Chapter Summaries

Wang Ba arrived at the Myriad Incantation Sect and used his status in the Myriad Phenomena Sect to gain access to its curse arts inheritance. There, he recognized Ji Lan and revealed that he knew the secret of Elder Qin’s possession of Ye Lingyu, leaving Ji Lan and his companions waiting to speak with him.

• Wang Ba and Li Yingfu captured five cultivators for Wang Ba’s chicken farm, while a mysterious black-clad figure appeared and took the burn-scarred cultivator’s group away.
• Li Yingfu explained the Myriad Incantation Sect’s curse arts as Wang Ba’s carriage approached the sect, where Wang Ba spotted Ji Lan and his two companions.
• Ji Lan tried to gain an audience with Elder Fan, but You Zhong delayed him and demanded a bribe before Wang Ba’s Command Token made You Zhong open the formation respectfully.
• Wang Ba asked Ji Lan why Elder Qin, also known as Ye Lingyu, had not come, then entered the Myriad Incantation Sect as its leaders and two Nascent Soul Cultivators came out to receive him.
• Wang Ba asked the Gate Master of the Myriad Incantation Sect to let him read its curse arts inheritance, and the Gate Master brought him to the inheritance grounds after agreeing to his request.

Wang Ba acquired the Myriad Incantation Sect’s Mind-Calming Incantation and discovered that its original Hundred-Life Soul-Defiling Curse offered protection against a higher-level threat. He then went with Ji Lan to the Eastern Saint Sect to learn what happened to Ye Lingyu, whose body appeared lifeless until Li Yingfu sensed a new soul within it.

• Wang Ba negotiated to permanently acquire the Mind-Calming Incantation, mastered it almost immediately, and copied the Hundred-Life Soul-Defiling Curse after learning it could summon protection by sacrificing one hundred beings a realm above himself.
• Elder Hui recognized Wang Ba’s name and connected him to the Eastern Saint Sect’s former Outer Sect disciple, while Ji Lan and Cultivator Gao wondered whether he had returned to help their sect.
• Wang Ba asked Ji Lan whether Qin Heng had fully taken over Ye Lingyu’s body, then agreed to visit the Eastern Saint Sect when Ji Lan said the situation was difficult to explain.
• At the Eastern Saint Sect, Wang Ba saw Ye Lingyu lying in a Crystal Coffin and learned that her Divine Soul and Qin Heng’s had both been extinguished during the failed body seizure.
• As Li Yingfu prepared to store Ye Lingyu’s body, he sensed that a new soul had appeared inside it.

Wang Ba discovered that Ye Lingyu’s body had awakened a new soul, named her Wang Qingyang, and agreed to help Ji Lan reach the Nascent Soul stage without saving the Eastern Saint Sect. After learning that a large-headed rogue cultivator had seized a Dao Opportunity, Wang Ba headed for the Exquisite Ghost Market, where an unseen force stopped his carriage and demanded to know whether anyone had seen the rogue cultivator.

• Li Yingfu awakened a fledgling new soul in Ye Lingyu’s body, and he explained that she was no longer the original Ye Lingyu, though traces of her memories might remain.
• Wang Ba rejected Ji Lan’s offer to become his master, named the newborn soul Wang Qingyang, and agreed to test Ji Lan against Dafu before giving him a Nascent Soul cultivation method and breakthrough elixirs.
• Ji Lan gave Wang Ba the Eastern Saint Sect’s God-Locking Bell and sect resources, and Wang Ba returned some cultivation materials to help the struggling sect.
• Ji Lan warned Wang Ba that Dao Opportunities near the Exquisite Ghost Market had drawn powerful cultivators and bandits, and Wang Ba suspected the large-headed rogue cultivator was someone he had met earlier.
• Wang Ba traveled south with Li Yingfu, Lou Yi, Zhou Lue, and Wang Qingyang; bandit attacks ceased after Li Yingfu revealed his Nascent Soul presence.
• An unseen force abruptly halted Wang Ba’s carriage, and a powerful voice asked whether anyone had seen the large-headed rogue cultivator.

