Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin and the remaining brides reached a scarlet estate, where the Faceless Man began a second selection by ordering them to cross a skull-burning brazier. Chen Lin survived by flying over the flames, caught the baby groom’s favor, and received a reward as the selection continued.

• The bridal sedan carried Chen Lin and four other surviving brides to an isolated scarlet estate surrounded by barren wilderness and ghostly creatures.
• The Faceless Man announced that the brides had to cross a brazier of deathly white flames, and the First Bride, Beauty Luo, cleared it using a flash of light.
• Beauty Huang, the nervous bride, walked into the brazier and burned to ashes after failing to find her way across.
• The Faceless Man called for Beauty Chen, and Chen Lin realized the name referred to him and flew over the brazier on energy wings.
• The baby on the tray praised Chen Lin’s wings, and the Faceless Man ordered a golden-haired monster to reward him with a golden box containing a Blood-Red Gem.

Chen Lin passed the second bridal selection and used his Destiny ability to choose a box safely in the third. He was sent to the bridal chamber with an unopened treasure box, where he began inspecting it beneath his veil.

• The Plump Bride crossed the brazier, and the Petite Bride struck the Baby King, who regenerated and rewarded her with a ruby.
• The Faceless Man began the drawing-prizes selection, and Chen Lin repaired a break in his Destiny Line so he could choose safely.
• The Petite Bride opened a box and was attacked by a black monster, but her ruby destroyed it.
• Chen Lin chose and opened a box, passed the selection, and was escorted to the bridal chamber.
• A Faceless Man warned Chen Lin not to lift his veil and left him with his treasure box, which Chen Lin began examining beneath the veil.

Chen Lin received the title of Consort Chen and a powerful infusion that strengthened his soul, then tried to avoid being sent alone to the bridal chamber. He forced the attendants to bring Beauty Yun with him and discovered that she was Yun Xiumian.

• Chen Lin tested the Emerald Bracelet but could not activate its power without a specialized refining art.
• The Baby King held an investiture, naming Chen Lin Consort Chen and granting him Source Soul Infusion, which advanced his soul toward the Golden Soul state.
• The Baby King titled Beauty Luo a Noble Lady, Beauty Hu a Talented Lady, and Beauty Yun a Pleasing Lady, giving each a reward.
• As the brides were sent to separate chambers, Chen Lin ordered Beauty Yun to accompany him, claiming the Baby King did not favor her.
• Chen Lin demanded that Beauty Yun remove her veil, and he recognized her as Yun Xiumian.

Chen Lin suspected that Yun Yiren was a Nightmare Realm projection of Yun Xiumian and tried to learn more about the realm before the Xuanyin Great King banished him to the Cold Palace. He arrived there and found Meng Po, whose name deepened his suspicions about a connection to the Xuanyin Patriarch's Yellow Springs Scroll.

• Chen Lin privately told Yun Yiren that he was Chen Lin, but she did not recognize him and explained her origins in Elm Tree Village and Ancient Bridge Village.
• Chen Lin examined Yun Yiren's wooden hairpin, found traces of nightmare qi, and suspected she was a projection of Yun Xiumian; she gave him the hairpin as a gift.
• The Xuanyin Great King arrived, stripped Chen Lin of his consort rank, and ordered him banished to the Cold Palace.
• White-Haired Monsters dragged Chen Lin to a dilapidated building, where a Faceless Man handed him over to Meng Po for punishment.
• Chen Lin recognized the name Meng Po and wondered whether the realm had been projected from the Xuanyin Patriarch's Yellow Springs Scroll.

Chen Lin paid Meng Po to secure a clean cell and a bowl of Mengpo Soup in the Cold Palace, where abandoned consorts endured brutal confinement. After seeing how dangerous escape seemed and learning the soup was affordable, he began considering how to survive until he could find a way out.

