Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin spent more than a century studying the Shadow Scholar’s books, gaining deep knowledge of souls and runic inscriptions while searching for a way to control the peculiar property. He found no such method in the first two shelves and began reading a book about the Primordial Stele.

• Chen Lin used Seven-Color Nightmare Coins to brew tea, mastered books about soul power and soul dissolution, and discovered that the room’s door would not open until he finished every book on the shelf.
• Chen Lin studied soul classification, soul dissolution, and soul splitting, learning that the path was dangerous and that Secondary Soul Dissolution had an exceptionally high fatality rate.
• After more than a hundred years of study, Chen Lin worried that the Shadow Scholar might be trying to overwrite his identity and resolved to resist the other party’s plans while improving his own talent ability.
• Chen Lin finished the books on runic inscriptions and learned that they represented the rules governing heaven and earth, complementing the Primordial Stele’s path of life cultivation.
• Chen Lin opened the first book on the third shelf, titled "Primal," and began reading its account of the one hundred and eight Primordial Steles.

After spending more than two hundred years mastering the books, Chen Lin met a projection of the Shadow Scholar, learned that Li Fuyao had attempted the trials before him, and received a small bottle of Truth-Preserving Ink. He entered the second trial, where a third-rank Dominator Vajra Puppet appeared, and ended the chapter still weighing what to draw to escape it.

• Chen Lin finished comprehending every book but could not open the study door until the Hazy Figure appeared and cleansed his body as a reward.
• The Hazy Figure identified himself as a thought projection of the Shadow Scholar and told Chen Lin that Li Fuyao had completed the first trial in seven days but still failed to meet its requirements.
• Chen Lin learned that passing the first trial required comprehending all the books within three days, received Truth-Preserving Ink, and was allowed to ask three questions before entering the next space.
• Chen Lin entered a martial practice ground, chose the Vajra token, and faced a third-rank Dominator Vajra Puppet that he had to drive out of the grounds within three days.
• Chen Lin realized he could use the Wordless Celestial Book and Truth-Preserving Ink to create something to help him pass, but after a day of deliberation he still could not choose among his three ideas.

Chen Lin used the Truth-Preserving Ink and Wordless Celestial Book to manifest the Golden Battle Clan's Ancestral Spirit, who agreed to help him pass the trial in exchange for his guardianship contract with the clan. She burned her origin essence to break the Golden Giant's time-rule attack and struck its chest with the Mystic Gold Spear.

• Chen Lin chose to manifest the Ancestral Spirit rather than create the Disorderly Boat Talisman, using the Mystic Gold Spear and his heart's blood to strengthen her portrait.
• The Ancestral Spirit emerged with her memories and consciousness, but said her strength was not enough to defeat the Golden Giant without burning her origin essence.
• The Ancestral Spirit asked Chen Lin to join the Golden Battle Clan as its Guardian and produce a pure-blooded heir with its inheritance Saintess, and Chen Lin accepted the contract.
• The Ancestral Spirit took the Mystic Gold Spear and faced the Golden Giant, whose spear attack used the time rule to trap her in the present.
• The Ancestral Spirit let the attack strike her and burned herself to ashes, sending her origin essence into the Mystic Gold Spear, which broke free of the time rule and struck the Golden Giant's chest.

Chen Lin defeated the giant puppet, received three Nine-Color Bizarre Coins, and entered a rainy garden where he met its guardian, Xiao He. Xiao He revealed that she was the lotus in the lake and offered to help him master forbidden power, but warned that his status as a soul smuggler limited what he could do with it.

• Chen Lin destroyed the giant puppet with the Mystic Gold Spear and collected an Oiled Paper Umbrella, a nine-colored Road Guide, and three Nine-Color Bizarre Coins.
• Chen Lin entered a rain-soaked garden, used the umbrella as protection, and found a lake surrounded by rare spirit plants.
• A young woman named Xiao He explained that each reward coin could harvest one spiritual entity and warned Chen Lin about the corrosive rain.
• Chen Lin questioned Xiao He about true living beings, the fallen Nightmare King, and the Shadow Scholar, while she offered to reveal secrets if he took her out of the garden.
• Xiao He identified herself as the lotus's true body and demonstrated that her lotus leaf could be controlled with Chen Lin's forbidden power.
• Chen Lin asked Xiao He to teach him to use forbidden power before he tried to retrieve her, but she said his soul-smuggler nature meant he could only rely on external objects and would have greatly diminished power.

