Chapter Summaries

Xu Xiong used Lu Li’s sales strategy to persuade Azure Pool disciples to deposit Spirit Stones in advance, then invested the funds in medicinal ingredients. He brought Lu Li a stockpile bought for thirty thousand Spirit Stones and estimated it could yield nearly fifty thousand in profit after the pills were sold.

• Xu Xiong explained the advance-deposit discounts, purchase priority, and lifetime membership benefits, reassuring disciples that True Lord Yuanhao’s rules made cheating them unlikely.
• Several disciples registered and deposited their savings after Xu Xiong emphasized the shortage of pills and the benefits of priority access.
• Xu Xiong used the deposits to buy and stockpile medicinal ingredients for half a month, especially ingredients for Yellow Sprout Pills.
• Xu Xiong brought Lu Li a Storage Bag containing thirty thousand Spirit Stones’ worth of ingredients and estimated they could produce pills worth nearly eighty thousand Spirit Stones.

Lu Li sent a large supply of medicinal ingredients to Great Xia, where the new production line began mass-producing first-tier pills. At the new Great Xia Self-Cultivation Affairs Administration headquarters, officials revealed cultivation to two thousand veterans and named them its first batch of guardians.

• Lu Li agreed to give Xu Xiong twenty percent of the proceeds and told him to pause presales until the disciples could collect their pills in half a month.
• Lu Li sent the secured medicinal ingredients to Great Xia, where more than fifty automatic Pill Furnaces began producing pills at scale.
• Two thousand veterans secretly transferred from military regions gathered at the new headquarters of the Great Xia Self-Cultivation Affairs Administration.
• Xu Mu demonstrated Spiritual Power to the veterans and announced that he, Lu Dahai, and Zhang Xuanqing would train them.
• Li Yuanchao distributed documents explaining cultivation and declared the veterans the first batch of guardians of the Great Xia Cultivation Administration.

Great Xia established its Cultivation Administration and expanded Bureau 749 as it prepared for future contact with the Imprisoned Dragon Realm. Li Yuanchao briefed one hundred new Bureau 749 members on Lu Li’s struggle in another world, and Lu Li welcomed them by voice through the jade pendant.

• Great Xia officially established the Cultivation Administration with Lu Dahai, Xu Mu, and Zhang Xuanqing as instructors, while one hundred new members joined Bureau 749.
• The new recruits arrived at Bureau 749’s high-tech base and received documents explaining cultivation, the Imprisoned Dragon Realm, and Lu Li’s situation.
• Li Yuanchao told the recruits that they would support Lu Li and become the first vanguard to cross realms under the Southern Heavenly Gate plan.
• The fish-shaped jade pendant glowed, and Lu Li greeted the new members and urged them to forge the Great Wall together.

Lu Li listened as hostile great demons confronted the Nether Toad about Azure Pool’s weakened spiritual vitality, then heard the Nether Toad invoke the Manor Lord’s thousand-year plan to drive them off. Yuanhao announced a new sect mission to kill rogue cultivators, and Lu Li suspected the order was another probe by the demons.

• Lu Li reflected on Great Xia’s progress, sold the reserved pills, and earned nearly forty thousand Spirit Stones after costs and Xu Xiong’s share.
• Yuanhao announced that Azure Pool’s Spirit Vein had been restored and the sect’s usual affairs would resume.
• Several hostile great demons questioned the Nether Toad about its weakened territory and hinted that it might conceal a supreme treasure.
• The Nether Toad ordered the demons to leave and warned them not to ruin the Manor Lord’s thousand-year plan as the battle to breach the manor approached.
• Yuanhao announced that every disciple had to kill three rogue cultivators each month, and Lu Li suspected the mission was part of the demons’ probing.

After Azure Pool ordered its disciples to fight cultivators crossing the borders, Lu Li prepared to leave with Changming, Changye, and Xu Xiong, while refining a powerful third-tier Law Artifact. The group flew into the troubled Three Commanderies, where Lu Li found widespread devastation and wondered what had become of Ye Chenfeng.

