Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chen subdued Zhao Lie with his Seal technique, but an ambush by Yellow Heaven Dao Celestial Masters forced him to fight while Xie Xuan faced two others. After discovering Gu Mingyue could counter his water and earth techniques, Zhang Chen fled with Xie Lingyun into the lava using the Fire Aversion Pearl.

• Zhang Chen immobilized Zhao Lie and began forcing him back into tiger form, but a Rhino Demon’s moonlight blade interrupted him and Zhao Lie escaped into the river.
• Three Ninth Rank deities, including Gu Mingyue, surrounded Zhang Chen and Xie Xuan; Gu Mingyue tried to recruit Xie Xuan before ordering an attack.
• Xie Xuan engaged two Taiping Dao True Persons while Gu Mingyue pursued Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun.
• Zhang Chen used weak water and earth techniques against Gu Mingyue, but Gu Mingyue countered them with divine power and a water-element treasure.
• Gu Mingyue split the earth and unleashed lava, so Zhang Chen took Xie Lingyun into it with the Fire Aversion Pearl.

After escaping Gu Mingyue’s magma trap, Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun traveled to the Spring Pavilion Lake Dragon Palace to investigate a hidden realm. They stood before its entrance, which could steal lifespan but might also contain a power that grants immortality.

• Gu Mingyue sealed Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun beneath the earth, then joined the fight against Xie Xuan, who forced his attackers back and escaped.
• Zhang Chen used the Fire Aversion Pearl to protect himself and Xie Lingyun from the magma, then opened passages through the earth and led them out into the floodwaters.
• Xie Lingyun proposed visiting the Spring Pavilion Lake Dragon Palace before leaving the northern lands, and Zhang Chen used his Water Control Technique to reach its flooded underground entrance.
• Xie Lingyun explained that a secret realm beneath the ruined Dragon Palace had killed every expert who entered, and that even her father had retreated before it.
• Zhang Chen examined the realm’s dark entrance, and Xie Lingyun warned him that it could steal lifespan while suggesting it might also contain a source of immortality.

Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun entered the underground ruins, where green light drained the life from anything it touched. Zhang Chen’s Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror absorbed the light, but when Bai Lu emerged from the wreckage, Zhang Chen recognized him and urged Xie Lingyun to flee.

• Zhang Chen sensed Xu Er Niu’s aura beneath the Earth Cave and descended with Xie Lingyun, who left her body above and followed as a yin spirit.
• Xie Lingyun warned Zhang Chen that green light in the ruins stole lifespans, and they watched it age a carp to death.
• Zhang Chen tested the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, which absorbed the green light, allowing him and Xie Lingyun to cross the boundary safely.
• As Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun approached the central platform, Bai Lu emerged from the ruins and asked Zhang Chen if they had met before.
• Zhang Chen recognized Bai Lu, shielded Xie Lingyun, and told her to run and never return.

Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun discovered a Heaven Reaching Jianmu branch and a Sun Fragment among the ruins of Five Manor Temple. Xie Lingyun prepared to refine the fragment to advance her Yin Spirit, leaving Zhang Chen with a written promise in case she died.

• Bai Lu recognized Zhang Chen, then inexplicably crumbled into dust before he could act.
• Zhang Chen identified the ruins as Five Manor Temple and led Xie Lingyun to the platform where a powerful light and branch stood.
• Zhang Chen recognized the branch as Heaven Reaching Jianmu and used his Devouring Eye to see a bird-like form within the Sun Fragment.
• Xie Lingyun explained that the Sun Fragment’s Pure Yang Qi could help her Yin Spirit transform, and asked Zhang Chen to lend her his Fire Aversion Pearl.
• Xie Lingyun gave Zhang Chen a written document promising that her father would treat him as his own son if she died while collecting the fragment.

Zhang Chen helped Xie Lingyun refine the Sun Fragment, gaining Embers of True Sun Fire, and then used Five-Colored Light to retrieve a Jianmu branch. He and Xie Lingyun continued exploring Five Manor Temple, where they uncovered jade-like skeletons beneath a ruined hall.

