Chapter Summaries

Liu Hei of Black Mountain tried to claim the Heavenly Heart Lotus and drive the gathered factions away, but Xue Yunxuan and Guo Hua revealed they belonged to the Divine Sword Sect of Origin Continent. Xue Yunxuan demanded the lotus, but a black-robed elder refused to yield it.

• Liu Hei arrived with thirteen warboats, introduced himself as a steward of Black Mountain, and ordered the gathered factions to leave the Heavenly Heart Lotus behind.
• The leaders of the eight great factions stayed silent, wary of Black Mountain’s power.
• Xue Yunxuan challenged Liu Hei’s arrogance and introduced himself and Guo Hua as members of the Divine Sword Sect of Origin Continent.
• Xue Yunxuan and Guo Hua showed their Sword Talismans, prompting Liu Hei to apologize and treat them with respect.
• Xue Yunxuan declared that he and Guo Hua wanted the Heavenly Heart Lotus, but the black-robed elder said he would not yield it.

Xue Yunxuan argued with Liu Hei over the Heavenly Heart Lotus, but Liu Hei threatened the Divine Sword Sect disciples and told them to leave. Before they could decide what to do, a powerful holy aura arrived and someone claimed the lotus.

• Xue Yunxuan demanded that Liu Hei yield the Heavenly Heart Lotus, but Liu Hei said he wanted it as a wedding gift for his young master.
• Liu Hei dismissed the Divine Sword Sect’s authority over Black Mountain and said he would not give up the lotus.
• Liu Hei warned Xue Yunxuan that summoning their sect elders would bring Black Mountain’s Quasi-Saints into the dispute and might put the disciples in danger.
• Xue Yunxuan cursed Liu Hei, then an overwhelming holy aura swept over everyone and an unknown person declared the Heavenly Heart Lotus theirs.

The Divine Sword Sect's Third Elder arrived to claim the Heavenly Heart Lotus and clashed with Black Mountain's Deputy Mountain Master over who would take it. Ye Lin arrived as the two prepared to fight, drawing everyone's attention to him.

• Guo Hua revealed that he had alerted the Third Elder, who praised him and promised to make him a personal disciple.
• The Third Elder announced that he would take the Heavenly Heart Lotus and sent Liu Hei flying when Liu Hei asked him to yield it to Black Mountain.
• Liu Hei invoked Black Mountain's four Quasi-Sages, and its Deputy Mountain Master arrived, praised him, and promised him the Inner Sect chief steward position.
• The Third Elder and the Deputy Mountain Master argued over the lotus as the surrounding experts began retreating.
• Ye Lin arrived, spotted the mature Heavenly Heart Lotus, and drew several gazes.

Ye Lin claimed the mature Heavenly Heart Lotus as an item designated by the Holy Palace, using his identity as a Level Three Heaven-Seeking Bureau agent to silence the Divine Sword Sect’s Third Elder. He stored the lotus and prepared to leave, but someone challenged him.

• Ye Lin greeted the gathered powerhouses and walked toward the Heavenly Heart Lotus.
• The Third Elder of the Divine Sword Sect confronted Ye Lin, who showed his Holy Palace Identity Token and asked which faction the Third Elder represented.
• The Third Elder backed down and let Ye Lin take the lotus, while the sinister man in black robes from Black Mountain withdrew with his men and vowed to remember the Divine Sword Sect.
• Ye Lin stored the Heavenly Heart Lotus, regretted that he could not keep it for himself, and prepared to leave.
• An unseen speaker questioned whether Ye Lin intended to take the treasure away so easily.

Ye Wen of the Chaos Ancient Clan confronted Ye Lin and demanded the Heavenly Heart Lotus, insisting that Quasi-Saints stay out of the fight. Ye Wen challenged Ye Lin to a duel, leaving the lotus’s fate to their contest.

