Chapter Summaries

Lin Xiao helped Qingle weigh the costs of leaving Zhenyang City and suggested he try exploring nearby without alerting the elders. Qingle decided to use his inherited techniques to slip out, then revealed that he was an Azure Oak Spirit Tree from the Great Wilderness Domain.

• Lin Xiao told Qingle that right and wrong depended on perspective, and Qingle decided he wanted to go out.
• Lin Xiao pointed out that Qingle’s departure could deprive Zhenyang City of the Wood Spiritual Qi that sustained its appeal and surroundings.
• Qingle explained that he could separate his outer shell from his true body, but his innate ability to convert Wood Spiritual Qi would leave with him.
• Lin Xiao suggested that Qingle first explore nearby and use his techniques to cross the city barrier unnoticed.
• Qingle asked whether sneaking out meant using his skills against his own people, and Lin Xiao assured him it did not.
• Qingle left after thanking Lin Xiao and revealed that he was an Azure Oak Spirit Tree from the Great Wilderness Domain.

Lin Xiao explored Zhenyang City, rented a cheap room in a Spirit Gathering Pavilion, and heard that its Spiritual Qi had suddenly weakened. He suspected something had happened to Qingle, whom he had met earlier that day.

• Lin Xiao packed up after Qingle left and continued searching Zhenyang City for a place to establish the sect's base.
• As he climbed higher through the city, Lin Xiao disguised his cultivation and appearance, browsed the streets, and bought collections of strange tales.
• Lin Xiao rented a Yellow-grade room in the third Spirit Gathering Pavilion and began cultivating despite its cramped space and poor soundproofing.
• After about an hour, Lin Xiao heard cultivators complain that the Spiritual Qi in the Pavilion's rooms had grown thin and demand refunds from the Zhenyang Sect.
• Lin Xiao recalled that Qingle supplied the Pavilion's pure Wood Spiritual Qi and wondered whether something had happened to him.

Lin Xiao suspected Qingle had escaped Zhenyang City after misjudging how his true body affected the city, while the Zhenyang Sect searched for the missing Elder Dan Ling. Lin Xiao left the city to look for Qingle and tell him what was happening.

• The Spirit Gathering Pavilion steward calmed angry cultivators with refunds, discounts, and free cultivation until Elder Dan Ling recovered.
• The Zhenyang Sect elders failed to find Elder Dan Ling in the city and began to suspect he had slipped outside.
• The elders sent nearly the entire sect to search beyond Zhenyang City while keeping his disappearance secret.
• Lin Xiao collected his refunded Spirit Stones, left the city, and went to look for Qingle.

Qingle met the little tree demons and learned they were members of the Green Oak Tree Clan who had crossed the Great Wilderness Domain to find their leader. As Dayi began explaining why Qingle lacked the clan’s inherited memories, he revealed that he had once believed Qingle had abandoned them after being blocked from entering Zhenyang City.

• The little tree demons found Qingle outside Zhenyang City and tearfully gathered around him, calling him their boss.
• Qingle learned that the young trees were Green Oaks from his clan and felt compassion for their injuries and poor condition.
• Dayi explained that the Green Oak leader inherited an innate Divine Ability that allowed the clan to cultivate and that the clan’s bloodline had guided them to Qingle.
• Dayi said that many Green Oaks had died crossing from their ancestral land in the Great Wilderness Domain, leaving only their group to reach him.
• Qingle questioned why he had no bloodline memories and had never encountered other Green Oaks after awakening his spirit.
• Dayi recalled arriving at Zhenyang City more than two thousand years earlier, being stopped by its barrier, and believing Qingle had abandoned the clan.

Dayi explained that Qingle had likely lost his bloodline memories because Venerable Changfu awakened his spiritual intelligence, and revealed that the Green Oak Clan had been devastated in a disaster over five thousand years ago. Qingle learned how weak and isolated his surviving clansmen were, then accepted their request to remain their leader.

• Dayi told Qingle that awakening through another race's magic could cause a Green Oak to lose part of its bloodline inheritance.
• Qingle remembered how Venerable Changfu had awakened him, named him Danling, and taken him from the Great Wilderness Domain.
• Dayi revealed that the Green Oak Clan had been nearly wiped out in a catastrophe more than five thousand years earlier, which also devastated their ancestral grounds.
• Qingle saw that the young green oaks had weak cultivation and realized how difficult their journey to find him must have been.
• The green oaks told Qingle they had waited for him, and Qingle agreed to remain their leader.

