Chapter Summaries

Luo Chen lured countless Ghost Nightmares into Red Leaf Valley and used his preparations to trap them, then awakened his Divine Thought long enough to kill the Ghost Nightmare King and retrieve his treasures. He left the ruined valley with Xiang Fei and continued toward Wuyou City, carrying newly recovered treasures while planning to cultivate the Martial Dao.

• Luo Chen inhaled seventy years' worth of Moxian Smoke, fell asleep in his thousand-zhang form, and drew a vast multitude of Ghost Nightmares toward Red Leaf Valley.
• Luo Chen's formations sealed the Ghost Nightmares inside his body, and the Ghost Nightmare King broke through his golden fire net and entered his Consciousness Sea.
• Luo Chen's weakened divine soul awoke and destroyed the Ghost Nightmare King with a single word before taking several items from his Purple Mansion; the Soul-Shaking Thunder Sound then knocked Xiang Fei unconscious.
• After the five peaks collapsed and the red leaves vanished, Xiang Fei found Luo Chen walking out of the valley, and he told her that freedom had never seemed so beautiful.
• In a carriage bound for Wuyou City, Luo Chen examined the Primal Chaos Cauldron, Yuan Tu Sword, and Vacuum Gu, and learned that the Flourishing Decay Divine Fire was barely alive.
• Luo Chen took out the Divine Adamantine Battle Qi and Demonic Aspect Technique books and considered his next steps in Martial Dao cultivation.

Luo Chen considered how to advance his Martial Dao and decided to create a Body Tempering Cultivation Method suited to himself, using the Demonic Aspect Technique as a possible foundation for future Dual Cultivation of Dharma and Body. On the road to Wuyou City, he entered the Mist of Annihilation, fought Chaos Beasts, and returned shaken by the mist’s threat to even powerful martial artists.

• Luo Chen judged the Unleaking Realm to be a transitional stage and reflected on the limits of Wang Yuan’s Divine Adamantine Battle Qi.
• Luo Chen studied the Demonic Aspect Technique and decided not to replace his current method yet, instead resolving to create a Body Tempering Cultivation Method tailored to himself.
• Xiang Fei drove toward Wuyou City, wondering whether to challenge the Nine Rings of Annihilation again after Luo Chen had healed her.
• Luo Chen spotted the Mist of Annihilation approaching and left Xiang Fei’s carriage to investigate it.
• Luo Chen entered the mist, discovered that it obscured even his Crimson-Eyed Golden Pupils, and killed Chaos Beasts until the Yuan Tu Sword warned him to stop.
• Luo Chen returned to Xiang Fei and concluded that the Mist of Annihilation could bury even Unleaking Realm martial artists, resolving to learn when the next Great Annihilation Mist would arrive.

Luo Chen explored Wuyou City and discovered that many stranded immortal cultivators had abandoned hope, while others still struggled to cultivate. After meeting Chi Mo, a determined Golden Core cultivator, Luo Chen urged him to convert to martial Dao and returned to Yuelong Lane at daybreak, reflecting on the different ways people endured life in the Great Cataclysm Realm.

• Luo Chen entered Wuyou City with Xiang Fei and learned that stranded immortal cultivators lived in Pingyang Lane and gathered at places such as the Exiled Immortal Tower.
• Xiang Fei explained that Wuyou City’s residents included its natives, invited martial artists, and immortal cultivators, and that the Nine-Layered Tower would not open for another sixteen years.
• Luo Chen settled into Yuelong Lane and began planning a new martial Dao cultivation method based on Divine Adamantine Battle Qi, the Demonic Aspect Technique, and his accumulated knowledge.
• Luo Chen visited Chi Mo in Pingyang Lane and learned that the Golden Core Great Perfection cultivator had drifted into the Great Cataclysm Realm after finding an inheritance in an Extraterrestrial Battlefield.
• Luo Chen urged Chi Mo to disperse his Golden Core and convert to martial Dao, then toured Wuyou City’s businesses that profited from struggling immortal cultivators.
• Luo Chen returned to Yuelong Lane at daybreak, where Xiang Fei greeted him.

