Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Bai Lingyu invites Chen Lin to the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace’s trading convention in the Hanchuan Boundary Realm, where a strange secret realm has appeared and may be linked to the Ascension Trial. The group expects to leave in just over half a year.
• Chen Lin agrees to go. Bai Lingyu assures him that Bai Yujing’s protection will deter the Lake-Fishing Old Man and the Four Seasons Villa, but warns that the Ascension Trial itself—and the many powerful, ancient factions involved—will be beyond her brother’s influence.
• With little time to return to the Seven-Star Realm, Chen Lin sends Grass and Little White Snake with a message for Luo Qinglan, including details about the trial. He tells his companions to prepare as well.
• Chen Lin’s attempts to father a child with Su’er remain unsuccessful. Just before departure, however, his nine-aperture exquisite heart evolves: its purple aperture produces the Purple-Heart Sword, a thought-controlled weapon that can strike distant targets and strip away their vitality. Testing reveals its range and energy limits, and Chen Lin realizes it gives him a valuable weapon against dominators.
• The sword’s power lets Chen Lin detect an invisible extra stroke in the life portion of his Law Character Symbol, which he suspects Ye Zhangge embedded through the Seven-Star Ladle. Chen Lin cuts the hidden stroke. The character breaks its connection to the ladle and becomes more solid, revealing that the treasure had been constraining his cultivation rather than simply helping him.
• Chen Lin concludes that the character’s weakened destiny strokes must be restored, ideally through the Stele of Destiny, though he lacks time to seek it. He considers evolving the heart’s red aperture as another route. After finding no similar problem in his Chinese Character, he unsuccessfully tries to merge the two characters.
• The chapter ends with Chen Lin beginning to refine False Pills using the Purple Light Cauldron and True Solar Fire.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin shifts from cautious dependence on Bai Yujing’s protection to actively strengthening himself for the journey. His new sword boosts his combat options, but discovering Ye Zhangge’s hidden interference makes him more distrustful and forces him to reconsider how his power developed.
• Bai Lingyu is supportive and candid: she protects Chen Lin’s immediate interests while emphasizing that he must rely on himself in the trial.
• Ye Zhangge notices that Chen Lin has removed the hidden stroke but shows no alarm, calmly returning to his gardening. His reaction hints at his confidence and leaves his true intentions uncertain.
• Chen Lin gives Grass and Little White Snake careful instructions to deliver his message through Beitang Zhu, Ruan Qingxi, or Leng Yue. He also prepares his companions for the trial and spends his remaining time with Su’er, hoping to fulfill his wish for an heir.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Chen Lin gains a formidable new ability, yet the trial’s dangers and the limits of external protection remain clear.
• Hidden costs of power: The Seven-Star Ladle appeared beneficial but had secretly restricted Chen Lin’s cultivation, raising doubts about the price of powerful treasures and assistance.
• Self-reliance and preparation: With departure approaching, Chen Lin must make difficult choices, prepare allies, and pursue whatever strength he can secure in time.
• Uncertain connections: The resemblance between the Purple-Heart Sword’s life manipulation and the Seven-Star Realm’s laws suggests deeper links that Chen Lin has only begun to investigate.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin and the other Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace attendants arrive in the frozen Beihan Realm, where the Nameless Secret Realm has altered the environment. They are met not by Elder Bai Lingyu but by Deacon Lu Qiuya, who distributes their assignments after confirming Bai’s instructions through a jade mirror.
• Chen Lin’s appointment is unexpectedly changed: instead of helping at a trading convention, he must establish a Heavenly Palace branch in Xiangyang City, near a minor node of the secret realm. Bai assigns him two runic-practitioner maidservants, Mingzhi and Qingyu, to assist him.
• Chen learns that Xiangyang City is crowded with powerful factions, each with its own branch and Dominator overseer. The Heavenly Palace has given him no funding, leaving him to pay for the headquarters himself.
• At the City Lord’s Manor, Ning Changtian claims there are no shops available. Chen realizes the refusal is motivated by the Ning Family’s fear of antagonizing the powerful factions, especially the Feng Family.
• Chen reveals that he is an old acquaintance of Ning Changtian’s son, Ning Yu, and presents Ning Yu’s invitation. Ning Changtian explains that Chen’s supposed relationship with Yue Bingling has become public knowledge. Yue used their names being recorded in a Yin-Yang Sect disciple’s Precious Tool to claim they were Companions, thereby rejecting a political marriage sought by the Feng Family. Feng Qing, a Dominator, may retaliate.
• Ning Changtian offers Chen a shop if Chen keeps his connection to Ning Yu quiet. Chen declines to make the matter a bargain, but pays fifty variegated crystals for a shop anyway. Ning Changtian gives him a token to claim it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin accepts the assignment despite recognizing its risks and lack of support. He remains cautious and diplomatic, obeys the Heavenly Palace’s rules, and uses money and tact rather than force to secure a base.
• Mingzhi and Qingyu are assigned to assist Chen. Mingzhi is the more outspoken of the two and reminds him not to seize property or misuse the Heavenly Palace’s authority; Qingyu remains quiet.
• Ning Changtian is wary and politically pragmatic. He avoids helping Chen at first, then softens when shown Ning Yu’s invitation. He prioritizes protecting his family from the Feng Family and other powers over forming an alliance with Chen.
• Lu Qiuya delivers the assignments and warns Chen that Xiangyang City is dangerous because influential outsiders have gathered there.
• After Chen leaves, a white-haired elder questions Ning Changtian’s refusal to cultivate ties with the Heavenly Palace. Ning replies that Chen is only an attendant, not a full member, and that the Ning Family must avoid taking sides.

