Chapter Summaries

Li Yan and Qianji arranged for two artifact-refining arts to be sent to a branch near their route, then searched Star Flame City. They found Ding Shuying being pressured by Wanhua Trading Company over a disputed debt, and the chapter left her facing Zhang Yunhong’s renewed threats with no one willing to help.

• Li Yan told Qianji about a Guiqulaixi branch along their route, and they paid a deposit to have the two jade slips sent there.
• Li Yan and Qianji left the shop and continued searching Star Flame City for useful items.
• Zhang Yunhong confronted Ding Shuying at her shop, claiming her deceased mother still owed Wanhua Trading Company spirit stones and demanding repayment.
• Ding Shuying recalled that her mother had repaid the original debt, but the city guards had accepted Wanhua Trading Company’s jade slip as genuine and dismissed her complaint.
• Ding Shuying had tried to leave Star Flame City but sensed a hostile cultivator tracking her, while Zhang Yunhong warned a neighboring shopkeeper not to intervene.

Ding Shuying was cornered by Zhang Yunhong, who used his Nascent Soul cultivation and the Wanhua merchant firm’s influence to silence her and impose more debt. She agreed to repay the spirit stones by morning, but Zhang Yunhong blocked her chance to escape or take her own life by ordering her to disable the shop’s formation and leaving someone to watch her.

• Zhang Yunhong pressured the onlookers into silence, and none of them defended Ding Shuying when she challenged his account of the debt.
• Zhang Yunhong crushed Ding Shuying with his Nascent Soul pressure and let the crowd ridicule her while he accused her of pretending to be pitiful.
• Ding Shuying agreed to repay all the spirit stones and the added dividends the next morning, frustrating Zhang Yunhong’s plan to force her into producing evidence.
• Zhang Yunhong added a ten percent penalty and said he would leave people to guard the shop, forbidding Ding Shuying from activating its formation.
• Ding Shuying recognized that Zhang Yunhong had anticipated her intentions and said she would close the formation and raise the spirit stones.

Ding Shuying refused Zhang Yunhong’s demand to place a restriction in her body and gambled on finding a chance to take her own life before the next morning. Li Yan followed Zhang Yunhong and his guard to learn more about their plans, while Zhang Yunhong revealed his intent to exploit Ding Shuying’s desperation and seize her shop.

• Ding Shuying shut down her shop’s formation and accepted Zhang Yunhong’s deadline to repay the spirit stones by morning, hoping the exposed shop might give her a chance to escape or die on her own terms.
• Zhang Yunhong warned Ding Shuying not to think of dying, while a Spirit Transformation guard kept her under divine-sense surveillance.
• Li Yan and Qianji discreetly followed Zhang Yunhong and his guard after leaving the crowd, and Qianji questioned whether Li Yan meant to help Ding Shuying.
• Li Yan secretly listened as Zhang Yunhong explained that Ding Shuying was resisting despite having no real chance, and that he intended to humiliate her and take control of her shop.
• Zhang Yunhong’s guard noted that Ding Shuying might seek help from the city patrols, and Zhang Yunhong’s history revealed he had arranged the credit sale to exploit her injuries and lack of spirit stones.

Li Yan uncovered Zhang Yunhong’s plot to seize Ding Shuying’s shop and learned that a city guard leader had agreed to suppress her complaint. Ding Shuying failed to find a buyer willing to pay a fair price and waited in despair for her watcher to lower his guard so she could destroy her Golden Core.

• Zhang Yunhong arranged for a city guard leader to dismiss Ding Shuying’s complaint while he pursued her shop for the Wanhua Trading Company.
• Li Yan followed Zhang Yunhong, overheard his conversation with the old guard, and saw him enter the Wanhua shop.
• Ding Shuying asked the neighboring shopkeeper and several major trading companies to buy her shop, but they refused or offered drastically reduced prices.
• Ding Shuying returned home and wept over her lost family as she recalled the humiliation and rejection she had endured.
• Ding Shuying pretended to have lost all hope so the Spirit Transformation cultivator monitoring her might relax his vigilance, but his Divine Sense remained beside her.

