Chapter Summaries

Jiang Yi worked a recruitment shift at Qianji Sect’s Lower Courtyard and learned that recruits paid to secure desirable labor assignments. Steward Lin explained that the Dao governed all traditions across the Five Domains, leaving Jiang Yi with a broader view of the world’s order.

• Jiang Yi told He Laohun that he had gotten over Luo Qian'er and was heading to the Lower Courtyard to oversee recruitment.
• Jiang Yi registered 263 applicants and organized their backgrounds for Steward Lin.
• Steward Lin explained that applicants paid for preferred placements and offered Jiang Yi two thousand in talisman money for his help.
• Jiang Yi asked why Dao Academy graduates joined the sect as laborers, and Steward Lin said the Dao governed all across the Five Domains.

Jiang Yi learned how the Qianji Sect and the Dao lineages controlled cultivation, then weighed how to spend his savings on lessons rather than medicine. As he resolved to pursue cultivation, mysterious golden characters appeared before his eyes, greeting him as a fellow immortal.

• Steward Lin explained that Rogue Cultivators and unaffiliated cultivators had little chance to advance, and that the great Dao lineages destroyed those who established Outer Dao sects.
• Jiang Yi decided he would pursue immortality despite his life as a mortal laborer, and calculated how much he could save from his wages.
• Jiang Yi returned to his shared courtyard, politely greeted Widow Qin, and went back to his cramped room.
• Jiang Yi chose to prioritize paying for Qi Refining lessons over buying medicine for his painful eyes.
• Golden light flickered in Jiang Yi's eyes, and strange characters appeared, greeting him as a fellow immortal.

Jiang Yi discovered that the Heavenly Book could reveal opportunities, but its first answers were too dangerous to pursue, so he asked it to find an opportunity he could safely obtain. While waiting six hours for the result, he went to eat with He Laohun and left him thinking he was drinking over Luo Qian'er.

• Jiang Yi awakened the Heavenly Book and learned that it could examine cause and effect.
• Jiang Yi asked the Heavenly Book to reveal his opportunities, but its suggestions involved risks he could not accept.
• Jiang Yi asked for opportunities he could obtain without future repercussions, and the Heavenly Book began a six-hour deduction.
• He Laohun visited Jiang Yi after work and complained about the brutal heat in the Quenching Room.
• Jiang Yi and He Laohun went to the Ice and Fire Cave, where they ate spirit rice, meat, and soup.
• Jiang Yi ordered wine, and He Laohun assumed he was drowning his sorrows over Luo Qian'er.

Jiang Yi learned from He Laohun that both the Immortal and Demonic Dao paths were difficult for ordinary people, but the Demonic Dao at least offered a chance through struggle. Still resolved to cultivate, Jiang Yi consulted the Golden Book and found a new opportunity near Crimson Flame Peak in two days.

• Jiang Yi told He Laohun he hoped to attend Inner Sect lessons and find a cultivation method, and He Laohun warned him that the lessons offered little of value.
• He Laohun explained that the Immortal Dao favored pedigree while the Demonic Dao demanded struggle, and described the origins and meaning of the term Demonic Dao.
• Jiang Yi paid for their meal and carried the drunken He Laohun back to the Large Compound, where He Laohun urged him to save money and give up on cultivation.
• Jiang Yi reaffirmed his resolve to pursue the Dao and checked the Golden Book, which revealed that Moonlight Essence and Flowing Essence would appear north of Crimson Flame Peak in two days.

Jiang Yi began another grueling day as a Mortal Laborer in the Quenching Room while waiting for the opportunity revealed by the Heavenly Book. He finished his shifts and continued to keep his expectations cautious, with two days left before he could verify the opportunity.

• Jiang Yi confirmed that the Heavenly Book’s golden page was real but could not examine karma again, and he resolved to wait two days for the opportunity.
• Jiang Yi met He Laohun at work, where He Laohun suggested asking Yang Xun for an easier job training new recruits.
• Jiang Yi received his assignment to the Quenching Room while He Laohun was sent to the Forging Room.
• Jiang Yi spent four two-hour shifts fanning a furnace, carefully regulating the flames and enduring the heat and fumes.
• Jiang Yi returned his Copper Token, received approval for his work, and went back to his lodging while continuing to await the opportunity.

