Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng and his two spirit pets continue hunting in the Full Moon Wasteland’s middle region, collecting another three hundred Beast Crystals in half a month. The deeper they travel, the stronger the beasts—and the more valuable the hunt.
• The Azure Water Golden Toad feeds constantly, drawing nourishment from the beasts it kills. Lin Feng expects it to gain enough resources for another advancement. Snow Treader receives beast cores and rare materials, which it can digest despite having a weaker bloodline.
• Lin Feng warns both pets to stay close as early-stage Emperor King Realm beasts become common.
• Meanwhile, Elder Wang and Senior Sister Xu’s group struggle through the middle region. They have faced numerous powerful beasts, suffered injuries, and obtained few Beast Crystals. Suspecting someone is taking their supplies, they activate a grand formation to locate the culprit.
• The formation’s spiritual light panics beasts across the wasteland. It reveals Lin Feng hunting with his pets, and the elders set off to confront him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng remains cautious as the danger increases, while relying on his pets and the Chaos Space’s time-accelerating cultivation to strengthen them rapidly.
• The Azure Water Golden Toad demonstrates its formidable bloodline and appetite, killing a powerful beast with a single strike and consuming its essence.
• Snow Treader is shown to be less versatile than the toad, able to benefit only from beast cores and rare materials.
• Elder Wang reacts angrily to the group’s poor haul and wants revenge on whoever is responsible.
• Senior Sister Xu chooses a measured approach: she plans to demand Lin Feng hand over the Beast Crystals rather than attack unless necessary.

Significant themes

• Power gained through resources and cultivation: Lin Feng’s ability to rapidly strengthen his pets makes the hunt a means of building future power.
• Escalating danger: The deeper the group ventures, the stronger the beasts and the greater the stakes.
• Competition over limited gains: Lin Feng’s successful hunting clashes with the Flowing Moon Palace group’s expectations, setting up a confrontation.
• Caution versus aggression: Elder Wang favors force, while Senior Sister Xu prioritizes securing the crystals without provoking an unnecessary fight.

Lin Feng fought three Late-Stage Emperor King Realm scorpion beasts and killed them with his Chaos Sword Embryo. Elder Xu Feng invited him to join the Flowing Moon Palace, and Lin Feng accepted.

• Lin Feng used his flying swords and Chaos Sword Embryo to defeat and kill three Late-Stage Emperor King Realm scorpion beasts.
• Xu Feng and Elder Wang arrived with a Flowing Moon Palace team and abandoned their plan to seize Lin Feng’s treasures after witnessing his strength.
• Xu Feng introduced herself and invited Lin Feng to become a Guest Elder, offering monthly Emperor Crystals and permission to keep ninety percent of his beast crystals.
• Lin Feng considered the benefits and responsibilities of joining the Flowing Moon Palace and agreed to join.

• Plot and events: To avoid a fight over Beast Crystals, Fifth Elder Xu Feng formally invites Lin Feng to join the Flowing Moon Palace. He accepts and joins her hunting team. Over two months in the middle zone, Lin Feng’s three-sword formation proves devastating: while the late-stage Emperor King elders hold beasts at bay, he kills them swiftly. The team completes its quota of a thousand Beast Crystals, and Lin Feng receives fifty from the surplus. After returning to the palace and handing over his required share, he is brought to meet the Palace Master, High Person Flowing Cloud. The chapter ends with Flowing Cloud giving Lin Feng three hundred emperor crystals after testing his strength.
• Character development: Lin Feng’s formidable ability earns the hunting team’s respect and establishes him as far stronger in combat than his mid-stage Emperor King Realm rank suggests. He also demonstrates restraint and tact by accepting the invitation rather than escalating the initial conflict. Flowing Cloud appears welcoming, but tests Lin Feng’s resilience before rewarding him.
• Interactions: Xu Feng recruits Lin Feng and leads him back to the palace, while she and the other elders cooperate with him during the hunt. At their first meeting, Lin Feng respectfully greets Flowing Cloud. The Palace Master then subjects him to increasing Great Emperor Realm pressure; Lin Feng counters with a Sword Qi barrier, impressing him and the watching elders.
• Themes: The chapter emphasizes strength as a source of respect and influence, the value of cooperation over needless conflict, and the importance of powerful cultivation environments. The palace’s emperor vein also underscores how rare and strategically valuable such resources are.

