Chapter Summaries

Lin Xu led his patrol toward a spiritual node on a hill, avoiding a pack of Human-Faced Dogs and scouting the demons guarding the area. He discovered a fierce battle between the demon forces and dungeon creatures, and the presence of a dungeon made him reconsider retreating.

• Lin Xu sent a paper figure to lure the Human-Faced Dogs away, then led his group along the hill’s foot.
• Lin Xu scouted the mountainside and found an armed demon squad led by an Ox Demon guarding a cave.
• Lin Xu judged that his patrol could not defeat the stronger demons and sent the paper figure around to scout the front of the hill.
• Lin Xu observed a battle at the spiritual node between the demons led by a level 8 Wolf Demon and groups of Evil Eyes, goblins, and skeleton soldiers.
• Lin Xu recognized the dungeon forces and considered that the dungeon might be the real reason to continue the expedition.

Lin Xu watched a battle between the dungeon legion and a monster force, confirming that the dungeon lay east of the Xuanwei Monastery outpost. He then lured the returning human-faced dogs into the monster patrol, where the two groups began fighting.

• Lin Xu inspected a level-six Dark Warrior as the dungeon legion's battle against the monster soldiers turned against it.
• The wolf monster leader fought three Dark Warriors and drove them back, while the lesser monsters routed the goblins and the dark mages and warriors retreated.
• The wolf monster leader killed one evil eye and wounded another before Lin Xu retrieved his paper figure and confirmed the dungeon legion had retreated east of the Xuanwei Monastery outpost.
• When the human-faced dogs returned and followed the patrol's trail, Lin Xu used his paper figure to lead them into the monster patrol.
• The bull monster captain ordered his forces to attack the human-faced dogs, and the outnumbered monster soldiers fought back as the dogs killed one of them.

Lin Xu defeated the demons, seized their Spirit Stones and a Crimson Soul Pill, then discovered a dying Evil Eye and used the Bright Light Lamp to destroy its faction loyalty lock. The Evil Eye's consciousness reached toward the candlelight, leaving its fate unresolved.

• Lin Xu used a paper figure to find Spirit Stones in the demon cave while the bull demon and Human-Faced Dogs fought.
• Lin Xu led his Yin soldiers and militia to kill the remaining Human-Faced Dogs and collected a treasure chest containing three Low-Grade Spirit Stones and a Crimson Soul Pill.
• Lin Xu raided the demon camp, killed its guards, and took sixteen more Low-Grade Spirit Stones, weapons, and rations.
• Lin Xu spotted a dying Evil Eye in the mist and approached it with the Bright Light Lamp.
• Lin Xu used the lamp to dissolve the Evil Eye's consciousness lock, and the creature's remaining consciousness surged toward the candlelight.

After Lin Xu learned the Evil Eye’s memories of a vast dungeon, he reported the threat to Xuanwei Monastery and was promoted to inner disciple. He chose the Mystic Art God-Descending Technique and then selected a random magical artifact.

• Lin Xu bound the Evil Eye as a guardian spirit and used the Clear Dew Spirit Light Mantra to stabilize its wounds.
• Lin Xu learned from the Evil Eye’s memories about the dungeon and decided to send the information to the Demon Subduing Hall.
• Lin Xu returned to Peach Tree Village and gave Chen Yuanfu a report describing the dungeon and its monsters.
• Li Xuanfeng arrived and announced the sect master’s decree promoting Lin Xu to inner disciple and assigning him to guard Peach Tree Village.
• Lin Xu chose the Mystic Art God-Descending Technique, absorbed its teachings, and then selected a random magical artifact.

Lin Xu chose the Azure Soul Bottle, received his Inner Disciple status, and opened Peach Tree Village’s Territory Panel. He recruited fifty-eight villagers, took the talented Chen A'niu under his command, and began organizing the village’s expansion.

• Lin Xu chose the Azure Soul Bottle, received his silver plaque as an inner disciple, and told Peach Tree Village to continue as before.
• Lin Xu opened the Territory Panel and found that the village had fifty-eight available recruits and was in need of revival.
• Lin Xu spent rice grain and copper coins to recruit all fifty-eight villagers, then discovered Chen A'niu’s blue talent for learning skills.
• Lin Xu assigned Chen A'niu to himself and organized the other recruits into work teams to make bricks and build wooden houses.
• Lin Xu planned the village layout with paper figures and recognized that Xuanwei Monastery’s rigid rules limited the villagers’ initiative.

