Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen watched Changqing Sect’s disciple recruitment and learned that Hong Yuan was conspiring against the declining Jin Family. After Lin Chen exposed the scheme and stopped Hong Yuan from attacking Jin Ling'er and Jin Tian, he declared that he stood for fairness.

• Changqing Sect opened its gates for recruitment, and its disciples began testing children who met the age and cultivation requirements.
• Jin Ling'er recognized Hong Yuan and planned to use his past ties to the Jin Family to help Jin Tian enter the sect.
• A noble Young Master revealed that he had given Hong Yuan Thousand-Year Cold Light Iron to persuade him to betray the Jin Family.
• Hong Yuan accused Jin Tian of cheating the examination and attacked Jin Ling'er, but Lin Chen secretly shielded the siblings.
• Lin Chen stepped into the square, exposed the plot he had overheard, and announced that he had come to stand for fairness.

At the Changqing Sect’s Immortal Destiny Gathering, Lin Chen waited for the sect’s elders to intervene after Hong Yuan’s attack, but Dan Yuanzi and the disciples instead tried to smear him as a traitor. After Lin Chen seized Dan Yuanzi’s sword and killed him and Hong Yuan, he announced that he would eliminate their associates too.

• Dan Yuanzi arrived, bound Hong Yuan, and claimed the Changqing Sect would investigate while offering to test Jin Tian’s aptitude.
• Jin Ling’er refused to let Jin Tian join the sect, and Dan Yuanzi questioned Lin Chen about his identity and master.
• Changqing Sect disciples accused Lin Chen of being the former sect master’s son and a criminal, turning the crowd against him.
• Dan Yuanzi attacked Lin Chen with the Ice Soul Crystal, but Lin Chen caught the sword barehanded and stripped away its restrictions.
• Lin Chen sent the sword to kill Hong Yuan, then used sword qi to kill Dan Yuanzi as he fled.
• Lin Chen declared that he would also kill Dan Yuanzi’s disciples, descendants, and close associates.

Lin Chen slaughtered most of the Changqing Sect’s gathered disciples and elders while claiming to act for fairness and justice. He then unleashed sword lights across Changqing Mountain Gate, drawing several Golden Core Patriarchs out to confront him.

• Lin Chen killed the Changqing Sect disciples in the room, inventing excuses as they begged, threatened him, or tried to flee.
• Lin Chen spared a few ordinary disciples but declared that everyone in the Changqing Sect would face a sword strike to prove their innocence.
• Lin Chen sent countless sword lights raining down on Changqing Mountain Gate, killing cultivators before the Guardian Great Formation could activate.
• Several Golden Core Patriarchs of the Changqing Sect flew out in fury and charged toward Lin Chen.

Lin Chen slaughtered Changqing Sect cultivators after they attacked him, then claimed self-defense when Xu Yuanyang of the Divine Firmament True Law Dao arrived to judge him. As witnesses began to support the sect, lightning killed them, and Lin Chen blamed heaven’s punishment.

• Lin Chen killed Elder Liu by breaking his sea-manipulating sorcery and crushing him, then trapped the other Golden Core Cultivators as they tried to flee.
• Xu Yuanyang appeared with a Lesser Divine Firmament Thunder Seal and accused Lin Chen of violating the East Sea Immortal Alliance’s laws.
• Lin Chen called Jin Ling'er forward, and she recounted the events while concealing her own role in the bribery.
• Changqing Sect’s remaining cultivators demanded evidence and tried to recruit plaza witnesses, but the crowd initially stayed silent.
• Several cultivators stepped forward to testify after Xu Yuanyang promised to protect them, but lightning struck them into ashes, and Lin Chen said heaven had punished their lies.

Lin Chen killed a Changqing Sect witness in front of Xu Yuanyang, then used the law-bound envoy’s hesitation to secure a mountain and its resources. He planned to seize the sect’s Spirit Vein Core the next day, after predicting that its Golden Core Cultivators would die that night.