Significant themes

• Political caution and self-preservation: The Ning Family fears that supporting Chen could provoke retaliation, illustrating how smaller powers survive among dominant factions.
• Duty without institutional support: Chen is expected to establish a branch despite receiving no funding, highlighting the gap between the Heavenly Palace’s authority and its practical assistance.
• Rules versus power: The Heavenly Palace insists on fair dealing, but its restraint limits Chen’s ability to use its reputation to compel cooperation.
• Reputation and manipulation: Yue Bingling’s public claim that she and Chen are Companions shapes political events, even though Chen insists the relationship was never real.
• Uncertainty and danger: The secret realm’s influence, the gathering of factions, and Feng Qing’s possible response all signal growing instability in Beihan Realm.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin takes possession of the Heavenly Star Treasure Pavilion, a valuable property acquired at a favorable price. He renames it the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace and leaves its ordinary stock in place.
• Mingzhi explains that treasures from the Nameless Secret Realm come in two forms: visible but untouchable, or invisible but tangible. They can break established rules, and the realm also contains civilizations whose inhabitants attack outsiders. Entry is possible through fixed or wandering passages, but survival rates are extremely low.
• Chen sets up the shop to attract explorers willing to sell secret-realm treasures. He tells his attendants to receive such visitors and investigate the city’s factions and whether anyone from the Soul Interrogation Academy is present, hoping to learn about Secondary Soul Dissolution.
• A masked young cultivator arrives with an invisible, tangible “miraculous object.” He wants help reaching the Dominator Realm, but Chen offers two three-thousand-tribulation Questioning Dao Pills, ten variegated crystals, and Food-Cauldron-certified delicacies instead. The food helps counter the young man’s lingering heterogeneous-energy mark, though only temporarily.
• The young man accepts the offer. Chen confirms the object is physically present but impossible to see or detect by his usual methods. The visitor recounts being accidentally pulled into the secret realm, surviving an attack by invisible beings in a ruined city, and escaping when a wandering node reappears. He also gives Chen a rough map.
• After studying the map and discussing how few known treasures have emerged, Chen examines the object. His powers still cannot reveal it, but using the Purple-Heart Sword’s power, he detects an unusual property: its contours can reverse direction without its shape changing.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is cautious and pragmatic. He abandons the idea of exploring the realm after hearing how dangerous it is, instead choosing to wait for more information. As a trader, he negotiates generously but also recognizes the visitor’s condition and offers a remedy.
• Mingzhi serves as Chen’s guide to the secret realm’s rules and helps manage the shop. She warns him against entering and later assists as he investigates the object.
• The masked young man is secretive and desperate to advance, but becomes more trusting once Chen proves his affiliation and offers a useful deal. His account gives Chen his first firsthand description of the realm.
• Chen and the visitor establish a fair exchange: the miraculous object and information for pills, crystals, and food. Chen’s questions extend beyond the transaction, and the visitor freely provides a map and testimony.

Significant themes

• The limits of power and perception: Chen’s strongest detection methods fail against the object, highlighting how thoroughly the secret realm defies ordinary rules.
• Risk, survival, and chance: The realm is deadly, and the visitor survives largely through luck and the return of a wandering passage.
• Pragmatism and exchange: Chen turns curiosity into a measured business opportunity, trading goods and expertise rather than risking his own life.
• Hidden irregularities: The object’s unchanged shape but shifting orientation suggests that its true nature is more complex than it first appears.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin studies a mysterious badge but cannot activate it. He commissions Mingzhi and Qingyu to search for objects resembling it, as well as Mandarin Duck Boards and metal fragments, offering generous rewards.
• He spends the following months preparing for the possible Ascension Trial: condensing holy spirits for Secondary Soul Dissolution, gathering Dominator-tier spiritual bodies, and searching for rare substances that might let him form another heart aperture. His efforts are costly, and his shop attracts little lasting interest.
• Wen Siyue, his daughter and a disciple of the Yin-Yang Sect, visits him. She gives him a metal fragment she obtained through a senior brother. When it joins with Chen Lin’s fragment, the pieces reveal additional writing, though the artifact remains incomplete. Chen Lin suspects it may contain an important inheritance.
• Wen Siyue explains that she and her twin brother were punished after being tricked into entering the sect’s forbidden ground to steal power from its Mystic Treasure. Both have since advanced to Eternity. Their former helper, Yuan Nianzhen, has become a Dominator, but Wen Siyue has no news about Lu Island.
• Father and daughter exchange gifts and contact talismans. Chen Lin tells her that her mother, Wen Xinzhao, is still in the Boundary River and offers his Star Ruins bases as refuges if she and her brother ever need them.
• Wen Siyue reveals that she intends to settle a grudge against Shangguan Yu, the person who deceived her and her brother. Chen Lin memorizes the name but respects her wish to handle the matter herself.
• After Wen Siyue leaves, Princess Yudie of Moyu Country arrives and proposes a joint expedition to the Nameless Secret Realm. She offers to split any spoils equally; Chen Lin asks why she chose him, but the chapter ends before she answers.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and resourceful, focusing on preparation while balancing cultivation, resource gathering, and family concerns. His reunion with Wen Siyue exposes his regret that he could not provide her and her brother a safer path earlier, though he now treats her as an independent adult.
• Wen Siyue has grown into a powerful, self-reliant cultivator who still shows her father respect and affection. Her generosity in bringing the fragment and her concern for her family contrast with her firm determination to avenge the betrayal she and her brother suffered.
• Mingzhi and Qingyu continue supporting Chen Lin by investigating the requested treasures and relaying news.
• Princess Yudie enters as a new, potentially significant ally or business partner, inviting Chen Lin on a risky treasure hunt.

Significant themes

• Preparation amid uncertainty: Chen Lin uses every available opportunity to strengthen himself before the Ascension Trial.
• Family ties across distance and time: Wen Siyue’s visit renews the bond with Chen Lin, while also showing how years of separation have made their relationship respectful but less intimate.
• Independence and responsibility: Chen Lin offers help, but accepts that his grown daughter must make her own choices.
• Opportunity and risk: Rare treasures, powerful sects, and the Secret Realm offer advancement, but often involve danger, steep costs, or hidden motives.

Plot points and events

• Princess Song Yudie asks Chen Lin to join her in exploring a newly appeared Secret Realm, explaining that such realms are a prelude to the Ascension Trial. The trial is tied to entering a Holy Land—the only known route to escaping the world’s seal.
• Chen refuses because he is bound by his duties to the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace and his promise to Bai Lingyu. Yudie leaves him a butterfly pendant in case he changes his mind.
• Chen shows Yudie a Yuzhao Pill. She identifies it as an ancient Yuguang royal treasure and correctly guesses that Chen looted the city’s Treasure Vault. He admits it, then learns the Grand Imperial Prince who attacked him in the Purple Bamboo Forest was likely the pursuer.
• Yudie offers to trade for the Divine Light Jade Liquid Wine, but Chen says he already drank it. She then examines several other treasures: the Kui Emperor Horn, a purple bead containing divine origin essence (a Godhead), and an Emperor-Ascension Pill.
• Yudie realizes Chen appears able to use treasures normally restricted to divine beings or royal descendants. Suspecting a powerful being is manipulating him and preparing to possess his body, she abruptly cancels their arrangements and tells him to forget they ever met.
• Chen researches the pills and learns both can help divine beings break through toward the Main God Realm; the Emperor-Ascension Pill requires divine royal blood. Both can restore themselves by absorbing energy.
• Unsure whether using the treasures would invite possession, Chen sets them aside and continues refining his Holy Spirit, deciding to strengthen his soul before risking their use.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and loyal to his commitments, but his unusual ability to use supposedly restricted treasures deepens the mystery surrounding his origins and the nine-aperture exquisite heart.
• Song Yudie is pragmatic and well-informed, first trying to recruit Chen and later bargain for his treasures. Her alarm at his apparent connection to a hidden power overcomes her desire for the Emperor-Ascension Pill.
• Yudie warns Chen that Bai Lingyu is very different from Bai Yujing, implying that Chen should not assume Bai Lingyu’s kindness guarantees his safety.
• Chen and Yudie maintain a wary but direct relationship: she offers opportunities and information, while he protects his independence and emphasizes the backing of the Heavenly Palace.

