Chapter Summaries

Shen Luo and the Heavenly Mechanism City elders pursued Mo Xin’s group through the Black Abyss Mystery Cavern after it split at a fork. The party pushed through Yin Beast attacks and reached another passage junction with seven or eight branches.

• Yan Wushi told Shen Luo that the cavern held rare yin-aspected materials and was rumored to contain a vast treasure hoard.
• At a fork, Elder Mei used silver powder to track the other cultivators and learned that Mo Xin had taken the right passage with the Yellow Sand Sect.
• Shen Luo said the cavern’s dense yin energy blurred his sense of the mark, and Elder Mei decided their group should follow Mo Xin while Elder Mo Wang’s group took the other passage.
• Shen Luo used the Black Jade Plate to mark Elder Mo Wang’s location on a communication token before the groups separated.
• Elder Mei hurried his group after Mo Xin, leading them through several Yin Beast attacks to a junction with seven or eight passages.

Shen Luo, Elder Mei, and Yan Wushi survived a bloodthirsty mist and rescued the Heavenly Mechanism City disciples, only to be surrounded by a vast horde of powerful yin beasts. Two Earthly Fiend Corpse Kings appeared, including the one who had once severely wounded Shen Luo with her Golden Cannon.

• A blood-red mist drove the Heavenly Mechanism City disciples into a murderous frenzy, but Shen Luo, Elder Mei, and Yan Wushi escaped its effects.
• Elder Mei used an Azure Puppet Armor to clear the mist and pull the frenzied disciples to safety, while Shen Luo used the Dingyuan Sarira to calm their minds.
• Black yin qi engulfed the group, and Shen Luo used the Bloodthirst Banner and Soft-Smoke Silk Robe to defend himself as the others broke through the darkness.
• The black qi scattered, revealing the group surrounded by dozens of Great Vehicle Stage yin beasts and many more Out-of-Body Stage beasts.
• Two Earthly Fiend Corpse Kings emerged from the horde, including the Golden Cannon wielder who had once badly injured Shen Luo.

Shen Luo fought his way out of the yin beasts’ encirclement and seized the Golden Cannon from the female corpse king. He escaped underground, but ended up separated from Yan Wushi and the others, with no trace of the Heavenly Mechanism City group.

• Elder Mei used a purple banner to unleash blinding, poisonous mist against the yin beasts, while Shen Luo resisted its effects and charged toward the edge of the encirclement.
• The female corpse king fired the Golden Cannon at Shen Luo, who countered with layered defenses and the Mysterious Yellow Unity Staff, collapsing the underground cavern.
• Shen Luo found the buried female corpse king, cut her into pieces with crimson sword threads, destroyed the hand holding the Golden Cannon, and took the weapon.
• Shen Luo escaped through the earth using the Soft-Smoke Silk Robe and Earth-Escape Talisman, then searched for Yan Wushi and the others but found no trace of the Heavenly Mechanism City group.

Shen Luo left his companions behind in Doll City and went deeper into the Black Abyss Mystery Cavern, hoping to find Fu Donglai. After killing two Yin Beasts, he discovered a dead Heavenly Mechanism City disciple whose notes revealed the secret art for tempering the divine soul and controlling Puppet Armor.

• Shen Luo worried about Fu Donglai, concealed himself with an Invisibility Talisman, and hurried deeper into the cavern while examining the Golden Cannon.
• Shen Luo failed to control the Golden Cannon and continued along the passage toward the faint Magic Power Mark.
• Shen Luo killed two Yin Beasts that were dragging the corpse of a young Heavenly Mechanism City disciple.
• Shen Luo took and refined the disciple's storage ring, finding two Puppet Armors, supplies, and a notebook.
• Shen Luo learned from the notebook how Puppet Armor worked and that Heavenly Mechanism City used the Heavenly Mechanism Soul Tempering Formula to strengthen the divine soul.