Chen Lin learned from Xiao He that mastering forbidden power required either dangerous secondary soul dissolution or the Soul Stele’s inheritance, then agreed to serve her in the ascension trial in exchange for a chance to leave the Creation Tome’s rules. After collecting three rewards, he returned to the Zodiac Secret Realm as it collapsed and fled into a fissure to escape the space storm.

• Xiao He told Chen Lin that he needed to change his soul to cultivate forbidden power and revealed that the Soul Stele could offer an alternative to secondary soul dissolution.
• Xiao He explained that the ascension trial would select more than just its winner, and Chen Lin agreed to follow her orders in exchange for her help securing a chance to leave.
• Xiao He gave Chen Lin a secret method to seek the Destiny Stele and directed him to three reward locations before vanishing.
• Chen Lin collected the three rewards and returned to the Zodiac Secret Realm, where the entire realm began to collapse.
• Chen Lin's defenses failed in the space storm, so he used the Crystal Needle and Mystic Gold Spear to widen a fissure and escaped through it.

Chen Lin emerged in the Darkness Zone after the Zodiac Secret Realm collapsed, fought a Suihan Beast, and examined the treasures and abilities he had brought with him. After months of fruitless travel and a dangerous encounter with a Darkness Creature, he redeemed a Positioning Disc to help find his way.

• Chen Lin arrived in the Darkness Zone, where a Suihan Beast tore off his arm and harmed his soul whenever he attacked it, until he killed it with the Mystic Gold Spear.
• Chen Lin tested his Mandarin Duck Ring without sensing Little White Snake, decided to pursue Secondary Soul Dissolution, and examined several spirit plants and his communication items.
• Chen Lin traveled through the empty Darkness Zone for months, searching for an Exquisite Treasure Chest and finding no signs of life or landmarks.
• Chen Lin encountered a dangerous Darkness Creature, escaped unharmed, and decided he needed a way to determine his direction.
• Chen Lin redeemed a Positioning Disc from the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace's Treasure Vault for one thousand contribution points.

Chen Lin used the Coconut-shaped Spiritual Fruit to strengthen his destiny talent and followed its divination through the Darkness Zone, where he entered the Tattered Straw Shoe and learned it held a Great Rift that produced treasure chests. He discovered he was in the River of Hope in the Western Domain, learned the Dawn Society had been destroyed, and watched a colorful chest rise from the rift.

• Chen Lin used the Coconut-shaped Spiritual Fruit and his destiny talent to guide his exploration, briefly combining their destiny characters before the energy cost forced him to stop.
• Chen Lin spotted an enormous straw shoe drifting through the Darkness Zone, entered it, and found a gathering beside a Great Rift.
• The White Jade Youth explained that the Tattered Straw Shoe produced treasure chests whose rewards could fulfill hopes, while an old man called the place the River of Hope.
• Chen Lin learned he was in the Western Domain, where the Wizard Council was located, and told the others he came from the Northern Domain.
• An old man told Chen Lin that the Dawn Society had been destroyed a thousand years earlier.
• A gale surged from the Great Rift and carried a colorful treasure chest into view.

Chen Lin learned the rules of the treasure chests and settled in to cultivate while waiting for a chance to obtain Straw Weavings. After months without success, he prepared to use the Mystic Gold Spear and his enhanced Destiny Divine Ability when a large eruption sent more than a dozen chests swirling out of the fissure.

• Chen Lin questioned a nearby cultivator, who explained that Straw Weavings from treasure chests could protect people during tidal days and were needed to leave the area.
• Chen Lin investigated the fissure, found its boundary barrier impossible to break, and decided to wait while cultivating and severing his alter ego lines.
• Chen Lin severed one alter ego line in two months, but realized that lingering backlash and his lack of Straw Weavings could prevent him from staying long-term.
• Chen Lin failed to claim several chests over the following months and began studying the Destiny Runic Inscription while monitoring the fissure.
• Chen Lin prepared the Mystic Gold Spear with the Chain of Destiny and beast sinews, then activated his enhanced Destiny Divine Ability.
• A powerful vortex erupted from the fissure with more than a dozen treasure chests, and everyone rushed to compete for them.

Chen Lin won a treasure chest containing a Task Scroll and had to cheer up the child depicted inside before the portrait faded. He succeeded by feeding the child Mother Steamed Bun and received a willow branch, then learned his scroll was unlike others before a woman asked to examine the reward.

