Chapter Summaries

Key events

• Chen Lin discovers a black, demonic Buddha statue bearing the face he had in his previous life. Alarmed by the impossible resemblance, he considers destroying it but decides to seal it away rather than risk unknown consequences. He suspects the Demon-Suppressing Temple in Black Horn City may hold answers, but postpones investigating until he is stronger.
• After returning, Chen Lin reunites with Qin Lingyu. She tells him her father hopes he will take disciples from the Qin lineage. Chen Lin declines to teach anyone himself but offers to recommend a candidate to Mu Linglong, warning that seeking her as a master could mean choosing sides in the conflict involving He Huahai.
• Chen Lin’s shopkeeper, Lu Youcai, obtains a manual for the Nine Origins Immortal-Slaying Formation. Chen Lin studies it and uses it to create nine new puppets, each equipped with an intelligent demon soul. Working together, they can unleash a combined attack nearly as powerful as a Talisman Treasure.
• With the Silver Fairy and Mu Linglong absent and He Huahai keeping a low profile, Chen Lin focuses on cultivation and gathering resources. His anxiety about the statue gradually fades, while Qin Lingyu’s regular visits and thoughtful care give him a welcome sense of home.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious about mysteries tied to his past life, choosing patience over impulsive action. He also expands his combat strength by developing a coordinated puppet unit.
• Qin Lingyu, newly more confident after reaching Foundation Establishment, approaches Chen Lin with her family’s request but leaves the political decision to her father. Her growing attentiveness helps warm their relationship.
• Lu Youcai earns Chen Lin’s praise by finding the formation manual.
• Mu Linglong, the Silver Fairy, and He Huahai remain largely absent from events, though their factional positions shape Chen Lin’s advice to the Qin family.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and restraint: Chen Lin avoids acting rashly when faced with a supernatural mystery he cannot understand.
• Preparation and strength: Rather than confront future dangers unprepared, he invests in teamwork and carefully planned combat power.
• Belonging and intimacy: Qin Lingyu’s care offers Chen Lin a rare feeling of warmth and home in a life otherwise defined by cultivation and danger.

Key plot points

• Chen Lin’s cultivation accelerates after he refines the high-grade Silver Ring Pill, but he begins experiencing brief, powerful chills that seem to affect his soul.
• After searching his body, belongings, and surroundings without finding a cause, he realizes the sensation returns when he uses the Soul-Destroying Finger to sharpen his perception. He senses that its source is underground.
• Testing the technique in different places, he finds the strongest reaction near the Pill Hall. He suspects this may relate to He Huahai’s earlier removal of him from the hall, but fears investigating or confronting him.
• Unable to reach the Silver Fairy or Mu Linglong, Chen Lin considers leaving the city. High Person Yunhai then returns from the Nightmare Realm, thanks Chen for his introduction, gives him a gift, and departs.
• Learning that the Silver Fairy has returned, Chen Lin reports the anomaly to her. She says he has made good progress with the secret art, assures him that “the fish has merely taken the bait,” and tells him to stay at the City Lord Manor and stop practicing the technique temporarily.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin shifts from curiosity to anxiety as the unexplained chill grows stronger. His caution leads him to avoid digging beneath the Pill Hall or trusting He Huahai without evidence. He relies on the Soul-Destroying Finger’s enhanced perception to investigate, then turns to his master for help.
• The Silver Fairy appears pleased and confident rather than alarmed, suggesting she understands the anomaly and may have anticipated it. She gives Chen Lin instructions but withholds the full explanation.
• High Person Yunhai is unusually cheerful after his trip with the Silver Fairy and leaves for Sea of Clouds Immortal City, expressing gratitude to Chen Lin.
• Qin Lingyu and other cultivators cannot sense the chill, reinforcing that the phenomenon is specific to Chen Lin or his soul.

Significant themes

• The limits of perception: Chen Lin’s unusual sensitivity reveals something others cannot detect, but he still cannot identify its source.
• Caution amid uncertainty: He weighs the danger of investigating against the risk of ignoring a possible threat.
• Hidden schemes and delayed revelations: The Silver Fairy’s cryptic reassurance implies the anomaly may be part of a larger plan, leaving its cause unresolved.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin examines the black plate High Person Yunhai gave him. It carries an aura from the Nightmare Realm and bears unfamiliar writing, making it potentially valuable—but suspicious. Unable to decipher it, Chen puts it away for later.
• He stops practicing the Soul-Destroying Finger, and the unnerving cold presence he had felt disappears. With the Silver Fairy’s abundant spiritual energy and his new Silver Ring Pills, his cultivation advances to the peak of the fourth Foundation Establishment layer.
• A violent explosion shakes Silver Immortal City. Chen leaves the Cultivation Chamber and finds the Silver Fairy hovering above the Pill Hall, with the city’s cultivators gathered below. He reunites with Qin Lingyu, who had feared for him after he failed to answer her Transmission Talismans.
• A black pillar of light rises from the Pill Hall and forms a ghostly face. Its chilling power overwhelms most cultivators, but the Silver Fairy suppresses it. The face demands her “soul origin essence,” promising her a chance to glimpse the Heavenly Dao if she submits.
• The Silver Fairy refuses and activates a vast God-Trapping Formation. It briefly cages and weakens the ghostly face, but the face breaks free. He Huahai then appears beside it, revealing that he has betrayed the Silver Fairy and joined its side.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and pragmatic. He recognizes that he cannot affect a battle of this scale and begins looking for a chance to escape. His strengthened soul lets him withstand the ghostly face’s spiritual assault better than most.
• Qin Lingyu shows her concern for Chen, relieved to learn that the Cultivation Chamber’s formation blocked her messages. Despite being dizzy from the supernatural pressure, she stays beside him.
• The Silver Fairy (Yun Feiyan) reveals her defiance and preparedness: she anticipated the threat and laid a city-wide formation to trap it. She rejects the divine being’s offer, refusing to compromise her pride or principles for a chance at the Heavenly Dao.
• He Huahai exposes a long-standing grievance against his master. He claims she never treated him as a true disciple and that staying with her would have limited his cultivation, so he chose another path to advance. The Silver Fairy remains composed, suggesting she may have suspected his betrayal.
• As the confrontation escalates, Chen and Qin retreat with the other cultivators, aware that the battle’s shock waves could be fatal.

