Chapter Summaries

Yang Chan learned that absorbing spiritual energy through the Tai Chi Longevity Body might eventually help him turn his acquired constitution innate, though Black Dragon could not guarantee it. After absorbing energy for an hour, Yang Chan gained strength, talent, and seventy years of lifespan, then continued to focus on cultivating while Black Dragon guarded him.

• Black Dragon warned Yang Chan that reverting his acquired constitution to innate might require a cultivation world with divine veins and could not be guaranteed.
• Black Dragon explained that absorbing spiritual energy could still strengthen Yang Chan, speed up Body Tempering, and increase his lifespan even if he never attained an innate body.
• Yang Chan asked Black Dragon to inspect the surroundings and conceal his absorption of spiritual energy so no one would disturb him.
• Yang Chan absorbed spiritual energy for an hour while Black Dragon stood guard outside.
• Yang Chan found that his talent had risen from 53 to 54 and his lifespan from 707 to 777 years.

Yang Chan killed two rogue cultivators who followed Spirit Seeking Mice into his hidden cave, then asked Black Dragon to locate a Cross-realm Teleportation Array and any dragons in the Zixu Secret Realm. Black Dragon identified a likely destination among three spiritually dense areas, but had not yet answered whether dragons were nearby.

• A tall, thin middle-aged man persuaded a short, fat man to enter a cave in search of treasures despite the danger of trespassing in Tianxuan Holy Land's territory.
• Yang Chan killed the two intruders with Flying Needles, and Black Dragon explained that Spirit Seeking Mice had detected the spiritual energy around the cave.
• The Spirit Seeking Mouse was frightened to death, and Black Dragon flattered Yang Chan after Yang Chan questioned his comparison.
• Black Dragon pointed out three spiritually dense areas as likely locations for a Cross-realm Teleportation Array or valuable treasures.
• Yang Chan asked Black Dragon whether he could sense any dragons in the secret realm and where they might be.

Yang Chan and Black Dragon sensed a juvenile dragon somewhere north but chose not to approach it until they learned more. They gathered abundant superior-grade spiritual herbs near the mountain, while Black Dragon suspected the secret realm hid even greater treasures and a Cross-realm Teleportation Array.

• Black Dragon sensed a faint Dragon Clan aura to the north and estimated that the dragon was below the Divine Aperture Realm.
• Yang Chan decided to wait and observe rather than risk encountering the unknown dragon, and Black Dragon agreed.
• Yang Chan and Black Dragon searched nearby areas where they had sensed dense spiritual energy.
• Yang Chan found five Thousand-Year Snow Yuan Ginseng plants and continued collecting superior-grade spiritual herbs and other Spiritual Materials.
• Black Dragon noted the abundance of herbs and formations, and suspected the deeper areas held greater treasures, possibly including a Cross-realm Teleportation Array.

Yang Chan learned that the secret realm held a spiritual vein and discussed divine apertures and Black Dragon’s plans for the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads. As night approached, a Qingyuan Sect disciple led him toward the encampment, where the group could rest safely from the roaming strange beasts.

• Black Dragon sensed a superior spiritual vein in the secret realm and explained that a divine-artifact-level Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads might absorb it.
• Black Dragon described the power of the Divine Aperture Realm and explained how Yang Chan’s Essence Origin Upper Fetus had formed a soul body.
• Yang Chan sensed someone approaching and told Black Dragon to return to the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads.
• A Qingyuan Sect Elite Disciple warned Yang Chan that strange beasts grew active after dark and invited him to the encampment.
• Yang Chan asked whether Sect Master Gu and the others would join them, and the Elite Disciple said they might come after working on the formation.

Yang Chan learned how Qingyuan Sect followed Tianxuan Holy Land through the secret realm, gaining rewards while letting them handle dangerous formations. He reached Qingyuan Sect’s camp, where Hall Master Xu welcomed him, and carried the Famous Artifact sword Qing Shuang for the expedition.

• A Qingyuan Sect Elite Disciple told Yang Chan that the Sect Master had spent nearly all his time with Tianxuan Holy Land and that they had cracked three major formations.
• The disciple explained that Qingyuan Sect followed behind Tianxuan Holy Land, gathering lesser opportunities and maintaining a safe route while avoiding the risks of large formations.
• Yang Chan arrived at Qingyuan Sect’s camp and met Hall Master Xu of the Hall of Artifact Refining.
• Yang Chan recalled exchanging contribution points for the Famous Artifact sword Qing Shuang, whose Sword Qi suited his swordsmanship.
• Hall Master Xu escorted Yang Chan to a well-built wooden house before returning to his duties.

