Chapter Summaries

Xu Feng explained that he had arranged a brief fight with Ye Lin and Blood Baleful to build goodwill with the Human Race prodigies before they entered the harsher second region. He left the two young men with orders to focus on growing stronger while he handled strategy and expansion.

• Ye Lin left, and Li Xiaoyao praised his opponent before they agreed to fight again.
• The two young men questioned why Xu Feng had concealed his cultivation and let the opponent go after three days of waiting.
• Xu Feng explained that he wanted to leave Blood Baleful with a good impression so they could cooperate if they met again in the second region.
• Xu Feng told the two young men to focus on raising their cultivation and said he would handle the thinking while they fought to expand their lands.

Ye Lin reached the Land of Life but learned that Xinyou needed its own spot to enter, so he told the Golden Immortal pet to obtain one itself. After the group received Identity Tokens, they learned they had three thousand years to survive the third trial and qualify for the second region.

• The guardian stopped Ye Lin from entering because Xinyou also needed a spot.
• Ye Lin told Xinyou to handle the matter itself, and Xinyou grew larger and ran toward the Path of Life.
• Bao Xiaotou questioned Xinyou's Golden Immortal cultivation, while Li Xiaoyao worried that it might be in danger; Ye Lin reassured them.
• The guardian gave Ye Lin and the others black Identity Tokens and warned that only token holders could enter the second region's teleportation formation in three thousand years.
• Ye Lin realized that the three thousand years formed the third trial, and failure at any stage would cost them their qualification for the second region.

Ye Lin assessed the dangers of the three-thousand-year trial and chose to cultivate so he could protect his Identity Token and improve his strength. Bao Xiaotou, Li Xiaoyao, and other arriving geniuses followed his example, turning the Land of Life into a place of group cultivation while fighting continued on the Path of Life.

• Ye Lin considered how secret realms and rival geniuses would threaten the Identity Tokens during the three-thousand-year trial.
• Ye Lin sat down to comprehend laws, reasoning that killing was forbidden on the Path of Life and strength mattered most.
• Bao Xiaotou saw Ye Lin cultivating and sat down behind him, followed by Li Xiaoyao and the others.
• Luo Yao skipped around nearby as more arriving geniuses copied Ye Lin and began cultivating.

With only days left before the quota filled, Ye Lin worried that Xinyou had died before returning to claim a spot. Xinyou arrived safely, stronger than before, and the guardian told the departing prodigies when the secret realms would descend.

• Ye Lin watched the final days pass and feared Xinyou would miss the nearly full quota.
• Xinyou arrived in a streak of white light, uninjured and nearly at the second level of the Golden Immortal realm.
• Xinyou swallowed the Identity Token and settled onto Ye Lin’s shoulder.
• A horned man asked the guardian whether the prodigies could leave, and the guardian said they could depart.
• The guardian announced that the first secret realm would descend in one thousand years and that secret realms would arrive on a large scale in two thousand years.
• The prodigies bowed to the guardian and left.

Ye Lin and his companions left the Heaven-Hiding Sacred Land and made plans for the thousand years before the secret realm descended. As they began cultivating or pursuing their opportunities, Ye Lin entered seclusion on a star he transformed into a small world.

• Ye Lin and the others left the Heaven-Hiding Sacred Land, while the guardian watched the deadly struggle on the Path of Life.
• Ye Lin said he would enter seclusion for the thousand years before the secret realm descended, and Wang Tian and Bao Xiaotou also chose to cultivate.
• Ye Lin read Li Xiaoyao's panel and learned that wandering through the Star River Cosmos would help Li Xiaoyao find himself and reach the second level of the Golden Immortal Realm.
• Li Xiaoyao departed to seek his opportunity, while Ye Lin turned a barren star into a thriving small world and began preparing for seclusion.
• Ye Lin asked Luo Yao to take Xinyou to play, gave Shangguan Wanyu cultivation resources, and watched Wang Tian refine pills and Bao Xiaotou complete a protective array.

While the group secluded themselves, the third region descended into violence as powerful factions hunted for Identity Tokens. Li Xiaoyao experienced mortal life and made progress in his cultivation as eight hundred years passed.

