Chapter Summaries

Zhang Tie kept his power restrained during the formation master assessment’s strength test, then chose the Formation gate for the second assessment. He entered the Nine Profound Array Heaven Pagoda and quickly cleared its first three floors, reaching the fourth.

• Zhang Tie struck the stone tablet with a restrained attack, which made it glow faintly purple, and the examiner rated him Early Spirit Transformation.
• After the examinees finished their tests, Zhang Tie entered the grand hall and chose the Formation gate.
• Zhang Tie met a linen-clad old man in a pavilion, who recognized his cultivation and skill in formations and explained the pagoda assessment.
• Zhang Tie found and destroyed the first floor’s formation core, then quickly broke through the second and third floors and entered the fourth.

Zhang Tie broke the fourth-floor trial’s nested formations and discovered that a hidden illusion array concealed subsidiary killing arrays whose power increased with each layer. He entered the fifth floor hoping its trial would help him become a Grade 5 formation master.

• Zhang Tie endured the fire attacks, found the formation eye, and broke the fire-attribute killing array.
• Zhang Tie tested the black light door and discovered it was an illusion before dodging stronger ice attacks.
• Zhang Tie found and destroyed the main formation eye, then broke the ice-attribute killing array.
• Zhang Tie realized the fourth-floor trial used a Grade 4 illusion array to hide nested subsidiary arrays that grew more powerful as he broke them.
• Zhang Tie stepped into the fifth floor to test whether its trial could help him advance to a Grade 5 formation master.

Zhang Tie entered a tier-five lightning formation and used the Lightning Devouring Art to absorb its attacks, healing his injured hidden apertures. As the lightning wyrms increased their assault, he struggled to endure and decided he needed to use an extraordinary method to seize the chance to recover.

• Zhang Tie evaded the formation’s opening lightning strike and saw that nine lightning wyrms guarded the barrier.
• Zhang Tie absorbed a lightning sphere with the Lightning Devouring Art, turning its power into vitality that repaired his hidden apertures.
• Zhang Tie endured increasingly fierce attacks as five lightning wyrms joined the siege and wounded him faster than his body could regenerate.
• Zhang Tie’s Nascent Soul clone spent three hours searching for the formation core but found no flaw.
• Zhang Tie realized he might not survive if the formation added a sixth wyrm and resolved to use an extraordinary means to deal with the crisis.

Zhang Tie endured the Nine Profound Array Heaven Pagoda’s lightning trial, repairing his void aperture and most of the Profound Heaven Spirit Extermination Shovel while failing to find the formation’s true core. After two hours of withstanding the nine thunder wyrms, he reached his limit and launched one final attack before giving up the assessment.

• Zhang Tie used the Taotie phantom, the azure lightning phantom, and the Lightning Devouring Art to withstand the thunder wyrms and absorb their lightning.
• The hemp-robed elder checked the pagoda with an array disk, saw Zhang Tie battling the wyrms, and praised his daring cultivation method.
• Zhang Tie repaired his void aperture and restored the Profound Heaven Spirit Extermination Shovel to nearly ninety percent, but his attempts to destroy the formation’s false cores failed.
• After two more hours, Zhang Tie decided to make one final attempt at the formation core, vanished his defensive phantoms, flashed behind the nine thunder wyrms, and brought down a huge golden palm.

Zhang Tie withdrew from the fifth-rank formation assessment after confronting a dangerous lightning attack, and Elder Ju Rongxuan rescued him and praised his progress. Elder Ju then brought Zhang Tie to a luxurious cave residence, where he encountered a mysterious young woman.

• Zhang Tie shattered the nine thunder dragons, but a black crystal sphere fired a powerful lightning bolt at him.
• Zhang Tie gave up the challenge, and the lightning passed through him harmlessly before he returned to the pavilion.
• Elder Ju Rongxuan introduced himself, advised Zhang Tie to reflect on the assessment, and offered to show him around the Formation Hall.
• Elder Ju Rongxuan transported Zhang Tie to a mountain cave residence and led him inside.
• Zhang Tie saw a young woman seated at a stone table in the lavishly furnished cave residence.

Xuanyuan Muxue accepted Zhang Tie as her disciple after Elder Ju recommended him for his talent in formations. She gave Zhang Tie her formation insights and assigned her senior disciple Yong E to show him around and arrange his accommodations.

