Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin recruited the Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman to help with the Chessboard Scenario in exchange for arranging a chance to meet a True-Realm Expert. After learning that the Tianqi Sect was isolated by internal strife, he asked Liu Rumian to connect the woman with the Six Mysteries Sect, then identified the Honeycomb Treasure as a Soul Hive and learned its powers and limits.

• The Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman told Chen Lin that she could not find a way into the Wangyue Realm and explained that a secret method had left her body, soul, and intent damaged.
• Chen Lin offered to arrange an audience with a True-Realm Expert if she helped him with the Chessboard Scenario, and she agreed to two attempts after he and Luo Xing swore they had disclosed everything about the Nightmare Realm.
• The Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman gave Chen Lin a method to strengthen his chess intent, and Chen Lin later summoned Liu Rumian, who had advanced to the void realm.
• Liu Rumian told Chen Lin that internal strife had cut off contact with the Tianqi Sect, so Chen Lin proposed sending the Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman to the Six Mysteries Sect for an evaluation and safe reception.
• Chen Lin asked Liu Rumian to watch the Hongming Ancestor and Li Yuanlei, and she agreed before leaving to return to her sect.
• Chen Lin examined the Honeycomb Treasure and identified it as a Soul Hive, a rare treasure that could devour souls or let its user experience reincarnation in real worlds.

Chen Lin accepted a dragon egg from Xue Ding'e and searched for information about the Soul Hive while waiting for the Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman to reach the Six Mysteries Sect. After learning that Luo Qinglan had returned to Hongming Ancestor as Luo Shenhuang, Chen Lin entered the Soul Hive to experience reincarnation.

• Chen Lin safely sent the Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman toward the Six Mysteries Sect and received Xue Ding'e, who gave him a dragon egg and left Xue Yinping to tend it.
• Chen Lin used the Interrogation Secret Art on Xue Yinping, learned she had come only to help hatch the egg, and assigned her a room and assistants in the Spirit Beast Hall.
• Chen Lin secretly searched ancient texts for information about the Soul Hive but found no account more useful than Aunt Aisa's inheritance, so he put off using it until after the Story Contest.
• Liu Rumian told Chen Lin that Chu Yuanjun had become a guest elder of the Six Mysteries Sect and revealed that Luo Shenhuang and Hundred Flowers Fairy had returned with Hongming Ancestor.
• Chen Lin concluded that Luo Qinglan had become Luo Shenhuang and was no longer his wife, then separated his soul from his body and entered a hole in the Soul Hive.

Chen Lin reincarnated as a golden-thread grass in the Flying Heavens Realm, gained insight into samsara, and passed an inheritance to Zhao Hongying before returning to the Reality Realm. After learning Zhao Hongying shared the name of a legendary True Immortal, he entered the Soul Hive again and was reborn as a child amid a famine and rebellion.

• Chen Lin spent over five hundred years as a golden-thread grass, survived nine lightning tribulations, and was dug up by Zhao Hongying for pill refining.
• When the pill cauldron exploded, Chen Lin appeared and learned from Zhao Qinghe that he was in the Upper Primal Domain; before returning, he named Zhao Hongying his disciple and gave her inheritances.
• Chen Lin returned to the Reality Realm, sent Long Han to investigate the Flying Heavens Realm, and realized that reincarnation had helped him cross the threshold of the samsara law.
• Long Han reported that the legendary True Immortal Zhao Hongying had tried and failed to break the Inner World's cage, leaving Chen Lin uncertain whether the name match was coincidence or destiny.
• Chen Lin summoned Grass, explained the Soul Hive's risks, and entered it again after confirming she could resist its pull.
• In Heaven's Enlightenment Year Seven, Chen Lin was born to a famine-stricken family outside Wei City, and his family took a celestial omen as a sign to rebel.

After eighteen Soul Hive reincarnations, Chen Lin achieved minor mastery of the Destiny Law and spent decades preparing for Fairytale Town’s Story Contest, which could earn him Golden Nightmare Coins for his journey to the Netherworld. With three months until the contest, the Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman visited his Fiefdom and brought him a Golden Nightmare Coin and a scroll depicting distant sights from the Chessboard Scenario.