Key plot points and events

• High Person Flowing Cloud welcomes Lin Feng to the Flowing Moon Palace, gives him 300 Emperor Crystals, and raises his monthly stipend from 100 to 200. He also names Lin a special Attendant, judging his strength worthy of the sect’s top five.
• The palace holds a banquet to celebrate Lin’s arrival. He meets the elders, then chooses a quiet residence at the summit of Little Bamboo Peak, one of the sect’s least powerful and least populated peaks.
• Lin settles into Greenwater Cave, whose extensive facilities he largely considers unnecessary. He has Snow Treader organize the residence and sets up his own formations.
• The next morning, Little Bamboo Peak’s two resident Emperor-realm deacons, Li Xuan and Liu Jin, visit and deliver Lin’s first 200-crystal stipend. Lin gives them rare cultivation pills, earning their gratitude.
• Lin reviews the danger posed by Xuanyuan Palace and Liu Wushuang, the mid-stage Great Emperor who attacked him. He concludes that the attacker was probably only an avatar, and that the Flowing Moon Palace’s distance from Xuanyuan Palace buys him time.
• To grow stronger quickly, Lin decides to earn Emperor Crystals and Beast Crystals by forging and selling Emperor Weapons, using the Flowing Moon Palace for materials and customers. He heads to meet the Palace Master.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng adapts smoothly to his new position, values the Palace Master’s generosity, and chooses privacy and quiet over a more prestigious residence. He remains focused on increasing his strength and preparing for future threats.
• High Person Flowing Cloud demonstrates both confidence in Lin’s abilities and practical generosity, investing in him as a valuable new ally.
• Li Xuan and Liu Jin are excited by Lin’s arrival and especially by the pills he gives them, which can help compensate for the peak’s scarcity of Emperor’s Might.
• Lin’s exchanges with the elders and deacons establish him as a well-supported new authority on Little Bamboo Peak.

Significant themes

• Strategic preparation: Lin uses his new position and the sect’s resources to plan for a dangerous future.
• Patronage and reciprocity: Flowing Cloud supports Lin materially; Lin, in turn, rewards the deacons under his authority.
• Pragmatism and independence: Despite his comfortable new residence, Lin relies little on conventional cultivation resources and focuses on what he actually needs.
• Threat and opportunity: The Xuanyuan Palace threat looms, while Lin’s new connections offer a way to build strength and security.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng reveals to High Person Flowing Cloud that he can forge ninth-grade Emperor Weapons. Flowing Cloud is astonished and offers him double pay, sect-supplied materials, and a 60/40 share of sales in Lin Feng’s favor, asking that the sect receive priority when buying his work.
• Flowing Cloud hopes Lin Feng’s weapons will strengthen Flowing Moon Palace against the neighboring Cold Star and Pursuing the Sun Palaces. Their leaders, Leng Hun and Yang Lu, mock Flowing Cloud’s efforts and discuss poaching his people, expecting their three-sect competition in ten years to expose his weakness.
• Lin Feng forges five weapons in the accelerated time of his Chaos Space. Two—the sword and saber—are ninth-grade Emperor Weapons; the spear, mace, and hammer exceed that grade, with the spear reaching sixth grade.
• After seven years of apparent seclusion, Lin Feng visits Flowing Cloud to report that the weapons are finished. Flowing Cloud is astonished when Lin Feng produces two gleaming Emperor Weapons; the chapter ends before he inspects the rest.

Character developments

• Lin Feng demonstrates both formidable refining talent and strategic restraint: he understates his true abilities and uses accelerated time to complete the work quickly. He also appreciates Flowing Cloud’s trust and generosity.
• Flowing Cloud shifts from surprise to hope, investing heavily in Lin Feng’s skills because he sees them as a way to protect the palace.
• Leng Hun and Yang Lu reveal their confidence and hostility, treating Flowing Moon Palace as vulnerable and favoring absorption over cooperation.

Significant themes

• Trust and reciprocity: Flowing Cloud gives Lin Feng valuable materials and freedom, while Lin Feng repays that confidence with finished weapons.
• Power and survival: Rare artifacts may determine whether a weaker sect can resist stronger rivals.
• Concealed strength and patience: Lin Feng hides the extent of his capabilities and works in seclusion until the right moment.

Character interactions

• Lin Feng and Flowing Cloud negotiate favorable terms based on mutual benefit; Flowing Cloud’s faith in Lin Feng deepens over time.
• Leng Hun and Yang Lu share contempt for Flowing Cloud and discuss their plans to weaken or absorb his followers.
• Lin Feng’s final reveal shocks Flowing Cloud and sets up the weapons’ potential impact on the looming rivalry.