• Ye Lin recognized Ye Wen as a member of the Chaos Ancient Clan before Ye Wen could introduce himself.
• Ye Wen announced that he had come for the Heavenly Heart Lotus as Chaos Ancient Clan experts emerged from the Boundary Sea.
• The Divine Sword Sect's Third Elder prepared to confront Ye Wen, but a guardian’s threatening gaze left him afraid to move.
• Ye Wen forbade anyone from calling for help and challenged Ye Lin to fight, promising to spare him if Ye Lin lost.

Ye Lin and Ye Wen began a fierce duel over the Heavenly Heart Lotus while their followers clashed around them. Their powers collided in a devastating blast, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Ye Lin questioned Ye Wen’s confidence, and Ye Wen insisted on fighting him personally.
• Ye Lin drew Azure Frost and warned that their fight would spill blood.
• Ye Wen ordered the Chaos Ancient Clan experts to attack as he charged Ye Lin with his saber.
• Ye Lin used the Grand Void Space-Rending Sword and Karma Severance to counter Ye Wen’s saber and ghostly attacks.
• Ye Lin’s Great Void Ashen Extinction Finger collided with Ye Wen’s Chaos Heaven-Opening, creating a dark halo that expanded into a devastating shockwave.

Ye Lin and Ye Wen fought an evenly matched battle in the Boundary Sea, trading refined swordsmanship, blade techniques, and powerful attacks. Ye Wen blocked Ye Lin’s Ashen Extinction Finger but stepped back, eager to continue fighting.

• Ye Wen unleashed the Heavenly Net Eighteen Blades, while Ye Lin used Great Void Space Rend to break apart his blade aura.
• Ye Wen surrounded Ye Lin with Myriad Shadow Slash, but Ye Lin’s Karma Severance domain weakened the attacks’ connection to Ye Wen’s true body.
• Ye Lin fired Great Void Ashen Extinction Finger at Ye Wen.
• Ye Wen summoned a Chaos Demon God phantom to block the attack and was forced to take a step back.
• Ye Wen praised Ye Lin and called for the battle to continue.

Ye Wen and Ye Lin unleashed their strongest attacks against each other in the Boundary Sea, and Ye Lin’s Heaven-Opening sword strike pierced Ye Wen’s chest. As Ye Wen’s wound continued to widen, he asked Ye Lin’s name.

• Ye Wen gathered the Boundary Sea’s chaotic energy and unleashed his Heaven-Burial saber strike, sealing the space around Ye Lin.
• Ye Lin answered with Heaven-Opening, condensing the power of the sword path into a stream of light.
• Ye Wen brought down his saber as their attacks collided, and the resulting light swallowed the battlefield.
• After the light faded, Ye Wen stood with a widening hole in his chest that the sword-path laws kept from healing.
• Ye Wen ignored his wounds and asked Ye Lin what his name was.

Ye Lin and Ye Wen ended their battle without either gaining an advantage, and Ye Wen departed after healing his injuries with a pill. Ye Lin left as well, while the surviving cultivators reflected on his power and his two new admirers resolved to grow stronger.

• Ye Wen introduced himself as a descendant of the Ye Clan, admitted defeat, and promised to win when he next met Ye Lin.
• Ye Wen swallowed a pill that healed his chest wound and restored his aura, then left with his subordinates.
• Ye Lin put away Azure Frost and departed after the battle, while the eight great factions counted their dead and wounded.
• Qingyunzi's young male disciple said he wanted to become as powerful as Ye Lin, and his female disciple agreed.

Ye Lin returned to the Origin Continent with the Heavenly Heart Lotus and completed his trial at the Holy Palace, receiving three hundred essences. Back on Meteor Island, he tested two essences and found that two hours of cultivation had yielded the equivalent of a hundred years of training.

• Ye Lin traveled back across the Boundary Sea and reached the Origin Continent.
• Ye Lin presented the Heavenly Heart Lotus to the young man at the Holy Palace and completed his trial.
• The young man gave Ye Lin a box containing three hundred essences and explained that he could absorb them.
• Ye Lin returned to Meteor Island and opened the box to examine the essences.
• Ye Lin absorbed two essences and discovered that two hours of cultivation produced results equal to a hundred years of training.

