Chapter Summaries

After the Bifang Commandery Governor killed the Fifth Tier invader, its Dao transformation began corrupting the Demon Race secret realm and weakening its celestial barrier. Kong Wenxuan and the governor purified the corruption with their official seals, the remaining invaders were slain, and the invasion began to end amid heavy casualties.

• The fallen Fifth Tier three-headed, six-armed martial cultivator's Dao transformation corrupted the secret realm, triggered disasters, and weakened the Celestial Stars True Spirit Diagram's barrier.
• The Bifang Commandery Governor ordered Kong Wenxuan to raise the Peacock County Magistrate's Official Seal and help call down celestial starlight.
• The governor and Kong Wenxuan used their official seals to summon the sun, moon, and stars, suppressing and purifying the True Martial World's power and stabilizing the secret realm.
• The Celestial Stars True Spirit Diagram regained its strength and drove back the True Martial World forces outside the realm.
• The Bi Household cultivators, Bifang Dao Soldiers, and others killed the remaining invaders, while Kong Wenxuan recognized the heavy casualties suffered in the battle.

Kong Wenxuan received a reward from the True Spirit Realm’s Origin Sea for helping repel the True Martial World’s invasion, and the resulting starlight propelled the Peacock True Spirit Star upward through the Ninth-Grade True Spirit Heaven. The chapter explained how True Spirit Stars advanced and left the star rising toward the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven.

• Kong Wenxuan sent his consciousness into the Peacock True Spirit Star, where the Five-Colored Peacock manifested as starlight gathered around it.
• The True Spirit Realm rewarded Kong Wenxuan’s contributions, especially his resistance to the True Martial World’s invasion and the slaying of its martial cultivators.
• The Celestial Stars True Spirit Diagram transformed the reward into starlight that strengthened the Peacock True Spirit Star and drove it upward.
• The chapter described two paths for advancing a True Spirit Star: a bloodline cultivator could propel it through personal strength, or a lineage could use external forces.
• The chapter explained that lineage development was a slow external path, while rewards from the True Spirit Realm’s origin could rapidly propel a star upward.

Kong Wenxuan’s Peacock True Spirit Star rose to the peak of the Ninth-Grade True Spirit Heaven but stopped just short of advancing to the Eighth-Grade. He resolved to break through to the Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage first, then complete the star’s advancement himself.

• The chapter explained five external methods for improving or advancing a True Spirit Star, including lineage power, merits, treasures, assistance from a higher-ranking lineage, and rituals or techniques.
• It recounted how the Azure Luan Luan Household had helped Ancestor Jianling complete Star Inlaying, while the Azure Luan lineage had later refused to help the Kong Household advance its Peacock True Spirit Star.
• Kong Wenxuan’s Peacock True Spirit Star stopped at the zenith of the Ninth-Grade True Spirit Heaven after the gathered starlight ran out.
• Kong Wenxuan concluded that he had earned too little merit in the Demon Race Secret Realm to push the star into the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven.
• Kong Wenxuan decided to reach the Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage before personally pushing the Peacock True Spirit Star through its final ascent and advancement.

Kong Wenxuan confirmed that the Peacock True Spirit Star had reached the peak of Ninth-Grade True Spirit Heaven and examined the Kong Household’s Golden Crow Imperial Dynasty merit account. He discovered that the imperial treasury offered another way to obtain a Seventh Tier Heaven-Mending Pill, though the household still needed far more merit points.

• Kong Wenxuan summoned the Peacock True Spirit Star and sensed that its stronger starlight further enhanced his combat strength.
• Kong Wenxuan entered the Golden Crow Imperial Dynasty’s online network through his county magistrate’s seal and reviewed the Kong Household’s merit records.
• Kong Wenxuan saw that the household had earned merit for its battles, county duties, discovery of the Demon Race’s secret realm, and resistance to the True Martial World’s invasion.
• Kong Wenxuan checked the imperial treasury and learned that a Seventh Tier Heaven-Mending Pill cost ten thousand merit points.
• Kong Wenxuan recognized the merit system as another possible way to obtain the pill for the Second Elder, though the household’s listed total remained below a thousand.

