Chapter Summaries

Chen Luo set out to protect his hometown and arrived above the drought-stricken Southwest Region, where Ma Kun’s rebel army served two cultivators seeking a way out of the Great Tomb. As Chen Luo appeared in the sky and rain fell across the region, the people and bandits knelt in awe.

• Chen Luo visited Chen Lin’s sleeping family, cleansed the grandchildren with spiritual power, and left a jade talisman before departing for the Southwest Region.
• Ma Kun’s rebellion grew to one hundred thousand men while two black-robed cultivators used the battles to gather corpses and Yin Souls.
• The cultivators ordered Ma Kun to get answers from the captive Du Jian by the next day, threatening to turn him into a corpse guard if he failed.
• Tian Yonglu and the Yin-Yang Faced Old Man discussed their search for a way out and worried that Xie Shuang, a talisman master, was approaching.
• Rain began falling over the drought-stricken region, and the people and bandits saw Chen Luo standing atop the clouds and bowed to him.

Chen Luo rescued Du Jian after discovering that a Silver Armored Corpse King was behind the ambush and unrest around the Great Tomb. As Du Jian recognized him, the Corpse King struck from beneath the ground.

• Chen Luo seized Tian Yonglu and a ghostly old man from the crowd and learned that they had captured Du Jian.
• The old man’s power surged, but Chen Luo crushed him and used his remnant soul to uncover the Silver Armored Corpse King’s involvement.
• Chen Luo killed Tian Yonglu after learning that he had helped ambush Du Jian and stir up unrest around the Great Tomb.
• Chen Luo followed the clues to a valley, broke the crude formation trapping Du Jian, and killed the rioters surrounding him.
• Du Jian recognized Chen Luo, then warned him as a silver arm burst from beneath the soil and lunged at his heart.

Chen Luo subdued a Silver Armored Corpse King and learned from its memories that it had once been a Fourth-tier Formation Master from White Immortal Cave, trapped in Yue Kingdom after the Star Great Tomb’s formation backlash. He promised to take the corpse back to White Immortal Cave and returned toward the Great Tomb, hoping to find more brains to read.

• Chen Luo caught the Silver Armored Corpse King’s attack, subdued it, and read its memories from before death.
• The memories showed the corpse’s promise to return to his daughter Xin'er and his role as a Fourth-tier Formation Master from White Immortal Cave.
• The Silver Armored Corpse King’s memories revealed that the Star Great Tomb’s backlash killed him and stranded another White Immortal Cave cultivator in Yue Kingdom.
• Chen Luo calmed and refined the corpse, promised to take him to White Immortal Cave, and stored him in the Corpse Raising Bag.
• Xie Shuang arrived from the Capital City, and Chen Luo said farewell to her and Du Jian before returning to the Great Tomb.

Chen Luo returned to Qingya County, where He Min died after winning one last martial arts match against him, and he comforted the aging Ruan Xiaohu. Before leaving, he discovered that a pool in Wang Chengguan’s courtyard connected to another place, where a painter noticed him.

• Chen Luo found He Min and Ruan Xiaohu in Qingya County and agreed to fight He Min one last time using only martial arts.
• He Min struck Chen Luo in the chest and died afterward, and Chen Luo protected her body from the Great Tomb’s aura.
• Ruan Xiaohu asked whether Chen Luo had become an immortal, then mourned He Min as they returned to his home.
• Chen Luo left Ruan Xiaohu pills and discovered that Wang Chengguan’s courtyard had remained unchanged for more than eighty years.
• Chen Luo used a Curse Straw Figure to enter the pool’s formation and saw a sunlit courtyard, where a man painting in the study noticed him and burned the figure.

Chen Luo cautiously retrieved a hidden formation manual that raised his formation mastery to the fourth tier, while Spirit Pool Fairy and the Seven Patriarchs of Qionghua moved toward a dangerous bargain involving the corpse beneath the Spirit Pool. Chen Luo then returned to the Star Great Tomb and began trying to overcome the formations blocking the Third Platform.

