Chapter Summaries

Qin Huaian investigated a concealed little building and found it belonged to an ancient artifact refiner. A jade slip revealed that its owner, Mo Qiyuan, had founded the Green Mud Sect and lived when the human race was still competing with demons and devils.

• Qin Huaian entered the seventh-tier formation with a Body Integration Realm puppet and searched the building.
• Qin Huaian found an artifact-refining workshop, refined the ownerless Five Elements Hundred Refinements Furnace, and stored it and the other materials in the Seed Space.
• Qin Huaian found a meditation room on the first floor and jumped to the second floor, where the books had crumbled to ash but several jade slips remained.
• Qin Huaian read a jade slip identifying its author as Mo Qiyuan, founder of the Green Mud Sect, and learned that the sect had specialized in artifact refinement.
• Qin Huaian read that Mo Qiyuan's era had been marked by conflict between the human race, demons, and devils, suggesting the building was tens of thousands of years old.

Qin Huaian read a Mahayana Realm senior’s account of the war against the Devil Race and his explorations of the Boundless Sea, along with instructions for the gifts he left behind. After recording the two jade slips, Qin Huaian headed to the rear courtyard to see what remained there.

• Qin Huaian learned from the senior’s notes that the Green Mud Sect had fought in the thousand-year war against the Devil Race and that the senior later explored the Boundless Sea seeking a chance to advance.
• Qin Huaian discovered that the senior had left an artifact-refining jade slip and a record of the Boundless Sea’s East Zone for a fated visitor.
• Qin Huaian read that the senior had imprisoned an early Fusion Realm cultivator in the rear courtyard and asked a future visitor to release him after a thousand years.
• Qin Huaian placed both jade slips in the Seed Space and recorded their contents, including the location of Azure Flood Dragon Palace.
• Qin Huaian found nothing else on the second floor and went downstairs to investigate the rear courtyard.

Qin Huaian discovered Xu Yunpeng, a Pure Yang Palace elder whose Primordial Spirit had been sealed in Soul-Nourishing Wood, and stopped his attempt to possess him. Xu Yunpeng offered compensation for his life, but Qin Huaian questioned whether his long-vanished sect could offer anything of value.

• Qin Huaian found a beam of light beneath rotten wood that invaded his sea of consciousness and tried to possess him.
• The Mirror Body seized the intruder, whom Qin Huaian identified as possibly the cultivator Mo Qiyuan had imprisoned.
• Xu Yunpeng said Mo Qiyuan had captured him for practicing the art of harvesting and replenishing, then imprisoned him near the Boundless Sea.
• Xu Yunpeng explained that he had used the Netherworld Spirit-Locking Art and Soul-Nourishing Wood to preserve his Primordial Spirit while his body was sacrificed.
• Xu Yunpeng offered compensation if Qin Huaian spared him, but Qin Huaian said he had never heard of the Pure Yang Palace among the present-day human sects.

Qin Huaian learned that Pure Yang Palace might have been annihilated and recruited Xu Yunpeng by placing his soul under control. Xu Yunpeng returned to the Soul-Nourishing Wood, and Qin Huaian asked him about Azure Flood Dragon Palace.

• Xu Yunpeng learned that Pure Yang Palace might be gone and that heaven-and-earth suppression had kept cultivators from advancing beyond Spirit Transformation for nearly five thousand years.
• Xu Yunpeng offered to serve Qin Huaian and promised to help him dominate the Cultivation World if he could possess a suitable body.
• Qin Huaian agreed to spare Xu Yunpeng on the condition that he open his soul to a control method that could destroy them both if Qin Huaian died.
• Xu Yunpeng accepted, and Qin Huaian used the Heaven-Swallowing Python's method to control his soul.
• Qin Huaian asked Xu Yunpeng whether he could self-seal his Primordial Spirit again and what he knew about Azure Flood Dragon Palace.

