Chapter Summaries

Punk Lü Yuan reeled at the disparity between his own cultivation and Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan’s, especially because he could not practice the powerful Immortal Methods they shared. He then examined Li Yelan’s public history, concluded it concealed her Upper City origins, and left for class with new questions about her background and reassignment.

• Punk Lü Yuan reacted with disbelief after Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan told him about his breakthrough to Qi Refinement and his extraordinary Immortal Method and Immortal Foundation.
• Punk Lü Yuan lamented that his world prevented him from cultivating the Immortal Methods, while megacorporations controlled access to cultivation and charged royalties for usable techniques.
• Punk Lü Yuan reviewed the public information he had gathered about Li Yelan, including her reported rise from a Lower City orphanage to a Purple Mansion position.
• Punk Lü Yuan concluded that Li Yelan’s reported Lower City origins were false because the timeline and cultivation technology made her supposed progress impossible.
• Punk Lü Yuan wondered whether Li Yelan’s concealed Upper City background was connected to her being Tiansuzi or to her reassignment, then prepared to go to class.

Lü Yuan used his new million-voucher loan limit to justify his rapid cultivation as the result of expensive drugs, then announced the explanation openly at school. The chapter ended with him pulling out the full, costly Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin package in front of his stunned classmates.

• Lü Yuan checked that Radiant Heavenly Sun had raised his loan limit to one million Spirit Stone Vouchers after he met Li Yelan.
• Lü Yuan arrived late to class, while Sima Mingli wondered how he cultivated three times faster despite spending far less time at school.
• Lin Qi scolded Lü Yuan for wasting his talent, and Lü Yuan told the class that he cultivated quickly because he took so many drugs he had to rest every day.
• Lü Yuan pulled out all nine syringes in the expensive Fetal Breathing Stage Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin package and prepared to take them openly.

Lü Yuan showed off his Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin medicine, then revealed to Lin Qi that his monthly loan limit had reached one million. He planned to take Lin Qi and Wang Yan to a lucrative part-time job in the Dark Air Realm after they skipped class.

• Lü Yuan’s classmates gaped at his Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin package, while Sima Mingli eagerly hoped to benefit from sparring with him.
• Lin Qi took Lü Yuan to the fitness equipment room and injected him with the medicine, warning him about overspending and offering to absorb any medicinal power he could not use.
• Lü Yuan promised to save half the medicine’s effects for Lin Qi, but she urged him to focus on advancing his cultivation instead.
• Lü Yuan showed Lin Qi his one-million monthly loan limit, prompting her to beg him for money and offer to warm his bed.
• Lü Yuan told Lin Qi to contact Wang Yan and said he would take them both to a lucrative part-time job in the Dark Air Realm that afternoon.

Lü Yuan recruited Wang Yan and Lin Qi to sell pure air in the Dark Air Realm, promising them a share of the profits and a better income than their usual part-time jobs. Wang Yan accepted after Lü Yuan revealed his one-million Spirit Stone Voucher loan limit, and the three set out to enter the market.

• Wang Yan traveled to meet Lü Yuan and Lin Qi, discussing with Elder Hun whether he should tell Lü Yuan about his progress in refining artifacts and pills.
• Wang Yan told Lü Yuan that his refining work had already helped him balance his expenses, and Lü Yuan praised his improvement.
• Lü Yuan offered to supply pure air for Wang Yan and Lin Qi to sell, promising them half the profits and asking Wang Yan to quit his other part-time jobs.
• Wang Yan hesitated to accept the offer because he did not want to burden Lü Yuan, but Lü Yuan showed him his one-million loan limit.
• Wang Yan accepted the job, and the three set out to break into the Dark Air Realm market.

Lü Yuan brought Lin Qi and Wang Yan to the Dark Corner and told them to buy tickets to the Dark Air Realm while he went to get spirit oranges. When they tried to buy the tickets without him, the ticket seller asked for an air trading license and ordered security to throw them out.

• Lü Yuan explained that Mingyang City's Dark Corner was a company-supported collection of black markets.
• Lü Yuan told Lin Qi and Wang Yan to buy three Dark Air Realm tickets and wait for him, then went to buy spirit oranges.
• Lin Qi and Wang Yan decided to buy the tickets themselves after wondering why Lü Yuan had laughed.
• The ticket seller asked Wang Yan for an air trading license after he requested three tickets.
• The ticket seller told a security guard to throw Lin Qi and Wang Yan out.

Lin Qi and Wang Yan failed to buy tickets to the Dark Air Realm because they lacked the required qualification certificates, so Lü Yuan took them back and secured entry using his name and status. He then led them to meet the Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator in charge of the realm, whose eager welcome made his deference to Lü Yuan unmistakable.

