Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

• Chen Lin and Luo Qinglan study Taixu Script. Luo explains that this ancient writing is commonly used by immortals to record profound techniques and inheritances. She reveals bamboo slips taken from a royal-family member in the Three-Jade Ancient Kingdom, containing an incomplete guide to its characters. One character matches a mark on a bone shard and may refer to a spell—possibly an immortal spell—but they lack enough text to understand it. Chen is impressed by Luo’s knowledge, though he struggles to grasp the script.
• Chen’s priorities remain practical. With Luo awakened and a plan in place to seek help locating Qin Lingyu and the others after Tianxuan Day, Chen focuses on cultivation. He and Luo agree not to let the tantalizing possibility of an immortal spell distract them from preparing for the coming plane fusion.
• Luo’s future as a soul cultivator remains uncertain. Her soul has grown stronger through Nine-Turn Soul-Condensing Pills, allowing her to move around in a soul garment. She hopes to find a secret method to rebuild her physical body and return to orthodox cultivation, while Chen cautions that such methods may be rare. He suggests other options, including consulting Princess Qinghua or continuing along the soul-cultivation path. Luo appreciates his concern but remains determined to seek a body.
• Chen and Luo attend an Immortal Palace trading convention. The event draws cultivators from Foundation Establishment to Void Refinement, and its timing suggests that people are gathering resources ahead of the plane fusion. Chen arrives with a stock of pills and Drunken God Brew, hoping to find useful items—especially a better cultivation technique for Luo.
• The opening auction unsettles Luo. The first item is a Soul-Sealing Bead containing an untamed Void Refinement-level yin soul. Luo is disturbed by the treatment of souls as materials, but Chen reassures her. She recognizes that she needs to strengthen herself regardless of whether she can rebuild her body, and asks Chen to teach her soul techniques. The bead sells for an unusually high 2,000 spirit crystals, underscoring the scarcity of resources.
• The next item raises a new danger. Fairy Yue, Lü Lingyue—a Void Refinement cultivator descended from a Dao Integration expert—presents the Blood-Shatter Saber, a spirit-transforming-grade weapon that can weaken enemies and summon a powerful blood spirit. Its strength comes at a serious cost: using the ability drains the wielder’s vital blood and could kill them.

Character Development and Relationships

• Chen Lin balances ambition with caution: he is intrigued by the possible immortal spell but puts preparation and cultivation first. He is also attentive to Luo’s hopes and worries.
• Luo Qinglan contributes valuable knowledge, grows more capable as a soul cultivator, and remains committed to regaining a physical body. The yin-soul auction strengthens her resolve to build her own power.
• Chen and Luo interact with warmth and trust, teasing one another while discussing serious decisions together.
• Hua Ruyu is introduced to Luo, and the group celebrates their reunion.
• Fairy Yue presides over the convention with authority and familiarity among the powerful attendees.

Significant Themes

The chapter emphasizes the tension between rare knowledge and practical priorities, the difficulty and vulnerability of soul cultivation, and the rising scarcity of resources as the plane fusion approaches. It also explores the value of companionship and mutual support amid uncertainty.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin considers bidding for the Blood-Shatter Saber, which could grant Void Refinement-level power, but gives up because his weakened body and blood-qi cannot properly wield it. It sells for an enormous sum.
• Fairy Yue offers a Space-Locking Talisman that can protect its user from spatial turbulence for about ten breaths. Because a coming plane fusion may bring widespread danger, Chen Lin bids twenty Nightmare Coins and wins it.
• During the free-trading session, Chen Lin uses his Fortune Accumulation Orb and destiny-line ability to seek a text about true soul wood. His attempt to correct the relevant destiny line causes severe backlash, forcing him to expend talent origin.
• Chen Lin offers Nascent-Crossing Pills, Ending Hostility Pills, and Drunken God Brew in exchange for soul-related techniques, rare texts, Nightmare Realm resources, and useful node information. Most node offers are already known to him or are too distant or unsuitable.
• He trades portions of Drunken God Brew for several rare texts, including one concerning miraculous objects, hoping they may contain information about true soul wood or other subjects he needs.

Character developments

• Chen Lin shows caution and restraint by passing on the saber and limiting his bid for the talisman, while recognizing the growing value of Nightmare Realm resources.
• His concern about the plane fusion deepens as he sees even powerful cultivators seeking Nightmare Realm items.
• He remains willing to trade valuable medicines for knowledge, judging that his own medicines are easy to produce while rare texts are difficult to obtain.
• Luo Qinglan is present and shares Chen Lin’s understanding of the talisman’s importance.

Significant themes

• Preparation amid uncertainty: The talisman and the gathering’s secrecy reflect widespread fear that the coming plane fusion will cause a crisis.
• Knowledge as power: Rare texts can be more valuable than seemingly superior treasures when they offer answers to specific problems.
• Changing value of resources: Nightmare Realm items have sharply increased in worth as the Realm becomes a potential refuge.
• Limits and costs of power: Chen Lin’s decision about the saber and the backlash from altering destiny show that power has practical limits and personal costs.

Character interactions

• Chen Lin and Luo Qinglan silently recognize that the Space-Locking Talisman could be crucial.
• Chen Lin negotiates with Fairy Yue, offering Nightmare Coins after his node information proves redundant.
• Other cultivators approach Chen Lin with node locations and texts; he rejects unsuitable information but accepts several rare written works.
• Some attendees may see Chen Lin as overpaying for texts, but he prioritizes their potential usefulness over their market value.