• Chen Luo avoided meeting the sealed man directly, then used protected Talisman Figures to retrieve a hidden Formation Dao Explanation from the third bookshelf.
• Chen Luo absorbed the manual's inheritance, reached fourth-tier formation mastery, and returned the book before leaving without speaking to the sealed man.
• Spirit Pool Fairy agreed to obtain Yin Yang Demon Lord's manuscript and assist the Seven Patriarchs of Qionghua in exchange for help cutting apart the corpse beneath the Spirit Pool.
• The buried eye stirred dark red aura around Spirit Pool Fairy, and Gu He suppressed it with the Grand Void Sword before warning her to control her state of mind.
• Gu He considered the growing dangers facing Qionghua Sect and noted that Chen Luo had left at a fortunate time.
• Chen Luo returned to the Star Great Tomb and used his formation knowledge to analyze the restrictions blocking the Third Platform, sacrificing many Talisman Figures, insects, and Baleful Souls in repeated attempts.

Chen Luo crossed the Star Great Tomb’s platforms, discovered a record of two supreme cultivation paths, and learned that the dried corpse’s name was Changqing. After reaching the seventh platform and advancing to the Late Core Formation Stage, he found that his method for crossing the restrictions had stopped working and decided his objective in the tomb was complete.

• Chen Luo used lamp-oil Breath Concealing Talismans to cross the restriction and reach the Third Platform, where he found writing describing the ultimate paths of the physical body and divine soul.
• Chen Luo read more of the dried corpse’s brainwaves and learned that its name was Changqing, while the External Brain grew stronger from the added brains.
• Chen Luo continued across the platforms, intending to collect more of Changqing’s brains and build up his spiritual power toward the Nascent Soul Realm.
• After another half year, Chen Luo was blasted from a restriction on the seventh platform when his lamp-oil talisman failed, but his spiritual power quickly healed his injuries.
• Chen Luo recognized that he had reached the Late Core Formation Stage and glimpsed the essence of forming a Nascent Soul, then concluded that he had achieved his objective in the Great Tomb.

Chen Luo altered the Cross-domain Teleportation Formation and arrived in a strange, monochrome town that seemed to exist inside a painting. After destroying a creature disguised as an old woman, he entered the town’s County Yamen to search for answers.

• Chen Luo changed the Void Stone’s coordinates and used his spiritual power to activate the formation.
• Chen Luo arrived in a dark, desolate place and found Heart-Questioning Town, where everything appeared black and white.
• Chen Luo saw a colorful woman in a mirror, then encountered a faceless old woman who attacked him with a Pig Slaughtering Knife.
• Chen Luo crushed the old woman, found a black Small Stone inside her remains, and saw her body and soup turn into tree bark.
• Chen Luo concluded that the town was like an ink-wash painting and entered its County Yamen to look for case files.

Chen Luo encountered a wary woman with green color in Heart-Questioning Town, where a Sky God enforced silence and turned colorless people into trees. She showed him how color could be transferred, while Chen Luo sought a way to understand the Sky God and escape.

• Chen Luo found a green-dressed woman in the County Yamen and learned that a force in the clouds watched them and that speaking outside angered the Sky God.
• The woman led Chen Luo through the town to her home, where the Sky God's gaze could no longer reach them and she explained that the town was in the Eternal Night Kingdom.
• The woman said the Sky God had changed Heart-Questioning Town ten years earlier, removing its sun and color and turning people without color into trees.
• Chen Luo asked how the woman used color and learned that she could draw ink-like color from her clothing and paint it onto another garment.

Chen Luo learned that color functioned as power in Heart-Questioning Town, where people’s colors faded and colorless Tree Bark People attacked the town. After learning about the Seven Colors Pavilion and the feared Sky God, he ventured outside to seek answers and was attacked by Tree Bark People.

