Chapter Summaries

Li Ping gave Meng Wanjun an Earthrock Python egg and thwarted her attempt to kiss him. Meanwhile, the Acacia Sect’s ambush for the disguised Li Jingyu failed when he never appeared, and Xu Guike decided to take Lin Yue to Donghua Mountain for help with her cultivation.

• Li Ping gave Meng Wanjun a second-tier Beast Taming legacy and an Earthrock Python egg, but stopped her when she tried to kiss him and warned he would reclaim the egg if she failed to advance.
• Red Thunder Old Monster and six Acacia Sect Core Formation cultivators waited over a month for the yellow-faced cultivator to arrive, but their planned ambush never happened.
• Yin Jiumu concluded the target had either learned of the trap or was too cautious to attend, then left Red Thunder Old Monster to keep watch in the market ward.
• Xu Guike rested with Lin Yue in a hidden Cloudmist Mountains refuge and worried that her slow cultivation could cost her chance at core formation.
• Xu Guike decided to take Lin Yue to Donghua Mountain and ask Li Ping to refine pills to help her cultivation.

Li Ping learned that Red Thunder Old Monster had a Core Formation visitor but decided to wait twenty years before confronting him. Meanwhile, Xu Guike and Lin Yue visited the Academy, confirmed it would not oppose his revenge, and continued toward Donghua Mountain.

• Li Ping heard from Meng Wanjun that Cheng Yao had left for Windmist Immortal City and that the Three Sects were still searching for the mysterious sword cultivator.
• After learning a Core Formation True Person was visiting Red Thunder Old Monster, Li Ping resolved to wait until the old devil was weaker before settling their debt.
• Xu Guike and Lin Yue visited Qi Hanmo at Jade Sash River, where Xu Guike revealed that he had returned to avenge his master.
• Qi Hanmo introduced Xu Guike to Academy Head Qiu Changfeng, who said the Academy would preserve the Defender Alliance's unity but would not act against Xu Guike for pursuing vengeance.
• Satisfied with the Academy's stance, Xu Guike and Lin Yue left Jade Sash River and flew toward Donghua Mountain.

Li Ping reunited with Xu Guike, who brought spirit herbs for pills to help Lin Yue advance and offered Li Ping a rare void crystal. After arranging the pill work and materials, Li Ping brought up his old suspicion that Xu Guike was the reincarnation of an acquaintance, and Xu Guike recalled how naturally he had mastered the Heaven-Cutting Sword Dao.

• Li Ping learned that Xu Guike had killed Qu Youkong and another Core Formation Cultivator to avenge his master, but had paused his revenge to protect Lin Yue's cultivation.
• Xu Guike asked Li Ping to refine spirit herbs from the two dead cultivators into pills, and Li Ping revealed that he could refine third-tier pills while asking Xu Guike to keep it secret.
• Xu Guike gave Li Ping a heap of spirit materials, and Li Ping recognized a rare void crystal that could help repair the teleportation formation in the Cloudmist Mountains.
• Li Ping offered to exchange the remaining materials for pills, then asked Xu Guike if he remembered their conversation about reincarnation in the Immortal City.
• Xu Guike remembered suspecting that he had cultivated the Heaven-Cutting Sword Dao before reincarnation because mastering it and refining his Spirit-Linking Flying Sword had felt so familiar.

Li Ping brought Xu Guike to Swordforging Manor to investigate their sense of familiarity, and Xu Guike recognized the place where his former master, Yan Guike, had lived. Xu Guike accepted that he was Yan Guike’s reincarnation but chose not to revisit his former life’s family, leaving for a new life with his memories largely restored.

• Xu Guike revealed that he had felt an inexplicable closeness to Li Ping and his late grandmaster, and agreed to visit Swordforging Manor with Li Ping.
• At year’s end, Li Ping gave Xu Guike eight bottles of third-tier pills, and they set out for the Jiang Kingdom the next day.
• At Swordforging Manor, Xu Guike wandered through familiar places and sat in Yan Guike’s old study, confirming Li Ping’s suspicion that Xu Guike was Yan Guike’s reincarnation.
• Li Ping sent the manor’s caretaker away and later left with Xu Guike, who said reincarnation was real and asked how the Yan Household was doing.
• After hearing that the Yan Household was thriving, Xu Guike declined to meet its members again, saying he wanted to live this life without tormenting himself over the past.

