Chapter Summaries

Lu Changzhi discovered that the Buddhist Order controlled the people of the Thirteenth City through a statue and found Sun Fan and other youths working beneath Wujie's palace. After completing his mission and receiving a Saint Artifact, he uncovered a strange formation foundation and drew the attention of everyone in the chamber.

• Lu Changzhi sensed Buddhist light and Qi signatures connecting the city’s residents to the statue, which controlled their minds.
• Lu Changzhi entered the concealed space beneath Wujie's palace and found Sun Fan and more than twenty youths refining pills.
• The system rewarded Lu Changzhi with 2,500 experience points and Holy Monk Xuyun's Wooden Fish, a low-grade Saint Artifact.
• Lu Changzhi knocked Sun Fan unconscious and moved him away from the formation’s foundation, causing the pill cauldron to explode.
• Everyone in the chamber except Sun Fan opened their eyes and challenged Lu Changzhi for trespassing on restricted Buddhist Order ground.

Lu Changzhi deliberately let the Buddhist Order locate him, drawing out an old Buddha Lord who planned to seize his External Avatar. When the choice screen appeared, Lu Changzhi chose to upgrade his Buddhist light and activated the simplified version he already had.

• Lu Changzhi let the Buddhist Order's spiritual power reveal his location, and golden light gathered around him as a monk's figure emerged from the formation base.
• The old Buddha Lord threatened Lu Changzhi while the surrounding figures encircled him and gathered sinister power.
• A choice screen offered Lu Changzhi escape, capturing the old Buddha Lord, or upgrading his Buddhist light.
• Lu Changzhi weighed the rewards, chose the Buddhist light upgrade, and activated his simplified version, filling the area with brilliant light.

Lu Changzhi used Xuyun’s wooden fish to destroy the old Buddha Lord’s thought and collapse the statue above the palace. He gathered the people below to help Qin Jiuxiao and then discovered that Qin Han had gained a new fortuitous encounter, prompting him to question the system about its timing.

• The old Buddha Lord’s thought attacked Lu Changzhi, but Lu Changzhi struck Xuyun’s wooden fish and suppressed it with Buddhist power.
• Lu Changzhi continued striking the wooden fish until the old Buddha Lord’s thought vanished and the array foundation crumbled to powder.
• The statue above the palace cracked and collapsed, while many people in the city fell unconscious or awoke in confusion.
• Lu Changzhi reasoned that the disturbance might bring Wujie back from pursuing Qin Jiuxiao, then swept up the people below and put them in a sack.
• The system told Lu Changzhi that Qin Han had gained a new fortuitous encounter, and Lu Changzhi asked why the timing was unusual.

Lu Changzhi learned that Qin Han would soon obtain a Beast Taming Horn and later discover the Method of Spirit and Flesh Cultivation, then planned to take advantage of Qin Han gathering spirit beasts. Meanwhile, Wujie sensed trouble at the Thirteenth City and led Buddhist Order experts to Qin Han, who realized they had found him again.

• Lu Changzhi learned that Qin Han would find a damaged Beast Taming Horn soon and later discover the Method of Spirit and Flesh Cultivation, but he could not reach the first opportunity in time.
• Lu Changzhi considered using Qin Han's plan to gather spirit beasts to help Qin Li and the others, then left the Thirteenth City and dumped more than twenty people from his sack before taking their belongings.
• Wujie sensed that something had happened at the Thirteenth City and hurried back with several people from the Buddhist Order.
• Qin Han stopped in the forest when Wujie and the Buddhist Order experts charged toward him, and he wondered how they had tracked him down.

Qin Han mistook the Buddhist Order’s hurried journey for a pursuit, then followed Hua Yunfan’s guidance to uncover a damaged beast-controlling horn. He learned it might still function as a Saint Artifact and began considering how to use spiritual beasts to create opportunities for himself, including one involving Jiang Xin.

