Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua entered Tonghu City with the monk Hong Qing, who revealed that he had secret news about solving the problem of recruiting disciples. Hong Qing offered to share it for one medium-grade crystal stone, leaving Xiao Hua to decide whether to pay.

• Hong Qing's spirit beast, Overlord Tiger, shrank and clung to his leg, amusing Xiao Hua as they reached Tonghu City.
• Hong Qing invited Xiao Hua to enter the city with him, and they introduced themselves at its defensive boundary.
• Xiao Hua told Hong Qing he was a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator from the Shaque Immortal Alliance, while Hong Qing revealed that he had reached Returning Spirit.
• Hong Qing asked about the difficulty of recruiting disciples, and Xiao Hua described how traditional selection methods failed to identify those who cultivated quickly.
• Hong Qing offered secret Heavenly Alliance news that could solve the recruitment problem in exchange for one medium-grade crystal stone.

Xiao Hua paid Hong Qing five low-grade crystal stones for information about the Spiritual Root selection technique, and Hong Qing led him into Tonghu City toward Changlin Pavilion. Hong Qing explained the city's auction levels as they approached the mountain, where Changlin Pavilion held auctions for Nascent Soul cultivators.

• Xiao Hua agreed to pay Hong Qing five low-grade crystal stones for information about the Spiritual Root selection technique.
• Hong Qing fed one of Xiao Hua’s crystal stones to his Overlord Tiger and told Xiao Hua the technique was being auctioned at Changlin Pavilion.
• Hong Qing led Xiao Hua through Tonghu City’s gate, and Xiao Hua saw a towering mountain surrounded by commercial halls and pavilions.
• Hong Qing explained that the mountain’s levels served different cultivation realms and that Changlin Pavilion was on the fifth level for Nascent Soul cultivators.

Xiao Hua and Hong Qing traveled by teleportation array to Changlin Pavilion on Tonghu City's fifth level, where a Spiritual Root selection technique was reportedly being offered. Xiao Hua entered the crowded pavilion as Hong Qing continued trying to persuade him to bid for the technique.

• Hong Qing advised Xiao Hua to seek a Dao sect senior on the eighth level and beg to become a disciple.
• Hong Qing explained that Tonghu City's Bidding Peak used teleportation arrays between levels, then entered a passage to the fifth level without paying his crystals.
• Xiao Hua paid two low-grade crystals to the guard and followed Hong Qing through a teleportation passage.
• Hong Qing urged Xiao Hua to bid for a Spiritual Root selection technique so he could examine it, but Xiao Hua refused and shut off his hearing.
• Xiao Hua followed the crowd into Changlin Pavilion and arrived before the crowded, bamboo-green pavilion.

Xiao Hua entered Changlin Pavilion to see Xinming Sect auction its Spiritual Root selection technique, whose origins and usefulness were met with skepticism. Xinming Sect disciple Xie Han defended the technique, but the auction and questions about its value remained unresolved.

• Hong Qing persuaded Xiao Hua to enter Changlin Pavilion for the auction.
• Changlin Pavilion transformed into a large bamboo-lit pavilion, where Huan Suanzi welcomed the cultivators on behalf of Tonghu City's City Lord.
• Huan Suanzi announced a starting bid of ten supreme-grade crystals, prompting complaints that the price had risen sharply.
• The cultivators questioned whether the Spiritual Root selection technique was genuine and effective, and Huan Suanzi vouched that the City Lord had examined it.
• Xie Han said Xinming Sect had used the technique to select disciples for several years, though they lacked suitable cultivation methods, and claimed they obtained it before Heaven Sacrificing Abyss was sealed.

Xiao Hua reunited with Zhe Jun at Changlin Pavilion, where Zhe Jun revealed that he had stolen Xiao Hua’s Spiritual Root selection technique. After Xiao Hua subdued the city’s defenses, Zhe Jun explained his ties to the Heaven Alliance and the Luoxian Sect disciples he had taken back with him.

