Chapter Summaries

Chun Xiaobai’s companions urged him to continue raiding sects, and the prospect of becoming the Eastern Region’s richest man convinced him to press on despite Bai Jin’er’s protests. After considering the dangers of the sacred lands, he decided to prepare to target them after finishing the last province in the Central Twelve Provinces.

• Bai Jin’er urged Chun Xiaobai to quit the dangerous business, but the old fellows and Zhang Xuanhe pressed him to keep earning money.
• Chun Xiaobai worried that the Emperor Pavilion might discover him, but Li Qingfeng persuaded him to raid the final central province by promising he could become the Eastern Region’s richest man.
• Chun Xiaobai agreed to continue, and Bai Jin’er argued with Li Qingfeng over the others pushing him into danger.
• Fang Yuan and Bai Yutang asked whether the sacred lands would be their next targets, prompting Chun Xiaobai to weigh the risks of their powerful cultivators and hidden grotto heavens.
• Chun Xiaobai announced that after sweeping through the last central province, they would head to the sacred lands in Northern Province, and Zhang Xuanhe questioned whether it was too soon.

Chun Xiaobai decided to prepare for a sweep through the Sacred Lands and ordered Lu Qingshan to recruit another batch of Azure Cloud Sect members. The elders warned that the Sacred Lands were powerful, but Chun Xiaobai insisted they follow his orders without worrying about the dangers.

• Fang Yuan told Chun Xiaobai that the Sacred Lands held more reserves than a hundred sects combined, and Chun Xiaobai decided to target them next.
• Bai Jin'er mocked the Azure Cloud Sect elders for taking cuts without using their cultivation, and Chun Xiaobai silenced their argument.
• Chun Xiaobai told Lu Qingshan to return to the Azure Cloud Sect and recruit quick-witted, bold people regardless of cultivation.
• Lu Qingshan agreed to recruit more members after considering the commissions he could earn.
• Li Qingfeng warned Chun Xiaobai that the Sacred Lands were difficult to find and filled with formidable cultivators, but Chun Xiaobai ordered everyone to follow him and obey.

Chun Xiaobai planned to find and break into the sacred lands, ordering Lu Qingshan to gather Spirit Transformation experts and master diviners to help locate their gates. Zhang Xuanhe urged Lu Qingshan to bring the Azure Cloud Sect’s six Ancestors too, fearing the expedition could end in disaster.

• Chun Xiaobai dismissed the old fellows’ fears of the sacred lands and ordered Lu Qingshan to gather them within three days to practice targeting wealthy victims before heading to the Northern Twelve Provinces.
• Chun Xiaobai told Lu Qingshan to find master diviners, planning to use their knowledge of dragon veins to locate the sacred lands’ hidden gates before opening them with his Heaven-Rending Hand.
• Lu Qingshan and Bai Jin'er agreed to split the money from the plan fifty-fifty, with Lu Qingshan responsible for paying the diviners.
• Zhang Xuanhe stopped Lu Qingshan and asked him to bring the Azure Cloud Sect’s six Ancestors, prompting Lu Qingshan to protest that leaving the sect undefended would anger Mu Qinglan and Chen Jinghong.
• Zhang Xuanhe warned Lu Qingshan that Chun Xiaobai intended to take them to the sacred lands and that the Ancestors should come to protect the Azure Cloud Sect and give them a chance to escape if the expedition went wrong.

Lu Qingshan took Zhang Xuanhe and other Ancestors away to make a fortune, while the Azure Cloud Sect searched for its missing Grand Supreme Elders and celebrated its rising income. When Lu Qingshan secretly returned, three hall masters confronted him about the Flying Boat and demanded to know whether the Ancestors were with him.

• Lu Qingshan agreed to take six Ancestors, but insisted that Zhang Xuanhe's name be used, and Li Qingfeng accepted on Zhang's behalf.
• Chun Xiaobai abandoned fishing and went with Bai Jin'er to buy treasures that could improve his cultivation.
• Cangshan Daoist divined that his chance to rise lay east at the Azure Cloud Sect and hurried there, seeking its lucky star.
• Mu Qinglan organized the Azure Cloud Sect's elders to investigate the missing Grand Supreme Elders, then found that the sect had earned three billion spirit stones the previous month.
• Lu Qingshan concealed his aura and tried to sneak back into the Azure Cloud Sect, but Qian Wantong, Yao Yuanzi, and Hall Master Zhang spotted him and asked whether he had made a fortune and brought Zhang Xuanhe and the others with him.

