Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Yang Zishi’s talent can purify both the evil energy that harmed Luo Qinglan and the aura of nightmare realms. Chen Lin realizes its power may rival or exceed immortal spiritual power and gives her remnants of the light orb to purify. If successful, she may repair Luo Qinglan’s talent origin without resorting to the Nirvana Rebirth Method.
• Chen Lin visits Huang Liu, who has advanced to the Spirit Transformation Realm. He tells her he found Luo Qinglan and brought her back, and recounts some of his difficult adventures.
• Huang Liu asks about the Immortal Stele. Chen Lin confirms it remains in the Myriad Stele Forest and can still draw in talent holders who touch it, though it no longer pulls people in by itself.
• Chen Lin shares Murong Feng’s confidential news that the Southern Star Realm, Northern Star Realm, and Rainbow Realm will merge on the next Tianxuan Day. Huang Liu takes the threat seriously and plans to prepare protective and boundary-breaking treasures. She gives Chen Lin a rare Beauty Elevation Pill as a gift for Luo Qinglan.
• At the Liangyi Sect, Chen Lin learns that Shen Baiquan never returned from the Immortal Stele trial and is presumed dead. Li Chenshui has returned but is in seclusion.
• Chen visits Alan at Wuzhen Tower. She recognizes that his cultivation has fallen and teases him with her powerful Mortal Dust Heart Intent. He resists, declines her invitation to a private room, and says he has serious business to discuss; they head toward a Spirit Food Pavilion.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin continues rebuilding relationships after his long absence, but his diminished cultivation makes him cautious and vulnerable. He shares valuable information with Huang Liu and discovers he can barely withstand Alan’s talent-like influence.
• Huang Liu is now a Spirit Transformation cultivator and remains warmly supportive of Chen Lin, despite teasing him about their changed status. She trusts his warning about the coming realm merger and prepares accordingly.
• Yang Zishi emerges as a potential solution to Luo Qinglan’s condition through her unusually powerful purification ability.
• Luo Qinglan is left with Yang Zishi to discuss the purification further, while Chen Lin handles his visits and affairs.
• Alan remains flirtatious and confident, but her interest grows when Chen Lin resists her Mortal Dust Heart Intent.
• Shen Baiquan’s presumed death reminds Chen Lin how abruptly even powerful cultivators can perish.

Significant themes

• Cultivation’s dangers and uncertainty: Shen Baiquan’s fate underscores that status and strength offer no guarantee of survival.
• Power, recovery, and dependence: Chen Lin’s reduced cultivation contrasts with Yang Zishi’s extraordinary ability and Huang Liu’s advancement.
• Preparation for upheaval: The coming plane fusion prompts serious consideration of practical survival and protection.
• Old ties and changing circumstances: Chen Lin’s reunions reveal both enduring affection and the effects of time, rank, and absence.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin meets Alan at Wuzhen Tower and asks about her experience in the Immortal Stele. She says she found an inheritance but refused it.
• He shows her the Wooden Hairpin recovered from the Blood Handkerchief Scenario and explains his encounter with Yun Xiumian in the Nightmare Realm.
• Alan matches the hairpin with her own. Their reaction confirms that the woman Chen met was likely Yun Xiumian herself—not a projection—but she may have undergone Nightmare Transformation or been captured by the Xuanyin Great King.
• Alan suspects Yun Xiumian’s connection to the Yellow Springs Scroll was never fully severed. The treasure may have reclaimed her when she entered the plane where its original form existed. However, because Yun gave Chen the hairpin, she may still retain her reason and could be restored if rescued.
• Alan explains that the Nightmare Realm can create Scenarios by capturing projections of people, places, objects, dreams, or imagined scenes from different planes. These captured projections may be split-off versions of a person, with potentially profound and irreversible consequences.
• Chen hoped Alan would take charge of rescuing Yun, but Alan believes Yun deliberately entrusted the task to him.
• Chen asks about Wuzhen Tower’s Employer. Alan reveals that the Tower belongs to the Joy Sect and sustains the Joy Patriarch’s Split Soul—an entity in the Tianxuan Realm with Dao Integration strength—by drawing on yin-yang power. The Patriarch fled to the Otherworld during an invasion; his fate is unknown.

Character developments

• Chen Lin shows continuing concern for Yun Xiumian and seeks help despite his weakened cultivation. He is curious about the Nightmare Realm and Wuzhen Tower, but firmly defends his restrained, principled approach to cultivation.
• Alan proves knowledgeable about the Nightmare Realm and loyal to Yun, sharing information that is normally restricted. She trusts Yun’s judgment in choosing Chen, though she leaves the rescue responsibility with him.

Significant themes

• Identity and projection: The Nightmare Realm may create separate versions of people, raising questions about consciousness and the consequences of being projected.
• Connection and captivity: Yun’s lingering bond with the Yellow Springs Scroll may explain how she was taken, while her hairpin offers hope that she remains herself.
• Different paths of cultivation: Alan advocates following one’s instincts; Chen argues that self-restraint distinguishes cultivation from demonic behavior.
• Secrecy and sacrifice: Alan breaks Wuzhen Tower’s rules to help Yun, while the Tower’s business sustains a powerful remnant whose larger purpose remains unclear.