Lin Xiao told Qingle that the Zhenyang Sect was searching for him and helped him understand why his cultivation had stagnated: he had been using his innate Divine Ability to benefit humans instead of cultivating with his own kind. Qingle wrestled with Dayi’s suspicion that Changfu had awakened him for selfish reasons, and Lin Xiao urged him to trust the genuine experiences and feelings he had shared with Changfu.

• Lin Xiao found Qingle sitting on a cliff and told him the Zhenyang Sect had noticed his absence and was looking for him.
• Qingle explained that he had learned he could solve his cultivation problem by using his innate Divine Ability to cultivate with his own kind.
• Dayi had told Qingle that the Zhenyang Sect’s use of his Divine Ability had drained his cultivation and held back his progress for thousands of years.
• Qingle wondered whether Changfu had deliberately awakened him to exploit him, despite remembering their time together fondly.
• Lin Xiao advised Qingle to trust what he had experienced with Changfu rather than agonize over unprovable guesses about the past.

Lin Xiao warned Qingle that bringing his kind into Zhenyang City could lead to resentment and conflict with the Zhenyang Sect. Qingle realized he could not protect future green oaks arriving from the Great Wilderness Domain, and reconsidered whether he should remain in the city.

• Qingle thanked Lin Xiao and decided to negotiate with the Zhenyang Sect, offering to keep maintaining Zhenyang City if his kind could live and cultivate there while he reduced the Spiritual Qi supplied to the Spirit Gathering Pavilion.
• Qingle told Lin Xiao that he had no ties to the Zhenyang Sect beyond the spirit contract he had made with Changfu, so the sect could not control him.
• Lin Xiao warned Qingle that the sect might resent sharing the city and losing income, and that tensions between the sect members and green oak trees could eventually threaten Qingle's kind.
• Qingle said he could protect the green oaks already in the city, but not those yet to be born in their ancestral land and guided there by bloodline inheritance.
• Qingle understood that the Zhenyang Sect could prevent his kind from growing in number and began to doubt whether he should stay or negotiate at all.

Lin Xiao asked Qingle to map the route from the Great Wilderness Domain and received a guide fruit for crossing the Yin Mist Sand Sea. After giving Qingle spirit fertilizer and instructions to share with his clan, Lin Xiao left without involving himself in the Green Oak Clan’s conflict with the Zhenyang Sect.

• Lin Xiao warned Qingle about possible trouble with the Zhenyang Sect, and Qingle said he would decide for himself.
• Lin Xiao asked Qingle to draw the route he had traveled from the Great Wilderness Domain, and Qingle created a detailed map on a Jade Slip.
• Qingle gave Lin Xiao a fruit that pointed toward the Green Oak Clan’s lands and could guide him across the Yin Mist Sand Sea.
• Lin Xiao gave Qingle spirit fertilizer and Sound Transmission Talismans, asking him to follow the instructions and contact him if it worked.
• Lin Xiao bid Qingle farewell, left without returning to Zhenyang City, and changed into rustic clothes.

Lin Xiao searched the wilderness for a straight bamboo staff and discovered a hidden grove where a child sold World Bamboo that could transport its owner to fixed coordinates. He bought a stalk marked for the central Chongxiao Domain, near the Netherworld Domain and outside any city.

• Lin Xiao walked through the wilderness instead of flying, avoiding cities and sects while searching for bamboo and a suitable place for the Lingxian Sect.
• A month later, Lin Xiao sensed bamboo in a hidden valley and found a small grove guarded by a barrier and a thatched cottage.
• A child explained that World Bamboo transported one person to fixed coordinates and could be used once a month, then quoted prices for different domains.
• Lin Xiao bought the cheapest World Bamboo and asked the child to choose a straight stalk with coordinates in the central Chongxiao Domain, nearer the Netherworld Domain and outside a city.
• The child selected and cut a World Bamboo stalk for Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao bought a World Bamboo for ten thousand Spirit Stones and traveled through Mysterious Extreme Domain while trying to promote Lingxian Sect products. After reaching Chongxiao Domain’s border, he had yet to learn whether the bamboo’s teleportation worked.

• Lin Xiao bought the World Bamboo from Shi'er for ten thousand Spirit Stones and considered its cost and potential use alongside the Heaven and Earth Shift Disc.
• After Lin Xiao left, the woman in green returned to the Boundary Bamboo Garden, praised Shi'er for making a sale, and soon moved the garden away in a cloud of mist.
• Lin Xiao traveled for about half a month, unsuccessfully trying to find city shops willing to partner with Lingxian Sect.
• Lin Xiao continued toward Chongxiao Domain and reached its border after about two months of travel from the edge of Mysterious Extreme Domain.

