The Great Revelation of Exiled Immortal 15: Seeing the Immortal Realm Arc's Future Layout Through the Foreshadowing in Exiled Immortal: Wuxia Chapter

"Exiled Immortal: Wuxia Chapter" was the first part of "Exiled Immortal," also known as "Forgetting Each Other in the Jianghu." It was the true side story of True Person Xiao's path to becoming a god and a saint, while the second volume of "True Person Xiao's Cultivation World Arc," along with the later Cultivation of the Godly Manual: Immortal Realm Chapter and Exiled Immortal: Primordial God Realm Arc, were the main story in the strict sense. Because the first part, "Forgetting Each Other in the Jianghu," had performed too poorly and Qidian had been unwilling to look at the new book, the first and second parts were merged together. From then on, True Person Xiao's story was called "Exiled Immortal."

The first part, "Forgetting Each Other in the Jianghu," was roughly four million characters long and was the author's practice work. Its early plot moved slowly, with much foreshadowing, and prankish wording appeared from time to time, pulling quite a few readers out of the story. Yet I read Exiled Immortal almost in one breath. Aside from the beginning of the second part, "Light Escape to Xiaoyu Continent," when the protagonist suddenly changed to Xiao Hua and took some getting used to, I had no issue. In truth, after delving more deeply into the author's books, it became clear that the author had long foreshadowed and laid out Zhang Xiao Hua being called Xiao Hua. Perhaps readers simply encountered this type of novel for the first time and found it somewhat abrupt. All right, that is beside the point and need not be belabored. This article will discuss the foreshadowing and layout in "Forgetting Each Other in the Jianghu" for the later "Light Escape to Xiaoyu Continent," "Light Escape to the Four Great Continents," Cultivation of the Godly Manual: Immortal Realm Chapter, and Exiled Immortal: Primordial Divine Realm Arc.

I. The Stone Bracelet

The lightweight stone bracelet was the book's greatest unresolved mystery. Not only was it the foundation of Zhang Xiao Hua's cultivation, it also saved him from danger several times. The following seven miraculous traits suggested that the bracelet came from the Divine Realm.

1. The stone bracelet could draw down starlight from beyond the domain. That starlight contained the power of life; for example, Zhang Xiao Hua was struck by lightning in the Misty Sect's medicinal garden yet did not die.

2. The bracelet enabled Zhang Xiao Hua to summarize secret manuals and deduce the 108 forms of the Big Dipper Divine Fist, which could temper the body.

3. While cultivating the Jade Blood Vermilion Ink Guide on a deserted island, a mysterious black dot formed behind his head. That black dot later stored the Earth Core, and this was the origin of the space behind Xiao Hua's head.

4. The Heavenly Phoenix undergoing nirvana in Mount Yao Immortal Mansion turned Zhang Xiao Hua's fleshly body to ashes before swiftly restoring it, thus sculpting his body with the Heavenly Phoenix.

5. While playing with Little White at Yellow Flower Ridge, the bracelet drew in specks of light, causing his entire body to glow and also triggering a spatial mutation.

6. The Wujie Pill, created from starlight beyond the domain in Mirror Lake City, could remove the Zhu family's curse.

7. Xiao Hua's Light Escape—a movement art that allowed one to hide within light—came from the bracelet's tracing of light. It was the method that could allow Xiao Hua to Become a Saint Against the Light.

II. The 108 Forms of the Big Dipper Divine Fist and the 360 Forms of the Great Cycle Stellar Fist

The Big Dipper Divine Fist had been derived by Zhang Xiao Hua from the stone bracelet. It could be practiced normally or in reverse, and it was used to temper the body. This was the foundation for Xiao Hua's Thunder Escape art in "Light Escape to Xiaoyu Continent" reaching great accomplishment at Imperial Thunder Sect, as well as the foundation of Xiao Hua's Light Escape. Naturally, it was also one reason Zhang Xiao Hua was not crushed to death during his cross-realm teleportation at the end of the first part.

