Chapter Summaries

Wang Quan witnessed the blue lotus magic treasure annihilate a black-robed cultivator and learned that the Strange Eye Alliance had engineered the conflict over it. As its owner approached, Wang Quan and the others prepared to examine the treasure rather than seize it.

• The blue lotus magic treasure immobilized the cultivators, but Wang Quan moved freely, puzzling both the onlookers and its owner.
• A black-robed cultivator tried to flee with the help of a vertical eye, but the lotus destroyed him with a falling petal.
• The lotus shrank to a ball of light, and its owner told Wang Quan that his main body would arrive shortly to talk.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun explained that she had mistaken the lotus for a wild magic treasure and tried to subdue it.
• The Great Sun Way cultivator revealed that the Strange Eye Alliance had manipulated events and secretly controlled nearly a third of the empire's Immortal-Tutoring Bureaus.
• Wang Quan proposed studying the blue lotus before its owner arrived, and the Round-Faced Daoist Nun agreed.

Wang Quan met Ma Qingqiu of the Great Simplicity Gate after examining the [Blue Lotus], and Ma Qingqiu explained the ranks of Daoists while misreading Wang Quan’s departure. Their conversation also revealed the Magic Treasure’s role in the coming duels in the Far Western Land and raised questions about Wang Quan’s strength.

• Wang Quan examined the [Blue Lotus] with his Dharma Eye, then met Ma Qingqiu, who introduced himself as a First-Rank Daoist and explained that Dao Seals determined a Daoist’s rank.
• Ma Qingqiu insulted the Round-Faced Daoist Nun and the Great Sun Way cultivator as feral cultivators, then Wang Quan left to follow the Round-Faced Daoist Nun rather than share wine with him.
• Ma Qingqiu’s master explained that Wang Quan had probably left because Ma Qingqiu refused to explain Dao Seals, and ordered him to restore the [Blue Lotus] and pursue a second-rank Dao Seal.
• Ma Qingqiu learned that the [Blue Lotus] would take ten years to repair and would be needed for duels in the Far Western Land thirty years later, when factions would compete for territory and benefits.
• Ma Qingqiu reported the [Strange Eye Alliance] and its Vertical Eyes to his master, who suspected the organization had powerful backing and advised him to reveal his identity if he encountered it again.
• Ma Qingqiu’s master said Wang Quan’s ability to withstand the Magic Treasure’s Immobilization power showed that his foundation was stronger than Ma Qingqiu’s, though Ma Qingqiu doubted Wang Quan had a second-rank Dao Seal.

The Round-Faced Daoist Nun hosted Wang Quan after he returned to her ancestral home, and they discussed her growing Lineage and plans to establish her foundation. She warned him that New-Method Cultivators were becoming increasingly active and hostile.

• Ma Qingqiu failed to find a suitable Dao companion for practicing [Beautiful Lady Yu] and flew back after storing the Blue Lotus.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun assigned tasks to her Lineage, calmed the Great Sun Way cultivator, and entertained Wang Quan at her Manor.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun told Wang Quan about her resources, her expected high-grade foundation, and her ambition to build her Lineage into a regional power.
• Wang Quan visited the Lineage's safe zone in the Second-Layer World and heard the Round-Faced Daoist Nun's plans for its younger members.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun warned Wang Quan that New-Method Cultivators were growing more active, frenzied, and dissatisfied with them.

Wang Quan shared intelligence and advice with the Round-Faced Daoist Nun, who made an alliance with the Great Sun Way cultivator and planned to use spirit grain to expand her Lineage. Wang Quan then traveled slowly across the world, observing its strange inhabitants and customs.

• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun told Wang Quan about the New-Method Cultivators and their New New-Method Alliance, and he dismissed them as no threat to him.
• Wang Quan gave the Round-Faced Daoist Nun advice about developing her Lineage, left her a new communication artifact, and departed.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun agreed to join forces with the Great Sun Way cultivator against the New-Method Cultivators and Strange Eye Alliance in exchange for spirit grain from ten million mu of farmland each year.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun planned to use the spirit grain to feed ordinary people, increase the population, and recruit promising children into her Lineage.
• Wang Quan traveled across the countryside and witnessed cultivators, Spirit Monsters, demons, scholars, and New-Method Cultivators living and clashing in unexpected ways.

