Chapter Summaries

Li Ling and his companions encountered a wooden figure linked to the Medieval Great Power, whose temporal power restored the palace and whose motes possessed several cultivators. Trapped in the palace’s changing time cycle, they discovered its white jade spirit-crystal construction and realized the Immortal Abode itself held immense value.

• The wooden figure transformed, rewound the palace to its former state, and released motes that breached Li Ling’s defenses and possessed several cultivators.
• Li Ling led the survivors through a changed route while the wooden figure drained the fleeing cultivators of their vital essence.
• Li Ling and the others reasoned that the figure might be a demonic remnant activated by sunset, and he urged everyone to withdraw until daylight.
• Li Ling’s group remained trapped in the restored palace, where he sensed powerful yin spirits and suspected the danger followed a temporal cycle.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi recognized that the palace’s white jade bricks were spirit-crystal bricks, and Li Ling estimated their total value in the trillions of spirit stones.

Li Ling projected his soul into the Immortal Abode and used incense to cleanse the corrupted corpse of a Medieval Great Power, awakening a message from the dead man. The message revealed that the Stone of Time and You Heng’s woodblight had caused the time loop and warned Li Ling how to break it.

• Li Ling led the group deeper into the Immortal Abode, reasoning that the ghostly presence might be a new will formed from the great power’s corrupted spiritual remains.
• As midnight approached, the yin spirits grew more humanlike, and Li Ling projected his soul to fly directly toward the corpse while the others guarded his body.
• Li Ling used Formless Incense to evade the pursuing spirits and wooden figure, then reached the bloodied corpse in a courtyard.
• Li Ling burned spirit incense over the corpse, cleansing demonic qi from the corpse, the wooden figure, and the approaching yin spirits.
• The corpse communicated across time, revealing that the Stone of Time caused the time loop and that cutting it from his heart could end the phenomena.
• The dead great power identified his killer as You Heng of the Nether Path and explained that You Heng’s woodblight had combined with the Stone of Time to create the calamity.

Li Ling removed the corpse’s final impurities and claimed its Stone of Time, but doing so awakened a wooden monster tied to You Heng’s plans. Li Ling and An Qinglong fought the Wooden Carving Ghost while Mu Qingsi, Luo Jingwei, and the others struggled against living plants, and Gong Chi arrived with reinforcements.

• Li Ling extracted the Stone of Time from the corpse and embedded it in his forehead, after which the corpse’s flesh crumbled away and the woodblight revealed itself as a wooden skeleton.
• The skeleton identified itself as You Heng and declared its plan to reclaim demons, reforge its dharma body, and return to the mortal world; Li Ling challenged it and sensed its apprehension.
• The woodblight transformed into a towering Wooden Carving Ghost and attacked the earthen grave, prompting Li Ling to manifest his dharma form and clash with it.
• Li Ling ordered Mu Qingsi and the others to withdraw, had Lin Rouniang possess Mu Qingsi for protection, and then joined his physical body with his dharma form as An Qinglong joined the fight.
• The Wooden Carving Ghost unleashed Wood Fiend Genesis, while living vines and plant monsters attacked Luo Jingwei, Mu Qingsi, and the others; Luo Jingwei severed a rogue cultivator’s leg to save him from a fanged flower.
• Gong Chi arrived with reinforcements, cut through the plant creatures, immobilized the fanged flower with his dharma power, and captured it in a bag.

Gong Chi joined Li Ling’s battle against the Wooden Carving Ghost, while Li Ling uncovered You Heng’s plan to regain his lost self through the Netherworld Sect’s methods. Just as the Wooden Carving Ghost accepted that his resurrection was impossible, Gong Chi’s arrival gave him a new opportunity, and a hidden vine pierced Gong Chi.

• Gong Chi used his control over the Wood Dao to suppress the plant demons, then led Luo Jingwei and the others to help Li Ling.
• Li Ling told An Qinglong to destroy the woodblight creatures, and their destruction weakened the Wooden Carving Ghost by cutting off the source sustaining him.
• Li Ling explained You Heng’s plan to recover his scattered spirit and memories, and the Wooden Carving Ghost realized that time had made his resurrection impossible.
• Gong Chi and his companions arrived at the battle, startling Li Ling and the others as the Wooden Carving Ghost regained his confidence.
• A concealed vine erupted from the ground and pierced Gong Chi.