• Yuanhao told Lu Li that Azure Pool needed every disciple to fight the incoming cultivators and gave him the third-tier Sun-Piercing True Shuttle.
• Lu Li gathered Xu Xiong and his two disciples, equipped Changming and Changye with battle gear, and reported what he knew to Great Xia.
• Lu Li spent three days refining the Sun-Piercing True Shuttle and considered using the mission to check on his Spirit Vein and spiritual ore.
• Lu Li left Azure Pool with Changming, Changye, and Xu Xiong after warning his disciples to put caution first.
• The group flew through the Three Commanderies, where Lu Li saw devastation and wondered where Ye Chenfeng had gone.

Ye Chenfeng arrived in Jingxi Prefecture and enlisted as a sword cultivator at Hanging Blade Pass, intent on growing strong enough to return to Azure Pool and save Junior Brother Lu. He boarded a vast magical vessel bound for the pass, where he noticed another cultivator sharing his curiosity: a woman.

• Ye Chenfeng ignored Elder Jian's pleas to rest and went to a recruitment platform in Jingxi Prefecture, where he joined Hanging Blade Pass.
• A sword-bearing Golden Core True Lord gave Ye Chenfeng a life token and told him to wait until recruitment was complete.
• Elder Jian explained the Western Continent's conflict between demon-ruled Heaven-Pacifying Prefecture and human-held Jingxi Prefecture, while Ye Chenfeng silently vowed to return for Junior Brother Lu.
• After a month of recruitment, the True Lord summoned an enormous tower ship, and Ye Chenfeng boarded it with several hundred cultivators headed for Hanging Blade Pass.
• The tower ship sped through the clouds, and Ye Chenfeng noticed a female cultivator looking around with the same curiosity as him.

Zong Qing approached Ye Chenfeng aboard a spirit boat bound for Hanging Blade Pass, but their conversation was interrupted when a powerful demon bird attacked. A Spirit Transformation Divine Lord struck it down, leaving the boat’s passengers awed by the display of power.

• Zong Qing surveyed the spirit boat’s passengers and approached Ye Chenfeng, curious about his calm anticipation of reaching Hanging Blade Pass.
• Ye Chenfeng kept his distance and told Zong Qing that he was going to join the Pass Guard Bureau, so she withdrew.
• A piercing eagle cry disrupted the spirit boat, and a giant demon bird shattered the sword-bearing True Lord’s protective barrier, severely wounding many passengers.
• A Divine Lord of Hanging Blade Pass sent a vast sword strike through the demon’s baleful aura, then pursued it as it tried to flee.
• The Divine Lord’s sword split the demon bird apart, leaving Ye Chenfeng and the others stunned by the Spirit Transformation cultivator’s power.

Ye Chenfeng arrived at Hanging Blade Pass and joined the Pass Guard Bureau, determined to grow strong enough to rescue Lu Li. Meanwhile, Lu Li traveled toward Clear River Commandery, discovered villages ravaged by outside cultivators, and was surrounded by Foundation Establishment cultivators who called Azure Pool the Nether Toad Blessed Land.

• Ye Chenfeng watched a sword Dao Divine Ability leave the cultivators aboard his flying boat stunned, while Elder Jian identified its user as another sword Dao Divine Lord.
• The flying boat reached Hanging Blade Pass, where Ye Chenfeng saw the Great Wall separating Jingxi Prefecture from the Yao-corrupted lands of Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture.
• A True Lord told the newcomers they must defend the pass for ten years, and Ye Chenfeng immediately chose to join the Pass Guard Bureau.
• Lu Li and his companions traveled toward Clear River Commandery and found most villages along their route abandoned, with signs that outside cultivators had attacked them.
• Several Foundation Establishment cultivators surrounded Lu Li and called Azure Pool the Nether Toad Blessed Land, making him realize they knew the truth.

