Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua fled across the Qiang He Sea with True Person Du'e and Shanshengzi still pursuing him, while he resolved to cultivate and seek revenge. True Person Leixiao tracked Xiao Hua’s aura and discovered his route toward the sea, then hurried after him.

• Xiao Hua reappeared after using Space Yin-Yang Dual Opening, saw True Person Du'e and Shanshengzi pursuing him, and decided to cultivate demonic blood with Zhang Qingxiao’s blood ring.
• True Person Leixiao followed a secret treasure’s trace to the bamboo grove, found signs that two Thunder Control Sect disciples had died, and sent a message asking other disciples to investigate.
• True Person Leixiao used a secret technique to locate Xiao Hua’s direction and realized he was heading toward the Qiang He Sea, then pursued him with Lightning Evasion Technique.
• Xiao Hua flew over the Qiang He Sea for two months while True Person Du'e and Shanshengzi maintained their pursuit at a distance.
• Xiao Hua checked his expanded space, where Xiao Guo tended spirit herbs and green-robed Xiao Hua continued developing his abilities.

Xiao Hua prepared to refine the Spirit Severing Primordial Light while Shanshengzi and True Person Du'e rapidly pursued him. After Xiao Hua’s ambush wounded Du'e and the two cultivators sealed him with the Yin Yang Seal, a mysterious force tied to Xue Xue’s promised vitality suddenly pulled the sea and the cultivators downward.

• Jade Slip Xiao Hua urged green-robed Xiao Hua to refine the Spirit Severing Primordial Light before continuing the Pingtian Rod, and green-robed Xiao Hua began working on it.
• Xiao Hua discovered that Shanshengzi and True Person Du'e had neutralized Xue Xue and Wunai’s blood curses and were closing in on him.
• Shanshengzi and Du'e trapped Xiao Hua between two Nascent Soul hands, but Xiao Hua vanished and used the Golden Thread Formless Sword to badly wound Du'e’s leg.
• Shanshengzi and Du'e revealed their Yin Yang Seal talismans and bound Xiao Hua despite his efforts to escape.
• A powerful restraint and suction force erupted from the Qiang He Sea, dragging the seawater, Shanshengzi, and Du'e downward as Xiao Hua recognized Xue Xue’s promised vitality.

Xiao Hua and his pursuers were swept into a hidden passage containing the Great Sumeru Buddha Array, the Song of Years Demon Array, and the Five Elements Annihilation Great Formation. True Person Du'e and Shanshengzi perished, while Xiao Hua survived with his cultivation stripped away and emerged elsewhere in the Qiang He Sea, leaving the passage’s origin and purpose unexplained.

• A massive heavenly force trapped Xiao Hua, True Person Du'e, and Shanshengzi in a vortex, and their attempted Nascent Soul teleports failed.
• The three were drawn into a vast formation that True Person Du'e and Shanshengzi identified as the Great Sumeru Buddha Array and the Five Elements Annihilation Great Formation.
• Gray growth-ring ripples aged True Person Du'e and Shanshengzi to death, while Xiao Hua remained unaffected by the passage of time.
• The five-colored radiance erased Xiao Hua’s Daoist, Buddhist, and sword cultivation and removed the seals on his Niwan Palace and middle dantian.
• Xiao Hua fainted after encountering a seven-colored conch-like object, then emerged naked from the passage into another expanse of seawater.

True Person Leixiao reached the site where Xiao Hua and the others had vanished, then returned to the Thunder Control Sect with news of their presumed deaths. Ganlei Zi learned that Xue Xue and Wu Nai had gone to the bamboo grove together, but the events there remained unexplained.

• True Person Leixiao followed the strange celestial phenomenon into the Qiang He Sea, but found the site calm and no trace of Xiao Hua, True Person Du'e, or Shanshengzi.
• A lightning transmission talisman told True Person Leixiao that Xue Xue and Wu Nai had perished at the bamboo grove, leaving him confused about how they had arrived there first.
• True Person Leixiao returned to the Great Thunder Hall and reported what he had found to Ganlei Zi.
• Ganlei Zi learned that Xue Xue had visited Myriad Thunder Valley after emerging from seclusion and that Wu Nai had left with her after entrusting a jade slip to Zhuo.
• Ganlei Zi declared that Xiao Hua's fate no longer concerned the Thunder Control Sect, but ordered that Myriad Thunder Valley remain and promised protection to Zhuo.

After Xiao Hua’s expulsion and disappearance in the Qiang He Sea, rumors of his fate faded as other events drew attention across Xiaoyu Continent. Those who cared for him mourned or doubted his death, while Zhang Qingxiao and Jiu Xia found signs that he might still be alive.

• News spread that Xiao Hua had been expelled from the Thunder Control Sect, then reports revealed that he was its Nameless Nascent Soul and possessed sword and soul techniques.
• After reports said Xiao Hua had been pursued by two mid-Nascent Soul cultivators and three Nascent Soul cultivators had died in the Qiang He Sea, discussion of him faded as new events unfolded across Xiaoyu Continent.
• Fairy Hongxia grieved for Xiao Hua and Xue Xue, vowed that Xiao Hua would remain her only husband, and swore never to discuss dual cultivation with another.
• At the earthen mounds in Xun Lei Palace, Xun Shu and Qian Diheng mourned Xiao Hua and Xue Xue, and Qian Diheng affirmed his respect for Xiao Hua.
• Zhang Qingxiao set out to check whether Jiang Liuer’s life-bound jade tablet showed that Xiao Hua had died.
• In the Sword Domain, Jiu Xia used her four-tailed fox to divine Xiao Hua’s fate, but saw only visions of the Qiang He Sea and could not determine whether he was alive.