Qin Huaian learned about Azure Flood Dragon Palace from Xu Yunpeng and promised to seek him a suitable body without harming innocents. While traveling toward the palace, Qin Huaian overheard sea demons heading to an island over a strange treasure and learned that Master and the others had withdrawn.

• Xu Yunpeng told Qin Huaian that Azure Flood Dragon Palace had once ruled the eastern Boundless Sea and offered to help attack it after recovering his strength.
• Qin Huaian asked about Xu Yunpeng's lifespan, promised to look for a suitable body, and placed the Soul-Nourishing Wood in his storage space.
• Qin Huaian left the Concealment Array and traveled southeast toward Azure Flood Dragon Palace using Mo Qiyuan's map.
• Qin Huaian hid from a group of sea demons and overheard two fish demons say the Azure Flood Dragon King had ordered them to reinforce an island where a strange treasure had increased spiritual energy.
• Qin Huaian learned that Master and the others had withdrawn from the island, then continued toward Azure Flood Dragon Palace without attacking the smaller sea demon powers.

Qin Huaian found a crude sea demon market near the Azure Flood Dragon Palace and learned that the Azure Flood Dragon King was recruiting reinforcements to defend an island against the Human Race. He secretly followed two fish demons and discovered a huge underwater city within his divine sense.

• Qin Huaian hid near the market and listened as a fish demon announced the Azure Flood Dragon King's recruitment order for the island’s defense.
• Two third-rank sea demons registered, prompting more cultivators to join after hearing they would receive spirit stones and might earn places in the Azure Flood Dragon Palace.
• Qin Huaian followed two fourth-rank fish demons after they left the market, hoping they would lead him to the Azure Flood Dragon Palace.
• The fish demons discussed Human Race reinforcements, the Second King’s defense of the island, and the arrival of a few land demons, while one gave Brother Rui a storage pouch for favor.
• Qin Huaian concluded that the Human Race had begun a counterattack and spotted a huge underwater city with his divine sense.

Qin Huaian secretly searched beneath the Azure Flood Dragon Palace for a spirit vein while Azure Flood Dragon King Qiu Si revealed why he planned to travel to an island where a mysterious Boundary Stele had appeared. Qiu Si believed the stele heralded the opening of the path to immortality.

• Qin Huaian avoided scanning the underwater city and burrowed underground to search for the spirit vein beneath it.
• White Turtle and Qiu Hai discussed the Azure Flood Dragon Palace’s preparations to visit an island where a strange stone stele had appeared.
• Qiu Si explained that the stele was absorbing spiritual energy and resembled a Boundary Stele described in his clan’s secret records.
• Qiu Si connected the Boundary Stele to revelations about the Supreme Purity Domain and the existence of 108 Cultivation Worlds.
• Qiu Si said the Boundary Stele could not be obtained, then revealed the secret record’s final line: when the Boundary Stele appeared, the path to immortality opened.

Qiu Si explained the Boundary Stele’s rumored Immortal Road and planned to seize the island around it so the Azure Flood Dragon Palace could benefit from the energy released when it opened. He prepared to leave with White Turtle while Qiu Hai guarded their base, and Qin Huaian finally found the spiritual vein after a day of searching underground.

• Qiu Si told Qiu Hai and White Turtle that the Boundary Stele could open an Immortal Road, though those who entered it had never returned.
• Qiu Si said he chiefly intended to monopolize the energy around the Boundary Stele to strengthen the Azure Flood Dragon Palace, but might enter the Immortal Road if it was confirmed to lead to the Immortal Realm.
• White Turtle warned Qiu Si that the Immortal Realm could be dangerous for cultivators at their level, and Qiu Si agreed to consider the risks before the Boundary Stele opened.
• Qiu Si told Qiu Hai to guard their base after he and White Turtle left, while their other brothers returned to reinforce the palace and join the campaign for the island.
• Qiu Si planned to exploit the human race’s conflict with the undersea demons and expected the land demons and other sea regions to add to the chaos.
• Qin Huaian discovered the spiritual vein after searching underground for an entire day.

