Chapter Summaries

Hun Yu rallied the factions on the Ancient Domain Platform into an alliance to cross the Beast Tide, and more than a thousand fighters set out together. They reached a vast sea of Fierce Beasts, with the Bodhi Ancient Tree visible beyond it.

• Hun Yu proposed an alliance without ranks or orders, promising mutual support against the Beast Tide.
• Jiu Feng declared that the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan would join, prompting nearly all the factions to agree.
• Gu Qingyang warned Xiao Yan that Jiu Feng was the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan's chosen next Clan Leader and a formidable opponent.
• Xun Er warned Xiao Yan that fewer than one in ten would survive crossing the Beast Tide, while Lin Ming resolved to make it through.
• Hun Yu led the alliance toward the northern horizon, and Lin Ming's group traveled near the middle of the formation.
• The alliance halted before hundreds of thousands of Fierce Beasts, and Lin Ming spotted the Bodhi Ancient Tree beyond them.

Hun Yu led the temporary alliance into the beast tide, while Lin Ming and his companions stayed alert and kept their own formation. After a Dou Venerate died and the beasts surrounded the force, they continued toward the increasingly visible Bodhi Ancient Tree.

• Hun Yu volunteered the Hun Clan to lead the charge, and Lin Ming warned his group not to trust the Hun Clan's arrangements.
• Hun Yu charged first as thousands of experts formed an arrowhead, with Lin Ming's group advancing near the middle in a tight formation.
• The alliance blasted an opening through the weaker beasts, while Lin Ming and his companions fought off attackers and conserved their strength.
• After the formation penetrated roughly three thousand yards, stronger beasts attacked and Gu Qingyang warned everyone to be careful.
• A Four-Star Dou Venerate was killed by eighth-order beasts, and Hun Yu urged the surrounded alliance to keep moving toward the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

Hun Yu and the Hun Clan pretended to lead the charge while secretly conserving their strength and letting other factions bear the danger. As the beast tide overwhelmed the group, Lin Ming’s companions held a steady position in the middle, where he reflected on the law of the strong preying on the weak.

• Hun Yu led the Hun Clan through the beasts, winning the crowd’s trust while Lin Ming noticed they avoided dangerous opponents and kept their strength in reserve.
• Xiao Yan, Xun'er, and Gu Qingyang recognized that Hun Yu’s maneuvers were scattering the other factions, and Lin Ming told his companions to hold their own formation.
• An Ironclad Rhino and other powerful beasts slowed the advance, killed several Dou Venerates, and forced the group into brutal close combat.
• Hun Yu and the Soul Hall experts vanished from the front, leaving weaker fighters to become cannon fodder as the panicked crowd shoved forward.
• Lin Ming’s combined force maintained a tight Battle Formation in the middle, fighting together and advancing at a steady pace.
• After an Eight-Star Dou Venerate died fighting three beasts, Lin Ming said that the strong preyed on the weak.

Lin Ming’s group broke away from the exhausted ranks as Soul Jade fled through the corpse tide, and they pursued him while other powerful groups made their own escape. They advanced toward the tide’s core, where stronger corpse puppets began to stir.

• Lin Ming warned his group to follow Soul Jade when the formation collapsed, and a ninth-rank ancient demonic ape smashed through the front ranks.
• Soul Jade led his Soul Clan experts around the ape and fled, so Lin Ming, Gu Qingyang, Rui Yan, Xue'er, and their allies followed while other major groups also broke away.
• The abandoned people begged for help as corpse puppets overwhelmed them, and Lin Ming continued forward without looking back.
• Lin Ming’s group saw that Soul Jade’s people had preserved their strength and knew how to navigate the corpse tide, while Nine Nether led the Sky Demon Phoenix Race nearby.
• As the groups neared a more open area, deeper roars signaled stronger corpse puppets, and the survivors realized the abandoned ranks had been devoured in about a quarter of an hour.

Lin Ming, Xiao Yan, and their allies fought through the dense beast tide in formation, but the growing horde and their draining strength forced them to unleash their full power. They accelerated toward the far side of the tide as Soul Jade's group advanced nearby, while the beasts continued to close in.

• Lin Ming and Xiao Yan took the lead as the group formed a protective triangle, with the weaker disciples guarded in the center.
• Lin Ming's fire dragon and Xiao Yan's three-colored fire lotus cleared a path, while Xiao Yi Xian, Old Man Mo, Yi, and Xiao Chan defended the group’s flanks.
• Lin Ming noticed the others tiring as the group fought through increasingly dense beasts, and Xiao Yi Xian estimated that breaking through would take about an incense stick's time.
• Xiao Yan observed Soul Jade leading a formation that used black fighting aura to crush and devour beasts as it advanced at a comparable speed.
• Lin Ming judged that they had to break through before the tide surrounded them, enlarged his fire dragon, and led a stronger charge as Xiao Yan and the others unleashed their full power.

