Chapter Summaries

Jing Wen entered Yellow Maple Valley's market to trade for powerful treasures, using the alias Li Feiyu and two thousand-year-old yellow essence fungi to secure four rare artifacts from Tian Buli. After leaving the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, he feared other cultivators would target him and immediately fled at full speed.

• Jing Wen entered the bustling market and rejected a rusted iron fragment, then bought an old copy of the Evergreen Technique for Han Li.
• Jing Wen visited the Myriad Treasures Pavilion under the alias Li Feiyu and examined the Nine-Turn Wandering Sword and Dark Tortoise Shell.
• Tian Buli showed Jing Wen a Heavenly Thunder Pearl and a Golden Light Brick Talisman Treasure, and Jing Wen decided he wanted all four treasures.
• Jing Wen offered two thousand-year-old yellow essence fungi in exchange for the four artifacts, and Tian Buli accepted the deal after Old Ding confirmed the herbs' value.
• Jing Wen left the pavilion carrying the treasures and fled the market at full speed, wary that cultivators might try to rob him.

After fleeing the Yellow Maple Valley Market, Jing Wen rested in a hidden cave and tested the supreme-grade magical artifacts he had bought, discovering that his Qi Refining cultivation could not yet unleash their full power. Strange sounds and signs of a Qi Refining Stage demonic beast drew him deeper into the cave, where he decided to investigate despite the danger.

• Jing Wen concealed his identity and flew for three days before exhaustion forced him to rest in a cave in the Vast Mountains.
• Jing Wen hid the cave entrance with Concealment Powder, worried that news of the millennium spirit medicine might expose him or lead to a trap.
• Jing Wen tested the Dark Tortoise Shell and found that maintaining its defense consumed much of his spiritual energy.
• Jing Wen tested the Nine-Turn Wandering Sword, splitting it into three blades but finding that his cultivation could not draw out its full power.
• Jing Wen heard rustling deeper in the cave, found blue scales and slime, and identified signs of a Qi Refining Stage demonic beast.
• Jing Wen decided to explore farther into the cave, hoping to find the beast or something valuable it guarded.

Jing Wen killed an Azure-Scaled Beast guarding a hidden stone door and found a jade stone that appeared to unlock it. Suspecting the sealed chamber could be dangerous, he chose to leave and return after forming his Golden Core.

• Jing Wen encountered an Azure-Scaled Beast beside the corpse of a late qi refining cultivator and fought it with his Nine-Turn Wandering Sword and Dark Tortoise Shell.
• Jing Wen defeated the beast by striking its neck wound, then noticed a concealed stone door radiating unusually pure spiritual energy.
• Jing Wen found an Azure Jade Stone among the dead cultivator’s belongings and realized it matched the recess in the door’s Spirit Gathering Array.
• Jing Wen considered the possible treasures and dangers behind the door, decided they were not worth risking his life for, and left with the jade stone.
• Jing Wen resolved to return and explore the door after he formed his Golden Core.

Enchantress explained how she had survived Venerable Golden Light’s manor, secretly cultivated to Qi Refining, First Layer, and gathered intelligence. Jing Wen accepted her secret records and ordered her to remain beside Venerable Golden Light as his hidden informant.

• Enchantress told Jing Wen that her father had given her to Venerable Golden Light and that she had survived the manor by learning its residents’ secrets.
• Enchantress recalled persuading Venerable Golden Light to teach her cultivation, discovering her rare metal spiritual root, and spending five years cultivating in the manor.
• Jing Wen rejected Enchantress’s appeal to beauty and guidance, so she offered him her records of Golden Light Manor’s treasuries, retainers, and secret dealings.
• Jing Wen judged Enchantress resourceful and resilient, then told her to remain beside Venerable Golden Light for now.
• Enchantress left Jing Wen’s residence believing she finally had a chance to escape her life in the manor.