Li Yan discovered that the shopkeeper Ding Shuying was the daughter of Ding Yushan and Lin Zhiruo, a family he had once saved, and secretly questioned her about her past. He learned how her parents had cured her blocked meridians and found her a body-refinement method, while the danger outside her shop remained unaware of Li Yan’s presence.

• Ding Shuying fell unconscious under the Spirit Transformation cultivator’s watch, allowing Li Yan and Qianji to enter her shop unseen using an illusion formation.
• Li Yan used the Soul-Bewitching Technique to ask Ding Shuying her parents’ names and recognized her as Ding Yushan and Lin Zhiruo’s daughter.
• Li Yan recalled saving Ding Yushan’s family years earlier after they were ambushed while seeking treatment for Ding Shuying.
• Ding Shuying revealed that her parents had obtained a Heaven-Accord Leaf to clear her blocked meridians, which remained fragile even after the cure.
• Ding Yushan and Lin Zhiruo had found Ding Shuying a Body Refinement cultivation method so she could cultivate without easily damaging her meridians.

Ding Yushan and his wife took Ding Shuying to Star Flame City so they could hunt demon beasts for the blood essence she needed to cultivate, and arranged for her to live and work in an elderly woman’s shop. After one or two hundred years, Ding Shuying neared the Golden Core Realm while the elderly woman’s health began to fail.

• Ding Shuying reached Foundation Establishment after her parents sacrificed their own cultivation expenses to buy demon beast blood essence, but she soon needed larger quantities and stronger varieties.
• Ding Yushan and his wife moved their family to the North Pasture Realm, planning to hunt demon beasts in the Heavenly Demon Grassland and sell their materials in Star Flame City.
• The couple asked an elderly shopkeeper to let Ding Shuying stay and work in her shop while they hunted; after initially refusing, the woman agreed to take her in.
• Ding Shuying quickly became the elderly woman’s capable assistant, and her parents regularly returned from the grassland with blood essence and sold their other demon beast materials to the shop.
• Over one or two hundred years, Ding Shuying advanced toward the Golden Core Realm, while the elderly woman’s health steadily declined.
• Ding Yushan and his wife bought pills for the elderly woman, but she scolded them when they tried to give them to her.

Changsun Qiuhua told Ding Yushan, his wife, and Ding Shuying the truth about her past and the family she had lost, then gave Ding Shuying her shop as her life neared its end. The chapter left Changsun Qiuhua’s eyes dimming after she revealed her name.

• Changsun Qiuhua told Ding Yushan and his wife that her hidden injuries and approaching lifespan limit could no longer be cured, then waited for their return before her time ran out.
• Changsun Qiuhua revealed that she and her Dao Companion had once been Body Integration Realm elders whose son and his family were abducted and killed by a powerful cultivator.
• Changsun Qiuhua recounted how she avenged her family by killing the enemy and two Void Refinement Realm cultivators, but lost her cultivation and remained in Star Flame City.
• Changsun Qiuhua explained that Ding Shuying resembled her deceased granddaughter and that this was why she had taken her in and waited to return her to Ding Yushan and his wife.
• Changsun Qiuhua gave Ding Shuying the shop and its property deed, then revealed that her name was Changsun Qiuhua as her eyes dimmed.

Ding Shuying recounted how Changsun Qiuhua died without naming her enemies, and how her family inherited the shop and secretly investigated to avenge her. Their search led to an ambush in which Ding Yushan sacrificed himself so Lin Zhiruo could escape; after hearing the story, Li Yan reflected on Ding Yushan’s misfortunes.

• Changsun Qiuhua died without revealing the cultivation lineage that had destroyed her family, and Ding Yushan, Lin Zhiruo, and Ding Shuying discovered her true appearance and the shop deed already bearing Ding Shuying’s name.
• Ding Yushan and Lin Zhiruo inherited the shop, resolved to avenge Changsun Qiuhua, and secretly searched for the cultivation lineage behind her family’s deaths.
• The family prospered in Star Flame City, Ding Shuying reached the Golden Core Realm, and Lin Zhiruo advanced to the Void Refinement Realm.
• After the couple identified a likely enemy lineage, their inquiries led to an ambush, and Ding Yushan self-detonated to let Lin Zhiruo escape.
• Lin Zhiruo returned to Star Flame City with a gravely injured nascent soul, borrowed money for a lifesaving pill, and later died after settling the debt by selling artifacts and the shop’s savings.
• Ding Shuying told Li Yan what had happened, and Li Yan reflected on the hardships Ding Yushan had endured.

