Chapter Summaries

Li Ping visited Heavenly Dao City to learn about the auction, seek refining resources, and find the complete Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art. The Treasure-Gathering Tower had never heard of the method, leaving Li Ping puzzled about its origins as he departed.

• Li Ping flew to Heavenly Dao City with the spoils from the three Core Formation cultivators he had killed and entered the city under tighter security.
• Shen Yu told Li Ping that the auction’s Starsea Phantom Shark spirit hide had sold for 2.11 million spirit stones and that Ten Thousand Souls High Person was blamed for the deaths of Bai Yao and the two Yin-Yang Valley cultivators.
• Li Ping learned that the Treasure-Gathering Tower had no news of secondhand production magic artifacts, then asked Shen Yu to find righteous-path cultivation methods that could reach beyond the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Li Ping examined the Tower’s catalog and found that it included many useless methods but not the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art; Shen Yu and his assistant had never heard of it.
• After Li Ping left, Shen Yu tried to remember what else Li Ping had asked him about, while the assistant admitted she had come just to see Senior Yan.

Li Ping realized that the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art and other unlikely opportunities may have been arranged by a mysterious power, but he felt unable to refuse the benefits and returned to Evergreen Island. After planting coiling dragon wood on the Second Gray Island, he gathered the materials needed to inherit the Fourth-Tier Beast Taming Technique and began the process.

• Li Ping questioned why he had risked stealing the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art and concluded that a mysterious power had influenced him and guided his cultivation.
• Li Ping compared his trips to Great Zhou and suspected the blood shadows and Zhou Tian Star Banners might have disrupted the influence behind his opportunities.
• Li Ping accepted that he had no choice but to carry the mysterious power’s goodwill and continue pursuing the Immortal Dao.
• Li Ping returned to Evergreen Island, released his spirit beasts, and began cultivating in Evergreen Hall.
• Li Ping planted the three-thousand-year-old coiling dragon wood on the Second Gray Island and calculated how long it would take to mature.
• Li Ping assembled the beast-patterned flag, fourth-tier demon beast blood essence, and a thousand mid-grade spirit stones, then began inheriting the Fourth-Tier Beast Taming Technique.

Li Ping inherited Lin Shanyin’s fourth-tier beast-taming techniques and planned to use them to raise the Desolate Fire Sparrow, then continued cultivating while handling sect and personal affairs. At Treasure-Gathering Tower, Shen Yu told him about an Artifact Furnace left by a fourth-tier artifact refining master whose owner wanted to meet him.

• Lin Shanyin recounted his rise as a beast tamer, his destruction of the Tieluo People, and his death after fulfilling his oath.
• Li Ping used Lin Shanyin’s techniques to plan the Desolate Fire Sparrow’s training and returned to Evergreen Hall to cultivate for three years.
• Wu Ming delivered rent and asked Li Ping’s permission to develop uninhabited islands, which Li Ping granted.
• Li Ping met Yao Ji, Gong Fu, and Bai Yaoyue, and learned that Yao Ji and Gong Fu sought an Essence Condensation Pill for their descendant.
• At Treasure-Gathering Tower, Shen Yu showed Li Ping the spirit materials he had gathered and revealed a lead on an Artifact Furnace whose owner wanted to meet Li Ping.

Li Ping met Yun Qisheng to negotiate for the Artifact Furnace left by the Yun Household’s ancestor, while Xu Guike continued investigating the Yu Household for clues about the Demon Cultivators who killed his Senior Sister. Yun Qisheng offered the furnace in exchange for Li Ping teaching his talented descendant alchemy, and Li Ping agreed to guide the descendant as an assistant rather than take them as a disciple.

• Li Ping learned that the Artifact Furnace’s owner belonged to the former Nascent Soul Artifact Refining Yun Household and agreed to meet him after finishing his pill commissions.
• Xu Guike Soul Searched a Yu Household cultivator, found that the man knew nothing current about the Demon Cultivators, and resolved to investigate higher-ranking members of the household.
• Xu Guike left the hill, and Yu Household cultivators later found no trace of him and issued a bounty for information about the killer.
• Li Ping completed months of pill-refining commissions before meeting Yun Qisheng, who offered him the Artifact Furnace and resources if he became the Yun Household’s Guest Elder.
• Li Ping refused to join the Yun Household or take Yun Qisheng’s descendant as a disciple, but offered to teach the descendant alchemy while they assisted him at the Treasure-Gathering Tower.
• Yun Qisheng accepted Li Ping’s arrangement, pleased that his descendant could learn his alchemical skills without becoming bound to a master’s obligations.

