Chapter Summaries

Tang Yuan and Qi Feiming’s group discovered that an orc camp was protected by an array that suppressed their cultivation, and Gao Rui died in the first battle. After seven days of fruitless attacks, Qi Feiming killed Huang Jie for trying to leave, then ordered Tang Yuan and the others to continue fighting for one more day.

• Qi Mingfei led eight disciples toward the orc camp, where they found thousands of soldiers and charged in, expecting an easy victory.
• The array suppressed the group’s cultivation and disabled their techniques; Gao Rui was killed, and Tang Yuan and six others escaped after two hours of fighting.
• Qi Feiming rejected the group’s plan to retreat and ordered them to attack the array and take turns fighting the orcs for seven days.
• After the array remained intact and the group killed fewer than thirty percent of the orcs, Huang Jie tried to leave for the teleportation point.
• Qi Feiming severed Huang Jie’s head and ordered the others to fight for one more day; Tang Yuan and the remaining disciples reluctantly charged back into the array.

Tang Yuan returned to the orc camp and forced the chief to surrender the Purple Jade Huang by defeating the tribe’s soldiers with his ghost spirits. He then traded for jade rings and agreed to exchange red spirit crystals for elite orc teeth.

• Tang Yuan waited for Qi Feiming to leave the formation, then entered the orc camp and demanded the chief’s Purple Jade Huang.
• The chief refused, so Tang Yuan summoned more than a hundred ghost spirits, who overwhelmed the orc soldiers without killing them.
• The chief yielded the Purple Jade Huang and brought Tang Yuan two unadorned jade rings.
• Tang Yuan recognized the chief’s red spirit crystal as the same ore he had found in the Thousand Ghost Cavern.
• The chief offered two thousand elite lower left canine teeth for a hundred red spirit crystals, and Tang Yuan agreed to the trade.

Tang Yuan reached the teleportation portal, outmaneuvered Qi Feiming and Qian Xiaobao, and returned to Holy Cardamom Mountain as Qi Feiming escaped with the Purple Jade Huang. After the sect debated punishing the surviving disciples, Qi Feiming and Tang Yuan stepped forward when High Person Su Ying asked who had found the jade.

• Tang Yuan raced to the portal and found Qi Feiming and Qian Xiaobao waiting to demand the Purple Jade Huang.
• Tang Yuan threw the jade huang aside to distract Qi Feiming, then reached the shrinking portal and escaped after tossing explosive talismans at him.
• Qi Feiming used a serpentine sword to escape the Barbarian Di Secret Realm with the Purple Jade Huang, while Tang Yuan turned in a small number of beastman teeth and kept his larger supply.
• Ding Chunqiu reported the poor harvest, and the High Persons argued over whether to exile the surviving disciples before discussing the Purple Jade Huang and the Solar One Qi Divine Light.
• High Person Su Ying asked which disciple had found the Purple Jade Huang, and Qi Feiming and Tang Yuan both stepped toward the platform.

Tang Yuan exposed Qi Feiming for taking his Purple Jade Huang and secured Qi’s Silver Snake Sword in exchange. Qi’s jade huang proved fake, while Tang Yuan presented a genuine one containing Mystic Wood Spiritual Qi, leaving High Person Kui Wood confronted with the real treasure.

• Tang Yuan told the High Persons that Qi Feiming had taken his Purple Jade Huang, and Qi admitted he had not paid for it.
• Tang Yuan demanded Qi’s Silver Snake Sword instead of spirit money, and Qi reluctantly handed it over.
• Tang Yuan revealed that he had found two Purple Jade Huang, prompting High Person Yaoxi to ask for the remaining one.
• Qi Feiming offered his own jade huang, but High Person Kui Wood found it was fake and crushed it.
• High Person Yaoxi showed High Person Kui Wood Tang Yuan’s genuine Purple Jade Huang and identified its Mystic Wood Spiritual Qi.

Tang Yuan used a fake Purple Jade Huang to expose Qi Feiming and secured a nominal place under High Person Li Bai by presenting the real artifact. He then revealed thousands of beastman canine teeth he had found at an altar, and High Person Ming Kun declared that his two contributions merited the Solar One Qi Divine Light Cultivation Method.