• Chen Lin gave Meng Po five Nightmare Coins, and she led him down into the Cold Palace while he used his golden soul power to withstand the intense yin cold qi.
• Chen Lin saw Consort Xu trapped in a cell, begging for soup and suffering Meng Po’s whip when she cursed her captor.
• Chen Lin passed a veiled woman who paid one Nightmare Coin for a bowl of Mengpo Soup and drank it.
• Meng Po gave Chen Lin a clean cell, fresh bedding, and a bowl of soup, then told him she would return once a day.
• A disheveled prisoner in the opposite cell asked Chen Lin whether he would sell his Mengpo Soup.

Chen Lin discovered that another cultivator had entered the Cold Palace in her physical body and, as deaths among the consorts mounted, sought a way to escape. A veiled cultivator contacted him and began teaching him a soul secret art for voice transmission.

• A disheveled consort offered Chen Lin a spirit crystal for Mengpo Soup, but he refused to trade and later realized she was an outsider cultivator.
• Lineage Patriarch Ye kept watch over Chen Lin, ordered Ye Zhengming to help Ye Luo stabilize her cultivation, and continued searching for the Immortal Sword as powerful cultivators arrived in Baishuang City.
• Chen Lin watched Consort Xu and two other consorts die, with their corpses swallowed by a stone statue or otherwise removed, and grew increasingly worried about his own fate.
• A veiled woman from the room diagonally across from Chen Lin recognized that he was a cultivator in projection form and offered to teach him a soul secret art for voice transmission.

Chen Lin mastered a secret art for discreet long-distance soul messages and learned from the Veiled Woman that they were trapped in the Yellow Springs Scroll, a true spirit tier Spirit Treasure inside the Nightmare Realm. He discovered that Dao Monarch Xuanyinzi had fled there after a failed attempt to reach the Dao Hearing Realm and become bound to the Nightmare Realm.

• Chen Lin learned the Veiled Woman's soul-message secret art and exchanged information with her about their origins and how they entered the Nightmare Realm.
• Meng Po inspected the cells, and Chen Lin bought a bowl of Mengpo Soup while the Veiled Woman did the same.
• After Meng Po left, Chen Lin gave his spare bowl of soup to the injured woman across from him, who thanked him and promised to repay him.
• The Veiled Woman asked about Chen Lin's golden soul power, then identified their prison as the inner space of Dao Monarch Xuanyinzi's Yellow Springs Scroll.
• The Veiled Woman explained that Xuanyinzi had fled into the Nightmare Realm after failing to reach the Dao Hearing Realm, but its rules had trapped him and he had merged with it.

Chen Lin learned that the Cold Palace was inside the nightmare-transformed Yellow Springs Scroll, while the Veiled Woman planned to use his golden soul power to escape. The Xuanyin Great King arrived to punish Lan Mengqiu, whose escape attempt wounded the Ceremonial Faceless Man before a mysterious arrow pierced Meng Po.

• Chen Lin learned from the Veiled Woman that the Yellow Springs Vortex drew people into the Yellow Springs Scroll and turned them into potential brides of Dao Monarch Xuanyinzi.
• Chen Lin questioned the female cultivator across from him, confirmed she had been pulled inside by accident, and spent the following days searching for another way out while the Veiled Woman stayed silent.
• Meng Po arrived with the Ceremonial Faceless Man carrying the baby Xuanyin Great King, who sentenced Lan Mengqiu to Soul-Splitting Punishment.
• Lan Mengqiu escaped her cell as blue light and pierced the Ceremonial Faceless Man, but the Xuanyin Great King struck her down.
• As Meng Po moved to take the tray, a black-snake-like arrow pierced her despite her attempts to evade it.

Chen Lin escaped the Cold Palace with the Veiled Woman and the other consorts after she attacked Meng Po and freed the prisoners. Guided by White Dove, he headed for Spirit Peak, where he hoped to escape the Yellow Springs Scroll through a space rift, but terrifying energy fluctuations awaited him near the summit.

