Chapter Summaries

Chen Yu discovered that the spirit essence he refined from Chen Hong carried water-attribute power and traces of spirit embryo essence, which helped him cultivate a water spirit seed. He ignored distress signals while gathering poison materials in the Black Mist Marsh, and as dawn came, a figure emerged from the mist.

• Chen Yu absorbed the unusual lake-blue spirit essence, gained experience, and used it to form a water spirit seed, bringing his dantian to four of the five elemental spirit seeds.
• Chen Yu reflected on Chen Hong’s self-detonation and the White Lotus Sect, then decided not to answer a nearby Jade Pendant distress signal.
• Chen Yu left the Black Python’s territory and resumed searching for Black Pythons while collecting poisonous plants and creatures for the Poison Scripture.
• Chen Yu ignored more distress signals through the night as the marsh darkened and then brightened toward dawn.
• As Chen Yu prepared to use another white snake as bait, a figure emerged from the black mist ahead.

Chen Yu encountered Xiang Baiwei in the Black Mist Marsh and collected a swarm of Ghost King Scorpions instead of fleeing. After Xiang Baiwei warned him that Xiao Lei might target him, Chen Yu began planning to poison his detoxification pills and identified their ingredients.

• Xiang Baiwei warned Chen Yu that a swarm of Ghost King Scorpions was approaching, but he burned them with true flame and collected their corpses.
• Xiang Baiwei recognized Chen Yu as Elder Yun’s eldest disciple and asked him to spare Chen Hong if they met; Chen Yu agreed without revealing that he had already absorbed her.
• Xiang Baiwei warned Chen Yu that Xiao Lei had killed a disciple who called for help and might suspect Chen Yu of belonging to an opposing faction.
• Chen Yu reconsidered his plan to gather three miasma-crossing flowers, realizing Xiao Lei might kill him afterward and take them.
• Chen Yu inspected Elder Yun’s detoxification pills and identified bluewood fruit, miasma-clearing grass, silver spirit branches, and redbud flower as their ingredients, then planned to turn them into poison pills.

Chen Yu returned to the Flying Boat, secretly gave Xiao Lei a poison pill among her supplies, and later witnessed her kill a disguised disciple who declared allegiance to the Jade Void Sect. After Xiao Lei left, Chen Yu suspected she could be cultivating the True Origin Mystic Canon, then discovered that someone had emptied his sack of captured snakes.

• Chen Yu altered a Detoxification Pill into poison, returned to the Flying Boat, and gave Xiao Lei a bottle containing one normal pill and one poison pill.
• Xiao Lei answered two distress signals and brought back only one female disciple, then accepted Chen Yu's additional pills before he left to search for miasma-crossing flowers.
• Chen Yu hid nearby when a female disciple called for help and watched Xiao Lei rescue her, test her cultivation, and kill her when she proved stronger than she claimed.
• The dying disciple said, "The Dao Sect... must fall. The Jade... Jade Void Sect... must triumph!" and Xiao Lei burned her body to ashes.
• Chen Yu suspected Xiao Lei had nearly noticed him and might also cultivate the True Origin Mystic Canon, then found his sack of captured snakes open and empty.

Chen Yu discovered that his snake bag had opened and his bait snakes were gone, then spotted a powerful Black Python that might have reached foundation establishment. After pursuing it into an eerie clearing, he lost the python and found himself unable to escape the seemingly repeating swamp.

• Chen Yu found his snake bag open, blamed a Dung Beetle without evidence, and searched for the escaped bait snakes.
• Chen Yu saw a Black Python overpower and devour the snakes, then followed it in hopes of finding a Miasma-Crossing Flower.
• The Black Python sped away and vanished after Chen Yu's position was exposed, leaving him in a strange clearing.
• Chen Yu tried to retreat but could not find the boulder he had crossed, then continued walking through the swamp.
• After two hours of seeing nearly unchanged surroundings, Chen Yu stopped and realized something was wrong.

