Chapter Summaries

Lin Yi proposed attacking the Dragon Clan after the group entered the Central Domain, and Dugu Feng chose the northern route for its concentrated treasure vaults. Lin Yi then learned Lin Heng and the Dragon Clan girl had split the Old Lin Family’s betrothal money, and he angrily demanded a refund.

• Lin Heng welcomed the group to the Central Domain and asked Lin Yi to explain the journey’s arrangements.
• Lin Yi proposed targeting either the Qi Clan or the Long Clan after striking the three Immortal Sects blocking the way.
• Dugu Feng chose to attack north toward the Long Clan, whose treasures were concentrated in its mountain stronghold.
• Lin Yi warned that the Immortal Sects would investigate the border town and urged the group to prepare.
• Lin Yi confronted Lin Heng about attacking the Dragon Clan, and Lin Heng revealed that he and the Dragon Clan girl had split the Old Lin Family’s betrothal gifts.
• Lin Yi flew into a rage and demanded that Lin Heng return the money.

Lin Heng learned from Shen Yeting that Mu Li might have ancestral ties to the Heavenly Action Continent, then asked Duan Shuyun how to explain his father’s concealed identity and connection to the Old Lin Family. Duan Shuyun proposed an explanation for his father’s disappearance but could not solve the deception, and she asked Lin Heng to stay the night while she thought of another plan.

• Shen Yeting stopped Lin Yi from confronting Lin Heng, then took Lin Heng aside and laughed when he admitted he had swindled the Old Lin Family at the Immortal Sea Summit.
• Shen Yeting told Lin Heng that her investigation into Mu Quran, who had cheated Dugu Feng, connected him to Mu Li and a clan originally from the Heavenly Action Continent.
• Lin Heng wondered how Mu Li could have roots in the Heavenly Action Continent when she and his Master had grown up in neighboring villages in Tianxuan, and Shen Yeting warned him to stay alert around her.
• Lin Heng visited Duan Shuyun and asked her how to explain his father’s ties to the Old Lin Family and his hidden background.
• Duan Shuyun suggested telling Lin Heng’s parents that the Old Lin Family was connected to him and that Lin Ziqing had taken his injured father to the Heavenly Action Continent, but Lin Heng pointed out that this did not explain the deception.
• Duan Shuyun could not think of a better plan and urged Lin Heng to stay the night while she considered it.

As the immortal sects investigated the Demon Beasts’ attack on Watchtower Town, True Person Xu and his companions entered the city with the help of Zhang De, who claimed to be a loyal Demon Office guard. Zhang De lured them into the Demon Office residence, where an ambush began.

• The three great immortal sects learned that the Demon Race had invaded Watchtower Town and sent representatives to investigate.
• True Person Xu and three other sect elders arrived at First Town and found its streets eerily quiet.
• Zhang De pretended to be the deputy director, then admitted the director had been killed and most of the Demon Office had fled.
• True Person Xu named Zhang De the true deputy director and agreed to hear what he knew about the Demon Beasts.
• Zhang De led the four elders into the Demon Office residence, used an Escape Talisman to flee, and shouted for the ambush to begin.
• Terrifying pressures surged toward the elders, and True Person Wang realized they were under attack.

Dugu Feng and the Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office captured four Immortal Sect elders in Watchtower Town, with Zhang De helping lure them into a trap. Zhang De then offered information about a hidden route to the north, and Wang Lei brought him to Lin Sizhu’s dao companions to share it.

• Dugu Feng identified his group as officials of the Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office and ordered the four Immortal Sect elders bound.
• Shen Yeting stopped Wang Zhenyuan from resisting, and the group restrained all four elders with Immortal Binding Rope.
• Wang Lei praised Zhang De for impersonating a deputy officer, and Zhang De explained he had acted to protect his family and seek freedom from the Immortal Sect.
• Wang Lei offered Zhang De a place working for Lin Sizhu, and Zhang De revealed he knew of a passage or teleportation array leading to Loquat Slope.
• Wang Lei took Zhang De to Zhao Wanqing and Jiang Caiyan, who were planting cabbages with the Fire Qilin nearby, so he could tell them what he knew.