• The Veiled Woman shot Meng Po and freed Chen Lin and the other prisoners, while the Faceless Man used the golden tray to hold off Baby King.
• The Veiled Woman led Chen Lin to the stone door, where Chen Lin destroyed one statue with Soul-Destroying Finger and the unconscious Alluring Young Matron destroyed the other.
• The Veiled Woman fled toward Spirit Peak and told the consorts to split up; Chen Lin rescued White Dove and escaped the courtyard as Xuanyin Great King broke free and pursued the Veiled Woman.
• White Dove told Chen Lin that Spirit Peak held space rifts leading to the Reality Realm and that Nightmare Realm creatures were suppressed there, so Chen Lin took her along.
• Chen Lin flew toward Spirit Peak, killing monsters with Soul-Destroying Finger, and felt terrifying energy fluctuations near the summit.

Chen Lin and the young female cultivator entered a hidden passage inside Spirit Peak to escape the battle at the summit, where they encountered and captured a fire essence. The girl revealed that spiritual qi had returned in the passage and realized Chen Lin was only a projection.

• The young female cultivator told Chen Lin that she sought fire essence to cure her father and that an ancient record placed a passage near three unusual boulders at the mountain's base.
• Chen Lin trusted her oath, and they searched the mountain's foot until an explosion exposed the three boulders as the passage entrance.
• After the Veiled Woman screamed in pain at the summit, Chen Lin took the girl into the passage and climbed upward through its increasingly hot flames.
• A powerful fire essence attacked Chen Lin, but he weakened it with Soul-Destroying Finger strikes while the girl trapped it in a silver net and sealed it with a Spirit-Receiving Talisman.
• The girl sensed spiritual qi and nightmare qi in the passage, then asked Chen Lin whether he had entered as a projection.

Chen Lin reached the summit with the young cultivator after battling two fire essences, and the Veiled Woman helped them survive. He learned that the Xuanyin Great King had left temporarily and that the group was waiting for an unpredictable space rift to escape, but the young cultivator then offered information about his unanswered question.

• Chen Lin gave the young cultivator the first captured fire essence, then used his remaining golden soul power to protect her when two more attacked.
• A black streak from above destroyed Chen Lin's attacker, and he helped the young cultivator trap and capture the other fire essence before she fainted.
• Chen Lin carried the young cultivator to the summit, where he found the Veiled Woman, the Blue Queen, and two recovered Spirit Transformation women.
• The Veiled Woman explained that the Xuanyin Great King had left to rest after his strength weakened and that they were waiting for a dangerous, unpredictable space rift to escape.
• Chen Lin failed to learn what would happen if he entered the Reality Realm in a projection state, but the young cultivator woke and said she knew about it.

Chen Lin learned that projections trapped in the Nightmare Realm could survive a space rift by entering another scenario, and discovered that the Blue Queen believed Xuanyinzi had deliberately drawn them into the Yellow Springs Scroll. After several days of recovery and introductions, a space rift finally appeared overhead.

• The young cultivator told Chen Lin that a projection could use another Nightmare Realm item to enter a different scenario and return through its expulsion force.
• The Blue Queen explained that the Yellow Springs Scroll had not fully transformed and that Xuanyinzi had likely allowed them to escape as part of his plans.
• The Blue Queen revealed that Xuanyinzi had probably granted Chen Lin golden soul power because he wanted something Chen Lin possessed or feared something backing him.
• The group waited three days without the Xuanyin Great King appearing, then shared their backgrounds and learned that the Blue Queen had reached the ninth layer of dao rhyme.
• The young cultivator said she came from the Rainbow Continent, drawing a noticeable reaction from the Blue Queen.
• After two more days, a space rift finally appeared overhead.

Chen Lin escaped the bridal procession realm with Grass and returned to Baishuang City, where Lineage Patriarch Ye questioned him about the heavenly tribulation and the being that had intervened. He learned that Ye Luo had reached Foundation Establishment and was left uncertain about the patriarch’s colder attitude.

