Chapter Summaries

Shi Jian, a bear demon with human memories and an Enlightenment System, planned to become a spirit beast of the Sun Immortal Clan and exploit its resources to overcome his bloodline limits. When Sun Hangchun arrived to bargain for Shi Jian’s protection, Shi Jian sensed hidden people nearby and demanded an explanation.

• Shi Jian reviewed his Enlightenment System and resolved to use the Sun Immortal Clan’s resources to advance his cultivation and establish a bear-demon lineage.
• Sun Hangchun, an aging Foundation Establishment cultivator with forty years left to live, offered clan support in exchange for Shi Jian’s oath to protect the Sun clan for two hundred years.
• Sun Hangchun hoped his clan could later gain control over Shi Jian through a beast-taming method.
• Shi Jian sensed people hiding a hundred zhang away and warned Sun Hangchun that he might not leave Mingqiu Mountain unless he explained their presence.

Shi Jian discovered that the Ye and Lin households had sent cultivators to kill Sun Hangchun, then agreed to protect him in exchange for half the Sun Clan’s annual income. After Shi Jian and Sun Hangchun killed both attackers, Shi Jian privately planned to take control of the Sun Clan and its holdings.

• Shi Jian identified two hidden Foundation Establishment cultivators, and Sun Hangchun realized they were from the Lin and Ye households and had come to kill him.
• Shi Jian demanded half of the Sun Clan’s annual income in return for helping Sun Hangchun, and Sun Hangchun accepted.
• Shi Jian charged the gray-robed Lin cultivator and killed him with two blows in three breaths.
• The remaining cultivator, Ye Mingyuan, fled but was caught by Sun Hangchun’s vines, and Sun Hangchun snapped his neck.
• Shi Jian had Sun Hangchun search the bodies and privately resolved to claim the Sun Clan and its holdings for himself and his descendants.

After Shi Jian and Sun Hangchun returned to Hongtian City, they took control of the Ye and Lin clans after their ancestors’ deaths. Shi Jian ordered the clans enslaved and their resources transferred to the Sun clan, then settled by the city’s Spirit Vein as Sun Hangchun reported their spoils.

• Shi Jian carried Sun Hangchun back to Hongtian City, where Sun Hangchun summoned the Sun clan and invited the Ye and Lin clans to meet him.
• Sun Hangchun told Ye Qinghe and Old Woman Lin that their ancestors had been killed by Shi Jian on Mingqiu Mountain.
• Shi Jian spared the Ye and Lin clans from execution but ordered their resources transferred to the Sun clan and their members and descendants bound by Slave Seals.
• Sun Hangchun led the Sun clan in taking over the other clans’ properties and planting Slave Seals in their members.
• Shi Jian cultivated at the entrance to the Sun estate’s Spirit Vein as Sun Hangchun reported the seized fields, Spirit Stones, pills, jade slips, artifacts, and fifty-seven immortal slaves.

Shi Jian demanded half of the Sun Clan’s annual income and unrestricted access to its cultivation library, then enlightened a gray rat demon to spy on the clan. After studying the Sun Clan’s methods, he learned that Sun Hangchun was reorganizing its lands and planning a cave abode for him, which Shi Jian suspected was meant to keep him under watch.

• Shi Jian required Sun Hangchun to provide half the Sun Clan’s annual income and open its library to him.
• Shi Jian used his Enlightenment System on a gray rat, ordered it to spy on the Sun Clan, and taught it a breathing method.
• Sun Hangchun brought Shi Jian to the library and gave him eight hundred Spirit Stones, and Shi Jian spent the day studying the clan’s Jade Slips.
• The gray rat reported that Sun Hangchun had visited the Ye and Lin ancestral homes, inspected their storehouses, and ordered their spiritual fields plowed.
• The gray rat told Shi Jian that Sun Hangchun planned to redistribute the spiritual fields and build him a cave abode near the Spirit Vein, so Shi Jian instructed it to keep watching.

