Chapter Summaries

Jian Tianmo and the other foremost prodigies killed two guardians and nearly defeated the last one, clearing the way toward the ancient tomb. As new arrivals approached, Chen Fan recognized someone familiar and frowned.

• Jian Tianmo severed a guardian's claw, and other prodigies joined him in attacking the guardians.
• Jian Tianmo killed the first guardian, while Chen Fan arrived and assessed the powerful contenders near the tomb entrance.
• Chen Fan saw Crown Prince Li and the mysterious woman, then watched Ouyang Yu use the Soul-Capturing Bell to kill the second guardian.
• The remaining prodigies attacked the final guardian as other cultivators waited at the entrance and discussed the tomb's dangers.
• Several figures arrived from the sky, and Chen Fan recognized one of them.

Chen Fan entered the ancient tomb with the other cultivators and discovered that its passage concealed a powerful sword formation and hidden runes. After three hours of walking, the crowd realized they were trapped, and a gigantic shadow approached from behind.

• Jian Tianmo killed the third guardian, and the tomb entrance opened as the cultivators rushed inside.
• Chen Fan spotted Yuan Chuge and the four-horned Monster Beast from the Kite Eagle Clan among the entrants.
• A hidden sword net attacked the leading cultivators, but a Black Armored Rhinoceros crossed it unharmed.
• Chen Fan noticed concealed runes carved into the passage walls after the crowd had walked for three hours without finding an exit.
• A cultivator lit an illumination talisman, revealing a gigantic black shadow rushing toward the trapped crowd.

Chen Fan discovered how to escape the rune restriction trapping the cultivators in a looping passageway, but a four-horned Monster Beast attacked him and triggered more deadly sword nets. As the crowd turned on the attacker and Chen Fan, he drew his sword to fight the beast.

• The Black Armored Rhinoceros Clan prodigy reappeared in the looping passageway, and Chen Fan realized the group had been trapped by a restriction that had separated them from other cultivators.
• The Black Armored Rhinoceros Clan prodigy’s attack on the wall powered the runes and summoned a sword net, so the cultivators stopped striking the passageway and began studying its runes.
• Chen Fan memorized the runes and found a way out of the restriction after several hours.
• A four-horned Monster Beast of the Kite Eagle Clan attacked Chen Fan and demanded to know where its clansman was; Chen Fan replied that the clansman was dead.
• The four-horned Monster Beast’s attacks triggered more sword nets, prompting the cultivators to attack it and some to target Chen Fan, while the Black Armored Rhinoceros Clan prodigy refused to help.
• Chen Fan evaded the beast’s pursuit with Nine Palaces Footwork, drew his sword, and prepared to kill it.

Chen Fan killed a powerful Kite Eagle Clan cultivator and discovered how to open the passage’s exit. He escaped the secret realm passage alone, leaving the other cultivators trapped behind the vanished light curtain, then froze in astonishment at what he saw.

• Chen Fan defeated and killed the four-horned Monster Beast, a Nascent Soul Middle Stage expert from the Kite Eagle Clan, with the Nine Palaces Sword Art.
• The watching prodigies wondered whether Chen Fan was a successor of the Nine Palaces Elder, while one dismissed his swordsmanship as inferior to the Elder’s other disciples.
• Chen Fan studied the runes on the stone wall and drew on it despite other cultivators’ protests; when no sword web appeared, a prodigy realized he had found a way out.
• Chen Fan completed the runes and opened an exit, while the other cultivators were repelled by the light curtain and could not follow.
• Chen Fan stepped through the exit, and the light curtain vanished behind him; he looked at the scene before him and froze in astonishment.

Chen Fan escaped a Spirit Treasure wall in the ancient tomb and cultivated the Burning Gold Scripture to the middle Golden Core stage before heading deeper. He discovered that the ancient precious blood was a decoy meant to distract the geniuses and began searching for the greater treasure nearby.

• Chen Fan realized the runic wall was a nine-star Spirit Treasure that had scattered the tomb’s entrants into separate traps.
• Chen Fan used a Concealment Array to cultivate with a golden stalactite, advancing the Burning Gold Scripture to the middle Golden Core stage in one day.
• Chen Fan heard a battle ahead and learned that the geniuses were fighting over ancient Monster Beast precious blood rather than the Burning Earth Art.
• Chen Fan noticed the jade bottle’s seal had been activated and inferred that the precious blood was bait concealing a more valuable treasure.
• Chen Fan abandoned the precious blood and spread his Divine Sense across the area to search for the hidden treasure.

Chen Fan searched the ancient tomb for the Burning Earth Art and found the fat cultivator digging in a hidden chamber. Yuan Chuge and three Golden Core prodigies attacked Chen Fan, who charged straight into Yuan Chuge’s poisonous gas.

