Chapter Summaries

After reaching Beyond the Realm, Su Mo focused on cultivating the Human Scroll so he could attain Spirit Transformation and search for his missing senior brothers and sisters. He sought Great Calamity’s advice, but she bristled when she realized he had come to her with a problem.

• Su Mo meditated by a river in Beyond the Realm, where he lacked the Ninth Realm’s National Fortune Power and could not locate his Academy companions.
• Su Mo struggled with the Human Scroll’s method of separating seven emotion-bearing consciousnesses and decided to ask Great Calamity about it.
• Great Calamity teased Su Mo for staying away after getting a wife, then softened when he looked dejected.
• Su Mo told Great Calamity he did not know how to find his senior brothers and sisters, and she advised him to cultivate until he was strong enough to search.
• Su Mo began to ask Great Calamity about the Human Scroll, but she realized he had returned because he needed help and withdrew in irritation.

Su Mo began cultivating the Human Scroll, which sent his Seven Thoughts out into the world to cultivate separately. Left without his emotions, he grew listless and waited for them to return, unaware of where they had gone.

• Su Mo asked Great Calamity about Dao Arts, and she recommended the Book of Life and Death while warning that every Dao Art had flaws.
• Su Mo examined the withered Flower of the Other Shore in his Spirit Sea, then returned to the Floating Bridge to cultivate the Human Scroll.
• Su Mo read the Human Scroll's verses and began cultivating its Seven Thoughts, triggering strange phenomena across the world.
• Seven colored streaks emerged from Su Mo's Radiant Mark and flew away to cultivate separately in the sky, earth, water, plants, soil, and unknown destinations.
• Su Mo woke without his Seven Thoughts, found himself uninterested in everything, and lazily waited for the emotions to return.

Su Mo remained detached after the Seven Thoughts left him, while a little golden fish brought pearls and treasures to cultivate beside him and the Void Beast. A group led by Yu Mu entered the forest searching for treasure and, followed by an uncanny sense of being watched, reached the river and spotted a house and an old man.

• The little golden fish visited Su Mo each day with pearls, and the Void Beast played with them while sharing its cultivation with the fish.
• The fish grew more intelligent, began bringing strange treasures, and sometimes received help from Su Mo's aura as well.
• The Void Beast and Su Mo sensed something in the forest, but Su Mo soon closed his eyes again.
• Yu Mu led a group through the forest as its members increasingly felt watched, though their divine senses revealed nothing.
• Yu Mu decided to follow the river in search of treasure, and the group spotted a house with an old man by the river.

Yu Mu and her companions found Su Mo beside a river and learned that he had seen the phenomenon they sought, but warned them they could not obtain its source. When a golden fish delivered an ancient bronze cauldron, Yu Mu accepted it and chose to remain with Su Mo for half a year, despite his warning that she would regret it.

• Yu Mu and the other cultivators approached Su Mo, mistaking his silence and the Void Beast’s presence for signs of a reclusive senior.
• Su Mo confirmed he had seen the phenomenon and warned the group to leave without pursuing what lay behind it.
• A golden fish brought an ancient bronze cauldron, and Su Mo helped the fish cultivate with his aura.
• Yu Mu asked to exchange half a year of service for the cauldron, but Su Mo gave it to her and said he did not need anyone to attend to him.
• Yu Mu stayed after the others departed, insisting she would keep her word, and Su Mo warned that she would regret her decision.

Su Mo remained detached while a radiant phenomenon drew cultivators to a hidden entrance beneath the river, and Yu Mu warned them not to disturb him. When Rain Clan elders arrived to investigate, Yu Mu’s grandfather greeted Su Mo as an old acquaintance.

• Su Mo spent months sitting silently by the river while the little golden fish brought treasures that the Void Beast devoured.
• Rosy light erupted downstream, and Yu Mu sensed that more than a dozen cultivators had come to investigate.
• Yu Mu flew downstream and warned the arrivals that a terrifying senior lived nearby, keeping them away from Su Mo’s cottage.
• More cultivators, including Spirit Transformation experts, gathered and entered an apparent passage in the riverbed, while the Void Beast restrained its ferocity.
• Rain Clan elders arrived at Su Mo’s cottage and failed to sense his cultivation; Yu Mu’s grandfather then sat beside Su Mo and asked how he had been lately.

Su Mo reconciled with Yu Gu, the Rain Clan’s Ninth Elder, over the old grudge between them as they watched the river and its strange rosy light. The little fish brought Su Mo a familiar sword for several days, but on the final evening it did not appear.

