Recaps

After two hundred years in seclusion, Chen Lin finished absorbing Aunt Aisa’s inheritance and reached the late Nascent Soul stage, while Luo Xing and Aisa also advanced. With his cultivation at a bottleneck and his journey to the Netherworld pressing, Chen Lin ended their seclusion and led Luo Xing and Aisa back to the Reality Realm.

• Chen Lin’s Tyrant Emperor Sword Will reached minor mastery, his body neared condensing a Body Mark, and his cultivation advanced to the late Nascent Soul stage.
• Luo Xing reached the Nascent Soul Realm and completed his Chess Law, while Aisa advanced to the late Golden Core Realm and continued eating and demanding wine from Chen Lin.
• Chen Lin decided to end his seclusion because his cultivation had reached a bottleneck and he needed to prepare for the Minor True Realm and obtain River of Forgetfulness Water.
• Chen Lin summoned Luo Xing, and the three prepared to leave the fiefdom, leaving most of their supplies behind.
• Chen Lin, Luo Xing, and Aisa returned to the Reality Realm and headed for a nearby large city.

Chen Lin made authentic Wish Noodles in Shuangfeng City, using the Fortunate Art and his destiny talent to overcome the recipe’s broken fate lines. After eating one and wishing away the Fortunate Art’s backlash, he confirmed the danger had been eliminated.

• Chen Lin entered Shuangfeng City and rented an immortal cave, then sent Aisa out with Luo Xing to explore while they stayed within the city.
• Chen Lin prepared materials for Wish Noodles and found that the fate line for making them was completely severed, while processing the time origin essence went smoothly.
• Chen Lin used the Fortunate Art and his Fate Tentacle to make two authentic noodles, then made a smaller, weaker noodle with incompatible time origin essence.
• Chen Lin ate an authentic noodle and wished for the Fortunate Art’s bad-luck backlash to be eliminated.
• Chen Lin felt the lingering danger disappear and celebrated that the wish had succeeded.

Chen Lin used the Authentic Wish Noodles to raise his cultivation to the late spirit transformation realm, then used an imitation serving to gain an initial grasp of chess intent. The chapter ended with Luo Xing sensing that something had been taken from him as Chen Lin crossed into the Reality Realm of the Chess Dao.

• Chen Lin failed to use his wish to obtain a flesh-and-blood body for Grass, resolve his soul-body incompatibility, or secure river of forgetfulness water, then wished to increase his cultivation as much as possible.
• The Authentic Wish Noodles raised Chen Lin from nascent soul late stage to the late spirit transformation realm, and he concluded that his former dao integration cultivation helped him advance without hidden dangers.
• A dignified woman in the Wind Imperial Sect sensed an unusual fluctuation and a slight loss of origin essence, but found no intruder after searching the city.
• Chen Lin entered his fiefdom in the Nightmare Realm and failed to improve his Silence Technique, Body Tempering level, laws, or advanced spells with the final serving.
• Chen Lin wished to gain an initial grasp of chess intent, and the noodles helped him cross into the Reality Realm.
• Luo Xing felt as though something had been stripped away from him while he was walking with Aisa, then dismissed the sensation and headed back to the immortal cave.

Chen Lin stabilized his cultivation and prepared to travel toward the Soulless Sect, while giving Aisa time to say goodbye to her friends. He entered the Broken Arrow Scenario and discovered that its enormous mushroom remained unharmed even after he attacked it with powerful techniques.

• Chen Lin summoned Luo Xing, learned that Luo Xing had felt something inexplicably stripped away, and told him to watch for the sensation returning.
• Over the next year, Chen Lin stabilized his cultivation, gathered wind-law spells, and learned that the Soulless Sect stood on the Soul-Severing Continent beyond the dangerous Soul-Severing Sea.
• Chen Lin told Luo Xing and Aisa to prepare to leave for Wangxiang City, then allowed Aisa ten days to say goodbye to her friends.
• Chen Lin entered the Broken Arrow Scenario, touched the Giant Mushroom to complete its mission, and confirmed that he could leave whenever he wished.
• Chen Lin tested the Giant Mushroom with a Pseudo-Source Treasure Flying Sword and then with Lightning Ray, but neither attack left a mark.