Character interactions

• Chen approaches Alan as Yun’s close friend and potential rescuer; Alan verifies the hairpin and interprets the evidence.
• Their discussion shifts from Yun’s fate to the nature of Nightmare Realm projections, with Chen pressing for answers and Alan candidly admitting what she does not know.
• Alan teases Chen about his Companion and his apparent interest in Wuzhen Tower; Chen responds seriously, reinforcing their contrasting temperaments.
• Despite her teasing and refusal to take over the rescue, Alan ultimately gives Chen crucial information and leaves the next steps to him.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin reflects on the surviving Joy Sect and other possible contingencies left by ancient Mahayana powers. The Nightmare Realm remains mysterious, and he has no present means to rescue Yun Xiumian from the Xuanyin Great King. He can only hope Niuniu may help or wait until he reaches the Great Vehicle realm.
• Luo Qinglan suggests Chen Lin take Yang Zishi as a concubine, arguing that the young woman’s purification ability would make her valuable and might keep her safe from binding contracts. Chen Lin refuses: he will let Yang Zishi choose whether to stay, and he wants to focus on cultivation rather than add to his complicated relationships.
• Chen Lin tells Luo Qinglan about Luo Xiaoyu, his formal disciple in the Northern Star Realm, and another woman who became his partner under unusual circumstances. He may bring them both over if the Tianxuan Day Plane merges successfully.
• Luo Qinglan asks about finding Qin Lingyu, Sun Caiyi, and Chen Ling’er. Chen Lin worries that Qin Lingyu may soon run out of time to form her nascent soul. Luo Qinglan comforts him and urges him not to let the worry impede his cultivation.
• Ten years pass. Chen Lin has cultivated to Golden Core Perfection. Yang Zishi has purified the Light Orb’s remnants, while the Yang Family has made major gains: Yang Ziqing reaches Golden Core, and Father Yang establishes his foundation.
• Zhuge Hengyun prepares to attempt spirit transformation despite poor prospects after losing his talent ability. Mu Xingchen prepares to form his nascent soul despite his age and declining health. Luo Qinglan also plans a spirit-transformation attempt using the dangerous Nirvana Technique, which worries Chen Lin. Zhang Qinghe has advanced to the middle stage of foundation establishment.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Lin shows greater restraint and respect for others’ freedom, refusing to bind Yang Zishi through marriage. He remains burdened by Yun Xiumian’s predicament and anxiety over missing loved ones, but recommits to cultivation.
• Luo Qinglan demonstrates trust and acceptance of Chen Lin’s other relationships, while also encouraging him to stay focused and emotionally steady. She has her own ambitious cultivation plans, despite Chen Lin’s concern.
• Yang Zishi continues to assist Chen Lin but appears resentful when he treats her affection as gratitude and sends her back to cultivation.
• Chen Lin and Luo Qinglan share a supportive, affectionate conversation; he also speaks candidly with her about his disciple and other partner.

Significant themes

• Freedom and consent: Chen Lin refuses to use marriage or contracts to secure someone’s loyalty.
• Cultivation and sacrifice: Characters face risky breakthroughs amid limited time, declining health, and personal danger.
• Separation and uncertainty: Chen Lin’s inability to reach loved ones—and the uncertain fate of Yun Xiumian and Qin Lingyu—remains a source of grief.
• Time and transformation: The ten-year passage shows the Yang Family’s rise and the wider circle’s changing prospects.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin has Wutian Tai, Liangyi City’s foremost appraiser, examine the purified light-orb remnants. The appraiser confirms they are pure origin essence energy and extraordinarily valuable. Chen Lin refuses to sell them, claiming they came from the Nightmare Realm.
• Chen Lin spends six months absorbing the energy. His destiny-reading talent grows dramatically: he can see his own fate more clearly, correct flawed pill-refining outcomes, and even glimpse possible paths to forming a Nascent Soul.
• With his strengthened talent, he successfully refines a Nascent-Crossing Pill that boosts the chance of Nascent Soul formation by over thirty percent. The pill comes from Murong Feng’s gift of advanced formulas.
• Chen Lin and Luo Qinglan decide to advance separately and secretly. Chen Lin forms his Nascent Soul outside Liangyi City, then spends time consolidating his cultivation. He later refines two powerful Spirit-Transforming treasures: the renamed Xuantian Seal and the Thousand-Layer Armor.
• Chen Lin’s other abilities have also advanced: his soul reaches its second compression stage, and Five Thunders Smite the Crown becomes a powerful spirit art enhanced by the Thunder God Sword.
• Mu Xingchen prepares to attempt Nascent Soul formation despite his poor condition. Chen Lin gives him a Nascent-Crossing Pill, then secretly uses his fate ability and qi luck force to repair a break in Mu’s destiny. The effort causes a painful backlash, but Chen Lin insists Mu hurry to the Tribulation Platform.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin becomes substantially more capable and confident, gaining a stronger talent, Nascent Soul cultivation, powerful treasures, and broader fate-reading abilities. He remains cautious about revealing rare powers or valuables.
• Luo Qinglan stays resolved to use the dangerous Nirvana Technique rather than wait years for Yang Zishi to purify her risks. She plans to establish the Qingyang Sect before attempting her breakthrough, deepening Chen Lin’s worry.
• Yang Zishi’s purification ability is revealed as exceptionally broad but extremely slow. Chen Lin warns her to keep it secret because powerful people might covet it.
• Mu Xingchen faces a desperate breakthrough with little hope, but Chen Lin supports him with a rare pill and a dangerous intervention in his fate.
• Chen and Luo act as partners: she respects his decision to conceal his breakthrough, while he tries unsuccessfully to persuade her to delay hers. Chen also honors Murong Feng’s confidentiality by withholding the pill formula’s details from Mu.

Significant themes

• Power and secrecy: Rare treasures and abilities attract danger, so Chen carefully limits what others learn.
• Fate, effort, and risk: Chen’s talent lets him alter destiny, but doing so exacts a physical cost and cannot guarantee safety.
• Limits and balance: Even remarkable abilities have drawbacks—Yang Zishi’s purification is slow, Chen’s predictions are brief, and his strongest treasures remain only partly usable.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Chen risks injury to help Mu, while Luo accepts a dangerous path partly because she refuses to burden Yang Zishi or wait indefinitely.

Key plot points and events

• Mu Xingchen attempts a breakthrough despite being near the end of his lifespan. He survives the final golden tribulation lightning using a formation, treasures, and talismans, then enters the inner demon tribulation.
• The strange forces affecting his body—linked to the Ancient Kingdom Ruins and the Nightmare Realm—surge out of control. Chen Lin suppresses them with lightning, but nearly destroys Mu Xingchen in the process. Mu Xingchen survives and successfully advances, though he will need roughly a century to recover and remains afflicted by the strange assimilation.
• Three months later, Luo Qinglan says she must attempt her own breakthrough soon: the dangerous imprint in her bloodline is worsening faster than Yang Zishi can purify it. She tells Chen Lin not to grieve or remain faithful to her if she dies, but he cannot accept the prospect of losing her.
• Zhuge Hengyun, whose lifespan is also running out and whose mutation is worsening, attempts to advance despite Chen Lin judging his odds to be effectively hopeless. He dies beneath the three-colored tribulation before reaching the inner demon stage. Beforehand, he asks Chen Lin and Luo Qinglan to look after his son if possible.
• Over the next three years, Chen Lin stabilizes his cultivation, Mu Xingchen regains enough health to move normally, and Yang Zishi forms a golden core—a rare achievement for someone with an acquired spiritual root. Her purification talent may eventually transform her root into an innate one.
• Luo Qinglan reestablishes the Qingyang Sect, purchasing a mountain with an upper-grade spiritual vein. With the sect established, her own breakthrough appears imminent.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains protective and pragmatic. He uses his power to intervene when Mu Xingchen’s inner demons become dangerous, but sees that his abilities cannot cure either Mu Xingchen’s assimilation or Luo Qinglan’s worsening condition.
• Mu Xingchen succeeds in advancing, but at great physical cost; survival does not remove the strange affliction within him.
• Luo Qinglan accepts that she must risk a breakthrough and tries to prepare Chen Lin for her possible death. Their intimate exchange reveals her affection and resolve, while Chen Lin’s silence and embrace show his distress.
• Zhuge Hengyun faces death with determination and concern for his son. Chen Lin and Luo Qinglan try to comfort and assist him, but cannot prevent his fate.
• Yang Zishi makes a major advance in cultivation, confirming that her purification ability may give her exceptional long-term potential.

