Chapter Summaries

After Chu Xingchen returned, he took charge of the sect’s affairs while Chen Baiqing and Xie Lingyu helped him. With Luo Yue back and the Spirit Vein passage ready to be released, Bai Xuanling arrived to oversee the preparations for Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge’s grand array.

• Chu Xingchen took over the sect’s construction work from Li Yingling, while Li Xingtian spent his time off cultivating and Chen Baiqing continued serving as his secretary.
• Xie Lingyu joined Chu Xingchen in the administrative hall, and they spent their days chatting, strolling around Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge, and joining Li Yingling’s activities.
• Luo Yue returned with the Spirit Vein passage it guarded ready to be released, and Bai Xuanling came to Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge to begin work on the grand array.
• Bai Xuanling surveyed the sect and confirmed Chu Xingchen had prepared the materials she had requested, despite their cost having emptied the sect’s savings.
• Bai Xuanling told Chu Xingchen to accompany Luo Yue while she handled her own business, and instructed him to contact her if problems arose.

Chu Xingchen accompanied Luo Yue to her true body, a dying tree that had been blocking a Spirit Vein. After the tree transformed into a tiny sapling and the Secret Realm began to collapse, Luo Yue kept the sapling from Chu Xingchen and led him out to receive the Spiritual Power.

• Chu Xingchen and Luo Yue entered the tomb and found Luo Yue’s nearly withered true body, a towering tree.
• Luo Yue explained that she had used her true body to block the Spirit Vein and prevent it from being discovered, limiting the Spiritual Power she received.
• Chu Xingchen asked whether Luo Yue could return to her true body and joked about moving the tree to his Sect for Ning Qianqian to care for.
• Luo Yue touched the tree, which dissolved into streams of spiritual light and condensed into a small sapling in her hand.
• The Secret Realm began to collapse, and Luo Yue put away the sapling, refused to give it to Chu Xingchen, and led him outside to receive the Spiritual Power.

Chu Xingchen's sect established itself in Central Province after the Spirit Vein flowed into Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge, and the disciples prepared to celebrate. Bai Xuanling returned to the Heavenly Derivation Sect, where she received a Jade Slip about a dangerous matter and led its Elders and peak masters to investigate.

• Bai Xuanling quelled the shock wave from the collapsing Secret Realm and directed the formation work as the Spirit Vein's power spread through Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.
• Chu Xingchen completed the system side quest and received the Shattered Spirit Disc Jade, while Bai Xuanling and Luo Yue departed for the Heavenly Derivation Sect.
• Luo Yue left its sapling and a trace of its origin with the sect, and Chu Xingchen entrusted Sandong with planting it.
• Chu Xingchen ordered the disciples to prepare a banquet, with Li Yingling arranging the entertainment and Zhang Miaoyu looking forward to joining in.
• At the Heavenly Derivation Sect, Lü Xuan gave Bai Xuanling a Jade Slip and warned her to be careful; Bai Xuanling then led four Elders and six peak masters out on the mission.

Chu Xingchen reflected on the disciples’ cultivation and welcomed a quiet winter tea gathering at Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge. The chapter ended with Qinghe arriving through the snow and greeting him.

• Chu Xingchen noted the disciples’ cultivation progress, including Lin Luoyu nearing Golden Core, Li Yingling and Li Xingtian advancing toward Nascent Soul, and Cui Hao struggling to reach Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
• Li Yingling rejected Chu Xingchen’s pills, while Li Xingtian agreed to try them, prompting Li Yingling to praise her Junior Brother before leaving.
• Green Snake broke through to Foundation Establishment, and Xie Lingyu reported that Bai Xuanling remained away on a confidential sect mission but had sent letters.
• Chen Baiqing offered Chu Xingchen winter tea, and he asked her to invite Cui Hao, Luo Yu, Miao Yu, and anyone else available to join them in the corridor.
• Chu Xingchen reflected on the unresponsive Shattered Lingyu Butterfly and his uneasy sense that something was about to happen.
• Qinghe ran through the snow and greeted Chu Xingchen, saying, "Black-Hearted Brat, long time no see!"

