Chapter Summaries

Wang Yu learned more about the Four Sects Assembly and discovered that Gu Lian was Master Sun’s nephew, who offered him pills in exchange for a secret artifact-refining task. The chapter ended with Gu Lian explaining that the consumable artifact required eleven spirit inscriptions and that he wanted the work kept hidden from certain people in the Setting Sun Sect.

• Li Tianqi told Wang Yu that disciples in the Qi Refining Realm could enter the Four Sects Assembly, though True Disciples were likely to claim the rewards.
• Gu Lian revealed that he had once been surnamed Sun and was the nephew of Master Sun, who had praised Wang Yu’s artifact-refining talent.
• Gu Lian said his cultivation had fallen after a failed Foundation Establishment attempt and offered Wang Yu Essence-Enhancing Pills to help him advance.
• Wang Yu declined the pills until Gu Lian explained what he wanted in return.
• Gu Lian asked Wang Yu to refine a secret, single-use magical artifact with eleven spirit inscriptions and promised to provide the materials and further payment.

After accepting Gu Lian’s offer to refine a magical artifact, Wang Yu returned to the sect and broke through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining. He planned to become a certified artifact refiner and strengthen himself for the Four-Sect Assembly, then asked Master Sun to help him apply.

• Wang Yu agreed to refine Gu Lian’s Eleven-Spirit-Inscription Magical Artifact in exchange for an additional high-grade Essence-Enhancing Pill and ten thousand spirit stones.
• Half a month later, Wang Yu returned to his residence and spent six months cultivating with Essence-Enhancing Pills.
• Wang Yu broke through to late Qi Refining, finding that his dharma power and divine sense had greatly increased.
• Wang Yu decided to pursue certification as an artifact refiner, inscribe the Golden Needle Technique into his divine sense sea, and master the third layer of the Black Tiger Breathing Method before the Four-Sect Assembly.
• Wang Yu asked Master Sun to help him apply for certification, and Master Sun warned that he would have only one chance to forge a Ranked Magical Artifact under three certified refiners’ observation.

Wang Yu requested an official artifact-refining assessment, and Master Sun arranged for two senior refiners to witness him make a Fire Dragon Sword. After watching Wang Yu complete the work with exceptional steadiness, the witnesses discussed whether his composure and flawless inscriptions suggested something unusual about him.

• Wang Yu asked Master Sun to arrange an official artifact-refining assessment, and Master Sun summoned two artifact refiners as witnesses.
• The black-robed woman and the burly man arrived, questioned Wang Yu, and agreed to watch his assessment.
• Wang Yu chose to refine a Fire Dragon Sword and spent several days preparing its blank and inscribing its patterns.
• After leaving the refining chamber, the burly man wondered how Wang Yu had completed every inscription pattern successfully on his first attempt.
• The black-robed woman suggested that Wang Yu had refined many Fire Dragon Swords before, then remarked that he had seemed completely composed throughout the process.

Wang Yu passed the Certified Artifact Refiner assessment and learned about the resources and opportunities available to him. After Master Sun advised him on designing a complex Set Magical Artifact for the Four Sects Assembly, Wang Yu returned to his residence and entered the Silver Hall.

• Xiao and Guo discussed Wang Yu's new certification and decided that befriending him could be worthwhile.
• Master Sun congratulated Wang Yu on passing the assessment and explained the benefits and responsibilities of being a Certified Artifact Refiner.
• Wang Yu told Master Sun he planned to attend the Four Sects Assembly and refine a custom Set Magical Artifact using firecloud copper.
• Master Sun warned Wang Yu about the risks of a complicated design, then shared his experience refining Set Magical Artifacts.
• Wang Yu returned to his residence, entered the login interface at Taiyuan's prompt, and appeared inside the Silver Hall.

Wang Yu tested how the Login Hall reproduced weapons and materials, then refined a compact Magical Artifact modeled on the Windfire Chant. He used the system to begin simulating ranked Magical Artifact designs, leaving the process underway with three attempts remaining.

• Wang Yu tested reproduced blades and a finished Windfire Chant, firing its small arrows into an Iron Essence plate and considering how to improve their power.
• Wang Yu configured a simulation for a ranked set of Magical Artifacts and raised its chance of a perfect result from 55% to 78% by removing enhancement requirements.
• Wang Yu authorized the actual simulation, and the system began a process estimated to take nearly four hours.

Wang Yu obtained the derivation for the Parent-Child Floating Mirror and began gathering materials to refine it. At the Scripture Pavilion, he found several techniques and chose to investigate a dangerous new primordial spell, the Wind-Fire Wheel.