• Lin Chen denied causing the thunder that killed a witness, while Xu Yuanyang struggled to accuse him without evidence or violate the law.
• Lin Chen considered corrupting the Divine Firmament True Law Dao through Cultural Invasion, then promised Xu Yuanyang he would not kill anyone else.
• Jin Ling'er and Jin Tian pledged themselves to Lin Chen, who claimed an ownerless Cave Mansion and left Xu Yuanyang to Changqing Sect’s eager Golden Core Cultivators.
• Lin Chen used spirit insects to strip a spiritual mountain of its resources and construct a third-rank grand formation linked to the Underground Spirit Vein.
• Lin Chen announced that he would take the Changqing Sect Spirit Vein Core the next day and implied that the sect’s Golden Core Cultivators would die that night in an apparent accident.

Xu Yuanyang contacted his brother Xu Yuanling, who explained that the Immortal Alliance was preparing a century-long counteroffensive in the Outer Domain and would send the East Sea’s Nascent Soul-level forces there. Lin Chen secretly overheard their conversation and realized the East Sea would soon be left with fewer powerful cultivators.

• Xu Yuanyang activated the small Divine Firmament Thunder Seal and spoke with Xu Yuanling about his failed journey to form a true High-grade Golden Core.
• Xu Yuanyang resolved to seek experience in the Outer Domain, but Xu Yuanling forbade him because the Immortal Alliance was preparing a dangerous counteroffensive during a First Moon year.
• Xu Yuanling revealed that the Alliance had calculated the First Moon year would last a century and that powerful forces from across the East Sea would gather in the Outer Domain.
• Xu Yuanling told Xu Yuanyang that Nascent Soul Cultivators from the East Sea’s spiritual islands would join the campaign because some had secretly colluded with the Outer Realm Evil Gods.
• A spirit insect hidden beneath Xu Yuanyang’s cave mansion let Lin Chen overhear the secret, and Lin Chen considered what the East Sea’s reduced defenses would mean.

Lin Chen learned that East Sea Nascent Soul cultivators were being transferred to the Outer Domain, leaving him freer to act while Spirit Transformation cultivators remained restrained. He created a Three Corpses Nine Worms Demonic Core from ghostly and polluted qi, intending to use it to drive his enemies into madness and the demonic path.

• Lin Chen learned that East Sea Nascent Soul cultivators would disappear from sight as they were transferred to the Outer Domain, and he saw an opportunity to act without drawing their attention.
• Lin Chen chose the Three Corpses Nine Worms Method to create a demonic pill capable of corrupting enemies' Dao hearts and luring them into the demonic path.
• Lin Chen summoned qi from the Ghost Ship, ghosts, the earth, and the sky, then used it to spread corpse insects across a spirit mountain and drain its essence.
• Pang Hao, the Jin Family siblings, and the Octopus Great Demon witnessed the mountain become a dead place, while the Octopus Great Demon concluded that demons needed to be more ruthless than humans.
• Lin Chen used his Ghost Ship incarnation to subdue the nascent Demonic Beast and refine its gathered qi into a black Demonic Core.

Lin Chen unleashed the Three Corpses Demon on the Changqing Sect’s aristocratic factions, and it devoured the Golden Core Cultivators gathered in the cave mansion. The demon emerged and threatened Changqing Mountain Range until an unknown swordsman appeared and struck at it.

• Lin Chen merged the intercepted aura with the Three Corpses Demon and set it on the sect’s aristocratic factions.
• The factions’ Golden Core Ancestors and Foundation Establishment Cultivators plotted against Lin Chen while the demon secretly warped their senses and bodies.
• The demon drove the gathering into madness and devoured the cultivators, spreading its deathly aura across Changqing Mountain Range.
• Xu Yuanling recognized the creature as a Three Corpses Demon and told Xu Yuanyang to flee while he held it back.
• Xu Yuanyang prepared the Spirit Firmament Flying Boat, but an unknown figure appeared and sent a silver-white sword light toward the demon.

Xu Yuanling and Lin Chen fought the Three Corpses Demon and sought to stop its demonic thoughts from possessing people across the region. Lin Chen used an invisible sword strike to cleanse the afflicted cultivators’ minds, leaving Xu Yuanling astonished at his near-Dao swordsmanship.

