Chapter Summaries

Chu Mu inspected his unexpected haul and realized the Chen Family had likely used the Ba Dao Alliance auction to swindle cultivators and lure them into Tyrant Province’s calamity. He ended the chapter with the Azure Lotus Core Flame and Ten Thousand Souls Banner before him, recognizing why Extremely Yin Real Person had gone on a rampage.

• Chu Mu received Chang Hongyi’s messages, sent several replies, and made brief arrangements.
• Chu Mu examined a Storage Bag containing spirit stones, pills, artifacts, Jade Slips, the Azure Lotus Core Flame, and the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
• Chu Mu reasoned that the banner Extremely Yin Real Person had used during the calamity was probably not the one he had won at auction, since there had been too little time to refine it.
• Chu Mu concluded that the Chen Family and Ba Dao Alliance likely never intended to deliver most auction items, using the bidding to draw cultivators into their scheme.
• Chu Mu realized Extremely Yin Real Person had paid a fortune for treasures he never received, explaining his fury during the slaughter in Tyrant Province City.

Chu Mu considered using the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to heal his badly damaged corpse puppet, while weighing the danger of the puppet’s instinct to devour him. After reaching the open sea, he released Zhao Shuang and the other two from the flying boat and waited to hear whether they would leave or ask to stay.

• Chu Mu recalled Extremely Yin Real Person’s disappearance and examined the Azure Lotus Core Flame and Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
• Chu Mu found that his corpse puppet had been nearly destroyed and considered using Tyrant Province’s blood qi to restore it, but feared the Chen family would be waiting for him.
• Chu Mu tested the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and discovered that its ghost qi and souls could nourish the corpse puppet, though the puppet remained a threat to its master.
• Chu Mu opened the cabin door, told Zhao Shuang and the other two that they were safe in the open sea, and revealed an exit from the flying boat.
• Zhao Shuang stepped forward and asked Chu Mu for something, and he invited her to speak freely.

Zhao Shuang and Xie Yu told Chu Mu about an ancient relic in the Outer Sea that appeared once every Sixty-Year Cycle, and asked him to break its formation. Chu Mu agreed to take them with him, then realized the relic lay deep within the Dark Serpent Clan’s territory.

• Zhao Shuang explained that the Restriction Breaking Talisman scheme had been driven by the Xie Family’s inherited information about a relic in the Outer Sea.
• Xie Yu gave Chu Mu a Jade Slip describing the relic, its location, and its appearance once every Sixty-Year Cycle for sixty days.
• Chu Mu told Zhao Shuang, Xie Yu, and her sister that they would follow him for a Sixty-Year Cycle, then offered them Alchemical Pills and proposed traveling to the Outer Sea.
• After the three withdrew, Chu Mu studied the Jade Slip and learned that the relic lay nearly a hundred thousand li beyond the inner and outer seas’ boundary, in Dark Serpent Clan territory.
• Chu Mu considered the risks of the journey and concluded that untamed Monster Beasts were likelier dangers than encountering the Dark Serpent Clan.

Chu Mu approached the Cloud Mountain Islands disguised as an ordinary cultivator, captured three would-be robbers, and refined them into Heaven Deceiving Pills. Using one pill and the identity of Chen Cang, he entered Cloud Mountain Main Island and began assessing the island’s defenses while considering the fallout from the catastrophe in Tyrant Province.

• Chu Mu concealed his cultivation and headed toward Cloud Mountain Market, where several cultivators ambushed him.
• Chu Mu subdued the attackers, took their Flying Needle, and transported the three men to an uninhabited island.
• Chu Mu imprisoned the men and refined them into three improved Heaven Deceiving Pills, then took one and assumed Chen Cang’s identity.
• Chu Mu used Chen Cang’s identity token to pass through Cloud Mountain Port and enter Cloud Mountain Main Island.
• Chu Mu inspected the island’s formation restrictions before turning his attention to Cloud Mountain Market and the consequences of the Nascent Soul battle in Tyrant Province.

