Recaps

Chen Lin traded an Immobilization Talisman and an Azure Flying Sword for Huangfu Ying’s true soul flower, then killed a Blood-Eyed Monster that attacked the ship. Huangfu Ying sent Huangfu Qingrou to offer him the beast’s remains, and Qingrou asked to stay and serve him.

• Chen Lin and Huangfu Ying agreed to trade the true soul flower for an Immobilization Talisman and an Azure Flying Sword.
• A Blood-Eyed Monster attacked the ship, injuring Zhao Kaijiang and knocking down the Old Butler, while Huangfu Ying said she could not use her mana.
• Chen Lin killed the monster with Five Thunders Smite the Crown, and Huangfu Ying ordered its valuable remains delivered to him.
• Huangfu Qingrou brought Chen Lin the monster’s core and eye, but when he told her to leave, she asked to stay and attend to him.

Chen Lin learned that Huangfu Qingrou could absorb and imitate heterogeneous energy, then asked her to help deliver Luo monster origin essence to his natal magical treasure. She prepared to transfer the energy, leaving Chen Lin to guide the light orb with his soul.

• Chen Lin refused Huangfu Qingrou's offer to attend him, but agreed to let her help with the Luo monster origin essence after Huangfu Ying recommended her.
• Huangfu Qingrou explained that her God Favored ability let her absorb heterogeneous energy and imitate energy she had already absorbed, though the process carried risks and used her limited divine power.
• Chen Lin learned that Huangfu Qingrou had absorbed Divine Punishment Light and could imitate it, subject to the limits of her ability.
• Chen Lin asked Huangfu Qingrou to transfer the Luo monster origin essence into his body so he could restore the Thunder God Sword.
• Huangfu Qingrou formed a golden light orb around the origin essence, warned that its high level strained her, and explained that Chen Lin could guide the orb with his soul power.

Chen Lin tested whether Huangfu Qingrou’s Origin Light Particle could restore the Thunder God Sword, then learned she could strengthen her divine power origin with pure origin energy. Huangfu Ying presented him with a Dao-Inquiring Stone after he rejected her attempt to match him with Huangfu Qingrou.

• Chen Lin used Scholar as a precaution while he and Huangfu Qingrou sent four-star and five-star Origin Light Particles into the Thunder God Sword, but the sword showed no meaningful response.
• Huangfu Qingrou failed to contain a six-star Light Particle, so Chen Lin gave her a small piece of a Pure Origin Orb and learned it could strengthen her divine power origin.
• Chen Lin gave Huangfu Qingrou pills to help her cultivate toward the Nascent Soul Realm, and she left with four-star Luo Monster Origin and Three-Star Luo Monster Crystals to experiment with.
• Huangfu Ying asked Chen Lin what he thought of Huangfu Qingrou, but he refused to become involved with her or her lineage.
• Huangfu Ying presented Chen Lin with an exquisite Jade Box, and he found a Dao-Inquiring Stone inside.

Huangfu Ying offered Chen Lin a Dao-Inquiring Stone in exchange for help protecting her fleeing lineage from the Snow Eagle Organization. After learning about the mysterious Light Gate and negotiating for another stone, Chen Lin agreed to help and demanded that Huangfu Qingrou serve at his side for a hundred years.

• Huangfu Ying revealed that Snow Eagle had killed her lineage's patriarch and that the survivors were fleeing toward the Third Pillar Heaven.
• Huangfu Ying gave Chen Lin a Jade Slip showing the Light Gate, whose design reminded him of Bai Ruxue's Round Token.
• Chen Lin learned that Snow Eagle ranked among the Fourth Pillar Heavens' top factions and might have a Dao Rhyme Seventh Stage expert.
• Chen Lin agreed to help Huangfu Ying's group reach the Third Pillar Heaven within his capabilities.
• Huangfu Ying promised another Dao-Inquiring Stone within ten years, and Chen Lin demanded that Huangfu Qingrou serve at his side for a hundred years in return.

Chen Lin protected Huangfu Ying’s ship and killed Snow Eagle’s Spirit Master, Pusuo, with the Pitch-Black Dagger. When three powerful pursuers appeared, Huangfu Ying revealed that her group had taken something from the Light Gate and brought it aboard, leaving Chen Lin to confront the danger she had concealed.

