Chapter Summaries

Li Boyang discovered that his Primordial Spirit mastered fanciful sword techniques instantly and used his Sha Qi to unleash a swarm of flying swords against You Xiao. The attack reduced You Xiao to a motionless skeleton, while Xiluo defeated the ghost king and recognized Li Boyang by the Divine Firmament Sword.

• Li Boyang realized his Primordial Spirit could learn and perfect unconventional sword moves at a glance, and he fought You Xiao with growing skill.
• Li Boyang took to the air, taunted You Xiao, and summoned nearly a hundred Sha Qi flying swords with his Innate Divine Ability.
• Li Boyang's flying swords carved You Xiao down to a motionless skeleton despite his regenerative powers.
• You Xiao's pain disrupted the ghost king fighting Xiluo, allowing her to burn him away.
• Xiluo saw Li Boyang floating above the battlefield and recognized him by the Divine Firmament Sword.

Li Boyang watched You Xiao’s ruined body transform into the Yin Deity Ox-Head, who explained how the Guifang Kingdom’s Imprisoned Soul Cauldron had captured him and nearly refined him into a ghost god. After You Xiao’s defeat, Ox-Head gave the cauldron to Li Boyang to safeguard and warned him not to use it to disrupt the balance of yin and yang.

• Li Boyang held back from attacking as You Xiao’s skeleton transformed, and he asked whether the emerging figure was the Yin Deity Xiluo had mentioned.
• Ox-Head recovered his body and admitted that You Xiao had captured him with the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron, a ritual treasure wielded by the Guifang Kingdom’s high priests.
• Ox-Head explained that the cauldron could refine ghost gods and recounted how the Guifang Kingdom had once used it to destroy the Tufang Kingdom and turn its people into a ghost god.
• Ox-Head summoned the cauldron, shrank it, and gathered the scattered pill flames back into the Pill Furnace.
• Ox-Head entrusted the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron to Li Boyang and warned that he would show no mercy if Li Boyang used it to overturn the balance of yin and yang.

In Cliff Settlement City, high priest candidate Xuan Hui ordered more human sacrifices to regain the favor of the Gods of the Five Directions after the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron was lost. Deception Rabbit was appalled by the slaughter but secured Xuan Hui’s agreement to provide books and metal ingots.

• Cliff Settlement City held a vast sacrifice in which priests killed animals, slaves, and prisoners with iron implements blessed by the Gods of the Five Directions.
• Deception Rabbit condemned the slaughter, and Xuan Hui explained that the Guifang Kingdom needed more sacrifices because the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron had been lost.
• Xuan Hui dismissed mountain villagers as two-legged sheep whose deaths would honor the gods, reflecting the Guifang Kingdom’s contempt for them.
• Deception Rabbit asked Xuan Hui for books on medicine and herbs, along with ores or bronze and iron ingots.
• Xuan Hui agreed to fulfill Deception Rabbit’s request.

Li Boyang discussed the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron with Xiluo, worrying that the dangerous treasure could bring disaster to Flying Peak. As he tried to learn about the Guifang Kingdom, Xiluo revealed that her knowledge dated back a thousand years, when it had still been a small tribe.

• Li Boyang explained that the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron seemed to possess a spirit and might bring misfortune to anyone who used it without its recognition.
• Li Boyang said he had brought the cauldron to Flying Peak because it was a supreme national treasure of the Guifang Kingdom and could attract dangerous figures if left behind.
• Li Boyang recalled that You Xiao had appeared panicked when he killed him, and suspected that You Xiao had been a traitor to the Guifang Kingdom.
• Li Boyang asked Xiluo about the Guifang Kingdom, and she said that a thousand years earlier it had been a small tribe devoted to worshipping the Roaring Heaven Clan.

Three years after the battle between ghosts and gods, Li Boyang watched Big Girl train on Ghosts and Gods Cliff and explained how his Seventh Edition, Exercise-Type Life Primordial Qi Regulation Breathing Method strengthened her body. He described his research into Primordial Qi and how breathing, along with food and healthy habits, affected the reserves that sustained life.

• Big Girl climbed the sheer cliffs at Flying Peak as part of her daily training, while Xiluo complained that Li Boyang's tasks had become absurd.
• Li Boyang threatened to make Big Girl meditate at a waterfall, causing her to climb faster when she overheard him.
• Xiluo asked how the latest breathing method had transformed Big Girl, and Li Boyang explained that circulating Life Primordial Qi during exercise could greatly strengthen the body.
• Li Boyang said spirits like Xiluo already circulated Primordial Qi through their innate abilities, without realizing it.
• Li Boyang recalled that he had spent three years studying Life Primordial Qi and developing breathing methods to improve Big Girl's physique.
• Li Boyang explained that food and healthy routines affected Life Primordial Qi, but maintaining the right breathing rhythm had the greatest cumulative effect.