• Tang Yuan presented a fake Purple Jade Huang, and High Person Kui Wood killed Qi Feiming after discovering the jade was false.
• High Person Yaoxi declared Tang Yuan innocent and offered him a chance to join one of the six peaks; Tang Yuan chose High Person Li Bai's school and gave him the real Purple Jade Huang.
• High Person Li Bai accepted Tang Yuan as a disciple in name and gave him the Purple Cloud One Qi Treatise's Qi Refinement section and a strand of Spiritual Qi.
• High Person Kui Wood objected to passing the Solar One Qi Divine Light to Tang Yuan unless he made a major contribution, so Tang Yuan revealed a large supply of beastman canine teeth.
• Ding Chunqiu and a Treasure Pavilion disciple counted 8,800 teeth, and Tang Yuan explained he had found them at a beastman altar.
• High Person Ming Kun ruled that Tang Yuan had made two great contributions and that he could receive the Solar One Qi Divine Light Cultivation Method.

Tang Yuan reviewed his gains from the Barbarian Di Secret Realm and received a warning that High Person Li Bai would leave for five years, leaving him vulnerable to Ding Chunqiu. He paid Qian Xiaobao to gather information about the sect while preparing to leave with Li Bai.

• Tang Yuan assessed his treasures and expenses, resolved to find a safer cave abode, and planned to refine his metal-attribute Spiritual Qi to reach the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer.
• Qian Xiaobao delivered a sect letter and a sword from Kou Cheng; Tang Yuan recognized the forged Seven Stars Sword as a gift for his eldest son, Tang Tiansong.
• Tang Yuan read High Person Li Bai's letter announcing his departure for five years of seclusion at the Starfall Sea and warning him to beware of High Person Kui Wood.
• Qian Xiaobao told Tang Yuan about the upcoming Mid-Autumn Dao gathering, and Tang Yuan feared Ding Chunqiu would attack him whether he attended or stayed in his cave abode.
• Tang Yuan lent Qian Xiaobao 1,000 spirit coins and paid him another 500 to monitor sect news, especially news about Ding Chunqiu, then left with him to visit Kou Cheng.

Tang Yuan arranged to convert his spirit money into Spirit Stones and fled the Holy Cardamom Sect for Golden Shell Island, where he lived in seclusion, cultivated, and made plans with his allies. After reaching the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer and selling his surplus Spiritual Qi, he headed to the market hoping to buy Moon Jade Radiance.

• Tang Yuan paid Kou Cheng to arrange the purchase of Spiritual Qi so he could take Spirit Stones out of the sect, accepting the losses and fee.
• Tang Yuan left the Holy Cardamom Sect and traveled to Golden Shell Island, where he hid from Ding Chunqiu and resumed life as a reclusive cultivator.
• Tang Yuan awakened the Earth Flood Dragon in the Mystic Spoon, called her Hou Fei, and traded books and writings for her Nether Bureau cultivation methods.
• Tang Yuan gave Kang Cang and Liu Hanchuan Spiritual Qi and Spirit Stones to help them cultivate and gather information, then sent Hu Mei'er and Huang You'er to find a cave near Loulan City.
• Tang Yuan refused to have his children cultivate immortality, broke through to the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer, and sold his surplus Spiritual Qi for a total of twenty-five thousand three hundred and fifty-six Spirit Stones.
• Tang Yuan disguised himself and went to the cultivator market, hoping to buy Moon Jade Radiance.

Tang Yuan visited Ascension City’s market on Perching Clouds Island, where he talked with a mortal family and decided to head home that day. Above the island, Zheng Yuan and other Purple Mansion cultivators discussed True Person Qin’s plans, while a Song Household cultivator stopped Tang Yuan and summoned him to the medicine pavilion.

• Zheng Yuan tried to divine Tang Yuan’s cultivation but stopped when a fierce wind disrupted her, and she accused True Person Qin of planning to consume the island’s inhabitants.
• The Song Household patriarch and other Purple Mansion cultivators warned Zheng Yuan not to interfere with True Person Qin’s Divine Ability fusion, though Zheng Yuan hoped it would fail.
• Tang Yuan ate breakfast at a bun stall and spoke with its cultivator-owner about their past work as spirit-fishing laborers and their families.
• Tang Yuan felt homesick and decided to leave for home that day, whether or not he found Moon Jade Radiance.
• A Song Household cultivator stopped Tang Yuan outside the market and said the shopkeeper wanted to see him, making Tang Yuan suspect the household had discovered his demonic-sect affiliation.

Tang Yuan received an Honored Guest Privilege Slip from the Song Household after spending over twenty thousand Spirit Stones in Ascension City, then tried to buy a thousand wisps of Moon Jade Radiance from Wu Ningning. Wu Ningning offered a discounted price but said she could not provide the Spiritual Qi that day.