• Chen Lin gave Huangfu Qingrou Soul Steamed Buns to help protect her from inner demons as she cultivated.
• Chen Lin detected and killed a concealed Boyu Beast, then used the Pitch-Black Dagger to kill Pusuo, Snow Eagle’s Spirit Master.
• Huangfu Ying warned Chen Lin that Exalted Blue Origin and two other powerful cultivators had arrived to intercept them.
• Chen Lin accused Huangfu Ying of hiding the true nature of the threat and declared their contract void.
• Huangfu Ying admitted that her group had obtained something from the Light Gate and that it was aboard the ship.

Chen Lin killed one of the attackers, drove another to flee, and captured and killed the last before learning the truth about Huangfu Ying’s strange treasure. He examined a small jade coffin that had emerged from the Light Gate and suspected something alive was sealed inside.

• Chen Lin attacked the four pursuers with the Burning Heavens Spear and killed the elderly Dao Rhyme third-layer expert.
• Exalted Blue Origin abandoned the fight and fled, while the burly man used an Advanced Void-Breaking Talisman to escape into the void.
• Vines dragged the burly man back to the ship, where Chen Lin searched his soul and destroyed both his soul and body.
• Chen Lin told the others to move the ship, then followed Huangfu Ying to a concealed room at the bottom of the ship.
• Huangfu Ying explained that the jade coffin had flown out of the Light Gate and that Snow Eagle discovered it before ambushing her clan.
• Chen Lin sensed that something inside the coffin was alive and began examining it.

Several months after reaching Third Pillar Heaven, Chen Lin investigated the realm and arrived with Huangfu Qingrou at Three Pillars City. He examined the Divine Pillar at its base, eager to discover its mysteries.

• Chen Lin declined Huangfu Ying's offer to travel together and refused to take the jade coffin, then left with Huangfu Qingrou.
• Chen Lin gave Huangfu Qingrou a disguise mask and a jade talisman to conceal her identity, and changed his own appearance.
• Chen Lin spent several months investigating Third Pillar Heaven, learning about its nine major cities and the many powerful cultivators gathered there.
• Chen Lin and Huangfu Qingrou entered Three Pillars City, obtained Identity Tokens, and learned the rules for staying in the city.
• Chen Lin and Huangfu Qingrou flew to the Divine Pillar, observed the cultivators and worshippers gathered around it, and Chen Lin approached its base.

Chen Lin settled in Three Pillars City with Huangfu Qingrou, studied its Divine Pillar, and bought Soul Leaving Beasts for making Soul Refining Pills. He resolved to remain in the city and cultivate, though he still lacked the time-related materials needed for his plans.

• Chen Lin examined the Divine Pillar and suspected its material matched that of the giant formation pillars he possessed.
• Chen Lin rented an immortal cave, bought Cultivation Jade Talismans, and learned that Huangfu Qingrou's lineage had gone to Yuetian City for protection and support.
• Chen Lin purchased ten four-stripe Soul Leaving Beasts and ordered two six-stripe ones, hoping to use them in Soul Refining Pills.
• Chen Lin considered how rarer striped Soul Leaving Beasts might affect soul cultivation and decided to settle down in the Third Pillar Heaven.
• Chen Lin gathered Soul Leaving Beasts and pill-making materials but could not find time sand, so he hired others to search for it.

After ten years cultivating beneath the Divine Pillar, Chen Lin returned with Huangfu Ying’s Dao-Inquiring Stone and helped Huangfu Qingrou advance to Nascent Soul. He tested whether her golden orb could contain Xiao Luo’s light particles, then examined a Spirit Beast Bracelet taken from Snow Eagle and discovered a peak rank-six primordial beast inside.

• Chen Lin spent ten years cultivating near the Divine Pillar, then visited Yuetian City and collected the Dao-Inquiring Stone Huangfu Ying owed him, along with cultivation resources.
• Chen Lin returned to the city and learned that Huangfu Qingrou had grasped the opportunity to advance to Nascent Soul.
• Chen Lin took Huangfu Qingrou to the Tribulation Platform, where she passed her tribulation and advanced successfully.
• After Huangfu Qingrou stabilized her realm, Chen Lin tested Xiao Luo’s light particles with her golden orb, but she could not contain one.
• Chen Lin prepared to use the two Dao-Inquiring Stones and inspected two Seven Orifices Soul-Gathering Pills before examining a Spirit Beast Bracelet taken from Snow Eagle.
• Chen Lin discovered that the bracelet contained an unfamiliar primordial exotic beast at the peak of rank six and extended his divine sense into it.

