Chapter Summaries

Lin Jing and his Pineleaf Squirrel challenged the Bamboo Mechanical Dragon after He Yiming’s Battle Ape failed to overcome it. Lin Jing’s Red Leaves and Object-Controlling Art destroyed the dragon’s inner mechanisms, leaving the Outer Gate disciples stunned and making him impossible to overlook.

• Fang Yonghao introduced the Bamboo Mechanical Dragon challenge, and He Yiming volunteered to test it with his Battle Ape.
• He Yiming’s Battle Ape struck the dragon with its spiritual artifact hoe, but the dragon counterattacked and knocked the ape unconscious, earning only a green dragon pearl.
• Lin Jing stepped forward with his Pineleaf Squirrel and used a Red Leaf to wound the dragon, turning its dragon pearl blue before its spiritual flames engulfed the leaf.
• Lin Jing sent ten more Red Leaves toward the dragon’s mouth and used the Object-Controlling Art to steer them into its mechanisms.
• The Red Leaves shattered the dragon pearl and disabled the Bamboo Mechanical Dragon, while the Pineleaf Squirrel rushed to retrieve them and the crowd wondered who Lin Jing was.

Lin Jing received the Dragon-Vying Beast-Battling Event’s top mechanism reward after destroying Elder Yu’s Bamboo Mechanical Dragon. Elder Yu encouraged him to study Mechanism Art, offering to grant him a reasonable wish if he built a moving Mechanical Beast.

• Elder Yu learned that Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel had smashed his Bamboo Mechanical Dragon and decided to reward them while steering Lin Jing toward Mechanism Art.
• The outer sect disciples marveled at Lin Jing’s strength and assumed he was a gifted newcomer, while the Pineleaf Squirrel wanted to clarify that it had controlled the flying leaves itself.
• Lin Jing chose the highest-tier mechanism reward and received a message summoning him to the Mechanism Workshop.
• Elder Yu gave Lin Jing a Mechanism Soul Core and his Mechanical Beast-Making Insights, then offered him spirit bamboo for practice.
• Elder Yu promised to grant Lin Jing one reasonable wish if he successfully made a moving Mechanical Beast.

Lin Jing secured a promise of free meals at the Outer Sect Canteen by agreeing to study Mechanism Art, then discovered his Pineleaf Squirrel could fuse spirit bamboo with its Glazed Immortal Eyes. Their first blue bamboo creation turned out to be a powerful water cannon that blasted Lin Jing into the house.

• Lin Jing asked Elder Yu for free meals at the Outer Sect Canteen as a reward for successfully building a Mechanical Beast, and Elder Yu agreed.
• Elder Yu learned Lin Jing had memorized the Outer Sect Herbology Compendium and tested his knowledge of medicinal plants, then left him and the Pineleaf Squirrel with the remaining spirit bamboo.
• Lin Jing suggested that the Pineleaf Squirrel try combining spirit bamboo with its Glazed Immortal Eyes, and the squirrel fused ten stalks into one blue stalk.
• Lin Jing picked up the blue spirit bamboo and guessed it could produce spirit bamboo sap, but it fired a high-pressure stream of water and hurled him into the house.

Lin Jing discovered that the mutated blue spirit bamboo produced spiritual water and decided to build a Mechanical Tortoise to water spirit plants. Later, Demon Hunting Hall disciples returned to the outer sect and one of them badly injured He Yiming, shocking the Beast Arena spectators.

• Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel contained the blue spirit bamboo’s powerful water spray, and Lin Jing concluded its stored spiritual water could help irrigate crops.
• Lin Jing proposed building a self-guided Mechanical Tortoise that could spray water and tend spirit plants, then reviewed Elder Yu’s mechanical arts notes and the Mechanism Soul Core.
• After the Rising Dragon Festival, Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel continued their quiet cultivation routine as Lin Jing’s fame spread through the sect.
• At the Beast Arena, a black-clad youth and his Leopard Beast defeated He Yiming and his Battle Ape, leaving both badly injured.
• Senior Brother Ziran identified the newcomers as Demon Hunting Hall disciples and remarked that an unusually large number of them had returned alive.

Qin Caixin asked Lin Jing to sell her Red Flying Leaves so she could prepare for the harder Inner Gate examination, but he explained that only the Pineleaf Squirrel could use them. Elder Black Bear then advised Lin Jing about choosing an inner peak and asked him to have the squirrel synthesize Dragonbone Flowers.

