Chapter Summaries

Li Ping visited the Ji household for the New Year and learned how its children would serve the Snowflight Sect. After returning, he witnessed Xiao Yunzhi complete her three-year retreat and successfully form her core.

• Shi Yutong thanked Li Ping for aiding the Snowflight Sect and promised he could use its third-tier spiritual vein to attempt core formation.
• The Snowflight Sect repaired its protective formation and tightened its controls over rogue cultivators.
• Li Ping attended Ji Shuxuan's New Year's feast, gave pills to the children, and heard that two of them would join the Snowflight Sect as outer disciples.
• Li Ping returned to the sect and sensed a vast spiritual qi vortex gather above Xiao Yunzhi's secluded chamber.
• After several days, the vortex dispersed and Xiao Yunzhi successfully formed her core.

After Xiao Yunzhi reached Core Formation, Li Ping returned to his rebuilt Changping Ward cave abode and took control of the Earth Spirit Mouse, then tried to cultivate in seclusion. He emerged when the mouse and the Desolate Fire Sparrow fought and wrecked his courtyard, leaving him to sort out their dispute.

• Li Ping left the Snowflight Sect after learning Xiao Yunzhi would remain in seclusion, and Mei Hao told him his Changping Ward cave abode had been rebuilt and would be free to use.
• Li Ping moved into the cave abode, released the Desolate Fire Sparrow and Earth Spirit Mouse, and subdued the mouse with restrictions before destroying its Spirit Beast Token.
• Li Ping discovered that the Earth Spirit Mouse could smell treasures, so he used sachets from the Bai Sisters' Storage Bag to mask their scent from it.
• Li Ping returned to cultivation, but a few days later he found that the Desolate Fire Sparrow and Earth Spirit Mouse had fought and left the courtyard in disarray.
• Li Ping threatened to withhold Beast-Feeding Pills from both spirit beasts, and the Earth Spirit Mouse protested that the sparrow had chased and beaten it.

After emerging from seclusion as a Core Formation cultivator, Xiao Yunzhi returned to Li Ping and learned what the Snowflight Sect had endured while she was away. She agreed to complete three tasks for the sect, including investigating True Person Mu Yun’s death.

• Xiao Yunzhi returned to her cave abode, mistook the sachets on Li Ping for gifts from another woman, and confronted him before realizing the sachets came from his Earth Spirit Mouse.
• Li Ping explained the upheaval that had damaged their cave abode and recounted the Snowflight Sect’s near-destruction and True Person Mu Yun’s death.
• Xiao Yunzhi showed Li Ping her ancestor’s gift, the Crimson Flame Wheel, and vowed to drive out the Demonic Path and reclaim Donghua Mountain.
• Shi Yutong visited Xiao Yunzhi and asked her to investigate True Person Mu Yun’s death, retrieve millennium ice jade from the Ice Sea, and kill Long Jie of the Cloudstep Sect.
• Xiao Yunzhi agreed to the three tasks and learned the sect would offer another lavish reward if she recovered its stolen spiritual item from Long Jie.

Li Ping confirmed that the cultivator he had killed was Long Jie and learned that the Snowflight Sect had not tracked the stolen treasure, but he postponed retrieving it until after Core Formation. Xiao Yunzhi left to investigate Silver Moon City, and three years later Li Ping reflected on his life before receiving an invitation to Xu Guike and Lin’s wedding banquet.

• Li Ping examined Shi Yutong’s Jade Slip and confirmed that the man he had killed was Long Jie, then decided to leave the hidden Storage Bag untouched until after Core Formation.
• Xiao Yunzhi installed a second-tier upper-grade formation in Li Ping’s cave abode, and Li Ping gave her the Earth Spirit Mouse and Beast-Feeding Pills for her journey to the Ice Sea.
• Xiao Yunzhi kissed Li Ping before leaving, and he weighed his affection for her against the risks of becoming entangled in her family’s blood feud.
• Three years passed as Li Ping cultivated, and Ji Shuxuan invited him to a banquet celebrating Xu Guike and Lin becoming Dao companions.
• Li Ping thought about Xu Guike’s desire to avenge Dai Sangyu and compared it with Xiao Yunzhi’s own quest for vengeance.

