Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin reunited with Wen Siyue, who brought him a valuable metal fragment and told him about her and her brother’s troubles in the Yin-Yang Sect. After Wen Siyue left, Princess Yudie invited Chen Lin to join an expedition to the Nameless Secret Realm, and he asked why she had chosen him.

• Chen Lin sent Mingzhi and Qingyu to search for a badge, Mandarin Duck Boards, and metal fragments while he prepared holy spirits and sought Dominator Tier spiritual bodies.
• Wen Siyue arrived at Chen Lin’s shop, and he learned that she had reached mid-Eternity while her brother was recovering from an injury at the Yin-Yang Sect.
• Wen Siyue gave Chen Lin a metal fragment from an Exquisite Treasure Chest; it joined with his fragment, revealing more characters, which she memorized.
• Wen Siyue told Chen Lin that she and her brother had been punished after entering the sect’s forbidden ground and that they intended to kill Shangguan Yu, who had tricked them.
• Chen Lin gave Wen Siyue pills and other resources, told her where to find him, and learned that Wen Xinzhao remained in the Boundary River.
• Princess Yudie invited Chen Lin to join her in exploring the Nameless Secret Realm, offering to split the spoils evenly, and Chen Lin asked why she had approached him.

Princess Yudie approached Chen Lin about joining her search for a Secret Realm treasure before the Ascension Trial, then identified several treasures he had recovered from Yuguang Country. After realizing Chen Lin could use items meant for divine beings, she feared he was being prepared as a vessel for a powerful being and abruptly ended their dealings; Chen Lin chose to postpone using the treasures and keep refining his Holy Spirit.

• Princess Yudie explained that the Ascension Trial was tied to entering the Holy Land and escaping the Creation Tome's seal, but Chen Lin declined her invitation because he had pledged himself to Elder Bai.
• Princess Yudie recognized Chen Lin's Yuzhao Pill and guessed that he had taken the treasures from Yuguang Country's Treasure Vault; she asked to trade for his Divine Light Jade Liquid Wine, but Chen Lin said he had already drunk it.
• Chen Lin showed Princess Yudie the remaining treasures, and she identified a purple bead as divine origin essence and a pill as an Emperor-Ascension Pill.
• Princess Yudie realized Chen Lin seemed able to use treasures intended for divine beings, suspected a mighty being was guiding him toward resurrection, and canceled their agreements before leaving.
• Chen Lin researched the Yuzhao Pill and Emperor-Ascension Pill, then decided to store the treasures until after his Secondary Soul Dissolution and continued refining his Holy Spirit.

Chen Lin advanced his talisman arts, restored and improved his talent, and used the Yuzhao Pill to strengthen his talent origin. After Bai Lingyu summoned him to Beihan City, she identified his Formless Emblem as an exotic treasure and asked to test it.

• Chen Lin reached Divine Master attainment in talismancrafting and began forging the body of a Disorderly Boat Talisman from white jade cangyun gold.
• Chen Lin refined Cui Xuandie's origin essence from Princess Yudie's jade pendant, improving his talent from Ten Attempts One Hit to five guaranteed hits.
• Chen Lin absorbed the Yuzhao Pill's medicinal power into his red heart aperture, but the energy instead strengthened his talent, changing it to three guaranteed hits.
• Bai Lingyu summoned Chen Lin to Beihan City, where he found her injured and told her about the Formless Emblem.
• Bai Lingyu explained that the Formless Emblem was an exotic treasure after Chen Lin described its lines reversing, then asked to try activating it.

Chen Lin consulted Bai Lingyu about the Emblem and his connection to the Exquisite Country, then received orders to collect miraculous objects in Xiangyang City. After visiting several acquaintances, he tried to meet the Old Dean of the Soul Interrogation Academy but was turned away.

• Bai Lingyu warned Chen Lin that the Emblem and his nine-aperture exquisite heart might tie him to the Exquisite Country, and urged him to become strong enough to avoid being used as a chess piece.
• Bai Lingyu paid Chen Lin thirty thousand contribution points, gave him several rare materials, and instructed him to acquire miraculous objects while warning him against joining Song Yudie's secret-realm expedition.
• Chen Lin met Dugu Batian, declined to explore the secret realm with him, and learned that Li Wuxiang remained at the Falling Leaf Sect.
• Chen Lin visited Chunjiu and learned that Grey had been returned to the Evil God after Chunjiu failed to restore her; he declined Chunjiu's invitation to join the Celestial God Palace.
• At the Soul Interrogation Academy, Chen Lin used his Zodiac Rat's Eavesdropping ability to listen to the students' recitation, then was told the Old Dean would not see him and was escorted out.

