Chapter Summaries

Yang Linghu and Yang Lingrui returned to the Yang Family with Han Wang, a survivor from the Eastern Wilderness, as the Dynasty ordered Yang Guanfeng to help suppress unrest at the border. Before departing, Yang Guanfeng asked Chen Yang to put the Great Dao above the Yang Family if disaster ever struck.

• Han Wang begged Yang Linghu and Yang Lingrui to save his dying sworn brother Liao Feng, but Yang Linghu refused; they removed the pearl keeping Liao Feng alive and buried him after he died.
• Han Wang told Yang Linghu and Yang Lingrui about his past in the Eastern Wilderness and his service under Zhang Chen, then agreed to answer the Yang Family elders' questions.
• Yang Guanfeng and Zhao Qi returned with a Dynasty decree ordering Yang Guanfeng and other Lineage leaders to go to the Eastern Region border and suppress the unrest.
• Yang Guanfeng questioned Han Wang, witnessed his blood oath, and ordered him to accompany the expedition as atonement for his crimes.
• On the eve of his departure, Yang Guanfeng knelt before Chen Yang and asked him not to let the Yang Family keep him from pursuing the Great Dao if calamity came.

After Yang Guanfeng’s final words made Chen Yang question his Dao, Chen Yang realized he could use the Yang Family to prove it and advanced to Late Qi Gathering. The Yang Family then brought him an azure-green jade treasure, which he absorbed before falling asleep to digest it.

• Yang Guanfeng bowed to Chen Yang and left the ancestral hall after telling him to pursue the Great Dao without letting the Yang Family burden him.
• Chen Yang reflected through the night on his bond with the Yang Family and concluded that he could use the lineage to prove his Dao rather than choose between them and his path.
• At sunrise, Chen Yang’s White Space expanded and he advanced to Late Qi Gathering, gaining the ability to manipulate objects from afar with spiritual power.
• Elder Yu brought Chen Yang an azure-green stone-kind treasure that Yang Guanfeng had left for him to inspect.
• Chen Yang absorbed the jade, greatly increased his cultivation, and fell asleep to digest it.

After Chen Yang slept for three months, the Dynasty’s campaign ended, but its draft of cultivators left many lineages weakened and vulnerable. The Yang Family prospered under Yang Lingqing’s leadership, and Liang Yi brought the battered Liang Family to join them.

• The Dynasty’s draft weakened many lineages, sparking internal purges, factional conflicts, and attacks from their rivals.
• The Zhang Family’s strength fell after Zhang Tianqi left and Zhang Chen disappeared, and the family sealed Sanglu Valley amid rising internal tensions.
• The Songshan Yang Family remained unified under Yang Lingqing’s governance and expanded its businesses, mines, population, and villages.
• Liang Yi’s family suffered seizures, sabotage, and disappearances after his brother Liang Yuan was drafted away.
• Liang Yi accepted Yang Lingqing’s conditions, relocated the Liang Family to Pine Mountain, and presented their family register at the Yang Family council meeting.
• Yang Lingqing approved the Liang Family’s entry into the Yang Family lineage and arranged farmland, residences, and businesses for them.

Chen Yang observed the Liang Family entering the village, while Zhao Dapeng learned that the Yang Family had accepted them and recognized it as a warning about his own family’s misconduct. Zhao Dapeng gathered his household and took up an old machete to confront the trouble his relatives had caused.

• Yang Xiaolei checked the Liang Family’s roster and admitted seventy-four members into the village.
• A villager hurried to Zhao Mansion and told Zhao Dapeng that the Liang Family had arrived under the Yang Family’s protection.
• Zhao Dapeng learned that the Liang Family’s submission was a warning aimed at him because his relatives had repeatedly bullied people on both banks.
• Zhao Dapeng ordered everyone in his household to gather in the rear courtyard.
• Zhao Dapeng took an old brush-clearing machete from beneath his bed and strode out to face his household.

