Chapter Summaries

Zhao Yi and Liu Yu bought pills and spirit medicines aboard the Fubo Pavilion, where Zhao Yi learned that a bottle he had found contained Primordial Chaos Pills worth five hundred spirit stones. They kept the pills, bought talismans and spirit stones, and left the ship before the plundering on nearby islands could put them at risk.

• Zhao Yi bought Essence Qi Pills and spirit medicines but skipped the Origin-Nourishing Pills because he lacked enough spirit stones.
• Zhao Yi asked the scarlet-robed cultivator to identify a bottle from Daoist Mu's belongings, and the cultivator revealed it held three Primordial Chaos Pills worth five hundred spirit stones.
• Zhao Yi declined the cultivator's offer to buy the bottle and kept it, learning that its pills required two other kinds to help break through to the Spirit Attraction Stage.
• Zhao Yi and Liu Yu bought talismans and exchanged spirit stones for water-, earth-, and wood-attribute stones.
• Zhao Yi recalled the plundering on Red Sand Island and nearby islands, so he and Liu Yu left the merchant ship.

Zhao Yi and Liu Yu were ambushed aboard the Linghua by four black-clad cultivators who had drugged the rest of the crew. Zhao Yi and Liu Yu fought back, but Zhao Yi’s injuries and fading techniques left them under mounting pressure as one enemy’s swordsmanship improved during the battle.

• Zhao Yi and Liu Yu returned to the Linghua with the Primordial Unity Pills, and their ship departed ahead of the other vessels.
• Four black-clad cultivators boarded the Linghua at night and drugged everyone except Zhao Yi and Liu Yu.
• Zhao Yi and Liu Yu recognized the trap, armed themselves, and killed or disabled several attackers when the intruders entered their cabin.
• Zhao Yi used the Boiling Blood Art to battle two Meridian Opening cultivators, then drew the whip-wielder into a fatal embrace and let the other attacker’s sword pierce them both.
• Liu Yu killed the whip-wielder and used a Golden Light Talisman to protect Zhao Yi, while the remaining black-clad cultivator stalled until Zhao Yi weakened.
• The remaining cultivator’s swordsmanship surged toward a breakthrough, leaving Liu Yu struggling to parry and the pair unable to find a way out.

After waking from seven days unconscious, Zhao Yi learned that a Zhao Family cultivator had intervened and Liu Yu had killed the remaining enemy. As Zhao Yi recovered, he studied his increased fortune, divided the spoils, and transformed a piece of spirit jade into a physical Jade Register that displayed Chen Changdao and Chen Yihua on new pages.

• Zhao Yi woke on Linghua Island and learned that a Spirit Attraction Stage cultivator from the Zhao Family had wounded the enemy, allowing Liu Yu to kill him.
• After another seven days, Zhao Yi examined the Sect Jade Register and saw that his fortune had risen to ten; he suspected fortune increased according to the cultivation of enemies killed.
• Zhao Yi began cultivating despite his ruptured meridians, then asked Liu Yu about the slain cultivators and the items they had left behind.
• Zhao Yi divided the pills and weapons, gave Liu Yu instructions about supplies, and asked him to bring the low-grade spirit jade.
• Zhao Yi merged the Sect Jade Register with the spirit jade, creating a physical Jade Register that displayed pages for Chen Changdao and Chen Yihua.

After a harvest feast, Zhao Yi warned his martial brothers that rogue cultivators and growing tensions around the islands threatened Linghua Island. The next morning, Zhao Yi prepared to leave for Jade Pearl Island to protect its islanders through the winter.

• Wang Qing returned from Jade Pearl Island, and Zhao Yi arranged a feast with Liu Yu and Li Hai to celebrate the harvest and their recent gains.
• Zhao Yi toasted his late master and told the others that he had sent Daoist Mu to keep him company in the Ancestral Hall.
• Zhao Yi and Liu Yu described the rogue cultivator attack on their way back from the Trade Fair and worried that conflict across the islands would worsen.
• Wang Qing drunkenly vowed to fight invaders, and Li Hai declared he would defend Linghua Island to the death.
• After the feast, Zhao Yi and Liu Yu helped Wang Qing and Li Hai to their rooms, and snow began falling later that night.
• Zhao Yi packed his weapons, talismans, and rice to leave for Jade Pearl Island and protect its people from winter dangers.