Plot points and events

• Lin Feng delivers two exquisite ninth-grade Emperor Weapons, forged from five sets of materials over seven years, to Flowing Moon Palace Master High Person Flowing Cloud.
• Flowing Cloud praises Lin Feng’s skill and offers him 90% of the weapons’ estimated value—about 2,700 Emperor Crystals—keeping only a tenth for the sect.
• Xu Feng arrives with an invitation from Leng Hun and Yang Lu, leaders of the rival Cold Star Palace and Pursuing the Sun Palace. They want to discuss the Three Palaces Grand Competition, scheduled in three years.
• Flowing Cloud suspects the rivals intend to undermine or absorb Flowing Moon Palace. Xu Feng recalls their past poaching of disciples and elders and seizure of resources, and fears the coming competition will bring more injuries.
• Lin Feng offers to help, revealing to the reader that he has secretly advanced to the late-stage Emperor King Realm and can now defend himself better against Great Emperor-level opponents. Flowing Cloud refuses to risk his valuable benefactor and urges him to focus on forging.
• Xu Feng learns Lin Feng made two weapons from five sets of materials and is astonished. Flowing Cloud rewards her with the flying sword for recruiting him.
• Flowing Cloud and Xu Feng set out with several Emperor King Realm elders to answer the invitation.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng remains discreet about his strength and resources, but his offer to help shows growing loyalty to Flowing Moon Palace. His peaceful life and investment in the sect are now threatened by the rival palaces.
• Flowing Cloud shows generosity toward Lin Feng and strong protectiveness, valuing him as both a loyal ally and an extraordinary asset. He is also resolute about resisting the rival leaders.
• Xu Feng is vindicated as the person who brought Lin Feng into the sect and receives a rare Emperor Weapon as recognition. Her concern centers on the palace’s vulnerable disciples, elders, and resources.
• Flowing Cloud and Xu Feng share confidence in Lin Feng’s loyalty; their exchange also underscores the close relationship between his contributions and the sect’s hopes.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and mutual trust: Lin Feng’s loyalty is met with generosity, while Flowing Cloud believes he cannot be easily lured away.
• Power and political rivalry: The upcoming competition is presented not as a fair contest but as a possible tool for the stronger palaces to dominate Flowing Moon Palace.
• Talent and value: Lin Feng’s forging ability makes him exceptionally valuable, prompting both admiration and protective treatment.
• Security versus ambition: Lin Feng prefers a stable, resource-rich life, but the sect’s conflict threatens to draw him into danger.

Key events

• A month after Lin Feng forged two Emperor Weapons, he is summoned with the Flowing Moon Palace’s elders to Profound Heaven Peak.
• They find Elder Xu Feng dead and High Person Flowing Cloud badly injured. Xu Feng had fought the Cold Star Palace and Pursuing the Sun Palace after they humiliated Flowing Cloud; their elder Yang Lu killed her in one blow while Leng Hun restrained Flowing Cloud.
• Flowing Cloud announces that the sect’s elders must enter the trial grounds in three years. This time, they may keep everything they find, but he expects them to bring back enemy elders’ heads to avenge Xu Feng.
• Most guest elders refuse to volunteer. Lin Feng steps forward, pledging to join the trial and avenge Xu Feng.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng’s gratitude and sense of loyalty outweigh concern for his safety: Xu Feng had treated him well, and both she and Flowing Cloud had shown him kindness.
• Flowing Cloud is grieving and determined to retaliate, but he also worries that losing Lin Feng—an emperor-grade artifact refiner with great future value—would be a serious blow.
• The native elders admire Lin Feng’s resolve. Many guest elders, meanwhile, fear the coming conflict and privately resent that his volunteering makes their own refusal look disloyal.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and gratitude: Lin Feng acts to repay kindness, while Xu Feng had risked herself to defend Flowing Cloud.
• Fear versus solidarity: Most guest elders hold back despite their ordinary bonds with the sect, exposing the limits of their allegiance.
• Decline and survival: The Flowing Moon Palace is weakened, and its reliance on outside elders reflects its struggle to remain competitive with its rivals.
• Revenge and sacrifice: Flowing Cloud turns Xu Feng’s death into a call to arms, while Lin Feng accepts a dangerous mission despite his comparatively modest cultivation.

Plot points and events

• Despite initial reluctance among the Flowing Cloud Palace’s Guest Elders, Lin Feng steps forward to join the upcoming Secret Realm trial. A few others follow, and High Person Flowing Cloud rewards the participants with emperor crystals, nearly exhausting his reserves.
• Flowing Cloud gives Lin Feng a protective bead capable of unleashing a Great Emperor–level strike. Lin Feng welcomes the safeguard but also sees the trial as a chance to defeat rivals and gather enough emperor crystals to advance.
• Back at Little Bamboo Peak, Lin Feng senses danger and raises three flying swords. A projection of Leng Hun, Palace Master of the Cold Star Palace, appears and offers him twenty thousand emperor crystals to defect and forge Emperor Weapons for the enemy alliance.
• Lin Feng refuses, rejecting Leng Hun’s threats and boasting that the enemy’s people may be the ones to die in the trial. Leng Hun reveals that he has an informant among the participants and emphasizes the alliance’s numerical advantage, hoping to sow suspicion within the Flowing Cloud Palace.
• When Lin Feng again refuses to cooperate, Leng Hun threatens to expose that Liu Wushuang has issued a wanted notice for him. Lin Feng realizes the threat is serious and wonders whether High Person Flowing Cloud knows his secret. The chapter ends as a flash of sword light appears while Leng Hun is gloating.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng commits to the trial despite the danger. He remains defiant toward Leng Hun, but the mention of Liu Wushuang’s notice unsettles him and reveals a vulnerability he had underestimated.
• High Person Flowing Cloud supports Lin Feng by giving him a powerful protective artifact, though doing so costs the palace nearly all its emperor crystals.
• Leng Hun tries to recruit Lin Feng with wealth, then intimidates him with the enemy’s numbers, an alleged insider, and the threat of exposing his whereabouts. His confidence turns to surprise—or worse—when the sword light appears.
• The exchange between Lin Feng and Leng Hun is a contest of pressure and control: Leng Hun expects wealth and threats to force obedience, while Lin Feng refuses to submit.

