Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin followed the Divine Maiden through a barrier in the fissure and learned about divine beings, the Celestial God, and the Creation Tome's hierarchy. They reached a vast grassland where Treasure Chests grew among the plants, leaving them ready to explore.

• Chen Lin failed to break the formless barrier with the Mystic Gold Spear, but pierced it with the Crystal Needle, and the Divine Maiden pushed him through.
• The Divine Maiden admitted she wanted Chen Lin to explore with her and explained that the Celestial God was an Upper-tier Divine Being, below a Main God.
• Chen Lin and the Divine Maiden entered a grass-filled space beyond the barrier, which she identified as the inside of the Tattered Straw Shoe's toe hole.
• The Divine Maiden spotted several Treasure Chests among the towering grass and concluded that they had found where Treasure Chests came from.

Chen Lin and Grey explored the strange river beyond the fissure, where exquisite treasure chests surfaced and Grey revealed more about divine beings. After Chen Lin obtained a Silver Soul-Unlocking Key and agreed to help Grey breach the waterfall’s spatial barrier, they began searching the river and found an embroidered shoe and another treasure chest.

• Chen Lin and Grey reached a river fed by a waterfall, and Grey identified it as the possible source of the River of Hope and explained that divine beings differed from ordinary life-forms.
• Grey revealed that the fissure entrance had vanished and urged Chen Lin to leave through the waterfall, but he refused to rush into the danger.
• When an exquisite treasure chest surfaced, Grey’s dark hand passed through it, and Chen Lin used the Mystic Gold Spear to retrieve it and found a Silver Soul-Unlocking Key inside.
• Grey offered Chen Lin a secret art to reduce the danger of secondary soul dissolution in exchange for his help breaking the spatial barrier at the waterfall, and he accepted after examining it.
• Chen Lin fished an embroidered bridal shoe from the river, then recovered another exquisite treasure chest while Grey found nothing.

Chen Lin used the Fortunate Art to survive the Gray Pouch, which removed a hidden mark from him, then found a Handkerchief that shielded him from the river’s erosion. When a Death Pocket appeared, he used the Handkerchief to hide inside the Grotto-Heaven Gourd and emerged after the threat passed, leaving Grey asking about the Handkerchief’s abilities.

• Chen Lin and Grey examined a metal fragment, then Chen Lin fished up an Outspoken Bird Talisman and later opened a chest containing a Gray Pouch.
• Chen Lin resisted the Gray Pouch with the Fortunate Art, and it took away a hidden mark that Grey said had been left by someone of at least the dominator realm.
• Chen Lin tested his forbidden power outside Grey’s protection, then fished up a red Handkerchief that stopped the river’s energy from eroding him.
• Chen Lin opened another chest as his good luck faded, and a Death Pocket appeared; Grey warned him that it harvested life origin essence under the Grim Reaper’s rules.
• Chen Lin covered the Grotto-Heaven Gourd with the Handkerchief and hid inside until the Death Pocket vanished, then emerged as Grey asked what the Handkerchief could do.

Chen Lin and Grey investigated the River of Destiny and tried to pass through the waterfall, but the barrier’s rules repelled them and left them trapped. Grey revealed that even powerful divine beings could not escape the Creation Tome, and she had sought Chen Lin because of rumors linking him to the Shadow Scholar.

• Grey examined the Red Handkerchief and Embroidered Shoe, but could use neither, and explained that the handkerchief had protected Chen Lin from the Death Pocket.
• Chen Lin and Grey dredged the river for more than ten days, found no corpse, and collected several Treasure Chests before deciding to test the waterfall.
• Chen Lin discovered that the passage they had entered through had vanished, and he suspected that leaving would require completing a rules-based mission involving the Straw Weavings.
• Chen Lin agreed only to help Grey test the waterfall with his Crystal Needle, and the barrier struck him with destructive rule power until his Outspoken Bird Talisman saved him.
• Grey tried to grasp the waterfall herself, failed, and told Chen Lin that even her Father God and the Divine Lord of the Bizarre Kingdom could not escape the Creation Tome.
• Grey said people had mistaken Chen Lin for one of the Shadow Scholar’s shadows, and Chen Lin asked why she believed he had no connection to the Shadow Scholar.

Chen Lin tried to escape the Tattered Straw Shoe through the River of Hope but failed, then discovered a strange pattern in his attempts to weave Niuniu's straw figure. When a violent upheaval opened the waterfall barrier, Grey's attempt to escape drew in a monstrous tentacle, leaving Chen Lin scrambling for another way to survive.

