Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke observed Wu Yu helping Lin Fusang absorb solar essence and learned that the Spirit Plant was nearing the Origin Tier. Wu Yu estimated that Lin Fusang could become Golden Silkworm Peak’s first Origin Plant within half a year to a year.

• Lin Ke collected several unusual Spirit Insects from Lin Can to investigate their origin before letting her use them as nourishment.
• Lin Ke found Wu Yu using the Purple Sun Qi-Guiding Formula to help Lin Fusang absorb morning solar essence, which also strengthened the Giant Sun Dragonflies.
• Wu Yu explained that Lin Fusang and the Giant Sun Dragonflies had formed a symbiotic relationship through their exchange of solar power and pest control.
• Lin Fusang told Lin Ke that he felt close to breaking through a restriction, and Wu Yu identified the change as a likely approach to the Origin Tier.
• Wu Yu said golden veins covered more than seventy percent of Lin Fusang’s trunk and estimated that he could become Golden Silkworm Peak’s first Origin Plant in six months to a year.

Lin Ke brought Wu Yu to the Great Wilderness Market to take over as shopkeeper and reviewed Blue Poison Peak’s attempt to capture market share. He began expanding the Wilderness Tower’s offerings with whitegrass and Whitegrass Snails, while planning for the market’s long-term growth.

• Wu Yu told Lin Ke that Lin Fusang was progressing toward becoming an Origin Plant, and Lin Ke asked him to continue tending to the plant.
• Lin Ke brought Wu Yu to the Wilderness Tower, where Wu Yu met Zhu Qingge and the others and quickly took over the business.
• Zhu Qingge gave Lin Ke information showing that Blue Poison Peak had sent more goods to the market, but Lin Ke remained confident that his free supplies for the Frontline protected his position.
• Lin Ke asked Wu Yu to supply the Wilderness Tower with three hundred stalks of whitegrass each day and to prepare Whitegrass Snails for sale within a few days.

Lin Ke learned that the Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereigns were controlled by an unknown master, raising suspicions of an outside force infiltrating the Cloud Frontier. Back at Golden Silkworm Peak, he began breeding poisonous spirit insects, but his first crossbreeding attempt killed both insects.

• Lin Ke showed True Person Mu Xuan the beetle, and Mu Xuan identified it as a Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereign descended from the ancient Heaven-Burning Horned Beetle.
• Mu Xuan discovered an insect-control mark on the beetle and warned that its master might be a rogue cultivator or an infiltrating force from another frontier.
• Lin Ke gave Mu Xuan his five remaining beetles, agreed to seek live specimens, and bought five kinds of poisonous spirit insects.
• Lin Ke tried to crossbreed a Fire-Scaled Centipede with a Heart-Rotting Toad inside his Niwan Palace, but both insects burst and died.

Lin Ke’s spirit-insect breeding attempts produced two weak hybrids, leaving him confused about what had gone wrong. He then used his Dao Foundation breakthrough to try reproducing the Dream-Eating Gecko’s Divine Mill, enduring a painful failure before recognizing how the technique worked.

• Lin Ke tried breeding several spirit insects but produced only a mid-grade Fire-Poison Spider and a low-grade Heart-Corroding Centipede.
• Lin Ke kept both failed hybrids as experimental subjects after running out of spirit insects.
• Lin Ke told Lin Can that True Person Mu Xuan wanted the Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereign captured alive, then returned to cultivation.
• Lin Ke used the Moist-Egg Transformation Art to simulate the Dream-Eating Gecko’s power and spat blood after the attempt consumed much of his mental power.
• Lin Ke replenished his power and tried again more slowly, discovering that the Divine Mill attacked through compressed mental tremors.

Lin Ke mastered Divine Mill and began practicing Mirage Scene, learning from the Dream-Eating Gecko that illusions were formed by guiding mental imprints in the world. He successfully made greenery appear over a small patch of ground, but the scene remained limited.

