Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan fought off the Spirit God Dao Sect’s phantom, but its Withered Silence ability began draining his cultivation and True Essence. He feigned being disabled by a hidden soul attack, then revealed himself and struck at the Yichan Palace Master when she approached.

• The phantom blocked Chen Fan’s sword strike, offered him another chance to join the Dao Sect, and attacked him with Withered Silence after he refused.
• Chen Fan’s cultivation fell from the ninth level to the eighth, and his True Essence began steadily diminishing.
• Chen Fan moved to kill the weakened Liu Hanyin, but an unseen soul attack struck him and was intercepted by the Star God Seal.
• The Yichan Palace Master appeared, explaining that she had waited for Liu Hanyin to draw out Chen Fan’s methods before delivering a final blow.
• Chen Fan pretended to be incapacitated, then activated the second level of Berserk and unleashed his fourth-level Fire Saint Sword at the approaching Yichan Palace Master.

Chen Fan killed the Palace Master of Yichan Palace and tracked down Fu Chi, killing him as well. After recovering on the way, he reached the town where his eldest senior brother Fan Zhong and his family were staying.

• Chen Fan waited for the Palace Master of Yichan Palace's protective phantom to fade, then killed her with the Primordial Sword.
• Chen Fan learned from Feng Yiye that Fu Chi had fled south of Great Qing, so he changed course to pursue him.
• Chen Fan found Fu Chi in a gorge and killed him with the Seven-Kill Sword.
• Chen Fan traveled toward Fan Zhong's location while absorbing Blood Crystals to recover, then arrived above a small town where Fan Zhong and his family were staying.

Chen Fan arrived in a town and reunited with Fan Lin and Fan Zhong, only to be ambushed by Yu Tianlei. After protecting the Fan Family, Chen Fan admitted that he had killed Yu Tianlei’s younger brother, Yu Tianbao.

• Chen Fan sensed a Tenth Realm martial artist in the town and discovered it was Fan Lin, who had fled Great Qian with his family after disbanding the Azure Python Army.
• Fan Lin told Chen Fan that Great Qian’s situation had worsened and asked whether the rumors about Chen Fan killing Emperor Liu Wei were true.
• Fan Zhong greeted Chen Fan, but Yu Tianlei suddenly emerged from concealment and struck him with a powerful sword attack.
• Chen Fan blocked most of the attack with the White Emperor Armor and swept the Fan Family into Star Hall for their safety.
• Yu Tianlei said he had come to ask whether Chen Fan had killed Yu Tianbao, and Chen Fan admitted that he had.

Chen Fan killed Yu Tianlei after surviving his devastating sword strike, and Yu Tianlei’s swordsmanship helped Chen Fan advance his sword domain to the second level. Searching Yu Tianlei’s Sumeru Ring, Chen Fan discovered a remnant page of the Heavenly Scripture containing the Void Concealment technique.

• Yu Tianlei confronted Chen Fan over Yu Tianbao’s death and challenged him to withstand his strongest sword strike.
• Chen Fan and Yu Tianlei exchanged blows, and Chen Fan killed Yu Tianlei, though Yu Tianlei’s sword left a deep wound across Chen Fan’s face.
• Chen Fan realized Yu Tianlei’s sword had helped his sword domain break through to the second level, even as his dissipating True Essence continued to threaten his cultivation.
• Chen Fan collected Yu Tianlei’s possessions and found a large rune-covered metal fragment in his Sumeru Ring.
• Chen Fan activated the fragment and discovered that it was a remnant page of the Heavenly Scripture containing the first two levels of Void Concealment, the technique Yu Tianlei had used to hide himself.

Chen Fan sought a way to counter the Withered Silence divine ability that was draining his cultivation. He discovered that Chen Xi’s Life Pearl could slow the effect, but concluded that he needed a stronger item to remove it.

• Chen Fan fled Great Qing with Little Butterfly and brought his companions into Star Hall, where he healed Dong Guzhi with a pill and restored his strength.
• Chen Fan asked White Lord about the Withered Silence divine ability, then used the Sun-Covering Mirror to seek a solution.
• The Sun-Covering Mirror pointed Chen Fan to Chen Xi, whose Sumeru Ring held the Life Pearl he had once given her.
• Chen Fan charged the Life Pearl beside the Medicine King and used it on himself, discovering that it only slightly slowed the dissipation of his cultivation.
• Chen Fan concluded that a more potent item could break the divine ability and recalled that the Life Pearl had come from the Kunwu Secret Realm.

