Chapter Summaries

Zhou Xuan mourned the Zhenyuan Sword he had left behind, then discovered that Ziyang Daoist’s Supreme One Command Token resonated with his soul and altered his teleportation destination. He arrived unconscious in an unfamiliar, apparently constructed cave and began surveying his surroundings.

• Zhou Xuan learned that five weakened royal-bloodline Formless Devil Bugs were trapped in spatial turbulence and worried they might become a disaster.
• Zhou Xuan lamented losing the Zhenyuan Sword, while Second Brother explained that reaching for it would almost certainly have killed him and that the broken sword was largely worthless.
• Zhou Xuan examined the Supreme One Command Token and learned it contained unreadable information but was highly compatible with his soul.
• The Command Token heated up and resonated with the Fragmentary Scroll of the Ancient Bronze Book, causing a powerful force to redirect Zhou Xuan’s teleportation.
• Zhou Xuan arrived unconscious, recovered from the rough landing, and found himself in a lit cave with smooth walls and dusty stone stools.

Zhou Xuan escaped the ancient ruin and returned to the present world, but five mutated Formless Devil Bugs followed him through the spatial cracks. With the Bronze Lotus Lamp out of oil, he struggled to fend them off and was left facing a bug biting at his neck.

• Zhou Xuan confirmed that he had returned to the present world, then lamented losing the Zhenyuan Sword and its five million Gold Touch Value.
• Second Brother warned Zhou Xuan that guests had followed him out of the ruin.
• Five mutated Imperial Bloodline Formless Devil Bugs emerged from spatial cracks and attacked Zhou Xuan.
• Zhou Xuan tried to use the Bronze Lotus Lamp, but its oil was exhausted and it remained inactive.
• Second Brother took over Zhou Xuan's body to evade the bugs, but one bit into Zhou Xuan's neck.

Zhou Xuan faced five Dark Gold Demon Insects alone after Second Brother fell silent, but a mysterious swordsman arrived and destroyed them with a single strike. As the swordsman confronted him, Zhou Xuan’s Bronze Book resonated with the Supreme One Art.

• Zhou Xuan evaded a Demon Insect’s bite and realized he could not rely on Second Brother, the Bronze Lamp, or his destroyed weapons.
• Zhou Xuan attacked with Great Luo Heaven Hand, but the Demon Insects devoured his Spiritual Power and grew stronger.
• The five Demon Insects surrounded Zhou Xuan and charged, but a bone-chilling sword light killed them all at once.
• The snow-white Flying Sword hovered before Zhou Xuan’s brow as a figure in moon-white Daoist robes approached.
• Zhou Xuan sensed the Supreme One Art resonating through his Bronze Book when the figure came near.

Zhou Xuan was mistaken for an intruder in a sect’s forbidden land until he revealed a resonance linked to the Taiyi Orthodox Sect. After Xuanyue inspected him and confirmed he was human, Zhou Xuan asked whether he was still in the Cage Realm.

• Zhou Xuan recognized that Xuanyue’s aura shared a source with his Supreme One Art, though it followed a purer and more focused path.
• Xuanyue confronted Zhou Xuan in the forbidden land and prepared to take him to the Punishment Hall when Zhou Xuan could not explain his arrival.
• Zhou Xuan released the resonance of the Bronze Book, stopping Xuanyue’s Flying Sword and prompting Xuanyue to identify him with the Taiyi Orthodox Sect.
• Xuanyue inspected Zhou Xuan and confirmed that he was human, while remaining wary of the Formless Devil Bugs.
• Zhou Xuan asked Xuanyue whether the place was still the Cage Realm.

Xuanyue brought Zhou Xuan to the hidden Zhengyi Sect, where the Sect Master and Elders questioned him about his arrival from the Forbidden Land. Zhou Xuan confirmed that he had returned from the lost battlefield called Abyss-Suppressing Fortress.

