Chapter Summaries

Jing Wen disguised himself as a burly cultivator and sold a collection of Magical Artifacts and millennium spirit medicine at the Golden Jade Pavilion. He left with eight thousand five hundred Spirit Stones and believed he could now afford the treasures he wanted, including a powerful flame Talisman Treasure.

• Jing Wen changed his appearance and went to the Golden Jade Pavilion to sell his goods under a false identity.
• Jin Buhuan saw the thirty-one bloodstained Magical Artifacts and realized Jing Wen appeared to be a Plunderer Cultivator.
• Jin Buhuan recognized a Frost Sword as belonging to the Zhang family of Azure Mist Mountain, but Jing Wen's chilling reaction made him stop speaking.
• Jing Wen and Jin Buhuan agreed on two thousand five hundred Spirit Stones for the Magical Artifacts and six thousand Spirit Stones for two stalks of millennium spirit medicine.
• Jing Wen safely took the eight thousand five hundred Spirit Stones and avoided being followed as he left the Market.

Jing Wen left the Covering Moon Sect's market with a powerful Flame Talisman Treasure and traveled to the Heavenly Star Sect's market to find someone who could teach him formations. After brokers Wang Ziling and Zhang Dequan argued over whom to recommend, Jing Wen chose to visit Xin Ruoyin, the young formation expert he had come to find.

• Jing Wen disguised himself, acquired the Flame Talisman Treasure at the Seven-Craft Pavilion, and left the Covering Moon Sect's market under cover of night.
• While flying toward his next destination, Jing Wen considered using the Flame Talisman Treasure in a surprise attack against a powerful cultivator.
• Jing Wen arrived at the Heavenly Star Sect's market, where Wang Ziling and Zhang Dequan competed to guide him and argued over their recommended formation instructors.
• After Jing Wen asked for lesser-known formation experts, Wang Ziling mentioned Xin Ruoyin, and Jing Wen paid him to lead the way to her.
• Zhang Dequan warned Jing Wen that Xin Ruoyin was an unknown who might be a fraud, but Jing Wen dismissed his warning and followed Wang Ziling toward the western outskirts.

Jing Wen sought instruction from Xin Ruoyin, a gifted formation cultivator, and won her trust by showing quick comprehension and giving her a millennium spirit medicine. Xin Ruoyin wondered who he was as he left, while Jing Wen watched from a nearby path with a faint smile.

• Jing Wen left the Market with Wang Ziling and followed him through a bamboo grove to Xin Ruoyin's cottage.
• Jing Wen broke through Xin Ruoyin's bewildering formation with spiritual power, but persuaded her to explain it after apologizing for his mistake.
• Jing Wen studied the Bamboo Sea Listening to the Waves Formation with Xin Ruoyin until sunset, impressing her with his insight and questions.
• Jing Wen offered Xin Ruoyin a millennium spirit medicine, revealing that he knew about her Dragon Cry Physique.
• Jing Wen left after telling Xin Ruoyin he did not want to see a gifted formation cultivator's talent go to waste, and Xin Ruoyin called after him to ask who he was.
• Jing Wen stopped on a nearby mountain path and looked back at Xin Ruoyin's cottage with a faint smile.

Jing Wen explored Tianxing City’s Market, buying a defective Heavenly Thunder Pearl and three ghost mortar grass seedlings from a shrewd old cultivator he called Old Zhou. After settling into a secluded inn, he studied the Breath Concealment Technique and began practicing it.

• Jing Wen concealed his cultivation and entered Treasure Gathering Pavilion, where he bought a Heavenly Thunder Pearl with a three-breath activation delay for five hundred spirit stones.
• Jing Wen found Old Zhou selling ghost mortar grass seedlings and saw a recording that purported to show the rare plants growing in the Fallen Dragon Abyss.
• Jing Wen agreed to pay Old Zhou five spirit stones per seedling and 150 per mature plant, bought the three seedlings, and exchanged Sound Transmission Talismans with him.
• Jing Wen checked into the secluded Clearheart Inn, secured his room, and inspected the Heavenly Thunder Pearl and seedlings he had bought.
• Jing Wen studied the Breath Concealment Technique and practiced blending his aura into the surrounding night.