Qinghe delivered Chu Xingchen a sealed message and the Sealed Ancient Calamity Records from Bai Xuanling. The warning said Chu Xingchen might have to face an ancient calamity, leaving him to prepare while Qinghe stayed for tea and grilled food.

• Chu Xingchen asked Qinghe why she had come alone, and she explained that Bai Xuanling had sent her with a top-secret message.
• Chu Xingchen unlocked the jade slip and watched Bai Xuanling and ten Heavenly Derivation Sect cultivators kill a monstrous beast on an island.
• Bai Xuanling warned that a calamity might fall to Chu Xingchen and ordered him to study the Sealed Ancient Calamity Records, prepare, and keep the matter secret.
• Chu Xingchen destroyed the jade slip and joked that Bai Xuanling wanted him to break off Qinghe's horns to forge a divine weapon.
• Qinghe handed Chu Xingchen the old book, and he invited her to stay for tea and grilled food; she agreed to have a little.

Chu Xingchen read a historical record of the Great Calamity and its demons, then told his disciples he was going to the Heavenly Derivation Sect to study further records. The system issued him a main quest titled “The Great Calamity approaches.”

• Chu Xingchen read the ancient book’s concise history of the Great Calamity, which recorded the demons’ rise, the Divine Dragon’s defeat, and the human race’s eventual victory at enormous cost.
• Chu Xingchen examined detailed demon descriptions and weaknesses before deciding what information was suitable for his disciples to see.
• After the winter gathering, Chu Xingchen told his disciples to inform his eldest senior sister and second senior brother that he had gone to the Heavenly Derivation Sect, and he left talismans so he could summon them.
• Chen Baiqing asked to accompany Chu Xingchen, but he reminded her that the sect needed her while the other senior disciples remained in seclusion, so she agreed to stay.
• After finishing the book, Chu Xingchen received a system main quest: “The Great Calamity approaches.”

In Western Ox-He Continent, three soil-born figures discussed the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect’s investigation and planned to throw humanity into chaos now that Heaven’s ordained order had collapsed. Chu Xingchen crossed the Muddy River into the continent, where the blood bubbling behind his ferryboat suggested he had killed a river demon, and the river stayed quiet for years afterward.

• A woman called Chili, a young man, and an old man formed from the soil in Three Waters Echo and discussed the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect’s pursuit of them.
• The old man revealed a crystal containing pure white light and declared that Heaven’s ordained order had collapsed, leaving unclaimed fortune and no protection for the Human Race.
• The old man ordered the others to throw humanity into chaos, then he and the young man dispersed back into soil.
• Chu Xingchen crossed the Muddy River by ferry and listened as the ferryman warned him about Western Ox-He Continent’s dangers and its people.
• Chu Xingchen paid the ferryman generously and stepped ashore as a transparent embroidery needle returned to his hand.
• Blood bubbles rose in the river after the ferryman rowed away, and the river remained quiet for many years.

Chu Xingchen traveled alone to the Western Ox-He Continent to investigate the traces of the [Demon] and the great calamity, using the Heavenly Patrol Bureau as a source of support. He reached Huangliang City and met a young woman at the Wealth Beckoning Tavern, where she greeted him with an unexpected curse.

• Chu Xingchen reviewed the Heavenly Derivation Sect's incomplete records of the great calamity, warned Lü Xuan, and left instructions and a Spiritual Power stone before setting out alone.
• He traveled to the Western Ox-He Continent, believing it held the most clues about the [Demon], and decided not to bring his still-green disciples into danger.
• Chu Xingchen planned to use the Heavenly Patrol Bureau, which the Eighteen Immortal Sects jointly administered, for information and assistance in his investigation.
• He surveyed the desolate landscape, then entered Huangliang City and was struck by its plain buildings, sparse population, and profane local speech.
• Chu Xingchen arrived at the Wealth Beckoning Tavern and found a dark-skinned young woman waiting in a room on the third floor.
• The young woman greeted Chu Xingchen with a curse, then abruptly realized she had said something wrong.

