Chapter Summaries

Li Hai explored a Wuxian Federation ruin and learned that the underworld contained six distinct Interfaces, including a star-filled Heavenly Path world. He realized this information contradicted what he knew about the realms sharing the same spacetime and Ruin Abyss, and the chapter ended with the mystery unresolved.

• Li Hai identified the ruin as a former Wuxian Federation outpost and found a broken stele covered in ghostly and Wuxian writing.
• Li Hai read the stele and learned that the world had six Interfaces, each associated with a different path and elemental environment.
• Li Hai learned that the Heavenly Path consisted of a dark void scattered with spherical worlds and recognized it as outer space.
• Li Hai connected the stele's account to his prior discovery that Realms No. 1 and No. 4 shared a spacetime, despite being separate worlds.
• Li Hai struggled to reconcile the conflicting evidence about the Interfaces and the Ruin Abyss but could not solve the mystery.

Li Hai used his Underworld Son form to perceive the underworld’s hidden ghost world and discovered that it connected to the heavens of other worlds. He left wondering whether the Six Paths world was the netherworld shared by countless universes.

• Li Hai searched the ruins for an intact World-Crossing Gate to the Heavenly Dao Realm but found none, so he left to seek another route.
• Li Hai recalled that living beings needed ghost vision to perceive the underworld and began transforming into the Underworld Son.
• As the transformation progressed, Li Hai saw the underworld’s ghost cities, floating islands, tombs, Yellow Springs, and countless souls falling through blood rain.
• Li Hai sensed souls and heavenly auras from other worlds, then watched ghosts fly toward the heavens and disappear.
• Li Hai realized the underworld received souls from beyond his world and wondered if the Six Paths world was the netherworld of countless universes.

Li Hai explored the underworld and discovered that its ghost societies were mostly orderly, so he abandoned his plan to slaughter them and focused on finding the Path to Tongtian. After exposing a disguised Ghost Path Empress, he introduced himself, and she recognized him.

• Li Hai searched a vast region of the underworld and found only four Underworld Sons of Heaven among its sparse native ghost clans.
• Li Hai realized most ghosts lived ordinary, orderly lives and gave up his idea of killing them for fragments.
• A wavy-haired woman in a red alley invited Li Hai inside, and he recognized her as an Underworld Son of Heaven despite her disguise.
• The woman revealed herself as the Ghost Path Empress and froze the ghosts across the surrounding cities and islands with her aura.
• The Empress asked Li Hai who he was, and she recognized him when he gave his name.

Li Hai confronted Zi, the Yin Son of Heaven, and learned about the underworld’s tribute system and ghost clans’ dangerous addiction to eating humans. He asked Zi where the Path to Tongtian was and how to reach it.

• Li Hai transformed into a colossal serpent, causing Zi to bow and beg forgiveness after she had ordered him to leave.
• Zi explained that a god in Yihai Sector 13 had repeatedly cried Li Hai’s name while receiving tributes, and that ghost kingdoms offered criminals to gods to protect their citizens.
• Zi told Li Hai that she and other underworld rulers avoided the mortal world because humans were poisonous and addictive to ghosts.
• Zi described Demon’s descendants, including an exiled bloodline whose ancestor had become addicted to eating humans.
• Li Hai asked Zi where the Path to Tongtian lay and how he could reach it.

Li Hai questioned Fa Yiqie about the Road to Heaven and learned about the underworld's vast regions and the Ghost Post Clouds that connected them. As Fa began to explain how to reach the Myriad Realms Ancient Land, a powerful aura suddenly swept over them.

• Fa Yiqie recited an obscure prophecy about the Road to Heaven, and Li Hai revealed that he was a living person from the world of the living.
• Li Hai claimed to be a True Immortal who had become an Immortal Lord, and Fa Yiqie accepted his explanation for his power and abyssal form.
• Fa Yiqie explained that ancient land of Shandu stretched roughly one hundred million trillion light-years across and that Ghost Post Clouds enabled instant travel between distant regions.
• Fa Yiqie told Li Hai that ancient lands were separated by the Abyss, where gods were born and a great secret of the Heavenly Dao lay.
• Li Hai asked how to reach the Myriad Realms Ancient Land, but an immense underworld aura suddenly swept across the area.

