Chapter Summaries

Zheng Saijuan feared the battle outside Huayan City would destroy the city and sought help as chaos and violence spread through its streets. Ling Wuyuan caught up to Teng Shenghu, and the two fought over the distance between them.

• Zheng Saijuan contacted her grandfather for assistance, fearing the fighters outside Huayan City could destroy it.
• Tremors caused poorly built homes to collapse, while murder and arson worsened the chaos and overwhelmed the city guards.
• Ling Wuyuan advanced through flying stone fragments, which shattered against his body, and caught up to Teng Shenghu.
• Ling Wuyuan thrust at Teng Shenghu, who realized his opponent was below the Enlightened Intent Realm but still had dangerous mental power.
• Teng Shenghu tried to dodge and close the distance for hand-to-hand combat, but Ling Wuyuan turned his thrust into a slash and forced him back.

Ling Wuyuan and Teng Shenghu fought a prolonged, increasingly dangerous duel, and both recognized their strengths and weaknesses. Teng Shenghu broke Ling Wuyuan’s sword and rushed in to finish him, but Ling Wuyuan remained calm with the broken weapon in hand.

• Ling Wuyuan and Teng Shenghu exchanged attacks for hundreds of moves, sustaining wounds as they assessed each other’s abilities.
• Teng Shenghu realized Ling Wuyuan’s speed kept him from turning his superior strength into a decisive advantage, while his own Evil Spirit Possession was draining his life and eroding his control.
• Ling Wuyuan recognized that his strength, technique, and weapon durability were liabilities, and the repeated recoil had badly injured his sword hand and wrist.
• Teng Shenghu seized on Ling Wuyuan’s distraction and struck both sides of his blade, snapping the sword into fragments.
• Teng Shenghu rushed at Ling Wuyuan, declaring that he had won, while Ling Wuyuan calmly held on to the broken sword.

Ling Wuyuan used his twentyfold Abyssal Divine Speed to kill Teng Shenghu after Teng Shenghu exploited a moment of distraction. Afterward, Ling Wuyuan explained that he was not truly a swordsman and had limited his attack to avoid destroying Huayan City.

• Teng Shenghu seized Ling Wuyuan’s moment of distraction and rushed in to strike his chest.
• Ling Wuyuan accelerated his bodily movement speed to twentyfold and cut Teng Shenghu’s neck before Teng Shenghu could react.
• Teng Shenghu failed to heal his severed neck or self-destruct because Ling Wuyuan’s true qi disrupted his body and power, and he died.
• Ling Wuyuan said that he was only someone who used a sword, then discarded the broken blade.
• Ling Wuyuan explained that he had used roughly fifty to sixty percent of his speed to keep his attack controlled and protect Huayan City.

Ling Wuyuan defeated Teng Shenghu, destroyed his corpse to fertilize the devastated land, and returned to Huayan City amid looting and violent crackdowns. Sun Poyun and Zheng Saijuan remained anxious about the battle’s outcome, while Zheng Saijuan relied on her powerful grandfather coming to help.

• Ling Wuyuan blasted Teng Shenghu’s corpse into blood mist and left it to nourish the land.
• Ling Wuyuan returned to Huayan City and saw damaged buildings, looting, and street fights.
• The city guards began killing rioters without trials and hanging their corpses as warnings.
• Sun Poyun worried that Huayan City’s fate depended on who had won the battle, but Ling Wuyuan did not tell him the outcome.
• Zheng Saijuan sensed the battle had ended and trusted that her grandfather, a powerful Enlightened Intent Realm cultivator, would soon arrive.

Ling Wuyuan sorted through the suspicious contents of Teng Shenghu’s spatial item and decided to sell the item. Song Jie arrived at the ruined battlefield, found nothing valuable, and mistook soil fertilized by Ling Wuyuan for evidence of a hidden secret.

• Ling Wuyuan examined Teng Shenghu’s human remains, valuables, books, and medicines, finding many of them useless or suspicious.
• Ling Wuyuan cursed Teng Shenghu and decided to sell his spatial item because it had held thousands of corpses.
• Song Jie rushed to Huayan City and confirmed with Zheng Saijuan that she was safe and the city was stable.
• Song Jie inspected the ruined battlefield and found only traces of powerful ghost qi.
• Song Jie noticed the soil’s unusual life force and suspected the battlefield concealed a secret, unaware that Ling Wuyuan had fertilized it.

After the battle devastated the land around Huayan City, the Yaowu Army arrived, judged the conflict beyond its power, and chose not to investigate further. Song Jie continued searching for a hidden secret without success, while Zheng Saijuan concluded that an unknown expert had moved the fight away from the city to protect its people.

