Chapter Summaries

Chu Xingchen forced the Clearwind Sect to punish Shangguan Hong and assist his investigation into evil cultivators. After leading Zheng Xiaofeng out of the sect, Chu Xingchen revealed his suspicions about Shangguan Hong and asked Zheng whether he liked the Heavenly Derivation Sect.

• Shangguan Hong apologized after Yaoqin's sword strike convinced him that Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin were powerful guests.
• Chu Xingchen asked the Clearwind Sect to search for evil cultivators, then ordered Shangguan Hong confined to the Disciplinary Chamber for questioning the Heavenly Derivation Sect's standing.
• The sect leader agreed to send search parties and assigned Zheng Xiaofeng to assist Chu Xingchen.
• Chu Xingchen left the Clearwind Sect with Yaoqin and Zheng Xiaofeng, explaining that Shangguan Hong's new Acquired Demon Body trait suggested he had joined the evil cultivators.
• Chu Xingchen told Zheng Xiaofeng there was a better path for him and asked whether he liked the Heavenly Derivation Sect.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin toured the Clearwind Sect’s surroundings while Zheng Xiaofeng obeyed Chu Xingchen’s increasingly ridiculous requests. After arranging guest rooms for them, Zheng Xiaofeng faced the sect leader’s expectant gaze and realized he would have to explain himself.

• Chu Xingchen offered Zheng Xiaofeng a Blood Qi Spirit Stone, then took it back after Zheng Xiaofeng agreed that he liked the Heavenly Derivation Sect, suggesting the sect no longer wanted him.
• Chu Xingchen asked Zheng Xiaofeng for food and scenic spots, then made him lead Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin to a nearby stream.
• Chu Xingchen soaked his feet, had Zheng Xiaofeng catch two rabbits, and then ordered him to release them and carry out a string of trivial errands throughout the afternoon.
• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin returned to the Clearwind Sect, where Zheng Xiaofeng arranged their guest rooms and was told to meet them at the sect entrance the next morning.
• After Zheng Xiaofeng left Chu Xingchen’s room, he saw the sect leader waiting with a look that demanded an explanation.

Zheng Xiaofeng concealed the Blood Qi Spirit Stone and endured questioning from the Clearwind Sect leader and Elder Li, then spent another day carrying out Chu Xingchen’s and Yaoqin’s orders. Chu Xingchen finally confronted him about the pressure he faced and warned that he had to struggle to save himself, leaving Zheng with a choice among three sides.

• Zheng Xiaofeng told the sect leader that Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin had only ordered him around, hiding what he knew about the Blood Qi Spirit Stone.
• Elder Li questioned Zheng Xiaofeng about the Heavenly Derivation Sect disciples, and Zheng again claimed they had done nothing but torment him.
• Zheng Xiaofeng waited at the Clearwind Sect’s gate, then accompanied Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin to the stream and carried out Chu’s strange orders all day.
• Chu Xingchen scanned Zheng Xiaofeng, noticed his unsettled state, and asked whether he understood that the torment had been deliberate.
• Chu Xingchen told Zheng Xiaofeng that none of the involved sides would trust him and urged him to struggle for a chance to survive.

Chu Xingchen persuaded Zheng Xiaofeng to defect to the Heavenly Derivation Sect by promising him a gate-sweeping position. At the Clearwind Sect, Zheng Xiaofeng boldly claimed his new affiliation while Chu Xingchen accused the sect of involvement in the Evil Cultivator affair.

• Chu Xingchen offered Zheng Xiaofeng a place as an externally hired Heavenly Derivation Sect gate sweeper, and Zheng agreed to defect in exchange for that promise.
• Chu Xingchen told Zheng Xiaofeng to repeat whatever he transmitted and act overbearing when they returned to the Clearwind Sect.
• Chu Xingchen demanded the sect leader come to the meeting hall and accused the Clearwind Sect of having someone involved in the Evil Cultivator affair.
• When the sect leader asked to see Central Province's intelligence, Zheng Xiaofeng challenged him and declared that he had joined the Heavenly Derivation Sect as its gate sweeper.