Kong Wenxuan began his breakthrough to the Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage atop Longevity Mountain, relying on the Peacock True Spirit Star and his lineage’s bloodlines to strengthen his chances. He successfully united his Dantian’s sea of Qi and Sea of Consciousness into a Purple Mansion, with Spirit Law beginning to form.

• Kong Wenxuan entered seclusion on Longevity Mountain after five months of recovery and preparation, while his relatives surrounded him with protective formations and prepared to stop him if he became a Demon Beast.
• The chapter explained how bloodline cultivators gained better odds by attempting breakthroughs within their lineages and how the Purple Mansion and Golden Core stages separated the union of Qi, spirit, and essence.
• Kong Wenxuan checked his sea of Qi, Law Power, Sea of Consciousness, and Spiritual Consciousness, while his Five Elements Divine Swords replenished their strength with spirit materials.
• Kong Wenxuan circulated the Five Elements True Scripture and used the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation to unite his sea of Qi and Sea of Consciousness.
• Kong Wenxuan formed a Purple Mansion as his Law Power and Spiritual Consciousness began merging into Spirit Law.

Kong Wenxuan broke through to the Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage and faced the backlash of his Peacock Bloodline’s demonic nature. He suppressed and killed the demonic Five-Colored Peacock with the Great Five Elements Sword Formation, leaving the Kong Household’s preparations for disaster unnecessary.

• Kong Wenxuan broke through to the Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage without pills or spiritual incense.
• A Third Tier demonic Five-Colored Peacock emerged inside his Purple Mansion and attacked, while Kong Wenxuan held back the Five-Colored Divine Light to face it himself.
• Kong Wenxuan trapped the demonic peacock with the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation, strengthened by Five-Colored Starlight from the Peacock True Spirit Star.
• The Kong Household prepared its formations, weapons, and tamed beasts in case Kong Wenxuan succumbed to the backlash.
• Kong Wenxuan transformed the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation into the Great Five Elements Sword Formation and killed the demonic peacock, ending the backlash.

Kong Wenxuan successfully advanced to the Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage and demonstrated the power of his Great Five Elements Sword Formation. He sensed that the Peacock True Spirit Star needed to attempt its rank advancement immediately, and learned that the entire Kong Household could join the trial.

• Kong Wenxuan tested the Great Five Elements Sword Formation in his Purple Mansion and considered how refining his Five Elements Divine Swords into Third Tier Treasure Artifacts would make it stronger.
• Kong Wenxuan emerged at Longevity Mountain, where his family celebrated his successful advancement and confirmed that he had suppressed the Demonic Nature Backlash.
• Kong Wenxuan sensed that his new cultivation could drag the Ninth-Grade Peacock True Spirit Star downward if he delayed its attempt to reach the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven.
• Kong Wenxuan realized the whole Kong Household could help drive the Peacock True Spirit Star's advancement and asked whether the Lineage was ready.
• Kong Changgeng assured Kong Wenxuan that everything was ready for the Rank Advancement Trial.

Kong Wenxuan and the Kong Household began the Peacock True Spirit Star’s trial to ascend from the Ninth-Grade to the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven. As Kong Wenxuan fueled the star’s ascent, the Household’s forces fought off waves of low-tier Demon Beasts and demonic birds.

• The Kong Household gathered most of its fighting strength on the Peacock True Spirit Star while Kong Changlan and others stayed behind to guard the Peacock County Seat.
• Kong Changgeng ordered the descendants and Peacock Dao Soldiers to form defensive lines around the star.
• Kong Wenxuan poured his Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage power and Third Tier Peacock Bloodline power into the Peacock True Spirit Star, beginning its ascent toward the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven.
• Demon Beasts and demonic birds surged from the surrounding chaos to attack the ascending star.
• The Kong Household’s battle formations, Five Elements Divine Swords, talismans, and Peacock Dao Soldiers slew the attacking creatures as Kong Wenxuan continued fueling the ascent.

