Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen visited Hu Yunhua to acknowledge his support for Azure Ripple Island, and the two became sworn brothers. Back at Azure Ripple Hall, Lin Chen learned that the Cai Family had brought betrothal gifts for Murong Xin without first consulting her family, and his reaction left the confrontation ahead unresolved.

• Hu Yunhua welcomed Lin Chen, who revealed his true appearance and thanked him for helping Azure Ripple Island and Great Liang.
• Lin Chen and Hu Yunhua agreed to address each other as brothers, and Hu Yunhua later scolded his sons for speaking carelessly about Heavenly Talent disciples.
• Lin Chen returned to Azure Ripple Hall and found the Cai Family's betrothal gifts displayed outside.
• A doorman explained that the Cai Family sought to marry Murong Xin, the former Yan Kingdom's Fifth Princess, after their young master met her in the city.
• Lin Chen objected to the Cai Family bringing gifts to the hall without consulting Murong Xin's parents, then sensed what was happening inside and smiled coldly.

The Cai Family pressed the Azure Ripple Guild to arrange Cai Duan’s marriage to Murong Xin, who rejected him because she loved someone else. Lin Chen rescued Murong Xin when Cai Duan tried to force himself on her, then learned that Murong Yan had gone to the Yan Imperial Dynasty and might be searching for him.

• Cai Zexian insisted that the Azure Ripple Guild help arrange Cai Duan’s marriage to Murong Xin, while Chu Zining tried to avoid offending the Cai Family.
• Murong Xin told Su Ying that she wanted to choose someone she loved, and Su Ying realized she had fallen for Lin Chen.
• Su Ying arranged for Cai Duan to speak with Murong Xin privately, but he refused her rejection and threatened to force himself on her.
• Lin Chen struck Cai Duan into the courtyard wall and ordered Su Ying to take him to Chu Zining and tell the Cai Family to speak with him if they objected.
• Murong Xin told Lin Chen that Murong Yan had left for the Yan Imperial Dynasty and might have gone to the Azure Ripple Domain to find him.

Lin Chen protected Murong Xin from Cai Duan, forced the Cai Family to answer for his actions, and left compensation negotiations to Chu Zining. Twenty days later, Lin Chen returned to Azure Ripple Island to a grand welcome and learned that Fang Zhan was away.

• Su Ying brought the unconscious Cai Duan to the Azure Ripple Guildhall, and Cai Zexian stopped attacking her when Chu Zining intervened.
• Lin Chen appeared with the Azure Ripple Finger and made Cai Zexian promise the Cai Family would answer for Cai Duan’s actions against Murong Xin and the guildhall.
• Lin Chen told Chu Zining to send the Cai Family’s compensation to Yan Kingdom and declined to summon martial artists studying in other sects.
• The next day, Cai Zexian and Cai Zerui came to the guildhall, but Lin Chen left Chu Zining to handle them.
• Twenty days later, Lin Chen returned to Azure Ripple Island with Yin Yue and received a welcome from Great Liang’s martial artists and Duke Fang.
• Duke Fang told Lin Chen that Fang Zhan was away, and Lin Chen promised to scold his junior brother when they met.

Lin Chen returned to Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy, honored its teachers, invigorated Azure Ripple Lake, and encouraged its disciples before going back to Lakeside Village. When he asked his future mother-in-law to leave for the Yan Imperial Dynasty with his family, Zhuang Min revealed that Azure Ripple Island held deeper secrets and told him to meet the Garden Master of the Martial Garden.

• Lin Chen visited Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy, thanked Dean Hua Qianwu and the instructors, and energized Azure Ripple Lake to increase the disciples' access to Azure Ripple Energy.
• Yin Yue learned from Zhang Qifeng how painfully Lin Chen had endured his academy training, while the disciples gathered to hear Lin Chen speak; his address and poem were later published across Azure Ripple Island.
• Lin Chen returned to Lakeside Village, learned that Su Tong had won the Poyang County Martial Academy competition, and agreed to wait until after the village's ancestral ceremony before moving his family.
• Lin Chen traveled to Raozhou Prefecture and asked Zhuang Min and Uncle Jiang to go with him to the Azure Ripple Domain because Eight Desolations Sect might threaten his family.
• Zhuang Min explained that Azure Ripple Island was not as simple as it seemed and advised Lin Chen to meet the Garden Master of the Martial Garden, prompting Lin Chen to suspect that his mother-in-law and the island concealed powerful secrets.