Significant themes

• Ambition and betrayal: He Huahai justifies betraying his master as a necessary choice for his Dao path, while the Silver Fairy’s refusal to yield highlights a different kind of resolve.
• Power and vulnerability: The divine being’s overwhelming presence exposes how powerless ordinary cultivators—and even the Nascent Soul Silver Fairy—may be before higher forces.
• Suspicion and hidden motives: The mysterious Nightmare Realm plate and He Huahai’s reveal both underline the danger of appearances and unexplained gifts.
• Loyalty and care: Qin Lingyu’s worry for Chen contrasts with He Huahai’s resentment toward the Silver Fairy.

Plot points

• After Silver Fairy orders Chen Lin to remain on the summit, he grips the Straw Button given to him by the little girl. The mountain collapses, and Silver Immortal City begins sinking as black demonic qi pours from the ground.
• The city is trapped behind an invisible barrier. Cultivators panic and flee, but cannot escape. The ghost face manipulates them into blaming Silver Fairy, and He Huahai urges them to beg her to submit.
• The ghost face infects the crowd with black qi, turning them into weapons against Silver Fairy. She reveals that the supposed divine being is an alien creature that treats humans as livestock.
• Yu Linglong reports that the mission is complete: the altar has been destroyed. Silver Fairy then produces a rusted sword that appears to be the legendary God-Slaying Sword, prompting the ghost face to retreat.
• When the ghost face cannot escape through the ground, it possesses He Huahai, claiming a physical body will make it immune to the sword. Silver Fairy puts the sword away instead.
• He Huahai struggles against the possession and detonates his Golden Core, triggering a Nascent Soul tribulation. The ghost face realizes Silver Fairy and He Huahai had tricked it into entering a body beneath the tribulation. The first lightning strike destroys it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and follows Silver Fairy’s order, using the Straw Button when the crisis escalates. He observes the battle but does not take a direct role.
• Silver Fairy shifts from seeming cornered to revealing a carefully planned strategy. Her apparent reliance on the sword is a deception designed to lure the ghost face into He Huahai’s body.
• He Huahai appears to betray his master by urging her surrender, but is ultimately revealed to be part of her plan. His resistance to possession and self-sacrifice bring down the enemy.
• The ghost face moves from arrogant manipulation to panic and fury when its altar is destroyed and the trap becomes clear.
• Yu Linglong’s report confirms the crucial success of the mission and signals Silver Fairy’s moment to act.

Significant themes

• Deception and strategy: The apparent God-Slaying Sword is a bluff; the real weapon is the trap built around the ghost face’s fear of heavenly tribulation.
• Power and its limits: The creature’s near-invulnerability is undermined by the natural law of tribulation.
• Fear and self-preservation: The crowd abandons solidarity and turns on Silver Fairy under pressure.
• Resistance to oppression: Silver Fairy frames the supposed divine beings not as protectors, but as enslavers of humanity.

Key plot points and events

• The ghost face is destroyed, lifting the barrier around the city and allowing the heavenly tribulation to clear away the black qi. The surviving cultivators evacuate the ruined city to escape the danger.
• Chen Lin learns that the apparent feuds among Mu Linglong, the Silver Fairy, and He Huahai—and their cold treatment of him—were all part of a plan to lure the ghost face into revealing itself. Lv Yuan was only its possessed puppet.
• He Huahai had deliberately let the ghost face possess him, risking his life to help defeat it. By absorbing its divine origin essence and using the Eight Extremes Purgatory Pill, he has gained a chance to break through to Nascent Soul, though the process has badly damaged his divine soul and made his tribulation exceptionally dangerous.
• He Huahai endures the six-bolt tribulation. He survives the early strikes with the help of treasures, but uses the Two Elements Heaven-Covering Talisman before the final bolt, leaving his prospects uncertain.
• The golden final bolt splits: one part targets He Huahai, while the other unexpectedly turns toward Chen Lin. The Silver Fairy’s Octagonal Glazed Mirror weakens it, but a straw hand summoned by Niuniu pulls Chen Lin away just in time. He Huahai finishes the lightning tribulation, but his fate remains unclear as he faces the perilous inner demon tribulation.
• The Silver Fairy seals the city to prevent interference and looting, promising that buried property will be returned and homes rebuilt. She stays to guard He Huahai during his inner demon trial.
• Back at the Scarecrow Cottage, Niuniu explains that Chen Lin attracts powerful tribulation lightning because he carries rule force foreign to this realm. She says his rule force has weak origin essence and could be strengthened with resources from the Nightmare Realm, though he will need a Road Guide to seek them.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin revises his view of He Huahai, recognizing him as a self-sacrificing and honorable senior brother. He is shaken by the revelation of the elaborate deception and by the near-fatal lightning strike.
• He Huahai is shown to have accepted extreme personal risk for the sake of the plan and his breakthrough. His ordeal earns Chen Lin’s admiration and prompts Mu Linglong and the Silver Fairy to show open concern for him.
• Mu Linglong abandons her former coldness toward He Huahai and anxiously questions his use of the protective talisman.
• The Silver Fairy takes responsibility for protecting both He Huahai and the city, even placing herself in the path of danger. She intervenes to shield Chen Lin with her mirror.
• Niuniu rescues Chen Lin across realm boundaries and reveals that she can sense rule force, as she possesses it herself. Her explanation gives Chen Lin a new understanding of his unusual susceptibility to tribulation lightning.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and hidden loyalty: The apparent betrayals and conflicts conceal a coordinated plan, while He Huahai’s willingness to risk death reflects deep loyalty and courage.
• Life through danger: He Huahai’s breakthrough depends on enduring extraordinary risks, making advancement a literal struggle between survival and death.
• Limits of knowledge and power: Chen Lin repeatedly discovers that his understanding of cultivation—and of his own abilities—is incomplete.
• Consequences of being an outsider: Chen Lin’s foreign rule force makes him vulnerable to the laws of this realm, while also hinting at unusual potential.

