Chapter Summaries

After returning to Duobao Island, Chen Lin unexpectedly met Yan Wuya, whose ability to see through Chen Lin’s concealed cultivation deepened his suspicions about the mysterious cultivator. They shared a guarded meal, and Yan Wuya explained how he had crossed between realms before Chen Lin asked why he did not seek a higher-level plane.

• Chen Lin returned Madam Miaoyin’s translated wall inscriptions to Cheng Lingdie, then went back to Duobao Island to await Xin Yueling and the others.
• Reflecting on friends and acquaintances lost to time, Chen Lin gained a small improvement in his state of mind before spotting Yan Wuya in the crowd.
• Chen Lin and Yan Wuya greeted each other as old friends, though Chen Lin privately suspected Yan Wuya might have followed him and asked Hua Ruyu to watch discreetly.
• During their meal, Yan Wuya offered Chen Lin a secret boundary-breaking art through an inheritance mote, but Chen Lin dispersed it rather than accept an unknown mental inheritance.
• Yan Wuya said he had used the secret art to escape White Bone Sage Lord’s Holy Domain, reach the Southern Star Realm, and later arrive in the Tiancang Realm, where he hoped to find herbs for a breakthrough.
• Chen Lin asked Yan Wuya why he did not use his boundary-breaking art to leave the Tiancang Realm for a higher-level plane.

Chen Lin received a Glazed Cup from High Person Yunhai and later collected spiritual herbs from Zhang Zhenqian and Yue Tianyi in exchange for removing their Youruo remnant thoughts. He left them with pills to restore their damaged soul origins, while the Secret Realm’s sealed central area remained beyond his reach.

• High Person Yunhai explained the risks of his boundary-breaking secret art, gave Chen Lin a Glazed Cup tied to a Nightmare Realm scenario, and taught him its rules.
• Chen Lin met Hua Ruyu and browsed market shops, while deciding not to explore the Glazed Cup scenario without verifying its dangers.
• After the auction, Chen Lin met Zhang Zhenqian and Yue Tianyi, who delivered spiritual herbs from the Secret Realm but lacked most of the varieties he needed.
• Zhang Zhenqian and Yue Tianyi said the Secret Realm’s central area was sealed by major powers and that two cultivators had died exploring it, so Chen Lin abandoned plans to enter.
• Chen Lin removed the Youruo remnant thoughts from both men, damaging their soul origin essence, then sold each a qi luck version of the Nascent Soul Pill to aid recovery.

Chen Lin fled after Hua Ruyu sensed a powerful being awakening, only to witness the continents collide as the plane’s geography shifted. Beneath Duobao Island, Madam Miaoyin and Yin Jiuling prepared to revive an immortal, but Yin Jiuling turned against her and attacked.

• Chen Lin waited for Xin Yueling and searched for spiritual herbs, then grew uneasy when she and the other cultivators failed to emerge from Duobao Island.
• Hua Ruyu sensed a powerful existence awakening, so Chen Lin left with her; space had locked, forcing them back out of the void.
• Chen Lin tried to contact Qin Lingyu and the others, but his Transmission Talisman failed, so he flew toward the Nameless Island to find them.
• Chen Lin saw islands converge on Duobao Island and the Beiyuan Continent collide with the True Spirit Continent, causing widespread destruction.
• Hua Ruyu sensed that the plane’s space remained intact, easing Chen Lin’s fear that it was collapsing.
• Beneath Duobao Island, Madam Miaoyin and Yin Jiuling watched an immortal’s statue awaken around the Black Stone, but Yin Jiuling suddenly attacked Madam Miaoyin with a beam of black light.

Yin Jiuling was killed when Madam Miaoyin and High Person Yunhai used the Immortal Soldier Shell against him, while Yunhai took the Immortal Soul Crystal and warned that a Great Tribulation was coming. After the continents merged and a vast formation activated, Chen Lin returned to Tianbao Peak, where Qin Lingyu told him that Caiyi and Ling'er had taken the Cheng Sisters toward the Nightmare Realm Node.

