Chapter Summaries

After completing his five elements spirit roots, Ye Han survived a heavenly tribulation but was badly injured and began healing inside the Purple Cauldron Space. As he absorbed traces of tribulation lightning into his demon-breaking divine thunder, someone entered the Heavenly Secret Hall where the Purple Cauldron was hidden.

• Ye Han realized the heavenly tribulation had struck because completing his five elements spirit roots challenged the laws of heaven and earth, though his roots remained uneven in strength.
• Ye Han discovered that the tribulation had injured his body, primordial spirit, and soul, leaving him with only seventy percent of his former cultivation strength.
• Ye Han stayed inside the Purple Cauldron Space, took healing pills, and used the Purple Cauldron's aura to recover rather than risk going outside.
• Ye Han used the Thunderclap Art to absorb traces of heavenly tribulation lightning from the Purple Cauldron's aura and merge them into his demon-breaking divine thunder.
• A figure emerged into the Heavenly Secret Hall's main hall, and Ye Han realized someone had found the area near the Purple Cauldron.

Ye Han concealed the Binglian Puppet and his Purple Cauldron Space after Baleful Yin Ancestor tracked down his severed hand. Baleful Yin Ancestor lost his chance to recover the arm and threatened Ye Han on behalf of the Yin Fiend Sect.

• Ye Han recognized the approaching middle-aged cultivator as the Golden Core Stage owner of the severed hand and realized his formations had drawn him there.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor identified himself as the third elder of the Yin Fiend Sect and demanded that Ye Han come out to talk.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor tried to summon his severed hand, so Ye Han used the Purple Cauldron to pull the Binglian Puppet inside and break the connection.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor recalled how the Scripture Repository's jade slip had severed his arm and how recovering it could have saved him time and effort.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor angrily asked whether Ye Han intended to make an enemy of the Yin Fiend Sect.

Ye Han faced the Baleful Yin Ancestor, who demanded his severed hand and the jade slip containing the Great Geng Sword Art. Unable to fight a middle Golden Core cultivator, Ye Han disguised himself as the Bloodlight Ancestor, but the Baleful Yin Ancestor recognized that Ye Han had his hand and advanced on him.

• Ye Han assessed the Baleful Yin Ancestor's strength and realized he could not defeat the uninjured middle Golden Core cultivator.
• The Baleful Yin Ancestor prepared thirty-two flying sabers to attack Ye Han inside his defensive formations.
• Ye Han withdrew his formations, concealed the Purple Cauldron, and used the Myriad Images Mask and Red Mask to impersonate the Bloodlight Ancestor.
• Ye Han presented a Blood Cloud Sect Elder Token and claimed to have survived through soul possession.
• The Baleful Yin Ancestor accepted the token but demanded his severed hand, then approached Ye Han amid his baleful intent.

Ye Han tricked Baleful Yin Ancestor into pursuing him toward a passage, then activated the Little Heaven-Covering Formation to trap him. Baleful Yin Ancestor broke through the formation with his Bloodlight Blade Aura and realized Ye Han had left it active.

• Ye Han and Baleful Yin Ancestor exchanged veiled threats while testing each other's identities and motives.
• Ye Han claimed a Heavenly Secret Beast had carried off Baleful Yin Ancestor's severed hand and offered to pursue it together.
• Ye Han rushed toward a passage and screamed, prompting Baleful Yin Ancestor to chase after him.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor discovered Ye Han had not moved and was trapped inside the Little Heaven-Covering Formation.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor used his thirty-two Bloodlight Blade Aura streaks to tear through the formation and cursed Ye Han for leaving it active.

Ye Han used three formations and a false identity to buy time against Baleful Yin Ancestor, then fled through the passage his compass had indicated. Baleful Yin Ancestor was misled by Ye Han’s false trail and continued the pursuit, while Ye Han focused on escaping without revealing the Purple Cauldron.

• Baleful Yin Ancestor blasted through Ye Han’s three layers of formations in less than four breaths, but Ye Han’s aura had already vanished.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor followed a false trace into a dead-end passage, then realized Ye Han had deceived him and doubled back.
• Ye Han raced through the passage indicated by the compass-bearing Gold-and-Silver Runes, having impersonated Bloodlight Ancestor only to delay Baleful Yin Ancestor.
• Ye Han reflected that the Purple Cauldron had sheltered him from the heavenly tribulation and resolved to keep it hidden as he fled.