Chen Lin activated a light gate in the mushroom but found he could neither enter it nor leave the scenario. After days of searching, he discovered that a Nightmare Coin sent ripples across the gate, giving him a possible way forward.

• Chen Lin infused the mushroom with soul force, causing it to glow and form a colored light gate as strange images appeared on the surrounding walls.
• Chen Lin failed to eject himself and could not enter the gate, so he attacked the gate and the cage-like surroundings without effect.
• Chen Lin waited for the gate to fade, confirmed he still could not leave, and considered other ways to escape, including seeking help or finding a special treasure.
• Chen Lin searched the scenario for several days, then summoned the gate again and tried calling, bargaining, and making other guesses to open it.
• Chen Lin tossed a Nightmare Coin at the gate, and faint ripples appeared across it.

Chen Lin spent a Golden Nightmare Coin to enter Fairytale Town, a golden Nightmare Realm scenario, and found himself trapped on a small hill with no departure task or way past its Road Guide Barriers. After testing the scenario’s restrictions and his available treasures, he tried to summon the Black Pig Monster with the Piggy Bank, but it did not appear.

• Chen Lin discovered that the Light Gate accepted a Golden Nightmare Coin and entered Fairytale Town.
• Chen Lin explored the crystal path and learned that Road Guide Barriers confined him to the hill and prevented him from manifesting his Pseudo-Source Treasure flying sword.
• Chen Lin tried to find a departure task by speaking to the flowers, but they did not respond, and stepping off the crystal path triggered a sense of danger.
• Chen Lin tested his abilities against a Road Guide Barrier and found that most of his powers were suppressed, while his soul force remained unaffected.
• Chen Lin tested the Red-Haired Fine Needle against the barrier, then deposited ten thousand Nightmare Coins into the Piggy Bank, but the Black Pig Monster did not appear.

After a month trapped on a hill in the Golden Scenario, Chen Lin finally encountered an owl named Lord Xila, who revealed that Fairytale Town was preparing for its Story Contest. Chen Lin tried to join so he could leave the hill, but the little mushroom who had invited him stopped the owl from giving him an invitation.

• Chen Lin spent weeks searching for Nightmare Realm creatures and clues to the departure mission, then decided to wait another year before summoning Grass or entering his fiefdom.
• Chen Lin spotted an owl approaching from a distant mountain and watched it land on his hill.
• A colorful little mushroom emerged from beneath Chen Lin's feet and greeted the owl as Lord Xila.
• Lord Xila delivered a golden invitation to the mushroom and said every Fairytale Town resident had to join the upcoming Story Contest.
• Chen Lin asked to participate, but the mushroom called him its guest and prevented Lord Xila from giving him an invitation.

Chen Lin questioned Lilia about Fairytale Town’s compulsory story contest and learned that he could leave by winning it or clearing a fairy tale world. Lilia asked him to compete in her place, and she revealed that contestants who cannot pay their fines become Puppets.

• Chen Lin confronted Lilia about refusing his entry to the story contest, and she explained that participation was compulsory for residents who received Invitation Letters.
• Lilia told Chen Lin that children across the Heavens and Myriad Realms judged stories projected into their dreams, and that low rankings brought fines.
• Lilia explained that Chen Lin could leave Fairytale Town by winning the contest or completing a fairy tale world's main quest, but he lacked a Golden Road Guide and could not enter her Mushroom Hut.
• Chen Lin asked whether Lilia wanted him to compete in her place, and she admitted that repeated low rankings had nearly exhausted her Golden Nightmare Coins.
• Lilia told Chen Lin that contestants unable to pay their fines became Puppets and had to entertain visitors until they earned enough to regain their freedom.

Chen Lin accepted Lilia’s Invitation Letter and prepared to compete in the Story Contest, hoping to win a way out of Fairytale Town. On his way to the Fairy Tale Grand Theater, he recognized Shirina among the town’s puppets and suspected she had secretly told him his fine was only one Golden Nightmare Coin.