Significant themes

• Defiance versus coercion: Lin Feng resists being controlled, even when his safety and future are threatened.
• Trust and internal division: Leng Hun’s revelation of an informant is intended to make the Flowing Cloud Palace’s people distrust one another.
• Power and vulnerability: Lin Feng’s skill as an Emperor-Rank Artifact Refiner gives him value, but his hidden past makes him vulnerable to forces far stronger than himself.
• Sacrifice and loyalty: Flowing Cloud spends nearly all his reserves to support the elders who agree to risk the trial.

Plot points and events

• Lin Feng kills Leng Hun’s projection, refusing Leng Hun’s offer and the chance to avoid Liu Wushuang. Leng Hun vows revenge, while lamenting the loss of the twenty thousand emperor crystals he had offered.
• Lin Feng collects the crystals, bringing his total to forty-five thousand. He hopes to reach one hundred thousand so he can advance to the early-stage Great Emperor realm and better defend himself against Liu Wushuang. A teleportation array in his cave is another precaution.
• Three years pass. Lin Feng’s savings grow to sixty thousand emperor crystals, while neither Leng Hun nor Liu Wushuang makes a move.
• Snow Treader and the Azure Water Golden Toad have advanced through long cultivation in Lin Feng’s accelerated Chaos Tree Space, reaching the mid- and late-stage Emperor King realms respectively. The Chaos Sword Embryo has absorbed over ten thousand Beast Crystals and needs ten thousand more to take shape.
• High Person Flowing Cloud supports Lin Feng by providing Beast Crystals. Lin Feng gives him two eighth-grade Emperor Weapons in return. Flowing Cloud urges Lin Feng to skip the Secret Realm trial to stay safe, but Lin Feng refuses; after demonstrating his strength, he reassures Flowing Cloud.
• Flowing Cloud leads more than a hundred Emperor-realm experts to the snowy mountain range where the three palaces’ Secret Realm opens once every five hundred years. The rival palace leaders, Yang Lu and Leng Hun, restrain themselves from attacking until the expedition ends.
• Yang Lu again presses Flowing Cloud to merge the palaces, arguing they share a common origin. Flowing Cloud rejects him, citing the betrayal and deaths that followed the earlier split. Yang Lu and Leng Hun threaten to seize the Flowing Moon Palace’s territory after its people die in the Secret Realm. The leaders open the realm, and the factions enter to compete for resources.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng remains resolute and cautious: he rejects Leng Hun’s coercion, prepares an escape route, pursues the crystals and materials he needs, and chooses the dangerous trial for its rewards.
• Leng Hun shifts from trying to recruit Lin Feng to openly threatening torture and revenge, though he remains interested in exploiting Lin Feng’s skill as an Emperor-rank artifact refiner.
• High Person Flowing Cloud shows loyalty and concern for Lin Feng, backing his craft and offering protection. He also firmly resists Yang Lu’s pressure to reunite the palaces.
• Yang Lu and Leng Hun act as political rivals to Flowing Cloud, temporarily postponing their plans until the Secret Realm expedition is over.

Significant themes

• Resolve versus temptation and intimidation: Lin Feng refuses a lucrative offer rather than submit to Leng Hun.
• Preparation and self-reliance: He steadily builds strength, resources, and an escape plan amid threats.
• Loyalty and gratitude: Lin Feng repays Flowing Cloud’s support, while Flowing Cloud risks his standing to protect him.
• Political ambition and historical grievance: The dispute over reunification reflects unresolved betrayal, and the Secret Realm becomes both a resource contest and a strategic opportunity to weaken the Flowing Moon Palace.

Plot points and events

• Lin Feng enters the Secret Realm and kills a Dao Ancestor–realm bear that attacks him. He recalls the realm’s three-level schedule and sets two goals: gather the remaining 40,000 emperor crystals he needs to reach the Great Emperor Realm, and collect resources to repay Flowing Cloud Palace’s kindness.
• Rather than mine crystals slowly, Lin Feng plans to take them from rival sect cultivators and hunt the beasts guarding rare treasures. After several days of exploring with Snow Treader, he has filled a Storage Ring with valuable finds.
• Cold Star Palace elders ambush and kill a late-stage Emperor King from Flowing Moon Palace. Their bait is a convincing illusion of a spirit plant created by Elder Niu’s venomous snake spirit pet.
• Wu Yao, Cold Star Palace’s feared powerhouse, effortlessly kills three Flowing Moon Palace cultivators who try to attack him together. He expresses contempt for their weakness and hopes to challenge High Person Flowing Cloud after the expedition.
• Bing Xuan of Pursuing the Sun Palace proves equally ruthless, killing several cultivators from both opposing sects—and even his own allies. His followers regard him as nearly unbeatable, with Wu Yao perhaps the only person able to withstand him.
• The chapter ends as Lin Feng spots a flowering spirit plant radiating powerful emperor’s might and approaches it.

