Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianlei learned more about True Immortal Wei Bing’s fate and received two Sources from Bu Hu, while refusing to join True Immortal Jiken’s investigation of the Restricted Area. He agreed to help Star Palace patrol Central Province, but True Immortal Jin Ge then arrived and asked whether he had met Baiqiao, the Great Venerable’s will.

• True Immortal Jiken told Qu Jianlei that Wei Bing had hunted Piao with help from Star Tapirs, but an Out-of-Body Piao had forced him to use his master’s life-saving trump card.
• Qu Jianlei refused to accompany Jiken into the Restricted Area, and Jiken said the Great Venerable would allow five of Qu Jianlei’s people into the Upper Realm.
• Bu Hu exchanged a Gold Source and a Dark Fire Source with Qu Jianlei, who offered her a Nascent Soul Realm Piao corpse as interest.
• Jiang Hui urged Star Palace to seek answers from the Immortal Remains, but Qu Jianlei refused and instead agreed to send patrols to help Star Palace.
• Qu Jianlei sent Paranoid and Mu Yu, along with Jiao Daoren and Qi Ya, to patrol Central Province with Golden Core Realm cultivators.
• True Immortal Jin Ge arrived and asked Qu Jianlei whether he had met Baiqiao, then angrily said the Great Venerable’s will had shielded itself from his perception.

Qu Jianlei and Qinghu accompanied True Immortal Jin Ge through his secret passage into the Upper Realm to scout its conditions. They arrived at Yanmao Fifteen, a vast but spiritually impoverished continental plate in the Houde Realm, and began assessing the people and cultivation resources there.

• Qu Jianlei agreed to travel with Qinghu, while Jing Yuexin stayed behind to oversee Red Leaf Ridge and the Encircle Devil Grand Array.
• True Immortal Jin Ge opened a concealed passage in the mountains, and he, Qu Jianlei, and Qinghu traveled through it toward the Upper Realm.
• After about a day in the passage, the three emerged in a rainy valley with sparse spiritual energy.
• Qu Jianlei sensed the surrounding area and learned they had arrived at Yanmao Fifteen District in the Houde Realm.
• True Immortal Jin Ge explained that Yanmao Fifteen was a large, backward continental plate with three Tier 3 Spirit Veins and fewer than ten Golden Core Realm cultivators.

Qu Jianlei, Qinghu, and True Immortal Jin Ge stayed in the Houde Realm’s Yanmao Fifteen region while their Lower Realm aura faded, learning about its people, resources, and privately owned Teleportation Arrays. Qu Jianlei chose not to use an array and asked True Immortal Jin Ge to take them through a passage, hinting that he knew Jin Ge had traveled that way before.

• Qu Jianlei and Qinghu agreed to remain in the Houde Realm for several days to dispel their Lower Realm aura, while Qu Jianlei reflected that he had never truly found a home.
• True Immortal Jin Ge explained that they needed to find a Tier 5 Spirit Vein, and Qu Jianlei said he would not worry before they knew what options were available.
• The three traveled through Yanmao Fifteen, where Qinghu noticed a family’s small patch of quasi-Tier 1 Spirit Grain and Qu Jianlei and True Immortal Jin Ge debated the hardship faced by ordinary people.
• Over five days, the group learned that Yanmao Fifteen had three Tier 3 Spirit Veins and that most outward Teleportation Arrays were privately owned by Golden Core Realm families.
• Qu Jianlei examined a Teleportation Array for ideas to improve his own, then chose to use a passage instead of someone else’s array.
• True Immortal Jin Ge objected to Qu Jianlei ordering him to construct a passage, and Qu Jianlei suggested Jin Ge had used one when he left the region before.

Qu Jianlei, True Immortal Jin Ge, and Qinghu were caught in a spatial passage and confronted by a towering figure identified as Dao Yan. Hypocrite emerged from the Portable Abode and used Slaying the Dao, leaving Qu Jianlei and Jin Ge stranded in the Houde Realm’s starry expanse while Qinghu lay unconscious.

