Chapter Summaries

Zhang Tie prepared the Hundred Peaks Sect’s defenses and spent years seeking a breakthrough, eventually fusing his split spirit with his Nascent Soul to reach the Spirit Transformation stage. His Nascent Divinity absorbed heaven and earth primordial qi, and his divine sense expanded to sixty thousand miles.

• Zhang Tie failed to imprint, refine, or claim the Indestructible Pearl, and concluded that it required a special method.
• Zhang Tie stabilized the Yi Yue Sect boundary entrance, restricted control of its formation to Hundred Peaks Sect tokens, reinforced the sect’s protective formation, and built a fallback teleportation array.
• Zhang Tie reflected on his unfulfilled wish to create an avatar and gave up pursuing it after years of finding no suitable spiritual entity.
• After twelve years of cultivation, Zhang Tie fused a split spirit with his Gluttonous Nascent Soul, overcoming a repulsive reaction when his time intent and Intent of Annihilation emerged.
• Zhang Tie’s fusion completed, drawing in spirit stones and spiritual qi before transforming into a Nascent Divinity that absorbed heaven and earth primordial qi.
• Zhang Tie sensed the will of heaven and earth, grew his Nascent Divinity, and expanded his divine sense to sixty thousand miles.

Zhang Tie began breaking through to the Void Breaking Realm under the heavenly tribulation, combining it with a Deity Transformation tribulation to strengthen the lightning. The purple lightning shattered his spiritual sense and consciousness, leaving his breakthrough at a perilous stage.

• Zhang Tie studied his new Nascent Divinity, then spent two years consolidating his cultivation before seeking a safe place to break through.
• Zhang Tie reached a site outside the East Sea thunderstorm region and noticed that the region had weakened slightly.
• Zhang Tie began fusing his spiritual aperture with his consciousness, drawing heavenly tribulation clouds above him.
• Zhang Tie triggered the Deity Transformation tribulation to overlap with the Void Breaking tribulation, and the stronger lightning began driving the fusion forward.
• Zhang Tie endured successive white and red lightning strikes as the fusion progressed, then purple lightning struck his spiritual sense and consciousness.
• Zhang Tie's spiritual sense and consciousness shattered and were pulverized by the purple lightning.

Zhang Tie survived the fourth wave of heavenly tribulation and completed his breakthrough, gaining a stronger void aperture and advancing his Nascent Soul to mid Spirit Transformation. As he sorted out his consciousness and avatars, he suddenly sensed an immensely powerful presence watching him.

• Zhang Tie awakened within his newly formed void aperture as his divine consciousness and consciousness light sphere fused into a golden ring and sea.
• Zhang Tie used the Lightning Devouring Art and his azure lightning bloodline to withstand three bolts of destructive tribulation lightning, then prepared for another wave.
• The tribulation clouds dispersed, and five-colored auspicious clouds sent spiritual energy and three drops of golden liquid into Zhang Tie, healing him and enlarging his golden ring.
• Zhang Tie's Nascent Soul broke through to mid Spirit Transformation and became his Taotie avatar as it absorbed the spiritual energy funnel.
• Zhang Tie returned the last soul fragment to his former sea of consciousness and realized that he consisted of himself, his Taotie avatar, and the remaining fragment.
• Zhang Tie suddenly felt an immense presence watching him and sensed how insignificant he was before it.

After reaching the Void Breaking and Deity Transformation realms, Zhang Tie escaped a mysterious force that seemed to watch him and returned to his cave abode. He prepared to refine the Hidden Spirit Armor and entered seclusion, leaving the Hundred Skills Gate’s affairs to Mo Feng.