Jing Wen deliberately drew Xin Ruoyin’s attention by making her search for him, then watched events from nearby. As Xin Ruoyin resolved to find him and learn his purpose, Li Da was coerced into carrying out an unknown task for a curly-bearded man.

• Jing Wen went to the Market’s eastern gate and waited until Wang Ziling told him that Xin Ruoyin had been searching for him.
• Jing Wen dismissed Wang Ziling and returned to cultivation at an inn near Xin Ruoyin’s residence, satisfied that events were unfolding as he expected.
• A curly-bearded man marked Li Da with spiritual power and threatened him into accepting a task in exchange for spirit stones.
• Xiao Mei questioned why Jing Wen had given Xin Ruoyin the millennium spirit medicine, and Xin Ruoyin admitted she could not understand his motives.
• Xin Ruoyin decided she would find Jing Wen and question him, and refused to use the spirit medicine until she understood why he had given it to her.

Li Da and Li Er harassed Xin Ruoyin over a refund, and Qi Yunxiao arrived to support her. After the men returned and insulted Qi Yunxiao’s family standing, Xin Ruoyin decided to refund them, while Qi Yunxiao resolved to seek justice for her.

• Li Da and Li Er broke Xin Ruoyin’s courtyard formation and demanded their tuition back, threatening to return if she refused.
• Xin Ruoyin considered selling her bronze tripod and formation flags to cover the refund rather than involve Qi Yunxiao.
• Qi Yunxiao visited Xin Ruoyin with a fragment of the Primordial Array Canon, and they began studying its formations together.
• Li Da and Li Er returned demanding a refund, and Qi Yunxiao confronted them after Xiao Mei explained their harassment.
• Li Da mocked Qi Yunxiao as a low-level collateral member of the Qi Family, then left after damaging a stone stool and promising to return.
• Xin Ruoyin decided to refund the spirit stones, and Qi Yunxiao vowed to help her obtain justice.

Jing Wen arrived at Xin Ruoyin’s courtyard just as Li Da and Li Er were threatening her over a spirit-stone payment, and forced them to pay for the damage they caused. Li Da and Li Er left subdued, while Xin Ruoyin accepted the compensation and Qi Yunxiao regarded Jing Wen with mixed feelings.

• Qi Yunxiao told Xin Ruoyin that his friends and clan elders had refused to help, and Xin Ruoyin said she had gathered enough spirit stones by selling old belongings.
• Li Da and Li Er rejected Xin Ruoyin’s ten spirit stones, demanded ten more, and threatened to wreck her courtyard.
• Jing Wen arrived with Wang Ziling, gave Li Da ten spirit stones, and used his spiritual pressure to make Li Da and Li Er agree to compensate Xin Ruoyin for the courtyard damage.
• Jing Wen asked Xin Ruoyin how much compensation she wanted, and she requested that the ten spirit stones be returned.
• Li Da handed the spirit stones to Xin Ruoyin, then left with Li Er; Qi Yunxiao watched Jing Wen with a complicated expression.

Jing Wen manipulated Xin Ruoyin and Qi Yunxiao into trusting him by inventing a tragic past and presenting himself as a Foundation Establishment cultivator. After suggesting that Xin Ruoyin stop teaching and let him fund her formation work, he was left alone with her to hear what she wanted to discuss privately.

• Jing Wen privately revealed his plan to control Xin Ruoyin and use her as a piece in his schemes.
• Jing Wen pretended to have abandoned formations because his obsession had contributed to his mother's death, earning Xin Ruoyin's sympathy and Qi Yunxiao's respect.
• Jing Wen claimed his unusual cultivation art barely qualified as Foundation Establishment, and Xin Ruoyin apologized for asking about his enemies.
• Wang Ziling speculated that a jealous formation master had sent Li Da, and Jing Wen urged Xin Ruoyin to stop teaching and accept his funding instead.
• Xin Ruoyin asked to speak with Jing Wen privately, and Wang Ziling and Qi Yunxiao left after exchanging courtesies and Sound Transmission Talismans with him.

