Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen and the other trapped cultivators were attacked by a white mourning figure whose cries killed people and turned their corpses into wailing faces. As the threat overwhelmed the group, Lin Chen empowered his saber with his combined abilities and struck at the figure.

• Lin Chen noticed funeral paper that felt like human skin, then saw the Coffin Carrier and Five-tailed Fox Demon react with alarm as eerie weeping approached.
• A white-clad figure drifted from the forest, and its cries killed cultivators, stopped their escape attempts, and caused the dead to become crying faces.
• Lin Chen opened his Paper World Dao Domain to protect himself and more than ten cultivators, while the Coffin Carrier and Five-tailed Fox Demon sheltered others in their own domains.
• The cries pierced Lin Chen's defenses and affected his Sparrow-Yin soul-spirit; the Coffin Carrier said he could not release the Nine Nether Burial Coffin while it sealed an Evil God statue.
• Lin Chen suspected the strange events were part of a hidden arrangement, then approached the white figure and gathered his powers into a saber strike meant to sever all life.

Lin Chen destroyed the Sorrow Spirit clan with a death adjudication after they nearly tore through his defenses, then confronted a mysterious arrival named Zhang Xi. The Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable set aside suspicions about Lin Chen and identified the Seven Emotions Spirit Race as the group’s greatest threat.

• Lin Chen’s saber slash destroyed the crying faces and the white figure, but more faces emerged and attacked through his defenses.
• Lin Chen crushed a transformed golden pearl, killing the non-human beings within range and learning that they were soulless Sorrow Spirits.
• The Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable explained that the Sorrow Spirits belonged to the Seven Emotions Spirit Race and had been used to corrupt a Nether Prison Daoist, allowing the demons to infiltrate Penglai Island.
• Lin Chen noticed the anomalous shadow Xi, who introduced himself as Zhang Xi and claimed to be acting on the Heavenly Demon Devil Master’s command.
• The Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable avoided challenging Lin Chen’s identity and said the Seven Emotions Spirit Race was their true threat.

Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable explained the Ancient Myriad Races and revealed that the group had entered a Spirit Transformation Dao Domain to help the Seven Emotions Spirit Race return to This World. After describing the spirits’ hierarchy and the dangers ahead, he said the way to avoid another attack was for a sufficiently high-ranking cultivator to die.

• Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable outlined the three kinds of Ancient Myriad Races and named the Seven Emotions Spirit Race among those born through strange mutations.
• Lin Chen considered whether the Outer Domain was being unsealed and the Ancient Myriad Races and Old Gods might be returning early.
• Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable explained that the Western Desert Sacred Den had helped the Seven Emotions Spirit Race use Nether Prison Daoist as a vessel to return to This World.
• Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable said the Seven Emotions Spirit Race ranked its spirits by emotion, with only joy, worry, and thought spirits being intelligent.
• Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable revealed that avoiding another attack required a cultivator of sufficiently high rank to die.

The Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable explained that the Seven Emotions Spirit Race transformed dying high-ranking cultivators and revealed the Netherworld Lord sealed inside his Nine Nether Burial Coffin. The Sorrowful Spirit Race arrived, bringing a terrifying beast illusion and a funeral procession that passed Lin Chen and the others before vanishing into the dark region.

• The Five-tailed Fox Demon suspected the Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable meant to sacrifice her, but he explained that the Seven Emotions Spirit Race transformed the souls of dying high-order cultivators.
• The Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable opened the Nine Nether Burial Coffin and revealed that it contained an incarnation of the Netherworld Lord.
• The Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable said the Netherworld Lord’s aura would draw the Seven Emotions Spirit Race and asked Lin Chen to use Thousand Changes Myriad Transformations to imitate them if necessary.
• The Sorrowful Spirit Race appeared in the forest as the group sensed a colossal, terrifying beast looming over them.
• A ghostly funeral procession passed Lin Chen and the others, with several new figures appearing at its rear before it disappeared into the dark region.

Lin Chen and the demons encountered a deathly silence and a graveyard filled with the Seven Emotions Spirit Race, which used the Evil God Statue to create an enormous, sinister being. As the funeral procession continued, Lin Chen wondered why the Devil Masters were helping the Old Gods and Ancient Myriad Races return.

