Chapter Summaries

Ye Han fed his Golden Blood-Spotted Ant Corpse-Rot Pills, secured the Purple Cauldron, and spent nearly two years cultivating the Great Geng Sword Art. His training ended when a powerful aura appeared beyond the secret chamber, signaling that someone had entered through the Teleportation Passage.

• The Golden Blood-Spotted Ant devoured other Blood-Spotted Ants, then used its golden aura to make the survivors fight each other.
• Ye Han gave the Golden Blood-Spotted Ant Corpse-Rot Pills and planned to raise more insects for his Insect-Driving Art.
• Ye Han returned the Purple Cauldron to his Divine Sense Sea and considered the limits of the Heaven-Turning Treasure Pagoda and his cultivation.
• Ye Han reflected on his recovery from the heavenly tribulation strike and began cultivating the Great Geng Sword Art.
• After nearly two years of seclusion, Ye Han's sword intent shattered and wrecked the secret chamber and nearby hill.
• Ye Han sensed a powerful aura from a distant cave and realized someone had entered through the Teleportation Passage.

Ye Han sensed the injured Blue Lake Demon King approaching the second layer of the Heavenly Secret Hall and prepared to face him. After destroying Ye Han’s Great Dragon-Trapping Formation, the Demon King found him, and Ye Han warned him to stop or die.

• Ye Han detected an intruder at the second-layer entrance and recognized the Blue Lake Demon King’s weakened aura.
• The Blue Lake Demon King used a strange technique to locate Ye Han and charged through the cave entrance.
• The Blue Lake Demon King shattered the Great Dragon-Trapping Formation with blasts of dark green demon aura.
• Ye Han emerged from the secret chamber and sensed that the Blue Lake Demon King had suffered injuries and carried a familiar Heavenly Tribulation aura.
• Ye Han warned the Blue Lake Demon King not to approach or he would die.

Ye Han baited the Blue Lake Demon King into pursuing him by claiming he had hidden formations, then fled after their attacks showed he could not match the Demon King directly. The Demon King caught up and triggered Ye Han’s Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation.

• The Blue Lake Demon King suspected Ye Han was bluffing but decided to charge through the supposed traps.
• The Blue Lake Demon King blasted apart the Great Dragon-Trapping Formation and attacked Ye Han with a demon-aura water column.
• Ye Han dodged the attack and unleashed the Qing Xuan Sword Formation, but the Blue Lake Demon King’s demon aura overwhelmed it.
• Ye Han fled toward the other side of the mountain, and the Blue Lake Demon King pursued him.
• As the Blue Lake Demon King appeared behind Ye Han, Ye Han activated the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation.

Ye Han lured the Blue Lake Demon King into the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation and unleashed its power. The formation’s golden and black sword intent began to revolve around the trapped Demon King, leaving him horrified.

• The Blue Lake Demon King used Instantaneous Movement to catch Ye Han, but Ye Han escaped with the Thunder Escape Technique and activated the hidden sword formation.
• Ye Han explained that he had feigned flight because the Blue Lake Demon King would pursue him into the formation’s effective range.
• Ye Han poured his spell power and sword intent into the formation, surrounding the Blue Lake Demon King with golden sword-rays.
• The Blue Lake Demon King formed a scaled defensive phantom and used dark green demon aura to block and crush many of the sword-rays.
• Ye Han drove the formation harder with the Nine-Turn Vajra Art, splitting its sword light into scorching golden and icy black currents that began revolving around the Demon King.

Ye Han fought the Blue Lake Demon King with the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation and the Heavenly Thunder Drum, eventually landing a devastating strike. The Blue Lake Demon King survived the blow and fled into the sky, threatening Ye Han as he went.

• Ye Han's sword formation broke through the Blue Lake Demon King's Water Demon Dragon Pearl, but the demon king used scales from his body to push the sword-rays back.
• Ye Han summoned the Heavenly Thunder Drum, and its demon-breaking divine thunder struck the Blue Lake Demon King and triggered the tribulation power within him.
• Ye Han formed a golden sword-wielding figure in the formation and slashed the Blue Lake Demon King while lightning kept him from mobilizing his power.
• The sword-ray split the Blue Lake Demon King's head, and he roared a threat before surging into the sky.

Ye Han killed the Blue Lake Demon King and captured his demon soul and Demon Core with the Ghost Skull Mirror. After considering how the Heavenly Tribulation and his hidden Purple Cauldron had helped him win, Ye Han noticed a strange aura coming from the Demon Core.

