Chapter Summaries

Wang Yu and Xiao Wei began a one-day test to engrave three spirit inscriptions, while Master Sun secretly watched them through a Bronze Mirror. As Xiao Wei struggled to finish her third inscription, Wang Yu completed intricate work on an iron rod and began engraving his chosen ruler.

• Wang Yu chose a Yellow Short Ruler as his artifact blank, while Xiao Wei selected an enormous blade.
• Master Sun assigned Wang Yu and Xiao Wei separate refining rooms and said he would accept both if they each engraved three patterns by the next day.
• Master Sun watched Xiao Wei prepare her blade with a golden engraving tool and a secret technique, then saw Wang Yu struggle awkwardly with the furnace bellows.
• That evening, Xiao Wei neared completion of her second inscription, while Wang Yu mixed materials and practiced with a black engraving needle.
• The next morning, Xiao Wei's third inscription went awry, and she restarted it; Wang Yu finished covering an iron rod with neat silver characters.
• After resting and invoking Overclocking, Wang Yu dipped his engraving needle into silver liquid and began engraving the short ruler.

Wang Yu completed six spirit inscriptions on a Yellow Short Ruler and impressed Master Sun enough to become his artifact-refining apprentice alongside Xiao Wei. After they accepted Master Sun’s terms and received books and tools, they left to begin their training the next morning.

• Xiao Wei emerged from her room with three inscriptions on her blade, and Master Sun told her to wait for Wang Yu.
• Wang Yu came out carrying a Yellow Short Ruler, which Master Sun inspected and found to bear six spirit inscriptions.
• Master Sun declared Wang Yu his apprentice, and Xiao Wei reminded him that she had passed the test and was accepted as an apprentice too.
• Wang Yu and Xiao Wei agreed to Master Sun’s requirements, swore blood oaths, and received artifact-refining books from him.
• Master Sun gave Wang Yu a set of imprinting tools and arranged to begin teaching both apprentices the next morning.
• After Wang Yu and Xiao Wei left, Master Sun wondered which legendary talent explained Wang Yu’s skill and concluded that he could excel at artifact refining.

Four years later, Wang Yu reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining and considered pursuing ranked artifact refining to advance his standing in the Four Symbols Sect. When Zhou Chu visited with White Light, Wang Yu saw that both White Light and Big Green were unusually affectionate toward him.

• Wang Yu advanced to the sixth layer of Qi Refining after four years of cultivation and tested the power of the Fire Spirit Art.
• Wang Yu reflected on the diminishing benefits of low-grade Essence-Enhancing Pills and the high cost and scarcity of middle-grade pills.
• Wang Yu considered visiting Master Sun to attempt refining ranked magical artifacts and gain access to the sect’s artifact-refining resources.
• Zhou Chu brought White Light to see Wang Yu, explaining that the small mutant crocodile ate little and that a Foundation Establishment cultivator had found no unusual traits beyond his pale skin.
• Wang Yu separated White Light and Big Green, and both crocodiles settled happily on his arms, leaving Zhou Chu speechless.

Wang Yu accepted Little White from Zhou Chu in exchange for repairing Zhou Chu’s Green Mist Blade, then declined a mysterious invitation from a powerful senior brother. Three days later, he received books from Xiao Mei and was suddenly conscripted for a compulsory emergency mission.

• Wang Yu agreed to take Little White and gave Zhou Chu the repaired Green Mist Blade as payment.
• Zhou Chu invited Wang Yu to meet an unnamed senior brother from another mountain, but Wang Yu refused.
• Wang Yu put Little White in the pool with Big Green and murmured about the Four Sects Assembly.
• A burly man on White Tiger Mountain received a talisman and destroyed it after hearing that Wang Yu had refused the invitation.
• Xiao Mei delivered books and cultivation manuals from Yin Linglong, and Wang Yu asked her to keep collecting books and medicinal prescriptions.
• A talisman summoned Wang Yu to the General Affairs Hall for a compulsory emergency mission, and he departed on his Iron Boat.

