Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke assembled extensive preparations and powerful guards for his and Zong Ya's unprecedented Nine Core Method breakthrough at Golden Silkworm Peak. With three Nascent Soul cultivators present, Lin Ke gave Chang Qing the signal to activate the array.

• Lin Ke gathered spirit insects, artifacts, supplies, and guards for the breakthroughs, choosing Golden Silkworm Peak and hiding Lin Fusang in his Niwan Palace.
• Zhu Qingge, Fang Du, Lin Quan-meng, and Chang Qing arrived to guard Lin Ke and Zong Ya, and Lin Ke said he was waiting for someone else.
• Butterfly Transformation True Person arrived, followed by Zong Ya's master, True Person Yao Chen.
• True Person Hengshan arrived, and Lin Ke explained that he had invited him to guard the breakthrough in repayment for a past kindness.
• Butterfly Transformation True Person agreed that the breakthroughs could begin, and Lin Ke told Junior Brother Chang to activate the array.

Zong Ya used a Barrier-Breaking Pill to break through to the Golden Core Stage, impressing the gathered cultivators with the strength of her Profound Yin Body. With her breakthrough complete, Lin Ke prepared to begin his own.

• Chang Qing activated the origin tier superior grand formation protecting Golden Silkworm Peak, and Lin Ke credited him for setting it up.
• Zong Ya swallowed a Barrier-Breaking Pill and used her Profound Yin Power to condense a Golden Core.
• Zong Ya successfully reached the Golden Core Stage, and True Person Yao Chen praised the strength of her Spirit Power.
• Lin Ke told Butterfly Transformation True Person he was about to begin his breakthrough, then sat down and started circulating Miaojiang Gu Art.

Lin Ke began using the Nine Core Art to condense nine Golden Cores at once, triggering a terrifying heavenly phenomenon above Green Mulberry Garden. As nine powers collided inside his Niwan Palace and a crack appeared, his breakthrough reached a dangerous turning point.

• Lin Ke began the Nine Core Art, drawing Spirit Power and Mental Power together to support nine Golden Cores in his Niwan Palace.
• The nine kinds of Spirit Insects released their powers, which Lin Ke guided toward forming separate cores.
• Black clouds and lightning gathered over Green Mulberry Garden, alarming True Person Hengshan, True Person Yao Chen, Butterfly Transformation True Person, and the others.
• Butterfly Transformation True Person recognized that Lin Ke’s Golden Core breakthrough might have summoned a lightning tribulation, but she chose not to intervene.
• The nine powers began to intersect as they formed embryonic Golden Cores, tearing through Lin Ke’s Mental Power barrier and shaking his Niwan Palace.
• A pitch-black crack appeared on the outer wall of Lin Ke’s Niwan Palace as the nine powers collided.

Lin Ke resumed his Nine Core Method breakthrough after a near-fatal backlash in his Niwan Palace, but the Clam Maiden’s and Lin Fusang’s Yin-Yang powers fused and destabilized the other cores. Ancient Rust entered the core cycle and calmed the powers, while outside a lightning tribulation surged to Nascent Soul-level strength.

• Lin Ke woke after the first core-condensation attempt nearly split his Niwan Palace and saw a lightning tribulation gathering overhead.
• Lin Ke divided his mental power among the nine Spirit Insects and resumed condensing their Golden Cores while balancing their differing powers.
• The Clam Maiden’s and Lin Fusang’s Golden Cores began fusing their extreme Yin and Yang powers, disrupting the stable cycle and overwhelming Lin Ke’s efforts to intervene.
• Ancient Rust flew into the vacant ninth position in the core cycle and calmed the merging Yin-Yang Power.
• The lightning tribulation expanded across the sky, its lightning turning purple-gold and its pressure reaching Nascent Soul Realm strength.

As Lin Ke neared completion of his nine golden cores, his enormous absorption of spirit power triggered a lightning tribulation that overwhelmed the Cloudglow Formation’s defenses. The Mysterious Bead swallowed the second strike’s ghostly lightning, but an even more terrifying mass of dark golden lightning began forming in the clouds.