• True Immortal Jin Ge planned to take Qu Jianlei and Qinghu to Yanfeng Three, and three days later he opened a spatial displacement route in the rain.
• The displacement unexpectedly turned into a passage, and True Immortal Jin Ge suspected a major cultivator had locked onto them.
• Hypocrite’s Broken Axe appeared on its own, and Hypocrite identified the towering presence ahead as possibly Dao Yan.
• Hypocrite attempted to use Slaying the Dao despite Qu Jianlei’s pleas, and a streak of light froze the space around them.
• Qu Jianlei awoke in the Houde Realm’s starry expanse, put unconscious Qinghu into the Portable Abode, and found True Immortal Jin Ge alive nearby.
• Qu Jianlei vanished into the Portable Abode to investigate, leaving Jin Ge facing a tiny floating pebble.

Qu Jianlei learned that Hypocrite had completed his final Slaying the Dao strike but remained uncertain whether his Obsession could be revived. After discovering the strike had lasted just over ten days and its target may have been a Void Refinement Realm being, Qu Jianlei welcomed the others into the Portable Abode and warned True Immortal Jin Ge not to harm the Little Match figure.

• True Immortal Jin Ge entered the Portable Abode, where Senior Violent told Qu Jianlei that Hypocrite had completed Slaying the Dao before his Obsession disappeared.
• Senior Violent suggested that Qu Jianlei might awaken Hypocrite if he grew powerful enough, and Qu Jianlei left determined to hold on to that hope.
• Qu Jianlei reasoned that Hypocrite's strike had broken through a powerful opponent's aura and wondered whether the Dao Stele could affect such an enemy.
• High-Fidelity Replica indicated that the Slaying the Dao strike lasted a little over ten days, while Big Head Butterfly estimated that its target was at least in the Void Refinement Realm.
• Qu Jianlei found Qinghu awake and let True Immortal Jin Ge enter the Portable Abode to recover.
• True Immortal Jin Ge realized the Little Match figure was the lifeform born from the Spirit Treasure remnant whose former home he had taken, and Qu Jianlei warned him not to harm it.

After a terrifying encounter in the Upper Realm, Qu Jianlei and his companions returned to Cangwu and kept the incident secret. Half a year later, Stalwart Master Shen Miao visited Red Leaf Ridge to negotiate for Asura Bubbles, but Qu Jianlei refused to travel to the Upper Realm and Shen Miao raised doubts about Ancestor Hong Yun.

• Qu Jianlei and True Immortal Jin Ge speculated about the powerful existence that had drawn them in, then decided to avoid further karmic entanglements and return to Yanmao Fifteen.
• The three traveled back to Cangwu without incident, and Qu Jianlei told Jing Yuexin that their trouble was too serious to discuss openly.
• Red Leaf Ridge kept a low profile for half a year while two Central Province squads worked together to exterminate Heavenly Demons.
• Stalwart Master Shen Miao visited Qu Jianlei and asked to trade for complete Asura Bubbles, offering to take him to the Upper Realm.
• Qu Jianlei refused to go to the Upper Realm and said he wanted laws, origins, or treasures of comparable value for the bubbles.
• After Qu Jianlei explained that Asura Bubbles had six levels, Shen Miao asked whether Ancestor Hong Yun's matter might be suspicious.

Qu Jianlei negotiated with Stalwart Master Shen Miao over rescuing Yi He from the Forgotten Peninsula, offering a Tier 3 Asura Bubble and a rare bone fragment. Shen Miao agreed to seek the Upper Realm’s involvement and warned that Star Palace might have harmed Qu Jianlei’s friend.

