Chapter Summaries

Lin Mo traded seven Quasi-Perfect Foundation Establishment Pills to Miss Wu for seven treasures and a Supreme-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill, then tried to leave the Longevity Domain unnoticed. At the Market District’s outskirts, Black-Robed Yang recognized him and eagerly asked whether he had more mutated Spirit Fruits.

• Lin Mo chose seven treasures, including Sword Intent Grass Seeds, and exchanged them and the seven pills for the treasures and the Supreme-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Miss Wu asked where Lin Mo obtained the Quasi-Perfect Foundation Establishment Pills and told him to trade any more with the Eight Great Households; after he left, she ordered a maid to investigate him discreetly.
• Lin Mo left Zhou Wu and the carriage at the Hundred Prosperity Inn, changed into a Bark Mask and Black Cloak, and headed for the Market District’s outskirts.
• Black-Robed Yang recognized Lin Mo near the Market District’s exit and asked to buy any mutated Spirit Fruits Lin Mo had with him.

Lin Mo realized Yang Jie had uncovered his identity and suspected the men were connected to the Tai Sui Gate. Yang Jie demanded to search Lin Mo’s Storage Bag and teach him his spirit-plant cultivation method, and Lin Mo pretended to agree to lure him somewhere outside the Market District.

• Yang Jie removed his mask, identified himself, and asked Lin Mo for Mutant Spirit Fruits.
• Lin Mo noticed inconsistencies in Yang Jie and Du Zhong’s dealings and grew suspicious of their ties to the Tai Sui Gate.
• Yang Jie revealed Du Zhong had told him Lin Mo was the Azure Cloud Sect’s Spirit Plant Grand Competition champion and demanded to inspect his Storage Bag.
• Lin Mo signaled the Gu-Devouring Bee and learned Yang Jie had no accomplices nearby.
• Yang Jie demanded Lin Mo teach him how to cultivate spirit plants, and Lin Mo proposed finding a nearby woodland outside the Market District.

Lin Mo captured Yang Jie and tried to learn his connection to the Tai Sui Gate, but Yang Jie killed himself before revealing anything. Lin Mo suspected that Yang Jie and Du Zhong were fellow disciples under a Tai Sui Gate master, then burned the body and returned to the Azure Cloud Sect.

• Lin Mo ambushed Yang Jie with the Gu-Devouring Bee, crippled his limbs, and sealed him inside the Treasure Gourd.
• Lin Mo had Chen Li torture Yang Jie until he woke, then questioned him about the Tai Sui Gate.
• Yang Jie refused to answer and severed his own heart meridian, dying before Lin Mo could learn his identity.
• Lin Mo searched Yang Jie's Storage Bags and found no token linking him to the Penglai Commerce Association.
• Lin Mo reasoned that Du Zhong might be a Tai Sui Gate spy in the Penglai Commerce Association and that Yang Jie might share a Tai Sui Gate master with him.
• Lin Mo burned Yang Jie's corpse, let Chen Li absorb the ashes, and flew back toward the Azure Cloud Sect.

The Wu Household discovered that a secret art could improve pill grades and remove toxins, then quietly sent cultivators to investigate its source at White Jade Ravine. Lin Mo advanced to the ninth layer of Qi Refining, but the Eight Great Households arrived at the Azure Cloud Sect seeking the secret art.

• The Wu Household's ancestor learned that pills traded in the Market District had been upgraded by a secret alchemy art and ordered a covert investigation.
• The Wu Household arranged for the Wu, Ling, and Qi households to send Golden Core cultivators, with juniors from the other five households, to White Jade Ravine.
• Lin Mo returned to the Azure Cloud Sect, gave Liu Xianzong a flying sword and spirit stones, and left spirit fruit and diluted spirit spring water for Liu Xianzong, Qin Sang Sang, and Lin Xiaohe.
• Lin Mo cultivated in the Treasure Gourd, broke through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining, and strengthened his body with spirit fruit.
• Three streaks of light approached Sect Master Peak as a voice announced that the Eight Great Households had come to visit the Azure Cloud Sect.