Chu Xingchen accused the Clearwind Sect of colluding with evil cultivators, appointed Zheng Xiaofeng to oversee an internal investigation, and left with Yaoqin to intercept messengers heading to the mine. The chapter left Zheng confronting the Clearwind Sect leader while Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin prepared to investigate the sect’s routes.

• Zheng Xiaofeng confronted the Clearwind Sect leader and declared that he still belonged to the Heavenly Derivation Sect, while Chu Xingchen confirmed he had come willingly.
• Chu Xingchen accused the Clearwind Sect of colluding with evil cultivators and presented a Blood Qi Spirit Stone as evidence, directing the leader to investigate Elder Shangguan.
• Chu Xingchen appointed Zheng Xiaofeng to oversee the Clearwind Sect’s internal investigation and warned the leader not to let him disappear during the three days he and Yaoqin would be away.
• After Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin left, Zheng Xiaofeng boldly ordered the Clearwind Sect leader to take him to the Disciplinary Chamber, and the leader restrained his anger and complied.
• Outside the Clearwind Sect, Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin split up to block the eastern and southern routes to the mine and intercept anyone carrying messages.

Elder Li headed for the Clearwind Sect mine but was intercepted and captured by Yaoqin. Chu Xingchen began interrogating him with a bitter Flour Pill, and Elder Li quickly begged to confess.

• Elder Li left the Clearwind Sect and used earth evasion to travel toward the mine, unaware that someone was tracking him.
• Yaoqin ambushed Elder Li, destroyed his lifebound flying sword, and captured him after he tried to flee.
• Yaoqin told Chu Xingchen that Elder Li had refused to answer questions, and Chu Xingchen prepared a Flour Pill for the interrogation.
• Chu Xingchen forced the bitter pill into Elder Li's mouth, and Elder Li began writhing and pleading to confess.

After Elder Li revealed the Evil Spirit Cult’s plans, Yaoqin’s memories and anger drove her to attack the Clearwind Sect mine with Chu Xingchen. They wiped out the mine’s defenders, and the chapter ended with Yaoqin returning Chu Xingchen’s teasing two-finger gesture.

• Elder Li confessed the Evil Spirit Cult’s plan to create a Holy Mother, and Chu Xingchen sealed his mouth when he demanded an antidote.
• Yaoqin revealed her hatred of the evil cultivators and beheaded Elder Li, then insisted she would confront them alone.
• Chu Xingchen told Yaoqin he would stand beside her, and they set off to wipe out the evil cultivators at the Clearwind Sect mine.
• Yaoqin’s flying sword killed the mine’s guards while Chu Xingchen destroyed a Golden Core cultivator and the warehouse with his Three Thousand Weak Waters Sword divine ability.
• Yaoqin finished off the remaining Clearwind Sect disciples and returned Chu Xingchen’s two-finger gesture, declaring that he was weak too.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin interrogated captured evil cultivators at the Clearwind Sect mine and learned that the Wind Sword Sect served the evil cult. Chu Xingchen proposed infiltrating it by pretending to be evil cultivators, then reluctantly used his Blood Qi Spirit Stones to prepare for the scheme.

• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin freed the miners and kept two black-robed evil cultivators alive for questioning.
• Chu Xingchen killed one captive and frightened Liu Yang into revealing that the Wind Sword Sect gathered resources for the Holy Mother.
• Yaoqin took a token from Liu Yang and warned that the Wind Sword Sect had a nascent soul-stage sect master and several golden core elders.
• Chu Xingchen told Yaoqin to change their approach and suggested that they pose as evil cultivators.
• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin approached the Wind Sword Sect, where Chu Xingchen reluctantly dumped out his Blood Qi Spirit Stones and asked Yaoqin to recover them later.

Chu Xingchen tricked the Wind Sword Sect leader into accepting Blood Qi Spirit Stones and leading him to the hidden site where the Holy Mother was taking form. After following the group to its concealed entrance, Chu Xingchen stopped Yaoqin and prepared to get them inside by another means.