• Bao Xiaotou finished concealing the formation, checked that Luo Yao was safe, and began his seclusion.
• Prodigies who had failed to obtain slots and powerful elders hunted Identity Token holders, destroying minor factions and driving cultivators into hiding.
• Li Xiaoyao entered a small world and lived as a mortal, experiencing the hardships of life as he searched for his true self.
• Li Xiaoyao gained insights from his mortal experiences and began to complete the understanding he had lacked as a Golden Immortal.
• Eight hundred years passed.

After reaching Golden Immortal Layer Two, Ye Lin prepared a medicinal bath with Azure Dragon Crystals to cultivate the True King Sacred Body. He entered the strange-smelling black liquid and began practicing the technique.

• Ye Lin completed eight hundred years of cultivation and advanced to Golden Immortal Layer Two.
• Ye Lin decided to use the next two hundred years to cultivate the True King Sacred Body with his Azure Dragon Crystals.
• Ye Lin mixed medicinal herbs and immortal liquid in a cauldron, then melted the Azure Dragon Crystals with his Beginningless True Flame.
• Ye Lin found the finished liquid black and foul-smelling but entered the cauldron anyway.
• Ye Lin closed his eyes and began circulating the True King Sacred Body technique.

Ye Lin endured a century of agonizing cultivation to complete the first layer of the True King Sacred Body. He emerged able to kill Golden Immortals with physical strength alone and planned to cultivate the remaining layers.

• Ye Lin circulated the True King Sacred Body and endured intense pain as the medicinal liquid entered his body.
• Over a hundred years, Ye Lin's vital blood surged and his body was remade as he persevered through the pain and cold.
• Ye Lin completed the first layer, discovering that his physical strength alone could kill Golden Immortals.
• Ye Lin stored the emptied cauldron in his Spatial Ring and planned to gather more medicinal ingredients for the next layer.

After his cultivation breakthrough, Ye Lin left seclusion and decided to spend the century before the secret realm arrived taking Luo Yao somewhere lively. He departed with Luo Yao and Xinyou, leaving the hidden planet behind to search for a small world.

• Ye Lin left his cave abode after adjusting his condition and realized Bao Xiaotou had concealed the planet with a great formation.
• Luo Yao ran to Ye Lin and asked him to take her somewhere lively with people and delicious food.
• Ye Lin agreed, sent a dharma decree to those in seclusion, and left the planet with Luo Yao in his arms.
• Xinyou appeared on Ye Lin's shoulder, and Ye Lin found that Bao Xiaotou's formation made the planet impossible to locate among the surrounding worlds.
• Ye Lin strolled through the starry sky to find a small world where Luo Yao could enjoy herself.

Ye Lin suppressed his cultivation to enter a life-bearing world and brought Luo Yao to an isolated city. He left her delighted among the hurried townspeople, whose smiles softened when they saw her.

• Ye Lin searched the Star River Cosmos with Luo Yao until he found a continent that could support life.
• The Heavenly Dao blocked Ye Lin from entering, so he sealed his cultivation down to the Spirit Transformation realm and crossed into the world.
• Ye Lin adapted to his weakened strength, carried Luo Yao over Demon Beasts, and reached a small city standing alone in the wilderness.
• Ye Lin concealed himself and led Luo Yao through the city wall, where she skipped happily along streets crowded with food and pastries.
• The townspeople hurried through the streets with tense expressions, but they smiled at Luo Yao and wondered why she was out in the cold.

Ye Lin followed Luo Yao through the city, where residents worried about an approaching attack by strange beasts. At an academy, Luo Yao asked to study, and the teacher welcomed her into the classroom.

• A pastry seller gave Luo Yao two pastries, and Ye Lin left her a piece of gold in thanks.
• Elderly residents discussed the likely return of the strange beasts and hoped to protect the children.
• Luo Yao stopped at an academy to watch the children study through a broken window.
• The teacher invited Luo Yao to learn, and she entered the classroom after Ye Lin nodded.

