Chapter Summaries

After the Evil Qi grew denser, the sky darkened and the temperature plunged, prompting Xiushui Village to gather firewood. Lin Xiao remembered a similar disaster eleven years earlier and suspected the Evil Qi had caused it, though he did not know why it had attacked the villages then.

• Liao Pantu sensed the Evil Qi growing denser, and Lin Xiao hurried to the cultivation room to investigate.
• Sun Yigao noticed the sudden change, warned the others, and led them down the mountain; Yang Jinshu stayed behind with Liu Yunan and Liu Shengsheng to gather firewood.
• Hu Deli and other village leaders alerted Xiushui Village, and villagers rushed to collect firewood and dry grass as the weather turned cold and dark.
• Lin Xiao joined Old Master Lin and the Lin family on their way to gather firewood, then remembered that the same weather had struck eleven years earlier and taken his mother.
• Liao Pantu suggested the Evil Qi had caused the change, and Lin Xiao connected its arrival to the newly placed Spirit Vein and wondered why it had attacked the villages eleven years before.

Lin Xiao returned to the sect to cultivate, determined to grow strong enough to protect people from another deadly cold spell. As his cultivation neared Foundation Establishment, Liao Pantu decided the Lingxian Sect had great potential and quietly prepared to stay and pass on his legacy.

• Lin Xiao left his family to cultivate and reminded Lin Dayou to use the Teleportation Talismans if danger arose.
• Liao Pantu discovered the sect’s collection of earth-tier cultivation scriptures and began studying one.
• Lin Xiao cultivated the Original Essence Heart Sutra under the Spirit Vein and Spirit Gathering Formation, rapidly approaching Foundation Establishment.
• Liao Pantu considered the Lingxian Sect’s scriptures and members, concluded it could become a great sect, and resolved to invest in its future.
• Liao Pantu retrieved a talisman from his soul body while Lin Xiao’s cultivation reached 9999/10000 toward Foundation Establishment.

Lin Xiao reached Foundation Establishment, created the Cultivation Method "Swordsmanship in the Clouds," and followed the Evil Qi to a strange lake near Grave Mountain. The chapter ended with him facing a barren, black mountain that appeared to be the source of the Evil Qi.

• Lin Xiao advanced to Foundation Establishment Early Stage, and the system raised automatic cultivation's daily cost to five Spirit Stones.
• Lin Xiao created "Swordsmanship in the Clouds" using the Cultivation Method creation function.
• Liao Pantu gave Lin Xiao a talisman containing his Nascent Soul pressure and explained that it could frighten the weakened Evil Qi into hiding.
• Lin Xiao appraised the talisman, confirmed it was a pressure talisman, and followed the Evil Qi to a small lake near Grave Mountain.
• Lin Xiao found a strangely shaped, completely black mountain with dead trees and barren soil beyond the lake.

Lin Xiao used a Nascent Soul Pressure Talisman to force the Evil Qi near Grave Mountain to retreat, then prepared to seal its source while it was weakened. He discovered a vast black pool at the bottom of the mountain’s crater, where an ink-jade vertical pupil opened and looked toward him.

• Lin Xiao activated the Nascent Soul Pressure Talisman, driving the Evil Qi back toward its source near Grave Mountain.
• Lin Xiao decided to seal the source and bought an Earth-Grade Sealing Talisman from the Shop.
• Lin Xiao concealed himself as he climbed the mountain, set up the Two Aspects Life and Death Formation, and prepared Child-Mother Talismans and a Teleportation Talisman as backup.
• Lin Xiao reached the crater and tossed a stone toward the black pool at its bottom.
• An ink-jade vertical pupil opened on the pool’s surface and glanced toward Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao sealed the Spirit-Devouring Python, then poisoned by its breath, attacked it with a Fireball Technique and escaped through a Teleportation Talisman. The python broke free and pursued him into the Two Aspects Life and Death Formation, which Lin Xiao activated as the battle began.

• Lin Xiao approached the Spirit-Devouring Python and stuck a Sealing Talisman onto its body, immobilizing it for three years.
• The python poisoned Lin Xiao with its foul black gas, and his system warned that he would die without an antidote within twelve hours.
• Lin Xiao hurled a huge fireball at the sealed python, damaging its body and dislodging the Sealing Talisman.
• Lin Xiao used a Teleportation Talisman to escape as the python lunged at him, but the python followed him out of the pit.
• Lin Xiao reached the Two Aspects Life and Death Formation, threw a hundred Spirit Stones into its array disc, and activated it with the python close behind.

Lin Xiao killed the Silver Frost Python with the Two Aspects Life and Death Formation, then collapsed from exhaustion and woke in his room. Liao Pantu explained how Sun Yigao and Lin Yun found him and how Sun Yigao made antidote pills that cured his poisoning.

