Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan defeated five young cultivators who tried to rob him, took their leader’s token, and disguised himself as Ye Gu to reach the Teleportation Array. A woman who knew Ye Gu confronted him, and his reply only deepened her suspicion.

• Five young cultivators surrounded Chen Fan and demanded his Storage Ring, believing him to be a weak old man carrying ancient spiritual herbs.
• Chen Fan revealed his true cultivation, bound all five with the Divine Silkworm Seal, and took the handsome cultivator’s Snake token.
• Chen Fan killed the five, burned away their bodies and traces with Samadhi True Fire, and left before pursuers arrived.
• Chen Fan changed his appearance and aura to match Ye Gu, then headed toward the Teleportation Array.
• A late Spirit Refining Stage woman blocked Chen Fan and asked what he meant; when he claimed he would discuss things after returning, she asked if he still intended to come back.

Chen Fan, disguised as Ye Gu, was forced to accompany Su Yerong and a Sea Dragon Clan party after they captured her and uncovered a dragon bone marked with the Soul-Gathering Tower’s location. He concealed his identity and joined their journey toward the Ink Sea, where the group arrived after several hours of teleportation.

• Su Yerong insisted on watching Ye Gu leave, and Chen Fan learned that the dragon bone pointed to a place where her clan’s elders had repeatedly suffered losses.
• At the Teleportation Array, Sea Dragon Clan members captured Su Yerong and gave Chen Fan the dragon bone, where he spotted the words “Soul-Gathering Tower.”
• Chen Fan pretended to be Ye Gu and agreed to travel with the party, hiding his interest in the tower and his true identity.
• Su Yerong directed the group to the Ink Sea, and Chen Fan and the others teleported there after several hours.

Chen Fan and his companions followed Su Yerong through the Ink Sea toward the place she had been forced to guide them. After two hours of swimming, they stopped before what appeared to be the Dragon Palace.

• Chen Fan learned from the black-robed elder that the Ink Sea was once Ink Dragon Pool, and Su Yerong warned the group that entering it was dangerous.
• Su Yerong led Chen Fan and the others beneath the Ink Sea after the elder released her, warning them not to protect themselves with true essence.
• A whirlpool pulled Chen Fan forward, but Fatty Ye San touched his shoulder, suppressed his true essence, and mysteriously made the danger disappear.
• The black-robed elder caught Su Yerong when she tried to escape, and she resumed guiding the group through the sea.
• After two hours, Su Yerong stopped before a structure that made Chen Fan and the others ask if it was the Dragon Palace.

Chen Fan and the others entered the golden coral gate despite Su Yerong’s warnings and found themselves facing a sea of Samadhi True Fire. The gate’s radiance began breaking Chen Fan’s disguise, and the group discovered he was not Ye Gu.

• Su Yerong warned Chen Fan and the others that the gate contained deadly, shifting dangers, including Samadhi True Fire.
• Chen Fan insisted the group enter and take a look, and the black-robed elder agreed to go with them.
• The group passed through the gate and arrived in a blinding white expanse filled with dense Five Elements essence and an ancient aura.
• The scene transformed into a sea of Samadhi True Fire, and Su Yerong warned everyone not to move or resist the force.
• The radiance weakened Chen Fan’s transformation technique until the black-robed elder, Fatty Ye San, and Su Yerong realized he was not Ye Gu.

Chen Fan entered the sea of Samadhi True Fire, where Fat Daoist revealed his identity and helped him use the Mother Stone to absorb the flames. Fat Daoist gave Chen Fan a Fire-Element Sword Heart to study, and Chen Fan charged toward a mysterious sword within its fiery vision to comprehend its art.

• The black-robed elder and his companions withdrew from the sea of fire after Chen Fan's disguise was exposed, while Su Yerong told Chen Fan about a hidden Teleportation Array and vanished.
• Fat Ye San revealed that he was one of Fat Daoist's souls and explained that he had taken Ye San's body while searching for the Soul-Gathering Tower.
• Chen Fan released the Samadhi True Fire Mother Stone, which began absorbing the surrounding flames.
• Fat Daoist gave Chen Fan a Fire-Element Sword Heart and taught him to seek a flame-related method within it.
• Chen Fan entered the Sword Heart's fiery vision, saw weapons displaying their former owners' arts, and charged at a still sword that absorbed the flames.
• Fat Daoist watched over Chen Fan and revealed that the Sword Heart had belonged to the ancient era's number one Sword Demon.

