Chapter Summaries

Li Qi Ye learned that Senior Su was being targeted, but a powerful blockade prevented him from reaching the River of Time and took the Small Porcelain Bottle from him. Meanwhile, An Daoshan recovered and confronted Yuan Yun about sending him to fight Li Qi Ye.

• Li Qi Ye kicked An Daoshan through the void until giant hands seized An Daoshan and carried him away, leaving Li Qi Ye to learn that the enemy planned to move against Senior Su.
• Li Qi Ye tried to reach the River of Time through its main channel and remote tributaries, but a supreme Law Power repeatedly blocked him.
• An overwhelming pressure immobilized Li Qi Ye and took the Small Porcelain Bottle, strengthening his resolve to find another way to warn Senior Su.
• An Daoshan recovered beside the white-robed First Brother and complained that Yuan Yun had given him false intelligence about Li Qi Ye.
• Yuan Yun arrived, and the white-robed First Brother asked whom he had sent An Daoshan to confront; Yuan Yun named Li Qi Ye.

The man in white learned that Li Qi Ye had overwhelmed An Daoshan and was nearing the Immortal Realm, while Yuan Yun discovered that An Daoshan had lost the Lord’s treasure. The three brothers set out to make up for their failure by earning merit.

• The man in white recognized Li Qi Ye’s name and explained that he had once been a legend who now followed the River Warden.
• An Daoshan and Yuan Yun argued over the faulty intelligence that had led An Daoshan to face Li Qi Ye, whom the man in white judged to be near the Immortal Realm.
• Yuan Yun reported that his target had refused to submit, so he had killed him to protect their plan.
• An Daoshan admitted that he had lost the Lord’s treasure after trying to use it to place a Slave Seal on Li Qi Ye.
• The man in white ordered Yuan Yun and An Daoshan to follow him and make up for their failure with merit.

Lu Chen met Fang Yuan in a ruined small immortal realm and offered him a place in his powerful force in exchange for delivering a black Wooden Box to the River Warden. After Fang Yuan accepted a Slave Seal and inspected the box, Lu Chen prepared to send him into the sealed River of Time, but Fang Yuan stayed still and stared at him.

• Lu Chen, Yuan Yun, and An Daoshan arrived in a ruined small immortal realm, where Fang Yuan greeted Lu Chen by name and claimed they had met many times.
• Fang Yuan said he was willing to join Lu Chen’s force and explained that he wanted help rising to a higher position.
• Lu Chen asked Fang Yuan to deliver an item personally to the River Warden and planted a Slave Seal in Fang Yuan’s Sea of Consciousness.
• Lu Chen handed Fang Yuan a black Wooden Box, which Fang Yuan opened and inspected before closing it again.
• Lu Chen said he would send Fang Yuan into the sealed River of Time, but Fang Yuan did not move, prompting Lu Chen to ask what he meant.

Fang Yuan provoked Lu Chen into killing him, believing his death would repay a senior, while Lu Chen and the others investigated strange traces on the altar. The evidence suggested the three men had been there before and met Fang Yuan, though none of them remembered it.

• Fang Yuan mocked Lu Chen, Yuan Yun, and An Daoshan, then challenged Lu Chen to kill him despite the Slave Seal.
• Lu Chen killed Fang Yuan completely, and Fang Yuan died with relief, thinking that he had finally repaid his senior.
• Lu Chen recovered the Wooden Box and searched the area with his Divine Sense, finding no sign that Fang Yuan had passed on the secret or left a contingency.
• Yuan Yun found a palm print that matched his hand, and An Daoshan recognized a mark made by his Yan Yun Fan Seal.
• Lu Chen noticed that the split altar bore a slash resembling his Zhao Yun Nine Swords Saint Technique and realized that all three men had inexplicably left traces there.
• Lu Chen recalled Fang Yuan's familiarity and calm demeanor, then stared at the Wooden Box as a foreboding feeling rose within him.

Lu Chen, An Daoshan, and Yuan Yun reported their failed plan and lost memories to the Chaos Figure, which determined that the River Warden had learned of the plan. After reclaiming the Wooden Box, the Chaos Figure offered them a new task—or the choice to refuse it.

• Lu Chen concluded that Fang Yuan was dead but worried he might have passed information to the River Warden before dying.
• Lu Chen, An Daoshan, and Yuan Yun found battle traces they could not remember leaving and went to report the matter to the Chaos Figure.
• The Chaos Figure examined their memories, found them complete, and deduced that the River Warden had acted through the River of Time.
• The Chaos Figure took back the Wooden Box, alarming the three, then offered them a new task and the option to refuse.