Zhao Yi registered Liu Yu, Wang Qing, and Li Hai in the Sect Jade Register, then returned to Jade Pearl Island and spent the following months cultivating and training. When a lighthouse keeper reported that roars were coming closer across the sea, Zhao Yi went to the harbor and prepared to face two approaching demonic beasts.

• Zhao Yi had Liu Yu, Wang Qing, and Li Hai add their essence blood to the Sect Jade Register before enshrining it in the Ancestral Hall.
• Zhao Yi returned to Jade Pearl Island, studied the new register entries, and cultivated beside Jade Pearl Spring until the spirit fish stopped emerging in the cold.
• Zhao Yi trained daily through December and brought his Heavy Mountain Halberd Technique to consummate mastery, shattering a boulder with his Long Ji.
• Zhao Yi wondered whether Liu Yu and the others would gather for New Year's Day, then noticed someone running along the mountain path and suspected demonic beasts had appeared.
• Wang Liuzi told Zhao Yi that roaring had been heard at sea and seemed to be nearing Jade Pearl Island, so Zhao Yi took him to the harbor.
• Zhao Yi saw two demonic beasts swimming toward the island, sent Wang Liuzi away, and readied his Long Ji, sword, spirit talismans, and Inner Armor.

Zhao Yi killed a Giant-Toothed Shark after it defeated an Ink-Armored Sea Turtle, then caught and killed the turtle before it could escape. He drank the Spirit Attraction Stage turtle’s blood to recover and was still cultivating the next day as snow continued to fall.

• An injured Ink-Armored Sea Turtle crawled ashore, and the Giant-Toothed Shark followed it onto the ice and caught up with it in the snow.
• After the shark weakened the turtle, Zhao Yi attacked, blinded the shark’s left eye, and survived its water-arrow strike before killing it with the Long Ji.
• Zhao Yi discovered the turtle had escaped toward the sea, chased it down, and beheaded it, realizing it was a Spirit Attraction Stage demonic beast.
• Zhao Yi drank the turtle’s blood and circulated his qi to recover; by the next day his injuries had mostly healed and snow was still falling.

Zhao Yi butchered two demon beasts, discovered a living sea turtle egg, and spent three months eating their meat to accelerate his cultivation. As he prepared to return to Linghua Island, he fed fish at Jade Pearl Spring with the shark’s spiritual power crystal and watched the Spirit Fish swallow the remaining piece.

• Zhao Yi had Wang Liuzi and the islanders carry the sea turtle, Giant-Toothed Shark, and bloodstained earth to the Daoist temple, then shared some shark meat with them.
• While butchering the sea turtle, Zhao Yi found three eggs, sensed life in one, and placed it in a nest with a simple Spirit Gathering Array.
• Over three months, Zhao Yi ate all the demon beast meat and opened two meridians, then decided it was time to return to Linghua Island.
• At Jade Pearl Spring, Zhao Yi counted 122 fish, crushed part of the shark’s Spiritual Power Crystal into the water, and fed the remainder to the three-inch Spirit Fish, which swallowed it and sank groggily to the bottom.

Zhao Yi returned to Linghua Island with demon beast spoils, recounted how he obtained them, and entrusted a surviving sea turtle egg to Wang Qing to hatch. The next morning, Zhao Yi tested Li Hai’s swordsmanship and recognized his talent.

• Zhao Yi arrived at Linghua Island with a turtle shell, shark bones, and blood-soaked soil, and Liu Yu, Wang Qing, and Li Hai helped carry the spoils up the mountain.
• Zhao Yi described how he took advantage of a battle between a Spirit Attraction Stage sea turtle and a megalodon, explaining that the meat had healed his injuries and advanced his cultivation.
• Zhao Yi gave Wang Qing the surviving Sea Turtle Egg to hatch and told him to study beast taming so he could add the craft to Linghua Island.
• Zhao Yi checked Li Hai’s progress in Daoist script, fist techniques, and swordsmanship, then learned that Liu Yu had opened over fifty meridians of the Lesser Celestial Circuit.
• The next morning, Zhao Yi sparred with Li Hai, disarmed him, and praised his swordsmanship talent, telling him to study the sword manuscripts left by their master.

Zhao Yi celebrated Linghua Island’s abundant spirit rice harvest and sold rice and Spirit-Nurturing Powder for Spirit Stones. Meanwhile, Peach Blossom Island prepared to resist Three Heroes Island’s demand for thirty percent of its spirit peaches, and Zhao Yi learned of the dispute at the Trade Fair.

