Chapter Summaries

Qin Yi, Ju Yunxiu, and Li Qingjun escaped the Netherworld Realm and tested whether Ju Yunxiu’s painting-scroll guidance still worked in the Land of Chaos. The guidance pointed north, and Ju Yunxiu released Qing Cha, whose growth showed in a tiny cowlick.

• Qin Yi, Ju Yunxiu, and Li Qingjun emerged from an underwater passage onto the stormy southern coast after crossing the Netherworld Realm.
• Ju Yunxiu discovered she could not fly normally in the Land of Chaos, but used her Rainbow Cloud artifact to rise above the sea.
• Ju Yunxiu merged the Yunxiu Painting and Sword Pavilion Maiden Painting into the Qianyuan painting scroll, revealing a Northern Dipper that guided them north.
• Ju Yunxiu confirmed that the Land of Chaos had not disrupted the Painting Dao guidance, and Qin Yi urged them to set off.
• Ju Yunxiu freed Qing Cha from the Nether Soil; Qing Cha said she was hungry, and Qin Yi noticed a small cowlick on her head.

Qin Yi and his companions followed Ju Yunxiu’s scroll into the Land of Chaos, where its guidance led them to a thousand-li region containing the Profound Yin Sect. Qin Yi proposed asking his acquaintance Tai Huang Jun for help while the women considered whether to confront him together.

• Qin Yi’s companions threw him from the airship after he distractedly stroked Qing Cha’s cowlick and made an ill-advised remark about her transformation.
• Qin Yi and the others worried that the scroll’s northward route might lead back into the Central Plains, where the Witch God Sect could track them.
• After flying north for several days, Ju Yunxiu saw the scroll’s stars scatter and realized the destination lay somewhere within the surrounding thousand-li region.
• Qin Yi suggested that someone might have built a sect over the hidden destination, obscuring the scroll’s guidance with a Mountain Protection Array.
• Qin Yi revealed that the Profound Yin Sect occupied the region and explained his history with Xuan Hao Zhenren, who might seek revenge after breaking through to Qianyuan.
• Qin Yi proposed visiting the Thousand Mountains Alliance to ask Tai Huang Jun for information and urged Ju Yunxiu and Li Qingjun to stay behind.

Meng Qingying used Qin Yi’s hidden Netherworld fire to mislead the Witch God Sect’s search and strengthen her own Ghost Fire. After receiving a ring of treasures from her master, she left with a Qianyuan Jade Pendant she could not yet refine.

• Mount Mang Venerable told Meng Qingying that the Witch God Sect had found a passage to the Netherworld and believed Qin Yi had entered through it.
• Witch God Sect cultivators triggered Netherworld Hellfire and chaotic spatial rifts in the realm bridge, killing or injuring more than half their party.
• Meng Qingying extinguished the flames on the survivors, sent them for treatment, and gained Mount Mang Venerable’s permission to refine the fire.
• After Mount Mang Venerable left, Meng Qingying gathered Qin Yi’s Earth Fire seed, erased his aura, and merged it with her Netherworld Ghost Fire.
• Meng Qingying received her master’s message and a ring of treasures, including a Qianyuan Jade Pendant, then slipped into the darkness.

Qin Yi visited Tai Huang Jun to ask about recently settled Rogue Cultivators and a Red Rock region, after being caught in a chaotic chess game. Tai Huang Jun identified a dangerous ghost-haunted wasteland there, and Qin Yi decided to visit its Ghost Cultivator alone.

• Qin Yi watched Tai Huang Jun, a Daoist, and Chess Watcher cheat at Go until his painting suggestion led the Daoist to turn the whole board black.
• Qin Yi used the alias Qi Wu and thanked Tai Huang Jun for holding Xuan Hao back when he escaped the Profound Yin Sect.
• Qin Yi gave Tai Huang Jun a Heavenly Heart Lotus, and Tai Huang Jun exchanged it for the Burning Flame Fruit he had once used to trick him.
• Tai Huang Jun told Qin Yi there were no recently founded sects nearby, but many Rogue Cultivators had settled in the region.
• Tai Huang Jun described a Red Rock wasteland claimed by a powerful Ghost Cultivator and warned Qin Yi not to bring his female companion.
• Qin Yi said he wanted to visit the Ghost Cultivator, and Tai Huang Jun advised him to go alone.

