Chapter Summaries

He Pingsheng used the Treasure-Gathering Basin to enhance his cultivation manual and obtained two more detailed methods, then tried the fire-aspect Lihuo True Method. He began drawing spiritual energy into his body, learning that his five spiritual roots slowed the process before he had yet completed a full cycle.

• After a month of cultivating without completing one cycle, He Pingsheng experimented with enhancing the Basic Breathing and Qi-Guiding Method in the Treasure-Gathering Basin.
• The basin produced two books: the Everlasting Spring Qi Circulation Art, suited to wood-aspect spiritual roots, and the Lihuo True Method, suited to fire-aspect spiritual roots.
• He Pingsheng chose the Lihuo True Method, studied its general principles and first level, and began cultivating after lunch.
• He Pingsheng guided fire-aspect spiritual energy through his skin and flesh toward his spiritual roots, where his four non-fire roots closed and his fire root admitted the energy slowly.
• The spiritual energy passed through his fire root, was compressed, and entered his meridians, but He Pingsheng still needed to complete a cycle and refine it before reaching the first level of the Qi Refining Stage.

He Pingsheng used the Lihuo True Method and Supreme Qi-Gathering Pills to overcome the limits of his poor spiritual roots, advancing from the first to the third level of the Qi Refining Stage. After eight months of cultivation, he stepped outside to find snow and prepared to offer incense to his deceased family and Senior Brother Hao Yun.

• He Pingsheng broke through to the first level of the Qi Refining Stage and discovered he could use inner vision to examine his body.
• He Pingsheng realized his thin fire-attribute spiritual root restricted the flow of spiritual energy and decided to use a Supreme Qi-Gathering Pill to bypass it.
• He Pingsheng refined the pill's energy for three days, more than doubling the size of the qi vortex in his dantian.
• After consuming about two Supreme Qi-Gathering Pills, He Pingsheng advanced to the second level of the Qi Refining Stage.
• He Pingsheng consumed seven more Supreme Qi-Gathering Pills over roughly six months and reached the third level of the Qi Refining Stage.
• He Pingsheng opened his door to find snow and decided it was time to offer incense to his parents, Senior Brother Hao, and the others.

He Pingsheng bought spirit rice and chose to cultivate in seclusion rather than take missions, aiming to reach the fourth level of Qi Refining. After several months and thirteen spirit pills, he broke through and gained the ability to project his spiritual sense, allowing him to begin learning spells.

• He Pingsheng paid respects to his parents and Hao Yun, then visited the Outer Sect Hall and noticed Bamboo Peak was still seeking a pill attendant.
• He Pingsheng bought two hundred jin of low-grade spirit rice and was advised to take missions at Watershed Mountain, but decided to focus on cultivation instead.
• He Pingsheng returned to his courtyard, sealed the door, and cultivated with spirit pills as winter passed and spring arrived.
• After consuming thirteen spirit pills over several months, He Pingsheng broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining and projected his spiritual sense for the first time.
• He Pingsheng opened the Lihuo True Method to study the Fire Crow Technique and the Fire Shield Technique.

He Pingsheng practiced the Fire Crow Technique until he could summon a small fire crow, then discovered he could bind the Treasure-Gathering Basin with his blood and store it inside his Dantian. He learned the basin could hold other belongings and enlarge itself to a maximum width of three chi.

• He Pingsheng chose to practice the offensive Fire Crow Technique and trained for more than twenty days until he summoned a small fire crow.
• He Pingsheng worried about leaving the Treasure-Gathering Basin unattended and tried dripping his blood onto it.
• The Treasure-Gathering Basin absorbed He Pingsheng's blood, entered his Dantian, and responded to his commands to appear and return.
• He Pingsheng placed two Jade Bottles and two books inside the basin, then stored it in his Dantian with the items inside.
• He Pingsheng wished the basin were larger, causing it to expand until it reached three chi across.

He Pingsheng tested his Fire Crow spell in a remote forest and discovered its destructive power, though he could only cast it twelve times before exhausting his fire-aspected spiritual energy. Back in the outer sect town, he learned that reaching the fourth level of Qi Refining allowed him to enter the Trade Pavilion and went to have his cultivation tested.

• He Pingsheng traveled deep into the mountains and used the Fire Crow to burn through a giant tree, struggling to extinguish the spell-created flames.
• He Pingsheng blasted holes into a cliff with twelve Fire Crows before running out of fire-aspected spiritual energy.
• He Pingsheng returned to the outer sect town and used his spiritual sense to discern the cultivation levels of most people in the Outer Sect Hall.
• He Pingsheng asked a Servant Disciple how to enter the Trade Pavilion and learned that fourth-level cultivators could go upstairs after a cultivation test.
• He Pingsheng headed toward the staircase to the Trade Pavilion.

