Chapter Summaries

After every outpost outside Bianlin City fell, Crimson Gold Puppet slaughtered the cultivators in Puppet Palace to strengthen itself, then attacked Bianlin City Lord. Ghost Array Palace Master joined the fight, refusing to become the City Lord’s nourishment.

• Crimson Gold Puppet ignored the woman’s threat and began devouring the Puppet Palace cultivators, killing dozens and absorbing their cultivation paths.
• A survivor warned Bianlin City Lord that Puppet Palace Master was slaughtering cultivators and heading toward the eastern gate.
• Crimson Gold Puppet revealed itself in the City Lord’s Mansion and used a Crimson Gold Needle to turn Myriad Poison Palace Master into its puppet.
• Bianlin City Lord killed Myriad Poison Palace Master and confronted Crimson Gold Puppet, which revealed that the City Lord’s true body was in seclusion.
• Ghost Array Palace Master appeared to aid Crimson Gold Puppet and said she would not become Bianlin City Lord’s nourishment.

The Puppet Palace Master and Ghost Array Palace Master betrayed the Bianlin City Lord and opened Bianlin City to an assault by mutated beings. After the possessed Qin Yan destroyed the city’s array core, the City Lord emerged from seclusion, killed the rebels, and ordered an evacuation as a terrifying presence closed in.

• The Crimson Gold Puppet signaled the strange beings outside Bianlin City to attack while the Ghost Array Palace Master helped trap the Bianlin City Lord.
• The Crimson Gold Puppet fought Si Xiu as Qin Yan led guards to the array core, where she revealed she was possessed by the Lord of Monks and destroyed the energy crystal.
• The city’s defensive arrays weakened, allowing the mutated beings to attack, and the Bianlin City Lord killed the Ghost Array Palace Master and destroyed the Crimson Gold Puppet.
• The Bianlin City Lord ordered Si Xiu to organize the people’s withdrawal, then sensed a terrifying presence approaching through the black fog.

With Bianlin City’s defenses collapsing, Lin Fan saved Li Hanru and learned that the City Lord’s Mansion’s Hidden Scripture Pavilion held a Nascent Soul cultivation method. He reached the pavilion as Ni Miao prepared to escape with the manual, then blocked her departure.

• When the city-protecting formation failed, an enforcer killed a fleeing cultivator, and mutants poured from the Black Demon Fog to attack the wall.
• Li Hanru and the Puppet Palace cultivators fought back, but the mutants overwhelmed them and killed her companions.
• Lord Night Owl stopped a mutant from killing Li Hanru and revealed himself as Lin Fan, then advised her to leave the city.
• Lin Fan asked Li Hanru where to find cultivation methods, and she pointed him toward the Hidden Scripture Pavilion in the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Lin Fan found Ni Miao holding a Nascent Soul cultivation method and preparing to leave through a Teleportation Array with Elder Wang.
• Lin Fan spread black fog around Ni Miao and Elder Wang and declared that none of them were leaving.

The Puppet Palace Master killed Ni Miao and Elder Wang to seize the Nascent Soul cultivation method, then handed it to Lin Fan, who had disguised himself as Night Owl. Lin Fan revealed his identity, killed the Puppet Palace Master, and destroyed the hidden black mark that could have let him revive.

• The reborn Puppet Palace Master demanded the Nascent Soul cultivation method, and Elder Wang stayed behind so Ni Miao could flee.
• The Puppet Palace Master overwhelmed Ni Miao and Elder Wang, killed them, and took the cultivation manual from Ni Miao's storage artifact.
• Lin Fan, posing as Night Owl under Master Wang, took the manual from the Puppet Palace Master and agreed to join him in attacking the city's cultivators.
• Lin Fan stabbed the Puppet Palace Master from behind, revealed his identity, and used Sword Qi to destroy him.
• Lin Fan sensed the Puppet Palace Master's hidden black mark escaping into the Black Demon Fog and erased it, preventing his revival.

Lin Fan discovered that Ni Miao had survived as a soul and used her knowledge to redirect a Teleportation Array toward Great Gan. As a battle between Titans began destroying Bianlin City, Lin Fan and Ni Miao escaped through the array.

• Lin Fan detected Ni Miao's soul hidden in an ancient mirror fragment and learned she belonged to the Great Gan imperial clan.
• Lin Fan asked Ni Miao about the Teleportation Array, and she explained that changing its spatial coordinates could send them back to Great Gan.
• The City Lord of Bianlin City confronted Wang Zhanyun, who urged him to join the Ancient Clan, but the City Lord refused.
• A golden hand swept away the black fog and burned the Mutants, then a second giant hand struck it and the two Titans' clash began collapsing Bianlin City.
• Lin Fan heeded the Bloodlight Demon Saint's warning, had Ni Miao activate the array, and escaped with her as the courtyard was destroyed.

