Chapter Summaries

Qin Yang entered the Incense Realm and tested whether Xun Mu was hiding among the Yan Luo Clan by waiting to see who followed him. He traveled with Luo Qi to the Mind-Calming Hall, took its Mind-Calming Incense and the hall itself, and left the Incense Monster inside it as Luo Qi caught up.

• Qin Yang waited outside the Wooden Door and concluded Xun Mu was with the Yan Luo Clan when no one followed him for half an hour.
• Luo Guodu argued with Luo Song about entering, but Luo Qi used Seclusion Incense to go through the door first.
• Luo Qi found Qin Yang in the sea of clouds and followed him; a monstrous fish swallowed her before Qin Yang killed it for ingredients and she escaped its mouth.
• Qin Yang reached a palace matching those in Xun Mu's dream and recognized that Xun Mu had once visited the Incense Realm.
• At the Mind-Calming Hall, Qin Yang persuaded the guardian to give him two chests of Mind-Calming Incense, then shrank and collected the hall.
• Qin Yang revealed that the guardian was actually the Incense Monster and let it remain inside the hall; Luo Qi arrived, and Qin Yang offered her some Mind-Calming Incense.

Qin Yang suspected that Xun Mu was using Luo Qi as a decoy, so he tested her and then staged a fake treasure hall to expose him. Xun Mu revealed himself and self-destructed again, while Qin Yang survived Luo Song’s poisoned attack and left Luo Guodu bewildered.

• Qin Yang gave Luo Qi three sticks of Mind-Calming Incense and concluded that she was probably not Xun Mu, though he suspected Xun Mu had arranged for her to act as a decoy.
• Qin Yang asked the Incense Monster to confirm that the Mind-Calming Incense he had found was not made by the Incense Master, then doubled back to prepare a trap.
• Qin Yang and Luo Qi broke through a hall’s barrier in front of Luo Song and Luo Guodu, after which Qin Yang twisted off Luo Qi’s head and destroyed her body and soul.
• Luo Song attacked Qin Yang with Luo Guodu’s help, poisoned him with a dark-blue spike, and was horrified when Qin Yang calmly drank hot tea despite his apparent fatal wound.
• Luo Qi reappeared, and Luo Song transformed into Xun Mu, who realized the scene was another illusion and self-destructed.
• Qin Yang expelled the toxin and healed his wound, while Luo Qi’s avatar disappeared and Luo Guodu remained too shocked to understand what had happened.

Qin Yang collected all twelve great halls in the Incense Realm and used them to speed the reconstruction of his Ruined Dao Palace before leaving. Zhang Zhengyi ignored Qin Yang’s warning and entered with expired Seclusion Incense, where the cloud sea swallowed him and revealed a vast world beneath it.

• Qin Yang found the Spirit Offering Hall, learned about Offering Incense from the Mind-Calming Incense Spirit, and collected the hall along with the others.
• Qin Yang placed five great halls and then the Mind-Calming Hall in his Ruined Dao Palace, where they accelerated its reconstruction.
• Zhang Zhengyi passed another trial and died in the Incense Realm, then revived at the bottom of the Eastern Sea and tried again.
• Xun Mu saw Qin Yang at a market stall and fled in terror before Qin Yang could finish greeting him.
• Qin Yang collected all twelve great halls and was forced out of the Incense Realm alongside Luo Guodu and Luo Qi; he left warning signs before exiting the Embroiderer Estate.
• Zhang Zhengyi ignored Qin Yang’s signs and entered with expired Seclusion Incense; the cloud sea killed him and split open to reveal another world beneath it.

As the Cloud Top Boundary began to change, Little Seventh secretly absorbed the Incense Realm’s inheritance, while Qin Yang helped Black Shadow escape the Sea Eye by reincarnating in a five-colored turtle egg. Black Shadow emerged as a tiny turtle, and Qin Yang immediately punished him for helping Little Seventh keep secrets.

• The Old Ghost of the Containing Incense Sect and a golden divine dragon watched the cloud top, and the old man read that its reopening marked the incense master's successor and likely meant the incense master had fallen.
• Three sea race experts arrived at the Netherworld Ship to check on Little Seventh, who hid in Actor’s imprint before coming out and agreeing to visit Verdant Grandma.
• Little Seventh told the Wood Spirit that she had sensed and remembered the Incense Realm’s hidden inheritance, then left with the sea race experts without Qin Yang realizing she had taken its greatest treasure.
• Qin Yang offered Black Shadow the Seclusion Incense and helped him choose a five-colored egg for reincarnation; Black Shadow used the incense to leave the Sea Eye and hatched as a black-based Five-Colored Turtle.
• Qin Yang stomped on Black Shadow and accused him of teaching Little Seventh to hide things, and Black Shadow admitted he had known about it.

