Chapter Summaries

Tang Tiansong planned to earn Spirit Stones by hunting Demon Beasts, while the Tang siblings began cultivating in Carefree Cave. He accompanied Shen Kun to confront a demon rat, then the chapter shifted to the siblings cultivating at home as Tang Tiansong waited outside the mine.

• Tang Tiansong reassured Tang Tianzi that she would not have to marry Cui Xueyong against her wishes and proposed hunting low-level Demon Beasts to earn Spirit Stones.
• Tang Tianlan and Tang Tiandong found a spirit spring cave abode behind Dangwu Village and named it Carefree Cave, where the siblings began cultivating.
• Tang Tiandong discovered that he had an Earth Spirit Root, and Tang Tiansong reached the Meridian Opening First Layer after cultivating for over a month.
• Tang Tiansong led Shen Kun to the demon rat's cave and explained how the beast had terrorized the miners and demanded tribute.
• Shen Kun entered the mine to kill the Meridian Opening Sixth Layer demon rat while Tang Tiansong waited outside, prepared for the possibility that Shen Kun might fail.
• At Carefree Cave, Tang Tianlan gave up her turn cultivating inside to Tang Tiandong because the spirit spring could support only two or three cultivators at once.

Tang Tiansong learned that Shen Kun had lied about killing the demon rat, and the wounded beast attacked him outside the mine. Badly injured and unable to escape, Tang Tiansong ran into the mine with the demon rat close behind.

• Tang Tianlan told Tang Tiandong that the family needed to seek stronger cultivation opportunities, and Tang Tiandong revealed that Tang Tiansong had ordered the family to flee if he failed to return by midnight.
• Shen Kun emerged from the mine with the demon rat's severed tail, claimed he had killed the beast, and made Tang Tiansong sign a spirit incantation contract.
• After Shen Kun left, Tang Tiansong began burying the villagers' remains near the mine entrance.
• The demon rat appeared alive, and Tang Tiansong realized Shen Kun had only cut off its tail and lied about killing it.
• The demon rat shattered Tang Tiansong's golden shield and tore open his chest, forcing him to flee into the mine with the beast pursuing him.

Tang Tiansong escaped a demon rat in the coal mine by using explosive talismans and the tunnel traps, while Tang Tiandong and Tang Tianzi rushed to help after Tang Tianya foresaw his danger. The siblings suspected the Golden Yang Gate had sent the demon rat to weaken villages near Gazing Dragon Lake while pursuing a great fortuitous opportunity near Dangwu Village.

• Tang Tiansong collapsed a mine tunnel with an explosive talisman, then used a map of the tunnels to plan against the pursuing demon rat.
• Tang Tianya saw a vision of Tang Tiansong bleeding while a large rat chased him, prompting Tang Tiandong and Tang Tianzi to go to the mine despite Tang Tiansong's warning.
• Tang Tiandong and Tang Tianzi reached the coal mine and found Tang Tiansong unharmed after he had lured the demon rat into a steel-spike trap.
• Tang Tiansong said Shen Kun had failed to kill the demon rat and reported that it had spoken of the Golden Yang Gate deliberately placing it near the villages.
• Tang Tiandong and Tang Tiansong suspected the Golden Yang Gate was seeking the great fortuitous opportunity expected near Dangwu Village in ten or twenty years.

Tang Tiansong, Tang Tianzi, and Tang Tiandong survived the Demon Rat and cleared the coal and copper mines of low-level Demon Beasts with the Mystic Spoon’s help. As they headed home, Tang Tianzi chose to save a dying white short-tailed cat, while Tang Tiandong argued that they should take its beast core.

• The Mystic Spoon killed the Demon Rat with a single attack after Tang Tiandong charged at it holding the spoon.
• Tang Tiansong urged Tang Tianzi and Tang Tiandong to focus on cultivation so the Tang Household could claim the coming opportunity near Dangwu Yuan.
• The siblings harvested the Demon Rat and asked the Earth Flood Dragon inside the Mystic Spoon to clear the Demon Beasts from the coal mine.
• The Earth Flood Dragon also helped them clear the copper mine, and they finished near sunset.
• Tang Tianzi cradled a dying white short-tailed cat rescued from the mine, and she refused Tang Tiandong’s suggestion to take its beast core.

