Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo emerges from the Stone Pavilion and confronts a gathering of powerful figures, accusing them of aiding She Bishi and using Lu Le to scheme against him.
• When they try to evade him by claiming only their thoughts are present, Chen Cuo challenges them to bring their true selves—and attacks.
• The Curly-Bearded man unleashes a formidable blood-and-qi technique, the Aperture Tempering Method. Chen Cuo avoids its full force by transforming into a red-faced old man, forcing the attacker to stop before he destroys that figure.
• Chen Cuo counters with a colossal Bronze Man summoned from the River of Time. Its attack destabilizes the Peach Paradise Dreamscape, overwhelms the Curly-Bearded man, and shakes the Dao Hearts of the assembled projections. Chen Cuo traps and subdues the group.
• Brahma Tathagata, the only one who did not attack, apologizes on behalf of the gathering and proposes leaving thoughts in the Dreamscape so they can meet and exchange information. Chen Cuo agrees—but then captures their thoughts, destroys five of them, and takes their memories and Divine Ability fragments as the price of their spying and plotting.
• Examining what he has taken, Chen Cuo confirms the Curly-Bearded man’s method is the Aperture Tempering Method, though the fragments are incomplete. He then discovers that the Peach Paradise Dreamscape contains traces of both the Beyond the Mundane and a familiar aura, and that it resonates with the Beyond-Mundane River Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo demonstrates overwhelming strength, tactical ingenuity, and a willingness to punish opponents even while agreeing to an alliance. He treats their proposal as an opportunity to extract information and make them pay.
• The Curly-Bearded man proves capable of extraordinary martial power, but his projection cannot withstand Chen Cuo’s counterattack. He must abandon his attack to protect his Dao Heart.
• Brahma Tathagata remains calm while the others are defeated, then takes responsibility and offers cooperation. The others interpret this as a calculated move to contain Chen Cuo and learn his intentions; Consort De suspects his motives may be simpler.
• Consort De watches closely and understands that the others may be misreading Brahma Tathagata’s intentions. Chen Cuo’s gaze unsettles her.
• The assembled figures shift from confidence and resentment to fear and submission, though they still hope an alliance may protect their interests.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: Chen Cuo’s strength lets him dictate the terms of both conflict and cooperation.
• Deception and misjudgment: Transformations, hidden motives, and the group’s mistaken reading of Brahma Tathagata shape the encounter.
• The vulnerability of the mind: Chen Cuo’s attack damages not only projections and abilities but also the opponents’ Dao Hearts.
• Alliance and suspicion: Cooperation is proposed, but it begins with betrayal, punishment, and the taking of memories.
• Uncovering deeper mysteries: The Dreamscape’s connection to the Beyond-Mundane River Realm hints at a larger significance yet to be revealed.

Key plot points and events

• A curly-whiskered commander loses control of his blood and energy after Chen Cuo seizes the thoughts of five powerful figures. He restores control, but worries that Chen may discover and claim the Stone Pavilion’s Peach Paradise—and its people’s collective wishes, which are nearing the formation of a Primordial Chaos Fruit.
• In the Peach Paradise, Chen Cuo investigates the dreamscape. He finds that it is whole rather than a captured fragment, and that the damage from the recent battle has healed. The people’s wishes for peace appear to be rebuilding it.
• Tingyi explains that the Stone Pavilion embodies the human desire for peace and gathering. Because the Peach Paradise can shelter several powerful minds, she suggests it may reflect the collective Dream of all living beings—the source that cultivators’ individual Peach Paradises imitate. She cannot explain further because the subject is restricted by heavenly laws.
• At Tingyi’s suggestion, Chen Cuo seeks the Peach Paradise’s place of origin. Brahma Tathagata, restored from a fragment of thought with Chen’s help, points him north.
• The scene shifts to a grassland, where two Daoists are fighting. Dianjuezi intervenes against a Great Hua Mountain disciple over a flute found in a cavern. He accuses Great Hua Mountain of hiding a discovery that was meant to be shared under the Pact of the Eight Sects. The disciple insists the flute predates the pact; Dianjuezi strikes him, while Xiang Ran is prevented from moving by a mysterious force.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo moves from examining the Peach Paradise’s structure to recognizing its deeper connection to collective human thought. He acts decisively, restoring Brahma Tathagata and pressing him to provide useful information.
• Tingyi serves as a knowledgeable guide, revealing the significance of the Stone Pavilion while acknowledging the limits imposed on what she can say.
• Brahma Tathagata accepts Chen Cuo’s demand to prove himself as an ally and directs him toward the Northern Lands.
• The curly-whiskered commander reveals the opposing group’s fear that Chen Cuo will take the Peach Paradise and its potential treasure.
• Xiang Ran and Dianjuezi clash over sect rules and the flute. Xiang Ran tries to protect her disciple, but Dianjuezi’s apparent backing—and the force immobilizing her—leaves him exposed.

Significant themes

• Collective belief and dreamscapes: Shared human wishes may create realms, suggesting individual cultivator-made Peach Paradises are only imitations of a larger, universal Dream.
• Knowledge and constraint: Hidden truths about the Beyond the Mundane cannot always be spoken openly.
• Power, possession, and opportunity: Competing factions seek control of the Peach Paradise and its promise of spiritual advancement.
• Sect politics and authority: The dispute over the flute shows how agreements between sects can become weapons in struggles for influence, especially when powerful figures intervene.

Key events

• Cui brothers Cui Qian and Cui Qiang, members of a Dai Commandery branch of the Qinghe Cui clan, wait to guide an envoy from Great Hua Mountain. Cui Qiang voices doubts about the sect’s influence after hearing of its recent humiliation in the Northern Lands; Cui Qian warns him that the family attached itself to Taihua precisely because a rising sect was more accessible than older powers such as Kunlun.
• Chen Cuo arrives unexpectedly, accompanied by Little Pig and Little Turtle. He recognizes the brothers’ clan and, rather than chastising them for their remarks, invites them to guide him to Dingxiang. He sees the Cui clan as a rising power and decides Great Hua Mountain should cultivate the relationship by offering it something in return.
• The brothers report that Liu Wuzhou controls Hedong and has allied with foreign tribes, taking the title Dingyang Khagan. Chen Cuo is intrigued by rumors that Liu is a reincarnated Buddha or immortal and says he may meet him.
• They also tell Chen Cuo that Kunlun has sent Xietongzi to Dingxiang. At the Tai Xuan Daoist Temple, Xietongzi is preparing to invite Xiang Ran and argue that several sects should jointly oversee the important Dingxiang Ruins, claiming Great Hua Mountain lacks the strength to control them alone.
• Meanwhile, people emerge from a Grotto-Heaven on Great Hua Mountain. Their return of soaring marks a major change, and they send urgent messages to sects across the land.