After half a year of seclusion, Jing Wen returned to the Yellow Maple Valley Market to investigate rumors of millennium spirit medicine and buy cultivation resources. Finding no rumors, he entered the Heavenly Works Tower, where he discovered a Breath-Concealing Art and examined Sword Flight before the chapter ended with him asking to see other techniques.

• Jing Wen reached qi refining level twelve and decided the risks of revisiting the Yellow Maple Valley Market had diminished.
• Jing Wen searched the Market for news of millennium spirit medicine, but heard only about an upcoming Myriad Treasures Pavilion auction featuring three Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Jing Wen questioned an old herb seller about millennium spirit medicine, learned that no recent rumors had reached the Market, and bought an eighty-year-old blood ginseng and azure spirit grass.
• Jing Wen visited the Heavenly Works Tower under the false name Jin Guang and found a Breath-Concealing Art that could hide his cultivation.
• Jing Wen asked Steward Liu about Sword Flight, watched a recording of the technique, and requested to see other cultivation methods and secret arts before considering magical artifacts.

Jing Wen bought five cultivation manuals from Steward Liu at the Heavenly Works Tower and sold him ten bottles of Yellow Dragon Pills, revealing his alchemy skill. He declined Steward Liu’s offer of a long-term partnership and left the shop with one hundred Spirit Stones.

• Jing Wen asked Steward Liu about prices for cultivation manuals and secret arts, then chose the Breath-Concealing Art, Sword Flight, Disguise Technique, Array Formation Basics, and Compendium of Spirit Medicine.
• Steward Liu quoted seven hundred and twenty Spirit Stones for the five manuals and offered to reduce the price to seven hundred.
• Jing Wen showed Steward Liu a Yellow Dragon Pill and offered ten bottles of pills for sale; Steward Liu recognized them as superior pills and offered eight hundred Spirit Stones.
• Jing Wen declined Steward Liu’s invitation to form a long-term partnership, saying he wanted to develop his alchemy skills independently.
• Steward Liu deducted the seven hundred Spirit Stones for the manuals from the pill purchase, leaving Jing Wen with one hundred Spirit Stones.
• Jing Wen refused Steward Liu’s attempt to sell him magical artifacts and left the Heavenly Works Tower.

Jing Wen mastered flying on his sword, then told Han Li he would soon leave and taught him about the dangers of the Cultivation World. He sold Han Li a large collection of protective talismans in exchange for sixty stalks of millennium spirit medicine, giving him a hundred years to repay.

• Jing Wen tested his Flying Sword in the wilderness, raced an eagle, and flew toward the distant mountains.
• Jing Wen asked Han Li to address him as a fellow disciple and explained that he would be leaving soon.
• Jing Wen warned Han Li about the dangers facing rogue cultivators and described the power of the Seven Great Sects.
• Han Li realized he needed more ways to protect himself and asked Jing Wen to sell him useful treasures.
• Jing Wen demonstrated Diamond, Fireball, and Concealment Talismans, then offered Han Li a collection of talismans.
• Han Li agreed to pay sixty stalks of millennium spirit medicine, and Jing Wen gave him a hundred years to repay the debt.

Jing Wen sold Han Li a Superior-Grade Flying Sword and an Ascension Token that would let him enter Yellow Maple Valley and receive a Foundation Establishment Pill. Han Li accepted the enormous debt, swore to repay Jing Wen and never betray his kindness, and left expecting Jing Wen to escort him to the sect in a few months.

• Jing Wen showed Han Li a Middle-Grade Flying Sword and the Superior-Grade Flying Sword Azure Nether, and Han Li chose Azure Nether for sixty stalks of millennium spirit medicine.
• Jing Wen revealed Yellow Maple Valley's Ascension Token, which allowed its holder to enter without the entrance trial and receive a Foundation Establishment Pill, and Han Li agreed to owe him a thousand stalks of millennium spirit medicine.
• Jing Wen told Han Li to repay the debt within a thousand years and offered to escort him to Yellow Maple Valley when he left in a few months.
• Han Li swore a heart-demon great oath to repay Jing Wen and never betray him, then departed with the sword and token.
• Jing Wen watched Han Li leave and privately said he was putting the plot back on its intended path.