Zhao Dapeng brought the heads of six Zhao Family troublemakers to Yang Feiyun and apologized, learning that his son had become an Immortal Master. The Liang Family settled into its new home, while Gao Hui visited Yang Lingqing with the Dynasty’s monthly reward and news of Yang Guanfeng’s merit.

• Zhao Dapeng dragged a bloodied sack from Zhao Mansion and told Yang Tieli he was going to the Main Family to plead guilty.
• Zhao Dapeng knelt before Yang Feiyun, presented the heads of six Zhao Family juniors, and vowed to prevent further misconduct.
• Yang Feiyun forgave Zhao Dapeng and revealed that his son had succeeded in cultivation and was now an Immortal Master.
• Yang Xiaolei settled the Liang Family in a lavish courtyard with fields, a tavern, and shops, then reported to Yang Feiyun that all had gone smoothly.
• Gao Hui gave Yang Lingqing twenty Spirit Crystals and explained that ten extra were awarded for Yang Guanfeng’s service, then raised another matter to discuss.

Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi joined Gao Hui’s expedition to explore an ancient tomb, while Gao Hui confided that his lack of connections had stalled his prospects despite rebuilding White Stone Town. The chapter left Yang Lingrui reflecting that the Yang Family still had far to go and that he must remain diligent and cautious until his great undertaking was complete.

• Gao Hui told Yang Lingqing that Fengling Town had discovered an ancient tomb and invited the Yang Family to send cultivators to explore it.
• Yang Lingqing and Elder Yu chose Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi for the expedition, and Chen Yang secretly placed portions of his consciousness to protect them.
• Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi arrived in White Stone Town, where Gao Hui briefed them and two other cultivators on the journey to the tomb.
• Gao Hui told Yang Lingrui that his lack of background and connections had prevented him from advancing despite successfully rebuilding White Stone Town.
• Yang Lingrui recalled the Yang Family’s years of hardship and resolved to remain diligent and cautious until he achieved Core Formation and completed his great undertaking.

Cultivators from eight towns traveled to Feng Ling to investigate an ancient tomb, while Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi joined the White Stone Town team. In Feng Ling, Duan Yong explained the tomb’s formidable entrance restrictions to Li Cheng and revealed that Solitary Moon Mountain had sent a Condensing Essence cultivator who apparently dismissed the site.

• Lin Yu and Lü Liang greeted Yang Lingrui and discussed the Zhang Family’s unexplained decision to keep Sanglu Valley closed.
• Yang Lingrui said the Yang Family had withdrawn from its northern mine and knew nothing about the Zhang Family’s actions, while Zhao Qi quietly listened as instructed by Elder Yu.
• Gao Hui distributed maps, gave Yang Lingrui White Stone Town’s seal, and sent the twelve cultivators on their journey to Feng Ling.
• Half a month later, the cultivators from seven towns had gathered in Feng Ling, and Duan Yong welcomed Li Cheng and the Cuixi team.
• Duan Yong told Li Cheng that the ancient tomb’s entrance restrictions were too formidable for Feng Ling Town to break, and Li Cheng inferred that Solitary Moon Mountain’s visitor had looked down on the tomb.

Yang Lingrui met Li Cheng at the gathering of cultivators summoned to explore the ancient tomb, while Zhao Qi investigated the group. Li Cheng privately revealed that his family faced a grave political crisis and was seeking ways to secure its future.

• Li Cheng warmly welcomed Yang Lingrui, learned he was fourteen, and suggested he might suit Li Cheng’s fifteen-year-old sister.
• Duan Yong thanked the assembled cultivators and announced that he would lead them to the ancient tomb at noon the next day.
• Zhao Qi reported that thirty-seven people were joining the expedition and shared their names, backgrounds, and cultivation levels with Yang Lingrui.
• Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi questioned why the powerful Li Family would consider a match with Yang Lingrui and speculated that the family faced a major change.
• Li Cheng’s confidants objected to his choosing Yang Lingrui for his sister, but after they left, he revealed that the Li Family’s position was precarious and that he was seeking alliances to protect it.

