Chapter Summaries

Jiang Jinyi realized that Secretary-General Lin had been looking after her because of her brother, while classmates speculated about her sixth-grade cultivation method and prospects. In class, Teacher Xun asked why Dui Metal’s rightful seat had no lord, and Jinyi prepared to answer as Jiang Liyang watched and planned to pursue her.

• Jiang Jinyi recalled receiving Dui White Pure Metal Sha and Turning Metal Floating Cloud Paste from Teaching Assistant Lin, who warned her not to take pills after entering Qi Refinement.
• Jiang Jinyi realized Teaching Assistant Lin had deliberately sought her out and told her that her brother was in seclusion again.
• Chen Suqiu explained that Foundation Establishment seeds mattered to Aristocratic Clans, while classmates worried that Jinyi’s poor family could not support her sixth-grade Cultivation Method.
• Teacher Xun asked why Dui Metal’s rightful seat had no lord and called on Jiang Jinyi to answer.
• Jiang Liyang decided to court Jiang Jinyi after class, confident that his family’s resources gave him an advantage.
• Jiang Jinyi, having prepared her coursework, resolved to answer Teacher Xun’s question and prove herself.

Jiang Jinyi argued that Metal Virtue’s flourishing explained the absence of a true [Dui Metal] lord, but Teacher Xun challenged her shallow understanding and taught the class how the Metal lineages were interconnected. He revealed that [Origin Lightning] had transformed [Qian Metal] and [Tongbao] through the rise of the digital economy, then left the class with a question about how those changes related to [Dui Metal].

• Jiang Jinyi used a prepared speech to argue that the strength of the four Metals made it difficult for anyone below an Immortal Lord to command Metal Virtue.
• Teacher Xun told Jiang Jinyi that her answer was mostly true but superficial, and warned the class not to mistake visible achievements and cultivation for Dao attainment.
• Teacher Xun explained how the ancient Theory of Five Manifestations connected [Rare Metal], [Geng Metal], [Qian Metal], and [Tongbao], and Chen Suqiu said that the Metal lineages influenced one another.
• Teacher Xun described how [Qian Metal] and [Tongbao] authorities overlapped, then asked what had changed in the Great Qian Circulating Treasure over the past several hundred years.
• Jiang Jinyi identified [Origin Lightning] as the change, and Teacher Xun explained that it had helped turn currency into digital numbers stored on Origin Lightning creations.
• Teacher Xun asked what the changes in [Qian Metal] and [Tongbao] over the past thousand years had to do with [Dui Metal].

Jiang Liyang impressed Teacher Xun with his theory about Dui Metal and Rare Metal, while Jiang Jinyi received an offer to remain at school if she mastered a difficult technique. After class, Jiang Wangxuan returned from seclusion, and his presence startled Chen Suqiu as he invited her to dine with them at Central Palace.

• Jiang Liyang argued that Dui Metal supported the other Metals through their changes and suggested Rare Metal was evolving away from Metal Virtue toward Origin Lightning.
• Teacher Xun praised Jiang Liyang's bold speculation and discussed the possibility that Rare Metal and Origin Lightning could produce an intercalary True Lord.
• Teacher Xun checked Jiang Jinyi's progress and offered to let her stay at the school if she achieved major accomplishment in the Heavenly Origin Golden Light Instruction within three years.
• Jiang Jinyi rushed past Jiang Liyang, who was waiting outside, and greeted her brother Jiang Wangxuan at a nearby pavilion.
• Chen Suqiu sensed Jiang Wangxuan's extraordinary presence, and he invited her to join them for a meal at Central Palace to discuss a few matters.

Jiang Wangxuan arranged for Jiang Jinyi and Chen Suqiu to move into his vacant residence at the Wave-Gazing Residence in the Central Palace, while Chen Suqiu returned Xue Renya’s Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill. As Jiang Wangxuan gave Chen Suqiu a pill of his own, Jiang Jinyi was suddenly overcome by terror, as though she were being dragged into a deep pool.

• Jiang Wangxuan asked Chen Suqiu about the Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill Xue Renya had given her, and she returned it, explaining that she did not expect to reach Foundation Establishment.
• Jiang Wangxuan told Jiang Jinyi and Chen Suqiu that he had arranged for them to move into his vacant residence at the Wave-Gazing Residence in the Central Palace.
• Chen Suqiu realized Jiang Wangxuan was asking her to help shield Jiang Jinyi from public scrutiny and agreed to follow his arrangements.
• Chen Suqiu mistook Jiang Wangxuan’s authority and residence for signs that he had entered Yuanhuai Heaven, then thanked him and called him Senior.
• Jiang Wangxuan offered Chen Suqiu a Supreme White Metal-Tempering Pill, and Jiang Jinyi suddenly felt terror as though she were being pulled into a deep pool.