Wu Pingdao and representatives of the Eight Great Households confronted Han Kang over Lin Mo, whom they wanted to take away because of his special physique. Han Kang refused to surrender him and invoked the threat of retaliation, so Wu Pingdao agreed not to take Lin Mo but demanded that he hand over something.

• Han Kang met Wu Pingdao, two Golden Core True Lords, and fifteen Foundation Establishment cultivators outside Sect Master Peak.
• Wu Pingdao asked whether Lin Mo had visited Hundred Blessings Market and ordered Han Kang to hand him over.
• Han Kang confirmed Lin Mo had visited the Longevity Domain but refused to let the Eight Great Households seize him.
• Han Kang warned that he would retaliate against their younger members if they destroyed the Azure Cloud Sect, making the two Golden Core True Lords withdraw their pressure.
• Wu Pingdao agreed not to take Lin Mo but demanded that Lin Mo hand over what he wanted.

Han Kang protected Lin Mo from the Eight Great Households by threatening to take him to Longevity Valley, forcing Wu Pingdao and his allies to withdraw. Alone with Han Kang, Lin Mo revealed a five-ring Barrier-Breaking Pill and began transforming it, leaving Han Kang stunned as a sixth pill ring appeared.

• Han Kang summoned Lin Mo and used the threat of Longevity Valley to make Wu Pingdao and the Eight Great Households retreat.
• Wu Pingdao warned Han Kang not to let Lin Mo's secret art reach Longevity Valley, then led his people away.
• Han Kang ordered the sect-protecting formation to remain active and brought Lin Mo into the Sect Master's Main Hall to question him privately.
• Lin Mo showed Han Kang a five-ring Barrier-Breaking Pill and said the Eight Great Households coveted what it would become.
• Lin Mo infused the pill with spirit mist, causing gray-black vapor to emerge and a sixth pill ring to form.

Lin Mo revealed that his special physique could remove pill toxins and improve pills, and Han Kang protected the secret while ordering him to stay within the sect. After six months without further trouble from the Eight Great Households, Lin Mo reached the great perfection of the tenth layer of qi refining and touched the foundation establishment bottleneck.

• Lin Mo told Han Kang that his special physique could purify pills and raise their grade, explaining how he had made a Perfect Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Han Kang feared the Eight Great Households would silence the sect to hide Lin Mo's ability and arranged for covert agents to alert Longevity Valley if they attacked again.
• Han Kang revealed that Wu Pingdao had probed Sect Master Peak with divine sense, then asked Lin Mo to refine pills for him and ordered him to keep the secret and not leave the mountain without permission.
• Han Kang allowed Lin Mo to visit the Scripture Pavilion and said he would arrange for Lü Di to manage the spirit fields while Lin Mo focused on cultivation.
• The Eight Great Households stayed away for more than six months, while the Azure Cloud Sect selected new Inner Sect elders from among the Outer Elders.
• Lin Mo cultivated day and night and reached the great perfection of the tenth layer of qi refining, touching the foundation establishment bottleneck.

Five years after entering the Azure Cloud Sect, Lin Mo attempted foundation establishment in the Back Mountain’s Sword Tomb using a Perfect Foundation Establishment Pill. The breakthrough began, but instead of forming spirit liquid, six elemental Dao platforms appeared in his dantian, leaving him bewildered.

• Lin Mo told Liu Xianzong he would miss the elder selection ceremony to attempt foundation establishment, and Liu offered to guard him.
• Lin Mo explained that Han Kang had granted him permission to attempt the breakthrough in the forbidden grounds on the Back Mountain.
• Lin Mo returned to the Sword Tomb, noticed that traces of sword intent had reappeared, and prepared to cultivate amid its concentrated spiritual energy.
• Lin Mo swallowed the Perfect Foundation Establishment Pill and guided its medicinal power toward his dantian.
• Six elemental Dao platforms formed in Lin Mo’s dantian in place of the spirit liquid expected during foundation establishment, and he opened his eyes in confusion.

During the selection ceremony, Lin Mo’s advancement to Foundation Establishment triggered a terrifying thunder tribulation over the Back Mountain. He warned the entire sect to stay away and insisted he would face the tribulation alone.

