Chapter Summaries

Xuan Zhuang brought Xu Yi before a delegation to study the fortune dragon, but Xu Yi absorbed it into his Starry Sky Ring and claimed it had escaped. Xuan Zhuang and Liu Jingtian demanded its return, while Xu Yi called on the Western Continent representatives to defend him.

• Xuan Zhuang asked Xu Yi to help him comprehend the fortune dragon, concealing a plan to blame Xu Yi if the dragon disappeared.
• Xu Yi agreed, took the Dongmou Bead, and released its restriction as Xuan Zhuang instructed.
• Xu Yi pretended the fortune dragon was escaping as it flew into his body and vanished into his Starry Sky Ring.
• Xuan Zhuang's allies protested that Xu Yi had disrupted their plan, and Xuan Zhuang angrily accused him of looking down on the Eastern Continent.
• Liu Jingtian demanded that Xu Yi return the fortune dragon, but Xu Yi denied taking it and asked Brother Mei, Elder Miao, and Elder Xue to stand up for him.

Xu Yi outmaneuvered Xuan Zhuang’s scheme to frame him over the Fortune Dragon, turning the gathered factions against the White Horse Temple. After revealing that Plum Blossom Seven and Xu Yi were one and the same, the confrontation escalated when Liu Jingtian attacked.

• Xuan Zhuang’s allies, Elder Miao and Elder Xue, refused to accuse Xu Yi, and Plum Blossom Seven condemned the White Horse Temple for surrounding him.
• Liu Jingtian and Xuan Zhuang realized their plan had been exposed, but they could not determine who had leaked it.
• Xu Yi had discovered the plot through the White Horse Temple’s messenger, extracted a payoff, and used his corpse-severing abilities and Huang Mei’s corpse puppet to appear as both himself and Plum Blossom Seven.
• Xuan Zhuang demanded that Xu Yi state his terms, but Xu Yi asked to speak with him privately.
• Liu Jingtian threatened Xu Yi and then struck.

Liu Jingtian attacked Xu Yi, but a ghostly blue furnace flame killed him and destroyed his cultivation in an instant. White Horse Temple and Lesser Vehicle Mountain abandoned plans for war and sent a delegation to negotiate with Xu Yi.

• Liu Jingtian used the Spirit Judge Brush to attack Xu Yi, but a ghostly blue furnace flame blocked the strike and pierced Liu Jingtian's head.
• Xu Yi denounced White Horse Temple and Lesser Vehicle Mountain, while Plum Blossom Seven, Elder Miao, and Elder Xue backed him.
• Xuan Zhuang despaired after seeing Liu Jingtian die and Xu Yi reveal overwhelming power.
• Huìnéng reported the incident, and the leaders of White Horse Temple and Lesser Vehicle Mountain decided against starting a war.
• White Horse Temple and Lesser Vehicle Mountain sent a joint delegation led by Huang Yifeng to meet Xu Yi.

Xu Yi negotiated with Elder Huang to keep Xuan Zhuang for a few days, then pressured him to answer questions about Saint Master Xuanzang and Xia Xingguang. Xuan Zhuang claimed his master had been an old friend of Xia Xingguang, but Xu Yi's main goal remained finding out where Lian Yunshang was.

• Xu Yi agreed with Elder Huang to keep Xuan Zhuang for a few days and promised not to kill him.
• Xu Yi threatened to imprison Xuan Zhuang until he stopped feigning silence and answered questions.
• Xu Yi challenged Xuan Zhuang's claims that Saint Master Xuanzang was present and could be contacted, and Xuan Zhuang admitted he could only receive his master's instructions.
• Xu Yi asked about Saint Master Xuanzang's relationship with Xia Xingguang, and Xuan Zhuang said they had been old acquaintances.
• Xu Yi remained intent on learning where Lian Yunshang was.

Xu Yi secretly tracked down Lian Yunshang and arranged a lavish trial performance of his play, Asking After Love, hoping to see how she would fare. As the show began, he watched from a private room while Lian Yunshang arrived with Su Jinyue, unaware that Xu Yi was there.