• Shanzha showed Chen Luo how color could be transferred, and he used spiritual power to restore color to her and her faded sachet.
• Shanzha told Chen Luo that she belonged to the Seven Colors Pavilion, which defended Heart-Questioning Town from colorless Tree Bark Monsters, and that its pavilion master possessed seven colors.
• Chen Luo suspected the region was being refined beneath the spreading Ink Cloud and decided to investigate the Sky God and the Seven Colors Pavilion.
• Chen Luo left Shanzha’s room and encountered Tree Bark People at a tea stall, where they attacked him for his human flesh.
• Chen Luo unleashed a ring of orange-red fire at the attackers.

Chen Luo searched for the roots sustaining Heart-Questioning Town’s Treants and followed Brother Ling to an ink-black lake where an old fisherman was identified as one. When the fisherman raised a water barrier, Chen Luo attacked with his Fourth-rank Theater.

• Chen Luo incinerated a swarm of Treants, then crushed a flock of Treant vultures with his Chessboard and set much of the town ablaze.
• Chen Luo questioned the young man watching from a window and learned the Treants would keep returning as long as their roots remained.
• Chen Luo recruited Brother Ling and followed him out of Heart-Questioning Town to a sunken lake where the roots could be found.
• Brother Ling identified the black-clad fisherman at the lake as one of the roots, and Chen Luo sensed the old man carried a dense ink aura.
• The fisherman raised a black water barrier around himself and his Wooden House, but Chen Luo summoned his Fourth-rank Theater and threw it toward them.

Chen Luo killed Old Root, claimed Ink Lake, and used ink to paint the lake and its surroundings into his territory, strengthening his cultivation. When the Seven-Colored Pavilion Master arrived, Chen Luo and his visitors recognized one another as True Disciples of different sects.

• Chen Luo crushed the white-haired Old Root with his theater and collected more than a hundred drops of ink.
• Chen Luo painted a carp red, then used the remaining ink to turn Ink Lake pale blue and felt his spiritual power increase.
• Brother Ling became Chen Luo's Registered Disciple, and the two spent months finding and killing Root Tendrils to gather ink.
• Chen Luo expanded his painted territory, gained control over its trees and lake, and advanced toward Nascent Soul-level abilities.
• The Seven-Colored Pavilion Master and a woman arrived, and Chen Luo recognized their sect tokens as Supreme Abyss True Disciple and Supreme Spirit True Disciple while they identified him as a Void True Disciple.

Chen Luo discovered that Fang Jing and Qi Fei, two Qionghua Sect disciples trapped in the Eternal Night Kingdom for three hundred years, had uncovered clues about the Grotto-heaven Gourd. After receiving their ink and learning how the kingdom’s painting-like world worked, Chen Luo revised his plans and focused on stopping the Ink Rain.

• Chen Luo learned that Fang Jing and Qi Fei were Qionghua Sect disciples who had been trapped in the Eternal Night Kingdom for three hundred years.
• Fang Jing explained that the kingdom had been plunged into eternal night, and the External Brains identified the place as connected to the Grotto-heaven Gourd.
• Fang Jing and Qi Fei gave Chen Luo over a thousand drops of ink and warned that Ink Rain would erase accumulated color once it reached a critical point.
• The two disciples described the kingdom’s ninety-nine cities and explained how ink could strengthen divine abilities; Chen Luo shared cultivation guidance in return.
• Fang Jing and Qi Fei left to help Seven Colors Pavilion gather ink for Chen Luo, warning that the nearly complete black-and-white painting might soon erase them.
• Chen Luo returned to the theater, assigned Ling Tian a task, and decided his first priority was to deal with the Ink Rain.

Chen Luo returned to Qionghua Sect after confirming he could travel between the Grotto-heaven Gourd and the Star Great Tomb, seeking resources and information about Fang Jing and Qi Fei. There, he exchanged cultivation manuals and discussed the Dao with Gu He, who revealed Spirit Pool Fairy’s plan to use an Upper Realm Exotic Beast corpse.