After exhausting himself in the Quenching Room, Jiang Yi rested before seeking out the moonlight gathering place revealed by the heavenly book. He refined its Frost Qi through the night and reached the Second Stage of Qi Refining.

• Jiang Yi finished two days of grueling work and told He Laohun he would rest before deciding whether to buy medicine.
• Jiang Yi returned to the Large Compound, where Widow Qin offered him leftover black-bone chicken soup, and he slept until midnight.
• Jiang Yi secretly found a hollow on Crimson Flame Peak's shaded northern side where moonlight gathered into a shallow pool.
• Jiang Yi used his seated cultivation practice to absorb the moonlight and refine it into Frost Qi, enduring a rapid heartbeat without panicking.
• Jiang Yi meditated until dawn and successfully advanced to the Second Stage of Qi Refining.

After breaking through to the second level of Qi Refining, Jiang Yi received congratulations and offers of food from his fellow Mortal Laborers. He consulted the Heavenly Book for more opportunities and cultivation advice, and it began laying out measures to improve his progress despite his limited time.

• Jiang Yi realized that his breakthrough had tempered his tendons and bones, strengthened his body, and brought him to the second level of Qi Refining.
• He Laohun, Old Li, and Widow Qin noticed Jiang Yi's progress and offered gifts for a celebration; Jiang Yi invited them to share a meal after work.
• Old Li agreed to contribute six taels of Spirit Rice, and Jiang Yi thanked his fellow workers before returning to his room.
• Jiang Yi asked the Heavenly Book to reveal another opportunity, but it found none available to him.
• Jiang Yi asked how to advance his cultivation with little time and an ungraded cultivation method, and the Heavenly Book began offering specific measures.

Jiang Yi tested the Heavenly Book’s limits and learned that practical inquiries were more attainable than grand opportunities, then sought a way to earn talisman coins and improve his cultivation. At a shared celebration, Old Li described the sacrifices he and his wife made to support their son’s apprenticeship, leaving Jiang Yi more determined to pursue the Dao and escape a life of toil.

• Jiang Yi asked the Heavenly Book about cultivation methods, immortality, and hidden treasures, but found that grand requests required unaffordable spiritual items and immense deduction times.
• Jiang Yi asked how to earn five thousand to one hundred thousand talisman coins without future trouble, and the Heavenly Book gave a two-hour deduction time.
• Jiang Yi considered the benefits of Crimson Flame Peak’s Lesser Forging Origin Fire-Control Art but resolved to improve steadily rather than rush.
• He Laohun, Widow Qin, Old Li, and the others brought food and gifts to Jiang Yi’s communal courtyard for a celebration.
• Old Li explained that he and his wife spent around fourteen or fifteen thousand talisman coins each year supporting their son’s artifact-crafting apprenticeship and hoped he would enter the Yin Puppet Sect’s inner peaks.
• Jiang Yi listened to Old Li’s hopes for his son and became more resolved to pursue eternal life rather than remain trapped in toil.

Jiang Yi cultivated after sharing a meal with his neighbors, then used the heavenly book to search for hidden wealth. Unwilling to take money from the living, he found ownerless savings and a manual left behind by the dead, giving him resources to pursue cultivation while reminding him how dangerous the Qianji Sect was.

• Widow Qin gave Jiang Yi honey water, advised him to focus on cultivation, and asked him to call her Sister Qin.
• Jiang Yi cultivated until his True Qi completed two greater celestial circuits, then considered how slowly his current method would help him reach the fifth level of Qi Refining.
• The heavenly book revealed savings hidden by He Laohun, Li Gensheng and his wife, and Qin Ru, but Jiang Yi refused to take money from his living neighbors.
• Jiang Yi petitioned for ownerless wealth and learned of hidden talisman coins left by dead laborers, as well as Yang Zhi's copy of the Lesser Forging Origin Fire-Control Art.
• Jiang Yi decided the discoveries would let him afford spirit food and plan for the inner sect, and resolved to reach the fifth level quickly for his safety.