• Su Mo asked Yu Gu if he had come to seek revenge, and Yu Gu said he had let go of the grudge over Yu Qi’s death.
• Yu Gu asked Su Mo to put aside their wider conflict, and Su Mo agreed so long as the Rain Clan did not trouble him.
• Yu Gu declined to pursue the opportunity beneath the rosy light and sent the Rain Clan party away, while Yu Mu stayed beside her grandfather.
• The little fish brought Su Mo a long sword, which he kept instead of giving to the Void Beast, then cultivated near him.
• Several days later, Su Mo looked toward the rosy light as dusk fell, and the little fish failed to arrive.

Su Mo, still without the Seven Thoughts, finally left the river after the little fish failed to appear and followed the rosy light with the Void Beast. Beneath the water, he found a familiar submerged town and realized it was Ziyu’s home from the first illusion of the Divine Realm Ghost Gate.

• Su Mo said the little fish had not come, but at first refused to go look for it.
• The next day, Su Mo stood for the first time in months and decided to go with the Void Beast toward the rosy light.
• Yu Gu warned Su Mo that the place seemed dangerous, then advised Yu Mu to stay out of the sect struggle and focus on cultivating.
• Su Mo and the Void Beast dove beneath the river and discovered an ancient town on its bed.
• Su Mo entered a familiar house and remembered it was Ziyu’s home from the first illusion of the Divine Realm Ghost Gate.

Su Mo and the Void Beast entered the Ancient Well and found the little fish trapped in a porcelain vase inside an immense underwater palace. After freeing the fish, Su Mo followed the steps beyond the palace, where he emerged from the water and discovered a stele bearing the words, “What is gained from all living beings shall be returned to all living beings...”

• Su Mo searched the riverbed for the little fish, then followed the Void Beast into the Ancient Well.
• Su Mo and the Void Beast descended through a deep passage and found an enormous palace filled with treasures.
• Su Mo found the little fish trapped in a porcelain vase and broke the vase to free it.
• The little fish swam out of the palace, while Su Mo and the Void Beast continued up the steps beyond it.
• Su Mo and the Void Beast emerged from the water and saw a stone stele engraved with the words, “What is gained from all living beings shall be returned to all living beings...”

Su Mo reached the Death River and learned that only golden duckweed could carry Inquiry Realm experts across. After he summoned a patch from midriver, the Thunder Sect elder pressured him into yielding it and crossed with a young man, leaving Su Mo on the bank.

• Su Mo and the Void Beast reached the Death River, where Hong Qing explained that the steps could not be descended, the river was deadly, and ordinary duckweed could not support Inquiry Realm experts.
• Hong Qing told Su Mo that the Cloud Sect’s young master and elder and the Green Gate’s Dao maiden had already crossed, and that golden duckweed could carry Inquiry Realm cultivators.
• Su Mo summoned one of the two unreachable patches of golden duckweed to the bank with a single word.
• The Thunder Sect elder asked Su Mo to summon the other patch, but Su Mo said he could use his Dao Art only once within a short span of time.
• The Thunder Sect elder invoked his sect’s authority and pressured Su Mo to give him the golden duckweed, promising to bring back the other patch.
• Su Mo stepped aside, and the Thunder Sect elder crossed with the finely dressed young man without looking back at the remaining patch.

Su Mo led the stranded group across the Death River, revealing that duckweed appeared beneath every step he took, and reached the opposite bank with the Void Beast. The Great Calamity recognized the place as the Burial Ground of someone from its generation and warned Su Mo that it was dangerous.

• Su Mo called the river's duckweed back to the bank, then yielded the last golden duckweed to a woman so she could cross.
• The woman promised to return the golden duckweed after reaching the far bank, and Su Mo watched her and the others depart.
• Su Mo stepped onto the Death River, where a new duckweed appeared beneath every step, and crossed with the Void Beast on his shoulder.
• Su Mo reached the opposite bank, and the duckweeds that had supported him withdrew into the riverbed.
• The Great Calamity recognized the place's aura as belonging to the Burial Ground of someone from its generation and warned Su Mo that it was no benign place.

Su Mo reached the Floating Life Bridge and discovered that its floating rocks concealed deadly eerie-fire spells. With Great Calamity’s help, he crossed safely and planned to let the Thunder Sect elder follow him onto a rock protected for just one person, repaying the elder for forcing others to scout.