• Chen Lin tested the outlets of all three tributaries with the Crystal Needle but lacked enough forbidden power to break through.
• After more than half a year weaving straw creations, Chen Lin noticed that his tenth attempt to make Niuniu's figure produced a faint fluctuation.
• Grey offered Chen Lin a Divine Crystal to help him break through the waterfall barrier, and he agreed when a sudden upheaval made escape urgent.
• Chen Lin used the Divine Crystal's power to pierce the barrier, but Grey entered first and returned gravely weakened, warning him to run.
• A massive tentacle with a pale eyeball attacked Grey, who merged with the Divine Crystal and detonated it to hold the creature back.
• Chen Lin told Grey he could not reach a tributary after exhausting his forbidden power, then asked her to buy time while he tried another plan.

Chen Lin escaped the space beyond the waterfall after regressing his destiny talent and weaving ten scarecrows, while Grey was left barely alive and the Divine Maiden’s recovery required a Celestial God. Back at the fissure, he traded information and divine herbs for resources, but the chapter ended with powerful cultivators gathering around him to ask about what lay beyond the barrier.

• Chen Lin reduced his innate talent to its original Ten Attempts One Hit state and wove ten scarecrows while Grey used the Divine Crystal to hold off the Tentacle Monster.
• Chen Lin completed the final scarecrow, reopened the passage, and escaped the tentacle’s strike with the help of the Outspoken Bird talisman, while Grey’s light particle was left barely alive.
• Chen Lin treated Grey, returned to the cliff, and gave the dim light particle to Chunjiu, who said the Divine Maiden could recover only with a Celestial God’s help.
• Chen Lin shared his findings with Chunjiu, Ruan Qingxi, Beitang Zhu, and Fu Tianhan, distributed grass from the space, and warned them that entering was easier than getting out.
• Chen Lin traded divine herbs and information for two Outspoken Bird Talismans, then gave Zhu Jing the agreed resources and received his Pill Cauldron.
• After the fissure’s vortex faded without producing a treasure chest, the Fourth Prince of the Tianlong Kingdom, Princess Yudie, and more than twenty powerful cultivators crossed over and surrounded Chen Lin.

Chen Lin traded Divine Herb, information, and his help with the Passage Barrier for a fortune in rare treasures, then discussed escape plans and the Ascension Trial with Beitang Zhu and the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince tried to recruit Chen Lin into the Tianlong Kingdom, but Chen Lin refused by revealing that he would team up with Bai Yujing.

• Chen Lin traded with the Fourth Prince, Princess Yudie, and other cultivators, gaining False Pill materials, variegated crystal marrow, and many rare treasures.
• Chen Lin recognized Ba Gu of Starlight Cave among the traders but pretended not to know him, then finished trading after a full day.
• Beitang Zhu told Chen Lin that Daidaixi had warned his Destiny Talent might backfire and wanted him to return to the Seven-Star Realm for a conversation.
• Chen Lin told Beitang Zhu he could try to escape through a river tributary but advised her to complete the task and avoid the dangerous waterfall exit.
• The Fourth Prince discussed the Shadow Scholar and the Master of the Creation Tome with Chen Lin, then offered him status and resources to join the Tianlong Kingdom for the Ascension Trial.
• Chen Lin refused the Fourth Prince's offer and said he would team up with Bai Yujing, prompting the prince to leave in silence.

Chen Lin refined False Pills, discovered that the Embroidered Shoe belonged to the mysterious being sealed inside the massive stone, and searched for a way to use the Five-Phase Spirit Control Art. Princess Yudie offered to help him beyond the barrier and set an exploration date thirteen days away.

• Song Yudie gave Chen Lin a jade pendant containing refined destiny origin essence and a communication treasure for joining Moyu Country's team.
• Chen Lin promised Ruan Qingxi he would inform her sect if he escaped first, then spent half a year cultivating and refining nine False Pills.
• Chen Lin merged two metal fragments in the Gourd Grotto-Heaven and found disconnected true characters on them.
• Chen Lin returned the Embroidered Shoe to the living being inside the massive stone, then decided to keep the stone in his Grotto-Heaven for now.
• Chen Lin asked Ruan Qingxi, Beitang Zhu, and Princess Yudie how to quickly gain dominator power for the Five-Phase Spirit Control Art, but found no solution.
• Princess Yudie set the exploration beyond the barrier for thirteen days later and asked Chen Lin to invite Chunjiu and the others to join.

