Chapter Summaries

Wang Chen infiltrated the mining site by disguising himself as Old Chen Si, whom he incapacitated and questioned about reaching Zhang Mushan’s daughters. He then entered Feixu Valley in Old Chen Si’s guise and arrived at a tall building.

• Wang Chen ambushed Old Chen Si in the overseer’s shed, destroyed his Qi Sea Dantian, and knocked him unconscious.
• Wang Chen took Old Chen Si’s robe, Storage Bag, and identity plaque, then used the Thousand Transformations Mask to assume his appearance.
• Wang Chen sealed the crippled Old Chen Si in the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram and left the mining site without raising suspicion.
• Wang Chen released Old Chen Si in a forest, questioned him, and later flew to the outskirts of Feixu Valley.
• Wang Chen entered Feixu Valley through its main gate without being challenged and walked to a tall building.

Wang Chen rescued Zhang Mushan’s twin daughters from the Divine Illumination Sect’s Quality Building and evaded a Golden Core cultivator’s search by hiding underground. He reunited the girls with himself at a Rogue Cultivator stronghold and set out to take them to their grandmother.

• Wang Chen posed as Chen Si and persuaded Steward Zhang to let him visit Zhang Mushan’s twin daughters in the Quality Building.
• Wang Chen swept the girls into the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram, knocked out the miscellaneous cultivator who witnessed it, and left Feixu Valley openly.
• Wang Chen hid in a deep underground chamber as a Golden Core True Person searched for him, then waited three days before returning to the surface.
• Wang Chen retrieved Zhang Mushan’s hidden Storage Bag and traveled south for three days to a Rogue Cultivator stronghold.
• Wang Chen released the girls, comforted them when they recognized him, and said he would take them to their grandmother.

Wang Chen delivered Zhang Mushan’s twin daughters to their grandmother, Shen Fu, and told her what had happened to their family. After declining Shen Fu’s offer to stay at Anping Stockade, Wang Chen set out for White Dragon Marsh to replenish his True Form Diagram’s mirage qi and strengthen his abilities.

• Wang Chen waited outside Anping Stockade with Xiao Yun and Xiao Xia until Shen Fu arrived in response to his message talisman.
• Wang Chen introduced the twins to Shen Fu, who recognized them as her granddaughters and gently put them to sleep.
• Wang Chen recounted the events that had separated the family, and Shen Fu thanked him for rescuing the girls.
• Shen Fu offered Wang Chen a place at Anping Stockade, but he declined and left after thanking her.
• Wang Chen traveled for two days to the outskirts of White Dragon Marsh, where he planned to replenish the mirage qi in the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram.

Wang Chen settled on a small island in White Dragon Marsh to gather mirage qi and cultivate the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art, building a concealed underground shelter and escape tunnels. After nearly two months, visitors arrived to collect spring water and left, forcing Wang Chen to consider whether to stay or move on early.

• Wang Chen searched the outer White Dragon Marsh and found an island spring whose vapor contained a steady supply of mirage qi.
• Wang Chen unfolded the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram over the spring, concealed a small house with the Wither and Flourish Art, and dug a hidden cultivation space with escape tunnels.
• Wang Chen cultivated the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art and Innate Five Elements Technique in seclusion for nearly two months as the diagram accumulated mirage qi.
• Wang Chen sensed approaching visitors, concealed himself in the tunnels, and watched three people find the empty house and collect water from the spring.
• After the visitors departed, Wang Chen returned to the surface and debated whether to remain on the island or leave ahead of schedule.

Wang Chen was ambushed by four young Purple Mansion cultivators who had used a talisman to return to the island. He struck down one attacker and captured their youngest member, the yellow-dressed talisman cultivator, with the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram.

• Four cultivators appeared around Wang Chen and demanded that he surrender.
• Wang Chen broke through their restraints and struck the white-robed cultivator, leaving him badly injured.
• Wang Chen sent the Dragon Abyss Sword after the yellow-dressed woman, but she escaped with a Universe Shift Talisman.
• Wang Chen redirected the sword to distract the others, then captured the yellow-dressed woman inside the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram.
• The green-robed cultivator watched his Little Sister get captured and cried out in fury.