• Chen Fan searched the tomb chambers for the Burning Earth Chapter, breaking through a stone door with his body and moving at great speed.
• Chen Fan found the fat cultivator digging a hole and used a portrait of the Fat Daoist to test whether he recognized him.
• Three late-stage Golden Core prodigies discovered the chamber, while Yuan Chuge recognized Chen Fan and demanded to kill him.
• Yuan Chuge persuaded the three prodigies to attack Chen Fan, and they unleashed swords, talismans, lightning, and poisonous gas.
• Chen Fan deflected the swords and shattered the talismans with violet-gold sword shadows, then charged into Yuan Chuge’s poison gas.

Chen Fan survived Yuan Chuge’s poisonous mist, defeated him and the three prodigies, and killed them despite their golden resurrection marks. He then noticed that the fat cultivator had not returned from the pit and rushed down after him.

• Chen Fan emerged unharmed from the poisonous mist and wounded Yuan Chuge, then shattered the Three Talents Formation with his Array-Breaking Ruler.
• Yuan Chuge gouged out his right eyeball to summon the Red Gold Snake Emperor, but Chen Fan’s White Bone Sword devoured the blood mist and destroyed the snake phantom.
• Chen Fan killed Yuan Chuge with a violet-gold sword strike, then killed the three fleeing prodigies despite their attempts to bargain and escape.
• Chen Fan returned to the stone chamber, saw that the fat cultivator had not come back from the pit, and jumped in after him.

Chen Fan discovered that the Fat Daoist had left him a cauldron of ancient treasure blood, which contained a way to comprehend the Burning Earth Chapter. After the Fat Daoist vanished, his words led Chen Fan to understand the truth behind his rebirth.

• Chen Fan found the Fat Daoist’s note and sealed the cauldron of treasure blood in his Storage Ring.
• The Fat Daoist returned, explained that he had gotten lost, and warned Chen Fan that the tomb was about to collapse.
• Chen Fan learned that the Burning Earth Chapter could be comprehended from the treasure blood and that the tomb’s master was one of the Fat Daoist’s soul fragments.
• The Fat Daoist vanished after calling the Heaven-Burning Art a road to immortality and gifting Chen Fan the Burning Earth Chapter.
• Chen Fan reflected on the Fat Daoist’s words and understood why he had been reborn.

Chen Fan learned that the Burning chapters were tied to Fat Daoist’s scattered soul fragments and escaped the collapsing tomb through a lake, where a powerful being began to awaken. After a prodigy accused him of stealing the Burning Earth Chapter, Chen Fan prepared to attack while the other cultivators turned against him.

• Chen Fan considered Fat Daoist’s claims about the Burning chapters, Bald Bird’s shattered soul, and his own journey through time.
• As the ancient tomb collapsed, Chen Fan fled through a one-way barrier and plunged into a lake.
• Chen Fan saw a sleeping Human Emperor-level being awaken beneath the lake and hurried to the surface.
• Chen Fan emerged among the surviving cultivators, including Crown Prince Li, the mysterious woman, and the Fei Clan siblings.
• A surviving prodigy accused Chen Fan of stealing the Burning Earth Art and drew the cultivators’ attention to him.
• Chen Fan dismissed the accusation and launched a sword attack at the prodigy.

After a prodigy accused Chen Fan of taking the Burning Earth Art, exceptional prodigies and Monster Beasts descended on him, turning the lakeside into a chaotic battlefield. Chen Fan began fighting Crown Prince Li and Jian Tianmo as a whirlpool quietly formed in the lake below.

• A prodigy claimed Chen Fan had taken the Burning Earth Art, prompting exceptional prodigies to attack him.
• Jian Tianmo, Crown Prince Li, the Princess of the Kingdom of Wu's forces, Ghost Baleful Intent, and Monster Beast prodigies joined the struggle over Chen Fan.
• Jian Tianmo ordered Crown Prince Li aside, but Crown Prince Li attacked him after he refused to show respect to the Kingdom of Li.
• Jian Tianmo challenged Chen Fan and Crown Prince Li to fight him together, and the two clashed with him.
• Chen Fan formed the Heaven-Earth Disk Double Formation and used Nine-Nine Restoration to fight Crown Prince Li and Jian Tianmo.
• A tiny whirlpool appeared and began expanding in the lake beneath the battle.

Chen Fan fought Jian Tianmo and Prince Li while waiting for the lake’s vortex to swell, then drew the gathered prodigies toward the water by throwing in a golden page. The lake erupted under a majestic pressure as a powerful being was about to emerge.

