Chapter Summaries

After Wang Sheng revealed that Ye Lin had won the secret realm from the three great clans, the prodigies entered the Azure Dragon Secret Realm. Ye Lin organized the group’s search and stayed with Gu Qingzhi to help her survive her death calamity.

• Wang Sheng told the prodigies that Ye Lin had reclaimed the secret realm from the three great clans, and they entered after the clans’ experts could no longer attack.
• Wang Sheng wondered why the current prodigies seemed less daring than those recorded in ancient texts, then entered the secret realm.
• Ye Lin identified the place as the Azure Dragon Secret Realm and told Gu Qingzhi to stay with him because she faced a death calamity.
• Li Xiaoyao headed off to explore, and Dugu Feng followed him for protection while the Poison Venerable went alone.
• Wang Tian stayed with Bao Xiaotou, while Shangguan Wanyu carried Luo Yao as they wandered through the secret realm.

Ye Lin and Gu Qingzhi descended into the sea and discovered the ruins of what appeared to be an ancient Dragon Palace. Ye Lin found a Night-Shining Pearl and then came upon an enormous dragon skeleton, whose lingering might astonished him.

• Ye Lin sensed something beneath the sea and dove down, with Gu Qingzhi following him.
• Ye Lin reached the seabed and recognized the scattered ruins as a former Dragon Palace.
• Ye Lin collected a Night-Shining Pearl and stored it in his Spatial Ring.
• Ye Lin entered an open clearing and found a ten-thousand-zhang dragon skeleton that still radiated great might.

Ye Lin reached a sealed well beneath the dragon bones and broke its chains, releasing a surge of resentful qi. Xinyou absorbed the qi, while Ye Lin waited to see what lay at the bottom of the well.

• Ye Lin followed the dragon bones deeper and found a sealed well where he believed the missing dragon head had been hidden.
• Ye Lin struck the chains with the Emperor Sword, then infused it with Chaos power until the chains shattered.
• Ye Lin moved the millstone covering the well, releasing an immense surge of resentful qi.
• Xinyou devoured and refined the resentful qi as Ye Lin waited for it to finish absorbing the energy.

After Xinyou refined the resentment and fell asleep, Ye Lin explored the well and found an imprisoned dragon head whose dragon soul offered him three wishes in exchange for freedom. Ye Lin recognized the soul as a chance to address his Primordial Spirit weakness and approached it with his own intentions.

• Xinyou absorbed the resentment, began refining it, and fell into a deep sleep as Ye Lin handed him to Gu Qingzhi to watch over.
• Ye Lin entered the well and descended through its icy, rune-covered chains to the bottom.
• Ye Lin found a living azure dragon head pinned down by chains and heard its dragon soul announce it had waited over a hundred million years.
• The dragon soul asked Ye Lin to sever the chains and promised to grant him three wishes.
• Ye Lin realized the dragon soul could help with his Primordial Spirit weakness and moved close as it asked whether he would make the deal.

Ye Lin absorbed the weakened dragon soul and brought it into his sea of consciousness, where it planned to possess him. Ye Lin bound it with chains of the Chaos Sword Dao, leaving the dragon soul shocked that a Golden Immortal could wield Chaos power.

• Ye Lin seized and absorbed the dragon soul, then summoned three Dao artifacts to protect him as he sat on the dragon's head.
• The dragon soul realized it was in Ye Lin's sea of consciousness and decided it could possess him.
• Ye Lin appeared before the dragon soul and invited it to try possessing him.
• Ye Lin bound the dragon soul with laws of the Chaos Sword Dao, and it was unable to break free.
• The dragon soul recognized Ye Lin's power as Chaos power and demanded to know how a Golden Immortal could wield it.

Ye Lin used his three Dao artifacts to suppress and attack the weakened dragon soul, which begged for its life and offered secret knowledge. Ye Lin ignored it and left the dragon soul near collapse, preparing to finish it with one final sword.

• Ye Lin suppressed the dragon soul with the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar and attacked it with the Human Emperor Sword and the Emperor Sword.
• The dragon soul was stunned by Ye Lin's three Dao artifacts and the Human Emperor Sword before Ye Lin's strikes caused it intense soul pain.
• As Ye Lin absorbed the dragon soul's leaking Primordial Spirit power, it begged him to stop and offered secret manuals, techniques, and treasure locations.
• Ye Lin severed the dragon soul in two, leaving it too weak to speak, and announced that his final sword would finish it.

Ye Lin absorbed the soul energy left by the Dragon soul to strengthen his Primordial Spirit while Gu Qingzhi guarded the well outside. A group of cultivators discovered the well and began to suspect the Dragon head was at its bottom, leaving Gu Qingzhi facing a growing threat.

• Ye Lin returned his Primordial Spirit to his body and began absorbing the Dragon soul’s energy with the Sacred King Visualization Diagram as the three Dao artifacts guarded him.
• Gu Qingzhi held Xinyou outside the well until an approaching group noticed her, the well, and the broken chains.
• Gu Qingzhi warned the group to leave and placed Xinyou somewhere safe before standing in front of it.
• Some cultivators recognized Gu Qingzhi as someone who had been with Ye Lin, and one urged the others to retreat while another mocked him for being afraid.
• The group suspected the Dragon head lay at the bottom of the well, and one cultivator used a Jade Talisman to call for reinforcements.