After recovering from the Tyrant Province catastrophe, Chu Mu learned that the Chen Family had made him its chief wanted target while becoming embroiled in conflict across the Vast Ocean. He traveled for several years into the Outer Sea and reached the seabed ruins, where he began searching for them with his newly forged Five Elements Light Fixing Disc.

• Chu Mu listened to cultivators discuss the Tyrant Province catastrophe and examined the Chen Family’s wanted notice, which named him its chief target.
• Chu Mu learned that powerful factions had allied against the Chen Family, while the Dark Serpent Clan had made a truce with it, leaving the Vast Ocean in turmoil.
• Chu Mu decided to use the turmoil to cultivate, then left Cloud Mountain Market and returned to the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat.
• Chu Mu spent several years traveling toward the Outer Sea while Zhao Shuang and the other two remained in seclusion.
• Chu Mu reached the seabed location of the ruins, and Xie Yu explained that they emerged once every Sixty-Year Cycle.
• Chu Mu sent Azure Bird Puppets to scout and used his Five Elements Light Fixing Disc to scan the seabed for spatial traces of the ruins.

Chu Mu investigated the relic’s shifting spatial fluctuation in a deep-sea trench and found no way to enter, concluding that he might have to wait through a Sixty-Year Cycle. Back aboard the flying boat, he questioned Xie Yu about how he had reached the Outer Sea, and Xie Yu revealed that he had visited the relic before and offered his recorded information.

• Chu Mu used his compass to locate an unstable spatial fluctuation in the trench and descended to investigate it.
• Chu Mu observed the fluctuation for nearly ten days, found no pattern or entrance, and concluded that he might have to wait for the Sixty-Year Cycle.
• Chu Mu returned to the flying boat, where Zhao Shuang and the other two had been waiting for him.
• Chu Mu asked Xie Yu how a Foundation Establishment cultivator had reached the deep sea, and Xie Yu said he had followed a Nascent Soul ancestor of the Xie Family there as a Qi Refining disciple.
• Xie Yu gave Chu Mu a Jade Slip containing information he had recorded about the relic’s interior.

Chu Mu settled in for secluded cultivation on the seabed, while Wangcai ranged through the surrounding waters and rose to become their new overlord. Years passed as both cultivated in the concealed Sky-Piercing Flying Boat, with Wangcai’s progress continuing steadily.

• Chu Mu made three underwater cave abodes for his companions, concealed the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat, and sent Azure Bird Puppets to watch the area.
• Chu Mu gave Wangcai Demon Beast flesh and blood and bloodline-specific Demon Spirit Pills, then warned it to stay near the boat while it cultivated.
• Chu Mu considered ways to restore his damaged corpse puppet but decided to postpone the matter and entered secluded cultivation with Immortal Infant pills.
• Wangcai reached the Third-Order Middle Stage and became the dominant demon beast in the surrounding sea, tormenting other beasts before hiding its tracks and returning to the boat.
• Wangcai began cultivating beside Chu Mu’s quiet room, consuming its ample supplies as its cultivation continued to advance.

After twenty years of secluded cultivation, Chu Mu advanced to the Golden Core Middle Stage and began refining the Azure Lotus Core Flame with a method designed to plunder its full power. The flame’s violent backlash engulfed the seabed as Chu Mu steadily devoured it, while Wangcai and the puppets guarded the area.

• Chu Mu emerged from twenty years of seclusion at the Golden Core Middle Stage and found that Wangcai had reached the Third-Order Middle Stage.
• Chu Mu prepared Meridian Protecting Pills and Bright Radiance Spirit Water to counter the Azure Lotus Core Flame’s backlash.
• Chu Mu began using the Great Sun True Fire to plunder the Azure Lotus Core Flame, whose eruption engulfed the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat.
• Chu Mu carried the raging flame into a seabed trench, where its fire domain shattered the cave and surrounding stone.
• Chu Mu endured the flame’s internal backlash and continued refining it bit by bit while the medicines protected his meridians and stabilized his magic power.
• Wangcai and the Blade Intent Battle Puppet monitored the area, with orders to kill any approaching living being other than Wangcai.