Lu Chen, Yuan Yun, and An Daoshan accepted a mission to test the River Warden, knowing it would likely cost them their lives. After they left, two Chaos Figures discussed their ruthless plans, the River Warden’s loyal followers, and Coordinate’s unexplained disappearance.

• Lu Chen volunteered to undertake the deadly mission alone, but Yuan Yun and An Daoshan insisted on joining him.
• Lu Chen asked their lord to protect An Ran and Yuan Keke, and the Chaos Figure promised to do so.
• The three departed Chaos Space, while their lord admitted he would have killed them if they had refused and would turn the sisters into new chess pieces.
• A second Chaos Figure warned that a failure could end their alliance, and the first said he would handle the problem himself.
• The Chaos Figures discussed the River Warden’s unusually loyal followers and admitted they could not explain them.
• The Chaos Figure asked whether Coordinate had been found, and the other said Coordinate’s trail had vanished after he had deduced its location.

After using the Spring and Autumn Cicada seven times, Fang Yuan learned the secret of the Wooden Box and returned to the River of Time to warn Senior Su. As night approached and he feared death, he found a figure on the water, but froze when he recognized them.

• Fang Yuan recalled how Lu Chen and his two companions killed him repeatedly, and how he finally saw what was inside the Wooden Box on his seventh attempt.
• Fang Yuan steered his boat along the Main River Channel to find Senior Su and deliver the intelligence before nightfall.
• As the River of Time grew dangerous and Fang Yuan feared he would not find Senior Su in time, a figure walked toward him across the water.
• Fang Yuan hurried toward the figure, then froze when he clearly saw who it was.

Jiang Bai cornered Fang Yuan on the River of Time and nearly killed him, but Su Mu arrived in time to save him. Su Mu restrained Jiang Bai and demanded that he reveal everything he knew.

• Jiang Bai introduced himself to Fang Yuan and said he had come to kill him.
• Jiang Bai used his power to immobilize Fang Yuan and began to crush him.
• Su Mu appeared, severed Jiang Bai's arm, and froze him in the river before Fang Yuan could be killed.
• Su Mu revealed the bloody heads of Lu Chen, Yuan Yun, and An Daoshan, explaining that he had killed them and broken their Giant Cauldron in three breaths.
• Su Mu prevented Jiang Bai from committing suicide and demanded that he tell him everything he knew.

Su Mu broke into Jiang Bai’s Sea of Consciousness to uncover the mastermind’s secrets, only to find his memories shattered into countless fragments. Jiang Bai’s defenses began to fail under Su Mu’s search, while Su Mu remained unaware that the Time Water had frozen Jiang Bai’s lifespan and made the search possible.

• Jiang Bai refused to answer Su Mu, and Su Mu forced his way past a foreign Divine Sense blocking access to Jiang Bai’s Sea of Consciousness.
• Su Mu found that Jiang Bai’s memories had been split into countless tiny fragments to thwart Soul Searching.
• Su Mu divided his Divine Sense into tens of millions of portions and began reconstructing and searching the fragments.
• Jiang Bai trembled and neared collapse as Su Mu’s search tortured his Sea of Consciousness, but the Time Water kept his life frozen.
• Jiang Bai realized that milord had overlooked Su Mu’s ability to control the River of Time well enough to freeze Time Water.

Su Mu reconstructed Jiang Bai’s memories and uncovered several suspicious locations along the Long River while a powerful Divine Sense rushed toward him. He pieced together a crucial scene from Jiang Bai’s past, but the figure appearing in the void had not yet been identified.

• Su Mu restored nearly thirty epochs of Jiang Bai’s memories in twenty breaths, alarming Jiang Bai that the Lord’s secrets would soon be exposed.
• Jiang Bai feared the Lord’s wrath and wondered why the Lord had not intervened to stop Su Mu.
• Su Mu restored sixty epochs of memories, sustained his Divine Sense through his River Affinity, and sensed the Lord’s powerful Divine Sense approaching.
• Su Mu randomly searched Jiang Bai’s remaining memories and recorded three unfamiliar locations along the Long River that might be connected to the Water Level Decrease incidents.
• Su Mu pieced together a memory showing a chaotic, empty void, where a figure began to appear as Jiang Bai watched in terror.