He Pingsheng visited the Trade Pavilion’s second floor for the first time and examined its pills, herbs, and magical items. He found useful goods but lacked the spirit stones to buy them, and left without purchasing anything.

• He Pingsheng passed the second-floor checkpoint after the gray-robed elder confirmed his cultivation level.
• He Pingsheng browsed the pill display and discovered that Grain-Avoidance Pills cost contribution points while cultivation pills required spirit stones.
• He Pingsheng asked a blue-robed disciple whether contribution points could be exchanged for spirit stones and learned that they could not be freely exchanged.
• He Pingsheng considered buying herbs to make Qi-Gathering Pills but abandoned the idea because he lacked spirit stones and the necessary alchemy equipment and skills.
• He Pingsheng examined expensive magical artifacts and talismans, realized he could not afford them, and left the shelves without buying anything.

He Pingsheng tried to sell an enhanced copy of Thirty-Six Alchemy Formulas at the sect’s supply hall, but the disciple there rejected it. After learning how Outer Disciples could earn spirit stones, he applied for a fire-attribute position tending Blazing Sun Flowers in Spirit Medicine Valley, though he still had to pass a test.

• He Pingsheng learned that a Paper Crane could carry a passenger ten thousand li in one day and could be used three times.
• He Pingsheng offered his enhanced Thirty-Six Alchemy Formulas to the blue-robed disciple, who refused to buy it and accused him of peddling a fraud.
• He Pingsheng asked how Outer Disciples could earn spirit stones and learned about trades, paid work, sales, and special sect missions.
• The blue-robed disciple told He Pingsheng that Spirit Medicine Valley was recruiting a fire-attribute disciple to tend Blazing Sun Flowers for 200 contribution points a month.
• He Pingsheng applied for the Spirit Medicine Valley position, but the blue-robed disciple warned that a senior brother would test his fire spiritual power.

He Pingsheng passed the fire spiritual power test and was accepted to tend the blazing sun flowers in Spirit Medicine Valley. True Person Withered Wood gave him a token and warned him to do the work carefully, leaving Wang Dun to show him how.

• Wang Dun tested He Pingsheng’s fire spiritual power and found it unusually pure.
• Wang Dun brought He Pingsheng to Spirit Medicine Valley, where He Pingsheng used the testing stone and revealed high-grade fire spiritual power.
• Wang Dun led He Pingsheng to meet True Person Withered Wood, who gave him a Black Token for the valley.
• True Person Withered Wood told He Pingsheng to tend the blazing sun flowers for the remaining three months of their flowering season and sent Wang Dun to teach him.

Wang Dun explained He Pingsheng’s duties tending the Blazing Sun Flowers, including replenishing their formation and collecting pollen for talisman ink. He Pingsheng moved into the garden’s cave and powered the formation stone until it turned gold, keeping his full ability a secret.

• Wang Dun explained that the Blazing Sun Flowers needed fire spiritual power supplied through a formation, and that the energy stone’s colors indicated how often it needed replenishing.
• Wang Dun told He Pingsheng to collect the flowers’ pollen every three to five days, grind it into powder, and hand it all over to Withered Wood True Person.
• Wang Dun showed He Pingsheng the cave he would live in and the jade bottles and tools for gathering pollen, then left him to settle in.
• He Pingsheng familiarized himself with the area, then poured his fire spiritual power into the formation stone until it turned gold.
• He Pingsheng stopped before the stone could turn purple, deciding not to reveal more of his ability.

He Pingsheng spent two months cultivating and collecting Blazing Sun Flower pollen for Withered Wood True Person, then was tasked with delivering the final harvest after the flowers withered. Short on cultivation resources, he secretly kept a bottle of pollen, and Wang Dun proposed that they hide even more and split the proceeds.

• He Pingsheng cultivated with Supreme Qi-Gathering Pills, collected and ground pollen every three days, and delivered ten bottles to Withered Wood True Person after two months.
• Withered Wood True Person rewarded He Pingsheng with two spirit stones, left the sect, and ordered Wang Dun to take He Pingsheng and the final pollen harvest to Horsehead Mountain for Shopkeeper Shi at Abundant Harmony Manor.
• He Pingsheng continued tending the flowers and collecting pollen while Wang Dun occasionally watched him.
• After the Blazing Sun Flowers withered, He Pingsheng collected a little over eleven bottles of pollen and secretly transferred one bottle into his own jade bottle.
• Wang Dun inspected the remaining bottles, suggested that he and He Pingsheng hide half a bottle, and offered to split the spirit stones from its sale.

He Pingsheng accompanied Wang Dun to the Horsehead Mountain market to sell True Person Kumu’s Blazing Sun Flower pollen. Shopkeeper Liu accepted the pollen for 1,008 spirit stones and began preparing a receipt for them.