After Sun Hangchun gave the first and second branches most of the Sun Lineage’s profitable businesses, he assigned the third branch all the Spirit Fields and the burden of paying Shi Jian’s tribute. Sun Bo'an, furious at the third branch’s worsening prospects, decided to seek help from Shi Jian.

• The rat demon told Shi Jian how Sun Hangchun divided the Ye and Lin Lineages’ businesses, leaving the third branch with the Spirit Fields and the entire tribute owed to Shi Jian.
• Shi Jian recognized Sun Hangchun’s scheme to shift resentment toward him and decided to replace the old man with someone more obedient.
• Sun Bo'an complained that the third branch would have almost no resources left after taxes, tribute, and payments to the Lineage.
• When someone suggested pleading with the Ancestor, Sun Bo'an rejected the idea and chose to go to the back mountain to plead with Shi Jian.
• Sun Bo'an left despite his branch members’ warnings, determined to find a chance for the third branch’s descendants to become independent.

Shi Jian offered Sun Bo'an protection, a cultivation legacy, and control of the Sun Clan in exchange for the third branch's loyalty and half its produce. Sun Bo'an accepted, committing his branch to serve Shi Jian and overthrow the clan's current leadership.

• Sun Bo'an knelt before Shi Jian and asked him to give the Sun Clan's third branch a way to survive.
• Shi Jian rejected Sun Bo'an's offering of 120 Spirit Stones and herbs, then demanded that Sun Bo'an and his branch work for him.
• Shi Jian offered the third branch half its produce, protection, and the Thick Earth Essence Cultivation Instruction, promising Sun Bo'an control of the Sun Clan.
• Sun Bo'an accepted the Jade Slip and pledged the third branch's obedience and service to Shi Jian.

Shi Jian and Sun Bo'an led the third branch in a takeover of the Sun Clan, killing the elders of the first and second branches and leaving Sun Hangchun mortally wounded. After Sun Bo'an killed his granduncle, Shi Jian took control of the clan and planned to use Hongtian City as the first step toward a Demon Beast dynasty.

• At midnight, Sun Bo'an and six third-branch cultivators stormed the Sun Clan ancestral hall while Shi Jian blocked the exit and revealed he had never intended to protect Sun Hangchun's line.
• Shi Jian explained that his oath to protect the Sun Clan did not prevent him from backing Sun Bo'an and the third branch.
• Sun Bo'an and the third branch attacked the first- and second-branch elders as Shi Jian overwhelmed Sun Hangchun and suppressed the Qi Refining cultivators.
• After the battle, Sun Bo'an knelt before Shi Jian, who revealed he had chosen Sun Hangchun as a greedy, weak pawn and had offered Sun Bo'an a choice.
• Sun Bo'an beheaded Sun Hangchun, and Shi Jian ordered the clan to claim the second branch had colluded with outside enemies and to announce that the Sun Clan now had only one branch.
• Shi Jian left the ancestral hall and resolved to use Hongtian City as the beginning of a Demon Beast dynasty.

After Sun Bo'an consolidated control of the Sun Clan, Shi Jian learned that the coming Great Wei Immortal Dynasty spirit tax threatened to leave the clan with few resources. Shi Jian ordered Sun Bo'an to squeeze the clan harder, leaving him to find a way to pay.

• Sun Bo'an announced the second branch's alleged plot against the ancestor, absorbed the remaining Ye and Lin clanspeople into the Sun Clan, and offered rewards to encourage Sun clansmen to have children.
• Shi Jian praised Sun Bo'an's measures and learned that the immortal slaves were being kept in line through harsh punishments.
• Half a month later, Sun Bo'an advanced from the Qi Refining Sixth Layer to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer using Shi Jian's cultivation instruction and resources.
• Shi Jian reminded Sun Bo'an that the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty would collect its spirit tax in ten days, while the Sun Clan now had to bear the full cost and surrender half its income to Shi Jian.
• Sun Bo'an warned that paying the tax would leave the clan with barely enough resources to operate, and Shi Jian told him to squeeze the people harder and scrape the payment together.

