Chapter Summaries

Junior Brother Ye gave Master Hu the third-tier alchemist inheritance in exchange for an oath, while the Meng Family intervened in the Wang Family's crisis. Revealing himself as Yan Kun, Master Hu prepared to leave the Immortal City but decided to attack Li Ping first, who welcomed him into his cave abode.

• Junior Brother Ye handed Master Hu Xu Pingsheng's third-tier alchemist inheritance after Master Hu swore not to pass it on, then noticed a Meng Family Foundation Establishment cultivator clearing the Wang Family's entrance.
• Wang Qu Yan led the Wang Family cultivators to Azure Dragon Mountain to beg the True Person's forgiveness, and Meng Qingyi allowed them onto the mountain to kneel.
• Master Hu returned to Immortal Peach Mountain, revealed his identity as Yan Kun, and left the Meng Family a jade slip exposing his collusion with Junior Brother Ye and his tampering with the Wang Family Ancestor's pills.
• Yan Kun refined his disciple Feng Qufeng into a blood corpse and chose to confront Li Ping before leaving, despite knowing that returning to his sect was the safer course.
• Li Ping received Yan Kun, still disguised as Master Hu, at his cave abode and welcomed him inside.

Li Ping exposed Yan Kun as a Bloodshadow Church demon cultivator and used nearly a hundred talismans to detonate the sealed Cave Abode. Li Ping survived the blast, but was severely injured, while Yan Kun’s fate remained unknown.

• Yan Kun sealed Li Ping’s Cave Abode with a Blood Crystal Orb and revealed his murderous intent, prompting Li Ping to summon nearly a hundred Flameburst and Giant Thunder Talismans.
• Yan Kun tried to bargain with Li Ping and admitted he belonged to the Bloodshadow Church, but Li Ping decided he could not let him escape.
• Li Ping pretended to accept Yan Kun’s explanation and asked for his Storage Bags, then dodged Yan Kun’s sudden attack with the Bloodwing Escape Art.
• Li Ping detonated the talismans, forcing Yan Kun to brace for the blast while Li Ping shielded himself with the Turtle Spirit Shield.
• After the explosions destroyed the Cave Abode, Li Ping rose from the ashes alive but gravely injured, with Yan Kun’s fate left uncertain.

Li Ping survived Yan Kun’s attack and discovered that the blood-red armor plate contained the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon, a powerful body-cultivation method. Far away, a blood-red token shattered in the hands of a sinister young man, signaling that something had happened to Yan Kun.

• Li Ping finished destroying Yan Kun’s charred body, assessed the damage to his Cave Abode, and found the blood-red armor plate intact beneath the ashes.
• Yan Kun’s remnant soul burst from the armor plate and tried to possess Li Ping, but the Purple Qi Space absorbed and destroyed it along with a streak of blood-red light.
• Li Ping refined the armor plate and learned that it was a technique-transmission jade slip containing the first tribulation of the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon.
• Li Ping realized the method explained Yan Kun’s hardened body and ability to alter his appearance, and he suspected Yan Kun had disguised himself to abduct Lin Yue.
• At a Foundation Establishment Immortal Clan’s Ancestral Grounds in the Yue Kingdom, a sinister young man watched people tear one another apart before the blood-red token in his hand shattered.

Li Ping examined the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon and sorted through the demon cultivator’s spoils, finding a third-tier alchemist inheritance and evidence of the impostor’s crimes. After searching the demon cultivator’s Cave Abode, he discovered a jade slip documenting transactions between the real Hu Feng and a cultivator surnamed Ye from Immortal City.

• A sinister young man discovered Yan Kun’s life token had cracked and vowed to use the Blood God Mark to find Yan Kun’s killer in Immortal City.
• Li Ping decided the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon suited him but postponed cultivating it until after he reached Core Formation.
• Li Ping found that the demon cultivator had turned Liu Yuan and Feng Qufeng into Corpse Refining corpses, then burned them to ashes.
• Li Ping examined the demon cultivator’s spoils, secured a third-tier alchemist inheritance and valuable spirit herbs, and set aside suspicious items and pills.
• Li Ping searched the demon cultivator’s Cave Abode and found a jade slip recording transactions between Hu Feng and a cultivator surnamed Ye from Immortal City.

