Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan discovered that most of the Sourceblood Marrow in Lian Yun's treasury had been corrupted, though he secretly intended to take advantage of it with his Origin Art. After the group divided the uncontaminated pieces, they opened another chest containing jade-green, life-filled objects that excited Lian Yun.

• Chen Fan and Hu Jiuguang found nearly three hundred pieces of Sourceblood Marrow, but Hu Jiuguang had to suppress the corruptive power stirred by seeing them.
• Chen Fan discovered that more than eighty percent of the Sourceblood Marrow was corrupted, and Hu Jiuguang and Lian Yun confirmed it could not be safely purified.
• Chen Fan accused Lian Yun of hiding the corruption, while Shi Zhongyu accepted a few contaminated pieces and Chen Fan secretly stored the rest.
• Chen Fan learned that Hu Jiuguang needed sixty pieces of Sourceblood Marrow to advance his bloodline, and the group divided the thirty-one uncontaminated pieces among themselves.
• Hu Jiuguang swallowed his eight pieces, and Lian Yun opened the next chest to reveal jade-green, cocoon-like objects filled with life aura.

Chen Fan, Lian Yun, Shi Zhongyu, and Hu Jiuguang divided the treasures in the outer treasury before preparing to face the guardian of Jade Palace’s deeper treasury. Lian Yun warned that the guardian was likely a powerful alien immortal at the third level or higher, leaving the group facing a trial they might be too weak to overcome.

• Lian Yun traded her Sourceblood Marrow and a larger share of the final chest’s treasures for more Heavenly Spirit Essence, which Hu Jiuguang accepted.
• Chen Fan took the largest share of the Heavenly Spirit Essence contaminated by baleful power, while the others divided the uncontaminated portion.
• Lian Yun opened the final chest, revealing over a thousand Chaos Origin Crystals, and the four divided them.
• Lian Yun said the group should rest before entering the deeper treasury and warned that its guardian was likely a third-level immortal or stronger.
• Shi Zhongyu protested that the four of them could not defeat a third-level immortal, especially while weakened by expelling baleful power.

Lian Yun explained that the Jade Palace’s next guardian would be weakened but still dangerous, and the group decided to rest before continuing. Chen Fan tested ways to purge haunting power from Sourceblood Marrow for Hu Jiuguang’s advancement, but the process was too slow or costly, so he told Hu Jiuguang to refine what he already had.

• Lian Yun told Chen Fan, Shi Zhongyu, and Hu Jiuguang that the next guardian had been weakened by the Silver Demon God’s haunting power but could still be overwhelmingly strong.
• The four agreed to recover before proceeding, and Lian Yun and Shi Zhongyu meditated while Chen Fan led Hu Jiuguang away from the room.
• Chen Fan gave Hu Jiuguang eight clean pieces of Sourceblood Marrow, then used Origin Art to purge haunting power from another piece and found the process took too long.
• Chen Fan used the Origin Pearl to purge a second piece instantly, but realized that purging more than thirty pieces could consume nearly half its power.
• Hu Jiuguang said refining his existing Sourceblood Marrow would take about half a day, so Chen Fan gave him two more pieces and told him to finish refining what he had before they continued.

Chen Fan and the others entered the next chamber of the Jade Palace, where a Giant Spirit guardian emerged beside a vast treasure nest. Recognizing the guardian’s overwhelming strength and suspecting Lian Yun had set them up, Chen Fan abandoned the treasures and prepared to flee.

• Lian Yun and Shi Zhongyu revealed that they planned to kill Chen Fan and Hu Jiuguang after using their strength to defeat the next guardian.
• Chen Fan finished cleansing two pieces of Sourceblood Marrow, and Lian Yun opened the crimson door with a feather.
• The four entered an enormous hall and spotted a towering statue guarding a golden nest filled with precious ores and jade.
• When they approached the nest, the statue shed its stone covering and revealed itself as a powerful Giant Spirit variant.
• White Lord identified the guardian’s Giant Spirit bloodline, and the giant declared that the intruders would die.
• Shi Zhongyu accused Lian Yun of setting them up, while Chen Fan summoned Little Butterfly and decided to escape.

