Chapter Summaries

Xiao Chen inspected the treasures taken from the Bronze Mask Cultivator, uncovered clues to an Ancient Cave Residence and a possible conspiracy, then joined the crowds gathering for the New Ruin to open. After the ruin’s pillars of light appeared and began teleporting cultivators inside, Xiao Chen entered one of them.

• Xiao Chen found a Fourth-tier grand array diagram, Purple Fire Essence Refining Marrow, a sea chart marked with Giant Sea Beast routes, and a sheepskin map linked to a letter ordering Tong Kui to retrieve something for Jin Luan at the Earth Dragon Relic.
• Xiao Chen burned the letter and decided to postpone investigating the Earth Dragon Relic until after Nascent Soul Formation.
• Xiao Chen met the Sun Family Siblings outside the inn, then traveled to the sea where cultivators had gathered to await the New Ruin.
• Xiao Chen meditated amid the growing crowd, earning the admiration of Fa Zhao Arhat and the other monks for his calm.
• The New Ruin opened with whirlpools and pillars of light that drained spiritual energy before stabilizing; after a rogue cultivator was teleported inside, Xiao Chen entered a pillar as well.

Xiao Chen explored the New Ruin, survived attacks from concealed Blood Red Threadworms, and killed a cultivator who had been feeding people to them. He found a valuable yin-yang stone and a Jade Ice Bed in a side hall, then opened the main hall’s doors to discover what lay inside.

• Xiao Chen crossed a vast coral forest, discovered that Blood Red Threadworms could evade detection and corrode weapons, and collected thirteen Blood Spirit Pearls from the ones he killed.
• Zhang Shouquan pursued a round-faced cultivator who had been capturing Foundation Establishment Cultivators to feed the threadworm larvae; Xiao Chen killed the culprit and took his possessions after Zhang refused them.
• Xiao Chen invited Zhang Shouquan to travel with him, but Zhang explained that enemies were hunting him and left alone.
• Xiao Chen reached a grand Palace Complex, broke into a side hall, and found a yin-yang stone and a Jade Ice Bed among its treasures.
• Xiao Chen found no other cultivators at the main hall, broke its formidable restriction, and forced open its heavy Palace Gates.

Xiao Chen defeated the main hall’s bronze guardians with a thunder bead, collected their Spirit Tools, and discovered the Great Xuan Immortal Dynasty’s inheritance and a Small Teleportation Talisman. After searching the emptied hall, he opened the doors to find a group of cultivators cornered by Heretical Cultivators, who asked him for help.

• Xiao Chen took the left Inheritance Jade Slip, awakened the bronze statues, and destroyed most of them with a thunder bead before dismantling the rest and taking their Spirit Tools.
• Xiao Chen watched the jade slips’ demonstrations of nine arts and three Heaven-Grade Techniques, then learned the ruin belonged to the Great Xuan Immortal Dynasty and found a Small Teleportation Talisman.
• Xiao Chen searched the hall for hidden treasures, found only trinkets, and stored them along with the Spirit Tools.
• Xiao Chen heard cultivators outside the sealed doors fleeing a burly Heretical Cultivator who had trapped hundreds of Foundation Establishment Cultivators and sought female cultivators as Cauldrons.
• Xiao Chen opened the hall doors, and Daoist Xiao’s acquaintances pleaded with him to save them from the burly cultivator and his group.

Xiao Chen rescued the Sun Family cultivators from the Heretical Cultivators and continued pursuing their group after learning they wore Bronze Masks. The survivors recognized his strength, while Sun Haoran resolved to treat him as a friend and reconsider which followers the family could trust.

