Chapter Summaries

The Heavenly Evolution Sect's white-haired sect master passed her ninth heavenly tribulation and sent Jiang Jinyue to investigate an unusual sign in Tianliang. In Anding, Qi Yan recovered memories of his past life, crippled Qi Zhi, and activated a deadly safeguard in the Qi Clan's ancestral tomb.

• The sect master shattered her ninth tribulation with a finger and ordered Jiang Jinyue to investigate a sign in Tianliang and expand the sect's influence if possible.
• Qi Yan's memories of his modern life returned while he suffered from poison at the ancestral graves, and he realized Qi Zhi and the guards threatening him were mortals.
• Qi Yan crippled Qi Zhi with a strike to his Dantian, seized him, and demanded that the clan head bring the antidote for the Seven-Day Heartbreak Powder.
• Qi Yan dragged Qi Zhi into the Golden Core ancestor's tomb and activated the Mutual Destruction Restriction, alarming Qi Zhi with the threat of destroying the mausoleum and everyone inside.

Qi Yan destroyed the Qi clan’s ancestral tombs to escape with his life, then discovered that a jade pendant linked him to a distressed girl in another place. As he struggled to survive the poison and clan’s pursuit, he urged her to overwhelm the fellow disciple secretly draining her cultivation.

• Qi Yan activated the ancestral tomb’s Mutual Destruction Restriction, killing the patriarch and everyone on the hill while surviving in its safe zone.
• Qi Yan searched the ruins for an antidote, found none, gathered treasure fragments, and fled with an intact jade pendant as clansmen approached.
• Jiang Jinyue watched from above the clouds and noticed that the tomb’s sacrificial restriction resembled the origins of her Heavenly Evolution Sect.
• Hiding in a mountain hollow, Qi Yan used his Law Power on the pendant and began speaking with a girl who believed he was inside it.
• The girl told Qi Yan that an Essence-Draining Incantation was letting a fellow disciple take the cultivation gained from her treasures, and that her sect did not believe her.
• Qi Yan told the girl to take pills up to her exact limit so that the draining disciple would be harmed before she was.

Mu Xunzhen used the Essence-Draining Incantation to regain her stolen cultivation and injure Sixth Senior Brother, then sought guidance from Qi Yan through the jade pendant. Qi Yan learned the Tribulation-Transferring Incantation from her, used it to transfer his poison to an attacker and escaped, while both he and Mu Xunzhen were left unable to reconnect.

• Mu Xunzhen took three Qi-Replenishing Pills and used the Essence-Draining Incantation to reclaim her cultivation, causing Sixth Senior Brother to bleed from all seven orifices.
• Eldest Senior Brother demanded Mu Xunzhen hand over her Essence-Nurturing Grass to treat Sixth Senior Brother, but she left to consult the senior on the jade pendant.
• Mu Xunzhen taught Qi Yan the modified Tribulation-Transferring Incantation before the connection cut off again.
• As Qi Yan's pursuers closed in, he grabbed a young man's wrist and completed the incantation, transferring his poison and pain to the attacker.
• Qi Yan took the young man's sword, killed him after using him as a hostage to pass the guards, and fled into the night.
• Qi Yan and Mu Xunzhen each tried to contact the other through the jade pendant, but neither got a response.

Qi Yan negotiated with Luo Chaoge for the Luo Household to take over the weakened Qi Clan while protecting its collateral branches and honoring his parents and ancestors. After the takeover, he helped eliminate the main lineage and headed to the ancestral tombs, where he found that an unknown visitor had already cleared the ruins and examined the burial chamber.

• Qi Yan met Luo Chaoge on the road and negotiated terms for the Luo Household’s intervention, including protecting the collateral branches, letting him leave soon, repairing the tombs, and helping him travel to Heavenly Prefecture Continent.
• Luo Chaoge agreed not to deliberately delay Qi Yan’s departure, and he joked that he wanted to become Perfected Mu’s disciple.
• Luo Chaoge led the Luo Household’s elites to seize the Qi estate, and Qi Yan took the position of clan head before ordering the main lineage eliminated.
• Qi Yan killed an elder who condemned him, told the collateral branches they would have to rely on themselves, and led people to repair the ancestral tombs.
• Qi Yan and Luo Chaoge found the burial hill’s rubble neatly cleared, the coffin and burial goods restored, and the workers unconscious, suggesting an unknown visitor had examined the tomb.

