Chapter Summaries

Yang Chan climbed the tower to its 130th floor and discovered that a light screen enclosed the region and converged at the tower’s peak. After seeing a strange beast dragged into the tower and a new floor rise, he suspected the tower was built from imprisoned beasts and decided to keep climbing to find a way out.

• Yang Chan climbed from the 101st to the 130th floor, observing avian strange beasts, their murals, and increasingly dense spiritual qi.
• Yang Chan saw a light screen covering the sky, realized it had repelled him from the enormous gate, and concluded the region was an enclosed part of Taiyin Heaven.
• Yang Chan watched a strange beast get dragged into the tower as the floor beneath him rose, leading him to suspect that beasts’ lives nourished the tower and formed its floors.
• Yang Chan attacked a stone carving and its chains with his sword, but a special power protected them from damage.
• Yang Chan found no exit beneath the light screen and chose to continue toward the tower’s top to seek a way out or a means to counter its power.

Yang Chan found a prayer bead on the tower’s 131st floor and discovered that it resonated with his Fragmented Seal, giving him hope of leaving Taiyin Heaven. As he continued climbing toward the source of a growing malice, a Black Dragon trapped above waited for him to bring the Taiyin Token closer.

• A Black Dragon soul began shedding its stone covering after sensing Yang Chan and the Taiyin Token, and hoped to use the token to escape its chains and Taiyin Heaven.
• Yang Chan sensed powerful malice above him as he climbed the tower and found a glowing prayer bead hanging from a stone carving on the 131st floor.
• Yang Chan discovered that the prayer bead’s power resonated with his Fragmented Seal and made its character Yin glow.
• Yang Chan guessed that collecting more prayer beads could recharge the Fragmented Seal and let him return to Qingyuan Sect, so he took the bead and continued climbing cautiously.

Yang Chan reached the tower’s highest floor, where a Black Dragon and a powerful prayer bead seemed to hold the key to escaping the sealed space. He searched the floor’s books and murals for information, but found no useful clues before the chapter ended.

• Yang Chan realized the Fragmented Seal lacked the final prayer bead and continued toward the tower’s highest floor.
• Yang Chan found a lifelike Black Dragon statue at the center of the top floor, and the Fragmented Seal pointed toward it.
• Yang Chan avoided approaching the Black Dragon and searched the bookshelves for information about the tower, the dragon, or a way out.
• Yang Chan examined books on alchemy, puppetry, and other subjects, but found nothing relevant to his immediate goal.
• Yang Chan turned to the wall murals, which depicted the Black Dragon swallowing clouds and exhaling mist.

Yang Chan discovered that the Black Dragon in the tower was a soul body capable of shifting between illusion and reality, and it offered him a powerful inheritance to lure him closer. He stayed wary and asked it to send over the black prayer beads instead, leaving their standoff unresolved.

• Yang Chan tested the Black Dragon with poisoned Flying Needles, which passed through its body, then confirmed the black prayer beads were tangible when a needle struck them.
• Yang Chan tried to cut the cord holding the prayer beads with a throwing knife, but the Black Dragon became solid and caught the blade with its claw.
• Yang Chan realized the Black Dragon was likely an enduring soul body bound by chains in a place that could sustain such beings.
• The Black Dragon offered Yang Chan the Xuantian Divine Pill, the Xuantian Divine Canon, a divine body, and the chance to become a World-Dwelling Divine if he came closer.
• Yang Chan declined the inheritance and asked the Black Dragon to send him the prayer beads, promising to find it a more talented successor such as Liu Shengyu or Cai Kun.

Yang Chan resisted the Black Dragon’s attempts to lure him closer with promises of Xuantian Divine Lord’s legacy and power. After confirming that chains restrained the dragon, Yang Chan refused to approach and demanded that it hand over the Black Prayer Beads.

• The Black Dragon offered Yang Chan its legacy and described the Taiyu Divine Continent, claiming the legacy might let him become a divine being.
• Yang Chan pretended to pity the Black Dragon and promised to bring Pillar-Supporting Martial Saint experts to save it, while asking for the Black Prayer Beads.
• The Black Dragon tried to entice Yang Chan with promises that he would surpass Liu Shengyu, Cai Kun, the Holy Son, the Saintess, and even Martial Saints.
• When Yang Chan continued to refuse to approach, the Black Dragon abandoned its gentle persuasion and ordered him to come closer.
• The Black Dragon tried to fly toward Yang Chan but was restrained by chains, confirming Yang Chan’s suspicion that it could not reach him.
• Yang Chan stayed at a safe distance and urged the Black Dragon to give him the prayer beads so he could seek outside help.