Significant themes

• The cost of advancement: breakthroughs demand extreme risks, and success can still leave lasting damage.
• Fate and limited power: Chen Lin can influence outcomes only marginally; he cannot prevent every death or cure every affliction.
• Acceptance and sacrifice: Mu Xingchen and Zhuge Hengyun stake their lives on advancement, while Luo Qinglan confronts the possibility of death with composure.
• Hope amid loss: Zhuge’s death contrasts with Mu’s survival and Yang Zishi’s progress, while the Qingyang Sect’s revival offers a new beginning.

Key plot points and events

• At dawn, Luo Qinglan tells Chen Lin she will attempt the dangerous Nirvana Technique in three days. She urges him to focus on advancing to Spirit Transformation, avoid the unpredictable Nightmare Realm, and not seek companionship in risky places. Chen supports her, though he cannot see her future with his divine ability.
• Three days later, they gather at an erupting volcano far from Liangyi City. Chen has brought several trusted allies and hired the powerful Dao Rhyme cultivator Nie Cangqiong to guard the group.
• Luo begins the technique above the magma, surrounded by rare golden-and-red Nirvana Fire. Her body fades, and the flames form a golden phoenix that dives into the volcanic crater.
• Nie reveals that nirvana attempts are exceptionally unlikely to succeed, even for powerful phoenix descendants. Alarmed, Chen starts toward the crater but stops when Nie warns that intervening would ruin the process.
• The volcanic flames suddenly lose their heat and contract into the crater. A golden flame emerges, containing a blood-red chrysalis. It begins to crack, leaving Luo’s fate unresolved.

Character developments

• Chen Lin shows deep devotion and anxiety. He respects Luo’s decision and her instructions, but the revelation about the technique’s odds tests his resolve.
• Luo Qinglan is determined to risk everything for her breakthrough. Her parting advice reveals both her concern for Chen’s safety and her reluctance to leave him.
• Nie Cangqiong demonstrates a straightforward, reliable nature and offers hard truths about the dangers of nirvana.

Character interactions

• Luo and Chen share a quiet, intimate farewell, with Luo offering practical advice and Chen answering with few words.
• Chen relies on Nie as a hired protector and asks him about the technique. Nie’s warning prevents Chen from interfering with Luo’s attempt.
• Chen’s companions remain positioned around the site as guards while the breakthrough unfolds.

Significant themes

• Love expressed through restraint: Chen’s support means respecting Luo’s choice, even when fear urges him to act.
• Risk and uncertainty: The technique’s true odds—and Luo’s survival—remain unknown.
• Duty and preparation: Chen hires protection and takes precautions, while recognizing that some dangers cannot be controlled.

Key plot points and events

• While Luo Qinglan’s giant cocoon cracks, a fire phoenix named Huo Qian attacks, hoping to absorb the bloodline essence inside. Nie Cangqiong repels him and refuses his offer of a Dao Rhyme Pearl.
• The cocoon bursts in a blaze, leaving only Luo Qinglan’s Vermilion Bird Feather. Chen Lin fears she has died, but rushes to protect the feather when Huo Qian tries to take it.
• Chen Lin freezes Huo Qian with an Immobilization Talisman and kills him with the Thunder God Sword. Nie Cangqiong is astonished by the feat and warns the others to conceal Huo Qian’s death, since Myriad Demon Mountain may retaliate.
• Chen Lin and Mu Xingchen find nothing inside the volcanic crater. Later, they examine the feather but cannot detect Luo Qinglan’s presence.
• Chen Lin uses his fate-related powers and resources to sense a nearly imperceptible “little fish” in the destiny river—a sign that Luo Qinglan is still alive. He then manipulates the fate-thread toward a dangerous gap, suffering severe backlash but confirming that her remnant soul is in the feather.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin moves from panic and grief to determined hope. He risks his limited resources to save the feather, unexpectedly defeats a far stronger opponent, and accepts serious physical and spiritual damage to improve Luo Qinglan’s chances of survival.
• Nie Cangqiong demonstrates loyalty and integrity by rejecting Huo Qian’s bribe and defending the cocoon. After Huo Qian’s death, he protects the group by insisting the killing remain secret.
• Huo Qian is revealed as a powerful fire phoenix with spatial abilities and ties to Myriad Demon Mountain; his greed leads to his death.
• Mu Xingchen, who regards Luo Qinglan like a daughter, shares Chen Lin’s distress and helps examine the feather. He leaves when Chen Lin asks for privacy to investigate further.
• Grass remains close to Chen Lin and helps inspect the feather, while the others regroup after the attack.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and devotion: Chen Lin’s refusal to surrender the feather reflects his commitment to Luo Qinglan.
• Hope amid apparent loss: The shattered cocoon seems to signal failure, but the feather and fate vision reveal a chance she survives.
• Power and sacrifice: Chen Lin’s improbable victory and painful backlash show that protecting loved ones demands risk and cost.
• Greed and restraint: Huo Qian’s desire for the cocoon contrasts with Nie Cangqiong’s refusal to be bought.

Chapter summary

Thirty years after the previous events, Chen Lin remains unable to restore Luo Qinglan’s remnant soul. He has kept it from fading by channeling the Fire Phoenix’s Inner Core into the Vermilion Bird Feather, but estimates she has less than a century left without a lasting remedy. He has also received no news of Qin Lingyu or the others, and has given up searching nightmare realms for the Pool Scenario. He hopes they can form nascent souls under the Silver Fairy’s guidance, since time is running out for several of them.