• The procession fell into an unnatural silence, and a Golden Core cultivator died without anyone noticing.
• Lin Chen and the demons found themselves surrounded by a vast graveyard full of Crying Spirits, while the surviving Golden Core cultivators died and joined them.
• The Evil God Statue stirred inside the coffin, and a gigantic face emerged beneath the looming Blood Moon before the procession resumed.
• Zhang Xi explained that the Seven Emotions Spirit Race had taken one of the statue’s Three Souls and Seven Spirits to create a more terrifying being.
• Lin Chen and the Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable questioned why the Devil Masters were aiding the return of the Old Gods and Ancient Myriad Races as the scenery changed again.

In the silent forest, Lin Chen used his Order Dao Domain to form a team with the three demons and began assimilating the Five-tailed Fox Demon and Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable. After they lost part of their Nascent Soul Origin and resisted the Seven Emotions Spirit Race’s influence, Lin Chen noticed Zhang Xi’s information remained unreadable and suspected a hidden hand behind the journey.

• The Funeral Procession Team reached a misty forest whose blackened trees bore terrified human faces, and the Five-tailed Fox Demon asked Lin Chen what to do.
• The demons tacitly accepted Lin Chen’s leadership, triggering his Team Formation Mode and revealing information about the Five-tailed Fox Demon and Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable while Zhang Xi’s details appeared garbled.
• The Blood Moon and coffin’s floating face reappeared, and the Five-tailed Fox Demon and Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable discovered that one-tenth of their Nascent Soul Origin had vanished.
• Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable blamed the Seven Emotions Spirit Race and the Spirit Medium Bride for the forest’s changes, while the Five-tailed Fox Demon questioned why he had trusted them.
• Zhang Xi warned that the two demons’ emotions were being manipulated; they calmed themselves and realized the Seven Emotions Spirit Race had influenced them without their knowledge.
• Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable pledged to follow Lin Chen, whose assimilation of the two demons had passed fifty percent, as Zhang Xi gave him a strange smile.

Lin Chen discovered that Zhang Xi had helped him assimilate the Five-tailed Fox Demon and Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable, then realized Zhang Xi was likely an avatar of a Spirit Transmutation Old Monster who had come to investigate his past display of fifth-tier power. Lin Chen continued toward a meeting with several powerful cultivators, arriving at a crimson flower sea surrounding an ancient mansion.

• Zhang Xi told Lin Chen that he had given him the two demons and explained that the Spirit Transmutation cultivators considered Nascent Soul demons expendable.
• Lin Chen inferred that Zhang Xi was a Spirit Transmutation avatar and learned that his past destruction of Paper Figure Demon Venerable had drawn the attention of the world's powerful cultivators.
• Lin Chen agreed to meet the other cultivators and considered persuading them to support his plans in the East Sea.
• The Funeral Procession Team entered the gray smog at the core of the Spirit Transmutation Dao Domain, with the two assimilated demons joining the procession.
• Lin Chen emerged from the smog into a blood-red sea of flowers surrounding an ancient mansion beneath a fallen Blood Moon.

Lin Chen and the others reached a blood-red realm, where they found Great Sui Demonic Dao transformed by a failed Spiritualization Tribulation and learned that the demons were preparing to attack Penglai Island. As Monster Kings, Demon Venerables, and other powerful beings gathered beneath the Blood Moon, Lin Chen watched their assembly with interest.

• Lin Chen revealed the corrupted landscape and confronted Great Sui Demonic Dao, whose failed tribulation had forced it to coexist with the Tai Sui Spirit Race.
• Sky-Rending Monster King arrived and explained that Great Sui Demonic Dao had become powerful enough to serve the demons' plan.
• Sky-Rending Monster King said the final Evil God Statue had completed the Twelve Heavens Divine Fiend Great Formation's formation bases and announced a plan to overturn Penglai Island.
• Sky-Rending Monster King described how Immortal Alliance sects and clans had aided the demons' infiltration, while the Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable warned that Penglai Island would be difficult to defeat.
• The Netherworld Evil Tiger, Corpse Swamp Old Man, White Bone Human Demon, Human-faced Tree Demon, and many other demons and monsters gathered beneath the Blood Moon.
• Lin Chen watched the assembled forces and murmured, "How interesting. Myriad Demons Pay Homage..."

Lin Chen infiltrated the demon gathering on Penglai Island and recognized that the assembled forces planned to seize the East Sea Immortal Alliance’s headquarters. After the demons’ leaders argued over a delayed deployment, a disguised Heavenly Demon Cult cultivator exposed Lin Chen’s identity as Faceless Demon Venerable, leaving Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable unable to tell them apart.

