Chapter Summaries

The Yang Family’s achievements earned them recognition from the Dynasty, while the other nineteen Wangyue factions were exiled to the Desert Sea. Yang Lingrui returned with Yang Linghu’s remains and resolved to grow stronger, as Wu Tong gave birth to Yang Yuanhong, the Yang Family’s first third-generation cultivator.

• The Dynasty praised the Yang Family’s accomplishments, and He Anping anticipated rewards and credit for the He Family.
• The Dynasty relocated Wangyue’s other nineteen factions to the Desert Sea for failing to meet their expectations.
• Gao Hui welcomed Yang Lingrui at the border and told him to stay in Sanglu Valley until Wu Tong recovered after giving birth.
• Yang Lingrui brought Yang Linghu’s remains to Elder Yu, grieved his brother’s death, and entered seclusion to pursue a breakthrough to Late Qi Gathering.
• Wu Tong gave birth to a son on Pine Mountain, and Chen Yang and Wu Tong named him Yang Yuanhong.

After breaking through to the Seventh Level of Qi Gathering, Yang Lingrui returned to the Yang Family’s main mountain with Yang Lingshu and secured the Lü Family’s future. There, the family continued guiding Yang Yuanhong’s extraordinary growth, and Yang Lingqing sensed that Brother Linghu had returned.

• Yang Lingrui emerged from eighty-eight days of seclusion after reaching the Seventh Level of Qi Gathering and told Elder Yu he was ready to shoulder the family’s responsibilities.
• Yang Lingshu told Yang Lingrui that his sister-in-law was healthy but had likely guessed the truth about their long absence.
• Yang Lingrui promised Lü Fangxuan that the Main Family would protect him and the Lü Family, and Lü Fangxuan swore loyalty to Yang Lingshu.
• Yang Lingrui retrieved a magical artifact, then ordered Yang Lingshu to notify Zhao Qi and the others so they could return to the mountain.
• Wu Tong caught Yang Yuanhong trying to escape meditation, and he settled back onto his cushion after she promised to take him out to play.
• Yang Lingqing explained Yang Yuanhong’s unusual physical vitality and the family’s efforts to calm him through discipline and meditation, then sensed Brother Linghu returning to the mountain.

Wu Tong and the Yang Family mourned Yang Linghu, then received generous rewards from the Dynasty and He Family for their role in the treasure-seizing incident. After the family distributed some rewards, Chen Yang gave Yang Lingrui a fourth Spirit Pearl, which became a portion of fortune within his body.

• Wu Tong brought Yang Yuanhong to Yang Linghu's grave, where they wept as the Yang Family and Elder Yu paid their respects.
• Elder Yu told Yang Xiaolei of Yang Linghu's death, and the Dynasty later sent Gao Hui and a cultivator with the family's commendations and rewards.
• The He Family gifted the Yang Family a Qi Gathering Perfection ancient willow, a spirit-plant cultivation art, and ten thousand Spirit Crystals, while the Dynasty granted the family five years to develop peacefully.
• Gao Hui told Yang Lingqing that Yang Guanfeng had earned an opportunity to advance to the Late Stage Realm.
• The Yang Family gave premium Marrow Cleansing Pills to Yang Lingqing, Yang Lingshu, Yang Yuanhong, and Wu Tong, and chose Yang Lingshu as its Myriad Transformation Sect Direct Disciple candidate.
• Chen Yang gave Yang Lingrui a fourth Spirit Pearl, which dissolved into an invisible power of fortune within his body.

Chen Yang celebrated the Spirit Pearl’s transformation and continued building prayer power while helping Yang Lingrui and preparing to refine a Five Thunders Talisman. After three days of inscribing it on ancient willow bark, he began refining the talisman, but a bolt of lightning struck him.