Chen Fan survived the ancient Sword Demon's devastating strike, Sword Sweeps Eight Wastelands, and chose to absorb the shattered Sword Heart despite the danger. As Samadhi True Fire flooded the Mother Stone he had become, Chen Fan rejected the idea that sharpness required abandoning emotion and faced the Sword Demon's heart again.

• Chen Fan attacked the iron sword in the Sword Heart and was struck by its overwhelming power, which expelled his Divine Soul and gravely injured his true body.
• Fat Daoist revealed that the Sword Heart belonged to the ancient foremost Sword Demon and contained the final strike of the war between immortals and demons, Sword Sweeps Eight Wastelands.
• Fat Daoist explained that the shattered Sword Heart could now be absorbed, and Chen Fan decided to refine the sword strike despite the risk of his soul being destroyed.
• Chen Fan transformed himself and the Sword Demon's Sword Heart into Mother Stones, while Fat Daoist redirected Samadhi True Fire toward him.
• As the fire surged into him, Chen Fan questioned whether emotions weakened the Sword Path, then realized sharpness did not require abandoning emotion and charged toward the Sword Demon's heart.

Chen Fan endured the Samadhi True Fire to seize the Sword Sweeps Eight Wastelands art, while Su Yerong and the black-robed elder searched for him beyond the golden gate. The fire had nearly vanished by the time they entered, and Su Yerong escaped as soon as the elder stepped outside.

• Chen Fan broke the iron sword with his Divine Soul and absorbed its Dao essence, then endured the Sword Art and Samadhi True Fire as they ravaged his body.
• Cracks spread across Chen Fan’s Mother Stone form, but a thread of vitality and the aura of Sword Sweeps Eight Wastelands emerged from within.
• The black-robed elder stopped Su Yerong from leaving, sent Ye Wu and Ye Qi to summon clan reinforcements, and ordered her to wait one more day.
• The Fat Daoist carried the burning fake stone deeper into the transformed realm as the Samadhi True Fire dwindled to a few embers.
• The black-robed elder and Su Yerong entered the realm, found Chen Fan and Ye San gone, and decided to return with reinforcements.
• Su Yerong darted away when the black-robed elder stepped through the gate, leaving him unable to stop her.

Chen Fan survived three months of tempering in Samadhi True Fire, emerging with a remade body and greatly increased cultivation. He and the Fat Daoist traveled deeper into the dragon’s lair toward the Soul-Gathering Tower, where they encountered a bloodied Su Yerong fleeing and warning them to run.

• The Fat Daoist concealed himself in a stalactite cave while Chen Fan endured Samadhi True Fire and absorbed the Dao essence of Sword Sweeps Eight Wastelands.
• After three months, Chen Fan broke free of the fake Mother Stone with a renewed body and cultivation at the peak of the late Spirit Refining Stage.
• The Fat Daoist warned Chen Fan that the Heavenly Dao opposed immortals and explained that Chen Fan’s tribulations were warnings against the Heaven-Burning Art.
• Chen Fan followed the Fat Daoist deeper into the cave, using the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk to search for the Soul-Gathering Tower and planning to save Qin Xian’er.
• Chen Fan and the Fat Daoist found the corpses of Spirit Snake Clan and Sea Serpent Clan members before Su Yerong rushed toward them, covered in blood and shouting for them to run.

Chen Fan fought the Golden Crab King and used the Immortal Sword Sheath to sever its claws, but its runes suppressed his cultivation. He erased the curse with the Supreme Restriction and killed the beast, then learned from Fat Daoist that inheriting the restriction had ruined his Dao.

