Chapter Summaries

Li Ping considered how Gu Musheng could use his business skills to join the Ten Thousand Arts Pavilion, then witnessed Dai Sangyu successfully form her core. He accepted that she would retain power in the Immortal City and decided to focus on cultivation while anticipating trouble for Meng Qingyi and the founding lineages.

• Li Ping encouraged Gu Musheng to seek a steward position at the Ten Thousand Arts Pavilion by marrying into the Meng Family, and Gu Musheng agreed to wait for a suitable proposal.
• Gu Musheng privately told Li Ping that he had needed both Foundation Establishment Pills to break through, and Li Ping accepted the news.
• Li Ping realized Gu Musheng might help him acquire spiritual materials and planned to ask Meng Qingyi to support Gu Musheng's appointment.
• A vast storm and spiritual qi vortex appeared above Azure Dragon Mountain, revealing that Dai Sangyu was attempting core formation despite rumors that she could not succeed.
• After several days, the vortex dispersed and Dai Sangyu successfully formed her core, leaving Li Ping to abandon plans to challenge her control of the Immortal City for now.
• Li Ping entered seclusion to cultivate and considered that Dai Sangyu might retaliate against Meng Qingyi and the founding lineages for forcing her to step down from administrative leadership.

After Dai Sangyu’s Core Formation shifted the balance of power in the Immortal City, Li Ping helped Gu Musheng gain ties to the Meng Family and a managerial post. Yan Hengchuan continued advancing through demonic cultivation while growing more bloodthirsty, and Cheng Yao sent Wang Xingwei to Jixia to find a Foundation Establishment treasure for her.

• The Meng Family Ancestor offered Li Ping five hundred spirit stones to match Gu Musheng with one of his descendants, and Li Ping agreed.
• Yan Hengchuan hunted demon beasts to feed his demonic cultivation, reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining, and realized he needed stronger prey for blood essence.
• Ji Shuxuan reunited with Yan Hengchuan at High Ridge Mountain and delivered pills from Yan Hengchuan’s grandmaster, while Yan Hengchuan felt they had grown apart.
• The Meng Family arranged Gu Musheng’s marriage to a young woman from its lineage and secured him a manager’s position at the Ten Thousand Arts Pavilion.
• Cheng Yao sent Wang Xingwei to Jixia with the remaining spirit stones to buy a Foundation Establishment treasure, intending to use it alongside a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Li Ping reviewed his companions’ progress, focused on advancing his cultivation, and considered improving the Bloodwing Escape Art with the Desolate Fire Sparrow. Meanwhile, Wang Xingwei returned to Windmist Immortal City with Cheng Yao’s Foundation Establishment treasure, several letters, and a request from Xiao Yunzhi to search for Yan Buping.

• Bai Lin requested leave to return to High Ridge Mountain, and Li Ping approved after finding she had reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining.
• The Shared Boat Association members gathered at Immortal Peach Mountain, contributed to the Foundation Establishment Fund, and reported their progress; Gu Musheng offered to support Teng Feng’s village for ten years.
• Li Ping asked whether Dai Sangyu had ended her seclusion, then returned to cultivation and decided to stop refining pills beyond what he needed for his obligations to the Meng Family.
• Wang Xingwei returned from Jixia Immortal City with a Black Ice Fruit for Cheng Yao and letters from Qi Hanmo, after agreeing to Xiao Yunzhi’s request to inquire about Yan Buping.
• Wang Xingwei delivered the Black Ice Fruit and letters to Cheng Yao, then told her he would set out to search for the physician Yan Buping.

Li Ping learned that the war between the Defender Alliance and the Four Demonic Sects might soon end, and that Qi Hanmo was nearing Foundation Establishment. Cheng Yao also reached Foundation Establishment and became engaged to Wang Xingwei, while Bai Qing worried about how he could obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill; the chapter left his prospects uncertain as it described the deadly secret-realm trials required for Lineage cultivators.

• Cheng Yao delivered Qi Hanmo’s letters to Li Ping and the other four, and Li Ping learned that the Four Demonic Sects were considering withdrawing and that Qi Hanmo planned to attempt Foundation Establishment.
• Cheng Yao told Li Ping she had reached Foundation Establishment and planned to become Dao companions with Wang Xingwei, with Windmist True Person’s approval.
• Li Ping gave Cheng Yao his Red Armor Shield and four bottles of Essence-Nourishing Pills to make up for her unused Foundation Establishment Fund.
• Bai Qing tested Bai Hui’s knowledge of healing, then worried that his Bai Family background barred him from bidding for a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Bai Qing recalled that Lineage cultivators had to risk their lives gathering spirit herbs in the Academy’s dangerous secret realm to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills.