• Lin Chen surveyed the dozens of Monster Kings and Demon Venerables gathered on Penglai Island and realized their forces intended to capture it and cripple the East Sea Immortal Alliance.
• Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable argued with the Human-faced Tree Demon over the late arrival of the Evil God Statues and the missed chance to deploy the Twelve Heavens Divine Fiend Great Formation.
• Sky-Rending Monster King stopped the dispute, and an ordinary-looking Heavenly Demon Cult cultivator warned the demons not to ruin the cult’s plan.
• The middle-aged cultivator questioned why Lin Chen’s aura resembled Faceless Demon Venerable’s, then revealed his own matching aura and featureless face.
• Coffin Bearer Demon Venerable turned to Lin Chen and realized he could not distinguish the two Faceless Demon Venerables.

Lin Chen confronted Faceless Demon Venerable while the demons around them tried to determine which one was genuine. After Lin Chen killed the Human-faced Tree Demon with a single strike, he revealed that he knew Forget Demon Venerable, Spirit Medium Bride, and the East Sea Rogue Immortal were present.

• Faceless Demon Venerable and Lin Chen displayed nearly identical auras, Destiny Divine Abilities, and Dao Domains, leaving the gathered Demon Kings and Demon Venerables unable to identify the real one.
• The Human-faced Tree Demon urged the two apparent Faceless Demon Venerables to fight, while the surrounding demons considered attacking the survivor for its collection.
• Lin Chen abruptly attacked the Human-faced Tree Demon, cleaving it in two before its Dao of Life and Death Reincarnation could save it.
• Lin Chen used his understanding of spiritual energy to destroy the Human-faced Tree Demon's consciousness and soul, leaving behind a Fourth Order Spirit Item.
• The assembled demons fell silent, and Faceless Demon Venerable realized Lin Chen had displayed power comparable to a Spirit Transformation Venerable.
• Lin Chen addressed the nearby open space and called on Forget Demon Venerable, Spirit Medium Bride, and the East Sea Rogue Immortal to reveal themselves.

Lin Chen used his overwhelming strength to intimidate the demons gathered in the Spirit Transmutation Dao Domain, then exposed the East Sea Rogue Immortal’s scheme to manipulate him through karma. He uncovered several other powerful figures, including newly ascended Spider Web Spirit Queen, and faced the realization that he could no longer remain hidden from the world’s strongest cultivators.

• Lin Chen warned the gathered Demon Kings and Demon Venerables that he could kill them and use their Nascent Souls as ingredients, frightening them into backing down.
• The East Sea Rogue Immortal revealed himself, and Lin Chen explained that he had recognized the deliberate pattern of dangers arranged to force him to display his strength.
• Lin Chen exposed the spider web controlling the Dao Domain and confronted the Spider Web Spirit Queen, who had become a Demon Emperor.
• The Forget Demon Venerable appeared beside Lin Chen and called for the Spirit Medium Bride to reveal herself.
• The Spirit Medium Bride descended from the Blood Moon with the Nether Prison Daoist, as Lin Chen recognized that he now had to contend openly with the world’s most powerful figures.

Lin Chen agreed to join the Demon and Monster Paths in destroying Penglai Island and the million-year-old Immortal Alliance. The gathered leaders explained that Penglai was protected by a Dharma's End formation, then asked Lin Chen to help with their plan.

• The Spider Web Spirit Queen, East Sea Rogue Immortal, and Forget Demon Venerable pressed Lin Chen to choose a side, and Forget Demon Venerable offered him leadership within the Heavenly Demon Cult.
• Lin Chen reflected on the united Demon and Monster Paths and agreed that destroying the Immortal Alliance was their shared goal.
• The East Sea Rogue Immortal summoned five blood-red chairs, and Lin Chen joined the six leaders to discuss attacking Penglai Island.
• Forget Demon Venerable and the East Sea Rogue Immortal described Penglai's defenses, including the Ten Directions Spirit-Banning Heaven and Earth Great Formation, which suppressed spiritual techniques and controlled access to spiritual qi.
• The leaders asked Lin Chen for his name, and he introduced himself as Lin Chen.

Lin Chen learned that the demons planned to ignite the Yinji Sea’s accumulated darkness to break Penglai Island’s defenses, then proposed stirring revolution throughout the East Sea to create greater chaos. After he vanished, the demons suspected his origins and revealed that their true aim was to study the Heaven-Covering Heaven and Earth Great Formation before they went into slumber.

