Chapter Summaries

Xiao Chen killed the imprisoned demonic beast with the Big Dipper Spirit Fire, burning away both its body and the Primal Demonic Pearl. After confirming the other six True Lords were safe, he searched the hall and discovered a dead guardian’s chamber containing a Demon Suppression token and a mysterious Spirit Tool hairpin he could not refine.

• Xiao Chen ignored the demonic beast’s offer to share the world and repeatedly attacked it with Azure Wave Piercing Bone Needles, but its wounds healed almost instantly.
• The demonic beast revealed its supposed Immortal and Undying Body, but Xiao Chen unleashed the Big Dipper Spirit Fire, which burned through its demonic body and consumed its demonic qi.
• The demonic beast begged for mercy and tried to persuade Xiao Chen to save its Primal Demonic Pearl, but Xiao Chen let the flames destroy the pearl and the demon hiding within it.
• After ensuring the other six True Lords were alive and stable, Xiao Chen searched the hall and found a hidden chamber with the long-dead guardian inside.
• Xiao Chen found a Demon Suppression token and a golden hairpin that was actually a Spirit Tool, but its restrictions prevented him from inspecting or refining it.

Xiao Chen discovered that the Emerald Green Jade Slip contained the dying reflections and inheritance of an ancient Nascent Soul cultivator, including Jade Peak Essays, a Yellow-grade True Essence Secret Art that he planned to test. After explaining the chamber’s contents to the other True Monarchs, he began distributing the remaining items and the jade slip’s four viewings.

• Xiao Chen viewed the jade slip’s recording of an ancient Nascent Soul cultivator who had failed to break through and left behind his final reflections, techniques, and secret accounts.
• Xiao Chen found Jade Peak Essays, a Yellow-grade True Essence Secret Art created by Jade Peak Hall Master, and decided to cultivate it after the exploration.
• Xiao Chen finished examining the hidden chamber and returned to the main hall, where Surging Wave True Monarch and Purple Sun True Monarch had awakened.
• Xiao Chen waited for the other True Monarchs to recover, then explained that he had resisted the Demonic Beast’s illusion, killed it, and searched the chamber.
• Xiao Chen offered the group the jade slip’s four remaining viewings and the Demon Suppressing Token, while keeping the gold hairpin; Hundred Apertures True Monarch and Ming Xiao True Monarch declined their shares.

After Xiao Chen and the other True Lords discovered that a hidden Sea Race grand array caused the island’s relentless rain, they worked together to dismantle it and recovered valuable spiritual materials. The cause of the rain was revealed, but the Sea Race’s exact intentions remained unclear as Xiao Chen claimed the precious Earth Mother Heavy Marrow Jade.

• Surging Wave True Monarch sealed the prison hall and proposed that the group keep the island under Daoist Sect control for further study.
• Ming Xiao True Monarch and Rift Void True Monarch realized the rain continued because another force was at work, and the group searched the island for clues.
• Rift Void True Monarch and Xiao Chen uncovered a concealed Sea Race grand array that had sent corrosive Spirit Liquid beneath the island and caused the rainstorm.
• The True Lords followed Rift Void True Monarch’s plan to dismantle the grand array, and Xiao Chen saved Ming Xiao True Monarch’s assigned task by destroying its stubborn Array Foundation and associated pattern.
• Xiao Chen dismantled the Core Array Foundations and recovered spirit stones and Fourth-Order spiritual materials, including Earth Mother Heavy Marrow Jade.

After the expedition ended, Xiao Chen claimed the recovered spiritual items, refined a golden hairpin, and advanced his True Essence cultivation. Near Wave Listening Market, he learned that two Fourth-Order Yin Spirits had escaped east and went to help Surging Wave True Monarch find them.

• Xiao Chen proposed taking the Earth Mother Heavy Marrow Jade while the others chose among the remaining spoils, but several True Monarchs gave up their shares or asked for Spirit Stones instead, leaving Xiao Chen with the recovered items and 3,426 Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.
• As the six-and-a-half-year rain began to end, Xiao Chen broke the golden hairpin's outer restriction, discovered it was a decorative defensive Spirit Tool that could nourish Spiritual Sense, and stopped before refining its inner restriction.
• Xiao Chen cultivated the Jade Peak Essays for less than eight days and reached the introductory stage, increasing his True Essence Quality by a factor of one.
• On the way back, Xiao Chen and the others learned of a Yin Spirit Calamity near Wave Listening Market and changed course to investigate.
• Cloud Vortex True Monarch said he had protected the market and that two Fourth-Order Yin Spirits had fled east, where Lüshuang Senior Brother and Surging Wave True Monarch were searching for them.
• Xiao Chen entered the mist to help Surging Wave True Monarch find the escaped Yin Spirits.