• A mysterious sword cultivator split the Three Corpses Demon’s manifested form, and Xu Yuanling joined the attack with talisman armor and a powerful punch.
• Xu Yuanling warned Xu Yuanyang that the demon could infect living beings with inner demon tribulations, while lightning from the Lesser Divine Firmament Thunder Seal saved Xu Yuanyang from contamination.
• Lin Chen stopped Xu Yuanling from killing everyone within ten thousand li and said the demon’s scattered thoughts could be cut down directly.
• Lin Chen swung an unseen sword and recited two lines, awakening cultivators within a thousand li and severing the demonic thoughts tormenting them.
• Xu Yuanling recognized that Lin Chen’s invisible swordsmanship had strengthened the afflicted cultivators’ Dao hearts and was close to the Dao.

Lin Chen pretended to mourn the Three Corpses Demon’s escape and won Xu Yuanling’s trust by displaying swordsmanship that Xu mistook for Sword Intent. After Xu Yuanling’s incarnation dispersed, Lin Chen turned his attention to using the sect as a foothold to influence the East Sea.

• Lin Chen told Xu Yuanling that the Three Corpses Demon had escaped because he had only injured its incarnation, then claimed the demon had secretly turned the sect ancestor into a puppet.
• Xu Yuanling praised Lin Chen’s swordsmanship as Sword Intent and consoled him, while Lin Chen privately considered what such concepts meant in this world.
• Lin Chen and Xu Yuanling exchanged praise and grew friendly, while Xu Yuanyang silently doubted Lin Chen’s account of the sect’s destruction.
• Xu Yuanling explained that his true body was in the Outer Domain and his projection could not stay, then asked Lin Chen to look after Xu Yuanyang and offered future support.
• Xu Yuanling’s Spirit Energy Incarnation dispersed, and Lin Chen looked over the mountain range, planning to use the sect as a fulcrum to pry up the entire East Sea.

After Changqing Sect’s Golden Core Patriarchs and sect master died, Lin Chen took control and accepted the elders’ pleas to become sect master. He asked the elders to explain the Immortal Alliance’s authority, and Elder Wang revealed that it rested on more than the Heaven-Covering Heaven and Earth Great Formation.

• Lin Chen summoned Changqing Sect’s remaining elders and called for them to recommend a new sect master.
• A Yan Family elder challenged Lin Chen’s claim, and Lin Chen burned him to ash before asking the elders again.
• Elder Wang and the others begged Lin Chen to lead the sect, and Lin Chen accepted the position.
• Lin Chen asked the elders to explain the Immortal Alliance’s standing, and Elder Wang asked whether he knew where its orthodox legitimacy came from.
• Lin Chen identified the right to distribute spiritual energy as the source Elder Wang meant.

Lin Chen and Elder Wang discussed how the Immortal Alliance distributed spiritual energy and how resource scarcity shaped the world’s history, from the ancient wars to the modern Return to Ruins campaigns. Lin Chen connected the end of the Ancient Times to a mysterious event tied to the saying that spiritual energy cultivation did not exist, while Elder Wang explained how the Immortal Alliance continued refining and redistributing resources.

• Lin Chen explained that the Immortal Alliance maintained unity by controlling spirit veins and distributing spiritual energy according to factions’ contributions.
• Elder Wang described the abundance of the Primordial Era and how rising populations and resource demands led the Myriad Races into the Ancient Great Battle.
• Lin Chen and Elder Wang discussed how the Human Race’s victory left the same resource shortage unresolved, prompting Ancient Cultivators to plunder the Chaos Sea of Stars.
• Elder Wang said a demonic calamity ended the Ancient Times and that the top Ancient Cultivators vanished, while Lin Chen recalled related changes and the saying that spiritual energy cultivation did not exist.
• Elder Wang explained how the Return to Ruins supplied resources through the Tianhe Sect’s Heavenly River, the Immortal Alliance’s campaigns, and the Heaven and Earth Great Breathing method.

After Death Messenger injured four Shrek students, Elder Xuan sent them to recuperate while arranging treatment for their Corpse Poison. Huo Yuhao reflected on his weakness and discussed Death Messenger’s abilities with Elder Yi, who judged the Evil Soul Master’s corpse-based necromancy inferior.