Li Ping attended Xu Guike and Lin Yue’s simple Dao companion banquet and gave them ten second-tier upper-grade Spirit Talismans. At Silver Moon City’s ruins, Xiao Yunzhi’s Earth Spirit Mouse found a gray sphere that concealed Daoist Gaoji, who warned her of a possible Nascent Soul ambush and began to explain the city’s destruction.

• Li Ping attended Xu Guike and Lin Yue’s banquet, greeted Ji Shuxuan’s family and the guests, and gave the newly joined Dao companions a Jade Box containing ten second-tier upper-grade Spirit Talismans.
• Xiao Yunzhi investigated Silver Moon City’s ruins and noticed that the Barbarian Bone Tribe had inexplicably joined the demon beasts in attacking the city.
• Xiao Yunzhi released Li Ping’s Earth Spirit Mouse, which found a gray sphere hidden beneath shattered buildings; the sphere blocked divine sense and absorbed her magical power.
• Xiao Yunzhi traveled to the Ice Sea, where Daoist Gaoji emerged from a microcosm realm and introduced himself as a former Heavenly Craft Sect cultivator whose divine soul had been refined into a puppet.
• Xiao Yunzhi identified herself as Crimson Flame True Person and asked what Daoist Gaoji meant by a possible Nascent Soul ambush near Silver Moon City; he asked whether she wanted to know why the city had been destroyed.

Xiao Yunzhi learned that a Nascent Soul Cultivator had destroyed Silver Moon City, then obtained a promise from Daoist Gaoji to give her the complete Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art. Meanwhile, Teng Feng completed a demon-hunting mission and learned from Minggu about the balance of power among Great Zhou’s factions.

• Daoist Gaoji told Xiao Yunzhi that a Nascent Soul Cultivator had destroyed Silver Moon City, killing True Person Mu Yun and destroying his puppet.
• Xiao Yunzhi asked Daoist Gaoji for the complete Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art for Brother Li, and he agreed to give it to her.
• Teng Feng joined Yinghai Trading Company’s mission to hunt a third tier sea demon in exchange for Jadeglory Essence, while Minggu assured him their shared divine soul would conceal him from detection.
• Teng Feng and eight other Foundation Establishment Cultivators helped a green-robed Core Formation woman trap and kill the demon, and Teng Feng received his reward.
• Minggu recognized the woman as a member of the Great Zhou Imperial House and explained how the Confucian Sect, the Righteous Path, and the demonic path shared power in the Immortal Alliance.

Three years after becoming Dao companions with Lin Yue, Xu Guike told Li Ping he planned to move with his senior sister to the rebuilt Silver Moon City and eventually seek core formation there. In the Ice Sea, Daoist Gaoji offered Xiao Yunzhi ten-thousand-year cold jade in exchange for an oath to kill the Ice Flood Dragon, revealing that she could use it to make a Cold Flame Wheel and strengthen her Sun-Moon Ring against Lu Kuang.

• Li Ping and Xu Guike discussed the division of shares and plans to rebuild a major city on Silver Moon City's former site.
• Xu Guike told Li Ping he intended to move with his senior sister to the new city after reaching the foundation establishment late stage, while Li Ping worried that Xu Guike's future revenge might threaten the Meng Family.
• Daoist Gaoji offered Xiao Yunzhi ten-thousand-year cold jade if she swore to kill the Ice Flood Dragon after achieving nascent soul formation.
• Daoist Gaoji explained that Xiao Yunzhi could refine a Cold Flame Wheel and unite it with her Crimson Flame Wheel to form the Sun-Moon Ring.
• Xiao Yunzhi agreed to swear the oath, hoping to gain the power to defeat Lu Kuang and avenge her ancestor.

Li Ping refined Dragon-Subduing Pills for Shi Yutong and returned to his cultivation, while Lu Kuang entered the Far North to search for the Three-Yin Soul-Slaying Sword. The chapter left Lu Kuang arriving at Red Maple City, planning to recruit locals without revealing the sword’s importance.

• Shi Yutong asked Li Ping to refine Dragon-Subduing Pills for a distant Snowfolk relative, and Li Ping successfully produced ten pills in his first batch.
• Shi Yutong thanked Li Ping and left, while Li Ping resumed cultivation to prepare for Core Formation.
• Lu Kuang reported the destruction of the Qingyun Secret Realm to the Scarlet Flood Dragon King, who sensed that the Three-Yin Soul-Slaying Sword remained somewhere in the world and ordered him to find it.
• Lu Kuang traveled to the Far North and decided to enlist its people in the search without openly offering a reward.
• Several dozen days later, Lu Kuang arrived before Red Maple City.