Black Shadow revealed the False Body Imprint on Qin Yang and discussed the ancient races and courts before cultivating aboard the Netherworld Ship. Qin Yang returned to the Great Wilderness, Little Seventh received his letter, and Zhang Zhengyi posted warnings outside the Embroiderer Estate.

• Qin Yang learned from Black Shadow how to identify and remove the False Body Imprint, then found Little Seventh's tooth-mark imprint on the back of his head and decided to leave it in place.
• Black Shadow explained that humanity was only one of many ancient races and warned Qin Yang that others might mistake him for the reincarnation of the Lord of the Underworld.
• Black Shadow stayed aboard the Netherworld Ship to digest the Demon Hand's power, while Qin Yang sent a letter to Little Seventh and departed for the Great Wilderness.
• Little Seventh happily read Qin Yang's letter, and Verdant Grandma and Old Turtle urged her to invite her half-master, Black Shadow, to visit.
• Qin Yang considered the fighting in Great Yan's homeland as he traveled, while Zhang Zhengyi replaced the sign outside the Embroiderer Estate with warnings about the danger inside.

Qin Yang delivered millions of jin of spirit grain to Five Elements Mountain, the South Barbarian Land, and Great Ying’s army before investigating the stalled Northern Border war. He learned that Wang Baiqiang of the Northern Dipper Star Sect had blocked the advance with an array and agreed to confront him, then remembered Junior Brother Zhang might still be waiting for Xun Mu at the Embroiderer Estate.

• Qin Yang gave Five Elements Mountain three million jin of spirit grain and arranged equal gifts for the South Barbarian Land’s factions, then sent the remaining stock to Great Ying’s army.
• Qin Yang discovered Great Ying’s advance had stalled after entering Great Yan, where shifting commanders and the risk of attacking fortified cities had drained the army’s momentum.
• Qin Yang questioned Jia Yi’s deputy general, who explained that Wang Baiqiang had set up the Small Dipper Star Killing Array between two cities and that Great Yan’s forces disrupted attempts to break it by force.
• The deputy general told Qin Yang that Wang Baiqiang had studied under many array masters, leaving Great Ying without anyone willing or able to challenge him.
• Qin Yang agreed to meet Wang Baiqiang and considered asking Junior Brother Zhang for help, then wondered whether Junior Brother Zhang was still waiting for Xun Mu at the Embroiderer Estate.

Qin Yang entered Wang Baiqiang’s Small Dipper Star Killing Array and defeated it by using the Starfall Array Disk to exploit a tiny flaw. Wang Baiqiang tried to turn the defeat into a chance to serve Qin Yang, but Qin Yang killed his transformed body, only for Wang Baiqiang to reappear unharmed.

• Qin Yang traveled to the front lines and entered Wang Baiqiang’s starry array, where he found that its complexity made it difficult to break through ordinary array techniques.
• Qin Yang summoned the Starfall Array Disk and explained that a single well-placed rune could disrupt the Small Dipper Star Killing Array’s cohesion.
• Qin Yang caused the Starfall Array Disk to drain the array’s power, forcing Wang Baiqiang to abandon his defenses.
• Wang Baiqiang thanked Qin Yang for exposing the array’s weakness, offered him an ancestral Jade Talisman, and declared that he would serve him.
• Qin Yang rejected Wang Baiqiang’s attempt to avoid defeat, twisted off his head, and watched his body transform into a book before Wang Baiqiang appeared on a nearby mountain, shocked.

Qin Yang killed Wang Baiqiang’s apparent body, discovered it was a Dharma Idol, and declined to kill the real Wang Baiqiang, who begged to join the Netherworld Ship and learn from him. Qin Yang traded the Starfall Array diagram for Wang Baiqiang’s Dharma Idol Book, then left with the book to keep reading its seemingly endless, mundane biographies.

• Qin Yang realized the Wang Baiqiang he had killed was a Dharma Idol, while the real Wang Baiqiang remained unharmed.
• Wang Baiqiang praised Qin Yang and begged to join the Netherworld Ship, but Qin Yang forgave him and ended their array contest.
• Wang Baiqiang pressed Qin Yang to explain his star-powered array, and Qin Yang identified it as the Starfall Array, enhanced with an ancient star and Dao Artifacts.
• Qin Yang asked to see Wang Baiqiang’s Dharma Idol Book in exchange for the Starfall Array diagram, and Wang Baiqiang immediately handed it over.
• Qin Yang read the book’s lengthy, ordinary biographies, gave Wang Baiqiang the array diagram, and left while keeping the book until he finished reading it.