Ye Lin absorbed all three hundred pieces of essence, greatly deepening his understanding of the Great Dao and leaving him eager to obtain more. When bells summoned reinforcements across Meteor Island, he joined the disciples heading to the main hall, where a crowd had gathered.

• Ye Lin refined the three hundred pieces of essence over ten years and gained more than he had from ten thousand years of cultivation.
• Ye Lin realized the essence could deepen his understanding of the ultimate Great Dao and might eventually help him reach the Saint realm.
• Ye Lin found that the Origin Chamber of Commerce did not sell essence and regretted having to wait another thousand years for more.
• Ye Lin wondered whether his new position as a Holy Palace employee came with compensation.
• Bells rang across Meteor Island, and Ye Lin joined the disciples rushing to the main hall as reinforcements arrived.

The Heavenly Blade Sage announced that the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm would open in five hundred years and that Eastern Region experts would compete to hold places on the Top Hundred rankings. Ye Lin learned that qualified Daluo Golden Immortals could bring three Quasi-Saints into the realm, while the Heavenly Blade Sage warned his disciples to watch for foul play.

• Ye Lin joined more than a hundred Quasi-Saints in the great hall as disciples gathered.
• The Heavenly Blade Sage announced the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm would open in five hundred years and said candidates must retain their Eastern Region Top Hundred places to enter.
• The Heavenly Blade Sage warned Ye Lin that experts would challenge him, and Ye Lin calmly accepted the warning.
• The Heavenly Blade Sage said each qualified Daluo Golden Immortal could bring three Quasi-Saints, with none above the third heaven of the Quasi-Saint realm.
• The Heavenly Blade Sage ordered his disciples to watch the competitors and punish anyone who broke the rules.

Ye Lin asked Hao Fei why Quasi-Saints could enter the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm but still had to suppress their cultivation. Hao Fei explained the history behind the rules and asked whether Ye Lin had chosen any Quasi-Saints to accompany him.

• Ye Lin stopped Hao Fei after the meeting and asked why entrants had to suppress their cultivation.
• Hao Fei explained that Quasi-Saints were once the only entrants, but they wasted resources and opportunities because they had little potential left to advance.
• Hao Fei said the rules changed to allow only Daluo Golden Immortals, but nearly all of a hundred entrants died in the dangerous secret realm.
• Hao Fei described the current arrangement: Daluo Golden Immortals could enter with three Quasi-Saints below the Third Heaven as bodyguards.
• Ye Lin understood the reason for the regulations, and Hao Fei asked whether he had chosen any Quasi-Saints.

Ye Lin considered how to choose three Quasi-Saint Dao Protectors for the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm, which would open in five hundred years. Xu Shen visited him and recommended himself as one of the protectors, leaving Ye Lin to consider his offer.

• Hao Fei warned Ye Lin that the Dao Protectors needed to be strong enough to face dangers in the secret realm and told him to choose for himself.
• Ye Lin realized he would have to judge the candidates personally and planned to defend his Eastern Region Top Hundred ranking over the next five hundred years.
• Xu Shen visited Ye Lin at his residence and asked to speak with him.
• Xu Shen recommended himself as a Dao Protector, citing his third-level Quasi-Saint cultivation and confidence in his strength.

Ye Lin weighed Xu Shen’s offer to join his group for the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm and decided to take time to assess the candidates. After Xu Shen left, Fu Chen and another fellow disciple arrived to promote themselves and disparage their rivals.

• Xu Shen gave Ye Lin his communication Jade Talisman and urged him to investigate Xu Shen’s strength before choosing his three companions.
• Ye Lin put away Xu Shen’s talisman and decided five hundred years would give him enough time to choose carefully.
• Fu Chen visited, warned Ye Lin against choosing Xu Shen, and offered his own communication Jade Talisman.
• After Fu Chen left, another disciple arrived and called Fu Chen a crude brute while recommending himself.

