Chapter Summaries

Yu Ci and Yu Nan traveled to Shaoyang Sword Cave, where Yu Ci began studying the Longevity Sword Realm in a secluded chamber. As he explored his sword intent, it resonated with his true body and the Cloud Tower Tree unexpectedly reacted.

• Yu Nan took Yu Ci to Shaoyang Sword Cave while they waited for news from Xue Pingzhi.
• Yu Nan led Yu Ci to the Sword Hiding Manor, which she had booked for ten years.
• Yu Ci entered a quiet chamber and focused on adapting his avatar to the Longevity Sword Realm.
• Yu Ci realized he needed to retrace how he had severed the laws’ restraints so he could wield his Longevity power without harming himself.
• Yu Ci’s Flying Immortal Sword intent resonated with his true body and swept through the void of Equality Heaven and Chengqitian.
• The Cloud Tower Tree unexpectedly reacted to the sword intent.

Yu Ci discovered that the Flying Immortal Sword Intent was improving both his sword-cultivator avatar and Gui Yan's avatar, and considered using Gui Yan to help refine his talismans. After the Heavenly Script Society withdrew from Xue Pingzhi's project under pressure from the Heavenly Evasion Sect, the group went secretly to meet someone willing to take the job, where Sect Master Xu was waiting.

• The Flying Immortal Sword Intent exposed flaws in both avatars and gave them room to improve their sword techniques and abilities.
• Yu Ci realized Gui Yan's avatar might help complete the Layered Aperture Form Integration talismans for Xue Pingzhi.
• Yu Nan summoned Yu Ci to meet Xue Pingzhi, but the Heavenly Script Society had backed out after the Heavenly Evasion Sect claimed the talismans involved its fundamental cultivation method.
• Luo Yuniang said someone had privately agreed to take the job and arranged a meeting.
• Yu Ci, Yu Nan, Xue Pingzhi, and Luo Yuniang secretly reached a courtyard on Longxiao City's outskirts, where they were told Sect Master Xu was waiting in the hall.

Yu Ci met Xu Yang, the famed master craftsman and Sect Master of the Hundred Refinements Gate, to discuss a talisman. Recognizing Xu Bo as an old acquaintance and recalling Xu Yang’s connection to Yu Zhou, Yu Ci followed him to a hidden workshop and wondered why the weapon-crafting grandmaster had entered the talisman trade.

• Xu Yang welcomed Yu Ci and, after hearing that he had made the talisman, invited him to discuss it immediately.
• Yu Ci introduced himself as Nanhu instead of using Zhang Yan’s identity, and Xu Yang asked Xu Bo to prepare the tools in case they could forge something at once.
• Yu Ci recognized Xu Bo as Third Master Xu, whom he had met in Fengdu City, and remembered that Xu Yang had crafted Yu Zhou’s sword, Departing Waters.
• Xu Yang sent Xue Pingzhi, Luo Yuniang, and Yu Nan away with a wooden puppet before leading Yu Ci to a secluded workshop beneath a rockery.
• Xu Yang showed Yu Ci the workshop’s yin-yang pool of cold spring water and molten lava, then directed him to a corner prepared for talisman work.
• Yu Ci wondered why Xu Yang, a renowned weapon-crafting master, had become involved in talismans.

Xu Yang examined Yu Ci’s talisman design and explained how talisman arts, artifact refining, and sacrificial refinement worked together. He revealed that Third Master Xu was preparing to craft a Dharma artifact from Yu Ci’s design, and asked him to keep the arrangement secret.

• Xu Yang studied Yu Ci’s talisman fractals, praised their structure, and noted that they were not well suited to Xue Pingzhi.
• Xu Yang questioned Yu Ci about the talisman’s functions while Third Master Xu brought tools to the Water-Fire Eye.
• Yu Ci realized Xu Yang intended to refine an artifact and understood that the design could help Xue Pingzhi avoid relying on others to make talismans.
• Xu Yang explained his views on artifact refining and sacrificial refinement, arguing that artifacts should be crafted to work fully for any user.
• Xu Yang disclosed that Third Master Xu would make the artifact mold from Yu Ci’s talisman and asked him not to tell anyone.