Lin Heng persuaded four Immortal Sect elders to reconsider the Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office by arguing that the continents shared a people and needed order and faith instead of endless conflict. The elders accepted him as a Daoist and left, while Duan Shuyun learned they had not been prisoners.

• Lin Heng tried to recruit True Person Xu, Wang Zhenyuan, True Person Yang, and True Person Wang as guides, but they refused to betray their clans and condemned him.
• Lin Heng challenged the elders’ belief that he and the Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office were enemies, pointing out that they had not slaughtered cities or harmed civilians.
• Lin Heng argued that the two continents shared a people and that the Heavenly Action Continent needed order and a common faith to protect the weak from the powerful.
• True Person Xu and the other elders accepted Lin Heng’s argument, were freed from the Immortal Binding Rope, and addressed him as Daoist before leaving.
• Duan Shuyun emerged from behind the hall and asked where the prisoners had gone, and Lin Heng told her they were Daoists.

Lin Heng learned of a hidden passage beneath a marsh that might let the Imperial Office reach the Long Clan without crossing the Immortal Sects’ territory, and sent Martial Man, Smoke Ghost, and Zhang De to investigate it. As Qin Hongyi pressed him to act before the Nine Dust Alliance was wiped out at Immortal Sea Summit, Lin Heng bet that he could protect both fronts and demanded freedom to pursue Dugu Yueli if he succeeded.

• Jiang Caiyan told Lin Heng that Zhang De had discovered a hidden world beneath a marsh, with a teleportation array leading to Loquat Slope near Dragon Cliff Mountain.
• Lin Heng sent Martial Man and Smoke Ghost with Zhang De to verify the marsh and teleportation array, warning them to avoid a direct clash with the Immortal Sect.
• After three days of waiting, Qin Hongyi confronted Lin Heng about the Nine Dust Alliance being surrounded at Immortal Sea Summit and urged him to attack the Immortal Sects.
• Lin Heng argued that provoking the Immortal Clan could draw its forces away from Immortal Sea Summit, then bet Qin Hongyi he could find a way to protect both fronts.
• Lin Heng and Qin Hongyi agreed that if Lin Heng won, Qin Hongyi would not stop Dugu Yueli from visiting him or interfere with his pursuit of her.

Lin Heng confronted Qin Hongyi over his intentions toward Dugu Yueli, while Yueli admitted she had long understood his designs and received another suitor’s gifts. Three immortal sects then agreed to let Lin Heng’s forces pass without joining his plan, and Lin Heng warned them that he would conquer the immortal clans with or without their support.

• Qin Hongyi left the Demon Office after Lin Heng openly said he wanted to pursue Dugu Yueli, and Leng Qingqiu and Little Dummy scolded Lin Heng for it.
• Qin Hongyi told Dugu Yueli about Lin Heng’s intentions, and Yueli admitted she had long known he was interested in her but believed the ancestor would keep him in check.
• Qin Hongyi discovered that Lin Xiaobai had sent Yueli jade agate and a hairpin to invite her to a meal, then took the gifts away and warned her to avoid the Lin family juniors.
• Yueli struck Lin Heng’s portrait in frustration over his words to Qin Hongyi.
• True Person Xu told Lin Heng that the Ninefold Immortal Sect would not accept his faith plan but would open a path for his office, and representatives of the Cloud-Treading Immortal Sect and Brahma Immortal Sect gave similar responses.
• Lin Heng accused the three sects of letting his forces weaken the immortal clans for their own benefit, warned that he would conquer the clans regardless, and dismissed the representatives.

Lin Heng learned that Zhang De had found an ancient teleportation array beneath the swamp and prepared to lead the Imperial Office toward the Central Domain’s heartland. As the group entered the swamp at night, Lin Xiaobai and another child began plotting to make trouble for Lin Heng.