Luo Chen spent three years deriving Divine Demon Formless, a cultivation method that let him divide his soul among the Gang Qi in his Acupoints and advance toward the Human Immortal Realm. After completing its first stage, he went out with Xiang Fei, witnessed Chi Mo die while attempting a breakthrough, and asked Fang Zhibai to take him to the Nine-Layered Tower.

• Luo Chen combined Human, Desolate Beast, and Devil cultivation methods to derive Divine Demon Formless, which let him place small portions of his soul into his Acupoints without triggering the Soul-Shaking Thunder Sound.
• Luo Chen told Xiang Fei that he had completed one stage of the method, then went with her to explore Wuyou City.
• Luo Chen sensed an aura rising in Pingyang Lane, and a bolt of lightning struck as Chi Mo died during a breakthrough attempt.
• Fang Zhibai arrived and questioned Luo Chen about Chi Mo, while Wuyou City soldiers began clearing the scene.
• Luo Chen told Fang Zhibai that he had already been in Wuyou City for three years and asked him to lead the way to the Nine-Layered Tower.

Luo Chen learned about the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower, the Gate of Annihilation, and the danger of the coming Mist of Annihilation before spending thirteen years preparing his soul for entry. He emerged exhausted, learned the Wuyou Realm Master had stayed inside the tower, and planned to meet returning cultivators and trade for rare resources.

• Fang Zhibai took Luo Chen through a crude teleportation array to view the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower and explained its connection to the Gate of Annihilation.
• Fang Zhibai told Luo Chen that the Fang Clan feared another Mist of Annihilation could arrive within a hundred to a thousand years, while Xiang Fei described how cultivators survived and advanced through the tower's rings.
• Luo Chen decided to enter the tower when it opened in thirteen years and told Xiang Fei he would remove her Blood-Qi Restriction before then.
• Luo Chen entered seclusion to split at least seven hundred and twenty Split Souls and conceal them in his acupoints.
• Thirteen years later, Luo Chen emerged haggard and learned that the Wuyou Realm Master had not left the tower.
• Xiang Fei suggested Luo Chen meet the cultivators who had come out to rest and trade pills for Empty Bud Crystals or Immortal Yuan Stones, and Luo Chen agreed.

Luo Chen attended Nine Smoke Tower’s high-level Trade Fair, where his reputation and the presence of Martial Dao Human Immortal Gu Xun drew attention. After observing the demand for medicine that repaired damaged meridians, he offered a Fourth-Tier High-Grade Meridian-Supplementing Pill, shocking the attendees.

• Luo Chen presented his golden Wuyou Token and entered the Trade Fair with Xiang Fei, taking a seat in the hall’s highest section.
• Zixia City Lord and the other attendees recognized Luo Chen’s history and speculated that the Wuyou Realm Master favored him.
• Gu Xun arrived, and Luo Chen sensed his aura before introducing himself to the Martial Dao Human Immortal.
• Fang Zhibai opened the Trade Fair by auctioning a Blood Dragon Ginseng, which Zixia City Lord bought for one hundred and twenty thousand Golden Beads.
• Luo Chen offered a Fourth-Tier High-Grade Meridian-Supplementing Pill that could fully repair an Unleaking Realm martial artist’s damaged meridians, and the crowd erupted in commotion.

Luo Chen traded Meridian Supplementing Pills for Empty Bud Crystal and learned that the rare material could aid martial artists in reaching the Seventh Realm. After receiving little Empty Bud Crystal and testing alternatives for his Vacuum Gu, he entered the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower with Xiang Fei, intent on using its energy to fill his Acupoints and form Martial Dao Divine Spirits.

