Recaps

After ten years of cultivation, Chen Changming enhanced the Three-Nine Divine Aperture Technique and increased his divine senses to eighty-one. He received True Person Skull Ghost’s remaining Ghost Heart Grass and planned to use it to strengthen his divine senses.

• Chen Changming advanced to the second layer of the Golden Core Realm while his spirit pets grew stronger, and he resolved to hunt Demonic Beasts after enhancing his technique.
• Chen Changming completed the technique’s third enhancement and split his twenty-seven divine senses into eighty-one, raising their combined strength to the peak of the tenth layer of the Golden Core Realm.
• Chen Changming waited for True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal to return so he could ask for Ghost Heart Grass.
• True Person Skull Ghost gave Chen Changming all four hundred stalks of Ghost Heart Grass he had left, and Chen Changming took them back into his cave abode.

Chen Changming strengthened his divine sense with Ghost Heart Pills until it rivaled that of a third-layer Nascent Soul cultivator, then sent True Person Skull Ghost to gather more Ghost Heart Grass. He left to hunt powerful Beasts in the Chaos Beast Abyss, hoping to replenish his body and improve his Contract Technique.

• Chen Changming raised his eighty-one strands of divine sense to the Nascent Soul Realm’s first layer, far beyond his second-layer Golden Core cultivation.
• Chen Changming used all his remaining Ghost Heart Grass to make pills, strengthening his divine sense until its total matched that of a third-layer Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Chen Changming ordered True Person Skull Ghost to collect several hundred more stalks of Ghost Heart Grass and sent Black Charm Immortal to investigate the Illusion Mist Reef.
• Chen Changming released the Rotten-Leaf Black Earthworm and headed southeast to hunt sea Beasts and practice the Contract Technique.
• Chen Changming flew toward the Chaos Beast Abyss, hoping to find eighth-level Beasts whose life energy could replenish his body.

Chen Changming descended into the Chaos Sea Abyss, hunted beasts to absorb their life essence, and was ambushed by an unseen creature. He broke free of its icy attack, but could not find it in the dark water.

• Chen Changming entered the Chaos Sea Abyss and killed thousands of Bloodthirsty Sharks, collecting some of their corpses.
• Chen Changming sent the Demon Spirit Vine to capture and kill a Canglan Kun, then absorbed its life essence with the Blood Transformation Technique.
• Chen Changming continued hunting smaller eighth-rank beasts with the Demon Spirit Vine and killed nearly a hundred before deciding to return.
• An unseen beast froze Chen Changming in a block of ice and struck his back, but his muscles caught its weapon and he shattered the ice.
• Chen Changming turned to face his attacker but could not see the beast in the dim abyss.

Chen Changming captured the Cold Nether Spider in the Chaos Beast Abyss but sensed a terrifying presence awakening there and fled. Back at his cave abode, he ended his contract with the Rotten-Leaf Black Earthworm and offered it a chance to follow him willingly.

• The Spirit-Devouring Insect located the concealed Cold Nether Spider, and Chen Changming used the Demon Spirit Vine to ensnare it.
• Chen Changming saw the Cold Nether Spider’s appearance and realized he would have to break an existing contract to take it as a spirit beast.
• Chen Changming left the Chaos Beast Abyss with the Spirit-Devouring Insect, then sensed a powerful being in the depths that frightened him and his insect.
• Bi Cang warned Chen Changming that the Human Realm held traces of powerful Spirit Realm figures and reassured him that she would protect him in the Spirit Realm.
• Chen Changming returned to his cave abode, dismissed his contract with the Rotten-Leaf Black Earthworm, and offered to supply its cultivation resources if it chose to follow him.

Chen Changming accepted Rotten-Leaf Black Earthworm’s submission and repeatedly tried to contract the defiant Cold Nether Spider, hoping to strengthen his Contract Technique enough to overcome it. After a month of attempts, True Person Skull Ghost returned injured with five hundred stalks of Ghost Heart Grass, just as four pursuers approached.

• Rotten-Leaf Black Earthworm willingly submitted to Chen Changming, who placed it in his Beast Taming Bracelet.
• Chen Changming tried to contract Cold Nether Spider, but the spider resisted and broke each rune.
• Chen Changming repeatedly cast the Contract Technique for a month, making more than forty thousand attempts toward its next enhancement.
• True Person Skull Ghost returned to Chen Changming’s cave dwelling badly injured and offered him five hundred stalks of Ghost Heart Grass.
• True Person Skull Ghost spotted four streaks of light approaching and warned Chen Changming that his pursuers had arrived.