• Qu Jianlei offered a complete Tier 3 Asura Bubble if Bitter Sea rescued his missing friend, Yi He, while Shen Miao hesitated because Qu’s side would not assist.
• Qu Jianlei asked the Upper Realm to send someone down to negotiate, and Shen Miao agreed to report the request.
• Qu Jianlei gave Shen Miao a bone fragment from a Bone Dragon, which fascinated him as an unfamiliar object from another world.
• Shen Miao told Qu Jianlei that Star Palace’s repeated involvement in the Lower Realm was suspicious and that Ancestor Hong Yun had likely been framed.
• Shen Miao suggested that Star Palace might have harmed Qu Jianlei’s missing friend.

Qu Jianlei tested his improved Teleportation Array and returned to Forgotten Peninsula with his companions to investigate the mutated Folded Spaces and search for Yi He. As they prepare to enter, Bu Hu notices that Qu Jianlei’s Array Plate carries a hint of the Upper Realm’s aura.

• Qu Jianlei declined to help Bitter Sea rescue Yi He, and Shen Miao accepted his Bone Dragon fragments as a gift.
• After testing his improved Teleportation Array, Qu Jianlei visited Forgotten Peninsula with Paranoid, Mu Yu, Jiao Daoren, and Qi Ya.
• Qu Jianlei refused Bu Hu’s invitation to explore the mutated spaces together, but Shen Miao later led Bitter Sea’s team to investigate them and failed to find Yi He or Master Peng.
• After the explorers returned and the Demonic Qi was purged, Bu Hu asked Qu Jianlei to investigate the spaces because their reported mutations had mysteriously disappeared.
• Qu Jianlei agreed to enter with Bu Hu, prepared his improved Array Plate, and told Qi Ya to guard it.
• Bu Hu noticed that Qu Jianlei’s Teleportation Array carried a hint of the Upper Realm’s aura.

Qu Jianlei’s group searched the suspicious space in the Restricted Area, but his divination about Master Peng’s whereabouts triggered a severe backlash and revealed a threat tied to a major cultivator. After warning True Immortal Bu Hu to prepare carefully if an Immortal Venerable intervened, he left the others to report the unsettling discovery.

• Qu Jianlei’s group searched two Folded Spaces and then combed the most suspicious space, but found no clues to its anomalies or Yi He’s disappearance.
• Qu Jianlei divined with the Seashell and Turtle Shell, then withdrew into the Abode while his companions guarded him for three days.
• Qu Jianlei emerged and ordered the group to leave the Restricted Area without discussing what he had discovered there.
• After returning, Qu Jianlei told True Immortal Bu Hu and Stalwart Master Shen Miao that his divination had concerned Master Peng’s whereabouts and warned them to prepare if an Immortal Venerable took action.
• True Immortal Bu Hu and Stalwart Master Shen Miao left the courtyard with heavy hearts, and Bu Hu called Qu Jianlei unfathomable.

Qu Jianlei revealed that he had briefly divined a Great Expert suspected to be Dao Yan, then escaped the backlash and led Red Leaf Ridge away. With True Immortal Bu Hu and the Upper Realm making no move, tensions gradually eased, while the campaign against the Heavenly Demons settled into a long-term stalemate.

• True Immortal Bu Hu and Stalwart Master Shen Miao realized Red Leaf Ridge had evacuated and removed its Teleportation Array, so Bu Hu ordered her forces to withdraw and prepare for combat.
• Qu Jianlei told True Immortal Jin Ge that he had stopped divining after sensing an aura like one he had encountered in the Upper Realm, and that he had escaped without drawing the being's attention.
• Qu Jianlei and True Immortal Jin Ge discussed their shared karma from severing the small realm and agreed to wait for Bu Hu's report rather than act rashly or involve the Five Great Factions.
• Red Leaf Ridge stayed on alert while Forgotten Peninsula remained quiet; Bu Hu neither contacted Qu Jianlei nor returned to Dongsheng before departing for the Upper Realm more than a year later.
• The Heavenly Demons learned to hide and disperse, leaving cultivators to expect long-term coexistence as the Demonic Qi campaign continued and Cangwu changed permanently.
• Red Leaf Ridge gradually relaxed after another quiet year, then grew vigilant again when Bentley began attempting to form his Nascent Soul.

