Chapter Summaries

Plot and key events

• Chen Lin pauses cultivation after a sealing symbol appears on his green heart aperture, wary of risking damage to his heart. He and Blind Girl use the spirit liquid cautiously while waiting to see what happens.
• Blind Girl explains her origins: she belongs to a race from the Heart Realm, whose plane was shattered in a calamity more than a hundred thousand years ago. After falling into the Nightmare Realm, she eventually reached this plane, where a powerful expert captured and sealed her as a flower.
• She clarifies that the Heart Realm’s shattering split its people and other transcendent things into tangible and formless aspects. She also explains Chen Lin’s flower medal: it grants protection, is recognized as a mark of status, and is graded by its number of leaves. Chen Lin’s four-leaf medal may protect him from a rank-four dominator. Medals can gain leaves, though how or why is unknown.
• After several months, the seal on Chen Lin’s green aperture remains unchanged. Blind Girl finishes absorbing the spirit liquid and enters dormancy; when her divine curse breaks, she awakens stronger, with her life level increased and power approaching that of a dominator.
• With Blind Girl standing guard, Chen Lin tries to break his own curse using the Purple-Heart Sword and Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula. The curse retaliates, rapidly destroying his soul origin and collapsing his soul seed. He pours energy from his other apertures into the sword and finally shatters it.
• A mysterious shadow then enters Chen Lin’s weakened soul from the Gourd Grotto-Heaven. It restores his soul and affects his heart apertures: the seven other than the purple and green ones seal and reopen without curses, their power increasing. Finding the green aperture weaker than the rest, the shadow invests more soul force in it, causing it to seal and reopen stronger. All nine apertures end up roughly equal in strength.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious about protecting his heart, but his impatience and need to prepare for the Ascension Trial lead him to take a dangerous gamble. He trusts Blind Girl to guard him and tries to strengthen her as well as himself.
• Blind Girl recovers important memories, openly explains what she knows, and reassures Chen Lin that she came to help him. Her transformation turns her into a powerful potential ally for the coming trial.
• Their relationship is warm and trusting: Chen Lin comforts her about the ruined Heart Realm, calls her “Master” relationship aside, and prioritizes her recovery; she shares what she knows and watches over him during his breakthrough.
• The mysterious shadow acts independently inside Chen Lin, restoring his soul and balancing his apertures, though its identity and motives remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Power and risk: Chen Lin’s attempt to force progress nearly destroys his soul, showing the danger of shortcuts.
• Uncertainty and hidden systems: The medal, divine curses, Heart Realm, and shadow all point to rules and forces that remain only partly understood.
• Recovery and transformation: Blind Girl’s curse-breaking raises her life level, while Chen Lin’s crisis leads to a mysterious restructuring of his cultivation.
• Trust amid danger: Chen Lin and Blind Girl depend on each other as the Ascension Trial approaches.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• As Chen Lin’s soul recovered, a newborn soul seed resonated with his green heart aperture. Together, they resisted an attempt by the illusory figure in the boulder to seize his body.
• Blind Girl sensed the danger, briefly opened her eyes, infused Chen Lin with a particle of her own origin essence, and used spirit liquid to restore their connection.
• Chen Lin awakened with the attacker’s memories. He learned that the figure was one of the Exquisite Country Emperor’s many true bodies. The emperor had been enslaved by a mysterious being from Outer Heaven and ordered to search for an unreplicable object.
• The emperor discovered that the Primordial Stele could suppress his Slave Seal. He exploited powerful practitioners to activate it, grew stronger through the Exquisite Treasure Tree, and eventually became a Main God. After his crimes were exposed, he hid his forces and divided himself into multiple bodies while preparing to escape his enslavement.
• The emperor’s possession attempt failed: Chen Lin devoured him instead. Chen Lin’s soul became purer, and all nine of his heart apertures had evolved, though his green aperture’s improvement remained limited.
• Chen Lin found only the emperor’s embroidered shoes among the shattered boulder fragments. He and Blind Girl agreed to use the remaining spirit liquid where it was, since it would lose its power if removed. They each took half.
• Chen Lin concluded that many mysteries—including the Exquisite Treasure Tree, the Primordial Stele, a metal fragment, and the world’s origins—lead back to the mysterious being from Outer Heaven.
• Blind Girl recalled a Void Whisper asking her to rescue someone at “sixth district, fifth path.” Chen Lin had heard a similar address—“ninth district, third”—and they suspect these locations may be stages or paths of the Ascension Trial.

Character developments

• Chen Lin regains his memories and sense of self, learns how close he came to being possessed, and gains valuable knowledge by absorbing the emperor’s memories. He resolves not to risk forcing another heart-aperture evolution before the Ascension Trial.
• Blind Girl acts quickly to protect Chen Lin, sharing her origin essence and helping restore their bond. Her childhood knowledge about the Abandoned Land offers a possible link between Void Whispers and the Ascension Trial.
• The Exquisite Country Emperor is revealed as a cunning, powerful but enslaved figure whose long-term plans and possession scheme ultimately fail through Chen Lin’s resistance.

Significant themes

• Identity and resistance: Chen Lin’s memories and selfhood survive an attack designed to erase his awareness.
• Schemes backfiring: The emperor’s elaborate preparations to use Chen Lin as a vessel end by strengthening Chen Lin instead.
• Power and exploitation: The emperor’s rise depended on sacrificing practitioners, while the mysterious being’s influence extended across worlds and eras.
• Uncertainty and hidden purpose: Outer Heaven and the Ascension Trial appear connected, but the trial may serve a dangerous agenda rather than being a simple path to advancement.

Character interactions

• Blind Girl protects Chen Lin during the possession attempt and later confirms that he remains himself, despite the transformation in his soul.
• Chen Lin consults Blind Girl about the spirit liquid and shares what he learned about Outer Heaven.
• Their exchange of information connects her Void Whisper experience with Chen Lin’s own, giving them a shared lead to investigate.

Key plot points and events

• Over six months, Chen Lin and Blind Girl consume the spirit pool’s remaining liquid. It greatly strengthens his heart apertures and restores his soul origin, though it does not directly improve cultivation or divine-skill comprehension.
• Chen Lin concludes he can now contend with powerful dominators in favorable conditions, but still lacks the all-around strength of a true dominator. He plans to pursue either secondary soul dissolution or the evolution of his Natal Runic Inscription, depending on whether a simulation makes the former safe.
• Leaving the cave, Chen Lin uses spatial power to travel with Blind Girl. An unseen woman’s voice—apparently connected to the discarded embroidered shoe—wonders about his origins and the ape chief’s death.
• The ape chief ambushes them with a group of staff-wielding apes. Chen Lin protects Blind Girl, locates the chief with his Soul Eye, and kills it with the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula. He quickly dispatches the remaining apes.
• Chen Lin tests his other abilities and discovers that his nine heart-aperture energies cannot be combined without interfering with one another. He then finds the chief’s dark-red weapon, the God-Slaying Staff. Channeling power-law energy through it unleashes a devastating strike that splits the landscape.
• Chen Lin decides to explore further rather than return. Blind Girl recommends visiting the Sword Clan, whose sword arts and weapons could benefit them both. She hopes to obtain a Heart Swordsmanship technique suited to her innate talent. They set out by flight, while the mysterious embroidered shoe follows.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is newly confident in his greatly increased strength but remains aware of its limits. He thinks strategically about future cultivation, recognizes that his abilities are strongest in unusual environments, and acquires a powerful new weapon.
• Blind Girl acts as Chen Lin’s guide and adviser. She assesses his strengths, warns against using spatial travel because it attracts strange creatures, and openly shares her own goal of obtaining the Sword Clan’s technique.
• The ape chief proves formidable through its destructive physical attack, but Chen Lin’s improved perception, sword power, and mobility overcome it.
• The embroidered shoe’s unseen occupant shows interest in Chen Lin and his victory, then decides to follow him to the Sword Clan.