Qin Huaian entered the Azure Flood Dragon Palace’s underground Spirit Vein Space and used a Body Integration Realm puppet to sever a section of the spirit vein. Despite the Spirit Vein Guard’s arrival, he stored the enormous piece away and left the sea demons vowing revenge.

• Qin Huaian discovered the vast spirit vein beneath the undersea mountain range and prepared to take a portion of it.
• The Spirit Vein Guard detected his intrusion and rushed into the underground space, but no Azure Flood Dragon King was present.
• Qin Huaian sent his Body Integration Realm puppet to cut the spirit vein while he activated a fifth-tier Floating Array.
• The puppet’s attack killed three sea demons and wounded four before severing the spirit vein.
• Qin Huaian used his spiritual power and the array to move the three-to-four-li-long section into his Seed Space.
• The surviving sea demons realized Qin Huaian had taken the spirit vein and roared that the sea demons would become his irreconcilable enemies.

Qin Huaian used his Body Integration Realm puppet to fight Qiu Hai and the Azure Flood Dragon Clan after extracting part of their spirit vein. He escaped underground after the puppet’s attack killed Qiu Hai and the nearby sea demons, leaving the clan to summon reinforcements.

• Qin Huaian hid behind the puppet when Qiu Hai arrived and discovered that a quarter of the Azure Flood Dragon Clan’s spirit vein had been taken.
• Qiu Hai attacked Qin Huaian and the puppet, and Qin Huaian claimed they had crossed worlds and only borrowed some of the spirit vein.
• Qiu Hai vowed to kill them, so Qin Huaian unleashed the puppet’s pale blue radiance and fled underground with it.
• The radiance killed Qiu Hai and the other sea demons nearby, while members of the Azure Flood Dragon Clan arrived and called for Eldest Uncle.
• Qin Huaian concealed his aura with the Formless Dust-Returning Art and continued fleeing eastward beneath the ground.

After destroying Azure Flood Dragon Palace’s spirit vein and killing Qiu Hai, Qin Huaian fled east to avoid being identified and searched for. Azure Flood Dragon Palace prepared for a human assault on the sea island while Qin Huaian reached a region with dwindling spiritual energy and settled into seclusion.

• Qin Huaian fled east, reasoning that Azure Flood Dragon Palace would search toward the mainland if it learned he was human.
• Qiu Ze learned that Azure Flood Dragon Palace had been raided and Fourth King Qiu Hai killed, then spoke with Li Heng about the approaching human attack on the sea island.
• Qiu Si arrived at the sea island, suspected the culprit was not human, and declared that monopolizing the Boundary Stele was Azure Flood Dragon Palace’s best hope of recovering its strength.
• A sea demon warned Qiu Si that large numbers of human cultivators were heading toward the Boundless Sea.
• Qin Huaian traveled into an area where spiritual energy was thinning, dug a cave deep underground, and began secluded cultivation while waiting for the pursuit to subside.

Qin Huaian cultivated on a damaged spirit vein, reaching Golden Core Great Perfection and awakening Spirit Transformation-level divine sense and the Sword Domain. As he prepared to continue toward Nascent Soul, the Boundary Stele was exposed and began absorbing spiritual energy on a massive scale.

• Qin Huaian used the Seed Space spirit vein to cultivate with his Mirror Bodies and broke through to the late Golden Core stage after half a year.
• After two more years, Qin Huaian reached Golden Core Great Perfection and his divine sense advanced to the early Spirit Transformation level.
• Qin Huaian tested his ability to condense spiritual energy and discovered he could wield the Sword Domain for three breaths.
• Qin Huaian decided to keep cultivating toward the Nascent Soul Realm while the spirit vein still supported him.
• A thousand-li spiritual-energy vortex formed over the island, and the mountain around the gray-black boulder exploded, exposing the Boundary Stele.
• After three days of absorbing spiritual energy, the Boundary Stele sent a dazzling multicolored pillar of light into the heavens.

