Recaps

Ye Han met Old Fox, the second elder of the Puppet God Cult, who offered him a chance to escape the Heavenly Secret Hall and reach the Golden Core Stage in exchange for cooperation. Old Fox asked Ye Han to find him a body, leaving Ye Han unsure where he could get one.

• Old Fox introduced himself as the Puppet God Cult's second elder and asked Ye Han which sect he belonged to.
• Ye Han claimed to be a rogue cultivator and learned that Old Fox believed the Baleful Yin Ancestor and the mountain stone beast threatened them both.
• Old Fox offered to guide Ye Han out and help him pursue the Golden Core Stage if Ye Han cooperated.
• Ye Han agreed to cooperate, hoping to gain Old Fox's guidance and information about the second layer.
• Old Fox said their urgent task was to find him a body, and Ye Han asked where he was supposed to get one.

Ye Han offered Old Fox a soul-preserving treasure, but Old Fox clarified that he wanted help refining a puppet to house his Primordial Spirit and soul. Ye Han presented his unfinished puppet and asked Old Fox to guide him on its missing core, while considering the Golden Core Stage opportunity Old Fox had mentioned.

• Ye Han offered Old Fox a Heavenly Soul Urn or similar treasure instead of a physical body, testing whether Old Fox would entrust himself to him.
• Old Fox said he wanted Ye Han's help refining a puppet that could house his Primordial Spirit and soul, rather than possessing Ye Han.
• Ye Han brought out his half-finished armored puppet and asked whether Old Fox could make use of it.
• Old Fox praised the puppet's craftsmanship and identified its missing core formation as the main obstacle.
• Ye Han asked Old Fox for guidance, hoping to learn Puppet Arts and weighing the Golden Core Stage opportunity Old Fox had offered.

Ye Han refined a puppet core formation under Old Fox’s guidance while Old Fox used a modified puppet body powered by his Primordial Spirit and soul. Old Fox offered to take Ye Han as his final disciple, but Ye Han declined, and Old Fox asked whether the Puppet God Cult was truly in danger.

• Ye Han assembled a complex puppet core formation as Old Fox instructed him and learned more about Puppet Arts.
• Old Fox asked whether Ye Han was truly a rogue cultivator, and Ye Han said he had gained an ancient cultivator’s legacy.
• Old Fox invited Ye Han to become his final disciple and join the Puppet God Cult.
• Ye Han declined, explaining that the Puppet God Cult was losing its sect war and that he had already sworn to another senior.
• Old Fox asked Ye Han whether the Puppet God Cult was in danger.

Ye Han completed a powerful wood-and-water puppet with Old Fox’s guidance, then tested its combat abilities. Old Fox praised the result and began telling Ye Han about the second layer.

• Ye Han told Old Fox that the Blood Cloud Sect and Yin Fiend Sect seemed to have the advantage in the war, and Old Fox complained that others had ignored his warnings.
• Ye Han fitted the refined hook into the Puppet Core Compass, powered it with Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, and installed it in the half-finished Metal Puppet.
• The puppet awakened with wood-and-water attributes, and Ye Han named it the Water-Wood Puppet and tested its movements and attacks.
• Old Fox said the puppet was exceptionally powerful for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to refine, and Ye Han considered making more to form a Sword Formation.
• Old Fox offered to tell Ye Han about the second layer.

Ye Han questioned Old Fox about the dangers and opportunities on the second layer before agreeing to consider venturing there with him. Old Fox revealed that they would seek his physical body at an inheritance site and proposed using a hundred puppets to survive the journey.

• Ye Han asked Old Fox to explain the second layer before deciding whether to cooperate.
• Old Fox described periodic Five Elements storms that weakened Five Elements techniques, exposed hiding places, and brought down meteors while mountain stone beasts hunted cultivators.
• Old Fox warned Ye Han that thirteen Demon Kings and cultivators, along with Baleful Yin Ancestor, had survived on the second layer.
• Old Fox revealed that his physical body lay at an inheritance site in the center of the second layer, where an opportunity to reach the Golden Core Stage might also offer a way out.
• Ye Han and Old Fox agreed to refine and jointly control a hundred puppets, and Old Fox offered to teach Ye Han the Puppet God Technique.