Significant themes

• Power and its limits: Chen Lin’s strength has surged, yet he understands that high-level cultivation requires broad, balanced abilities—not merely powerful techniques or energy.
• Risk and opportunity: The secret realm has brought major gains at the cost of repeated danger, reinforcing Chen Lin’s willingness to take calculated risks.
• Growth through adaptation: Chen Lin adjusts his cultivation priorities, studies his abilities, and chooses when to rely on force, perception, or mobility.
• Unanswered mysteries: The ascension trial, the Heart Realm’s ruined connections, the God-Slaying Staff’s origin, and the embroidered shoe’s observer all remain unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin and Blind Girl reach the Sword Clan’s ruined territory and find more than a hundred cultivators pinned to the enormous Sword Stele by invisible swords. The area is otherwise eerily empty, and the nearby buildings remain unusually well preserved.
• Blind Girl suspects the Sword Ancestor’s will has awakened, though it should have faded after the Sword Clan’s extinction. Chen Lin and Blind Girl consider leaving, wary of the unexplained danger.
• Lu Ming arrives with several cultivators from the Beihan Boundary Realm, including Feng Qing, with whom Chen Lin has a grievance. Chen Lin and Blind Girl remain concealed to observe.
• Lu Ming lets the newcomers approach the stele first. When the azure-robed cultivator attempts to comprehend it, he vanishes after a sword cry. Lu Ming claims he has been chosen for the inheritance, concealing the apparent danger.
• Lu Ming then approaches the stele himself, protected by a strange talisman. An invisible flying sword strikes, pinning the talisman instead of him. He survives and displays powerful swordsmanship, confirming the stele contains a valuable inheritance.
• A gray-robed elder follows, but also disappears after the stele’s sword cry. Feng Qing asks to buy one of Lu Ming’s talismans. Lu Ming refuses, then offers to discuss it if Feng Qing agrees to a condition.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious, assessing the threat before risking the Sword Stele. He also reflects on Blind Girl’s suggestion that his unusual romantic connections and powerful destiny talent may be tied to fate or a previous life.
• Blind Girl shows insight into the Sword Ancestor and the rules governing the Heart Realm. She suggests Chen Lin’s exceptional destiny may shape the people he meets, while admitting she cannot yet see the full truth of her own past or future.
• Lu Ming proves both formidable and calculating: he appears to understand the danger, lets others test the stele, and uses a talisman to survive its attack. His conduct toward Feng Qing is teasing and self-serving.
• Feng Qing acts cautiously after witnessing the disappearances, then tries to secure protection by negotiating for Lu Ming’s talismans.
• Chen Lin and Blind Girl discuss their bond and the possibility of destiny; Chen Lin tells her not to worry about fate, while she chooses to keep addressing him as “Master.”

Significant themes

• Danger hidden behind opportunity: The Sword Stele offers a powerful inheritance, but its trial can make cultivators vanish or leave them pinned by invisible swords.
• Fate and destiny: Blind Girl questions whether Chen Lin’s connections are coincidental, and Chen Lin considers the influence of his unusual talent.
• Caution, deception, and self-interest: Lu Ming manipulates the other cultivators’ assumptions, while Chen Lin watches rather than rushing into danger.
• Inheritance and power: The Sword Stele’s legacy remains active even after the Sword Clan’s destruction, suggesting that powerful wills and rules can outlast their creators.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Ming offers Feng Qing a Calamity-Dispelling Talisman in exchange for lifelong servitude. Feng Qing refuses, and both sides wait near the silent Sword Stele.
• After several days, new arrivals reach the ruins, including a masked cultivator whose apparent Void Realm cultivation hides a true Great Vehicle Stage level. They purchase Lu Ming’s talisman with an astonishing twenty bottles of variegated crystal marrow.
• The masked cultivator pretends to receive a Sword Clan inheritance, but Chen Lin sees through the performance: the talisman merely protected them from the stele’s attack. Chen Lin and Blind Girl infer that the false demonstrations are intended to draw people to the stele, whose energy appears to build when unsuccessful visitors are killed.
• Blind Girl explains that genuine inheritance requires passing a trial. A successful candidate receives an “Inheritance Sword,” which takes them to the Sword Clan’s Ancestral Land to cultivate. Lu Ming and the masked cultivator both fail the trial, as do several others.
• Blind Girl then approaches the stele and succeeds. A Sword Shadow merges into her, and the stele carries her into a preserved building.
• Chen Lin reveals himself to Lu Ming. Lu Ming presses him for the secret to success, but Chen Lin insists there is none. Lu Ming explains he is pursuing the inheritance because reliable information says the Ascension Trial will include a Sword Dao test—and that he learned this from an Exquisite Treasure Chest.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and observant, using his Soul Eye to distinguish genuine events from staged displays. Though Blind Girl urges him to try the stele, he yields the opportunity to her, showing consideration for her goals and trust in her judgment.
• Blind Girl demonstrates confidence in her chances and candidly says Chen Lin could benefit from an inheritance tailored to his Sword Dao. Her success validates her knowledge of the stele’s trial.
• Lu Ming is ambitious, theatrical, and persistent. He tries to recruit Feng Qing as a servant, uses the talisman to attract visitors, and makes repeated attempts at the inheritance. Despite his boastfulness, he readily accepts Chen Lin’s explanation once it fits his own reasoning.
• Feng Qing refuses Lu Ming’s humiliating offer and withdraws with his companions.
• The masked cultivator uses the talisman and a staged display to mislead the crowd, then competes with Lu Ming for access to the stele.