• Elder Ju introduced Zhang Tie to Xuanyuan Muxue and praised his formation talent, explaining that he wanted Zhang Tie to join her sect.
• Xuanyuan Muxue agreed to accept Zhang Tie, who bowed and pledged himself as her disciple.
• Xuanyuan Muxue warned Zhang Tie that fellow disciples must never harm or kill one another and gave him a jade slip containing her formation insights.
• Elder Ju departed, and Yong E arrived to pay respects to Xuanyuan Muxue.
• Xuanyuan Muxue introduced Zhang Tie to Yong E and instructed her to help him familiarize himself with the sect and make arrangements for him.

Zhang Tie accompanied Yong E to the Affairs Pavilion, where he received his rewards for passing the fourth-rank formation master examination and began reviewing the available cave dwellings. The chapter ended with Zhang Tie examining the cave-dwelling map.

• Yong E took Zhang Tie on a pentagonal formation disc toward the Affairs Pavilion and explained that fifth-rank formation masters could claim one as a reward.
• Yong E found the Affairs Pavilion empty, summoned its skinny old attendant, and asked him for Zhang Tie’s examination rewards and a cave-dwelling map.
• The old man verified Zhang Tie’s fourth-rank formation master status and gave him a storage ring containing his rewards, along with a jade slip showing the cave dwellings.
• Zhang Tie imprinted the storage ring, inspected its contents, and sent his divine sense into the jade slip to examine the available cave dwellings.

Zhang Tie chose Cave Dwelling B-277, and Senior Sister Yong E showed him around and advised him on life in the spirit realm. She gave him a sound-transmission talisman, warned him about the Dust Settling Pills and future lightning tribulations, and urged him to accept a precious set of spirit treasures as a gift.

• Zhang Tie chose Cave Dwelling B-277 and received its token from the old man at the Affairs Pavilion.
• Yong E took Zhang Tie to his cave dwelling and criticized how remote and shabby it seemed, while Zhang Tie explained that he valued its quiet scenery.
• Yong E gave Zhang Tie her sound-transmission jade talisman and told him to attend Formation Hall lectures and accept a Mission Hall task every sixty years.
• Yong E warned Zhang Tie to take Dust Settling Pills for at least three hundred years to remove his lower-realm aura and avoid deadly two-colored lightning tribulations.
• Yong E presented Zhang Tie with a complete set of spirit treasures and explained that she feared Master would grieve if another disciple died.
• Zhang Tie tried to refuse the gift, but Yong E pushed the jade box toward him again and insisted he accept it.

Yong E gave Zhang Tie a protective treasure and urged him to focus on his formation studies. After securing his cave and registering his identity token, Zhang Tie studied the Compendium of Formation Basics for twenty days before Yong E reminded him to attend the next day’s lecture at the Law Transmission Pavilion.

• Yong E gave Zhang Tie a jade box and advised him that mastering formations was essential to securing his place in the Formation Hall.
• After Yong E left, Zhang Tie set up an Isolation Array and a warning array around his cave residence.
• Zhang Tie registered his identity token with his essence blood and inspected the five Ascending Origin Pills he had received.
• Zhang Tie immersed himself in the Compendium of Formation Basics and studied for twenty days without noticing the outside world.
• Yong E sent Zhang Tie a reminder about the high-rank formation masters’ lecture at the Law Transmission Pavilion, and Zhang Tie replied that he would attend the next day.

After studying the Compendium of Formation Basics for twenty days, Zhang Tie prepared to attend an important lecture before attempting the Fifth-tier Formation Master assessment. He listened to a lecture on random teleportation formations and left after Senior Sister Yong E answered his questions.

• Zhang Tie deepened his formation knowledge and decided to wait until after the lecture before taking the Fifth-tier Formation Master assessment.
• Senior Sister Yong E had reserved Zhang Tie a seat at the crowded Law Transmission Pavilion plaza and offered to answer his questions after the lecture.
• A golden-robed lecturer began a talk on the fundamentals of random teleportation formations, while Senior Sister Yong E told Zhang Tie that the lecturer was nearing the Seventh-tier Formation Master threshold.
• Zhang Tie listened intently to the two-hour lecture and remained absorbed in its contents until the bell sounded again.
• Zhang Tie asked Senior Sister Yong E about problems from the lecture, received her explanations, and then parted ways with her.

Zhang Tie refined the Azure Crocodile Dragon Beast Armor and mastered its ability to appear, disappear, and form a Dragon Scale Shield. He then went to take the fifth-rank formation master assessment, but learned he lacked the fee and received a loan offer from Elder Ju.