Gu Qingzhi defended the well where Ye Lin had gone against six cultivators seeking to enter. She held them off with her zither, but the standoff continued as they waited for reinforcements.

• The six cultivators threatened Gu Qingzhi and demanded access to the well, but she refused to let them pass.
• The six attacked, and Gu Qingzhi used her zither and law domain to hold them in place.
• Gu Qingzhi played a piece taught to her by Black Emperor, forcing the six to retreat from its dangerous music.
• The six waited for reinforcements while Gu Qingzhi continued playing, knowing that stopping would leave her vulnerable.

Gu Qingzhi exhausted herself holding off the prodigies while Ye Lin remained below the well, and Xinyou awakened with overwhelming power to protect her. Ye Lin emerged from his cultivation with his Primordial Spirit power at the ninth level of Golden Immortal.

• Gu Qingzhi used her zither to repel the twenty prodigies, then rushed toward the sleeping Xinyou after exhausting her immortal power.
• White light enveloped Gu Qingzhi, and Xinyou transformed into a huge snow-white beast and charged the prodigies.
• The prodigies attacked Xinyou while Gu Qingzhi sat down to absorb immortal stones and recover.
• Ye Lin opened his eyes at the bottom of the well and realized the Dragon soul had raised his Primordial Spirit power to the ninth level of Golden Immortal.

Ye Lin advanced to the ninth layer of the Golden Immortal Realm and repeatedly struck the dragon head beneath the well, while Xinyou defeated the attackers aboveground. Xinyou drove the survivors away and fell asleep beside Gu Qingzhi, still in the middle of his breakthrough.

• Ye Lin adapted to his increased power and repeatedly attacked the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal dragon's uninjured head.
• Xinyou swallowed three attackers and faced the dozen or so remaining figures after fighting twenty and killing three.
• The Eight Ancient Clans' prodigies lost confidence and fled when Xinyou charged at them again.
• Gu Qingzhi was astonished by Xinyou's strength as he turned back into a little beast and fell asleep beside her.

Ye Lin absorbed the Dragon Ball of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal True Dragon and broke through to the eighth layer of the Golden Immortal realm. More than half the Dragon Ball’s energy remained after his breakthrough.

• Ye Lin decided to refine the Dragon Ball and advance his cultivation.
• Ye Lin absorbed the Dragon Ball’s violent energy, which his Chaos Sword Body crushed and refined.
• Ye Lin spent three days refining the Dragon Ball as his aura and Destruction Sword Dao Law grew stronger.
• Ye Lin opened his eyes and achieved the eighth layer of the Golden Immortal realm.
• The three Dao artifacts returned to their usual forms and positions, while Ye Lin saw that more than half the Dragon Ball’s energy remained.

Ye Lin checked his panel after reaching the Eighth Layer of Golden Immortal and resumed settling his cultivation. Gu Qingzhi explored the ruins, found a gemstone with a trace of laws, and confronted an unseen presence in a hall.

• Ye Lin checked his panel, put away the Dragon Balls, and closed his eyes to stabilize his cultivation.
• After recovering, Gu Qingzhi noticed Xinyou was gone and left Ye Lin at the well to explore the ruins.
• Gu Qingzhi searched the ruins and entered a well-preserved hall containing a transparent chair and a blue gemstone.
• Gu Qingzhi pried the gemstone loose, sensed a fluctuation of laws within it, and put it in her Spatial Ring.
• As Gu Qingzhi prepared to leave, she took out her zither and called for an unseen presence to come out.

Gu Qingzhi was surrounded by the heavenly prodigies who had waited three days to ambush her, but playing Black Emperor’s zither piece pushed her into a state of enlightenment. As she played the complete piece, her music kept the attackers at bay and sent them flying from the hall.

• More than a dozen cultivators confronted Gu Qingzhi and said they had waited three days to ambush her while Xinyou was absent.
• Gu Qingzhi criticized their tactics, sat down with her zither, and began playing Black Emperor’s melody as the cultivators attacked together.
• Gu Qingzhi entered a state of deep concentration and began comprehending the parts of the piece she had not previously understood.
• The melody prevented the attackers from approaching within thirty feet, shattered a heavenly prodigy’s Heaven and Earth Great Hand Seal, and blasted the cultivators from the hall.
• Gu Qingzhi continued playing and completed the piece Black Emperor had passed on to her.

Gu Qingzhi played the zither in a strange state, suppressing the geniuses around her, while Ye Lin left the well and discovered Xinyou had advanced to Golden Immortal Level 7. Ye Lin realized that Xinyou had removed Gu Qingzhi’s death tribulation and that he had inadvertently taken the Dragon Soul opportunity meant for her.