Significant themes

• Deception versus genuine achievement: Spectacular displays can conceal failure, while the stele’s true inheritance depends on passing its trial.
• Sacrifice and trust: Chen Lin gives Blind Girl the chance to pursue an inheritance that could strengthen her.
• Ambition and survival: Lu Ming seeks power not for its own sake, but to improve his chances in the coming Ascension Trial.
• Uncertainty and hidden knowledge: The stele’s rules, the masked cultivator’s identity, and the source of Lu Ming’s information all point to a world where appearances and partial knowledge shape survival.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Ming confirms that Chen Lin’s former companion, the Divine Maiden, has regained divine-grade existence and may become an Orthodox God. He also explains the divine hierarchy and notes that many cultivation systems and inheritances exist.
• Lu Ming tries to recruit Chen Lin by offering secret information about the Ascension Trial and a Fate Scroll. Chen refuses to join him but agrees to help Lu Ming if their paths cross and he can do so safely. In return, Chen shares what the Blind Girl told him about the Sword Stele.
• Wu Mingyuan approaches Chen, asking whether the Blind Girl is his heart-and-mind partner. He offers to explain how Chen can upgrade his four-leaf medal to five leaves if the Blind Girl helps him receive the Sword Stele’s inheritance. Chen refuses to make a deal without her consent.
• Chen opens the Fate Scroll. It dissolves into light and implants a copied Fate Master inheritance in his mind. Though it lacks the original Primordial Stele’s empowering will, it is safe and will not conflict with his Soul Master inheritance. Its difficulty makes Chen postpone studying it until after the Ascension Trial.
• Heyue, a candidate for Saintess of the Moqigan Clan, approaches Chen to ask about Saintess Heqing and the Star Lord. Chen declines. Her fiery natal spirit, Fengwu, takes offense, but Heyue restrains her and leaves peacefully.
• Over three days, more people are trapped against the Sword Stele after trying to study it. Lu Ming and Wu Mingyuan continue enticing others toward it, but the remaining cultivators become wary. At the chapter’s end, an ornate carriage arrives, announcing a new arrival.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and independent: he rejects recruitment, refuses a potentially useful bargain until the Blind Girl can decide, and firmly rebuffs Heyue’s approach and Fengwu’s intimidation. He gains the Fate Master inheritance but prioritizes preparing for the Ascension Trial.
• Lu Ming shows generosity and pragmatism. When Chen cannot help him secure the Sword Clan inheritance, he gives Chen the Fate Scroll anyway and asks only for future help if it is safe.
• Wu Mingyuan reveals knowledge of the Blind Girl’s clan and Chen’s medal, but his proposed exchange does not overcome Chen’s distrust.
• Heyue is courteous and accepts Chen’s refusal; Fengwu is hot-tempered but obeys Heyue’s command to stand down.
• Feng Qing recognizes Chen and hints at a future conversation, but makes no move against him.

Significant themes

• Trust and autonomy: Chen avoids obligations and refuses to make decisions on the Blind Girl’s behalf.
• Inheritance and risk: Powerful legacies offer great potential, but copied inheritances are harder to master, while the Sword Stele poses immediate danger.
• Power and status: Chen resists attempts to pressure him through rank or prestige.
• Preparation and restraint: Despite receiving a valuable inheritance, Chen focuses on what can strengthen him before the Ascension Trial.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Yuan Zhimeng arrives at the Sword Stele and publicly reveals Chen Lin’s Exquisite Country inheritance, Nine-Aperture Exquisite Heart, and survival of a body-snatching danger. She offers him an extravagant contract: serve as Yuansheng Country’s State Preceptor and join her in the Ascension Trial, with abundant cultivation resources and help for his planned Secondary Soul Dissolution.
• Chen Lin refuses because he is already contracted to an unnamed person connected to Shadow Scholar. Yuan Zhimeng accepts the refusal but warns that they may become enemies during the trial.
• Yuan Zhimeng sacrifices dozens of alien beings to activate the Sword Stele and tries to claim its inheritance, but fails. The other cultivators—and Chen Lin—also fail to awaken it. Chen Lin accepts that he cannot claim every benefit and waits for Blind Girl.
• After the cultivators disperse, an Embroidered Shoe secretly returns them to the stele as sacrifices. This time a Sword Shadow emerges and merges into the shoe. The Great Vehicle Practitioner witnesses the event and suspects who is behind it.
• Chen Lin and Blind Girl leave, hunt sea beasts on their way back, and return to Beihan City. Most of Chen Lin’s Secret Realm spoils have vanished, but he retains the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula, spider silk, and God-Slaying Staff; his major gains in heart, sword comprehension, and soul remain intact.
• Blind Girl gives Chen Lin a Sword Spirit from the Inheritance Ground. Its vision reveals a Sword Ancestor who pursued Sword Dao perfection, was defeated by a mysterious figure, and left behind Sword Spirits in hopes that a successor would one day overcome that figure.
• Chen Lin’s sword will gains a new “breaking” aspect that complements the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula’s “suppression.” Blind Girl also explains that titles—including those of independent divine beings—form from the convergence of sufficiently powerful collective thoughts.
• After several days of absorbing the Sword Spirit’s benefits, Chen Lin suddenly feels his power swell as strange chains and world-wide disturbances appear. He realizes he is facing the Great Dao Tribulation associated with breaking through to the Dominator Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin shows restraint by refusing Yuan Zhimeng’s tempting offer and humility when he fails to activate the Sword Stele. Though disappointed by the loss of most of his spoils, he recognizes that his most important gains remain. The Sword Spirit deepens his understanding of swordsmanship and collective belief.
• Yuan Zhimeng demonstrates both political power and ruthlessness: she offers immense rewards, then uses disposable alien beings to test the stele. Her failure frustrates her, and she leaves without further discussion.
• Blind Girl remains Chen Lin’s ally, helping him hunt and giving him the Sword Spirit. Her recovered memories provide important information about Sword Ancestors and the formation of divine titles.
• The Great Vehicle Practitioner observes the Embroidered Shoe’s secret intervention and leaves with suspicions. Feng Qing considers pursuing Chen Lin but ultimately turns to treasure hunting; Lu Ming, discouraged by his failure, departs.

Significant themes

• Power and its cost: Yuan Zhimeng’s rewards and the Sword Stele’s inheritance both involve danger, exploitation, or competition.
• Humility and limits: Chen Lin learns that recent success does not guarantee another victory and chooses not to chase every possible gain.
• Legacy and persistence: The Sword Ancestor’s unfinished ambition survives through generations of Sword Spirits, with a successor potentially able to challenge the mysterious force that defeated him.
• Collective belief and authority: Shared thoughts can gather into a powerful will and create titles that transcend individual identity.
• Approaching transformation: Chen Lin’s sudden tribulation signals that his gains may soon lead to a major breakthrough—but one that carries grave danger.