• Qin Han fled from Wujie and the Buddhist Order, then realized they had continued in their original direction and were not chasing him.
• Hua Yunfan directed Qin Han to dig underground, where he found the remains of a battle between a poison cultivator and another powerful figure.
• Hua Yunfan retrieved a damaged horn covered in unfamiliar characters and beast images, identifying it as a possible beast-controlling artifact.
• Hua Yunfan said the horn might once have been a Saint Artifact and could still occasionally command spiritual beasts after repair.
• Qin Han considered using spiritual beasts to create opportunities, and Hua Yunfan asked whether he meant Jiang Xin.

Qin Han found a fragment of a map while searching the battlefield ruins, while outside the secret realm a frail monk feared an enlightened Buddhist monk and summoned the Buddhist Order's abbot. Inside the secret realm, news spread that lighting up enough Nine-Story Tower marks could reveal the tower and its Saint King's inheritance, and Di Yuanfang was asked what he thought.

• Qin Han and Hua Yunfan discussed creating an opportunity for Qin Han to win Jiang Xin's devotion, with Hua Yunfan offering to handle the rest.
• Qin Han found a fragment of a map marked with a location and the word “reserve,” but Hua Yunfan could not identify it.
• A frail monk outside the secret realm feared the enlightened monk inside and told the Buddhist Order's abbot that the order was in danger and they had to leave at once.
• News spread inside the secret realm that enough people lighting up their Nine-Story Tower marks could make the tower appear with vast resources and a Saint King's inheritance.
• Someone asked Di Yuanfang what he thought of the new information about the Nine-Story Tower.

News of the Nine-Story Tower drove factions across the secret realm to search for it, while some city rulers began distributing or lending light to encourage cooperation. Meanwhile, the crowds’ hunt for beast eggs brought Gu Chen a huge haul, and Lu Changzhi anticipated making Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves Eggs that night.

• Di Yuanfang dismissed the Nine-Story Tower rumors, while people in other cities debated whether the story was genuine and whether they should share light with their residents.
• Dai Tianfeng learned that other factions were distributing light and searching for the tower, and that statues of Wujie had collapsed in cities occupied by the Buddhist Order.
• Dai Tianfeng ordered light distributed and a wide search for the Nine-Story Tower and the person from Zither Sound Valley, then left the city with his people.
• Factions across the secret realm launched thorough searches, and some cities relaxed their rules for collecting residents’ light as more people joined the hunt.
• Crowds sweeping the secret realm caused beast race numbers to fall, while Gu Chen collected enough eggs to fill at least eight storage rings.
• Luo Ling'er began choosing eggs from Gu Chen’s haul, and Lu Changzhi expected to make Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves Eggs that night.

Luo Ling'er served Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves Eggs, whose preparation enhanced the tea leaves’ effects and boosted the diners’ cultivation. After eating several eggs, Lu Changzhi followed his system’s advice to ponder something deeply and entered an unusually powerful sudden enlightenment, leaving everyone to quietly depart.

• Luo Ling'er brought the group cracked-shell eggs simmered in broth made with Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves, explaining that the method improved the leaves’ effects.
• Qin Li tasted the broth and recognized the Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves, while Mu Fan reflected on how fortunate his transmigration was with such a powerful, wealthy master.
• Xiao Ye ate an egg and learned from Tongtong that his simplification speed had increased, while Qin Li sensed that the eggs enhanced the tea leaves’ effects.
• Lu Changzhi ate five eggs without experiencing sudden enlightenment, then considered the system’s suggestion that he needed to study or ponder something in depth.
• Lu Changzhi began pondering and entered a powerful sudden enlightenment, so everyone left the table to avoid disturbing him.

Lu Changzhi enjoyed a Sudden Enlightenment, then gave Kong Zhai the Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves Eggs and promised to make more. The next day, he interfered with Qin Han’s plans by having Jiang Xin summon a larger group, prompting Qin Han and Hua Yunfan to reconsider their scheme.