Wang Ba used a fake Spirit Rhinoceros Stone to stop Yan Wuxiong from searching his carriage, then reached the Exquisite Ghost Market and reunited with Ling Weizi and Hu Zaixi. After learning more about the missing cultivators and meeting Qu Zhongqiu, Wang Ba offered to help find a solution to the investigation’s problems.

• Yan Wuxiong stopped Wang Ba’s carriage while searching for the big-headed rogue cultivator, but Wang Ba presented a fake Spirit Rhinoceros Stone and convinced him to let them go.
• Li Yingfu told Wang Ba that Qu Zhongqiu, a disciple of Elder Du Wei from Passion Refining Peak, served as the Sen Kingdom Ghost Market’s garrison commander.
• Wang Ba arrived at the Exquisite Ghost Market and reunited with Ling Weizi and Hu Zaixi, who advised him to use a Creation Bone-Dissolving Pill and the Ninefold Heavenly Firmament to prepare Wang Qingyang for a new cultivation method.
• Ling Weizi explained that their investigation into disappearing cultivators had stalled because they could not make outside cultivators wear marking talismans.
• Qu Zhongqiu returned to the garrison commander’s palace, spoke with Wang Ba about beast taming, and heard Ling Weizi describe the investigation’s difficulties.
• Wang Ba asked Ling Weizi to explain the disappearances in detail so they could work together on a solution.

Wang Ba proposed using marking talismans as admission tickets to attract rogue cultivators to a sect recruitment drive and protect them amid Sen Kingdom’s crisis. Qu Zhongqiu brought Elder Zhang Songnian to give a public lecture on the Dao, and the elder regarded Wang Ba as though he knew him.

• Ling Weizi explained that cultivators had been disappearing in Sen Kingdom for decades, with the cases surging after Myriad Gods Kingdom drove refugees into the region.
• Wang Ba suggested selling warning-enabled marking talismans to rogue cultivators and using a recruitment drive to draw them in, with the talismans serving as identity-bound admission tickets.
• Wang Ba proposed that sect elders hold a public lecture on the Dao so applicants who were not recruited would still benefit, but Ling Weizi and Hu Zaixi said they lacked the standing to lecture exceptionally talented rogue cultivators.
• Qu Zhongqiu identified Elder Zhang Songnian of the Longevity Sect as a Spirit Transformation cultivator who might agree to speak, then left to invite him.
• Qu Zhongqiu returned with Elder Zhang Songnian, who gave Wang Ba a meaningful look as Ling Weizi and Hu Zaixi welcomed him.

Wang Ba helped arrange a public lecture by a Spirit Transformation patriarch to ease the crisis caused by cultivators disappearing, then exchanged beast-breeding insights with Yang Gongyi. While studying the Myriad Incantation Sect’s curse techniques, he tested the Yin-Yang Union Incantation on spirit chickens and discovered that giving one chicken both yin and yang Qi caused a startling physical change.

• Zhang Songnian agreed to give a public lecture, and Wang Ba reported seeing the big-headed rogue cultivator who had seized the ancient Dao opportunity heading northwest.
• Qu Zhongqiu introduced Wang Ba to Yang Gongyi, and the two exchanged beast-taming and bird-breeding techniques before Yang Gongyi hurried away to test a new idea.
• As more cultivators disappeared, Wang Ba saw the Ghost Market’s cultivators react to the announcement that a Great Jin Spirit Transformation patriarch would lecture and select nominal disciples.
• Wang Ba studied the Myriad Incantation Sect’s unranked curse techniques and tested the Yin-Yang Union Incantation on a male and female spirit chicken, prompting them to mate.
• Wang Ba placed both kinds of Yin-Yang Qi into a female spirit chicken, which began crowing as its cloacal flesh rapidly developed a shape resembling a male organ.

Wang Ba studied curse techniques, discussed them with Wang Haitong, and helped draw a vast crowd to Zhang Songnian’s public lecture. As Wang Ba listened to the lecture, Qu Zhongqiu received alarming news that Yang Gongyi had gone missing.