Significant themes

• Fate versus agency: Chen fears he may be a vessel in someone else’s plan, yet insists his body and choices will not be taken easily.
• Power and risk: Rare treasures promise immense advancement but may carry the danger of resurrection or possession.
• Loyalty and obligation: Chen declines a potentially valuable alliance to honor his word and duties.
• Preparation for the Ascension Trial: The Secret Realm, Holy Land, and cultivation breakthroughs all point toward the looming trial and the need to grow stronger.

Key plot points and events

• After finishing the condensation of his spiritual bodies, Chen Lin turns to talismancrafting. The Tang Family inheritance and the Shadow Scholar’s guidance raise his skill to the Divine Master level, letting him craft high-grade talismans without relying on his talent. He completes two superior Outspoken Bird talismans and begins making the far more valuable Disorderly Boat talisman from rare white jade cangyun gold.
• Chen Lin restores two pills but decides against taking the Emperor-Ascension Pill, wary of both the time required to resume cultivating imperial qi and the possibility that it is tied to the Exquisite Country Lord’s plans. He instead uses the Yuzhao Pill, hoping to strengthen his divinity and evolve the red aperture of his exquisite heart.
• Chen Lin refines a strand of Cui Xuandie’s origin essence from Princess Yudie’s pendant. The process takes a year and produces only a modest improvement: his talent advances from one success in ten attempts to one in five. The pendant is destroyed.
• The Yuzhao Pill does not evolve the red aperture. Its energy instead strengthens Chen Lin’s talent, improving it to one guaranteed success in every three attempts. However, the ability remains passive and uncontrollable; his Talent Domain is gone. Chen Lin senses that his talent’s potential has increased despite its limitations.
• A year later, Bai Lingyu summons Chen Lin to Beihan City. He reports his experiences and shows her the Formless Emblem, a Miraculous Object he has been nourishing with divine power. He explains that its engraved lines sometimes reverse direction when he handles it.
• Bai Lingyu identifies this behavior as evidence that the Emblem may be an exotic treasure, a rare kind of Miraculous Object capable of changing on its own. Such treasures can possess immense, rule-breaking power, though their abilities are difficult to activate. She asks to test the Emblem, and Chen Lin agrees.

Character developments

• Chen Lin becomes a Divine Master in talismancrafting and grows more deliberate about managing risks, resources, and possible schemes against him. His talent improves substantially, but its loss of active control limits its usefulness.
• Bai Lingyu appears pale and weakened from an injury sustained in a secret realm. Despite this, her response to the Formless Emblem reveals her knowledge of rare treasures and her serious interest in Chen Lin’s discovery.

Significant themes

• Progress through inherited knowledge and perseverance: Chen Lin’s talisman advancement comes from combining inherited teachings with sustained study.
• Uncertain costs and gains: Powerful resources do not always produce the hoped-for result; the Yuzhao Pill strengthens Chen Lin’s talent rather than evolving his heart aperture.
• Caution amid hidden schemes: Chen Lin avoids the Emperor-Ascension Pill because he suspects it may serve another person’s plans.
• The mystery of power: The Formless Emblem introduces exotic treasures whose tremendous abilities remain unpredictable and difficult to unlock.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin celebrates his talisman achievement with his two maidservants.
• He consults Bai Lingyu about the Formless Emblem, openly sharing what he has observed.
• Bai Lingyu explains the distinction between ordinary Miraculous Objects and exotic treasures, then asks permission to try activating the Emblem; Chen Lin consents.

Plot points and events

• Bai Lingyu examines Chen Lin’s Emblem but cannot alter or fully understand it. She suspects his nine-aperture exquisite heart links him to the vanished Exquisite Country and warns that he may have inherited its karma—or become part of someone else’s plans.
• Chen Lin tells her about the Emperor-Ascension Pill and asks whether it could let someone possess his body. Bai Lingyu considers that unlikely, but cautions that a surviving Exquisite Country powerhouse may be cultivating him for a purpose. She urges him to grow strong enough not to be controlled.
• Bai Lingyu assigns Chen Lin to remain in Xiangyang City and buy miraculous objects for the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace, offering him 30,000 contribution points and several rare cultivation materials. She warns him against joining Song Yudie’s secret-realm expedition, though she will not forbid him from exploring on his own.
• In the city market, Chen Lin finds few useful materials but visits several acquaintances. Dugu Batian invites him to explore the secret realm; Chen Lin declines, citing his obligations to Bai Lingyu, and warns Dugu not to underestimate its dangers.
• Chen Lin visits Chunjiu to ask about Divine Maiden Grey. He learns that Chunjiu could not restore her and that Grey has been returned to the Evil God associated with her; her fate and identity after any possible resurrection are uncertain. Chunjiu invites Chen Lin to join the Celestial God Palace, but he refuses because of past conflicts with its members.
• At the Soul Interrogation Academy, Chen Lin is unexpectedly admitted because the principal, the Old Dean, has instructed his staff to bring him directly in. On the way, he hears students reciting verses whose sound nearly disrupts his soul and origin essence. He blocks them with his Zodiac Divine Ability, then listens again using the Rat’s Eavesdropping ability.
• Despite being shown inside, Chen Lin is ultimately told the Old Dean is tired and will not see him. Accepting that this fits the principal’s eccentric reputation, Chen Lin leaves.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and pragmatic: he seeks guidance about the Emblem, honors his duty to Bai Lingyu, declines risky alliances, and prioritizes strengthening himself. He is also increasingly recognized by powerful figures because of his Punishment Weapon and unusual heart.
• Bai Lingyu acts as both patron and supervisor. She provides money and materials but expects Chen Lin to serve as her agent, and she is openly wary of the Three Divine Kingdoms.
• Dugu Batian treats Chen Lin as an equal and prospective partner, but Chen Lin’s skepticism prevents him from joining the expedition.
• Chunjiu offers both news of Grey and a place in the Celestial God Palace. Chen Lin appreciates the offer but avoids renewed entanglement with the organization.
• Grey’s uncertain condition weighs on Chen Lin; he regards her as a valuable and trustworthy potential companion.
• The Old Dean remains an enigmatic, capricious presence, communicating with Chen Lin only through an unusual invitation and rejection.

