Chapter Summaries

Wei He and the Mountain Lock lineage endured the opening days of the Sea Beast tide, while Ouyang Luo's jealousy led him to use bait to draw powerful beasts toward Wei He's defense. Hong Chan revealed that she had manipulated Ouyang Luo and forced him to attack Wei He and Cai Menghuan, who were already battling four Sky-Flipping Rays.

• Meng Chunhan killed several charging Sea Elephant Sea Beasts, then joined Zhao Yin in fighting the larger herd while Wei He guarded the center.
• Ouyang Luo grew more resentful of Wei He and considered using his remaining beast-luring medicine against Wei's defensive line.
• After more than a dozen days of attacks, the island activated its suppression Stellar Array, and Wei He passed Fixed Perception while pursuing the fifth layer of Mysterious Lock Vigor.
• Cai Menghuan arrived after being summoned, but Wei He denied sending for him; two Sky-Flipping Rays then burst from the sea and attacked them.
• Two more Sky-Flipping Rays appeared as Ouyang Luo put away the bait medicine, and Hong Chan revealed she had used him to lure the beasts.
• Hong Chan controlled Ouyang Luo and sent him toward Wei He and Cai Menghuan, while revealing that Wei He had hidden far more strength than Ouyang Luo had realized.

Wei He and Cai Menghuan were ambushed by Hong Chan, who revealed herself as the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord, and Wei He was left gravely wounded. Cai Menghuan used Dragon Blood to transform and confronted the demon lord, who unleashed his Mirror Demon Dharma Body in a potentially fatal attack.

• Wei He and Cai Menghuan fought four Sky-Flipping Rays until Ouyang Luo flew between them and exploded, injuring both men.
• Hong Chan attacked the weakened Wei He, but Cai Menghuan drove off the Sky-Flipping Rays and shielded him with his Secret Technique: Profound Cave Strict Truth.
• Hong Chan identified herself as the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord and tried to kill Wei He, but his One Line Array protection blocked her strike.
• Cai Menghuan confronted the demon lord, used Dragon Blood to begin dragonifying, and fought him after his One Line Array protection expired.
• The Thousand-Faced Demon Lord summoned his Mirror Demon Dharma Body and struck Cai Menghuan with a powerful blow that pierced his defenses toward his heart.

Wei He and Cai Menghuan fought the wounded Thousand-Faced Demon Lord, who nearly killed Wei He with a desperate strike. Wei He defeated him and emerged from the sea carrying something, while Cai Menghuan watched in shock.

• Cai Menghuan drove the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord back with his dragonified speed and flute attack, but the Demon Lord absorbed the blow and struck him with its force.
• As the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord weakened and reverted to human form, Wei He ambushed him from behind with all twenty-five Gravity Pythons.
• Wei He and Cai Menghuan attacked the Demon Lord, and Wei He repeatedly battered him with the Gravity Pythons while warning Cai Menghuan not to approach.
• The Thousand-Faced Demon Lord burst from the gray mist with an aberrant, devastating punch, but Wei He caught it using Five Revolutions Dragon Breath.
• Wei He punched the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord into the sea, and after the Demon Lord's aura vanished, Wei He emerged carrying something.

At a banquet where Daoist sects arranged to evacuate overseas, Yuan Du Zi received news that Cai Menghuan and Wei He had killed the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord. The Xuanmiao Sect celebrated the pair’s achievement, while Gongsun Shan recognized Wei He as the recruit Wushi Sect had once turned away.

• Xiang Cheng and Gongsun Shan asked Yuan Du Zi for help relocating their sects, and she agreed to receive them overseas.
• A Golden Message Swallow delivered a letter that Yuan Du Zi, Yan Wujiu, and the third patriarch read with astonishment.
• Yuan Du Zi ordered the sect to end its wanted investigation into the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord and promote Wei He to Dao Seed and second-ranking Dao Child.
• Yuan Du Zi announced that Cai Menghuan and Wei He had joined forces to kill the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord, though he had already been badly wounded.
• Gongsun Shan learned that Wei He had once established the Myriad Poison Sect and recalled that Wushi Sect had rejected him when he sought to enter its Inner Court.

