Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping and his companions escaped into the Wilderness as Thousand Threads and Lü Hu pursued them. They emerged in a different region than Xu Taiping had reached before, and Dongfang Yuejian explained that the Wilderness had many entrances and that their destination depended on where they entered.

• Xu Taiping thanked Dragon Emperor Cangzhou for his guidance and considered using a Wilderness Lion or Python Flood Dragon form to conserve essence blood.
• Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi prepared to enter the Wilderness when Thousand Threads and Lü Hu approached.
• Dongfang Yuejian gave Xu Taiping and Master Xuanzhi her higher-grade Flood Dragon Tokens, and Xu Taiping used Five-Finger Sky Rend to stop their pursuers.
• The three struck the Stone Stele and entered the Wilderness, where they found the landscape and conditions unlike Xu Taiping's previous arrival.
• Dongfang Yuejian explained that the Wilderness had many entrances, that unsafe entrances could lead to different landing places, and that the True Martial Barrier had once sealed off regions connected to True Martial Heaven.

Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi entered the Wilderness and discovered that they had arrived at night, when Yin Gods posed a serious threat. They decided to shelter in an abandoned courtyard until morning, and Xuanzhi used a hidden Bodhi Leaf treasure to inspect its rear courtyard.

• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian discussed how the Wilderness differed between heavens, and Xu Taiping worried that True Martial Heaven’s harsher suppression meant its Yin Gods were especially dangerous.
• Master Xuanzhi suggested that arriving during the day would avoid much of the danger, but the three landed in the Wilderness at night.
• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian inspected the abandoned courtyard’s front area and agreed to stay there if the rear courtyard proved safe.
• Master Xuanzhi volunteered to inspect the rear courtyard and disappeared using the Cloud-Hidden Temple’s Bodhi Leaf treasure.
• Master Xuanzhi explained that using the Bodhi Leaf required Buddha fate power, which he had exhausted while treating Dongfang Yuejian’s injuries in the Old Dragon Court.

Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi used a Bodhi Leaf concealment spell to investigate the rear courtyard and overheard two cultivators discussing Ghost Night. As rhythmic knocking sounded at the front gate, Xuanzhi sensed something unclean outside.

• Xuanzhi used a Bodhi Leaf to conceal himself, Xu Taiping, and Dongfang Yuejian, then explained how Cloud-Hidden Temple cultivators used Buddha fate power.
• Xu Taiping heard a gate open in the rear courtyard, and Xuanzhi listened with his Golden Alms Bowl as two men entered.
• Dongfang Yuejian explained that Ghost Night was the name cultivators gave to the Wilderness at night.
• Xu Taiping heard footsteps approach the courtyard gate, and a series of rhythmic knocks sounded from outside.
• Xuanzhi warned Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian to stay silent because he sensed something unclean beyond the gate.

Xu Taiping and his companions sought shelter from a knocking Yin God, but a chilling wind seeped into the hall and overwhelmed the Origin Beginning Clone with terror. Xu Taiping escaped by returning to his true body, then reentered the clone and erased the fear, only for the terror to arise again when he felt the chill.

• Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi heard cultivators warn that a Yin God was knocking and withdrew into the ruined temple’s main hall.
• Xu Taiping set down the Taixuan Demon-Suppressing Coffin while Dongfang Yuejian watched the courtyard and reported that the knocking had stopped.
• A cold wind poured beneath the hall door, and Dongfang Yuejian warned Xu Taiping not to stir his qi and blood or True Essence because Yin Gods sensed fluctuations in aura.
• The growing fear overwhelmed Xu Taiping’s Origin Beginning Clone, breaking his spiritual connection and returning his spiritual sense to his true body inside the Demon-Suppressing Coffin.
• Xu Taiping reentered the clone and erased the fear with the Origin Beginning Clone Technique, but the terror arose again when the clone felt the chill.