Chu Mu devoured the Azure Lotus Core Flame, transforming his Great Sun True Fire and repairing and strengthening his body. As he absorbed the flame’s remaining energy, pure crimson liquid energy filled his dantian and his Golden Core Middle Stage cultivation began rapidly rising.

• Chu Mu absorbed the final traces of the Azure Lotus Core Flame into his Great Sun True Fire, ending the fire’s turmoil and beginning the true fire’s transformation.
• The transforming Great Sun True Fire sent crimson radiance through Chu Mu’s body, restoring and strengthening his meridians, bones, flesh, dantian, and Sea of Consciousness.
• The Great Sun True Scripture circulated on its own and drew the Azure Lotus Core Flame’s remaining energy into Chu Mu, fueling the transformation of his true fire.
• Chu Mu’s true fire condensed the incoming energy into pure crimson liquid energy that rapidly filled more than half his dantian.
• Chu Mu controlled the energy with his Divine Sense and refined it, causing his cultivation to rise rapidly beyond the Golden Core Middle Stage.

After refining the Azure Lotus Core Flame, Chu Mu completed a second transformation of the Great Sun True Fire and Great Sun True Scripture. He discovered that the breakthrough had greatly strengthened his body and cultivation, leaving him nearly halfway to the Golden Core Late Stage.

• After the seabed fire went out, Chu Mu opened his eyes and summoned the transformed crimson Great Sun True Fire.
• Chu Mu tested the fire by striking a trench wall, melting a deep hole into it and causing the rock to collapse.
• Chu Mu sensed that his meridians, mana, bones, and flesh had improved as the Great Sun True Scripture ascended with the fire.
• Chu Mu reflected that future transformations would require increasingly rare and powerful Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fires.
• Chu Mu checked the Light Screen Panel and saw that feedback from refining the Azure Lotus Core Flame had brought his Golden Core Middle Stage cultivation nearly halfway to the Late Stage, saving him decades of arduous cultivation.

After decades of seclusion, Chu Mu reviewed the sea region’s history and discovered that a giant eagle had used a Ten Thousand Demon Banner to subdue a Dark Cloud Tyrant Ape. He emerged from the trench, assessed Wangcai’s improved tracking ability, and considered how reaching Nascent Soul might let him understand and reproduce Bloodline Divine Abilities.

• Chu Mu reviewed recordings from the Azure Bird Puppet and saw a giant eagle bind and subdue a Dark Cloud Tyrant Ape with a crimson banner.
• Chu Mu concluded the banner was likely a subsidiary Ten Thousand Demon Banner linked to the Dark Serpent Clan and that the eagle’s affairs had little to do with him.
• Chu Mu left the seabed trench and returned to the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat, which had suffered damage during his refinement of the Azure Lotus Core Flame.
• Chu Mu examined Wangcai and found that its cultivation had reached the Third-Order Middle Stage and its tracking Bloodline Divine Ability had grown by about thirty percent.
• Chu Mu speculated that reaching Nascent Soul might let him fully understand Bloodline Divine Abilities and eventually imitate and develop them for himself.

Chu Mu studied the Jade Slip’s account of the relic and learned that the cave estate had multiple entrances and trials, then returned to his concealed flying boat to begin designing a Blade Intent Treasure. He ended the chapter drafting and evaluating possible designs, confident that his weapon-refinement skill could break new ground.

