Chapter Summaries

You passed the Secluded Realm Trial Grounds’ aptitude test, ranked thirteenth among trial participants since Near Antiquity, and chose a Golden Core Pill as your reward. You then began the first stage of the spell cultivator trial by studying a towering stone wall engraved with a shifting Secret Art.

• The Armored Guardian God assessed you as a human aged seventeen with top-tier aptitude and suspected innate talent, then confirmed you passed the spell cultivator test.
• The Armored Guardian God said you ranked thirteenth among 9,631 participants since Near Antiquity and explained that the trial grounds had 363 entrances and two of ten trial slots remaining.
• The Armored Guardian God explained ancient saint bloodlines and offered you one reward from a list of rare treasures.
• You chose the Golden Core Pill, and the Armored Guardian God gave you a pure golden pill in a green jade box.
• The Armored Guardian God offered you the first stage of the spell cultivator trial, where mastering a Secret Art within a year would earn another treasure and you could withdraw at any time.
• The Armored Guardian God transported you to a Gobi, where you studied a thousand-meter ruined stone wall covered in shifting silver seal-script.

Unable to comprehend the silver seal script, you memorized it for a future simulation, then recruited Dachun into the hidden realm trial and gathered resources for Core Formation. You established a merchant association with You Rou managing it, and the chapter ended as your body refinement heavenly tribulation descended.

• You spent two months memorizing the silver seal script before leaving the hidden realm and visiting your family and Dachun.
• You brought Dachun into the hidden realm trial, where he chose a resource to strengthen his ancient saint bloodline and entered the first stage.
• You traveled to the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range, collected a ripe fire essence jujube, and reinforced the illusion formation protecting its tree.
• You recruited You Rou to manage a merchant association and entrusted her with startup resources.
• At eighteen, you advanced the Mountain-Sea Body Refinement Art to its sixth layer, triggering a heavenly tribulation.

Wang tempered his body through a heavenly tribulation, strengthened the Azure Origin Trade Association, and raised his spiritual root to high-grade using Azure Moon Pool water. With his Core Formation attempt approaching, he decided to put Maple Leaf through hardship to obtain more cultivation resources.

• Wang endured the Body Refinement Heavenly Tribulation with Void Talisman Drawing and advanced to late second-tier body refinement, though he awakened no divine ability.
• Wang expanded the Azure Origin Trade Association’s influence by revealing his second-tier upper-grade alchemy attainments and using future market knowledge to guide its purchases.
• Wang arranged for the Pill Hall to deliver Azure Moon Pool water and agreed to join as an alchemist without moving to Azure Moon Immortal City.
• Wang soaked in the Azure Moon Pool water and raised his spiritual root from middle-grade to high-grade.
• Wang planned to attempt Core Formation in four or five years using a Golden Core Pill, Li Yan’s primordial yin qi, and fire essence dates, then seized ten-year-old Maple Leaf to make her suffer.

Wang took Ye Feng captive, delayed claiming the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm, and spent years refining his plans while cultivating a secret art. He reclaimed Little Black from Black Mountain Market District and awakened Ye Feng’s Water Spirit Treasure Body, then considered how to exploit its power.

• Wang captured Ye Feng and decided to nurture him into an obedient Core Formation True Person rather than sell him, then visited the sealed Mountain-Sea Secret Realm and chose to wait for its natural emergence.
• Wang struggled to comprehend a soul-related secret art, believing that progress would carry over to future simulations and that a flawless golden core might improve his aptitude.
• At Black Mountain Market District, Ouyang Shen welcomed Wang and offered him female cultivators; Wang declined further interest and later purchased Little Black among the market’s Black Wind Eagle eggs.
• Wang raised Little Black after it hatched, aiming to accelerate its growth and help it reach the third tier.
• Wang awakened Ye Feng’s Water Spirit Treasure Body in only a few years and realized Ye Feng could absorb water-element spiritual energy even while unconscious.

