Chapter Summaries

Ye Han and Teacher Lan Qing reached the Sky-Piercing Pillar after fleeing the Chaos Black Fiends, and Lan Qing revealed that his body was trapped near the Despair Treasure Chest. He carried its Golden Key, but warned Ye Han that obtaining the chest might be impossible.

• The Chaos Black Fiends abandoned their pursuit near the stone pillars, while Ye Han noticed that Lan Qing seemed dazed from damage to his primordial spirit and soul.
• Lan Qing said his injuries could not be healed and that Old Thief would not return.
• Lan Qing revealed a Golden Key matching the one swallowed by the Big-Eared Moon Race rabbit and identified it as the key to the Despair Treasure Chest.
• Lan Qing explained that his physical body was trapped beside the chest at the end of the Sky-Piercing Pillar, where he had left it while searching for the treasure.
• Lan Qing told Ye Han that even with the key, the chest seemed impossible to obtain, leaving Ye Han to ask whether their hope of claiming it was futile.

Teacher Lan Qing gave Ye Han the Golden Key to the Despair Treasure Chest and led him into the most dangerous part of the Land of Despair. As they crossed its deadly energy field, another figure resembling Teacher Lan Qing appeared in the air.

• Teacher Lan Qing told Ye Han that the treasures in the Despair Treasure Chest were real and handed him the Golden Key as his final reward.
• Ye Han asked about the Big-Eared Moon Race rabbit’s key, and Teacher Lan Qing insisted that it was fake while speculating that Old Thief might be targeting the rabbit.
• Ye Han sensed the Purple Cauldron react urgently to the Golden Key, confirming his belief that it was genuine.
• Teacher Lan Qing warned Ye Han about the dangers ahead and led him into the area around the Sky-Piercing Pillar.
• The death aura and spirit-devouring aura rapidly drained Ye Han’s lifespan and spell power as he followed Teacher Lan Qing through the gloomy expanse.
• After they had advanced a few hundred zhang, another figure appeared in the air, and Ye Han recognized it as Teacher Lan Qing.

Ye Han and Teacher Lan Qing fought a terrifying scholarly figure who claimed to be Lan Qing’s original body and had been taken over. After Teacher Lan Qing drove the figure away with a powerful arrow, he told Ye Han to escape while he pursued his remaining chance to recover his body.

• A scholarly figure resembling the Lan Qing from Green Ox Village appeared and attacked Ye Han and the reborn Teacher Lan Qing with a massive gray hand.
• Teacher Lan Qing accused the scholarly figure of stealing his body and summoned a lightning bow while Ye Han unleashed Demon-Breaking Divine Thunder to hold back the attack.
• Teacher Lan Qing fired an arrow that pierced the gray hand and struck the scholarly figure, who escaped through a spatial vortex.
• The bow’s shot left Teacher Lan Qing visibly aged and weakened, and he told Ye Han that his body had been taken over.
• Teacher Lan Qing rushed after the escaped figure despite Ye Han calling for him to wait.

Ye Han helped Teacher Lan Qing abandon his ruined body and enter the Rebirth Gourd so they could pursue the being who had possessed him. Unable to teleport out of the Land of Despair, Ye Han followed Teacher Lan Qing toward the Despair Treasure Chest, wary of the danger and unsure whether he could trust his teacher.

• Ye Han caught Teacher Lan Qing and offered to help, and Teacher Lan Qing entered the Rebirth Gourd as a weakened primordial spirit and soul.
• Teacher Lan Qing told Ye Han that the being who possessed his body had been struck by the God-Slaying Arrow and might still be vulnerable to another possession attempt.
• The spent God-Slaying Arrow crumbled to ashes after Teacher Lan Qing explained that it was a single-use treasure.
• Ye Han gathered Teacher Lan Qing's remains and belongings, then learned that his ring-shaped teleportation talisman could not work in the Land of Despair.
• Teacher Lan Qing directed Ye Han to follow the flowing aura toward the Despair Treasure Chest, where he believed the possessor's lair was nearby.

Ye Han struggled through the Land of Despair as chaos blades and sealing lightning drained his strength, then reached the staircase leading to the Despair Treasure Chest. Just as he approached it, the enemy who had possessed Teacher Lan Qing's body ambushed him and crushed him beneath a massive formation.

• Ye Han endured a chaos-energy blade that tore at his blood essence and nascent soul, then took pills while the Purple Cauldron replenished his power.
• Ye Han evaded a bolt of black lightning containing the Sealing Divine Art by fleeing with his Thunderclap Shoes.
• Ye Han found the staircase to the Despair Treasure Chest, and Teacher Lan Qing warned him not to look back.
• The man who had possessed Teacher Lan Qing's body appeared before the staircase and attacked Ye Han with a huge gray-light formation.
• The attack crushed Ye Han's body and shattered his purple-gold lightning.

