Chapter Summaries

Hua Ci and Jujia arrived at Nameless Peak after following the same mysterious guidance that had gathered Lu Ye and the other powerful cultivators. The group suspected they were being assembled for a dangerous task, while Lu Ye and his companions silently concealed that they knew one another.

• Hua Ci arrived on her flower-basket flying artifact, recognized Lu Ye, and settled her nerves when she saw him.
• Hua Ci greeted the cultivators and confirmed she was a Medical Cultivator, prompting them to suspect the coming task was especially dangerous.
• Hua Ci and Lu Ye pretended not to know each other, and Hua Ci joined Lan Ziyi.
• Jujia descended onto the summit with a powerful display of strength, surprising the group with his Tier Seven cultivation.
• Jujia recognized Lu Ye and Hua Ci but realized they were pretending to be strangers, so he announced his arrival without exposing them.

Lu Ye and the other gathered cultivators watched Heavenly Mechanism form a vast Teleportation Array from the mountains and Spirit Peaks. As the array activated, Lu Ye warned them just before they were transported away.

• Nine cultivators, including Hua Ci and Jujia, gathered at the mountain peak, while Ying Wuji recognized Jujia and suspected he and Lu Ye were concealing their connection.
• Lu Ye warned Ying Wuji to take care of himself, then the mountains across the region began to tremble and pillars of light erupted.
• Pure Spiritual Energy flooded the area as streams of light intertwined into an enormous Void Spirit Pattern.
• Lu Ye identified the pattern as the core of a gigantic Teleportation Array created by Heavenly Mechanism.
• The array descended and began transporting the gathered cultivators, and Lu Ye wished them a pleasant journey.

Ying Wuji and eight other cultivators were transported away by a massive array, and Ying Wuji arrived in a strange land where the sun looked dim and his Battlefield Mark did not work. After realizing he might be outside the Nine Provinces, he found himself in a mass grave and was attacked by the corpses rising around him.

• A thousand-li Void Spirit Pattern activated and transported the nine cultivators away, leaving no trace behind.
• Ying Wuji materialized in an unfamiliar place and recovered his scattered Spiritual Power while crows watched him from a tree.
• Ying Wuji saw the strange, dim sun and found that his Battlefield Mark would not respond, leading him to suspect he was outside the Nine Provinces.
• Ying Wuji identified his surroundings as a mass grave filled with thousands of corpses and decided to search for the other cultivators.
• A corpse grabbed Ying Wuji's ankle and released Corpse Qi before he cut off its head.
• The corpses in the mass grave began to rise and approach Ying Wuji, who leaped into the air to escape.

After arriving in the broken Peerless Continent, Lu Ye set out to find his companions and learn how to save the world. He found Ying Wuji fleeing a horde of corpses and charged in to fight them.

• Lu Ye realized he was outside the Nine Provinces and resolved to find cultivators, locate Hua Ci and Jujia, and discover where to place the four Heaven's Mystery Pillars.
• Lu Ye sensed a battle and found Ying Wuji fleeing a massive horde of corpses.
• Ying Wuji called for Lu Ye to save him and explained that the corpses had risen from a mass grave and pursued him.
• Lu Ye charged into the horde, where he discovered its poisonous Corpse Qi let the corpses combine their strength and defenses.
• Lu Ye cut through the Corpse Horde while Ying Wuji watched in hiding, impressed by Lu Ye's overwhelming power.

Lu Ye uncovered and defeated the Corpse Driver controlling an eight-thousand-strong horde of rotting corpses, saving Ying Wuji from the danger. After burning the remains, Lu Ye flew off with Ying Wuji following him through the dying world.

• Lu Ye sensed that someone within the corpse horde was controlling the rotting corpses and searched for the hidden figure while fighting.
• Lu Ye spotted a corpse shielding another and identified the unusual rotting corpse as the Corpse Driver, then chased it down.
• The Corpse Driver covered Lu Ye in Corpse Qi, but Lu Ye severed its limbs and pinned it with his saber.
• The Corpse Driver declared that the Corpse Race were undead and tried to send the horde after Lu Ye, but Lu Ye killed it, causing the corpses to collapse.
• Lu Ye burned the shattered corpses, and Ying Wuji came out of hiding and followed him as they left the area.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji found a ruined city on the shattered Peerless Continent, and Lu Ye sent Ying Wuji to scout it while Yiyi followed underground. As Lu Ye prepared to support them, he considered what the Corpse Race and other invading forces might mean for the Nine Provinces.