Key events

• Chen Lin and Luo Qinglan leave a trading convention without finding a suitable high-level soul cultivation technique. They discuss the dangers of soul cultivation, especially repeated heavenly tribulations, and reject using Netherworld energy because it may erode the mind.
• Chen Lin hopes to rescue Yun Xiumian from the Xuanyin Great King Scenario someday, but Luo Qinglan firmly warns him not to risk entering it again. He agrees to postpone any attempt until he is much stronger.
• More than six months later, Chen Lin discovers in an old travelogue how to draw energy from the true soul wood he has been keeping. He uses its root stalk to strengthen his soul, absorbing energy more powerful than a Tier-4 Soul Refining Pill.
• With Tianxuan Day approaching, Chen Lin reaches the peak of the silver soul level, nearly—but not yet—at the initial golden soul level. He decides to save the rare true soul flower for pill-making rather than waste it by refining it directly.
• Chen Lin gathers his companions to discuss preparations for Tianxuan Day. Since known Nightmare Realm destinations are largely unsuitable and plane fusion may cause spatial collapse, they decide to remain in their current plane.
• Hua Ruyu privately tells Chen Lin that she visited a node in the Spirit Demon Realm and recovered the Storage Bag of Gou Yushan, who had been turned into a statue. Her news shocks him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin gains a major breakthrough in soul cultivation, while remaining cautious about the limits of his progress and the value of the true soul flower. He continues to feel grief over his inability to physically reach Luo Qinglan, though he tries to comfort her.
• Luo Qinglan accepts that finding a suitable cultivation inheritance may take time and asserts her independence: she would rather choose another path than let Chen Lin risk himself for her. She also urges him to avoid the Nightmare Realm.
• Hua Ruyu shows initiative by exploring a dangerous node and bringing back Gou Yushan’s Storage Bag. Chen Lin has noticed she is more independent than his other servants, but has tolerated it because she helps him.
• Mu Xingchen, Yang Zishi, Hua Ruyu, and Grass confirm they are ready for Tianxuan Day, reinforcing the group’s shared decision to face the uncertain crisis together.

Significant themes

• Risk and responsibility: Chen Lin and Luo Qinglan disagree over how much danger is acceptable in pursuit of power or rescue, but both act from concern for one another.
• Uncertainty and choice: With plane fusion looming and no clearly safe refuge, the group must rely on judgment rather than reliable predictions.
• The cost of power: Soul cultivation offers longevity and strength but brings severe tribulations and mental dangers.
• Value of knowledge and patience: An obscure travelogue unlocks the use of a rare treasure, while Chen Lin’s decision to preserve the flower reflects restraint and long-term planning.

Key plot points and events

• Hua Ruyu returns with a Storage Bag containing Bone Shards recovered from the Ocean Floor Ruins in the Spirit Demon Realm. She explains that a Plane Fusion may soon make the ruins inaccessible.
• She admits that absorbing demon crystals has stirred vague memories of an important object she once left somewhere. When the Plane Fusion weakens barriers between planes, she plans to use her spatial ability to search for it.
• Chen Lin agrees not to summon her unless he faces mortal danger. If she has not returned after a century, he may assume she has perished. Hua Ruyu also takes a red gemstone from Chen Lin, though she cannot remember what it is for.
• The ruins contained nine Bone Shards in total: four had already been taken by Gou Yushan and Black Horn, and Hua Ruyu retrieved the five remaining shards. She suspects the ruins conceal an undiscovered space.
• Chen Lin finds that the nine shards each bear a character. Luo Qinglan determines that together they form an incomplete spell: three characters remain undeciphered, while six match the Taixu Script.
• Luo Qinglan warns that the triangular shard used to break open a Space Node carries spatial-rule energy and may have hidden properties. Chen Lin decides to ask Hua Ruyu to examine it.
• As Tianxuan Day approaches, Luo Qinglan urges Chen Lin to stay close so she can protect him if spatial turbulence strikes. At last, Tianxuan Day arrives.

Character developments and interactions

• Hua Ruyu shows growing independence as her memories begin to return. She remains candid and devoted to Chen Lin, but now asks for time to pursue her own past.
• Chen Lin is initially wary of Hua Ruyu’s unusual freedom, then accepts her explanation and grants her leave. He also relies on Luo Qinglan’s expertise regarding the Bone Shards.
• Luo Qinglan contributes her knowledge of Taixu Script and spatial energy, and shows concern for Chen Lin’s safety. Their exchange is affectionate and playful.

Significant themes

• Memory and identity: Hua Ruyu’s recovering impressions motivate her search for a forgotten object, though she doubts her memories will ever fully return.
• Trust and independence: Chen Lin must balance concern about losing a powerful ally with respect for Hua Ruyu’s choices.
• Uncertainty and danger: The Bone Shards’ spell and spatial properties remain only partly understood as the world approaches a perilous Plane Fusion.

Plot points and events

• On Tianxuan Day, the expected cultivation feast is overshadowed by the imminent fusion of the Southern Star, Northern Star, and Rainbow realms.
• All cultivators below Void Refinement are evacuated from the Immortal Palace, which will serve as the central array core. Chen Lin and his companions gather in the Inner City.
• Jin Xingyun reports that Wanmeng is inside a Nightmare Realm node that has become unstable. Other known nodes are destabilizing too, forcing people who sought refuge there to return.
• The plane fusion begins with a violent tremor. The Immortal Palace activates, and formations across all three realms send pillars of light into the sky, forming a vast “realm-fixing net” meant to hold the realms together.
• The formation makes the world’s rules feel denser and loosens Chen Lin’s cultivation bottleneck, though no one knows whether the fusion will succeed.
• Hua Ruyu predicts that the fusion will definitely fail, but cannot foresee whether Chen Lin and the others will survive.
• In the Rainbow Realm, Bai Yuandu, the only Great Vehicle practitioner, swallows a strange, living-looking blood-red pill and begins refining it as the critical attempt gets underway.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and tries to use his talent to examine his and Luo Qinglan’s fates, but gets no results.
• Jin Xingyun and Dantai Yunjin have come to the Inner City together for safety. Their report about Wanmeng deepens the group’s anxiety.
• Luo Qinglan is saddened by the danger facing the Hundred Flowers Fairy, whom she regards as an elder.
• Hua Ruyu reveals that her passive intuition has long been reliable, including when it led her to leave the valley with Grass. Her concern for Chen Lin leads her to stay until she knows he is safe.
• Bai Yuandu’s grave preparations suggest the fate of all three realms may rest on this single attempt.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts the promise of a rare cultivation opportunity with the danger of a realm-wide catastrophe.
• It emphasizes uncertainty and the limits of foresight: Chen Lin’s ability fails, while Hua Ruyu’s intuition warns of failure but offers no assurance of survival.
• Sacrifice, protection, and loyalty emerge as characters gather for safety and worry about loved ones left vulnerable.
• The immense formations and denser world-rules underscore the scale of the event and the precarious balance holding the realms together.