Ye Han used a maze and decoy Talisman Formations to escape Baleful Yin Ancestor, who realized his pursuer was not Bloodlight Ancestor. Guided by the Gold-and-Silver Runes Compass, Ye Han reached a great hall radiating gold-and-silver spirit light.

• Ye Han abandoned the Little Heaven-Covering Formation to trap Baleful Yin Ancestor briefly, then fled through the shifting maze using the compass for guidance.
• At the maze's forks, Ye Han placed Talisman Formations as obstacles and decoys to send Baleful Yin Ancestor down false routes.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor smashed through the formations, realized Ye Han's methods did not belong to the Blood Cloud Sect, and concluded that Ye Han was not Bloodlight Ancestor.
• Ye Han moved farther through the maze until Baleful Yin Ancestor could no longer track him.
• Ye Han followed the compass to an enormous hall shining with gold-and-silver spirit light.

Ye Han activated a gold-and-silver compass that opened a spatial passage, escaping the Heavenly Secret Hall’s maze. After arriving in another empty hall and approaching its exit, he heard an aged voice welcome him as the fated one.

• Ye Han sent a Metal Puppet ahead and found a giant gold-and-silver compass matching the one Qin Jiuzhen had given him.
• Ye Han’s compass flew into the giant compass, opening a spatial passage that he judged was not a Teleportation Array.
• Fearing the Baleful Yin Ancestor would find him and hoping to escape danger, Ye Han entered the passage with his defenses ready.
• Ye Han emerged in another great hall as a compass formed from golden and silver runes and flew into his body.
• Ye Han approached the brightly lit exit and heard an aged voice welcome him as the fated one.

Ye Han discovered a lush garden and a sealed wooden hut in the Heavenly Secret Hall, where the Heavenly Secret Daoist offered him a legacy. After cautiously approaching the Daoist’s preserved body, Ye Han was told to kneel and receive the legacy, and his eyes flashed with a strange glint.

• Ye Han heard the Heavenly Secret Daoist claim he had left a legacy for a fated successor who would become master of the Heavenly Secret Hall and the Earth Realm.
• Ye Han found a garden with abundant spiritual energy and discovered that his Divine Sense could not penetrate its wooden hut.
• Ye Han sent a Metal Puppet to open the hut, revealing the preserved body of the Heavenly Secret Daoist among glowing books and ancient texts.
• The Heavenly Secret Daoist’s aura enveloped Ye Han, and he praised Ye Han’s metal spirit root before ordering him to kneel and receive the legacy.
• Ye Han’s heart stirred, and a strange glint flashed through his eyes.

Ye Han saw through the supposed Heavenly Secret Daoist’s legacy as a possession trap and lured the intruder into his divine sense. He trapped the enemy in the Purple Cauldron Space, where the false Daoist realized Ye Han had turned the ruse against him.

• The Heavenly Secret Daoist urged Ye Han to relax his mind and accept the legacy, then sent his consciousness into Ye Han’s body.
• Ye Han switched to the Thunderclap Art and Heavenly Thunder Divine Art, revealing that he suspected the legacy transfer was a trap.
• The intruder broke through Ye Han’s divine sense defenses, discovered the Purple Cauldron, and tried to escape Ye Han’s body.
• Ye Han used the Purple Cauldron’s purple-gold vortex to pull the Heavenly Secret Daoist into the Purple Cauldron Space, where Ye Han confronted him.
• Ye Han concluded that the intruder was a cultivator seeking possession, not the real Heavenly Secret Daoist, and explained how he had detected the scheme.

Ye Han trapped Wu Xuankong’s primordial spirit and soul inside the Purple Cauldron Space after Wu Xuankong tried to possess his body. Wu Xuankong threatened to fight to the death, leaving Ye Han facing his opponent’s destructive aura.

• Ye Han realized the Purple Cauldron had changed his spirit roots, foiling Wu Xuankong’s attempt to possess him and trapping Wu Xuankong inside the cauldron’s space.
• Wu Xuankong asked Ye Han what kind of spirit roots he had and admitted that Ye Han’s purple-gold lightning had damaged his primordial spirit and soul.
• Ye Han told Wu Xuankong that he would not let him escape after he had tried to possess his body and had seen the Purple Cauldron.
• Wu Xuankong identified himself as a true disciple of the Northern Lu Immortal Sect and offered Ye Han a reward if he released him.
• Wu Xuankong threatened to fight until both sides were destroyed, and Ye Han grew solemn as a destructive aura surged around him.