Lu Qingshan convinced three Azure Cloud Sect Hall Masters that he could bring them into a lucrative deal, then urged them to recruit more elders. The trio eagerly sought out their friends, but their first attempt ended with them being thrown out.

• Qian Wantong, Yao Yuanzi, and Hall Master Zhang confronted Lu Qingshan about the lucky star and learned he had made fifty billion spirit stones.
• Lu Qingshan gave each of the three a Storage Ring containing a hundred million spirit stones and promised to take them along on a deal.
• Lu Qingshan persuaded the three to recruit all their friends, while hiding his plan to split a cut of the newcomers' wages with Bai Jin'er.
• Yao Yuanzi and the others secretly returned to the Sect to recruit friends, but their offer of a deal worth two hundred million spirit stones got them thrown out.

Lu Qingshan gathered Azure Cloud Sect elders by pretending to lead them to an ancient secret realm, then brought them to meet Chun Xiaobai at a lakeside. When one elder suggested killing Chun Xiaobai and exploring without him, Chun Xiaobai summoned the people he had kept hidden.

• Lu Qingshan visited Wu Zhengde to recruit him, but Wu Zhengde kicked him out and accused him of chasing an implausible job for five hundred million.
• Yao Yuanzi and two others gathered a crowd for Lu Qingshan, who claimed he had found an ancient secret realm and won the elders' trust.
• Lu Qingshan led the elders on a half-step heaven-tier Flying Boat to the lakeside meeting point, where they met Chun Xiaobai, whom Lu introduced as their guide.
• An elder privately proposed killing Chun Xiaobai and exploring the secret realm without him, so Chun Xiaobai angrily called for the people he had hidden to come out.

Chun Xiaobai led the Azure Cloud Sect elders to extort the Flying Yang Sect, earning five hundred billion spirit stones, but doubted the frightened elders could help him visit the Sacred Land. Bai Jin'er and Lu Qingshan secretly arranged to skim commissions from the recruits, leaving Lu Qingshan to distribute the money behind an Isolation Formation.

• Zhang Xuanhe, Zhou Qingyi, Han Jiufeng, and other missing Azure Cloud Sect elders arrived and were told to follow Chun Xiaobai’s orders.
• Bai Jin'er counted the new recruits for her commission while Fang Yuan urged Chun Xiaobai to lead them to the Flying Yang Sect.
• Chun Xiaobai’s group finished extorting the Flying Yang Sect in under two hours and collected five hundred billion spirit stones, though many elders panicked at his Demonic Artifact.
• Lu Qingshan told Bai Jin'er he was taking three hundred million per recruit, and she approved his commission and gave him a Storage Ring to distribute.
• Bai Jin'er warned Lu Qingshan to keep their arrangement secret, so he gathered the elders in a secluded corner and set up an Isolation Formation.
• Bai Jin'er counted her sixty-five billion spirit stones and planned to earn more by sweeping through the remaining sects in the province.

After Lu Qingshan paid the elders, Han Jiufeng and Zhang Xuanhe plotted to recruit more people for Chun Xiaobai’s profitable dealings with the sacred lands. Zhang then warned Chun Xiaobai that the timing was dangerous and began recounting the ancient Demon War, which ended with the sudden arrival of the Emperor Pavilion.

• Lu Qingshan’s elders celebrated their large payouts, while Zhang Xuanhe learned that Lu had kept an even bigger share.
• Han Jiufeng convinced Zhang that they could profit by bringing more sect members to Chun Xiaobai’s deals, and Zhang agreed to approach him.
• Zhang proposed that they recruit Cangshan Daoist and another group of people for future deals, then went to speak with Chun Xiaobai about the sacred lands.
• Zhang told Chun Xiaobai that sacred lands had dominated the Eastern Region ten thousand years earlier, before a centuries-long Demon War destroyed many factions.
• Zhang explained that the Emperor Pavilion suddenly descended as the Eastern Region neared ruin.