• Xie Han hesitated to explain how his sect had obtained the Spiritual Root selection technique, and Zhe Jun emerged from the bamboo platform.
• Zhe Jun recognized Xiao Hua and accused him of being a Dao Alliance cultivator, then revealed that Xiao Hua had created the technique he stole.
• Huan Suanzi activated Changlin Pavilion’s array and ordered the guards to attack Xiao Hua, but Xiao Hua shattered the array and stopped them.
• Zhe Jun knelt and explained that the Heaven Alliance had planted him in the Luoxian Sect and that he had returned to the Heaven Alliance with ten Luoxian Sect disciples, all secretly from the Xinming Sect.
• Zhe Jun said he had planned to take the Chan He Sect’s remains of True Person Huangqiong and the Duotian Demon Subduing Star Array back to the Xinming Sect.

Xiao Hua learned that the Dao Alliance had spread the Spiritual Root selection technique and set its price at one top-grade crystal stone per jade slip. He explained why it worked for both Nascent Soul and Primordial Spirit cultivators, and the chapter ended with every cultivator in Changlin Pavilion obtaining a copy.

• Xiao Hua questioned a Xinming Sect disciple and confirmed that Zhe Jun had brought disciples back, though the disciple did not know their identities or number.
• Huan Suanzi recounted the Dao Alliance Alliance Meeting, including its distribution of cultivation techniques and the sealing of Heaven Sacrificing Abyss.
• Xiao Hua reprimanded Zhe Jun for trying to sell the Spiritual Root selection technique at auction and ordered Huan Suanzi to sell each jade slip for one top-grade crystal stone.
• After examining the Heavenly Alliance's selection techniques, Xiao Hua explained that Spiritual Roots emphasized spirit and could select both Nascent Soul and Primordial Spirit disciples.
• Xiao Hua supplied over a thousand jade slips as cultivators rushed to buy them, gifted one to Hong Qing, and received the proceeds from Huan Suanzi.

Xiao Hua gave Xinming Sect crystals and offered cultivation techniques for Spiritual Root cultivators, drawing a crowd of eager buyers at Changlin Pavilion. He began selling techniques for crystals through Zhe Jun and the sect disciples, while Hong Qing asked for one suitable for Primordial Spirit cultivation.

• Xiao Hua gave Zhe Jun several hundred crystals for Xinming Sect and told him to sell the Spiritual Root selection technique for one supreme-grade crystal each.
• At Zhe Jun's request, Xiao Hua revealed that he had cultivation techniques ranging up to Mahayana, then called for Tonghu City's City Lord to make the decision.
• Xiao Hua offered techniques up to late Spirit Severing for thirty supreme-grade crystals, with an extra ten for each higher realm, and sold a late Void Refining technique to a cultivator who inspected it and fled Changlin Pavilion.
• Xiao Hua gave Zhe Jun and other Xinming Sect disciples jade slips to sell, and they began handling the crowd of buyers.
• Hong Qing asked Xiao Hua for a Primordial Spirit cultivation technique and offered his ten supreme-grade crystals and Overlord Tiger, which clung to his leg and pleaded with its eyes.

Xiao Hua sold revised cultivation techniques to Primordial Spirit cultivators in Changlin Pavilion, while Huan Suanzi rushed to warn Lake Lord Bi Hu about Zhang Xiaohua. Huan Suanzi entered Lake Heart Palace, where he found a strange hall resembling an island beneath a tangled vine pavilion.

• Xiao Hua gave Hong Qing a cultivation technique without charging him, then sold a Returning Spirit technique for fifty supreme-grade crystal stones.
• Xiao Hua organized buyers into four groups to collect techniques for Refining Qi, Returning Spirit, Spirit Refining, and Void Refining, with prices rising by realm.
• Huan Suanzi found that Lake Lord Bi Hu had sealed Lake Heart Palace and that its guards could not deliver a report.
• Huan Suanzi used an emergency communication artifact to alert the City Lord about Zhang Xiaohua, explaining that the Dao Alliance’s message made the matter urgent.
• A stream carried Huan Suanzi through the palace’s yin restriction and into a hall that resembled an island covered by a vast vine pavilion.