Key events

• Chen Lin learns from Niuniu that the tablet High Person Yunhai gave him is a low-grade Road Guide, which lets its holder move freely within a limited area of the Nightmare Realm. Niuniu’s own Road Guide has begun working again, so she invites him to visit her friend Xiaohong.
• Outside Niuniu’s courtyard, Chen Lin discovers a village of strange, varied houses. His real body is being drawn into the Nightmare Realm, and the realm’s aura begins to slow and stiffen him. Niuniu explains that a Xianji Stone can repel the aura; without protection, he would lose himself and become a mindless nightmare creature.
• Niuniu warns that every hut has its own rules and that visitors must not wander carelessly. She identifies the settlement as Guardian Hut Village and brings Chen Lin to the Mushroom Courtyard, whose guardian is Xiaohong.
• Chen Lin discovers that the Xianji Stone can clear nightmare qi around his Storage Bag, allowing him to retrieve items—but anything taken beyond its protective range becomes transformed and unusable.
• Xiaohong prepares mushroom soup and requires visitors to drink a bowl or accept her challenge. After Niuniu confirms the rule, Chen Lin drinks. Xiaohong gives him a mushroom said to make him bigger and stronger, but the soup immediately makes him feel as if he is burning from within.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is cautious and inquisitive, gathering information about the Road Guide, the village, and the realm’s dangers. He relies on Niuniu’s advice, but his attempt to understand the realm’s mechanics also reveals a practical way to retrieve stored items.
• Niuniu remains affectionate and protective, eagerly introducing Chen Lin to Xiaohong while warning him about the village’s rules and the danger of assimilation.
• Xiaohong is hospitable and proud of her cooking, but her cheerful welcome comes with a binding rule. Chen Lin’s hesitation briefly hurts and annoys her; his decision to drink restores her good humor.

Significant themes

• Survival through learning and caution: Chen Lin must understand unfamiliar rules before acting.
• The Nightmare Realm’s dangerous ambiguity: Ordinary objects and actions behave according to strange, specific laws, while even seemingly friendly encounters may carry risks.
• Trust and social bonds: Chen Lin depends on Niuniu’s guidance and maintains goodwill with the realm’s guardians, even when uncertain of their intentions.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin is expelled from the Nightmare Realm after Niuniu tells him the mushroom soup’s poison has been cured and the mushroom is safe to eat. He awakens in a valley with his belongings, though the Xianji Stone is gone and his transformed talisman can no longer draw him into the Nightmare Realm.
• After retreating to a secluded hollow, he discovers that the soup has dramatically advanced his Vajra Body-Refining Art to the peak of its second stage. He is now close to forming a dharmic manifestation and entering the vajra realm. His body has also become stronger, and his Dark Red Lotus Flame has grown far more powerful.
• Chen Lin establishes that he has landed in Qinglong City’s territory and travels to the Silver Immortal City with Luo Qingsong, who has been ordered to help with its reconstruction.
• The city is in ruins, though the City Lord Manor has been restored. The Silver Fairy reports that He Huahai is unconscious after complications from his tribulation, with his survival uncertain.
• Mu Linglong confirms that Chen Lin’s physical entry into and survival of the Nightmare Realm is exceptionally rare; only she and the Silver Fairy know the details. After satisfying her curiosity about his experience, Chen Lin helps organize the ruins.
• Over five days, nearly a thousand people sort the recovered possessions and return them to their owners. Items belonging to cultivators who died after the ghost face took their souls are confiscated. Reconstruction then begins in earnest.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin moves from fear and exhaustion to relief and excitement. The soup’s effects give him a major cultivation breakthrough, renewed confidence, and a potential path toward Golden Core-level power. He remains cautious about the Nightmare Realm and keeps his account vague with Luo Qingsong.
• Luo Qingsong greets Chen Lin formally as his senior brother and follows the Silver Fairy’s order to help rebuild the city. Their teasing exchange shows their friendly familiarity.
• The Silver Fairy stays focused on restoring the city and protecting sensitive information. She tells Chen Lin about He Huahai’s condition but offers little further explanation.
• Mu Linglong is fascinated by Chen Lin’s Nightmare Realm experience and presses him for details. Their relaxed, familiar manner suggests growing closeness.
• He Huahai’s uncertain condition casts a shadow over the city’s recovery.

Significant themes

• Transformation through ordeal: The Nightmare Realm experience leaves Chen Lin physically and spiritually stronger, turning suffering into a breakthrough.
• The limits of understanding: Chen Lin still cannot fully explain the Nightmare Realm’s rules, and knowledge about it must be guarded.
• Power and its costs: He Huahai’s condition shows that extraordinary gains and tribulations can carry severe consequences.
• Recovery and responsibility: The city’s reconstruction brings the survivors together, while the handling of the dead cultivators’ possessions underscores questions of justice and mercy.