Character developments and interactions

• Cui Qian is cautious and loyal to the family’s strategy. He is wary of Great Hua Mountain’s weakness but understands why the Cui clan chose to ally with a newly resurgent sect.
• Cui Qiang is more openly frustrated and skeptical, questioning whether the alliance has brought the family any benefit. Chen Cuo’s arrival leaves both brothers anxious about their criticism, but his practical response turns them into his guides rather than enemies.
• Chen Cuo shows political judgment as well as confidence in his abilities. He recognizes that a sect must build alliances, not merely rely on strength, and chooses to strengthen ties with the Cui clan. His encounter with the brothers also leads him to consider old acquaintances when he hears of Xietongzi.
• Little Pig teases the brothers for being impressed by cloud-riding; Chen Cuo explains that it is a deity born from incense, not a Demon Beast.
• Xietongzi acts as Kunlun’s representative and challenges Great Hua Mountain’s claim to the Dingxiang Ruins, setting up a looming dispute over control and cooperation.

Significant themes

• Power and legitimacy: Great Hua Mountain’s reputation is tested by its setbacks, while Kunlun asserts that the sect lacks the strength to control the ruins.
• Alliance-building and political pragmatism: Chen Cuo understands that a sect’s survival depends on cultivating powerful allies as well as training its own members.
• Change and rising powers: The Cui clan’s growing influence, Liu Wuzhou’s takeover of Hedong, and the renewed ability to soar all signal a world in transition.

Key plot points and events

• In the ruins, Mount Taihua disciples visit Xiang Ran, who is guarding a dangerous passage filled with whispers and cold yin energy. She confirms that everyone has stayed at camp and avoided further ambushes.
• The disciples complain that other sects have been targeting Mount Taihua, despite its having borne the cost of containing the ruins’ initial catastrophe. As their anger grows, the ruins’ influence takes hold: the group—including Xiang Ran—becomes irrationally furious. Xiang Ran breaks the spell with a chime.
• The disciples report that Longevity of Kunlun is hosting a gathering at Tai Xuan Temple without inviting Mount Taihua. They suspect the meeting is a pretext for uniting the other sects and seizing control of the ruins.
• At the temple, Dianjuezi argues that Mount Taihua caused the crisis by opening the ruins against others’ advice. Xietongzi claims the ruins corrupt people’s minds and uses this explanation to justify luring out and disarming Mount Taihua’s disciples.
• The allied sects agree to confront them. Xietongzi leads a large force toward the ruins, where the coming clash is already being shaped by the ruins’ influence. The chapter ends on a cliffhanger before the battle is shown.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiang Ran shows vigilance and composure, protecting the disciples from the whispers and recognizing that their emotions have been manipulated. Her own brief susceptibility reveals that even a powerful True Disciple is vulnerable.
• The Mount Taihua disciples move from resentment to near-madness, then regain their senses with Xiang Ran’s help. Their fear of the ruins reinforces their trust in her.
• Dianjuezi and Xietongzi frame Mount Taihua as responsible for the danger. Xietongzi’s calm, persuasive account wins the gathered sects’ support, while Dianjuezi’s accusations help legitimize action against Taihua.
• The chapter contrasts the guarded, suspicious Taihua group with the confident coalition assembling at Tai Xuan Temple.

Significant themes

• Corrupted perception: The ruins inflame anger and cloud judgment, making people mistake manipulated impulses for their own beliefs.
• Political opportunism and hypocrisy: Sect leaders invoke righteousness and public safety while pursuing control of the ruins and acting against Mount Taihua.
• Fear and uncertainty: Neither group can be sure whose thoughts or motives are truly their own, setting the stage for a conflict in which both sides may be compromised.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo arrives in Dingxiang City with the Cui brothers and Little Pig. He finds Turks abusing local civilians, but senses that something more sinister is happening than ordinary political oppression.
• He tears away the Turks’ apparent skins, revealing two bewildered Han soldiers underneath. The discarded skins shriek and try to escape as shadowy spirits; Chen Cuo traps and destroys them. Sensing similar presences elsewhere, he rushes away, drawing black wisps toward him.
• The story shifts to a cavern where Xiang Ran and the wounded disciples of Great Hua Mountain face Dianjuezi and representatives of several other sects. The two sides accuse each other of exploiting the Six Sects and using the ruins’ crisis for political advantage.
• Dianjuezi attacks one of Xiang Ran’s followers, then joins the others in pressing the Great Hua Mountain disciples with a force that amplifies fear and weakens their protective talismans. Xiang Ran accuses them of conspiring to crush her sect.
• Xietongzi intervenes, returning Xiang Ran’s White Jade weapon but demanding that her group abandon the ruins. As whispers corrupt two disciples, Dianjuezi and Xietongzi claim the entire Great Hua Mountain party may be tainted and argue they must be destroyed.
• Xietongzi attacks Xiang Ran and her disciples. Chen Cuo arrives just in time, effortlessly collapses the attack, and breaks the cavern open. The released evil presences swarm the gathered cultivators.
• Chen Cuo draws out a Bright Moon, a booklet, the River of Time, and gray mist, trapping everyone in a peaceful mountain forest that resembles Peach Paradise. The chapter ends with an unidentified young storyteller realizing he can no longer sense the Qiu Ruins.

Character developments

• Chen Cuo shows compassion by intervening in the abuse of civilians, along with powerful insight into the supernatural danger concealed beneath appearances. He remains controlled even when confronting the hostile force in the cavern.
• Xiang Ran stands firm despite injury and overwhelming opposition. She defends her disciples and refuses to submit, revealing resolve and leadership; Chen Cuo openly approves of her.
• Dianjuezi becomes increasingly hostile, using accusations of corruption to justify attacking the Great Hua Mountain group. A flash of black in his eyes suggests he may himself be affected by the cavern’s evil.
• Xietongzi presents himself as a senior authority seeking to contain the danger, but his harsh ultimatum and lethal attack blur the line between protection and persecution. A similar black flash hints that he, too, may be compromised.
• The Cui brothers witness Chen Cuo’s intervention and supernatural power firsthand, while Little Pig remains sardonic and dismissive of their reactions.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The apparent Turks are revealed as Han soldiers beneath supernatural skins, while claims of righteousness may conceal self-interest or corruption.
• Power, politics, and prejudice: Liu Wuzhou’s dependence on the Turks enables their abuse of civilians, and the sect leaders’ dispute reflects larger struggles over influence and control.
• Righteousness manipulated: Characters invoke the duty to “subdue demons” and protect the world, but the chapter leaves open whether those claims are sincere or shaped by the same evil they condemn.
• Truth and narrative: The closing storyteller says that people’s accounts can determine what is treated as true, linking the chapter’s disputes over events to the power of storytelling.

