Chapter Summaries

After a year searching Hanyou Valley for an Ice Lotus Fruit, Fang Liang and He Xuan found a cave containing a faint true-ghost aura and called for Qin Fengming. Fang Liang discovered the figure who emerged was a puppet, while Qin Fengming’s second Nascent Soul explained that his true body remained in seclusion.

• Fang Liang and He Xuan searched the icy depths of Hanyou Valley for five months without finding an Ice Lotus Fruit.
• The two sensed a spiritual herb’s presence in a cave and decided to ask Qin Fengming to investigate.
• When Qin Fengming did not answer, Fang Liang entered the Divine Machine Mansion and attacked the restriction on his chamber.
• A figure resembling Qin Fengming emerged and stopped Fang Liang’s attack, but Fang Liang recognized that it lacked their soul connection.
• Qin Fengming’s second Nascent Soul revealed that the figure was a puppet under his control and said his true body could not leave seclusion.

Fang Liang met Qin Fengming’s incarnated puppet and learned that it was a Profound Tier puppet. The chapter revealed that it housed Qin Fengming’s Second Soul Spirit, and ended with Qin Fengming having completed the perilous cultivation that would let the spirit control a puppet capable of advancing.

• Fang Liang sensed the connection between himself and the Second Nascent Soul, then questioned how a puppet could speak and act like a cultivator.
• The Second Nascent Soul told Fang Liang that Qin Fengming had refined the Profound Tier puppet and that its body was strong enough to serve as his incarnation.
• Fang Liang left the Divine Machine Mansion with the puppet, while the Second Nascent Soul watched them go.
• The chapter revealed that the puppet contained Qin Fengming’s Second Soul Spirit, a copy of his main-body soul essence whose advancement matched his own.
• Qin Fengming had endured four failed attempts and extreme danger before successfully cultivating the Second Soul Spirit, then began refining a powerful Profound Tier puppet for it.

Qin Fengming reviewed the Profound Tier puppet he had spent years refining and the two powerful puppets he had repaired and subdued. Although they greatly increased his strength, he chose to remain in seclusion and turn to refining the Immortal-Demonic Armor to improve his own defenses.

• Qin Fengming completed a Profound Tier puppet that concealed its true rank, revealed peak Spirit Severing cultivation, and could unleash attacks strong enough to kill early Profound Tier cultivators.
• Qin Fengming explained that the puppet held Phantom Kill, Mountain Shaking Palm, and Profound Moon Demonic Silk, and that the Second Soul Spirit could also use some of his abilities and its icy-cold lightning.
• Qin Fengming subdued a middle Profound Tier stone statue puppet and named it Big Fool, though controlling it consumed a great deal of soul power.
• Qin Fengming refined a lotus platform to control another middle Profound Tier puppet, named Second Fool, whose strength fell short of Big Fool's.
• Qin Fengming decided not to leave seclusion or refine more magical treasures and instead planned to refine the Immortal-Demonic Armor.

Qin Fengming struggled to refine an Immortal-Demonic Armor while his Second Soul Spirit explored a hidden ice cave. The Second Soul Spirit reached the cavern floor and froze at the sight of what lay ahead.

• Qin Fengming adapted the Immortal-Demonic Armor’s refining method, replacing scarce materials and designing a formation to mount the Sun-Absorbing Pearl on its back guard.
• Qin Fengming began refining the armor, but purifying its rare materials and sustaining the required magical energy proved exhausting.
• Qin Fengming sent his Second Nascent Soul and the puppet controlled by the Second Soul Spirit to join Fang Liang and He Xuan in the icy region.
• The Second Soul Spirit sensed traces of old restrictions and spirit herbs in the ice cavern, then sent Fang Liang and He Xuan back to the Divine Machine Mansion.
• The Second Soul Spirit descended through the mist-filled cave, sensed danger, and stopped motionless after reaching the ground and seeing what lay before him.

Qin Fengming's Second Soul Spirit explored an immense, ancient ice cavern where dangerous auras lingered despite signs that no one had entered for thousands of years. Guided by the Dragon Soul Beast, he traveled deeper toward the source of a spirit-herb aura and stopped before a field of ice-covered rocks.

• Qin Fengming's Second Soul Spirit examined the cavern's dazzling ice and sensed several unsettling auras, while finding that the Heaven and Earth Origin Energy had remained undisturbed for ages.
• Qin Fengming's Soul Spirit cut a luminous crystal from the ice, judged it to have little value, and summoned the Dragon Soul Beast.
• The Dragon Soul Beast sensed precious items and faint spirit-herb auras, so Qin Fengming's Soul Spirit carried it deeper into the cavern with caution.
• After traveling more than a hundred miles, Qin Fengming's Soul Spirit stopped among enormous ice-covered rocks and asked whether the spirit-herb aura had come from there.