Qin Yi and his companions followed a star-chart into a desolate red-rock region to investigate the Ghost Cultivator’s domain. They encountered a monkey corpse and were attacked by a resentful spirit, whose reaction to their swords raised new questions about the fighters’ identities and what had happened to them.

• Qin Yi returned to the city and found Qing Cha hungry; he turned her into a tea leaf and soaked her in his Spiritual Energy-rich wine to keep her safe during the expedition.
• Qin Yi, Ju Yunxiu, and Li Qingjun followed Tai Huang Jun’s directions west into the barren Red Rock Landform, using Ju Yunxiu’s scroll to pinpoint their destination.
• A monkey corpse attacked Qin Yi, who recognized it from the painting and stopped it with a touch to its brow.
• A vicious resentful spirit struck the group with a soul-piercing shriek, and Qin Yi and Ju Yunxiu countered with their zither and flute.
• Qin Yi summoned the Demon Slaying Sword as the Star Chasing Divine Sword arrived; Li Qingjun and the Ghost Cultivator both cried out in recognition and demanded to know who the newcomers were.

Qin Yi and Li Qingjun encountered the Sword Pavilion maiden, who had become a Ghost Cultivator, and learned that centuries of resentment had driven her mad. With Liusu’s help, Qin Yi began purifying her with Red Lotus Tribulation Fire, leaving the ritual underway as her accumulated resentment burned away.

• The Ghost Cultivator diverted Li Qingjun’s sword qi and confronted Qin Yi, who recognized her as the Sword Pavilion maiden who had died alongside Gu Song Layman.
• Qin Yi told her that Gu Song Layman was dead, and she flew into a rage, filling the Red Rock Area with ghostly malice.
• Liusu froze the Ghost Cultivator before she could unleash Thousand Wrath Ghost Devour, then explained that her karmic taint required purification.
• Liusu said Qin Yi could create Red Lotus Tribulation Fire using Heavenly Heart Lotus, Burning Flame Fruit, and his own sacrifice fire.
• Qin Yi refined the fire seed and used it to burn away the Ghost Cultivator’s resentment without harming her body.

After Qin Yi and his companions purified the ghost cultivator’s resentment, they learned she had mistaken them for Gu Song’s killers and intended to trap them. She agreed to lead them to the fragment, but Li Qingjun feared the elder still planned to vanish rather than return to Penglai Sword Pavilion.

• The woman asked why Qin Yi had spared her, and he and Ju Yunxiu proved they had not killed Gu Song.
• The woman realized Gu Song had died and explained that she had shielded him from a fatal blow, then spent centuries resenting him for never returning.
• Li Qingjun identified herself as the woman’s junior relative from Penglai Sword Pavilion and urged her to return, but the woman avoided addressing the request.
• The woman revealed she had altered Ye Bieqing’s imprint to make the entrance restriction a trap, then offered to guide Qin Yi, Li Qingjun, and Ju Yunxiu to the fragment.
• Li Qingjun watched the woman drift away and suspected she still intended to disappear.

Qin Yi and the others reached the hidden gate fragment, where Liusu confronted the terrifying remnant soul guarding it. Liusu quickly devoured the soul and claimed the place, while the group wondered what secrets the fragment still held.

• Ju Yunxiu, Li Qingjun, Qin Yi, and the woman opened Ye Bieqing's concealed restriction and entered the hidden cave dwelling.
• The woman explained that the gate fragment had helped her cultivate Ghost Cultivator arts and was guarded by a powerful remnant soul.
• Liusu judged that it could handle the remnant soul and went deeper into the cave while the others waited outside.
• Liusu defeated and devoured the remnant soul, then emerged and declared the place theirs.
• Qin Yi celebrated Liusu's return, while Ju Yunxiu and Li Qingjun realized the fragment's secrets might still be revealed.