Shi Jian intimidated White Cloud Temple elder Yunsong into accepting the Sun clan’s account of Sun Hangchun’s death and collecting the spirit tax without further investigation. After Yunsong left, Shi Jian learned that his rat demon had found another recruit and ordered him to discreetly expand their network in Hongtian City.

• Sun Bo'an told Yunsong that Sun Hangchun had been killed by outsiders allied with the Ye and Lin clans, and credited Shi Jian with saving the Sun clan.
• Yunsong questioned Shi Jian about the death, but Shi Jian’s powerful aura and contract with the Sun clan persuaded him not to press further.
• Yunsong collected the Sun clan’s spirit tax and warned Sun Bo'an to avoid further trouble before leaving.
• Shi Jian told Sun Bo'an that Yunsong still had doubts but could not interfere while the tax was paid and the Sun clan remained in control.
• A gray-furred rat demon reported that Yunsong had watched the city before leaving and asked Shi Jian to accept a newly awakened rat demon.
• Shi Jian accepted the prospect of another recruit and ordered the rat demon to expand discreetly as he planned to build his own immortal sect.

Over five years, Shi Jian strengthened his control over Hongtian City, developed a cultivation system for the Sun Clan, and reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Early Stage. He prepared the clan’s next generation and expanded his network of rat spies while planning to break through and seek greater resources.

• Sun Bo'an reported that the Sun Clan’s growing population had produced eleven children with Spirit Roots, and Shi Jian selected Sun Mao and Sun Yao for special training.
• Shi Jian told Sun Bo'an to organize the Sun, Lin, and Ye Clans’ cultivation legacies and gave him an improved Qi Refining method for Sun Mao and Sun Yao.
• Shi Jian revealed that he had adapted human cultivation methods for Demon Beasts and reached the Foundation Establishment Early Stage Peak, one step from the Middle Stage.
• Lord Rat reported that he had recruited more than three thousand rats and stationed six intelligent pups around Hongtian City to gather information.
• Shi Jian assessed his control over the city and concluded that he needed to break through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and strengthen the Sun Clan before expanding.

Shi Jian taught Sun Mao and Sun Yao to cultivate, then used his system ability to awaken five black puppies into level 1 Demon Beasts and give the children Dao-guarding dogs. As the Sun Clan grew devoted to him, Shi Jian broke through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

• Shi Jian calmed Sun Mao and Sun Yao with spirit honey cakes and taught them that cultivation was meant to protect their family and improve their lives.
• Shi Jian used his Demon Power to open the children’s meridians, and half a month later they both reached the Qi Refining First Layer.
• Shi Jian ordered Sun Bo'an to bring five black puppies, then spent five Enlightenment points to awaken them into level 1 Demon Beasts.
• Shi Jian gave Sun Mao and Sun Yao a Dao-guarding dog each and told Sun Bo'an to keep the other three for breeding.
• Sun Bo'an’s reverence for Shi Jian deepened, and Shi Jian felt the Sun Clan falling under his influence.
• Shi Jian broke through the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage barrier while cultivating beside the Spirit Vein.

Shi Jian advanced to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and learned that Devil Cultivators had destroyed the Fang Clan in Crane Cry Township. He ordered Sun Bo'an to shelter the survivors and scout the abandoned resources, while considering how to profit without drawing the White Cloud Temple’s attention.

• Shi Jian quietly broke through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and tested his sharpened claws on a boulder.
• Lord Rat reported that four Fang Household survivors had reached Hongtian City after their town was massacred in a blood sacrifice.
• Sun Bo'an arrived with the same news, and Shi Jian revealed his breakthrough before directing him to feed and treat the four survivors.
• Shi Jian ordered Sun Bo'an to investigate Crane Cry Township and claim whatever resources the Devil Cultivators had left behind.
• Sun Bo'an told Shi Jian that the White Cloud Temple had ordered monthly security reports from the nine counties under its rule.
• Shi Jian considered the risks of gathering resources under the White Cloud Temple’s scrutiny and resolved to prey on any Devil Cultivators who entered his territory.