• Xiao Chen defeated and killed the burly captor, learned that cultivators had been lured into a canyon, and set out to investigate reports of Heretical Cultivators wearing Bronze Masks.
• Xiao Chen left the Cloud Wave Sword Abode disciples behind, while Fourth Junior Brother followed him and the others fled in another direction.
• In the canyon, the Bronze Mask Cultivator tried to bargain for the Sun Family women, but Sun Haoze charged out and Sun Haoran led the others after him.
• Xiao Chen arrived, killed the Bronze Mask Cultivator and another Heretical Cultivator, and asked the Sun Family whether he could keep their Storage Rings as spoils.
• Sun Haoran resolved to report Xiao Chen's strength to the family and treat him as a friend, while Sun Haoqi hesitated too long to thank him before he left to pursue the remaining Heretical Cultivators.
• Sun Haoran noted which Guest Elders had followed the family out of the cave and decided to favor the reliable ones while excluding the others from important affairs.

Fa Zhao Arhat and the refugees from the ruins were overpowered by a black-robed youth who led the Heretical Cultivators, and Round Stele Arhat betrayed Universal Salvation Temple to help him. After Round Stele revealed that the plot threatened Purified Dust Zen Master, Daoist Xiao arrived and asked whether the news was reliable.

• Fa Zhao Arhat welcomed fleeing cultivators to Universal Salvation Temple and promised to help them confront the Heretical Cultivators.
• The black-robed youth arrived, defeated Fa Zhao Arhat in several exchanges, and forced the group to take shelter inside the Vajra Demon Suppression Formation.
• Round Stele Arhat betrayed his fellow disciples, destroyed the formation from within, and confessed that he had been promised a Sarira.
• Round Stele Arhat claimed that His Highness was targeting Purified Dust Zen Master, alarming the assembled cultivators.
• Daoist Xiao arrived and asked where Round Stele had learned the news and whether it was reliable.

Xiao Chen confronted the black-robed young man and defeated him, only for the opponent to reveal himself as a Royal Flood Dragon, a Form Transformation Great Demon. Xiao Chen then crushed the Flood Dragon in close combat, leaving the cultivators stunned and Fa Zhao Arhat convinced that Xiao Chen could only be a friend, never an enemy.

• Xiao Chen ignored warnings, walked through the Heretical Cultivators, and asked the black-robed young man to explain the news he had mentioned.
• The black-robed young man attacked Xiao Chen, but Xiao Chen blocked his strike, kicked him into a boulder, and countered his nine-stream water attack with Condensing Fire Palm.
• Fa Zhao Arhat noticed the black-robed young man's followers were not checking on him and warned Xiao Chen, whereupon a Royal Flood Dragon emerged from the crater.
• Round Stele Arhat and the burly men knelt as the Flood Dragon demanded the cultivators surrender, but Xiao Chen mocked its three claws and provoked it into charging.
• Xiao Chen used Seventh Transformation, Responding Dragon Collapses Mountain, then repeatedly slammed the Flood Dragon into the ground until it was barely alive.
• The cultivators stared in disbelief at Xiao Chen's victory, and Fa Zhao Arhat resolved that Xiao Chen and Universal Salvation Temple could only regard each other as friends.

Xiao Chen survived the Flood Dragon’s suicidal attack by using Night’s Edge, then helped capture the Sea Race’s allies and learned more about their conspiracy. The chapter left Xiao Chen preparing to avoid the coming unrest while still searching for rare materials needed for his cultivation.

• The Flood Dragon used a secret technique and Golden Runes to seal space, but Xiao Chen hid in another space with Night’s Edge until the Flood Dragon’s power ran out and the ruins’ restriction broke the seal.
• Round Stele Arhat begged the other monks for forgiveness, while Fa Zhao Arhat had him restrained; Xiao Chen then pursued three fleeing Bronze Mask cultivators and helped capture all ten heretical cultivators.
• The cultivators gave Xiao Chen more than a million Spirit Stones’ worth of gifts, and a Direct Disciple of the Cloud Wave Sword Abode interrogated the prisoners.
• Xiao Chen inspected seventeen Storage Rings and worried that Universal Salvation Temple faced an attack from the Sea Race, then resolved to hunt Dragon Turtles at Armored Dragon Island and avoid the east.
• The Sword Abode Cultivator reported that the masked traitors served the Sea Race and that the supposed Body Cultivators were Human-Demon Hybrids trained as dead soldiers.