The 360 Forms of the Great Cycle Stellar Fist was a body-tempering art of the Demon Realm. The continent where Xiao Hua appeared should have been created by Di Shitian, a demon general of the Demon Realm, and later became the source of all manner of fist arts. In "Light Escape to the Four Great Continents," when Xiao Hua and his clones were both Demon Emperors, demon marshals and demon kings exposed the Great Cycle Stellar Fist and concluded that the two fist arts were alike yet different. These two fist arts would reappear when Xiao Hua mapped the Demon Realm in the later stages of the Immortal Realm.

III. Xiao Hua and the Dao Lineage of Incense Transmission Sect, the Teleportation Array in the Wild Jujube Grove

In "Light Escape to the Four Great Continents," after the Primordial Starburst, Incense Transmission Sect entrusted some of its elite disciples to Xiao Hua. He then brought them back to their homeland billions upon billions of years in the past and left behind the Dao Lineage of Incense Transmission Sect. Di Shitian, Yue Mingxin, and the others were also teleported, but they arrived countless billions of years later than Xiao Hua—several tens of thousands of years before Zhang Xiao Hua's birth. Was the Dao Lineage discovered by Yue Mingxin the one Xiao Hua had left behind? Where did the Incense Transmission Sect Xiao Hua had established go? Was the teleportation array in the Wild Jujube Grove at the end created by Xiao Hua? All of it remained an unsolved mystery.

IV. The Earth Core and the Triangular Monster

When Xiao Hua collected the Earth Core at Huanxu of Incense Transmission Sect, why had that enormous triangular monster become enraged? Why had the triangular monster detected the blood-bone ripples triggered when the Celestial Being became a Demon Emperor at Moon God Ruins in "Light Escape to the Four Great Continents"? Why was it stirred again when Xiao Hua teleported from the Primordial Continent to Great Snow Mountain? With one sigh from the enormous triangular monster, countless stars shattered. What karma did it share with the Earth Core? Was the Primordial Starburst related to it?

V. Mount Yao Immortal Mansion

Zhang Jian, Xiao Hua's nephew, could use Mount Yao Immortal Mansion with scarcely any refinement. Zhang Xiao Hua's nephew was the Jade Emperor, which meant that Mount Yao Immortal Mansion was the Lingxiao Treasure Hall. The Lingxiao Treasure Hall was not in the Immortal Realm. In "Light Escape to Xiaoyu Continent," Xiao Hua obtained a fragment of the Immortal Slaying Platform at Imperial Thunder Sect. From this, the following could be inferred and extended.

1. Mount Yao Immortal Mansion was not in the Immortal Realm. Had the Immortal Realm been damaged? Who placed Mount Yao Immortal Mansion on this continent? Yang Haoya, who founded Misty Sect, knew ancient secrets and established the sect's mountain gate near Mount Yao Immortal Mansion. Who had moved Mount Yao Immortal Mansion from the Immortal Realm?

VI. The Heavenly Phoenix and Primordial Violet Qi

In "Forgetting Each Other in the Jianghu," Zhang Xiao Hua received the three most important opportunities that served as proof of his path to godhood: the Earth Core, Heavenly Phoenix Body Sculpting, and Primordial Violet Qi. Together with the life force of the starlight beyond the domain drawn forth by the bracelet, they allowed Xiao Hua in "Light Escape to Xiaoyu Continent" to become a body of innate divinity, with a space behind his head that could advance along with his cultivation.

The Heavenly Phoenix was an enormous piece of foreshadowing. In "Light Escape to the Four Great Continents," there was Xiao Hua's conversation while collecting the Most Holy Bloodline in the Legacy Realm; Huang Tong's speculation concerning the Demon Phoenix in the Mysterious Origin Space; and the question of why the Myriad Monster Realm had so many phoenix clan Great Saints but no dragon clan. This unresolved mystery was likely related to the Monster Alliance becoming gods. It was predicted to be explained in the later stages of the Immortal Realm or in the Primordial Divine Realm.