Chen Lin gained a nine-aperture exquisite heart from the stone senior, letting him wield divine power and refine Little White Bear’s Hand Warmer. He sent two of Princess Yudie’s people through the barrier, but they did not return before a flood of light appeared in the rift.

• The stone senior transformed Chen Lin’s heart into a nine-aperture exquisite heart, merging his body, soul, and intent and granting him divine power.
• Chen Lin used the Five-Phase Spirit Control Art to refine Little White Bear’s Hand Warmer, then summoned Little White Bear, who said he could perform tasks in exchange for energy.
• Chen Lin agreed to guide a man and a woman chosen by Princess Yudie through the barrier, and they entered while he waited in the Labyrinth Passage.
• After more than ten days passed without the pair returning, Chen Lin reported their absence to Princess Yudie.
• A streak of light flashed below the cliff, and more lights rapidly filled the rift.

Chen Lin and Little White Bear fought the Diling emerging from the fissure, refining its tentacles while the trapped cultivators joined the battle. They gained the upper hand, but the monster continued to devour the weaker cultivators as the survivors struggled to contain it.

• Chen Lin found the Scarecrow straw weaving could not take him to the Outer World, so he summoned Little White Bear with the hand warmer.
• The Diling emerged and devoured more than a dozen cultivators; the Fourth Prince, Princess Yudie, and the others attacked its tentacles.
• Little White Bear said he could drive the Diling back, and Chen Lin urged the cultivators to fight while using False Pills and his nine-aperture exquisite heart to sustain him.
• Chen Lin discovered his Crystal Needle could pierce the tentacles’ defenses, and he and Little White Bear refined nearly a dozen tentacles into an exquisite crystal.
• The Fourth Prince and Princess Yudie discussed recruiting Chen Lin and the looming danger to the Cultivation World while the battle continued and more cultivators were eaten.

Chen Lin and the others entered the passage after the tentacles withdrew, then investigated the river and waterfall for a way out. Little White Bear warned that escaping against the current was impossible, so Chen Lin used his remaining strength to open a barrier at a downstream tributary and lead his group out.

• Little White Bear identified the Phoenix Crown Woman’s crystal as the Eye of Exquisite and wondered whether Chen Lin had a nine-aperture exquisite heart.
• Chen Lin chose to follow the Fourth Prince and Princess Yudie into the passage with Chunjiu, Ruan Qingxi, Beitang Zhu, Zhu Jing, and Fu Tianhan.
• Fu Tianhan told Chen Lin that the Lake-Fishing Old Man had become a fourth-rank dominator, and Chen Lin accepted his effort to reconcile.
• Chen Lin summoned Little White Bear, who judged that they could not escape through the waterfall against the current and identified the area as likely connected to the Exquisite Treasure Tree.
• Little White Bear drained part of the river, but Chen Lin found no treasure chests or other useful items in its bed.
• Chen Lin combined Little White Bear’s remaining strength with the Crystal Needle to open a downstream barrier and carried his group out.

After escaping the Tattered Straw Shoe, Chen Lin learned more about the Star Ruins and the possible price of his nine-aperture exquisite heart. Three years later, he reached the Goose-Feather Well, where treasures were emerging, and asked Little White Bear to judge whether he could safely enter its hidden secret realm.

• Chen Lin parted from Ruan Qingxi, Beitang Zhu, and Zhu Jing, accepted Zhu Jing's False Pill, and continued alone after explaining that he had promised to serve a mysterious powerhouse connected to the Shadow Scholar.
• Chen Lin summoned Little White Bear with the Hand Furnace and learned that the Star Ruins might lie within the Exquisite Treasure Tree and that his nine-aperture exquisite heart could mark him as Exquisite Country's royal descendant.
• Chen Lin traveled for nearly three years to Huqiu, where he saw that the everlasting vine remained and a new bell had appeared at the sixteenth position.
• Chen Lin learned that treasures had been emerging from the Goose-Feather Well and concluded that it likely contained the secret-realm entrance shown on Zhao Qingchuan's treasure map.
• After confirming that the strongest treasures had only reached the dominator level, Chen Lin went to the Goose-Feather Well and asked Little White Bear whether he could safely enter.

Chen Lin and Little White Bear entered the Goose-Feather Well to find a secret realm, using the Hand Furnace and exquisite crystals to withstand its dangers. After descending and discovering a rotating feather formation, they broke its pattern and entered through a hidden space node.

