Chapter Summaries

Li Ping defeated Ten Thousand Souls High Person, whose nascent soul escaped, then helped the Desolate Fire Sparrow weaken the heavenly lightning tribulation as Wei Yiling formed her nascent soul. After Wei Yiling returned to face the heavenly demon tribulation, Xiao Yunzhi arrived at the Heavenly Craft Sect with Granny Suyue, and she and Li Ping reunited.

• Ten Thousand Souls High Person abandoned his dharma body and fled as a nascent soul, and Li Ping gave up pursuing him when Wei Yiling's nascent soul took shape.
• Wei Yiling endured six bolts of heavenly lightning with her throwing knife before Li Ping ordered the Desolate Fire Sparrow to weaken the remaining bolts.
• Wei Yiling survived the rest of the lightning tribulation and returned to her cave abode to prepare for the heavenly demon tribulation.
• Xiao Yunzhi and Granny Suyue arrived at the Heavenly Craft Sect, where Xiao Yunzhi recognized Li Ping and greeted him as Brother Li.
• The Blazing Sun Bird flew to the Desolate Fire Sparrow and reacted with surprise to his cultivation, while he boasted about his talent.

Li Ping reunited with Xiao Yunzhi, who had returned to Great Zhou with Granny Suyue while pursuing Ten Thousand Souls High Person. Xiao Yunzhi asked to become Li Ping’s Dao companion, but after learning about his existing ties to Wei Yiling and Feng Xishuang, she refused to share him and left for Sea Pole Island with her master.

• Xiao Yunzhi and Granny Suyue learned that Li Ping and the Desolate Fire Sparrow had driven Ten Thousand Souls High Person into abandoning his dharma body, leaving only his nascent soul, and they accepted Li Ping’s invitation to stay at the Heavenly Craft Sect.
• Granny Suyue said she intended to return to Sea Pole Island, while Xiao Yunzhi insisted she would go with her; Wei Yiling arrived after advancing to the Nascent Soul stage and joined the gathering.
• Xiao Yunzhi asked Li Ping to become Dao companions with only the two of them, but Li Ping said he could not abandon Wei Yiling and Feng Xishuang and explained his relationships with them.
• Xiao Yunzhi left for Sea Pole Island with Granny Suyue two days later, and Wei Yiling teased Li Ping about breaking another woman’s heart while admitting she had feared he might leave with Xiao Yunzhi.

Li Ping released Daoist Gaoji into a puppet body and arranged for him to help Feng Xishuang and the Heavenly Craft Sect. After Wei Yiling returned from the Western Wasteland with Qi Hanmo, Qi Hanmo reported how the region’s sects and Li Ping’s old acquaintances had fared, leaving Li Ping to reflect on the aging of his generation.

• Granny Suyue offered to return to the Heavenly Craft Sect, but Xiao Yunzhi chose to return with her to Sea Pole Island.
• After Wei Yiling stabilized her Nascent Soul cultivation, Li Ping sent her to deliver seven Returning Yang Pills and bring Qi Hanmo back, then reclaimed Mysterious One for Daoist Gaoji.
• Li Ping released Daoist Gaoji into Mysterious One and asked Feng Xishuang to show him around the Heavenly Craft Sect and consult him about puppet crafting.
• Over the following two years, Daoist Gaoji managed much of the sect’s work and helped Feng Xishuang advance in puppet crafting.
• Wei Yiling returned with Qi Hanmo, who told Li Ping that the Seven Immortals Sect, Cloudtreading Sect, and Academy had grown through trade with Great Zhou, while their older generation began to die or approach the end of their lives.

Li Ping gave Qi Hanmo the depleted Sword of Utmost Sincerity and True Illumination, but Qi Hanmo resolved to return it to the Confucian Sect. Seven years later, Wei Yiling returned from the Oceanic Continent with news that Teng Feng had reached Core Formation late stage and that the Immortal Alliance and Eastern Sea Foreign Race Alliance remained in a tense standoff.

• Qi Hanmo told Li Ping that the Western Wastes were recovering, its newly revealed southern lands held spirit veins, and Donghua Mountain might gain a fourth-tier spirit vein.
• Li Ping warned Qi Hanmo not to attempt Nascent Soul Formation in the Western Wasteland after describing a transformed demon beast being seized by a giant hand.
• Li Ping gave Qi Hanmo the depleted Sword of Utmost Sincerity and True Illumination, and Qi Hanmo confirmed that righteous vitality could restore it while strengthening his cultivation.
• Qi Hanmo refused to keep the Confucian Sect's inherited sword and resolved to return it, so Li Ping arranged for Wei Yiling to escort him to the Great Zhou.
• Li Ping sent Wei Yiling to deliver a Returning Yang Pill to Teng Feng and gather news, then spent seven years cultivating as he worried that his old friends might never advance beyond Golden Core.
• Wei Yiling returned and reported that Teng Feng had reached Core Formation late stage, the Immortal Alliance was rebuilding after heavy losses, and the Eastern Sea Foreign Race Alliance was not advancing; she had joined the Immortal Alliance as an elder.

