Chapter Summaries

Chen Fei and the Rat Demon gathered spiritual materials across the secret realm, escaping an Earthworm Monster and taking treasures from a spider den. By dusk, Chen Fei began refining the day's harvest in a sword-array pill furnace.

• Chen Fei used two identical phantoms to confuse the Earthworm Monster, escaped with the lotus, and rewarded the Rat Demon with a leaf.
• Chen Fei stored the lotus in his Space Grid and had the Rat Demon lead him to more Spiritual Plants.
• Chen Fei killed the spiders in a cave, collected Demonic Cores and spider silk, and kept the root of a Spiritual Plant while giving the Rat Demon the rest.
• The Rat Demon guided Chen Fei to locations across the secret realm, where he gathered spiritual materials and avoided other cultivators, including the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect.
• At dusk, Chen Fei began refining Spiritual Plants in a pill furnace formed from his sword array after collecting five mind-benefiting materials, seven cultivation materials, and twenty ordinary herbs.

Chen Fei refined rare spiritual materials, greatly increasing his Spiritual Power, then sensed Feng Xiupu’s position and hurried toward him. He arrived near a concealed battle where Wu Yongzhao and the Divine Flame Sect were overwhelming Zhu Zixiang, Ke Liangde, Feng Xiupu, and Wei Yantao.

• Chen Fei refined the Spiritual Power-enhancing materials, raising his Spiritual Power by nearly forty percent and preparing to consume more rare materials.
• The Gemini Stone on Chen Fei reacted, and he sensed a brief aura from a High-grade Spirit Sword near Feng Xiupu’s location.
• Chen Fei stored the remaining materials and rushed toward Feng Xiupu, unaware that an array concealed a battle several dozen li away.
• Wu Yongzhao exposed Zhu Zixiang’s attempt to flee and struck him down, accusing the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect of abandoning its fellow disciples.
• Wu Yongzhao’s sword cry worsened Zhu Zixiang’s injuries, and their next exchange left Zhu Zixiang near defeat.
• Ke Liangde was being besieged while Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao struggled against their opponents, with the Divine Flame Sect poised to kill all four.

Chen Fei broke into the Divine Flame Sect’s ambush and rescued Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao, escaping with them while Zhu Zixiang and Ke Liangde remained behind. Dong Xiuzhi caught up with Chen Fei, who stopped on a boulder to face him.

• Ke Liangde and Zhu Zixiang struggled against the Divine Flame Sect’s ambush while Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao were also badly wounded.
• Chen Fei found the formation surrounding the fight and used the Rat Demon to draw attention away while he approached unnoticed.
• Chen Fei rushed in, disrupted Ning Yongfei’s attack, and seized the chance to carry Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao out of the formation.
• Wu Yongzhao ordered the Divine Flame Sect to pursue, and Dong Xiuzhi used a spirit artifact to catch up with Chen Fei.
• Wei Yantao offered to stay behind and hold off Dong Xiuzhi, but Chen Fei stopped on a boulder and turned to face his pursuer.

Chen Fei fought Dong Xiuzhi alone and overwhelmed him with a pair of devastating sword strikes. After Dong Xiuzhi activated Open Life Gate in a desperate attempt to survive, Chen Fei killed him, and Ning Yongfei appeared nearby.

• Chen Fei told the wounded Wei Yantao and Feng Xiupu to rest, then charged Dong Xiuzhi alone.
• Chen Fei struck Dong Xiuzhi with the condensed Heavy Origin Sword Array, forcing him to cough blood and stagger backward.
• Dong Xiuzhi opened Life Gate to boost his strength and hoped to block one more strike before escaping.
• Chen Fei unleashed Refine Sword into Silk and crushed Dong Xiuzhi's defense, killing him with a blow that split the ground.
• Ning Yongfei appeared in the distance as Chen Fei looked toward him.

Chen Fei killed Dong Xiuzhi and Ning Yongfei, then helped Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao frame the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect for their deaths. The groups converged as Liao Hanqin learned the Divine Flame Sect had entered the secret realm and Wu Yongzhao sensed several Aperture Refining Realm cultivators approaching from the east.

• Chen Fei caught Ning Yongfei and killed him with a single sword strike.
• Chen Fei collected the spoils from Ning Yongfei and Dong Xiuzhi, and agreed with Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao to blame the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect for their deaths.
• Chen Fei led Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao to Liao Hanqin, who learned that the Divine Flame Sect had appeared in the secret realm and ordered them to lead him to the other sect members.
• Wu Yongzhao found the battle sites, concluded that Dong Xiuzhi and another man were likely dead, and suspected Liao Hanqin had killed them.
• Wu Yongzhao sensed several Aperture Refining Realm Auras approaching from the east.