• Chen Lin used the Mystic Gold Spear to wrest a treasure chest from Wizard Ge Qi and found two straw weavings and a Task Scroll inside.
• The child in the portrait warned Chen Lin to cheer them up or they would take something from him, and the Rugged Man explained the scroll's risks and time limit.
• Chen Lin used divination to choose delicacies, made Mother Steamed Bun, and fed it to the child, who became happy and gave him a willow branch that could raise the level of his Sealed Space.
• The portrait identified the child as Wang Erwa, also called the Red-Robe Soaring Hero, before the scroll disintegrated.
• The Rugged Man and two other cultivators discussed how unusual Chen Lin's Task Scroll and reward were, and the woman asked to examine the willow branch.

Chen Lin rejected Ruan Qingxi’s offer to trade innate myriad spirit liquid for his willow twig, then survived the tide by relying on his straw-woven knife. After learning the knife’s saber technique, he used it with his Runic Saber to sever an alter ego line with one strike and began accelerating his cultivation.

• Chen Lin declined Ruan Qingxi’s offer of innate myriad spirit liquid for the willow twig, and she identified herself as an elder of the Eight Trees Sect before leaving.
• Two years later, the tide surged through the rift, and Chen Lin’s straw-woven knife shielded him by performing a saber technique.
• Chen Lin learned that the tide had killed Old Yang and other cultivators who had not used their straw weavings.
• Chen Lin studied the saber technique, then performed it with his Runic Saber and severed an alter ego line with a single strike and reduced backlash.
• Chen Lin began severing alter ego lines at a frenzied pace while considering how to obtain more variegated crystal marrow.

Chen Lin recovered from severing an alter ego line, sought variegated crystal marrow, and explored the grotto-heaven empowered by the willow branch. He then met Hu Liwu, who asked him to alter his destiny, but Chen Lin refused.

• Chen Lin severed his last manifested alter ego line, realized hidden lines remained, and used Beauty Finger Sap to recover from the backlash.
• Chen Lin failed to persuade Ruan Qingxi to trade spirit liquid for anything except the willow branch, which he refused to give up.
• Chen Lin entered the gourd grotto-heaven, observed the growing willow and its effects on the spirit plants and metal fragment, and drank from the spirit spring.
• Hu Liwu introduced himself as a Five Elders City contender for city lord and explained that Old Man Tianji's disciple, Xu Qiuping, had marked his destiny.
• Hu Liwu asked Chen Lin to alter his destiny, but Chen Lin declined and advised him to rely on the Treasure Chest.

Chen Lin altered Hu Liwu’s destiny trajectory in exchange for variegated crystal marrow and learned that Old Man Tianji might use the Ascension Trial to reach Rank Seven. After failing to collect a tenth Straw Weaving and provoking the Dominator Old Man Grey Crow, Chen Lin heard Ruan Qingxi explain the obstacles to leaving as a fissure filled the space with rosy light.

• Chen Lin used the Coconut-shaped Spiritual Fruit to alter Hu Liwu’s destiny trajectory, enduring a disturbance that damaged the fruit before Beauty Finger’s juice restored it.
• Hu Liwu warned Chen Lin that Old Man Tianji might devour Destiny Practitioners’ talent origins during the Ascension Trial, prompting Chen Lin to seek Dominator strength before entering it.
• After opening more than twenty Treasure Chests in a year, Chen Lin obtained only nine Straw Weavings and drove off Old Man Grey Crow by refusing to yield to his threats.
• Ruan Qingxi told Chen Lin that the chance of obtaining a Straw Weaving decreased as a person collected more, and that those who vanished while opening Treasure Chests might have been erased by the rules.
• Ruan Qingxi proposed that Chen Lin take her along when he found a way to leave, and a fissure began emitting rosy light as she spoke.

Chen Lin and Ruan Qingxi worked together to claim an Exquisite Treasure Chest after three chests appeared and their attacks devastated many cultivators. Chen Lin secured the chest, while the Fourth Prince and Princess Yudie claimed the other two; Ruan Qingxi reminded him to honor their agreement and inspect his prize.