Yu Ci helped Xu Yang and Third Master Xu refine a talisman-based artifact, received Xu Yang’s sword Hidden Star, and later began secluded cultivation. Meanwhile, Guiyan arrived in the overseas cultivation world, where rumors spread about a deadly sea mist in the north.

• Xu Yang guided Yu Ci through artifact design while Third Master Xu forged the Heart-Piercing Thorn mold.
• Xu Yang demonstrated the Edge Washing technique, forged the sword Hidden Star, and gave it to Yu Ci.
• Xue Pingzhi received the completed artifact and returned to Hundred Flowers Valley with Luo Yuniang, while Yu Nan disappeared nearby.
• Yu Ci settled into Sword Hiding Manor and began secluded cultivation in the Longevity Sword Realm.
• Guiyan came ashore in disguise and heard cultivators discussing a spreading northern sea mist that had killed Old Seventh Wu and others.

Ghost Weary searched for clues about Little Five’s disappearance and investigated rumors of a ten-thousand-li mist near Wu Gou City. While posing as South Lake, he accepted an invitation from Island Master Mi to a gathering where he hoped to learn more about the mist.

• Ghost Weary concluded that Little Five might have been trapped in the ten-thousand-li mist and traveled to Purple Rock Island to investigate.
• Ghost Weary examined a coral-branch artifact at a stall and haggled with its owner while probing him for information about the mist.
• Mi Tuo introduced himself as the island master of Heng Fan Island and invited Ghost Weary, using the name South Lake, to a gathering about the mist.
• Ghost Weary accepted Mi Tuo’s invitation because the gathering offered a chance to learn more about the mist.

Gui Yan attended a trade gathering at the Sea Merchant Guild on Purple Rock Island while considering the flaws in his Netherworld Nine Hidden Secret Art. He met Feng Yu and learned about the gathering’s influential attendees, but a clear chime interrupted their conversation.

• Gui Yan reflected on the dangers of relying on his demonic incarnation against Longevity sword cultivators and recognized that repairing his art would require secluded cultivation.
• Gui Yan arrived at the Sea Merchant Guild’s courtyard gathering using the jade slip Mi Tuo had given him.
• Gui Yan met Feng Yu, who explained that cultivators had come from across the Eastern Sea to trade items from the Ten Thousand Li Mist.
• Feng Yu introduced Steward Huang’s role in the gathering and described the Sea Merchant Guild’s growing influence through Seagull Market.
• Feng Yu pointed out Hai Wuya, a respected Void-Stepping rogue cultivator, and offered to arrange an introduction for Gui Yan.
• More than ten people entered as others left, and a clear chime rang before Feng Yu could finish identifying someone.

At the trading gathering, Gu Yan encountered Immortal Master Xuanyuan and examined the artifacts brought from the fog with Fan Ruolei. The chapter ended with Gu Yan recognizing that the artifacts were crafted by following the natural grain patterns of unusual deep-sea materials.

• Immortal Master Xuanyuan opened the trading gathering and warned the cultivators not to pass off items that had not come from the fog.
• Gu Yan concealed his divine intent after Xuanyuan noticed it probing the area.
• Feng Yu introduced Gu Yan to Fan Ruolei, who recognized Gu Yan as a Void-Stepping expert but did not offer to take him to meet Hai Wuya.
• Gu Yan, Fan Ruolei, and Feng Yu discussed artifact-crafting, and Fan Ruolei bought two artifacts and helped Feng Yu trade for another.
• Gu Yan compared the gathered artifacts with his coral branch and concluded that their makers had followed the materials’ natural grain patterns.