Jiang Yi spent his newfound wealth on spirit cuisine, strengthening his body and consolidating his Qi Refining Second Stage as he worked toward the third level. After learning about the dangers and status differences among Outer Sect laborers, he used the Heavenly Book to divine what to watch for at work the next day.

• Jiang Yi ate green shrimp and other spirit dishes at the Ice and Fire Grotto, noting that his cultivation and True Qi had improved through his spending.
• Jiang Yi overheard Zheng Dajiang explain that Soul-Nourishing Peak laborers risked death scouting Soulfall Gorge, while Zheng hoped to become a duty officer through his brother-in-law's connections.
• Jiang Yi reflected on the different prospects of mortal laborers, protected workers, and duty officers, and resolved to rise from the lowest tier with the Heavenly Book's help.
• Jiang Yi drank Widow Qin's bear-gall wine and practiced True Qi circulation, reaching five Greater Celestial Circuits toward the ten needed to break through to the third level.
• Jiang Yi asked the Heavenly Book to reveal the next day's fortune, learned the deduction would take six hours, and went to sleep intending to check it in the morning.

Jiang Yi obtained and burned a hidden ninth-grade cultivation manual, then asked the heavenly book to explain it. After learning an inner disciple had beaten a laborer to death and seeing how the sect priced the dead man’s remains, Jiang Yi resolved to become valuable enough to escape life as a consumable.

• Jiang Yi hired a substitute for his shift and went to Yang Zhi’s residence to retrieve the hidden Lesser Forging Origin Fire-Control Art.
• Jiang Yi struggled to understand the manual, asked the heavenly book to deduce its meaning, and burned the original text.
• Jiang Yi returned to Crimson Flame Peak and learned that Xu Yan had beaten Little Gao to death during a production inspection.
• He Laohun explained that the sect had valued Little Gao’s remains at 7,200 talisman money, while Xu Yan left an 8,000-talisman note.
• Jiang Yi paid He Laohun for arranging his substitute and asked him to introduce him to someone who could take him to the inner sect.
• Jiang Yi resolved to become talent rather than remain a mortal laborer, and began considering how to use the heavenly book to stand out.

Jiang Yi offered Yang Xun a catalyst recipe that could improve the Quenching Room’s bone-refining yield, and Yang Xun agreed to test it and promote him to Inspection Officer if it worked. After earning Yang Xun’s favor with dried lychees, Jiang Yi returned to his room and checked his cultivation progress, finding himself seventy-seven percent through the Qi Refining Second Stage.

• Yang Xun worried that the Quenching Room could not provide enough usable bone material to meet Crimson Flame Peak’s monthly quota.
• Jiang Yi told Yang Xun that a catalyst made from coldwater stone and gray phosphorus powder could steady furnace flames and raise the bone stock’s qualification rate.
• Yang Xun praised Jiang Yi, promised to test the recipe, and offered him a reward and an Inspection Officer post if the method worked.
• Jiang Yi asked Yang Xun for dried lychees and showed that he knew how they were made, stirring a personal memory in Yang Xun.
• Jiang Yi shared the lychees with He Laohun, then used the Heavenly Book to review Yang Xun’s preferences and check his cultivation, which had reached seventy-seven percent of the Qi Refining Second Stage.

Jiang Yi’s secret catalyst formula improved the Quenching Room’s bone material, earning Yang Xun’s favor and a chance to cultivate toward the inner peak. The next day, Yang Xun promoted Jiang Yi to share his duties and inspect finished bone material, stunning the Mortal Laborers and He Laohun.