• Lin Ke learned to cast Divine Mill and tested it on Stinger Hawk Moths, first weakening them and then killing one with a single strike.
• After repeated practice, Lin Ke refined his control and produced a Divine Mill attack approaching thirty percent of the Dream-Eating Gecko's power.
• Lin Ke struggled to create an illusion with Mirage Scene until the Dream-Eating Gecko explained how to draw on mental imprints in the surroundings.
• Lin Ke sensed the mental imprints around him and guided them to change the dark-yellow landscape into greenery.
• Lin Ke steadied the growing illusion until the green area covered one zhang square.

Lin Ke spent two days refining his illusion-control technique before learning that Ghost-Suppressing Peak wanted to cooperate with the Wilderness Tower. Suspecting a scheme behind their valuable gift of red hou mane, he agreed to attend their banquet with Wu Yu to discover their intentions.

• Lin Ke practiced constructing and guiding illusions for two days, expanding his stable range to three zhang while reducing his mental-power expenditure.
• Wu Yu told Lin Ke that Ghost-Suppressing Peak had rented a West Market storefront and invited the Wilderness Tower to discuss jointly selling inner armor materials.
• Lin Ke inspected two crates of valuable red hou mane and suspected Ghost-Suppressing Peak had ulterior motives.
• Wu Yu identified Zhao Wuyan, a late-stage Dao Foundation disciple known as the Mountain-Cleaving Tiger, as the delegation's leader.
• Lin Ke accepted Ghost-Suppressing Peak's invitation to a banquet at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion and asked Wu Yu to accompany him, despite Shi Ping and Lin Quan-meng's concerns.

Lin Ke met with Zhao Wuyan of Ghost-Suppressing Peak to discuss using Wilderness Tower’s new spider silk in their inner armor. After Lin Ke questioned Ghost-Suppressing Peak’s sincerity because it still worked with Blue Poison Peak, Zhao Wuyan admitted they continued buying its spider silk and said they had no choice.

• Lin Ke rejected a Golden Core disciple’s insult and entered the Drunken Immortal Pavilion with Wu Yu after another disciple apologized.
• Zhao Wuyan welcomed Lin Ke and Wu Yu, and Lin Ke introduced Wu Yu as Wilderness Tower’s head manager.
• Zhao Wuyan showed Lin Ke a Crimson Nether Armor and asked him to assess it; Lin Ke said it was too heavy and uncomfortable.
• Zhao Wuyan proposed combining Ghost-Suppressing Peak’s materials with Wilderness Tower’s new spider silk to make improved armor and compete with Blue Poison Peak.
• Lin Ke pointed out that Ghost-Suppressing Peak still worked with Blue Poison Peak, and Zhao Wuyan admitted they continued buying its cold jade spider silk.

Lin Ke saw through Ghost-Suppressing Peak’s attempt to use him against Blue Poison Peak and laid out three demanding conditions for cooperation. Zhao Wuyan rejected the terms, leaving the partnership unresolved.

• Zhao Wuyan gave Lin Ke records showing that Blue Poison Peak had falsified its material output and secretly worked with other forces.
• Lin Ke concluded that Ghost-Suppressing Peak wanted to use him as a weapon against Blue Poison Peak and challenged Zhao Wuyan to tell the truth.
• Lin Ke demanded all of Ghost-Suppressing Peak’s records on Blue Poison Peak’s transactions as his first condition.
• Lin Ke demanded at least one hundred thousand jin of red hou mane each year at half the market price as his second condition.
• Lin Ke demanded that the Wilderness Tower handle all of Ghost-Suppressing Peak’s Great Wilderness Market sales and split the revenue forty-sixty.
• Zhao Wuyan angrily called Lin Ke’s proposal a joke.

Lin Ke rejected Ghost-Suppressing Peak’s coercive offer and explained why it needed the Wilderness Tower to challenge the Blue Venom Bee’s market dominance. He urged Wu Yu to expand the Tower’s supply network and learned that the Yunmeng Clam Maiden might soon break through.