• Zhang Tie completed his formation studies and prepared to challenge the fifth-rank formation master assessment.
• Zhang Tie refined the Azure Crocodile Dragon Beast Armor, a Houtian Spirit Treasure made from a fifth-rank Azure Crocodile Dragon, and learned to summon its armor and Dragon Scale Shield.
• Zhang Tie went to the Assessment Hall and told Elder Ju he believed he could pass the fifth-rank assessment.
• Elder Ju told Zhang Tie the assessment would cost fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones, and Zhang Tie admitted he had only ten thousand.
• Elder Ju offered to cover the fee if Zhang Tie passed, or lend him the remaining amount interest-free for a year if he failed.

Zhang Tie faced the Nine Profound Array Heaven Pagoda’s icy formation and used the Great Five Elements Array Breaking Flag and his Dragon Claw to smash through it. The snow world vanished, leaving him inside an ancient pavilion before a black-glowing gate.

• Elder Ju sent Zhang Tie into a world of ice and snow inside the Nine Profound Array Heaven Pagoda.
• Zhang Tie broke free of the ice and blocked the formation’s chains with an azure barrier.
• Zhang Tie searched the array with his divine sense and evaded its ice spears and attacking ice dragon.
• Zhang Tie deployed the Great Five Elements Array Breaking Flag and struck its five-pointed star with his Dragon Claw.
• Zhang Tie shattered the array, causing the icy world to disappear and revealing an ancient pavilion with a black-glowing gate.

Zhang Tie passed the fifth-tier array assessment, then spent several hundred years cultivating, advancing his body refinement and array mastery before Xuanyuan Muxue summoned him. He left off preparing to answer his master's message.

• Zhang Tie declined the sixth-floor assessment, and Elder Ju praised his skill, registered him as a fifth-tier array master, and told him to collect his reward.
• Zhang Tie reported his success to Xuanyuan Muxue, who gave him a jade slip of fifth-tier array diagrams.
• Zhang Tie collected his reward and informed Senior Sister Yong E before settling into years of array study, cultivation, and repairs to the Profound Heaven Spirit Extermination Shovel.
• Over several hundred years, Zhang Tie reached the late Void Breaking Realm in body refinement and passed the sixth-tier array assessment, while his Nascent Soul clone reached the peak of the mid Spirit Transformation stage.
• The Night Clan's upper ranks rewarded Zhang Tie with three bottles of early sixth-tier sea beast blood essence, and Little Turtle advanced to late fourth-tier strength.
• Xuanyuan Muxue sent Zhang Tie a message summoning him, and he took it from his storage ring.

After passing the sixth-tier Formation Master assessment, Zhang Tie learned that he and Yong E had been chosen to explore an ancient Giant Demon ruin with other Spirit Transformation cultivators. Back in his cave abode, he examined the supplies Xuanyuan Muxue had given him and discovered a simplified fifth-tier Four Symbols Locking Immortal Formation.

• Zhang Tie arrived at Xuanyuan Muxue's cave abode, where she ordered him and Yong E to accompany clan prodigies to an ancient ruin in one month.
• Xuanyuan Muxue explained that the ruin was believed to be an ancient Giant Demon ancestral land that only Spirit Transformation cultivators could enter safely, and that rival factions had agreed to send thirty cultivators each.
• Xuanyuan Muxue said Zhang Tie had been selected as the Night Clan's Formation Master and that she had secured Yong E a place to accompany and protect him.
• Xuanyuan Muxue gave Zhang Tie and Yong E storage rings containing supplies for the expedition, and the two disciples thanked her before leaving.
• Zhang Tie examined a formation disk from his storage ring and learned it was a simplified fifth-tier Four Symbols Locking Immortal Formation that could suppress an intruder's cultivation by one major realm.

Zhang Tie examined the life-saving treasures his master had left him, then read about the Spirit Realm’s powerful races and factions. He realized how insignificant his strength was by comparison and resolved to keep improving so he could protect himself.

• Zhang Tie identified the array disk’s grooves and understood why his master had left him nine top-grade spirit stones.
• Zhang Tie examined the Ten Thousand Miles Teleportation Talisman and learned that the Blazing Origin Pill could temporarily boost strength by consuming origin power, but carried severe risks.
• Zhang Tie assessed his Azure Crocodile Dragon Beast Armor and nine Demonic Nascent Cones as powerful means of survival and attack.
• Zhang Tie read about the Jiaochi Tribe, the Thirteen Tribes of Feiyun, the Baoming Tribe, and the Black Confucian Tribe, learning of their formidable cultivators and abilities.
• Zhang Tie put away the jade slip and realized that his cultivation and formation mastery were insignificant beside the Spirit Realm’s great powers.