Chen Lin survived an exotic-treasure attack by using his Formless Emblem, then learned that Ning Qing had attacked him and suffered a severe backlash. He stayed in Beihan City to study the Emblem and prepare for the three-stage Ascension Trial, ending months later with doubts about the world’s nature.

• Chen Lin left Beihan City but was struck by an attack that made his body, soul, and Natal Runic Inscription turn against one another; he used the Purple-Heart Sword and Formless Emblem to survive.
• Chen Lin returned to Beihan City, where Bai Lingyu used Time Reversal to examine the attack and later identified Ning Qing as the attacker, who had been injured by the backlash.
• Bai Lingyu gave Chen Lin half a bottle of sweet dew and explained that the Ascension Trial had three stages originating from the Exquisite Treasure Tree.
• Bai Lingyu told Chen Lin to stay in Beihan City and study his exotic treasure, and Chen Lin agreed and examined its newly visible Three-Petaled Flower design.
• Chen Lin drank the sweet dew, strengthened his Purple-Heart Sword over several months, and wondered whether something was wrong with the world.

Chen Lin tested the Emblem and discovered how it reflected an enemy’s attack, then used a hidden formula to simulate Secondary Soul Dissolution and learned that he was not yet ready to pass its final hurdle. He received a message from the Soul Interrogation Academy’s Old Dean, who claimed Chen Lin owed him a chance to study him.

• Chen Lin tested the Emblem on strange beasts and learned that it absorbed an attack and inflicted equivalent damage directly on the attacker.
• Chen Lin discovered that instantly activating the Emblem required overdrawing the heart blood of his Nine-Aperture Exquisite Heart.
• Chen Lin recited the Soul Interrogation Academy’s formula with the Zodiac Snake’s Incessant Chatter and experienced an apparent soul dissolution before waking moments later.
• Chen Lin concluded that the formula simulated Secondary Soul Dissolution and that the white light marked a hurdle he could not yet overcome.
• Chen Lin returned to the Soul Interrogation Academy’s former headquarters, learned its members had left for the Star Ruins, and spent months studying the formula.
• Wang Manqing told Chen Lin that the Old Dean said Chen Lin owed him a chance to study him and that the process would benefit Chen Lin.

Chen Lin used the Hundred Saints Soul-Interrogation Art to simulate Secondary Soul Dissolution, but the Holy Spirits could not protect him from the white light for long. Yue Bingling warned him about Feng Qing and gave him a missing Mandarin Duck Board, whose voice revealed that the Ascension Trial would begin in thirty-six years.

• After five years, Chen Lin finished condensing thirty-six Holy Spirits and used them to simulate Secondary Soul Dissolution, glimpsing a Silver Gate beyond the Soul Lock.
• Chen Lin tested whether his emblem and other treasures could help him endure the white light, but none manifested, and repeated attempts left his soul badly pained.
• Several months later, Yue Bingling visited Chen Lin, warned him that Feng Qing might cause trouble, and gave him the Duck Board of the Mandarin Duck Boards.
• When Chen Lin tapped the two Mandarin Duck Boards together, a voice told him the Ascension Trial would begin in thirty-six years, far sooner than he had expected.

Chen Lin told Bai Lingyu that the Ascension Trial would begin in thirty-six years, prompting her to hold an auction and gather resources for their preparations. After the auction, Bai Lingyu led Chen Lin and the other Azure-Crested Heavenly Palace attendants toward a dangerous secret-realm location, giving Chen Lin a Soul-Devouring Dagger and requiring him to help obtain an Exotic Treasure.

