Chapter Summaries

Zhou Chun killed two elders who tried to seize his Soul Heart Fruit, bringing his Heavenly Spirit Orders to five, then captured a rare Fragrant Spirit Musk Deer for its valuable spirit fragrance. As he stored the deer, a hunchbacked elder confronted him and demanded both the deer and its fragrance, setting up another fight.

• Zhou Chun released the Rock Earth Turtle and used his Spirit Pets and magical artifacts to kill the gray-robed elder and the red-faced elder.
• Zhou Chun took the elders’ belongings, including three Heavenly Spirit Orders, and planned to gather all seven before waiting near the seven-story tower.
• Zhou Chun left the valley’s remaining Soul Heart Fruits and continued through the mountains as he heard signs of other trial-takers fighting.
• Zhou Chun pursued and captured a rare Fragrant Spirit Musk Deer, then collected half a catty of its spirit fragrance.
• A hunchbacked elder emerged and demanded the deer and its fragrance, then attacked Zhou Chun with his yellow-bronze cane.

Zhou Chun fought the hunchbacked old man over the spiritual incense from the Fragrant Spirit Musk Deer, enduring the old man’s powerful magic tools and fire techniques. After the old man’s second rank Talisman failed and his secret technique backfired, Zhou Chun killed him and then turned his attention toward someone hiding in the mountain forest.

• The hunchbacked old man overwhelmed Zhou Chun’s defenses and badly injured Silver Lightning Thunder Python Bai Bai, so Zhou Chun summoned the Rock Earth Turtle and continued fighting with his full strength.
• The old man destroyed Bai Bai’s gathering storm clouds with a fire dragon, but he grew anxious as the prolonged battle drained his magic power and attracted other trial-takers.
• The old man offered to take only the spiritual incense, but Zhou Chun refused, prompting both cultivators to use second rank Talismans that canceled each other out.
• The old man began a self-destructive secret technique, but Zhou Chun struck him with Xinjin Sword Qi, disrupting the technique and leaving him severely injured.
• Zhou Chun, his magic tools, and Bai Bai overwhelmed the old man, and stone spikes impaled him through the heart as he fell.
• Zhou Chun taunted the dead old man and turned his gaze toward a watcher hidden in the mountain forest.

After defeating the Hunchbacked Elder, Zhou Chun recovered, counted his spoils, and chose to avoid further fights until the final day of the Heavenly Spirit Trial. He entered the Seven-story Tower, traded two extra Heavenly Spirit Orders, and broke its protective shield in under seven breaths, leaving him poised to discover his reward.

• Zhou Chun escaped to a secluded valley, treated his injuries and his Spirit Pets, and recovered after his battle with the Hunchbacked Elder.
• Zhou Chun counted the Hunchbacked Elder's treasures, including four Heavenly Spirit Orders, and decided to stop pursuing more gains until the final day of the Trial.
• Zhou Chun reached the Seven-story Tower with nine Heavenly Spirit Orders and traded two to a yellow-robed old man for four First-grade High-tier magic tools and four Hundred-Year Spirit Medicines.
• Zhou Chun entered the tower, read the rules for claiming a treasure, and broke the protective shield in under seven breaths using his magic tools and Xinjin Sword Qi.
• A large jade box appeared before Zhou Chun, and he opened it to see what treasure he had earned.

After escaping the Heavenly Spirit Trial, Zhou Chun showed Zhou Daoyi his rare treasures and arranged how his gains would be handled. He returned to Nine Peaks Ridge with Zhou Daoyi, gave Soul Heart Fruits to Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Daoquan, and agreed that the family would raise his Fragrant Spirit Musk Deer while sharing its future Spirit Incense with him.