Chen Lin advanced to late Void Refinement and strengthened his dao rhyme and soul seed, while Huangfu Qingrou reached Spirit Transformation. After learning that the Light Gate was real, he kept the discovery secret as he weighed future dangers and prepared for the calamity foretold to follow him.

• Chen Lin kept the dangerous primordial beast sealed in its bracelet, then entered a century of seclusion to raise his cultivation and refine his soul seed.
• Chen Lin reached late Void Refinement, while Huangfu Qingrou advanced to Spirit Transformation and chose to remain with him after their hundred-year agreement ended.
• Chen Lin refined both Dao-Inquiring Stones and a Seven Orifices Soul-Gathering Pill, raising his dao rhyme to the seventh layer, though he realized the stones could no longer help him progress much further.
• Chen Lin considered exploring the Nightmare Realm and worried that the death-qi calamity foretold by the old man at Time Cottage might soon arrive.
• Zhao Yingnan reported that an expedition had confirmed the Light Gate existed and gave Chen Lin an Image-Recording Bead showing it.
• Chen Lin confirmed that the Light Gate matched Huangfu Ying's account, ordered its location kept confidential, and asked Zhao Yingnan about her cultivation.

Chen Lin rewarded Zhao Yingnan and attended a high-level trading convention at the Connecting Heaven Treasure Pavilion to seek materials for his advancement. He traded Clear Skies Pastry at the convention and wondered about the fates of Xue Wa, Yun Xiumian, and Niuniu.

• Chen Lin gave Zhao Yingnan a breakthrough pill and the Good Fortune Spirit-Solidifying Art, instructing her to keep his existence secret and stay in the city.
• After months of cultivation, Chen Lin received an invitation to a trading convention and went to the Connecting Heaven Treasure Pavilion under the alias Lin Feiyu.
• Chen Lin observed nearly a hundred Void Refinement cultivators gather as Elder Yan opened the convention by offering Dao Rhyme Pills and a Treasure-Refining Token.
• Chen Lin offered a portion of Clear Skies Pastry for trade, and Elder Yan praised its taste after appraising it.
• While Elder Yan tasted the pastry, Chen Lin thought about Xue Wa, Yun Xiumian, and Niuniu and their uncertain fates amid the Great Heavens Projection.

Chen Lin obtained the Treasure-Refining Token and joined the trading session, where a purple-robed elder offered great rewards for information about Bai Ruxue's Round Token. Chen Lin traded for a lead on furnace purgatory stone and left his other requests unanswered, while a young man’s interest in two of them aroused his suspicion.

• Chen Lin gave the pavilion another serving of Clear Skies and received the Treasure-Refining Token, which he hoped to use later to repair his broken black saber.
• A purple-robed elder offered Cultivation Advancement Pills, a Dao-Inquiring Stone, or a spirit-condensing grade spirit treasure for information about or possession of Bai Ruxue's Round Token, describing it as a Pass Token that could exist in multiple copies.
• Chen Lin offered pills and Mortal Dust Spirit Dew in exchange for several rare materials or reliable information about them.
• A woman told Chen Lin that the Zhen Family of Leaving Fire City possessed furnace purgatory stone, and he rewarded her with a bottle of pills.
• A young man asked why Chen Lin wanted time sand and high-grade Soul Leaving Beasts, but Chen Lin refused to explain unless the man could provide those items; no one else offered a trade.

Chen Lin considered how to obtain the Furnace Purgatory Stone from the Zhen Family and sent Zhao Yingnan to search other cities for alternatives. He then successfully infused a particle of Xiao Luo's Origin Essence into the Thunder God Sword, awakening a faint trace of innate power.

• Chen Lin decided he would seek the Furnace Purgatory Stone from the Zhen Family, potentially offering pills or a Thousand-Lifespan Pill rather than parting with his prized treasures.
• Chen Lin found that the Blind Girl had regained a faint trace of vitality, but Blue Charm's body showed no hope of revival, leaving her Natal Spirit Pearl as the only chance to fulfill his promise to Kannie.
• Zhao Yingnan told Chen Lin that the two people who had investigated the Light Gate had disappeared after leaving Three Pillars City, and assured him that she had erased memories connecting them to him.
• Chen Lin gave Zhao Yingnan a mask and spirit crystals and sent her to search other cities for the Heaven-Covering Fruit and Three-Colored Qianji Flower.
• Huangfu Qingrou transferred a particle of Xiao Luo's Origin Essence into the Thunder God Sword, which responded with a faint trace of innate power that Chen Lin could sense but not yet control.

