Chapter Summaries

Ling Yun killed King Chen after the Spirit Devouring Spell was blocked by strange green flames, then searched his remnant soul to learn that King Chen served the evil cultivators. The soul search revealed a threat from an unknown presence and left Ling Yun suspecting that the Forbidden Heart in the Royal Mausoleum was the evil cultivators’ target.

• King Chen's green flames protected his Primordial Spirit from the Spirit Devouring Spell, but Ling Yun attacked him with the Flying Sword Technique and killed him.
• Ling Yun captured King Chen's fading remnant soul and used the Soul Search Technique to examine its fragmented memories.
• Ling Yun saw King Chen ask a powerful presence for permission to steal and destroy the Forbidden Heart, learning that King Chen was one of the evil cultivators' nether envoys.
• An unknown gaze attacked Ling Yun through the soul-search connection, but Ling Yun severed his divine sense and repelled it with the crimson light and the Spirit Refining Technique.
• Ling Yun recalled the ancient calamity caused by the evil cultivators and suspected King Chen had targeted the Royal Mausoleum to retrieve the Forbidden Heart.

As the Spirit King sensed thieves targeting the Royal Mausoleum, he joined the other three kings to confront Xue Yue and Leng Yue. The four kings combined their ancestral inheritances into a power beyond the Dao Palace Realm and unleashed it against the trapped Moon-Gazing Sect elders, while Ling Yun watched from the Royal Mausoleum after defeating King Chen.

• The Spirit King sensed a disturbance at the Royal Mausoleum and warned Xue Yue and Leng Yue that he would not let them interfere before the truth was investigated.
• Madam Wang explained to Ling Yun and Ling Fei that the four royal manors and imperial family shared an inheritance that could surpass the Dao Palace Realm when united.
• Xue Yue and Leng Yue attacked with Moon-Gazing Lone Shadow, but the Spirit King, Mystic King, and Light King used ancient runes to suppress and trap them.
• The Azure King joined the other three kings, and their four runes summoned four holy figures above Myriad Phenomena City.
• The four kings invoked Four Saints Slay Spirits and sent the united holy light crashing down on Xue Yue and Leng Yue as Ling Yun watched from the Royal Mausoleum.

The Spirit King and the other kings joined forces to defeat Leng Yue and Xue Yue, but the Spirit King’s poison worsened and he rushed to the Royal Mausoleum. Finding King Chen dead and Ling Yun missing, he believed Ling Yun had been killed, while Ling Yun watched from afar and chose to remain hidden.

• The four kings unleashed a powerful combined technique that made Leng Yue and Xue Yue disappear, then parted ways as the Spirit King’s poison continued to weaken him.
• The Spirit King ordered his people to take him to the Royal Mausoleum, where Madam Wang admitted she had sent Ling Yun there after his cultivation was crippled.
• At the mausoleum, the Spirit King found King Chen’s corpse, traces of Ling Yun’s blood, and no sign of Ling Yun, and concluded that an intruder had likely killed him.
• The Spirit King left with Madam Wang, Ling Fei, and the others, demanding a full account of what had happened.
• Ling Yun appeared on the Royal Mausoleum and decided to let everyone believe he was dead until he was strong enough to explain himself.

Madam Wang recounted how Ling Yun had been crippled and how King Chen had conspired against the Spirit King's Manor, while the Spirit King suspected the Forbidden Heart was the target. As his Sinister Insect poison overwhelmed him, he entrusted the manor's future and its secrets to Madam Wang.

• Madam Wang told the Spirit King the full story of the past three months, including the manor stripping Ling Yun of his heir status and King Chen's role in the attacks.
• The Spirit King wondered whether the attackers sought the Forbidden Heart and learned that Third Brother and Guest Elder Zhao were missing.
• The Spirit King's poison worsened, and he warned Madam Wang that his Sinister Insect poison could infect her if she approached.
• The Spirit King admitted his hopes and pressure had helped drive a wedge between Ling Fei and Ling Yun, and Madam Wang confessed her regret.
• The Spirit King ordered Madam Wang to raise Ling Fei, prepare him to lead the manor, uphold the Ling Clan's mission, and seal the Royal Mausoleum.

Ling Yun secretly intervened when the Spirit King was dying from Sinister Insect poison, using the Poison-Inducing Technique to stabilize him. Back in the Royal Mausoleum, Ling Yun studied the insect and realized he needed to learn the Pill Dao and prepare a specialized antidote.

• The Spirit King gave Madam Wang his final instructions as the Sinister Insect poison spread through his body.
• Ling Yun appeared in disguise and persuaded Madam Wang to let him treat the Spirit King after she revealed the poison was caused by a Sinister Insect.
• Ling Yun dissolved the poisonous vapor and sealed most of the poison in several acupoints, leaving the Spirit King stable but not cured.
• Ling Yun told Madam Wang to prepare for his return and keep his whereabouts secret, then vanished before her.
• Back in the Royal Mausoleum, Ling Yun concluded that he needed to study the Pill Dao and refine an antidote, and learned that a fully developed Sinister Insect could threaten a Creation Realm cultivator.