Key plot points and events

• Three years after Silver Immortal City’s reconstruction, the city has prospered. Chen Lin’s pills helped draw new residents, but the Silver Fairy’s defeat of a divine being—the “God-Slaying” feat—has made the city famous and inspired hope among cultivators.
• Chen learns more about the divine beings: cultivators who surrender their soul origin essence can form Nascent Souls through “God-Communion,” but become the beings’ slaves. Those who defy them face great danger and are often hunted.
• Chen discovers that a rusty fragment he kept from Guyuan City is part of the broken God-Slaying Sword displayed at the City Lord Manor. He gives it to the Silver Fairy and tells her of possible links to the Gods-and-Devils War and the sword’s missing half on Tianyuan Island. She orders him to keep the matter secret.
• At his shop, Chen learns that Zhou Qingyu, leader of the Ziyuan Sect, has information about Buddha-Ferrying Grass, a rare ingredient needed for Chen’s body-refinement cultivation. Chen visits Zhou, who reveals that several stalks he found were taken from him and asks Chen to help secure justice.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin has become influential but remains respectful and practical. He turns over the sword fragment rather than continuing to investigate it himself, and eagerly pursues the lead on Buddha-Ferrying Grass despite the dangers of the wilderness.
• The Silver Fairy is more trusting of Chen and shares the truth about the divine beings. Her unusual excitement over the fragment suggests the God-Slaying Sword has personal or strategic significance to her; she treats the discovery as highly sensitive.
• Lu Youcai has advanced to Foundation Establishment and proves a capable, diligent aide by tracking down the lead.
• Zhou Qingyu appears deferential but purposeful: he uses Chen’s interest in the herb to bring him in, hoping Chen will intervene over its seizure.

Significant themes

• Defiance and freedom: God-Communion offers power at the cost of servitude, while God-Defying represents a perilous refusal to submit.
• Hope and resistance: The Silver Fairy’s victory challenges the belief that divine beings are invincible.
• Power, secrecy, and risk: The sword fragment may point to a larger ancient conflict, but pursuing its origins could draw dangerous attention.
• Cultivation’s costs: Chen’s search for a breakthrough depends on rare resources and may involve confronting the wilderness or disputes among cultivators.

Plot points and events

• Zhou Qingyu tells Chen Lin that Chihuo Immortal robbed him of Buddha-Ferrying Grass and other treasures outside the city, then threatened to seize his sect’s shop. Chen refuses to intervene in an off-the-books dispute, but points out that the attempted seizure of property inside the city violates the city lord’s rules.
• Chen leaves rather than take Zhou’s side. He later has Lu Youcai let Chihuo know that he needs Buddha-Ferrying Grass. Chihuo responds by sending Chen a box containing at least seven stalks and offering his services.
• The Qin Lineage patriarch visits Chen to deny any intent to seize the Ziyuan Sect’s property and promises to discipline Chihuo. Zhou thanks Chen and offers his daughter, Zhou Shuyi, as a prospective match; Chen firmly rejects the implication that he helped in exchange for her.
• Chen and Mu Linglong visit their unconscious senior brother, He Huahai. Though he appears lifeless, the Silver Fairy believes a trace of life remains. Mu plans to seek a remedy in the Southern Immortal Cultivation World, and Chen asks her to check on several of his acquaintances there, including Zhao Mengru and Luo Qinglan.
• When Mu departs and the Silver Fairy enters seclusion, Chen takes on much of their administrative work. He brings Luo Qingsong back to help, and support from the Qin Lineage and another allied golden-core lineage helps stabilize city affairs. Two years pass.
• Tian Haifu informs Chen that Sarira Fruit—another ingredient for Three-Treasure Buddha Dew—may be found at the Demon-Suppressing Temple in Black Horn City. Unwilling to investigate the temple himself, Chen posts a mission offering a Seven-Star Pill as payment. He also gathers five portions of high-grade flood dragon souls and prepares to synthesize the Azure Flood Dragon Halberd.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen remains cautious and pragmatic. He refuses to risk himself over Zhou’s grievance, but uses his influence to make Chihuo provide the grass he wants and to secure a formal pledge from the Qin patriarch. He sees power, rather than appeals to fairness, as the real safeguard in the cultivation world.
• Zhou is frustrated by the lack of justice for a small sect, but grateful for Chen’s intervention; his gratitude turns into an attempt to arrange a match with his daughter, which Chen rejects.
• Mu Linglong entrusts Chen with greater responsibilities and later departs to seek help for He Huahai. Their exchange also reveals Chen’s concern for old acquaintances, while Mu teases him about how many of them are women.
• Chen relies increasingly on capable allies—especially Luo Qingsong and the allied lineages—to manage his duties without abandoning his cultivation.

Significant themes

• Power over justice: Rules offer some protection within the city, but outsiders and weaker factions remain vulnerable to those with greater strength and connections.
• Pragmatism and risk: Chen avoids dangerous personal investigations and favors wealth, influence, and delegation as safer means to obtain what he needs.
• Responsibility and restraint: Chen accepts administrative burdens and shows concern for others, yet avoids romantic commitments he believes would create obligations he cannot safely fulfill.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin enters seclusion to forge the Azure Flood Dragon Halberd, using five sets of rare materials and demon souls. All five attempts fail, despite his confidence and his talent ability working normally.
• Suspecting the forging method Xu Ruolan gave him is false, Chen Lin takes it to Artifact Forging Master Fu Chongshan for examination.
• Fu discovers the scroll is actually an inheritance for crafting a Pseudo Spirit Treasure, not an ordinary spiritual tool. Its seal contains a strand of spiritual charm, essential for giving the imitation genuine spirituality.
• The method requires upgraded materials and, ideally, a fourth-rank flood dragon soul—far beyond Chen Lin’s current reach. Fu offers to help gather materials and asks to be entrusted with the eventual forging, hoping it will help him become an Artifact Forging Grandmaster. Chen Lin agrees and asks him to keep the inheritance secret.
• Days later, while exchanging cultivation insights with Qin Lingyu, Chen Lin receives word that a monk from the Demon-Suppressing Temple has come to see him. He meets the monk, Xuanzhi, and invites him to speak privately.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin shifts from anger and disappointment over his failed forging to recognizing that he accidentally possesses a rare, valuable inheritance. He remains pragmatic: the treasure is currently beyond his ability to make or use, but he has no intention of selling it.
• Fu Chongshan first mocks Chen Lin’s explanation, then becomes fascinated by the scroll and reveals his expertise. He is ambitious but offers practical help in return for the chance to forge the treasure later.
• Xu Ruolan, though absent, is blamed by Chen Lin for giving him what he believes is a fraudulent method; the scroll’s true nature complicates that assumption.
• Qin Lingyu is with Chen Lin during their routine exchange of cultivation insights when the new visitor interrupts.
• Xuanzhi approaches Chen Lin politely but requests privacy, leaving the reason for his visit unresolved.