After the Tang family celebrated Tang Tiansong’s victory over the Demon Rat, Miao recognized the white short-tailed cat as Tang Qilang and ordered it killed. The cat revealed its intelligence and addressed Miao as its godmother, leaving the Tang siblings wondering how their absent father was connected to it.

• Tang Tiansong told Miao that Tang Miao could cultivate, that he had reorganized the village night patrol, and that he planned to develop the coal and copper mines.
• Tang Tianya brought the white short-tailed cat to the gathering, and Miao recognized it as a vicious beast and urged Tang Tiansong to kill it.
• Tang Tiansong restrained the cat while Tang Tianlan attacked it with the Seven Stars Sword, but the cat caught the blade and blasted Tang Tiansong away.
• The short-tailed cat spoke in human language, and Miao asked whether it was Tang Qilang.
• Tang Qilang knelt and greeted Miao as his godmother, prompting the six Tang siblings to wonder whether their father was involved.

Tang Tiansong learned that the creature they had rescued was Tang Qilang, a white lynx from Three Graves Mountain and the siblings’ father’s godson. He proposed that Qilang guide the Tang siblings through the mountain to hunt Demon Beasts and find resources, and Qilang agreed in exchange for more pills from Tang Yuan.

• Miao explained how Tang Yuan had spared the lynx years earlier, leading him to take Miao and Tang Yuan as godparents and receive the name Tang Qilang.
• Qilang transformed into a young man, greeted the six Tang siblings, and revealed that he had let a demon rat capture him so he could eventually eat its beast core.
• Tang Tiansong gave Qilang the demon rat’s beast core and later asked whether he knew Three Graves Mountain well.
• Tang Tiansong proposed that the four siblings hunt Demon Beasts and search for treasures with Qilang guiding them in return for an equal share of their gains.
• Qilang accepted but asked Tang Tiansong to request more of Tang Yuan’s pills, saying he could wait as long as a hundred years.

Tang Yuan returned to Golden Shell Island and began alternating cultivation in the Human Realm and Demon Realm while waiting for Li Bai to emerge from seclusion. Later, Tang Tiansong arrived at the Ye Household to break off his engagement, and Ye Hailiang reacted angrily as Tiansong apologized.

• Tang Yuan reached Golden Shell Island after more than three months of travel and decided to cultivate there for four years before returning to the Holy Cardamom Sect.
• Tang Yuan spent half of each month cultivating on Golden Shell Island and the other half improving his cultivation in the Demon Realm.
• Tang Tiansong told Tang Miao he planned to break off his engagement to the Ye Household's second daughter because he loved Yu Wei and intended to marry her.
• Tang Tiansong offered Tang Miao half his time in Carefree Cave and warned him to keep their cultivation resources secret, especially from Tang Jincan.
• Tang Tiansong and Tang Miao met Ye Hailiang at the Ye Household, where Ye Hailiang resented the broken engagement and Tang Tiansong apologized.

Tang Tiansong dissolved his engagement to the Ye Household by agreeing to pay sixteen Spirit Stones, hoping to protect Ye Hailiang’s daughter from the stigma of becoming a widow if he died on Three Graves Mountain. Later, he inspected Gazing Dragon Lake and found evidence that its soil could support life if he found a source of water.

• Tang Tiansong apologized to Ye Hailiang and offered compensation to end the engagement, while Tang Miao explained that Tang Tiansong planned to risk his life hunting Demon Beasts on Three Graves Mountain.
• Ye Hailiang demanded sixteen Spirit Stones, and Tang Miao protested and threatened the Ye Household, but Tang Tiansong agreed to pay.
• Ye Hailiang accepted the compensation and dissolved his daughter’s engagement to Tang Tiansong, who hoped to marry Yu Wei openly in a few years.
• On the second day of the second month in 4038, Tang Tiansong examined the barren site where Tang Yuan had tried to establish a cultivation land beside Gazing Dragon Lake.
• Tang Tiansong found fine earth and fragments of roots and plants in the sand, and concluded that the land could become fertile if he found a source of water.

Tang Tiansong diverted spring water from Dangwu Mountain to reclaim farmland around Boxwood Cottage while he and his siblings spent years cultivating and hunting Demon Beasts in Three Graves Mountain. By 4040, Tang Tianya had begun cultivation and Cui Xueyong was courting Tang Tianzi, while Tang Tianlan remained uninterested in marriage.