Chun Xiaobai learned that the Emperor Pavilion had eradicated the demons of the Eastern Region in one night and kept the sacred lands largely out of worldly affairs. He rejected Zhang Xuanhe's cautious scheme for approaching a sacred land and focused instead on recruiting more capable men for Black Wind Stronghold.

• Zhang Xuanhe told Chun Xiaobai that the Emperor Pavilion had wiped out every demonic sect in the Eastern Region in one night and remained vigilant against demonic qi.
• Chun Xiaobai recalled learning how powerful the sacred lands were, but decided the Emperor Pavilion's reputation could help him exploit the situation.
• Chun Xiaobai asked where the master diviner was, and Zhang Xuanhe instead claimed that Chun Xiaobai's strength gave them a chance against the sacred lands.
• Zhang Xuanhe proposed killing demons near a sacred land and spreading rumors before approaching it, but Chun Xiaobai kicked him and said he had used that trick years earlier.
• Chun Xiaobai decided they needed more capable recruits before making moves against the sacred lands, while recognizing Zhang Xuanhe wanted to bring in his own people and collect kickbacks.

Chun Xiaobai tasked Zhang Xuanhe with recruiting talented Azure Cloud Sect members, including the diviner Cangshan Daoist, to help locate the Sacred Land’s cave abode. He then absorbed the origin spirits of hundreds of magical artifacts and advanced to the fourth level of the Treasure-Building Realm.

• Chun Xiaobai told Zhang Xuanhe to find talented people from the Azure Cloud Sect and bring Cangshan Daoist, a renowned divine fortune-teller, to him.
• Zhang Xuanhe told Han Jiufeng the plan, and Han Jiufeng asked him to bring dozens of relatives along.
• Zhang Xuanhe left on his half-step heaven-tier flying boat while Chun Xiaobai entered a secluded cave abode to cultivate.
• Chun Xiaobai used the Martial God Art to absorb origin spirits from more than two hundred heaven-tier magical artifacts, enduring severe pain as his strength grew.
• Chun Xiaobai broke through to the fourth level of the Treasure-Building Realm, and the elders dismissed the disturbance from his cave abode and returned to their chatter.

Chun Xiaobai opened his abdomen treasury and formed a purple mansion by absorbing the origin spirit in hundreds of Heaven-Tier Magical Artifacts, then led his followers toward the Falling Cloud Sect. Meanwhile, Zhang Xuanhe recruited five hundred Azure Cloud Sect members connected to Han Jiufeng for a money-making expedition.

• Chun Xiaobai realized that formless qi was gathering where his dantian should be and guessed that he was opening his abdomen treasury.
• Chun Xiaobai circulated the Martial God Art, forming a purple mansion as the Heaven-Tier Magical Artifacts were drained of their origin spirit.
• Chun Xiaobai found the artifacts reduced to scrap after spending five hundred billion spirit stones, but accepted the expense because his strength now surpassed anyone in the Golden Core Realm.
• Chun Xiaobai decided to lower the price of Heaven-Tier Magical Artifacts and ordered the old fellows outside his cave abode to march on the Falling Cloud Sect.
• Zhang Xuanhe returned to the Azure Cloud Sect in disguise and recruited five hundred people connected to Han Jiufeng for his expedition.

After discovering that hundreds of Azure Cloud Sect elders had disappeared, Mu Qinglan feared they had defected and worried that the sect’s old betrayal was about to repeat itself. Just as she despaired, Cangshan Daoist arrived to congratulate her.

• Zhang Xuanhe secretly led everyone out of the sect to Chun Xiaobai’s designated meeting place.
• Mu Qinglan finished auditing the sect’s businesses and celebrated their profit of over two million spirit stones in three months.
• When the Hall Masters failed to answer her messages, Mu Qinglan learned that they and more than three hundred Core Elders had disappeared.
• Mu Qinglan examined the disappearances and feared the elders had secretly defected because the sect could not provide adequate resources.
• Mu Qinglan recalled that a bought-off Divine Son had once betrayed the sect by leaking its Grotto Heaven’s coordinates, leading to its decline.
• Cangshan Daoist appeared behind Mu Qinglan and congratulated her.