Shen Luo used the Primordial Artifact Refinement Art to refine two suits of Puppet Armor and the Golden Cannon. He learned that the cannon was a powerful High-tier weapon called the Divine Artisan Cannon, but its yan crystal had enough energy for only two more shots.

• Shen Luo read that high-tier Puppet Armor needed divine soul power and that yan crystals supplied its energy.
• Shen Luo refined two Puppet Armor spheres and summoned a scarlet suit and a blue-black suit.
• Shen Luo tested the suits as they fought using their weapons and combat instincts, then replaced the scarlet suit’s exhausted yan crystal.
• Shen Luo refined the Golden Cannon and discovered it was a High-tier Divine Artisan Cannon that he could control without condensing soul threads.
• Shen Luo found that the cannon’s high-tier yan crystal could power only two more shots and resolved to seek replacements.

Shen Luo read Yuan Wenli’s account of the massacre of the Langxia Kingdom, buried him, and followed the Yin Beasts’ trail. After the trail led to a dead end, the Ghost General sensed spiritual material beyond the wall, where Shen Luo found a cavern guarded by powerful Half-Bat Yin Beasts and charged toward its formation and black stele.

• Shen Luo learned from Yuan Wenli’s journal that he was the last survivor of the Langxia Kingdom, whose people had been slaughtered more than a hundred years earlier, and that he had spent his life searching for the culprit.
• Shen Luo buried Yuan Wenli, then followed the Yin Beasts’ trail while concealed by his Soft-Smoke Silk Robe and an Invisibility Talisman.
• At a dead end, the Ghost General sensed yin-aspected spiritual material beyond a stone wall, and Shen Luo used the robe’s Phasing Divine Ability and the Burrowing Technique to pass through it.
• Shen Luo and the Ghost General emerged into a cavern filled with yin-aspected plants, a vast Magic Formation, a white-stone altar, a black stele, and numerous powerful Yin Beasts.
• The Ghost General fought a Mahayana Late Stage Half-Bat Yin Beast as Shen Luo used the Soft-Smoke Silk Robe to withstand the Half-Bat Yin Beasts’ combined sonic attacks and rushed toward the formation and stele.

Shen Luo wiped out nearly all the Half-Bat Yin Beasts with the Divine Artisan Cannon, then explored the cavern’s strange spirit plants and reached the stone stele. When he tested the stele, its formation drew a strand of Chi You Demonic Aura from deep within his meridians.

• Shen Luo blasted the Half-Bat Yin Beast horde with the Divine Artisan Cannon, killing nearly all of them before its final shot was spent.
• The Ghost General went to absorb a Soul Refining Flower’s yin qi with its Evil-Suppressing Divine Light.
• Shen Luo recognized the Ghostfire Trees and Soul Refining Flower, then examined the Magic Formation and stone stele.
• Shen Luo’s test strike triggered the formation, which extracted a strand of Chi You Demonic Aura from his meridians.

Shen Luo used the black stele to absorb some of the Chi You Demonic Aura in his body, revealing a Demon Clan movement technique before the stele crumbled and exposed a powerful demonic rod. Meanwhile, the Ghost General devoured the Soul Refining Flower’s yin aura and broke through to the Mahayana Late Stage, then entered Shen Luo’s Cosmic Bag to stabilize its cultivation.

• Shen Luo tested the black stele and redirected his Chi You Demonic Aura into it until it stopped absorbing.
• Golden runes appeared on the stele and revealed the Shatterstone Step, which Shen Luo studied but could not cultivate because it required circulating demonic aura through his meridians.
• The stele collapsed into black dust, leaving a suspended rod that answered Shen Luo’s gestures and drained a Ghostfire Tree when he struck it.
• Shen Luo identified the rod as a demonic artifact and discovered that its cool current helped heal his minor injuries.
• The Ghost General devoured the Soul Refining Flower’s yin aura, broke through the Mahayana Late Stage bottleneck, and formed the phantom of an evil monk behind it.
• Shen Luo drew the Ghost General into his Cosmic Bag so it could stabilize its cultivation, and the Ghost General thanked him and said it would soon be able to fight.