Bai Qing learned he would need to enter the Qingyun Secret Realm to earn military merit for a Foundation Establishment Pill, while Li Ping promised to equip him generously and sought an alternative source for pill ingredients. Dai Sangyu prepared to travel west, where she would search for Xu’s reincarnation and begin gathering materials for her Life-Bound Treasure; Windmist True Person sent her off with the Heaven-Cutting Sword Dao and a wistful question about Rong’er.

• Li Ping and the others discussed the upcoming Qingyun Secret Realm opening, and Li Ping promised to gather four thousand spirit stones to equip Bai Qing for his future trip.
• Li Ping asked Cheng Yao to investigate how Wang Li had obtained a main ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills, and she agreed.
• Dai Sangyu told Windmist True Person she planned to travel west to find Xu’s reincarnation and gather materials for her Life-Bound Treasure.
• Windmist True Person gave Dai Sangyu three Blazing Arrow Eagle tail feathers, which reminded Dai Sangyu of her promise to become Dao companions with one of Huang Yunzi’s descendants.
• Windmist True Person entrusted Dai Sangyu with the Heaven-Cutting Sword Dao for Xu’s reincarnation and asked her to visit Alliance Leader Xiao and Mr. Yan.
• Dai Sangyu promised to bring Xu’s reincarnation back safely, and Windmist True Person wondered whether he still remembered Rong’er.

Qi Hanmo established his foundation and was sent to the Yuan Kingdom front lines, while Cheng Yao planned to lead the Wang Family out of Jixia Immortal City to claim a spirit vein and rebuild its fortunes. After Li Ping ruled out High Ridge Mountain because of his ties to the Bai Family, Cheng Yao chose the weakened Xue Family’s Rosy Cloud Mountain.

• Qi Hanmo broke through to Foundation Establishment, and his master ordered him to treat cultivators with injured primordial spirits at the Yuan Kingdom front lines.
• Qi Hanmo chose a third-tier musician inheritance, wrote Li Ping about his breakthrough and a search for Yan Buping, then departed with the Academy’s supply convoy.
• Cheng Yao told Li Ping that Wang Li had bought Foundation Establishment Pill ingredients from the mysterious Yinghai Trading Company and explained the Wang Family’s debts and decline.
• Cheng Yao proposed seizing a second-tier spirit vein to support the Wang Family, but dropped High Ridge Mountain after Li Ping affirmed his position as the Bai Family’s guest elder.
• Cheng Yao selected the Xue Family’s Rosy Cloud Mountain, overruled patriarch Wang Qu Yan’s objections, and ordered him to organize the Wang Family’s Qi Refining cultivators for departure.

At the Shared Boat Association’s annual gathering, Li Ping told the group that Qi Hanmo had achieved Foundation Establishment but was serving on the Yuan Kingdom’s battlefield, while the others recounted their affairs. Elsewhere, Dai Sangyu found the five-spirit-root reincarnation of Martial Uncle Xu, gave the child the name Xu Guike, and offered to kill those who had bullied him and A Yun.

• Li Ping collected 630 spirit stones for the Foundation Establishment Fund and announced that Qi Hanmo had achieved Foundation Establishment but could not return because his master had sent him to the Yuan Kingdom’s battlefield.
• Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng described their growing influence and expanding families, while Cheng Yao reported that the Wang Family had taken Rosy Cloud Mountain from the Xue Family and was developing its spirit land.
• The group focused on Bai Qing, who lamented that being a lineage cultivator made it difficult to obtain Foundation Establishment resources.
• Dai Sangyu followed a child identified by the Spirit-Communing Sword and discovered that he had a five-spirit root.
• Dai Sangyu learned that the child was the deposed crown prince’s posthumous son and that the girl was A Yun, then named the child Xu Guike.
• Dai Sangyu asked Xu Guike and A Yun whether she should kill the people in the city who had bullied them.

Li Ping decided to keep the alias Yan Buping out of the Western Wastes Cultivation World’s conflicts and returned to cultivating. Meanwhile, Dai Sangyu killed the royal capital’s rulers and the Dripping Water Pavilion cultivators who confronted her, then traveled with A Yun and Xu Guike; Huang Yan arrived at Windmist Immortal City to meet her as his arranged Dao companion.