• Chen Fan battled Jian Tianmo and Prince Li while cultivators watched, and the Fei siblings discussed Fei Fengxuan’s sharp battle intent and Chen Fan’s Sword Dao.
• Jian Tianmo drove back prodigies who tried to join the fight, while two descendants of ministers from the Kingdom of Wu attacked Chen Fan for the Burning Earth Art.
• Chen Fan used his domain and One Sword, Ninefold to kill the two attackers and strike Jian Tianmo, Prince Li, and a man in white, but their Spirit Treasure armor protected them.
• Chen Fan swallowed Pure Wood Essence and threw a golden page recording the Azure Dragon Lotus Hand into the lake, prompting the cultivators and prodigies to rush toward it.
• The lake boiled, a huge column of water surged upward, and a majestic pressure blanketed the area.

Chen Fan escaped as a late Spirit Refining Stage toad emerged and annihilated everyone in the secret realm with one attack before pursuing him. Outside, the guardians learned that Chen Fan had taken the Burning Earth Art and prepared to capture him when the realm closed, while suspicion fell on the Kingdom of Wu.

• Chen Fan fled as the being beneath the lake revealed itself as a late Spirit Refining Stage powerhouse and emerged as a gigantic toad.
• The toad gathered the region’s spiritual energy and killed every cultivator and living creature nearby with a single golden shockwave.
• The toad noticed the direction Chen Fan had gone and leaped after him.
• At the secret realm entrances, the guardians learned that a mid-Golden Core cultivator had taken the Burning Earth Art and that he had no golden character protecting him.
• Cultivators accused the Kingdom of Wu of plotting to take the treasure, but the Princess of the Kingdom of Wu denied the accusation.
• The guardians agreed to watch all eighty-one entrances and warned that they would act against anyone who shielded Chen Fan when he was teleported out.

Chen Fan escaped the mystic realm with help from the giant toad beast, which had been entrusted by Fat Daoist to guide him past the guarded exits. As the beast carried him through an unstable passage, Chen Fan glimpsed a terrifying ancient flood dragon before they continued onward.

• Crown Prince Li and the other cultivators waited at the mystic realm exits, ready to capture Chen Fan.
• The giant toad beast intercepted Chen Fan and explained that Fat Daoist had asked it to send him safely beyond the eighty-one exits.
• The giant toad beast opened a portal with a red pearl and swallowed Chen Fan to protect him from the unstable passage.
• Chen Fan saw a colossal flood dragon with half its face missing, and its remaining eye nearly injured him with its gaze.
• The giant toad beast shielded Chen Fan, warned him to conceal his aura, and carried him onward as the flood dragon faded into the void.

Chen Fan crossed the red vortex passage with the giant toad beast and witnessed an ancient flood dragon, a shattered Heavenly Court, and groups of ancient people and Monster Beasts drifting through the void. The giant toad beast warned him to keep the sightings secret before Chen Fan emerged from the passage and saw a village.

• The giant toad beast warned Chen Fan to stay silent as they passed a ruined Immortal Court bearing the words "Heavenly Court".
• Chen Fan saw countless ancient people and Monster Beasts drifting through the void, including a White-Robed Woman whose eyelashes quivered and an armored three-eyed man.
• At the far end of the passage, the giant toad beast told Chen Fan to treat the sights as an illusion and warned that speaking of them could bring calamity.
• The giant toad beast departed, and Chen Fan thanked it before continuing through the now-stable vortex passage.
• Chen Fan emerged into sunlight and dense spiritual energy, then froze at the sight of a village and stepped toward it.

Chen Fan returned to Windless Town and hid in Old Wu’s abandoned house to refine ancient treasure blood and seek the lost Burning Earth Chapter. After days of seclusion, he gained the Heavenly Eye Treasure Art from the Fat Daoist’s inheritance.

• Chen Fan returned to Windless Town, recalled the villagers’ fate, and settled in Old Wu’s abandoned house.
• Chen Fan concealed the house with an array and used the small cauldron of ancient treasure blood to temper his body and pursue the Burning Earth Chapter.
• Chen Fan endured the treasure blood’s violent energy and illusions as the Heaven-Burning Art refined his body.
• Chen Fan discovered that the treasure blood contained several divine abilities and treasure arts, which he began to comprehend.
• Chen Fan gained the Heavenly Eye Treasure Art through his comprehension of the Fat Daoist’s inheritance.

Chen Fan comprehended the Burning Earth Chapter and used it to absorb the earth aura of five spirit mountain ranges, bringing all five chapters of his Heaven-Burning Art to the Golden Core stage. He left Windless Town for the imperial city, carrying a straw hat that concealed his appearance.