Shen Luo fought a black-cloaked True Immortal who demanded the demonic artifact he had taken. After surviving the opponent’s traps and a barrage of blades, Shen Luo revealed that his apparent death was an illusion and wounded the black figure.

• Shen Luo gathered the yin-attributed spiritual materials before a black figure appeared and demanded the demonic artifact, threatening to spare him only if he surrendered it and severed an arm.
• Shen Luo mocked the demand and blocked the black figure’s Black Crystal Throwing Knife with the Bloodthirst Banner.
• The black figure trapped Shen Luo with poisonous vines and pollen, then summoned hundreds of knives from the Thousand-Blade Diagram.
• The blades seemed to tear Shen Luo apart, but his body transformed into blue light, revealing that the black figure had struck an illusion.
• Shen Luo’s Pure Yang Sword and Demon-Slaying Remnant Sword attacked from behind, piercing the black figure’s demonic armor and wounding both arms.

Shen Luo dispelled the poisons with the Myriad Poisons Primordial Pearl and revealed the Essence-Devouring Rod, then clashed with the black figure in the cavern. After resisting the figure’s attacks, Shen Luo froze him and the surrounding area in ice.

• Shen Luo used the Essence-Devouring Rod to wither the black figure’s giant vine whip and recovered some of his injuries and Magic Power.
• The black figure questioned how Shen Luo had dispelled the poisons, and Shen Luo revealed that he had used the Myriad Poisons Primordial Pearl and a Mirror Demon duplicate to ambush him.
• Shen Luo sent crimson and golden sword mountains against the black figure’s Myriad Blades Diagram, and their attacks locked in an even clash.
• Shen Luo destroyed the black figure’s poisonous qi pythons with lightning and resisted his flute-based Divine Soul attack with the Buzhou Suppression Divine Art, Dingyuan Sarira, and Coiled Dragon Jade.
• Shen Luo froze the black figure’s Mist Wall and sealed him, along with everything within several hundred zhang, in ice.

Shen Luo defeated the black figure’s blood-thread trap by destroying the Nether Realm plant controlling it, but the mysterious opponent escaped after inviting him to a treasure site in the Maze Cave. Shen Luo gathered spiritual materials, put the Mirror Demon away, and followed his Magic Power Mark deeper into the Black Abyss Mystery Cavern, where he reached a vast, desolate underground world.

• Shen Luo used the Mysterious Yellow Unity Staff to destroy the blood-red plant and end the black figure’s attack.
• The black figure escaped into the void after saying Shen Luo was worthy of the Essence-Devouring Rod and inviting him to the treasure site deep within the Maze Cave.
• Shen Luo wondered whether the black figure was the hidden mastermind, then gathered valuable yin-attribute spiritual materials from the cavern.
• Shen Luo allowed the Mirror Demon to remain in the Cosmic Bag so she could recover and potentially help him later.
• Shen Luo used an Earth-Escape Talisman and Soft-Smoke Silk Robe to travel through the rock toward his Magic Power Mark.
• Shen Luo emerged in an enormous, barren underground cavern where dense yin qi limited his Divine Sense.

Shen Luo discovered that the black water sealed magic power and corroded stone, then fought off a giant octopus with the Ghost General’s help. As he prepared to cross the water, Yan Wushi arrived and was forced to land by the same restriction.

• Shen Luo lost the use of his magic power near the black water and narrowly landed on the shore instead of falling in.
• Shen Luo tested the water with a stone and found that it rapidly corroded the rock.
• A giant octopus attacked Shen Luo, who used Shatterstone Step to evade its strikes until the Ghost General cut him free and wounded its tentacle.
• The octopus revealed its enormous head, then sank back into the water as Shen Luo and the Ghost General retreated beyond the sealing range.
• Shen Luo concealed himself when he sensed someone approaching, and Yan Wushi landed beside the black water using a pair of purple wings.