Key events

• As the Realm-Solidifying Array’s light net descended, space grew unusually stable. Hua Ruyu warned Chen Lin that her premonition still foretold a possible failure, despite signs that the plane fusion would succeed.
• Chen Lin suspected the Crimson Giant Eye might appear again, perhaps if Bai Yuandu attempted to ascend to immortality. To reduce the risk of attracting attention, he hid his suspicious artifacts in the Nightmare Realm.
• The Immortal Palace strained under the array’s power, its buildings collapsing and the palace itself cracking. Chen Lin concluded that Wei Duxing was sacrificing this vast foundation to complete the world’s laws and advance his cultivation.
• Chen Lin shared his suspicion that Bai Yuandu’s true goal was to trigger an immortal ascension tribulation. The group debated fleeing to a nearby Nightmare Realm node, but Chen chose to stay in Central City, trusting Wei Duxing’s strength and wary of the node’s dangers. The others followed his decision.
• The light net reached the ground and merged into it, triggering an hour of violent spatial turbulence. Space rifts killed many cultivators, but Chen’s group survived with help from Luo Qinglan and Hua Ruyu’s spatial abilities.
• Once the turbulence ended, spiritual energy and sensitivity to the laws of the world surged. Cultivators across both realms underwent sudden breakthroughs and tribulations. Chen advanced to late Spirit Transformation, and Yang Zishi began her nascent-soul tribulation.
• In the Rainbow Realm, Bai Yuandu watched the mass of weakened tribulations and concluded that his opportunity had arrived.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and analytical, weighing several escape options but ultimately choosing to stay. He shares his theory about Bai Yuandu with the group while keeping his own emergency plan secret.
• Hua Ruyu stands by her warning that an unforeseen event may yet derail the fusion, and her spatial powers help protect the group.
• Luo Qinglan questions whether Bai Yuandu is still nearby and relaxes when told he has returned to the Rainbow Realm. She and Hua Ruyu help the group navigate the spatial rifts.
• Jin Xingyun and Dantai Yunjin raise concerns about the plane collapsing and consider retreating through a Nightmare Realm node, but abandon the idea after hearing Chen’s reasoning.
• Bai Yuandu appears confident that the upheaval and weakened tribulations have created the opening he needs.

Significant themes

• Ambition and sacrifice: Powerful cultivators are willing to destroy immense resources for personal advancement.
• Uncertainty and survival: Even apparent progress toward successful fusion may conceal catastrophic risks; characters must choose between competing dangers.
• Powerful change and its cost: The fusion’s transformation brings sudden cultivation gains, but also mass casualties and unpredictable tribulations.
• Collective versus individual motives: The same upheaval that changes the worlds benefits some cultivators, especially Bai Yuandu, while endangering everyone else.

Key plot points and events

• The successful fusion of the planes reunites the Heaven and Earth Rules, makes spiritual qi more responsive, and triggers a wave of breakthroughs and tribulations across the Tianxuan Domain.
• Chen Lin stabilizes his late Spirit Transformation realm. Dantai Yunjin reaches Spirit Transformation, and Yang Zishi forms her Nascent Soul.
• In the Rainbow Realm, Bai Yuandu uses a ritual that consumes the deaths of Yin Foundation cultivators to strengthen himself. He also strips away his body and draws miniature skeletons from a vortex.
• Ye Luo and Ling Qianxue are among several people whose soul-like phantoms are pulled from their bodies. Bai Yuandu keeps the two women and fuses the other skeletons into himself.
• With cultivators across the planes undergoing tribulations and weakening the rules, Bai Yuandu finally summons the immortal ascension tribulation. He uses a clone to divert part of its lightning, then endures the remainder and survives the Three Calamities.
• Bai Yuandu is reborn in a youthful form. A radiant Ascension Ladder appears before him, marking his chance to leave for the Immortal Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin recognizes that the fusion offers extraordinary opportunities but also senses a looming disaster. Hua Ruyu’s increasingly urgent premonition reinforces his concern; he avoids using his Fortunate Art because he believes it would be too dangerous.
• Dantai Yunjin and Yang Zishi make major advances, while Chen Lin reflects that Shang Xuelian might have succeeded too if she had lived long enough.
• Ye Qingcheng discovers Ye Luo’s collapse, and Ye Qianxuan and the others confirm that Ye Luo’s soul is gone. Ling Qianshan likewise fails to stop Ling Qianxue’s abduction.
• Bai Yuandu’s long preparation pays off: he treats the gathered skeletons as expendable tools, and his success brings him to the threshold of ascension.

Significant themes

• Opportunity amid catastrophe: The plane fusion brings widespread destruction and casualties, yet also enables breakthroughs that would otherwise be nearly impossible.
• The cost of ambition: Bai Yuandu’s ascension depends on deaths, stolen souls, and disposable clones.
• Uncertainty and foreboding: Even as cultivators celebrate advancement, Chen Lin and Hua Ruyu sense that a major upheaval is approaching.