Wang Chen used the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram to force three Luo Clan cultivators to swear Inner Demon Vows before releasing their captive sister. He rejected the older cultivator’s offer to join the Luo Clan and fled White Dragon Marsh, intending to settle their score if they met again.

• Wang Chen stopped the blue-robed cultivator from attacking by threatening the yellow-robed woman, then rebuked the Luo Clan brothers for trying to seize him.
• Wang Chen struck at the white-robed cultivator with lightning, and the older cultivator agreed to negotiate for their sister’s release.
• Wang Chen demanded that the older, blue-robed, and white-robed cultivators swear Inner Demon Vows never to trouble him again, and they complied.
• Wang Chen released the yellow-robed woman, who ran to the older cultivator while the blue-robed cultivator held back.
• The older cultivator offered Wang Chen an immortal registry status if he joined the Luo Clan, but Wang Chen refused and flew away from White Dragon Marsh.

Wang Chen arrived at Yongle Immortal City and learned that foreign Rogue Cultivators faced fierce competition for entry into its Immortal Registry. He left the tea stall with a message talisman from Jia Sidao, who claimed he could help him obtain temporary residence qualifications.

• Wang Chen reached the vast Yongle Immortal City, built atop a colossal dragon turtle, and approached its bustling outskirts cautiously.
• Wang Chen stopped at a tea stall, ordered modestly, and listened to patrons discussing the local situation.
• Jia Sidao approached Wang Chen and explained that Yongle released far fewer Immortal Registry slots than the hundreds of thousands of Rogue Cultivators seeking them.
• Wang Chen paid Jia Sidao two Spirit Stones for details about the competition and the lives of Rogue Cultivators unable to enter the city.
• Jia Sidao offered to help Wang Chen obtain temporary residence qualifications, left him a message talisman, and departed.

Wang Chen avoided Jia Sidao’s attempt to sell him Yongle Immortal Registry qualifications because he already had temporary residence status, then watched the Patrol seize an unregistered cultivator. After gathering rumors in the satellite city, Wang Chen summoned Jia Sidao and showed him a Golden Coupon and Pill Scroll, leaving Jia astonished by the temporary residence permit.

• Wang Chen kept Jia Sidao’s message talisman but refused to pay for an immortal registry because he already had temporary residence qualifications.
• Yongle Patrol cultivators inspected the tea shop and arrested a man who could not produce an identity token.
• Wang Chen stayed at an inn in the satellite city and spent three days listening to local rumors about Yongle Immortal City.
• Wang Chen summoned Jia Sidao and showed him a Golden Coupon and Pill Scroll, which Jia recognized as a temporary residence permit.

Wang Chen asked Jia Sidao how to obtain a Yongle Immortal Registry, and Jia described several routes, including joining the Prison Department. Wang Chen learned that three years of prison work could earn him a registry, but the job carried grave risks.

• Jia Sidao became furious when he realized Wang Chen had not come to seek his help, but he calmed down after seeing Wang Chen's high-grade Spirit Stone.
• Wang Chen asked Jia Sidao for a way to obtain a Yongle Immortal Registry and refused to let him broker the sale of his Golden Coupon and Pill Scroll.
• Jia Sidao explained that serving a powerful immortal clan for fifty years could offer a chance at a registry, but Wang Chen rejected the idea of becoming a servant.
• Jia Sidao described the Assault Camp as a dangerous path to a registry through battle merit.
• Jia Sidao told Wang Chen that the Prison Department guarded a nine-level underground prison and recruited high-level Purple Mansion cultivators, including outsiders with a Golden Coupon and Pill Scroll.
• Jia Sidao said Wang Chen could earn an Immortal Registry after three years in the Prison Department, while warning that entering the prison meant accepting responsibility for his own life and death.

Wang Chen entered Yongle Immortal City and agreed to join the Prison Department, despite its notorious dangers. A Golden Core cultivator immediately took him to Zone C-6 and left him in an underground Cave Dwelling.