• Lilia gave Chen Lin her Invitation Letter, explained the contest’s rewards and penalties, and warned that he needed to win first place to obtain permission to leave.
• Chen Lin decided to enter the contest and spent ten days recalling and outlining fairy tales before choosing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• When the Invitation Letter’s barrier let him leave the hill, Chen Lin followed its directions through town toward the Fairy Tale Grand Theater.
• Chen Lin encountered Shirina transformed into a puppet performer, but she could only repeat a fixed invitation to watch her dance.
• Chen Lin saw Shirina pause beside a dancing blade of grass and inferred that she was signaling his fine would be one Golden Nightmare Coin before he flew toward the theater.

Chen Lin learned that Lilia would claim any reward from his substitute entry while leaving him responsible for the punishment, and that the contest required stories to have circulated across the planes. Unsure whether the Nightmare Realm could detect Earth’s stories, he chose to risk using one and followed a puppet to prepare for the contest.

• Chen Lin met Bluwa, who revealed that Lilia would receive his rewards while he bore the punishment if he failed, and that only the contestant could receive a special first-place reward.
• Bluwa explained that the Fairytale King had won ninety-nine consecutive contests and was pursuing his hundredth victory; Chen Lin gave her an incomplete version of The Ugly Duckling.
• Bluwa told Chen Lin that entries needed to have circulated and received favorable reviews, and that the theater could detect fairy tales across any plane.
• An owl named Lord Xila warned Chen Lin and Bluwa that the contest was about to begin, and Chen Lin followed Bluwa into the grand hall.
• Chen Lin decided to risk telling an Earth story, then learned from a maid puppet that contestants drew numbered tokens and their stories appeared onstage as plays.

Chen Lin watched the contestants’ immersive stories in the Grand Theater while weighing his chances and testing whether he could still summon Grass and his Thunder God Sword. When a story about a Founding Emperor began, he recognized the Tyrant Sovereign Intent as his own.

• Chen Lin drew lot number sixty-nine and watched the first contestants’ stories immerse the audience and observers in their protagonists’ experiences.
• After seeing more than ten polished stories, Chen Lin worried that they might outshine Snow White but decided to trust Bluwa’s advice and keep his chosen story.
• Chen Lin summoned Grass and the Thunder God Sword, then learned from Grass that neither the sword nor even True Realm experts could break a golden scenario’s boundary rules.
• Chen Lin saw that new groups of children replaced the audience after each story and marveled that the Grand Theater could connect to the Heavens and Myriad Realms.
• Chen Lin became immersed in a contestant’s story about a Founding Emperor and sensed his own Tyrant Sovereign Intent.

Chen Lin used the Silence Technique to secretly interfere with rival contestants’ stories, then told Snow White’s story himself and worried it could not compete with performances enhanced by special artistic conceptions. As the contest neared its end, he learned that the final contestant was the legendary Fairytale King, a beautiful human girl in a white dress.

• Chen Lin immersed himself in a monkey contestant’s story, then secretly used the Silence Technique on nearby spectators to weaken their experience.
• After seeing that no Manager detected him, Chen Lin interfered with every later performance, targeting special contestants more heavily.
• When his turn came, Chen Lin told Snow White aloud through the Sound Transmission Crystal, but judged his story unable to match the strongest contestants.
• Chen Lin strengthened the Silence Technique during the remaining performances and learned that the final contestant was the Fairytale King, the only pure human in Fairytale Town.

Anna used her champion’s privilege to eliminate Chen Lin’s story, forcing him to prepare a new entry while she performed. Chen Lin acquired Bluwa’s Great Sound Fusion Art and left the Rest Hall to present his next story.

• Anna invoked her privilege to eliminate Chen Lin’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the Owl gave him a Golden Nightmare Coin and permission to enter again with another story.
• Chen Lin chose Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves as his replacement story and used the Silence Technique to influence part of the audience while avoiding the Owl’s notice.
• The Owl grew suspicious of Chen Lin’s Spell, searched the hall, and then returned to the Rest Hall, making him stop interfering.
• Bluwa offered to teach Chen Lin the Idea-Sound Fusion Secret Art for one Golden Nightmare Coin, and he accepted.
• Bluwa passed Chen Lin the inheritance for the Great Sound Fusion Art, and a maid Puppet summoned him to prepare for his turn.

After Anna eliminated his story, Chen Lin told the Havoc in Heaven section of Journey to the West using the Great Sound Fusion Art and awaited the Story Contest rankings. Lilia offered him rewards if he placed highly, and Lord Xila appeared as the theater lit up.

