Chapter Summaries

The gray-robed elder explained why the five ancient sects struggled to find successors: their arts required rare Mixed Spirit Roots with elemental affinities in a precise order. He recounted how the Gui Water line had dwindled to him alone and began teaching Li Yan about jade slips and Divine Sense.

• The gray-robed elder told Li Yan that the five sects needed practitioners whose five elemental affinities followed the Five-Element Generation cycle in the sect's specific order.
• The elder explained that the scarcity of suitable successors, long cultivation retreats, and dangers facing those who searched had caused the five sects to decline.
• Li Yan suspected his teacher had concealed the truth about spirit roots, and the elder said Strategist Ji had hidden his search behind the Wood Shadow Sect's supposed constitution requirement.
• The elder recalled that two million years earlier he had been the last member of the Gui Water line and that Fairy Ning Ke had left to seek a successor after finding the other sects deserted.
• Li Yan asked what a jade slip was, and the elder explained how cultivators used Divine Sense to inscribe and perceive its contents.
• The elder told Li Yan that Strategist Ji had reached the third level of Qi Condensation and could use Divine Sense to observe and hear within a short range.

The old man explained the history of his fading Divine Thought and how Strategist Ji came to possess the jade book and cultivation texts. He revealed that Strategist Ji belonged to the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, while the old man began explaining the origins and contents of the Black Night Curtain Green Technique.

• The old man recounted searching for a suitable heir across the Immortal Spirit Realm and Mortal Realm, then leaving his original body to seek a remote region rumored to have many people with spiritual roots.
• The old man explained that he had turned the jade box into a jade-slip book so cultivators would carry it for him, and that he later conserved his strength by sleeping while a weak strand of Divine Sense searched for an heir.
• The old man described how a Gold Core Realm cultivator died in his cave abode and a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator took the jade book, jade slip, and paper booklet before dying from the cave’s protective formation.
• The old man told Li Yan that Strategist Ji had retrieved those items and belonged to the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, not the fictitious Wood Shadow Sect.
• The old man explained that the Immortal-Seeking Lineage consisted of people who searched for immortal opportunities, and that the paper booklet and jade slip together contained the Black Night Curtain Green Technique’s introductory methods and first ten Qi Condensation levels.

The old man explained how Strategist Ji’s incomplete poison-based cultivation art gave him fire poison and left him facing death unless he could break through to the fourth Qi Condensation layer. After receiving a perilous possible remedy from a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Strategist Ji struggled to find a suitable person whose spiritual power he could absorb.

• The old man explained that Strategist Ji had found a poison-based entry cultivation art whose wood-element method matched his Four-Attribute Mystic Spiritual Roots, but he had begun cultivating without two essential herbs.
• Strategist Ji reached the first and then the second Qi Condensation layers, while the missing ingredients caused fire poison to accumulate in his body.
• Strategist Ji advanced to the third layer and read the jade slip, discovering that the fire poison would eventually kill him and that he had to keep cultivating to suppress it.
• A Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Immortal-Seeking Lineage told Strategist Ji that reaching the fourth layer might remove the poison and described absorbing the spiritual power of a cultivator at the peak of the first layer as another risky option.
• The Foundation Establishment cultivator gave Strategist Ji three packets of Clearheart Powder, and Strategist Ji considered seeking a suitable cultivator but feared approaching the sect that owned the art.

The gray-robed old man explained how Strategist Ji recruited Li Yan and why Li Yan’s senior brother died after taking an unbalanced medicinal mixture. He revealed that he had saved Li Yan from death but could only suppress the poison, leaving Li Yan at risk if he cultivated that art again.

• The gray-robed old man explained that Strategist Ji planned to raise people with spiritual roots until he could drain their strength and spiritual power.
• The old man described how Strategist Ji used martial arts and staged battlefield heroics to gain a position and recruit disciples in the army.
• The old man said he could not save Li Yan’s senior brother because his weakened Divine Thought would have been consumed if he intervened.
• The old man revealed that the senior brother died attempting a breakthrough after Strategist Ji made medicinal liquid without two balancing herbs.
• The old man explained that his wisp of Divine Sense had obstructed Li Yan’s cultivation to delay him until the main Divine Thought awoke.
• The old man said he repaired Li Yan’s damaged meridians and suppressed the poison, but warned that cultivating the immortal art again would likely kill him.