• Wang Ba tested the Yin-Yang Union Incantation and found that its effects on the female spirit chicken lasted only briefly.
• Wang Haitong visited Wang Ba, offered him curse-casting materials, and discussed the curse techniques Wang Ba had been studying.
• Wang Ba learned that the Myriad Incantation Sect’s former practitioner of the Yin-Yang Union Incantation had disappeared but was still alive according to his Soul Lamp.
• Ling Weizi and Wang Ba surveyed the large crowd gathered for Zhang Songnian’s lecture, where cultivators had bound admission tickets to themselves for the investigation into disappearances.
• Qu Zhongqiu told Ling Weizi and Wang Ba that the cultivator who had taken the Dao Opportunity came from the Cloud Dream Kingdom and was not from the Primordial Demon Sect.
• A messenger reported that Yang Gongyi had gone missing, and Qu Zhongqiu reacted in shock.

After discovering a hidden teleportation array in Yang Gongyi’s cave, Wang Ba and the others found him acting strangely and fleeing from them. They tracked him to a forested area called Wood-Forest Island, where Qu Zhongqiu and Ling Weizi recognized the place and wondered why he had gone there.

• Qu Zhongqiu, Ling Weizi, and Wang Ba investigated Yang Gongyi’s cave and learned that Yang Gongyi had vanished, as his senior brother An Longhu had years earlier.
• Ling Weizi uncovered a concealed teleportation array behind a wooden wall, and Qu Zhongqiu and Ling Weizi used it to search for Yang Gongyi.
• Yang Gongyi returned through the array with a vacant stare, took Wang Ba’s attack without fighting back, and fled from the cave.
• Wang Ba used Yang Gongyi’s blood to mark and track him, while Qu Zhongqiu and Ling Weizi explained that they had found him underground beside a damaged formation and Heavenly Thunder Seeds.
• Wang Ba led Qu Zhongqiu and Ling Weizi to Wood-Forest Island, where they wondered why Yang Gongyi had stopped there.

Wang Ba, Qu Zhongqiu, and Ling Weizi entered Wood-Forest Island to retrieve Yang Gongyi, but the island’s strange power separated them and drew Wang Ba into its depths. After finding Yang Gongyi unconscious and failing to locate his martial uncles, Wang Ba followed an eerie sound and discovered Bai Xiaoyun.

• Wang Ba confirmed that Yang Gongyi was inside Wood-Forest Island, and Qu Zhongqiu and Ling Weizi attacked the forest to reach him.
• A mysterious power made Qu Zhongqiu and Ling Weizi fall into the forest, while Wang Ba resisted its influence briefly before being pulled down as well.
• Three Myriad Gods Kingdom Nascent Soul Cultivators arrived above the island, and Zhang Songnian confronted them after finding the others missing.
• Wang Ba found Yang Gongyi unconscious, failed to wake him with a talisman or a wound, and could not locate Qu Zhongqiu or Ling Weizi.
• Wang Ba followed a strange sound that stirred his blood and found Bai Xiaoyun in the depths of the forest.

Wang Ba discovered that the mysterious presence on Wood-Forest Island had captured cultivators and was using them and spirit birds for unknown purposes. As he tried to escape and summon help, the presence revealed itself as an enormous Black Spirit Chicken with closed vertical eyes.

• Wang Ba found Bai Xiaoyun bewitched and Liu Lan mechanically refining spiritual objects while producing Yang Qi, and realized both cultivators had advanced to the Gold Core Realm.
• Wang Ba sent a Psychic Ghost Loach to investigate and saw cultivators’ remains in a dark passage, then fled and tried to send Voice Transmission Talismans to Elder Zhang Songnian.
• Spirit Beasts attacked Wang Ba, and he evaded them by flying toward Bai Xiaoyun and Liu Lan, only to discover that his Voice Transmission Talismans had returned without reaching the outskirts.
• Bai Xiaoyun, Liu Lan, Yang Gongyi, and other figures moved deeper into the forest, where Wang Ba saw Yang Gongyi tending wounded third-tier birds.
• Wang Ba’s Psychic Ghost Loach revealed an enormous Black Spirit Chicken with closed vertical eyes pressing down on a spirit bird.