Wang Quan encountered Ma Qingqiu of the Great Simplicity Gate, who invited him to practice [Beautiful Lady Yu] as a temporary Dao companion and explained the Orthodox Mystic Sects’ foundation-establishment system. Wang Quan fled their awkward conversation and returned to the Drowning Dao Lower Court to prepare his Foundation Establishment materials.

• Wang Quan saw snow engulf a mountain, then Ma Qingqiu caught up with him and introduced himself as a cultivator from the Great Simplicity Gate.
• Ma Qingqiu invited Wang Quan to become temporary same-sex Dao companions and practice [Beautiful Lady Yu], but Wang Quan refused.
• Ma Qingqiu warned Wang Quan that external limbs and organs carried karma and traces of their former owners’ consciousness, especially brains.
• Ma Qingqiu explained that Orthodox Mystic Sects sent cultivators nearing Foundation Establishment to collect spirit light and materials from ritual arrays across the New Continent.
• Wang Quan broke off the conversation and used successive Light-Escape techniques to flee back to the Drowning Dao Lower Court after a day and a night.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren helped expand the Thirty-Six Great Halls’ production and advance his Foundation Establishment Dao Platform while he studied the final scroll of Daoist Scriptures. After cultivators cleared nearly all the evil from the Lower Court, they confronted one tearful, many-armed evil being that endured their attacks without moving.

• Orthodox Cultivators used the Thirty-Six Great Halls’ spells to produce resources, accelerating construction of Wang Quan’s Dao Platform.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren revised their cultivation plan to increase material production, and over five years the Dao Platform grew beyond a hundred zhang while Wang Quan neared mastery of thirty thousand scrolls.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren joined other cultivators in clearing the final patch of evil from the Lower Court wall.
• The cultivators found a many-armed evil being standing alone and crying, and attacked it with People-Crossing Scripture spears and sunlight.
• The evil being endured the attacks without fleeing or wailing, prompting a female cultivator to declare that love kept it waiting.

Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren helped destroy the many-armed evil, which revealed its past and warned them that ominous beings would eventually consume everything. After the cultivators received the resulting favor, the Lower Court began transmitting the method for refining a new Magic Treasure called the Five-Colored Altar.

• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren attacked the many-armed evil with sunlight until it collapsed, recalled its former life as a human, and warned that red-haired ominous beings would engulf the world.
• Streams of favor entered the cultivators, past contributors, magical implements, and the Cultivator Zhong Book, while Wang Quan’s Second-Rank Dao Seal gained new benefits and a Legend Rating.
• Wang Quan read a false account in Chronicle of the Flower-Scatter Daoist's Struggles that portrayed him as a cruel killer of love, then hid the book from Ying Jiaren.
• The Lower Court shook and drove the Yang Spirit and Yin Spirit Cultivators back to the Real World.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren understood the Dao Language in the rumbling buildings and learned how to refine the Five-Colored Altar.

After the Drowning Dao Lower Court became a safe zone, Wang Quan and the cultivators discussed its benefits and planned to build Five-Colored Altars and expand their territory. The cultivators dispersed to gather materials and prepare for Foundation Establishment, while Wang Quan urged them to return and clear away the evil beings.

• The Lower Court's light formed a protective dome, allowing Yin Spirits to enter during the day and spreading some buildings' properties to nearby cultivators.
• Wang Quan proposed that cultivators entering the safe zone pay homage to the sun, moon, and stars, and the cultivators agreed to establish rules.
• Wang Quan explained how to refine the five kinds of earth needed for a Five-Colored Altar, and the cultivators promised to build altars for him and his family.
• The cultivators discovered that the enclosing wall granted a defensive spell and teleportation marks, then discussed clearing the mountain path and mountain around the Lower Court.
• Some cultivators returned to the Real World to attempt Foundation Establishment, and Wang Quan encouraged them to come back as Foundation Establishment Grand Cultivators to fight the evil beings.