• Gu Qingzhi continued playing the zither, leaving more than a dozen geniuses writhing in pain as the music shook their Primordial Spirits.
• Ye Lin emerged from the well after stabilizing his cultivation and found Xinyou, whose cultivation had risen from Golden Immortal Level 5 to Golden Immortal Level 7.
• Xinyou returned to Ye Lin’s shoulder, and Ye Lin asked where Gu Qingzhi was.
• Ye Lin followed the distant rumbling and found Gu Qingzhi playing the zither underwater while the remaining geniuses suffered within thirty zhang of her.
• Ye Lin recalled that Gu Qingzhi had been destined to die after obtaining the Dragon Soul and being besieged by twenty geniuses, and realized Xinyou had killed three of them and he had taken her opportunity.

Gu Qingzhi unexpectedly broke through to Golden Immortal Level 8 while playing her zither, and Ye Lin reflected on how his powerful Chaos Sword Body made his own cultivation breakthroughs harder. Gu Qingzhi was pleased with her progress and joined Ye Lin, while her fate showed no recent opportunity and a future death among starry sky bandits.

• A tremendous blast erupted in the seawater around Gu Qingzhi, scattering the figures lying nearby as she stopped playing and released a terrifying aura.
• Gu Qingzhi opened her eyes and was revealed to have reached Golden Immortal Level 8, with no recent opportunity and a destiny to die fighting starry sky bandits.
• Ye Lin reflected that Gu Qingzhi had caught up to his cultivation level, though he believed their strength remained far apart and that his Chaos Sword Body made breakthroughs more difficult.
• Gu Qingzhi wondered how the people she had left behind were doing, then put away her zither and walked toward Ye Lin.

Ye Lin and Gu Qingzhi left the sea floor after congratulating each other on their progress. Elsewhere, Li Xiaoyao discovered murals depicting a technique and began comprehending them, while Dugu Feng failed to understand any of the murals.

• Ye Lin congratulated Gu Qingzhi, and the two left the sea floor for an unknown land.
• Dugu Feng asked Li Xiaoyao whether the caves were dangerous, and Li Xiaoyao told him he would die first if danger appeared.
• Li Xiaoyao and Dugu Feng found a mural that recorded a technique and stared at it until they could look away.
• Li Xiaoyao sat down to study the mural, and Dugu Feng copied him beside it.
• Dugu Feng gave up after half an hour, wandered through the cave, and found he could gain no insight from any of its murals.

Dugu Feng, frustrated by his declining talent, discovered a hidden passage and crawled through it in search of a chance to grow stronger. He found an empty cave with a silent old man, but no treasure.

• Dugu Feng lamented his lost opportunity and wished the mysterious Black Emperor would appear to help him.
• Dugu Feng noticed a tiny hole beneath the wall, crawled inside, and watched it seal behind him.
• Li Xiaoyao opened his eyes, noticed Dugu Feng was gone, and resumed meditating.
• Dugu Feng emerged into a vast space, found a cross-legged old man, and searched the cave for anything valuable.
• Dugu Feng decided to check whether the old man had a Spatial Ring and walked toward him.

Dugu Feng encountered an apparently dead old man who revealed that he was a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal and offered him the inheritance of the Void Sword Dao. Suspicious that the old man intended to possess him, Dugu Feng was pulled close and overwhelmed with immortal power and information, then fainted.

• The old man opened his eyes and offered Dugu Feng his Void Sword Dao inheritance.
• Dugu Feng questioned the old man's cultivation, and the old man identified himself as a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal.
• Dugu Feng asked whether the old man planned to possess his body, but the old man dismissed his suspicion.
• The old man dragged Dugu Feng over, seized his head, and poured immortal power and information into him.
• Dugu Feng thought his life was over and fainted.

Dugu Feng woke from unconsciousness to discover that the old man had passed him his entire inheritance, raising his cultivation to the seventh level of Golden Immortal. After paying his respects to his benefactor, Dugu Feng broke through the cave wall to leave.

• Dugu Feng woke in the empty cave and realized his cultivation had reached the seventh level of Golden Immortal.
• Dugu Feng learned from the old man’s message that he had inherited the Void Sword Dao, its techniques, and the method to cultivate the Void Sword Body.
• Dugu Feng realized the old man had intended to pass the inheritance to him because he cultivated the Void Sword Dao, while Li Xiaoyao already had an inheritance.
• Dugu Feng respectfully kowtowed three times to honor the old man and resolved to discover his benefactor’s identity.
• Dugu Feng could not find the cave entrance, so he struck the wall and brought it crashing down.

Dugu Feng emerged from a month spent comprehending the murals, having reached the seventh level of Golden Immortal and gained the Void Sword Art along with far greater knowledge. He and Li Xiaoyao left the cave to explore the lifeless secret realm.

• Dugu Feng stepped out from the collapsed wall and rebuked Li Xiaoyao for his tone.
• Li Xiaoyao sensed that Dugu Feng had reached the seventh level of Golden Immortal and realized the opportunity had belonged to him.
• Dugu Feng confirmed that one month had passed and recognized the mural as the Void Sword Art.
• Li Xiaoyao and Dugu Feng left the cave and continued through the mountain range, where they still found no living creatures.