Chapter Summaries

Zhou Xun settled in Fengyuan City while waiting for Hu Kui True One, the third-rank artifact refiner, to return. While exploring West Square, he reunited with Wen Siyue and offered to help her overcome her difficulty advancing her talisman-making skill.

• Zhou Xun learned from Venerable Wen Yang that Hu Kui True One had gone to Fengyuan to search for puppet materials and was expected back within three months.
• Venerable Wen Yang offered Zhou Xun a courtyard behind Hundred Delights Pavilion, where Zhou Xun stayed while waiting for Hu Kui.
• Zhou Xun visited West Square and recognized Wen Siyue, whom he had guided years earlier, selling talismans at a stall.
• Zhou Xun examined Wen Siyue's talismans and asked about her attempts to make first-rank top-grade talismans.
• Wen Siyue explained that her spirit energy circuits became unstable during refinement, causing the talismans to burn to ashes.

Zhou Xun helped Wen Siyue identify why her talismans were failing, then left her a booklet extending her Talismanship knowledge to quasi-Tier 3. Elsewhere, Hu Kui, Song Yuheng, and Xuan Feizi discovered and opened a ruin in Fengyuan, but ghost spirits pursued them as they fled toward Fengyuan City.

• Zhou Xun explained that Wen Siyue's talisman brush was too low-grade for Tier 1 High-Grade talismans and answered her other questions.
• Zhou Xun left Wen Siyue a Talismanship booklet reaching quasi-Tier 3, and she realized he was the senior who had taught her.
• Hu Kui, Song Yuheng, and Xuan Feizi found a collapsed restriction in a mountain valley and recognized it as the entrance to a ruin.
• Song Yuheng used the Formation Breaking Cone to open the restriction, and Hu Kui sent a Tier 2 Low-Grade Puppet Beast inside to scout.
• Ghost spirits caught up with the three cultivators, so Hu Kui took over steering the flying boat and fled toward Fengyuan City.

Hu Kui, Song Yuheng, and Xuan Feizi found a precious fire lotus deep beneath a lava-filled hall and spent months trying to break the restriction protecting it. When Ghost Mist swept toward them, they abandoned the herb and faced an encirclement of ghost spirits.

• Hu Kui, Song Yuheng, and Xuan Feizi entered the lava-filled stone hall and identified the fire lotus as a likely Tier 3 Supreme-Grade Spirit Herb.
• Hu Kui sent a Firesalamander Puppet Beast toward the lotus, but a restriction burned it to ash, so Song Yuheng began working to break the barrier.
• Black mist spread through a distant valley as seven peaks sealed it in, while black spots appeared across Fengyuan Battlefield.
• After more than two months of attacking the restriction, Hu Kui lost contact with his southern puppet guards, and the three rushed outside.
• Xuan Feizi summoned a flying boat as Ghost Mist approached, but several dozen ghost spirits appeared and surrounded them.
• Song Yuheng attacked a ghost spirit with his flying blade and urged the others to scatter the creatures before the Ghost Mist arrived.

Xuan Feizi, Hu Kui, and Song Yuheng fled a swarm of shadows toward Fengyuan City, while Zhou Xun received Qingyu Sect's Venerable Tian Yang and bought a treasured Tier 3 Talisman Brush from him. The chapter ended with Zhou Xun and Venerable Tian Yang continuing their friendly conversation.

• Xuan Feizi used three lightning talismans to destroy the pursuing black shadows, then took Hu Kui and Song Yuheng away on a flying boat as more shadows chased them.
• Zhou Xun received Zhao Zhiyang, Venerable Tian Yang of Qingyu Sect, and welcomed him into his residence.
• Venerable Tian Yang praised Zhou Xun's Superior True Core and remarkable cultivation, and the two quickly grew familiar.
• Venerable Tian Yang offered Zhou Xun Qingyu Sect's Tier 3 Low-Grade Talisman Brush, Golden Bamboo, which had belonged to True One Golden Bamboo.
• Zhou Xun declined to accept the brush as a gift and paid Venerable Tian Yang four hundred thousand spirit stones for it.