• Wang Yu extracted the completed derivation and learned that the Parent-Child Floating Mirror was a complex three-piece artifact set that required rare materials and middle-grade thunder spirit stones to operate.
• Wang Yu bought a piece of radiance crystal from the General Affairs Hall for three thousand spirit stones, spending more than half his funds.
• Wang Yu went to the Scripture Pavilion to learn the Artifact Control Technique and search for escape and concealment arts.
• Wang Yu found the Cloud Concealment Technique and examined the ordinary Fire Escape Technique before searching the primordial spells.
• Wang Yu discovered the newly added Wind-Fire Wheel, read its warnings about its difficulty and risks, and took the feather to the pavilion steward.

After becoming the Four Symbols Sect’s twelfth Certified Artifact Refiner, Wang Yu was allowed to select an independent cave abode. He chose one below the mountainside, but Hall Master Bai told him it had already been reserved for someone else.

• Wang Yu chose the Wind-Fire Wheel primordial spell despite the gray-robed elder’s warning and paid two hundred spirit stones to borrow it along with the Cloud Concealment Technique manual.
• Wang Yu declined several Inner Disciples’ invitations to join teams for the Four Sects Assembly.
• The Artifact Refining Hall notified Wang Yu that his certification had been approved, making him the sect’s twelfth Certified Artifact Refiner.
• Hall Master Bai showed Wang Yu a map of available independent cave abodes and explained the limits on where he could choose.
• After inspecting the vacant abodes, Wang Yu selected one below the mountainside, but Hall Master Bai said it had already been reserved.

Wang Yu moved into a cave abode after learning that his first choice had been reserved by someone with powerful connections, then prepared an artifact refining chamber for his next project. He began studying newly acquired spells and planned to gather materials for a Parent-Child Floating Mirror, while worrying that Taiyuan’s designs might not work in practice.

• Hall Master Bai told Wang Yu that someone influential had reserved his first-choice cave abode, so Wang Yu selected another nearby cave abode instead.
• Wang Yu entered his new cave abode with its illusion formation and restrictive seals, inspected its rooms and Cold Spring Well, and decided where to install an artifact refining chamber and earthfire furnace.
• Wang Yu moved his belongings and two young Iron-Head Crocodiles into the cave abode, then studied the spirit markings for two new spells using Overclocking mode.
• A team of a Formation Master apprentice and Puppet Masters built Wang Yu’s artifact refining chamber and earthfire furnace in half a day.
• Wang Yu planned to collect spirit materials from the General Affairs Hall for a Parent-Child Floating Mirror and worried that Taiyuan’s artifact designs might be impractical.

Wang Yu practiced the Artifact Control Technique and spent months refining components for the Parent-Child Floating Mirror while training new spells. After failing to master the eleven-inscription Wind-Fire Wheel, he considered resetting one of the three spells in his Divine Sense Sea to make room for it.

• Wang Yu studied the Artifact Control Technique and thought of the River-Crossing Sword.
• Wang Yu gathered the eighteen materials for the Parent-Child Floating Mirror, borrowed several thousand spirit stones from Master Sun, and began forging its component embryos using Overclocking mode.
• Wang Yu practiced controlling eight rods, then transformed them into golden needles and fired them forward with the Golden Needle Technique.
• Wang Yu spent the following months refining artifact components, practicing a concealment spell, and engraving inscriptions on a golden bead.
• Wang Yu failed to form the Wind-Fire Wheel, crashed into a pond, and decided he might have to reset one of the three spells in his Divine Sense Sea to make room for it.

Wang Yu tested the Parent-Child Floating Mirror, a magical artifact combining cultivation techniques with Blue Star technology, and discovered its linked mirrors could unleash coordinated attacks and defenses. He began activating the Golden Needle Technique, transforming all three mirrors into floating mech cannons modeled after weapons from Blue Star’s Star River game.

• Wang Yu completed the Parent-Child Floating Mirror and brought it to the Martial Arts Arena to test it.
• He fed thunder spirit stones to the main mirror and its two child mirrors, then used his Dharma Power and Divine Sense to control them.
• The three mirrors fired a barrage of fireballs and formed linked Flame Veils that shifted into protective shields and then enormous swirling fireballs.
• Wang Yu ended the Flame Veil test and activated the Golden Needle Technique by touching the golden bead with his Divine Thought.
• All three mirrors transformed into floating mech cannons resembling those carried by the Fire Phoenix Type III mech in Star River promotional material.

Wang Yu tested the Parent-Child Floating Mirror and discovered that its Floating Cannons fired powerful golden needles but consumed their own material and much of their thunder spirit stones. To prepare for the Four Sects Assembly, he forged two new Artifact Embryos and began examining the River-Crossing Sword.

