Chapter Summaries

After discovering that circulating the Martial God Art opened the Bronze Giant Gate, Chun Xiaobai entered the Martial God Tower’s second floor and found a hall of bronze figures. He mistook a figure and its staff for valuable materials and tried to take them, but the figure would not move.

• Chun Xiaobai found the Bronze Giant Gate where the portrait had been and failed to open it by pushing or punching it.
• He realized the gate might respond to his cultivation, sat down, and circulated the Martial God Art until the gate swung open.
• Chun Xiaobai entered the dark second floor, and the gate slammed shut behind him.
• The space lit up to reveal bronze figures in martial poses, and Chun Xiaobai pulled a bronze staff from one figure.
• Chun Xiaobai mistook the bronze figure for valuable gold, tried to lift it, and found it would not budge.

Chun Xiaobai failed the Martial God Tower’s trial after trying to take a bronze figure’s weapon, but he kept the figure’s heavy staff. The tower then transported him to a valley near his unprecedented Foundation Establishment tribulation, where he hid from the crowd gathered to inspect its enormous crater.

• A bronze figure punched Chun Xiaobai out of the second level and shut the gate, leaving him to realize he had failed a trial and lost his chance to enter again soon.
• Chun Xiaobai examined the staff he had taken and discovered that it weighed over ten thousand jin, then decided the tower had expelled him for trying to steal its weapon.
• The Martial God Tower shook and transported Chun Xiaobai to an unfamiliar valley near the place where he had undergone tribulation transcendence.
• Chun Xiaobai used his Divine Sense to spot the enormous vitrified crater and saw that a crowd of outsiders had gathered around it.
• Chun Xiaobai concealed his aura and hid among the rocks, while the onlookers marveled at the crater and questioned whether the tribulation had been ordinary.

Mu Qinglan faced outsiders who claimed a huge Thunder Pit proved that a supreme treasure had manifested in Azure Cloud Sect territory. She threatened the crowd into silence, but Crow Daoist challenged her and demanded an explanation.

• The gathered cultivators debated the Thunder Pit's size and power before Crow Daoist declared it evidence of a Supreme Treasure Manifestation.
• Mu Qinglan and Azure Cloud Sect's Elders suspected the outsiders were trying to make the sect surrender a supposed treasure, though they could not explain the Thunder Pit.
• The crowd demanded that Mu Qinglan reveal the treasure, and she threatened to kill anyone who continued spreading rumors on sect territory.
• Crow Daoist stepped forward, challenged Mu Qinglan to explain the five-kilometer-wide Thunder Pit, and won the crowd's renewed support.

Mu Qinglan drove off the cultivators trying to extort the Azure Cloud Sect by attacking them without hesitation. Chun Xiaobai hid nearby and crept toward the battlefield, hoping to loot the fallen, as the crowd scattered from Mu Qinglan’s spear.

• Mu Qinglan threatened the crowd and counted down while the Azure Cloud Sect elders took battle stances around her.
• Chun Xiaobai concealed his aura with the Heaven-Sealing Finger and watched the confrontation, eager to loot the fallen cultivators.
• After a blast hurled people into a valley, Chun Xiaobai disguised himself and stealthily approached the battlefield.
• Mu Qinglan struck the loudest hecklers with a palm, killing several and frightening the rest into retreat.
• Mu Qinglan drew a Supreme Heaven-Tier Magical Treasure spear and fired a spear-light, causing all twenty thousand cultivators to flee.

Mu Qinglan mistook Chun Xiaobai for a member of the mysterious Corpse Cleaners after spotting him near the battlefield, then pursued him when he fled with extraordinary speed. Chun Xiaobai escaped her grasp for the moment, but Mu Qinglan vowed to catch him and defend the Azure Cloud Sect’s ancestral tombs.

• After Mu Qinglan drove off the gathered cultivators, Crow Daoist hid at a distance while Chun Xiaobai was left exposed near the battlefield.
• Mu Qinglan noticed Chun Xiaobai behind a boulder and suspected he was a Corpse Cleaner because she could barely sense his presence.
• Chun Xiaobai fled when Mu Qinglan charged at him, using Shrinking Land to Inches to cover miles with each step.
• Mu Qinglan was shocked by Chun Xiaobai’s speed but continued the pursuit, fearing he had targeted an Azure Cloud Sect ancestral tomb.
• Mu Qinglan vowed to catch Chun Xiaobai and show the Corpse Cleaners the Azure Cloud Sect’s strength.

Chun Xiaobai escaped Mu Qinglan by tricking Crow Daoist into taking the blame for him. Mu Qinglan confronted Crow Daoist and accused him of being a member of the Corpse Cleaners, leaving him in danger as she suspected he meant to silence her.

