Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan learned from Yang Tianji how Great Dao realms differed from domains and found a natural Spirit Gathering Array in the bamboo grove. He concealed the cultivation ground and began comprehending the Great Dao of Life and Death Reincarnation.

• Yang Tianji explained that Chen Fan alone could see his manifested realm and that profound Great Dao accumulation could create a small world.
• Yang Tianji clarified that the wooden door was a Teleportation Array and directed Chen Fan to a cultivation ground fifty thousand li into the bamboo grove.
• Chen Fan used his Heavenly Eye to discover that the bamboo stalks formed a dormant natural Spirit Gathering Array.
• Chen Fan activated the array, set up defensive and concealment arrays, and hid himself at its center.
• Chen Fan returned his true essence to his dantian and began comprehending the Great Dao of Life and Death Reincarnation.

Chen Fan spent seven years in a bamboo forest refining his understanding of life, death, and reincarnation, and finally glimpsed how to break through his emotional fetters. The Heavenly Dao Sect arrived before he could complete his comprehension, forcing him to face five pursuers led by Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui.

• Chen Fan meditated in the bamboo forest and concluded that the Great Dao could be pursued without pause, focusing on life, death, and reincarnation.
• After six years, Chen Fan recognized that his attachment to Qin Xian'er, Mu Yunshui, Chen Yi, and Chen Jingjing had become a shackle, and resolved to break it without letting go of them.
• In the seventh year, Chen Fan caught a glimpse of how to forge a supreme Great Dao and believed ten more years would let him succeed.
• Yang Tianji warned Chen Fan that the Heavenly Dao Sect had arrived and gave him a Ten-Thousand-Year Strong Wine Pill to preserve his state of comprehension, though it would intoxicate his Divine Soul.
• Yang Tianji said the five pursuers included Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui, whose strength matched Fu Hongchen's, then left as the group entered the bamboo grove.

After taking the Ten-Thousand-Year Fiery Liquor Pill, Chen Fan preserved his chance to break through but became drunk and lost his usual composure. His memories returned him to his emotionless youth, and he faced Feng Wuji, Xu Wuhui, and their companions with chilling calm as they prepared to kill him.

• Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui arrived with three Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators to confront Chen Fan.
• Chen Fan swallowed the Ten-Thousand-Year Fiery Liquor Pill, which preserved his breakthrough opportunity and strengthened his Burning Wood Chapter while leaving his Divine Sense intoxicated.
• Chen Fan recalled his master teaching him to remain emotionless and to choose death over surrender when facing a great calamity.
• The liquor temporarily sealed Chen Fan's emotions and brought him back to his former, detached self, exciting the Wuya Sword and its Sword Spirit.
• Feng Wuji dismissed Chen Fan's changed demeanor and declared that he would kill him to learn how Fu Hongchen had died.

Chen Fan entered a ruthless state under the effects of the wine and faced Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui in battle. He unleashed the Nine Palaces Sword Art, leaving the outcome uncertain as he prepared to use its strongest sword.

• Chen Fan's killing intent surged after Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui threatened to kill him, while Yang Tianji watched from the bamboo grove.
• Xu Wuhui asked Chen Fan his name, but Chen Fan refused to answer and raised the Wuya Sword.
• Feng Wuji attacked with a hurricane shaped like an ancient tiger, and Xu Wuhui followed with his sword art.
• Chen Fan summoned nine figures with the Nine Palaces Sword Art and prepared to counter their attacks.
• Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui realized Chen Fan was forming a Nine Palaces Sword Formation to unleash Nine-Nine Restoration.

Chen Fan combined Nine-Nine Restoration with Nine Swords Into One, using the ninefold sword strike to kill three members of the Heavenly Dao Sect and surprise Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui. As he launched a further attack against the two survivors, Yang Tianji recognized his sword as the Unfeeling Sword and wondered how Chen Fan had entered that state.

• Chen Fan switched between sword techniques and completed the Nine Palaces Sword Formation as nine figures began Nine-Nine Restoration.
• Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui attacked to interrupt Chen Fan, but he stopped the move and drew his nine figures back together into Nine Swords Into One.
• Chen Fan unleashed Nine-Nine Restoration with nine layers of power, killing the three Heavenly Dao Sect members while Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui retreated.
• Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui realized Chen Fan's distant figure was an afterimage, but Chen Fan appeared with the Wuya Sword and enveloped them in Sword Intent.
• Feng Wuji summoned a dragon-shaped tornado to evade Chen Fan's attack, while Xu Wuhui struggled to find Chen Fan's true body.
• Yang Tianji recognized Chen Fan's sword as the Unfeeling Sword and wondered how Chen Fan could be unfeeling after previously showing emotion.