Character interactions

• Chen Cuo checks the Cui brothers’ complaints about Turkic oppression, then acts directly to protect the victims and expose the supernatural threat.
• Xiang Ran confronts Dianjuezi and the other sect representatives over their treatment of Great Hua Mountain, while they challenge her account of events and her judgment.
• Xietongzi tests Xiang Ran’s resolve, threatens her group, and is stopped by Chen Cuo, whose arrival shifts the balance of power immediately.
• The storyteller’s final confusion over the missing Qiu Ruins hints that Chen Cuo’s actions—or the forces surrounding him—may have affected events beyond the cavern.

Plot and key events

• In an abandoned house, a mysterious young man reassures a group of storytellers that they will be paid and promises them a chance to gain more. He sends black threads into their minds, putting them into dreamlike trances where they experience themselves as heroes in stories they once told.
• The young man reflects that these personal dreams are only small parts of a greater dream. He plans to gather information about the Northern Lands, revise the story of its conflict, and intervene in events; black threads spread from him into the void.
• In a misty forest, Chen Cuo has rescued two Great Hua Mountain disciples and subdued the five-sect alliance, including the powerful Dianjuezi. When three disciples become possessed by uncanny creatures, Chen Cuo pulls the entities from their bodies and seals them away, restoring the victims—though they are left exhausted.
• Xietongzi emerges and recognizes Chen Cuo as Master Soaring, Chen Fangqing, a legendary figure tied to Kunlun’s failed attempt to Establish a Path forty years earlier. His identity shocks both the Great Hua disciples and the five-sect group.
• Chen Cuo releases the pressure holding the others down? No: he increases it, forcing the five-sect disciples deeper into the ground when Xietongzi objects. He rejects appeals to the alliance’s status and says its elders may confront him directly.
• Chen Cuo uses his Vertical Eye and Myriad Manifestation Thought to expose dark specters attached to Xietongzi and the others. He suggests these outside thoughts have found openings in their Dao Hearts; Xietongzi recognizes the threat and reacts in terror.

Character developments and interactions

• The young man shifts from reassuring, almost charming host to an unsettling manipulator, using the storytellers’ desires to ensnare them in dreams while pursuing his own plans.
• Chen Cuo displays immense power and control, but also insight: he can remove the strange entities and identify a deeper corruption affecting the cultivators. He is blunt with Xietongzi and refuses to be constrained by sect authority.
• Xiang Ran moves from gratitude and curiosity about Chen Cuo to practical concern for the afflicted disciples, while carefully maintaining discipline among her fellow Great Hua disciples.
• Xietongzi is shaken by meeting the legendary Master Soaring. He initially challenges Chen Cuo on behalf of the five sects, but his confidence collapses when Chen Cuo reveals the specters embedded in his nature.
• The Great Hua disciples celebrate Chen Cuo’s arrival, while the five-sect disciples fear both his power and the revelation of the corruption within them.

Significant themes

• Dreams and reality: The young man argues that imagined experience can feel as powerful as reality, making people yearn to relive it.
• Manipulation and storytelling: Stories and dreams become tools for shaping people and potentially influencing events.
• Power and authority: Chen Cuo’s overwhelming strength renders institutional rank and alliances irrelevant in the face of his judgment.
• Hidden corruption: The uncanny entities and dark specters suggest that unseen forces can infiltrate people’s minds and even merge with their deepest nature.
• Knowledge and insight: Chen Cuo sees a danger that Xietongzi’s cultivation and status have not helped him recognize.

Plot and key events

• The Five Sects’ disciples are revealed to have been secretly corrupted by the cavern’s uncanny influence. Their hidden desires erupt as grotesque masks and phantom faces, leaving them screaming, raging, or begging for help. Even Dianjuezi and the Eternal Longevity cultivator Xietongzi are affected.
• Chen Cuo explains that their wicked thoughts were already inside them; he has merely exposed them. Xiang Ran realizes that prolonged exposure may have corrupted her and the Mount Taihua disciples too. Chen Cuo confirms this, causing phantom desires to surface in their hearts.
• Using the Nine Songs, Chen Cuo draws the corruption out as a mass of shifting Smoke Aura. He realizes the fiends arise from people’s own desires, stirred by the strange surroundings, rather than simply invading from outside.
• Chen Cuo’s Three Fires Divine Ability burns away the detached, corrupted thoughts in everyone except Xietongzi. Because Xietongzi’s Nature and Life have merged through Eternal Longevity, his fiendish shadow is fused with him and cannot be easily removed.
• The gray mist clears, revealing the cavern again. A mysterious voice accompanies the sudden formation of a stone staircase from the depths. Chen Cuo destroys the staircase, rejecting the path offered to him and declaring that he will carve out his own.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo remains clear-minded and decisive, protecting both groups while investigating the nature of the corruption. He recognizes its danger, uses his abilities to contain it, and refuses to follow the mysterious route.
• Xiang Ran shifts from confidence to alarm as she sees powerful cultivators succumb. She confronts the possibility that her own group has been corrupted too.
• Xietongzi first accuses Chen Cuo of manipulating the disciples, but Chen Cuo’s explanation unsettles him. His condition proves unusually difficult to treat.
• The affected disciples turn to Chen Cuo for rescue; the Mount Taihua group initially assumes the Five Sects alone were compromised, until Chen Cuo forces them to face their own vulnerability.

