Chapter Summaries

After the Eastern Saint Sect’s leaders abandoned the sect, Wang Ba and the remaining disciples faced the invading Heavenly Gate Sect. Zhao Feng fought to protect them, then trapped the survivors in an iron cage and confronted the Blood-Bone Venerable, whom he recognized as Senior Brother Lu.

• The Blood-Bone Venerable killed Qin Heng, while a sword-light streak escaped from the corpse and the Mountain-Guarding Formation shattered.
• Wang Ba realized the Eastern Saint Sect’s leaders had abandoned those left behind as Heavenly Gate Sect cultivators attacked the sect’s core grounds.
• Jia Seven shielded Wang Ba from a barrage of bone beads, and Zhao Feng arrived to save him and lead nearby disciples in a fighting retreat.
• Zhao Feng beheaded an attacking Foundation Establishment cultivator with one sword strike, revealing that he had reached Foundation Establishment.
• As enemies surrounded them, Zhao Feng struck Wang Ba with his palm and trapped the gathered cultivators in an iron cage, then addressed the Blood-Bone Venerable as Senior Brother Lu.

Zhao Feng confronted Senior Brother Lu over his betrayal and died after securing a promise to spare the captives, but Lu ordered the more talented and advanced prisoners killed. Wang Ba awoke to find the Heavenly Gate Sect sorting the prisoners by aptitude and cultivation, and someone recognized him after his test.

• Zhao Feng recognized Senior Brother Lu, rejected his invitation to join the Heavenly Gate Sect, and attacked him.
• Senior Brother Lu defeated Zhao Feng and promised to give the captives a way to live before Zhao Feng died.
• Senior Brother Lu ordered his followers to kill everyone with Spiritual Roots above low grade and cultivation above the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining.
• Wang Ba and the other captives awoke, were released from the cage, and were restrained with Magic-Sealing Shackles.
• The Heavenly Gate Sect cultivators tested the captives and led selected prisoners away while the others mistakenly hoped to be recruited.
• Wang Ba tested as having Four Spiritual Roots, and an unidentified person greeted him with delighted surprise.

Yu Changchun rescued Wang Ba from the Eastern Saint Sect captives and explained that he would be an outer-sect heterodox Dao cultivator bound to Heavenly Gate Sect by a soul-linked token. He offered Wang Ba protection and supplies in exchange for raising spirit chickens, and Wang Ba gladly accepted the arrangement.

• Yu Changchun stopped Junior Brother Ran from taking Wang Ba with the other captives, while the remaining Eastern Saint Sect cultivators were assigned to bone extraction or puppet-making and one prisoner was killed for protesting.
• Yu Changchun led Wang Ba away, and Wang Ba passed Tao Yi’s corpse without stopping before hearing that Steward Li had secretly reached Foundation Establishment and died in the battle.
• At the ruined South Lake Market, Yu Changchun explained the duties and restrictions of an outer-sect heterodox Dao cultivator and gave Wang Ba a Spirit-Entrusting Token and a Heavenly Gate Duty Order.
• Wang Ba activated the Spirit-Entrusting Token, binding his soul to Heavenly Gate Sect’s summons and enforcement system.
• Yu Changchun offered Wang Ba at least eight hundred precious chickens and help with assignments in exchange for supplying him with spirit chickens for at least ten years, and Wang Ba accepted.

Lu Yuanfeng reunited with his supposedly dead brother, Lu Yuansheng, and learned that demonic cultivation had reduced him to bones. At South Lake Market, Wang Ba helped Yu Changchun arrange to procure precious chickens and collected a pool of yellow-throated stone turtles, while Yu Changchun warned him to guard the spirit beast bag.

• Lu Yuanfeng revealed that he had recognized Lu Yuansheng and explained why he had stayed behind, asking his brother to preserve the Lu Household’s legacy.
• Lu Yuansheng showed Lu Yuanfeng that he had become a fleshless skeleton through demonic cultivation, then left with no weaknesses remaining.
• Wang Ba and Yu Changchun toured South Lake Market and found that Heavenly Gate Sect goods and cultivation chambers cost steep amounts of spirit stones.
• Yu Changchun paid a deposit for the shopkeeper to seek six hundred scarce precious chickens, while Wang Ba took all twenty-odd yellow-throated stone turtles from the pool.
• Yu Changchun gave Wang Ba a spirit beast bag to raise the chickens near South Lake Market and urged him not to lose it; Wang Ba touched his side beneath his ribs after Yu Changchun left.