Li Hai discovered that an old Yin Son of Heaven had transformed into a Mara, an immortal monster born through Dao transformation. He killed it with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and learned that Maras could eventually become Level 13 Progenitor Baleful Intent or mutate into mothers that birthed abyssal creatures.

• A Yin Son of Heaven transformed into a Mara, unleashing an aura that shook ghost kingdoms across the underworld until Li Hai stopped it.
• Zi explained that Maras arose when Yin Sons of Heaven underwent Dao transformation and could resurrect endlessly through their Baleful Intent.
• Li Hai teleported the newly born Mara to himself and erased it with a Death-Perceiving Blade Light.
• Li Hai examined the replicated Dao Slave system and learned that awakened Maras could become Progenitor Baleful Intent, while those lost in baleful intent could mutate into mothers that spawned abyssal creatures.

Li Hai learned that reaching the Road to Tongtian required finding thirteen mothers in the Nether Abyss, then traveled to Shandu’s edge to see the boundary between the underworld and the living world. The sight triggered a vision of the vast land and sea, leaving him with a glimpse of Shandu at the edge of an immense hemispherical ocean.

• Li Hai’s precognition revealed that he needed thirteen mothers’ roots and tendrils to open the Road to Tongtian, and Zi explained how ghost-station clouds connected the ancient lands.
• Li Hai questioned Zi about the Nether Abyss and learned that Ten Thousand Bones was a battlefield against the Eastern Victory Divine Continent, whose people fought with flying swords.
• Li Hai left Zi unharmed and used a ghost-station cloud to travel to Linhai District 9, an endpoint of the Shandu Ancient Land near the living world’s sea.
• Li Hai saw an endless wall of water at the edge of Shandu, and his foresight revealed a vast black land with a hemispherical sea and Shandu at its edge.

Li Hai explored the seemingly boundless sea of the living realm and its bottomless abyss, then returned to Yihai Sector 13 and decided to wait for its governing Abyss to descend so he could use it to find a Mother. While waiting, he projected himself into the Great Yi Dynasty, where his new projection appeared in the rain in Luoyang Town.

• Li Hai found the sea of the living realm impossibly vast and flat, then descended deep into the abyss to investigate its depth.
• Li Hai discovered that the abyss severely interfered with Causality techniques, abandoned his search, and returned to Linhai District 9.
• Li Hai learned that the Abyss governing the territory would not descend for about a hundred years and decided to wait for it to help him find a Mother.
• Li Hai went to the Wuxian Federation outpost base and projected himself again using fifteen Stronger Fragments and the Phenomenon Fiction skill.
• Li Hai's projection appeared in Luoyang Town, where Zhang Sanxian was being threatened over an unpaid protection fee by two burly men.

Li Hai’s projection took over the blind musician Zhang Sanxian just as he was about to kill himself, then assessed his inherited skills and refined his hearing-based sensory technique. He tested the improved Soundwave Echo Method, which sent soundwaves through the rain and brought echoes back to him.

• Zhang Sanxian endured abuse from two gang members, then drew a hidden sword and prepared to end his life.
• Time stopped as a phantom approached, and Li Hai’s projection took over Zhang Sanxian’s body, restoring it to health.
• Li Hai received Zhang Sanxian’s memories and learned about his blindness, past, and ties to the Iron Tiger Gang.
• Li Hai checked his system interface and found that his skills and traits had followed him into the new body.
• Li Hai used his martial talent to refine Sound Sense Art into the Level 1 Soundwave Echo Method.
• Li Hai plucked the sanxian string, sending soundwaves through the rain and receiving their echoes.

After gaining precise awareness of his surroundings, Zhang Sanxian entered Ji'an Tavern to eat before settling accounts with those who had beaten him. He killed Old Five at the table, leaving the tavern full of witnesses.

• Zhang Sanxian used his heightened perception to map the tavern and declared that he could now kill someone.
• The patrons of Ji'an Tavern complained about the Divine Strategy Army, while Old Five and Old Six ate and drank nearby.
• Zhang Sanxian entered the tavern in the rain, and the patrons mocked him before returning to their conversations.
• Hungry, Zhang Sanxian took food from Old Five and Old Six's table and began eating.
• Old Five shouted at Zhang Sanxian for taking food without paying, and Zhang Sanxian cut off his head with a flash of sword light.