Wang Yu traveled with Zhu Datong and a group of disciples to Skyblue Lake, where the sect’s Green Gauze Formation had stopped working. The party split up to inspect it, leaving Wang Yu with Ximen Mei, Min Long, and Zhang Li as they headed toward the formation’s perimeter.

• Wang Yu joined Zhu Datong’s party as an artifact-refining apprentice assigned to help repair the formation at Skyblue Lake.
• The group reached Skyblue Lake, where Yan explained that the formation’s restrictive seals had stopped working three days earlier amid rising trouble from the Yu Kingdom’s Demonic Path.
• Zhu Datong refused to rest and sent Ximen Mei to inspect the formation’s perimeter while he and Yan went to examine its core.
• Ximen Mei selected Wang Yu, the Feng sisters, and two other outer disciples to accompany her, while Yan assigned Min Long and Zhang Li to join them.
• Min Long chatted with Ximen Mei and Wang Yu as their group flew toward the lake’s outskirts, while Zhang Li remained silent.

Ximen Mei exposed the Skyblue Lake disciples as black-mist creatures wearing White Masks and used Soul-Settling Needles to immobilize them. She had Wang Yu copy the spirit inscriptions from all six masks onto a bead, then waited as the restriction’s mist receded.

• Wang Yu met the Four Symbols Sect disciples as Ximen Mei revealed a passage through the sealed slope and led the group inside.
• Ximen Mei attacked Min Long and Zhang Li with an exploding disc, immobilizing them and the other Skyblue Lake disciples with Soul-Settling Needles.
• Two Four Symbols Sect disciples attacked the immobilized men, revealing that the Skyblue Lake disciples were black mist surrounding White Masks.
• Ximen Mei exposed the masks’ spirit inscriptions and ordered Wang Yu to engrave all six onto a bead, which he completed without error.
• The mist around the restriction receded, and Ximen Mei inserted the engraved bead into her disc as silver lightning crackled.

Ximen Mei and the others captured Shadow Demon's clone and joined the elders after the mission succeeded. News of a rebellion within the Four Symbols Sect arrived, and Zhu Datong was suddenly attacked and maimed.

• Ximen Mei captured Shadow Demon's clone with her lightning disc, while the other group captured his true body and defeated the hidden Demonic Path disciples.
• Ximen Mei explained that Shadow Demon had infiltrated Tongzhou and killed hundreds of cultivators, including two Foundation Establishment martial uncles.
• Zhu Datong introduced Tie Jian, the sect's second-tier Might Warrior, and discussed the successful capture of Shadow Demon.
• A message revealed that Martial Uncle Yao had killed Junior Brother Zhuang and defected with three chief true disciples, prompting orders for all disciples outside the sect to return.
• As Zhu Datong prepared to leave with the others, an attacker pierced his barrier and tore off his arm.

Tie Jian and Shadow Demon attacked the Four Symbols Sect disciples while Wang Yu escaped the island after fending off Tie Jian’s fist projection. A fast purple-red shuttle pursued Wang Yu, who landed on a mountain peak and faced its incoming charge.

• Tie Jian broke the elderly man surnamed Liu’s arm, and Shadow Demon restored himself before joining the assault.
• Wang Yu blocked Tie Jian’s fist projection with a shield, strikes, and fireballs, then fled on his Mechanism Iron Boat.
• Tie Jian and Shadow Demon attacked the elderly man surnamed Liu and Zhu Datong while the Four Symbols Sect disciples fled.
• Several Bone Boats arrived and sent black vapor after the escaping disciples.
• Wang Yu detected the approaching Bone Boats and flew away, but a purple-red shuttle carrying a woman and two men caught up with him.
• Wang Yu dropped onto a mountain peak as the purple-red shuttle hurtled toward him without slowing.

Wang Yu drove off a Joyful Bliss Palace cultivator and two Black Soul Sect disciples, then headed to Emerald Cloud Mountain instead of returning to the Four Symbols Sect. After the Four Symbols Sect lost a major battle, its leaders ordered a retreat from Tongzhou to Jing Province while launching raids to cover the withdrawal.