VII. Zhang Xiao Hua and Xiao Hua

Zhang Xiao Hua was also called Xiao Hua. He appeared twice in the first volume: the first time was in Yue Mingxin's Primordial Spirit projection, "Better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes than to moisten each other with spit"; the second time was when Ya saw Xiao Hua undergoing Heavenly Phoenix Body Sculpting and was shocked that he had transformed into the True Person Xiao she hated and feared most—though it was actually Xiao Hua's true appearance. Through this foreshadowing and layout, the author told us that Xiao Hua in "Light Escape" was Zhang Xiao Hua.

VIII. Zhang Ping'er, the Ruins of Shenzhou, and Visitors from Beyond the Heavens

Zhang Ping'er was a supporting character in "Forgetting Each Other in the Jianghu." Her karma with Xiao Hua lay in the Orchid Blood Refinement, with titles such as "Zhang Xiao Hua Saves Zhang Ping'er Once" through "Zhang Xiao Hua Saves Zhang Ping'er Four Times." Compare those titles with "True Person Xiao Enters the Ruins of Shenzhou Once" in "Light Escape to the Four Great Continents," and one would discover that the "enters once" was a huge unresolved mystery. It foretold that True Person Xiao would later enter the Ruins of Shenzhou a second and third time. Combined with the mysteries left unresolved in the first part, the mystery of True Person Xiao's second or third entry into the Ruins of Shenzhou was certainly connected to the Earth Core and Mount Yao Immortal Mansion. Meanwhile, "Visitors from Beyond the Heavens" at the end of the first part was also an unresolved mystery. Its title should have been "True Person Xiao Enters the Ruins of Shenzhou Four Times," just like "Saves Zhang Ping'er Four Times." The author loved playing with this sort of foreshadowing and layout, then digging pits for readers to fall into.

IX. Zhang Xiao Hua's Birthplace and the Ruins of Shenzhou, Which Had an Extraordinary Origin

Zhang Xiao Hua's birthplace was the Ruins of Shenzhou. This could be inferred from the chapters "True Person Xiao Enters the Ruins of Shenzhou Once" and "The Familiar Starry Sky": Zhang Xiao Hua's birthplace was the Ruins of Shenzhou.

The Ruins of Shenzhou had an extraordinary origin. It was a fragment of the Primordial Divine Realm, and its plane stood above the Immortal Realm. The reasons for this inference were as follows.

1. In the Ruins of Shenzhou billions upon billions of years ago, there were the venerable Dragon God, Maitreya Buddha Venerable with a fivefold-transformed golden body, the Happy Heaven Demon, Truth Listener, Heaven Swallower, the Five Little Primordials, and others. A mere tiny mosquito from the Primordial Continent could make Xiao Hua, with his Mahayana cultivation, wish he were dead.

2. When Xiao Hua traveled from the Heavenly Prison to the ruins, the Free Heaven Demon said that Xiao Hua carried the scent of Primordial dust. At that time, Xiao Hua had not yet visited the Ruins of Shenzhou billions upon billions of years in the past.

3. In the first part, Xiao Hua obtained the Earth Core, the Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace, the Kunlun Mirror, the Seven-Treasure Exquisite Tree, Chiyou's Banner, Mount Yao Immortal Mansion, and Primordial Violet Qi. In particular, the fact that Xiao Hua obtained Primordial Violet Qi twice was far from ordinary. For details, one could consult Xuan Hong's Discussion of the Dao.

X. Why Did the Ruins of Shenzhou Enter the Age of Dharma Decline?

When Xiao Hua arrived at the Ruins of Shenzhou billions upon billions of years in the past, the entire Primordial Continent was immensely powerful! Yet by the time Yue Mingxin, Di Shitian, and the others teleported there, its strength was far inferior to before. By the time Xiao Hua was born, it had become the Age of Dharma Decline. Across the entire continent, Xiao Hua was the only person cultivating the immortal Dao, and after reaching the eighteenth level of Qi Refinement, he could advance no further.