Lin Xu developed the village and cultivated until he merged two Xuanwei Monastery techniques into the dark-gold Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter. He reached the Night Wandering Realm and wondered whether the monastery master knew the secrets of the inheritance.

• Lin Xu organized the villagers to build infrastructure, and they completed all 29 adobe huts in one day.
• Lin Xu cultivated the Mystic Art God-Descending Technique to grandmaster level, forming spirit seeds in his acupoints.
• Lin Xu discovered that the Bright Lamp Spirit Kindling Art and the Mystic Art God-Descending Technique resonated and merged into the Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter.
• Lin Xu used the new technique to steady and strengthen his Source Fire while refining his soul and body.
• Lin Xu sent his soul outside to wander by night, then returned it to his body when he felt fatigued.
• Lin Xu realized he had created the technique by merging two arts of the same origin and wondered whether the master of Xuanwei Monastery knew its secrets.

After refining a Crimson Soul Pill, Lin Xu developed a way to use mana to stimulate his neural network and raise his intelligence. He then began working on compressing the Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter’s information so Chen A'niu could learn it despite his low intelligence.

• Lin Xu refined the Crimson Soul Pill, raising his maximum mana and expanding his spiritual sense across the room.
• He considered how to train Chen A'niu and Liu Jiayao, but realized Chen A'niu lacked the intelligence required to learn his cultivation methods.
• Lin Xu used mana to stimulate the neural pathways around his Lingtai acupoint, increasing his intelligence from 15 to 16 and boosting the Wisdom Art’s growth.
• He activated Thought Overclocking and discovered that mana carried information as well as energy, allowing cultivation-method information to be compressed for later decompression.

Lin Xu condensed the Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter into a Dharma Seed and used it to open Chen A'niu’s Divine Aperture, beginning his cultivation. He decided Liu Jiayao could not receive the same inheritance yet and planned to raise his intelligence through an adapted method.

• Lin Xu compressed the cultivation method’s information into a Dharma Seed and concluded that inheritances beyond gold grade risked reshaping cultivators into someone else’s clones.
• Lin Xu used the Bright Light Lamp to guide the Dharma Seed into Chen A'niu’s sea of consciousness and opened his Divine Aperture while suppressing the resulting upheaval.
• Chen A'niu began generating magical power, and Lin Xu considered preparing him a Dao Rhyme Bright Light Lamp for his training.
• Lin Xu determined Liu Jiayao lacked the intelligence needed to inherit a Dharma Seed and planned to use magical power to strengthen his neural network and gradually raise his intelligence.

Lin Xu fortified Peach Tree Village and prepared its defenders after discovering more than forty Strange Poison Corpses approaching through the mist. The chapter ended with the villagers in position as the corpses drew near.

• Lin Xu compressed the Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter, established civil and martial Dharma Seeds, and opened a Divine Aperture for Liu Jiayao.
• Lin Xu directed the villagers to build walls, watchtowers, barricades, and traps around Peach Tree Village.
• A militia patrol reported more than forty evil creatures approaching, so Lin Xu sounded the highest-level alarm and ordered the village to prepare for battle.
• Lin Xu used the Spirit Eye Technique to identify the approaching creatures as level-three Strange Poison Corpses with paralyzing touch and poisonous breath.
• Lin Xu positioned archers and bamboo spearmen behind the defenses and prepared to face the corpses alongside Chen Yuanfu and five outer disciples.

Lin Xu and the villagers used fire to repel the Strange Poison Corpse horde and survived the attack with their wooden wall intact. After the battle, Lin Xu found Low-Grade Incense-Offering Heaven Silver among the spoils.

• Lin Xu burned the leading Strange Poison Corpse and discovered that the creatures were vulnerable to fire.
• Lin Xu used the Wind-Dispelling Spell to keep poisonous fog away while the villagers, archers, and Daoists attacked the horde with torches, tung-oil arrows, and fire talismans.
• The Strange Poison Corpses battered the wooden wall, but Lin Xu’s wind-fed flames engulfed them as villagers fought off those that reached the barrier.
• After the flames died down, Lin Xu ordered the villagers to charge out and destroy the remaining corpses.
• Lin Xu found that the Source Fire Fragments had extended his safe stay by three days and discovered a silver ingot identified as Low-Grade Incense-Offering Heaven Silver.

Lin Xu led a rescue force to save the survivors of an eastern outpost ambushed by a dungeon legion, then returned to Peach Tree Village to prepare its defenses. The next morning, Wang Yue arrived with reinforcements and supplies, strengthening the village as the front line faced mounting danger.