Lu Li faced five outside Foundation Establishment cultivators and used the fight to teach Lu Changming and Lu Changye about positioning, kiting, and battlefield control. After suppressing the attackers with careful technique, he prepared to capture them and learn how they knew about the Nether Toad Blessed Land.

• Xu Xiong urged Lu Li to hold off the five cultivators while Lu Changming and Lu Changye escaped, but Lu Li stepped forward and told his disciples to watch his fight.
• Lu Li chose not to use his strongest equipment and spells so he could teach his disciples through actual combat.
• The five cultivators attacked Lu Li with their flying swords, and he dodged, countered, and used fire arts to control their movement while explaining his techniques.
• Lu Li’s precise fighting steadily overwhelmed the five, who struggled to land a blow and began to fear they could not win.
• When the leader tried to retreat, Lu Li decided the lesson was over and prepared to interrogate the outside cultivators about the Nether Toad Blessed Land.

Lu Li killed four Foundation Establishment cultivators with repeated fire spells, but the last survivor killed himself before Lu Li could question him. Searching their belongings, Lu Li and Xu Xiong discovered maps revealing the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture's many demon territories and the different ways its blessed lands treated cultivators.

• Lu Li unleashed Extreme Flame Fierce Slash three times, killing four of the five Foundation Establishment cultivators and grievously wounding the last.
• The wounded cultivator mistook Lu Li's recovery pill for a means of enslavement and killed himself before Lu Li could question him.
• Lu Li searched the five Storage Bags and found identical scrolls titled "Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture... Record of Ten Thousand Demons."
• Lu Li and Xu Xiong examined the maps and learned that the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture covered half the Western Continent, with thirty-six grotto courts and seventy-two blessed lands.
• Lu Li saw that the Golden Ape Blessed Land treated cultivators as disciples and noticed the map labeled the uncharted other half of the Western Continent as barbarian lands.

Lu Li learned that the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture might have human lands beyond it and resolved to grow strong enough to fight his way out. After checking the hidden Spirit Vein and failing to find Changming and Changye’s godmother, he led his companions back toward the sect, using the journey to train them against outside cultivators.

• Lu Li studied the maps, inferred that enemies of the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture might control the other half of the Western Continent, and planned to reach Golden Core and use his jade pendant to subdue great yao.
• Lu Li, Xu Xiong, Changming, and Changye traveled to Clear River Commandery, where Changming and Changye learned that their godmother had left with the old village head to seek refuge in the countryside.
• Lu Li checked the concealed Spirit Vein, found that it had not matured, and spent three days strengthening the formation that hid it.
• Lu Li reunited with Xu Xiong, Changming, and Changye at the city gate and learned that their search for their godmother had failed.
• Lu Li led the group onward, intending to make up their remaining quota of outside cultivators and train his disciples in combat as they traveled.

Lu Li returned toward Azure Pool as invasions and Demon Beast attacks accelerated his cultivation, and he began considering how to control the Nether Toad Demon Ancestor rather than kill it. In Great Xia, Bureau 749’s recruits made progress in cultivation before an alert summoned them to prepare for cross-world communication.

• Lu Li’s party encountered invading cultivators and growing packs of Foundation Establishment Demon Beasts, while he absorbed the Dao Fruit and advanced to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
• Lu Li decided that killing the Nether Toad Demon Ancestor could provoke the other great demons, so he considered taking control of it and building strength in Azure Pool Blessed Land.
• Lu Li connected the idea to Great Xia’s experiments with uploading and altering a white mouse’s soul, and imagined using the jade pendant, spiritual weapons, and nuclear power against Nether Toad after reaching Golden Core.
• At Bureau 749, Lu Dahai instructed a hundred recruits in Qi Introduction, and several became Qi Refinement cultivators.
• A red alert light came on in the cultivation room, and Lu Dahai ordered the cultivators to the command hall to prepare for cross-world communication.