Ye Han’s nascent soul clone survived Teacher Lan Qing’s ambush and launched a coordinated assault, then faced Teacher Lan Qing’s Heavenly Thunder Sword with his newly comprehended Great Geng Divine Insight Swordsmanship. Their attacks collided in a fierce stalemate as Ye Han called for Teacher to strike.

• Teacher Lan Qing’s ambush crushed Ye Han’s nascent soul clone, but Ye Han’s true body appeared unharmed after the clone returned to him.
• Ye Han sent thirty-three metal puppets, Fire-Devouring Insects, the Immortal-Slaying Yin-Yang Sword Formation, and the Five Elements Magic Treasure Formation against Teacher Lan Qing.
• Ye Han activated the Gods-and-Devils Hand while Teacher Lan Qing drew the Heavenly Thunder Sword and unleashed a massive black lightning strike.
• Ye Han countered with the Great Geng Divine Insight Swordsmanship, and the two attacks clashed in a stalemate.
• Ye Han shouted, “Teacher! Strike!!”

Ye Han and Teacher Lan Qing tried to reclaim Teacher Lan Qing’s body from the being possessing it, but the enemy escaped with both the body and Teacher Lan Qing’s soul. Ye Han concluded the enemy was still trapped somewhere in the Land of Despair and faced a choice between searching for Teacher Lan Qing and climbing the stairs.

• Teacher Lan Qing’s soul rushed back toward his body while Ye Han blocked the enemy’s black lightning with his Puppet Formation and struck with the Giant Sword Art.
• Teacher Lan Qing’s soul reentered his body, and Ye Han overwhelmed the possessor’s Heavenly Thunder Swordsmanship with the Gods-and-Devils Hand and Great Geng Divine Insight Swordsmanship.
• The possessor opened a gray spatial vortex to escape, but Ye Han and the Five Elements Binding Formation attacked and nearly seized Teacher Lan Qing’s body.
• The possessor used an eerie rune-covered bead to paralyze Ye Han and vanish with Teacher Lan Qing’s body and soul.
• Ye Han realized the enemy was likely still somewhere in the Land of Despair and wondered whether to search for Teacher Lan Qing or climb the stairs.

Ye Han resisted the staircase’s illusions and reached a platform where he spotted the Despair Treasure Chest hanging from the waning moon. Unable to fly up to it, he unsealed the Purple Cauldron’s perception, and it began to tremble violently.

• Ye Han decided not to search for Teacher Lan Qing and climbed the pitch-black staircase despite his injuries and losses.
• Azure Phoenix Fairy called to Ye Han, claiming she had found Ye Tianyu, but he resisted the temptation to turn back.
• Fairy Ningyu’s cry for help and many other voices tried to lure Ye Han back as the staircase drained his spell power and lifespan.
• Ye Han reached a raised platform and discovered the Despair Treasure Chest hanging from the waning moon.
• Ye Han found that he could not fly to the chest and unsealed the Purple Cauldron’s perception, causing it to tremble violently.

Ye Han awakened the Purple Cauldron’s power to fly toward the Despair Treasure Chest, despite the immense distance and the cost in spell power. He continued upward as a purple meteor, determined to reach the chest.

• Ye Han released the seal on the Purple Cauldron’s perception, and it reacted to the Despair Treasure Chest as well as two powerful auras elsewhere in the Tower of Hell.
• The Purple Cauldron covered Ye Han in rune armor and formed purple wings that allowed him to fly despite the restrictions.
• Ye Han discovered that the spirit-devouring and death auras stopped draining him once he left the platform.
• Ye Han swallowed pills to replenish his strength and drove the purple wings to beat rapidly, hurtling toward the Despair Treasure Chest.

Ye Han struggled through the black lightning toward the Despair Treasure Chest as the Purple Cauldron suddenly drew it in. The crescent-shaped Flying Boat erupted with golden runes and hurtled toward Ye Han, while the cauldron drained his power and left him unable to move.

• A chained figure in the Tower of Hell sensed the Purple Cauldron and raged against the Immortal Race as black lightning attacked him.
• A massive figure surrounded by chaos energy sensed the treasure in the Earth Realm and forced his way upward through the black lightning.
• Ye Han flew toward the Despair Treasure Chest while black lightning battered his armor and his pills and spell power ran low.
• The Purple Cauldron emerged from Ye Han's Divine Sense Sea and pulled the Despair Treasure Chest away from the crescent-shaped Flying Boat.
• Golden runes flared across the Flying Boat, which surged toward Ye Han as the Purple Cauldron drained his power and left him unable to move.

Ye Han was impaled by the Crescent Moon Flying Boat as a force tried to extract his Nascent Soul and soul. He escaped into the Purple Cauldron Space, but his physical body remained hanging from the boat as it flew away.