Chen Yu became trapped in a looping formation in Black Mist Marsh and failed to escape using markers, a flying sword, or a Ghost King Scorpion. He began following a Dung Beetle through the marsh, and as the fourth trial day dawned, something appeared ahead in the black mist.

• Chen Yu realized that he had returned to the same dead tree and Filter Screen, confirming that he was trapped in a ghost wall, and he could not contact Senior Sister Xiao.
• Chen Yu marked his route with strips of cloth, but the markers showed that he had looped back to the starting point; he suspected a formation was distorting his senses.
• Chen Yu tried to escape by sending a flying sword ahead and then following a Ghost King Scorpion, but both attempts brought him back to where he started.
• Chen Yu noticed that a Dung Beetle had survived among the Ghost King Scorpions, and decided to follow it because the formation might not affect ordinary venomous insects.
• Chen Yu followed the slow-moving Dung Beetle through the night, and as dawn approached on the fourth day of the trial, something appeared in the black mist ahead.

Chen Yu escaped Black Mist Marsh by following a Dung Beetle and discovered that Wei Yang had plotted to use the Spirit-Restoring Pill to resurrect himself through another person. After inserting a Nether Ruins Sect Token into a stone monument, Chen Yu was transported to a mysterious space containing a skeleton and two objects.

• Chen Yu followed the Dung Beetle to Lin Xi's corpse and found Lin Xi's Storage Ring and a letter accusing Wei Yang of trapping him in Black Mist Marsh.
• Chen Yu read that Wei Yang had planned to use the mother and child Spirit-Restoring Pills to resurrect through someone who took a child pill, and connected the scheme to a book by Wei Yang in the Immortal Ruins.
• Chen Yu put Lin Xi's skeleton into the Storage Ring and continued following the Dung Beetle past old corpses to the boundary of Black Mist Marsh.
• Chen Yu found a Nether Ruins Sect monument, but could not contact Senior Sister Xiao and decided to use his Nether Ruins Sect Token rather than risk getting lost again.
• Chen Yu inserted the Token into the monument and was pulled by its golden light into a mysterious space, where he saw a seated skeleton, a parchment, and a book surrounded by boundless darkness.

Chen Yu entered a hidden formation and learned of Yin Hong, a mortal whose lifelong study of formations began with an Array Dao Manual from Elder Qiu of the Nether Ruins Sect. He inherited Yin Hong’s manual and formation diagram, escaped the maze, and discovered a Foundation Establishment black python feeding on cultivators; with three days left in the trial, he still needed two Miasma-Crossing Flowers.

• Chen Yu entered the formation around the Nether Ruins Sect boulder and heard Yin Hong’s preserved spirit explain his history and ask him to deliver his formation insights to Elder Qiu.
• Yin Hong’s spirit faded, and Chen Yu took the Array Dao Manual and the diagram of the Star-Dipper Maze Formation, then returned to the marsh.
• Chen Yu used the diagram to navigate the maze, collected its formation materials and gathering spirit jade, and dismantled the formation.
• Chen Yu followed a Foundation Establishment black python to its nest and found bones and scraps of Dao Sect robes, concluding that the snake had been eating trial participants.

Chen Yu killed a Foundation Establishment Black Python and obtained a second Miasma-Crossing Flower, but he still needed two more before the trial ended. Senior Sister Xiao offered him a flower in exchange for helping her kill Xiang Baiwei.

• Chen Yu poisoned a dead tree and the ground around it, then wore down the Black Python with flying swords until it succumbed to the poison; he finished it off and took the Miasma-Crossing Flower from its nest.
• Chen Yu searched the Black Mist Marsh for another Black Python but found none, and he killed a Gray-Blade Spider while gathering materials from its nest.
• Senior Sister Xiao contacted Chen Yu and told him she had found a Miasma-Crossing Flower near a Black Python's nest, then directed him to come collect it.
• Chen Yu arrived and found Senior Sister Xiao facing Xiang Baiwei; Senior Sister Xiao showed him the flower and asked him to help kill Xiang Baiwei in exchange for it.