• Chu Xingchen gave Yaoqin the Blood Qi Spirit Stones and took the token to pose as an Evil Cultivator delivering them to the Wind Sword Sect.
• Chu Xingchen convinced the Wind Sword Sect disciples and sect leader that he served the Evil Spirit Cult by displaying his power over their blood qi.
• The Wind Sword Sect leader gathered three Golden Core elders and carried the Spirit Stones toward the Holy Mother’s hidden location.
• The Wind Sword Sect leader opened a concealed mountain entrance with blood qi and led the elders inside as Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin watched from nearby.
• Yaoqin warned Chu Xingchen that entering required an Evil Cultivator’s cultivation art, but Chu Xingchen stopped her and claimed he could handle it.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin entered the Evil Spirit Cult’s cave and found the Holy Mother overseeing a ritual to transform a Sacred Fetus, fueled by Blood Qi Spirit Stones. When she attacked them, Yaoqin and Chu Xingchen fought back, but the Holy Mother drew on the ritual array and six cauldrons to strengthen her blood qi.

• Chu Xingchen subdued the blood qi sealing the cave entrance and tore it away, then entered with Yaoqin.
• Yaoqin led the way through the bloody cave until they overheard the Holy Mother berating the Wind Sword Sect’s sect master over a failed Sacred Fetus and delayed Spirit Stones.
• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin saw the Holy Mother conducting a ritual as the sect master and his companions filled six cauldrons with Blood Qi Spirit Stones.
• After the sect master and the other Golden Core cultivators left, Chu Xingchen mistook Yaoqin’s signal to retreat for a signal to attack and drew his spirit sword.
• The Holy Mother detected them and attacked; Chu Xingchen split her blood qi while Yaoqin struck with the Heavenly Derivation Supreme Clarity Sword.
• The Holy Mother summoned a blood lotus and used the ritual array and six cauldrons to intensify her power as she challenged the two Golden Core cultivators.

Yaoqin fought the woman in red while Chu Xingchen stood motionless, and the woman nearly defeated Yaoqin. Chu Xingchen then seized control of the blood qi, turning the battle against the woman and leaving the Wind Sword Sect unsure whom to attack.

• Yaoqin battled the woman in red, whose bell and blood qi blasted Yaoqin into a rock wall.
• The woman in red moved to attack Yaoqin again while Chu Xingchen remained still, and Yaoqin threw him a Thousand-Mile Teleportation Talisman and urged him to run.
• Chu Xingchen revealed that he had been checking passwords with the blood qi and took control of it, directing it to attack the woman in red.
• The Wind Sword Sect members returned to the cave and saw the blood qi attacking the woman they knew as the Holy Mother.
• The woman in red ordered the Wind Sword Sect to kill Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin, but Chu Xingchen called her an impostor and urged them to judge her by who controlled the blood qi.
• The Wind Sword Sect's sect master twice hesitated to draw his sword as Chu Xingchen's claim made him question the woman's identity.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin fought the woman in red and the Wind Sword Sect during the Holy Religion’s final ritual, while the Sacred Fetus neared completion. They killed the woman in red, but the child remained suspended in the ritual as the Wind Sword Sect’s fighters fled.

• The woman in red attacked the blood-qi sphere, while the Wind Sword Sect leader recognized her as the real Holy Mother and sent his elders after Chu Xingchen.
• Chu Xingchen empowered Yaoqin with blood qi, and she used it to hold off the Wind Sword Sect’s four Golden Core cultivators.
• Chu Xingchen broke through the blood lotus and contested control of the sphere, forcing the woman in red to use a petal to drive him back.
• The blood qi sphere dispersed, revealing a fragile child being refined into the Sacred Fetus, and Chu Xingchen redirected blood qi to help Yaoqin.
• Chu Xingchen feinted at the Sacred Fetus, allowing Yaoqin to stab the woman in red from behind before he cut her in half.
• The Wind Sword Sect’s four fighters saw the Holy Mother dead and fled without attempting to continue the fight.

