Chapter Summaries

Tang Yan shielded his team from a devastating golden blast, then traced it to a Blood Clan weapon and defeated its operator. After learning the Blood Clan’s mission, he ordered its forces to attack, intending to use the coming fight to strengthen his squad.

• Tang Yan ordered Jun Ting, Zhang Mohen, Xie Yunxuan, and Ya Jing into position as a golden blast surged toward them.
• Tang Yan’s sword strike made the golden light vanish, and Xie Yunxuan located him three hundred zhang away after he disappeared to investigate.
• Tang Yan used the Stars-Shifting Array to reach a Blood Clan man named Feng Qi beside a Sky-Piercing Cannon and wounded him despite the hidden weapons and Blue Mystery Breathless Dew.
• Tang Yan learned Feng Qi’s memories, discovered that the Other Races were tasked with stopping humans from reaching the Sword Saint Hall, and ordered the forces in Feng Qi’s territory to attack.
• Tang Yan killed Feng Qi, took the Sky-Piercing Cannon and Storage Ring, and returned to his team.

After leading his group through a dangerous swamp, Tang Yan discovered a field of Thunderclap Stones linked by a nearly indestructible chain formation. He braved the explosions with his body to clear a path, leaving Jun Ting and the others stunned by his strength.

• Tang Yan returned after eliminating a Blood Clan member with a Sky-Piercing Cannon, then guided the group to victory and warned them that more enemies might guard the route to the Sword Saint Inheritance.
• After resting, Tang Yan led the group onward and stopped Sun Zhanyue from stepping onto a black stone, which Xie Yunxuan recognized as concealing energy.
• Zhang Mohen identified the stones as Thunderclap Stones capable of killing Entering the Dao Realm experts, and Tang Yan revealed that a vast network of them lay buried and linked by chains.
• Jun Ting and Xu Ningshuang failed to damage the chains, while Guo Zhanfeng explained that a formation distributed attacks across the entire network.
• Tang Yan stepped onto the Thunderclap Stones and walked through the swamp, triggering repeated explosions without using a magic treasure or suffering injury.
• Jun Ting watched Tang Yan disappear into the mist and reconsidered his own past rivalry with him.

Tang Yan led the group through the swamp’s trials, using his knowledge and Buddhist power to save them from the Fox Illusion Powder. In the Sleeping Forest, he suspected the seemingly easy passage concealed a danger and discovered an awake creature nearby.

• Tang Yan cleared a safe route through the Thunderclap Stones, and the group followed him out of the swamp after overcoming sixteen trials.
• Sun Zhanyue, Qin Wan, and Xu Ningshuang attacked their companions after the Fox Illusion Powder in the mist corrupted their Divine Senses, but Pochen’s Buddha Light and Tang Yan’s aura restored them.
• Pochen recognized Tang Yan’s Buddhist insight and urged him to join the Buddhist Sect, but Tang Yan declined and continued leading the group.
• At the Sleeping Forest, Tang Yan told everyone to conceal their auras and avoid disturbing anything as they flew past sleeping members of the Other Races.
• After traveling eighty li without incident, Tang Yan turned the group back, suspecting the forest was not as simple as it seemed.
• Tang Yan detected a faint energy fluctuation nearby and realized that a creature in the dense forest was awake.

Tang Yan led his companions through the dense forest while the other races tried to surround them, then turned back to fight their way out. His formations trapped several enemies, but a giant insect stunned the group and an unseen saber struck Guo Zhanfeng’s neck, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Tang Yan’s group fought off the first seven attackers, then charged toward the forest’s edge as more enemies gathered around them.
• Tang Yan used Wind-Riding Talismans to reverse direction and escape the enemy forces concentrated to the north.
• After Xie Yunxuan warned that the other races were tracking them and preparing an interception, Tang Yan gave the group spirit pills and led them back into battle.
• Tang Yan trapped enemies in layered formations, which the others mistakenly credited to Guo Zhanfeng.
• A giant insect emerged and stunned the group, and an unseen assailant’s saber cut Guo Zhanfeng’s neck before he could react.

