Chapter Summaries

Chen Luo killed an Upper Realm Nascent Soul who tried to stop him from reaching Qionghua Sect, while Elder Luying broke the sect’s defenses and demanded its surrender. As Qionghua’s cultivators rallied to resist, Elder Luying froze their combined attack and prepared to crush them.

• Chen Luo sensed an ambush on the way to Qionghua Sect and killed the Upper Realm Nascent Soul who claimed his elder brother wanted something from the sect.
• Elder Luying shattered Qionghua Sect’s protection array and demanded that the thief who stole the artifact spirit come forward.
• Yu Jun Yao tried to stall Elder Luying while arranging for talented disciples to escape, but he threatened the sect and offered to make her his maid.
• A Supreme Hao Peak elder attacked Elder Luying with Supreme Hao Sword Qi, but Elder Luying caught the strike and shattered the elder’s Golden Core.
• Elder Hua Qing revealed his Pseudo Nascent Soul Realm and rallied Qionghua’s sword cultivators, but Elder Luying froze their sword qi and began suppressing them.

Chen Luo returned to the Qionghua Sect and confronted Elder Luying, who had attacked the sect while searching for him. After blasting Elder Luying and the Shadow Puppets with talismans and thunderballs, Chen Luo revealed that his gourd lid was a Spirit Artifact as the battle continued.

• Elder Luying crushed the Qionghua Sect beneath a black mountain while Han Lin taunted the sect and gloated over his revenge.
• Chen Luo appeared, stomped Han Lin to death, and shattered the black mountain that was crushing the sect.
• Elder Luying gathered his shadows and reached the Nascent Soul Late Stage, while Yu Jun Yao urged Chen Luo to escape and join True Person Wuwei.
• Chen Luo protected Yu Jun Yao and the others with formation flags as Elder Luying created Shadow Puppets and sent them to attack.
• Chen Luo detonated countless spiritual talismans and thunderballs, blasting the Shadow Puppets and badly damaging Elder Luying and the other Nascent Soul Cultivators.
• Elder Luying recovered and dismissed Chen Luo's strength, so Chen Luo pointed to the Grotto-heaven Gourd lid and identified it as a Spirit Artifact.

Chen Luo fought Elder Luying, using the External Brains to locate and strike his hidden main body. Two other Upper Realm cultivators then joined the attack, while True Person Wuwei secretly marked the Wolf Demon with a gu insect as the Wolf Demon warned that the Upper Realm would claim the Small World.

• Elder Luying attacked Chen Luo with black rain and shadow spikes, but Chen Luo’s Grotto-heaven Gourd Lid and movement let him withstand the assault.
• Chen Luo used the External Brains’ conflicting readings of killing intent to find Elder Luying’s main body and hit it twice with Bone Rune-enhanced punches.
• Two Upper Realm cultivators struck Chen Luo from behind and summoned Baleful Souls across Qionghua Sect.
• The Wolf Demon told True Person Wuwei that the Upper Realm had learned of Immortal Emperor Changqing’s tomb and planned to occupy the Small World.
• True Person Wuwei let the Wolf Demon talk while two gu insects entered, one silently attaching itself to the Wolf Demon.

Chen Luo lured three Upper Realm Nascent Souls into a battle around Qionghua Sect, then activated a composite fourth-tier formation to turn the fight against them. The Golden Armored Divine General trapped the invaders, and the Umbrella-wielding Soul Cultivator’s Nascent Soul was captured as the battle continued.

• A golden gu worm let True Person Wuwei control the Wolf Demon, while Chen Luo’s Soul Banner engaged the Umbrella-wielding Soul Cultivator’s yin souls.
• Lu Ying used Shadow Rain to borrow the Earth Vein’s shadow and strike Chen Luo, but Chen Luo poisoned him and fought back with his Chessboard, talismans, and thunder orbs.
• Chen Luo completed a formation that linked the Sect Protection Array and formation flags to the Qionghua Sect’s fourth-tier spirit vein, summoning a Golden Armored Divine General.
• The Golden Armored Divine General and the formation overwhelmed Lu Ying, the Staff-wielding Nascent Soul, and the Umbrella-wielding Soul Cultivator, preventing them from escaping.
• The Umbrella-wielding Soul Cultivator destroyed his yin souls to damage the Divine General, but a severed arm pierced his heart and Chen Luo’s formation captured his Nascent Soul.