• The Golden Crab King charged after Su Yerong, and Fat Daoist warned Chen Fan that its golden claws could seal his power.
• Chen Fan attacked with Nine Palaces Footwork, but his Sword Qi could not penetrate the Golden Crab King's claws, so he used the Immortal Sword Sheath to sever one.
• The runes from the severed claw entered Chen Fan and sealed his cultivation down to Nascent Soul Early Stage as Fat Daoist carried him away.
• Chen Fan used the Supreme Restriction's runes to wash away the curse and restore his cultivation.
• Chen Fan cut off the Golden Crab King's remaining claw and killed it with a sword strike to the head.
• Fat Daoist told Chen Fan that inheriting the Supreme Restriction had completely ruined his Dao.

Chen Fan and Fat Daoist crossed a dangerous cavern and coral clearing while Chen Fan used Golden Crab Kings to purge the Supreme Restriction from his body. They reached the Water Crystal Palace, where the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk pointed toward the Soul-Gathering Tower, but Fat Daoist urged them to leave.

• Fat Daoist explained that the Supreme Restriction came from the Heavenly Dao and warned Chen Fan not to inherit it.
• Chen Fan and Fat Daoist fought six Golden Crab Kings, and Chen Fan dissipated half of the Supreme Restriction within him.
• They followed the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk through a cavern littered with the remains of cultivators killed by the Golden Crab Kings.
• They crossed a coral-covered clearing, where Fat Daoist warned Chen Fan that the fossilized coral was lethally poisonous.
• They reached the Water Crystal Palace and found dead Sea Dragon Clan and Spirit Snake Clan experts kneeling before its doors.
• Chen Fan confirmed that the Soul-Gathering Tower was inside the palace, but Fat Daoist told him they needed to leave.

Chen Fan and Fat Daoist encountered the Black Tortoise descendant guarding the Water Crystal Palace, and Fat Daoist lured it away so Chen Fan could enter and seek the Soul-Gathering Tower. Chen Fan reached the tower, but the ancient Ink Dragon appeared from within it.

• Fat Daoist warned Chen Fan that the Black Tortoise descendant guarding the Water Crystal Palace could defeat them, and urged him to retreat.
• The giant turtle pursued Chen Fan and Fat Daoist, crushing Chen Fan's left arm and sealing part of his cultivation before Fat Daoist drew it away.
• Chen Fan recovered enough to enter the Water Crystal Palace, where most of its ancient treasures crumbled to ash, leaving a Dragonform Grass and Lunar and Solar Stones.
• Chen Fan followed the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk's jade needle to the dragon throne and watched its failing Magic Array reveal the Soul-Gathering Tower.
• Chen Fan approached the Soul-Gathering Tower with the Immortal Sword Sheath, and the Ink Dragon emerged from the tower and stared at him.

Chen Fan stole the Soul-Gathering Tower from the Crystal Palace and escaped four cursed Soul Division Stage experts by luring them into poisonous coral. At the stalactite cave, the Fat Daoist revealed that the Ink Dragon inside the tower was alive and had fused with its Artifact Spirit, and Chen Fan began suppressing it after it urged the Fat Daoist to kill him.

• Chen Fan took the Soul-Gathering Tower from the dragon throne while fighting four reanimated Soul Division Stage experts from the Sea Dragon Clan and Spirit Snake Clan.
• Chen Fan led the four experts into poisonous coral, where their bodies and curse runes were dissolved.
• Chen Fan hid from the returning Black Tortoise descendant, then traveled to the stalactite cave and summoned the Fat Daoist's soul through the tower.
• The Fat Daoist recognized the Ink Dragon and explained that it had fused with the Soul-Gathering Tower's Artifact Spirit to survive.
• The Ink Dragon revealed its hopes of rebuilding the Immortal Court and ordered the Fat Daoist to kill Chen Fan to protect their plans.
• Chen Fan attacked the Soul-Gathering Tower with the Immortal Sword Sheath, the Soul Devouring Banner, and Black-and-White Flames, forcing the Ink Dragon to ask to negotiate.

Chen Fan and the Fat Daoist escaped the stalactite cave with the Soul-Gathering Tower, only to be ambushed by the Spirit Snake Clan at the Dragon Gate. The Black Tortoise descendant devoured most of the clan, and Chen Fan confronted Su Yerong as she fled.