• Xuanyue explained that the Zhengyi Sect guarded the Taiyi inheritance on an isolated island Overseas and took Zhou Xuan to its main hall.
• Zhou Xuan was stunned by the sect’s immense spiritual energy and the strength of its disciples and Elders.
• Xuanyue reported that Zhou Xuan had appeared in the Forbidden Land with Taiyi Orthodox Sect soul fluctuations and had been hunted by mutated Formless Devil Bugs.
• The Sect Master and Elders realized the bugs might have come through the long-severed passage to the Ancient Battlefield.
• The Sect Master asked whether Zhou Xuan had returned from that battlefield, and Zhou Xuan confirmed it was called Abyss-Suppressing Fortress.

Zhou Xuan faced the Zhengyi Sect elders’ suspicion until he revealed Ziyang Daoist’s Abyss-Suppressing Token, which made the sect’s formation suppress the elders and exposed his connection to their legendary Martial Granduncle. Welcomed as an honored junior brother, Zhou Xuan heard Xuanchengzi begin to explain the token’s meaning and why Zhou Xuan’s aura stirred the formation.

• Elder Redfire rejected Zhou Xuan’s claim that he had returned from the destroyed Abyss-Suppressing Fortress, while the snake-wielding woman proposed using Soul Search on him.
• As the woman’s Mental Power attacked his Sea of Consciousness, Zhou Xuan raised Ziyang Daoist’s Abyss-Suppressing Token.
• The token activated Zhengyi Sect’s grand formation, repelled the woman, and suppressed Elder Redfire’s Spiritual Power.
• Xuanchengzi recognized the token, bowed to it and Ziyang Daoist, and the other elders fell to their knees.
• After the misunderstanding was resolved, Xuanchengzi welcomed Zhou Xuan as an honored guest and junior brother, then asked whether he understood the token and his aura’s effect on the formation.

Zhou Xuan learned that the Supreme One Art was the core of Taiyi Immortal Emperor’s Emperor Scripture and received the Zhengyi Sect’s incomplete Taiyi Method. When the two scrolls resonated, they revealed a dangerous signal beneath the sect’s Forbidden Land, but Zhou Xuan chose to cultivate first and began enduring the method’s painful body-forging process.

• Xuanchengzi explained that Zhou Xuan’s Supreme One Art made him the heir of the Taiyi Orthodox Sect and told him the Storm Sea would keep him on Floating Island for two years and eight months.
• Xuanchengzi gave Zhou Xuan the Zhengyi Sect’s incomplete Taiyi Method, and Second Brother reported that it could complement the Supreme One Art and greatly increase his combat power.
• Opening the Taiyi Method caused it to resonate with Zhou Xuan’s bronze Fragmentary Scroll, revealing a star map that pointed to a sealed site in the Forbidden Land beneath Floating Island.
• Second Brother warned Zhou Xuan that the formations around the signal could crush a Spirit Transformation Stage cultivator and calculated his survival chance at 0.001%, so Zhou Xuan sealed the scroll and stayed away.
• Zhou Xuan spent a month in his Cave Abode cultivating the Taiyi Method with enhanced Bone-Tempering Pills, enduring severe pain as his body began to transform.

After strengthening his body in seclusion, Zhou Xuan learned why Zhengyi Sect kept its numbers small and guarded the Storm Sea alone. Xuanyue revealed that attempts to warn the wider cultivation world had ended in greed, and warned Zhou Xuan that demons had already taken root in human hearts.

• Zhou Xuan emerged from a month of painful cultivation with a body 45% stronger, able to withstand a Nascent Soul Middle Stage magical treasure attack through physical strength alone.
• Zhou Xuan observed that Zhengyi Sect had only a little over a hundred exceptionally strong disciples, who patrolled the island and fought Demonic Beasts emerging from spatial rifts.
• Zhou Xuan asked Xuanyue why the Sect did not recruit more disciples, and Xuanyue explained that it accepted only talented people with clean character because its purpose was to guard a dangerous passage.
• Zhou Xuan proposed telling the other Sects about the danger and asking them to send support, but Xuanyue said earlier efforts had provoked greed rather than resistance.
• Xuanyue said other Sects had sought to exploit Demonic Beasts and their power, then warned Zhou Xuan that the most terrifying demons had merged with the world and were in human hearts.

