Chapter Summaries

Qing Chen killed Fairy Lingxiao and refined the remaining essence from her, Xu the Monster, and the demonic beasts. He then searched Cao Banxian’s Storage Bag and discovered a huge fortune, including thousands of Low-Grade Spirit Stones and several Middle-Grade Spirit Stones.

• Fairy Lingxiao told Qing Chen about Cao Banxian’s property on Earth Jade Island, where he had hidden spirit stones and property deeds.
• Qing Chen used the Brahma Demon-Refining Art to kill Fairy Lingxiao and collect her life essence.
• Qing Chen extracted the remaining essence from Xu the Monster and the Black Ghost Leopard and Ironclad Tortoise.
• Qing Chen broke the restrictions on Cao Banxian’s High-Grade Storage Bag and found more than three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones and five or six Middle-Grade Spirit Stones.

Qing Chen examined the treasures he had taken from Old Ghost Cao and realized their combined value approached ten thousand spirit stones. He left with a fortune that could nearly buy a Foundation Establishment Pill, though he still needed to advance his cultivation to fully wield the Sun-Moon Red-Gold Seal.

• Qing Chen found a middle-grade spirit stone among Old Ghost Cao’s possessions and reasoned that the old artifact forger had likely accumulated substantial wealth.
• Qing Chen admired the high-grade Spirit Boat, Mystic Ice Pearl, and Mystic Light Mirror, recognizing their great value and usefulness.
• Qing Chen inspected the Jade-Gold Shield and the supreme-grade Sun-Moon Red-Gold Seal, but acknowledged his current cultivation could not unleash the seal’s full power.
• Qing Chen calculated that Old Ghost Cao’s treasures and other belongings were worth close to ten thousand spirit stones, nearly enough to purchase a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Qing Chen examined Cao Banxian’s treasures and discovered valuable artifact-refining knowledge, a powerful cultivation art, and a formidable formation technique. He left considering the Six Void Redwood Art’s potential for Su Zixuan and the power of the Spider-Mantis Essence-Devouring Formation.

• Qing Chen recalled his belief that taking useful resources from others was simply the strong claiming what was theirs.
• Qing Chen inspected Cao Banxian’s collection and found seven Jade Slips containing the True Exposition of a Hundred Refinements, along with cultivation notes and other techniques.
• Qing Chen discovered the mid-tier Mystic Grade Six Void Redwood Art, which could take its practitioner to the False Core Realm, and considered it suitable for Su Zixuan.
• Qing Chen examined the Spider-Mantis Essence-Devouring Formation and learned it was a simplified high-tier Mystic Grade secret technique that could summon powerful demonic shadows.

Qing Chen discovered that his Spider-Mantis Essence-Devouring Formation was far too incomplete and weak to threaten the Condensed Jade Sect, then uncovered the White Bone Demon Mara Banner’s hidden connection to his Demon Seed Golden Lotus art. The banner revealed powerful abilities and a link to the Immortal-Locking Cult, leaving Qing Chen wondering how the secrets were connected.

• Qing Chen learned that the Spider-Mantis Essence-Devouring Formation required powerful cultivators and refined flags, and that his incomplete set could summon only a peak Qi Refining Netherworld Demon Spider at best.
• Qing Chen assessed the loot from his trip, collecting materials, talismans, pills, artifacts, and about a thousand spirit stones.
• Qing Chen cautiously infused the White Bone Demon Mara Banner with demon seed power and found that it accepted him without resistance.
• Qing Chen learned that the banner was the Pojun White Bone Demon Banner, one of the Immortal-Locking Cult’s Twelve Earthly Branches banners, and that only a practitioner of Demon Seed Golden Lotus could fully wield it.
• Qing Chen discovered the banner’s abilities to command and strengthen resentful souls, revive bones with some of their former skills, and summon a White Bone Demon General Pojun.
• Qing Chen wondered about the connection between the banner, the Immortal-Locking Cult, and his cultivation art, then lamented that his treasures all involved blood, souls, or bones instead of his dream of becoming a wine-loving sword immortal.

Qing Chen claimed Qilian High Person’s inheritance, rewarded Su Zixuan, and returned to the Condensed Jade Sect after arranging his affairs on Earth Jade Island. There, Qin Zigu intercepted him and asked about his absence.

• Qing Chen gave Su Zixuan a cultivation method, two magical artifacts, spirit stones, and pills, then put her in charge of Cao Banxian’s shop.
• Qing Chen and Su Zixuan entered Qilian High Person’s Cave Abode, where a recording offered them treasures in exchange for promising to preserve the Duer Sect’s legacy.
• Su Zixuan made the promise, unlocking a high-tier Earth Grade cultivation method and a formation; Qing Chen warned her to keep the inheritance secret.
• Qing Chen and Su Zixuan searched the Cave Abode, restored some formations, and flew back to Earth Jade Island, where Su Zixuan stayed to cultivate and manage the shop.
• Qing Chen returned alone to the Condensed Jade Sect, where Qin Zigu stopped him and asked if he had been well.