Lychee met Chu Xingchen after he had waited five days for his Heavenly Patrol Bureau liaison, then agreed to prepare records for his visit to several sites in the Western Ox-He Continent. At Heavenly Derivation Peak, Bai Xuanling read Chu Xingchen’s letter, warned Lü Xuan to prepare for the worst, and left when Yan Yun announced Chen Baiqing was looking for Chu Xingchen.

• Lychee worried that Chu Xingchen would report her for swearing, but he put her at ease and asked about recent reports of demons.
• Lychee told Chu Xingchen that reports of demons were over a thousand years old and warned him that some of the places he wanted to visit were now Buddhist Sect territory.
• Chu Xingchen said he only meant to inspect the places, and Lychee offered to study their records before guiding him.
• Bai Xuanling read a letter from Chu Xingchen and told Lü Xuan to prepare for the worst.
• Yan Yun announced that Chen Baiqing had arrived looking for Chu Xingchen, and Bai Xuanling left the hall without responding.

Chu Xingchen traveled with Lychee to Ten Thousand Buddhas City and investigated its Buddha statues, which were collecting Wish Power from people entering the city. He spotted Xu Jin of the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect, and Lychee asked what he was looking at.

• Chu Xingchen gave Lychee a Spatial Ring, and they set off for Ten Thousand Buddhas City without taking the rented Spirit Beast carriage.
• Chu Xingchen told Lychee he had Nascent Soul cultivation as they arrived at the city, where a Buddha statue seemed to mark people in the queue.
• Chu Xingchen sent Lychee through the civilian entrance while he entered the city separately and waited by the gate.
• Chu Xingchen observed that Buddha statues throughout the city were absorbing Wish Power from the people around them.
• Chu Xingchen spotted Xu Jin of the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect, and Lychee asked what he was looking at.

Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin shared intelligence about a possible alliance between demons and the Buddhist Sect on the Western Ox-He Continent, then agreed to investigate the Ten Thousand Buddhas Assembly. Chu Xingchen left Xu Jin to track wish power and took Lychee to the Fortune-Bringing Tavern, while Lychee tried to make him guess her thoughts.

• Xu Jin told Chu Xingchen that the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect had leads linking the Buddhist Sect on the Western Ox-He Continent to demons and suspected the Central Province Buddhist Sect might also be involved.
• Xu Jin explained that Central Province had suppressed the Western Ox-He Continent's Spirit Veins and that the Buddhist Sect might use wish power to support its plans.
• Xu Jin said he was planting modified wish power in Buddha statues to trace its routes during the Ten Thousand Buddhas Assembly in three days.
• Chu Xingchen told Xu Jin to meet him at the Fortune-Bringing Tavern and left him to continue his work, promising to make preparations of his own.
• Lychee wondered whether Nascent Soul Realm cultivators could read minds, and Chu Xingchen explained that her expression had revealed her thoughts.

As the Ten Thousand Buddhas Assembly began, Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin decided to investigate the Buddhist Sect’s methods before tracing the wish power. Lychee offered to explain Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple’s history as they approached it, warning that any Buddhas inside would not be true Buddhas.

• Chu Xingchen watched the people of Ten Thousand Buddhas City chant and send wish power toward the Buddha statues, reflecting on Yuanjing’s sincere efforts before his death.
• Xu Jin told Chu Xingchen that the assembly began that night and that they could trace the wish power after it peaked the next day.
• Chu Xingchen proposed visiting Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple that night, and Xu Jin agreed to accompany him.
• Chu Xingchen gave Lychee a jade slip and protective necklace and instructed her to guard their base and alert them if the protection activated.
• Lychee offered to explain Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple’s origins, then accompanied Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin through the crowded streets toward the temple.
• Lychee warned that even if Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple contained Buddhas, they would not be true Buddhas.