Li Ping read the Demon Cultivator’s jade slip about the Ye Surname Cultivator’s plot against the Wang Family and altered it to implicate Dai Sangyu and Senior Brother Xiong. After planting clues and disposing of evidence from the Demon Cultivator, he left the Immortal City and headed toward High Ridge Mountain.

• Li Ping inferred that the Ye Surname Cultivator was likely Junior Brother Ye, whom Dai Sangyu had sent to invite him to Azure Dragon Mountain.
• Li Ping altered the jade slip to claim that Junior Brother Ye had acted with backing from a senior brother and senior sister, then copied it and returned the original to its hiding place.
• Li Ping visited the Ten Thousand Arts Pavilion, where he recognized Han Xingyan, and deliberately left a Storage Bag containing suspicious items for the pavilion to find.
• Li Ping left the Immortal City, scattered the Demon Cultivator’s ashes into a river, and buried two Storage Bags in separate valleys.
• Li Ping reviewed his precautions as he flew toward High Ridge Mountain, reasoning that any accomplices would suspect the Immortal City Authorities rather than him.

Li Ping visited High Ridge Mountain under the pretext of seeing Bai Lin, while secretly using the trip to dispose of a corpse and hide Storage Bags. After returning to Immortal City with Bai Lin, he found the Wang Family’s punishment had been decided.

• Li Ping arrived at High Ridge Mountain, where the Bo Family Ancestor and the Bai Family welcomed him, and he reunited with Bai Lin.
• Li Ping and Bai Lin returned to Immortal City aboard the Floating Shadow Shuttle with Bai Mingde and other Bai Family members.
• Bai Lin discovered that Li Ping’s Cave Abode had been reduced to scorched, empty ground, and he asked her to oversee its reconstruction.
• Dai Sangyu announced that the Wang Family could remain in Immortal City but could hold no city positions and had to repay the spirit stones they swindled before the year ended.

Windmist True Person examined a Storage Bag linked to the Bloodshadow Church while the Wang Family received a pardon with orders to repay the rogue cultivators they had cheated. Li Ping rebuilt his cave abode and agreed to help Zhang Tie compete for a Foundation Establishment Pill, accepting Old Lin’s shop deed as collateral for a thousand spirit stones.

• Windmist True Person identified the Heavenly Mechanism Mirror in Li Ping’s abandoned Storage Bag as a primary mirror marked by the Bloodshadow Church, but she worried that breaking its restrictions could destroy it and questioned why the bag had reached her.
• Meng Qingyi told the kneeling Wang Family that Windmist True Person had pardoned them, while Junior Brother Ye ordered them to repay at least 105 rogue cultivators before the year ended.
• Li Ping rebuilt his cave abode, and Bai Lin went to Cheng Yao for help replanting herbs and buying spirit fish.
• Old Lin asked Li Ping whether he would lend Zhang Tie spirit stones to bid on a Foundation Establishment Pill, and Li Ping offered five hundred.
• Old Lin pledged his Leatherworking Shop’s Contract Deed as collateral for a thousand spirit stones, and Li Ping accepted it before agreeing to bring the funds to the auction.

Li Ping reviewed the resources needed to improve his alchemy and began preparing to cultivate the first level of the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon. His plans were interrupted by the arrival of Daoist Ji, whom he welcomed into his cave abode along with two young relatives.

• Li Ping decided to wait before choosing between the third-tier alchemist inheritance and the lower-tier inheritance from the demon cultivator’s furnace.
• Li Ping studied the first level of the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon and resolved to temper his body using its unusual method.
• Li Ping spent nearly half a month gathering the body-tempering materials from shops and the black market in the Immortal City.
• Li Ping welcomed Daoist Ji Xiu and two youths at the Meng Family hall, then brought them to his cave abode on Immortal Peach Mountain.
• Bai Lin met Daoist Ji, who gave her a first-tier mid-grade magic artifact as a gift, before Ji began recounting their journey.

Li Ping welcomed Daoist Ji and his grandsons to the Immortal City, promised to help Ji Shuwen attempt Foundation Establishment, and arranged for the boys to learn cultivation crafts. After beginning to refine the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon, Li Ping's name replaced Yan Kun's on a phantom plate of mysterious blood-colored armor.

