Ye Jingcheng must choose his first spirit beast, a decision that will define his future in the Ye clan. While his talented siblings snatch up the robust, healthy Flying Cloud Leopards for four hundred contribution points, Jingcheng deliberately aims for a dying, poisoned Red Flame Fox. He negotiates a package deal, buying the dying fox and a weak Jade Ring Rat together for just two hundred and fifty contribution points. Back in his blue-tiled house, he channels the ancient book's spiritual light. The poison slowly fades, the black wounds heal, and a blood contract is forged. The book reveals a shocking revelation: a recipe of fire-attribute spiritual medicines that can evolve this ordinary beast into a legendary Two-tailed form, and eventually, the mythical Nine-tailed sovereign. He has saved a dying beast, but now faces the crushing financial pressure of feeding two mouths on a meager alchemist's budget. He must find a way to earn spirit stones quickly, leading him to join his siblings on a dangerous expedition into the wild Taihang Mountains. He packs his storage bag, gathers his basic magical artifacts, and prepares to face the untamed wilderness where his newly healed companions will face their first true test of survival. The journey begins on his brother's flying spiritual ship, carrying the young cultivators deep into the outer reaches of the Taihang Mountain Range, where wild beasts roam and a single mistake can cost a cultivator their life. They navigate through the howling winds, landing at dusk near a secluded valley that once housed a pair of Flying Cloud Leopards. Here, the spiritual energy of a minor spiritual vein has begun to attract wild beasts, setting the stage for a brutal clash that will force Ye Jingcheng to unleash his secret weapon.

The quiet valley quickly turns into a death trap when a vicious pack of Cyan Cloud Wolves ambushes the young cultivators. The battle deteriorates rapidly; the companion Cyan-Scaled Snake is mutilated, and the defensive array shatters under the wolves' relentless assault. Just as a Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer brother is about to be torn apart, Jingcheng unleashes his secretly nurtured Red Flame Fox. Already grown to Tier One Middle-grade due to his secret nurturing, the fox spits a massive, instantaneous fireball that incinerates the charging wolves on the spot. The siblings survive, but the shocking strength of Jingcheng's supposedly dying fox catches the attention of the clan's top brass. Instead of punishing or robbing him, the patriarchs recognize his talent and grant him access to middle-grade pill formulas. Jingcheng realizes that the Ye family is not a typical ruthless clan; they reward diligence and talent. He receives the formulas for the Cyan Spirit Pill and the Body Tempering Pill, determined to master them. This recognition elevates his standing, but also puts him in the spotlight as the family prepares to send him to the highly competitive Taihang Market, where rival clans are already plotting to destroy the Ye family's business. The transition from the peaceful mountains of Lingyun Peak to the bustling, cutthroat environment of the market is sudden. The main alchemists and artifact refiners of the family are conscripted by the local sect, leaving the family's market shops vulnerable. Ye Jingcheng is thrust into this commercial war zone, carrying the weight of the family's financial survival on his shoulders as they sign a massive contract they might not be able to fulfill.

Sent to the Taihang Market, Jingcheng and his peers face a lethal financial trap: the rival Li family has monopolized all the Earth Fire Rooms, aiming to force the Ye family into a massive default penalty on a crucial contract for five hundred Qi Recovery Pills and five hundred Qi Blood Pills. With the family's survival on the line, Jingcheng plays his hidden card. Using his Red Flame Fox's innate fire-breathing ability as a portable, highly precise alchemy flame, he bypasses the Earth Fire Rooms entirely. Working in his private room, he refines eighty Qi Blood Pills and a hundred and thirty Qi Recovery Pills with unprecedented speed and quality. He single-handedly breaks the blockade, turning the Li family's trap into a massive financial windfall for the Ye clan. This success allows him to earn enough spirit stones to purchase rare ingredients like the Heartless Flower and Falling Flame Grass from the market stalls and the grand Taiyi Pavilion. However, his actions have thoroughly humiliated the Li family, who realize that the Ye family has a hidden genius. As the annual market auction approaches, the tension between the clans reaches a boiling point, and the Ye family must prepare for a desperate bid to save their dying guardian beast. The auction becomes a psychological battlefield, where the Ye family is forced to spend twenty-two thousand spirit stones on a Blood Heart Pill. Knowing that the rival clans will try to ambush them on the way back to reclaim the pill, the Ye family must prepare for a bloody battle on the road home, where only the strongest will survive.

The return journey turns into a slaughterhouse at Cyan Mountain Ridge, where loose cultivators hired by the rival clans lay in wait. A Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer assassin ambushes Jingcheng, but Jingcheng coordinates perfectly with his fox, trapping the killer with an Ice Freeze Talisman and slicing him in two with his Cyan Stream Sword. When a Foundation Establishment cultivator launches a ghostly sneak attack, the family's hidden protector—the Lizard Lord, a massive emerald green lizard belonging to his great-grandfather—emerges from the shadows to butcher the attackers. Back at the clan, the patriarch takes Jingcheng to the Ancestral Hall. After a loyalty test under sandalwood smoke, Jingcheng is initiated into the clan's ultimate secret: the Beast Taming Pattern, which allows a tamer to share spiritual power and talents with their beasts. Jingcheng condenses a five-inch pattern, while his secret book absorbs a seven-inch pattern, setting him up for limitless growth. He switches his cultivation technique to the profound Four Phase Celestial Essence Scripture, preparing to evolve his Red Flame Fox into its Two-tailed form. With his new power, he must face the expanding conflict in the Taihang Mountains as the Ye family gears up for a direct confrontation with the Li family in Jade Dragon Valley. This impending clash will test the limits of his newly acquired Beast Taming Pattern, as the family plans to clean out the valley's spiritual ore veins and claim dominance over the region, dragging Jingcheng into a larger war of survival.