• Lin Xiao used the Two Aspects Life and Death Formation to cut the Silver Frost Python apart and crush its divine soul with Divine Soul Annihilation.
• After Lin Xiao shut down the formation, it returned five Spirit Stones, and he lost consciousness.
• Lin Xiao woke in his room beside the sleeping Lin Dayou and learned the Sound Transmission Technique from Liao Pantu.
• Liao Pantu told Lin Xiao that he, Sun Yigao, and Lin Yun had found him near the python's corpse and recovered his formation plate and Spirit Stones.
• Liao Pantu explained that Sun Yigao used Mist Spring Grass and the Pill Cauldron to refine middle-grade antidote pills, curing Lin Xiao's poison.

Lin Xiao recovered after Sun Yigao refined antidote pills under Liao Pantu’s guidance, and he learned that Yigao had exhausted himself saving him. Lin Xiao left with his friends to visit Yigao, while Liao Pantu reflected on the young alchemist’s talent.

• Liao Pantu explained that the Silver Frost Python Demon had been nearly as powerful as his original body and that Lin Xiao had been reckless to fight it.
• Lin Yun entered and found Lin Xiao awake, and Lin Dayou scolded his son before leaving to tell the family the good news.
• Tietou, Liu Yunan, Qin Jianghe, and Jiang Youfu praised Lin Xiao for killing the python demon and told him how Sun Yigao had saved him with antidote pills.
• Liu Yunan said Sun Yigao had depleted his spiritual power and used his Essence Blood to finish refining the second batch of pills.
• Lin Xiao got out of bed and went with the youths to visit Sun Yigao, while Liao Pantu praised Yigao’s alchemy talent.

Lin Xiao’s group visited the recovering Sun Yigao, who told them he planned to take the imperial examinations before returning to cultivation. Qin Jianghe also announced that he would travel to start a business and help support the sect, and Lin Xiao promised to prepare supplies for them.

• Liao Pantu admired Sun Yigao’s alchemy talent and considered taking him as a disciple, but remembered that Sun Yigao already belonged to Lin Xiao’s sect.
• Lin Xiao and the others visited Sun Yigao, who agreed to go mountain-roasting with them after he recovered.
• Sun Yigao told Lin Xiao and the others he planned to take the imperial examinations next month, and Lin Xiao supported his decision.
• Qin Jianghe told Lin Xiao he planned to travel, start a teeth-cleaning business, and bring his two maternal cousins to help; Lin Xiao allowed him to reveal the sect to them and possibly recruit them.
• Lin Xiao received a system notification that he could delegate authority to recruit sect members, then offered to prepare travel and self-defense supplies for Sun Yigao and Qin Jianghe.
• The other youths teased Qin Jianghe and began thinking about how they could contribute to the sect as the group left the Sun household at dusk.

Lin Xiao repaired Clan Leader Hu’s iron pot and reassured him that the deadly weather would never return. He then planned supplies and protective tools for Sun Yigao and Qin Jianghe’s trip, and went to ask Liao Pantu about formation diagrams.

• Lin Xiao used Alchemy to repair the Hu family’s iron pot while Hu Deli watched.
• Hu Deli asked whether the sudden deadly weather would return, and Lin Xiao assured him it would not.
• After visiting the Lin family’s old home, Lin Xiao planned to give Sun Yigao and Qin Jianghe Spirit Stones and prepare ways to conceal their cultivation and gather Spiritual Qi.
• Lin Xiao went to Returning to the Garden Mountain Dwelling to ask Liao Pantu about making formation diagrams.

Lin Xiao obtained formation diagrams from Liao Pantu and used the Item Synthesizer to make a miniature Spirit Gathering Formation and a cultivation-concealing peach leaf pendant. With those preparations complete, he decided to make himself a sword from peach branches.

• Lin Xiao visited Liao Pantu and asked for diagrams of a Spirit Gathering Formation and a Concealment Formation, which Liao Pantu gave him.
• Lin Xiao synthesized a Peach Blossom Spirit Gathering Formation that gathered spiritual Qi within a one-meter radius and released a peach-blossom fragrance.
• Lin Xiao made a second Peach Blossom Spirit Gathering Formation and synthesized an Absolute Concealment Peach Leaf Pendant that concealed its carrier’s cultivation.
• Lin Xiao realized he still needed a weapon, remembered his Swordsmanship in the Clouds technique, and plucked three peach branches to use as materials.
• Lin Xiao returned to the sect’s great hall and prepared to synthesize a sword using a peach branch and a Spirit Stone.