Wang traded Ye Feng’s awakened water spirit treasure body for Seven-Glow Lotus Seeds and Heaven-Cleansing Water, while preparing carefully for Core Formation. After Li Yan established her Foundation, Wang received an auspicious divination about attempting Core Formation in the Purple Bamboo Grove and began his attempt.

• Wang rejected body seizure as too risky, then sent a subordinate to negotiate a Black Market trade for Ye Feng.
• Wang hired Shen Zhong and Wu Ni to improve the trade association’s protective formation, keeping them from the journey on which they would have died.
• Wang failed to refine Third-Tier Pills but concluded that Core Formation would advance his alchemy and other crafts.
• Wang accepted an offer of Seven-Glow Lotus Seeds and Heaven-Cleansing Water for Ye Feng, inspected the treasures, and confirmed they were safe.
• Li Yan reached the ninth level of Qi Refining in the eleventh year and entered Foundation Establishment the following year.
• Wang spent ten years of his lifespan on an in-depth divination, received an auspicious omen for the Purple Bamboo Grove, and began attempting Core Formation.

Zhou Qing used his preparations and experience to form a high-grade golden core, then merged primordial yin qi into it and achieved a flawless golden core. Black Tortoise True Person observed the breakthrough from afar, while Zhou Qing ended the chapter gazing at his completed core.

• Zhou Qing took Li Yan’s primordial yin qi, then swallowed the Golden Core Pill and began his breakthrough.
• Zhou Qing’s Core Formation Heavenly Phenomenon spread over the Purple Bamboo Grove, drawing the attention of nearby cultivators and the Li Family Head.
• Zhou Qing used his core formation treasures to form a high-grade golden core, then merged the primordial yin qi into it.
• Black Tortoise True Person traveled toward the Purple Bamboo Grove but kept his distance rather than risk interfering.
• After half a month, Zhou Qing saw that his golden core had become flawless, perfectly round, and marked with patterns of pure gold.

After four simulations, Zhou Qing formed a flawless golden core and emerged as a Core Formation Stage True Person. He introduced himself as Azure Origin, scheduled a celebration for six months later, and tasked You Rou with arranging it.

• Zhou Qing examined his new cultivation and discovered that his flawless golden core gave him a five-hundred-year maximum lifespan, powerful spiritual sense, and mana strong enough to challenge an ordinary mid-stage True Person.
• After stabilizing his cultivation, Zhou Qing emerged from his cave abode and greeted six True Persons who had gathered to congratulate him.
• Zhou Qing revealed that he practiced the Ancient Mountain Sea Lineage, earning the goodwill of the visiting True Persons and helping establish his place in the Primordial Origin Domain.
• Zhou Qing chose the Daoist title Azure Origin and told Swordheart True Person that he would hold a Core Formation celebration in half a year.
• Zhou Qing sent You Rou a Message Talisman instructing her to arrange the celebration, and You Rou was stunned to learn that he had formed a golden core.

You formed a flawless golden core, became a Golden Core True Person, and rapidly advanced your alchemy, talisman, divination, and Mountain Sea inheritance studies. As your Core Formation celebration arrived, former aggressors paid you compensation and forces across the Taiyuan Region came to congratulate you.

• You reunited with Li Yan, encouraged her to cultivate, and recognized how her primordial yin treasure body could aid your future progress.
• You cultivated with far greater efficiency and began comprehending the Mountain Sea Dao Body, third-tier alchemy, third-tier talismans, divination, and the Nether Realm Trial Secret Art.
• You met with You Rou and the Azure Origin Trade Association's senior members, who reported how news of your Golden Core breakthrough had spread through the Primordial Origin Domain.
• You received Yellow Beak True Person Huangwen, who offered ten thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones to make amends for his trade association's past suppression of yours.
• Other False Core True Persons also apologized and paid compensation, earning you several million Low-Grade Spirit Stones in total.
• Your Core Formation celebration began, drawing congratulations from forces across the Taiyuan Region, including the Golden Sword Sect, the Pill Hall, and Taiyuan Palace.