Qing Chen confronted Qin Zigu, learned that Senior Brother Mo had arranged his five-year assignment away from the sect, and returned to his cave abode to cultivate. Using the Brahma Demon-Refining Art, he broke through a cultivation barrier and began forming the art’s third-level circulation pathways.

• Qin Zigu taunted Qing Chen over Yu Cheng’s fate and warned that Senior Brother Mo had arranged his five-year assignment away from the sect.
• Qing Chen traded barbed remarks with Qin Zigu, then left after learning about the assignment.
• Qing Chen returned to Cave Abode 5533, laid out protective formations, and prepared the resources he had gathered for seclusion.
• Qing Chen used sealed qi and blood and pills to cultivate the second level of the Brahma Demon-Refining Art, enduring intense pain as his spiritual power surged.
• Qing Chen shattered a cultivation barrier and began circulating spiritual power through the third level of the Brahma Demon-Refining Art.

Qing Chen reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining and prepared to use his assignment on Mysterious Mountain Island to strike back at Mo Qiuxian. At Cao Banxian’s former shop, he found Su Zixuan facing hostile cultivators and intervened with his late-stage aura and Mystic Ice Pearl.

• Qing Chen broke through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining before age thirty-five and planned to use the Xu Household assignment to implicate Mo Qiuxian.
• Qing Chen assessed his artifacts and abilities, deciding the White Bone Demon Mara Banner gave him confidence to confront Mo Qiuxian.
• Qing Chen went to the Market Ward to check on Su Zixuan and her management of Cao Banxian’s former artifact-refining shop.
• Three cultivators accused Su Zixuan of murdering Cao Banxian and challenged her authority over the shop.
• Qing Chen entered the shop, released his late Qi Refining aura, and confronted the tall, thin cultivator with the Mystic Ice Pearl.

Qing Chen drove off three troublemakers who tried to take over Su Zixuan’s shop and named it Formation Treasure Pavilion. After hearing that a dueling arena concealed a black-market auction, he decided to attend in search of resources for his plans involving Mysterious Mountain Island and Mo Qiuxian.

• Qing Chen used his cultivation and Mystic Ice Pearl to frighten the three men into apologizing to Su Zixuan and leaving the shop.
• Qing Chen scattered the onlookers and entered the shop with Su Zixuan.
• Qing Chen named the shop Formation Treasure Pavilion and praised Su Zixuan’s cultivation and progress in crafting formations.
• Su Zixuan told Qing Chen that she had received an invitation to a dueling arena that secretly served as the entrance to a black-market auction.
• Su Zixuan explained that qualifying participants could attend the auction and would be teleported away by an ancient formation afterward.
• Qing Chen decided to attend the event, hoping to find resources useful for his trip to Mysterious Mountain Island and his confrontation with Mo Qiuxian.

Qing Chen and Su Zixuan entered Elysium, an underground dueling arena, where Qing Chen discovered that his wager qualified him for the black market auction. The token also revealed Elysium’s other attractions, and Qing Chen resolved to investigate them after finishing his business.

• Qing Chen decided to investigate the secret black market, and Su Zixuan explained the arena’s betting rules and entry requirements.
• Qing Chen and Su Zixuan followed the token’s guidance to an abandoned courtyard and entered Elysium through a hidden passage beneath a rockery.
• Qing Chen and Su Zixuan found an underground arena packed with cultivators watching two mortal martial arts masters fight.
• Qing Chen placed thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones into the betting platform and received a token qualifying him for the black market auction.
• Su Zixuan discovered that the token also described the Blissful Union Tower and Silver Hook Gambling House, and Qing Chen planned to visit them after his other business.

Qing Chen and Su Zixuan entered the underground Black Market Auction, where bidders competed for a powerful Purple Stone Axe. When the auctioneer presented a pair of Red-Chain Sea Serpents, Qing Chen became intensely interested.

• Qing Chen set aside his curiosity about Red Dust Heart Refining and asked Su Zixuan to guide him through the black market.
• Qing Chen and Su Zixuan used the Beast-Head Iron Token to enter the hidden auction hall and concealed their faces beneath black bamboo hats.
• The female auctioneer demonstrated the Purple Stone Axe and opened bidding at two hundred Spirit Stones.
• A bidder won the Purple Stone Axe for four hundred Spirit Stones after the hall's offers climbed past three hundred and fifty.
• The auctioneer presented a pair of First-Tier High-Grade Red-Chain Sea Serpents, and Qing Chen fixed his attention on them.