Significant themes

• Misunderstanding and hidden value: What seems to be a worthless or fraudulent technique proves to be an exceptionally rare inheritance.
• Limits of power and resources: Even a wealthy Foundation Establishment cultivator cannot easily obtain the materials or cultivation needed for a Pseudo Spirit Treasure.
• Patience and long-term ambition: Chen Lin accepts that the inheritance is a future opportunity rather than something he can exploit immediately.
• Trust and secrecy: Chen Lin and Fu form a practical understanding, while the monk’s unexplained visit introduces uncertainty about Chen Lin’s past or current affairs.

Key plot points

• Master Xuanzhi visits Chen Lin and gives him two sarira fruits, asking only that Chen withdraw his commission seeking them. He later also gives Chen a bottle of three-color glazed liquid.
• Xuanzhi questions Chen about his Buddhist cultivation. Chen admits to practicing a Buddhist Body-Refining Technique but keeps its origins private. Xuanzhi reveals that the Demon-Suppressing Temple may be the Starry Continent’s only source of Buddhist inheritance.
• Xuanzhi asks Chen to help the temple once he reaches the Vajra Realm, claiming only a cultivator at that level can drive out the evil demon afflicting them. He offers buddha-ferrying grass as well, but cannot disclose the full situation.
• Xuanzhi briefly manifests demonic corruption—black lines and an evil aura—then suppresses it with Buddhist power. He admits that everyone in the temple, including himself, has been tainted and may not have much time left. He warns Chen not to act rashly and returns to the temple.
• Xuanzhi leaves the young monk Yuan Zhen behind to await news of Chen’s breakthrough. Chen decides to observe the temple for now, partly because the mystery may connect to a Buddha statue bearing his face from a previous life.
• Chen prepares the Three-Treasure Buddha Dew, then begins advancing his Body-Refining Technique. To his shock, the breakthrough triggers a heavenly tribulation. The first lightning bolt pierces his cave and strikes him before he is prepared.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and pragmatic: he accepts the valuable gifts but refuses to trust Xuanzhi’s account without evidence. He weighs helping the temple against the danger of being manipulated by a demon.
• Xuanzhi is revealed as a desperate, partially corrupted monk who is still able to suppress the demon’s influence. His gifts are an appeal for help, not simply generosity.
• Chen and Xuanzhi converse politely but warily. Xuanzhi probes Chen’s Buddhist background; Chen conceals what he can while pressing for an explanation of the temple’s crisis.
• Yuan Zhen stays behind as the temple’s messenger, and Chen allows him to wait in the shop’s back courtyard.

Significant themes

• Trust and manipulation: Chen suspects demonic deception even as Xuanzhi appears sincere.
• Duty and desperation: Xuanzhi seeks aid for his temple despite being unable to reveal its secret.
• Uncertainty and hidden connections: The temple’s demon may be linked to Chen’s past-life statue.
• Unanticipated peril: Chen’s carefully planned breakthrough becomes dangerous when it unexpectedly brings a tribulation.

Key plot points

• Chen Lin endures the three strikes of a golden-core tribulation. Using the Silver Fairy’s Tribulation Avoidance Talisman against the final strike, he completes his bodily transformation and condenses a prototype dharmic manifestation.
• Just as the tribulation ends, the black Buddha statue bearing his former-life face emerges from his Storage Bag and tries to draw out both his soul and dharmic manifestation. Too weak to resist, Chen prepares to split his soul.
• A fourth, golden bolt descends. Chen recognizes the danger and sends part of his soul, fused with his dharmic manifestation, toward the statue. The bolt destroys the statue and the black force within it, but also devastates the cave abode. Chen survives, though he loses a third of his soul and his dharmic manifestation.
• After waking from several days of unconsciousness and recovering for weeks, Chen learns the statue’s destruction has not ended the wider mystery. Elsewhere, a withered monk examines a badly cracked black bead and submerges it in liquid.
• Chen meets Master Xuanzhi, explaining that his injuries prevent him from keeping his promise. Xuanzhi reveals that the monks of his temple are all afflicted by demonic beasts and need their Temple-Suppressing Treasure, which requires a wielder in the vajra realm. As Xuanzhi speaks, black qi briefly rises around him before abruptly disappearing, leaving him stunned.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin survives through quick thinking and resolve, but pays a serious price: his soul’s origin is damaged, likely making full recovery difficult. He is now especially wary of the Demon-Suppressing Temple’s demonic threat.
• Qin Lingyu anxiously watches Chen’s tribulation and later nurses him. She is fiercely protective, even wanting to kill Xuanzhi for repeatedly asking after Chen, but follows Chen’s instructions and brings the monk to meet him.
• Master Xuanzhi appears increasingly frail and desperate. Though Chen cannot help him yet, Xuanzhi finally confesses the scale of his temple’s crisis; his sudden black qi suggests his own affliction may be worsening or changing.
• The Silver Fairy does not appear during the tribulation, but the talisman she gave Chen helps him survive its final ordinary strike.

Significant themes

• Survival through sacrifice and improvisation: Chen’s survival depends on acting decisively when preparation and strength fail him.
• The cost of advancement: His breakthrough is immediately followed by a near-fatal attack and lasting spiritual damage.
• Fate and hidden forces: The unexpected fourth bolt, tied to Chen’s transmigrator identity, suggests that his past and heavenly tribulations are connected to forces beyond his understanding.
• Unresolved corruption: The Buddha statue is destroyed, but the cracked bead and Xuanzhi’s brief manifestation of black qi imply that the danger persists elsewhere.