Qin Fengming’s Soul Spirit discovered a hidden restriction around a massive ice-covered rock, guided there by the Dragon Soul Beast’s scent of a medicinal herb. After his attack revealed that the barrier had weakened, he summoned Fang Liang and He Xuan to help break it, and they began bombarding the rock.

• The Dragon Soul Beast confirmed that the medicinal herb’s aura came from the area around the enormous rock.
• Qin Fengming’s Soul Spirit fired Sword Qi at the rock, but a faint blue barrier appeared and swallowed the attack without revealing its energy fluctuations.
• Qin Fengming reasoned that profound Immortal Realm runes might conceal the restriction and struck it with a Mountain Shaking Palm.
• The barrier flared blue-white instead of swallowing the palm imprint, showing Qin Fengming that its power had weakened.
• Qin Fengming summoned Fang Liang and He Xuan and asked them to attack the restriction together.
• Fang Liang questioned whether the restriction was really there, but Qin Fengming told him and He Xuan to unleash continuous attacks, and they bombarded the rock with treasures and secret arts.

Qin Fengming, Fang Liang, and He Xiang entered a cave revealed after its restrictive formation collapsed and found an unusual underground dwelling filled with True Ghost Qi. They suspected that the danger came from the Earthfire area, where faint True Ghost Qi rose in a mist, and prepared to investigate it cautiously.

• Qin Fengming was astonished when the restrictive formation broke after only one wave of attacks, while He Xiang attributed its weakness to age and Fang Liang noticed the cave’s dense icy wood-element aura.
• Qin Fengming sensed ancient decay, dense True Ghost Qi, and an unexplained danger within the cave, so he warned Fang Liang and He Xiang to be careful.
• Qin Fengming, Fang Liang, and He Xiang descended through the passage and reached a large, carefully furnished Cave Abode.
• Fang Liang detected an unusual presence of True Ghost Qi, and He Xiang wondered whether the former owner had left a soul essence behind.
• Qin Fengming identified the Earthfire area as the likely source of danger, and Fang Liang and He Xiang confirmed that faint True Ghost Qi lingered in its rising mist.

Qin Fengming, Fang Liang, and Fellow Daoist He searched a Cave Abode and found only a stone statue, which released strange gray radiance when Fellow Daoist He struck it. The radiance vanished inside him, leaving tiny starlike points scattered through his flesh and blood, and Qin Fengming could not determine whether they were harmful.

• Qin Fengming, Fang Liang, and Fellow Daoist He entered the Cave Abode and searched it, finding no treasures or other clues.
• The three gathered around a fat stone statue, and Fellow Daoist He struck it with a fist shadow.
• Gray radiance burst from the statue, passed through the trio’s attacks, and enveloped Fellow Daoist He before disappearing.
• Fellow Daoist He reported that the radiance had vanished inside him without harming his Pill Sea or Sea of Consciousness.
• Qin Fengming examined Fellow Daoist He and found tiny starlike points scattered throughout his flesh and blood, but could not tell whether they would cause harm.

Qin Fengming, Fang Liang, and He Xuan discovered a wooden hairpin in the statue’s hidden stone box, and it resonated with the gray radiance inside He Xuan. The hairpin revealed that the Cave Abode belonged to Daoist Yimu, and the group turned their attention to the Earthfire site where his precious Spirit Herbs might be sealed.

• Qin Fengming searched He Xuan’s body but could not identify the starlight specks, while Fang Liang concluded the gray radiance was not a remnant soul or a possession threat.
• He Xuan and the others returned to the platform and found an intact stone box among the statue’s fragments.
• Qin Fengming opened the Spirit Pattern-sealed box, revealing an ordinary purple-black wooden hairpin that suddenly flew toward He Xuan and resonated with his gray radiance.
• He Xuan read information from the hairpin and told Qin Fengming and Fang Liang that the Cave Abode belonged to Daoist Yimu, a cultivator famed for raising rare Spirit Herbs.
• He Xuan explained that Yimu’s Spirit Herbs were likely sealed behind restrictions near the Earthfire, and the group focused on that location.

Qin Fengming, Fang Liang, and He Xuan uncovered a restriction beneath the rocks near the Earthfire and broke it, releasing an immense surge of energy. The three were swept up in it, and Fang Liang and He Xuan realized the dense Yin energy might be absorbable.

• Qin Fengming agreed with Fang Liang and He Xuan to investigate the spirit-herb aura in the Cave Abode.
• The three moved the rocks near the Earthfire and uncovered a gray restriction barrier emitting heat and True Ghost Qi.
• Fang Liang guessed that top-grade Yin Stones might lie beneath the barrier, and Qin Fengming set up a formation to contain any danger.
• The three attacked the restriction, shattering it and unleashing a terrifying surge of energy that overwhelmed Qin Fengming's formation and swept them away.
• Fang Liang and He Xuan froze briefly in the energy, then sat cross-legged as they sensed that its dense Yin energy might be absorbable.