Zhou Xun joined Fengyuan City's defense after nine drumbeats warned that an immense host of ghost spirits was attacking. As the city's formation began losing energy under their assault, Venerable Tian Yang launched a Golden Halberd to fight back.

• Venerable Tian Yang told Zhou Xun that nine drumbeats signaled a powerful enemy and asked him to help defend Fengyuan City; Zhou Xun agreed, while reserving the right to protect himself if the crisis became hopeless.
• Zhou Xun, Venerable Tian Yang, and Venerable Wen Yang flew to the city wall and found Fengyuan City sealed behind a Tier 3 High-Grade Void Severing Grand Formation, with tens of thousands of ghost spirits surrounding it.
• Song Shiwun welcomed Zhou Xun and asked Hu Kui to explain how he, Song Yuheng, and Xuan Feizi had encountered the ghost spirits and hurried to warn the city.
• Hu Kui explained that Shadow Assassins could re-form after being struck and were best countered with lightning arts.
• The ghost spirits attacked the formation, and Song Shiwun used the Azure Sky Net Array to unleash lightning that destroyed many of them, but the horde quickly filled the gaps and drained the formation's energy.
• Venerable Tian Yang sent a Golden Halberd flying out as the defenders moved to counter the attack.

Zhou Xun used his lightning arts to break through the ghoul siege at Fengyuan City and kill its leader, forcing the ghouls to retreat. At the victory banquet, Song Shiwun and the other cultivators thanked him and offered to repay his help with rare spiritual plants.

• Zhou Xun joined the cultivators outside the formation and killed yakshas and Shadow Kills with his magic treasures and lightning.
• Song Shiwun asked Zhou Xun to find and kill the ghoul leader, identified by its three horns and single eye.
• Zhou Xun fought through the ghouls, trapped their leader in a lightning domain, and killed it, leaving behind a black pearl.
• The ghouls retreated, and Zhou Xun returned to Fengyuan City as the cultivators celebrated their victory.
• Song Shiwun and the False Dan cultivators thanked Zhou Xun and offered to seek rare spiritual plants to repay him.

After helping defend Fengyuan City, Zhou Xun learned of a rare fire lotus and set out to find it. Elsewhere in Fengyuan, a mysterious cultivator suppressed a strange valley after discovering it had erupted fifty years early, while Zhou Xun raced toward his destination.

• Song Shiwun and the other Core Formation cultivators thanked Zhou Xun for saving Fengyuan City and helped him obtain three Tier 3 Mid-Grade spirit herbs.
• Song Shiwun revealed that Song Yuheng had found a Tier 3 Supreme-Grade spirit herb, and Yuheng described a fire lotus discovered in an ancient restriction.
• Zhou Xun recognized the lotus as a possible Celestial True Flame Lotus and promised the Song Lineage a favor in exchange for its location.
• Zhou Xun left Fengyuan City the next morning and headed for the valley marked on Song Yuheng's map.
• A square-faced cultivator appeared above a strange valley, used a Bronze Seal to suppress it, and vanished after the mist dispersed.
• Zhou Xun sped through Fengyuan toward the valley, bolts of lightning flashing around him.

Zhou Xun saved four Qingyu Sect cultivators from a horde of ghost spirits and learned that ghostly mist had spread across a vast area. After more than twenty days of fighting his way through the spirits, he neared the valley.

• Li Zhiheng and three Qingyu Sect cultivators used a talisman treasure and their remaining thunder talismans to defeat eleven pursuing Ghoul Yakshas, but then spotted more than a thousand ghost spirits approaching.
• Zhou Xun destroyed the horde with his thunder arts and introduced himself to the rescued cultivators as Forgetful River True One.
• Li Zhiheng told Zhou Xun that the ghostly mist covered a vast area and ghost spirits were roaming independently.
• Zhou Xun gave the four cultivators Qi Recovery Pills and continued toward the valley, destroying ghost spirit groups along the way.
• After flying for more than twenty days, Zhou Xun drew close to the valley.

Zhou Xun fought through a swarm of ghost spirits and met a mysterious cultivator who warned that the Eastern Wasteland might prevent him from advancing beyond Late-Stage Core Formation. After deciding to investigate how to leave, he reached the cliff entrance to the lava lake.