• Ruan Qingxi agreed to help Chen Lin claim an Exquisite Treasure Chest in exchange for his help with a future chest, while Ge Yuye and Ning Feng declared their claims and Princess Yudie watched.
• Three Exquisite Treasure Chests emerged, and the chests reflected the cultivators’ attacks back at them, killing nearly half the crowd and forcing the survivors to retreat.
• Ruan Qingxi used a Dark Green Seed to restrain the competition on Chen Lin’s side, allowing Chen Lin to strike the light orb with his forbidden power and reveal a Treasure Chest.
• Ge Yuye tried to retaliate, but Ruan Qingxi warned him against defying the rules and challenged the Wizard Council’s claim to the River of Hope.
• The Fourth Prince claimed the middle chest and Princess Yudie claimed the other, while Ge Yuye withdrew; Ruan Qingxi told Chen Lin to inspect his chest and honor their agreement.

Chen Lin opened an Exquisite Treasure Chest and obtained the Punishment Axe, then reunited with Beitang Zhu, Chunjiu, and Fu Tianhan in the Tattered Straw Shoe Secret Realm. He learned the Ascension Trial would begin within a thousand years, declined offers to join the Seven Passions Sect and Celestial God Palace, and was approached by the Skinny Man.

• Chen Lin, Princess Yudie, and the Fourth Prince opened their Treasure Chests, revealing the Punishment Axe, a radiant hairpin, and a golden scroll.
• Dozens of cultivators arrived, and Chen Lin recognized Chunjiu, Fu Tianxue, and Beitang Zhu among them, all now Dominators.
• Chen Lin examined the Punishment Axe and realized it made him a recognized guardian of the Great Dao, though he doubted how much protection the incomplete rules would provide.
• Beitang Zhu told Chen Lin that over two hundred years had passed, the Bizarre Kingdom's invasion had ended, and the Ascension Trial could begin within five hundred to a thousand years; she also invited him to join the Seven Passions Sect.
• Chunjiu offered Chen Lin a place as an elder in the Celestial God Palace, but he declined because he had already contracted to help someone else during the Ascension Trial.
• As Chen Lin prepared to study the Punishment Axe, the Skinny Man approached and asked whether he was Fellow Daoist Chen Lin.

Chen Lin met Zhu Jing, heir to a lineage destroyed in the bizarre invasion, who used an inherited Ruyi Golden Decree to claim a favor. Chen Lin agreed to attempt refining a mysterious False Pill, and Zhu Jing pressed him to begin immediately with the materials he had brought.

• Zhu Jing presented half of a red jade token, which matched the piece Chen Lin had received from the Ruyi Pavilion proprietor long ago.
• Zhu Jing explained that his ancestor had passed down the Ruyi Golden Decree, allowing its holder to ask Chen Lin for a favor.
• Chen Lin offered Zhu Jing three variegated crystals, but Zhu Jing instead asked him to refine a False Pill.
• Zhu Jing explained that the False Pill imitated a True Pill unaffected by the Creation Tome Rules, and showed Chen Lin a blank formula scroll.
• Chen Lin activated the scroll with soul origin essence, read the formula, and agreed to try refining the pill later in Dream Illusion City.
• Zhu Jing produced the pill materials and a cauldron, then asked Chen Lin to begin refining the False Pill immediately.

Chen Lin agreed to refine Zhu Jing's pill in exchange for the Little White Bear's Hand Warmer if he could help Zhu Jing obtain an Exquisite Treasure Chest. After spending months preparing the materials, Chen Lin began refining the pill.

• Chen Lin discovered that Zhu Jing's Little White Bear's Hand Warmer could be activated with forbidden power and negotiated for it in return for helping Zhu Jing obtain an Exquisite Treasure Chest.
• Zhu Jing agreed that Chen Lin could have the Pill Cauldron if he helped him obtain an Exquisite Treasure Chest, while Chen Lin warned that he could only help fend off competitors and that Zhu Jing would need the chest to recognize him.
• Zhu Jing repeatedly tried to catch Treasure Chests from the fissure and eventually obtained one Straw Weaving, while Chen Lin slowly treated the core ingredients with forbidden energy.
• Over six months, Chen Lin finished processing all three core ingredients, then prepared the auxiliary materials and rested until he was ready to refine the pill.
• Chen Lin fired up the Pill Cauldron and began refining Zhu Jing's pill.

Chen Lin used the Cloud-Dispelling Fruit to reveal and sever his final soul alter ego line, but the backlash nearly destroyed him before Ruan Qingxi saved him. She explained that he had advanced toward dominator, then discussed his unusual true characters and the possibility that the Lake-Fishing Old Man had brought his soul from outside the Creation Tome.

