Chapter Summaries

Ye Tian awoke in the core of the secret realm’s inner region after Jiang Yukun’s black hole swallowed him and the nearby cultivators, and he suspected the black stone in his hand was the region’s suppressing object. After recovering and discovering the area’s abundant treasures and ancient cave dwellings, he met Luo Su, who had also been transported there.

• Ye Tian regained consciousness in a forest, recalled Jiang Yukun’s black hole swallowing the cultivators, and suspected the black stone he had grabbed was the secret realm’s suppressing object.
• Ye Tian used the hairpin to sense that the suppressing object was nearby, then rested until his strength returned before exploring the forest.
• Ye Tian found abundant Earth Spirit Grass and other treasures, and concluded the area’s spiritual energy made it an excellent place for secluded cultivation.
• Ye Tian left the forest and found a mountain wall lined with inscribed cave dwellings, whose unfamiliar writing reminded him of ancient immortals and the strange man’s task.
• Luo Su appeared carrying collected treasures and told Ye Tian that Jiang Yukun’s black hole had sucked him into the same place.
• Ye Tian told Luo Su that they were in the core of the secret realm’s inner region.

Ye Tian and Luo Su realized the black stone had sent them to the Secret Realm's inner core, where Jiang Yukun and his three allies remained. After learning Jiang Yukun planned to alter the entrance's location and threaten the Heavenly Sword Sect, Ye Tian agreed to stop him and chose to search a nearby cave dwelling first.

• Ye Tian identified the black round stone as the Secret Realm's outer suppressing artifact, and Luo Su explained that it could open a passage to the inner core.
• Ye Tian and Luo Su concluded the artifact had overridden Jiang Yukun's Earth Escape Lock formation and brought them to the inner core, while Jiang Yukun and three Three-Ringed Golden Saber Sect cultivators remained in the Secret Realm.
• Luo Su explained that the inner region would remain closed for weeks or months, and Ye Tian warned that Jiang Yukun intended to use a formation there to change the Secret Realm entrance's location.
• Luo Su urged Ye Tian to protect the Heavenly Sword Sect from losing its Secret Realm, and Ye Tian promised to do everything in his power to help.
• Ye Tian decided not to search for their fellow disciples, instead proposing they find the entrance-changing formation and wait to intercept Jiang Yukun's group.
• Ye Tian pointed out a cave dwelling for them to investigate, and Luo Su agreed to follow his lead.

Ye Tian and Luo Su explored a cave abode whose shifting corners led them through a seemingly endless stone cavern to a chamber covered in strange Murals. Ye Tian recognized the patterns from the Heavenly Gate and suspected they might be the formation that could alter the secret realm entrance; he prepared to test the black round stone that had brought them there.

• Luo Su broke the wind-blocking restriction at the cave entrance, and he followed Ye Tian inside.
• Ye Tian found a fresh footprint and realized the cavern’s corners were spatial formations that connected different places.
• Ye Tian reassured Luo Su that they were traveling through the first cave abode’s passage, and they continued through the winding cavern for hours.
• Ye Tian carefully opened a bluestone door and found a chamber covered in Murals that left Luo Su in pain but did not affect him.
• Ye Tian suspected the Murals formed the mechanism they sought and took out the black round stone to test it.

Ye Tian used the black round stone to decipher the changing murals in a stone chamber and activate a Teleportation Array, transporting himself and Luo Su to a vast land near a waterfall. After they saw illusions of Heavenly Sword Sect disciples and continued toward the waterfall, an invisible vortex briefly showed a place outside the secret realm.

• Ye Tian discovered that opening the stone door and channeling spiritual energy through the black round stone changed the chamber's murals, eventually revealing a map of the forest and cliffs they had crossed.
• Ye Tian traced a formation pattern with spiritual energy, creating a Teleportation Array that transported him and Luo Su to a land of flowers and grasses near a distant waterfall.
• Ye Tian and Luo Su headed toward the waterfall, where Luo Su spotted what appeared to be Li Peng flying away.
• Ye Tian realized Li Peng and the other Heavenly Sword Sect disciples who appeared were illusions because they left no traces of spiritual energy.
• Ye Tian and Luo Su ignored the illusions and flew toward the waterfall, while an invisible vortex briefly appeared behind them and showed a place outside the secret realm.