Lake Lord Bi Hu learned that Zhang Xiaohua was reportedly dead but had appeared in Tonghu City, and he hurried to investigate with Kong Jing. Meanwhile, Xiao Hua finished dealing with the Heavenly Alliance cultivators and received the sales proceeds from Zhe Jun.

• Huan Suanzi arrived at Lake Heart Palace and told Lake Lord Bi Hu that Zhang Xiaohua was at Changlin Pavilion selling a complete Nascent Soul cultivation technique.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu recognized Zhang Xiaohua as the creator of the Spiritual Root selection technique and prepared to meet him.
• Kong Jing claimed that Zhang Xiaohua had died in a Blood Fiend Demon Formation, but Huan Suanzi pointed out that Zhe Jun had recognized him.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu and Kong Jing set off for Changlin Pavilion to see whether Zhang Xiaohua was truly there.
• Xiao Hua finished dealing with the Heavenly Alliance cultivators, and Zhe Jun presented him with two storage rings containing the sale proceeds.

Xiao Hua rewarded Zhe Jun and entrusted him with cultivation techniques for the Heavenly Alliance and Dao Alliance. When Lake Lord Bi Hu and Kong Jing arrived at Changlin Pavilion, Kong Jing accused Xiao Hua of being an impostor and tried to seal him, but Xiao Hua summoned a giant hand of lightning to break through the barrier.

• Xiao Hua accepted Zhe Jun’s storage ring and learned that the missing Luoxian Sect disciples had been genuine disciples sent back to report.
• Xiao Hua gave Zhe Jun Spirit Severing Cultivation Methods and allowed him to copy them for his fellow disciples.
• Xiao Hua instructed Zhe Jun to send Nascent Soul cultivation techniques to the Heavenly Alliance and Dao Alliance through the Heavenly Alliance.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu arrived at Changlin Pavilion with Kong Jing, who accused Xiao Hua of impersonating Zhang Xiaohua.
• Kong Jing attacked Xiao Hua with the Five-Color Sealing Technique, and Xiao Hua summoned a giant hand of lightning against the barrier.

Xiao Hua defeated Kong Jing’s Five-Colored Peacock Dharma Body and rebuked him for trying to capture him. Kong Jing and Lake Lord Bi Hu knelt and apologized, leaving Xiao Hua to lecture them on keeping greed within bounds.

• Xiao Hua shattered Lake Lord Bi Hu’s five-colored barrier, and Kong Jing formed his Five-Colored Peacock Dharma Body.
• Kong Jing’s five-colored radiance weakened Xiao Hua’s Sea-Overturning Seal, but Xiao Hua’s As-You-Wish Staff struck and crippled the Dharma Body.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu begged Xiao Hua to forgive Kong Jing, while Xiao Hua exposed Kong Jing’s attempt to capture him for the Heavenly Alliance.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu and Kong Jing knelt and thanked Xiao Hua for sparing Kong Jing’s life.
• Xiao Hua told Kong Jing and Lake Lord Bi Hu that greed required limits, and Lake Lord Bi Hu promised to correct himself.

Xiao Hua explained the damage to Kong Jing’s bloodline Dharma Body, learned how others had believed him dead, and entrusted him with cultivation methods for the Heaven Alliance and Dao Alliance. He left Kong Jing with a message that the two alliances should unite against the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi calamity.

• Xiao Hua warned Kong Jing to avoid summoning his Dharma Body and cultivate in seclusion for a thousand years, and Kong Jing realized his injury was serious.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu and Kong Jing told Xiao Hua what they knew about the Blood Fiend Demon Formation and the people who thought he had died.
• Xiao Hua asked whether other Peacock Mountain Villa disciples had accompanied Kong Jing, then gave him four jade slips to deliver to Old Man Peacock and the Heaven Alliance Leader.
• Kong Jing accepted Xiao Hua’s gift, apologized for attacking him, and asked why one of the cultivation methods was meant for the Dao Alliance.
• Xiao Hua said the Heaven Alliance and Dao Alliance were both disciples of the Dao Sect and urged them to join forces against the calamity.