Jing Wen left the Seven Mysteries Sect, sent Han Li to the Ascension to Immortality Conference at Mount Tai Nan, and continued toward Lan Prefecture to meet Mo Juren. He left Enchantress behind with orders to remain hidden, while Han Li entered the conference alone.

• Jing Wen refused Enchantress's plea to accompany him and ordered her to stay hidden at the Seven Mysteries Sect.
• Jing Wen and Han Li departed the sect and traveled toward the Ascension to Immortality Conference, where Jing Wen explained that Han Li could safely present his Ascension Token in public.
• Jing Wen and Han Li reached Mount Tai Nan, and Jing Wen told Han Li to proceed to the conference without him.
• Han Li entered the crowd at Mount Tai Nan, while Jing Wen flew toward Lan Prefecture and murmured that Mo Juren should not disappoint him.

Seven years after disappearing, Mo Juren returned to the Mo Residence horribly disfigured and revealed that an evil technique was killing him. Unable to cultivate the Burning Blood Art himself because he lacked a spiritual root, he gave it to his five wives to test and ordered them to keep his return and the art secret.

• Zhang Defu recognized Mo Juren, received his Black Iron Token, and went to summon Jin.
• Jin saw Mo Juren’s transformed face in the study and gathered the other four wives at his command.
• Mo Juren told his wives that he had found an ancient ruin at Black Wind Valley, been wounded by Yu Zitong, and taken the Burning Blood Art after poisoning him.
• Mo Juren explained that Yu Zitong’s dying technique was corrupting his body and that he needed someone with a spiritual root to cultivate the art and save him.
• The five wives eagerly agreed to learn the art and supervise anyone they passed it to, while Mo Juren ordered them to conceal his return from Feng Wu, Yuzhu, and Caihuan.

Mo Yuzhu returned from a hunt and learned from her mother, Jin, about the Burning Blood Art and the possibility of becoming an immortal. After Mo Yuzhu began cultivating, Mo Juren watched from the Star-Gazing Tower and welcomed the start of whatever plan was unfolding.

• Mo Juren lamented that his five wives now cared more about the Burning Blood Art than him, while they practiced or endured pain in their courtyards.
• Mo Yuzhu returned from hunting with Young Master Wu and turned down his attempts to court her.
• Jin showed Mo Yuzhu the Burning Blood Art and demonstrated spiritual qi, claiming that the cultivation method could make her immortal.
• Jin taught Mo Yuzhu the method, and Mo Yuzhu drank water mixed with three drops of her blood before beginning cultivation.
• Mo Yuzhu sensed spiritual qi and swore not to teach the art to outsiders, while Jin privately worried about the price of their path.
• Mo Juren watched Jin's courtyard from the Star-Gazing Tower and whispered that it had begun.

Jin demonstrated that she could sense spiritual energy, while Mo Juren learned that Yuzhu was progressing even faster and demanded daily reports on her cultivation. Outside the chamber, Li grew jealous of Jin and Yuzhu, and Yan declared that Caihuan would not lose to Yuzhu.

• Jin showed Mo Juren and the other wives a small vortex of spiritual energy, while Yan, Li, Liu, and Wang had not yet sensed any.
• Mo Juren asked whom the wives had taught, approved teaching trusted people, and ordered them not to pass the cultivation art to outsiders.
• Mo Juren kept Jin behind and questioned her about how and when she had sensed spiritual energy.
• Jin told Mo Juren that Yuzhu was progressing faster than she was and had formed a red-bean-sized vortex.
• Mo Juren ordered Jin to report Yuzhu's cultivation progress every day and urged her to keep cultivating.
• Li eavesdropped outside the chamber and grew jealous, while Yan said Caihuan would not lose to Yuzhu.