Li Ping arranged to receive Yun Qisheng’s artifact furnace and refining inheritance later, continued building his pill reserves, and attended Yao Chengyan’s Golden Core Ceremony. The ceremony revealed Li Ping’s reputation as a Third-Tier Middle-Grade Alchemy Grandmaster to the gathered Core Formation cultivators.

• Li Ping gave Yun Qisheng his alchemy insights and agreed to meet again in seven years, while learning that several powers had placed bounties on Xiong Dahai.
• Li Ping returned to Evergreen Island, stored seventeen pills for purification, inspected his Origin-Replenishing Liquid, and resumed cultivation.
• Li Ping sensed a Core Formation breakthrough near Vast Marsh Island, then learned a year later that Yao Chengyan had succeeded and accepted Yao Ji’s invitation to the Golden Core Ceremony.
• Wu Ming and his wife brought Li Ping rent and spirit fruits, and Li Ping rewarded them with two hundred spirit stones before heading to Vast Marsh Island.
• At the ceremony, the cultivator surnamed Su identified Li Ping as a Third-Tier Middle-Grade Alchemy Grandmaster, surprising the guests and drawing their attention to him.

After the Yao Household’s Golden Core Ceremony, Li Ping secretly harvested the hundred-thousand-year-old radiant pole starwood, then caught a rare Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle attracted by the spectacle. He persuaded the turtle to accept him as its master and continued toward Evergreen Island with a new spirit beast.

• Li Ping left the ceremony, traveled to a remote barren hill, and transformed the Lunar Coldflame and radiant pole starwood into sealed Jade Boxes.
• The radiant pole starwood’s appearance produced a vast celestial spectacle, drawing creatures and cultivators from far away; Li Ping cut it down and sealed it before they could reach him.
• Li Ping recognized a second-tier Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle among the creatures drawn to the spectacle and captured it with a net, while the Earth Spirit Mouse blocked its escape.
• Several days later, Li Ping resumed Yan Buping’s appearance and offered the turtle fourth-tier demon beast blood essence to persuade it to submit.
• The Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle accepted Li Ping’s Divine Soul Restrictions and became his spirit beast as he continued toward Evergreen Island.

Teng Feng decided to leave the Windchaser Tribe with Feng Lian and their descendants to avoid being drawn into the war, while Minggu revealed that he was the Sage Emperor’s elder brother and claimed Teng Feng was meant to inherit the throne. Two years later, Li Ping went to Heavenly Dao City, received the Yun Household’s Artifact Furnace, and began assessing Yun Lingsu’s Alchemy skills.

• The Windchaser Tribe agreed to join the war, and Feng Yuan chose to lead the expedition himself.
• Teng Feng resolved to remove his Lineage from the Windchaser Tribe, and Minggu revealed his identity as the Sage Emperor’s elder brother and named Teng Feng as the next heir to the throne.
• Teng Feng explained his plan to Feng Lian, who agreed to establish their tribe on an unclaimed island with a Spirit Vein.
• After two years of cultivation, Li Ping headed to Heavenly Dao City to refine pills and meet Yun Qisheng’s talented granddaughter.
• Yun Qisheng gave Li Ping the Yun Household ancestor’s Artifact Furnace, and Li Ping recognized it as nourishment that would grant fourth-tier low-grade Artifact Refining mastery.
• Li Ping asked Yun Lingsu to refine a batch of first-tier mid-grade pills so he could assess her shortcomings.

Li Ping instructed Yun Lingsu through intensive alchemy practice while fulfilling pill commissions for the Treasure-Gathering Tower. After months of training, he left Heavenly Dao City with the materials for his Life-Bound Treasure, the Zhou Tian Star Banners, and prepared to refine it on Evergreen Island.

• Yun Lingsu successfully refined first-tier middle-grade Qi-Gathering Pills as Li Ping guided her, then began practicing first-tier upper-grade Qi-Nourishing Pills and suffered repeated failures.
• Li Ping completed a commissioned batch of third-tier middle-grade pills while instructing Yun Lingsu, and Zheng praised his flawless work before leaving.
• Over nearly half a year, Yun Lingsu used ingredients for more than thirty batches of Qi-Nourishing Pills and succeeded once, while Li Ping refined twenty-one batches for Treasure-Gathering Tower customers.
• Li Ping departed aboard a Flying Boat with an ancient Alchemy Furnace, the materials needed for his Zhou Tian Star Banners, and plans to refine the treasure after returning to Evergreen Island.