• Ye Han used the Ghost Skull Mirror’s golden-toothed skulls to seize the Blue Lake Demon King’s demon soul and Demon Core.
• The Blue Lake Demon King’s soul was dragged into the mirror, his Demon Core was expelled, and his corpse and scale treasures fell inside the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation.
• Ye Han realized the demon-breaking divine thunder had pursued the Demon King because both carried the aura of Heavenly Tribulation.
• Ye Han reflected that the Demon King’s injuries, the sword formation, and the Purple Cauldron’s spell power had all contributed to his victory.
• Ye Han caught the Demon Core and sensed that something about its aura was strange.

Ye Han studied the Blue Lake Demon King's remains, recovered from his injuries, and cultivated to the peak of the fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm. He began exploring the Second Layer of the Heavenly Secret Hall and encountered a gigantic Stone Man behind a Light Barrier.

• Ye Han recognized his aura inside the Blue Lake Demon King's Demon Core and considered refining it into a tracking treasure.
• Ye Han took the Demon King's scales, body, and Storage Bag, finding treasures including a Water Demon Dragon Pearl that could strengthen the Heavenly Water Bottle.
• Ye Han reflected that his techniques were still insufficient against Demon Kings and Golden Core Stage beings, then set up the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation and began healing and cultivating.
• After a year and three months, Ye Han's injuries had healed and his cultivation had reached the peak of the fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
• Ye Han explored nearby mountains in the Second Layer of the Heavenly Secret Hall and found a Light Barrier formed by enormous Formation Pillars.
• A Giant Stone Man appeared beyond the Light Barrier and struck it with its enormous stone hand.

Ye Han spotted the Baleful Yin Ancestor hiding beyond the Restrictive Barrier and provoked the Mountain Giant into attacking him. The Baleful Yin Ancestor escaped the giant’s strike, and the Mountain Giant pursued him as Ye Han watched from inside the barrier.

• Ye Han discovered the Mountain Stone Giant battering the Restrictive Barrier and realized he could not return if he left.
• Ye Han recognized the Baleful Yin Ancestor hiding beyond the barrier, while the Ancestor wondered who the young Cultivator inside was.
• The Mountain Giant sensed the Baleful Yin Ancestor and drove him from his cave, but the Ancestor escaped into hiding again.
• Ye Han fired a weakened sword-ray at the cave, shattering rocks and drawing the Mountain Giant’s attention.
• The Mountain Giant smashed the mountain summit, forcing the Baleful Yin Ancestor to burst out and curse Ye Han.
• The Mountain Giant roared and swung at the Baleful Yin Ancestor as he fled.

Ye Han watched the Mountain Giant drive Baleful Yin Ancestor into flight and concluded that the second layer held dangers far beyond his cultivation. He realized the restriction protected his current area but that following the Gold-and-Silver Runes Compass would eventually force him outside, just as someone urgently called for him to wait.

• The Mountain Giant attacked Baleful Yin Ancestor, and Ye Han watched while considering which of his abilities might harm the giant.
• Baleful Yin Ancestor recognized Ye Han as the one who had exposed him, cursed him, and tried to evade the Mountain Giant’s pursuit.
• The Mountain Giant turned his fist into a magma-coated weapon on a chain and drove Baleful Yin Ancestor away as he fled down a hillside.
• Ye Han reasoned that the second layer had multiple entrances, other Golden Core cultivators or demon kings, and a restriction that kept outsiders from entering his protected area.
• Ye Han decided not to leave the restriction without a safe plan, but an urgent voice called, “Fellow Daoist! Fellow Daoist! Please wait!”

Ye Han exposed a hidden Golden Core cultivator who had survived as a primordial spirit and escaped through the Restrictive Barrier. The old fox tried to recruit Ye Han for a dangerous undertaking, while Ye Han feigned weakness and sought to learn the stranger’s origins.

• Ye Han used his powerful divine sense to reveal the hidden cultivator’s primordial spirit, which fled beyond the Restrictive Barrier.
• The primordial spirit praised Ye Han’s divine sense and warned that dangers outside had stripped even a late Golden Core cultivator of his body.
• The old fox proposed that Ye Han cooperate with him, but Ye Han pretended to fear the Mountain Stone Giant and declined.
• Ye Han claimed that Baleful Yin Ancestor was pursuing him and asked the old fox which sect he belonged to.
• The old fox disparaged Baleful Yin Ancestor and asked whether Ye Han held a grudge against him.

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 Qing Xuan 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.