Significant themes

• Power and autonomy: Chen Lin is repeatedly warned that powerful forces may want to use him; his best defense is to become stronger.
• Duty versus freedom: His assignment to collect miraculous objects limits his choices, especially regarding the secret realm.
• Risk and caution: Chen Lin consistently resists tempting offers when the danger or terms are unclear.
• Uncertainty and identity: The Emblem’s connection to the Exquisite Country and Grey’s possible resurrection both raise questions about inherited fate and whether someone can remain themselves after transformation.
• Hidden knowledge: The Academy’s harmless-looking recitation has a dangerous effect, hinting that knowledge and ritual may carry power beyond their apparent meaning.

Key plot points and events

• After leaving Beihan City, Chen Lin is struck by a mysterious attack that causes his blood, bones, soul, and Natal Runic Inscription to break apart and fight one another. His Punishment Axe also reacts, but he cannot identify or locate the attacker.
• He uses the Purple-Heart Sword to slow the damage, then realizes the assault likely comes from an exotic treasure. By channeling power into his wrist emblem, he reverses its markings and ends the attack. The emblem briefly manifests physically, and Chen Lin rapidly recovers.
• Chen Lin returns to Beihan City and reports the incident to Bai Lingyu. Her time-reversal ability reveals no trace of the attack or his emblem’s use, confirming that exotic treasures can evade ordinary rules and observation.
• Bai Lingyu discovers that Ning Qing, the Tianlong Kingdom’s Grand Imperial Prince, attacked Chen Lin with a newly acquired exotic treasure—and suffered a severe backlash. She gives Chen Lin half a bottle of sweet dew as a reward.
• Bai Lingyu explains that Ning Qing is a formidable third-rank Dominator, backed by the Tianlong Kingdom’s powerful heritage. She orders Chen Lin to remain in Beihan City and study his emblem rather than travel to Xiangyang.
• Chen Lin examines the emblem. Its brief visible form showed a three-petaled flower, unlike the shifting pattern he had previously sensed. He considers that its appearance or abilities may change with activation.
• He uses the sweet dew to strengthen his Purple Heart Aperture and Purple-Heart Sword. After several months of cultivation, the sword becomes more durable, though the gains are modest.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin demonstrates composure and quick reasoning under extreme danger, identifying the attack’s likely source and discovering that his emblem can counter it. He remains cautious about Ning Qing and the Ascension Trial, while recognizing that the emblem may be crucial to his survival.
• Bai Lingyu protects and rewards Chen Lin, but also urges him to study his treasure, apparently seeing its value for the coming trial and perhaps for her own plans. She provides guidance on both Ning Qing’s threat and the trial’s origins.
• Ning Qing is revealed as Chen Lin’s attacker. His attempt to kill Chen Lin covertly fails, leaving him badly injured and temporarily unable to act.
• Chen Lin and Bai Lingyu maintain a respectful but strategic relationship: she gives orders and protection, while he complies, aware that her interest in him may have practical motives.

Significant themes

• The limits of power and knowledge: Even Bai Lingyu’s formidable abilities cannot perceive exotic treasures or their effects.
• Luck, risk, and survival: Chen Lin’s possession of a powerful treasure gives him an unexpected advantage in a world where acquiring such objects usually costs many lives.
• Uncertainty and adaptation: The emblem’s changing form and the Ascension Trial’s unclear purpose leave Chen Lin facing dangers he cannot yet understand.
• Power and political protection: Ning Qing’s attack reflects the danger of high-level factional conflicts, while Bai Lingyu’s backing offers Chen Lin a measure of safety.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin grows suspicious of how effortlessly powerful his recent gains have come, concluding that they may be connected to the Ascension Trial. Unable to uncover who or what is behind them, he decides to focus on strengthening himself.
• After stabilizing the gains from Ganlin Liquid, he tests the Emblem. It absorbs an attacker’s energy and inflicts equivalent damage directly back on the attacker, though it must be activated deliberately.
• Chen Lin discovers that instantaneous activation requires him to overdraw the heart blood of his Nine-Aperture Exquisite Heart—a dangerous cost. He accepts the limitation and continues preparing for Secondary Soul Dissolution.
• He examines a formula associated with the Soul Interrogation Academy. Though it appears incoherent, reading it aloud with the Zodiac Snake’s Incessant Chatter secret art triggers a powerful simulated experience of his soul expanding and then dissolving.
• After awakening only seconds later, Chen Lin realizes the formula simulates the requirements and dangers of Secondary Soul Dissolution. The gentle white light that stops the process seems to mark a hurdle he cannot yet pass.
• When he returns to the Academy’s former headquarters, he learns its members have left for the Star Ruins. Months later, Wang Manqing visits with a message from the Old Dean: Chen Lin owes him a favor and must let him study him when asked.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and methodical, testing the Emblem and the formula rather than relying on assumptions. He recognizes both the treasure’s extraordinary potential and its limits.
• His understanding of Secondary Soul Dissolution advances, but the experience leaves him with new questions about the white light and the Old Dean’s own success.
• Wang Manqing clarifies that her lineage owned the Academy’s former headquarters and had only lent it to the Academy.
• The Old Dean emerges as an eccentric, research-driven figure. He helped Chen Lin indirectly, apparently because he considers him a valuable subject, but avoided meeting him to prevent himself from studying him prematurely.

Significant themes

• Power and cost: Chen Lin’s strongest options come with risks, whether spending vital heart blood or attempting soul dissolution.
• Uncertainty and hidden forces: His rapid advancement and the simulated trial suggest that larger mechanisms may be shaping events.
• Knowledge through experimentation: Chen Lin progresses by testing, observing, and revising his understanding.
• Personal agency versus manipulation: The Old Dean’s help may be genuine, but it also serves his research interests, leaving Chen Lin to decide how much trust to place in him.