• Xu Yi used White Horse Temple and Xuan Zhuang to search discreetly for Lian Yunshang, then found her in the southern city.
• Xu Yi hired the Fatty Steward to assemble famous performers and rehearse Asking After Love in two days, with a monk's token compelling the stars to join.
• The Fatty Steward delayed the start until Xu Yi gave the order, and Xu Yi smiled when a woman in green arrived.
• Lian Yunshang and Su Jinyue took seats in the front row, and Lian Yunshang explained that the capital's top performers had gathered for a trial performance.
• Lian Yunshang recalled a mysterious voice predicting that Dongguo Hong would perform Asking After Love that day.

Xu Yi watched Lian Yunshang become absorbed in the play he had arranged to help her confront her past, while Ka Shentong revealed himself as her father-in-law and challenged Xu Yi’s plan to restore her memories. The chapter left Xu Yi facing the possibility that bringing Xia Zimo’s memories back would destroy Lian Yunshang as she was now.

• Lian Yunshang and Su Jinyue watched the packed theater’s production of Asking Love, which followed the tragic romance between a cultivator and a demon.
• As the play unfolded, Lian Yunshang grew silent and seemed to undergo a subtle change, but she did not respond when Su Jinyue called to her.
• A black-robed youth introduced himself to Xu Yi as Ka Shentong, Xia Zimo’s father and Xu Yi’s father-in-law.
• Xu Yi accused Ka Shentong of using love as an excuse for sending Xuan Zhuang to steal Xia Xingguang’s Immortal Body, and Ka Shentong laughed rather than taking offense.
• Ka Shentong told Xu Yi that restoring Xia Zimo’s memories might kill Lian Yunshang, since she was now a distinct person without those memories.

Xu Yi and Huang Mei argued after Ka Shentong trapped Xu Yi in a magical treasure, while Lian Yunshang reacted to a play and went looking for Xu Yi. Xu Yi and Huang Mei began preparing to escape with the Four-Colored Seal, but Xu Yi grew uneasy about how easily he had thought of the plan.

• Ka Shentong swallowed Xu Yi into his sleeve, and Huang Mei scolded Xu Yi for hesitating over Lian Yunshang and her memories.
• Lian Yunshang broke down in tears during the play, then went to the theater office and used Xu Yi's portrait to get Fatty Steward to help her find him.
• Xu Yi and Huang Mei cursed Ka Shentong and confirmed that he could not monitor them inside his magical treasure.
• Huang Mei told Xu Yi that Ka Shentong was a corpse with a spirit of his own and warned him that they were in danger.
• Huang Mei reminded Xu Yi to use the Four-Colored Seal, and Xu Yi summoned a corpse and sent it far away as he began his escape plan.

Xu Yi escaped the pitch-black barrier and arrived in the Barren Frontier, where Ka Shentong told Xuanzang that Xu Yi might be tied to the Fortune Dragon’s emergence. After the Heaven-Ruling Myriad Blessings Bag failed to contain Xu Yi, Xuanzang accepted that he might be an important opportunity and gave Ka Shentong a drop of blood essence.

• The Four-Colored Seal opened a passage through the darkness, and Xu Yi followed its light into the Barren Frontier with Huang Mei.
• Xu Yi contacted Zhang Fang while waiting for him to arrive, and Ka Shentong visited Xuanzang at a remote temple.
• Ka Shentong told Xuanzang that Xu Yi was his son-in-law and relayed Old Demon Ning’s theory that Xu Yi might have caused the boundary breach linked to the Fortune Dragon.
• Ka Shentong tried to activate the Heaven-Ruling Myriad Blessings Bag, but it failed, and Xuanzang found that Xu Yi had escaped and damaged it.
• Xuanzang accepted that Xu Yi might be the key to an opportunity and gave Ka Shentong a drop of blood essence before Ka Shentong departed.