• Lu Changzhi woke from Sudden Enlightenment feeling greatly improved and resolved to experience it again because it felt so pleasant.
• Kong Zhai visited Lu Changzhi, tried a Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves Egg, and gratefully accepted the remaining eggs.
• Lu Changzhi promised to have Luo Ling'er make more eggs for the old ancestors, then went to sleep after deciding he needed a bath and foot soak.
• The next day, Lu Changzhi found Qin Han following Jiang Xin instead of gathering beasts and asked Jiang Xin to summon more people.
• Qin Han watched Jiang Xin's enlarged group and, after Hua Yunfan warned that his plan would require too many beasts, agreed they needed to reconsider.

Qin Han decided to keep pursuing Jiang Xin and use the horn to command more spirit beasts, while Lu Changzhi followed him, hoping the beasts might lead to the Nine-Story Tower. Qin Han tested the horn at a valley occupied by powerful spirit beasts, and they converged on him.

• Qin Han rejected Hua Yunfan's advice to give up, recalling that his persistence had led him to discover a Nine-Story Tower emblem that might point to a Saint King inheritance.
• Hua Yunfan stopped arguing and considered lending Qin Han more of her strength if needed, while Lu Changzhi decided to keep following him.
• Qin Han stopped tailing Jiang Xin's group and searched ahead as Lu Changzhi wondered whether the Nine-Story Tower was connected to the powerful spirit beasts in his vision.
• Qin Han reached a valley containing at least five spirit beasts no weaker than the Dao Comprehension Realm and decided to test his horn on them.
• Qin Han blew the horn with Hua Yunfan's help, and the spirit beasts sensed it and converged on him.

Qin Han used the horn to gather and conceal a huge herd of spirit beasts, while Lu Changzhi arranged for Gu Chen and the others to collect them the next morning. Rumors of the orderly beast tide spread through the secret realm, and Qin Han ended the chapter confident that his plan would succeed with more than thirteen hundred beasts in the valley.

• Qin Han tested his horn on powerful spirit beasts, then planned to hide a herd in the valley before Jiang Xin’s group arrived.
• Lu Changzhi told Gu Chen and the others that a kindhearted person had driven spirit beasts into a valley and instructed them to pretend they had found the herd by chance.
• Mu Fan and Luo Ling’er stayed in the city to assemble custom artillery shells while the others prepared for the next morning’s trip.
• Qin Han concealed the valley and searched for spirit beasts as rumors and sightings of a docile, orderly beast tide unsettled the secret realm.
• At dawn, Qin Han used the horn to quiet more than thirteen hundred spirit beasts in the valley and believed his plan was ready.

Qin Han prepared more than a thousand spirit beasts to stage a rescue and win over Jiang Xin, while Lu Changzhi and his disciples headed toward the valley. Just as Qin Han sensed Jiang Xin’s group approaching, Gu Chen and five others arrived and strolled toward the valley, threatening to disrupt his plan.

• Qin Han used the damaged Beast Taming Horn through the night to gather and command spirit beasts, with Hua Yunfan helping him until they were both exhausted.
• Qin Han recovered and waited near the valley, determined to put Jiang Xin in danger so he could rescue her and win her over.
• Lu Changzhi took his disciples aboard the Void Shuttle toward the valley after telling Jiang Xin to delay her exploration.
• Lu Changzhi’s disciples put on cloaks and continued through the forest toward the valley, while Qin Han grew anxious waiting for Jiang Xin’s group.
• Qin Han sensed Jiang Xin’s companions approaching, then noticed Gu Chen and five others nearby and dismissed their arrival as coincidence.
• Gu Chen and his group strolled toward the valley, drawing Qin Han’s attention and making him worry they would interfere with his plan.

Qin Han and Hua Yunfan tried to keep six intruders from interfering while Qin Han prepared to control the spirit beasts against Jiang Xin. The intruders broke the illusion array and attacked the beasts, but Mu Fan’s explosive strike seemed much weaker than expected.