After Wei He and Cai Menghuan killed the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord, Xiao Ling questioned them and warned that the Xuanmiao Sect would face growing pressure from the Great Yue Dynasty. Wei He resolved to seek a way to improve his innate physique, but his reflections on his future were interrupted when a Sky-Flipping Ray attacked him.

• Gongsun Shan resolved to investigate the Wushi Sect members responsible for losing promising disciples to the Xuanmiao Sect.
• Xiao Ling questioned Cai Menghuan, Wei He, and Hong Chan about the killing of the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord, then gave Cai Menghuan and Wei He healing medicine.
• Cai Menghuan asked Wei He whether he knew Wei Yuan and warned that the Xuanmiao Sect might need to support the next generation as the Great Yue Dynasty grew stronger.
• Wei He worried that his innate physique would limit his cultivation and decided to seek a way to improve it.
• While Wei He guarded the shoreline and pondered his future, a Sky-Flipping Ray struck a Mountain Lock True Person and then rushed toward him.
• Wei He slowed the Sky-Flipping Ray with a gravity net and resolved to first reach the limits of Fixed Perception.

Wei He killed the Sky-Flipping Ray and helped hold off the beast tide until it ended, then traveled with the Xuanmiao Sect team to Yinxu Port for the factions’ gathering. As the group headed toward the central restaurant, a golden-haired woman approached and asked whether he was Wei He.

• Wei He used his Gravity Pythons and Returning True Force to capture and kill the Sky-Flipping Ray, then sealed its body and had Meng Chunhan retrieve its star core.
• Wei He ordered the group to preserve a dead junior brother’s corpse and return it to his Lineage, then waited with Cai Menghuan as True Beasts attacked the island.
• The two-month beast tide ended with Cai Menghuan earning 132 points and Wei He earning 135; both received Sea Stabilizing Primordial Essence after handing in their star cores.
• Wei He and the Xuanmiao Sect team sailed to Yinxu Port, where factions gathered to exchange martial insights and trade resources.
• As the procession headed toward the central restaurant, a golden-haired woman approached Wei He and asked if he was Senior Brother Wei He of the Mountain Lock lineage.

Wei He arrived at Twin Eyes with the Xuanmiao Sect party, avoided a challenge by downplaying his role in killing a Grandmaster, and went to explore the island’s markets. He began inspecting cheap stone slabs containing incomplete ancient martial arts, leaving their value uncertain.

• Dishaman approached Wei He, who denied rumors that he and Cai Menghuan had killed the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord; Meng Chunhan later explained Dishaman’s importance through the Xidona Empire’s ties to the Haining Alliance.
• Cai Menghuan accepted a challenge from a Haining Alliance fighter, while Wei He turned away from the battle and refused Xu Shengyan’s demand to spar by claiming he was badly injured and had only played a minor role against the Grandmaster.
• After Cai Menghuan defeated his opponent, Wei He told the group to explore freely and return to the ship in three days.
• Wei He followed a local girl to a market stall selling ancient martial arts manuals and examined a cheap, incomplete Thousand Water True Skill carved on a stone slab.
• Wei He continued inspecting more than ten slabs, each bearing a different true skill.

Wei He bought the Three Hearts Art and other ancient techniques that could improve innate physique, then met Xu Chengtiao, who offered to recruit him for a True Beast hunt. Wei He declined for now and planned to use his free time before the competition review to hunt True Beasts and begin testing the Three Hearts Art.

• Wei He examined three ancient physique-enhancing arts at a stall and chose the Three Hearts Art, which required a legendary Blood-Coagulating Skin Demon to establish its first level.
• Wei He bought several more technique slabs and planned to ask Yuan Du Zi about methods for breaking through the limits of innate physique.
• Wei He encountered Xu Chengtiao, whom he had once helped kill an Undying Treant, and accepted his invitation to share a meal.
• Xu Chengtiao offered Wei He a share of the reward for hunting a powerful regenerating True Beast, but Wei He declined because he wanted True Beasts to seal rather than star stones.
• Xu Chengtiao invited Wei He to a sea auction in two days, while Wei He planned to hunt and seal True Beasts and begin cultivating the Three Hearts Art before the competition review.