Chen Fan used his desperate swordsmanship to overwhelm Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui, then faced their counterattack by reincarnating himself into the future. His transformed aura sent both opponents fleeing, while Yang Tianji watched from hiding.

• Chen Fan’s relentless Nine-Nine Restoration forced Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui to defend without landing a blow on him.
• Yang Tianji watched the fight and decided that Chen Fan was the person he had been looking for.
• When Chen Fan’s sword sequence ended, Feng Wuji unleashed the Purple-Gold Fan’s void-charged winds and Xu Wuhui attacked with One Sword, No Regrets.
• Chen Fan poured his true essence and life force into Reincarnation, summoning the power of his future self.
• Chen Fan emerged weathered and charged with profound Dao rhythms, prompting Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui to flee.

Chen Fan used Reincarnation to summon his future power, killing Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui before collapsing from exhaustion. Yang Tianji rescued him and erased the traces of the battle, while the Heavenly Dao Sect launched a brutal search; three years later, Chen Fan remained hidden.

• Chen Fan unleashed his future late Soul Division Stage strength and killed Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui with the Wuya Sword.
• Yang Tianji gave the exhausted Chen Fan a spiritual pill, carried him away, and burned the bamboo forest and the bodies.
• Fu Baihou discovered that Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui's life-bound Jade Tokens had shattered and vowed to find Chen Fan.
• The Heavenly Dao Sect hunted for Chen Fan, and hundreds of villages were destroyed as its forces suppressed resistance.
• Mo Longyou suspected Chen Fan had revealed something that drew the Heavenly Dao's attention, but the search eventually stalled.
• Three years passed without anyone finding Chen Fan; only Yang Tianji knew where he was.

Chen Fan awoke after three years of sleep aboard a boat in the Boundless Bitter Sea, with only a hundred years of lifespan remaining after his heartless-state battle. He reflected on the battle’s gains and risks, then began cultivating to advance his Great Dao.

• Chen Fan woke after three years and learned from Yang Tianji that he had been sleeping aboard a boat in the Boundless Bitter Sea.
• Chen Fan recalled that his heartless state had killed Feng Wuji and Xu Wuhui but consumed thousands of years of lifespan and much of his true essence.
• Chen Fan recognized that the battle had deepened his understanding of Life and Death Reincarnation and the Nine Palaces Sword Art, but resolved not to enter the heartless state again unless absolutely necessary.
• Yang Tianji told Chen Fan to remember their agreement, explained that the shore lay behind him, and departed.
• Chen Fan sat cross-legged in the boat and resumed cultivating to break through his Great Dao realm and strengthen himself.

Chen Fan broke through to a deeper understanding of the Great Dao of Life and Death and Reincarnation, then began exploring the dark half of his inner Taiji Diagram to discover how its Dao resonance worked. He made only slight progress toward the white moon within the darkness, while the dark half of the diagram quietly began to shine.

• Chen Fan pushed open the gate of the Great Dao and entered a deeper level of understanding beyond cultivation realms.
• Chen Fan assessed his strength against Fu Hongchen and Fu Baihou, then decided he needed a stronger killing move before challenging powerful opponents.
• Chen Fan suspected the Dao resonance of Life and Death might let him restore himself or survive death, and resolved to comprehend it.
• Chen Fan sent his Divine Sense into the dark half of the starry Taiji Diagram and moved toward the white moon within it.
• After several dozen days, Chen Fan confirmed that the white moon had drawn slightly closer, though his understanding had barely advanced and the dark half of the Taiji Diagram began to brighten.

Chen Fan abandoned his attempt to deepen his understanding of the Dao Rhythm of Life and Death and turned to deducing the fourth sword of the Six Swords of Nirvana. His Divine Sense struck an invisible barrier within the Nirvana Sword Intent, and he realized that something he carried might be able to break through it.

• After a year of meditation, Chen Fan saw that the Taiji Diagram in his dantian had grown stronger, but decided he could not spend more of his remaining lifespan pursuing the Dao Rhythm of Life and Death.
• Chen Fan focused on the Nirvana Sword Intent and tried to deduce the fourth sword using his experience and mastery of the Nine Palaces Sword Art.
• Chen Fan plunged his Divine Sense into the Nirvana Sword Intent and pressed through its deathly aura and mountains of bones.
• Chen Fan's Divine Sense met an invisible wall that he could not cross, leaving him uncertain how to advance before Fu Baihou found him.
• Chen Fan realized that something more powerful than nirvana, already on his person, could break through the obstacle.

Chen Fan used the Dao resonance of Life and Death Reincarnation to break through the barrier in his Nirvana Sword Intent and discovered the fourth sword, the Nether Bone Cold Flame. After mastering its initial Dao resonance, he left the little wooden boat, ready to seek out Fu Baihou.

