Chapter Summaries

At the Shared Boat Association gathering, Li Ping gave each member a second-tier Spirit Talisman and pledged to contribute 300 spirit stones a year to the Foundation Establishment Fund. Gu Musheng then made a large contribution to improve his standing against Zhang Tie, leaving Li Ping troubled over the conflict.

• Li Ping gave each of the six other members a second-tier lower-grade offensive Spirit Talisman.
• Li Ping announced that he would contribute 300 spirit stones each year to the Foundation Establishment Fund.
• Zhang Tie contributed thirty spirit stones, then Gu Musheng offered 100 despite the usual minimum being thirty.
• Gu Musheng hoped his contributions would let him gain priority over Zhang Tie for Foundation Establishment, and watched Li Ping for his reaction.
• Li Ping looked troubled by the spirit stones Gu Musheng had contributed.

Li Ping weighed Gu Musheng’s offer of 100 spirit stones against the risk of undermining fairness and unity in the Shared Boat Association. He proposed that members’ annual contributions could only increase, not decrease, and postponed Gu Musheng’s payment so everyone could reconsider their contributions.

• Li Ping decided not to stop Gu Musheng from offering 100 spirit stones, since the offer followed the existing rules, but resolved to add safeguards for the association.
• Li Ping proposed that once a member raised their contribution to the Foundation Establishment Fund, they could never lower it.
• Gu Musheng agreed to the new rule and reaffirmed his intention to contribute 100 spirit stones annually; Cheng Yao, Qi Hanmo, Bai Qing, Teng Feng, and Zhang Tie also agreed.
• The seven sworn siblings swore an oath establishing the rule, and Li Ping scheduled another gathering in ten days so everyone could decide their contribution amounts.

After the Shared Boat Association set its foundation-establishment contributions, Li Ping reassured Qi Hanmo that he should continue treating Lin Yue. Zhang Tie struggled with the cost of raising his contribution until Old Lin offered to pay the difference, while the Wang Family Ancestor urged another reluctant cultivator to attempt foundation establishment.

• Li Ping guided the six cultivators through cultivation and told them to return in ten days; Qi Hanmo stayed behind to ask whether he should continue treating Lin Yue.
• Li Ping told Qi Hanmo to keep treating Lin Yue, saying he bore no grudge against her and that curing her could earn Qi Hanmo a favor from the Immortal City.
• Zhang Tie told Old Lin about Gu Musheng's hundred-spirit-stone contribution and the new rule against lowering contributions.
• Old Lin told Zhang Tie to contribute a hundred spirit stones, offering to cover seventy of them each year so Zhang Tie could pursue foundation establishment.
• At the Wang Family Ancestral Grounds, the Wang Family Ancestor scolded a cowering figure for fearing foundation establishment despite having a dual spirit root and a Foundation Establishment Pill.

The Wang Family Ancestor tried to force Wang Xingwei to use a Foundation Establishment Pill, while Li Ping acquired a First-Tier Upper-Grade Pill Refiner Inheritance. The chapter ended with Li Ping assessing the spirit stones, herbs, and spirit flame needed to gain pill refining mastery through his Peerless Talent.

• The Wang Family Ancestor scolded Wang Xingwei for being afraid to attempt Foundation Establishment and rejected Wang Qu Yan's suggestion to choose another cultivator.
• The Wang Family Ancestor gave Wang Xingwei a Foundation Establishment Pill and ordered him into seclusion while promising to stand guard.
• A Meng Family cultivator delivered the pill master inheritance Li Ping had requested, and Li Ping paid for it.
• Li Ping examined the nourishment required for his Peerless Talent to grant him first-tier upper-grade pill refining skills.

Li Ping absorbed Lü Caibai’s first-tier upper-grade alchemy inheritance and used it to refine Qi-Boosting Pills, whose primordial aura began repairing the damage to his body and cultivation foundation. Meanwhile, Wang Xingwei’s Foundation Establishment attempt failed at the Wang Family ancestral grounds.

• Li Ping used the Inheritance Tree to absorb the spiritual items and experience Lü Caibai’s life as a Pill Refiner, gaining first-tier upper-grade alchemy skill.
• Li Ping refined Qi-Boosting Pills with ease, and their primordial aura strengthened his Longevity Art and gradually repaired his injuries and damaged foundation.
• Li Ping began preparing another batch of Qi-Boosting Pills after putting the first batch away.
• Wang Xingwei attempted Foundation Establishment with a Foundation Establishment Pill as Wang Qu Yan and the other Wang Family cultivators watched.
• A spiritual qi vortex formed over the courtyard, then collapsed, revealing that Wang Xingwei’s Foundation Establishment attempt had failed.

