Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen learned that the East Sea Immortal Alliance’s century-spanning Human Seed Deployment Plan placed engineered mortals on islands to support cultivators and expand their power. True Person Luo’s account left Lin Chen recognizing that the Cultivation World’s prosperity depended on exploiting mortals in many ways.

• At a spirit-dish banquet aboard an official Spirit Boat, True Person Luo lamented his prospects and the poor resources of his Human Seed Deployment assignment.
• Lin Chen used the Soul-Seizing Method to steer True Person Luo into explaining the Immortal Alliance’s plan to place groups of engineered mortals on East Sea islands.
• True Person Luo described how mortals and low-level cultivators supplied food and labor, gathered dangerous resources, and served as cannon fodder and tools for claiming territory.
• Lin Chen suggested that mortals could also be used as living Spirit Mines to raise demons whose bodies could become valuable medicine, and True Person Luo’s evasive response confirmed the possibility.
• Lin Chen understood that the deployment plan sustained cultivator society by exploiting mortals and replenishing the population of cultivators, leaving him to see the Law of the Jungle at work in every world.

Lin Chen learned that True Person Luo had lost the outer-region deployment rights and heard how the Immortal Alliance’s resource monopoly blocked cultivators without powerful backing. Luo revealed that smuggling between the inner and outer regions was possible, leaving Lin Chen interested in exploiting it, before Lin Chen unexpectedly asked for the male servant at the door to stay behind.

• Lin Chen asked True Person Luo about traveling to the outer regions, and Luo explained that Golden Core cultivators needed Immortal Alliance approval.
• Zhang Hao mentioned Human Seed Deployment, prompting Luo to reveal that a young cultivator with a Nascent Soul backer had taken the deployment rights he had worked to obtain.
• True Person Luo denounced the Alliance’s control of cultivation resources and lamented that losing the deployment rights had cost him a chance to gather resources for advancing.
• Luo disclosed that foreign auras could conceal outer-region spiritual objects from the Heaven-Covering Heaven and Earth Great Formation, making smuggling between the realms feasible.
• Lin Chen considered smuggling as a way to build wealth, then, as female cultivators approached, asked for the male servant guarding the door to be left behind too.

Lin Chen uncovered that Little Li had reversed clothing and no reflection, then discovered the cabin had transformed into a hall of eerie bronze mirrors. He suspected the group had fallen into a Nascent Soul Dao Domain.

• Lin Chen pointed out that Little Li’s clothes were reversed and he had no reflection in the bronze mirror.
• Zhang Hao confirmed that the phenomenon was not an illusion technique, and Little Li remained unaffected by True Person Luo’s Golden Core spirit pressure.
• Lin Chen attacked the mirror behind Little Li with a pale Fire Dragon, triggering an explosion and a sea of fire that left everyone unharmed.
• The flames vanished without damaging the ship, while the cabin’s Luminous Pearls had disappeared and bronze mirrors now covered the walls.
• Lin Chen examined the strange surroundings and concluded that they had unknowingly entered a Nascent Soul Dao Domain.

Lin Chen recognized that a Nascent Soul Dao Domain had trapped everyone aboard the Spirit Boat and deduced that its power depended on a medium they could destroy. The group was separated as they fled, while a hazy figure emerged from a Bronze Mirror and began moving to attack.

• Lin Chen identified the Bronze Mirrors and altered spiritual energy as signs of a remotely projected Nascent Soul Dao Domain, alarming True Person Luo, Zhang Hao, and the others.
• Lin Chen refused to use the Void Refinement Talisman and reasoned that destroying the domain's medium could end the threat; Zhang Hao agreed after consulting Tree Elder.
• True Person Luo and the others panicked and ran for the doorway, so Lin Chen and Zhang Hao followed them.
• Everyone was separated when the corridor distorted, and Lin Chen found himself alone among Bronze Mirrors.
• A Bronze Mirror in a storage room reflected the Human Seed Ship, then released a hazy silver figure that walked toward the exit.

Lin Chen realized a Nascent Soul Dao Domain had isolated the cultivators by distorting their perceptions, and he searched the ship for the real Bronze Mirror projecting it. After another cultivator was replaced by a mirror double, Lin Chen reached the ship’s bottom and discovered what looked like a human breeding ground.

• Lin Chen deduced that the empty corridor was an illusion created by the Dao Domain and began destroying Bronze Mirrors with his Yin Yang Five Elements Dissolution Spiritual Light.
• The blue-robed cultivator tried to use his Sea of Mist in the Clouds to escape, but the Dao Domain suppressed his power.
• A mirror shadow emerged behind the blue-robed cultivator, and after the Cloud Mist dispersed, a strange, calm version of him walked away as another mirror shadow appeared.
• Lin Chen searched the ship for the Dao Domain’s real medium, found himself at the bottom despite walking upward, and continued down the stairs.
• Lin Chen saw the scene at the bottom of the ship and called it a human breeding ground.