Li Ping headed into the Cloudmist Mountains to secure a third-tier spiritual vein and inherit a Formation Dao legacy before rebuilding a Teleportation Formation to Great Zhou. He ambushed and beheaded the Shadowless Ape King at Heaven-Reaching Cliff, while Bai Qing found the entrance to a secret realm and prepared to fight the demon beast guarding it.

• Li Ping parted from Xu Guike, who returned to Donghua Mountain to protect his senior sister during core formation, and traveled toward the Cloudmist Mountains.
• Li Ping chose Heaven-Reaching Cliff, home to an early third-tier Shadowless Ape King, as his target for securing a third-tier spiritual vein.
• Bai Qing, now at the foundation establishment middle stage, found the secret realm entrance marked on his map and decided to kill the second-tier late-stage demon beast guarding it.
• Li Ping used the Earth Spirit Mouse to carry himself and Mysterious One into the Shadowless Ape King's cave, then pinned the king briefly with the Lotus Radiance Mirror.
• Li Ping struck with the Dragon-Slaying Guillotine and beheaded the Shadowless Ape King.

Li Ping defeated the Shadowless Ape King, collected its valuable remains, and prepared a guarded underground shelter before receiving the Inkcloud True Explanation inheritance. In the inheritance illusion, he witnessed Mo Yun’s life as a dismissed formation enthusiast who eventually became a renowned master and created the inheritance.

• Li Ping harvested the Shadowless Ape King's soul essence, demon core, blood essence, hide, bones, spiritwood, and a thousand-year-old spirit grass.
• Li Ping arranged for the Earth Spirit Mouse and Mysterious One to protect him, then built and equipped an underground refuge with a third-tier formation.
• Li Ping used the Inheritance Tree to receive the Inkcloud True Explanation and entered an illusion of Mo Yun's life.
• Mo Yun remained at the second qi refining layer for years while devoting himself to formation study, earning the name "misfit" among the Mo Clan.
• At thirty, Mo Yun became a ranked formation master and a disciple of a Core Formation Cultivator from the Heavenly Profound Sect, then later achieved Foundation Establishment.
• Mo Yun advanced to third-tier formation mastery, compiled the Inkcloud True Explanation at age five hundred, and died after completing it.

Li Ping became a third-tier lower-grade Formation Master and set out to repair the teleportation formation, but discovered the Blazing Arrow Eagle was undergoing transformation. An Azure Giant Hand abruptly destroyed the tribulation and seized the eagle, leaving Li Ping stunned.

• Li Ping gained third-tier lower-grade Formation Master attainment and headed toward the teleportation formation.
• A vast spiritual-qi gathering and thunderclouds led Li Ping to realize a demon beast was attempting transformation in the Cloudmist Mountains.
• Li Ping recognized the transforming beast as the Blazing Arrow Eagle that had fled Windmist Immortal City, and resolved to warn Ji Shuwen and escape.
• An Azure Giant Hand appeared, smashed the lightning tribulation, and scattered the dark clouds with a punch.
• The Azure Giant Hand caught the fleeing Blazing Arrow Eagle and vanished with it, leaving Li Ping dumbstruck.

Li Ping learned that a mysterious Azure Giant Hand kept fourth-tier demon beasts out of the Cloudmist Mountains, then began constructing a teleportation formation. In a desert secret realm, Bai Qing encountered a powerful azure-robed youth who fed him roast meat, while Li Ping completed a concealed Octagonal Teleportation Formation.

• Li Ping witnessed the Azure Giant Hand capture the Blazing Arrow Eagle and concluded that it prevented fourth-tier demon beasts from inhabiting the Cloudmist Mountains.
• Bai Qing entered a desert realm after killing a spirit beast, spotted a huge roasted bird, and was trapped by a delicate-featured youth in azure robes.
• The youth first threatened Bai Qing, then changed his mind and offered him roast meat; Bai Qing ate it and began refining its abundant vital energy.
• The youth swallowed the enormous roasted bird through the maw of a giant python, then watched Bai Qing meditate with a lonely, bored expression.
• Li Ping found a small second-tier spirit vein near the damaged teleportation formation and concealed the cavern with a second-tier upper-grade Concealment Formation.
• Li Ping spent a month constructing a new Octagonal Teleportation Formation and inspected it with satisfaction.

