Chapter Summaries

Zhang Qingyuan rescued Yang Wenqian from a Giant Ape’s desperate attack and recognized her as an old opponent from the Outer Sect Grand Competition. Yang Wenqian revealed she had spent years preparing to get revenge on him, though she ended their reunion by objecting to being called Senior Sister.

• The Giant Ape tore through the Talisman wind net and unleashed a deadly attack on Yang Wenqian.
• Zhang Qingyuan intercepted the blow with a Sword Light and carried Yang Wenqian clear of the explosion.
• Yang Wenqian mistook Zhang Qingyuan for an enemy, stopped her counterattack, and apologized after realizing he had saved her.
• Yang Wenqian recognized Zhang Qingyuan as the opponent who defeated her in the Outer Sect Grand Competition thirteen years earlier.
• Yang Wenqian recalled that she had come seeking Spirit Materials to prepare for revenge, then asked Zhang Qingyuan why he called her Senior Sister.

After Zhang Qingyuan and Yang Wenqian’s companions killed the wounded Giant Ape, Yang Wenqian thanked him with two valuable Talismans. Zhang Qingyuan accepted them and offered to repay her favor, while the gathered cultivators introduced themselves.

• Zhang Qingyuan and Yang Wenqian’s companions attacked the wounded Giant Ape until its aura was annihilated.
• Yang Wenqian sincerely thanked Zhang Qingyuan for saving her and said she would otherwise have faced serious trouble.
• Yang Wenqian gave Zhang Qingyuan a high-grade Yellow Tier Formation Breaking Talisman and a Substitute Talisman as thanks.
• Zhang Qingyuan accepted the Jade Boxes and promised to help Yang Wenqian if she ever needed him.
• The cultivators gathered around, introduced themselves, and shared where they had come from.

After parting ways with Yang Wenqian’s group, Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan suspected a nearby Cave Abode Ruins had drawn the Giant Ape Demonic Beast and used a Spirit Devouring Rat to search for its entrance. As Yang Wenqian’s group traveled toward Luoyan City, their guide inferred the Cloud Water Sect disciples were seeking ruins and connected their plans to a secret Azure Dragon Gang bounty.

• Yang Wenqian’s group left for Luoyan City, while Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan continued deeper into the Wilderness Mountain Range.
• Lin Yan explained that fragments of his incomplete map might have spread elsewhere, and Zhang Qingyuan reasoned that the Giant Ape Demonic Beast’s presence suggested nearby ruins.
• Zhang Qingyuan produced a Spirit Devouring Rat to help locate the ruins’ entrance, and Lin Yan agreed to search the area.
• Yang Wenqian told Xiaoman she intended to defeat Zhang Qingyuan, while Xiaoman imagined a dramatic romance between them.
• The guide inferred that Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan were searching for Cave Abode Ruins and recalled a secret bounty issued by the Azure Dragon Gang.

A guide reported Yang Wenqian's group to the Azure Dragon Gang's Gang Leader, believing they had found the place he had searched for over thirty-eight years. The Gang Leader ordered the entire gang to assemble, leaving the guide's report poised to trigger a major pursuit.

• The guide recalled the Azure Dragon Gang's bounty for clues to ruins and forbidden lands, then suspected Yang Wenqian's group had found the Gang Leader's target.
• The guide waited until Yang Wenqian's group left Luoyan City before heading to the City Lord Mansion to report what he had learned.
• The Gang Leader demanded that Ye Qing explain why he had failed to find the place after thirty-eight years and gave him a final two-year deadline.
• The guide arrived and secretly reported his information to the Gang Leader using the Sound Transmission Technique.
• The Gang Leader laughed with delight and ordered the Azure Dragon Gang to gather.

Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan found the hidden spatial secret realm, but its chaotic power separated them after they entered. Zhang Qingyuan arrived in a barren first layer, while Lin Yan followed Elder Xiao toward the deeper core and chose to keep its exploration to himself.

• Little White led Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan through a sealed cliff face to a hidden passage and an underground rift.
• The two confirmed that a spatial secret realm lay beneath the cliff and entered after checking the area for danger.
• Chaotic spatial power separated Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan as they crossed into the realm.
• Zhang Qingyuan landed in a barren place and sensed that something there might be resonating with his Sword Pellet.
• Lin Yan followed Elder Xiao's directions into a descending passage toward the secret realm's second layer, which Elder Xiao identified as its core.
• Lin Yan declined to return for Zhang Qingyuan, deciding that they were ordinary friends and that each should pursue his own opportunities.

Lin Yan entered the dark abyss, feeling confident that Elder Xiao’s guidance gave him an advantage over Zhang Qingyuan. Outside, the Azure Dragon Gang Leader prepared to enter the secret realm, ordering his men to kill anyone who emerged as he pursued the opportunity he had sought for decades.