Lin Ming, Xiao Chan, Xun'er, and their companions fought through an exhausting beast tide until they discovered its edge and charged through. They reached a peaceful plain beyond an impassable boundary, leaving them safe for the moment as the beasts raged behind them.

• Lin Ming, Xiao Chan, and Xun'er fought off powerful beasts while the group grew exhausted and struggled to advance through the endless tide.
• Xun'er and Xiao Chan sensed that the beast tide was thinning ahead, and Old Man Mo urged everyone to charge toward its end.
• Lin Ming led the group forward, killing a lightning-wreathed giant tiger that blocked their path.
• The group broke through the final ranks of beasts and reached dry ground on a quiet, grassy plain.
• The companions saw that an invisible boundary kept the beasts from crossing, and they paused to recover after escaping the slaughter.

After surviving the beast tide, the gathered cultivators discovered the legendary Bodhi Ancient Tree and rushed toward it, hoping to claim its cultivation treasures. Lin Ming held back to recover and watch for danger as the other groups surged ahead.

• Lin Ming and the others spotted the Bodhi Ancient Tree, and Old Man Mo identified it as a legendary treasure tied to becoming a Dou Sheng.
• Xiao Yan hurried toward the tree, and Xun Er led the ancient race members after him while Lin Ming stayed behind to observe and recover.
• The battered Heavenly Demon phoenix Tribe team, led by Nine Nether, emerged from the barrier and saw the tree.
• The teams from the Flame Race, Lei Race, Yao Race, and Stone Race emerged, recognized the Bodhi Ancient Tree, and chased after Xiao Yan's group.
• More survivors from Central Plains sects and clans poured out of the barrier and rushed toward the tree, leaving Lin Ming and his companions behind.

Xiao Yan and the other forces reached the Bodhi Ancient Tree and were overwhelmed by its vast, mysterious presence. They found Soul Jade waiting near the tree, and as more groups gathered, he warned that the tree itself might be the next danger.

• Xiao Yan and his companions entered the Bodhi Ancient Tree's canopy and sensed its immense vitality and mysterious power.
• Xiao Yan's group found Soul Jade and the Soul Clan contingent waiting about a thousand zhang from the tree, so he warned the others to be careful.
• Xiao Yan sensed that the Bodhi Ancient Tree itself might conceal a powerful danger.
• Nine Nether and other forces arrived, noticed the standoff, and gathered cautiously around the tree.
• Soul Jade claimed he had waited so everyone could proceed together, then warned that the Bodhi Ancient Tree itself might be dangerous.

Soul Jade warned the assembled clans that a Bodhi ancient tree had once made a half-saint disappear, but the groups continued toward it. Lin Ming’s party sensed a sinister aura near the tree, where the Bodhi heart appeared and overwhelmed the onlookers with its allure.

• Soul Jade recounted how his clan’s half-saint ancestor vanished after approaching a Bodhi ancient tree and warned that the tree itself might be dangerous.
• Gu Qingyang challenged Soul Jade’s motives, and Soul Jade admitted he wanted the gathered groups to investigate together.
• Lei Yan, Xun Er, Gu Qingyang, and the other factions followed Soul Jade toward the tree despite their unease.
• Lin Ming’s group arrived, and Yi sensed powerful negative emotions hidden within the tree’s life-filled energy.
• The advancing groups felt a growing coldness beneath the canopy and saw a glowing, pulsing Bodhi heart in the tree’s trunk.
• The sight of the Bodhi heart stirred the crowd’s greed and eclipsed their caution.

Five Half-Saint puppets emerged from the Bodhi Ancient Tree, and Lin Ming identified them as lifeless constructs. After Soul Jade recognized one as a missing Soul Clan ancestor, Xiao Yan and the faction leaders agreed to join forces and fight their way toward the Bodhi Heart.

• Five ancient, lifeless figures emerged from the Bodhi Ancient Tree, each radiating Half-Saint strength.
• Lin Ming determined that the five Half-Saint figures were puppets without blood, vitality, or souls.
• Soul Jade recognized one black-robed puppet as a Soul Clan Half-Saint ancestor who had disappeared three thousand years earlier.
• Lin Ming estimated that his party could hold off one puppet, and Xiao Yan asked the assembled factions whether they would retreat or fight.
• Everyone chose to stay, and Xiao Yan proposed that the factions divide the five puppets among themselves.
• Soul Jade, Jiu Feng, and Huo Xuan each agreed that their forces would take on one puppet.