Ye Han cultivated the Puppet God Technique while Old Fox refined puppets from Ye Han’s abundant materials. After reaching the technique’s second layer and boosting his divine sense, Ye Han stayed hidden in seclusion so Old Fox would keep making puppets, and planned to advance to the third layer before emerging.

• Old Fox complained about refining puppets for Ye Han but was astonished by the large supply of precious materials Ye Han had provided.
• Old Fox refined eight puppets and put them to work helping him make more, while he continued constructing their core components himself.
• Ye Han cultivated the Puppet God Technique until his divine sense reached Golden Core Stage strength, letting him control sixty-four figures in the Azure Profound Sword Formation.
• Ye Han revealed to himself that he had reached Old Fox’s required level of mastery half a month earlier and had remained in seclusion to keep Old Fox refining puppets.
• Ye Han decided to continue cultivating toward the third layer rather than emerge, just as Old Fox called to ask about his progress.

Ye Han used Old Fox’s cultivation insights to improve his Puppet God Technique while waiting for the Blood-Spotted Ants’ third evolution to succeed. After secretly mastering the technique and practicing the Puppet Grand Formation with Old Fox, Ye Han left through the Restrictive Barrier with him.

• Ye Han stalled Old Fox, received his Puppet God Technique insights, and used them to clarify how to cultivate the third layer.
• Ye Han watched the Blood-Spotted Ants’ third evolution near completion, with their numbers expected to reach three thousand and their strength to rise to that of second-rank demon beasts.
• Ye Han and Old Fox tested the hundred-puppet Puppet Grand Formation, and Old Fox told Ye Han to practice controlling fifty puppets before they set out.
• Ye Han concealed that he had already mastered the third layer and could control all one hundred puppets, letting Old Fox believe his skills remained poor.
• Half a month later, Old Fox warned Ye Han that they could not return through the Restrictive Barrier unless Ye Han lost his physical body, and Ye Han crossed it without hesitation.

Ye Han left the Restrictive Barrier with Old Fox and sensed that the Purple Cauldron was drawn to a distant treasure in the direction of a Legacy Treasure Pagoda. As they traveled toward it, they encountered a Mountain Stone Beast that could detect them through concealment.

• Ye Han noticed the Purple Cauldron trembling after he stepped outside the Restrictive Barrier and concluded that a valuable treasure lay somewhere in the same space.
• Ye Han asked Old Fox where to go, and Old Fox pointed northwest toward a Legacy Treasure Pagoda about a hundred and twenty li away.
• Old Fox warned Ye Han that flying would attract dangerous attention, so the two traveled along the ground.
• Ye Han followed Old Fox, relying on their Puppet Grand Formation while remaining wary of the Heavenly Secret Hall's supposed treasures and opportunities.
• After traveling seven or eight li, Ye Han and Old Fox spotted a Mountain Stone Beast resting by a mountain, and Old Fox warned that it could detect them despite concealment methods.

Ye Han and Old Fox tried to skirt the Mountain Stone Beasts, learning that the creatures were long-lived nature spirit-type Demon Beasts with a two-thousand-zhang sensory range. A five elements binding storm erupted without warning, trapping them as giant meteors and two Mountain Stone Beasts descended on them.

• Ye Han realized he and Old Fox could evade a Mountain Stone Beast by staying beyond its two-thousand-zhang sensory range, and Old Fox led them around it.
• The pair encountered another Mountain Stone Beast, and Old Fox explained that the creatures were nature spirit-type Demon Beasts formed from mountain rock and were difficult to kill.
• Old Fox sensed the five elements binding storm beginning as spiritual energy dwindled and the ground shook, then urged Ye Han to run.
• Ye Han and Old Fox sprinted ahead, but the storm suppressed Ye Han's divine sense and spell power as black holes opened in the sky and huge meteors fell.
• Two Mountain Stone Beasts charged toward Ye Han and Old Fox, leaving them in grave danger.

Ye Han and Old Fox survived a terrifying meteor shower by hiding on a fallen meteor, but nearby Mountain Stone Beasts discovered them. The chapter ended with the beasts closing in on their hiding place.