Lu Li proposed that Great Xia prepare to seize and control a Nascent Soul demon using his fish-shaped jade pendant, while the Bureau 749 team discussed research advances that could strengthen him. The chapter ended with Li Yuanchao reporting that Great Xia planned a live test of Spiritual Martial Nuclear Energy and promising retaliation if Lu Li died.

• Lu Li proposed using the jade pendant to subdue a Nascent Soul demon once he reached Golden Core, and Li Yuanchao agreed to prepare for the possibility while researchers improved their soul experiments.
• Lu Dahai warned Lu Li not to rush his Golden Core breakthrough, and Wang Zhiwen explained that Lu Yao had stayed up all night assisting the Soul Information and Consciousness Workshop.
• Lin Xian reported that analysis of Lu Li's third-tier cultivation methods had advanced research and could yield a customized third-tier five elements method before Lu Li reached Core Formation.
• Lu Li asked about combining nuclear weapons with Spiritual Power, and Li Yuanchao said a live test was imminent and vowed that someone would be buried with Lu Li if he died.

Lu Li refined the Dao Fruit, led his disciples on missions, and taught them that overwhelming strength was the highest realm of magical combat. A clash among the great demons then shattered Azure Pool’s false sky, leaving Lu Li to suspect the Nether Toad demon ancestor had been gravely injured.

• Li Yuanchao assured Lu Li that Great Xia would make the enemy pay if events took a disastrous turn, and Lu Li began refining the tonic and Dao Fruit.
• After a month of cultivation, Lu Li left Azure Pool with Changming, Changye, and Xu Xiong to continue their missions as the sect’s casualties and kill quota mounted.
• Lu Li taught Changming and Changye that magical combat had three realms, with the final realm being to build overwhelming strength through whaling.
• Xu Xiong praised Lu Li’s combat theory and asked to learn from him, but a disturbance in the sky interrupted their conversation.
• The Nether Toad demon ancestor accused the Golden Ape and Heavenly Wolf of invading its domain, and the great demons began fighting.
• The battle shattered the canopy over the three commanderies and exposed the starry sky, leading Lu Li to suspect the Nether Toad demon ancestor had been seriously injured again.

Lu Li watched Demon Ancestor Nether Toad reveal its injured true body and drive Demon Ancestor Golden Ape and Demon Ancestor Heavenly Wolf from Azure Pool. Seeing that Nether Toad could no longer maintain its concealment formation, Lu Li recognized a chance to take over and develop its territory.

• Xu Xiong, Changming, and Changye saw Azure Pool’s false sky disappear, revealing the starry heavens and Demon Ancestor Nether Toad’s true body alongside Demon Ancestor Golden Ape and Demon Ancestor Heavenly Wolf.
• Demon Ancestor Nether Toad threatened to abandon Azure Pool and report Golden Ape and Heavenly Wolf to the Manor Lord if they kept trespassing.
• Demon Ancestor Golden Ape and Demon Ancestor Heavenly Wolf backed down, recalled their servants, and left after deciding Nether Toad’s damaged territory would hinder it in the coming assault on the manor.
• Demon Ancestor Nether Toad withdrew into its blessed land, while Lu Li realized its injuries had created an opportunity to take over and develop Azure Pool.

Lu Li returned to his sect determined to form his Golden Core so he could exploit the injured toad demon, while Great Xia mobilized Bureau 749 to develop a way to control a Nascent Soul spirit. Lu Yao proposed building an artificial spirit energy entity for experiments, but the energy required proved nearly unimaginable.