• Yin Jiuling’s attack on Madam Miaoyin failed when she revealed her substitute and trapped him, and he admitted that he possessed the Immortal Soul Crystal and served the Superior Deity.
• Madam Miaoyin and High Person Yunhai used the Immortal Soldier Shell to cut Yin Jiuling in two, and Yunhai retrieved the Soul Crystal from his corpse.
• High Person Yunhai warned Madam Miaoyin that the Great Tribulation was approaching, then asked her to help kill Chen Lin, but she refused because of his powerful defenses and demon descendant servant.
• Madam Miaoyin shrank the Immortal Soldier Shell and left the hall, while Chen Lin watched the True Spirit Continent merge with the Beiyuan Continent and recognized the lights spreading across the land as a colossal Grand Formation.
• Chen Lin returned to Tianbao Peak with Hua Ruyu and learned from Qin Lingyu that Caiyi and Ling'er had taken the Cheng Sisters toward the Nightmare Realm Node, while she stayed to manage the disciples.

After the Silent Sea vanished in a realm-shaking upheaval, Chen Lin reunited with his family and learned that the Nightmare Realm node remained intact. He chose to establish a new base near the node, and Wu Wanshan revealed that a peculiar stone slab had been found in the collapsed cave abode.

• Chen Lin reunited with Sun Caiyi, Chen Ling'er, and the Cheng Sisters, then told them he suspected a sealed heretical entity was beginning to break free.
• Wu Wanshan arrived and reported that he and Liu Shengyuan had kept the Nightmare Realm node from collapsing, though the cave abode above it had been crushed.
• Chen Lin found Wu Wanshan, Bai Yuzhou, and the other cultivators near a newly risen mountain and decided to build a settlement there.
• Chen Lin and Wu Wanshan flew to the node, which remained beneath a vast stretch of seawater turned to marshland and lakes.
• Wu Wanshan told Chen Lin that a damaged, unmarked stone slab had appeared behind the inscribed wall when the cave abode collapsed, and that he and Liu Shengyuan had kept it.

Chen Lin inspected a stable spatial node and activated a mysterious stone slab with his talent origin, but Hua Ruyu could not decipher its pattern. After returning outside, he rescued Xin Yueling from a demonic transformation, and she woke and thanked him.

• Chen Lin inspected the node, confirmed it remained usable despite spatial confinement, and left it unsealed while planning to reinforce it.
• Chen Lin activated the cracked Cyan Stone Slab with his talent origin, revealing a pattern that Hua Ruyu could not identify.
• Chen Lin set up a formation near the node, while Liu Shengyuan and Wu Wanshan expanded the space into an immortal cave.
• Bai Yuzhou and Chen Ling'er brought the weakened Xin Yueling to Chen Lin, who used the Soul-Destroying Finger five times to suppress the demonic aura threatening to transform her.
• Chen Lin gave Xin Yueling an Authentic Nascent Soul Pill and helped her refine it; after recovering enough to speak, she thanked him and promised to repay his help.

Chen Lin traded the spirit herbs he recovered for pill formulas from Xin Yueling, then told her what he knew about Luo and the danger posed by Youruo's Clone in the Earth Cave. After Xin Yueling left to report his revelations to her lineage, Chen Lin returned to studying the stone slab.

• Xin Yueling gave Chen Lin most of the spirit herbs she had obtained and a jade slip containing ancient pill formulas, including the difficult-to-use Bailing Pill formula.
• Xin Yueling told Chen Lin that continents had merged in the east as well as the west, and described strange omens that had appeared across the plane before vanishing, including the disappearance of the Twin Lakes Desert lakes.
• Chen Lin concluded that the omens might signal the revival of powerful beings and asked Xin Yueling to share what she learned about the Twin Lakes Desert.
• Chen Lin explained Luo's nature and the danger of Youruo's Clone sealed in the Earth Cave, and Xin Yueling decided to report the information to her lineage.
• After Xin Yueling left, Chen Lin returned to his room and examined the stone slab.

After Cheng Lingdie revealed that the purple essence in her and Cheng Lingchan’s souls was merging, Chen Lin gave up extracting it to protect them. He entered the Nightmare Realm to meet Kannie at a gathering, where he learned Blue Butterfly had raided the huge birds’ nests, and she appeared as Jin Xuanzi challenged her ability to take a Colored Bird Egg.

• Cheng Lingdie told Chen Lin that the purple essence in her and Cheng Lingchan’s souls was spreading, and Chen Lin decided not to extract it because doing so might kill them.
• Cheng Lingchan celebrated that Chen Lin had spared their soul source, while Cheng Lingdie wondered what his decision meant for their relationship.
• Chen Lin entered the Nightmare Realm to retrieve Hua Ruyu and learned that Kannie wanted to meet him at the next gathering.
• Chen Lin attended the Myriad Realms Alliance gathering and heard from Jin Xuanzi that Blue Butterfly had raided the huge birds’ nests but had not taken a Colored Bird Egg.
• Blue Butterfly appeared and challenged Jin Xuanzi to prove that he could take a Colored Bird Egg.