Li Yan revealed himself to Ding Shuying as the cultivator who had saved her family years earlier and promised to help her escape her current danger. He asked what she planned to do afterward, since he could only guarantee her safety through the immediate crisis with the Wanhua Trading Firm.

• Li Yan sent Qianji out of the hall and sealed the room before approaching Ding Shuying.
• Ding Shuying woke to find Li Yan inside and suspected that Zhang Yunhong had moved against her ahead of schedule.
• Li Yan reminded Ding Shuying that he had saved her family from a man and a flood dragon in the Main Dao Realm.
• Ding Shuying recognized Li Yan as the senior from the Desolate Moon Continent who had once rescued her family and asked him to save her.
• Li Yan promised to help Ding Shuying survive the immediate danger, then asked what she intended to do afterward.

Li Yan offered to take Ding Shuying as his disciple after discovering that her Mixed Spirit Root matched the rare five-element sequence of his own. Ding Shuying recognized him as a cultivator of the Five Immortals Sect, whose legacy Changsun Qiuhua had urged her to seek.

• Ding Shuying thanked Li Yan for saving her and asked him only to take her beyond Star Flame City.
• Li Yan told Ding Shuying that he had saved her partly because of her and offered to make her his disciple.
• Li Yan recalled discovering Ding Shuying’s rare Mixed Spirit Root and realizing she was suited to inherit the Gui Water Immortal Sect’s legacy.
• Ding Shuying recognized Li Yan as a cultivator of the Five Immortals Sect after remembering Changsun Qiuhua’s dying advice to seek that sect.

Li Yan revealed that he had questioned Ding Shuying with a technique, offered to take her into the Five Immortals Sect, and let her choose her own path. Convinced by his honesty and eager to gain the strength to protect herself, Ding Shuying became his disciple, and they prepared to leave Star Flame City after deciding Zhang Yunhong should die.

• Li Yan told Ding Shuying about his questioning technique and offered either to make her his disciple or help her find another path.
• Ding Shuying asked whether Li Yan would erase her memories if she refused, then bowed and accepted him as her master.
• Li Yan introduced himself and asked what she wanted to do about Zhang Yunhong; Ding Shuying said she wanted him dead but would wait if acting now endangered them.
• Li Yan explained why Wanhua would probably not pursue Zhang Yunhong's disappearance and said the trading house's leaders had not been involved in his scheme.
• Ding Shuying resolved to grow strong enough to deal with her family's other enemies herself, and Li Yan told her to pack so they could leave.
• Li Yan emerged from the hall and told Qianji that he and Ding Shuying would enter the space while he handled something before they left the market.

Li Yan took Ding Shuying and Qianji away from her family shop, reassuring her that she could return to it someday. He then brought Zhang Yunhong to a remote mountain stream, where Ding Shuying confronted him over his fraud and attempted seizure of her family's shop.

• Ding Shuying finished packing and learned that Qianji was her Martial Uncle.
• Li Yan placed Ding Shuying and Qianji into his Spirit Storage Space after Ding Shuying took a last look at her home.
• Zhang Yunhong woke beside a mountain brook and found Ding Shuying and Li Yan standing nearby.
• Ding Shuying accused Zhang Yunhong of forging a jade slip and trying to take her family's shop.
• Zhang Yunhong sensed that Li Yan had early Spirit Transformation cultivation and realized he had been taken far from Star Flame City.
• Li Yan dismissed Zhang Yunhong's defenses, and Zhang Yunhong hurriedly apologized to him and Ding Shuying.

Ding Shuying and Qianji confronted Zhang Yunhong after capturing him, but his feigned apology and offer of compensation did not fool them. Zhang Yunhong attacked and fled, only to be killed by Qianji’s ice magic.

• Zhang Yunhong tried to placate Ding Shuying and secretly blamed her for finding a powerful lover.
• The white-robed youth mocked Zhang Yunhong’s flattery, and Ding Shuying asked her Martial Uncle to kill him.
• Zhang Yunhong realized they saw through him and unleashed treasures, talismans, and poison as he tried to escape.
• Qianji raised Ding Shuying out of the way and used ice magic to stop Zhang Yunhong.
• Ice spikes pierced Zhang Yunhong’s body, and he died.