• Chen Lin told Bai Lingyu that reliable information placed the Ascension Trial thirty-six years away, and she proposed selling the news through a wager-backed auction.
• Bai Lingyu identified Chen Lin's symbol as a divine curse and warned him about the risks of Secondary Soul Dissolution and the Hundred Saints Soul-Interrogation Art.
• Chen Lin requested Peak Grade Soul Interrogation Beads and dominator-tier spiritual bodies, and Bai Lingyu agreed to help him collect them.
• Bai Lingyu organized a major trading convention, where Chen Lin obtained the Soul Interrogation Beads he needed but collected only a little over twenty dominator-tier spiritual entities.
• Bai Lingyu gathered her attendants for a dangerous secret-realm expedition, gave Chen Lin a Dominator Tier Soul-Devouring Dagger, and told him he must help secure an Exotic Treasure to keep it.

Chen Lin and Bai Lingyu’s group sailed toward a mysterious tower in the Secret Realm, where Chen Lin discovered his Emblem was easier to activate and could suppress a swarm of invisible creatures. After identifying the creatures as valuable Three-Fin Fish, Bai Lingyu ordered Chen Lin to lead the way ashore and promised him second pick of any Exotic Treasures they found.

• Chen Lin activated his Emblem aboard the boat and saw its Three-Petaled Flower become a Four-Petaled Flower.
• Han Tianyu traded Chen Lin information about a person with many Dominator Tier spiritual bodies for an Outspoken Bird Talisman.
• Bai Lingyu spotted a huge black structure near the coast and told the group to prepare to land.
• A swarm of Formless Fish attacked and wrecked the boat, and Chen Lin used his runic inscriptions and Emblem to calm the sea.
• Chen Lin caught an invisible fish in a runic net, and Bai Lingyu identified it as a Three-Fin Fish and ordered him to clear the way toward shore.

Chen Lin and Bai Lingyu led their group across the dangerous Nameless Secret Realm toward an abandoned city, while Zuo Xiwen arrived and proposed joining forces to explore the ruined Pagoda. As the group set out together, Bai Lingyu revealed that Zuo Xiwen had been gaining power by observing Chen Lin, and a sudden crash shook the shore.

• Chen Lin helped Bai Lingyu and the survivors reach shore, then accepted the recovered Three-Fin Fish as they continued toward the Black Building.
• Bai Lingyu said the group would avoid the ruined tower, a forbidden ground, and travel to an abandoned small city despite the dangerous route.
• Zuo Xiwen arrived by boat, recognized Chen Lin, and agreed to travel with the group for part of the way despite Bai Lingyu's objections.
• Zuo Xiwen invited Chen Lin to join him in exploring the Pagoda, but Chen Lin declined and offered help with other matters instead.
• Bai Lingyu told Chen Lin that Zuo Xiwen had been siphoning power from him through observation, then a tremendous crash sounded from the sea and shook the ground.

Chen Lin and the survivors fled the Drum Frog into the Pagoda, where they lost more people to the ruins’ deadly fissures. After Chen Lin saved the remaining group from strange threads, Bai Lingyu proposed investigating the crack, but Chen Lin refused.

• The Drum Frog’s attacks killed several Attendants, including Han Tianyu, before Bai Lingyu led the survivors into the Pagoda.
• Chen Lin landed in a ruined underground space with Bai Lingyu and four others, while Zuo Xiwen was separated from them.
• Bai Lingyu offered to give up first choice of any shared discoveries after Qu Mingyuan challenged her route, but Lian Zizhang left to search alone.
• Threads sprang from a fissure and killed Qu Mingyuan; Chen Lin accepted a peak-grade Runic Sprite from the Black-Robed Woman in exchange for trying to help her.
• Chen Lin used the Purple-Heart Sword to sever a thread and stored it in his gourd, saving the White-bearded Old Man from another attack.
• Bai Lingyu suggested searching the crack for a legendary Six-Star White Jade Spider and a possible exit, but Chen Lin refused.

Chen Lin refused to pursue Bai Lingyu’s assignment, then split from her and the remaining attendants to explore the secret realm alone. He found several objects, including the powerful Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula, but after three months of searching he still had not found an exit when another cultivator approached him.