• Wang Yu used purple-flecked fireballs to destroy the Black Soul Sect disciples’ attacks and magical artifacts, then forced the three cultivators to flee and took their blue gauze artifact.
• Wang Yu boarded his Mechanism Flying Boat and flew to Emerald Cloud Mountain, where the Yin Household’s Spirit Domain was located.
• Enormous bone boats carrying forces of the Black Soul Sect and Joyful Bliss Palace flew toward the Four Symbols Sect’s mountain gates.
• The Four Symbols Sect’s three Golden Core ancestors awakened a Golden Core great-perfection spirit beast and drove back six enemy Golden Core ancestors, but the Blazing Fire Ancestor was gravely wounded and the Two-Headed Dove was killed.
• The Four Symbols Sect’s ancestors ordered their disciples and subordinate factions to leave Tongzhou for Jing Province within a month, while Four Symbols Sect and Thousand Bamboo Sect cultivators began raiding the enemy rear to cover the retreat.
• Wang Yu returned to Emerald Cloud Mountain.

As the Demonic Path advanced through Tongzhou, Wang Yu and Yin Linglong led the Yin Household’s first group of evacuees toward Jing Province, leaving others to follow by road. Elsewhere, Black Soul Sect and other attackers slaughtered fleeing cultivators and mortals, while a girl in white destroyed a bone boat after killing its occupant.

• Wang Yu explained that the Yin Household had to flee Tongzhou before it became a battlefield, and Yin Linglong agreed to send the flying boats ahead while the rest traveled overland.
• Yin Linglong refused the Yu Household’s request to delay their departure, and an elder reported that the flying boats were ready to leave.
• Yin Linglong and Wang Yu led more than twenty flying boats away from Emerald Cloud Mountain toward Jing Province.
• A Black Soul Sect attacker crushed a late-qi-refining patriarch and ordered his disciples to slaughter the cultivators and mortals in a valley.
• A gaunt cultivator aboard a spiked bone boat smashed apart a fleet of Mechanism Flying Boats despite the pursuers’ attacks.
• A girl in white killed a Black Soul Sect true disciple, then destroyed his bone boat with a stomp.

Wang Yu detected a Demonic Path ambush ahead and led the Yin Household’s retreating convoy away from danger. He then turned back alone to confront the pursuers, leaving Yin Linglong to continue toward Jing Province.

• Wang Yu demonstrated his control over metal and fire by refining eight iron essence spheres into flying knives, impressing Yin Linglong.
• Wang Yu sensed blood on the wind, changed the Iron Boat’s course, and told Yin Linglong to keep the trailing Mechanism Flying Boats close and speed up.
• At the site of a massacre, a Black Soul Sect man and Joyful Bliss Palace’s Junior Sister Gongsun learned that another lineage was approaching and sent Junior Brother Lian with two others to intercept it.
• After leading the Yin Household’s convoy several dozen li away, Wang Yu ordered Yin Linglong to continue forward while he returned alone to face the Demonic Path pursuers.
• Yin Linglong worriedly watched Wang Yu fly back toward the enemy while she remained with the convoy.

Wang Yu fought three Black Soul Sect disciples and killed two before Lian transformed into a White Bone Demon Body. The chapter ended with the twenty-foot-tall, four-armed Lian facing Wang Yu behind his still-intact barrier.

• Wang Yu destroyed a Black Soul Sect disciple’s giant centipede and injured him through their spirit bond.
• Wang Yu blocked the middle-aged Daoist’s Iron Sword, seized it, and beat the Daoist out of the sky.
• Lian refused to help his companions, and Wang Yu burned the unconscious disciple and bone carriage to ashes.
• Lian absorbed the White Bone Statue and transformed into a towering White Bone Demon Body.
• Lian charged through Wang Yu’s flames and struck his barrier, but retreated when its inscriptions ignited.

Wang Yu defeated the sinister young man by combining the Flame Veil, instant spellcasting, and his Bear Embrace techniques. After searching the corpse, he discovered that the middle-aged Daoist had vanished and left the area on his Mechanism Flying Bird.