Yang Chan joined Hall Master Xu and five Qingyuan Sect disciples to inspect a small array in the Zixu Secret Realm. Hall Master Xu identified it as the Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation using an Array Basic Compendium from Tianxuan Holy Land.

• Hall Master Xu invited Yang Chan to examine a small array, explaining that Tianxuan Holy Land focused on larger arrays deeper in the secret realm.
• Yang Chan accepted the invitation, hoping to learn about arrays, while Black Dragon sensed a trace of malice from within the Mysterious Yin Hanging Beads and then returned to sleep.
• Hall Master Xu led a group of seven toward the array, which lay halfway up a mountain and covered an area of about ten meters.
• The group tested the array’s boundary and found that a force repelled anyone who tried to approach.
• Hall Master Xu recognized the array as the Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation and showed Yang Chan the entry in the Array Basic Compendium sent by Tianxuan Holy Land.

Hall Master Xu explained how the Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation could be broken and prepared to test its seven points one by one. After the disciples scattered realgar powder at the first point, Hall Master Xu began breaking the formation while Yang Chan and the others stood guard.

• Hall Master Xu read from a scroll that the Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation had seven points and that one weak point needed to be broken, though snake-type exotic beasts might lurk there.
• Yang Chan asked whether they had to test the points one by one, and Hall Master Xu confirmed they did.
• Hall Master Xu advised scattering realgar powder and told everyone to retreat if anything seemed wrong.
• The Elite Disciples spread realgar powder at the first formation point as Hall Master Xu assigned everyone to keep watch.
• Hall Master Xu began breaking the formation by force and told Yang Chan to stand back and help if anything unexpected happened.

Yang Chan and Hall Master Xu attacked the Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation until they found its weak point and broke it. The formation shattered, leaving the Qingyuan Sect disciples ready to enter and claim whatever lay inside.

• Hall Master Xu hammered several suspected formation nodes while consulting the formation text, then ordered the disciples to test the remaining points.
• Yang Chan joined the attacks while limiting his displayed strength to External Refinement: Steel Tendons.
• At the fifth point, the formation flickered and Two-Headed Exotic Snakes rushed out, but Hall Master Xu and Yang Chan killed them without anyone being injured.
• Hall Master Xu ordered everyone to concentrate their attacks on the weak node while staying alert for more exotic beasts.
• The disciples battered the formation until its light faded and the Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation shattered.

Yang Chan and Hall Master Xu’s group entered the opened Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation and killed a powerful two-headed exotic snake guarding a Medicine Field. They began harvesting the aged spiritual medicines, giving Yang Chan a chance to study how they had grown in the secret realm.

• Hall Master Xu identified the two-headed exotic snake as a threat and had Yang Chan guard the surroundings while the others surrounded it.
• Hall Master Xu and five Outer Refinement disciples restrained the snake’s heads and battered it with a great iron hammer until it died.
• The group entered the Medicine Field and found aged spiritual medicines, along with bare patches where snakes had eaten the plants.
• Hall Master Xu invited Yang Chan to harvest and study the spiritual medicines growing inside the secret realm.

After harvesting spirit herbs from the Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation, Yang Chan and Black Dragon set out to find more small-scale formations. Black Dragon identified a Three Powers Formation and explained how Yang Chan could break it, while warning that its records might overlook dangers harmless to dragons.

• Yang Chan and the others returned to the sect encampment with a large harvest from the Seven-Sectioned Snake Formation and no casualties.
• Black Dragon showed Yang Chan the Compendium of Formations and offered to help locate more formations.
• Yang Chan declined Hall Master Xu's invitation to join the next outing, then left alone to search for spirit herbs and formations.
• Black Dragon sensed three nearby formations and directed Yang Chan toward one beyond Qingyuan Sect's explored area.
• Black Dragon identified the formation beneath a tree as a Three Powers Formation and explained that Yang Chan could break it by striking any point after locating its formation eye.
• Black Dragon warned Yang Chan that the Compendium of Formations might omit dangers that dragons could ignore because of their strength and bloodline suppression.

Yang Chan broke small formations by brute force and collected spiritual materials while avoiding Qingyuan Sect Steward Disciples. Back at the encampment, he met Tianxuan Saintess He Zixuan and learned that Gu An and the Tianxuan Holy Land group were preparing to explore deeper into the secret realm.