• Tang Tiansong organized Dangwu Village to channel Wenqu Spring to Boxwood Cottage and built up the residence and surrounding farmland.
• Tang Tiansong and the white lynx hunted Demon Beasts together in Three Graves Mountain, and Tang Tiansong gradually learned to trust the lynx.
• Tang Tiansong later brought Tang Tianlan, Tang Tianzi, and Tang Tiandong to hunt with him, while Tang Tiandong and Tang Miao cultivated in Carefree Cave.
• At age nine, Tang Tianya swore a Mystic Incantation oath, surrendered half a soul and one spirit, and took an Aperture-Opening Pill to begin cultivating.
• In 4040, Cui Xueyong teased Tang Tianzi about marriage, and Tang Tianlan suggested he formally ask for her hand; Tang Tianzi said he should wait, while Tang Tianlan said she had no interest in romance.

Cui Xueyong recognized that Tang Miao’s feelings for his cousin Sister Tianlan were unsettling his cultivation and warned that they could lead to Qi Deviation. He advised Tang Miao to study at Emptiness and Form Temple, leaving him considering Buddhist teachings as a way to calm his heart.

• Cui Xueyong confronted Tang Miao about his romantic feelings for Sister Tianlan, and Tang Miao admitted he loved her despite their being paternal cousins.
• Cui Xueyong explained how Tang Miao’s childhood gratitude and closeness to Sister Tianlan had shaped his feelings, and warned that Qi Deviation could corrupt his nature and endanger her family.
• Tang Miao resolved to train diligently and help Sister Tianlan, while saying he would take his own life if he sensed Qi Deviation coming.
• Cui Xueyong recommended that Tang Miao visit Emptiness and Form Temple to study its calming scriptures as a lay practitioner.
• Cui Xueyong described the five major paths of cultivation and mocked Buddhist disciples’ restrictions on marriage, meat, and wine.

Tang Tiansong explained that he was rushing his cultivation and seeking Qi Refining Stage pills to prepare the Tang Household for a coming opportunity near Dangwu Village. Cui Xueyong hinted that a marketplace selling such pills was nearby, leaving the Tang siblings wondering what he meant.

• Tang Miao and Cui Xueyong returned to the others after Tang Miao agreed to cook dinner.
• Tang Tiandong warned Tang Tiansong that his rapid cultivation and heavy use of pills could ruin his chances of Foundation Establishment.
• Tang Tiansong said he wanted to gain strength before a great fortuitous opportunity appeared near Dangwu Village in about ten years.
• Tang Tiansong told Cui Xueyong that Qi Refining Stage pills were scarce and that the white lynx had warned them against killing too many Qi Refining Stage Demon Beasts.
• Cui Xueyong claimed a marketplace where they could obtain Qi Refining Stage pills was right on the Tang Household's doorstep, confusing the Tang siblings.

Cui Xueyong told the Tang siblings about the Purple Moon Lake Market in the center of Gazing Dragon Lake, where they could sell beast cores and buy supplies despite the desert’s cultivation-restricting formation. Tang Tiansong learned that entry cost one Spirit Stone, with goods accepted as collateral, and that the market’s founder protected visitors within five hundred li.

• Cui Xueyong explained that a cultivators' market stood at Purple Moon Islet, an oasis formed around a spring in the center of the Gazing Dragon Lake Desert.
• Cui Xueyong recounted the legendary battle in which the Great Sage Immortal Lord and the divine dragons had fought the heavenly devil, leaving Gazing Dragon Lake dried up and its dragons extinct.
• Tang Tiansong hoped the market would let him sell future Qi Refining Stage beast cores, since the Tang Household needed Spirit Stones for weapons, pills, talismans, and formations.
• Tang Tiandong questioned Cui Xueyong about the dragons he had seen in Huai'an City, and Cui Xueyong distinguished the Long Household’s giant dragons from the extinct divine dragons.
• Tang Tiansong asked about the market’s admission fee, and Cui Xueyong said visitors paid one Spirit Stone or offered goods as collateral and received protection within five hundred li of the market.

Tang Tiandong, Tang Tianya, and Cui Xueyong visited Purple Moon Lake Market to learn prices and sell beast cores, then confronted a stall owner who falsely accused Tang Tianya of breaking dragon egg fossils. The chapter ended as Tang Tiandong considered how to respond to the attempted scam.