Li Yan learned from Dong Fuyi that he had inherited the Gui Water True Scripture and needed to cultivate to survive the fire poison and escape Strategist Ji. He awoke beside the pool as a first-layer Qi Condensation Realm cultivator, while Strategist Ji remained unaware of what had happened in the spiritual space.

• Li Yan understood that Dong Fuyi had saved him from the fire poison and identified him as the spiritual-rooted person sought by the Gui Water Immortal Sect.
• Dong Fuyi explained that Li Yan had received the Gui Water True Scripture, warned that the poison could only be refined by cultivating it, and urged him to escape Strategist Ji within a year.
• Dong Fuyi suggested using Marshal Hong's desire for Strategist Ji's cultivation method and warned Li Yan that Strategist Ji knew rudimentary immortal arts and might threaten his family.
• Dong Fuyi identified himself as Venerable Overturning Water, Dong Fuyi, then dissipated before explaining how Li Yan could leave the spiritual space.
• Li Yan awoke beside the pool, and Strategist Ji discovered that he had reached the initial stage of the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm.
• Li Yan sensed Strategist Ji's Divine Sense and noticed that his senses had become extraordinarily sharp, allowing him to see spiritual energy rising from the pool.

After completing the meridian-cleansing step, Li Yan discovered that his senses and spiritual energy had greatly improved, but the fire poison in his Dantian made the Black Night Curtain Green Technique dangerous to use. He entered his sea of consciousness, found the Gui Water True Scripture concealed on the lake’s surface, and began reading it.

• Strategist Ji told Li Yan that he had completed the meridian-cleansing step and entered the first layer of the Wood Yin Technique, then sent him back to rest.
• Li Yan suspected Strategist Ji’s concern and teaching had been part of a careful deception, and he discovered that cultivation had expelled foul, black impurities from his body.
• Li Yan cautiously tried the Black Night Curtain Green Technique, felt the fire poison stir in his Dantian, and stopped before it could erupt.
• Li Yan entered his sea of consciousness, learned to move through it by thought, and searched its gray, hemispherical space for the immortal art.
• Li Yan focused spiritual power on the black lake’s surface, revealed the golden writing of the Gui Water True Scripture, and began reading it.

Li Yan learned the principles and first-level formula of the Gui Water True Scripture, then realized how its unusually abundant and adaptable spiritual power could let him turn Strategist Ji’s absorption technique against him. While Li Yan began planning to escape the Valley of Beasts, Strategist Ji discovered a map inside the altered jade book that pointed to an art called the Great Poison Life-Giving Art.

• Li Yan read how the Gui Water True Scripture used Five-Element generation to build immense spiritual power and understood why Dong Fuyi had told him to reach the peak of the first Qi Condensation level.
• Li Yan memorized the first-level cultivation formula and mastered entering and leaving his sea of consciousness.
• Li Yan concluded that cultivating the scripture could make Strategist Ji suffer a fatal backlash if Ji absorbed his spiritual power, and planned to find a way out of the Valley of Beasts.
• Strategist Ji noticed that the jade book’s lower portion had turned gray-brown, then found a map inside it after cautiously entering with his Divine Sense.
• Strategist Ji identified the map’s destination as a possible lake in Great Green Mountain and rejoiced at finding the Great Poison Life-Giving Art, though he could not confirm the location.

Li Yan missed the escape opportunity Dong Fuyi had secretly prepared, unaware that Strategist Ji had left to investigate the false treasure map. While Strategist Ji remained away, Li Yan cultivated and copied books to manage his temper, then realized his teacher had been gone for more than ten days and became anxious.

