Chapter Summaries

After Buddha Wutian spared Lin Fan, Tang Sanzang, and Sun Wuxia, Lin Fan helped Tang Sanzang recover his resolve by urging him to build a new Buddhist Sect. He then challenged Tang Sanzang to imagine a purpose beyond Buddhism, leaving him inspired to consider a far grander path.

• Buddha Wutian decided to spare Lin Fan, Tang Sanzang, and Sun Wuxia so he could watch what their futures brought, then vanished.
• Tang Sanzang lamented that he had accomplished nothing in three lives, and Lin Fan warned that his despair was damaging his Dao heart.
• Lin Fan asked why Tang Sanzang had to reform the Western Heaven Buddhist Sect instead of founding a new one, and Tang Sanzang realized he could create an East Sea Buddhist Sect.
• Lin Fan questioned why Tang Sanzang needed to be a monk at all and argued that relying on oneself could be greater than spreading Buddhist teachings, leaving Tang Sanzang visibly inspired.

Lin Fan helped Tang Sanzang shape a plan to establish a sect promoting the Socialist Core Values, while Wutian challenged the Supreme Master and fought him in the Sea of Worlds. Tang Sanzang renounced the Buddhist Sect and prepared to set out on his own path, while Sun Wuxia begged Lin Fan to let her stay by his side.

• Lin Fan proposed that Tang Sanzang spread the True Sutras as a new doctrine based on the Socialist Core Values, and Tang Sanzang decided to help people secure food and clothing before building a sect.
• Sun Wuxia noticed Wutian heading toward Immortal Hall, and Lin Fan and Tang Sanzang realized he was going to confront the Supreme Master.
• Wutian and the Supreme Master fought in the Sea of Worlds, beyond the reach of Lin Fan's Thirty-two Times Magnification Technique, then returned without visible injuries.
• Tang Sanzang destroyed his Buddhist belongings and declared that he would leave the Buddhist Sect to establish his own religion.
• Wutian dismissed the Supreme Master's confidence and left after their exchange, while Lin Fan explained that the Peak Experts could observe them.
• Tang Sanzang declined Lin Fan's invitation because he could not wait to begin, and Sun Wuxia fell at Lin Fan's feet, begging to stay with him.

Lin Fan returned from his journey after helping Tang Sanzang, gained insight that advanced him to the Fifteenth Realm, and began planning to bring the Moon Embracing Sect from the Immortal Martial Continent to the Three Thousand Continents. He intended to use Qiu Yongqin’s Sky Grasping Bottle to provoke and suppress a tribulation himself, testing whether he could shape the trials ahead.

• Lin Fan parted ways with Tang Sanzang, who promised him a place as a Buddha in his future church, and returned with the little monkey while considering the gains from their journey.
• Lin Fan comprehended the Dao during the return trip and quietly broke through to the Fifteenth Realm, Daluo Golden Immortal.
• Lin Fan sent the little monkey back to Moon Embracing Sect and decided the sect’s members should ascend from the Immortal Martial Continent, including Qiu Yongqin and the Sky Grasping Bottle.
• Lin Fan resolved to create a tribulation himself and suppress it early, hoping the Sky Grasping Bottle’s status would draw a challenge he could control.
• Lin Fan contacted Fifth Zhuge from Moon Embracing Palace to discuss two matters.

Lin Fan learned from Fifth Zhuge that the Moon Embracing Sect could ascend together during the Nine Stars Conjunction by using the Ascension Platform and borrowing the Lord of Guixu’s Vast Void Stabilizing Bead. With the conjunction six months away, Lin Fan decided to contact the lower realm and begin preparations despite the difficulty of securing the bead.

• Lin Fan met Fifth Zhuge and asked about the Sky Grasping Bottle and how to bring the entire sect to the Three Thousand Continents.
• Fifth Zhuge explained that the Sky Grasping Bottle had belonged to the slain Lord of the Reincarnation Hall, and its fate after the Time Dao Ancestor defeated him was unknown.
• Fifth Zhuge described the Nine Stars Conjunction and the Ascension Platform as the right time and place for a whole-sect ascension, but said they would need the Lord of Guixu to lend his Vast Void Stabilizing Bead.
• Fifth Zhuge said the next Nine Stars Conjunction would occur on the fifteenth of July, half a year later, and explained that the lower-realm disciples would need formations and a cultivator ready to ascend.
• Lin Fan decided to establish contact with the lower realm immediately and prepare for the ascension, while Fifth Zhuge questioned the order of his plan.