After refining Xiao Luo’s origin light particles, Chen Lin restored and strengthened the Thunder God Sword but discovered he could not use it without risking his life. He learned that Yang Qianxing, a powerful expert who wielded stellar power, had emerged in the city and headed to the Connecting Heaven Treasure Pavilion to investigate.

• Chen Lin and Huangfu Qingrou ended three months of refining Xiao Luo’s origin light particles because the Thunder God Sword had absorbed enough, and Chen Lin sensed that the sword had advanced.
• Chen Lin could not sense Grass inside the restored sword and resolved to find a way to bring her back.
• Chen Lin tried to activate the Thunder God Sword, but it drained his essence, energy, and spirit so quickly that he spat blood and the sword fell dormant.
• Chen Lin asked Hu Tiansheng about events in the city and learned that Yang Qianxing had emerged as a Dao Hearing expert and joined the city’s major powers through the Connecting Heaven Treasure Pavilion.
• Chen Lin connected Yang Qianxing’s name and stellar power to an ancestor in Yang Zishi’s genealogy, then set out for the Connecting Heaven Treasure Pavilion to learn more.

Chen Lin learned that strange celestial anomalies had alarmed the realm’s strongest experts and met Yang Qianxing’s daughter, Yang Zihua, hoping to build a connection with her father. Yang Zihua’s striking resemblance to Yang Zishi surprised him, and he impressed her and Xu Zifeng with Mortal Dust Spirit Dew.

• Manager Xu told Chen Lin that the First Pillar Heaven had summoned her employer, a Dao Hearing expert, to investigate unusual celestial phenomena sensed by the Three Saints and other masters.
• Chen Lin learned that Yang Qianxing’s daughter, Yang Zihua, was sixteen and had only recently reached late-stage Qi Condensation, then agreed to meet her.
• Manager Xu escorted Chen Lin to Yang Zihua’s residence on Divine Pillar Mountain, where he was startled by her close resemblance to Yang Zishi.
• Yang Zihua eagerly asked Chen Lin to share his delicacies, and he served her and Xu Zifeng Mortal Dust Spirit Dew.
• Yang Zihua praised the drink while Xu Zifeng considered its commercial value for the Connecting Heaven Treasure Pavilion.

Chen Lin visited Yang Zihua, exchanged gifts with her, and strengthened their connection through his Soul Steamed Buns. After leaving Three Pillars City with Huangfu Qingrou, he headed for Leaving Fire City to seek furnace purgatory stone.

• Yang Zihua gave Chen Lin nebula powder, explaining that it could improve the success rate and quality of treasure refining and other crafts.
• Chen Lin gave Yang Zihua a basket of Soul Steamed Buns, and she was so delighted by their flavor that she cried while eating one.
• Yang Zihua thanked Chen Lin and promised to help him in the future, and Chen Lin gave her a reusable Communication Jade Talisman.
• Xu Zifeng asked Chen Lin to work with the Connecting Heaven Treasure Pavilion, but he declined for the time being.
• Chen Lin decided to visit Leaving Fire City to trade for furnace purgatory stone and left Three Pillars City with Huangfu Qingrou, whom he kept close to protect his secrets.

Chen Lin and Huangfu Qingrou arrived in Leaving Fire City seeking furnace purgatory stone, but failed to find it or gain an audience with Leaving Fire Dao Monarch. After learning why the Dao Monarch could not be approached, Chen Lin secured a lead on another possible source.

• Chen Lin and Huangfu Qingrou entered Leaving Fire City and learned from a guide that the Zhen Family controlled the city and that furnace purgatory stone was held by Leaving Fire Dao Monarch.
• Chen Lin visited the major shops, found no furnace purgatory stone, and went to the City Lord Manor, where he was told the Dao Monarch was in seclusion.
• Chen Lin spent a month seeking an introduction but found no one willing to arrange one, then learned from a Zhen direct descendant that an outside cultivator had attempted to assassinate the Dao Monarch and the intermediary's entire branch had been wiped out.
• Chen Lin offered the Zhen direct descendant Drunken God Brew in exchange for information about obtaining furnace purgatory stone.
• The Zhen direct descendant told Chen Lin to seek Madam Colorful Butterfly at Little Glow Mountain in the South City.

Chen Lin visited Madam Colorful Butterfly on Little Glow Mountain to ask for help obtaining furnace purgatory stone, but she demanded he kill Zhen Zizai or help her escape Leaving Fire City. Chen Lin refused to risk angering the Leaving Fire Dao Monarch and left, only for Madam Colorful Butterfly to warn that he was already on the Dao Monarch’s kill list.