• Dong Fuyi had crafted a misleading treasure map to delay Strategist Ji and give Li Yan time to escape, but he vanished before he could tell Li Yan about it.
• Strategist Ji reassured Li Yan that the heat in his dantian was normal, gave him the first-level Wood Yin Technique mantra, and then left the residence.
• Li Yan cultivated in the valley, grew irritable with the servants, and began copying books until his temper gradually improved.
• After repeatedly failing to find Strategist Ji, Li Yan asked Chen An where he was and learned that he had been away for more than ten days.
• Li Yan claimed he needed Strategist Ji's help with cultivation, but Chen An could not say when he would return.

Li Yan tried to flee the valley while Strategist Ji was away, but Strategist Ji returned injured before he could escape. After answering Li Yan’s cultivation questions, Strategist Ji planned to recuperate, leaving Li Yan’s chance to flee uncertain.

• Li Yan packed his silver and prepared to leave the valley, but realized Chen An and Li Yin might stop him without orders.
• Strategist Ji returned from Great Green Mountain after an injured demon beast chased him to the mountain’s boundary, leaving him wounded and low on spiritual energy.
• Chen An told Strategist Ji that Li Yan had been copying poems and prose, and Strategist Ji dismissed the papers as a way for Li Yan to ease his agitation.
• Strategist Ji arrived at Li Yan’s room, where Li Yan abandoned his escape attempt and asked questions about cultivation.
• Strategist Ji answered Li Yan’s questions and urged him to cultivate diligently, saying he hoped Li Yan would gain the strength to protect himself if Strategist Ji died.

Li Yan persuaded Strategist Ji to let him enter Green Mountain Pass, hoping to deliver silver to his parents and find a chance to escape. Accompanied by Chen An and Li Yin, he reached the city gate, where his military rank surprised Liu Chengyong.

• Li Yan asked Strategist Ji for permission to enter the city, and Strategist Ji agreed but ordered Chen An and Li Yin to accompany him.
• Li Yan took the silver he had saved and left the valley with Chen An and Li Yin, abandoning his escape plans when he could not outmaneuver his escorts.
• Li Yan rode toward Green Mountain Pass with the two men and struggled to control his horse as they approached the city gate.
• The gate guards stopped the riders, and Chen An showed Liu Chengyong Li Yan's Deputy Defender Lieutenant badge.
• Liu Chengyong recognized Li Yan and apologized after learning that Li Yan outranked him.

Li Yan entered the city to reunite with Li Yu and Li Shan, while Marshal Hong and his junior brother discussed how to exploit Li Yan’s cultivation. Back at the Strategist’s residence, Li Yan realized Chen An and Li Yin were watching him and Strategist Ji was inspecting his belongings, leaving him wondering how to escape the valley.

• Marshal Hong and his junior brother decided to watch Li Yan closely before approaching him, hoping to learn whether he could be exploited for his cultivation method.
• Li Yan entered the city with Chen An and Li Yin, exchanged greetings with Liu Chengyong, and asked him to watch their horses.
• Li Yan reunited tearfully with Li Yu at Natural Wine House, then visited Li Shan at the Ironworks Pavilion and left silver for his parents.
• Li Yan bought new clothes and returned to the Strategist’s residence, where Strategist Ji’s Divine Sense inspected him and the clothes.
• Li Yan concluded that Chen An and Li Yin were spies keeping him under close watch and that Strategist Ji was monitoring his possessions, so he wondered how he could escape the valley.

Li Yan decided that escaping might endanger his family and began considering how to make a clean break with Strategist Ji. While a sect searched for the person who had taken items from a traitor, Li Yan cultivated and used trips into the city to build contact with Liu Chengyong and signal Marshal Hong; the chapter ended as Marshal Hong questioned Liu Chengyong about his connection to Li Yan.

• Li Yan concluded that fleeing could bring calamity upon his family and resolved to find another way out.
• A hawk-faced elder reported that an Immortal-Seeking Lineage member had gathered herbs listed in the sect's body-tempering manual, and the blue-robed scholar ordered the search to continue.
• Li Yan alternated between cultivation, soaking in a cold pool, and writing in frustration, while Strategist Ji's Divine Sense grew less attentive after finding only ordinary items among his purchases.
• Li Yan entered the city with Chen An and Li Yin, met Zeng Wen at the north gate, and rode to the barracks to find Liu Chengyong.
• Li Yan reflected that Liu Chengyong served Marshal Hong and could help him make contact with the Marshal, whose interest in Strategist Ji's martial arts manuals might aid his plan.
• Marshal Hong questioned Liu Chengyong about drinking with Li Yan, and Liu Chengyong claimed responsibility for the drinking and explained that they were fairly familiar.