• Chen Lin finished digesting his reincarnation as a mortal emperor and had Long Han investigate the mysterious plane and the Flying Heavens Realm.
• Over thirty years, Luo Xing advanced to the Semi-Void Realm and won a Golden Nightmare Coin, but the Chessboard Scenario vanished after his game; the Six Mysteries Sect later secured eight coins and gave Chen Lin three.
• Chen Lin underwent sixteen more Soul Hive reincarnations, bringing his total to eighteen, and his Destiny Law reached minor mastery, though the later reincarnations damaged his soul.
• Chen Lin used meta-magnetic spirit and primal worms to repair the gourd from the Chaos Pool, then prepared for Fairytale Town’s Story Contest to win more Golden Nightmare Coins.
• Chen Lin questioned his disciples about the Leaf Scenario and checked on Xue Yinping’s still-unhatched Dragon Egg before studying the Silence Technique for the contest.
• With three months until the contest, the Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman visited Chen Lin, gave him a Golden Nightmare Coin, and showed him a scroll she had painted after seeing distant sights in the Chessboard Scenario.

Chen Lin discovered that the Treasure Map Daoist Bu had given him matched the lake in the Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman’s map, placing the Destiny Treasure in the Nightmare Realm. He entered Fairytale Town early for the Story Contest, bought a matchbox from the Little Match Girl, and met Yuan Qing, a Four-Star Advanced Traveling Merchant, leaving their potential trade undecided.

• The Seven Mysteries Heavenly Woman gave Chen Lin a detailed map of the Chessboard Scenario and a Golden Nightmare Coin before leaving to restore her body.
• Chen Lin compared her map with Daoist Bu’s Bamboo Scroll and realized the maps showed the same lake and surrounding area, suggesting the Destiny Treasure was in the Nightmare Realm.
• Two months later, Chen Lin entered Fairytale Town early with his Death-Exemption Gold Medal to prepare for the Story Contest.
• The Little Match Girl sold Chen Lin a matchbox for one Golden Nightmare Coin, then ran off saying that Grandma could be saved; the box contained a single match.
• Yuan Qing, a Four-Star Advanced Traveling Merchant, offered Chen Lin trade access for a nonrefundable one-coin application fee, and Chen Lin suggested returning after the Story Contest.

Chen Lin explored Fairytale Town, learned the Story Contest was a month away, and discovered that Bluwa had created the town’s new five-star cottage. He met Gu Chenxuan, a wealthy visitor from Yesterday Manor, and learned more about the upcoming contest before Gu Chenxuan set off to explore the cottages.

• Chen Lin searched the paths within his Road Guide’s limits and found three Fairytale Cottages, including the one-star Banana-Loving Big-Ear Rabbit cottage.
• Chen Lin returned to the Grand Theater and met Lord Xila, who told him the Story Contest would begin in a month and that, as defending champion, he could enter without an Invitation Letter.
• Lord Xila revealed that Bluwa had used an Evolution Document to turn her story into a five-star Fairytale Cottage, which Chen Lin suspected was the Ugly Duckling story he had given her.
• Gu Chenxuan appeared and introduced himself as a visitor from Yesterday Manor; he gave Chen Lin two Golden Nightmare Coins and asked about Fairytale Town and the Story Contest.
• Chen Lin explained the cottages and contest to Gu Chenxuan, accepted his personal token, and warned him about the paths and cottage dangers before Gu Chenxuan flew off to explore.

Chen Lin visited Barbara’s one-star Fairytale Cottage to begin a departure mission and learned about Fairytale Town’s Pass Clearance Documents and points. He entered the Gluttonous Xiaoqi scenario, where his main quest was to find the real Xiaoqi within three days.

• Chen Lin followed Gu Chenxuan to Big-Ear Rabbit Cottage but arrived after Gu Chenxuan had flown away.
• Chen Lin met Barbara and learned that leaving Fairytale Town required a Pass Clearance Document and points, which could be earned through cottage adventures.
• Barbara offered to exchange a cottage ticket for a story, and Chen Lin gave her The Tortoise and the Hare.
• Chen Lin chose Barbara’s Gluttonous Xiaoqi scenario and entered its Light Gate.
• Chen Lin arrived in an Ancient Castle garden as a big-headed boy and received a quest to find the real Xiaoqi within three days.

Chen Lin entered the Ancient Castle scenario and became entangled in a dispute over the Princess Consort’s Jade Liquid Tree, while trying to identify Gluttonous Xiaoqi among several people whose names or titles contained a “qi” sound. Princess Angel discovered Chen Lin’s Life Magic and brought him to revive her ailing Taobao; just as he began helping, a white-bearded old man arrived.