Jing Wen persuaded Xin Ruoyin that Deity Transformation Cultivators had monopolized resources and oppressed ordinary cultivators, framing his revenge as a fight for everyone. Xin Ruoyin agreed to follow his arrangements and help him, while Jing Wen learned that her developing Five Elements Reversal Formation might trap Golden Core cultivators.

• Jing Wen told Xin Ruoyin that multiple Deity Transformation Cultivators were his enemies, and she inferred that he came from a powerful family.
• Jing Wen claimed Deity Transformation Cultivators hoarded Foundation Establishment Pills and drained the world's spiritual qi, provoking Xin Ruoyin's anger.
• Jing Wen said he sought revenge for his mother and hoped to free cultivators from the Deity Transformation Cultivators' control, and Xin Ruoyin agreed to help him.
• Jing Wen urged Xin Ruoyin to focus on the Formation Dao, and she agreed to follow his arrangements.
• Xin Ruoyin revealed that her incomplete Five Elements Reversal Formation might trap Golden Core cultivators if she had sufficient materials, and Jing Wen offered to procure them.

Jing Wen tested his Concealment Technique, collected ghost mortar grass, and arranged for Xin Ruoyin to continue developing the Five Elements Reversal Formation while he was away. After selling spirit medicine and buying talismans and a storage ring, he left the Heavenly Star Sect Market on his flying sword.

• Jing Wen silently approached Qi Yunxiao to test his Concealment Technique, then continued exchanging formation insights with Xin Ruoyin and Qi Yunxiao.
• Old Zhou sold Jing Wen ten ghost mortar grass seedlings and one mature plant for two hundred Spirit Stones.
• Jing Wen told Xin Ruoyin he would be leaving and promised to help her reach Foundation Establishment as she continued working on the Five Elements Reversal Formation.
• Jing Wen sold a millennium spirit medicine at the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, bought eleven second-grade talismans, and disguised himself to sell another spirit medicine and purchase an antique bronze storage ring at Linglong Studio.
• Jing Wen crossed the Market's no-flight boundary, mounted his flying sword, and departed into the sky.

After losing his Foundation Establishment Pill to a powerful elder, Han Li brooded over the massive debt he owed Jing Wen and the risks surrounding his Little Green Bottle. Jing Wen summoned him to the market, and Han Li set out to settle the debt while keeping his anger and suspicions in check.

• Elder Ye took Han Li's Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for goods and duties, leaving Han Li to vow that he would grow strong enough to resist future bullying.
• Han Li calculated that repaying Jing Wen's debt of 1,106 millennium spirit medicines would take more than two hundred years at the Little Green Bottle's rate of producing Green Liquid.
• Han Li considered defaulting but feared the heart-demon great oath would destroy his cultivation or kill him, and he hid six spirit medicines when he heard footsteps nearby.
• Han Li resolved to reach Foundation Establishment and wondered whether that would be enough to challenge Jing Wen.
• Jing Wen sent Han Li a message summoning him to Yellow Maple Valley's market, and Han Li took the six spirit medicines and went to meet him.

Jing Wen offered Han Li access to pills that could aid his cultivation and tested his comprehension with a compound-interest problem. Han Li grasped the lesson behind the test, and Jing Wen declared him qualified to do business with him.

• Han Li entered Jing Wen’s private room, failed to discern his cultivation, and remained wary when Jing Wen raised a Soundproof Restriction.
• Jing Wen claimed he could provide Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul pills, prompting Han Li to ask about the price of a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Jing Wen postponed discussing the transaction and tested Han Li by asking him to calculate how a loan grew at fifty percent annual interest.
• Han Li calculated the debt through one hundred years, then refused Jing Wen’s challenge to calculate a thousand years because the result was too vast to comprehend.
• Han Li perceived the point of Jing Wen’s test, and Jing Wen praised his comprehension and approved him to do business.