After helping restore the Qi Clan’s ancestral graves, Qi Yan went to the scripture repository seeking books on restrictions and encountered the powerful Jiang Jinyue. She connected the Qi Clan’s old inheritance to a destroyed ancient sect and decided to stay while investigating the link.

• Qi Yan relocated his parents’ graves and restored the ancestral graves with his clansmen while Luo Chaoge watched.
• Luo Chaoge said the Luo Household had taken control of the Qi Clan before other powers in Anding City could interfere, and Qi Yan headed to the scripture repository.
• Qi Yan entered the repository and found Jiang Jinyue, who admitted she had inspected the grave restrictions and helped tidy the graves.
• Jiang Jinyue explained that the Qi Clan’s outdated inheritance had become difficult to understand and offered to help interpret it if Qi Yan could provide a clue.
• Jiang Jinyue showed Qi Yan a recorded voice saying her name and an image of a jade pendant, then suggested the Qi Clan might have been connected to a destroyed ancient sect.
• Jiang Jinyue concluded that the Qi Clan held clues to her search and announced she would stay there for the time being.

Jiang Jinyue forced Qi Yan into a bet: if he interpreted a passage from the ancestral book overnight, she would help him, and if he failed, he would do something for her. As Qi Yan struggled with the text, Mu Xunzhen contacted him for advice about refusing to give her Essence-Nurturing Grass to the senior brother who had harmed her, and their conversation revealed her extraordinary cultivation and similar troubles with favoritism.

• Jiang Jinyue offered Qi Yan a bet over interpreting a passage and warned him that refusing would get him killed before she disappeared.
• Qi Yan examined the passage on Qi and Blood, finding its ideas difficult to reconcile with modern cultivation theory and its characters hard to understand.
• Mu Xunzhen contacted Qi Yan in tears and explained that her fellow disciples wanted her Essence-Nurturing Grass to treat Sixth Senior Brother, who had suffered backlash after using an Essence-Draining Incantation against her.
• Qi Yan advised Mu Xunzhen that she did not owe the herb to someone who had harmed her, and she gained confidence that Eldest Senior Brother could not force her to comply.
• Mu Xunzhen revealed that she was sixteen and expected to reach Golden Core within days, while worrying that her master might favor Sixth Senior Brother because of his influential uncle.

Qi Yan advised Mu Xunzhen to take another mission and avoid the Essence-Nurturing Grass demand until she became stronger, while Mu Xunzhen taught him Witchcraft terminology. After Mu Xunzhen left the sect, Qi Yan used the Blood-Chaos Curse to prove to Jiang Jinyue that he had deciphered the old text, leaving her shocked.

• Qi Yan told Mu Xunzhen that her Eldest Senior Brother was her real opponent and urged her to take an External Affairs Hall mission to leave the sect until she reached Golden Core.
• Mu Xunzhen explained Witchcraft terms to Qi Yan, then their call ended when his Law Power ran out; she hurried to the External Affairs Hall and obtained a seven-day mission from Grandpa Wu.
• Eldest Senior Brother found Mu Xunzhen's empty cave abode and realized he would have to provide the scarce Essence-Nurturing Grass himself for Sixth Junior Brother.
• Jiang Jinyue woke Qi Yan near noon and challenged him to explain the text, offering to do one thing within her abilities if he had deciphered it.
• Qi Yan cast the Blood-Chaos Curse on Jiang Jinyue, and she recognized the Witch Incantation and reacted in disbelief.

Jiang Jinyue enlisted Qi Yan to search for a person connected to an ancient jade pendant, while Qi Yan sought her help getting into the Heavenly Evolution Sect and protection from the Luo Household. After Luo Chaoge brought him food and agreed to ask her family about the clue, Jiang Jinyue warned that someone appeared to be planning to assassinate her, leaving Qi Yan unsure whether to warn her.

• Jiang Jinyue explained that she wanted Qi Yan to use his connection to Luo Chaoge to quietly search for a person, and Qi Yan agreed in exchange for her protection if the Luo Household tried to kill him.
• Qi Yan said he hoped to join the Heavenly Evolution Sect, and Jiang Jinyue told him he would need to reach at least the Middle Qi Refining Stage to demonstrate his potential.
• Jiang Jinyue said the sound "Yan" and the design of her jade pendant were clues to the person she sought, then left Qi Yan a drawing of the pendant.
• Luo Chaoge brought Qi Yan a meal and urged him to memorize the texts quickly so she could help him leave; she agreed to ask the Luo Household about the pendant and the sound "Yan."
• Jiang Jinyue returned and told Qi Yan that someone appeared to be watching Luo Chaoge and planning to assassinate her, and Qi Yan wondered whether he should warn her.