Wang Ba established a chicken farm beside South Lake, discovered that Zhao Feng had embedded a dark iron bead beneath his ribs, and began raising Yellow-throated Stone Turtles. After receiving supplies and Spirit Stones from Yu Changchun, he went shopping and spotted a familiar woman, surprised that she was still alive.

• Wang Ba built a rudimentary chicken farm beside South Lake and discovered that a dark iron bead beneath his ribs devoured his Law Power and contained sword intent.
• Wang Ba tested his lifespan ability on the Yellow-throated Stone Turtles, found their lifespans and transfer ratio similar to Precious Chickens, and penned them beside the lake.
• Wang Ba told Yu Changchun that he had chosen a farm site, and Yu Changchun brought chicken feed and gave him five Spirit Stones.
• Wang Ba bought farming tools and supplies at South Lake Market, considered hiring a Human Puppet, and decided to ask Yu Changchun about obtaining one.
• Wang Ba spotted a familiar woman as he left the market and wondered how she was still alive.

Wang Ba settled into the Heavenly Gate Sect and struggled to manage the costs of raising Yellow-throated Stone Turtles alongside his Precious Chickens. After the turtles transformed, he identified cheap feed and chicken breeding as his main problems, and Yu Changchun arrived with good news.

• Wang Ba spotted Lin Yu outside a shop, but she returned inside before they could speak.
• Heavenly Gate Sect cultivators registered Wang Ba and placed a Heavenly Gate Seal on his hand, then patrolmen used Yu Changchun’s name to waive the fee for his fenced-off land.
• Wang Ba fed Spirit Chickens to his ravenous Yellow-throated Stone Turtles and worried that he could not afford to expand either his chicken flock or his turtle stock.
• The Yellow-throated Stone Turtles transformed into Yellow-Throated Spirit Turtles, and Wang Ba calculated that their costly feed made raising them a loss.
• Wang Ba wrote down his plans to find cheap feed and solve Precious Chicken breeding, then Yu Changchun brought him good news.

Wang Ba received six hundred Precious Chickens from Yu Changchun and learned the hidden dangers of buying Human Puppets. While reading Yu Changchun’s books that night, he found a reference to the Primordial Yang Reversal Technique.

• Yu Changchun delivered books about chicken raising and nearly six hundred healthy Precious Chickens, and Wang Ba gave him six Spirit Chickens and eggs while promising more later.
• Yu Changchun explained how living Human Puppets were made and warned Wang Ba that puppet masters often concealed tricks inside their creations.
• Yu Changchun taught Wang Ba the Lamp-Free Incantation to detect some hidden puppet mechanisms before leaving.
• Wang Ba spent the day tending the chickens, considered using their manure to grow Spirit Plants, and cooked himself a Spirit Chicken meal.
• Wang Ba read Record of the Wind Bird's Southern Journey that night and sat upright when he encountered the Primordial Yang Reversal Technique.

Wang Ba discovered that the Primordial Yang Reversal Technique could fertilize Precious Chicken eggs, then raised thousands of eggs and found Yellow-Throated Spirit Turtle eggs. Yu Changchun secured a steady Chicken Feed supply in exchange for three Spirit Chickens a month, but warned that the Heavenly Gate Sect was preparing a mission for Wang Ba and his fellow outside Heterodox Dao cultivators.

• Wang Ba used the Primordial Yang Reversal Technique on Precious Chicken roosters and inseminated the hens, finding that it produced fertilized Precious Chicken eggs but had little effect on Spirit Chickens.
• Wang Ba tracked egg production and fertilization, then repeated the technique until he had accumulated more than three thousand fertilized eggs and stopped so the hens could incubate them.
• Wang Ba found more than forty Yellow-Throated Spirit Turtle eggs buried near the pool and carefully covered them again without disturbing their orientation.
• Yu Changchun arrived with Chicken Feed and proposed exchanging it for Spirit Chickens; after bargaining, Wang Ba agreed to provide three each month in return for a reliable supply.
• Yu Changchun told Wang Ba that the Heavenly Gate Sect was preparing a mission for him and the other outside Heterodox Dao cultivators, though he did not know its details.