Kong Wenxuan and the Kong Household defended the Peacock True Spirit Star during its advancement trial, first destroying waves of low-tier Demon Beasts and then confronting third-tier beasts and members of the Demon Race. The trial grew more dangerous as Kong Wenxuan trapped the third-tier beasts in his sword formation while the Lineage fought the Demon Race.

• The Kong Household and Peacock Dao Soldiers killed waves of first- and second-tier Demon Beast apparitions, whose starlight strengthened the Peacock True Spirit Star.
• A third-tier peacock Demon Beast overwhelmed the patriarch and the others, so Kong Wenxuan used his Five Elements Divine Swords to kill it.
• More third-tier Demon Beasts and members of the Demon Race appeared, revealing that the advancement trial was harder than Kong Wenxuan's Star Inlaying trial.
• Kong Wenxuan used the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation to trap and grind the third-tier Demon Beasts to death.
• Kong Changgeng, Kong Yushuo, Kong Yuyin and the Lineage forces fought the low-tier Demon Race, which proved harder to defeat than the Demon Beast cannon fodder.

During the Rank Advancement Trial, Kong Wenxuan and the Kong Household fought waves of demons to advance the Peacock True Spirit Star. After Kong Wenxuan defeated a third-tier Peacock demon and rescued his family from its illusions, the star ascended into the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven.

• The Kong Household used the Peacock Soul-Bewitching Scripture to trap and kill waves of low-ranking demons, whose starlight helped raise the Peacock True Spirit Star.
• A third-tier Peacock demon overwhelmed the Kong Household with illusion techniques and attacked them while they were helpless.
• Kong Wenxuan protected the cultivators with the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation and used his own illusion technique to awaken them.
• Kong Wenxuan transformed the formation into the Great Five Elements Sword Formation and killed the Peacock demon with its fifth Destruction Sword Light.
• The Peacock True Spirit Star absorbed the resulting stardust and ascended into the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven.

The Kong Household’s Peacock True Spirit Star advanced to the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven, making the Lineage an Eighth-Grade True Spirit Lineage and restoring its members’ strength. Kong Wenxuan warned that the Rank Advancement Trial continued, and new martial cultivators appeared to attack them.

• The Eighth-Grade Peacock True Spirit Star restored Kong Wenxuan and the Kong Household members’ resources, healed their injuries, and strengthened them with its starlight.
• The Kong Household celebrated advancing to Eighth-Grade True Spirit, while Kong Changgeng thanked Kong Wenxuan for fulfilling generations of the Lineage’s dream.
• Kong Wenxuan explained that passing the trials against Demon Beasts and the Demon Race had only completed the basic stage and that more trials could make their star a superior Eighth-Grade star.
• Kong Changgeng ordered the Kong Household members to reform their ranks and prepare for the next trial.
• Armored martial cultivators wielding divine weapons appeared in the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Heaven and charged the Peacock True Spirit Star.

During the Rank Advancement Trial, the Kong Household faced martial cultivators manifested by the Celestial Stars True Spirit Diagram for the first time. Kong Wenxuan let his clansmen fight on their own so they could learn how to face the real invaders threatening the True Spirit Realm.

• The Kong Household members watched the strange martial cultivator figures appear and wondered about their forms and abilities.
• Crimson Fire Divine Swords struck the attackers, killing some but failing to penetrate the defenses of others.
• The Kong Household joined the fight with divine swords and talismans, then combined their Peacock Soul-Bewitching Scripture into an illusion attack.
• Kong Wenxuan withdrew his Great Five Elements Sword Formation and left the clansmen to fight without his guidance.
• Kong Wenxuan recognized that the trial was meant to prepare True Spirit Lineages for future invasions by martial cultivators and weapon cultivators from beyond their world.

Kong Wenxuan and the Kong Household fought through successive waves of martial cultivators and other enemies in the Rank Advancement Trial, suffering devastating losses but ultimately raising the Peacock True Spirit Star to an Eighth-Grade Upper-Class True Spirit Star. Fewer than twenty Kong Household cultivators survived, and every Peacock Dao Soldier was lost, as the victors prepared to receive their glory.

