Chapter Summaries

Qin Yang arranged for the Azure Ox Demons to settle near Desperate Estate, while distant threats and strange powers stirred across the seas and the Great Wilderness. At Yellow Springs River, a bewitching man was driven off by the ferryman and then recognized the barefoot girl as the Three Bodies Dao Lord.

• Qin Yang made a new Little Notebook for ordinary tasks and offered Old Ox three places where the Azure Ox Demons could settle.
• Old Ox chose to remain in the Great Ying Divine Dynasty, and Qin Yang provided Jade Rice Spirit Wheat and a Spirit Fruit orchard for the clan near Desperate Estate.
• Wang Baiqiang became the Netherworld Ship’s formation master, while the Dragon Head Giant left his hiding place to seek a way to deal with the sword wound.
• A ghostly blue light possessed the last surviving sea clansman in the Dead Sea, transformed him into a powerful bewitching man, and guided him toward Yellow Springs River.
• The bewitching man tried to board the ferryman’s boat without paying, but the ferryman struck him with an oar and hurled him hundreds of li away.
• The bewitching man saw a barefoot young girl by Yellow Springs River and laughed, identifying her as the Three Bodies Dao Lord.

The eerie man failed to cross the Yellow Springs after angering its ferryman and left Ruo Bing behind. Lost in the Boundless Void, the rhinoceros beetle accepted guidance from the Black Oil and continued pushing the Sacred Tree, while Qin Yang remained unaware it was alive.

• The eerie man apologized to the Yellow Springs Ferryman with a soul offering, but the ferryman barred him from crossing, so he left and vowed to destroy Ruo Bing’s backup plans.
• Ruo Bing watched the boat vanish into the mist, then retreated into the Yellow Springs.
• The rhinoceros beetle became completely lost after the Sacred Tree crushed distorted space and erased the last trace of spiritual energy guiding it.
• The Black Oil offered to guide the rhinoceros beetle in exchange for flesh and blood, but it refused to pay and said it could wait for time to erase it.
• The rhinoceros beetle eventually accepted the Black Oil’s guidance and slowly pushed the Sacred Tree onward, thinking of Qin Yang along the way.
• At Desperate Estate, Qin Yang warned Green Caterpillar that its Sacred Tree leaf snacks would run out and suggested it try other food or learn a cultivation method.

Qin Yang searched the Great Ying scripture repository for cultivation methods and clues about the Ancient Underworld, then prepared to investigate the Black Forest Sea. After the Puppet Master questioned whether he was truly a living being, Qin Yang reassured him but began to suspect that the Puppet Master was the real ancient master who had entered the Sea of Thoughts.

• Qin Yang found an ancient Qi Refining method for Green Caterpillar and gave it to Ugly Chicken to teach.
• Qin Yang found records suggesting Old Soil was an Ancient Underworld fragment and learned that Purple Firmament Dao Lord and Burial Sea Dao Lord had once traveled there before Emperor Ying defeated them.
• Qin Yang examined reports of a road of destruction through the Black Forest Sea and decided to investigate its Ancient Underworld fragments for a divine tree.
• Qin Yang asked the Puppet Master to accompany him, and the Puppet Master asked whether he had once been a living being or had always been a puppet.
• Qin Yang reassured the Puppet Master that he was human, then reasoned that the Puppet Master might be the real ancient master who had entered the Sea of Thoughts and endured its repeating cycles.

Qin Yang traveled to the Black Forest Sea to seek greater strength, but a figure appeared on the Yellow Springs River and drove him to flee. He then reached a known entrance to another fragment of the Ancient Underworld, while a three-eyed Black Oil creature escaped the Ghost Pit and was chased by the Yin Bei Beast.

• Qin Yang considered the possibility that ancient powers had survived through the Sea of Thoughts and decided to improve his strength in the Black Forest Sea.
• Qin Yang visited Li Capital, saw the Wedding Dress cultivating in her Dao Palace, and left without disturbing her.
• In the Boundless Void, the rhinoceros beetle used the divine tree to collide with distorted space, while the Black Oil slipped through a crack toward another world.
• The Black Oil emerged in the Nether Saint Sect's Ghost Pit, consumed ghosts, stole an arm and a leg from the Great Ghost, and escaped as the Yin Bei Beast pursued it.
• Qin Yang saw a figure walking across the Yellow Springs River, apologized, and fled before heading east toward an entrance to another fragment of the Ancient Underworld.