Li Boyang developed a cultivation method for Big Girl, helping her clear her meridians and complete hundred-day foundation establishment. He then explained how she could actively use life primordial Qi to strengthen her body and protect herself.

• Li Boyang found that his own abundant life primordial Qi made him an unsuitable model, so he guided Big Girl using her weak Qi and adjusted her diet and routine.
• After nearly a year of tailored training and treatment, Big Girl cleared her meridians enough to circulate life primordial Qi into her dantian.
• Big Girl grew rapidly stronger and became a formidable Qi refiner, able to range through the mountains and overpower wild beasts.
• Xiluo realized Big Girl's physique had surpassed that of ordinary spirit creatures, and Li Boyang explained that the seventh version of his breathing method taught her to use life primordial Qi actively.
• Li Boyang described how Big Girl could circulate life primordial Qi through her flesh to boost strength and healing and form a protective layer around her body.

Li Boyang explained that Xiluo could strengthen herself by cultivating her Primordial Spirit, then gave her a guide to sensing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Xiluo wanted to keep the guide but could not read it, and Li Boyang left her to deal with that problem.

• Xiluo realized that the Breathing Method was unnecessary for her because Life Primordial Qi already flowed through her flesh instinctively.
• Li Boyang suggested replacing Xiluo’s body with steel, but she refused and said she was happy with her current body.
• Li Boyang explained that Primordial Qi could strengthen the mind and soul, and described cultivating a Primordial Spirit as Refining Qi, Spirit Transformation.
• Li Boyang gave Xiluo a hide titled “Third Edition · Resting Type · Method for Sensing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and Advancing,” which explained quiet meditation and suppressing distracting thoughts.
• Xiluo asked why Li Boyang still meditated beneath a waterfall, and he said he wanted to cultivate without relying on shortcuts such as his divine eye or Ruifu’s curse.
• Xiluo pinned the hide with her claw but admitted she could not read its words, and Li Boyang walked away, saying her illiteracy was not his concern.

Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to check for danger before entering a cave on Flying Peak, where a chained black dog helped him select rice seeds. The chapter left him checking whether the latest batch of carefully chosen seeds was suitable for planting.

• Li Boyang divined the cave’s dangers and terrain with the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron before entering.
• Xiluo watched Li Boyang enter, worried because a terrifying being was imprisoned inside the cave.
• Li Boyang passed solemn ghost-and-god statues and reached a chained black dog beside a rock pool.
• Li Boyang lit the cave with his flaming hair and asked the black dog whether his selected rice seeds were any good.
• Li Boyang’s efforts had helped Li Household Village nearly double the farmland cultivated per person, and he was selecting plump seeds to improve future harvests.

Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron and the Big Black Dog’s help to cultivate high-yield seeds, while the villagers increasingly believed his family’s seed was blessed by the Mountain God. In the Ghost God Cave, Li Boyang revealed an uncontrolled power that turned his shadow into a dangerous Ominous Deity and warned the Big Black Dog not to betray him.

• Li Boyang’s family lent seed to villagers, whose borrowed crops yielded more grain and fueled rumors that Li Boyang was the Mountain God’s child.
• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to select and improve seeds, then discovered that Divine Abilities and Law Techniques could accelerate their growth.
• Li Boyang and the Big Black Dog discussed the improved seeds’ limits, including their need for fertile soil and their tendency to lose their gains after a few generations.
• The Big Black Dog complained that Li Boyang used him as a test subject while sharing the results with Xiluo, and threatened to tell her about Li Boyang’s secret research.
• Li Boyang’s shadow became a three-eyed, red-haired evil ghost, and he warned the Big Black Dog that he could use the power to kill him.

Li Boyang discussed his ghost-god cultivation and the danger of the big black dog becoming a living natural phenomenon if Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi overwhelmed his own power. At the Mountain God Temple, Big Girl searched for Li Boyang and reflected on the ingenious tools he had made and the limits holding back his larger designs.

• Li Boyang admitted he had used his shadow to bear Ruifu's curse and cultivated a genuine ghost god with help from the ghost god and the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination.
• The big black dog tried to draw Li Boyang into revealing how the woman had died, but Li Boyang warned that he would kill the dog if it ever escaped.
• The big black dog explained that Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi kept flowing into his meridians and Dantian alongside his Life Primordial Qi.
• Li Boyang suggested Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi might suit the big black dog better, but the dog insisted he was a living being who controlled that power.
• The big black dog feared that surrendering his own Primordial Qi would turn him into a bodiless living natural phenomenon.
• Big Girl reached the Mountain God Temple, found Li Boyang absent, and went to the courtyard where his tools and experiments were kept.