Wei He hunted Full Realization Sea Beasts to strengthen his Mysterious Lock Skill and gather Spider Turtle heart essence for the Three Hearts Art. He used the Boundary-Breaking Pearl to complete the art’s first Foundation Establishment, gaining a second heart and beginning to discover what abilities it might grant him.

• Wei He lured out and sealed a Thousand-Legged Hunter Beast, collecting its Star Core and spiritual-awareness feedback.
• Wei He sealed a Spider Turtle and realized gravity could isolate the beast’s heart essence; he extracted its heart and began preparing the Three Hearts Art.
• Wei He hunted more Sea Beasts and collected the heart essence of ten Spider Turtles before returning to his ship near Yinxu Island.
• Wei He used the Boundary-Breaking Pearl to turn his simulated heart into a functioning second heart, completing the first level’s Foundation Establishment.
• Wei He planned to develop the new heart’s blood vessels and meridians and anticipated gaining abilities from the Spider Turtle heart.

Emperor Dingyuan began cultivating Xisa as a potential rival to Modo while the empire moved against the Jinlian Sect. At sea, Wei He tested the Three Hearts Art, completed the fifth layer of Mysterious Lock Vigor, and discovered a major increase in his physical strength.

• Emperor Dingyuan watched the martial candidates endure the star array, learned that Xisa had ninety-seven percent True Blood, and ordered the empire to cultivate him as a counterweight to Modo.
• Golden Winged Buddha Lord led soldiers into the Jinlian Sect's Daoist palace to arrest Po Jun Lian Jiu, who challenged the commander to a fight.
• Wei He tested the Spider Turtle heart's effects and found that it slightly improved his speed and strength while granting him Tough Hide.
• Wei He sealed the last true beast needed for the fifth layer of Mysterious Lock Vigor and decided to wait three months for the Boundary-Breaking Pearl to refill.
• Wei He compared his strength before and after his cultivation and estimated that his physical power had increased by at least ten thousand jin.

After the beast tide competition, Wei He’s strength continued to grow as his second heart transformed his body. During the award ceremony, Shangguan Qiulin attacked and abducted many competitors, then demanded the Abyssal Eye at Black Feather Abyss, leaving Xiao Ling to order the Xuanmiao Sect disciples home.

• Wei He returned to Yinxu Island and learned that his physical strength and appetite were still increasing because of the Three Hearts Art.
• The Haining Alliance and Xuanmiao Sect announced the competition results, placing Wei He seventh, Cai Menghuan sixth, Shangguan Qiulin second, and Sun Fengzhu first.
• As the top twenty approached the platform, Shangguan Qiulin released white threads that bound and carried off more than a dozen True Persons, while Wei He evaded capture.
• Shangguan Qiulin rebuffed attacks from three Grandmasters and demanded that the captives be ransomed with the Abyssal Eye at Black Feather Abyss before vanishing with them.
• Xiao Ling recognized the attack as an old debt of the Haining Alliance and ordered Wei He, Cai Menghuan, and the other Xuanmiao Sect disciples to return to the sect.

After Tide reappeared and destabilized Far Hope, Wei He strengthened his body and prepared to break through the Mysterious Lock Skill. Yuan Du Zi assigned him and Cai Menghuan to escort evacuees from Great Moon, then secretly met Tide’s Yu Zan, who sought her help obtaining the Abyssal Eye.

• Xiao Ling identified Shangguan Qiulin as a Grandmaster from Tide, an organization Far Hope’s factions had once hunted down, and warned everyone to flee if they encountered him.
• Tide resurfaced across Far Hope, while Wei He gained sixty thousand jin of strength through the Three Hearts Art and, three months later, filled his Boundary-Breaking Pearl again.
• Yuan Du Zi tasked Wei He and Cai Menghuan with helping escort about two hundred people withdrawing from Great Moon, including members of the Daoist Sect, Wanfei Palace, and the Demon Faction.
• Cai Menghuan told Wei He that Yuan Du Zi had seemed strange lately, and Wei He returned to his cave to prepare for breaking through to the fifth level of the Mysterious Lock Skill.
• Yu Zan met Yuan Du Zi on Black Cliff and argued that the Abyssal Eye could open a new path for True Force; Yuan Du Zi demanded proof and sincerity before she would consider helping Tide.