• True Person Xu and the Immortal Sect leaders left after Lin Heng warned them not to interfere or leak information.
• Martial Man and the others returned with news of a teleportation array beneath the swamp, which Zhang De had discovered years earlier.
• Lin Heng promoted Zhang De to serve as Wang Lei’s assistant and rewarded him with three thousand Spirit Stones.
• Lin Heng told Martial Man that they could ask the Changlin Clan about Lin Ziqing and his father.
• Lin Heng led the Imperial Office into the swamp toward the teleportation array, with Xiao Huo lighting the way.
• Lin Yi suggested that Lin Xiaobai and his companion ask Lin Heng to find them Dao companions, and Third Great-Uncle planned to use the idea to stir up trouble.

Lin Heng led the group through a hidden teleportation formation to Loquat Slope, beyond the three great Immortal Sects’ territory. After teasing Qin Hongyi about their wager and Little Yueli, Lin Heng was dragged away by Dugu Feng, while Dugu Yueli went to find him herself.

• Lin Yi guessed that Lin Ziqing had excavated the passage while searching for Heaven and Earth Stones, and Lin Heng organized the group into thirty-person teams to use the teleportation formation.
• Lin Heng and the first group activated the formation and arrived at Loquat Slope, where they confirmed they had crossed beyond the three great Immortal Sects’ sphere of influence.
• Qin Hongyi and the next group arrived, and Lin Heng taunted him about losing their wager and insisted that Little Yueli come with him.
• Dugu Feng dragged Lin Heng away as Qin Hongyi threatened to complain to the family’s old ancestor.
• Dugu Yueli told Qin Hongyi he had caused the trouble by betting with Lin Heng, then vanished to find Brother Heng.

The Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office launched a surprise assault on Dragon Cliff Mountain while its strongest elders were away. The clan’s defenses collapsed almost instantly, and Lin Heng stopped Lin Xiaobai and Lin Yang from rushing toward girls bathing in the sacred pool.

• Dugu Yueli joined Lin Heng, then helped the Senior Sisters tease him about being a pervert.
• The Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office set out for Dragon Cliff Mountain and arrived two days later, catching the Dragon Clan unaware.
• Long Lingyu raged over her humiliation, while Long Shishi bragged to the clan’s girls about her exploits.
• The attackers shattered the clan-protecting Grand Formation, and the Grand Elder was impaled on the Heavenly Pillar Stele.
• Dugu Feng ordered the Dragon Clan to kneel as the invading force overwhelmed them with more than a hundred Return to Void experts.
• Lin Xiaobai and Lin Yang charged toward the girls in the sacred pool, but Lin Heng blocked them with a wall of five-element power.

Lin Heng forced the Long Clan to surrender its Treasure Vault and followed Long Cheng to the sealed entrance beneath Dragon Cliff Mountain. He tried to bypass the restriction through the System Space, where Meng Yutong appeared and offered to help.

• Lin Heng ordered Long Shishi and her companions to kneel with the Long Clan, then revealed his identity to Long Cheng.
• Lin Heng demanded that Long Cheng lead them to the Treasure Vault and threatened to kill ten clansmen for each additional half-minute of delay.
• Long Cheng led the group underground to a sealed sphere of electric arcs and warned that attacking it would collapse Dragon Cliff Mountain.
• Lin Heng entered the System Space and probed around the restriction, attempting to find a way through it.
• Meng Yutong appeared in the System Space, heard Lin Heng's explanation, and insisted on helping him investigate the Treasure Vault.

Lin Heng and Meng Yutong entered the Dragon Clan’s Treasure Vault, where Meng Yutong eagerly collected Spirit Stones while Lin Heng investigated a powerful dragon skeleton. Outside, Long Cheng warned the waiting factions to leave, and Lin Yi threatened to enslave the Dragon Clan if the spoils proved insufficient.