Gui Yan, Fan Ruolei, and Feng Yu learned that a second gathering would bring powerful cultivators to investigate the mist, believed to conceal an ancient ruin. As the garden’s trade fair ended, Feng Yu declined to join the expedition, and a stealthy stranger approached Gui Yan and Fan Ruolei asking to buy their Jade Talisman.

• Fan Ruolei and Gui Yan discussed the magical instruments in the mist and concluded that they likely came from a shared inheritance.
• Mi Tuo told Fan Ruolei, Gui Yan, and Feng Yu that the mist was thought to surround a near-ancient ruin and that powerful cultivators would attend a subsequent gathering.
• Mi Tuo gave the three Jade Talismans and explained how to use them, while Gui Yan considered joining an expedition to search the mist for Xiao Wu.
• Feng Yu returned his Jade Talisman to Gui Yan and chose not to join the expedition, fearing he would be used as a pawn.
• As Gui Yan and Fan Ruolei prepared to leave, a tall, weathered stranger with exceptional stealth asked whether they would sell their Jade Talisman.

Gui Yan traded the Jade Talisman for an incomplete artifact that fascinated Fan Ruolei, then used the talisman to join a distant gathering of cultivators. The gathering’s array formed a network of divine intents over the sea, where Wanderer Hai Hong appeared to greet the attendees.

• A tall old man offered Gui Yan a miniature underwater-world artifact in exchange for the Jade Talisman, and Gui Yan accepted the trade.
• Fan Ruolei recognized the artifact’s unusual, layered technique, and Gui Yan let him study it.
• After two days, Gui Yan activated the Jade Talisman, sending his divine intent thousands of miles to the gathering’s talisman array.
• Cultivators’ divine intents settled onto Intent-Bearing Plates, which moved into rings according to their owners’ strength and formed a communication network.
• An Intent-Bearing Plate rose from the central waters, and Wanderer Hai Hong appeared and greeted the gathered cultivators.

Hai Hong gathered overseas cultivators in the Divine Intent Net to trade treasures found in the ten-thousand-mile fog, using the Sea Merchant Guild to guarantee the exchanges. After trading several items for rare pills, he revealed a crude piece of ice-silk embroidery whose erratic sword intent astonished the gathered cultivators.

• Cultivators learned that Hai Hong had returned as a Longevity True Man and listened as he explained that he had entered the ten-thousand-mile fog with companions and found abundant treasures.
• Hai Hong offered Profound Yin Heavy Water and other treasures in exchange for a list of rare pills, drawing strong interest from the gathering.
• Hai Hong arranged for Manager Huang of the Sea Merchant Guild to guarantee transactions and blacklist anyone who reneged, then exchanged four treasures for six kinds of pills.
• Hai Hong presented a piece of ice-silk fabric covered in ugly, irregular embroidery, and its sword intent jolted cultivators who examined it.
• Cultivators with keen divine intent sensed layers of sword Qi moving through the embroidery and recognized its subtle mystery.

Ghost Yan recognized the fabric Hai Hong offered as a possible piece of the Manifesting Gauze and traded an incomplete Extreme Suppression Incense formula for it. After completing the trade fair, Hai Hong claimed the ruins were Taiyuan, the lost sea-people city, a claim that other attendees immediately disputed.

• Ghost Yan recalled Hao Dian’s unfinished Manifesting Gauze project and wondered whether Hai Hong’s fabric was one of the missing pieces, but noticed it differed from the gauzes he already possessed.
• When sword cultivators could not offer suitable pills or formulas for the fabric, Ghost Yan traded a residual Extreme Suppression Incense formula for it.
• Hai Hong sold seventeen of his twenty strange objects and magic tools, consigning the three that found no buyers.
• Hai Hong identified the ruins as Taiyuan, prompting attendees to object that the city had vanished elsewhere four tribulations earlier.