Key events and cultivation

• Chen Lin has reached nascent soul great perfection after thirty years of rapid cultivation. The thunder spirit body he gained from his innate thunder pattern greatly accelerated his progress.
• He plans to travel with cultivators from Liangyi City to attend Lan Ruxue’s Dao-attainment ceremony on the Xuanyue Continent. He hopes to strengthen ties with her and ask whether she can help Luo Qinglan.
• Before departing, Chen Lin prepares to break through to spirit transformation.
• He encourages Mu Xingchen to focus more on cultivation and promises to keep looking for a way to resolve Mu’s body assimilation. Chen has sent Zhou Shiwu to search for Nan Mochu and the Tavern Proprietress, whose help may offer a solution.
• With Huang Liu and Alan guarding the Tribulation Platform, Chen Lin passes the tribulation, absorbs most of its lightning, and successfully returns to the spirit transformation realm. He declines invitations from other factions but allows the Qingyang Sect to hold a celebration to raise its standing.
• Afterward, he finds that his talent ability has not improved with this breakthrough. Its next advancement may require reaching Void Refinement, likely a distant goal. He also considers—but rejects for now—seeking a forbidden art for extracting talent origins, fearing its corrupting potential.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is powerful and disciplined, but remains burdened by his inability to save Luo Qinglan or locate his companions. His cultivation is driven partly by the hope that greater strength will let him help them.
• Mu Xingchen is grateful for Chen Lin’s concern, though he has little confidence in reaching spirit transformation. His duties as Qingyang Sect leader have slowed his progress.
• Yang Zishi is advancing quickly and is now at mid-stage Golden Core. Chen Lin refuses to ask her to delay her own cultivation to purify Mu Xingchen’s more severe condition.
• Huang Liu has reached peak early-stage spirit transformation and is preparing to establish her primordial spirit domain. Alan has also reached spirit transformation, strengthening her Mortal Dust Heart Intent.
• Ling Qianxue watches Chen Lin’s tribulation with concern, while her brother Ling Qianshan warns her to keep her distance because Chen Lin hides his abilities and attracts trouble. She denies being concerned but acknowledges her brother’s warning.

Significant themes

• Time, loss, and responsibility: Chen Lin’s power cannot yet prevent Luo Qinglan’s decline or bring his missing companions home.
• Cultivation as a means to protect others: His breakthrough is not merely personal advancement; he hopes it will help him find solutions for those he cares about.
• Ambition versus moral restraint: The forbidden talent-extraction art could bring power, but Chen Lin fears it could lead him to exploit others and fall onto a demonic path.
• The limits of power: Even after reaching spirit transformation, Chen Lin cannot resolve the problems that matter most to him.

Key plot points and events

• Having reached the Spirit Transformation Realm, Chen Lin finally uses his Primordial Spirit Power to imprint on Scholar, the Spirit Treasure he had crafted years earlier. The month-long process is grueling, but succeeds.
• He travels to the Wangyue Mountain Range to test the treasure. Scholar easily kills a troop of silver-tailed monkeys with a sword strike, showing Spirit Transformation-level power.
• Chen Lin then tests Scholar against a peak fifth-rank Double-Headed Giant Wolf. The wolf reveals a powerful black-and-white Primordial Spirit Domain and attacks with Rule Force.
• Scholar counters on its own: it conjures a writing brush, uses the character “Suppress” to stop the wolf’s attack and break its domain, then kills it with sword light. Chen Lin collects the corpse and its unusual paired monster cores.

Character developments

• Chen Lin moves from frustration over being unable to use his costly creation to astonishment at its strength. He remains cautious, relying on protective equipment and a rare escape talisman, and stops testing before risking a fight with a rank-six beast.
• Scholar proves far more capable than Chen Lin expected. Though its Artifact Spirit is still embryonic and lacks intelligence, it can act independently and wield both sword attacks and Rule Force.

Significant themes

• Investment and reward: Chen Lin’s enormous expenditure of materials and effort is finally justified by Scholar’s extraordinary performance.
• Power and restraint: Scholar’s strength is impressive, but Chen Lin recognizes the sharp gap between fifth- and sixth-rank opponents and avoids overconfidence.
• Potential and development: Scholar’s high starting point suggests that its abilities may grow further as its Artifact Spirit matures.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin gives Scholar commands through his Primordial Spirit imprint, but Scholar can also respond autonomously in battle.
• Their first major test is largely one-sided: Scholar neutralizes the wolf’s domain and kills it before Chen Lin can contribute. Chen Lin watches in disbelief, then preserves the wolf’s Remnant Soul and recovers its remains.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin learns that the Liangyi Sect will depart for the Xuanyue Continent in one month. He tells Mu Xingchen not to expand the Qingyang Sect while he is away.
• Zhou Shiwu arrives after traveling from Disheng City. He reports that Nan Mochu had sought him out to ask about Chen Lin, but he slipped away to meet his master.
• Nan Mochu soon appears at the Sect Master’s Manor. She warns Chen Lin to keep the Dragon Fish Goblet: Qiu Mufan, its owner, may come looking for him. Qiu is a Dao Realization Realm expert, far beyond Chen’s ability to evade.
• Nan gives Chen a Transmission Bead so he can contact her and asks him to notify her if Qiu appears.
• Chen asks Nan to help Luo Qinglan, whose remnant soul is fading inside the Vermilion Bird Feather after a failed Nirvana Technique. Nan uses a drop of Vermilion Bird essence blood to stabilize the feather and halt the soul’s decline. Chen later confirms that Luo’s “destiny fish” has visibly recovered, though her full restoration will take time.
• Chen summons Zhou again, checks on affairs in White Jade City, and urges him to attempt Golden Core advancement before Chen departs. He provides pills and promises to accept Zhou as a formal disciple if he succeeds.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious about becoming entangled with powerful figures, but takes a risk by asking Nan Mochu to help Luo Qinglan. He also shows greater confidence in nurturing Zhou Shiwu and reconsidering the potential of innate talents.
• Nan Mochu is formidable and direct, but helps Luo without demanding payment. She also reveals the danger of Qiu Mufan’s attention and establishes a way to stay in contact with Chen.
• Zhou Shiwu demonstrates loyalty by making the long journey to Chen. Though embarrassed that his talent has not improved, he receives encouragement and a chance to prove himself through Core Formation.
• Luo Qinglan, absent from the scene, gains a chance to survive and recover through Nan’s intervention.
• Qiu Mufan remains absent but looms over events: Nan says she is avoiding her and will likely seek Chen because he holds the Dragon Fish Goblet.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Chen must navigate forces far beyond his strength, relying on caution, favors, and strategic connections.
• Consequences of past choices: Nan says Chen’s use of the Seven-Color Spiritual Light created the circumstances that now tie him to Qiu.
• Hope through cultivation and aid: Luo’s recovery depends on gradual refinement, while Zhou’s future rests on his upcoming breakthrough.
• Potential and responsibility: Chen no longer dismisses Zhou’s weak-seeming talent, believing any ability may have value if properly developed.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Shiwu survives his advancement, aided by Chen Lin’s Five-Mark Seven-Star Pill and Mu Xingchen’s spirit liquid. Chen Lin honors his promise and makes Zhou Shiwu his second formal disciple, alongside Luo Xiaoyu.
• Chen Lin leaves Luo Qinglan’s Vermilion Bird Feather in a heavily protected secret chamber at the Qingyang Sect, where the formations will support her recovery and conceal her aura. He leaves Grass behind as the sect’s strongest defender and gives Mu Xingchen several contacts to seek help from if needed.
• Chen Lin still plans to attend Lan Ruxue’s Dao Integration ceremony at Moon Reflection Palace. The trip will preserve his useful connection to the palace and give him information about the approaching plane fusion. He also hopes to visit Princess Qinghua and the Land of Divine Beings if circumstances allow.
• Before joining the Liangyi Sect’s departing group, Chen Lin attends an underground trading convention. There, the organizer, Sun Tianfu, offers a withered piece of “true soul wood” for five hundred spirit crystals, warning that its value is uncertain.
• The wood’s shape and surface patterns remind Chen Lin of the Black Staff he found in the Land of Divine Beings. Intrigued, he listens as another attendee asks Sun Tianfu to explain “true soul origin.”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and practical: he prioritizes Luo Qinglan’s safety, arranges backup for the Qingyang Sect, and attends the convention in disguise. His interest in the wood hints at a possible connection to his earlier discovery and his long-standing need for soul-related resources.
• Zhou Shiwu successfully advances and becomes Chen Lin’s formal disciple, strengthening their teacher-disciple relationship.
• Mu Xingchen is relieved that Luo Qinglan’s remnant soul is no longer in immediate danger and confidently takes responsibility for her care and the sect’s defenses.
• Grass is entrusted with protecting the sect, while Chen Lin names Huang Liu, Ling Qianshan, Alan, and Nie Cangqiong as possible sources of aid.
• Sun Tianfu acts as the convention’s witness, clarifying that participants must assess items themselves, though the organizers guarantee their own offerings and provide security.