Yang Chan tested the Black Dragon’s vulnerability to Demon Subduing Sword Intent while keeping his distance from the chained soul. He intensified his attacks to gain control and hoped to learn about the Taiyu Divine Continent, but the Black Dragon continued to rage.

• The Black Dragon realized Yang Chan had tricked it and cursed him for refusing to approach.
• Yang Chan infused a Flying Needle with Demon Subduing Sword Intent and struck the Black Dragon’s soul body from afar.
• After seeing the attack affect the Black Dragon, Yang Chan prepared six more Flying Needles and considered the Black Dragon a test subject.
• Yang Chan struck the Black Dragon’s eyes, reverse scale, head, and heart with the six needles, provoking a powerful roar.
• Yang Chan watched the results to confirm the Black Dragon’s weaknesses and planned to use his advantage to question it about the Taiyu Divine Continent.

Yang Chan weakened the Black Dragon’s soul with Flying Needles and hidden weapons, then questioned it about dragon bloodlines and human cultivation realms. The Black Dragon explained the path up to Martial Dao True God, and Yang Chan asked whether that was all.

• Yang Chan’s Flying Needles pierced the Black Dragon’s vital points and steadily consumed its soul power while chains kept it from escaping.
• Yang Chan prepared more hidden weapons and said he wanted to leave a legendary mark by slaying a dragon.
• The Black Dragon warned Yang Chan that it was a flood dragon with mixed blood, not a true dragon, and explained how true dragons emerged from the Dragon Gate.
• Yang Chan asked the Black Dragon about human cultivation, and it described the realms from Body Tempering through Martial Dao True God.
• Yang Chan asked whether the Black Dragon had told him everything.

Yang Chan questioned Black Dragon about the martial dao, the vanished divine veins, and ways to reach other cultivation realms. Black Dragon explained Taiyin Heaven and the Taiyin Token, and Yang Chan asked how to use it to leave.

• Black Dragon told Yang Chan that Heavenly Gods were legendary beings who became Innate Divine Beings, and that martial dao realms above True God were beyond his knowledge.
• Black Dragon said the Taiyu Divine Continent's divine veins had vanished after a struggle between True Gods, leaving cultivators unable to refine Spirit Apertures.
• Yang Chan asked about other cultivation realms, and Black Dragon described cross-realm teleportation formations left by ancient powers as one possible way out.
• Yang Chan asked about Taiyin Heaven, and Black Dragon explained that Xuantian Divine Lord had made it into a small world and that the Taiyin Token was needed to enter and leave its special realm.
• Yang Chan asked how to use the Taiyin Token to leave Taiyin Heaven.

Yang Chan refused Black Dragon’s offers to leave Taiyin Heaven with him, fearing the sealed dragon could become a threat once free. He proposed that they remain apart and avoid fighting, leaving Black Dragon in the tower and Yang Chan free to return home.

• Black Dragon asked Yang Chan to take him along when he left Taiyin Heaven, but Yang Chan refused because he feared Black Dragon might seize his body.
• Black Dragon offered a Heavenly Dao oath, help with martial cultivation, and a way to continue beyond the cultivation road cut off in the Taiyu Divine Continent.
• Yang Chan rejected Black Dragon’s offers, wary of his reliability, the risks of his cultivation methods, and the turmoil Black Dragon’s release could cause.
• Black Dragon asked Yang Chan to state his conditions, and Yang Chan proposed that Black Dragon stay in the tower while he returned home, with neither interfering with the other.

Yang Chan forced Black Dragon to explain how the Mysterious Yin Prayer Beads could help him leave Taiyin Heaven, then negotiated for the beads while refusing to free Black Dragon from his chains. Black Dragon asked about the state of Taiyu Divine Continent, and Yang Chan shared limited information as Black Dragon lamented the continent’s decline.

• Black Dragon threatened Yang Chan after learning that Taiyin Heaven might not open again for a thousand years, so Yang Chan wounded him with hidden weapons imbued with Demon Subduing Sword Intent.
• Black Dragon explained that his Mysterious Yin Prayer Beads could join Yang Chan’s beads as the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads and gather power for the Taiyin Token to open a spatial passage.
• Yang Chan demanded Black Dragon’s beads but refused Black Dragon’s condition that he open the chains, doubting that Black Dragon could destroy the beads and pointing out that doing so would also end his own hope of escape.
• Black Dragon asked Yang Chan to describe the outside world, and Yang Chan shared information about the powers of Taiyu Divine Continent and the war between the Golden Meng Empire and the Great Zhou Dynasty while withholding personal details.
• Black Dragon recalled the strength of Great Emperor Zixu’s Zixu Imperial Dynasty and blamed the continent’s decline on the disappearance of the divine veins, while Yang Chan said he remained focused on advancing his cultivation.