Bentley survived his Nascent Soul breakthrough but needed years of secluded cultivation, while Qu Jianlei and True Immortal Jin Ge learned that Old Ancestor in the Pot was behind the Forgotten Peninsula incident. Immortal Venerable Bai Qiao explained that the ancestor’s Dao-comprehending avatar had undergone Assimilation into the Dao.

• Bentley successfully condensed a Nascent Soul despite severe injuries and began a long recovery inside the Black Colt Tower.
• Stalwart Master Shen Miao visited Red Leaf Ridge, relayed Bu Hu’s message to Qu Jianlei, and said they had to wait for news from the upper realm.
• True Immortal Jin Ge persuaded Qu Jianlei to send an avatar with him to meet Immortal Venerable Bai Qiao, partly by offering to ask about Yi He.
• Immortal Venerable Bai Qiao identified Old Ancestor in the Pot as the force behind the events on Forgotten Peninsula, and True Immortal Bu Hu joined the meeting.
• Immortal Venerable Bai Qiao explained that Old Ancestor in the Pot’s avatar had been comprehending the Dao but ultimately underwent Assimilation into the Dao.

True Venerable Bai Qiao learned that Master of the Pot was undergoing Assimilation into the Dao and agreed to handle the danger after hearing how True Immortal Jin Ge and Qu Jianlei escaped. He recognized their contributions but confronted Jin Ge over taking a realm and six portions of origin, then asked Qu Jianlei whether Jin Ge’s excuse was reasonable.

• True Venerable Bai Qiao explained that Assimilation into the Dao would turn Master of the Pot into nourishment for the Great Dao, and True Immortal Jin Ge revealed that a Dao-Slaying divine ability had helped them escape.
• True Venerable Bai Qiao said he would handle the danger and credited True Immortal Bu Hu, True Immortal Jin Ge, and Qu Jianlei for their roles in uncovering it.
• True Venerable Bai Qiao questioned True Immortal Jin Ge for taking a realm from the Restricted Area on Forgotten Peninsula without authorization, and Jin Ge argued that his merits outweighed the offense.
• True Venerable Bai Qiao said Jin Ge’s merits and faults would cancel out, but demanded that he return the six portions of origin missing from the treasury.
• True Immortal Jin Ge insisted he had only borrowed the origin and could repay it later, so True Venerable Bai Qiao asked Qu Jianlei whether Jin Ge’s words were reasonable.

Qu Jianlei negotiated with True Venerable Bai Qiao over compensation for the Lingyun Sect affair, securing a promise of help obtaining the right to trade for a Tier 5 Spirit Vein and arranging for Yi He to be recovered. The group agreed to seal off news of the incident, and True Immortal Jin Ge took Qu Jianlei away while Bai Qiao asked Bu Hu about her secret technique.

• Qu Jianlei refused to let the Lingyun Sect offset his belongings against his reward and asked for fair compensation for the losses his side had suffered.
• Qu Jianlei requested an independent Tier 5 Spirit Vein, then accepted True Venerable Bai Qiao's promise to help him secure the right to trade for one if the opportunity arose.
• Qu Jianlei asked Bai Qiao to help his friend trapped in the affair, and Bai Qiao told him to return to his original location in one year to look for Yi He.
• True Venerable Bai Qiao ordered Qu Jianlei, Jin Ge, and Bu Hu to suppress news of the incident, and Bu Hu asked Qu Jianlei to shorten the duration of his secret technique by thirty years.
• True Immortal Jin Ge took Qu Jianlei away through space, and Bai Qiao asked Bu Hu what secret technique she meant.

