Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin subdued the Phoenix Crown enough to control its power, then continued exploring the ruined Exquisite Sect. He became trapped by a supernatural Red Wall that silenced Tiezhu, and the chapter ended as Chen Lin’s consciousness grew hazy and he found himself on a mountain amid scarlet flowers.

• Chen Lin used the Soul-Destroying Finger to weaken the Phoenix Crown’s transformation, removed it, and later discovered he could wield its power to summon a golden phoenix.
• Chen Lin found that Tiezhu could not use the Phoenix Crown, then carried it at his waist and searched the ruins without finding anything else of value.
• Chen Lin encountered a Red Wall that poured crimson liquid from eighteen bamboo tubes and found that it followed him wherever he went.
• Chen Lin discovered Tiezhu had fallen unconscious inside the wall’s domain and could not escape despite testing his abilities, including the Soul-Destroying Finger.
• The Red Wall flickered as strings and flutes sounded, and Chen Lin’s consciousness grew hazy before he found himself on a mountain covered in huge scarlet flowers.

Chen Lin became trapped in a sea of flowers in the Linglong Sect Secret Land, where movement triggered a rule that tried to turn him into a flower. A mysterious voice revealed that he had to activate the Phoenix Crown and place it on the correct flower before nightfall, but with only one chance and no clear clues, Chen Lin exhausted other options and discovered something unexpected while testing his abilities.

• Chen Lin used the Heaven-Opening Eye to reveal faces in the flowers and found that moving caused them to attack and transform him, but the Soul-Destroying Finger drove the bizarre energy away.
• Chen Lin struck a flower with the Soul-Destroying Finger, nearly destabilizing the space, then restored it with soul power and a spiritual fruit.
• Chen Lin tested the Phoenix Crown on a flower, prompting a mysterious voice to intervene and reveal that he had to choose the correct flower before nightfall or become one of them.
• Chen Lin questioned the eighteen nearby flowers and tried persuasion and threats, but none responded, leaving him to weigh forcing his way through against choosing at random.
• Chen Lin tried to use the Grotto-Heaven Fruit Core and Short Saber to break the spatial barrier, failed, and continued testing his abilities until something astonished him.

Chen Lin escaped the flower sea after the Phoenix Crown Woman broke the strange rules and gave him a mysterious crystal, but he refused her offer to change his inheritance. He continued toward Yu Yuanqi’s rendezvous point, where the bad luck backlash brought an attack by corrupted crows.

• Chen Lin used the Fortunate Art and the Phoenix Crown to break the flower sea’s rules, revealing the hidden woman who had been targeted by the Phoenix Crown.
• The Phoenix Crown Woman offered Chen Lin a different Primordial Inheritance and gave him a diamond-shaped black crystal, warning him not to tell anyone about her before becoming a Soul Master.
• Chen Lin returned to the Secret Land with Tiezhu, kept the woman’s identity secret, and flew toward Yu Yuanqi’s rendezvous point while examining the crystal’s effect on his soul.
• When Chen Lin’s Qi Luck dissipated, a flock of corrupted crows surrounded him, but he drove them off with Soul-Destroying Finger and collected their carcasses.
• Chen Lin spotted a vast area of ruins that appeared to be the Exquisite Sect’s disciple quarters and took it as a sign that he was heading in the right direction.

During his bad-luck backlash, Chen Lin encountered a powerful beetle monster guarding the nine-aperture crow ginseng and watched Chang Wu fight it. After the monster unleashed a swarm of rune insects, Chen Lin returned to the ruins, where a stray pitch-black arrow suddenly flew toward his brow.

• Chen Lin avoided entering the ruins at first, but sent Tiezhu to investigate a glowing spirit flower, which provoked a black beetle monster to emerge.
• Chen Lin's Soul-Destroying Finger barely affected the beetle, so he retreated; Chang Wu then arrived and tried to seize the flower, which he identified as nine-aperture crow ginseng.
• The beetle consumed the ginseng, transformed into a much larger two-headed creature, and attacked Chang Wu, who tried to escape with his jeweled whip.
• The beetle unleashed a rune doll and a swarm of rune insects that killed nearby cultivators; Chen Lin survived by burning the insects with flame power, though it cost Tiezhu much energy.
• Chen Lin and Tiezhu returned to observe the standoff, but the rune doll's attack went astray and sent a pitch-black arrow hurtling toward Chen Lin's brow.