• Jiang Yi arrived early at the Quenching Room, prepared the catalyst, and helped Yang Xun produce high-quality bone material.
• Yang Xun offered Jiang Yi a reward, and Jiang Yi asked for an opportunity to advance and become Dao material.
• Yang Xun granted Jiang Yi access to the Lesser Forging Origin Fire-Control Art and explained that Dao material faced human, slaughter, and death tribulations.
• Yang Xun excused Jiang Yi from daily labor, ordered him to report every seven days, and offered to seek him an inner peak place if he advanced in cultivation.
• The next morning, Yang Xun announced Jiang Yi’s promotion to share his miscellaneous duties and inspect bone material, leaving He Laohun and the other Mortal Laborers astonished.

Jiang Yi became the Quenching Room’s inspection officer and improved its bone-material production, earning Yang Xun’s trust and the affection of his former workmates. Yang Xun warned him that other workshop inspectors would test him, and Dong Ba and Zhang Chao began plotting to extort and humiliate him.

• Yang Xun promoted Jiang Yi to inspection officer, and Jiang Yi taught the Mortal Laborers an improved quenching process that increased the quality and quantity of their work.
• Jiang Yi asked Yang Xun to appoint He Laohun to oversee the workshop and accepted Yang Xun’s warning that he would need to prove himself against the other workshop inspectors.
• Jiang Yi invited He Laohun, Widow Qin, Old Li, and Old Li’s wife to dine at the Ice and Fire Cave, reassuring them that his promotion had not changed their friendship.
• Dong Ba and Zhang Chao discussed losing their illicit profits now that Jiang Yi held the Quenching Room post, and Zhang Chao planned to demand a share from him.
• Zhang Chao proposed inviting Duty Officer Zhou to a meal with Luo Xiaoniangzi so Jiang Yi would have to watch and toast them, while two Mortal Laborers served them outside in the cold.

Jiang Yi visited Yang Xun with food, and Yang Xun taught him about meridian manifestations, Dao lineages, and the cultivation hierarchy. Jiang Yi left with a clearer understanding of how Qi Refining clans rose and how Foundation Establishment created noble lineages, while Yang Xun urged him to focus on advancing his own cultivation.

• After sharing a meal with the courtyard laborers, Jiang Yi brought food to Yang Xun’s residence and waited in the snow until Yang Xun finished meditating.
• Yang Xun questioned Jiang Yi about his cultivation and explained that powerful clans used spiritual objects to awaken superior meridian manifestations at the first level of Qi Refining.
• Yang Xun described the Dao lineages of Northern Mang Ridge, explaining how Qianji Sect supplied the Illuminating Nether Sect and how successful Mortal Laborers could establish local Qi Refining clans.
• Yang Xun told Jiang Yi that the Fu and Kang clans had become noble lineages because each had a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and he advised Jiang Yi to focus on reaching the fifth level of Qi Refining.
• Yang Xun explained how cultivators at the fifth level gathered spiritual essences suited to their cultivation methods, then dismissed Jiang Yi after warning him that advancement depended on his own ability.

Jiang Yi used the Heavenly Book to devise a tiger-and-wolf salve intended to speed his breakthrough to the third level of Qi Refining, then prepared it with help from Widow Qin and the Large Compound. He refused to profit from tribute money and warned He Laohun against exploiting the Mortal Laborers, while Zhang San and Dong Si awaited a meeting with him.

• Jiang Yi abandoned his attempt to rest, set a goal of reaching the fifth level of Qi Refining before spring, and consulted the Heavenly Book for a faster breakthrough method and a way to repair the resulting bodily depletion.
• Jiang Yi bought the prescribed ingredients and explained to Widow Qin and He Laohun that he was making medicinal salve; they helped him prepare fourteen portions to set for a day and night.
• He Laohun told Jiang Yi that Zhang San and Dong Si wanted to meet about sharing the tribute money collected from the Mortal Laborers.
• Jiang Yi refused to take tribute money from the workers and urged He Laohun not to take part in exploiting them, then invited him to a meal after payday.

Jiang Yi used Tiger-Wolf Medicine and Green Zhi Pulp to accelerate his cultivation and safely broke through to the third level of Qi Refining. The Heavenly Book confirmed his progress at eleven percent.