• Tang Tiansong sent Tang Tiandong and Cui Xueyong to Purple Moon Lake Market to sell beast cores and told them to bring Tang Tianya along.
• The Earth Flood Dragon noticed a Purple Jade Huang appear when Tang Tiandong mentioned the Great Sage Immortal Lord, the Divine Dragon, and the Heavenly Demon, then sent a strand of Divine Sense into Tang Pingan's soul.
• Tang Tiandong, Tang Tianya, and Cui Xueyong traveled by flying boat to Purple Moon Islet, paid three Spirit Stones for admission, and explored the market.
• The three sold their beast cores for twenty-eight Spirit Stones, and Tang Tiandong calculated how much they might earn by hunting Demon Beasts.
• A stall owner accused Tang Tianya of breaking three Divine Dragon egg fossils and demanded ten Spirit Stones, though Tang Tianya had not touched them.
• Tang Tiandong questioned Cui Xueyong, learned the stall owner had pushed the fossils over, and tightened his grip on Azure Edge.

Tang Tiandong and the others encountered a scammer selling dragon egg fossils at Purple Moon Lake Market, but a masked cultivator named Tong Lingling intervened. Tang Tianya chose three defective fossils, which the Earth Flood Dragon’s split consciousness recognized as unusual before falling dormant.

• Tang Tiandong considered paying Feng San for the dragon egg fossils until Tong Lingling accused Feng San of swindling customers and explained the fossils’ uses.
• Tong Lingling revealed she had repeatedly bought fossils hoping to hatch a giant dragon, then told Tang Tianya that Feng San’s fossils were suitable for medicine but could not hatch dragons.
• Feng San identified Tong Lingling as a member of the Tong Household and sold Tang Tiandong seven Spirit Stones’ worth of fossils.
• Tang Tianya chose three second-grade fossils, and when no first-grade fossils remained, Tang Tiandong let him take three defective ones instead.
• The Earth Flood Dragon’s split consciousness sensed that one red, one green, and one purple defective fossil glowed unusually, made Tang Tianya pick them, and then fell dormant.

Tang Tiansong expanded the Tang Household’s influence while balancing its military and mining needs against the welfare of its people. As he considered cultivating the life-burning method to protect his clan, he argued against overworking the villagers and left the household’s growth dependent on patience and their support.

• The Earth Flood Dragon infused Great Kun Moonlight into three fossilized dragon eggs, and they showed faint signs of vitality.
• By year 4041, Tang Tiansong had made Dangwu Village the center of a town governing five settlements, with 30,951 people and 3,000 full-time soldiers.
• Tang Tiansong considered cultivating Burning Life, Dream Unfinished, a Qi Refining method that sacrificed the cultivator’s life for the Tang Household.
• Tang Tiandong returned from the mines and reported that Tang Miao had spent three months at Emptiness and Form Temple, though he continued sending letters.
• Tang Tiandong proposed increasing coal and copper production to gain more Spirit Stones, but Tang Tiansong warned that squeezing the villagers could divide the clan and drive people away.

Tang Tiansong and Tang Tiandong worried that the Tang Household lacked resources and could no longer hunt Demon Beasts in Three Graves Mountain, until a message reported that the Western Rong were attacking. Tang Tiansong then learned that Tang Tianlan had captured Yang Yue'ao, a Gaoxin Clan chief who had tried to raid a village, and wondered why she had brought him to Dangwu Village.

• Tang Tiandong explained that the Tang Household’s 136 Spirit Stones could not fund cultivation for the young Aperture Openers under its rule, and asked whether Tang Qilang had sent word.
• Tang Tiansong said Tang Qilang had warned them that a powerful blood-sacrificing demon in Three Graves Mountain made hunting there too dangerous for up to ten years.
• A message reported that the Western Rong were attacking and that Miao Anbang requested an audience with Tang Tiansong.
• Miao Anbang reported that Tang Tianlan had captured Yang Yue'ao after he led three hundred tribal soldiers in an attempted raid, and that no commoners had been harmed.
• Tang Tiansong dismissed Miao Anbang to eat and then studied Yang Yue'ao, puzzled that Tang Tianlan had brought a low-ranking Western Rong cultivator to him.