The Boundary Stele opened the so-called Immortal Path, drawing humans and sea demons to the island as its spiritual qi began to fade. The Azure Flood Dragon Palace and Yellow Mountain Sword Sect summoned their younger talents there, while Qin Huaian remained underground, unaware of the island’s gathering.

• Humans and sea demons shared the island after the humans routed the land demons and both sides agreed to divide the territory around the Boundary Stele.
• A pillar of light erupted from the Boundary Stele and vanished, while Qin Huaian sensed something unusual underground but returned his attention to condensing his Nascent Soul.
• Qiu Si suspected the Boundary Stele was a vast teleportation array and ordered Qiu Ze to summon their clan’s younger generation to the island.
• Shen Canglan told Yun Zishan to bring the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect’s direct disciples and talented inner disciples to the island.
• Min Yingzhu worried about Qin Huaian, and Shen Canglan comforted her by suggesting he might be hiding and cultivating.

Qin Huaian broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm after overcoming a heart demon that made him relive his former life. He prepared to return to the sect, but the Number Seven Seed space began a fifteen-day upgrade.

• Qin Huaian used the spirit vein and the Supreme Purity Ascension Scripture to crack his seven-colored Golden Core and merge his soul with it.
• Qin Huaian fell into a heart-demon illusion in which he woke in his old life, but peculiar energy helped him escape before the illusion could destroy his cultivation.
• Qin Huaian resumed absorbing spiritual energy, shattered his Golden Core, and successfully formed a Nascent Soul.
• Qin Huaian discovered that his divine sense had reached a range of over 200 li and wondered whether the Azure Flood Dragon Palace had uncovered his identity and where the gray-black stone stele had gone.
• Qin Huaian put away the formation and prepared to return to the sect, when the Number Seven Seed space announced a fifteen-day upgrade.

After reaching Nascent Soul Early Stage, Qin Huaian returned to the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect after nearly three years away. He learned that the sect had gone to an island near Donglai Market because an Immortal Path had appeared, supposedly allowing Golden Core cultivators and above to travel directly to the Immortal Realm.

• Qin Huaian waited for the Seed Space upgrade to finish, then left his secluded sea retreat and used the Free and Easy Wanderer to travel underwater toward the mainland.
• Qin Huaian detoured north to avoid the Azure Flood Dragon Palace’s territory and the island where the earlier treasures had drawn cultivators together.
• After five days at sea and another half-day of travel, Qin Huaian reached the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect and was recognized by a gatekeeping disciple.
• The disciple told Qin Huaian that the Sect Master and many sect cultivators were stationed on an island outside Donglai Market because an Immortal Path had appeared there.
• Qin Huaian learned that Golden Core cultivators and above were said to be able to use the Immortal Path to reach the Immortal Realm, and he asked the disciple to explain the matter in detail.

Qin Huaian returned to the sect and learned that a mysterious Immortal Path had appeared on an island near Donglai Market, drawing cultivators from across the Cultivation World. After contacting Lin Tianyu and Shen Canglan, he set out for the island with Xie Qingchuan, who discovered Qin Huaian had reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

• A disciple told Qin Huaian that a mysterious Immortal Path had appeared near Donglai Market and that Golden Core cultivators could enter it, prompting many cultivators to head for the island.
• Qin Huaian questioned the rumors and used the sect's voice-transmission formation to contact Lin Tianyu and Shen Canglan.
• Shen Canglan said a mysterious teleportation formation had appeared on the island, but its destination was still uncertain, and Lin Tianyu told Qin Huaian to bring Xie Qingchuan.
• Xie Qingchuan arrived to meet Qin Huaian, realized he had reached the Nascent Soul Realm, and invited him to travel to the island together.

Qin Huaian returned to the island with Xie Qingchuan and reunited with the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect, whose leaders were shocked by his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm. He learned that the Boundary Stele enhanced comprehension, then asked Lin Tianyu why it was called a Boundary Stele.