Li Ling used his Dream Path Divine Ability to draw everyone and the demonic shadow into a shared Dreamscape, where he exposed the shadow’s weakness and destroyed its consciousness. The vines and Gong Chi’s possession remained the immediate danger outside the Dreamscape.

• Li Ling realized the Wooden Carving Ghost was merging with Gong Chi, and the possessed Gong Chi attacked Elder Xiu and Yang Guangli with a black wooden saber.
• The Wooden Carving Ghost transferred itself into Gong Chi, spread its vines across the cavern, and killed several cultivators as it absorbed their power and advanced to Core Formation.
• Li Ling summoned his Three Great Incense Deities to support the group, then used Netherdream Incense and the Wind Spirit Butterfly to draw everyone into a shared Dreamscape.
• Li Ling pointed out that the demonic shadow had avoided possessing the Core Formation cultivators, revealing that it was a weakened remnant rather than a true mighty being.
• The demonic shadow attacked the group in the Dreamscape, but Li Ling used his home-ground advantage to blast it apart and destroy its consciousness.

Li Ling killed You Heng’s demonic shadow, rescued Gong Chi, and organized an alliance to share and develop the Immortal Abode’s resources. As the group began looting its ruins, Li Ling sensed that remnants of You Heng and a hidden danger within Gong Chi still remained.

• Li Ling explained that You Heng’s demonic shadow had been destroyed, then healed Gong Chi with Teaweed Incense.
• Li Ling told the group that the existing demons might keep multiplying and proposed an alliance to manage the Immortal Abode and distribute its ongoing proceeds.
• The cultivators negotiated shares for the Incense Accumulation Sect, Northsky Island, and expedition members, while Li Ling offered everyone at least three hundred million spirit stones’ worth of treasure to take from the abode.
• Li Ling led the cultivators to excavate valuable jade bricks from the Immortal Palace’s damaged array foundations.
• Li Ling warned that You Heng’s ying spirit and xiyi might persist and regenerate, then detected hidden demonic energy within Gong Chi.

Li Ling discovered that Gong Chi’s new ghost-transformation power carried a dangerous remnant of You Heng that could eventually possess him, and offered him protection through the Incense Accumulation Sect. After Gong Chi joined as an Attendant elder, Li Ling encouraged the expedition members to build their own factions and cooperate, leaving the group united by the gains of the Immortal Abode.

• Gong Chi demonstrated his new ghost transformation, and Li Ling warned that You Heng’s demonic thought was infecting his mind and could revive.
• Li Ling and Gong Chi entered the Dreamscape, where Li Ling found the demonic remnant could not be easily destroyed and might regenerate even if treated.
• Li Ling offered Gong Chi a place as an Attendant in the Incense Accumulation Sect so he could monitor and help contain the danger, and Gong Chi accepted.
• Li Ling advised Gong Chi to use the ghost-transformation power sparingly while reassuring him that future cultivation could let him overcome the remnant.
• Gong Chi announced that he had joined the Incense Accumulation Sect as an Attendant elder, prompting others to consider joining Li Ling.
• Li Ling urged the expedition members to establish their own factions and cooperate with him, and the crowd enthusiastically embraced the proposal.

Elder Shang recognized that Li Ling was consolidating control over the Immortal Abode’s profits and that its spirit vein could give the Incense Accumulation Sect an enduring foundation. Li Ling explored the vast cave heaven and found a mine and brickyard, leaving him poised to uncover whether the abode contained an Immortal Mountain spirit vein.

• Elder Shang and Shang Yuxian learned that Li Ling had dealt with the demonic calamity and was organizing reinforcements and allocating the Immortal Abode’s interests.
• Elder Shang explained how Li Ling’s share distribution left Northsky Island with little control while gathering supporters around him.
• Elder Shang concluded that the Immortal Abode could help the Incense Accumulation Sect become an independent great sect if it held an Immortal Mountain spirit vein.
• Li Ling stayed in the Immortal Abode to survey its fragmented territory and discuss with Mu Qingsi whether it could become the sect’s new seat.
• Li Ling searched for signs of a spirit vein and discovered a vast mine and brickyard containing spirit crystal materials and hundreds of thousands of finished bricks.