Marshal Hong questioned Liu Chengyong about Li Yan and arranged for him to summon Li Yan under the pretext of incomplete enlistment records, while privately discussing the urgency of acting against Strategist Ji Wenhe. When Li Yan came to visit Liu Chengyong, the two found a chance to speak alone in the barracks, where Li Yan became interested in Liu Chengyong’s treasured sword.

• Marshal Hong questioned Liu Chengyong about his dealings with Li Yan and ordered him to arrange a meeting, claiming Li Yan’s registration records were incomplete.
• Marshal Hong privately discussed with his senior brother whether to act against Ji Wenhe sooner than planned, fearing Ji Wenhe’s strength was still increasing.
• Liu Chengyong waited anxiously for Li Yan to enter the city, then welcomed him when he arrived with Chen An and Li Yin.
• Li Yan asked to tour the barracks and entered Liu Chengyong’s quarters while Chen An and Li Yin stayed nearby.
• Li Yan asked Liu Chengyong to call him Brother Li, then examined a fine sword Liu Chengyong offered him.

Li Yan met Marshal Hong, who tested his suspicions about Ji Wenhe and revealed how a poison-drawing method could kill its vessel. Li Yan left convinced Hong was trying to turn him against his teacher, and the Marshal and his hidden companion planned to wait for Li Yan to seek their help.

• Li Yan accepted Liu Chengyong’s invitation to visit Marshal Hong’s residence after hearing that the Marshal wanted his enlistment records completed.
• Hong Linying privately received Li Yan and remarked on his unstable inner breath, prompting Li Yan to ask how severe poison could be cured.
• Hong Linying described a demonic method that transferred poison into a vessel who would almost certainly die, and Li Yan asked what became of that person.
• Hong Linying told Li Yan that Ji Wenhe might have a solution, then claimed the visit was unnecessary because the military had obtained Li Yan’s records.
• After Li Yan left, Hong Linying and his companion concluded that Ji Wenhe intended Li Yan to draw out the poison and that Li Yan had begun suspecting his teacher.

Li Yan secretly cultivated the Gui Water True Scripture while pretending to follow Strategist Ji’s instructions, and he planned to escape and kill Ji within two months. Far away, a sect learned that Strategist Ji might be the person they were searching for and prepared to arrest him.

• Li Yan met Chen An, Li Yin, Liu Chengyong, and Li Shan, then joined them for a drinking gathering after settling his business at the Marshal’s Residence.
• Over the following months, Li Yan cultivated in the cold pool, concealed his true progress, and showed increasingly strange behavior as Strategist Ji watched him.
• Li Yan realized Strategist Ji’s fire poison was worsening and resolved to stake everything on an escape attempt in two months, while also planning to kill him to protect his family.
• At a distant sect, Elder He reported that a strategist at Green Mountain Pass might be the person of the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, and the Peak Master ordered an investigation before an arrest.

Li Yan arranged a plan with Hong Linying to escape and deliver his cultivation technique, while secretly intending to kill Strategist Ji before Ji could kill him. As Ji prepared to act against Li Yan after another year of cultivation, Li Yan met his friends in the city and left his belt and silver for his parents, hinting that he might not return.

• Hong Linying and his junior brother discussed how to obtain Li Yan's cultivation technique, then summoned Liu Chengyong when he arrived.
• Li Yan returned to the valley with Chen An and Li Yin carrying a pile of purchases, then rested while thinking through his plan to kill Strategist Ji during his escape.
• Strategist Ji observed Li Yan's cultivation improving and decided he would need to attack within another year before his spiritual power weakened further.
• Li Yan entered the city and met Li Yu and Li Shan for a meal while Chen An and Li Yin sat nearby.
• Li Yan changed into the purple belt Li Shan had bought and gave his old belt and his silver to Li Shan to pass on to his parents, leaving Li Yu and Li Shan uneasy.