Plot points and events

• Master Xuanzhi’s demonic thoughts and the monks’ demonization vanish without explanation. Chen Lin suspects this is connected to the destruction of the Buddha statue resembling his past-life face, but cannot confirm it.
• After a year of recovery from heavenly-tribulation injuries, Chen Lin restores his body to the Vajra Realm and advances to the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment. His soul injuries also nearly heal, aided by a Black Bead, but his soul origin essence remains damaged.
• This damage threatens his entire cultivation path: without a complete soul, he cannot form a Golden Core, and his body-tempering progress and dharmic manifestation are also impaired. Neither Chen Lin nor the Silver Fairy knows how to fix it.
• Chen Lin helps Luo Qingsong obtain a Three-Stripe Seven-Star Pill on credit, giving the aging Foundation Establishment cultivator a better chance at Core Formation. A newly built Tribulation Platform offers additional support to cultivators facing heavenly tribulations.
• The Silver Fairy returns after secretly recovering the broken tip of the God-Slaying Sword. She gives Chen Lin the Azure Flood Dragon Halberd inheritance and a peak third-rank flood-dragon soul so he can refine a powerful Pseudo Spirit Treasure.
• She directs him to a secluded family in the Southern Immortal Cultivation World, reputedly skilled in soul arts, to seek a cure. She also asks him to search for his missing senior sister.
• Chen Lin visits Tian Haifu in Xuanguan Immortal City, then leaves alone for the Southern region. During the cross-region teleportation, the formation is sabotaged at the far end, interrupting the passage and leaving the travelers’ fate uncertain.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin regains much of his strength but becomes increasingly distressed by the threat to his Dao. The Silver Fairy’s concern and practical help give him a concrete next step.
• The Silver Fairy shows care for Chen Lin through her gifts and guidance, while continuing her own efforts to restore the God-Slaying Sword.
• Luo Qingsong, nearing two centuries of age, is eager to risk Core Formation rather than lose his chance. He gratefully accepts the pill and the preferential treatment Chen Lin arranged.
• Tian Haifu is devoted to Chen Lin and has made carrying the Bloodline Soul Seal a family tradition. Chen Lin feels uneasy about binding his descendants to service but does not press the issue.

Significant themes

• The limits of cultivation: Physical recovery and higher cultivation do not solve the deeper obstacle of a damaged soul.
• Perseverance and uncertainty: Chen Lin refuses to accept a life cut short below Golden Core, despite having no clear remedy.
• Loyalty and care: The Silver Fairy’s support, Luo Qingsong’s trust, and Tian Haifu’s devotion shape Chen Lin’s choices.
• Dangerous transitions: The sabotaged teleportation turns Chen Lin’s search for a cure into an immediate crisis.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin survives a catastrophic Space Passage collapse, but lands badly injured in an unknown, barren region. After hiding and healing for three days, he spots a nearby village and goes to investigate.
• The village appears ordinary, yet its residents give it different names—Stone Statue Village, Ancient Bridge Village, and Little Willow Village—and seem unusually eager to avoid him.
• At the village’s edge, Chen Lin meets Luo Ziwen, another cultivator who was transported from Xuanguan Immortal City. Luo says he has been trapped there for three days.
• Chen Lin flies in every direction but repeatedly ends up back above the village, confirming that the area is spatially distorted or enclosed.
• Luo explains that each house is its own isolated space, with a name that reflects what lies inside. He nearly died exploring “Elm Tree Village,” filled with elm-tree spirits, and “Tofu Village,” where he had to obtain tofu to escape.
• Chen Lin recognizes similarities to rule-bound spaces he has encountered before, though he senses no connection to the Nightmare Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains wary despite the village’s peaceful appearance. After learning he cannot leave and that the houses may be dangerous, he restrains his impulse to explore blindly and questions Luo carefully. He is also furious with Xuanguan Immortal City for the failed teleportation.
• Luo Ziwen, an Early Golden Core cultivator, warns Chen Lin about the village and shares what he has learned. He hopes Chen Lin will find a way out and take him along.
• The villagers’ brief, evasive encounters with Chen Lin heighten his suspicion; their conflicting answers suggest the village’s strangeness is more than a simple naming custom.

Significant themes

• Deceptive normality: The village looks like an ordinary rural settlement, but its familiar appearance hides a dangerous supernatural structure.
• Spatial mystery and rule-based danger: Each house contains an independent space governed by its own conditions, making survival depend on understanding rules rather than relying on strength.
• Caution and hard-won experience: Chen Lin’s past dangers make him alert to hidden threats and reluctant to act without information.
• Unfair misfortune and accountability: Chen Lin sees the teleportation accident as a serious failure by Xuanguan Immortal City and vows to seek answers if he escapes.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin refuses to enter the village’s wooden houses with Luo Ziwen, choosing instead to observe from outside. Luo Ziwen—eager despite having reportedly faced danger there before—puts on a bamboo hat and enters a house alone.
• Chen Lin watches through the night but sees nothing unusual. At dawn, the silent village abruptly becomes lively, with villagers going about ordinary routines. Luo Ziwen never emerges from the house.
• Chen Lin questions a woman living in the house where he had met an old man the previous day. She says she married into Ancient Bridge Village from Elm Tree Village and mentions a legend that an ancient bridge once led outside.
• The woman’s husband accuses Chen Lin of seducing her and attacks him with a club. Chen Lin easily disarms him and leaves, unsettled by how ordinary the couple seem.
• After confirming that the surrounding area has no exit, Chen Lin incapacitates the couple, searches their home with his Crow Puppet, and finds nothing unusual. He then takes them outside the village and questions them.
• The woman identifies the old man as her father-in-law—but says he died more than ten years ago. The husband gives essentially the same account. Chen Lin also finds that other villagers have fragmented, repetitive memories.
• Chen Lin observes that everyone repeats the same actions in fixed places, seemingly unaware of one another. They react only briefly when he interferes, then resume their routines. He suspects the villagers may be dead people temporarily restored to repeat the moments before their deaths.
• As night approaches, Chen Lin again takes the couple to the hill and waits, intending to continue his experiments.