• Forget Demon Venerable explained that the Yinji Sea’s accumulated curses, death, and grievance could unleash a Nine Nether calamity capable of destroying Wolong Pass and breaking Penglai Island’s formation.
• Spider Web Spirit Queen said the Immortal Alliance’s campaign against the Hell Ten Paths would leave Penglai Island vulnerable, giving the demons an opportunity to act.
• Lin Chen argued that injustice had spread profound darkness throughout the East Sea and proposed igniting it through a revolution led by mortals and lower-level cultivators.
• The assembled demons agreed to cooperate with Lin Chen’s plan, though they privately suspected his power and origins and considered killing him after Penglai Island fell.
• The demons revealed their chief objective was to ignite the Yinji Sea and observe the Heaven-Covering Heaven and Earth Great Formation so their Heavenly Lord could find a way to make it collapse.
• Forget Demon Venerable considered testing revolution within the Ideal Country, and the demons vanished into slumber until the coming war.

Lin Chen emerged from the Spirit Transformation Nether Prison only to be ambushed by Tianhe Sect disciples, who used a regional law-ban and a formation to suppress him and set ten thousand Daoist Soldiers on him. As the soldiers closed in, Lin Chen revealed he had a method beyond ordinary attack spells and unleashed Great Sound is Silent.

• The purple-robed and green-robed Tianhe Sect cultivators demanded Lin Chen surrender his secrets and become a Guest Official, then prepared to kill him when he refused.
• The purple-robed cultivator invoked a Nascent Soul True Lord’s decree to disperse spiritual qi and silence laws across the region, weakening Lin Chen’s mana and Sorcery.
• The cultivators used the Heavenly One Spirit Transformation Great Formation as an illusion array while concealing Daoist Soldiers within it.
• Lin Chen saw through an illusory attack and hurled a fireball behind himself, striking Daoist Soldiers who had tried to ambush him.
• The purple-robed cultivator ordered ten thousand Daoist Soldiers to encircle and overwhelm Lin Chen.
• As the soldiers charged, Lin Chen released waves of infrasound with his divine ability, Great Sound is Silent.

Lin Chen used his new sound-wave divine ability to destroy the purple-robed cultivator and his army, then killed the cultivator despite his Nascent Soul master’s arrival. As the master attacked Lin Chen, azure Divine Firmament Gang Law lightning descended from the sky.

• The purple-robed cultivator watched Lin Chen’s resistance, believing his layered scheme would force Lin Chen to reveal his secret and leave him vulnerable.
• Lin Chen used Great Sound is Silent to kill the ten thousand Daoist Soldiers and fatally wound the purple-robed cultivator.
• Lin Chen beheaded the purple-robed cultivator and destroyed his Golden Core and divine soul, even after the Nascent Soul old man ordered him to stop.
• The Nascent Soul old man attacked Lin Chen and accused him of being a demonic fiend; Lin Chen revealed that the old man had likely prepared his disciple as a vessel for reincarnation and body seizing.
• As Lin Chen prepared to expose the Spirit Transmutation Nether Prison and counterattack, azure Divine Firmament Gang Law lightning filled the sky.

Lin Chen was caught between the Tianhe Sect and the Divine Firmament Gang Law Dao, but his old acquaintance Xu Yuanyang intervened and settled the dispute. Xu Yuanyang explained that Lin Chen’s Spirit Puppet Method had sparked a major power struggle within the Immortal Alliance, and the chapter ended with him revealing that some leaders wanted to kill Lin Chen to protect their own status.

• A Nascent Soul cultivator unleashed a mist Dao Domain against Lin Chen, but Xu Yuanyang arrived and countered it with the Divine Firmament Thunder Seal.
• Xu Yuanyang paid the Tianhe Sect elder three fourth-rank spirit herbs to end the confrontation and then greeted Lin Chen.
• Lin Chen recognized Xu Yuanyang’s progress to a high-grade Golden Core and a personal path toward the Nascent Soul realm.
• Xu Yuanyang explained that the Immortal Alliance’s leaders were expanding Lin Chen’s Spirit Puppet Method into a wide range of uses, potentially transforming the Alliance’s strength.
• Xu Yuanyang revealed that some powerful figures wanted to exclude Lin Chen from the profits or destroy him because his innovations threatened their status.

Lin Chen learned that the Immortal Alliance’s factions were fighting over how to exploit and control the Spirit Puppet Method, and that an upcoming war against the Hell Ten Paths would determine its future. As Xu Yuanyang transported him toward Penglai Island, a colossal object blotted out the sky, and Xu warned that the returning Spirit Boat Fleet put them in mortal danger.