Li Ling and Mu Qingsi confirmed that the mountain mine held an Immortal Mountain spirit vein and led their companions to its spring-source pool. After everyone gained cultivation from the Spirit Spring Pearls and spirit liquid, Li Ling discovered that Lin Rouniang was absorbing the energy to forge a physical body.

• Li Ling took Mu Qingsi and a small party to the mountain mine, where they confirmed it was an Immortal Mountain spirit vein and at least a high-grade blessed land.
• Li Ling let the group explore the mine and share its proceeds, and they agreed to search first for the spirit vein’s spring-source pearls.
• Luo Jingwei’s group found the central cavern, where Li Ling, Chang Hao, Yang Guangli, and the others gathered spirit liquid and collected more than a hundred Spirit Spring Pearls.
• The group divided and consumed their shares, gaining cultivation according to their individual foundations; Li Ling and Mu Qingsi each gained at least sixty years of cultivation.
• Mu Qingsi alerted Li Ling that Lin Rouniang was absorbing spiritual energy, and Li Ling gave her Spirit Spring Pearls and spirit liquid before realizing she was using the energy to forge a physical body.

Li Ling organized the restoration and possible relocation of the Que Luo Immortal Abode, while Mu Qingsi began cultivating there to pursue Core Formation. As work began, unidentified people appeared outside and attacked the scouts, leaving Li Ling alert to a possible threat within the abode.

• Li Ling learned that reinforcements led by Shu Changsheng were coming, and encouraged Mu Qingsi to settle in the immortal abode and cultivate toward Core Formation.
• Li Ling and Chang Hao uncovered records showing that True Person Que Luo had relocated the abode using the Heavenly Star Reflection Method.
• Shu Changsheng, Lin Ji, Master Jin, and their teams arrived, and Lin Ji and Master Jin explained how the abode might be returned to its proper position and linked to Northsky Island.
• Li Ling promised ample resources for the work, and surveys showed that the grand array was mostly intact and could be restored more easily than expected.
• Shu Changsheng reported that unidentified people had injured the scouts, so Li Ling sent Feng Qing and Chang Hao to investigate while he stayed alert for intruders.

Shu Changsheng and his allies were ambushed by Dan Feng and Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Sky Sword Sect and Xiwu Sect, who planned to seize the Immortal Abode. From a nearby cliff, Lin Xi and Jian Fenghao discussed their plan to lure Li Ling out and attack from within and without.

• Shu Changsheng realized that the strangers had lured his party into a trap, but Dan Feng and the others surrounded them.
• Dan Feng attacked Shu Changsheng, who fought back with his Corpse Plague Daoist and Incense Path abilities.
• The Sky Sword Sect and Xiwu Sect cultivators overwhelmed Shu Changsheng's group and trapped them inside a barrier of Wu Earth Banners.
• Lin Xi learned that Shu Changsheng's group was still resisting and decided to go there himself, while Jian Fenghao stayed behind to watch the rift.
• Lin Xi planned to use Shu Changsheng to draw Li Ling out and have Han and Mo sneak into the Immortal Abode.

Shu Changsheng used Deity-Invoking Incense to break free from Dan Feng’s formation, but Lin Xi arrived and overwhelmed Feng Qing, Chang Hao, and Shu Changsheng with his powerful false dharma form. Chang Hao was gravely injured, leaving the group facing a desperate retreat.

• Shu Changsheng burned Deity-Invoking Incense, gained power resembling Li Ling’s, and broke through the Earth-Essence Gang Wall so his four companions could escape.
• Shu Changsheng held off Dan Feng’s pursuing group until Feng Qing and Chang Hao arrived to rescue him.
• Lin Xi arrived, revealed that he had anticipated Li Ling’s involvement, and ordered Dan Feng’s group to pursue the escaped cultivators.
• Lin Xi attacked with a colossal rhinoceros-like false dharma form and Thunderbolts, striking Chang Hao into the ground.
• Feng Qing shoved the beast aside with his firebird, and Chang Hao fled with half his body crushed as he urged the others to run.