• Kong Household cultivators were caught off guard when martial cultivators resisted their illusions and killed many of them, until Kong Yushuo formed two Lesser Five Elements Sword Formations to protect and rally the survivors.
• The Kong Household adapted and defeated the first- and second-tier martial cultivators, while Kong Wenxuan easily slew a third-tier Lesser Giant Spirit martial cultivator with the Great Five Elements Sword Formation.
• When soldier cultivators charged in led by a third-tier general, Kong Wenxuan joined the battle; the Kong Household killed the attackers, but one Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation was destroyed and many clansmen and Peacock Dao Soldiers fell.
• Kong Wenxuan fought a third-tier sword cultivator while the remaining Kong Household forces battled an assortment of cultivators, eventually defeating them all at great cost.
• Fewer than twenty Kong Household cultivators survived and the Peacock Dao Soldiers were wiped out, but the survivors completed the trial and advanced the Peacock True Spirit Star to Eighth-Grade Upper-Class rank.

The Kong Household's Peacock True Spirit Star advanced to the eighth grade, drawing attention across Bifang Commandery. Governor Bi Zongcheng promptly secured Kong Wenxuan's promotion to eighth-grade magistrate and Peacock County's expansion, and Kong Wenxuan accepted the upgraded official seal.

• The Kong Household successfully advanced its Peacock True Spirit Star from the ninth grade to the eighth, stunning the factions of Bifang Commandery.
• Bi Zongcheng reflected on Kong Wenxuan's achievements and considered supporting the Kong Household despite its possible ties to the Central Domain and Azure Luan Luan Household.
• Bi Zongcheng used his governor's official seal to request that Peacock County become a middle county spanning three thousand li and that Kong Wenxuan be promoted to eighth-grade magistrate.
• Starlight descended into Kong Wenxuan's official seal, upgrading it and granting him authority over the expanded county.
• Kong Wenxuan learned that Bi Zongcheng had arranged his promotion and bowed in gratitude to the Vermilion Bird Constellation and Bifang Commandery City.

After the Kong Household celebrated its advancement to an Eighth-Grade True Spirit Lineage, Kong Wenxuan considered how to refine his Five Elements Divine Swords and advance his cultivation. He was summoned to receive Ya Zhaoying, whose visit marked the start of congratulations from other lineages.

• Kong Changgeng and Kong Wenxuan presided over the ancestral rite, and the Kong Household celebrated its new rank.
• Kong Wenxuan weighed refining the Black Water Divine Sword and Yellow Earth Divine Sword together with scarce third-tier Crystal Stone, which could take ten years or more.
• Kong Changgeng summoned Kong Wenxuan to receive Ya Zhaoying of the Fire Crow Ya Household, the first visitor to offer congratulations.
• Kong Wenxuan and Ya Zhaoying exchanged greetings and discussed their cultivation before the Kong Household arranged lodging for her party.
• Ya Zhaoying told the Kong Household that other Bifang Commandery lineages, including the Bifang True Spirit Bi Household, would likely send congratulations, so the Kong Household began preparing a banquet.

The Kong Household hosted congratulatory guests after advancing to an Eighth-Grade True Spirit Lineage, while Kong Wenxuan prepared to demonstrate its strength. At the banquet’s Dao discussion, he displayed the Great Five Elements Sword Formation, leaving the guests alarmed by its power.

• The Bi Household, Jiao Household, Fu Household, and He Household sent parties to congratulate the Kong Household, each arriving with distinctive transport.
• The He Household traveled aboard a Bifang Cloud Boat from the Bi Household, signaling its close ties and warning the newly elevated Kong Household not to underestimate its backing.
• The Kong Household held a banquet at Peacock Garden, where the visiting leaders offered gifts and exchanged news before the Dao discussion began.
• Kong Wenxuan took the raised platform and summoned five Five Elements Divine Swords to demonstrate the Kong Household’s strength.
• Kong Wenxuan formed the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation, then transformed it into the Great Five Elements Sword Formation, terrifying guests who activated their defenses.