Chen Changming finally contracted the Cold Nether Spider while traveling to Illusion Mist Reef, learning that it possessed Frost Freeze and Shadow Stealth. As the group entered the reef’s fog, a chilling force swept through Chaos Beast Abyss, where a woman’s voice called out, “My child...”

• Chen Changming used the Breath Concealment Technique to pose as an eighth-layer Nascent Soul Realm expert and persuaded four Nascent Soul cultivators to leave True Person Skull Ghost alone.
• Black Charm Immortal reported that the Black Mist had appeared at Illusion Mist Reef, so Chen Changming collected the Demon Spirit Vine and Cold Nether Spider and set out with her and True Person Skull Ghost.
• While their Spirit Boat crossed into the fog over Illusion Mist Reef, Chen Changming’s Contract Technique broke through after reaching fifty thousand uses.
• Chen Changming successfully contracted the Cold Nether Spider, which began addressing him as its master.
• Chen Changming learned that the Cold Nether Spider could use Frost Freeze and Shadow Stealth.
• A freezing aura spread through Chaos Beast Abyss, and a faint woman’s voice called, “My child...”

Chen Changming and his companions entered the black mist at Illusion Mist Reef to search for a Bone Beast, but the Cold Nether Spider’s mother pursued them. After discovering that Chen Changming had contracted her daughter, the enraged Spider King confronted him.

• The Spider King sensed that her daughter was alive near Illusion Mist Reef and hurried there despite warnings about the black mist.
• Chen Changming brought the Spirit Boat into the black mist, where the Spider King’s freezing attack forced him, Black Charm Immortal, and True Person Skull Ghost to teleport inside.
• A strange force transported Chen Changming and his companions to a mountain range, where the Spider King’s hidden voice demanded to know what he had done to her child.
• Chen Changming summoned the Cold Nether Spider, and she confirmed that he was her master and treated her well.
• The Spider King revealed herself from a boulder’s shadow and prepared to attack Chen Changming for contracting her daughter.

Chen Changming contracted the Cold Nether Spider and gained the Spider King’s reluctant acceptance and protection. The group reached the ruined Ancient City, where they encountered Spirit Spring Temple monks fighting a powerful ghost.

• The Spider King threatened Chen Changming over his contract with her daughter, but the Cold Nether Spider defended her master and the Spider King eventually agreed to trust him.
• Chen Changming, True Person Skull Ghost, and Black Charm Immortal set out for the Ancient City, but the Spider King returned and asked how to leave the strange world.
• The Spider King chose to accompany them and hid in Chen Changming’s shadow so she could stay near her daughter.
• The group entered the ruined Ancient City and found signs that other powers had already fought there, while lesser ghosts fled from them.
• Chen Changming spotted Spirit Spring Temple monks surrounding a seventh-level Nascent Soul Realm evil ghost and suspected information about the Ancient City had leaked.

Chen Changming searched the Black Mist Ancient City for Bone Beasts and encountered Li Fengling, who had become a demonic cultivator in the Little Night Palace. Li Fengling hinted to Long Qing that an Underground Palace containing the Ancient Ghost Clan’s treasure lay deep in the city, while Chen Changming and his companions moved on without confronting them.

• Chen Changming avoided Spirit Spring Temple and Purple Gold Mansion, then searched the Ancient City with True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal while steering clear of the ghosts and other factions.
• Chen Changming recognized Li Fengling among the demonic cultivators battling ghosts and realized she had switched to demonic cultivation and reached the second level of the Nascent Soul Realm.
• True Person Skull Ghost identified Long Qing as the master of the Little Night Palace, and Chen Changming pointed out Li Fengling, startling True Person Skull Ghost with the news that she had joined a demonic faction.
• Long Qing urged Li Fengling to set aside her old grudges with Skull Island, while Li Fengling indicated her resentment toward Chen Changming and told Long Qing that an Underground Palace might hold the Ancient Ghost Clan’s treasure.
• Chen Changming led True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal away, and neither group attacked the other in front of the watching crowd.

Chen Changming followed the factions deeper into the Ancient City and found them fighting ghosts around a well filled with potent life essence. He sent the Spider King to investigate and learned the well held no treasure, but its life essence was exactly what he needed to suppress the Destruction Sword Intent.

• Chen Changming decided to follow the factions through the Ancient City rather than waste effort searching for Bone Beasts.
• He reached a ruined plaza where more than a hundred ghosts guarded a well whose blood-red light healed their wounds.
• Long Qing and cultivators from several factions agreed to join forces and attack the ghosts.
• As the battle began, Chen Changming asked the Spider King to investigate the well.
• The Spider King reported that the well contained no treasure, only dense life essence, and Chen Changming resolved to obtain it.