Qin Yang read and copied Wang Baiqiang’s Dharma Idol Book, discovering that its 667 protagonists had all existed and died miserably, including a Stupa Demon Sect disciple whose story intersected with Qin Yang’s past. After finishing the book, Qin Yang returned it and gave Wang Baiqiang the Starfall Array Compendium, leaving him wondering how much Qin Yang had figured out about the book.

• Qin Yang copied the Dharma Idol Book while Wang Baiqiang reluctantly followed him back to Great Ying’s camp and offered to serve at his side.
• After reading nearly three hundred stories, Qin Yang noticed that every protagonist had died a miserable death.
• Qin Yang recognized a story about a Stupa Demon Sect disciple who had once nearly killed him and realized the stories recorded real lives in extraordinary detail.
• Qin Yang finished all 667 stories, ruled out the possibility that their protagonists were all Wang Baiqiang’s past lives, and returned the Dharma Idol Book.
• Qin Yang asked whether Wang Baiqiang had deliberately made his Dharma Idol into a book, then gave him the Starfall Array Compendium as thanks for answering.

Qin Yang left the Great Ying camp to help the Patrol Envoys investigate a breach in their outer-space defenses, where he encountered and killed a mysterious Fiend. He absorbed two light orbs from its corpse and prepared to examine the strange black one.

• Qin Yang concluded that Great Ying’s campaign against Great Yan would likely stall while Yijia focused on preparing for the Emperor Ying’s possible escape.
• Qin Yang discovered Wang Baiqiang sleeping inside the Immovable Eight Wastelands Array and ordered others to protect him and conceal his condition.
• Qin Yang received Purple Phoenix’s request for help after a Fiend infiltrated the second layer of outer space and killed a crucial array master.
• Qin Yang traveled to Yang City, entered Yang Pass, and met Blue Phoenix and Blood Phoenix at the Patrol Envoys’ outer-space stronghold.
• Qin Yang killed the captured skunk-like Fiend with black lightning and transcended its corpse, drawing one white light orb and one black light orb.
• Qin Yang pressed the white orb into his head to inspect its secret while keeping the strange black orb for later.

Qin Yang analyzed the clues about a human betrayer and searched the Patrol Envoys’ records for the internal traitor while studying the Array Cluster. After a year of research, he urged Blood Phoenix to take him to repair it immediately, then asked how the previous array grandmaster had died.

• Qin Yang inferred that the human who contacted the giant was most likely from the Great Yan Divine Dynasty, and concluded that the human betrayer and the internal traitor were probably different people.
• Qin Yang sealed the dangerous black qi in an iron box and threw it into the sea eye after Golden Pig warned him not to use it as a test.
• Qin Yang examined decades of entry and exit records, found no outsiders listed, and began compiling Patrol Envoys who had visited the Outer Battlefield as suspects.
• Qin Yang spent three months studying array diagrams and maintenance records, then nine more months reviewing detailed records about the second layer of outer space and its personnel.
• Qin Yang told Blood Phoenix he was ready to repair the Array Cluster, and she agreed to escort him immediately so they could work before the traitor alerted their enemies.
• Qin Yang asked Blood Phoenix how the previous array grandmaster had died, and she said an unidentified, incurable poison had shattered his divine soul and extinguished his consciousness.

Qin Yang repaired the damaged Inverted Pyramids while Blood Phoenix held off a Fiend assault, then used clones and a token to lure the traitor into revealing herself. Blood Phoenix exposed and killed Red Phoenix, leaving Qin Yang to ask that she preserve the traitor’s body as evidence.

• Blood Phoenix told Qin Yang that his master's poisoned body had been disposed of in the Void Storm, then led him to the Array Cluster's damaged Inverted Pyramids.
• Qin Yang used clones to repair the Inverted Pyramids while Blood Phoenix fought the attacking Fiends on the Outer Battlefield.
• A God-Killing Arrow targeted Qin Yang, but he intercepted it with his own arrow before it struck.
• After Qin Yang finished repairing the Array Cluster, Blood Phoenix attacked a clone, and Qin Yang revealed that he had been waiting for the traitor to come to silence him.
• Blood Phoenix chased and killed Qin Yang's clones until she recognized his token and fled, only to be thrown back into the Inverted Pyramid by a barrier.
• The traitor's disguise fell away, revealing Red Phoenix; she tried to stab Blood Phoenix, who engulfed her in a sea of blood, while Qin Yang pleaded for an intact corpse.

