Chapter Summaries

Li Ping visited the Bai Family to inspect the second-tier mid-grade purple-patterned wood he needed. The Bo Family Ancestor offered it in exchange for Li Ping becoming a guest elder, but Li Ping remained unwilling to accept the family’s obligations.

• Bai Qing brought Li Ping to the Bai Family residence, where the Bo Family Ancestor welcomed him and praised his talisman-making skill.
• Li Ping asked to see the purple-patterned wood, and Bai Mingde brought out the spiritwood for him to inspect.
• Li Ping confirmed that the wood met his needs and asked the Bo Family Ancestor to name a price.
• The Bo Family Ancestor offered the wood if Li Ping agreed to become a Bai Family guest elder.
• Li Ping rejected the idea, wary of the risks and obligations that could follow the Bo Family Ancestor’s death.

Li Ping rejected the Bai Family’s offer to become its active guest elder but accepted a deal allowing the family to use his name in exchange for purple-patterned spiritwood. After he left, Bai Mingde and the Bo Family Ancestor discussed his refusal and the family’s uncertain future.

• The Bo Family Ancestor offered Li Ping spirit land, cultivation methods, spirit stones, and authority if he became the Bai Family’s guest elder, but Li Ping refused because he wanted to avoid worldly affairs.
• The Bo Family Ancestor proposed that the Bai Family use Li Ping’s name without requiring him to serve or fight, offering purple-patterned spiritwood in exchange, and Li Ping agreed.
• Li Ping and the Bai Family men swore Dao heart oaths, and Li Ping took the spiritwood before leaving.
• Bai Mingde asked whether Li Ping’s refusal showed caution or a steadfast Dao heart, and the Bo Family Ancestor speculated that Li Ping still held unrealistic hopes for cultivation.
• Bai Mingde questioned the ancestor’s claim that he had nurtured the spiritwood for years, and the ancestor admitted he had invented the story to make the gift seem more precious.
• Bai Mingde concealed that he had seen through the deception and worried that the Bai Family had yet to raise another Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Li Ping used the prepared materials to absorb the second-tier mid-grade talisman-making inheritance and became a second-tier mid-grade Talisman Maker. He successfully created a second-tier lower-grade Fire Rain Talisman, which showed him the strong market value of his new skill.

• Li Ping gathered a Talisman Brush, talisman ink, purple-patterned wood, and spirit stones, then saved the wood's rooted remainder for planting later.
• Li Ping let the Inheritance Tree absorb the materials and received an illusion filled with talisman-making knowledge and practice.
• Li Ping awoke after nearly half a day and found that his mastery had advanced to second-tier mid-grade Talisman Maker.
• Li Ping drew a second-tier lower-grade Fire Rain Talisman using the Silver Wolf Brush Han Xingyan had given him.
• Li Ping assessed the completed talisman's power and learned that it could sell for over fifty spirit stones.

Li Ping assessed the cost of making second-tier talismans and decided to sell only lower-grade ones while keeping his mid-grade talismans hidden. When he visited Gu Musheng’s shop to arrange sales, Gu Musheng revealed a risky, inexpensive lead on a high-tier cultivation method.

• Li Ping calculated that making second-tier talismans consumed substantial magical power and could provide enough income to support his cultivation.
• Li Ping decided to sell only second-tier lower-grade talismans and reserve his second-tier mid-grade talismans as hidden battle assets.
• After a month of work, Li Ping prepared six lower-grade talismans for sale and two mid-grade talismans for protection.
• Li Ping planned to sell his lower-grade talismans through Gu Musheng’s Green Bamboo shop, with Gu Musheng paying him one spirit stone per talisman for bringing in customers.
• Li Ping visited the shop and noticed that Gu Musheng had advanced to the seventh level of Qi Refining.
• Gu Musheng told Li Ping he had a risky but inexpensive lead on a high-tier cultivation method in the Immortal City.

Li Ping learned that Gu Musheng had secured a way for him to obtain a High-Tier Cultivation Method from the Immortal City's Secret Arts Pavilion for only a hundred spirit stones, despite the danger of participating in the scheme. After weighing the risks and his resentment toward the Immortal City Authorities, Li Ping decided to go, and ended the chapter arriving in disguise near the inner city.