Ye Tian and Luo Su followed the rivers to a waterfall, where they found an immense, unbreakable stretch of supreme-grade water spirit stone and a strange red jade bridge covered in carvings of demonic beasts. Suspecting the carvings might conceal danger, Ye Tian led Luo Su away; a burst of azure light then appeared behind them, bringing three figures, including Senior Brother Wu.

• Ye Tian and Luo Su walked toward the waterfall after the realm’s suppression stopped them from flying.
• Luo Su identified the stone path as supreme-grade water spirit stone and explained its value to sword cultivators, but Ye Tian’s sword could not damage it.
• At the waterfall’s deep lake, Ye Tian noticed that the red jade bridge’s beast carvings resembled creatures from the stone chamber murals and were arranged by habitat.
• Ye Tian asked whether demonic beasts could hide in statues, and Luo Su said he had heard of such beasts in a secret realm owned by the Three-Ringed Golden Saber Sect.
• Ye Tian sensed danger and pulled Luo Su six or seven li away from the bridge.
• A surge of spiritual energy formed an azure beam behind them, and three figures tumbled out; Luo Su recognized Senior Brother Wu.

Ye Tian and Luo Su encountered Wu Yingyou, Zhou Jin, and Huang Qi, and Zhou Jin accused Ye Tian of colluding with Jiang Yukun while the others lent support to the charge. Ye Tian refused to defend himself and asked about the other cultivators, while Luo Su continued to protect him and Zhou Jin threatened to report him to the sect elders.

• Ye Tian and Luo Su met Wu Yingyou, Zhou Jin, and Huang Qi after the three Heavenly Sword Sect disciples appeared in the secret realm.
• Luo Su questioned Wu Yingyou privately about why he was with Zhou Jin and Huang Qi, but Zhou Jin interrupted and accused Ye Tian of betraying the sect in the conflict with Jiang Yukun.
• Luo Su defended Ye Tian, explaining that Ye Tian had saved them and that Zhou Jin had provoked Jiang Yukun into fighting again.
• Huang Qi and Wu Yingyou suggested that Ye Tian's actions and apparent familiarity with Jiang Yukun made him suspicious, and Huang Qi implied that Ye Tian could have been an informant.
• Ye Tian recognized that Zhou Jin was trying to shift blame for his own failure and asked where the other cultivators and Jiang Yukun's people were.
• Luo Su warned Zhou Jin to stop slandering Ye Tian, and Zhou Jin threatened to report Luo Su to the sect elders.

Ye Tian and Luo Su discovered that the terrifying beast roars near the waterfall were illusions meant to guard a bridge leading to the secret realm’s formation hub. After entering the hub’s small world, they began climbing toward a Taoist temple, which was suddenly destroyed by a tremendous Sword Qi.

• Ye Tian persuaded Huang Qi and Wu Yingyou to focus on stopping Jiang Yukun, but Zhou Jin remained hostile and refused to join Ye Tian’s investigation.
• When beast roars erupted near the waterfall, Ye Tian suspected they were a response to someone approaching the red jade bridge, and Luo Su chose to accompany him.
• Ye Tian and Luo Su saw figures cross the bridge and realized the roars and upheaval were illusions designed to frighten intruders away.
• Ye Tian used the black round stone to identify the water gate as the formation hub, then entered it with Luo Su and found a small world containing a mountain and Taoist temple.
• As Ye Tian and Luo Su climbed toward the temple, a torrent of Sword Qi appeared and shattered it.

Ye Tian and Luo Su found the mountaintop Taoist temple destroyed by Sword Qi, then reasoned that the events in the Secret Realm might be guided by an unseen hand. Zhou Jin and four other cultivators arrived, and the group began questioning whether Jiang Yukun was behind the scheme.