• The sinister young man attacked Wang Yu with bone spikes, but Wang Yu shattered them with golden fist shadows and charged in.
• The young man trapped Wang Yu in a bone-armored embrace, but Wang Yu cast several fireballs instantly and blasted him away.
• The sinister young man recognized Wang Yu’s innate spell meridians, then renewed his attack with bone blades as Wang Yu charged him again.
• Wang Yu struck the young man with a Bear Embrace palm, killing him and crushing his bone armor.
• Wang Yu searched the corpse, found two Storage Bags and a cracked White Bone Statue, then burned the body.
• Wang Yu searched for the missing middle-aged Daoist but found only blood, so he departed on his Mechanism Flying Bird.

Wang Yu inspected the two Storage Bags he had acquired and discovered White Bone Fiends, a strange banner, valuable pills, and a Six-Eyed Purple Ganoderma. He found the Black Leather Booklet’s contents so startling that his eyes widened as the chapter ended.

• Wang Yu recovered his dharma power aboard the Mechanism Flying Bird and examined the contents of the two Storage Bags.
• Wang Yu used the White Bone Token to summon and command one of the thirteen White Bone Fiends.
• Wang Yu examined the Fiend’s banner, felt a powerful sense of danger from its inscriptions, and resolved not to handle it again until Foundation Establishment.
• Wang Yu discovered a Six-Eyed Purple Ganoderma, recognized its value for improving Foundation Establishment chances, and carefully stored it away.
• Wang Yu found three Middle-Grade Essence-Enhancing Pills among the bottles and set aside several other unidentified medicines.
• Wang Yu opened the Black Leather Booklet, read a few pages, and reacted with shock.

Wang Yu studied notes on crafting the White Bone Yin Demon Banner, then examined a damaged statue and the River-Crossing sword, inadvertently killing its former owner. A day later, a yellow-haired Four Symbols Sect woman and her Giant Crane plunged into a forest while fleeing two pursuers.

• Wang Yu read that White Bone Fiends and Yin Soul Banners could grow stronger and be combined into a White Bone Yin Demon Banner, and he wondered whether his thirteen White Bone Fiends had been enhanced with White Bone Nine Refinements.
• Wang Yu examined the shattered White Bone Statue and suspected it had once been a White Bone Fiend used to unleash the White Bone Demon Body.
• Wang Yu repeatedly flicked the River-Crossing sword until its bloodstain vanished, causing the wounded middle-aged Daoist linked to it to vomit blood and die.
• A day later, a yellow-haired Four Symbols Sect woman and her bloodied Giant Crane fled two clouds of black qi through the sky as their pursuers shot bone arrows at them.
• With her resources and dharma power nearly exhausted, the woman urged her Spirit Bird down into a dense forest, and the two pursuers followed.

Wang Yu rescued Ximen Mei from two Black Soul Sect disciples who had been ordered to capture her. After killing both pursuers, he asked how she had found him while he was hidden underground.

• The Black Soul Sect disciples used venomous bees to locate Ximen Mei after shooting down her Giant Crane and destroying her protective disk.
• Ximen Mei held off the bees with her remaining Dharma Power and a blue-black tortoise-shell phantom as the two disciples closed in.
• Wang Yu burst from the ground, shattered the thin disciple’s bone shield, and killed him with a blow to the head.
• Wang Yu hurled a bone spear through the fat disciple as he fled, then used Bone Swords and Bone Sabers to cut him apart in midair.
• Ximen Mei praised Wang Yu’s Breathing Technique and took medicinal pills to recover, and Wang Yu asked how she had spotted him underground.

Wang Yu and Ximen Mei destroyed their Inner Disciple Tokens to avoid being tracked and escaped toward Jing Province aboard her White Light Boat. An hour later, a black-robed man arrived at the battle site.