• Li Ping realized Qi Hanmo’s letter said someone at Jixia was seeking Yan Buping, but he decided never to use the alias there again and returned to cultivate beside his sleeping Desolate Fire Sparrow.
• Dai Sangyu, A Yun, and Xu Guike escaped the snowbound royal capital after Dai Sangyu accepted the deposed crown prince’s posthumous son as her disciple and slaughtered the old emperor and his followers.
• Four Dripping Water Pavilion Foundation Establishment cultivators confronted Dai Sangyu, but she revealed her killing intent and killed them with sword light.
• At an inn, Dai Sangyu told A Yun she would never let anyone who targeted her disciples live, then set out with A Yun and Xu Guike after they finished eating.
• Huang Yan of Purple Cloud Valley flew toward Windmist Immortal City to meet Dai Sangyu, his arranged Core Formation Dao companion.

Huang Yan arrived in Immortal City seeking Dai Sangyu, but learned she was away and decided to wait for her return. Meanwhile, the Shared Boat Association completed its Foundation Establishment Fund, Li Ping outfitted Bai Qing for his future secret-realm expedition, and Daoist Ji visited with his granddaughter Ji Shuwen to discuss her Foundation Establishment.

• Huang Yan met Meng Qingyi and asked to see Dai Sangyu, but learned she had left Immortal City and chose to wait for her return.
• Meng Qingyi reported Huang Yan's visit to his master, who sighed and told him not to concern himself with it.
• Li Ping announced that the Shared Boat Association's fund had reached 4,270 Spirit Stones and ended the members' annual contributions.
• Li Ping planned and purchased magic artifacts, Spirit Talismans, and Clear Source Pills for Bai Qing's trip to the Qingyun Secret Realm.
• Daoist Ji visited Li Ping with Ji Shuwen, whose ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivation made her ready to attempt Foundation Establishment.

Li Ping gave Ji Shuwen fifteen hundred spirit stones so she could hire people to earn the contribution points needed for a Foundation Establishment Pill, and promised to protect the Ji Lineage after Daoist Ji’s death. Later, Bai Lin advanced to late Qi Refining, while Li Ping’s Desolate Fire Sparrow began to advance.

• Ji Shuwen explained that she lacked the sect contribution points needed to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill, and Li Ping gave her fifteen hundred spirit stones to hire people to complete missions.
• Ji Shuwen called Li Ping Uncle Li and left to find Ji Shuxuan after Daoist Ji asked to speak privately with Li Ping.
• Daoist Ji told Li Ping that Ji Shuchen would inherit the Ji Lineage and asked him to look after the young man and the spirit vein beneath Little Plum Mountain; Li Ping agreed.
• Li Ping gave Daoist Ji a Qi Condensation Pill for Ji Shuchen before Daoist Ji and Ji Shuwen left the Immortal City.
• Bai Lin used a Qi Condensation Pill to break through to late Qi Refining at age thirty-six.
• The Desolate Fire Sparrow began advancing after several years of drowsiness.

Li Ping's Desolate Fire Sparrow completed its breakthrough, while Bai Qing joined the expedition to the Qingyun Secret Realm in hopes of securing a Foundation Establishment Pill for himself and the Bai Family. The chapter ended with Song Yushu taking the cultivators aboard the Giant Whale Wavebreaker Shuttle toward the secret realm's entrance.

• Li Ping waited a month as the Desolate Fire Sparrow advanced, then welcomed its newfound strength and reassured Bai Lin that the breakthrough had caused the disturbance she sensed.
• A year passed, and Bai Qing joined the cultivators gathering in Jixia Immortal City before the Qingyun Secret Realm opened.
• Bai Qing gave one second-tier lower-grade Spirit Talisman to each of the three elderly Bai Family cultivators, but they remained determined to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill even at the risk of their lives.
• On the day the secret realm opened, newly advanced Core Formation cultivator Song Yushu arrived and summoned the Giant Whale Wavebreaker Shuttle.
• Bai Qing boarded the Flying Boat with the other cultivators as Song Yushu carried them toward the Qingyun Secret Realm entrance.

Li Ping visited the Jade Cliff Palace to buy herbs and was hired by Huang Yan to refine Calm-Heart Pills in exchange for a Third-Tier Poison Wyrm's venom sac. After refining both batches successfully and obtaining the sac at a bargain price, Li Ping left disguised as himself and headed toward Immortal Peach Mountain.

• Li Ping went to the Jade Cliff Palace in disguise to purchase herbs and asked Zhuang Yu about Talisman Treasures and poisonous substances.
• Zhuang Yu introduced Li Ping to Huang Yan, a blood descendant of the sect's grand elder, who needed a high-grade Pill Refiner.
• Huang Yan offered to sell Li Ping a Third-Tier Poison Wyrm's venom sac cheaply if he refined second-tier upper-grade Calm-Heart Pills.
• Li Ping agreed after inspecting the venom sac and refined two successful batches of Calm-Heart Pills for Huang Yan.
• Huang Yan sold Li Ping the venom sac for two thousand seven hundred spirit stones, and Li Ping changed back into his Li Ping disguise before heading to Immortal Peach Mountain.