• Lin Xu received word that the eastern outpost had been ambushed and led the militia and Daoists to rescue its survivors.
• Lin Xu's group fought through the fog, defeating a Grudge Corpse and then destroying the skeleton soldiers surrounding three outer disciples and the surviving militiamen.
• The rescued disciples told Lin Xu that black-robed mages, skeletons, and goblins had overwhelmed the outpost, leaving him worried about Peach Tree Village's defenses.
• Lin Xu returned to the village, assigned tighter patrols, and spent the night without a dungeon attack.
• Wang Yue arrived with five outer disciples, thirty Dao soldiers, more than a hundred transferred militiamen, weapons, armor, and carts of spirit rice.

Lin Xu inspected the Xuanwei Monastery’s supplies for Peach Tree Village, including cultivation resources, equipment, and secret techniques. He recognized their value but knew he had to win the coming battle before he could benefit from them, so he organized the villagers and helped Wang Yue prepare the village’s defenses.

• Lin Xu examined the Clear Spirit Rice and the Mirage Dazzling Light Formation, realizing Wang Yue had been sent to lead the team because of his advanced formation skills.
• Lin Xu admired the monastery’s equipment, spirit waters, and pills, especially the Treasured Light Soul-Crossing Pills, and calculated that the resources could speed his cultivation.
• Lin Xu opened the sealed bronze chest with his identity token and discovered jade slips containing a wide range of sect techniques and inheritances.
• Lin Xu reminded himself that the supplies were meant to support Peach Tree Village and that he had to win the defensive battle before considering his own gains.
• Lin Xu assigned the arriving militiamen to help with preparations while the cultivators assisted Wang Yue in setting up the Mirage Dazzling Light Formation.

Lin Xu strengthened Peach Tree Village’s defenses with Dao soldiers, new housing, and a hardened earthen wall, while the monastery’s silence about the dungeon’s advance left him uneasy. After a week without clear reports, he cultivated with an Azure Pattern Pill and extended his spiritual awareness around the village.

• Lin Xu deployed the monastery’s Dao soldiers to patrol and defend Peach Tree Village.
• Lin Xu built twenty houses and used the Illusory Rock Form-Refining Spell to turn the village’s wooden palisade into a hardened sandstone wall.
• Lin Xu noted that a week had passed without news from the dungeon, though he had seen wounded survivors being escorted past the village.
• Lin Xu reviewed the village’s developing defenses and left the nighttime guard to the Dao soldiers, Daoists, and militia.
• Lin Xu swallowed an Azure Pattern Pill and expanded his spiritual awareness to half a kilometer beyond the village.

Lin Xu refined the Evil Eye into a Dharma protector with a new cultivation art that greatly enhanced its spiritual power and long-range vision. The next morning, after Wang Yue reported a missing patrol, Lin Xu sensed danger and ordered everyone outside the village to withdraw while the Evil Eye scanned the wilderness.

• Lin Xu devised a cultivation art combining the Yin Pupil Nether-Peering Record with the Lamp Kindling Spirit Transformation Chapter, then formed a Dharma Seed in the Evil Eye and opened its Divine Aperture.
• The Evil Eye mastered Nether-Peering Yin Pupil, allowing it to see through barriers and the Spirit Realm's Soul-Devouring Mist, seize a wandering yin soul, and kill several monsters from afar.
• Lin Xu surveyed the village's strengthened defenses and watched villagers and militiamen lay traps in the wasteland outside the walls.
• Wang Yue told Lin Xu that a morning patrol had disappeared, prompting Lin Xu to sense danger and order the villagers and patrolling militiamen to withdraw.
• Lin Xu contacted the Evil Eye, which flew above the village and scanned the wilderness across a broad area.

Lin Xu discovered a dungeon scouting party approaching the village and prepared Xuanwei Monastery's defenses. He used the Evil Eye to ambush and kill a dungeon Evil Eye, but the monsters eventually resumed their advance and spotted the village fields.

• Lin Xu spotted a force of fifty or sixty dungeon monsters and ordered nearby militia patrols to retreat to the village.
• Lin Xu organized the militia, Dao soldiers, Daoists, and villagers to defend the village, then decided to target the dungeon's flying scouts.
• Lin Xu used the Evil Eye's superior vision to lock onto a dungeon Evil Eye and unleash Soul Shock Blast, killing it and a nearby Demon Fly.
• The dungeon force paused in confusion for more than ten minutes, then continued toward the village and spotted the fields.

