Chapter Summaries

Qin He and his companions learned that a hundred thousand Sky Demons were sealed in an Interlayer at the Returning Ruins Battlefield’s central army. Their route and retreat were suddenly blocked by drifting ruins and black fragments, leaving them trapped in the Void Domain.

• Guan Qing told Qin He, Zhao Yan, and Li Lie that a sealed Interlayer at the front held a hundred thousand Sky Demons and was guarded by the central army.
• The group found that drifting ruins had blocked their marked route toward the central army.
• Guan Qing explained that dangerous void currents and battle remnants left no safe alternate route.
• The group discovered that tiny black fragments had also sealed off the path behind them.
• Guan Qing warned the others to be careful because they might have encountered something.

Zhao Yan, Li Lie, Guan Qing, and Qin He were trapped by an encroaching cloud of ancient ash that erased whatever touched it. With every direction sealed and their scouting spirit birds destroyed, they sought another way to probe the dust, and Qin He revealed a Clone Talisman.

• Guan Qing explained that the dust might be ash left by fallen Ancient Era experts and warned that waiting could be dangerous.
• Qin He noticed the dust encircling them and drawing closer, so Guan Qing decided they had to break out.
• Guan Qing sent four spirit birds to scout in different directions, but the dust erased each one without a trace.
• Guan Qing determined that the spirit birds had been wiped away rather than consumed by spiritual power.
• Zhao Yan and Li Lie revealed their limited scouting creatures, and Qin He produced a Clone Talisman.

Qin He and the others escaped the dust barrier by combining their attacks to break open a narrow passage. After confirming the breach was safe, they flew through it into the night beyond.

• Qin He summoned over a thousand clones, but the dust barrier instantly erased them all.
• Qin He proposed that the group concentrate their power on the faint flaw in the barrier, and Guan Qing, Li Lie, and Zhao Yan prepared their attacks.
• Qin He and the three others combined their powers into one beam, which opened a pitch-black breach in the dust.
• Qin He sent a little over three hundred clones through the opening, and they safely reached the other side.
• Guan Qing rejoiced at the successful test, and Qin He and the others flew through the breach.

Zhao Yan, Guan Qing, Qin He, and Li Lie escaped a strange dust anomaly and continued their mission. They reached the Central Army Camp, where Qin He witnessed the Divine Court’s formidable defenses and the diverse forces serving it.

• The four escaped a dust cloud that shrank to the size of a basin, then watched it vanish without a trace.
• Guan Qing identified the event as an unknown origin anomaly and ordered the group to report it rather than investigate.
• Two days later, the four passed through the Right Army Camp and entered the Central Army Camp’s jurisdiction, where its hidden restrictions overwhelmed Qin He’s senses.
• Duty divine soldiers accepted the group’s documents at the outer gate, while Qin He observed powerful cultivators and nonhuman beings gathered there.
• Guan Qing explained that the beings were forces sent by worlds and planes under the Divine Court’s command.

Qin He learned how to bypass the Central Army Camp’s strict inspections and decided to enter by taking someone’s identity. After splitting into two incarnations, he left one with Guan Qing and waited at an abandoned Spirit Pool for a suitable target.

• Qin He delivered a sealed letter at the Central Army Camp and sensed a mysterious pull drawing him toward its heart.
• Qin He observed that important figures with proper credentials could bring companions through the camp without individual mirror inspections.
• Guan Qing led the group to an abandoned Spirit Pool, where they rested for a day before departing.
• After the others left, Qin He revealed that he had created a second incarnation and stayed behind to find someone whose identity he could steal.
• Qin He concealed his aura beside the Spirit Pool and waited for a camp scout or worker to arrive.

Qin He interrogated five captured Central Army Camp personnel in the Void Domain, offering an Obstacle-Breaking Pill for truthful answers about the camp and the Void-Domain Interlayer. He learned that the interlayer lay deep in the camp’s heartland, beyond the captives’ access.