Feng Qing and Shu Changsheng escaped Lin Xi by using human incense essence to mislead his senses, then returned to the Immortal Abode and warned Li Ling of the attack. Li Ling confronted Lin Xi through the restored array, but the rival sects declared their intent to seize the abode; as Lin Xi waited outside, Li Ling sensed that someone had slipped inside through a rift.

• Lin Xi killed Chang Hao and captured his true core while Feng Qing and Shu Changsheng fled.
• Shu Changsheng used a Flying Sword carrying his human incense essence to fool Lin Xi, allowing both men to reach the Immortal Abode.
• Feng Qing and Shu Changsheng entered the abode and reported Lin Xi's attack to Li Ling.
• Li Ling spoke to Lin Xi through the array, but Lin Xi claimed he would seize the abode under the pretense of suppressing demons.
• Lin Xi waited outside instead of attacking the boundary, and Li Ling sensed that someone had entered through a rift.

Han Youming and Mo Zongying led a covert team into the Que Luo Immortal Abode to guide Lin Xi’s forces inside, but Li Ling detected them and trapped them in an incense array. As Han Youming’s group fought possessed cultivators and demonic vines, Lin Xi’s traversal brought him to a ruined fragment of a cave heaven, where he found Li Ling waiting.

• Han Youming and Mo Zongying brought ten companions through a hidden passage into the Que Luo Immortal Abode, while Li Ling secretly marked the two elders and removed their talisman.
• Han Youming’s group entered a mountain path that looped back on itself and realized they had been drawn into a dreamlike incense array.
• An Qinglong and the defenders revealed themselves, then broke open a wall and released the yin spirits and ghostly beings inside.
• Several Foundation Establishment cultivators were possessed, and demonic vines burst through the walls, trapping Han Youming’s group as he tried to contact Lin Xi.
• Lin Xi attempted to traverse into the Immortal Abode but arrived in a ruined cave-heaven fragment, where he recognized Li Ling waiting for him.

Li Ling and Lin Xi fought in an ancient Cave Heaven fragment, each revealing a powerful body and remarkable recovery. After Li Ling turned himself into incense smoke to escape Lin Xi’s relentless attacks, he unleashed a new divine ability, Fragrance as Before, filling the battlefield with Spirit-Bewildering Incense.

• Lin Xi summoned a rhinoceros-like False Manifestation and charged Li Ling, whose three-headed, eight-armed Dharma Form staggered under the initial impact.
• Lin Xi struck three times to compress and accelerate his False Manifestation, then smashed Li Ling’s Dharma Form apart with a powerful charge and trampling.
• Li Ling recovered through Soul Projection and Multitasking, counterattacked, and watched Lin Xi regenerate from his wounds through blood-energy regeneration.
• Lin Xi repeatedly broke Li Ling’s Dharma Form, but Li Ling continually restored it through Teaweed Incense and his Flesh Dao Fruit.
• Li Ling transformed himself and his Dharma Form into incense smoke, evading Lin Xi’s physical attacks and gradually learning the extent of his abilities.
• Li Ling used Fragrance as Before to spread Spirit-Bewildering Incense throughout the Cave Heaven fragment, while Lin Xi sensed the fragrance intensifying.

Li Ling used the Stone of Time and Spirit-Bewildering Incense to overwhelm Lin Xi, injuring his soul and forcing him to flee to Jian Fenghao and the Xiwu Sect reinforcements. Li Ling returned to the Immortal Abode, where he gathered its defenders to hold the breach as the enemy prepared to attack.

• Li Ling secretly accumulated Spirit-Bewildering Incense inside Lin Xi by using the Stone of Time, then unleashed its amplified power and left Lin Xi helpless.
• Li Ling destroyed Lin Xi’s dharma-form projection and severely injured his soul and true core, but Lin Xi escaped the Immortal Abode with a Mystic Traversal Talisman.
• Jian Fenghao and the Xiwu Sect cultivators arrived to aid Lin Xi, and Li Ling withdrew into the void rather than fight the assembled force.
• Lin Xi urged Jian Fenghao and the others to attack the Immortal Abode through the void rift before its grand array could be restored.
• Li Ling returned to the cave abode and rallied Feng Qing, An Qinglong, Elder Xiu, Yang Guangli, Jia Renjing, Gan Tao, and the other defenders to guard the breach.

