Chapter Summaries

After learning that the silver vein near Clear Spring Town could yield two hundred billion taels, Lin Xiye decided to protect it from Blood Wolf Hall and left Zichuan City to prepare. Lin Changge summoned the clan’s senior members to plan for the danger while Lin Xiye headed toward Qiao Town.

• Lin Changge told Lin Xiye about the silver vein and warned that Blood Wolf Hall could seize it once the news spread.
• Lin Xiye decided to keep the silver vein for the Lin Household and planned to sell Spirit Tempering Grass and upgrade medicinal treasures to strengthen himself.
• Lin Xiye instructed Lin Changge to stall rival survey teams or pretend to yield the vein until he returned.
• Lin Changge called the elders and stewards in Zichuan City to a meeting to prepare for the worst.
• Lin Xiye quietly left Zichuan City and hurried toward Qiao Town.

Lin Xiye rewarded the giant tiger Black Mountain and used the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror to greatly improve its aptitude, though the beast shrank to house-cat size. He then set out for the Three Origins Immortal Market to sell Spirit Tempering Grass and prepare for the looming struggle over the silver ore vein, leaving the Lin Household to hold off its rivals meanwhile.

• Lin Xiye arrived in Qiao Town and rewarded the giant tiger for guarding it, naming it Black Mountain and sending it to Zichuan City.
• Lin Xiye used the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror on Black Mountain, raising its aptitude to profound grade while shrinking it to the size of a house cat.
• Black Mountain eagerly sought another enhancement, but Lin Xiye explained that further improvement would require many Spirit Stone fragments or low-grade Spirit Stones.
• Lin Xiye left Qiao Town for the Three Origins Immortal Market in Guyuan City to sell his hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass and buy items to strengthen himself.
• Lin Xiye expected the journey to take at least a month and accepted that the Blood Wolf Hall and other powers might temporarily seize the silver ore vein from the Lin Household.

Lin Xiye reached Guyuan City and registered to enter, then headed for the Three Origins Immortal Market. In the inner city, women from the Qian Household’s collateral branches crowded around him, offering to serve as his maids.

• Lin Xiye traveled through the mountains for half a month and arrived at Guyuan City.
• The city guards welcomed Lin Xiye and registered his information, which qualified him for free food, clothing, lodging, and transportation in the city.
• Lin Xiye entered Guyuan City, where a formation kept the city warm despite the surrounding wind and snow.
• Lin Xiye headed toward the Three Origins Immortal Market in the core city.
• Women from the Qian Household’s collateral branches surrounded Lin Xiye in the inner city, hoping to become his maids.

Lin Xiye entered the Three Origins Immortal Market and went to the Immortal-Seeking Pavilion to sell his century-old Spirit Tempering Grass. He needed the proceeds quickly to deal with the Blood Wolf Hall before it moved the silver from Clear Spring Town into its fortified stronghold.

• Lin Xiye ignored mortal women seeking cultivators’ attention and reflected on their hopes of escaping their low status through marriage.
• Lin Xiye reached the Three Origins Immortal Market and considered how the Qian Household and Falling Rosy Clouds Sect controlled its trading venues.
• Lin Xiye chose the Immortal-Seeking Pavilion for its immediate payment and confidential transactions, despite the higher price an auction might bring.
• Lin Xiye explained that he could not wait for the next auction because the Blood Wolf Hall might soon mine and secure Clear Spring Town’s silver.
• A maid ushered Lin Xiye into a private room and went to fetch a deacon after he announced he was selling century-old Spirit Tempering Grass.

Lin Xiye sold a hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass to the Immortal-Seeking Pavilion for four low-grade Spirit Stones and learned that its Spirit Nurturing Pills were out of stock. The pavilion’s steward gave him a map to Guyuan City’s underground black market, where a pill might appear.

• Lin Xiye showed his hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass to the Immortal-Seeking Pavilion’s steward, who offered four low-grade Spirit Stones for it.
• Lin Xiye accepted the offer and received four low-grade Spirit Stones and a VIP card granting him a discount and access to the pavilion’s second floor.
• Lin Xiye checked the Spirit Nurturing Pill counter, but a maid told him the pavilion had none in stock and described a recent auction where one sold for thirty low-grade Spirit Stones.
• The steward told Lin Xiye about Guyuan City’s underground black market and gave him a map marking its location and monthly opening time.

Lin Xiye secretly used the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror to upgrade two Five Thunder Talisman Treasures and enhance pills, preparing for the Lin Household’s conflict with the Blood Wolf Hall. He left the five stalks of Spirit Tempering Grass unenhanced to avoid attracting powerful cultivators’ attention.