Lin Fan discovered that the lower realm’s strengthened Heavenly Dao blocked ordinary contact, so he sent the Moon Embracing Sect a public message announcing its ascension in half a year. The sect celebrated and prepared to retrieve a resonance formation as the Heavenly Secrets Tower and Gu Xinglian moved to strengthen their ties with it.

• Lin Fan and Fifth Zhuge found that their formation could not contact the lower realm, and Fifth Zhuge concluded that the lower realm’s strengthened Heavenly Dao was blocking it after Lin Fan revealed he had brought back a World Heart.
• Lin Fan used a spatial rift to write a message across the Immortal Martial Continent’s sky, ordering the Moon Embracing Sect to prepare to ascend in half a year and retrieve a resonance formation from the Heavenly Secrets Tower.
• Qiu Yongqin recognized Lin Fan’s message, and the Moon Embracing Sect celebrated while Gu Xinglian quietly rejoiced that Lin Fan was alive.
• Holy Master Duanmu left Wuji Hall after pondering the message, while the Chief Tower Master instructed the Heavenly Secrets Tower to give the Moon Embracing Sect its formation and personally went to deliver it.
• Gu Xinglian arrived at the Moon Embracing Sect with the Chief Tower Master, where Wu Xingyun met him and accepted his offer to hand over the formation.

Wu Xingyun received the Heavenly Secrets Tower Master’s formation diagram and gift as Moon Embracing Sect prepared to ascend together, while Duanmu tried to recruit three holy lands into a plan against the sect. In the upper realm, Lin Fan summoned Wutian Buddha after deciding to try a risky plan.

• The Heavenly Secrets Tower Master gave Wu Xingyun the formation diagram and a congratulatory gift, then declined the banquet and left.
• Gu Xinglian reflected on her boredom and considered ascending as Moon Embracing Sect’s elders celebrated the sect’s impending ascent and began preparing its belongings.
• Duanmu met with Li Canghai, Zhou Zhennan, and Jiao Thirteen to propose joining forces against Moon Embracing Sect, but Li Canghai refused and warned them not to involve her hall.
• Zhou Zhennan prepared Jietian Sect for action, while the Demoness decided she needed to protect herself and escape the danger.
• After seeing Fifth Zhuge off, Lin Fan settled on a risky plan and summoned Wutian Buddha to hear his suggestion.

Lin Fan persuaded Wutian to claim half the Immortal Hall’s Ascension Platforms, securing a way for the Moon Embracing Sect to ascend together in six months. He then took Fan Jianqiang to the Ruins of Return to seek the Sky Stabilizing Pearl and a way to bring out the Broke Template.

• Lin Fan proposed that Wutian recruit talented lower-realm ascenders by taking control of the Ascension Platforms, and asked him to reserve access for the Moon Embracing Sect.
• Wutian demanded half of the Ascension Cities and Ascension Platforms from the Supreme Master of the Immortal Hall, who accepted the handover rather than risk a fight.
• Lin Fan planned to borrow the Sky Stabilizing Pearl from the Ruins of Return and bring out the Broke Template, then summoned Fan Jianqiang to accompany him.
• Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang set out quietly and arrived outside the Ruins of Return several days later.
• Lin Fan told Fan Jianqiang to follow the plan, and the two entered the Ruins of Return.

Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang entered the Ruins of Return by using Favorability Talismans, which Lin Fan created by hacking the Divine Department’s system to transfer money to the guards. On the first level, they saw how harshly people lived and encountered a billboard advertising testicle removal, leaving Fan Jianqiang bewildered by the locals’ attitude toward cultivation and lust.