Lin Chen discovered that the Human Seed Deployment Ship carried sea beast eggs, likely as part of a vast formation spanning the East Sea. As he realized he was trapped in a larger conspiracy, a strange figure in the Mirror Domain appeared and transformed into his reflection, leaving them facing off.

• Lin Chen found that the ship’s compartments held sea beast eggs instead of human seeds and suspected they would be deployed at designated sites to form part of a vast East Sea formation.
• Lin Chen reasoned that the scheme might involve the East Sea Dragon Palace and a formation powerful enough to threaten even Spirit Transformation Cultivators.
• Lin Chen decided he needed to escape and remain hidden, but sensed something approaching behind him.
• A blurry, silver-edged figure appeared in the ship cabin and gradually transformed into Lin Chen’s mirror image.
• Lin Chen’s Fire Dragon curved away from the figure and struck the door, so he refrained from attacking directly and faced his reflection as the two prepared to fight.

Lin Chen discovered that the Mirror Domain inflicted synchronized injuries and began forcing him to match his reflection, so he unleashed a strange black Snow Flower to counter it. Meanwhile, Zhang Hao searched for the curse’s true medium and encountered someone unexpected as he reached a storeroom.

• Lin Chen tested the mirror image with a water droplet and found that its injuries appeared on his own body.
• The mirror image began copying Lin Chen’s movements while the Dao Domain restricted his body and invaded his memories.
• Lin Chen threw the black Snow Flower, which spread a strange, decayed aura through the cabin.
• Zhang Hao abandoned the idea of using his dream treasure and searched for the true medium of the Dao Domain.
• Zhang Hao reached a storeroom, where someone emerged from the room and left him stunned.

Zhang Hao exposed an impostor posing as Lin Chen and entered the storeroom, where the Mirror Domain’s true medium appeared. Elsewhere, Lin Chen’s Dream Snow severely damaged the Mirror Domain and transformed its mirror image into a monster.

• Lin Chen’s impostor tried to hurry Zhang Hao away from the storeroom, but Zhang Hao grew suspicious and questioned whether he was real.
• Zhang Hao recognized the impostor because Lin Chen would never defer to his opinion or feel safe turning his back on him, then killed the fake with his sword formation.
• Zhang Hao searched the storeroom and found no obvious problem, while Tree Elder admitted he could not sense the domain’s medium.
• The illusion shattered around Zhang Hao, revealing a cracked Bronze Spirit Mirror floating in the real storeroom.
• Lin Chen used Dream Snow to escape the pressure of the Mirror Curse and watched it corrupt the mirror image into a monster, then prepared to attack it.

Lin Chen contained the contamination and broke through an attack by Mirror People, then found cultivators gathered in the hall. Suspecting they were mirror images, he killed one and advanced on the others, leaving the group on the verge of a fight.

• Lin Chen sealed the contaminated matter and aberrant spiritual energy in alloy containers before searching for the Dao Domain’s medium.
• Mirror People emerged from the corridor’s Bronze Mirrors and unleashed a barrage of spells at Lin Chen.
• Lin Chen erased the Mirror People with his Yin Yang Five Elements Dissolution Spiritual Light and hurried toward the hall.
• Lin Chen encountered True Person Luo, True Person Yang, and other cultivators, but questioned whether they were real or mirror images.
• Lin Chen killed a female cultivator who proved to be a Mirror Person and warned the rest that they could resist or die.

Lin Chen and Zhang Hao broke the Mirror Domain by destroying its Bronze Mirror medium, but the hidden Nascent Soul Cultivator appeared through the fragments and fixed its gaze on Zhang Hao. Lin Chen hid behind Zhang Hao as the cultivator accused him of being responsible.

• Lin Chen killed the Mirror People who tried to stop him and then heard a distant explosion and mirror shattering.
• Lin Chen found Zhang Hao fighting a mirror image of himself and recognized the cracked Bronze Mirror as the medium.
• Lin Chen used his Dissolution Spiritual Light and sword to shatter the Bronze Mirror, dispelling the Dao Domain and destroying the Spirit Boat.
• Lin Chen warned Zhang Hao that the mastermind was coming, then hid behind him as the mirror fragments reassembled.
• A living eye appeared in the broken mirror and addressed Zhang Hao, saying, "So it was you."

Zhang Hao destroyed the damaged Bronze Mirror before the Nascent Soul Cultivator could finish forming his image, but the cultivator retaliated with a curse that began to make Zhang Hao turn into a reflection. Lin Chen raised a curse altar and prepared to face the distant Nascent Soul Cultivator in a spell duel.