Xu Taiping used the Life-Taking Blade’s Returning Blade to Sheath Form to shield himself, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi from the room’s mind-corrupting chill. Master Xuanzhi and Dongfang Yuejian awoke, but the protective light curtains began to break, and Xu Taiping struggled to sustain the technique.

• Xu Taiping saw Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi trapped in fear while his own spiritual sense was swallowed by darkness and an eerie green eye.
• He realized the chill was causing the fear and decided that merely waking his companions would not solve the danger.
• Xu Taiping used the Life-Taking Blade’s Returning Blade to Sheath Form, creating eighteen golden light curtains that kept the chill outside.
• Master Xuanzhi and Dongfang Yuejian regained consciousness, and Dongfang Yuejian recognized the blade technique.
• The outermost light curtain shattered under the chill, while Xu Taiping warned that maintaining the technique consumed great amounts of true essence and divine soul power.

Xu Taiping and his companions used Dongfang Yuejian’s Ten-Crow Umbrella to ward off a Yin God, but a woman identified as Madam Lu appeared at the courtyard gate and destroyed the umbrella. Xu Taiping drove back the returning chill with his Life-Taking Blade and asked Dongfang Yuejian to explain Madam Lu’s origins.

• Dongfang Yuejian summoned the Ten-Crow Umbrella, which dispelled the Yin God’s chill and let Xu Taiping lower his guard.
• Xu Taiping saw two cultivators under the Yin God’s influence approach and open the courtyard gate.
• A hooded woman with an eerie green lantern appeared, and Dongfang Yuejian feared she was Madam Lu.
• Madam Lu touched the two cultivators, causing their heads to burst into eerie green light, then beckoned Xu Taiping to come to her.
• Madam Lu destroyed the Ten-Crow Umbrella before Dongfang Yuejian could finish her warning, and Xu Taiping used the Life-Taking Blade to repel the chill and asked who she was.

Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi defended themselves from Madam Lu, a ghost servant empowered by the Yin God Su Yan. After Xuanzhi revealed the Cloud-Hidden Temple’s powerful Seven-Character Great Light-Cleansing Mantra, Xu Taiping and Dongfang refused to spend it on Madam Lu, and Dongfang took up the defense with the Ten-Crow Umbrella.

• Dongfang Yuejian explained that Madam Lu served the Yin God Su Yan and wielded the dangerous Divine Intents Headless and Entering Dreams.
• Xu Taiping learned that Madam Lu had marked him with Entering Dreams and that they needed to hold out until dawn for the mark to vanish.
• Master Xuanzhi offered to use the Cloud-Hidden Temple’s Seven-Character Great Light-Cleansing Mantra, revealing that its founder had used it to destroy a branch of the Demon Abyss.
• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian refused to spend Xuanzhi’s Śarīra and mantra on Madam Lu, choosing to endure the attack themselves.
• Dongfang Yuejian consumed a Lotus Seed and summoned the Ten-Crow Umbrella, sweeping away the cold and easing the pressure on Xu Taiping.

Xu Taiping discovered that he and his companions were inside a Yin God’s stomach, despite seeing the courtyard around them, and learned that they could survive temporarily inside the Demon-Suppressing Coffin. The Lotus Eye pointed out that Madam Lu’s appearance at the gate was suspiciously well-timed, leaving Xu Taiping wondering who had brought them together.

• Xu Taiping saw the courtyard weeds wither and the soil grow damp while Madam Lu remained at the entrance.
• The Lotus Eye awakened and warned Xu Taiping to look beneath his feet, revealing that the group was inside a monster’s stomach.
• Xu Taiping concealed what he saw from Master Xuanzhi and Dongfang Yuejian, then learned from the Lotus Eye that their captor was a Yin God whose power would absorb them within the time it took an incense stick to burn.
• The Lotus Eye said the Demon-Suppressing Coffin could protect all three of them temporarily, but warned that their predicament was too coincidental.
• Xu Taiping realized someone might have deliberately gathered them there and wondered who was responsible.

