Chapter Summaries

Duan Rong and Lü Qingzhu welcomed their son, Shen'er, and Duan Rong named Zhu Xiaoqi’s unborn child Si Qian before leaving to Condense the Cave of Darkness. He reached Chu Wushang’s Thatched Hut and learned that the Formation Secret Chamber lay beneath it.

• Duan Rong reunited with Xia Honghua, the midwife, and she assured him that Lü Qingzhu’s delivery should go smoothly.
• Xia Honghua delivered Lü Qingzhu’s son safely, and Duan Rong held Shen'er before prescribing a tonic for Lü Qingzhu’s recovery.
• Duan Rong told Xiao Yu and Zhu Xiaoqi that he would soon enter seclusion and gave them the name Si Qian for Zhu Xiaoqi’s unborn child.
• Duan Rong said farewell to his family, entrusted them to Lü Zhongtang, and flew away to begin his secluded cultivation.
• Duan Rong met Chu Wushang at the Thatched Hut and learned that the Formation Secret Chamber was beneath it.

Duan Rong entered the Formation Secret Chamber with Chu Wushang to begin preparing for the first barrier of Condensing the Cave of Darkness. After devouring the artifact spirit of the Six Marvelous Mind-Watching Gate manual, Duan Rong quickly grasped its principles and began cultivating, leaving Chu Wushang astonished by his understanding.

• Duan Rong followed Chu Wushang through a hidden passage and formation into the sect’s secluded chamber for Condensing the Cave of Darkness.
• Chu Wushang explained the three barriers and gave Duan Rong the Six Marvelous Mind-Watching Gate secret art for the first barrier.
• Duan Rong used Read Artifact Spirit and Devour on the manual, then absorbed its accumulated insights while sitting in meditation.
• Duan Rong rapidly read the manual and explained the Counting Method, Following Method, Cessation Method, and Mind-Watching Gate to Chu Wushang.
• Duan Rong began forming hand seals to cultivate the secret art, while Chu Wushang remained stunned by how quickly he had understood its principles.

Duan Rong practiced the Six Wonders Gate and faced a series of inner demons in the Contemplation Gate. After barely overcoming temptations of food, wine, lust, and death, he passed the slaughter demon and confronted the Cloud Deity, Idol Worship.

• Duan Rong entered the State of Meditation in the Contemplation Gate within the time it took an incense stick to burn, astonishing Chu Wushang.
• Duan Rong stabilized the lotus-pool vision and used the Six Wonders Gate’s arts as the Gluttony Demon Realm became a Wine Pool and Meat Forest of food, wine, and lust.
• Duan Rong nearly succumbed to lust but used the Turning Method to dispel the demon, then relied on the Turning Method and Purification Method to withstand the Life and Death Pass’s sword shadows.
• Duan Rong resisted the Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Bones because his deep aversion to slaughter kept the blood and corpses from reaching him.
• Duan Rong faced the Cloud Deity, Idol Worship, whose pressure shook his mind as the Turning Method and Purification Method began to make the deity dissipate.

Duan Rong reached the Black Water Karma Sea during meditation and learned that his limited inner demons and aversion to killing would help him face the Heavenly Dao Paradox. Chu Wushang prepared counteracting practices for him, then secretly took a drowned maiden’s coffin from Wang Family Village.

• Duan Rong faced the Black Water Karma Sea, where the few ghosts of people he had killed could not approach him through the Purification Method.
• Duan Rong told Chu Wushang that he needed the White Bone Contemplation and Life and Death Contemplation, and that he believed he could overcome the slaughtering inner demon himself.
• Chu Wushang agreed to prepare the counteracting practices and left Duan Rong to recover in the secret chamber.
• Chu Wushang collected Zhu Cheng’s report about young maidens who had died near Divine Cloud Manor and identified a drowned girl from Wang Family Village.
• Chu Wushang flew to Wang Family Village and carried the girl’s coffin away, leaving a mourner to discover it missing.