Qin Fengming discovered that the cavern’s exceptionally pure Yin energy prevented him from entering the Divine Machine Mansion, while it flooded Fang Liang and He Xuan’s bodies and threatened to rupture their meridians. He Xuan’s cultivation surged to the peak of the Spirit Severing stage, but Qin Fengming carried both men toward the cavern entrance to escape the dangerous energy.

• Qin Fengming realized that the Yin energy was purer than his true body’s magical power but could not activate the Divine Machine Mansion amid the dense energy.
• Fang Liang and He Xuan found that the energy entered their bodies and rapidly overwhelmed their meridians.
• He Xuan’s gray-white radiance drew in the energy, raising his cultivation from the late Spirit Severing stage to the peak while causing severe pain.
• Qin Fengming returned to Fang Liang and He Xuan, lifted one in each hand, and headed for the cavern entrance.

Qin Fengming tried to escape the cavern with Fang Liang and He Xuan, but a restored barrier trapped them inside as the surging yin energy overwhelmed He Xuan. He saved He Xuan’s Soul Infant and turned to help Fang Liang, while realizing the barrier had been reactivated by their breach of the cavern.

• Qin Fengming carried Fang Liang and He Xuan toward the cavern entrance, but discovered a barrier trapping the dense yin energy inside.
• He Xuan’s body burst apart under the energy’s assault, and Qin Fengming caught his unconscious Soul Infant.
• Qin Fengming determined that He Xuan’s Soul Infant could survive and later recover in a suitable fleshly body.
• Qin Fengming found Fang Liang enduring the yin energy and struck the barrier with two Mountain Shaking Palm seals, but it barely flickered.
• Qin Fengming recognized the barrier as the earlier restriction, restored after they had opened the cavern, and began to suspect the place’s master had acted with ruthless intent.

Qin Fengming’s soul realized Daoist Yimu’s statue had exposed He Xuan to gray runes that caused his body to shatter under a flood of Yin energy, while Fang Liang survived and gained power from the ordeal. The Yin energy stabilized, but Qin Fengming and Fang Liang remained trapped beneath a restriction that had grown stronger.

• Qin Fengming concluded that gray-white rune-like specks from Daoist Yimu’s statue had made He Xuan absorb excessive Yin energy and burst apart.
• After five days, Qin Fengming returned He Xuan’s unconscious soul infant to the Divine Machine Mansion and kept watch as Fang Liang endured the remaining energy.
• Qin Fengming sensed that the energy had weakened while the restriction overhead continued absorbing it and growing stronger.
• A month later, Fang Liang woke after the Yin energy stabilized and discovered that it had transformed into True Ghost Qi and brought his magic power close to the late Spirit Severing stage.
• Fang Liang thanked Qin Fengming for rescuing him and asked about He Xuan, then recognized the barrier as a restriction they had previously helped break.

Qin Fengming’s soul spirit and Fang Liang explored the deep pit beneath the cave abode and found a formation that transformed Yin Stones into pure Yin energy. They broke through it and were left stunned by what they saw on the stone platform.

• Qin Fengming’s soul spirit and Fang Liang descended several hundred zhang into a vast underground space and found traces of an ancient underground river.
• Qin Fengming’s soul spirit identified an azure formation as the Heaven and Earth Five Elements Yuan Transformation Array, which released energy from Yin Stones.
• Fang Liang realized the formation might contain many Yin Stones, and Qin Fengming’s soul spirit agreed to break through it.
• Qin Fengming’s soul spirit shattered the formation with a Mountain Shaking Palm imprint, and he and Fang Liang stared in astonishment at the stone platform beyond it.

Qin Fengming's soul and Fang Liang discovered a vast platform of depleted high-grade Yin Stones and learned from Daoist Yimu's carved message how the formation had trapped He Xuan. Qin Fengming then searched the area for spirit herbs and stopped before a stone wall after noticing something there.

• Qin Fengming's soul and Fang Liang found a huge platform built from high-grade Yin Stones, most of whose energy had been drained by the formation.
• Fang Liang searched the platform for intact Yin Stones while Qin Fengming's soul looked for spirit herbs nearby.
• Qin Fengming's soul found Daoist Yimu's message, which explained that the formation was meant to leave intruders without their bodies trapped inside.
• Qin Fengming's soul deduced how He Xuan had been left with only his soul infant and reflected on Daoist Yimu's formation skill.
• Qin Fengming's soul searched the surrounding area and halted before a stone wall with a look of sudden understanding.

