Chapter Summaries

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun learned of the Golden Ancient City legend while seeking Zhu Ningfeng, then encountered Huang Liji and three Sea Transformation Realm experts at the desert gate. After the silver-robed man scrutinized them and was blinded by Lu Ming’s gaze, someone warned the group not to provoke them.

• Zhu Ningyun learned that Zhu Ningfeng had entered the Red Land Desert with a woman and had not returned.
• Zhu Huaiwen told Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun about the Golden Ancient City legend and warned them about dangers in the desert.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun decided to search the desert’s outer regions for Zhu Ningfeng and left Chisha City together.
• At the desert gate, Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun encountered Huang Liji, Fire Lady, and the Two Mountains Brothers.
• The silver-robed man scrutinized Lu Ming, suffered a sudden eye injury, and heard a warning not to entertain improper thoughts.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun clashed with the Jin Shan and Yin Shan brothers at Chisha City’s gates, but Fire Lady and Huang Liji stopped the fight. After the brothers and Huang Liji left, Huang Liji offered them benefits to help him kill Lu Ming, and they agreed.

• Lu Ming wounded Yin Shan with a forceful look, then prepared to fight him and Jin Shan alongside Zhu Ningyun.
• Fire Lady revealed Zhu Ningyun’s identity, and Huang Liji helped defuse the confrontation; Jin Shan and Yin Shan left for the Red Land Desert.
• Fire Lady warned Lu Ming that the brothers could contend with a Late Sea Transformation Realm cultivator, then departed.
• Jin Shan told Yin Shan they would wait until the Red Land Desert to attack Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun.
• Huang Liji caught up with the brothers and offered them benefits to kill Lu Ming, and Yin Shan agreed.

Daoist Yinshi learned that a tremor might have revealed the Golden Ancient City and set out to investigate. Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun found Zhu Ningfeng being pursued by a flaming bird, rescued him, and reunited him with his sister.

• Daoist Yinshi questioned a man in Chisha City about the Red Land Desert tremor and the rumored Golden Ancient City, then rewarded him with a high-grade Origin Stone before leaving to investigate.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun searched likely routes around the Red Land Desert for several days but found no sign of Zhu Ningfeng.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun spotted Zhu Ningfeng and Qiu Yi fleeing a flaming bird, and Zhu Ningfeng turned back to hold the beast off.
• The flaming bird knocked Zhu Ningfeng down, but Lu Ming killed it with a sword strike and descended with Zhu Ningyun.
• Zhu Ningfeng reunited with Zhu Ningyun, introduced Qiu Yi as his sister-in-law, and called Lu Ming his brother-in-law.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun escorted Zhu Ningfeng and Qiu Yi out of the Red Land Desert, then returned to investigate the tremors and train their swordsmanship. In the core region, they encountered an early Level 5 Lava Giant Lizard, and another powerful beast approached as Zhu Ningyun prepared to fight.

• Zhu Ningfeng explained that tremors had made the desert’s demonic beasts violent and thanked Zhu Ningyun and Lu Ming for rescuing him and Qiu Yi.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun carried Zhu Ningfeng and Qiu Yi to safety near Chisha City, then parted ways with them.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun returned to the desert, fought their way into the core region, and encountered increasingly violent beasts and intense heat.
• A Lava Giant Lizard burst from beneath the sand and attacked Zhu Ningyun, who blocked its tongue with her sword.
• Zhu Ningyun identified the lizard as an early Level 5 beast and prepared to fight while Lu Ming watched her back, but another powerful beast approached from the left.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun fought Level Five demon beasts in the Red Land Desert, where Zhu Ningyun tested her newly formed sword technique and Lu Ming refined a combined saber-and-sword strike. After naming his move Heavenly Demise, Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun gathered their spoils and continued deeper into the desert.

• Zhu Ningyun battled a Lava Giant Lizard while Lu Ming fought another Level Five demon beast nearby and watched over her.
• Zhu Ningyun used Qingyun Sword Qi and her new move, Qingyun Fission, to split the Lava Giant Lizard apart and kill it.
• Lu Ming praised Zhu Ningyun’s technique and explained how his advice had helped inspire it.
• Zhu Ningyun noticed Lu Ming had cleaved his opponent in two and asked about his combined saber-and-sword strike.
• Lu Ming named his developing technique Heavenly Demise, explaining that he wanted his path of slaughter and destruction to preserve his original heart.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun collected the demon beasts’ valuables and headed deeper into the Red Land Desert.