Zhang Sanxian killed Iron Tiger Gang’s Old Five and exposed the poisoned wine before cutting down tavern keeper Master Xu. After leaving Ji'an Tavern, he sensed two Level 1 martial artists preparing to duel on a rooftop and stopped to observe them.

• Zhang Sanxian killed Old Five with a sudden sword strike, silencing the tavern and terrifying Old Black and the other patrons.
• Master Xu praised Zhang Sanxian’s swordsmanship and urged him to drink, but Zhang Sanxian splashed the poisoned wine onto Old Six and exposed the poison.
• Master Xu attacked with a metal abacus, and Zhang Sanxian drew his hidden sword and cut him down.
• Zhang Sanxian took Shopkeeper Xu’s money pouch, left Ji'an Tavern, and vanished into the rain as the patrons hurried away.
• On an arched bridge, Zhang Sanxian sensed two Level 1 martial artists on a nearby rooftop and stopped to watch their impending duel.

Qin Wufeng confronted the Flower-Plucking Gentleman, Xia Zhiwan, but Zhang Sanxian intervened, incapacitated the criminal, and claimed him for himself. When Qin tried to stop Zhang, the blind man shattered his sword with a straw sandal and continued on with Xia Zhiwan.

• Qin Wufeng challenged Xia Zhiwan on a rain-soaked rooftop and attacked him with his saber.
• Xia Zhiwan deflected Qin's strike, fired poison needles from his umbrella, and counterattacked with his flexible sword.
• Zhang Sanxian struck Xia Zhiwan's sword with a bamboo staff, destroying the weapon and his right arm, while Qin's saber cut off Xia's legs.
• Zhang Sanxian knocked Xia unconscious and dragged him away, refusing to let Qin take him back for a later execution.
• Qin swung his sword at Zhang from behind, but Zhang shattered it with a straw sandal and walked on.

After defeating Qin Wufeng without turning around, Zhang Sanxian interrogated Xia Zhiwan about his martial arts and learned the principles of the world’s Intent-Force Martial Way. He renamed it the Posturing Martial Way as he began to understand how intent and aura shaped combat.

• Zhang Sanxian dragged Xia Zhiwan away, leaving Qin Wufeng shocked and unable to stop him.
• Xia Zhiwan woke in an abandoned residence and tried to flatter Zhang Sanxian into sparing his life.
• Zhang Sanxian demanded that Xia Zhiwan recite his martial arts cultivation methods, and Xia Zhiwan complied after asking for a quick death.
• Xia Zhiwan explained the Nurture Intent and Store Force Method and described how intent, intent realms, and aura formed the basis of martial cultivation.
• Zhang Sanxian concluded that posture and performance could strengthen combat power, and renamed the system the Posturing Martial Way.

Zhang Sanxian learned from Xia Zhiwan how Intent Martial Arts cultivated bearing through three realms, then killed him and began creating a cultivation method suited to himself and the world’s laws.

• Xia Zhiwan explained how martial artists gathered power through bearing and described the realms of Tempering Sinews and Forging Bones, Spirit-Entering Seated Illumination, and Forgetting Self and World.
• Xia Zhiwan told Zhang Sanxian that Tie Xiangsong, leader of the Iron Tiger Gang, lived at the northern end of town and urged him to kill Tie Xiangsong as well.
• Zhang Sanxian thrust his narrow sword into Xia Zhiwan’s head and killed him despite Xia Zhiwan’s demand for a quick death.
• A fragment was credited after Xia Zhiwan died, and Zhang Sanxian sat down to derive a cultivation method for himself.

After creating the Dog-Beating Sword Art and advancing his artistic conception beyond its normal limits, Zhang Sanxian tested his power on the Iron Tiger Gang. He learned the gang’s main hall was west of town and headed there.

• Zhang Sanxian completed his cultivation, created the Dog-Beating Sword Art, and condensed the Lone Peak artistic conception.
• He demonstrated how his sword pressure left real frost behind, then concluded he had gained part of the World Oblivion realm’s power.
• Five Iron Tiger Gang brutes confronted Zhang Sanxian outside the abandoned residence, accusing him of killing Master Xu and demanding revenge.
• Zhang Sanxian maimed the five men and asked where their main hall was; the leader told him it lay at the west end of town.
• Zhang Sanxian killed the five Iron Tiger Gang lackeys and raced west over the rooftops.