• Meng Yutong broke the restrictions guarding the Treasure Vault and led Lin Heng inside.
• Meng Yutong rushed to gather Spirit Stones while Lin Heng examined the dragon bone armor, which made the Supreme Sword tremble in fear.
• Lin Heng gave Meng Yutong a Storage Pouch and planned to pack the remaining treasures into System Space for later distribution.
• As the crowd waited outside, Long Cheng boasted that Dragon Cliff Mountain’s hidden vault was secure and suggested they raid the Peng Clan instead.
• Lin Yi threatened that the Dragon Clan’s women would become cultivation Cauldrons and its men would be sent to the mines if the spoils were inadequate.
• Long Cheng cursed Lin Yi and warned that the Dragon Clan ancestor would destroy Changlin Immortal Mountain if they harmed his people.

After failing to breach the Dragon Clan’s Treasure Vault, Lin Heng’s group took Long Cheng as their guide to raid the Peng Clan. During the journey, Lin Heng sneaked toward Mu Li’s room and was caught in her trap.

• Lin Heng returned from attempting to break through the Treasure Vault’s spatial restrictions, and the group decided to take the Dragon Clan’s juniors hostage instead.
• Long Cheng offered to lead the group to the Peng Clan’s scattered Treasure Vaults and use his clan’s juniors as collateral, hoping to divert the attackers and later profit from a clash.
• Lin Heng left Sun Hao and two Eastern Continent clan heads to guard Dragon Cliff Mountain, then led the main force south with Long Cheng as their guide.
• Long Cheng secretly hoped the Peng Clan’s hidden Supreme would destroy the Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office’s force, leaving the Dragon Clan to claim the spoils.
• Lin Heng sneaked onto Mu Li’s Cloud Boat and peered through her door, but Mu Li kicked him down and revealed she had drugged him with Soft-Bone Fragrant Beauty Powder.

Mu Li subdued Lin Heng and tried to entice him into a bath, revealing that she wanted his Immortal Body’s source to aid her cultivation. As Mu Li prepared and studied a technique book, Lin Heng questioned her about why she concealed her physique, and she warned that extraordinary bloodlines could attract possession.

• Mu Li sent away the disciples who came to check on the noise and sealed the cabin against sound.
• Mu Li proposed bathing with Lin Heng and admitted she wanted to take his Immortal Body’s source, while Lin Heng pretended to agree and began dissolving the medicinal power in his body.
• Mu Li stripped Lin Heng and put him in the bath barrel, then returned with a book on yang arts and read it while preparing to act.
• Lin Heng questioned Mu Li about her false claims of having a Dao companion and whether she was hiding an opportunity or a special physique.
• Mu Li explained that she concealed her physique because extraordinary bloodlines could make someone a target for possession, while Lin Heng was protected by the Dugu Clan.

Lin Heng used the Humanity Domain to overpower Mu Li after she teased him, and the two spent time together in the cabin while Meng Yutong remained unaware. He pressed Mu Li for answers about her body, and she finally revealed that she was a cauldron body.

• Mu Li teased Lin Heng about Meng Yutong's Supreme Yin Dao Body and moved to seduce him.
• Golden light appeared around Lin Heng, his hair turned white, and he stopped Mu Li's True Yuan from circulating with the Humanity Domain.
• Lin Heng pulled Mu Li into his embrace and overpowered her, while Meng Yutong continued counting treasures with Yun Yao in the Small World.
• After a shichen, Lin Heng told Mu Li that he would keep her in the room for three days unless her answers satisfied him.
• Mu Li refused to explain the secret of her body at first, then told Lin Heng that she was a cauldron body.

Mu Li explained that her special constitution let her seize the origins of cultivators weaker than her, but made her lose cultivation and lifespan when dual cultivating with someone stronger. Lin Heng revealed that his Human Path State left him with no cultivation to drain, turning Mu Li’s attempt to overpower him into a failure.

• Mu Li explained the two sides of her constitution and the lifespan cost of recovering cultivation seized by a stronger partner.
• Lin Heng teased Mu Li about becoming his cauldron, and she threatened to drain his origin despite his resistance.
• Mu Li activated the power of her body and used her secret art, but found no origin to seize.
• Lin Heng explained that his Human Path State suppressed his Immortal Body and left him without a cultivation realm.
• Mu Li realized she could not overpower Lin Heng and tried to placate him by offering to continue their questions and answers.