Xiao Chen destroyed two Fourth-Order Yin Spirits, returned to Secluded Doom Island, and told Su Li about his travels and his pill profits. He gave her the Hibiscus Golden Hairpin, which he believed could resist her Moon Eclipse Curse, and began telling her about the Yin Spirit Calamity.

• Xiao Chen lured two Fourth-Order Yin Spirits into attacking him, killed them with the Sky-rushing Palm, and obtained a Yin Spirit Heart from one of them.
• Treading Frost True Monarch and the other cultivators arrived too late to see the battle, and Treading Frost True Monarch marveled at Xiao Chen's Fire Method.
• Iron Fan True Monarch told Xiao Chen that the Golden Sand Ruins would open in less than ten years, and Xiao Chen returned to Secluded Doom Island.
• Xiao Chen told Su Li that he had earned about Three Million Spirit Stones from selling spirit pills, then shared news of his travels and investigation of the Heaven and Earth Phenomenon.
• Xiao Chen gave Su Li the Hibiscus Golden Hairpin after explaining that its restrictions might withstand the Moon Eclipse Curse, and she accepted it.
• Xiao Chen began recounting the Yin Spirit Calamity he encountered on his way home.

Xiao Chen devoted himself to accelerating his cultivation toward the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, then traveled to Red Coral Island for the Grand Auction. There, he met the attending True Lords and learned that Qian Shu True Monarch had stayed behind to develop a new spellcasting puppet.

• Xiao Chen decided to use the Spirit Devouring Yuan Great Method and his Spirit Stones to speed up his cultivation, setting aside pill refining and limiting his time with Su Li.
• Su Li reminded Xiao Chen that the Grand Auction was approaching, and he set out for Red Coral Island three days later.
• Xiao Chen arrived at Red Coral Island, saw the newly built trade center and his own Xiao Manor, and went to meet the other True Lords.
• Gang Yuan True Monarch welcomed Xiao Chen, who learned that Treading Frost True Monarch was recovering from injuries and Qian Shu True Monarch had not attended.
• Hundred Apertures True Monarch explained that Qian Shu True Monarch was refining components for a puppet designed to imitate cultivators casting spells and had invited interested Daoist friends to observe.

Xiao Chen received a verified lead that a fragment of the Star Sand Wave Stabilizing Shield might be with Azure Wave Rogue, then attended the Red Coral Island Grand Auction. The auction began amid suspicion over Zhang Shouquan’s mysterious black-robed companion, and Xiao Chen focused on the newly offered Thousand Peaks Rock Marrow.

• Xiao Chen learned from Cloud Cliff True Person that Azure Wave Rogue had once possessed a fragment resembling the Star Sand Wave Stabilizing Shield and might have fled to the Storm Sea.
• Xiao Chen instructed Qing He to manage his garden estate and helped her pursue Foundation Establishment by providing funds and a Clear Dew Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Xiao Chen arrived at the auction and watched Zhang Shouquan enter VIP Room B12 with a concealed black-robed companion just before the doors closed.
• Purified Dust Zen Master opened the auction, and the black-robed guest bid aggressively on Body Refining and array-related items, spending more than eight million Spirit Stones.
• Xiao Chen denied knowing the black-robed guest when Yunfeng True Monarch asked about him, then examined the Thousand Peaks Rock Marrow as the next lot.

Xiao Chen won rare cultivation aids and a defensive talisman at the auction, then returned to Secluded Doom Island and used Spirit Stones to reach the perfected Nascent Soul Early Stage. After several failed attempts to break through, he used Dao Comprehension Crystals and finally advanced to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

• Xiao Chen won Thousand Peaks Rock Marrow for two million Spirit Stones and Heart Fire Chan Xuan Tea for three million after outbidding the black-robed cultivator.
• Zen Master Feng Hua acquired the Five Elements Consecutive Lock Spirit Illumination Array for Kasyapa Temple, and Xiao Chen bought the Terrain Heavy Origin Talisman for 300,000 Spirit Stones.
• Xiao Chen returned to Secluded Doom Island with more Spirit Stones than he had started with and used the Spirit Devouring Yuan Great Method to reach the perfected Nascent Soul Early Stage.
• Xiao Chen failed his first attempt to break through, and Su Li suggested that insufficient Dao Comprehension might be the cause.
• Xiao Chen repeatedly absorbed Dao Comprehension Crystals and succeeded on his fifth breakthrough attempt, reaching the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

Xiao Chen broke through to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage and chose a Hextech that revealed Black Iron Venerable’s hidden Cave Residence and gave him its token. After planning his next moves and making arrangements with Su Li and the Azure Sea Immortal Sect, he set out for Storm Sea to retrieve the treasure and pursue other matters.