Li Yan prepared for an anticipated deadly confrontation while three Qi Condensation disciples traveled to Green Mountain Pass to capture him and his mortal disciple for the Enforcement Hall. After finding Ji Wenhe absent, Li Yan discovered a hurried note directing him to the army camp and set out with Chen An and Li Yin.

• Li Yan told Li Shan and Li Yu that he was taking home the belt his master had bestowed on him, then privately resolved to fight with everything he had if this was the day he died.
• Three disciples, led by Senior Brother Wu, learned that they were to capture the Immortal-Seeking Lineage member in Green Mountain Pass and his disciple, then take them back to the Enforcement Hall.
• Liu Chengyong waited in the military camp under the Marshal's secret orders while Hong Linying drew Ji Wenhe into a private discussion about new intelligence from the Meng Kingdom.
• Li Yan left the city with Chen An and Li Yin, found Ji Wenhe's stone house empty, and wrote and destroyed several drafts before hiding the ashes and leaving a final letter behind.
• Li Yan found Ji Wenhe's note telling him to come swiftly to the army camp, then dismissed Chen An's questions and prepared to go.

Li Yan evaded Strategist Ji’s spies by entering the military camp and persuading Liu Chengyong to help him leave through the supply warehouses. He refused to go to Marshal Hong’s residence, entrusted Liu Chengyong with a bottle and letter, and rode toward the North Gate.

• Chen An and Li Yin confirmed Lord Ji’s note was genuine and accompanied Li Yan into the city.
• Li Yan met Liu Chengyong at the camp, and Liu Chengyong escorted him through the guarded supply warehouses using half a tiger tally.
• Liu Chengyong told Li Yan that Marshal Hong had ordered him to bring Li Yan to the Marshal’s residence, where someone would meet them.
• Li Yan refused to go and handed Liu Chengyong a porcelain bottle and letter for Marshal Hong.
• Li Yan used spiritual power to intimidate Liu Chengyong, who accepted that he could not carry out the order by force.
• Liu Chengyong let Li Yan leave the alley, and Li Yan rode toward the North Gate while Liu Chengyong headed for the Marshal’s residence.

Li Yan escaped the city before Chen An and Li Yin realized he was missing, while Marshal Hong learned that Li Yan had offered him the first level of the Wood Yin Technique in exchange for help. Chen An and Li Yin searched the Strategist's Manor and found Li Yan gone, then faced an unexpected question about his whereabouts.

• Li Yan left through the North City Gate and escaped west into Great Green Mountain before Chen An and Li Yin could intercept him.
• Marshal Hong accepted Strategist Ji's fourth military plan, then met Liu Chengyong and learned that Li Yan had escaped and possessed formidable martial arts.
• Marshal Hong and his Junior Brother examined Li Yan's letters and decided to test the first level of the Wood Yin Technique, while considering helping Li Yan and killing him afterward.
• Chen An and Li Yin discovered that Li Yan had left the military camp alone, checked the city gates, and hurried to the Strategist's Manor.
• Chen An and Li Yin found Li Yan's room empty, and an unseen speaker asked them where Li Yan was.

Strategist Ji Wenhe realized Li Yan had disappeared and searched the Marshal's Residence, suspecting Hong Linying had helped the boy escape. He failed to find Li Yan and left, while Hong Linying and his senior brother prepared to follow their agreement and discussed a plan for dealing with Ji Wenhe.

• Strategist Ji Wenhe questioned Chen An and Li Yin, learned Li Yan had vanished after visiting the barracks, and rushed to Green Mountain Pass.
• Ji Wenhe entered the Marshal's Residence and searched its hidden chambers for Li Yan.
• Ji Wenhe found Hong Linying and another martial artist meditating in a hidden chamber, but did not detect Li Yan there.
• After Ji Wenhe left, Hong Linying revealed that a porcelain bottle Li Yan had given him had alerted them to Ji Wenhe's approach.
• Hong Linying and his senior brother agreed to proceed with their plan and discussed how to deal with Ji Wenhe.