Li Jingshu sneaked into Li Boyang’s room to search his drawers, while Xiluo warned her not to take the glass he had made. In Ghost God Cave, Li Boyang used a glass bead containing Yuan Qi as a precaution and began considering how Sha Qi and the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron might help him refine new materials or pills.

• Li Jingshu slipped into Li Boyang’s carefully arranged room and headed for the desk drawers, where he kept his inventions.
• Xiluo caught Li Jingshu snooping and warned her not to take the glass made from five-colored stones.
• In Ghost God Cave, Li Boyang cautiously waited for the black dog to meditate and revealed a glass bead containing enough Yuan Qi to destroy the cave if it burst.
• Li Boyang reflected on how Sha Qi had transformed the five-colored stones during firing and wondered whether other materials could be combined in the same way.
• Li Boyang considered experimenting with the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron and using it to refine pills.

After a dangerous morning glory in the mire bit him and poisoned him, Li Boyang’s Life Primordial Qi cured him, and he transplanted the plant into the temple courtyard. There, he caught Li Jingshu handling a potentially demonic butterfly knife he had refined with pill fire, and made her promise to keep Primordial Qi flowing if she wanted to use it.

• Li Boyang found a morning glory growing in Sha Qi-contaminated mire, and it bit through his defenses and poisoned him with a neurotoxin.
• Li Boyang’s Life Primordial Qi expelled the toxin, and he uprooted the aggressive plant and transplanted it into the courtyard.
• Li Boyang found Li Jingshu sneaking out of the study with the butterfly knife he had refined from meteoric iron and exotic beast horns using pill fire.
• Li Boyang warned Li Jingshu that the knife was dangerous but offered to give it to her if she kept Primordial Qi flowing to maintain Body-Protecting Gang Qi.
• Li Jingshu eagerly accepted the condition, then realized Li Boyang was sending her to eat before her academic lesson.

Li Boyang taught Li Jingshu anatomy and emergency medicine using rare plant-made scrolls, while Xiluo listened and learned. He also explained that the twelve Maxims Talismans were built from individual Maxims, a form of writing that carried far more information than ordinary scripts.

• Li Jingshu complained that Li Boyang was using medical books and herbals to teach her letters.
• Li Boyang taught Li Jingshu the names and functions of organs, along with emergency techniques such as resuscitation, bleeding control, and opening an airway.
• Xiluo listened to Li Boyang's lessons and recognized that his medical knowledge could also be used to injure or kill.
• Li Boyang explained to Xiluo that the twelve Maxims Talismans were made from individual Maxims that could be used separately.
• Li Boyang compared the information-rich Maxims to writing systems such as Chinese characters, which could convey meaning through their forms and combinations.

Li Boyang explained how the Witch of the Huai River’s Maxims Talismans combined writing and numerical principles, then used a modified talisman formation to address Li Jingshu’s lack of Yuan Qi. The formation was still being prepared, but Li Boyang expected it to help if it worked as planned.

• Li Boyang described the Maxims Talismans as a system that blended writing with numbers and said he could understand and use only the Spirituality Talisman Incantation and Energy Talisman Incantation.
• Li Boyang laid out a complex formation for Li Jingshu using glazed beads made from five-colored stones and blood ink prepared from his essence blood and other ingredients.
• Xiluo questioned why Li Boyang’s new talisman looked more complicated than the original, and Li Boyang explained that he had separated out maxims for control and conversion.
• Li Boyang told Xiluo that he was trying to solve Li Jingshu’s problem and hoped the new talisman would relieve her insufficient Yuan Qi.

Li Boyang activated a formation that transformed Earth Veins Sha Qi into gentler Earth Yuan Qi, allowing Li Jingshu to absorb it and circulate Life Primordial Qi. He chose a safer path for her than risking an innate Divine Ability and named the technique the Earth Sha Qi-Gathering Life Primal Spirit Circulation Formation.

• Li Boyang checked the formation and told Li Jingshu to guide the Yuan Qi in her body into her Dantian.
• Li Boyang activated the formation, which drew Earth Veins Sha Qi from Flying Peak and transformed it into gentler Earth Yuan Qi.
• Li Jingshu used Inner Vision to sense the Earth Yuan Qi and let it surge into her body, then followed Li Boyang's instructions to gather it in her Dantian.
• The Earth Yuan Qi nourished Li Jingshu and transformed into Life Primordial Qi suited to her, avoiding the risks of awakening an innate Divine Ability.
• Xiluo questioned Li Boyang's choice to transform the Sha Qi, and he explained that the safer result suited Li Jingshu as an ordinary mortal.
• Li Boyang decided to call the technique the Earth Sha Qi-Gathering Life Primal Spirit Circulation Formation.