Ling Yun studied the Witchcraft and Gu Pill Physician's legacy to find a cure for the Spirit King's Sinister Insect poison. He found that a Cold Essence Pill could treat it, but the rare ingredients were costly, so he prepared to learn pill refining and gather practice supplies.

• Ling Yun searched the Ancient-Transcending Alchemy Classic and learned that the Spirit King's Sinister Insect caused yang Sha poison.
• He found that Twenty-One Ice Mystic Needles made from lone cold ice heart could remove the poison, but the rare material was unlikely to be available nearby.
• After ruling out other remedies, Ling Yun discovered the Cold Essence Pill and learned that it needed to be administered three times.
• He calculated that the pill's four main ingredients would cost over ten million low-grade spirit stones and worried the manor might not find them all.
• Ling Yun decided to master pill refining, obtain a pill furnace and low-tier herbs for practice, and consider selling the Talismans he had made.

Ling Yun secretly left the Royal Mausoleum and went to the Heavenly Treasure Tower to sell talismans and buy supplies for pill refining. He listed a vast quantity of talismans to Zhang Yu, who was stunned and asked whether the inventory was real.

• Ling Yun slipped out of the Spirit King's Manor and crossed Myriad Phenomena City toward the Heavenly Treasure Tower.
• Ling Yun entered the tower and was escorted to the fifth floor after revealing his Core Formation Realm cultivation.
• Ling Yun explained that he needed to prepare for refining a Cold Essence Pill before the Spirit King's poison overcame him.
• Ling Yun listed hundreds of talismans of various tiers and grades for Zhang Yu to buy.
• Zhang Yu recovered from his shock and asked Ling Yun to confirm that the talismans were genuine.

Ling Yun sold a thousand third- and fourth-tier talismans at the Heavenly Treasure Tower for 810,000 low-grade spirit stones and received a privileged crystal card. He bought a stock of spirit medicines, set aside funds for a quasi-fifth-tier pill furnace at the next day's auction, and left to prepare for refining the Cold Essence Pill.

• Zhang Yu appraised Ling Yun's talismans and valued them at 810,000 low-grade spirit stones, marveling at their number and quality.
• Ling Yun accepted a Heavenly Treasure Tower crystal card, which provided virtual transactions and a permanent ten percent discount.
• Ling Yun asked Zhang Yu to exchange the proceeds for third-tier and higher spirit medicines and to find him a high-grade pill furnace.
• Zhang Yu told Ling Yun that the next day's auction would feature a quasi-fifth-tier pill furnace, and Ling Yun reserved 200,000 spirit stones for it.
• Zhang Yu returned with a storage ring containing several thousand kinds of spirit medicines and gave Ling Yun his crystal card.
• Ling Yun studied basic alchemy knowledge while he waited, then left the Heavenly Treasure Tower with his purchases.

Ling Yun returned to the Spirit King's Manor and gave Madam Wang the ingredients and deadline for preparing the Cold Essence Pill antidote. He then studied the Witchcraft and Gu Pill Physician's Pill Dao inheritance, and later left the Royal Mausoleum for the Heavenly Treasure Tower.

• Ling Yun secretly transmitted the Cold Essence Pill's ingredients to Madam Wang and told her to gather them within half a month.
• Madam Wang summoned the manor's senior members and set them to work finding the medicinal ingredients.
• Ling Yun studied pill grades, refining flames, and the Witchcraft and Gu Pill Physician's pill-refining techniques.
• After a day of study, Ling Yun dressed in a black robe and mask and headed toward the Heavenly Treasure Tower.

Ling Yun attended the Heavenly Treasure Tower’s auction to obtain a pill furnace, while Spirit King's Manor bidders gathered ingredients for the Cold Essence Pill. After the Sea Essence Pearl was sold, the Mother Si Suppression Furnace was revealed and bidding began.

• Ling Yun entered the Heavenly Treasure Tower’s crowded auction and waited for the pill furnace he had come to buy.
• He watched Spirit King's Manor representatives repeatedly bid on ingredients for the Cold Essence Pill, recognizing Madam Wang’s arrangement.
• The auctioneer completed the first ninety-nine lots, and the head steward took over to present the final three treasures.
• The Sea Essence Pearl was auctioned off as Ling Yun waited for the item he wanted.
• The head steward unveiled the Mother Si Suppression Furnace, and bidders began competing for it.

Ling Yun won the Simu Suppression Furnace after Mo Xian and Old Woman Jiang drove its price up, then became interested when the auction revealed a wisp of Crimson Gold Spirit Fire. The steward disclosed that the flame had lost its source, leaving its buyers with less than a one-in-ten chance of cultivating it into a usable Spirit Fire.