Mo Yuzhu shared her first Qi refining progress with Mo Caihuan and Mo Feng Wu, while reassuring them that cultivation would not weaken their sisterly bond. As she left them, she felt both warmth and unease about the distance cultivation might place between them.

• Mo Yuzhu gave Mo Feng Wu and Mo Caihuan matching orchid jade pendants and told them she had reached the first Qi refining layer.
• Mo Caihuan and Mo Feng Wu lamented that they could not sense spiritual qi, and Mo Yuzhu explained that cultivation depended on spiritual root aptitude.
• Mo Yuzhu revealed that she had only the first layer of her cultivation art and had struggled to progress further.
• Mo Caihuan practiced swordsmanship, and Mo Yuzhu used her sharpened senses and speed to catch her when she tripped.
• Mo Yuzhu told her sisters she would always remain their eldest sister and promised to find a way for them to stay together forever.
• As the sisters parted for dinner, Mo Yuzhu touched the cultivation formula in her robes and felt conflicted about immortal cultivation.

Jing Wen explored Jia Yuan City and met Zheng Xiao and Zhao Yu at a restaurant, where he offered them a Sound Transmission Talisman and suggested they seek him in the Capital if they failed the Ascension to Immortality Conference. After they left, Jing Wen decided to try using them to build a force in the shadows.

• Jing Wen visited the Mo Residence and the busy Xiang Family Restaurant while exploring Jia Yuan City.
• Zheng Xiao and Zhao Yu sensed Jing Wen’s imposing aura and approached him to make his acquaintance.
• Jing Wen identified their cultivation as Qi refining level twelve and told them he was not attending the Ascension to Immortality Conference.
• Jing Wen gave Zheng Xiao and Zhao Yu a Sound Transmission Talisman and invited them to find him in the Capital if they failed the conference.
• Zheng Xiao and Zhao Yu left, unsure whether the talisman was an opportunity or a trap, while Jing Wen decided to try recruiting them as hidden allies.

Jing Wen returned to Mo Juren and demanded he choose between his wife Jin and daughter Yuzhu for an unknown purpose. Mo Juren chose Jin, and Jing Wen ordered him to bring her at dawn; Mo Juren then told Jin that her cultivation pill would be ready tomorrow, concealing his grim intentions.

• After waiting more than two years for Jing Wen, Mo Juren met him in his secret chamber and reported that only Jin and Yuzhu had succeeded in cultivating the Burning Blood Art.
• Jing Wen pressed Mo Juren to choose one of them, and Mo Juren reluctantly chose Jin instead of his beloved daughter Yuzhu.
• Jing Wen gave Mo Juren a page and ordered him to bring Jin at dawn the next day, then disappeared from the chamber.
• Mo Juren told Jin that the pill needed to advance her cultivation would be ready tomorrow, and she eagerly embraced him.
• Jin anticipated reaching the second layer of qi refining, while Mo Juren concealed his cold resolve beneath a tender facade.

Jing Wen ordered Mo Juren to transfer the Baleful Bead from Jin, but the bead rejected Mo Juren and nearly killed him. Jing Wen revived him and granted him one final chance to succeed using someone with a closer blood relationship.

• Mo Juren knocked Jin unconscious, and Jing Wen arrived to oversee the Baleful Bead transfer.
• Mo Juren extracted the Baleful Bead from Jin and tried to fuse it into his own dantian, but the bead resisted and caused him to collapse.
• Jing Wen revived Mo Juren with a blood-red pill and explained that the Baleful Bead required a bloodline connection to recognize a master.
• Mo Juren begged for another chance, and Jing Wen warned that failure next time would mean death before granting it.

Mo Yuzhu learned that Mo Juren had sent cultivation arts while Jin entered seclusion to break through, and she decided to use one to advance from the First Qi Refining Layer. Fifth Madam brought Mo Yuzhu, Mo Caihuan, and Mo Feng Wu to meet Jing Wen, who was staying at the Mo Residence.