Mu Qinglan asked Cangshan Daoist to divine the whereabouts of the Azure Cloud Sect elders, but misread his findings about their wealth luck as proof they had betrayed the sect. Cangshan stayed at the sect to await his own fortune, then discovered that Yun Huoyue’s immense good fortune was arriving and was tied to marriage fate.

• Mu Qinglan asked Cangshan Daoist to locate the Azure Cloud Sect elders, and he agreed to divine for free.
• Cangshan Daoist said the elders were overflowing with wealth luck, and Mu Qinglan concluded they had been bribed into betraying the sect.
• Cangshan Daoist tried to reassure Mu Qinglan and offered to help further, but she accused him inwardly of angling for an expensive second divination and ordered him out.
• Cangshan Daoist asked to stay at the Azure Cloud Sect for a few days, and Mu Qinglan coldly allowed him to do as he pleased.
• Cangshan Daoist settled into a secluded nook and divined Yun Huoyue’s fortune, discovering that it rivaled a daughter of destiny and was entwined with marriage fate.

Cangshan Daoist learned that Yun Huoyue was a daughter of heaven's mandate and hurried to her peak, while Mu Qinglan resolved to guard the Azure Cloud Sect against people poaching its disciples. Chun Xiaobai continued building his operation, and Li Yuanqiu discovered the elders were skimming commissions and decided he should take one too.

• Cangshan Daoist resolved to treat Yun Huoyue better after learning she was a daughter of heaven's mandate, then headed to her peak.
• Mu Qinglan vowed to protect the Azure Cloud Sect and catch whoever was recruiting its people.
• Chun Xiaobai praised his recruits for becoming bolder and planned to remove Mu Qinglan from her position as Sect Master.
• Bai Jin'er celebrated the huge commissions she was earning and dreamed of becoming the richest woman in the Eastern Region and Black Wind Stronghold's Stronghold Madam.
• Li Qingfeng ordered Li Yuanqiu to investigate Zhang Xuanhe and Lu Qingshan, and Li Yuanqiu overheard them discussing their commissions.
• Li Yuanqiu decided not to report Zhang Xuanhe and Lu Qingshan and instead resolved to take a commission himself.

Li Yuanqiu tricked Li Qingfeng and persuaded Chun Xiaobai to let him recruit more people for the planned attack on the Sacred Lands. Meanwhile, Mu Qinglan searched for the elders poaching Azure Cloud Sect members before spotting a Half-Step Heaven Tier Flying Boat racing toward the Inner Sect.

• Li Yuanqiu told Li Qingfeng that Zhang Xuanhe and Lu Qingshan were meeting to prepare for the next job, and Li Qingfeng believed him while counting his earnings.
• Li Yuanqiu approached Chun Xiaobai and suggested recruiting more people; Chun Xiaobai agreed, hoping to assemble ten thousand recruits before moving against the Sacred Lands.
• Chun Xiaobai continued toward the remaining sects, planning to finish recruiting within half a month so his forces would appear credible to the Sacred Lands.
• Mu Qinglan searched the Azure Cloud Sect for the person poaching her elders, then reflected that she had neglected the disciples' awareness of danger.
• Mu Qinglan sensed something tearing through the air and saw a Half-Step Heaven Tier Flying Boat speeding toward the Inner Sect.

Mu Qinglan secretly watched Li Yuanqiu return to the Azure Cloud Sect and recruit hundreds of its members, believing he was helping the mastermind poach her people. When Cangshan Daoist arrived to join him, she restrained herself and kept hiding so she could follow them to the person behind the defections.

• Mu Qinglan recognized Li Yuanqiu’s expensive Flying Boat and watched him hide near the Inner Sect.
• Li Yuanqiu unsealed his Message Transmission Stone and summoned his personal disciples, who returned with hundreds of others to meet him.
• Mu Qinglan concluded that Li Yuanqiu was buying off Azure Cloud Sect members and held back from confronting him so she could trace the mastermind.
• Li Yuanqiu counted over five hundred recruits and calculated that their commissions would earn him a fortune.
• Cangshan Daoist arrived and asked to share in Li Yuanqiu’s profits, while Mu Qinglan suppressed her urge to attack them.