• Zhang Hao summoned the Three-Element Seven-Star Sword Formation and shattered the Bronze Mirror, stopping the Nascent Soul Cultivator from completing his likeness.
• Zhang Hao accused Lin Chen of making him the cultivator’s target, but Lin Chen argued they were both already in danger and that he could help Zhang Hao resist the curse.
• The Nascent Soul Cultivator froze the surrounding sea into mirror-like waves, and Zhang Hao’s reflection grew clearer as his body began to turn illusory.
• Lin Chen assembled flesh, Spirit Stones, Soul Fire, and Yin Energy into a curse altar, then prepared to challenge the distant Nascent Soul Cultivator.

Lin Chen used soul-summoning, soul lamps, and substitute puppets to counter the Mirror Female Cultivator’s curse on Zhang Hao, then traced the curse back to her East Sea cave mansion. The Mirror Female Cultivator struck back with a lifespan curse, and Lin Chen faced the resulting aura of decay.

• Lin Chen analyzed the Mirror Curse and summoned Zhang Hao’s soul, helping him regain consciousness.
• Lin Chen arranged seven soul lamps to locate the Nascent Soul Cultivator and formed substitute puppets from his and Zhang Hao’s blood, dharma power, and souls.
• Lin Chen cast the Seven-Star Life Pursuit and Same Breath Curse Soul methods, tracing the curse to a mirror-filled cave mansion in the East Sea.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator emerged from a Bronze Mirror and used a song to curse Zhang Hao with rapid aging and decay.
• A deadly aura of decay appeared around Lin Chen’s curse altar, and he prepared to face the curse’s counterattack.

Lin Chen erased his and Zhang Hao’s auras and transferred the deadly curse to Substitute Puppets, allowing them to escape the Nascent Soul Cultivator’s tracking. The two fled the sea, while an unknown figure in a room of Bronze Mirrors wondered whether they were dead.

• A decaying curse emerged from Zhang Hao and threatened to spread to Lin Chen, but a Spirit Tree phantom blocked it.
• Lin Chen used the Same Breath Curse Soul Method to erase their auras, causing the Wave-Stacking Ice Mirror and the Bronze Mirror to shatter.
• Lin Chen transferred the curse onto two Substitute Puppets, which decayed into dust in place of him and Zhang Hao.
• Lin Chen and the injured Zhang Hao left the sea, leaving only floating wood chips behind.
• An unknown voice in the room of Bronze Mirrors asked, "Dead?"

The Mirror Female Cultivator discovered that her curse had cost her Natal Magic Treasure much of its spirituality, but she remained unsure whether Zhang Hao and the others had survived. She ordered undercover agents to expose suspected outsiders to the Immortal Alliance Dark Department, then noticed the Dragon Palace Turtle Minister arriving.

• The Mirror Female Cultivator emerged from a Bronze Mirror and saw that her [Tai Xu True Illusion Profound Mirror] had lost thirty percent of its spirituality after casting the curse.
• She used Heavenly Secrets Prediction to search for Zhang Hao, Lin Chen, and the others, but the Profound Mirror revealed no figures.
• Suspecting they might still be alive, the Mirror Female Cultivator ordered an undercover agent to investigate outsiders near Spirit Yuan Island and leak their information to the Immortal Alliance Dark Department.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator planned to frame the outsiders in the Human Seed Ship matter so the Immortal Alliance Dark Department would move against them.
• After reflecting on the sea beast eggs and the [Reverse Heaven and Earth Yin-Yang Feng Shui Formation], the Mirror Female Cultivator sensed the Dragon Palace Turtle Minister's arrival.

The Mirror Female Cultivator met Turtle Xuan in the East Sea Dragon Palace and negotiated over her role in the Dragon Palace’s blood-sacrifice plan. Turtle Xuan offered her a demon core only after seven sacrifices, while revealing the plan’s vast scale and leaving the Mirror Female Cultivator intrigued by the coming conflict.

• Turtle Xuan brought the Mirror Female Cultivator from her room into the East Sea Dragon Palace and asked how the plan was progressing.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator reported that she had placed the sea beast eggs and exposed her whereabouts to the Immortal Alliance, but demanded more compensation for her Heavenly Demon Cult’s losses.
• Turtle Xuan and the Mirror Female Cultivator clashed briefly with their powers after Turtle Xuan rejected her demand for additional support.
• Turtle Xuan offered the demon core of the deceased Mirage Spirit Phantom Shell as a reward, but said she would receive it only after seven blood sacrifices.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator warned that the Immortal Alliance could discover the sacrifices, while Turtle Xuan insisted the Dragon Palace’s centuries-long plan could not be stopped and refused to explain how it would use the Sleeping Dragon Spirit Vein.
• Turtle Xuan returned the Mirror Female Cultivator to her room, where she smiled at the prospect of the coming struggle and vanished.

After escaping the curse, Lin Chen and Zhang Hao hid in a barren underwater region to avoid pursuit and investigate the destruction of the Human Seed Ship. As they began setting up a temporary base, the East Sea Immortal Alliance arrived at the scene.