• Ye Tian found immense accumulated deceased spiritual energy on the empty summit but no ghosts or soul essences, so he could not determine whether anyone had died in the Sword Qi rain.
• Ye Tian used the black round stone and the short time since the earlier arrivals to argue that the array hub had probably not been altered.
• Ye Tian suggested that the forest and cave entrances directed different groups through the Secret Realm, and he and Luo Su waited for Zhou Jin's group to arrive.
• Zhou Jin, Wu Yingyou, Huang Qi, and two other Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators reached the summit after following a route like the one Ye Tian had predicted.
• Ye Tian explained that Sword Qi rain had destroyed the Taoist temple, and one of the newcomers asked whether the summit was the array hub.
• The cultivator interpreted Ye Tian's theory as meaning that Jiang Yukun was behind the events and that they remained caught in his scheme.

More Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators arrived in the mountain-top small world, which Ye Tian suspected was a cage, and the group agreed to unite against Jiang Yukun. They formed a powerful sword array and struck at the heavenly canopy, only for familiar Sword Qi to rain down from above.

• Two more Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators arrived, bringing the number gathered on the mountaintop to twenty-two Nascent Soul Realm cultivators besides Ye Tian.
• Zhou Jin asked Ye Tian to confirm that Jiang Yukun’s men had sought an array nexus that could move the secret realm entrance, and Ye Tian firmly accepted responsibility for the claim.
• The cultivators set aside their disputes and began preparing a combined sword array while Li Xin, Zeng Buren, and Li Tian formed a Spirit Communication Art array.
• More than twenty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators completed the sword array, and its leader called on them to forge the Heavenly Sword.
• The combined sword pierced the heavenly canopy, and Sword Qi descended that Ye Tian recognized as resembling the attack that had destroyed the mountain peak Taoist temple.

Ye Tian and the cultivators triggered a hidden Eight Trigrams Formation that unleashed strange attackers while suppressing their abilities. A sealed great demon watched them and decided to change the rules, just as the Heavenly Gate revealed a woman racing through a desolate valley.

• Ye Tian fitted the black round stone into the dragon-head formation, causing it to flare and a scaled claw to seize his ankle before his sword made it vanish.
• The cultivators attacked the formation with their fists, provoking claws, vines, skeletal arms, and leaves that dragged Zhou Jin underground.
• A sealed old man watched the cultivators through images in his chamber and singled out Ye Tian as interesting.
• The old man noticed Jiang Yukun and his group waiting at the red jade stone bridge, then decided to bring the interesting people together and change the rules.
• The old man and the man on the mountain summit exchanged words as the Heavenly Gate appeared and showed a woman racing through a mountain valley.

Dong Xueyan located the place where the Heavenly Gate would open and killed Liu Kai after he tried to deceive her and lure her into danger. As she pressed on toward the gate, another pair of cultivators headed there after slaughtering Falan Sect disciples.

• Dong Xueyan traced the spiritual energy disturbance to the Heavenly Gate’s location and reflected on her exile from the Third Heaven and her determination to restore the Dong family.
• Dong Xueyan discovered Liu Kai following her, and he claimed he had hidden nearby to escape demon beasts and wanted her protection.
• Liu Kai offered to show Dong Xueyan the source of the disturbance, but she killed him after realizing he planned to lure her into danger.
• Dong Xueyan searched Liu Kai’s belongings for his breath-concealing cultivation art, then took his head so she could later seek the art through his remnant soul.
• A handsome man and the Hongyi Woman looted the bodies of Falan Sect disciples, discussed claiming the Heavenly Gate, and set out toward the disturbance.

Dong Xueyan rescued the Medicine Slave from a black-robed attacker and learned that Ye Tong had vanished five years earlier after visiting the Lan family’s Scripture Repository. Suspecting Ye Tong had reached the Heavenly Gate, she flew toward the disturbance, where a sudden surge of power disrupted her and restricted her spiritual sense.