Duan Rong practiced the White Bone Contemplation by watching a corpse decay, using livor mortis and daylight to suppress his lustful heart-demon. Chu Wushang then attacked him without warning to begin the Life and Death Contemplation, but Duan Rong survived and dismissed the lesson as an empty threat.

• Duan Rong found the wooden box protected by a Space Wall and rested until Chu Wushang returned the next day.
• Chu Wushang led Duan Rong into a hidden, damp cave and instructed him to watch a corpse turn into white bones through visualization.
• Duan Rong observed the corpse as livor mortis patches spread and daylight entered the cave, suppressing his heart-demon of lust.
• Chu Wushang suddenly attacked Duan Rong with a spear, piercing the skin of his brow but stopping short of killing him.
• Duan Rong called the Life and Death Contemplation bland because he believed Chu Wushang would not kill him, and Chu Wushang vanished.

Duan Rong used White Bone Contemplation to weaken his lust heart demon by observing a corpse decay, then Chu Wushang appeared and killed him on Lü Yinlin’s orders. Chu Wushang revealed that the killing was a repeated part of Life and Death Contemplation and revived Duan Rong with a pill and strange liquid.

• Duan Rong realized that the corpse’s transformation helped him separate and weaken the desire and beauty within his lust heart demon.
• Duan Rong continued contemplating the corpse as it rotted and maggots covered it, suppressing his disgust and remaining still when one crawled onto him.
• Chu Wushang appeared and pierced Duan Rong with his spear, then crushed what seemed to be Duan Rong’s heart and said the Old Ancestor wanted him dead.
• Duan Rong, immobilized and dying, wondered whether Lü Yinlin had discovered something before his consciousness went dark.
• Chu Wushang revealed that the crushed heart was not Duan Rong’s, restored his real heart, poured healing liquid over the wound, and revived him.

Duan Rong used White Bone Contemplation to overcome his fear of death and break through his lust by meditating on a corpse for more than a month. After Chu Wushang confirmed his progress, Duan Rong chose to enter the State of Meditation immediately and confront his remaining heart demons.

• Chu Wushang revived Duan Rong after making him experience death, and Duan Rong concluded through Life and Death Contemplation that death held no meaning for the dead.
• Duan Rong opened a bloated corpse to release its putrefaction gases and discovered a dead fetus, then contemplated the corpse and maggots to weaken his lust.
• Chu Wushang tested Duan Rong by thrusting a spear at his heart, but Duan Rong remained calm, and Chu Wushang declared Life and Death Contemplation passed.
• Duan Rong continued White Bone Contemplation for more than a month until the corpse became a skeleton and he fully broke through his heart demon of lust.
• After leaving the cave, Duan Rong drank from a stream and told Chu Wushang he would enter the State of Meditation at once to break his remaining heart demons.

Duan Rong entered the State of Meditation and broke all six layers of inner demons, including the Cloud Deity and the Black Water Karma Sea. He emerged from meditation and told Chu Wushang that none of the inner demons remained.

• Duan Rong used the Six Marvelous Mind-Watching Gate to enter the State of Meditation and confronted its inner demons.
• Duan Rong broke the Appetite and Lust Inner Demons, then remained unmoved as the Sky-filling Sword Shadows and the mountain of corpses and sea of blood vanished.
• Duan Rong overcame his fear of the Cloud Deity by confronting it directly, breaking the fifth inner demon.
• Duan Rong let the resentful ghosts of the Black Water Karma Sea gnaw at him, then dismissed them by questioning whether living and killing were both sins.
• The six demonic realms vanished, and Duan Rong awoke in the Cultivation Secret Chamber to tell Chu Wushang that all the inner demons had been broken.

Duan Rong shattered all six layers of inner demons and began the second hurdle of Condensing the Cave of Darkness, using his Intent Origin to comprehend the Law of Power. Lü Yinlin learned of Duan Rong’s progress and recognized his unusually deep aversion to killing as an advantage for his future cultivation.