• Wang Yan offered the ticket seller Spirit Stone Vouchers, and the seller explained that students needed a fifth- or sixth-year class head with a qualification certificate to act as an intermediary.
• Lin Qi and Wang Yan left the ticket office and found Lü Yuan waiting outside, where they clung to him and admitted they had been wrong.
• Lü Yuan returned with them, gave his name, and the ticket seller recognized him while the two security guards slipped away.
• The ticket seller stamped three tickets and guided Lü Yuan, Lin Qi, and Wang Yan toward the Dark Air Realm passage.
• Lü Yuan asked the ticket seller to take them to the person in charge, and they reached the Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator in the dungeon.
• Lin Qi and Wang Yan noticed how warmly the cultivator treated Lü Yuan and wondered if he was eager to curry favor.

Lü Yuan brought Lin Qi and Wang Yan to meet Gu Lü, a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator, partly to test whether his suspicions about Radiant Heavenly Sun were correct. Gu Lü’s nervous deference confirmed that someone powerful had ordered him to accommodate Lü Yuan, and the group continued toward a shop location in the Dark Air Realm.

• Lü Yuan decided to use the meeting to assess Lin Qi and Wang Yan’s trust and look for evidence about Radiant Heavenly Sun’s identity.
• Lü Yuan asked Gu Lü to help him rent a medium-sized shop on the Dark Air Realm’s best street.
• Gu Lü recognized Lü Yuan as the student named in an order from management, which had relayed instructions from a higher authority to grant his requests.
• Gu Lü privately suspected that the order had come from the ruler of Mingyang City and wondered why Lü Yuan had earned such special attention.
• Lü Yuan noticed Gu Lü’s panic, kept his suspicions to himself, and followed him with Lin Qi and Wang Yan toward the proposed shop location.

Lü Yuan opened his air shop with Lin Qi and Wang Yan, and its exceptionally pure stock sold out in two hours. Afterward, Lin Qi revealed she could help Lü Yuan advance his sword Dao and kissed him in the dark shop.

• Lü Yuan leased Shop No. 12 and obtained permits for Lin Qi and Wang Yan to work there.
• Gu Lü inspected Lü Yuan’s air, judged it nearly as pure as the highest-grade air, and granted it the highest-grade price and his endorsement.
• Lü Yuan, Lin Qi, and Wang Yan opened the shop that night, and eager customers bought all their stock within two hours.
• Lin Qi pulled Lü Yuan into the dark shop and told him she could help him advance beyond Sword Light.
• Lin Qi rose onto her tiptoes and kissed Lü Yuan.

Lin Qi remembered her grandfather’s stories about his nearly three-thousand-year life, his missing master, and the Jade Dragon Instruction’s founding. Before she returned to the Upper City, he entrusted her with the Jade Gui, which became her fate, “Daily Progress, Mastery of Techniques.”

• As a child, Lin Qi repeatedly asked Grandpa how he had lived for almost three thousand years and whether his master had been a Golden Core True Lord.
• Grandpa explained that his master had protected him from a calamity that shortened the lives of Purple Mansion True Persons, and revealed that his master’s Daoist name inspired the Jade Dragon Instruction’s name and that he was one of its founders.
• Grandpa told Lin Qi that his master had disappeared and that the later True Lords had seized control of the megacorporation, leaving Grandpa and his family to suffer their bullying.
• Before Lin Qi returned to the Upper City, Grandpa gave her the Jade Gui, a divine object once bestowed by his master, and it joined with her Primordial Spirit as the fate “Daily Progress, Mastery of Techniques.”

Lin Qi gave Lü Yuan the cultivation power she had accumulated, explaining that it could raise his sword realm and was payment for his help. Lü Yuan then proposed splitting the source of the power as shared marital property, leaving Lin Qi embarrassed and unsure whether he was trying to disguise what had just happened.

• Lin Qi passed her accumulated cultivation power to Lü Yuan and said it could raise his Sword Light to the Sword-Ray level.
• Lü Yuan confirmed that the power had no side effects but refrained from asking Lin Qi where it came from.
• Lin Qi told Lü Yuan there was no more power for now and said he would need to treat her better if he wanted another share.
• Lü Yuan embraced Lin Qi and proposed borrowing against their future marriage, then splitting the source of her cultivation power in exchange for a five-hundred-thousand interest-free loan.
• Lin Qi blushed at Lü Yuan's proposal and wondered whether he was using it to gloss over what had just happened.