• Xiao Chen succeeded on his fifth attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, expanding his Spiritual Sense to two thousand li.
• Xiao Chen rejected [Placebo] and [Alchemical Overload I], then chose [Black Iron Assets] and learned the location of Black Iron Venerable’s Cave Residence near Storm Sea.
• Xiao Chen decided to retrieve the Cave Residence’s breakthrough spirit item, settle accounts with the Yin Corpse Sect, and seek Azure Wave Rogue and another Star Sand Wave Stabilizing Shield fragment.
• Xiao Chen told Su Li that he would be away for months and asked the Azure Sea Immortal Sect to help Chu Tianze if he returned.
• Xiao Chen checked for new clues about the Sea Race Great Demon and departed for Storm Sea.

Jing Chen and the other monks brought Xiao Chen a Bright King Edict requesting a copy of the Jia Mo Sect Inheritance and an investigation into the source of Killing Intent. Xiao Chen provided the copy, explained how he had cleared the Killing Intent from Ember Sea, and agreed to guide them there aboard Universal Salvation Temple’s fastest spirit ship.

• Jing Chen led Xiao Chen to a guarded spirit ship and asked him to confirm that the Jia Mo Sect Inheritance had helped him overcome the Sea Race’s Thirty-Six Revolving Cold Smoke Golden Talisman.
• Jing Chen explained that Bright King had ordered Universal Salvation Temple to obtain the complete inheritance, and Zen Master Jing Hua offered Xiao Chen two fourth-order Water Spirit Pearls for a handwritten copy.
• Xiao Chen wrote out the inheritance and accepted the pearls, while Jing Chen sealed the manuscript in a Spirit Accumulating Treasure Box.
• Jing Chen revealed that he had also been ordered to collect Killing Intent, and Xiao Chen described killing two Sea Race spies and clearing the Killing Intent from Ember Sea.
• Purified Dust Zen Master asked Xiao Chen to guide them to Ember Sea, and Xiao Chen agreed to make the trip with the monks.
• Purified Dust Zen Master piloted Universal Salvation Temple’s exceptionally fast spirit ship westward, and Xiao Chen learned that its key materials and components came from Three Mountains Grotto-Heaven.

Xiao Chen helped Universal Salvation Temple investigate the Ember Sea, then crossed the Kunpeng Sea and gathered Killing Intent from the giant willow. He reached Black Iron Venerable’s hidden cave residence and opened its gate, where a stone stele and inscription awaited him.

• Xiao Chen guided Universal Salvation Temple to the undersea hollow, where Purified Dust Zen Master’s group found traces of earlier visitors seeking Killing Intent.
• Xiao Chen watched the group’s investigation, realized he needed to conceal his spells and Spirit Tools more carefully, and parted ways with them.
• Xiao Chen crossed the Kunpeng Sea, visited the giant willow, and collected much of its Killing Intent while leaving enough for it to survive.
• Xiao Chen changed course toward Black Iron Venerable’s cave residence, encountered several dangers, and picked up an abandoned Third-Tier Spirit Tool flying sword.
• Xiao Chen used his token to reveal and open the cave residence’s hidden entrance, then entered and found a stone stele covered in writing.

Xiao Chen explored Black Iron Venerable’s Cave Residence, collected its Spirit Tools, and learned about the four Body Forging Arts and the halls containing the inheritance. He entered the Body Tempering Hall and faced a warning about the dangerous Hundred Beast Cauldron, uncertain whether his own experience counted as a foundation in body forging.

• Xiao Chen read Black Iron Venerable’s message and concluded that the Cave Residence was relatively recent, then retrieved the token that had opened its gate.
• Xiao Chen passed the guardian Mystic Iron Puppets using the Token of Proof and searched the Palace Complex, taking the Spirit Tools and weapon racks from the Weapon Hall.
• Xiao Chen read the inscriptions behind the White Jade Wall, learned about the four Body Forging Arts and the other halls, and memorized all four techniques.
• Xiao Chen went to the Body Tempering Hall and learned that the Hundred Beast Cauldron tested cultivators with demonic beast essence blood and could be dangerous to those without a body-forging foundation.
• Xiao Chen wondered whether he had enough body-forging experience to enter the cauldron.

Xiao Chen endured the Giant Cauldron’s painful body tempering and learned the Iron Like Body Tempering Art, then explored Black Iron Venerable’s stores and discovered a fortune in spirit stones and materials. He reached the Stele Forest and learned that its tablets recorded martial arts techniques for visitors to study.