At a gathering of the Myriad Realms Alliance, Chen Lin learned that the Northern Wilderness Realm had formed from fragments of the Northern Star Realm and other planes. The gathering continued as a four-armed youth sought a Bailiff for an unexplained task, leaving the others unsure what the role meant.

• Blue Butterfly suspected Chen Lin had advanced to the Void Refinement Realm after he said he regretted trading away the Demonic Pupil, and he offered no denial.
• With Kannie absent, Sarina proposed exploring a dangerous Silver Scenario for lifespan-extending fruit, but no one accepted.
• Chen Lin traded information with a gray-robed newcomer, learned that the Northern Wilderness Continent had become the stable Northern Wilderness Realm, and discovered the man had lived near the Black Pagoda.
• Blue Butterfly interrupted Chen Lin's questions and drew the gray-robed man back to her side, while Chen Lin decided he could ask other newcomers about their realm later.
• A four-armed youth offered one hundred Nightmare Coins to a Bailiff for a task, but refused to explain what a Bailiff was when Blue Butterfly asked.

Chen Lin attended a Myriad Realms Alliance gathering, where the Four-Armed Youth revealed a loophole in the Cave’s rules and asked Chen Lin for help. After returning to the current world, Chen Lin discovered that Hua Ruyu was gone and a burly man in a Black Crown stood in her place.

• Blue Butterfly tried to trade information about the Northern Wilderness Continent for Chen Lin’s explanation of bailiffs, but he refused.
• Alliance members traded scenario objects, then most of them left the Cave.
• The Four-Armed Youth ordered Blue Butterfly to leave and used his aura to hurl her against a wall, then explained that nightmare realm creatures could attack people in the Cave.
• The Four-Armed Youth asked Chen Lin for help, but Chen Lin declined because his plane was in danger; the man said he could not cross to the Tiancang Realm.
• Chen Lin waited for Kannie, marked the Cave wall, and returned to the current world, where he found Hua Ruyu missing and a burly man wearing a Black Crown watching him.

Chen Lin learned that the Black-Crowned Man had taken the Cheng Sisters to the Purple God Clan’s plane, then discovered that several powerful ancient beings had revived. Xin Yueling warned him to lie low while they fought the Youruo remnant thought.

• The Black-Crowned Man confronted Chen Lin, warned him not to target his clan, and vanished after taking the Cheng Sisters.
• Hua Ruyu returned and told Chen Lin that the Black-Crowned Man had come for the Cheng Sisters, not her.
• Chen Ling'er gave Chen Lin a letter and Soul Source Bead from the sisters; Chen Lin chose to store the bead until he could verify it was safe.
• Chen Lin sent Hua Ruyu into White Cloud Pasture and asked Xin Yueling about the Black-Crowned Man.
• Xin Yueling reported that Zishu, Liren Chou, and Zhenyangzi had revived, and warned that Madam Miaoyin possessed a terrifying Armored Puppet.

Chen Lin tested the Level 3 Road Guide and confirmed it could bring up to ten people into a scenario, easing his plans to explore the node with his family. After preparing for the journey amid the awakened powerhouses’ silence, he learned that Madam Miaoyin was forming the Tiancang Alliance and chose to stay out of it as he began securing the node.

• Chen Lin read Cheng Lingdie’s Wall Inscription notes, decided to explore the node again, and tested the Nightmare Realm’s barriers with Xue Honglan.
• Chen Lin confirmed that a Level 3 Road Guide could bring up to ten other people into a scenario, while repeated trips could not exceed that limit.
• Chen Lin assigned Xue Honglan to gather information in the Myriad Realms Alliance’s Cave and spent the following months preparing pills, studying the inscription, and obtaining defensive Array Disks.
• Xin Yueling told Chen Lin that Madam Miaoyin had summoned the realm’s powerhouses to form the Tiancang Alliance, but Chen Lin declined to join.
• After Xin Yueling left, Chen Lin went to the underground node and began setting up formations.

Chen Lin entered the Nightmare Realm node and found that Li Fuyao had vanished from the now-ordinary painting, while the town outside had grown deserted. At the County Office, he discovered a bounty for a fearsome Yaoguai rampaging through the region and considered the meager merit offered for killing it.