Significant themes

• Desire and self-corruption: The threat grows from desires within the mind, making it difficult to recognize or resist.
• The limits of cultivation: Even formidable Dao Hearts and Eternal Longevity offer no automatic protection.
• Agency and self-determination: Chen Cuo’s destruction of the staircase symbolizes his refusal to accept a prescribed or mysterious path, choosing instead to make his own.
• Uncertainty and hidden danger: The cavern’s origins and the force behind its phenomena remain unclear, leaving the wider threat unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• The cavern’s collapse and supernatural influence threaten the cultivators, but Chen Cuo uses his power to steady the earth, restore their strength, and clear the wicked thoughts clouding their minds.
• Chen explains that the cavern exploited the cultivators’ desires by presenting a tempting path. He rejects the idea that his own Dao must be granted by anyone except his master and warns the others that their damaged Dao Hearts leave them vulnerable.
• Chen offers the group temporary Yin-Yang protection and tells them to withdraw. Most cultivators leave, reluctant to abandon the valuable ruins but aware of the danger.
• Xiang Ran stays, determined to confront the damage to her Dao Heart where it occurred. Xietongzi follows her, while Dianjuezi and the others depart.
• Chen senses a hidden presence and strikes with his sword. Elsewhere, a young man linked to the River of Time suffers when one of his black threads snaps, identifying Chen’s bloodline as an unexpected variable. He plots to control events at the Qiu Ruins through a chess-like plan and writes an account of Chen’s arrival into the air.
• A Rift opens in the cavern, releasing a small turtle, a pig, and the Cui brothers. The pig senses and devours invisible wraiths, then leads the others onward.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo shows both overwhelming power and clear judgment: he protects the group but refuses to indulge their greed, emphasizing that desire itself is not evil—being ruled by it is.
• Xiang Ran demonstrates resolve and a willingness to risk danger rather than abandon her pursuit of the Dao.
• Xietongzi recognizes how his own doubts enabled the cavern’s influence. He admires Xiang Ran’s determination and chooses to follow her.
• The other cultivators, including leaders from the other sects, ultimately prioritize survival and leave. Xiang Ran and Xietongzi each give orders that send their companions away.
• The mysterious young man sees Chen as a threat to his carefully arranged plans, but believes his remaining pieces will still let him control the outcome.
• The Little Pig boasts about being willing to fight for Chen, complains about the situation, and protects the newcomers by consuming the wraiths.

Significant themes

• Desire and spiritual vulnerability: Desire is natural, but unchecked craving creates openings for corruption.
• Self-determination: Chen insists that his path is his own, not something bestowed by the cavern or an outside force.
• Resolve versus temptation: The cultivators must choose between the promise of treasure and the danger of remaining; Xiang Ran’s choice reflects commitment to confronting her spiritual weakness.
• Fate, control, and uncertainty: The young man’s manipulation of the River of Time contrasts with Chen’s emergence as a variable beyond his predictions.

Key plot points and events

• In Qiu Ruins, three mysterious, trapped figures sense that new visitors have entered. They argue over whether the newcomers might survive or help them escape, comparing them with a previous visitor who knew the ruins’ secrets and managed to leave.
• Chen Cuo, Xiang Ran, and Xietongzi press deeper into the cavern. Xiang Ran is worn down by the persistent sound of dripping water and begins to feel trapped, but recognizes the disturbance as a possible attempt to exploit her desires and stays alert.
• They reach a fork with three passages. Xietongzi suggests the paths reflect the travelers’ inner choices and warns that strong, singular desires—such as Xiang Ran’s devotion to the Dao—may give the ruins’ fiends an opening.
• Chen Cuo dismisses the speculation and sends three lotus-born avatars, one down each passage. All three are immediately destroyed by different forces: cold light, fire, and wind.
• The figures on the altar interpret Chen Cuo’s damaged Three-Flower Avatar as evidence that he has only reached Return to Truth, and predict that he will die in the ruins.

Character developments

• Xiang Ran shows discipline and vigilance: she notices the influence affecting her rather than surrendering to it. Her unwavering pursuit of the Dao is both a strength and a potential vulnerability.
• Chen Cuo remains composed and skeptical, resisting elaborate interpretations of the cavern. His decision to test all three paths at once displays confidence, though it carries a serious cost.
• Xietongzi offers insight into how the ruins exploit desire, but Chen Cuo points out that Xietongzi himself has not fully escaped the fiends’ influence.

Significant themes

• Resolve versus vulnerability: A strong purpose can sustain a cultivator, but an all-consuming desire can also be used against them.
• Knowledge and survival: The trapped figures suggest that understanding Qiu Ruins may matter more than sheer cultivation strength.
• Risk and uncertainty: The characters must act without knowing whether the paths are natural dangers or reflections of their inner states.
• Judgment and appearance: The altar figures quickly assess Chen Cuo’s abilities and fate, though their certainty may be premature.

Character interactions

• Xiang Ran questions Chen Cuo’s willingness to continue despite the danger; he responds with humor but recognizes her deep commitment.
• Xietongzi warns Xiang Ran about her single-minded Dao-seeking, while Chen Cuo challenges his authority and cautions against reading too much into the fork.
• The three figures at the altar debate the newcomers from afar, revealing their differing attitudes: wary, cynical, and hopeful.

Chapter Summary

• Kunlun confirms that Chen Fangqing, Master Soaring, has returned. Reports place him in Chang’an, Great Hua Mountain, and Dingxiang, where he exposed dangerous ruins and helped stop their corrupting influence. Elder Yuan Liuzi urges caution: despite past disputes, Kunlun must not make an enemy of him. He remembers witnessing Chen’s power firsthand and warns that challenging him would be fatal.
• In the Qiu Ruins, Chen Cuo’s three Incarnations are destroyed by the strange trials, alarming Xiang Ran and Xietongzi. Xietongzi assumes Chen’s strength has been diminished, but remains eager to face him: he hopes their encounter will help him overcome the Heart Demon that has stalled his cultivation.
• The tunnels’ forces throw Xiang Ran’s thoughts into disorder, causing her inner turmoil to resonate with the trials. Chen reveals he anticipated this danger, disperses the disturbance, and plays his flute to calm her. He insists that protecting and guiding his martial niece is his responsibility.
• Chen immediately reforms his Three Flowers and Incarnations, uses them to break through the tunnels’ elemental calamities, then destroys them in a coordinated blast. When a bridge and abyss appear, he rejects the ruins’ shifting illusions and chooses to cut directly through the trial. Drawing the bronze Long Sword and invoking the Nine Songs, divine images, and power from his Vertical Eye, he delivers a devastating slash that erases the abyss and silences every voice. In the final darkness, a round egg throbs once.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Chen Cuo demonstrates that the destruction of his Incarnations has not left him helpless. His swift recovery, strategic use of force, and calm care for Xiang Ran reveal both his formidable power and his protective, responsible nature.
• Xiang Ran briefly loses control of her thoughts but recovers with Chen’s help. The ordeal suggests that her inner state is central to the trials, and Chen’s explanation helps her understand their nature.
• Xietongzi remains conflicted: he is wary of the dangers but sees Chen as both a threat and a rare opportunity to confront his Heart Demon and advance spiritually.
• Yuan Liuzi acts as a voice of hard-won caution within Kunlun, urging his sect to respect Chen rather than let old rivalries dictate its response.

