Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen learned that the Immortal Alliance was preparing drastic measures against the Star Sea Incident and uncovered clues that the world’s Moon might hold answers about its origin. After deciding to investigate the Moon someday, he set aside the mystery and asked the Mirror Female Cultivator to assess his cultivation level.

• Lin Chen questioned the Mirror Female Cultivator about what she remembered and learned that the Immortal Alliance linked the Star Sea Incident to the Heaven and Earth Warning and Eternal Demon Tribulation from a hundred years earlier.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator said Tianjizi planned to gather the Nine Great Immortal Sects’ Spirit Transmutation Seeds and reserves in the East Sea to establish an academy for prodigies.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator revealed that Celestial Venerable Canghai had proposed using the Sun Moon Immortal Palace’s Moon to collide with Earth and destroy the East Sea and other regions.
• Lin Chen realized that the Moon was a physical celestial body, unlike the Great Sun, and connected it with the Transmigrator Association, the Origin Star, and the Ancient Cultivators’ message.
• Lin Chen resolved to investigate the Moon before the Eternal Demon Tribulation and then asked the Mirror Female Cultivator to assess his place in the Immortal Alliance’s cultivation system.

Lin Chen asked the Mirror Female Cultivator to assess his strength within the Immortal Alliance’s cultivation system and learned that his diverse spiritual qi made him difficult to classify. He left the discussion considering how to advance, then asked why the Heavenly Demon Cult had targeted the polluted Black Mist Continent.

• Lin Chen asked the Mirror Female Cultivator to estimate his strength, and she found his Kingdom of Night seemed to surpass Nascent Soul while his Golden Core was difficult to classify.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator explained the cultivation path of the Eastern Han world, from Qi Refining and Dao Foundation to true nature, Rare Treasure, and Great Dao.
• Lin Chen recognized that the ancient cultivation method could help cultivate the world’s laws and asked where it originated; the Mirror Female Cultivator said it came from antiquity.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator estimated Lin Chen had the spiritual qi of a Golden Core Ninth Layer cultivator, but his overall strength lay between Golden Core and Nascent Soul.
• Lin Chen considered nurturing a Heaven and Earth Rare Treasure or turning the Dream Realm into his Dao Domain, then asked why the Heavenly Demon Cult had targeted the polluted Black Mist Continent.

Lin Chen learned that the Immortal Alliance and Heavenly Demon Cult were competing to produce Enlightenment Stones from the Black Mist Continent, which could reshape the balance of power if mass-produced. As the Mirror Female Cultivator described the Heavenly Demon Cult’s plan to use cultivators’ cores and Nascent Souls, Lin Chen considered making an inferior Nascent Soul and showed her the Life-Nourishing Feathered Transformation True Scripture.

• Lin Chen asked why the Heavenly Demon Cult had targeted the contaminated Black Mist Continent, and the Mirror Female Cultivator explained that it might produce Enlightenment Stones.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator said the black mist split spiritual energy and exposed information about its internal structure, but both sides still struggled to gather useful information and form it into safe Enlightenment Stones.
• Lin Chen and the Mirror Female Cultivator discussed how mass-producing Enlightenment Stones could affect cultivation and the war between the Immortal Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Cult.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator revealed that the Heavenly Demon Cult planned to imitate Qi Refining by using inner cores or Nascent Souls as Enlightenment Stones.
• Lin Chen argued that ordinary Golden Cores were too weak and Nascent Souls too difficult to mass-produce, then considered an inferior Nascent Soul and presented the Life-Nourishing Feathered Transformation True Scripture.

Lin Chen learned from the Mirror Female Cultivator that his dream-based cultivation method could work across worlds and produce Enlightenment Stones from Yang Spirits and Corpse Release bodies. He decided to spread it selectively through the Black Mist Continent and Outer Domain, and the Mirror Female Cultivator suggested using the Human Race Competition.