Lin Xiao reached the Mystic Ice Passage, the dangerous but sole safe route between the Mysterious Extreme Domain and Chongxiao Domain. After paying the toll, he entered and discovered that the passage’s disruptive effect on cultivators’ Spiritual Power did not affect his Origin Qi.

• Lin Xiao learned that the Mystic Ice Passage ran through mountains of Mystic Ice Metal Iron and was the only safe route between the two domains.
• He learned that passage guards from both sides often fought over toll differences, leaving travelers to wait until order was restored.
• Lin Xiao arrived at the passage and paid the listed toll of three hundred Spirit Stones.
• After entering, Lin Xiao found that his Origin Qi was unaffected by the passage’s effect on Spiritual Power and continued on at a leisurely pace.

Lin Xiao crossed the Mystic Ice Passage into Chongxiao Domain, recording information about its Mystic Ice Metal Iron deposit before exploring the snowbound region. He discovered a ranch where cultivators raised unusual livestock for Spirit Oil, and an elderly gatekeeper called out to him.

• Lin Xiao studied the Mystic Ice Metal Iron walls and recorded details of the passage in his Lock Ring's map intelligence.
• He paid three hundred Spirit Stones to enter Chongxiao Domain and noted that its Spiritual Qi concentration seemed similar to Mysterious Extreme Domain's.
• Lin Xiao found a vast ranch where cultivators tended unusual white livestock grazing on low-grade spirit grass.
• A young Qi Refining cultivator tried to dip his finger into a jar of Spirit Oil, but an elderly cultivator struck his hand with a ruler.
• The elderly cultivator, who had been pretending to sleep, asked Lin Xiao whether he had seen enough.

Lin Xiao visited Wind and Snow Ranch and learned about buying and raising herds in the Chongxiao Domain. After surveying the small valley market, he learned the prices and difficulties of herding, but had not yet bought any animals.

• Lin Xiao asked the old cultivator at Wind and Snow Ranch where he could buy young herd animals, and the old cultivator directed him to a market in the valley.
• Lin Xiao found the small market and saw that its stalls sold young animals and spirit oil.
• A stallholder sold a customer twenty jars of spirit oil and a Snow Sheep hide for seventy Spirit Stones.
• Lin Xiao circled the market, learning the prices of spirit oil and young animals and that few herders sold their young.

Lin Xiao learned about the ice-thorn snow lotus and the Nine-Turn Origin-Restoring Pill, which might help Liu Chun's sister, and planned to obtain the pill formula or buy pills. He bought young snow breeds and pasture grass seedlings to begin his herding venture at Wind and Snow Ranch.

• Lin Xiao learned that cultivators climbed the snowy mountains for ice-thorn snow lotuses used in valuable pills, including the Nine-Turn Origin-Restoring Pill, and considered bringing its formula or pills back for Liu Chun's sister.
• Lin Xiao bought five snow pigs, six snow sheep, and eight snow cattle, then stored the young animals in his system warehouse.
• Lin Xiao returned to the ranch gate and learned from the old cultivator that beginners needed grazing land and pasture grass to raise snow breeds successfully.
• Lin Xiao bought enough pasture grass seedlings to plant twenty mu and stored them in his system's private warehouse.

Lin Xiao reached the Chongxiao Domain’s first cloud layer and discovered its strange cloud ground and distinctive plants. He learned that low-level cultivators were migrating to Wind and Snow City ahead of a recurring disaster called Cloud Burst, though its nature remained unknown to him.

• Lin Xiao left after buying young animals and forage grass, hurrying onward to establish his ranch before his storage time ran out.
• Lin Xiao arrived at the first layer of the Chongxiao Domain and found that its clouds formed solid ground that refilled whenever he dug into it.
• Lin Xiao discovered that the local Spirit Plants were covered in white fuzz, but they wilted when he picked them.
• Lin Xiao noticed that many low-level cultivators and their families were traveling toward Wind and Snow City with their belongings.
• Lin Xiao questioned a Qi Refining Late Stage cultivator, who explained that locals migrated every five hundred years to avoid Cloud Burst but did not know what the disaster was like.

Lin Xiao entered Chongxiao Domain and learned that the approaching Cloud Burst forced low-level cultivators to migrate every five hundred years. He discovered that the domain’s valuable, exclusive products drew many buyers from Mysterious Extreme Domain, then overheard Shopkeeper Yang explain a steep price increase for Golden Ling Silkworm Silk.