Significant Themes

• Protective mentorship: Chen treats guiding Xiang Ran as a duty, not a choice.
• The mind shapes the trial: Inner thoughts and doubts manifest as external dangers.
• Action over hesitation: Chen argues for pressing forward rather than letting fear or changing illusions control the path.
• Power tempered by wisdom: Chen’s strength is paired with discernment, while Kunlun’s elders recognize the danger of underestimating him.

Plot and events

• As Chen Cuo attacks the Qiu Ruins with his Dao Mark Long Sword, a mysterious young man tries to write his fate into a book, shaping events through the River of Time. Chen’s actions disrupt the writing, forcing the young man to revise it and predict that Chen’s reckless use of power will bring disaster.
• Chen’s sword cleaves through the Earth Veins and shatters strange visions, clearing a haze from Xiang Ran’s heart. Xietongzi recognizes the strike as a power that crosses Void and Reality.
• The Qiu Ruins respond with Bright Yellow Mist. It overwhelms Xietongzi and Xiang Ran’s defenses, conjuring enormous ancient figures within their techniques. Chen frees them with his sword, but the mist then invades his own Dao Mark and Incarnation, stirring alien wills and threatening to transform or overwhelm him.
• Realizing the ruins are connected to the Pangu Path, Chen uses the Little Gourd to release gray mist. When it touches the yellow mist, something deep within the Qiu Ruins cracks, sending a ripple across the world, the void, and the Netherworld.
• The ripple awakens or stirs ancient presences in several distant places: Tian Wu shows renewed vitality; broken bones and great bodies react; Mount Tai and the Netherworld’s Ten Palaces tremble, awakening eight wills. Tingyi senses the event, incapacitates her captive, leaves a message on White Jade, and vanishes.
• The young author’s attempt to dictate Chen’s fate collapses: his page shatters, injuring him. The River of Time writes a poem on the book instead, declaring that true scripture lies in the forces and choices unfolding before him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo proves formidable but discovers that raw force and Divine Abilities are dangerous in the Qiu Ruins. He adapts by identifying the mist’s connection to the Pangu Path and using the Little Gourd.
• Xiang Ran is shaken by Chen’s sword strike but gains relief when it cuts through the haze clouding his heart.
• Xietongzi moves quickly to protect the group and is deeply impressed by Chen’s power, though he senses the Qiu Ruins’ danger.
• Tingyi reacts decisively to the widespread disturbance, taking precautions before disappearing.
• The young author shifts from confident control of Chen’s narrative to shock and injury when events resist his writing.
• The three travelers cooperate under pressure: Xietongzi and Xiang Ran defend the group, while Chen cuts them free from the mist.

Significant themes

• Limits of power and knowledge: Chen’s strength cannot overcome a place whose rules he does not understand.
• Fate versus agency: The attempted written prophecy is disrupted by Chen’s actions and ultimately superseded by the River of Time.
• Ancient forces and interconnected worlds: The mist and ripple link the Qiu Ruins to the Pangu Path, distant remnants, and the Netherworld.
• Adaptation and insight: Survival depends not on greater force alone, but on recognizing the nature of the danger and responding appropriately.

Key plot points and events

• A young strategist reads a poem associated with Chen Cuo and realizes that underestimating him was a serious mistake. The poem has already entered the River of Time and tainted the strategist’s Dao Mark, making conflict with Chen Cuo unavoidable. He vows to bring Chen down, though he welcomes him as a worthy rival.
• The strategist forcibly shuts the magically resisting book, damaging his dwelling in the process. A distant disturbance makes him wonder what Chen has found, and he realizes the bright yellow mist is connected to the same place.
• Chen’s consciousness, carried by yellow mist, travels to a primordial landscape containing seven colossal Dao Trees. He recognizes that its vegetation and ancient, dying trees embody countless paths and insights—some apparently abandoned or extinguished.
• Chen discovers a living brass tree with twelve major branches, which reflects powers and institutions familiar to him. He senses eight other thriving trees, but cannot examine them before the mist drives him into one of the towering trees.
• Just before his consciousness is torn apart, Chen glimpses the Pangu Dao Tree, whose markings and sleeping figures suggest immense age and power. He returns to his body amid a collapse in the Qiu Ruins and finds that he has grown enormous relative to Xiang Ran and Xietongzi.
• Elsewhere, three figures on an altar conclude that someone has triggered a deep Restriction in the ruins. They believe the intruder is doomed and lament that the lost fragment of the Incomplete Dao also cost them a chance to escape.

Character developments and interactions

• The young strategist shifts from confidence to respect and resolve: he admits his misjudgment of Chen, accepts that their rivalry is now fated, and sees defeating him as a legacy-worthy contest. His exchange with the magical book also reveals the cost of his schemes and his dependence on storytellers to restore what he spends.
• Chen Cuo approaches the mysterious realm with greater understanding than on his first visit. He reflects on the rise and fall of paths and powers, briefly senses the despair within dead ones, then deliberately seals those impressions away. His encounter with the Pangu Dao Tree leaves him with a major mystery, while his return produces an immediate physical surprise.
• Xiang Ran and Xietongzi react to Chen’s altered scale, underscoring how dramatically the ruins have changed.
• The altar-bound trio remain isolated observers; their comments show their fear of the Restriction and disappointment at losing a possible means of escape.

Significant themes

• Rivalry and recognition: Underestimating a formidable opponent turns competition into an unavoidable, potentially legendary feud.
• The life cycle of power and paths: The landscape contrasts dead, failed or abandoned paths with vigorous, rising ones, suggesting that prosperity cannot last without renewal.
• History, memory, and consequence: The poem’s imprint in the River of Time shows that actions and stories can permanently shape fate.
• Knowledge at a cost: Chen’s glimpse of profound Dao insights comes with danger, disorientation, and the destruction of his consciousness.
• Uncertainty and transformation: The Ruins’ Restriction changes the environment—and apparently Chen’s scale—leaving both him and the other characters unsure what has happened.