• Chen Yang reflected that Yang Lingrui, Yang Lingshu, and Yuan Hong had promising paths toward Core Formation and the Yang Family’s future was secure.
• Prayer power from the Cheng Yang Halls and stone tablets helped Chen Yang leave a shallow dent in the Formless and Faceless barrier, though breaking through remained distant.
• Yang Lingrui thanked Chen Yang for refining his Spirit Pearl and presented four dark-blue spirit ores, which Chen Yang told him to bring to Feng Ling next year.
• Chen Yang used ancient willow bark from the He Family to begin making a Five Thunders Talisman, while Yang Lingqing and Elder Yu concealed the talisman’s radiance.
• After inscribing the talisman over three days, Chen Yang began refining it, but a streak of blue lightning shot toward him and struck his black outer shell.

Chen Yang failed to refine a lightning talisman and ordered Yang Lingqing to gather suitable materials and improve the Yang Family’s formations. Zhao Qi found Liu Zihao living in poverty after his master’s arrest and invited him to inspect the Yang Family’s formations, leaving Liu stunned and hopeful.

• Chen Yang’s ten-day attempt to refine a lightning talisman ended in failure, and he concluded that he needed thunder-attributed materials to supply enough thunder spirits.
• Yang Lingqing proposed upgrading the Pine Mountain formation and building four formations to support the people living beneath the mountain, and Chen Yang approved.
• Yang Lingqing sent Zhao Qi to find Formation Master Liu Zihao, but a Formation Pavilion cultivator explained that Liu had fallen out of favor after his master was arrested.
• Zhao Qi visited Liu Zihao’s modest home and offered him one hundred Spirit Crystals along with an invitation to inspect the Yang Family’s formations.
• Liu Zihao accepted the invitation with trembling disbelief as Zhao Qi respectfully welcomed him to come along.

Yang Lingqing offered Liu Zihao a place as the Yang Family’s resident formation master and gave him the Spirit Crystals to end his Formation Pavilion contract. Liu Zihao went to the Pavilion to terminate it, where Zou Yu appeared to confront him.

• Yang Lingqing confirmed through Zhao Qi and Gao Hui that the Dynasty had cleared Liu Zihao of involvement in the Wangyue City matter and planned to clear his name.
• Yang Lingqing invited Liu Zihao to join the Yang Family as its resident formation master and offered to pay the four thousand Spirit Crystals needed to end his contract.
• Liu Zihao accepted the offer, thanked Yang Lingqing, and set off for the Formation Pavilion with the Spirit Crystals.
• At the Formation Pavilion, a junior formation master blocked Liu Zihao from going upstairs, and Liu Zihao announced that he wanted to terminate his contract.
• As Liu Zihao stepped onto the stairs, Zou Yu came down from the second floor and called for him to wait.

Liu Zihao terminated his contract with the Formation Pavilion and left with his Spirit Crystals, but two Seventh Level Qi Gathering cultivators ambushed him on the way to Pine Mountain. Yang Lingrui killed the attackers and rescued him, reinforcing Liu Zihao’s confidence in joining the Yang Family.

• Liu Zihao demanded to terminate his contract, silenced Zou Yu’s protests by displaying four thousand Spirit Crystals, and received his contract from the elder.
• Zou Yu left the Formation Pavilion for an unnamed shop, and two ordinary-looking cultivators later departed the marketplace through the eastern gate.
• Liu Zihao headed toward Pine Mountain, unaware that two Seventh Level Qi Gathering cultivators were pursuing him.
• The two cultivators cornered Liu Zihao and said someone had hired them to take his hands and feet.
• Yang Lingrui emerged from hiding and killed both attackers, then helped Liu Zihao to his feet.
• Liu Zihao recognized Yang Lingrui and marveled at his cultivation and fighting ability.

Liu Zihao designed and helped the Yang Family complete five interconnected formations that protected its lands from harsh weather and drew migrants to Pine Mountain. As the Yang Family grew prominent, Pan Baolu and Huang Yan arrived seeking an audience.