Yang Chan cautiously tested and secured the Mysterious Yin Prayer Beads from Black Dragon, suspecting a trap at every step. After cleansing the beads and resting, he left Black Dragon watching in panic, unaware that Black Dragon had secretly tampered with them.

• Black Dragon handed Yang Chan the Mysterious Yin Prayer Beads and explained that his power could only affect them within three feet.
• Yang Chan used Sword Intent and several thrown blades to overcome the force pulling the beads toward Black Dragon and send them beside the mural.
• Yang Chan approached the beads cautiously, retrieved them with a grappling claw, and burned and cleansed them without touching them directly.
• Yang Chan restored his spiritual power and ate spirit herbs while Black Dragon watched, hiding his panic.
• Black Dragon revealed in his thoughts that he had secretly tampered with the beads as part of a scheme to escape the tower.

Yang Chan cautiously investigated how to use the Mysterious Yin Prayer Beads while rejecting Black Dragon’s offer to take him away. Unable to open the tower’s gates, he prepared defenses and set the beads on the Taiyin Token from as far away from Black Dragon as he could.

• Yang Chan recovered his strength and asked Black Dragon whether the Mysterious Yin Prayer Beads could be combined with the other beads; Black Dragon explained that the Taiyin Token would absorb their power and eventually let him leave the space.
• Black Dragon urged Yang Chan to take him along, promising supreme opportunities, but Yang Chan refused because he did not trust what he could not control.
• Yang Chan picked up the Mysterious Yin Prayer Beads and descended the tower, while Black Dragon resolved to use another method to escape.
• Yang Chan found the tower’s main gates would not open and realized he could not leave that way.
• Yang Chan set the Mysterious Yin Prayer Beads on the Taiyin Token at the point farthest from Black Dragon and readied concealed weapons and Sword Momentum against possible danger.

Yang Chan restored the Taiyin Token with the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads and opened a passage out of the tower, but Black Dragon emerged from the beads and attacked him. Yang Chan activated his Sword Domain to stop Black Dragon’s deadly strike, leaving them poised for battle.

• Yang Chan used the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads to restore the Taiyin Token, then set the drained beads aside without touching them.
• Yang Chan touched the restored Taiyin Token and opened a spatial passage out of the special space.
• Black Dragon revealed that it had hidden inside the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads and planned to escape with Yang Chan.
• Black Dragon dodged Yang Chan’s concealed weapons and hurled a Flying Needle at his brow.
• Yang Chan activated his Sword Domain, restrained the Flying Needle, and dodged it as Black Dragon reacted with surprise.

Yang Chan escaped the Black Dragon’s control by using the Taiyin Token to trigger the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads and drain the Black Dragon’s power, trapping his soul inside. When Yang Chan tried to take the linked objects with him, an unknown force entered his body and surged toward the space between his brows, leaving him in severe pain.

• The Black Dragon immobilized Yang Chan and began twisting his body while keeping him from reaching the void passage.
• Yang Chan unleashed concealed Sword Momentum as a distraction and brought the Taiyin Token close to the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads.
• The Taiyin Token drew power from the beads, and the Black Dragon realized Xuantian Divine Lord’s hidden restraints had trapped him inside them.
• Yang Chan tried to separate the Taiyin Token and the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads, but his flying claw snapped and the objects remained joined.
• When Yang Chan grabbed both objects, an unfamiliar force invaded his body, reached the space between his brows, and caused unbearable pain.

Yang Chan endured the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads’ power rampaging through his body and opened the Essence Origin Upper Fetus, condensing a soul body. He tested its hidden power and realized it would rapidly nourish his mental force toward a true transformation.

• Yang Chan suffered as the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads’ peculiar force spread through his body, and he struggled to stay conscious.
• The force drew Yang Chan’s blood, marrow, essence, qi, and other powers toward the center of his brow until the world shifted around him.
• Yang Chan’s soul body emerged from his physical body, and he recognized that he had opened the Essence Origin Upper Fetus.
• Yang Chan used his soul body to raise the Flying Needles and discovered he could wield concealed power apart from his physical strength.
• Yang Chan concluded that his opened divine aperture would nourish his mental force and accelerate its transformation.

Yang Chan discovered the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads had become a soul-body spiritual treasure with storage powers, and he refined them with Black Dragon bound inside as their Artifact Spirit. With the tower secured and the Taiyin Token refined, Yang Chan stayed in the special space to collect aged spiritual herbs and Spiritual Materials before returning to the Qingyuan Sect.