• The Mirror Female Cultivator recognized Lin Chen's method as a universal cultivation path because it relied on dreams, which existed across worlds.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator explained that Spirit Root Cultivation could cross world boundaries because it used the universal Dao of Yin Yang Five Elements.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator said Yang Spirits and Corpse Release bodies could serve as Enlightenment Stones and proposed exploiting them for cultivation resources.
• Lin Chen rejected spreading the method throughout the world, fearing it would attract powerful attention through the network.
• Lin Chen proposed spreading the method through the Black Mist Continent and Outer Domain to claim those regions, and the Mirror Female Cultivator brought up the Human Race Competition as a possible means.

Lin Chen learned that the Human Race Competition would gather humans, Demonic Spawn, evil cultivators, Monsters, and Ghosts on the Black Mist Continent, giving him a chance to spread the Burning Sacrifice Method. He planned to exploit the competition while keeping his scheme to mass-produce inferior Enlightenment Stones secret until he was strong enough.

• Lin Chen recalled how human seeds rapidly bred populations for the Immortal Alliance and asked how the Human Race Competition could help him spread the cultivation method.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator proposed teaching the method to every competitor so Lin Chen could consume those who cultivated it into Yang Spirits, but Lin Chen recoiled from eating souls directly.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator explained that Monsters and Ghosts sought human-seed Blood Food, named Emperor Fall Peak as the competition's location, and described the forces watching the continent and its seal.
• Lin Chen considered using Luo Xuan and testing whether the Burning Sacrifice Method could help him achieve a Yang Spirit, while planning to remove outside forces and conceal his ability to produce inferior Enlightenment Stones.
• Lin Chen declared that he would spread the Dao and sweep away the demons for the sake of justice, and the Mirror Female Cultivator agreed.

Luo Xuan was surrounded by monsters in the City Lord’s Mansion, but Lin Chen used the Mirror Female Cultivator’s power to trap them all in a Mirror Domain. As dawn broke, Lin Chen considered how to build his own Dao domain and decided to use the approaching cultivators as experimental subjects.

• Luo Xuan woke in the City Lord’s Mansion and faced a growing horde of human-skin monsters.
• A blood-robed Daoist weakened Luo Xuan’s resolve, then used Corpse Skin to transform into a giant ghoul.
• The ghoul battered Luo Xuan and prepared to kill him, prompting him to beg Lin Chen for help.
• Lin Chen summoned the Mirror Female Cultivator as a spirit mirror and said, “Light,” trapping the monsters and demons inside the Mirror Domain.
• Lin Chen examined the mirror’s abilities and decided that the cultivators approaching the mansion would make useful experimental subjects.

Lin Chen revealed a strange method to cultivators who had gathered at the City Lord's Mansion, rewarding the few who endured his trial with the Life-Nourishing Feathered Transformation True Scripture. As its recipients spread the technique across the Black Mist Continent, cultivators began discovering Analysis Panels, and the continent started to change.

• After the city lord was killed, human cultivators approached the City Lord's Mansion, hoping to meet the mysterious expert whose power seemed free of pollution.
• Lin Chen appeared, and the gathered Secret Medicine Cultivators pleaded with him to teach them his method.
• Lin Chen revealed a terrifying form that shattered the Dao Hearts of those with ill intent or weak wills, killing many of them.
• The few who remained received the Life-Nourishing Feathered Transformation True Scripture in their minds.
• Those who obtained the scripture left the city and spread it, and cultivators across the Black Mist Continent began discovering Analysis Panels.

Lin Chen guided Luo Xuan toward Emperor Fall Peak while reflecting on the continent’s numerous Forbidden Lands and the strange abundance of Nascent Soul-level threats. In the black mist near their destination, Lin Chen seized Luo Xuan’s body through the Analysis Panel and prepared to attend the Human Race Competition himself.

• Lin Chen questioned why the continent contained so many powerful terrors despite its limited spiritual resources as Luo Xuan traveled toward Emperor Fall Peak and crossed the Barren Bone Plain.
• Luo Xuan encountered unexpected black fog near Emperor Fall Peak, and Lin Chen told him it was time to pay the price for the cultivation and aid he had received.
• Luo Xuan attacked Lin Chen with a tide of shadows, but Lin Chen revealed that the Analysis Panel had been invading Luo Xuan’s soul and turned him into a vessel.
• Lin Chen completed the body seizure, took on Luo Xuan’s likeness, and headed toward the Human Race Competition at Emperor Fall Peak.