Qin Yang and Mo Yang entered a perilous Ancient Underworld fragment and were trapped inside the eerie town of Rockstead. After a bewitching outsider offered to explain how to escape in exchange for payment, Qin Yang refused and left without paying for the wine he had spat back into his cup.

• Qin Yang sent Mo Yang into the fissure first, then followed and found his True Essence heavily suppressed inside the Ancient Underworld fragment.
• Qin Yang and Mo Yang traveled across a silent plain beneath an upside-down reflection of the land and spotted a strange settlement ahead.
• Qin Yang tried to avoid the settlement, but he and Mo Yang were forcibly drawn beneath its entrance archway, marked with the name Rockstead.
• A shop assistant approached Qin Yang, and a bewitching outsider invited him to a tavern, claiming he knew how to leave Rockstead.
• Qin Yang drank the outsider's wine by diverting its effects into the Sea Eye, then watched the outsider pay with a piece of his soul after warning that unpaid bills meant death.
• When the outsider demanded payment for escape information, Qin Yang refused, spat the wine back into his cup, and left.

Qin Yang studied the town’s rules, earned local currency by selling Halo Sets, and used his knowledge to keep the eerie man outside the inn during the dangerous night. After the Nether Envoy took a human woman’s soul through the eerie man, the shaken man invited Qin Yang to talk over food and wine.

• Qin Yang sold Halo Sets at the pawnshop, then paid for a room and invited the eerie man to drink with him.
• A Nether Envoy entered the town after nightfall, and Qin Yang refused the eerie man’s offer to reveal how to leave in exchange for a favor.
• Qin Yang spent several days gathering information and buying goods, then reserved all twelve rooms at the inn so the eerie man could not enter for the night.
• The Nether Envoy passed the eerie man and drew a human old woman’s soul from him, leaving him unconscious until his awareness returned.
• Qin Yang paid to reserve all twelve rooms for thirty days, and the next day the eerie man offered him food and wine for a polite conversation.

Qin Yang questioned Bai Lin about his identity and intentions, then saw the reflected world punish Bai Lin’s true form for a suspected lie. He concluded that the town’s central rule was truth as judged by each person’s own heart and began considering how to leave.

• Qin Yang refused to let Bai Lin control their conversation and asked who he was and what he wanted help with; Bai Lin gave the name Li Yizhi and the last name Bai Lin, but withheld his request.
• When Bai Lin tried to stop Qin Yang from leaving by saying he could tell him something, the reflected world appeared and black lightning and a Coiled Dragon Stone Pillar injured Bai Lin in sync with his reflected true form.
• Qin Yang inferred that the reflected world punished lies and reconsidered the townspeople’s words and behavior as evidence of a truth-based rule.
• Qin Yang tested his theory by having Mo Yang repeat a false statement; the reflection exposed Mo Yang’s puppet body and struck it, confirming that spoken lies could trigger punishment.
• Qin Yang concluded that the rules judged truth within each person’s heart and turned his attention to finding a way out of the town.

The three-eyed monster fled the pursuing Yin Bei Beast into a strange small town, where its attack on Bai Lin triggered the town’s supernatural judgment. Qin Yang used a Dark Night Udumbara petal to arrange a deal with the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man, then approached the apparently dead Bai Lin.

• The three-eyed monster escaped the Yin Bei Beast by entering a mountain crevice, and the beast followed his traces into the small town where Qin Yang was staying.
• Qin Yang learned that the vegetable seller had rented land from the lord who appeared at night, while Bai Lin continued losing a divine soul whenever the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man passed.
• The three-eyed monster appeared in town and attacked Bai Lin, but Coiled Dragon Stone Pillars suppressed the monster’s many faces and struck Bai Lin as well.
• The Yin Bei Beast arrived, recognized Qin Yang, and eagerly confirmed that it had been chasing the three-eyed monster.
• The Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man collected the suppressed faces and took another of Bai Lin’s divine souls, leaving him apparently lifeless.
• Qin Yang offered the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man a Dark Night Udumbara petal, confirmed he could step onto the street, and touched Bai Lin.

