Chapter Summaries

Qing Luo explained that Lesser Holy Lands were projections of the true Holy Lands and could contain law fragments or incomplete inheritances. Ye Lin decided to investigate the locations on her map and agreed to take Qing Luo and her people along, but warned that he would not risk his life to save them.

• Qing Luo told Ye Lin that Lesser Holy Lands were regions where the laws projected from the true Holy Lands gathered densely.
• Ye Lin wondered whether cultivation requirements restricted entry to true Holy Lands and decided he needed to visit a Lesser Holy Land.
• Qing Luo showed Ye Lin an ancient map marking a mysterious cave abode, Sinking Star Lake, and Sword Cry Valley in the ancient passageways.
• Qing Luo explained that her ancestors had discovered the three locations while excavating the passageways.
• Ye Lin kept the map and agreed to take Qing Luo and her tribe with him, warning them that they would have to fend for themselves if danger arose.

Ye Lin's group agreed to escort Qing Luo and the Green Vine Tribe's survivors toward an ancient path through the Earth Abyss. After a peaceful start, the journey grew strange a hundred li in.

• Qing Luo accepted that Ye Lin's group could abandon the survivors if danger became too great, and Ye Lin agreed to help them.
• The Green Vine Tribe gathered supplies and used glowing mushrooms to decompose their dead before setting out with just over four hundred survivors.
• Sword Demon warned that the valley's sword puppets might be powerful Quasi-Saints, while Iron Hammer welcomed the challenge and Ye Lin decided to continue.
• Qing Luo led the survivors toward the ancient path, three hundred li away, while Ye Lin's group watched over them.
• The group passed weak Earth Abyss creatures, but the surroundings began to grow strange after they traveled a hundred li.

Ye Lin and the others explored an ancient passage while Qing Luo explained the Shattered Earth Abyss’s past and the Shadow Dragon Bats. They discovered the enormous skeleton of a Golden-Winged Thunder Roc, and Ye Lin found evidence that at least two races had fought it.

• Qing Luo explained that a strange stone shattered the ancient continent and that the Shadow Dragon Bats had once been suppressed in the Abyss.
• Qing Luo recalled her plan to find and kill Ancient Ao after the Green Vine Tribe found a new home.
• The Green Vine tribespeople found something ahead, and Qing Luo led Ye Lin and the others to investigate.
• They discovered the dark-gold skeleton of an adult Golden-Winged Thunder Roc, surrounded by broken weapons and armor.
• Ye Lin inspected the skeleton and identified claw, bite, and sword marks, indicating that at least two races had fought the Roc.

Ye Lin and the others crossed a dangerous ancient passage and reached a fork leading to Sword Cry Valley, where the map indicated a minor sacred land. Ye Lin and his companions entered the misty valley while Qing Luo and her tribespeople waited behind.

• Ye Lin led the group past the Golden-Feather Thunder Roc's skeleton and onward through the ancient passage, where they overcame bats, water monsters, and rock-mimicking creatures.
• After three days, the group reached a fork in the road, and Ye Lin's map showed that Sword Cry Valley lay along the northern path into the mist.
• Qing Luo warned Ye Lin that earlier explorers from her tribe had entered the valley and never returned, but Ye Lin decided to investigate after sensing Sword Intent within.
• Sword Demon, Blade Fanatic, and Iron Hammer agreed to enter with Ye Lin, while Qing Luo and her tribespeople stayed behind to wait.

Ye Lin and his companions crossed a canyon filled with ancient sword marks and a lethal storm of Sword Qi. Sword Demon protected them with his Sword Domain, and they reached the quiet entrance to a mountain valley.

• Ye Lin touched a sword mark and saw an azure-robed swordsman cleave a gigantic beast in two.
• A storm of Sword Qi swept through the canyon, making the sword marks glow and the cliffs tremble.
• Sword Demon planted his Black Sword in the ground and used his Sword Domain to suppress the Sword Qi around the group.
• Sword Demon led Ye Lin and the others through the canyon, and they reached the entrance to a tranquil mountain valley.