Chen Yu pretended to help Xiao Lei kill Xiang Baiwei, but Xiang Baiwei escaped after her strange evasive skill avoided their attacks and Chen Yu’s poison. Xiao Lei later tested Chen Yu with a sudden stab, then left to answer a distress signal before the confrontation could continue.

• Xiao Lei asked Chen Yu to help kill Xiang Baiwei, and Chen Yu agreed while hiding his suspicions and keeping his cultivation at the seventh layer of Qi Refining.
• Xiang Baiwei repeatedly dodged Xiao Lei’s attacks by being pulled aside by an unseen force, while Chen Yu tried to block her escape.
• Chen Yu scattered Fire-Poison Powder, but Xiang Baiwei escaped, and Xiao Lei and Chen Yu both inhaled some of the poison before taking Detoxification Pills.
• Xiao Lei told Chen Yu that Xiang Baiwei belonged to the White Lotus Sect and gave him a miasma-crossing flower; Chen Yu added it to the flower he already carried.
• As Chen Yu prepared to leave, Xiao Lei suddenly thrust a short stab toward his eye, but stopped it and then headed toward a nearby disciple’s distress signal.

After Xiao Lei tested Chen Yu and left, Xiang Baiwei thanked him and proposed they cooperate to kill her. Chen Yu agreed on the conditions that Elder Wang vouch for him and take part in the plan, then accepted Xiang Baiwei's message for the elder.

• Chen Yu met Xiang Baiwei after Xiao Lei's test and explained why he had spared her.
• Xiang Baiwei invited Chen Yu to help kill Xiao Lei, saying her organization had provided her with a means to do so.
• Chen Yu questioned how they would escape punishment after Xiao Lei's death, and Xiang Baiwei said Elder Wang would vouch for her and a few White Lotus Sect members.
• Chen Yu agreed to cooperate if Elder Wang also vouched for him and took part in the plan.
• Xiang Baiwei wrote a message for Elder Wang, and Chen Yu took it to deliver.

Chen Yu returned to the Flying Boat, where Elder Wang revealed that Xiao Lei had killed the rescued disciples. When Xiao Lei came back, Chen Yu fled into the black mist to avoid her.

• Chen Yu used the Communication Jade Pendant to get directions from Xiao Lei, then headed toward the Flying Boat.
• Chen Yu found the Flying Boat empty and gave Elder Wang the cryptic note from Xiang Baiwei.
• Elder Wang burned the note and told Chen Yu that Xiao Lei had killed the rescued disciples.
• Chen Yu realized Xiao Lei was likely to attack him too and tried to persuade Elder Wang to help him catch more snakes.
• Xiao Lei returned with bloodied Short Stabs, and Chen Yu pretended to leave before escaping into the black mist.

Chen Yu prepared a Star-Dipper Maze Formation and poison traps to help Xiang Baiwei kill Xiao Lei, then hid while Xiang Baiwei lured Xiao Lei to the site. Xiao Lei revealed that she knew Chen Yu was nearby and hinted that the Dao Sect's methods for refining Rhyme Spirit and spirit fetus essence had a hidden origin.

• Chen Yu set up the Star-Dipper Maze Formation and 121 poison traps around the area where Xiang Baiwei would summon Xiao Lei.
• Chen Yu guided Xiang Baiwei safely through the traps, explained the battle plan, and hid after she shattered the Jade Pendant.
• Xiao Lei arrived, and Xiang Baiwei confronted her over the Dao Sect and White Lotus Sect's conflict.
• Xiao Lei claimed the Dao Sect's methods for refining Rhyme Spirit and spirit fetus essence had an unexpected origin, leaving Xiang Baiwei stunned.
• Xiao Lei sensed Chen Yu hiding nearby and called him out by name.

Chen Yu learned that the White Lotus Sect might have supplied methods for refining spirit essence and spirit embryo essence, then was discovered by Xiao Lei. When Xiao Lei attacked, Chen Yu revealed his Foundation Establishment cultivation and used Xiang Baiwei’s dodging ability to keep her in front of him as a shield.