• Chen Lin gave Zhu Jing one of the three False Pills and prepared to use the Cloud-Dispelling Fruit while Ruan Qingxi stood guard.
• Chen Lin revealed a thick, powerful soul alter ego line and snapped it with the Punishment Axe after his Runic Saber failed.
• Chen Lin swallowed the False Pill as the backlash began destroying him, and Ruan Qingxi stabilized his disintegrating body with a seed and an emerald branch.
• Ruan Qingxi rebuked Chen Lin for acting rashly and explained that severing his final soul alter ego had greatly improved his chances of ascending to dominator.
• Chen Lin told Ruan Qingxi that he could condense two kinds of true characters, and she suggested the anomaly might stem from his soul's origins outside the Creation Tome.
• Ruan Qingxi discussed the Lake-Fishing Old Man, forbidden power, and the uncertainty surrounding Chen Lin's arrival from Earth, then urged him to focus on surviving the Ascension Trial.

Chen Lin examined his newly reached Quasi-Dominator state and sought advice on how to balance his cultivation inheritances before attempting ascension. After thirty years of study and cultivation, he was drawn into a plan to explore the rift when Chunjiu revealed that her treasure required five people to operate.

• Chen Lin weighed whether to attempt ascension before the Ascension Trial and examined how his body, soul, intent, Natal Runic Inscription, and Soul Master Inheritance might fit together.
• Ruan Qingxi warned Chen Lin about the risks of ascending and advised him on Primordial Inheritances, soul balance, forbidden power, and a Primordial-Tier Fruit she would trade for an Exquisite Treasure Chest.
• Chen Lin consulted Beitang Zhu, studied the Shadow Scholar's Books, and spent thirty years devising a plan while continuing to seek treasure chests and the tenth straw weaving.
• Zhu Jing asked Chen Lin about the rift, but Chen Lin refused to explore it until Chunjiu gathered Ruan Qingxi, Beitang Zhu, Fu Tianhan, Xuankui, and Chen Lin.
• Chunjiu said she intended to force her way through the rift with a powerful Celestial God Palace treasure that required five people, and Chen Lin reconsidered joining the attempt.

Chunjiu gathered Chen Lin, Fu Tianhan, Ruan Qingxi, and Beitang Zhu to use the Five-Phase Spirit Control Art and send her Divine Maiden into the fissure to explore. While they waited, Chen Lin refined the Crystal Needle with the new art, and the chapter ended with the Divine Maiden and the Fourth Prince’s Seal Platform emerging from the fissure.

• Chunjiu proposed that the group explore the fissure together, and they agreed on a collection order, with Chunjiu first, Ruan Qingxi second, Chen Lin third, and Fu Tianhan last.
• Chunjiu gave the group the Five-Phase Spirit Control Art, and Chen Lin spent more than an hour learning it, delaying them while the Fourth Prince entered the fissure with his companions’ help.
• The five cultivators supplied energy to Chunjiu’s Divine Maiden, who entered the fissure to investigate and share her vision with Chunjiu.
• Chen Lin used the Five-Phase Spirit Control Art to refine the Crystal Needle, gaining greater control over it and the ability to activate it with forbidden power.
• Chunjiu announced that the exploration was complete, and the Divine Maiden and the Fourth Prince’s Seal Platform flew out of the fissure.

Chen Lin agreed to investigate the barrier beneath the fissure after Chunjiu and the others pooled treasures as payment, while insisting that dangers beyond his control would not count as breaking their contract. As Chen Lin entered with the Divine Maiden, the Fourth Prince and Song Yudie prepared to send Xiaodie ahead and investigate as well.

• Chunjiu told Chen Lin and the others that a formless barrier blocked the passage beyond the fissure and asked Chen Lin to investigate it.
• Chen Lin negotiated for protection from Four Seasons Villa and help against the Lake-Fishing Old Man, then accepted Chunjiu's offer of a Book of Destiny and requested compensation.
• Ruan Qingxi, Beitang Zhu, and Fu Tianhan contributed treasures, and Chunjiu gave Chen Lin the agreed items and a Pig-Head Bird Talisman.
• Fu Tianhan proposed a contract witnessed by the Eye of the River of Netherworld, and Chen Lin clarified that unavoidable events would not count as a deliberate breach.
• The group activated the Divine Maiden, who enveloped Chen Lin in white light and led him into the fissure.
• Ba Gu told the Fourth Prince that Chen Lin might be one of the Shadow Scholar's Shadows, and Song Yudie sent Xiaodie to investigate while asking the Fourth Prince to support it with his Seal Platform.