Su Mu recognized the Chaos Figure from Jiang Bai’s memories and confronted him on the River of Time, learning that the man considered Su Mu an anomaly that could not be allowed to share his path. Their auras clashed, and Su Mu prepared to attack with his full strength as the Chaos Figure realized how much he had grown.

• Su Mu saw the Chaos Figure in Jiang Bai’s memories and identified him as the likely mastermind behind the flood and Water Level Decrease.
• Su Mu opened his eyes to find the Chaos Figure standing across the river, while Fang Yuan and Jiang Bai watched in silence.
• The Chaos Figure proposed friendship and claimed his earlier actions had been a test, but Su Mu rejected him and asked why he had been targeted.
• The Chaos Figure said their road could not accommodate too many people, and Su Mu refused to yield, making clear they were enemies.
• Their auras collided, fracturing the water and killing the fish as Fang Yuan and Jiang Bai witnessed their power.
• Su Mu unleashed his full aura and Divine Sense on the River of Time, intending to attack, and the Chaos Figure was surprised by his confidence.

Su Mu trapped the Chaos Figure on the River of Time, but the enemy sacrificed an avatar after erasing Jiang Bai’s memories and marking Fang Yuan. Once Su Mu released Jiang Bai from the frozen Time Water, Jiang Bai died and sank into the river, leaving Su Mu to speak to the shaken Fang Yuan.

• The Chaos Figure erased Jiang Bai’s Sea of Consciousness, leaving him vacant, while Su Mu blocked the attack.
• Su Mu froze the Time Water into a barrier that trapped the Chaos Figure, who revealed that he was an avatar and marked Fang Yuan before burning away.
• Su Mu released the barrier and saw the damage the battle had caused across countless worlds.
• Su Mu released Jiang Bai’s frozen life force, and Jiang Bai fell into the River of Time and sank toward its bed.
• Su Mu purified the bloodied water, then addressed the stunned Fang Yuan, who answered him with a stammered salute.

Fang Yuan reunited with Su Mu after the elder rescued him from the White-Robed Man, and explained that his pursuer sought him because he had learned a secret concerning Su Mu. Fang Yuan prepared to reveal the secret, while Su Mu vowed to protect him.

• Su Mu greeted Fang Yuan, recalling their earlier meetings and learning that Fang Yuan had reached the Sacrifice Dao Completion Realm.
• Fang Yuan thanked Su Mu for saving him and said the White-Robed Man had been pursuing him rather than targeting Su Mu directly.
• Fang Yuan explained that three people had asked him to deliver a gift to Su Mu, and Su Mu recognized the three heads beside Jiang Bai as those messengers.
• Fang Yuan said he had not taken the gift but knew what it was, and Su Mu searched the area after sensing a cold wind.
• Fang Yuan resolved to reveal the secret despite the danger, and Su Mu promised that no one would harm him.

Fang Yuan tried to tell Su Mu about a pair of eyeballs delivered in a Wooden Box, but a powerful Law of karma erased his memories until Su Mu’s Time Law drove it away. The portrait reminded Su Mu of matching eyes he had found years earlier, and he rushed home to search for the Wooden Box, where he discovered something terrifying.

• Fang Yuan told Su Mu that a messenger had brought him a Wooden Box containing a pair of human eyeballs.
• Fang Yuan tried to draw the eyeballs, but the Law of karma made him bleed and began erasing his memories.
• Su Mu swept his spiritual power over Fang Yuan, causing the Law of karma to retreat and letting Fang Yuan finish the portrait.
• Su Mu recognized the eyes from a Wooden Box he had found in a cemetery years earlier, among Tombs containing pieces of a dismembered corpse.
• Su Mu returned home, searched his room for the Wooden Box, and found something terrifying.

Su Mu discovered that the Wooden Box containing the “eyeball” had vanished from his locked room, though no one in the household had seen a stranger or taken it. After reassuring Nannan and leaving to deal with something outside, he left the household searching its memories and tightening its watch while Fang Yuan stood alone on the Long River at night.

• Su Mu searched his room for the missing Wooden Box and questioned Nannan, the Barrier Beasts, the Iron-Eating Beast, and everyone else, but no one knew where it had gone.
• Su Mu dismissed the household and comforted worried Nannan, then told her to stay inside while he went out.
• The Five Little Ones gathered their followers, warned them not to steal, and ordered them to report any unfamiliar trace in the house.
• The Iron-Eating Beast and the Barrier Beasts reviewed their watch, while Fang Yuan stood alone on a wooden boat beneath the night sky.