• Chun Xiaobai spotted Crow Daoist hiding near the battlefield and rushed toward him while Mu Qinglan pursued.
• Chun Xiaobai slapped Crow Daoist on the shoulder, called him Master, and ran off claiming he would fetch reinforcements.
• Mu Qinglan attacked Crow Daoist, who dodged her spear and realized Chun Xiaobai had set him up.
• Crow Daoist denied knowing Chun Xiaobai, but Mu Qinglan identified him as a Corpse Cleaner.
• Mu Qinglan interpreted Crow Daoist's panic and Chun Xiaobai's claim about reinforcements as evidence that they planned to silence her.

Mu Qinglan mistook Crow Daoist for a Corpse Cleaner and attacked him, while Chun Xiaobai escaped and decided to sneak back to exploit their fight. Mu Qinglan and Crow Daoist continued their devastating battle as Chun Xiaobai watched from afar.

• Mu Qinglan accused Crow Daoist of conspiring with his disciple to loot corpses and thrust her spear at him.
• Crow Daoist deflected Mu Qinglan's strike with a gray gourd, and it blasted a deep crater into a distant mountaintop.
• Chun Xiaobai hid a hundred li away, spotted a wealth aura around Crow Daoist, and decided to wait for the two fighters to weaken each other before stealing his treasures.
• Chun Xiaobai used Heaven-Sealing Finger to seal his aura and crept back toward the battlefield.
• Mu Qinglan and Crow Daoist exchanged over a hundred blows, and Crow Daoist used a golden talisman to block her spear as Chun Xiaobai watched in fear.

Mu Qinglan and Crow Daoist fought until both were nearly out of spiritual power, and Crow Daoist unleashed a self-destructing Heaven-Tier Magical Treasure to kill her. Mu Qinglan survived the blast but was gravely wounded, leaving Crow Daoist ready to finish her off.

• Mu Qinglan and Crow Daoist fought for hundreds of exchanges, exhausting their spiritual power and devastating the surrounding mountains.
• Crow Daoist used a giant gray gourd, which Chun Xiaobai recognized as a Heaven-Tier Magical Treasure, to lure Mu Qinglan into striking it.
• Crow Daoist detonated the gourd, creating a massive blast that hurled Chun Xiaobai away and forced him to flee farther from the battlefield.
• Mu Qinglan survived the explosion but was badly wounded, while Crow Daoist stared at her in shock.
• Crow Daoist resolved to take Mu Qinglan's life while she was weakened.

Mu Qinglan killed Crow Daoist despite her injuries, but Chun Xiaobai knocked her unconscious from behind and searched her for valuables. He took her Azure Sect identity token and discovered her spear was a Life-Bound Magical Treasure that he could not put into his Storage Ring.

• Mu Qinglan counterattacked Crow Daoist and pierced his heart, killing him, then struggled to remain standing after the Heaven-Tier Magical Treasure’s explosion had injured her.
• As Mu Qinglan remembered Chun Xiaobai, he struck her from behind twice with a golden club and knocked her unconscious.
• Chun Xiaobai searched Mu Qinglan but found no valuables besides an Azure Sect identity token, which he took.
• Chun Xiaobai found Mu Qinglan’s golden spear and recognized it as a Heaven-Tier Mid-Grade Magical Treasure, but he could not move it into his Storage Ring.
• Chun Xiaobai realized the spear was likely a Life-Bound Magical Treasure, possibly a Companion Magical Treasure also known as a Rare Treasure.

Chun Xiaobai looted Crow Daoist, who had secretly used the Heaven-Returning Art to fake his death, and found an earth-tier Storage Ring among his treasures. Crow Daoist’s concealment remained intact, but the ring’s theft caused him to spit blood again.

• Chun Xiaobai decided he would melt down the Heaven-Tier Magical Treasure spear so he could carry its materials safely.
• Chun Xiaobai searched the apparently dead Crow Daoist and found an earth-tier gourd, stacks of talismans, several Storage Bags, and an earth-tier Daoist robe.
• Crow Daoist revealed inwardly that he had used the Heaven-Returning Art to fake his death and was helpless as Chun Xiaobai stripped his possessions.
• Chun Xiaobai tested Crow Daoist, confirmed he seemed dead, and pulled an earth-tier Storage Ring from his finger.
• Crow Daoist suffered another bloody backlash when Chun Xiaobai took the ring containing his most important savings.

Chun Xiaobai looted Crow Daoist’s Storage Ring and possessions, then fled when reinforcements arrived, abandoning the Golden Spear. The elders found Mu Qinglan unconscious and discovered that two enormous lumps on her head, rather than her internal injuries, had knocked her out.