Wang Xingwei failed his first Foundation Establishment attempt, and the Wang Family Ancestor pressured him into trying again with the remaining pill. Ten days later, Li Ping’s Shared Boat Association gathered contributions to its foundation establishment fund, leaving Li Ping with 570 spirit stones collected.

• Wang Xingwei failed to reach Foundation Establishment, and the Wang Family Ancestor chose him to use the lineage’s remaining Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Wang Xingwei hesitated, but after Wang Qu Yan urged the ancestor to choose someone else, the ancestor insisted that Xingwei attempt the breakthrough immediately.
• At the Shared Boat Association’s second gathering, Zhang Tie contributed 100 spirit stones and Gu Musheng matched his contribution.
• Cheng Yao, Qi Hanmo, and Teng Feng each contributed 20 spirit stones, while Bai Qing contributed 10.
• Li Ping put the total of 570 spirit stones into his Storage Bag.

Li Ping gave cultivation pills to his fellow members and spent the following days refining more pills to strengthen the Longevity Art. After discovering how completely it could restore his body, he considered learning an escape technique with severe side effects, while recognizing that the art could not protect his divine soul.

• Li Ping gave Bai Qing two bottles of Qi-Boosting Pills and gave three other members two bottles of Qi-Gathering Pills each, while promising Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng pills later.
• Li Ping continued refining pills and had the Meng Family deliver spirit herbs, building up several hundred bottles and absorbing enough primordial aura from low-tier pills to fill out his Longevity Art’s magical power.
• Li Ping sensed that his lifespan had reached exactly 240 years and that the Longevity Art could restore his body from severe injuries, poison, and other physical damage, but could not extend his lifespan.
• Li Ping reasoned that the Longevity Art could counter the physical costs of a powerful combat secret art, then decided an escape art would be safer and more useful.
• Li Ping recognized that the Longevity Art could not heal damage to the divine soul.

Li Ping set aside his search for demonic arts and resumed cultivating while Wang Xingwei failed his second Foundation Establishment attempt. Bai Mingde brought Bai Lin to the Immortal City and introduced her to Li Ping, leaving her quietly studying the powerful cultivator.

• Li Ping decided he could not leave the Immortal City to seek demonic cultivation methods, so he returned to cultivation and estimated he had ample time to reach peak Foundation Establishment.
• Wang Xingwei failed his second Foundation Establishment attempt, and Wang Qu Yan found him sobbing and muttering about the pills.
• Wang Qu Yan decided to send Wang Xingwei to manage the Spirit Herb Garden in Fishing Square, away from the pressure of the Wang Family.
• Bai Mingde brought Bai Lin to the Immortal City, where she received an identity token and marveled at the city.
• Bai Mingde visited Li Ping with Bai Lin, and Bai Lin discreetly observed Li Ping and noticed how deferentially the family head treated him.

Bai Mingde brought Bai Lin to Immortal Peach Mountain to serve Li Ping, and Li Ping agreed to let her stay while testing her reliability with work in his Cave Abode. Bai Lin eagerly began her duties, unaware that the Bai Family expected her closeness to win Li Ping’s favor.

• Bai Mingde explained that the Bai Family Ancestor had sent Bai Lin to attend to Li Ping, and Li Ping agreed to keep her.
• Li Ping sold Bai Mingde Qi-Boosting Pills and Qi-Gathering Pills before Bai Mingde departed to arrange payment.
• Li Ping gave Bai Lin a room, ordered her to clear the courtyard plants and arrange for spirit herbs to be planted, and handed her fifty spirit stones for seeds and Cheng Yao’s help.
• Li Ping treated the work as a test of Bai Lin’s character before deciding whether she could remain at the Cave Abode.
• Bai Lin felt grateful for Li Ping’s trust and resolved to clean her room before digging up the plants.
• The Bo Family Ancestor and Bai Mingde expected Bai Lin’s presence to eventually win Li Ping’s favor.

Li Ping disguised himself as the Dark Walker, sold his pills at the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, and bought spirit herbs to prepare for refining Qi-Nourishing Pills. He then asked Miao Rou to show him fast escape arts with serious side effects, and she began presenting the options.

• Li Ping obtained a mountain entry token for Bai Lin and disguised himself before visiting the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.
• Li Ping sold several hundred bottles of pills to Miao Rou, earning several thousand spirit stones.
• Li Ping bought enough spirit herbs for thirty batches of Qi-Nourishing Pills and planned to gather more from other shops.
• Li Ping asked Miao Rou for fast escape arts with side effects and told her to show him all the options.

Li Ping searched for a powerful escape art with devastating side effects and found the Bloodwing Escape Art at Jade Cliff Palace. Protected by the Longevity Art, he mastered it in just over ten days.