After years of preparation, Li Ping refined the three hundred and sixty-five Zhou Tian Star Banners into his Life-Bound Treasure, whose unusual spirituality hinted at its potential to become a spirit treasure. He drew the banners into his dantian to nurture them and left Evergreen Hall to test their power.

• Li Ping used the Yun Household ancestor's Artifact Furnace, Lunar Coldflame, spirit stones, and mature coiling dragon wood to raise his artifact refining skill to fourth-tier low-grade.
• Li Ping studied the Star Banners' refinement method and planned to make each banner function as both a treasure and a Formation Banner.
• Li Ping cut the radiant pole starwood into three hundred and sixty-five banner poles, fused the thinner sections, and prepared the Starsea Phantom Shark spirit hide.
• Li Ping spent months inscribing runes and joining the banner poles and cloths, completing the Zhou Tian Star Banners after a year of refinement.
• The finished banners radiated starlight and showed spirit-treasure-like spirituality; Li Ping bound them to himself with his blood essence.
• Li Ping shrank the banners and drew them into his dantian to nurture them, then left Evergreen Hall to test their power.

Li Ping tested the Star Banners’ escape, attack, and formation abilities before returning to cultivation, then headed to Cold Moon Island to visit Bai Yaoyue. When he found her under attack by Heavenly Refinement Demon Sect cultivators, he left as Yan Buping but transformed into Xiong Dahai and flew back to intervene.

• Li Ping tested Star Escape, the Star Banners’ sword wheel and other abilities, and their formation, then decided to prioritize cultivation over deliberately nurturing the treasures.
• After years of cultivation, Li Ping traveled to Cold Moon Island to pay Bai Yaoyue’s rent and ask about her plans for the Taimao Secret Realm.
• Li Ping found five demon cultivators attacking Cold Moon Island’s formation while Bai Yaoyue and Yao Chengyan sheltered inside.
• Bai Yaoyue called for Li Ping’s help, but he departed after the demon cultivators’ leader warned him to leave.
• Li Ping decided to return as Xiong Dahai, changed his appearance, and flew back toward Cold Moon Island.

Li Ping returned to Cold Moon Island and rescued Bai Yaoyue from five Heavenly Refining Demon Sect cultivators, then subdued her after her Devil Race bloodline triggered a violent transformation. In a cave, Bai Yaoyue explained her origins, and Li Ping questioned why her bestial frenzy had differed from her father's.

• Bai Yaoyue detonated Cold Moon Island's protective formation and fled while Yao Chengyan stayed behind.
• Li Ping caught up with Bai Yaoyue and killed the five demon cultivators using the Soul-Settling Stake and Dragon-Slaying Guillotine.
• Bai Yaoyue transformed into a powerful half-demon and attacked Li Ping, who immobilized her and knocked her unconscious.
• Li Ping took Bai Yaoyue to a cave, where she awoke and thanked him for saving her.
• Bai Yaoyue said her Devil Race bloodline came from her father, Fang Chuge, and that it enabled her transformation.
• Li Ping asked why Bai Yaoyue's bestial frenzy took a different form from her father's.

Li Ping rescued Bai Yaoyue but refused her offer, then returned to Cold Moon Island with Immortal Alliance patrol cultivators. After Bai Yaoyue asked him to stay behind, the two were left alone in a soundproofed hall.

• Bai Yaoyue offered herself to Li Ping, but he laughed and left without accepting her offer.
• Li Ping sorted the five demon cultivators’ loot, discovered the Black Cloud Veil, and flew toward Heavenly Dao City while planning to report the attack.
• Li Ping encountered an Immortal Alliance patrol led by an unsmiling young man surnamed Fu and told them that Bai Yaoyue was under attack.
• Li Ping followed the patrol back to Cold Moon Island, where they learned that a mysterious cultivator had killed the attackers and saved Bai Yaoyue.
• Bai Yaoyue collected the next ten years’ rent from Li Ping and said she would stay in Heavenly Dao City until the Taimao Secret Realm opened.
• Bai Yaoyue asked Li Ping to remain for a private conversation, then cast a soundproofing spell around them.