Wang Ba discovered that Fanming had possessed Bing Yi and was using captured cultivators and spirit birds to prepare a way to escape its body. He used the God-Locking Bell to restrain Fanming, but the spell’s effects began to fade as Wood-Forest Island’s beasts converged and a powerful newcomer arrived.

• Wang Ba recognized the enormous black Spirit Chicken as Fanming, which had possessed Bing Yi and abducted cultivators to help its Primordial Spirit escape.
• Fanming subdued Jia Ten Five and began transferring its Primordial Spirit into Jia Ten Five’s body, while its vertical pupils also controlled Wang Ba and Dafu.
• Wang Ba rang the God-Locking Bell, freezing Fanming and Bing Yi, then restored Dafu and freed Qu Zhongqiu, Ling Weizi, and the other captives.
• Wang Ba found a strange seven-branched tree and its Wooden Mortar, uprooted them into the Scroll Painting Secret Realm, and then noticed the God-Locking Bell shaking as Fanming’s restraint weakened.
• A dazzling beam cut through the great tree, and an unidentified voice recognized the Fanming Primordial Spirit and ordered the beast not to flee.

Wang Ba’s group completed the search of Wood-Forest Island, but Fanming escaped and carried an unexpected egg within its body. Wang Ba set out for the Li Kingdom, while Zhang Yao delivered unconscious cultivators to a hidden operation beneath a lake.

• Jia Ten Five returned injured, and Ling Weizi raised vines to help Wang Ba and the others escape Wood-Forest Island’s restraint; Zhang Songnian said Fanming had escaped north.
• Wang Ba learned that Fanming had created false memories in the missing cultivators, and Ling Weizi and Qu Zhongqiu found evidence that Fanming had occupied the island for decades but could not find Lu Yu or the other missing cultivators.
• Fanming fled in a weakened state, silenced Bing Yi’s voice, and discovered that a strand of Yin-Yang creation Qi had formed an egg inside its body; it chose to protect the egg and continued north.
• Wang Ba stayed in the Ghost Market to help Jia Ten Five recover and spend time with Wang Qingyang, then chose to travel to the Li Kingdom while Ling Weizi and Hu Zaixi stayed in Sen Kingdom to search for the missing cultivators.
• Zhang Yao flew from Sen Kingdom carrying a sack of unconscious cultivators, and Yan Wuxiong and a young cultivator secretly followed him into a hidden chamber beneath a lake.
• Zhang Yao presented the captives to Xin Zhao, where Yan Wuxiong saw rows of bodies being handled by covered cultivators.

Yan Wuxiong discovered that Xin Zhao and Crane Daoist were involved in extracting Dao intent from captured cultivators, then escaped to report the secret to the Holy Sect. Meanwhile, Wang Ba’s group traveled to the Li Kingdom, where Wang Ba captured a Blood Beast before Li Yingfu sensed something wrong with the Li Capital.

• Yan Wuxiong watched cultivators extract Dao intent from sleeping captives and realized they were being kept alive as sources of material.
• Crane Daoist warned Xin Zhao that capturing more people could attract the Longevity Sect and the Myriad Phenomena Sect, but Xin Zhao invoked the power of a mysterious figure whose status surpassed Crane Daoist’s.
• Yan Wuxiong recognized Xin Zhao as the Myriad Phenomena Sect’s Spirit Cuisine Department deputy minister and suspected the sect master was behind the scheme, then escaped with the young cultivator to report it.
• Li Yingfu explained that changing membrane eyes caused the Li Kingdom’s blood calamities, and demonstrated a Blood Beast to Wang Ba’s group.
• Wang Ba suppressed the second-tier Blood Beast and sealed it away, hoping to use its concentrated Essence and Qi and Blood.
• Li Yingfu brought Wang Ba’s group to the Li Capital to visit its Ghost Market, but stopped their descent after sensing that something was wrong with the city.

Wang Ba and his companions discovered that the Li Capital’s Ghost Market had no visible cultivators and summoned help from the Great Jin sects. In the city, an old man and his student, Shangguan Ren, watched them while a hidden threat gathered strength, and Shangguan Ren revealed himself by striking Elder Ji.