After returning from the Ice Sea, Xiao Yunzhi reported to Shi Yutong and reunited with Li Ping, bringing spirit fruits and news about the Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art. Daoist Gaoji recognized Li Ping’s Puppet, and Li Ping admitted that he had refined it himself.

• Xiao Yunzhi told Shi Yutong that a Nascent Soul Cultivator might have been involved in True Person Mu Yun’s death and gave her a piece of millennium ice jade.
• Xiao Yunzhi reported that Long Jie had died during the Beast Tide, then gave Shi Yutong a second piece of millennium ice jade in place of the unfinished task.
• Xiao Yunzhi returned to the Cave Abode and told Li Ping about her Ice Sea journey, Daoist Gaoji, the ten-thousand-year cold jade, and the Sun-Moon Ring Treasure.
• Xiao Yunzhi introduced Li Ping to Daoist Gaoji and told him that Gaoji had the complete Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art.
• Daoist Gaoji recognized Li Ping’s servant as a second-tier upper-grade Puppet, and Li Ping confirmed that he had refined it himself.

Li Ping impressed Daoist Gaoji with his self-taught Puppet Art and received the five levels of the Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art. After learning the text was incomplete, Li Ping heard Daoist Gaoji’s offer to trade his puppet-making research for a future fourth-tier puppet and the revival of the Heavenly Craft Sect.

• Li Ping told Daoist Gaoji that he had taught himself Puppet Art by studying a damaged third-tier puppet, then revealed six second-tier upper-grade puppets he had crafted.
• Daoist Gaoji praised Li Ping’s talent, and Li Ping asked for the Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art in exchange for something.
• Daoist Gaoji gave Li Ping a jade slip containing the art’s five levels, which greatly strengthened divine sense and increased the number of puppets its user could control.
• Li Ping noticed the art was incomplete, and Daoist Gaoji explained that the Heavenly Craft Sect had found only five levels in the Primordial Ruins.
• Daoist Gaoji offered his research on third-tier and fourth-tier puppets in exchange for Li Ping crafting him a fourth-tier puppet and reestablishing the Heavenly Craft Sect’s tradition.

Daoist Gaoji offered Li Ping his Puppetry inheritance in exchange for a future fourth-tier Puppet and the restoration of the Heavenly Craft Sect, and Li Ping agreed only after Gaoji provided the promised method. Li Ping then mediated a dispute among his spirit beasts while Xiao Yunzhi considered where to have a treasure refined, and the beasts ended the chapter fighting over dragon blood grass.

• Daoist Gaoji offered Li Ping his Puppetry expertise if Li Ping would eventually refine a fourth-tier Puppet for him and rebuild the Heavenly Craft Sect, and Li Ping accepted without swearing an oath until Gaoji produced the inheritance.
• The Earth Spirit Mouse complained that the Desolate Fire Sparrow and Blazing Sun Bird had taken its hidden spiritual items, so Li Ping ordered them to return a stalk of dragon blood grass and told the three beasts to divide it.
• Xiao Yunzhi told Li Ping she planned to have a master Artifact Refiner make a Cold Flame Wheel, and Li Ping advised her to return to the Western Wasteland and use the refiner who made her Crimson Flame Wheel.
• The Desolate Fire Sparrow, Blazing Sun Bird, and Earth Spirit Mouse argued over how to divide the dragon blood grass, then started fighting as Li Ping watched helplessly.

Li Ping prepared the Earth Spirit Mouse for advancement while refusing Daoist Gaoji’s offer to retrieve materials for a third-tier puppet, wary of a possible trap. The mouse successfully advanced to second-tier mid-grade, and Li Ping celebrated its promise as a treasure detector.

• Li Ping examined the Earth Spirit Mouse and decided to gather spiritual treasures, earth-attribute demon cores, blood essence, and Yellow Jade Pills to improve its chances of advancing.
• Daoist Gaoji urged Li Ping to retrieve materials for a third-tier puppet, but Li Ping refused because he prioritized cultivation and distrusted the possibility of a trap.
• With Shi Yutong’s help, Li Ping gathered the needed treasures, refined Yellow Jade Pills, and watched the Earth Spirit Mouse burrow underground to advance.
• Months later, Ji Shuxuan visited Li Ping, whose thoughts turned to Ji’s worsening age and whether to use the Longevity Art to save him; Li Ping chose not to intervene.
• The Earth Spirit Mouse advanced successfully to second-tier mid-grade, and Li Ping told Ji Shuxuan that the spirit beast had advanced.

