Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin learned from Adaiah that reaching the Star Ruins would require surviving the River of Rules and crossing dimensional obstacles, then considered waiting to learn from her soul dissolution. Two years later, he sought variegated crystal from Yue Yingxian’s visitor, who offered it only in exchange for Chen Lin joining the fight for the Firefly Jade; Yue Yingxian also wondered whether Chen Lin had caused a reaction in her gemstone.

• Adaiah warned Chen Lin about the dangers of the Star Ruins, gave him a single-use Sprite Queen's Tear, and shared information about dimensional gaps and safer routes between realms.
• Chen Lin reviewed the routes to the Star Ruins and decided to wait for Adaiah to undergo soul dissolution before choosing how to proceed.
• Two years later, Chen Lin visited the Tiandu Gem House after Yinshu reported that a mysterious man was meeting Yue Yingxian.
• Yue Yue'er tried to turn Chen Lin away, but Yue Yingxian let him upstairs, where Chen Lin asked the dignified visitor for variegated crystal and a way to resist rule erosion.
• The visitor refused to sell a rule-resistant treasure and offered variegated crystal only if Chen Lin joined him in fighting for the Firefly Jade; Chen Lin declined and left.
• Yue Yingxian told her Second Brother that her gemstone had briefly fluctuated when Chen Lin appeared, but he dismissed the possibility that Chen Lin was connected to her tribulation.

Chen Lin accepted Yue Yingxian’s gift of dazzling liquid color crystal, but grew wary when she asked about his lineage and brought up Zhenyangzi. He then boarded the Life Ferry for its Centennial Gathering, where a wine-tasting challenge offered the chance to earn access to the Second Mate’s trades.

• Chen Lin learned that Daidaixi’s royal lineage on Red Umbrella Star held powerful destiny-related treasures, and decided to seek variegated crystal before approaching her.
• Yue Yingxian brought Chen Lin two portions of dazzling liquid color crystal, asked about his Wizard inheritance, and offered to acknowledge him as her younger sister.
• Yue Yingxian mentioned Zhenyangzi, but Chen Lin denied knowing him and later dismissed the possibility that he could still be controlled by Zhenyangzi or Nian Kong.
• Pearl summoned Chen Lin to the Life Ferry, where he arrived at the Centennial Gathering and learned that he could earn the Second Mate’s wine by completing a trade.
• The Second Mate opened the gathering with a wine-tasting challenge, and Chen Lin began looking for someone to trade with.

Chen Lin traded information about Soul-Unlocking Objects for two Variegated Crystals at the Life Ferry gathering and sampled several of Tuxedo’s rare wines. Tuxedo gave him another glass as a welcoming gift, hoping he would never need to use its effect.

• A Phantom Mask passenger traded a Three-Eyed Four-Eyed Flower to the long-eared old man for ten Life Coins, and both received wine from Tuxedo.
• Chen Lin exchanged information about six auxiliary Soul-Unlocking Objects with a Two-Star passenger for a Variegated Crystal, while warning that one detail was not fully confirmed.
• Chen Lin drank Soul-Splitting Wine and watched the other passengers’ trades continue; after his own offer found no match, he moved to a neighboring table.
• A youthful masked passenger traded Chen Lin another Variegated Crystal for the Soul-Unlocking information, imposing a restriction against reselling it during the gathering.
• Chen Lin recognized that another wine resembled Drunken God Brew and explained its effects to Tuxedo, who accepted his answer and poured him another glass as a welcoming gift.

Chen Lin was barred from trading at the gathering but acquired a mysterious hat whose ancient last letter revealed that the fireflies on Great Yellow Mountain were characters from a book. He was left questioning the book’s power and the connection to Firefly Jade.

• Chen Lin violated the trading rules by listing too many requested treasures, so Tuxedo banned him from trading and collected three Life Coins from Pearl as punishment.
• Back at his shop, Chen Lin bought a strange dark hat from Liu Siji for one Semi-Void Pill after Tiezhu detected hidden characters on it.
• Chen Lin translated the incomplete markings and learned they were a last letter addressed to Mosdi, asking him to meet the writer about a major secret.
• Yinshu reported that Adaiah had gone to the Red Cloud Continent and asked Chen Lin not to search for her, then later recovered the missing piece of the hat from the Spiritual Field.
• Chen Lin completed the letter and discovered that fireflies on Great Yellow Mountain had killed a powerful spirit beast and were characters from a book, leaving him puzzled by the book’s power and Firefly Jade.