• Daoist Ji explained that a beast tide had delayed his journey to the Immortal City and introduced Yan Hengchuan and Ji Shuxuan to Li Ping.
• Li Ping learned about Ji Shuwen's sect progress and the Ji Lineage's new spirit land, then promised to help her when she was ready to attempt Foundation Establishment.
• Li Ping offered to arrange apprenticeships for Yan Hengchuan and Ji Shuxuan, who first chose artifact refining and alchemy before deciding they wanted to learn spirit cooking and spirit wine brewing.
• Li Ping began refining the first level of the Sacred Canon by brewing a deep-red liquid from spirit materials and drinking it in the cultivation room.
• As Li Ping cultivated, his name replaced Yan Kun's on a phantom plate of the blood-colored armor, whose bound phantoms briefly struggled to escape.

Li Ping arranged trades and lodging for Yan Hengchuan and Ji Shuxuan while Windmist True Person confronted Miao Rou and questioned her about her past and the Bloodshadow Church. Li Ping, Daoist Ji, Old Man Lin, and Zhang Tie then attended the Immortal City Auction, where they settled into a VIP room before the bidding began.

• Li Ping arranged work, rent, cultivation supplies, and guidance for Yan Hengchuan and Ji Shuxuan, who chose spiritual cooking and spirit wine brewing.
• Windmist True Person traced Miao Rou through the Heavenly Mechanism Mirror and confronted her at the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.
• Miao Rou recounted how her Dao companion died, how a Bloodshadow Church cultivator abused and recruited her, and how she later became a guest elder in the Sword-Washing Pool.
• Windmist True Person questioned Miao Rou's account and asked her to do her a favor.
• Li Ping persuaded Daoist Ji to stay in Immortal City until after Zhang Tie's Foundation Establishment attempt and offered to take him back to the Jiang Kingdom on his Flying Boat.
• Li Ping, Daoist Ji, Old Man Lin, and Zhang Tie entered the Auction Hall and took a private VIP room for the Immortal City Auction.

Li Ping attended the Immortal City auction with Zhang Tie, who hoped to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill, and won a Red-Scaled Turtle shell and violetheart iron for himself. After a Qi Refining rogue cultivator won the Jadeheart Essence, Elder Mu announced the Foundation Establishment Pill and explained the strict rules for bidding.

• Li Ping lent Zhang Tie spirit stones and reminded him that he had to place his own bids under Immortal City rules.
• Junior Brother Ye opened the auction, and Elder Mu sold a late-second-tier Red-Scaled Turtle shell that Li Ping bought for 1,280 spirit stones.
• Li Ping later purchased violetheart iron for 900 spirit stones while other auction items drew little interest from him.
• Elder Mu auctioned Jadeheart Essence, and a masked Qi Refining rogue cultivator won it for 2,200 spirit stones; Li Ping thought the buyer looked familiar.
• Elder Mu began the Foundation Establishment Pill auction and explained that only eligible rogue cultivators could bid, with the winner required to attempt foundation establishment on Azure Dragon Mountain and join the True Person's lineage if successful.

Zhang Tie won the Foundation Establishment Pill auction and passed the Immortal City's eligibility checks, though he planned to wait until the following year to attempt Foundation Establishment. Meanwhile, Yan Liming continued investigating his nephew's death, still unsure whether the killer remained in the Immortal City.

• The elder surnamed Mu explained the Foundation Establishment Pill auction rules, and Zhang Tie won the pill with a bid of 3,400 spirit stones.
• Two Immortal City stewards verified Zhang Tie's identity and payment, then recorded his win in his jade identity token and told him to collect the pill at Azure Dragon Mountain before attempting Foundation Establishment.
• Zhang Tie decided to wait until the following year to attempt Foundation Establishment because he had not yet reached the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining, and Li Ping agreed.
• Yan Liming watched the auction from a nearby VIP room and reflected that he had found no Blood God Mark on anyone in the Immortal City, including Bai Yurong.
• Yan Liming suspected his nephew's killer might have left the Immortal City and chose to investigate Miao Rou before deciding whether to contact her or crush her life token.