• Qin Han asked Hua Yunfan to drive away six people searching for the valley, but she argued that the hidden illusion array would keep them from finding it.
• One of the six detected the illusion array, and a companion broke it with a few jabs, prompting Hua Yunfan to warn Qin Han that they had extraordinary backgrounds.
• Qin Han decided to focus on Jiang Xin and picked up the Beast Taming Horn, while the six discovered more than a thousand spirit beasts in the valley.
• As the beasts turned toward the intruders and Qin Han expected them to flee, one of the six urged the group to attack.
• Mu Fan launched a thick stick across the valley and made it explode, but Lu Changzhi sensed that the blast was weaker than before.

Mu Fan demonstrated a new aerial attack that used chained explosions and Spirit-Restraining Stone shards to devastate the spirit beasts in the valley. His display left Qin Han and Hua Yunfan stunned, while Xiao Ye resolved to find a path of his own.

• Mu Fan detonated scattered sections of a large object, launching sharp Spirit-Restraining Stone shards into the spirit beasts before the blasts struck them again.
• Lu Changzhi recognized that Mu Fan had developed a more mobile attack, and Mu Fan explained his distributed air-to-ground method over the communication stone.
• Gu Chen, Jin Fugui, Qin Li, Luo Ling'er, and Xiao Ye watched the attack, while Xiao Ye wondered how he could blaze his own trail.
• Qin Han froze in shock at the attack's power, and Hua Yunfan recognized the valuable Spirit-Restraining Stone used in the barrage.

Mu Fan’s explosion devastated the spirit beasts in the valley, and his message thanking the “kind person” enraged Qin Han. Hua Yunfan took control of Qin Han and fled, while Lu Changzhi sent his clone after them and wondered whether the Nine-Story Tower held enough beasts to complete the collection.

• Jiang Xin suspected Peak Master Lu had caused the distant disturbance but decided to follow his instructions without asking why.
• Mu Fan’s explosion killed or crippled most of the spirit beasts, then left a message in the air thanking the “kind person” for the gift.
• Qin Han saw the ruined valley and the message, lost his temper, and tried to rush out, but Hua Yunfan took control of his body and led him away.
• Lu Changzhi sent his clone after Qin Han because the cultivation-technique opportunity remained, while his original body stayed to watch the valley.
• Mu Fan, Qin Li, Jin Fugui, Luo Ling'er, Xiao Ye, and the other disciples gathered stones, blood, and beast parts, raising their total collection to over five thousand.
• Lu Changzhi wondered whether the Nine-Story Tower contained enough demonic beasts to finish the mission, then realized he could ask the ancestor about it.

Lu Changzhi learned that the Nine-Story Tower would likely activate within days and watched Qin Han recover from his failed attempt to gather spirit beasts. After Qin Han and Hua Yunfan found a hidden cave and an old storage ring, they uncovered a technique that surprised Hua Yunfan.

• Gu Qingyang told Lu Changzhi that the Nine-Story Tower's effects were uncertain and that it should appear within the next few days.
• Qin Han apologized to Hua Yunfan for his earlier outburst, and Hua Yunfan explained that the attackers had used Spirit-Restraining Stone and were too dangerous to confront.
• Hua Yunfan led Qin Han into an underground cave, where they found two skeletons and writing describing a disaster in the secret realm.
• Qin Han searched the remains and found a storage ring containing a jade bamboo tube labeled “Art of Spirit and Flesh Cultivation.”
• Hua Yunfan recognized the technique as a method of dual cultivating souls, and Qin Han opened the tube with a furrowed brow.

Lu Changzhi collected several cultivation methods from Qin Han’s efforts, then returned with his companions to the Eighteen City and checked on the looming danger to the Dongfang Clan. The next morning, his system announced a month of idle cultivation and triggered Good Things Come in Pairs, but the notification stopped before revealing the rewards.