• Zhou Chun urged Zhou Daoyi to leave the ruins at once, and Zhou Daoyi flew him to a nearby marketplace before the two were pursued.
• Zhou Chun revealed his Soul Heart Fruits, Fragrant Spirit Musk Deer, Spirit Incense, Green Copper Cauldron, and a lightning-element longbow to Zhou Daoyi, who appraised the treasures.
• Zhou Chun and Zhou Daoyi returned to Nine Peaks Ridge and sorted his gains, converting most items he could not handle into more than 7,800 family Merit Points.
• Zhou Chun gave one Soul Heart Fruit to Zhou Daoyi and promised another to Zhou Daoquan, keeping the third for himself.
• Zhou Chun agreed that the family would raise the Fragrant Spirit Musk Deer and give him half of its future Spirit Incense, while he kept the half-catty he had already obtained.
• Zhou Daoyi went to report Zhou Chun's gains to Zhou Mingde, while Zhou Chun took Zhou Daoquan his Soul Heart Fruit.

Zhou Chun repaid Zhou Daoquan with a Soul Heart Fruit, then strengthened his Spiritual Sense by consuming one himself. As the Dragon Transformation Sect’s attacks plunged Cloud Prefecture into war, the Zhou Family drew lots to choose reinforcements, and Zhou Chun drew the marked lot until Zhou Zhengyong volunteered to take his place.

• Zhou Chun gave Zhou Daoquan a Soul Heart Fruit in gratitude for his past kindness, and Zhou Daoquan accepted while promising to help him in the future.
• Zhou Daoquan and Zhou Daoyi consumed their Soul Heart Fruits, increasing their Spiritual Senses, while Zhou Daoquan began preparing for a breakthrough and Zhou Daoyi sought a Foundation Establishment Pill for Zhou Chun.
• Zhou Chun consumed his Soul Heart Fruit after recovering, and his Spiritual Sense grew by more than thirty percent, reaching a range of 128 zhang.
• The Dragon Transformation Sect retaliated across Cloud Prefecture, prompting Green Lotus Temple to send reinforcements and order the Zhou Family to provide cultivators.
• Zhou Daoyi’s elders agreed to select the Zhou Family’s reinforcements through separate lotteries, but Zhou Chun drew the final marked lot.
• Zhou Zhengyong volunteered to replace Zhou Chun on the mission to Cloud Prefecture, and Zhou Daoyi accepted his offer.

Zhou Chun took over as acting Clan Leader after Zhou Zhengyong left to serve in Cloud Prefecture, and he carefully managed the Lineage’s affairs while considering future reforms. A Dragon Transformation Sect infiltration into Misty Prefecture then forced him to convene the Elders and seek advice on how the Zhou Family should respond.

• Zhou Daoyi accepted Zhou Zhengyong’s offer to go to war in Zhou Chun’s place, and Zhou Chun reluctantly gave Zhou Zhengyong magic tools and talismans for protection.
• Zhou Zhengyong departed for Cloud Prefecture with fourteen Zhou Family cultivators, and Zhou Daoyi appointed Zhou Chun acting Clan Leader before leaving.
• Zhou Chun handled the Lineage’s daily affairs and began considering reforms to its organizational structure.
• Green Lotus Temple warned that Dragon Transformation Sect forces had infiltrated Misty Prefecture and Mausoleum Prefecture to disrupt the rear of the war effort.
• Zhou Chun summoned the three Zhou Family Elders to Zhongping Hall to discuss how the Lineage should respond to the infiltration.

Zhou Chun and the Zhou Family Elders chose to withdraw from vulnerable holdings and limit travel while Dragon Transformation Sect forces infiltrated Misty Prefecture. After the Mu Family of Biyun Mountain came under attack, hidden signal fires spread news of its imminent destruction across the region, and Zhou Chun watched the alarms reach the area near Nine Peaks Ridge.