• Chen Lin summoned Grass and crossed the Space Rift with her, but the sunlight began to dissolve his body until Grass used her fishing rod to take them to the Gambling Fortune Lake Scenario.
• After Chen Lin escaped, the Blue Queen killed the two Spirit Transformation women, then took the young female cultivator through the rift with the Veiled Woman.
• Chen Lin recovered in the Small Woods, waited for his golden soul power to return, and expelled himself from the Nightmare Realm.
• Lineage Patriarch Ye questioned Chen Lin about the heavenly tribulation, and Chen Lin blamed the Nightmare Realm item he had been studying before showing him the Blood Handkerchief.
• Lineage Patriarch Ye used a secret art to ask about the being that had resisted the tribulation, and Chen Lin claimed he knew little about the divine soul housed in an object.
• Lineage Patriarch Ye told Chen Lin that Ye Luo had reached Foundation Establishment and left; Chen Lin found he was not under house arrest and considered leaving Baishuang City if necessary.

Chen Lin returned to his cave residence after surviving the backlash, assessed the dangers surrounding his abilities, and searched for a way to deal with the Demonic Seed. Ye Luo recovered and advanced to Foundation Establishment, but ten days later Ye Zhengming told Chen Lin that the Ye Lineage had ended their agreement early and was sending him away.

• Chen Lin returned to his cave residence, rewarded the maids with pills, and resolved to stop using the Fortunate Art while seeking the Qi Luck Pill formula from the Tianyun Sect.
• Chen Lin failed to find the Demonic Seed in his soul or body, asked a trading firm to gather Golden Bodhi Pill materials, and sought an artifact-refining technique and materials for a spiritual body.
• Ye Luo visited Chen Lin after recovering and reaching Foundation Establishment, revealed that she could control her connection to the Otherworld and summon nearly half of the White Bone General, and announced she had become a Ye Lineage elder.
• Ten days later, Ye Zhengming told Chen Lin that Ye Luo's recovery and Foundation Establishment had ended his ten-year agreement with the Ye Lineage ahead of schedule, and presented him with a token from the Ancestor.

Chen Lin left Baishuang City, recovered the Resurrection Scroll, and traveled with a caravan to Qianyuan City while planning his next steps against the Demonic Seed. After settling into the welcoming city, he searched for ingredients for Golden Bodhi Pills and found a shopkeeper who seemed familiar with Lamp-Lighting Fruit.

• Chen Lin decided the Ye Lineage had driven him away out of fear and accepted the generous supplies Ye Zhengming had given him.
• Lineage Patriarch Ye revealed that he planned to open the Secret Realm using Ye Luo's improved ability and seek the Dao-Inquiring Stone.
• Chen Lin retrieved the Resurrection Scroll in Black Tower City and joined a caravan traveling to Qianyuan City.
• Chen Lin arrived in Qianyuan City, rented an immortal cave, and began searching the market for Lamp-Lighting Fruit and three-sun mysterious light baleful qi.
• A shopkeeper recognized Lamp-Lighting Fruit as rare and appeared familiar with it, giving Chen Lin hope of finding the ingredient.

Chen Lin searched for the Lamp-Lighting Fruit while settling in Qianyuan City, refining a fire-attribute spiritual body and practicing pill refining without relying on his talent ability. He opened a small pill shop and ended the chapter asking its shopkeeper, Xiaoyu, to become his disciple.

• Qu Sanniang told Chen Lin that the Lamp-Lighting Fruit was held by the chief of the Green-Scaled Tribe at Zhenguang Mountain, a thousand li west of Qianyuan City.
• Chen Lin waited in Qianyuan City for three months, acquired some three-sun mysterious light baleful qi, and gathered materials to refine a spiritual body using fire essence.
• Chen Lin successfully refined the spiritual body but ran short of spirit stones, so he practiced refining pills conventionally to improve his skills.
• Chen Lin brought Grass back from the Nightmare Realm and decided to remain in Qianyuan City to cultivate, repair the Xuanwu Shield, and nurture the artifact spirit in the Purple Spirit Ring.
• Chen Lin opened a small pill shop and hired Xiaoyu as its shopkeeper, hoping to assess her character and possibly train her as a disciple.
• Chen Lin found Xiaoyu cleaning the shop after several days without sales and asked whether she would become his disciple.

Chen Lin took Luo Xiaoyu as his formal disciple and spent three years training her while searching for the Green-Scaled Tribe and materials for a Shadow Puppet. After Luo Xiaoyu successfully established her Foundation, she returned with news that members of the Green-Scaled Tribe had entered the city.