• Chen Lin chose Havoc in Heaven to pair with the Tyrant Emperor Artistic Conception and began narrating as the Sound Transmission Crystal lit up.
• Chen Lin depicted Sun Wukong's birth, rise as Monkey King, theft of the Ruyi Jingu Bang, and assault on the Heavenly Court, then ended the story before Five Fingers Mountain.
• Chen Lin returned to the Story Hall, where Anna's gaze revealed her superior strength, and Lilia arrived to watch the results.
• Lilia warned Chen Lin against giving his reward to the audience and offered him additional rewards for first, second, or third place.
• Chen Lin asked how he could trust Lilia, and Lord Xila flew onto the stage as the theater lit up.

The Story Contest rankings were announced, and Chen Lin won first place while Anna, the Fairytale King, came last. The contestants protested the results, but Lord Xila demanded evidence before proceeding to the awards ceremony.

• Owl introduced the Fairytale Sprite, whose colored sprites began assigning Emblems to the contestants according to their rankings.
• Pipixiu and other contestants challenged the rankings, arguing that contestants who had used artistic conception were being treated unfairly, but Lord Xila said artistic conception was permitted and demanded evidence of cheating.
• The three-colored butterfly chose a snowman, and the five-colored butterfly chose a rabbit, leaving Chen Lin, Anna, and Bluwa awaiting the top placement.
• The seven-colored butterfly landed on Chen Lin, awarding him first place, while the fiend-like black sprite chose Anna for last place.
• The bottom-ranked contestants, including Bluwa, protested Anna's result, but Lord Xila said only the Fairytale Sprite could determine the rankings and called for the special prize to be presented to Chen Lin.

Chen Lin chose the Death-Exemption Gold Medal so he could escape Fairytale Town, rejecting Anna’s offer to take the Challenge Document and compete for access to the Outer Realm Battlefield. Before the awards ceremony began, he secured three Golden Nightmare Coins from Lilia, while Anna approached him after paying her fine.

• Chen Lin reviewed the first-place rewards and selected the single-use Death-Exemption Gold Medal, despite Anna’s warning that the Outer Realm Battlefield might offer a way out of an illusion.
• The Fairytale Sprite gave Chen Lin the Gold Medal and slightly strengthened his projection before vanishing from the hall.
• Chen Lin demanded half his promised reward from Lilia and received three Golden Nightmare Coins in advance, though she refused to sign a contract.
• Lord Xila began collecting fines from contestants outside the top ten, and Anna paid her hundred-coin fine before approaching Chen Lin.

Chen Lin left the Story Contest after Anna gave him a Death-Exemption Gold Medal and confirmed how it could remove the scenario’s departure restraint. He returned to Shuangfeng City with a second medal that could serve as a Medium Object and a Snow-White Leaf from the Cat-headed Monster.

• Anna gave Chen Lin her Death-Exemption Gold Medal, and he suspected she wanted him to return for the next Story Contest.
• Grass told Chen Lin that fifty-one and a half days had passed since he entered the scenario, while the contestants who could not pay their fines turned into puppets.
• Chen Lin rewarded the Cat-headed Monster with a Golden Nightmare Coin, freeing it from its puppet form before it handed him a Snow-White Leaf and vanished.
• Chen Lin used the Death-Exemption Gold Medal to remove the restraint preventing his departure, then passed through his fiefdom and returned to the Reality Realm.
• In his cultivation cave in Shuangfeng City, Chen Lin confirmed the other medal remained in his storage bag and examined the Snow-White Leaf before leaving.

Chen Lin entered the Leaf Scenario, confirmed it was a safe hub, and later met Sister Xi there after a year of travel. Their conversation revealed that Sister Xi had been trapped in Fairytale Town for over three hundred years while searching for a route to the Outer Realm Battlefield, and Chen Lin asked her what she knew about it.