• Mo Xian and Old Woman Jiang competed for the Simu Suppression Furnace until she bid 140,000 low-grade spirit stones and he gave up.
• Ling Yun bid 150,000 low-grade spirit stones, winning the furnace and fulfilling his purpose at the auction.
• The steward brought out a crimson crystal core that released intense heat, and Ling Yun recognized the sealed flame as Spirit Fire.
• The steward identified the flame as Crimson Gold Spirit Fire and described its power and rarity, stirring the auction hall into an uproar.
• The steward revealed that the wisp had lost its source and had less than a one-in-ten chance of producing a new Spirit Fire source.

Ling Yun considered bidding on the originless Crimson Gold Spirit Fire, hoping the Spirit-Nurturing Method could restore it, while wealthy buyers competed fiercely for it. As the price climbed, the Azure King Manor's chief attendant emerged as a determined bidder, and Ling Yun suspected the manor wanted the fire to strengthen its powers.

• The chief steward warned that the Crimson Gold Spirit Fire might go out if absorbed incorrectly, but many attendees remained tempted to bid.
• Jiang Lian asked whether valuable items appraised by the Heavenly Treasure Tower could be used in a transaction, and the chief steward confirmed they could.
• Ling Yun realized his remaining fifth-tier talismans could support his bid for the spirit fire.
• The chief steward opened bidding at 100,000 low-grade spirit stones, and the price quickly exceeded the Simu Suppression Furnace's price.
• The Azure King Manor's chief attendant bid 230,000 low-grade spirit stones, while Ling Yun recalled the manor's powerful Azure Feather Mystic Fire and suspected the attendant was determined to win.

Ling Yun outbid the Azure King Manor's chief Attendant and Jiang Lian for a wisp of sourceless Spirit Fire, using a Divine Wood Spell Talisman valued at five hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones. He won the fire for five hundred and fifty thousand spirit stones, spending the last of his funds and believing it would help him greatly.

• The Azure King Manor's chief Attendant raised the bid to three hundred and twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones, causing the remaining rival bidders to withdraw.
• Jiang Lian offered a fifth-tier Crimson Mystic Bird egg, which the chief steward valued at four hundred and fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones.
• Ling Yun bid a Divine Wood Spell Talisman, and the chief steward valued it at five hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones after discovering it had been inscribed using divine sense.
• Jiang Lian added sixty thousand spirit stones, but Ling Yun raised his bid to five hundred and fifty thousand by adding fifty thousand more.
• Jiang Lian stopped bidding, and the chief steward awarded the Spirit Fire to Ling Yun, who paid his remaining fifty thousand spirit stones.

After the auction, Ling Yun killed Jiang Lian and four Pill Empyrean Sect members who tried to rob him, then returned to the Royal Mausoleum to examine their loot. He found a mysterious half-damaged jade pendant and turned his attention to practicing alchemy.

• Ling Yun lured Jiang Lian out of hiding and learned she planned to seize his auction winnings with help from four Core Formation Realm Perfection fighters.
• Jiang Lian and the four attackers launched a barrage of techniques, but Ling Yun blocked them with a Spiritual Yuan palm imprint and killed all five with the Three-Inch Flying Immortal.
• Ling Yun burned the attackers’ bodies, collected their storage rings, and escaped before Myriad Phenomena City’s guards arrived.
• At the Royal Mausoleum, Ling Yun found Pill Empyrean Sect tokens, destroyed them, and took more than a million spirit stones from the rings.
• Ling Yun discovered a half-damaged jade pendant marked with the partial characters “Dong... Li,” then began studying alchemy.

Ling Yun began refining pills with earth-vein fire while Madam Wang secured the Ice Essence Grass from the Azure King in exchange for the Spirit King's Supreme Yang Fire Essence if his detoxification succeeded. As Madam Wang prepared to leave, the Azure King attacked a white figure invading her manor, but a few wisps of its mist escaped.

• Ling Yun drew up earth-vein fire in the Royal Mausoleum and began refining pills with the Simu Suppression Furnace.
• Madam Wang found the Cold Marrow Liquid, Spirit Warmth Jade, and Azure Spirit Flower but could not locate the Ice Essence Grass, so she asked the emperor for help.
• The emperor sent Madam Wang to the Azure King, who agreed to provide the Ice Essence Grass in return for the Spirit King's Supreme Yang Fire Essence if he survived detoxification.
• The Azure King ordered an elder to give Madam Wang the Ice Essence Grass, and Madam Wang prepared to return to the Spirit King's Manor.
• A white figure provoked the Azure King, who attacked it with Spirit of Azure Feathers; most of its mist was burned, but a few wisps escaped.