• Chu Mu examined the spatial fluctuations at the trench’s edge but still could not open the relic’s hidden entrance.
• Chu Mu read Xie Yu’s Jade Slip, learning how the Xie Family entered the cave estate and that beings from other regions could reach it through other gateways.
• Chu Mu considered the risks of trusting Zhao Shuang and the others, then returned to the concealed Sky-Piercing Flying Boat while Azure Bird Puppets monitored the sea.
• Chu Mu studied pieces of Nine Heavens Profound Gold and pondered how to create a Blade Intent Treasure suited to his unusual cultivation.
• Chu Mu used Spirit Radiance Blessing to draft and compare designs for the Blade Intent Treasure.

After years of secluded cultivation, Chu Mu forged Nine Heavens Profound Gold into an artificial Blade Pellet prototype and began nurturing it as a unique lifebound Blade Intent Treasure. He resolved to seek broader knowledge from the Longevity Sect after his journey into the ruins ended, then returned to cultivation aboard the hidden Flying Boat.

• Chu Mu refined Nine Heavens Profound Gold for eighty-one days with his Blade Intent, producing a pure golden Blade Pellet prototype.
• Chu Mu shaped the prototype into a blade, then absorbed it into his Sea of Consciousness, where it merged with his Divine Soul Blade.
• Chu Mu planned to nurture the treasure for another eighty-one days and continue refining it within his Sea of Consciousness.
• Chu Mu considered visiting the Longevity Sect to gain access to its vast knowledge after the ruins journey ended.
• Chu Mu inspected recordings from the Azure Bird Puppet, stored his drafts, and resumed cultivation as years passed in the darkness of the seabed.

After more than thirty years in seclusion, Chu Mu emerged close to the Golden Core Late Stage, but recognized that he needed to stabilize his cultivation before advancing. He feared that his poor Spirit Root aptitude would eventually halt his progress unless he could secure enough resources or resolve the flaw.

• Chu Mu ended his decades-long seclusion and welcomed Wangcai, whose cultivation had advanced beyond halfway through the Third-Order Middle Stage.
• Chu Mu checked his progress and estimated that another ten-odd years of seclusion with plentiful resources could bring him to the Golden Core Late Stage.
• Chu Mu cleared away the accumulated waste and considered the need to stabilize his foundation and eliminate accumulated Alchemical Poison before attempting a breakthrough.
• Chu Mu worried that his poor Spirit Root aptitude would make his cultivation dependent on increasingly scarce resources and could ultimately end his immortal path.
• Chu Mu suppressed his gloom and resolved to do everything he could to address the problem before that future arrived.

Chu Mu tested the fully fused Divine Soul Blade and Blade Intent Treasure, discovering that its power surpassed his expectations and that its growth depended on purity and compatibility. He rejoined Zhao Shuang, Xie Yu, and the others at the ruins’ entrance and waited for the Sixty-Year Cycle to bring the ruins forth.

• Chu Mu found no sign that anyone else had discovered the ruins and concluded that he would flee if a Nascent Soul Great Expert appeared.
• Chu Mu examined the illusory Divine Soul Blade and its real Blade Intent Treasure, confirming that they had fused into a Lifebound Magic Treasure.
• Chu Mu struck the sea with the Three Feet Blade, cleaving the sky and carving a vast chasm through the water.
• Chu Mu recorded his insight that the Blade Intent Treasure should evolve through purity and compatibility, then erased the lingering blade scar.
• Chu Mu used the Compass to locate the ruins’ entrance near a Coral Reef and returned to Zhao Shuang, Xie Yu, and the others.
• Xie Yu reported that the ruins would emerge in roughly twenty-one hours, and Chu Mu told everyone to wait at the entrance.

Chu Mu tested the newly opened Spatial Portal and discovered that it severed his control over anything sent through it, while Zhao Shuang found that recordings made inside were blank. He entered with Xie Yu and learned the portal led to a sealed plaza where entrants had to break a grand formation to begin the Relic Cave Estate trials.

