Chapter Summaries

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox infiltrated sects to gather the supplementary herbs for a Nascent Soul Pill, taking thirty years to find them all except the Five Qi Ink Spirit Flower. They joined Moon Holding Pavilion as kitchen hands beneath Three Lifetimes Peak to seek the final ingredient.

• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox slipped past the Great Que Sect's Mountain Protecting Array and stole a Toss Spirit Profound Mushroom, leaving Mid-Grade Five Elements Pills in its place.
• The Great Que Sect's elders discovered the missing mushroom but kept quiet and decided to wait for their sect master to return.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox visited sects across several nations and gradually collected the Nascent Soul Pill's supplementary spiritual herbs over thirty years.
• They learned that the Five Qi Ink Spirit Flower grew only at Moon Holding Pavilion and decided not to force their way into its heavily guarded base.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox joined Nine Palaces Mountain as Foundation Establishment Realm kitchen hands beneath Three Lifetimes Peak.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox settled into life as cooks at Nine Palaces Mountain, befriending the kitchen’s menial disciples while quietly preparing for a possible escape. After a hundred years of ordinary days and farewells, Chen Xun noticed a small booklet floating before him.

• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox cooked for Nine Palaces Mountain’s kitchen, shared leftover meat with menial disciples, and learned about their lives.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox secretly investigated the mountain, cultivated spirit herbs in an underground cave abode, and prepared to dig beyond the Mountain Protecting Array.
• They learned that Listening Snow Valley held the Five Qi Ink Spirit Flower and was guarded by Nascent Soul Ancestors.
• Over a hundred years, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox befriended the kitchen workers, joined their farewells and funerals, and enjoyed their settled routine.
• As Chen Xun relaxed outside the cottage with Big Black Ox, a small booklet suddenly floated before his eyes.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox learned that a Nascent Soul Ancestor had left Nine Palaces Mountain amid changes at the Northern Border, and decided to investigate Listening Snow Valley. Meanwhile, Jiang Xuechen uncovered clues about the political forces behind the Northern Border expedition as the valley prepared for an important event.

• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox reminisced over their recorded adventures and fought over booklets documenting each other's embarrassing moments.
• A Nascent Soul Ancestor departed Nine Palaces Mountain, ordered its disciples to maintain normal routines, and said Junior Sister Jin Yu would return soon.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox decided to investigate Listening Snow Valley, while preparing to flee in case the Ancestor's announcement was a trap.
• Jiang Xuechen reassured her Junior Sisters, then used a jade slip to investigate the Northern Border and the conflict between the Ten Great Immortal Sects and the Three Great Powers.
• Listening Snow Valley appeared heavily guarded, with Golden Core cultivators stationed outside and powerful formations active within.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox openly approached Listening Snow Valley to trade for a Five Qi Ink Spirit Flower, bluffing their way past the valley’s defenses. Their arrival ended in a confrontation with Old Ancestor Jinyu, whose overwhelming Nascent Soul pressure descended on them.

• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox abandoned their attempt to sneak in and approached the valley with spirit herbs and pills, pretending to be experts.
• Jiang Xuechen questioned the pair and warned them that Moon Holding Pavilion could not decide whether to give them the Five Qi Ink Spirit Flower.
• Jiang Xuechen cited a divination of great misfortune and let Chen Xun and Big Black Ox wait for someone with authority.
• Old Ancestor Jinyu emerged from Listening Snow Valley, and her immense aura oppressed the Golden Core cultivators on Nine Palaces Mountain.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox faced Old Ancestor Jin Yu at Nine Palaces Mountain, endured her test without revealing their true cultivation, and obtained a Five Qi Ink Spirit Flower. Jin Yu judged them to be rare experts and began forming a plan as she worried that Qian Kingdom’s Ten Great Immortal Sects were behind the Northern Border’s coming calamity.

• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox stood their ground as Jin Yu unleashed her Nascent Soul pressure and attack to test them.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox revealed their Heavenly Tribulation Body Tempering forms and survived Jin Yu’s attack unscathed.
• Chen Xun asked Jin Yu for a young Five Qi Ink Spirit Flower, and she gifted them a Thousand Year Spiritual Herb in exchange for their offered herbs.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox left Nine Palaces Mountain with the flower, while Jin Yu told Jiang Xuechen that they were rare experts and urged her to make friends widely.
• Jin Yu worried that Qian Kingdom’s Ten Great Immortal Sects were the root of the Northern Border’s impending calamity and began forming a plan.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox left Nine Palaces Mountain for the Heaven Severing Great Plains, where they discovered that the land seemed to be draining Spiritual Qi. They established an underground home to cultivate herbs and refine pills, with Crane Spirit Tree accompanying them.

• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox reflected on Old Ancestor Jinyu's actions and speculated that she might have seen through them before continuing toward the Heaven Severing Great Plains.
• Two years later, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox arrived at the plains and noticed that its sand held no Spiritual Qi, while their spiritual power had been draining faster there.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox suspected that the plains were naturally eroding Spiritual Qi and wondered whether the wider region would eventually suffer the same decline.
• Chen Xun opened an underground cave abode with the Mountain-Splitting Axe while Big Black Ox set up the Five Extremes Array.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox began cultivating spirit herbs and refining pills, keeping company with Crane Spirit Tree through the seasons.

The Ten Great Immortal Sects, the Three Great Powers, and the Northern Border forces began the battle later known as the War of Heavenly Change. Ten years later, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox watched the sunrise before Chen Xun prepared to refine pills, alarming Big Black Ox.

• Chan Yuan, Si Kong Qian Mu, and the Barbarian Ancestor confronted one another as their forces gathered in the Northern Border.
• Chan Yuan ordered his cultivators to fight, while Si Kong Qian Mu and the Barbarian Ancestor rallied their own sides.
• Tens of thousands of barbarian cultivators joined the battle, and millions of cultivators clashed across the Northern Border.
• Ten years later, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox practiced absorbing the sunrise’s Purple Qi on the Heaven Severing Great Plains.
• Chen Xun summoned his Pill Refining Furnace and announced he would refine pills, prompting Big Black Ox to jump up in alarm.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox spent years refining pill-pattern Nascent Soul Pills, then prepared to break through after Chen Xun decided heavenly tribulations were Heaven’s blessings. Chen Xun swallowed a pill and began the breakthrough, but its medicinal power started to shatter his Golden Core as his emotions grew unstable.

• Chen Xun refined pills for a year while Big Black Ox arranged an array and brought him spiritual herbs, and Chen Xun worked out the Nascent Soul Pill formula.
• Over the next eight years, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox accumulated more than twenty Dao Vein Nascent Soul Pills while remaining unaware of the war spreading through the Cultivation World.
• Chen Xun persuaded Big Black Ox that heavenly tribulations were Heaven’s blessing and body-tempering baptism, then decided they should prepare to break through with rites of gratitude.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox traveled west and, half a month later, set up incense burners and spiritual herb petals beneath the moon.
• Chen Xun swallowed a pill-pattern Nascent Soul Pill, experienced rising agitation, and began the breakthrough as its medicinal power dissolved over his Golden Core and a crack sounded.

Chen Xun endured a heavenly and Heart Refining Tribulation while breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm. He emerged as Old Ancestor Chen Xun, with a towering five-headed, ten-armed Image behind him.

• Chen Xun prepared for his breakthrough by praising Heaven, arranging incense burners, and protecting himself and Big Black Ox with a mana barrier.
• Chen Xun swallowed Nascent Soul Pills and endured successive lightning strikes that cracked his Golden Core, while Big Black Ox watched from nearby.
• Chen Xun faced illusions of forests and old friends during the Heart Refining Tribulation, but recognized them as dreams and kept his true heart.
• Chen Xun's Image seized a lightning bolt and crushed it into body-tempering power, while the tribulation continued around him.
• Chen Xun broke through the Nascent Soul Realm as the thunderclouds cleared, revealing his five-headed, ten-armed Image and earning the name Old Ancestor Chen Xun.

Chen Xun broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm, discovered he could split into five Nascent Soul Phantoms, and explained the Heart Refining Tribulation to Big Black Ox. He prepared the ox for its own breakthrough, and Big Black Ox's heavenly tribulation began.

• Chen Xun reached the Nascent Soul Realm, manifested five Nascent Soul Phantoms, and regained the ability to add points to his attributes.
• Chen Xun reunited with Big Black Ox, demonstrated his power by sweeping away the surrounding sea of sand, and told the ox about the dangers of the Heart Refining Tribulation.
• Chen Xun spent three days and nights describing hypothetical deaths to help Big Black Ox hold fast to its True Heart during the trial.
• Chen Xun gave Big Black Ox thirteen Nascent Soul Pills and encouraged it to break through so they could find Little She-Ox.
• Big Black Ox lit its incense burners, performed its preparations, and began cultivating as Chen Xun watched from afar.
• The heavenly tribulation arrived, and lightning spread across the sky around Big Black Ox.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox survived their tribulations and reached the Nascent Soul Realm, then stabilized their new power and decided to return home. Three months later, they arrived at Huai Ping City in the Qian Kingdom.