• The Yaowu Army surveyed the ruined landscape and decided the battle was beyond its strength, so it abandoned further investigation and focused on calming civilians.
• Song Jie continued searching the battlefield with Undying Nature, convinced the land concealed something valuable, but found no clues.
• Zheng Saijuan brought Song Jie tea and learned that he had found nothing substantive.
• Zheng Saijuan recalled that the battle began near Huayan City and realized a powerful expert must have shifted it away from the city.
• Zheng Saijuan imagined the unknown expert as a benevolent recluse who had secretly lived in Huayan City and fought the evil-path cultivators without seeking fame.

Zheng Saijuan and Song Jie discussed the hidden powerful figure and the possible secret beneath Huayan City, then agreed to meet Ling Wuyuan. Meanwhile, Sun Poyun avoided revealing what he knew about the battle as officials handled the aftermath, unaware the scorched land would recover and become exceptionally fertile.

• Zheng Saijuan told Song Jie she knew nothing about the hidden powerful figure and speculated about why he and the Crimson Blood Ghost Sect expert had come to Huayan City.
• Song Jie suspected the two powerful figures had discovered a valuable secret and regretted arriving too late to claim it.
• Zheng Saijuan urged Song Jie to meet Ling Wuyuan, and Song Jie reluctantly agreed.
• Sun Poyun denied knowing any details about the battle when questioned by his superior, who assigned him other cleanup work.
• Sun Poyun's superior worried that the scorched land would prevent nearby grain production, unaware that its life force would soon restore and enrich it.

Ling Wuyuan accepted an invitation to meet Song Jie of Wenying Tower, hoping to learn how to return to the Southern Region. After Song Jie asked about his origins, Ling Wuyuan confirmed his identity and explained how he had been swept into the Northern Domain.

• Ling Wuyuan received Zheng Saijuan's message inviting him to meet her grandfather and agreed to come immediately.
• City Lord's Mansion watchers saw Ling Wuyuan leave and went to report the battle's outcome to Sun Poyun.
• Ling Wuyuan arrived at Wenying Tower, where Zheng Saijuan introduced him to her grandfather, Song Jie.
• Song Jie asked whether Ling Wuyuan was truly from Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion, and Ling Wuyuan confirmed it.
• Ling Wuyuan explained that foreign experts had forced him into turbulent space-time during a teleportation, which carried him to the Northern Domain.

Ling Wuyuan explained to Song Jie and Zheng Saijuan that spatial turbulence had brought him to their region, then answered Song Jie’s questions and showed his Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion identity token. He asked for information on the surrounding region and a fast route back to the Southern Region, and Song Jie agreed to help while warning that access to the Continental Teleportation Array was tightly restricted.

• Ling Wuyuan told Song Jie and Zheng Saijuan that spatial turbulence had swept him to their location.
• Song Jie questioned Ling Wuyuan about Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion, and Ling Wuyuan answered his questions and showed him his identity token.
• Song Jie said he would report Ling Wuyuan’s identity through the proper ranks and asked how he could help.
• Ling Wuyuan requested information about the region and ways to return quickly to the Southern Region.
• Song Jie explained that the Continental Teleportation Array was the fastest route but that its use was tightly controlled, especially during the sea race invasion.
• Song Jie offered to seek information for Ling Wuyuan, provide less sensitive details at a discount, and Ling Wuyuan accepted his goodwill.

Shen Yunqing learned that Teng Shenghu had disappeared after a battle and ordered the Crimson Blood Ghost Sect elders to investigate whether he was dead and find his killer if so. In Huayan City, Ling Wuyuan finished sorting Teng Shenghu’s spoils, neared the Spirit Infusion Realm, and surprised Pei Yiman by telling her he had killed an Enlightened Intent Realm cultivator.

• Shen Yunqing suspected Teng Shenghu had fled until a report said he was likely killed in a battle west of the sect stronghold.
• The Great Elder, Second Elder, and Fourth Elder joined Shen Yunqing, who ordered them to find Teng Shenghu or track down his killer.
• Ling Wuyuan finished categorizing Teng Shenghu’s spoils, including rare manuals and forbidden books, and felt close to breaking through to the Spirit Infusion Realm.
• Ling Wuyuan told Pei Yiman that he had killed an Enlightened Intent Realm cultivator, and Pei Yiman reacted with sincere astonishment.

Ling Wuyuan reflected on his unusual progress toward the Enlightened Intent Realm and resolved to keep cultivating without being satisfied by his victory over Teng Shenghu. Meanwhile, Song Jie received confirmation that Ling Wuyuan was at the former homeland of the Old Dust Kingdom and learned that Wenying Tower had granted him fourth-level preferential treatment.