Ye Lin and the others entered the Sword Graveyard, a Lesser Sacred Land filled with overwhelming Sword Qi and countless swords. When Ye Lin stepped onto the path toward nine stone platforms, sword puppets awakened and surrounded him.

• Ye Lin and his three companions entered the Sword Graveyard after reading the inscription at its entrance.
• Ye Lin observed the swords, nine stone platforms, and humanoid statues lining the path through the valley.
• Two statues awakened as sword puppets and attacked Ye Lin from both sides.
• Ye Lin blocked their strikes with Azure Frost and recognized that the puppets had peak Daluo Golden Immortal strength.
• The remaining statues awakened, leaving all eighteen sword puppets surrounding Ye Lin.

Ye Lin confronted eighteen sword puppets whose linked formation could absorb and distribute his attacks, but one puppet demonstrated a profound sword technique instead of striking him. The demonstration continued as a second puppet began showing a forceful sword style.

• Ye Lin stopped Iron Hammer from approaching the sword puppets, and Sword Demon also held Iron Hammer back.
• Ye Lin studied the puppets’ formation and suspected their strength depended on whoever entered it.
• Ye Lin attacked the eighteen puppets with Azure Frost, but their linked sword-shield formation dispersed his Sword Qi among them.
• One sword puppet left the formation to demonstrate a mysterious sword technique, so Ye Lin stopped attacking and watched closely.
• After the first puppet returned, a second puppet began demonstrating a powerful, sweeping sword technique.

Ye Lin and his companions entered a chamber where eighteen sword puppets demonstrated different sword arts, and Ye Lin realized the puppets were offering an inheritance while preventing anyone from retreating. He began mastering and combining their techniques, while Iron Hammer and Blade Fanatic stopped trying to learn.

• Ye Lin observed the eighteen sword puppets and realized their demonstrations revealed different aspects of the Sword Dao.
• Ye Lin discovered that the puppets would not let anyone leave, forcing intruders to learn, fight, or die.
• Ye Lin imitated the puppets, naming the first two styles Cloud Dragon Sword Art and Tyrant Sword, and quickly grasped much of their essence.
• Ye Lin immersed himself in the eighteen sword styles and began fusing and refining them into new swordsmanship.
• Iron Hammer gave up because he preferred fighting with his hammer, and Blade Fanatic stopped watching as Ye Lin combined the styles.

Ye Lin comprehended the shared origin of the eighteen sword techniques and cleared the first trial. Sword Demon then entered the path, awakening the eighteen sword puppets at the third heaven of the Quasi-Saint realm, and began fighting them.

• Sword Demon agreed with Blade Fanatic that he should enter the trial with Ye Lin while Blade Fanatic and Iron Hammer stayed behind.
• Ye Lin realized the eighteen sword techniques branched from a single sword art and swept his sword with their combined essence.
• The sword puppets halted and returned to their places as stone statues, clearing the path for Ye Lin.
• Ye Lin invited Sword Demon onto the path, and the eighteen puppets awakened with violent auras and surrounded him.
• Sword Demon drew his Black Sword and unfolded profound sword techniques that left the puppets stumped.

Ye Lin and Sword Demon reached a trial where they had to choose one of nine swords and win its challenge to advance. Ye Lin chose the mysterious ninth sword, leaving the outcome unresolved.

• The sword puppets stopped their demonstrations after Sword Demon completed the eighteenth set, then returned to their original positions.
• Ye Lin and Sword Demon approached nine stone platforms, each holding a sword with a different appearance and aura.
• Ye Lin read the stele's rule that they had to choose a sword, lose and retreat, or win and advance.
• Sword Demon told Ye Lin to choose first, saying any sword would do for him.
• Ye Lin walked toward the ninth sword, whose nature he could not discern.