• Song Ping'an gave Tang Yuan an Honored Guest Privilege Slip, which granted him and his associates free lodging and waived sales commissions in Ascension City for sixty years.
• Tang Yuan arranged for the Song Household to return the commission on a purchase he planned to make that day.
• Tang Yuan visited the Wu Household shop and asked to buy a thousand wisps of Moon Jade Radiance.
• Wu Ningning revealed she had a thousand wisps and offered them for two Spirit Stones and six Spirit Sand each.
• Wu Ningning told Tang Yuan that he would not be able to obtain the thousand wisps that day.

Tang Yuan realized that the attack on Ascension City was a trap meant to reap the lives of its thousands of cultivators and tried to escape without becoming entangled in the slaughter. He was stopped by the sight of a bun shop owner's murdered family and confronted the young Devil Cultivator who had killed them.

• Wu Ningning agreed to fetch over a thousand strands of moon jade radiance from Huai'an City, and Tang Yuan made a written agreement with her.
• Tang Yuan collected the Song Household's Honored Guest Privilege Slip and headed to a luxurious inn.
• Devil Cultivators and Bandit Cultivators invaded Ascension City after its protective formation shattered, and the city's cultivators began killing and plundering one another.
• The Mystic Spoon and Calming Talismans helped Tang Yuan resist a mind-bewitching Divine Ability, and he concluded that a Purple Mansion cultivator was targeting the lives of the city's cultivators.
• Tang Yuan ran for the city gate but found the bun shop owner's family butchered, then questioned a young Devil Cultivator who admitted killing them.

Tang Yuan escaped Ascension City’s destruction by using the Mystic Spoon to hide in the Demon Realm, then returned three months later to find the island beneath the sea. After meeting Wu Ningning and learning she had survived because he sent her away, he resolved to cultivate faster and reconsidered whether his children should cultivate immortality.

• Tang Yuan killed the young Devil Cultivator and burned the bun shop owner’s family, then realized True Person Qin’s formation had trapped everyone in Ascension City.
• True Person Qin revealed his plan to consume the city’s inhabitants, while the Song Household’s patriarch rescued five Song youths, including Song Ping'an, after Song Ping'an reminded him of an Honored Guest Privilege Slip.
• Tang Yuan summoned Tang Yi, sent him to the Demon Realm, and escaped through the Mystic Spoon as True Person Qin and the patriarch sank Perching Clouds Island and Ascension City beneath the sea.
• After hiding in the Demon Realm for three months, Tang Yuan returned to the Human Realm, landed in the sea, and learned from Hou Fei that Perching Clouds Island had sunk.
• Tang Yuan met Wu Ningning, who thanked him for sending her away but still charged him for the Moon Jade Radiance, and he resolved to improve his cultivation and consider having his children cultivate immortality.

Tang Yuan considered whether his four children should take the Aperture-Opening Pills Hou Fei had made, knowing the pills carried a future body-possession price. He decided to let the children choose and planned to visit them that night, while his sons distributed crayfish meat in Dangwu Village.

• Hou Fei explained that the ten Aperture-Opening Pills could let Tang Yuan’s four non-cultivating children open their Innate Apertures, but recipients would owe her half their souls and one spirit and might later lose their bodies to her.
• Tang Yuan decided his children would choose whether to take the pills and said he would return to Dangwu Village that night.
• Hou Fei warned Tang Yuan to keep his distance from any children who chose to cultivate so his karmic ties would not endanger them.
• Tang Yuan recalled arranging for Tang Tiansong and his siblings to kill a stunned giant crayfish and share its meat with the village.
• Tang Tianshu led his brothers through Dangwu Village, beating a bronze gong and inviting villagers to receive crayfish and tofu.

Tang Tiansong and his siblings distributed crayfish meat to Dangwu Village, where Zhou Lixin defended their generosity and helped move the reluctant villagers along. Tang Tiansong revealed he had brought Yu Wei home after she saved his life and hoped to marry her, while Tang Tiandong worried about the consequences for the family’s engagement to the Ye Household; then Zhou Lixin summoned Tang Tiansong to meet the old village chief.