Wang Quan studied the rapid seasons created by [Manifest the Four Seasons] and connected a thousand external brains to grasp the technique, causing the brains to mutate and run wild. Ying Jiaren summoned Qian Xiuyue, who arrived prepared to split Wang Quan’s skull open to cool him down.

• Wang Quan watched the five-colored earth altar cycle through the four seasons and summoned his Yang Spirit and paper maidens to study the transformation.
• Wang Quan had Ying Jiaren bring a thousand brains, connected them to his own, and mastered the transformations of [Manifest the Four Seasons].
• The connected brains overheated, and cultivators tried to cool them with supreme yin water, extreme cold water, wind, and snow.
• Several brains broke free and mutated, prompting the cultivators to watch and bet while Ying Jiaren worried about Wang Quan.
• Ying Jiaren contacted Qian Xiuyue, who arrived and formed an axe, intending to split Wang Quan’s skull open to cool his brain.

Qian Xiuyue and the others failed to crack Wang Quan’s skull after his external brains went mad, and Wang Quan burned the brains to ash. The cultivators examined the Five-Colored Altar, while Wang Quan realized he had mastered [Manifest the Four Seasons] and, after worshipping the sun, sensed a tiny patch of golden land amid a vast scarlet sea.

• Qian Xiuyue and the cultivators struck Wang Quan’s head with various methods, but his skull resisted every blow and woke him.
• Wang Quan explained the danger of attaching external brains before Foundation Establishment, then burned the maddened brains to ash.
• The cultivators discovered that the Five-Colored Altar doubled the efficiency of worship, and Wang Quan explained that a twelfth-grade altar needed to be a hundred and twenty li across.
• Wang Quan recalled that witnessing the changing seasons had taught him [Manifest the Four Seasons], a spell that could accelerate time to aid in creating magic treasures.
• After Ying Jiaren urged him to observe the world’s sun, Wang Quan worshipped it from the altar and sensed a small patch of golden land surrounded by a vast scarlet sea.

Wang Quan and the cultivators discovered that Yin Spirits could grow stronger in the Second-Layer World by worshipping, and their worship strengthened the safe zone. He warned that Orthodox Cultivators were dwindling, then returned to cultivate on Riverside Mountain, where martial artists grew stronger inside his Dao Platform.

• Wang Quan, Ying Jiaren, and nearby cultivators discussed how worship might influence the decaying world and resolved to bring Yin Spirit Cultivators into the Second-Layer World.
• Yin Spirit Cultivators found the safe zone comfortable and beneficial, then burned ten bundles of Sandalwood Incense each to worship despite the exhaustion it caused.
• The worshippers recovered quickly, and Wang Quan and the others sensed the safe zone's light grow stronger as the great sun brightened.
• Wang Quan warned that Orthodox Cultivators were becoming scarce and that the Second-Layer World needed them, then left the matter of its development to the others.
• On Riverside Mountain, Wang Quan refined Foundation Establishment Spirit Light within his Dao Platform while martial artists working inside rapidly advanced to Grandmaster level.

After completing his thirty-thousandth scroll of Daoist Scriptures, Wang Quan advanced to a Third-Rank Dao Seal and learned more about the Purple Mansion realm. He chose Daoist Scriptures +1 as his fourth trait, then left to prepare for the realm beyond Foundation Establishment.

• Spirit Monsters and demons continued to gather at Riverside Mountain, where Wang Quan let them trade labor for protection and resources.
• Wang Quan completed his thirty-thousandth scroll of Daoist Scriptures while studying with Ying Jiaren.
• Wang Quan examined his Third-Rank Dao Seal, which raised his lifespan and revealed information about the Purple Mansion realm.
• Wang Quan and Ying Jiaren both chose Daoist Scriptures +1 as their fourth trait.
• Wang Quan told Ying Jiaren that his Foundation Establishment was nearly complete and left to prepare for the Purple Mansion realm.