Lin Ming and the other teams began fighting the five half-saint puppets guarding the Bodhi Heart. Lin Ming narrowly escaped the gray-robed puppet’s opening strike as the other teams engaged their assigned opponents.

• Three team leaders agreed to join forces against the remaining puppet, completing the assignments for all five half-saint puppets.
• Lin Ming ordered everyone to attack and charged the gray-robed puppet, whose palm strike threatened to crush his head.
• Flame, Xun'er, Gu Qingyang, and the others struck the gray-robed puppet together, weakening its palm enough for Lin Ming to evade it.
• Soul Jade led the Soul Clan experts against their ancestor puppet and vowed to release it from its bondage.
• Nine Nether led the Sky Demon Phoenix Clan against the beast-hide puppet, while Fire Flame, Lei Dong, and the other Ancient God Race factions fought the stone-spear puppet.
• The three remaining teams surrounded the short, elusive puppet, and all five battles erupted across the plain beneath the Bodhi ancient tree.

Lin Ming and his allies fought the gray-robed half-Saint puppet and discovered that its head was its likely weak point. After a coordinated barrage shattered its skull, the puppet collapsed, giving their squad the first victory against one of the enemy’s half-Saint puppets.

• Gu Hua and Gu Feng struck the gray-robed puppet from behind, but its recoil severely injured them and sent them flying.
• Lin Ming and the others coordinated their attacks to contain the puppet while Lin Ming endured most of its frontal assault.
• Lin Ming used Vajra Glazed Body and Creation Fist to strike the puppet’s head, cracking its skull before the puppet smashed his shoulder.
• Xiao Yan, Gu Qingyang, Flame, Yi, Little Doctor Immortal, Yun Yun, and the other fighters unleashed a combined barrage at the cracks in the puppet’s skull.
• The attacks shattered the puppet’s head, causing its energy to dissipate and its body to collapse.

After defeating a half-saint puppet, Lin Ming assessed the heavy injuries among his group and supplied healing pills while they recovered. He watched the other teams battle their own puppets, leaving the most disorganized group to suffer rather than risk weakening his allies before the fight for the Bodhi Heart.

• Lin Ming returned to his normal form after taking the half-saint puppet's attacks and surveyed the injured members of his group.
• Lin Ming gave healing pills to Xiao Chan, Yi, Yun Yun, and the people of Flower Sect, while the Gu Clan and Starfall Pavilion members used their own supplies to recover.
• Soul Jade's Soul Clan contingent entangled its puppet, while Jiu Feng and the Heavenly Demon phoenix Race fought their puppet with flames and coordinated attacks.
• Huo Zhi, Lei Dong, and the four ancient races steadily damaged their puppet through coordinated elemental attacks.
• Three poorly coordinated teams suffered several deaths and serious injuries against their puppet, while Lin Ming chose not to intervene and focused on protecting his recovering group.

Lin Ming watched as the remaining groups destroyed their half-saint puppets, while the Bodhi Heart Lotus’s radiance spread from the ancient tree. With all five puppets defeated, the exhausted factions recovered and eyed one another warily, leaving the story poised for the next struggle.

• Fire Spark and Thunder Motion destroyed their stone-grey puppet with a coordinated attack, then rested with their companions.
• Soul Jade destroyed the black-robed puppet and exchanged a knowing look with Lin Ming before ordering the Soul Clan to recover.
• Nine Nether killed the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan’s puppet after four elders died, then ordered his wounded survivors to rest.
• The factions that had already won watched coldly as the final teams continued fighting, unwilling to help one another.
• After an Eight Star Battle Venerable was torn apart, the remaining fighters threw themselves into a desperate attack and destroyed the last blackened puppet, leaving many of them badly wounded.

After the battle against the half-saint puppets, Lin Ming warned the weakened survivors about the dangers ahead, but led the stronger fighters toward the bodhi ancient tree. When they reached its trunk, the tree’s light sealed their battle qi and pulled more than thirty people inside, leaving those who stayed behind in shock.

• The survivors finished off the last half-saint puppet, and Lin Ming, Xiao Yan, Xue Ni, and the others recovered much of their strength.
• Lin Ming warned those below six- or seven-star Dou Venerate level to consider turning back, and many of the weaker fighters chose to remain behind.
• Gu Qingyang agreed to continue with Lin Ming while the Flower Sect elders stayed with Nalan Yanran as support.
• Lin Ming led Xiao Yan, Xue Ni, Gu Qingyang, Cai Lin, Little Fairy Doctor, and the others toward the bodhi ancient tree, followed by the four ancient clans and the battered teams.
• A brilliant beam from near the bodhi heart enveloped more than thirty people, sealed their battle qi, and pulled them into the tree.
• Nalan Yanran and the others who remained behind watched in horror as Lin Ming, Yun Yun, and the rest vanished.