• Chen Fan formed a false Heavenly Eye and glimpsed the Snow Studio sword art, though he could only remember several sword forms.
• Chen Fan obtained the complete Burning Earth Chapter, and the art transformed the wooden hut into stone as his Golden Core made room for it.
• Chen Fan cultivated in the small cauldron until the Burning Earth Chapter reached the initial Golden Core stage, while the Burning Fire Chapter and Burning Wood Chapter also advanced.
• Chen Fan absorbed the earth aura of five spirit mountain ranges, weakening the Kingdom of Wu's dragon vein and bringing all five chapters of his Heaven-Burning Art to the Golden Core stage.
• Chen Fan left Windless Town and bought a gauzed straw hat in an Ancient City before continuing toward the imperial city.

Chen Fan returned to the imperial city after hearing rumors about the secret realm and the blue-robed youth. He learned that Li Baimin had escaped with the Li Clan, then sought to travel to Skybend City, where the array guards demanded to see his face.

• Chen Fan heard cultivators debate whether the blue-robed youth had obtained the Burning Earth Art or died in the secret realm.
• Chen Fan learned that Crown Prince Li had brought back a divine spring and the princess of the Kingdom of Wu had returned with three Spirit Treasures.
• Chen Fan entered the imperial city in disguise and found the Li residence abandoned.
• Chen Fan learned from a stall owner that Li Baimin had fled with the Li Clan before the Human Emperors returned, while the Spirit Refining Stage expert who helped him was killed.
• Chen Fan went to the great Teleportation Array and requested passage to Skybend City.
• A Nascent Soul Realm expert ordered Chen Fan to remove his hat so the guards could see his face.

Chen Fan used the Teleportation Array in the imperial capital to escape toward Skybend City while secretly extracting the Kingdom of Wu’s dragon vein. The princess recognized him too late to stop the teleportation, and Chen Fan vanished with the stolen golden dragon.

• Chen Fan removed his hood at the Teleportation Array and paid the guards two hundred high-grade Spirit Stones, then added ten more when they demanded a gratuity.
• Chen Fan sensed the Kingdom of Wu’s dragon vein beneath the array and used the Burning Earth Chapter to draw its aura into himself.
• The Kingdom of Wu’s princess approached the array and recognized Chen Fan as he pulled a tiny golden dragon from beneath the ground.
• Chen Fan fed the array one hundred high-grade Spirit Stones and one hundred thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones, activating it before the princess could reach him.
• The Teleportation Array transported Chen Fan away, leaving the princess enraged and unable to stop him.

After stealing the Kingdom of Wu’s dragon vein, Chen Fan evaded pursuit by disguising himself and changing routes, but the Princess of Wu and Elder Liu tracked him to Heavenly River City. As Chen Fan used his little gold stone to absorb the dragon vein, the stone cracked and a powerful life aura began to emerge from within.

• The Human Emperor ordered the Princess of Wu to recover the dragon vein and Burning Earth Art, while the Princess arrested the Teleportation Array operators and pursued Chen Fan toward Skybend City.
• Chen Fan escaped Skybend City by changing his appearance, teleporting east, and then flying against the expected route to Heavenly River City.
• The Princess of Wu and three Spirit Refining Stage powerhouses lost Chen Fan’s trail, then split into groups to search for him using the Human Emperor’s golden talismans.
• The Princess of Wu and Elder Liu learned that a mid-Golden Core Realm cultivator had traveled east, searched the route, and sensed Chen Fan’s dragon vein through a golden talisman.
• Chen Fan brought out the golden dragon in his concealed room, and his little gold stone absorbed it, converting its earth aura into metal-element true essence.
• Cracks spread across the gold stone, and Chen Fan sensed a powerful life aura emerging from inside it.

Chen Fan helped the creature inside the golden stone absorb earth-element aura as he traveled toward the Eastern Wasteland, bringing it close to breaking free. Near Xiao Qingcheng, he encountered a powerful stranger and abandoned the mountain range, leaving the creature still sealed in the cracked stone.

• A living creature opened its eye inside the golden stone, and Chen Fan realized it needed the earth-element aura of many mountain ranges to escape.
• The Princess of the Kingdom of Wu and Elder Liu lost the golden talisman’s signal and searched nearby cities while Chen Fan flew past them toward the Eastern Wasteland.
• Chen Fan drained the aura from mountain ranges, and the creature revealed a second eye that seemed able to see through him.
• After taking a Teleportation Array to Xiao Qingcheng, Chen Fan judged that the creature needed the aura of three more mountain ranges to emerge.
• Chen Fan began draining a mountain range near Xiao Qingcheng, but a stranger’s powerful sigh shook the surrounding wilderness, so Chen Fan fled to another range.