At the Earth Jade Market auction, Qing Chen used his intimidating spiritual sense and demonic-cultivator guise to buy several valuable beast carcasses and armor. As the auction neared its end, twelve second-tier Spirit Talismans based on the Luo Yan Thirty-Six Fingers were revealed as a grand finale treasure.

• Qing Chen won two Red-Chain Sea Serpent carcasses for seven hundred Spirit Stones and an Armor-Breaking Shark carcass for six hundred.
• Qing Chen bought the Red Bone Armor for four hundred and twenty Spirit Stones while other bidders avoided competing with him.
• The auctioneer announced three grand finale treasures and presented twelve second-tier Spirit Talismans derived from the first twelve finger strikes of the Luo Yan Thirty-Six Fingers.
• The auctioneer explained the talismans' power and opened bidding for sets of three at eight hundred Spirit Stones.

Qing Chen won the Fourth through Sixth Fingers talismans as the auction prices soared, while an expressionless young man bought the final talisman set and two grand finale treasures for immense sums. The young man left the auction surrounded by cultivators whose greed and hidden tracking marks threatened to turn the hall’s tension into violence.

• Qing Chen won the Fourth through Sixth Fingers spirit talismans for fourteen hundred spirit stones.
• A peak Qi Refining cultivator won the Seventh through Ninth Fingers for nineteen hundred spirit stones.
• An expressionless young man at the sixth layer of Qi Refining bought the Tenth through Twelfth Fingers for twenty-five hundred spirit stones.
• The young man won the Redwood Shuttle for four thousand spirit stones, drawing the attention of greedy cultivators.
• The young man bought the Xuanwei Sword Control Art for six thousand spirit stones while cultivators formed an encirclement and placed hidden tracking marks on him.

Qing Chen left the auction and hid near the Market Ward exit to watch the wealthy young cultivator, whom he suspected was concealing his strength. When the young man revealed himself as a Foundation Establishment cultivator and attacked the group pursuing him, Qing Chen watched from hiding as the battle began.

• Qing Chen collected his auction purchases and VIP token, then told Su Zixuan to return to the Formation Treasure Pavilion while he went alone.
• Qing Chen changed his appearance and aura, set a formation near the Market Ward exit, and waited for the young man to emerge.
• The young man left on his flying sword and smiled directly toward Qing Chen's hiding place as more than a dozen cultivators pursued him.
• The young man demanded the pursuers surrender their hands and Storage Bags, then revealed his Foundation Establishment cultivation when one attacked.
• The young man struck down the short, thin old man and severed the legs of a fleeing cultivator with the Longwind Sword.
• The young man used the Frost Ice Mirror to freeze the sea and trap the remaining fleeing cultivators.

Gu Jianchun escaped the ice barrier after killing most of the trapped cultivators, while Qing Chen ambushed a fleeing survivor and refined him into his demonic banner. After Gu Jianchun caught up, Qing Chen greeted him and learned that the newly established Foundation Establishment cultivator was now a True Disciple, but Gu Jianchun told him to keep their old familiarity.

• The short, thin old man used three Luo Yan Thirty-Six Fingers talismans to break through the ice barrier, then escaped after detonating three magical artifacts to stop Gu Jianchun’s sword.
• A wounded long-haired cultivator fled through the breach with a Gangwind Escape Method talisman and ran straight into Qing Chen’s formations.
• Qing Chen used the White Bone Demon Mara Banner and the Mother-Son Thundershadow Swords to kill the long-haired cultivator, refine his body and soul into the banner, and take his Storage Bag.
• Gu Jianchun arrived after pursuing the short, thin old man, and Qing Chen dismissed his formations to greet him.
• Qing Chen offered the Storage Bag to Gu Jianchun, who refused it as Qing Chen’s spoils and asked him to keep calling him Senior Brother Gu.

Gu Jianchun brought Qing Chen to the Condensed Jade Sect, where he learned that the sect knew about Elysium and revealed Daoist Wine had guided him there. At the General Affairs Hall, Gu Jianchun accepted a mission to investigate the massacres and disappearances on Mysterious Mountain Island.

• Gu Jianchun told Qing Chen that the demonic cultivator who escaped likely came from Blackwood Island and explained that Daoist Wine had sent him to Elysium.
• Qing Chen agreed to accompany Gu Jianchun to the General Affairs Hall, and the two returned to the Condensed Jade Sect.
• The gate disciples recognized Qing Chen and whispered about his connection to Gu Jianchun.
• Deputy Hall Master Xu Jiuling told Gu Jianchun that Mysterious Mountain Island had suffered massacres, missing cultivators, and lost contact with Condensed Jade Sect disciples.
• Gu Jianchun revealed that demonic cultivators had attacked him at Earth Jade Market and accepted the mission to investigate Mysterious Mountain Island.