• Gu Musheng told Li Ping that he had broken through to the Late Qi Refining Stage with a Qi Condensation Pill bought through a connection to one of Master Hu's disciples.
• Gu Musheng explained that Senior Wang was secretly allowing trusted cultivators to enter the Secret Arts Pavilion and take a cultivation method or secret art for a fee.
• Li Ping questioned the risks of the scheme, and Gu Musheng argued that secrecy, concealed identities, and Daoheart Oaths made exposure unlikely.
• Li Ping decided to use Gu Musheng's connection, exchanged six second-tier lower-grade spirit talismans for 300 spirit stones, and left.
• Li Ping arrived at a residence near the inner city disguised in a gray robe, a Divine Sense-Blocking Mask, and a black bamboo hat, with his aura concealed as a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

Li Ping paid the Wang Family to secretly enter the Secret Arts Pavilion, believing its Foundation Establishment cultivator had arranged access to the Immortal City's collection. The group instead arrived at the Wang Family Ancestral Grounds, where Li Ping realized the promised pavilion was the Wang Family's own collection.

• Li Ping paid 100 spirit stones and swore not to reveal the Wang Family's plan.
• By midnight, twelve masked cultivators had gathered, and the Wang Family Qi Refining cultivator led them through the inner city gate.
• Li Ping noticed they were heading toward the Wang Family Ancestral Grounds rather than Azure Dragon Mountain, but followed the group inside.
• The Wang Family Qi Refining cultivator showed them shelves of the Wang Family's Qi Refining manuals and offered each person one to take.
• Li Ping realized the Wang Family had scammed them.

Li Ping and the other cultivators discovered that the Wang Family had tricked them into paying to browse its own Secret Arts Pavilion instead of the Immortal City's. The Wang Family Ancestor offered them a chance to choose high-tier cultivation methods upstairs, and Li Ping followed the others to see what awaited them.

• The Wang Family cultivator revealed that the group had been brought to the Wang Family's Secret Arts Pavilion, prompting the cultivators to demand refunds for their spirit stones.
• The Wang Family Ancestor appeared and used his Foundation Establishment pressure to quiet the crowd, while a masked Foundation Establishment cultivator challenged him to face Windmist True Person.
• The Wang Family Ancestor offered refunds to anyone who would not go upstairs, but claimed the second floor held more than ten high-tier cultivation methods for those willing to look.
• Several cultivators went upstairs to inspect the collection, followed by the Foundation Establishment cultivator who had challenged the Wang Family Ancestor.
• The Wang Family Ancestor invited Li Ping upstairs, and Li Ping decided to take a look.

Li Ping discovered that the Wang Family Ancestor had tricked the cultivators into paying for a selection of dangerous or unusable cultivation methods. He found that the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art could suit him, though its cultivation depended on his own pill refining and excluded cultivation-boosting pills.

• Li Ping reached the second floor and realized the Wang Family Ancestor had used the promise of high-tier cultivation methods to make the cultivators forfeit their spirit stones.
• Li Ping examined the methods and rejected the incomplete demonic arts and several supposedly powerful methods with prohibitive requirements or risks.
• Li Ping read the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art and found that he met its water Spirit Root requirement.
• Li Ping learned that the art required him to refine pills himself to absorb their primordial aura, and that cultivation-boosting pills would not help him advance.

Li Ping considered the strict requirements and benefits of the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art, realizing his pill-refining talent made it a viable path despite his weak spiritual roots. After a demonic cultivator was killed for taking a forbidden method, Li Ping selected the art and a miscellaneous treatise, and the Wang Family Ancestor demanded extra spirit stones.

• Li Ping concluded that his World-Shocking Talent in pill refining could let him master the techniques needed to cultivate the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art and benefit from its life-preserving primordial aura.
• A cultivator took a demonic cultivation method downstairs, and the Wang Family Ancestor killed him and accused him of being a demonic cultivator.
• A Foundation Establishment cultivator urged everyone to go downstairs together and resist if the Wang Family Ancestor broke his promise, and the others agreed.
• Li Ping took the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art and a miscellaneous treatise downstairs with the group.
• The Wang Family Ancestor had everyone swear not to pass on their selected texts, then demanded extra spirit stones from Li Ping for taking two.

Li Ping exposed the Wang Family Ancestor’s staged execution and used the discovery to obtain an extra jade slip. After the cultivators left, Wang Qu Yan questioned the patriarch’s risky plan to drain the family’s reserves for Foundation Establishment Pills, but the patriarch refused to reconsider.

• Li Ping privately told the Wang Family Ancestor that he had seen through the staged performance, prompting the patriarch to give him the Miscellaneous Treatise as a gift.
• Li Ping collected copies of the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art and the Miscellaneous Treatise, then left with the other cultivators, who believed the missing man had been killed.
• The Wang Family Ancestor watched the cultivators depart and wondered whether Li Ping was truly a middle-stage cultivator.
• Wang Qu Yan told the patriarch that the Wang Family’s scheme was dangerous and questioned the high price of the golden marrow jade zhi.
• The Wang Family Ancestor insisted that the family needed Foundation Establishment Pills to protect its legacy and silenced Wang Qu Yan’s objections.