• Duan Rong accepted the sect’s cultivation arts for the final two hurdles from Chu Wushang, then devoured the artifact spirits of both booklets and absorbed their cultivation insights.
• Chu Wushang reported to Lü Yinlin that Duan Rong had shattered six layers of inner demons in one and a half months, including the Black Water Karma Sea, and that the Corpse Mountain and Blood Sea could not approach him.
• Lü Yinlin learned that Duan Rong had entered the State of Meditation after reading the Six Marvelous Mind-Watching Gate once and ordered Chu Wushang to report on his progress each month.
• Lü Yinlin concluded that Duan Rong’s loathing for killing meant his Killing Intent would be weak, benefiting his future attempt to condense a Nascent Soul.
• Duan Rong began the second hurdle in the Formation Secret Chamber, saw the Glimmer of Law emerge from his Five-Colored Ruyi Pearl, and merged his thoughts with the Intent Origin to seek the Law of Power.

Duan Rong entered the Eye of Law through the Glimmer of Law from his Five-Colored Ruyi Pearl and comprehended a complete Law of Power. After returning to the Luminous Consciousness Sea, he discovered that the pearl still emitted a Glimmer of Law, suggesting his mutated Intent Origin could resonate with multiple Laws of Power.

• Duan Rong learned the Glimmer of Law’s flicker pattern and merged seven strands of Spiritual Sense into it, opening a path into the Eye of Law.
• Duan Rong followed the Glimmer of Law through the empty space until it reached a point of light, where he comprehended a complete and growing Law of Power.
• Duan Rong returned to the Luminous Consciousness Sea and was shocked to find the Five-Colored Ruyi Pearl still emitting a faint Glimmer of Law.
• Duan Rong captured the Glimmer of Law again and found that its flickering pattern had changed, indicating that it resonated with a different Law of Power.
• Duan Rong concluded that his mutated Intent Origin could resonate with multiple Laws of Power.

Duan Rong discovered that multiple Laws of Power could coexist in his Eye of Law space and began awakening them one by one. After four months, he had mastered seventy-nine Laws of Power, but the Glimmer of Law vanished, leaving him uncertain how much further he could advance.

• Duan Rong found a second Eye of Law and reasoned that separate Laws of Power could coexist without influencing each other.
• Duan Rong concluded that his many refined Intents could awaken multiple Eyes of Law, then returned to his Luminous Consciousness Sea and continued cultivating with the Five-Colored Ruyi Pearl.
• Chu Wushang inspected Duan Rong each month and, after four months without visible progress, doubted that Duan Rong was exceptional or would finish within a year.
• Duan Rong awakened seventy-nine Eyes of Law over four months, then discovered that the Five-Colored Ruyi Pearl's Glimmer of Law had disappeared.
• Duan Rong inferred that he had reached the limit of his current comprehension, though his seventy-nine Laws of Power far exceeded what other cultivators could master.

Duan Rong comprehended all Seventy-nine Laws of Power, devised a faster method to condense the Cave of Darkness, and advanced to the Cave Illumination Realm. He used a law that countered Chu Wushang’s to open the protected wooden box, only to find that its remaining manuals dealt with methods for countering inner demons.

• Duan Rong reviewed the sect cultivation art and spent three days designing a method to condense the Cave of Darkness with Seventy-nine Laws of Power.
• Duan Rong used Laws of Power to devour his Qi Cyclone and spent nearly twenty days condensing the Cave of Darkness in his Dantian.
• Duan Rong tempered his Dantian, organs, meridians, and marrow, then advanced to the Cave Illumination Realm.
• Duan Rong tested his new abilities, moved through his clothes, and washed away the impurities expelled during tempering with water from the stream.
• Duan Rong used a Law of Power that countered Chu Wushang’s to open a hole in the light curtain and take secret manuals from the wooden box.
• Duan Rong read the manuals and found that they all described methods for countering inner demons, including one concerning illicit love.

Duan Rong completed condensing his Cave of Darkness in just over a month and left seclusion after six and a half months. He returned to the Lü Family Estate, where Xiao Yu greeted him with joy.