The Azure King learned that evil cultivators were infiltrating Myriad Phenomena City and joined the Ling Emperor in preparing to purge them. The Azure King, Mystic King, Light King, and imperial family's grand elder exposed and killed the Heavenly Treasure Tower's master, while Leng Yue and Xue Yue's souls vanished with her.

• The Azure King ordered her manor sealed and its Royal Mausoleum protected as she discussed the emerging evil cultivators with the Ling Emperor.
• The Ling Emperor told the Azure King to expose and kill the Soul Nether Envoy, who had infiltrated the Heavenly Treasure Tower as its master.
• The Azure King, Mystic King, Light King, and imperial family's grand elder attacked the Heavenly Treasure Tower and destroyed its seventh floor.
• The tower master revealed her evil-cultivator form and unleashed vengeful souls as the grand elder exposed her crimes to the watching crowd.
• The four Primordial Spirit Realm cultivators overwhelmed the tower master, reducing her to ash as Leng Yue and Xue Yue's soul shadows dispersed.

Ling Yun completed ten days of pill refining, advanced his Life Talisman cultivation, and received the ingredients Madam Wang had gathered for the Cold Essence Pill. As he began preparing to refine it, Madam Wang warned Ling Fei that the kingdom faced a threat from evil cultivators.

• Ling Yun refined nine divine-quality fifth-tier low-grade Spirit Dissolution Pills and ended his ten days of pill refining.
• Ling Yun cultivated his Life-bound Talisman and advanced from Early Core Formation Realm to Middle Core Formation Realm.
• Ling Yun went to the Wang residence, where Madam Wang gave him the gathered ingredients for the Cold Essence Pill, and he said the result would be known in half a month.
• Ling Fei questioned whether Ling Yun was a quack after the Wang residence spent ten million spirit stones on the ingredients, but Madam Wang told him to stay out of it and remain at home.
• Ling Fei asked whether the tower master of the Heavenly Treasure Tower had been killed, and Madam Wang confirmed it was done by the three kings and the great elder on His Majesty's order.

Ling Yun carefully refined the Cold Essence Pills, overcoming the clash of the ingredients and the strain on his pill furnace. The furnace exploded, but he survived and emerged with three eighth-grade Cold Essence Pills.

• Ling Yun reviewed the Cold Essence Pill recipe and spent half a day preparing before beginning the refinement.
• Ling Yun fused the Ice Essence Grass with the Cold Marrow Liquid using the Ancient Fusion Refining Method over three days.
• Ling Yun spent ten days refining the four main ingredients and thirty-one auxiliary ingredients into a single mass of medicinal liquid.
• Ling Yun used his cultivation to reinforce the Simu Suppression Furnace as he brought the mixture to a boil and triggered the final pill-forming reactions.
• The Simu Suppression Furnace shattered in a massive explosion, leaving a huge pit near a predecessor's tomb.
• Ling Yun coughed blood but revealed three eighth-grade Cold Essence Pills in his hand.

Ling Yun used the Cold Essence Pill to remove most of the poison afflicting the Spirit King, then returned to the Royal Mausoleum to hide himself. After obtaining the Heart of Heavenly Illusion through a monthly sign-in, he concealed the mausoleum and settled into a new cabin, ready to focus on cultivation.

• Ling Yun finished refining the Cold Essence Pill and used it to eliminate ninety percent of the strange poison in the Spirit King, leaving Madam Wang two more pills to complete the cure.
• Ling Yun left before the Spirit King woke and returned to the Royal Mausoleum, where he used his monthly sign-in to obtain the Heart of Heavenly Illusion.
• Ling Yun activated the Heart of Heavenly Illusion to conceal the Royal Mausoleum and hide the damage from his pill-refining accident.
• Ling Yun built a secluded wooden cabin in the forest and reflected on his plans to develop his spirit fire, Life Talismans, formations, artifact crafting, and cultivation.

Ling Yun began nurturing the Crimson Gold Spirit Fire in his dantian and continued cultivating as the Spirit King prepared the royal manor for a threat from demonic cultivators. The Spirit King sealed the Royal Mausoleum and left to meet the emperor with the other kings, while Madam Wang took charge of the manor.

• Ling Yun used the Spirit-Nurturing Method on the Crimson Gold Spirit Fire and placed its crystal core in his dantian to cultivate a Spirit Fire origin.
• Ling Yun resumed cultivating the Myriad Dao Immortal Scripture and planned to reach Core Formation Realm Perfection within a year.
• On the seventh day after the Spirit King awakened, he activated the Royal Mausoleum's hidden formations and sealed it against the outside.
• Madam Wang told the Spirit King that Azure King had said only he knew what she had traded with him, and the Spirit King recalled that she had given him Supreme Yang Fire Essence.
• The Spirit King left the manor's affairs with Madam Wang and went to the palace with the other kings to meet the emperor.