Chapter Summaries

Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun searched the Western Wasteland for an earth-element spiritual object while news of an anomalous Heavenly Tribulation spread. Meanwhile, Mu Li visited Meng Yutong and tried to mend their broken relationship, but their old conflict over Joyful Powder left them at odds.

• Lin Heng admitted he was uncomfortable with the great height as Duan Shuyun flew them across the barren land in search of Medicine King Valley.
• The Shadow Alliance and Star Calculation Pavilion traced the Heavenly Tribulation, and news of it spread across much of the Western Wasteland.
• Meng Yutong returned to her travel pavilion and threw Mu Li into the main seat when Mu Li appeared and tried to embrace her.
• Mu Li urged Meng Yutong to leave the Green Pavilion Sect and join the Joyful Union Sect, but Meng Yutong rejected her and called her sect obscene.
• Meng Yutong recalled that Mu Li had once tricked her into taking Joyful Powder, which had ended their friendship, and challenged Mu Li when she threatened to suppress her.

Meng Yutong fought with Mu Li, the Sect Leader of the Joyful Union Sect, and rejected her offer to join the sect. After Mu Li left, Yun Yao asked about her visit and learned that Mu Li had also invited the disciples to join her sect.

• Meng Yutong attacked Mu Li, and their clash revealed that Meng Yutong's cultivation was nearing late-stage Return to Void.
• Mu Li admitted she could not defeat Meng Yutong, explained she had come to check on her, and invited her to join the Joyful Union Sect.
• Mu Li teased Meng Yutong about her Supreme Yin Dao Body and suggested dual cultivation, provoking Meng Yutong to chase her away with her sword.
• After Mu Li left, Meng Yutong wondered about the positions Mu Li had mentioned before rebuking herself for the thought.
• Yun Yao arrived to ask about the commotion, and Meng Yutong told her that Mu Li had invited both her and the other disciples to join the Joyful Union Sect.
• Yun Yao recoiled at the invitation, associating the Joyful Union Sect with a Flower Pavilion and saying she did not want to go.

Yun Yao worried about her relationship with Lin Heng and the Joyful Union Sect, while Meng Yutong received reports about an anomalous Heavenly Tribulation and Ye Tian’s secret meeting. In the Western Wasteland, Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun followed a zither melody to a canyon, where the music suddenly stopped.

• Meng Yutong reassured Yun Yao that she would not abandon her and explained the Joyful Union Sect’s history and practices.
• Yun Yao left without revealing her concerns about Mu Liuxi’s plans and her own situation with Lin Heng.
• A Shadow Scout reported a terrifying anomalous Heavenly Tribulation in the Western Wasteland, and Meng Yutong worried that Lin Heng was in danger there.
• The Shadow Scout told Meng Yutong that Ye Tian had secretly met someone in Hidden Sword Manor, and Meng Yutong ordered her to investigate him closely.
• Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun followed an ancient-sounding zither melody to a canyon near the Northern Wasteland, but the music stopped as they approached.

Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun met Chen Bingyi and his mute wife in a canyon as they searched for Medicine King Valley, and Lin Heng offered to help them enter. Duan Shuyun recognized Chen Bingyi as the poet Chen Changqin, leaving Lin Heng confused by their conversation.

• Duan Shuyun and Lin Heng spotted Chen Bingyi and his wife in a canyon near the Western Wasteland.
• Chen Bingyi explained that he and his wife had failed to enter Medicine King Valley while seeking a cure for her illness.
• Lin Heng offered to bring Chen Bingyi and his wife into Medicine King Valley if Chen Bingyi guided them there.
• Chen Bingyi agreed to lead them after his wife reluctantly allowed him to try once more.
• Duan Shuyun recognized Chen Bingyi as the author of Long Zither Lyric, Chen Changqin, and Lin Heng was baffled by their discussion.

Lin Heng, Duan Shuyun, and Chen Bingyi reached Medicine King Valley’s hidden entrance, where two medicine attendants insulted Chen Bingyi and his wife. Lin Heng beat the attendants with a whip, leaving them calling for help from their martial uncle.

• Duan Shuyun praised Chen Bingyi’s lyrics as the group crossed the gorge, and Chen Bingyi told them how he and his wife had met at Great Trust Mountain.
• Lin Heng wondered whether Chen Bingyi might be a powerful cultivator because he could understand his wife’s gestures despite being blind.
• Chen Bingyi guided the group to the concealed formation eye and revealed the entrance to Medicine King Valley’s secret realm.
• Two medicine attendants insulted Chen Bingyi and his wife, then demanded that he smash his zither and apologize before they would let him enter.
• Lin Heng stepped in and whipped both attendants, who cried out for their martial uncle to save them.