Lin Xiao synthesized high-grade heaven-tier peachwood swords and gave one to Liao Pantu, then arranged to make swords for the Lingxian Sect members. Meanwhile, Shangyang Sect elder Song Jusheng arrived in the Pusi Kingdom’s capital and enjoyed the mortal city’s pleasures before reporting to his post.

• Lin Xiao synthesized a high-grade heaven-tier Peachwood Sword and confirmed its power with Liao Pantu.
• Liao Pantu said the sword was an excellent weapon for cultivators below Golden Core and could be passed down to a disciple.
• Lin Xiao took eight more branches from the Ten-Mile Peach Blossom Tree and made eight swords for the Lingxian Sect.
• Jiang Youfu wondered whether the peach tree looked balder, but Tietou said it looked the same, and they went to cultivate.
• Song Jusheng visited the Drunken Dream Teahouse in the Pusi Kingdom’s capital before reporting to his new post as a Shangyang Sect outer sect elder.

Song Jusheng, a Shangyang Sect elder, set a trap to persuade Mo Yuanjiao to join the sect by pretending to tell fortunes. Mo Yuanjiao asked him to reveal where and when his dreamed-of fortuitous opportunity would arrive, and Song Jusheng began his calculation.

• Song Jusheng spotted Mo Yuanjiao among a group of youths and recognized him as the general's son with a single Fire Spirit Root who had refused all three great sects.
• Song Jusheng disguised himself as a fortune-teller and instructed his disciple to pose as a satisfied customer.
• Mo Yuanjiao stopped his companions from confronting Song Jusheng and asked whether his fortune-telling was genuine.
• Song Jusheng answered that fortune-telling existed for those who believed in it, and Mo Yuanjiao asked him to tell his fortune.
• Mo Yuanjiao asked where his fortuitous opportunity was and when it would come, then an attendant paid Song Jusheng five copper coins as he began calculating.

Mo Yuanjiao followed fortune-teller Song Jusheng’s claim that his opportunity lay east and set out from the capital with his father’s support. Meanwhile, Lin Xiao finished three days of mourning at his mother’s grave and returned to mountain cultivation with Sun Yigao.

• Song Jusheng told Mo Yuanjiao that his dormant but extraordinary opportunity lay far to the east, and Mo Yuanjiao believed him.
• Mo Yuanjiao told General Mo he wanted to travel east, and his father agreed, providing a personal guard and a Storage Bag.
• Mo Yuanjiao left the capital on horseback the next morning and, after traveling through three provinces and sixteen prefectures, reached Hufang Province more than a month later.
• Lin Dayou made Lin Xiao kneel at his mother’s grave for three days, where Lin Xiao cultivated using a Peach Blossom Spirit Gathering Formation.
• After the three days ended, Lin Xiao went up the mountain, and the recovered Sun Yigao joined the others in their daily cultivation.

Lin Xiao held the Lingxian Sect’s first assembly, distributing weapons and travel supplies while laying out plans for contribution points and future disciples. He began explaining the sect’s construction plans by introducing the four auxiliary cultivation arts.

• Lin Xiao gave the sect members peachwood swords and provided Sun Yigao and Qin Jianghe with cultivation-concealing pendants, Spirit Gathering Formations, and startup money for Qin Jianghe.
• Lin Xiao proposed a contribution point system for obtaining supplies beyond basic provisions and clarified how disciples could be taken into the sect.
• Sun Yigao argued that the members who learned their cultivation methods from Lin Xiao could be considered his disciples, and Lin Xiao accepted the role while setting a character requirement for future disciples.
• Lin Xiao introduced pill refining, artifact refining, talisman making, and formations as the four great auxiliary arts, explaining pill refining and artifact refining with practical examples.

Lin Xiao organized the Lingxian Sect’s training plans and facilities, assigned tasks, and approved Liao Pantu becoming Sun Yigao’s second master. By the beginning of summer, work in the fields had eased and villagers began visiting relatives.

• Lin Xiao delegated collecting materials for the Artifact Refining Hall and Formation Hall to Tietou, and the system issued him construction tasks for both facilities.
• After the sect meeting, Lin Dayou collected the remaining seeds from Lin Xiao to plant in the spirit fields.
• Lin Xiao checked Lin Lei’s and Lin Dayou’s profiles and changed both their sect statuses to personal disciple.
• Liao Pantu asked to become Sun Yigao’s second master, and Lin Xiao agreed; Liao Pantu later proudly announced the arrangement around the sect.
• Xiaoluan brought three wild pheasants back as its disciples, and Lin Xiao told it to have them use the fields rather than the grass shed.
• As summer began, fieldwork dwindled and the villagers started visiting their relatives.