Ye Han trapped Wu Xuankong’s primordial spirit and soul in the Purple Cauldron space and defeated his attempts to bargain or escape. He fed Wu Xuankong to the Ghost Skull Mirror, which began absorbing him, and suspected the promised five elements cultivation art was hidden in the wooden hut.

• Ye Han rejected Wu Xuankong’s threat to detonate his primordial spirit and attacked with the Treasure Refining Furnace and Heavenly Thunder Drum.
• Wu Xuankong offered Ye Han a five elements cultivation art in exchange for his life and tried to flee.
• Ye Han used the Ghost Skull Mirror to catch Wu Xuankong, then knocked him into the Treasure Refining Furnace with purple-gold lightning.
• Ye Han sent the Ghost Skull Mirror into the furnace, where its skulls devoured Wu Xuankong’s primordial spirit and soul.
• Ye Han reasoned that Wu Xuankong’s cultivation art was likely in the wooden hut and that he might have hidden his valuables there.

Ye Han saw through Wu Xuankong’s false claim of possessing a five elements cultivation art and trapped him in the Purple Cauldron, then returned to find a deadly sword formation guarding the wooden hut. He sent another Metal Puppet inside to probe the formation and see if he could claim it.

• Ye Han deduced that Wu Xuankong had lied about the cultivation art and had learned of Ye Han’s five elements spirit root by stealing a trace of his aura.
• Ye Han emerged from the purple cauldron space, retrieved the Purple Cauldron, and found only Wu Xuankong’s white Daoist robe inside the hut.
• Ye Han sent a Metal Puppet into the hut, where a golden sword formation quickly blasted it apart.
• Ye Han suspected Wu Xuankong had prepared the sword formation as a defense and considered taking it for himself.
• Ye Han sent another Metal Puppet into the hut with a bronze bell and shield to test the formation.

Ye Han used his remaining metal puppets to probe the Sword Formation in the wooden hut and finally unraveled it by striking its second formation eye. The formation collapsed, leaving Ye Han with Wu Xuankong’s thirty-two formation flags.

• Ye Han sent a metal puppet protected by blue spirit barriers into the Sword Formation while he continued deducing the location of its formation eyes.
• The puppet dodged the golden sword rays, but Ye Han’s first strike shattered a formation rune and triggered an even fiercer barrage.
• Ye Han realized the Sword Formation had dual formation eyes and drove the damaged puppet toward another suspected eye.
• The puppet lost both legs but struck a golden rune, causing the Sword Formation to collapse.
• Ye Han collected the thirty-two formation flags, then noticed something surprising as he examined them.

Ye Han recovered Wu Xuankong’s Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation and searched for the cultivator’s hidden Space Ring. When Ye Han used spell power to draw over Wu Xuankong’s seemingly ordinary Daoist robe, it erupted into poisonous moths.

• Ye Han examined the Formation Flag and two Formation Disks, identified them as the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation, and took them for himself.
• Ye Han realized Wu Xuankong might have hidden a Space Ring in the wooden cabin, but his divine sense could not find it.
• Ye Han suspected Wu Xuankong’s ordinary Daoist robe concealed the ring and pulled the robe toward him with spell power.
• The Daoist robe burst into dark-green flames, transformed into a swarm of poisonous moths, and rushed at Ye Han as purple-gold lightning surrounded him.

Ye Han survived another poison trap left by Wu Xuankong and obtained the Green Pearl Ring and the Wooden House Treasure. He stored the dangerous magic treasure in his purple cauldron space, then decided to recover and inspect Wu Xuankong’s Storage Bags.

• Ye Han used his demon-breaking divine thunder and the Creation Heaven Cube’s barrier to withstand poison gas and dark-green moths released by Wu Xuankong’s trap.
• Ye Han found Wu Xuankong’s Green Pearl Ring, discovered it contained five Storage Bags, and claimed the valuable ring.
• Ye Han tested the wooden house and realized its runes identified it as a magic treasure too large for his rings to hold.
• Ye Han cleared space in his purple cauldron and stored the Wooden House Treasure atop four metal pillars, leaving its traps untouched.
• Ye Han found a broad area rich in pure spiritual energy and chose to stay, recover, and examine Wu Xuankong’s Storage Bags for the Five Elements Cultivation Method.

Ye Han cautiously continued through the Heavenly Secret Hall, then searched Wu Xuankong’s belongings for supplies and clues. Though the haul held few resources, he discovered a trove of ancient books and the powerful Nine-Turn Vajra Art.