Xu Taiping used the unwithering golden lotus in his sea of consciousness to divine that Ningchan Cave was tied to their predicament and uncovered a plot involving Elder Xunqi and Madam Lu. The vision ended on a lotus pond, leaving Xu Taiping with more questions about the forces threatening them.

• The Lotus Eye told Xu Taiping to seek answers in the golden lotus, and Xu Taiping realized it had not withered because the calamity linked to Ningchan Cave remained unresolved.
• Xu Taiping opened the golden lotus and saw Elder Lu report to Elder Xun that Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Xuanzhi had entered the Wilderness.
• Elder Xun ordered Elder Lu, Thousand Threads, and Lü Hu to join the Ningchan Cave disciples in the Wilderness.
• Xu Taiping saw Elder Xunqi bargain with Madam Lu, who said she needed three hundred divine souls to fully awaken her lord, Su Yan.
• Madam Lu agreed to send clones to the Yin Residence after Xunqi promised to arrange Heaven Questioning Realm cultivators among the victims.
• The vision shifted from Madam Lu and Xunqi to a lotus pond.

Xu Taiping opened the first of his three golden lotuses and revealed the ancient sword Ten Thousand Edges, but it failed to break the Yin God's divine intent. The Yin Residence revealed itself as the inside of a Yin God, and Xu Taiping opened the second lotus as the danger grew.

• Xu Taiping realized the Lotus Eye might be pointing him toward the three unopened golden lotuses and asked Dongfang Yuejian to hold out longer.
• Xu Taiping opened a golden lotus and revealed Ten Thousand Edges, a sword Dongfang Yuejian recognized as a divine weapon lost with the ancient Sword Immortal Qu Yang.
• Xu Taiping struck the hall's central wall with Ten Thousand Edges, but the sword left no mark.
• The Yin God's decay aura spread through the hall, and the walls turned into writhing flesh.
• Dongfang Yuejian recognized the place as the legendary Yin Residence, while Xu Taiping warned they would become one with the Yin God if they did not escape within half an incense stick.
• Xu Taiping opened the second golden lotus, revealing another treasure.

Xu Taiping used the jade carving knife Guizang to inscribe a line that made the three companions unknown to everyone in the realm. The haunted house continued to threaten them, but the inscription offered a way to hide until dawn.

• Xu Taiping rejected the pill furnace, and Dongfang Yuejian recognized the ancient inscriptions on it as a pill recipe.
• As the haunted house awakened and reached for them, Xu Taiping told Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi to wait and said they could shelter in his black coffin if his last treasure failed.
• Xu Taiping revealed a jade carving knife that Dongfang Yuejian identified as the legendary Guizang, said to sever karma.
• Xu Taiping explained that karma could not be severed but could be forgotten, then used Guizang and thirteen Earth Fruit Seeds to carve a twelve-character inscription into the air.
• Xu Taiping completed the line, “In this realm, no one shall know of us three.”

Xu Taiping used Guicang’s Divine Concealment to make the beings in Wilderness Heaven forget him and his companions, causing Madam Lu to leave. He explained the weapon’s limits and the cost of using it, while Dongfang Yuejian suggested they exploit their three days of concealment to roam Wilderness Heaven.

• Xu Taiping carved an edict with Guicang, and the flesh and blood on the walls vanished as Madam Lu led the two headless corpses away without sensing the group.
• Xu Taiping explained that Guicang was a fragment of an ancient Xiantian Spirit Treasure and described the limits of its Returning to Concealment ability.
• Xu Taiping realized that Divine Concealment had dimmed eleven of the thirteen soul rings tied to his life and resolved to avoid using it again before advancing his cultivation.
• Dongfang Yuejian asked whether the knife was Guicang, and Xu Taiping confirmed it while declining to explain its origins.
• Master Xuanzhi reported that Madam Lu could not sense him even when he walked beside her, and Xu Taiping warned that the concealment would last only three days.
• Dongfang Yuejian proposed using their three days of concealment to roam freely through Wilderness Heaven.

Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi escaped the yin residence under the Blade of Guicang’s Divine Shadow Power, but Xu Taiping worried about Madam Lu and Xunqi’s plan to awaken the Yin God Su Yan. Dongfang Yuejian revealed that Su Yan’s awakening had caused devastating nightmares throughout the Wilderness, leaving the threat to their journey unresolved.

• Xu Taiping explained that the Divine Shadow Power prevented them from using much true essence or divine soul power, so the group planned to travel to the Thousand Buddha Kingdom while it lasted.
• Xu Taiping left the yin residence with Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi, troubled by what he had seen of Madam Lu and Xunqi’s scheme to awaken Su Yan.
• Dongfang Yuejian explained that Su Yan slept atop gold essence stone veins and could produce metal essence, including the rare primordial chaos metal essence used to forge Great Dao Divine Weapons.
• Xu Taiping asked what would happen if Su Yan awakened, and Dongfang Yuejian warned that his origin divine intent had once plunged the Wilderness into nightmares that exhausted souls and killed living beings.

Xu Taiping shared what he knew about the Yin God Su Yan's possible awakening and transformed into his Wilderness Lion Body to pursue Ghost Servant Madam Lu with Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi. They caught up with her as her clones gathered nearly three hundred captured cultivators, bringing the threat of Su Yan's awakening close.

• Xu Taiping sent Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi a Divine Soul Mark showing the danger posed by the Yin God Su Yan's awakening.
• Xu Taiping transformed into his Wilderness Lion Body and carried Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi after Madam Lu.
• Xu Taiping caught up with Madam Lu and her Headless Ghosts at a fork in the road, where they had stopped to wait for her other clones.
• Green flames converged from the branching roads, and Dongfang Yuejian realized Madam Lu had captured nearly three hundred cultivators in one night.

Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi followed Madam Lu and the Headless Ghosts, but her revealed power made them doubt they could stop her by force. Dongfang Yuejian found a chapter about Su Yan in her ancestor’s collection and began searching it for a weakness.

• Madam Lu’s clones merged into her true body, whose cold aura froze the surrounding area and frightened Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi.
• Madam Lu led nearly three hundred Headless Ghosts toward Su Yan, and Xu Taiping continued following them while asking Dongfang Yuejian how else they might stop Su Yan from awakening.
• Dongfang Yuejian searched the Dongfang Household Ancestor’s collection through a Jade Slip and shared her dream of traveling the world like Dongfang Daoyuan.
• Xu Taiping encouraged Dongfang Yuejian, telling her that knowing why she cultivated set her apart from most cultivators.
• Dongfang Yuejian found a chapter about Su Yan in the Wilderness Yin Ghost Record and began checking it for the Yin God’s weaknesses.

Xu Taiping and his companions learned that they might stop the Yin God Su Yan from awakening by striking him with overwhelming killing intent during the brief moment after he wakes. With no time to seek help, Xu Taiping chose to try the untested method and showed Dongfang Yuejian something that left her terrified by the possibility of such a physique.

• Dongfang Yuejian found a passage in the Wilderness Yin Ghost Record describing how to frighten Su Yan back into slumber just after he awakens, though its author had never tested the method.
• Xuanzhi questioned whether any of them had enough killing intent to cow Su Yan, while Dongfang Yuejian warned that they could not reach the Thousand Buddha Kingdom before Su Yan awakened.
• Xu Taiping decided to attempt the method, and Xuanzhi and Dongfang Yuejian warned that they would face Madam Lu and Xunqi of Ningchan Cave once his Divine Concealment Power vanished.
• Xu Taiping reminded them of his Dragon-Trapping Tower and Dragon-Slaying Stele, then sent Dongfang Yuejian a divine soul mark.
• Dongfang Yuejian read Xu Taiping's divine soul mark and froze in shock, asking whether the physique it revealed could truly exist.