• Li Ping rejected the ordinary or impractical escape arts at the Spirit Treasure Pavilion and other shops.
• At Jade Cliff Palace, the shopkeeper offered Li Ping an exceptionally fast escape art with severe side effects.
• Li Ping learned that the Bloodwing Escape Art used a demonic secret art to grow blood wings and could drain a cultivator's lifespan and fundamental essence.
• Li Ping decided the Longevity Art could restore what the Bloodwing Escape Art consumed and began practicing it.
• Li Ping used his Longevity Art to endure the dangerous training and mastered the Bloodwing Escape Art in just over ten days.

Li Ping tested the Bloodwing Escape Art and discovered its immense speed came at the cost of his vital essence and lifespan, which the Longevity Art helped restore. Two months later, Master Hu visited to invite Li Ping to claim a great opportunity.

• Li Ping activated the Bloodwing Escape Art, endured the painful growth of blood wings, and tested their extraordinary speed before stopping to recover.
• Li Ping spent two months restoring his vital essence and refining spirit herbs into pills, with the Inheritance Tree ensuring perfect success for his first-tier upper-grade pills.
• Master Hu visited Li Ping and gave Bai Lin a bottle of Beauty-Preserving Pills, which she accepted at Li Ping's encouragement.
• Master Hu told Li Ping that a Wang Family junior had wasted two Foundation Establishment Pills in failed attempts to reach Foundation Establishment, and Li Ping privately welcomed the news.
• Master Hu revealed that he had come to invite Li Ping to join him in claiming a great opportunity.

Master Hu invited Li Ping to travel to the Cloudmist Mountains and retrieve a nearly ripe Vermilion Fruit guarded by a late-second-tier snake demon, promising him an Essence-Origin Pill. Li Ping suspected a scheme but decided the reward and risk were not worth leaving the Immortal City.

• Master Hu told Li Ping that poor aptitude and scarce resources had made advancement difficult for rogue cultivators like them.
• Master Hu revealed that he had found a Vermilion Fruit tree in the Cloudmist Mountains more than ten years earlier and believed its fruit was nearly ripe.
• Master Hu said a late-second-tier snake demon guarded the tree and proposed that he and Li Ping defeat it, with Master Hu taking most of the gains and Li Ping receiving an Essence-Origin Pill.
• Li Ping questioned why Master Hu had chosen him, then considered whether Master Hu's story concealed a scheme.
• Li Ping decided that an Essence-Origin Pill was useless to him and that he would not leave the city or risk confronting Master Hu.

Li Ping declined Master Hu’s expedition to gather vermilion fruit, then learned that Master Hu had used the fruit to refine Essence-Origin Pills and advanced to foundation establishment late stage. Master Hu invited Li Ping to a banquet and exchange gathering outside the Immortal City, but Li Ping refused to leave the city.

• Li Ping refused Master Hu’s invitation to gather vermilion fruit, and Master Hu decided to seek help elsewhere.
• Several months later, Master Hu told Li Ping that he had refined Essence-Origin Pills from the vermilion fruit and advanced to foundation establishment late stage.
• Master Hu invited Li Ping to a celebratory banquet and exchange gathering, where he would share cultivation insights and trade pills.
• Li Ping saw that the banquet would be held at Lotus Immortal Pool outside the Immortal City and refused to attend, citing plans to cultivate a secret technique.

Li Ping chose to avoid Master Hu’s banquet and returned to refining pills, while Cheng Yao continued ordering Wang Xingwei around in the spirit field. Wang Xingwei welcomed her scolding because it gave his directionless life purpose.

• Li Ping reconsidered Master Hu’s invitation but decided that protecting his life mattered more than preserving their relationship, and he went to refine pills.
• Li Ping saw Cheng Yao, Bai Lin, and Wang Xingwei working in the spirit field and wondered why the powerful steward obeyed his fourth sister.
• Cheng Yao sharply ordered Wang Xingwei to replant the spirit grass, and he meekly did as she said.
• Cheng Yao recalled how she had mistaken Wang Xingwei for a junior cultivator and discovered that he welcomed her rebuke and began obeying her.
• Wang Xingwei reflected that after failing at Foundation Establishment and losing the ancestor’s guidance, Cheng Yao’s scolding had made his life feel meaningful again.

Li Ping received the long-delayed letters from Daoist Ji and learned that his master, Yan Guike, had died. After honoring Yan Guike’s final wishes, Li Ping resolved to pursue immortality in this life.