• Wang Ba and Li Yingfu realized that no cultivators could be sensed in the Li Capital, so Wang Ba sent Li Yingfu away to seek help without alerting whoever was responsible.
• An old man told his student that the city’s blood was feeding a “little fellow” and that Wang Ba was connected to him in a way that meant they could not coexist.
• Wang Ba’s group stayed above the city, and Elder Ji of the Great Harmony Palace arrived after Li Yingfu contacted the Sect; he ordered everyone to retreat.
• The old man said his little fellow was close to forming its true body, and Shangguan Ren sent out a white-robed double to capture the cultivators.
• The white-robed Shangguan Ren shattered Elder Ji’s attack with the Phantom of an Emperor, and Elder Ji recognized him as the Sect Master of the Primordial Demon Sect.

Xun Fujun confronted Shangguan Renci and Han Yanzi in the ruined Li Capital, where their blood sacrifice awakened a fifth-tier Blood Qilin. Wang Ba returned to the Myriad Phenomena Sect, reunited with his family, and showed Ma Shengxu a small tree that he identified as an Emperor Willow.

• Xun Fujun stopped Jiying from attacking Shangguan Renci, then watched as a blood sacrifice awakened a fifth-tier Blood Qilin that Shangguan Renci subdued with Han Yanzi.
• Wang Ba and his companions abandoned their journey and returned to the Myriad Phenomena Sect, where Wang Qingyang stayed at Cloudview Institute and Wang Ba learned Song Dongyang was stepping down.
• Wang Ba found Wang Yi'an practicing a sword art taught by Yao Wudi, then went to the Spirit Plant Department to see Bu Chan.
• Wang Ba showed Ma Shengxu the small golden tree he had obtained on Wood-Forest Island, and Ma Shengxu recognized it as an Emperor Willow.

Wang Ba returned from his travels and learned that the Emperor Willow could strengthen spirit beasts and grow to higher tiers, then reunited with Bu Chan and discussed taking Wang Qingyang as his disciple. After tending to his family and returning to the Beast Taming Department, he learned that Qi Yan was seeking the Earthly Treasures Hall Deputy Hall Master position to obtain resources for a breakthrough, but needed insight from a pure bloodline descended from Dafu.

• Ma Shengxu explained the Emperor Willow's powers, and Wang Ba offered it to him before giving him rare spirit plant seeds; Ma Shengxu urged Wang Ba to give the tree to Bu Chan, who already cultivated with the Nine-Colored Gourd Seed.
• Wang Ba reunited with Bu Chan, shared a family meal with her and Wang Yi'an, and told them he had accepted Wang Qingyang as his disciple.
• Bu Chan offered to visit Wang Qingyang at Cloudview Institute, while Wang Ba planned to report to the sect and exchange for supplies before bringing her in.
• Wang Ba returned his spirit beasts to Myriad Laws Peak and went to Beast Peak with the injured Mixed-Blood White Tiger to seek Qi Yan's help.
• Qi Yan told Wang Ba that he was pursuing the Earthly Treasures Hall Deputy Hall Master position to gain resources for a cultivation breakthrough, and that a pure bloodline descended from Dafu might help him comprehend his Dao Opportunity.

Wang Ba gave Qi Yan six pureblood Stone Dragon Lizards to help him condense a Dao Opportunity, prompting Qi Yan to abandon his bid for the Earthly Treasures Hall Deputy Hall Master position and seek Du Wei’s support. Wang Ba received a ten-year secret-realm cultivation opportunity, prepared techniques and medicines for Wang Qingyang, and arrived at the high-level assembly where the new Deputy Hall Master would be chosen.

• Wang Ba gave Qi Yan six Pure-Colored Stone Dragon Lizards, and Qi Yan took them to Du Wei before entering seclusion to pursue a Dao Opportunity.
• Du Wei urged Qi Yan to delay his seclusion until the sect settled the Earthly Treasures Hall appointment and the Beast Taming Department’s minister position.
• Song Dongyang told Wang Ba that he had exchanged Wang Ba’s forty thousand merit-point reward for ten years in a secret realm and invited him to the meeting choosing a new Deputy Hall Master.
• Wang Ba spent nearly twenty thousand merit points on items and techniques, then taught Wang Qingyang the Ninefold Heavenly Firmament’s precautions and methods.
• After receiving notices about the high-level assembly, Wang Ba flew to Pure Yang Palace to attend the Deputy Hall Master appointment meeting.