Mu Qinglan lost Li Yuanqiu’s flying boat while pursuing him, then returned to the Azure Cloud Sect to watch for further poaching. Meanwhile, Li Yuanqiu brought Cangshan Daoist to Chun Xiaobai, who asked the diviner to locate his wife, but Cangshan Daoist backed out after remembering the danger of reading Chun Xiaobai’s fate.

• Li Yuanqiu took Cangshan Daoist and more than five hundred elders away on a half-step Heaven Tier flying boat, and Mu Qinglan pursued them but lost them when the boat accelerated.
• Mu Qinglan returned to the Azure Cloud Sect and hid to watch for disciples leaving the sect.
• Chun Xiaobai finished a deal as Bai Jin'er handed out wages, then Li Yuanqiu arrived with Cangshan Daoist and the elders.
• Chun Xiaobai asked Cangshan Daoist to divine where his wife was, and Bai Jin'er hurried over to listen.
• Cangshan Daoist remembered that Chun Xiaobai’s fate lay outside the Five Phases and declined to perform the divination, promising instead that Chun Xiaobai would have romantic destiny.

Chun Xiaobai dismissed the Cangshan Daoist as a fraud, but the diviner’s attempt to read Bai Jin'er’s fortune caused him to spit blood and age rapidly. The Cangshan Daoist was carried away before he could explain that Bai Jin'er's destined husband was Chun Xiaobai, while Bai Jin'er grew more convinced the Great King was her ideal match.

• Chun Xiaobai kicked out the Cangshan Daoist after deciding he was a fraud, leaving Li Yuanqiu and Zhang Xuanhe confused.
• Bai Jin'er asked the Cangshan Daoist to reveal where her destined love was, and he praised her exceptional fortune.
• The Cangshan Daoist’s calculation made him spit blood and rapidly age when he realized Bai Jin'er's ideal husband was Chun Xiaobai.
• Chun Xiaobai ordered Li Yuanqiu to carry the Cangshan Daoist away, and Bai Jin'er tried to follow them.
• Chun Xiaobai warned everyone not to bring him people like the Cangshan Daoist again, while Li Qingfeng wondered what the others were hiding.

Li Qingfeng learned that the elders were earning enormous commissions and tried to get leave to return to his Sect, but Chun Xiaobai refused. Chun Xiaobai then gathered the Black Wind Stronghold’s elders to appoint leaders, and Li Qingfeng immediately asked for a position.

• Li Qingfeng beat Zhang Xuanhe until he explained the elders’ commissions, which could reach three hundred million per person.
• Li Qingfeng asked Chun Xiaobai for leave to return to his Sect, but Chun Xiaobai refused, so Li Qingfeng sought out Zhao Wuyuan instead.
• Fang Yuan noticed that the elders were acting suspiciously, while Bai Yutang dismissed his concerns about what they were hiding.
• Chun Xiaobai called everyone together and announced he would appoint Hall Masters, Helmsmen, and Incense Masters.
• Li Qingfeng asked Chun Xiaobai whether he could get one of the leadership positions.

Chun Xiaobai appointed Incense Masters to organize the Demonic Artifact sales, while Li Qingfeng seized the chance to recruit more workers and expand his share of the business. Meanwhile, Li Yuanqiu concealed the extortion scheme from Cangshan Daoist by claiming Chun Xiaobai was helping the Emperor Pavilion hunt Demon Cultivators.

• Chun Xiaobai selected more than thirty Incense Masters, assigned them groups of fifty, and warned that their wages would be docked if they mishandled the work.
• Li Qingfeng asked Chun Xiaobai for permission to recruit more people, then sent Zhao Wuyuan back to the Azure Cloud Sect to bring five hundred recruits.
• Chun Xiaobai led the group to continue selling Demonic Artifacts, leaving only fifteen top-tier sects in Jing Province untouched and ordering information gathered after each operation.
• Li Yuanqiu apologized to Cangshan Daoist for the backlash that had cost him five thousand years of lifespan and hid the nature of their business.
• Li Yuanqiu told Cangshan Daoist that Chun Xiaobai was helping the Emperor Pavilion track down Demon Cultivators, and Cangshan Daoist believed him.