Chapter Summaries

Duan Rong gathered herbs with Yin Cong and learned that Xia Honghua wanted him to work at the Herb Pavilion counter, an offer he left open while considering how it could help him secretly obtain Azure Eye. After Pan Yong discovered a ten-point discrepancy in the herb bill, Duan Rong learned that only the Judgment and Rectification Department could audit the pavilion’s accounts, leaving him confident that his plan carried little risk.

• Duan Rong and Yin Cong collected the herbs on Shang Xiangyu’s list and paid 921 Contribution Points at the Herb Pavilion, where Duan Rong impressed the staff with his mental arithmetic.
• Xia Honghua offered Duan Rong a counter job paying two Contribution Points a day, but Duan Rong said he would consider it and kept walking with Yin Cong.
• Duan Rong warned Yin Cong to keep Xia Honghua’s offer secret, and Yin Cong agreed as they returned to Shang Xiangyu’s place.
• Pan Yong noticed that 921 points had been deducted instead of the 911 he expected and docked Yin Cong ten points for the discrepancy.
• Duan Rong offered to check the Herb Pavilion’s accounts, and Yin Cong explained that only the Judgment and Rectification Department could audit them; Duan Rong revealed that he had deliberately taken extra Silver Star Grass to create the discrepancy and test the rules.

Pan Yong delivered the medicines and Star Disk to Shang Xiangyu, who prepared to refine a Spring Return Pill to stop the aging caused by the Nine Nether Grand Hidden Art. Over five days, the group processed the herbs, and Shang Xiangyu announced that they would enter the cave the next night to refine pills.

• Pan Yong brought the exchanged medicines and Star Disk to Shang Xiangyu, who ordered everyone to prepare for several days of herb processing.
• Shang Xiangyu inspected a ripened Black Blood Vine fruit and revealed that he urgently needed a Spring Return Pill because his body was rapidly aging.
• Pan Yong informed Yin Cong and Duan Rong that Shang Xiangyu would personally teach them to process herbs, and the group began work at Mao hour the next day.
• Shang Xiangyu answered the workers’ questions as they processed the medicines, while Duan Rong finished quickly and earned his quiet approval.
• Tang Zhu found three extra qian of Silver Star Grass, and Yin Cong realized it explained the ten extra Contribution Points spent at the Herb Pavilion.
• After five days of processing, Shang Xiangyu told everyone they would enter the cave the following night to refine pills.

Duan Rong and the others helped Shang Xiangyu refine medicine, but the pill furnace exploded and killed Tang Zhu. After leaving the cave, Duan Rong confronted Chen Hu when he threatened Yin Cong and demanded they hide how Tang Zhu died.

• Shang Xiangyu directed Duan Rong, Yin Cong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Tang Zhu as they added medicines to the pill furnace.
• The furnace exploded, scattering the group and sending its upper tier hurtling toward Chen Hu.
• Chen Hu used his Nine-Section Steel Whip to throw Tang Zhu into the furnace, and the falling furnace crushed her to death.
• Shang Xiangyu accused Pan Yong of tampering with the medicine, briefly strangled him, then left the cave.
• Chen Hu threatened Yin Cong into claiming Tang Zhu died in the accident, but Duan Rong intervened and rebuked Chen Hu before walking away with Yin Cong.

Duan Rong reasoned that Shang Xiangyu’s failed medicine was meant to save his life and planned to seek Azure Eye at the Herb Pavilion to advance his cultivation. Shang Xiangyu discovered the Blood Pill Formation Method and decided to use his foolish younger brother Shang Xin’s blood to refine the medicine, leaving his intentions ominous.

• Yin Cong suggested reporting Chen Hu for killing Tang Zhu, but Duan Rong warned him to stay quiet and sent him away.
• Duan Rong deduced that Shang Xiangyu was gravely ill or poisoned and planned to scout the Herb Pavilion for Azure Eye so he could reach the fourth layer of the Garbha Sutra.
• Shang Xiangyu went mad after failing to understand the furnace explosion, tore at his own skin, and collapsed as his books burned.
• After waking, Shang Xiangyu found a method for resolving pill formation and told Pan Yong to report Tang Zhu’s death as an accident caused by the furnace explosion.
• Shang Xiangyu visited Shang Xin, his foolish younger brother, then studied the Blood Pill Formation Method, which required fresh blood from a close relative, and declared that he would not let himself die.