Wu Yongzhao escaped after clashing with Liao Hanqin, while the mystic realm’s sealed exit trapped the sects inside as they searched for the Divine Flame Sect. Chen Fei recovered with his companions, opened three Acupoints, and brought the Qian Yuan Sword to the brink of becoming a Mid-grade Spirit Sword.

• Wu Yongzhao held off Liao Hanqin while the Divine Flame Sect members split up, and he later escaped without being captured.
• Liao Hanqin’s group found traces of brief, overwhelming battles and suspected Wu Yongzhao had killed Zhu Zixiang and another cultivator.
• Chen Fei learned that the mystic realm’s exit would remain closed for a month, then reunited with Ren Zhongyang and the Yuan Chen Sword Sect members.
• Liao Hanqin organized a search for the missing Divine Flame Sect members and prepared to investigate Half-Bottle Mountain.
• Chen Fei refined his spirit herbs, opened three Acupoints to reach twenty-three, and fed the Qian Yuan Sword more than half of Dong Xiuzhi’s Mid-grade Spirit Sword.

Chen Fei upgraded the Qian Yuan Sword to a Mid-grade Spirit Sword before joining Liao Hanqin and the other Aperture Refining Realm martial artists on Half-Bottle Mountain. As the group climbed through unnaturally dense vital energy and diminishing Spiritual Power, they reached the summit and discovered a city there.

• Chen Fei let the Qian Yuan Sword devour the remaining spiritual essence of a Mid-grade Spirit Sword, raising it to Mid-grade and strengthening his vital energy.
• Two days later, Liao Hanqin led several dozen Aperture Refining Realm martial artists toward Half-Bottle Mountain to search for the Divine Flame Sect and mountain treasures.
• Chen Fei climbed with the group while the Rat Demon resisted, and Feng Xiupu and Wei Yantao stayed behind to recover from their wounds.
• As the group ascended, Half-Bottle Mountain increasingly compressed their Spiritual Power, and they found no spirit herbs despite the growing density of vital energy.
• Near the summit, Liao Hanqin and the others realized the vital energy was denser than any they had encountered in the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect's Secret Realm.
• Someone spotted a city standing atop Half-Bottle Mountain.

A city atop Half-Bottle Mountain swept several dozen Aperture Refining Realm experts into an unknown place. Ren Zhongyang, Liao Hanqin, Chi Shuqing, and Chen Fei each found themselves trapped in strange roles within the city, with Chen Fei left carrying a shoulder pole beside a busy road.

• Liao Hanqin and the gathered experts debated whether the city was an illusion or a Ghost Realm, while Chen Fei sensed a dangerous presence inside.
• The city suddenly charged toward them and released a ripple that swept across Half-Bottle Mountain, making all the experts disappear.
• Ren Zhongyang awoke in a medical hall where a terrifying village girl demanded that he examine her, as the handymen stared at him with eerie smiles.
• Liao Hanqin awoke as a private school teacher while his students chanted for him to instruct them, their faces growing distorted.
• Chi Shuqing found herself dressed as a maid, unable to remember where the kitchen was as her young mistress appeared behind her and ordered her to hurry.
• Chen Fei stood by a busy road carrying a shoulder pole, uncertain where he was.

Chen Fei found himself selling strange fruits to a silent, menacing crowd, and discovered that some fruits reappeared after being sold while others could be conjured from the basket. He earned copper coins by selling apples and winter jujubes, but everyone who ate them grew furious, and the crowd stopped buying.

• Chen Fei found himself surrounded by silent townspeople who demanded to buy fruit from his baskets, and he sold an old man a winter jujube to dispel the crowd’s threatening chill.
• The old man found the jujube tasteless, and Chen Fei noticed it had reappeared; an old woman bought it with a copper coin and also found it empty.
• Chen Fei sold the old man a small apple, which did not reappear until Chen Fei waved his hand, revealing that the basket could conjure it from nothing.
• Chen Fei advertised his apples and winter jujubes, and two women bought one of each, but both became furious after eating them.
• Chen Fei found the fruits had reappeared and tried to sell them again, but no one in the crowd would buy.

Chen Fei sold strange, repeatedly reappearing fruit that made buyers lose memories or experience, while he grew increasingly driven to earn money. Elsewhere, Chi Shuqing became trapped in a repeating ordeal with her young lady, and Ren Zhongyang faced a sinister village woman at the medical hall; Chen Fei entered that hall and offered fruit.

• Chen Fei sold a white sweet potato to an old woman, who lost the experience of cooking Fried Pig Liver after eating it, and the potato reappeared in his basket.
• Chen Fei left the hostile crowd and continued selling fruit, while Chi Shuqing failed to find the kitchen, was whipped by her young lady, and lost something precious.
• Chi Shuqing wandered through identical courtyards until her young lady appeared and repeated her demand about arranging the dishes.
• Ren Zhongyang examined a village woman with a swollen, drumlike belly and felt something draining from him as she repeatedly demanded that he treat her.
• Chen Fei continued selling fruit, gained money, and saw fleeting images in his mind before entering the medical hall and offering fruit.