• Chen Fan took the Soul-Gathering Tower and fled with the Fat Daoist while the Black Tortoise descendant pursued them through the collapsing cave.
• The Spirit Snake Clan captured Chen Fan at the Dragon Gate, and Su Yerong demanded that he surrender the sword sheath.
• The Fat Daoist possessed a Spirit Snake Clan cultivator and covered the escape with black liquid, while Chen Fan cut through the lightning net and vanished in disguise.
• Two Spirit Snake Clan elders approached the Dragon Gate, but the Black Tortoise descendant smashed through it and suppressed their cultivation.
• The Black Tortoise descendant swallowed the Spirit Snake Clan members in the seawater, while Su Yerong escaped and Chen Fan appeared before her.

Chen Fan returned to the South Sea Region and reunited with Old Yellow Tooth, seeking a fast route to the Eastern Wasteland. Their investigation pointed toward the dragon clan descendants, while a mysterious Jade Slip revealed a connection to Ink Dragon’s family.

• Chen Fan left the Black Tortoise descendant’s territory, returned to the sea Teleportation Array, and traveled to the island where he had arranged to meet Old Yellow Tooth.
• Chen Fan asked Ink Dragon about reaching the Eastern Wasteland quickly, and Ink Dragon suggested turning dragon clans into boats.
• Chen Fan found Old Yellow Tooth, who had taken control of an alley and heard rumors of dragon-descendant ships nearly as fast as Teleportation Arrays.
• Chen Fan told Old Yellow Tooth to investigate the dragon clan descendants while he recovered and worked to remove the cursed runes suppressing his cultivation.
• Old Yellow Tooth gave Chen Fan a dragon-patterned Jade Slip, and Ink Dragon recognized it as belonging to its grandfather.

Chen Fan bargained with Ink Dragon for the dragon’s physical body as a ghost ship, but Ink Dragon required him to imitate its grandfather’s aura to get past the Black Tortoise descendant. Chen Fan began a month of secluded cultivation to strengthen the curse in his body, while Ink Dragon prepared to cultivate Demonic Waves Overwhelm the Heavens.

• After Old Yellow Tooth left to collect protection money, Chen Fan learned that the Jade Slip contained the Ink Dragon Clan’s supreme arts and that Ink Dragon’s physical body was beneath the Water Crystal Palace.
• Chen Fan unlocked the Jade Slip, memorized its cultivation runes, and handed it to Ink Dragon in exchange for the body’s location.
• When Ink Dragon tried to evade the deal, Chen Fan transformed into an ink-black dragon and threatened to seek a ghost ship from the dragon clan’s ancestral land, forcing Ink Dragon to agree to help retrieve its body.
• Ink Dragon required Chen Fan to restore and protect the body after returning to the Eastern Wasteland, and explained how they could imitate its grandfather’s aura to fool the Black Tortoise descendant.
• Ink Dragon told Chen Fan to use the Immortal Sword Sheath to shake and condense the runic curse in his body, and Chen Fan began a month of secluded cultivation in a cave in the barren mountains.

Chen Fan returned to the Ink Sea disguised as Ye Gu and used Ink Dragon’s newly transformed aura to pass himself off as an Ink Dragon. He deceived the Black Tortoise descendant long enough to reach the Water Crystal Palace, but its sudden confusion and Ink Dragon’s warning left his disguise in danger.

• After a month of gathering the rune curses in his body, Chen Fan found Ink Dragon still pretending to sleep and traveled to the Ink Sea.
• Chen Fan fought off the Sea Dragon Clan and Spirit Snake Clan pursuers by disguising himself among them and slipping into the water.
• At the golden gate, Chen Fan forced Ink Dragon to demonstrate Demonic Waves Overwhelm the Heavens, then copied its aura with the Eight-Nine Arcane Art.
• Chen Fan’s convincing Ink Dragon form frightened the pursuing clansmen, allowing him to enter the palace grounds and reach the ruins of the stalactite cave.
• The Black Tortoise descendant treated Chen Fan like its master and followed him toward the Water Crystal Palace, but it stopped with a confused look as Ink Dragon urgently told Chen Fan to halt.