Tang Yan fought the other races in the Sleeping Forest while trying to draw out the hidden Void Beast, which he believed was orchestrating the attacks. He vanished as the Void Beast struck, leaving his allies trapped with their enemies inside a powerful formation he had secretly laid.

• Tang Yan saved Guo Zhanfeng from a Void Beast’s assassination attempt, warned the team about the Illusion Gu and Void Beast, and urged everyone to stay alert.
• Suspecting the Void Beast controlled the Sleeping Forest, Tang Yan charged the other races to provoke it, while a Divine Clan warrior revealed that they sought to stop humans from reaching the Sword Saint Hall and its inheritance.
• Six enemies coordinated against Tang Yan, and an Illusion Gu disrupted his mind; his shield broke, his right arm was shattered, and he dropped Ninefold Mountain as he tried to retreat.
• When the Void Beast’s saber appeared to strike Tang Yan, he vanished and a massive Killing Formation trapped ten enemies, easing the pressure on Jun Ting and the others.
• Guo Zhanfeng told the team that Tang Yan had secretly laid the formation, and they resumed fighting with renewed confidence that Tang Yan might still be safe.

Tang Yan defeated the Void Beast and led the group through the Sleeping Forest to the Sword Saint Hall. Inside, they found Emotion Sword Venerable’s statue and a golden dragon sealed by her Red Dust Sword, but their attempts to awaken her with Sword Qi failed.

• Tang Yan extracted the Void Beast’s memories, learned it had awakened the other races to guard the forest, and used it to gather enemies before killing it for its void stone.
• Tang Yan led the group through the cleared Sleeping Forest, where they found the Sword Saint Hall and entered its great hall.
• The group discovered Emotion Sword Venerable’s statue, the Red Dust Sword in her hand, and a chained golden dragon; the dragon claimed the sword held the inheritance and urged Jun Ting to take it.
• Tang Yan warned Jun Ting that the Red Dust Sword sealed the golden dragon and said a Divine Soul inside the statue might awaken through Sword Qi.
• Jun Ting, Sun Zhanyue, and Qin Wan sent Sword Qi toward Emotion Sword Venerable, but the Red Dust Sword only flickered briefly and then went dark.

Jun Ting negotiated with the Golden Dragon for the truth about the Emotion Sword Venerable’s inheritance, then accepted its claim that the inheritance lay in the Red Dust Sword. Despite Tang Yan’s warnings, Jun Ting pulled the sword free, and the Golden Dragon unleashed a terrifying pressure throughout the hall.

• Jun Ting failed to awaken the Emotion Sword Venerable and tried to bargain with the Golden Dragon, eventually giving it ten Gathering Essence True Yang Pills for information.
• The Golden Dragon claimed the inheritance was inside the Red Dust Sword and that whoever stirred it with Sword Qi would gain it, while Tang Yan warned Jun Ting not to trust the dragon.
• Tang Yan accused the Golden Dragon of exploiting its oath and warned that removing the sword would free it, but Jun Ting grew suspicious of Tang Yan and ordered Junior Brother Sun to take the sword.
• Jun Ting shoved Tang Yan aside, pulled the Red Dust Sword from the statue, and mocked the chained Golden Dragon.
• The hall’s aura turned violent as immense pressure erupted from the Golden Dragon, leaving everyone struggling to breathe.

Tang Yan awakened the Emotion Sword Venerable with Verdict and the Dragon-Slaying Technique, allowing her to defeat the Golden Dragon. He persuaded the Golden Dragon to entrust its inheritance to him for his Purple Gold Divine Dragon friend, hoping to prevent war between the Dragon Clan and the Human Clan.