• Chen Lin snapped a branch from the Jade Liquid Tree, restored it with Life Magic, and was accused by the maid Qingqi of damaging the tree.
• Captain Qi arrested Chen Lin and Qingqi, but Princess Angel stopped the group and learned that Qingqi’s mirror showed Chen Lin breaking a branch.
• Chen Lin accused Qingqi of eating the tree’s branches and the castle’s missing food, but Princess Angel took them to inspect the tree rather than punish anyone.
• Princess Angel recognized Chen Lin’s ability to restore the branch and asked him to use Life Magic on her sick Taobao.
• Chen Lin revived the withered peach tree enough to produce green buds, and Princess Angel rewarded him with glittering candies.
• A white-bearded old man entered the courtyard and remarked that Princess Angel had already found an expert.

Master Sagu healed Taobao and gave Chen Lin an invitation to the Spirit Planter Exchange Conference, while revealing that he recognized Chen Lin as an outsider. After Chen Lin exposed and destroyed the Shadow Demon hidden as the Princess Consort, Princess Angel became Queen Angel, and Chen Lin ended the experience after refusing her proposal.

• Master Sagu restored Taobao with life spring water and gave Chen Lin an invitation card, then Chen Lin discovered he could not leave the castle grounds.
• The Seventh Concubine ordered Maid Qingqi to gouge out Chen Lin's eyes, so Chen Lin subdued the castle residents and forced them to gather everyone whose name contained a sound like “qi.”
• Chen Lin used his Fate Screen to draw a name from the jar, and the disguised Princess Consort revealed herself as a Shadow Demon before fleeing toward the gate.
• Chen Lin struck down the Shadow Demon as it tried to escape, and Princess Angel learned that it had devoured her family.
• Princess Angel was crowned Queen Angel and appointed Chen Lin Protectorate Great General, then proposed to him, but he refused and ended the experience.

Chen Lin earned a perfect rating in the Fairytale Cottage scenario and chose rewards that gave him access to Fairytale Town, a refunded entry fee, and a magical peach. As the next Story Contest began, he sold Lilia a story just before new rules banned traded tales, then followed Anna into the theater, where she asked him to choose the Challenge Document and help her obtain something from the Outer Realm Battlefield.

• Chen Lin correctly identified the Seventh Princess Consort as Gluttonous Xiaoqi, completed the main and side quests, and received a perfect rating with three rewards.
• Chen Lin examined his rewards and found that Master Sagu's Invitation Card resonated with his Spirit Planter Token, suggesting the Spirit Planter Exchange Meeting was genuine.
• Lilia offered Chen Lin five Golden Nightmare Coins for a new story, and Chen Lin accepted after Bluwa warned him that the Story Contest rules were about to change.
• The theater announced that contestants could use only stories personally obtained in the Story Origin, so Lilia demanded her coins back and threatened Chen Lin before Bluwa intervened.
• Anna stopped Lilia and Bluwa's argument, brought Chen Lin into the theater, and asked what it would take for him to choose the Challenge Document.
• Anna told Chen Lin she needed something obtainable only in the Outer Realm Battlefield and wanted his help, while Chen Lin doubted he could win a hundred contests over ten thousand years.

Anna persuaded Chen Lin to accept the Challenge Document by offering him a Gold Level 3 Road Guide and revealing that Nightmare Realm projections were latent halves of real-world creatures that could compete with their originals for a complete identity. Chen Lin agreed to pursue first place in the Story Contest, though he doubted Anna’s account and settled in to watch the contest begin.

• Anna told Chen Lin that the Outer Realm Battlefield needed unusual abilities as well as combat strength, and warned that the Fairytale Sprite favored him and required him to accept the challenge.
• Chen Lin agreed to choose the Challenge Document if he took first place, and Anna gave him her spare Gold Level 3 Road Guide in return.
• Anna revealed that each projected creature had a nightmare realm counterpart, and that one half could devour the other to claim a complete identity while erasing the loser’s traces.
• Anna said Chen Lin could find his counterpart with a guiding item from the Outer Realm Battlefield, and promised to share a Fusion Method after obtaining it.
• After Anna left to host the Story Contest, Chen Lin suspected she had exaggerated how widely projections applied and took a seat, determined to win first place and the Golden Nightmare Coins.

After winning the Story Contest with Journey to the West and the Silence Technique, Chen Lin helped Big-Ear Rabbit escape her Wandering Puppet form and asked her to watch Lilia and Lord Anna. He then entered the female Traveling Merchant's Money House, learned the cracked slab bore Star Dou Script, and arranged to buy an inheritance bead with Soul Steamed Buns.