• Qin Han failed to find anything in the empty storage ring, and Hua Yunfan advised him to seek the backup teleportation array’s hidden defenses and the Nine-Story Tower.
• Lu Changzhi received five dual cultivation methods from the system and decided to leave Qin Han, whose opportunities had temporarily run out.
• Gu Chen and the others finished gathering more than twelve hundred portions of essence blood, and Lu Changzhi’s group boarded a flying boat back to the Eighteen City.
• Lu Changzhi noticed that several people with Jiang Xin had red in their fortunes and suspected they would encounter trouble later.
• Lu Changzhi considered checking on Dongfang Yao’s group but postponed the trip, ate dinner, and went to bed.
• The next morning, the system announced a month of idle cultivation and triggered Good Things Come in Pairs, but no rewards followed.

Lu Changzhi investigated the widespread blood-red luck he saw among secret-realm groups and wondered whether a major upheaval was coming. After the system’s speaker finally resumed, he received a pinch of Improved Nonhuman Plaques and examined one.

• Lu Changzhi found that the system worked normally, though its speaker had stopped responding and his idle reward had not arrived.
• Lu Changzhi visited Dongfang Yao’s group, saw that their members and nearby factions had blood-red traces in their luck, and wondered if a major upheaval was approaching.
• Lu Changzhi watched Dongfang Yao’s group search the area by relying on luck, but they found nothing by noon.
• After Lu Changzhi took a nap, the system announced that he had obtained a pinch of Improved Nonhuman Plaques.
• Lu Changzhi examined a plaque and learned that it could bypass certain restrictions involving participant numbers, humans, beast races, and spatial containers, subject to cultivation limits.

Lu Changzhi learned that the Nonhuman Token could keep its bearer from being recognized or suppressed by secret realms and could let people enter storage rings, though it consumed spiritual power and could not be used by those at the Saint Realm or above. After testing it, he decided to wait for the Nine-Story Tower to appear before rejoining the others, then received a system notification that the Heart-Binding Devil Seed had worked on Zhou Xun.

• Lu Changzhi realized the Nonhuman Token could hide its bearer from secret realm seals and might help the Five Symbols Sect avoid dangers from a beast tide.
• The system explained that the token could let people enter storage rings, giving Lu Changzhi the idea that sect disciples could summon patriarchs for help.
• The system warned that the storage ring had to be high-grade, the token consumed spiritual power, and those at the Saint Realm or above could not use it to enter enclosed spaces.
• Lu Changzhi activated the token and found that his Nine-Story Tower mark and nearby lights vanished while the secret realm no longer recognized him.
• Lu Changzhi stopped using the token, decided to wait for the Nine-Story Tower to appear, and heard that the Heart-Binding Devil Seed had successfully been used on Zhou Xun.

Lu Changzhi searched Zhou Xun’s memories and uncovered the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty’s secret plan to harvest the blood essence of young geniuses in the secret realm. He learned that Zhou Xun was a trusted operative but lacked knowledge of the Blood Devils, leaving Lu Changzhi with an informant as he anticipated the dynasty’s next move.

• Lu Changzhi used the Heart-Binding Devil Seed’s memory access to inspect Zhou Xun’s recollections about the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty’s mission.
• Lu Changzhi discovered that Zhou Xun had been ordered to collect young geniuses’ blood essence, with restrictions on targeting the strongest disciples and instructions to capture Luo Zhen alive.
• Lu Changzhi realized Qin Jiuxiao’s attack on Luo Zhen had disrupted Zhou Xun’s plans to hunt the listed geniuses.
• Lu Changzhi found memories of Zhou Xun’s cruel work for the dynasty, including abducting gifted children and punishing disobedient young prodigies.
• Lu Changzhi learned that Zhou Xun was highly trusted but knew nothing about the Blood Devils or Devil Race, so he kept him as an informant and wondered how the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty would respond.