Wang Ba attended the Assembly Meeting, where the sect discussed preparations for the Tribulation-Crossing Treasure Raft, the fate of three hundred million refugees, and the Earthly Treasures Hall deputy’s successor. When no one volunteered to take responsibility for the refugees, Wang Ba eagerly wanted the task.

• Wang Ba greeted the department ministers and learned that the Tribulation-Crossing Treasure Raft could be completed in twenty or thirty years while battles in the West Sea Kingdom intensified.
• Wang Ba greeted Qu Shentong, then learned that others avoided the Lesser Yin Mountain Master because he continued to address Acting Sect Master Xun Fujun as an elder.
• Song Dongyang arrived with Luo Yuzhong, and Du Wei and Qi Yan joined the gathering before everyone entered the Pure Yang Palace.
• Zhou Tianqi announced three Assembly Meeting matters: supplies for the raft, plans for three hundred million refugees, and Song Dongyang's successor as Earthly Treasures Hall deputy.
• Xi Kui outlined the raft's supply needs, and Xun Fujun asked the assembly to propose a plan for the refugees; no one volunteered, while Wang Ba eagerly wanted the responsibility.

The Sect debated how to resettle three hundred million mortals and chose to leave them under the Earthly Treasures Hall’s care. The vote for Deputy Hall Master ended with Wang Ba unexpectedly leading Ma Shengxu by one vote, while Qu Shentong’s tally remained unannounced.

• Xun Fujun rejected Fei Hua’s proposal to distribute the mortals among the Southern Kingdoms and ordered Xi Kui’s Earthly Treasures Hall to continue caring for them.
• Qi Rulian, Qian Chun, Ma Shengxu, and Zhou Tianqi put themselves forward for Deputy Hall Master, and Xun Fujun added Zhou Tianqi and Qu Shentong to the candidates.
• Du Wei objected to Zhou Tianqi’s appointment and cited Wang Ba’s management record, while Fei Hua and Song Dongyang praised Wang Ba’s work and contributions.
• Xun Fujun approved Fei Hua’s proposal to hold a vote among six candidates, and Fei Hua announced that Ma Shengxu had thirty-five votes and Zhou Tianqi had three.
• Fei Hua announced that Wang Ba had received thirty-six votes, stunning Wang Ba and the assembly before he revealed Qu Shentong’s tally.

Xun Fujun reorganized the Earthly Treasures Hall, appointing Wang Ba Chief Director, Qu Shentong and Ma Shengxu Deputy Hall Masters, and several others as office chiefs. He later warned Zhou Tianqi that Wang Ba might be connected to Han Yanzi and ordered an investigation into a possible Primordial Demon Sect infiltrator; meanwhile, Wang Ba was entrusted with managing three hundred million mortals and learned a Deputy Minister position had opened.

• After Wang Ba received thirty-six votes in the preliminary selection, Xun Fujun appointed him Chief Director of the reactivated Five Elements Offices instead of Deputy Hall Master.
• Xun Fujun appointed Qu Shentong and Ma Shengxu Deputy Hall Masters, assigned Qi Rulian, Zhou Tianqi, and Qian Chun to oversee three offices, and left two office appointments for later discussion.
• After the assembly, Xun Fujun told Zhou Tianqi to observe Wang Ba, whose Spiritual Platform carried an aura resembling that of the Yin God Dream Lord, and said Han Yanzi might be the sect's human tribulation.
• Xun Fujun ordered Zhou Tianqi to quietly investigate disciples who had been near the Chen Kingdom when Wang Ba was attacked, suspecting a Primordial Demon Sect mole.
• Wang Ba reflected on his cultivation plans, then went to the Earthly Treasures Hall after Ma Shengxu summoned him.
• Ma Shengxu gave Wang Ba a portable Secret Realm containing three hundred million mortals to manage and told him the Spirit Plant Department's Deputy Minister position was vacant.