• Wang Chen paid Jia Sidao a Lower Spirit Stone for his advice, then changed his appearance to avoid retaliation.
• Wang Chen used Bixi’s whisker Teleportation Array to enter Yongle Immortal City and surveyed its crowded streets and towering buildings.
• Wang Chen found the Prison Department, where a gate guard told him it was not recruiting.
• A burly Golden Core cultivator stopped Wang Chen, asked his name, and recruited him to the understaffed Zone C-6.
• The burly cultivator took Wang Chen underground to a brightly lit Cave Dwelling, then vanished and left him there.

Wang Chen adjusted to life as an apprentice jailor in Yongle Immortal City's dungeon and visited his mentor, Dan Lingfeng, on his day off. Dan Lingfeng warned him that becoming a full jailor could send him to the deadly Lower Three Zones, putting his goal of earning an immortal registry at risk.

• Wang Chen recalled how Lu Peng had recruited him into the Prison Department and assigned him to train in Zone C-6.
• Wang Chen ate at Xu Ji Tavern, where a cultivator avoided sharing his table after noticing his jailor's token.
• Wang Chen brought Jing Hongshao and Barbarian Bull Tendon to Dan Lingfeng, who quickly finished the food and wine.
• Dan Lingfeng warned Wang Chen that full jailors were often sent to the dangerous Lower Three Zones, where few survived long enough to earn an immortal registry.

Wang Chen used the Yin Sha energy in his quarters to strengthen the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, then began his patrol of Zone C-6. He left a prisoner who tried to seduce him with a cucumber and continued his rounds.

• Wang Chen returned to his quarters, where he used the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil to absorb the Yin Sha energy and convert it into spiritual power.
• Wang Chen began inspecting the cells in Zone C-6 the next morning as part of his jailer duties.
• A burly prisoner insulted Wang Chen, who struck the man’s Dantian with his staff and continued his patrol.
• Wang Chen reached the last cell, where a female cultivator begged him to keep her company.
• Wang Chen gave the female cultivator a cucumber and moved on.

Wang Chen avoided Yu Fei’s seductive influence while inspecting the dangerous cells in Zone C-6. In the deepest passage, he discovered that something had happened to a young cultivator imprisoned there.

• Wang Chen gave Yu Fei a cucumber and left when she asked for something hot.
• Yu Fei bewitched a new prisoner into gouging out his eyes, then sang until he died.
• Wang Chen resisted Yu Fei’s distant bewitching song and continued his patrol through Zone C-6.
• Wang Chen reached the three innermost cells and realized something had happened to the young cultivator in the first one.

Wang Chen discovered two dead prisoners and one mindless prisoner in the Gate of Death, then alerted Brother Song, who arrived with a large group of officials. After declining dangerous work clearing Baleful Intent channels and learning nothing about the deaths, Wang Chen spent three months in Yongle Dungeon and became a true jailer.

• Wang Chen found two dead criminal cultivators and a third who had become vacant and mindless in the Gate of Death.
• Wang Chen contacted Brother Song, who rushed over with clerks, official jailers, and trainee jailers to investigate.
• Dan Lingfeng offered Wang Chen a chance at a permanent post clearing Baleful Intent channels, but Wang Chen declined.
• Wang Chen asked Dan Lingfeng about the Gate of Death incident, but Dan Lingfeng warned him not to investigate uncanny matters.
• Wang Chen completed three months in Yongle Dungeon and became a true jailer.

Wang Chen worked his shift distributing prison food and discovered that Yu Fei had disappeared from her cell. Afterward, the supervising clerk of Zone C-6 summoned him and asked about his service in the Prison Department and Lu Peng.

• Wang Chen checked in for his shift, collected his duty badge and Spirit Food, and began delivering fixed meals to the prisoners.
• An old prisoner pleaded for extra food, then sprang up and devoured his meal and the paper box after Wang Chen left.
• Wang Chen found Yu Fei's cell empty and wondered whether she had died before continuing his patrol.
• At the end of the shift, Wang Chen returned his badge and food box, and the clerk told him that Lord Chen wanted to see him.
• The supervising clerk asked Wang Chen how long he had served in the Prison Department and whether Lu Peng had brought him to the dungeon.