• Zhao Yi harvested three mu of Spirit Rice, discovered his fourth meridian had opened, and celebrated Linghua Island’s improved yield.
• Wu Yuying, Granny Liu, and Peach Blossom Island’s elders discussed Three Heroes Island’s demand for thirty percent of their spirit peaches and planned to seek allies while preparing for a possible fight.
• Zhao Yi sold refined rice and Spirit-Nurturing Powder on Little Wave Island, earning one hundred and twenty Spirit Stones and preparing to sell more rice.
• Liu Yu told Zhao Yi that Peach Blossom Island and Three Heroes Island were at odds, and Zhao Yi laughed at the Mo Clan’s demand.

Zhao Yi learned that Ghost Shark Daoist had allied with Three Heroes Island and returned seeking revenge on Linghua Island. He arranged a duel with Sea Shark Island, and at the harbor Ghost Shark Daoist publicly demanded that Chen Yihua answer for the old blood debt.

• Liu Yu told Zhao Yi that Three Heroes Island had gained powerful allies, including Ghost Shark Daoist, whom Chen Yihua had once driven from Sea Shark Island.
• Zhao Yi visited Peach Blossom Island and learned that Ghost Shark Daoist, his ghost shark, and his twin disciples had all become formidable; he arranged for Linghua Island to challenge Sea Shark Island to a duel.
• Before dawn, Yuan Zifeng warned Zhao Yi against facing Ghost Shark Daoist and lent him a Middle-Grade Golden Light Talisman.
• As cultivators gathered at the harbor, Mo Wufei accused Chen Yihua of slaughtering Sea Shark Island’s people and asked everyone to witness the islands settle their grievances.
• Ghost Shark Daoist demanded to know where Chen Yihua was.

Zhao Yi and Liu Yu fought Ghost Shark Daoist and his disciples in a public duel, defeating them despite severe injuries. Zhao Xingyu stopped Mo Wufei from attacking the wounded pair, and declared the feud between Linghua Island and Sea Shark Island settled before the cultivators prepared to board the merchant ship.

• Zhao Yi defeated Ghost Shark Daoist’s two disciples after breaking their coordinated defense with a powerful halberd assault.
• Liu Yu and Zhao Yi fought Ghost Shark Daoist together, but Liu Yu’s strength faltered and Zhao Yi’s halberd was destroyed by Ghost Shark Daoist’s sword.
• Zhao Yi and Liu Yu launched a final attack: Liu Yu’s sword broke and he was badly wounded, while Zhao Yi broke Ghost Shark Daoist’s neck and beheaded him.
• Mo Wufei tried to attack the injured Zhao Yi and Liu Yu, but Zhao Xingyu intercepted him and ordered him to leave Sea Shark Island’s spoils to Linghua Island.
• Yuan Zifeng gave Zhao Yi and Liu Yu medicine, and Zhao Xingyu declared Linghua Island the winner and the feud settled before directing the cultivators to line up for the merchant ship.

After Zhao Yi and his companions defeated the Sea Shark Island cultivators, they gathered their spoils, bought supplies, and returned to Linghua Island with a Ghost Shark following their ship. Zhao Yi recovered at the abbey, warned the others about a possible attack from Three Heroes Island, and Liu Yu urged Wang Qing to focus on cultivation.

• Wu Xiuzhu delivered spirit peaches and Spring Return Pills from Peach Blossom Island, and Liu Yu and Yuan Zifeng thanked her for the aid.
• Liu Yu told the awakened Zhao Yi that he had sold the spirit rice, bought supplies, and found a bell and other items among the Sea Shark Island cultivators' belongings.
• Zhao Yi used the bell to summon the Ghost Shark and planned to kill it after recovering, while having Wang Qing feed it on the way back to Linghua Island.
• Three days later, Zhao Yi and Liu Yu arrived at Linghua Island, where Wang Qing and Li Hai helped bring the injured Zhao Yi back to Linghua Abbey.
• Wang Qing offered to accompany Liu Yu to the next Trade Fair, and Liu Yu told him to improve his cultivation instead of giving his resources to Guiwu.