• Chen Lin gave Little White Bear an exquisite crystal, and Little White Bear used the Hand Furnace to carry him into the Goose-Feather Well.
• Chen Lin and Little White Bear descended for weeks, spending much of their crystal energy and finding a black dagger with a faint dominator aura.
• Little White Bear recognized the feathers' rotation as a likely secret-realm entrance and said the pattern felt familiar.
• Chen Lin and Little White Bear attacked the rotating feathers with the Hand Furnace's fire dragons, the Crystal Needle, and Soul-Destroying Finger.
• Chen Lin found a way to alter the feathers' rotation, revealing a space node, and he and Little White Bear flew through it.

Chen Lin and Little White Bear explored the ruins of Ming Du, a shattered fragment of the Yuguang Divine Kingdom, and found the lake and Purple Bamboo Forest marked on the Treasure Map. After Little White Bear recovered the Purple Light Cauldron from the palace ruins, he urged Chen Lin to search the forest for the Secret Order and divine soil, and they set off together.

• Little White Bear recognized Ming Du as the former capital of Yuguang Country and flew off with the Hand Furnace to explore the palace ruins.
• Chen Lin found the lake and Purple Bamboo Forest from the Treasure Map, but his survey of the surrounding ruins revealed no other valuable remains.
• After waiting at the lakeshore, Chen Lin received the Purple Light Cauldron that Little White Bear had recovered from a secret chamber in the palace ruins.
• Little White Bear said the Purple Bamboo Forest had been the location of Yuguang Country's Treasure Vault and that Chen Lin's Purple Light Tree had originally grown there.
• Chen Lin and Little White Bear discussed the uncertain purpose of the Secret Order and Ascension Trial, then flew together toward the Purple Bamboo Forest.

Chen Lin and Little White Bear explored the ruined Yuguang Tower, where Little White Bear revealed more about Exquisite Country’s history and the forces that destroyed it. As they entered a hidden passage, Chen Lin reconsidered the origins of his talent, while several figures appeared above the sealed altar.

• Little White Bear recovered memories and told Chen Lin that he was a remnant soul, that Primordial Realm beings had different titles, and that Exquisite Country had been protected by the Exquisite Treasure Tree.
• In the Purple Bamboo Forest, Little White Bear identified the bamboo as a treasure that refined tools and recognized the Goose-Feather Well as the damaged White Jade Spring of Yuguang Country.
• Little White Bear found the ruined Yuguang Tower and explained that its altar had been struck by Destiny, a Daoist Sect technique that erased transcendent power.
• Little White Bear warned Chen Lin that Yuansheng Country, Tianlong Kingdom, and Moyu Country might have been subordinate kingdoms of Exquisite Country, while Chen Lin questioned how the Stele of Destiny could belong to Exquisite Country.
• Little White Bear speculated that Chen Lin might be the reincarnated Dao Lord, and Chen Lin concluded that his talent had two parts, one of which had remained dormant since his transmigration.
• Little White Bear opened a mechanical passage beneath the altar and descended with Chen Lin; after the altar closed, several figures appeared above it.

Chen Lin and Little White Bear reached the Underground Passage’s Fourth Layer and found treasures, but an intruder forced Chen Lin to flee while Little White Bear departed on his own mission. Chen Lin escaped with eleven jade-box treasures but found no Secret Order among them, then headed toward Dream Illusion City.

• Little White Bear and Chen Lin found that the Fourth Layer’s jade boxes were sustained by purple bamboo roots, and Chen Lin opened one to obtain the Crimson Moon Scimitar, which pledged allegiance to him.
• Little White Bear offered Chen Lin the jade-box treasures in exchange for leaving the Cauldron in his care and asked Chen Lin to help it recover; Chen Lin accepted.
• A powerful intruder uprooted the purple light bamboo, forcing Chen Lin to flee through a hidden passage while Little White Bear helped him escape the attacker’s grasp.
• Little White Bear later took the exquisite crystal Chen Lin gave him and departed, promising he could return if necessary.
• Chen Lin opened the eleven jade boxes he had obtained and found no Secret Order, though they contained pills, wine, a bead, precious tools, and seeds.
• Chen Lin examined the treasures, then flew toward Dream Illusion City.

Chen Lin returned to Matihai Mountain, prepared his companions for the approaching Ascension Trial, and examined treasures whose effects remained uncertain. More than thirty years later, as his purple heart aperture neared completion, Bai Lingyu invited him to attend a Trading Convention in the Hanchuan Boundary Realm by accepting an order-maintenance task.