• The wounded Medicine Slave was confronted by a black-robed man, but Dong Xueyan killed the attacker before he could harm him.
• Dong Xueyan recognized the Medicine Slave as Ye Tong’s servant and asked where Ye Tong was; the Medicine Slave said Ye Tong had disappeared five years earlier in Tianwang City.
• Dong Xueyan connected Ye Tong’s disappearance to the Heavenly Gate anomaly and assured the Medicine Slave that Ye Tong was alive.
• The Medicine Slave declined Dong Xueyan’s medicine and left to inform Ye Tong’s other subordinates.
• Dong Xueyan flew toward the spiritual energy disturbance, but a thunderous shock struck the valley, unsettled her, and restricted her spiritual sense.

Dong Xueyan reached the underground core of the spiritual energy fluctuations and fought the two cultivators who had slaughtered Falan Sect disciples. Their battle broke the fragile restriction, unleashing a dark-red radiance and violent spiritual energy from the core.

• Dong Xueyan followed a split gorge underground toward the core, where a deteriorating restriction blocked her path.
• The Hongyi Woman and a handsome man caught up with Dong Xueyan, and the man tried to recruit her into his service.
• Dong Xueyan manipulated the unstable spiritual energy to open spatial rifts, which swallowed the Hongyi Woman.
• Dong Xueyan used water and earth techniques to destroy the man's halberd and overwhelm him.
• The battle shattered the restriction, and dark-red light surged from the core, leaving Dong Xueyan dizzy when she probed it with her divine sense.

Dong Xueyan and a Core Formation Stage man faced a demonic cultivator emerging through a moving temporal crack as violent spiritual energy and spatial-temporal cracks trapped them near the Heavenly Gate. When Dong Xueyan rushed toward the crack to stop the invader, its multicolored barrier gathered around her and restored her body, and she recognized the energy as immortal energy.

• Dong Xueyan struggled through the violent spiritual energy and used her damaged defensive artifacts to shield herself while preparing to confront the man she had buried.
• The Core Formation Stage man protected himself with white light and approached Dong Xueyan, but a huge moving temporal crack appeared behind her.
• A human yet inhuman demonic cultivator emerged from the crack, and Dong Xueyan recognized the danger of letting it enter their world.
• Dong Xueyan rushed toward the crack, and the man joined her in deciding to stop the demonic cultivator.
• The crack's multicolored light contracted around Dong Xueyan, cleared the obstructions in her meridians, and revealed itself as immortal energy.

Dong Xueyan fought to contain a demonic cultivator tearing open a spatial-temporal rift, but the clash of demonic and immortal energy shattered her defenses. The pressure broke the restriction on her cultivation and restored her Nascent Soul, leaving her ready to close the rift and open the Heavenly Gate to the Second Heaven.

• The demonic cultivator unleashed a vast vortex that destroyed the surrounding mountains and expanded the spatial-temporal rift, while Dong Xueyan's companion fled.
• Dong Xueyan used five-colored immortal energy to hold back the rift, but demonic energy overwhelmed her and her spiritual power dwindled.
• Two powerful observers watched from high above, deciding to wait because they believed Dong Xueyan could seal the rift herself.
• Dong Xueyan drew immortal energy into her body, and the collision with demonic energy shattered her barrier and damaged her organs and meridians.
• The restriction on Dong Xueyan's cultivation broke, restoring her Nascent Soul, strengthening her body, and allowing her to control her divine sense.
• Dong Xueyan realized her cultivation had been suppressed by the backlash of the Third Heaven's Teleportation Array, and prepared to close the rift and enter the Second Heaven.

Dong Xueyan defeated a demonic cultivator who forced his way through a spatial-temporal rift, though he escaped as dark-red mist after warning her. Heavenly Gate Emissaries then arrived and guided her toward the Second Heaven, while her questions about Ye Tong remained unresolved.

• Dong Xueyan recovered her Nascent Soul Realm cultivation and dispersed the demonic qi as the demonic cultivator tried to widen the spatial-temporal rift.
• The demonic cultivator burst through the rift, but Dong Xueyan destroyed his demonic body with a powerful spiritual attack.
• The demonic cultivator escaped into the rift as dark-red mist, showed Dong Xueyan a threatening face, and vanished when the rift closed.
• Two Heavenly Gate Emissaries appeared and told Dong Xueyan that they could guide her only to the Second Heaven.
• Dong Xueyan asked about Ye Tong, but the emissaries said they had never guided him and were the first to come in nearly a thousand years.
• The Heavenly Gate Emissaries opened a corridor, and Dong Xueyan stepped through as the space around her transformed into boundless grayness.