• Chen Lin had Luo Xing hire two elderly cultivators to verify the Leaf Scenario, then entered, completed its departure mission, and marked a meeting place before leaving Shuangfeng City with Luo Xing and Aisa.
• A year later, Chen Lin traveled with Luo Xing and Aisa to the Flowing Gold River, where Luo Xing discussed choosing a cultivation path and Chen Lin advised him to prioritize the Soul Path for combat strength.
• Chen Lin collected items related to the river's mysterious energy and entered the Leaf Scenario to meet the Cat-headed Monster at their appointed time.
• Chen Lin and the Cat-headed Monster, whom he called Sister Xi, discussed how each had entered Fairytale Town; she explained that she had become a puppet and had been trapped there for over three hundred years.
• Sister Xi said she had entered Fairytale Town through a medium while searching for a route to the Outer Realm Battlefield, and Chen Lin asked what she knew about that place.

Chen Lin learned from the Cat-headed Monster that the Inner World was the Cage, and that several rumored paths might let its descendants restore their origin cores and transcend it. After she left the Nightmare Realm, Chen Lin arranged a gathering for Explorers and returned to reality.

• The Cat-headed Monster told Chen Lin that Inner World inhabitants were descendants of Sinners trapped in the Cage, and described innate transformation, the Mysterious Domain, and the Outer Realm Battlefield as possible paths to transcendence.
• The Cat-headed Monster said that practicing the seven major laws might also complete an origin core, and explained that the Upper Seven Realms had been created by experts who mastered those laws.
• Chen Lin learned that the Cat-headed Monster was on the Pantheon Continent, that Explorers sometimes gathered in the Nightmare Realm, and that Hua Ruyu was known as the Dream Goddess.
• The Cat-headed Monster revealed that her special Nightmare Realm profession granted her Level 4 Silver Road Guide permissions, then let the realm expel her.
• Chen Lin found no gathering messages, wrote a request for one six months later, and returned to reality.

After returning to the Reality Realm, Chen Lin learned that Hua Ruyu had publicly declared him her man, apparently to provoke Li Yuanlei. He confirmed that the Myriad Clans City scenario was safe and arranged to meet Liu Rumian there.

• Chen Lin collected treasures along the Flowing Gold River with Luo Xing, while Aisa showed no interest in them.
• In Zixuan City, Chen Lin contacted Fairy Yaochi, who told him that Hua Ruyu had announced he was her man and posted portraits of them across major cities.
• Grass suspected Hua Ruyu was trying to draw out Li Yuanlei and warned that he might target Chen Lin, so Chen Lin decided to hide his identity and keep Grass concealed.
• Fairy Yaochi arranged for Chen Lin to meet Liu Rumian in the Myriad Clans City scenario three days later.
• Chen Lin sent an old cultivator into the scenario to check for danger; after the cultivator returned safely, Chen Lin traveled there in disguise.

Chen Lin met Liu Rumian and Fairy Yaochi at the Grand Arena, repaid Liu Rumian with a Golden Nightmare Coin, and sought help selling primal worms. After obtaining Arena Tickets and a primal-worm refining method from Fairy Yaochi, he learned that their Cultivation World was sealed as the Sin Realm and powered by the origin essence of its inhabitants; two figures then appeared nearby.

• Chen Lin repaid Liu Rumian with a Golden Nightmare Coin, while Fairy Yaochi proposed jointly developing his Golden Scenario and Chen Lin declined.
• Liu Rumian told Chen Lin that the Primal Plane entrance had vanished, and he offered her fifty primal worms in exchange for innate spiritual entities and Origin Orbs.
• Fairy Yaochi said even True-Realm Experts could not enter scenarios above their strength limits, then gave Chen Lin two Arena Tickets and taught him the primal-worm Refining Method.
• Fairy Yaochi revealed that the Cultivation World was the Sin Realm, sealed by a formation that drained the origin essence of its living inhabitants.
• Two figures appeared beside Chen Lin and Fairy Yaochi.

Chen Lin traded fifty primal worms with Liu Rumian’s sect for a generous collection of treasures, including a powerful Clone Talisman, and let Liu Rumian visit his peerage fiefdom. She left him with warnings from Yue Tongtian about Li Yuanlei and ancient experts hiding in the Mysterious Domain, then asked Chen Lin to help her obtain more Golden Nightmare Coins.