Zhou Xuan followed Xuanyue to the Zhengyi Sect’s Divine Armament Pavilion, expecting treasures but finding weapons broken in battles against sea monsters and other threats. After Second Brother revealed that the damaged weapons contained rare, spiritually refined materials, Zhou Xuan offered to repair them in exchange for the discarded fragments, and Xuanyue let him take the scrap while doubting his skill.

• Zhou Xuan asked Xuanyue for weapons, and Xuanyue took him to the Divine Armament Pavilion.
• Zhou Xuan found the pavilion filled with broken weapons and learned from Xuanyue that their owners had died defending the sect and its territory.
• Second Brother identified valuable materials inside the damaged weapons, prompting Zhou Xuan to see them as a source of profit.
• Zhou Xuan claimed he could repair the weapons with an ancestral technique and asked Xuanyue for fragments that were beyond repair.
• Xuanyue agreed that Zhou Xuan could take the scrap, which the sect had planned to throw into the sea, but questioned whether he could really repair the weapons.

Zhou Xuan repaired a ruined Heart-Protecting Mirror into a low-grade spiritual artifact, impressing Xuanyue and drawing a crowd of Zhengyi Sect disciples seeking repairs. He began trading repairs for Scrap, and the disciples rushed to bring him more broken treasures.

• Zhou Xuan found a fragment in the Scrap pile that Second Brother identified as likely belonging to a core Dharma treasure from Abyss-Suppressing Fortress.
• Zhou Xuan used Gold Touch Value to restore the Heart-Protecting Mirror and upgrade it into a low-grade spiritual artifact.
• Xuanyue tested the mirror’s powerful shield, then hurried to the Martial Arts Arena, where a great burst of spiritual light followed.
• Second Brother reported that the Scrap yielded thirty-six thousand Gold Touch Value, including twelve thousand from the suspected Abyss-Suppressing Fortress fragment.
• A burly disciple brought Zhou Xuan a broken Xuanhua Great Axe, and Zhou Xuan offered to repair treasures in exchange for ten catties of Scrap each.
• Zhou Xuan restored and strengthened the axe into a top-tier Dharma Artifact, prompting the gathered disciples to surge forward for repairs.

Zhou Xuan repaired Taia, the Zhengyi Sect’s broken protective-array sword, at the cost of one million Gold Touch Value. As an ancient consciousness briefly appeared through the restored sword before Second Brother severed the contact, Zhou Xuan realized the sect’s secrets ran deeper than he had thought.

• Zhou Xuan earned more than five hundred thousand Gold Touch Value by repairing Magic Treasures and recycling scrap, while pretending the work exhausted him.
• Xuanchengzi brought Zhou Xuan Taia, the broken sword that served as the Zhengyi Sect’s protective grand array’s core, and asked him to repair it.
• Zhou Xuan spent one million Gold Touch Value and used his Spiritual Power to guide the repair, causing a brilliant starry phenomenon to appear over the Zhengyi Sect.
• Taia was restored and released a sword cry that frightened demonic beasts across the Storm Sea.
• A blurry human figure appeared on Taia and spoke to Zhou Xuan, but Second Brother’s emergency defense severed the contact.
• Second Brother refused to explain the ancient consciousness, and Zhou Xuan suspected the Zhengyi Sect held deeper secrets than he had imagined.

Zhou Xuan restored the Tai'e Sword and claimed the Zhengyi Sect’s support by pretending the work had damaged his secret art and left him unable to repair more treasures. Xuanchengzi granted him a secluded cultivation site and generous resources, while the elders concealed the sword’s dangerous ancient consciousness.

• Zhou Xuan emerged from the Cave Abode with the restored Tai'e Sword, and Xuanchengzi accepted it with tearful gratitude.
• Zhou Xuan asked about the ancient consciousness he had sensed in the sword, but Xuanchengzi dismissed it as lingering wills of past masters.
• Zhou Xuan claimed that restoring the sword had damaged his secret art and exhausted his source, persuading the disciples that he could no longer repair their treasures.
• Xuanchengzi vowed to repay Zhou Xuan and designated Listening Waves Cliff as his private Forbidden Land, granting him access to pills, the Scripture Repository, and three years of the Sect’s support.
• A beautiful woman elder offered Zhou Xuan thousand-year blood ginseng and help clearing his meridians.