Qin Yang traded a Dark Night Udumbara petal with the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man, triggering a judgment that seemingly destroyed the man, then negotiated a new deal and learned how to leave town. After staying for more than a month, Qin Yang departed while Bai Lin remained trapped by the judgments he had triggered.

• Qin Yang offered the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man a Dark Night Udumbara petal and other goods for information and banknotes, but a Coiled Dragon bronze pillar struck the man down after the trade.
• Qin Yang kept the Black Oil, divine souls, and banknotes but left the petal on the ground, where Bai Lin picked it up and was struck by another judgment.
• Qin Yang booked every room at the inn with banknotes, excluded Bai Lin, and waited for the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man to return the following night.
• Qin Yang agreed that the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man could help him once in the future to settle the rest of their trade, and received a yellow paper bearing the man’s palm print.
• Qin Yang stayed in town for more than a month, then left easily after learning that outsiders could depart after seven days unless judgments extended their required stay.
• Qin Yang realized Bai Lin had triggered enough judgments to be trapped for nearly fifty years at minimum.

Qin Yang tested primordial spirits fused with faces from the Black Oil, feeding the maddened ones to the Yin Bei Beast and questioning those who retained their minds. After the Six-Tailed White Fox escaped by using an illusion, Qin Yang marked it in his Little Notebook and continued testing the faces, finally meeting an old woman who remembered her ties to the Longyou Tian Family.

• Qin Yang pulled faces from the Black Oil and gave the maddened sea-urchin and lobster spirits to the Yin Bei Beast to eat.
• Zhao Qingshan regained consciousness in a chubby child's face, identified himself as a member of the Great Yin Divine Dynasty's imperial clan, and was stunned to learn the dynasty had fallen.
• The Six-Tailed White Fox regained consciousness and fled by leaving an illusory body behind, prompting Qin Yang to mark it in his Little Notebook.
• Qin Yang told the Yin Bei Beast to eat anyone who tried tricks, then used his Eyes of Illusory Breaking while testing the old woman's face.
• The old woman regained her composure, said she came from the Longyou Tian Family, and spoke with Qin Yang, who asked whether she recognized Zhao Qingshan.

Qin Yang revived dozens of divine souls, questioned them, and escorted the thirty-two who remained sane out of the Black Forest Sea, keeping Zhao Qingshan with him. He then reached a section of Nether Spirit Divine Wood, where night brought forth endless ghosts that attacked him and repeatedly returned after being destroyed.

• The old woman of the Tian clan recalled only fragments of her past, and Qin Yang concluded that the divine souls had lost memories as their spirits burned away.
• Qin Yang revived the remaining divine souls, discarded those who were violent or irrational, and questioned the thirty-two who remained without learning anything useful.
• Qin Yang escorted the thirty-two ghosts to the eastern coast of the Black Forest Sea and let them go, then allowed Zhao Qingshan to stay inside a piece of black jade.
• Qin Yang continued through the Ancient Underworld fragment and found a huge, broken section of Nether Spirit Divine Wood that resonated with him.
• Night fell near the divine wood, bringing forth countless ghosts that swarmed Qin Yang and reappeared after his attacks destroyed them.
• Qin Yang sheltered inside the Puppet Master's sphere, used a Destruction Ball against the ghosts, and took out the Fengdu Token when they returned.

Qin Yang used Ancient Underworld banknotes to bargain his way through the ghosts and reached the Nether Spirit Divine Wood, where he began absorbing its power. Meanwhile, the Six-Tailed White Fox became trapped in the realm, and Bai Lin asked a vegetable seller to bury him if he died.

• Qin Yang used the Fengdu Token to stop nearby ghosts, then discovered that the Black Jade Divine Gate only sent ghosts into his Dao Palace and could not destroy them.
• Qin Yang realized that banknotes attracted the ghosts, scattered them to clear a path, and paid the bronze-bell Great Ghost Wang Wang to let him pass.
• Qin Yang crossed the Nether Spirit Divine Wood and recognized that the apparent true world and its reflection were separated by a mirror-like boundary, then began absorbing the tree's power to advance his Wood Spirit Body.
• The Six-Tailed White Fox tried repeatedly to leave the desolate land but remained trapped, so it headed back to the town to seek the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man.
• Bai Lin marked another day in the town and asked the vegetable seller to bury him if he died, handing over a one-tael banknote.