• Xiao Chen entered the Giant Cauldron’s upper level and endured intense pain as Fourth-Order Demonic Beast Essence Blood and Body Tempering Spirit Medicine tempered him.
• Xiao Chen cultivated the Iron Like Body Tempering Art inside the cauldron, reducing his pain before the time limit forced him out.
• Xiao Chen assessed his strengthened body, saved his second cauldron entry for later, and went to the Miscellaneous Hall.
• Xiao Chen found Fifth-Order Porous Earth Lung Stone and Burning Light Fire Copper, along with numerous other spirit materials and two boxes of High-grade Spirit Stones.
• Xiao Chen collected the Miscellaneous Hall’s supplies and explored the Stele Forest, discovering that its thirty-six tablets on each side recorded Black Iron Venerable’s martial arts techniques.

Xiao Chen studied the stone tablets in the Stele Forest, memorized several martial skills, and tested his strength against spirit guardians before stopping at the twenty-second tablet. He then entered the Blood Burning Hall and found eight jars of valuable Blood Burning Brew, leaving his search for a Breakthrough Spirit Item unfinished.

• Xiao Chen learned that the left-side tablets transmitted martial intent and the right-side tablets summoned spirit guardians for combat trials.
• Xiao Chen chose to memorize the diagrams rather than derive techniques from their martial intent, favoring the fourth-tier Sky Burning Extreme Force and Rushing Thunder Steps Void Fist.
• Xiao Chen defeated the spirit guardians through the twenty-first tablet and beat the Nascent Soul Middle Stage guardian at the twenty-second after a long fight.
• Xiao Chen stopped the trials, deciding to leave the harder tablets for another visit and continue searching for a Breakthrough Spirit Item.
• Xiao Chen entered the Blood Burning Hall, read about Blood Burning Brew, and found eight large jars of the spirit wine inside its Giant Cauldron.

Xiao Chen explored the Warehouse in Black Iron Venerable’s Cave Residence, learning about the Chongtai Secret Realm and finding several valuable treasures. He left with the Golden Silk Astragalus, a Spirit Disturbance Formation Flag, and Breath Concealing Spirit Hiding Water, then examined a Profound Sect Evil Suppressing Sword Pellet whose power was roughly at the early Spirit Transformation level.

• Xiao Chen collected the aged Blood Burning Brew and entered the Warehouse, where he found three jade slips and six protected platforms.
• Xiao Chen read Black Iron Venerable’s jade slips, learning about the Iron Like Body Tempering Art, the thousand-year Chongtai Secret Realm, and recipes for two fourth-tier medicines.
• Xiao Chen claimed the Golden Silk Astragalus and decided to delay his body-cultivation breakthrough until after his promised trade and a trip to the Lightless Sea.
• Xiao Chen identified and collected a fifth-order Yellow Stone Spirit Disturbance Formation Flag and Breath Concealing Spirit Hiding Water, both left as protective treasures.
• Xiao Chen read the jade slip beside the Profound Sect Evil Suppressing Sword Pellet and learned that its sword qi could reach early Spirit Transformation power against Heretical Path cultivators.

Xiao Chen returned to the Lightless Sea after claiming Black Iron Venerable’s treasures and encountered Yin Corpse Sect disciples hunting independent cultivators. When they invoked their sect’s authority and recognized him as the man who killed Young Master Dai, Xiao Chen attacked them, killing the pursuers and striking down their fleeing leader.

• Xiao Chen stored the Sword Pellet, collected an unidentified crystal that blocked Spiritual Sense, and found a Mixed Color Phoenix Flower that could aid a Nascent Soul breakthrough.
• Xiao Chen left Black Iron Venerable’s Cave Residence and returned to the Lightless Sea after nearly six years away, intending to confront the Yin Corpse Sect and the Dai Family.
• Xiao Chen came across Red Tassel True Person and other independent cultivators fleeing Yin Corpse Sect disciples who had captured outsiders to make Corpse Puppets.
• The cultivators begged Xiao Chen to intervene, and he recalled finding children in earthenware pots in Young Master Dai’s Storage Ring.
• A Yin Corpse Sect Demon Capturing Envoy claimed the pursuers were acting under Nether Silkworm True Monarch’s orders, but a disciple recognized Xiao Chen as the Heaven Star Demonic Cultivator who killed Young Master Dai.
• Xiao Chen killed the Yin Corpse Sect pursuers with a fiery palm strike and pursued the Demon Capturing Envoy after he escaped using a Life-Replacing Straw Man and Blood Escape Secret Talisman, piercing him with the Azure Wave Piercing Bone Needle.