• Yang Chan’s soul body revealed that the Calm Heart Breath Holding Method could not conceal his qi and blood from soul-body perception, and he returned to his physical body before his soul could disperse.
• Yang Chan took the tower into the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads and began refining the treasure, with Black Dragon bound inside as its sleeping Artifact Spirit.
• Yang Chan refined the Taiyin Token and decided to remain in the special space, where he could leave whenever he wished and gather Spiritual Materials.
• Yang Chan used the tower’s aura to drive away formidable exotic beasts and harvested aged superior-grade and top-grade spiritual herbs.
• Yang Chan left young and isolated spiritual herbs behind so they could continue growing until the secret realm opened again.

Yang Chan returned to Qingyuan Sect after spending seven days in a dangerous space within Taiyin Heaven and carefully concealed the traces of his journey. He planned to learn what had happened during his absence and left the Taiyin Token stored away for now.

• Yang Chan returned to his study in Yuanqing Courtyard and concluded from his heightened perception that no one had noticed his disappearance.
• He hid his dirty, bloodstained clothes in the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads and asked Xiao Mei to prepare a hot bath and summon Han Bingyu.
• Yang Chan soaked in a Dragon Bone Medicinal Bath and considered testing whether Han Bingyu or Princess Lanyue knew he had been gone.
• He planned to compare the passage of time in Qingyuan Sect with the time tracked by his panel and kept the Taiyin Token in the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads.

After emerging from seclusion, Yang Chan learned that powerful visitors had arrived at Qingyuan Sect and that Taiyin Heaven had appeared in the secret realm above Qingyuan River. He also learned that the Golden Meng Empire and Great Zhou Dynasty had begun peace talks, though their armies near Jinyun City had not withdrawn.

• Han Bingyu told Yang Chan that powerful, unidentified visitors were staying in Azure Jade Hall and were rumored to come from a Holy Land seeking Taiyin Heaven.
• Yang Chan ordered Han Bingyu to continue investigating the secret realm and collecting spirit herbs, and to secure a batch of herbs from Taiyin Heaven for pill-making.
• Han Bingyu reported that people had already brought spirit herbs from Taiyin Heaven’s outer region, while Qingyuan Sect’s gains remained unknown.
• Han Bingyu told Yang Chan that the Golden Meng Empire and Great Zhou Dynasty had entered peace talks, possibly concerning Qingyuan River.
• Yang Chan asked whether the armies near Jinyun City had withdrawn, and Han Bingyu said they remained in place despite the ceasefire.

Yang Chan broke through to the sixth stage of Internal Refinement of Five Organs and discovered that condensing a soul body helped him adapt to his increased strength more quickly. At Qingyuan Sect, Liu Xuan learned that age restrictions had kept the Supreme Elder from reaching Taiyin Heaven’s inheritance.

• Yang Chan spent six Potential Points to advance the Flood Dragon Demon Breath Method, temper his fifth hollow organ, and break through to the sixth.
• Yang Chan realized his newly condensed soul body had greatly increased his spiritual power, allowing him to master his enhanced strength in the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
• Yang Chan spent his remaining Potential Points on the Tai Chi Health Cultivation Technique and the Swordmaster profession, then returned to his room to sleep.
• Liu Xuan asked the Supreme Elder about Taiyin Heaven, and the Supreme Elder explained that people over sixty were expelled and that he had missed the inheritance.
• Liu Xuan regretted breaking through before Taiyin Heaven opened, while Gu An reminded him that Qingyuan Sect had at least returned safely despite the great sacred lands’ involvement.

Gu An and Liu Xuan left Taiyin Heaven’s outskirts after the Qingyuan Sect secured benefits and prepared to return to the sect. Inside Taiyin Heaven, the Great Yin Saintess learned that someone had claimed a tower’s inheritance, while the Great Yin Holy Son urged her to tackle a tower they could enter without a Taiyin Token.

• Gu An learned how many Internal Refinement Grandmasters and Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters served the holy lands, while Liu Xuan reflected on missing his chance to enter Taiyin Heaven.
• Liu Xuan decided the Qingyuan Sect would return home, arrange lodging for Tianxuan Holy Land’s people, and rely on disciples to receive them.
• The sects and Rogue Cultivators turned to competing for spiritual fish, shrimp, and nearby lands along the Qingyuan River, while Liu Xuan sent Qingyuan Sect disciples to participate.
• The Great Yin Saintess watched a tall tower disappear and realized someone had used a Taiyin Token to claim its inheritance.
• The Great Yin Holy Son told the Great Yin Saintess to stop pursuing the inaccessible towers and focus on conquering one of the twelve towers that did not require a Taiyin Token.