Yuan Du Zi agreed to pursue a new path offered by Tide but delayed acting while she risked being weakened. She led Wei He and Cai Menghuan toward Great Moon to receive its remaining True Force Daoist Sect forces, and their flight revealed the dangers and mysteries of the True World above the skies.

• Yuan Du Zi considered Tide’s new direction for breaking through her stalled cultivation but decided she could not risk weakening herself yet.
• Wei He achieved Five-layered Fixed Perception, then prepared to leave for Great Moon with Cai Menghuan under Yuan Du Zi’s command.
• Yuan Du Zi gave Wei He and Cai Menghuan emergency signals and took them aboard giant Crested Cranes instead of traveling by ship.
• Yuan Du Zi instructed Wei He and Cai Menghuan to enter the True World, where they saw a vast gray sea of living things and a huge Sky Beast approaching.
• Yuan Du Zi explained that Sky Beasts could conceal dangerous ruins and warned them that Grandmasters often vanished while exploring such places.

Yuan Du Zi received Jin Lian Zi and his Jinlian Sect followers at a Haizhou bay as they prepared to flee overseas, while the Wushi Sect’s scattered groups were still on the way. Near Yu Bian Town, Qing Ye persuaded Lin Hua Zhenren to delay rejoining them and use the Xuanmiao Sect’s contact token to test for an ambush.

• Yuan Du Zi welcomed Jin Lian Zi and the Jinlian Sect refugees as two Xuanmiao Sect ships arrived offshore.
• Yuan Du Zi learned that the Wushi Sect’s groups were delayed and that Great Yue was watching their routes and buried resources.
• Yuan Du Zi sent a message warning the Wushi Sect group near Yu Bian Town to abandon its treasure and head to the meeting point, then sent Wei He and Cai Menghuan to receive another group.
• Wei He told Cai Menghuan about his past connections to the Wushi Sect as they traveled toward their assigned location.
• Lin Hua Zhenren received the order to abandon the treasure near Yu Bian Town, but Qing Ye persuaded her to retrieve it before leaving.
• Qing Ye proposed placing the Xuanmiao Sect’s contact token in Yu Bian Town so its experts would test the area for an ambush.

Qingye persuaded Lin Hua Zhenren to use the Xuanmiao Sect’s receiving party to draw away Great Yue Dynasty experts while the Wushi Sect recovered its buried valuables. Wei He and Cai Menghuan killed Zhou Lan and wounded Bodhisattva Haizhu, who escaped, as the Wushi Sect group began digging up the cache.

• Qingye convinced Lin Hua Zhenren to send the Xuanmiao Sect’s receiving True Persons toward Yu Bian Town as a distraction while the Wushi Sect retrieved its valuables.
• Huang Zhen, Bodhisattva Haizhu, and Zhou Lan waited at the abandoned courtyard, then mistook Cai Menghuan and Wei He for pursuers after the Wushi Sect members.
• Cai Menghuan and Wei He fled when they saw the three Great Yue Dynasty men, prompting them to give chase.
• After Qingye signaled them, Lin Hua Zhenren and the Wushi Sect disciples entered the courtyard and began digging up the buried valuables.
• Cai Menghuan and Wei He turned to fight; Wei He killed Zhou Lan, while Cai Menghuan and Wei He injured Bodhisattva Haizhu, who escaped using a self-damaging secret art.

Lin Hua Zhenren’s group reached the meeting point too late and discovered that the Xuanmiao Sect ships had already departed, leaving them stranded in Great Yue. As Yuelong pursuers attacked, Lin Hua escaped by using her own people as a delay, while Wei He and Cai Menghuan continued west with the Xuanmiao Sect fleet.