Jiang Wangxuan brought Jiang Jinyi and Chen Suqiu to Wave-Gazing Residence and arranged for Jinyi to stay there while she secluded herself. After Chen Suqiu met the returning Gu Changhuai and received a transfer notice, she drank Jiang Wangxuan’s Osmanthus Rain Flower Essence and advanced to Qi Refining Third Layer.

• Jiang Wangxuan showed Jiang Jinyi and Chen Suqiu around Wave-Gazing Residence and told them to preserve its centuries-old furnishings.
• Jiang Wangxuan asked Chen Suqiu to obtain leave for Jiang Jinyi from Teacher Xun and gave her two boxes of Osmanthus Rain Flower Essence.
• Chen Suqiu left the residence and met Gu Changhuai, who concealed his identity as Lecturer Ye and decided to investigate her after sensing her fate stir.
• Chen Suqiu received a dormitory transfer notice bearing her name and approved by Lin Tongjiang.
• Chen Suqiu drank the Osmanthus Rain Flower Essence, broke through to Qi Refining Third Layer, and felt that her fate had been forcibly changed.

Jiang Wangxuan reassured Jiang Jinyi about surviving his dangerous Foundation Establishment and showed her the cultivation facilities in their new residence. He explained Big Fat Fish’s evolution and learned that Dezhao had received an implanted Spirit Root, leaving Jiang Jinyi furious and eager to confront him.

• Jiang Jinyi asked Jiang Wangxuan whether he had reached Foundation Establishment and whether he had been afraid, and he admitted the breakthrough had nearly cost him his life.
• Jiang Wangxuan took Jiang Jinyi to the back courtyard and advised her to explore cultivation arts while prioritizing her understanding of the Dao.
• Jiang Wangxuan explained that Big Fat Fish had evolved into a powerful analytical intelligence capable of studying techniques and optimizing cultivation methods.
• Big Fat Fish proposed installing a cultivation system for Jiang Jinyi, but Jiang Wangxuan rejected the idea and told her to investigate anything unusual about her.
• Jiang Jinyi inspected Jiang Wangxuan’s sparse bedroom and asked to redecorate the back courtyard, then learned that Dezhao had received an implanted Spirit Root and vowed to go back and beat him.

Jiang Wangxuan tested Jiang Jinyi for a dangerous bloodline reaction and helped Big Fat Fish analyze her Dui Metal cultivation method, discovering how his Immortal Moon Township could bypass its restrictions. He then warned Jinyi that his Grand Yin path was dangerous and asked whether she regretted her choices, leaving her to face his fear and uncertainty.

• Jiang Wangxuan and Big Fat Fish determined that Jiang Jinyi’s Spirit Aperture was likely good fortune rather than an awakening of the Jiang Household bloodline, and confirmed that she showed no reaction to the Black Tide.
• Jiang Wangxuan guided Jinyi through cultivating with Grand Yin Spiritual Qi while Big Fat Fish monitored and analyzed the Dui Metal Aperture Heart Qi Gathering Instruction.
• Big Fat Fish discovered that the method suppressed the route through Baihui and that its full circulation could damage a Qi Refining cultivator’s brain.
• Jiang Wangxuan and Big Fat Fish concluded that his Moon-Worshipping Spirit-Calming Benediction and Immortal Moon Township could carry Jinyi’s Dui Marsh Metal Essence through the dangerous route safely.
• After Jinyi woke, she told Jiang Wangxuan that her life felt wonderful and secure with him, while he admitted that he would not have chosen the Grand Yin path if he had a choice.
• Jiang Wangxuan warned Jinyi that his successful Foundation Establishment would soon transform her life and asked whether she regretted her decision.

Jiang Wangxuan offered Jiang Jinyi a chance to overcome the flaw in her cultivation method by joining her fate to his dangerous Grand Yin lineage. As she received the Moon-Worshipping Spirit-Calming Benediction, she awakened the true power of Dui Marsh Metal, while Jiang Wangxuan gained Golden Moon Sword Essence and a path into Tai’a Sword Valley.