Azure Origin held a Core Formation celebration attended by several True Persons, including Azure Moon True Person, who came to investigate his Mountain Sea Lineage legacy. After learning more about her and hearing troubling news about the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range, he rejected her invitation to Azure Moon Immortal City.

• Azure Origin received congratulatory gifts from visiting powers, including a third-tier alchemy furnace from Ouyang Shen and a second-tier divination legacy from the Plum Blossom Trade Association.
• Azure Moon True Person arrived with a magical treasure, questioned Azure Origin about his Mountain Sea Lineage legacy, and said her connection to it was in the past.
• The True Persons discussed unrest in the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range and the coming succession struggle in the Nine Nether Demonic Cult while Azure Origin watched Azure Moon True Person.
• After the celebration ended, Azure Origin examined his gifts and found Azure Moon True Person's invitation to visit Azure Moon Immortal City.
• Azure Origin crushed the invitation jade and resolved not to enter Azure Moon Immortal City before reaching the Nascent Soul stage.

After becoming a Golden Core True Person, you expanded the Azure Origin Trade Association, recruited promising cultivators, and began cultivating the Mountain Sea Dao Body. You then sent a caravan to Profound King Island to investigate its hidden protection and prepare to profit from the war a century later.

• You used your standing and knowledge of Azure Moon True Person to recognize that you held leverage over her, then spent your new wealth on cultivation resources and magic treasures.
• You redirected the Azure Origin Trade Association toward expansion across the Primordial Origin Domain and recruited Zhao Kan and other cultivators whose futures you knew from a previous simulation.
• You began forming the Mountain Sea Dao Body, a process expected to take nearly ten years, and considered asking Blood-Sea True Person about the Seamount ruins.
• You ordered You Rou to send a caravan to Profound King Island and keep it there permanently, preparing the association to profit from the coming war between the Nine Nether Domain and the Primordial Origin Domain.

You nurtured a growing stock of Dharma Talismans, raised Little Black, and advanced your cultivation while preparing to monopolize the Seamount Secret Realm. After your subordinates retrieved the Mountain Sea Ring, Blood-Sea True Person awoke and discovered that the man waiting outside was a Golden Core True Person.

• You created a Dharma Talisman and began nurturing it with your flawless golden core mana, estimating it could eventually reach fourth-tier power.
• You slowly raised Little Black, gained cultivation from Li Yan’s primordial yin qi, and continued studying divination and the secret art from the secluded realm trial.
• You sealed off the Seamount Secret Realm with the Azure Origin Trade Association and sent your subordinates inside to gather its treasures.
• Your subordinates retrieved the Mountain Sea Ring, the statue, and the Jade Stone recording the mountain sea legacy, and you took the ring away from the secret realm.
• Blood-Sea True Person awoke inside the ring and saw you waiting outside, surrounded by a vast, terrifying aura.

You confronted Blood-Sea True Person after freeing him and persuaded him to willingly submit to a soul search by promising to help him take revenge on Azure Moon True Person. His memories revealed how Azure Moon had manipulated him and the Mountain Sea Sect Master, while also exposing the origins of their feud and the valuable resources hidden in his three cave abodes.

• You told Blood-Sea True Person that you wanted to search his soul and offered to help him deal with Azure Moon True Person, so he agreed to cooperate.
• You searched Blood-Sea True Person's memories and learned that he came from the Purple Firmament Domain and met the Mountain Sea Sect Master in Mountain Sea lineage ruins.
• Blood-Sea True Person's memories showed that he and the Mountain Sea Sect Master rescued Azure Moon True Person, helped her cultivate, and later founded the Mountain Sea Sect with her in the Primordial Origin Domain.
• Blood-Sea True Person recalled that Azure Moon True Person claimed the Mountain Sea Sect Master had taken her primal yin, prompting Blood-Sea True Person to confront him and be sealed in the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm.
• You inferred that Azure Moon True Person and other demonic-path cultivators had manipulated the two men and might have caused the Mountain Sea Sect's destruction.
• You learned that Blood-Sea True Person had left treasures and cultivation resources in three cave abodes.