Xiao Chen shared the Sea Race’s plans with Fa Zhao Arhat and helped break the ruins’ exit barrier. After leaving, the cultivators learned that a Sea Race Great Demon had destroyed their spirit ships and fought a Nascent Soul True Lord, while Xiao Chen departed amid the Great Powers’ thanks.

• Xiao Chen told Fa Zhao Arhat about the Sea Race’s infiltration and plans against Nascent Soul True Lords, then gave him the route map marked with Giant Sea Beasts.
• A young Cloud Wave Sword Abode disciple named Wang Shichang arrived to repay Xiao Chen for saving him, and Steward Zhang took him under his wing.
• On the fifteenth day, Xiao Chen and the other cultivators broke the Golden Rune barrier with the Bodhi Sea Opening Grand Array and teleported out of the ruins.
• The cultivators discovered their spirit ships were gone, and a monk told Fa Zhao Arhat that a Great Demon had smashed them before fighting a Nascent Soul True Lord.
• The cultivators suspected the True Lord was the Yi Family Old Ancestor, while Xiao Chen privately wondered whether Old Dog Yi had been targeting him.
• Fa Zhao Arhat and other Great Powers’ disciples thanked Xiao Chen and departed, while Xiao Chen left before Sun Haoqi could reach him.

After discovering that the Sea Race had prepared a mission to collect Killing Intent at Zhi Yi Cave, Xiao Chen hurried there before anyone else could claim it. Meanwhile, reports of the Sea Race’s plans reached powerful sects, leaving Esteem Truth Temple’s leaders worried that their young sect lacked time to prepare.

• A middle-aged man learned that Huang Er had not returned from the ruins and ordered a lobster to find Jin Luan and make every cultivator who entered the ruins a Funeral Sacrifice.
• Xiao Chen searched the Storage Rings, found a sea chart marking Zhi Yi Cave, and learned that Tong Lang had been ordered to use the Xin Metal Treasure Gourd and a secret art to collect Killing Intent there.
• Xiao Chen decided to keep the gourd and rushed toward Zhi Yi Cave, fearing the Sea Race might have sent another group to collect the Killing Intent.
• Surging Wave True Monarch received intelligence about the Sea Race’s plans and looked forward to fighting, while praising Xiao Chen’s potential.
• Crane Cry True Monarch and Purple Sun True Monarch discussed how the Sea Race’s threat could disrupt Esteem Truth Temple’s plans and force its new disciples to advance faster.

Baozhuang Chan Shi and other sects investigated Xiao Chen’s mysterious incantation as Xiao Chen reached waters sealed by Universal Salvation Temple. There, he reunited with Zhang Shouquan, learned they were both seeking something inside, and agreed to work together on an infiltration plan.

• Baozhuang Chan Shi worried about the growing Sea Fish population, investigated Xiao Chen’s incantation, and ordered searches of ancient texts as other sects did the same.
• Xiao Chen reached Universal Salvation Temple’s waters and learned from a tavern keeper that the temple had sealed the area and deployed Pure Bottle Chan Shi and detection measures.
• Xiao Chen recognized Zhang Shouquan at the tavern, and they traveled to a deserted island to discuss their reasons for approaching the sealed waters.
• Zhang Shouquan revealed that he was seeking a Breakthrough Spirit Item, while Xiao Chen explained that he wanted something inside; they agreed to enter together and verify their targets first.
• Zhang Shouquan proposed breaking the detection formation while Xiao Chen distracted the patrolling Arhats, but Xiao Chen warned that this could summon reinforcements and suggested sneaking along the seabed instead.
• Zhang Shouquan said formation-breaking would cause unavoidable Spiritual Power Fluctuations, and Xiao Chen replied that he had experience that might make the plan possible.