After the old man changed the Eight Trigrams Image Formation, Ye Tian, the Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators, Jiang Yukun, and his three companions were drained of spiritual energy and sent back to the towering forest. The old man then revealed himself and invited them to seek the immortal fate in his secret realm.

• The old man replaced the formation’s underground creatures with corrosive light, which swallowed Ye Tian and the other cultivators.
• Ye Tian awoke in the forest with his spiritual energy depleted and found more than twenty Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators in the same condition.
• Ye Tian and the Heavenly Sword Sect discovered Jiang Yukun and his three companions had also been brought to the forest after the formation dragged them underground.
• Jiang Yukun tried to flee, but an unseen force pulled him back, and a Heavenly Sword Sect cultivator called out to the powerful presence.
• The old man appeared above the group, transformed the forest into a mountain clearing, and told them they had entered his secret realm to receive immortal fate.

A mysterious old man transformed the secret realm into a palace of treasures and laid down four rules for claiming his immortal fortune. After Zhou Jin was killed by heavenly lightning for threatening the outsiders, the cultivators searched for treasures while Ye Tian grew suspicious of the old man’s motives.

• The old man restored the cultivators’ spiritual energy with spirit pearls, conjured an immortal palace, and explained four rules governing its treasures and inheritance.
• After the old man vanished into the mountain temple, Luo Su remembered Jiang Yukun and the three Three-Ringed Golden Saber Sect cultivators who remained behind.
• Zhou Jin tried to have the three outsiders executed, but heavenly lightning killed him for his killing intent.
• Ye Tian stopped Luo Su from attacking the outsiders, and the cultivators bound them before scattering to search the palace for treasures.
• While the others celebrated their discoveries, Ye Tian questioned the old man’s rules and suspected that something was wrong.

Ye Tian watched the Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators succumb to the treasures and discovered that a Go manual concealed spirit pearls, while Luo Su grew increasingly greedy. After spotting how treasure hunting had made everyone distrustful, Ye Tian realized the rules and rewards were designed to weaken their restraint before they climbed the mountain.

• Luo Su returned laden with treasures and proposed using the bound Three-Ringed Golden Saber Sect cultivators as extra carriers, while Ye Tian let him take all three.
• Luo Su led Ye Tian to a side hall, where Ye Tian found the Go manual “Nineteen Dao of Ning Cai” among the divine ability manuals.
• Ye Tian discovered that the manual contained numerous spirit pearls that could be shaken out and absorbed, prompting Luo Su to envy his find and try to send him away.
• Ye Tian entered several treasure-filled halls and saw the cultivators react to him with suspicion, confirming his unease about the treasure hunt.
• Ye Tian concluded that the treasures and rules were manipulating everyone’s minds and that their suppressed greed could erupt into violence when they climbed the mountain.

Ye Tian and Jiang Yukun climbed to the mountaintop Taoist temple to confront the old man behind the false immortal fortunes. When the old man tried to possess Ye Tian, the two activated the suppressive object and Earth Escape Lock and escaped through a gate of light, leaving the old man furious.

• Ye Tian overheard Luo Su and Li Quan arguing over the captured Three-Ringed Golden Saber Sect cultivators and realized the old man's immortal fortune was driving the Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators toward conflict.
• Ye Tian used Bone-Corroding Spirit Ants to open a small hole in the mountain-path barrier and climbed toward the Taoist temple, with Jiang Yukun secretly following him.
• Ye Tian and Jiang Yukun agreed to cooperate, though Jiang Yukun concealed his suspicion that the old man was an ancient great demon sealed in the Heavenly Spirit Secret Realm.
• At the summit, the old man immobilized Ye Tian and Jiang Yukun, then chose Ye Tian as a vessel and began attempting to possess him.
• Ye Tian resisted the possession, and he and Jiang Yukun activated the black round stone and Earth Escape Lock to open a gate of light and escape as the old man failed to stop them.