Jing Wen used compound-interest calculations and a speech about the value of opportunity to persuade Han Li to accept their trade and hand over six stalks of millennium spirit medicine. He then revealed his supposed discovery that Han Li's plant-and-wood sacred body could produce Green Liquid that rapidly matured spirit herbs.

• Jing Wen proposed calculating past trades at fifty percent annual interest, demanding seven flying swords and three Ascension Tokens from Han Li.
• Jing Wen argued that his trades had helped Han Li escape Mo Juren and pursue cultivation, convincing Han Li to focus on obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Han Li agreed that Jing Wen had a point and asked how they would trade for the pill.
• Han Li gave Jing Wen six stalks of millennium spirit medicine gathered over the past two years, and Jing Wen praised his repayment progress.
• Jing Wen claimed he had uncovered a secret about the plant-and-wood sacred body: it could produce Green Liquid that accelerated the growth and maturation of spirit herbs.

Han Li learned that Jing Wen had the scales sacred body and proposed using Green Liquid as the currency for future trades. Jing Wen delayed the Foundation Establishment Pill for five years and persuaded Han Li to bring Blood-colored Trial treasures to him, leaving Han Li to prepare for the trial and their next meeting in three months.

• Jing Wen revealed that his scales sacred body grew stronger through fair trades, and said trading with Han Li’s plant-and-wood sacred body benefited him.
• Jing Wen proposed pricing future trades in Green Liquid and postponed selling Han Li a Foundation Establishment Pill for five years.
• Han Li considered entering the Blood-colored Trial, and Jing Wen urged him to prepare magical artifacts and talismans and sell valuable finds through him rather than at the Market.
• Han Li agreed to buy one offensive and one defensive Supreme Magical Artifact for fourteen drops of Green Liquid and arranged to meet Jing Wen in three months.
• After Han Li left, Jing Wen reflected on the successful deal and said he needed to plan for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Jing Wen searched the outskirts of the Taiyue Mountain Range while planning how to reach Foundation Establishment, then realized he might be able to make Foundation Establishment Pills using other sufficiently potent spirit herbs. He decided to revise his plans and remain in a concealed cave to study the recipe while keeping watch for an opportunity.

• Jing Wen judged that he should prioritize Foundation Establishment and considered the low odds of attempting it soon versus waiting years to fully integrate the Fiendish Demon Art's spiritual power.
• Jing Wen examined a ghost mortar grass seedling and planned to use the Green Liquid to mature it, while initially counting on obtaining Foundation Establishment Pills through Chen Qiaoqian's events or the Blood-colored Trial.
• Jing Wen searched the outskirts of the Taiyue Mountain Range, planted scouting flying ants around several possible caves, and chose a hidden cave nearby as his temporary base.
• Jing Wen killed a Black-Scaled Python, secured the cave with a Spirit-Breath Alert Formation and flying ants, then studied Zhang Ling'er's collection of pill recipes.
• Jing Wen reasoned that sufficiently old spirit herbs could replace the Foundation Establishment Pill's usual main ingredients and recognized that he could use the thousand-year-old azure spirit grass Han Li had given him.
• Jing Wen abandoned his plan to scheme around Chen Qiaoqian and decided to seek Green Liquid from Han Li, mature suitable spirit herbs, and remain in the cave while refining his pill formula.

Jing Wen arrived in the Taiyue Mountain Range and found Lu Fengyang drugging Chen Qiaoqian to steal her Foundation Establishment Pill and assault her. He killed Lu Fengyang, took both storage bags, and left Chen Qiaoqian delirious beneath the night sky.

• Chen Qiaoqian and Lu Fengyang entered the Taiyue Mountain Range to search for Spirit-Restoring Herbs.
• Jing Wen received a warning from his flying ants and hurried toward Chen Qiaoqian, deciding she would be useful for gathering information about Yellow Maple Valley.
• Lu Fengyang used Soul-Confusing Incense to incapacitate Chen Qiaoqian, stole her Foundation Establishment Pill, and began assaulting her.
• Jing Wen watched from concealment, then attacked Lu Fengyang with his Nine-Turn Wandering Sword and killed him.
• Jing Wen took both storage bags and departed, leaving Chen Qiaoqian delirious beside Lu Fengyang's corpse.