• Chen Yu overheard Xiao Lei suggest that the White Lotus Sect might have originated the methods for refining spirit essence and spirit embryo essence, and reconsidered his view of the sect.
• Xiao Lei discovered Chen Yu hiding nearby and attacked him and Xiang Baiwei with her Short Stabs.
• Chen Yu told Xiang Baiwei to lead the attack while he harassed Xiao Lei, and Xiang Baiwei repeatedly dodged using her strange technique.
• Chen Yu revealed that he was at the first layer of Foundation Establishment and attacked Xiao Lei with a flying sword, surprising both women.
• Xiao Lei turned her attack toward Chen Yu, who placed Xiang Baiwei in front of himself and called her his shield.

Chen Yu and Xiang Baiwei fought Xiao Lei, whose mastery of the five-element True Origin Mystic Canon let her counter their attacks. When Xiao Lei became fixated on Chen Yu’s cultivation and overwhelmed them, he used Xiang Baiwei’s secret treasure and a concealed-arrow feint to create an opening for the Nine Springs Sword.

• Chen Yu used Xiang Baiwei’s evasion treasure as a shield while she attacked Xiao Lei, who switched to fire-attribute true Qi and engulfed Xiang Baiwei in flames.
• Chen Yu used water-attribute true Qi to extinguish the flames, but Xiao Lei countered his sword with earth-attribute true Qi and recognized that he had cultivated the True Origin Mystic Canon.
• Xiao Lei lost interest in Xiang Baiwei and advanced on Chen Yu, whose attacks could not penetrate her earth-attribute defenses.
• Chen Yu held Xiang Baiwei in front of him and retreated between two boulders while they waited for her protective treasure or Xiao Lei’s true Qi to run out.
• As Xiang Baiwei’s treasure neared its limit and Xiao Lei’s defenses weakened, Chen Yu fired a concealed arrow to distract her and launched the Nine Springs Sword.

Chen Yu, Xiang Baiwei, and Elder Wang fought Xiao Lei, who survived Xiang Baiwei's Mystic Gang Sword Talisman and broke through to the third layer of Foundation Establishment. Xiao Lei revealed that she was Elder Jin, who had seized Xiao Lei's body, and Chen Yu began luring her toward his Star Dipper Maze Formation.

• Chen Yu wounded Xiao Lei and coordinated with Xiang Baiwei as she prepared the Mystic Gang Sword Talisman.
• Xiang Baiwei's talisman struck Xiao Lei while Elder Wang used vines to delay her escape, but Xiao Lei's body was missing when the dust cleared.
• Xiao Lei attacked from the black mist, revealed her new third-layer Foundation Establishment cultivation, and identified herself as Elder Jin to Wang Gui.
• Chen Yu realized Elder Jin had taken over Xiao Lei's body, then blocked her attempt to kill Wang Gui with a silver needle.
• Chen Yu fought Xiao Lei while retreating toward the Star Dipper Maze Formation, hoping to trap her among his prepared hazards.

Chen Yu lured Elder Jin into the Star-Dipper Maze Formation and used its traps and poisons to defeat her. Before killing her, he learned she wanted the spirit embryo essence of Foundation Establishment disciples who cultivated the True Essence Profound Canon, then hid her corpse and prepared to retrieve the formation materials.

• Xiao Lei struck Chen Yu into the Star-Dipper Maze Formation, and Xiang Baiwei stopped Elder Wang from following because she believed Elder Jin would die there.
• Elder Jin became trapped in the maze, where poison and Chen Yu's attacks left her unable to control her true qi or move.
• Chen Yu severed Elder Jin's arms and tortured her until she explained that the True Essence Profound Canon was not flawed and that she sought spirit embryo essence from its Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Elder Jin revealed she had encountered another disciple who cultivated the manual to Foundation Establishment, likely Senior Zhang Jiuge, before Chen Yu killed her with the Nine Springs Sword.
• Chen Yu put Elder Jin's corpse into his storage ring and began retrieving the formation materials, then heard a terrified voice behind him.