Significant themes

• Preparation amid uncertainty: Chen Lin makes contingency plans for both his sect and the upcoming plane fusion.
• Trust and responsibility: He relies on Mu Xingchen and Grass to protect Luo Qinglan and the Qingyang Sect while he is away.
• Risk and discernment: The trading convention offers a potentially valuable but unverifiable treasure, leaving buyers to weigh speculation against loss.
• The soul and recovery: Luo Qinglan’s fragile remnant soul, Chen Lin’s stalled soul cultivation, and the mysterious true soul wood all foreground the importance of soul-related power.

Chapter Summary

• At a Liangyi Sect trading convention, Sun Tianfu offers true soul wood, explaining that a “true soul” is the soul’s immortal second form. Though even a trace of its qualities could greatly strengthen a cultivator, the wood’s contents and usefulness are uncertain. No one bids at the steep price of 500 spirit crystals.
• Chen Lin is interested because the wood resembles his mysterious Black Staff, but he avoids buying it, wary of the coincidence. He notes its name for future research.
• Other goods sell more successfully. Five Yuan-Enhancing Pills—refined by Chen Lin himself—fetch 25 spirit crystals, more than he previously earned selling them. He realizes auctions can better reward scarce goods. After observing the sale of a spirit treasure, he acquires a few materials during the convention’s open trading.
• In a private chamber, the White-Robed Youth, Qiu, learns that his intended target is absent. He asks the convention’s proprietor, Hua, for information about people whose souls cannot be probed. Hua initially refuses to violate the convention’s rules, but Qiu persuades him by dangling an invitation to the Soulless Sect’s Myriad Souls Island. Hua then supplies the information.

Journey to Moon Reflection City

• The next day, Chen Lin joins a large group traveling from Liangyi City to Moon Reflection City using the Liangyi Sect’s famed Liangyi Disk, a powerful sect-guarding treasure whose teleportation ability lets many travelers cross continents.
• Chen Lin greets Li Chenshui, who is unusually cordial. Chen privately suspects Li’s friendliness depends on Chen’s supposed status and would fade if Li knew how limited his real standing in Moon Reflection Palace was.
• The delegation includes the Liangyi Sect’s powerful sect master, the White-Browed Daoist, other Void Refinement experts, and many outside cultivators. Chen keeps a low profile among them.
• Chen is surprised to find Ling Qianshan and Ling Qianxue traveling too. Ling Qianshan explains that he hopes to attend the Dao lecture at the grand ceremony and gain insight into advancing his cultivation.
• Chen is teleported to Moon Reflection City with the White-Browed Daoist’s group. Knowing his claimed Moon Reflection Palace elder status is tenuous, he quickly separates from the Liangyi travelers and discreetly seeks information about Murong Qing.

Chen’s Assignment and the Confrontation

• Chen visits Murong Qing, intending to gather supplies, but she immediately recruits him to help receive guests. She assigns him a patrol post, which has the added benefit of making his official role seem more credible.
• Chen leads six Nascent Soul cultivators on patrol, organizes them into pairs, and promises to seek rewards for them if they do good work.
• Trouble soon breaks out: a young woman accuses a bald monk of using a soul-bewitching technique to abduct her. The monk, Nian Kong, claims she is a fox demon he has tracked and insists that Buddhist duty requires him to subdue demons.
• The woman admits she has eaten cultivators, arguing that it was self-defense against people trying to capture her and questioning why humans may eat beasts while demons cannot eat humans. Chen recognizes that she is a concealed member of the Demon Race, but notes that no rule bars demons from attending the ceremony. He tries to mediate rather than use force.
• When the monk gives his Dharma name—Nian Kong—Chen reacts with surprise. The chapter ends before the significance of the name is explained.