• Jiang Yi rejected He Laohun’s suggestion to take a share of the Mortal Laborers’ money and chose to focus on cultivating.
• Two days later, Jiang Yi checked his cultivation and found he had reached seventy-nine percent of the second level of Qi Refining.
• Jiang Yi consulted the Heavenly Book, received confirmation that taking Tiger-Wolf Medicine was safe, and applied it to his heart and lower abdomen.
• Jiang Yi endured the medicine’s painful effects as his True Qi and Qi and Blood surged through his body.
• Jiang Yi drank Green Zhi Pulp to restore and stabilize his body, then asked the Heavenly Book to assess his progress.
• The Heavenly Book reported that Jiang Yi had reached the third level of Qi Refining at eleven percent.

After reaching the Third Level of Qi Refining, Jiang Yi comprehended the Lesser Forging Origin Fire-Control Art and achieved minor mastery, gaining a powerful fire attack. Back at the Large Compound, he discovered He Laohun had been injured and confronted him about who had hit him.

• Jiang Yi consolidated his Third Level cultivation and used the Heavenly Book to understand how to practice the Lesser Forging Origin Fire-Control Art.
• Jiang Yi refined a thread of fire nature from his True Qi, achieving minor mastery and piercing a door plank with a needle-fine line of fire.
• Jiang Yi celebrated at the Ice and Fire Cave, then returned to the Large Compound and noticed Widow Qin and the others acting strangely while He Laohun was absent.
• That night, Jiang Yi caught He Laohun sneaking into the kitchen and saw the swollen cheek and palm print on his face.
• Jiang Yi asked He Laohun who had hit him.

After learning that Zhang Chao and Dong Ba had humiliated He Laohun to pressure him into sabotaging Jiang Yi, Jiang Yi promised that no one on Crimson Flame Peak would trouble them again. On payday, Jiang Yi distributed the wages without confronting the two men, who agreed to stay alert while Dong Ba dismissed the danger.

• Jiang Yi pressed He Laohun to explain his swollen face, and He Laohun recounted years of poverty and humiliation before admitting Zhang Chao and Dong Ba had made him crawl between their legs for refusing to trip Jiang Yi up.
• Jiang Yi returned He Laohun’s fallen buns and promised that no one on Crimson Flame Peak would trouble them again.
• The next morning, Jiang Yi efficiently distributed the Mortal Laborers’ Talisman Money at the Labor Affairs Courtyard.
• Zhang Chao and Dong Ba watched Jiang Yi leave without picking a fight, and Zhang Chao warned Dong Ba not to underestimate him because he had reached the Qi Refining Second Stage.
• Dong Ba scoffed at Zhang Chao’s caution and said he had nothing to fear.

Jiang Yi borrowed Talisman Money from Widow Qin and Yang Xun, then used a Daoist fire spell to kill Dong Ba and cripple Zhang Chao after the Heavenly Book revealed their hostility. He left with He Laohun and went to Yang Xun to report the violence and offer compensation.

• Jiang Yi borrowed ten thousand Talisman Money from Widow Qin and thirty thousand from Yang Xun, who learned that Jiang Yi had reached the third level of Qi Refining and claimed minor mastery of the Lesser Forging Origin Fire-Control Art.
• Jiang Yi consulted the Heavenly Book, which warned that attacking Zhang Chao and Dong Ba would almost certainly lead to an unexpected outcome and revealed that both men harbored ill will toward him.
• Jiang Yi brought He Laohun to Zhang Chao and Dong Ba's house, where he killed Dong Ba with a fire spell and severed Zhang Chao's legs.
• Jiang Yi found stacks of Talisman Money in the house and left with He Laohun, telling him no one on Crimson Flame Peak would trouble them again.
• Jiang Yi visited Yang Xun and reported that he had killed Dong Ba and injured Zhang Chao, offering compensation; Yang Xun laughed at his talent for borrowing money to buy lives.