Li Ping rebuffed Bai Mingyu’s plea to reconcile with Bai Qing and warned Bai Lin not to interfere on the Bai Family’s behalf. At the Shared Boat Association gathering, the cultivators settled Teng Feng’s affairs and Bai Qing made clear that he would never acknowledge his father or return to the Bai Family.

• Li Ping had Wu Feng refine a Red-Scaled Turtle shell into a shield and violetheart iron into a flying sword, then resumed cultivating the Nine Tribulations True Spirit Sacred Canon and sensed that it could warn him of danger.
• Bai Lin brought Bai Mingyu to Li Ping, and Bai Mingyu explained that he wanted Bai Qing to acknowledge him after years of rejecting his son; Li Ping mocked his excuses and refused to help.
• Li Ping sent Bai Mingyu away and warned Bai Lin not to use underhanded methods against Bai Qing, then decided he would revoke her access to his mountain and cave abode if she brought the Bai Family’s affairs to him again.
• At the annual Shared Boat Association gathering, Li Ping announced that Zhang Tie had won a Foundation Establishment Pill and that Teng Feng had likely died; the group agreed to return Teng Feng’s contribution to his home village gradually through supplies.
• The cultivators collected their annual contributions, and Gu Musheng agreed to manage Teng Feng’s repayment carefully; Li Ping then asked Cheng Yao about her troubles, but she did not explain them.
• Bai Qing told the group he would never acknowledge Bai Mingyu or return to the Bai Family, and the others condemned his father’s behavior.

Cheng Yao continued caring for the comatose Wang Xingwei, while Miao Rou received a message summoning her to Deep Azure Valley. Zhang Tie began preparing to attempt Foundation Establishment, and Mr. Yan left Azure Dragon Mountain with Windmist True Person and Little Azure Dragon to confront a fiend.

• Cheng Yao brought fasting pills home to Wang Xingwei and reflected on why she kept caring for him despite the cost and burden.
• Miao Rou received a jade slip from Yan Liming ordering her to wear mourning clothes and wait in Deep Azure Valley, and she concluded Yan Kun was dead.
• Zhang Tie told Li Ping he would enter seclusion to attempt Foundation Establishment, then received a Foundation Establishment Pill from Meng Qingyi under Senior Brother Xiong's supervision.
• Zhang Tie meditated in a secret chamber to prepare for taking the pill while Qi Hanmo played chess with Mr. Yan nearby.
• Mr. Yan broke off his chess game and joined Windmist True Person after learning a fiend had made a move; he used a Breath-Preserving Talisman to leave a false aura on Azure Dragon Mountain as they departed with Little Azure Dragon.

Li Ping received two second-tier upper-grade magic artifacts from Wu Feng, while Zhang Tie successfully broke through to Foundation Establishment. Zhang Tie left seclusion with Senior Xiong, who called him Junior Brother and took him to meet their Master.

• Li Ping declined to learn artifact refining, then accepted Wu Feng’s second-tier upper-grade Flying Sword and shield and named them Purple Shadow and the Red Armor Shield.
• Miao Rou flew toward Yan Liming as bait while Mr. Yan and Windmist True Person followed in a concealed Cloudflying Boat.
• Zhang Tie took a Foundation Establishment Pill and endured the breakthrough while holding to Li Ping’s instructions.
• Old Lin watched a spiritual qi vortex gather around Azure Dragon Mountain for several days, then saw it collapse as Zhang Tie completed Foundation Establishment.
• Zhang Tie left his secluded chamber and met Senior Xiong, who congratulated him as Junior Brother and took him to pay respects to their Master.

After establishing his foundation, Zhang Tie became Windmist True Person’s disciple, while Li Ping returned to the Jiang Kingdom and visited Swordforging Manor. He paid respects to his late teacher, reunited with his aging third senior brother, and then flew toward the Yu Household’s ancestral grounds.