• Qin Caixin told Lin Jing that Demon Hunting Hall disciples had returned after deadly training in the Wilds and Wasteland, and that He Yiming had been badly injured by one of them.
• Qin Caixin asked Lin Jing to sell her Red Flying Leaves, but he refused because the leaves only worked through the Pineleaf Squirrel's bond with them.
• Elder Black Bear praised Lin Jing, explained that the Pineleaf Squirrel might help him reach the Inner Gate examination, and described several inner peaks.
• Lin Jing said he was interested in Cinnabar Glow Peak because he had studied the Alchemy Art.
• Elder Black Bear asked Lin Jing to see whether the Pineleaf Squirrel could synthesize Dragonbone Flowers, then showed him one of the fruits.

Lin Jing and Pineleaf Squirrel agreed to synthesize Dragonbone Flowers for Elder Black Bear in exchange for a miniature Storage Bag, but Pineleaf Squirrel initially lacked the power to do so. Elder Black Bear lent it a power-boosting Daoist robe, enabling the synthesis, then tested the resulting flower on a captured Rat Demon instead of himself.

• Elder Black Bear offered Lin Jing a Dragonbone Flower and explained that he could obtain a tiny Storage Bag as payment for Pineleaf Squirrel's help.
• Lin Jing and Elder Black Bear agreed that Pineleaf Squirrel would synthesize the Dragonbone Flowers in return for the Storage Bag.
• Pineleaf Squirrel's Glazed Immortal Eyes failed to synthesize the flowers, so Elder Black Bear lent it a Daoist robe that amplified its magical power.
• Wearing the robe, Pineleaf Squirrel synthesized about a hundred Dragonbone Flowers into one purple flower without straining its eyes.
• Elder Black Bear took back his robe and fed the purple Dragonbone Flower to an unconscious ninth-layer qi-refinement Rat Demon rather than tasting it himself.

Lin Jing and Elder Black Bear tested the Purple Fire Dragon Fruit, which gave a White Rat Spirit the illusion of becoming a mighty Bone Dragon. After Elder Yu arrived and tried Lin Jing’s Mechanism Bamboo Gun, its explosive ammunition wrecked the courtyard.

• Elder Black Bear made the White Rat Spirit eat the Purple Fire Dragon Fruit while Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel watched.
• The fruit made the White Rat Spirit appear to transform into a terrifying purple Bone Dragon, frightening Elder Black Bear until it realized the dragon was an illusion.
• Elder Black Bear let the White Rat Spirit go and agreed to give Lin Jing Dragonbone Flower seeds after Lin Jing asked for them.
• Elder Yu arrived, asked about the powerful aura, and then examined Lin Jing’s mechanical creations.
• Elder Yu fired the Mechanism Bamboo Gun, whose water-propelled Spirit Beans Bombs exploded in the sky and damaged the area around Lin Jing’s courtyard.

Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel lost their stored Spirit Beans Bombs when Elder Yu accidentally fired their Mechanism Bamboo Gun, and Elder Yu compensated them with a token for free meals. After they devoured the Outer Sect Canteen’s entire food supply, Elder Yu realized the token could bankrupt the canteen and decided to rush the Inner Gate Promotion Examination.

• Elder Yu accidentally fired the Mechanism Bamboo Gun, using up the Pineleaf Squirrel’s hoarded Spirit Beans Bombs and wrecking the courtyard surroundings.
• Elder Yu explained how the gun worked, promised compensation, and gave Lin Jing his Elder’s Token for free canteen meals and access to the Inner Peak.
• Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel went to the Outer Sect Canteen and ordered every dish on the menu despite warnings about the cost and spiritual energy.
• Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel ate all the canteen’s food, leaving Head Chef Fugui'er and his Fire Spirit Sparrow exhausted and no leftovers for the sect’s special Spirit Beasts.
• After hearing about the feast, Elder Yu realized his token could drain the canteen’s finances and resolved to push for an early Inner Gate Promotion Examination.

Lin Jing prepared for the Inner Gate Examination while Elder Li Hai considered recruiting him into the Demon Hunting Hall to toughen his character. Two months later, Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel headed to register, with Lin Jing bringing a mechanical watering can along.