• Zhou Xun used his lightning arts to carve through the ghost mist and kill its horned, one-eyed leader, collecting the black bead it left behind.
• A mysterious middle-aged man appeared and praised Zhou Xun's talent, then warned him that he might be unable to advance beyond Late-Stage Core Formation if he remained in the Eastern Wasteland.
• Zhou Xun resolved to cultivate harder and consider leaving the region, then checked his map and flew toward the lava lake.
• Zhou Xun found the uninhabited valley and confirmed that the entrance on its cliff matched Song Yuheng's description.

Zhou Xun broke the remaining restriction guarding the Celestial True Flame Lotus, harvested it, and returned to Forgetful River Lake with the Tier 3 Talisman Brush he had sought. Reviewing his gains, he concluded that a Heaven Spiritual Root might be within reach and that forming a true Immortal Golden Core would require finding another cultivation world.

• Zhou Xun concealed the cliff entrance with the White Mirage Mist Concealment Array and entered the cavern containing the Celestial True Flame Lotus.
• Zhou Xun weakened the red restriction with lightning and the Edge of Utmost Sharpness, shattered it, and harvested the lotus.
• Zhou Xun returned to Forgetful River Lake a month later and reviewed the Tier 3 Talisman Brush and Celestial True Flame Lotus he had obtained.
• Zhou Xun recalled the middle-aged man's apparent mastery of void power and suspected that he was a God Transformation Celestial Lord.
• Zhou Xun concluded that he would need to find another cultivation world to form a true Immortal Golden Core and reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

Zhou Xun successfully refined thirty-eight Tier 3 low-grade Treasure Talismans and learned that a great migration had emptied the Eastern Wasteland of its strongest cultivators. He then rushed to the beast enclosure as the Blackscaled Armadillo began breaking through to Tier 2 High-Grade.

• Zhou Xun used quasi-Tier 3 Spirit Soothing Incense and the Golden Bamboo Talisman Brush to refine his first Treasure Talisman successfully.
• Zhou Xun refined all thirty-nine sheets of Treasure Talisman Paper, producing thirty-eight Treasure Talismans, and absorbed them into his body to nurture them.
• Zhou Xun read a record describing the Great Migration of the Eastern Wasteland and concluded that ancient sects might hold more information about it.
• Zhou Xun sensed the Blackscaled Armadillo approaching a breakthrough, and Song Yiqing joined him at the beast enclosure.
• Zhou Xun saw Spiritual Qi gather around the Blackscaled Armadillo and activated the formation controlling Forgetful River Lake.

Zhou Xun helped the Blackscaled Armadillo break through to Tier 2 High-Grade and tested its formidable defenses. The next day, he read letters about the fighting at Golden Ape Valley and remained wary of the Heaven Feather Sect’s absent First Elder returning.

• The Blackscaled Armadillo broke through to Tier 2 High-Grade, and Zhou Xun praised Song Yiqing for helping raise their spirit beasts.
• Zhou Xun tested the Blackscaled Armadillo’s shell and found it could withstand attacks roughly three times as powerful as a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator’s.
• The Blackscaled Armadillo went to show off its new strength to the Azure Golden Dragon Carp and Crimson Flame, while Zhou Xun and Song Yiqing returned to their bedroom.
• Wei Qiuxin gave Zhou Xun two letters from Golden Ape Valley, including Wang Erniu’s account of the fighting against Heaven Feather Sect cultivators in the Hundred Thousand Swamps.
• Zhou Xun doubted Wang Erniu’s prediction that Golden Ape Valley would soon drive Heaven Feather Sect out of Xu Nation, fearing its First Elder would return after a breakthrough.

Zhou Xun warned True Person Yun Yi that Xu Nation might be unable to defeat the Heaven Feather Sect, then rewarded Wei Qiuxin for breeding a Tier 2 Crimson Spirit Dragonfish and arranged a tasting banquet. Two months later, guests arrived at Forgetful River Lake, where they admired Zhou Xun’s cultivation ground.