• Jun Ting drew the Red Dust Sword and tried to attack the Golden Dragon, but its scales healed and it broke one of its chains.
• Tang Yan revealed Verdict and used the Dragon-Slaying stance to awaken the Emotion Sword Venerable from her stone statue.
• The Emotion Sword Venerable reclaimed the Red Dust Sword and prepared to slay the Golden Dragon, which begged her to spare it.
• Tang Yan asked the Golden Dragon to hand over its inheritance so he could pass it to his Purple Gold Divine Dragon friend.
• The Golden Dragon agreed after Tang Yan swore to his words, and Tang Yan urged it to leave behind no hatred toward the Human Clan.

Tang Yan obtained the Golden Dragon’s inheritance and the Emotion Sword Venerable’s inheritance and Red Dust Sword for Lin Dongxue. As the group left the ruins, Jun Ting broke through into the Entering the Dao Realm, and Tang Yan led everyone south to seek the Pill Sage’s inheritance.

• The Golden Dragon gave Tang Yan its inheritance before dying, and the Emotion Sword Venerable explained the Human Clan’s war and how he had suppressed Jin Qi.
• The Emotion Sword Venerable entrusted Tang Yan with his inheritance and Red Dust Sword for Lin Dongxue, then faded away.
• Tang Yan accepted Jun Ting’s apology, and Jun Ting reflected on his arrogance before breaking through into the Entering the Dao Realm.
• The group returned to the Starting Point, where Tang Yan proposed exploring south for the Pill Sage’s inheritance, and everyone agreed.

Tang Yan devised Lightning-Proof Suits to cross the Divine Punishment Thunder Domain after testing how powerful its lightning was. The group made it through safely and continued south.

• Tang Yan entered the thunder domain with a defensive Magic Treasure and Spirit Power Shield, but lightning shattered both and forced him to escape with the Stars-Shifting Array.
• Tang Yan used insulating materials, metal, and the Heaven-Earth Creation Flame to make a Lightning-Proof Suit and Lightning Rod.
• Tang Yan tested the suit in the thunder domain and found that grounding the lightning and adding a close-fitting Spirit Power layer protected him.
• Tang Yan made thicker Lightning-Proof Suits for the others, and the ten of them crossed the Divine Punishment Thunder Domain safely.
• After resting for half an hour, Tang Yan and the group set off south.

Tang Yan led his companions across Flame Divine Mountain after the Heaven-Earth Creation Flame devoured the Spirit Flame within it. In the Pill Sage’s hall, he discovered a challenge to complete a pill formula in exchange for the Pill Sage’s inheritance and began searching the books for the knowledge he needed.

• Tang Yan discovered the Spirit Flame inside Flame Divine Mountain and lured it into swallowing Nurturing Nether, allowing the Heaven-Earth Creation Flame to devour it.
• Tang Yan waited with his companions for the mountain’s heat to subside, then led them across it to a great hall.
• Tang Yan greeted the Pill Sage and read the incomplete formula for the Dantian Meridian Reviving Pill, which offered the inheritance to whoever completed it.
• Tang Yan searched the hall’s books for information about the pill’s unfamiliar ingredients and asked his companions to wait three days while he tried to pass the test.

Tang Yan left the Pill Sage Hall without finding the World-Breaking Flower or a way to temper the Chaos Green Lotus Petal, and led the others to the Land of Bones. There, the group was assailed by voices that stirred their minds, and Pochen appeared to fall under their influence while reciting a mantra.

• Tang Yan read through the Pill Sage Hall’s collection while his focus inspired Pochen and six others to break through to the Entering the Dao Realm.
• When Tang Yan decided to leave the hall, Xie Yunxuan let go of his gloom and also broke through to the Entering the Dao Realm.
• Tang Yan led the group west to the Land of Bones, where records warned that disturbing voices could drive travelers insane or into cultivation deviation.
• As the group flew over the bones, the sobs and hostile voices grew louder, leaving Sun Zhanyue and Guo Zhanfeng bloodshot-eyed and the others’ auras unsteady.
• Tang Yan asked Pochen to recite the Heart-Calming Mantra, then noticed Pochen’s pupils had turned white and realized he had already been affected.