Wang Ba learned that outer-sect heterodox Dao cultivators needed rank five to set up market stalls, then spent his earnings on a cultivation chamber and rapidly strengthened his Law Power. As he left, an old woman invited him to visit Cultivation Quarters, which also had a spirit vein.

• Wang Ba welcomed nearly three thousand Precious Chicken chicks, rewarded the hens, and sold more than ten thousand eggs for nine Spirit Stones.
• Wang Ba learned from Steward Zhong that heterodox Dao cultivators advanced through five ranks and that only rank-five cultivators could set up stalls.
• Wang Ba noticed Yang Cheng selling at a stall and buying low-grade Spirit Beasts, but avoided dealing with him after Steward Zhong ordered him to stop.
• Wang Ba spent his remaining Spirit Stones on two hours in a first-tier superior-grade cultivation chamber and gained forty strands of gaseous Law Power.
• An old woman approached Wang Ba and invited him to look at the Cultivation Quarters, saying they also had a spirit vein.

Wang Ba explored cultivation housing built around a supreme-grade Spirit Vein, avoided a trap at the Wooden Tower Residence, and rented a room in the cheaper Stone Cave Residence. He reunited with Lin Yu, who had become a Heavenly Gate Sect cultivator’s disciple, then saw someone moving outside the chicken farm as he returned.

• Fellow Daoist Long led Wang Ba through the new cultivation district and tried to steer him toward women who used bewitching techniques to lure cultivators into spending Spirit Stones.
• Wang Ba rejected Fellow Daoist Long’s offers, inspected the Stone Cave Residence, and paid a Spirit Stone deposit to rent a room for a month.
• Wang Ba encountered Lin Yu leaving the Spiritwater Courtyard and learned that a Heavenly Gate Sect cultivator had taken her as a disciple after sparing her from being turned into a Human Puppet.
• Lin Yu offered to ask her master to take Wang Ba as a disciple, then left when her master summoned her.
• Wang Ba headed back to the chicken farm and spotted someone moving outside it.

Wang Ba caught a human puppet spying on his chicken farm, then used it to ease his workload while expanding his breeding and cultivation efforts. After meeting his new neighbors at the Stone Cave Residence, he learned that details of the Heavenly Gate Sect assignment had finally appeared in his token.

• Wang Ba alerted Yu Changchun to a spy at the chicken farm, and Yu Changchun captured the second-layer Qi Refining human puppet and agreed to install a formation in exchange for Spirit Chickens.
• Wang Ba traded more Spirit Chickens for the puppet, and Yu Changchun discovered it had been sent from the Wooden Tower Residence before giving Wang Ba a method to control it.
• Wang Ba put the puppet to work feeding and cleaning up after the chickens, found five fertilized eggs, and bought a Storage Bag and a Black Crystal Peach Tree at the Market.
• Wang Ba planted the peach tree and used chicken droppings as fertilizer, then met Chen Mian and his dao companion, who lived next door and struggled to earn a living.
• Chen Mian and his dao companion abruptly left after learning Wang Ba was only at the first layer of Qi Refining, and Wang Ba later saw the Heavenly Gate Sect assignment details appear in his token.

Wang Ba refused Jing Kuang’s offer to join a hunt for Eastern Saint Sect remnants, choosing to avoid the dangerous mandatory mission. After selling his Spirit Chickens and watching his neighbors prosper, he found his Dantian full of Law Power and prepared to attempt the second layer of Qi Refining.