Lin Ming resisted an illusion that tempted him with overwhelming power and broke free using his Heaven Opening realm soul force. He emerged in an ancient green space before a jade-like tree radiating immense life force.

• Lin Ming entered a halo in the white void and endured a torrent of fragmented memories and emotions without losing control of his mind.
• He appeared above a grassland and erased a charging beast tide with a wave of annihilating power.
• Lin Ming recognized the power and world as an illusion, then used his soul force to shatter the false perceptions.
• After the illusion collapsed, Lin Ming found himself in an ancient green space facing a crystal-clear emerald tree filled with powerful life force.

Lin Ming used the Bodhi seed to connect with the corrupted Bodhi ancient tree and reveal the illusions trapping the others. The tree then showed him a memory of its uncorrupted former self and a black-robed figure whose presence dwarfed even the ancient tree.

• Lin Ming recognized that a Soul Emperor's negative emotions had corrupted the Bodhi ancient tree and drew out the Bodhi seed he had obtained while helping Little Fox.
• The Bodhi seed resonated with the tree, slowing the black corruption and releasing light spheres that showed Rui Yan, Xue Er, Soul Jade, Nine Nether, and the others trapped in desire-filled illusions.
• Lin Ming used the seed to communicate with the suffering tree, which responded by releasing a denser sphere of light.
• Lin Ming saw the Bodhi ancient tree in its prime and a black-robed figure standing before it, whose presence made the vast tree and its world seem insignificant.

Lin Ming witnessed the Bodhi Ancient Tree's memory of a wounded Black-Robed Dou Di attacking it and being killed by another mysterious Dou Di. After the battle, the fallen Dou Di's hateful will corrupted the tree, and a Spiritual Imprint from the memory entered Lin Ming's brow.

• Lin Ming watched the Bodhi Ancient Tree's memory reveal the Black-Robed Dou Di attacking the tree to seize its fundamental tree spirit.
• The Bodhi Ancient Tree fought back, but the Black-Robed Dou Di steadily broke through its defenses and reached for its trunk.
• A mysterious second Dou Di struck the Black-Robed Dou Di from behind and destroyed him and the surrounding world.
• The dead Dou Di's negative emotions survived as black wisps that entered the wounded Bodhi Ancient Tree and corrupted its tree spirit.
• The memory condensed into a Spiritual Imprint, which shot into Lin Ming's brow.

Lin Ming learned that an ancient emperor’s curse had corrupted the Bodhi ancient tree and agreed to help cleanse it. Rather than follow the original method, he chose to use the curse as a dangerous chance to break through his soul’s Heaven Realm limit with the Blue Lotus Soul Refining Art.

• Lin Ming absorbed the Bodhi ancient tree’s memories and learned that a wounded black-robed emperor’s curse had corrupted it after the tree helped defeat him.
• The Bodhi ancient tree urgently pleaded with Lin Ming to expel the negative emotions that threatened to drag it back into darkness.
• Lin Ming rejected the original method of purifying the tree with Bodhi nectar because he wanted to preserve a chance to advance his soul cultivation.
• Lin Ming decided to use the emperor’s negative emotions to temper his soul with the Blue Lotus Soul Refining Art, despite the risk of losing himself.
• Lin Ming committed to taking the risk and beginning the dangerous attempt.

Lin Ming convinced the Bodhi ancient tree to trust his soul-based method for purging the Soul Emperor’s negative emotions, then prepared to begin the dangerous purification. Beforehand, he secretly planted warnings about the Soul Clan in the illusions of those trapped with him and sat before the tree to proceed.

• The Bodhi ancient tree offered Lin Ming dozens of flawless Bodhi seeds so he could use their nectar to neutralize the Soul Emperor’s influence, but Lin Ming asked it to trust his soul power instead.
• Lin Ming revealed an aura from the source of a world, overcoming the tree’s doubts and earning its complete trust.
• Lin Ming asked the tree to loosen its control over the illusions and let him implant information into the experiences of the people trapped there.
• Lin Ming used his soul power to discreetly plant information about the Soul Clan’s conspiracy into the illusion cores of Xiao Yan, Xin Er, Hun Yu, Jiu Feng, Huo Yan, Lei Dong, and the others.
• After reviewing his plan, Lin Ming sat cross-legged less than three feet from the Bodhi ancient tree, ready to begin purifying it.