• Elder Li Hai criticized Lin Jing's pampered treatment and decided to wait until after the examination before approaching him about joining the Demon Hunting Hall.
• Lin Jing studied previous examinations and learned that disciples had to survive three days in the Great Wilderness, earn points, and place among the top eight before facing a talent assessment at their chosen peak.
• Elder Yu arranged for meals to be delivered to Lin Jing's home, where Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel continued cultivating and preparing for the examination.
• Over two months, the Pineleaf Squirrel reached the seventh qi refining layer and filled its Storage Bag with hoarded supplies, while Lin Jing reached the third layer.
• On registration day, Lin Jing called the Pineleaf Squirrel to leave and picked up a mechanical bamboo turtle watering can from the spirit rice paddy.

Lin Jing registered for the Inner Gate Examination, where he and the other disciples learned they would survive three days in the Great Wilderness. As the examination group flew toward the Wilds and Wasteland, a hole opened in the sky and a pillar of light struck directly at Lin Jing.

• Elder Yu registered Lin Jing at the third layer of qi refining, while his Pineleaf Squirrel had reached the seventh layer.
• Lin Jing and Senior Brother Ziran discussed the Demon Hunting Hall disciples, whose arrival made the examination more challenging.
• Elder Yu announced that twenty disciples would take part in a three-day survival examination in the Great Wilderness.
• Elder Yu and Elder Li Hai brought the disciples aboard a mechanical fish and warned them about the dangers and the risk of elimination if elders intervened to save them.
• A hole opened in the sky above the mechanical fish, and a pillar of light locked onto Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel, engulfing them.

A grotto-heaven swept Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel into Bodhi Heaven, where cultivators could compete for the chance to gain enlightenment beneath three bodhi trees. The entrants gathered before a tablet listing legendary figures who had created powerful arts there, leaving Lin Jing to face formidable rivals despite his doubts about his own abilities.

• Elder Li explained that a grotto-heaven had appeared and urged the disciples to enter, promising those who entered exemption from the Inner Gate Examination.
• Four Demon Hunting Hall disciples, He Yiming, Qin Caixin, and Ziran entered the grotto-heaven, while the remaining disciples were shut out.
• Elder Mo and the other Golden Core elders arrived and worried about Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel, though they noted that all entrants would be in the Qi Refinement Realm at most.
• Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel arrived in Bodhi Heaven alongside several unfamiliar cultivators, then Ziran and the others entered through a loophole.
• A body cultivator identified Bodhi Heaven and described the three bodhi trees, while the entrants focused on the Creation Tablet and its list of legendary creators.
• Lin Jing doubted that he and the Pineleaf Squirrel could create new arts at their cultivation level and recognized that they would have to compete with capable rivals for the three trees.

Twelve cultivators inside the Bodhi Grotto-Heaven competed for the Golden Bodhi Tree, and a blue-robed scholar rallied the Heavenly Origin Ancient Kingdom cultivators against a Snowfield body cultivator. Lin Jing attacked the powerful outsider with repeated volleys from his Mechanism Bamboo Gun, leaving him defeated and his Storage Bag in the Pineleaf Squirrel’s paws.

• The blue-robed scholar identified the cultivators’ origins and urged them to unite against the Snowfield body cultivator, who challenged them for the Golden Bodhi Tree.
• The scholar and the female alchemist attacked the Snowfield cultivator, but he endured their strikes and countered while the Heavenly Sword Sect and Beast Taming Sect cultivators held back.
• The Snowfield cultivator’s Myriad Beasts Body suppressed the Beast Taming Sect’s companions, discouraging several cultivators from joining the fight.
• Lin Jing fired Water Arrow Arts from his Mechanism Bamboo Gun, striking the Snowfield cultivator with repeated explosions.
• The Snowfield cultivator charged Lin Jing after surviving the first volley, but Lin Jing fired again and left him with vacant eyes.
• The Pineleaf Squirrel snatched the defeated Snowfield cultivator’s Storage Bag and scurried back.

Lin Jing used his Mechanism Bamboo Gun and Pineleaf Squirrel to defeat the Snowfield cultivator and claim the Golden and Silver Bodhi Trees. When three rival cultivators prepared to oppose him, the Beast Taming Sect disciples united behind Lin Jing, who revealed another mechanical beast.

