Chapter Summaries

Li Xiaoya struggled to climb out of the golden vortex with Zhang Hong, but worsening pressure nearly stopped them until someone hauled up the rope. He emerged and discovered a black-scaled, Qilin-headed monster pulling it, leaving him unable to decide whether to advance or retreat.

• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong slowed their spinning in the golden vortex by gripping the rope and wrapping their legs around each other.
• Li Xiaoya climbed hundreds of zhang under increasing pressure while Zhang Hong struggled to endure the strain.
• When the pressure stopped Li Xiaoya near the exit and Zhang Hong spat blood, he began climbing back down to help her.
• Someone hauled the rope upward repeatedly, allowing Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong to rise past the strongest pressure and reach the opening.
• Li Xiaoya emerged from the vortex and saw a black-scaled, Qilin-headed monster pulling the rope, then froze in shock.

Black Xiu rescued Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong, healed Zhang Hong, and revealed that the rope was dragon tendon. He kicked Li Xiaoya back into the great hall to retrieve the cauldrons, where Li Xiaoya began plotting with the rope.

• Black Xiu revealed that Heavenly Venerable Daoling had sent him to save Li Xiaoya and examined Li Xiaoya's rare Five-Element Spiritual Root.
• Black Xiu cut Zhang Hong free and used black light to heal her, while Li Xiaoya feared he meant to harm her.
• Black Xiu told Li Xiaoya to call him Black Xiu and explained that the rope was dragon tendon.
• Black Xiu kicked Li Xiaoya through the golden vortex to retrieve the cauldrons, then told Zhang Hong he was bound by an agreement not to kill all the cultivators who entered.
• Li Xiaoya landed in the great hall, untied the cauldrons, and grinned as an idea came to him about the dragon tendon.

Li Xiaoya secretly cut off a length of dragon tendon and hid it before Black Xiu retrieved the remaining items. As Black Xiu carried Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong toward the Rear Mountain Pagoda, Li Xiaoya learned they were in the Red Alert Zone on the border between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm.

• Li Xiaoya used the Fire Dragon Sword to cut a short length of dragon tendon, then concealed it in his Storage Pouch with a talisman.
• Li Xiaoya climbed back through the Golden Vortex, and Black Xiu swallowed the remaining dragon tendon, Stick, and Bell without noticing what Li Xiaoya had taken.
• Zhang Hong checked on Li Xiaoya and cleaned him, while Black Xiu carried them toward the Rear Mountain Pagoda.
• Li Xiaoya noticed Ancient Demon Mountain had regrown and asked about the dark red sky.
• Black Xiu explained that they were in the Red Alert Zone where the Demon Realm and the Human Realm met, and Li Xiaoya asked how they could return.

Black Xiu explained why the Southwestern Ancient City and its demon beasts were trapped at the edge of the Demon Realm, while Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong learned they would have to wait inside a forbidden ground until the city opened. The chapter ended with Black Xiu hinting that another way out existed.

• Black Xiu took Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong to a sealed chamber and said they could escape only by reaching the Great Void Stage and breaking through the boundary, unless they waited for the Southwestern Ancient City to open.
• Black Xiu recognized the aura of his younger brother on Li Xiaoya, and Zhang Hong revealed that the elixirs in the ruins were for reaching the Golden Core Stage.
• Black Xiu blamed Xiao Hanlan for taking his mother and leaving him to suffer demonic corruption at the edge of the Demon Realm, and he said he would demand answers from the Heavenly Dao Sect when the city opened.
• Black Xiu said his Steel-armored Beetles were evolving and that their evolution would help him escape, then spared Li Xiaoya for having thrown them into purgatory lightning.
• Black Xiu explained that the local spiritual qi had corrupted the demon beasts, and he allowed Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong to return to the forbidden ground to cultivate until the city opened.
• Black Xiu denied that he could enter the Demon Realm, but then said there was another way out, leaving Li Xiaoya hopeful and wary.

Black Xiu revealed that a key in the Golden Treasure Tower could unlock the teleportation formation to the Human Realm, so Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong set out to search the Maze Passage. Elsewhere, Mechanism Beasts rebuilt a giant machine, and Zhang Cai received news of another incident in the Lu family's Market District.

• Black Xiu explained that the tower's teleportation formation led to the Human Realm and that its key was hidden somewhere in the Maze Passage, supposedly inside the Golden Treasure Tower.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong swore blood oaths to keep the treasured tower secret, then agreed to search the Maze Passage for the key.
• Black Xiu gave Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong several Storage Pouches and warned them not to harm his children again as they left the tower.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong flew toward the Maze Passage while Mechanism Beasts fitted weapons onto a giant machine resembling the Mechanism Beast King.
• Zhang Cai relaxed in the Lu family's Market District until a plump figure burst in and announced that another incident had occurred.

