Chapter Summaries

After Su Qiuran advanced to the second level of Qi Refinement and drew new talismans, she and Lin He headed for the cultivation market. On the way, they killed three bandit cultivators and encountered Wu De, who offered them a secret route into Green Mountain’s Mass Grave.

• Su Qiuran advanced to the second level of Qi Refinement, then used her improved spiritual power to draw three Fireball Talismans and a Light Body Talisman.
• Su Qiuran persuaded Lin He to carry her beneath a black robe as they traveled to the cultivation market to sell their talismans and buy better materials.
• Lin He sensed three bandit cultivators ambushing them and killed them with his tempered body and Su Qiuran’s Fireball Talismans.
• Lin He discovered Wu De hiding in a tree and threatened him, but Wu De introduced himself and praised Lin He’s strength.
• Wu De offered Lin He and Su Qiuran a fifty-fifty share of a supposed opportunity, claiming he knew a secret passage into Green Mountain’s Mass Grave.

Lin He rejected Wu De’s dangerous offer to enter the Mass Grave, then sold talismans and bought supplies at the cultivation market. He accepted an invitation to a black-market auction, leaving him and Su Qiuran with a new opportunity to find useful resources.

• Lin He refused Wu De’s proposal to sneak into the Mass Grave and scared him off with a warning.
• Lin He and Su Qiuran returned to the cultivation market and sold three Fireball Talismans and a Light Body Talisman at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
• Lin He used the proceeds toward a talisman manual, talisman paper, and cinnabar, paying the remaining twenty-six Spirit Stones.
• The old shopkeeper invited Lin He to a black-market auction at the underground money house in three days.
• Su Qiuran signaled her approval, and Lin He accepted the invitation.

After a brutal third body tempering, Lin He strengthened his internal organs and gained extraordinary breath control and underwater vision. He tested his new abilities by diving into Golden Lake, where he planned to search its depths for hidden treasures.

• Su Qiuran eagerly studied the advanced talisman manual while Lin He prepared to temper his body again.
• Lin He swallowed a drop of essence of the sun and endured an hour of agony as it remolded his internal organs.
• Lin He discovered that he could hold his breath for an incense stick’s time and recognized the change as fetal breathing.
• The next morning, Lin He persuaded Old Man Sun to row with him into Golden Lake’s deep water.
• Lin He dove into the lake and found that he could withstand the pressure, remain underwater for hours, and see clearly in the depths.

Lin He explored Golden Lake’s depths, caught four Golden-Backed Blue Claw Crabs, and decided to bring Ingot back to help search for relics. At the dock, he struck village head Zhao Fugui after Zhao tried to take the crabs for ten copper coins.

• Lin He searched Golden Lake’s lakebed for relics but found a Golden-Backed Blue Claw Crab instead.
• Lin He caught three more crabs and planned to bring Ingot to the lake to search for hidden treasures.
• Lin He returned to the dock with Old Man Sun, who was astonished by his catch.
• Zhao Fugui offered Lin He ten copper coins for the crabs and reached for his net bag.
• Lin He slapped the back of Zhao Fugui’s hand, leaving him in pain.

Lin He faced an attempted arrest by Head Constable Zhao De after Zhao Fugui accused him of assault and collusion with bandits. Su Qiuran invoked the Pacification Bureau’s jurisdiction over the refugees, leaving Zhao De frozen and sweating as he realized he lacked authority.

• Lin He gave Old Man Sun the Golden-Backed Blue Claw Crabs to sell and returned home.
• Zhao Fugui brought Head Constable Zhao De and two bailiffs to Lin He’s courtyard, accusing Lin He of assault and criminal ties.
• Zhao De ordered the bailiffs to chain Lin He and take him to the yamen, while Lin chose not to reveal his strength.
• Su Qiuran cited the Golden Lake Resettlement Regulations and argued that the refugees remained under the Pacification Bureau’s jurisdiction.
• Zhao De faltered when Su Qiuran demanded a summons bearing the Pacification Bureau’s Law Seal.

Lin He and Su Qiuran drove off Zhao De by invoking the Pacification Bureau’s authority, then forced Zhao Fugui to pay them silver and ginseng for his mistreatment and the crabs. Su Qiuran warned that attracting the Pacification Bureau or cultivators could expose their hidden identities, and Lin He fed the ginseng to Goudan.