Experts traveled into the Red Land Desert to investigate violent tremors and rumors of the Golden Ancient City, battling demonic beasts along the way. Fire Lady and her companions encountered the powerful Golden Flame Divine Eagle and fled, while Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun also ran into trouble.

• Purple Orchid Fairy, Iron Arm Mountain, and Zhao fought off demonic beasts and decided to continue deeper into the desert despite Old Monster Yellow Earth's arrival.
• Fire Lady, Yin Shan, Jin Shan, Huang Liji, and the others pushed toward the desert's central region while facing increasingly powerful beasts.
• The Golden Flame Divine Eagle spotted Fire Lady's group, and Fire Lady urged everyone to flee rather than fight it in the fire-filled desert.
• Fire Lady used Blazing Fire Escape to race ahead, while Yin Shan and Jin Shan formed a whirlwind to flee and Huang Liji overtook them with sword light.
• The Golden Flame Divine Eagle resumed its pursuit after missing a diving strike, and Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun also encountered trouble farther away.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun followed the Blazing River toward the Red Land Desert’s central region, surviving an attack by a Molten Giant Beast and the volcano’s intense heat. At a cave glowing with seven-colored rosy light, Lu Ming used his spiritual sense to investigate and found something shining within the magma.

• Zhu Ningyun explained that the Blazing River was named after Flame Venerable, who created the [Blazing Golden Flow Merit] there.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun followed the river upstream and fled when an adult Molten Giant Beast attacked them with magma.
• The pair reached a bend near a volcano and chose to cross it after Lu Ming noticed a faint seven-colored glow at a cave entrance.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun equipped their High-grade armor and cautiously flew to the cave without encountering danger.
• Lu Ming probed the cave with his spiritual sense and discovered a platform above magma, where the source of the rosy light lay submerged.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun discovered an Earth Core Fire Lotus at the site where Li Weifeng had comprehended the Blazing Golden Flow Merit, and Lu Ming took its remaining seed before they left. Later, Fire Lady’s group found the glowing cave, but the volcano began shaking as they approached.

• Lu Ming used the Ice Dragon Pearl to protect Zhu Ningyun as they entered the hot cave and found an Earth Core Fire Lotus growing in magma.
• Zhu Ningyun read an inscription identifying the cave as the place where Li Weifeng, Flame Venerable’s real name, had comprehended the Blazing Golden Flow Merit.
• Lu Ming drew the remaining Fire Lotus Seed out of its pod, and he and Zhu Ningyun quickly left the volcanic region.
• Fire Lady, Yin Shan, Huang Liji, and Jin Shan arrived in the volcanic region after escaping a feathered beast and spotted the cave’s rosy glow.
• The four agreed to investigate the cave, but the volcano began shaking violently before they could move.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun entered the Red Land Desert’s core region and spotted an ominous black light on the horizon. Other explorers converged on a strange black gate tower identified as the Golden Ancient City, while Daoist Yinshi strengthened his technique by consuming a demonic beast’s essence.

• A volcano erupted behind Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun, forcing them to flee as a Half-Beast King Flame Dragon Beast emerged and chased Fire Lady and the others.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun traveled deeper into the core region, where they saw a black beam of light and decided to investigate.
• Daoist Yinshi drained a wounded demonic beast of its essence, then vanished after noting that it would help advance his [Great Corpse King Technique].
• Purple Orchid Fairy’s group reached a massive black gate tower they recognized as the Golden Ancient City and debated how to enter.
• Old Monster Yellow Earth arrived at the gate tower and stared at it without acknowledging Purple Orchid Fairy’s group.

Several powerful cultivators gathered before a sealed city gate that they could neither open nor bypass, and Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun arrived as the group considered joining forces. The chapter left them facing the ominous gate with no way forward yet.

• Old Monster Yellow Earth tried to push open the city gate with a Gangyuan palm, but the gate resisted and burned his attack away.
• The thin young man and the others discovered an invisible wall extending above and around the city tower, forcing them to approach through the gate.
• Daoist Yinshi arrived and recognized the coffin-shaped tower as a possible clue to becoming a Corpse Fiend.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun arrived, and Xu Zilan introduced herself and learned that Zhu Ningyun belonged to the Zhu family and possessed the Azure Cloud Sword Body.
• After Xu Zilan explained the situation, Lu Ming studied the ominous gate and asked the group what they planned to do next.