• Wang Yu used the Main Floating Cannon to fire a barrage of golden needles that pierced several rooms and embedded themselves in a rock face.
• Wang Yu found that the needles had an effective range of fifteen zhang and that firing them had reduced the Floating Cannon’s golden bead and drained at least a quarter of its thunder spirit stone.
• Wang Yu confirmed that all three Floating Cannons could fire together before transforming them back into bronze mirrors.
• Wang Yu decided to forge two less costly magical artifacts for regular use and made a long-bladed Artifact Embryo in one day and a honeycomb-shaped, firearm-like Artifact Embryo three days later.
• Wang Yu delayed inscribing the new artifacts and instead took out the River-Crossing Sword and injected dharma power into it.

Wang Yu tested the River-Crossing Sword and discovered it was a Sword Cultivator’s Life-Bound Flying Sword. After his blood touched the blade, it accepted his Dharma Power and Divine Sense, allowing him to control it with extraordinary ease.

• Wang Yu bent the River-Crossing Sword with his strength until three sword-shaped inscriptions appeared and it released Sword Qi that cut his arm.
• Wang Yu used Overclocking to stop the bleeding and noticed that the blade’s inscriptions had vanished, leaving a bloodstain.
• Wang Yu poured Dharma Power into the bloodstained sword, which accepted it and formed a vague connection with his Divine Sense.
• Wang Yu sent the sword flying around the Artifact Refining Room and realized it was a Life-Bound Flying Sword whose control felt as natural as moving his own arm.

Wang Yu practiced refining powerful magical artifacts before meeting Gu Lian, who commissioned a secret weapon for use at the Four Sects Assembly. More than half a year later, Wang Yu joined the Four Symbols Sect’s departing delegation, with Li Tianqi explaining the Assembly to their group aboard a tower ship.

• Wang Yu planned to study the River-Crossing Sword’s spirit inscriptions and practice engraving eleven inscriptions onto two artifact embryos.
• Three months later, Wang Yu met Gu Lian, examined his blueprint and materials, and agreed to secretly refine a magical artifact for the Four Sects Assembly.
• Gu Lian said he intended to use the artifact against an enemy at the Assembly, and Wang Yu suspected it was designed to counter fire-attribute cultivation arts.
• Wang Yu later worked on engraving spirit inscriptions onto a cold Deep-Blue Sphere in the Earthfire chamber.
• More than half a year later, the Four Symbols Sect’s tower ships departed Heaven-Pillar Mountain, and Wang Yu listened as Li Tianqi explained the Assembly to their group.

Li Tianqi explained the Four Sects Assembly’s rules and rewards to Wang Yu and their teammates as they discussed their chances in the competition. The group learned that two Qi Refining True Disciples would also participate, leaving Wang Yu and the others to consider the strength of their competition.

• Li Tianqi told Senior Brother Huang, Junior Sister Liu, Wang Yu, and Senior Brother Sun that the assembly would take place in the Qilian Mountain Range and rank teams by the amount of a resource they collected.
• Senior Brother Sun revealed that the Four Symbols Sect might offer a set of Lesser Spirit-Gathering Array plates, while Li Tianqi warned that the prize was likely intended for True Disciples.
• Li Tianqi described the five teammates’ cultivation levels and said Wang Yu’s strength surpassed her own, though the others remained doubtful about his past victory.
• Li Tianqi said around seven or eight hundred Four Symbols Sect disciples would compete, including its two Qi Refining True Disciples, making Wang Yu and the others wary.

Wang Yu and the Four Symbols Sect disciples traveled to the Qilian Mountain Range for the Four Sects Assembly, where they learned about rival sects and the gathering of their leaders. After arriving, Wang Yu wondered whether Ximen Mei was related to Heaven Toad Ancestor and waited for a chance to deliver Gu Lian’s finished magical artifact.

• Li Tianqi and the others discussed the Four Symbols Sect’s True Disciples and the teams expected at the Four Sects Assembly.
• Li Tianqi urged the disciples to learn about the other sects’ strongest competitors and avoid them where possible.
• More than ten days later, the Four Symbols Sect and the Vajra Temple arrived at the camp near the Qilian Mountain Range, where their leaders discussed the threat from the Demonic Path.
• Wang Yu wondered whether Ximen Mei was related to Heaven Toad Ancestor, then chose a wooden hut and began breathing practice while waiting to deliver Gu Lian’s magical artifact.

Wang Yu prepared for the assembly before an earthquake and raging winds revealed four Golden Core ancestors locked in a standoff beneath a vast white halo. As Wang Yu fled the camp and hid in the woods, two more balls of white light shot toward the halo.