Wang Quan asked the region’s forces to craft 108,000 magical artifacts for his future Purple Mansion preparation, ordering a second set for Ying Jiaren. He learned that hundreds of cultivators had reached Foundation Establishment, but many had already been ordered to transfer to the Far Western Land.

• Wang Quan decided to prepare his Purple Mansion resources himself and summoned representatives of dozens of local forces to discuss his financial needs.
• Wang Quan requested 108,000 top-grade magical artifacts, explained that he needed them to refine a treasure, and gave the assembled forces the methods for crafting them.
• Wang Quan asked the forces to make two sets of artifacts, one for himself and one for Ying Jiaren, who had delayed her own cultivation to help him.
• Representatives invited Wang Quan to Foundation Establishment banquets and reported that three or four hundred cultivators had recently reached Foundation Establishment.
• A Si Household cultivator told Wang Quan that several newly established cultivators had received orders from Drowning Water Headquarters to transfer to the Far Western Land.

Wang Quan learned that Foundation Establishment cultivators were being forced to serve as cannon fodder in the Far Western Land and promised to protect the lineages of those departing. After several hundred arrived in the Far Western Land, they found Fairy Qin at a rundown courtyard and announced that Flower-Scatter Daoist had sent them to look after her.

• Wang Quan heard that Foundation Establishment cultivators were being recruited for the dangerous Far Western Land, where even powerful cultivators often died.
• At the Si Household's Foundation Establishment banquet, Si Xiaohong and the other cultivators asked Wang Quan to protect their lineages while they were away.
• Over the following weeks, Wang Quan attended other Foundation Establishment banquets and promised to help the departing cultivators' families.
• A month later, several hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators left the Drowning Dao Lower Court with Wang Quan's letter for Officiant, Dream, and Fairy Qin.
• In the Far Western Land, the cultivators found Fairy Qin at a shabby courtyard and told her that Flower-Scatter Daoist had sent them to look after her.

Fairy Qin reunited Si Xiaohong’s group with the Officiant Daoist Nun and Dream Nun, and they learned how brutal the Second-Layer World had been for the cultivators sent there. Over five years, the Great Sun Alliance expanded sunlight production while Wang Quan’s 365-tier Foundation Establishment Dao Platform neared completion.

• Fairy Qin welcomed Si Xiaohong and the other cultivators after learning they had come at Wang Quan’s request, then contacted the Officiant Daoist Nun and Dream Nun.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun and Dream Nun arrived, read Wang Quan’s letter, and reunited with the group through their shared connection to him.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun told Si Xiaohong that most of their companions had died or suffered terrible injuries while clearing dangers in the Second-Layer World.
• A surviving cultivator, reduced to a head and internal organs, described the misery there, and Si Xiaohong’s group resolved to endure until Wang Quan arrived in five or six years.
• Over the following five years, the Great Sun Alliance built Five-Colored Altars and increased sunlight production as cultivators expanded safe zones in the Second-Layer World.
• The Zhong Household completed two sets of 108,000 top-grade magical artifacts, while Wang Quan’s 365-tier Foundation Establishment Dao Platform neared completion.

After completing his Foundation Establishment Dao Platform, Wang Quan refused to turn its builders into puppets and began establishing his foundation. He successfully drew the platform into his Inner Landscape, where it strengthened and expanded it, and the Third-Rank Dao Seal revealed new information.

• Wang Quan finished his Foundation Establishment Dao Platform and rejected the option to keep its Spirit Monster and martial arts builders as puppets.
• Wang Quan released the builders and ordered the Millstone Spirit Monster to have them begin constructing Ying Jiaren's Dao Platform.
• Wang Quan asked Ying Jiaren to stand guard, then recited the Foundation Establishment Dao text and drew his Dao Platform toward his Inner Landscape.
• Wang Quan overcame three hundred and sixty-five attacks with his spells and Spirit Light, allowing the Dao Platform to enter his Inner Landscape.
• Wang Quan's Dao Platform expanded and strengthened his Inner Landscape, formed three hundred and sixty-five stars, and completed his Foundation Establishment.
• Wang Quan received information through the Third-Rank Dao Seal, including the mysteries of Foundation Establishment and the Second-Layer Inner Landscape.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, Wang Quan demonstrated his greatly increased power and explained the abilities he had gained to Ying Jiaren. He revealed that the Second-Layer Inner Landscape connected everyone in the New Continent who had obtained a [Second-Rank Dao Seal] before Foundation Establishment.