Lin Heng questioned Mu Li about why she had pursued him, their relationship, and her background while she remained under his secret technique. Mu Li revealed that the women of the Mu Clan shared a distinctive constitution, leaving Lin Heng to infer why she had founded the Joyful Union Sect and invented a Dao companion.

• Lin Heng asked Mu Li whether she had pursued him because of his constitution or because she liked him, and she admitted that both curiosity and material benefits had drawn her to him.
• Lin Heng offered to make Mu Li his Dao companion if she kept her identity hidden, while Mu Li insisted she could suppress Meng Yutong and manage the Inner Court herself.
• Lin Heng questioned Mu Li about her purpose for coming to Heavenly Action Continent, her disciples, and her past dealings with Duan Shuyun, and she answered his questions.
• Lin Heng told Mu Li that his uncle had traced a swindler with the surname Mu to her clan genealogy, but Mu Li initially denied that she was from Heavenly Action Continent.
• Mu Li said the women of the Mu Clan shared roughly the same constitution and urged Lin Heng to connect it to why she had founded the Joyful Union Sect and fabricated a Dao companion.

Mu Li told Lin Heng about the Mu Clan’s cauldron physique and the dangers its members faced, but Lin Heng refused to let her go after questioning her. Three days later, he emerged from the cabin exhausted and claimed he had been inventorying the Dragon Clan’s Treasure Vault.

• Mu Li explained that the Mu Clan had scattered to evade exploitation, while women who remained on the Heavenly Action Continent were forced into marriage alliances as cauldrons.
• Lin Heng argued that his Human Path Body made him a suitable match for Mu Li, and Mu Li cursed men for potentially betraying their Dao companions.
• After Mu Li answered his questions, Lin Heng pressed her back onto the bed and said she would have to rest until they reached Peng's Immortal Land.
• Three days later, Lin Heng came out of the cabin looking weak, and Duan Shuyun suspected he had visited their Master in the Small World.
• Lin Heng denied the suspicion and said he was exhausted from inventorying the Dragon Clan’s Treasure Vault.

Lin Heng led the Civil-Military Dao toward Peng's Immortal Land to seize its treasures, while organizing a coordinated assault on the Peng Clan. The group entered a cave believed to hide the treasure, and Mu Li finally left her cabin dressed to conceal the marks left by Lin Heng.

• Lin Heng told Duan Shuyun about the Dragon Clan Treasure Vault and asked her and the others to decide how its opportunities would be distributed.
• Lin Heng gathered the Civil-Military Dao leaders, questioned Long Cheng about the detour, and ordered them to prioritize taking treasure while targeting the Peng Clan.
• The Cloud Boats reached Peng's Immortal Land, and Lin Heng's forces split up to surround the Peng Clan's territory, clear scouts, and follow Long Cheng toward the treasure.
• Long Cheng led Lin Heng and his group into a cave he identified as the real treasure site, while revealing that the Long Clan had once considered framing the Old Lin Family.
• Mu Li stopped refining and came out of her cabin in a long dress and hood to hide the marks left by Lin Heng.

Lin Heng discovered how to enter Peng Clan’s Treasure Vault and withdrew its Barrier, but suspected that the easy entry concealed a trap. Lin Yi and the two children volunteered to lead the way in exchange for half the spoils, and Lin Heng let them proceed.

• Dugu Feng dug a Dog Hole through part of the Barrier, but hit another Barrier and returned empty-handed.
• Lin Heng realized the Barrier was inverted, entered the Small World, and found and destroyed part of an Essence-Seizing Qi-Plundering Formation.
• Peng Su warned a clan elder that someone had entered the Treasure Vault, and the elder assumed the intruders were from the Changlin Clan and ordered their corpses displayed at Wood Pass.
• Lin Heng found the Vault’s internal mechanism and withdrew the Barrier, letting the group enter its outer area.
• Lin Heng warned the others that the easy entry might conceal traps, but agreed to Lin Yi’s demand for half the opportunities if he led the way in.