Duan Rong took on the Herb Pavilion’s overdue accounts, negotiated sixty Contribution Points a month, and quickly began reviewing the ledgers. Yin Cong then warned him that the cave and belongings Duan Rong used had belonged to a Registered Disciple who had died, leaving Duan Rong suspecting Pan Yong had known the truth.

• Duan Rong impressed Xia Honghua with his accounting knowledge and agreed to finish the Herb Pavilion’s accounts before the July review for sixty Contribution Points a month.
• Duan Rong received thirty Contribution Points in advance, briefly reviewed the ledgers, and left to tend his garden, practice Martial Arts, and feed the Black Blood Vine.
• Yin Cong told Duan Rong that Tang Zhu had died in a furnace explosion and that Old Qin had remarked that another person had died.
• Yin Cong revealed that Registered Disciple Wei Luan had disappeared two months before Duan Rong arrived and had lived in Duan Rong’s current cave.
• Duan Rong realized that Pan Yong may have known Wei Luan was dead when he sent Duan Rong to use the dead man’s belongings.

Duan Rong continued trying to survive Shang Xiangyu’s dangerous schemes while cultivating and working at the Herb Pavilion. When Yin Cong arrived to exchange for ingredients, Duan Rong prepared to secretly obtain Azure Eye, and Xia Honghua realized they had come on Shang Xiangyu’s business.

• Duan Rong urged Yin Cong to stay out of trouble, then resolved to find a way to escape Taiyi Sect and threw his belongings into the ravine before cultivating through the night.
• Duan Rong worked quickly through the Herb Pavilion’s account books, proving to Xia Honghua that his short daily visits had nearly completed the review.
• Duan Rong fed the Black Blood Vines, discovered that two Black Blood Fruits had ripened, and told Pan Yong, who went to verify it himself.
• Duan Rong decided to secretly exchange for Azure Eye, the supplementary medicine for the fourth layer of the Garbha Sutra, when he went with Yin Cong to the Herb Pavilion.
• Xia Honghua saw Yin Cong arrive with Duan Rong and realized they had come to exchange for medicinal ingredients for Shang Xiangyu.

Duan Rong secretly obtained and hid the Azure Eye, then prepared for a second medicine refining while planning to cultivate the Garbha Sutra at Xiao Yu’s Stone Workshop. During the refining, Shang Xiangyu began the blood-pellet method and approached the cauldron containing the fool.

• Duan Rong exchanged for extra medicinal herbs to conceal his Azure Eye purchase, hid the bottle in the Dense Forest, and returned to Shang Xiangyu’s mountain with Yin Cong.
• Duan Rong planned to cultivate the Garbha Sutra at Xiao Yu’s Stone Workshop after the upcoming medicine refining, and spent the next days processing herbs with Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong.
• Duan Rong and the others discovered that the fool had disappeared from the great platform, while Pan Yong told them to mind their own work.
• After the herbs were processed, Duan Rong rested and prepared for the second refining, then joined Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong in Shang Xiangyu’s cave.
• Shang Xiangyu heated the furnace with magma and directed the group to add medicines; when the critical stage arrived, he began the blood-pellet method and walked toward the cauldron holding the fool.

Shang Xiangyu sacrificed Shang Xin to refine more than thirty Major Accomplishment Blood Spring Pills, then offered Profound Origin Pills to his helpers. The chapter ended with Shang Xiangyu killing Yin Cong after handing him an empty bottle, while Duan Rong and Chen Hu remained wary.

• Shang Xiangyu recalled taking Shang Xin to play, then killed him and crushed his body to extract blood for the pill furnace.
• Shang Xiangyu had Pan Yong add the blood and both Black Blood Fruits to the furnace, and the Blood Spring Pills successfully formed.
• Shang Xiangyu gave Yin Cong a bottle supposedly containing Profound Origin Pills and offered bottles to the others, but Duan Rong and Chen Hu stayed back.
• Shang Xiangyu praised Chen Hu for understanding that he would receive no medicine, then struck Yin Cong from behind and killed him; Yin Cong's bottle was empty.

Duan Rong killed Chen Hu and pledged himself to Shang Xiangyu, earning a reprieve while learning that Shang Xiangyu’s pills bound him to a deadly schedule. He joined Pan Yong in collecting thirty-six Blood Pills from the furnace, while Shang Xiangyu’s motives remained uncertain.

