Chapter Summaries

Zhou Chun killed Guo Dahu after rescuing Liu Qingshan and Liu Shiyun, but a Foundation Establishment cultivator blamed them for the mountain fire and marked them for later punishment. Back at the market, Liu Qingshan and Liu Shiyun explained that their former companions had betrayed them over a hidden Medicine Valley and Liu Shiyun’s Profound Yin Charm Bone.

• Zhou Chun caught up with Guo Dahu, killed him with the Moon Blade Meteor Wheel, and returned to Liu Qingshan after the Rock Earth Turtle killed the bald attacker.
• A Daoist in azure robes marked Zhou Chun, Liu Qingshan, and Liu Shiyun for causing a mountain fire, then ordered them to return to the market while he extinguished it.
• Zhou Chun escorted the injured Liu Qingshan and Liu Shiyun back to the Spirit Beast Hall and took them to rest in its rear courtyard.
• Liu Qingshan explained that his group had discovered a Medicine Valley guarded by Green Crown Flying Snakes and planned to recruit help before gathering its spirit medicines.
• Liu Shiyun revealed that He Sangu had learned of her Profound Yin Charm Bone and persuaded Guo Dahu and the others to capture her for an underground auction.
• Liu Qingshan explained that Wang Ben had been driven mad by Turbid Fiendish Energy and had secretly practiced dual cultivation with He Sangu.

After helping Liu Shiyun avoid punishment, Zhou Chun arranged to use her knowledge of a Medicine Valley to capture Green Crown Flying Snakes and gather spirit herbs. With guidance from Zhou Daoquan, he recruited the Greenwood Spirit Ape, gained Zhou Daoyi’s permission, and returned to the market, where he prepared to leave with Liu Shiyun.

• Zhou Chun paid the Liu family’s remaining fine so Liu Shiyun could avoid punishment and arranged for her to work at the Spirit Beast Hall.
• Zhou Chun told Zhou Daoquan about the Medicine Valley, and the elder suggested asking the Greenwood Spirit Ape to help catch the snakes.
• The Greenwood Spirit Ape agreed to assist, and Zhou Daoyi approved Zhou Chun taking it outside the family grounds.
• On the journey back, Zhou Chun examined the spoils from Guo Dahu and his companions and found the evil Flower Seeking Treasure Tome in He Sangu’s Storage Bag.
• Zhou Chun returned to the market with the Greenwood Spirit Ape and received Zhou Jiasheng’s permission for himself and Liu Shiyun to leave temporarily.

Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun reached a hidden medicine valley, where Zhou Chun’s Giant Green-Haired Ape captured the Green Crown Flying Snakes guarding it. As Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun gathered the spirit medicines, Zhou Chun discovered an abandoned Rogue Cultivator’s cave dwelling that explained how so many varieties had grown there.

• Liu Shiyun taught Zhou Chun practical rules Rogue Cultivators followed to avoid danger while traveling.
• Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun reached the concealed medicine valley, and Zhou Chun sent the Giant Green-Haired Ape to capture its Green Crown Flying Snakes.
• The Giant Green-Haired Ape subdued and bagged the snakes without harming them, then stayed behind with spirit fruits while Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun entered the valley.
• Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun found many different spirit medicines and began carefully gathering them.
• Zhou Chun discovered a stone door hidden behind vines and realized the valley’s medicines had likely been planted by a former Rogue Cultivator resident.
• Zhou Chun opened the door and found abandoned, ruined chambers, confirming that the cave’s owner had left long ago and never returned.

Zhou Chun returned from the medicine valley with captured Green Crown Flying Snakes and valuable spirit herbs, earning a major family merit reward. Zhou Daoyi also rewarded him for discovering the Crimson Radiance Iron vein, leaving Zhou Chun with new equipment and instructions to cultivate toward Foundation Establishment.

• Zhou Chun and Liu Shiyun harvested the most valuable spirit herbs, then rode the Giant Green-Haired Ape back to the Zhou Family of Nine Peaks Ridge.
• Zhou Chun handed the Green Crown Flying Snakes to Zhou Daoyi and offered the family most of the spirit herbs he had collected.
• Zhou Zhengyuan valued the herbs at 754 family merit points, and Zhou Daoyi awarded Zhou Chun 1,000 merit points in total for the herbs and snakes.
• Zhou Daoyi told Zhou Chun that discovering the Crimson Radiance Iron vein had earned him a reward worth about 1,500 spirit coins, then let him choose magic tools, pills, and a talisman.
• Zhou Chun chose the Bright Haze Pendant, Locking Gold Ring, Essence Restoration Pills, and a second-grade Wind Riding Talisman; Zhou Daoyi added a Golden Armor Talisman and a Fire Snake Talisman.
• Zhou Daoyi urged Zhou Chun to reach the twelfth level of Qi Refining before age thirty-five, and Zhou Chun returned to Precious Lingzhi Peak with his rewards.