Chen Luo defeated and captured Elder Luying and the Ape Demon after trapping them in a Fourth-tier Formation for three days, though he sacrificed two artifacts to stop their final attack. After restoring his strength, he considered the coming descent of Upper Realm forces and the mysteries surrounding the Dragon Tomb.

• A wolf demon charged into Chen Luo's formation but died, and Chen Luo collected its Nascent Soul and Soul Parasite Gu.
• Elder Luying and the Cultivator with Rod attacked the shifting formation, while Chen Luo used Earth Vein Qi to restore the Golden Armored Divine General and keep them occupied.
• The Cultivator with Rod revealed his Ape Demon form and helped Elder Luying destroy the Golden Armored Divine General, but their attacks could not break the Fourth-tier Formation.
• After three days of fighting, Elder Luying and the Ape Demon launched a final attack with their Nascent Souls, but Chen Luo used the Bronze Coffin of the Old Man Carrying Coffin and the theater of the Player to block them and capture them.
• Chen Luo extracted the two men's brains, collected their Nascent Souls and bodies, and decided he needed to master a law of his own.
• Chen Luo restored his strength in a secret chamber and reflected on the Dragon Tomb, the Star Great Tomb, and the impending arrival of Upper Realm forces.

Chen Luo took the Grotto-heaven Gourd and used Elder Luying’s Origin Seed to travel to the Upper Realm, disguising himself as the dead elder. He arrived at the Shadow Eater Sect and began gathering information while concealing his identity.

• Chen Luo left the Qionghua Sect after True Person Wuwei took Immortal Emperor Changqing’s painting to the Inner Demon Sect.
• After killing Elder Luying, Chen Luo claimed the Grotto-heaven Gourd and used its restored space to store his belongings.
• Chen Luo decided to use Elder Luying’s memories and Origin Seed to infiltrate the Shadow Eater Sect while its sect master remained in seclusion.
• Chen Luo activated the Cross-realm Passage and glimpsed a vast structure spanning countless worlds as he traveled to the Upper Realm.
• At the Shadow Eater Sect, a disciple recognized Chen Luo’s disguise, so Chen Luo killed him with Shadow Rain and ordered the others to report the sect’s recent affairs.

Chen Luo impersonated the Shadow Eater Sect’s Great Elder Lu Ying and studied the sect’s situation while planning to exploit his borrowed authority. After learning of a coming Dharma assembly, he entered the Scripture Depository to study techniques that could help him comprehend his own law.

• Chen Luo read a jade slip about the sect’s resources, rivalries, and the Space Rift rumored to lead to Immortal Emperor Changqing’s Tomb.
• Chen Luo decided to use the Yellow Sand Sect as a pretext to build evidence against a supposed threat to the Shadow Eater Sect.
• Chen Luo ordered a disciple to lead him to the Scripture Depository, where the Second Elder reminded him of the Myriad Immortal Island Dharma assembly in three days.
• Chen Luo confronted the Second Elder with Lu Ying’s domineering manner, and the Second Elder left after warning him not to delay the sect master’s business.
• Chen Luo entered the Scripture Depository and rapidly studied every technique on its second floor with help from his External Brain.

Chen Luo studied the Shadow Eater Sect’s teachings on Law, began to discern the Law his own cultivation path pointed toward, and demonstrated his strength to the Second Elder. At the Myriad Immortal Island Assembly, he explored the Rogue Cultivator marketplace before White-bearded Old Daoist greeted him as Fellow Daoist Lu.

• Chen Luo learned that Law came from accumulated cultivation and talent, and reflected on how his layered cultivation methods had shaped his own path.
• Chen Luo emerged on the day of the assembly and defeated the Second Elder’s attack by using Lu Ying’s and the Ape Demon’s Laws, forcing the Second Elder to step aside.
• Chen Luo traveled with the Shadow Eater Sect elders to White Jade Mountain and entered the sect assembly grounds through a formation he studied.
• Chen Luo left the sect courtyard to browse the Rogue Cultivator marketplace, where he saw unfamiliar goods and found Primal Essence Stones far cheaper than in the Southern Sky Region.
• White-bearded Old Daoist arrived on an immortal crane and greeted Chen Luo as Fellow Daoist Lu.