• Yang Chan shattered a Three Powers Formation, killed a boar-like exotic beast, and took the remaining spiritual medicines and its body.
• Black Dragon pointed out another formation, but Yang Chan returned to the sect encampment as night fell and concealed most of his harvest.
• Yang Chan tried to break larger composite formations, found them too difficult and conspicuous, and decided to follow the Tianxuan Holy Land group instead.
• Yang Chan learned that Gu An and others would soon reenter the secret realm to search for something, then saw Gu An escort Tianxuan Saintess He Zixuan to the wooden huts.
• Gu An told Yang Chan that the secret realm was not very dangerous yet and that entering it would broaden his horizons.

Gu An told Yang Chan about the treasures found in the Zixu Secret Realm and Tianxuan Holy Land’s search for ancient tokens. Black Dragon suggested the tokens might include a Secret Realm Token that could let someone control the realm, leaving Yang Chan to consider the secret realm’s value.

• Yang Chan asked Gu An what he had seen inside the large formations, and Gu An described their spiritual herbs, ancient weapons, and inheritances.
• Gu An said Tianxuan Holy Land had asked everyone to turn in token-like objects bearing ancient characters in exchange for rewards.
• Black Dragon speculated that Tianxuan Holy Land might be seeking a Great Teleportation Token or a Secret Realm Token capable of controlling the Zixu Secret Realm.
• Yang Chan considered how controlling the secret realm could provide lasting cultivation resources and support the power of a holy land.

Chen Buyan and other factions searched the Zixu Secret Realm for its Secret Realm Token, while the Heavenly Sword Sect Holy Son and the Myriad Beasts Dao Saintess pursued their own goals. The Saintess focused on finding a rumored dragon, despite doubts that her group could defeat it.

• Chen Buyan learned that the Zixu Secret Realm had once served as a spirit herb plantation and ordered his forces to find the Secret Realm Token before rival factions did.
• The Heavenly Sword Sect Holy Son said he would destroy the Secret Realm Token if his sect could not claim it, then urged Ling Yu to pursue the sword path without hesitation.
• Ling Yu accepted the Holy Son's advice but remained focused on becoming sect master and gaining the resources needed to reach the Blood-Changing Martial Saint realm.
• The Myriad Beasts Dao Saintess directed her disciples to continue searching for the dragon, hoping to subdue it and secure a Martial Saint protector for the sect.
• A Myriad Beasts Dao Personal Disciple warned that the dragon might possess Martial Saint-level strength, but the Saintess continued toward its rumored location.

Princess Qianyue led the Great Zhou Dynasty’s search for an ancient method that used national destiny to forge divine apertures, while Yang Chan and Gu An watched Tianxuan Holy Land experts dismantle formations in the Zixu Secret Realm. The search continued, and Gu An learned that the Saintess’s group had recently killed two Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster foreign races.

• Jin Feihua reported to Princess Qianyue that she had found the direction of the National Destiny Casting Apertures sought by the Old Emperor Yang Yu.
• Princess Qianyue ordered Jin Feihua and the Great Zhou group to continue toward the location, with Grand Tutor Lu Yuan and several Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters under her command.
• Yang Chan watched Tianxuan Holy Land’s formation experts methodically dismantle a complex formation, while the Black Dragon recalled smashing formations apart by force.
• Gu An explained that the Saintess’s group usually conserved their strength while experts spent two or three days breaking formations before the group cleared the dangers within.
• Gu An told Yang Chan that the Saintess and other Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters had killed two Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster foreign races from the Void Spirit Race.

Yang Chan watched Tianxuan Holy Land break into a courtyard and slaughter the purple-skinned aliens living inside. Tianxuan Holy Land then cleared the battlefield with few losses, while the search for the courtyard’s treasures and the Secret Realm Token remained ahead.

• Tianxuan Holy Land broke the formation and revealed a large courtyard that might contain treasures and the Secret Realm Token.
• The Black Dragon sensed three alien Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters and dozens of weaker creatures inside the courtyard.
• A Tianxuan Holy Land expert destroyed a building, forcing the purple-skinned aliens to rush out and fight.
• Tianxuan Holy Land surrounded and killed the weaker aliens, then the Tianxuan Saintess defeated the three Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters.
• Yang Chan watched the slaughter without reacting, and Tianxuan Holy Land began sorting the spoils after suffering only a few injuries.

Tianxuan Holy Land uncovered a rich harvest in a large formation, then learned that Tianjian Sect had activated the Vast Void Trial Array, a trial ground offering valuable rewards. Yang Chan joined the factions heading there, promising to avoid unnecessary risks as the Tianxuan Saintess took renewed notice of him.