Chen Yu returned to the Dao Sect after Elder Jin’s death and the trial’s end, carrying the spoils and worrying about the sect’s response. Elder Wang accused villains of attacking them, while Elder Wu reacted with suspicious calm, leaving Chen Yu uneasy about what would happen next.

• Chen Yu rescued a poisoned disciple, and the trial ended with only 17 of the 53 participants returning alive.
• Chen Yu reflected on his losses and gains during the trial and resolved to cut ties with Xiang Baiwei and give up his position as Nine-Bend Peak’s senior brother.
• Elder Wang brought the Flying Boat back to the Dao Sect, where Elder Wu was waiting on Heavenly Chasm Peak.
• Elder Wang tearfully told Elder Wu that villains had attacked them and demanded that he report the matter to the Sect Master.
• Elder Wu sent the disciples away and took Elder Wang with him, while Chen Yu wondered why the elder seemed unsurprised.
• Xiang Baiwei called after Chen Yu, but he ignored her and continued walking away.

Chen Yu returned from the trial, delivered the miasma-crossing flowers to Elder Yun, and grew suspicious of the elders’ reaction to Xiao Lei’s death. In the Immortal Ruins, he stripped Xiao Lei’s corpse and discovered a secret art for cultivating divine sense in her Storage Ring.

• Lü Yanyan welcomed Chen Yu back, and he avoided telling her what had happened during the trial.
• Chen Yu met Shen Fei, whose brief ambition to claim the Senior Master Brother position gave way to a decision to study the Poison Path in seclusion.
• Chen Yu gave Elder Yun three miasma-crossing flowers and confirmed that Xiao Lei had died, but Elder Yun showed little surprise.
• Chen Yu ate dinner with Lü Yanyan, then entered the Immortal Ruins to examine Xiao Lei’s corpse and belongings.
• Xiao Lei’s body reattached its arms, rose, and vanished after Chen Yu stripped it of its possessions.
• Chen Yu searched Xiao Lei’s sparse Storage Ring and found the Soul-Refining Art, which he recognized as a secret art for cultivating divine sense.

Elder Wang reported the Black Mist Marsh attack to Dao Sect elders, who questioned his account and discussed the returning Forbidden Stele expedition. In the Immortal Ruins, Chen Yu examined Elder Jin’s books and found a wood cultivation method and an escape technique that suited his needs.

• Wang Gui told Elder Wu, Elder Yun, and Elder Zhou that the Evergreen Sect and Jade Void Sect had ambushed the Dao Sect disciples, and he presented items he had found at the scene.
• Elder Yun questioned Wang Gui about Chen Yu, learned that Chen Yu had searched for snakes and later waited aboard the Flying Boat, and praised his cleverness.
• The elders planned to question the seventeen surviving disciples and said they would kill those not among the six disciples Wang Gui had sketched if his account proved true.
• Elder Wu told Elder Yun and Elder Zhou that Gao Xuan and the other peak masters had found the Forbidden Stele and would return within three days.
• Chen Yu searched Elder Jin’s storage ring, found the Water Escape Technique and the mid-grade Mystic-rank Yi Wood Heart Sutra, and recognized that both would be useful to him.

Chen Yu used the Soul Refining Art and his system to cultivate divine sense rapidly, then tested its range after leaving the Immortal Ruins. He decided the Yi Wood Heart Sutra could help him reach the second layer of Foundation Establishment.

• Chen Yu found the Soul Refining Art, Water Escape Technique, and Yi Wood Heart Sutra in Elder Jin's Storage Ring and rejected the Soul Refining Art's ten-year cultivation requirement.
• Chen Yu created a bright afterimage, meditated, and mentally mapped his surroundings to simulate the Soul Refining Art's cultivation state.
• Chen Yu completed the Soul Refining Art and formed divine sense, which could perceive the Immortal Ruins but could not probe inside the coffin.
• Chen Yu tested his divine sense at his residence and found it covered a radius of roughly sixty to seventy meters.
• Chen Yu read the Yi Wood Heart Sutra and decided its use of high-quality spirit herbs suited him and could help him break through to the second layer of Foundation Establishment.