• Chen Lin returned to Dream Illusion City, accepted treasures from Yu Gongyuan, then traveled with Grass to Matihai Mountain and reunited with its residents.
• Chen Lin learned that Lan Menghan had left to meet him in the Ascension Trial, warned his companions about Lake-Fishing Old Man, and discussed the Golden Ancestral Spirit’s request with Su'er.
• Chen Lin placed the Purple Light Cauldron beneath the Purple Light Tree, refined the Purple Jade Hammer and Kui Emperor Horn, and drank the wine, causing his purple heart aperture to transform.
• Chen Lin examined the remaining treasures and seeds, thanked the silent senior in the grotto-heaven, and failed to refine the metal fragment.
• Over thirty years passed as Matihai Mountain prospered, and Chen Lin crafted two Outspoken Bird Talismans while his purple heart aperture neared completion.
• Bai Lingyu told Chen Lin that he could attend the Trading Convention in the Hanchuan Boundary Realm for free by accepting a task to maintain order.

Chen Lin agreed to travel to the Hanchuan Boundary Realm for a mysterious secret realm and prepared for the Ascension Trial. Before departure, his evolved heart gave birth to the Purple-Heart Sword, which revealed hidden strokes Ye Zhangge had planted in the Seven-Star Ladle; Chen Lin severed them and began refining False Pills.

• Bai Lingyu told Chen Lin that a strange secret realm had appeared in the Hanchuan Boundary Realm and said the Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace would hold its trading convention there; Chen Lin agreed to go in a little over half a year.
• Chen Lin sent Grass and Little White Snake to deliver Luo Qinglan a letter and Ascension Trial information, then told his companions to prepare while he spent his remaining time with Su'er.
• Chen Lin's nine-aperture exquisite heart evolved and produced the Purple-Heart Sword, which he tested in the Star Ruins and found could reach targets nearly a million li away.
• Chen Lin used the sword's purple energy to inspect the Seven-Star Ladle's Law Character Symbol and discovered hidden overlapping life strokes left by Ye Zhangge.
• Chen Lin cut away the hidden strokes, severing the character's connection to the Seven-Star Ladle; Ye Zhangge sensed the change, while Chen Lin found the character had become more solid.
• Chen Lin confirmed his Chinese Character was unaffected, failed to merge the two characters, and began refining False Pills with the Purple Light Cauldron.

Chen Lin arrived in the Beihan Realm and was assigned to establish an Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace branch in Xiangyang City, despite receiving no funding. After learning the city’s markets were controlled by major factions, he secured a shop through Ning Changtian, who sought to avoid trouble with the Feng Family.

• Lu Qiuya received Chen Lin and the other attendants, handed them their assignments, and introduced the two maidservants assigned to Chen Lin, Mingzhi and Qingyu.
• Chen Lin learned he had to establish a branch in Xiangyang City, then traveled there with Mingzhi and Qingyu and discovered that Bai Lingyu had provided no funding.
• Chen Lin found that the city’s shops were occupied by major factions and went to City Lord Ning Changtian to ask about Ning Feng and obtain a headquarters.
• Ning Changtian recognized Chen Lin’s invitation from Ning Yu and warned him that the Feng Family might target him over his supposed relationship with Yue Bingling.
• Chen Lin agreed not to publicize his connection to Ning Yu, paid fifty variegated crystals, and received a token for a shop in the Central Market.
• After Chen Lin left, Ning Changtian rejected advice to befriend him, saying he feared provoking the Feng Family and risking his clan’s survival.

Chen Lin opened an Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace shop and learned about the Nameless Secret Realm from Mingzhi. He traded pills, crystals, and food for an invisible miraculous object, then discovered that its contours could reverse direction.

• Chen Lin took over the Heavenly Star Treasure Pavilion, set up formations, and told Mingzhi and Qingyu to find Explorers and investigate the city’s factions and Soul Interrogation Academy members.
• Mingzhi explained that the Nameless Secret Realm held visible and invisible treasures and beings, and that few cultivators returned alive.
• A masked young man offered Chen Lin an invisible miraculous object in exchange for Questioning Dao Pills, variegated crystals, and Seven-Star delicacies; Chen Lin accepted and heard how the man had escaped the secret realm.
• The young man gave Chen Lin a map of an abandoned ancient city, and Chen Lin examined the miraculous object with his available abilities.
• Chen Lin used the Purple-Heart Sword’s power to discover that the object’s contours could reverse direction even though its shape stayed the same.