Key plot points and events

• The planes fuse, the Immortal Ladder appears, and a powerful evil aura spreads across the newly formed world. It interrupts breakthroughs and mutates exposed cultivators, though the Inner City’s protective barrier shields those inside.
• Chen Lin and his companions prepare for danger. He suspects the Crimson Giant Eye has appeared on the Rainbow Continent and hopes it will not notice him.
• On the Rainbow Continent, Bai Yuandu confirms the Eye is a condensed spirit. He counters its first Crimson Beam with an enormous sword, but the Eye begins forming the legendary Immortal-Slaying Arrow.
• Bai Yuandu channels the continents’ formations into his sword and attacks. The Arrow destroys the sword and continues toward him. He restrains it with sword-lines, while the Bone Bird’s attack forces the Eye to close, weakening the Arrow.
• The Arrow’s remaining power suddenly detonates, unleashing force that tears at space across the entire plane. Bai Yuandu is reduced to a skeleton, and the Bone Bird and White Bone Ship are destroyed. The Eye, badly drained, vanishes after firing one last red streak toward Central City.
• Bai Yuandu survives by means of a hidden fallback, but Xuanyin’s Yellow Springs Scroll captures him and carries him away. Xuanyin reveals that the scroll has become a true-spirit treasure.
• The chapter ends with Chen Lin facing the red streak’s threat in Central City.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains alert and cautious, recognizing how dangerous the Eye is and ordering his companions to stop cultivating. He relies on Luo Qinglan’s spatial-protective Vermilion Bird Feather if space begins to collapse.
• Luo Qinglan stays close to Chen Lin and promises to protect him, showing her concern and loyalty.
• Hua Ruyu warns Chen Lin that the threat has arrived, then remains composed as events unfold.
• Bai Yuandu displays formidable power and confidence, but the Eye’s attack nearly kills him. His survival depends on a backup plan, and he is then taken prisoner by his former master’s disciple, Xuanyin.
• Xuanyin reappears unexpectedly, now wielding an upgraded Yellow Springs Scroll, and taunts the captured Bai Yuandu.

Significant themes

• The peril of power and advancement: Cultivation and breakthroughs offer little safety when the world itself is threatened.
• Limits of strength: Even a powerful figure such as Bai Yuandu cannot overcome the Immortal-Slaying Arrow directly.
• Survival through preparation: Bai Yuandu’s fallback preserves him, while protective barriers and companions offer others a chance to endure.
• A world on the brink: The Eye’s attack destabilizes space across the fused plane, threatening the new unity of the realms.

Key plot points and events

• A catastrophic crimson light—apparently sent by the Giant Eye—strikes Central City and is held back only temporarily by the City-Protecting Formation. Its aura is already damaging people, and the formation is beginning to fail.
• Wei Duxing realizes the attack may be aimed at him. His interrupted attempt to reach Mahayana has left him weakened, while the continuing spatial turbulence is undoing the planes’ merger and eliminating his chance to advance.
• Chen Lin recognizes that the crimson light has locked onto him. He suspects the Giant Eye is responsible but cannot tell why it can track him across realms.
• Hua Ruyu attempts to leave, though she admits she is not confident she can succeed. Chen Lin instead sends Luo Qinglan away from him and enters the Nightmare Realm using the Fishing Rod, sheltering his body in a Bronze Coffin guarded by puppets.
• Several days later, Chen Lin summons Grass and then Hua Ruyu. Both appear as withered, severely weakened plants, suggesting they suffered some unknown disaster in the Reality Realm.
• Fearing for Luo Qinglan and the others, Chen Lin prepares for the worst. He gives Fat Tiger the Cat Whisker and detailed instructions to contact Lord Cat and retrieve important items if Chen Lin does not summon him within three days. He then tries to return to the Reality Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and resourceful, relying on prepared safeguards but becoming increasingly alarmed as Grass and Hua Ruyu return in dire condition. He takes responsibility for protecting Luo Qinglan and prepares contingencies for his possible death.
• Wei Duxing is bitter and vulnerable after his failed breakthrough; he blames Bai Yuandu for the setbacks.
• Hua Ruyu chooses to act despite admitting her chances are poor, showing resolve and concern for those at risk.
• Grass follows Chen Lin’s instruction to protect Luo Qinglan, but her condition leaves the outcome uncertain.
• Fat Tiger, increasingly intelligent and loyal, worries about Grass and accepts the role of carrying out Chen Lin’s emergency plan.
• Chen Lin’s concern for Luo Qinglan drives his decision to send her away from the attack and later to investigate what happened to her.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and responsibility: Characters accept danger to protect others, while Chen Lin makes plans to safeguard his companions even from afar.
• Uncertainty and preparation: The nature of the attack and the fate of Central City remain unknown, making contingency planning essential.
• Fragility of power and progress: Wei Duxing’s interrupted breakthrough and the renewed separation of the planes show how quickly hard-won advancement can be undone.
• Loyalty across danger: Chen Lin’s bonds with Grass, Hua Ruyu, Fat Tiger, and Luo Qinglan shape his choices throughout the crisis.

Plot points and events

• Chen Lin awakens inside the Bronze Coffin, buried in wet soil. He escapes and discovers that a strange force suppresses his mana and divine sense, though his soul power remains mostly unaffected.
• He concludes he may be in the Otherworld. His Spirit Treasures and most spells are weakened, while his talent ability and Thunder God Sword remain intact. He switches to Soul Wings to conserve mana.
• After two days of travel, he reaches an abrupt boundary between a hot, plant-dotted swamp and a vast, bitterly cold snowfield. Tests reveal no barrier or other obvious explanation for the drastic climate change.
• The snowfield appears barren and lifeless. Worried that the plane may be unsuitable for survival, Chen Lin stores the recovering Grass and Hua Ruyu in Jade Boxes with supplies, then brings Fat Tiger back from the Nightmare Realm as a companion.
• He considers entering a Nightmare Realm scenario linked to a giant bird’s egg, hoping to learn about the outside world, but decides to explore first.
• After ten days crossing the snow, Chen Lin finds a small village that seems inhabited—chimney smoke rises and yards are cleared—but he sees no residents or animals. As he begins to withdraw, a woodcutter suddenly appears beneath his concealed boat, looks up, and remarks on its black color.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and methodical: he tests the environment with puppets and his own hand, avoids entering the village blindly, and prepares fallback plans.
• His reliance shifts from mana-based abilities to soul power, which proves more reliable in this strange place.
• Fat Tiger, now at Golden Core strength and possessing an undying body, becomes Chen Lin’s principal companion and potential survival ally.
• Chen Lin cannot yet learn what happened to Luo Qinglan and the others; he hopes Grass and Hua Ruyu may provide answers once they recover.
• The woodcutter’s sudden appearance—and direct address to Chen Lin—breaks the village’s eerie stillness and creates a new, uncertain encounter.