Li Ping learned about the Immortal Alliance’s plans for the Eastern Sea war and read Qi Hanmo’s letter describing his new acquired spirit body and the Confucian Sect’s support. Meanwhile, Ten Thousand Souls High Person hid in the Land of Deathly Silence, slaughtered its inhabitants, and set out to recruit allies against the Heavenly Craft Sect.

• Wei Yiling told Li Ping that the Immortal Alliance had chosen to evacuate coastal residents and fight a prolonged war rather than risk deploying Kunlun in a decisive battle.
• Wei Yiling reported that Yu Menghan had become Sage Emperor and sent Li Ping thanks, while Ten Thousand Souls High Person had not appeared in Great Zhou for many years.
• Li Ping read Qi Hanmo’s letter explaining that he had returned the Sword of Utmost Sincerity and True Illumination, received a fate-illuminating acquired spirit body, and been promised help forming his Nascent Soul.
• Li Ping learned that Yu Menghan and Jian Congyou had each offered him a favor, then resumed cultivation after deciding they might be useful later.
• Wei Yiling searched the Heavenly Craft Sect’s disciples for signs of possession but found none and ordered ongoing examinations.
• Ten Thousand Souls High Person, concealed in a green-robed dharma body, slaughtered a cultivation community in the Land of Deathly Silence and flew toward Great Zhou to recruit Sacred Sect allies against the Heavenly Craft Sect.

Li Ping finished reforging the Dragon-Slaying Guillotine and spent the next five years cultivating while learning of the Ten Thousand Souls High Person’s massacre and Meng Wanjun’s arrival. He let Meng Wanjun stay at the Heavenly Craft Sect and asked whether her beast-taming skills had reached the third tier.

• Li Ping reforged the Dragon-Slaying Guillotine with void spirit heavenly gold and Blood Flood Dragon scales, greatly enhancing its offense and ability to break five elements spells.
• Li Ping decided to reserve the Mist Flood Dragon’s reverse scale for a Shape-Transformation Pill for the Earth Spirit Mouse, while Xuan Er continued evolving by refining the Corpse King's Life-Bound Corpse Pearl.
• Wei Yiling told Li Ping that the Ten Thousand Souls High Person had slaughtered a distant cultivation world and escaped punishment, prompting Li Ping to resolve to destroy him after forming his Nascent Soul.
• Meng Wanjun arrived at the Heavenly Craft Sect after reaching the core formation late stage, and Li Ping agreed to let her stay.
• Meng Wanjun showed Li Ping her third-tier middle-stage Earthrock Python and explained that the Dragon-Tapping Art had purified its True Dragon blood; Li Ping asked whether her beast-taming skills had reached the third tier.

Li Ping refined four Nascent Soul Transformation Pills and arranged for Feng Xishuang to enter seclusion and attempt nascent soul formation while Wei Yiling stayed to protect her. As Feng Xishuang sealed herself inside the Spirit Eye Land, Li Ping and Wei Yiling discussed his alchemy and she began teasing him again.

• Li Ping found that Meng Wanjun's beast-taming understanding remained at the second tier, advised her to study harder, and watched her leave determined to improve.
• Li Ping harvested a Ten-Thousand-Year Purple-Bearded Ginseng and a heavenly infant fruit, then refined four Nascent Soul Transformation Pills.
• Li Ping summoned Wei Yiling, Feng Xishuang, and Daoist Gaoji, ordered Feng Xishuang to prepare for nascent soul formation, and asked Wei Yiling to remain at the sect as protection.
• Li Ping gave Feng Xishuang four Nascent Soul Transformation Pills and a Mind-Clearing Pill, and she entered seclusion at the sect's Spirit Eye Land.
• Wei Yiling questioned Li Ping about his alchemy, took a Mind-Clearing Pill, and began teasing him as they watched Feng Xishuang's sealed hall.

Meng Wanjun awakened the Dragon-Transforming Finger, helping the Earthrock Python break through to the late third tier, while Li Ping continued cultivating. Feng Xishuang’s attempt to form a Nascent Soul failed, but Li Ping healed her and Wei Yiling helped her review the attempt for next time.