• Old Fox urged Ye Han to flee as a thousand-zhang meteor plunged toward them, and both dodged its impact.
• Old Fox told Ye Han to climb onto the fallen meteor and conceal himself, explaining how to avoid the storm of further impacts.
• Ye Han realized the meteors targeted outside cultivators and demon cultivators, while leaving the Mountain Stone Beasts unharmed.
• After the meteor shower stopped, several Mountain Stone Beasts approached the meteor where Ye Han and Old Fox were hiding.
• The beasts sensed Ye Han and Old Fox, their eyes glowing red as they turned toward the pair.

Ye Han and Old Fox were discovered by three Mountain Stone Beasts and fought their way onward while trapped in the five elements binding storm. Ye Han combined twenty Metal Puppets into a towering warrior and struck at the beasts’ chains.

• The three Mountain Stone Beasts detected Ye Han and Old Fox, charged toward their hiding place, and attacked them with a crushing stone fist.
• Old Fox released twenty Metal Puppets, whose linked shields blocked the beast’s blows and gave him and Ye Han time to flee.
• Two more Mountain Stone Beasts joined the attack, swinging magma-covered hands on enormous chains at the puppet formation.
• Ye Han released twenty Metal Puppets of his own and combined them into a giant Metal Puppet that slashed at the chains.

Ye Han and Old Fox fought the Mountain Stone Beasts with giant Puppets, using their sword techniques to deflect the beasts’ chained lava fists. When more beasts arrived, Old Fox revealed his own skill at puppet combat, and Ye Han’s strike made one beast’s chains wrap around its body.

• Ye Han used his giant Metal Puppet to deflect the Mountain Stone Beasts’ chains, while Old Fox praised his swordsmanship.
• Ye Han and Old Fox retreated while their Puppets’ attacks carved grooves into the beasts’ rocky bodies without causing serious damage.
• Two more Mountain Stone Beasts charged, and Old Fox warned Ye Han not to let them join forces.
• Old Fox combined thirty Puppets into a giant sword-and-shield Puppet that drove one beast backward.
• Ye Han sent his giant Puppet up a beast’s arm and struck its chains, causing them to whip around and wrap around the beast itself.

Ye Han and Old Fox escaped the Mountain Stone Beasts after tangling their chains and briefly knocking them down. As the beasts reformed from lava and gave chase, the two neared the Inheritance Tower at the Fortuitous Opportunity Site.

• Ye Han used his puppet to tangle a Mountain Stone Beast’s chains and slash its eyes while it lay trapped.
• Old Fox’s puppets tangled the chains of two more Mountain Stone Beasts, but he urged Ye Han to stop attacking and flee.
• Ye Han and Old Fox recalled their puppets and ran, preserving them for reaching the topmost inheritance layer and rescuing Old Fox’s physical body.
• The Mountain Stone Beasts turned themselves into lava, freed their chains, and pursued Ye Han and Old Fox.
• Ye Han sensed the Purple Cauldron trembling more intensely, and Old Fox announced that they were almost at the Inheritance Tower.

Ye Han and Old Fox reached the Inheritance Tower while fleeing the Mountain Stone Beast, then entered to face its trials. A hidden figure followed them inside, recognizing Old Fox as someone from the Puppet God Cult.

• Ye Han recognized the colossal tower as the one on his map, and the Purple Cauldron sensed treasures inside it.
• Old Fox asked Ye Han for a Heavenly Secret Token, and Ye Han gave him one so they could enter the Legacy Treasure Pagoda.
• The tower’s wind chimes stopped the Mountain Stone Beast from approaching, while its Flying Dragon Statues inspected Ye Han and Old Fox and let them pass after their tokens activated.
• Old Fox entered the Inheritance Tower first and told Ye Han to clear the first four layers alone, promising to wait on the fifth.
• Ye Han entered the tower, and a hidden figure emerged from the ground and followed, suspecting Old Fox belonged to the Puppet God Cult.

Ye Han entered the Inheritance Tower and found that his compass could no longer guide him, though the Purple Cauldron still sensed a valuable treasure inside. On the first floor, more than ten thousand Ironclad Beasts surrounded him, and he launched a counterattack with his swords and Truefire Gourd.

• Ye Han entered the Inheritance Tower, questioned whether it truly held an inheritance, and found that the Gold-and-Silver Runes Compass no longer pointed the way.
• Ye Han sent two Puppets ahead across the barren first floor, where flight and Divine Sense were restricted.
• Ironclad Beasts burst out of the ground and gathered into a vast swarm of more than ten thousand.
• Ye Han recalled his Puppets, summoned eight Millennium Ironwood Swords and the Truefire Gourd, and attacked the charging beasts with flames.
• Ye Han charged directly at the Ironclad Beasts.