You persuaded Blood-Sea True Person to become a ghost cultivator, took control of his Life-Bound Ghost Jade, and sent him to oversee your trade association on Profound King Island. Years later, a letter from Blood-Sea True Person revealed why Profound King Island could stand fearless before Nascent Soul True Lords.

• You urged Blood-Sea True Person to become a ghost cultivator so he could extend his lifespan and have a chance to avenge himself on Azure Moon True Person.
• You received reports that the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm had yielded about one and a half million spirit stones, then collected valuable resources from Blood-Sea True Person's three cave abodes.
• Blood-Sea True Person completed ghost cultivation, gave you his Life-Bound Ghost Jade, and agreed to avoid Azure Moon Immortal City.
• You sent Blood-Sea True Person to oversee your trade association on Profound King Island, while you raised your body refinement to the peak of the second tier and improved your Divination skill to the second-tier upper grade.
• Seven years later, you read a letter from Blood-Sea True Person explaining why Profound King Island could stand fearless before Nascent Soul True Lords.

Zhou Qing learned that a fourth-tier Beast King protected Profound King Island and continued developing his cultivation and resources. After sensing a hostile watcher and divining that True Person Azure Moon had ordered a false-core True Person to monitor him, Zhou Qing sent Blood-Sea True Person to investigate and stayed inside his protected Cave Abode.

• Zhou Qing learned from Blood-Sea True Person that a fourth-tier Beast King slumbered beneath Profound King Lake and decided to invest more in Profound King Island.
• Zhou Qing completed a second-tier upper-grade puppet and planned to offer it as a Trade Association reward.
• Li Yan advanced to Foundation Establishment late stage, and Zhou Qing absorbed her nurtured primordial yin qi.
• Zhou Qing sensed a hostile gaze while studying divination and used a deep divination to identify the watcher as a false-core True Person acting on True Person Azure Moon’s orders.
• Zhou Qing summoned Blood-Sea True Person to return and investigate while he remained inside the third-tier formation around his Cave Abode.

Yuan Qing had Blood-Sea True Person capture Yellow Wolf True Person, Azure Moon True Person’s disciple and spy, then searched his soul for information about his master. Yellow Wolf True Person begged to be spared afterward, leaving his fate undecided.

• Yuan Qing used divination to locate the False Core cultivator watching him and sent Blood-Sea True Person to capture him alive.
• Blood-Sea True Person captured Yellow Wolf True Person, Azure Moon True Person’s eldest disciple, and brought him to Yuan Qing’s Cave Abode.
• Yellow Wolf True Person initially vowed not to betray his master, but quickly agreed to confess when Blood-Sea True Person began threatening him with torture.
• Yuan Qing performed a Soul Search and learned more about Azure Moon True Person, including that she had only casually ordered Yellow Wolf True Person to watch him.
• Yellow Wolf True Person woke after the Soul Search, pleaded that he was more useful alive, and begged Yuan Qing for mercy.

Azure Origin spared Yellow Wolf True Person and bound him with restrictions so he could spy on Azure Moon True Person. Over the following years, Azure Origin advanced his alchemy and sought objects to help divine Azure Moon True Person’s location, while Yellow Wolf finally reported that he had collected some.

• Azure Origin and Blood-Sea True Person planted dozens of restrictions in Yellow Wolf True Person’s golden core, forcing him to report each year and gather intelligence on Azure Moon True Person.
• Yellow Wolf True Person returned to Azure Moon True Person’s side, and Azure Origin decided not to target her second disciple to avoid raising suspicion.
• Azure Origin ordered Yellow Wolf True Person to collect objects Azure Moon True Person had used so he could make divination easier.
• Azure Origin refined three Golden Origin Pills and reached third-tier middle-grade alchemy, then publicized his new standing through his merchant association.
• In the thirty-eighth year, Yellow Wolf True Person told Azure Origin that he had managed to collect some of Azure Moon True Person’s belongings.