Significant themes

• Displacement and isolation: Chen Lin is cut off from his original world and unsure whether anyone he knows survived.
• Cautious survival: Careful testing, conserving resources, and delaying risky choices define his response to the unknown.
• Anomalous environments: Extreme climates coexist without a visible boundary, while the region’s apparent emptiness suggests hidden rules or dangers.
• Hope amid uncertainty: Nightmare Realm access still works, Fat Tiger is available, and the village hints that intelligent life may exist—though each development raises new questions.

Key plot points

• Chen Lin discovers his hidden Spirit Boat has been noticed by a seemingly ordinary woodcutter, who shows little interest and walks into a snowbound village. Suspicious of the place’s unnatural conditions, Chen Lin follows the woodcutter’s tracks instead of approaching the village.
• The tracks lead to a lone tree stump, where two men argue over who owns it. Both prove to be Golden Core Cultivators, yet they brawl like ordinary people without using spells. When Chen Lin rises into the air, they abruptly flee.
• The woodcutter suddenly ambushes Chen Lin with his firewood saber. The weapon cuts through Chen Lin’s armor and defenses, while Chen Lin’s Spirit Treasure, domain, and lightning attacks pass harmlessly through the attacker.
• Chen Lin tries to escape, but his danger-sensing Talent Ability warns him that the flight talisman will lead to danger. Forced to abort, he loses part of his leg. He then strikes the woodcutter with Soul-Destroying Finger attacks, which weaken him; three successive strikes kill him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and observant, conserving resources and withholding questions as he tries to understand the strange world. His confidence in his powerful defenses collapses when the woodcutter defeats them effortlessly, but he adapts quickly and discovers that soul-based attacks can harm the attacker.
• The woodcutter appears ordinary and unconcerned, yet is far stronger than the two Golden Core Cultivators and can bypass Chen Lin’s defenses. His nature and motives remain unexplained.
• He Zhenshan of Mingxia Grotto and the middle-aged cultivator of Emerald Grotto quarrel over the stump, revealing a petty rivalry and apparent restrictions on their use of cultivation powers. They flee when Chen Lin takes to the air.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and danger: The village and its inhabitants defy Chen Lin’s expectations, leaving the rules of this world unclear.
• Limits of power: Chen Lin’s prized treasures and techniques prove useless against an opponent who does not follow ordinary combat logic.
• Adaptation and survival: Careful observation, his danger-sensing ability, and a willingness to change tactics ultimately let Chen Lin find the woodcutter’s weakness.

Plot points and events

• After the Woodcutter dies and crumbles to ash, Chen Lin has Fat Tiger check the remains. The only thing left is the Woodcutter’s worn-looking saber, which Chen Lin takes but does not test.
• Still wary of accomplices, Chen Lin leaves the battlefield with Fat Tiger, heading after the two cultivators who fled earlier. He hopes to find their settlements and learn more about the strange snowy region.
• As he travels, Chen Lin puzzles over why his strongest weapons failed against the Woodcutter, while the Soul-Destroying Finger killed him with a single strike. He concludes that the Woodcutter was no ordinary being and resolves to study the technique more closely.
• The cultivators’ tracks eventually disappear, and Chen Lin cannot determine where they went. Suspecting that flight may be possible away from the village, he considers searching for other trees but decides the risk is too great.
• Chen Lin turns back toward the swamp, intending to recover fully and consume a True Soul Flower to strengthen his soul power—and, in turn, the Soul-Destroying Finger. He avoids spells and spirit-powered puppets in case their energy attracts danger.
• A month passes without Chen Lin finding settlements, mountains, or even trees. Then he and Fat Tiger spot a lone tree. As they cautiously approach, Chen Lin notices a nearby snow mound moving—and a head emerging from it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin survives the fight but remains cautious and uncertain about the Woodcutter’s nature and the rules of the region. He chooses recovery and preparation over risky exploration, recognizing that strengthening his soul may be essential to survival.
• Fat Tiger serves as Chen Lin’s scout and companion, searching the ashes and later spotting the distant tree. Though physically resilient, he had been unable to keep pace with or seriously harm the Woodcutter.
• Chen Lin directs Fat Tiger’s actions throughout, relying on his undying body while keeping him under strict orders to stay alert and still.

Significant themes

• Caution in the unknown: Chen Lin avoids assumptions and limits his use of magic while he tries to understand the region’s dangers.
• Adaptation and preparation: The fight reveals the value of an unexpected technique, prompting Chen Lin to prioritize strengthening it.
• Mystery and unreliable appearances: The Woodcutter’s ordinary-looking saber, strange death, and unclear nature challenge Chen Lin’s understanding of familiar powers.
• Isolation and survival: The endless snowfield, lack of settlements, and scarcity of landmarks make the environment itself a persistent threat.

Three Kings Grotto

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin watches a snowy clearing and sees a cultivator retrieve a valuable tree stump after another man cuts down the tree. He follows the cultivator, who transports the stump using a large, nonmagical balloon—explaining how earlier tracks had vanished.
• Chen Lin and Fat Tiger follow the balloon’s route for weeks until they find high ground that may conceal a settlement. Chen sends Fat Tiger into the Nightmare Realm to avoid alarming anyone.
• A wary young cultivator, He Wangshui, confirms that the settlement is Three Kings Grotto. Chen claims to come from Emerald Grotto and says he needs help after losing his belongings.
• Entry requires signing a Blood Pact forbidding troublemaking and revealing information about the grotto. Chen uses his divination ability to check for hidden danger, finds none, and signs.
• He is escorted through a concealed, heavily guarded entrance and several stone doors into a busy underground settlement with shops, streets, and dense spiritual energy.
• After tipping his escort, Qu Qingzhou, with a Foundation Establishment pill, Chen learns that resources are scarce. He decides to stay at the inn, recover from his injuries, refine the true soul flower, and plan his next move.