Chen Lin defeated the beetle monster and claimed its bone shard and Chang Wu’s belt before discovering the nine-aperture crow ginseng in the Giant Cave. Tiezhu recovered memories of his origins and left through a mysterious gate, while Chen Lin stayed behind to recover and wait for him.

• Chen Lin destroyed the beetle monster with flames, captured its bone shard, and took Chang Wu’s belt after Chang Wu was devoured by the runic insects.
• Chen Lin refined Chang Wu’s belt, discovered its elemental gemstones and storage space, and found that the bone shard was too high-grade to store inside it.
• Chen Lin and Tiezhu descended into the Giant Cave, where they found a strange black gate and the nine-aperture crow ginseng growing beside it.
• Tiezhu remembered that his origins were connected to the world beyond the gate and decided he had to enter, despite warning Chen Lin not to follow.
• Tiezhu gave Chen Lin his Origin Crystal and slipped through the gate, leaving Chen Lin to grieve and remain in the Giant Cave to recover.

After Tiezhu disappeared, Chen Lin struggled with the loss of his partner’s strength and decided to rely on himself while searching for Yu Yuanqi. He reached the Exquisite Sect’s mountain range, survived a strange attack with Yuan Qiming and Lu Xuanming, and learned that an innate spirit baby had drawn monsters and cultivators into the ruins; he chose to wait outside rather than risk entering.

• Chen Lin examined the nine-aperture crow ginseng and Bone Shard but decided not to refine the ginseng, then searched the ruins and used the Gemstone Belt to conceal the enormous gate.
• Unable to find the tall mountain Yu Yuanqi had named, Chen Lin followed the direction indicated by Qin Yueying’s Bronze Whistle and reached the Exquisite Sect’s mountain range.
• Chen Lin met Yuan Qiming, but falling rocks and arrows attacked them; Lu Xuanming then crashed into them while fleeing a flock of crow monsters.
• Chen Lin killed more than twenty crows with the Soul-Destroying Finger, and Yuan Qiming and Lu Xuanming thanked him and offered to follow him.
• Lu Xuanming revealed that an innate spirit baby had drawn monsters into the mountain range and that Yu Yuanqi and others were fighting over it; Chen Lin refused to enter and said he would wait outside.

Chen Lin fled into the mountain range as the Red-Eyed Demon attacked, survived its pursuit by consuming the nine-aperture crow ginseng and using the Bone Shard, and escaped underground into a mysterious building. He restored his connection to the Fruit Core Grotto-Heaven but remained deep underground in the Secret Land, preparing to recover before exploring further.

• The Red-Eyed Demon appeared, and Chen Lin followed Zhao Xining toward a palace before a shriveled monster delayed him and the giant's stomps badly injured him.
• Chen Lin consumed the nine-aperture crow ginseng, gained a surge of power, and was pulled out of a dangerous trance when his soul seed activated.
• The Red-Eyed Demon struck Chen Lin with its Crimson Beam, but the Bone Shard weakened the attack and helped him escape underground.
• Chen Lin used the Bone Shard to break through into a lavish, intact building buried thousands of zhang below the surface.
• Chen Lin used the Bone Shard's energy to reconnect with the Fruit Core Grotto-Heaven, examined the room, and sat in its largest chair to restore his mana.

Chen Lin escaped through a spatial gate into a pristine secret realm filled with rare spirit plants and began collecting them. He reached a solitary white flower that withered whenever he approached, and finally tried a new approach by thrusting out a finger.

• Chen Lin examined his dantian rune, the Bone Shard, and his injured soul seed, discovering that the Bone Shard could create a powerful but consumable runic force field.
• Chen Lin searched the underground building, collecting glowing gemstones and finding a writing brush and a small seal among the remains in a room.
• Chen Lin used the Bone Shard to reveal that a sealed side door was a spatial passage, then cautiously stepped through it.
• Chen Lin found a pristine secret realm filled with spirit plants, confirmed that no yaoguai or Exquisite Sect disciples were present, and began gathering the herbs to transplant into the Fruit Core Grotto-Heaven.
• Chen Lin reached a rare white spirit flower that withered whenever he approached, failed to find a way to harvest it, and thrust out a finger.

Chen Lin persuaded Qiu Yebai, the Great Elder of the long-destroyed Exquisite Sect, to leave her underground spirit garden and join him in the Fruit Core Grotto-Heaven. She revealed that opening a gate had unleashed the aura that annihilated her sect, then offered to advise Chen Lin in exchange for his help with a task.