Character Developments and Themes

• Chen Lin remains cautious and practical: he avoids a risky purchase despite his interest, learns from his earlier poor pricing decisions, and carefully protects his cover in Moon Reflection City.
• Sun Tianfu tries to sell an unattractive first item while bound by his employer’s high asking price; the contrast with the energetic bidding on later goods highlights the importance of price and demand.
• Li Chenshui’s calculated friendliness reinforces Chen’s distrust of people whose warmth may depend on status.
• Ling Qianshan’s journey reflects the rarity and value of learning from a Dao Integration expert.
• The confrontation raises questions of justice, prejudice, and competing moral codes: the monk follows a blanket duty to subdue demons, while the woman challenges the unequal standards between humans and demons. Chen seeks facts and restraint rather than judging by identity alone.
• Other significant themes include the uncertain value of cultivation treasures, the economics of scarcity, and the risks of concealed identities and hidden information.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin mediates a dispute between an Old Monk he suspects may be connected to Nian Kong and the demon woman Hu Qingxia. He rules that the monk must compensate her for fighting in Moon Reflection City, and the monk gives her a Calming Bead before leaving peacefully.
• Chen Lin advises Hu Qingxia to travel with other demons for her safety. She thanks him, discards the bead, and leaves. Chen Lin has the bead handed to his superiors, maintaining his resolve to avoid Buddhist Sect objects and associations.
• After dispersing the crowd, Chen Lin recognizes a black-robed man as the Umbrella-Wielding Manikin, an old enemy who once nearly killed him. Claiming the man carries a Celestial Demon aura, Chen Lin tries to detain him under the city’s rules.
• The man breaks through the city formation with his black umbrella and escapes as black mist, but Han Qingxue arrives and drags him back from the void.
• A White-Robed Youth intervenes, identifying the prisoner as a Qiu Clan servant who has left the Sin Army. He says the Soulless Sect can suppress the man’s demonization. Chen Lin is alarmed by the revelations, suspecting the encounter is not accidental.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin acts as a measured law enforcer in the first dispute, but becomes forceful when confronting his old enemy. His caution and lingering suspicion shape both encounters; he also remains wary of anything tied to the Buddhist Sect.
• Hu Qingxia shows a flirtatious, independent manner, accepting the monk’s bead only to discard it and depart.
• The Old Monk responds calmly to Chen Lin’s judgment and leaves without escalating the conflict.
• The black-robed man denies Chen Lin’s identification, then reveals his demonic power while trying to escape. His renewed presence brings Chen Lin’s past enmity into the present.
• Han Qingxue uses her superior power to recapture him, while the White-Robed Youth challenges her authority with a plea and an explanation of his affiliations.

Significant themes

• Law and order amid deep divisions: Moon Reflection City welcomes visitors of different races but forbids violence, while longstanding human–demon grievances make peaceful coexistence difficult.
• The past returning: Chen Lin’s old enemies and unresolved conflicts reappear in the city.
• Hidden affiliations and political intrigue: The links among the Qiu Clan, Soulless Sect, and former Sin Army suggest a larger agenda behind the black-robed man’s arrival.
• Caution and mistrust: Chen Lin’s avoidance of Buddhist ties and his suspicion of the man’s presence underscore how past dangers shape present choices.

Key plot points

• Chen Lin suspects the Soulless Sect arranged the suspicious true soul wood at an underground auction to test whether he possessed the Black Staff. Qiu Musheng, a powerful young Void Refinement cultivator from the sect, arrives with a black-robed subordinate. Han Qingxue accepts Qiu’s explanation and lets them go, warning them not to expose demonic aura in the city.
• To reduce the chance of trouble, Han transfers Chen Lin from patrol duty to guest reception at the Teleportation Hall. Chen is pleased: the hall offers his best chance of encountering old acquaintances.
• After several quiet days, members of the Central Continent’s Myriad Aspects Sect arrive late, having survived spatial turbulence. Chen recognizes True Lord Wanmeng among them and reunites with him.
• Wanmeng reports that several Lower Realm cultivators reached the Upper Realm through the Ascension Platform. Hundred Flowers Fairy is thriving and may soon reach Void Refinement; Jin Xingyun and Dantai Yunjin are there too. Silver Fairy, however, was not among them. Wanmeng mentions an unverified report of a Silver Island and Silver Immortal City in the Central Continent’s southern archipelago.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen remains cautious about the Soulless Sect, concealing his connection to Qiu Daoli and Qiu Daoxuan rather than risking exposure. He also continues searching for Silver Fairy and other former companions.
• Han Qingxue shows practical concern for Chen by moving him to a safer post and allowing him to leave with Wanmeng.
• Chen and Wanmeng renew their friendship and exchange news. Their reunion brings Chen hope, but the deaths of Lord Qing and Zhuge Hengyun underscore how dangerous the Upper Realm is.
• Chen is relieved to learn that Hundred Flowers Fairy survived and prospered, while Silver Fairy’s whereabouts remain uncertain.

Significant themes

• Suspicion and concealment: Chen must judge whether apparent coincidences are traps while keeping his own secrets.
• The dangers of the Upper Realm: Even powerful arrivals can face deadly spatial turbulence, and old companions have already died.
• Separation and reunion: Chen’s search for familiar people offers hope, but many remain missing or lost.
• Identity and memory: Chen privately reflects that Hundred Flowers Fairy may be a reincarnation, yet believes her present life still matters even if past memories return.

Key plot points and events

• True Lord Wanmeng tells Chen Lin that many people from the Lower Realm survived the transition to the Upper Realm, including Jin Xingyun and Dantai Yunjin. He describes the Myriad Star Archipelago as distant, dangerous, and difficult to reach, while the Central Continent is wealthy and powerful but fiercely competitive.
• The two discuss the Nightmare Realm. Wanmeng credits its dangers and resources with helping him reach Spirit Transformation, and invites Chen Lin to explore several resource-rich scenarios together. Chen Lin is interested but postpones a decision until after the grand ceremony.
• Chen Lin weighs leaving Liangyi City because Qiu Musheng of the Soulless Sect threatens him and could endanger his allies. Central City seems a promising refuge: it is ruled by a formidable Dao Realization Realm expert, and Chen Lin’s old acquaintances—including Hundred Flowers Fairy—are there. He also hopes to investigate Silver Island and potentially reunite with his family.
• After parting with Wanmeng, Chen Lin is summoned by Palace Master Lan Ruxue. She warns him not to return to the White Bone Holy Domain, where a major upheaval has occurred.
• Chen Lin reports losing his Boundary-Breaking Disc in the Jingguang Realm and describes a mysterious skeletal old man who captured beings from other planes to refine pills. Lan Ruxue judges the man extremely powerful, perhaps as strong as the Mahayana stage, and asks Chen Lin to record the route and details.
• Grateful for Chen Lin’s information about the White Bone Holy Domain—which helped her advance—Lan Ruxue gives him an initial-profound Godly Profound Fruit. Chen Lin eats it immediately, expecting her to help refine it and raise his cultivation from early to mid Spirit Transformation.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is cautious but increasingly open to relocating to Central City. He uses conversations to gather intelligence, considers the safety of those connected to him, and acts decisively when offered the rare fruit.
• True Lord Wanmeng reveals how humbling life in the Upper Realm has been after his former prominence in the Lower Realm. He remains an enthusiastic Nightmare Realm explorer and offers Chen Lin companionship and access to valuable scenarios.
• Lan Ruxue shows gratitude for Chen Lin’s past assistance while exercising her authority as Palace Master. Her warning and interest in the skeletal stranger suggest she is investigating the upheaval and its dangers.
• Murong Qing escorts Chen Lin to Lan Ruxue but is surprised when dismissed, underscoring the private nature of the meeting.