• Wang Yu used the Positioning Mirror to confirm it could detect Inner Disciple Tokens, then destroyed his and Ximen Mei's tokens to prevent the Demonic Path from locating them.
• Wang Yu told Ximen Mei about fighting a Black Soul Sect cultivator who used a White Bone Demon Body, and she identified it as a possible simplified version of a sect-defining cultivation art.
• Ximen Mei explained that her phantom turtle shell was a single-use defensive treasure and urged them to leave before other demonic cultivators found the battle site.
• Wang Yu searched the two corpses, collected their belongings, and burned them to ashes while Ximen Mei prepared her White Light Boat.
• Wang Yu and Ximen Mei flew toward Jing Province in the White Light Boat, and Ximen Mei meditated to recover her Dharma Power.
• An hour later, a thin man in black robes arrived above the forest in a Bone Boat and jumped down near the still-floating phantom turtle shell.

Wang Yu learned that the Cross-River Iron Sword was a Sword Cultivator’s Life-Bound Flying Sword while traveling with Ximen Mei. After the Four Symbols Sect relocated to Heaven-Pillar Mountain, he and Xiao Wei helped repair its flying ships and learned that disciples could exchange merit for rare High-Grade Essence-Enhancing Pills.

• The black-robed man recognized the phantom turtle shell as a Talisman Treasure and fled on his Bone Boat.
• Ximen Mei identified Wang Yu’s Cross-River Iron Sword as a Sword Cultivator’s Life-Bound Flying Sword, and Wang Yu recounted how he had obtained it from a Black Soul Sect Daoist.
• More than half a month later, Yin Linglong oversaw the Yin Household’s arrival in a valley and read a letter from the Four Symbols Sect with worry.
• The Four Symbols Sect established its new base at Heaven-Pillar Mountain, where disciples constructed buildings, prepared defenses, and drew underground magma into an Earthfire Pool.
• Wang Yu and Xiao Wei repaired flying ships under Master Sun, who explained that disciples could exchange merit points for High-Grade Essence-Enhancing Pills.
• Wang Yu touched his new Inner Disciple Token and thought about the rare pills.

Wang Yu used his new merit points to plan purchases of essence-enhancing pills, then revealed that overclocking let him form isolated spell symbols in his divine sense sea without backlash. After completing Flame Veil’s twelve symbols, he tried casting the spell, but the chapter ended before revealing the result.

• Wang Yu found 1,013 merit points in his token, including 1,000 awarded after he escorted Ximen Mei to the Formation Hall.
• Wang Yu reviewed the Pill Hall’s prices and limits for essence-enhancing pills, then decided to exchange 1,000 merit points for a high-grade pill and earn more for additional middle-grade pills.
• Wang Yu activated overclocking and formed a complete spirit inscription symbol despite consuming nearly all his mental power.
• Wang Yu recalled that overclocked spell symbols remained stable even when he stopped before completing a full spell diagram, and that they bore silver circuit-like patterns.
• Wang Yu completed Flame Veil’s twelve-symbol diagram and tried casting it, leaving him dumbfounded by what happened.

Wang Yu discovered that overclocked spell marks could remain in his divine sense sea and be cast instantly, then continued practicing the Black Tiger Breathing Method. Half a month later, Ximen Mei invited him to attend a spellcraft lecture by High Person Seven Mysteries.

• Wang Yu recalled that overclocked synchronization let him build and solidify spell marks, including Flame Veil and Fireball Technique, for instant casting, though his divine sense sea could hold only a few.
• Wang Yu erased a solidified inscription symbol and practiced Blade-Breath Exhalation, but failed to refine qi into gang or project his killing intent.
• Wang Yu decided to continue cultivating the Black Tiger Breathing Method and prioritize dharma power before pursuing a Ranked Magical Artifact and greater standing in the Four Symbols Sect.
• Wang Yu swallowed a Middle-Grade Essence-Enhancing Pill and began his daily breathing cultivation while two young Iron-Head Crocodiles ate Ranked Demon Beast meat nearby.
• Half a month later, Ximen Mei contacted Wang Yu and asked whether he wanted to attend High Person Seven Mysteries's public spellcraft lecture.