• Heng Hanshan offered Chen Lin ten innate spiritual entities, twenty high-purity Origin Orbs, chaos thunderstone, strength-aspected light of law, and Yue Tongtian’s Clone Talisman in exchange for fifty primal worms.
• Liu Rumian entered Chen Lin’s fiefdom herself, completed the exchange, and asked how he had obtained a true peerage and earned merit.
• Chen Lin explained that a Peerage Invitation Letter had let him earn merit by hunting Luo Monsters, and Liu Rumian learned that Li Yuanlei had gone to the Mysterious Domain.
• Liu Rumian explained that ancient True-Realm Experts hid in the Mysterious Domain to avoid accumulating heavenly tribulations, warning Chen Lin that their subordinates could still threaten him.
• Liu Rumian asked Chen Lin to help her obtain a few more Golden Nightmare Coins.

Chen Lin lent Liu Rumian his golden scenario’s Black and White Chess Piece in exchange for half the Golden Nightmare Coins, then traveled to Wangxiang City and established a protected base on Little Maple Mountain. After entering his fiefdom, he summoned Liu Rumian and found her looking haggard.

• Chen Lin explained the chessboard scenario’s risks and agreed to let Liu Rumian’s sect explore it in return for half its Golden Nightmare Coins; she accepted the Black and White Chess Piece and kept her fiefdom token.
• Grass received the chaos thunder stone and returned to the Thunder God Sword to refine it, while Chen Lin continued his journey.
• At a Leaf Scenario gathering, Chen Lin used the alias Lin Feiyu, answered questions about peerage ranks and Golden Nightmare Coins, and learned that the other Explorers knew little about the Netherworld.
• After three years of travel, Chen Lin reached Wangxiang City and bought Little Maple Mountain as his base, paying for protection from the Elder Council.
• Chen Lin assigned Luo Xing to oversee construction, set up the Guardian Mountain Formation, entered his fiefdom, and summoned Liu Rumian, who appeared haggard.

Chen Lin established the Kaiyuan Sect on Little Maple Mountain and spent sixty years gathering information about the Soul-Severing Continent and its Netherworld Entrance. With a journey ahead and the Tianqi Sect’s help delayed, he planned to enter Fairytale Town’s Story Contest to obtain Golden Nightmare Coins.

• Liu Rumian told Chen Lin that the Six Mysteries Sect had recruited Tianqi Sect experts to investigate the Chessboard Scenario, and Chen Lin asked her to notify him when they arrived.
• Chen Lin told Luo Xing about the Tianqi Sect, but Luo Xing chose to stay with him and later became an elder of the newly founded Kaiyuan Sect.
• Over sixty years, the Kaiyuan Sect recruited a few dozen disciples, and Chen Lin used them to gather information about the Soulless Sect and the Soul-Severing Tower.
• Chen Lin confirmed that the Netherworld Entrance was inside the Soul-Severing Tower and agreed to the Dayuan Chamber of Commerce’s demands as he prepared to set out.
• Liu Rumian told Chen Lin that the Tianqi Sect’s envoys were delayed because their journey required a space-law expert, leaving him without the expected Golden Nightmare Coins.
• After finding no reply from the Cat-headed Monster, Chen Lin decided to enter Fairytale Town’s Story Contest and try to complete its Departure Mission.

Chen Lin joined a Dayuan Trading Firm expedition to retrieve spirit herbs from underwater ruins in the Soul-Severing Sea, hoping to earn passage to the Soul-Severing Continent. After discovering the expedition was led by the formidable Ji Shenjiu in his true domain rudiment, Chen Lin realized Manager Xu had concealed how dangerous the mission might be.

• Chen Lin arrived at the Azure Wood Pavilion under the alias Chen Kaiyuan and agreed to retrieve undisclosed spirit herbs in exchange for passage to the Soul-Severing Continent.
• Manager Xu explained that the herbs were in underwater ruins in the Soul-Severing Sea, and Chen Lin and twelve other cultivators signed a confidentiality contract.
• The expedition members teleported to a city near the sea, where Chen Lin recognized the fourth-tier Void Realm attendant Jin Zhu and allied verbally with Xue Ding'e.
• Ji Shenjiu arrived to oversee the operation, threatened anyone who caused trouble, and brought the group into his shuttle-shaped precious tool.
• Manager Xu warned Chen Lin that the shuttle was Ji Shenjiu's true domain rudiment, and Chen Lin realized the expedition's danger had been understated.