• Zhang Tie withdrew his clone from absorbing worldly essence and used Move to escape the thunderstorm as a repulsive force and oppressive sense of being watched surrounded him.
• Back in his cave abode, Zhang Tie reasoned that his dual cultivation had triggered heaven’s repulsion but could not identify who or what had watched him, and he wondered why he had faced no heart demon tribulation.
• Zhang Tie recalled the Hidden Spirit Armor’s properties and summoned Mo Feng, who delivered the collected materials, including two pieces of Lightning-Piercing Wood but no Sacred Earth Stone.
• Mo Feng reported that Chen Qian served as the Law Enforcement Elder and proposed that she temporarily take over as sect master while he attempted a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Zhang Tie gave Mo Feng six jade boxes of high-grade spirit stones for him and Su Li, then announced that he would enter lengthy seclusion to cultivate a divine ability.
• After Mo Feng left, Zhang Tie summoned his Nascent Soul and began refining the Hidden Spirit Armor with infant flame.

After preparing safeguards for the Hundred Peaks Sect, Zhang Tie formed a master-servant contract with Little Turtle and took it with him as he ascended to the Spirit Realm. He arrived in a great hall, where Qing Yun greeted him.

• Zhang Tie left Mo Feng a jade box and storage ring containing instructions, a powerful talisman, and a means of escape for the Hundred Peaks Sect.
• Zhang Tie asked Old Turtle and Little Turtle to become his spirit beast; Old Turtle refused, while Little Turtle agreed and entered a master-servant contract with him.
• Zhang Tie told Little Turtle he had reached Spirit Transformation and planned to ascend to the Spirit Realm, then sent it into the Mountain River Cave Heaven Diagram to organize his belongings.
• Zhang Tie concealed his body-refining cultivation, released his Spirit Transformation aura in the East Sea, and ascended through a golden passage into the Spirit Realm.
• Qing Yun greeted Zhang Tie in a great hall and congratulated him on ascending.

After ascending, Zhang Tie discovered that the Spirit Realm was controlled by devils and was forced to surrender his soul blood to the Venerable. Qing Yun then led him beyond the formation, where Zhang Tie asked whether the devil race had occupied the Spirit Realm.

• Zhang Tie sensed demonic energy and a powerful formation around the place where he had ascended.
• Qing Yun brought Zhang Tie before the Venerable, who threatened to turn him into a corpse puppet unless he surrendered his soul blood.
• Zhang Tie handed over his soul blood, and the Venerable ordered him to report to the Shadow Department.
• Qing Yun took Zhang Tie beyond the formation on a flying chessboard and invited him to ask questions.
• Zhang Tie asked Qing Yun whether the Venerable and the guards were devils and whether they had occupied the Spirit Realm.

Qing Yun explained that Zhang Tie had entered a fragment of the Spirit Realm now controlled by demons, where humans were kept as livestock. At the Dark Night Pavilion, Zhang Tie received an identity token and was directed to the Hall of Final Affairs to choose a cave abode.

• Qing Yun told Zhang Tie how a battle between a human Mahayana senior and demon Sacred Ancestors had shattered the region, leaving it under demon control.
• Qing Yun explained that the human race was weak in the Spirit Realm and that cultivators in the fragment were controlled, exploited, or turned into corpse puppets by demons.
• Qing Yun brought Zhang Tie to the Dark Night Pavilion, where a long-eared Demon General presented him as a newly ascended cultivator favored by a Demon Venerable.
• Vice Pavilion Master Ma Ze assigned Zhang Tie a Grade A Sixty-Six token and the Tu Shu Squad, and the Demon General gave him the token and a jade slip.
• Zhang Tie bound the token with his blood essence and flew to the Hall of Final Affairs, where he saw people examining a misty display of the surrounding landscape.

Zhang Tie chose Cave Dwelling C171, but claiming Token A66 drew the attention of hostile demons who challenged him to duels. He accepted both challenges and learned from Ke Zhuoneng that the arena duels were life-and-death fights with the loser’s body and possessions going to the victor.