Chen Fei sold fruit and transformed some of it into pills, using them to treat the village woman and help Ren Zhongyang escape his medical role. After Ren Zhongyang left, Chen Fei decided to take his place as the physician.

• Chen Fei sold three kinds of fruit to the village woman, who paid him after eating them, while Ren Zhongyang watched in confusion.
• Chen Fei spent two copper coins to turn two fruits into pills and offered them to the village woman for her stomach pain.
• The village woman ate the pills, but Chen Fei’s cooking skills replaced the memories of alchemy in her mind, and the pills reappeared in his basket.
• Ren Zhongyang persuaded the furious village woman that the pills had worked; she admitted her pain was gone, paid five copper coins, and left.
• With the village woman gone, Ren Zhongyang found he could leave his position, and Chen Fei decided to take over as physician.

Chen Fei earned money by treating patients with conjured pills, and as his thoughts grew clearer, he explored the city with Ren Zhongyang. At a sinister Martial Arts Hall, the curator offered to double Chen Fei’s tuition if he learned its techniques, but Chen Fei warned that the curator might not be able to repay him.

• Chen Fei treated five patients at Ren Zhongyang’s medical hall, earning twenty-two coins before the crowd abruptly disappeared.
• Chen Fei agreed to let Ren Zhongyang follow him, and his thoughts became clearer as they walked through the city.
• Chen Fei noticed the city’s gloomy alleys and stopped before a Martial Arts Hall that seemed strangely familiar.
• The Martial Arts Hall Curator offered Chen Fei double tuition if he joined and mastered the hall’s techniques, demanding fruit from his basket as payment.
• Chen Fei refused to stake his lifespan or treasured fruits, saying the curator might not afford to repay double; the curator laughed and challenged him to enter the hall.

Chen Fei entered the Martial Arts Hall and used his panel to learn the Spirit Slaughter Technique, then forced the curator to surrender the Rat Demon and point out a way out of Miwang City. The curator and the hall vanished after he gave the direction, leaving Chen Fei among the ruins with a possible clue to the curator’s return.

• The Martial Arts Hall Curator drew Chen Fei inside, while Ren Zhongyang stayed outside and waited anxiously.
• Chen Fei’s encounter with the dying Rat Demon restored his suppressed consciousness and revealed the Shadow Reflection God Slaying Sword’s role in shielding him.
• The Martial Arts Hall Curator offered to teach Chen Fei the Spirit Slaughter Technique within an hour, and Chen Fei used his panel to simplify it into Chop.
• Chen Fei instantly learned the Spirit Slaughter Technique, shocking the curator and forcing him to surrender coins, the Rat Demon, and its healing.
• Chen Fei demanded to know how to leave Miwang City, and the curator pointed the way before he and the Martial Arts Hall vanished.
• Chen Fei found a fresh blade of grass carrying the curator’s aura among the ruins and stomped on it.

Chen Fei destroyed the Martial Arts Hall and discovered that the city’s copper coins contained pure origin that could strengthen his Spiritual Power. He found the hidden city gate and learned it would open at midnight two days later, then left with Ren Zhongyang to find shelter before nightfall.

• Chen Fei used the Spirit Slaughter Technique to destroy the grass that contained the Martial Arts Hall Curator, then transferred its impure spiritual essence into the Qian Yuan Sword.
• Chen Fei realized that copper coins held pure origin, and he used some to awaken Ren Zhongyang’s Spiritual Wisdom.
• Chen Fei showed Ren Zhongyang the hidden city gate, but Ren Zhongyang could see only a wall and soon began losing his clarity again.
• Chen Fei spoke to a constable at the gate and learned it would open at midnight two days later after he paid ten copper coins.
• Chen Fei returned to Ren Zhongyang and said they should find a place to stay before night fell.

Chen Fei secured lodging for himself and Ren Zhongyang in Miwang City, then refined copper coins to strengthen his Spiritual Power. When a terrifying presence attacked them during the night, Chen Fei broke free of its illusion, but Ren Zhongyang had lost more than thirty percent of his essence, energy, and spirit.

• Chen Fei intimidated the medical hall's master into giving him and Ren Zhongyang a room for one copper coin per night.
• After Ren Zhongyang fell asleep, Chen Fei refined copper coins and raised his Spiritual Power to the level of controlling forty-one Acupoints.
• Chen Fei sensed footsteps outside as the temperature plunged and a strange presence approached their room.
• A shriek drew Chen Fei into a misty illusion, where he struck an approaching figure three times with the Shadow Reflection God Slaying Sword.
• Chen Fei returned to the room and discovered that Ren Zhongyang had lost more than thirty percent of his essence, energy, and spirit.