Xu Yi followed Zhang Fang to a gathering of powerful cultivators preparing to collect Immortal Spirit Grass in the Barren Frontier. After the group traveled to Zhang Fang’s discovery, they began sealing off the area around a waterfall cave.

• Xu Yi met Zhang Fang and insisted on accompanying him to a gathering, using Zhang Fang’s corpse pill to keep him cooperative.
• Zhang Fang brought Xu Yi to meet thirteen seed cultivators, including Li Zhao, who dismissed Xu Yi as a weak newcomer.
• The group prepared defensive encirclement diagrams to protect themselves from crystal beasts while collecting Immortal Spirit Grass.
• Li Zhao made Xu Yi carry the heavy diagrams, and Xu Yi pretended to be too weak to manage them before the group set off.
• Zhang Fang led the group to a waterfall cave where he had found traces of Immortal Spirit Grass, then ordered the others to seal off the surrounding area.

Xu Yi joined Zhang Fang and the others in a cave, where they found and captured an Immortal Spirit Grass that Li Zhao took as their spoils. After the group divided its value into copper coins, Young Sect Master Guo arrived with four elders and accused them of stealing the grass.

• Xu Yi insisted on joining Zhang Fang, Li Zhao, Cao Guohua, and Man Wenqing as they searched the cave for Immortal Spirit Grass.
• Li Zhao tried to seize the grass, but it escaped into the ground until Xu Yi pulled it out with a spiral of clear radiance.
• Li Zhao claimed the Immortal Spirit Grass and exchanged it for one hundred copper coins, which the group divided among themselves.
• Young Sect Master Guo arrived with four elders, including a Five-Complete Sage, and accused the group of stealing the grass he had raised.
• Young Sect Master Guo summoned a string of round beads above each person's head.

Xu Yi confronted Young Sect Master Guo Rui and the Hundred Kings Sect after they forced cultivators to join their prospecting team. He captured Guo Rui with his ghostly-blue flames and ordered the others to fight back, leaving everyone stunned by his strength.

• Young Sect Master Guo Rui’s demon wolf killed a cultivator who dropped the silver bead, while Zhang Fang warned Xu Yi that the Hundred Kings Sect’s elders were too powerful to challenge.
• Li Zhao accepted Guo Rui’s blood pact and joined the Hundred Kings Sect’s prospecting team, then urged the others to follow him.
• Xu Yi destroyed the demon wolf with his flames and told the cultivators to fight while he held off Fang Zongdao.
• Xu Yi attacked Guo Rui instead of Fang Zongdao and trapped him and his Purple Spirit Treasure in a net of ghostly-blue flames.
• The cultivators stared in shock as Zhang Fang realized Xu Yi had grown powerful enough to capture Guo Rui with his divine abilities alone.

Xu Yi captured Guo Rui, took control of the prisoners, and held an assembly to learn about the Barren World. He learned that the Copper Ring connected to the General Chamber of Commerce and that Immortal Spirit Grass could be traded for its coins.

• Xu Yi revealed himself as Old Demon Kongxu and told Fang Zongdao he would exchange Guo Rui for resources in three days.
• Xu Yi agreed to take the prisoners with him after they each gave him blood essence, which Huang Mei used to draw out their corpse qi.
• Xu Yi warned Fang Zongdao not to interfere and left with Zhang Fang, Li Zhao, Cao Guohua, and the others.
• Xu Yi searched the prisoners in Purple Domain Space, confiscating their resources and Heavenly Spirits before convening an assembly at Bluestone Flat.
• Xu Yi laid out rules and life-or-death penalties for the meeting, prompting the prisoners to answer his questions.
• The prisoners explained that the Copper Ring was a trading teleportation array and that the General Chamber of Commerce exchanged Immortal Spirit Grass for its coins.

Xu Yi forced Guo Rui to submit and explain the Barren Frontier’s cultivation system. Guo Rui described the stages beyond Five-Complete Sage, leaving Xu Yi and the others with the distinction between Three Flower True Persons and Five Qi Yuan Monarchs.