Qi Yan memorized the Qi Clan’s three inherited books and prepared for an attack, then used a restriction to escape when members of the Luo Household came to kill him. Jiang Jinyue saved Luo Chaoge from an assassin but could not find Qi Yan afterward, whose jade pendant concealed him from her Divine Sense.

• Qi Yan hurriedly memorized the Qi Clan’s cultivation method, curse techniques, and book on restrictions while Jiang Jinyue watched.
• Qi Yan asked Jiang Jinyue to protect Luo Chaoge if an attack on him created an opportunity to assassinate her, saying he wanted to repay Luo Chaoge for a meal.
• Luo Household attackers entered the scripture repository, and Qi Yan triggered a blood restriction that exploded and let him escape through the Qi Clan grounds.
• An attacker struck at Luo Chaoge from behind, but Jiang Jinyue stopped the sword with two fingers while Qi Yan vanished.
• Jiang Jinyue searched for Qi Yan with her Divine Sense but could not find him because his jade pendant concealed him.

After Luo Chaoge and Jiang Jinyue uncovered signs that the Extreme Dao Sect might be connected to the Demon Realm, Qi Yan escaped to a neighboring city and struggled to find a way to earn money. He contacted Mu Xunzhen, who explained that Witchcraft and Dao Arts differed in how they related to the Principles of the universe.

• Luo Chaoge identified the assassin’s sword as belonging to the Extreme Dao Sect, and she told Jiang Jinyue that her master suspected the sect was tied to the Demon Realm.
• Jiang Jinyue sensed a fleeing figure and offered Luo Chaoge a clue, putting her own search on hold because of the possible Demon Realm threat.
• Qi Yan reached a neighboring city, tried to sell fragments from the ancestral tomb, and rejected a risky tomb-robbing job after learning it offered only a share of the proceeds.
• Qi Yan contacted Mu Xunzhen through the jade pendant, and she told him she was heading to Jade Wave Pool to deal with a giant python threatening nearby towns.
• Mu Xunzhen explained that Witchcraft also connected practitioners to heaven and earth, but called the Principles of the universe dominions and emphasized ruling and presiding over them.

After learning Witchcraft from Mu Xunzhen, Qi Yan advanced to the second layer of Qi Refining and discovered a group of black-clad cultivators plotting against Anding City. He interrogated one of them, learned they belonged to the Extreme Dao Sect and planned to welcome the Abyssal Rift, then watched the man explode.

• Qi Yan discussed the differences between Witchcraft and Dao Arts with Mu Xunzhen, who identified Arbiter of Fate as Witchcraft’s strongest domain.
• Qi Yan used a Spirit Stone to cultivate with the Qi Family Cultivation Method and reached the second layer of Qi Refining.
• Qi Yan overheard injured cultivators discussing their failed attempt to assassinate Luo Chaoge and their mission in Anding City.
• Qi Yan followed one of the cultivators, struck him with the Blood-Chaos Curse and Lightning Attraction Technique, and demanded to know the group’s plans.
• The captive said the group belonged to the Extreme Dao Sect and was setting up formation cores to welcome the Abyssal Rift, then exploded before Qi Yan could question him further.

Qi Yan intervened as Luo Chaoge fought Lü Xiang and an Extreme Dao Sect elder, then watched her master Qin Poxu reveal that the battle had been part of her preparations. Qin Poxu advised Luo Chaoge to settle matters with her enemies rather than deepen her worldly ties, and she advanced toward Golden Core.

• Qi Yan scavenged cracked Spirit Stones and supplies, then followed Lü Xiang into the woods and gathered his bloody phlegm.
• Luo Chaoge attacked the injured Lü Xiang, but an Extreme Dao Sect elder arrived and challenged her.
• Qi Yan poisoned himself and used the Tribulation-Transferring Incantation on Lü Xiang, whose sneak attack failed as a wisp of Sword Qi skewered him.
• Luo Chaoge battled the elder until Qin Poxu appeared with the severed head of the enemy's Nascent Soul guardian and took the elder away.
• Qin Poxu told Luo Chaoge to settle matters with the Luo Household instead of trying to make it prosper, and Luo Chaoge's sword intent surged as she understood.
• Qin Poxu acknowledged Qi Yan's help and warned him against using Witchcraft for evil before departing.