• The Purple Cauldron swallowed the Despair Treasure Chest, then shielded Ye Han with a phantom as the Crescent Moon Flying Boat struck him.
• The boat pierced Ye Han’s protection and began pulling his Nascent Soul and soul from his body.
• Ye Han used the Purple Cauldron to seize his Nascent Soul and soul and pull them into the Purple Cauldron Space.
• The Crescent Moon Flying Boat flew away with Ye Han’s physical body impaled on its tip.
• Ye Han sensed his body from inside the Purple Cauldron Space and realized he had survived, but could not bring his physical body in with him.

Ye Han’s Nascent Soul remained trapped in the Purple Cauldron Space after repeated attempts to return to his body failed, leaving him unable to control the Purple Cauldron or reach the Despair Treasure Chest inside it. The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit revealed that it knew how to help him cultivate a spirit body.

• Teacher Lan Qing struggled in a gray-lit void, realized the Despair Treasure Chest was gone, and ran as blood-red light erupted from his body.
• Ye Han’s Nascent Soul tried for a third time to return to his physical body but retreated when a force threatened to devour it.
• Ye Han surveyed the Purple Cauldron Space and considered using the Despair Treasure Chest to escape his predicament, but found he could no longer sense or control the Purple Cauldron.
• The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit congratulated Ye Han on reaching the Nascent Soul Realm and offered to teach him how to cultivate a spirit body.

Ye Han learned that the Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit had been born from a Spirit Body Cultivation Technique and asked about using it to solve his predicament. The water spirit said Ye Han would need a Spirit-Gathering Immortal Fruit, but the unripe fruit would take centuries to mature, and Ye Han explained that his body was controlled while only his nascent soul and soul remained.

• Ye Han questioned the Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit about how he had acquired a Spirit Body Cultivation Technique.
• The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit revealed that he had been born from the technique and praised his work caring for Ye Han’s Medicine Garden.
• Ye Han guessed that the water spirit wanted a Spirit-Gathering Immortal Fruit, and the water spirit asked for one when the fruits ripened so he could advance realms.
• The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit said Ye Han would also need an immortal fruit to practice the technique, but Ye Han noted that the fruit would take three to five hundred years to mature.
• Ye Han explained that his physical body was being controlled and that only his nascent soul and soul remained, then asked what he could gain by cultivating a spirit body.

Ye Han agreed to cultivate the Spirit Body Cultivation Technique after the Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit promised to accelerate the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Fruit’s ripening to about thirty years. As the Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit offered to merge with Ye Han through the Soul-Induction Art to help him progress, Ye Han remained wary of the danger.

• The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit told Ye Han that the Spirit Body Cultivation Technique might help him reclaim his physical body and withstand the force that devoured souls.
• The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit offered to accelerate the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Fruit’s ripening by gathering spiritual energy, estimating that the process would take about thirty years.
• Ye Han agreed to provide what the Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit needed in exchange for the fruit and asked to see the cultivation technique.
• The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit revealed the technique as spirit-light runes across the lake, and Ye Han sensed it drawing on his nascent soul and soul like chaos energy.
• The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit offered to merge with Ye Han to speed up his cultivation, but Ye Han questioned whether it intended to use the Soul-Induction Art on him.

Ye Han used the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Fruit and the Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit's Soul Link to cultivate a spirit body, reaching its third layer after years of seclusion. With his nascent soul now far stronger, he prepared to see whether he could return to his physical body.

• Ye Han sacrificed tens of thousands of Blood-Spotted Ants and Poison Centipede Insects and depleted the Purple Cauldron Space's spiritual energy to mature the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Fruit.
• Ye Han consumed the Spirit-Gathering Immortal Fruit spirit liquid and cultivated for five years, breaking through to the third layer of spirit body cultivation.
• The Ten-Thousand-Year Water Spirit restored his original form and praised Ye Han's breakthrough, while Ye Han noted that the Soul Link had strengthened them both.
• Ye Han sensed that his spirit body greatly strengthened his nascent soul and its abilities, bringing them close to those of his original body.
• Ye Han said he would try to return to his physical body.

Ye Han escaped the flying boat’s attempt to devour his nascent soul, then smashed the crescent trapping him with his Gods-and-Devils Hand. The flying boat struck the Purple Cauldron and sent Ye Han hurtling through space; he survived the crash but did not know where he had landed.