• Meng Wanjun demonstrated her Dragon-Transforming Finger, and the Earthrock Python broke through to the late third tier and began evolving toward a flood dragon.
• The Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle advanced to the late third tier, leaving all of Li Ping’s beasts except the Desolate Fire Sparrow at that stage.
• Feng Xishuang’s Nascent Soul formation attempt failed, leaving her gravely injured and with her origin essence and lifespan depleted.
• Li Ping used the Longevity Art to heal Feng Xishuang, restoring her complexion and dark hair.
• Feng Xishuang explained her failed attempt, and Wei Yiling reviewed her own experience and advised her on preparing to try again.

At age five hundred, Li Ping watched Feng Xishuang begin her third attempt at nascent soul formation, but three Nascent Soul Cultivators attacked the Heavenly Craft Sect before she could finish. Li Ping and his allies confronted the attackers outside the sect’s formation to protect her breakthrough.

• Li Ping reflected on reaching late-stage core formation and guarded Feng Xishuang, who had entered seclusion two years earlier to attempt nascent soul formation again.
• Feng Xishuang shattered her golden core and drew in the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, prompting Li Ping and Wei Yiling to guard her while she condensed her nascent soul.
• Li Ping sensed three Nascent Soul Cultivators approaching, and he, Wei Yiling, the Desolate Fire Sparrow, and Xuan Er prepared to meet them before they could disturb Feng Xishuang.
• Ten Thousand Souls High Person attacked the Heavenly Craft Sect’s formation, but Wei Yiling shattered his summoned skull with her silver Throwing Knife.
• Li Ping ordered Wei Yiling to fight Madam Yin, the Desolate Fire Sparrow to kill Ten Thousand Souls High Person, and himself to hold off Old Devil Tan.

Li Ping and his allies fought Old Devil Tan, Ten Thousand Souls High Person, and Madam Yin during the assault on the Heavenly Craft Sect. After Ten Thousand Souls High Person fled and the other enemies withdrew, Feng Xishuang formed her Nascent Soul and faced her lightning tribulation.

• Wei Yiling kept Madam Yin occupied while the Desolate Fire Sparrow transformed into his true form and burned through Ten Thousand Souls High Person's ghost mist.
• Li Ping destroyed Old Devil Tan's fire crow Dao soldiers with the Soul-Settling Stake, then froze the strengthened fire crow with the Lunar Coldflame and replenished his magic power.
• The Desolate Fire Sparrow forced Ten Thousand Souls High Person to detonate his Dharma body and flee as a Nascent Soul, prompting Old Devil Tan and Madam Yin to retreat.
• Li Ping and the Desolate Fire Sparrow saw black clouds gather over the Heavenly Craft Sect as Feng Xishuang formed her Nascent Soul and began her lightning tribulation.

Li Ping returned to Heavenly Dao City under the alias Lu Da to rent a fourth-tier cave abode and safely attempt nascent soul formation. After learning that old acquaintances and the wider cultivation world had changed during his absence, he recognized Fu Shengwen, whose cultivation and appearance had declined.

• Li Ping chose Heavenly Dao City for his breakthrough, disguised himself as Lu Da, and entered the city with his spirit beasts and refined corpse Xuan Er.
• Li Ping visited the Treasure-Gathering Tower and learned that Shen Yu had died and a younger descendant now managed the business.
• Li Ping bought intelligence from the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion and learned that the Eastern Sea foreign races remained inactive while conflict between the Righteous and Demonic Paths intensified across Great Zhou.
• Li Ping went to the cave abode rental office and requested a fourth-tier cave abode, learning that the upcoming Taimao Secret Realm would soon increase demand.
• Fu Shengwen arrived to handle the rental, and Li Ping recognized the former core formation late stage cultivator, whose cultivation had fallen to the core formation middle stage, but denied knowing him.

Li Ping rented a fourth-tier cave abode in Heavenly Dao City and bought intelligence about the region before beginning his preparations to form a Nascent Soul. The reports revealed the changed fortunes of familiar people and sects, including Bai Yaoyue’s rise and Fu Shengwen’s failed breakthrough.

• Li Ping rented a fourth-tier cave abode for forty years, then visited the Black Market to sell valuables and purchase intelligence from the Shadowkill Tower.
• Li Ping asked whether the Shadowkill Tower could assassinate Ten Thousand Souls High Person, but the masked cultivator refused to target a Nascent Soul expert and agreed to provide other intelligence in exchange for treasures.
• Li Ping entered his new cave abode, set up defensive formations, assigned the beasts and Xuan Er to cultivate, and read the purchased reports.
• Li Ping learned that Bai Yaoyue had joined the Immortal Alliance and supported the Leisurely Cloud Sect, which had risen to Core Formation level under Wu Ya.
• Li Ping learned that Fu Shengwen’s Nascent Soul breakthrough had failed, leaving him injured and unable to advance beyond Core Formation middle stage.
• Li Ping read that the Beast Taming Lin Household had declined after its elder’s failed breakthrough, while the Artifact Refining Yun Household had prospered through artifact refining and alchemy.