Zhao Yi used the Jade Register’s fortune to aid Liu Yu and Wang Qing, then broke through to perfection of Meridian Opening after his fellow disciples supplied pills. After resolving to protect Linghua Island and fulfill his master’s wishes, he reunited with his junior brothers as Wang Qing emerged from seclusion having also advanced.

• Zhao Yi learned that Linghua’s fortune had risen to one and spent fortune to increase Liu Yu’s and Wang Qing’s fortune.
• After half a month of quiet, Zhao Yi, Liu Yu, and Wang Qing poisoned and killed the Ghost Shark, then used its corpse as field fertilizer.
• Zhao Yi consumed his remaining Red Ginseng Pill and broke through to perfection of Meridian Opening.
• Zhao Yi gave Liu Yu six Essence Origin Pills, then mourned his master and vowed to protect Linghua Island and his junior brothers.
• Zhao Yi learned Liu Yu was progressing toward great completion and told Li Hai to wait until he was sixteen before breaking through to the Qi Nurturing Stage.
• Wang Qing emerged from seclusion after successfully breaking through, and the four gathered cheerfully in the pavilion.

Zhao Yi studied Daoist Lingqing’s guidance on reaching Three Origins Perfection and resolved to prepare for the Spirit Attraction Stage through cultivation and saving for pills. At the Trade Fair, he learned that Peach Blossom Island and Three Heroes Island had fought a bloody battle, and he and Liu Yu concluded that their feud would endure while the Zhao Family waited for its patriarch to advance further.

• Zhao Yi learned that breaking through to the Spirit Attraction Stage required passing the Essence Origin, Qi Origin, and Spirit Origin gates, and planned to cultivate toward Three Origins Perfection and save for a Spirit-Nourishing Pill.
• After the spirit-rice harvest, Zhao Yi and Liu Yu traveled to Little Wave Island for the Trade Fair, while Zhao Yi ordered Wang Qing to remain on Linghua Island.
• Zhao Yi learned from Junior Sister Liu that Senior Liu had died after being gravely wounded in the battle between Three Heroes Island and Peach Blossom Island.
• Junior Sister Liu explained that the Zhao Family had halted Three Heroes Island’s attack, but Mo Wusheng had threatened Peach Blossom Island’s female cultivators.
• Wu Yuying revealed that Zhao Yi had reached Perfection of Meridian Opening and noticed her in the room.
• Zhao Yi told Liu Yu that the Zhao Family was waiting for Zhao Xinghe to condense his Dao Foundation, then instructed him to spend their savings on cultivation pills for Liu Yu, Wang Qing, and Li Hai.

Yuan Zifeng came to Linghua Island to ask Zhao Yi and his companions to help Black Wind Island, which was being besieged by Kongqing Island after internal strife weakened it. Zhao Yi decided to go with Li Hai, and they planned to ambush the besieging force rather than charge onto the island.

• Wang Ping told Zhao Yi that Yuan Zifeng had arrived, and Zhao Yi went to meet him with Liu Yu.
• Yuan Zifeng explained that Black Wind Island's lord and two other powerful cultivators had died, leaving its eldest senior brother trapped as Kongqing Island attacked.
• Zhao Yi and Liu Yu told Yuan Zifeng they would give him an answer the next morning and offered him a place to rest.
• Zhao Yi, Liu Yu, and Li Hai discussed the request and agreed to help Black Wind Island repay Yuan Zifeng's past kindness.
• Zhao Yi and Li Hai decided to leave the next morning and ambush Kongqing Island's cultivators outside Black Wind Island.

Zhao Yi, Yuan Zifeng, and Li Hai approached Black Wind Island to relieve its siege, beginning by ambushing and killing the Kongqing Island patrol aboard its boat. They then sailed toward another patrol vessel as Yuan Zifeng explained that Black Wind Island’s protective formation could hold for about half a month on its spirit-stone reserves.

• Yuan Zifeng anxiously waited for Zhao Yi’s decision, and Zhao Yi agreed to help relieve the siege in exchange for a generous reward.
• Aboard the Linghua, Zhao Yi outlined a plan to hide offshore and approach Black Wind Island by night in Yuan Zifeng’s single-masted boat.
• Zhao Yi, Yuan Zifeng, and Li Hai swam to Kongqing Island’s patrol boat before dawn and boarded it under cover of darkness.
• Zhao Yi killed the patrol’s cultivators while Yuan Zifeng supported Li Hai, who killed the last enemy and learned to behead fallen opponents.
• The three searched the patrol boat, collected its spoils, and sailed toward another patrol vessel while Yuan Zifeng explained that Black Wind Island’s protective formation had enough spirit stones to last half a month.