Xiao Chen and Zhang Shouquan bypassed the patrol and entered a hidden cave, where they divided the ancient treasures they found. After Zhang Shouquan left, Xiao Chen returned to absorb the cave’s Killing Intent, completing another pair of Earth Seals while still lacking Yang Water Sars.

• Xiao Chen used the Profound Sect Harmonious Modulation Secret Art to conceal himself and Zhang Shouquan as they passed beneath the Patrolling Arhat.
• Zhang Shouquan broke the formation near the buoy, then led Xiao Chen through an underwater passage to a cave beneath an unmarked Desolate Island.
• Xiao Chen and Zhang Shouquan entered the cave despite its Killing Intent and opened a hidden cache containing an Inheritance Jade Slip, Ink Black Iron Tokens, Five-Colored Strange Stones, and Nine Aperture Lucid Jades.
• Xiao Chen and Zhang Shouquan divided the treasures, then parted ways, with Zhang Shouquan taking the Inheritance Jade Slip and Xiao Chen taking the Lucid Jades and strange stones.
• Xiao Chen secretly returned to the cave and absorbed its Killing Intent, condensing a new Yang Earth Seal but remaining short of Yang Water Sars.

Xiao Chen encountered and defeated a Sea Race agent sent by Jin Luan, then searched the man’s belongings and found evidence of plans involving the Ink Barrier Sect. He left Zhi Yi Cave after collecting its remaining Killing Intent, with new clues and two powerful escape Talismans in hand.

• Xiao Chen met a masked Golden Core cultivator in Zhi Yi Cave, who mistook him for a Sea Race agent and threatened to expose him unless he accepted his conditions.
• Xiao Chen attacked the man, overcame his Life-Replacing Straw Man, caught him with the Mechanical Grappling Claw, and destroyed his Golden Core.
• Xiao Chen collected the cave’s remaining Killing Intent and broke the restrictions on the defeated cultivator’s Storage Ring.
• Xiao Chen found the cultivator’s Alchemy materials and notes, along with diagrams showing how to destroy the Ink Barrier Sect’s Pill Refining Hall Guardian Formation.
• Xiao Chen recognized two Black Talismans as Black Abyss Blood Escape Evasion Talismans and kept them as life-saving items.

Xiao Chen brought Tong Fu’s head to Alchemist Geng, who confirmed that it fulfilled his long-held wish and agreed to refine pills from Xiao Chen’s Moon-Dyed Jade Marrow Mushroom. At Listening Wave Market, Xiao Chen learned that Bitter Silence Temple had been besieged and that Bitter Silence Zen Master might be trapped or missing.

• Xiao Chen read Jin Luan’s orders, found that Tong Fu’s original mission involved Alchemist Geng, and recognized Tong Fu as the man in Geng’s portrait.
• Xiao Chen brought Tong Fu’s head to Alchemist Geng, who destroyed it and thanked Xiao Chen by agreeing to refine a batch of spirit pills.
• Alchemist Geng inspected Xiao Chen’s Moon-Dyed Jade Marrow Mushroom, warned that it seemed to have been ripened by a demonic method, and set a date to complete the pills after the winds passed.
• Xiao Chen visited the Spirit Communication Pavilion and heard a storyteller claim that Bitter Gourd Arhat had been ambushed during a battle at Bitter Silence Temple.
• Xiao Chen bought recent intelligence and rumors, learning that Bitter Silence Zen Master had reportedly been trapped in a formation and that a vast school of Sea Fish had surrounded Bitter Silence Temple.

Xiao Chen reviewed rumors at Spirit Communication Pavilion and discovered that the Sea Race had attacked several Buddhist temples across Compassion Sea, including Awakening Sea Temple, leaving the threat seemingly deeper than he had expected. He weighed the danger against his need for Killing Intent and began considering an early return to Storm Sea as a fallback, while planning his next steps toward forming his Nascent Soul.