• Qin He kept five disguised Central Army Camp personnel bound to pillars for seven days after capturing them in the ruins of the void.
• Qin He removed the captives’ mouth seals and offered an Obstacle-Breaking Pill to whoever gave the most detailed and truthful answers.
• The captives threatened Qin He and invoked the Divine Court, but he warned that evasions would leave them imprisoned until the void collapsed.
• One captive described the camp’s three continuous patrol rings and its checks of each entrant’s waist token, aura, and soul imprint.
• When Qin He asked about the Void-Domain Interlayer, the captives confirmed it lay in the deepest part of the Central Army Camp’s heartland, beyond their reach.

Qin He learned that the Void-Domain Interlayer was an eerie, inaccessible forbidden zone from which demonic creatures had begun escaping, and that three High Gods guarded its perimeter. He asked his five captives for details about the High Gods’ watch rotations and guard areas, promising them Obstacle-Breaking Pills for a thorough answer.

• A captive explained that the Void-Domain Interlayer tainted cultivators with ominous power and that strange disturbances had increased recently.
• A captive revealed that demonic creatures were escaping from the interlayer and causing casualties at the camp’s front lines.
• The captives said the interlayer repelled all attempts to enter, including a High God’s probing strike, and described it as a place where the rules were inverted.
• A captive disclosed that at least three High Gods from the Fire God Hall, the Divine War Department, and the Merit Department guarded the interlayer.
• Qin He asked the captives to explain the three High Gods’ watch rotations and guarded areas in exchange for Obstacle-Breaking Pills.

Qin He gave five Central Army cultivators Obstacle-Breaking Pills after questioning them, then sealed them inside a concealed formation rather than letting them go. He left them imprisoned for two months and believed that would be enough time to finish his plan.

• The five captives revealed rumors, camp rules, and what they knew about the Void-Domain Interlayer, but they could not provide certain details about the High Gods' defenses.
• Qin He gave each captive an Obstacle-Breaking Pill, then reinforced the formation around their stone pillars and sealed off the surrounding void.
• The captives protested that Qin He had promised to release them, but he refused, saying he could not risk them alerting the Central Army Camp and bringing High Gods after him.
• Qin He explained that the harmless formation would release itself in two months, giving the pills' medicinal power time to permeate their bodies.
• Qin He concealed the formation, captives, and pillars so completely that the area appeared barren and undisturbed, then judged that two months should be enough to finish the job.

Qin He erased his traces at a ruined Spirit Pool and waited for a convoy led by Shen Ke, deputy commander of the Divine War Department’s Vanguard Camp, to arrive. After the escort team stopped to rest, a strange ripple crossed the void, and Shen Ke sent two cultivators to investigate.

• Qin He returned to the ruined Spirit Pool and erased every trace of his presence.
• Three days later, Shen Ke’s convoy arrived with twenty cultivators escorting military supplies from the Yunlai Realm.
• Shen Ke permitted the escort team to rest for two hours beside the Spirit Pool.
• A faint, fast-moving ripple appeared at the edge of the void, putting the cultivators on alert.
• Shen Ke sent two Perfected Other Shore Realm cultivators to investigate the ripple.

The convoy dismissed faint void disturbances and an uneventful scouting report, then resumed its journey under Shen Ke’s orders. After it departed, the two genuine scouts were revealed to be trapped in a hidden formation, while impostors had returned to the convoy in their place.

• The two Other Shore Realm great perfection cultivators reported finding an ancient corpse and no unusual phenomena, and Shen Ke ordered the convoy to continue resting.
• After the two-hour rest, Shen Ke ordered the convoy to set out, and it disappeared into the gray mist.
• A concealed formation appeared three hundred miles away, revealing that the two real scouts had been imprisoned and sealed.
• The formation concealed the scouts’ existence and gradually made them fade from sight, while their doubles had already returned to the convoy.