Rumors about Lin Xiao’s strength and the Lingxian Sect’s cultivation spread through nearby villages, but the sect members continued their secluded routine. Qin Jianghe left to seek income for the sect, and the chapter ended with the members’ cultivation progress impressing Liao Pantu.

• Third Aunt Hu spread rumors that Lin Xiao had cut off Boss Liu’s hands and feet and that village children might have been bewitched.
• Talk of Lin Xiao and the children reached neighboring villages, while the Lingxian Sect’s reputation rose and its members continued cultivating.
• Qin Jianghe said goodbye to his family and met Lin Xiao and the others at the village entrance before setting out with twenty Teleportation Talismans.
• Qin Jianghe promised to find income for the sect, exchanged parting jokes and well-wishes with the members, and left the village.
• After seeing Qin Jianghe off, the Lingxian Sect members returned to cultivate, and Liao Pantu was shocked by how quickly they had advanced.

Prefect Tong Shuzheng told Jin Nanhuan of the Shangyang Sect that dozens of children had vanished from Liaoju Prefecture and that signs pointed to a forest south of the city. Jin Nanhuan agreed to investigate the forest, hoping to resolve the matter and gain benefits from his sect.

• Lin Xiao kept up his daily cultivation and practiced Swordsmanship in the Clouds so he could teach it to the sect.
• Tong Shuzheng received Jin Nanhuan at the Liaoju Prefecture yamen after requesting help from the Shangyang Sect.
• Tong Shuzheng explained that children had disappeared over several months and that people had heard children crying near a forest south of the city.
• Tong Shuzheng showed Jin Nanhuan two children’s shoes found in the forest, which the missing children’s families had identified.
• Jin Nanhuan decided to go to the forest, and Tong Shuzheng arranged for the journey.

Sun Yigao invited Lin Xiao and the others to accompany him to the county seat for his county examination, and Lin Xiao, Jiang Youfu, and Liu Yunan agreed to go. After preparing for the trip, the boys set out at dawn, with Lin Xiao having to steam his own travel rations before leaving.

• Sun Yigao invited the brothers to stay in his rented county-seat courtyard while he took the examination, and Lin Xiao, Jiang Youfu, and Liu Yunan agreed to accompany him.
• Tietou stayed behind to gather materials and bring plants back to improve the sect, while Lin Yun and Lin Lei remained to work and cultivate.
• Lin Xiao left Liao Pantu in charge of the sect, and Liao Pantu grumbled that he could not accompany his disciple to the examination.
• The four travelers packed their Storage Bags and other belongings, while Lin Xiao considered earning spending money by cleaning people's teeth in the county seat.
• At dawn, the elders gave the boys provisions and sent them off, while Lin Dayou woke Lin Xiao early and ordered him to steam his own rations.

Lin Xiao and his companions reached the county seat to prepare for Sun Yigao’s examination and rented a quiet courtyard. After a cat yao attacked them over the house, they explained they were only staying briefly, and Jiang Youfu resolved to cultivate after learning how strong it was.

• Lin Xiao, Sun Yigao, Jiang Youfu, and Liu Yunan hurried from Xiushui Village and reached the county seat before sunset.
• The four youths found the courtyard Landlord Sun had rented from an elderly acquaintance and settled in after the owner gave them the key.
• A cat yao attacked Lin Xiao in the courtyard, but he blocked its strikes and used Hundred Beasts Spirit Speech to ask why it had attacked them.
• Liu Yunan and Sun Yigao assured the cat yao that they were only renting the house briefly, and it allowed them to stay while warning them not to damage it.
• Lin Xiao told Jiang Youfu and Liu Yunan that the cat yao was around Spirit Awakening Seventh Layer, prompting Jiang Youfu to rush inside with his Peach Blossom Spirit Gathering Formation to cultivate.

Lin Xiao, Sun Yigao, Jiang Youfu, and Liu Yunan learned that the cat demon Tuantuan had once been Granny Fang’s beloved pet, though they kept its attack on them secret. With Sun Yigao staying behind to study for the county examination, Lin Xiao and the other two set out to explore and scout the examination grounds.

• Sun Yigao gave the others Peach Leaf Pendants, and the four wore them for protection after the cat demon attacked them.
• The four visited Old Master Fang, who described his late wife’s cat and revealed its name was Tuantuan.
• Jiang Youfu confirmed Tuantuan’s appearance, but the boys concealed that it was a cat demon that had attacked them.
• After collecting their meal, the boys planned to explore the county town and scout the examination grounds while Sun Yigao studied.
• Lin Xiao, Jiang Youfu, and Liu Yunan declined Sun Yigao’s spending money and left in high spirits.