• On the journey back, Liu Zihao learned from Yang Lingrui that Zou Yu had likely sent the attackers, and Yang Lingrui urged him to remain kind but act decisively against treacherous people.
• After returning to the Yang Family, Liu Zihao scrapped his old plans and spent three months designing five interconnected formations with combined climate-regulating and protective effects.
• Liu Zihao explained his blueprints to Yang Lingqing, while Chen Yang secretly admired his formation skills.
• With help from Yang Family cultivators and Gao Hui, Liu Zihao completed the five formations after the family spent seventeen thousand Dynasty merit points on materials.
• The formations protected the Yang Family's lands during a severe regional drought, prompting a wave of migration that brought the South Bank's population above twenty thousand.
• Zhao Qi reported that Qinghe Town mayor Pan Baolu and Huang Family patriarch Huang Yan had arrived at the mountain to request an audience.

Yang Lingqing aided Qinghe’s struggling mayor and heard Huang Yan’s plea to protect the Huang Family before its members were sent to the dangerous border. The chapter ended with Huang Yan offering five hundred Spirit Crystals and asking her to have Liu Zihao set up a late-stage formation.

• Liu Zihao’s formation work and He Shenglai’s intervention established the Yang Family as a faction others no longer dared provoke.
• Zhao Qi admitted Pan Baolu and Huang Yan to meet Yang Lingqing at the Yang Family estate.
• Pan Baolu explained Qinghe’s drought-driven financial crisis and requested a loan of two thousand Spirit Crystals.
• Yang Lingqing gave Pan Baolu the money without requiring repayment terms or interest, and he left to help the town.
• Huang Yan presented the Dynasty’s secret order and explained that he and two relatives would soon be sent to the dangerous border.
• Huang Yan offered the Huang Family’s five hundred Spirit Crystals and asked Yang Lingqing to have Liu Zihao build a late-stage formation for his family.

Yang Lingqing used the Yang Family’s strength and Liu Zihao’s formation skills to offer Huang Yan’s lineage protection in exchange for becoming a vassal. Huang Yan eagerly accepted, agreeing to build a Cheng Yang Hall and stone tablet for his family to worship.

• Yang Lingqing considered recruiting vassal lineages now that the Yang Family had the strength, backing, and formation expertise to do so.
• Huang Yan presented five hundred Spirit Crystals and a formation diagram to Yang Lingqing, who summoned Liu Zihao.
• Liu Zihao dismissed the Formation Pavilion’s diagram and offered to redraw it and provide formations for the Huang Family.
• Yang Lingqing told Huang Yan that the formations would cost only the five hundred Spirit Crystals if his family built a Cheng Yang Hall and stone tablet and worshipped them daily.
• Yang Lingqing revealed that the condition made the Huang Family a vassal of the Yang Family, and Huang Yan joyfully accepted.

Yang Lingqing made the Huang Family a vassal of the Yang Family and sent Yang Lingrui with Liu Zihao to establish a formation in Feng Ling. After returning, Yang Lingrui learned that Liang Yi had grown Purple Heaven Flower stamens and encouraged him to let go of his guilt over Yang Linghu’s death.

• Huang Yan agreed to make the Huang Family a vassal in exchange for building a grand hall and stone tablets, and Yang Lingqing sent Yang Lingrui to accompany Liu Zihao to Feng Ling.
• Liu Zihao quickly completed the formation diagram, and he and Yang Lingrui traveled with Huang Yan to establish the formation and explain the sacrificial arrangements.
• Yang Lingqing’s reasons for choosing the Huang Family included its location, its ties to the Bamboo Forest Cultivator, and its influence in Feng Ling.
• Liang Yi greeted Yang Lingrui with the first cluster of Purple Core Flower Stamens from the Purple Heaven Flower, which could improve a cultivator’s chance of breaking through a realm.
• Yang Lingrui told Liang Yi that Yang Linghu’s death was not his fault and urged him to resume cultivating, while Yang Lingqing and the others joined them to thank him for his work.

Over three years, the Yang Family adapted to new alliances and the Dynasty’s purge of regional forces, while Yang Lingqing realized Tiger Chasing was preparing to attack the Eastern Wilderness. Yang Lingrui, Yang Lingshu, and Lü Fangxuan departed for their respective destinations, and Yang Lingqing and Wu Tong reflected on how Yang Yuanhong had grown.