Key plot points and events

• After absorbing the yellow mist’s Divine Breath, Chen Cuo’s Incarnation returns to its normal size, but its body and bones have been profoundly transformed. The power is immense yet unfamiliar, and attempting to expel it nearly threatens to destroy the Incarnation.
• The Divine Breath also blocks Chen’s access to his River of Time Dao Mark and Heart God. However, the Little Gourd’s gray mist remains unaffected.
• Chen discovers that the new power can dispel the cavern’s illusions, revealing ruined palace grounds and an altar occupied by three powerful wills. He heads toward them with Xiang Ran and Xietongzi.
• At the altar, a Spatial Rift opens in the ceiling. A scaled, four-fingered hand reaches through, followed by a Dao Sun. The Elderly Voice warns that someone from Beyond the Mundane is exploiting a change in the Qiu Ruins’ Restriction to enter the Mortal World.
• Elsewhere, Cui Qian and Cui Qiang travel through the collapsing cavern with Little Pig and Little Turtle. Little Pig explains that the Qiu Ruins seem to be a graveyard that draws in and amplifies people’s thoughts and desires. As they reach the cavern’s end, they find a solitary grave wrapped in black chains.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo responds cautiously to his sudden transformation. He recognizes the Divine Breath’s strength and practical value, but also its risks and the limits it imposes on his other abilities.
• Little Pig shifts from teasing the Cui brothers to offering them guidance, claiming to have learned the Ruins’ pattern by devouring demons and extracting their Incense thoughts. It presents itself as a seasoned guide, though the brothers remain wary and deferential.
• Cui Qian and Cui Qiang are frightened by the falling rocks and the strange realm, but Little Pig challenges their fear and urges them to observe rather than retreat. Their banter shows their dependence on it.
• Little Turtle accompanies the brothers and reacts with squeaks; the group’s attention ultimately turns from Little Pig’s explanation to the chained grave.

Significant themes

• Power and its cost: Chen gains extraordinary strength, but it is untempered and disrupts his control over familiar abilities.
• Desire and perception: The Ruins exploit people’s thoughts and imaginings; Little Pig suggests that seeking too eagerly can trap a person, while a freer, less desirous mind may progress.
• The peril of hidden realms: The cavern’s collapse, concealed palace, and breach between worlds show that discovery brings danger as well as opportunity.
• Mystery and foreshadowing: The altar’s three wills, the intruder from Beyond the Mundane, and the black-chained grave point toward larger conflicts and secrets.

Key plot points

• A vision reveals three Incomplete Dao Masters trapped on the Qiu Ruins’ Divine Platform. They explain that the platform anchors a passage between worlds and that harming it—or them—could sever its connection to Beyond the Mundane.
• A red-robed shaman enters the ruins, intent on refining the three Dao Masters and using them to revive the declining Wuxian Kingdom. Unable to attack the altar directly, he turns to shamanic arts.
• The shaman breaks through a barrier of Shaman Blood by invoking an Ancient God’s power, which he claims he can now wield without being corrupted.
• He reaches through the void to the Mortal World and awakens ancestral memories among the tribes of the Hundred Thousand Mountains. The tribes remember the ancient Wu Xian people, their powerful mountain tribe and its traditions.
• Drawing strength from this renewed recognition, the shaman’s presence in the Mortal World grows. He tears through the altar’s protective halo and attacks the three Dao Masters.
• Just as he declares himself unstoppable, Chen Cuo arrives and asks him to leave the captives alone, saying he needs answers about the ruins.

Character developments and interactions

• The red-robed shaman is revealed as ambitious and confident, pursuing the survival of his people and kingdom by any means. His ability to turn awakened ancestral memory into power marks a major increase in his strength.
• The three Dao Masters remain physically trapped but understand the Divine Platform’s role and try to defend it. Their exchange shows disagreement about whether they have the resolve to abandon their Dao rather than succumb to corruption.
• Xi Nuoluo and the mountain tribes become connected to the conflict when the shaman’s act revives their buried memories. Their shared recollection of Wu Xian suggests a forgotten history and a renewed cultural identity.
• Chen Cuo’s entrance interrupts the shaman at the moment of apparent victory, setting up a confrontation. He approaches with a practical goal: learning the secrets of the ruins.

Significant themes

• Memory and identity: Recovering ancestral memories restores the tribes’ connection to Wu Xian and gives the shaman greater power.
• The cost of survival: The shaman seeks to preserve his kingdom by consuming the Dao Masters’ essence, while the captives face corruption and the possible loss of their Dao.
• Power, belief, and existence: Recognition in the Mortal World strengthens the shaman, suggesting that memory and worldly roots can shape supernatural power.
• Ancient forces reclaimed: The shaman presents Ancient God power not as a threat to his heart, but as a weapon under his control.

Key plot points

• The red-robed man attacks the three figures trapped on the Qiu Ruins altar, using four clawed hands to absorb their techniques and turn them into a pill. He consumes it, aligns his aura with theirs, and begins infiltrating the altar.
• He reveals his larger aim: control the altar as a passage between worlds, harvest the plentiful but short-lived “fruits” of the Mortal World, and use them to restore the Wuxian Kingdom as Wuxian Heaven.
• Chen Cuo intervenes. The red-robed man mistakes Chen’s Divine Breath for an unrefined Ancient God inheritance and demands that he surrender it.
• The red-robed man attacks with three mental and spiritual techniques. Chen counters them, then uses the Pure Yang Single-Qi Redlight Formula. Recognizing its connection to Immortal Lord Zhengyang, the attacker vows to spare Chen only after taking his power.
• Chen withstands the man’s manifestations of beasts, mountains and floods, storms and lightning, and finally the Sun, Moon, and Stars. He stops the falling celestial bodies with one hand.
• From these attacks, Chen deduces the red-robed man’s underlying path: as a Wu, he personifies natural forces and creatures as gods, using ritual, stories, and persuasion to draw on divine power. The chapter ends as Chen rushes forward to confront him directly.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo reveals remarkable new strength, combining Divine Breath with several techniques despite recognizing that the power is not yet fully refined or under his complete control. His close observation allows him to understand his opponent’s method as well as fight him.
• The red-robed man is ambitious and confident, viewing the altar as a means to restore his kingdom. He initially dismisses Chen as a lucky inheritor, but Chen’s repeated counters force him to recognize Chen as comparable to an Incomplete Dao Master.
• The three figures on the altar recover briefly when Chen draws the attacker’s attention. They debate whether to use Chen as a means of escape; one criticizes the Master of Supreme Detachment for calculating, while the elder favors waiting to see what happens and would rather risk destruction than remain imprisoned.