After Luo Chaoge reached Golden Core, she and Qi Yan parted on good terms, and he set out for the Heavenly Prefecture Continent to find a master. At a coastal marketplace, Qi Yan discovered that rumors about him and a bounty from the Extreme Dao Sect had made it impossible to stay unnoticed, while Jiang Jinyue watched him struggle to find passage across the sea.

• Luo Chaoge congratulated Qi Yan on his breakthrough, warned him to conceal his Witchcraft, and promised to care for his clanspeople and ancestral graves.
• Luo Chaoge gave Qi Yan Spirit Stones, pills, and her storage ring before they said farewell.
• Qi Yan traveled to a coastal city and learned that ships to the Heavenly Prefecture Continent were rare and dangerous.
• Jiang Jinyue watched Qi Yan search for a way across the sea and laughed at his predicament.
• Qi Yan heard that the Extreme Dao Sect had placed a bounty on him and that the Resounding Sword Sect had destroyed a secret outpost after Qin Poxu caught its agents targeting Luo Chaoge.
• As Qi Yan ate at a roadside restaurant, a passing carriage's curtain lifted in the sea breeze, revealing a beautiful woman inside.

Qi Yan secured passage on the Yun Clan’s ship to Heavenly Prefecture Continent, while Mu Xunzhen returned to her sect as a newly ascended Golden Core cultivator. The chapter left Qi Yan beginning his voyage and Grandpa Wu worrying about how the sect would respond to Mu Xunzhen’s unprecedented breakthrough.

• Qi Yan followed Yun Ranyi’s convoy to the shore and asked Steward Yun to let him board the ship.
• The round-faced maid questioned Qi Yan, and Yun Ranyi agreed to take him along after hearing he was traveling away from home.
• Qi Yan boarded the Yun Clan’s ship, learned it was bound for Heavenly Prefecture Continent, and settled into a small cabin.
• Mu Xunzhen returned to her sect carrying a giant python and revealed that she had reached Golden Core.
• Grandpa Wu rewarded Mu Xunzhen and worried that the sect master might make a dangerous decision amid the turmoil.

Mu Xunzhen returned to her cave abode after confronting her eldest senior brother, while Qi Yan continued cultivating aboard the ship carrying Yun Ranyi. Yun Ranyi invited him to discuss joining her household, but their conversation was interrupted when the ship lurched unexpectedly.

• Mu Xunzhen rebuffed her eldest senior brother after he challenged her for leaving without reporting to him, and he realized she had reached Golden Core.
• Qi Yan ignored Mu Xunzhen's signal and focused on cultivation, incantations, and refining a Body Refining Pill.
• Yun Ranyi discussed Qi Yan with Xiao Yuan and decided to see whether he could be useful to her rather than kill him.
• Xiao Yuan brought Qi Yan to meet Yun Ranyi, who asked about his plans and offered him a position with her household after it relocated.
• Qi Yan said he wanted to make his own way first, and the ship suddenly lurched, knocking Yun Ranyi to the floor.

Qi Yan helped Yun Ranyi survive an attack on the Yun Clan ship, but a black dragon broke the vessel apart before the attackers were defeated. The Yun Clan left with Yun Ranyi while Qi Yan was sent off alone in a lifeboat, and Yun Ranyi hinted that they would meet again.

• Black-clad attackers boarded the ship, and Xiao Yuan fought them while Qi Yan helped Yun Ranyi regain her footing.
• Qi Yan protected Yun Ranyi from sword qi with the Copper Skin Incantation and led her out onto the deck.
• A black dragon broke the ship in two, but an invisible figure struck its reverse scale and a curtain of light trapped it while the Yun Clan defeated the attackers.
• The Yun Clan arranged lifeboats for the sailors, and Yun Ranyi told Xiao Yuan to give Qi Yan a boat of his own.
• Yun Ranyi and Xiao Yuan departed on an airship, leaving Qi Yan alone at sea as Yun Ranyi promised they would meet again.
• Yun Ranyi told Xiao Yuan she had concealed their identities because a powerful female cultivator was watching Qi Yan, then ordered Xiao Yuan to transform so she could pet her.