Lin Chen encountered an intelligent Black Mist that resisted his soul techniques and overwhelmed his defenses with curses, but he escaped its domain. Outside the mist, he met the Demon Venerable Paper Man, one of the six Nascent Soul Demon Venerables in the Heavenly Demon Cult.

• Lin Chen confronted a humanoid figure formed from the Black Mist and tried to seize its soul.
• The Black Mist revealed that it had no discernible soul, then surrounded Lin Chen with curse-born shadows formed from the resentment of countless dead.
• The mist-shadows tore apart Lin Chen's shadow domain and silver light, engulfing him in Black Mist.
• Lin Chen emerged from the mist on a barren hill and considered capturing and refining it.
• The Demon Venerable Paper Man appeared and asked which existence Lin Chen's true body belonged to.

Lin Chen confronted Paper Person, a Heavenly Demon Cult Demon Venerable, and used his apparent connection to Xu Jian to pressure it. Paper Person stopped him from destroying a Bronze Mirror and began to explain the Spirit Transmutation Path.

• Lin Chen recognized Paper Person and wondered why it had come from the Central Lands to the East Sea.
• Paper Person questioned Lin Chen's identity, and Lin Chen threatened to inform Xu Jian about its presence.
• Lin Chen revealed a trace of mirror-light, convincing Paper Person that he had a connection to Void Mirror Demon Venerable.
• Paper Person considered killing Lin Chen or sharing the opportunity tied to the black fog, while Lin Chen prepared to crush a Bronze Mirror.
• Paper Person halted Lin Chen and asked whether he knew about the Spirit Transmutation Path.

Lin Chen deduced that the Black Mist Abyss’s living consciousness could be refined to gain regional authority, creating an opportunity for Spirit Transformation. He proposed joining forces with the paper man to kill Void Mirror Demon Venerable and demanded intelligence and proof that a Great Species could be hunted.

• Lin Chen recalled the stages of Spirit Transformation and realized the paper man’s opportunity might involve the Black Mist Continent’s forbidden land.
• Lin Chen deduced that the black mist had formed a living consciousness whose refinement would grant control over the region and aid Dao cultivation and authority condensation.
• The paper man confirmed that refining the forbidden land’s consciousness was the Spirit Transmutation Opportunity and revealed that he had learned of it through a pawn.
• Lin Chen suggested killing the injured Void Mirror Demon Venerable and offered to provide her location in exchange for forbidden-land intelligence and proof of the opportunity.
• The paper man agreed and explained that they needed to hunt Great Species, the spirits of consciousness born within the forbidden zone.

Lin Chen pressured a Heavenly Demon Cult Demon Venerable into revealing information about the Black Mist Continent’s Three Lands and Five Absolutes, then judged which forbidden lands might contain Spirit Transmutation opportunities. He resolved to reach Nascent Soul as quickly as possible and turned toward the Human Race Competition as forces converged on Emperor Fall Peak.

• Lin Chen learned that the Three Lands were inhabited by Great Chu’s survivors, exiled evil-path fiends, and self-aware monsters and ghosts, while the Five Absolutes were dangerous forbidden lands.
• The paper man tried to secure a contract, but Lin Chen threatened to expose the Spirit Transmutation opportunity and forced him to hand over intelligence written on his own Human Skin Paper.
• Lin Chen read about the five forbidden lands—Eternal Night Forest, Soul Devouring Region, Worm Kingdom, Black Mist Abyss, and Eternal Silence Plain—and suspected the paper man had hidden traps in his account.
• The paper man claimed the Black Mist Abyss for himself and departed, while Lin Chen concluded it was likely the most measurable target and that the other lands might be too dangerous or corrupting.
• Lin Chen decided to pursue Nascent Soul cultivation, deal with the Human Race Competition first, and act before the paper man could claim the Black Mist Abyss; meanwhile, beings across the continent rushed toward Emperor Fall Peak.