• Ling Wuyuan sensed signs of mind, body, true qi, and Qi and Blood converging, and attributed his unusual advancement to his exceptional potential and Abyssal Divine Speed.
• Ling Wuyuan reviewed his battle with Teng Shenghu and judged his victory only a small step toward his ambitions of eternal life and reaching the pinnacle.
• Song Jie continued searching the battlefield ruins for the unknown treasure when a superior from Wenying Tower sent him an intelligence update.
• Wenying Tower confirmed that the person in the former homeland of the Old Dust Kingdom was Ling Wuyuan himself and ordered Song Jie to explain the organization's views and fourth-level preferential treatment to him.

Song Jie realized that Wenying Tower’s special treatment for Ling Wuyuan likely came from Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion’s intervention and wondered about Ling’s unusual status there. With help arranged by Yuan Yujun and the others, Ling accepted their support but planned to seek a way home himself while waiting for them to retrieve him.

• Song Jie concluded that Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion had likely paid Wenying Tower to grant Ling Wuyuan special privileges and wondered why a man held such a high status in the pavilion.
• Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion paid Ling Wuyuan’s outstanding bill and arranged for Wenying Tower to deliver the intelligence he requested.
• Ling Wuyuan learned through Pei Yiman that Yan Xiujin had begun cultivating seriously and vowed to bring him home.
• Yuan Yujun and the others sent Ling Wuyuan a message through Pei Yi, telling him to stay safe and wait for their planned rescue in about two years.
• Ling Wuyuan decided to pursue his own way home while waiting for news and assistance from Yuan Yujun and the others.

Twelve days after reaching the Northern Domain, Ling Wuyuan naturally advanced to the Spirit Infusion Realm in his sleep. A massive influx of spiritual energy transformed his mind, body, true qi, Qi and Blood, and cultivation methods, leaving him already near the late stage of the realm.

• Wenying Tower delivered detailed intelligence to Ling Wuyuan with concessions enabled by Snow Moon Cloud Heaven Pavilion’s influence.
• On the twelfth day after arriving in the Northern Domain, Ling Wuyuan woke and advanced effortlessly to the Spirit Infusion Realm.
• Ling Wuyuan’s mental power surged severalfold, giving him the ability to attack Enlightened Intent Realm cultivators on the mental level.
• A gale formed around the city as heaven-and-earth spiritual energy rushed toward Ling Wuyuan, so he flew above the city despite its no-fly barrier.
• Ling Wuyuan used the Mysterious Void Myriad Forms Ring to draw in spiritual energy, rapidly transforming his cultivation and reaching roughly the late Spirit Infusion Realm.
• Ling Wuyuan’s cultivation methods evolved and integrated, becoming more compatible with him as his power shed the dross and preserved the essence.

Ling Wuyuan completed his transformation after absorbing an immense amount of spiritual energy, while Song Jie and three Crimson Blood Ghost Sect elders watched from afar and eventually fled. After awakening, Ling Wuyuan discovered that his body had grown dramatically stronger and that his energy interference ability had developed into a rudimentary form of telekinesis.

• Song Jie and the three Crimson Blood Ghost Sect elders sensed a powerful disturbance in the sky but initially chose not to investigate.
• As Ling Wuyuan continued absorbing spiritual energy for hours, the observers grew alarmed and retreated to avoid the danger.
• Ling Wuyuan awoke after his transformation and realized his physical abilities had increased at least tenfold.
• Ling Wuyuan used his newly strengthened energy interference to crush a drifting feather and scratch his own head without moving his hands.
• Ling Wuyuan tested the ability as an attack, found it imprecise and weak for now, and judged it to be an early form of telekinesis.

Ling Wuyuan discovered that his transformed power had formed a new technique circulation uniquely suited to him, combining his abilities, cultivation, and knowledge. The change gave him a faint clue toward creating artificial meridians, though he remained unsure what had caused his body to evolve so strangely.

• Ling Wuyuan examined his altered circulation paths and found they formed an immature technique that suited him better than any he had learned from others.
• Ling Wuyuan connected the new technique to his long-standing goal of overcoming the body's fixed meridian structure and creating a path of cultivation of his own.
• Ling Wuyuan recalled that his attempts to create artificial meridians had stalled despite extensive study, because new meridians risked rejection and interference with the body's original structure.
• Ling Wuyuan realized his transformation had drawn upon his abilities, techniques, and knowledge, with his desire to evolve serving as the key trigger.
• Ling Wuyuan wondered whether he possessed a hidden ability that could subconsciously deduce and bring about changes in his body.