Gu Jianchun accepted an assignment to investigate the murders on Mysterious Mountain Island and chose the Shaoyang Sword as his weapon. At the General Affairs Hall, Qing Chen rejected Xu Baichuan’s invitation to meet, risking the Xu Household’s hostility.

• Xu Jiuling assigned Gu Jianchun to investigate the murders on Mysterious Mountain Island, and Gu refused the offer to remain stationed there for ten years.
• Gu used eighteen hundred contribution points to select the Shaoyang Sword and arranged to collect it before setting out for the island.
• Qing Chen reunited with Li Feiyu at the General Affairs Hall, where Qin Zigu mocked him and Qing Chen retorted that he would never kowtow to Mo Qiuxian.
• Xu Baichuan invited Qing Chen to meet him at Inner Sect Peak, and Li Feiyu warned Qing Chen about Xu’s status and strength.
• Qing Chen declined Xu Baichuan’s invitation, and Xu’s expression turned sinister as he replied, “Good, very good!”

After Qing Chen refused Xu Baichuan, he faced insults from Qin Zigu and Pan Yuelian, but Xu Baichuan stopped Qin from threatening him over their upcoming mission. A month later, Qing Chen traveled with Gu Jianchun and a group of Condensed Jade Sect cultivators aboard the Redwood Shuttle toward Mysterious Mountain Island, where his connection to Gu Jianchun changed how the others treated him.

• Qin Zigu and other disciples scorned Qing Chen for refusing Xu Baichuan, and Pan Yuelian joined in mocking him.
• Qing Chen insulted Pan Yuelian, and Qin Zigu threatened to confront him during the mission until Xu Baichuan ordered him to shut up.
• Qing Chen privately considered using Pan Yuelian for his demonic banner’s refinement and another purpose.
• A month later, Gu Jianchun piloted the Redwood Shuttle toward Mysterious Mountain Island with Qing Chen and other Condensed Jade Sect cultivators aboard.
• Xu Baichuan, Qin Zigu, and Pan Yuelian noticed Qing Chen’s closeness to Gu Jianchun and his maid Su Zixuan, while Qing Chen benefited from the other disciples’ newfound courtesy.

Gu Jianchun and the Condensed Jade Sect party arrived at Mysterious Mountain Island to investigate the growing number of disappearances, then proceeded to their stronghold on Luofu Island. Qing Chen recognized Ding Buxing among the sect cultivators and, after settling in, met with him to catch up.

• Yue Chengfeng told Gu Jianchun that people and Qi Refining disciples had been disappearing from Mysterious Mountain Island without leaving any leads.
• Gu Jianchun led the party to Luofu Island to meet the Condensed Jade Sect cultivators stationed there.
• Qing Chen recognized Ding Buxing and was surprised that Ding had advanced to the peak of the fifth layer of Qi Refining.
• Chu Feikong arranged lodging for the arriving cultivators in Luofu City.
• Qing Chen met Ding Buxing at a restaurant, and the old acquaintances shared wine and reminisced.

Qing Chen questioned Ding Buxing about the disappearances on Mysterious Mountain Island and received a jade slip of clues. One location in the records, Liangshan Stronghold, matched a contact point tied to the Xu Household, giving Qing Chen a lead in his investigation.

• Qing Chen and Ding Buxing reminisced about old acquaintances, including Xue Yubing, Xie Yu, and Yue Ting.
• Ding Buxing explained that the islanders respected Chu for protecting them and said the missing people were mostly mortals and early Qi Refining cultivators.
• Ding Buxing warned Qing Chen that the disturbances could involve powerful forces and suggested Blackwood Island only as an unproven possibility.
• Ding Buxing gave Qing Chen a jade slip listing recent attacks and missing-person incidents on Mysterious Mountain Island.
• Qing Chen found Liangshan Stronghold in the records and recognized it as the contact point connected to Chen Zhu'er and the young master of the Xu Household.

Qing Chen argued that Liangshan Stronghold might hold crucial clues to the massacres, then joined Di Huaiyi and Chu Feikong on a concealed trip there. As they approached, Yue Household cultivators intercepted their flying boat and demanded their identities.

• Qing Chen noticed Liangshan Stronghold was the first recorded site of the massacres and questioned why it had been targeted.
• Di Huaiyi and Gu Jianchun favored investigating the western island, but Qing Chen proposed searching Liangshan Stronghold while the main force went west.
• Di Huaiyi and Chu Feikong agreed to accompany Qing Chen, and Gu Jianchun sent the groups on their separate investigations.
• Qing Chen, Di Huaiyi, and Chu Feikong flew toward Liangshan Stronghold aboard Chu Feikong's Cloud-Hiding Boat.
• Yue Household cultivators blocked the boat near Liangshan Stronghold and demanded that the travelers identify themselves.