• Chen Lin sent cultivators into the node to inspect the painting and Nightmare Coins, then entered himself and confirmed that Li Fuyao had disappeared and the painting could be cut with a sword.
• Chen Lin inspected the courtyard, found no sign that anyone had entered or left, and discovered that the wedding procession and bloodstains outside had vanished as time passed.
• Chen Lin found the town empty and was stopped from flying by a Road Guide Barrier before reaching the County Office on foot.
• Chen Lin read a bounty notice describing a powerful Yaoguai with a pig's snout, tusks, and a Five-Tooth Rake that had terrorized the town for half a year.
• Chen Lin noted that the bounty offered ten thousand Nightmare Coins and permanent tax exemption but only ten merit points.

Chen Lin learned that the Wall Inscription pointed to a cave on Taiqing Mountain, but refused the Black Bear Magistrate’s request to help defeat the yaoguai there. The magistrate and the Golden-Haired Chief Constable then discussed their conflict with Zhu Sankui and the dangers of escaping the Nightmare Realm.

• Chen Lin recalled that the Wall Inscription placed a secret chamber behind a waterfall on Taiqing Mountain, twenty li into the range.
• The bloodied Golden-Haired Chief Constable brought Chen Lin to the Black Bear Magistrate, who asked him to help deal with a monster on Taiqing Mountain.
• Chen Lin repeatedly refused the task, despite the magistrate offering him land and other rewards, and claimed Hua Ruyu was on duty at White Cloud Pasture.
• The Black Bear Magistrate and the Golden-Haired Chief Constable privately agreed not to attack Chen Lin, judging him too dangerous and worrying they would lose to him.
• The Golden-Haired Chief Constable reported that Zhu Sankui had defeated him with a Five-Tooth Rake and was gathering men with an Appointment Document.
• The Black Bear Magistrate said breaking the seal on Li Fuyao’s courtyard would violate fundamental rules and likely destroy anyone who tried.

Chen Lin was caught between the Black Bear Magistrate Xiong Ziqi and Zhu Sankui’s invading Black Bull Army, and accepted a mission contract to help defend the County Office. As Zhu Sankui’s forces attacked, the defenders were quickly overwhelmed, leaving Chen Lin to decide how to act amid the battle.

• Chen Lin tried to leave the County Office after the Black Bear Magistrate and Jin Zhenshan exchanged secret voice transmissions, but Zhu Sankui’s Black Bull Army arrived and surrounded the building.
• Xiong Ziqi gave Chen Lin a mission contract promising him exclusive territory if he helped kill Zhu Sankui, and Chen Lin accepted and summoned Hua Ruyu.
• Zhu Sankui broke through the gates with more than twenty riders and claimed his Appointment Document let him take the magistrate’s seat.
• Hua Ruyu assured Chen Lin that Zhu Sankui and his followers were Outsiders subject to Nightmare Realm rule suppression, while Chen Lin watched warily from beneath the Road Guide Barrier.
• Zhu Sankui ordered his forces to kill everyone, and Xiong Ziqi and Jin Zhenshan fought back as Chen Lin held his position.
• Zhu Sankui offered Chen Lin double the promised benefits to stand aside, then wounded Xiong Ziqi, while the Black Pagoda Bruiser disarmed the injured Jin Zhenshan.

Chen Lin used the Cyan Vine Shield to block Zhu Sankui’s attack, helping the Black Bear Magistrate and Hua Ruyu turn the battle at the County Office into a victory. After Zhu Sankui and his allies were killed, Chen Lin claimed the Five-Tooth Rake and earned the gratitude of Xiong Ziqi and Jin Zhenshan.

• Chen Lin attacked Zhu Sankui while the Cyan Vine Shield blocked the Five-Tooth Rake and its vines bound the weapon, allowing Chen Lin to wound Zhu Sankui with the Rusted Saber.
• Hua Ruyu killed the pale-faced, beardless man and defeated most of the Black Demon Army, while the Black Bear Magistrate and Golden-Haired Chief Constable joined the fight.
• Zhu Sankui tried to flee but the Black Bear Magistrate pierced his back with the Black Spear, and the Black Bear Magistrate and Golden-Haired Chief Constable killed the Black Pagoda Bruiser and the surviving soldiers.
• Chen Lin examined the Cyan Vine Shield’s power, seized Zhu Sankui’s Five-Tooth Rake, and decided to study the shield further.
• Xiong Ziqi and Jin Zhenshan thanked Chen Lin and declared him their friend.