• Zhang Hao recovered from his injuries with spiritual pills, and Lin Chen decided they should hide while they investigated the fallout from the battle.
• Lin Chen told Zhang Hao to dress after noticing that the curse had destroyed his Spirit Robe, then worried that Heavenly Secret Arts might reveal their whereabouts.
• The pair flew for a day in a concealed Flying Boat, then crossed the seabed and entered a barren, uninhabited region.
• Lin Chen and Zhang Hao agreed to build a temporary base and send out avatars to investigate rather than risk going themselves.
• A huge Spirit Boat bearing the name East Sea Immortal Alliance descended over the sea where the Human Seed Ship had been destroyed.

Immortal Alliance Nascent Soul True Lords Xingmu and Lie Kong investigated a suspected alliance between the East Sea Dragon Palace and the Heavenly Demon Cult, using Xingmu’s Starlight Divine Water rain domain to search the sea. Xingmu uncovered the face of Void Mirror Demon Venerable, and the chapter ended as she called out to Taiyi and a heavenly voice answered.

• Xingmu spread her Starlight Divine Water rain domain across the sea while Lie Kong explained the suspected blood sacrifice involving the Dragon Palace and the demons.
• Xingmu sensed a lingering trace and formed a rain curtain showing the face of the Mirror Female Cultivator who had attacked Lin Chen and the others.
• Lie Kong recognized the face as Void Mirror Demon Venerable, and Xingmu accused her of targeting the Human Seed Ship.
• The two Nascent Soul True Lords agreed that their earlier investigations had found no useful traces and turned to another method.
• Xingmu shouted, "[Taiyi]!" and a heavenly voice answered across a thousand li of sea.

True Lord Xingmu and True Lord Lie Kong used the Heaven-Covering Heaven and Earth Great Formation to reconstruct the destroyed Human Seed Deployment Ship and investigate the attack. Unable to see the outsiders who had interfered with the formation, they decided to pursue the Golden Core cultivator at Spirit Yuan Island while monitoring the other ships.

• True Lord Xingmu asked Taiyi to restore the spiritual energy within a thousand li to its state one day earlier, and the ship and its dead crew reappeared.
• True Lord Xingmu and True Lord Lie Kong watched the reconstructed events but could not see Lin Chen, Zhang Hao, or the Mirror Domain.
• True Lord Xingmu and True Lord Lie Kong concluded that an unknown force outside the formation's control had interfered with their investigation.
• True Lord Xingmu explained the Immortal Alliance's hopes for the formation's five attributes, while True Lord Lie Kong lamented that they controlled only [Currency].
• True Lord Xingmu proposed monitoring the other Human Seed Ships, dealing with the sea beast eggs, and pursuing the Golden Core at Spirit Yuan Island.

After three months of secluded cultivation, Lin Chen advanced to the second layer of Golden Core but realized his resources would eventually run out, so he planned to scout Spirit Yuan Island before making a move. He brought Zhang Hao to a sinister bone mountain, hinting that he would use something other than a subordinate to investigate.

• Lin Chen emerged from seclusion after advancing to the second layer of Golden Core and assessed his cultivation speed and dwindling resources.
• Zhang Hao urged Lin Chen to act, but Lin Chen warned that going directly to Spirit Yuan Island could expose them to a Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Lin Chen proposed sending someone to scout the island and settle there before carrying out their plan, then clarified that he did not mean a True Person.
• Lin Chen led Zhang Hao to a bone mountain surrounded by yin qi and blood, alarming Zhang Hao with its ominous aura.
• Lin Chen dismissed Zhang Hao's wary reaction and joked that a righteous cultivator could naturally know a few evil arts.

Lin Chen created a Foundation Establishment avatar using his own Essence, Qi, and Spirit origins, then Zhang Hao used a Substitute Puppet rather than surrendering his own. Their avatars traveled to Spirit Yuan Island and learned about the East Sea Cultivation World’s prosperous cultivation scene.

• Lin Chen explained that he and Zhang Hao needed avatars because their true bodies could not move freely, then demonstrated his altar-based technique by creating an avatar from his own origins.
• Zhang Hao asked to trade for the technique, but Lin Chen refused, so Zhang Hao used a Substitute Puppet instead of giving him his Essence, Qi, and Spirit origins.
• Lin Chen and Zhang Hao sent their avatars out from the seabed and followed them toward Spirit Yuan Island.
• Lin Chen and Zhang Hao learned that Spirit Yuan Island ruled a vast region with more than a hundred publicly known Golden Core cultivators and an estimated thirty percent Foundation Establishment-to-Golden Core breakthrough rate.
• Lin Chen and Zhang Hao recognized the East Sea Cultivation World’s prosperity and flew toward Spirit Yuan Island.