Chen Luo, disguised as Elder Luying, was drawn into Myriad Immortal Island’s plan to obtain a secret art from the Shadow Eater Sect Master. He negotiated a new reward with the Island Master and went with Crane Immortal Elder to choose corpses, where he spotted a formidable Ancient Corpse.

• Crane Immortal Elder brought Chen Luo from the Outer Market Town to the Inner Mountain and explained that ghost cultivators from the Bridge of Helplessness had forced the plan to move up.
• Crane Immortal Elder asked Chen Luo for the secret art the Island Master wanted, and Chen Luo claimed the Shadow Eater Sect Master’s backup plan had stopped him from obtaining it.
• The Island Master changed the trade terms, agreeing to give Chen Luo two powerful corpses and two medicine boy corpses in exchange for bringing something interesting next time.
• Crane Immortal Elder offered Chen Luo additional fourth- or fifth-rank corpses and took him to the White Jade Stone Hinterland to choose from its collection.
• Chen Luo recognized a towering armored Ancient Corpse with a bloodstained saber among the stored bodies, while Crane Immortal Elder explained that the Island Master had already extracted the corpses’ Dharma Seeds.

Chen Luo absorbed the abilities of enmity, a Tribulation Crossing corpse, and used them to unleash a devastating saber strike before escaping the Winged Human Race’s territory. After recovering in Youxiong Village, he comprehended and named his own Dharma, Ninefold Control.

• Chen Luo gained the Blood Transformation secret art and powerful alchemy knowledge from the corpses in Myriad Immortal Island’s secret chamber.
• Chen Luo left White Jade Mountain and flew west into the Winged Human Race’s territory to cultivate in seclusion.
• Chen Luo completed enmity’s damaged brain with his External Brains and used Ninefold Control to unleash a Blood Knife strike that carved a canyon and split the thunderclouds.
• The Winged Human Race’s old ancestor and the Myriad Immortal Island Master investigated the saber mark but found no trace of Chen Luo.
• Chen Luo hid in Youxiong Village for half a month, recovered his strength, and named his new Dharma Ninefold Control.

Chen Luo traveled with Black Robe to the Inner Demon Sect and learned about the sect’s history and the troubles facing the Qionghua Sect and White Immortal Cave. They reached the sect’s city, where Black Robe explained its heart-demon-based customs and the Founding Ancestor’s powerful talismans.

• Black Robe found Chen Luo and took him aboard his flying gourd, agreeing to bring him back to the Inner Demon Sect.
• Black Robe warned Chen Luo that the Qionghua Sect had recently clashed with the Purple Green Sword Sect and explained White Immortal Cave’s decline after its Venerable entered Immortal Emperor Changqing’s Tomb.
• Chen Luo asked about the Immortal Palace he had seen, but Black Robe had never heard of it.
• Black Robe and Chen Luo arrived at the Inner Demon Sect’s city, where Chen Luo realized its ordinary residents served as resources for cultivating heart demons.
• Black Robe explained that the Founding Ancestor’s talismans changed visitors’ clothing and revealed that the apparent robes were created through heart demons.

Chen Luo joined the Inner Demon Sect as an official disciple and was assigned to manage Wenxiang Pavilion in the Seventh City. After learning how the pavilion collected emotions to produce Inner Demon Stones, he began to understand the sect’s cultivation system.

• Black Robe brought Chen Luo to the Inner Demon Sect’s court, gave him an Identity Token and an official post, and showed him the Twelve Cities.
• Black Robe assigned Chen Luo to Wenxiang Pavilion as its Sixth-Rank Director, and Wang Kuan and Zhao Qian welcomed him.
• Wang Kuan and Zhao Qian explained how the pavilion gathered guests’ emotions in paintings and used them to make Inner Demon Stones.
• Wang Kuan made an Inner Demon Painting from Fat Wu’s emotions, and Zhao Qian extracted its black qi into an Inner Demon Stone.
• Wang Kuan explained that the paintings purified and settled Inner Demon Qi, making it safer and more efficient to absorb.