After failing to choose among the Quasi-Saints who sought a single slot, Ye Lin traveled to the Heaven-Devouring Toad Clan’s territory to consider Spirit King’s subordinates instead. He arrived at White King Palace and was told Spirit King was inside.

• Dozens of Quasi-Saints visited Ye Lin to compete for one slot, but he agreed to none of them.
• Ye Lin decided he would rather choose one of Spirit King's subordinates and used his Identity Token to travel to the Heaven-Devouring Toad Clan's territory.
• Ye Lin crossed the clan's mountain ranges and made his way to White King Palace while the surrounding cultivators ignored him.
• Two figures greeted Ye Lin at White King Palace and told him Spirit King was inside.
• Ye Lin entered the palace, noting that it seemed less grand than the Heaven-Devouring Toad Clan's inheritance warranted.

Ye Lin visited the Spirit King at the White King Palace to discuss the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm, and the Spirit King agreed to provide one entrant who would protect him. The Spirit King revealed that the realm had existed since his era and was formed from lotus fragments, then began to explain its origins.

• Ye Lin found the Spirit King at the White King Palace and saw that he had entered the Quasi-Saint realm.
• The Spirit King asked Ye Lin for one Cloud Heaven Secret Realm entry slot and promised his chosen entrant would protect Ye Lin.
• Ye Lin agreed and asked the Spirit King for advice about the secret realm.
• The Spirit King said the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm had existed since his era and had formed from fragments of a lotus flower.
• The Spirit King began his explanation by asking Ye Lin what had existed before the Boundary Sea.

The Spirit King explained that a supreme powerhouse created the Boundary Sea from primordial chaos using the Creation Sacred Lotus, and that the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm came from a fragment of that lotus. The chapter ended with Ye Lin asking whether other places in the Boundary Sea might surpass the Origin Continent, where even Saints might not be the strongest.

• Ye Lin admitted that he did not know what existed before the Boundary Sea.
• The Spirit King described how a supreme powerhouse created the Boundary Sea and established its laws with the Creation Sacred Lotus.
• The Spirit King said the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm had formed from a fragment of the Creation Sacred Lotus.
• Ye Lin questioned how the Boundary Sea could be boundless if someone had created it, and the Spirit King said it had boundaries beyond the reach of even Saints.
• Ye Lin asked whether the Boundary Sea held places stronger than the Origin Continent, where Saints might not be the strongest.

Ye Lin discussed the Primordial Continent and the gulf between Quasi-Saints and Saints with the Spirit King, then agreed to give him one of the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm slots. The Spirit King’s request left Ye Lin to preserve the Heavenly Blade Sage’s claim to the other slots.

• Ye Lin wondered whether the Primordial Continent from Ye Xiu’s memories lay within the Boundary Sea, and the Spirit King said he did not know.
• The Spirit King recalled that even at the Origin Continent’s peak, Saints were exceedingly rare and explained how the gap between Quasi-Saints and Saints could seem impossible to cross.
• The Spirit King said Ye Lin should first consider the Heavenly Blade Sage’s registered disciples for the secret-realm slots and asked for one.
• Ye Lin agreed to give the Spirit King one slot, reasoning that the Heavenly Blade Sage had helped him earn the opportunity and likely had plans for Ye Lin’s own slot.

Ye Lin discussed how to allocate the three guardian slots for the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm with the Spirit King, who advised him to let the Heavenly Blade Sage choose the candidates. Ye Lin returned to Meteor Island, planning to meet the Spirit King again when the secret realm opened.

• Ye Lin considered why taking all three guardian slots himself would offend the Heavenly Blade Sage and his other disciples.
• Ye Lin told the Spirit King that he did not know which of the Heavenly Blade Sage's Quasi-Saint disciples to choose.
• The Spirit King advised Ye Lin to consult his master, who likely already had candidates in mind, and explained that the guardian slots benefited others.
• The Spirit King told Ye Lin to find him when the Cloud Heaven Secret Realm opened.
• Ye Lin left White King Palace and used his Identity Token to return to Meteor Island.