Li Cheng, Duan Yong, Yang Lingrui, and the other cultivators opened the ancient tomb by activating its restriction and entered its first level. Yang Lingrui went down toward the second level with Li Cheng, while Zhao Qi stayed behind and began investigating the unevenly spaced stone pillars.

• Li Cheng joined Duan Yong and the cultivators at the tomb, where they activated the nine-point restriction and fought waves of specters while Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi dispersed the green smoke feeding a powerful Ghost Soldier.
• Li Cheng defeated the weakened Ghost Soldier, and the group entered the tomb and split up to explore its first level.
• Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi found Refined Ore before a Li Family cultivator summoned them to the passageway leading to the second level.
• Li Cheng invited Yang Lingrui to descend with him, but Zhao Qi stayed behind because the second level was too dangerous for him.
• After other cultivators mocked Zhao Qi and entered the passageway, he examined the stone pillars whose uneven distribution had caught his attention.

Yang Lingrui and Li Cheng’s group crossed the ancient tomb’s second level, defeating its guardians and collecting treasures before reaching the third level. There, they joined Huang Yan and Zheng Huaming before a strange hall whose carvings resembled people worshipping ghosts.

• Yang Lingrui chose the right-hand passageways, and Li Cheng’s group killed a swarm of corpse-born worms and found a Spirit Awakening Pill and Mountain Moving Talismans.
• Yang Lingrui defeated a Skeleton Python with his Gale Wind techniques, impressing Li Cheng and his subordinates.
• Li Cheng identified an Exotic Stone, which Yang Lingrui kept, and the group later defeated a ghost general and found a treasured sword and Vitality Returning Grass.
• After passing through five stretches of passageway, Yang Lingrui’s group reached the third level and met Huang Yan and Zheng Huaming at the main hall.
• Li Cheng and the others examined the hall’s strange carvings of kneeling people and a blurry figure, which seemed more like ghost worship than Buddha worship.

Li Cheng and his companions entered the tomb hall and fought its Red-robed Corpse Ghoul and the undead creatures guarding it. They defeated the ghoul, while two badly wounded cultivators returned safely toward the first level.

• Lin Yu and another Third Level of Qi Gathering cultivator emerged after escaping a ghost general that had killed their three companions, including Lü Liang.
• Yang Lingrui directed the wounded men to return by the leftmost passageway, and Li Cheng opened the hall doors with his phantom manifestation technique.
• A Red-robed Corpse Ghoul awakened and sealed the entrance as ghostfire skeletons and corpse-born bugs attacked the group.
• Yang Lingrui joined the Li Family cultivators to combine wind, fire, and water techniques, destroying most of the evil creatures.
• Li Cheng, Huang Yan, Zheng Huaming, Yang Lingrui, and the two Li Family cultivators overwhelmed the Red-robed Corpse Ghoul, and Li Cheng stomped it into fragments.

After the ancient tomb survivors divided its treasures, Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi discovered that Zhao Qi’s hidden pages completed the talisman inheritance. On their return journey, Zheng Huaming hinted that he wanted Yang Lingrui’s Vitality Returning Grass.

• Li Cheng and the others found the tomb owner’s hidden cave dwelling and divided its remaining treasures, with Li Cheng giving Yang Lingrui a Vitality Returning Grass.
• Yang Lingrui returned to Zhao Qi, and the two learned that only eighteen of the thirty-seven cultivators had survived the tomb exploration.
• Zhao Qi showed Yang Lingrui pages he had found in hollow stone pillars, and Yang Lingrui discovered they completed the incomplete talisman inheritance.
• Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi left Fengling Town the next morning and joined Zheng Huaming for part of the journey home.
• Zheng Huaming reminded Yang Lingrui of his Vitality Returning Grass and said another stalk would make his trip even better.

Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi returned from their journey after Zheng Huaming tried to steal the Vitality Returning Grass and kill them. Yang Lingrui defeated Zheng Huaming, and Zhao Qi received a bell and storage pouch as a reward for finding a complete talisman inheritance.

• Zheng Huaming demanded Yang Lingrui's Vitality Returning Grass and attacked him, revealing his plan to kill both travelers.
• Zhao Qi fled into the forest while Yang Lingrui fought Zheng Huaming, resisted the bell's spiritual attack, and killed him with a wind spike.
• Yang Lingrui found Zheng Huaming's storage pouch, concealed his remains, and later reunited with Zhao Qi in a bear's cave.
• Yang Lingrui and Zhao Qi returned home five days later and told Chen Yang, Elder Yu, and Yang Lingqing what had happened.
• Yang Lingqing gave Zhao Qi Zheng Huaming's bell and storage pouch to reward him for discovering the complete talisman inheritance.

After Yang Lingrui offered Chen Yang an Exotic Stone, Chen Yang gained a healing ability and used it to completely cure Yang Linghu. The Yang Family then examined its valuable talisman inheritance, and Chen Yang began demonstrating that he could draw talismans himself.

• Yang Lingrui offered Chen Yang an Exotic Stone, and Chen Yang devoured it, gaining a pale green healing beam.
• Chen Yang used the beam to heal Yang Linghu's remaining injuries in an hour, restoring him completely.
• The Yang Family discussed the valuable Qi Gathering Realm talisman inheritance they had recovered from the ancient tomb.
• Elder Yu struggled to choose someone to learn talisman crafting, so he presented the inheritance to Chen Yang.
• Chen Yang read the inheritance and began drawing talismans, leaving Elder Yu, Yang Lingqing, and the others stunned.

Chen Yang studied talisman crafting and produced increasingly powerful talismans for the Yang Family, including his first Adamantine and Mountain-Splitting Talismans. Elder Yu received the new defensive and offensive talismans, then confirmed that the clan’s grand sacrifice was arranged for ten days later.

• Chen Yang refined a fine-quality fire talisman on his first attempt and decided to make talismans for Yang Family cultivators and teach promising descendants.
• Chen Yang practiced for months, mastering the Five Elements Talismans and several other talismans, though exquisite-grade results remained difficult.
• Chen Yang spent three months learning to refine the Adamantine Talisman and finally produced an inferior-grade one capable of briefly resisting a Seventh Level of Qi Gathering cultivator.
• Chen Yang refined an inferior-grade Mountain-Splitting Talisman after two months of practice and summoned Elder Yu and the others to the ancestral hall.
• Elder Yu received the two talismans and asked Yang Lingqing about the sacrifice; Yang Lingqing said the clan-wide ceremony was arranged for ten days later.

The Yang Family held its first grand sacrifice, and Chen Yang gained spiritual power, new soul flames, expanded perception, and a mysterious power from mortal prayers. He suspected that prayer power might be key to advancing to the Condensed Essence Realm, though its nature remained unclear.

• The Yang Family, Zhao Family, Liang Family, and villagers prepared offerings and altars for the grand sacrifice.
• Zhao Qi reunited with his father, Zhao Dapeng, and patiently listened to his tearful words before returning to the mountain with Liang Yi.
• The Yang Family and its allies performed rites honoring Chen Yang, while six cultivators offered their essence blood.
• Chen Yang absorbed the sacrifice’s spiritual energy, gaining the equivalent of eight years of breathing exercises and soul flames representing Zhao Qi and Liang Yi.
• Chen Yang received six new wisps of ethereal consciousness, extending his touch perception across the North Bank village.
• Chen Yang absorbed the mysterious power of mortal prayers and suspected it was connected to reaching the Condensed Essence Realm.

After the Yang Family received an invitation to the Golden Scale Dharma Assembly through the Nanshan Li Family, Yang Lingqing argued that attending would open opportunities in Wangyue City despite the Li Family’s unknown motives. She devised a plan to explain Yang Lingrui’s rapid cultivation and conceal its true cause before the family set out.