• Chen Lin struck the intelligent flower with the Soul-Destroying Finger and tried to persuade it to leave the underground garden with him.
• The flower revealed that she was Qiu Yebai, an Exquisite Sect elder who had survived the sect’s destruction by transforming into a Yebai Flower.
• Qiu Yebai explained that her senior brother opened a crack in a gate to an unknown region, releasing an aura that eroded the sect’s disciples and treasures.
• Chen Lin swore not to harm Qiu Yebai excessively, then transplanted her and the surrounding soil into the Fruit Core Grotto-Heaven, which developed a crack under the strain.
• Qiu Yebai shared advanced knowledge about spirit plants and said the sect’s treasure vault might contain materials to repair the grotto-heaven.
• After learning that Chen Lin practiced the Myriad Phenomena Art, Qiu Yebai offered advice on cultivation and pill refining, but said she needed him to do something for her.

Chen Lin learned that Qiu Yebai could not leave the Spiritual Herb Garden until she regained her human form, then entered the Exquisite Sect’s Treasure Vault. He found two surviving treasures, and the Round Mirror drained his origin essence before changing his appearance in an unexplained way.

• Chen Lin promised to search for the Twin Reincarnation Stone after Qiu Yebai explained that it might restore her body, but the fruit core prevented her from leaving the Spiritual Herb Garden.
• Chen Lin left Qiu Yebai behind and returned to the small room, where he used the Lingyu Seal to open the Treasure Vault.
• Chen Lin found that the vault’s texts and most of its treasures had been destroyed, then recovered an unidentified ore and a pitted Round Mirror from a lower level.
• The Round Mirror forcibly drained Chen Lin’s origin essence until he used the Dantian Rune to break their connection, then shone on him and left his skin smoother and his appearance younger.
• Chen Lin could not determine what the Round Mirror had done and continued down to the next floor.

Chen Lin returned to find Yu Yuanqi and He Erniang had escaped through the Space Passage, leaving most of the expedition dead and Yuan Qiming gravely injured. He found Qin Yueying near death from lost innate lifespan and tested whether the Round Mirror could help her, but it drained her cultivation instead.

• Chen Lin emerged from underground and learned from Yuan Qiming that Yu Yuanqi and He Erniang had escaped, the red-eyed monster had killed many people, and the remaining innate spirit baby might still be in the mountain range.
• Chen Lin gave Yuan Qiming seven-star muscle-regenerating and bone-mending grass, then accepted a Spirit-Capturing Net and searched for Qin Yueying using her Bronze Whistle.
• Chen Lin found Qin Yueying near death because an innate spirit baby's light had exhausted her innate lifespan; she said a second spirit baby might remain and gave him two variegated crystals.
• Qin Yueying offered Chen Lin her Spatial Pendant, but he declined and instead let her test his Round Mirror as a possible remedy.
• The Round Mirror rapidly consumed Qin Yueying's cultivation, lowering her from the Seven-Star Realm to the early Mang Realm before she managed to throw it away.

Chen Lin and Qin Yueying searched for survivors and a way out as the black mist thickened, discovering a giant sword labeled the Demon-Suppressing Sword. Chen Lin then found that Qiu Yebai had moved the Spiritual Herb Garden entrance and traced the sword’s location to the underground area behind it, leaving him suspecting that she was the demon sealed beneath the mountain.

• Qin Yueying used the mirror to regain vitality, but it became smooth and inactive, and Chen Lin refused to trade it to her.
• Chen Lin and Qin Yueying searched a building, found a husband and wife dead from the Nether Crows, and rejoined Yuan Qiming to discuss escape.
• Qin Yueying detonated a powerful bead near the boulder, exposing writing that identified it as the Demon-Suppressing Sword, but the group found no space passage.
• Chen Lin told Qin Yueying and Yuan Qiming to search the mountain while he investigated elsewhere, then returned underground and found the Spiritual Herb Garden entrance gone.
• Chen Lin used the Falling Snow Sword to locate the giant sword’s position behind the former entrance and suspected Qiu Yebai was the demon sealed there.

Chen Lin captured an innate spirit baby beneath the altar and discovered a Red-Haired Mouse in the chamber below. The mouse explained that the Zodiac Map led to a place of great fortune, while Chen Lin negotiated over the Longevity Mirror.