Ye Han battled through a swarm of armored beasts, using the Truefire Gourd to expose gaps in their defenses and his swords, fist, and movement technique to defeat them. As the beasts continued attacking, he sent Blood-Spotted Ants to consume their corpses and grow.

• Ye Han used the Truefire Gourd’s heat to raise the armored beasts’ scales, then pierced their weakened defenses with his Millennium Ironwood Swords.
• The Ghost Skull Mirror absorbed the souls of fallen beasts as Ye Han pressed forward through the swarm.
• Ye Han punched the beasts that reached him, sending them flying with powerful golden fist barrier qi.
• The armored beasts retaliated with beams of bloody light, but Ye Han dodged them with the Cloud-Chasing Divine Steps.
• Ye Han released Blood-Spotted Ants to devour the armored beasts’ corpses, absorbing their qi, blood, and Beast Crystals.

Ye Han used his Blood-Spotted Ants to fight the seemingly endless Ironclad Beasts in the Inheritance Tower and identified a blood-red beast as the one that stood out among them. When it fled underground, Ye Han pursued it, determined not to let it escape.

• Ye Han released his Blood-Spotted Ants, which swarmed and devoured an Ironclad Beast before splitting into several clouds to attack the others.
• Ye Han searched the battlefield with the Eye Spirit Art and spotted a blood-red Ironclad Beast with a circular rune on its back.
• Ye Han hurled another Ironclad Beast toward the blood-red one, which dodged while the other beasts did not.
• Ye Han charged through the Ironclad Beasts with his Soul-Slaying Sword, and the blood-red beast fled by burrowing underground.
• Ye Han declared that the blood-red Ironclad Beast would not escape.

Ye Han killed the special blood-red Ironclad Beast, whose death opened a gateway to the second layer. After collecting the fallen beasts and tending to his Blood-Spotted Ants, he entered the gateway and found a huge metal block floating overhead.

• Ye Han used the Thick Earth Iron Mountain to force the blood-red Ironclad Beast aboveground, then struck it with Demon-Breaking Divine Thunder and severed its neck with the Soul-Slaying Sword.
• The remaining Ironclad Beasts fled underground, and Ye Han stopped the Blood-Spotted Ants from chasing them.
• The dead blood-red Ironclad Beast became Bloodlight Runes that opened a spatial gateway, confirming Old Fox’s advice about finding a special Demon Beast to reveal the exit.
• Ye Han gathered the Ironclad Beast corpses, stored the Blood-Spotted Ants in the Insect Chamber, and replenished his energy.
• Ye Han entered the gateway and arrived in an enormous space beneath a huge floating metal block.

Ye Han discovered that the Second Layer’s trial centered on a giant cube made of numbered blocks, which he could manipulate only with Divine Sense. He realized he would need to plan his rotations carefully, as the puzzle tested both his mental strength and his ability to calculate.

• Ye Han searched the empty Second Layer and found only a giant metal cube covered in blocks marked with the numbers one through six.
• Ye Han found that his Divine Sense connected to the cube and that withdrawing it caused the cube to shift, while his Spell Power was blocked by a barrier.
• Ye Han used Divine Sense to rotate the cube once and felt the heavy mental strain it caused.
• Ye Han concluded that he needed a careful sequence of rotations to align the matching numbers without wasting Divine Sense.

Ye Han tried to solve the enormous Six-Sided Metal Block by using his divine sense to arrange each number onto its own side, but the task severely strained him. After he spent hours gathering most of the ones together, the block activated and scrambled itself, undoing his progress.

• Ye Han concluded that the metal block was a trial requiring him to use divine sense to arrange each of the six numbers on its own side, while a barrier prevented him from moving it with spell power.
• Ye Han used the Mind-Clearing Art and Puppet God Technique to strengthen his divine sense, but the block weakened its force and moved only slowly.
• Ye Han began rotating the block's many numbered faces, planning to gather all the ones onto a single side first.
• After Ye Han brought seven or eight hundred ones together and exhausted much of his divine sense, the block released runes that blasted his divine sense away.
• The metal block rotated wildly on its own and scattered the ones Ye Han had arranged, leaving Ye Han frustrated.