As monsters, ghosts, and human factions gathered around the Black Mist Continent’s central mountain for the Human Race Competition, the paper man concealed his plans to trap Lin Chen in the Forbidden Lands. Meanwhile, the Great Chu imperial family prepared to compete for new people, and Dao Sons from the Nine Great Immortal Sects arrived at Spirit Yuan Island.

• The paper man visited a camp of monsters and evil-path cultivators, where a puppet reported that they had made paper men from materials that escaped the Black Mist Abyss.
• The paper man learned that explorers sent into the Eternal Silence Plain had vanished, then ordered his followers to watch the other four Forbidden Lands for Lin Chen.
• Yang Qingping served the Third Prince of Great Chu, who intended to use the Human Race Competition’s newcomers to advance the imperial family’s secret medicine path.
• Monsters, ghosts, and Secret Medicine Cultivators gathered across the continent, with some factions already fighting for the right to participate.
• On Spirit Yuan Island, officials activated a formation to guide down an Immortal Ship carrying the Dao Sons of the Nine Great Immortal Sects.

Song Jingxuan and Su Liyue escorted the Female Tree toward the East Sea as the Immortal Alliance mobilized its forces for war at Wolong Pass. At Emperor Fall Peak, Lin Chen prepared to risk the body of Luo Xuan in an attempt to reach the Yang God realm as the Human Race Competition began.

• Song Jingxuan dismissed Spirit Yuan Island and its representatives, while Su Liyue arranged gifts and commercial negotiations on behalf of the Sun Moon Immortal Palace and Hunyuan Five Elements Sect.
• The Female Tree was handed over, and the immortal boat carrying Song Jingxuan and Su Liyue departed for other seas of the East Sea.
• Grandmaster Taixuan's Immortal Alliance assembled a vast fleet at Kunling Immortal City and sent it toward Wolong Pass for the coming war against the East Sea Dragon Palace.
• Lin Chen considered his goals for the Human Race Competition and decided to attempt a Yang God transformation using Luo Xuan's body.
• Lin Chen used his Soul Computer to assess the plan, sought Luo Xuan's cooperation, and engraved patterns across Emperor Fall Peak before another Spirit Boat arrived from Spirit Yuan Island.

Yang Wei and Elder He entered the Black Mist Continent to deploy the human seed, but the Worm Walker’s influence nearly drove the Spirit Yuan Island cultivators mad. After Yang Wei persuaded Elder He to abandon their surveillance duty, they deployed the Female Tree at Emperor Fall Peak and fled as the gathered factions prepared to fight.

• Yang Wei arrived at the Black Mist Continent aboard a Spirit Yuan Island Spirit Boat, carrying the Analysis Panel Lin Chen had secretly given him.
• The Worm Walker’s insect influence affected cultivators aboard the boat, but the Divine Firmament Thunder Seal and Elder He stopped the outbreak.
• Elder He told Yang Wei about the Worm Walker, and Yang Wei convinced him to leave after the human seed deployment instead of watching the battlefield.
• The Spirit Yuan Island cultivators deployed the human seed at Emperor Fall Peak and immediately withdrew from the continent.
• The human seed’s Female Tree sprouted and produced fleshy embryos as the Monsters and Ghosts and Secret Medicine Cultivators gathered below prepared to battle.

The battle for the Human Race Female Trees at Emperor Fall Peak erupted as monsters, cultivators, and horrors from the Black Mist Continent descended on one another. While the paper man used the chaos to attack the Black Mist Abyss, Lin Chen gathered the slaughter’s blood to advance his Corpse Release Immortal path.

• Monsters and ghosts swarmed Emperor Fall Peak, where the Human Race Female Trees absorbed the slaughtered flesh and rapidly nurtured new people to be devoured.
• The paper man watched the factions fight and planned to use their losses to weaken the Black Mist Abyss before its main body claimed the Spirit Transmutation Opportunity.
• The Worm Walker emerged from the southeast and attacked Emperor Fall Peak, while the Black Mist Abyss advanced from the northwest and hundreds of millions of resentful spirits formed a skull in the sky.
• The paper man opened its Dao domain and turned creatures in the surrounding area into paper people, drawing faint traces of black mist from monsters it had raised.
• Lin Chen gathered the battlefield’s blood and flesh in a mountain chamber, chanted the Death Sutra Taiyin, and began refining his body in the Blood Pool.