Chen Fei explored Miwang City after Ren Zhongyang was drained of source essence, then learned that Ghost Soldiers patrolled the streets at midnight and that money might offer a way past them. When Chen Fei tried to leave a shop after asking for information, the shopkeeper demanded payment for browsing its goods.

• At dawn, Chen Fei left the weakened Ren Zhongyang in the Medical Hall and went to inspect Miwang City.
• Chen Fei entered a shop and found a valuable piece of Tian Hun Stone, but he could not afford its price of two thousand copper coins or a hundred years of lifespan.
• Chen Fei paid twenty copper coins to learn that Ghost Soldiers enforced the midnight curfew and that money could reach them.
• As Chen Fei prepared to leave, the shopkeeper stopped him and demanded payment for looking over the merchandise.

Chen Fei used a shadow clone to investigate a shop in Miwang City, then followed the Rat Demon’s lead to a courtyard where he found Baka hidden inside a tree. He encountered Chi Shuqing and the strange young lady who controlled the courtyard, and tried to buy one of her trees.

• Chen Fei used a shadow clone carrying copper coins to test the shopkeeper, then escaped when the shopkeeper tried to trap him over a supposed debt.
• Chen Fei spotted an unfamiliar late-stage Aperture Refining Realm cultivator but did not follow him into an alley after the man ignored his call.
• The Rat Demon detected Baka’s scent, and Chen Fei followed it to a large, silent courtyard.
• Chen Fei found an old tree that reacted when he called Baka’s name, but Chi Shuqing and a strange young lady entered the courtyard.
• The young lady accused Chen Fei of trespassing, and Chen Fei offered her ten copper coins to buy one of her trees.

Chen Fei tricked Anomaly Lady into attacking first, triggering Miwang City's rules and weakening her by severing her connection to the courtyard. With the advantage shifted in his favor, Chen Fei prepared to counterattack and kill her.

• Anomaly Lady demanded copper coins from Chen Fei for trespassing, the Rat Demon, and her tree, while Chi Shuqing trembled nearby.
• Chen Fei pretended to borrow five hundred copper coins from Anomaly Lady, confusing her until she attacked him with a giant hand of mist.
• Chen Fei blocked Anomaly Lady's attack, causing Miwang City's rules to punish her and cut off the courtyard's support.
• Anomaly Lady's strength fell from mid-stage to early second tier, and Chen Fei calmly defended against her claws, icy energy, and spiritual assault.
• Chen Fei gathered his sword intent and qi and blood, then activated the Proficient Realm Spirit Slaughter Technique to begin his counterattack.

Chen Fei killed Anomaly Lady, gathered her source as copper coins, and took Chi Shuqing with him while trying to awaken Baka. That night, as the Ghost Soldier Patrol began, Chi Shuqing suddenly entered a near-death state.

• Chen Fei overwhelmed Anomaly Lady with two sword strikes, killing her and breaking open the courtyard floor without reaching the edge of Miwang City's anomaly realm.
• Chen Fei converted Anomaly Lady's source into several hundred copper coins and discovered the courtyard belonged to Miwang City, not Anomaly Lady.
• Chen Fei tried to awaken Baka, then removed the tree's heartwood and carried it with him when Baka did not respond.
• Chi Shuqing asked Chen Fei to take her along, and he left the courtyard with her; Jin Weiming and Yu Zhongxin later appeared there and discussed Chen Fei's strength.
• Chen Fei spent the next day seeking information about Miwang City and the Ghost Soldier Patrol, then kept Chi Shuqing and Ren Zhongyang awake in the Medical Hall after nightfall.
• At midnight, Chen Fei heard the patrol's footsteps, saw that no ghost soldiers had approached, and discovered Chi Shuqing had entered a near-death state.

Chen Fei saved Chi Shuqing from a silent attack during the Ghost Soldier Patrol and spent the day strengthening his Spirit Slaughter Technique while she recovered. As night approached, the Medical Hall Curator offered information about the threat that had marked Chi Shuqing and Ren Zhongyang, distinguishing the Ghost Soldier Patrol from the Hundred Anomalies Night Parade.

• Chen Fei used Origin Power to pull Chi Shuqing back from the brink of death, but she could only recall feeling something tug at her.
• After the Ghost Soldier Patrol ended, Chen Fei practiced the Spirit Slaughter Technique while Chi Shuqing healed and remembered his defeat of the Anomaly Lady.
• Chen Fei searched Miwang City for other survivors but found only anomalies, then returned to the Medical Hall to cultivate.
• Chi Shuqing recovered some of her combat strength, and Ren Zhongyang began having longer periods of lucidity.
• The Medical Hall Curator visited Chen Fei and offered information about the threat that had marked Chi Shuqing and Ren Zhongyang, asking whether Chen Fei knew about the Hundred Anomalies Night Parade.