• Wang Dun tested He Pingsheng by asking whether they should secretly sell some pollen, then rewarded him with three spirit stones when he rejected the idea.
• Wang Dun and He Pingsheng flew to Horsehead Mountain on a Paper Crane, and Wang Dun warned He Pingsheng not to use his divine sense carelessly.
• Wang Dun explained that Horsehead Mountain was a market serving the Daoist Profound Alliance and its rogue cultivators.
• Wang Dun presented eleven bottles of pollen at the Abundant Harmony Manor, where Shopkeeper Liu assessed them as ten and a half bottles of low-grade pollen worth 1,008 spirit stones.
• Shopkeeper Liu told Wang Dun and He Pingsheng to leave, then began writing them a stamped receipt so they could account for the sale to True Person Kumu.

He Pingsheng and Wang Dun explored a trading house and the stalls at Horsehead Mountain, where Wang Dun admired expensive storage bags and tried to buy pills. He Pingsheng resisted lending him Spirit Stones and bought a partly used Paper Crane so he could return to sell his Blazing Sun Flower pollen.

• Shopkeeper Liu gave He Pingsheng a signed and sealed contract, and Wang Dun persuaded him to look around Horsehead Mountain before leaving.
• Wang Dun showed He Pingsheng basic, intermediate, and advanced Storage Bags and explained their sizes and features, then showed him a Spirit Beast Bag.
• Wang Dun and He Pingsheng browsed the outside stalls, and Wang Dun stopped He Pingsheng from buying Blazing Sun Flower seeds.
• Wang Dun considered buying twelve Qi-Gathering Pills at a discount and asked He Pingsheng to lend him Spirit Stones.
• He Pingsheng said he only had five Spirit Stones and bought a Paper Crane with one activation left so he could return with his Blazing Sun Flower pollen.

He Pingsheng bought a damaged copy of the God-Communion Method and lent Wang Dun three spirit stones in exchange for an Alchemy Furnace as collateral. After enhancing the book with the Treasure-Gathering Basin, He Pingsheng discovered a complete soul-refinement method, the Mysterious Gate Tranquil Mind True Formula.

• He Pingsheng bought the incomplete God-Communion Method for two spirit stones and planned to enhance it with the Treasure-Gathering Basin.
• He Pingsheng lent Wang Dun his remaining three spirit stones, and Wang Dun bought a batch of Qi-Gathering Pills.
• Wang Dun left his Alchemy Furnace with He Pingsheng as collateral before the two returned to Spirit Medicine Valley.
• He Pingsheng put the damaged method in the Treasure-Gathering Basin overnight, and it produced the Heavenly Demon Soul-Sowing Method and the Mysterious Gate Tranquil Mind True Formula.
• He Pingsheng read the complete Mysterious Gate Tranquil Mind True Formula and learned that it refined the soul, strengthening divine sense and aiding pill refinement and combat.

He Pingsheng cultivated his divine sense and discovered that the Treasure-Gathering Basin had improved the Paper Cranes he placed inside. After Withered Wood True Person dismissed him from Spirit Medicine Valley, He Pingsheng left, while Withered Wood secretly searched Bamboo Peak’s plant ash for the reason behind his suggestion.

• He Pingsheng trained with the Mysterious Gate Tranquil Mind True Formula, enduring a day of pain to reach the first level of divine sense cultivation.
• The Treasure-Gathering Basin duplicated He Pingsheng’s Paper Crane, and he found that both cranes had twelve activations and flew twice as fast.
• He Pingsheng spent a month cultivating until his divine sense reached the second level of the Qi Refining Chapter.
• Withered Wood True Person returned, praised He Pingsheng for completing his pollen collection, and told him to leave Spirit Medicine Valley until next year.
• He Pingsheng suggested using plant ash from Bamboo Peak as fertilizer, but Withered Wood suspected he wanted to search the dump for something and sent him away.
• Withered Wood searched the plant ash and found only ash and discarded pills before leaving Bamboo Peak.

He Pingsheng used the Treasure-Gathering Basin to enhance fading Blazing Sun Flower pollen, then spent four months cultivating his divine sense until it reached the fourth level of the Qi Refining section. As snow fell, he prepared to fly to Horsehead Mountain’s market, leaving his sect identity concealed.

• He Pingsheng accepted Wang Dun’s alchemy furnace for safekeeping and returned to his courtyard with the pollen and other gains from the mountain.
• He Pingsheng placed the fading Blazing Sun Flower pollen in the Treasure-Gathering Basin, which transformed it into supreme-grade purple pollen.
• He Pingsheng cultivated the Mysterious Gate Tranquil Mind True Formula for four months and extended his divine sense beyond thirty zhang.
• He Pingsheng noticed that another year had passed and wondered why Wang Dun had not come to reclaim his furnace or repay the spirit stones.
• He Pingsheng packed his belongings in the Treasure-Gathering Basin, changed out of his sect Daoist robe, and flew toward Horsehead Mountain on a Paper Crane.