• Chen Luo left Ling Tian in charge of the theater and traveled to the formation node to test his route back to the Star Great Tomb.
• Chen Luo confirmed he could return to the Great Tomb, left a new aura at the formation, and traveled back to the Seven Kingdoms Region.
• Chen Luo returned to Qionghua Sect and found that it had reconciled with the Millennium Ancient Kingdom and Spirit Pool.
• Gu He gave Chen Luo the Yin-Yang Secret Art, and Chen Luo shared the cultivation method he had obtained from This Life Inn.
• Gu He told Chen Luo that Spirit Pool Fairy planned to use an Upper Realm Exotic Beast corpse to pursue Yin Yang Demon Lord’s path.
• Chen Luo and Gu He discussed cultivation methods as equals, and Chen Luo asked about Fang Jing and Qi Fei.

Chen Luo returned to the Grotto-heaven Gourd with supplies and planned to establish a formation capable of countering the Ink Rain. He left for Eternal Night Kingdom’s capital with Fang Jing and Qi Fei, while Seven Colors Pavilion sent its people to color the treants.

• Chen Luo asked Gu He about Fang Jing and Qi Fei’s disappearance, then learned that Supreme Spirit had clashed with the Centipede Spirit while investigating.
• Chen Luo and True Person Wuwei investigated Eternal Night Kingdom from outside the Grotto-heaven Gourd, but True Person Wuwei could not find a way inside.
• Chen Luo mapped Eternal Night Kingdom’s mountains, gathered cultivation resources and calligraphy and painting methods, and returned to the Grotto-heaven Gourd.
• Chen Luo distributed pills to Seven Colors Pavilion and told Fang Jing and Qi Fei that he planned to establish a fourth-rank formation and search for the Grotto-heaven Gourd’s artifact spirit.
• Chen Luo, Fang Jing, and Qi Fei left Ink Lake for the capital, while Ling Tian and the others began coloring treants and speculated about Chen Luo’s plans.

Chen Luo began occupying the Capital City’s thirteen formation nodes, starting with Emerald Red Pavilion. After killing and remaking its Old Root, he used the converted man to lure in more guards and turn them into his servants.

• Chen Luo, Fang Jing, and Qi Fei reviewed the thirteen nodes needed for the Fourth-tier Formation and divided up their targets.
• Fang Jing and Qi Fei explained that the Capital City had three Old Roots, including one at Emerald Red Pavilion, and that the other two besides the Imperial City’s Old Eunuch were near their own strength.
• Chen Luo entered Emerald Red Pavilion, overcame its defenses, and killed the colored Old Root in its courtyard.
• Chen Luo revived the Old Root with color and ordered him to serve as a root tendril and summon the guards.
• Chen Luo killed the guards who entered, remade them as colored servants, and sent them to bring in more people.

Fang Jing failed to infiltrate the Heavenly Prison, while Chen Luo advanced to Core Formation Completion by draining the earth veins. Three days later, Lord Yuan arrived to collect the artifact spirit, only to learn that it had escaped.

• Fang Jing encountered Teacher in the Heavenly Prison, fought off the treants and the old eunuch, and escaped using Sword Escape.
• Yu Yuan told Chen Luo that Lord Yuan, a suspected Nascent Soul cultivator from the Shadow Eater Sect, would arrive in three days to collect the artifact spirit.
• Chen Luo drained the grotto-heaven’s earth-vein qi and broke through to Core Formation Completion.
• Lord Yuan arrived with a woman and praised the old eunuch, Teacher, and Yu Yuan for presenting him with a black jade bead.
• Lord Yuan realized the artifact spirit had escaped its array, and a childlike figure emerged from the garden pond.

Chen Luo watched the Artifact Spirit Doll battle two Shadow Eater Sect cultivators in the Imperial Garden, then prepared to confront them himself. The doll was eventually defeated and left struggling on the water as the Shadow Eater Sect Man approached.