Chen Fan retrieved the Cosmos Jade Bottle from beneath the Water Crystal Palace and used it to capture the Black Tortoise descendant before it could crush him. Ink Dragon explained that the bottle could absorb anything marked by a cursed rune, raising questions about the rune on his hidden physical body.

• Ink Dragon warned Chen Fan that the Black Tortoise descendant was hungry for a Black Tortoise Stone and might rampage without one.
• Ink Dragon told Chen Fan to find his physical body’s Cosmos Jade Bottle and use it to contain the Black Tortoise descendant.
• Chen Fan entered the Water Crystal Palace, opened a hidden passage beneath the dragon throne, and retrieved the sealed jade bottle.
• The Black Tortoise descendant broke into the palace and pursued Chen Fan as he escaped with the bottle.
• Chen Fan opened the bottle with Ink Dragon Clan incantations and sealed the Black Tortoise descendant inside.
• Ink Dragon explained that the Cosmos Jade Bottle absorbed anything marked by a cursed rune, and Chen Fan asked whether Ink Dragon’s physical body bore the rune.

Chen Fan secured Ink Dragon’s method for avoiding the cursed runes and reunited with Old Yellow Tooth, then they fled the South Sea Region aboard a warship. The two agreed to cultivate in seclusion for three months before turning Ink Dragon’s body into a ghost ship.

• Ink Dragon taught Chen Fan the Clear Heart Art after Chen Fan promised to give it the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk once he no longer needed it.
• Chen Fan returned to Old Yellow Tooth and revealed that Ink Dragon had survived as a soul inside the Soul-Gathering Tower.
• Chen Fan and Old Yellow Tooth departed aboard a warship as a crowd of cultivators chased Old Yellow Tooth for swindling them.
• Old Yellow Tooth and Ink Dragon traded insults during the voyage until Chen Fan stopped their quarrel and taught Old Yellow Tooth the Clear Heart Art.
• Chen Fan entered secluded cultivation to use Chaos Qi and Samadhi True Fire to erase the cursed runes, while Old Yellow Tooth cultivated the Clear Heart Art; they planned to build a ghost ship after three months.

Chen Fan purged the curse runes from his body and studied the runes needed to turn Ink Dragon’s body into a ghost ship. After betting that Chen Fan could master them, Ink Dragon and Old Yellow Tooth watched as Chen Fan summoned Ink Dragon’s physical body onto the deck.

• Chen Fan used the Clear Heart Art with Samadhi True Fire and chaotic energy to purge the curse runes, recovering his cultivation and eventually removing them all.
• Chen Fan studied the runes in Ink Dragon’s Jade Slip while Old Yellow Tooth emerged from seclusion having mastered the Clear Heart Art.
• Ink Dragon doubted Chen Fan had understood the runes in a single day, and Old Yellow Tooth wagered an ancient painting that Chen Fan could do it.
• Old Yellow Tooth revealed a painting that manifested a seven-colored female dragon, and Ink Dragon reluctantly accepted it as the wager.
• Chen Fan summoned Ink Dragon’s physical body from a jade bottle and sealed away the Black Tortoise descendant before looking toward Ink Dragon’s enormous body.

Chen Fan carved runes into the Ink Dragon’s body and transformed it into a powerful Ghost Ship. After the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk pointed toward the Eastern Wasteland, he decided to spend three months learning curse runes so he could control the Black Tortoise descendant before facing the powerful overlords at sea.

• Chen Fan carved runes across the Ink Dragon’s head, body, and tail, transforming its body into a black Ghost Ship.
• Chen Fan and Old Yellow Tooth boarded the Ghost Ship, and Chen Fan activated it to travel at extraordinary speed.
• After a month at sea, Chen Fan used the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk to locate the route southeast toward the Eastern Wasteland.
• Chen Fan warned that overlords from the East Sea Region and South Sea Region could threaten their journey, and he admitted he could not yet safely control the Black Tortoise descendant.
• Chen Fan agreed to stay for three months to study curse runes, and the Ink Dragon gave him an ancient beast-hide pouch bearing runes from its grandfather.