• Wang Yu secretly left a white disc and blue sphere beneath a tree for Gu Lian, who retrieved them later that night.
• Wang Yu checked his Magical Artifacts, Talismans, and medicines before the ground shook and his hut collapsed.
• Wang Yu activated Overclocked Synchronization Mode and spotted Heaven Toad Ancestor, an old monk, a black-vapor-shrouded figure, and a woman in a scarlet sedan chair beneath a huge white halo.
• Wang Yu and more than a hundred Four Symbols Sect disciples fled the camp as fierce winds and sand swept through it.
• Wang Yu concealed himself in a tall tree and listened as the four ancestors remained silent beneath the halo.
• Two balls of white light flew from the Setting Sun Sect and Thousand Bamboo Sect camps toward the halo.

The four sects’ Golden Core ancestors watched the Jialan Secret Realm open as the Demonic Path revealed that its Qi Refining disciples were poised to enter. The Joyful Bliss Palace woman escaped with a fourth-tier Blood Escape Talisman, leaving the four ancestors to debate how to respond.

• The Heaven Toad Ancestor and Guangfa tried to stop two balls of white light from entering the Jialan Secret Realm’s halo, but the Demonic Path cultivators deflected their attacks.
• The Joyful Bliss Palace woman announced that her sect and Fellow Daoist Wu had gathered the four Jialan Keys and sent Qi Refining disciples to another entrance to claim the secret realm.
• The Heaven Toad Ancestor, Guangfa, the burly man from the Setting Sun Sect, and the elderly woman in green moved to block the Demonic Path cultivators’ departure.
• The Joyful Bliss Palace woman used a blood-red talisman to escape with her sedan chair and the black mist, and the four ancestors suspected a Nascent Soul Cultivator had empowered it.
• The four ancestors discussed whether to send their Qi Refining disciples into the Jialan Secret Realm and what plot the Demonic Path might have planned.

Four sect ancestors realized the Demonic Path had deliberately opened the Jialan Secret Realm to force their disciples into competition, and agreed to send their own disciples inside to prevent the enemy from claiming the fifth secret key. They left the chapter resolved to seize, destroy, or delay the Demonic Path's search for it.

• The elderly woman in green argued that the four sects could not abandon the Jialan Secret Realm because it might hold Jialan True Person's legacy and valuable treasures.
• Heaven Toad Ancestor questioned how the Demonic Path had learned who held the keys, and Guangfa asked whether Qing and Lie Guang had volunteered to lead their delegations.
• Qing revealed that Fairy Caiyun had personally urged her to lead the Thousand Bamboo Sect delegation, raising suspicions among the ancestors.
• Qing explained that the Demonic Path could have opened another entrance by tampering with two keys and preparing a formation elsewhere.
• Lie Guang and Guangfa warned that the Demonic Path's large, battle-hardened disciple population could give it an advantage in the secret realm.
• Qing, Heaven Toad Ancestor, Lie Guang, and Guangfa agreed to send their disciples in to seize the fifth secret key, destroy it, or delay the Demonic Path's search.

After the Demonic Path disrupted the Four Sects Assembly, the four Golden Core ancestors turned it into a compulsory battle inside the Jialan Secret Realm. Wang Yu dreaded the deadly trial and searched for a way to survive as the ancestors explained its rules and rewards.

• Wang Yu watched an ancient gate appear within the halo and felt uneasy while the Golden Core ancestors gathered above the camp.
• The four ancestors summoned the disciples, and Ancestor Lie Guang announced that the Four Sects Assembly had become the compulsory Jialan Trial against Demonic Path disciples.
• Heaven Toad Ancestor explained that disciples would earn merit points by killing Demonic Path opponents, with doubled rewards and the right to keep what they found.
• The old woman in azure announced that the fifth Jialan Secret Key would determine first place and bring additional rewards or penalties depending on its fate.
• Wang Yu concealed his fear of entering the life-or-death trial and desperately considered how he could survive.

As the four sects prepared to enter the Jialan Secret Realm for a deadly trial against the Demonic Path, Wang Yu joined Senior Sister Li’s group under Senior Brother Huang’s leadership. The entrance opened, and Wang Yu recognized Kang Wuhen among the early arrivals and spotted the Blood Enchantress receiving Heaven Toad Ancestor’s attention.

• Lie Guang explained how the warning talismans would guide the disciples back if the secret realm began to close, then gave them time to prepare.
• Senior Sister Li invited Wang Yu to join her group, and he agreed to travel with her, Senior Brother Huang, Junior Sister Liu, and Senior Brother Sun.
• Senior Brother Huang told the group to prioritize safety, avoid hunting for treasures, and follow his orders if they encountered Demonic Path disciples.
• The four Golden Core ancestors opened the passage and anchored it with their magical artifacts, while Lie Guang instructed the disciples to collect warning talismans before entering.
• Wang Yu watched Kang Wuhen enter with a group led by a handsome young man he suspected was Senior Brother Tian, then recognized a red-dressed girl as the Blood Enchantress.