Zhang Sanxian flew to the Iron Tiger Gang headquarters and killed Tie Xiangsong with a single sword strike. He then confronted a Rain-Listening Tower scout and said he wanted to buy intelligence.

• Zhang Sanxian flew across Luoyang Town and landed outside the Iron Tiger Gang headquarters.
• Zhang Sanxian stunned the gang members with a roar and challenged Tie Xiangsong to come out and meet his death.
• Zhang Sanxian drew and sheathed his sword so quickly that Tie Xiangsong was split in half before he realized he had been struck.
• A Rain-Listening Tower scout recorded Zhang Sanxian's abilities and Tie Xiangsong's death for the intelligence organization.
• Zhang Sanxian approached the scout and said he wanted to buy a piece of intelligence.

Zhang Sanxian learned that Eight Desolations Sect Master Lei Zhenyue was a deeply narcissistic man with bizarre tastes and decided he deserved to die. After ordering a sword cane, Zhang Sanxian killed the Night Wolf Gang members who had attacked Old Liu's smithy.

• Zhang Sanxian paid a scholar from Rain-Listening Tower for information about the nearby Eight Desolations Sect and its master, Lei Zhenyue.
• The scholar revealed Lei Zhenyue's bizarre private behavior and said that Xia Zhiwan had been his lover.
• Zhang Sanxian concluded that Lei Zhenyue had chosen the path to death.
• Zhang Sanxian paid Old Liu to forge him a narrow, four-chi sword cane.
• The Night Wolf Gang leader beat Old Liu and demanded higher protection fees, then found his subordinates dead outside the smithy and Zhang Sanxian standing among them.

After learning that four factions planned to divide Luoyang Town, Zhang Sanxian warned the Night Wolf Gang that he would come to Prison King Mountain that night to kill their leaders. The gang dismissed the warning and prepared for a meeting that would include an envoy from the Sacred Cult.

• Zhang Sanxian cut off a Night Wolf Gang scout’s arm, learned that four factions planned to carve up Luoyang Town, and ordered him to deliver a threat to their leaders.
• Zhang Sanxian told Old Liu to finish forging the sword, then left to attack Prison King Mountain.
• The scout rode back to the Night Wolf Gang and warned Ye Junyi that Zhang Sanxian intended to collect the leaders’ heads.
• Ye Junyi ordered the mortally wounded scout removed and dismissed the warning, citing the factions’ gathering and the Sacred Cult envoy’s expected arrival.

Ye Junyi dismissed reports that Zhang Sanxian had killed Iron Tiger and speculated that a House Pavilion assassin was involved. After collecting a newly forged sword, Zhang Sanxian revealed his extraordinary hearing-based sight and traveled through the rain to Prison King Mountain, where he silently reached the bandit stronghold.

• White Paper Fan told Ye Junyi that Zhang Sanxian had killed Iron Tiger in one move, but Ye Junyi insisted Zhang Sanxian was a helpless string-player and blamed a House Pavilion assassin.
• Ye Junyi described House Pavilion’s ability to change sex and claimed one of its Elders had infiltrated Wind Thunder Hall before fathering children as both a woman and a man.
• White Paper Fan worried that an assassin might infiltrate their gang, but Ye Junyi reassured him that the Scripture Envoy would arrive that night.
• Zhang Sanxian inspected a four-foot sword forged by Old Liu and explained that he could see through sound; as he stepped into the rain, it froze into swirling snow around him.
• Zhang Sanxian used echoes carried by the wind to map Prison King Mountain, then climbed its sheer cliffs and reached the shadow of the bandit stronghold’s walls.

Zhang Sanxian hid as a sinister aura approached the Night Wolf Gang’s camp, where the chiefs gathered to await the Holy Cult’s Scripture Bearer. The Scripture Bearer arrived, praised a subordinate for his quick reaction, then killed him, leaving the hall stunned.

• Zhang Sanxian sensed a sinister presence approaching and concealed himself in the shadows.
• Ye Junyi, Gou San, Hong Dali, and Zhang Shicai argued over the division of Luoyang Town and laughed at Zhang Sanxian’s threat to kill them.
• The masked Scripture Bearer suddenly appeared in the hall, and the assembled chiefs and bandits knelt to welcome him.
• The Scripture Bearer praised the subordinate who had first tried to attack him and invited him to join the Holy Cult.
• The Scripture Bearer killed the subordinate with a bone arrow, and the hall fell silent.