Chen Fan searched for the Kunwu Secret Realm but could not find its entrance, so he entered nearby Kunwu City to learn more. He discovered that the realm opened once every ten years and released twenty tokens, leaving him wondering who or what operated it.

• Chen Fan searched the mapped area for the Kunwu Secret Realm’s entrance but found no sign of it or any nearby martial artists.
• Chen Fan found Kunwu City, entered despite its rule against attacking martial artists, and saw that it was filled with powerful fighters.
• Chen Fan asked an inn waiter about Kunwu City and learned that a martial artist who had gained a fortunate opportunity in the secret realm founded it.
• Chen Fan learned that the secret realm opened every ten years and released twenty Kunwu Tokens, each allowing five people to enter.
• Chen Fan wondered whether someone or something was operating the secret realm behind the scenes.

Chen Fan learned how Kunwu Tokens and auctioned entry spots worked, then waited more than three months for Kunwu City's grand auction. He arrived at the First Auction House, where powerful martial artists had gathered for an auction featuring a Kunwu Secret Realm entry spot and a Dao Artifact.

• Chen Fan learned that Kunwu Tokens emerged every ten years and were extremely difficult to intercept, possibly requiring strength beyond the tenth level.
• The waiter explained that the Falling Star Pavilion, founded by the City Lord, gathered martial artists and sent members into the Kunwu Secret Realm, but its exact dangers remained secret.
• Chen Fan learned that entry spots were sometimes auctioned and that the next auction would offer one for more than ten thousand Origin Crystals.
• The waiter told Chen Fan the Kunwu Secret Realm would open in half a year, and Chen Fan asked where to find the First Auction House.
• More than three months later, Chen Fan arrived at the First Auction House and sensed numerous tenth-level experts gathered for its grand auction.

After three months of preparation, Chen Fan secured a Kunwu Secret Realm entry spot at auction for nearly twenty thousand Origin Crystals. He agreed to meet its owner, Cheng Hai, when the realm opened, while Cheng Hai worried that Chen Fan’s eighth-level cultivation made him too weak to serve as backup.

• Chen Fan learned about the Kunwu Secret Realm’s deadly risks and prepared by trading useless items for resources and supplies.
• Chen Fan won an entry spot at the First Auction House for nearly twenty thousand Origin Crystals.
• Chen Fan met the token’s owner, Cheng Hai, and gave the false name Zhang Fan.
• Cheng Hai warned Chen Fan about the danger, but Chen Fan insisted on entering and agreed to meet Cheng Hai when the realm opened.
• After Chen Fan left, Yuan Yao and Cheng Hai discussed his low cultivation and questioned whether he could protect them.

Chen Fan refined his Void-Escaping Wings to the second tier and prepared for the opening of the Kunwu Secret Realm. When Cheng Hai failed to meet him, Chen Fan tracked him to the vicinity of the realm’s entrance and suspected he had been deceived.

• Chen Fan successfully advanced his Void-Escaping Wings to the second tier, increasing their uses to nine and their range to fifty zhang.
• Chen Fan set Void Concealment to idle cultivation and witnessed Kunwu City’s protective rule incinerate two Grandmasters who fought in the street.
• Chen Fan contacted Cheng Hai and arranged to meet him on the day the Kunwu Secret Realm opened.
• Cheng Hai failed to appear by dusk, and Chen Fan could not reach him through his communication stone.
• Chen Fan used Cheng Hai’s blood and the Sun-Covering Mirror to locate him near the entrance to the Kunwu Secret Realm.

Cheng Shu replaced the final member of his secret-realm party with Zong Quan, admitting he had cheated Chen Fan out of the slot. After entering the Kunwu Secret Realm, Chen Fan pursued the first Kunwu Token, while the opening scramble showed how difficult it was to catch one.

• Cheng Shu introduced Zong Quan as the fifth member of his party, then told Senior Brother Gao he had denied Chen Fan the slot because Chen Fan was too weak.
• As the Kunwu Secret Realm opened, Cheng Shu used a Kunwu Token to lead his four companions inside.
• Chen Fan lost track of Cheng Shu, realized he had entered the realm, and headed toward the gateway to seize a token himself.
• The first Kunwu Token shot past the gathered martial artists, evading their Dao Domains and a Dao Fruit expert’s giant hand.
• A young girl teased the blue-robed Young City Lord after he failed to catch the first token, and he said Falling Star Pavilion had reserve tokens.