The Wang Family Ancestor weighed the Wang Family’s future as he considered his dwindling lifespan and Wang Qu Yan’s cautious leadership. Li Ping settled on a cultivation method and began reading a travelogue to learn about the Western Wastes Cultivation World.

• The Wang Family Ancestor concluded that the Wang Family needed a Foundation Establishment cultivator to survive after his death, but decided to keep Wang Qu Yan as patriarch to avoid disrupting the lineage.
• Li Ping chose the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art as his primary cultivation method because it bypassed minor-realm bottlenecks and improved breakthrough chances.
• Li Ping planned to rent a cave abode in the Inner City and consider how to activate his world-shocking talent.
• Li Ping read the introduction to the Evergreen Gazetteer, a travelogue by the Evergreen Hermit, hoping to learn about the Western Wastes Cultivation World.

Li Ping read the Evergreen Hermit's account of the Western Wasteland, learning about distant regions, a foreign cultivation world, and the Tuluo People. The chapter left him suspecting that the Primordial Era's upheaval had changed cultivation and that Windmist Immortal City's founding might be tied to the Heavenly Profound Sect's destruction.

• The Evergreen Hermit described the Cloudmist Mountains and the Forbidden Deathlands, where destructive auras made exploration perilous.
• The Evergreen Hermit reported that Demonic Path cultivators had crossed the Endless Vast Sea Desert from another cultivation world, and warned that the Western Wasteland would fall unless its nations united.
• Li Ping considered traveling to the larger cultivation world someday, but resolved to gather information and avoid entering unfamiliar places recklessly.
• Li Ping connected the Bloodshadow Sect's destruction of the Heavenly Profound Sect with the approximate founding of Windmist Immortal City, but lacked evidence to confirm a link.
• The Evergreen Hermit described wars between the nations of Liang and Yan and the Tuluo tribes, whose records claimed they were a separate race from humans.
• Li Ping considered the Tuluo legends about the Primordial Era and suspected that a great upheaval had changed the world and made ancient cultivation methods useless.

Li Ping studied the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art and began converting his Foundation Establishment magical power, realizing he would need a stronger spirit vein to practice it efficiently. He visited Gu Musheng to discourage him from using the Immortal City's Secret Arts Pavilion scheme, concealing that he had already used it himself.

• Li Ping read the Evergreen Gazetteer and then studied the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art, learning its limits and seven cultivation levels.
• Li Ping spent the night converting his magical power and estimated that completing the process would take about a month.
• Li Ping decided to rent a second-tier cave abode in the Inner City and went to warn Gu Musheng about the scheme to select cultivation methods.
• Li Ping told Gu Musheng that he had rejected the secret route and urged him not to use it either.
• Gu Musheng agreed, saying he had no reason to spend a hundred spirit stones while still at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Li Ping sought to rent a cave abode on Immortal Peach Mountain, where his second-tier talisman-making skill qualified him for the Meng Family’s artisan recruitment program. He went to meet the Meng Family Ancestor for a skill assessment, hoping that living near Master Hu would help him make use of his peerless talent.

• Li Ping entered the Inner City and chose Immortal Peach Mountain, a second-tier upper-grade spirit mountain owned by the Meng Family, as his preferred home.
• Li Ping learned that the Meng Family rented its cave abodes to cultivators with approved second-tier crafts, and he realized his talisman-making skill met the requirement.
• Li Ping discovered that Master Hu, a second-tier upper-grade pill refiner, lived on Immortal Peach Mountain and hoped that becoming his neighbor would benefit him.
• At the mountain’s Management Office, Li Ping told a late Qi Refining elder that he was a second-tier talisman maker and agreed to have his skill verified.
• The elder said the Meng Family Ancestor would assess Li Ping, then led him up the mountain as Li Ping considered the family’s profitable artisan community and its strength.

Li Ping met the unusually welcoming Meng Family Ancestor, who approved his request to rent a cave abode on Immortal Peach Mountain because of his connection to Meng Qingyi and his talisman-making skills. Li Ping agreed to settle there after hearing the rent and the voluntary expectations for residents.

• The Meng Family Ancestor warmly greeted Li Ping at the palace and invited him inside to talk.
• The Meng Family Ancestor explained that Meng Qingyi had praised Li Ping’s talisman-making and revealed their connection through the Meng lineage.
• Li Ping confirmed that he had become a Second-Tier Talisman Maker and credited Meng Qingyi with helping him.
• The Meng Family Ancestor approved Li Ping’s move to Immortal Peach Mountain without requiring a test or background check.
• The Meng Family Ancestor offered a cave abode for 100 spirit stones a year and asked residents to consider helping the Meng lineage or patronizing its business, while making both requests voluntary.
• Li Ping accepted the offer to rent a cave abode on Immortal Peach Mountain.