Significant themes

• Power and humility: Formerly dominant cultivators become insignificant in the Upper Realm, where even renowned figures must adapt.
• Risk and opportunity: The Nightmare Realm, Central City, and the Holy Domain all promise resources or advancement while carrying serious dangers.
• Trust and reciprocity: Wanmeng proposes cooperation, while Lan Ruxue repays Chen Lin’s help with a major cultivation treasure.
• Family and security: Chen Lin’s plans are driven partly by the hope of reuniting with loved ones and protecting his allies.

Chapter Summary: “Mid Spirit Transformation”

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin eats the rare fruit Lan Ruxue gives him. Its energy rapidly raises his cultivation to the peak of early Spirit Transformation, then breaks his bottleneck and advances him to mid Spirit Transformation.
• Lan Ruxue tells him to consolidate his cultivation and avoid cultivation-boosting pills for a year. Chen recognizes that the breakthrough has saved him decades of effort.
• Outside the hall, Chen finds Murong Qing with a grotesque one-eyed elder later identified as Daoist Destiny. Murong asks whether Lan Ruxue is still inside, then invites Chen to help at the ceremony the following day.
• As Chen leaves, Daoist Destiny remarks that Chen’s destiny has “quite a few twists and turns.” He warns that people who influence others’ destinies eventually pay a price themselves, using his own ruined condition as an example.
• Chen suspects the remark concerns his destiny-related talent and the past divination that led to his imprisonment. He hopes to question Daoist Destiny the next morning, but learns that the elder has already left after divining for Lan Ruxue.
• Murong explains that Daoist Destiny’s predictions always come true and that his whereabouts are unpredictable. She warns Chen that his talent resembles divination and advises him to use it sparingly: excessive divination once cost Daoist Destiny his chance to ascend, weakened his cultivation, and permanently disfigured him.
• Murong then takes Chen and several disciples to the ceremony grounds.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin gains a major cultivation breakthrough and feels grateful to Lan Ruxue. His joy is tempered by anxiety over Daoist Destiny’s warning and the possibility that his own ability carries a serious cost.
• Lan Ruxue shows favor toward Chen by personally helping him advance, while cautioning him to stabilize his new cultivation.
• Murong Qing continues to support Chen. She gives him a role at the ceremony—an opportunity to strengthen his association with the Moon Reflection Palace—and later warns him about the dangers of his talent.
• Daoist Destiny is introduced as an elusive, seemingly unfathomable diviner whose predictions are invariably accurate. His warning hints at a connection between Chen’s ability to affect destiny and the consequences he may face.

Significant themes

• Power and sacrifice: Chen’s rapid advancement brings immense benefit, while Daoist Destiny’s story suggests that manipulating destiny can exact a lasting personal price.
• Fate and uncertainty: The elder’s cryptic warning leaves Chen questioning how his talent has shaped his life and what its future consequences may be.
• Patronage and political protection: Murong’s invitation to the ceremony helps publicly link Chen to the Moon Reflection Palace, strengthening his position and potentially discouraging enemies.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin asks Murong Qing about Qiu Musheng of the Soulless Sect. She explains that Qiu is a formidable Void Refinement talent but reassures Chen that he was only doing his duty. Chen decides not to ask the Moon Reflection Palace for protection; traveling to the Central Continent still seems his safest option.
• During the three-day ceremony, Chen Lin witnesses the cultivation world’s wealth and power firsthand, meets influential figures, and gathers information about major factions. He tells Li Chenshui that Lan Ruxue rewarded him with a Godly Profound Fruit, and asks him to look after the Qingyang Sect.
• On the final day, a Great Vehicle practitioner—the Holy Monarch from the Rainbow Realm—arrives. Lan Ruxue assigns Chen to help receive the visitors, drawing notice from the assembled factions.
• Qiu Musheng tells his Great Elder that Chen may be connected to a search for true soul wood and may also have ties to Qiu’s granduncle, Qiu Daoli. The Great Elder advises caution, noting Chen’s apparent closeness to Lan Ruxue and the Soulless Sect’s plans to expand into the Southern Star Realm.
• Chen discovers that the Holy Monarch’s descendant is White Dove, whom he once rescued. Now a late Spirit Transformation cultivator, she has risen sharply in status since learning of her ancestry. She and Chen reminisce, discuss her late father, and promise to meet again after the planes fuse.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen remains cautious and pragmatic: he recognizes that the Moon Reflection Palace is unlikely to risk conflict on his behalf, and he uses the ceremony to build connections and learn.
• Murong Qing offers Chen candid reassurance about Qiu Musheng. Li Chenshui, impressed by Chen’s reward and growing standing, seeks to strengthen their relationship.
• Qiu’s suspicions about Chen deepen, but he follows his Great Elder’s warning not to act rashly.
• Chen and White Dove reconnect warmly. She is grateful for his past help and invites him to visit the Rainbow Continent; Chen learns how dramatically her fortunes have changed.

Significant themes

• Fortune and social mobility: White Dove’s life transforms after her hidden ancestry is revealed, while Chen’s own status rises through cultivation and service.
• Power and political caution: Even capable figures must weigh factional influence carefully; Chen avoids asking for protection, and the Soulless Sect hesitates to make enemies.
• Changing planes and uncertain futures: The anticipated fusion of the planes shapes factional strategies and offers Chen and White Dove the prospect of meeting again.

Key plot points and events

• Lan Ruxue concludes the grand ceremony with a half-day discourse on the Dao. Her clear explanations and use of Dao rhyme help listeners understand cultivation, and many break through on the spot. Chen Lin’s cultivation stabilizes, and his path forward becomes clearer.
• Chen Lin tells True Lord Wanmeng that he plans to travel to the Central Continent, but not through the Myriad Aspects Sect’s unreliable teleportation passage. He will go with Holy Monarch Bai Yuandu’s party, arranged through White Dove, and meet Wanmeng later in Central City.
• Chen Lin remains wary of Qiu Musheng, who may want the valuable true soul wood. The Soulless Sect may also pursue him because he once claimed to be Qiu Daoli’s reincarnation and may be connected to the missing Rainbow Fan.
• While preparing to leave, Chen Lin asks Ling Qianshan to deliver a coded letter to the Qingyang Sect. Ling Qianshan leaves quickly with Ling Qianxue, who seems to want to say something.
• Qiu Musheng intercepts Chen Lin in the market. Though he presents himself as friendly and offers compensation for a past dispute, he asks directly whether Chen Lin possesses the true soul wood and the Rainbow Fan. The chapter ends as Qiu’s eyes become black vortices, suggesting a threatening power or probing technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin benefits from Lan Ruxue’s teaching and continues to prioritize safety, choosing the Holy Monarch’s protection over a risky teleportation route. He reflects on the loneliness of cultivation, while also coming to see family and personal attachments as part of his own Dao.
• True Lord Wanmeng is astonished by Chen Lin’s rapid rise in cultivation and his connection to the Holy Monarch. Feeling overshadowed, he decides to wait for Chen Lin in Central City.
• Ling Qianshan and Ling Qianxue share a brief, awkward farewell: Qianxue hesitates to speak, while Qianshan seems to steer her away.
• Qiu Musheng approaches Chen Lin with a courteous façade but reveals his real purpose: determining whether Chen Lin has two treasures tied to the Soulless Sect.