Chen Fan caught up to the Kunwu Token and found that it had chosen Zaro, a young martial artist from Kunwu City. After killing Turado, who tried to seize the token, Chen Fan agreed to let Zaro enter the Kunwu Secret Realm with him; as they prepared to leave, two newcomers arrived seeking the token.

• Chen Fan pursued the Kunwu Token on Little Butterfly, intercepted it repeatedly, and watched it fall into Zaro’s hands after traveling just over a hundred li.
• Chen Fan introduced himself as Zhang Fan and offered Zaro a place in the Kunwu Secret Realm, asking whether he was prepared to enter.
• Turado arrived, demanded Zaro’s token, and was killed with a single sword strike by Chen Fan.
• Zaro chose to enter the Kunwu Secret Realm and handed the token to Chen Fan, who learned about Zaro’s family and background.
• Chen Fan discovered he could not store the token in his Sumeru Ring and held it as he prepared to lead Zaro onward.
• A four-winged giant bird landed nearby, and two figures asked Chen Fan whether the Kunwu Token had fallen there.

Chen Fan and Zaro agreed to let Lanruo and Wisdom join them in using the Kunwu Token, then entered the Kunwu Secret Realm together. They arrived in a crowded hall, where Chen Fan discovered that his divine sense had been severely restricted.

• Lanruo asked Chen Fan and Zaro for two places in the secret realm, and they agreed to let her and Wisdom join them.
• Lanruo gave Chen Fan and Zaro two Heaven-grade pills and explained that she and Wisdom had come from the Central Region.
• Lanruo warned the group to prepare for restrictions inside the secret realm, so Chen Fan took out pills and other supplies before activating the token.
• Chen Fan, Zaro, Lanruo, and Wisdom were transported into a vast hall where thirty or forty martial artists had gathered.
• Chen Fan tried to probe the crowd with his divine sense but found its range suppressed to less than five zhang.

Chen Fan and his companions entered the Kunwu Secret Realm, where their cultivation and equipment were heavily restricted and they could not access their spatial treasures. As they waited in a sealed hall for an hourglass to empty, Situ Xue established an alliance to prevent infighting.

• Chen Fan discovered that the secret realm suppressed cultivation, divine sense, and access to spatial treasures, while leaving physical strength mostly intact.
• Chen Fan learned that his preparations, including pills, Blood Crystals, the Flying Shadow Sword, and White Emperor Armor, offered some advantages, though their powers were restricted.
• Situ Xue, the Young City Lord of Kunwu City and deputy master of Falling Star Pavilion, announced rules against attacking other teams or individuals without cause.
• Chen Fan learned that the hall was sealed and its occupants were waiting for an hourglass by the light door to run out.
• Chen Fan found that the secret realm restricted talismans and equipment, including the enhancement and defensive effects of his White Emperor Armor and the power of his Flying Shadow Sword.

Chen Fan and the other martial artists entered the first trial, Nine Deaths, One Life, where only one of nine paths was safe. A group of black-clad martial artists began forcing people into the passages, and Situ Xue stepped in to confront their leader.

• Situ Xue led the martial artists through the gate into a crystal cavern with nine branching paths, where a voice announced that only one path led to survival.
• Chen Fan and the others failed to investigate the passages with divine sense, puppets, spiritual pets, or weapons, and realized they might have to enter in person.
• The leader of the black-clad group threw a martial artist into the first passage, where an invisible force ground him into minced flesh.
• The black-clad leader and his companions forced two more martial artists into separate passages, killing them as the crowd recoiled.
• Situ Xue blocked the black-clad leader and accused him of breaking their agreement not to fight among themselves.

Situ Xue confronted the black-clad men for forcing others to scout the nine passageways, but their clash revealed their strength and the leader’s terrifying power. Situ Xue identified them as members of the Blood God Sect, whose followers included people with the powerful God-Defying Race bloodline.

• The black-clad leader defended forcing weaker martial artists to test the passageways, and Situ Xue called on others to capture the group and make them scout instead.
• The black-clad men fought back against Situ Xue’s allies, and Situ Xue struck them down with Overlord's Dominion.
• The black-clad leader evaded Situ Xue’s attack, then matched and overpowered him with a metal staff as Chen Fan watched warily.
• Situ Xue recognized the black-clad men as members of the Blood God Sect.
• Chen Fan asked Lan Ruo about the Blood God Sect, and she explained that its followers worshipped the Blood God and that some possessed the God-Defying Race bloodline.