• Li Zhao and others explained why cultivators valued copper coins and Immortal Spirit Grass and shared what little was known about the Black and White Emperor Lords.
• Xu Yi ordered Li Zhao to extract Guo Rui’s blood essence and feed him an Origin Seal Bead, then used a forbidden spell to break his resistance.
• After Xu Yi had Li Zhao give Guo Rui pills, Guo Rui explained that the Barren Frontier’s resources made reaching Five-Complete Sage easier and offered greater opportunities than returning to the lower realm.
• Guo Rui said that lower-realm Earth Immortals were actually at an intermediate stage, while Barren Frontier cultivators could develop further as Three Flower True Persons and then Five Qi Yuan Monarchs.

Xu Yi questioned his captives about the Barren Frontier and asked them to help plan his future. Li Zhao proposed that Xu Yi establish a sect and enter the Two Mansions, but Zhang Fang called the plan wildly unrealistic and deferred to Guo Rui.

• Xu Yi learned that a Pure Yang Dao Body rivaled an Earth Immortal and that crystal beast cores were valuable to the General Chamber of Commerce.
• Guo Rui explained that crystal beasts were bloodthirsty creatures with gaseous forms, and that mature beasts had cores containing Demonic Power and Immortal Spirit Power.
• Xu Yi shared food with his captives, revealed that he was new to the Barren Frontier, and asked them to suggest a path for his future.
• Zhang Fang warned Xu Yi that the Hundred Kings Sect remained an obstacle, while Xu Yi trusted Guo Rui to handle it.
• Li Zhao pledged himself to Xu Yi and proposed that he establish a sect, enter the Two Mansions, and strive to approach the two Emperor Lords.
• Zhang Fang said Li Zhao's plan was wildly unrealistic and asked Guo Rui to explain why.

Xu Yi considered establishing a sect after Guo Rui explained its costs, duties, and benefits, but Li Zhao revealed a chance to pursue a far more valuable Senior Official position. The chapter ended with Li Zhao offering ideas for obtaining the Green Crystal Core Chen Black Order wanted.

• Guo Rui explained that establishing a sect cost fifty Gold Coins, required annual taxes, and offered protection, medicine quotas, and a path into the Two Mansions.
• Xu Yi asked whether he should become a sect master, and his captives supported the idea because they preferred being sect members to remaining slaves.
• Li Zhao privately told Xu Yi that Chen Black Order would trade a Senior Official position for a Green Crystal Core.
• Xu Yi questioned why Chen Black Order wanted the core and learned that Black Order was an official rank in the Two Mansions.
• Li Zhao said he had several ideas for finding a Green Crystal Core, though he could not guarantee they would work.

Xu Yi accepted Li Zhao’s scheme to use Guo Rui and a crystal beast, established the Kongxu Sect, and ordered his followers to search for Immortal Spirit Grass. Guo Rui revealed that a crystal beast guarded a place where the grass grew, so Xu Yi decided to investigate it first.

• Li Zhao proposed marking Guo Rui with the crystal beast’s ashes to provoke a deadly clash between the beast and the Hundred Kings Sect, and Xu Yi appointed him an Enforcement Hall elder of the Kongxu Sect.
• Xu Yi sent Zhang Fang to retrieve the ashes and had Cao Guohua choose the sect’s territory for harvesting Immortal Spirit Grass.
• Zhang Fang returned with what Xu Yi needed, and Xu Yi declared those present members of the Kongxu Sect and tasked them with finding Immortal Spirit Grass.
• Guo Rui told Xu Yi that Immortal Spirit Grass grew where a crystal beast had made its lair.
• Xu Yi decided to visit the site and look around before committing to a plan.

Xu Yi’s group reached Sleep Cloud Peak, where Guo Rui revealed how he had learned of the Immortal Spirit Grass guarded by a crystal beast. Xu Yi prepared to pursue a secret plan, leaving the other prisoners restrained and unconscious while bringing Guo Rui into Purple Domain Space.