Chen Changming learned that the Essence Well came from the Ancient Ghost Clan and could help him break through his body-refinement bottleneck. After the cultivators defeated the ghosts, Yuanjue identified the well and revealed that the Black Mist Ancient City had once belonged to the Ancient Ghost Clan, prompting the factions to suspect an ancient legacy lay nearby.

• The Spider King said the well's life essence could only be used there and guessed that the Ancient Ghost Clan had once lived in the city.
• Bi Cang explained that the Ancient Ghost Clan stored life essence in the well to sustain the ghosts formed from their corpses, and said it could help Chen Changming break through to the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Bi Cang warned Chen Changming that something was amiss in the city and that Li Fengling was there, while Chen Changming waited for the fighting to end.
• The cultivators fought for a day and a night until they wiped out the ghosts, then gathered around the Essence Well to heal and inspect it.
• Yuanjue explained that the well was created by the Ancient Ghost Clan and protected by restrictions that prevented anyone from moving it.
• The Purple Gold Mansion cultivator suspected the Ancient Ghost Clan had left a legacy near the Underground Palace, while Yuanjue privately intended to use the factions to destroy the clan's remaining ruins.

Chen Changming claimed the Essence Well and began absorbing its life essence to strengthen his body, while True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal guarded him. Little Night Palace cultivators attacked with a Black Thunder Bead, but the bead’s detonator froze before it could be triggered.

• After the other cultivators left, Chen Changming arrived at the Essence Well with True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal and drove away the remaining Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.
• Chen Changming entered the well and ordered True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal to guard it.
• Deep inside the well, Chen Changming used the Heavenly Furnace Body-Forging Art to absorb the life essence and move toward a breakthrough.
• Two Little Night Palace demonic cultivators appeared and launched a Black Thunder Bead toward the Essence Well.
• The cultivator preparing to detonate the Black Thunder Bead found his arm suddenly frozen.

The Spider King killed Yi Mu at the Underground Palace entrance, prompting the other Nascent Soul cultivators to flee and leaving the identity of the unseen Ice expert a mystery. Long Qing warned the gathered factions about the assassination, and the search of the Underground Palace continued as a Nascent Soul aura rose from the Essence Well.

• The Spider King killed Yi Mu with a sudden burst of cold, and the seventh-level cultivator who had accompanied him escaped with the Black Thunder Bead left undetonated.
• The other Nascent Soul cultivators at the plaza fled after witnessing the invisible attack.
• The seventh-level cultivator told Long Qing and Li Fengling that Yi Mu had been killed by a powerful Ice Divine Ability expert.
• Long Qing warned the gathered factions that a concealed attacker had assassinated a Little Night Palace cultivator, and the Lingyun Sword Sect youth verified the report with his flying sword.
• Great Monk Yuanjue and the other factions entered the black mist to explore the Underground Palace, while a Nascent Soul aura surged from the Essence Well.

Chen Changming broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm as a Body Cultivator and then advanced to its second layer by absorbing the Essence Well’s life essence. He left True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal to wait at the plaza and prepared to enter the dangerous Underground Palace alone.

• True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal sensed Chen Changming’s breakthrough from the Essence Well and retreated as his aura scattered the Black Mist.
• Chen Changming broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm, and the Destruction Sword Intent inside him melted away; Bi Cang urged him to use the remaining life essence to advance further.
• The Spider King watched Chen Changming cultivate and reflected that its daughter had chosen an extraordinary person, while the factions continued fighting Bone Beasts in the Underground Palace.
• After three days, Chen Changming absorbed nearly all the life essence and reached the second layer of the Nascent Soul Realm, then retrieved the Black Thunder Bead.
• Chen Changming told True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal to stay behind and set out to enter the Underground Palace alone.

Chen Changming entered the Underground Palace and collected Bone Beast fragments while the other forces reached an altar sealing a mysterious black mist. As the cultivators gathered around it, Li Fengling revealed to Long Qing that the being sealed inside was still alive.

• Chen Changming entered the Underground Palace, recognized the scattered remains of Bone Beasts, and collected the fragments he found.
• Chen Changming continued through the palace without revealing the Demon Spirit Vine, gathering fragments from at least several dozen Bone Beasts.
• The cultivators from the various forces entered a great hall and found a black ball of mist sealed above an altar by eight silver chains.
• Chen Changming reached the hall, stayed wary of the altar, and declined an offer to join the Purple Gold Mansion.
• Long Qing led the cultivators onto the altar, and Li Fengling told him that the being sealed within was still alive.