• Li Ping oversaw Bai Lin’s planting of Spirit Herbs across the Cave Abode’s fields, and Bai Lin used the leftover Spirit Stones to stock the pond with spirit fish.
• Gu Musheng delivered a wooden box containing letters from Yan Guike and Daoist Ji to Li Ping at Immortal Peach Mountain.
• Li Ping opened Yan Guike’s final letter and read his master’s words of pride, advice, and request that he look after his descendants.
• Li Ping performed three kneelings and nine kowtows before Yan Guike’s letter, then vowed to pursue the Longevity Realm rather than rely on reincarnation.
• Li Ping put away Yan Guike’s letter and began reading Daoist Ji’s letter.

Li Ping read Daoist Ji’s letter about Yan Guike’s death, the descendants who had inherited spirit roots, and the Ji Lineage’s growing prospects. Remembering Yan Guike’s final wish, Li Ping decided to ask Daoist Ji to bring Yan Jingxing’s grandson to the Immortal City so he could help him cultivate.

• Daoist Ji told Li Ping that Yan Guike had died and that Yan Jingxing had succeeded him as lord of Swordforging Manor.
• Daoist Ji discovered that Yan Jingxing’s eldest grandson had five-spirit roots and began teaching him cultivation.
• Daoist Ji told Li Ping that his dual-spirit-root granddaughter had joined the Crimson Flame Sect after Daoist Ji and his sons escorted her safely to the Yun Kingdom.
• Daoist Ji’s family defeated three bandit cultivators using Li Ping’s spirit talismans and planned to rent first-tier spirit land.
• Li Ping remembered Yan Guike’s request to care for his descendants and decided to ask Daoist Ji to bring Yan Jingxing’s grandson to the Immortal City.

Li Ping prepared letters and supplies for Daoist Ji and his third senior brother, arranging for their descendants to travel to the Immortal City and receive his help. After sending Bai Lin to deliver the package, he rewarded her, while Cheng Yao and Wang Xingwei shopped in the Market Ward.

• Li Ping wrote to Daoist Ji with condolences and congratulations, offered to bring descendants to the Immortal City, and listed supplies and travel funds to send back.
• Li Ping wrote a reassuring letter to his third senior brother, packed the correspondence and supplies in a Storage Bag inside a Wooden Box, and told Bai Lin to deliver it to Gu Musheng.
• Bai Lin said she had sold Master Hu's Beauty-Preserving Pills to Cheng Yao for 120 spirit stones, with Cheng Yao's steward paying for them.
• Li Ping told Bai Lin to keep her spirit stones and gave her postage money and two bottles of Qi-Boosting Pills, postponing his plans to ask her to become his concubine.
• Cheng Yao and Wang Xingwei visited a Spell Robe shop, where Cheng Yao bought a red robe, then stopped shopping when Wang Xingwei ran out of spirit stones.

Qi Hanmo helped Miss Lin take her first steps into sunlight and treated her with strict propriety. Meanwhile, Master Hu spotted them and pressed Junior Brother Ye to hand over the promised third-tier alchemist inheritance.

• After Cheng Yao returned to the Spirit Herb Garden, Miss Lin hid in an alley when voices approached and clung to Qi Hanmo's arm.
• Qi Hanmo soothed Miss Lin, then encouraged her to step into the sunlight, where she stood in the warmth and wept.
• A man monitoring them with his divine sense saw Qi Hanmo keep his distance from Miss Lin and relaxed his murderous expression.
• Qi Hanmo finished treating Miss Lin at a residence on Azure Dragon Mountain and accepted only his usual ten spirit stones, returning the extra reward.
• Master Hu recognized Qi Hanmo and Miss Lin from a teahouse window, then reminded Junior Brother Ye to provide the promised third-tier alchemist inheritance.

Li Ping sent Bai Lin home for the New Year while keeping his New Year’s Eve gathering secret, and she returned to the Bai Family with gifts. Worried that her close service had not secured Li Ping’s support for the family, Bai Mingde proposed sending his handsome grandson Yunjun to serve him, but the Bo Family Ancestor doubted Li Ping would expect such a sacrifice.

• Li Ping finished a Spirit Talisman, gave Bai Lin time off to visit her family, and told her to handle the Meng Family transaction before leaving.
• Li Ping reflected on his progress in cultivation and alchemy and planned for the Shared Boat Association’s secret New Year’s Eve gathering.
• Bai Lin saved her earnings, bought gifts, and traveled home with a Bai Family elder because she could not safely make the journey alone.
• Bai Mingde told the Bo Family Ancestor that Bai Lin remained unblemished despite Li Ping treating her kindly and giving her many gifts.
• Bai Mingde proposed sending his grandson Yunjun to serve Li Ping, and the Bo Family Ancestor questioned whether Li Ping was that kind of man.