Chen Fan and the others were nearly killed when the giant guarding a bird’s nest unleashed its axe from a distance. They discovered that it would not leave the nest and attacked only intruders who came too close, then wished readers a happy 2023.

• Chen Fan summoned Little Butterfly, picked up Hu Jiuguang, and tried to escape as the giant struck with its axe.
• The attack sent Chen Fan, Hu Jiuguang, Little Butterfly, Lian Yun, and Shi Zhongyu flying, badly injuring Chen Fan, Hu Jiuguang, and Lian Yun.
• Chen Fan recovered with the Origin Pearl and fled through the gate with Hu Jiuguang, then stopped when he saw the giant was not pursuing Lian Yun and Shi Zhongyu.
• Chen Fan returned to the main hall with Hu Jiuguang as the giant ceased attacking and the others realized it seemed unwilling to leave the bird’s nest.
• Lian Yun sent a skeletal figure toward the giant, which destroyed it after it crossed within a hundred zhang.
• Shi Zhongyu and Lian Yun concluded that the giant was a Haunting Demon with little intelligence, driven by an obsession to guard the bird’s nest.

Chen Fan's group failed to overcome the giant guarding the bird's nest, and Chen Fan turned on the badly wounded Lian Yun. Shi Zhongyu stopped the attack by revealing a way for all four of them to trap the giant briefly and reach the nest.

• Lian Yun explained that the bird's nest was the treasure vault, then proposed attacking the giant from a distance.
• Lian Yun fired a bone arrow at the giant, but he caught it and hurled it back, gravely wounding her.
• Shi Zhongyu pulled Lian Yun back with his whip, and she survived because the bone arrow was part of her body.
• Chen Fan attacked Lian Yun and urged Shi Zhongyu and Hu Jiuguang to help him take her possessions, since they could not reach the nest.
• Shi Zhongyu revealed that a special treasure and the combined strength of all four could trap the giant briefly, giving Chen Fan's spirit beast a chance to reach the nest.

Chen Fan and the others considered Shi Zhongyu’s plan to use a formation and the God-Sealing Lamp to restrain the giant and reach the bird’s nest. After agreeing to take the formation core, Chen Fan abruptly changed his mind just as the formation was ready, angering Shi Zhongyu.

• Lian Yun revealed that her token could unlock the final treasure inside the bird’s nest, while Shi Zhongyu offered a way to hold back the giant.
• Shi Zhongyu showed the All-Stars Heavenly Dipper Formation Disk and the God-Sealing Lamp, explaining that the formation could pool their strength so the lamp could trap the giant briefly.
• Chen Fan agreed to take the formation core after Shi Zhongyu promised to teach him how to control the God-Sealing Lamp.
• Lian Yun supplied two Dao Artifacts, and Shi Zhongyu used them with his own orb to arrange the formation.
• Shi Zhongyu took the formation core and directed Chen Fan, Hu Jiuguang, and Lian Yun to their positions, but Chen Fan suddenly withdrew from his agreement, prompting Shi Zhongyu to accuse him of playing him.

Chen Fan and the others entered the bird's nest to seize its treasures, but Lian Yun revealed her true allegiance at its core. After Chen Fan struck her down, a mysterious being began to emerge from the golden cocoon.

• Shi Zhongyu used the formation and God-Sealing Lamp to trap the giant, while Chen Fan, Hu Jiuguang, and Lian Yun recovered their strength.
• Chen Fan and Lian Yun rode Little Butterfly through the bird's nest, following the crimson feather's guidance to its blazing core.
• At the core, Lian Yun called the being inside her master and knelt before the golden sphere with the feather.
• Chen Fan attacked Lian Yun, but a powerful force from the sphere blasted him away and set his armor and clothes ablaze.
• A fair arm tore through the golden cocoon, and the crimson feather floated into its palm.

Chen Fan discovered that the woman resembling Queen Jialan was a powerful being sealed in the Jade Palace, and she trapped him and the others inside her Mind-Aspect World. With Shi Zhongyu revealed as a third-level Longevity Realm cultivator, the factions faced one another in the divided fiery realm.