Significant themes

• Cultivation and insight: A powerful teacher’s guidance can clarify a cultivator’s path and even trigger breakthroughs.
• Risk and self-preservation: Chen Lin chooses safer allies and travel arrangements amid uncertain dangers.
• Loneliness and attachment: Cultivators often face separation, yet Chen Lin increasingly views bonds with family and companions as a valid form of cultivation.
• Hidden motives and suspicion: Qiu Musheng’s friendly manner contrasts with his pointed questions, leaving Chen Lin in immediate danger.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin is confronted by Qiu Musheng of the Soulless Sect, who uses a mind-probing art to investigate his possible connection to true soul wood and Qiu’s missing ancestor. Chen resists the technique with the Thunder God Sword, then pretends to have been affected and claims only to possess a rib from the Rainbow Fan.
• Qiu examines the rib and offers a Rank Seven golden essence mouse core as compensation. Murong Qing intervenes, accepts the core, and warns Qiu not to trouble Chen again. She later explains that the core can help Chen endure spatial turbulence during the coming plane fusion.
• Murong cautions Chen that the Soulless Sect may grow far more powerful after the planes fuse, and advises him to avoid provoking it. She also encourages him to preserve his bond with White Dove, whose status as the Holy Monarch’s sole descendant could offer important protection.
• The next day, Chen joins White Dove and the Holy Monarch, Bai Yuandu, on their journey to the Central Continent. Their powerful entourage includes two Dao Integration experts and several top-level Void Refinement cultivators.
• At Central City, Chen witnesses the immense city and its aerial palace. City Lord Wei Duxing greets Bai Yuandu and reports that preparations are complete. While Bai Yuandu and the senior cultivators go to inspect them, Chen heads off to meet his acquaintance True Lord Wanmeng.
• Chen reaches the eastern Outer City and waits for Wanmeng. A lavish flying vessel bearing the name “Wuzhen Tower” passes overhead, prompting Chen to recognize the establishment’s far-reaching presence.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin demonstrates caution and resourcefulness: he conceals his true capabilities, defuses Qiu’s suspicions, accepts Murong’s protection, and remains deferential around the powerful group accompanying White Dove. The golden essence mouse core is a valuable practical gain.
• Qiu Musheng remains suspicious, but concludes that Chen may have no connection to true soul wood. He recognizes that the fan rib confirms the Rainbow Fan was shattered and may help establish whether his granduncle can be resurrected. A Soulless Sect elder tells him not to pursue Chen for now.
• Murong Qing acts as Chen’s protector and adviser, balancing defense of her sect’s authority with caution toward the Soulless Sect. She urges Chen to make use of his relationship with White Dove.
• White Dove remains warmly attached to Chen and identifies him to Bai Yuandu as the man who saved her in the Nightmare Realm.
• Bai Yuandu acknowledges Chen’s past deed but offers little explanation for his cryptic remark that Chen has had a “fine fortuitous encounter.” He leads the group to Central City and oversees preparations for the plane fusion.
• Wei Duxing shows confidence and independence in his dealings with Bai Yuandu, despite the Holy Monarch’s overwhelming standing.

Significant themes

• Power and political caution: Chen survives by judging when to resist, conceal, or rely on allies; Murong’s warning underscores the danger of confronting a stronger faction prematurely.
• Relationships as protection: Murong frames Chen’s connection to White Dove as a practical advantage in a perilous world.
• Transformation and uncertainty: The coming plane fusion may restore the world’s laws and enable powerful cultivators to advance, but its spatial turbulence also poses risks.
• Awe at the cultivation hierarchy: Central City and its inhabitants reveal how far Chen still is from the highest levels of power.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin reunites in Central City with Hundred Flowers Fairy, True Lord Wanmeng, Jin Xingyun, Dantai Yunjin, and Shang Xuelian—old companions from the Lower Realm.
• Hundred Flowers Fairy and her group have settled in a modest but secure residence built over a top-grade spiritual vein. Its defensive formations include a powerful flower array.
• Chen learns that the group escaped their collapsing plane through teleportation altars in a secret realm. They left the realm open and spread word of it, allowing others a chance to escape too.
• The group mourns the deaths of Lord Qing and Zhuge, who might have advanced further if their plane’s limitations had not held them back.
• Jin Xingyun asks about the Immortal Stele, hoping to obtain an inheritance. Chen warns him that the trial is deadly: fewer than one in ten pass, and failure means the soul is destroyed.
• Chen adds that bloodline powers and talent abilities may be “resurrection seeds” left by powerful beings. Hundred Flowers Fairy confirms she has heard similar claims. Jin asks whether there is a way to resolve the danger, but the chapter ends before Chen answers.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen is openly delighted to see his old companions, and uses humor to ease the awkwardness caused by his higher cultivation. He insists Jin Xingyun call him “Elder Brother,” not “Senior,” and warmly welcomes Dantai Yunjin as a younger sister.
• Hundred Flowers Fairy has become the group’s clear leader, while her late Spirit Transformation cultivation contrasts with the lower realms of Jin and Dantai, who remain Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Shang Xuelian, now at Nascent Soul perfection, is surprised that Luo Qinglan did not come. Chen explains that Qinglan was badly injured advancing to Spirit Transformation but is recovering and no longer in mortal danger.
• The reunion is affectionate, but their shared grief and precarious position in the Upper Realm temper the joy. Although resources are abundant, the group lacks the spirit crystals needed to access them easily.

Significant themes

• Cultivation and social standing: Differences in power reshape relationships, even among old friends, though Chen deliberately resists letting cultivation erase their familiarity.
• Survival and insecurity: The Upper Realm offers greater resources but is also far more dangerous, making safe shelter and careful conduct essential.
• Risk, inheritance, and hidden costs: The Immortal Stele’s promise of power is shadowed by a lethal trial, while bloodline and talent abilities may carry a disturbing, concealed purpose.
• Loss and solidarity: The characters grieve those who died and share concern for one another, reinforcing bonds forged in the Lower Realm.