• Lin Xiao gave snacks to a migrating cultivator’s child after asking about the Cloud Burst, then continued into Chongxiao Domain.
• Lin Xiao reached a busy city, paid three Spirit Stones to enter, and found that most of it consisted of shops rather than residences.
• Lin Xiao learned that buyers from Mysterious Extreme Domain came to purchase Chongxiao Domain’s exclusive goods, including Spirit Oil and products grown in Cloud Mud.
• Lin Xiao learned that the two domains depended on each other’s resources and that Chongxiao Domain’s migrants usually fled to Mysterious Extreme Domain during Cloud Bursts.
• Shopkeeper Yang told Brother Liu that Golden Ling Silkworm Silk had risen from fifty to eighty Spirit Stones per roll because supplies from Thousand Cloud City had dwindled.

Lin Xiao learned about Golden Ling Silkworm Silk and the harvesting of Chongxiao Domain Spirit Plants while shopping at Shopkeeper Yang’s store. He left with formula collections and harvesting tools, and learned that Cloud Tangerine Trees were common and inexpensive.

• A cultivator surnamed Liu bought two hundred rolls of Golden Ling Silkworm Silk from Shopkeeper Yang after failing to bargain down the price.
• Lin Xiao asked Shopkeeper Yang about the silk, but decided not to buy any because each roll was costly and small.
• Lin Xiao bought collections of pill and artifact-refining formulas for less than a hundred Spirit Stones.
• Shopkeeper Yang explained that spirit hoes and Cloud Tangerine Tree wooden boxes could preserve Spirit Plants during harvesting, and that Golden Ling Silkworm Silk gloves were an alternative.
• Shopkeeper Yang offered Lin Xiao fruit from the Cloud Tangerine Trees outside the shop and explained that the trees were common and low-value.
• Lin Xiao bought one each of the spirit hoe, axe, and boxes refined from Cloud Tangerine Tree wood.

Lin Xiao learned that the Cloud Burst period would begin in a little over two months and traveled toward Thousand Cloud City to investigate its Golden Ling Silkworms and assess Chongxiao Domain as a possible sect base. He discovered that the city was a natural cloud bowl and a major silkworm-producing center whose territory was controlled by established factions.

• Lin Xiao asked Shopkeeper Yang about Cloud Burst and learned that it began on the first day of the eleventh month, leaving a little over two months.
• Lin Xiao left Open Cloud City, bought a rough map, and decided to investigate Thousand Cloud City and the possibility of establishing the sect's base in Chongxiao Domain.
• Lin Xiao flew toward Thousand Cloud City for two days while recording details of the route and the places he passed.
• Lin Xiao found Thousand Cloud City enclosed by a huge cloud wall and entered through a raised, unguarded opening without paying a fee.
• A stall owner told Lin Xiao that the natural city had no ruler and was prized for its cloud mulberry trees and high-quality Golden Ling Silkworms.
• Lin Xiao learned that sects and Lineages controlled the city's silkworm and mulberry farms, with their boundaries long settled.

Lin Xiao explored Thousand Cloud City and learned that its Golden Ling Silkworm Silk market was thriving ahead of the Cloud Burst. He used the city’s overhead teleportation formation to reach Chongxiao Domain’s second layer, where someone offered to guide him.

• Lin Xiao toured Thousand Cloud City, found its gardens and streets fully occupied, and learned that the gardens sold silk of different qualities and characteristics.
• Lin Xiao decided against buying Golden Ling Silkworms to raise, since the city’s established breeding trade left him no obvious opportunity.
• Lin Xiao recalled that flying into the clouds above the first layer had disoriented him, so he chose not to explore them again without preparation.
• Lin Xiao watched cultivators enter the teleportation formation above Thousand Cloud City and saw weaker Foundation Establishment cultivators fall back when their Spiritual Power ran low.
• Lin Xiao flew through the formation and arrived on the second layer, where a cultivator asked whether he needed a guide.

Lin Xiao hired Jiang Qu as a guide in the second layer of Chongxiao Domain and explored Cloud Gathering City before asking him to lead him to a quiet, unclaimed place. As Jiang Qu showed him around, Lin Xiao recorded information about the city and wondered how Qingle had traveled between the domain’s layers.

• Lin Xiao hired Jiang Qu for twenty Spirit Stones a day and asked him to find a safe, scenic place with few people and little Spiritual Qi.
• Jiang Qu agreed to take Lin Xiao to Cloud Gathering City first, then lead him to the distant location he knew.
• Lin Xiao paid both of their entrance fees after Jiang Qu explained that clients covered travel expenses.
• Jiang Qu guided Lin Xiao through Cloud Gathering City, describing its streets, factions, and shops while Lin Xiao recorded the information in his Lock Ring.
• Lin Xiao noted that Qingle’s map showed no route through Thousand Cloud City, despite that city’s teleportation array being the only known way to reach the second layer.