Character developments

• Chen Lin remains cautious and skeptical of Luo Ziwen’s claims. Rather than risk entering a house, he investigates systematically, testing the villagers and their environment. His discoveries deepen his suspicion but leave him uncertain about what powers the village.
• Luo Ziwen appears bold and driven to explore, but his disappearance after entering the house raises questions about his fate and whether he concealed important information.
• The villagers initially appear ordinary, but their limited memories and repetitive behavior suggest they may be supernatural beings or manifestations rather than living people.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin declines Luo Ziwen’s invitation but allows him to investigate alone, intending to observe from a safe distance.
• The woman is curious about Chen Lin and flirtatious; her husband responds with jealousy and aggression. Chen Lin effortlessly stops his attack.
• Chen Lin interrogates the couple outside the village, frightening them into describing the dead old man. Their matching accounts support his suspicions but do not explain the village’s nature.
• Chen Lin later tests how villagers respond to being moved, finding that even direct interference barely disrupts their repetitive routines.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The village looks like an ordinary community by day, yet its residents may be manifestations of the dead.
• Uncertainty and cautious investigation: Chen Lin treats all information as provisional, relying on observation and experiments in a place where mistakes could be fatal.
• Repetition and suspended lives: The villagers appear trapped in fixed scenes, repeating familiar actions without meaningful awareness or change.
• The limits of knowledge: Chen Lin develops a plausible theory but cannot confirm it—or explain what force is responsible.

Plot

• At night, the villagers and the puppets Chen Lin sends into their houses vanish from the outside world. After several days without answers, he enters the plump woman’s courtyard himself, protected by his transformation, weapons, and puppets.
• Inside, he finds a ruined village filled with sinister, ghostlike versions of the villagers, whose bodies bear the wounds of their deaths. The sickly man attacks first; the old man follows, wielding a pipe powerful enough to disable Chen Lin’s Red Fire Sword. Chen Lin drives them off with the Azure Flood Dragon Halberd, but its use consumes much of his limited energy.
• The dead villagers repeatedly revive after ordinary attacks. Chen Lin discovers that his Soul-Destroying Finger permanently erases them, while his puppets can restrain them. He eventually clears the enclosed ruins of every ghost except the plump woman.
• The woman murmurs that she only wanted to see the outside world and insists she did nothing wrong. She fades away, leaving behind a wooden hairpin. When Chen Lin takes it, an ancient stone bridge appears. The hairpin lets him pass through the barrier at the bridge’s far end.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin moves from cautious observation to direct investigation, carefully testing the space rather than blindly fighting. He feels briefly guilty after killing the sickly man, but recognizes the villagers’ supernatural nature when the old man attacks.
• He adapts as he learns: thunder can cleanse the Red Fire Sword’s foul contamination, puppets can contain the ghosts, and the Soul-Destroying Finger can prevent their regeneration. He remains wary of provoking unknown effects.
• The plump woman stands apart from the other ghosts. Her final words suggest a tragic past, and her hairpin becomes the key to escaping the sealed space.

Themes

• Appearances and hidden realities: Ordinary villagers outside become dangerous, mutilated spirits within.
• Persistence and true death: Physical destruction is temporary, while the Soul-Destroying Finger offers a lasting solution.
• Confinement and longing for freedom: The ruined village is sealed off, and the woman’s wish to see the outside world echoes Chen Lin’s search for escape.
• Careful adaptation: Chen Lin survives by observing the rules of an unfamiliar environment and using his abilities strategically.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin emerges from the Ancient Bridge into a lively street in Ferry Town. Though the town initially seems ordinary, a local scholar recognizes Ancient Bridge Village, making Chen suspect he is still trapped in the supernatural realm rather than back in the real world.
• He reunites with Luo Ziwen, who is already settled in a tavern. Luo explains that Ferry Town appears to be a place where souls are ferried, perhaps the Netherworld—or a relic resembling it.
• Luo says the town is sealed off except for a ferry landing. A boat arrives once a month and takes one person away, though neither man knows where it goes or how to choose who boards.
• Chen learns that the houses in the earlier village vary in difficulty. Luo needed three attempts to discover their rules, while Chen escaped after exploring just one house. Chen leaves to investigate the town for himself.

Character developments

• Chen Lin remains cautious and skeptical, checking whether the townspeople are real and avoiding the tavern food. He is alarmed by the possibility that he has entered the Netherworld and carefully weighs how much to trust Luo.
• Luo Ziwen appears confident and knowledgeable, but his information is incomplete. He praises Chen’s quick escape from the village and claims he could not warn him because he had not yet confirmed the houses’ rules.

Significant themes

• Reality and illusion: The town looks convincingly alive, but Chen cannot tell whether it is genuine or another stage of the strange domain.
• Uncertainty and survival: The characters must make decisions with limited knowledge, including whether to trust the setting, its inhabitants, and one another.
• Unequal paths through danger: Different houses impose different levels of difficulty, and survival depends on discovering their hidden rules.

Character interactions

• Chen questions a scholar about the town and learns that Ancient Bridge Village is known locally, deepening his suspicion that he has not escaped.
• Over food and wine, Chen presses Luo for information. Luo answers and praises Chen, while Chen gently challenges him for not sharing what he knew earlier.
• Their conversation remains polite but guarded: Chen needs Luo’s knowledge, yet recognizes that they are not close and Luo may be withholding information.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin investigates Ferry Town and confirms that its surrounding space is sealed. A vast, ink-black river borders the town, and a ferry is said to appear once a month.
• Luo Ziwen warns him that the town’s inhabitants become violent ghostly creatures at night, drawn irresistibly to the aura of the living.
• Luo reveals that the town is not a Netherworld realm but the interior of a replica of the Yellow Springs Scroll, a powerful, single-use pseudo-spirit treasure deployed against him. The disrupted teleportation trapped Chen Lin in the attack as collateral.
• The ferry is the treasure’s ultimate threat: once it appears, even ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators may be unable to resist it. They must escape before then by finding and breaking the space’s node.
• Luo, who is actually in the late Golden Core realm, suspects the node is carried by one of the ghostly creatures. He proposes that they kill the town’s inhabitants fast enough to exhaust the space’s yin qi and prevent them from reviving.
• As night falls, the townspeople transform into hideous, powerful ghosts. They swarm the two cultivators, and Chen Lin immediately destroys a Golden Core-level ghost with a single finger, demonstrating an unexpectedly effective ability.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin shifts from investigating the town to confronting the urgency of their predicament. Though frustrated to be caught in Luo’s attack, he recognizes that cooperation is essential and agrees to use all his methods.
• Luo Ziwen moves from apparent calm to urgency as he explains the true nature of the trap. He admits to concealing his late Golden Core cultivation and asks Chen for help, promising compensation if they escape.
• The two establish a pragmatic alliance, exchanging information and preparing to fight together. Chen remains wary of Luo’s role in the disaster, but sees no practical alternative.