• Lin Hua Zhenren’s group buried the valuables they had taken and hurried to the agreed meeting point, where they found the shore empty.
• Lin Hua sent an insect to contact the Xuanmiao Sect and learned that its ships had already sailed, leaving her group without passage overseas.
• Lü E blamed their delay over the buried goods, while Lin Hua tried to reassure the group that they could contact the sect again and find another route.
• A Yuelong force led by a one-eyed bald man emerged from the woods, and Lin Hua fled after using a smoke bomb to slow the pursuers with her companions.
• Qingye and the other women scattered and used secret techniques to keep the Yuelong pursuers at a distance as they fled.
• Aboard the Xuanmiao Sect ships, Cai Menghuan and Wei He told Du Hanjun they had not encountered Lin Hua’s group, and Yuan Du Zi told them their mission was complete and they could pursue their own plans.

Wei He and Cai Menghuan entered Great Yue under disguise, then split up to pursue their own plans. On the road, Wei He discovered Jiang Su among prisoners being sold as human merchandise and decided to buy her freedom without drawing attention.

• Yuan Du Zi sent Wei He to accompany Cai Menghuan into Great Yue and cautioned them to conceal their Xuanmiao Sect identities.
• Wei He and Cai Menghuan reached shore, divided the belongings taken from Zhou Lan, and agreed to meet later before heading in different directions.
• Traveling toward Western Province, Wei He encountered Great Yue convoys transporting prisoners, including broken-cultivation martial artists and Wushi Sect True Persons being sold as slaves.
• Wei He recognized Jiang Su in a cage of imprisoned women and resolved to save her by posing as a buyer.

Wei He attended a slave auction in Wulian City and bought Jiang Su after recognizing her among the former Wushi Sect martial artists. He passed the authorities’ strength test and also asked to buy the similar-looking girl behind her.

• Wei He observed how Great Moon’s Martial Prohibition Order had changed the common people before watching slaves be auctioned.
• The auctioned Wushi Sect women included Qingye, who was sold for 150 taels and carried away by a buyer who planned to mutilate her.
• Wei He recognized Jiang Su, disguised his appearance, and outbid others until he bought her for 100 taels.
• Wei He passed a physical-strength test administered by a Great Moon official, who judged him to be a powerful True Blood expert.
• Wei He pointed out the girl behind Jiang Su and asked to buy her as well.

Wei He bought Jiang Su and her daughter Tang Yinlian from Feiyun Tower, brought them to an inn, and quietly arranged for their safety while concealing his identity. After confirming that a blood-testing needle detected aberrant blood in him, he planned to enlist in Great Yue’s army and pursue True Blood cultivation.

• Wei He bought Jiang Su and Number Seven, later learning that the latter was Jiang Su’s daughter, Tang Yinlian.
• Wei He took the women to an inn, avoided revealing that he knew Jiang Su, and arranged a private room and clean clothes for them.
• Wei He learned where to rent a house and enlist in the army, deciding that military service offered the fastest route to Great Yue’s cultivation resources.
• Wei He bought a blood-testing needle and confirmed that his blood tested as aberrant.
• Wei He resolved to report to the army the next day, obtain a cultivation method, and use a Blood Artifact to purify his bloodline.

Pang Sha ordered a hunt for two True Force practitioners who had entered Great Moon, and learned one was heading toward Wulian City. The next morning, Wei He observed Wulian City’s military recruitment and joined a line to apply, where he overheard two girls arguing about enlistment.

• Pang Sha ordered the Moon Shroud people to track the two True Force practitioners and called for identity checks and secret blood lures across nearby cities.
• A message reported that one fugitive was heading to Wulian City and the other to Ranxing, so Pang Sha set out to hunt the Wulian City fugitive herself.
• Wei He visited Wulian City’s recruitment square and watched Wei Xiaochang pass the physical examination and blood test despite having thin disorderly blood.
• After seeing how the recruitment screening worked, Wei He joined a line to apply for military service.
• Wei He overheard a burly girl urging Xiaorong to use her family connections while Xiaorong insisted on following the rules.