Qin Yi and his companions discovered that the Door’s central chamber was a vast cultivation sanctuary built around a massive fragment bearing the laws of the Heavenly Dao. As they began considering how to use the place, the female ghost took Li Qingjun aside to reveal private sect matters, and Liusu suspected Qingjun was about to receive a stroke of fortune.

• Qin Yi, Ju Yunxiu, Li Qingjun, and the female ghost explored the Door and found an intricate Immortal Spirit Grotto-Heaven suited to many kinds of cultivation.
• Qin Yi examined a huge stone fragment at the center and learned from Liusu that it had struck and killed the former owner of the remnant soul.
• Liusu explained that the fragment had disrupted the Land of Chaos and that the central chamber connected to multiple planes, though reaching them required much greater cultivation.
• Qin Yi named the Door the Door of Myriad Mysteries and told Ju Yunxiu and Li Qingjun they might stay there for many years to cultivate.
• Qin Yi suggested that the female ghost use the Door to reach the Netherworld and cooperate with Myriad Images of the Universe, but she instead asked Li Qingjun to speak privately.
• Liusu told Qin Yi that the female ghost seemed harmless and that Li Qingjun might be about to receive a stroke of fortune.

Li Qingjun learned why her Martial Uncle had summoned her: to pass on the Eye of Truth and sacrifice her soul to strengthen Li Qingjun’s cultivation. The Martial Uncle reincarnated, leaving Li Qingjun and Qin Yi grieving together and promising to stay together through life and death.

• Li Qingjun admitted she felt unable to help Qin Yi and the others with mysteries beyond martial cultivation, and her Martial Uncle encouraged her to develop knowledge and discernment.
• The Martial Uncle taught Li Qingjun the Eye of Truth, then used Ghost Transport to transfer her soul power and condense a Soul-Destroying Sword within Li Qingjun.
• The Martial Uncle said she wanted to reincarnate and seek Gu Song again, then dispersed and sent her True Spirit toward the heavens.
• Li Qingjun mourned the Martial Uncle’s sacrifice, and Qin Yi comforted her by suggesting they could find her reincarnated self someday.
• Qin Yi embraced Li Qingjun, who vowed that if he died, she would reincarnate with him and remain by his side through every life.

Qin Yi and the others settled into their Cave Dwelling and prepared it for peaceful cultivation, while Qin Yi built up its defenses. The chapter ended with Qing Cha discovering that being planted in the soil had made her grow slightly, and she hurried back to bury herself again.

• Ju Yunxiu rescued the drunken Qing Cha from Qin Yi's wine jug, then made Qin Yi take responsibility for looking after her.
• Qin Yi, Ju Yunxiu, and Li Qingjun began arranging the Cave Dwelling, with Li Qingjun setting up a martial training ground and Ju Yunxiu furnishing rooms.
• Qin Yi bought spirit seeds and spellcasting materials, planted the Ghost Cry Vine, and spent days building traps, arrays, and an Eight Trigrams Maze Array to defend the Cave Dwelling.
• Qin Yi installed a Crystal Ball to monitor the Cave Dwelling and finished his preparations after more than ten days of work.
• Qing Cha confronted Qin Yi for planting her, then found that she had grown slightly and buried herself in the Spirit Herb Garden again.

Qin Yi discovered Qing Cha’s talent for cultivating spirit plants and began meditating at the stone pedestal, while Minghe returned to her master seeking answers about the Nether Emperor Sect. The chapter left Minghe ordered to enter Purple Micro Palace for secluded cultivation.

• Qin Yi pulled Qing Cha from the garden soil, recognized her affinity for growing spirit plants, and entrusted her with tending the spirit seeds.
• Qin Yi joined Ju Yunxiu and Li Qingjun at the stone pedestal, where a fragment he had obtained fused back into it.
• Qin Yi meditated at the pedestal and felt it continue his bone forging while exposing him to the Great Dao and its laws.
• Minghe returned to Celestial Pivot Divine Palace and asked her master about the Nether Emperor Sect.
• Minghe’s master spoke of someone from the Immortal Dao rising to prominence and ordered Minghe to enter Purple Micro Palace, giving her a jade token for access.