Key plot points and events

• Five years after Wang Manqing’s visit, Chen Lin completes the Hundred Saints Soul-Interrogation Art, creating thirty-six Holy Spirits at the peak of the pseudo-dominator level. Together, and with Chen Lin, they may be able to fight a Second-Rank Dominator—but gathering the necessary spiritual bodies has exhausted his resources and left him owing favors.
• Chen Lin uses the Holy Spirits to simulate Secondary Soul Dissolution. The experiment lets him survive the initial white light long enough to see a giant silver lock. He uses the Soul-Unlocking Key to open it, glimpses a partly opened Silver Gate covered in strange symbols, and then loses consciousness.
• The Holy Spirits cannot protect him for long. Attempts to manifest other items or use abilities during the simulation fail; only the Soul-Unlocking Key works. A later attempt badly pains his soul, so Chen Lin stops experimenting and recovers.
• Months later, Yue Bingling visits. She says the Yin-Yang Token’s Marriage Document binds them as Companions, though Chen Lin rejects the closeness implied by that status. She warns him that Feng Qing may cause trouble, then gives him a Duck Board, the missing piece of the Mandarin Duck Boards, hoping to ease his resentment.
• When Chen Lin taps the two boards together, a familiar voice announces that the Ascension Trial begins in thirty-six years—far sooner than the four-hundred-plus years predicted by divination. Chen realizes his preparations may be impossible to complete in time.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains pragmatic and focused on surviving the Ascension Trial. He accepts risks and favors when useful, but becomes more cautious after the Soul Dissolution attempt injures him. He also shifts from anger to gratitude toward Yue when she provides the sought-after board.
• Yue Bingling is restrained and claims she does not want the marriage bond, but accepts its consequences and takes responsibility for warning Chen about Feng Qing. Her gift suggests an effort to repair their strained relationship; Chen accepts it without resolving their deeper conflict.
• Chen’s dealings with Bai Lingyu remain important in her absence: her Contribution Points made his Holy Spirit project possible, leaving him obligated to help her later.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus uncertainty: Chen carefully plans for the trial, yet hidden rules and the newly revealed deadline undermine those plans.
• Power and its cost: The Holy Spirits offer a major combat advantage, but require enormous resources and favors—and still may not be enough for Soul Dissolution.
• Seals, hidden forces, and fate: The silver lock, gate symbols, and unexplained voice suggest larger mechanisms at work, while Chen chooses to use what he can before understanding it.
• Obligation and strained relationships: Gifts, debts, and the Marriage Document bind characters even when trust and affection are lacking.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin receives a mysterious prompt through his Mandarin Duck Boards: the Ascension Trial will begin in thirty-six years. The source remains unknown, and he cannot verify whether others with Secret Orders received the same message.
• He tells Bai Lingyu, who proposes that the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace sell the information through a wager-backed auction. Chen Lin agrees and offers to share half the compensation if the prediction proves false.
• Bai Lingyu identifies a symbol Chen Lin shows her as a divine curse, a Heavenly Dao seal that suppresses beings trying to evolve further. The many symbols on the Silver Gate suggest Chen Lin faces a particularly powerful curse.
• Chen asks her to gather Peak Grade Soul Interrogation Beads and dominator-tier spiritual entities so he can use the Hundred Saints Soul-Interrogation Art. Bai warns that nearly everyone who has used the art has failed and raises the possibility that its mysterious creator, the Old Dean, may have a hidden motive.
• The auction and trading extravaganza succeed. Chen obtains all the Soul Interrogation Beads he needs, but only a few dozen of the much rarer spiritual entities—far short of what he needs to refine a hundred holy spirits.
• Bai leads Chen and the other attendants toward a dangerous secret-realm location, where she expects them to find Exotic Treasures. She distributes maps and powerful equipment, including a Soul-Devouring Dagger for Chen. It can restrain even a Rank Four Dominator, but he must secure an Exotic Treasure or return it.

Character developments

• Chen remains cautious about revealing the source of his information, but is willing to take significant risks to prepare for the trial. He decides to continue pursuing Secondary Soul Dissolution despite its dangers.
• The divine-curse revelation deepens his concern: the Silver Gate’s curse may make his Soul Dissolution far more difficult.
• Chen suspects the Old Dean’s art could conceal a threat, especially after learning more about the Reading Formula, but chooses to proceed because he sees few better ways to strengthen himself in the time available.
• Bai displays sharp commercial judgment and strong leadership. She tests Chen’s confidence in the prediction, then rapidly turns the auction into a major trading event and organizes a risky expedition.

Significant themes

• Risk and preparation: Chen accepts dangerous techniques and missions because the approaching trial leaves little time to improve safely.
• Secrecy and trust: Chen withholds the prompt’s source, while Bai evaluates his reliability and offers help without demanding full disclosure.
• Power and hidden costs: Resources and treasures come with obligations; the dagger is valuable but conditional, and the Soul-Interrogation Art may carry an unknown danger.
• Fate versus resistance: The divine curse represents the Heavenly Dao’s suppression of further evolution, which Chen is attempting to overcome.

Character interactions

• Chen trusts Bai enough to share the trial date and request resources, while keeping the Mandarin Duck Boards and Reading Formula secret.
• Bai questions Chen about his Soul Dissolution and warns him about the art’s risks, but ultimately respects his decision.
• Chen and Bai cooperate in monetizing the trial information and preparing for the expedition; their arrangement is mutually beneficial, but Bai makes clear that her aid carries expectations.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin enters the Secret Realm with Bai Lingyu’s group. Its rules of “form” and “formlessness” suppress outsiders, making flight and supernatural abilities dangerous; the group travels by mechanically powered boat.
• Chen discovers that his Emblem is easier to activate here. Sustaining it reveals its full appearance: a Four-Petaled Flower and an intricate background pattern. He concludes it is not connected to the similar Three-Petaled Flower he had suspected.
• Han Tianyu asks to buy one of Chen Lin’s Outspoken Bird Talismans. He explains that such support items still work, though weakened, and offers information about someone with many Dominator Tier spiritual bodies. Chen accepts the information and gives him a talisman.
• As the group approaches a huge black structure Bai Lingyu calls a tower, their boat is struck and destroyed by invisible creatures. The attackers are identified as a swarm of Formless Fish.
• Chen stays to fight rather than flee. His Purple-Heart Sword can reveal and withstand the creatures’ attacks, while his Emblem disrupts their assault. He then uses his runic inscriptions to capture one of the fish.
• Bai Lingyu identifies it as a Three-Fin Fish, a rare and valuable edible creature. She orders Chen to lead the way ashore while the others collect the fish, promising him second choice of any Exotic Treasures they find.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and observant, testing the Emblem without revealing too much to the group. During the attack, he demonstrates both judgment and confidence, choosing to fight when fleeing would draw further danger. His success increases his value to the party.
• Bai Lingyu acts as a prepared, authoritative guide, directing the journey and warning the group about the Secret Realm’s hazards. After Chen saves them, she openly recognizes his ability and rewards his contribution, though her envy and eagerness regarding his Exotic Treasure are evident.
• Han Tianyu approaches Chen with a practical trade. His candid explanation earns Chen’s trust, and the exchange gives Chen potentially valuable information in return for a talisman.
• The other attendants initially follow Bai Lingyu’s lead, but panic during the fish attack. After Chen protects them, they regard him with gratitude and shock.