• Lu Ye and Ying Wuji searched the continent for survivors and discovered a dilapidated city marked by signs of battle.
• Lu Ye gave Ying Wuji a Sound Transmission Stone so they could communicate over a distance of roughly three thousand li.
• Lu Ye persuaded Ying Wuji to scout the city by promising to rush in if Ying Wuji shouted, "Crimson Blood Flows Through the Ages."
• Ying Wuji used Concealment to approach the city, while Yiyi slipped underground to follow him and Lu Ye stayed back to make more Sound Transmission Stones.
• Lu Ye recalled the Corpse Driver's mention of the Corpse Race and wondered whether the Corpse Race, the Blood Race, and the Insect Race pointed to a greater hidden crisis facing the Nine Provinces.

Lu Ye rescued a wounded man and two women from a powerful Corpse Race creature, killing it with one saber strike. He learned the man had been poisoned by Origin Corpse Poison, and the survivors asked which Secret Realm he came from.

• Lu Ye sensed a battle and found a wounded cultivator and two women fighting a powerful, corpse-like enemy.
• The injured man tried to hold off the Corpse Race while Aunt Shen and the girl attempted to flee, but the creature cornered them.
• Lu Ye rushed in and beheaded the Corpse Race with a single saber strike.
• Lu Ye asked about the man's poison, and the man explained that Origin Corpse Poison had no cure.
• Aunt Shen went to recover their fallen companions, while the man asked Lu Ye which Secret Realm he came from.

Lu Ye learned about the incurable Origin Corpse Poison and the perilous rules of survival in the apocalyptic Peerless Continent. After Uncle Yu and Aunt Shen died, he helped the grieving girl cremate their bodies, while Ying Wuji returned from the ruined city and tried to contact him.

• The injured man explained the difference between ordinary corpse poison and incurable Origin Corpse Poison, then asked Lu Ye to escort the girl back to the Stronghold.
• Lu Ye gave the man a Detoxification Pill, but it failed to stop the Origin Corpse Poison.
• Uncle Yu died after his wife returned, and Aunt Shen killed herself rather than live without him.
• The girl asked Lu Ye to burn the couple's bodies to prevent them from becoming Corpse Race members, and he cremated them.
• Ying Wuji returned from the ruined city, found Lu Ye missing, and used the Sound Transmission Stone to ask where he was.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji met Yuan Xiang and escorted her toward a Stronghold while asking about Peerless Continent. Yuan Xiang explained that the continent was a fragment shattered by an ancient Heavenly Change and that the Human Race had spent centuries struggling against the Corpse Race.

• Ying Wuji reached Lu Ye after receiving his Sound Transmission Stone message and found Yuan Xiang with him.
• Lu Ye introduced himself and Ying Wuji to Yuan Xiang, then the three set off toward a Stronghold.
• Lu Ye and Ying Wuji asked Yuan Xiang about Peerless Continent, and she described how a Heavenly Change shattered it over a thousand years earlier and left no cultivators above the Cloud River Realm.
• Yuan Xiang explained that the Corpse Race first appeared after the Heavenly Change and gradually drove the Human Race into Strongholds.
• Yuan Xiang distinguished the Corpse Race's rotting corpses, which commanded Corpse Hordes, from the stronger Zombie type, and explained that Human teams ventured outside Strongholds to seek supplies and resources.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji learned from Yuan Xiang about the Peerless Continent’s scattered Human strongholds and the three remaining Secret Realms, which offered only limited refuge. The chapter ended with Lu Ye asking whether the Corpse Race’s Golden Corpse King, Corpse Fiend, occupied a Secret Realm at the Heavenly Saint Hall.

• Yuan Xiang told Lu Ye and Ying Wuji that Human strongholds stayed small and scattered to avoid the Corpse Race and conflict among humans.
• Yuan Xiang explained that only the Mount Sumeru Mystic Realm, Purple Star Dao Palace Mystic Realm, and Silver Snake Valley Mystic Realm remained under Human control, and they rarely admitted outsiders.
• Yuan Xiang said the Three Great Mystic Realms periodically sent Reception Envoys to select candidates, while Lu Ye suspected they did so partly to keep desperate humans from exposing their entrances.
• Yuan Xiang identified the Huntian Sacred Hall Mystic Realm as the Corpse Race’s greatest gathering place and said its first member, Corpse Fiend, had been a disciple of the Heavenly Saint Hall.
• Lu Ye asked whether the Heavenly Saint Hall had a Secret Realm.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji followed Yuan Xiang to her hidden stronghold, only to discover she had led them into its defensive Formation. While the stronghold’s guards investigated their identities, Wu Jun decided they should be subdued before Senior Drunken Mountain questioned them.