Chen Lin learned from Xiong Ziqi that the magistrate and other survivors had been trapped in the scenario for a thousand years after entering through projection, and he secured an exclusive territory at Taiqing Mountain. He and Hua Ruyu arrived at the mountain to establish a refuge and search for connections to other planes.

• Chen Lin asked Xiong Ziqi about his origins and learned that he, Zhu Sankui, and others came from the Eight Immortals Realm and had been trapped in the scenario for a thousand years.
• Xiong Ziqi explained that the projection survivors had not found their exit task or the Guardians, and revealed that he and Zhu Sankui were pseudo Dao Integration Realm cultivators.
• Xiong Ziqi left with Chief Constable Jin to eliminate Zhu Sankui's followers, then restored order in Zhiwu County and gave Chen Lin his promised reward.
• Chen Lin learned about Zhu Sankui's Appointment Document and received an exclusive territory document from Xiong Ziqi granting him Taiqing Mountain.
• Chen Lin and Hua Ruyu rode to Taiqing Mountain, surveyed the surrounding range, and entered after finding no apparent dangers.

Chen Lin discovered that activating the Cyan Stone Slab in the cave behind the waterfall produced a mysterious pattern, then returned to the Reality Realm. Xue Honglan told him that Kannie had resolved the matter and wanted to meet him to offer thanks.

• Chen Lin and Hua Ruyu searched the cave behind the waterfall but found no secret chamber until Chen Lin activated the Cyan Stone Slab and saw its pattern appear in the air.
• Chen Lin and Hua Ruyu could not identify the pattern, so they left Taiqing Mountain and returned to the County Town.
• Chen Lin prepared a residence in the County Town, left Hua Ruyu to oversee it, and returned to the Reality Realm through the node.
• Chen Lin learned that Xue Honglan wished to see him and left the underground node to summon her.
• Xue Honglan told Chen Lin that Kannie had contacted the person he had asked about, resolved the matter, and wanted to meet him in thanks.

Chen Lin met Kannie, who gave him a Clone Fruit after her main body escaped the Nightmare Realm with Xiaohong’s help. He returned to the Current World with the fruit but decided not to use it until he could verify it was safe, and turned his attention to refining the Cheng Lingdie Sisters’ purple Soul Crystal.

• Chen Lin met Kannie in the Nightmare Realm, where she thanked him for helping her main body escape and explained that it was recovering.
• Kannie gave Chen Lin her clone’s Natal Spirit Fruit and taught him how to use it to nurture a clone, including its abilities and limitations.
• Kannie recounted how Xiaohong had helped her after she presented Chen Lin’s letter of introduction, leaving Chen Lin puzzled by Xiaohong’s inconsistent attitude.
• Chen Lin decided not to act rashly or trust anyone beyond Niuniu while he considered the stakes of the situation.
• Chen Lin returned to the Current World with the Clone Fruit, chose not to use it until he had checked it thoroughly, and prepared to refine the Cheng Lingdie Sisters’ purple Soul Crystal.

One year after refining the Source Soul Bead, Chen Lin’s soul power had grown dramatically, and he found the world quiet after the awakeners disappeared. In Bamian City, he joined Yue Tianyi, Zhang Zhenqian, Lu Xiaoyi, and Xin Yueling in forming the Five Friends of Tiancang, then set out with the others to compete for the All-Direction Trading Firm.

• Chen Lin finished refining the Source Soul Bead, bringing his three-colored soul to the peak of the third rank and greatly strengthening his soul arts.
• Chen Lin discovered that the awakeners had vanished and the Earth Cave in the Black Mist Forbidden Land had been sealed, while the merged world had returned to peace.
• Chen Lin met Yue Tianyi, Zhang Zhenqian, and Lu Xiaoyi in Bamian City as they gathered to discuss the vulnerable All-Direction Trading Firm.
• Lu Xiaoyi proposed the Five Friends of Tiancang, naming herself eldest, Yue Tianyi second, Xin Yueling third, Zhang Zhenqian fourth, and Chen Lin fifth; Chen Lin accepted the loose alliance.
• Chen Lin and the others toasted their alliance, poured a cup for Xin Yueling, and went to the All-Direction Trading Firm’s headquarters to pursue its assets.