After rescuing a gravely injured girl from the Evil Spirit Cult’s ritual, Chu Xingchen brought her to Yuzhou City and recruited her as his disciple, Chen Baiqing. Her life was saved, and Chu Xingchen realized her unknown traits could be cultivated.

• The Wind Sword Sect’s four Golden Core cultivators fled, and Chu Xingchen noticed the injured girl’s system panel showed traits generating and future disciple recruitment conditions.
• Chu Xingchen stopped Yaoqin from killing the girl, and the two flew with her to their rented courtyard in Yuzhou City.
• Li Xingtian treated the girl’s blood qi with his spiritual power, removing her life-threatening traits and waking her.
• Chu Xingchen named the girl Chen Baiqing, and the system identified her previously unknown traits as potentially cultivable.
• Chen Baiqing called Li Yingling her eldest senior sister and Chu Xingchen her master, completing her recruitment as his disciple.

After advancing to the Nascent Soul Realm, Chu Xingchen welcomed Chen Baiqing as his new disciple and tried to reassure her that she had found a home rather than been bought as a servant. Chen Baiqing cautiously accepted his kindness and joined him to cook, while he sent Li Yingling and Xingtian to get her clothes, shoes, and sweets.

• Chu Xingchen broke through from Golden Core Perfection to the Nascent Soul Realm as the system issued new tasks to build the True Martial Hall and recruit four disciples.
• Chen Baiqing remembered that Chu Xingchen had saved her and that she had been sold because her family needed to survive.
• Chu Xingchen told Chen Baiqing that being his disciple meant she had found a new home, but she mistook him for the lord who had bought her.
• Chu Xingchen told Chen Baiqing to eat, sleep, and spend time with her senior sister, then said he would cook to celebrate her arrival.
• Chen Baiqing offered to cook because she feared she needed to work, and Chu Xingchen invited her to help while sending Li Yingling to buy clothes and shoes and Xingtian to buy sweets and candied fruit.
• Chen Baiqing took the hand Chu Xingchen held out to her.

Chu Xingchen welcomed Chen Baiqing into his household, where his disciples helped her settle in and she tasted candied fruit for the first time. The next morning, a messenger delivered a letter from Xie Lingyu and a storage ring full of Spirit Stones.

• Chu Xingchen gave Chen Baiqing the task of tending the kitchen fire while he cooked, and Li Xingtian offered her candied fruit.
• Chen Baiqing tasted the candied fruit and told Chu Xingchen it was sweet; Li Yingling then dressed her in new clothes.
• Yaoqin arrived for dinner, confirmed Chu Xingchen’s arrangements were in order, and learned that Chen Baiqing was his third disciple.
• Chu Xingchen reminded Li Xingtian to practice his Divine Ability before Chen Baiqing and Li Yingling went to bed.
• The next morning, a veiled messenger delivered Chu Xingchen a letter signed by Xie Lingyu and a storage ring containing at least a thousand Spirit Stones.

Chu Xingchen and Li Xingtian searched for a suitable site to build their sect, then discovered Li Yingling had been teaching Chen Baiqing from an advanced book. The chapter ended with Li Xingtian taking over Chen Baiqing’s lessons.

• Chu Xingchen counted Yaoqin’s Spirit Stones and decided they could fund a Spirit Gathering Formation and temporary side rooms, though building the True Martial Hall would be too expensive.
• Chu Xingchen and Li Xingtian searched for an auspicious site but found none, and Chu Xingchen insisted their next search should be east despite having said the opposite the day before.
• Chu Xingchen and Li Xingtian returned home and overheard Li Yingling struggling to teach Chen Baiqing, so they tried to slip away before Li Yingling dragged them inside.
• Chu Xingchen discovered Chen Baiqing was studying the Treatise on the Great Dao rather than the primer, which she had already memorized, and realized Li Yingling’s expectations were the problem.
• Chu Xingchen assigned Li Xingtian to teach Chen Baiqing, and Li Xingtian gently offered to take over her lessons.