• Jiang Wangxuan revealed his Autumn Moon Osmanthus Immortal Foundation and warned Jiang Jinyi that her cultivation method could prevent her from advancing.
• Jiang Wangxuan explained that his Immortal Foundation could repair the flaw, but accepting its help would intertwine their fates and expose her to the dangers of his Grand Yin lineage.
• Jiang Jinyi accepted the risk, insisting that their lives had already been bound together through family and her brother’s help.
• Jiang Wangxuan used the Moon-Worshipping Spirit-Calming Benediction to guide Grand Yin moonlight and Dui Metal Essence into Jiang Jinyi.
• Jiang Jinyi awakened the five metals hidden within Dui Marsh Metal Essence, and its power settled into her as Grand Geng Dui Essence.
• Jiang Wangxuan gained Venus’s intent and Golden Moon Sword Essence, allowing him to enter Tai’a Sword Valley and qualify for its protection.

After moving into Wave-Gazing Residence, Chen Suqiu encountered Lecturer Ye Gu Changhuai, whose investigation into her background had gone unanswered. At the Xie Household, True Person Chonglang revealed that he had dismantled the Gu Household’s compromised intelligence network and challenged Gu Changhuai to explain the household’s plans in Lüyu.

• Chen Suqiu finished cleaning No. 13 Wave-Gazing Residence and began decorating it with flowers while Jinyi remained in seclusion.
• Chen Suqiu met Gu Changhuai, who had been unable to get anyone in Lüyu to investigate her background.
• True Person Chonglang received a report about Secretary-General Lin’s extraordinary actions in the Central Palace and then met Gu Changhuai at the Xie Household residence.
• Gu Changhuai told True Person Chonglang that True Person Chonghuan and Senior Brother Lin had not met with him, and he suspected they opposed the Gu Household’s return to Yuanhuai Heaven.
• True Person Chonglang admitted that he had dismantled the Gu Household’s planted agents, explaining that they had changed masters and were being used to mislead the household.
• True Person Chonglang raised Gu Changhuai to his feet and asked what the Gu Household was plotting in Lüyu.

Gu Changhuai explained that he sought a position at Lüyu to pursue Great True Person Sudan’s lost Divine Ability, Dark Radiance Manor, and to strengthen the Weak Water faction, but True Person Chonglang rejected his political overtures and ordered him to leave after Alchemy Invocation Peak’s matter was settled. Later, while reflecting on whether the Gu Household had misused his fate, Gu Changhuai met Chen Suqiu and accepted her pudding.

• Gu Changhuai revealed that he wanted to join Alchemy Invocation Peak to obtain Dark Radiance Manor and hoped to see the grotto-heaven’s Moon-Gazing and Tranquility Painting.
• Gu Changhuai manifested his Weak Water fate to ask True Person Chonglang for support, but Chonglang overwhelmed it with Clear Water and accused him of testing and lobbying him.
• True Person Chonglang told Gu Changhuai that Lüyu’s Water Virtue professors had opposed his appointment, that True Person Chonghuan had forced it through, and that Gu Changhuai should leave after Alchemy Invocation Peak’s matter was over.
• Gu Changhuai reflected that the Gu Household had alienated Lüyu’s Water College while trying to restore its former standing, and questioned who truly wanted him to attain the Dao.
• Chen Suqiu met Gu Changhuai at the Gu Household’s ancestral grounds and offered him pudding before telling him that her clan lived in Jialing.
• Gu Changhuai ate the pudding despite his Dao body’s resistance, but tasted nothing and noticed only Chen Suqiu’s faint fragrance on the wrapper.

Lin Tongjiang explained to Jiang Wangxuan that Huaqi could grant cultivators fate along with Cultivation Methods, and that Jiang Wangxuan’s own borrowed fate had drawn Grand Yin’s attention. The brothers visited Venerable Tingming’s home, where they met Lu Xiaoyi and shared his vegetable congee.

• Lin Tongjiang taught Jiang Wangxuan about Huaqi’s lineage and the cultivation path of ingesting Qi.
• Lin Tongjiang explained that Huaqi bestowed method-suited fate, and that Jiang Wangxuan’s borrowed fate had caused Grand Yin to watch him closely.
• Lin Tongjiang said cultivators who used Huaqi’s fate to forge an Immortal Foundation had to return to Huaqi and fulfill their vow.
• Venerable Tingming came out of his stone house and invited Lin Tongjiang and Jiang Wangxuan to breakfast.
• Lu Xiaoyi served the brothers vegetable congee, and Jiang Wangxuan praised his cooking before Venerable Tingming called it cultivation.