Character developments

• Chen Lin remains cautious and observant, relying on patience, concealment, and divination rather than rushing into danger. His successful entry gives him a temporary refuge and a chance to recover.
• He Wangshui begins suspicious but becomes more welcoming after Chen names a distant grotto and explains his predicament.
• Qu Qingzhou is a courteous escort whose eagerness to accept a pill reveals how valuable resources are in the settlement.
• Fat Tiger supports Chen’s search, but Chen keeps him out of sight to prevent misunderstandings.

Significant themes

• Caution and strategic patience: Chen watches the cultivators and follows at a distance before approaching the settlement.
• Scarcity and value: A single pill impresses Qu Qingzhou, while the stump’s painstaking recovery suggests valuable materials are worth considerable effort.
• Trust under rules: Chen can enter Three Kings Grotto only by accepting a binding agreement, and he uses his talent to assess the risk.
• Adaptation to a hostile environment: The cultivators rely on nonmagical devices for travel and mechanical defenses for the settlement, while finding a way to cultivate underground.

Character interactions

• Chen silently tracks the stump-gathering cultivator without confronting him.
• He introduces himself to He Wangshui under a partly fabricated cover story; He explains the Blood Pact and allows him entry after Chen signs.
• Chen thanks Qu Qingzhou with a pill, prompting the escort to reveal his name and workplace.
• Chen observes the settlement’s residents and shopkeepers from a distance before choosing to stay.

Plot and key events

• Chen Lin settles into an inn for a year, paying with metal ore because this underground society uses barter rather than spirit stones.
• He learns that tree stumps are materials for divine weapons, the only weapons capable of harming the Tianluo race. True divine weapons—taken from slain Tianluo—are far stronger and rarer than cultivator-made imitations.
• The Tianluo are governed by strange rules: they usually do not attack unless someone uses energy, but once provoked they are extremely dangerous. Special ore-built caves block energy signals, allowing targeted people to hide safely behind multiple isolating doors.
• Chen Lin keeps the Woodcutter’s Firewood Saber as a precaution, though he doubts its usefulness against swift opponents. He rests and treats his injuries, then spends a month discreetly gathering information.
• He learns that cultivators here descend from ancient outsiders who lost conflicts with the native Tianluo and took refuge underground. Their settlements rely on inherited resources and ancient cave abodes.
• The cultivators developed the Heaven Concealing Technique, which lets anyone cultivate and advance beyond Golden Core without heavenly tribulation. Its costs include impure mana, increased risk of inner demons, and weakened spells and treasures. Chen Lin studies it but refuses to practice, hoping to return to normal cultivation.
• Three Kings Grotto is a sizable settlement, with three early Void Refinement cultivators, over a hundred Spirit Transformation cultivators, and many others.
• Qu Qingzhou visits Chen Lin, hoping to buy more pills. Chen Lin says he has sold nearly all of them and offers the location of a southern swamp cavern. Qu declines, citing its distance and deadly monsters; Chen Lin presses him for details.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains cautious and analytical, gathering information without drawing attention. He values having backup weapons but is unwilling to compromise his long-term cultivation prospects by adopting the local technique.
• Qu Qingzhou, grateful for the pill Chen Lin previously gave him, approaches respectfully and hopes to obtain more. His fear of the swamp reveals both his need for resources and his reluctance to take major risks.
• Their conversation shifts from Qu’s request for pills to Chen’s interest in what Qu knows about the swamp.

Significant themes

• Survival under restrictive rules: Safety depends on understanding the Tianluo’s unusual behavior and using protected underground spaces.
• Power and trade-offs: Divine weapons and the Heaven Concealing Technique offer major advantages, but each comes with limitations or costs.
• Knowledge as a resource: Chen Lin’s cautious questioning and information-gathering are central to navigating an unfamiliar world.
• Preserving one’s future: Despite the technique’s remarkable benefits, Chen Lin prioritizes the possibility of returning to ordinary cultivation.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Lin questions Qu Qingzhou about the swamp. Qu knows little beyond its danger and says even the Tianluo Race avoids it.
• Qu explains that he sought pills for his senior brother’s father, Meng Hezhang, whose life is nearly over and who hopes to reach Foundation Establishment.
• Chen offers Meng a Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for undertaking a dangerous, confidential task. Meng agrees, signs a soul pact, and Chen helps him through the breakthrough.
• When an inner demon emerges during the attempt, Chen suppresses it with an Exorcism Pill and assists with the cultivation process. Meng succeeds and pledges loyalty.
• Chen teaches Meng a divine-sense technique and sends him into a Nightmare Realm scenario. His task is to find someone associated with Xu Zihan and learn the rules and method for leaving. Chen gives him a portrait of Xu and a deciphered Taixu-script bone shard.
• Chen leaves a Crow Puppet to monitor the room and waits, studying Taixu-script scrolls. He reflects that the cave’s inhabitants know little of the wider world or the Nightmare Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin remains pragmatic and strategic: he trades a life-saving pill and cultivation assistance for a useful agent, and uses Meng’s desires and desperation to secure cooperation.
• Meng Hezhang moves from a dying Qi Condensation cultivator with little hope to a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Grateful and ambitious, he commits himself to Chen’s service.
• Meng Dashan initially appears ready to question Chen’s terms but defers when his father accepts the risk.
• Qu Qingzhou acts as the intermediary who brings Meng and his son to Chen, then leaves once the arrangement is made.
• Chen’s dealings with Meng are framed as mutual advantage, but the strict soul pact and limited information emphasize the unequal power between them.