Chen Luo’s disappearance sparked a confrontation between the Shadow Eater Sect and Myriad Immortal Island, while the Shadow Eater Sect Master discovered her Grotto-heaven Gourd was missing and mobilized her sect to reclaim it. Unaware of the growing conflict, Chen Luo settled into peaceful cultivation in the Inner Demon Sect and began absorbing the powers and inheritances of his collected brains.

• The Shadow Eater Sect elders learned that Lu Ying had vanished with Myriad Immortal Island’s corpse bones, and the Second Elder suspected Myriad Immortal Island was involved.
• The Myriad Immortal Island Master ordered Lu Ying found, while the Shadow Eater Sect elders spread accusations that the island had conspired against their Sect Master.
• The Shadow Eater Sect Master emerged from seclusion, discovered her Grotto-heaven Gourd was missing, and ordered her disciples to march on Myriad Immortal Island to reclaim it.
• Chen Luo settled into the Inner Demon Sect, delegated routine work to Wang Kuan and Zhao Qian, and focused on cultivation and organizing his Nascent Soul path.
• Chen Luo swallowed pills refined from Nascent Souls and used the corresponding brains to digest their former spiritual power and inheritances.

Chen Luo spent five years developing the Nascent Soul killing art Slaughter Seal while Wang Kuan secretly negotiated for a Nascent Soul method and decided to frame Chen Luo to conceal his betrayal of the Inner Demon Sect. Chen Luo also discovered that his Soul Parasite Gu had evolved into particles nearly impossible to detect.

• Chen Luo refined his Dharma body and combined the insights of his External Brains to create a Nascent Soul killing art.
• Wang Kuan agreed to give the Red Dress Woman ninety percent of Wenxiang Pavilion's profits for thirty years in exchange for a Nascent Soul method.
• The Red Dress Woman warned Wang Kuan that the sect master knew about their dealings and that several collaborators had been captured.
• Wang Kuan decided to frame Chen Luo so he and Zhao Qian could escape punishment for selling out the sect's interests.
• After five years of cultivation, Chen Luo completed the Slaughter Seal and found that his Soul Parasite Gu had evolved into particles detectable by only two of his External Brains.

Chen Luo noticed Zhao Qian lying about the Inner Demon Stones handover, but let the paperwork proceed and secretly placed a Soul Parasite Gu on it. Three days later, Wang Kuan traded stolen Inner Demon Stones for two Nascent Soul Seeds and planned to use Chen Luo’s seal to make him the scapegoat if the theft was discovered.

• Chen Luo noticed Zhao Qian’s unusual reaction and caught him lying about Wang Kuan’s whereabouts.
• Chen Luo examined the black paper, learned the collection quota had risen by thirty percent, and approved it with his seal.
• Chen Luo secretly placed a newly evolved Soul Parasite Gu on the black paper before Zhao Qian took it away.
• Wang Kuan met a contact on a river at night and received two Nascent Soul Seeds in exchange for ten Storage Bags of Inner Demon Stones.
• Wang Kuan warned the contact that a sixth-rank talisman could expose the shipment and told him to blame Steward Chen if they were stopped.

Wang Kuan and Zhao Qian’s scheme to frame Chen Luo was exposed, and Chen Luo seized their Nascent Soul Seeds before pursuing the merchant ship carrying their accomplice. After overpowering the pale-faced man, Chen Luo rejected his attempt to settle the matter, just as a woman in red appeared from the water.

• Wang Kuan returned to the courtyard and found Chen Luo controlling Zhao Qian with a gu worm.
• Chen Luo forced Wang Kuan to surrender the Nascent Soul Seeds, then controlled Wang Kuan and Zhao Qian into fighting each other to the death.
• Chen Luo followed the Soul Parasite Gu to the merchant ship and struck the pale-faced man with Yin Lightning empowered by the Slaughter Seal.
• The pale-faced man returned Chen Luo’s black paper and proposed ending the conflict, but Chen Luo burned it and refused the offer.
• A woman in a red dress appeared from the water and questioned Chen Luo’s aggression.