• Yuan Xiang explained the Corpse Race and the dangers facing Human Race strongholds as she led Lu Ye and Ying Wuji through the mountains.
• Lu Ye sensed a Formation ahead, and Yuan Xiang was pulled away as an Illusion Array and Maze Array trapped him and Ying Wuji.
• Lu Ye used the Insight Spirit Pattern to see Yuan Xiang with four guards outside the Formation, where she explained that her companions had died and the two men had saved her.
• Yuan Xiang told Wu Jun that Lu Yiye and Ying Wuji claimed to have lived in isolation, and she asked him not to treat them harshly because they had saved her.
• Wu Jun agreed that they would wait for Senior Drunken Mountain to question the two men, but decided they should first be subdued.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji escaped Xu Wang’s Grand Array without setting off its Killing Arrays, prompting the Stronghold’s defenders to welcome them as guests. Xu Wang led them into the underground Stronghold and went to find Zui Shan, leaving Yuan Xiang to attend to them.

• Lu Ye and Ying Wuji walked out of the activated Grand Array, astonishing Wu Jun and Xu Wang.
• Xu Wang recognized Lu Ye’s superior Formation Dao skill, apologized for the Stronghold’s suspicion, and invited the pair inside.
• Lu Ye accepted the invitation, while Ying Wuji reflected uneasily on how much he had come to rely on Lu Yiye.
• Xu Wang led the guests through the concealed entrance and down into the underground Stronghold, where Lu Ye observed its sparse, struggling population.
• Xu Wang settled Lu Ye and Ying Wuji in a stone chamber, instructed Yuan Xiang to look after them, and went to find Zui Shan.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji reached Drunken Mountain’s Stronghold, where their generosity toward the children helped ease suspicion. When Lu Ye asked for the locations of the Three Great Mystic Realms, Drunken Mountain explained that they drifted through the Void and could only be found through the art of calculation.

• Yuan Xiang apologized to Lu Ye for deceiving him, and Ying Wuji urged her to show sincerity.
• Ying Wuji gave Spiritual Fruits to a curious boy and then to the children who gathered around him.
• Drunken Mountain arrived with Xu Wang, welcomed Lu Ye and Ying Wuji, and asked what they wanted from the Stronghold.
• Lu Ye asked for the locations of the Three Great Mystic Realms.
• Drunken Mountain explained that the realms wandered through the Void and could not be located without the art of calculation.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji became caught up in an attack on the Stronghold by the notorious Pure Land. As the residents began evacuating through secret passages, Lu Ye offered to clear the way while Zui Shan prepared to hold off the enemy.

• Zui Shan learned that the Stronghold's Grand Array had been activated and suspected an attack was underway.
• The injured Wu Jun reported that the Pure Land had found the Stronghold, after Xiao Wu's capture exposed its location.
• Zui Shan ordered Xu Wang to evacuate the residents through a secret passage while he and several cultivators stayed behind to delay the attackers.
• Lu Ye volunteered to lead the evacuation, and Ying Wuji stayed behind to help cover the retreat.
• A wicked-looking Pure Land cultivator entered the karst cave, and Zui Shan recognized him as a formidable enemy.

Ying Wuji killed the Pure Land cultivators attacking Zui Shan’s Stronghold, while Lu Ye led the survivors through their secret passage and cut down enemies along the way. At the exit, Lu Ye faced more than a dozen Pure Land cultivators who had gathered to stop him.

• A Pure Land leader threatened Zui Shan and his people, but Ying Wuji silently stabbed him and helped defeat the attackers.
• Ying Wuji killed most of the remaining enemies, rediscovered his confidence, and joined Zui Shan’s group as they rushed toward the secret passage.
• Lu Ye killed a Pure Land woman who ambushed the group in the passage, then continued forward while cutting down more pursuers.
• Lu Ye ordered the Stronghold’s people to wait near the exit and walked out alone, where more than a dozen Pure Land cultivators surrounded him.
• Lu Ye stopped Amber from roaring, then faced the Pure Land cultivators who challenged him.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji escorted Zui Shan’s people to a backup Stronghold, where Lu Ye helped strengthen its defenses and shared his Formation Dao knowledge. Xu Wang realized Lu Ye and Ying Wuji were preparing to leave.