Bai Lin escaped the twisted town by exploiting his divine souls and a promise from the vegetable-selling uncle, but he ran into hostile Great Ghosts on the Nether Spirit Divine Wood. Meanwhile, Qin Yang advanced his Wood Spirit Body into the Divine Wood True Body and resolved to pursue greater offensive power.

• Bai Lin discovered that dying prevented his confinement sentence from increasing, then arranged for the vegetable-selling uncle to carry his corpse beyond the town boundary, where Bai Lin revived.
• Bai Lin traveled toward the Nether Spirit Divine Wood, used his soul flames to push back ghost creatures, and told Wang Wang that he was heading near Mount Hao Li.
• Bai Lin said he and Qin Yang were friends, but another Great Ghost accused him of impersonating a Prefect Lord subordinate and knocked him off the tree as a group of Great Ghosts attacked.
• Qin Yang completed the advancement of his Wood Spirit Body into the Divine Wood True Body, gaining a passive ability that converted harmful substances into nourishment.
• Qin Yang decided to advance his Fire Spirit Body next in hopes of gaining a powerful offensive ability, while Bai Lin blamed him for setting up the attack and vowed revenge.

Qin Yang explored the Ancient Underworld fragment, witnessed the Six-Tailed White Fox revive after being crushed, and concluded that the fragment’s flawed rules might be mending because of the Dark Night Udumbara petal he gave the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man. After leaving the fragment, he wondered why no one had found any fragments of the Ancient Heavenly Court.

• Qin Yang absorbed the Nether Spirit Divine Wood’s power, then retraced his route through the fragment while considering how its incomplete rules might explain the strange events.
• Qin Yang watched a Coiled Dragon Stone Pillar crush the Six-Tailed White Fox, but the fox revived with one fewer tail; later, it returned to offer itself to the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man.
• Qin Yang suspected the white fox had been unable to escape because the fragment’s flaws were being mended, and connected the change to the Dark Night Udumbara petal he had given the Umbrella-Holding Black-Robed Man.
• Qin Yang sealed his remaining Dark Night Udumbara petal away, left the fragment, and briefly glimpsed its land beneath a cracked ancient mirror with a withered branch between them.
• Qin Yang wondered why no one had discovered fragments of the Ancient Heavenly Court, then the narration ended with an author’s note about staying in a hotel during renovations.

Tian Family Old Ancestor welcomed back his long-lost elder sister and, grateful to Qin Yang, had the Tian family declare its position at court against intervention in the Sand Sea Desert conflict. Meanwhile, Qin Yang sensed an unseen watcher and tested Yin Bei Beast’s venom, leaving the beast to bite both his feet.

• The old Tian woman scolded Tian Family Old Ancestor and became Tian LuanYu’s strongest supporter, while Tian Family Old Ancestor renewed his bond with his sister.
• Tian Family Old Ancestor directed Tian Pengfei to attack Tang Peng’s proposal at court, and the Tian family’s stance ended debate over Great Ying’s involvement in the Sand Sea Desert conflict.
• Jiayi realized Qin Yang was behind the Tian family’s action, stopped Purple Phoenix’s investigation, and ordered her to notify her whenever Qin Yang returned.
• Qin Yang sensed an unseen observer but found no sign of one, then raised his guard against his enemies.
• Qin Yang pulled down the overfed Yin Bei Beast and let it bite both his feet to test its transformed venom.

Qin Yang took Yin Bei Beast to Ghost Pit to feed it and learned that the Nether Saint Sect was close to defeating the Great Ghost. As the Sect Master prepared to claim Ghost Pit’s hidden realms, White Ghost saw familiar faces in a mass of Black Oil and wondered whether Three Bodies Great One had returned.

• Qin Yang praised Yin Bei Beast for marking his feet, then took it to Ghost Pit to replenish its strength.
• Yin Bei Beast devoured ghost creatures at Ghost Pit while Qin Yang stayed nearby to protect it.
• Qin Yang learned that the Nether Saint Sect was fighting to seize Ghost Pit and worried that it might later threaten the Yellow Springs Demon Sect and Master Cui.
• Qin Yang saw the Nether Saint Sect channeling power through white banners into Ghost Pit and considered interfering with its advance.
• The Nether Saint Sect’s Sect Master learned that Ghost Pit contained three layers of secret realms and expected the Great Ghost’s defeat.
• The injured Great Ghost begged the being behind the gray stone gate for forgiveness, and White Ghost recognized familiar faces in Black Oil and asked if Three Bodies Great One had returned.