After reforging the Tai'e Sword, Zhou Xuan learned that a powerful consciousness had left a tracking mark on his soul, then received rare Star Sand and prepared to cultivate in seclusion. Second Brother devised a risky plan to fuse the Supreme One Art and the Taiyi Method, but Zhou Xuan asked about its side effects.

• Second Brother told Zhou Xuan that a faint karmic mark left by the consciousness behind the Tai'e Sword could activate if he encountered related objects or auras, and that it could not currently be removed.
• Xuanyue brought Zhou Xuan the remnants of ruined Magic Treasures, promised the Zhengyi Sect would protect him, and left him to cultivate in peace for three years.
• Zhou Xuan discovered thirty jin of Star Sand in the remnants and stored it for use in cultivating the Taiyi Method.
• Zhou Xuan activated his cave's defenses and had Second Brother recycle the remaining scraps, raising his system balance to 3,850,000 points.
• Second Brother proposed upgrading the Star Sand into Star Soul Marrow and the Sect's pills into Nine-Turn Body Molding Pills to fuse Zhou Xuan's divine soul and physical body, estimating a 90% success rate.
• Zhou Xuan asked Second Brother to explain the plan's side effects.

Zhou Xuan endured three years of brutal cultivation to fuse the Taiyi Method and Supreme One Art while rebuilding his shattered Golden Core. As his Nascent Soul began to take shape, he awoke with a strange, powerful aura, though the transformation had not yet fully succeeded.

• Zhou Xuan consumed the transformed Star Soul Marrow and Nine-Turn Body Molding Pills, then shattered his Golden Core through repeated impacts despite overwhelming pain.
• Zhou Xuan’s powers began merging under the Star Soul Marrow’s influence, reshaping his body as he remained in seclusion for three years.
• Xuanyue and the beautiful woman Elder found the Cave Abode silent and guarded its entrance, sensing a powerful aura within.
• Spiritual energy began pouring into the Cave Abode as a dark-gold Nascent Soul with purple mist formed inside Zhou Xuan’s Dantian.
• Second Brother announced that the energy index had exceeded its critical value and the fusion had reached 99.9 percent.
• Zhou Xuan awoke and exhaled a breath that pierced the stone table, his left eye glowing gold and his right eye filled with purple qi.

Zhou Xuan learned that completing his breakthrough would unleash a Dao Body aura capable of drawing the Abyss’s Demonic Beasts, but stopping would kill him. He began the breakthrough anyway, and the resulting phenomenon cracked the Abyssal seal as the Zhengyi Sect prepared to defend itself from a massive attack.

• Second Brother warned Zhou Xuan that his breakthrough would tear open the seal beneath the Zhengyi Sect and attract powerful Demonic Beasts, while stopping the process would make his body explode.
• Zhou Xuan chose to proceed and warned Senior Brother to protect the disciples before beginning his Nascent Soul breakthrough.
• Zhou Xuan’s breakthrough produced a vast Purple Gold pillar and extraordinary heavenly phenomena, which Xuanyue recognized as signs of an Innate Dao Body.
• Xuanchengzi ordered the Elders to activate the Taia Star Formation as the seal beneath the Floating Island began to crack.
• Countless Demonic Beasts and three Abyssal Demon Generals emerged, then attacked the sect-protecting formation with giant black hands.

Zhou Xuan endured the destruction of his Golden Core and formed an unprecedented Supreme One Nascent Soul, reaching the Nascent Soul Realm while the Zhengyi Sect fought off a Demonic Beast assault. As the sect prepared to counterattack, a gigantic eye opened in the Abyssal Rift and fixed its gaze on Zhou Xuan, declaring that it had found the scent of the Supreme One.

• Xuanchengzi rallied the Zhengyi Sect disciples and used the Tai'e Sword to raise a Formation against the attacking Demonic Beasts.
• Xuanyue and the young disciples charged into the Devil Tide while Zhou Xuan endured the dangerous Golden Core breakthrough inside his Cave Abode.
• Zhou Xuan's Golden Core shattered, and he condensed his chaotic Divine Soul into a Supreme One Nascent Soul.
• Zhou Xuan broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm, and his power reinforced the Formation, blasting away the Demonic Beasts attacking it.
• A gigantic crimson eye opened in the Abyssal Rift, fixed its gaze on Zhou Xuan, and spoke of the scent of the Supreme One.