Bai Qing escaped the secret realm after receiving spirit-rich meat, while the handsome youth failed to break free from his imprisonment. Li Ping confirmed his repaired teleportation formation could reach Great Zhou, then returned to Donghua Mountain and asked Meng Wanjun to choose whether to leave with him under restrictions on her divine soul.

• Bai Qing refined the meat's spiritual energy, advanced to the late stage of Foundation Establishment, and escaped the secret realm, whose entrance had disappeared.
• The handsome youth's split soul in Bai Qing was annihilated, and he attacked the secret realm's restrictions before an Azure Branch struck him down.
• Li Ping tested his rebuilt teleportation formation and confirmed the formation in Great Zhou remained intact, but postponed traveling there until he handled his affairs in the Western Wasteland.
• Li Ping modified the third-tier grand formation on the spirit island at Little Plum Mountain and planned to buy materials at Donghua Mountain's Market Ward.
• Li Ping returned to Donghua Mountain and gave Meng Wanjun the choice of staying behind or accompanying him to a mysterious place, warning that he would restrict her divine soul if she went.

Li Ping placed a Divine Soul Restriction on Meng Wanjun, then took her to Little Plum Mountain to prepare for their eventual journey to Great Zhou. While he began modifying the formation, Meng Wanjun settled in with his spirit beasts.

• Meng Wanjun agreed to follow Li Ping and let him place restrictions in her divine soul, and Li Ping promised her a chance to reach core formation and possible freedom from the restriction later.
• Li Ping bought materials to modify the formation beneath Little Plum Mountain, told Xu Guike he was leaving Donghua Mountain, and asked him to spare Ji Shuwen when seeking revenge.
• Li Ping and Meng Wanjun traveled west aboard his Flying Boat, and he explained that they were still going to Great Zhou but had tasks to complete first.
• At Little Plum Mountain, Li Ping told Meng Wanjun to care for the spirit beasts until the Desolate Fire Sparrow advanced, while he began working with the formation materials.
• Meng Wanjun fed the Desolate Fire Sparrow and Earth Spirit Mouse, then called the Earthrock Python “Snakey” and scolded it for not responding.

Li Ping strengthened the Spirit Island’s concealment formation, checked on the three lineages, and spent three years in secluded cultivation. He learned that Meng Wanjun had reached the Foundation Establishment middle stage and that the Desolate Fire Sparrow was preparing to advance, then collected three years of intelligence from Yan Hengchuan.

• Li Ping modified the Spirit Island’s third-tier formation to conceal the island and concentrate the spiritual qi of its vein there.
• Li Ping visited Yan Hengchuan, asked him to gather yearly news about the Western Wastes Cultivation World, and heard how the three lineages had expanded their holdings and trade caravan.
• Yan Hengchuan brought young members of the Yan Household to pay respects, and Li Ping gave each of them pills and magic artifacts.
• After three years of secluded cultivation, Li Ping learned that Meng Wanjun had advanced to the Foundation Establishment middle stage and rewarded her with pills.
• Meng Wanjun told Li Ping that the Desolate Fire Sparrow might attempt its advancement within five years, and Li Ping collected the three Sound Transmission Talismans Yan Hengchuan had sent during his seclusion.

Li Ping suspected the Academy was testing whether Lu Old Devil was alive, while the Academy secretly killed Spirit Taming Sect elder Old Monster Jin and learned only that Lu Old Devil had not returned. Over the following years, someone repeatedly used Li Jingyu’s name to claim the deaths of Core Formation cultivators, leaving Li Ping to watch his old alias become the feared Blood River Old Devil.

• Li Ping considered how the Academy’s demand for the Seal of All Beings might test Lu Old Devil’s status and saw a possible chance to act amid a war.
• Qiu Changfeng and five Academy cultivators ambushed Old Monster Jin, killed him, and searched his soul, learning that Lu Old Devil had left over a century earlier but not whether he was alive.
• A year later, Li Ping learned that a killer calling himself Li Jingyu had murdered Old Monster Jin and that the Spirit Taming Sect had issued a warrant; Li Ping suspected the Academy was using his retired alias to disguise its actions.
• The next year, Li Ping heard that Li Jingyu had killed a Core Formation elder of Divine Dragon Manor in the Qi Kingdom, provoking the Defender Alliance to raise the bounty.
• Li Ping later learned that Li Jingyu had also killed elders of the Nine Nether Sect and Crimson Flame Sect, bringing the reported total to seven and earning the name Blood River Old Devil.