• Lin Yan decided that Elder Xiao’s guidance and the chance to reach the true core were his fortune, and he walked toward the dark abyss.
• Azure Dragon Gang Members slaughtered a village and burned it to hide their crimes, following the Gang Leader’s order to purge everyone within a hundred-li radius.
• The Azure Dragon Gang Leader learned that Zhang Qingyuan and another person had entered a passage leading to an underground cliff, while the guide who revealed their location lay dead.
• The Azure Dragon Gang Leader recalled how he had obtained a Fragmented Map and spent decades searching for the secret realm it indicated.
• The Azure Dragon Gang Leader ordered Ye Qing to seal the entrance and kill anyone who emerged, dismissing concerns that the two intruders belonged to the Cloud Water Sect.

Zhang Qingyuan crossed the dead, desolate Secret Realm to find the body-refining inheritance Lin Yan had described. After defeating a ghostly creature at the ruins, he sensed the Sword Pellet resonating with something hidden above the Golden Giant Pillar.

• Zhang Qingyuan explored the lifeless Secret Realm and flew toward the inheritance site using Lin Yan's directions.
• After two days, Zhang Qingyuan reached a ruined palace and found the Golden Giant Pillar at its center.
• Blood-red hair and a ghostly figure attacked Zhang Qingyuan as he approached the pillar.
• Zhang Qingyuan cut down the ghostly creature, causing the blood-red hair to disappear.
• Zhang Qingyuan sensed a connection between the Sword Pellet and something above the pillar, and considered using his Formation Breaking Talisman.

Zhang Qingyuan discovered that his Sword Pellet resonated with the Golden Giant Pillar and used a formation-breaking talisman to reveal a hidden passage above it. In the second layer of the Secret Realm, Lin Yan fought the Azure Dragon Gang's Gang Leader near an ancient gate, with their battle still raging.

• Zhang Qingyuan summoned his Sword Pellet, causing the Golden Giant Pillar's runes to glow and confirming a connection like the one he had sensed from the Desolate Sky Tree.
• Zhang Qingyuan sensed something hidden in the sky above the pillar and used Yang Wenqian's high-grade Yellow Tier Formation Breaking Talisman to reveal a vortex passage.
• Lin Yan, who had explored the second layer without a map, confronted the Azure Dragon Gang's Gang Leader at the ancient gate after eliminating or severely injuring the Gang Leader's subordinates.
• The Azure Dragon Gang's Gang Leader attacked Lin Yan with a thunderous punch, and Lin Yan met him with a flame-wreathed palm.
• Lin Yan and the Azure Dragon Gang's Gang Leader exchanged blows amid the crumbling Secret Realm, while the Gang Members watched in terror from a distance.

Zhang Qingyuan entered the hidden space inside the Golden Giant Pillar and received the first three layers of the Desolate Sky Body Refining Art from a mysterious Remnant Soul. The old man sent him back outside, then privately noticed several unusual inheritances and marks on him.

• Zhang Qingyuan used Yang Wenqian's Formation Breaking Talisman to open a passage above the Golden Giant Pillar and entered a pale-white space.
• Zhang Qingyuan met a silent old man's phantom, who examined him and asked what he sought.
• Zhang Qingyuan requested a profound Body Refining Method to balance his foundation, and the old man transmitted the first three layers of the Desolate Sky Body Refining Art into his mind.
• The old man warned Zhang Qingyuan that the Great Tribulation was approaching and sent him back through the passage, which then shut.
• The old man's phantom noticed traces of Qianyuanzi's path, an ancient inheritance, and another mark within Zhang Qingyuan, and wondered whether an old friend had arranged it.

Zhang Qingyuan absorbed the Golden Giant Pillar into his Sword Pellet, repairing it to a High-grade Dharma Treasure and gaining the ability to disguise it as a longsword. He left the high platform with new spoils and an Ancient Body Refining Art fragment, still wondering where Lin Yan had gone.

• Zhang Qingyuan pondered the Old Man's strength and cryptic words about a gatekeeper, a Great Tribulation, and an Ancient Inheritance before deciding to leave the matter for another time.
• Zhang Qingyuan placed his Sword Pellet against the Golden Giant Pillar, and the pillar melted and flowed into it.
• Zhang Qingyuan's repaired Sword Pellet reached the High-grade Dharma Treasure level, strengthening his ability to contend with True Essence Seventh Layer cultivators.
• Zhang Qingyuan discovered that the Sword Pellet could transform into a golden longsword without disrupting his Sword Seed cultivation, allowing him to conceal its identity.
• Zhang Qingyuan collected nearby Storage Bags and flew away, wondering where Lin Yan had gone, while the Old Man's phantom looked over the empty platform.