• Tianxuan Holy Land collected abundant spiritual materials and ancient books from the large formation, while Gu An explained that Qingyuan Sect would receive copies of approved basic texts.
• A distant explosion revealed that Tianjian Sect had found a super formation, so the Tianxuan Saintess sent Little Thirteen to investigate and tasked Gu An with gathering intelligence.
• The Black Dragon urged Yang Chan to investigate the disturbance, but Yang Chan chose to wait for Tianxuan Holy Land's decision rather than draw attention by going alone.
• News revealed that Tianjian Sect had reached the Vast Void Trial Array through a teleportation array, and that entrants could claim rewards and escape danger by crushing a token.
• Tianxuan Holy Land and the other factions set out for the trial array, while Gu An warned the Qingyuan Sect disciples and Yang Chan not to take risks.
• Yang Chan assured Gu An that he valued his life above the secret realm's treasures, and the Tianxuan Saintess remembered him.

Yang Chan joined the major forces at the Vast Void Trial Array and entered its personal trials, where he discovered that the stages tested martial strength and awarded treasures. After reaching the puppet stages and learning from Black Dragon that they resembled the Mohist School’s legendary divine puppets, Yang Chan wondered whether Black Dragon knew how to make one; the chapter left him continuing the trial with a White Crane Fist manual as his reward.

• The Tianxuan Saintess remembered Yang Chan for his steady and cautious outlook as they traveled toward the Vast Void Trial Array.
• Yang Chan and the other forces helped break the formations blocking the route, then entered the Vast Void Trial Array, where he was separated from everyone and received a Zixu token.
• Yang Chan defeated successive groups of illusory beasts and claimed ordinary spirit herbs as he climbed the trial stages.
• Yang Chan encountered illusory mechanism puppets at the tenth stage, and Black Dragon identified them as puppets associated with the Mohist School.
• Black Dragon explained that the Mohist School’s legendary divine puppet could rival Divine Aperture Realm experts, but he did not know how to create one.
• Yang Chan dismantled the puppets and received a White Crane Fist manual suited to the External Refinement: Steel Tendons stage.

Yang Chan climbed the Vast Void Trial Array, defeating its increasingly numerous opponents and collecting rewards as he advanced. After reaching the fiftieth floor, he prepared for a trial that finally seemed worthy of his attention.

• Yang Chan defeated two green-skinned foreign creatures on the twentieth floor and received pills that assisted External Refinement: Steel Tendons.
• Yang Chan continued through floors populated by the same foreign race, overcoming them easily and collecting pills and other basic rewards.
• Yang Chan questioned why cultivation alone seemed to determine progress, and Black Dragon suggested the array adjusted its difficulty according to a participant’s age.
• Yang Chan advanced through trials from External Refinement: Iron Bones to Internal Refinement of Five Organs, gathering techniques, pills, spiritual herbs, and Famous Artifact-grade hidden weapons.
• Yang Chan cleared the forty-ninth floor and approached the fiftieth, where he began to take the trial seriously.

Yang Chan reached the fiftieth level of the Vast Void Trial Array and found elite disciples from the major sects waiting for enough people to gather before entering the Elite Trial Grounds. He learned that the doorway would open when twenty people arrived, leaving him among the gathered competitors as they prepared for the next trial.

• Yang Chan disguised his appearance and cultivation before entering the fiftieth level, where he found the Tianxuan Saintess and other trial participants waiting.
• Ba Chongxiao of the Origin Body Sect taunted the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Sword Maniac, and Huangfu Man, the Saintess of the Myriad Beasts Dao, encouraged them to fight.
• Ba Chongxiao and the Sword Maniac threatened to roast Huangfu Man’s golden lark, and she challenged them to try.
• The Saintess of the Supreme Sect explained that the entrance would open once twenty people had gathered, and Yang Chan realized the group was waiting for the Elite Trial Grounds to begin.
• Yang Chan noted that the elite trial selected only those worthy of advancing, reflecting the former power and prosperity of the Zixu Imperial Dynasty.

The factions entered the Premium Trial Array, while Yang Chan stayed behind to investigate a hidden disturbance. He and the Black Dragon uncovered a locked silver box, but its contents and the means of opening it remained unknown.

• The Heavenly Sword Sect's Holy Son entered the Premium Trial Array first, and the other gathered figures followed.
• Yang Chan waited outside and asked the Black Dragon to assess the strength of the other entrants.
• The Black Dragon revealed that one of the entrants had completed Marrow Cleansing twice but said Yang Chan could defeat him with Sword Momentum.
• Yang Chan used his soul body to spot a red glow underground and sent the Black Dragon to retrieve it.
• The Black Dragon brought back a locked silver box made of Thousand-Year Profound Steel and warned that forcing it open might destroy its contents.
• Yang Chan asked whether the Black Dragon could find another way to open the box or locate anything else hidden nearby.