Zhou Chun settled into Red Cliff Market as the Zhou Family’s shop struggled against Spirit Beast Pavilion, which sold goods taken from the family. As the Zhou clan considered how to respond, Green Lotus Temple announced a major recruitment, and Zhou Chun received a message asking whether he would register.

• Zhou Chun refined two rewarded magic tools, shared the medicinal valley’s proceeds with Liu Shiyun, and returned with her to Red Cliff Market.
• Zhou Chun cultivated at Spirit Beast Hall for six months while the Qi Yun Alliance dissolved and the Zhou Family’s Crimson Radiance Iron trade strengthened its position.
• Spirit Beast Manor opened Spirit Beast Pavilion, causing Spirit Beast Hall’s monthly income to fall by a third with its wider range of products.
• Zhou Chun suggested that Spirit Beast Hall needed unique, difficult-to-copy products, while Zhou Jiasheng planned to report the crisis to Zhou Daoyi.
• Green Lotus Temple announced a large recruitment drive, and Zhou Daoyi sent Zhou Chun a flying-eagle message asking whether he would register.

Zhou Chun declined to join Green Lotus Temple and agreed to help Liu Qingshan send Liu Shiyun to the temple’s recruitment event with the Zhou Family cultivators. After visiting Nine Peaks Ridge and sharing a meal with Zhou Zhengyong, he left for the market.

• Zhou Chun told Liu Qingshan that he preferred to remain with the Zhou Family rather than join Green Lotus Temple.
• Liu Qingshan asked Zhou Chun to arrange for Liu Shiyun to travel to Lotus Prefecture with the Zhou Family’s recruitment group, and Zhou Chun agreed.
• Zhou Chun escorted Liu Shiyun and Zhou Jiasheng to Nine Peaks Ridge, where Zhou Daoyi approved Liu Shiyun joining the group.
• Zhou Zhengyong invited Zhou Chun to eat at his home and suggested he pursue Liu Shiyun if she failed to join Green Lotus Temple; Zhou Chun rejected the idea.
• Zhou Zhengyong told Zhou Chun that the Grand Elder had prevented Zhou Zhengkang from joining Green Lotus Temple, and Zhou Chun kept his thoughts about the matter to himself.
• Zhou Chun finished the meal and left Nine Peaks Ridge.

After the Zhou Family lost Grand Elder Zhou Mingshan, Zhou Chun feared the Spirit Beast Hall would suffer from reduced pill supplies as well as falling business. He investigated a mysterious fish-like demonic beast brought in by Luo Guangshun and found its meat unremarkable, leaving its other properties for future study.

• Zhou Chun searched for ways to restore the Spirit Beast Hall's customers while business remained slow.
• Zhou Chun learned that Zhou Zhengcen and Liu Shiyun had joined Green Lotus Temple, and he passed the news to Liu Qingshan.
• Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiasheng heard that Zhou Mingshan had died, and they worried that the family would supply fewer pills to the shop.
• Luo Guangshun brought Zhou Chun three unfamiliar poisonous fish-like demonic beasts; Zhou Chun bought two at the agreed meat price while Luo took the third to seek a better offer.
• Zhou Chun preserved samples of the fish, tested its meat in several dishes, then fed the remaining meat to Bai Bai, whose cultivation was nearing advancement.

After attending Zhou Mingshan’s funeral, Zhou Chun discussed the family’s pill supply with Zhou Daoyi and brought him an undocumented Weird Fish for appraisal. Zhou Chun returned to the market town and, while passing Spirit Beast Pavilion, spotted a familiar cultivator leaving it, prompting suspicion.