Haihong argued that the fog, currents, and magic-tool fragments pointed to Taiyuan City, while Fan Ruolei demonstrated that the fragments depicted its defenses and a Great Abyss Soul Shock Cannon. Haihong invited the gathered cultivators to help excavate the city, explaining that the work would take years and fit his plan to reorganize the Vast Sea.

• Haihong presented the sea fog and ocean currents as evidence that Taiyuan City lay within the dangerous sea area.
• Haihong called on Fan Ruolei to explain a magic-tool fragment discovered in the fog.
• Fan Ruolei joined two fragments and revealed a miniature model of ruined city walls containing a Great Abyss Soul Shock Cannon.
• Fan Ruolei concluded that the fragments were likely a central control tool depicting Taiyuan City and its surroundings, stirring the divine intent network.
• Haihong said excavating Taiyuan City would require many Longevity True Men and years of work, then invited the cultivators to join him in reorganizing the Vast Sea.

Gu Yan obtained a flawed piece of woven fabric that appeared to preserve Hao Dian’s early work on the Hundred Spirits Manifesting Gauze, then entered the ten-thousand-mile fog to investigate Taiyuan City. He discovered that the fabric influenced his sword strike and that his sword cultivator avatar was watching through Chengqitian.

• True Man Hai Hong invited rogue cultivators to explore Taiyuan City, shared routes through the fog, and promised regular information exchanges.
• Gu Yan contacted the Sea Merchant Guild and chose a discreet delivery method to avoid drawing the Sword Discussion Pavilion’s attention.
• Gu Yan received the white gauze and recognized its flawed patterns as an early exercise for Hao Dian’s Hundred Spirits Manifesting Gauze and the God Slaying Thorn.
• Gu Yan entered the ten-thousand-mile fog and followed a natural-looking stream of qi downward beneath the sea.
• Gu Yan killed a demonic fish with a strike influenced by the Hundred Spirits Manifesting Gauze and sensed that his sword cultivator avatar was watching through Chengqitian.

Guiyan used the God Slaying Thorn’s sword intent to search the seabed near Taiyuan City and found a brocade box that resonated with it. As True Man Hai Hong arrived, Guiyan opened the box and revealed a blood-red object.

• Guiyan fashioned a silk-patch magic tool into a temporary medium for gathering baleful resentment from the spirits he slew.
• After killing nearby seabed monsters, Guiyan expanded his Square Inch Demon Kingdom and spread the God Slaying Thorn’s sword intent through it.
• Guiyan sensed a resonance at the edge of his demon kingdom and followed it nearly three hundred miles toward Taiyuan City’s ruins.
• Guiyan found a brocade box inside a ruined cyan stone building and was about to take it when True Man Hai Hong appeared.
• Guiyan took the heavy brocade box and opened it, revealing something blood-red.

Guiyan discovered that the blood-red threads in a brocade box matched the material of his Manifesting Gauze, then agreed to explore with Hanhong's Canghai Hunter Group. Hanhong brought him to the group's camp, where he revealed they had reached a place believed to contain the burial sites of at least four Longevity True Men.

• Guiyan found twelve blood-red silk threads in the brocade box and recognized them as the same material as his Manifesting Gauze.
• Hanhong invited Guiyan to join Canghai, and Guiyan declined membership but agreed to travel with the group.
• Guiyan and Hanhong discussed the value of spice formulas and the tribulations faced by Longevity True Men with incomplete Dao foundations.
• Hanhong led Guiyan to Canghai's undersea camp, a defensive formation enclosing a courtyard created with Void Divine Ability.
• Hanhong said the camp marked the deepest point they had explored and was likely the burial place of at least four Longevity True Men.

Gu Yan explored the Taiyuan City ruins with Haihong’s Canghai Hunter Group while waiting for a chance to learn news of Xiao Wu. Fan Ruolei’s discovery in a new magical artifact fragment suggested that the central control artifact’s core object still existed.