Li Ping discovered that Poison Jiao venom melted his White Bone Soul-Reaping Needles, so he stored it and focused on refining Beast-Feeding Pills. Meanwhile, Bai Qing survived the Qingyun Secret Realm, witnessed Xiao Changkong drive off Lu Old Devil, and later achieved foundation establishment before visiting Li Ping.

• Li Ping tested the Poison Jiao venom on his White Bone Soul-Reaping Needles, watched them melt, and stored the venom rather than risk his Blood Rakshasa Banner.
• Bai Qing emerged from the Qingyun Secret Realm with two thousand-year-old Golden Marrow Jade Zhi, while only one of his Bai Family elders returned alive.
• Lu Old Devil and the Scarlet Flood Dragon attacked Donghua Mountain, but Xiao Changkong defeated them and forced them to retreat.
• Bai Qing received military merit for the Golden Marrow Jade Zhi and resolved to exchange it for two Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Several months later, Bai Qing visited Li Ping on Immortal Peach Mountain as a newly established Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Li Ping attended Bai Qing’s Foundation Establishment celebration at High Ridge Mountain, where the Bai Family displayed its allies to deter rivals and secure the family’s future. Yan Hengchuan revealed that he could no longer sense Yan Liming, while the Bo Family Ancestor regretted that the family had not earned a Foundation Establishment Pill for Zhengheng.

• Li Ping traveled to High Ridge Mountain with Bai Lin and Ji Shuxuan so Ji Shuxuan could bid Yan Hengchuan farewell before returning to the Jiang Kingdom.
• Li Ping met the aging Bo Family Ancestor and Bai Qing, then reunited with Yan Hengchuan, who had reached the late Qi Refining stage while using demon beast blood essence to cultivate.
• Yan Hengchuan told Li Ping that Yan Liming’s aura had vanished, and Li Ping urged him to focus on reaching the ninth Qi Refining layer before worrying about using the Foundation Seizure Method.
• Zhang Tie, Gu Musheng, Cheng Yao, and Wang Xingwei attended Bai Qing’s celebration alongside Li Ping, and their presence deterred guests who coveted High Ridge Mountain.
• The Bo Family Ancestor reflected that the celebration’s display of allies would protect the Bai Family after his death, but regretted that Zhengheng had not earned enough merit for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Li Ping visited the Wang Family at Rosy Cloud Mountain, then returned to Immortal City and resumed cultivation. A year later, Daoist Ji died after learning Ji Shuwen had achieved Foundation Establishment, and Li Ping transferred Little Plum Mountain’s spirit land to the Ji Lineage while warning them to guard its hidden third-tier spiritual vein.

• Li Ping joined Zhang Tie, Gu Musheng, Cheng Yao, and Bai Qing in forming an alliance to support their trading interests, then visited the Wang Family at Rosy Cloud Mountain.
• Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng discussed claiming an immortal mountain for their descendants, while Li Ping decided that staying in Immortal City better suited his cultivation.
• Ji Shuwen, Ji Shuxuan, and Ji Shuchen told Li Ping that Daoist Ji had died after hearing of Ji Shuwen’s Foundation Establishment breakthrough.
• Li Ping gave Ji Shuchen the Contract Deed for Little Plum Mountain’s spirit land and warned him to keep its third-tier spiritual vein secret and untouched.
• Ji Shuchen told Li Ping that two children in the Yan Household had spiritual roots, giving the household the beginnings of a Cultivation Family.

Ji Shuchen left Li Ping’s side after receiving resources and promising to protect Little Plum Mountain, while Dai Sangyu pursued materials to transform her heaven-mending body into a creation dao body. Four years later, Li Ping worried about helping Bai Lin attempt foundation establishment, but a Foundation Establishment Pill unexpectedly arrived at his door.

• Li Ping gave Ji Shuchen cultivation pills and talismans, entrusted the underground spirit land and Cold Pool demon beasts to the Ji Lineage and Yan Household, and warned him not to claim the underground spirit vein.
• Ji Shuchen and Ji Shuwen departed, while Ji Shuxuan chose to focus on cultivation instead of opening a spirit wine workshop.
• Dai Sangyu recalled how Madam Qi’s failed attempt to possess her had revealed that her heaven-mending body could be transformed into a creation dao body, then set out for the Liang Kingdom to seek the necessary materials.
• Li Ping spent four years cultivating and earning resources, while avoiding Huang Yan’s grievances with the Immortal City Authorities and Dai Sangyu.
• Bai Lin reached the eighth layer of qi refining, and Li Ping considered how to obtain foundation-establishment aids for her promised attempt.
• A Foundation Establishment Pill unexpectedly arrived at Li Ping’s door.