A girl traveling with a boy hoping to join Orchid Valley protected their group from attackers, but a black-robed man seized the boy and identified her as Mei Lan’s disciple. The girl faced the dangerous stranger as the boy lay unconscious at his feet.

• A boy explained that he wanted to join Orchid Valley to learn healing arts and treat his parents, while the girl warned him that sects were not as wonderful as he imagined.
• Two attackers ambushed the disguised recruitment group, knocked out their guard, and were killed by the girl using Gu Poison.
• The girl realized the boy had vanished and found a black-robed man holding him hostage.
• The black-robed man identified the girl as Mei Lan’s disciple, dismissed her challenge, and dropped the unconscious boy to the ground.

Zhou Wutong and Junior Sister Tian were trapped by hostile cultivators after a failed attempt to escape, and Zhou Wutong was nearly defeated while protecting her. A mysterious man appeared when a beam of light shattered the formation, and he asked whether he was in Great Gan.

• A black-clad man attacked the fleeing girl and her companion, but Zhou Wutong appeared and killed him before other enemies surrounded them.
• Zhou Wutong sent Junior Sister Tian to flee, but the enemies trapped both women inside the Four Absolute Sun-Extinguishing Array.
• Zhou Wutong refused to surrender Orchid Valley and unleashed Phoenix Cry Nine Heavens, but the enemies stabilized the formation and overwhelmed her with falling rocks.
• As a gray hand reached to seize the weakened Zhou Wutong, a beam of light destroyed the formation and sent the dark figures flying.
• A bewildered man appeared before the cultivators and asked whether the place was Great Gan.

Lin Fan returned to Great Gan and rescued Zhou Wutong and Junior Sister Tian from four attackers targeting Orchid Valley. After learning their plan may have been leaked, he accepted their invitation to visit Orchid Valley and see the state of Great Gan.

• Lin Fan recognized Zhou Wutong and Junior Sister Tian as Orchid Valley disciples and urged their attackers to leave.
• The attackers refused, and Lin Fan killed all four with a giant hand.
• Zhou Wutong thanked Lin Fan and explained that she and Junior Sister Tian had tried to draw out those ambushing people sent to Orchid Valley’s recruitment trials.
• Lin Fan questioned how their carefully planned operation had been exposed, prompting the women to suspect a leak among the elders.
• Zhou Wutong and Junior Sister Tian invited Lin Fan to Orchid Valley, and he agreed to go with them.

Lin Fan preserved Ni Miao’s soul to learn more about Great Gan, while Zhou Wutong resolved to uncover the traitor behind the ambush. Believing Zhou Wutong and another disciple had died, Orchid Valley’s elders chose Jian Yu as the new successor, unaware that Zhou Wutong was alive.

• Lin Fan questioned Ni Miao, learned that Great Gan and the Lord of Bianlin City were partners, and preserved her soul so he could investigate Great Gan.
• Zhou Wutong reported that the mortals had all died, and she and the girl vowed to uncover the traitor with Lin Fan’s cooperation.
• Orchid Valley received false confirmation that Zhou Wutong, another disciple, and the mortals had died in the ambush.
• Elder Mei accused Meng Chang of leaking the operation, but the Great Elder stopped their fight and urged the elders to stabilize the sect.
• Meng Chang and the woman surnamed Qin proposed Jian Yu as the next successor, and the Great Elder approved a ceremony for her.

Zhou Wutong explained that she had faked her and her Junior Sister’s deaths to uncover a possible leak among Orchid Valley’s elders, while relying on Lin Fan for protection. As they traveled toward the sect, Lin Fan cultivated the Great Evolution Five Elements Art, triggering signs of Heaven and Earth before continuing the journey with the two women.

• Zhou Wutong told her Junior Sister that she suspected one of the elders who knew their plan had betrayed them, so she had staged their deaths to watch who acted suspiciously.
• Zhou Wutong admitted to Lin Fan that she had invited him along because she might need his protection, and Lin Fan accepted her honesty without objection.
• Lin Fan used the Pre-emptive Dao Fruit to cultivate the Great Evolution Five Elements Art to the entry level, spending five hundred years of lifespan.
• Lin Fan’s cultivation gathered clouds, wind, rain, thunder, and lightning around the carriage, and Zhou Wutong moved herself and her Junior Sister to safety.
• After the signs of Heaven and Earth dispersed, Lin Fan found his Primordial Spirit had grown stronger, checked his cultivation panel, and called the two women back to the carriage.

Zhou Wutong and Tian returned to Orchid Valley during Jian Yu’s succession ceremony, but Wang Chen tried to stop them by claiming they were impostors. Zhou Wutong defeated him and entered the valley with Tian as the ceremony was underway.

