Chapter Summaries

Luo Yunji used a thunder technique to kill the Huiwen Golden Eagle, but Tian Buyi and the others feared he had died with it. They found him alive inside the bird, where he was crying because the lightning had ruined some of its meat, and set off with the surviving meat and the eagle's soul.

• Zhang Xiaofan recognized that Luo Yunji was using a cultivation art beyond the Divine Sword Thunder Command True Art, and Tian Buyi prepared to catch him.
• Luo Yunji charged the Huiwen Golden Eagle with a lightning sword and brought it crashing to the ground, disappearing from sight.
• Tian Buyi entered the golden eagle's body and found Luo Yunji alive, loudly mourning the ruined meat.
• Zhang Xiaofan promised to cook the undamaged meat, and Luo Yunji agreed to return with the others.
• Dabai used the Blood Skull to collect the Huiwen Golden Eagle's soul.

After recovering from the fight with the Huiwen Golden Eagle, the group prepared to continue through the strange world beneath the Far North Ice Plains. Dabai explained why Luo Yunji sometimes became unnaturally rational while holding the Ice Bowl, and the chapter ended with the group considering a risky attempt to cross the battlefield where the Fire Qilin fought Golden Eagle chicks.

• Ghost King and the other two dismembered the Huiwen Golden Eagle chick and brought its meat and feathers back to the cave.
• Dabai told Tian Buyi that the Deity’s divine soul and power had merged with Luo Yunji’s incomplete soul, and that Luo Yunji’s bowl-holding state consumed them.
• Zhang Xiaofan cooked the Huiwen Golden Eagle meat for Luo Yunji while He Dazhi studied the feathers and experimented with wind.
• After the group recovered, they saw Golden Eagle chicks attacking a Fire Qilin, and Luo Yunji tried to rush over to collect the fallen corpses.
• Tian Buyi agreed they should attempt to sneak across the battlefield, while Luo Yunji suggested taking the Fire Qilin back to keep Big Blue company.

Luo Yunji’s scavenging drew the attention of the battling eagles and Fire Qilin, forcing him to use the Ice Bowl to protect the group. After they escaped the first attack inside a rolling ice sphere, they found themselves surrounded by the strange beasts again.

• Luo Yunji collected young Golden Eagle corpses and fiery scales while the group slipped into the battlefield, drawing the eagles’ attention.
• The Fire Qilin and the eagle flock stopped fighting and turned on the group, while the Five Spirits formed a barrier against their wind blades and flames.
• Zhang Xiaofan gave Luo Yunji the Ice Bowl, but Luo Yunji threw it aside until Tian Buyi persuaded him to use it.
• Luo Yunji formed an ice sphere that rolled away under the force of the beasts’ attack, tossing the group around inside.
• After the ice sphere stopped, Luo Yunji dispelled the Ice Technique and the group discovered that vultures still circled overhead and the Fire Qilin stood before them.

Luo Yunji summoned the Spirit Dragon to battle the Fire Qilin, then collapsed after sealing it in ice. The group fled as the beast broke free and gave chase, arriving at a field of tall grass that looked familiar.

• Luo Yunji used the Spirit Dragon and Ice Mist to destroy the attacking beasts while battling the Fire Qilin, whose flames he gradually froze.
• The Ghost King and Old Ancestor Fengyue marveled at Luo Yunji’s power, and Zhang Xiaofan’s Dao heart began to waver.
• Luo Yunji sealed the Fire Qilin in ice, dropped the Ice Bowl, and collapsed into Zhang Xiaofan’s arms.
• Tian Buyi retrieved the Ice Bowl as the group ran, but the ice broke and the Fire Qilin pursued them.
• The group reached a field of grass taller than a person, and the Ghost King reminded Old Ancestor Fengyue that the black-robed man’s illusion showed real places and events.