Xiao Hua left the auction after distributing cultivation techniques and giving Lake Lord Bi Hu a Rejuvenation Pill, while Bi Hu arranged rewards and precautions for Tonghu City. Though Bi Hu believed Xiao Hua had departed, Xiao Hua secretly remained in the city and browsed shops on the fifth level.

• Xiao Hua accepted the cultivators’ storage rings, gave Lake Lord Bi Hu a Rejuvenation Pill, and vanished from the auction arena.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu sealed the arena, postponed its auctions, and ordered rewards and cultivation technique rosters for Tonghu City’s disciples.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu realized that over a hundred thousand cultivation technique jade slips had spread across Yilin Continent, then worried Xiao Hua might have a hidden plan for Kong Jing.
• Xiao Hua secretly altered his appearance, descended to the fifth level, bought most of the pill formula jade slips in a shop, and explored the area without drawing attention.

Xiao Hua arranged to use Tonghu Auction House to gather Tonghu City’s cultivators and sell cultivation techniques, preparing for the possibility that the Heavenly Alliance would not pass on the jade slips. Lake Lord Bi Hu halted a crowded spirit beast auction and activated teleportation arrays, but powerful bidders objected as the gathering began.

• Xiao Hua asked Lake Lord Bi Hu whether Tonghu Auction House could gather all cultivators in the city, including merchants and property owners.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu reported that a spirit beast auction already held ninety thousand cultivators and explained how teleportation arrays could bring owners from the upper levels to the venue.
• Xiao Hua said he would invite the upper-level merchants and goods sellers, using the auction house as a backup plan in case the jade slips did not reach the Dao Alliance complete.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu agreed to lend the auction house, accepting that the Heavenly Alliance might retaliate against him.
• Xiao Hua and Lake Lord Bi Hu arrived during a Feathered Sky Beast egg auction, and Lake Lord Bi Hu ordered the auction suspended and the upper-level teleportation arrays activated.
• A short cultivator and a mature woman protested the interruption and threatened Tonghu City.

Xiao Hua used his Tribulation Crossing pressure to halt the auction and hatch a Feathered Sky Beast, which imprinted on him. He then turned Tonghu City's auction grounds into a mass sale of cultivation methods, and the chapter ended with a cultivator asking to trade previously won items for them.

• Xiao Hua silenced two arrogant cultivators with his Tribulation Crossing pressure, and the Feathered Sky Beast hatched and took him for kin.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu offered Xiao Hua the Feathered Sky Beast, which Xiao Hua accepted and stored with its broken egg in his space.
• Xiao Hua used his Hand of Thunder to summon the remaining powerful cultivators, including Master Wagtail, to the auction grounds.
• Xiao Hua announced that he was selling three cultivation methods for one hundred supreme-grade crystal stones apiece, and buyers began exchanging stones for jade slips.
• Master Wagtail bought the methods, examined them, and left, while nearly seventy percent of the auction's cultivators purchased copies.
• A cultivator asked whether he could exchange items won earlier in the auction for Xiao Hua's cultivation methods.

Xiao Hua left the auction hall after distributing cultivation techniques and giving Lake Lord Bi Hu a Rejuvenation Pill, while Lake Lord Bi Hu ordered the hall closed and arranged for the techniques to reach Heavenly Alliance disciples. Xiao Hua had not actually left Tonghu City; he disguised himself, browsed the fifth floor, and bought pill formulas and other jade slips.

• Xiao Hua accepted the cultivators’ storage rings, gave Lake Lord Bi Hu a Rejuvenation Pill, and vanished from the auction hall.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu secured the pill, ordered the auction hall closed, postponed future meetings, and promised to compensate those affected.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu ordered disciples’ cultivation rosters collected and instructed Fu Hong to report the auction’s events to the Heavenly Alliance.
• Lake Lord Bi Hu wondered whether Xiao Hua had secretly planned Kong Jing’s eventual death through his promise of Dao Integration, then sent Fu Hong to carry out his orders.
• Xiao Hua disguised himself and went to the fifth floor, where he bought pill formulas and other jade slips while observing the aftermath of the auction.