• Wang Ba read the Heavenly Gate Sect’s mission rules, which required each cultivator to kill an Eastern Saint Sect remnant or lose merit points and receive a demerit.
• Jing Kuang, accompanied by Chen Mian and his dao companion, invited Wang Ba to join a hunting party, but Wang Ba refused because he considered the risk too great.
• Yu Changchun declined to help Wang Ba complete the mission, explaining that he was occupied with a crucial stage in his cultivation.
• Wang Ba sold a batch of Spirit Chickens for 24 Spirit Stones after the Spirit Beast Shop lowered its buying price.
• Chen Mian and his dao companion returned from hunting with Jing Kuang and moved into the Wooden Tower Residence, while Wang Ba remained unmoved by their success.
• Wang Ba discovered that the Law Power in his Dantian had filled it and decided to attempt the second layer of Qi Refining.

Wang Ba used his lifespan to break through to the second layer of Qi Refining, then discovered that Yellow-Throated Spirit Turtles were unusually nourishing when eaten. After returning to his Stone Cave Residence to cultivate, he heard someone knock at the door.

• Wang Ba discovered that the panel offered a lifespan expenditure to break through his Qi Refining bottleneck and spent 1.2 years to reach the second layer.
• Wang Ba checked his chicken farm, where five newly hatched Spirit Chickens had become middle-grade, and noticed one hen had unusually colorful feathers.
• Wang Ba tested the Yellow-Throated Spirit Turtles, ate one, and gained a strand of compressed Law Power and five drops of Yin Spirit Power.
• Wang Ba returned to the Stone Cave Residence to cultivate, but someone knocked on his door near dusk.

Wang Ba met a group of newly admitted cultivators who wanted to cooperate and barter skills, but he refused to leave the Heavenly Gate Sect with them. After the group departed to seek opportunities outside, Wang Ba stayed at the Stone Cave Residence and waited for a seller of kill proofs to contact him.

• Zhang Qi and the other newcomers told Wang Ba that Jing Kuang had killed their companion and claimed him as proof of a kill.
• Bu Chan proposed that the cultivators barter directly, and Wang Ba agreed after learning she specialized in spirit plants and the others had useful skills.
• Wang Ba warned the youngsters not to hunt cultivators outside the sect and told them where his chicken farm was.
• Wang Ba renewed his Stone Cave Residence rental rather than move to the Wooden Tower Residence, while Zhang Qi's group left the sect's territory to seek funds.
• Wang Ba waited for a chance to buy proof of a kill, and the seller finally came to his door.

Wang Ba bought Zhang Qi’s corpse from a gray-robed cultivator and used the remains to recruit Bu Chan and three other survivors to work for him. After completing his sect assignment, he brought them to the vacant ground beside the Chicken Farm.

• A gray-robed cultivator sold Wang Ba Zhang Qi’s corpse and another cultivator’s corpse for thirty Spirit Stones each.
• Bu Chan and three companions returned to the sect wounded, and Wang Ba showed them Zhang Qi’s corpse and explained that he had bought it.
• Wang Ba asked the survivors to pay thirty Spirit Stones for Zhang Qi’s remains, and Bu Chan, Su Lingling, Yun Caixiang, and Shen Fu offered their skills instead.
• Wang Ba agreed to forgive the thirty Spirit Stones in exchange for one year of their help.
• Three days later, Wang Ba completed his sect assignment and brought the four survivors to the vacant ground beside the Chicken Farm.

Wang Ba and his companions established a spirit field beside the Chicken Farm and planted Jadefire Spirit Pulpberries, while his spirit animals continued to multiply. Yu Changchun later gave Wang Ba a formation disc and a corpse that could help him complete his assignment, leaving Wang Ba to consider what to do with it.

• Su Lingling condensed a spirit vein beside the Chicken Farm, and Shen Fu sealed the Spiritual Qi with a Spirit Gathering Formation.
• Bu Chan improved the soil with Wang Ba’s chicken manure and chose Jadefire Spirit Pulpberries for the new spirit field.
• Wang Ba saw the Black Crystal Peach Tree budding, Yellow-Throated Spirit Turtle eggs hatching, and Jia Nine brooding over fertilized eggs.
• Yu Changchun gave Wang Ba a Small Golden Bell Formation disc and collected twelve spirit chickens.
• Yu Changchun gave Wang Ba a Storage Bag containing a mutilated Eastern Saint Sect cultivator’s corpse, and Wang Ba wondered whether to sell it.