• Chun Xiaobai dismantled Crow Daoist’s divine soul imprint and found fifty million spirit stones, many corpses, and a purple-glowing coffin inside his Storage Ring.
• Chun Xiaobai stripped Crow Daoist of his treasures and clothes while Crow Daoist lay helpless under the Heaven-Returning Art.
• Chun Xiaobai started to undo Mu Qinglan’s sash, but fled when urgent whistles signaled approaching reinforcements.
• Chun Xiaobai discovered the Golden Spear’s artifact spirit made it grow heavier with every step, so he threw it down and vanished before the elders could pursue him.
• The elders surrounded the unconscious Mu Qinglan, and an elderly woman found that two large lumps on her head had knocked her out.

Mu Qinglan woke after Chun Xiaobai knocked her unconscious and realized he had stolen her Sect Master Token, the key to the Azure Cloud Sect’s Treasure Vault. Chun Xiaobai returned to the sect amid rumors praising his Thunder Tribulation, where Yun Huoyue confronted him, believing he had died.

• Elder Jiang treated Mu Qinglan while Crow Daoist’s corpse dissolved into black liquid.
• Mu Qinglan recovered her memories, recalled Chun Xiaobai’s attack, and discovered her Sect Master Token was missing.
• Mu Qinglan ordered the elders to pursue Chun Xiaobai, describing his appearance, cultivation, and strange movement technique.
• Chun Xiaobai returned to his Cave Abode through the Azure Cloud Sect’s Outer Sect, enjoying the rumors about his Thunder Tribulation.
• Yun Huoyue approached Chun Xiaobai, disappointed after searching the crater and finding neither his corpse nor his ashes.

Chun Xiaobai survived a thousand-li heavenly tribulation, emerged stronger, and encountered Yun Huoyue, who recognized him as the person destined to undo her seal. When Yun Huoyue tried to take him somewhere private, Chun Xiaobai mistook her intentions and escaped her grasp.

• Yun Huoyue recalled that a divination had identified someone in the Azure Cloud Sect's Outer Sect as the one destined to undo her seal, and she suspected Chun Xiaobai was that person.
• Yun Huoyue spotted Chun Xiaobai alive on the mountain path and realized he had survived the heavenly tribulation and grown stronger.
• Yun Huoyue became convinced Chun Xiaobai was her destined person and tried to lead him to Green Bamboo Peak for a private conversation.
• Chun Xiaobai shouted that Yun Huoyue was lusting after his body, drawing the attention of people on the path.
• Yun Huoyue grabbed Chun Xiaobai's wrist, but he feared she wanted to extract his cultivation foundation, broke free, and disappeared.

Chun Xiaobai returned to his cave abode and discovered Fang Yuan and Bai Jin'er had advanced to the Foundation Establishment middle stage after spending all their spirit stones on pills. After realizing they had been overcharged, he prepared to take them into the Inner Sect that night while keeping watch for the powerful woman pursuing him.

• The woman decided Chun Xiaobai should be transferred to the Inner Sect for protection and flew toward the Sect Master.
• Chun Xiaobai returned to his cave abode and found Fang Yuan and Bai Jin'er had reached the Foundation Establishment middle stage with stable foundations.
• Fang Yuan and Bai Jin'er explained they had spent all their resources, including twenty million spirit stones, on pills bought through an Inner Sect contact.
• Chun Xiaobai concluded that a middleman or Senior Brother Wang had cheated them and resolved to make the seller pay.
• Chun Xiaobai ordered Fang Yuan and Bai Jin'er to pack so they could enter the Inner Sect that night, while he watched the summit for the powerful woman.

Chun Xiaobai, Fang Yuan, and Bai Jin'er entered the Azure Cloud Sect’s Inner Sect, where they learned how its grotto heavens ranked disciples and resources. Chun Xiaobai decided to aim for the highest heaven grotto heavens and led the group to the Administrative Affairs Hall to handle their assignments.

• Chun Xiaobai hurriedly packed and left the Outer Sect with Fang Yuan and Bai Jin'er after suspecting Fang Yuan’s ruined foundation concealed remarkable talent.
• The three flew for four hours and learned that the Inner Sect occupied most of the Azure Cloud Sect’s vast territory.
• Bai Jin'er explained the Inner Sect’s forty-two grotto heavens and recommended that they target the middle seven for wealthy disciples and valuable treasures.
• Fang Yuan described the grotto heavens as ranks from the lower levels up to the mysterious heaven grotto heavens, and Chun Xiaobai chose to aim for the top rank.
• Inner Sect disciples tried to sell pills and spiritual talismans to the newcomers, but Chun Xiaobai refused to waste money on them.
• Chun Xiaobai, Fang Yuan, and Bai Jin'er headed to the Administrative Affairs Hall to handle their sect assignments.

Chun Xiaobai, Bai Jin'er, and Fang Yuan went to the Administrative Hall to register as Inner Sect disciples, but the Sect's records had no entry for Chun Xiaobai. The administrator registered Bai Jin'er and Fang Yuan, while Chun Xiaobai was told to bring Elder Lu Qingshan as a guarantor, leaving him afraid his real status as an Odd-Job Disciple would be exposed.