The Third Prince fled Emperor Fall Peak as the Worm Walker, Black Mist Abyss, and Ghosts of All Beings battled, while the Paper Figure Demon Venerable cursed the Black Mist Abyss with a Coffin Nail. A mysterious figure then appeared and unleashed a blood-red fire to use the horrors and casualties across the continent to break through to the Yang Spirit.

• The Third Prince seized a Female Tree and retreated from Emperor Fall Peak after contamination transformed nearby creatures into insects.
• The Worm Walker fought the Black Mist Abyss and Ghosts of All Beings, turning the plain around Emperor Fall Peak into a battlefield.
• The Paper Figure Demon Venerable used a Coffin Nail borrowed from Nail Soul True Lord to curse the Black Mist Abyss, severely wounding it and establishing a connection for a later attack.
• A figure emerged from a Blood Pool on Emperor Fall Peak and declared the three forbidden-zone horrors to be its prey.
• The figure ignited blood-red fire across the plain, seeking to use the dead and the three forbidden-zone horrors to break through to the Yang Spirit.

Lin Chen used the flesh and blood around Emperor Fall Peak to undergo a dangerous Yin Spirit metamorphosis, facing the Calamity of Yin Wind and the Great Sun True Flame while hostile creatures threatened him. As he tried to compress his Yin Spirit’s power to produce a Yang Spirit, his consciousness began to blur and he realized something had gone wrong.

• Lin Chen used a Sacrificial Formation and the land’s flesh and blood as provisions to attempt a rapid Yin Spirit metamorphosis.
• Lin Chen exposed his Yin Spirit to the Calamity of Yin Wind and the polluted Great Sun True Flame, enduring their agony and madness.
• Lin Chen saw the Human Cultivators kneel, the Paper Person approach, and the Great Species attack while the shadow restrained three Demonic Beasts.
• Lin Chen drew in more yin wind and true fire, transforming his Yin Spirit as he attempted to compress its power into a Yang Spirit.
• After repeated failures, Lin Chen’s consciousness blurred, and he realized that something had gone wrong.

Lin Chen realized that his Corpse Release Method had no sound basis for the Yang Spirit’s immortality, then inferred that dreams might be an information-based existence. As four Nascent Soul-level entities attacked him, he relinquished control and connected with the Sea of Consciousness that belonged to dreams.

• Lin Chen recognized that the Yang Spirit lacked a clear essence or foundation for immortality, unlike Golden Core and Yin Spirit cultivators.
• Lin Chen questioned how Dream Power could support the Yang Spirit and Corpse Release Immortal, admitting he did not understand the nature of dreams.
• The Paper Person reached Emperor Fall Peak, plunged into the Blood Flame, and began transforming Lin Chen’s Yin Spirit into a Paper Person to seize it.
• Lin Chen remained calm as four Nascent Soul-level entities besieged him and reasoned that dream contents and cognition were forms of information.
• Lin Chen concluded that the Yang Spirit might be an information entity refined from illusion into reality, then connected with the Sea of Consciousness that belonged to dreams.

Lin Chen understood that the Corpse Release Immortal was an information entity and manifested himself in reality through the Paper Person’s memories. He revealed the limits of this new ability, then stopped the Paper Person from escaping and prepared to test his powers.

• Lin Chen connected to his Dream Realm, where his human form dissolved into information and a dim radiance appeared.
• The Paper Person mistook Lin Chen’s disappearance for death, while the battle between Ghosts of All Beings and the Worm Walker destroyed Emperor Fall Peak.
• Lin Chen appeared in the Paper Person’s memories and made those memories overlap with reality, revealing himself as a Corpse Release Immortal.
• Lin Chen explained that he could manifest only part of his information through another person’s memories, not his original body, cultivation, or complete consciousness.
• The Paper Person tried to escape, but its sorcery failed, and Lin Chen approached it to use it in an experiment.