Yan Wushi faced Mo Xin and four other cultivators near the black water, then used his puppet armor to seize the initiative in a fight against them. He left the old man surnamed Zhong badly wounded and bound, while the other attackers’ strikes were diverted into an empty puppet.

• Shen Luo hid in a stone forest as Yan Wushi retreated beyond the black water’s restriction and regained his magic power.
• Mo Xin arrived with Yuan Ming, the old man surnamed Zhong, Lin, and the young woman in green, then ordered them to seize Yan Wushi.
• Yan Wushi deployed two Golden Giant Ape Puppet Armors and two Azure Puppet Armors, striking all four opponents before they could properly defend themselves.
• The puppet armors redirected their attacks onto the old man surnamed Zhong, while the other three cultivators’ counterattacks hit an empty puppet armor.
• Yan Wushi’s puppet armors shattered Zhong’s defenses, wounded him, bound him with golden ropes, and opened a gap in one armor to swallow him.

Shen Luo rescued Yan Wushi from Mo Xin's attack, and the two retreated beside the black water, where their magic power was sealed. Mo Xin revealed that the water was weak water and that a great treasure lay beyond it, leaving Shen Luo and Yan Wushi facing a dangerous crossing.

• Shen Luo intercepted Mo Xin's demonic spear with his Mysterious Yellow Unity Staff and caught it as Yan Wushi pulled the old man surnamed Zhong into the Giant Ape Puppet Armor.
• Mo Xin struck Shen Luo and Yan Wushi with the Blood Demon Blade, damaging the puppet armors, but they escaped to the edge of the black water.
• Shen Luo and Yan Wushi discussed the water's corrosive dangers and learned that the Yin Beasts had scattered Elder Mei and the other Heavenly Mechanism City cultivators.
• Mo Xin rebuked Yuan Ming and the others for letting Yan Wushi take the old man, then approached Shen Luo with a friendly manner.
• Shen Luo identified himself as a cultivator from Great Tang, and Mo Xin said they would need to cross the weak water to reach the treasure in the Black Abyss Mystery Cavern.

Shen Luo negotiated with Mo Xin to cooperate in crossing the Weak Water, learning that profound yin azure bamboo could float on it. After Shen Luo discovered a concealed black-clad cultivator nearby, he proposed bringing him into the expedition, leaving the uneasy group poised to cross together.

• Shen Luo asked Mo Xin why he had attacked Yan Wushi, then offered to consider cooperation if Mo Xin answered two questions.
• Mo Xin showed Shen Luo profound yin azure bamboo that floated on the Weak Water, and Yuan Ming explained that his master had learned about the cavern and obtained the bamboo from the Cloud-Brushing Elder.
• Yan Wushi told Shen Luo that Yuan Ming's account of the Yellow Sand Sect's past exploration was true, though Yuan Ming's master had later vanished.
• Shen Luo agreed to cooperate but kept Zhong in custody until after the crossing.
• Shen Luo revealed that he had detected the black-clad cultivator, and Mo Xin attacked the stone forest before the stranger emerged.
• The black-clad cultivator asked to join the expedition, and Shen Luo urged Mo Xin to accept him.

Shen Luo and the others built a boat to cross the Weak Water, where their magic power was suppressed, and fought off the beasts attacking them along the way. The boat continued toward the opposite bank as they learned how dangerous and varied the group’s methods were.

• Mo Xin welcomed the black-robed figure into the group, and Yan Wushi and Yuan Ming led the others in building a large bamboo boat with hand-powered Great Wind Wheels.
• The group boarded the Dark Yin Green Bamboo Boat and divided the work, with some turning the wheels while Mo Xin and the others watched for beasts.
• A shark attacked the boat; the young woman in green’s insects failed against the Weak Water, but Shen Luo killed the shark with a spear and hauled its body aboard.
• Further beasts attacked as the boat crossed, and the group fought them off using mechanical weapons, poisoned sand, javelins, and spirit creatures.
• Shen Luo watched the black-robed figure destroy beasts with Black Seeds and Mo Xin slice them apart with black threads.