Key events

• Chen Lin unexpectedly begins ascending to the Dominator Realm in the Beihan Boundary Realm. To avoid the realm’s destructive backlash, he and Blind Girl flee through a weak boundary node into the Star Ruins.
• He struggles to connect with heaven and earth until he arranges the runic inscriptions of the Seven Major Laws in the Big Dipper pattern and uses his own will as the missing stroke. This forms the Great Dao mark and stabilizes his Law Character Symbol.
• Chen Lin withstands eighty-one escalating tribulations over three days, successfully becoming a Dominator. His Nine-Aperture Exquisite Heart is refined as well.
• Soon after, his newly formed Law Character Symbol begins violently conflicting with his other True Character, the Profound Character. Unable to separate them or resolve the clash through external tools, Chen Lin risks losing his cultivation—and possibly his life.
• He discovers the black and white apertures of his heart correspond to the two characters. Using their energies, he turns the Chinese Law Character black and the Profound Character white, then fuses and separates them into a stable Yin-Yang arrangement. The resulting power vastly exceeds his former strength, though it is difficult to control.
• Chen Lin and Blind Girl travel to Dream Illusion City. As they approach, officials appear and announce that they have been conscripted.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin moves from an unprepared cultivator facing a dangerous breakthrough to a Dominator who can command all Seven Major Laws. His patience and adaptability help him find a way through both his ascension and the later character crisis. However, his immense new power remains potentially unstable.
• Blind Girl stays close throughout, first guarding Chen Lin while he undergoes tribulation, then protecting him while he stabilizes the Yin-Yang Character. She worries that his rapid increase in power could provoke an inner demon; Chen Lin reassures her, though privately he is unsure.
• Their relationship remains one of trust and concern: Chen Lin refuses to endanger Blind Girl by having her intervene in his crisis, while she watches over him and warns him when she fears for his wellbeing.

Significant themes

• Transformation through endurance: Chen Lin’s breakthrough requires patience, resolve, and surviving repeated trials.
• Balance and integration: His crisis is resolved not by destroying one character, but by making opposing forces coexist in a Yin-Yang structure.
• Power and its cost: Ascension brings extraordinary strength, but also danger, exhaustion, and the risk of losing control.
• Uncertainty after triumph: Just as Chen Lin stabilizes his new power, the sudden conscription signals that further challenges await.

Plot points and events

• Five strangers arrive and claim Chen Lin and Blind Girl have been conscripted. Chen Lin suspects the leader has ulterior motives toward Blind Girl and attacks.
• Chen Lin overwhelms the middle-aged leader with the God-Slaying Staff, while Blind Girl silently kills three quasi-Dominators. The green-faced Dominator escapes by splitting into nine forms.
• Chen Lin seemingly annihilates the leader, who is revealed as a demon. City Lord Gu Tianhan intervenes and reconstructs the demon’s monster core, preventing his complete death.
• Gu identifies the survivor as a descendant of Qiu Ziwen, one of the Nine Monster Realm’s Demon Kings. He warns that major factions are forcibly recruiting people for the coming ascension trial and that old protections are weakening. He also explains that Lu Jiuxuan, a powerful Demon King, might mediate if needed.
• Chen Lin returns to Matihai Mountain, reunites with his family, and meets his son Chen Zhan, whose bloodline carries the God of War aura. With the Star Ruins becoming unsafe, he decides to move his people to the Beihan Boundary Realm.
• At Beihan City, Mingzhi and Qingyu ask to enter the Nameless Secret Realm to find Bai Lingyu. Chen Lin refuses, intending to investigate himself. Bai Yujing appears and offers to go with him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin demonstrates the strength of his newly attained Dominator cultivation, but his swift attack also shows how quickly he resorts to force when he senses danger. He learns that this choice may bring consequences because the target has powerful backing.
• Blind Girl proves lethally capable, killing three opponents without moving or using visible techniques.
• Gu Tianhan treats Chen Lin with caution and offers practical warnings, while also acknowledging that Chen Lin once helped Dream Illusion City.
• Chen Lin’s reunion with his children and companions renews his determination to protect them. Chen Zhan’s exuberant recognition of his father provides a warm family moment.
• Chen Lin acts protectively toward Mingzhi and Qingyu by keeping them out of the dangerous secret realm; Bai Yujing’s sudden offer gives him support for the search.

Significant themes

• Power and consequences: Chen Lin’s strength has grown, but confronting even a lesser Demon King’s descendant can provoke powerful retaliation.
• Coercion and instability: As the ascension trial approaches, factions abandon ordinary rules and forcibly recruit cultivators.
• Family and protection: Chen Lin’s loved ones remain both his motivation and his responsibility amid escalating danger.
• Uncertainty and preparation: With threats spreading and the secret realm’s condition unknown, Chen Lin must make cautious decisions while preparing for a crisis he may not be able to avoid.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin welcomes Bai Yujing and gives him a full account of the Secret Realm, the Spirit Refining Tower, and the beings and events tied to it.
• Bai Yujing restores the Blind Girl’s lost memories with sword light. She explains that the tower is a Heart Realm site rumored to imprison an Outer Realm Evil Demon, though its supposed trials have also granted inheritances.
• The trio reaches the tower. Bai Yujing breaks through its entrance and guides them safely down to the sixth level, where he senses several powerful beings—but no sign of the monster Chen Lin encountered.
• Bai Yujing believes Bai Lingyu may be trapped on the inaccessible ninth level and decides to rescue her. Chen Lin insists on accompanying him, while Bai Yujing says the upper underground levels should be safe to search.
• On the ninth level, they find Bai Lingyu and Lian Zizhang pinned behind a barrier among many other captives. The Blind Girl senses an overwhelming presence beyond it and warns them not to enter recklessly.
• Bai Yujing uses a mysterious power to exchange places and physical conditions with Bai Lingyu, freeing her but leaving himself trapped and weakened. He begins recovering and cutting free, but the pillars imprisoning the captives transform into creatures and form a sealing array around him.
• A cloaked figure called the Night-Forgotten Owl appears. Bai Yujing recognizes him as a Rank Nine Dominator and realizes he orchestrated the trap, including Bai Lingyu’s capture and the exchange.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin shows trust and loyalty toward Bai Yujing, shares all relevant information, and volunteers to help rescue Bai Lingyu despite the danger. He remains cautious, warning Bai Yujing about the Blind Girl’s perception of the barrier.
• Bai Yujing displays extraordinary swordsmanship and confidence, restoring the Blind Girl’s memories and overcoming the tower’s barriers. His determination to save his sister leads him to sacrifice his safety, but he is caught in the enemy’s prepared seal.
• The Blind Girl recovers her memories and provides crucial information and a warning about the unseen power behind the barrier.
• Bai Lingyu is revealed to be among the captives. After Bai Yujing frees her, she worries for him and nearly re-enters the barrier, but Chen Lin stops her.
• The Night-Forgotten Owl reveals a long-standing vendetta against Bai Yujing. He says he faked his death and hid to avoid him, patiently arranging events so he could finally kill him.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and sacrifice: Chen Lin chooses to help Bai Yujing, while Bai Yujing risks himself to save Bai Lingyu.
• Power and helplessness: The group’s strength is dwarfed by the Rank Nine Dominator, whose presence alone crushes Chen Lin’s will.
• Deception and long-term schemes: The apparent rescue and exchange were anticipated parts of the Owl’s carefully laid trap.
• Uncertainty and hidden forces: The tower’s origin, inhabitants, and rules remain mysterious, and the apparent captives’ situation proves far more dangerous than it first seems.