Qu Jianlei and his allies learned that the crisis surrounding the Immortal Remains had eased, while Red Leaf Ridge grew more influential as prices in Cangwu returned to normal. Qu Jianlei asked Bitter Sea to help secure a Tier 5 Spirit Vein and revealed that the Houde Realm, not Cangwu, had always been his team’s destination.

• Bu Hu told True Venerable Bai Qiao about the accelerated-time art, and Bai Qiao asked what reward she wanted.
• True Immortal Jin Ge and Qu Jianlei argued over misused treasury resources before Jing Yuexin and Little Snake urged them to discuss the danger; Qu Jianlei divined that the immediate crisis had settled.
• Qu Jianlei and Jin Ge shared what they could about the Upper Realm, lifting Red Leaf Ridge’s spirits as prices across Cangwu began to fall.
• Stalwart Master Shen Miao visited Qu Jianlei to investigate the Forgotten Peninsula events and asked whether Ancestor Hong Yun had been a victim of the Immortal Remains.
• Qu Jianlei asked Shen Miao to help secure a Tier 5 Spirit Vein and said Bitter Sea cultivators could visit the Upper Realm in return.
• Qu Jianlei told Shen Miao that his team’s goal had never been Cangwu and that the Houde Realm was their destination.

Qu Jianlei negotiated with True Immortal Jin Ge and Stalwart Master Shen Miao to have Red Leaf Ridge, the Art Academy, and Bitter Sea cooperate to obtain a Tier 5 Spirit Vein. Their secret agreement leaked half a year later, drawing attention to the planned venture.

• True Immortal Shen Miao explained that Star Palace had failed to stabilize at Tier 5 and that the Forgotten Peninsula Restricted Area began developing around the time the Spirit Vein declined.
• Qu Jianlei offered to help Bitter Sea find a Tier 5 Spirit Vein, and Shen Miao asked him not to let Bitter Sea down if he fulfilled the promise.
• Qu Jianlei summoned True Immortal Jin Ge and negotiated shares and allocation rights with him and Shen Miao.
• Qu Jianlei, Jin Ge, and Shen Miao agreed that Red Leaf Ridge would hold seventy percent and pay eighty percent of the cost, while the Art Academy and Bitter Sea would each receive fifteen percent, including five percent in Good Fellow Shares.
• The three factions kept their cooperation secret, but information leaked from the Upper Realm half a year later and attracted attention.

Jing Yuexin rebuffed Dao Palace’s attempts to win Red Leaf Ridge’s favor, while Qu Jianlei brought Book Pavilion into the cooperation and settled on a tentative share. As True Venerable Bai Qiao’s one-year deadline neared, Xiao Hu asked when the group could return, but Qu Jianlei told them to wait longer.

• Sanjiang Commander and True Immortal Wen Yu visited Red Leaf Ridge, but Jing Yuexin politely refused their gift and offered no information about the upper realm.
• Qu Jianlei summoned True Immortal Jin Ge and informed him that Book Pavilion would join the cooperation, explaining his ties to Righteous Sect.
• True Immortal Jin Ge revealed that the figure behind Book Pavilion had left hundreds of years earlier, prompting the Third Pavilion Lord to question Book Pavilion’s upper-realm ties.
• Qu Jianlei and True Immortal Jin Ge settled on a tentative ten percent share for Book Pavilion, and Qu Jianlei asked Jin Ge to notify Stalwart Master Shen Miao.
• As True Venerable Bai Qiao’s one-year deadline approached, Big Head Butterfly asked whether the group could return after picking up Yi He, and Qu Jianlei told them to wait longer.

Red Leaf Ridge entered Forgotten Peninsula, found the minor world where Master Peng had vanished, and recovered Yi He in the Nightmare Transformation Demon Essence. As the team withdrew, Master Peng woke and recognized Jing Yuexin.