• Su Mo heard an eerie voice calling him deeper into the passage and arrived at the cliff marked Floating Life Bridge, where the Thunder Sect elder and others were waiting.
• When floating rocks formed a path across the chasm, the Thunder Sect elder ordered a Rogue Cultivator to test them, and the Rogue Cultivator revealed that some rocks contained deadly eerie fire.
• Great Calamity told Su Mo that she could protect him from the sealed spells, so Su Mo sent the Rogue Cultivator back to the cliff and began crossing himself.
• Su Mo carefully chose his route while Great Calamity prevented the rocks’ spells from activating, making the Thunder Sect elder wonder how he could distinguish safe rocks.
• Su Mo asked Great Calamity to protect one dangerous rock for the person following him, and she realized he intended to let the Thunder Sect elder cross safely only to repay him in kind.

Su Mo safely crossed the floating stones, luring the Thunder Sect elder into triggering their sealed strange fires and leaving him badly injured. Su Mo and the rogue cultivator reached a vast Death River, where a voice called Su Mo “Little brother.”

• Su Mo crossed the floating stones and secretly arranged for the Great Calamity to let one more person follow his safe route.
• The Thunder Sect elder sent the brocade-robed man and then crossed after them, triggering strange fires that killed his disciple and severely burned him.
• The Thunder Sect elder threatened Su Mo, while the people behind him realized they could avoid the known dangerous stones and cross.
• Su Mo told the frightened rogue cultivator that the wounded Thunder Sect elder would not dare pursue them, and they continued onward.
• Su Mo and the rogue cultivator reached a vast Death River and found an ancient ship and a stele warning them not to cultivate immortality.
• A voice beside Su Mo called, “Little brother,” and said that he had come.

Su Mo boarded the Ancient Ship and met Immortal Ziyu, whom he had encountered in the One Path, Three Trials. Ziyu’s claim that the events of Su Mo’s apparent illusion were both real and unreal left Su Mo questioning what he had experienced.

• Su Mo discovered that the underground river’s restrictions suppressed cultivation and learned from the Great Calamity that the place was an even more terrifying Extreme Yin Land than the area beneath Great Hua’s West City.
• The Great Calamity told Su Mo that everyone who had entered was aboard the Ancient Ship, and Su Mo found the Rogue Cultivator had vanished before he crossed the floating bridge.
• Su Mo boarded the ship and found the earlier arrivals bound to its masts, their faces vacant, while Immortal Ziyu stood beside a red coffin.
• Immortal Ziyu recognized Su Mo as his little brother and said their mother had continued to speak of him after he left.
• When Su Mo asked whether the events in the Ghost Gate trials had been an illusion, Immortal Ziyu answered that they had been and had not, then beckoned Su Mo closer to the coffin.

Immortal Ziyu revealed that he had spent millennia gathering yin power to carry his mother's coffin upstream and revive her, after failing to save her by killing others. Su Mo gave him the yin power of the Ninth Realm's wronged souls instead of letting him kill the final group of cultivators, and Ziyu revealed that the first person he killed was himself.

• Immortal Ziyu told Su Mo that his mother had died despite his efforts, and that he had sealed her body and Divine Soul in a coffin.
• Immortal Ziyu explained that he built the yin ship to gather enough yin power to reach the river's source and revive his mother, killing people over thousands of years to fuel it.
• Immortal Ziyu said he had failed to defeat the Confucian Sage and had lured victims to the ship until its yin power was nearly sufficient.
• Su Mo offered the talisman containing the yin power of the Ninth Realm's wronged souls, and Immortal Ziyu accepted it rather than kill the last group of cultivators.
• Immortal Ziyu told Su Mo that the first person he killed was himself.

Immortal Ziyu awakened the Ancient Ship and set it upstream along the Yin River to save his mother, while Su Mo grappled with grief despite lacking his Seven Thoughts. As Ghostly Souls pursued the vessel and its bound passengers awoke, Su Mo was recognized by the woman he had given the Golden Duckweed and by a fan-holding man who called him Su Jingyan.

• Immortal Ziyu poured Yin Power into the Ancient Ship, awakened its power, and set it upstream to save his mother.
• Su Mo sat beside the Redwood Coffin and wondered why he still felt grief with his Seven Thoughts missing.
• The Great Calamity and the Mysterious Maiden sensed that the journey reminded them of a person and discussed Eternal Life.
• Ghostly Souls rose from the widening Yin River and pursued the Ancient Ship as Su Mo and Immortal Ziyu watched.
• The bound Immortal Cultivators awoke, found themselves unable to use Spiritual Power or escape their restraints, and saw Su Mo standing beside Immortal Ziyu.
• The woman who had received the Golden Duckweed recognized Su Mo, and a fan-holding man looked up and called him Su Jingyan.