• Elder Xuan ordered Yao Haoxuan, Dai Yueheng, Xixi, and Ling Luochen to take Detoxification Pills and recuperate at the military camp before returning to the competition.
• Ma Xiaotao reassured Xixi and Ling Luochen, while Elder Xuan examined the injured students, praised Huo Yuhao, and left to seek Elder Li’s help.
• Huo Yuhao worried that his preparations had not been enough and considered developing Fixed Soul Guidance Earth-Drilling Missiles.
• Huo Yuhao told Elder Yi about Death Messenger and transmitted memories of their battle.
• Elder Yi identified Death Messenger’s techniques as inferior necromancy and explained that true necromancy focused on controlling souls.

Elder Wang explained how the Immortal Alliance’s cultivation economy relied on spiritual-energy production, the Hundred Arts, and trade, while Lin Chen compared it to an industrial system. Lin Chen learned Changqing Sect’s limited industries and began seeking ways to expand beyond established trades, leaving Elder Wang stunned by his question about improper avenues.

• Elder Wang explained that small sects and cultivation families earned spiritual energy by processing resources and cultivating rare types of spiritual energy for larger factions.
• Lin Chen realized that difficult cultivation and refinement added value beyond the raw spiritual-energy count, while spirit stones and the Attribute Panel facilitated transactions.
• Lin Chen reasoned that the Immortal Alliance’s primary, secondary, and service industries sustained its civilization, and wondered why the Ancient Cultivators had vanished after returning from the Immortal Realm.
• Elder Wang said Changqing Sect’s industries consisted of Changqing Pills and more than thirty types of spiritual energy, while other Hundred Arts were dominated by specialized factions.
• Elder Wang warned Lin Chen that the Immortal Alliance forbade sect extermination, and Lin Chen claimed to be righteous while threatening those who slandered him.
• Lin Chen considered covert schemes and asked Elder Wang whether the sect had any improper avenues of business.

Lin Chen studied the East Sea’s crowded markets and decided to seek profit in an illicit field rather than give Changqing Sect his technological breakthroughs. After learning about the Hell Ten Paths, he proposed a new form of dual cultivation, leaving the sect members horrified and Elder Wang under pressure.

• Lin Chen concluded that the East Sea’s established industries were too crowded to enter without a new approach, and asked Elder Wang about illegitimate businesses.
• Elder Wang warned Lin Chen that the Hell Ten Paths controlled illicit trades and would retaliate against outsiders who challenged them.
• Lin Chen dismissed the warning because many of the Hell Ten Paths’ powerful cultivators would be occupied by the Outer Domain war.
• Elder Wang described the Joyful Union Path’s dual-cultivation businesses and methods, but Lin Chen asked about competing in the same field.
• Lin Chen proposed developing a male-male dual-cultivation technique that could improve cultivation without sacrificing one’s foundation, then pointed out that Changqing Sect had many male disciples who were dissatisfied with him.

Lin Chen consulted his split spirits about a cultivation method that could spread his name throughout the East Sea Immortal Alliance. They developed a scheme combining Dragon Yang cultivation, Yin Yang Dual Cultivation, and self-castration, while Lin Chen began to suspect their ideas had gone too far.

• Sun Boy and the other split spirits discussed using blood sacrifices to shed their corpses and become Spirit Transmutation Spiritual Treasures, but agreed their advancement depended on Lin Chen's comprehension of the Great Dao.
• Lin Chen summoned the split spirits to the Dream Realm and explained that he wanted a cultivation method that would start a rat race among East Sea cultivators and spread his influence.
• The split spirits recognized that Lin Chen's plan involved using Dragon Yang cultivation to provoke widespread competition, though they warned that cultivators would fear its risks and hidden dangers.
• Taiyin Girl proposed combining Dragon Yang cultivation with Yin Yang Dual Cultivation and ultimately self-castration to form a path toward Celestial Being Transformation.
• Sun Boy and the other split spirits enthusiastically discussed spreading the method and using jealousy among the Divine Firmament True Law Dao's disciples to fuel it, leaving Lin Chen worried about what he had set in motion.

Lin Chen reconsidered a scheme that would force East Sea cultivators into brutal internal competition after his split spirits warned that it would turn their despair into a Three Corpses Demon capable of devouring him. Recalling his original ideals, he rejected the covert plan and vowed to challenge the East Sea openly with the sword.