• Lin Ke opened every acupoint to absorb spirit power, draining the Cloudglow Formation and accelerating the condensation of his nine golden cores.
• Chang Qing activated the Cloudglow Formation to block the first lightning strike, then unleashed its full strength against the more powerful second strike.
• The second strike transformed into ghostly blue lightning that passed through the formation and attacked Lin Ke’s body and unfinished golden cores.
• Lin Ke used the Divine Mill to resist the lightning, but the arcs dissolved his mental-power attack and rushed toward his cores.
• The Mysterious Bead revealed ancient patterns and swallowed the ghostly lightning, while a dark golden mass of lightning began forming in the storm vortex.

Lin Ke endured a devastating third lightning tribulation while trying to form nine Golden Cores, relying on pills and the Mysterious Bead to survive. Ancient Rust absorbed the two strands of profound black lightning, extinguishing the bolt, but Lin Ke remained battered and uncertain whether more lightning would come.

• Lin Ke faced a third, more powerful lightning bolt as he pushed his body and power to their limits to form his cores.
• The lightning shattered the Cloudglow Formation, knocked Chang Qing unconscious, and engulfed Lin Ke in a vast pit.
• Lin Ke swallowed Heaven-Restoring Pills and Blood-Sinking Pills, using their power to repair and strengthen himself while enduring the lightning.
• Zong Ya tried to reach Lin Ke, but True Person Yao Chen stopped her, while True Person Hengshan and Butterfly Transformation True Person prepared to intervene if necessary.
• The Mysterious Bead absorbed the golden lightning, but two strands of profound black lightning raced toward Lin Ke's forming Golden Cores.
• Ancient Rust intercepted the profound lightning and absorbed it, extinguishing the third bolt as Lin Ke wondered whether another would come.

Lin Ke completed the Nine Core Method and survived his Golden Core tribulation, but a black-robed Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator emerged from a rift and attacked him. True Person Yao Chen, Butterfly Transformation True Person, and True Person Hengshan moved to protect Lin Ke and confront the intruder.

• Lin Ke stabilized his Golden Core, healed from his injuries, and faced down the fading lightning tribulation until it dispersed.
• Zong Ya embraced Lin Ke, while the Spirit Insects celebrated his breakthrough and questioned the sword and pearl inside his Niwan Palace.
• True Person Yao Chen praised Lin Ke’s achievement, while Butterfly Transformation True Person worried about the danger of his cultivation path and True Person Hengshan reassured her.
• A rift opened where the lightning tribulation had been, and an enormous palm of Spirit Power struck toward Lin Ke.
• True Person Yao Chen countered the palm with his azure baleful demon flame and injured the black-robed attacker as he emerged from the rift.
• Butterfly Transformation True Person shielded Lin Ke and Zong Ya with the Illusory Dream Gauze, while she and True Person Hengshan blocked the intruder’s escape and True Person Yao Chen challenged him.

A mysterious black-robed Nascent Soul cultivator attacked Lin Ke during his breakthrough but escaped the combined assault of True Person Hengshan, Butterfly Transformation True Person, and True Person Yao Chen. As the elders prepared to investigate the intruder, Zhu Qingge said he had a conjecture about the man’s identity.

• The black-robed man broke through the three cultivators’ attacks and fled through a spatial rift after mocking the Golden Wing Sect’s elders.
• Butterfly Transformation True Person checked that Lin Ke was safe and vowed to investigate the attack as a threat to the Golden Wing Sect.
• The group searched the Green Mulberry Garden for other threats, then guarded Lin Ke and Zong Ya while they recovered.
• True Person Yao Chen said the attacker carried an unusually strong aura of chill and death and had seemed unlike a living person.
• Zhu Qingge approached the elders and said he had a conjecture about the black-robed man’s identity, prompting Butterfly Transformation True Person to ask him to explain.

Zhu Qingge revealed that a mysterious assassin sect called the Final Shadow Gate was behind the attack on Lin Ke, leaving the elders worried about future strikes. Hengshan swore a Great Dao Blood Oath to protect Lin Ke, and Lin Ke urged Butterfly Transformation True Person to return to the Frontline.