Wang Chen became a full jailer but was ordered to transfer from Zone C-6 to the more dangerous Zone J-9, leaving behind Dan Lingfeng’s warnings as he descended into the lower levels. The chapter ended with Wang Chen receiving his new provisions in Zone J-9.

• The middle-aged cultivator promoted Wang Chen to full jailer and ordered him to transfer to Zone J-9 or leave the Prison Department.
• Wang Chen signed the life-and-death Dao pact and learned he would report to Zone J-9 the next day.
• Dan Lingfeng questioned Wang Chen about the transfer, then warned him to stay cautious and rely on himself.
• Wang Chen traveled through a Teleportation Array to Zone J-9 and sensed its diminished spiritual energy and sinister influence.
• Wang Chen arrived at the Zone J-9 Duty Hall and received the standard provisions and benefits for a full jailer.

Wang Chen settled into his new post in Zone J-9, where generous benefits and a safer residence came with a dangerous prison and demanding duties. After refusing Zhu Jiu and Hu Qi’s attempt to exploit him, Wang Chen studied the prison’s rules and began his first patrol assignment with a warning from the Duty Hall manager.

• Wang Chen received pills, spirit-artifact clothing, talismans, a salary, and a courtyard house as benefits of his new prison guard post.
• Zhu Jiu and Hu Qi visited Wang Chen and tried to pressure him, but he refused to give them anything or accept their offer of friendship.
• Wang Chen settled into his new home and read the guard manual, learning that Zone J-9 held 135 prisoners, including dangerous Golden Core cultivators.
• Wang Chen reported to the Duty Hall the next morning, received a prison patrol map, and was warned by the manager to watch where he walked.

Wang Chen began patrolling Zone J-9 alone and encountered Yu Fei, who had been transferred there after disappearing from Zone C-6. He continued his rounds amid repeated prisoner disturbances, which the Prison Department suppressed with an elite squad.

• Wang Chen completed his first patrol with a veteran jailer, who soon left him to patrol alone.
• Wang Chen silenced a prisoner who was ramming the wall of a cell.
• Wang Chen recognized Yu Fei in the isolated cell at the end of the corridor and gave her a cucumber before chatting with her.
• Yu Fei warned Wang Chen to take care in the prison's baleful aura as he left.
• Wang Chen reported the prisoners' disturbances, and an elite squad of Battle Cultivators beat the troublemakers into submission.

During his seventh day in Zone J-9, Wang Chen accepted Yu Fei’s golden hairpin and reported her request to Warden Cao, who authorized him to bring her rouge. On his day off, Wang Chen went to Yongle Immortal City to buy it and learned the rouge required a preorder.

• Yu Fei asked Wang Chen to bring her Dai Mei Rouge and gave him a golden floral hairpin to deliver to Warden Cao.
• Wang Chen reported Yu Fei’s request and handed over the hairpin, and Warden Cao told him to buy the rouge while warning him not to act independently on Yu Fei’s behalf.
• Wang Chen left the dungeon for Yongle Immortal City and visited the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
• The shopkeeper told Wang Chen that buying the rouge required a preorder.

Wang Chen bought Yu Fei an expensive box of rouge and heard her sing, then Wu Yi reassigned him to a dangerous patrol route after accusing him of getting too close to her. Wang Chen discovered Hu Qi had arranged the trouble to extort him, and he refused to yield, deepening their grudge.

• Wang Chen paid one hundred Medium Spirit Stones to obtain Tianxiang Tower Dai Mei Rouge for Yu Fei.
• Wang Chen gave Yu Fei the rouge, listened to her enchanting song, and hurried away after realizing he had lingered too long.
• Wu Yi questioned Wang Chen about associating with Yu Fei and reassigned him to a longer patrol route through areas dense with Yin Sha energy.
• Hu Qi confronted Wang Chen on the new route and demanded monthly payments of Spirit Stones and pills.
• Wang Chen ignored Hu Qi's threat and insulted him with a gesture, enraging him further.