Character developments

• Lin Feng is focused on strengthening himself and repaying Flowing Cloud Palace, while relying on decisive violence and Snow Treader’s help to gather resources.
• Wu Yao is established as immensely powerful, arrogant, and eager for a serious challenge; he considers testing himself against High Person Flowing Cloud.
• Bing Xuan is shown to be cold and merciless, willing to kill allies as well as enemies.
• Elder Niu demonstrates the value of preparation and deception, using his costly spirit pet to lure and defeat a powerful opponent.

Themes and interactions

• The Secret Realm’s competition is brutal: sect rivalries quickly turn into ambushes, betrayal, and slaughter, even among supposed allies.
• Power and preparation determine survival. Niu’s trap defeats a strong elder, while Wu Yao’s overwhelming strength destroys a coordinated attack.
• Lin Feng’s practical ambitions contrast with the rivalry among the realm’s leading fighters: he seeks crystals and treasures, while Wu Yao and Bing Xuan dominate through combat.
• The chapter sets up a likely encounter between Lin Feng and the spirit plant, while establishing Wu Yao and Bing Xuan as major threats.

Plot points and events

• Lin Feng approaches a spirit plant, while three Cold Star Palace elders hide nearby and prepare to ambush him. They have been using this tactic to rob cultivators gathering treasures.
• Lin Feng detects their trap and attacks first, cutting apart the venomous snake guarding the plant.
• Elder Niu and his companions retaliate with flying swords, while the wounded snake spits poisonous mist. Lin Feng evades their attacks with ease.
• Lin Feng traps the snake in a Sword Formation, clears away the poison, and kills it. His swordsmanship is far stronger than the elders expected, revealing that he is not merely a mid-stage Emperor King.
• He sends his three swords against the elders. Two are killed, and Elder Niu’s sword is badly damaged. As Elder Niu’s confidence collapses, Lin Feng forms another Sword Formation over him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng is shown to be alert, composed, and overwhelmingly capable; he turns the ambush against its perpetrators without appearing strained.
• Elder Niu shifts from smug confidence to fury over the death of his “spirit pet,” then to shock and fear as his allies fall and his sword is battered.
• The three elders had treated other cultivators as easy prey, but their ambush fails when Lin Feng recognizes the danger and strikes first.

Significant themes

• Deception and vigilance: The elders rely on concealed attacks, but Lin Feng’s caution exposes their scheme.
• Overconfidence and reversal: The ambushers’ success against earlier victims makes them underestimate Lin Feng, leading to disaster.
• Power revealed through action: Lin Feng’s true strength becomes clear through his effortless evasions and devastating sword formations.

Plot points and events

• Lin Feng kills Elder Niu and two other Cold Star Palace cultivators who ambushed him, then destroys the evidence and takes their Storage Rings.
• The spoils include 3,500 emperor crystals, 500 Beast Crystals, and other treasures. Lin Feng reflects that his strength has grown enough to defeat several late- and mid-stage Emperor King opponents without using the Chaos Sword Embryo.
• After two more days of exploring the first level without meeting anyone, the ten-day period ends and participants are randomly transported to the second level.
• On arrival, Lin Feng senses another cultivator and realizes that observers outside can now watch the participants. The safeguards against killing have been abandoned.
• Pursuing the Sun Palace’s Gu Yuntian, ranked ninth among its elders, approaches Lin Feng, intending to toy with him. Lin Feng kills him instantly with a sword strike, takes his ring, and burns away the body.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng is increasingly confident in his combat strength and focused on collecting crystals to reach the Great Emperor realm. He remains calm when Gu Yuntian threatens him and ends the encounter decisively.
• Gu Yuntian is boastful and eager for a fight, underestimating Lin Feng; his arrogance leaves him unprepared for the fatal strike.
• High Person Flowing Cloud worries that Lin Feng may be outmatched, but is privately delighted and relieved by his victory.
• Yang Lu, leader of the Pursuing the Sun Palace, mocks Flowing Cloud before the fight, then is stunned and angered when Gu Yuntian is killed.
• Leng Hun is shaken by the earlier loss of Elder Niu, then surprised by Lin Feng’s strength. He is relieved that the Pursuing the Sun Palace has suffered a comparable loss.
• The outside observers discuss Lin Feng’s danger and react with shock when he kills Gu Yuntian.

Significant themes

• Power and growth: Lin Feng’s improved strength is demonstrated through effortless victories over formidable opponents.
• Arrogance and underestimation: Gu Yuntian’s confidence makes him careless, while Lin Feng’s quiet composure proves more dangerous.
• Survival over rules: With the Secret Realm’s protections gone, participants must rely on their own strength.
• Rivalry and shifting advantage: The sect leaders measure their losses against one another, treating deaths as part of a broader contest.