Li Ling rallied the defenders of the ruined Immortal Abode and prepared them for an assault by Lin Xi and Jian Fenghao. He used Spirit-Bewildering Incense Essence to freeze Lin Xi and destroy his soul, leaving Jian Fenghao and the invading forces shaken and unsure whether to attack or retreat.

• Li Ling learned that An Qinglong's group had eliminated the earlier intruders without casualties and asked them to keep a survivor for a possible prisoner exchange.
• Li Ling promised Lin Ji and Master Jin a share of his profits if they helped defend the Grand Array, encouraging the defenders to fight for their own rewards.
• Lin Xi and Jian Fenghao led nearly a hundred invaders through a breach in the Boundary Wall, and Lin Xi's False Manifestation battered the defenders' array.
• Shu Changsheng and the Incense Accumulation Sect disciples activated an Incense Array that summoned an Incense Deity as Li Ling ordered the beacon fires and incense piles lit.
• Li Ling used Spirit-Bewildering Incense Essence to immobilize Lin Xi, then struck out and destroyed his soul, killing him.
• Jian Fenghao ordered a retreat as the invaders recoiled from Li Ling, while the Xiwu Sect cultivators demanded that he avenge Lin Xi.

Li Ling used Fragrance As Before to kill Lin Xi, then relied on harmony incense and a persuasive argument to persuade the Sky Sword Sect and the remaining Xiwu Sect elders to withdraw. The chapter ended with Jian Fenghao sensing something unusual about Li Ling’s influence, while Li Ling’s allies celebrated the crisis’s peaceful resolution.

• Li Ling assessed the time-power backlash from Fragrance As Before after using it to kill Lin Xi.
• Li Ling convinced Jian Fenghao that continuing the fight would cost the Sky Sword Sect more than the Immortal Abode was worth, and Jian Fenghao agreed to withdraw in exchange for Han Youming.
• Jin He exchanged Chang Hao’s True Core for Mo Zongying and led the remaining Xiwu Sect elders away after Li Ling agreed to a private request.
• Jian Fenghao heard his companions praise Li Ling and began to suspect that something was wrong.
• Li Ling’s allies praised his persuasive words, and Li Ling recognized that harmony incense had subtly dispelled his opponents’ hostility.

Li Ling warned that the retreating attackers might return and ordered the Que Luo Immortal Abode’s defenses repaired. Outside, Jin He’s group plotted to exploit the sects’ weakened alliance and use a coerced traitor to get back inside, while Jin He planned to send the Sky Sword Sect toward a possible route first.

• Li Ling warned that the Xiwu Sect might sneak back and ordered the Grand Array repaired and the breach in the void’s boundary wall sealed.
• Jian Fenghao tended Han Youming, then maneuvered him into blaming Lin Xi for the failed attack and the Xiwu Sect’s losses.
• Jin He and Zhu He realized Lin Xi’s death had weakened the Xiwu Sect and decided they needed to return to the Immortal Abode to turn their fortunes around.
• Jin He threatened the captured traitor with exposure to Li Ling, then forced him to record evidence of his betrayal and agree to guide the Xiwu Sect again.
• Jin He sent the wounded traitor toward the Immortal Abode but said he would first give a possible route to the Sky Sword Sect, while keeping another potential shortcut for himself.

Li Ling welcomed a returned captive while secretly ordering him watched, as the Xiwu Sect found a hidden route into the Immortal Abode and attacked its jade mine. The assault initially overwhelmed the mine’s defenders, but a towering wooden giant struck back, and Mu Qingsi sensed trouble underground.

• Li Ling welcomed the returned cultivator despite Luo Jingwei’s warning, then secretly told Shu Changsheng to keep watch on him.
• Jian Fenghao dismissed the Xiwu Sect’s offer and told the Sky Sword Sect to rest and wait for events to unfold.
• Jin He led Xiwu Sect cultivators through a natural void passage, where a Gu Worm scout found a route to the Southern Foothills Mine.
• Jin He’s group identified the mine and attacked, quickly wounding Yang Guangli, Jia Renjing, and the Foundation Establishment defenders.
• A thousand-foot wooden giant wounded Wang Shuo with its black blade, while Mu Qingsi sensed something happening above.