Xiao Chen learned how the Yin Corpse Sect had persecuted refugees from Compassion Sea and went with Red Tassel True Person and the others to rescue captives on Lightless Island. He destroyed the island’s defensive formation, killed Elder Jia and nearby sect disciples, and left the rescued cultivators’ fate unresolved.

• Red Tassel True Person explained how refugees on Lightless Island had been hunted and asked Xiao Chen to save more than a hundred captured cultivators.
• Xiao Chen led the refugees to Lightless Island, where Elder Jia activated a defensive formation and requested aid from the Yin Corpse Sect’s True Lords.
• Red Tassel True Person denounced Elder Jia, who defended the sect and warned Xiao Chen to think twice before acting.
• Xiao Chen charged into the formation and destroyed its core foundations despite Elder Jia’s threats.
• After the formation collapsed, Xiao Chen burned Elder Jia and nearby Yin Corpse Sect disciples to ashes.

Xiao Chen destroyed the Yin Corpse Sect’s stronghold on Lightless Island, rescued hundreds of imprisoned cultivators, and restored order. As he prepared to leave, a rescued woman revealed that her missing sister was likely hidden elsewhere on the island, and Xiao Chen devised a way to locate her.

• Xiao Chen broke the stronghold’s Fourth-tier Defensive Formation and found hundreds of tortured rogue cultivators, including Red Tassel True Person’s companions, imprisoned inside.
• Xiao Chen freed the prisoners, wiped out rogue cultivators who tried to exploit the chaos, and warned the island’s residents against causing trouble.
• Li Cunyuan introduced himself and his Five Thunder Temple disciples, and Xiao Chen asked them to spread word of the Yin Corpse Sect’s crimes.
• Xiao Chen learned from a Jade Leaf Commerce Association manager that the Yin Corpse Sect had driven the association’s business out of the Lightless Sea.
• A rescued woman told Xiao Chen that her twin sister was still alive and terrified somewhere on the island, though she could not locate her precisely.
• Xiao Chen learned that the sisters could sense each other’s emotions within a fluctuating range of about a thousand li and planned to map the signal’s limits to find the hidden dungeon.

Xiao Chen uncovered and destroyed the Yin Corpse Sect’s dungeon on Lightless Island, rescuing two cultivators and obtaining its Yin-Melting Green Mica. After he declined an invitation from Hidden Ice True Monarch, the Yin Corpse Sect learned of his return and prepared to hunt him down.

• Xiao Chen and the others excavated an abandoned mine and discovered a hidden dungeon filled with prisoners and Ancient Spirit Script.
• Xiao Chen killed two cultivators who had been irreversibly corrupted, freed two others, removed the Yin-Melting Green Mica, and burned the dungeon clean.
• A messenger from the Subduing Ice Sect invited Xiao Chen to meet Hidden Ice True Monarch, but Xiao Chen declined.
• Four Formless Yin God phantoms appeared over Lightless Island, alarming Hidden Ice True Monarch as the Yin Corpse Sect moved to attack.
• Nether Silkworm True Monarch persuaded Coffin Bearing True Monarch to recruit Zhi Qin and use the Yin Spirit Golden Talisman to kill Xiao Chen.

Nether Silkworm True Monarch, Coffin Bearing True Monarch, and Zhi Qin True Monarch surrounded Xiao Chen at Lightless Island, while Hidden Ice True Monarch tried to help him escape. Xiao Chen fought back, killed Zhi Qin True Monarch, and turned his attention to Nether Silkworm True Monarch.

• Nether Silkworm True Monarch and Coffin Bearing True Monarch recruited Zhi Qin True Monarch, then flew to Lightless Island and used the Yin Spirit Golden Talisman to seal it off.
• Nether Silkworm True Monarch accused Xiao Chen of attacking the Yin Corpse Sect, and Hidden Ice True Monarch appeared and attempted to mediate.
• Xiao Chen refused to negotiate and invited the Yin Corpse Sect’s True Lords to fight away from the island, while Hidden Ice True Monarch offered him a spirit ship and charged to cover his escape.
• Coffin Bearing True Monarch and his Yin Corpses restrained Hidden Ice True Monarch as Nether Silkworm True Monarch and Zhi Qin True Monarch attacked Xiao Chen.
• Xiao Chen recognized Zhi Qin True Monarch as a Heavenly Sound Sect cultivator and used his Nine Flying Needles to fatally injure her and destroy her Nascent Soul.
• Xiao Chen declared Zhi Qin True Monarch the first to fall and turned to face Nether Silkworm True Monarch.