Plot points and events

• Bai Yujing confronts Night-Forgotten Owl, who is chained and weakened but blames Bai Yujing for his imprisonment. Night-Forgotten Owl drains Bai Yujing through a spike in his chest and threatens Bai Lingyu.
• Bai Lingyu attacks to protect her brother, but Night-Forgotten Owl redirects his power to trap her in a devouring vortex.
• Chen Lin and Blind Girl join the fight. Night-Forgotten Owl absorbs their attacks and turns his black-light ability against Chen Lin; Chen’s wrist emblem repeatedly reflects it, though the escalating backlash begins to injure him.
• Night-Forgotten Owl sends powerful owl-shaped attacks at Chen Lin, Blind Girl, and Bai Lingyu. To stop them, Chen Lin risks his heart by pouring its origin essence into the God-Slaying Staff.
• A mysterious seal appears on the staff. It destroys the owls and disrupts Night-Forgotten Owl, who recognizes it as the God-Slaying Seal. Bai Yujing uses the opening to escape with everyone, though the seal’s power only wounds Night-Forgotten Owl, who retreats into darkness.
• Outside the tower, Bai Yujing heals Chen Lin and explains that the seal is an Outer Heaven curse capable of harming divine beings. He warns Chen Lin not to use it carelessly, since it could make him a target of all divine beings.
• The group decides to leave rather than risk further exploration. They discover that Lian Zizhang survived, while another captive remains near death. Bai Yujing entrusts the latter to Chen Lin’s care before leading everyone toward the exit.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin risks severe harm to protect the others and reveals the staff’s hidden power. He remains cautious afterward, acknowledging that he cannot defeat Night-Forgotten Owl alone.
• Bai Yujing remains composed under torture, fights back, then takes responsibility for the group’s safety. He trusts Chen Lin enough to heal him and entrust him with a captive.
• Bai Lingyu shows fierce loyalty to her brother, intervening despite the danger. She later urges restraint, prioritizing preparation for the Ascension Trial.
• Blind Girl fights beside Chen Lin and stays alert to possible threats, especially the possibility that Bai Yujing or Bai Lingyu might want the staff.
• Night-Forgotten Owl is revealed as a formidable, weakened main-god-level enemy whose hatred of Bai Yujing fuels his cruelty. The God-Slaying Seal frightens him and forces his retreat.
• Lian Zizhang survives and promises to repay his rescuers, potentially becoming an ally against Night-Forgotten Owl.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and loyalty: Chen Lin and Bai Lingyu risk themselves to protect others.
• Power and its limits: A desperate burst of strength can change a battle, but Chen Lin’s victory is temporary and costly.
• Hidden forces and mysteries: The God-Slaying Seal’s Outer Heaven origin hints at powerful actors involved in the plane’s destruction.
• Prudence amid danger: The group chooses retreat and preparation over pursuing a risky advantage.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After using the position-shifting method, Bai Yujing and Bai Lingyu enter seclusion to recover. Chen Lin also withdraws to recuperate from the strain of using his heart origin essence and studies the God-Slaying Staff.
• Chen Lin worries that the staff’s God-Slaying Seal may only suppress divine beings rather than working across cultivation systems. Since using it severely drains his heart origin essence, he seeks a way to strengthen or replenish that energy.
• Over three years, Chen Lin searches for rare resources with little success. A cultivator with dominator-tier spiritual bodies offers a deal that would require Chen Lin to explore a dangerous location in the Nameless Secret Realm; Chen Lin refuses.
• Wunie, the powerful foreign cultivator Chen Lin rescued from the Spirit Refining Tower, awakens. He reveals that he is a fourth-rank dominator whose strength was drained by an Outer Realm Celestial Demon. Though he initially credits Bai Yujing with his recovery, he recognizes Chen Lin’s help and offers repayment.
• Wunie cannot provide dominator-tier spiritual bodies, but gives Chen Lin a drop of primal origin essence blood from his race. Chen Lin concludes it could restore his heart origin essence enough for one safe use of the God-Slaying Seal. This inspires him to consider seeking similar essence from other powerful primal-bloodline clans and kingdoms, though each possible source poses political or practical difficulties.
• With the Ascension Trial approaching, Chen Lin gathers Silver Fairy’s disciples and their descendants. He offers to arrange safe destinations for those unlikely to take part, or provide resources for those who want to leave, warning that Beihan City may become dangerous once the trial begins. He gives them six months to decide.
• Chen Lin’s close companions choose to remain with him. He cautions them that the trial’s selection process, location, and difficulty are unpredictable, though he hopes it will have stages and tasks suited to each participant’s cultivation.
• Chen Lin distributes resources and helps everyone prepare. As the trial draws nearer, the Nameless Secret Realm becomes increasingly dangerous and its treasures scarce, so he and his companions stop exploring and focus on cultivation.
• Two years later, Lian Zizhang emerges from recovery and asks Chen Lin whether he would accompany him somewhere.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains pragmatic and resource-conscious. He accepts Wunie’s gift without demanding more, while recognizing both the value of the essence blood and the cost its production imposes. He also takes responsibility for preparing his followers for the approaching trial, even though he cannot protect them within his grotto-heaven.
• Wunie shows gratitude through a substantial but limited repayment. His offer reflects the seriousness of his debt, while his weakened condition prevents him from giving more.
• Chen Lin and his companions share a close, trusting relationship. Little White Snake and the others immediately insist on staying with him; Sun Caiyi, in turn, urges him to prioritize surviving his own unusually difficult trial.
• Chen Lin and his dependents have a more practical relationship: he gives them time, choices, and resources to establish themselves rather than promising protection he may not be able to provide.
• Lian Zizhang’s emergence from seclusion introduces a new potential undertaking, though his destination and purpose are not yet revealed.

Significant themes

• Preparation amid uncertainty: The approaching Ascension Trial drives characters to make plans without knowing its rules or risks.
• The cost of power: The God-Slaying Seal may be a decisive weapon, but using it can leave Chen Lin severely depleted; even the resources that restore him come at a price to others.
• Reciprocity and obligation: Chen Lin expects repayment for the costly rescue of Wunie, while Wunie willingly acknowledges both Chen Lin’s and Bai Yujing’s roles.
• Responsibility and independence: Chen Lin cares for his followers but recognizes that they may need to survive apart from him.
• Strategic restraint: As the secret realm grows more lethal and the trial nears, Chen Lin chooses cultivation and preparation over further exploration.