• Chen Xun watched Big Black Ox endure the heavenly tribulation while he sensed the changes in his own body.
• Big Black Ox's five-headed, ten-armed phantom struck at the thunderclouds, driving away the tribulation and bringing seven-colored rosy light across the sky.
• Big Black Ox successfully reached the Nascent Soul Realm, and he and Chen Xun embraced, relieved that they had both survived their trials.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox gave thanks to the heavens, established an underground cave dwelling, and stabilized their Nascent Souls.
• Chen Xun planned to learn from the sects and schools across the Cultivation World, while he and Big Black Ox agreed to return home after stabilizing their realms.
• Three months later, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox rode into Huai Ping City at dusk.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox returned to the Qian Kingdom and learned from three Qi Condensation Sect Disciples that the Cultivation World was again at war. After confirming the conflict had not reached Qian Kingdom, they decided to return to Yongquan Province.

• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox watched the peaceful border city and reflected on how war had harmed their old friends.
• Three Qi Condensation Stage Sect Disciples told Chen Xun that the Ten Great Immortal Sects were fighting Eastern Nations and Northern Barbarian cultivators at the Northern Border.
• Chen Xun gave the three disciples bottles of Heavy Feather Pills before he and Big Black Ox flew away.
• In Huai Ping City, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox bought an old ox bronze sculpture and ate buns in a side alley.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox concluded the war had not reached Qian Kingdom and resolved to return to Yongquan Province.

After more than a thousand years away, Chen Xun and the Big Black Ox returned to the Small Mountain Village and found that it had vanished along with everyone they remembered. They mourned their lost home and departed for Pan Ning City to visit the Ning Family.

• Chen Xun and the Big Black Ox traveled through the changed countryside, where an old farmer mistook their route and pointed them toward the clans’ ancestral lands.
• They recognized the Small Hillside and shouted greetings to the people they had left behind, then realized the village and its residents were gone.
• Chen Xun and the Big Black Ox built a thatched cottage on the former village site and stayed there for two days.
• They searched the crowded graveyard for familiar names, found none, and Chen Xun played a suona tune as an offering.
• Chen Xun rented Little She-Oxen so the Big Black Ox could fulfill its old dream, then they returned the animals and set off for Pan Ning City.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox returned to Pan Ning City and discovered that the Ning Family had become a renowned family of healers. Chen Xun revealed that Ning Si had once been his master, leaving Ning Yuanru and Ning Chongwan stunned by the immortal’s connection to their ancient ancestor.

• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox explored Pan Ning City and found that their old blacksmith shop had become the Blue-and-White Teahouse.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox learned that the Ning Family had flourished as a prominent family of healers.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox appeared in a room with Ning Yuanru and Ning Chongwan, who recognized Chen Xun as an immortal.
• Chen Xun offered to help with the medical problem Ning Yuanru and Ning Chongwan had been discussing.
• Chen Xun told Ning Yuanru that Ning Si had been his master, and Ning Chongwan dropped the teapot in shock.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox visited the Ning Family, gave its descendants medicines, medical books, and a protective array, then searched for Sun Lao’s grave. Unable to find it, they bought the mountain, named it Sun Lao Mountain, and left Yongquan Province.

• Chen Xun accepted the Ning Family descendants as his juniors and gave them longevity medicines, healing pills, herbs, and medical books, while Big Black Ox installed a protective array for the family.
• Ning Yuanru and Ning Chongwan swore to follow their Ancestors’ teachings and planned to enshrine Chen Xun and Big Black Ox in the Ning Family Ancestral Hall.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox paid respects to Teacher and Shimu, then flew to a barren mountain to search for Sun Lao’s grave.
• After searching the mountain for a day and a night without finding the grave, Chen Xun bought the mountain with a land deed from the city.
• Big Black Ox sealed the mountain, and Chen Xun placed a tablet at its summit naming it Sun Lao Mountain before they departed Yongquan Province.

After reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox assessed their strength and traveled east while planning their next goals. They secretly returned extra spiritual herbs to the sects they had robbed, leaving the sect elders baffled and prompting them to stop guarding their herb gardens.