• Chen Lin found a peak-grade spirit crystal mine and captured the innate spirit baby that emerged from a crevice beneath the altar.
• Chen Lin sent his true soul body into the crevice, blocked the altar sword’s attack with the Bone Shard, and found the Red-Haired Mouse inside.
• Chen Lin learned that the Red-Haired Mouse wanted a Yunming Flower and had mistaken him for someone sent to retrieve the innate spirit baby.
• Chen Lin offered to restore the mouse’s innate lifespan with the Longevity Mirror in exchange for details about the Zodiac Map.
• The Red-Haired Mouse said the Zodiac Map led to a place of extraordinary fortune and named the Shadow Scholar as someone who had become legendary after visiting it.

Chen Lin questioned the Red-Haired Mouse about the Zodiac Map and negotiated for information in exchange for using the Longevity Mirror. He recognized the Rat Card he had kept as a likely Zodiac Map medium and wondered who had been guiding his path.

• Chen Lin asked the Red-Haired Mouse about the Zodiac Map and learned that the mouse had been trapped by the Exquisite Sect and had entered this world through a dangerous region.
• The Red-Haired Mouse offered to reveal where he had arrived and promised access to treasures in exchange for using the Longevity Mirror.
• The Red-Haired Mouse explained that the Twelve Zodiacs were unique inheritances and offered to illuminate the Rat portion of a suitable map or draw one on a suitable medium.
• Chen Lin refused to accept the offer without further payment, and the Red-Haired Mouse warned him not to be greedy.
• Chen Lin took out the Rat Card he had obtained from Yu Dahuang and recognized its resemblance to the Red-Haired Mouse.
• Chen Lin reflected that an unseen force might have been steering him since his transmigration.

Chen Lin learned that the Rat Card was part of the Zodiac Map and saw the route it revealed, but the Red-Haired Mouse attacked after realizing he had no Longevity Mirror. The mouse trapped Chen Lin’s True Soul Body away from his physical body, leaving him unable to act without risking the life task.

• The Red-Haired Mouse identified Chen Lin’s Card as the Zodiac Rat vessel and explained that Mu Zishang’s Zodiac Map required all twelve Cards and their corresponding Inheritors.
• The Red-Haired Mouse restored the Rat Card’s origin essence, allowing Chen Lin to glimpse one portion of the starry map that had to be completed into a key to reach the Mysterious Place.
• Chen Lin recalled that Sun Jingning and Sun Chuxue had ties to the Zodiac Cards, but the Soulless Patriarch had taken them away.
• The Red-Haired Mouse demanded the Longevity Mirror, and Chen Lin learned that absorbing an Innate Spirit Baby’s energy could increase innate lifespan.
• When the Red-Haired Mouse noticed Chen Lin preparing to flee, it attacked with Red Arrows, and Chen Lin defended himself with the Bone Shard and retaliated with the Soul-Destroying Finger.
• Sword light cleared the bloody curtain, but Chen Lin found his physical body beneath the Red-Haired Mouse’s feet, cut off from his True Soul Body and too dangerous to risk using the dantian rune.

Chen Lin tried to bargain with the Red-Haired Mouse after the Longevity Mirror ran out of power, but the mouse revealed that it had taken control of Chen Lin’s body and demanded he enter the Exquisite Sword to suppress its sword spirit. Chen Lin sought ways to restore the mirror and keep the mouse alive, leaving the two still trapped and negotiating over possible treasures.

• Chen Lin told the Red-Haired Mouse that the Longevity Mirror needed time to recover, and the mouse’s attack on him left the Bone Shard’s runic inscriptions nearly spent.
• The Red-Haired Mouse revealed it had seized Chen Lin’s Task Body and demanded that his soul enter the Exquisite Sword to suppress the sword spirit so the mouse could escape.
• Chen Lin resisted the demand and tried to delay the mouse, asking whether ordinary lifespan-extending items could prolong its life; the mouse said it had less than a year remaining.
• Chen Lin asked how to restore the Longevity Mirror faster, and the Red-Haired Mouse explained that primordial-tier time ability or potent energy could help, though innate spirit babies and variegated crystal had little effect.
• Chen Lin asked whether Seven-Color Nightmare Coins could help restore the mirror, while worrying that the Red-Haired Mouse might discover the treasures in his Gemstone Belt.