• The Shadow Eater Sect Man and his female companion attacked the Artifact Spirit Doll, while the woman used her flute to turn nearby plants and people into deadly vines.
• The emperor and Empress became vines and died, while the old eunuch dismissed their deaths as replaceable.
• Chen Luo sent Fang Jing and Qi Fei to handle the remaining nodes and went to test the Shadow Eater Sect cultivators’ strength.
• The Artifact Spirit Doll and both Shadow Eater Sect cultivators weakened as they fought, draining the area’s Heaven and Earth Vital Qi.
• The Shadow Eater Sect Man defeated the Artifact Spirit Doll, which returned to the form of a child and lay struggling on the water as he approached.

Chen Luo rescued the Artifact Spirit Doll by killing a Shadow Eater Sect Nascent Soul Cultivator and then clashed with the Withered Figure who emerged from the Ink Cloud. The Withered Figure realized Chen Luo might possess a Perfect Golden Core as their battle began.

• Chen Luo killed the Shadow Eater Sect Man's junior sister, struck down her Nascent Soul, and sealed it in a jade box.
• Chen Luo burned the Shadow Eater Sect Man's corpse, collected his Soul Qi, and told the Artifact Spirit Doll that no outsider could bully his gourd.
• Chen Luo used nine Dharma Swords to trap and strike the Shadow Eater Sect Man, but the Withered Figure emerged from the Ink Cloud and shielded him with earth.
• Chen Luo's sword formation crushed the Withered Figure and the Shadow Eater Sect Man into the ground, and the Ink Cloud vanished to reveal moonlight over the Eternal Night Kingdom.
• The Withered Figure confronted Chen Luo over the Shadow Eater Sect's plan, then attacked by draining Heaven and Earth Vital Qi and trying to devour the group with a giant shadow mouth.
• Chen Luo resisted the Withered Figure by borrowing Heaven and Earth Vital Qi, leading the Withered Figure to suspect he had a Perfect Golden Core.

Chen Luo defeated two Shadow Eater Sect Nascent Soul cultivators by combining Inner Demon Qi, insect and soul techniques, poison, and his powerful body. He captured the Withered Figure’s Nascent Soul, leaving two Upper Realm Nascent Souls in his hands.

• Chen Luo exploited the Withered Figure’s weakness to Inner Demon Qi, then battered him while Fang Jing and Qi Fei watched.
• The Shadow Eater Sect Man and the Withered Figure attacked together, but Chen Luo’s Dharma Swords intercepted their barrage.
• Chen Luo’s insects and Master Lin Feng’s self-destruction poisoned and injured the Shadow Eater Sect Man, whom Chen Luo then killed and captured as a Nascent Soul.
• The Withered Figure formed a giant Shadow Monster and tried to eat Chen Luo’s shadow, but Chen Luo used the chessboard’s shadow to break its bite.
• Chen Luo beheaded the Withered Figure, collected his brain, and captured his Nascent Soul with a spirit talisman.

Chen Luo hunted down and killed the Shadow Eater Sect Man, then joined forces with the recovering Artifact Spirit Doll. The Doll accepted his invitation and became a Spirit Artifact that transformed Chen Luo’s body, while the Black Talisman and a Void Stone revealed new clues about the Eternal Night Kingdom and an Origin Seed.

• Chen Luo tracked the Shadow Eater Sect Man to a residential house, exposed his Nascent Soul possessing a woman, and captured it before it could self-destruct.
• Chen Luo returned to the palace, collected the brains of the fleeing old eunuch and teacher, and found that both had been eroded Tree Bark People.
• The Artifact Spirit Doll agreed to follow Chen Luo for revenge and transformed into a palm-sized wine gourd, whose power broke through Chen Luo’s body-refinement barrier.
• Chen Luo looted the fallen enemies and discovered a Black Talisman that linked him to the ink across the Eternal Night Kingdom.
• Chen Luo found a formation-carved Void Stone containing what he recognized as an Origin Seed.