After three fruitless days exploring the barren Secret Realm, Zhang Qingyuan decided to leave with the Desolate Sky Body Refining Art and his restored Sword Pellet. He remained uncertain about the art’s rare cultivation materials and the mysteries linking the Sword Pellet, the old gatekeeper, and the Spirit Sea Sword Sect.

• Zhang Qingyuan found no surviving treasures or useful remnants as he explored the desolate Secret Realm.
• Zhang Qingyuan studied the Desolate Sky Body Refining Art and realized its powerful first three layers required rare materials, some extinct or nearly impossible to obtain.
• Zhang Qingyuan recalled spirit-material records from the Jade Slips of the Spirit Sea Sword Sect and decided to seek information from Daoist Ming Shui or Yang Wenqian after handling his current affairs.
• Zhang Qingyuan resolved to keep studying the art despite the obstacles, reasoning that its methods could still benefit his cultivation even if he could not begin practicing it.
• Zhang Qingyuan prepared to leave the Secret Realm, satisfied with obtaining the ancient art and restoring the Spirit Tool Sword Pellet to a High-grade Magic Tool, but still had unanswered questions about the old gatekeeper and the Great Tribulation.

Zhang Qingyuan fled the first layer as the secret realm mutated, while Lin Yan and the Azure Dragon Gang Leader escaped the darkness consuming the second layer. The Old Man's phantom sealed the gate before the entity behind it could emerge, but his power weakened further.

• Zhang Qingyuan saw black mist and shadowy figures arise across the first layer and decisively fled toward the entrance.
• Lin Yan and the Azure Dragon Gang Leader stopped fighting and raced together from the second layer as darkness silently swallowed the space and its inhabitants.
• An enormous hand reached through the cracked Ancient Gate, and Lin Yan and the Azure Dragon Gang Leader felt its overwhelming malice after escaping into the first layer.
• The Old Man's phantom commanded the intruder to retreat, and chains of law dragged its hand back and sealed the Ancient Gate.
• The Old Man's phantom altered the secret realm, then closed his eyes as his Aura weakened further.

Zhang Qingyuan escaped the collapsing Underground Cliff Secret Realm, sensed a terrifying force within it, and killed Azure Dragon Gang members who attacked him. Lin Yan emerged at the last moment and immediately clashed with another powerful figure, leaving Zhang Qingyuan facing a battle amid the upheaval.

• Zhang Qingyuan escaped through the collapsing Secret Realm exit and wondered what had happened to Lin Yan.
• A bald Azure Dragon Gang leader and his men attacked Zhang Qingyuan, who killed them with a single burst of Sword Qi.
• The surviving Azure Dragon Gang members fled as the valley shook and the Secret Realm entrance began to close.
• Lin Yan and another figure burst out of the Secret Realm, and Lin Yan struck first with a powerful palm.
• The other figure countered with a lightning-wreathed punch, and their True Essence collision shook the valley.

After emerging from the Secret Realm, Lin Yan and Guo Sancai resumed their deadly fight, with Zhang Qingyuan offering to help Lin Yan. Before they could settle the battle, a powerful Red Robed Man arrived and accused Guo Sancai of deceiving the Holy Cult and trying to escape with what he had found.

• Lin Yan and Guo Sancai resumed fighting outside the sealed Secret Realm, exchanging blows that shattered the surrounding land.
• Zhang Qingyuan joined Lin Yan and offered to help him kill Guo Sancai.
• Guo Sancai declared that he would kill them and prepared to crush a Jade Talisman glowing with Black Spiritual Light.
• A powerful Red Robed Man arrived, and Lin Yan judged his strength to be at the Quasi Seventh Level.
• The Red Robed Man accused Guo Sancai of concealing the truth from the Holy Cult and exterminating those nearby to hide his escape.
• Guo Sancai knelt and claimed he had only investigated the site to protect the Holy Cult's secrets.

Guo Sancai pleaded with the Red Robe Bishop after his attempt to seize the Holy Lord's Remains failed, but the Bishop ordered him to kill everyone present. The Bishop then offered Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan a chance to join the Holy Cult; after they refused, he attacked them with a vast sea of blood.

• Guo Sancai recounted how the mysterious sect had controlled his life in Luoyan City and confessed that greed had led him to betray the sect's plans.
• The Red Robe Bishop called Guo Sancai's discovery of the Holy Lord's Remains a great merit, then ordered him to kill everyone nearby to keep the location secret.
• Guo Sancai attacked and slaughtered the Azure Dragon Gang Members who had served him.
• The Red Robe Bishop appeared before Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan and offered them blood-red flowers if they joined the Holy Cult.
• Zhang Qingyuan refused on behalf of himself and Lin Yan, and the Red Robe Bishop unleashed a blood sea against them.

Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan joined forces to fight the Red Robe Bishop, a Quasi Seventh Level expert, and barely held their own against his superior strength. Their clash ended in a massive explosion that forced all three fighters to retreat.