• Chen Lin won the Story Contest using the Silence Technique, claimed the Challenge Document, and searched Fairytale Town for Anna and the female Traveling Merchant.
• Chen Lin gave Big-Ear Rabbit a Golden Nightmare Coin, allowing her to pay her penalty and regain her original form.
• Chen Lin privately asked Big-Ear Rabbit to keep an eye on Lilia and Lord Anna, and she reluctantly agreed.
• Chen Lin followed the female Traveling Merchant into her Money House and paid a Golden Nightmare Coin to learn that the slab's writing was Star Dou Script.
• The female Traveling Merchant offered a Star Dou Script Inheritance Bead for two Golden Nightmare Coins, and Chen Lin traded her a hundred baskets of Soul Steamed Buns toward the purchase.
• The female Traveling Merchant explained that one Golden Nightmare Coin could be exchanged for thirty thousand Ordinary Nightmare Coins, but not the other way around.

Chen Lin traded with the female Traveling Merchant for Star Dou Script and a Mirror Image Fusion method, learning that fusion grew less likely as either counterpart became stronger. He learned he could use merit to ask the Nightmare Law Controller for information about his Mirror Counterpart, then began negotiating another question.

• The female Traveling Merchant gave Chen Lin a single-use Inheritance Bead containing Star Dou Script after explaining that Nightmare Realm currencies had no fixed exchange rates.
• Chen Lin asked about Reality Realm projections, but declined the five-Golden-Coin price and instead negotiated for the Projection Clone Fusion Method.
• The female Traveling Merchant warned Chen Lin to fuse with his mirror image early, since once either counterpart reached a certain level, fusion would become nearly impossible and they would compete to achieve Turning the Void into Reality.
• Chen Lin paid one hundred Mysterious Stones for the Fusion Secret Method and learned that merit could buy information about his Mirror Counterpart from the Nightmare Law Controller.
• Chen Lin asked whether he would sense his Mirror Counterpart without guidance, and the female Traveling Merchant demanded another transaction fee; he asked if Mysterious Stones could cover it.

Chen Lin spent his last trade with the female Traveling Merchant, Lord Yuan, obtaining a Unique Secret Method called Death Gaze and two other soul arts. Lord Yuan left without giving him a way to contact her, so Chen Lin would have to rely on fate to trade with her again.

• Chen Lin paid a Golden Nightmare Coin to apply for a trade after Lord Yuan refused his Mysterious Stones as an application fee.
• Chen Lin asked about refining Mysterious Stones, the Netherworld, and advanced spells, but Lord Yuan had no suitable methods or information.
• Chen Lin examined Lord Yuan’s catalog and chose three soul secret arts, including Death Gaze, which she explained was a Unique Secret Method that only one person could master.
• Chen Lin paid one thousand Mysterious Stones for Death Gaze and received two other secret arts as gifts.
• Chen Lin asked Lord Yuan for a way to contact her, but she refused and vanished after saying they might meet again.

After escaping Fairytale Town, Chen Lin returned to his secret chamber with numerous treasures and began learning Star Dou Script to decipher two mysterious texts. He discovered the stone tablet held only the Mo Clan’s ancestral instructions and turned to the more promising Golden Book Page.

• Chen Lin used the Pass Clearance Document to leave Fairytale Town, then reassured Grass and told Long Han that he had returned safely.
• Chen Lin showed Grass his rewards, including thirteen Golden Nightmare Coins and a Gold Level 3 Road Guide, and tried unsuccessfully to make the Talisman absorb another coin.
• Chen Lin reviewed his treasures and resolved to grow stronger so he could rescue Niuniu, then spent half a year learning Star Dou Script from the Inheritance Bead.
• Chen Lin deciphered the stone tablet and found that it contained the Mo Clan’s ancestral instructions to return to the Ancestral Land, not a cultivation technique or method for refining the Mysterious Stone.
• Chen Lin put away the tablet and took out the Golden Book Page from the Treasure Chest to examine its contents.

Chen Lin studied the Seven-Star Shining Sun God-Refining Chapter and considered how to find the other treasure chests, then learned several soul techniques while preparing for possible encounters with his mirror image. After months of cultivation, he returned to the Reality Realm with Grass.

• Chen Lin deciphered the Seven-Star Shining Sun Dharmic Formula and learned that it could form seven inner stars whose fusion created a sun.
• Chen Lin examined Treasure Chest Number Two, speculated about the other chests and their keys, and asked Grass whether she knew the technique; she did not.
• Chen Lin studied the Mirror Image Fusion Method and learned that fusion required a living mirror image, ideally one willing to cooperate.
• Chen Lin tested whether his fate screen could help him cultivate Death Gaze, but it showed no response, so he put the inheritance away rather than risk its remnant soul.
• Chen Lin learned the Soul Eye and Soul Armor secret arts and reached the introductory level in both after several months of cultivation.
• Chen Lin ended his cultivation and returned to the Reality Realm with Grass.