Qin Fengming’s soul spirit discovered a hidden chamber behind an attacking restriction and called Fang Liang to help break through it. After assessing the formation’s strength, they prepared to combine Fang Liang’s Chaos Heaven Art with Qin Fengming’s puppets and attacks, ending as their assault began.

• Qin Fengming’s soul spirit noticed unusual blue-gray fluctuations in the cave wall and attacked the spot, triggering a powerful formation.
• Qin Fengming dodged the formation’s three arc blades with the Phantom Kill technique, and the attack exposed the outline of a hidden chamber.
• Qin Fengming called Fang Liang over and proposed that they break the restriction together to reach whatever lay inside.
• Fang Liang examined the restriction and agreed to use the Chaos Heaven Art to divert its attacks while Qin Fengming and his two puppets struck it.
• Qin Fengming summoned the puppets and lotus platform, and he and Fang Liang began unleashing their attacks toward the barrier.

Fang Liang and Qin Fengming’s soul broke through the cave restriction and discovered a vast Spirit Herb Garden. They recognized that the Crimson Soul Sand and abundant yin energy had sustained hundreds of valuable herbs, including ingredients for pills used by Profound Rank and Mahayana cultivators.

• Fang Liang used the Chaos Heaven Art to suppress the cave restriction while Qin Fengming’s soul and two puppets attacked it, but Fang Liang was struck by a blue arc and badly wounded.
• Qin Fengming’s soul helped block the remaining arcs with the Profound Moon Demonic Silk, and Fang Liang recovered from the near-fatal attack.
• Fang Liang and Qin Fengming’s soul entered the chamber and saw hundreds of spirit herbs growing across the garden.
• Qin Fengming’s soul realized that the chamber’s Crimson Soul Sand and the surrounding yin energy explained how so many yin-attribute herbs had grown there.
• Qin Fengming’s soul identified numerous rare herbs used in high-level pills, including Yi Yin Grass, a primary ingredient in the Heavenly Gang Nascent Soul Pill.

Qin Fengming and Fang Liang discovered Daoist Yimu’s offer to trade a route to the Vatic Demon Ancestor’s underground palace for activating contract runes, but Qin Fengming distrusted the offer and refused. After transplanting the spirit herbs, they waited for Qin Fengming’s main body to emerge from seclusion before deciding how to leave.

• Fang Liang called Qin Fengming over to read Daoist Yimu’s message offering the underground palace’s location and a way out in exchange for activating contract runes.
• Qin Fengming recognized the Vatic Demon Ancestor and judged Daoist Yimu’s offer too risky to trust, so Fang Liang agreed to ignore it.
• Qin Fengming and Fang Liang spent half a month transplanting the cave chamber’s spirit herbs into the Sumeru Space.
• Fang Liang asked whether they could locate the Teleportation Array, but Qin Fengming said it was likely hidden behind a restriction that required activating the contract runes.
• Qin Fengming told Fang Liang to wait for his main body to emerge from seclusion, and Fang Liang settled down to cultivate.

Qin Fengming learned that the Silver Sheath Worm eggs had matured, but their numbers were far lower than he had hoped and they required undiluted spirit liquid to hatch. The first newborn worms emerged with unusual markings and a strong soul connection to him, and Qin Fengming began hatching the rest.

• Qin Fengming's Second Nascent Soul told his soul spirit that the Silver Sheath Worm eggs had matured and needed spirit liquid to hatch.
• Qin Fengming's soul spirit found that only about four hundred females had survived, producing just over thirty thousand eggs after a lengthy gestation.
• Qin Fengming's soul spirit tried diluted spirit liquid without success, then used undiluted liquid and discovered that two drops made an egg hatch.
• Qin Fengming's soul spirit observed that the newborn Silver Sheath Worm had silver spots, red specks, and a tiny arc of electricity, and sensed a strong soul connection with it.
• Qin Fengming's soul spirit poured spirit liquid over the other eggs, and beetles began hatching, but his expression suddenly froze.

Qin Fengming returned to the cave and studied the restriction blocking their escape, but found it far beyond his ability to break. The chapter left him facing the prospect that only one or two Mahayana Existences might overcome it.

• Qin Fengming hatched three or four hundred adult Silver Sheath Worms, then stored them and the remaining eggs in his Spirit Beast Bracelet.
• Three years later, Qin Fengming and his soul-spirit puppet appeared together before Fang Liang, who was astonished that their auras were indistinguishable.
• Qin Fengming rejected Daoist Yimu’s plan to seek the Vatic Demon Ancestor’s underground palace and chose to test the restriction instead.
• Qin Fengming’s sword attacks vanished into the gray mist, so he asked Fang Liang and his Second Soul Spirit to guard him while he studied the formation.
• After a year of study, Qin Fengming concluded that the spatial restriction had no weak point and could likely be broken only by one or two Mahayana Existences.