• Tang Tianshu announced the crayfish beast’s origins and the family’s decision to share its meat with the village.
• Tang Tiansong distributed crayfish meat while some villagers complained about the small portions and the danger of hunting in Three Graves Mountain.
• Zhou Lixin defended the Tang Household, then helped Tang Tiandong hurry past villagers who hesitated to accept their share.
• Tang Tiansong told Tang Tiandong that Yu Wei had saved him and had offered to become his concubine, but he wanted to make her his wife.
• Tang Tiandong worried that Tang Tiansong’s plans would anger the Ye Household, to which he was engaged.
• Zhou Lixin came to fetch Tang Tiansong because the old village chief had something important to discuss.

Tang Tiansong learned that Dangwu Village still had to send one of his younger brothers to the rat demon, so he agreed to seek a cultivator’s help in Huai’an City using five jade bottles his father had left behind. After leaving the village chief’s house, Tang Tiansong collapsed in his courtyard.

• Zhou Yi told Tang Tiansong that the village’s lot required one of his fifth or sixth brothers to be offered to the rat demon within two months.
• Zhou Yi explained that the demon rat was at most as strong as a sixth-layer Meridian Opening cultivator and proposed hiring a rogue cultivator to kill it.
• Tang Tiansong refused to involve his absent father and promised to kill the demon rat, though he admitted he was only a mortal.
• Tang Tiansong told Zhou Yi about the five jade bottles of Spiritual Qi his father had left and agreed to take them to Huai'an City to hire help.
• Zhou Yi advised Tang Tiansong to offer one bottle first and pay the rest only after the cultivator killed the demon rat.
• Tang Tiansong returned home, wished he could cultivate immortality like his father, and collapsed in his courtyard after a wave of dizziness.

Tang Yuan left home after entrusting Tang Tiansong with family responsibilities, cultivation supplies, and the Mystic Spoon, whose immortal could grant the siblings Aperture-Opening Pills at a cost. Tang Tiansong and his siblings chose to cultivate, while Hou Fei prepared to give them time to reconsider and privately planned around Tang Tianya’s future.

• Tang Yuan told Tang Tiansong that he and his siblings could cultivate with the Mystic Spoon Immortal Venerable’s help, but warned that the Immortal would take part of their souls and later possess one of them.
• Tang Yuan left cultivation supplies for his children and Tang Miao, asked Tang Tiansong to protect their family, and departed north on his flying shuttle.
• Tang Tiansong, Tang Tianlan, Tang Tianzi, and Tang Tiandong summoned the Mystic Spoon Immortal Venerable and asked for guidance in beginning cultivation.
• Hou Fei revealed that Tang Jincan was spying from a hill, then knocked him unconscious when Tang Tiandong and Tang Tianzi wanted to punish him.
• The four siblings said they had decided to cultivate, but Hou Fei gave them another cup of tea to reconsider and explained how difficult cultivation could be.

The four Tang siblings chose to cultivate immortality to protect their household and Dangwu Village from mortal and immortal threats. After receiving Aperture-Opening Pills and resources from Tang Yuan, they discovered that his cultivation manual for Tang Miao was a higher grade than theirs, and Tang Tiandong proposed using the Seven Stars Sword to kill Tang Jincan.

• Tang Tiansong, Tang Tianzi, Tang Tianlan, and Tang Tiandong resolved to cultivate immortality because their family and village faced threats from rival lineages and Western Rong savages.
• The four siblings asked the Earth Flood Dragon, Hou Fei, for Aperture-Opening Pills, and he made them Aperture Openers after taking half a soul and one spirit from each.
• Hou Fei gave Tang Tiansong a Jade Slip containing the secret method Burning Life, Dream Unfinished, then withdrew into the Mystic Spoon to cultivate.
• Tang Tiansong distributed Tang Yuan's cultivation resources and explained that their father had left them one hundred and nine Spirit Stones, a Seven Stars Sword, and other supplies.
• Tang Tiandong noticed that Tang Miao had received the lower-tier fifth-grade Spirit Mystic Jade Flow Art, while the siblings had the upper-tier sixth-grade Spirit Pivot Sand Flow Art; Tang Tiansong insisted they follow Tang Yuan's arrangements.
• Tang Tiandong asked to borrow the Seven Stars Sword so he could kill Tang Jincan and dedicate his blood to the blade.

Tang Tiansong decided to protect Jin Can despite his mistreatment of the family and planned to hire a cultivator to kill the demon rat. The next morning, Cui Xueyong visited with gifts and revealed that he had found a Qi Refining cultivator willing to kill it for free.