• The red-haired woman emerged from the flames, restored Lian Yun, and recognized Chen Fan as the Heaven-Splitting Sword Sect disciple who had helped her escape.
• Chen Fan fled the bird's nest with Little Butterfly, but the woman trapped him, Hu Jiuguang, and Shi Zhongyu inside her Mind-Aspect World.
• Shi Zhongyu identified the woman's realm as the fourth level of Longevity, then revealed his own concealed third-level cultivation and released the giant from the God-Sealing Lamp.
• The woman mocked the demonized giant and divided her small world into three sections, keeping herself and Shi Zhongyu apart from Chen Fan, Hu Jiuguang, the giant, and Lian Yun with the bird's nest.

Chen Fan tried to turn the giant into an ally by purifying it, but its attacks forced him to rely on Hu Jiuguang as a distraction. He armored and empowered Hu Jiuguang with purified Sourceblood Marrow, and Hu Jiuguang charged the giant while Chen Fan prepared to act from concealment.

• "Jialan" separated Shi Zhongyu from Chen Fan, Hu Jiuguang, and the giant, while Shi Zhongyu guessed that she had not recovered her full strength.
• Chen Fan decided the giant was his best chance to survive and approached it with the Origin Pearl to try to purify it, but the giant sensed him and struck him away.
• Chen Fan asked Hu Jiuguang to absorb Sourceblood Marrow under pressure so he could hold off the giant, and Hu Jiuguang admitted he could not withstand its attacks without help.
• Chen Fan wrapped Hu Jiuguang in the White Emperor Armor and purified fifty Sourceblood Marrows with the Origin Pearl before feeding them to him.
• Hu Jiuguang grew to over a hundred zhang tall, turned scarlet as the Sourceblood Marrow took effect, and charged the giant with a massive blade.

Hu Jiuguang endured the giant’s attacks while absorbing Sourceblood Marrow and finally advanced to the Demon Emperor level. Still outmatched in strength, he followed Chen Fan’s order to hold the giant at any cost, leaving Chen Fan to prepare a counterattack.

• The giant overwhelmed Hu Jiuguang and shattered Chen Fan’s Seven-Kill Sword slash, while Little Butterfly repeatedly rescued Hu Jiuguang from its attacks.
• Hu Jiuguang grew stronger under the giant’s pressure and absorbed enough Sourceblood Marrow to advance to the Demon Emperor level.
• Chen Fan ordered Hu Jiuguang to keep the giant occupied, but Hu Jiuguang remained weaker in direct combat and was badly injured again.
• Chen Fan ordered Hu Jiuguang to tie down the giant even at the cost of another life, and Hu Jiuguang grabbed and bit the giant despite its relentless axe strikes.
• Chen Fan saw an opportunity as Hu Jiuguang’s violet flames swallowed his blood and his flesh continued regenerating under the giant’s assault.

Chen Fan used the Origin Pearl to free Wen Bu from his karmic affliction, learning that the pearl held the power of the Origin Primordial Demon. Wen Bu explained that they could escape Dark Bird’s mind-image world only if she released them or was killed, leaving Chen Fan with little hope of escape.

• Chen Fan poured the Origin Pearl’s power into the giant, restoring Wen Bu’s sanity, and Wen Bu’s golden eye blasted apart Hu Jiuguang’s head.
• Wen Bu recognized the Origin Pearl’s power as that of the Origin Primordial Demon, introduced himself as Wen Bu, and thanked Chen Fan for freeing him.
• Chen Fan stored Hu Jiuguang’s corpse in Star Hall, where Hu Jiuguang revived as a seven-tailed fox and began eating his own body to recover.
• Wen Bu explained that Dark Bird’s mind-image world could be escaped by force, with her permission, or by killing her, but their only realistic options were the latter two.
• Wen Bu said Dark Bird was an undying divine beast and that he lacked the strength to defeat or kill her, leaving Chen Fan to ask whether they could only rely on her letting them go.