Xu Taiping learned that Dongfang Yuejian and Blade Ghost could combine their powers to threaten the Yin God Su Yan, then entered a corpse-filled valley with Madam Lu and Xuanzhi. He left Xuanzhi with the Dragon-Slaying Stele and asked him to go to the Thousand Buddha Kingdom while he and Dongfang stayed to stop Su Yan from awakening.

• Dongfang Yuejian said she could reproduce at most forty percent of the fighting strength shown in Xu Taiping’s vision.
• Blade Ghost viewed the vision and agreed that combining his strength with Dongfang Yuejian’s could intimidate Su Yan.
• Blade Ghost resolved to prepare for the coming battle and told Xu Taiping not to disturb him before Su Yan awakened.
• Xu Taiping followed Madam Lu into a secluded valley where rows of corpses lay in peaceful poses, and Dongfang Yuejian said Su Yan’s divine power had lured them into fatal dreams.
• Xu Taiping gave Xuanzhi the Dragon-Slaying Stele and asked him to go to the Thousand Buddha Kingdom while he and Dongfang Yuejian stayed to stop Su Yan.

Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian found the valley where Yin God Su Yan slept, but Madam Lu’s invisible ice wall blocked their way. As the Heaven-Illuminating Mirror began to crack under Yuyangzi’s Demonic Qi, Xu Taiping realized he could use it to lure Madam Lu out.

• Master Xuanzhi set off alone for the Thousand Buddha Kingdom with the Dragon-Slaying Stele on his back.
• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian saw Headless Ghosts prostrated before an altar where a huge black shape, apparently Su Yan, slept amid a valley full of gold essence stones.
• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian reached an invisible ice wall that Madam Lu had erected, and they concluded they could not attack it without losing their Divine Concealment.
• The Heaven-Illuminating Mirror began to crack as Yuyangzi’s Demonic Qi neared breaking its seal.
• Xu Taiping realized he could use the Demonic Qi to lure Madam Lu out.

Xu Taiping released the two masses of demonic qi sealed in the Heaven-Illuminating Mirror among the corpses outside the valley, hoping they would grow strong enough to force Madam Lu out. Their disturbance drew no response from Madam Lu, who appeared to be occupied with the ritual to awaken Yin God Su Yan.

• Xu Taiping threw the cracking Heaven-Illuminating Mirror into the sleeping corpses at the valley entrance.
• The mirror shattered, and the two-headed demon body formed from Yuyangzi’s demonic qi began turning corpses into Corpse Demons.
• Xu Taiping explained to Dongfang Yuejian that the demonic qi would grow stronger by consuming what it could and was likely to clash with Madam Lu inside the valley.
• Dongfang Yuejian realized Xu Taiping had released the demonic qi to lure Madam Lu out and remove the threat at the same time.
• Madam Lu did not respond to the growing disturbance, and Xu Taiping concluded that the ritual to awaken Yin God Su Yan had reached a critical moment.
• The two masses of demonic qi transformed every corpse on the valley’s outskirts into a Corpse Demon.

Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian followed Yuyangzi’s two-headed Corpse Demonic Qi through Ghost Servant Madam Lu’s ice wall, where the rising corpses revealed vast stores of gold essence stone. They began collecting the treasure and discovered that Xu Taiping’s Dragon-Trapping Tower could store it too.

• Yuyangzi’s two-headed Corpse Demonic Qi sent Corpse Demons deeper into the valley, where the cold wall froze many of them and the survivors devoured one another to grow stronger.
• The remaining Corpse Demons became long-haired Flying Jiangshi and broke through Ghost Servant Madam Lu’s ice wall with volleys of hair needles.
• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian followed the Corpse Demons through the opening as the corpses deeper in the valley rose and exposed large chunks of gold essence stone.
• Xu Taiping confirmed that gathering the stones would not disrupt Divine Concealment, and he and Dongfang Yuejian collected as many as their storage items could hold.
• Xu Taiping opened the Dragon-Trapping Tower and drew a huge chunk of gold essence stone inside, leaving Dongfang Yuejian amazed.