Tian Buyi and the others reached the ruins and met the surviving Seal-Guarding Clan, who revealed that the Black-Robed Men had killed their old Clan Chief and corrupted their people. Dabai declared that he and Luo Yunji would go to the Altar to free the clan and fulfill their mission of guarding the seal.

• Tian Buyi led the group through the grass, and they realized they were lost before Blackheart Elder guided them to the ruins.
• The group found the surviving ancient people, who knelt before the sleeping Luo Yunji and called him the Son of God.
• The middle-aged man told Tian Buyi that the Black-Robed Men had killed the old Clan Chief and many clansmen.
• The middle-aged man explained that the Black-Robed Men had once guarded the Altar but had been corrupted and become minions of the Underworld.
• The middle-aged man said no one could approach the Altar without being corrupted, and Dabai announced that he and Luo Yunji would go there to fulfill their mission.

Dabai and his companions learned the Seal-Guarding Clan’s history and traveled with its survivors toward the Altar, carrying a Stone Box intended for the sleeping Luo Yunji. At the Altar, Luo Yunji’s Black Silk and the Ice Bowl reacted to the black smoke.

• The middle-aged man told Dabai that the Seal-Guarding Clan had guarded the Boundary Rift for ten thousand years and gave him a hide scroll recording its history.
• The middle-aged man revealed that the Black-Robed Men were waiting at the Altar and gave Dabai a Stone Box entrusted to the clan for Luo Yunji.
• Dabai and his companions rested for a day, then set out for the Altar with the Seal-Guarding Clan.
• He Dazhi and Zhang Xiaofan recognized the nine-tiered Altar as identical to the one beneath the Water Marsh.
• As the group approached, Luo Yunji’s Black Silk detached and absorbed the surrounding black smoke, while the Ice Bowl flew from Zhang Xiaofan’s Bamboo Bag and competed with it.

Zhang Xiaofan and the Five Spirits climbed the altar while the Seal-Guarding Clan shielded him from its crushing pressure. At the sixth level, Luo Yunji confronted the lone Black-Robed Man, who refused his command to kneel and revealed the seal guardians’ despair.

• Zhang Xiaofan stepped onto the altar as He Dazhi studied its murals and suspected they depicted a Deity summoned by humans.
• The Five Spirits defeated the four Black-Robed Men guarding the first level, and the Seal-Guarding Clan shielded Zhang Xiaofan and Luo Yunji as they climbed.
• After the Five Spirits defeated the second-level guards, the Ice Bowl’s anomaly awakened Luo Yunji, who began ascending while the Seal-Guarding Clan knelt and Zhang Xiaofan was crushed by the altar’s pressure.
• The Five Spirits fought their way through the third, fourth, and fifth levels, but the lone Black-Robed Man on the sixth level subdued them in one move.
• Luo Yunji ordered the sixth-level Black-Robed Man to kneel, but the man refused and declared his anger over being imprisoned for tens of millions of years and his despair at the seal’s consequences.

Luo Yunji confronted the demon from another realm on the seventh floor while learning that the Nine Realms’ separation threatened their survival. Monk Daoyan transformed into black flames and blocked the demon, allowing Luo Yunji to continue toward the eighth floor.

• The Black-Robed Man accused Luo Yunji of trapping his people for thousands of years, but Luo Yunji forced him to kneel and struck him toward the seventh floor.
• Luo Yunji restored the Five Spirits’ fading forms and confronted a humanlike being from another realm at the top of the seventh floor.
• The demon declared that he intended to reconnect the Nine Realms, and Luo Yunji warned that doing so could destroy the Human Realm.
• Luo Yunji recognized the being as a demon and used refined Underworld aura to suppress his power.
• Dabai called Monk by his former name, Daoyan, and Monk transformed into black flames before climbing to the seventh floor.
• Zhang Xiaofan overcame the Altar’s pressure with his special energy, while Daoyan blocked the demon and let Luo Yunji proceed toward the eighth floor.