• Zhou Chun attended the nine-day funeral for Zhou Mingshan and learned from Zhou Daoyi that the family had stockpiled pills to maintain its shop supply for several years.
• Zhou Chun showed Zhou Daoyi the Weird Fish corpse, and Zhou Daoyi suggested the fish might be useful to breed as food for carnivorous Demonic Beasts.
• Zhou Chun visited his mortal family, where his siblings urged him to focus on cultivation and he promised to help them if they needed anything.
• Zhou Chun returned to the market town and relayed Zhou Daoyi’s assurance to Zhou Jiasheng, easing the shopkeeper’s worries about the pill supply.
• Zhou Chun failed to get help from Liu Qingshan in locating Luo Guangshun, then saw a familiar cultivator emerge from Spirit Beast Pavilion and watched him leave suspiciously.

Zhou Chun used a marked order to follow Luo Guangshun into the mountains and discover how he caught the Weird Fish. After Luo Guangshun easily killed five fish at a mountain pool, Zhou Chun was left wondering why so many fish demons lived there and what they ate.

• Zhou Chun asked Zhou Jiasheng whether anyone from the Lineage had visited, but kept quiet about seeing Zhou Zhengkang at Spirit Beast Pavilion.
• Luo Guangshun brought Zhou Chun two Weird Fish and agreed to deliver three or four more within ten days for a higher price.
• Zhou Chun secretly marked Luo Guangshun’s Spirit Coins and horse with butterfly dust so he could track him from Red Cliff Market to his estate and into the mountains.
• Luo Guangshun used a fish spear and meteor hammer to kill five Weird Fish at a mountain pool, then packed them up and headed home.
• Zhou Chun emerged from hiding after Luo Guangshun left and wondered how the small pool held so many fish demons and what they ate.

Zhou Chun discovered that the Weird Fish in the mountain pool came from a vast underwater cavern, then persuaded the Zhou Family to investigate it with aquatic Spirit Pets. Patriarch Zhou Daoyi appointed him to lead the mission, and he left for the pool with Zhou Jiahe and Zhou Jiahui, whose beasts entered the water.

• Zhou Chun dived into the pool, found a cavern beneath it, and killed two Weird Fish that attacked him before retreating to shore.
• Zhou Chun reported the cavern to Zhou Daoyi, who sent Zhou Jiahe and Zhou Jiahui to investigate and named Zhou Chun the mission leader.
• Zhou Chun accepted the responsibility and reassured Zhou Jiahe and Zhou Jiahui that he would treat them respectfully despite leading the mission.
• Zhou Chun, Zhou Jiahe, and Zhou Jiahui returned to the pool, where Zhou Jiahe released her Jade Scale Crocodile and Zhou Jiahui released her Swirling Water Turtle into the water.

Zhou Chun and his two aunts explored an underground river to investigate the Weird Fish and encountered dangerous aquatic demonic beasts. After a school of powerful Weird Fish injured Zhou Jiahui’s Swirling Water Turtle, they retreated and decided to report their findings to the clan chief.

• Zhou Jiahe and Zhou Jiahui reported that their Spirit Pets had found an underground river with Weird Fish and powerful demonic beasts.
• Zhou Chun persuaded his aunts to explore the river with him, and they followed the caverns into its turbulent waters.
• Zhou Chun, Zhou Jiahe, and Zhou Jiahui defeated an armored demonic beast and continued upstream to investigate another cavern.
• A school of Weird Fish attacked the group, and Zhou Chun ordered a retreat when dozens returned, including several First-grade High-tier Demonic Beasts.
• The Weird Fish severely injured Zhou Jiahui’s Swirling Water Turtle, so the three returned to the surface and agreed to report their findings to the clan chief.

Zhou Chun learned that Zhou Jiawei could combine Weird Fish mucus with poison to create a potent product, then returned to Red Cliff Market and brought Luo Guangshun to the Zhou Family to keep the mucus’s source secret. The chapter ended as Zhou Chun and Luo Guangshun rode toward Nine Peaks Ridge, with Luo’s fate left unresolved.

• Zhou Daoyi told Zhou Chun to take the remaining Weird Fish corpses to Zhou Jiawei, who reported that their mucus greatly increased the potency of his poison but that he still needed to develop an antidote and solve preservation problems.
• Zhou Chun suggested ways to preserve the mucus and develop an antidote, then asked Zhou Daoyi to keep its source secret and prevent Zhou Jiahe and Zhou Jiahui from sharing what they knew.
• Zhou Chun returned to Red Cliff Market and told Zhou Jiasheng that the poison might help the Spirit Beast Hall recover its business.
• Zhou Chun visited Luo Guangshun at night and offered him the choice of living with the Zhou Family for several years or fighting Zhou Chun; Luo chose to go with him.
• Luo Guangshun settled his affairs, and he and Zhou Chun rode toward the Zhou Family of Nine Peaks Ridge at dawn.