Tang Yan discovered that burying the Human Clan’s remains and erecting memorial stones dispelled their resentment, allowing his companions to withstand the voices in the Heavenly Wailing Ruins. He led them onward to bury the martyrs, though the seemingly endless field of bones left the group wondering how long the work would continue.

• Tang Yan and his companions tried Buddhist, Daoist, and soul-protecting methods to resist the bone field’s voices, but retreated when the protections began to fail.
• Tang Yan realized that separating and burying the Human Clan’s bones might calm their resentment, then reentered the bone field to test the idea.
• Using his Eye of Truth, Tang Yan separated the human remains, assembled 267 skeletons, buried them, and erected memorial stones; the weeping around him stopped.
• Tang Yan confirmed the method worked and called the others to help make memorial stones as he continued burying the martyrs.
• The group watched Tang Yan work for hours, and Xu Ningshuang asked whether the endless stretch of bones ever ended.

Tang Yan and the others buried the fallen Human Clan heroes in the Heavenly Wailing Ruins, earning their gratitude and a profound insight into the Unity of Knowledge and Action. Just as Tang Yan was about to break through into the Dao Realm, a mysterious golden blade interrupted him, and he led the group onward with his cultivation still in the Nirvana Realm.

• Tang Yan vowed to bury every bone in the ruins, inspiring Pochen and the others to work without complaint.
• After twenty days, Tang Yan and his companions buried more than five million fallen heroes and paid their respects.
• A skeletal apparition appeared, granting nine companions pure energy and sending Tang Yan an insight into the Unity of Knowledge and Action.
• Tang Yan began to break through, but a golden blade struck him and dispersed his breakthrough momentum.
• The skeletal apparition bowed toward the distant source of the blade before vanishing, while Tang Yan accepted the interruption and led the group west.

Tang Yan and his companions cleared the Blood Lake and entered a Buddhist pagoda, where Zhi Xian Bodhisattva offered Tang Yan his Inheritance. Tang Yan refused it, and Pochen received the Inheritance before the group set out to explore the northwest.

• Tang Yan used a Divine Thunder Demon-Slaying Formation to weaken the Blood Lake's evil forces, and the group spent three days suppressing its killing intent.
• The group crossed the now-clear Blood Lake and entered a jade Buddhist pagoda, where Pochen awakened Zhi Xian Bodhisattva with his Buddha Power.
• Zhi Xian Bodhisattva offered Tang Yan his Inheritance, but Tang Yan refused because he intended to follow his own cultivation path.
• Zhi Xian Bodhisattva passed his Inheritance to Pochen, who gathered the pagoda's scriptures and left with the group.
• Tang Yan announced that the group would explore northwest next and continue around the remaining directions.

Tang Yan awakened the Literary Sage by writing a maxim on the Study’s wall, then revealed that he had composed the five lines that had left Zhang Mohen stumped. The Literary Sage recognized Tang Yan and offered him his inheritance, leaving the others astonished.

• The group entered the Study and found the Literary Sage muttering before five maxims, which Tang Yan recognized as lines he had written in other secret realms.
• Zhang Mohen tried to awaken the Literary Sage by composing a comparable line, but after three days he failed and grew increasingly distraught.
• Tang Yan wrote a maxim about self-strengthening and virtue, which restored the Literary Sage to clarity and shattered Zhang Mohen’s composure.
• The Literary Sage revealed that he had met Tang Yan before and praised him for writing the five maxims on the wall.
• Tang Yan wrote another line about cultivating virtue in hardship and aiding the world in success, prompting the Literary Sage to offer him his inheritance.

Tang Yan declined the Literary Sage’s inheritance and agreed to pass it to Feng Chenye, then entered the Free and Unfettered Temple and comprehended its whale mural. As he began to enter the Dao, a pale golden blade interrupted his breakthrough for the third time.