• Xiao Chen read conflicting reports of attacks and sieges at Bitter Silence Temple and Small Prajna Temple, and suspected the Sea Race was clearing a route for a Giant Sea Beast.
• He found reports that Purified Dust Zen Master and other monks of Universal Salvation Temple had been attacked, alongside sightings of a Fourth-Order great demon and new dangerous sea regions.
• Xiao Chen received a fresh warning that Sea Fish Swarms were gathering near Awakening Sea Temple and that Ying Wu Chan Shi had been attacked and the temple had sealed itself.
• Xiao Chen questioned why the Sea Race dared attack temples near the heart of Compassion Sea despite the possibility of Spirit Transformation Venerables intervening.
• Xiao Chen considered returning to Storm Sea to search for the final Killing Intent, and outlined plans to obtain the Breakthrough Spirit Pill, refine Blood Crystals, and seek intelligence from Illuminating Void Sect.

As Sea Race attacks threatened Compassion Sea, Xiao Chen waited out an anomalous gale in Wave Listening Market and used a Dao Comprehension Crystal with a Purple-Gold Bodhi Fruit to break through to the Late-stage Golden Core as a Cultivator of Magic. The wind eventually moved on, and Xiao Chen set out to collect his pills from Alchemist Geng.

• Treading Frost True Monarch ordered Heaven Sword to stay within Cloud Wave Sword Abode and sent disciples west, while sects prepared for the worsening Sea Race crisis.
• Xiao Chen learned that the gale had lasted for days and stayed in Wave Listening Market while waiting for Alchemist Geng to refine his pills.
• Xiao Chen found six hundred and sixty-six strands of True Essence in his Flawless Golden Core and failed to break through its Minor Bottleneck without help.
• Xiao Chen used a Dao Comprehension Crystal and a Purple-Gold Bodhi Fruit, then successfully broke through to the Late-stage Golden Core as a Cultivator of Magic.
• The Three Diviners predicted the gale would move toward Cloud Wave Sword Abode, and it finally left Listening Wave Market four days later.
• After waiting two more days, Xiao Chen went to Alchemist Geng's alley before dawn to collect his pills.

Xiao Chen visited Alchemist Geng to collect his Jade Marrow Nascent Soul Pills, while Dai Yongliang and Lu Rending competed unsuccessfully for the alchemist’s favor. After inspecting the successful pills and learning he could keep both, Xiao Chen calculated that he was close to a certain Nascent Soul breakthrough, then chose to leave when Treading Frost True Monarch arrived.

• Xiao Chen arrived at Alchemist Geng’s courtyard and waited as Dai Yongliang and Lu Rending brought gifts to seek pill refinement.
• Alchemist Geng refused Dai Yongliang and Lu Rending, welcomed Xiao Chen into the Tea Hall, and left the other two to recognize Xiao Chen and depart with their gifts.
• Xiao Chen inspected the two Jade Marrow Nascent Soul Pills, confirmed their three Pill Marks, and accepted them in a Qilin Fat Jade Bottle after Alchemist Geng said both belonged to him.
• Xiao Chen calculated that his collected resources gave him a ninety percent chance of Nascent Soul Formation, with a possible path to one hundred percent.
• When Treading Frost True Monarch arrived, Alchemist Geng offered to introduce Xiao Chen, but Xiao Chen declined and chose to leave through the back door.

Xiao Chen visited Azure Treasure Pavilion to sell a large batch of Spirit Tools and learned that Upper Sects had conscripted Alchemists, Artifact Refiners, and Formation Masters across several seas. He agreed to leave the tools with the shopkeeper under a contract for delayed payment and an even split of the profits.

• Xiao Chen spent over One Thousand Six Hundred Spirit Stones sampling snacks before entering Azure Treasure Pavilion to check Spirit Tool prices.
• Xiao Chen overheard that several Upper Sects had conscripted renowned Alchemists and other specialists, causing shortages and rising prices across the region.
• Xiao Chen presented a mountain of standardized Spirit Tools, prompting the manager and chief manager to summon the shopkeeper.
• Xiao Chen recognized a Dragon and Tiger Intersecting Stone similar to one he owned and learned it aided harmonizing yin and yang rather than comprehending their transformations.
• The shopkeeper identified Xiao Chen, inventoried the Spirit Tools at a market value of three million six hundred and twenty thousand Spirit Stones, and offered delayed payment with an additional ten percent and half the resale profits.
• Xiao Chen accepted the shopkeeper's offer, signed a Spirit Contract, and left Azure Treasure Pavilion.