Key plot points and events

• Lian Zizhang repays Chen Lin for saving him by explaining the Ascension Trial and Outer Heaven. Ascension offers a shortcut to Outer Heaven, but even reaching the Primordial Realm is not enough: a cultivator must also open a passage.
• Outer Heaven has 108 Heavenly Monarchs, with a fixed number of seats. When someone ascends, another must be eliminated. Other positions are available through means such as the Ascension Trial, though they offer less freedom and status.
• The trial’s structure varies, but usually involves three stages in a special space. Clearing the first stage can earn a reward and allow a participant to leave; later stages are poorly understood. Only one person is chosen to pass every stage, and even the earlier stages may have very few victors. Past victors may possess exceptional strength and treasures.
• Lian Zizhang leaves to seek a treasure he believes will improve his chances. Chen Lin shares the warning with his close companions, urges them to gather useful objects and keep items on their person rather than relying on storage tools, and sends the information to allies through the Seven Passions Sect and Eight Trees.
• Over a dozen years pass. The Nameless Secret Realm’s passage collapses, and most factions depart. Chen Lin stays in Beihan to prepare for the trial, guard Bai Yujing and Bai Lingyu, and avoid enemies in the Star Ruins.
• Bai Yujing and Bai Lingyu emerge from seclusion. Bai Yujing gives Chen Lin a primal crystal to strengthen his use of the God-Slaying Seal, while warning him not to depend on it alone.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin becomes more cautious and strategic: he treats the trial as a broad test of capabilities, not simply combat, and prepares both himself and his allies accordingly. His sense of urgency grows as he realizes how few participants may succeed.
• Lian Zizhang shows gratitude for Chen Lin’s help but remains secretive about his own experience with the trial. He chooses to risk exploring alone to retrieve a potentially vital treasure.
• Chen Lin and his companions respond solemnly to the trial’s dangers. He reassures them, gives practical advice, and arranges for distant allies—including Sister Luo, Beitang Zhu, and Ruan Qingxi—to receive the information.
• Chen Lin and Bai Yujing share a trusting, familial rapport. Bai Yujing’s gift supports Chen Lin, while his caution reinforces the need for independent strength.

Significant themes

• Survival through preparation: Versatility, planning, and useful tools may matter as much as raw cultivation.
• Power and scarcity: Outer Heaven’s limited seats make ascension a ruthless contest, with established powers potentially suppressing challengers.
• Uncertainty and secrecy: The trial’s rules, the Heavenly Dao’s nature, and the fate of past participants remain unclear.
• Dependence versus self-reliance: Chen Lin values powerful aids such as the God-Slaying Seal but is reminded that they cannot replace his own strength.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin asks Bai Yujing about the God-Slaying Seal. Bai explains that it is not specifically designed to counter divine beings; its power comes from breaking the barriers of higher-order entities. He believes Chen Lin’s cultivation of all Seven Major Laws may produce an energy beyond ordinary divinity and urges him to fuse the laws.
• Chen Lin asks about the Ascension Trial. Bai says its rules and stages are unpredictable and suspects outcomes depend on the Heavenly Dao’s will. When Chen Lin hints that the Heavenly Dao may have made him a promise, Bai sharply warns him never to discuss or reveal anything the Heavenly Dao communicates.
• Chen Lin requests forty-three Dominator-Tier Spiritual Bodies. Bai authorizes access to the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace’s Ultimate Treasure Vault, gives Chen priority and a large supply of Contribution Points, and sends sword guidance for Chen’s companion Grass. He also hints that the God-Slaying Seal may counter the Divine Curse.
• After several years of preparation, Chen uses over a hundred holy spirits to simulate Secondary Soul Dissolution, survives the initial ordeal, and decides to attempt it for real.
• During the actual attempt, Chen withstands the corrosive white light with the Hundred Saints Soul-Interrogation Art. He strikes the Divine Curse on the Light Gate with the God-Slaying Staff until it collapses, then enters.
• Inside, he encounters many soul threads but discovers they are weak and easily severed by the staff. He concludes that his other selves on Earth cannot affect him—or that the threads are remnants of his former soul entanglement. He then sees nine immense sealing symbols ahead, each exerting tremendous pressure.

Character developments

• Chen Lin grows more strategic and confident, combining preparation, simulation, and the God-Slaying Staff to manage the dangers of soul dissolution. He also shows discretion by keeping the Heavenly Dao’s communication largely private.
• Bai Yujing demonstrates both deep knowledge of the Heavenly Dao and strong loyalty to Chen. He is willing to spend the Heavenly Palace’s resources generously, apparently repaying Chen for his help at the Spirit Refining Tower.
• Bai Lingyu initially reacts with concern to Bai Yujing’s decision to open the vault, but ultimately accepts his choice.
• Grass remains focused on cultivating her Sword Dao and receives direct guidance from Bai Yujing.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus uncertainty: The Ascension Trial and soul dissolution resist prediction, yet Chen improves his odds through careful preparation and backup plans.
• Power and transformation: Fusing the Seven Major Laws may let Chen transcend ordinary divine limits, while soul dissolution may sever old ties and reshape his identity.
• Secrecy and danger: Communication with the Heavenly Dao is treated as perilous knowledge that must remain confidential.
• Loyalty and reciprocity: Bai Yujing’s extensive support repays Chen’s earlier courage and aid.
• Breaking constraints: Chen’s assault on the Divine Curse and severing of soul threads reflect his effort to free himself from seals, attachments, and limitations.

Character interactions

• Chen presses Bai Yujing for answers about his cultivation, the Ascension Trial, and the Heavenly Dao; Bai’s warning ends the discussion of the Heavenly Dao’s promise.
• Chen asks Bai Yujing to help Grass. Bai sends her sword instruction and gives Chen a sword light carrying both access privileges and Contribution Points.
• Bai Yujing and Bai Lingyu arrange the resources Chen needs, while Chen expresses gratitude and recognizes Bai Yujing’s generosity.
• Chen leaves city affairs to Leng Yue and Sun Caiyi, with Grass and Blind Girl guarding him as he prepares for the attempt.

Key plot points and events

• The nine Divine Curse symbols grow stronger, draining Chen Lin’s soul and threatening to destroy it. He uses his nine-aperture heart to empower the God-Slaying Staff, but the curse merges into a single inscription resembling the God-Slaying Seal.
• The God-Slaying Seal detaches from the staff and battles the curse directly. Chen Lin sustains it with Bai Yujing’s crystal, Wunie’s essence blood, his own heart essence, and finally the Holy Spirits’ life force. At the last moment, the Seal defeats and consumes the curse.
• Freed from the curse, Chen Lin undergoes Secondary Soul Dissolution. His soul becomes dramatically purer and stronger, potentially letting him overwhelm ordinary Dominators and contend with mid-stage ones. He spends five years in seclusion stabilizing the transformation.
• During his absence, the Blind Girl and Grass protect the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace headquarters from attackers. Their newly enhanced abilities deter further assaults.
• On returning, Chen Lin learns the Feng Family has effectively blockaded Beihan City and threatened to destroy the headquarters unless he apologizes and surrenders Yue Bingling within six months. Ning Yu secretly sends information revealing that the family has concealed forces in the Star Ruins and five Dominator Experts, including the fourth-rank Feng Wantian.
• Chen Lin decides to use the confrontation as a chance to test his new strength and seize the Feng Family’s resources, while cautioning that he must act strategically.

Character developments

• Chen Lin survives a near-fatal ordeal, completes soul dissolution, and emerges vastly stronger—but the process costs him the hundred Holy Spirits and exhausts valuable energy reserves. He remains cautious rather than assuming his new power guarantees victory.
• The God-Slaying Seal appears almost independent, fighting with stubborn resolve and ultimately absorbing the curse’s remnants to restore itself.
• The Blind Girl has grown stronger through the Sword Ancestor’s inheritance and can defeat first-rank Dominators.
• Grass has awakened a fierce innate Sword Will, powerful enough to repel even second-rank Dominators when Chen Lin is threatened, though using it exacts a heavy toll.
• Ning Yu quietly aids Chen Lin despite the danger, suggesting a measure of loyalty or friendship.