Zhang Tie and Yong E gathered with the Night Clan Deification-tier group before their expedition, where Ge Tu provoked Zhang Tie and mocked Yong E. Ming Junyue stopped Yong E from striking Ge Tu and clashed verbally with Kui Zhao before a red-robed elder arrived and ordered everyone to depart through his Mirror Flower Water Moon Realm.

• Zhang Tie and Yong E waited with the other Night Clan Deification-tier individuals at a plaza in Yuyang City.
• Ge Tu urged Zhang Tie to join Kui Zhao's clan and mocked him for relying on Yong E, prompting Yong E to confront Ge Tu.
• Ming Junyue blocked Yong E's attack with her handkerchief and insulted Ge Tu for serving others.
• Kui Zhao challenged Ming Junyue over their previous spar and summoned a black sickle.
• A white-haired elder appeared above the plaza, forbade brawling, and told everyone to enter his Mirror Flower Water Moon Realm so they could set off.

Zhang Tie entered Elder Rong Sheng’s Cave Heaven Treasure with Yong E and joined the group preparing to explore the ruins. After Elder Rong Sheng appointed Bo Yao as their leader, the group left the treasure and arrived at a strange spatial fissure guarded by six golden qilin.

• Yong E warned Zhang Tie that Elder Rong Sheng had a terrible temper, and they entered the ancient mirror together.
• Zhang Tie explored the valley inside the mirror with his divine sense and suspected it was a Cave Heaven Treasure.
• Elder Rong Sheng announced that Bo Yao would lead the ruins exploration, and Yong E warned Zhang Tie not to provoke the powerful, bloodthirsty expert.
• After waiting more than six hours, the group left the ancient mirror at Elder Rong Sheng’s call.
• Zhang Tie saw an irregular spatial fissure guarded by six golden qilin holding black chains that disappeared into its depths.

Zhang Tie entered the ruins with the expedition and realized the mission was more secret and dangerous than he had expected. After Bo Yao violently punished Kui Zhao for challenging his authority, he took Zhang Tie and Yong E deeper into the palace.

• Zhang Tie recognized the qilin guarding the spatial rift as manifestations of a powerful formation and suspected the expedition concealed secret objectives.
• Zhang Tie followed Yong E and the others through the rift, arriving at a ruined, dark-red palace where Bo Yao waited with members of the Night Clan.
• Bo Yao ordered Zhang Tie and Yong E to accompany him into the palace while allowing the rest of the group to act freely.
• Kui Zhao challenged Bo Yao for taking both of the team's formation masters, and Bo Yao seized him with a black hand and hurled him through a palace wall.
• Bo Yao warned Kui Zhao not to challenge him again, then flew deeper into the palace with Zhang Tie and Yong E following.

Bo Yao led Zhang Tie and Yong E to a ruined temple and opened a hidden underground entrance with a token. After they entered and the entrance disappeared, An Ji and four Jiaochi Tribe members arrived, tracking Bo Yao’s lost aura trail.

• Kui Zhao complained after Bo Yao left, but Ming Junyue warned him that Bo Yao’s strength exceeded what they could imagine and advised him to forget what happened.
• Ming Junyue departed with eight or nine followers, while Zhang Tie asked Yong E about Bo Yao and she urged him to follow Bo Yao’s arrangements.
• Bo Yao used a glowing token to reveal an underground entrance beneath the ruined temple, then entered with Zhang Tie and Yong E.
• The entrance vanished shortly after the three went inside, restoring the temple grounds to their former appearance.
• An Ji arrived with four Jiaochi Tribe members and asked whether Bo Yao’s aura trail had ended there; a young tracker confirmed it and An Ji told You Yi to investigate.

You Yi revealed a hidden underground entrance for An Ji and his companions, while Zhang Tie, Bo Yao, and another man forced open a golden giant gate and entered. The gate closed behind them, leaving the two groups separated underground.

• You Yi used a formation and a black eye phantom to reveal a stone door before the ruined temple, then An Ji ordered Fei Yi to stay hidden and watch for trouble.
• An Ji and the other three entered the dark passage beneath the stone door.
• Bo Yao tried to open the golden giant gate with black hands, then summoned an eight-armed dharma image to force it ajar.
• Zhang Tie and the other man rushed through the gap, followed by Bo Yao, and the golden giant gate slammed shut behind them.