• Chen Lin and Huangfu Qingrou arrived at Little Glow Mountain, where Yan'er denied that Madam Colorful Butterfly lived there until a voice from the mountain invited Chen Lin in alone.
• Chen Lin met Madam Colorful Butterfly and learned that she was a ninth-layer Dao Rhyme expert on the verge of Dao Integration.
• Chen Lin explained that Zhen Linyu had directed him to seek her help trading for furnace purgatory stone, and Madam Colorful Butterfly offered to return everything he had given Zhen Linyu if he left the city.
• Madam Colorful Butterfly said Chen Lin could obtain the stone by killing Zhen Zizai or help her escape Leaving Fire City, revealing that she was under house arrest.
• Chen Lin declined her conditions and left, but Madam Colorful Butterfly used Soul Transmission to warn him that entering her courtyard had already placed him on Zhen Zizai's kill list.

Chen Lin refused to join Madam Colorful Butterfly’s plan to kill the Leaving Fire Dao Monarch, but she trapped him with her spatial dao art and warned he would be killed if he left. He proposed advancing to Dao Integration and returning to rescue her, and she agreed to trust him on the condition that he return within sixty years.

• Madam Colorful Butterfly revealed that the Leaving Fire Dao Monarch’s men were watching her courtyard and tried to recruit Chen Lin into an attack on him.
• Chen Lin refused, but Madam Colorful Butterfly used her spatial dao art to block his escape; he resisted with the Snow-White Single Horn and attacked with the Burning Heavens Spear, which her butterflies devoured.
• Madam Colorful Butterfly warned Chen Lin that the Leaving Fire Dao Monarch might kill him for meeting her, while Chen Lin declined to attack her or surrender the horn.
• Chen Lin proposed that Madam Colorful Butterfly help him leave with furnace purgatory stone so he could use a secret method to reach Dao Integration and return to save her.
• Madam Colorful Butterfly examined Chen Lin’s Jade Slip, accepted his proposal, and demanded a contract requiring him to return within sixty years.

Chen Lin signed a River of Styx Pact with Madam Colorful Butterfly in exchange for a furnace purgatory stone, then followed her out of the fog. After she killed those blocking their way, she told him to fight his way back to Three Pillars City, but Leaving Fire Dao Monarch appeared before they could leave.

• Madam Colorful Butterfly produced a River of Styx Pact, and she and Chen Lin negotiated its terms before leaving their soul imprints on it.
• Chen Lin asked when she would deliver the furnace purgatory stone, then followed her out of the fog and reunited with Huangfu Qingrou.
• Madam Colorful Butterfly ignored the young cultivator and led Chen Lin away, but a middle-aged man and a black-robed old man blocked their path.
• Madam Colorful Butterfly trapped the two Void Refinement cultivators with butterflies, then used a swarm to devour several more figures watching nearby.
• Madam Colorful Butterfly told Chen Lin to force his way back to Three Pillars City while she held off Leaving Fire Dao Monarch.
• Leaving Fire Dao Monarch appeared and accused Madam Colorful Butterfly of revealing his secrets.

Chen Lin escaped the Emaciated Old Man Zhen Zizai with help from Madam Colorful Butterfly, then fought through cultivators blocking his route to the eastern city gate. The chapter ended as Chen Lin’s Dark Red Spearhead pierced the Gold-Armored Man’s barrier and struck toward the space between his brows.

• Madam Colorful Butterfly engaged Zhen Zizai and ordered Chen Lin to flee toward the eastern city gate.
• Chen Lin broke Zhen Zizai’s spatial restraint and used the Blade of Destiny to delay him, allowing Madam Colorful Butterfly’s needle to wound him.
• Zhen Zizai summoned a Jade Talisman and transformed into a dark red bird as he confronted Madam Colorful Butterfly, while Chen Lin sped away.
• A group of cultivators led by a Gold-Armored Man blocked Chen Lin, and he charged through their attacks using the Snow-White Single Horn and Cyan Vine Shield.
• Chen Lin slowed the Gold-Armored Man with the Snow-White Single Horn and drove the Dark Red Spearhead through his runic barrier toward his brow.

Chen Lin escaped Leaving Fire City after killing Jin Wudi and piercing the Leaving Fire Dao Monarch’s palm with the Dark Red Spearhead, but he suffered grave injuries. He recovered in Three Pillars City with Huangfu Qingrou’s help and later thanked Yang Zihua, whose intervention had ended the search for him.