Li Ping remained in seclusion for twenty years while tensions between Great Zhou’s righteous and demonic factions grew, and Yun Lingsu faced pressure to marry a favored descendant of Elysian High Person. Desperate for help, she sought an audience with Bai Yaoyue, who invited her into her cave abode while Yun Xiuzhu waited outside.

• Li Ping reviewed the risks of forming his nascent soul, then entered seclusion and resolved not to emerge until he succeeded.
• Over the next twenty years, Great Zhou’s factional tensions intensified, and the Taimao Secret Realm opened and closed again.
• Elysian High Person backed his descendant’s demand to marry Yun Lingsu, leaving the Yun Household with three years to find protection or agree to the match.
• Yun Lingsu traveled to Heavenly Dao City with Yun Xiuzhu and asked Bai Yaoyue for an audience, hoping Bai would help because of her connection to Master Yan.
• After nearly half a day, Bai Yaoyue’s attendant invited Yun Lingsu inside, while Yun Xiuzhu remained outside the cave abode.

After thirty years of seclusion, Li Ping reached the peak of core formation and began attempting nascent soul formation without using his remaining Nascent Soul Transformation Pill. His immense spiritual tide drew attention across the region, while Bai Yaoyue, Yun Lingsu, Fu Shengwen, and Fu Yu watched the disturbance and learned that the cultivator was known as Lu Da.

• Li Ping reflected on his five hundred and thirty years of cultivation and judged that his techniques, divine sense, and other advantages gave him more than a ninety-percent chance of forming a nascent soul.
• Li Ping returned the Nascent Soul Transformation Pill to his Storage Bag, closed his eyes, and triggered a spiritual qi phenomenon that expanded across a thousand li.
• The Desolate Fire Sparrow summoned the Earth Spirit Mouse, Scarlet Flood Dragon, and Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle to guard Li Ping as spiritual qi gathered into a vast vortex above his cave abode.
• Yun Lingsu visited Bai Yaoyue to ask for help, but the nascent soul formation phenomenon interrupted her request; Bai Yaoyue brought her into the sky to witness it.
• Fu Shengwen recognized the phenomenon at Li Ping’s rented cave abode and told Fu Yu that the cultivator attempting nascent soul formation was Lu Da, a rogue cultivator from the Eastern Sea.

Li Ping successfully formed his Nascent Soul, but the heavenly lightning tribulation expanded across the entire Cultivation World, leaving him facing an apparently world-destroying threat. As Li Ping asked the Desolate Fire Sparrow for help, a youth in the Western Wasteland suddenly heard that he could go out.

• Li Ping formed his Nascent Soul, shattered his Golden Core, and stabilized his new power as cultivators across Heavenly Dao City witnessed the breakthrough.
• Fu Shengwen and Bai Yaoyue expected the Immortal Alliance to help Li Ping endure the lightning tribulation, but the tribulation clouds expanded far beyond the usual range.
• Yu Menghan, cultivators of the Heavenly Craft Sect, Bai Qing, Ji Shuwen, and Xiao Yunzhi saw the clouds spread across the Cultivation World and obscure every star.
• Li Ping realized the tribulation could destroy Heavenly Dao City and asked the Desolate Fire Sparrow for help, but Little Flame said he could only dig a grave.
• A youth in the Cloudmist Mountains sprang up in delight after hearing that his Elder Brother said he could go out.

A mysterious youth escaped the Wasteland Secret Realm and erased the world-spanning tribulation clouds threatening Li Ping, who survived his Nascent Soul tribulation and fled Heavenly Dao City. Li Ping discovered a third Gray Island in his Purple Mansion space, while the youth encountered Bai Qing and took him away into spatial turbulence.

• The delicate-featured youth left the Wasteland Secret Realm, saw Li Ping's terrifying tribulation clouds, and had an Azure-Scaled Serpent devour them after agreeing to help his Elder Brother.
• Yanshan Boyu met the youth and invited him to the Yanshan Great World, but the youth refused and said he was returning to Myriad Spirits Heaven.
• Li Ping and the Desolate Fire Sparrow realized the tribulation clouds had vanished, then escaped underground with the Mountain-Suppressing Softshell Turtle and their spirit beasts.
• Li Ping sensed a third Gray Island in his Purple Mansion space and identified its apparent power as Deriving Laws.
• The delicate-featured youth found Bai Qing alive, ordered him to become his follower, and brought him into spatial turbulence beside an enormous island-like object.