Luo Yunji closed the Boundary Rift on the Altar’s eighth level, but the effort exhausted his divine power and soul, leaving him unconscious. After the group regrouped, they confronted the Black-Robed Man on the top level and discovered he was Wuyuan Village’s Old Village Chief.

• Luo Yunji pushed the Bone Bracelet into the Boundary Rift, allowing it to heal, and collapsed as Zhang Xiaofan caught him.
• An eye appeared in the closing rift and threatened Zhang Xiaofan, who struck it with the Fire Poker and shut the rift.
• The black threads consumed the otherworldly visitor on the seventh level, and Zhang Xiaofan carried Luo Yunji back to the others.
• Dabai found the black gemstone in the Ice Bowl incomplete, then placed it on Luo Yunji’s brow to restore his soul.
• The group climbed to the Altar’s top level, where the Black-Robed Man revealed himself as Wuyuan Village’s Old Village Chief.
• Old Village Chief explained that he had watched generations of villagers die over ten thousand years and had acted to give the surviving children something to do.

The Old Village Chief revealed that the Seal-Guarding Clan were vengeful spirits and gave his life to send the final part of what the Son of God needed to Luo Yunji. The Boundary Rift closed and the domain began returning to normal, leaving the seal guardians unsure what freedom could mean for them.

• The Old Village Chief explained that the Seal-Guarding Clan were people who had died after the Boundary Rift appeared, and that he had founded Wuyuan Village to give doubtful clansmen a home.
• The Old Village Chief revealed that he had fused with the Underworld's aura and told Blackheart Elder that he held the final part the Son of God wanted.
• The Old Village Chief urged Blackheart Elder and Lady Jinling to care for each other, then dissolved into black mist that surged into Luo Yunji.
• Black smoke gathered around Luo Yunji in a cocoon as the Boundary Rift disappeared and the Forbidden Domain and Sea of Nether Domain began to shrink.
• Dabai told the kneeling seal guardians they were free, but a middle-aged guardian lamented that vengeful spirits had nowhere to go.

Dabai and the others rested at the Nine-Layer Altar before Zhang Xiaofan found a cave near the battling Fire Qilin and Huiwen Golden Eagle. After the group reached Wuyuan Village, they realized they were still trapped in an illusion and woke to find themselves back at the altar with Luo Yunji.

• Dabai and the others waited for Blackheart Elder while He Dazhi and Ghost King studied the altar carvings and Tian Buyi confirmed that Luo Yunji was only asleep.
• Zhang Xiaofan scouted the battling Fire Qilin and Huiwen Golden Eagle, noticed a cave that seemed to rumble with the wind, and reported it to the group.
• After the beasts returned to their lairs, Zhang Xiaofan led everyone safely past their battlefield to Wuyuan Village.
• The group heard whispers and realized they were still in an illusion, then woke to find themselves at the Nine-Layer Altar in a gray world.
• Luo Yunji emerged from the Bamboo Bag with food and told the shaken group that he had woken them.

Tian Buyi and the others learned that they had been trapped in an illusion throughout their journey through the Sea of Nether Domain, while Blackheart Elder and Lady Jinling found their past regret fulfilled in it. After leaving the ice fields, they reunited with the soldiers, but Luo Yunji remained asleep as he mended his soul, and the group still questioned whether the treasures they had found were real.

• Luo Yunji told the group they had fallen into an illusion after descending to the foot of the mountain, and they fled the dim surroundings to eat and recover.
• Old Ancestor Fengyue urged everyone to continue upward, while Dabai revealed that the Five Spirits had known they were in an illusion and that the illusion was tied to entering the Sea of Nether Domain.
• Blackheart Elder and Lady Jinling bowed toward the mist and recited verses together, grateful that the illusion had fulfilled their wish to marry.
• The group left the ice fields and reunited with the soldiers, Big Yellow, Little Gray, and the two Monster Beasts; Dabai explained that Luo Yunji was asleep while mending his soul.
• Tian Buyi learned that Luo Yunji still needed the other seas to be searched, while Zhang Xiaofan and He Dazhi wondered whether the Fire Qilin scales, Huiwen Golden Eagle feathers, and Nine Heavens Meteorite Iron were real or part of another illusion.