Qin He’s incarnations entered the Central Army Camp disguised as auxiliary soldiers, passing its checkpoints with the Vanguard Camp escort. As the procession advanced, Qin He sensed the guiding thread in his soul pulling him toward the Void-Domain Interlayer at the camp’s heart.

• Qin He’s two incarnations took the places of auxiliary soldiers in Deputy General Shen’s escort detail.
• The guards at the first two checkpoints let the procession pass with little scrutiny because of its status.
• A Saint King checked the escort’s numbers against the roster at the final checkpoint, then allowed it into the camp.
• Qin He sensed the camp’s layered restrictions and felt the guiding thread in his soul grow stronger.
• Qin He saw the Void-Domain Interlayer, sealed behind brilliant restrictions and containing a deathly dark abyss.
• Qin He concealed his reaction and continued following the procession toward the heart of the camp.

Qin He’s three days of learning the Central Army Camp’s routines ended when a demonic overflow unleashed a massive monster assault from the Void-Domain Interlayer. As the High Gods contained the main force, monsters breached the Auxiliary Soldier Camp, and one lunged at Qin He.

• Qin He reviewed his assumed identity as Yun Lang and considered using formation repairs to get closer to the camp’s depths.
• A warning sounded as the Abyss rift lost control, pouring out demonic energy and a towering demonic being with a horde of monsters.
• The monsters broke through the Inner Layer formations, forcing the camp’s cultivators and Saint Tier experts to form defensive lines.
• Three High Gods intervened and blocked the monsters’ route outward, but strays reached the Auxiliary Soldier Camp and attacked its tents.
• Qin He watched the battle and turned toward the interlayer before an indescribable monster lunged at him.

Qin He fought the strange Sky Demons that broke through during a demonic calamity, using yang flame and the origin of order to destroy them and save auxiliary soldiers. The three High Gods sealed the rift, but the breach had let more reverse dao aura escape, and Qin He joined the workers gathering the dead.

• Qin He discovered that the Sky Demon alternated between being intangible and substantial, then destroyed it with primordial yang fire.
• Qin He burned several Sky Demons attacking the Auxiliary Soldier Camp and helped a Saint Tier commander defeat two more.
• The three High Gods drove the ten-thousand-foot demonic being back into the interlayer and sealed the rift with restrictive divine runes.
• The Auxiliary Soldier Camp commander counted the dead and ordered the survivors to repair restrictions, check supplies, and gather the bodies.
• Qin He followed the group collecting corpses, knowing that bodies contaminated by demonic energy had to be burned.

After the demonic calamity, Qin He was reassigned to the Corpse-Burning Squad under his cover identity, Lin Yunlang, giving him a reason to search the battlefield near the interlayer. While collecting contaminated remains with Captain Qin Zhenggang, he sensed the area’s hidden reversed order, and the squad discovered an intact demonic corpse.

• The camp commander ordered Qin He, posing as Lin Yunlang, to join the Corpse-Burning Squad because his fire had helped against the demonic creatures.
• Qin He met Captain Qin Zhenggang, who explained that three squad members had died and warned him to report any abnormal changes in corpses.
• Qin He and Qin Zhenggang collected bodies and remains, using yang fire to handle those tainted by demonic energy.
• The squad moved toward the interlayer as the demonic energy thickened, and Qin He sensed that the area’s natural order had been altered.
• A squad member found an intact corpse of a demonic creature among the ruins.

After the battle, Qin He volunteered to burn a grotesque demon corpse that could revive or mutate if left untreated. The camp’s cultivators gathered more than forty dead, and the Corpse-Burning Squad began burning them separately in individual rooms.

• Qin Zhenggang explained that interlayer demon corpses could revive or mutate, then asked who would burn the creature.
• Qin He volunteered, and Qin Zhenggang praised his courage while warning him to call for help if the corpse changed.
• Qin Zhenggang’s squad and other cultivators collected more than forty bodies from the western battlefield.
• Qin Zhenggang ordered the Corpse-Burning Squad to begin work, and its members carried the bodies into separate Corpse Burning Rooms.

