitch-black shield with a single arrow, though the shot consumed much of the puppet’s spiritual energy.
• Hua Hong used a third-tier Diamond Talisman to shield himself and began activating a blood-colored sword Talisman Treasure, while Li Ping took out the Third-Tier Poison Wyrm’s venom sac.

Li Ping killed Hua Hong by using a Third-Tier Poison Wyrm's venom to break his defense and poison him during their battle. Afterward, Li Ping went to find the surviving Wei Yiling, while Hua Hong's death alerted a square-faced old man who ordered someone to check whether Wei Yiling was alive.

• Li Ping used a puppet to scatter the venom sac's contents over Hua Hong's Diamond Talisman barrier, forcing Hua Hong to flee before his talisman treasure could activate.
• Li Ping and his puppet attacked Hua Hong with Thunder Talismans and an arrow, destroying his shields, but the puppet ran out of power before Li Ping could replace its spirit stones.
• Hua Hong used a tower artifact to pull the Violet Gold Fork aside and attacked Li Ping, but the Blood-Transforming Shield blocked his Small Hammer.
• Hua Hong realized too late that Li Ping had poisoned him with the Blood Rakshasa Banner, and the Violet Gold Fork pierced his chest as he tried to escape.
• Li Ping burned Hua Hong's body, noticed another blood-colored light enter him, and flew toward the fallen Wei Yiling after cleaning up the battle site.
• A square-faced old man learned that Hua Hong's Blood-Colored Jade Token had shattered and ordered a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to check whether Wei Yiling's life token remained intact.

Li Ping rescued Wei Yiling from Hua Hong’s attack, cured her poisons, and learned that Hua Hong’s powerful relative could track them. Wei Yiling urged Li Ping to flee with her to Great Zhou, leaving him to consider a route across the sea.

• Li Ping killed the black tiger guarding Wei Yiling, treated her Soft Wyrm Powder and lust-inducing poison, and pushed her away when she tried to embrace him.
• Wei Yiling regained her senses, learned that Li Ping had killed Hua Hong, and doubted his claim because she detected no Blood God Mark on him.
• Wei Yiling told Li Ping that Hua Hong was related to Hua Wuji, a Core Formation Late Stage elder of the Bloodshadow Church who could track their auras.
• Li Ping questioned Wei Yiling about her conflict with Hua Hong, then prepared to leave the Western Wasteland before Hua Wuji found them.
• Wei Yiling stopped Li Ping and proposed that they flee to Great Zhou by crossing territory held by the Four Demonic Sects and then the boundless sea.

Teng Feng agreed to follow Minggu to the Eastern Sea, while Li Ping rejected a rogue cultivator’s offer to travel to Great Zhou and prepared to hide and cultivate. After escaping Li Ping, Wei Yiling decided to leave the Western Wasteland for Great Zhou, first returning to the Bloodshadow Church to retrieve her Life Token.

• Teng Feng learned that Minggu suspected the Sea Folk had poisoned him and agreed to travel with him to the Eastern Sea in search of the culprit and a Core Formation Treasure.
• Li Ping considered a rogue cultivator’s account of Great Zhou and the Four Demonic Sects but refused to travel with her, choosing instead to return to his secret realm cave abode and cultivate.
• Li Ping inspected Hua Hong’s Storage Bag, gave the Blood-Colored Small Sword Talisman Treasure to his Puppet, and discarded the bag and Hua Hong’s collection of women’s undergarments.
• Wei Yiling purged the Soft Wyrm Powder poison and flew east, deciding to leave the Western Wasteland for Great Zhou.
• Wei Yiling planned to return to the Bloodshadow Church first to retrieve her Life Token while the church’s forces were away fighting.

Li Ping fled Immortal Peach Mountain to hide in a secret realm after fearing Hua Wuji would pursue him. Meanwhile, a fourth-tier Scarlet Flood Dragon ordered Lu Old Devil to challenge Xiao Changkong to a duel in three years, and Li Ping reached the hidden entrance to his refuge.

• Li Ping bought Gu Musheng’s gathered puppet materials, told him to stop collecting more, and left Immortal Peach Mountain after terminating his lease.
• Lu Old Devil awakened the Scarlet Flood Dragon’s Split Soul, which ordered him to challenge Xiao Changkong and promised to strike during their duel.
• Xiao Changkong accepted the duel for three years later, on the condition that the Four Demonic Sects withdraw from the Qi and Yuan Kingdoms.
• Wei Yiling defected from the Bloodshadow Church as the war’s outcome came to hinge on the coming duel.
• Li Ping used the Azure Round Mirror to open the secret realm passage in the Cloudmist Mountains and flew inside.

Li Ping secured himself inside Yan Liming’s secret realm and began refining puppets, while Xiao Changkong secretly left Donghua Mountain to crush the Tuluo forces in the Yan and Liang Kingdoms. As Xiao Changkong hurried back south alone, Lu Old Devil set out with the Scarlet Flood Dragon to intercept him.

• Li Ping confirmed Hua Wuji could not track him inside the secret realm, explored its spiritual-vein landscape, and began refining puppets.
• Xiao Changkong told Qiu Changfeng and Yan Changqiu that he would secretly take the Seal of All Beings north, leaving them to defend Donghua Mountain and manage the Defender Alliance.
• Qiu Changfeng and Yan Changqiu warned that Xiao Changkong’s plan risked Donghua Mountain, but ultimately agreed to guard it as he departed the Qi Kingdom that night.
• Xiao Changkong joined the Defender Alliance near Heavenly Wound Immortal City, routed the Tuluo forces in the Yan Kingdom, and killed or wounded several Core Formation Cultivators.
• Xiao Changkong and Huang Yunzi’s forces crushed the Tuluo encampment in the Liang Kingdom, killing its late-stage high priest and devastating the six tribes.
• Xiao Changkong left the other Core Formation Cultivators to march on the Four Demonic Sects and hurried back alone, while Lu Old Devil left the Yuan Kingdom with the Scarlet Flood Dragon to intercept him.

Lu Old Devil killed Xiao Changkong with the help of his master’s fourth-tier Split Soul, then was ordered to seize Donghua Mountain and open a passage to the Primordial Demon Race Secret Realm. Meanwhile, Li Ping completed a defensive puppet, and the Defender Alliance evacuated Jixia Immortal City after Donghua Mountain fell to the Four Demonic Sects.

• Lu Old Devil’s master possessed the Scarlet Flood Dragon and killed Xiao Changkong, then ordered Lu Old Devil to capture Donghua Mountain and retrieve a treasure from the Primordial Demon Race Secret Realm.
• After his master’s Split Soul dissipated, Lu Old Devil took the Seal of All Beings and flew toward Donghua Mountain to exploit the Four Demonic Sects’ invasion.
• Li Ping named his newly completed defensive puppet Jia Er and watched the Desolate Fire Sparrow approach the second-tier middle stage before resuming cultivation.
• After Xiao Changkong’s death devastated the Defender Alliance’s morale, Yan Changqiu detonated Donghua Mountain’s Mountain-Guarding Array, inflicting heavy losses on the Demonic Path forces.
• Lu Old Devil agreed to let Jixia Immortal City’s residents evacuate if the Defender Alliance spared the Qingyun Secret Realm entrance, and the Academy accepted.
• Yan Changqiu stayed behind to guard the entrance until the evacuation finished, then left Donghua Mountain to join the Defender Alliance’s new battle line in Western Qi.