• Chen Lin made Luo Xiaoyu his formal disciple, gave her a cultivation technique, pills, and magical tools, and told her to advance to the late stage of Qi Condensation.
• Chen Lin hired staff for his shop and continued improving his pill-refining while searching unsuccessfully for the Green-Scaled Tribe and acquiring Shadow Puppet materials.
• Chen Lin investigated Zhenguang Mountain and Qu Sanniang's shop but found no way to contact the Green-Scaled Tribe, then spent time cultivating and researching Shadow Puppet crafting.
• After three years, Chen Lin summoned Luo Xiaoyu and gave her Foundation Establishment Pills; she broke through to Foundation Establishment using just one pill.
• Chen Lin gave Luo Xiaoyu more treasures, and she returned to tell him that members of the Green-Scaled Tribe had entered the city.

Chen Lin paid Qu Sanniang to bring him to Zhenguang Mountain, hoping to obtain the Green-Scaled Tribe chief’s Lamp-Lighting Fruit. He discovered she had brought him to the Green-Scaled Gathering, where he might trade for the fruit, and the chapter left him seated at the gathering with Qu Sanniang and Grass.

• Chen Lin approached two Green-Scaled tribespeople about the Lamp-Lighting Fruit, but they denied knowing of it and left.
• Chen Lin confronted Qu Sanniang, who clarified that the tribe’s chief possessed the fruit and offered to take him to meet the chief for three spirit crystals.
• Chen Lin paid Qu Sanniang and brought Grass along as they flew to Zhenguang Mountain.
• At the mountain entrance, Qu Sanniang presented a scale that secured their admission to the Green-Scaled Gathering, and Chen Lin realized she had not told him about the event.
• Qu Sanniang explained that the tribe accepted only items useful to them, then led Chen Lin and Grass into the gathering hall, where they were seated among invited cultivators and shopkeepers.

Chen Lin attended the Green-Scaled Tribe’s private trading gathering and learned that its prized goods were exchanged for unusual items chosen according to the chief’s interests rather than their apparent value. After the regular trades ended, Qu Sanniang asked the chief to let Chen Lin buy Lamp-Lighting Fruit, drawing the chief’s surprised attention to him.

• Chen Lin watched the Green-Scaled Tribe chief trade colorful jade mushrooms for selected treasures, while Qu Sanniang explained their benefits and short shelf life.
• Chen Lin offered several strange items, and the chief accepted one Foundation Establishment monster core for two liang of mushrooms.
• Chen Lin observed the remaining trades and worried that he might not have anything suitable to exchange for Lamp-Lighting Fruit.
• Qu Sanniang traded an unidentified bone for ten jin of jade pith rice while Chen Lin watched the gathering’s other transactions.
• After the regular items were sold, Qu Sanniang asked the chief to allow Chen Lin to purchase Lamp-Lighting Fruit, and the chief questioned whether a human cultivator could use it.

Chen Lin traded two rule beasts to the handsome young patriarch for Lamp-Lighting Fruits and secured a spirit pact before revealing the Land of Divine Beings. After a year of seclusion, he finished refining twenty-seven perfect Golden Bodhi Pills and began preparing to absorb them all.

• Chen Lin offered a Divine Crystal, a bone-corroding fruit, and a qi luck fish, but the handsome young man rejected them as insufficient for Lamp-Lighting Fruits.
• Chen Lin traded a One-Arm Circumambulation for one Lamp-Lighting Fruit, then offered a higher-grade Double-Arm Circumambulation in exchange for nine fruits and spirit marrow rice.
• The handsome young man asked how Chen Lin had obtained the rule beasts, and Chen Lin required him to sign a spirit pact before explaining the Land of Divine Beings and asking him to help Prince Qinghua leave if possible.
• Chen Lin returned to the city with Qu Sanniang and spent a year refining twenty-seven perfect Golden Bodhi Pills.
• Chen Lin instructed Luo Xiaoyu to cultivate, avoid trouble, and seek help from Grass before entering seclusion to absorb the pills.