• Liang Yi resumed cultivation, Yang Lingrui entered seclusion with the Purple Core Flower Stamen, and Yang Lingshu settled in Pine Mountain's Forbidden Ground to prepare for the Myriad Transformation Sect.
• After the Huang Family held its first grand sacrifice, Chen Yang received more than eighty strands of prayer power, while Yang Lingqing chose to wait before expanding the Yang Family’s affiliated lineages.
• The Dynasty’s campaign devastated cultivators sent to the borders, but the Yang Family escaped under its protective decree; Yang Lingqing concluded that Tiger Chasing was consolidating its forces before moving against the Eastern Wilderness.
• Yang Lingrui reached the eighth level, while Yang Lingshu reached the third and Lü Fangxuan the second, and the three departed with the Yang Family’s farewells.
• Yang Lingqing saw Yang Yuanhong tending Yang Linghu’s grave and heard him promise to shoulder responsibility, then invited Wu Tong to walk down the mountain and buy him sweet cakes.

Chengtian Academy disciples gathered for the release of the rankings and discussed Li Yuande’s upcoming demonstration of Qi Descent to Essence Condensation. Li Qingwan and Feng Linghua revealed that they both had someone in their hearts, leaving the gathered disciples stunned as Qingwan described her beloved as handsome.

• Chengtian Academy disciples gathered at Dengtian Pavilion to await the rankings and discuss Li Yuande’s approaching demonstration.
• Li Qingwan arrived and declined a fellow disciple’s invitation to watch from the front, saying she was meeting someone.
• Feng Linghua joined Li Qingwan and showed her a painting, then admitted she already had someone in her heart.
• Li Qingwan told the stunned crowd that she had already met someone she loved.
• When Feng Linghua asked what he was like, Li Qingwan bashfully said he was very handsome.

Li Qingwan revealed that she admired someone for his good looks, leaving Shen Yue heartbroken as he realized she already had someone in her heart. When the academy posted its rankings, Li Qingwan found herself twentieth on the Gold Ranking, earning a chance to witness her ancestor's final journey.

• Li Qingwan said she liked someone because he was good-looking, and Shen Yue remembered how she had rejected his invitation and concluded that she already loved someone else.
• Shen Yue told Xiao Man not to disparage Li Qingwan and resolved to meet the person she admired if he got the chance.
• The academy posted its rankings, and Feng Linghua placed twenty-first in the Painting Academy.
• Li Qingwan checked the Gold Ranking and celebrated finding her name, knowing the ranking offered a chance to enter Chongtian Palace and witness the Qi Descent to Essence Condensation ceremony.
• The Gold Ranking placed Shen Yue first and Li Qingwan twentieth, while all Four Great Beauties made the list.

Li Qingwan entered Chengtian Academy’s Gold Ranking, stirring reactions from Shen Yue and Su Lixue. Meanwhile, Yang Lingrui arrived near Chongtian City in disguise to attend the ceremony and reunited with Zi He.

• Li Qingwan made the Gold Ranking, and Shen Yue congratulated her before she left without engaging with Lian Xiaoman’s criticism.
• Su Lixue and Su Lingyun read that Li Qingwan would attend the ceremony and argued about her, Murong Qiuhan, and Ye Lan.
• Yang Lingrui reached the outskirts of Chongtian City, presented his entry documents to a patrol envoy, and received a token allowing him to travel onward.
• Zi He met Yang Lingrui near the city walls and revealed that his eye technique had let him recognize him through his disguise.

Yang Lingrui entered Chongtian City with Zi He and learned that Li Qingwan had secretly fallen for him, though he had never recognized her feelings. The next day, he went to Wangtian Tower to visit He Shenglai.

• Zi He escorted Yang Lingrui through Chongtian City and arranged a Class B independent cave residence for him in Earth District Five.
• Zi He told Yang Lingrui that the martial exposition ceremony would likely use an on-site selection because so many factions had arrived.
• Zi He revealed that Li Qingwan was coming to the city and had quietly set her heart on Yang Lingrui, who was surprised to hear it.
• Zi He asked Yang Lingrui to answer Li Qingwan honestly if she spoke to him about her feelings, and Yang Lingrui promised.
• The next day, Yang Lingrui visited He Shenglai at Wangtian Tower and paid his respects.