• The Red Robe Bishop unleashed his Blood Sea Spirit Devouring Hand, but Lin Yan blocked most of it with his Fire Cloud Shield and Zhang Qingyuan cut apart the remaining force with his sword.
• The Red Robe Bishop recognized Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan as dangerous geniuses and charged to kill them.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan fought the Red Robe Bishop together, using sword techniques and Blazing True Essence to keep themselves safe.
• The Red Robe Bishop struck with a blood-colored giant palm as Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Yan countered with a river of Sword Qi and a flaming fist.
• The three attacks collided and formed a massive energy sphere that exploded, destroying the surrounding ground and forcing all three fighters to retreat.

Lin Yan and Zhang Qingyuan faced the Red Robe Bishop and Guo Sancai after their battle reached a stalemate. Zhang Qingyuan insisted on taking on the Bishop alone, while Xiao Xuantian urged Lin Yan to watch him and prepare to receive his power if needed.

• The Red Robe Bishop recognized Lin Yan and Zhang Qingyuan’s extraordinary talent and resolved to kill them before they could threaten the Holy Cult.
• Lin Yan taunted the Red Robe Bishop to provoke a mistake, but the Bishop instead ordered Guo Sancai to hold Zhang Qingyuan back.
• Lin Yan realized his provocation had worsened their situation and prepared to use his last-resort backup plan.
• Zhang Qingyuan told Lin Yan to leave Guo Sancai to him and take on the Red Robe Bishop himself, but Lin Yan objected and offered to face the stronger enemy instead.
• Zhang Qingyuan said he had abilities he could not use while surrounded and asked Lin Yan to keep his distance from the fight with Guo Sancai.
• Xiao Xuantian told Lin Yan to let Zhang Qingyuan demonstrate his strength and to be ready to receive his power if anything went wrong.

Zhang Qingyuan faced the Red Robe Bishop alone while Lin Yan fought Guo Sancai, and a life-or-death attack awakened Zhang Qingyuan’s Wind Intent. He escaped the Bishop’s first killing blow and unleashed his hidden Seed Sword Technique, declaring that the Bishop would die.

• Lin Yan trusted Zhang Qingyuan’s confidence and agreed to help if he faced danger, while Zhang Qingyuan looked forward to testing his Secret Technique.
• Lin Yan intercepted Guo Sancai, drawing him into battle as the Red Robe Bishop attacked Zhang Qingyuan.
• The Red Robe Bishop struck Zhang Qingyuan with a powerful claw, and Lin Yan prepared to intervene as Xiao Xuantian watched through Lin Yan’s body.
• Under the pressure of the killing blow, Zhang Qingyuan gained a major breakthrough in Wind Intent and evaded the attack with his movement technique.
• The Red Robe Bishop renewed his assault, but Zhang Qingyuan countered with Seed Sword Technique · One Qi Transforms into Three Lotuses.

Zhang Qingyuan unleashed the Secret Technique he had developed from the Sword Drawing Technique, using the Sword Pellet to cut down the Red Robe Bishop. The strike killed the bishop but nearly exhausted Zhang Qingyuan, who realized the technique’s power had not yet been fully released.

• Zhang Qingyuan recalled how he had reshaped the Sword Drawing Technique into a Secret Technique that cultivated a sword within his body.
• Zhang Qingyuan drew on the Sword Pellet and swung his sword at the Red Robe Bishop.
• The Red Robe Bishop witnessed Zhang Qingyuan’s Sword Light shatter an apocalyptic illusion and erase his blood-colored attack.
• The Red Robe Bishop asked what sword technique Zhang Qingyuan had used before the sword mark on his forehead drained away his strength.
• Zhang Qingyuan withdrew the Sword Pellet into his dantian and nearly collapsed from the technique’s immense expenditure.
• The Red Robe Bishop fell to the ground, dead, while Zhang Qingyuan realized the sword technique had released only about eighty percent of its power.

After Zhang Qingyuan killed the Red Robe Bishop, Lin Yan killed Guo Sancai, and the two escaped the battlefield. Days later, Zhang Qingyuan began refining a High-grade Spirit Stone to break through to the late fourth layer of True Essence.

• Zhang Qingyuan slew the Red Robe Bishop with a sword strike and restored his True Essence with Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
• Guo Sancai fled after witnessing Zhang Qingyuan's power, but Lin Yan caught up with him and killed him with a punch.
• Lin Yan returned, and he and Zhang Qingyuan left the devastated battlefield to avoid attracting attention.
• Several days later, Zhang Qingyuan prepared to cultivate in a remote Cave Dwelling, having reached the peak of the middle True Essence Fourth Layer.
• Zhang Qingyuan swallowed a Tongzhen Pill and began refining the High-grade Spirit Stone, steadily increasing his aura.