Zhao Yi and Li Hai ambushed Kongqing Island patrols, killing ten cultivators and further weakening the force besieging Black Wind Island. After Kongqing Island withdrew, Zhao Yi and Li Hai left Yuan Zifeng behind and sailed away, leaving the siege lifted.

• Zhao Yi led Li Hai and Yuan Zifeng in a surprise attack on a second Kongqing Island patrol ship, killing its cultivators as one escaped toward Black Wind Island with a message talisman.
• Zhao Yi pursued and killed the fleeing cultivator by running across the waves, then sank the patrol ship after Li Hai cleared the battlefield.
• Yuan Zifeng realized the patrol losses had weakened Kongqing Island enough that its remaining cultivators would likely abandon the siege.
• Zhao Yi refused Yuan Zifeng's suggestion to join an attack on Black Wind Island, reasoning that Kongqing Island would withdraw after receiving the warning.
• Zhao Yi, Li Hai, and Yuan Zifeng waited offshore until a ship left Black Wind Island, then returned to Deserted Island.
• Zhao Yi and Li Hai sailed away, leaving Yuan Zifeng to return to Black Wind Island and collect their promised reward at the Trade Fair on Little Wave Island.

Zhao Yi and Li Hai returned from Black Wind Island with supplies and discussed dealing with the cultivators on Kongqing Island, then Zhao Yi directed the Linghua disciples to focus on cultivation and their sea-farming work. After a decent harvest, the group set off for Little Wave Island.

• Zhao Yi assigned fortune to Liu Yu and Wang Qing while Li Hai inventoried the spoils from their trip.
• Zhao Yi and Li Hai returned to Linghua Island, where Li Hai gave Liu Yu the supplies and received permission to claim Ghost Shark Daoist's sword.
• Zhao Yi praised Li Hai for killing ten cultivators, explained his unfinished Treading the Waves technique, and assigned tasks concerning Wang Qing and the spirit fish.
• Zhao Yi, Liu Yu, Li Hai, and Wang Ping harvested 243 jin of spirit crops, including seventeen surviving stalks of vitality-strengthening grass.
• On the twenty-third day of the tenth month, year 5497 of the Yuangguang Calendar, Zhao Yi and the others set off for Little Wave Island.

Zhao Yi led Linghua Island’s cultivators in a night raid on Kongqing Island to seize its spirit bees, and they reached the beekeeping valley after taking the island’s ship and gathering information. When Zhao Yi charged the guarded bamboo house, he triggered its alarms and defenses and was trapped under a barrage of attacks.

• Zhao Yi learned that Junior Sister Liu had married Yuan Zifeng of Black Wind Island and gave her a Linghua token so the couple could seek help.
• Linghua Island bought Mother-and-Child Conches and Voice-Transmitting Conches, then followed Kongqing Island’s ship to its destination.
• Zhao Yi and Wang Qing boarded Kongqing Island’s ship, killed the two cultivators guarding its hold, and summoned Liu Yu and Li Hai.
• Zhao Yi questioned islanders at the harbor, learned where the spirit bees were kept, and led the group toward the valley while Wang Qing took position above its entrance.
• Zhao Yi set off alarms near the bamboo house, endured arrows and an explosion, then became trapped by mud and vines as Ice Arrows flew toward him.

Zhao Yi, Liu Yu, Li Hai, and Wang Qing raided Kongqing Island, killed island cultivators, and escaped with six Jade-Pattern Bee hives. The islanders let them go, mourning their dead and discovering that their ship was sinking.

• Zhao Yi survived a Chain Fireball Talisman attack, and Liu Yu and Li Hai helped him kill the cultivator guarding the bamboo building.
• The group took six Jade-Pattern Bee hives and fled toward the harbor as islanders pursued them.
• Li Hai sailed away with the hives while Zhao Yi and Liu Yu stayed behind to delay the pursuers, and Wang Qing went to scuttle the Two-Masted Ship.
• Liu Yu wounded Yuan Huaqing in a sword fight, then he and Zhao Yi escaped across the water as the islanders watched in astonishment.
• The islanders chose not to pursue, learned that the Clear Spirit was sinking, and discovered that Huahai and Huachen were already dead.