• Chen Xun realized that his and Big Black Ox's strengthened attributes made them exceptionally difficult to defeat, and he reflected on the Water Spirit Art's mysteries.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox reached Qian Kingdom's quiet eastern border and decided to return two spiritual herbs for every one they had taken from each sect.
• Chen Xun listed plans involving Nascent Soul cultivation methods, the hundred schools, and their Giant Flying Boat Project as Big Black Ox guided them toward the sects.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox secretly entered the sects' herb gardens and planted extra spiritual herbs, evading guards and formations.
• The sect elders found the unexpected extra herbs, suspected the work was not human, and ordered that their herb gardens no longer be guarded.

Half a year after the Northern Border war began, Chen Xun and Big Black Ox visited Nine Palaces Mountain seeking an opportunity to obtain Nascent Soul Cultivation Methods. Old Ancestor Jin Yu recognized them as the powerful cultivators from years earlier and welcomed them with a grand ceremony before inviting them to talk.

• Jiang Xuechen warned Jin Yu that honored guests were approaching, and Jin Yu said the visitors had already waited outside the mountain gates.
• Jin Yu ordered the gates opened and arranged for Chen Xun and Big Black Ox to be welcomed at Li Meng Peak, explaining that she believed they were the two cultivators from years earlier.
• Chen Xun and Big Black Ox worried about how to visit a sect properly, then entered Nine Palaces Mountain after its disciples opened the gates and greeted them.
• At Li Meng Peak, Jin Yu publicly welcomed Chen Xun by name, stunning Jiang Xuechen and the gathered disciples.
• Chen Xun asked Jin Yu to talk, and he and Big Black Ox flew away with her while the female cultivators returned to their duties and discussed the visitors.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox visited Jin Yu at Nine Palaces Mountain, gave her a generous gift, and asked Moon Holding Pavilion for a Nascent Soul cultivation method. Jin Yu offered them membership or a method as a gift, but Chen Xun and Big Black Ox hesitated because of the ongoing war.

• Chen Xun presented Jin Yu with two Five Qi Ink Spirit Flowers and a low-grade Nascent Soul Pill as a visiting gift.
• Chen Xun named Big Black Ox Ximen Black Ox, and Jin Yu praised the name’s meaning, delighting them both.
• Chen Xun asked whether Moon Holding Pavilion sold a Nascent Soul cultivation method and explained that he and Ximen Black Ox were independent cultivators after their lineage declined.
• Chen Xun said he needed an ordinary Fire Attribute method and had delayed seeking one because of the war in the Northern Border.
• Jin Yu offered Chen Xun and Ximen Black Ox a place in Moon Holding Pavilion or a Nascent Soul cultivation method, and they exchanged a wary look over joining a force involved in the war.

Chen Xun and Big Black Ox agreed to stay as guests of Moon Holding Pavilion after Jin Yu promised to conceal their connection to it. Jin Yu then discussed the Northern Border war and warned that the Cultivation World might be entering its final age of prosperity.

• Chen Xun accepted Jin Yu's invitation to remain at Listening Snow Valley as a guest, while Big Black Ox agreed alongside him.
• Jin Yu ordered Xiang Jing to retrieve a Fire Attribute Nascent Soul Cultivation Method, but Chen Xun refused the inherited Nine Luminaries Crimson Cloud Art and asked for an ordinary method instead.
• Jin Yu and Xiang Jing were moved by Chen Xun's claimed ancestral precept against cultivating inherited techniques, and Jin Yu sent Xiang Jing to select another method.
• Jin Yu asked Chen Xun how he viewed the Northern Border war, and he answered that all under heaven struggled for profit and gain.
• Jin Yu explained that the war had drawn in three Cultivation Worlds, that spiritual energy was drying up, and that the conflict could decide whether the Cultivation World united or collapsed into chaos.

Jin Yu asked Chen Xun and Big Black Ox to help protect the displaced disciples of Nine Palaces Mountain if the coming war brought a dark age, offering Moon Holding Pavilion’s resources in return. Chen Xun accepted their hospitality and prepared to settle at Nine Palaces Mountain, while Jin Yu hoped the alliance would preserve a sliver of hope for the future.

• Jin Yu explained that the war could overturn the Cultivation World's order and asked Chen Xun to help the disciples of Nine Palaces Mountain if disaster came.
• Chen Xun neither promised nor refused, but accepted access to Moon Holding Pavilion’s resources and asked Jin Yu about the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Xiang Jing gave Chen Xun the cultivation art he had requested, and Jin Yu offered him and Big Black Ox a cave abode beneath a waterfall.
• Jin Yu introduced Jiang Xuechen and assigned her to help Chen Xun and Big Black Ox, who accepted her assistance.
• Jiang Xuechen led Chen Xun and Big Black Ox toward their cave abode as Jin Yu watched them leave and hoped her sacrifice would secure a sliver of future hope.