Chapter Summaries

Yu Ci endured the Nine Heavens Gang Wind and the ghost beast’s violent bucking by forming a sword-qi ring and anchoring himself with his sword. As his consciousness entered the Inner Void, the True Dragon Form Qi transformed the ghost beast into firelight, and Yu Ci’s body became a dark void with a dancing fish-dragon as he plunged toward the clouds.

• Yu Ci used his sword intent to form a sword-qi ring, protecting himself from the Nine Heavens Gang Wind’s invasive force.
• The sword hum stirred the ghost beast’s memories, and it roared and bucked, nearly throwing Yu Ci from its back.
• Yu Ci drove the Pure Yang Talisman Sword into the ghost beast’s rotted shoulder wound to hold on, provoking it into a frantic dash through the gang wind.
• After enduring the wind and fiery smoke for ten hours, Yu Ci’s consciousness drifted into the Inner Void and fused with the fish-dragon.
• The fish-dragon instinctively countered the invading fiery smoke, transforming the ghost beast into gray-white firelight that descended from the gang wind belt.
• Yu Ci’s body turned into a dim void with the fish-dragon within it, and the firelight merged with the void fish-dragon as they plunged toward the clouds.

Yu Ci escaped the ghost beast in Sky Rift Valley and, while recovering, completed a transformation of his Inner Void. He awakened a technique that concentrated his essence, qi, and spirit into the tip of his ring finger.

• Yu Ci used the fish-dragon in his Inner Void to break down the Nine Heavens Gang Wind's icy force, then clashed with the ghost beast's firelight and was thrown out of the Inner Void.
• Yu Ci escaped the ghost beast's flames, used the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror to survey the mist, and plunged downward before slowing his fall with a Divine Movement Talisman.
• Yu Ci landed safely several li below the ghost beast and sat down to recover his strength with the Xuan Yuan Gen Ben Qi Fa.
• Yu Ci found that the rain in his Inner Void had stopped and, guided by an inner opportunity, traced the fish-dragon with a brush-like stroke, uniting the Inner Void's qi mechanisms.
• Yu Ci concentrated his essence, qi, and spirit into the tip of his extended ring finger, manifesting the principle Xie Liang had described as passage through each joint.

Yu Ci completed his mind image and advanced to the mid-stage of Spirit Communion, then surveyed the mountain where he had landed in the Sky Rifts. He discovered a barren Concave Pit with a strange, burning blue stone at its center.

• Yu Ci realized the True Dragon Form Qi had taken the place of his unformed mind image, and its integration with him had completed the image and refined his Yin God.
• Yu Ci confirmed that his soul and primordial qi had reached the stage of penetration, the utmost limit of qi cultivation in the Spirit Communion realm, but decided not to risk letting his Yin God leave his body.
• Yu Ci used the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror to examine his surroundings and found a region on the mountain with almost no signs of life.
• Yu Ci discovered that several evenly spaced mountain peaks surrounded a narrow depression, which he identified as a Concave Pit rather than a natural valley.
• Yu Ci found a smooth bluish stone at the center of the cracked pit floor and jerked his hand away when he touched its intense heat.

Yu Ci escaped the ghost beast by jumping into a hidden tunnel, but an immense force below sealed his body and nearly killed him. He awakened the True Dragon Form Qi to survive the fall, only to find himself trapped in a crushing space as his storage ring shattered and most of his belongings were destroyed.

• Yu Ci pried up a bluestone and discovered a deep tunnel just as the ghost beast appeared in the concave pit.
• Yu Ci evaded the ghost beast’s charge by jumping into the tunnel and began descending while preparing to escape through the rock.
• A powerful force surged up the tunnel, immobilized Yu Ci, and sent him plunging toward the ground.
• The True Dragon Form Qi awakened within Yu Ci and shattered the seal on his consciousness, allowing him to use the Half-Mountain Mirage to survive the fall.
• Yu Ci found himself immobilized by the force in the space below, and his storage ring broke, destroying most of the items inside.
• The Dao Scripture Master Treasure Seal, red gauze, and double-headed hook whip survived the crushing force.

Yu Ci escaped the crushing pressure of the black tide by separating his Yin God from his body and using Benzoin Incense and Soul Soothing Pill powder to protect it. When the tide returned, he realized the scattered lights were blood droplets carrying overwhelming information, and saw a vision of two figures fighting as their blood struck the mountain and created the breach.

• Yu Ci inhaled fragments of Soul Soothing Pills and used the Fetal Garment Yin God Method to leave his body.
• Yu Ci ignited the Benzoin Incense with the Pure Yang Token Sword, and its fragrance briefly shielded his Yin God from the black tide.
• Yu Ci surveyed the enormous breach and noticed scattered red and cyan-white lights, but his attempt to approach them triggered another surge of the black tide.
• Yu Ci recognized that the lights were burning auras from tiny jade-like blood droplets and that they were the source of the destructive tide.
• Yu Ci received a vision of two figures crashing into the mountain, spraying blood droplets that burned against the cliffs and formed the breach.

Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit absorbed fragments of the ancient battle and grew clearer, allowing him to trace the runes and forces within the cleft. After escaping the ghost beast’s roar and identifying its Rakshasa Illusory Power, he realized it was pursuing him toward his physical body and spotted something nearby that might help.

• Yu Ci witnessed the mountain’s runes channel the warring forces into the abyss, then absorbed a vast, dangerous mass of information into his divine soul.
• Yu Ci followed the runes through the cleft, and his Yin Spirit grew more solid as he adapted to the information.
• The ghost beast roared at Yu Ci, but his Yin Spirit resisted its attack and withdrew through the rock toward the cleft.
• Yu Ci recognized the ghost beast’s power as Rakshasa Illusory Power and recalled Elder Zhu’s account of the Jade Wolf Fox’s corruption.
• Yu Ci found that the ghost beast had followed him in flame form toward his physical body, then fixed his attention on a nearby object.

Yu Ci used the hooked rope to fend off the ghost beast after escaping the force that bound him. He discovered the rope’s true power just as the beast charged, driving it from the cleft.

• Yu Ci recognized the bluish-white flames as Rakshasa Illusory Power and realized the ghost beast was absorbing them.
• The ghost beast attacked Yu Ci, forcing him to return his nascent soul to his body and break free from the cleft’s restraint.
• Yu Ci used the hooked rope to deter the beast, but striking its hooks together only made the creature hesitate before it charged again.
• Yu Ci recalled the rope’s true form and activated it, sending golden threads to touch the fractures on the ghost beast’s broken horns.
• The ghost beast recoiled with a startled howl and fled from the cleft.

Yu Ci transformed his hook-and-cable into a palace ribbon and remained stranded among the cloud-shrouded peaks of Sky Rift Gorge. He trained a giant bird to carry him across the clouds, but a demon ambushed him as he tested it.

• Yu Ci used the Rakshasa Illusory Power in the spatial breach to transform his hook-and-cable into a golden-green palace ribbon.
• Yu Ci gathered his surviving belongings and left the spatial breach, but he could not find a route back to the eastern shore.
• Yu Ci traveled between mountain peaks and captured a giant bird, then used the Spirit Feeding Method to teach it to understand his commands.
• Yu Ci tested the bird as a means to cross the sea of clouds, but it chased a python and broke free of his control.
• Yu Ci followed the bird and killed a hidden attacker with a flame blade, recognizing the creature as a demon.

Yu Ci fought through a fiend encirclement while learning that the fiends were preparing a one-way passage to the Black Magic Altar. He found a seemingly unconscious female cultivator and reached to check her pulse, only for her to open her eyes.

• Yu Ci sensed an incantation, killed a talisman-using fiend, and used the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror to locate at least four more fiends.
• Daguǒ ordered his servants to deal with Yu Ci and discussed the delayed passage to the Black Magic Altar, Lord Diluo's death, and the seeds of Rakshasa Illusory Power.
• Yu Ci evaded the encirclement and killed six fiends by using divine intent to pinpoint their positions and vital points.
• Yu Ci followed traces of battle and spotted a female cultivator asleep beside a tree in the fiend-infested mountains.
• Yu Ci approached the unresponsive woman and reached to check her pulse, and she suddenly opened her eyes.

Yu Ci encountered the besieged cultivator Gan Shizhen and helped fight off the demons surrounding her. After learning she was close to Yu Zhou, he realized she was his senior by association and formally greeted her as Uncle-Master Gan.

• Gan Shizhen mistook Yu Ci for an intruder, then recognized him as the cultivator she had met at the dock.
• Gan Shizhen extinguished the demons’ incoming talisman attacks with her Baleful Intent, while Yu Ci struck down two demons with his Five Thunder Talisman.
• Yu Ci held back from attacking further after noticing the demons had become disorganized, and prepared another reinforced Five Thunder Talisman.
• Gan Shizhen explained that she had been trapped for over ten days after pursuing demons and killing one of their leaders.
• Yu Ci introduced himself and learned that Gan Shizhen was a friend and adopted sister to Yu Zhou.
• Yu Ci paid his respects to Gan Shizhen as Uncle-Master Gan.

Yu Ci left his body as a Yin God and slipped through the demons’ defenses to lure a powerful ghost beast away from the encirclement. The beast pursued him toward the battlefield, while Yu Ci endured its Rakshasa Illusory Power and raced back to Gan Shizhen.