• Zhang Tie selected Cave Dwelling C171 and handed his identity token to the snake-tongued woman, who revealed that he held Token A66.
• After the cave dwelling was marked, a green-faced burly man and a Ram-horned Giant confronted Zhang Tie and challenged him.
• The snake-tongued woman warned Zhang Tie that he could not refuse his first same-rank challenge of the year.
• Zhang Tie accepted both demons’ challenges and agreed to fight them at the arena immediately.
• Ke Zhuoneng secretly told Zhang Tie that arena duels had no rules, ended in death, and awarded the loser’s body and storage pouch to the victor.

Zhang Tie entered the arena and signed a death-match contract with the Ram-horned Giant, then faced him in battle. After evading the giant’s attacks, Zhang Tie summoned a Taotie phantom to strike back, leaving the duel underway.

• Zhang Tie ignored the woman’s taunts and traveled to the arena on a floating island.
• The Ram-horned Giant challenged Zhang Tie, and Lady Weijin registered their duel by binding their badges with a beast-hide contract.
• Zhang Tie and the Ram-horned Giant entered Arena Yi-Thirteen, where Ran Zhang announced that the duel would end only when one fighter died.
• The Ram-horned Giant enlarged himself and repeatedly attacked Zhang Tie with a Langya Cudgel, but Zhang Tie evaded his blows.
• The Ram-horned Giant released a suction-filled black hurricane and demanded that Zhang Tie fight him head-on.
• Zhang Tie accepted and summoned a massive Taotie phantom, which lunged at the Ram-horned Giant.

Zhang Tie defeated the Ram-horned Giant by having his Taotie phantom swallow him, then settled into his chosen cave residence and considered how to escape the Spirit Realm fragment. After absorbing the demon’s blood qi and receiving its memories from his Gluttonous Nascent Soul, Zhang Tie learned more about the place he was trapped in.

• Zhang Tie’s Taotie phantom swallowed the Ram-horned Giant, and Elder Ran Zhang declared Zhang Tie the victor.
• Zhang Tie left the arena, passed the frightened green-faced burly man, and flew to his cave residence in a valley.
• Zhang Tie inspected and cleaned the cave residence, then established defensive and Isolation Formations.
• Zhang Tie considered how to escape the Spirit Realm fragment and judged that confronting the stationed Demon Venerable was too dangerous.
• Zhang Tie’s Gluttonous Nascent Soul reported that it had digested the Ram-horned Giant, and Zhang Tie absorbed the demon’s blood qi.
• Zhang Tie received the Ram-horned Giant’s memories from his Nascent Soul and learned more about the place.

Fellow Daoist Zhang learned about the Lesser Demon Realm’s demon rule and the human resistance organization, the Demon Slaying Sect. After Ke Zhuoneng invited him to meet local human cultivators, Zhang agreed, hoping to gain allies and better understand his new surroundings.

• Fellow Daoist Zhang recalled that the Demon Gate Sect controlled the Lesser Demon Realm and oppressed human cultivators, while the Demon Slaying Sect secretly resisted the demons.
• Fellow Daoist Zhang decided to seek contact with the Demon Slaying Sect once he became familiar with the realm.
• Three days later, Ke Zhuoneng sent a sound transmission talisman inviting Fellow Daoist Zhang to meet human cultivators, including Elder Zhao Lianzhen.
• Fellow Daoist Zhang accepted the invitation to gain information, connections, and protection, then flew with Ke Zhuoneng to his dwelling.

Zhang Tie met Elder Zhao and the others, who warned him that Yan Mu’s powerful grandfather might retaliate by sending him on dangerous missions. They arranged a one-year assignment in the Law Enforcement Hall, which would keep him inside the Demon Gate Sect and exempt him from other missions for ten years afterward.

• Ke Zhuoneng brought Zhang Tie to meet Elder Zhao and four other cultivators in his immortal cave.
• Zhang Tie concealed his origins when Elder Zhao asked which lower realm he had ascended from.
• Elder Zhao explained that Yan Mu was a direct descendant of a powerful elder who might retaliate against Zhang Tie.
• Ke Zhuoneng warned that Zhang Tie could be assigned dangerous missions and advised him to accept a task first.
• Elder Zhao registered Zhang Tie for a one-year rotation in the Law Enforcement Hall, after which he would not need to take other sect tasks for ten years.