• Zhang Tie waited for Windmist True Person to emerge from seclusion and formally accept him as her disciple, then learned that Li Ping had already left for the Jiang Kingdom.
• Li Ping arrived at Little Plum Mountain with Daoist Ji Xiu and promised to visit him before returning to Immortal City.
• Li Ping surprised Yan Jingxing at Swordforging Manor and paid respects to his late teacher’s spirit tablet in the ancestral hall.
• Li Ping stayed for two days, gave Yan Jingxing supplies, and treated his old injuries before leaving the manor.
• Li Ping flew to Azure Peak Lake and looked down at the ancestral grounds of the Yu Household.

Li Ping visited the Yu Household at Azure Peak Lake, where he reunited with the memory of Yu Xuewei and met her daughter, Peiling. After the Yu Household's ancestor balked at selling Little Plum Mountain, Li Ping challenged him to a spar and won, securing the land through a purchase.

• Li Ping met the Yu Household's ancestor, who was astonished that Li Ping had reached Foundation Establishment and questioned him about the Immortal City.
• Peiling served tea and stared at Li Ping; the ancestor revealed that she was Yu Xuewei's daughter and recalled Li Ping's past refusal to marry into the Yu Household.
• Li Ping learned that Yu Xuewei had raised Peiling alone after her husband died, but he set their past aside and asked to buy Little Plum Mountain's spirit land.
• The Yu Household's ancestor said his family had never sold its spirit land, so Li Ping challenged him to a spar.
• Li Ping defeated the ancestor with two second-tier upper-grade magic artifacts and his powerful divine sense, then bought the hundred-mu spirit land for 1,100 spirit stones.

Li Ping bought Little Plum Mountain's spirit land for the Ji Lineage, but Daoist Ji revealed a hidden underground spirit vein that his family feared they could not protect. They discovered a second-tier Demon Snake in the passage, and Li Ping decided they should kill it and explore farther.

• Li Ping presented Daoist Ji with the Contract Deed for Little Plum Mountain and offered the Ji Lineage free use of the land until they became strong enough to own it.
• Daoist Ji explained that he had planned to leave Little Plum Mountain when his family's lease expired, then led Li Ping to a concealed entrance behind a rock wall.
• Daoist Ji showed Li Ping a hidden passage where spiritual qi had reached the second-tier level.
• Daoist Ji revealed that his family had seen a second-tier Demon Snake in the passage and had considered destroying the entrance before leaving the mountain.
• Li Ping insisted that they kill the Demon Snake and explore the underground spirit vein before deciding what to do with the passage.

Li Ping and Daoist Ji entered the underground passage, where Li Ping killed a second-tier mid-grade Flower-Scaled Python whose potent venom could endanger even Foundation Establishment cultivators. Afterward, Li Ping gave Daoist Ji most of the snake’s materials and kept its venomous fangs to refine into flying needle artifacts.

• Li Ping learned that only Daoist Ji and three close family members knew about the underground spirit vein, then agreed to kill the demon snake.
• Li Ping found the Flower-Scaled Python guarding the passage and began fighting it with his magic artifacts.
• The python’s venom poisoned Li Ping, but he purged it with the Health-Nourishing Art and continued his attack.
• Li Ping wounded the python, pursued it when it tried to flee, and severed its head with the Purple Shadow Sword.
• Li Ping burned away the snake’s poisonous blood and venom before Daoist Ji approached.
• Li Ping kept the python’s venomous fangs and gave Daoist Ji its skin, scales, gallbladder, and other materials.

Li Ping and Daoist Ji cleared the demon snake’s remains and discovered a millennium Jade Condensation Grass, which Li Ping took for his alchemy inheritance. They continued through an increasingly cold, damp passage and reached its end, where Li Ping prepared for danger.

• Li Ping saved the demon snake’s venom glands and burned the remaining remains after promising to have its gallbladder refined into pills for Daoist Ji.
• Li Ping found a Jade Condensation Grass bearing an unripe golden Bloodline Fruit, recognized it as a millennium spirit herb, and stored both away.
• Li Ping explained the herb’s value to Daoist Ji, who accepted that Li Ping would keep it and was content with the demon snake materials he had received.
• Li Ping and Daoist Ji followed the passage deeper as the air grew damper, colder, and richer in spiritual qi.
• At the passage’s end, Li Ping raised his Red Armor Shield and stepped out with Daoist Ji, where a blast of cold struck them.