Plot and events

• Lin Feng kills Gu Yuntian of the Pursuing the Sun Palace with one sword, shocking the spectators outside the Secret Realm. He takes Gu’s Storage Ring but finds it contains only a modest haul: 1,000 emperor crystals, 200 Beast Crystals, and few treasures.
• The palace elders argue over Lin Feng’s strength. High Person Flowing Cloud defends him, though privately he fears Lin Feng cannot match Bing Xuan or Wu Yao. The Pursuing the Sun and Cold Star elders insist those two remain far superior.
• Their confidence is reinforced when Bing Xuan kills a late-stage Emperor King Realm elder from the Flowing Moon Palace, while Wu Yao single-handedly crushes five late-stage Emperor King Realm beasts. The Flowing Moon elders are dismayed, and their rivals mock them.
• Inside the Secret Realm, Lin Feng sends Snow Treader ahead to search for treasures and continues gathering materials and hunting. He rarely meets opponents, but quickly defeats the few weaker cultivators he encounters.
• After accumulating 70,000 emperor crystals, Lin Feng still needs 30,000 more; he is also 9,000 Beast Crystals short of his 20,000 goal. After twenty uneventful days, everyone is transported to the third level.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng remains focused on his goals, treating combat as a means to collect resources rather than seeking fights for their own sake.
• High Person Flowing Cloud publicly backs Lin Feng but privately doubts he can survive a confrontation with Bing Xuan or Wu Yao.
• Yang Lu and other rival elders taunt Flowing Cloud and the Flowing Moon Palace, whose elders are forced to confront the enormous gap between their champions and the two dominant fighters.

Significant themes

• Reputation versus demonstrated power: Lin Feng’s surprise victory changes how others view him, while Bing Xuan and Wu Yao justify their fearsome reputations through overwhelming feats.
• Rivalry and pride: The elders’ public boasts and insults contrast with their private anxieties.
• Progress through persistence: Lin Feng steadily advances toward his crystal quotas through exploration, hunting, and opportunistic victories.

Key events

• Lin Feng reaches the third level of the Secret Realm, where three exceptionally rare Emperor Pearls form every five hundred years. He sets out to find them, using Snow Treader to scout and the Azure Water Golden Toad as backup.
• Lin Feng encounters Ou Haochen, the Cold Star Palace elder known as Meat Vajra. He sends the eager Azure Water Golden Toad to fight.
• Meat Vajra withstands the toad’s first attacks and breaks its bones with a single slap. As Meat Vajra mocks Lin Feng for letting a spirit pet fight for him, the toad suddenly returns at enormous size and attacks again.
• The two battle fiercely. Though badly wounded, the Azure Water Golden Toad ultimately kills Meat Vajra by tearing off and swallowing his head. Lin Feng retrieves the elder’s Storage Ring and continues toward the center after taking the toad to the Chaos Space to heal.
• Observers outside the Secret Realm react with shock. Meanwhile, other participants battle powerful beasts and rivals: most Flowing Moon Palace members keep to the safer outskirts, while Pursuing the Sun and Cold Star Palace elders advance in groups. Bing Xuan and Wu Yao travel alone, killing beasts with single blows.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng remains focused on securing the Emperor Pearls and trusts the Azure Water Golden Toad to handle a dangerous opponent rather than intervening himself. His spirit pet’s victory reveals the strength of his forces to the watching sects.
• Azure Water Golden Toad gets the long-awaited battle he craves. After being injured and dismissed by Meat Vajra, he recovers, reveals his immense full size and new ice-armor ability, and proves himself stronger through persistence.
• Meat Vajra begins contemptuously confident, but the prolonged fight exposes the limits of his strength; he dies in the end.
• High Person Flowing Cloud shifts from worry over Lin Feng’s chances to delight at the toad’s victory. Leng Hun, who had feared Lin Feng might be killed, becomes angry that he survived and still intends to capture him and exploit his artifact-making skills. Yang Lu continues to hope Lin Feng will be eliminated.

Significant themes

• Strength includes one’s allies: Lin Feng’s spirit pet is an extension of his power, despite onlookers initially treating its use as cowardice.
• Overconfidence versus endurance: Meat Vajra’s early dominance gives way to defeat when the Azure Water Golden Toad withstands punishment and fights on.
• Competition and danger: The Emperor Pearls’ immense value drives the expedition, while the third level’s powerful beasts and rival sects make every advance perilous.

Plot points and events

• Bing Xuan kills a savage beast with ease, reinforcing his reputation as nearly unbeatable. Onlookers believe only Wu Yao can challenge him.
• Bing Xuan and Wu Yao meet in the forest. Both want to fight, but they postpone their duel: a serious battle could leave the winner too weakened to reach the realm’s center and claim the Emperor Pearls.
• After half a month of overcoming obstacles, Wu Yao reaches the central palace first; Bing Xuan soon arrives.
• Before their duel, Wu Yao detects elders from Flowing Moon Palace hiding nearby, hoping to exploit a fight between the two. He kills one with a palm strike, while Bing Xuan kills another. The surviving elders flee.
• Wu Yao persuades Bing Xuan to enter the palace and secure its three Emperor Pearls before fighting. Though they expect to face savage beasts inside, the palace is eerily empty.