After being left alone at sea, Qi Yan chose to continue toward Heavenly Prefecture Continent and the Heavenly Evolution Sect rather than turn back. Jiang Jinyue joined him, and his talk of a covenant with heaven left her wondering whether he meant her.

• Qi Yan inspected the prepared lifeboat, bought a nautical chart from the sailors, and learned that the voyage ahead would take about twenty days.
• Qi Yan steered toward the open ocean instead of returning, and Jiang Jinyue watched over him from above.
• Jiang Jinyue appeared beside Qi Yan and teased him about calling himself Yue Jinjiang; he asked what she had noticed about Yun Ranyi and the demonic dragon.
• Jiang Jinyue said the hunters were unlikely, but not certain, to be allied with the Demon Realm, then challenged Qi Yan about why he wanted to join the Heavenly Evolution Sect.
• Qi Yan said he felt there was something at the sect he could not miss and described having a covenant with heaven, while his jade pendant warmed and Jiang Jinyue wondered if he meant her.

Qi Yan and Jiang Jinyue shared a lifeboat at sea, where their conversation and a quiet night of cultivation brought them closer to mutual understanding. Qi Yan advanced to the third layer of Qi Refining, but Jiang Jinyue warned that reaching the Heavenly Evolution Sect’s entry requirement would still be difficult.

• Qi Yan raised the lifeboat’s protective barrier while Jiang Jinyue rested, and she recognized his considerate gesture.
• Qi Yan caught a fish with Fingertip Lightning and cooked a meal, which Jiang Jinyue eagerly shared.
• Qi Yan admitted he cultivated to control his own fate, and he and Jiang Jinyue discussed loneliness, Dao companions, and his wish to join the Heavenly Evolution Sect.
• As darkness fell, Qi Yan overcame his fear of the open sea and entered meditation while Jiang Jinyue kept watch.
• Qi Yan broke through to the third layer of Qi Refining, and Jiang Jinyue cautioned that he still needed to reach at least the fourth layer to have a chance of joining the sect.

Qi Yan arrived on Heavenly Prefecture Continent after a comfortable voyage with Jiang Jinyue, who returned to the Heavenly Evolution Sect and reported her findings to Mu Xunzhen. As Qi Yan resumed contact with Little Crybaby and asked about her entrance assessment, a senior brother interrupted her.

• Jiang Jinyue left Qi Yan near shore, and he set out for the Heavenly Evolution Sect to seek entry.
• Jiang Jinyue showed Mu Xunzhen an image of the Qi Clan ancestor's tomb; Mu Xunzhen recognized the restrictions as belonging to the Blood Spirit Valley but ruled out the ancestor as the person she sought.
• Jiang Jinyue told Mu Xunzhen about Qi Yan and his journey, and Mu Xunzhen agreed he should take the entrance assessment, assigning Jiang Jinyue to examine him.
• Mu Xunzhen recalled her younger days as Little Crybaby, when she had struggled to reach Brother A-Yan and worried that another girl had gained his attention.
• Qi Yan called Little Crybaby from an inn, and they caught up on her return and Golden Core breakthrough before he asked about her entrance assessment.
• A senior brother called to Mu Xunzhen from outside her cave abode, interrupting their conversation and provoking her fury.

Mu Xunzhen followed Qi Yan’s advice to turn Zhao Qiming and Zhao Hong’s accusation against them, publicly defending herself and forcing the sect elders to intervene. Afterward, she told Qi Yan about her entrance assessment, while he looked toward the Heavenly Evolution Sect and resolved to go there.

• Zhao Qiming and Zhao Hong confronted Mu Xunzhen over Zhao Qiming’s injuries and demanded her Azure Nether Sword, but Qi Yan warned her not to go to the Law Enforcement Hall as an accused suspect.
• At Qi Yan’s urging, Mu Xunzhen shouted at Zhao Hong, then drew her sword and wounded him when he reached for her.
• Mu Xunzhen loudly accused Zhao Qiming and Zhao Hong of bullying her and trying to seize her sword, drawing the attention of the sect elders.
• Zhao Hong fled with Zhao Qiming, and a senior elder ordered them to appear at the Law Enforcement Hall the next morning; Mu Xunzhen kept Zhao Hong’s shield as collateral.
• Mu Xunzhen thanked Qi Yan and described how she passed her entrance assessment by recognizing that its supposed cultivation method was fabricated.
• After ending their long call, Qi Yan looked toward the Heavenly Evolution Sect and resolved to go there.