Shen Luo and his companions encountered the powerful Hundred-Cry Beast while crossing the Weak Water, and Shen Luo secretly worked with the black-robed figure to defeat it. The group continued toward the far shore, unaware of what had happened inside the mist.

• Yuan Ming warned that the long absence of beasts meant they had entered a powerful creature’s territory, and the Hundred-Cry Beast soon appeared.
• The black-robed figure told Shen Luo it knew the Ghost General could act in the Weak Water and offered a treasure to help kill the beast in exchange for one of its possessions.
• Mo Xin and the others attacked the Hundred-Cry Beast, which summoned a towering wave with its black branch; Yan Wushi used the boat’s Great Wind Wheels to evade it, damaging all four wheels.
• A black shadow struck the Hundred-Cry Beast with a white needle, and the beast thrashed as the waves drove the boat farther away.
• Mo Xin urged everyone to leave before more beasts arrived, and the boat continued toward the far shore at reduced speed.

After reaching the far shore of the Weak Water, Shen Luo parted ways with Mo Xin's group and met Black Robe to settle their agreement over the Hundred-Cry Beast. Shen Luo and Yan Wushi then set off toward the Magic Power Mark to rescue Fu Donglai, carrying the beast's corpse as a possible way to cross the Weak Water again.

• Shen Luo left Mo Xin's group with Yan Wushi, while Black Robe flew off separately and Mo Xin chose not to pursue them.
• Shen Luo summoned the Hundred-Cry Beast's corpse and revealed that Black Robe had helped kill it; Black Robe collected the Profound Yang Needle and claimed the beast's black branch as his agreed share.
• Shen Luo explained how the Ghost General had used the beast's corpse to frighten away creatures in the Weak Water, and Yan Wushi agreed to keep traveling with him to find Fu Donglai.
• Yan Wushi told Shen Luo that Heavenly Mechanism City's secret ability Edge Revealed had diverted the attackers' strikes onto Giant Ape Puppet Armor.
• Shen Luo stored the Hundred-Cry Beast's corpse for a possible return crossing, put away a mysterious sphere from its other hand, and flew with Yan Wushi toward the Magic Power Mark.

Little Master arrived in time to save Elder Mo Wang and the surviving Heavenly Mechanism City disciples, then led them deeper into the Black Abyss Mystery Cavern to continue their mission. Meanwhile, the blood-colored skeleton ordered his Yin Beasts to withdraw and guard the magic formations, planning to let Ghost Yan and the cultivators weaken each other.

• Little Master’s Thousand Mechanism Sword killed the attacking Earthly Fiend Corpse Kings and scattered the Yin Beasts, though both Corpse Kings escaped.
• Elder Mo Wang apologized for the heavy casualties, and Little Master said they would continue deeper to find Elder Mei, Shen Luo, and the others.
• A subordinate told the blood-colored skeleton that Heavenly Mechanism City cultivators had crossed the Weak Water and defeated Ghost Yan’s Earthly Fiend Corpse Kings.
• The blood-colored skeleton ordered the Yin Beasts recalled to guard the magic formations and admitted he intended to profit from the conflict between Ghost Yan and the cultivators.

Shen Luo and Yan Wushi found rare Ten-Leaf Ghost-Cutting Grass before reaching a ruined palace where a black-robed man battled a powerful Asura Puppet Ghost. Shen Luo secretly pulled a black stone stele underground after confirming it absorbed his Chi You demonic aura.

• Shen Luo and Yan Wushi discovered two stalks of Ten-Leaf Ghost-Cutting Grass and each took one.
• Shen Luo and Yan Wushi reached a ruined palace surrounded by Yin Beasts and saw a black-robed man fighting an Asura Puppet Ghost.
• Shen Luo spotted a black stone stele inside the palace and persuaded Yan Wushi to cover him while he approached it underground.
• Shen Luo channeled his Chi You demonic aura into the stele, then yanked it beneath the ground.