Qin Yi and Li Qingjun trained together in the Cave Dwelling, where their sparring repeatedly turned intimate, while Ju Yunxiu enjoyed the peaceful retreat and encouraged Qin Yi to resume painting for its value to his state of mind. The chapter ended with Qin Yi and Ju Yunxiu painting together before his suggestive Daoist lyrics led them to embrace beside the pool.

• Qin Yi and Li Qingjun exchanged a hundred moves, and he discovered that her divine soul had become powerful enough to match his own.
• Qin Yi and Li Qingjun resumed sparring, then set aside their weapons and became intimate in the Cave Dwelling.
• Ju Yunxiu played the zither by the pool, and Qin Yi joined her with his flute.
• Ju Yunxiu urged Qin Yi to return to painting as a way to entrust his feelings to the scenery and cleanse his heart.
• Qin Yi painted the Grotto-Heaven with Ju Yunxiu's guidance and wrote suggestive Daoist lyrics that prompted them to embrace beside the pool.

After years of cultivation within the Gate, Qin Yi reached the peak of his current realm while Li Qingjun and Ju Yunxiu also advanced rapidly. Ju Yunxiu told Qin Yi she planned to leave after reaching Qianyuan to seek further growth in the wider world, and he agreed to let her go when it was safe.

• Qin Yi realized that several years had passed in the cave and that he was ready to attempt a breakthrough into the Shining Sun Realm.
• Li Qingjun reached the Returning Organs Stage, while Ju Yunxiu neared the ninth layer of Shining Sun after years of accelerated cultivation through the Gate.
• Qin Yi and Ju Yunxiu made a final cultivation sprint together, but Ju Yunxiu then raised a serious matter with him.
• Ju Yunxiu explained that she had sensed a passage beyond the Gate and wanted to seek a breakthrough through worldly experience rather than rely on the Gate alone.
• Qin Yi agreed that Ju Yunxiu should leave after reaching Qianyuan, provided she could travel through the passage safely, and they embraced over their planned future separation.

Qin Yi broke through to Shining Sun, advancing both his divine soul and martial cultivation, then tested his newly formed Yin Spirit. Liusu woke from her long sleep, and the group returned to their eccentric routine of cultivation and games.

• Qin Yi used his prior experience of the demon race's Myriad Manifestations to break through to Shining Sun and complete the first layer of the Immortal Martial United Core.
• Qin Yi left his body as a Yin Spirit, examined his unresponsive body, and joked about his appearance.
• Liusu woke after helping Qin Yi deal with the female ghost and teased him with her soul pressure.
• Qin Yi and Liusu argued over how to teach him to control his Yin Spirit, then fought as Wolf Tooth Clubs out of the Cave Dwelling.
• Ju Yunxiu, Li Qingjun, and Qing Cha played cards outside without being surprised by Qin Yi's breakthrough, and Qin Yi tried to replace their game with Mahjong.
• Qing Cha refused Qin Yi's attempt to send her to refine pills, while Liusu wondered what the group had been doing during her long sleep.

Five years into seclusion, Qin Yi refined pills while wondering about the changing world and his absent disciple. In Da Qian, eleven-year-old Li Wuxian seized control of the Capital Region and became Nanli King, positioning herself to challenge the realm’s other powers.

• Qin Yi watched Liusu and Qing Cha play mahjong, then went to refine a new pill combining the effects of Huiyang and Returning Viscera pills.
• Qin Yi realized that after five years of seclusion, he and Li Qingjun would eventually need to rejoin the wider world.
• After the Da Qian Emperor died, Sima Qing seized Dragon Abyss City and the realm fragmented among rival powers.
• With Lingxu and former ministers supporting her, Li Wuxian captured Sima Qing after the puppet Young Emperor died and took control of the Capital Region.
• Li Wuxian refused the throne, accepted the title of Nanli King, and called on the realm’s worthy ministers to help quell the rebellion.

Li Wuxian planned to use Great Qian’s fortune to unify the realm and later settle accounts with those who had targeted her master, while Qin Yi continued cultivating as Ju Yunxiu prepared to travel beyond the sea. The chapter ended with Qin Yi eager to reach Qian Yuan so he could communicate with Ju Yunxiu across vast distances.