Chen Fan and the others watched as Hilo of the Blood God Sect forced martial artists through the passages to find a way forward, while Situ Xue refused to protect anyone outside the Falling Star Pavilion. After the group discovered another chamber of nine passages, Hilo and Situ Xue singled out the weakest martial artists, and Hilo crushed a man who tried to rally them.

• Hilo revealed that he was the Blood God Sect's Third Protector, and Situ Xue ended their fight rather than risk exposing his trump cards.
• Situ Xue allowed Hilo to attack the independent cultivators who had supported him, and Hilo defeated them and threw them into the passages.
• After finding another chamber of nine passages, Hilo tested two more martial artists, then demanded that a young Kunwu City martial artist scout the way.
• Situ Xue proposed that martial artists below the tenth layer be sent into the passages, and Hilo ordered them to step forward.
• A tall martial artist urged the weaker cultivators to unite against Hilo, but Hilo struck him into a passage and crushed him.

Chen Fan’s group passed through the one safe passage after Lanruo identified it, then entered a hall where they encountered the renowned expert Yi Bu. The chapter left Chen Fan assessing Yi Bu’s immense strength and reputation.

• Xiluo pressured the remaining martial artists to test the passages and selected Chen Fan’s group, but Chen Fan refused to comply.
• Lanruo claimed she had found the safe passage and walked through it without being attacked.
• Xiluo and the others followed Lanruo through the safe passage, and Chen Fan examined its differences before entering.
• Chen Fan’s group reached a great hall where dozens of martial artists, including many from Falling Star Pavilion, had gathered.
• Situ Xue greeted Yi Bu, and Lanruo told Chen Fan that Yi Bu was a peak Dao Fruit expert with a Blood Body who had once fought a longevity expert to a draw.

After the first round of the Game of Life and Death Road, Chen Fan and his team entered a team battle where they had to defeat other teams and obtain two Kunwu Tokens. Chen Fan set out alone to hunt Cheng Hai’s team, while Lanruo and Wisdom prepared to seek tokens elsewhere and Zaro stayed behind.

• The Kunwu Tokens announced that the second trial required teams to defeat one another and collect at least two tokens, then transported the survivors to a desolate gorge.
• Chen Fan told Zaro, Lanruo, and Wisdom to protect themselves and meet him in two hours while he went to kill opponents.
• Lanruo and Wisdom decided to act without Zaro, leaving him to find a hiding place nearby.
• Chen Fan tracked Cheng Hai’s team using a mark from his Spirit Attachment Technique and considered them an easy target for his first fight.
• Chen Fan tested the Void-Escaping Wings and discovered they still worked at their full fifty-zhang range within the secret realm, though each use required time to recover.

Chen Fan tracked Cheng Hai’s team through the Kunwu Secret Realm but fell into an ambush laid by a woman from Falling Star Pavilion and four body cultivators. After slaughtering the four attackers, he pursued the fleeing woman, unaware that another woman had witnessed the fight and escaped.

• Chen Fan searched the forest for Cheng Hai’s team while conserving his True Essence and relying on his physical strength and lightning path.
• A Falling Star Pavilion woman and four body cultivators ambushed Chen Fan, but he evaded their trap with his Void-Escaping Wings.
• The woman demanded Chen Fan’s Kunwu Token, and he challenged her group to take it.
• Chen Fan killed the four body cultivators with his Seven-Kill Sword technique, and the woman fled.
• Chen Fan collected the fallen men’s valuables and chased the woman while an unseen witness fled from a distant tree.

Chen Fan tracked down and killed Ling'er after she tried to ambush him, while Situ Xue received the recording of her death. Chen Fan then caught up with Cheng Hai's team, who had just learned of his strength, and attacked them.

• Chen Fan used his Demon-Killing Eye to find Ling'er and ran her through with the Flying Shadow Sword.
• Ling'er tried to trick Chen Fan with a lethal talisman and threatened him with a recording restriction, but Chen Fan dodged the attack, changed his appearance, and beheaded her.
• Situ Xue received the recording of Ling'er's death and wondered who had killed her as he looked toward the Crystal Palace.
• Yuan Yao told Cheng Hai's team that Zhang Fan had killed three body-tempering experts at once, and the team feared Chen Fan would come after them.
• Chen Fan appeared in the forest and shouted, "Cheng Hai, die!"