After another cultivation lineage was massacred, Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong entered the Maze Passage and headed toward the Golden Treasure Tower, hoping to obtain more Diamond Grass and other treasures. Li Xiaoya destroyed a guarding Mechanism Beast in the Copper Treasure Pavilion and found something with his divine sense.

• Dong Santong told Zhang Cai that the Zhang Household had suffered a massacre matching the attack on the Lu Household, and cultivators began moving toward the Zhang Household.
• Li Xiaoya showed Zhang Hong the Golden Treasure Tower key and explained that he wanted to return for Diamond Grass and other treasures.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong crossed an empty hall and triggered a blade-filled pit trap, escaping with bursts of flame.
• An eight-clawed Mechanism Beast attacked Li Xiaoya, who smashed it apart with a single golden-lit punch.
• The Red Crystal announced that Mechanism Beast Number 341 had been destroyed, while Li Xiaoya found something with his divine sense.

Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong found an ancient text that might contain the Ancient Script True Art, then continued searching the Labyrinth Formation for better treasure. At the end of the chapter, they entered a hall where a huge Mechanism Beast and a hidden enemy trapped them.

• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong found only mediocre treasures in the Copper Treasure Pavilion, then Li Xiaoya retrieved a five-element Spiritual Artifact and a mysterious book from his Storage Pouch.
• Li Xiaoya recognized the book’s later pages as formulas that might be the ancient divine ability called the Ancient Script True Art, and gave Zhang Hong a copied Jade Slip for learning Ancient Clerical Script.
• Over the following days, Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong repeatedly searched the Labyrinth Formation but found only Copper Treasure Pavilions and low-grade treasures.
• As they approached another pavilion, a hidden enemy inside an enormous four-armed Mechanism Beast gloated about getting revenge on Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong entered the hall, and a metal wall suddenly sealed the passage behind them.

Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong encountered the Mechanism Beast King, who had returned and summoned Four-Armed Mechanism Beasts to attack them. Li Xiaoya overwhelmed the King and left him crippled, while the King begged him to stop.

• The Mechanism Beast King revealed himself and recognized Li Xiaoya, who suspected he had returned because his Red Crystal had survived their previous fight.
• The Mechanism Beast King summoned Four-Armed Mechanism Beasts, and Li Xiaoya told Zhang Hong to handle them while he attacked the King.
• Li Xiaoya charged through the spears without being hurt, while Zhang Hong used her flaming Long Whip Spiritual Artifact to smash the Four-Armed Mechanism Beasts.
• Li Xiaoya caught the Mechanism Beast King's axe, hurled him into the other Mechanism Beasts, and punched a crater into his chest.
• The Mechanism Beast King stopped moving as black smoke poured from his body, then begged Li Xiaoya not to hit him again.

Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong defeated the Mechanism Beast King, who revealed his human origins and explained how Xiao Hanlan had saved him. After learning that the Golden Treasure Tower could not be revisited for ten thousand years, Li Xiaoya decided to leave, but the Mechanism Beast King called them back with a request.

• Li Xiaoya made the Mechanism Beast King order his Mechanism Beasts to stop, and Zhang Hong ended her fight.
• The Mechanism Beast King revealed that he was an ancient Nascent Soul Realm cultivator who had designed the Southwestern Ancient City and sealed his soul to survive.
• He explained that Xiao Hanlan had removed him from his crystal and placed him inside a Red Crystal when his life was nearly over.
• The Mechanism Beast King told Li Xiaoya that the Maze Passage changed with each entry and that the Golden Treasure Tower could not be entered again for ten thousand years.
• Li Xiaoya decided to leave with Zhang Hong, but the Mechanism Beast King urgently called them back to ask for a favor.

Li Xiaoya bargained with the Mechanism Beast King, who was trapped inside his self-repairing Mechanism Beast, and cut him free after securing a promise of treasure and a formula. The Mechanism Beast King ended up inside a crystal, and Li Xiaoya asked him to lead them to the treasures he had taken from other cultivators.

• The Mechanism Beast King told Li Xiaoya that a joint failure had trapped him inside his reinforced Mechanism Beast, and Li Xiaoya teased him before demanding payment for helping.
• The Mechanism Beast King offered the treasures he had taken from other cultivators, and Li Xiaoya agreed to free him.
• Li Xiaoya learned that the Mechanism Beast was coated with the Mechanism Beast King's metal-restoring solution and demanded its formula.
• The Mechanism Beast King mentioned that the formula required something from the Alchemy Forbidden Ground, then agreed to explain after Li Xiaoya freed him.
• Li Xiaoya used the Fire Dragon Sword and the Overlord Art to cut through the Mechanism Beast and remove the crystal containing the Mechanism Beast King.
• Li Xiaoya asked the Mechanism Beast King to take him and Zhang Hong to collect the treasures.

Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong followed the Mechanism Beast King through a hidden passage to his chamber, where he revealed the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Spirit Cauldron was a powerful True Immortal Spirit Treasure. The Mechanism Beast King offered Li Xiaoya a pile of Storage Pouches, but Li Xiaoya refused to release him, saying he still had something to do.

• Li Xiaoya threatened the Mechanism Beast King while making him open a passage to the Copper Treasure Pavilion’s treasure chamber.
• The Mechanism Beast King explained that the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Spirit Cauldron sustained the Southwestern Ancient City and had been left behind by an immortal from the Upper Realm.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong recalled how they had obtained the Yin-Yang Spirit-Gathering Pill, and Zhang Hong joked that their union was ordained by heaven.
• The Mechanism Beast King opened a concealed shaft, and Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong rode a descending metal cylinder to his chamber.
• The Mechanism Beast King pointed out a pile of Storage Pouches and asked Li Xiaoya to release him, but Li Xiaoya refused and said he still had one thing to do.

Li Xiaoya entered a furnace passage leading to the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Spirit Cauldron while Zhang Hong stayed behind to guard the Mechanism Beast King. As the heat overwhelmed his protections, a fissure appeared in the Vacuum Ring’s barrier, leaving him in danger.

• Li Xiaoya made the Mechanism Beast King open the furnace passage to the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Spirit Cauldron, and the Mechanism Beast King warned that he could not enter.
• Li Xiaoya gave the crystal containing the Mechanism Beast King to Zhang Hong and went into the furnace alone.
• Zhang Hong used an Isolation Technique to silence the Mechanism Beast King as she waited for Li Xiaoya.
• Li Xiaoya crawled deeper into the passage, using his Protective Barrier and then the Vacuum Ring’s blue barrier to withstand the rising heat.
• A sharp crack sounded, and a fissure appeared in the Vacuum Ring’s barrier.

Li Xiaoya retreats from the blazing red sea after the heat shatters his protective barrier, nearly damages his divine sense, and begins warping his Storage Pouches. He returns to Zhang Hong wearing a tiny pink outfit, and the Mechanism Beast King begins explaining what cultivation is needed to use the treasure.

• The Vacuum Ring's protective barrier breaks, and Li Xiaoya uses golden light to shield himself from the fire spirit energy scorching his body and divine sense.
• Li Xiaoya abandons his attempt to reach the cauldron, gathers his warping Storage Pouches, and retreats until they return to normal.
• Li Xiaoya puts on the pink outfit Dong Gu Nü once gave him, shrinks his body, and wonders how Senior Sister Donggu and Junior Sister Li are doing.
• Zhang Hong laughs at Li Xiaoya's child-sized appearance and tells him she isolated the Mechanism Beast King while he was inside.
• The Mechanism Beast King says a cultivator in the nascent soul realm could unleash some of the treasure's power, then hesitates before explaining further.

Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong learned that claiming the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Spirit Cauldron would require a Great Void Stage cultivator or a water-element True Immortal Spirit Treasure and a Nascent Soul cultivator with a water-element heavenly spiritual root. After finding and donning the Bright Silver Armor, Li Xiaoya prepared to leave with Zhang Hong, but the Mechanism Beast King suddenly asked to go with them.

• The Mechanism Beast King explained the two difficult ways to retrieve the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Spirit Cauldron, and Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong realized Liu Xian'er might meet one requirement in the future.
• Li Xiaoya searched a Storage Pouch and found a silver-and-gold suit of armor, which the Mechanism Beast King identified as the High-Grade Spiritual Artifact Bright Silver Armor.
• Zhang Hong released the Mechanism Beast King's crystal, and Li Xiaoya told him to keep the passage open while they returned to the Human Realm.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong climbed into the cylindrical passage, and the Mechanism Beast King suddenly asked to leave with them.

The Mechanism Beast King shrank himself into a small gemstone and persuaded Li Xiaoya to take him outside, agreeing to Li Xiaoya’s conditions. He revealed that the enormous Artifact Refining Room was his Magic Treasure and began to retract it, leaving its fate unresolved.

• The Mechanism Beast King shrank his crystal prison to a fingernail-sized gemstone and asked to travel with Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong.
• Li Xiaoya agreed to take the Mechanism Beast King outside if he obeyed him, avoided speaking to others without permission, and helped when asked.
• The Mechanism Beast King asked Li Xiaoya to carry his belongings, then revealed that his Artifact Refining Room was a Magic Treasure he could take with him.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong entered the passage as the Mechanism Beast King invoked “Retract!” and red light flared across him.

Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong left the sealed chamber with the Mechanism Beast King and his Heaven-and-Earth Treasure, while Li Xiaoya learned more about the rare diamond grass that had strengthened his body. The Mechanism Beast King forgot his own name and settled on the nickname Second Better, and Li Xiaoya suddenly remembered something as they traveled out of the Copper Treasure Pavilion.

• The Mechanism Beast King revealed his Heaven-and-Earth Treasure and let Li Xiaoya carry it, then Li Xiaoya sealed the passage to the True Immortal Spirit Treasure.
• Li Xiaoya explained that diamond grass from the Golden Treasure Tower had greatly increased his strength, astonishing the Mechanism Beast King, who said the plant came from the Upper Realm.
• The Mechanism Beast King forgot his name, rejected Li Xiaoya's suggestion of calling him Mechanism God King, and insisted on being called Second Better.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong left with Second Better, picked up a dharma artifact from the Copper Treasure Pavilion, and listened to Second Better chatter along the way.
• Li Xiaoya abruptly stopped and exclaimed that he had forgotten something.

Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong searched for the bead his mother had left him, then Black Xiu appeared after sensing Second Better’s nascent soul aura. Black Xiu recognized the bead Li Xiaoya described, but the chapter ended before she explained what had happened to it.

• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong returned to the site where the Fire Dragon Sword had exploded to search for his missing bead.
• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong joined their divine senses, but their searches across the basin and surrounding area found nothing.
• Li Xiaoya suspected the Black Qilin had taken the bead, and Black Xiu appeared after sensing Second Better inside the red stone.
• Black Xiu discovered that Second Better was the Mechanism Beast King and revealed that she was female, not male.
• Li Xiaoya explained how he had lost the bead, and Black Xiu appeared to remember it.

Li Xiaoya learned that Ma Weiqi had taken his Pearl, then revealed that he had found the Teleportation Gate Key. Black Xiu brought the group to his Tower and asked Li Xiaoya to find Xiao Hanlan, but Second Better revealed that Xiao Hanlan was an Upper Realm cultivator he had once met.

• Black Xiu told Li Xiaoya that Ma Weiqi had picked up his Pearl and examined the Fire Dragon Sword before returning it.
• Black Xiu explained that ordinary nascent soul realm cultivators could sense Second Better's aura, and Li Xiaoya revealed the Teleportation Gate Key.
• Black Xiu took Li Xiaoya, Zhang Hong, and Second Better to his Tower and asked Li Xiaoya to find Xiao Hanlan.
• Li Xiaoya said Xiao Hanlan was supposedly an Upper Realm cultivator, and Second Better revealed that he had met Xiao Hanlan before.

Black Xiu recalled why Xiao Hanlan had taken his mother and moved the Southwestern Ancient City to the Demon Realm, then asked Li Xiaoya to deliver a message to her if he ever reached the Upper Realm. He gave Li Xiaoya Steel-armored Beetles and offered Zhang Hong and Second Better protective treasures before leading them to the Teleportation Formation.

• Black Xiu learned that Second Better had met Xiao Hanlan and recalled that the man might have come from the Upper Realm.
• Black Xiu remembered that Xiao Hanlan had taken his mother after she refused to leave her sons, then moved the Southwestern Ancient City to protect them and prevent demonic qi from corrupting them.
• Black Xiu asked Li Xiaoya to tell his mother that he was doing well and would someday find her, and gave him two Steel-armored Beetle cocoons as proof.
• Black Xiu gave Zhang Hong a scale for a future defensive magic treasure and gave Second Better a dragon-tendon cord to conceal his nascent soul's aura.
• Black Xiu led Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong toward the Teleportation Formation so they could leave.

Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong emerged from the Southwestern Ancient City and learned from three cultivators that they were in the Qingyang Kingdom. Heavenly Venerable Daoling sensed Li Xiaoya’s return and headed toward the kingdom.

• Li Xiaoya and Zhang Hong appeared on a peach-blossom mountain, startling three cultivators and prompting Li Xiaoya to celebrate their escape.
• Zhang Hong asked the three cultivators where they were and what had recently happened in the Cultivation World, and they identified the area as the Qingyang Kingdom.
• The three cultivators introduced themselves as the Three Peach Blossom Heroes and began explaining recent events.
• Heavenly Venerable Daoling sensed that Li Xiaoya had escaped, saw that his Lifebound Primordial Spirit Lamp had grown stronger, and set off toward the Qingyang Kingdom.