• Zhou Jiahe, Zhou Chongshan, and Zhou Jiarui supported a cautious plan to guard Nine Peaks Ridge, preserve supplies, and avoid sending clansmen out, and Zhou Chun agreed to report it to Grand Elder Zhou Mingde.
• Zhou Chongshan brought Zhou Mingde’s approval, and Zhou Chun notified the Zhou Family’s cooperating forces that they might abandon the Crimson Radiance Iron ore vein if attacked.
• Daoist Mingxia arrived at Red Cliff Market with Green Lotus Temple reinforcements, reassuring local Cultivation Families and giving the Zhou Family a powerful ally.
• A Black Dragon Protector selected the Mu Family of Biyun Mountain as a target, and two days later Dragon Transformation Sect members led by a Violet Palace cultivator attacked the family.
• The Mu Family sounded its highest-level alarm and raised a blood-lotus signal; a retired agent in a nearby village lit a smoke signal before ending his life, prompting others to relay the warning.
• News of the Mu Family’s peril reached the friendly families and Green Lotus Temple cultivators, while Zhou Chun watched a smoke pillar rise near Nine Peaks Ridge.

Zhou Mingde rushed to aid the Mu Family of Biyun Mountain, but arrived just as the Dragon Transformation Sect broke through their defenses and killed Mu Yunshan and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators. He drove off the Black Dragon Protector but could not stop his escape, then told the late-arriving Green Lotus Temple Daoists what had happened.

• Zhou Chun urged the Zhou Family to rescue the Mu Family, and Zhou Mingde decided to go to Biyun Mountain himself.
• Mu Yunshan and the Mu Family cultivators used their formation and spell talismans to resist the Dragon Transformation Sect, but their Mountain Protecting Grand Formation eventually shattered.
• Zhou Mingde arrived as the Black Dragon Protector killed Mu Yunshan and two other Foundation Establishment cultivators, then fought the protector alongside the Fire God Jackal.
• The Black Dragon Protector withdrew into Biyun Lake after using the Dragon Transformation Secret Manual, while his followers looted the mountain and fled.
• Daoist Mingxia and another Green Lotus Temple Daoist arrived after the battle, and Zhou Mingde recounted the Mu Family's losses and the protector's escape.

After the Mu Family and Yu Family were destroyed by the Dragon Transformation Sect, the Zhou Family strengthened its defenses and gained support from other families. Daoist Mingxia then devised a plan to locate the wounded Black Dragon Protector and his forces.

• Daoist Mingxia and Daoist Mingjian took the surviving Mu Family cultivators to Red Cliff Market while Zhou Mingde returned to Nine Peaks Ridge and warned the Zhou Family to guard against retaliation.
• Zhou Chun reinforced the Zhou Family’s mountain gate and Spirit Cleansing Pavilions, while families across Misty Prefecture increased their vigilance and sought alliances with the Zhou Family.
• Sun Zhongping visited Zhou Mingde to offer the Sun Family’s support, and other families followed with visits of their own.
• The Black Dragon Protector chose the Yu Family as his next target, and his forces killed the Yu Family’s Foundation Establishment cultivators and looted its wealth.
• After the Yu Family’s destruction brought pressure from the Green Lotus Temple, Daoist Mingxia asked Daoist Mingjian to help find the wounded Black Dragon Protector and outlined her plan.

Daoist Mingxia and Daoist Mingjian organized Violet Palace cultivators to search Misty Prefecture, and Zhou Mingde and Wang Guangping found the Dragon Transformation Sect’s camp. The Black Dragon Protector unleashed the Dragon Spirit Possession Talisman to gain overwhelming strength and turned to fight, leaving Zhou Mingde and Wang Guangping to wear him down until its power faded.

• Daoist Mingxia persuaded Daoist Mingjian to recruit Violet Palace cultivators from Misty Prefecture’s families for a coordinated search.
• Zhou Mingde and Wang Guangping discovered the Dragon Transformation Sect’s camp, prompting the Black Dragon Protector to order his followers to flee separately toward Cloud Prefecture.
• The Black Dragon Protector fought Zhou Mingde and Wang Guangping with a Talisman Treasure, but their combined attacks struck him and Zhou Mingde’s Azure Mirror Talisman Treasure restrained him.
• The Black Dragon Protector activated the Dragon Spirit Possession Talisman, which transformed his scales and greatly increased his magical and physical strength.
• Zhou Mingde warned Wang Guangping not to fight the empowered Black Dragon Protector head-on, and they began wearing down his strength while avoiding close combat.