• Lin Xiye left Guyuan City and waited until he was certain no one had followed him before using the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror in a cave.
• Lin Xiye spent two low-grade Spirit Stones to upgrade both Five Thunder Talisman Treasures to quasi-Foundation Establishment level.
• Lin Xiye planned to use the treasures against Blood Wolf Hall cultivators and make the Lin Household’s strength known as it contested the silver vein.
• Lin Xiye enhanced both bottles of Origin Stabilizing Pills into Spirit-Nurturing Grade pills for his own use.
• Lin Xiye chose not to enhance the five stalks of ten-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass, fearing that hundred-year-old herbs might draw dangerous attention.

Lin Xiye waited two days in Guyuan City, cultivating until the underground black market opened, then entered through a dangerous thorn forest. At the market gate, he rented a mask Law Treasure that concealed his identity, but learned it was not for sale.

• Lin Xiye stayed at a Spirit Gathering Formation inn and cultivated for two days while waiting for Guyuan City's underground black market to open.
• Lin Xiye followed the Black Market Location Map to a desolate building and passed safely through its thorn forest using his Organ Refining Realm Perfection presence.
• A dwarf steward welcomed Lin Xiye at the stone gate and explained that all visitors had to rent a mask Law Treasure for one Spirit Stone fragment.
• Lin Xiye rented the mask Law Treasure and found that it concealed his cultivation, voice, and presence.
• Lin Xiye asked to buy a mask Law Treasure, but the dwarf said the market master did not sell them.

Lin Xiye entered Guyuan City's underground black market and waited as it filled with masked cultivators and powerful Spirit Nourishing cultivators. The market master opened trading by offering Life Pills and an imperfect Spirit Nurturing Pill, inviting exchanges and promising an auction if no suitable trade was made.

• Lin Xiye explored the underground black market, found its stalls chaotic and full of overpriced goods and fakes, then waited for the market to open.
• Thousands of cultivators wearing mask Law Treasures gathered, and Spirit Nourishing cultivators arrived, including a steward from the Falling Rosy Clouds Sect whom Lin Xiye recognized.
• The Falling Rosy Clouds Sect steward asked Market Master Liu about his Life Pills, and Liu displayed three batches of them along with an imperfect Spirit Nurturing Pill.
• A cultivator asked what could be exchanged for the pill, and Market Master Liu named treasured medicines, Spirit Nurturing Law Treasures, special formations, and cultivation methods as possible offers.
• Market Master Liu said he would auction the imperfect Spirit Nurturing Pill after trading if no offered treasure was valuable enough.

At the underground black market, cultivators tried to trade for the market master's imperfect Spirit Nurturing Pill, but their offerings were rejected. Lin Xiye finally offered three hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass plants, a trade valuable enough to match the pill.

• A cultivator offered a pea-sized Heart of Refined Iron for the imperfect Spirit Nurturing Pill, but the black market master refused it as insufficient.
• Another cultivator offered two low-grade Spirit-Nurturing Grade Law Treasures, but the black market master rejected those as well.
• A Falling Rosy Clouds Sect deacon offered the Heart of Refined Iron's owner a Life-Extending Pill in exchange, and the cultivator accepted and swallowed it before leaving the black market.
• Lin Xiye kept his cultivation methods hidden and offered three hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass plants for the imperfect Spirit Nurturing Pill.
• The crowd erupted because the Spirit Tempering Grass plants were scarce and worth enough to trade for the pill.

Lin Xiye traded three stalks of hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass for a defective Spirit Nurturing Pill, then acquired an incomplete Breath Concealment Technique for one low-grade Spirit Stone. The black market master gave Lin Xiye a token and drew his wary attention as Lin Xiye prepared to leave.

• Lin Xiye exchanged three stalks of hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass for the black market master's defective Spirit Nurturing Pill.
• Lin Xiye stayed at the black market to look for useful treasures, and a cultivator offered an incomplete page of a Breath Concealment Technique created by a Core Formation Realm cultivator.
• Lin Xiye offered one low-grade Spirit Stone for the technique, and the black market master pressured the seller to accept the trade.
• The black market master gave Lin Xiye a token for future dealings involving hundred-year-old great medicine, and Lin Xiye grew wary of the attention he had attracted.
• Lin Xiye left confident that his two Five Thunder Talisman Treasures could protect him from threats below the Foundation Establishment Realm.