Li Ping learned that Ji Nianyuan had established his foundation, welcomed him into the Snowflight Sect’s cultivation families, and mourned Ji Shuxuan’s death. After Xu Guike left to pursue core formation in the rebuilt Silver Moon City, Li Ping reflected on the friends and family he would outlive.

• Ji Shuxuan told Li Ping that Ji Nianyuan had successfully established his foundation, and Li Ping gave Ji Nianyuan a defensive Magic Artifact as a congratulatory gift.
• At Ji Nianyuan’s foundation establishment ceremony, Li Ping met Xu Guike, who said he planned to reach the late stage and then leave for the rebuilt Silver Moon City to prepare for core formation.
• Ji Nianyuan married into the Mei Lineage and gained a secure place for the Ji Lineage within the Snowflight Sect.
• Two years later, Ji Shuxuan died at age ninety-two, and Ji Nianyuan and his family mourned him while Li Ping paid his respects.
• Xu Guike, now at the foundation establishment late stage, asked Li Ping to look after A Yun before leaving Snowflight City with Lin Yue.
• Li Ping watched Xu Guike depart and reflected that his friends and loved ones would die with time while he remained evergreen through the ages.

Xiao Yunzhi fled west toward Great Zhou with Lu Old Devil in pursuit, keeping him away from Li Ping and the Three-Yin Soul-Slaying Sword. In Snowflight City, Li Ping met Lu Chang'an, a Great Zhou Confucian Sect cultivator investigating Silver Moon City's destruction, and worried that Xiao Yunzhi might be drawn into the dangerous inquiry.

• Lu Old Devil's pagoda struck a Snowfolk hunting party and killed the cultivators before he demanded that Xiao Yunzhi hand over the sword weapon.
• Xiao Yunzhi joined her Cold Flame Wheel and Crimson Flame Wheel into the Sun-Moon Ring, then used its escape technique to flee west as Lu Old Devil chased her.
• Shi Yutong brought Lu Chang'an to meet Li Ping, and Lu Chang'an asked to speak with Xiao Yunzhi about Silver Moon City's destruction.
• Li Ping told Lu Chang'an that Xiao Yunzhi had left to refine her life-bound treasure and did not know when she would return.
• After Lu Chang'an asked Li Ping to pass along a request to meet Xiao Yunzhi, Li Ping worried that the investigation could put her in danger.

Li Ping learned that a Nascent Soul Demon Cultivator had destroyed Silver Moon City to harvest its inhabitants’ souls, but chose to conceal the truth while the Immortal Alliance pursued the Ice Flood Dragon. After years of cultivation, he reached foundation establishment perfection and prepared to attempt core formation.

• After Lu Chang'an left the Far North, Shi Yutong brought Li Ping gifts, and he resolved to leave Snowflight City after achieving core formation.
• Li Ping questioned Daoist Gaoji, who revealed that a Nascent Soul Demon Cultivator had destroyed Silver Moon City to gather souls for repairing a treasure and had arranged to blame the Ice Flood Dragon.
• Li Ping agreed to keep the Demon Cultivator’s crime secret for now so the Immortal Alliance would continue its effort to kill the Ice Flood Dragon.
• Over the following years, Li Ping cultivated and discussed his unidentified spiritual liquid and other treasures with Daoist Gaoji.
• After five years of arduous cultivation, Li Ping reached foundation establishment perfection and decided to prepare for core formation.

Li Ping borrowed the Snowflight Sect's third-tier spiritual vein and prepared carefully before attempting Core Formation. After three years of secluded cultivation, he began condensing his magical power into crystals, and tiny crystalline grains formed in his dantian as his aura continued to rise.

• At one hundred and thirty, Li Ping decided to attempt Core Formation despite not having advanced his Myriad Spirits Divine Sense Art beyond the third level.
• Li Ping asked Shi Yutong to borrow the Snowflight Sect's third-tier spiritual vein, and she agreed to let him use Xiao Yunzhi's former cultivation chamber.
• Li Ping set up a formation using the Spirit-Eye Jade and Green Jade Formation Disc, deployed six puppets, and spent three years bringing himself into peak condition.
• Li Ping swallowed an Essence Condensation Pill and used his divine sense to make his magical power rotate and compress inside his dantian.
• Li Ping formed tiny crystalline grains at the center of his sea of magical power as the aura around him continued to intensify.