• Zhang Chen accepted Xie Lingyun's blood letter, and she used the Fire Aversion Pearl to suppress the Sun Fragment, causing Embers of True Sun Fire to drop for him.
• After three days of cultivation, Xie Lingyun spat out the Fire Aversion Pearl and explained that the Sun Fragment had strengthened her soul and brought her closer to the Yang Spirit Realm.
• At Xie Lingyun's suggestion, Zhang Chen used Five-Colored Light to take the Jianmu branch, and Great Sovereign Demon King revealed that it had survived by absorbing the lives of people in the Daoist Temple.
• Zhang Chen worried that Xu Er Niu might have been harmed, then chose to keep exploring the ruins of Five Manor Temple with Xie Lingyun.
• Zhang Chen used Earth Authority to clear rubble from an abandoned hall, exposing more than a dozen jade-like skeletons that Xie Lingyun believed belonged to cultivators above the tenth rank.

Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun searched the ruins of Five Manor Temple and discovered a secret chamber beneath the patriarch’s bedroom. They found a living figure immersed in a pool inside, and the chapter ended before they could identify it.

• Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun searched the ruined palaces, but found only weathered clothing and rusted swords.
• Zhang Chen discovered a huge palm print in the rear courtyard, and Xie Lingyun judged its maker to have cultivated beyond the Tenth Order.
• Zhang Chen sensed life beneath the ruins and found a buried stone door to a secret chamber in the patriarch’s bedroom.
• Zhang Chen used Earth Authority to open the Yuan Magnetism Stone doors, then led Xie Lingyun down the passage.
• Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun entered the chamber and saw bookshelves, cracked walls, and a blurred figure soaking in a pool of milky-white liquid.

Zhang Chen drained the Earth Essence pool and discovered that Zou Wenlong had survived for centuries, leading to a tense confrontation over Five Manor Temple’s past. After Zou Wenlong recounted Xu Er Niu’s massacre and her effort to revive Zhang Chen, Zhang Chen began considering how to take him down.

• Zhang Chen recognized the pool as Earth Essence and used the Innate Mosquito’s mouthpart to consume it, awakening Zou Wenlong.
• Zou Wenlong attacked Zhang Chen, but Zhang Chen’s Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror and green branch stopped him from advancing.
• Zhang Chen claimed the Longevity Ancestor had sealed him away before Five Manor Temple’s calamity, and Zou Wenlong partly believed his explanation.
• Zou Wenlong recounted how the Innate Peacock devastated the world, Five Manor Temple was hidden beneath Spring Pavilion Lake Dragon Palace, and Xu Er Niu later massacred the trapped brothers while trying to revive Zhang Chen.
• Zou Wenlong said Xu Er Niu and the Innate Peacock departed after the Innate Peacock arrived wounded, leaving the brothers imprisoned and the branch behind.
• After learning what Zou Wenlong knew, Zhang Chen considered using the Buzhou Seal and Golden Twisting Scissors to kill him and loot his body.

Zhang Chen fought Zou Wenlong after Zou demanded the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, then escaped with Xie Lingyun when Zou proved too powerful to defeat. They returned to the secret chamber, where Xie Lingyun gave Zhang Chen the ancient books to translate and asked him to share any useful teachings.

• Zou Wenlong claimed the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror as the Patriarch’s son, but Zhang Chen tricked him and struck him with the Buzhou Seal.
• Zou Wenlong revealed he had fused with the Longevity Ancestor’s body and attacked Zhang Chen, whose Golden Twisting Scissors only left marks on him.
• Zhang Chen grabbed Xie Lingyun and escaped underground, leaving the Jianmu branch behind; Zou Wenlong attacked the ground with Sword Qi before leaving.
• Zhang Chen returned to the secret chamber with Xie Lingyun after sensing Zou Wenlong had departed, and explained the Longevity Ancestor and the Immortal Slaughtering Sword to her.
• Xie Lingyun gave Zhang Chen the ancient books because she could not read them, and Zhang Chen promised to share useful translated cultivation arts with her.

Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun explored the Longevity Ancestor’s secret chamber and Xu Er Niu’s ruined elixir room, searching for treasures and clues. A damaged scroll in Xu Er Niu’s handwriting revealed her repeated question, “Why?”, and Zhang Chen feared she had been on the verge of demonic corruption.