Daoist Mingxia used a Pseudo-Treasure to kill the Black Dragon Protector, ending the Dragon Transformation Sect’s attack in Misty Prefecture. Green Lotus Temple rewarded the Zhou and Wang families, and Zhou Mingde kept the Zhou Family’s Ascension Token until Daoyi returned.

• Daoist Mingjian and Daoist Mingxia rushed to join Zhou Mingde and Wang Guangping, and Daoist Mingxia’s Pseudo-Treasure froze the fleeing Black Dragon Protector.
• Daoist Mingxia killed the wounded Black Dragon Protector after he refused to surrender, while the others watched.
• Daoist Mingxia shared the spoils with Zhou Mingde and Wang Guangping and asked them to keep her Pseudo-Treasure secret.
• The Dragon Transformation Sect lost one Black Dragon Protector, five evangelists, and twenty-three disciples, and Green Lotus Temple publicly credited Zhou Mingde and Wang Guangping with holding the protector back before Daoist Mingxia finished him.
• Green Lotus Temple rewarded the Zhou Family with a Foundation Establishment Pill and an Ascension Token, and the Wang Family with a Foundation Establishment Pill, exemptions from one future conscription, and thirty years of waived shop rent.
• Zhou Mingde put the Ascension Token away for safekeeping and said the family would decide how to use it after Daoyi returned.

Zhou Mingde promised Zhou Chun the Foundation Establishment Pill, motivating Zhou Chun to cultivate harder while he considered reforms to the Zhou Family’s administration. When Mu Yuntian invited the Zhou Family to the Mu Family’s rebuilding celebration, Zhou Mingde declined to attend and sent Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiarui with gifts instead.

• Zhou Mingde gave the Foundation Establishment Pill to Zhou Chun to claim once his cultivation was ready, and the Zhou Family tightened inspections after defeating the Dragon Transformation Sect’s infiltrators.
• Zhou Chun cultivated diligently and considered using mortals for routine administrative and household work in the Zhou Family.
• Mu Yuntian visited the Zhou Family to thank Zhou Mingde for aiding the Mu Family and invite him to its rebuilding celebration.
• Zhou Mingde declined the invitation after learning Mu Yuntian would reside with the Mu Family as a Green Lotus Temple disciple, and asked Zhou Chun for his view of the arrangement.
• Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiarui prepared gifts for the Mu Family, then traveled to Biyun Mountain to attend its celebration half a month later.

Zhou Chun visited the rebuilding Mu Family, reconnected with Mu Ziying, and later received the instructions for a powerful formation. After six months of cultivation brought him close to Foundation Establishment, Zhou Daoyi returned with a Foundation Establishment Pill and ordered him into seclusion.

• Zhou Jiarui and Zhou Chun attended the Mu Family’s rebuilding celebration, where Mu Yuntian publicly thanked the Zhou Family for its generous support.
• Zhou Chun greeted Mu Ziying, learned that she had married He Chenglǐ of the He Family, and left her a bottle of pills as a wedding gift.
• Zhou Chun explained to Zhou Jiarui that he had known Mu Ziying from teaching her Beast Taming Arts, then returned to the Zhou Family and resumed his cultivation and family duties.
• Zhou Chongshan gave Zhou Chun the tools and instructions for the Eight Gates Profound Water Formation, a killing formation capable of trapping and killing Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• After six months, Zhou Chun had opened 105 of his 108 acupoints, while Zhou Daoyi killed two Dragon Transformation Sect evangelists in Cloud Prefecture and obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Zhou Daoyi returned from the battlefield, sent Zhou Jiarui to replace him at the front, and ordered Zhou Chun to enter seclusion until he could take the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Zhou Chun prepared for Foundation Establishment by studying his options and planning how to earn enough to support himself and his Spirit Pets. After reaching the limit of Qi Refining and entering seclusion with two Foundation Establishment Pills, he survived the pill’s cleansing and an illusion but failed his first attempt to form a Qi Cyclone.