After the group left the Sea of Nether Domain, Zhang Xiaofan and the others encountered Killing Monk, who claimed he had found Flower God's Blessed Land. They followed him into the woods and found it beneath an impossibly tall tree, leaving Tian Buyi and the others wondering whether they had stumbled into another illusion.

• Zhang Xiaofan and Tian Buyi found He Dazhi dazed in his tent, where Dabai and the others explained that the group had already left the illusion and that reality and falsehood depended on one's heart.
• The Loose Cultivator woke He Dazhi with a slap, and the group abandoned their attempts to puzzle out the mystery.
• Zhang Xiaofan reunited with Dabai, Little Gray, and Big Yellow, then examined the unopened Stone Box while traveling with the convoy.
• Killing Monk caught up with the convoy and announced that he had found Flower God's Blessed Land.
• Killing Monk led Tian Buyi, Zhang Xiaofan, and the others into the woods, where they found the Blessed Land beneath a towering tree and questioned whether it was another illusion.

Zhang Xiaofan and the others discovered that the great tree was an illusion concealing a passage to the blessed land. They entered the passage and learned that its platforms were dangerous and disabled magical treasures.

• Ghost King and the others realized they had left the Sea of Nether Domain, and Zhang Xiaofan discovered they could not touch the apparently nearby tree.
• Zhang Xiaofan explained that the Fire Poker had lost its ability to pass through formations after its patterns were damaged in the Sea of Nether Domain.
• Killing Monk opened a hidden entrance by pinching a leaf, and Ghost King rushed through before learning that a deep pit lay beyond.
• Killing Monk led the group into the passage, where Ghost King rose up from the pit and confronted him for failing to warn them.
• Killing Monk warned that the platforms ahead were dangerous, barred magical treasures, and released poisonous gas from both sides when someone stepped onto them.

Zhang Xiaofan and the others crossed the first three stone platforms before Killing Monk warned them that the fourth would affect anyone who stepped on it. Zhang Xiaofan returned from the platform with the same speech problem as Killing Monk, leaving the group unsure how to communicate.

• He Dazhi urged the Ghost King to beat Killing Monk, but Zhang Xiaofan led the group onward when the monk stayed silent.
• The group found no poisonous gas on the second platform, and Zhang Xiaofan crushed a stone statue with one stomp.
• Killing Monk told the group he had reached six platforms, then warned Zhang Xiaofan not to jump onto the fourth platform after he had already landed there.
• Tian Buyi and the others urged Zhang Xiaofan to leave the fourth platform, while Killing Monk explained that it had caused his speech problem.
• Zhang Xiaofan leaped back to the group and stared at He Dazhi with the same delayed-speaking expression as Killing Monk.

Zhang Xiaofan and He Dazhi helped the group overcome the fourth platform’s moisture and the sixth platform’s Porcelain Doll game. After Zhang Xiaofan won the game, they reached the seventh platform and found it completely empty.

• Zhang Xiaofan wrote that Mysterious Gauze blocked the fourth platform’s moisture, allowing Ghost King and the others to cross safely.
• The group found a Porcelain Doll and a hopscotch grid on the sixth platform, and He Dazhi explained that the doll was part of a children’s game.
• Killing Monk and He Dazhi stepped on incorrect squares and were sent flying, while Zhang Xiaofan chose the Wind Sheep square and advanced without triggering an attack.
• Zhang Xiaofan followed the grid, picked up the Porcelain Doll, and cleared the platform, so the group moved on.
• He Dazhi and the others reached the seventh platform and saw that it was entirely empty, without even a pedestal.