Significant themes

• Danger and adaptation: The Secret Realm’s unusual laws make familiar powers unreliable, forcing outsiders to adjust their tactics.
• Caution and trust: Chen conceals some details of his treasure and evaluates Han Tianyu’s honesty before accepting the trade.
• Power and survival: The Emblem and Chen’s other abilities prove decisive, but their usefulness also makes him more valuable—and potentially more vulnerable—to others.
• Practical cooperation and reward: The group’s survival leads to a new division of roles, with Chen clearing the way and the others gathering the fish for profit.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin and Bai Lingyu lead the survivors safely ashore after a deadly sea crossing. Three attendants died, and Chen Lin receives the recovered Three-Fin Fish as his share.
• The party reaches a ruined, three-story Black Tower. Bai Lingyu explains that it is a tangible transcendent object—visible but impossible to touch or take away—and a notorious Forbidden Ground where even a Rank Six Great Wizard died.
• Their destination is an abandoned city roughly three hundred li beyond the tower. The route crosses a valley, dense forest, and great river, all marked as dangerous. Bai Lingyu argues they must seek exotic treasures to improve their chances in the approaching ascension trial, and the group agrees to continue.
• Zuo Xiwen arrives by boat and reunites with Chen Lin. He intends to explore the tower, believing his defensive exotic treasure can protect him. He invites Chen Lin to join him, but Chen declines because he is working with Bai Lingyu.
• Bai Lingyu reveals that Zuo’s past “help” to Chen was not selfless: as an Observer, Zuo siphons power from Chen and grows stronger when Chen’s cultivation rises. Just as she explains this, a huge crash from the sea shakes the ground.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin shows strength and composure during the crossing, accepts his share of the fish, and remains loyal to his current assignment despite his gratitude toward Zuo.
• Bai Lingyu takes firm command, prioritizing the group’s survival and the mission. She is openly hostile toward Zuo and warns that exotic treasures cannot guarantee safety.
• Zuo Xiwen remains cheerful and persistent despite Bai Lingyu’s coldness. He seeks Chen as a partner and presents his defensive treasure as proof that the tower is manageable.
• The tension between Bai and Zuo suggests a complicated relationship: she rejects his attempts at familiarity, while he tolerates her hostility. Chen suspects they are not simply enemies.
• The surviving attendants remain shaken by the deaths at sea and defer to Bai Lingyu’s leadership.

Significant themes

• Survival versus ambition: The group must risk dangerous territory to find treasures that could help them survive the ascension trial.
• Limits of power and knowledge: Even powerful cultivators and exotic treasures cannot make the secret realm safe; its rules and dangers remain difficult to predict.
• Trust, obligation, and exploitation: Chen believes he owes Zuo a debt, but Bai’s revelation reframes their relationship as one in which Zuo benefited from observing Chen.
• Leadership and group cohesion: Bai’s decisions keep the party moving, but differing risk tolerances and private loyalties create tension.

Chapter Summary: “Drum Frog”

Key plot points and events

• While the group is traveling through the Secret Realm, a Drum Frog emerges from the sea and attacks with devastating drumbeats. Its sound can strike directly at the soul, killing several Attendants despite their defenses.
• Bai Lingyu’s summoned phantom briefly withstands the attack, but Zuo Xiwen warns that escape is impossible once the creature has locked onto them. The survivors flee into a half-open Pagoda, which transports them to a vast underground ruin.
• More members are lost upon arrival, apparently falling into deep fissures. The Drum Frog’s attacks stop, suggesting the Pagoda’s interior is an independent space.
• The group argues over the deaths and Bai Lingyu’s failed route. She accepts responsibility and offers to give up first choice of any shared discoveries. Lian Zizhang then leaves to search independently.
• Bai Lingyu leads the remaining party cautiously through the ruins. Threads erupt from a fissure, killing Qu Mingyuan by draining his life.
• Chen Lin uses the Purple-Heart Sword to sever another thread and saves the Black-Robed Woman and White-bearded Old Man. He discovers that the Red Handkerchief and the giant boulder in his Grotto-Heaven can contain the severed thread.
• Bai Lingyu suggests the threads may belong to the legendary Six-Star White Jade Spider, a creature said to affect destiny, and proposes investigating the fissure as a possible route to the exit.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and resourceful. He uses the Zodiac Secret Art and his Emblem against the Drum Frog, then adapts quickly to the thread creature. He also bargains with the Black-Robed Woman, accepting a peak-grade Runic Sprite in exchange for trying to protect her.
• Bai Lingyu shifts from confident leader to a visibly strained survivor after her route leads to heavy losses. She acknowledges her mistake and offers compensation, but continues taking charge of the exploration.
• Zuo Xiwen provides crucial advice by recognizing that the group cannot outrun the Drum Frog and directing them toward the Pagoda. He lands apart from the others and remains missing.
• Qu Mingyuan challenges Bai Lingyu over her leadership but later follows her; he is killed by the fissure’s threads.
• Lian Zizhang rejects the group’s plan and sets off alone.
• The Black-Robed Woman seeks Chen Lin’s protection with a promised reward. The White-bearded Old Man, saved by Chen Lin, chooses to stay near him.

Significant themes

• The fragility of power: Even accomplished cultivators are helpless against the Secret Realm’s threats.
• Survival and uncertainty: Each apparent refuge brings new dangers, and the group must make decisions with little information.
• Leadership and accountability: Bai Lingyu accepts blame for the failed route, while the survivors weigh whether to trust or leave her.
• Pragmatism and cooperation: Bargains and alliances form around immediate needs, though trust remains conditional.
• Mystery and discovery: The Pagoda, its underground ruins, and the possible destiny-altering spider hint at deeper secrets within the realm.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin rejects Bai Lingyu’s invitation to pursue greater rewards, arguing that survival must come first. Although their party finds two Formless Entities and reaches ruins without further attacks, the Black-Robed Woman observes that dangers seem to target Bai Lingyu and those near her.
• Bai Lingyu unexpectedly dismisses the others, promising their pay—and double compensation if they escape—then leaves alone. Chen Lin also separates from the remaining attendants, keeping one Formless Entity as agreed and releasing the others from their obligations.
• Once Chen Lin departs, a White Jade Spider attacks the Black-Robed Woman and White-bearded Old Man. It kills both by binding them in silk and draining their vitality.
• The spider is revealed to be Xiaobai, whose back can form Gu Siming’s face. Gu Siming rebukes it for eating cultivators and orders it to spare Chen Lin, whom she needs for a larger plan involving an Ascension Trial and a treasure.
• Chen Lin explores the ruins, collecting several objects. A damaged short saber proves difficult and costly to use, while the bottle, flute, and dart seem unremarkable. The most promising find is an intact manual titled Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula, whose cover exerts immense pressure. Chen Lin cannot understand or cultivate it yet, so he stores it.
• After three months of searching the entire area, Chen Lin still finds no way out. A new figure approaches and greets him.

Character developments

• Chen Lin remains cautious and practical, prioritizing survival over reward. He honors his bargain with the attendants but refuses responsibility for their safety, and continues exploring methodically despite finding no exit.
• Bai Lingyu shows pride and independence by leaving the group rather than remain under suspicion or share future discoveries. Her reasons are unclear, though Chen Lin suspects she may be pursuing something alone.
• The Black-Robed Woman becomes more outspoken, directly challenging Bai Lingyu and identifying the pattern of danger around her.
• Gu Siming is revealed to have influence over the White Jade Spider and a larger stake in the secret realm’s trial. She considers Chen Lin an important pawn.
• Xiaobai is powerful but hungry and disobedient, killing the two attendants despite Gu Siming’s warning.