Character developments and interactions

• Bing Xuan is driven by years of frustration at being stuck in the late-stage Emperor King Realm. He hopes a contest with Wu Yao will help him break through to the Great Emperor Realm, and his trembling sword reveals his pent-up anticipation.
• Wu Yao is equally eager to test himself, but remains strategic. He delays the duel, swiftly deals with the ambush, and prioritizes their shared objective. He also has a separate aim: capturing Lin Feng.
• The two powerful cultivators show mutual respect, addressing one another as brothers and agreeing to postpone their rivalry. Their restraint is tactical, not a loss of competitive spirit; both remain poised to fight.

Significant themes

• Ambition and advancement: Both men see the Emperor Pearls as a possible route to greater power, especially Bing Xuan’s hoped-for breakthrough.
• Restraint and strategy: Their rivalry is intense, but they recognize that timing and survival matter more than fighting immediately.
• Power and opportunism: The Flowing Moon Palace elders try to profit from the two rivals’ conflict, only to be exposed and swiftly defeated.
• Suspense: The palace’s unexpected silence hints that the anticipated dangers—and perhaps the promised rewards—may not be straightforward.

Key plot points

• Wu Yao and Bing Xuan enter the palace’s eighteen trials expecting to face waves of formation-created Ferocious Beasts, but find the entire route eerily empty.
• They discover a recent sword mark at the fifteenth trial, confirming that a powerful cultivator has passed through. Excited by the chance to seize the Emperor Pearls, they hurry to the final trial.
• There they find Lin Feng and Snow Treader. The three Emperor Pearls are gone, and Wu Yao recognizes Lin Feng as a target he is supposed to capture.
• Lin Feng reveals through his thoughts that he cleared the trials in three days, with Snow Treader’s help, and took the pearls. He deliberately stayed behind to ambush powerful arrivals and collect more emperor crystals.
• Wu Yao attacks Lin Feng, but Lin Feng’s three flying swords overwhelm him in one strike, destroying his hand and hurling him into a wall.
• The observers outside the Secret Realm are stunned. Cold Star Palace’s Leng Hun, seeing Lin Feng as a future threat, secretly orders Wu Yao to stop holding back and kill him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Feng is revealed as far stronger and more calculating than his opponents—or the outside observers—expected. He welcomes the arrival of Wu Yao and Bing Xuan rather than fleeing.
• Wu Yao begins confident, intending to capture Lin Feng and claim the pearls, but is badly shaken by being defeated so decisively. Leng Hun’s covert command encourages him to unleash his full strength.
• Bing Xuan initially assumes Lin Feng reached the final trial through luck. Wu Yao’s defeat forces him to recognize Lin Feng’s true power; his sword reacts eagerly to the prospect of fighting him.
• Snow Treader has been instrumental in helping Lin Feng navigate the trials, though he does not directly participate in the confrontation.
• Leng Hun shifts from relief that Lin Feng stayed behind to alarm and murderous resolve, fearing Lin Feng’s future strength. High Person Flowing Cloud moves from confusion and worry to admiration, then vows to protect Lin Feng from an outside ambush.

Significant themes

• Underestimated strength: Reputation and assumptions fail when Lin Feng effortlessly wounds a renowned fighter.
• Ambition and danger: Lin Feng’s plan to use the palace’s trials as an opportunity to seize more resources draws powerful enemies.
• Fear of rising power: Leng Hun sees Lin Feng’s potential as a threat and responds with political violence.
• Observation versus reality: Those watching from outside misjudge Lin Feng until they witness his strength firsthand.

• Key events: Wu Yao reveals his perfected body-refining form, boasting that he has no equal among fighters of his realm. He and Bing Xuan plan to clear away the other challengers before fighting each other. Wu Yao attacks Lin Feng with a blood-red punch that pins him in place, but Lin Feng’s three flying swords meet it head-on and bring it to a standstill. Wu Yao escalates, unleashing a hundred punches. As Bing Xuan assumes Lin Feng is doomed, a single streak of light flashes across the battlefield and cuts Wu Yao’s neck. Wu Yao is killed instantly.
• Character developments: Wu Yao’s confidence and pride in his physical strength turn to frustration when Lin Feng withstands his attack; his overwhelming power ultimately fails to protect him. Bing Xuan’s eagerness to fight gives way to alarm and caution as he recognizes the threat Lin Feng poses. Lin Feng reveals that he has a lethal weapon or technique beyond the three swords he has shown.
• Significant themes: Raw strength and brute force can be countered by unexpected skill or hidden power. Overconfidence makes even formidable fighters vulnerable, and appearances can conceal the true danger.
• Character interactions: Wu Yao treats Lin Feng as an easy opponent and boasts to Bing Xuan about his strength. Bing Xuan eagerly urges Wu Yao to finish the fight so they can battle, but watches with growing respect and fear as events unfold. Lin Feng says nothing; his decisive counterattack answers both fighters’ assumptions.