After the village ceremony, Lin Chen tried the Martial Evolution Mirror but found that evolving the Azure Ripple Art consumed points far too quickly, so he used the Void Stone instead. Yin Yue watched him cultivate through the night, then left with Lin Xi to keep her from disturbing him, while Lin Chen remained focused on the stone.

• Lin Chen learned that Instructor Yu was traveling and arranged to meet the Poyang County Martial Garden Master.
• Lin Chen spent two hundred thousand Martial Path Mountain points in two breaths in the Martial Evolution Mirror and stopped the attempt.
• Lin Chen used the Void Stone to record the Azure Ripple Art as its first pattern formed and a second began to emerge.
• Yin Yue arrived to complain about Lin Xi but stayed quietly when she saw Lin Chen cultivating with the Void Stone.
• Lin Xi came to fetch Yin Yue, and Yin Yue agreed to go with her after making a servant promise to keep everyone away from Lin Chen.

Lin Chen evolved the Azure Ripple Art with a Void Stone, greatly strengthening his cultivation and spiritual sense, then learned from Jiang Taiyi that Azure Ripple Island was safer for his family than the Yan Imperial Dynasty. After three months of cultivation, Lin Chen received notice that Martial Path Mountain’s life mandate would go to the first person to reach its summit, on the day of his twentieth birthday.

• Lin Chen used a Void Stone to evolve the Azure Ripple Art, increasing his cultivation efficiency and improving all his attributes when the method reached Undamaged Level 6.
• Lin Chen met Jiang Taiyi, who revealed that he had killed three Xiantian Third Realm martial artists seeking Lin Chen’s family and warned that the war between the Eight Desolations Sect and the Azure Ripple Sect would not follow its usual course.
• Jiang Taiyi urged Lin Chen to focus on growing stronger and promised him a fortuitous opportunity if he stayed on Azure Ripple Island.
• Lin Chen remained in Lakeside Village for three months, consumed more than ten thousand Xiantian Stones, and condensed over one hundred Xiantian Crystals.
• On his twentieth birthday, Lin Chen’s Martial Path Seal announced that the first person to reach Martial Path Mountain’s summit would enter the mountain and receive a life mandate.

After Martial Path Mountain bestowed the Divine Illumination Without Bounds life domain, Lin Chen suffered a severe divine-soul transformation and awoke a day later. Yin Yue explained that his new life domain could let his divine soul grow beyond the limits of his body and realm, though doing so would require immense resources.

• Lin Chen reached the summit of Martial Path Mountain and received the Divine Illumination Without Bounds life domain, which tore apart his divine soul before golden rain eased his pain and he lost consciousness.
• Lin Chen awoke a day later with his family gathered around him, reassured them, and asked them to leave so he could speak privately with Yin Yue.
• Yin Yue explained that most martial life domains offered only modest assistance and said divine-soul-related life domains were exceedingly rare.
• Lin Chen told Yin Yue the name of his life domain, and she tested her theory by having him smell a powerful Spiritual Medicine that would overwhelm weaker divine souls.
• Yin Yue concluded that Divine Illumination Without Bounds could let Lin Chen's divine soul grow without limits, while warning him that such growth would demand enormous resources.
• Lin Chen accepted the cost and reminded Yin Yue of her promise to guide him in cultivating Martial Soul Diagram: Sea Rising Bright Moon.

Lin Chen learned from Yin Yue how variant souls, Martial Souls, and Martial Soul Diagrams worked, then returned to cultivation with her funding his Xiantian Stones. A month later, Tai Rubai told him Old Lord Li had died, and Lin Chen prepared to go to Li Manor.

• Yin Yue explained that Martial Souls depended on unusual divine souls rather than cultivation realm, and she believed Lin Chen had been born with a variant soul.
• Lin Chen told Yin Yue his Martial Soul Diagram was Sea Rising Bright Moon, and she said it would need more or higher-grade Martial Arts Will to become complete.
• Yin Yue described how a completed Martial Soul Diagram could create a phenomenon that suppressed opponents and might have other special effects.
• Lin Chen resumed cultivating, while Yin Yue honored her promise to pay for his Xiantian Stones for a year.
• Tai Rubai told Lin Chen that Old Lord Li had died the previous night and that the Li family had not informed him sooner.
• Lin Chen grew angry at Li An for withholding the news, then told Tai Rubai he would go with him to Li Manor.