Zhang Xiaofan and the others crossed to the seventh platform by navigating invisible barriers that blocked spiritual energy, while Killing Monk fell beneath the platform and later climbed back up unharmed. They found poisonous brown fog between the seventh and eighth platforms, and after the White Elixir failed to counter it, they descended below the platforms to avoid it as Zhang Xiaofan tested the fog with gauze.

• Zhang Xiaofan noticed invisible obstacles between the platforms, and He Dazhi revealed them by sweeping dust and wind through the air.
• Zhang Xiaofan, He Dazhi, Tian Buyi, and the Ghost King reached the seventh platform by carefully navigating the barriers.
• The Ghost King tried to force Killing Monk across, but Killing Monk jumped downward and later climbed onto the seventh platform unharmed.
• Zhang Xiaofan and the others discovered poisonous brown fog between the seventh and eighth platforms, and the White Elixir had no effect on it.
• Tian Buyi, the Ghost King, He Dazhi, and Zhang Xiaofan descended below the platforms to bypass the fog, while Zhang Xiaofan tested it with white gauze.

Zhang Xiaofan tested the ninth platform’s sinking trap, found no passage beneath it, and joined He Dazhi in searching the earlier platforms for the mechanism. Their discovery of a Nine Palaces Diagram and signs that the platforms could move left them poised to investigate further.

• Tian Buyi, He Dazhi, Ghost King, and Killing Monk climbed onto the ninth platform, where Ghost King and Killing Monk began sinking into its surface.
• Zhang Xiaofan rescued Killing Monk, then jumped into the trap himself and confirmed it was only a pit with a restrictive force that grew stronger the farther down he went.
• The group suspected the mechanism might be on an earlier platform, so He Dazhi and Zhang Xiaofan went back to inspect them while Ghost King and Tian Buyi stayed behind.
• He Dazhi cleared dust from a platform and Zhang Xiaofan spotted a Nine Palaces Diagram at its center.
• He Dazhi sent Zhang Xiaofan to check beneath the platform for tracks, and the two returned with delighted smiles after searching below.

Tian Buyi, Ghost King, He Dazhi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Killing Monk entered a hidden courtyard and stripped its pavilion of valuables. On the third floor, they encountered a terrifying presence behind blood-red doors and became trapped between advancing and retreating.

• Tian Buyi and the others arranged the stone platforms into the Nine Palaces formation, revealing a hidden cave, and found Killing Monk had fallen from a platform.
• The group entered a courtyard filled with rare spiritual herbs, and He Dazhi collected the most precious plants in the Mountain and River Fan.
• Ghost King and Tian Buyi led the group into the pavilion, while He Dazhi took its furniture and valuables from the first two floors.
• On the third floor, the group sensed danger and saw blood-red doors open by themselves to reveal a shadow moving in a bedroom.
• Tian Buyi and Ghost King halted their spiritual power when strange voices sounded, leaving the group unable to advance or retreat.
• Zhang Xiaofan quietly wondered whether his Little Junior Brother had awakened, and the thought came out as a murmur.

Zhang Xiaofan rushed into the bedroom and took the Stone, triggering swarms of shadows that forced him and the others to flee the building. Just as Zhang Xiaofan leapt from a window, a green shadow dragged him back into the third floor, where he fought to escape.

• Zhang Xiaofan charged into the bedroom and snatched the grayish-green Stone from the masked figure.
• Dark shadows appeared and attacked Tian Buyi, but Zhang Xiaofan used Taiji Seals to protect him and kicked him down the stairs.
• Ghost King, He Dazhi, Tian Buyi, and Zhang Xiaofan fled toward a window after Killing Monk warned them about transparent figures on the first floor.
• He Dazhi used a whirlwind to sweep away the dust-like shadows while Zhang Xiaofan ate Sugar Beans, then Zhang Xiaofan leapt through the window.
• A green shadow coiled around Zhang Xiaofan and pulled him into the third-floor window, but he struck it and leapt back out.