Chu Xingchen, Xu Jin, and Lychee entered the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple to investigate its Buddhist practices after Lychee described the famine and deaths tied to its construction. Inside, Chu Xingchen noticed Lychee could not see the temple’s immense gathering of wish power.

• Lychee explained that the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple took fifty-four years to build and that famine and labor killed many people during its construction.
• Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin led Lychee past the devout worshippers and guards and walked directly into the temple.
• Chu Xingchen reassured Lychee that the temple’s cultivators had more reason to fear them, and Xu Jin joked that they would send them to meet the Buddha.
• Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin headed toward the main hall, where a vast mass of crude wish power had gathered.
• Chu Xingchen asked Lychee whether she could see the wish power, and Lychee replied that her cultivation seemed too low to see it.

Chu Xingchen led Lychee and Xu Jin into the Main Hall, where he used an illusion to conceal them from the monk Cilin while Xu Jin manipulated the wish power. Chu Xingchen pushed Lychee to intimidate Cilin, who mistook her for a powerful cultivator, and the chapter ended with Lychee insulting him.

• Chu Xingchen led Lychee and Xu Jin through the temple to the Main Hall, where they found the aged monk Cilin gathering wish power for the Buddha statues.
• Cilin questioned Chu Xingchen and unleashed an aura, but Chu Xingchen reassured Lychee that Cilin could not see or hear them because he had fallen under an illusion.
• Chu Xingchen told Xu Jin to mix infiltrator wish power into the hall, and Xu Jin began manipulating it while Cilin threatened to drive the intruders out.
• When the Buddha statue released a force, Xu Jin blocked it and warned Chu Xingchen that the wish power could not withstand further disturbance.
• Chu Xingchen pushed Lychee forward and told her to act like a Nascent Soul expert; Cilin mistook her for a terrifyingly powerful cultivator and asked what guidance she had brought.
• Lychee called Cilin a hairless, dumbass bald donkey.

Lychee confronted a monk at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple and, following Chu Xingchen’s advice, invoked the Evil Spirit Cult to demand payment. Chu Xingchen then used Lychee’s voice to threaten exposure of the monk’s dealings with demons, but the monk denied knowing anything.

• Lychee recognized that the elderly monk feared her and boldly demanded he explain himself.
• Chu Xingchen prompted Lychee to claim she represented the Evil Spirit Cult and sought cooperation with Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple.
• Lychee demanded protection money, then insisted the monk pay with something other than Spirit Stones.
• The monk turned hostile when he suspected Lychee wanted the temple’s Wish Power, while Xu Jin finished his task and signaled Chu Xingchen.
• Chu Xingchen threatened to expose the monk’s dealings with demons, but the monk firmly denied the accusation.

At Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin confronted a Buddhist elder before a Momentary Buddha Body intervened. Xu Jin escaped with Lychee while Chu Xingchen fought the Buddha manifestation, and the chapter ended with the hall empty and the golden statue returned to stillness.

• Chu Xingchen warned the elderly monk that the Divine Cult wanted a share of the wish power and struck him down with the White Azure Method.
• The great golden Buddha awakened as a Momentary Buddha Body, and Xu Jin told Chu Xingchen to flee with Lychee while he covered their retreat.
• Chu Xingchen sent Lychee to Xu Jin, who escaped as Chu Xingchen used blood qi to hold back the Buddha Light.
• The Buddha manifestation attacked Chu Xingchen with countless Buddha hands, and he countered with Myriad Forms and his blood qi.
• The Buddha Kingdom slammed down on Chu Xingchen as believers outside Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple poured in wish power.
• The golden statue found the main hall empty, ignored the unconscious elderly monk, and returned to its original pose.