At Old Lord Li’s funeral, Li Qi ended her engagement to Sheng Han after discovering that the Sheng Family meant to abandon the Li Family. The guests then learned that powerful officials had come because of Old Lord Li’s connection to Lin Chen, who arrived at the manor as Sheng Han collapsed in shock.

• Guests speculated that the Li Family was declining because Quzhou Prefecture’s prefect and Martial Affairs Department head had sent only deputies to Old Lord Li’s funeral.
• Remembering Old Lord Li’s warning, Li Qi demanded to end her engagement after Sheng Han admitted his grandfather would not attend, and Sheng Han stormed out.
• Sheng Han told the guests that Li Qi had made an unreasonable demand, while privately planning to use the dispute as cover for ending the engagement and pursuing other families.
• Officials who had once served as Martial Affairs Department heads in Jiangnan Province and other prominent figures arrived to pay their respects, revealing that Old Lord Li’s connection to Lin Chen was known to them.
• Lin Chen from Lakeside Village arrived at Li Manor, and Sheng Han recognized him and fell to the ground in shock.

Lin Chen attended Old Lord Li’s funeral and made clear that he would protect the Li Family, while learning how the Sheng Family had planned to abandon Li Qi. He recommended Li Qi to Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy and left the Sheng Family to face social and business ostracism rather than destroy it outright.

• The Quzhou Prefect and the Martial Affairs Department Director arrived at Li Manor, where Qiu Rufeng explained Old Lord Li’s history of supporting Lin Chen and warned the guests that Lin Chen stood behind the Li Family.
• Lin Chen paid his respects to Old Lord Li and recalled how the old man had guided him, defended his claim to the Jiangnan Province Student Exemplar title, and kept their connection private.
• Li An and Li Qi explained that Old Lord Li had forbidden them from notifying Lin Chen, and Li Qi described her engagement to Sheng Han and the Sheng Family’s intention to break ties.
• Lin Chen asked Li Qi about her future, and she chose to continue cultivating martial arts, so he promised her a recommendation to Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy.
• After Old Lord Li was buried, Lin Chen gave Li Qi a letter and left; he spared the Sheng Family from ruin, though its betrayal would bring ostracism and lost business and marriage ties.

Lin Chen and Yin Yue traveled to the Western Desolations, where they discovered that the land drained their powers and learned that the mysterious abyss was tied to Great Liang’s founding emperor. After the Marquis of Dingxi warned that some Xiantian experts had vanished near the abyss, Lin Chen asked what demon the Dingxi Army guarded against.

• Sheng Han waited outside Li Manor to seek Li Qi’s forgiveness, but the constables arrested him for causing trouble.
• Two months after returning to Lakeside Village, Lin Chen received an address for the Western Abyss from the Garden Master of the Martial Path Garden and set out with Yin Yue.
• In the Western Desolations, Lin Chen found that his Power of Xiantian was draining away, while Yin Yue said her clan’s power was sealed there.
• Lin Chen and Yin Yue reached the Tomb of Emperor Taizu, met Zhang Hai and the Marquis of Dingxi, and paid respects to the Founding Emperor.
• The Marquis of Dingxi told Lin Chen that two of seven Xiantian experts who had gone toward the abyss had never returned, then admitted the Dingxi Army did not know what demon it guarded against.

Marquis of Dingxi explained that the Dingxi Army fought the Black Mist emerging from an abyss, which swallowed people and erased the memories of those who returned. As Lin Chen and Yin Yue continued toward the abyss, the Garden Master of the Martial Garden revealed that he knew Yin Yue possessed the Moon Bone, alarming her.

• Marquis of Dingxi used a sand table to show Lin Chen and Yin Yue how the Dingxi Army contained the Black Mist, which would keep spreading unless martial artists entered it or it was held within a hundred miles of the abyss.
• Marquis of Dingxi explained that old records blamed a heart-eating Devil Ancestor beneath the abyss for the disappearance of people's hearts, and said the Black Mist tended to take martial artists with recently advanced realms and unstable emotions.
• Lin Chen thanked Marquis of Dingxi for warning him about the full moon and continued west with Yin Yue, while Marquis of Dingxi told Zhang Hai that he had no standing to advise Lin Chen.
• Yin Yue theorized that a Myriad Manifestations Realm expert was keeping the Black Mist from spreading and might be seeking a powerful treasure beneath the abyss.
• The Garden Master of the Martial Garden appeared and said that only a Moon Soul Clan royal born with the Moon Bone would have Yin Yue's insight, prompting Yin Yue to grow wary because she possessed the Moon Bone but was not royalty.