• Zui Shan reunited with Xu Wang’s group and learned that Lu Ye had slain more than ten Pure Land cultivators while protecting their retreat.
• Zui Shan asked Lu Ye and Ying Wuji to escort the survivors to a backup Stronghold, and Lu Ye agreed.
• Lu Ye and Ying Wuji traveled with the group for a day until they reached the hidden Stronghold three hundred li away.
• Lu Ye helped Xu Wang establish a stronger Formation at the entrance and gave him a Jade Slip containing his Formation Dao insights.
• Xu Wang asked Lu Ye whether he was leaving after recognizing that the Stronghold could not keep him.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji searched for the Secret Realm entrance using the location Zui Shan remembered, but found nothing until a Spirit Boat appeared. They followed it to a remote wilderness and began sneaking aboard while the Secret Realm cultivators were distracted.

• Zui Shan told Lu Ye and Ying Wuji where the Secret Realm entrance had appeared when he was young, giving them a lead despite warning that its location could have shifted.
• Lu Ye and Ying Wuji searched the three Spirit Peaks but found no trace of the entrance, so Ying Wuji proposed scattering rare resources to attract the Secret Realm's attention.
• A large Spirit Boat passed overhead, and Lu Ye and Ying Wuji concealed themselves before following it across the Peerless Continent.
• The Spirit Boat stopped in a remote wilderness, where Reception Envoys Zhou Yulong and a woman left to investigate a Stronghold fifty li east.
• Lu Ye and Ying Wuji approached the Spirit Boat while its guards stood watch and a Formation Cultivator was still setting up a concealing Formation.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji disguised themselves as candidates aboard the Spirit Ship to investigate the Secret Realm. After witnessing the recruited children fight brutally over raw meat, they began to suspect the Secret Realm was no sanctuary as they waited for the ship to return there.

• Lu Ye and Ying Wuji entered the Spirit Boat's hold, blended in with the candidates from human strongholds, and changed into worn clothes to avoid standing out.
• The Spirit Ship collected more children from nearby strongholds, then its attendants tossed raw beast meat into the hold, prompting a vicious fight over food.
• Lu Ye rescued a little girl from being trampled and gave her dried meat, and Ying Wuji let her sleep beside them.
• After several days of stops to collect candidates, Lu Ye and Ying Wuji sensed the receiving mission was ending and that the ship would soon return to the Secret Realm.

Zhou Yulong returned to the Silver Snake Valley Mystic Realm with Ning Tongtong after completing his reception mission and bringing youths and children from the strongholds. They opened the gateway under heavy precautions, and Zhou Yulong was welcomed by his Third Uncle.

• Zhou Yulong ordered water prepared so the youths and children could wash before entering the Secret Realm, but they drank much of it first because clean water was scarce.
• Lu Ye and Ying Wuji declined to wash, while the little girl they had helped hoped to impress the important people in the Secret Realm.
• The cultivators led the youths and children out of the ship, but the little girl realized Lu Ye and Ying Wuji had disappeared.
• At the appointed time, Zhou Yulong activated the Golden Compass and opened the gateway to the Silver Snake Valley Mystic Realm.
• Zhou Yulong and Ning Tongtong entered the gateway and were welcomed by their families, including Zhou Yulong's Third Uncle.

Lu Ye and Ying Wuji were exposed while entering the Silver Snake Valley Mystic Realm, and Lu Ye escaped while Ying Wuji was captured. Hidden in Five Elements City, Lu Ye realized the sealed Heaven’s Mystery Pillar might be the means to save the Peerless Continent, then prepared to rescue Ying Wuji.

• Ying Wuji’s Concealment failed at the gateway, and the Mystic Realm cultivators captured him after activating their Grand Array.
• Lu Ye escaped the array by using Formation Flags, leaving Ying Wuji behind as cultivators pursued him.
• Zhou Yulong denied knowing the two intruders, while the Five Great Families searched the Mystic Realm and tortured Ying Wuji for information about Lu Ye.
• Lu Ye secretly entered Five Elements City and concluded that the sealed Heaven’s Mystery Pillar held the means to resolve the Peerless Continent’s crisis.
• Lu Ye buried the Heaven’s Mystery Pillar beneath the residence and used a Sound Transmission Stone to contact Ying Wuji, intending to rescue him.