• Luo Chen offered Meridian Supplementing Pills in exchange only for Empty Bud Crystal, trading with a masked martial artist and later with Gu Xun.
• Gu Xun explained that Empty Bud Crystal could improve the odds of breaking through the Nine Rings of Annihilation and reaching the Seventh Realm, and he traded Luo Chen more crystals and cultivation insights.
• Luo Chen tested Profound Heaven Crystal and Empty Prism Aperture with the Vacuum Gu, which ate a little Empty Prism Aperture before rejecting it.
• Luo Chen waited in Wuyou City for more Empty Bud Crystal, then traded low-grade Pill Recipes to Fang Zhibai for a large supply of Empty Prism Apertures.
• Luo Chen entered the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower with Xiang Fei after dividing his Main Soul into seven hundred and twenty Split Souls, hoping to gain enough energy to fill his Acupoints.

Luo Chen entered the Ninth Ring of Annihilation with Xiang Fei and discovered that his Primal Chaos Cauldron could refine Chaos Energy far more effectively than his Qi and Blood Furnace. As he began cultivating on a small Cultivation Stone, the cauldron produced a stream of liquid that the furnace transformed into pure qi and blood with astonishing efficiency.

• Luo Chen prepared to enter the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower with Xiang Fei, while other newcomers watched him with curiosity and resentment.
• Luo Chen and Xiang Fei absorbed and refined the Chaos Energy outside the tower, then passed through its barrier into the desolate Ninth Ring.
• Xiang Fei explained the dangers of the Nine Rings and guided Luo Chen through the darkness to a small Cultivation Stone before departing for Sanxiang City.
• Luo Chen sat down to cultivate in his Divine Demon Formless posture and directed a surge of Chaos Energy into his Primal Chaos Cauldron.
• The cauldron calmed the Chaos Energy and released drops of liquid into Luo Chen's Qi and Blood Furnace, which refined them into pure qi and blood at more than a hundred times his earlier rate.

Luo Chen discovered that the Gray Radiance in the Primal Chaos Cauldron let it refine Chaos Energy completely and absorb Law Fragments, which he named the Light of Order. He used the cauldron to cultivate continuously and rapidly improve his Martial Dao realm, then gave Yu Huai his cultivation spot as the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower closed.

• Luo Chen observed the Gray Radiance merge with the Primal Chaos Cauldron, refine Chaos Energy with a sense of order, and help the cauldron absorb Law Fragments.
• Luo Chen named the Gray Radiance the Light of Order and resolved to uncover its secret, believing it might help him escape the Return to Ruins.
• Luo Chen tested opening all his acupoints to absorb Chaos Energy continuously, suffered internal injuries, and concluded that controlling the number of open acupoints would let him cultivate safely.
• Luo Chen gradually increased the Chaos Energy flowing into his body, and his Martial Dao realm advanced rapidly over the following year.
• When the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower closed, Luo Chen gave his Cultivation Stone to the newly arrived Yu Huai and departed.
• Yu Huai settled on the meteorite and later realized the Chaos Energy there had surged back, suspecting Luo Chen had absorbed it all.

Luo Chen left the Ninth Ring, passed through the Eighth, and reached the Seventh Ring in search of denser Chaos Energy. There, he acquired the Zixia City Lord’s Cultivation Stone with a Meridian Supplementing Pill and confronted Old Monster Qu, who had come to challenge her for it.

• Luo Chen decided the Ninth Ring could no longer support his cultivation and headed toward the Central Platform after Fang Zhibai warned him about the dangers and the scarcity of Cultivation Stones in the Middle Three Rings.
• Luo Chen endured the Chaos Energy torrent through the Central Platform, entered the Eighth Ring, judged its energy insufficient, and continued on to the Seventh Ring.
• The injured Zixia City Lord faced Old Monster Qu’s challenge for her Cultivation Stone after losing a previous challenge in the Sixth Ring.
• Luo Chen offered the Zixia City Lord a Meridian Supplementing Pill in exchange for her Cultivation Stone, and she agreed to give it to him.
• Old Monster Qu objected to Luo Chen taking the Cultivation Stone, so Luo Chen beckoned him to fight.