Chen Lin investigated the origins of Firefly Jade and learned that Thousand-Head Fireflies appeared to be real demon insects, though their nature remained uncertain. Yue Yingxian then revealed that she was facing a formless Dao tribulation and believed Chen Lin was the person fated to help her survive it.

• Chen Lin questioned Shopkeeper Xiao, who showed him Firefly Jade and described the Thousand-Head Fireflies he had encountered on Great Yellow Mountain.
• Chen Lin gathered reports for several years, learning that most people considered the Thousand-Head Fireflies real demon insects linked to Emperor Qianling’s lost Spirit Hound.
• Yue Yingxian visited Chen Lin with two portions of dazzling liquid color crystal, and Chen Lin recognized that she was undergoing a great Dao tribulation.
• Yue Yingxian told Chen Lin that Zhenyangzi’s divination pointed to him as the person who could help her survive, and offered him a share of her clan’s variegated crystal allocation in exchange for his aid.

Chen Lin attended a meeting to negotiate the black-gold dew allocation, where Fairy Yaochi appeared alongside a powerful delegation from the Hundred Fruit Orchard. After Yaochi said she already loved someone but could not remember his face, her senior brother threatened Chen Lin and challenged him to withstand one move.

• Chen Lin rejected Yue Yingxian's request for help, then spent decades studying soul dissolution while waiting for news from his companions.
• Lu Xiaochuan invited Chen Lin to help the Lu Lineage secure a share of the black-gold dew, and Chen Lin assured him he could keep the situation under control.
• Fairy Yaochi arrived at the meeting with Jinlin, a white-robed senior brother, and a saber wielder; Lu Xiaochuan explained that the Hundred Fruit Orchard was a powerful, mysterious faction.
• The white-robed man demanded ninety percent of the black-gold dew and singled out Chen Lin to answer whether he agreed.
• Chen Lin questioned Yaochi about her relationship with her senior brother, and the saber wielder's attack failed to penetrate the Armor of Hope.
• Yaochi said she already had a companion whom she loved, and her senior brother threatened Chen Lin before offering to spare him if he survived one move.

Chen Lin defeated Feng Baiyu and the saber wielder, claimed most of the black-gold dew, and discovered a hundred high-dimensional fruit trees inside a Grotto-Heaven Treasure. He decided to stay in his current identity long enough to obtain the Firefly Jade and black-gold dew, despite the risk of retaliation.

• Chen Lin broke through Feng Baiyu’s apple’s suppression and killed the saber wielder after Feng Baiyu recognized the divinity’s radiance and begged for mercy.
• Chen Lin used the Ancient Witch Eyeball to stop Feng Baiyu from escaping, killed him, and let Fairy Yaochi and Jinlin leave.
• Chen Lin claimed ninety percent of the black-gold dew, returned to his shop, and examined the three items taken from his enemies.
• Chen Lin learned the apple could communicate with its tree and discovered that Feng Baiyu’s fruit-pit waist ornament was a small Grotto-Heaven Treasure containing a hundred high-dimensional fruit trees.
• Chen Lin considered switching back to his original identity if danger grew, but chose to wait for the Firefly Jade and black-gold dew before changing identities.

During the Dark Year, Lin Xinyi was attacked by a mysterious vine linked to a higher-dimensional Otherworld, and Chen Lin used Tiezhu to drive it back and investigate its source. After securing Lin Xinyi and arranging for Lu Xiaochuan to watch his shop, Chen Lin returned to find a mysterious Giant Egg in the Lu Lineage’s gift.

• When the Dark Year plunged the Youlong Star Domain into darkness, a dark red vine emerged from between Lin Xinyi’s brows and trapped her inside a Formless Barrier.
• Chen Lin had Tiezhu break the barrier and used the Ghost King Saber to wound the vine, forcing it to retreat into Lin Xinyi.
• Tiezhu opened a brief view into a higher-dimensional room filled with vines, where Chen Lin spotted a branch bearing a red string and a gash connected to Lin Xinyi.
• Chen Lin learned that Tiezhu could reopen the passage near Lin Xinyi, then moved her into the Fruit Core Grotto-Heaven to recover.
• Lu Xiaochuan asked Chen Lin to forgive the Lu Lineage and offered to watch his shop, then gave him a bundle before leaving.
• After failing to learn anything about Adaiah, Chen Lin returned to the shop and found a human-head-sized Giant Egg covered in runic inscriptions inside the bundle.

Chen Lin learned that the Lu Lineage had given him a viable blind egg, then met Adaiah and heard about the Abandoned Land and its summons to Dominators. They reached Great Yellow Mountain to investigate the Thousand-Head Fireflies, where Yinshu reported that a mysterious luminous image had appeared when Dark Descent began.