Bai Yaoyue suspected Li Ping was the disguised Yan who had saved her, but chose to keep his secret, while Li Ping investigated and then returned to cultivation. Two years later, Xuan Er advanced to the third-tier late stage and Li Ping finished brewing Origin-Replenishing Liquid; he then went to Heavenly Dao City to teach Yun Lingsu alchemy and prepare for the Taimao Secret Realm’s opening.

• Bai Yaoyue recognized Li Ping’s life aura as the one she remembered from Yan, but decided not to expose him and asked where he had encountered Fellow Daoist Fu.
• Li Ping left Cold Moon Island, then secretly returned with the Earth Spirit Mouse to watch Bai Yaoyue; after she departed for Heavenly Dao City without acting suspiciously, he returned to Evergreen Island.
• After two years of cultivation, Xuan Er finished refining fourth-tier nether baleful qi, advanced to the third-tier late stage, and withstood Li Ping’s sword strikes.
• Li Ping collected the finished Origin-Replenishing Liquid and considered using the Second Gray Island to extend his lifespan or accelerate the Desolate Fire Sparrow’s growth.
• Li Ping went to the Treasure-Gathering Tower, where Yun Lingsu reported her progress and began refining Qi-Nourishing Pills under his instruction; Shen Yu discussed the approaching Taimao Secret Realm, which Li Ping planned to visit for its unique spirit materials.

Xu Guike and the Yu Household’s cultivators entered the Taimao Secret Realm while Ye Xu traveled through the intercontinental formation to the Nine Provinces. Ten years later, Li Ping refined pills and taught Yun Lingsu before heading to Kunlun Immortal City to meet the secret realm’s returning cultivators.

• Xu Guike recognized two Yu Household cultivators and three guest elders among the entrants, then suppressed his intent to kill them until they entered the secret realm.
• Yu Shuangchi opened the Taimao Secret Realm and activated the intercontinental teleportation formation, sending Ye Xu to the Nine Provinces with a blood-colored jade slip for Yu Shuangchi.
• Yu Shuangchi discovered that Ye Xu’s jade slip contained information on nonhuman beings and Ghost Formations, but expected Ye Xu to die in Taixuan City.
• Over ten years, Li Ping’s pill-refining reputation brought the Treasure-Gathering Tower twenty commissions, while he instructed Yun Lingsu in alchemy.
• Li Ping stopped refining after a month, left Yun Lingsu to practice, and flew with Shen Yu to await the Taimao Secret Realm’s returning cultivators and seek unusual spirit materials.

Li Ping and Shen Yu traded for rare spirit materials outside the Taimao Secret Realm, and Bai Yaoyue mistook Li Ping’s presence for concern for her. Meanwhile, Xu Guike left the secret realm determined to investigate his enemies, while Yu Shuangchi realized the Yu Household’s team had never emerged.

• Li Ping and Shen Yu set up stalls beneath Kunlun Immortal City, attracting returning cultivators with Shen Yu’s purple soul fruit and trading for rare spirit materials.
• Li Ping exchanged treasures and pills for spirit herbs that could help him raise the Desolate Fire Sparrow to transformation.
• Bai Yaoyue emerged with a Nascent Soul Formation Treasure, interpreted Li Ping’s presence as him waiting for her, and promised to visit after asking Senior Peng to refine pills.
• Shen Yu encouraged Bai Yaoyue’s misunderstanding, while Li Ping insisted he had come to collect spirit grass and left with Shen Yu.
• Xu Guike left the secret realm after capturing and searching the Yu Household’s five-person team, finding no clues about the Demonic Path of the Western Wasteland and resolving to investigate through the Immortal Alliance.
• Yu Shuangchi waited for the Yu Household’s team to emerge, but they remained missing even after the secret realm closed.

After realizing Bai Yaoyue might know his identity as Xiong Dahai and could seek revenge, Li Ping decided to leave Heavenly Dao City. He took Yun Lingsu to the Yun Household’s ancestral grounds at Cliffsun Mountain, where he prepared to discuss his departure with Yun Qisheng.

• Li Ping completed twenty alchemy commissions for the Treasure-Gathering Tower, continued teaching Yun Lingsu, and refused Shen Yu’s request for more work.
• Bai Yaoyue told Li Ping she planned to enter seclusion to attempt Nascent Soul formation, prompting him to suspect she had recognized him as Xiong Dahai and might be concealing a threat.
• Li Ping decided to flee Heavenly Dao City, then learned Yun Lingsu had no elders there to discuss ending her lessons with, so he took her home instead.
• Li Ping retrieved his Formation Banners and spirit grass from Evergreen Island before flying with Yun Lingsu to the Yun Household’s ancestral grounds in Xilin Commandery.
• Yun Qisheng welcomed Li Ping and invited him into Cliffsun Mountain to discuss the matter he had come to raise.