Lin Xu used Soul Shock Blasts and a surprise attack by merged yin soldier paper figures to weaken and disrupt the approaching monster horde. The paper figures killed several dangerous mages and archers, but a dark warrior destroyed one of them as its ashes flew back toward the village.

• Lin Xu detonated a Soul Shock Blast in the monster horde, killing and injuring monsters and knocking out the souls of many skeleton soldiers.
• Lin Xu replenished the Evil Eye’s magic power with the Bright Light Lamp and sent six yin soldiers fused with paper figures to attack the scattered monsters.
• The yin soldiers killed goblins and mages while the elite resentful spirit bewitched goblins into attacking dark elf archers.
• A yin soldier paper figure dodged a fireball and killed its caster with a ghostly flame spear.
• A dark warrior crushed a paper figure’s spear and destroyed the figure with a burst of sword light, sending its ashes toward the village.

Lin Xu used the Mirage Dazzling Light Formation to conceal the village and confuse the dungeon monsters, then led the disciples in a talisman attack. The illusion and bombardment scattered many enemies, but a Dark Warrior broke through the assault and charged toward the watchtower.

• Lightning struck a paper Yin soldier, and the monsters destroyed its weakened body while Lin Xu identified Dark Lady · Blue as a mid-tier professional.
• A Soul Shock Blast staggered a Dark Warrior and let the paper Yin soldiers retreat, giving Lin Xu time to assess the enemy and arrange the village’s defenses.
• Wang Yue activated the Mirage Dazzling Light Formation, hiding the village and making a phantom city appear before the approaching monsters.
• The phantom Yin soldiers confused the monsters, and Lin Xu led the outer sect disciples in firing spirit talismans that blasted several low-tier Devil Creatures.
• A Dark Warrior cut through the fire talismans with Sword Qi and charged toward the watchtower.

Lin Xu and the Daoists fought to stop a dark warrior from breaking through the village defenses, using the Evil Eye and Dao soldiers to subdue him. Other dark warriors continued attacking at the wall breach and village gate.

• The dark warrior shattered the illusion, broke through the stone wall, and charged toward Lin Xu’s watchtower.
• Lin Xu, the Daoists, and the Dharma Protector Wronged Soul attacked, but the warrior resisted their assaults and the Evil Eye drove off the wronged soul.
• The Evil Eye struck the warrior with a soul shock, allowing Lin Xu’s fire talismans and the arriving Dao soldiers to wound and pin him down.
• The Evil Eye used Soul Shock Blast again, and five Dao soldiers pierced the warrior’s joints and subdued him.
• Other Dao soldiers fought a second dark warrior at the wall breach while a third warrior forced the defenders back at the village gate.

Lin Xu turned the battle for the city around by using the Bright Light Lamp and the Evil Eye Dharma Protector to disable and eliminate the monsters’ key fighters. After the last Dark Warrior fell, he ordered the defenders to treat the wounded, clear the battlefield, and count their losses.

• Lin Xu burned and incapacitated one Dark Lady, while the other fled through the breach and the Dharma Protector Wronged Soul pursued her.
• Lin Xu blinded the Dark Elf archers with a grandmaster-level Light Mantra, allowing the inner disciple to destroy them with fire talismans.
• Dao soldiers joined the fight, killed the Dark Mages, and drove the monsters’ aerial forces to flee.
• Lin Xu and the defenders defeated the remaining monsters, killing the last Dark Warrior after the Evil Eye Dharma Protector briefly paralyzed him.
• Lin Xu ordered the defenders to treat the wounded, clean up the battlefield, and tally their losses.

After Peach Tree Village repelled a probing attack by five mid-tier professionals, Lin Xu treated the wounded, arranged for reinforcements, and broke the Consciousness Locks on three captured Evil Eyes. The Evil Eye Dharma Protector awakened them as his own Dharma protectors, and Lin Xu named him Qiuqiu.

• Lin Xu ordered the wounded treated and the dead buried, then sent a battle report to Xuanwei Monastery requesting reinforcements.
• He told his disciples to imprison the captured attackers and reserved the three Evil Eyes for himself.
• Lin Xu used the Bright Light Lamp to enter an Evil Eye's sea of consciousness and break its Consciousness Lock.
• The Evil Eye Dharma Protector used a Dharma Seed to awaken the freed Evil Eye as a Dharma protector.
• Lin Xu repeated the process for all three Evil Eyes and named the excited Dharma Protector Qiuqiu.