• Lu Li learned that the toad demon was badly injured, hurried back to his sect to pursue Core Formation, and sent the news to Great Xia.
• Li Yuanchao redirected Bureau 749's personnel and resources to the Soul Information and Consciousness Workshop to research controlling a Nascent Soul spirit.
• Lu Yao and her colleagues launched large-scale experiments using white mouse souls, but Wang Zhiwen warned that their models could not represent a Nascent Soul demon soul.
• Lu Yao proposed constructing a spirit energy entity hundreds of millions of times stronger than their current Divine Sense for real-time control experiments.
• An energy scientist calculated that Lu Yao's proposal would require nearly half the energy of the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, and exclaimed that it was impossible.

Lu Yao’s proposal to build a controllable Nascent Soul-level energy body gained support after experts recalculated the energy required and judged it feasible with nuclear power. As Bureau 749 mobilized for the experiment, workers across Great Xia were called back to factories, and Old Wang left his family’s New Year preparations to answer the urgent assignment.

• Professor Jiang argued that the energy needed to harm a Nascent Soul great demon might be far lower than first assumed, prompting Wang Zhiwen to support Lu Yao’s proposal.
• Wang Zhiwen suggested controlled nuclear fusion and spiritual nuclear power as possible sources for a Nascent Soul-level energy body.
• Bureau 749 began refining the experiment’s theory, while teams across Great Xia mobilized the vast supplies and industrial production it required.
• Old Wang received an urgent call recalling him to the factory for a national assignment as factories across the industry returned to work.
• Old Wang told his wife he had to leave their New Year preparations and reported for duty.

As Great Xia rushed components to an experimental site, Lu Dahai and Lu Yao returned home for New Year after Liu Xiulan called them. Lu Dahai tried to copy Lu Yao’s tactic for avoiding work, but Liu Xiulan told him he could simply quit his job.

• Truck driver Zhang Weimin told his apprentice Xiao Chen that delivering important cargo was worth delaying their New Year’s Eve dinner.
• Liu Xiulan saw a giant component pass and thought with worry and pride about her son Lu Li, who was away working on an important project.
• Liu Xiulan called Lu Dahai and demanded to know why he was still working instead of coming home for New Year.
• Lu Dahai and Lu Yao asked Li Yuanchao for leave and hurried home, where Lu Yao persuaded Liu Xiulan to let her return to duty after the holiday.
• Lu Dahai imitated Lu Yao by claiming he wanted to quit, but Liu Xiulan agreed that he should resign and cook at home.

Lu Yao and Lu Dahai heard the news announce a new self-cultivation administration hotline, while Li Ming realized he might have sensed Qi after following his university’s exercise document. He called the hotline to ask what to do next.

• Liu Xiulan served the family lesser spirit rice, which nourished Lu Dahai and helped keep her looking youthful.
• Lu Yao and Lu Dahai froze when the news announced the Great Xia Self-Cultivation Affairs Administration and its hotline.
• Lu Yao returned to her room, while Lu Dahai made an excuse to leave and take a walk.
• Li Ming sensed hot, restless Qi in his lower abdomen after practicing Qi Introduction from the university document.
• Li Ming called the administration hotline and asked what to do after drawing in Qi.

Li Yuanchao outlined Great Xia’s plan to guide the spread of cultivation without disrupting students’ lives, while Lu Li read about experiments to create a Nascent Soul-level soul and resumed secluded cultivation. At the Azure Pool Sect, Lu Changming delivered supplies to Xu Xiong and asked about Ye Chenfeng, who Xu believed would no longer have ties to Lu Li.

• Li Yuanchao told the Cultivation Administration not to contact or disturb newly cultivating university students, and said its focus should remain on constructing a soul powered by a spiritual core.
• Lu Li read Great Xia’s progress report on creating a Nascent Soul-level soul, resolved to support the plan, and returned to secluded cultivation to pursue Golden Core and refine his jade pendant.
• Lu Changming delivered pills and enchanted armor to Xu Xiong while Lu Li remained in seclusion.
• Lu Changming asked Xu Xiong whether Ye Chenfeng was close to Lu Li, and Xu said Ye had visited before but probably would no longer have anything to do with Lu Li.