• Zhou Daoyi ordered Zhou Chun to enter seclusion, gave him the Foundation Establishment guide, and prepared him to use the family’s two Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Zhou Chun weighed the choices he would face after Foundation Establishment and considered how his Purification Stone Jar and family support could help him earn money and advance his Spirit Pets.
• After five months of cultivation with a Golden Bud Pill, Zhou Chun opened all 108 acupoints and received two Foundation Establishment Pills from Zhou Daoyi.
• Zhou Chun entered the Foundation Establishment chamber on Pagoda Peak, took a pill, and spent seven days expelling impurities before confronting an illusion of a vengeful version of himself.
• Zhou Chun recognized the attacker as a Defiled Thought and broke free of the illusion, but the ordeal had consumed much of the pill’s medicinal power.
• Zhou Chun formed a Qi Cyclone but failed to reverse its rotation, causing it to explode and ending his first Foundation Establishment attempt.

Zhou Chun overcame a second Foundation Establishment attempt and became the Zhou Family’s first Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Zheng generation. After Clan Leader Zhou Daoyi discussed his rewards and future cultivation method, Zhou Chun confirmed he wanted a method that combined powerful combat abilities with rapid cultivation, leaving the family to find one for him.

• After nearly ten days of recovery, Zhou Chun took his second Foundation Establishment Pill, saw through an illusion of being abandoned by the Zhou Family, and successfully condensed his mana True Yuan.
• Zhou Chun circulated his new mana to temper his body and strengthen his divine sense, then left seclusion after nearly three months and practiced flying with Qi Riding.
• Zhou Daoyi congratulated Zhou Chun, told him the family would hold a Foundation Establishment celebration and discuss his appointment as Vice Clan Leader, and asked which cultivation method he wanted.
• Zhou Chun told Zhou Daoyi he had chosen a method that would provide powerful Divine Abilities and Spells while rapidly advancing his mana cultivation.
• News of Zhou Chun’s success spread through the Zhou Family, drawing reactions of delight, surprise, and envy from his relatives and fellow-generation cultivators.
• Zhou Chun recalled that his chosen category of cultivation method was rare and dangerous, and that no Zhou Family cultivator currently dared to practice one.

After consolidating his Foundation Establishment, Zhou Chun was promoted to Vice Clan Leader and learned that Zhou Daoyi had a secret opportunity to pursue a Violet Palace breakthrough. Zhou Daoyi took him to the Zhou Family’s hidden inheritance chamber to choose a cultivation method, where Zhou Chun found he could not read the original records.

• Zhou Chun completed three months of cultivation, strengthening his body and soul and greatly improving his spiritual sense and spell learning.
• At his Foundation Establishment celebration, Zhou Mingde announced Zhou Chun’s promotion to Vice Clan Leader and heir to the next Clan Leader.
• Zhou Daoyi told Zhou Chun that his Azure Cloud Python had reached Second-tier High-grade and that he possessed an Azure Flood Dragon inner core and a chance to help it transform.
• Zhou Daoyi explained that he would help Zhou Chun choose a cultivation method and take him to collect the magical artifacts approved by Zhou Mingde.
• Zhou Daoyi revealed the Zhou Family’s hidden collection of original cultivation methods and secret arts, then showed Zhou Chun two methods suited to his Spiritual Root aptitude.
• Zhou Chun saw that he could not understand the writing on either inheritance artifact and asked Zhou Daoyi how he was supposed to cultivate from them.