Significant themes

• Power and control: The red-robed man seeks to dominate the altar and worlds beyond it, while Chen’s power comes from refining and integrating what he has gained.
• Understanding as strength: Chen turns close observation into insight, identifying the historical and spiritual basis of his opponent’s abilities.
• Agency versus exploitation: The trapped figures weigh whether to rely on Chen or manipulate him, while the red-robed man treats others and their powers as resources.
• Mythmaking and divinity: The chapter presents the idea that people gave divine identities to nature’s forces and creatures—and that such beliefs could themselves become a source of power.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo overwhelms the red-robed man, absorbing his Divine Breath, Spirit Light, and supernatural abilities. A towering, snake-eared figure—the apparent root of the man’s Shamanic Dao—also merges into Chen Cuo.
• The red-robed man reveals that he came from Beyond the Mundane and could exist in this world only through his powers. With those powers taken, he begins to vanish, then detonates himself.
• Before disappearing, he warns Chen Cuo that the Qiu Ruins engineered the encounter, that Chen is caught up in a much larger design, and that this is only the beginning. Chen cannot keep him alive for questioning, so he uses She Bishi’s aura and a White Lotus technique to follow the man’s departing Spirit Light into a strange passage.
• Chen absorbs the remaining Divine Breath, strengthening his Incarnation and considering whether the captured abilities can help complete his true body. Worried that the boundary between worlds may soon fail, he turns to question the three figures left on the altar about the Qiu Ruins.
• In a separate scene beneath the altar, Cui Qian and Cui Qiang approach a chained tomb with Little Pig and a turtle. The brothers are frightened, while Little Pig urges them forward despite his own greedy fascination with the grave.
• They find a jade tablet bearing the inscription: “Second Tomb: Tomb of Pangu.”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo shifts from fighting for survival to actively investigating the larger forces at work. He remains pragmatic: rather than risk letting the red-robed man escape beyond his reach, he follows his Spirit Light and absorbs what he can.
• The red-robed man goes from furious resistance to despair and defiance. His final warning hints that Chen’s apparent victory may have been arranged and that Chen’s role in events is larger than he understands.
• Cui Qian loses his usual composure and reluctantly approaches the tomb under Little Pig’s pressure. Little Pig acts bravely but is plainly tempted by something in the grave. Their comic exchange contrasts with Chen’s high-stakes confrontation.
• The three figures on the altar remain shocked and wary of Chen, while the Cui brothers’ discovery introduces a new mystery.

Significant themes

• Fate and manipulation: Chen’s victory may be part of the Qiu Ruins’ design, raising doubts about whether he is acting freely.
• Worlds and boundaries: The barrier between the mortal world and Beyond the Mundane is weakening, threatening a future incursion by powerful outsiders.
• Power and transformation: Chen’s ability to absorb and assimilate another being’s powers offers rapid growth, but he knows there may be hidden dangers.
• Ancient mystery: The inscription identifying Pangu’s tomb suggests that the ruins conceal secrets reaching back to the world’s beginnings.

Plot points

• A second sun appears over the Hundred Thousand Mountains, awakening strange ancestral powers in people and beasts. It soon shatters and vanishes, leaving some—such as Xi Nu—with a surge of strength and ambition.
• At the edge of a desolate realm, Wu Hong reappears after his body has been destroyed and his cultivation badly damaged. The Azure Lotus Sword Immortal confronts him, demanding to know what he found in the Mortal World and why he returned in such a ruined state.
• Di Ting arrives and reveals that Wu Hong reached Qiu Ruins, but was defeated there by Chen Cuo. Using its power, Di Ting projects Wu Hong’s memories for everyone to see: Chen Cuo overwhelms him, forcing Wu Hong to self-destruct to escape.
• The revelation draws the attention of Yin Zi, a two-faced armored figure. Despite his companion’s caution, Yin Zi decides to enter the Rift, hoping to seize a Primordial Chaos Fruit and win their master’s favor.
• Back at the Qiu Ruins Altar, Chen Cuo considers what Qiu Ruins represents and asks what a Primordial Chaos Fruit might be.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Hong is exposed as powerful but badly diminished, and his humiliation before the gathered observers leaves him furious and vulnerable.
• The Azure Lotus Sword Immortal is wary and confrontational, threatening Wu Hong to extract information. His hostility toward Di Ting grows when Di Ting takes control of the situation.
• Di Ting acts as an investigator for the Buddhist realms. It publicly reveals Wu Hong’s memories, both informing the crowd and protecting him from repeated interrogation.
• Yin Zi’s two faces embody opposing judgments: one dismisses Chen Cuo and presses ahead for personal gain; the other recognizes the danger and urges reporting back. The more reckless face prevails.
• Chen Cuo, though absent from the confrontation, becomes the focus of the realm’s attention after his decisive victory over Wu Hong.

Significant themes

• Power has a cost: Wu Hong’s access to the Mortal World and Qiu Ruins leaves him ruined, suggesting that great gains can exceed what a person’s fate or body can bear.
• Ambition and risk: Many factions seek a route through the barrier to the Mortal World, and Yin Zi’s greed may lead him into danger.
• The struggle for access and knowledge: The sealed Mortal World, unstable Rifts, and coveted Qiu Ruins opportunities draw rival powers into a contest over what lies beyond.
• Ruins and historical cycles: Chen Cuo’s question links fallen states and vanished eras to the mysterious Primordial Chaos Fruit.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Cuo confronts three sealed, spirit-bound figures at an altar. His status as an Incomplete Dao Master—and his connection to the River of History—gives him the upper hand, so he presses them for answers.
• They explain that the Primordial Chaos Fruit is not something cultivators create. It is the heart of a Lesser Cosmos, a rare world born from heaven and earth that appears briefly before vanishing.
• Cultivator-made realms such as Peach Paradises, Blessed Lands, Buddha Lands, and Grotto-Heavens are said to be imitations of Lesser Cosmoses. Legends claim the earliest Cultivation Methods arose from studying them.
• The discussion turns to the decline of ancient paths, including Pangu’s Dao and the path of Merit, as Cultivation Methods supplanted older traditions.
• A Rift opens above the altar, heralding another visitor from Beyond the Mundane. The newcomer arrogantly questions how Chen Cuo and the others defeated Wu Hong.
• In a cavern below, Little Pig jumps onto the Jade Tablet, and a crack sounds from the grave, alarming the Cui brothers.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo is impatient but intellectually engaged. He keeps redirecting the speakers from broad history to practical answers, and connects their revelations to places and objects he knows, including Peach Paradises and Grotto-Heavens.
• The three sealed figures reveal what they know, though their knowledge is incomplete. Their different voices—elderly, crisp, and dispassionate—offer contrasting perspectives.
• The new arrival appears confident and dismissive, suggesting a fresh confrontation is imminent.
• Little Pig’s action at the Jade Tablet triggers a disturbing sound from the grave, heightening the tension below the altar.