• Lin Jing shot the Snowfield cultivator with his Mechanism Bamboo Gun, and the Pineleaf Squirrel helped him defeat the wounded man.
• Lin Jing forced Xu Zhizhi to concede, then claimed the Golden Bodhi Tree for himself and the Silver Bodhi Tree for the Pineleaf Squirrel.
• Xu Zhizhi and the other rivals objected, and the Female Alchemist and Young Swordsman agreed to join forces against Lin Jing.
• Qin Caixin, Senior Brother Ziran, He Yiming, and the Demon Hunting Hall disciples rallied behind Lin Jing, turning the standoff into a sixteen-against-three confrontation.
• Lin Jing revealed a Mechanism Bamboo Turtle with a cannon, unsettling the three rival cultivators.

Lin Jing’s Pineleaf Squirrel defeated a Heavenly Sword Sect swordsman in a flying duel, leaving the other factions to dispute the bodhi trees. Lin Jing then deterred the female Alchemist from using a Foundation Establishment pill, but the squirrel rejected her offer to share the Silver Bodhi, and she stormed away.

• The young swordsman challenged Lin Jing, then rode his flying sword away to attack the Pineleaf Squirrel with the Rainbow-Soaring Sword and nine sword shadows.
• The Pineleaf Squirrel countered with ten Red Leaves and blasted away the real sword with its Mechanism Bamboo Gun, prompting the swordsman to concede.
• The young swordsman claimed he would take a green bodhi tree and vowed to visit the Beast Taming Sect after reaching Foundation Establishment.
• The female Alchemist threatened to take a pill that would temporarily grant her Foundation Establishment cultivation and asked to share the Golden Bodhi Tree.
• Lin Jing warned that his Mechanical Tortoise could overpower her and revealed that he had upgraded it with a Spirit-Gathering Array, though he had bluffed about its self-destruction.
• The female Alchemist offered to owe Lin Jing a favor in exchange for using the Silver Bodhi with the Pineleaf Squirrel, but the squirrel aimed its gun at her and she left angrily.

After the Bodhi Trees were divided, Lin Jing considered how to use the golden tree’s enlightenment to create a technique that would strengthen his combat abilities. He settled on studying the Purple Dragonbone Flower’s illusions, while the Pineleaf Squirrel began experimenting with giving its Red Flying Leaf spatial properties.

• The Young Sword Cultivator and Female Alchemist claimed the Green Bodhi Tree, Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel took the Gold-and-Silver Bodhi Tree, and Xu Zhizhi claimed the Snowfield Cultivator’s corpse.
• Senior Brother Ziran offered to guard Lin Jing, who gave the Demon Hunting Hall disciples Foundation Establishment Demon Beast blood from the Snowfield Cultivator’s Storage Bag.
• The Young Sword Cultivator studied the Sword Canon, the Female Alchemist experimented with alchemy, and the Pineleaf Squirrel researched how to create storage space inside its body.
• Lin Jing advised the Pineleaf Squirrel to experiment with giving its Red Flying Leaf spatial properties, and the squirrel began putting it into and taking it out of the Storage Bag.
• Lin Jing considered improving the combat potential of beast taming true qi and realized he could study the Purple Dragonbone Flower’s illusions to create a spell he could cast and alter.

Lin Jing used the Purple Dragonbone Flower and the Golden Bodhi Tree to study how his true qi could be transformed into purple spiritual power, then began practicing the process to create an Illusion Path spell. As he remained immersed in his training, the Beast Taming Sect disciples and others were stunned to see him manifest as a fearsome Purple Bone Dragon.

• Lin Jing ate the Purple Dragonbone Flower and used the Golden Bodhi Tree to observe it transforming his beast taming true qi into complex purple spiritual power.
• Lin Jing realized the purple true qi could fuel Illusion Path manifestations and repeatedly practiced breaking down and restructuring his true qi until the process became muscle memory.
• The unruly purple true qi emerged from Lin Jing and manifested as a huge Purple Bone Dragon, terrifying the nearby Beast Taming Sect disciples.
• He Yiming, Senior Brother Ziran, Qin Caixin, and the Demon Hunting Hall disciple speculated about Lin Jing's transformation and its source.
• The Green-Robed Scholar, the Young Swordsman, and the Female Alchemist were shocked by Lin Jing's power and wondered whether this was his strongest spell.

Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel emerged from Bodhi Grotto-Heaven with new spells, while Yuan Jing admitted he had only shared the Green Bodhi Tree. The Beast Taming Sect elders welcomed the group back and wondered why its disciples and beasts treated Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel like leaders.

• Lin Jing reached the fourth level of Qi Refining and developed the Illusion Path Spell Myriad Transformations, while the Pineleaf Squirrel learned Leaf Plucking Flower, a spell that pulled items from Storage Bags.
• Lin Jing saw that neither spell appeared on the stone tablet's rankings before Bodhi Grotto-Heaven began to close.
• Elder Swordbeard questioned Yuan Jing about his time in Bodhi Grotto-Heaven, and Yuan Jing confessed that he had only shared the Green Bodhi Tree with another person.
• Yuan Jing told Elder Swordbeard that a Beast Taming Sect disciple had claimed the Golden Bodhi Tree and that the disciple's pet beast had claimed the Silver Bodhi Tree.
• The Female Alchemist returned to the Pill Cauldron Sect, while the Green-Robed Scholar brought a Snowfield Barbarian back to the Literary Domain and sought recognition from his colleagues.
• Lin Jing and the others returned safely to the Beast Taming Sect, where the elders saw the other disciples and their beasts following Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel like guards.

The Beast Taming Sect disciples returned safely from the Bodhi Grotto-Heaven, where Lin Jing’s Mechanism Art helped them claim two Bodhi Trees. After the disciples were promoted to the Inner Gate and the peaks competed to recruit Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel, a visitor from the Hidden Dragon Academy arrived.

• Elder Li questioned the clean, unharmed disciples, and Lin Jing said they had won two Bodhi Trees with his Mechanism Art and his senior brothers’ support.
• Senior Brother Ziran and the others credited Lin Jing with driving back the rival sects’ geniuses, while Elder Yu and Elder Black Bear praised his Mechanism Art.
• Elder Li promoted the returning disciples to the Inner Gate, but Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel regretted losing the chance to earn examination points.
• Ziran, He Yiming, and the Demon Hunting Hall disciples asked Elder Yu to teach them Mechanism Art, while Cinnabar Glow Peak and Verdant Crest Peak elders tried to recruit Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel.
• Cao Ziwei of the Hidden Dragon Academy arrived to pay a visit before Lin Jing could choose a peak.

Lin Jing received an invitation to Hidden Dragon Academy but chose to stay with the Beast Taming Sect for now and began settling in at Cinnabar Glow Peak. After Elder Shen assigned him an alchemy cave, Lin Jing devised a plan to make the Pineleaf Squirrel breathe flames and help him refine pills.

• Cao Ziwei invited Lin Jing to join Hidden Dragon Academy, explaining its benefits and giving him a jade slip so he could decide later.
• Elder Mo encouraged Lin Jing to accept the opportunity and promised to arrange protection for his journey once the sect master returned.
• Elder Shen brought Lin Jing to Cinnabar Glow Peak and gave him a cave abode with an alchemy chamber and the Fire-Control Formula.
• Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel considered how to improve their pill refining, and Lin Jing proposed synthesizing Firecloud Chili to make the squirrel breathe unusual flames.
• The Pineleaf Squirrel tried to flee rather than become a fire-breathing assistant, but Lin Jing caught and dragged it back.

Lin Jing explored his new Cave Abode, posted a mission for Firecloud Chili seeds, and chose pill formulas to practice at Cinnabar Glow Peak. He returned home to rest, dreaming that he and the Pineleaf Squirrel ascended only to be captured and sent to mine.

• Lin Jing practiced the Fire-Control Formula in his alchemy room and nearly burned the Pineleaf Squirrel.
• Lin Jing learned the Beast Taming Sect had no Firecloud Chili and posted a Spirit Stone reward for finding its seeds.
• Lin Jing visited the Pill Tower, where the rabbit demon keeper recommended Beast Power Pills, but Lin Jing chose Spirit-Replenishing Pills and Soul-Ensnaring Pills for his studies.
• Lin Jing returned to his Cave Abode, where the Pineleaf Squirrel checked their Storage Bags and Lin Jing went to sleep.
• Lin Jing dreamed that he and the Pineleaf Squirrel ascended to the Immortal Realm, then were captured and sent to mine.