Significant themes

• Survival through bargains: Meng accepts a dangerous mission because his remaining life offers little prospect otherwise.
• Power and control: Chen turns knowledge, medicine, and cultivation aid into leverage, while the soul pact ensures secrecy.
• Ignorance and isolation: Generations in the underground cave have lost awareness of the broader world, making their understanding of reality narrow and deeply ingrained.
• Desire and motivation: Chen sees Meng’s longing for life and comfort as something that makes him easier to direct, while also showing how strongly the will to live persists even near death.

Key plot points and events

• After a month with no sign of progress, Meng Hezhang awakens from the Nightmare Realm. He reports being trapped in a bare cave until a strange, friendly woman—with small trees growing from her head and shoulders—appeared and explained how to leave.
• The exit task is to wait for a stone slab beside the cave entrance to change color, then write down the number of large birds in the meadow. Meng counted two, followed Chen Lin’s instructions to put away the Bone Shard, and was expelled. Chen verifies his account with the Soul-Bewitching Technique.
• Chen learns that spiritual-rice production in the Minor Spirit Realm has fallen, potentially making life in the settlement more difficult. To secure a residence, he trades a dharmic treasure flying sword and purchases a small courtyard.
• After inspecting the house, Chen sets up formations, stations puppets and Fat Tiger to guard it, then enters the Nightmare Realm. He finds the same cave, sees no birds in the meadow, and begins exploring. A familiar Level One Road Guide barrier blocks the way, but he passes through it.

Character developments

• Chen Lin remains cautious and methodical: he tests Meng’s story, limits what he reveals about himself, and prepares his new home carefully before entering the Nightmare Realm.
• Meng Hezhang returns safely and provides a consistent account, though the bizarre woman and her appearance clearly unsettled him.
• Chen becomes more concerned about settling in after hearing that spirit-rice supplies may be disrupted.

Significant themes

• Caution amid uncertainty: Chen verifies reports and prepares safeguards rather than trusting appearances or hearsay.
• The strange rules of the Nightmare Realm: Survival depends on discovering and following specific, sometimes unusual task conditions.
• Fragile security: Even a settled community may be vulnerable to resource shortages and dangers beyond its borders.

Character interactions

• Chen questions Meng closely about the cave, the woman, and the exit condition, then confirms his answers through magic.
• Chen negotiates with the shopkeeper and the property owner, trading a flying sword for a courtyard while keeping his background vague.
• The shopkeeper’s rumors about a dangerous Swamp monster prompt Chen to reconsider what may have happened to Hua Ruyu and Grass, though he admits he has no proof.

Key plot points

• Chen Lin explores the area around the cave and finds that the Level One Road Guide ends at a barrier bordering a grassy plain. Though his Level Two guide lets him cross, he decides not to risk entering unknown territory.
• Two enormous birds land on the plain. Their arrival makes the stone slab turn pale yellow, so Chen Lin writes the ancient character for “two,” correctly completing the task and confirming he can leave without being bound by its rules.
• He watches the birds mate, and the female immediately lays a colored egg. Kannie, a powerful woman with small trees growing from her head and shoulders, explains that colored eggs are alive and can hatch; grayish-white eggs are dead. Taking a living egg means risking the birds’ deadly attacks.
• Chen Lin says he has no interest in taking the egg and asks about the Myriad Realms Alliance gathering. Kannie says it is likely held once a year, with the next one about six months away.
• Before Chen Lin leaves, Kannie shows him a huge red mushroom and asks whether he has encountered one in a Nightmare Realm scenario. It can draw people inside and transform them into mushrooms permanently.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin is cautious and observant: he avoids crossing into the unexplored grassland and declines to pursue the valuable living egg. He is also straightforward with Kannie, acknowledging that he sent a low-level cultivator to scout ahead.
• Kannie is composed and knowledgeable about the local rules. She answers Chen Lin’s questions, warns him about the danger of the birds, then seeks his help identifying the mushroom.
• The exchange gives Chen Lin a possible lead on Xiaohong, whose aura he recognizes on the mushroom. He hopes this may help him learn how Niuniu is doing, but cannot investigate it until he returns to the Reality Realm.

Significant themes

• Caution versus opportunity: A living egg could greatly increase one’s power, but obtaining it carries a serious risk.
• Rules and uncertainty: Chen Lin tests the slab’s task system while carefully avoiding unknown territory.
• Connection across realms: The mushroom offers a potential link to people and concerns from Chen Lin’s other experiences, even as the limits of the Nightmare Realm prevent immediate action.

Key plot points and events

• At a gathering in the Nightmare Realm, Chen Lin recognizes Kannie’s description of a mushroom as resembling one associated with Xiaohong, a Guardian. Kannie says the mushroom has transformed almost her entire Lineage into mushrooms.
• Chen warns that a Guardian may be involved and that such mutations could be difficult to reverse. Kannie counters that Nightmare Realm rules are not absolute: she has seen a mutated person recover and has encountered other supposed rules being broken.
• Chen tells Kannie that the mushroom’s Guardian is Xiaohong, whose Scenario is a small village, and suggests she mention his name if she or someone from her Lineage enters it. He cautions her that the Scenario is dangerous.
• Kannie explains that Nightmare Realm Scenarios have tiers. Ordinary Road Guides work only in ordinary Scenarios; Silver Scenarios require Silver Road Guides, which can also be used in ordinary ones. Chen realizes this explains why his guide failed in Bluestone Street.
• After Kannie leaves, Chen returns to his body, reflects on how little he knows about the Nightmare Realm, and resolves to attend more gatherings—while retaining his cautious approach to danger.
• A Nascent Soul Late Stage Deacon, Xiao Jingshan, visits Chen’s new residence to make inquiries. Chen offers him a Foundation Establishment Puppet, improving Xiao’s attitude. The Deacon warns of damage to spirit-rice crops and plants, then leaves. Chen makes inquiries of his own, returns home, sets up an Isolation Array, and begins secluded cultivation.