• Yu Ci learned that Gan Shizhen was an upper Returning Elixir cultivator nearing Stepping Void, and asked her for help preparing to leave his body.
• Gan Shizhen used the Heavenly Equilibrium True Method to stabilize Yu Ci’s Yin God as he emerged from his body.
• Yu Ci concealed his Yin God with the Swift Thunder Heavenly Robe, then flew beyond the demons’ defenses using talismans and a bird’s distant view.
• Yu Ci found his target and struck toward it with lightning, drawing a ghost beast’s attention.
• The ghost beast charged Yu Ci and scorched his Yin God with Rakshasa Illusory Power, but he fled toward the battlefield while evading its attacks.

Yu Ci escaped a returning-elixir demon by using a sudden insight into the vibration of a boundless azure void, then returned to his body under Gan Shizhen’s protection. As the ghost beast tore through the demons, Yu Ci and Gan Shizhen fled up the cliff while Daguǒ was left paralyzed by Yu Ci’s lightning.

• Yu Ci drew the ghost beast through the demons’ encirclement, disrupting their formation and reaching the area where his body lay.
• A returning-elixir demon attacked Yu Ci with Soul-Binding Silk, but Yu Ci used a newly grasped shockwave-like Yin spirit form to escape its earth-qi confinement.
• Gan Shizhen’s Azure Wave Sword Qi protected Yu Ci as his Yin spirit reunited with his body.
• The ghost beast caught Chaka and tore it apart while Daguǒ struggled against the Rakshasa Illusory Power.
• Daguǒ’s companion fled, and Yu Ci struck Daguǒ with lightning before climbing the cliff with Gan Shizhen.

Yu Ci fled with the injured Gan Shizhen while the ghost beast pursued them, and Gan Shizhen used the Central Dharma Sword to hold it back. As the battle continued, Ba Shi ambushed the wounded Daguǒ to seize the ghost beast and its Rakshasa Illusory Power, while Yu Ci began seeing the battlefield in a new way.

• Yu Ci escaped across the mountain ridges with Gan Shizhen as the ghost beast chased them and the birds failed to carry him safely.
• Gan Shizhen recovered enough to fly and faced the ghost beast with the Central Dharma Sword, slowing its charge by joining herself to the surrounding void.
• Daguǒ feigned death after the ghost beast crushed it, then tried to escape when the beast began fighting Gan Shizhen.
• Ba Shi arrived, crushed Daguǒ's chest, and revealed that he intended to use the Heart-Pulling Horn to capture the ghost beast and claim its Rakshasa Illusory Power.
• Yu Ci watched the sword battle and saw the azure void and the world around him take on an entirely different appearance.

Yu Ci lured the ghost beast into the fissure and used the Pure Yang Talisman Sword, his sword intent, and the palace sash to trigger its hidden wounds and provoke its transformation. As the beast erupted into cyan-white flames, Yu Ci released his Yin Spirit to strike its spiritual-soul source.

• Yu Ci used his new spiritual-soul vision to recognize that Gan Shizhen was weakening and led her into the fissure to recover.
• Yu Ci prepared a trap, positioning the damaged Pure Yang Talisman Sword above the approach and provoking the ghost beast with his palace sash.
• The ghost beast charged, and the falling talisman sword pierced its shoulder wound, igniting the sword qi left by Ye Bin.
• Yu Ci used his sword intent and the palace sash to intensify the ghost beast’s pain and fear until cyan-white flames engulfed it.
• Yu Ci slipped his Yin Spirit from his body and sent it as a directional shockwave through the ghost beast’s spiritual-soul source.

Yu Ci erased the ghost beast’s consciousness and discovered how to strike the Rakshasa Illusory Power at a critical point in its operation. When Ba Shi attacked the weakened Gan Shizhen, Yu Ci disrupted the flames and sent his Seven Star Talisman Sword into Ba Shi’s mouth as he began absorbing them, just as Gan Shizhen’s sword intent filled the fissure.

• Yu Ci used his Yin Spirit’s shockwave to disrupt the ghost beast’s spiritual power, destroying its consciousness and leaving its body to burn away.
• Yu Ci recognized the remaining flames as Rakshasa Illusory Power and headed deeper into the fissure to ask Gan Shizhen about the Illusion Spirit.
• Ba Shi emerged beside the flames and charged toward the weakened Gan Shizhen, while Yu Ci realized the demon’s spiritual power was too stable to attack the way he had attacked the ghost beast.
• Yu Ci struck the flames three times with his Seven Star Talisman Sword, breaking their operating pattern and knocking the Rakshasa Illusory Power toward Ba Shi.
• Ba Shi began inhaling the disrupted flames, and Yu Ci sent his talisman sword into the demon’s mouth by following the flames’ operating rhythm.
• Gan Shizhen’s sword rang out, filling the fissure with her upright sword intent.