Daoist Yinshi and the others entered the mysterious black city, followed by Fire Lady’s party. The newcomers emerged onto a silent, gray street and were attacked before they could investigate the open houses.

• The city gates opened, and Daoist Yinshi sent an early fifth-rank corpse stiff inside before following it into the city.
• Old Monster Yellow Earth entered next, and Lu Ming, Zhu Ningyun, Purple Orchid Fairy, Tie Bishan, and the skinny young man followed together.
• Fire Lady’s party arrived at the gates; Huang Liji’s early fourth-rank puppet melted before reaching them, so the group entered without scouting.
• Fire Lady’s party emerged onto a silent gray street and approached an open house to search for clues.
• The group sensed danger too late, and a scream rang out as they reinforced their gang essence shields.

Crimson shadows trapped the group inside the vanished city and killed Yin Shan, while Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun learned that saber and sword intent could hinder the creatures’ healing. The survivors continued searching for an exit, with Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun stopping outside a courtyard.

• A crimson shadow destroyed Yin Shan’s arm, and black flames consumed him before Jin Shan could save him.
• Huang Liji ran down the street after discovering the city gate had vanished, while Fire Lady and Jin Shan fought off hidden shadows and followed him.
• Lu Ming used saber and sword intent to damage several crimson shadows and concluded that intent could wear them down, though the creatures remained dangerous.
• Zhu Ningyun failed to finish off a shadow that escaped into the darkness, and Lu Ming urged her to focus on finding an exit.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun continued cautiously and stopped outside a courtyard.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun explored a deserted courtyard, where they found a dried corpse kneeling before a painting and discovered a golden booklet written in Ancient Script. Zhu Ningyun recognized the script and began reading, her excitement turning to solemnity as the chapter ended.

• Lu Ming sensed something watching them inside the courtyard and led Zhu Ningyun in to search for clues.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun saw a white figure vanish into a corridor and followed it through the courtyard.
• Lu Ming used his spiritual sense to find a dried woman kneeling in a room before a painting of a giant man.
• Zhu Ningyun spotted something beneath the corpse’s prayer cushion, and Lu Ming lifted the body to retrieve a golden booklet.
• Zhu Ningyun recognized the booklet’s writing as Ancient Script and began translating it, growing solemn as she read.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun uncovered a diary linking Golden City’s vanished residents to a failed pursuit of eternal life and followed its map toward the person behind the monsters. Elsewhere, Fire Lady, Jin Shan, and Huang Liji were trapped in a growing assault by red shadows and black flames.

• Zhu Ningyun read the diary, which described Golden City’s disappearance, monstrous survivors, and its author’s search for her daughter and immortality.
• Lu Ming guessed that eternal life meant becoming a monster, and he and Zhu Ningyun decided to follow the diary’s map to find a way out.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun bowed to the desiccated corpse and left, then briefly returned to check whether anything had changed before departing again.
• A sinister chuckle seemed to come from the room after Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun left for good.
• Fire Lady and Jin Shan caught up with Huang Liji, but red shadows surrounded them, and black flames began melting Fire Lady’s protective cube.

Fire Lady, Jin Shan, and Huang Liji took refuge in a courtyard, where a bald monster killed the first two before Huang Liji’s life-saving pendant struck it down. Elsewhere, Old Monster Yellow Earth and a Wandering Snake Sect prodigy headed toward the city’s largest structure, while Daoist Yinshi followed the gathering Undying Race creatures in search of the Becoming Drought Demon Secret Technique.

• Fire Lady led Huang Liji and Jin Shan into a sturdy courtyard to escape the crimson shadows.
• A bald monster appeared in the courtyard, seized Fire Lady and Jin Shan, and drained them until they vanished.
• Huang Liji’s Sword-shaped Pendant blasted the monster into a wall, but it began absorbing black light and melting the Sword Qi, so Huang Liji fled.
• Old Monster Yellow Earth crushed several crimson shadows and persuaded a Wandering Snake Sect prodigy to investigate the city’s largest structure.
• Daoist Yinshi passed unharmed among the crimson shadows and hurried toward the place where the Undying Race creatures gathered, hoping to find the Becoming Drought Demon Secret Technique.

Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun fought through the fiery red shadow creatures and joined Tie Bishan and Purple Orchid Fairy against a powerful bald monster. Lu Ming’s Heavenly Demise wounded it, but a distant explosion drew the monster and countless shadows away, leaving the group to wonder what had happened.

• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun fought their way down the long street, with Lu Ming’s sword-and-saber attacks clearing the shadow creatures.
• Lu Ming and Zhu Ningyun found Tie Bishan and Purple Orchid Fairy struggling against a bald monster and joined the fight.
• The bald monster endured Purple Orchid Fairy’s ring and Tie Bishan’s axe, forcing both fighters onto the defensive.
• Lu Ming struck the monster with Heavenly Demise, blasting it back and carving a deep groove into its chest.
• A distant explosion shook the area, and the bald monster abandoned the fight as countless shadows rushed toward its source.

Lu Ming and the others discussed the Undying Race and learned from Purple Orchid Fairy that the fire-wielding monsters were likely Drought Demons, a kind of corpse puppet. Suspecting that the Black Robe had a clear purpose connected to the tremors, the four set off together to investigate.

• Lu Ming told Purple Orchid Fairy and Tie Bishan that the monsters were called the Undying Race and had been created by someone seeking immortality.
• Purple Orchid Fairy explained that powerful corpse puppets could possess indestructible bodies and identified the bald monster as a high-ranking corpse puppet.
• Purple Orchid Fairy said the fire-controlling corpse puppets likely belonged to the Drought Demon race.
• Lu Ming reminded the group that the Black Robe had seemed to know where he was going, and Tie Bishan wondered whether he had caused the commotion.
• Lu Ming, Zhu Ningyun, Purple Orchid Fairy, and Tie Bishan agreed to investigate the source of the sound together.

Lu Ming and his companions entered the Grim Hall, where they found Old Monster Yellow Earth and Zhao Hai fighting swarms of fiery shadows. After sharing what they knew about the monsters and the Black Robe, the six joined forces and advanced deeper into the hall.

• Lu Ming led Zhu Ningyun, Purple Orchid Fairy, and Tie Bishan through the opened entrance to the black hall.
• The group found Old Monster Yellow Earth and Zhao Hai battling fiery shadows in the plaza.
• Purple Orchid Fairy told Zhao Hai and Old Monster Yellow Earth about the powerful bald monsters and the threat behind them.
• Lu Ming said their way out likely lay deeper inside, and Old Monster Yellow Earth agreed to go with them.
• The six formed a battle formation and fought through the weaker fiery shadows as they advanced.

Lu Ming and the others entered the hall and fought off a strange black monster before climbing to its second floor. There they found hundreds of ruined weapons that had once been Divine Weapons and evidence that someone had entered before them, then prepared to continue upward.

• Old Monster Yellow Earth led Lu Ming and the others into the silent hall, where they spotted a passage to the second floor.
• Tie Bishan struck an invisible black humanoid monster, and Lu Ming and the others broke its ring-shaped attacks.
• Zhao Hai hit the monster with his Dragon Snake Strike, but it seeped into the wall and disappeared.
• Old Monster Yellow Earth led the group up the staircase to the second floor.
• Zhao Hai discovered rows of weapons, and Tie Bishan and Lu Ming found that the weapons crumbled at a touch.
• Lu Ming pointed out broken weapon fragments that showed someone had entered before them, and Old Monster Yellow Earth turned toward the passage to the third floor.

Lu Ming and the others reached the fourth level and discovered monsters attacking Daoist Yinshi beside a massive black coffin. A Dry Corpse Demon emerged, absorbed the monsters and Daoist Yinshi, and turned her gaze toward the trapped group.

• Lu Ming and the others found billions of decayed Origin Stones on the third level before cautiously proceeding to the fourth.
• The group discovered four monsters attacking Daoist Yinshi's golden barrier while a fifth guarded a massive black coffin.
• Daoist Yinshi urged everyone to join forces and defeat the monsters, but the coffin opened before they could respond.
• A beautiful woman in red emerged from the coffin, absorbed the monsters, and awakened as a Dry Corpse Demon.
• Old Monster Yellow Earth tried to flee, but Lu Ming told him the exit had been sealed by a curtain of light.
• The Dry Corpse Demon seized Daoist Yinshi, drained his blood essence until he crumbled to dust, and fixed her gaze on Lu Ming and the others.