Chen Luo confronted the Red Dress Woman over the Inner Demon Stones and attacked before she could finish threatening him. After defeating her body and capturing her Nascent Soul, he went to touch her remains.

• The Red Dress Woman demanded that Chen Luo provide a replacement steward's mark in exchange for ten Inner Demon Stones, then threatened him when he rejected her offer.
• Chen Luo vanished and struck the Red Dress Woman with the Grotto-heaven Gourd, smashing her head and driving her into the river.
• The Red Dress Woman emerged with her Nascent Soul and unleashed her Myriad Water Flood Dragons at Chen Luo.
• Chen Luo appeared beside her Nascent Soul, seized and sealed it with the Inner Demon Art, then put it away.
• Chen Luo walked to the Red Dress Woman's remains and touched her brain.

After killing the fleeing Nascent Soul Cultivator, Chen Luo covered his tracks and began building a loyal faction while turmoil spread through the Inner Demon Sect. As the Underworld Ferry emerged and outside threats gathered, Chen Luo’s hidden Evergreen Sect quietly grew.

• Chen Luo tracked down and killed the Pale Faced Male Cultivator, then returned to Seventh City and found Zhao Qian and Wang Kuan dead.
• Chen Luo reported the theft of the Inner Demon Stones, and the investigation turned into a struggle among three factions after the trail led toward the Great Elder.
• Chen Luo recruited Hu Shan and Hu Si as loyal subordinates and used Evergreen Pills to bring Rogue Cultivators into his growing faction.
• Chen Luo learned that the Underworld Ferry’s Green-robed Ghost King had visited the Inner Demon Sect Master and suspected the faction was connected to the Red-dressed Woman.
• Chen Luo saw news that the Fox Clan had a new Saintess and wondered whether she was his old friend Su Linlin.
• Chen Luo expanded his followers to more than a dozen people, and they quietly established the Evergreen Sect amid the Inner Demon Sect’s turmoil.

Chen Luo investigated the rogue cultivator Yue Yijian after he captured Hu Shan’s daughter and discovered him attempting to seize the girl’s Innate Dao Body to escape death. Chen Luo interrupted the ritual, but found that Yue Yijian was a Peak Nascent Soul Great Cultivator.

• The Inner Demon Sect and several other factions suffered worsening conflicts as Chen Luo learned that an unseen force was stirring trouble across the Lower and Upper Realms.
• Hu Si told Chen Luo that Yue Yijian had captured Hu Shan’s daughter and that neither Hu Shan nor the Evergreen Sect’s elders could defeat him.
• Chen Luo tracked Yue Yijian to Small Fishing Village and discovered the supposed benevolent villager was an ancient Evil Cultivator preparing to seize the girl’s body.
• Yue Yijian used Hu Shan as a consumable while beginning the Soul Seizing Method on Hu Shan’s daughter.
• Chen Luo broke through the room’s wall, shattered the ritual, and freed Hu Shan before identifying Yue Yijian as a Peak Nascent Soul Great Cultivator.

Chen Luo killed Yue Yijian with the Life Borrowing Gu, discovered that the Soul Seizing Bone Pattern belonged to Old Fox’s clan, and began experimenting with a reversed soul-seizing method. Six months later, an Underworld Ferry representative sought him out and asked about the Red-dressed Woman.

• Chen Luo used the Life Borrowing Gu to drain Yue Yijian’s remaining lifespan, saving Hu Shan and his daughter, then examined the Soul Seizing Bone Pattern and found the words “Life,” “Death,” and “Netherworld.”
• Chen Luo collected Yue Yijian’s notes and belongings, disposed of his remains, and considered using the Soul Seizing Method in reverse to improve his subordinates’ comprehension.
• Chen Luo began experimenting with the reversed method after returning to Seventh City, while Black Robe kept him shielded from the Inner Demon Sect’s internal affairs.
• Six months later, Lu Jian of the Underworld Ferry met Chen Luo at Wenxiang Pavilion and showed him an image of the Red-dressed Woman, asking whether he had seen her.