• Ye Han judged the exit to be far away from the Gold-and-Silver Runes Compass’s faint guidance and decided to proceed cautiously.
• Ye Han considered Han Yuwan’s cautious nature and hoped she might still be alive somewhere in the Heavenly Secret Hall.
• Ye Han sorted Wu Xuankong’s Green Pearl Ring and found little in the way of pills, Spirit Stones, or treasures.
• Ye Han discovered a Storage Bag packed with ancient books, including cultivation records and secret manuals.
• Ye Han found a Jade Slip containing the Northern Lu Immortal Sect’s metal-type Nine-Turn Vajra Art and recognized it as an exceptional cultivation method.
• Ye Han noticed something unexpected among Wu Xuankong’s belongings.

Ye Han pieced together several Black Metal Strips and discovered they formed an incomplete map of the Heavenly Secret Hall, revealing its rough layout. After assessing his valuable spoils from Wu Xuankong, he prepared to recover and cultivate in a secluded area, leaving the story with him studying a powerful sword formation to defend against possible threats.

• Ye Han joined the Black Metal Strips he had collected and found they formed an incomplete plaque marked with a rough Heavenly Secret Hall map.
• Ye Han used the map to identify the hall's five sections and realized he had passed through the maze and was in the second area, though at least three pieces were missing.
• Ye Han reviewed his gains from Wu Xuankong, including the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation, the Nine-Turn Vajra Art, a Wooden House Treasure, and the Green Pearl Ring.
• Ye Han decided to recover from his tribulation injuries and cultivate before moving on, wary that other Cultivators or Baleful Yin Ancestor might emerge from the spatial passage.
• Ye Han set up a Great Dragon-Trapping Formation and a Talisman Formation, then began studying how to deploy the sword formation's thirty-two Formation Flags.

Ye Han realized that his limited swordsmanship and lack of mastery over metal-attribute cultivation prevented him from unleashing the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation’s full power. He resolved to improve his cultivation, sword art, and formation skills, leaving himself focused on the arduous path ahead.

• Ye Han failed to control the golden sword gleams while practicing the Great Geng Sword Art and decided to study the Nine-Turn Vajra Art first.
• Ye Han understood that his weak metal-attribute cultivation and swordsmanship limited the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation to mostly defensive use.
• Ye Han recalled that Wu Xuankong, a metal-rooted sword cultivator, had been the formation’s intended master and had possessed far greater skill than he did.
• Ye Han concluded that he needed to master the Nine-Turn Vajra Art, comprehend a move of the Great Geng Sword Art, and deepen his understanding of the sword formation.
• Ye Han reaffirmed his determination to keep cultivating and pursuing opportunities despite the dangers and difficulties of the path.

After more than half a year of cultivation, Ye Han completed the first turn of the Nine-Turn Vajra Art, strengthened his spell power, and broke through the sixth layer of the Blood Refining Art. He planned to pursue the Great Geng Sword Art and refine a matching set of metal-attribute swords, but sensed that the Blood-Spotted Ants were about to hatch.

• Ye Han completed the first turn of the Nine-Turn Vajra Art, enduring a painful transformation of his skin, flesh, qi, and blood.
• Ye Han tested his new spell power by firing a golden sword ray that cracked the chamber wall, and realized his metal-attribute attacks had grown much stronger.
• Ye Han broke through the sixth layer of the Blood Refining Art and found that his physical defenses were comparable to those of a mid-grade spirit artifact.
• Ye Han left the chamber and considered cultivating the Great Geng Sword Art and refining a complete set of metal-attribute swords.
• Ye Han sensed that the Blood-Spotted Ants were about to hatch.

Ye Han entered the Purple Cauldron Space to inspect his Blood-Spotted Ants and witnessed a golden ant hatch with an established bond to him. The newly hatched ant began devouring its own kind, and Ye Han suspected it was evolving through cannibalism.

• Ye Han checked on the Purple Cauldron Space’s medicine garden and noted that several rare plants still needed time to mature, while the treasures sustaining the garden were running low.
• Ye Han found hundreds of thousands of Blood-Spotted Ant larvae hatching in the Insect Chamber and sensed that the golden-rune egg was ready to hatch.
• Ye Han soothed the golden egg, and a large, fierce golden Blood-Spotted Ant emerged and ate its shell.
• Ye Han tested his control over the golden Blood-Spotted Ant, which rushed to his hand and displayed an aura comparable to a Second-Rank Demon Beast.
• The golden Blood-Spotted Ant attacked and devoured another ant, prompting Ye Han to recall that spirit insects could evolve by consuming their own kind.