• Gu Yan remained puzzled about how Taiyuan City had been lifted from the ocean trench and waited for the next gathering to seek information about Xiao Wu.
• Fan Ruolei urged Haihong to follow one of his proposed routes toward the mechanisms’ master control hub, but Haihong refused to depart from the group’s cautious plan.
• Gu Yan suspected Haihong was concealing a backup plan and did not support Fan Ruolei’s pleas for permission to advance.
• Haihong returned from an exploration with another fragment of the central control magical artifact and handed it to Fan Ruolei.
• Fan Ruolei identified debris in the fragment as Five-Seven Silver Mercury and concluded that the artifact’s core object was still intact.

Ghost Loathing questioned Hai Hong about Jiu Yan and Half-Mountain Island while the Canghai Hunter Group continued through the ruins. At the chapter’s end, Ghost Loathing met two visitors to the camp, including the Longevity Sword Cultivator Mr. Wugou.

• Fan Ruolei urged Hai Hong to seek the artifact core, but both agreed it would bring them to ruin and dropped the matter.
• Ghost Loathing told Hai Hong that Jiu Yan had given him the Extreme Suppression Incense recipe, then probed Hai Hong’s knowledge of Jiu Yan and Half-Mountain Island.
• Hai Hong told Ghost Loathing that the monthly gathering would resume in a few days and invited him to attend, but Ghost Loathing declined to accompany him to the venue.
• Ghost Loathing developed his Square Inch Demon Kingdom beneath the sea and discovered a trap-filled ruin that Fan Ruolei eagerly investigated without success.
• Two visitors arrived at the camp claiming to be Hai Hong’s old friends, and Ghost Loathing identified them as Mr. Wugou and Green Wolf Mountain Master.
• Mr. Wugou greeted Ghost Loathing and said he had long admired his name.

Mr. Wugou visited Guiyan and tried to recruit him into the Four Seas Society, warning him to prepare early for the tribulations that threatened long-lived cultivators. Guiyan received a bronze plaque to consider joining within a hundred years and a jade slip for True Man Hai Hong about changes at Taiyuan City's original site.

• Mr. Wugou recognized Guiyan's origins but assured him that he had no intention of reporting him to Sword Discussion Pavilion.
• Mr. Wugou warned Guiyan that even renowned long-lived cultivators such as the Northern Prefecture Heavenly Venerable and Xiaoyaozi had fallen to tribulations or their enemies.
• Mr. Wugou urged Guiyan to prepare early for the Minor and Major Tribulations and revealed that he wanted to recruit him into the Four Seas Society.
• Mr. Wugou explained that the Four Seas Society welcomed independent Rogue Cultivators and promised to protect its members, then gave Guiyan a bronze plaque to use if he chose to join within a hundred years.
• Mr. Wugou gave Guiyan a jade slip containing news about changes at Taiyuan City's original site and asked him to pass it to True Man Hai Hong.

Ghost Weariness reconsidered joining the Four Seas Society and traveled with Mr. Wugou and the Green Wolf Mountain Master to investigate the former site of Taiyuan City, where a longevity-level battle had occurred. Along the way, he sought their help finding a missing friend and learned how the society traded information, services, and merit.

• Ghost Weariness relayed Hai Hong’s message and learned that cultivators had discovered traces of a recent longevity-level battle at Taiyuan City’s former site.
• Ghost Weariness used his far-reaching divine ability to catch up with Mr. Wugou and the Green Wolf Mountain Master, then asked to travel with them and learn more about their society.
• Ghost Weariness said he was searching for a missing friend, and Mr. Wugou offered the Green Wolf Mountain Master’s ability to trace living beings.
• Mr. Wugou used the Sea Cloud Sail to carry the three north at great speed while explaining the Four Seas Society’s rules and merit system.
• The Green Wolf Mountain Master showed Ghost Weariness the society’s listings, including bounties involving Jian Ziyu and Di Tianluo, which made Ghost Weariness uneasy.