Shi Yutong and Ji Nianyuan discussed the sect’s affairs and Li Ping’s influence before a vast celestial phenomenon announced Li Ping’s successful Core Formation. Li Ping’s golden core stabilized, and a second Gray Floating Island appeared in his Purple Qi Space, though he remained in seclusion to strengthen his cultivation.

• Shi Yutong rewarded Ji Nianyuan with Essence-Nourishing Pills and heard him credit Li Ping for his place in the Snowflight Sect.
• Shi Yutong sensed violent spiritual qi fluctuations around Li Ping’s secluded chamber, and she told Ji Nianyuan that Li Ping had reached the final step of Core Formation.
• Li Ping drew in the surrounding spiritual qi, condensed a golden core, and stabilized it while his soul entered the core.
• Several days later, the spiritual qi vortex dissipated, and Ji Nianyuan and Shi Yutong recognized that Li Ping’s golden core had formed.
• Li Ping chose to remain in seclusion to refine his core and strengthen his combat power, and a second Gray Floating Island emerged in his Purple Qi Space.

Li Ping discovered that the second floating island accelerated time and could grow spirit herbs, giving him a way to cultivate rare materials for his future Life-Bound Treasure. After planting ten herbs, he found they had aged only a hundred years in two outside years and suspected the island’s time acceleration was divided among the plants.

• Li Ping learned that the second Gray Floating Island accelerated time a thousandfold, but he could send objects into it while his body could not enter.
• Li Ping planted a hundred-year-old Jade Condensation Grass on the island and considered using its growth to obtain spiritwood for forging the Zhou Tian Star Banners.
• Li Ping began refining Yan Liming’s Essence-Devouring Sword and completed its initial refinement after a year.
• Li Ping discovered that the Jade Condensation Grass had become a thousand years old and produced a Bloodline Fruit, then planted ten spirit herbs on the island.
• Two years later, Li Ping found that all ten herbs had aged only a hundred years and moved five away to test whether the island’s accelerated time was shared among them.

After completing his secluded cultivation and refining the Essence-Devouring Sword, Li Ping emerged as a Core Formation cultivator and prepared to leave Snowflight City for the Western Wasteland. Before departing, he resolved Ji Nianyuan’s dilemma over his father’s ashes and gave him a powerful puppet.

• Li Ping emerged from seclusion with the Essence-Devouring Sword refined to roughly seventy percent of its power and learned that the second gray island’s thousandfold time acceleration could benefit only one spirit herb fully.
• Ji Nianyuan congratulated Li Ping on forming his golden core, and Shi Yutong welcomed him as Senior Li and offered him jade gold, which he refused.
• Li Ping politely distanced himself from Shi Yutong, answered her cultivation questions, and then left the Snowflight Sect with Ji Nianyuan.
• Li Ping told Ji Nianyuan he planned to return to the Western Wasteland and proposed dividing Ji Shuxuan’s ashes so part could remain with A Yun and part could be buried with the Ji Lineage.
• Li Ping summoned a second-tier upper-grade puppet and gave it to Ji Nianyuan.

Li Ping gave Ji Nianyuan a second-tier upper-grade puppet and accepted half of Ji Nianyuan’s father’s ashes. He rejected Mei Hao’s proposal that he become Shi Yutong’s Dao companion, and Shi Yutong later discovered that Li Ping had left Snowflight City without saying goodbye.

• Li Ping gave Ji Nianyuan a second-tier upper-grade puppet, which Ji Nianyuan refined before leaving to fetch half of his father’s ashes.
• Mei Hao asked Li Ping whether he had a Dao companion and proposed that he become Shi Yutong’s dual cultivation companion.
• Li Ping refused, saying his heart was pledged to the Great Dao and he would not consider taking a Dao companion before attaining it.
• Ji Nianyuan returned with his father’s ashes, and Li Ping put the urn into his storage bag.
• Mei Hao reported Li Ping’s refusal to Shi Yutong, who later visited Li Ping with spirit fruit and found his cave abode empty because he had left Snowflight City.