Qin He attempted to burn the stitched-together Demon Corpse in a secluded stone chamber, but its core resisted purification and began to revive. The corpse attacked Qin He, revealing that it had come back to life.

• Qin He examined the Demon Corpse and noticed the Void Domain was repairing its body or trying to form a new will within it.
• Qin He used Yang Fire infused with Lotus Flame to burn the corpse and purify its demonic remains.
• The corpse's core torso resisted the flames, while ashes slowly gathered back toward it.
• The core split open and released a ring of sinister cold that pushed back Qin He's Yang Fire.
• Two malformed black hands clawed at Qin He's wrist, but Qin He dodged as the claws gouged and corroded the stone platform.

Qin He discovered that the monster’s rapid healing came from the corrupted laws of the Reverse Dao Void Domain, then used his True Demon Body to sever its support and destroy its core. He left the chamber after assuring Qin Zhenggang that the danger had been cleared, understanding that interlayer monsters had to be killed at their core rather than by destroying their shells.

• The reborn monster attacked Qin He, distorting his perception, but he tracked its sinister aura and repeatedly cut it with a blade of Yang Fire.
• Qin He realized the void domain’s corrupted Dao laws were repairing the monster and granting it seemingly endless endurance.
• Qin He used his True Demon Body to anchor the void domain, cutting off the monster’s support and exposing its black core.
• Qin He pierced the core with Yang Fire and erased the monster completely.
• Qin He assured Qin Zhenggang that nothing abnormal remained, then headed out to help deal with the remaining corpses.

Qin He cremated five auxiliary soldiers who had died resisting the demonic calamity, using origin yang fire to cleanse their bodies of demonic contamination. When one corpse rose as a walking puppet, he freed it from the Void Domain’s influence and let it pass peacefully into ash.

• Qin He sealed the chamber and began cremating the five fallen soldiers with purified karmic fire.
• The first three lightly tainted bodies burned away cleanly and peacefully.
• The fourth corpse revived as a mindless puppet, its body animated by the Interlayer Inverse Path.
• Qin He used his lotus flame to sever the Void Domain’s hold, allowing the corpse to return to stillness.
• Qin He cremated the freed body, leaving only clean ash.

Qin He watched a Shadow Play Performance reveal Gui Ling’s life as a Half-Demon prodigy who joined the Divine Court to protect her declining clan. After she died on the Returning Ruins battlefield, the judgment awarded her the Demonic Transformation Art.

• Qin He watched Gui Ling’s ashes become the setting for a Shadow Play Performance.
• The shadow play showed Gui Ling’s Ancient Demon clan declining and its elders placing their hopes for revival on her.
• Gui Ling trained relentlessly, became a renowned Other Shore Realm genius, and volunteered for the Divine Court to secure her people’s future.
• Gui Ling served as an auxiliary soldier, advanced to the Late Other Shore Realm, and was killed by a concealed Sky Demon.
• The Soul-Snatching Shadow Lamp and Black Robed Man judged Gui Ling’s soul and awarded her the Demonic Transformation Art.

Qin He discovered the Demon Transformation Art among Gui Ling’s remains, then hurried outside when a Mutated Corpse Demon broke out of a nearby stone chamber. Qin He exposed its weakness with Yang Fire and helped Qin Zhenggang destroy it.

• Qin He found the Demon Transformation Art in Gui Ling’s reward and cleared the ashes from the stone platform.
• An explosion shattered the nearby corpse-burning chamber, releasing a powerful Mutated Corpse Demon.
• The Corpse Demon broke through two squad members’ defense and wounded them, while Qin Zhenggang’s axe strike passed harmlessly through its intangible form.
• Qin He struck the Corpse Demon’s hidden vital energy with Origin Yang Fire, forcing it to become vulnerable.
• Qin He damaged the demon’s armor and Qin Zhenggang finished it with a flaming axe strike.