• Elder Qin explained that the Lu Lineage's blind eggs came from crossbreeding many spirit-beast species, and Chen Lin stored the viable egg for later.
• Chen Lin left Elder Qin in charge of the shop and departed for Great Yellow Mountain with plans to investigate the Firefly Jade and the Hat Last Will.
• Adaiah identified Mosdi as a fourth-rank Dominator and told Chen Lin that the Abandoned Land summoned Dominators, with primal power helping resist its pull.
• Chen Lin and Adaiah discussed the Abandoned Land while traveling, then reached Great Yellow Mountain and saw cultivators gathering to hunt Thousand-Head Fireflies.
• At Dahuang City, Yinshu reported his gathered information and told Chen Lin that a brief luminous image had appeared above Great Yellow Mountain when Dark Descent began.

Chen Lin examined records of a mysterious projection at Great Yellow Mountain and learned that space rifts in the Boundary River led to a separate plane connected to the Bizarre Kingdom. Adaiah offered to manifest Yue Yingxian’s formless tribulation for Firefly Jade, then revealed that Chen Lin and Yue Yingxian were each other’s tribulation-facing person and that their shared tribulation had begun.

• Yinshu reported a brief projection of ruins at Great Yellow Mountain, and Chen Lin summoned Yi Qiuyuan, Feng Qi, and Yue Yingxian to learn what they had seen.
• Chen Lin examined the three experts’ recorded memories and noticed a dark red vine in Yue Yingxian’s clearer image, which reminded him of a place connected to Lin Xinyi and the Large Yellow Dog’s death.
• Yue Yingxian said the Boundary River’s rifts led to a plane connected to the Bizarre Kingdom, while Chen Lin warned that the Great Yellow Mountain projection might bring danger from a High-Dimensional Space.
• Adaiah refused Chen Lin’s offer to join forces with the others and offered to help Yue Yingxian manifest her formless tribulation in exchange for Firefly Jade.
• After Yue Yingxian and the others left, Adaiah admitted she could not discern the tribulation but explained that Chen Lin and Yue Yingxian were each other’s tribulation-facing person, so they shared the formless tribulation that had begun.

Chen Lin learned that he might be undergoing a formless tribulation alongside Yue Yingxian and went with Adaiah to investigate Great Yellow Mountain. As Chen Lin agreed to help Yue Yingxian survive her tribulation, a Thousand-Head Firefly escaped through the boundary.

• Adaiah warned Chen Lin that his true body might be suffering a formless tribulation and gave him a gemstone that could trace danger to its source.
• Adaiah identified Zhenyangzi as a renowned diviner of the Emergent Daoist Sect and proposed finding the book that could produce Firefly Jade.
• Chen Lin and Adaiah reached Great Yellow Mountain, where Feng Qi reported that dozens of cultivators had died hunting unusually powerful Thousand-Head Fireflies.
• Yue Yingxian told Chen Lin that her treasure had reacted to him twice, and Chen Lin concluded that he was probably her tribulation-facing person.
• Chen Lin offered to help Yue Yingxian survive her tribulation in exchange for ten pieces of variegated crystal, but someone announced that a Thousand-Head Firefly had escaped through the boundary.

Chen Lin and Adaiah fought the mutated Thousand-Head Fireflies as they escaped Great Yellow Mountain, while Chen Lin gathered Firefly Jade and learned more about Yue Yingxian’s suspected formless tribulation. After days of fighting, powerful outsiders began containing the wider disaster, but Chen Lin learned that people from the Celestial God Palace had arrived.

• Thousand-Head Fireflies breached Great Yellow Mountain and overwhelmed the valley, but Chen Lin and Yue Yingxian broke their illusions and fought them off.
• Chen Lin discovered that the Ghost King Saber absorbed a mysterious aura from Firefly Jade, then joined Adaiah in guarding the valley exits and killing the fireflies.
• Yue Yingxian offered Chen Lin dazzling liquid color crystal and her Natal Gemstone as possible payment, and said she suspected their formless tribulation was causing her to choose him over her deceased husband in an illusion.
• Yue Yingxian explained how she and her husband had bound an Everlasting Bell on Huqiu, and Chen Lin set aside his questions when more fireflies surged from the valley.
• Over dozens of days, Chen Lin killed more than a thousand fireflies and collected two jin of Firefly Jade, while some escaped and devastated Dahuang Star.
• Powerful figures from the Outer World began hunting escaped fireflies, and Chen Lin learned that people from the Celestial God Palace had arrived.