Significant themes

• Trust under pressure: Chen and Luo must cooperate despite unequal knowledge and Luo’s responsibility for Chen being caught in the trap.
• Escalating danger and limited time: The nightly transformations and approaching ferry create a strict deadline.
• Appearances versus reality: A seemingly ordinary town is revealed as a lethal magical construct designed to distract and delay its captives.
• Hidden strength and uncertain power: Luo’s concealed cultivation and Chen’s effortless destruction of a powerful ghost suggest that both men may have more to reveal.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin and the cultivator calling himself Luo Ziwen fight through a town full of ghostly creatures. Chen Lin uses his Soul-Destroying Finger against the stronger enemies, while Luo Ziwen fights with a powerful Golden Saber. Repeated attacks eventually destroy the ghosts permanently.
• As the night wears on, they eliminate all but three powerful creatures. The remaining Scholar—whom Chen Lin had encountered earlier—has stayed apart from the fighting and seems suspiciously unchanged.
• The Scholar reveals himself as Gu Shengjin, a split soul fused into a Pseudo Spirit Treasure. He addresses Luo Ziwen as Jin Xingyun, exposing that his companion has been using a false name.
• Gu reveals that Jin carries a Weeping Blood Ginseng, a life-extending herb coveted because Jin’s uncle is nearing the end of his lifespan. Jin suspects a traitor has disclosed his secret.
• Battle erupts. Gu’s red crescent mark lets him resist soul attacks, so Chen Lin deploys nine puppets in the Nine Origins Immortal-Slaying Formation to distract him while Jin presses the attack.
• As Gu begins to fade, Jin strikes him with a blood-fueled Golden Saber, and Chen Lin finishes him with stored tribulation lightning. Gu dissolves, revealing a hidden point of light—the likely exit from the Yellow Springs Scroll.
• A terrifying aura approaches from the ferry landing. Jin opens the point of light into a rift, and he and Chen Lin escape through it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains wary of Jin despite their cooperation, conserving his soul power in case he is abandoned. He adapts by switching between techniques and ultimately uses his stored lightning as a decisive counterattack.
• Jin Xingyun reveals himself to be a powerful and determined fighter, but also a secretive ally. His concern for his uncle and his anger at Gu’s attack on his family drive the confrontation.
• Gu Shengjin is revealed as the mastermind behind the ghostly Scholar. His calm taunting gives way to a desperate attempt to escape when the two allies gain the advantage.
• Chen and Jin coordinate effectively under pressure: Jin holds Gu’s attention, while Chen’s puppets and lightning support his attacks.

Significant themes

• Trust and deception: Jin’s false identity and Gu’s knowledge of his secret expose how uncertain alliances and hidden betrayals shape the danger.
• The cost of survival: Chen carefully manages his limited soul power, while Jin sacrifices blood and strength to wield his saber at full force.
• Life, death, and defying fate: Gu invokes the Heavenly Dao to argue against extending Jin’s uncle’s life, while the Weeping Blood Ginseng represents the desire to resist mortality.
• Resourcefulness and teamwork: The escape depends not on strength alone but on combining distinct abilities at the right moment.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin escapes the Yellow Springs Scroll’s space with Jin Xingyun. Jin explains that the imitation scroll was single-use and has now collapsed, meaning they truly escaped. Jin’s enemy, Gu Shengjin, lost both the treasure and a split soul.
• Jin leaves for Golden Light Island, expecting Gu’s pursuit; Chen heads in another direction and reaches Tianfu Immortal City in the Southern Immortal Cultivation World.
• Chen has suffered major losses: all nine formation puppets and their spiritual tools were left behind. His only gain from the ordeal is a seemingly ordinary wooden hairpin, which he suspects has hidden significance.
• After gathering information and replacing some materials, Chen travels by teleportation formations for a year to Tianyun Immortal City, taking time to learn about the region along the way.
• In Tianyun, he visits Dantai Yunjin, now a prominent elder whose cultivation has reached the Golden Core middle stage. He also reunites with Luan An.
• Chen immediately asks about Zhao Mengru. Dantai confirms that Zhao escaped the Ghostly Domain and reached the city with her, but says she is no longer there.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and resourceful, keeping a low profile despite having entered the vajra realm and gained strength comparable to a Golden Core cultivator. He focuses on rebuilding his combat resources and verifying the fate of those he cares about.
• Jin Xingyun is badly weakened physically but exhilarated by his escape and Gu’s losses. He reveals his true name after previously using an alias and offers Chen a place to seek help.
• Dantai Yunjin warmly welcomes Chen, showing the respect and affection their past association has earned.
• Luan An greets Chen as his benefactor; their reunion is cordial and reflects the lasting bond formed in the Ghostly Domain.
• Chen’s concern for Zhao Mengru reveals how few people he considers close and how deeply he values their safety.

Significant themes

• Survival and consequences: Escape comes at a steep cost, leaving Chen to rebuild his strength.
• Caution and hidden power: Chen conceals his capabilities, while the ordinary-looking hairpin may conceal a mystery.
• Loyalty and concern: Chen’s first priority upon reunion is learning whether Zhao survived.
• A broader, safer world: The prosperous Southern Immortal Cultivation World contrasts with the north, though danger from powerful factions remains.