• Chen Lin killed the Gold-Armored Man with the Dark Red Spearhead, seized his belongings, and fought his way toward the eastern gate while the remaining experts hesitated to pursue him.
• The woman in white secretly told Chen Lin where to find the furnace purgatory stone, then helped him break through the gate; the Leaving Fire Dao Monarch struck Chen Lin with a giant palm, but Chen Lin pierced it and escaped.
• Chen Lin collapsed on a white mountain, where Huangfu Qingrou retrieved a Storage Bag; he used a talisman to flee with her and reached Three Pillars City more than ten days later in disguise.
• Chen Lin recovered in a rented cave dwelling and learned that Yang Qianxing had prevented the Three Great Factions from assisting the search for him.
• Chen Lin told Yang Zihua he would give her a Gourmet Invitation Letter after exploring the Nightmare Realm.

Chen Lin met Yang Qianxing and revealed that his companion Yang Zishi was one of Yang Qianxing’s descendants who had cultivated far beyond the limits affecting Yang Zihua. Yang Qianxing explained that a curse on his bloodline restricted descendants with his inherited talent, then Chen Lin asked whether talents passed down through reproduction could also be reclaimed by the celestial-deity experts who created them.

• Chen Lin met Yang Zihua and learned that her unusual constitution kept her cultivation at the late qi condensation stage despite Yang Qianxing’s efforts.
• Yang Zihua brought Chen Lin to meet Yang Qianxing, who warned that the Leaving Fire Dao Monarch’s approaching breakthrough could eventually exceed his ability to restrain him.
• Chen Lin told Yang Qianxing that Yang Zishi was his descendant, had gained an acquired spiritual root, and had reached the nascent soul realm.
• Yang Qianxing questioned Chen Lin about the Floating Realm and his passage through the Nightmare Realm, then recognized that Chen Lin wanted help finding Yang Zishi.
• Yang Qianxing revealed that an outer-realm expert had cursed his descendants, preventing those who inherited his talent from reaching foundation establishment.
• Chen Lin asked whether talent abilities inherited through reproduction would also be reclaimed by the celestial-deity experts who left them behind.

Chen Lin asked Yang Qianxing to investigate the Nightmare Realm and gave him a Gourmet Invitation Letter and Nightmare Coins, then learned Yang Zihua hoped Yang Zishi could help her advance her cultivation. Back in his immortal cave, Chen Lin examined his spoils from Leaving Fire City and discovered a furnace purgatory stone.

• Yang Qianxing explained that some people were born able to wield rules and assured Chen Lin he would not seize Yang Zishi's talent origin.
• Chen Lin described his true-body route into the Nightmare Realm, gave Yang Qianxing a Gourmet Invitation Letter and a thousand Nightmare Coins, and asked him to investigate Gourmet Island.
• Yang Zihua learned Chen Lin was connected to her family, agreed to call him Elder Brother, and asked about Yang Zishi and his other companions.
• Chen Lin reassured Yang Zihua that Yang Qianxing's investigation might help her break the Yang Family's cultivation curse, then left Divine Pillar Mountain.
• Chen Lin inspected treasures taken from Leaving Fire City, including a gold-attribute weapon set and fire-attribute treasures, while keeping them hidden.
• Chen Lin found a dark red furnace purgatory stone containing a pulsing flame and a faint aura of rules.

Chen Lin cultivated while preparing for the threat of the Leaving Fire Dao Monarch and the coming tribulation, then learned that the Jade Coffin was beginning to open. He settled Huangfu Qingrou’s place at his side and told her about the illusory world and the need to escape it.

• Chen Lin reviewed his cultivation risks, the death-qi prophecy, and his looming threats before entering seclusion to refine pills and cultivate.
• More than a decade later, Huangfu Qingrou told Chen Lin that her grandaunt had reported a growing heartbeat and a gap in the Jade Coffin, alongside increasingly strange changes in the stars.
• Chen Lin advised Huangfu Qingrou’s grandaunt to give up the Jade Coffin and warned that keeping it endangered her clan, but Huangfu Qingrou said her grandaunt would not relinquish it.
• Chen Lin asked Huangfu Qingrou whether she intended to remain with him, and she chose to stay; he explained that he already had formal companions and might someday find them.
• Chen Lin told Huangfu Qingrou about the Primal Domain, the coming great tribulation, and the illusory nature of their world, warning that he could take only her if he found a way out.