Qin Yang discovered that the black power had infiltrated Red Phoenix’s memories and consciousness, turning her into a traitor without her choosing it. After returning to the second layer, he created a clone to discuss his anger and whether he could leave the battlefield safely.

• Blood Phoenix absorbed the sea of blood, and Qin Yang placed Red Phoenix’s corpse in the Inverted Pyramid’s incinerator after performing rites for her soul.
• Qin Yang tested the black power with a clone, discovered it could invade memories and self-awareness, and used the Thinking Art and Fisherman's Slumber Calming Song to destroy its influence.
• Qin Yang realized Red Phoenix had been infiltrated while gravely wounded and unconscious, then saw her treasured memory of Jiayi rescuing her as a child.
• Blood Phoenix told Qin Yang that Red Phoenix’s death had been a liberation for her and described how a sacrificed array grandmaster had gone mad and destroyed the Array Cluster.
• After passing inspection and returning to the second layer, Qin Yang reviewed sketches of the invading beings and created a clone to discuss his anger and whether he could leave safely.
• Qin Yang’s clone reminded him that the issue was no longer whether he wanted to leave, but whether he could leave smoothly.

Qin Yang learned that a black-mist Horned Dragon had infiltrated the Array Cluster but was destroyed by the defenses he had strengthened, prompting Purple Phoenix to ask him to reinforce more Inverted Pyramids. As he went with her, he concluded that someone was trying to keep him from returning to the Great Ying Divine Dynasty and that Red Phoenix had likely been only a minor traitor, while the real traitor remained unidentified.

• A black-mist Horned Dragon tried to infiltrate a repaired Inverted Pyramid, but its runes blocked, suppressed, and erased it.
• Qin Yang attended Red Phoenix's empty-tomb funeral, and Purple Phoenix showed him a record of the infiltration and asked him to reinforce the Array Cluster.
• Purple Phoenix told Qin Yang that Blood Phoenix was inspecting the defenses and that the New Emperor had not yet emerged from seclusion.
• Qin Yang agreed to help, then reasoned that his access to the Array Cluster's core made him a target and that someone was preventing his return to the Great Ying Divine Dynasty.
• Qin Yang concluded that Red Phoenix was probably not the main traitor and decided to revise his list of suspects, excluding Purple Phoenix, Blood Phoenix, and Blue Phoenix.

Qin Yang finished reinforcing the defensive Array Clusters, but the enemy’s real target turned out to be the Patrol Envoys’ base and its connections to the Great Wilderness. After the gates were cut off, Qin Yang sent the Puppet Master through the Gale Wind Layer with supplies to restore contact, while Vermilion Bird sought reassurance that the strengthened arrays could not be broken.

• Qin Yang completed the final Inverted Pyramid reinforcement while Black Phoenix guarded him, and he realized the enemy might already have acted without trying to kill him.
• Vermilion Bird secretly caused events that damaged Yangguan City’s hidden gate, and Blood Phoenix discovered that all three passages from the Patrol Envoys’ base had become unusable.
• Qin Yang studied ancient records and found that the gates could be recalibrated if someone delivered the necessary items to the Great Wilderness.
• Blood Phoenix tested Qin Yang’s identity and gave him a box, which Qin Yang entrusted to the Puppet Master to carry through the Gale Wind Layer to Li Capital for Jiayi or another trusted person.
• Vermilion Bird asked Qin Yang whether the strengthened Array Cluster could be broken, and he assured her that it could not.

Qin Yang searched the Patrol Envoys’ secret records for evidence against Purple Phoenix but found nothing suspicious, while Blood Phoenix revealed her trust in Purple Phoenix and gave Qin Yang records of her own vulnerabilities. After Yellow Sparrow declared that the traitor was still alive, the claim spread through the base, leaving Qin Yang wondering how Yellow Sparrow knew and turning the rumors into a possible lead.

• Qin Yang read the secret records about Purple Phoenix’s history and found no evidence that she was the traitor.
• Blood Phoenix told Qin Yang she had investigated Purple Phoenix for three millennia, gave him records of her own weaknesses, and urged him to prepare for the worst.
• Qin Yang considered using the Dao Sect’s intelligence network but decided the attempt was too dangerous.
• Yellow Sparrow told Qin Yang that the traitor was still alive, then went to speak with Blood Phoenix.
• Blue Phoenix told Qin Yang that Yellow Sparrow’s claim had spread throughout the base, and Qin Yang wondered how Yellow Sparrow had learned it.