Luo Chen killed Old Monster Qu to secure his Cultivation Stone and establish a safe place to cultivate in the Seventh Ring. Nine years later, he reached the Middle Stage of the Unleaking Realm and set out to ask the Zixia City Lord about the Middle Three Rings.

• Luo Chen rejected Old Monster Qu's offer and killed him with the Cloud Searching Divine Claw, then warned the crowd not to disturb him.
• Luo Chen offered to trade Meridian Supplementing Pills and other items for Empty Bud Crystals, and the Zixia City Lord explained how the Cultivation Stone's membrane could shield objects from Chaos Energy.
• Luo Chen used the stone membrane to protect his Vacuum Gu and Empty Bud Crystal, inspected Old Monster Qu's belongings, and prepared to cultivate.
• Luo Chen opened ninety Acupoints in the Seventh Ring and found its Chaos Energy far denser than that of the Ninth Ring.
• After nine years of cultivation, Luo Chen reached the Middle Stage of the Unleaking Realm and left to seek the Zixia City Lord's advice about the Middle Three Rings.

Luo Chen learned about the Middle Three Rings and the Vulture Alliance before heading to the Sixth Ring to claim a Cultivation Stone. He defeated Cui Zhuo with his improved Great Luo Five Dragons Hand and took Cui Zhuo’s place, while sparing him.

• Zixia City Lord explained the Middle Three Rings’ cultivation requirements, scarce Cultivation Stones, and the Vulture Alliance led by Dugu Cheng.
• Zixia City Lord revealed that the Wuyou Realm Master required Unleaking Realm martial artists to enter the Nine Rings of Annihilation, and suggested Luo Chen wait for a Cultivation Stone to become available.
• Luo Chen refused to wait, gave Zixia City Lord permission to return to her former Cultivation Stone as payment, and went to the Sixth Ring’s Central Platform.
• Cui Zhuo invited the unfamiliar Luo Chen to talk, but Luo Chen demanded his Cultivation Stone and insisted on challenging him immediately.
• Luo Chen defeated Cui Zhuo with one use of his refined Five Dragons Flourishing Spirit, which he named Great Luo Five Dragons Hand.
• Luo Chen spared Cui Zhuo, revealed his name, and watched him leave.

Dugu Cheng arranged for Xiao Lin to challenge Luo Chen, hoping the fight would justify the alliance’s intervention over Luo Chen taking Cui Zhuo’s Cultivation Stone. After strengthening his martial arts and Blood Cloth Armor, Luo Chen defeated Xiao Lin, leaving the watching cultivators to decide what to do next.

• Dugu Cheng persuaded Cui Zhuo that the alliance should uphold its rules and planned to use Xiao Lin’s grudge against Luo Chen to provoke a fight.
• Luo Chen spent more than half a year stabilizing his Leakless Realm Middle Stage and developed Blood Cloth Armor, a defensive martial art powered by his qi and blood.
• Luo Chen inspected the Vacuum Gu, then noticed Xiao Lin approaching with twenty or thirty cultivators behind him.
• Xiao Lin challenged Luo Chen over his son’s death and the seizure of Remnant Immortal City, and the two exchanged several martial arts techniques.
• Xiao Lin unleashed a move he had created after studying Chaos Energy, but Luo Chen broke through its waves with a sword strike and defeated him.

After defeating Xiao Lin, Luo Chen faced the Vulture Alliance’s attempt to extort him and crushed their attack with his World-Destroying Millstone, until Human Immortal Gu Xun intervened. Twenty years later, after discussing martial arts with Xiao Lin, Luo Chen began considering a new Martial Dao Divine Ability that could unleash his full strength in a single strike.