Lin Heng confronted Medicine King Valley’s elders after its gate attendants insulted his companions, while the valley’s middle-aged elder denied that divine medicine existed. Lin Heng challenged the elder’s claims and blocked his attack, leaving the dispute on the verge of a fight.

• Lin Heng whipped Medicine King Valley’s arrogant gate attendants, and they summoned their granduncle for help.
• The middle-aged elder arrived, freed the attendants, and threatened Lin Heng and his companions for trying to enter Medicine King Valley.
• The elder recognized Chen Bingyi as Young Master Changqin and told him that divine medicine was only a hope left by the Medical Ancestor, leaving Chen Bingyi shaken.
• Lin Heng accused Medicine King Valley’s successors of failing the Medical Ancestor and argued that their weakness had driven him to hide his Legacy from them.
• The elder attacked Lin Heng with a forceful slap, but Lin Heng blocked it with a film of water formed from his True Yuan.

Lin Heng confronted a Late Golden Core cultivator at Medicine King Valley’s entrance, using Imperial Dragon Qi to match the man’s overwhelming pressure. After the valley master recognized the dragon qi and Lin Heng presented White Tiger Essence Jade, he let Lin Heng’s group enter to seek the inheritance.

• The middle-aged man threatened to kill Lin Heng, but Lin Heng used Imperial Dragon Qi and his fused Five Images power to withstand the man’s Dao Eye pressure.
• Duan Shuyun shielded Chen Bingyi and the others while recognizing how much Lin Heng’s dragon qi had strengthened.
• The middle-aged man suspected Lin Heng belonged to the imperial clan and questioned whether the Dynasty had broken its agreement over Medicine King Valley’s inheritance.
• Valley master Xiao Xinhe emerged, apologized for the offense, and confirmed that imperial-clan visitors faced no White Tiger Essence Jade restriction.
• Lin Heng presented two pieces of White Tiger Essence Jade and said he was helping someone else obtain the inheritance, and Xiao Xinhe allowed the group to enter.

Lin Heng and the others entered Medicine King Valley, where Valley Master Xiao Xinhe welcomed them and examined Chen Bingyi’s wife. Xiao could not cure her Yin Balefulness, but he allowed them to search the Archive Pavilion for a possible treatment.

• Xiao Xinhe led Lin Heng, Duan Shuyun, Chen Bingyi, and his wife through the gate and into Medicine King Valley.
• Duan Shuyun teased Lin Heng about being a prince, and Lin Heng privately thought they would have many chances to grow closer.
• Xiao Xinhe returned with tea, and Chen Bingyi asked whether his wife’s illness could be treated.
• Xiao Xinhe explained that Yin Balefulness had damaged her Life Bone and lifespan, leaving him unable to cure her.
• Xiao Xinhe granted them access to the Archive Pavilion, where they could search for a treatment among the records of known illnesses.

Lin Heng learned that Medicine King Valley would wait for the Tang Family before leading the clans to the Medical Ancestor’s inheritance ground. Afterward, Xiao Xinhe revealed the hidden truth about the Medical Ancestor’s death and Hedong, while Xiao Xuan threatened that Medicine King Valley might kill rivals who tried to take the inheritance.

• Lin Heng identified the Zhao Family as the clan he represented, and Xiao Xinhe said the inheritance ground would open after the Tang Family arrived within three days.
• After Lin Heng and the others left, Cao Bianzhi questioned Xiao Xinhe and Xiao Xuan about the Dynasty’s involvement and Medicine King Valley’s plans for the inheritance.
• Xiao Xinhe revealed that the Dynasty had falsified the Medical Ancestor’s death date and that the Medical Ancestor had survived in Hedong for a century before returning to leave his inheritance and die.
• Cao Bianzhi asked why the Western Wasteland had become the Sea of Death, but Xiao Xinhe refused to explain.
• Xiao Xuan warned that Medicine King Valley would not let another clan take the inheritance, and Cao Bianzhi challenged him to prove he had the nerve to act.

Lin Heng stayed at Medicine King Valley with Duan Shuyun and entered the Illusory World Mirror, where Saint Ye discovered that Lin Heng had formed an unprecedented Thunder Evolution Golden Core. Saint Ye explained the significance of Thunder Evolution but could not explain how it had appeared in Lin Heng’s Golden Core.

• Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun settled into a room at Medicine King Valley, where Duan Shuyun explained the historical use of licorice dew to reduce dampness.
• Duan Shuyun wondered whether Su Lian’er could be cured and said she planned to search for the Soul-Calming Pill.
• Lin Heng lay down to enter the Illusory World Mirror and found Saint Ye fishing at the pavilion.
• Saint Ye sensed Lin Heng’s breakthrough and identified thunder coiling around his Golden Core as Thunder Evolution.
• Saint Ye explained that Thunder Evolution usually accompanied a Spirit Transformation cultivator’s sea of consciousness, then said he had never heard of it occurring in a Golden Core.

Saint Ye taught Lin Heng the taboo time divine ability, while Medicine King Valley plotted to poison him through Duan Shuyun. The chapter left Lin Heng still unconscious as Xiao Xuan’s scheme advanced.

• Saint Ye passed Lin Heng the Time Sword inheritance and explained that Time Splendor came from his regret over the past.
• Saint Ye taught Lin Heng the time divine ability, which could manipulate time at the cost of lifespan.
• Lin Heng lay unconscious for three days as he comprehended the divine ability, while Chen Bingyi and Su Lian'er searched for a way to save him.
• Duan Shuyun collected a Soul-Calming Pill from Medicine King Valley and noticed the medicine room attendant acting nervously.
• The attendant told Xiao Xuan he had delivered the pill with poison hidden inside, and Xiao Xuan explained that he planned to poison Lin Heng through Duan Shuyun.

Lin Heng cultivated while Chen Bingyi rejected Medicine King Valley’s attempts to draw him into the search for the Medical Ancestor’s Legacy. When the clans gathered to depart for the legacy land, Lin Heng punished those who insulted the Zhao Family, and Xiao Xinhe laid out the entry rules.

• Lin Heng found Miss Cloud Fairy in seclusion and continued cultivating on the roof.
• Xiao Xuan told Chen Bingyi to wait while Medicine King Valley pursued the Medical Ancestor’s Legacy, but Chen said he would protect Lin Heng and his other friends.
• Xiao Xinhe summoned the visiting clans and Lin Heng’s group to prepare for the journey to the legacy land.
• Lin Heng struck three clan representatives who insulted the Zhao Family, and Xiao Xinhe excused the fainted Tang Family Head from the expedition.
• Xiao Xinhe announced that two Secret Keys were needed to enter the legacy land and limited each family to two people.

Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun entered the Medical Ancestor’s secret realm, fought a formation of stone puppets, and found a coffin. An eerie voice confronted Lin Heng as Duan Shuyun became increasingly affected by an unexplained heat and fixated on his scent.

• Xiao Xinhe opened the secret realm gate, and Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun followed the others inside.
• Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun chose a passage, and Duan Shuyun suspected that the secret realm resembled a tomb chamber.
• Duan Shuyun recognized a Five Forms Dragon Gate Formation, and she and Lin Heng disabled two stone statues to break it.
• Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun found a coffin, and Duan Shuyun urged him to open it despite feeling increasingly unwell.
• An eerie voice warned Lin Heng against lifting the coffin lid, while Duan Shuyun became distracted by how good he smelled.

Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun encountered the Blue-Scale Snake, which revealed that the formation had imprisoned it rather than tested them for the Medical Ancestor's Legacy. Duan Shuyun knocked the snake unconscious, but she developed a sudden fever, leaving Lin Heng to question it about the legacy while she rested.

• Lin Heng spotted the Blue-Scale Snake and learned it had been trapped by the Medical Ancestor, not appointed as a guardian of the legacy.
• The Blue-Scale Snake demanded Lin Heng's Heavenly Flame and Nine Heavens Sword, then threatened to make him and Duan Shuyun its blood slaves.
• Lin Heng offered to make the snake his spirit pet, and the Blue-Scale Snake angrily refused.
• Duan Shuyun slapped the Blue-Scale Snake into the rubble and then felt weak and feverish after using her True Yuan.
• Lin Heng helped Duan Shuyun sit and rest, then pulled the unconscious snake from the rubble to question it about the legacy.

Lin Heng forced the Blue-Scale Snake to become his spirit pet, then opened the coffin and found the Medical Ancestor’s cryptic admonition. The clues pointed toward the Black Wasteland and the starry sky, while Lin Heng suspected the true legacy lay elsewhere.

• Lin Heng threatened to stew the Blue-Scale Snake until it agreed to swear a spirit master contract and serve him.
• Lin Heng named the snake Xiao Lan and asked about the coffin and the Medical Ancestor’s Legacy.
• Xiao Lan explained that it had been raised on nether iron in the cave and remembered five coffins across the stacked secret realms.
• Lin Heng opened the coffin and found a message from the Medical Ancestor, who wrote that the Black Wasteland was the road and the starry sky the guide.
• Lin Heng connected the message to the Starry Sky Ancient Road and the Black Wasteland, then concluded that the true legacy might not be in the coffin.