The old granny left Gao Village Town’s Land God Temple in Xiao'e’s care, directing her to seek Red Boy in Li Household Village if needed. Meanwhile, Muzheng Ran led the Guirong Clan and thousands of enslaved mountain folk toward Gao Village Town for a final raid.

• The old granny emerged from seclusion and asked Xiao'e what day it was.
• The old granny told Xiao'e she was leaving on a long journey and appointed her keeper of the Land God Temple.
• The old granny told Xiao'e to find Red Boy in Li Household Village if she needed help.
• Muzheng Ran and You Chong discussed the force’s advance toward Gao Village Town.
• Muzheng Ran ordered the Guirong Clan to continue toward Gao Village Town for its last raid in the region.

Muzheng dismissed the legends surrounding Gao Village Town as his column advanced with thousands of slaves. When he confronted the town’s shaman, she challenged his belief that strength made right and unleashed a tremendous surge of Yuan Qi, shaking the Guirong Clan’s formation.

• Muzheng discussed with You Chong why Gao Village Town had become a regional hub, mocking the legend of a witch who settled nearby a thousand years earlier.
• The slaves broke into grief over their families’ deaths and the brutal treatment they had endured at the Guifang people’s hands.
• Muzheng kicked down a wailing slave, and You Chong killed another slave who rushed to attack him.
• The shaman warned Muzheng that his actions in the Hundred Lands Mountain Range would anger its spirits and gods.
• Muzheng declared that strength was the truth, citing the Guifang Kingdom’s conquest of the Tufang Kingdom.
• The shaman released a vast fluctuation of Yuan Qi that made the earth tremble and threw the Guirong Clan’s formation into panic.

An old granny revealed her immense divine power and attacked the Guirong Clan, who fought back with their own priestly abilities and elite warriors. As both sides unleashed devastating forces, she summoned carnivorous plants to slaughter the advancing fighters, and the battle began in earnest.

• Muzheng recognized the old granny as a priest and offered to halt the advance and free the slaves if she joined the Gods of the Five Directions, but she rejected his offer and attacked the column with earth spikes.
• Muzheng rallied the Guirong Clan warriors and charged the old granny, but her earth spike shattered his ritual saber and wounded him.
• You Chong attacked with wind blades while the clan's scout unit and other warriors charged through the slaves toward the old granny.
• The old granny summoned a giant carnivorous plant that swallowed nearby warriors and beasts, then scattered seeds that grew into more bloodthirsty plants.

At the Land God Temple, Xiao'e told the Deception Rabbit that Granny had likely gone to confront the Guifang Kingdom's slave-catching force near Jingyang Mountain Path. There, Granny unleashed terrifying powers against the Guirong Clan, and You Chong identified her as the Spring God · Nüman.

• The Deception Rabbit visited the Land God Temple looking for Granny, and Xiao'e said she was probably pursuing the Guifang Kingdom's slave-catching force near Jingyang Mountain Path.
• Despite suspecting Xiao'e had maneuvered him into going, the Deception Rabbit left to investigate Granny's whereabouts.
• At Jingyang Mountain Path, Granny's battle with the Guirong Clan shook the land and produced grotesque plants as the attackers tried to reach her.
• Granny caused a charred Lightning-Attracting Tree to rise, and its lightning killed dozens of Guirong Clan members as Muzheng warned the survivors to retreat.
• You Chong recognized Granny's power from an ancient legend and declared that she was the Spring God · Nüman.

The old woman revealed herself as Nüman, the ancient Spring God who had once fought the Witch of the Huai River and been bound to a human body. She slaughtered more Guirong Clan warriors, while Muzheng and the survivors invoked the Gods of the Five Directions, bringing the Roaring Heaven Clan into the battle.

• You Chong reminded Muzheng of the legend that the Witch of the Huai River had imprisoned Nüman in a human body.
• Nüman admitted her identity and explained that she hated the witch, not the mountain folk descended from her tribe.
• Nüman attacked the Guirong Clan warriors with enormous roots, killing nearly another quarter of them.
• Muzheng tore open his robes and led the surviving Guirong Clan warriors in a sacrificial rite to seek divine power.
• The Roaring Heaven Clan dispersed Nüman's storm, and the remaining Guirong Clan warriors charged at her again.