Li Ping watched the Desolate Fire Sparrow advance to the third tier, then learned that Li Jingyu’s identity had been used to claim a growing trail of killings across the Western Wastes. Several months later, the sparrow successfully broke through on Spirit Island.

• Li Ping and Meng Wanjun watched as the Desolate Fire Sparrow absorbed spiritual qi and began its advancement, while Li Ping sensed its Vermilion Bird bloodline awakening.
• The Desolate Fire Sparrow refined its demon core for weeks, and Li Ping determined that its breakthrough was nearly assured.
• Li Ping read a Sound Transmission Talisman and learned that Li Jingyu had killed more Core Formation cultivators and destroyed dozens of clans and sects.
• Li Ping reflected that both righteous and demonic forces had turned Li Jingyu into a shared disguise and resolved never to use that identity again.
• Several months later, the Desolate Fire Sparrow released a mighty cry after successfully advancing to the third tier.

Li Ping prepared to leave the Western Wasteland for Great Zhou, but first set out to settle his scores with Red Thunder Old Monster and Old Devil Wu. After entrusting Yan Hengchuan with access to the Cold Pool spirit island, he flew toward Five Thunder Mountain in disguise to search for Red Thunder Old Monster.

• Li Ping and Meng Wanjun left the Cold Pool spirit island and visited Yan Hengchuan to learn the latest news about the Western Wasteland.
• Yan Hengchuan reported that the Defender Alliance and the Four Demonic Sects were cooperating against Li Jingyu, while both sides remained wary of Lu Old Devil.
• Li Ping gave Yan Hengchuan a Formation Banner and a Jade Slip explaining how to access and control the Cold Pool spirit island, then confirmed that he was leaving for Great Zhou.
• Li Ping left Meng Wanjun at Azure Peak Lake and flew toward Five Thunder Mountain with his Desolate Fire Sparrow and Third-Tier Puppet.
• Li Ping disguised himself as a yellow-faced, middle-aged man as he approached the home of Red Thunder Old Monster's descendants.

Li Ping infiltrated Five Thunder Mountain as Li Jingyu and launched a sudden attack on Red Thunder Old Monster while he refined a Talisman Treasure. Hua Wuji sensed the assault and rushed to intervene as Red Thunder Old Monster fought to hold on.

• Li Ping captured and Soul Searched two descendants of Red Thunder Old Monster, learned Red Thunder had returned to Five Thunder Mountain, and killed them.
• Li Ping transformed into Li Jingyu and traveled underground with Mysterious One, the Desolate Fire Sparrow, and the Earth Spirit Mouse to break through Five Thunder Mountain's protective array.
• Li Ping located Red Thunder Old Monster beside a stone pool refining a Talisman Treasure and ordered his companions to attack.
• Hua Wuji sensed the intruders, recognized Li Jingyu, and rushed toward Red Thunder Old Monster, believing the Defender Alliance had sent him.
• Li Ping and Mysterious One attacked Red Thunder Old Monster, who broke free of the Lotus Radiance Mirror's restraint and used his lightning staff to fend off their strikes.
• Red Thunder Old Monster spent his blood essence to restore his damaged staff and tried to hold out until Hua Wuji arrived as Li Ping's execution blade struck again.

Li Ping killed Red Thunder Old Monster with the Dragon-Slaying Guillotine, but Hua Wuji arrived and recognized the weapons Li Ping had taken from the Bloodshadow Church. Li Ping escaped Five Thunder Mountain and planned to see whether Hua Wuji could track him before deciding whether to leave the Western Wasteland or pursue Old Devil Wu.

• Red Thunder Old Monster tried to block the Dragon-Slaying Guillotine, but Li Ping's golden treasure destroyed his lightning staff and killed him.
• Mysterious One took Red Thunder Old Monster's storage bag, and Li Ping recognized the newly arrived Hua Wuji as the Bloodshadow Church's grand elder.
• Hua Wuji accused Li Ping of killing Yan Kun and Hong and prepared to capture him, but Li Ping used the glowing guillotine as a feint and fled with the Bloodwing Escape Art.
• Li Ping broke through Five Thunder Mountain's formation and vanished beyond Hua Wuji's divine sense, while Hua Wuji failed to track his aura.
• Li Ping concealed his aura aboard a silver flying boat and decided to wait; if Hua Wuji caught up, he would leave the Western Wasteland, and otherwise he would hunt Old Devil Wu.