Chen Lin impersonated Elder Chunjiu’s Divine Envoy to deflect Qu Zixian’s suspicions and avoid surrendering his Firefly Jade. He joined Qu Zixian’s party to explore the valley, where his Silence Technique proved effective against high-dimensional energy, and the chapter left him urging Yue Yingxian and her Second Brother to stay behind.

• Qu Zixian confronted Chen Lin, who claimed Chunjiu had made him her Divine Envoy and showed Chunjiu’s bottle as proof.
• Chen Lin learned Han Wangxian’s disappearance had drawn the Celestial God Palace’s attention, then decided to use his original body in the Star Ruins.
• Qu Zixian demanded Chen Lin’s Firefly Jade, but Chen Lin refused, and the party agreed to investigate the valley together.
• Qu Zixian introduced Moka, Ba Gu, and Zhou Anshi, whose spatial abilities and connection to Great Sky Lake drew Chen Lin’s interest.
• Ba Gu’s sound attack disoriented the Thousand-Head Fireflies, while Moka dispelled Ba Gu’s illusion and Chen Lin discovered his Silence Technique suppressed the sound waves.
• Yue Yingxian gave Chen Lin the variegated crystal, and he urged her and her Second Brother to remain outside the valley.

Chen Lin and the others entered the valley, where a strange force suppressed their energy and a swarm of Thousand-Head Fireflies attacked them. After Chen Lin’s Ghost King Saber destroyed the fireflies, Qu Zixian reacted with alarm to the weapon and told Chen Lin to keep it, leaving Chen Lin suspicious that the saber concealed a serious secret.

• Qu Zixian tested the valley with his flying swords, discovered an invisible barrier and a book within a secret realm, then required the group to follow his orders as they went deeper.
• Chen Lin, Yue Yingxian, Moka, Ba Gu, Zhou Anshi, and Qu Zixian crossed the barrier, where their energy became suppressed and increasingly agitated.
• Tiezhu sensed the book in a cave and warned Chen Lin that its characters were flying toward them as points of light.
• Moka’s protective light barely covered Chen Lin and Yue Yingxian, so Chen Lin shattered the fireflies’ illusion and destroyed the Thousand-Head Fireflies with the Ghost King Saber.
• Qu Zixian recognized the Ghost King Saber, rejected Chen Lin’s claim that Chunjiu had bestowed it, then backed away and said his martial aunt had given Chen Lin the saber.

Chen Lin and Qu Zixian's group found a blank book in the cave, but when it reached Chen Lin, the Ghost King Saber’s ghost face leapt onto it and the group attacked him. Chen Lin resisted their assault, but Yue Yingxian was badly injured protecting him as Qu Zixian prepared another strike.

• Qu Zixian ordered Chen Lin to enter the cave with the others, where they found an apparently ordinary, blank book on a cyan stone.
• Qu Zixian used his authority as an official disciple of the Celestial God Palace to force Chen Lin to pick up the book, then turned its pages without finding any writing.
• After the others examined the blank book and passed it back, the Ghost King Saber activated on its own and its ghost face lunged onto the book.
• Qu Zixian, Moka, Ba Gu, and Zhou Anshi attacked Chen Lin together, while Chen Lin broke through Qu Zixian’s suppression and defended himself with his heart of indomitability, the Mystic Gold Spear, and the Armor of Hope.
• Yue Yingxian blocked Qu Zixian’s flying sword for Chen Lin and was severely injured, but Qu Zixian merged his swords and launched another attack.

Chen Lin switched to his original body to escape the valley’s energy corruption and used the Soul-Destroying Finger against Qu Zixian’s group and the ghost face hidden in a book. As Moka died and the book resisted Chen Lin’s attacks, Qu Zixian and Zhou Anshi opened a black-hole vortex and sent a giant flying sword into it.

• Chen Lin’s secondary identity and the others lost control of their energy, so he switched to his original body and killed Ba Gu with the Soul-Destroying Finger.
• Chen Lin attacked the book protecting the Ghost King Saber’s ghost face while keeping Qu Zixian, Moka, and Zhou Anshi under pressure; their treasures and abilities blocked his soul attacks.
• Yue Yingxian sided with Chen Lin and used her Red Gemstone to weaken Moka’s Formless Barrier.
• Moka abandoned his defenses and charged Chen Lin, but his unstable energy detonated and destroyed him.
• Qu Zixian summoned a third sword and asked Zhou Anshi to open the void; Zhou Anshi formed a vortex around a black hole, and Qu Zixian launched his giant flying sword into it.