• Zhou Xun sent Wei Qiuxin a Jade Slip urging True Person Yun Yi to reconsider the attack on the Heaven Feather Sect because its Tier 3 mid-grade protective formation could overwhelm Xu Nation.
• Wei Qiuxin reported that she had bred a Tier 2 Crimson Spirit Dragonfish, and Zhou Xun rewarded her with an Azure Spirit Pill and promised a Core Formation spiritual item if she reached Foundation Establishment Peak.
• Zhou Xun planned a dragonfish tasting banquet and invited several friends and prominent figures, including True Person Yun An, True Person Feng Yu, Hu Kui, and Venerable Wen Yang.
• Two months later, Zhou Xun’s spiritual root sensitivity reached sixty-five points, and Xuan Yunzi, True Person Tianyang, Hu Kui, and Venerable Wen Yang arrived at Forgetful River Lake.
• The four guests looked upon Forgetful River Lake and praised the beauty of Zhou Xun’s cultivation ground.

Zhou Xun welcomed several Core Formation cultivators to a Dragonfish Banquet at Forgetful River Lake, where the guests enjoyed a rare Crimson Spirit Dragonfish and benefited from the increased Spiritual Qi. After the banquet, Zhou Xun kept Hu Kui behind to share lotus seeds and talk.

• Xuan Yunzi and the other guests arrived at Zhou Xun’s formation, and Zhou Xun welcomed them with Song Yiqing and Wei Qiuxin.
• Venerable Tian Yang explained that he had exchanged a third-tier Talisman Brush with Zhou Xun, while Hu Kui regretted missing the chance to help Zhou Xun obtain one.
• Zhou Xun hosted the guests at Lakeheart Island and served a Tier 2 Crimson Spirit Dragonfish prepared by spirit chef Dongfang Xin.
• Zhou Xun used a command flag to draw Spiritual Qi from the surrounding area, helping his disciples and subordinates cultivate during the banquet.
• After the guests departed, Zhou Xun invited Hu Kui to stay and served him fresh Stillheart Lotus seeds.

Zhou Xun enlisted Hu Kui to refine puppets and teach him puppetry, while his avatar broke through to the seventh layer of Divine Thunder Body Tempering. After Hu Kui left, Zhou Xun prepared defenses for Forgetful River Lake and decided he could begin revealing its spirit vein to others.

• Zhou Xun served Hu Kui Stillheart Lotus seeds and Spirit Mist Tea, then asked him to refine three quasi-Tier 3 puppets and teach him puppetry.
• Hu Kui instructed Zhou Xun, who improved his skills and refined his first Tier 2 Low-Grade puppet after a month.
• Zhou Xun's avatar broke through to the seventh layer of Divine Thunder Body Tempering and demonstrated strength comparable to a Tier 3 Great Demon.
• Hu Kui stayed for half a year, refined three quasi-Tier 3 Puppet Beasts for Zhou Xun, and returned to Feng Nation.
• Zhou Xun prepared four quasi-Tier 3 puppets and thirty-eight treasure talismans to protect Forgetful River Lake, then decided to gradually reveal the lake's spirit vein.

Zhou Xun showed Song Yiqing their hidden cave beneath the lake, where a Top-Grade Tier 3 Spiritual Vein would support their cultivation and the spirit beasts’ growth. A letter from the Golden Ape Valley front revealed Xu Nation’s disastrous defeat, and True Person Yun Yi urged Zhou Xun to take command before the war worsened.

• Zhou Xun led Song Yiqing through a narrow passage at the bottom of the lake and showed her their vast cavern and its Top-Grade Tier 3 Spiritual Vein.
• Zhou Xun revealed a newly excavated cave abode for Song Yiqing, brought their three spirit beasts there, and gave her a formation control token.
• Zhou Xun settled into a routine of cultivation and other pursuits beneath the lake with Song Yiqing.
• Wei Qiuxin delivered letters from Wang Erniu and True Person Yun Yi describing Xu Nation’s failed attack on the Heaven Feather Sect’s encampment in Golden Ape Valley.
• Xu Nation suffered heavy casualties and retreated to defend Golden Ape Valley, while the Heaven Feather Sect’s First Elder remained an unknown threat.
• True Person Yun Yi regretted not heeding Zhou Xun’s advice and invited him to the front, offering to surrender command and follow his orders.