Yang Lingrui reviewed the roster for the selection of thirty spectators and traveled toward the Dynasty Martial Academy with He Shenglai. After clashing with Su Lingyun, Yang Lingrui became the target of a deadly order as the selection approached.

• He Shenglai gave Yang Lingrui the selection roster and told him to meet at noon to travel to the Dynasty Martial Academy.
• Yang Lingrui read that 124 cultivators would compete for thirty spectator seats, with Zi He ranked third, Li Qingwan fifteenth, and himself fortieth.
• Su Lingyun approached Yang Lingrui warmly, but He Shenglai intervened and questioned Su Lingyun about missing children near Jingyun Peak.
• He Shenglai and Su Lingyun exchanged threats and released killing intent before Core Formation Cultivators intervened and dispersed them.
• Su Lingyun ordered a guard to promise an Essence Condensation Path to anyone who killed Yang Lingrui during the selection.

Yang Lingrui and Xu Jian'an arrived at the Dynasty Martial Academy to take part in the spectator selection, where they saw powerful cultivators from across the region gather. The first round began with Xia Liheng entering the imitation Martial God Pagoda, and his rapid climb left the other candidates in awe.

• Yang Lingrui and Xu Jian'an greeted one another beneath the academy tower and discussed their chances against disciples from powerful backgrounds.
• Chengtian Academy's group arrived, drawing attention to Li Qingwan and Ye Lan, and the top-ranked Chu Hao, Xia Liheng, and Zi He joined the gathering.
• Hong Guang announced that candidates had to reach the eighth floor of the imitation Martial God Pagoda to advance, while anyone reaching the twelfth floor would earn a spectator seat directly.
• Hong Guang called on Xia Liheng to go first, and Xia Liheng entered the tower and quickly reached the eighth floor.
• Chu Hao asked Zi He about his chances against Xia Liheng, and Zi He admitted he would have to flee if Xia used Spirit Control.
• Yang Lingrui told Xu Jian'an not to belittle himself for standing among the gathered cultivators, and Xu Jian'an agreed.

Xia Liheng, Zi He, and Chu Hao easily cleared the Martial God Pagoda and earned spectator seats, while five other cultivators reached the twelfth floor with injuries. Ye Lan struggled through the eleventh-floor trial but, thinking of her younger siblings and the Ye Family, gave up before the final floor and left the pagoda.

• Xia Liheng, Zi He, and Chu Hao each obtained a twelfth-floor token and earned a spectator seat.
• Five more Ninth Level Cultivators mastered the Way of Spirit Control and reached the twelfth floor, though all emerged injured.
• Hong Guang noticed that Ye Lan's aura was unstable, while Zi He sensed the hardship behind her condition.
• Ye Lan and four other cultivators climbed to the eleventh floor; three gave up, and the remaining two eventually withdrew.
• Wounded Ye Lan considered climbing to the twelfth floor despite the danger, but remembered her younger siblings and the Ye Family and walked back down.

After the first selection round, the remaining cultivators learned that the next round would take place inside the dangerous Western Expedition Illusory Realm Stone. Yang Lingrui received a warning from He Shenglai that killing was permitted inside, then joined the other contestants as they prepared to enter.

• Li Qingwan reached the tenth floor and withdrew with only slight damage to her robes, while Yang Lingrui later withdrew from the eighth floor without drawing attention.
• Hong Guang announced that the second selection round would take place in the Western Expedition Illusory Realm Stone, where Ghost Soldiers and ghost generals made survival the contestants' responsibility.
• Yang Lingrui received a letter from He Shenglai stating that no one was forbidden to kill inside the illusory realm, and he burned it after reading.
• The next morning, Yang Lingrui and Xu Jian'an arrived at Fengtian Pavilion, where sixty-four cultivators chose to enter the second round and eighteen gave up.
• Yang Lingrui saw the Western Expedition Illusory Realm Stone and wondered how much of the Immortal Venerable's power it could restore if he swallowed it.