Ye Han discovered that the enormous metal block reset itself after six hours, forcing him to solve it faster by tracking all six faces at once. After stopping to recover his exhausted divine sense, he found that meditating had pushed it past its upper-limit bottleneck.

• Ye Han estimated that the metal block scrambled its numbers again after six hours, erasing his progress.
• Ye Han began tracking all six faces with his divine sense and matched more than a hundred small faces in a few dozen rotations.
• Ye Han stopped after an hour when his divine sense was exhausted and decided to recover before attempting the puzzle again.
• Ye Han took a superior-grade Divine Spirit Pill and circulated the Mind-Clearing Art to restore his divine sense.
• Ye Han discovered that his divine sense had broken through its bottleneck and increased slightly.

Ye Han discovered that working the Metal Block had pushed his divine sense beyond its Foundation Establishment limit, but the puzzle became harder as he progressed. After the block scrambled his work sooner than before and increased its resistance, he was left unsure how to pass the trial.

• Ye Han realized that repeatedly turning the Metal Block had broken through his divine sense’s Foundation Establishment limit and slightly advanced his Mind-Clearing Art and Puppet God Technique.
• After about six hours, the Metal Block scrambled itself, forcing Ye Han to start arranging its numbers again.
• Ye Han restored his divine sense, resumed turning the block, and improved his pace by tracking the numbers and planning several moves ahead.
• As Ye Han gathered most numbers onto their matching faces, the Metal Block increased its resistance, forcing him to take a superior-grade Divine Spirit Pill to keep going.
• Before six hours had passed, the Metal Block expelled Ye Han’s divine sense and scrambled his progress; Ye Han realized its reset interval shortened with repeated turns and wondered what failure would mean.

Ye Han solved the Metal Block trial on the Second Layer and entered the Third Layer, where a powerful divine sense revealed the presence of Baleful Yin Ancestor. The chapter left Ye Han facing this unexpected encounter in a vast mountain-and-forest landscape.

• Ye Han devised a more efficient plan to rotate the Metal Block as each failure shortened his time limit and increased its resistance.
• On his fifth attempt, Ye Han used two superior-grade Divine Spirit Pills to restore his divine sense and arrange all six numbered faces in order.
• The Metal Block shrank into a fist-sized block and opened a Spatial Rift, which Ye Han recognized as the entrance to the Third Layer.
• Ye Han stored the Metal Block, noted that his divine sense had grown stronger, and entered the Teleportation Passage.
• Ye Han arrived in a vast expanse of mountains and forests, then sensed a powerful divine sense sweeping toward him and exclaimed, "Baleful Yin Ancestor?!"

Ye Han encountered Baleful Yin Ancestor on the Inheritance Tower’s third layer and fled rather than fight the Middle Golden Core Stage pursuer. Baleful Yin Ancestor resolved to catch him and uncover the secrets behind his strength.

• Baleful Yin Ancestor recognized Ye Han and charged at him, eager to take revenge and claim his treasures.
• Ye Han used the Thunder Escape Technique to teleport away as Baleful Yin Ancestor pursued him with killing intent.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor launched a massive skull of killing intent, but Ye Han escaped before it could strike.
• Ye Han repeatedly used the Thunder Escape Technique to travel thousands of zhang and nearly leave the range of Baleful Yin Ancestor’s divine sense.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor marveled at Ye Han’s repeated escapes and vowed to catch him and learn the secrets of his opportunities.

Ye Han used repeated Thunder Escape Techniques to flee Baleful Yin Ancestor, who pursued him but lost his trail. Baleful Yin Ancestor searched the area and sent out Killing Intent Ghost Shadows to find him.

• Baleful Yin Ancestor repeatedly used his Killing Intent Escape Technique to catch up with Ye Han, who escaped again with bursts of purple-gold lightning.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor realized his escape techniques were rapidly consuming his power, while Ye Han seemed able to use his Thunder Escape Technique without tiring.
• After pursuing Ye Han for over a dozen li, Baleful Yin Ancestor lost the traces of his lightning and concluded Ye Han had hidden nearby.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor searched the surrounding area with his divine sense but found no sign of Ye Han or any other living creatures.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor summoned his Black-Red Gourd and released Killing Intent Ghost Shadows to search for Ye Han.