Wang gathered Azure Moon True Person’s lingering aura to aid his divination while nurturing his talisman arts and agreeing to guide a Jiang Family senior from Profound King Island. After she revealed that a true-spirit-bloodline Beast King might be growing in the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range and could bring destruction, Wang recalled a beast’s flight from the range in an earlier simulation.

• Wang searched Yellow Wolf True Person’s soul, confirmed the source of Azure Moon True Person’s discarded intimate garments, and ordered him to keep collecting them so he could extract her aura.
• Wang assessed the progress of his fifteen Talisman Arts and planned to strengthen them before Seven Baleful True Lord arrived in about fifteen years.
• Wang agreed to guide a Jiang Family senior from Profound King Island after receiving Blood-Sea True Person’s letter.
• Wang accompanied the Green-Skirted Female Cultivator to the outskirts of the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range, where she used a probing technique before returning with him.
• Wang refined four Flower Moon Pills for the Green-Skirted Female Cultivator, who then revealed she had come to investigate a possibly destructive Beast King with a true spirit bloodline.
• Wang recalled that in his third simulation a third-tier greater demon had fled from the depths of the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range, only to be driven back by three True Persons.

Zhou Qing assessed the danger of a True Spirit Bloodline Beast King, declined to join Profound King Island for now, and continued cultivating while planning to support Zhou Hai anonymously. Zhou Hai accepted You Rou’s invitation to join the Azure Origin Trade Association.

• Zhou Qing learned that a True Spirit Bloodline Beast King could emerge from the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range within decades or two hundred years, but his past simulation suggested the threat would not peak soon.
• The Green-Skirted Female Cultivator invited Zhou Qing to join Profound King Island, and he said he would consider it.
• Zhou Qing suspected Azure Moon True Person had reached the late Core Formation stage and noted that he had made substantial progress cultivating his flawless golden core.
• Little Black reached the second tier ahead of schedule, and Zhou Qing anticipated helping it become a third-tier great demon.
• Zhou Qing decided to help his grandnephew Zhou Hai join the Azure Origin Trade Association without revealing his identity.
• You Rou invited the hesitant Zhou Hai to join the Azure Origin Trade Association, and he accepted.

The protagonist advanced his divination and formation skills, strengthened his trade network, and helped Li Yan prepare for Core Formation. The chapter ended with Li Yan successfully forming a superior Golden Core and becoming his first Golden Core companion.

• The protagonist reached the peak of second-tier upper-grade divination and confirmed through a reading that Yellow Wolf True Person would not betray him.
• The protagonist’s fifteen Dharma Talismans reached third-tier middle grade, while Li Yan advanced to the eighth level of Foundation Establishment through her cultivation and dual cultivation with him.
• The protagonist deciphered the first level of the Primordial Spirit Void-Crossing Art and decided to spend a hundred years mastering it.
• Blood-Sea True Person reported that the trade association was thriving on Profound King Island, and the protagonist planned to stockpile and secretly ship cultivation supplies there ahead of a possible war.
• The protagonist became a third-tier Formation Master and learned that Seven Baleful True Person was still in Core Formation despite later becoming a Demonic Path True Lord.
• Li Yan reached the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment and, with the protagonist’s support, successfully formed a superior Golden Core.

Li Yan achieved a high-grade golden core, and you concealed her identity while arranging a celebration that strengthened the Azure Origin Trade Association. You advanced your divination skills to the third tier and crafted a third-tier puppet, then sent it to Black Mountain Market District to profit from prices at their lowest.

• Li Yan formed a high-grade golden core in your cave abode, and you told visiting True Persons she was a subordinate of the Azure Origin Trade Association.
• You held Li Yan's core formation celebration in her place, drawing generous gifts and impressing Zhou Hai with the trade association's strength.
• You failed to craft a third-tier puppet, then redirected your efforts to divination and advanced to the third tier at the cost of more than ten years of lifespan.
• You returned to puppetry and crafted a third-tier puppet whose strength was comparable to a False Core True Person.
• You sent the puppet to Black Mountain Market District to take advantage of the market's lowest property prices.