• Guards at the Ruins of Return rejected Fan Jianqiang’s bribe, so Lin Fan retreated and recognized that the place matched a setting he had read about.
• Lin Fan spent three days creating a Favorability Talisman, then used it to make the guards let him and Fan Jianqiang enter as tourists.
• Lin Fan used more Favorability Talismans on the officials inside and persuaded them to send the pair to the first level.
• Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang saw the first level’s scarcity and learned that even officials ate low-quality Demonic Beast meat while ordinary cultivators relied on synthetic food.
• Lin Fan explained that his Favorability Talismans transferred money through the Divine Department’s system, which he had hacked using funds from dead people’s accounts.
• Fan Jianqiang saw locals discussing Liming Clinic’s testicle-removal services, and Lin Fan explained that they believed lust only slowed cultivation.

Fan Jianqiang and Lin Fan discussed the brutal, capital-driven rules of the Ruins of Return’s first layer and went looking for the Protagonist Template Lin Fan hoped to recruit. At Songyang High School, they stopped a teenage boy and girl whom they suspected were the people they sought.

• Fan Jianqiang and Lin Fan concluded that the first layer’s desperate competition forced people into extreme practices, while wealthy factions monopolized the chances to advance and exploited poor geniuses.
• Fan Jianqiang said he would not act as a savior, and Lin Fan explained that taking the local Protagonist Template could create a karmic connection that might bring them back.
• Lin Fan described the potential junior brother’s Golden Finger: he would die if he failed to work himself to exhaustion whenever he had free time.
• Lin Fan found Songyang on the map, and he and Fan Jianqiang traveled to Songyang High School to search for the prettiest girl accompanied by a handsome boy.
• After watching the school for three days, Fan Jianqiang stopped a teenage boy and girl and restrained them when they tried to leave.
• Fan Jianqiang told the pair that they might be the people he and Lin Fan sought and that an opportunity had come to them.

Lin Fan recruited Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen as disciples by promising them a path beyond the Ruins of Return. After they agreed, Fan Jianqiang cleansed their bodies of hidden injuries and medicinal toxins, then prepared to improve their combat power.

• Lin Fan confirmed Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s identities and offered to take them both as disciples.
• Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen questioned Lin Fan’s motives and asked what benefits and responsibilities came with joining him.
• Lin Fan promised them Invincible Techniques, spirit pills, and a chance to seek a future beyond the Ruins of Return, while Zhang Yu’s countdown ritual confirmed that following Lin Fan was his fastest path to growth.
• Zhang Yu agreed to become Lin Fan’s disciple, and Lin Fan told Fan Jianqiang to help the pair while he and Fan Jianqiang handled other matters.
• Fan Jianqiang diagnosed their hidden injuries and medicinal toxins, then performed Marrow Cleansing and Body Tempering that greatly improved their physical strength.
• Fan Jianqiang said he would next help Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen raise their combat power.

Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang taught Bai Zhenzhen the Misty Sword Technique and Zhang Yu the Cave Heaven Cultivation Method, transforming both of them before leaving. The pair hid their new strength, while Zhang Yu’s improved senses caused an awkward incident with Le Mulan and left them eager to discover the world beyond the Ruins of Return.

• Fan Jianqiang passed the first eight forms of the Misty Sword Technique to Bai Zhenzhen and the Cave Heaven Cultivation Method to Zhang Yu, and both entered deep enlightenment.
• After awakening, Bai Zhenzhen had learned Sword One and Zhang Yu manifested a Cave Heaven; they decided to conceal their strength and wait for Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang.
• The Evil God emerged and was shocked by Zhang Yu’s increased physical strength and vanished drug resistance, while Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen dismissed the drugs they had used as inferior.
• Zhang Yu served as Le Mulan’s grappling partner but dry-heaved at the smell of her medicinal sweat, prompting her to leave angrily.
• Bai Zhenzhen and Zhang Yu realized their new cultivation path had changed them profoundly and wondered about the sect and world beyond the Ruins of Return.
• Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang discussed how people in the Ruins of Return could have severed testicles reattached, only to have them removed again after producing descendants.

Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang sought a way to use the Sky Stabilizing Pearl and arranged to meet Lord of Guixu. After Lin Fan and Lord of Guixu raced to his palace, Lord of Guixu recognized their formidable abilities and asked who they were and why they had come.

• Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang discussed borrowing the Sky Stabilizing Pearl, then decided to ask Lord of Guixu to use it rather than lend it out.
• Lin Fan used repeated Favorability Talismans to persuade a guard to bring them to a banquet where Lord of Guixu would appear.
• Lin Fan challenged Lord of Guixu to race to his palace, and Lord of Guixu accepted.
• Lin Fan overtook Lord of Guixu despite his spatial techniques and the Sky Stabilizing Pearl, while Fan Jianqiang kept pace behind them.
• Lord of Guixu asked their identities and purpose, and Lin Fan introduced himself and Fan Jianqiang as members of the Moon Embracing Sect.

Lin Fan asked the Lord of Guixu to help stabilize the passage for his lower-realm sect’s ascension, and agreed to find the fugitive Ding Changsheng in exchange. Heavenly Secrets Tower intelligence revealed that Ding Changsheng had entered the Dark Forbidden Zone, leaving Lin Fan to weigh the danger and suspect the Lord of Guixu had withheld information.

• Lin Fan offered the Lord of Guixu resources, a favor, or the chance to borrow the Sky Stabilizing Pearl, and the Lord agreed to help if Lin Fan found and killed Ding Changsheng and recovered or destroyed the stolen intelligence.
• After leaving Guixu, Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang suspected the Lord had concealed details, while Lin Fan sent information about Ding Changsheng to the Heavenly Secrets Tower.
• Fifth Zhuge mobilized the Heavenly Secrets Tower’s intelligence network, which found that Ding Changsheng’s last known appearance was entering the Dark Forbidden Zone about a hundred years earlier.
• Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang considered the risks of entering the Dark Forbidden Zone and wondered whether the Lord of Guixu had sent them there deliberately to provoke a Dark Turmoil or exact revenge.

Lin Fan analyzed the risk that Ding Changsheng’s death could trigger a Dark Turmoil, then left Fan Jianqiang to guard the Moon Embracing Sect and entered the Dark Forbidden Zone. He found Ding Changsheng and launched a full-power attack, ending the chapter as he used the Ninth Seal of the Demon Sealing Art.

• Lin Fan concluded that a Dark Turmoil could erupt if Ding Changsheng was a fuse, and considered the Immortal Hall a possible force to suppress it.
• Lin Fan entrusted the Moon Embracing Sect to Fan Jianqiang and set off alone for the Dark Forbidden Zone.
• Lin Fan entered the Forbidden Zone, avoided its sinister plants and venomous insects, and found more than a hundred ancient Supremes sealed in its core.
• Lin Fan located Ding Changsheng, confirmed he had reached the Immortal King realm, and suspected that killing him could trigger the Dark Turmoil.
• Lin Fan stacked his techniques and buffs until his combat power surpassed an Immortal King, then attacked Ding Changsheng with Sword Twenty-Three and A Sword Separating Worlds.
• Lin Fan followed with the Ninth Seal of the Demon Sealing Art as Ding Changsheng fought to break free.

Lin Fan sealed Ding Changsheng inside a bead and confronted the Lord of Guixu over the dangerous contingencies tied to his capture. The Lord of Guixu confessed that he had planned to use Lin Fan to provoke the Dark Forbidden Zones for revenge, and Lin Fan insisted their bargain was complete and the consequences were not his responsibility.

• Lin Fan sealed the world fragment and captured Ding Changsheng before he could trigger his contingencies, then carried the bead out of the Dark Forbidden Zone.
• Lin Fan showed the bead to the Lord of Guixu, who demanded proof that Ding Changsheng was inside it.
• Lin Fan warned that releasing Ding Changsheng might trigger further disasters and demanded that the Lord of Guixu accept responsibility for the resulting karma.
• The Lord of Guixu weighed his options, then admitted he had concealed his motives and began recounting Guixu's history.
• The Lord of Guixu explained that Guixu had once been the Heavenly Palace, destroyed during a Dark Turmoil, and that he had hoped to use Lin Fan to provoke the Forbidden Zones as revenge.
• Lin Fan said the Lord of Guixu's grievance did not justify using him as a weapon and declared that he had already fulfilled their agreement.

Lin Fan accepted the Lord of Guixu’s offer to help pacify the Dark Forbidden Zone in exchange for Ruins of Return’s treasury and ten thousand years of revenue. After making a contract and taking the treasury, Lin Fan arranged to bring Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen to the Moon Embracing Sect, but the two were approached at school before they could leave.