• Han Kang promoted Yuan Jingtu, Cui Zhong, Tie Fa, and Chang Huaigu to Inner Sect Elders and elevated Wang Qiuru and several stewards to Outer Elders.
• Yuan Jingtu and Cui Zhong credited Lin Mo with changing Han Kang’s attitude toward Spirit Plant Peak and raising their hopes of reaching the Golden Core Realm.
• As Han Kang announced that Lin Mo was advancing in the Back Mountain forbidden grounds, a ninefold thundercloud gathered above Sect Master Peak.
• Ao Hong recognized that the tribulation was aimed at the Back Mountain, where Lin Mo was still inside.
• Lin Mo used the formation disc to warn everyone that the tribulation was his, urged them to flee, and told Han Kang not to intervene.

Lin Mo faced his golden core tribulation in the Forbidden Sword Mound and used the sect’s protective formation to withstand the first six strikes. With the formation’s spirit stones exhausted, he unleashed the Spirit-Devouring Vine to face the remaining strikes, and the seventh began overwhelming it.

• Han Kang evacuated the sect members from Sect Master Peak and gave Lin Mo permission to use the protective formation against the tribulation.
• Lin Mo used the Azure Cloud Primordial Defense Formation to block the first six lightning strikes, but its mid-grade spirit stones ran out.
• Lin Mo summoned A-Teng and fed the Spirit-Devouring Vine his saved spirit stones and spirit spring water so it could fight the remaining strikes.
• Lin Mo commanded the vine’s Coiled-Branch Swords to attack the seventh strike, which widened and carried ice-like crystals.
• The vine’s wooden swords repeatedly shattered and regrew as the spirit stones’ energy rapidly drained.

As Lin Mo faced an unprecedented black-and-white tribulation light, the Spirit-Devouring Vine fought to shield him while he realized vitality essence might be the key to surviving. The vine formed an unfamiliar altar-like formation, and Lin Mo began to regain control of his body.

• Lin Mo prepared his defenses with a Heaven-Returning Pill, an Iceberg Talisman, and diluted spirit spring water as the Spirit-Devouring Vine endured the seventh tribulation bolt.
• The final two layers of thunderclouds merged into an eerie black-and-white tribulation light that severed sound and divine-sense connections across the area.
• The Spirit-Devouring Vine repeatedly sent Curled-Branch Swords against the tribulation light while absorbing spirit spring water and drawing energy from underground.
• Lin Mo realized the vine could still move because its rootlets were immersed in undiluted mid-grade spirit spring water, and he suspected vitality essence could save him.
• The Spirit-Devouring Vine reshaped nine vines into an unfamiliar Ancient Altar-like formation, causing Lin Mo's body to loosen and his ability to move to return.

Lin Mo survived his Foundation Establishment tribulation by using the Spirit-Devouring Vine and a copied formation diagram, but the Black-and-White Tribulation Light formed a new mass in his dantian that he recognized as a seventh Dao platform. Han Kang arrived and suspected the vine had learned the formation from something buried underground.

• Lin Mo copied the Spirit-Devouring Vine's mysterious formation diagram onto a Jade Formation Disc, whose power swallowed the vine's branch swords and weakened the Black-and-White Tribulation Light.
• Black-and-White light gathered inside Lin Mo's dantian and formed a mass above his six Dao platforms as the tribulation ended.
• Lin Mo realized the light mass functioned like a seventh Dao platform and worried that gaining more spiritual roots would slow his cultivation.
• Han Kang arrived, confirmed Lin Mo had survived, and examined the Spirit-Devouring Vine and formation disc.
• Han Kang suspected the Spirit-Devouring Vine had learned the dangerous formation underground and struck the soil with his Black-Gold Pestle.

Han Kang and Lin Mo discovered a vast underground Blood Formation beneath the forbidden grounds, centered on a rusty Ancient Sword. The sword chose Lin Mo, and its blood-red aura and gray-white light began transforming his dantian and divine sense.