Ye Lin chose the gray longsword, Return to One, and entered its hazy realm to seek its inheritance. He accepted the trial of surviving three sword strikes, and Return to One launched the first as Ye Lin countered with all his sword insights.

• Ye Lin touched the gray longsword's hilt and appeared in a gray space where a middle-aged man materialized.
• The man introduced himself as Sword Nine, named the sword Return to One, and offered its inheritance if Ye Lin survived three strikes.
• Ye Lin gave his name, accepted the trial, and drew Azure Frost.
• Return to One suddenly thrust at Ye Lin, locking onto his body, soul, cultivation, and Destiny.
• Ye Lin answered with a strike combining all his sword insights, and silver light shone from his blade.

Ye Lin faced Sword Nine’s second sword and used a Sword Dao seal refined from eighteen sword techniques to weaken and repel it. Sword Nine then judged him worthy of the third sword, whose power began collapsing the gray space into a point of ultimate blackness.

• Ye Lin retreated several steps to withstand the force of Sword Nine’s first sword, while Sword Nine remained unmoved.
• Sword Nine unleashed a slash that combined the attributes of the eight swords, and Ye Lin formed a Sword Dao seal to absorb part of its sword light.
• Ye Lin dispersed the weakened sword energy, impressing Sword Nine with his sword seal and his Wuxing.
• Sword Nine raised his Long Sword and released a seemingly simple third sword that drew the gray space into a black point, leaving Ye Lin trembling at its power.

Ye Lin passed Sword Nine’s trial despite losing their sword clash and entered the chamber containing Unity’s inheritance. He discovered three floating objects, including a sword-shaped crystal that stirred the Sword Dao laws within him.

• Sword Nine struck at Ye Lin, who countered with his Heaven-Opening sword but failed to stop a gray Sword Qi inches from his brow.
• Sword Nine explained that either outcome would have let Ye Lin pass, praised his imitation of the sword’s divine essence, and pointed him toward Unity’s inheritance deep in the valley.
• The trial space vanished, and a stone platform sank to reveal stairs leading to a small chamber.
• Ye Lin descended the ninety-nine steps and found three objects floating in the chamber.
• Ye Lin approached a silver-white sword-shaped crystal and felt the Sword Dao laws within him respond eagerly.

Ye Lin studied the three inheritances in the Sword Graveyard and weighed whether to advance to the Quasi-Saint realm before exploring the three thousand sacred grounds. Convinced that the sacred grounds imposed no cultivation restrictions, he decided to become a Quasi-Saint there, with a one-time cultivation increase as a backup plan.

• Ye Lin read that the Sword Graveyard held the Sword Heart Clarity Technique, a Sword Dao crystal, and a fragment of the Sword Dao's origin.
• He considered whether advancing to Quasi-Saint might prevent him from entering the three thousand sacred grounds.
• Ye Lin recalled that Quasi-Saints had entered the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm for ages and inferred that the sacred grounds had no cultivation restrictions.
• Ye Lin decided to become a Quasi-Saint, planning to use his one-time cultivation increase to become a Saint if the secret realm restricted him.

Ye Lin used the Sword Intent Crystal to deepen his understanding of the Sword Heart Clarity Technique. As he absorbed its teachings, his sword path underwent a qualitative transformation, leaving him with a new view of his own Dao and the Great Dao.

• Ye Lin considered using his unused breakthrough opportunity to reach the Saint Realm inside the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm, then dismissed the idea.
• Ye Lin refined the Sword Intent Crystal, which accelerated his thoughts and clarified his doubts about the sword path.
• Ye Lin read the Sword Heart Clarity Technique and learned its three stages: Form Sword, Intent Sword, and Heart Sword.
• Ye Lin understood the technique's teaching to let go of deliberate pursuit and to stand shoulder to shoulder with, then transcend, the Great Dao.
• Ye Lin's sword-path cultivation transformed in quality as the technique gave him a new understanding of his Dao.