Venerable Tingming explained how Huaqi’s investment in cultivators and the middleman’s role could lead to Buddhist Devils exploiting Children of Fate, while describing the lineage’s rules of mutual exchange. Jiang Wangxuan prepared to leave his name with Huaqi, and Lin Tongjiang weighed his own cultivation progress against the growing troubles at the grotto-heaven.

• Secretary-General Lin asked Venerable Tingming why the apprentices still cooked over a hearth, and Jiang Wangxuan compared Huaqi’s investment in cultivators to a private investor funding a promising company.
• Venerable Tingming explained that cultivators’ Immortal Foundation wonders recorded their individual fate, then described how a middleman could train apprentices loyal to himself and use them to devour an employer.
• Venerable Tingming warned that Buddhist Devils could eat or convert Children of Fate, and said Qinghuan would offer Jiang Wangxuan and Lin Tongjiang Divine Ability Cultivation Methods in exchange for restraint if they reached the Purple Mansion.
• Lin Tongjiang considered the delayed Alchemy Invocation Peak decision and realized his Flow Eastward Immortal Foundation had stirred after consuming Grand Yin moonlight.
• After Xiaoyi prepared the lamp oil and stone statue for Jiang Wangxuan’s secluded cultivation, Jiang asked whether the Buddhas and Devil Ancestors cared for Huaqi in its old age, and Xiaoyi joked about who would care for Master.

Jiang Wangxuan lit the oil lamp in Huaqi’s stone chamber and manifested the Immortal Foundation Autumn Moon Osmanthus, beginning to receive a vision tied to his cultivation path. The vision ended with an old man and Great True Person Donghuan discussing the dangers of Grand Yin and what their deceased master might have concealed.

• Jiang Wangxuan weighed whether to manifest Autumn Moon Osmanthus or Immortal Moon Township, while Big Fat Fish’s calculations narrowly favored Autumn Moon Osmanthus.
• Jiang Wangxuan lit the oil lamp, and moonlight formed an osmanthus tree, a nearly full moon, and a faceless stone statue before a winter cicada fell into an ink-wash vision.
• An old man fished and drank beside a river when his junior brother arrived, took the caught bass, and asked him to grill it.
• The old man addressed his junior as Great True Person Donghuan, and they discussed whether he could take charge of Grand Yin and how many Divine Abilities he might possess.
• Donghuan asked whether their peers feared his hidden abilities or their master’s secrets, and the old man said he believed their master had concealed something.

Jiang Wangxuan explored True Lord Donghuan’s Stream Dream Railing Notes, gaining Grand Yin cultivation methods and bringing Fahuan Hall back into his Rising Yang Mansion. He left with a crucial method for perfecting Full Moon and gave it to Big Fat Fish.

• True Lord Dongyuan and his junior brother discussed the heavens watching them, while Dongyuan revealed he had saved Grand Yin Mysterious Radiance for those who followed his path because their master had been tired.
• True Lord Donghuan searched the Zangke Dark Desert for thirty years, then confronted Shuoheng, who said Donghuan could never ascend to Grand Yin after mutilating Terminal Yin.
• Jiang Wangxuan entered a boundless space containing True Lord Donghuan’s Stream Dream Railing Notes and absorbed its talismans into his Rising Yang Mansion.
• Jiang Wangxuan found the Grand Yin ritual for Immortal Moon Township and studied the Five Lunar Phases, especially the method linking Full Moon’s perfection to Waning Moon’s decline.
• Jiang Wangxuan returned to the stone chamber with Fahuan Hall inside his Rising Yang Mansion, while Big Fat Fish repeatedly failed to enter the hall.
• Jiang Wangxuan gave Big Fat Fish the Heavenly Origin Returning Soul Full Moon One Method, a formula for Full Moon’s perfection and Waning Moon’s decline.

Jiang Wangxuan studied the Heavenly Origin Returning Soul Full Moon One Method and emerged from seclusion with a profound Grand Yin attainment, then reunited with Lu Xiaoyi and the others. At the Jixia Central Bank, Xiao Shumin discovered three warning lights in the Qian Spring Mechanical Hub’s receiving and dispatch room.

• Jiang Wangxuan understood how the method turned the Full Moon’s latent change toward the Waning Moon and could conceal his accumulated fate in the yin position.
• After three days of study, Jiang Wangxuan left the stone chamber, and Venerable Tingming recognized his unusual Grand Yin attainment.
• Jiang Wangxuan shared Lu Xiaoyi’s homemade sweet porridge with him while the others discussed their new rice cooker.
• Xiao Shumin checked the Qian Spring Mechanical Hub at the Jixia Central Bank and saw three red lights come on in the receiving and dispatch room.