The reasons the immortal Dao vanished from the Ruins of Shenzhou during the Age of Dharma Decline were as follows.

1. The primordial qi of heaven and earth disappeared, leaving cultivators unable to cultivate. Thus, martial arts flourished.

2. Cultivation offered no path forward. The Ruins of Shenzhou's plane stood above the Immortal Realm, unlike the lower Cultivation World, whose cultivators could ascend to the Immortal Realm; moreover, its cultivation techniques were too low-level to permit ascension to the Divine Realm.

3. Time Light Knot. The Time Light Knot trapped the Ruins of Shenzhou in one corner. Even the Happy Heaven Demon could not escape it, much less the cultivators of the Ruins of Shenzhou.

4. The Primordial Starburst or the triangular monster. Perhaps the Primordial Starburst or the triangular monster shattered the rules of heaven and earth in the Ruins of Shenzhou, causing spiritual qi to vanish.

XI. Meng and the Shared-Heart Curse

Meng and Ya were two souls in one body. Ya's karma had already been revealed in the ruins of "Light Escape to the Four Great Continents"—Zhang Xiao Hua's original appearance, Xiao Hua after Heavenly Phoenix Body Sculpting, the Kunlun Mirror, and so on. The karma of Meng's mole had already been laid out through Hongxia Fairy in "Light Escape to Xiaoyu Continent," but that karma continued without end. With Hongxia Fairy's innate spirit body, Most Holy Bloodline, and the spiritual radiance of Shenhua Continent, Hongxia would soon ascend to the Immortal Realm as well. Meng's karma was likely even more distant. The Shared-Heart Curse between Meng and Xiao Hua would, in Become a Saint Against the Light, fill in the great unresolved mystery of comprehending the Heavenly Dao and merging one's body with the Dao.

XII. The Heavenly Dao, the Dao of Life and Death, and the Dao of Karma

In "Forgetting Each Other in the Jianghu," Xiao Hua sensed the Heavenly Dao several times. He also had two rudimentary comprehensions of the Dao of Life and Death, as well as several comprehensions of the Dao of Karma, thereby evolving from the Hand of Karma into the River of Karma. In "Light Escape to Xiaoyu Continent," his Primordial Spirit split into ten, and he began cultivating the Heavenly Dao and the Dao of Karma again. These would all be the main events of the later Immortal Realm and the Divine Realm. The author would certainly give us many splendid scenes. For example:

1. Combat methods of the Dao of Time: time swamps, time reversal, and slowed time. Combined with the Law Manifestation Art, these could turn an opponent's magic treasure into raw materials in an instant; accelerate the loss of an opponent's lifespan; or slow an opponent's attacks.

2. Combat methods of the Dao of Space. The Dao of Space in the Immortal Realm had to achieve something, otherwise Ye Jian would have had no way to take disciples in the Immortal Realm. Thus, the upgraded version of Nanyuan Beizhe could include spatial folding, spatial ripples, spatial severing, and so on.

3. The Dao of Space and Time, such as the attack methods of Star Moon Palace and the monster of Ghost Plain: one space, different times.

4. The Dao of Karma: the Great Hand of Karma plus the River of Karma, cutting off an opponent's karmic threads—though one had to beware of backlash!

5. The Dao of Five Elements and the Law Manifestation Art could imitate attacks of the Dao of Five Elements against opponents, or use a primordial qi stripping art.

6. The Dao of Balance: using the principle of mutual overcoming to destroy an opponent's spell laws or alter the laws of their fleshly body, severely injuring them.

7. Formations + the Law Manifestation Art + Sword Spreading Across the World.

8. Auxiliary cultivation methods: arts for condensing and strengthening the Primordial Spirit, the Sun Obscuring Sky Supporting Art. Primordial Spirit attack spell: Five Thunders Strike the Crown.