Significant themes

• Perseverance under extreme pressure: Chen Lin keeps searching for a way to survive even when his resources and life force are nearly gone.
• The cost of advancement: His breakthrough brings extraordinary power but demands severe sacrifices and a long recovery.
• Loyalty and protection: Chen Lin’s allies defend his organization during his absence, while Ning Yu risks sharing intelligence.
• Power tempered by caution: Chen Lin sees an opportunity in the Feng Family’s threat but plans to avoid a reckless, head-on confrontation.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin relies on the God-Slaying Seal throughout the battle, sustaining it and urging it onward while ultimately allowing it to fight without interference.
• After emerging from seclusion, he questions Leng Yue and the others about events at headquarters and listens to their account of the Feng Family’s threats.
• Leng Yue delivers Ning Yu’s secret message; Chen Lin shares its findings with his allies, including the Feng Family’s hidden strength.
• Sun Caiyi celebrates Chen Lin’s breakthrough but urges caution, and he reassures her that he will proceed carefully.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin prepares to deal with the Feng Family, strengthening his control of the Medal and tracking their movements. He learns that the Fengs have been coercing the Ning Family over an exotic treasure and have secretly killed many Ning experts.
• After Leng Yue reports that the Huang Family possesses a soul-capturing silver bell, Chen Lin and Blind Girl travel to the Guning Realm. Chen Lin dismisses the hesitant Ning Family as unreliable and intends to act independently.
• At the Huang compound, Feng Qing and several other experts demand the bell from Huang Tingyu. Their quarrel over who should claim it escalates, until a powerful, unidentified hand intervenes and takes the treasure.
• The bell’s chime disrupts the souls of everyone nearby, including Chen Lin and Blind Girl, though Chen Lin quickly recovers and helps her do the same. Its power overwhelms the giant hand and immobilizes the experts.
• As the bell’s influence falters, Feng Qing and Zhao Qianming slaughter Huang Family members. Huang Tingyu spends his remaining strength to ring the bell again, then breaks through to the Dominator Realm and offers the Huang Family’s wealth to anyone who will kill their attackers.
• Chen Lin appears at that moment and attacks Feng Qing, positioning himself as the Huang Family’s rescuer and giving himself a defensible reason to claim the treasure.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is more powerful and confident after soul dissolution, with improved spatial abilities and a stronger Medal. He remains pragmatic: he admits that his retaliation against the Feng Family may kill innocents, but values acting on his own terms and securing justification for his actions.
• Blind Girl reveals that she has given up hope of finding her destroyed homeland. Though she recognizes that Chen Lin uses her, she stays because she senses some sincerity in him. She praises his unusual treatment of others, while he jokingly deflects the compliment.
• The Ning Family appears politically cautious and unwilling to take decisive risks, reinforcing Chen Lin’s choice not to rely on them.
• Huang Tingyu shifts from guarded resistance to desperate sacrifice, using the bell and his own life force to protect his family.
• Feng Qing and Zhao Qianming both reveal their brutality and ambition: once the bell’s power weakens, they kill Huang Family members rather than show restraint.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: The weaker Huang Family cannot protect its treasure from stronger factions; even a Dominator’s aura can devastate ordinary cultivators.
• Self-interest and betrayal: Alliances and promises are fragile when valuable treasures are at stake.
• Sincerity amid exploitation: Blind Girl’s attachment to Chen Lin rests on the limited genuine care she perceives in a world where people commonly exploit others.
• Moral and political justification: Chen Lin sees being “in the right” not as a moral absolute, but as useful protection when power is contested.
• The cost of power: The bell can overwhelm even formidable opponents, while Huang Tingyu’s desperate use of it consumes his remaining strength and destroys much of his family.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin kills Feng Qing with his self-created Soul-Slicing Guillotine, demonstrating how much his soul abilities have grown after reaching Secondary Soul Dissolution.
• The grey-robed dominator, Zhao Qianming, tries to flee and then bargains for his life, invoking his ties to Five Elders City. Chen Lin kills him anyway, judging him too dangerous to spare.
• The Huang Family Ancestor’s desperate attack fails to stop Zhao. He dies after exhausting his life force, while his family survives. Chen Lin takes the recovered exotic treasure—the Soul-Absorbing Bell—and leaves them alone.
• Chen Lin and Blind Girl travel to the Feng Family’s territory, where Chen refines the bell and uses it to attack the Feng clan selectively, killing its members across the compound.
• The Feng Family’s fourth-rank ancestor, Feng Wantian, is conspicuously absent. Chen Lin worries that leaving him alive would threaten his companions and family.
• Chen Lin, Blind Girl, and Grass engage the remaining Feng Family dominators. The Patriarch’s folding fan suppresses Chen’s abilities, but his wrist medal absorbs and reflects the fan’s yellow light.
• Chen Lin focuses the bell on the Patriarch and attacks with the God-Slaying Staff. The Patriarch counters with a powerful doll, a protective jade pendant, and the fan. The chapter ends as the doll—apparently a divine object—meets the staff’s strike.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is newly confident in his dominator-level soul techniques, but the Feng Patriarch’s abilities expose the limits of his strength against a veteran third-rank dominator. He remains ruthless and pragmatic, prioritizing the safety of Leng Yue and his other loved ones over mercy or restraint.
• Blind Girl supports Chen Lin, returns the Soul-Absorbing Bell, and stands ready to sacrifice herself when he is endangered.
• Grass also rushes to protect Chen Lin, abandoning her own opponent and preparing to use her life-sacrificing technique.
• The Huang Family Ancestor dies in a final, all-consuming attempt to attack Zhao; his family members remain behind, uncertain of Chen Lin’s intentions.
• The Feng Patriarch is revealed as a formidable third-rank dominator with several deadly artifacts and methods. His exchange with Chen shifts from contemptuous confidence to uncertainty after the medal reflects his attack.