Ye Lin spent the day in Star City while Luo Yao attended Qi Xinxian’s lessons, and Qi Xinxian explained that the Great Wild Goose Dynasty faced an imminent Demon Beast siege. Convinced Ye Lin was an immortal from beyond the Anxuan Realm, Qi Xinxian knelt and begged him to save the Human Race.

• Ye Lin gave Luo Yao a gold-filled pouch and let her leave with her new friends after class.
• Qi Xinxian told Ye Lin that Star City was one of the Great Wall’s forty-eight guard cities and that Demon Beasts would attack within days.
• Qi Xinxian explained that the Human Race was being worn down by repeated attacks and that neither civilians nor the dynasty could withstand the growing Demon Beasts.
• Qi Xinxian revealed that Luo Yao had told him strange stories, leading him to suspect Ye Lin was an immortal from beyond the world.
• Qi Xinxian knelt before Ye Lin and pleaded with him to save the Human Race.

Ye Lin initially refused Qi Xinxian’s plea to help save the Great Wild Goose Dynasty, insisting he could not interfere with the world’s fate. After Luo Yao asked him to relent, he gave Qi Xinxian a martial arts method, leaving Qi to hurry back and report the news to the imperial court.

• Qi Xinxian knelt before Ye Lin and begged him to save the Great Wild Goose Dynasty from destruction.
• Ye Lin refused to interfere with the Heavenly Dao’s ordained workings or teach Qi Xinxian immortal arts.
• Luo Yao brought Ye Lin a chicken leg, noticed Qi Xinxian kneeling, and pleaded with Ye Lin to help him up.
• Ye Lin agreed to teach Qi Xinxian martial arts because the world had no spiritual energy for cultivation.
• Ye Lin sent the martial arts method into Qi Xinxian’s mind, and Qi hurried away to inform the imperial court.

Qi Xinxian tried to bring his martial arts cultivation technique to the King, convinced it could save the Human Race, while Ye Lin warned Luo Yao against interfering with the Heavenly Dao. A month later, Qi Xinxian’s corpse returned to the city after the King ordered him beaten to death, and Ye Lin reflected that the Heavenly Dao’s great tide could not be changed.

• Ye Lin warned Luo Yao that interfering with the Heavenly Dao without sufficient strength would bring Heavenly Punishment.
• Qi Xinxian wrote down part of his martial arts cultivation technique and insisted to a soldier that it could save the Human Race.
• After being refused an audience with the King, Qi Xinxian left the city to present his work in person.
• While Qi Xinxian was away, a young woman taught and entertained the academy students, and Luo Yao happily joined them as Ye Lin sat alone in the pavilion.
• The imperial court announced that the King had ordered Qi Xinxian beaten to death for allegedly beguiling the masses, and the city’s people buried him in grief.
• Ye Lin said the great tide of the Heavenly Dao could not be changed.

After Qi Xinxian was killed for trying to change the Heavenly Dao’s plan, Wang Xinyue took up his cause and spread martial arts cultivation techniques across the land. She reached the political center of the Great Wild Goose Dynasty, while Ye Lin watched to see what she would do next.

• Qi Xinxian went to the court to seek an audience with the king and was beaten to death with clubs.
• Wang Xinyue asked Ye Lin whether he had caused Qi Xinxian’s death, and Ye Lin explained that the Heavenly Dao had crushed her senior brother’s effort to change the great tide.
• Wang Xinyue vowed to fulfill Qi Xinxian’s wish, and Ye Lin gave her a martial arts cultivation technique.
• Wang Xinyue found another teacher for the academy and traveled from place to place, spreading the cultivation technique.
• Qi Xinxian and Wang Xinyue’s old teacher came to the academy and began talking with Ye Lin each night.
• Wang Xinyue arrived at the political center of the Great Wild Goose Dynasty and felt out of place among its wealthy residents.

Wang Xinyue reached the royal palace and told the emperor that Demon Beasts threatened the Human Race, offering to present a plan to save the nation. The court accused her of spreading bewitching rumors and called for her execution.

