Chapter Summaries

Li Ping traveled to West River Academy for Qi Hanmo’s Nascent Soul Formation ceremony, then received a late-night visit from Xu Zhan, one of the Three Elders of the Spirit Firmament. Xu Zhan apologized for his disciple’s role in framing Wei Yiling and Feng Xishuang, and Li Ping questioned what had become of that disciple.

• Li Ping learned the Eastern Sea battlefront had stalled and chose not to pursue the Profound Abyss Spirit Octopus into potentially dangerous territory.
• Li Ping arrived at West River Academy and reunited with Qi Hanmo, who described his successful Nascent Soul Formation and lamented Bai Qing’s disappearance.
• Xu Zhan visited Li Ping and apologized for the trouble caused by his disciple’s secret arrangement with the Great Harmony Society to kill Guan Qianzai.
• Xu Zhan explained that Wei Yiling and Feng Xishuang had been implicated and placed on the Immortal Alliance’s wanted list after the incident.
• Li Ping doubted Xu Zhan’s account and asked what had become of the disciple responsible.

Li Ping learned that the Golden-Horned Loach information was bait in a scheme involving Xu Zhan, Madam Yin, and three other Nascent Soul Cultivators, who planned to capture him and target Bai Yaoyue. As he stayed at the Confucian Sect ahead of Qi Hanmo’s ceremony, Jian Congyou asked about Xu Guike, but Li Ping said he did not know where he was.

• Xu Zhan told Li Ping that the Spirit Firmament Lineage offered the Golden-Horned Loach’s whereabouts as compensation, and Li Ping decided to investigate before pursuing it.
• Xu Zhan secretly reported to Madam Yin that he had given Li Ping the bait, then lamented that Old Devil Fang’s restriction forced him to serve as bait.
• Madam Yin met with Ten Thousand Souls High Person, Elder Chi, and Kun’er, revealing their plan to lure Li Ping, seize his nascent soul and treasures, and use him to reach Bai Yaoyue.
• Li Ping remained at the Confucian Sect for several months and obtained information about Beast Taming Mountain through Qi Hanmo.
• Jian Congyou thanked Li Ping for returning the Sword of Utmost Sincerity and True Illumination, then asked where Xu Guike was; Li Ping said he did not know.

Li Ping told Jian Congyou how the Spirit Firmament Lineage had used Wei Yiling and Feng Xishuang to kill Guan Qianzai, and Jian promised to investigate. Xu Zhan’s allies then pressured him to lure Li Ping into their trap, but when Xu challenged Li Ping at Qi Hanmo’s Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony, Li Ping recognized that something was wrong.

• Li Ping explained Guan Qianzai’s murder to Jian Congyou, who promised to investigate and clear the innocent.
• Jian Congyou gave Li Ping a piece of heavenly meteoric iron in repayment for returning the Sword of Utmost Sincerity and True Illumination.
• Xu Zhan realized Li Ping had exposed his information to Jian and complained to Madam Yin and their allies that the Golden-Horned Loach lure had failed.
• Madam Yin ordered Xu Zhan to challenge Li Ping publicly, and Xu agreed to do so at Qi Hanmo’s ceremony.
• After Qi Hanmo’s ceremony, Xu Zhan challenged Li Ping to a fight to the death, and Li Ping suspected Xu was acting under a hidden scheme.

Li Ping refused Xu Zhan’s public challenge and proposed that the Confucian Sect investigate their dispute, then secretly infiltrated Xu Zhan’s cave abode to capture him alive. With Xu Zhan bound and sealed inside a formation, Li Ping prepared to search his soul despite the risk of angering the Confucian Sect.