Chen Lin left for the Soul-Severing Continent to resolve the obstacle hindering his cultivation, but his sea voyage turned disastrous when the ship encountered a Soul-Hunting Falcon and the Life-Claiming Light. The passengers were left to choose between remaining in the hold or risking death outside.

• Chen Lin waited a year for Liu Rumian, then gave up waiting and booked passage on a Tianyuan Trading Firm ship to the Soul-Severing Continent.
• A Soul-Hunting Falcon attacked the ship, and Chen Lin warned Fellow Daoist Shi before the black light killed more than a dozen passengers.
• Chen Lin and the surviving passengers took shelter in the ship's hold, which was designed to block the falcon's attacks.
• Qing Zhe revealed that the Life-Claiming Light had appeared and that Immortal Lord Zhao Hanfeng had perished.
• Qing Zhe warned that the hold could not protect them from the Life-Claiming Light, leaving the passengers to decide whether to hide or flee.

Chen Lin and Qing Zhe escaped the Life-Claiming Light by entering Chen Lin’s fiefdom, where they negotiated a binding contract and planned to wait out the danger. Chen Lin then tested his Golden Road Guide, traveled to the Leaf Scenario and Myriad Clans City, and left messages for Liu Rumian while seeking another way out of the Soul-Severing Sea.

• The Life-Claiming Light appeared on Linghu Yu, erased his body and separated soul forms, then killed the fleeing cultivators aboard the Ocean-Crossing Large Ship.
• Chen Lin invited Qing Zhe into his fiefdom, and both escaped the Life-Claiming Light as it began consuming the other cultivators.
• Qing Zhe explained that the Life-Claiming Light had no known defense, so Chen Lin proposed hiding in the fiefdom and sought to secure her cooperation with a contract.
• Chen Lin and Qing Zhe revised and signed a contract requiring her to protect him and keep his fiefdom secret, after which she entered the Heavenly Mechanism House to cultivate.
• Chen Lin used his Golden Road Guide to enter the Leaf Scenario, found that the Cat-headed Monster’s mark had not changed, and left a message requesting an exchange meeting.
• Chen Lin traveled to Myriad Clans City, left Liu Rumian a message, and took out the medium for the Silver Fruit Core Scenario.

Chen Lin spent years cultivating the Seven-Star Sun-Shining God-Refining Chapter in the Nightmare Realm, eventually forming an inner star whose energy appeared to affect life. He continued waiting for a way to contact the outside world, and the chapter ended with him discovering that his attack had not killed a Five-Color Fish.

• Chen Lin failed to enter the Silver Fruit Core and Bluestone Street scenarios, then discussed a dangerous scenario and its Cross-Boundary Gate with Qing Zhe.
• Chen Lin spent five years studying the Seven-Star Sun-Shining God-Refining Chapter and discovered that he could cultivate it in the Nightmare Realm.
• After another ten years, Chen Lin reached the technique's introductory stage, causing a burst of starlight and a star-shaped phenomenon in his fiefdom.
• Qing Zhe offered Chen Lin an Elder Ancient secret art suited to Semi-Void Realm cultivators because he also cultivated the Wind Law.
• Chen Lin examined the inner star formed by the God-Refining Chapter and found that its energy struck living beings but did not affect objects.
• Chen Lin's white-light attack drained a Five-Color Fish's life aura, but the fish recovered and swam away.

Chen Lin tested the lingering effects of God Star energy and learned the Wind Transformation Technique from Qing Zhe’s Bamboo Scroll, reaching an initial grasp after two years. He prepared to enter the Soul Hive for more samsara, but Grass returned with news that she had met a woman named Xu Wuye.

• Chen Lin experimented on fish and shrimp, confirming that God Star energy steadily drained a struck target’s vitality until death unless its vitality was continually replenished.
• Chen Lin studied Qing Zhe’s Wind Transformation Technique and learned that its stages depended on increasing mastery of the wind law.
• Chen Lin practiced the technique for two years and gained an initial grasp, finding it faster and less costly than ordinary flight spells.
• Chen Lin tested whether God Star energy could transfer through a predator and found that a turtle that ate the affected crab showed no abnormalities.
• Chen Lin returned to his Immortal Cave, summoned Grass to guard him, and heard her ask whether he wanted to meet Xu Wuye.