• Zhao Wuyan threatened that Ghost-Suppressing Peak and the Blue Venom Bee would suppress the Great Wilderness Market, but Lin Ke rejected his terms and ended the discussion.
• Wu Yu worried the failed negotiations would strengthen the rival factions, and Lin Ke explained that Ghost-Suppressing Peak needed the Wilderness Tower to weaken the Blue Venom Bee’s monopoly.
• Lin Ke told Wu Yu that fairness, choice, and better prices had drawn more shops and visitors to the Great Wilderness Market, and directed him to bring Green Mulberry Garden’s Spirit Insects and Spirit Plants into the Wilderness Tower.
• Wu Yu reported that the Yunmeng Clam Maiden’s fluctuating aura suggested she was nearing a breakthrough, and Lin Ke decided to check on her.

Lin Ke discovered that the Yunmeng Clam Maiden had entered dormancy and searched the sect’s markets for Spirit Insects to help him form his core. At the Outer Sect Market, his Niwan Palace reacted to a rusty sword at the stall of the vendor who had sold him Lin Can’s wooden carving, so Lin Ke accused the vendor of cheating him to draw attention and pressure him.

• Lin Ke saw the Yunmeng Clam Maiden asleep inside a cocoon of milky-white light and told Wu Yu to leave her undisturbed while she underwent dormancy.
• Lin Ke searched several markets for suitable Spirit Insects but found only poor, overpriced, or fake specimens.
• Lin Ke recognized the vendor who had sold him Lin Can’s wooden carving and then sensed his Niwan Palace react to a rusty longsword on the man’s stall.
• Lin Ke accused the vendor of selling him a useless spiritual root and loudly demanded his Spirit Stones back, causing nearby shoppers to look over.
• The vendor, afraid of attracting attention, denied the accusation and offered Lin Ke a discounted replacement spiritual root.

Lin Ke used the threat of taking a counterfeit seller to the Vast Source Hall to claim half the stall’s goods and ten low-grade spirit stones. Back in his cave residence, he tested the rusty ancient sword, discovered it was extraordinarily hard and sharp but unresponsive to spirit power, and considered refining it into his Golden Core.

• Lin Ke pressured the young stallholder into giving him ten low-grade spirit stones and everything on half of the stall, including the ancient sword.
• Lin Ke returned to his cave residence in Green Mulberry Garden and tried to shake the rust off the sword with spirit power, but the blade did not change.
• Lin Ke found that spirit power vanished against the sword and could not activate it.
• Lin Ke tested the sword against damaged Spirit Artifacts and discovered it sliced through a low-grade short saber and mid-grade spirit armor with ease.
• After an hour of testing, Lin Ke concluded that the sword’s known qualities were its hardness and sharpness and considered it as a candidate for Golden Core refinement.

Lin Ke tested the ancient sword with his immense physical strength, named it Ancient Rust, and then visited the awakened Yunmeng Clam Maiden at Whitegrass Pond. She had recovered to the Dao Foundation Late Stage and offered him her first Clam Pearl, a precious Life Pearl, leaving Lin Ke to consider whether to accept it.

• Lin Ke decided he could wield the ancient sword without swordsmanship by combining it with his Five-Colored Glazed Body.
• Lin Ke transformed a mountain forest into steel and rampaged through it with the ancient sword, then named the weapon Ancient Rust.
• Lin Ke visited Whitegrass Pond and found that the Yunmeng Clam Maiden had awakened and recovered to the Dao Foundation Late Stage.
• The Yunmeng Clam Maiden told Lin Ke that her cultivation speed had increased by more than thirty percent and that she had condensed her first Clam Pearl.
• The Yunmeng Clam Maiden offered Lin Ke her Life Pearl, and he asked whether she had truly decided to give him something so precious.