Zhou Xun learned that Xu Qingxiao had formed a False Core and sent Zhou Jinsong to attend the Xu Family’s celebration, with Zhou Ping and Zhou Qiuyue joining the journey. As they neared Heavenly Crane Mountain, someone called out to Zhou Jinsong’s party.

• Zhou Xun read Xu Qingxiao’s invitation and decided to send his disciple Zhou Jinsong in his place.
• Zhou Xun gave Zhou Jinsong Qi Recovery Pills, puppet beasts, and an escape talisman as gifts and protection for the journey.
• Zhou Ping asked to accompany Zhou Jinsong because he had grown close to Xu Qingxiao’s daughter, Xu Shaoping, and Zhou Qiuyue joined them as well.
• The Xu Family celebrated Xu Qingxiao’s Core Formation breakthrough, which made them Xu Nation’s only family with a Core Formation cultivator.
• Zhou Jinsong, Zhou Ping, and Zhou Qiuyue approached Heavenly Crane Mountain, where someone behind them asked if they were Pill Refiner Zhou.

Zhou Jinsong traveled to Heavenly Crane Mountain with Fan Zhiwu and his children to attend Xu Qingxiao’s Core Formation celebration, bringing a gift on behalf of Forgetful River True One. His arrival reassured Xu Qingxiao that Forgetful River Lake had accepted his overtures, while the assembled guests recognized the significance of Zhou Jinsong’s presence.

• Fan Zhiwu introduced himself to Zhou Jinsong and invited him to travel together to Heavenly Crane Mountain.
• Fan Zhiwu gave Zhou Ping and Zhou Qiuyue a Tier 2 Golden Feather Eagle egg each, and Zhou Jinsong accepted the gifts after Fan insisted.
• Xu Qingxiao waited anxiously at his Core Formation celebration until Zhou Jinsong arrived with three bottles of Tier 3 Qi Recovery Pills from Forgetful River True One.
• Xu Qingxiao welcomed Zhou Jinsong and asked him to address him as a friend, and Zhou Jinsong agreed.
• The guests realized Zhou Jinsong’s arrival represented Forgetful River True One’s support and watched Xu Qingxiao treat him as an equal.

Zhou Jinsong attended the Xu Family celebration, where he and Xu Qingxiao agreed that Zhou Ping would marry Xu Shaoping and discussed the Xu Family pledging allegiance to Forgetful River Lake. Three months later, Zhou Ping married Xu Shaoping, and Xu Qingxiao traveled to meet Zhou Xun about the alliance.

• Xu Qingxiao welcomed Zhou Jinsong and guided him to the seat of honor at the Xu Family celebration, while Fan Zhiwu followed Zhou Jinsong with deference.
• After the banquet, Xu Qingxiao and Zhou Jinsong agreed that Zhou Ping and Xu Shaoping would marry, and Zhou Jinsong reported Xu Qingxiao's interest in pledging allegiance to Zhou Xun.
• Three months later, Zhou Ping traveled to Heavenly Crane Mountain with the Blackscaled Armadillo and married Xu Shaoping.
• Xu Qingxiao joined the bridal escort to Prosper the People Mountain, attended the grand bonding ceremony, and then flew to Forgetful River Lake to meet Zhou Xun.

Xu Qingxiao sought Zhou Xun’s protection for the Xu Family and asked him to accept his hidden youngest daughter, Xu Shaoqing, as a disciple. Zhou Xun agreed in principle and sent Wei Qiuxin to fetch her, while Xu Shaoqing anxiously awaited the visitor who called her by name.

• Xu Qingxiao entered Stillheart Pavilion, where Zhou Xun welcomed him with spirit tea and discussed his wish to bring Heavenly Crane Mountain under Forgetful River Lake.
• Xu Qingxiao revealed that he had secretly kept his twin daughter Xu Shaoqing hidden because she possessed a sixty-one-point fire spiritual root.
• Zhou Xun agreed to accept Xu Shaoqing as his fifth disciple if her aptitude was as Xu Qingxiao described.
• Xu Qingxiao told Zhou Xun that Xu Shaoqing was staying in Forgetful River Quarter, and Zhou Xun sent Wei Qiuxin to fetch her.
• Xu Shaoqing worried that Zhou Xun might not accept her and was startled when a woman outside her inn room called her by her true name.