Buddha Lingshang ordered the Buddhist Sect to deliver the Evil Spirit Cult to salvation and investigate the cultists at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple. After the clash there, Chu Xingchen let Lychee leave Ten Thousand Buddhas City safely, while Xu Jin waited to trace the wish power feeding the temple.

• Buddha Lingshang ordered his followers to investigate the Evil Spirit Cult members at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple and deliver the entire cult, including those in Central Province, to salvation.
• Ten Thousand Buddhas City’s believers grew more fervent after hearing that Buddhist light had shone from the temple the previous night.
• Lychee asked Chu Xingchen whether they would keep facing powerful Central Province cultivators and admitted she wanted to withdraw from the dangerous mission.
• Chu Xingchen reassured Lychee that the monk had not seen her true appearance, allowed her to leave, and took back the potentially traceable talismans.
• Lychee gave Chu Xingchen her prepared materials and left Ten Thousand Buddhas City; Xu Jin then asked why Chu Xingchen had let her go, and Chu Xingchen said she still wanted to eat lychees.

Chen Baiqing waited at the Heavenly Derivation Sect for Chu Xingchen to return, but Lü Xuan’s attempt to persuade her to leave prompted her to reconsider what her master would want. She chose to go cultivate and gain experience, while Lü Xuan arranged for the Pivot Court to protect her.

• Lü Xuan tried to persuade Chen Baiqing to return to her sect, but she remained silent and insisted she would leave with Chu Xingchen after his secluded cultivation.
• Li Yingling declined Lü Xuan’s request to come in person, saying Chen Baiqing could make her own choices and asking him to keep her safe.
• Lü Xuan invoked Chu Xingchen’s supposed words to encourage Chen Baiqing to leave, but she rejected his claim and explained that her master urged his disciples to be themselves.
• Chen Baiqing left to cultivate and decided to gain experience beyond her master’s protection so she could stand beside him and share his burdens.
• Lü Xuan ordered the Pivot Court to send four A-Class Teams to watch over Chen Baiqing and protect her without stopping her choices.

Chu Xingchen and Xu Jin traveled in disguise toward Prajna City to investigate a small shipment of wish power being escorted by Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple. As they followed the trail, Xu Jin revealed that the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect had its own mission, but did not explain what it was.

• Xu Jin drove Chu Xingchen along a rough road while they posed as ordinary travelers heading toward Prajna City.
• Chu Xingchen explained that Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple was moving a large shipment of wish power toward Central Province and a smaller one toward Prajna City, so they had chosen to investigate the smaller shipment.
• Chu Xingchen asked Xu Jin why the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect had mobilized so strongly to investigate the demons' revival.
• Xu Jin said the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect had its own mission, then asked why Chu Xingchen had come to Western Ox-He Continent.
• Chu Xingchen said he had come mainly for himself and his disciples, with only a small part of his effort devoted to all living beings.

At the Gathering Colors Pavilion, Chu Xingchen used Xu Jin’s money and status to stop a patron from harassing Shanghua and planned to make the brothers prominent in Prajna City while investigating Wish Power. When the pavilion’s madam invited Chu Xingchen to tea with Shanghua, he insisted on bringing Xu Jin, accusing her of looking down on his brother.

• Shanghua played the zither behind a curtain while a wealthy patron threw silver at it and demanded lewd music.
• Chu Xingchen challenged the patron, and Xu Jin put down a thousand-tael gold note; the patron backed down and Shanghua resumed playing.
• Chu Xingchen told Xu Jin that they would spend money to become known in Prajna City and use their status to investigate and question people.
• The pavilion’s madam thanked the brothers and said Shanghua wanted to serve tea to the man who had helped her.
• Chu Xingchen agreed to bring Xu Jin, then accused the madam of looking down on his brother when she hesitated.