• Tang Tiandong urged Tang Tiansong to punish Jin Can for bullying Tang Miao and Tang Jin Feng, but Tang Tiansong planned to rescue and warn him instead.
• Tang Tiansong decided to take Tang Tianzi, Tang Tianzi, and Tang Tiandong to Huai'an City to seek help against the Meridian Opening Sixth Layer demon rat, while worrying that hiring a Qi Refining cultivator would cost ten Spirit Stones.
• Cui Xueyong arrived at dawn with two golden black carp, pork, sweets, and five jin of spirit rice, saying he had come to seek Tang Tiansong's martial arts advice and visit Tang Tianzi.
• Tang Tiansong refused to let Cui Xueyong give the Tang Household the valuable spirit rice, so Cui Xueyong agreed to take it back.
• Cui Xueyong formed a soundproof barrier and told Tang Tiansong that he had found a Qi Refining First Layer cultivator who would kill the demon rat for free.

Tang Tiansong and Cui Xueyong discussed the Tang siblings’ sudden ability to cultivate, and Cui explained that a century-old crayfish could have opened Tang Tianzi’s aperture. Tang Tiansong set out with Tianzi for Huai'an City to hire help against the demon rat, while Tang Tianlan and Tang Tiandong searched the back mountain for the spirit mansion mentioned in Tang Yuan’s letter.

• Cui Xueyong noticed Spiritual Qi in Tang Tiansong and explained that eating a century-old crayfish could open a Late Aperture Opener’s Innate Aperture.
• Cui Xueyong offered to ask his family’s guest elder to kill the Meridian Opening Sixth Layer demon rat, but Tang Tiansong said he would first seek a cultivator in Huai'an City.
• Tang Tiansong arranged for Tang Miao to keep Cui Xueyong occupied while he and Tang Tianzi prepared to leave.
• Tang Tiansong and Tang Tianzi used Spirit Gathering Pills and Divine Travel Talismans to travel swiftly toward Huai'an City.
• Tang Tiansong and Tang Tianzi passed several cultivation households and villages on their route toward Pingyang Commandery.

Tang Tiansong and Tang Tianzi struggled to choose what to buy with their limited Spirit Stones, then visited Cui Household Village to seek help with killing the Demon Rat. There, Cui Xueyong defied his family’s arranged marriage and insisted he would marry Tang Tianzi.

• Tang Tiansong and Tang Tianzi learned that hiring a cultivator to kill the Demon Beast cost more than their household could afford, so they bought several basic Law Technique Jade Slips and headed home.
• Tang Tiansong told Tang Tianzi to conceal their father’s wealth and planned to test Second Uncle’s three sons with Aperture Recognition Pills before buying them cultivation manuals.
• Tang Tianzi asked to buy the Purple Lightning Pellet Talisman Secret Technique and proposed using their Great Kun Moonlight Spiritual Qi to refine powerful talismans.
• Tang Tiansong agreed to buy the technique if it remained unsold after they killed the Demon Rat, even if he had to give up buying cultivation techniques for himself.
• Tang Tiansong and Tang Tianzi presented Cui Lihai with a Red-banded Snake beast core and gold, and Cui Lihai questioned whether the Cui Household had any reason to deal with their poor household.
• Cui Xueyong declared that he would marry Tang Tianzi rather than accept his family’s arranged marriage, threatening to become a monk if they refused.

Cui Xueyong defied his father, Cui Lihai, to insist on marrying Tang Tianzi, while Tang Tiansong sought the Cui Household’s help against a demonic rat. The households signed a contract for the Cui Household’s guest elder to kill it, with Tang Tianzi agreeing to marry Cui Xueyong if the Tang Household failed to repay ten Spirit Stones within five years.

• Cui Xueyong argued that he should be allowed to marry the woman he chose, and Cui Xuebin challenged whether Tang Tianzi met the family’s requirements.
• Tang Tiansong said his father was a Rogue Cultivator at the Middle Stage of Qi Refinement and confirmed that the four eldest Tang siblings had opened their [Innate Apertures].
• Cui Xueyong asked Cui Lihai to help the Tang Household by sending the Cui guest elder to kill the demonic rat.
• Cui Lihai offered the guest elder’s services for the beast core and ten Spirit Stones, and Tang Tiansong proposed paying five now and ten more within five years.
• Tang Tianzi agreed to marry Cui Xueyong if the Tang Household could not pay within five years, and Cui Xuebin added that Xueyong must take at least five concubines.
• The Cui and Tang households signed a spirit Incantation contract, exchanged five Spirit Stones, and agreed on a time to kill the demonic rat.