• Lingxu told Li Wuxian that King Anling had mobilized troops at Tian Yong Pass and that Taiyi Sect backed several regional warlords.
• Li Wuxian ordered Lingxu to contact the Witch God Sect and offer it a share of Great Qian’s fortune, planning to unite the country before settling accounts with her enemies.
• Qin Yi continued his seclusion as Ju Yunxiu reached Qian Yuan through painting and emerged ready to go Cloud Wandering.
• Ju Yunxiu told Qin Yi she wanted to cross the distant sea and explore the Vast Continent, and warned him not to recklessly provoke the Witch God Sect while she was away.
• Ju Yunxiu explained that Qian Yuan cultivators could communicate across great distances, and Qin Yi resolved to reach that realm.

Qin Yi and Li Qingjun continued cultivating together in seclusion, advancing to the second level of Shining Sun. After sensing that something important was happening outside, they decided to leave seclusion soon rather than wait for their next breakthrough.

• Qin Yi gave Liusu a Forgetful Soul Heaven Pill he had learned to refine from old records, and told it he planned to leave after reaching the third level of Shining Sun.
• Li Qingjun emerged from her cave after mastering the Overturning Sea Divine Sword, and Qin Yi celebrated her progress before the two headed off to dual cultivate.
• About ten days later, Qin Yi and Li Qingjun broke through together to the second level of Shining Sun Returning to the Viscera.
• Li Qingjun told Qin Yi she had sensed something important beyond their seclusion, and Qin Yi decided they would prepare to leave within a few days instead of waiting for the third level.

Li Qingjun intervened when Yu Fuzi and the Profound Yin Sect attacked Shen Yunzi’s mountain, driving the assailants back with the Overturning Sea Divine Sword. Qin Yi then revealed himself as Qi Wu, leaving Yu Fuzi stunned by his return and Huiyang cultivation.

• Yu Fuzi and the Profound Yin Sect demanded that Shen Yunzi submit, explaining that Xuan Hao Zhenren had reached Qian Yuan and that their sect needed to replace cultivators lost in the earlier conflict with Qi Wu.
• Shen Yunzi refused, mocked the Profound Yin Sect, and warned that another Qi Wu might destroy them.
• Yu Fuzi and the other Daoists attacked Shen Yunzi’s mountain-protecting formation.
• Li Qingjun arrived and scattered the attackers with a powerful strike, then declared that she would not ignore injustice in the Land of Chaos.
• Qin Yi revealed himself as Qi Wu, and Yu Fuzi stared in disbelief as he recognized him and realized he had reached Huiyang.

Qin Yi met Yu Fuzi again and learned that Yu had advanced only to late Tengyun despite receiving the Profound Yin Sect’s best resources, while Qin Yi had reached Huiyang. Yu proposed an alliance against the sect’s leadership, and Qin Yi considered whether Yu’s support—and Meng Qingying’s—was worth accepting.

• Yu Fuzi was shocked to discover Qin Yi had reached Huiyang, while he himself had only reached the eighth layer of Tengyun despite years of cultivation and two prized Yin-Yang Spirit Stones.
• Yu Fuzi asked whether Qin Yi would believe he had deliberately betrayed him before, claiming he had trusted Xuan Hao could not harm him, but Qin Yi rejected the explanation and learned the surrounding Daoists were Yu’s people.
• Yu Fuzi warned Qin Yi that appearing openly was unwise, and Qin Yi said he had come for Li Qingjun regardless of the risks; Li Qingjun stood quietly beside him holding his hand.
• Yu Fuzi offered to conceal Qin Yi’s appearance and proposed helping him oppose the Profound Yin Sect’s plan to attack the Thousand Mountains Alliance, hoping to remove the Huiyang elders who controlled the sect.
• Yu Fuzi revealed that Meng Qingying covertly supported him, then urged Qin Yi to stake everything on him, arguing that Qin Yi’s rapid rise to Huiyang made him a greater bet than Myriad Images of the Universe.