• Xiao Lin admitted defeat to Luo Chen, ended the dispute over Remnant Immortal City, and vowed to challenge him again in the future.
• Dugu Cheng demanded that Luo Chen compensate Cui Zhuo with miraculous pills and medicines, but Luo Chen refused and challenged the seventeen Vulture Alliance martial artists to attack together.
• Luo Chen used the World-Destroying Millstone to overwhelm the Vulture Alliance, killing nine members before Gu Xun intervened and forced him to stop.
• After Gu Xun departed, the surviving martial artists fled, and Luo Chen returned to cultivation, stockpiling Blood Refinement Divine Aura in his acupoints to nurture a Martial Dao Divine Spirit.
• Over the next twenty years, Xiao Lin repeatedly challenged Luo Chen and discussed martial theories with him, prompting Luo Chen to consider creating a one-strike Martial Dao Divine Ability.

Luo Chen struggled to create a Martial Dao Divine Ability that could release his overwhelming power at once, then discovered a promising method using the Split Souls in his Acupoints. He left the Sixth Ring to challenge martial artists in the Fifth and Fourth Rings, while Xiao Lin continued advancing behind him.

• Luo Chen realized his vast foundations made it difficult to unleash all his power in one strike, and a discussion with Xiao Lin led him to experiment with his Acupoints.
• Luo Chen used Split Souls within the Acupoints in his arm to drive Gang Qi into an ordinary punch, injuring himself but proving the method could increase its power.
• After five more years of contemplation, Luo Chen left the Sixth Ring and wrote that he would challenge experts in the Fifth and Fourth Rings to hone his Martial Dao Law True Intent.
• Xiao Lin reached the Fifth Ring ten years later and learned that Luo Chen had defeated all eighteen Grandmasters there in less than half a year using only Gang Qi punches.
• Luo Chen entered the Fourth Ring, while Xiao Lin resolved to keep pursuing him.

Luo Chen developed Divine Will in his Gang Qi and sought stronger opponents to refine it, while the Human Immortals learned that an Epoch Rotation and the Mist of Annihilation were approaching. The chapter ended with Gu Xun identifying Luo Chen as the promising martial artist Mu Bugui hoped to meet before leaving the Great Cataclysm Realm.

• Luo Chen defeated Extreme Yang Martial Ancestor after three days of fighting, then left to seek a stronger opponent and temper his Gang Qi.
• Luo Chen reflected on how Ice Heavenly Child and Extreme Yang Martial Ancestor had imbued their Gang Qi with Divine Will, and he challenged Martial Ancestor Breaking Army.
• Gu Xun visited Mu Bugui and Fang Qingxue, who told him the Mist of Annihilation tied to an Epoch Rotation was coming.
• Fang Qingxue said she would stay to guard the Fang Clan and attempt the Gate of Annihilation, while Mu Bugui planned to leave with the Wuyou Realm Master.
• Mu Bugui wondered whether he could meet the promising cultivator seeking the Human Immortal Realm, and Gu Xun said Luo Chen was nearby.

Luo Chen challenged Savage Martial Ancestor, Thousand Illusions Martial Ancestor, and Martial Ancestor Turbulent World to awaken his Divine Will, and the battle ended with Turbulent World dead and Luo Chen sealed inside a blood cocoon. As a vast will descended upon the Fourth Ring, Luo Chen’s Blood Refinement Divine Aura began forming its own will.

• Martial Ancestor Turbulent World learned that Luo Chen was a Wuyou Golden Token holder favored by the Wuyou Realm Master and agreed to confront him through Savage Martial Ancestor and Thousand Illusions Martial Ancestor.
• Luo Chen found Savage Martial Ancestor and Thousand Illusions Martial Ancestor absent from their domains, then challenged Martial Ancestor Turbulent World, who waited with them.
• Luo Chen fought Savage Martial Ancestor and Thousand Illusions Martial Ancestor together, refining his combat control as their hard and soft techniques tested him.
• Martial Ancestor Turbulent World struck Luo Chen with his Chaos Gang Qi, awakening his Martial Dao Divine Will before Luo Chen’s near-Divine-Ability counterblow fatally wounded him.
• Turbulent World Martial Ancestor thanked Luo Chen and died as his body was swallowed by Chaos Energy, while his Chaos Gang Qi triggered Luo Chen’s Blood Refinement Divine Aura to form a blood cocoon.
• Savage Martial Ancestor and Thousand Illusions Martial Ancestor debated whether to kill Luo Chen, and a vast will descended to silently observe the cocoon.