• Han Kang smashed open a deep fissure, and he and Lin Mo descended into an enormous cavern beneath Sect Master Peak.
• They found eight thousand one hundred blood-colored pillars forming a Blood Formation around a hovering Ancient Sword, whose sword intent surpassed that of the Sword Tomb.
• The Jade Formation Disc trembled, the pillars crumbled, and the Ancient Sword turned to point at Lin Mo.
• Lin Mo sensed that the sword wanted to acknowledge him as its master, and Han Kang cautiously let him approach it.
• Lin Mo grasped the sword, which enveloped him in bloody aura and gray-white light, severing Han Kang's divine sense connection to him.
• The sword's bloody aura entered Lin Mo's dantian and formed a crimson mist, while its gray-white light merged with his divine sense.

Lin Mo saw visions revealing that seven ancient cultivators had created nine swords to suppress the Nine-Nine Soul-Devouring Formations across the Divine Land. After identifying the nearest formation near the Sword Sect, he recognized a star pattern on his ancient sword that suggested its origins lay with the Big Dipper Seven Sects.

• Lin Mo witnessed visions of the Nine-Nine Soul-Devouring Formations being established and nine ancient swords suppressing them.
• Han Kang guarded Lin Mo as the formation collapsed and the ancient sword acknowledged Lin Mo as its master.
• Lin Mo told Han Kang that eight other formations existed and that the nearest was within a thousand li, near a Sword-Shaped Mountain in White Jade Ravine.
• Han Kang recognized the mountain as the Sword Sect's Sect Master Peak and speculated about the identities of the seven ancient swordmakers.
• Lin Mo rubbed rust from the sword and found raised dots arranged like stars, leading him to suspect it came from the Big Dipper Seven Sects.

After emerging from the Sword Tomb, Lin Mo was appointed an Inner Sect Elder and Service Hall Master, and Han Kang sent him to the Astrology Pavilion to seek a divination about the Ancient Swords and the danger surrounding them. Before Lin Mo left, he asked Han Kang about his younger sister Lin Xiaohe’s strange cold energy.

• Ao Hong and the elders found a fissure in the Sword Tomb, but Han Kang and Lin Mo emerged from below before Ao Hong could descend.
• Han Kang appointed Lin Mo as the sect’s sixteenth Inner Sect Elder and Service Hall Master, and warned the elders to keep Lin Mo’s tribulation and the fissure secret.
• Lin Mo drew nine mountain peaks for Han Kang, who identified Buddha Hand Peak and instructed Lin Mo to take a Jade Talisman to Zhuge Fengming at the Astrology Pavilion for a divination.
• Han Kang told Lin Mo to bring his parents from Locust Grass Village to live at the sect after returning from the Astrology Pavilion.
• Lin Mo asked Han Kang whether he knew of a Special Physique like Lin Xiaohe’s, whose dantian held cold energy that could cut bamboo and wood cleanly.

Lin Mo learned that Lin Xiaohe might possess a Sword Dao spirit physique and accepted Han Kang’s reward of mid-grade spirit liquid. In the Treasure Gourd, he left the mysterious sword intent grass to keep growing, strengthened the Spirit-Devouring Vine with a new formation, and planned to hide his rapid progress while cultivating toward the second layer of Foundation Establishment.

• Han Kang proposed taking Lin Mo and Lin Xiaohe to the Sword Sect so Sect Master Miao could examine her, and replaced Lin Mo’s reward with a thousand drops of mid-grade spirit liquid.
• Lin Mo found that the spirit plants in the Treasure Gourd had matured, including the enormous sword intent grass, but he could not tell how to use it and ordered Chen Li to watch it.
• Lin Mo branded the Nine-Nine Soul-Devouring Formation’s patterns onto the Spirit-Devouring Vine’s root tendrils.
• Lin Mo found that his six dao platforms, black-and-white light mass, and blood mist grew stronger in harmony as he cultivated.
• Lin Mo pretended to stabilize his cultivation for a month, intending to use his time in the Treasure Gourd to reach the second layer of Foundation Establishment in about five months.

After advancing to the second layer of Foundation Establishment, Lin Mo traveled to the Astrology Pavilion and received an auspicious reading about his marriage to Qin Sang Sang. When he asked whether restoring his incomplete treasure would bring fortune or calamity, the divination shattered the fortune-teller’s tortoise shell and formed the character for “slaughter” in blood.