Lin Heng inferred that the Medical Ancestor’s clue pointed back to Medicine King Valley, but Duan Shuyun became feverish and clung to him after they left the secret realm. He suspected Medicine King Valley had poisoned her and waited outside with her while the other explorers returned.

• Lin Heng concluded that the Medical Ancestor’s inheritance clue led back to Medicine King Valley, then found Duan Shuyun burning with fever and unconscious.
• Duan Shuyun wrapped herself around Lin Heng, and he suspected she had been drugged before carrying her out of the secret realm with the Blue-Scale Snake.
• Other family heads gathered outside and discussed their failed attempts to cross the secret realms’ formations and demon beasts.
• Medicine King Valley’s people stopped Lin Heng from leaving and insisted he wait until everyone had emerged.
• Lin Heng sat with Duan Shuyun as she clung to him, and the onlookers mistook their intimacy for public flirting.

Lin Heng exposed Medicine King Valley’s plot to drug Duan Shuyun and refused to surrender the Blue-Scale Snake. Xiao Xuan threatened him with a deadly poison, and the two sides prepared to fight.

• Xiao Xinhe and Xiao Xuan emerged from the secret realm with a subdued white crane and said they had found only another sheet of yellow paper.
• Xiao Xinhe demanded the Blue-Scale Snake, but Lin Heng refused, saying it had become his spirit pet.
• Lin Heng accused the Medicine King Valley men of drugging Duan Shuyun and mistreating Chen Bingyi and his wife; Xiao Xuan admitted poisoning her.
• Xiao Xuan explained that saving Duan Shuyun would infect Lin Heng with a deadly poison and demanded the spirit beast in exchange for an antidote.
• Xiao Xinhe ordered Xiao Xuan to kill Lin Heng, and Lin Heng drew the Nine Heavens Sword as Xiao Xuan moved to attack.

Lin Heng fought Xiao Xuan, whose Dao Eye let him wield the Great Dao and gain the upper hand through his Dao Body. As Xiao Xuan closed a deadly net of Dao might around him, Lin Heng prepared to use a powerful move.

• Several Clan Heads retreated from the battlefield while Xiao Xinhe led Xiao Xuan’s white crane away from the fight.
• Lin Heng infused his Nine Heavens Sword with the Fire Element Body’s power and clashed with Xiao Xuan’s Dao Eye, breaking his sword attack with a single gaze.
• Xiao Xuan unleashed stronger ocular power, but Lin Heng formed a fortress of sword light and forced him to retreat.
• Xiao Xuan grew serious and revealed his Dao Body, using its overwhelming Dao might to trap Lin Heng.
• As the Dao might pressed down and the Jade Origin Vine panicked, Lin Heng decided he had to use his strongest move.

Lin Heng used the Timeflow divine ability to defeat Xiao Xuan and force Xiao Xinhe to provide an antidote while he rescued Duan Shuyun. After bringing her back to Medicine King Valley, he treated her and coaxed her into writing that she would become his wife, though she remained dazed.

• Lin Heng spent a hundred years of lifespan to borrow time from the future, then subdued Xiao Xuan and threatened Xiao Xinhe with a poison pill.
• Lin Heng warned Xiao Xinhe that Xiao Xuan would die without an antidote within half a day, then carried Duan Shuyun back to Medicine King Valley and received the antidote.
• Lin Heng secluded himself with Duan Shuyun and began treating her while suffering from the loss of lifespan.
• Duan Shuyun murmured that she would be Lin Heng's wife, and he coaxed her into writing the promise on his body and stamping it.

Lin Heng dealt with the effects of borrowing time while the Elders of Medicine King Valley debated their growing conflict with the imperial clan. After waking from a night of detoxification beside Lin Heng, Duan Shuyun realized how compromising their situation looked and struggled to remember what had happened.

• Lin Heng noticed that using Timeflow had caused blackish-red bleeding and left his cultivation unstable, then dismissed his worries about its future costs.
• Xiao Xinhe and two Elders examined the unconscious Xiao Xuan and discussed the danger of antagonizing the Female Emperor and the possibility of Yi Pavilion conspiring with Demon Valley.
• Xiao Xinhe declared that Lin Heng and Duan Shuyun could not be allowed to leave, and promised to deal with them personally.
• After a day and night of detoxification, Lin Heng fell asleep from exhaustion while Duan Shuyun gradually regained consciousness.
• Duan Shuyun found Lin Heng asleep with his hands around her waist and began recalling that she had kissed him after entering the inheritance grounds.