• After twenty-one shichen, the spatial disturbance opened into a white-jade gateway, and Chu Mu sent two Azure Bird Puppets through it, losing all control of them.
• Chu Mu stopped Xie Yu from entering first and allowed Zhao Shuang to scout the portal; she returned and reported that the plaza was empty, recordings were blank, and she had not seen the puppets.
• Chu Mu sent the Zhao Shuang sisters through, then carried Xie Yu into the portal while sensing its spatial fluctuations.
• Chu Mu arrived at a half-moon white-jade plaza surrounded by mist and found a blank stone tablet beside the portal.
• Xie Yu explained that the plaza was the first trial and that entrants had to break its grand formation before time ran out; Chu Mu examined the tablet while Wangcai watched the others.

Chu Mu investigated the plaza’s white mist and found that it triggered illusions through an unknown mechanism that bypassed his defenses. Unable to uncover its purpose, he followed the Xie Family’s instructions to force open a passage, where Zhao Shuang entered first, and began to suspect the Spatial Portal was also unusual.

• Chu Mu examined the Blank Jade Tablet and found no inscriptions or clear connection between it and the plaza.
• Chu Mu tested the white mist, experienced visions of his deepest fears, and recovered when his Blade Intent steadied his mind.
• Chu Mu sent Azure Bird Puppets into the mist and concluded that it contained something beyond an ordinary Illusion Array.
• Chu Mu told Xie Yu to prepare to break the array and used the Xie Family’s method to open a passage through the mist.
• Zhao Shuang entered the passage, and Xie Yu explained that travelers would be randomly transported to the Trial Land after roughly ninety zhang.
• Chu Mu looked back at the Spatial Portal and suspected its transportation had also been unusual.

Chu Mu entered the Relic Cave Estate with Wangcai after linking them with a protective charm, then endured a violent teleportation. He arrived in a desert where Wangcai was fighting a bloodthirsty creature hidden in the sand.

• Zhao Shuang, Xie Yu, and Zhao Yu entered the black-and-white passage and vanished, leaving Chu Mu to decide whether to follow.
• Chu Mu cautiously entered the passage and stopped at eighty zhang to give Wangcai a Linked Heart Charm that could protect and connect them.
• Chu Mu crossed the ninety-zhang boundary and continued to one hundred and eight zhang before stepping into a violent teleportation.
• Chu Mu regained consciousness in a scorching desert and saw Wangcai battling a savage creature concealed in a swirling sea of sand.

Chu Mu rescued Wangcai from a Sand Tail Scorpion swarm and fled across the Desert Sea, where the scorpions’ poison and the prospect of their powerful queen made the threat clear. After burning a stretch of the sand sea and escaping aboard the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat, he was forced back out of the void by a soul-piercing shriek.

• Chu Mu pulled Wangcai from the sand as Sand Tail Scorpions gathered and then fled with him across the Desert Sea.
• Chu Mu recalled that Sand Tail Scorpions formed a queen-controlled clan capable of transforming vast regions into desert territory.
• The swarm fired poisoned spikes at Chu Mu, and he melted them with his true fire before igniting several li of sand sea to destroy the creatures.
• Chu Mu boarded the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat and vanished into the void, but a shriek from beneath the burning sand disrupted its passage and hurled it back into the sand sea.

Chu Mu destroyed a spatial Sand Tail Scorpion, but its death drew the attention of the Sand Tail Scorpion Queen. Surrounded by a disciplined tide, he realized he had to fight his way out before the Queen brought more forces.

• Wangcai burst from the crashed Sky-Piercing Flying Boat and tore through the Sand Tail Scorpions surrounding it.
• Chu Mu used his fire and blade attacks to expose and kill a silver-white spatial Sand Tail Scorpion, then stored its corpse in his Qiankun Pouch.
• A vast Sand Tail Scorpion tide surrounded Chu Mu and repeatedly charged the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Grand Array.
• Chu Mu sensed several spatial Sand Tail Beasts holding position behind the tide and recognized the scorpions were acting like a coordinated army.
• Chu Mu concluded that the Sand Tail Scorpion Queen had noticed him and that he had to carve a path through the encirclement to survive.