Character developments

• Chen Lin gains important information about Scenario tiers and acknowledges that his understanding of the Nightmare Realm is incomplete. He remains wary, valuing survival over opportunities, but recognizes that excessive isolation can leave him unprepared.
• Kannie is revealed as knowledgeable about the Nightmare Realm and deeply worried about her endangered Lineage. She is open to seeking help, though the danger of Xiaohong’s Scenario remains.
• Xiao Jingshan begins the visit cautiously, apparently investigating Chen’s origins, but becomes friendlier after accepting the Puppet.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and humility: Nightmare Realm “rules” can be overturned, so firm assumptions are dangerous.
• Risk versus opportunity: Chen sees the value of gathering information but refuses to abandon his cautious instincts.
• Knowledge as protection: Understanding Scenario tiers explains past failures and may guide future survival.
• Community and obligation: Kannie’s urgency to save her Lineage contrasts with Chen’s limited ability and willingness to help.

Character interactions

• Chen and Kannie exchange information and warnings: he identifies Xiaohong as the likely Guardian, while she teaches him about Scenario tiers and the fallibility of Nightmare Realm rules.
• Chen and Xiao Jingshan negotiate a cautious first meeting. Chen answers evasively about his explorations, then gives Xiao a Puppet as a gesture of goodwill; Xiao responds by offering future assistance and warning him about damaged crops.

Chapter Summary: “Gathering”

Key plot points and events

• Six months after arriving at Three Kings Grotto, Chen Lin struggles to cultivate because the surrounding bizarre energy interferes with his practice. His supplies should last about two more years, so he postpones exploring the dangerous Ancient Cultivator Cave Abodes and focuses on preparing.
• Spirit-rice prices continue to rise, forcing some poorer cultivators to leave the settlement.
• Chen enters the Nightmare Realm and finds the long-awaited Myriad Realms Alliance gathering underway. Only four other members are present: Chali Bu, Jin Xuanzi, Faint Shadow, and Sarina.
• Chali Bu says alliance members must pay one Nightmare Coin per question. Chen challenges the charge, but Kannie confirms that the rule is real and pays on his behalf.
• Kannie asks Sarina and the others to join an expedition to a dangerous place linked to a wizard inheritance. They all decline.
• Kannie offers twenty Nightmare Coins for trustworthy information on a safe way to buy an ordinary Level 3 Road Guide, but nobody can help. Jin Xuanzi likewise fails to find a defensive or evasion treasure.
• Chen asks for an art capable of refining Nightmare Realm treasures. Kannie says she has one and promises to give it to him after the gathering. Chen hopes it will let him use his Emerald Bracelet.
• Chen also seeks information about the Southern Star Realm and his current plane, but gets no answers. The gathering ends.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen remains cautious and resource-conscious, weighing the risks of exploration against the benefits of finding a Minor Spirit Realm and ancient treasures.
• At the gathering, he pushes back against what he perceives as an attempt to take advantage of him, showing that he will not readily accept a newcomer’s inferior status.
• Chali Bu presents himself as friendly but enforces the alliance’s fee rule; his quick retraction after Kannie pays suggests he was partly teasing or testing Chen.
• Kannie’s arrival reassures Chen, who had worried about her absence. She treats him with notable generosity, pays his fee, and offers him valuable knowledge, prompting the others to reconsider their view of him.
• Sarina is guarded and practical, refusing Kannie’s risky expedition because the location may have changed and the old information may be unreliable.
• Jin Xuanzi and the other members make requests but find little useful help, underscoring how limited and cautious the group’s exchanges are.

Significant themes

• Scarcity and risk: Chen must balance dwindling resources against the dangers of exploration.
• Trust, status, and reciprocity: Alliance rules govern exchanges, while Kannie’s support gives Chen social protection and standing.
• Knowledge as power: The gathering offers opportunities to trade information, but useful knowledge is rare and often tied to danger.
• Preparation over haste: Chen delays risky ventures until he has better resources and understanding.

Key plot points and events

• Kannie confirms that Chen Lin’s help allowed her people to recover from their mushroom-like transformations. She explains that Xiaohong, a Guardian, remains chained but can still act through the Mushroom Hut’s rules. Xiaohong cured Kannie’s people with a mushroom and sent Chen Lin a small white one, telling him to keep it with his Talisman.
• Chen Lin suspects Xiaohong transformed Kannie’s people to reach him, perhaps using an ability connected to destiny.
• Kannie teaches Chen Lin a soul-power-based Artifact Refining Art. She warns that Gray-White Giant Eggs are rare and that taking a Colored Egg triggers a dangerous task.
• After Kannie leaves, Chen Lin learns the art and successfully refines his Emerald Bracelet, activating it as a protective gauze-like dress.
• Blue Butterfly unexpectedly arrives. She reports that the Southern Star Realm fractured into roughly eighty to a hundred pieces, with perhaps half its people surviving. Tongtian City likely remained intact under its formations, though its location is unknown.
• Chen Lin agrees to explain the area in exchange for information about Tongtian City, then asks Blue Butterfly what Medium Object brought her there.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Lin gains a possible remedy for transformations, a new refining technique, and a working defensive treasure. He remains wary of the Guardians’ power and seeks information about the fate of his home realm.
• Kannie is grateful to Chen Lin and hopeful about restoring her lineage. She shares practical knowledge, offers him the refining art, and establishes a way for them to contact each other.
• Xiaohong remains mysterious and powerful: though chained, she can influence events and appears to know how to reach Chen Lin.
• Blue Butterfly reappears as an unexpected source of news. Her exchange with Chen Lin is cautious but cooperative, with each seeking information from the other.

Significant themes

• Survival and recovery: Kannie’s people escape their abnormal transformations, while the fractured Southern Star Realm leaves countless survivors scattered.
• Power and constraint: Even Guardians can be chained, though Xiaohong’s influence remains formidable.
• Knowledge as a resource: Chen Lin’s progress depends on lessons and information shared by others.
• Uncertainty and fate: Xiaohong’s apparent ability to target Chen Lin raises questions about whether she can perceive or manipulate destiny.