Luo Chen comprehended the Form of No-Self, formed his Martial Dao Divine Will, and advanced to the Human Immortal Realm after sixty years in the Fourth Ring. He entered the Third Ring, met Gu Xun, Fang Qingxue, and Mu Bugui, and asked whether they had gathered to wait for him.

• Luo Chen realized his Martial Dao Divine Will had no fixed form and united it with his Blood Refinement Divine Aura inside the blood cocoon.
• Luo Chen’s Divine Will spread through the Fourth Ring and reached the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower’s boundary, where he sensed the Wuyou Realm Master watching him.
• Luo Chen absorbed Chaos Energy for ten years as a Martial Dao Divine Spirit took shape within his Celestial Court Acupoint.
• Luo Chen emerged from the Chaos Energy storms as a Martial Dao Human Immortal, thanked the eight Fourth Ring grandmasters, and gave each three superior-grade Meridian Supplementing Pills.
• Luo Chen traveled to the Third Ring and met Gu Xun, Fang Qingxue, and Mu Bugui, who asked about his age and his former Spirit Transformation realm.
• Luo Chen asked the three Human Immortals whether they had gathered specifically to wait for him.

Luo Chen met the Wuyou Realm Master, who revealed that the Return to Ruins was the universe’s failing digestive end and that the Mist of Annihilation would arrive in three hundred years. The Wuyou Realm Master invited Luo Chen, Gu Xun, and Fang Qingxue to seek a way out at the Ancient God Dojo, but all three declined for different reasons; after they shared wine, he asked Luo Chen about his skill in artifact forging and formations.

• Fang Qingxue pointed out that nearly a hundred years had passed for Luo Chen in the Nine Rings of Annihilation, and Mu Bugui said he and the others planned to leave and might never return.
• The Wuyou Realm Master arrived, greeted Luo Chen, and explained that the Epoch Rotation and Mist of Annihilation would come in three hundred years.
• The Wuyou Realm Master described the Return to Ruins as the universe’s endpoint, explained why its Gate of Annihilation could not be crossed, and said the destruction of great stars could create a dangerous chance to escape.
• The Wuyou Realm Master invited Mu Bugui, Fang Qingxue, Gu Xun, and Luo Chen to seek an escape at the Ancient God Dojo; Fang Qingxue and Gu Xun declined, and Luo Chen chose to remain behind.
• Luo Chen shared Golden Wind Jade Dew with the group, and the Wuyou Realm Master asked whether Luo Chen was skilled in artifact forging and formations.

Xiang Fei waited in Wuyou City for news of Luo Chen, but the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower closed before she could see him. Three years later, Luo Chen restored the tower and took charge of it, then returned to the Third Ring to create a Martial Dao Divine Ability called Seven Hundred God Kill.

• Xiang Fei learned that all the martial artists had left the Nine-Layered Immortal Tower and that Luo Chen had reportedly made a breakthrough, but no one had seen him.
• The Nine-Layered Immortal Tower closed ahead of schedule, and Xiang Fei returned to Sanxiang City believing she might never meet Luo Chen again.
• Luo Chen used the Golden Erosion Formation Diagram to restore the tower's operation, and the Wuyou Realm Master entrusted him with managing it.
• Luo Chen reopened and then closed the tower for another century of cultivation, before settling on the Third Ring to study books Fang Qingxue had gathered for him.
• Luo Chen combined a punch with the Martial Dao Divine Spirit in his Celestial Court Acupoint and named the resulting ability Seven Hundred God Kill.