Chen Lin learned that Bizarre Coins could restore the Longevity Mirror, but the Red-Haired Mouse demanded them before releasing Chen Lin’s body. Chen Lin reclaimed his body and tried to escape, only to be stopped by the Exquisite Sword, and he finally placed a Seven-Color Nightmare Coin on the Longevity Mirror to placate the mouse.

• Chen Lin asked the Red-Haired Mouse about the Bizarre Kingdom, and the mouse explained that Bizarre Coins could override rules and restore the Longevity Mirror.
• The Red-Haired Mouse demanded Chen Lin’s Bizarre Coins, but Chen Lin refused to hand them over until his body was released.
• When the mouse lowered the red light covering Chen Lin’s body, Chen Lin used his artistic conception and Sword Qi to reclaim his body and flee toward the crack.
• The Exquisite Sword pinned Chen Lin and struck, but his Bone Shard formed a Runic Shield that blocked the blow and cracked in the process.
• The Red-Haired Mouse accused Chen Lin of breaking their agreement, and Chen Lin placed a Seven-Color Nightmare Coin on the Longevity Mirror.

Chen Lin learned that the Longevity Mirror would take a year to absorb the Seven-Color Nightmare Coin, while the Red-Haired Mouse revealed secrets connecting the Nightmare King, Yun Feiyu, and the Moqigan Clan. The mouse then told Chen Lin that his fused aura would draw the Exquisite Sword’s attack if he tried to leave, and proposed using Chen Lin’s Bone Shard to escape together.

• The Red-Haired Mouse explained that the Longevity Mirror needed about a year to absorb the Seven-Color Nightmare Coin and asked Chen Lin for more Bizarre Coins.
• Chen Lin showed the mouse his Five-Color Nightmare Coins and described the Nightmare Realm, prompting the mouse to identify it as the Nightmare King Fiefdom.
• The Red-Haired Mouse said Yun Feiyu, a female Punishment Monarch, had perished with the Nightmare King and that the Moqigan Clan had likely obtained the Nightmare King Seal and other belongings.
• Chen Lin connected the mouse’s revelations to the Seven-Star Realm, the Star Emperor, Niuniu, Huiye, and the Sword Woman.
• The Red-Haired Mouse warned Chen Lin that his aura would draw the Exquisite Sword’s attack if he entered the crack and suggested that he operate the Bone Shard to help them escape.

Chen Lin questioned the Red-Haired Mouse about ancient figures and soul dissolution while secretly drawing energy from the innate spirit baby. When Chen Lin described the Soulless Patriarch, the mouse reacted with complicated emotion, leaving Chen Lin wondering whether he knew the secret to preserving a body after soul dissolution.

• Chen Lin refused to give the Bone Shard to the Red-Haired Mouse and spent half a year questioning him while the Longevity Mirror recovered.
• Chen Lin let the Red-Haired Mouse absorb the mirror’s light from a distance, then asked about Zhenyangzi, Nian Kong, and the previous person to enter through the Life Ferry.
• Chen Lin asked about thousand-threaded red willow, and the Red-Haired Mouse realized he might attempt the Eight-Gate Lock-Summoning Technique and warned him about soul dissolution.
• Chen Lin asked about the Soul Interrogation Academy and told the mouse he had seen someone survive failed soul dissolution, whom he knew as the Soulless Patriarch.
• The Red-Haired Mouse asked Chen Lin to draw the Soulless Patriarch, then reacted with sorrow, joy, longing, and worry as Chen Lin wondered if he knew how to keep a physical body alive.

Chen Lin learned a secret art that could keep his body alive if his soul dissolved, then spent years cultivating with the Red-Haired Mouse to prepare for their escape. After failing to break through, he learned the Myriad Phenomena Art contained sophisticated rule-based restrictions that required special keys to open.

• The Red-Haired Mouse gave Chen Lin the Twin-Head Runic Blade Spirit-Platform Slashing Great Art and asked him to deliver a whisker to the Soulless Patriarch if he escaped.
• The Red-Haired Mouse warned that escaping the Exquisite Sword required withstanding two attacks, and Chen Lin admitted he could not yet endure even one.
• Chen Lin agreed to cultivate toward the Cage Realm while the Red-Haired Mouse supplied peak-grade innate spirit crystals, but Chen Lin failed to advance beyond the late Mang Realm.
• Chen Lin fully refined the innate spirit baby, transforming his body into a level-five innate body.
• The Red-Haired Mouse examined the Myriad Phenomena Art and told Chen Lin that sophisticated rule-based locks restricted it and required special keys to open.