Kong Wenxuan demonstrated the Kong Household’s strength with the Great Five Elements Sword Formation, then gave a brief exposition before the contest of arts began. The contest would decide prestige and the distribution of business interests and shop locations, and the Kong Household entered Kong Wenchang, Kong Wenyin, and Kong Huancai as its three representatives.

• Kong Wenxuan formed the Great Five Elements Sword Formation, then restrained its pressure when visiting Qi Refinement cultivators began to falter.
• Kong Wenxuan offered a superficial discussion of the five elements, avoiding any disclosure of the Five Elements True Scripture’s essence.
• The various Households prepared for the contest of arts, whose results would determine their standing and shares of businesses and market shops in Bifang Commandery City.
• The Kong Household selected Kong Wenchang, Kong Wenyin, and Kong Huancai, all at Qi Refining Ninth Layer, to compete.
• Kong Wenxuan recalled that Kong Huancai had awakened four Peacock Feathers and had received his guidance as a junior attendant.

At Peacock Manor, Kong Wenxuan watched the Kong Household’s Qi Refinement disciples defeat the other True Spirit Lineages in the contest of techniques, demonstrating the strength of their Five Elements inheritance. The results reshaped the lineages’ standings and business shares in Bifang Commandery City, with the defeated He Household forced to surrender the most.

• Kong Wenxuan observed the Ya, Jiao, Fu, and He Households’ Bloodline Divine Abilities and saw that the Kong Household’s Five Elements methods could counter them.
• Kong Wenchang and Kong Wenyin used Five Elements Talisman Slips to suppress their opponents’ techniques while Kong Huancai wielded four Five Elements Divine Swords to defeat them.
• The Kong Household won every match, overcoming even the Fu Household’s underground evasion by attacking the earth until its disciples surfaced.
• The Ya Household placed second, the Jiao Household third, the Fu Household fourth, and the He Household last.
• The contest’s results established the Kong Household’s largest share of business and shops in Bifang Commandery City, while the He Household had to cede the greatest share.

After the banquet, Kong Wenxuan accepted the Bi Household’s invitation for the Kong Household to join its trade caravan, gaining access to goods and markets across the prefecture. The Kong Household’s advancement to an eighth-grade true spirit lineage then drew dozens of bloodline households seeking to join as servant cultivator households.

• Bifang Silk invited Kong Wenxuan to join the Bi Household’s caravan, which traded across the prefecture and reached its capital.
• Kong Wenxuan accepted the invitation, and the Bi Household’s party departed; the Black Crane He Household’s party followed.
• News of the Kong Household’s advancement spread through Bifang Commandery, drawing households and factions toward Peacock County Seat.
• Within months, forty or fifty bloodline households submitted letters hoping to become the Kong Household’s servant cultivator households.

Patriarch Kong Changgeng entered the Peacock Secret Realm to break through to the Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage, with Kong Wenxuan guarding him. He succeeded with the Five-Colored Peacock True Spirit Star’s aid, becoming the Kong Household’s second cultivator at that stage.

• Kong Changgeng felt his chance to break through after reflecting on the Kong Household’s flourishing fortunes, and Kong Wenxuan encouraged him to proceed.
• Kong Changgeng entered the Peacock Secret Realm with Kong Wenxuan and saw how the Eighth-Grade True Spirit Star had strengthened the realm and its Azure Cloud Spirit Bamboo.
• At the Ancestral Spirit Mountain Peak, Kong Changgeng entered a breakthrough state while Kong Wenxuan kept others from disturbing him.
• Kong Changgeng’s Law Power and Spiritual Consciousness fused, and his presence reached the Third Tier Purple Mansion Stage.
• The Five-Colored Peacock True Spirit Star sent Five-Colored Starlight into Kong Changgeng, suppressing his Yao nature and stabilizing his breakthrough.