• A bailiff told Zhao De that Emerald Mountain Village’s evacuees were registered under the Pacification Bureau, so Zhao De blamed Zhao Fugui and fled with his men.
• Lin He confronted Zhao Fugui after the head constable left, and Zhao Fugui begged for mercy.
• Zhao Fugui gave Lin He a fifty-year-old wild mountain ginseng root and five taels of silver as an apology and payment for the crabs.
• Su Qiuran warned Lin He that drawing the Pacification Bureau or cultivators to them could expose their alternate identities, then dismissed the ginseng as useless to her.
• Lin He gave the ginseng to Goudan, who ran around the courtyard with it while Ingot surfaced from the pool and blew a bubble.

The Pacification Bureau investigated Lin He and Su Qiuran but dismissed them as a minor threat after its agent reported no sign of spiritual power. With a black-market auction looming, Lin He considered risking another body tempering before his recovery was complete, but Su Qiuran stopped him and insisted they rely on her judgment.

• Zhao De reported Lin He and Su Qiuran to a black-robed Pacification Bureau official, who ordered Swallow to surveil their household.
• Lin He noticed the suspicious neighbors and told Su Qiuran they were government agents watching them.
• Swallow reported that Lin He seemed to be a strong but ordinary body cultivator and that Su Qiuran appeared to be a disabled mortal, so the official lowered their surveillance priority.
• Lin He considered using the Jade Gourd's Essence of the Sun for a fourth body tempering before he had recovered from the third.
• Su Qiuran stopped Lin He from taking the Essence of the Sun and told him they would assess the black market and seek opportunities rather than fight.

Lin He and Su Qiuran attended the Yongtai Black Market, where they spotted Pacification Bureau agents and bought talisman paper. When a broken sword from Green Mountain’s Immortals’ Mass Grave came up for auction, Lin He recognized its inscriptions as identical to those on Ingot’s turtle shell.

• Lin He and Su Qiuran entered the underground black market using a gold-edged invitation, and Su Qiuran signaled him to buy talisman paper while warning him about danger.
• Lin He spotted a Lin Household cultivator and recognized a Pacification Bureau sting marked by a symbol on the stone wall and three agents in the crowd.
• The Lin Household cultivator bought century-old blood coagulation grass for fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones, while Lin He won fifty sheets of green vine talisman paper for twelve.
• The auctioneer presented a broken black iron sword found beneath a formation core in Green Mountain’s central region and identified it as a fragment of a High-Grade Law Artifact.
• As the Lin Household cultivator and a Qi refinement ninth layer elder bid on the sword, Lin He recognized its dark gold inscriptions as identical to those on Ingot’s turtle shell.

Lin He won the broken sword after recognizing its inscriptions matched those on Ingot, then learned that Tang Lie had seen the same patterns on a stone slab in Green Mountain’s Mass Grave. Tang Lie offered Lin He a Spirit Assault Pill if he could decipher the inscriptions, leaving Lin He weighing the offer because Su Qiuran needed the pill.

• Lin He bid six hundred Spirit Stones for the broken sword, paying with supreme-grade spirit grain and high-grade talismans while Tang Lie withdrew from the auction.
• The Hundred Treasures Pavilion shopkeeper vouched for Lin He’s talismans, and Lin He collected the sword, whose dark-gold patterns warmed at his touch.
• Tang Lie waited for Lin He and Su Qiuran in the alley, introduced himself, and said he was interested in Lin He rather than trying to kill him.
• Tang Lie revealed that he had seen identical inscriptions on a stone slab deep in Green Mountain’s Mass Grave before the Li Household destroyed it.
• Tang Lie offered Lin He a Spirit Assault Pill if he deciphered the inscriptions, and Lin He realized Su Qiuran needed the pill.

Lin He negotiated with Tang Lie to decipher an ancient inscription in exchange for a Spirit Assault Pill and other rewards, while learning that Golden Lake’s depths suppress Spiritual Qi. He planned to exploit the danger zone’s apparent lack of effect on him and take Ingot to search for the golden beast’s remains.

• Tang Lie showed Lin He a recording of an ancient inscription and said it was connected to a gigantic golden beast at the bottom of Golden Lake.
• Tang Lie explained that Golden Lake’s depths drain cultivators’ Spiritual Qi and crush their internal organs, making the lake a death zone for them.
• Lin He bargained for three months to decipher the inscription in return for a Spirit Assault Pill, a Qi Harmonizing Pill, a mid-grade Spirit Stone, and a map of safe routes through Green Mountain.
• Tang Lie swore a Dao Oath to honor the deal and gave Lin He a voice transmission talisman before leaving.
• Su Qiuran pointed out that Tang Lie had withheld where he found the inscription and other clues about it.
• Lin He said he would keep studying the inscription while taking Ingot into Golden Lake to strip the gigantic golden beast of its treasures.