Tang Tiansong questioned captured Gaoxin chief Yang Yue'ao, who explained that Gu Husha was forcing the Western Rong tribes to invade Central Lands territory while pursuing the conquest of the east. Tang Tiansong learned that Gu Husha could transform into a giant ape and resolved that he must be killed before he became a greater threat.

• Tang Tiansong confronted Yang Yue'ao over the Gaoxin Clan's raids, then ordered his guards to untie him and explain himself.
• Yang Yue'ao said Yangshe Man had helped Gu Husha seize the Gaoyang Clan and that Gu Husha was forcing tribes to invade the Central Lands.
• Yang Yue'ao explained that drought and locusts had driven him to raid for supplies to save the remaining three thousand members of his clan.
• Yang Yue'ao warned that Gu Husha planned to unite the Western Rong tribes and lead twenty thousand herders east toward the Dragon Scale Plain and Bitter Chaos Sea.
• Yang Yue'ao revealed that Gu Husha could assume a giant ape dharma form and might eventually rival a Foundation Establishment cultivator, prompting Tang Tiansong to consider killing him soon.

Tang Tiansong learned that Gu Husha’s fortified cities and a Heavenly Gate Realm protector made conquering the Western Rong difficult, then discovered Yang Yue'ao’s jade huang linked him to the Guishi Clan. Yang Yue'ao agreed to secretly support the Tang Household in exchange for aid to his struggling Gaoxin Clan, while Tang Tiansong refused to promise ongoing support.

• Yang Yue'ao said the Tang Household could not take any of the five Western Rong cities, and explained that a Heavenly Gate Realm expert’s agreement barred Foundation Establishment cultivators from entering Great Rong Mountain.
• Tang Tiansong noticed Yang Yue'ao’s jade huang and learned that it had belonged to his late wife, a member of the Guishi Clan’s royal family, whose leader wore a purple jade huang.
• Yang Yue'ao explained how he had joined the Guishi Clan through marriage and returned to lead the Gaoxin Clan after his family died and his wife left no children.
• Tang Tiansong offered gold, silver, copper, salt, and grain to help the Gaoxin Clan, and Yang Yue'ao pledged secret support for the Tang Household if Gu Husha attacked.
• Yang Yue'ao asked for continued aid because Gu Husha kept demanding supplies, but Tang Tiansong said the Tang Household would only help in an emergency.

Yang Yue'ao pledged to spy for Tang Tiansong in exchange for supplies and the promise of support against Gu Husha. A mysterious girl cultivator from the Dark Candle Courtyard arrived at Dangwu Village, accused Tang Tianya of unleashing Sword Primordial Qi, and attacked him.

• Yang Yue'ao agreed to gather information for Tang Tiansong and was promised support if he killed Gu Husha.
• Tang Tiansong and Tang Tiandong discussed the Tang Household's defenses and watched Tang Tianya practice swordsmanship near Carefree Cave.
• A cloud of black Sha Qi swept toward the brothers, and Tang Tiansong sent Tang Tiandong to fetch Mystic Spoon while telling Tang Tianya to take shelter.
• The Sha Qi revealed a girl cultivator in dark Daoist robes, who denied being Lord Lang and demanded to know who had swung a sword at her.
• Tang Tianya admitted he had swung his sword, and the girl accused him of unleashing Sword Primordial Qi before thrusting her sword at him.
• Tang Tiansong and Tang Tiandong rushed to protect Tang Tianya with Golden Light Shields, while Tang Tiandong stood in front of him with his sword raised.

Tang Tianya faced Wu Mengmeng after she overpowered his older brothers, but Wu Changgeng stopped her from attacking him. The cultivators discovered that Tang Tianya might have unleashed Sword Primordial Qi, though he could not reproduce it when asked.

• Wu Mengmeng struck Tang Tiansong and Tang Tiandong with powerful Sword Qi, and Tang Tianya drew his sword to face her.
• Wu Changgeng intervened before Wu Mengmeng could attack Tang Tianya, then Han Dahai and Wei Chen arrived.
• Wu Changgeng introduced the visitors and explained that they had come to hunt a Crimson Blood Wolf on Three Graves Mountain.
• Han Dahai questioned Tang Tianya about the sword strike, and Wu Mengmeng said he might have released Sword Primordial Qi, a rare sign of a potential Sword Immortal.
• Tang Tianya swung his sword repeatedly but produced no Sword Primordial Qi, frustrating Wu Mengmeng and disappointing Han Dahai and Wei Chen.