• Orchid Valley disciples gathered for Jian Yu’s succession ceremony, while Elder Meng taunted Elder Mei about Zhou Wutong’s death and the two elders nearly clashed.
• The Great Elder intervened, and the ceremony began with ninety-nine bell tolls as a carriage carrying Tian and Zhou Wutong arrived at the mountain gate.
• Tian revealed herself to the gate guards, who recognized her and were shocked to see Zhou Wutong alive.
• Wang Chen called the women impostors and ordered the guards to kill them, striking down a disciple who questioned his command.
• Zhou Wutong used the Phoenix Tree Sword to sever Wang Chen’s limb meridians, forcing the guards to let her and Tian pass into Orchid Valley.
• Lin Fan sensed the commotion from inside the carriage and smiled.

As Jian Yu’s succession ceremony began, Qin Qimeng’s faction learned that Zhou Wutong had survived and ordered her stopped. Zhou fought through the ambush, but Qin Qimeng confronted her and demanded that she leave Orchid Valley or face the consequences.

• Elder Meng and Qin Qimeng learned that Zhou Wutong had reached the mountain gate and arranged for Yue Yi to kill her as an alleged trespasser.
• Zhou Wutong and her companion headed toward the square, where Yue Yi and more than a dozen disciples blocked their way.
• Zhou Wutong defeated the attackers with her Phoenix Tree Sword and gravely wounded Yue Yi.
• Qin Qimeng appeared and told Zhou Wutong that Jian Yu had already become the new successor, then ordered her to leave or else.

Zhou Wutong and her junior sister were attacked by Qin Qimeng, but Lin Fan intervened from the carriage and let Zhou Wutong decide Qin’s fate. At Orchid Valley, Jian Yu’s succession ceremony was interrupted when Zhou Wutong appeared and Qin Qimeng’s battered body landed in the square.

• Zhou Wutong accused Qin Qimeng of obstructing them and possibly betraying Orchid Valley, then fought her alongside her junior sister.
• Qin Qimeng overwhelmed Zhou Wutong until Lin Fan dissolved her attacks, restrained her, and left her fate to Zhou Wutong.
• Zhou Wutong used the Phoenix Tree Sword to pierce Qin Qimeng and seal her power.
• Jian Yu approached the moment of receiving the Orchid Token as Orchid Valley’s successor while Meng Chang and Elder Mei watched the ceremony.
• Qin Qimeng’s disfigured body crashed into the square, and Zhou Wutong appeared, shocking the gathered disciples and elders.

Zhou Wutong and Tian Keke returned to Orchid Valley alive, disrupting Jian Yu’s succession ceremony and prompting Elder Meng to accuse them of treachery. The Great Elder postponed judgment until after the ceremony, while Mei Lan challenged the decision and the disciples argued over who should become heir.

• The Orchid Valley disciples and Jian Yu were shocked when Zhou Wutong appeared alive, and Tian Keke soon revealed that she had survived too.
• Zhou Wutong explained to Mei Lan that she and Tian Keke had faked their deaths after an ambush, and Mei Lan welcomed her disciple back.
• Elder Meng ordered her followers to seize Zhou Wutong and Tian Keke, claiming they were impostors who had injured Elder Qin, but the Great Elder ordered the followers to withdraw.
• Zhou Wutong told the Great Elder that Elder Qin had tried to kill her, while Elder Meng accused her of conspiring with an outsider and demanded an investigation.
• The Great Elder postponed judgment until after Jian Yu’s ceremony, and Mei Lan objected that Zhou Wutong should remain the heir.
• The disciples debated whether Zhou Wutong should reclaim her position as heir or Jian Yu should complete the succession ceremony.

Elder Mei openly backed Zhou Wutong as Orchid Valley’s rightful heir, sparking a battle between their supporters and the forces of Elder Meng and the Great Elder. When the Great Elder attacked Zhou Wutong, Lin Fan stepped out of the carriage and incapacitated her with overwhelming power.

• Elder Mei challenged the Great Elder’s decision to proceed with Jian Yu’s ceremony and declared that she would defend Zhou Wutong’s claim to be heir.
• Elder Meng ordered her disciples to suppress Elder Mei and Zhou Wutong, and the Great Elder then sent another hundred disciples into the fight.
• Zhou Wutong defeated Jian Yu with a single strike, but Jian Yu used the Jian Family’s Lifespan Burning Secret Art to attack her again.
• Lin Fan killed Jian Yu with a casual finger strike as she charged at Zhou Wutong from behind.
• The Great Elder mistook Zhou Wutong for Jian Yu’s killer and attacked her, but Lin Fan stepped out of the carriage and shattered the Great Elder’s attack, leaving her unconscious.