White Ghost restored the Great Ghost at the cost of his future potential, then offered him a fragment of the Heaven Mending Immortal Scripture. As the Great Ghost turned the tables on the invading Nether Saint Sect, White Ghost discovered Qin Yang and knocked open his Heart Door.

• White Ghost forced the Great Ghost’s severed limbs to regenerate, leaving him stronger but without hope of further advancement.
• White Ghost promised the Great Ghost a fragment of the Heaven Mending Immortal Scripture, giving him new hope.
• The Great Ghost killed the six strongest Ghost Kings who had aided the Nether Saint Sect, then confronted the sect’s invasion with renewed strength.
• Qin Yang entered the secret realm and found the Great Ghost overwhelming the Nether Saint Sect, so he decided there was no need for him to intervene.
• White Ghost spotted Qin Yang, used a lantern to reveal his Heart Door, and knocked it open.

Qin Yang trapped White Ghost’s projected consciousness in an accelerated dream and erased it, then confirmed the White Paper Lantern had become ownerless. He consulted his notes and prepared to follow the route to White Ghost’s bound true body.

• White Ghost opened Qin Yang’s Heart Door, and the two looked inside together; White Ghost called Qin Yang’s pitch-black heart pure.
• Qin Yang entered the black Heart Door world with White Ghost, sensed a second white Consciousness Door, and let White Ghost enter the world beyond it.
• Qin Yang used the accelerated consciousness world to trap White Ghost in a layered dream of the Third Secret Realm, where they talked for decades as Qin Yang gathered information.
• Qin Yang recorded their conversation, severed his connection to the dream, and used the Fisherman's Slumber Calming Song to erase the dream and White Ghost’s projected consciousness.
• Qin Yang touched the White Paper Lantern and confirmed it was ownerless, then checked his notebook for the route to White Ghost’s bound true body.

Qin Yang confirmed that White Ghost's consciousness was gone and tracked down his true body beneath the third secret realm, where a stone-door relief unleashed a devastating strike from a bald figure with a firewood chopper. After salvaging White Ghost's body and reading the Little Notebook, Qin Yang suspected Three Bodies Dao Lord had trapped White Ghost using a memory of that figure; the chapter ended with Qin Yang debating what to do with the body.

• Qin Yang verified that the White Paper Lantern was ownerless, then concealed himself and ventured underground while the Nether Saint Sect continued fighting the Great Ghost.
• Qin Yang found a dusty stone door and had Mo Yang clear it, but the puppet's blades cracked the door and released a killing force that nearly overwhelmed Qin Yang and the Puppet Master.
• A relief of a bald figure in a blood-red robe wielding a firewood chopper appeared, and its strike battered the Puppet Master before the door returned to normal.
• Qin Yang opened the stone door, found White Ghost's empty true body, and used salvation to obtain the Heaven Mending Immortal Scripture (Fragment), All Heavens Projection, and Body Severing Method.
• Qin Yang read the Little Notebook and pieced together White Ghost's history, then suspected Three Bodies Dao Lord had sealed a severed memory of the bald figure onto the door to imprison White Ghost through his own fear.
• Qin Yang wondered whether to bury White Ghost's body or let the Yin Bei Beast eat it.

Qin Yang buried White Ghost, stole the underground hall, and escaped while the Nether Saint Sect and Great Ghost fought. He then captured Yue Zhi and left the sects to clash, but Great Ghost discovered that the place where the great lord slept had been taken and blamed the Stupa Demon Sect.

• Qin Yang placed White Ghost and the Yin Bei Beast in a coffin, then took the entire underground hall and slipped away.
• After returning to the Ghost Pit, Qin Yang saw the Stupa Demon Sect sealing the cold pool and Yue Zhi slaughtering Nether Saint Sect cultivators.
• Qin Yang sent a clone to destroy the cold-pool seal, then had the Puppet Master trap Yue Zhi and sent them both to the Sea Eye.
• The Nether Saint Sect retreated from the secret realm as its power supply failed, and Great Ghost found the underground hall missing.
• When the Nether Sect Master blamed the Stupa Demon Sect for manipulating the conflict, Great Ghost realized the sect might have taken the great lord's sleeping place and rushed after it.