• Chen Hu tried to escape by attacking Shang Xiangyu, but Shang Xiangyu destroyed his whip and Duan Rong blocked the cave entrance.
• Duan Rong fought Chen Hu with his saber and leg techniques, then killed him with a strike to the neck as Pan Yong tried to claim the kill.
• Duan Rong knelt before Shang Xiangyu and offered Chen Hu’s head; Shang Xiangyu stopped Pan Yong from attacking him and spared him because of his connection to Shen Ping and his talent.
• Shang Xiangyu gave Duan Rong ten black pills, ordered him to swallow one, and warned that missing a dose or taking too many would kill him.
• Duan Rong and Pan Yong opened the furnace and collected thirty-six crimson Blood Pills into porcelain bottles.

Duan Rong discovered that Shang Xiangyu’s Worm Pill had filled his body with maggots and used the Filthy Blood Divine Skill to destroy them, then began planning how to escape Taiyi Sect. Shang Xiangyu used a Blood Spring Pill to temporarily reverse his spreading wrinkles, but realized he had only months left and no blood relatives to make more.

• Shang Xiangyu ordered Pan Yong and Duan Rong to stage Yin Cong and Chen Hu’s deaths as another furnace explosion, and they crushed the bodies beneath a pill furnace and used Shang Xin’s remains and crimson magma to complete the scene.
• Duan Rong suspected that Shang Xiangyu intended to keep only one disciple and resolved to kill Pan Yong if he became a threat.
• Duan Rong found countless tiny maggots crawling toward his skull and used the Filthy Blood Divine Skill to destroy them throughout his body before they reached his brain.
• Duan Rong examined a pill from the Black Porcelain Bottle and discovered it was packed with dormant maggots, then decided to earn Shang Xiangyu’s trust so he could escape Taiyi Sect.
• Shang Xiangyu took a Blood Spring Pill, which temporarily reduced his wrinkles, but the wrinkles returned and he realized the pills could only buy him a little over half a year.

Duan Rong retrieved the Azure Eye and spent the day at the Herb Pavilion before visiting Xiao Yu, where the two grew closer as they walked, ate, and talked. He stopped himself from taking their intimacy further and prepared to cultivate the fourth level of the Garbha Sutra in her cave.

• Duan Rong told Pan Yong he planned to take tasks at Guanglu Court, then retrieved the Azure Eye he had hidden in the Dense Forest.
• Duan Rong accepted Xia Honghua's new half-monthly progress checks and worked for more than four hours at the Herb Pavilion.
• Duan Rong met Xiao Yu, walked with her through the forest, and shared sect news and Red Tide Fruit with her.
• Duan Rong and Xiao Yu caught fish, roasted them at her cave, and carried four discarded stone carvings inside for Duan Rong's unexplained purpose.
• Duan Rong kissed Xiao Yu but stopped himself, then arranged the stone carvings and sat among them to begin cultivating the fourth level of the Garbha Sutra.

Duan Rong swallowed the Azure Eye and cultivated the fourth level of the Garbha Sutra, gaining a new soul attack while Xiao Yu’s bond with him deepened. After answering questions about the pill furnace explosion, he learned the case had been closed and helped Pan Yong bury Chen Hu and Yin Cong.

• Duan Rong swallowed the Azure Eye, entered his Luminous Consciousness Sea, and cultivated until he formed a fourth celestial body and reached the fourth level of the Garbha Sutra.
• Duan Rong woke beside Xiao Yu before dawn, kissed her goodbye, and returned to his cave, where he found Pan Yong’s warning that the Judgment and Rectification Department would question him.
• Duan Rong studied the Divine Soul Thorn, then answered Manager Yang Yi’s questions about Chen Hu and Yin Cong without revealing anything useful.
• Yang Yi left without gaining information, and the Judgment and Rectification Department later closed the pill furnace explosion case.
• Duan Rong and Pan Yong buried Chen Hu and Yin Cong in the Dense Forest, then joked about whether Pan Yong would get a grave when he died.

After Shang Xiangyu left the mountain for more than half a year, Duan Rong considered escaping his control and used the chance to investigate his master’s hidden belongings. He discovered Shang Xiangyu planned to join the Filthy Blood Sect and cultivate its divine skill to cure his depleted origin.