Lin Ke learned from the Yunmeng Clam Maiden which materials could help cultivate Zong Ya’s profound kun sacred yin body and arranged for Wu Yu to search for them. He gave Zong Ya the Clam Maiden Saintess’s clam pearl to aid her cultivation as she prepared for the Lower-Grade Alchemist assessment.

• The Yunmeng Clam Maiden insisted that Lin Ke accept her life pearl, and he took it for Zong Ya.
• The Yunmeng Clam Maiden explained that profound kun sacred yin bodies needed special yin materials and named jadeblood dendrobium, shadowy purpleheart lotus, and dew-tempered mystic-transforming elixir for the Dao Foundation Stage.
• Lin Ke contacted Wu Yu through the Mystic Vein Book and asked him to search the market for the three materials.
• Lin Ke visited Zong Ya after she stabilized her Spirit-Restoring Pills at low-grade spirit quality while preparing for the Lower-Grade Alchemist assessment.
• Lin Ke gave Zong Ya the clam pearl, explaining that its profound yin power could help her cultivation.

Lin Ke gave Zong Ya the Yunmeng Clam Maiden’s Life Pearl to support her cultivation and learned that suitable materials could help her reach Golden Core sooner. At the Spirit Insect Cave, True Person Mu Xuan traced the Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereign’s control mark to Shu Frontier’s secretive Illusionless Gu Sect, revealing its presence in Cloud Frontier.

• Lin Ke gave Zong Ya the Clam Maiden’s Life Pearl, which resonated with her profound Kun sacred yin body, and she accepted it.
• Lin Ke told Zong Ya he had arranged to find spiritual materials to aid her cultivation, with Brother Wu Yu advancing the payment from the Green Mulberry Garden’s earnings.
• True Person Mu Xuan summoned Lin Ke to the Spirit Insect Cave and showed him a tracing that revealed an insect-control mark on the Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereign.
• True Person Mu Xuan identified the mark as witchcraft from Shu Frontier’s Illusionless Gu Sect, an ancient, secluded order rarely known beyond its territory.
• Lin Ke realized that the Illusionless Gu Sect had somehow crossed the natural barriers and infiltrated Cloud Frontier.

Lin Ke learned that the Illusionless Gu Sect had appeared in Cloud Frontier and that the Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable was trying to gather Great Demon Kings against the human sects. He left True Person Mu Xuan determined to keep cultivating and face whatever came.

• Lin Ke and True Person Mu Xuan discussed the possible schemes of people from Shu Frontier and agreed to watch for them.
• True Person Mu Xuan told Lin Ke that the Cloud Frontier Beast Venerable had contacted several Great Demon Kings, though none had yet agreed to join him.
• Lin Ke pledged that Golden Wing Sect disciples would defend the human race if the demon race invaded, and True Person Mu Xuan urged him to grow stronger and resolve his one-year deadline.
• On his way back, Lin Ke told the Dream-Eating Gecko that he would calmly meet the coming crisis.

Lin Ke searched for a way to breed Black-Spotted Blood Mosquitoes and learned from Qi Tian that Solar Water could counteract the dark power that killed their larvae. Since Lin Ke already had access to Solar Essence through Lin Fusang and the Giant Sun Dragonfly, he realized he could obtain the Solar Water needed to raise them.

• Lin Ke decided to experiment with his two Black-Spotted Blood Mosquitoes and considered seeking Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereigns for future breeding research.
• Lin Ke searched the Scripture Repository for records on Soul-Shadow Mosquitoes and Black-Spotted Blood Mosquitoes but found none.
• Qi Tian told Lin Ke that the relevant books had been lost when the repository was destroyed and offered to share what he knew.
• Qi Tian explained that feeding adult Black-Spotted Blood Mosquitoes Solar Water before mating could prevent their larvae from dying.
• Lin Ke realized that his access to Solar Essence through Lin Fusang and the Giant Sun Dragonfly meant he could obtain Solar Water and try breeding the mosquitoes.