Zhou Chun examined the Zhou Family’s two inherited techniques and chose the dangerous Golden Cauldron Profound Manual over the safer, resource-intensive Myriad Wood True Manual. He rejected limiting his ambitions to a Golden Core and declared that he would pursue a path he believed still offered hope.

• Zhou Daoyi showed Zhou Chun two Dao-carrying artifacts and warned him to carefully verify any cultivation techniques or secret arts he found outside the family.
• Zhou Daoyi explained that the Golden Cauldron Profound Manual offered great power but carried deadly risks, while the Myriad Wood True Manual was safer and faster to cultivate but required vast quantities of increasingly rare spirit wood.
• Zhou Chun read the translated manuals and discovered that the Myriad Wood True Manual’s later stages demanded hundreds of rare spirit trees, making its cultivation requirements daunting.
• Zhou Daoyi advised Zhou Chun to choose the Myriad Wood True Manual, arguing that the Zhou Family could support its requirements through the Violet Palace stage and perhaps beyond.
• Zhou Chun rejected the idea of settling for a thousand-year life and told Zhou Daoyi that he had decided to cultivate the Golden Cauldron Profound Manual because he would rather pursue a dangerous path with hope than an easy path with no hope.

Zhou Chun committed to cultivating the dangerous Golden Cauldron Profound Manual, and Zhou Daoyi accepted his decision while urging him to prepare carefully. After Zhou Chun agreed to manage family affairs while Zhou Daoyi focused on cultivation, Zhou Mingde bestowed two Second-tier Low-grade magic tools on him.

• Zhou Chun insisted that he would pursue the Golden Cauldron Profound Manual without regret, and Zhou Daoyi stopped trying to dissuade him.
• Zhou Chun studied the manual and learned that preparing protective pills and powders could improve his chances of surviving Cauldron Forging.
• Zhou Daoyi took Zhou Chun to meet Zhou Mingde, who advised him to spend years preparing and gather the Metal Qi needed for cultivation.
• Zhou Chun agreed to manage family affairs so Zhou Daoyi could focus on advancing his cultivation.
• Zhou Mingde gave Zhou Chun a Second-tier Low-grade offensive spike and a defensive command token.

After taking over as Zhou Family Vice Clan Leader, Zhou Chun began reorganizing the family and arranging resources for his cultivation. He selected two Beast Taming secret arts at the Book Repository, leaving himself to cultivate Ancestor Revival and Beast Spirit Battle Armor.

• Zhou Daoyi stepped back from clan leadership to focus on cultivation, and Zhou Chun began exercising the clan leader's authority as Vice Clan Leader.
• Zhou Chun arranged to obtain tools and materials for gathering Metal Qi and preparing spirit medicine for his cultivation.
• Zhou Chun assigned seventy ordinary clansmen to support work across the mountain and introduced surveys, monthly reports, Rogue Cultivator records, and a Family Contribution Ranking.
• Zhou Chun visited the Book Repository, examined cultivation arts, and reaffirmed his decision to pursue a top-tier cultivation art.
• Zhou Chun selected Ancestor Revival and Beast Spirit Battle Armor as the two Beast Taming secret arts he would cultivate.

Zhou Chun welcomed the Zhou Family cultivators returning from Cloud Prefecture and heard how the war had changed Zhou Zhengyong. After Zhou Daoquan emerged from seclusion as a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator, Zhou Chun proposed a sweeping family reform and sought his support.

• Zhou Chun and dozens of Zhou Family cultivators welcomed the returning expedition party, honoring the survivors and offering rewards and three years of exemption from family duties.
• Zhou Zhengyong told Zhou Chun how betrayal and a comrade's rescue had taught him to balance vigilance with trust, and pledged to serve the family when needed.
• Zhou Daoquan emerged from seclusion after breaking through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage, giving the Zhou Family two cultivators at that stage.
• Zhou Chun proposed that Zhou Daoquan help him carry out a comprehensive reform he called a thousand-year plan, and said he would first seek the elders' approval before asking the Grand Elder to decide.