Significant themes

• Creation versus cultivation: Lesser Cosmoses arise naturally from heaven and earth, while cultivators can only make lesser imitations.
• Lost knowledge and declining traditions: Ancient paths have faded, leaving later generations with incomplete records and altered methods.
• Uncertainty and hidden origins: The nature, source, and destination of Lesser Cosmoses remain mysterious.
• Imminent danger: The impending arrival from Beyond the Mundane—and the unexplained crack beneath the altar—leave several threats unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• A powerful, two-faced figure begins emerging from the rift above the altar. His arrival brings oppressive aura, lightning, banners, and music; the three beings on the altar recognize that he must be at least a Grotto-Heaven cultivator.
• The figure berates Chen Cuo for defeating Wu Hong and warns that he has meddled with forces beyond his understanding. His presence alone overwhelms the three beings’ wills.
• Chen Cuo attacks with a sword formed from Divine Breath, but the rift absorbs the strike. Before the figure can fully arrive, the rift suddenly curls into a ring and pulls him and the surrounding phantoms inside. The ring then vanishes.
• More rifts appear around the altar, some seemingly empty and others revealing strange auras and watching eyes. The three beings explain that the Qiu Ruins connect to many realms of Beyond the Mundane, but such connections have been rare. Chen Cuo suspects someone is deliberately weakening the barrier between worlds.
• Elsewhere, cracks spread across a chain-bound tomb. The Cui brothers flee in fear as Little Pig admits he struck the burial mound too hard. The chains part, revealing a smooth, egg-shaped object inside.
• The two-faced figure reappears in a sunlit natural setting. He realizes he and his companion have not been sent back to Beyond the Mundane, but have somehow returned to the Mortal World.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Cuo remains composed despite the figure’s intimidation. He tests the rift with an attack, then quickly shifts to assessing the new danger and questioning the altar’s occupants.
• The two-faced figure displays both arrogance and a more reflective side: one face threatens the altar’s occupants, while the other cautions against mistaking borrowed power for true strength. His sudden displacement leaves him confused.
• The three beings on the altar are shaken by the figure’s power, but their surprise at the rift’s collapse makes clear they did not cause it. Their explanation helps Chen Cuo understand the wider danger.
• The Cui brothers are terrified by the tomb’s supernatural changes. Little Pig, by contrast, blames the damage on his own strength; Little Turtle reproaches him.
• The two faces of the silver-armored figure interact as “imperial brothers,” sharing both alarm and nostalgia at their unexpected return.

Significant themes

• Power and its limits: Chen Cuo’s attack cannot reach the figure through the rift, and the chapter stresses the danger of relying on borrowed power.
• Fate, fortune, and consequence: The figure frames Chen Cuo’s actions as a consequence of fortune and destiny, while the spreading rifts suggest larger forces are shaping events.
• Fragile boundaries between worlds: The Qiu Ruins connect multiple realms, and the growing number of rifts threatens the separation between the Mortal World and Beyond the Mundane.
• Unintended consequences: Little Pig’s casual blow damages the tomb, while the rift’s abrupt collapse sends the powerful newcomers somewhere unexpected.

Key plot points and events

• Numerous rifts open around the Qiu Ruins altar, allowing powerful auras from beyond the void to press into the Mortal World. The three beings on the altar ask Chen Cuo to help seal them, warning that the entire Northern Lands could be endangered.
• Chen lends them his Divine Breath, greatly strengthening their efforts. But a hand reaches through a rift and gathers their combined power into a painting, injuring all four.
• The old man on the altar conjures a peaceful landscape—sky, streams, willows, birds, and flowers—to resist the hand. The hand consumes this projection too, but both it and the old man petrify, halting the immediate threat.
• Chen senses many more powerful auras and reflects that, despite his recent progress, his foundation is unstable: he has grasped an Incomplete Dao without properly completing the necessary stages of cultivation. He resolves to strengthen his foundations after the crisis.
• A new attacker unleashes a “Celestial Phenomenon Method,” conjuring snow, ice, flames, and sand that overwhelm the altar’s protective barrier and threaten Chen’s mind. The clear-voiced woman partially tames the visions to restore the barrier.
• As Chen prepares to fight with his gourd, a strange, chimera-like beast approaches and asks him to listen rather than attack. It claims he has ties to Buddhism and calls him “Buddha’s Foe.”

Character developments

• Chen Cuo shows quick judgment and willingness to aid others, but recognizes that raw power cannot make up for incomplete cultivation. He becomes more cautious and resolves to resume disciplined training.
• The old man sacrifices himself to stop the intruding hand, revealing that he recognizes its aura and fears the catastrophe its owner could bring.
• The clear-voiced woman remains composed under pressure and uses her abilities to turn parts of the attacker’s visions into protection.
• The strange beast knows Chen’s identity despite his concealment and suggests a larger history involving Buddhism and multiple adversaries.

Significant themes

• The danger of unstable strength: Chen’s power is considerable, but his incomplete foundation limits his ability to use it safely.
• Cosmic threats and sacrifice: The rifts expose the Mortal World to forces beyond it, and the old man gives his life to contain one such threat.
• Reality, perception, and Dao: The conjured natural phenomena blur the boundary between illusion and reality, affecting even the characters’ minds.
• Hidden identities and past ties: The beast’s accusation hints that Chen’s conflicts extend beyond the immediate crisis.

Character interactions

• Chen cooperates with the altar’s three guardians, combining his Divine Breath with their powers.
• The guardians’ crisis draws out the old man’s warning and sacrifice, while the others react with shock and continue defending the altar.
• The clear-voiced woman warns Chen about the Celestial Phenomenon Method and protects the altar, while Chen shields himself and prepares to counterattack.
• The beast interrupts Chen’s preparations, addressing him by name and trying to replace combat with a conversation about their supposed shared Buddhist connection.