• Lin Mo reached the second layer of Foundation Establishment, while Qin Sang Sang advanced to the fifth layer of Qi Refining and moved into his courtyard with Lin Xiaohe.
• Lin Mo left the Azure Cloud Sect to visit the Astrology Pavilion, planning to bring his parents up the mountain when he returned.
• In Astrology City, a fortune-teller cast a marriage reading for Lin Mo and declared its all-yang result highly auspicious.
• Lin Mo asked whether restoring his incomplete treasure would bring fortune or calamity to him and his sect, then focused on its secrets and his own origins as he cast the coins.
• The tortoise shell shattered as all six coins landed yin-side up, and the fortune-teller’s blood and the coins formed the character for “slaughter.”

After a fortune-teller warned Lin Mo that his Ancient Sword heralded a calamity, Lin Mo reached the Astrology Pavilion to undergo Fate Divination at Zhuge Fengming’s hands. Zhuge’s divination revealed four bright stars converging on the chart’s center, where a new light flared and vanished.

• A fortune-teller predicted a catastrophic omen connected to Lin Mo’s Ancient Sword, and Lin Mo decided to stay vigilant but doubted it could destroy the Divine Land.
• Lin Mo arrived at the Astrology Pavilion and presented Zhuge Fengming with the Voice Transmission Jade Talisman from Han Kang.
• Zhuge Fengming read the talisman, questioned Lin Mo about his special physique and five-spirit root, and led him upstairs for Fate Divination.
• Zhuge Fengming and Lin Mo followed a sequence of steps around each other as Zhuge Fengming used his White Jade Gui Ruler to perform the divination.
• A star chart appeared above them, and four bright stars converged on its center before a burst of light there turned dark.

After Zhuge Fengming predicted that four calamity stars close to Lin Mo would bring about his death, Lin Mo chose to trust his parents and brought them to live at the Azure Cloud Sect. As the Tai Sui Gate appeared to have been defeated, Zhu Ang revealed that it was preparing a blood sacrifice to awaken the Venerable Lord’s Primordial Spirit.

• Zhuge Fengming divined that four people close to Lin Mo would bring calamity upon him, then suffered severe backlash from the divination.
• Lin Mo returned to Locust Grass Village and invited his parents to live with him at the Azure Cloud Sect, refusing to let the prediction make him doubt them.
• Over three months passed, and Lin Mo’s parents settled into life at the sect while the Tai Sui Gate’s surviving forces seemed to fade away.
• A red-haired elder told Zhu Ang that the Branch Altars had gathered enough essence blood for a Blood Sacrifice Ceremony before the third day of the next month.
• Zhu Ang declared that the ceremony would seize the Heaven and Earth Spirit Vein and awaken the Venerable Lord’s Primordial Spirit, dismissing the Azure Cloud Sect as no opponent to the Tai Sui Gate.

Zhu Ang and the Tai Sui Gate gathered with cultivators, demonic beasts, and other beings to perform a blood sacrifice at the White Bone Sacred Altar. When part of the Yellow Springs Spirit-Guiding Diagram faded, they suspected one of its nine formations had been destroyed, but a deep voice declared the Sacred Lord’s plan would still succeed.

• Zhu Ang led the silver-robed elder and his followers through an underground passage in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, where he described the Tai Sui Gate’s repeated blood sacrifices and hoped for their master’s awakening.
• Zhu Ang reached a lava lake and poured fresh blood toward the enormous White Bone Pillar, while beings arriving from other passages also fed blood into the lake.
• Bloodlight climbed the pillar, awakening the Yellow Springs Spirit-Guiding Diagram’s nine-palace patterns at its summit.
• Zhu Ang noticed one section of the diagram dimming, and the assembled cultivators, demonic beasts, and unusual beings feared one of the nine Soul-Devouring Formations had been disrupted or destroyed.
• A deep male voice assured the gathered beings that the Sacred Lord would sense the nearly complete diagram and that his ten-thousand-year plan would succeed.