Li Ping negotiated a one-year arrangement with Yun Qisheng, agreeing to refine pills for the Yun Household and accept Yun Lingsu as an honorary disciple before continuing his journey. A month later, he began teaching Yun Lingsu while refining pills, successfully producing ten third-tier top-grade pills.

• Li Ping offered to spend a year guiding Yun Lingsu and refining pills for the Yun Household, then accept her as an honorary disciple when he returned to Heavenly Dao City.
• Yun Lingsu asked to travel with Li Ping, but he refused because the journey might be dangerous; Yun Qisheng accepted Li Ping's terms.
• Li Ping settled at Cliffsun Mountain, set up formations, and planted nine rare spirit materials on his Second Gray Island to accelerate their growth.
• A month later, Yun Qisheng brought seven sets of ingredients for Li Ping to refine, while Yun Lingsu began her instruction as Li Ping's disciple.
• Li Ping refined six batches of third-tier pills while teaching Yun Lingsu, then successfully produced ten pills from the third-tier top-grade ingredients, delighting Yun Qisheng.

Li Ping finished his year with the Yun Household and traveled toward Spirit Firmament City while refining his life-bound treasure. Elsewhere, Teng Feng learned why the Eastern Sea war began and agreed to seek treasures so Minggu could reincarnate; three years later, Li Ping arrived at Spirit Firmament City under the alias Bai Sheng.

• Li Ping completed twenty-three batches of pills for the Yun Household, helped Yun Lingsu improve her alchemy, and accepted her as a nominal disciple.
• Li Ping chose Spirit Firmament City as his destination and began refining the Coiling Dragon Pillar aboard his flying boat.
• Teng Lang brought Teng Feng a jade slip revealing that the Yu Household had sparked the war by killing a fourth-tier scarlet flood dragon.
• Minggu realized the Yu Household had avenged him and asked Teng Feng to gather treasures to restore his divine soul so he could reincarnate.
• Teng Feng decided to travel to Great Zhou for Minggu's requested treasures once the Southwind Tribe was more established.
• Three years later, Li Ping arrived at Spirit Firmament City disguised as Bai Sheng.

Li Ping settled in Spirit Firmament City, partnered with the Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion for alchemy commissions, and spent five years cultivating. After his Scarlet Flood Dragon and Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle advanced, he returned to begin the commissions Madam Sun had arranged.

• Li Ping rented a secluded Cave Abode, installed protective formations, and had the Scarlet Flood Dragon begin refining its Coiling Dragon Pillar Life-Bound Treasure.
• Li Ping proposed a partnership to Madam Sun of the Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion, proved he was a Third-Tier Top-Grade Pill Refiner, and agreed to complete commissions in five years.
• Li Ping rejected Madam Sun’s overly familiar expressions of grief about her deceased Dao companion, then returned to his Cave Abode to cultivate.
• Five years later, the Scarlet Flood Dragon advanced to the third-tier middle stage, and the Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle advanced to the second-tier late stage.
• Li Ping met Madam Sun again and learned that the Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion had secured sixteen third-tier middle-grade and eight third-tier top-grade commissions; he agreed to begin refining them.

Li Ping stopped taking third-tier middle-grade alchemy commissions after absorbing enough innate spirit vigor, while Bai Yaoyue overcame tribulations and became a Nascent Soul cultivator. Ten years later, she flew to Cold Emerald Lake seeking Fellow Daoist Yan, only to find Evergreen Island abandoned by its formation, as Li Ping’s Earth Spirit Mouse advanced to the third-tier late stage.

• Li Ping rejected Sun Jiang Yuan’s advances, refined pill commissions, and asked the Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion to prioritize third-tier top-grade commissions and collect production treasures.
• Li Ping returned home and devoted himself to cultivation while a Nascent Soul formation phenomenon appeared over Heavenly Dao City.
• Bai Yaoyue survived the heart demon and heavenly thunder tribulations, formed her nascent soul, and declined invitations to join factions.
• Bai Yaoyue hurried to Cold Emerald Lake to tell Fellow Daoist Yan her news but found Evergreen Island without its formation and with only a few low-ranking cultivators present.
• Ten years later, Li Ping emerged from seclusion after the Earth Spirit Mouse advanced to the third-tier late stage.