• Chen Fan guided the Dao resonance of Life and Death Reincarnation into his Nirvana Sword Intent and broke through its invisible barrier.
• Chen Fan's Divine Sense encountered a Bone Tower covered in Nether Bone Cold Flame and realized the cold flame was a sword intent that could injure the Divine Soul.
• Chen Fan advanced through the Bone Tower over two years and mastered the initial Dao resonance of Nether Bone Cold Flame, but could not reach its fifth floor.
• Chen Fan withdrew his Divine Sense after a cultivation session that lasted more than three years, bringing his time aboard the little wooden boat to ten years.
• Chen Fan stood up, decided to leave the bitter sea, and prepared to seek out Fu Baihou for a fight.

Chen Fan arrived at Boundless Village, a fishing village of ordinary humans in the relic, and learned that its people worshipped a Buddha who had once saved them. The burly fisherman warned him about the forbidden Five Finger Mountain to the east, though no one in the village had ever seen it.

• Chen Fan entered the mist-shrouded village and discovered that its residents were genuine mortals, not beings created by Supreme Restrictions.
• A child named Xiao Feng brought Chen Fan to his father after Chen Fan stopped him from running into him.
• Xiao Feng’s father invited Chen Fan into his home and explained that the villagers had revered Buddha for generations because one had saved them.
• Xiao Feng’s father said the villagers had never cultivated and that their ancestors warned them not to go to a mountain in the east.
• Chen Fan learned that the forbidden mountain was called Five Finger Mountain.

Chen Fan learned that the fishing village had been moved from another world, strengthening his suspicion that the barren land was part of the Immortal Realm. He traveled east toward Five Finger Mountain, but concealed himself after detecting two hurried cultivators.

• Chen Fan asked the burly man to search the village records for when the Buddha had saved the village.
• The burly man's wife recalled her grandfather saying the village had once belonged to a larger world and that cultivators appeared only after it was brought here.
• Chen Fan suspected the Heavenly Dao had moved part of the Immortal Realm and decided to investigate Five Finger Mountain.
• Chen Fan left the village and traveled east across the barren land for several days.
• Chen Fan detected two middle-stage Divine Soul cultivators flying east over a hill and concealed himself before approaching them on the Wuya Sword.

Chen Fan overheard two Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators discussing the key beneath Five Finger Mountain and Fu Baihou’s plan to invade Chen Fan’s world. After capturing and questioning them, Chen Fan disguised himself as one of them and forced the other to lead him toward the mountain.

• Chen Fan secretly followed two Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators and heard that their sect planned to open Five Finger Mountain, where the key to escaping this world was hidden.
• Chen Fan captured the cultivators and learned that the Heavenly Dao Sect’s Sect Master had ordered the gathering under the Heavenly Dao’s command.
• Chen Fan demanded that one cultivator lead him to Five Finger Mountain and threatened to kill him if he exposed Chen Fan’s identity.
• Chen Fan used the Eight-Nine Arcane Art to copy the appearance and aura of the cultivator he had struck, and the other cultivator mistook him for the Six-Eared Macaque.
• The surviving cultivator led Chen Fan onward while Chen Fan noticed but did not reveal the man’s hostile glance at his companion.

Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators gathered at Five Finger Mountain to enter its dangerous depths, with Throne Lord Fu Baihou and others awaiting the remaining forces. Chen Fan arrived disguised among them and learned that the Six-Eared Macaque and Gong Jiu had previously entered the mountain, while his traveling companion planned to leave him once they went inside.

• Over a thousand Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators assembled before Five Finger Mountain, and Throne Lords including Fu Baihou arrived to await the rest.
• Fu Baihou argued with a smiling Throne Lord and a beautiful woman about the Sect Master's plan to open Five Finger Mountain and the risks of entering it.
• Chen Fan used the Eight-Nine Arcane Art to blend into the gathering while listening to the cultivators discuss the mountain's dangers and their hopes of leaving the realm.
• A woman said the Six-Eared Macaque and Gong Jiu had entered Five Finger Mountain before but returned without reaching its end, and Chen Fan wondered whether he might encounter Gong Jiu.
• Chen Fan's companion quietly said he would leave on his own after they entered, and Chen Fan agreed, prompting the cultivator to thank him.

Chen Fan followed Heavenly Dao Sect into Five Finger Mountain, intending to stop Fu Baihou from obtaining the key that could let the sect enter the Great Immortal Cultivation World. After the ten Throne Lords broke the mountain’s outer barrier, the cultivators entered despite Chen Fan’s growing sense of danger, and an icy wind he recognized swept toward them.