• Wang Quan told Ying Jiaren that his Foundation Establishment Dharma Power limit was twelve thousand strands.
• Wang Quan demonstrated that his golden bell automatically repelled Ying Jiaren's thunderfire, explaining that his Foundation Establishment Dao Platform could cast Qi Refining Realm spells with greatly increased power.
• Wang Quan told Ying Jiaren he would likely travel to the Far Western Land, but refused to take her because it was dangerous.
• Wang Quan described his new bodily instincts, ability to enter and leave the Underworld, faster recovery and refining, and lifespan of eight hundred and sixty years.
• Wang Quan explained that the Second-Layer Inner Landscape connected cultivators and monsters in the New Continent who had obtained a [Second-Rank Dao Seal] before Foundation Establishment.

Wang Quan entered the Second-Layer Inner Landscape and learned that his third-rank Dao seal had raised his permissions, including granting Underworld Protection. He explored the layer’s chat and event system, discovering that it gathered Foundation Establishment cultivators and that the Far Western Land had become extremely dangerous.

• Wang Quan told Ying Jiaren that his third-rank Dao seal had increased his Second-Layer Inner Landscape permissions, and promised to give her foundation establishment spirit light before leaving.
• Ying Jiaren practiced Beautiful Lady Yu with Wang Quan for a month, then limped back to the dormitory to recover.
• Wang Quan entered the Second-Layer Inner Landscape and received permission level two, which allowed more daily sentences and events and granted Underworld Protection.
• Wang Quan explored the inner landscape’s chat threads and learned that its layer held Foundation Establishment cultivators who had advanced to second-rank Dao seals before Foundation Establishment.
• Wang Quan read posts about temporary Dao companions and learned that more than two hundred thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators had recently died in the Far Western Land.

Wang Quan explored the events tied to access levels and discovered that completing one nearby would grant him ten percent access. After completing it in the Drowning Dao Lower Court, he found that the next event pointed to Senior Sister Round Face’s hometown, leaving him wondering how events related to safe zones.

• Wang Quan examined the event listings and learned that events could increase his access level by varying amounts.
• Wang Quan calculated the nearest event’s Dao Beacon and found it marked the Drowning Dao Lower Court, where he decided to establish a safe zone with at least thirty buildings.
• Wang Quan entered the Second-Layer World and recited the event’s scripture in the Lower Court’s safe zone.
• Wang Quan received a message confirming the event was complete and his access had increased by ten percent, though he noticed no other immediate changes.
• Wang Quan calculated the next event’s Dao Beacon and discovered it marked Senior Sister Round Face’s hometown, then wondered how safe zones and events were connected.

Wang Quan chose to enter the Underworld rather than spend his remaining incident on the Far Western Land, and used a ritual to cross into it at the Fury River. As he explored, an enormous fish and its master spotted him and discussed ambushing the unusual border-crosser.

• Wang Quan declined Ying Jiaren’s suggestion to complete an incident and asked whether she wanted him to carry a message to her ancestors in the Underworld; she refused.
• Wang Quan prepared a goat-horn lantern and ritual materials, then performed a rite at the Fury River to open a path into the Underworld.
• An enormous white-bone fish leaped from the Underworld into the Present World, where it briefly gained flesh before diving back into the Underworld.
• Wang Quan crossed the boundary and discovered that his body became bare bones in the Underworld, while he could still see the Present World and the altar anchoring his return.
• Deep in the river, the enormous fish and its master noticed Wang Quan crossing and considered ambushing him, remarking that he seemed like a native of the Underworld.