Chen Fan watched the Dark Bird battle Shi Zhongyu and gained a breakthrough in his Flame Dao Domain by comprehending her flame Dao resonance. After learning that the Dark Bird’s true body remained trapped in the Heavenly Gold Nest and that Wen Bu knew how to open it, Chen Fan saw a possible way out, just as the Dark Bird approached them.

• Chen Fan observed the Dark Bird’s battle and advanced his Flame Dao Domain to the second level.
• Wen Bu explained that the Heavenly Gold Nest sheltered the Dark Bird’s true body from karmic corruption but had also trapped her inside.
• Wen Bu revealed that he knew how to open the nest’s seals and said it was their only chance to escape.
• The Dark Bird killed Shi Zhongyu by swallowing him in her flames and absorbing his body and True Essence.
• The Dark Bird flew to Chen Fan and Wen Bu as the separated layers of the small world dissipated.

Dark Bird asked Wen Bu to help free her true body from the Heavenly Gold Nest, but Wen Bu said neither of them could refine the nine-star Dao artifact. He proposed that Chen Fan, the inheritor of the Origin Primordial Demon's power, refine it, and Chen Fan followed him while doubting the offer was truly selfless.

• Wen Bu woke and praised Dark Bird for arranging her escape through a fragment spirit, while Chen Fan realized she had been behind Jialan's schemes.
• Dark Bird threatened to kill Wen Bu and seize the Silver Glazed Cup, but Wen Bu warned that the Glazed Lantern might not free her true body and could corrupt her.
• Wen Bu said someone had to refine the Heavenly Gold Nest, and Dark Bird questioned why her servant Lian Yun could not do it.
• Wen Bu revealed that Chen Fan had helped him purge karmic corruption because Chen Fan inherited the Origin Primordial Demon's power.
• Dark Bird agreed to let Chen Fan refine the nest, and Wen Bu shrank and led Chen Fan away as Chen Fan wondered what Wen Bu expected in return.

Chen Fan and Wen Bu escaped the Dark Bird’s mindscape after Chen Fan partially refined the Heavenly Gold Nest, which gave them leverage against her. Wen Bu then proposed that they pursue the Silver Glazed Cup, and when Chen Fan tried to leave, Wen Bu pulled him into his own mindscape, forcing him to cooperate.

• Chen Fan followed Wen Bu into the Heavenly Gold Nest while the Dark Bird stayed outside, wary that the artifact could trap her.
• After Chen Fan refined part of the nest and expelled some baleful power, the Dark Bird regained strength and released Chen Fan and Wen Bu from her mindscape.
• The Dark Bird headed toward the Central Tower to seize the Glazed Lantern, but Wen Bu refused to help because his power had not recovered.
• Wen Bu asked Chen Fan to help obtain the Silver Glazed Cup, but Chen Fan refused and tried to escape on Little Butterfly.
• Wen Bu dragged Chen Fan into his mindscape, and Chen Fan abandoned his escape and agreed to hear Wen Bu’s plan.

Wen Bu took Chen Fan to the Fountain of Youth so its life force could replenish the depleted Origin Pearl. After confirming that purified spring water restored the pearl, Wen Bu entered the spring to retrieve its spring eye while Chen Fan waited outside and refined energy from the surrounding corruption.

• Wen Bu revealed that the Glazed Lantern had a hidden wick in the Central Tower and needed Chen Fan's Origin Pearl to refine it.
• Wen Bu brought Chen Fan through an underground cavern, where Chen Fan collected valuable blue crystal ore from the Jade Palace.
• Wen Bu showed Chen Fan the corrupted Fountain of Youth, whose water could restore the Origin Pearl if its spring eye produced enough fresh water.
• Chen Fan purified a handful of spring water and confirmed that the Origin Pearl recovered energy by absorbing it.
• Wen Bu entered the spring to retrieve its spring eye, while Chen Fan sat outside refining energy and strengthening his cultivation.
• Wen Bu emerged from the spring less than a quarter of an hour later.