Lin Fan helped Zhou Wutong regain control of Orchid Valley, revealed that he had returned the Orchid Gold Hairpin entrusted to him by Zhou Yun, and captured the fleeing Elder Meng. After gaining lifespan by copying medical books, he agreed to remain in Orchid Valley for now, where Zhou Wutong offered herself to him in gratitude.

• Lin Fan appeared during the battle at Orchid Valley and incapacitated the Great Elder with a distant strike.
• Lin Fan showed Mei Lan and Zhou Wutong the Orchid Gold Hairpin and explained that Zhou Yun had entrusted him to return it.
• Elder Meng tried to flee, but Lin Fan seized her and dragged her back.
• Lin Fan copied medical books and gained eighty years of lifespan in one morning.
• Zhou Wutong told Lin Fan that Elders Meng and Qin had colluded with the Sacred Ghost Palace to kill her and seize control of Orchid Valley.
• Lin Fan said he would stay for the time being, and Zhou Wutong pressed herself against him and offered to serve him.

The Sacred Ghost Palace planned to use the Jian Family to strike Orchid Valley while investigating the powerful Lin Fan. Zhou Wutong, unable to persuade Lin Fan to stay through her own advances, decided that Keke should try for the sect’s sake.

• The Palace Master rebuked the Sacred Ghost Palace elders after Orchid Valley captured Meng and Qin and destroyed its spies, then ordered the Great Elder to court the Jian Family and investigate Lin Fan.
• The Great Elder claimed the Jian Family might attack Orchid Valley because Zhou Wutong had injured Jian Yu, and the Palace Master authorized him to use the Sacred Ghost Palace’s resources.
• Zhou Wutong left Lin Fan’s room confused that he had pushed her away, but she took the Orchid Gold Hairpin he had given her as a sign that he valued her abilities.
• Keke asked Zhou Wutong whether her attempt with Lin Fan had succeeded, and Zhou Wutong wondered whether Lin Fan cared less about appearance.
• Zhou Wutong told Keke to visit Lin Fan, saying that neither of them could hold anything back for the sect.

Lin Fan advanced the Eight Divisions Yama Scripture and discovered it could purify his Primordial Spirit. When he tested the Primal Divine Statue, it flooded him with energy and rooted itself in his Inner Landscape Sea, leaving him unable to remove it.

• Bloodlight Demon Saint left after Lin Fan secretly gave it an order.
• Lin Fan spent four hundred years of lifespan to advance the Eight Divisions Yama Scripture to Minor Completion, strengthening and purifying his Primordial Spirit.
• Lin Fan wondered whether deities existed and tested the Primal Divine Statue by injecting it with his power.
• The statue enveloped Lin Fan in green light and poured scorching energy into his body as his inner landscape resisted it.
• The statue disappeared from the air and appeared anchored on Lin Fan's Bridge of Longevity, where it conveyed goodwill.
• Lin Fan failed to force the statue from his inner landscape and worried that he could no longer sever their connection.

Lin Fan advanced to the second grade of the Calamity Crossing Realm after the Primal Divine Statue gave him Dao Principles energy, then questioned Ni Miao about Great Gan. Ni Miao offered to reveal an ancient ruin rich in Dao Principles in exchange for her freedom, and Lin Fan agreed to help her under the condition that he bind her with a Life and Death Talisman.

• The Primal Divine Statue sent Dao Principles energy into Lin Fan, raising his realm to the second grade of the Calamity Crossing Realm.
• Lin Fan summoned Ni Miao's weakened divine soul and asked about the Lord of Great Gan.
• Ni Miao warned that the Lord of Great Gan and Great Gan's hidden forces could threaten Lin Fan, and claimed that searching her memories would expose their location.
• When Lin Fan threatened to destroy her, Ni Miao offered information about an ancient ruin filled with Dao Principles.
• Lin Fan agreed to her conditions but required that he inscribe a Life and Death Talisman on Ni Miao, and she accepted.

Lin Fan gave Ni Miao a new body and learned her secrets from a Memory Soul Stone. Elsewhere, Bloodlight Demon Saint investigated a spreading calamity in Great Gan after witnessing black smoke consume two fleeing men.

• Tian Keke visited Lin Fan, who declined her offer to become his Dao partner and asked her to bring him a suitable captive from Orchid Valley.
• Ni Miao took over the body of one of Orchid Valley’s traitors, and Lin Fan planted a Life and Death Talisman in her body and soul.
• Ni Miao gave Lin Fan a Memory Soul Stone containing her memories, then left Orchid Valley.
• Two men fleeing through a scorched region tried to reach a Patrol Office camp, but black smoke caught and consumed them.
• Bloodlight Demon Saint watched the deaths and concluded that the strange calamity in Great Gan had spread beyond control.