Fang Yuan confirmed that Su Mu’s Black Wood Box and the eyeballs matched what he had seen, while Su Mu tried to understand why a powerful enemy had stolen and returned the box. As Su Mu feared the threat to Nannan and searched for a motive, Fang Yuan recalled something that might point him in the right direction.

• Su Mu showed Fang Yuan an image of a Black Wood Box containing eyeballs, and Fang Yuan confirmed it matched what he had seen.
• Su Mu explained that he had found the box himself many years earlier, and Fang Yuan worried that he had failed to help.
• Su Mu reasoned that an enemy had infiltrated his Cave Abode and stolen the box, then wondered whether the theft was a warning against Nannan and the others.
• Su Mu recalled that his enemies had repeatedly claimed he had blocked their path, but he could not understand what he had done to provoke them.
• Fang Yuan remembered something about his encounters with Lu Chen and the other two and told Su Mu it might offer a clue.

Fang Yuan warned Su Mu that two hidden figures stood behind the enemy and refused to visit Su Mu’s home to avoid exposing it. Su Mu gave Fang Yuan a safe residence on the River of Time, and the chapter ended with Fang Yuan revealing that he practiced Gu Refinement.

• Fang Yuan told Su Mu that the enemy had a second lord besides the figure who had fought him.
• Fang Yuan refused Su Mu’s invitation to his home, warning that the enemy might be monitoring him and urging Su Mu to protect his family.
• Su Mu led Fang Yuan to a Floating Island on a tributary of the River of Time and built him a bamboo courtyard.
• Su Mu invited Fang Yuan to stay and cultivate there, and Fang Yuan pledged to follow him despite worrying he would be a burden.
• Su Mu asked about Fang Yuan’s unusual cultivation, and Fang Yuan explained that he came from a small place where people practiced Gu Refinement.

Fang Yuan told Su Mu that his Gu Refinement cultivation had reached its limits, and Su Mu encouraged him to continue before giving him the compatible technique Fetal Origin Refines Heaven. Fang Yuan recognized its extraordinary fit and questioned Su Mu about its unknown creator, while Su Mu prepared a special gift for him.

• Fang Yuan explained that he cultivated by refining strange insects and had considered abandoning his path after reaching its upper limit.
• Su Mu examined Fang Yuan’s cultivation and urged him to persist, saying no cultivation path was inherently superior or inferior.
• Su Mu found Fetal Origin Refines Heaven among his stored manuals and transmitted it to Fang Yuan.
• Fang Yuan felt the technique resonated deeply with his Gu Refinement path and asked whether Su Mu had created it.
• Su Mu said he had received the technique as a river-crossing fee from a deranged Old Man, then showed Fang Yuan his memory of the man.
• Su Mu promised Fang Yuan a special gift and reached through the air to seize a target.

Su Mu gave Fang Yuan three Golden Cicadas and a Time Droplet before turning his attention to the mystery of the Wooden Box and the eyes inside it. He returned upstream to investigate the cemetery’s Ice Coffins, but stopped when he recognized a mark on a boulder.

• Su Mu gave Fang Yuan three Golden Cicadas and a Time Droplet so he could cultivate safely on the river.
• Su Mu suspected the Wooden Box had not been stolen and realized he needed to uncover whose eyes were inside it.
• Su Mu decided to revisit the cemetery and inspect the Ice Coffins using his abilities to solidify and melt.
• The Five Little Ones arranged for the Backyard animals to help guard the Front Yard in a five-day rotation.
• Su Mu traveled upstream to the limit of his River Affinity and headed toward the cemetery.
• Su Mu recognized a mark on a massive boulder beside the road and froze.

Su Mu returned to the cemetery and found its familiar path and graveyard transformed into a meadow, with only one nameless grave remaining. Overcome by grief he could not explain, he cried and collapsed beside the mound, then awoke after a long dream with no memory of it and asked what was wrong with him.

• Su Mu followed the road to the cemetery and found that his markings had vanished and the Dense Forest had become shrubs and saplings.
• Su Mu passed through the overgrown path and discovered that the gray, fog-shrouded cemetery had become a green meadow with no gravestones.
• Su Mu found a small mound with a blank stone stele and a withered Lycoris Radiata, and felt inexplicable sorrow as he began to cry.
• Su Mu clutched his chest in soul-deep pain, grew cold, and fell asleep beside the mound after a warm breeze passed over him.
• Su Mu awoke with dried tears on his cheeks, unable to remember his dream, and wondered aloud what was wrong with him.