• Chen Fan resolved to deal with a hostile cultivator inside Five Finger Mountain and later find a chance to strike at Fu Baihou.
• Fu Baihou ordered Heavenly Dao Sect’s nearly ten thousand cultivators to enter the mountain and seize a black jade box.
• The ten Throne Lords joined forces to shatter Five Finger Mountain’s Supreme Restriction, revealing an eerily still and lifeless landscape.
• Chen Fan sensed a powerful danger in the mountain but entered with the crowd, reasoning that he had to prevent Heavenly Dao Sect from reaching the Great Immortal Cultivation World.
• An icy wind blew over the entering cultivators, and Chen Fan found it familiar.

Chen Fan entered Five Finger Mountain with the Heavenly Dao Sect and suspected the mountain held genuine Nether Bone Cold Flame that could greatly strengthen him. As a scheming cultivator moved away from him, Chen Fan secretly sent cold-flame Dao rhythm into the man’s Divine Soul, and a sudden shout ahead suggested the attack had taken effect.

• Chen Fan sensed a Divine Soul-assailing chill from Five Finger Mountain and suspected genuine Nether Bone Cold Flame lay within it.
• The Six-Eared Macaque, Gong Jiu, and other legendary experts arrived, startling the cultivators gathered outside the mountain.
• Fu Baihou led the Heavenly Dao Sect’s Thrones and more than ten thousand cultivators into Five Finger Mountain while the experts stayed behind.
• Chen Fan recognized Gong Jiu as his master’s Supreme Restriction avatar and considered how the cold flame could improve his chances against powerful opponents.
• A cultivator tried to leave Chen Fan’s side, so Chen Fan secretly sent cold-flame Dao rhythm into the man’s Divine Soul as they entered the valley.
• The cultivator shouted “Throne” from ahead, and Chen Fan smiled, believing his attack had worked.

Chen Fan secretly killed a Heavenly Dao Sect cultivator to sow panic, but Fu Baihou kept the crowd moving by claiming an infiltrator was responsible. The sect reached an abyss beneath Five Finger Mountain, where Fu Baihou began selecting cultivators to descend with him.

• Chen Fan’s Nether Bone Cold Flame killed a Heavenly Dao Sect cultivator who had shouted to the Throne Lords, spreading panic through the crowd.
• Fu Baihou said an infiltrator had secretly killed the cultivator and claimed the Sect Master was watching, calming the group and leading them onward.
• Chen Fan suspected Fu Baihou knew his identity but was concealing it, and resolved to wait for his own chance to confront him.
• The Heavenly Dao Sect party emerged from the mist and found a vast abyss whose cold air made their divine souls feel chilled.
• Chen Fan sensed that the cold flame Dao essence within him was drawn toward the abyss, while Six-Eared Macaque, Gong Jiu, and others entered the valley at a distance.
• Fu Baihou turned to several Heavenly Dao Sect members and told them to descend into the dangerous abyss with him.

Fu Baihou forced Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators to test the abyss before leading the rest down a hidden wind passage to a cave entrance. Chen Fan saw the frozen bodies of those sent ahead, entered the tunnel, and heard a cultivator notice that Lu San had disappeared.

• Fu Baihou ordered several cultivators to leap into the abyss, then sent another group down after the Throne Lords judged the first test insufficient.
• When the second group vanished, Fu Baihou led the nine other Throne Lords down a white-mist wind passage and threatened to execute anyone who fell behind.
• Chen Fan followed the Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators into the abyss and noticed the Six-Eared Macaque, Gong Jiu, and others arriving at the cliff.
• The wind passage guided Chen Fan to a cave entrance, where he saw cultivators, including those sent down first, frozen into the abyss's rock wall.
• Chen Fan entered the dark tunnel after the Throne Lords, and a cultivator behind him wondered where Lu San had gone.

Chen Fan realized Fu Baihou had abandoned the Heavenly Dao Sect cultivators as sacrificial offerings and rushed out of the cave before its entrance was sealed. He joined the powerful figures by a newly revealed Bronze Gate, where Gong Jiu confronted him and Chen Fan gave his name.

• The cultivators discovered that Li Yu, Lin Hong'er, the ten Throne Lords, and most of the people ahead had vanished from the tunnel.
• Chen Fan suspected Fu Baihou had left the remaining cultivators behind as sacrifices, but waited for Six-Eared Macaque and the others to arrive.
• When the powerful figures stopped at the cave entrance, Chen Fan hurried out and narrowly avoided being trapped as a boulder sealed the entrance behind him.
• A rock wall opened to reveal a Bronze Gate whose ice-covered keyhole began to thaw, and Chen Fan retreated with the powerful figures as the wind passage shifted.
• Gong Jiu recognized the Dao aura in Chen Fan's Nine Palaces Footwork, and Six-Eared Macaque also studied him; when Gong Jiu asked who he was, Chen Fan calmly answered, "Chen Fan."