Zhang Tie learned that the Class A Sixty-Six token had belonged to the famed Demon General Ai Yan Keke, whose death left Yan Mu with a deep hatred of human cultivators. After celebrating with his new allies, Zhang reported for Law Enforcement Hall duty and was sent to arrest an alchemist; the clerk’s hidden hostility suggested Zhang’s assignment might be a trap.

• Zhang Tie asked why the demon race hated him over the Class A Sixty-Six token, and the woman in fitted clothes explained that it had belonged to Ai Yan Keke, who was killed in an ambush after fighting a Demon Slaying Sect cultivator.
• Ke Zhuoneng recalled that Ai Yan Keke’s head had been taken by the Demon Slaying Sect and that Yan Mu had led the reinforcements, fueling Yan Mu’s hatred of human cultivators.
• Ke Zhuoneng hosted a nightlong celebration for Zhang Tie’s induction into the group and his killing of Yan Mu.
• Zhang Tie went to the Law Enforcement Hall to begin his rotation, and a young clerk assigned him to arrest an alchemist accused of stealing spiritual herbs from the Pill Pavilion.
• After Zhang Tie left for the Pill Pavilion, the clerk’s smile vanished and he muttered that killing a Demon General on demon territory could not have been so easy.

Zhang Tie went to the Pill Refining Pavilion to retrieve the person who stole spirit herbs, but its elders refused to cooperate and warned him to leave. He created an isolated space to speak privately with the pavilion’s leader and presented him with a jade box whose contents released a powerful medicinal fragrance.

• Zhang Tie told the Pill Refining Pavilion elders that he had come from the Law Enforcement Hall to take away the spirit-herb thief, and they challenged his authority to interfere in their affairs.
• The child-faced, crane-haired elder told Zhang Tie to find the person himself or admit he lacked the ability, while Zhang Tie recognized the risks of searching the pavilion.
• Zhang Tie appealed to the elders and promised to return the person, but the child-faced, crane-haired elder still ordered him to leave.
• After the elder agreed to speak privately, Zhang Tie created an isolated space that the other alchemists could neither see into nor probe with divine sense.
• Zhang Tie handed the child-faced, crane-haired elder a jade box, and a rich medicinal fragrance poured out when the elder opened it.

Zhang Tie persuaded Elder Ouyang and the Alchemy Pavilion to hand Qin Liang over by offering a rare Longevity Immortal Grass and swearing to return him safely. After Zhang Tie verified his completed task with the Law Enforcement Hall, he secretly used a talisman to transfer Qin Liang from the dungeon.

• Zhang Tie gave Elder Ouyang a Longevity Immortal Grass, and Elder Ouyang agreed to secure Qin Liang’s release from the Alchemy Pavilion.
• Elder Qin brought Qin Liang to the hall, where Zhang Tie swore to return him safely and led him to the Law Enforcement Hall.
• Zhang Tie submitted the dungeon’s completion document, while a skeptical Law Enforcement Hall youth went to verify it.
• The youth confirmed Qin Liang had come willingly, then left the dungeon in frustration.
• Zhang Tie appeared beside Qin Liang and pressed a burning talisman to his chest, shouting, “Transfer!”

Zhang Tie exposed Qian as the person who had entered a cell where a prisoner had vanished, leaving Qian detained while Zhang arranged a post overseeing a remote Spirit Gold Jade Ore mine. Zhang reached the hidden mining site and discovered a vast, energy-poor complex of excavated mountains.

• Zhang Tie returned Qin Liang to the Pill Refining Pavilion, startling Qin Liang and the pill refining masters.
• Zhang Tie asked Steward Zheng to inspect the dungeon after claiming a prisoner had been released, and the inspection implicated Qian, who was taken into custody.
• Zhang Tie went to the Law Enforcement Hall and asked Dong Liushui to register him for a post with few duties near his cave abode.
• Dong Liushui assigned Zhang Tie to oversee a Spirit Gold Jade Ore mine for a minimum term of sixty years, and Zhang accepted.
• Zhang Tie used his identity token to reveal the mine's concealed formation and entered the vast, depleted mining site.