• Duan Rong summoned Chu Wushang and revealed that he had completed condensing the Cave of Darkness, astonishing him by claiming he had improved the sect method.
• Chu Wushang confirmed that Duan Rong could leave seclusion and told him he had spent six and a half months cultivating.
• Duan Rong used the Law of Power to pass through the stone wall and flew toward the valley, while Chu Wushang returned to the Formation Secret Chamber and noticed his protective light screen had weakened.
• At the Lü Family Estate, Xiao Yu visited Lü Zhongtang's courtyard with Duan Si Qian and chatted with Li Baoyue while she played with the children.
• Duan Rong appeared suddenly in the courtyard, startling the children, and Xiao Yu recognized him and joyfully asked whether he had left seclusion.

After emerging from half a year of seclusion as a Cave Illumination Realm cultivator, Duan Rong reunited with Lü Qingzhu and his family, but his new realm left him emotionally distant. Lü Zhongtang explained that Duan Rong might become Taiyi Sect’s next Old Ancestor, while the sect considered ending its alliance with the Heavenly Evolution Sect and attacking the Filthy Blood Sect.

• Duan Rong amused Shen'er and Qian'er, then learned that Lü Zhongtang was attending a Hall of Elders meeting and Lü Qingzhu was cultivating in the secret chamber.
• Duan Rong visited Lü Qingzhu, confirmed that her Dantian had healed, and told her he had attained the Cave Illumination Realm.
• Duan Rong and Lü Qingzhu joined Lü Zhongtang, Li Baoyue, and Xiao Yu for a welcoming banquet, where Duan Rong noticed Zhu Xiaoqi serving his favorite sour mushroom soup but did not eat it.
• Lü Zhongtang told Duan Rong that the sect was discussing abolishing its alliance with the Heavenly Evolution Sect and exterminating the Filthy Blood Sect in Qing Province.
• Lü Zhongtang told Li Baoyue that Duan Rong’s extraordinary progress could make him the sect’s next Old Ancestor and explained that his growing distance came with his elevated status.

Duan Rong returned from seclusion and comforted Zhu Xiaoqi, who was grieving over being kept from Qian'er, by giving her a gold hairpin he had made with his powers. The next morning he left for Lü Yinlin’s valley, where he sensed hidden mysteries and was called into the cave abode.

• Xiao Yu let Zhu Xiaoqi take Qian'er for the night, but later took the sleeping child back and ordered Zhu Xiaoqi to wash her clothes.
• Duan Rong found Zhu Xiaoqi washing clothes in the dark, stopped her, and asked her to prepare a bath; he comforted her and gave her a gold hairpin he had crafted himself.
• After Zhu Xiaoqi left to nurse Qian'er, she cherished the hairpin and continued washing clothes while Duan Rong returned to his room.
• The next morning, Duan Rong left the courtyard in a flash, startling Shen Mizhi with his Cave Illumination Realm speed.
• Duan Rong entered the valley and sensed mysteries surrounding it, especially beneath the ancient pine, before Lü Yinlin called him into the cave abode.

Duan Rong learned from Lü Yinlin that cultivation in the Cave Illumination Realm required finding a personal medium to deepen the Law of Power, rather than following a fixed method. Lü Yinlin then began explaining how Gu Daoling had broken through comprehension, leaving Duan Rong awaiting the details.

• Lü Yinlin examined Duan Rong's growth-type Cave Illumination and was astonished by its vitality and potential.
• Lü Yinlin gave Duan Rong the complete Garbha Sutra and explained that only growth-type Cave Illuminations could potentially condense a Nascent Soul.
• Lü Yinlin taught Duan Rong that Cave Illumination cultivation began with Object Investigation, through which cultivators found personal mediums for sensing and deepening the Law of Power.
• Lü Yinlin explained that Gu Daoling used observing celestial phenomena as his medium, Chu Wushang used walking and weaving baskets, and Chu Qiushan had yet to find his own.
• Duan Rong asked what it meant to break through comprehension, and Lü Yinlin prepared to explain how Gu Daoling had advanced to the Late Cave Illumination Realm.