Chen Lin and the others escaped the valley with help from an unknown archer, but their powers were suppressed after they emerged. As Chen Lin fought Qu Zixian and Zhou Anshi with a sword, Zhou Anshi accused Qu Zixian of poisoning his younger brother.

• Chen Lin, Qu Zixian, Zhou Anshi, and Yue Yingxian escaped the Dominator’s collapsing sphere through the black-hole passage after an emerald arrow shattered it.
• The four emerged in a strange place where their supernatural abilities and treasures no longer worked, and Chen Lin seized Qu Zixian’s fallen Flying Sword.
• Yue Yingxian joined Chen Lin, while Qu Zixian and Zhou Anshi stood together; Chen Lin’s sword strike failed to kill Zhou Anshi, who drew a dagger.
• Chen Lin attacked Qu Zixian, but Zhou Anshi refused to help him, so Qu Zixian threatened Zhou Anshi over his younger brother’s poison.
• Zhou Anshi asked how Qu Zixian knew his younger brother had thousand-child heart-inquiring poison and accused him of ordering the poisoning.

Chen Lin, Zhou Anshi, and Yue Yingxian explored a supernatural-energy-suppressing island after killing Qu Zixian, then discovered ruins linked to the legendary Shadow Scholar. Learning that a powerful vine guarded the Hexagonal High Tower, Chen Lin chose to investigate a distant wooden house first, and the three headed toward it together.

• Chen Lin and Zhou Anshi subdued Qu Zixian, and Zhou Anshi killed him after Chen Lin promised to help find a cure for his younger brother's poison.
• Chen Lin, Zhou Anshi, and Yue Yingxian explored the island, found the ruins and Hexagonal High Tower, and learned that the secret realm was associated with the Shadow Scholar.
• Yue Yingxian explained the Shadow Scholar's legend and the powerful inheritances found in his ruins, while Chen Lin and his companions introduced themselves and agreed to proceed cautiously.
• After exploring the island for more than half a month, Chen Lin discovered that his Spirit Infusion Realm ability still worked, though he warned that a powerful dark red vine guarded the tower.
• Chen Lin rejected Zhou Anshi's offer to scout alone and led the group on a detour toward a remote wooden house to investigate the ruins away from the tower.

Chen Lin, Zhou Anshi, and Yue Yingxian explored the island’s abandoned buildings and found a plank bearing Wuji Zi’s martial arts and a record of the Wordless Celestial Book. As their lifespans dwindled, they approached the central tower, where they saw different names on its plaque and Yue Yingxian recognized the vine as possibly an Everlasting Vine.

• Chen Lin learned from Tiezhu that he could use ten percent of his Flame Divine Ability once, then led Zhou Anshi and Yue Yingxian to the wooden house.
• The three found a plank inscribed with Wuji Zi’s account of crossing an Invisible Barrier, his failure to unravel a Wordless Celestial Book, and the Wuji Divine Skill; Zhou Anshi copied the technique.
• After searching the outer buildings for nearly a month, the three found only ore, half an inkstone, and a journal, while realizing that their innate lifespans were being consumed.
• Zhou Anshi proposed scouting the Hexagonal High Tower, and Chen Lin and Yue Yingxian joined him, believing the tower might hold a way out.
• At the tower, Chen Lin saw the words “Three Flavors Study,” Yue Yingxian saw “Gate of Myriad Tribulations,” and Zhou Anshi saw “Scripture Pavilion.”
• Yue Yingxian studied the vine hanging from the tower’s upper window and said it looked like an Everlasting Vine.

Chen Lin entered the tower and relived several alternate lives, including a life on Earth and a version of Lin Ergou’s life without him. He passed the tower’s trial and found himself in the Vine Room, where the vine offered him one book and he asked whether an Everlasting Bond could be dissolved.

• Chen Lin, Zhou Anshi, and Yue Yingxian agreed to enter the tower after identifying a vine that might be an Everlasting Vine.
• The tower showed Chen Lin an alternate life in which he answered a blind date kindly, married the girl, and spent a happy life with her.
• Chen Lin experienced another life as Cheng Hao, a poor boy in Ming Dynasty Earth who died young and alone.
• Chen Lin watched an alternate Lin Ergou obtain Zhenyangzi’s inheritance and the Riddle Mask, make Nana fall in love with him, and later enter a High Dimensional plane.
• Chen Lin resolved to accept his own choices and discovered he had arrived in the Vine Room, where a spiritual entity called the study boy said he had passed the trial and could choose one book.
• Chen Lin learned his companions had not yet completed the trial and asked the vine whether an already formed Everlasting Bond could be dissolved.