• Qin Huaian and Xie Qingchuan flew to the island, where cultivators from across the region were gathering to enter the Immortal Path.
• They arrived at the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect base and watched a mid-stage Golden Core Realm cultivator enter the vortex on the Boundary Stele.
• Shen Canglan, Lin Tianyu, Han Yunting, He Zhiping, and Min Yingzhu greeted Qin Huaian, then discovered he had reached the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Qin Huaian told Lin Tianyu that fortuitous opportunities in the Boundless Sea had helped him break through, and Lin Tianyu welcomed him inside.
• Lin Tianyu explained that cultivating near the Boundary Stele increased comprehension, and Qin Huaian asked why it was called a Boundary Stele.

Qin Huaian told Lin Tianyu he could share cultivation methods from the Supreme Purity Domain and gave him four jade slips to study. Lin Tianyu swore the required Heavenly Dao oath and began examining them.

• Shen Canglan explained that the Boundary Stele’s name came from ancient records and warned that the teleportation formation called the immortal path was unverified, though disciples could choose to enter it.
• Qin Huaian entered seclusion at the camp but found cultivating without his Mirror Body much less efficient.
• Qin Huaian decided to share cultivation methods with Lin Tianyu so his master could study them in the Boundary Stele’s comprehension-enhancing surroundings.
• Qin Huaian explained the Heavenly Dao oath required for sharing three Supreme Purity Sect methods and urged Lin Tianyu to keep his ability to teach them secret.
• Qin Huaian gave Lin Tianyu the Supreme Purity Ascension Scripture, the Grand Void Dual Polarity Sword Canon, the Five Elements Shifting Escape Art, and Free and Easy Wanderer, explaining that the last one could be shared freely.
• Lin Tianyu swore the oath and focused his divine sense on the jade slips.

Qin Huaian gave Lin Tianyu and Min Yingzhu powerful cultivation arts from the Supreme Purity Domain, trusting them to keep the restricted techniques secret. He returned to his room, thinking that strengthening his two closest allies would give him better support in the Cultivation World.

• Lin Tianyu praised Qin Huaian's four cultivation arts, then began cultivating while Qin Huaian asked him to pass three arts to Min Yingzhu; Lin Tianyu told Qin Huaian to deliver them himself.
• Qin Huaian entered Min Yingzhu's room, set up a soundproofing formation, and gave her the Grand Void Dual Polarity Sword Canon, Five Elements Shifting Escape Art, and Free and Easy Wanderer.
• Min Yingzhu swore a Heavenly Dao oath for the two restricted arts and watched Qin Huaian leave after only a brief visit.
• Min Yingzhu studied the jade slips and resolved to cultivate the arts, recalling Qin Huaian's earlier gift of the Five Elements True Condensation Pill and her worry about the sea demons who had pursued him.
• Qin Huaian returned to his room and decided to share the arts only with Lin Tianyu and Min Yingzhu for now, since teaching others could expose his secrets or create trouble.

Qin Huaian learned that celestial music from the Boundary Stele was compelling Golden Core Realm and stronger cultivators across the Cultivation World to gather on the island. As cultivators assembled around the stele, Fang Wuji prepared to face whatever was causing the phenomenon, even if it meant fighting to the death.

• Qin Huaian found that the Boundary Stele improved his comprehension, but its effect fell far short of the Mirror Body's deductions, so he resumed cultivating.
• Qin Huaian saw humans, sea demons, and land-dwelling demons arriving on the island and entering the Boundary Stele's teleportation formation.
• Lin Tianyu and Shen Canglan told Qin Huaian that celestial music had spread across the Cultivation World and was drawing Golden Core Realm and stronger cultivators toward the island.
• Qin Huaian learned that roughly eighty percent of the Cultivation World's Golden Core cultivators had gathered near the island, while most who remained elsewhere were at the Foundation Establishment Realm.
• Fang Wuji told the assembled cultivators that they would meet the unknown threat head-on, even if they had to fight to the death.