Jing Wen weighed the risks of dealing with Senior Brother Lu, then chose to advance his cultivation rather than pursue him. He successfully reached the Foundation Establishment Stage and left his seclusion ready to consolidate his new power.

• Jing Wen decided Senior Brother Lu was too risky and of little use to him, and flew away.
• Jing Wen began Foundation Establishment with a pill, using the Fiendish Demon Art to guide spiritual power into his Dantian.
• Jing Wen took his second Foundation Establishment Pill when his spiritual power stalled before turning liquid.
• Jing Wen completed the breakthrough, forming a spiritual lake in his Dantian and gaining sharper senses and greater strength.
• Jing Wen removed the chamber’s restrictions, stepped into the morning sunlight, and planned to consolidate his cultivation.

Chen Qiaoqian woke beside Senior Brother Lu’s corpse, learned through a Sound Transmission Talisman to meet someone at the Yellow Maple Valley Market in a month, and set out for Yellow Maple Valley. Meanwhile, Jing Wen completed Foundation Establishment and prepared to contact several people while planning to master the second level of the Breath-Concealing Art before returning to the Black Fiend Cult.

• Chen Qiaoqian regained consciousness naked and bloodstained beside Senior Brother Lu’s mutilated corpse, and memories revealed that he had drugged her and forced himself on her.
• Chen Qiaoqian found a Sound Transmission Talisman bearing a message to meet at the Yellow Maple Valley Market in one month and wondered who had saved her and taken her Storage Bag and Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Chen Qiaoqian burned the scattered clothes and Senior Brother Lu’s corpse, then used the Wind-Riding Technique to head toward Yellow Maple Valley.
• Jing Wen opened his eyes after completing Foundation Establishment and sent a Sound Transmission Talisman while naming Mo Juren, Venerable Golden Light, and Enchantress as people he intended to use.
• Jing Wen decided to master the second level of the Breath-Concealing Art before returning to the Black Fiend Cult, where he intended to pursue the rest of the Fiendish Demon Art.

Jing Wen traded Han Li two supreme magical artifacts and arranged to exchange green liquid for Foundation Establishment Pills, while seeking a way to gain access to the Little Green Bottle. Han Li left intending to enter the Blood-colored Trial cautiously, and Jing Wen remained focused on the green liquid.

• Jing Wen intimidated Han Li with his shifting aura, then claimed it came from the Pure Man Reincarnation Art and hinted that Han Li should repay his debt promptly.
• Jing Wen gave Han Li the Azure Flood Dragon Sword and Black Iron Shield, and Han Li handed over fourteen drops of green liquid for Jing Wen to inspect.
• Jing Wen offered Foundation Establishment Pills at forty drops of green liquid each and advised Han Li that eight pills would nearly assure his breakthrough with four spiritual roots.
• Jing Wen agreed to suspend Han Li's debt repayment while he traded for pills, but reminded him to honor his Heart-Demon Oath.
• Han Li decided to enter the Blood-colored Trial while staying near its outskirts, then departed with the two magical artifacts.
• Jing Wen remained behind, staring greedily at the green liquid.

Jing Wen tested the Green Liquid’s ability to mature spiritual plants, prepared samples to study how well it could be stored, and used the harvested ingredients to refine Foundation Establishment Pills. After an initial failure, he adjusted his method and produced three pills, leaving him with stronger alchemy skills and the results of his storage experiment still pending.

• Jing Wen used drops of Green Liquid to mature ghost mortar grass and several Foundation Establishment Pill ingredients, finding that it accelerated plant growth without changing the soil.
• Jing Wen sealed Green Liquid samples in different containers and concentrations, recorded his experimental details, and set them aside for later monitoring.
• Jing Wen attempted to refine Foundation Establishment Pills but ruined the first batch, then identified the order of ingredients as a likely cause of failure.
• Jing Wen slowed his second attempt and successfully refined one Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Jing Wen changed his ingredient order and increased the heat during his third attempt, producing two more pills and storing all three in a cold jade bottle.