• Sword Venerable Gengjin, True Lord Xuanhuang, and Daoist Yimu opposed Lin Chen’s plan, arguing that its secret, coercive methods violated his original heart.
• True Lord Xuanhuang and Daoist Yimu recalled how Lin Chen’s past schemes had left people a chance to choose and pursue transcendence.
• Sword Venerable Gengjin showed how the plan would spread through the East Sea, generate billions of cultivators’ grievances, and empower the Three Corpses Demon to break free and devour Lin Chen.
• Great Sun Fire Master and Immeasurable Sea Emperor warned that despair without hope could not lead cultivators from demonic ways to the Dao.
• Lin Chen recalled his past courage, the opportunities he had once preserved for others, and an elder’s words about keeping love and courage toward the world.
• Lin Chen took up Sword Venerable Gengjin and declared that he would set an open challenge before the East Sea, relying on his sword to decide life and death.

Lin Chen abandoned the Dragon Yang Dual Cultivation Method and planned to reshape the East Sea market through a Dream Realm communication platform and a financial scheme built around new cultivation technologies. He intended to test the plan on Disheng Island, draw the Immortal Alliance into a supposedly mutually profitable organization, and eventually abscond with its funds.

• Lin Chen shared memories from his previous life with his split spirits and argued that reaching across the East Sea required prying open the Immortal Alliance's market.
• The split spirits warned that opening the Dream Realm communication platform could expose their location to the Heavenly Demon Cult, but Lin Chen said his plan combined emerging technology with a financial scam.
• Lin Chen proposed a virtual currency with high monthly interest and recruitment rewards, using later deposits to pay earlier investors and bringing powerful cultivators in to control the scheme.
• Lin Chen said he intended to target monopolistic sects and aristocratic families, using the Human Effigy Method and Lending Cultivation to offer benefits they would believe in.
• Lin Chen planned to test the scheme on Disheng Island, spread it through the Dream Realm, and recruit the Immortal Alliance before absconding with the funds.

Three years after taking control of Changqing Sect, Lin Chen and Xu Yuanyang completed a transformed Human Puppet method that could help cultivators with poor spiritual roots pursue advancement. Lin Chen turned to the Mirror Female Cultivator after learning that the Flying Boat Sea Market would soon reach the route to Penglai Spirit Island.

• Changqing Sect gradually recovered after its former powerholders were killed, and three years passed while Lin Chen and Xu Yuanyang cultivated in seclusion.
• Elder Wang witnessed a Demonic Cultivator break through to Golden Core using Lin Chen’s transformed Human Puppet method, and Xu Yuanyang praised the method’s potential.
• Lin Chen explained that the method required practitioners to castrate themselves so its steep personal cost would drive them to persevere.
• Xu Yuanyang left to arrange for the Divine Firmament True Law Dao to promote the method, while Lin Chen sealed away the newly advanced Golden Core cultivator.
• Elder Wang told Lin Chen that new disciples were being recruited, that a puppetry-path Fairy wanted to see him, and that the Flying Boat Sea Market would reach the nearby sea region in three months.
• Lin Chen decided to investigate the Mirror Female Cultivator’s visit and vanished into the wind.

Lin Chen and the Mirror Female Cultivator investigated how the Heavenly Demon Cult encrypted intelligence in dreams and learned that Forget Demon Venerable might guard the gathering place. When the Mirror Female Cultivator realized that even the identities of Forget Demon Venerable’s victims had been erased from memory, Lin Chen discovered that his Mirror Domain had vanished and the spirit mountain was disappearing from everyone’s memories.

• The Mirror Female Cultivator explained that she had captured Heavenly Demon Cult members and was analyzing their dream-based intelligence codes.
• She told Lin Chen that Cloud Seal Demon Venerable handled intelligence transmission, while the decryption method changed before each gathering.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator theorized that dream gatherings took place in a protected space in the Shallow Dream Realm, guarded by Forget Demon Venerable.
• The Mirror Female Cultivator realized she could not recall whom Forget Demon Venerable had killed, as though their names and existence had been erased.
• Lin Chen noticed that his Mirror Domain had silently broken, saw phantom figures and threads appear, and realized the spirit mountain was disappearing from the memories of everyone in Changqing Sect.