• Chun Xiaobai, Bai Jin'er, and Fang Yuan reached the Administrative Hall and told the administrator they had come to register for the Inner Sect.
• Chun Xiaobai named Elder Lu Qingshan as their connection, and the administrator confirmed Lu Qingshan had left word for Bai Jin'er and Fang Yuan.
• The administrator found Bai Jin'er and Fang Yuan in the Sect's records but could not find Chun Xiaobai, who realized he was still registered only as an Odd-Job Disciple.
• Chun Xiaobai claimed he was a specially recruited disciple of Elder Lu Qingshan, and Bai Jin'er recognized that he had actually been an Odd-Job Disciple she picked up outside the mountain gate.
• The administrator issued identity tokens to Bai Jin'er and Fang Yuan but refused to register Chun Xiaobai without Elder Lu Qingshan as his guarantor.
• Chun Xiaobai feared that summoning Elder Lu Qingshan would expose his true status and get him expelled from the Sect.

Chun Xiaobai left the Administrative Affairs Hall with Bai Jin'er and Fang Yuan, while an elder grew suspicious of his identity. Yun Huoyue discovered that Chun Xiaobai had no record in the Sect's Compass and found his Green Bamboo Peak residence abandoned.

• The Administrative Affairs Hall elder noticed Chun Xiaobai claimed to be specially recruited despite wearing Outer Sect robes, then checked the mission records and found he had undertaken a Demon Suppression mission.
• Yun Huoyue asked Mu Qinglan for an Inner Sect disciple's place, and Mu Qinglan gave her a Jade Token while preoccupied with the Little Bandit who had stolen her Sect Master Token.
• Yun Huoyue searched the disciple Compass for Chun Xiaobai but found no record of him, and she feared he had left the Sect.
• Yun Huoyue rushed to Chun Xiaobai's cave abode on Green Bamboo Peak and found the formation off, the gate open, and the house emptied in haste.
• Yun Huoyue concluded Chun Xiaobai had escaped and grew furious.

Yun Huoyue learned that Chun Xiaobai had left the Sect and set out to bring him back, believing she had frightened him. Meanwhile, Chun Xiaobai and his companions explored the Inner Sect and chose a remote peak in the Heaven Grotto Heavens, where he prepared to break through its third-tier grand array.

• Yun Huoyue checked the Outer Sect register and learned that more than three hundred disciples had left the Sect, then went in pursuit of Chun Xiaobai.
• Chun Xiaobai, Bai Jin'er, and Fang Yuan toured the Inner Sect before heading to the rear mountains to find a cave abode.
• Chun Xiaobai chose a remote peak in the Heaven Grotto Heavens, and the three found it protected by a third-tier grand array.
• Bai Jin'er urged Chun Xiaobai to find another place, but he told her to get out of his way as he prepared to break the array.

Chun Xiaobai dismantled a third-tier formation around an elder’s Cave Abode, fled when the elder appeared, then broke into a second-tier residence to requisition it. Fang Yuan’s shout interrupted the disciple inside during a breakthrough, leaving him furious and confused about how the active formation had been breached.

• Chun Xiaobai used Heaven-Rending Hand to dismantle the third-tier formation around a Cave Abode.
• Chun Xiaobai, Fang Yuan, and Bai Jin'er saw the lavish residence and fled when an old man appeared.
• Fang Yuan told Chun Xiaobai to target residences with second-tier formations, and they found and broke one.
• Chun Xiaobai signaled Fang Yuan to announce their requisition, and Fang Yuan's shout startled a disciple during his breakthrough.
• The disciple spat blood, sprang up in anger, and wondered how anyone had entered through his active formation.

Chun Xiaobai took over Li Xuanfeng’s cave abode after Li Xuanfeng handed him its formation disc, but Li Xuanfeng refused to join his schemes and fled. Chun Xiaobai then settled in with Bai Jin’er and Fang Yuan, who urged him to activate the mountain’s tier-two formation for its spirit-gathering benefits.

• Chun Xiaobai and his companions arrived at Li Xuanfeng’s courtyard, and Chun Xiaobai claimed the cave abode as his own.
• Li Xuanfeng gave Chun Xiaobai the formation disc, then declined Fang Yuan’s invitation to join their group and hurried away.
• Chun Xiaobai accepted Li Xuanfeng’s choice and told him to call on him if anyone in the Inner Sect bullied him.
• Chun Xiaobai ordered Bai Jin’er to arrange his room, while Fang Yuan explained that activating the mountain formation would improve cultivation.
• Chun Xiaobai decided to activate the formation and fleece the benefits from the mountain.