• Zhu Qingge told Butterfly Transformation True Person about a cruel cultivator he had encountered in the Miao Frontier and gave her the black token he had found on the cultivator’s remains.
• Butterfly Transformation True Person discovered that the token belonged to the Final Shadow Gate and concluded that its Nascent Soul assassin had targeted Lin Ke.
• True Person Yao Chen and Hengshan examined the token and discussed investigating the Final Shadow Gate and how someone had hired its assassin.
• Hengshan offered to stay and protect Lin Ke, and Butterfly Transformation True Person questioned his motives and reminded him of the urgent fighting at the Frontline.
• Hengshan prepared to swear a Great Dao Blood Oath, and Lin Ke arrived, confirmed Hengshan’s sincerity, and told Butterfly Transformation True Person to leave him under Hengshan’s protection.

After Lin Ke revealed his Dao blood oath with True Person Hengshan, Zhu Qingge warned him that the Final Shadow Gate was targeting him. Lin Ke guarded the Clam Maiden’s breakthrough and planned how to strengthen himself and his allies against Nascent Soul cultivators.

• Butterfly Transformation True Person questioned Lin Ke about his oath with True Person Hengshan, then left Golden Silkworm Peak with True Person Yao Chen.
• Zhu Qingge warned Lin Ke that the Final Shadow Gate had targeted him, and Lin Ke thanked him and resolved to prepare for his enemies.
• Lin Ke released the Clam Maiden and guarded her as she took a Barrier-Breaking Pill to attempt a breakthrough to the Golden Core Stage.
• Lin Ke assessed the danger posed by Nascent Soul cultivators and concluded that his current combat methods were inadequate to defeat and kill them reliably.
• Lin Ke planned to acquire stronger spell arts and spirit insects, while prioritizing the Dream-Eating Gecko, Lin Xuanyuan, and the Clam Maiden as near-term fighting forces.

Lin Ke visited the Scripture Repository after breaking through to the Golden Core stage with the Nine Core Method, hoping to choose new techniques and improve his strength. He asked Zhuge Qi Tian for advice, and their conversation ended with Lin Ke explaining what he wanted to learn.

• Clam Maiden broke through to the Golden Core stage, joining Lin Ke and Zong Ya as a newly formed Golden Core cultivator of Golden Silkworm Peak.
• Lin Ke decided to seek more sect resources for Golden Silkworm Peak, but went first to the Scripture Repository to find new techniques.
• True Person Hengshan accompanied Lin Ke to the Scripture Repository and stood guard outside while Lin Ke entered.
• Lin Ke waited as Zhuge Qi Tian restored an ancient book, then told him he had successfully followed the Nine Core Method to reach the Golden Core stage.
• Lin Ke described his breakthrough and its three bolts of tribulation lightning, and Zhuge Qi Tian praised his unprecedented achievement.
• Lin Ke asked Zhuge Qi Tian to help him choose suitable spell arts, combat techniques, and swordsmanship arts.

Lin Ke consulted Zhuge Qi Tian about developing his combat abilities and chose spell arts suited to his cultivation paths. He left with a plan to seek a body-cultivation technique from True Person Hengshan and strengthen his sword and spirit insect methods.

• Lin Ke told Zhuge Qi Tian that his Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning true intent and five-colored glazed body formed the foundation of his cultivation.
• Zhuge Qi Tian warned that the Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning Method could be countered and recommended pairing it with the Heaven-Supporting and Firmament-Commanding Method.
• Zhuge Qi Tian advised Lin Ke to seek body-cultivation combat techniques at the Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect's encampment and said the Myriad Insects Heavenly Calamity Formula suited his spirit insects.
• Zhuge Qi Tian presented the Vast Expanse Returning to the Sea Formula and the Heaven-and-Earth Net Scripture for Lin Ke's sword formation path, and Lin Ke chose the Heaven-and-Earth Net Scripture.
• Lin Ke paid for the chosen spell arts and planned to visit True Person Hengshan before cultivating the paired mountain and heaven methods, the Heaven-and-Earth Net Scripture, and the Myriad Insects Heavenly Calamity Formula.