• Zhang Chen retrieved the Earthly Yuan Magnetism Heart and offered it to Xie Lingyun, who refused, so he sealed it with his innate yin-yang power.
• Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun gathered the ancient books, which he encased in Earthly Yuan Magnetism Iron so he could transport them.
• Zhang Chen led Xie Lingyun to Xu Er Niu’s elixir room, where they found ruined elixirs and a sealed furnace that might still contain untouched pills.
• Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun searched the ruins for clues before opening the furnace, and Xie Lingyun found a damaged calligraphy scroll.
• Xie Lingyun was injured by the scroll’s killing intent, and Zhang Chen recognized Xu Er Niu’s handwriting and saw that it repeated the word “Why?”
• Zhang Chen sensed resentment and demonic intent in the scroll and worried that Xu Er Niu had been falling into demonic corruption.

Zhang Chen discovered Xu Er Niu’s notes and learned how her devotion to her Big Brother turned to despair after she uncovered his role in the Longevity Ancestor’s death. The final entry revealed that the Innate Peacock had taken and imprisoned Xu Er Niu, leaving Zhang Chen shocked.

• Zhang Chen examined Xu Er Niu’s calligraphy, sensed its demonic Killing Intent, and gave it to Xie Lingyun to temper her will.
• Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun found Xu Er Niu’s Alchemy Handbook, and Zhang Chen read entries describing her efforts to help her Big Brother cultivate and her continued search for her Father.
• Xu Er Niu’s notes recounted Five Manor Temple’s growing peril, her wish to flee with her Big Brother, and his refusal to leave.
• Zhang Chen read Xu Er Niu’s account of learning that her Father was the Longevity Ancestor and that her Big Brother had plotted his death.
• Xu Er Niu’s final entries said her Big Brother and Father were dead and that the Innate Peacock had taken and imprisoned her; Zhang Chen’s expression changed as he turned the page.

Zhang Chen discovered that Xu Er Niu had sought a way to reach the Netherworld after learning his soul might have survived, then investigated the mysterious Elixir Furnace she had left behind. He began mastering the furnace by feeding it his magical power, but its contents and origins remained unknown.

• Zhang Chen read Xu Er Niu's diary and learned that the Innate Peacock had captured her but told her Zhang Chen's soul might have gone to the Netherworld Underworld.
• Zhang Chen found that the diary's later pages were missing and wondered whether Xu Er Niu had refined an elixir capable of reversing life and death.
• Zhang Chen told Xie Lingyun that the furnace might contain an elixir that could open a path to the Netherworld, but neither she nor Zhang Chen could open it by force.
• The Great Sovereign Demon King could not recall the furnace's origin and suggested finding its control incantation, while the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror failed to reveal its past.
• Zhang Chen poured magical power into the Eight Trigrams Furnace and established a connection with it, mastering three divine restrictions before his power ran out.

Zhang Chen discovered eight spiritually potent ancient pills and sealed them, then stayed behind to refine the Elixir Furnace while Xie Lingyun returned to the surface. There, she learned the pills’ fragrance had drawn factions to the river and found her wounded father, Xie Xuan, ordering her to flee with a small group of elites.

• Zhang Chen captured eight golden pills as they tried to escape the furnace and sealed them in bottles with talismans.
• Zhang Chen gave one bottle of pills to Xie Lingyun, and the two finished searching the ruins before she returned to her physical body.
• Zhang Chen stayed in the cavern to refine the Elixir Furnace, hoping to take it with him and use it to refine Dragon Tooth.
• Xie Lingyun surfaced and found ships and powerful figures searching the river after the pills’ light and fragrance spread beyond the cavern.
• Xie Lingyun learned that Xie Xuan had been gravely wounded fighting the Yellow Heaven Dao and the demons, then found him aboard the central warship.
• Xie Xuan told Xie Lingyun to escape with about a hundred elites disguised as wandering martial artists.

Xie Lingyun used an ancient pill to heal Xie Xuan, though they still faced poor odds against the Pacifying Border King’s forces. Underground, Zhang Chen gained Wood Authority from a leaf of the Heaven Reaching Jianmu and wondered whether he could use it to revive the branch.