• Lin Chen asked Xu Yuanyang which factions supported the Spirit Puppet Method, learning that his Xu Clan and the Taiyi Immortal Sword Sect supported its spread while several sects opposed it or sought control of its secrets.
• Xu Yuanyang explained that the dispute centered on whether mortals and low-level Cultivators would gain hope through the method or be refined into puppets under the Immortal Alliance’s control.
• Lin Chen agreed to attend the coming East Sea Immortal Alliance gathering at Penglai, where the campaign against the Hell Ten Paths would test the Spirit Puppet Method and settle internal conflicts.
• Xu Yuanyang told Lin Chen that his disciple had survived the Flying Boat Sea Market calamity and warned him to stay within the Divine Firmament Gang Law Dao’s territory because a powerful Tianhe Sect Nascent Soul True Lord might attack him.
• Xu Yuanyang used a token to transport Lin Chen through Penglai Island’s Origin Magnetic force field, and Lin Chen deduced how the island’s levitation worked.
• A vast object blocked the sky, and Xu Yuanyang recognized the returning Immortal Alliance Spirit Boat Fleet and urged Lin Chen to descend and take cover.

Lin Chen and Xu Yuanyang watched the Immortal Alliance’s enormous Flying Boat Fleet return from the Outer Domain, and Xu Yuanyang explained its power and the secrets of Tiangong Island. As they headed toward Penglai Immortal City, Lin Chen considered how the fleet complicated the coming war and resolved to advance to Nascent Soul so he could influence events.

• Xu Yuanyang identified the vast shadow over Penglai Island as the returning Immortal Alliance Flying Boat Fleet, and Lin Chen estimated that it contained at least fifty thousand ships.
• Xu Yuanyang revealed that the fleet held over 129,000 Spirit Martial Ships, alongside True Lord Ships and Star Lord Ships, and could threaten even Spirit Transformation Venerables when assembled.
• Xu Yuanyang explained that Tiangong Island contained a huge grotto-heaven for storing and repairing ships, and hinted that enslaved Foreign Races helped build them.
• Lin Chen realized that the demonic forces planning to attack Penglai Island might have concealed the fleet’s threat, but decided he could benefit from the chaos regardless of who won.
• Xu Yuanyang told Lin Chen that advancing to Nascent Soul could let him apply for Spirit Martial Ships and that success at the Immortal Alliance’s gathering could earn him command of a fleet.
• Lin Chen and Xu Yuanyang flew toward Penglai Immortal City and saw the distant outline of enormous cloud-piercing buildings.

Lin Chen visited Xu Yuanyang’s lavish residence on Penglai Island and saw how the East Sea Immortal Alliance’s ruling families squandered resources while exploiting ordinary cultivators. He concluded that accumulated resentment could become a world-destroying force, while Xu Yuanyang resolved to learn Lin Chen’s true nature at the coming Golden Core Gathering and battle of the Hell Ten Paths.

• Xu Yuanyang brought Lin Chen to Penglai Island, where Divine Firmament Gang Law cultivators welcomed Xu as the Dao Lord’s grandson.
• Xu Yuanyang showed Lin Chen his extravagant palace, where rare spirit items and cultivation resources were used as decorations and luxuries.
• Lin Chen connected the Alliance’s waste and oppression of cultivators to the accumulation of resentment, curses, and Calamity Demonic Qi.
• Lin Chen reasoned that the Cultivation World had to overcome internal waste and dispel Calamity Demonic Qi to avoid eventual ruin.
• Xu Yuanyang was surprised that Lin Chen remained unmoved by the palace’s displays and planned to watch him at the upcoming Golden Core Gathering and battle of the Hell Ten Paths.

Lin Chen learned that the Immortal Alliance planned to use a campaign against Hell Ten Paths to prepare for the coming Great Tribulation and distribute the war’s spoils through a Golden Core ranking contest. Unwilling to expose his abilities in the competition, he asked Xu Yuanyang for a special admission quota that would let him bypass it.

• Xu Yuanyang told Lin Chen that the Alliance’s investigation of the Flying Boat Sea Market had stalled, though Tianjizi planned to travel to the East Sea to investigate.
• Xu Yuanyang explained that the Alliance would gather Golden Core cultivators at Penglai Island to attack Hell Ten Paths, using the campaign to prepare for the Great Tribulation and seize resources.
• Xu Yuanyang revealed that a ranking contest would determine the cultivators’ support and access to valuable targets during the war.
• Lin Chen decided he did not want to compete because it would expose his methods, create enemies, and risk his life.
• Lin Chen asked Xu Yuanyang to give him a Special Admission Quota and let him bypass the competition.