• Mo Yuzhu worried about Jin's breakthrough and resented Mo Juren for remaining away from home for nearly ten years.
• Mo Caihuan and Mo Feng Wu joined Mo Yuzhu, and she told them that she was still stuck at the First Qi Refining Layer and that their mother had entered seclusion.
• Mo Yuzhu decided to try the cultivation art Mo Juren had sent and asked her sisters to keep her plan secret.
• Fifth Madam told the three young women to accompany an honored guest and help secure his favor for the Mo Residence.
• Fifth Madam brought Mo Yuzhu, Mo Caihuan, and Mo Feng Wu to meet Jing Wen, then left them to attend to him.

Mo Feng Wu and Mo Caihuan spent the day with Jing Wen, discussing Jia Yuan City's Lantern Festival as Mo Yuzhu left in anger after Fifth Madam’s suggestive remarks. Jing Wen gave the sisters Qi-Blood Pills and announced he would cultivate in seclusion, leaving Mo Feng Wu quietly disappointed as he departed.

• Mo Yuzhu angrily excused herself and left after hearing Fifth Madam speak suggestively to Jing Wen.
• Mo Caihuan teased Jing Wen about Fifth Madam’s interest, and Mo Feng Wu apologized before telling him about the Lantern Festival.
• Mo Feng Wu and Mo Caihuan described the festival’s lanterns, riddles, and blessing ceremonies, and their conversation grew more relaxed.
• Mo Feng Wu inferred that Jing Wen was likely a Cultivator and found herself developing feelings for him, while Jing Wen remained cautious and unmoved.
• Mo Caihuan asked Jing Wen for keepsakes, and he gave her and Mo Feng Wu Qi-Blood Pills before saying he would cultivate in seclusion the next day.
• After Jing Wen returned to his quarters, Mo Feng Wu stood with her jade bottle and silently wept.

Mo Juren incapacitated his daughter Mo Yuzhu and used her as part of his attempt to fuse with the Baleful Bead. The bead took root in his dantian, restoring much of his youth and lifespan, and Jing Wen gave him cultivation supplies and promised him further tasks.

• Mo Yuzhu tried to cultivate the continuation of the Burning Blood Art, but her spiritual power did not respond.
• Mo Juren struck Mo Yuzhu unconscious and carried her away, grieving as he blamed heaven’s injustice.
• Mo Juren placed the Baleful Bead into his abdominal wound and urged it to fuse while Jing Wen watched.
• The Baleful Bead sank into Mo Juren’s dantian, and its effects removed the black tendrils and much of his age and the Yin Soul Curse’s damage.
• Jing Wen gave Mo Juren a Qi-Blood Pill and the Compendium of Basic Spells, telling him that future rewards depended on completing assigned tasks.
• Mo Juren knelt and pledged his loyalty to Jing Wen, then remained alone in the chamber after Jing Wen left.

Jing Wen returned to the Capital and convinced Steward Li that he had spent four years cultivating after burying Red Rose. Steward Li accepted his gifts, gave him the Fiendish Demon Art, and ordered him to serve the Black Fiend Cult, while Jing Wen secretly set his sights on the Profound Yin Scripture.

• Jing Wen entered the Capital under the Breath-Concealing Art and reported to Steward Li at Still Garden.
• Steward Li questioned Jing Wen about his four-year absence, and Jing Wen claimed he had cultivated with herbs left by Red Rose before presenting pills and spirit stones.
• Steward Li accepted the offerings and explained that the Fiendish Demon Art could improve Jing Wen's chances of achieving foundation establishment.
• Steward Li gave Jing Wen the Fiendish Demon Art and the Black Fiend Cult's rules, telling him to capture the cult's designated targets.
• Jing Wen studied the art and secretly vowed to obtain the Profound Yin Scripture to advance his cultivation and begin his revenge plan.