Wang Yan asked Elder Hun for permission to give Lü Yuan a visualization image, and Elder Hun agreed after warning him about the risks of testing a friendship. Wang Yan found Lü Yuan alone after Lin Qi left, then stopped him to offer the gift.

• Wang Yan asked Elder Hun to let him give Lü Yuan the visualization image, but Elder Hun warned that repeated gifts could make Lü Yuan suspicious and damage their friendship.
• Wang Yan insisted that he trusted Lü Yuan, and Elder Hun agreed to let him give Lü Yuan “Back Then, Listening to Scriptures in Changrong Heaven,” while recalling a painful event from his past.
• Wang Yan wondered how quickly Lü Yuan would use the image to develop Divine Sense, then noticed Lin Qi was no longer waiting beside Lü Yuan.
• Lü Yuan said Lin Qi had left because something had come up, though he did not know what it was.
• As Lü Yuan began to lead the way, Wang Yan caught him and said he had something for him.

Lü Yuan met Wang Yan alone, expecting a gift, and learned that the painting Wang Yan gave him was a powerful visualization diagram. He accepted Wang Yan’s secret without pressing him and asked to lend the diagram to Lin Qi, leaving Wang Yan and Elder Hun quietly pleased by his response.

• Lü Yuan met Wang Yan after deliberately sending Lin Qi away, and Wang Yan gave him a rolled-up painting.
• Wang Yan revealed that the painting was the visualization diagram “Listening to the Sutras in Changrong Heaven Back Then,” which could help Lü Yuan develop Divine Sense early and strengthen it over time.
• Wang Yan explained that he had used the diagram to develop Divine Sense and could now refine Embryonic Breathing Law Artifacts.
• Lü Yuan accepted Wang Yan’s gift without asking about his fortuitous encounter and said friends did not need to uncover every secret.
• Lü Yuan asked to lend the diagram to Lin Qi and hurried Wang Yan toward the bus stop; Wang Yan and Elder Hun smiled as they followed him.

Lü Yuan admired Mingyang City’s beauty and reflected on how his recent happiness had let him notice it. He anticipated a demanding run of competitions and resolved to use the month before the next tournament to improve, while continuing to cultivate Lin Qi and Wang Yan’s trust for mutual benefit.

• Lü Yuan walked home through Mingyang City and realized he could appreciate its beauty now that the pressure of survival had eased.
• Lü Yuan recalled Li Yelan’s demand that he win every fight before junior college and considered the many competitions ahead.
• Lü Yuan read trending notices about upcoming tournaments in Mingyang City, Jiugang City, and Zaiwu City.
• Lü Yuan concluded that his rapid progress would place him against older students, so he could not afford to neglect his cultivation.
• Lü Yuan reflected that he had not asked Lin Qi or Wang Yan about their opportunities because he expected them to keep investing in him and eventually reveal them themselves.

Li Yelan’s recurring pain and madness drove her to Lü Yuan’s home, where her prosthetic body clung to him and found temporary relief. As she regained some control, she remained troubled by why Lü Yuan could help her even at this point in his life.

• Lü Yuan returned home and found Lin Qi unconscious before Li Yelan’s prosthetic body immobilized him with the Immortal Book’s help.
• Li Yelan held Lü Yuan close and repeatedly murmured that it was too unfair, while Lü Yuan wondered what had happened to her.
• Aboard the aerospace carrier, Li Yelan’s true body suffered the recurring pain and madness that afflicted Bright Yang Children after Bright Yang fell.
• Li Yelan sent her prosthetic body to Lü Yuan because, in her deductions, being held by him had brought her brief peace.
• Li Yelan’s consciousness returned as Lü Yuan’s presence eased her pain, and she wondered why he could help her now.

After accidentally easing Li Yelan’s pain, Lü Yuan became the focus of her plans to make amends, and she considered giving him an Artificial Spirit Root. Lü Yuan reflected on the night’s disruptions, then met Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan in the consciousness space, where they discussed their recent experiences and examined the Immortal Book.

• After Lü Yuan eased her suffering, Li Yelan’s original body emerged from the sea of light and regretted causing him trouble.
• Li Yelan considered gifts for Lü Yuan and settled on an Artificial Spirit Root, while debating when and how to give it to him.
• Awake beneath Li Yelan’s sleeping prosthetic body, Lü Yuan wondered why he could ease her pain and set aside his disrupted plans.
• Lü Yuan entered the consciousness space and recounted the day’s events to Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan joked that Lü Yuan was living through Mingyang Love Story, then handed him the Immortal Book to investigate the two things he had received.

Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan and Punk Lü Yuan analyzed Lin Qi’s Wisdom Root Vessel, the Jade Gui, and what her talent might do. Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan then revealed that he had reached Great Marsh Mountain, where a Golden Core True Lord was waiting for him.

• The Immortal Book described the Immortal’s Five Root Vessels, and the two Lü Yuans focused on Lin Qi’s Wisdom Root Vessel, the Jade Gui.
• Punk Lü Yuan proposed that the Jade Gui granted Lin Qi a special talent and asked whether it could improve others or be taken from her.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan reasoned that Lin Qi’s talent could improve swordsmanship or other techniques, but probably not cultivation.
• Punk Lü Yuan guessed that the Jade Gui could not be shared and was bound to Lin Qi, then said he would find a chance to question her about it.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan said he had memorized the visualization diagram and was leaving because he had reached Great Marsh Mountain.
• Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan revealed that a Golden Core True Lord was waiting for him outside.

Lü Yuan awoke in a hidden paradise within Great Marsh Mountain after a True Lord transported him there from the refugee procession. He met the unassuming True Lord who had summoned him, and the two began to speak.

• After sharing the Immortal Method with Punk Lü Yuan, Lü Yuan took Han Fei's appearance and led more than ten thousand refugees toward Great Marsh Mountain.
• A True Lord used a Divine Ability to bring Lü Yuan across the mountain range and placed him in a farmhouse, promising to meet him in the morning.
• Lü Yuan spent the evening surveying the village and waited for the True Lord, while briefly speaking with Punk Lü Yuan before dawn.
• At daybreak, Lü Yuan revealed his true appearance and found the True Lord sitting in the terraced fields dressed like an ordinary farmer.
• The True Lord asked whether Lü Yuan had slept well and beckoned him to sit.

Lü Yuan spoke with the True Lord, who revealed that Liu Bang had entrusted him with teaching Lü Yuan about the immortal path. After testing Lü Yuan’s honesty and judgment, the True Lord agreed to begin teaching him and gave his name as Chen Sheng.

• The True Lord asked Lü Yuan why he had rescued people on the wasteland, and Lü Yuan said he had done it because he wanted to.
• The True Lord explained that Liu Bang was verifying Lü Yuan’s immortal method and had asked him to teach Lü Yuan about the immortal path and worldly affairs.
• The True Lord asked whether farming or cultivation was harder, and Lü Yuan answered that each had its own suffering and they were roughly equally hard.
• The True Lord accepted Lü Yuan’s answer and said he knew how to teach him, then prepared to take him along.
• Lü Yuan asked the True Lord’s name, and the man told him to call him Chen Sheng.

Chen Sheng recalled why he had refused to teach Lü Yuan, including his jealousy of a legendary monkey and his disillusionment with the immortal path’s treatment of mortals. After Liu Bang persuaded him to meet the child by raising questions about Southern Dipper and First Northern Dipper, Chen Sheng walked with Lü Yuan toward the Swan Palace and began to reconsider what the child represented.

• Chen Sheng remembered his old ideals for the Swan Palace and admitted that Lü Yuan’s origins had made him jealous of the monkey who had reached the Golden Immortal realm.
• Liu Bang persuaded Chen Sheng to meet Lü Yuan by asking why Southern Dipper had taken an interest in him and mentioning the Immortal Method inherited from First Northern Dipper.
• Chen Sheng brought Lü Yuan and the displaced people to the Swan Palace, then walked with the child through the countryside.
• Chen Sheng recognized Lü Yuan as a good child and reflected on how the immortal path’s indifference had worsened life for mortals.
• Lü Yuan asked whether he had upset Chen Sheng, and Chen Sheng told him he was regretting things the child could not yet understand.

Lü Yuan questioned Chen Sheng’s manner and learned that the Golden Core True Lord would teach him the basics of cultivation. Chen Sheng brought him to the Dharma Realm passage and revealed that his academy, the Swan Palace, would be their destination.

• Lü Yuan followed Chen Sheng and admitted he had held back his questions because Chen Sheng seemed strange.
• Chen Sheng asked whether Lü Yuan understood his status as a Fruit Position True Lord, and Lü Yuan explained that he respected Chen Sheng’s actions but would not fear or flatter him.
• Chen Sheng accepted Lü Yuan as a student and said his experience and temperament made him the best choice to teach him.
• Chen Sheng led Lü Yuan to a colossal tree that served as a passage into the Dharma Realm.
• Chen Sheng explained that the Dharma Realm area corresponding to Great Marsh Mountain contained the academy he had founded, the Swan Palace, where he would teach Lü Yuan.