Li Yan and Ding Shuying dealt with Zhang Yunhong and left Star Flame City with Qianji. As they traveled toward the Pojun Sect, Li Yan revealed the Five Immortals Sect’s dangers to Ding Shuying and quietly tested her discretion, leaving her aware of the peril surrounding her new sect and still under scrutiny.

• Zhang Yunhong died from the tampering within his body, and Qianji gave Ding Shuying his treasures before destroying his corpse at her request.
• Li Yan departed with Qianji and Ding Shuying aboard Ink Cloud, while the Wanhua Trading Company’s search for Zhang Yunhong and Ding Shuying produced no results.
• On the journey toward the Pojun Sect, Li Yan told Ding Shuying about the Five Immortals Sect’s secrecy, enemies, inheritance, and dangerous predicament.
• Ding Shuying learned of Qianji’s history with Li Yan and her father, and she realized Li Yan had repeatedly rescued her father.
• Over two years of travel, Qianji questioned Ding Shuying about Li Yan’s decision to take her as a disciple, but she revealed nothing about the Five Immortals Sect.
• Li Yan grew satisfied with Ding Shuying’s discretion, while she understood that his silence about teaching her was part of a test.

Li Yan continued to keep Ding Shuying waiting before finally telling her he would teach her introductory cultivation methods, then returned to the Pojun Sect with Qianji and Ding Shuying. He reunited with Shangguan Tianque, Zuo Qiudan, and Yu Banjiang in the sect master's main hall, where they welcomed him back.

• Li Yan spent several more years observing Ding Shuying without teaching her cultivation, then bought Qianji an artifact-refining art and ordered its missing materials from Guiqulaixi.
• Li Yan chose to have the materials delivered to a distant market city rather than the Pojun Sect, wary that Su Hong's parents might learn of his return.
• After Qianji led Snow Mosquitoes to fight a Red Leaf Mosquito clan, Li Yan told Ding Shuying that it was time to teach her introductory cultivation methods.
• Li Yan flew into the Pojun Sect on the Ink Cloud, and the guards recognized his supreme elder token and let him enter the sect master's main hall.
• Shangguan Tianque, Zuo Qiudan, and Yu Banjiang greeted Li Yan, and he noted that Shangguan Tianque and Zuo Qiudan had reached the Void Refinement Realm while Yu Banjiang had entered the Spirit Transformation Realm.

Li Yan reunited with Shangguan Tianque, Zuo Qiudan, and Yu Banjiang at the Pojun Sect, where he learned that Yu Banjiang and Bu Luo had both reached Spirit Transformation and that Zuo Qiudan had joined the sect. He also asked after Ren Yanyu and learned she had given birth to Shangguan Jingyu, whom he hoped to meet during his visit.

• Li Yan arrived at the Pojun Sect with Qianji and Ding Shuying and introduced them to Shangguan Tianque, Zuo Qiudan, and Yu Banjiang.
• Li Yan congratulated Yu Banjiang on reaching Spirit Transformation, and Yu Banjiang thanked Li Yan and Zuo Qiudan for their help.
• Li Yan asked Zuo Qiudan whether he had joined the Pojun Sect, and Zuo Qiudan confirmed that he had.
• Li Yan asked about Bu Luo and learned that Bu Luo had advanced to Spirit Transformation through the normal process and had stabilized his cultivation.
• Li Yan asked about Ren Yanyu and learned she had given birth to Shangguan Jingyu, who was now cultivating in the sect.
• Li Yan congratulated Shangguan Tianque and asked to meet his martial nephew, Shangguan Jingyu.

Li Yan reunited with Shangguan Tianque and learned that his unexpected arrival had coincided with a crisis facing Pojun Sect, rather than being prompted by Shangguan Tianque’s message. Shangguan Tianque began explaining that the crisis stemmed from the sect’s growing strength and Zuo Qiudan’s arrival, leaving the details of the threat for further discussion.

