Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chu failed to affect the gate sealing the awakening corpse and learned that its original seal required Origin-realm power. He chose to seek the Emotion Clan’s successor in the Southern Border, secured Lan’s agreement to leave Song Li, and escaped with her from Purgatory Heaven.

• Zhang Chu struck the gate with Kong and the Godslaying Palm Technique, but its runes absorbed and dissolved both attacks.
• Lan explained that the gate’s sealer had crossed the threshold of the Origin realm after spending centuries carving runes to bind the corpse.
• Zhang Chu asked Lan about his master Huang Xugu, and she said he might have entered the dangerous Other Shore of the Netherriver.
• Zhang Chu decided to travel to the Southern Border to find the Emotion Clan’s successor and demanded that Lan return Song Li to him.
• Lan warned that Song Li might die without their twelve-year symbiosis, but Zhang Chu said his Heavenly Toad Undying Token divine art could keep her alive.
• Lan left Song Li’s body, and Zhang Chu caught her and escaped Purgatory Heaven without trusting Lan.

As Zhang Chu’s growing reputation turned the True Martial Temple into a major destination, Li Minghuai and Wang Yuan managed the crowds and refused a visit from the Heavenly Wolf Gate. The chapter ended when a disciple reported that two Secluded Sect factions had arrived demanding an explanation, claiming Zhang Chu had run off with someone else’s fiancée.

• Crowds of martial artists gathered at the True Martial Temple, where Qin Huaiyuan and Zhong Jiu waited to present gifts and seek an audience with Li Minghuai.
• Wang Yuan told Li Minghuai that visitors were overwhelming the temple, and Li explained that some had come to test its limits through a visit from the Heavenly Wolf Gate.
• Li Minghuai marked the Heavenly Wolf Gate’s calling card with “Withdraw” and warned Wang Yuan to protect the temple without misusing Zhang Chu’s reputation.
• Qian Duoduo arrived with a costly fire-jade meditation mat, tried to use his supposed bond with Zhang Chu to gain entry, and handed over his calling card after the guard refused to let him bring in the box.
• A mysterious grey-robed elder passed the mountain gate, recognized the place, and murmured that Huang Xugu had taught a good disciple.
• A disciple rushed into the hall and reported that two Secluded Sect factions were demanding an explanation because Zhang Chu had allegedly run off with someone else’s fiancée.

The Heavenly Secret Pavilion and Ten Thousand Laws Sect confronted the True Martial Temple over Shangguan Hongye, accusing Zhang Chu of abducting her. Zhang Chu returned, overwhelmed their envoys, and was about to kill Shangguan Ce when Shangguan Hongye arrived and told him not to.

• Li Minghuai learned that Shangguan Ce and five others from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion and Ten Thousand Laws Sect had come demanding an explanation for Shangguan Hongye's disappearance.
• Shangguan Ce's group injured Li Minghuai, damaged the True Martial Temple's archway, and tried to destroy Zhang Chu's plaque, but its protective will deflected Nie Han's attack.
• Zhang Chu returned, healed Li Minghuai, and stopped Nie Han's sword techniques before using a reflected sword formation to blast him into a mountainside.
• Zhang Chu killed the Grey-Robed Elder and seized Shangguan Ce by the throat despite Shangguan Ce summoning the Heavenly Secret Pavilion with its Heavenly Secret Token.
• Shangguan Hongye appeared at the mountain gate and told Zhang Chu not to kill Shangguan Ce.

Shangguan Hongye revealed the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s ancient ties to Underworld Heaven and offered to help Zhang Chu seal the Three Worlds Well in exchange for retrieving something from Underworld Heaven. She then disclosed that someone carrying a Seven Limits Stele had broken the seal three years earlier, leaving Zhang Chu to suspect the old man who possessed the remaining Fate Character Stele.

• Shangguan Hongye stopped Zhang Chu from killing Shangguan Ce and warned him that the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s master had reached the fifth heaven of Yin-Sealing.
• Shangguan Hongye explained that the Heavenly Secret Pavilion descended from the disciple of the Origin-realm cultivator who sealed Underworld Heaven, and said its records could help Zhang Chu with the Three Worlds Well.
• Zhang Chu accepted Shangguan Hongye’s offer to help seal the Three Worlds Well in exchange for retrieving something from Underworld Heaven, then sent Shangguan Ce away injured.
• Shangguan Hongye revealed that Underworld Heaven’s third seal had shattered three years earlier and that the intruder possessed a Seven Limits Stele.
• Zhang Chu displayed the four and a half steles he possessed and wondered whether the old man with the Fate Character Stele had broken the seal.

Shangguan Hongye told Zhang Chu that the Old Man may have used the Fate Character Stele to enter the Underworld Heaven, and that his fate was severed and linked to Zhang Chu’s. Zhang Chu agreed to retrieve the Heavenly Secret Pavilion’s notes but stayed at the True Martial Temple to help his senior and junior brothers before seeking Jing Zhongyue, while the Imperial Advisor prepared to visit an old friend.

• Shangguan Hongye explained that someone used the Fate Character Stele to break the Underworld Heaven’s seal and that the person’s fate was intertwined with Zhang Chu’s Dao Master identity.
• Shangguan Hongye revealed that the Heavenly Secret Pavilion wanted Zhang Chu to retrieve a scroll of notes left inside the Underworld Heaven, and Zhang Chu agreed to help after settling matters at home.
• Shangguan Hongye warned Zhang Chu that only a handful of people could sever fate and that one was in the Imperial Advisor Hall before she departed.
• Zhang Chu reassured Li Minghuai that the secluded sects would not return, then examined Wang Yuan’s cultivation and promised both brothers guidance.
• Zhang Chu spent the night at the True Martial Temple reflecting on the Old Man and planned to seek Jing Zhongyue the next day.
• The Imperial Advisor sensed a change through her jade slip and said it was time to visit an old friend.

Zhang Chu reached the Three Worlds Well and learned that sealing its fissure would bind Jing Zhongyue to the well for life, so he vowed to find another way. He then fused five manifestations into a new cultivation technique, awakening the Eye of Strength as the Five Aspects Sealing Technique appeared.

• Zhang Chu and Shangguan Hongye found Heaven Well Village deserted and discovered a painting linking the Emotion Clan to the Formless Emperor and the Underworld Heaven Ferry.
• A girl sent by Jing Zhongyue led Zhang Chu and Shangguan Hongye to the Three Worlds Well, where Zhang Chu explained the scattered corpse and the danger behind the Gate.
• Jing Zhongyue agreed to seal the fissure, but Shangguan Hongye revealed that doing so would confine her within a hundred li of the well for the rest of her life.
• Zhang Chu refused to let Jing Zhongyue pay that price and resolved to find another way to fulfill their agreement.
• Zhang Chu fused Golden Lotus, True Spirit, Eternal Life, Immortal, and Ancient Mirror for a hundred million Merit Points, awakening the Eye of Strength and creating the Five Aspects Sealing Technique.