Su Mo played the Heart Flute to soothe the wandering souls as the Ancient Ship carried Immortal Ziyu toward the end of the Yin River. There, Immortal Ziyu found only a vast burial ground instead of the place he believed could resurrect his mother, and he refused to accept the failure.

• As wronged souls nearly caught the Ancient Ship, Su Mo played the Heart Flute and quieted their cries with his melody.
• Immortal Ziyu praised the nameless tune, and Su Mo named it “For Peace,” prompting Immortal Ziyu to admit that he could not turn back.
• The Ancient Ship entered a barren expanse of nothingness filled with ancient stone gravestones, where Immortal Ziyu found no sign of yin giving rise to yang.
• Immortal Ziyu realized that his plans and the countless killings he had carried out over ten thousand years had failed to bring back his mother.
• Immortal Ziyu became desperate and insisted that he would find a way to resurrect his mother.

Immortal Ziyu carried the Redwood Coffin into the Myriad Paths of Barren Graves after the Yin Boat could go no farther, while Su Mo freed the captives and prepared to follow. The Young Master of the Cloud Sect exposed Su Mo’s identity, and the chapter ended with Su Mo confronting him about whether he was still using his Dao body.

• Immortal Ziyu carried the Redwood Coffin off the Ancient Ship and walked deeper into the Myriad Paths of Barren Graves.
• Su Mo freed the woman who had given him the Golden Duckweed, and she untied the other captives.
• The Young Master of the Cloud Sect tried to persuade Su Mo to stay with the group, then revealed his name to the others.
• The Thunder Sect Elder and the Elder of the Cloud Sect blocked Su Mo’s path as the cultivators reacted to learning his identity.
• The Young Master of the Cloud Sect called Su Mo a mere Nascent Soul cultivator, and Su Mo asked whether the Young Master was still using his Dao body.

Su Mo used his surviving divine race power to kill the Cloud Sect's young master and two elders after they threatened him in the Extreme Yin Land. He then followed Immortal Ziyu deeper among the tombs, hoping to find a way to bring someone back to life.

• Su Mo revealed that his cultivation remained intact, killed the Cloud Sect's young master's Dao Body, and then killed the Thunder Sect Elder and the Cloud Sect elder.
• The remaining people backed down, and the woman Su Mo had saved cautiously asked to follow him.
• Su Mo left without answering and headed after Immortal Ziyu, while the woman and the others followed him.
• Su Mo walked deeper among ancient tombs and stone steles, seeking a place that could bring the dead back to life.

Su Mo carried Immortal Ziyu’s Redwood Coffin deeper into the grave-filled land, where the burial rules steadily eroded the travelers behind them. As Immortal Ziyu pressed on toward the distant rosy light despite nearing dissolution, a woman at the rear found the will to survive for her bedridden younger sister.

• Su Mo caught up with Immortal Ziyu and saw the burial rules stripping away the light around him as he carried the coffin.
• Su Mo took the heavy Redwood Coffin onto his own back, and the two continued deeper among the graves.
• A traveler collapsed under the yin power and vanished as a gravestone bearing their name rose in their place.
• Su Mo warned Immortal Ziyu to stop, but Immortal Ziyu continued, saying his mother was still waiting for him.
• More travelers faltered, while Su Mo grew stronger in the yin power and glimpsed distant rosy light.
• The woman Su Mo had saved stopped near the rear, thought of her bedridden younger sister, and resolved to leave alive.

Su Mo and Immortal Ziyu struggled through a graveyard toward the rosy light as Immortal Ziyu’s lingering thought faded. Beyond the mist, they found the Floating Life Pool and a field of Flowers of the Other Shore.

• Su Mo encouraged a woman behind him to keep walking when yin power and exhaustion nearly overcame her.
• Immortal Ziyu grew increasingly transparent as the place’s rules stripped away his lingering thought, and Su Mo found no way to help him.
• Immortal Ziyu refused to stop, insisting that reaching the rosy light could bring his mother back to life, and continued despite Su Mo’s warning.
• Inside Su Mo’s Spirit Sea, Great Calamity told Mysterious Maiden about Girl, a Flower of the Other Shore, and Mysterious Maiden discovered glowing writing on a nearby stele.
• Su Mo and Immortal Ziyu passed through the mist and found the Floating Life Pool, two gates labeled Life Gate and Death Gate, and a field of Flowers of the Other Shore.