As Devil Cultivators drove eight minor clans toward Hongtian City, Shi Jian ordered the Sun Clan to shelter them in exchange for their inheritances, wealth, and labor. After the clans accepted Sun Bo'an's terms, Lord Rat reported signs of a blood sacrifice near the city, revealing that the Devil Cultivators had moved closer and settled nearby.

• Lord Rat told Shi Jian that eight clans were fleeing toward Hongtian City with their people and possessions.
• Shi Jian instructed Sun Bo'an to admit the clans only if they surrendered copies of their inheritances, sixty percent of their valuables, and placed their cultivators and mortals under Sun Clan control.
• Sun Bo'an presented the conditions to the eight patriarchs, who protested before agreeing to them under the threat of the Devil Cultivators outside.
• Shi Jian reviewed the eight clans' inheritances, praised Sun Bo'an, and warned him to watch Feng Shoude closely.
• Lord Rat reported traces of a large blood sacrifice at a Land God Temple near Hongtian City, and Shi Jian ordered him to keep the site under constant watch.

Shi Jian ambushed the four Devil Cultivators left at the Land God Temple, killed them, and looted their supplies. As he finished cleaning up, the three Foundation Establishment cultivators returned to the temple.

• Lord Rat reported that seven Devil Cultivators were harvesting villagers’ Essence Blood from the Land God Temple, and Shi Jian learned that three had gone out to hunt for blood.
• Shi Jian planned to kill the four Qi Refining cultivators first, then deal with the three Foundation Establishment cultivators when they returned.
• At midnight, Shi Jian entered the temple and killed the Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivator and a shield-bearing follower with two blows.
• Shi Jian used a soul roar to stop the remaining two followers from escaping, then drained their true essence and killed them.
• Shi Jian searched the temple, took the Spirit Stones, Devil Cultivation Methods, and Essence Blood jars, and stripped the corpses of their belongings.
• Shi Jian heard a faint rush of wind outside and realized the three Foundation Establishment cultivators had returned.

Shi Jian ambushed the Devil Cultivators at the Land God Temple, then helped White Cloud Temple defeat them when reinforcements arrived. After the battle, Lei Lie rewarded the Sun Clan by assigning it spiritual taxes from eight households and raising its annual share to forty percent.

• Shi Jian attacked the three Devil Cultivators at the temple, wounding the sinister young man and stealing the bald man's Storage Bag before escaping into the forest.
• The red-robed female cultivator and the bald man pursued Shi Jian, but Lei Lie and Yunsong arrived from White Cloud Temple and trapped them.
• The female cultivator tried to detonate her blood banner, but Shi Jian suppressed its blast with his paws while Lei Lie's sword formation killed her and Yunsong finished the bald man.
• Lei Lie recognized Shi Jian as the Sun Clan's guardian and praised his role in protecting the mortals under the clan's rule.
• Lei Lie offered the Sun Clan spiritual taxes from eight households and increased its annual spiritual-tax share to forty percent.

After Shi Jian helped White Cloud Temple defeat the Devil Cultivators, he gained a share of their spoils and the right to collect spiritual taxes from eight Spirit Veins for the Sun Clan. His growing fame benefited Hongtian City, and the chapter left Sun Bo'an worried about whether Shi Jian would attend the White Cloud Minor Gathering, where a Foundation Establishment Pill would be auctioned.

• Lei Lie praised Shi Jian, divided the Devil Cultivators’ spoils with him, and promised to report his service to the temple master.
• Shi Jian told Sun Bo'an that the Sun Clan could collect taxes from eight Spirit Veins, provided it handed White Cloud Temple at least ten percent more than before.
• Shi Jian ordered Sun Bo'an to make the eight households full vassals of the Sun Clan.
• Stories of Shi Jian’s victory spread across White Cloud Temple’s nine counties, drawing Rogue Cultivators to Hongtian City and reviving the Sun Clan’s market income.
• Yunsong invited Shi Jian to attend the White Cloud Minor Gathering, where Sun Bo'an hoped to pursue a Foundation Establishment Pill but feared Shi Jian might refuse.