The author reviewed the novel’s premium performance, discussed reader criticism and issues with the story so far, and explained that the protagonist’s hardest period had passed. The story would next follow his quieter, step-by-step progress toward the top of the cultivation world.

• The author reported that the novel had launched premium at 190,000 characters with around 9,000 bookmarks, and that average subscriptions had reached about 1,000 after six days.
• The author described reading critical comments, feeling angry, and ultimately choosing not to argue because readers had different preferences and some criticism was valid.
• The author identified issues with revealing the cheat’s restrictions, the slow early pacing and protagonist’s apparent weakness, and the dense schemes and clues that made the protagonist too passive.
• The author explained that pricing choices and the protagonist’s name had also drawn criticism, and said the name had been chosen casually and was too late to change.
• The author said the protagonist’s hardest phase was over and that the coming story would be more fragmented and less conflict-heavy as he cultivated in relative peace.

Wang Ba left the Stone Cave Residence after reaching the third layer of Qi Refining and moved toward renting a room in the Wooden Tower Residence. At the Chicken Farm, Jia Nine's four chicks hatched, and after selling spirit chickens for Spirit Stones, Wang Ba unexpectedly encountered Long'er again.

• Wang Ba met Chen Mian and Xu Shi, who discussed the value of influential connections, just before Lin Yu came over to greet him.
• Lin Yu told Wang Ba she had reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining and would soon return to secluded cultivation.
• Half a month later, Wang Ba broke through to the third layer of Qi Refining, found the cave's Spiritual Qi insufficient, and moved out.
• Wang Ba saw that Jia Nine's four chicks had hatched and confirmed that all four were middle-grade spirit chickens.
• Wang Ba sold low-grade spirit chickens for thirty Spirit Stones, bringing his savings to roughly fifty or sixty, and went to the Wooden Tower Residence, where he encountered Long'er.

Wang Ba moved into the Wooden Tower Residence, avoided sharing a room with Xu Shi, and traded Eastern Saint Sect remains to Shen Fu for an oath of service. As his first sect mission deadline arrived, four Spirit Chickens completed their transformation into high-grade Spirit Chickens.

• Mama Long showed Wang Ba rooms with female cultivators, but he declined to share with Qiao and left when he discovered Xu Shi was seeking a roommate.
• Wang Ba paid twenty Spirit Stones to move into a room in Geng Building, where the deacon told him Chen Mian had betrayed the sect and died, leaving Xu Shi in hardship.
• Wang Ba suspected Jing Kuang had trapped Chen Mian and reminded himself to stay vigilant among the Heavenly Gate Sect cultivators.
• Wang Ba offered Bu Chan and the others the Eastern Saint Sect remains, and they chose to give them to Shen Fu, who swore to serve Wang Ba for ten years.
• As the first sect mission deadline arrived, Wang Ba's four Spirit Chickens completed their transformations into high-grade Spirit Chickens.

Wang Ba reviewed the breeding that produced high-grade Spirit Chickens and learned about the merit rankings and new missions available to Heterodox Dao cultivators. Three years passed after Yu Changchun showed him a Human Puppet and described his progress on the Blood Bone Dao.

• Wang Ba concluded that Jia Nine’s charm could help produce more high-grade Spirit Chickens and that Jia Seven’s lower potential likely came from her Precious Chicken parentage.
• Shen Fu brought Wang Ba the merit rankings, where Dong Qiyu ranked first, Meng Randao second, and Jing Kuang third; Wang Ba placed in the two hundreds, while Bu Chan and two other women had negative merit.
• Shen Fu explained that Free Missions had opened and offered to accept them for Bu Chan and the other women until they could complete another mandatory mission.
• Yu Changchun showed Wang Ba a Human Puppet made from the spy who had watched the Chicken Farm and revealed that he had reached the tenth layer of Qi Refining through the Blood Bone Dao.
• Yu Changchun explained that refining blood bones could lead to Foundation Establishment but made forming a core especially difficult, then left after talking with Wang Ba.
• Three years passed, and Wang Ba’s days returned to tranquility.