Ling Wuyuan failed to awaken a system or new Special Ability, named his self-created cultivation technique Sole Righteous Path, and left to study it. Song Jie and the Crimson Blood Ghost Sect trio wondered whether Ling Wuyuan had absorbed the immense spiritual energy and decided to report the disturbance to their sect master.

• Ling Wuyuan gave up trying to awaken a system or new Special Ability and decided not to dwell on the secret he suspected he possessed.
• Ling Wuyuan named his evolving cultivation technique Sole Righteous Path and resolved to make every technique and its knowledge feed his own path.
• Ling Wuyuan departed to find a place to study My Own Path as dark clouds began to dissipate over the land he had helped restore.
• Song Jie returned and wondered how the person behind the disturbance had made such a vast amount of spiritual energy disappear.
• The Crimson Blood Ghost Sect trio suspected the person behind the disturbance might have made Teng Shenghu disappear, then chose to report what they knew to the sect master rather than investigate directly.

The Crimson Blood Ghost Sect's three elders fled after realizing Ling Wuyuan was far too powerful to challenge. Sect master Shen Yunqing let them go, then considered replacing the likely dead Teng Shenghu with two other Enlightened Intent Realm cultivators for his nearly completed plan.

• The three Crimson Blood Ghost Sect elders concluded that the cultivator who killed Teng Shenghu was likely a top Enlightened Intent Realm expert and chose to retreat and report back.
• Shen Yunqing questioned the three elders and considered which cultivators in the Old Dust Kingdom's former territory could match their description.
• Shen Yunqing dismissed the elders without punishment, surprising them with his restraint.
• After the elders left, Shen Yunqing scrutinized them as possible sacrifices for his plan.
• Shen Yunqing regretted Teng Shenghu's likely death and decided he could kill two other Enlightened Intent Realm cultivators to make up for it.

Song Jie abandoned his search for the supposed treasure, while Ling Wuyuan tested his vastly increased power in Huayan City. Ling Wuyuan discovered that his Abyssal Divine Speed could reach a 150-fold multiplier, but he still could not safely use its full force.

• Song Jie concluded that an unknown expert had killed Teng Shenghu and taken the treasure, then left the overgrown search site.
• Ling Wuyuan continued adjusting to his new cultivation technique, physical strength, and true qi in Huayan City.
• Ling Wuyuan tested his control by creating hundreds of tiny, lifelike animals from gray true qi and making them transform rapidly.
• Ling Wuyuan found that his normal thought processing struggled when controlling eight hundred animals through eight hundred transformations per second.
• Ling Wuyuan sensed that Abyssal Divine Speed had reached a maximum multiplier of 150 times, but feared that using it fully would kill him and everyone nearby.

Ling Wuyuan reflected on the mysterious power behind his cultivation and the possibility that the Divine Ability Realm might help him master Abyssal Divine Speed. He explored how My Own Path could combine techniques he had fully mastered into a cultivation foundation that grew alongside him, and found that its abilities had begun manifesting in him.

• Ling Wuyuan considered whether reaching the Divine Ability Realm would let him control Abyssal Divine Speed, and resolved that he would keep growing stronger if it did not.
• Ling Wuyuan suspected an unknown power within himself had produced My Own Path, which he regarded as the grand principle for his future cultivation.
• Ling Wuyuan recognized that his older techniques, including Wolf Tiger Leopard Body Forging Technique and Iron Statue Body Tempering Technique, had lost much of their usefulness as he advanced.
• Ling Wuyuan understood that My Own Path could integrate only techniques and knowledge he had fully learned and mastered, and that its cultivation depended on his supporting abilities.
• After several days of experiments, Ling Wuyuan adapted to My Own Path and found that abilities such as defense, healing, tracking, telekinesis, poison absorption, and faster true qi recovery manifested through it.

Ling Wuyuan weighed his strength and the dangers of the chaotic region before deciding to travel alone toward the [Southern Region] and make his way home. He began planning a route that would avoid deadly forbidden zones while letting him gather resources and knowledge along the way.

• Ling Wuyuan reconsidered his confidence after reflecting on Xi Xianlan and other prodigies, and acknowledged that exceptional peers might exist beyond the [Golden Mist Continent].
• Ling Wuyuan dismissed the idea of establishing a force in the lawless region because he wanted to return home as soon as possible.
• Ling Wuyuan decided to head alone toward the [Southern Region], gathering resources as he traveled.
• Ling Wuyuan reviewed Wenying Tower's intelligence and began plotting a route around dangerous forbidden zones and powerful local forces.
• Ling Wuyuan determined that the [Gray Mist Imprint] could guide him by sensing Pei Yi's direction through regions where compasses failed.