Zhou Chun helped Zhou Jiawei develop and launch the poison Despair's Touch, restoring the Spirit Beast Hall's customer traffic and revenue. The Zhou Family began expanding production and raising the strange fish, while the rival Spirit Beast Pavilion planned to copy the poison.

• Zhou Jiawei formulated an antidote and produced Despair's Touch after Zhou Chun brought him more strange fish to study.
• Zhou Chun launched Despair's Touch at the Spirit Beast Hall, where customers praised it and bought out the stock.
• Zhou Daoyi supported expanded production, and Zhou Daoquan and Zhou Jiahui captured strange fish to raise and harvest for their mucus.
• Lu Yunsheng told Yu Deguan that the Spirit Beast Pavilion's monthly revenue had fallen nearly twenty percent because of the Spirit Beast Hall's new product.
• Yu Deguan assured Lu Yunsheng that Du would analyze Despair's Touch and produce an imitation.

Zhou Jiahui discovered that Zhou Zhengkang was secretly following her to uncover the source of Despair's Touch, and confronted him over betraying the Zhou Family. Zhou Zhengkang killed her, destroyed her remains and erased the evidence, leaving his betrayal hidden for now.

• Zhou Jiahui used a series of precautions to travel toward the underground river, but one of her brown birds warned her that someone was following her.
• Zhou Jiahui caught up with the masked pursuer and recognized him as Zhou Zhengkang, who admitted he had followed her to learn why she was going to the underground river.
• Zhou Jiahui condemned Zhou Zhengkang for betraying the Zhou Family, and he attacked her after she compared him unfavorably to Zhou Chun.
• Zhou Zhengkang overwhelmed Zhou Jiahui with artifacts, talismans, and his two Crimson Flame Wolves, then killed her with a sword through the heart.
• Zhou Zhengkang took Zhou Jiahui's belongings, had his Crimson Flame Wolves devour her corpse, erased the traces, and burned a black insect hidden in the soil.

The author explained why he chose to keep writing novels despite the financial uncertainty, describing how reader recognition made writing his favorite work. He announced the book would go premium at noon with five launch chapters and extra updates tied to monthly tickets.

• The author compared a secure job with novel writing and said he had turned down his former supervisor’s offer because he loved writing.
• The author recalled working difficult jobs and reading Mortal Cultivation novels, which inspired him with stories about ordinary people rising through effort.
• The author said writing brought him recognition and support from readers that he had rarely received in earlier jobs.
• The author estimated his income after the book went premium and said his low expenses and savings gave him confidence to keep writing full-time.
• The author announced five chapters of more than 4,000 characters each for launch and promised one extra chapter for every 300 monthly tickets above the 300-ticket baseline.

Zhou Zhengkang returned from killing Zhou Jiahui and bargained with Yu Deguan for a promised Foundation Establishment Pill, then insulted Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiasheng at Spirit Beast Hall. Zhou Chun learned that the Zhou and Li Families were preparing Foundation Establishment Pills and wondered why Zhou Zhengkang had suddenly become so openly disrespectful.

• Zhou Zhengkang gave Zhou Jiahui's belongings to Yu Deguan, who offered him Honey Flower Tea and promised to arrange a Foundation Establishment Pill later, while advancing him more than eight hundred Spirit Coins.
• After Zhou Zhengkang left, Yu Deguan privately disparaged him and considered recruiting Zhou Chun for Spirit Beast Manor.
• Zhou Zhengkang entered Spirit Beast Hall, criticized Zhou Chun for greeting customers politely, and ignored Zhou Jiasheng before leaving.
• Zhou Jiasheng promised to complain to the clan chief and told Zhou Chun he believed Zhou Zhengkang's impending Foundation Establishment had made him arrogant.
• Zhou Jiasheng revealed that the Zhou Family and Li Family had prepared to refine Foundation Establishment Pills, and Zhou Chun quietly questioned why Zhou Zhengkang had behaved so recklessly.

After Zhou Jiahui failed to return from a trip to the Underground River, the Zhou Family searched for her and found no trace of her or her Heart-Linking Insect. The clan suspected either an internal betrayal or an attempt to provoke conflict with Spirit Beast Manor, and Zhou Daoyi kept Zhou Chun at the Lineage to help investigate.