Li Ping met Yu Menghan of the Yinghai Trading Company, who had uncovered his Yan Buping identity and asked him to treat her dying Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly. He agreed to a ten-year treatment plan in exchange for three chosen treasures and a Foundation Establishment Pill, while requiring Yu Menghan to keep his alias secret.

• The Meng Family Ancestor introduced Yu Menghan to Li Ping, then left them to speak privately.
• Yu Menghan revealed that she knew Li Ping was Yan Buping and explained that the Yinghai Trading Company had traced his healing work through Xiao Yunzhi.
• Yu Menghan showed Li Ping her dying Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly, Little Jade, sealed inside heavenly mystic crystal and asked him to save it.
• Li Ping asked for compensation, and Yu Menghan offered him three items of his choice and a Foundation Establishment Pill; he accepted.
• Li Ping and Yu Menghan arranged monthly treatments at Immortal Peach Mountain over ten years, with rewards after three, six, and ten years.
• Li Ping required Yu Menghan to keep his Yan Buping identity secret, and she agreed.

Li Ping treated Yu Menghan’s injured Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly with the Longevity Art, carefully hiding how little effort the treatment cost him while planning to spread its recovery over ten years. Qi Hanmo returned after the war in the Yuan Kingdom ended, and Li Ping arranged for their old companions to reunite on New Year’s Eve.

• Yu Menghan paid Li Ping a Foundation Establishment Pill to remain and watch as he began treating the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly.
• Li Ping slowly injected Longevity Art magical power into the butterfly, strengthening its life aura, then concealed his true lack of exhaustion and accepted Yu Menghan’s Pure Spirit Water.
• Yu Menghan visited Li Ping monthly for further treatments and gave him valuable spiritual items, while the butterfly steadily improved.
• Qi Hanmo returned to the Immortal City after the Four Demonic Sects withdrew from the Yuan Kingdom, and he told Li Ping about the war and its dangers.
• Li Ping invited Zhang Tie, Gu Musheng, Cheng Yao, Bai Qing, and Qi Hanmo to gather on New Year’s Eve.

The Shared Boat Association reunited as six siblings reached Foundation Establishment, while Li Ping continued cultivating and helping Bai Lin prepare for her own breakthrough. After Dai Sangyu returned from her travels, she rejected Huang Yan’s expected betrothal and compensated him with pills, leaving him furious.

• The Shared Boat Association’s six surviving members recalled Teng Feng’s death and discussed their children, while Qi Hanmo asked about the missing physician Yan Buping and learned no one had found him.
• Qi Hanmo returned to Jixia, and Li Ping resumed his routine of treating the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly and cultivating while helping Bai Lin recover her life source.
• Five years later, Dai Sangyu returned to the Immortal City with the spirit materials she had sought, and Huang Yan prepared to meet her after waiting there for over ten years.
• Dai Sangyu told Windmist True Person about her travels and Xu Guike’s progress, then agreed to explain to Huang Yan that she could not become his Dao companion.
• Dai Sangyu rejected Huang Yan and gave him a bottle of Essence-Origin Pills as compensation, leaving him trembling with rage.

After Dai Sangyu humiliated Huang Yan and worsened the dispute with Purple Cloud Valley, Li Ping learned that Huang Yunzi might blockade the Immortal City. He considered fleeing to Jixia and summoned Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng to learn more about the crisis.

• Meng Qingyi apologized to Huang Yan and escorted him out, then failed to meet Dai Sangyu and went to seek their master's advice.
• Dai Sangyu offered Lin Yue Ice Ling Milk for a foundation-establishment attempt after learning Musician Qi had restored her damaged origin with a Crimson Firmament Pill.
• Li Ping completed another treatment of the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterfly and accepted an Azure Pistil Fruit from Yu Menghan.
• Yu Menghan warned Li Ping that Huang Yunzi might cut off traffic to the Immortal City unless Windmist Immortal City satisfied his demands over Dai Sangyu's treatment of Huang Yan.
• Li Ping agreed to stay out of the dispute and considered seeking refuge in Jixia if the conflict escalated.
• Li Ping instructed Bai Lin to invite Zhang Tie and Gu Musheng to Immortal Peach Mountain so he could hear their account of the situation.