• Lin Feng kills Wu Yao and Bing Xuan: Wu Yao, the Cold Star Palace’s strongest fighter below the Great Emperor realm, cannot withstand Lin Feng’s sword and dies within three moves. Bing Xuan tries to escape, but Lin Feng pins him with the Chaos Sword Embryo and kills him too.
• Lin Feng gains major resources: He takes both men’s Storage Rings, gaining over 40,000 Emperor Crystals and thousands of Beast Crystals. The Beast Crystals strengthen and refine the Chaos Sword Embryo, bringing it close to completion. Lin Feng has enough Emperor Crystals to pursue the Great Emperor realm, though the Secret Realm cannot accommodate such an advancement.
• Lin Feng plans his next move: Expecting others to converge on the central region, he hides nearby and prepares to ambush them. He knows the Pursuing the Sun Palace and Cold Star Palace will seek revenge, but is undeterred.
• The outside factions turn hostile: Yang Lu and Leng Hun blame High Person Flowing Cloud for the deaths and threaten to destroy the Flowing Moon Palace once the Secret Realm closes. Flowing Cloud remains calm, privately recognizing that Lin Feng has removed two major threats. The three palaces face an impending conflict.
  Character developments and interactions: Lin Feng’s power and confidence are unmistakable: he treats formidable opponents as easy prey and focuses on turning their deaths into resources and advantage. Bing Xuan shifts from confidence to panic when he realizes escape is impossible. Outside the Secret Realm, Yang Lu and Leng Hun’s grief and anger become threats against Flowing Cloud, while Flowing Cloud responds with quiet composure and approval of Lin Feng.
  Themes: The chapter emphasizes the gap between apparent rank and true strength, the ruthlessness of survival and cultivation, and the way power struggles turn individual victories into political consequences.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Feng ambushes and kills four Cold Star Palace elders who arrive at the palace, taking their Storage Rings and gaining enough Beast Crystals to complete the Chaos Sword.
• The completed sword absorbs surrounding chaos qi, reveals its patterns, and gives off an immense aura. Lin Feng considers testing himself against a Great Emperor but sensibly abandons the risky idea.
• Lin Feng’s three flying swords circle the Chaos Sword like subjects greeting a king. Its mysterious light strengthens them before all four return to his dantian.
• Over the following month, elders from the Cold Star and Pursuing the Sun Palaces continue disappearing, while most people who ventured near the Secret Realm’s central palace—including Lin Feng—remain unseen.
• Alarmed by the disappearances, Leng Hun and Yang Lu decide to end the Secret Realm trial early and bring everyone out. High Person Flowing Cloud tries to stop them, and both sides prepare for battle.
• Lin Feng reveals that he has killed every arriving elder from the two rival palaces and amassed 200,000 Emperor Crystals, plus three Emperor Pearls. The formation then teleports everyone out of the Secret Realm.

Character developments

• Lin Feng grows richer and more powerful, completes the Chaos Sword, and shows restraint by rejecting an unnecessary challenge to a Great Emperor.
• Leng Hun and Yang Lu become increasingly suspicious and desperate to retrieve the people inside, convinced that Lin Feng must be killed.
• High Person Flowing Cloud remains committed to protecting Lin Feng and obstructs the attempt to end the trial early.

Significant themes

• Power and restraint: Lin Feng gains a formidable weapon but chooses not to test it recklessly.
• Secrecy and consequence: Lin Feng’s hidden ambushes leave the outside factions unaware of what has happened until the missing elders raise suspicions.
• Rivalry and escalation: The effort to control the Secret Realm pushes the three palace factions toward open conflict.

Character interactions

• Lin Feng’s new Chaos Sword appears to command the loyalty of his three flying swords, strengthening them through its light.
• Leng Hun and Yang Lu confront High Person Flowing Cloud’s resistance as they try to end the trial; both sides gather reinforcements, setting the stage for battle.
• Lin Feng intends to give his three Emperor Pearls to High Person Flowing Cloud, valuing them as breakthrough aids for others.

Lin Feng emerged from the Secret Realm as the passage closed, and Leng Hun and Yang Lu attacked the Flowing Moon Palace to avenge their lost elders. As High Person Flowing Cloud fought to protect Lin Feng, Lin Feng revealed his Great Emperor Realm strength, killed Leng Hun, and turned his sword toward Yang Lu.

• Lin Feng was the last to leave the Secret Realm before its passage closed, leaving Leng Hun and Yang Lu furious that most of their elders had not returned.
• Leng Hun and Yang Lu surrounded the Flowing Moon Palace cultivators, but High Person Flowing Cloud stood between them and Lin Feng.
• Leng Hun and Yang Lu attacked Flowing Cloud together, and the three Great Emperor Realm cultivators fought to a stalemate.
• Leng Hun seized an opening and swung his axe at Lin Feng while Yang Lu trapped Flowing Cloud with his spear.
• Lin Feng used the Chaos Sword to shatter Leng Hun's axe and defensive bead, then pierced Leng Hun's glabella and killed him.
• Yang Lu froze as Lin Feng aimed the Chaos Sword at him, then dropped to his knees.