Lin Ke learned Qi Tian’s method for rearing black-spotted blood mosquitoes and began feeding them solar water, which visibly weakened their sinister aura. As he continued the seven-day breeding process, the Frontline doubled its spider silk order after Lin Ke’s silk improved the quality of sect armor and reduced casualties.

• Qi Tian gave Lin Ke written instructions for feeding black-spotted blood mosquitoes solar water and warned him to keep the method secret.
• Lin Ke built a cave on Golden Silkworm Peak and began feeding the mosquitoes blood-based food mixed with solar water, promising the Dream-Eating Gecko one mosquito to eat.
• At midnight, Lin Ke fed the two mosquitoes three drops of solar water, and their aura grew milder as golden halos appeared over their markings.
• Over the next two days, Lin Ke fed the mosquitoes at midnight and noon, and they grew larger while their golden wing markings became clearer.
• The Frontline reported that Lin Ke’s spider silk improved inner armor quality by thirty percent and reduced sect casualties, so the elders doubled the silk supply.

Lin Ke ignored Blue Poison Peak and Ghost-Suppressing Peak’s price war and focused on raising more Black-Spotted Blood Mosquitoes, whose eggs appeared to have been successfully tempered. He then asked Shi Ping to teach him swordsmanship so he could better protect himself amid threats inside and outside the sect.

• Lin Ke delegated the Ghost Titan Spider work to Lin Quan-meng and Shi Ping after the Frontline increased demand for his spider silk.
• Blue Poison Peak and Ghost-Suppressing Peak established the Wilderness-Suppressing Pavilion and undercut Inner Armor prices to challenge Lin Ke’s market.
• After seven days of feeding the Black-Spotted Blood Mosquitoes solar water, Lin Ke let them mate and examined the female’s eggs at Whitegrass Pond, finding no apparent problem with their power aura.
• Lin Ke asked the Yunmeng Clam Maiden to guard the female mosquito and her eggs while they developed.
• Lin Ke went to Shi Ping and asked to learn swordsmanship, explaining that he wanted another way to defend himself.

Shi Ping began teaching Lin Ke swordsmanship, explaining the two paths of sword wielding and sword control while guiding him through basic forms. As Lin Ke started training, Shi Ping was shocked to find that Lin Ke's physical strength exceeded his own.

• Lin Ke asked Shi Ping to teach him swordsmanship, and Shi Ping took him outside the Green Mulberry Garden to begin training.
• Shi Ping gave Lin Ke a heavy ironheart wood sword and explained that beginners used heavy swords to strengthen their bodies and wrists.
• Shi Ping described the paths of sword wielding and sword control, and Lin Ke said sword control seemed better suited to his mental power and Spirit Insects.
• Shi Ping explained that both paths began with basic sword forms and demonstrated controlling Frost through the air.
• Lin Ke practiced sword grips, sword forms, and physical exercises, astonishing Shi Ping with his extraordinary strength.

Lin Ke rapidly mastered basic swordsmanship and independently learned to control a wooden sword with Mental Power, astonishing Shi Ping. Shi Ping advised him to seek advanced sword instruction, and Lin Ke considered whether he was ready to train at the Sword Cultivator Peak Branch.

• Lin Ke mastered the basic sword moves in days and practiced them while developing his Mental Power with the Dream-Eating Gecko's guidance.
• After two failed attempts, Lin Ke learned to use Mental Imprints in the outside world to control objects and soon made a wooden sword swing and cleave.
• Shi Ping was astonished by Lin Ke's progress and told him he had little more to teach him.
• Lin Ke explained that the Dream-Eating Gecko and Body Tempering arts helped his training, then asked whether he was suited to the Sword Cultivator Peak Branch.
• Shi Ping assured Lin Ke that his talent and comprehension made him an excellent candidate for guidance from a renowned sword master.