• Shang Xiangyu announced he was leaving the mountain for more than half a year and told Duan Rong and Pan Yong to cultivate and guard the place.
• Duan Rong secretly devoured the artifact spirits in a sack of discarded items and learned that Shang Xiangyu’s illness was incurable by ordinary means.
• Pan Yong left for a five-day task at Guanglu Court, giving Duan Rong an opportunity to search Shang Xiangyu’s Stone Chamber.
• Duan Rong found a hidden compartment in the Stone Bed containing Shang Xiangyu’s cultivation notes and booklets about the Filthy Blood Sect.
• Duan Rong concluded that Shang Xiangyu had left the Taiyi Sect to join the Filthy Blood Sect and use the Filthy Blood Divine Skill to cure his depleted origin.

Duan Rong concluded Shang Xiangyu would not return to the Taiyi Sect and planned to use his Star Disk to advance his Garbha Sutra, though Pan Yong stood in his way. After days of seclusion, Duan Rong encountered Old Qin seeking medicine, and Old Qin’s remarks made Pan Yong grow suspicious of Duan Rong.

• Duan Rong reasoned that Shang Xiangyu would remain with the Filthy Blood Sect and decided he could stay in the Taiyi Sect and pursue Shang Xiangyu’s Star Disk.
• Duan Rong resolved to deal with Pan Yong, then returned to his cave and spent several days cultivating without visiting Xia Honghua.
• After running out of water, Duan Rong went to the spring and encountered Old Qin, who had come for more Moon in Water medicine.
• Duan Rong led Old Qin to Pan Yong, who agreed to take him to Shang Xiangyu’s cave and retrieve the medicine.
• Old Qin questioned whether Duan Rong’s extreme cultivation was necessary, prompting Pan Yong to become wary and wonder what Duan Rong was trying to do.

Duan Rong confronted Pan Yong after recognizing that Pan Yong had poisoned his meal with Wolfsbane Frost, and the two fought over their plans and the worm-gu medicine. Duan Rong killed Pan Yong with his Divine Soul Thorn and saber, leaving him to face Shang Xiangyu’s return no longer as a concern.

• Pan Yong took a bottle of moon in the water for Old Qin, then secretly retrieved a purple porcelain bottle from Shang Xiangyu’s cabinet.
• Pan Yong invited Duan Rong to dinner, but Duan Rong detected Wolfsbane Frost by the mint scent it produced when mixed with fresh ginger.
• Duan Rong told Pan Yong that he intended to kill him, and they exchanged blows in Pan Yong’s cave.
• Duan Rong explained that Shang Xiangyu had Origin Exhaustion Syndrome and would not return, while Pan Yong guessed Duan Rong wanted his Worm Pills to survive their worm gu.
• Pan Yong threatened to crush the Worm Pills and reached for an Iron Box hidden weapon, so Duan Rong struck him with a Divine Soul Thorn and beheaded him with his saber.

Duan Rong stripped Pan Yong’s face and disposed of his body with the Black Blood Vines, which ripened the last Black Blood Fruit. After taking items from Shang Xiangyu’s chamber and disguising himself as Pan Yong, Duan Rong went to the Lower Courtyard and persuaded Old Qin to let him leave the mountain for Divine Cloud Manor.

• Duan Rong took Wolfsbane Frost, Pan Yong’s Star Disk, a key, and other belongings, then peeled Pan Yong’s face from his head.
• Duan Rong fed Pan Yong’s corpse to the Black Blood Vines, discovered the Gu insects inside it, and watched the remaining Black Blood Fruit ripen.
• Duan Rong fed venomous insects and a wild boar to the vines, then plucked the Black Blood Fruit and locked it in Shang Xiangyu’s cabinet.
• Duan Rong broke into Shang Xiangyu’s drawer, took the Star Disk and Ice Heart Pills, and devoured the artifact spirits of a jade pendant and belt.
• Duan Rong used Peach Resin, the Disguise Technique, and the Bone Shrinking Skill to take Pan Yong’s appearance, then traveled to the Lower Courtyard.
• Duan Rong told Old Qin he planned to visit Divine Cloud Manor, and Old Qin agreed to make an exception and let him leave the mountain.

Duan Rong disguised himself as Pan Yong to obtain the Garbha Sutra medicines, then erased the evidence of Pan Yong’s identity and returned to hiding. He planned to consume the stolen supplies within ten days and began preparing to cultivate the fifth through eleventh layers.