• Ye Han’s spirit body shielded his nascent soul from the flying boat’s devouring force, and he returned to his physical body before the two fused with his spirit body.
• The Crescent Moon Flying Boat tried to devour Ye Han again, so he enlarged his Gods-and-Devils Hand and smashed apart the crescent hooked through him.
• Ye Han summoned the Purple Cauldron to shield himself, but the flying boat crashed into it and knocked both of them away through the void.
• Teacher Lan Qing saw a purple meteor smash through three Sky-Piercing Pillars and recognized that it might be Ye Han before resuming his attack.
• The Purple Cauldron carried Ye Han through a barrier and into a stretch of land, where he survived the impact inside it and wondered how far he had flown.

Ye Han emerged from the Purple Cauldron after the Crescent Moon Flying Boat crashed him into the ground, discovering that his cultivation had risen and the cauldron had acquired a strange gourd and a growing vine. As he investigated a nearby Big-Eared Moon Race rabbit and the gourd, a gray-shrouded figure arrived and recognized him.

• Ye Han confirmed that the Purple Cauldron remained with him and sealed its perception after it sensed powerful treasures nearby.
• Ye Han found a dead Big-Eared Moon Race rabbit and watched the Purple Cauldron draw it inside and bind it with rune chains.
• Ye Han discovered a five-colored gourd inside the Purple Cauldron, along with a growing vine, and realized the cauldron had opened the Despair Treasure Chest during his separation from his body.
• Ye Han connected the gourd to his rapid cultivation increase and wondered whether it could help him reach the spirit transformation stage.
• A gray-shrouded figure hurried to the crater and called out to Ye Han.

Ye Han reunited with the Immortal-Thief Outsider in the Land of Despair and concealed that the Big-Eared Moon Race rabbit was inside his Purple Cauldron. Believing Teacher Lan Qing remained trapped, Ye Han decided to seek a way out and asked the Immortal-Thief Outsider what he planned to do.

• The Immortal-Thief Outsider found Ye Han and asked where Lan Qing was, while Ye Han realized the Outsider had been pursuing the Big-Eared Moon Race rabbit for a hidden reason.
• Ye Han and the Immortal-Thief Outsider exchanged guarded remarks about their improved cultivation and claimed they had each found a fortuitous opportunity.
• Ye Han said he had been separated from Teacher Lan Qing and denied causing the crash of the purple light, keeping the Purple Cauldron and its captive rabbit secret.
• The Immortal-Thief Outsider said he had not encountered Lan Qing, and Ye Han concluded that Lan Qing was likely still trapped in the dangerous area.
• Ye Han proposed leaving the Land of Despair rather than searching for Teacher Lan Qing and asked the Immortal-Thief Outsider what he would do.

Ye Han tried to persuade the Immortal-Thief Outsider Race member to help him leave the Tower of Hell, but learned that escaping required crossing the Gods and Devils River. The member revealed that he needed Ye Han’s Five Elements Divine Ability to rescue his sealed true divine soul, then questioned Ye Han’s hope of finding a treasure to reach the Spirit Transformation Stage.

• Ye Han urged the Immortal-Thief Outsider Race member to leave the Land of Despair with him, citing its draining aura and the danger of remaining in the Tower of Hell.
• The member explained that the Secret Passage only allowed entry and that they would have to face the Hell Messenger at the Gate of Despair to escape.
• The member reminded Ye Han that he had promised to help find a Divine Vessel to cross the Gods and Devils River, while Ye Han proposed they leave the Tower of Hell after escaping the Land of Despair.
• The member admitted he had cooperated because Ye Han’s Five Elements Divine Ability was powerful and revealed that half of his true divine soul was sealed deep in the Tower of Hell.
• The member told Ye Han that crossing the Gods and Devils River was the only way out and that everyone who entered the Tower of Hell was destined to descend to its bottom.
• The member asked Ye Han whether he truly believed the Tower of Hell held a treasure that could help him reach the Spirit Transformation Stage.

Ye Han learned from the Immortal-Thief Outsider that the Despair Treasure Chest supposedly held the Three Realms Gourd, a treasure coveted by Earth Realm cultivators seeking to ascend. He kept his connection to the chest and gourd secret as the Purple Cauldron absorbed the gourd’s aura, while the Immortal-Thief Outsider offered to guide him toward another chance to reach the Spirit Transformation Stage.

• Ye Han questioned whether the gourd vine could help him advance, and the Immortal-Thief Outsider explained that the Heavenly Secret Hall was a dumping ground for threats to various races.
• The Immortal-Thief Outsider said the Despair Treasure Chest was rumored to contain the Three Realms Gourd and suspected that Lan Qing had lost his physical body while pursuing it.
• Ye Han considered the Earth Realm’s cultivation restrictions and realized that the Purple Cauldron had opened the chest and was absorbing the Three Realms Gourd’s aura.
• Ye Han decided to hide his possession of the chest and gourd because powerful Spirit Transformation cultivators would target him if they found out.
• The Immortal-Thief Outsider told Ye Han that he could still lead him to an opportunity to reach the Spirit Transformation Stage.