Significant themes

• Survival over ambition: Chen Lin repeatedly chooses caution over potentially greater rewards.
• Trust and self-reliance: The group fractures as suspicion grows, leaving each person to depend on their own judgment and abilities.
• Hidden schemes and larger purposes: The spider’s connection to Gu Siming reveals that the dangers and trials may be part of a broader plan.
• Power without understanding: Chen Lin acquires a formidable sword formula but cannot use it without the knowledge and means to cultivate it.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin and Bai Lingyu disagree over whether to pursue rewards, then separate after she abruptly dismisses the party.
• The Black-Robed Woman confronts Bai Lingyu with evidence that danger follows her; the White-bearded Old Man and woman had stayed near Chen Lin for safety.
• Chen Lin settles his arrangements with both surviving attendants before leaving them behind.
• Gu Siming reprimands Xiaobai for killing cultivators and specifically forbids it from harming Chen Lin.
• The chapter ends with an unidentified newcomer approaching Chen Lin after his long, unsuccessful search.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin reunites briefly with masked Attendant Lian, who suspects Elder Bai’s information was misleading and believes the rest of their group may be dead. Chen declines to join him; Lian enters an underground fissure alone.
• After searching the ruins for two more months without finding Bai, Lian, an exit, or useful treasures, Chen decides to escape by going upward rather than risk the dangerous fissures below.
• Before leaving, he tests a Three-Fin Fish. Its energy briefly threatens to dissolve his soul, but his Exquisite Seven-Orifice Heart safely absorbs it through the green, soul-aligned aperture. Eating all his fish yields a modest improvement, proving that creatures from the realm can strengthen the heart—though stronger resources will be needed for major advancement.
• Chen passes through the boundary wall with unexpected ease, apparently aided by his Emblem, and arrives on a different island. A mysterious voice announces a trial: he must endure ten attacks, and leaving the island means failure.
• Silver fish attack in successive waves. In the first, Chen uses the Emblem’s Eye for an Eye ability to absorb and reflect their massed beams, destroying most of them, then kills the survivors and refines their remains to replenish his energy.
• The second wave consists of fewer but much stronger silver swordfish, whose flying swords attack in coordinated formations. The Emblem absorbs and reflects those attacks too, but using it drains Chen severely. He has to consume the fish for energy and eventually overdraw his heart’s origin essence. Eight waves remain.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and self-reliant: he refuses Lian’s offer to explore together, weighs the risks of each route, and experiments methodically with the realm’s resources. The trial exposes his dependence on the Emblem and his lack of sufficient backup techniques, unsettling him even as he survives.
• Lian Zizhang is wary and secretive, convinced the expedition was compromised. He parts from Chen without hostility and proceeds alone into a fissure.
• Chen and Lian have only a brief, guarded exchange; mutual mistrust and different plans keep them from forming an alliance. Chen has no further contact with Bai or Lian.

Significant themes

• Caution and isolation: Chen’s choices prioritize survival, but leave him without allies in an increasingly dangerous environment.
• Power, resource limits, and risk: His techniques and treasures can overcome formidable attacks, yet each use has a cost; even harvested creatures cannot reliably restore his energy fast enough.
• Growth through experimentation: Chen discovers that the realm’s creatures can nourish his heart, but also learns that quantity cannot replace higher-quality resources.
• Uncertainty and escalating trials: The mysterious assessment and increasingly powerful waves make survival dependent on adapting before his reserves run out.

Key plot points and events

• After narrowly surviving the second trial, Chen Lin focuses on recovering and finding a way to withstand the coming attacks. He discovers that Big Silver Fish contain inner cores rich in pure energy and origin essence, which restore him far more effectively than their flesh.
• While studying the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula, Chen Lin struggles to grasp its “Sea-Suppressing Momentum.” The third wave finally arrives: three enormous Silver Sword Fish attack with volleys of thousands of detached scales, a tactic that weakens the protective emblem’s retaliation.
• Chen Lin’s Purple-Heart Sword initially fails against the fish. Noticing that one fish’s sword-like counterattack embodies the momentum described in the formula, he deliberately keeps engaging it while studying the manual. The fish’s repeated demonstrations help him comprehend the technique.
• Chen Lin eventually masters Sea-Suppressing Momentum. His empowered sword strike kills the fish, and its unusually potent inner core restores his energy and origin essence. He then defeats the other two using the same approach.
• The fourth through sixth waves consist of increasingly powerful red fish. The emblem handles these attacks with little effort, and Chen Lin continues improving his sword technique and gathering fish and inner cores.
• The seventh wave introduces an intangible attacker: a hazy figure in a bamboo hat and black cloak, aboard a small dark boat. Chen Lin’s emblem reflects its hidden attack, though the figure suffers only slight harm. It recognizes the emblem and asks, “A Medal?”

Character developments

• Chen Lin shifts from anxious survival to focused experimentation. He recognizes the emblem’s limits, adapts when it proves insufficient on its own, and uses danger as an opportunity to learn.
• He gains a major advancement in swordsmanship by comprehending Sea-Suppressing Momentum, making the Purple-Heart Sword powerful enough to defeat the giant fish.
• Though relieved by his success and the emblem’s effectiveness, Chen Lin remains cautious, aware that later trials may adapt or present counters.

Significant themes

• Adaptation and learning under pressure: Chen Lin survives by studying his enemies and turning their attacks into instruction.
• Power has limits: The emblem is formidable but can be weakened by dispersed attacks; relying on it blindly would be dangerous.
• Preparation and resourcefulness: Inner cores, careful energy management, and cultivation between attacks are essential to his survival.
• Uncertainty and escalating danger: The trials grow more varied, culminating in an apparently intelligent humanlike opponent whose connection to the emblem is unclear.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin has no conversation with the fish, but their repeated displays of Sea-Suppressing Momentum unintentionally teach him the sword technique.
• The seventh-wave figure does not answer Chen Lin’s question about its identity. Instead, after its attack is reflected, it notices the emblem and calls it a “Medal,” suggesting it may recognize the object or know more about the trial.