After reaching the Nascent Soul Realm and awakening Lesser Divine Power, Zhou Xuan took the Tai'e Sword from Xuanchengzi and confronted the Devil Tide attacking the Zhengyi Sect. He left three Abyssal Demon Generals cut through by a single effortless slash.

• Zhou Xuan saw the Abyssal Demonic Beasts devouring the Zhengyi Sect's formation and realized why the sect had struggled to withstand the Devil Tide.
• Zhou Xuan appeared beside exhausted Xuanchengzi and asked to borrow the Tai'e Sword.
• Xuanchengzi handed Zhou Xuan the sword, which resonated with him as his Lesser Divine Power transformed its blade.
• Zhou Xuan crossed the formation and faced the three Abyssal Demon Generals outside.
• Zhou Xuan swung the Tai'e Sword once, slicing through all three Demon Generals, and the crocodile-headed one split in two.

Zhou Xuan effortlessly killed three Nascent Soul Realm Abyssal Demon Generals, then used the Tai'e Sword and the Supreme One Demon Sealing Art to seal the Abyssal Rift. After saving the Zhengyi Sect, he returned to find its disciples staring at him in stunned silence.

• Zhou Xuan killed three Abyssal Demon Generals with a single sword stroke, shocking Xuanyue, Xuanchengzi, and the Zhengyi Sect disciples.
• Zhou Xuan recognized that the Tai'e Sword was made to suppress and seal, then poured his Taiyi Divine Power into it above the Abyssal Rift.
• An ancient presence in the Abyss recognized the Supreme One Demon Sealing Art and cried out in fear, but Zhou Xuan drove the sword down and sealed the rift.
• Zhou Xuan descended to the Zhengyi Sect disciples and said the battle was over, while Xuanyue and the others stared at him in disbelief.
• Zhou Xuan rubbed his nose and asked whether there was a flower on his face.

After Zhou Xuan restored Zhengyi Sect’s seal and returned Tai'e Sword to Xuanchengzi, he discussed the different kinds of demons recorded by the sect. He planned to leave for the Western Desolate Region, but realized the Cage Realm might be a vast prison containing many kinds of sealed demons.

• Zhou Xuan calmed Tai'e Sword and returned it to Xuanchengzi, then asked to speak with him privately.
• Xuanchengzi asked whether Zhou Xuan planned to leave, and Zhou Xuan said he needed to return to the Western Desolate Region and check on his friends.
• Zhou Xuan described the Heavenly Demon he had encountered and asked why it differed from the Abyssal Demons.
• Xuanchengzi consulted Zhengyi Sect’s records and explained the traits of Heavenly Demons, Abyssal Demons, Blood Demons, Heart Demons, and Illusion Demons.
• Zhou Xuan concluded that the Cage Realm might be a vast prison, with different demons sealed across its regions.

Zhou Xuan gave Xuanchengzi a Divine Soul cultivation method and arranged a trade that would supply the Zhengyi Sect with resources in exchange for its discarded materials. He left the sect, crossed the Storm Sea, and reached the prosperous East Continent, where he entered Sea-Gazing City to gather information.

• Zhou Xuan gave Xuanchengzi a Jade Slip containing a Divine Soul cultivation method based on the Supreme One Art, addressing the Zhengyi Sect’s weakness.
• Zhou Xuan proposed sending supplies every three years in exchange for the sect’s discarded weapons, magic treasures, and Demonic Beast bones, and Xuanchengzi agreed.
• Zhou Xuan learned from Second Brother that he had 1.2 million Gold Touch Value and set off from the Zhengyi Sect’s Floating Island toward the East Continent.
• Zhou Xuan concealed his Nascent Soul cultivation and crossed the Storm Sea, reaching the East Continent after three hours.
• Zhou Xuan entered Sea-Gazing City, paid two Low-grade Spirit Stones at the gate, and went to the Wave-Listening Pavilion to look for news.