• Li Ping rebuked Xu Zhan for causing trouble at the West River Academy and urged Jian Congyou and the Confucian Sect to investigate their dispute.
• Xu Zhan agreed to remain at the West River Academy after Li Ping left, while Li Ping secretly watched and learned of his decision.
• Li Ping used Earth Escape with the Earth Spirit Mouse and Desolate Fire Sparrow to reach Xu Zhan’s cave abode, bringing the Scarlet Flood Dragon’s transformed youth along.
• Madam Yin threatened Xu Zhan with Soul Extraction and Spirit Refinement after he reported failing to provoke Li Ping into a fight.
• Li Ping struck Xu Zhan’s nascent soul with the God-Slaying Thorn as the Earth Spirit Mouse bound him, then sealed the cave abode with a fourth-tier formation.
• Xu Zhan accused Li Ping of daring to anger the Confucian Sect, and Li Ping smiled and said he was not afraid.

Li Ping captured Xu Zhan and searched his soul, learning that Madam Yin had arranged a trap for him and that Xu Zhan secretly served Fang Chuge as an undercover agent. After removing Fang Chuge’s restriction from Xu Zhan’s nascent soul, Li Ping freed him but warned that he had placed a new restriction in its place.

• Xu Zhan sent his nascent soul out of his body and tried to escape with Instantaneous Movement, but Li Ping’s fourth-tier formation trapped him.
• Li Ping subdued Xu Zhan’s nascent soul with the Twofold Mystic Magnetic Annihilation Light and the God-Slaying Thorn, then used creation magic power to overcome the restriction that threatened to destroy it during a soul search.
• Li Ping learned that the Great Harmony Society served the Yu Household, that Xu Zhan was Fang Chuge’s undercover agent, and that Madam Yin had set the trap to target him.
• Li Ping decided to investigate Madam Yin’s motive before confronting her, wary of drawing Fang Chuge’s attention.
• Li Ping told the awakened Xu Zhan that he had removed Fang Chuge’s restriction but placed a new one inside his nascent soul.

Li Ping forced Xu Zhan to spy on Madam Yin and learned that she planned to use him to help kill Li Ping. Li Ping followed Xu Zhan to their meeting, where his overwhelming Divine Sense made Madam Yin and Ten Thousand Souls High Person mistake him for a Grand Cultivator.

• Li Ping planted a lethal restriction in Xu Zhan's nascent soul and ordered him to investigate why Madam Yin wanted to attack.
• Xu Zhan contacted Madam Yin and falsely told her that Li Ping was heading to Heavenly Dao City, prompting her to enlist his help in attacking Li Ping.
• After hearing Xu Zhan's report, Li Ping ordered him to meet Madam Yin while Li Ping supposedly fled, then secretly followed Xu Zhan from a distance.
• Madam Yin and Ten Thousand Souls High Person waited for Xu Zhan and prepared to set out to kill Li Ping.
• Li Ping appeared and enveloped the group with his Divine Sense, causing Madam Yin and Ten Thousand Souls High Person to cry out that a Grand Cultivator had arrived.

Li Ping trapped Madam Yin, Ten Thousand Souls High Person, and Xu Zhan in a fourth-tier formation and ordered his spirit beasts to kill them. After defeating the three Nascent Soul Cultivators, Li Ping discovered a strange black flame inside Madam Yin’s nascent soul that destroyed her before he could search her memories, leaving him wondering how the matter connected to Bai Yaoyue.

• Madam Yin tried to kill Xu Zhan for betraying her, but her restriction on him had no effect; Li Ping then arrived and sealed the group inside a fourth-tier formation.
• Li Ping summoned the Desolate Fire Sparrow, Earth Spirit Mouse, and Scarlet Flood Dragon to attack Madam Yin and Ten Thousand Souls High Person, while Xu Zhan joined the fight.
• Ten Thousand Souls High Person detonated his dharma body and tried to escape, but the formation blocked him and the Desolate Fire Sparrow and Earth Spirit Mouse destroyed his nascent soul.
• Li Ping killed Xu Zhan after realizing he was holding back, and the three spirit beasts overwhelmed Madam Yin despite her appeal to Fang Chuge’s protection.
• A black flame erupted from Madam Yin’s nascent soul and destroyed it before Li Ping could search her memories; Li Ping dispelled the flame with his Illusory-Breaking Golden Eyes and wondered whether her scheme involved Bai Yaoyue.