Li Ping believed his cultivation and Nascent Soul formation had been a dream and woke in his old life on Earth, where work stress and familiar faces kept him trapped in an illusion. He awakened in a blazing underground chamber, exposed the heart demon with the vertical eye between his brows, and confirmed that his life in the Cultivation World was real.

• Fu Yu and Fu Shengwen entered Li Ping's rented cave abode and concluded that the tribulation lightning had reduced him to dust.
• On Xi Continent, a golden-armored divine figure entered the body of a middle-aged man, who ordered Jiang Chuan to arrange Fang'er's next training expedition on Oceanic Continent.
• Li Ping woke on Earth, mistook his cultivation and Nascent Soul formation for a dream, and spent the day interacting with Zhang Hao, taking a work call, and collecting takeout.
• Golden light increasingly flashed in Li Ping's eyes as he watched livestreams, while pain and itching built between his eyebrows.
• Crimson flames engulfed Li Ping and his surroundings as his vertical eye opened and pinned a mass of black mist in place.
• Li Ping's Nascent Soul returned to his body, and he recognized that the black mist had created the vicious heart-demon illusion of returning to Earth and working overtime.

After forming his nascent soul, Li Ping tested its abilities, planned further cultivation, and discovered that Derivation Island could develop and optimize cultivation inheritances. He began testing it on a Puppet Art and prepared to try it with the incomplete Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art.

• Li Ping burned away the trapped Heavenly Demon, then tested his nascent soul's teleportation and used Xuan Er's body as a lodge for it.
• Li Ping left the Underground Palace, began tempering his nascent soul and refining Phoenix Blood Fruits, and planned to advance his body refinement and qi refining.
• Li Ping examined Derivation Island and learned it could preview, optimize, and derive higher-tier versions of cultivation methods and other inheritances.
• Li Ping tested Derivation Island with Daoist Gaoji's third-tier Puppet Art and saw that it could optimize the art or derive a fourth-tier version in exchange for spirit stones.
• Li Ping took out the incomplete Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art to test whether Derivation Island could develop it as well.

Li Ping discovered that Derivation Island had transformed the Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art into the powerful Myriad Spirits Creation Chapter, which could not be recorded or taught to others. When he examined the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon, he learned it would refine its cultivator into an armor fragment, but Derivation Island revealed it could be restored to the Eight-Nine Arcane Art.

• Li Ping placed the incomplete Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art on Derivation Island, which produced a purple leaf containing the Myriad Spirits Creation Chapter.
• Li Ping learned that the Myriad Spirits Creation Chapter cultivated creation qi and offered powerful benefits, but a jade slip shattered when he tried to record it and the Desolate Fire Sparrow could not remember his recitation.
• Li Ping tested Derivation Island's extrapolation costs for other methods and inheritances, then decided to examine the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon.
• Li Ping saw a preview in which a cultivator who mastered the ninth tribulation was swallowed and refined into the blood-colored armor fragment.
• Li Ping viewed another extrapolation path and learned that the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon could be restored to the Eight-Nine Arcane Art for one hundred mid-grade spirit stones and one day.

Li Ping uncovered the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon’s scheme, chose to restore it to the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, and began planning to reforge the Three-Yin Soul-Slaying Sword as a divine soul life-bound treasure. He flew toward the Yun Household to fulfill his promise to teach Yun Lingsu, intending to switch cultivation methods along the way.

• Li Ping learned that the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon turned cultivators into pieces of a blood armor, but rejected Derivation Island’s option to claim the armor and chose to restore the Eight-Nine Arcane Art instead.
• Li Ping spent one hundred mid-grade spirit stones to begin deriving the original Eight-Nine Arcane Art, a process that would take one day.
• Li Ping opened the sealed Three-Yin Soul-Slaying Sword, recognized it as a divine soul treasure, and planned to combine it with the Soul-Settling Stake to forge a treasure he would call the God-Slaying Thorn.
• Li Ping considered seeking fourth-tier formation and talisman-making inheritances to strengthen his Zhou Tian Star Banners and develop his creation magic power.
• Li Ping flew toward Cliffsun Mountain to visit the Yun Household, fulfill his promise to Yun Lingsu, and guide her in alchemy if she was still alive.
• Li Ping decided to begin switching to his two main cultivation methods during the several dozen days of travel.