• Yang Lingqing ordered the Yang Family to welcome visiting forces but refuse all their gifts.
• Gao Hui delivered the Dynasty’s Spirit Crystals and told the Yang Family that they had been invited to the Golden Scale Dharma Assembly, recommended by the Nanshan Li Family’s Second Young Master.
• Yang Linghu explained that the recommendation followed Yang Lingrui’s encounter with Feng Ling and Li Cheng, who had raised the prospect of a marriage alliance.
• Yang Lingqing and Elder Yu agreed that the family should attend the assembly to pursue opportunities beyond the two towns, even though the Li Family might have hidden motives.
• Yang Linghu raised the risk that Core Formation Cultivators in Wangyue City would notice Yang Lingrui’s rapid cultivation.
• Yang Lingqing proposed attributing his progress to the Exotic Stone, spiritual liquid, and pills, and said Yang Lingrui would deliberately damage his Qi circulation before the trip.

Yang Lingqing persuaded the family to avoid the Li Family’s dangerous sect ties, while Yang Lingrui and Yang Linghu spent six months improving their combat skills. Chen Yang’s talisman-making advanced, but he still needed to finish a Mountain-Splitting Talisman before Ling Rui’s departure.

• Yang Lingqing warned Yang Linghu that the Li Family’s backing might involve Solitary Moon Mountain, and the Yang Family should avoid getting entangled in its affairs.
• Elder Yu spread word that he had bought cultivation pills, while Yang Lingrui set aside technique cultivation and practiced spell arts with Yang Linghu.
• Yang Linghu mastered the fourth layer of the Brute Force Art and killed a Third Level of Qi Gathering pig demon with an enlarged-arm punch, badly injuring himself in the process.
• Chen Yang healed Yang Linghu and continued studying talisman arts, raising his defective-grade Mountain-Splitting Talisman success rate to about forty percent.

Chen Yang completed a fine-grade Mountain-Splitting Talisman with the help of the mortals’ prayers, and Yang Lingrui departed for the Golden Scale Dharma Assembly after pretending to have injured himself forcing a breakthrough. The Yang Family stayed behind, hoping he would remain safe and preparing to restart the distant mine.

• As Chen Yang’s talisman refinement neared collapse, the power of the mortals’ prayers stabilized it, allowing him to complete a fine-grade Mountain-Splitting Talisman.
• Yang Lingrui received the talisman, and Elder Yu and the others celebrated that it could threaten an unprepared Eighth Level Qi Gathering cultivator.
• Gao Hui met Yang Lingrui at the foot of Pine Mountain and believed he had injured himself while forcing a breakthrough to the Fourth Layer of Qi Gathering.
• After Gao Hui and Yang Lingrui left for the Golden Scale Dharma Assembly, Yang Linghu revealed that Yang Lingrui’s apparent injuries were an act, and Yang Lingqing urged him to cultivate so they could reopen the distant mine.

Yang Lingrui arrived in Wangyue City in poor health and met Cheng Yi before Li Cheng’s attendants invited him to Spring Welcome Courtyard. Li Cheng decided to postpone Yang Lingrui’s meeting with his sister, but she called out that she wanted to meet him.

• Gao Hui and Yang Lingrui reached Wangyue City, where Cheng Yi welcomed them and arranged Yang Lingrui’s courtyard.
• Cheng Yi asked Gao Hui about Yang Lingrui’s condition, and Gao Hui explained how his cultivation had been damaged.
• Yu Fenghuo and Liu Cheshui visited Yang Lingrui on Li Cheng’s behalf and invited him to meet Miss Li.
• Liu Cheshui told Li Cheng about Yang Lingrui’s condition, and Li Cheng questioned whether he was fit to meet his sister.
• Li Cheng examined Yang Lingrui, accepted that his meridians were damaged, and suggested postponing the meeting.
• Miss Li called from the inner courtyard, asking to meet Yang Lingrui.