Significant themes

• Power and its limits: Chen’s breakthrough makes him a regional-level force, yet the gap between dominator ranks remains formidable.
• Pragmatism and survival: Chen kills potential threats rather than risk future danger, and is prepared to deploy his strongest weapons to protect those close to him.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Blind Girl and Grass respond to Chen’s peril with immediate offers of self-sacrifice.
• Escalating conflict: The battles against Feng Qing and Zhao lead directly into an all-out assault on the Feng Family, setting up a climactic clash with the Patriarch.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin destroys the Feng Patriarch’s fourth-rank, one-armed doll with the God-Slaying Seal, then kills the weakened Patriarch. The Seal also annihilates his soul and surviving clones, while the Soul-Absorbing Bell and Chen Lin’s allies help wipe out the Feng Family’s remaining forces.
• Grass kills one Dominator, and Blind Girl defeats another. Chen Lin’s soul domain prevents weaker survivors from escaping. He gathers the family’s treasures and collects the marks of the dead to ensure they cannot return.
• The ruined doll proves to be a living divine being named Qingtian. Chen Lin binds him with a God-Controlling Bead made from a fragment of each of their souls, securing Qingtian’s cooperation while monitoring his power and intent. In exchange for an ongoing supply of divine blood, Qingtian serves as Chen Lin’s energy source.
• The Feng Family Ancestor remains missing, leaving Chen Lin worried he may be hiding in the Void. Qingtian cannot identify his whereabouts, but points to a red jade tablet from the Feng Ancestral Land as a possible link to the ancestor’s residence.
• Chen Lin has Leng Yue inventory the seized loot and discovers three Grotto-Heaven Treasures—valuable containers that may also hold unknown contents.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin demonstrates the power of the God-Slaying Seal but is left severely depleted. He quickly recovers by absorbing Qingtian’s divine blood, then cautiously binds the divine being rather than killing him. He remains practical and suspicious, especially regarding the absent ancestor and the jade tablet.
• Qingtian shifts from captive to reluctant subordinate. Though he agrees to serve Chen Lin to avoid death, he privately resents the soul-binding and grows anxious when Chen Lin draws his blood. He shares what little he knows about the Feng family’s dealings and the jade tablet.
• Grass and Blind Girl prove decisive allies, each helping eliminate a Feng Family Dominator. Grass’s powerful strike, however, leaves her weakened.
• Leng Yue assists by cataloging the spoils and identifies the three Grotto-Heaven Treasures.

Significant themes

• Power and its cost: Chen Lin’s strongest weapon can defeat formidable foes, but its use exhausts him and leaves him vulnerable.
• Control, trust, and self-preservation: Chen Lin and Qingtian enter a mutually uneasy arrangement—one seeks a useful resource, the other chooses submission over death.
• Lingering threats: The Feng Family’s destruction does not end the danger; the missing ancestor and unexplained jade tablet suggest a larger confrontation ahead.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: Chen Lin learns more about divine titles and the Heavenly Dao, but recognizes that crucial mechanisms and connections remain obscure.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin and Leng Yue sort the Feng Family’s spoils. Chen keeps several valuable items, including powerful spirit liquid, and distributes equipment he cannot use. Blind Girl identifies an unusual black-and-white object as a Spirit-Attracting Nest, a Heart Realm relic that attracts special Otherworld beings and becomes associated with whoever places it.
• Chen inspects three Grotto-Heaven Treasures. Zhao Qianming’s pouch contains rare spirit plants and beasts, which Chen clears out. Feng Qing’s White Jade Pot contains people or dependents; Chen does something necessary but morally painful, apparently killing them.
• The Feng Family Patriarch’s Golden Pouch holds no ancestor or other contents—only a vast, human-head-sized Irregular Object radiating golden light. Attempts to depict it fail unless Chen uses the God-Slaying Staff’s power to stabilize the drawing, and even then its image soon fades from memory.
• With the Feng Family Ancestor still unaccounted for, Chen considers using a Divination Formation to locate him. The chapter ends as Ning Yu and Yue Bingling arrive together, apparently to discuss the Feng Family.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen is cautious and practical: he tests unfamiliar treasures, takes precautions before opening the pouches, and avoids relying too heavily on Qingtian’s potentially dangerous divine blood.
• He shows discomfort over the lives lost in Feng Qing’s Grotto-Heaven, though he rejects the idea that he is truly merciful. Grass offers to kill for him; he refuses to use her as a way to evade responsibility.
• Blind Girl advises caution and volunteers to open the Golden Pouch, but Chen protects her because her cultivation is too low. She also suggests contacting the Ning Family.
• Yue Bingling continues to identify herself as Chen’s Companion, saying she will remain faithful despite Feng Qing’s death and the end of the danger that prompted the arrangement. Chen accepts her choice without insisting on the title.
• Ning Yu congratulates Chen on his rise in power, setting a respectful, familiar tone for their meeting.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: Chen’s strength lets him decide the fate of those inside the Grotto-Heaven, but necessity does not spare him moral discomfort.
• Caution amid uncertainty: Strange treasures, hidden dangers, and the missing Feng Ancestor keep Chen from treating victory as security.
• Unknowable forces and memory: The golden Irregular Object resists representation and cannot be remembered, emphasizing the limits of perception and control.
• Loyalty and chosen bonds: Grass, Blind Girl, and Yue Bingling express devotion to Chen in different ways, while Chen’s responses reveal both protectiveness and respect for their agency.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Yu tells Chen Lin that the Ning Family seeks his help against the missing Feng Family Ancestor, a powerful Rank Four Dominator who commands star pirates and may retaliate or interfere in the coming Ascension Trial.
• Chen Lin refuses to hide with the Ning Family. He proposes using the Array of Destiny to locate the ancestor, asking the clan to gather materials and identify seven nearby, prosperous planes whose inhabitants’ destiny force can power the formation.
• Yue Bingling gives Chen Lin a bottle of her newly awakened primordial essence blood, revealing that she has also awakened an ice-based primordial divine ability.
• The Ning Family prepares the planes and supplies. Chen Lin brings his people to its headquarters, where the clan leader and elders treat him with marked deference. After more than a year of work, the formation is completed.
• Chen Lin activates the array, linking the seven planes with bands of light and drawing on their collective destiny force. He adds the Feng Family members’ essence blood and souls as a guide.
• The divination produces only a blurry image of a figure—apparently the Feng Family Ancestor—bound in a dark red space. Chen Lin realizes the ancestor is likely trapped somewhere rather than evading detection.
• A red jade piece Chen Lin possesses briefly resonates with the formation, suggesting it contains or connects to the space where the ancestor is held. Chen Lin seals it and puts it away, then disperses the array. Its power flows back into his talent origin.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is decisive and increasingly confident in his power, but remains wary of the ancestor and of the unexplained connection to the red jade. He also hopes the array’s destiny energy will advance his crafting-related talent toward guaranteed success.
• Ning Yu acts as a cautious intermediary between Chen Lin and his clan, acknowledging that the Ning Family both used and genuinely helped him. He accepts Chen Lin’s plan and organizes the needed resources.
• Yue Bingling supports Chen Lin by offering her essence blood and openly shares her new abilities. She recognizes her limitations and does not insist on joining the dangerous effort.
• Ning Changsheng and the elders show how dramatically Chen Lin’s standing has changed: they welcome him humbly and comply quickly. Ning Changtian, once able to make demands of Chen Lin, now sits anxiously apart; Chen Lin neither confronts nor acknowledges him.

Significant themes

• Power shifts and changing status: Chen Lin’s rapid rise has reversed his former relationship with the Ning Family.
• Trust amid mutual interest: The Ning Family admits its past motives, while Chen Lin accepts its assistance but remains focused on the shared threat.
• Destiny, talent, and ambition: Chen Lin uses the life force of entire planes to pursue both his enemy and a further transformation of his talent.
• Uncertainty and hidden forces: The ancestor’s apparent imprisonment and the red jade’s connection introduce a mystery that complicates what seemed like a straightforward hunt.