Qin Yang pursued Yellow Sparrow to learn how he knew the traitor was alive, then entered the Outer Battlefield and fought through hordes of strange beasts and fiends. He exposed and killed a celestial demon disguised as Vermilion Bird, then tested the arriving Vermilion Bird with rock, paper, scissors before agreeing to regroup.

• Qin Yang chased Yellow Sparrow and learned that Yellow Sparrow remembered overhearing Vermilion Bird discuss the traitor, though he could not explain how he had heard it.
• Qin Yang discovered that a strange power had led him into the Outer Battlefield and locked him outside the Array Cluster, so he summoned Ugly Chicken and Demon Head and fought into the battlefield.
• Qin Yang battled waves of strange beasts and fiends until a false Vermilion Bird ambushed him inside an illusion.
• Qin Yang broke the illusion, recognized that the attacker was a celestial demon, and used the Blood Transformation Demon Blade to destroy it with Demon Head's help.
• Qin Yang met Vermilion Bird and Yellow Sparrow, verified Yellow Sparrow's identity, and used a rock, paper, scissors trick to test Vermilion Bird before setting off with them.

Qin Yang exposed two impostors, killed one and pursued the surviving Heavenly Demon to a Fiend stronghold, where the Heavenly Demon King trapped him in a vision built from his own memories. Qin Yang broke free, but black qi had already connected to him, and the Heavenly Demon King was watching.

• Qin Yang used the Starfall Array and a rock-paper-scissors test to expose the fake Vermilion Bird, then left Yellow Sparrow inside the array and attacked the fake Yellow Sparrow outside.
• Qin Yang killed the fake Yellow Sparrow with black lightning and the Starfall Array, then used the Blood Transformation Demon Blade to devour most of the fake Vermilion Bird.
• Qin Yang followed the remaining Heavenly Demon to a Fiend stronghold, where he met an Azure Bull Great Demon and posed as a survivor from the Burning Tribe.
• The Heavenly Demon King killed and impersonated the Azure Bull Great Demon, then recognized Qin Yang and trapped him in a vision of a woman in bridal clothes.
• Qin Yang realized the vision came from his own memories and shattered it, only to find black qi connected to him as the Heavenly Demon King watched.

Qin Yang countered the Heavenly Demon King’s possession by flooding his mind with overwhelming information, then killed him with the Twelve Demon Swords inside his consciousness. Afterward, Qin Yang survived the demonic corruption and realized the swords were connected to the One Word Art.

• The Heavenly Demon King took control of Qin Yang’s body and probed his thoughts while planning to use his identity to kill the New Emperor and Qin Yang’s companions.
• Qin Yang unleashed the Thinking Art, overwhelming the Heavenly Demon King with a torrent of information and trapping his escaping black qi with Halo Sets.
• Qin Yang used the Twelve Demon Swords in his consciousness and forced the Heavenly Demon King to reveal that Chou Ge knew the Great Wilderness traitor’s identity and that Vermilion Bird was the Patrol Envoys’ traitor.
• Qin Yang ignored the Heavenly Demon King’s warning about demonic corruption and cut him down with a black sword, erasing his consciousness.
• Qin Yang gathered the remaining demon qi into his Sea Eye, drove off a giant beast, and concluded that the Twelve Demon Swords were a diluted ability derived from the One Word Art.

After killing the Heavenly Demon King, Qin Yang rested to recover from pushing the Thinking Art beyond its safe limits, then left the desolate land with the Blood Transformation Demon and headed toward a distant battlefield. The Blood Transformation Demon Heads fought over the leftover demonic energy, and the chapter ended as Qin Yang approached the battlefront while keeping the Heavenly Demon King's intelligence to himself.

• Qin Yang stayed on the flattened land to recover, and the Blood Transformation Demon emerged and submitted to him.
• The Blood Transformation Demon gathered lesser Demon Heads to guard Qin Yang, who slept for a week and then spent more than ten days collecting the remaining demonic energy.
• Qin Yang left the land and allowed the Demon Heads to divide the leftover energy, which drove them to fight until one survivor gained intelligence and bowed toward Qin Yang's departing direction.
• The Blood Transformation Demon reported that Fiends were moving toward a battlefield where Foreign Races were retreating before the Patrol Envoys.
• Qin Yang chose not to trust the Heavenly Demon King's claims about Vermilion Bird or reveal its intelligence, and he approached the battlefield as divine light appeared on the horizon.