• Tang Yan refused the Literary Sage’s offer, and the Sage asked him to pass the inheritance to Feng Chenye.
• A pale golden blade interrupted Tang Yan’s breakthrough, and the Literary Sage suggested he might find the reason in the Heavenly Wailing Ruins.
• Tang Yan and his companions took the Literary Sage’s books and Magic Treasures and traveled north for six days to the Free and Unfettered Temple.
• Tang Yan watched the whale mural come alive and realized that illusion and reality, life and death, and Self and Non-Self could transform into one another.
• Tang Yan comprehended Equality of All Things and Harmony, Celestial Person and Heaven as One, but a pale golden blade shattered his chance to enter the Dao again.

Tang Yan and the others explored the Heavenly Wailing Ruins, where Xie Yunxuan received the Free and Unfettered Heavenly Venerable’s inheritance after learning that Tang Yan had comprehended far more than he had. Outside the ruins, Lu Ruiqing reassured the gathered sect representatives that Tang Yan and the other disciples were likely safe, and they agreed to wait for their return.

• Xie Yunxuan spent three days comprehending the mural and summoned the Free and Unfettered Heavenly Venerable, who praised his talent.
• The Free and Unfettered Heavenly Venerable revealed that Tang Yan had recognized him immediately and said Xie Yunxuan’s comprehension was only twenty percent of Tang Yan’s before passing on his inheritance.
• After Xie Yunxuan received the inheritance, Tang Yan and the others returned to the Starting Point of the Heavenly Wailing Ruins and headed northeast.
• At the Sword Alliance, sect representatives worried that the disciples had been inside the ruins for nearly two months and questioned whether their Key-Passage Talismans worked.
• Lu Ruiqing told the representatives that Lin Dongxue could sense Tang Yan and believed he was safe, easing the Pill Alliance Grand Elder’s fears.
• The Academy’s Sixth Sage and the other representatives agreed to stay at the Sword Alliance and wait for the disciples to return.

Tang Yan stayed in the Pill Sage Hall to solve the missing-herb riddle while the other nine returned to their sects and recounted how he had helped them obtain the inheritances. After five days of study, Tang Yan added stone orchid leaf to the Pill Formula, and the Pill Sage came to life.

• Tang Yan sent the other nine out of the Heavenly Wailing Ruins and agreed they might team up for future Sect Missions.
• Jun Ting and the others reported to their sect elders that Tang Yan was safe and had stayed behind to solve the Pill Sage's missing-herb question.
• Jun Ting, Pochen, and Xie Yunxuan described the inheritances the group had obtained, revealing how Tang Yan had helped secure them; the elders decided to wait seven days for him.
• Tang Yan finished reading the Pill Sage Hall's books and deduced that stone orchid leaf would slow the Chaos Green Lotus Petal without affecting the other herbs.
• Tang Yan wrote “stone orchid leaf” on the Pill Formula, and after about twenty breaths the Pill Sage came to life.

Tang Yan received the Pill Sage’s inheritance and learned the Human Emperor had interrupted his attempts to enter the Dao to test his inclusive heart. The Human Emperor chose Tang Yan as his successor, passed on his inheritance, and vanished after Tang Yan reached the peak of the Heaven and Earth Realm.

• The Pill Sage praised Tang Yan’s understanding that all medicines could be useful and entrusted him with the Pill Dao inheritance.
• As Tang Yan prepared to enter the Dao, the Human Emperor interrupted him for the fourth time and explained that a true emperor needed a fair, inclusive heart.
• The Human Emperor named Tang Yan as his successor and asked whether he would shoulder the Human Clan’s future; Tang Yan agreed to step forward if needed.
• The Human Emperor passed his power and inheritance to Tang Yan, who absorbed countless Great Dao insights and advanced from Nirvana to the peak of the Heaven and Earth Realm.
• Before disappearing, the Human Emperor urged Tang Yan to face adversity and forge glory for the Human Clan, and Tang Yan solemnly promised to do so.