He Pingsheng sold two bottles of middle-grade blazing sun flower pollen for six hundred spirit stones and bought ingredients and pills at the Horsehead Mountain market. He learned that pill use could cause toxin to build up and that Clear Spirit Pills were used to purge it.

• He Pingsheng discovered that his divine sense cultivation technique let him see the middle-aged stallholder's eighth-level Qi Refining cultivation despite his own fourth level.
• He Pingsheng sold two bottles of middle-grade blazing sun flower pollen to a shopkeeper for six hundred spirit stones without revealing his origins.
• He Pingsheng carried the spirit stones through the market and bought twenty portions each of several Qi-Gathering Pill ingredients.
• He Pingsheng bought four batches of Qi-Gathering Pills, two from a shop and two from the middle-aged stallholder.
• The middle-aged stallholder explained that long-term pill use caused toxin to accumulate and that Clear Spirit Pills could purge it.

He Pingsheng learned that Wang Dun had been killed by an Inner Disciple from Bamboo Peak, leaving him grieving and troubled by how little Outer Disciples’ lives seemed to matter. He prepared to begin making Qi-Gathering Pills by enhancing his ingredients and Wang Dun’s Alchemy Furnace, studying alchemy, and gathering firewood.

• He Pingsheng left the Horsehead Mountain market, unknowingly evading the Blackwind Three Fiends, who failed to catch up with him.
• At the Outer Sect Hall, He Pingsheng learned that Wang Dun had been killed by an Inner Disciple from Bamboo Peak and left without pursuing the spirit-stone debt.
• He Pingsheng returned to his room and reflected bitterly on the deaths of Outer Disciples and the power of Inner Disciples.
• He Pingsheng examined his supplies, put herbs into the Treasure-Gathering Basin for enhancement, and later added Wang Dun’s Alchemy Furnace.
• He Pingsheng studied the basics of alchemy and the Qi-Gathering Pill formula, then went up the mountain to chop the firewood needed for pill-making.

He Pingsheng enhanced his alchemy ingredients and furnaces, refined a furnace, and began making Qi-Gathering Pills. After repeated failures, he succeeded on his seventeenth batch and established a success rate of about one in four.

• He Pingsheng enhanced forty sets of medicinal ingredients and two alchemy furnaces into supreme-grade magical artifacts.
• He Pingsheng spent two months refining the restrictions on a furnace so he could control it and summon it freely.
• He Pingsheng followed the Thirty-Six Alchemy Formulas to brew his first batch, but the pills exploded before they could fully form.
• He Pingsheng refined two batches a day, keeping the failed pills and reflecting on each attempt.
• He Pingsheng succeeded in refining pills on his seventeenth batch and continued, achieving success about once every four batches.

He Pingsheng reached the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Stage and went to the Outer Sect Hall to replenish his supplies, where he discovered the Great Void Sect was selecting inner disciples. After joining the selection, he surprised the examiners by revealing his age, cultivation, and five-element spiritual root.

• He Pingsheng refined forty batches of pills, then used the Treasure-Gathering Basin to enhance and double them into eighty batches of supreme-grade [Qi-Gathering Pills].
• He Pingsheng spent several months cultivating, reaching the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Stage in both the [Lihuo True Method] and the [Mysterious Gate Tranquil Mind True Formula].
• He Pingsheng went to the Outer Sect Hall for supplies and learned that the Great Void Sect was selecting twenty inner disciples from thousands of candidates.
• He Pingsheng joined a selection line and told the examiners that he had a five-element spiritual root and was seventeen years old.
• The male examiner reacted with surprise when He Pingsheng said he had reached the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Stage at seventeen with a five-element spiritual root.

He Pingsheng concealed his rapid cultivation by explaining that his alchemy profits let him consume pills, then prepared for a possible Inner Sect selection by learning a defensive spell and starting to cultivate his wood-type dantian. He successfully connected the wood dantian to his meridians, opening the way to cultivate a second dantian.

• He Pingsheng told the senior cultivators that his three-attribute spiritual roots and alchemy skills explained his fifth-layer Qi Refining cultivation, and the woman urged him to purge pill toxins and check the selection results in a month.
• He Pingsheng refined Grain-Avoidance Pills and used the Treasure-Gathering Basin to double his successful and failed batches into 240 supreme-grade pills.
• He Pingsheng mastered the Fire Shield Technique after practicing for a little over twenty days.
• He Pingsheng decided to cultivate his wood-type dantian with the Everlasting Spring Qi Circulation Art so he could continue progressing without drawing suspicion by rapidly advancing his fire-type dantian.
• He Pingsheng drew wood-attribute spiritual power into his meridians and, after a day of circulation, connected his wood-type dantian to them.