Xiao Chen had Kuang Ruihong appraise several Talisman Treasures and strange artifacts, while Withered Leaf True Monarch and Ziyao True Monarch watched and discussed his origins. After learning that Xiao Chen had brought a World Breaking Stone to test the association, Withered Leaf True Monarch concluded that Xiao Chen had taken a step along the Path of Enlightenment and was preserving his standing ahead of a future alliance.

• Xiao Chen asked Kuang Ruihong to identify two Defensive Talisman Treasures, which Kuang Ruihong judged to be fifth-order items, then presented three strange stones and an Ink Black Iron Token for appraisal.
• While Kuang Ruihong examined the artifacts, Ziyao True Monarch and Withered Leaf True Monarch watched Xiao Chen and discussed his unusual vitality, his possible ties to the Sea Race, and whether he was the Golden Light Rogue Cultivator.
• Kuang Ruihong identified the artifacts as Bright Gold Evolution Light Stone, a Great Xuan Immortal Dynasty Exemption Order, Sea Race formation implements, and a likely token whose exact purpose he could not determine.
• After Xiao Chen left, Ziyao True Monarch showed Kuang Ruihong a similar World Breaking Stone and instructed Withered Leaf True Monarch to keep her return and the discussion confidential.
• Withered Leaf True Monarch concluded that Xiao Chen had brought the World Breaking Stone to test whether the association could recognize it and had avoided meeting him directly to preserve his standing before an eventual breakthrough to Nascent Soul.

Xiao Chen was ambushed by the Yi Family Old Ancestor, who used a tracking imprint and repeated attacks to pursue him across the sea. After enduring the chase with escape talismans and defensive treasures, Xiao Chen escaped with Night's Edge once its cooldown ended, leaving the exhausted Yi Family Old Ancestor unable to continue.

• Xiao Chen remembered the Yi Family Old Ancestor's ambush too late and escaped his water prison with a flame technique, while the Old Ancestor's tracking talisman failed to find him.
• The Yi Family Old Ancestor used a costly formation and Xiao Chen's Spiritual Sense Imprint to locate him near Secluded Doom Island, then attacked with sixteen ice wheels and a Bright Pearl.
• Xiao Chen survived the attack and fled with a Blood Escape Evasion Talisman, but the Yi Family Old Ancestor tracked him down again through the imprint.
• Xiao Chen used several Talisman Treasures to endure hours of attacks while conserving his strength until Night's Edge finished cooling down.
• Xiao Chen activated Night's Edge and vanished, severing the tracking connection; the depleted Yi Family Old Ancestor could not pursue him further.

Su Li killed a Sea Race envoy who tried to recruit and threaten her, then reunited with Xiao Chen on the island. When she examined him, she found a concealed Spiritual Sense Mark from an unknown Nascent Soul True Lord and recorded its trace before removing it.

• Su Li concealed her growing power, but confronted Liao Longfu when he arrived offering freedom in exchange for cooperation with the Sea Race.
• Liao Longfu displayed the Nine Dragons Diagram to pressure Su Li, but she used the World Illusion Moon Wheel to trap and kill him, then took the diagram.
• Xiao Chen returned to the island, and Su Li told him that she had dealt with the hostile Sea Race envoy using the Witch Artifact.
• Xiao Chen explained that the Compassion Sea might soon descend into chaos and asked Su Li to examine him for a suspected tracking method.
• Su Li detected an unfamiliar Nascent Soul True Lord's Spiritual Sense Mark on Xiao Chen and recorded its fluctuation so she could identify its owner later.