• Qu Jianlei delayed the expedition until his divinations allowed the team to enter Forgotten Peninsula, where Red Leaf Ridge warned other factions not to follow.
• The team found an illusion array concealing a minor world and discovered that it had been damaged by Assimilation into the Dao.
• Sunset Glow found a hidden Stone Gate, and the team discovered Master Peng and another half-dead Nascent Soul Realm cultivator inside.
• The team found Yi He dormant within the shrunken Nightmare Transformation Demon Essence and recovered it along with the other survivors and remains.
• Master Peng unexpectedly woke while the team was leaving the Restricted Area and recognized Jing Yuexin.

Red Leaf Ridge’s rescue from Forgotten Peninsula sparked an uproar after they returned with missing cultivators and the remains of legendary figures, while they refused to explain and told everyone to ask the Upper Realm. As the factions pressed for answers, Wu Minxi worried about helping his child form a Core and received an unexpected offer from Sanjiang Commander.

• Master Peng could not explain who had drained his essence, energy, and spirit, while the rescued War Hall Vice Hall Master remained unconscious and unable to recount his ordeal.
• Jing Yuexin rejected Star Palace’s demands for an explanation, and the next day she led the Red Leaf Ridge Team back to Dongsheng, telling everyone to ask the Upper Realm.
• The discovery of True Immortal Hong Yun’s corpse and remains suspected to belong to True Immortal Ze Qi drew scrutiny from the Five Great Factions, while Red Leaf Ridge maintained that it had gone to rescue its own people.
• Cultivators flocked to Forgotten Peninsula, and Sanjiang Commander waited three months at Red Leaf Ridge for a meeting with Jing Yuexin.
• Wu Minxi worried that his child could not reach Core Formation and hesitated to ask Red Leaf Ridge for a Golden Core Pill.
• Sanjiang Commander approached Wu Minxi and quietly asked whether he wanted a Nascent Soul Pill.

Sanjiang Commander secured Jing Yuexin’s assessment of True Immortal Ze Qi’s case by paying Wu Minxi a Nascent Soul Pill and a Core-Forming Pill. After public opinion settled but rumors persisted, Yi He awoke and described the force that had abducted him, including a familiar aura from his birth world.

• Sanjiang Commander offered Wu Minxi a Nascent Soul Pill to arrange a meeting with Jing Yuexin, and Jing Yuexin told Wu Minxi to demand an additional Core-Forming Pill.
• Wu Minxi accepted both pills and brought Sanjiang Commander to meet Jing Yuexin, who described True Immortal Ze Qi’s case as an undeserved calamity affecting both Ze Qi and the Dao Palace.
• Sanjiang Commander publicized Jing Yuexin’s assessment, controlling public opinion, while descendants of the dead continued privately seeking answers and rumors about the upper realm spread.
• Red Leaf Ridge remained quiet as its Heavenly Demon research continued, and Yi He awoke after three months with his memories of the abduction blurred.
• Yi He explained that an extraordinary force had pulled the Nightmare Transformation Demon Essence from his Portable Abode and eroded his soul, and he wondered whether his birth world had shrunk or perished.

Qu Jianlei and the others considered whether Master of the Pot’s Assimilation into the Dao had created a world passage, but they could not confirm the theory or safely investigate it. Two years later, Red Leaf Ridge celebrated Bentley’s Nascent Soul formation, where Shen Miao sought more Space Repair Fluid and Asura Bubbles.

• Qu Jianlei verified that Yi He remained himself and listened as True Immortal Jin Ge considered whether Assimilation into the Dao had created a world passage.
• Qu Jianlei warned that the passage might be too dangerous to approach, and he suggested assigning Art Academy disciples to investigate the Folded Space.
• Two years passed without news from the Folded Space, and the barely surviving War Hall Vice Hall Master still had not awakened.
• Bentley emerged from seclusion, and Red Leaf Ridge held a large Nascent Soul formation celebration attended by representatives of the Five Great Factions.
• Shen Miao questioned Jing Yuexin about Red Leaf Ridge’s Space Repair Fluid and the bubbles his family needed, and she directed him to speak with Qu Jianlei.