• Lin Fan rebuked the Lord of Guixu for concealing his motives, then accepted the Sky Stabilizing Pearl as collateral and sealed it.
• Lin Fan outlined three possible levels of involvement in destroying the Dark Forbidden Zone, and the Lord of Guixu offered his entire treasury and ten thousand years of Ruins of Return revenue for the Moon Embracing Sect to pacify it.
• Lin Fan and the Lord of Guixu invited the Heavenly Dao to witness their contract, and Lin Fan asked for Songyang, Zhang Yu, and Bai Zhenzhen to be brought to him.
• The Lord of Guixu released Ding Changsheng from Lin Fan’s seal and explained that their plan had been exposed; Lin Fan said he had guessed the truth.
• Lin Fan swept the Lord of Guixu’s treasury clean and agreed to spend about three months preparing before attacking the Dark Forbidden Zone.
• At Songyang High School, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen realized the student council president had come for them and wondered if it was because they had not signed a contract.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen abandoned their plan to keep a low profile when student council members attacked their friends, then overwhelmed the council president’s forces and the school directors. The chapter ended with Bai Zhenzhen defeating the directors with a series of sword strikes.

• When a vice president threatened to cripple Old Qian, Zhang Yu stepped in and sent him crashing through a wall.
• The student council president pressured Teacher Wang to subdue Zhang Yu, but Zhang Yu broke Teacher Wang’s arm and knocked him unconscious.
• Sixth Grandfather tried to stop Zhang Yu, but Zhang Yu broke his arm and struck the student council president before their allies surrounded him.
• Bai Zhenzhen blocked the school directors as Zhang Yu defeated the attackers, leaving them scattered at his feet.
• Bai Zhenzhen turned the tide against the directors, piercing one, cutting off another’s arm, severing a third’s legs, and striking down a fourth as he fled.

Bai Zhenzhen and Zhang Yu defeated the School Directors and took the Student Council President hostage before launching an attack on his clan. Zhang Yu fought his way through the estate and faced the family head, whose Dharma remains matched his Cloud Hand in their first clash.

• Bai Zhenzhen used Void Break to shatter the fifth School Director’s Fahai, and Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen discussed treating their conflict with the wealthy clans as Master’s entry trial.
• Zhang Yu threatened the Student Council President, and Bai Zhenzhen severed his limbs and carried him away as a hostage.
• Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen brought the captive to his family estate, where Zhang Yu slipped inside and began killing its defenders.
• The family head and more than ten Foundation Establishment Realm clansmen confronted Zhang Yu, but he fought through their attacks and talismans.
• The family head donned Dharma remains and charged Zhang Yu, who met his attack with Cloud Hand and clashed with him on equal terms.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen fought off the clan head and his allies, then clashed with Divine Department officers after the clan head blamed them for an evil-god ritual. Just as they prepared to resist, higher-ranking Orthodox Gods intervened, treated them with deference, and confirmed that the pair had guessed correctly about the trial.

• Zhang Yu defeated the clan head with Sword Eight, and Bai Zhenzhen arrived and was stunned that he had learned the Misty Sword Technique.
• Bai Zhenzhen killed the president and beheaded the clan head, but the clan head escaped as a Ghost Cultivator inside an urn and accused the pair of evil-god worship before the Divine Department.
• Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen attacked the Divine Department officers, and Zhang Yu destroyed the flying urn with Sword Eight.
• Higher-ranking Orthodox Gods arrived, punished the officers for threatening Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, and welcomed the pair as they realized their guess had been right.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen left the Ruins of Return with Lin Fan and joined the Moon Embracing Sect, where they began cultivating under his guidance. After sharing their abilities, Lin Fan discovered that Zhang Yu had given him access to a complete Illustrated Guide system, including an Artifact Illustrated Guide and a Hero Illustrated Guide.

• Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen said goodbye to their friends and Zhang Yu's sister before the Lord of Guixu's attendants escorted them to Lin Fan.
• Lin Fan brought the two disciples out of the Ruins of Return, explained the wider world, and returned with them to the Moon Embracing Sect.
• The sect welcomed Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, and Lin Fan announced plans for a major operation, leaving the two new disciples and Mu Chen behind.
• Lin Fan shared Bai Zhenzhen's abilities and gained enhanced insight into martial arts, then discovered Zhang Yu's Illustrated Guide system had unlocked complete technique, artifact, and hero collections.