Jiang Taiyi led Lin Chen and Yin Yue to a secret realm beneath the Western Abyss and revealed that he had founded the Martial Academy to find someone who could enter it. He said the abyss contained a demon and that Great Liang’s Founding Emperor had come from the Yan Imperial Dynasty aboard the Ghost Ship.

• Jiang Taiyi recognized Yin Yue as Yin Meng’s granddaughter and learned that her father, Yin Hao, had been killed by a traitor within the clan.
• Jiang Taiyi took Lin Chen and Yin Yue to the Western Abyss, explaining that he had established its secret realm to keep people from entering and dying.
• Yin Yue warned Lin Chen that the Black Mist’s emergence suggested the abyss remained dangerous even despite Jiang Taiyi’s seal.
• Jiang Taiyi revealed that he had created the Martial Academy to cultivate talented youths who might enter the abyss, where a demon lay.
• Jiang Taiyi said the Founding Emperor of Great Liang had been his senior brother and had come from the Yan Imperial Dynasty aboard the Ghost Ship.

Jiang Taiyi told Lin Chen and Yin Yue that an emperor-level divine seal lay beneath the abyss and that its Black Mist threatened the world. He believed the seal had singled out Lin Chen, and the chapter ended with Lin Chen asking whether the Yan Imperial Dynasty’s imperial family could help stop the danger.

• Jiang Taiyi revealed that the Founding Emperor had once crossed to Azure Ripple Island aboard the Ghost Ship and said an emperor-level divine seal lay beneath the abyss.
• Yin Yue insisted that the Yan Imperial Dynasty had only one emperor-level expert and that his divine seal was in the Imperial City, while Lin Chen considered whether the seal beneath the abyss came from an earlier dynasty.
• Jiang Taiyi explained that he had brought Lin Chen there to give him an opportunity and ask him to help suppress the divine seal, though several of his former disciples had died in the abyss.
• Jiang Taiyi said the abyss had called Lin Chen’s name and that the divine seal had likely sensed his unusual potential.
• Jiang Taiyi explained that the Black Mist came from the yin divine seal of the previous age and would destroy the world, while Lin Chen asked whether the Yan Imperial Dynasty’s imperial family could intervene.

Lin Chen learned that Jiang Taiyi believed he could absorb demons from the Black Mists to strengthen his divine soul and delay the divine seal’s transformation. Lin Chen successfully absorbed the demons, while Yin Yue revealed that his destiny-grade reward might let him absorb even more than Jiang Taiyi expected.

• Yin Yue and Jiang Taiyi refused Lin Chen’s suggestion to notify the royal family of the Yan Imperial Dynasty unless the situation worsened.
• Jiang Taiyi explained that the Black Mists harmed souls and suggested Lin Chen test whether he could absorb their demons.
• Lin Chen stepped into the Black Mists, where his divine-soul stars absorbed a demon and restored his sense of warmth and fullness.
• Lin Chen actively attacked the surrounding demons, absorbing them in large numbers as the Black Mists repeatedly swallowed and revealed him.
• Jiang Taiyi said Lin Chen’s absorption could buy him another ten years to address the divine seal, and Yin Yue revealed Lin Chen had received the destiny-grade reward Divine Illumination Without Bounds.

Lin Chen descended into the abyss and absorbed its demons, raising his divine soul to Level 9 as his Martial Soul Diagram stopped stronger demons from reaching his mind. After he descended ten thousand zhang, the Black Mist suddenly flooded the abyss and its excited call rang out again.

• Lin Chen absorbed the Black Mist’s demons until his divine soul reached Level 7, then agreed to continue descending with Jiang Taiyi’s approval.
• Lin Chen descended hundreds of zhang, and his Martial Soul Diagram, Sea Rising Bright Moon, destroyed a powerful demon that had broken through his star net.
• Lin Chen’s divine soul reached Level 9 after he consumed a thousand zhang of Black Mist, and he continued deeper into the abyss.
• Jiang Taiyi and Yin Yue discussed Lin Chen’s Divine Illumination Without Bounds destiny and its possible connection to the divine seal beneath the abyss.
• Jiang Taiyi sensed a fluctuation at the abyss’s bottom and called for Lin Chen to come up, but the Black Mist filled the abyss and its excited voice called Lin Chen’s name.