Li Fengling and Long Qing revealed that the Little Night Palace was helping a powerful demonic senior escape, and the senior’s black mist killed many cultivators as the others fled. Chen Changming escaped the Underground Palace, where the group discovered the Essence Well nearly drained and the plaza began to shake.

• Li Fengling fed refined Beast blood into the black mist, and Long Qing admitted that the Little Night Palace was helping a demonic senior escape.
• The sealed senior attacked with spear-like strands of black mist, killing many cultivators while Yuanjue and the survivors fled the Altar.
• The Lingyun Sword Sect’s young man led his surviving disciples away, and Chen Changming also left the Underground Palace to avoid the danger.
• Outside, Yuanjue discovered that the Essence Well had nearly run dry, alarming the gathered Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Chen Changming arrived as the plaza began rippling around the unmoving Essence Well.

The Essence Well exploded, killing many Nascent Soul cultivators, while the sealed demonic senior escaped the Underground Palace as a Black Arm. The arm singled out Li Fengling as a disciple several generations removed, leaving the Little Night Palace cultivators in shock.

• The Essence Well exploded, killing more than ten Nascent Soul cultivators, and Chen Changming survived by retreating into the Underground Palace.
• True Person Skull Ghost escaped the blast with Black Charm Immortal, then decided to hide in the mountains beyond the Ancient City because the little world was sealed.
• The ancient voice in the black orb revealed that it had detonated the Essence Well to open a breach in the seal, then vanished from the Altar.
• Li Fengling and Long Qing returned to the devastated square, where a Black Arm emerged from the crater and struck down a Little Night Palace cultivator who insulted it.
• Li Fengling apologized, and the Black Arm spared the others, saying she was its disciple several generations removed.

Chen Changming learned that the Black Arm was the main body of an ancient Demon Realm powerhouse sealed by the Six Ancients, and that draining the Essence Wells had helped it escape. The Black Arm identified Chen Changming as its prey, leaving him to rely on the Spider King for protection.

• Li Fengling revealed that she was a later-generation successor of the Black Arm and asked it to kill Chen Changming.
• The Black Arm explained that the Essence Wells sustained the seal and that Chen Changming’s inherited body-forging art had enabled the wells to be drained.
• Bi Cang told Chen Changming that the Black Arm was likely the main body of a Demon Realm powerhouse sealed by the Six Ancients over ten thousand years ago.
• The Black Arm said Chen Changming’s life essence would nourish it more than a Spirit Transformation cultivator, delighting Li Fengling.
• Chen Changming asked the Spider King for help, and she vowed to risk her life to protect him because her daughter’s survival depended on his.

The Spider King intervened to protect Chen Changming from the Black Arm, and the two powerful beings began a fierce battle in the Ancient City. After Long Qing and Li Fengling fled the frozen plaza, Li Fengling spotted Chen Changming and ordered the Little Night Palace cultivators to kill him.

• The Black Arm formed a giant hand and reached for the Underground Palace, but the Spider King sealed it in ice to protect Chen Changming.
• The Spider King revealed herself as a Cold Nether Spider and challenged the Black Arm, whose strength had been weakened by breaking the Essence Well's seal.
• The Spider King froze the plaza, trapping the Black Arm and most of the Little Night Palace demonic cultivators while Long Qing, Li Fengling, and Chen Changming escaped.
• The Black Arm and the Spider King traded attacks, with the Spider King freezing the Black Arm again as it began to break free.
• Long Qing and Li Fengling appeared elsewhere in the Ancient City, and Li Fengling spotted Chen Changming and ordered him killed.

Chen Changming’s demon spirit vine wiped out the Little Night Palace cultivators who attacked him, but Li Fengling revealed her hidden power and rose to the eighth layer of the Nascent Soul Realm. She froze Chen Changming and the vine, then unleashed an explosive ice attack, but the vine survived and she prepared to strike again.

• Li Fengling persuaded Long Qing and the Little Night Palace cultivators to attack Chen Changming while the Spider King and Black Arm were fighting.
• Chen Changming summoned his newly advanced demon spirit vine, which blocked the cultivators’ attacks and killed the seventh-layer Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.
• Long Qing escaped after destroying a Spirit Treasure, while Li Fengling revealed a silver-eyed transformation and her cultivation rose from the second to the eighth layer of the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Li Fengling froze Chen Changming and the demon spirit vine, then attacked the vine with Ice Spears, but it suffered no serious damage.
• Li Fengling used Ice Explosion to shatter the ice block and blast the demon spirit vine away, but it survived while protecting Chen Changming.
• Li Fengling cast the Great Ice Art again and froze the space around Chen Changming and the vine.