• Shen Xin told Zhou Daoyi that Zhou Jiahui had been missing for seven days, so Zhou Daoyi sent Zhou Jiahe and Zhou Chun to investigate the Underground River.
• Zhou Jiahe found no signs that Zhou Jiahui had reached the pool, and she and Zhou Chun returned to ask Zhou Daoyi to use the Heart-Linking Insect Mother Worm.
• Zhou Daoquan reported that the Mother Worm could not locate Zhou Jiahui's Heart-Linking Insect Larva, leading Zhou Daoyi to suspect it had been destroyed or taken far away.
• Zhou Jiahe suspected Spirit Beast Manor, while Zhou Chun reasoned that either someone within the Lineage had leaked Jiahui's task or an enemy was trying to incite conflict between the factions.
• Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Daoquan agreed to conceal Jiahui's disappearance, investigate those who knew about the Heart-Linking Insect, and keep Zhou Chun at the Lineage to help find a traitor.

Zhou Chun investigated Zhou Jiahui’s disappearance and confronted Zhou Zhengkang, the family’s Foundation Establishment seed, over his recent departure. He left with evidence from the interrogation hidden away, while Zhou Zhengkang vowed to kill him after achieving Foundation Establishment.

• Zhou Daoyi told Zhou Daoquan that he intended to groom Zhou Chun as his successor.
• Zhou Chun investigated clansmen who had left the family and focused on those with ties to the Spirit Beast Manor.
• Zhou Chun confronted Zhou Zhengkang, threatened to report his resistance to Zhou Daoyi, and searched his residence.
• Zhou Chun questioned Zhou Zhengkang about his departure and noticed the scent of tea in an empty teapot without recognizing it as Honey Flower Tea.
• Zhou Zhengkang swore to kill Zhou Chun after achieving Foundation Establishment, while Zhou Chun hid the original interrogation record and kept only a summary for Zhou Daoyi.

Zhou Chun’s investigation into Zhou Jiahui’s disappearance produced no leads until Zhou Zhengyong’s Honey Flower Tea reminded him of a fragrance he had noticed in Seventh Brother’s study. He presented his suspicions to Zhou Daoyi, leaving the Clan Chief to decide how to pursue the apparent betrayal.

• Zhou Chun reported that his investigations had uncovered no suspicious clansmen, and Zhou Daoyi took the records for review.
• Zhou Chun visited Zhou Zhengyong to celebrate Sun Yujiao’s pregnancy and was reminded of Honey Flower Tea when Zhou Zhengyong served it.
• Zhou Chun learned that Honey Flower Tea was so scarce that even senior Zhou Family members could drink it only rarely.
• Zhou Chun hurried to Zhou Daoyi and asked whether the Clan Chief and Grand Elder could regularly enjoy Honey Flower Tea; Zhou Daoyi said they could not.
• Zhou Chun revealed that Seventh Brother’s teapot had smelled of Honey Flower Tea and noted that Seventh Brother had left the Lineage on the day Zhou Jiahui departed and had visited the Spirit Beast Pavilion without going to Spirit Beast Hall.
• Zhou Chun told Zhou Daoyi that these clues made him suspect Seventh Brother of betraying the Lineage and harming Zhou Jiahui.

Zhou Chun’s suspicion that Zhou Zhengkang betrayed the Zhou Family and murdered Zhou Jiahui was confirmed by clues involving Honey Flower Tea and Zhou Zhengkang’s unusual movements. Zhou Mingde confronted Zhou Zhengkang and found tea pellets and unexplained Spirit Coins in his Storage Bag, leaving him demanding an explanation.

• Zhou Chun urged Zhou Daoyi to verify whether Zhou Mingde had given Zhou Zhengkang Honey Flower Tea, and Zhou Daoyi ordered him to keep the suspicion secret.
• Zhou Mingde revealed that he had given Zhou Zhengkang only two Honey Flower Tea pellets, prompting Zhou Daoyi to explain the evidence against him.
• Zhou Daoyi described Zhou Zhengkang’s suspicious timing, visit to the Spirit Beast Pavilion, Honey Flower Tea, and repeated questions about his Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Zhou Mingde agreed to investigate Zhou Zhengkang under his supervision and summoned him to Zhongping Hall.
• Zhou Zhengkang showed panic upon seeing Zhou Mingde, who immobilized him and searched his Storage Bag.
• Zhou Mingde found Honey Flower Tea pellets, and Zhou Daoyi pointed out an unusually large amount of Spirit Coins; Zhou Mingde struck Zhou Zhengkang and demanded an explanation.