Ye Lin fused the Sword Dao Origin Fragment with his own Sword Dao to begin breaking through from the peak of the Daluo Golden Immortal realm to Quasi-Saint. As Sword Dao laws remade his body, he let the process unfold without knowing whether he had completed the breakthrough.

• After ten days of meditation, Ye Lin opened his eyes and tested a Sword Qi that cut through the stone floor without a sound.
• Ye Lin took out the Sword Dao Origin Fragment and decided to use it to enter the Quasi-Saint realm.
• Ye Lin circulated the Great Void Return-to-Emptiness Sword Canon and fused the fragment’s Sword Dao laws with his own, causing his cultivation to surge beyond its Daluo Golden Immortal peak.
• Sword Dao laws flooded Ye Lin’s body, widening and transforming his meridians as they coursed through his arms.
• The Sword Qi split and flowed into Ye Lin’s legs, linking him with the Sword Graveyard’s earth veins and drawing Sword Qi from the ground.

Ye Lin refined the Sword Dao laws from the Sword Dao Origin Fragment within his sea of consciousness and formed a Sword Heart seed. He emerged with the core of his Dao foundation, having truly stepped onto the path of pursuing the Great Dao.

• Ye Lin prepared to suppress the torrent of Sword Qi as it surged toward his Primordial Spirit.
• The torrent softened as it entered his sea of consciousness and transformed into gray rain that washed over his Sword Dao insights.
• Ye Lin saw his Sword Dao take the form of a Sword Mountain, which the gray rain reshaped into flowing silver-gray matter.
• The silver-gray matter condensed into a pure point of light, forming a Sword Heart seed.

Ye Lin reforged his body and dantian with Sword Qi, then broke through the peak of Daluo Golden Immortal and approached the Quasi-Saint realm. As he opened the Sword Dao gate, the swords in the Sword Graveyard valley stirred and a Great Dao aura spread across the land.

• Ye Lin's body and meridians were reforged, leaving him able to regenerate from a drop of blood.
• Ye Lin's dantian became a universe of Sword Qi that drew power from the void and converted his Daluo Golden Immortal power into sacred power.
• Ye Lin broke through his cultivation bottleneck and saw the Sword Dao gate leading to the Quasi-Saint realm.
• Ye Lin pushed open the Sword Dao gate, causing the ancient swords in the valley to tremble and send Sword Intent into a vortex above him.
• Ye Lin opened his eyes as the chamber shook, and an aura of the Great Dao spread across the land.

Ye Lin’s impending breakthrough to the Quasi-Saint realm drew a Great Dao tribulation, alarming the onlookers. As the vortex formed the Great Dao-evolved Four Symbols Primordial Tribulation, Blade Fanatic and Sword Demon worried that Ye Lin might not survive it.

• Blade Fanatic recognized that Ye Lin was about to undergo a Quasi-Saint tribulation and wondered why it carried the Great Dao’s aura.
• Iron Hammer said that the Great Dao descended only upon those who endangered all living beings, possessed immense karmic fortune, or were variables of a realm.
• The vortex formed the Four Symbols Primordial Tribulation, with earth, water, fire, and wind lightning gathering around it.
• Sword Demon warned that the Great Dao seemed unwilling to tolerate Ye Lin’s existence and worried whether he could endure the tribulation.

Ye Lin faced the heavenly tribulation with his newly formed Sword Heart and used his Sword Domain to withstand and absorb the first wave of Four Symbols Divine Lightning. The sky then gathered a far more powerful Chaos-gray tribulation, leaving Ye Lin braced for a strike infused with Chaos laws.

• Ye Lin sensed the tribulation vortex and felt his Sword Heart seed eager for further tempering.
• The first wave of Four Symbols Divine Lightning struck Ye Lin from all directions as he remained seated and opened his Sword Domain.
• Ye Lin redirected and divided the four kinds of lightning, annihilating them while absorbing a trace of their law origins into his Sword Domain.
• The vortex contracted and turned Chaos gray, and Ye Lin sensed that the next tribulation carried Chaos laws from the beginning of Heaven-Opening.