Yu Ci escaped the collapsing rift space with the unconscious Gan Shizhen after destroying Ba Shi, while Bi Chao arranged to keep watch for news of him. In Sky Rending Valley, You Gongquan’s hunting party encountered a powerful young man after he swiftly defeated the Zhao brothers.

• Yu Ci watched the Rakshasa Illusory Power consume Ba Shi, then found the unconscious Gan Shizhen and carried her toward the exit as the rift space began collapsing.
• Yu Ci used the palace ribbon to force a passage through the flames and escaped on the large bird with Gan Shizhen as the surrounding mountain collapsed.
• Bi Chao left the dock and ordered inquiries and regular letters to track Immortal Elder Yu’s whereabouts, despite her companion believing he was dead.
• You Gongquan led his hunting party in search of the Golden-Eyed Poison Ape when a signal drew him toward an injured large bird.
• You Gongquan flew to the rescue and saw the young man in animal skins defeat the Zhao brothers with a cyan-glowing short sword.

Yu Ci joined You Gongquan’s hunting party on the way to Juebi City while carrying the unconscious Gan Shizhen and caring for the exhausted Fatty. During the journey, he examined new changes in his Inner Void, and Fan Lao offered him a Storage Ring in exchange for Fatty.

• You Gongquan invited Yu Ci to travel with his hunting party to Juebi City and offered a carriage and medical help for Gan Shizhen.
• Yu Ci agreed to travel with the group and carried Gan Shizhen out, drawing the attention of the cultivators around them.
• Yu Ci dreamed of a vast mountain-like object collapsing, then woke inside the carriage and found that his Tongshen upper-stage cultivation had stabilized.
• Yu Ci saw that his Inner Void now held a towering mountain and a strand of Rakshasa Illusory Power, suggesting his Xuan Yuan Gen Ben Qi Fa had reached its second stage.
• Fan Lao asked Yu Ci to sell Fatty and offered a Storage Ring in exchange.

Yu Ci overheard Lake and Sea Wanderer plotting against You Gongquan and learned that the group planned to prey on Chu. He alerted You Gongquan and advanced his understanding of the Xuan Yuan Gen Ben Qi Fa, but the chapter ended with someone summoning him to speak with You Gongquan’s master.

• Yu Ci rejected Fan Lao’s offer of his Storage Ring, then sensed Lake and Sea Wanderer and his companions discussing a trap for You Gongquan.
• Lake and Sea Wanderer’s group identified Yu Ci as You Gongquan’s companion and planned to seize Chu after their scheme succeeded.
• Yu Ci used Fan Lao to summon You Gongquan, then realized his Inner Void was beginning to draw in external primal qi and chose to pursue the Xuan Yuan Gen Ben Qi Fa further.
• The hunting party broke camp, and Yu Ci remained with the unconscious Gan Shizhen in the Cloud-Spreading Floating Carriage.
• Someone called Yu Ci over at the request of You Gongquan’s master, and Yu Ci answered with a cold smile.

Yu Ci recognized Ma Cheng’s role in the assault on You Gongquan and struck him while assassins attacked the hunting band. As You Gongquan fought Fu Long and the band’s cultivators faced an ambush, Yu Ci revealed his affiliation with the Li Chen Sect and challenged the attackers.

• Yu Ci dismissed Zeng Liang and heard Ma Cheng’s proposal as the hunting band traveled toward Juebi City.
• Two cultivators staged a dispute and attacked You Gongquan, but he blocked their weapons and killed them.
• Assailants surrounded the caravan in thickening mist, and Fu Long challenged You Gongquan to a duel.
• Ma Cheng urged the hunting band to leave You Gongquan to his attackers, while Yu Ci struck Ma Cheng and wounded his soul.
• As the attackers called for everyone to be killed, Yu Ci announced that he was from the Li Chen Sect and challenged them.

Yu Ci exposed his Li Chen Sect identity and battled Ma Cheng’s group while they activated an anti-air array to trap You Gongquan and Fu Long. He defeated Ma Cheng and the surrounding attackers with thunder and soul-striking techniques, then destroyed the array behind the ridge.

• Yu Ci shouted that he belonged to the Li Chen Sect, but Lake and Sea Wanderer activated the anti-air array and sent You Gongquan and Fu Long crashing down.
• Yu Ci exposed Ma Cheng and several accomplices as traitors, prompting the hunting party to scatter as Ma Cheng ordered his allies to attack Yu Ci.
• Yu Ci unleashed the Five Thunder Talisman and sword intent, overwhelming the attackers and severely injuring Ma Cheng’s divine soul.
• Yu Ci redirected the remaining thunder pearl behind the ridge, where it struck the hidden formation team and caused the anti-air array to dissipate.