• Duan Rong, disguised as Pan Yong, collected the auxiliary medicines for layers six through eleven of the Garbha Sutra from Xia Honghua and exchanged Pan Yong’s Star Disk for six bottles of Righteous Yang Pills.
• Duan Rong hid the medicines, threw both Star Disks into a pool, burned Pan Yong’s Sect Cloud Document, permit, face skin, and clothes, then washed and changed back into his own appearance.
• Duan Rong resolved to use the ten-day window before Old Qin noticed Pan Yong’s absence to digest the stolen goods, and retrieved the Black Blood Fruit from Shang Xiangyu’s cabinet.
• Duan Rong devoured tree spirits in the Dense Forest until his Tree Spirit Light Sea was full, then caught and roasted a mountain pheasant.
• Duan Rong carried the Black Blood Fruit to the hidden cave where the Black Blood Vine grew, which he had chosen as his cultivation site for the Garbha Sutra.

Duan Rong carved four Wisdom King statues and cultivated the Garbha Sutra to its eleventh level, reaching Mental Strength Level twelve and manifesting the core of his soul. He discovered that the Garbha Sutra had sealed the Filthy Blood Divine Skill, which he could now release only by communicating with his phantom soul.

• Duan Rong used the Black Blood Fruit and four carved statues to cultivate the fifth level of the Garbha Sutra, then went to the Herb Pavilion and reconciled with Xia Honghua over his overdue account work.
• Duan Rong followed a routine of reviewing accounts, cultivating true qi, replenishing the Devour Tree Spirit, and advancing through the Garbha Sutra over eight days.
• Duan Rong attained the eleventh level of the Garbha Sutra, raising his Mental Strength Level to twelve as eleven celestial bodies revolved around a phantom resembling himself.
• Duan Rong experienced himself as both the phantom and the figure beneath it, and recognized the phantom as the manifestation of his soul's core.
• Duan Rong found that the Garbha Sutra had sealed the Filthy Blood Divine Skill into a blood core, which he could reactivate by communicating with the phantom.

After completing the eleventh level of the Garbha Sutra, Duan Rong accepted his ruthless nature and resolved to reach the highest point in the world, no matter the cost. As he pursued cultivation and concealed Pan Yong’s disappearance, Yang Yi investigated the mountain but found no evidence linking Duan Rong to it.

• Duan Rong destroyed the four statues, slept for a day and night, and decided that his desire to reach the world’s highest point justified enduring the killing along the way.
• Duan Rong began cultivating Divine Soul Thorns and Illusory Bewitchment in the Dense Forest while refining Righteous Yang Pills and practicing true qi.
• Old Qin asked Duan Rong about Pan Yong’s absence, and Duan Rong claimed Pan Yong had gone to Divine Cloud Manor without saying when he would return.
• A baboon hurled wild fruit at Duan Rong, but he shattered one fruit with true qi and watched the animal flee.
• Yang Yi questioned Duan Rong about Pan Yong, searched his and Shang Xiangyu’s caves, and found no clues connecting Duan Rong to the disappearance.
• Yang Yi’s group discovered two Black Blood Vines and dug up Chen Hu and Yin Cong’s graves, but found nothing useful and left Yang Yi more suspicious of Shang Xiangyu and Pan Yong.

Yang Yi searched Shang Xiangyu’s mountain and uncovered a hidden compartment containing rare books about the Filthy Blood Sect, then arrested Duan Rong and brought him to the Judgment and Rectification Department. Yang Yi went to report the discovery to his uncle, Yang Sixuan, leaving Duan Rong imprisoned.

• Yang Yi searched the caves on Shang Xiangyu’s mountain, found a hollow compartment in Shang Xiangyu’s Stone Bed, and discovered rare books about the Filthy Blood Sect inside.
• Yang Yi punished the subordinate who had failed to find the compartment and ordered his men to seize Shang Xiangyu’s cabinet and search for its contents.
• Yang Yi had Duan Rong taken into custody after searching his cave, while Duan Rong realized the discovery had disrupted his plans.
• Yang Yi escorted Duan Rong to the Judgment and Rectification Department’s dungeon and ordered Shang Xiangyu’s cabinet placed in the evidence room.
• Yang Yi brought the recovered books to his uncle Yang Sixuan’s bamboo residence, where Yang Sixuan asked what had happened.