• Chen Lin questioned Bai Lingyu about the route map, and the Black-Robed Woman argued that the realm’s dangers seemed to target Bai Lingyu and her followers.
• Bai Lingyu split from the group, and Chen Lin gave the White-bearded Old Man one Formless Entity before leaving the two attendants to fend for themselves.
• A White Jade Spider killed the White-bearded Old Man and the Black-Robed Woman, then revealed that Gu Siming had ordered it to spare Chen Lin because he was important to her plan.
• Chen Lin searched the ruins, collected several objects, and discovered a damaged short saber and the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula, whose power he could not cultivate.
• After three months of searching without finding an exit, Chen Lin was approached by a figure who asked whether he had been exploring alone.

Chen Lin escaped the ruins through the Black Pagoda’s boundary and found himself on an island where he had to endure ten attacks to pass an assessment. He survived the first two waves of silver fish using the Emblem’s Eye for an Eye ability, but his energy was nearly depleted with eight waves still to come.

• Lian Zizhang declined to join Chen Lin and flew into an underground fissure, while Chen Lin continued searching the ruins alone.
• Chen Lin ate Three-Fin Fish and discovered that their energy could improve his Nine-Aperture Exquisite Heart, though the effect weakened as his heart aperture grew stronger.
• Chen Lin passed through the ruins’ boundary wall and arrived on a different island, where a voice announced that he had to withstand ten attacks without leaving.
• Chen Lin used the Emblem’s Eye for an Eye ability to reflect the first wave of silver fish attacks, then killed the survivors and absorbed their remains.
• Silver sword fish attacked in the second wave, and Chen Lin relied on the Emblem to destroy their sword formations while refining fish to replenish his energy.
• Chen Lin barely survived the second wave by overdrawing his Nine-Aperture Exquisite Heart’s origin essence, with eight attacks still remaining.

Chen Lin survived the third through sixth waves by using the emblem to reflect attacks and comprehending Sea-Suppressing Momentum from the Giant Silver Sword Fish. The seventh wave introduced a mysterious cloaked person whose attack the emblem reflected, but who appeared to recognize it as a medal.

• Chen Lin discovered that Big Silver Fish contained inner cores, which rapidly restored his heart origin essence and supplied energy for tempering his green heart aperture.
• Three Giant Silver Sword Fish attacked with volleys of small swords, but Chen Lin studied the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula while the emblem defended him.
• Chen Lin comprehended Sea-Suppressing Momentum and killed all three Giant Silver Sword Fish with the Purple-Heart Sword.
• Chen Lin passed the fourth, fifth, and sixth waves of increasingly powerful red fish by keeping the emblem active and using the fish and inner cores to replenish his energy.
• A concealed figure in a bamboo hat and black cloak attacked from a small boat, and the emblem reflected the strike.
• The figure suffered backlash, then raised their head and asked whether Chen Lin's emblem was a medal.

Chen Lin received the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula’s inheritance and emerged onto the first layer of the Giant Tower. After breaking through to the next layer and finding a ruined medicine garden, he spotted a huge withered Snow-White Flower that reminded him of Blind Girl.

• The Conical-Hat Man accepted Chen Lin’s emblem as proof of his qualification and sent him directly to the Inheritance Ground.
• Chen Lin experienced the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula’s inheritance and awakened with its sword will.
• Chen Lin explored the first layer, found no treasures, and spent over a month cultivating before deciding to go higher.
• Chen Lin broke through the ceiling with the Purple-Heart Sword and entered the next layer without encountering a test.
• Chen Lin discovered a ruined medicine garden and noticed a withered Snow-White Flower beside its central pool, which reminded him of Blind Girl.

Chen Lin discovered that the white flower in the medicine garden was Blind Girl and restored enough of her vitality to speak. After learning she could recover outside the tower if contained by a suitable formless entity, he used the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula manual to keep her safe in his Grotto-Heaven Jade Pendant and continued exploring the third floor.

• Chen Lin recognized the flower as resembling Blind Girl and used his Soul Eye and purple heart aperture energy to confirm and revive her.
• Blind Girl told Chen Lin that the place was connected to the Heart Realm and that an offering on the tower’s Ninth Layer contained what she needed, but she could recover slowly if he took her out of the tower.
• Blind Girl explained that a higher-grade formless entity could contain her, so Chen Lin tested his treasures and found the Mandarin Duck Boards, the Emblem, and the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula manual could suppress her formless state.
• Chen Lin wrapped Blind Girl’s flower in the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula manual and placed it safely inside his Grotto-Heaven Jade Pendant.
• Chen Lin harvested the medicine garden’s spiritual herbs, stored them in the gourd’s grotto-heaven, and set off to explore the third floor.