Lin Chen met the divine seal beneath the abyss and learned that the Black Mist demon had formed from an ancient powerhouse’s resentment. After absorbing the demon’s energy and returning to Jiang Taiyi and Yin Yue, Lin Chen left the abyss, unaware that a black-clothed version of himself had emerged and been pulled back into the radiance.

• The divine seal told Lin Chen that an ancient powerhouse’s resentment had become the demon and that Lin Chen might resolve it after reaching the Myriad Manifestations Realm.
• The divine seal let Lin Chen absorb the demon’s energy, and over seven days his soul reached the strength of the Six Stages of Xiantian.
• Jiang Taiyi explained that Lin Chen’s soul strength exceeded what his current cultivation could wield, while Yin Yue noted that the Azure Ripple Art was a modest soul cultivation technique.
• Lin Chen told Jiang Taiyi and Yin Yue about the divine seal and accepted Jiang Taiyi’s explanation that his safe passage was due to his unique circumstances.
• Lin Chen, Jiang Taiyi, and Yin Yue left the abyss, after which a black-clothed Lin Chen emerged from the radiance and was dragged back inside, declaring that he would escape when Lin Chen reached the Myriad Manifestations Realm.

Lin Chen used Zeng Xi’s letter to confirm that he had begun cultivating the Thousand Machine Sect’s Divine Control Record, a powerful soul technique. After securing more Xiantian Stones from Yin Yue, Lin Chen entered seclusion and activated Martial Path Renown to observe Zeng Xi using the technique.

• Zeng Xi replied that he had cultivated the Divine Control Record and invited Lin Chen to visit the Thousand Machine Sect with questions about the soul.
• Lin Chen learned from Zeng Xi’s reply and Yin Yue’s explanation that the Divine Control Record was a supreme soul technique whose distinctive treasure pagoda could reveal its use.
• Lin Chen asked Yin Yue whether he could secretly learn the technique without the Thousand Machine Sect detecting it, and she said soul techniques could be concealed unless he used the treasure pagoda.
• Yin Yue gave Lin Chen a month’s supply of Xiantian Stones, and Lin Chen told her he would cultivate in seclusion.
• Lin Chen activated Martial Path Renown, selected Zeng Xi, and waited for the illusion of him to use the Divine Control Record.

Lin Chen mastered the Divine Control Record and advised Lord Kong that Azure Ripple Island should reject the Jiuhua Alliance’s offer to avoid being drawn into other islands’ conflicts. After a letter arrived from the Capital City, Lin Chen flew north to investigate.

• Lin Chen cultivated the Divine Control Record in one attempt and manifested a five-story pagoda, while Yin Yue sensed it from beside the lake.
• Lin Chen decided to keep the pagoda secret and considered traveling to Thousand Machine Domain to study divine-soul techniques.
• Lord Kong visited Lin Chen and explained that the Martial Path Alliance was considering joining the Jiuhua Alliance.
• Lin Chen warned that an alliance would cost Azure Ripple Island the special consideration it received because of him, and Lord Kong agreed to reject the offer.
• A letter from the Capital City darkened Lin Chen’s expression, and he flew north that same day.

Lin Chen returned to Azure Ripple Island and stopped the Jiuhua Alliance from pressuring the island to join. After he overwhelmed its two envoys, the Endless Alliance’s master decided not to recruit Azure Ripple Island and instead to treat it as a potential ally.

• The Martial Path Alliance elders refused the Jiuhua Alliance’s offer, but Zhao Jun threatened them unless they provided an acceptable reason.
• Lin Chen arrived and revealed that he had told Azure Ripple Island to reject the alliance.
• Lin Chen’s aura overwhelmed Zhao Jun and Liang Jingzhi, forcing them to apologize and leave.
• Lin Chen told the envoys that Azure Ripple Island would join no alliance, then thanked its Martial Path Alliance elders for their work.
• The Endless Alliance’s master learned of the Jiuhua Alliance’s failure and ordered his people not to invite Azure Ripple Island, but to avoid offending it.