Chen Changming and Li Fengling fought to the death as her repeated Ice Explosions battered the Demon Spirit Vine and injured him. When Li Fengling tried to hide inside ice and escape, a second Cold Nether Spider suddenly pierced her from behind, leaving her stunned.

• Li Fengling repeatedly used the Great Ice Art to freeze and blast the Demon Spirit Vine, breaking its shield and injuring Chen Changming despite the Spirit-Devouring Insects' protection.
• Chen Changming pursued the weakened Li Fengling while the damaged Demon Spirit Vine followed to help him.
• Nascent Soul cultivators watching outside the Ancient City discussed the battle and feared that Li Fengling and Black Arm would kill them if they won.
• Li Fengling froze herself inside a block of ice to stall Chen Changming, but the Demon Spirit Vine began smashing through it.
• A second Cold Nether Spider stabbed through Li Fengling from behind, and she realized it was following Chen Changming alongside the other spider.

Chen Changming killed Li Fengling with help from his demonic pets, but the Black Arm struck him and escaped the Ancient City through a spatial hole. The other Nascent Soul Cultivators fled through the opening, while Long Qing remained behind and glared at Chen Changming, whose fate was unknown.

• Chen Changming pursued the gravely injured Li Fengling and drove her to flee toward the battle between the Black Arm and the Spider King.
• The Black Arm could not save Li Fengling because the Spider King blocked him, and Chen Changming shattered her defenses as she tried to escape.
• Li Fengling's Nascent Soul escaped her body, but the Cold Nether Spider froze it briefly and the Spirit-Devouring Insect's Spirit Energy Storm tore it apart.
• The Black Arm attacked Chen Changming, who was struck down into a crater, before the Black Arm escaped through a spatial hole pursued by the Spider King.
• Yuanjue identified the hole as a possible exit, and the Nascent Soul Cultivators fled through it while Long Qing stayed behind and glared at Chen Changming.

After escaping the Ancient City, Chen Changming healed his severe injuries with his last Marrow Cleansing Pill and changed his appearance to avoid attention. He set aside revenge against Long Qing for now, returned to the Outer Sea, and resumed cultivating.

• Long Qing tried to ambush the wounded Chen Changming, but the Demon Spirit Vine stopped him and he fled through the black hole.
• Chen Changming freed True Person Skull Ghost and Black Charm Immortal, then escaped the Ancient City with his demonic pets.
• The Spider King met Chen Changming, said she was returning to Chaos Beast Abyss to heal, and asked him to care for her child.
• Chen Changming swallowed his last Marrow Cleansing Pill on an uninhabited island and fully recovered before disguising himself as a young Golden Core cultivator.
• Chen Changming decided to postpone killing Long Qing, left for the Outer Sea, and arrived there a year later.

Over the course of a year, Chen Changming strengthened his divine sense, forged lifebound Flying Swords, and expanded the Three Talents Sword Formation. While traveling toward Taichang Island, he sensed a battle involving puppets in a valley and flew over to investigate.

• Chen Changming refined Ghost Heart Pills until his combined divine sense reached the fourth layer of the Nascent Soul Realm, while each strand reached the fourth layer of the Golden Core Realm.
• Chen Changming upgraded his Geng-Gold Swords and acquired a Golden Core version of the Three Talents Sword Formation, strengthening it until it could control eighty-one swords, though he only had sixty.
• Chen Changming tested combining the sword formation with the Golden Origin Unification Art and found that he could control twenty-seven swords, with Bi Cang advising him on how to improve their compatibility.
• Chen Changming traveled by Spirit Boat toward Taichang Island and sensed fierce fighting and puppets in a valley near a deserted island.
• Chen Changming put away the Spirit Boat and flew quietly toward the valley on his sword.

Chen Changming rescued Zhou Mi from four Sun Family cultivators and learned that the Zhou Family’s ancient puppetry required a special Puppet Seal. He agreed to accompany Zhou Mi to the Inner Sea main branch, where Zhou Mi planned to compete for a chance to return to the family.

• Chen Changming stopped the fight with his Golden Core aura and drove away the Sun Family cultivators who were attacking Zhou Mi.
• Zhou Mi explained that the Sun Family wanted his family’s puppets and puppetry art, and one puppet revealed that it contained his grandfather’s spiritual sense.
• Zhou Mi showed Chen Changming the Puppet Seal on his chest and explained his family background and his father’s death.
• Chen Changming agreed to travel with Zhou Mi to the Zhou Family’s main branch to learn about its puppets.
• Zhou Mi introduced himself and said he was going to compete in the Puppet Competition, and Chen Changming asked whether the main branch had a Nascent Soul cultivator guarding it.