• Xie Lingyun gave Xie Xuan a pill from the Yellow River phenomenon, which restored his severed arm, healed his injuries, and increased his cultivation.
• Xie Xuan refused to fight the Pacifying Border King immediately and told Xie Lingyun they had to wait for a chance to escape with their fifty thousand soldiers.
• Zhang Chen used his Golden Twisting Scissors to cut a leaf from the Heaven Reaching Jianmu branch and picked up the resulting Wood Authority skill.
• Zhang Chen found he could sense the Jianmu branch and believed Wood Authority might protect him from wood-element mysteries.
• The Great Sovereign Demon King explained the leaf and branch’s immense power, and Zhang Chen asked whether he could use Wood Authority to make the branch take root and live again.

Zhang Chen used Wood Authority to revive the Heaven Reaching Jianmu branch, then planted it in the Ascension Pool and discovered it could greatly increase the pool’s energy and produce Innate Essence Qi. After learning Wood Authority might offer ways to extend his life, he decided to upgrade it and build an alternative to seeking the Longevity Tree Coffin.

• Zhang Chen commanded the Heaven Reaching Jianmu branch to take root, reviving it into a sapling that emitted Innate Essence Qi.
• Great Sovereign Demon King explained that planting the Jianmu sapling in the Ascension Pool could repair it and multiply its daily energy production.
• Zhang Chen placed the sapling in the Ascension Pool, where it produced colorful liquid, then returned the pool to Ba Snake Space.
• Great Sovereign Demon King described Wood Authority’s potential powers, including extending Zhang Chen’s lifespan and using vegetation as substitutes for death.
• Great Sovereign Demon King offered to lead Zhang Chen to a secret realm that could dispel his curse, but Zhang Chen scattered him and resolved to accumulate energy and upgrade Wood Authority.

Zhang Chen used golden pills to refine the Elixir Furnace enough to control and store it, then searched the ruined palace for useful materials. He revived a piece of dead wood with Wood Authority, leaving the Great Sovereign Demon King stunned.

• Zhang Chen swallowed a golden pill and refined twenty-four Innate Restrictions on the Elixir Furnace, then used another pill to refine twelve more.
• Zhang Chen stopped refining after mastering thirty-six Innate Restrictions, shrank the Elixir Furnace, and stored it in Ba Snake Space.
• Zhang Chen searched the palace ruins for clues about Xu Er Niu and found soul-nourishing timber in the Patriarch's house, which he stored away.
• Zhang Chen found a dead piece of wood and tried to revive it with Wood Authority.
• Green airflow flowed into the dead wood, which sprouted tender branches and buds, astonishing the Great Sovereign Demon King.

Zhang Chen escaped the underground cave with the Earthly Yuan Magnetism bundle and found the Pacifying Border Prince's Mansion and the Inspection Directorate in a standoff on the river. After Gong Family experts attacked him over the bundle and recognized him as their enemy, Xie Lingyun arrived and declared that the Inspection Directorate would protect him.

• Zhang Chen planted the acquired spiritual root in the Ascension Pool and carried the magnetism-bound bundle out of the cave as five figures entered.
• Zhang Chen rode an ice boat across the flooded river and observed the Pacifying Border Prince's Mansion's fleet surrounding the Inspection Directorate's ships.
• The Earthly Yuan Magnetism pulled weapons from a passing Gong Family ship, and Gong Family experts demanded Zhang Chen surrender his bundle.
• Zhang Chen killed Gong Ji and another Gong Family expert with his Blood Control Technique when they attacked him.
• A Gong Family survivor identified Zhang Chen as the man who had killed Gong Bao and joined forces against him, prompting an Eighth Order expert to confront him.
• Xie Lingyun arrived by boat and ordered the Gong Family to withdraw, declaring that the Inspection Directorate would protect Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen returned to the Inspection Directorate’s fleet and agreed to help Xie Lingyun seek a way out of the encirclement, learning that his family was safe aboard the ships. He reunited with his little brother Zhang Fei, who rushed to greet him.