• Li Yan agreed to give Shangguan Jingyu greeting gifts and asked whether Shangguan Tianque had sent him a message.
• Li Yan discovered he had not received Shangguan Tianque’s message and had come to Pojun Sect on his own.
• Shangguan Tianque confirmed the misunderstanding and said Li Yan’s early arrival meant they could discuss an urgent matter concerning the sect.
• Zuo Qiudan blamed himself for bringing trouble to Pojun Sect, but Shangguan Tianque said the problem arose from others’ jealousy.
• Shangguan Tianque explained how Pojun Sect had carefully grown its strength and how Zuo Qiudan’s pill-making abilities had helped the sect produce powerful pills.

Chunyang Hall ordered the Pojun Sect to transfer Zuo Qiudan, whose rare pills and recent breakthrough to the Void Refinement Realm made him even more valuable to the superior sect. Shangguan Tianque told Li Yan that Ma Peijin had leaked the pills and that Chunyang Hall’s decision seemed impossible to reverse.

• Chunyang Hall ordered Shangguan Tianque to send Zuo Qiudan to Chunyang Hall, but Zuo Qiudan refused and said he wanted to remain with the Pojun Sect.
• Shangguan Tianque delayed the transfer by claiming Zuo Qiudan was experiencing an insight, then sent jade slips to Li Yan at the Tianli Clan and Wangliang Sect.
• Shangguan Tianque learned that someone had given Chunyang Hall pills Zuo Qiudan had reserved for the Pojun Sect, and his contacts warned him the leadership’s transfer decision was settled.
• Zuo Qiudan entered secluded cultivation, experienced a genuine sudden enlightenment, survived his Heavenly Tribulation, and advanced to the Void Refinement Realm.
• Chunyang Hall ordered Zuo Qiudan to report as soon as he stabilized his realm, and Shangguan Tianque explained the situation to Li Yan.
• Shangguan Tianque identified Ma Peijin, an elder who had joined the Pojun Sect at the Nascent Soul Middle Stage and secretly sought a position in Chunyang Hall.

Li Yan learned that Ma Peijin had betrayed Pojun Sect by using Zuo Qiudan to gain Chunyang Hall’s favor, while Chunyang Hall still intended to conscript Zuo Qiudan. The order had stalled after Chongyangzi publicly protested, leaving Pojun Sect uncertain how long it could keep Zuo Qiudan.

• Shangguan Tianque explained that Ma Peijin had used Zuo Qiudan to attract Chunyang Hall’s attention and had been exposed as a traitor, though he did not know the sect had uncovered him.
• Shangguan Tianque told Li Yan that Pojun Sect had eight Spirit Transformation cultivators and only two Void Refinement cultivators, himself and Zuo Qiudan, with Ren Yanyu also having some hope of advancement.
• Zuo Qiudan revealed that his realm had stabilized and that he had left seclusion a month earlier, prompting Shangguan Tianque to explain why Chunyang Hall had not yet enforced its order.
• Shangguan Tianque said Chongyangzi had caused a public uproar by protesting Chunyang Hall’s forced conscription of Zuo Qiudan, and had been severely punished and injured.
• Li Yan suspected Chongyangzi had intervened to repay him for avenging Tinglan’s family, and asked how badly Chongyangzi had been hurt.

Li Yan learned that Chunyang Hall intended to force Zuo Qiudan to join it within five years, while Pojun Sect considered ways to protect him, including raising its rank. The group postponed a decision, and Zuo Qiudan asked Li Yan about the timing of his stay with the Tianli Clan after hearing that Wei Zhongran had visited Pojun Sect.

• Li Yan inferred that injured Chongyangzi may have left the sect to seek protection from his brother-in-law’s clan.
• Shangguan Tianque told Li Yan that Chunyang Hall planned to make Zuo Qiudan join it within five years, and Zuo Qiudan proposed going willingly before seeking a chance to escape.
• Shangguan Tianque explained that raising Pojun Sect’s rank might block Chunyang Hall’s pressure, but the sect’s odds of qualifying were below ten percent.
• Li Yan asked for time to consider a response, then met Zuo Qiudan in his cave residence while Yu Banjiang took Qianji and Ding Shuying to Li Yan’s cave residence.
• Zuo Qiudan asked when Li Yan had stayed with the Tianli Clan, and Li Yan realized that his master had already visited Pojun Sect.