Lü Yinlin explained breakthrough insight to Duan Rong through the examples of founding patriarch Lan Ruoshui and his own cultivation, warning him to find and verify his own medium. He left Duan Rong with the lesson that Lü’s breakthrough came from years of chopping firewood and recognizing a related sound when wood split in a cooking fire.

• Lü Yinlin told Duan Rong that Lan Ruoshui had achieved breakthrough insight while urinating and composed the gatha “Rivers rush forth, yet do not flow.”
• Lü Yinlin gave Duan Rong a rubbing of Lan Ruoshui’s Treatise on the Immovability of Things, which Duan Rong read but could not understand.
• Lü Yinlin advised Duan Rong to use Object Investigation to find his own medium instead of trying to borrow another cultivator’s path.
• Lü Yinlin explained that his medium was the sound of an axe splitting wood, which he had listened to for fifteen years while chopping firewood in the mountains.
• Lü Yinlin revealed that he achieved breakthrough insight when firewood split with a pa sound in a cooking fire, linking that moment to his years of practice.

After Lü Yinlin taught Duan Rong the Four-Step Cultivation Method, Duan Rong experienced a fleeting insight while recalling the sect patriarch’s treatise, but realized he had not truly broken through contemplation. He stayed with Chu Wushang to observe his bamboo-weaving cultivation and learned about Accumulated Skill, then fell asleep on the thatched hut’s roof.

• Duan Rong reviewed Lü Yinlin’s teachings and recalled the patriarch’s “Treatise on the Immovability of Things.”
• Duan Rong thought he understood the principle while urinating, but his Law of Power did not deepen, so he dismissed the experience as not his breakthrough.
• Duan Rong asked Chu Wushang to let him observe his cultivation, and Chu Wushang agreed to let him stay for two days.
• Duan Rong watched Chu Wushang weave baskets until night, but Chu Wushang said he had not entered the contemplative state once that afternoon.
• Chu Wushang explained that entering the state twice in quick succession was called Accumulated Skill, or On the Path to Breaking Through Contemplation.
• Duan Rong slept on the hut’s roof and wondered whether the clouds or the moon moved.

Duan Rong felt a brief response from the Law of Power while contemplating the moon and suspected it was his medium. On the way to the Bamboo Grove with Chu Wushang, he observed Chu’s walking medium and identified three places where Chu entered deep contemplation, though they continued without finding an answer.

• Duan Rong contemplated the moon at night, and one of his Eyes of Law flashed briefly in response.
• Duan Rong told Chu Wushang that the moon had triggered the response, and Chu said one occurrence was not enough to confirm a medium.
• Chu Wushang explained that walking was one of his mediums and recalled that only Ji Tianku had been recorded as mastering two mediums and condensing a Nascent Soul.
• On the mountain path, Chu Wushang entered deep contemplation while walking down a hill and took seven steps in that state.
• Duan Rong asked whether the state always arose at particular stretches, and Chu named three places on the path where it had happened.
• Chu Wushang continued walking with concentration, but did not enter deep contemplation again before they reached the Bamboo Grove.

Duan Rong learned from Chu Wushang that comprehending a medium meant integrating its environment into one’s way of life, and he watched Chu Wushang enter a deep state while weaving baskets. After ten nights investigating the moon without resonance, Duan Rong concluded it was not his medium and prepared to leave.

• Duan Rong helped Chu Wushang cut bamboo, and Chu Wushang explained how a medium had to spread through one’s life to remain alive and comprehensible.
• Chu Wushang described how carrying bamboo strips along the path connected his basket-weaving and walking mediums, while Duan Rong wondered whether the moon might be his own medium.
• Duan Rong spent the night gazing at the moon, and Chu Wushang identified his effort as Object Investigation and warned that discovering a medium could take years.
• Duan Rong observed Chu Wushang enter a brief but deep state while weaving baskets and learned that the depth of comprehension mattered more than how long it lasted.
• Duan Rong spent ten more days observing Chu Wushang and investigating the moon, then concluded the moon was not his medium and decided to leave.