Xiao Hua learned that an auction-house incident had sparked wild rumors about an immortal opportunity, then investigated the Shaque Immortal Alliance’s recruitment for a journey into the Lost Land. He reached Lingfan Pavilion to ask about joining, but found the hall apparently unattended.

• Xiao Hua went to the sixth level after recalling that a Tonghu City disciple had directed him there when he mentioned the Shaque Immortal Alliance.
• Xiao Hua heard cultivators exaggerate the auction-house story into rumors that he had bestowed methods, pills, treasures, and breakthroughs, while the crowd rushed toward the ninth-level Teleportation Array.
• Xiao Hua left the crowd, asked a shop attendant about the Shaque Immortal Alliance, and learned it sought certain Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Qi Refinement, and Spirit Restoration cultivators for a dangerous passage through the Wumeng Mountain Range.
• Xiao Hua ignored the attendant’s suggestion to seek an auction-house immortal opportunity and made his way to Lingfan Pavilion.
• Xiao Hua entered Lingfan Pavilion, saw signs that its visitors had recently left, and called out to see whether anyone was there.

Xiao Hua met four Golden Core cultivators from the Shaque Immortal Alliance at Lingfan Pavilion and questioned them about the Lost Land. They urged him to travel there, claiming it offered a refuge from the cultivation crisis, and he agreed to hear more.

• Bai Junfeng, Gao Zhuang, Yu Biqiong, and Ye Yun entered Lingfan Pavilion and greeted Xiao Hua as a senior.
• Bai Junfeng explained that the four had left the pavilion after seeing guests off, then invited Xiao Hua to sit.
• Xiao Hua said he had heard the four discussing the Lost Land and was considering traveling elsewhere because his cultivation had stagnated.
• Yu Biqiong and Bai Junfeng told Xiao Hua that cultivation was nearing its limits and that the Lost Land might have escaped the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi aberration.
• Ye Yun served spirit fruits and wine, and Xiao Hua tasted them before saying he had a question.

Xiao Hua questioned Bai Junfeng and Yu Biqiong about the Shaque Immortal Alliance’s search for cultivators to enter the Lost Land, then decided to leave when he learned they had found no one. He recognized the arriving cultivator as Bai Fei, an old acquaintance from Xiaoyu Continent who had reached late Nascent Soul, and the chapter left them facing one another at Lingfan Pavilion.

• Xiao Hua asked why the Shaque Immortal Alliance sought cultivators from Tonghu City instead of entering the Lost Land itself, and Bai Junfeng explained the transmission tunnel’s deadly danger.
• Bai Junfeng and Yu Biqiong said their Alliance Leader would test candidates for special abilities or constitutions and reward those who failed, while describing the Lost Land’s supposed opportunities.
• Xiao Hua challenged their unsupported claim that the Lost Land’s strongest cultivators were Golden Core and learned that the alliance had not yet recruited anyone.
• Xiao Hua prepared to leave, but Bai Junfeng explained that only the Alliance Leader could open the hidden transmission tunnel and that the alliance wanted a group to travel together.
• A mid-Nascent Soul cultivator entered, and Xiao Hua recognized him as Bai Fei of the Changbai Sect, who had secretly reached late Nascent Soul.
• Xiao Hua warned Bai Fei not to trust the alliance, but Bai Fei chose to hear them out as Yu Biqiong welcomed him.

Xiao Hua recognized that the newcomer might be Bai Fei and invited him to stay, where their conversation revealed that Bai Fei had once rescued Ye Yun. The group shared wine in Tonghu City, and the chapter ended with Bai Fei asking Ye Yun about her injured blue luan.

• Xiao Hua stopped Bai Fei from leaving and introduced himself as True Person Xiao.
• Bai Fei and Xiao Hua discussed their apparent familiarity, and Xiao Hua boasted about his reputation in Qiongshan.
• Bai Junfeng arranged wine for Xiao Hua and Bai Fei, and Ye Yun recognized Bai Fei when she came out carrying a tray.
• Ye Yun explained that she had come to Tonghu City under the Alliance's orders and thanked Bai Fei for saving her near the Wumeng Mountain Range.
• Bai Fei asked Ye Yun where her injured blue luan was.