• Xie Lingyun stopped Gong Hei from detaining Zhang Chen, and Gong Hei let them leave after Zhang Chen denied knowing where Gong Bai had gone.
• Xie Lingyun asked Zhang Chen to use his Water Control Technique to help the Inspection Directorate survive the Pacifying Border Prince’s looming attack.
• Zhang Chen learned that his family had been brought aboard the Inspection Directorate’s fleet because Hook Blue County had flooded and fallen into chaos.
• Zhang Chen and Xie Lingyun reached the fleet, where the Earthly Yuan Magnetism Iron made the guards’ weapons and armor tremble.
• Zhang Chen found his plump little brother Zhang Fei playing on deck, called to him, and watched him rush over in excitement.

Zhang Chen reunited with Zhang Shi, Zhang Tuowei, and Zhang Fei after two years away, then told them he planned to take the family south to settle in Jiangnan. Zhang Shi suggested Jinling, where Zhang Chen’s mother was buried and her family might shelter them.

• Zhang Chen reunited with Zhang Fei, Zhang Shi, and Zhang Tuowei, and promised that the family would stay together from then on.
• Zhang Shi explained that fear and hardship had led her to spoil Zhang Fei, while Zhang Chen apologized for leaving without news.
• Zhang Tuowei demonstrated the True Dragon Great Stance, and Zhang Chen ordered Zhang Fei to practice Standing Stake and control his diet.
• Zhang Chen told Zhang Shi that he intended to leave the Inspection Directorate and take the family south despite their status as criminal commoners.
• Zhang Shi suggested Jinling as their destination because Zhang Chen’s mother was buried there and her family was a prominent lineage in the city.

Zhang Chen learned that his parents had left him a path to the Shen Family in Jinling, along with a betrothal and clues about his mother’s suspicious death, but he refused to rely on the court to clear his name. As he weighed how to defeat the Pacifying Border King without leaving the northern lands vulnerable, he learned the Demon Race’s naval forces would arrive in about seven days.

• Zhang Shi told Zhang Chen that his mother, Shen Lian, had been the Shen Family’s legitimate daughter, that his father had left a mysterious object with them, and that Zhang Chen was engaged to the Shen Family’s Young Miss.
• Zhang Shi revealed that Zhang Chen’s father had urged him to visit Jinling, where his mother had left things for him and a great secret remained; Zhang Chen agreed to go, noting that Commander Xie was his elder sister.
• Xie Xuan promised to petition the court to clear Zhang Chen’s name if he helped save the Inspection Directorate’s Fifty Thousand Strong Army, but Zhang Chen refused to risk having his divine abilities crippled and being exiled again.
• Zhang Chen discussed using the Water Control Technique against the Pacifying Border King’s army, while Xie Lingyun explained that the King had allied with the Demon Race and would not restrain them.
• Zhang Chen considered using the enemy armies to strengthen his Blood Control skill and asked when the Pacifying Border King would attack; Xie Xuan said the Demon Race’s naval troops were expected in about seven days.

Zhang Chen traveled through the flooded northern lands, where Dragon Pearl fragments were transforming beasts into demons, and discovered that the flood had extinguished the Colored Realm Fire in the Eight Trigrams Furnace. He tested his Sun Ember and found it could boil a vast stretch of river, then vanished before approaching cultivators could find him.

• Zhang Chen visited Cheng Yu while she cultivated in seclusion and promised Xie Lingyun that he would return in five days to help the Inspection Directorate's army.
• Zhang Chen crossed the floodwaters, killed a tiger transforming into a demonic beast, and took its Dragon Pearl fragment.
• Zhang Chen encountered many more beasts transformed by Dragon Pearl fragments and concluded that the northern lands had become a Demon Country.
• Zhang Chen found the Eight Trigrams Furnace cold and learned that the Pacifying Border King's flood had weakened Dragon Qi and extinguished the Colored Realm Fire.
• Zhang Chen threw a Sun Ember into a river and boiled the water within ten li, then realized the ember could threaten even Yang Spirit experts.
• Zhang Chen sensed people approaching the Sun Ember's Pure Yang fluctuations and escaped using the Water Escape Technique.