• Wang Xinyue walked through the prosperous capital, feeling out of place and troubled by how its people seemed to ignore the Demon Beasts.
• Wang Xinyue asked to see the emperor, waited outside the palace, and was eventually admitted to the grand hall.
• Wang Xinyue told the emperor she had come from Star City in Solitary City and had traveled thousands of miles to present a plan to save the nation.
• The officials accused Wang Xinyue of conspiring with someone who spread rumors and urged the emperor to have her beheaded.

Wang Xinyue was executed after the Great Wild Goose Dynasty’s king and ministers dismissed her warnings about Demon Beasts, and the martial arts techniques she had spread sparked quiet unrest. As snow fell, Ye Lin asked her and Qi Xinxian’s teacher whether he blamed him for their deaths.

• The ministers accused Wang Xinyue of deception, and the king ordered her beheaded and her head displayed on the city walls.
• People who had practiced Wang Xinyue’s martial arts techniques defended her and vowed to seek answers from the court, feeding growing unrest across the Great Wild Goose Dynasty.
• Ye Lin watched the snowfall as Qi Xinxian and Wang Xinyue’s teacher mourned his two lost disciples and lamented that they would never return.
• Ye Lin asked the old man whether he blamed him for their deaths.

After Qi Xinxian and Wang Xinyue died trying to help the people, Ye Lin comforted Luo Yao and remained in the city as spring returned. When the Demon Beasts began besieging the city, its defenders armed themselves and took their places on the Great Wall while Ye Lin watched to see whether he could alter the Heavenly Dao.

• Luo Yao blamed herself for Qi Xinxian and Wang Xinyue’s deaths, and Ye Lin comforted her, saying they would not blame her.
• Ye Lin reflected that Qi Xinxian and Wang Xinyue had set out prepared to die and had died because they were too weak to succeed.
• The old man found that sitting beside Ye Lin eased his pain and left him without need for food, water, or sleep.
• As the Demon Beasts stirred, Ye Lin stayed in the pavilion to see whether he could change the great tide of the Heavenly Dao without suppressing it.
• A month later, the city’s young men and elders put on armor and went to the Great Wall as the Demon Beasts began their siege.

After the Demon Beasts’ siege ended, Ye Lin comforted Luo Yao as she grieved for her friends’ father and explained that mortals’ lives followed Heaven’s laws. He then discussed immortals and the Heavenly Dao with the little old man, whose life appeared to be nearing its end.

• The Demon Beasts attacked Solitary City for three days, leaving only ten thousand old, weak, sick, or disabled residents alive before reinforcements arrived.
• The soldiers defended the city for another month until the Demon Beasts retreated, with fewer than one in ten of the hundred thousand reinforcements surviving.
• Luo Yao asked Ye Lin to bring Da Ya and Er Ya’s dead father back to life, and Ye Lin told her that death was part of mortal destiny and she must not interfere.
• The little old man asked Ye Lin whether immortals were heartless, and Ye Lin explained that immortals studied the Heavenly Dao while mortals studied the human heart.
• Ye Lin noticed that the little old man was growing frailer and had barely any teeth left.

Over the years after the last Demon Beast siege, Ye Lin watched the world shift through a life-and-death chess game as Wang Yun carried on Teacher Qi and Teacher Wang’s unfinished work. Wang Yun’s execution destabilized the imperial court as powerful martial artists and Demon Kings rose, leaving Ye Lin to observe the next moves in the struggle.

• Ye Lin told the little old man that the heavens, not the chessboard, had changed as black and white stones faced a life-and-death struggle.
• Ten years after the last Demon Beast siege, the grown academy students teased Luo Yao, who had not grown at all.
• Wang Yun asked Ye Lin to let him fulfill Teacher Qi and Teacher Wang’s unfinished wish, then left Solitary City to spread martial arts techniques.
• Soldiers reported the appearance of a massive Demon Beast as Demon Beasts began growing stronger and causing trouble again.
• The imperial court executed Wang Yun by a thousand cuts, prompting martial artists to seize territories while Demon Kings began commanding the Demon Beasts.
• Others told Ye Lin they would carry on their seniors’ unfinished work and fight for the cause.