Chen Lin followed Blind Girl’s directions to a hidden Spirit Liquid Pool after months of cultivation failed to evolve his green heart aperture. He absorbed the liquid until the aperture closed and revealed a divine curse, leaving him facing a new breakthrough trial.

• Chen Lin searched the pagoda’s third floor, found nothing valuable, and waited outside with Blind Girl while cultivating.
• Blind Girl told Chen Lin about a hidden underground Spirit Liquid Pool five hundred li away, and he waited six months before setting out.
• Chen Lin used the Purple-Heart Sword to travel through dangerous terrain while fleeing a group of powerful ape-like beings.
• Blind Girl guided Chen Lin through underground passages to the pool, where he found a small amount of milky-white spirit liquid.
• Chen Lin absorbed the spirit liquid until his green heart aperture closed and revealed a divine curse.

Chen Lin learned more about Blind Girl’s origins and the mysterious medal before helping her break free of a divine curse. When he tried to shatter the curse on his green heart aperture, a dangerous backlash nearly destroyed his soul, but an unknown shadow entered him and altered his apertures.

• Chen Lin questioned Blind Girl about her origins, the Heart Realm, and the medal that granted him protection.
• Blind Girl explained that her medal had four leaves and that its grade might correspond to the ranks of dominators.
• After several months, Blind Girl’s divine curse shattered, and she regained human form with her life tier and strength greatly increased.
• Chen Lin tried to break the divine curse on his green heart aperture with the Purple-Heart Sword and the Sea-Suppressing Sword Formula, but the backlash rapidly destroyed his soul origin essence.
• Chen Lin poured power from his other apertures into the Purple-Heart Sword and shattered the curse, but a shadow emerged from the Gourd Grotto-Heaven and merged with his soul.
• The shadow strengthened Chen Lin’s apertures, sealing and reopening them until all nine had roughly equal strength.

Chen Lin survived the Exquisite Country Emperor’s attempt to seize his body and absorbed memories that revealed the emperor’s schemes and the Mysterious Person’s connection to Outer Heaven. After sharing the spirit liquid with Blind Girl, Chen Lin learned that Void Whispers might point to locations within the Ascension Trial.

• A newborn soul seed resonated with Chen Lin’s green heart aperture and overcame the Exquisite Country Emperor’s attempt to erase his self-awareness and take his body.
• Blind Girl sensed the danger, sent her origin essence into Chen Lin, and fed him spirit liquid until he awakened.
• Chen Lin recovered memories of the emperor’s Slave Seal, the Primordial Stele, and the Exquisite Treasure Tree, and realized the shattered boulder had held one of the emperor’s true bodies.
• Chen Lin inspected his transformed soul and evolved heart apertures, then shared the remaining spirit liquid with Blind Girl because it could not be carried away from the earth vein.
• Chen Lin and Blind Girl discussed Outer Heaven and the Void Whispers; Blind Girl recalled a plea for help from the sixth district fifth path and suggested the Abandoned Land might be part of the Ascension Trial.

After exhausting the spirit pool, Chen Lin and Blind Girl left the cave, where Chen Lin defeated the ape chief and its followers and discovered the God-Slaying Staff’s immense power. They set out for the Sword Clan to seek treasures, while the mysterious Embroidered Shoe secretly followed them.

• Chen Lin and Blind Girl consumed the spirit pool’s remaining liquid, strengthening Chen Lin’s heart apertures and restoring his soul origin essence before they left the cave.
• The ape chief ambushed Chen Lin, but Chen Lin killed it and its followers with his sword light and other abilities.
• Chen Lin tested the ape chief’s God-Slaying Staff and unleashed a devastating blow by channeling power-law energy into it.
• Blind Girl told Chen Lin about the Sword Clan and its Heart Swordsmanship technique, and they decided to travel there for treasures.
• Chen Lin and Blind Girl flew toward the Sword Clan, and the Embroidered Shoe appeared and followed them.