Zhang Tie visited a city near the Spirit Gold Jade Ore mine and spotted a chance to profit from a piece of Geng Essence. After a wealthy young woman outbid him and left, Zhang Tie and the shopkeeper split the money she had paid, though the shopkeeper warned him that her elderly companion could be dangerous.

• Zhang Tie entered the Curiosity Shop and recognized a small piece of Geng Essence, which the shopkeeper offered for one hundred thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
• A woman in white arrived with an elderly man in black and insisted on buying the Geng Essence, raising her bid as Zhang Tie pretended to compete.
• The woman paid one million Mid-grade Spirit Stones, took the Geng Essence, and insulted Zhang Tie as a frog at the bottom of a well.
• Zhang Tie and the shopkeeper laughed and split the nine hundred thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones left after the original price was deducted.
• The shopkeeper warned Zhang Tie that the elderly man in black was dangerous.

Zhang Tie lured the black-clad old man away from the city, defeated him, and learned through a soul-search that he and the woman in white were tied to the Demon Slaying Sect’s hunt for a Xiantian Spirit Treasure. He returned to the City Lord’s Mansion to take up his post, planning to keep watch on the woman in white.

• Zhang Tie sensed the black-clad old man following him and flew outside the city to draw him into an isolated place.
• The black-clad old man attacked Zhang Tie with a giant black wolf phantom, but Zhang Tie froze him and seized his Nascent Soul.
• Zhang Tie used the Hundred Thousand Souls Banner to absorb the old man’s failing Nascent Soul after searching his memories.
• Zhang Tie learned that the old man and the woman in white served the Demon Slaying Sect and were seeking a Xiantian Spirit Treasure near the Spirit Gold Jade Ore.
• Zhang Tie returned to the city and entered the City Lord’s Mansion, where a voice welcomed him to take up his post as branch hall master.

Zhang Tie took over as branch hall master of the Spirit Gold Jade Ore mine and learned from Liu Deyuan about the powerful treasures recorded on the Myriad Spirits List. He settled into the City Lord's Manor and began investigating celestial records and monitoring the woman in white for clues about the Xiantian Spirit Treasure.

• Liu Deyuan welcomed Zhang Tie and introduced the four Nascent Soul cultivators Xia Xuan, Xia Dao, Xia Tong, and Xia Tian, who were siblings with a formidable combined attack technique.
• Liu Deyuan erased his mark from the branch hall master token and handed it to Zhang Tie before they shared a farewell feast.
• Zhang Tie asked Liu Deyuan about the Myriad Spirits List and learned it ranked the Spirit Realm's most powerful Profound Heaven Treasures and Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasures.
• Zhang Tie moved into the City Lord's Manor, then officially assumed his post the next day and told the staff to consult the Xia siblings before bringing problems to him.
• Zhang Tie reviewed records about celestial phenomena and had his Nascent Soul watch the woman in white for developments concerning the Xiantian Spirit Treasure.

After seven years of studying the Heavenly Dao, Zhang Tie demonstrated his ability to summon wind and rain before the Xia siblings and other cultivators. He then announced that he would inspect the Spirit Gold Jade Ore mine and vanished.

• Zhang Tie emerged from seclusion after receiving information that the woman in white had found clues about the Xiantian Spirit Treasure.
• Zhang Tie summoned fierce winds that gathered spiritual energy over the city, drawing cultivators, including the four Xia siblings.
• Zhang Tie called down torrential rain, then ended the storm with a word.
• The four Xia siblings congratulated Zhang Tie on his divine abilities, and he downplayed his achievement.
• Zhang Tie told the four Xia siblings he would inspect the Spirit Gold Jade Ore mine and asked them to contact him about urgent matters.
• Zhang Tie vanished in a flash of spiritual light.