Chu Xingchen and Li Yingling discovered a concealed underground spirit vein and secured the land for their sect, then began setting up a Spirit-Gathering Array and building rough wooden houses. The next morning, Chu Xingchen told Chen Baiqing he planned to visit the Clearwind Sect.

• Li Yingling guided Chu Xingchen to a lake, where he found a chained stone concealing an underground spirit vein.
• Chu Xingchen registered the land with the Demon-Suppression Bureau and returned with his three disciples and building materials.
• Chu Xingchen set up a Spirit-Gathering Array while Li Xingtian and Li Yingling built crooked wooden houses to claim the site.
• Chu Xingchen called Chen Baiqing away from her reading, and she carefully packed up her candied fruit before going home.
• The next morning, Chu Xingchen told Chen Baiqing he was planning to visit the Clearwind Sect.

The Clearwind Sect leader weighed Central Province’s directive to punish elders involved in the evil cultivator affair while trying to manage the sect’s costly repairs. Chu Xingchen returned and pressured him into supplying money and workers to build houses, leaving the Clearwind Sect leader to accept the deal as the price of keeping some elders.

• The Clearwind Sect leader considered the directive to deal with Shangguan Hong, Elder Li, and other elders implicated in the evil cultivator affair.
• The Clearwind Sect leader ordered the foreman to speed up the main hall repairs, but learned they would take over five months.
• Chu Xingchen returned, demanded to be addressed as a senior, and asked the Clearwind Sect to advance money and provide workers for building houses.
• The Clearwind Sect leader hesitated, so Chu Xingchen threatened to discuss the sect’s aid to evil cultivators and their Blood Qi Spirit Stone scheme.
• The Clearwind Sect leader agreed to help Chu Xingchen, treating the arrangement as a transaction that might allow some elders to remain.

Chu Xingchen sent his disciples to oversee construction at the Heavenly Derivation Sect’s new site, then took Chen Baiqing to the Clearwind Sect to manipulate its newly appointed Reception Elder, Jiang Zhiming, into allowing more building materials to be used. The chapter ended with Jiang Zhiming basking in Chu Xingchen’s praise, unaware of his plan.

• Chu Xingchen gave Li Xingtian the True Martial Hall Blueprints and told him to mix expensive materials into the construction, while Li Yingling and Chen Baiqing stayed to supervise.
• Chu Xingchen took Chen Baiqing to the Clearwind Sect as the sect leader appointed Jiang Zhiming, a Foundation Establishment middle stage disciple, Reception Elder.
• After a Mountain Gate Disciple warned Jiang Zhiming that Chu Xingchen had arrived, Chu Xingchen walked into the Side Hall with Chen Baiqing and assessed Jiang Zhiming’s traits.
• Chu Xingchen praised Jiang Zhiming’s prospects, and Jiang Zhiming inwardly rejoiced that the supposedly difficult visitor was so easy to talk to.

Chu Xingchen used praise and pressure to secure Jiang Zhiming’s help overseeing Clearwind Sect’s construction, while Chen Baiqing misunderstood his lessons about dealing with people. At the new sect grounds, Li Yingling and Li Xingtian encountered Ning Qianqian and her father among the workers.

• Chu Xingchen befriended Jiang Zhiming and persuaded him to introduce him to Elder Wang, who promised to watch for construction quality issues.
• Jiang Zhiming showed Chu Xingchen around the Clearwind Sect and agreed to welcome him back the next day, then faced the sect leader’s questioning stare.
• On the way back, Chu Xingchen asked Chen Baiqing what she had learned, and she concluded that he had taught her to deceive and bully fools.
• Chu Xingchen told Chen Baiqing to forget the day’s lessons and headed with her toward the new sect grounds.
• Li Yingling worried that Chu Xingchen might lead Chen Baiqing astray, while Li Xingtian reassured her that their master had limits.
• Ning Qianqian, dressed as a worker with an axe over her shoulder, greeted Li Yingling, and her father stood excitedly beside her.