Li Ping abandoned his attempt to kill Old Devil Wu after realizing the cultivator might be bait in an ambush, and he set out for Great Zhou instead. Before leaving the Western Wasteland, he reunited with members of the Shared Boat Association in Windmist Immortal City and learned that Ji Shuwen planned to attempt core formation in a few years.

• After waiting more than a month for Hua Wuji, Li Ping decided Hua Wuji could not track his aura and prepared to kill Old Devil Wu.
• Li Ping realized Old Devil Wu might have told Yin Jiumu about the Ancient Cultivator Cave Abode and that they could be waiting to ambush him, so he turned toward Great Zhou.
• Old Devil Wu, Hua Wuji, Yin Jiumu, and four other Core Formation Cultivators waited in vain for Li Jingyu, and Yin Jiumu told Old Devil Wu to return to the sect.
• Li Ping returned to Azure Peak Lake, picked up Meng Wanjun, and traveled with her to Windmist Immortal City before their planned departure for Great Zhou.
• City Lord Ji hosted a banquet for Li Ping, who later met Ji Shuwen, Zhang Tie, Gu Musheng, Cheng Yao, and Bai Qing in private.
• Ji Shuwen told Li Ping she expected to attempt core formation in three or four years.

Li Ping reunited with Ji Shuwen and his old companions in Windmist Immortal City, where Ji Shuwen revealed her plan to seize greater independence for the city. Bai Qing recounted a strange encounter that led Li Ping to recognize that a powerful youth had roasted the fourth-tier Blazing Arrow Eagle, leaving him wary of returning to the Cloudmist Mountains.

• Ji Shuwen asked Li Ping to stay in the Immortal City, but he said he would leave again in a few days, saddening his old companions.
• Ji Shuwen explained that she had refused to relinquish the city lord position and hoped that she and Wang Xingwei would achieve Core Formation and make the Immortal City effectively their own.
• Li Ping learned that Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng had built their lineages through ties to the declining Meng Family, while Bai Qing cultivated in the Immortal City because High Ridge Mountain could not meet his needs.
• Bai Qing explained that eating a piece of meat from a strange youth had advanced his cultivation by two stages in fifty years.
• Li Ping recognized Bai Qing's description of the roasted bird as the fourth-tier Blazing Arrow Eagle and resolved to avoid the Cloudmist Mountains if he or the Desolate Fire Sparrow reached the fourth tier.

Li Ping left the Immortal City with Meng Wanjun after her family upset her by coveting her inheritance, leaving a farewell message and ten Foundation Establishment Pills for his friends. On the way onward, he searched the Blazing Arrow Eagle’s tribulation site and found its valuable fourth-tier tail feather, along with three lesser feathers.

• Meng Wanjun told Li Ping that her family had pressed her for Meng Qingyi’s inheritance, so Li Ping decided they would leave the Immortal City at once.
• Li Ping left a Jade Slip and ten Foundation Establishment Pills for Ji Shuwen, Zhang Tie, and the others before departing with Meng Wanjun.
• Zhang Tie found Li Ping’s message and pills at the empty inn and realized his big brother had left without saying goodbye.
• Li Ping steered the Flying Boat to the Blazing Arrow Eagle’s former tribulation site and sent the Earth Spirit Mouse to search for treasures.
• The Earth Spirit Mouse led Li Ping to a fiery tail feather, which Li Ping identified as a fourth-tier material and sealed in a Jade Box.
• Li Ping continued searching for several days and found three more feathers, though they were only third-tier top-grade.

Li Ping planned a life-bound treasure fan for the Desolate Fire Sparrow using feathers from its father, a fourth-tier Blazing Arrow Eagle. He and Meng Wanjun then teleported from the Western Wasteland to Great Zhou, where Li Ping dismantled the destination formation to protect his escape route.

• Li Ping asked Daoist Gaoji for advice on refining the Blazing Arrow Eagle feathers and settled on a treasure fan inspired by the Five-Fire Seven-Bird Fan.
• Li Ping brought Meng Wanjun to the underground cavern and reassembled the Octagonal Teleportation Formation.
• Li Ping explained that he was traveling to Great Zhou to advance along the Immortal Dao, then activated the formation and teleported with Meng Wanjun.
• Li Ping found the destination formation safe inside a cave in Great Zhou and dismantled it to prevent anyone from destroying the Western Wasteland formation.
• Li Ping gave Meng Wanjun a jade slip so she could learn Great Zhou's language before they left the cave.