Li Ping agreed to rent a cave abode on Immortal Peach Mountain and wondered why the Meng Family Ancestor had criticized Dai Sangyu. After arranging his move and notifying his association, he prepared to leave the courtyard where he had lived for more than a decade.

• Li Ping accepted the Meng Family's rental terms and chose a vacant cave abode near Master Hu Feng's residence on Immortal Peach Mountain.
• The Meng Family Ancestor waived Li Ping's rent for the remaining month before the new year and gave him two formation jade tokens.
• The Meng Family Ancestor criticized Dai Sangyu for preventing Li Ping from becoming an Immortal City Retainer, leaving Li Ping suspicious of his motives.
• Li Ping visited Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng to share his new address and move the Shared Boat Association's New Year's Eve gathering to his cave abode.
• Li Ping packed his belongings and wondered how his Master and Daoist Ji were doing, noting that he had received no reply from Daoist Ji in more than half a year.

Li Ping moved into his new Cave Abode on Immortal Peach Mountain and resolved to focus on converting his magical power while pursuing Master Hu’s alchemical skills. At High Ridge Mountain, the Bai Family Ancestor accepted Bai Mingde’s plan to send Bai Lin to attend Li Ping after the New Year.

• Li Ping entered his Cave Abode, admired its scenery and defenses, and planned to replace ornamental plants with spiritual herbs.
• Li Ping considered how to obtain Master Hu’s second-tier upper-grade Pill Refiner skills and decided to prioritize converting his magical power.
• Bai Mingde told the Bo Family Ancestor that Li Ping had moved to Immortal Peach Mountain, ending their hope that he would need to serve as the Bai Family’s Guest Elder.
• Bai Mingde proposed sending Bai Lin to manage Li Ping’s Cave Abode, and the Bo Family Ancestor agreed that she should go after spending the New Year with her family.

After settling into his new spirit land, Li Ping visited his neighbor Master Hu and learned about the Pill Refiner’s gifted young disciple. He left after an urgent visitor interrupted their conversation, noticing that Master Hu had introduced his eldest disciple far less proudly.

• Li Ping found that the second-tier upper-grade spirit land had sped up his cultivation and planned to visit Master Hu.
• Master Hu warmly welcomed Li Ping into his cave abode and introduced his youngest disciple, Liu Yuan, as a talented young alchemist.
• Li Ping gave Liu Yuan a second-tier lower-grade spirit talisman as a meeting gift, and Master Hu invited him to visit again.
• A gray-robed disciple interrupted to announce that Senior Wang from the Wang Family had urgent business with Master Hu.
• Master Hu left with Liu Yuan and asked his eldest disciple, Feng Qufeng, to see Li Ping out; Li Ping noticed the contrast between Feng Qufeng’s introduction and Liu Yuan’s.

Li Ping learned that the Wang Family Ancestor had gathered rare ingredients and hired Master Hu to refine Foundation Establishment Pills. The Wang Family Ancestor delivered the ingredients, including a seven-hundred-year-old golden marrow jade zhi, and Master Hu prepared to begin refining.

• Li Ping left Master Hu’s Cave Abode with Feng Qufeng, who explained that Gu Musheng had spoken highly of him.
• Li Ping gave Feng Qufeng a second-tier lower-grade Spirit Talisman in thanks for looking after Gu Musheng.
• Feng Qufeng told Li Ping that the Wang Family Ancestor had asked Master Hu to refine Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Li Ping returned to his Cave Abode and wondered why Master Hu had treated him so warmly.
• The Wang Family Ancestor gave Master Hu the pill ingredients and payment, and Master Hu inspected the seven-hundred-year-old golden marrow jade zhi before preparing to refine the pills.

Master Hu refined two Foundation Establishment Pills for the Wang Family Ancestor, while Li Ping received his talisman earnings and hosted the Shared Boat Association's annual gathering. The gathering ended with Qi Hanmo surprising everyone by becoming a first-tier upper-grade musician.

• Master Hu used his innate true flame to refine two Foundation Establishment Pills from the Wang Family Ancestor's ingredients, easing the ancestor's worries about his lineage's future.
• A Meng Family cultivator delivered Li Ping his spirit stones and talisman-making materials after deducting the cost of supplies.
• Li Ping reflected on his progress with the Longevity Art and planned to seek a first-tier Pill Refiner legacy after the New Year.
• Zhang Tie arrived at Li Ping's cave abode for the Shared Boat Association's New Year's Eve gathering.
• The seven Shared Boat Association cultivators discussed their progress, and Gu Musheng reported reaching the late Qi Refining stage.
• Qi Hanmo revealed that he had become a first-tier upper-grade musician, surprising Li Ping and the others.