Shi Jian talked Sun Bo'an out of spending the Sun Clan’s treasury on a Foundation Establishment Pill, urging him to invest in the younger generation instead. He gave Sun Bo'an five organized Jade Slip inheritances and set new plans for the clan’s rules, marketplace, and trade.

• Lord Rat summoned Sun Bo'an to the rear mountain, where Shi Jian asked whether he wanted to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Shi Jian explained that Sun Bo'an had little chance of reaching Foundation Establishment and that the clan’s Spirit Stones would be better spent supporting Sun Mao and Sun Yao.
• Sun Bo'an abandoned his personal hopes of Foundation Establishment and promised to pave the way for the younger generation.
• Shi Jian gave Sun Bo'an five Jade Slips containing organized cultivation methods, techniques, craft knowledge, and a contribution-point system.
• Shi Jian told Sun Bo'an that the demonic threat had been dealt with and ordered the eight clans to return to their territories and sell their spiritual goods only in Hongtian City.

Sun Bo'an reorganized the Sun Clan by assigning its cultivators specialized roles and establishing a contribution-based system for distributing resources. The clan accepted his reforms and began a new chapter under Shi Jian's authority.

• Sun Bo'an gave Sun Wanqing the talisman shop and a Jade Slip containing a complete talisman-making guide, which revealed answers to problems she had struggled with for years.
• Sun Bo'an assigned Sun Changping to run the medicine shop and study the alchemy section of the Hundred Arts Chapter before submitting recommendations on the clan's pill formulas.
• Sun Bo'an assigned Sun Tieshan to repair Law Artifacts, Sun Xing to oversee the spirit fields, Sun Caiya to cultivate Spirit Plants, and Sun Kezheng to guard the market town.
• Sun Bo'an announced that Sun Clan members would earn contribution points through their work and exchange them for resources, while those without points would receive only basic rations.
• The cultivators accepted Sun Bo'an's system, and the Sun Clan marked a decisive break with its past.

Sun Bo'an renovated Hongtian City's market into organized trade districts, and the new shops drew Rogue Cultivators while improving the Sun Clan's sales and supply of materials. After hearing the results, Shi Jian told him to prepare goods for the White Cloud Minor Gathering in two months, leaving Sun Bo'an determined to gather rare spirit objects and seize the opportunity.

• Sun Bo'an had mortal craftsmen rebuild the market, divide it into trade districts, and open a shop to buy spirit materials from Rogue Cultivators.
• Sun Wanqing's improved first-tier talismans and Sun Changping's better-quality pills went on sale as Rogue Cultivators flocked to the renovated market.
• The goods-collecting shop acquired seventeen batches of spirit materials in its first month, and some sellers spent their earnings at neighboring shops.
• Sun Bo'an reported the market's progress to Shi Jian, who said the eight minor clans would eventually do business there and would owe twenty percent of their profits as rent.
• Shi Jian told Sun Bo'an to collect rare or unfamiliar spirit objects for the White Cloud Minor Gathering, and Sun Bo'an promised to follow his guidance.

As the marketplace expanded, Sun Bo'an spotted new opportunities in goods brought in by rogue cultivators, while Shi Jian completed a beast-taming method and devised a way to profit from spirit pet rats. The rats sold out after one proved useful in the mountains, establishing the Sun Clan's reputation in beast taming.

• The eight minor Qi Refining clans moved into the marketplace, where Feng Shoude's ironware shop and the other clan businesses began attracting customers and paying rent.
• Sun Bo'an bought a nest of spirit bees, three Jade Heart Fruit saplings, and a damaged beast-taming inheritance from rogue cultivators.
• Shi Jian reconstructed the Beast-Luring Instruction, changing it to promote coexistence with spirit beasts and adding hidden safeguards for the Sun Clan.
• After Lord Rat reported that thirty-seven intelligent rat pups had gathered on the back mountain, Shi Jian and Sun Bo'an opened a spirit pet shop selling scouting rats.
• A rogue cultivator bought a rat for thirty Spirit Stones, then returned five days later to buy two more after it helped him find a Blood Lingzhi.
• The remaining rats sold out, earning the Sun Clan three hundred Spirit Stones and establishing its name in beast taming.