Chen Fan purified the Spring Spirit, which acknowledged him as its master, and used it to produce Spring of Life water that replenished the Origin Pearl. After Wen Bu gave him a space pendant to carry the spirit, they left the cavern and found powerful figures waiting beneath the still-unemerged Glazed Lantern.

• Wen Bu revealed the Spring Spirit, and Chen Fan purified it after the Origin Pearl alone failed to remove all its corrupt power.
• The Spring Spirit acknowledged Chen Fan as its master, and Chen Fan collected the remaining spring water despite its corrupt power.
• Chen Fan fed the Spring Spirit Origin Crystals, producing Spring of Life water that restored part of the Origin Pearl's power; Wen Bu added two rare yellow crystals to replenish it fully.
• Wen Bu gave Chen Fan a corrupt-power-tainted space pendant, which Chen Fan purified and used to store the Spring Spirit, its cauldron, and supplies.
• Chen Fan and Wen Bu left the underground cavern and saw powerful figures gathered beneath the central tower, waiting for the Glazed Lantern to emerge.

Chen Fan watched Dark Bird defeat her rivals and take the Glazed Lantern, then followed Wen Bu into the Central Tower to seek its core. After a Calamity-Extinguishing Divine Wind nearly destroyed him, Wen Bu protected him as they reached a dark altar where a red light flickered.

• Chen Fan learned that Dark Bird could display peak fourth-level Chang Sheng strength, and he sensed the Sword Sect and Demon Sect experts fighting her for the Glazed Lantern.
• Dark Bird defeated her opponents and left with the Glazed Lantern, while Moment Sword Emperor and Thousand-Handed Old Man stayed behind to fight.
• Chen Fan asked Wen Bu to help Moment Sword Emperor, and Wen Bu shattered Thousand-Handed Old Man's body with a single punch before Moment Sword Emperor fled.
• Wen Bu led Chen Fan into the ruined Central Tower and opened a hidden passage beneath it, warning him about the dangers near the lantern's core.
• A gust of Calamity-Extinguishing Divine Wind stripped the flesh from Chen Fan's body, but Wen Bu suppressed it with golden light while the Origin Pearl restored him.
• Wen Bu shielded Chen Fan from further gusts, and they reached an underground altar with a red light flickering at its center.

Chen Fan and Wen Bu confronted a powerful Marauder guarding the Lamp Core, and Wen Bu trapped it in his mind-image space. As Wen Bu tried to refine the Lamp Core with Chen Fan’s help, the haunting power overwhelmed Chen Fan, leaving Wen Bu corrupted and Chen Fan apparently crushed.

• A Marauder ambushed Chen Fan, but Wen Bu blocked its attack and fought it through the darkness.
• Wen Bu revealed that the Marauder had once been a fifth-level Longevity being and trapped it in his mind-image space.
• Wen Bu brought Chen Fan to the Lamp Core and forced him to use the Origin Pearl to shield them from its haunting power.
• The Lamp Core unleashed a surge of haunting power, causing Chen Fan’s eyes to turn red and the Origin Pearl’s protection to falter.
• Wen Bu was corrupted, smashed Chen Fan into a mangled mass, and seized the falling Origin Pearl.

Chen Fan survived Wen Bu’s attack by using a clone, then escaped the Jade Palace after Wen Bu was decapitated by the Marauder. Near the spatial rift, Chen Fan captured another Marauder and slaughtered the Demon Sect disciples before fleeing.

• Wen Bu failed to activate the Origin Pearl, and the Lamp Core’s haunting power erupted as the Mutated Blood Demon exposed terrifying Abyss-like power.
• The Marauder escaped Wen Bu’s mindscape, severed his head, and forced him to flee by detonating the vertical eye between his brows.
• Chen Fan revealed that he had used a clone, recovered the Origin Pearl, stored the Mutated Blood Demon and Wen Bu’s body, and fled toward the spatial rift with Little Butterfly.
• Chen Fan spotted a Marauder fighting Demon Sect disciples, descended to capture it, and then killed Black Whirlwind and the other disciples while sparing several Haunting Demons.
• Chen Fan stored the Haunting Demons in the Star Hall and rushed toward the spatial passage.