Chapter Summary

Plot and key events

Chen Lin meets a gaunt, conical-hatted man who questions how he obtained his medal. Chen gives a vague answer, but the man decides the medal qualifies him to skip the remaining tests and enter the Inheritance Ground. He sends Chen into a hazy space, where Chen experiences an endless vision of sword practice amid towering waves. At its climax, his sword suppresses the sea, and Chen awakens having inherited the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula.
The formula strengthens Chen’s Purple-Ray Sword with a new suppressive sword will. Though it is not as profound as some of his other sword concepts, it is unusually effective within the secret realm, where his other sword wills do not work.
Chen is expelled into the first layer of the Giant Tower. He searches it but finds no treasure or stairs to the next floor. Concerned that Bai Lingyu may still be trapped in the tests, he nevertheless recognizes he cannot help her and decides to focus on advancing. He spends over a month cultivating his green heart aperture and practicing the new formula. Neither Bai Lingyu nor Lian Zizhang appears.
Rather than find a formal entrance, Chen uses the Mountain and Sea Sword Formula to pierce the ceiling and reach the second layer. He concludes that the tower is a powerful spatial exotic treasure whose diminished condition may explain why he could break through its floor. Exploring further, he discovers a ruined medicine garden with several surviving herbs. In its center, beside a pool, he finds a withered white flower that reminds him of Blind Girl.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and guarded, concealing how he obtained his medal. He is also pragmatic: despite concern for Bai Lingyu, he accepts that he cannot return for her and prioritizes his own cultivation. His inherited sword formula adds a realm-specific ability to his arsenal.
• The Conical-Hat Man acts as a mysterious gatekeeper. He doubts Chen’s explanation but accepts the medal as proof of qualification and directs him to the inheritance.
• Bai Lingyu and Lian Zizhang do not appear. Chen worries about Bai Lingyu because she helped him and is related to Bai Yujing, but expresses indifference toward Lian’s fate.
• Chen’s final recognition of the flower suggests a connection to Blind Girl, though its significance is not yet clear.

Significant themes

• Opportunity and risk: Chen pursues the tower’s challenges because their rewards could help him prepare for the approaching ascension trial.
• Pragmatism and responsibility: He feels concern for Bai Lingyu but acknowledges the limits of what he can do.
• Adaptation and mastery: The Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula is less impressive in absolute terms than Chen’s other sword concepts, yet its special compatibility with the realm makes it valuable.
• Ruin and hidden value: The damaged tower and garden still contain unusual powers and precious remnants, suggesting that a decayed place can conceal major opportunities.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin finds a white flower in the secret realm that looks exactly like Blind Girl once did. His Soul Eye detects a faint connection to her through the nightmare-realm rules.
• He revives the nearly dead flower by feeding it purple heart-aperture energy, spending a large amount of his origin essence and replenishing himself with fish meat and variegated essence.
• Blind Girl responds telepathically and explains that the place is connected to the Heart Realm. She says a needed object lies on the tower’s Ninth Layer, but Chen Lin tells her the tower has been destroyed.
• Blind Girl then says she can recover if taken out of the tower. Since she is now a formless entity, she needs a sufficiently high-grade object to contain her.
• Chen Lin tests his treasures and discovers that the Mandarin Duck Boards, the Emblem, and—unexpectedly—the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula manual can suppress her formless state. He wraps the flower in the manual and safely places her in his Grotto-Heaven Jade Pendant.
• After confirming she is stable, he harvests the remaining spiritual herbs and sets off to explore the tower’s third floor.

Character developments

• Chen Lin acts on his concern for Blind Girl despite uncertainty about her identity and the considerable cost to himself. He also uses careful experimentation to find a safe container for her.
• Blind Girl is revealed to be severely weakened and transformed into a flower. Once revived, she becomes more communicative and offers practical guidance about her condition.

Significant themes

• Devotion and responsibility: Chen Lin willingly expends his own resources to save someone important to him.
• Mystery and altered reality: The secret realm’s connection to the Heart Realm blurs the boundaries between tangible and formless beings.
• Discovery through experimentation: Chen Lin learns how the realm’s entities and objects interact by testing his treasures.
• Hope amid ruin: Although the tower’s destruction makes Blind Girl’s original plan impossible, it creates another path to her recovery.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin first addresses Blind Girl directly, then switches to the Zodiac Secret Art when she cannot hear him.
• Their exchange reveals her condition and the means of sustaining her, while Chen Lin’s questions and efforts show his concern.
• Chen Lin’s final arrangement—binding her to the unusual manual and placing her safely in the pendant—turns their conversation into a concrete plan for her recovery.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin searches the ruined third floor of the pagoda but finds nothing valuable. He brings Blind Girl out of his grotto-heaven and waits six months for Bai Lingyu to emerge.
• Blind Girl identifies the spiritual herbs Chen Lin collected, but warns that using them directly is inefficient. She offers to guide him to a hidden underground pool of Spirit Liquid, which can enhance high-grade energy and may help evolve his green heart aperture.
• Chen Lin spends the waiting period refining herbs, strengthening his purple heart aperture and Purple-Heart Sword, and completing his mastery of the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula.
• When Bai Lingyu still has not appeared, Chen Lin follows Blind Girl’s directions. He travels on foot to avoid drawing powerful entities, but is badly injured while escaping attacks from dangerous native creatures, including a group of ape-like beings led by a leader that can shift between tangible and formless states.
• Blind Girl guides him through underground passages to the concealed pool. Chen Lin finds a small supply of milky-white Spirit Liquid, swallows it, and directs its energy into his green heart aperture.
• After absorbing around a dozen drops, the aperture closes and displays a divine curse—the seal that blocks a life-form from ascending to a higher level. The chapter ends with Chen Lin uncertain about what this breakthrough will require.

Character development

• Chen Lin remains cautious despite gaining confidence from his improved sword skills. He weighs the danger of the journey, avoids flying, and presses on only after his cultivation progress stalls. His immediate goal is to evolve his green heart aperture, which may also aid his soul dissolution.
• Blind Girl acts as a trusted guide, sharing knowledge of the herbs and leading Chen Lin to the hidden pool. Her excitement at finding the replenished Spirit Liquid suggests she is invested in helping him.
• Bai Lingyu does not appear, but her continued absence prompts Chen Lin to move on.

Significant themes

• Power gained through risk: Chen Lin’s cultivation advances only after he ventures into dangerous territory.
• Trust and cooperation: Blind Girl’s knowledge and guidance are essential to Chen Lin’s survival and progress.
• Limits on advancement: The divine curse introduces a higher-level barrier, suggesting that breakthrough is more than simply accumulating energy.
• Preparation versus overconfidence: Chen Lin’s new mastery gives him confidence, but he continues to act carefully.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin consults Blind Girl about the herbs and the Spirit Liquid, then follows her telepathic instructions through the valley and underground maze.
• Blind Girl warns him about the route and directs him to the hidden entrance; Chen Lin relies on her guidance while evading the ape-like pursuers.
• Chen Lin’s breakthrough is solitary, but his reaction reflects the uncertainty created by Bai Lingyu’s earlier explanation of the divine curse.