• Guo Rui explained that a Ruyi Pearl had captured images of Immortal Spirit Grass and a crystal beast inside a cave on Sleep Cloud Peak, and Xu Yi confirmed the images.
• Guo Rui said he had kept the information to himself so he could sell it, and Xu Yi suggested he might resolve the grudge with the Hundred Kings Sect.
• Xu Yi told the prisoners to seal off their senses, then ordered Li Zhao and Zhang Fang to knock them unconscious and discuss Li Zhao’s plan.
• Zhang Fang questioned whether Li Zhao could be trusted, but Xu Yi knocked both men out and bound, medicated, and sealed the prisoners inside a stone chamber.
• Xu Yi took Guo Rui into Purple Domain Space, returned his removed mark, and sealed the crystal beast’s ashes into Guo Rui’s hair.

Guo Xiang learned that the Star Positioning Disk had found Guo Rui and launched a surprise assault on Xu Yi before their agreed hostage exchange. The attack rescued Guo Rui but left Xu Yi facing Guo Xiang’s assembled forces with the Corpse Pill in hand.

• Guo Xiang discussed the costs of getting help from the Golden Light Sect and decided to bring in Old Demon Chixia as well.
• A messenger reported that the Star Positioning Disk had locked on, and Guo Xiang ordered Guo Tian and the Golden Light Sect’s forces to march immediately.
• A pillar of light destroyed the mountain peak, and the resulting blast snatched Guo Rui away from Xu Yi.
• Guo Xiang’s forces arrived, and Fang Zongdao freed and woke Guo Rui.
• Guo Rui demanded that Xu Yi be captured, then fell silent when he saw the Corpse Pill in Xu Yi’s hand.
• Xu Yi accused Guo Xiang of using a sneak attack and bringing many men to confront him.

Xu Yi lured Guo Xiang’s forces to Cloudrest Peak and unleashed the crystal beast against the Hundred Kings Sect and Golden Light Sect. He then used the beast’s attack as cover to break the Golden Light Sect’s formation and trap its cultivators in deep-blue flames.

• Guo Rui urged Guo Xiang to seize Xu Yi’s Mystical Treasure, but Xu Yi tried to leave before Guo Xiang’s forces pursued him in formation.
• Xu Yi led the pursuing forces past Cloudrest Peak, where the crystal beast emerged and shattered their black-light formation, killing several cultivators.
• Guo Xiang and Chen Xuefeng joined forces to defend against the beast and surround Xu Yi, but its attacks forced them to focus on defense.
• Xu Yi approached the crystal beast unnoticed and formed twenty-three Sword Light lotus blossoms with the Immortal Slaying Sword.
• Xu Yi directed the combined sword attack at the Golden Light Sect’s formation, blasting it apart and badly injuring Chen Xuefeng, two elders, and more than twenty followers.
• Xu Yi spread his deep-blue flames into a net and trapped the Golden Light Sect cultivators as they struggled to recover.

Xu Yi manipulated Guo Xiang into killing one Crystal Beast, then lured its companion into the cave where the Hundred Kings Sect had gathered. The companion slaughtered Guo Xiang and his allies, while Xu Yi remained outside the cave facing the enraged beast.

• Xu Yi’s blue flames incinerated the Hundred Kings Sect’s defenders, and Guo Xiang handed Guo Rui a sealed jade box as the sect’s defensive formation collapsed.
• The Crystal Beast swallowed Guo Rui and was destroyed by Thunder True Intent; Guo Xiang claimed the Crystal Core while Xu Yi collected the beast’s ashes.
• Xu Yi and Guo Xiang discussed a truce, but Xu Yi suddenly rushed toward the cave where the Immortal Spirit Grass grew, prompting Guo Xiang and his people to follow.
• Xu Yi threw the ash pearl into the cave, summoning the second companion Crystal Beast and trapping the Hundred Kings Sect inside with it.
• The Crystal Beast overwhelmed Guo Xiang, Fang Zongdao, and Guo Tian, then charged out of the cave to attack Xu Yi.