Xiao Hua awakened in the Qiang He Sea after escaping his pursuers, but discovered that the formation had stripped away his Golden Core and most of his Buddhist cultivation. He survived with his soul cultivation and independent space intact, then began making plans to recover while grieving Xue Xue.

• After drifting unconscious through the sea, Xiao Hua opened his eyes and frightened away seabirds with the starlight in them.
• Xiao Hua awakened and found his meridians empty, his Golden Core gone, and his divine sense lost with the Buddha Sarira.
• Xiao Hua confirmed that his soul cultivation and independent space had survived, while Green-robed Xiao Hua continued refining the Spirit Severing Primordial Light.
• Jade Slip Xiao Hua began refining pills and observed that the space's creatures and spirit herbs were gaining vitality.
• Xiao Hua entered the Netherworld Yin Face and looked at the Netherworld Lotus as he mourned Xue Xue.

Xiao Hua traveled across the Qiang He Sea, restoring his cultivation while searching for land and sheltering from a storm. When his divine sense began to recover, he discovered that his lower dantian held only traces where his Golden Core, Lightning Cores, and metal-qi pill-grains had been, with no discernible differences among them.

• Xiao Hua found that Yin Yang dual opening had not noticeably improved the pills he refined, then resolved to cultivate in the Qiang He Sea until he could safely return to Xiaoyu Continent.
• Xiao Hua discovered richer spiritual qi, rode several large sea creatures, and gradually gathered enough true essence to fly again.
• Xiao Hua flew east as the spiritual qi grew denser, then sought shelter in a cave among reefs when a storm approached.
• Xiao Hua cultivated in the cave for more than ten days and woke as his divine sense began to recover.
• Xiao Hua examined his lower dantian and found no Golden Core, only indistinguishable traces where it, his Lightning Cores, and his metal-qi pill-grains had been.

After the Five Elements Annihilation Great Formation destroyed his cultivation, Xiao Hua examined his damaged dantians and began arranging new cultivation paths for his Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist powers. He ended by discovering a multicolored, blood-shaped crystal beside Shang Hua Ming’s divine statue in his space.

• Xiao Hua found a nebula of Golden Core traces in his lower dantian, but they did not grow when True Essence entered them.
• He discovered a sword-shaped Primordial Spirit and eight heart swords in his middle dantian, then decided to cultivate Confucian Vast Righteous Qi using the Dan Xin Jue and the Dan Xin he had obtained.
• Xiao Hua placed the Buddha Sarira, Baye Linglong Scripture, Great Evolution Exquisite Pagoda, and Golden Kun in his Niwan Palace, and realized the pagoda could cultivate the Buddha Sarira.
• He gave the Golden Kun and a secret technique for using corpse brain matter to the Buddha Sarira so it could cultivate the Heavenly Eye.
• Xiao Hua confirmed that his meridians, physical body, and bloodline remained intact, then took out the blood ring and found a multicolored crystal resembling a drop of blood beside Shang Hua Ming’s divine statue.

Xiao Hua investigated the mysterious links between the seven-colored conch, Ming Hua, and the five-colored crystal, then resumed cultivation and endured a prolonged storm at sea. After the storm passed, he discovered that he had returned to Da Qi Reef, where memories of Xue Xue came back to him.

• Xiao Hua suspected that the seven-colored conch was Ming Hua's true body and that the five-colored crystal was connected to Ming Hua and the triple grand formation.
• Xiao Hua arranged for the Primordial Spirit in his bones to cultivate Shang Hua Ming's Bone Tempering Art and study the five-colored crystal, then used the blood ring to cultivate the Blood Shadow Art.
• Xiao Hua released his reborn Buddha Sarira into the storm, and he used lightning attracted by the Small Pouch to temper his body.
• After more than ten days of storms, the rain stopped and Xiao Hua recognized the reef beneath him as Da Qi Reef.
• Xiao Hua remembered meeting Kua Qiao'er and Kua Yueming there with Xue Xue and reflected that the place remained while the people had changed.

Xiao Hua cultivated at Da Qi Reef for several months, recovering his Daoist and Buddhist cultivation while making rapid progress in Confucian cultivation. After Xiao Yin sensed danger, Xiao Hua fled east to escape a powerful sea beast and continued searching for a safe island, discovering that the islands in the depths of the Qiang He Sea were occupied or guarded by sea beasts.

• Xiao Hua secluded himself at Da Qi Reef, drawing in spiritual and stellar force as his Daoist and Buddhist cultivation recovered and his Confucian Vast Righteous Qi developed.
• Xiao Yin sensed a powerful presence, and Xiao Hua realized that pursuers might be searching for him before fleeing eastward.
• A giant tentacled sea beast struck Xiao Hua with its divine sense, but the rabbit talisman protected his Niwan Palace and Xiao Hua escaped underwater.
• The sea beast reached Da Qi Reef, destroyed much of it, and headed south while Xiao Hua fled east using the Ink Trace Shadow Concealment Art.
• Xiao Hua spent several months evading dangerous sea beasts and refining jade talismans for the Duotian Star Array, then searched for an island to hide on.
• Xiao Hua found that most islands in the depths of the Qiang He Sea were occupied or guarded by sea beasts.

Xiao Hua settled into a hidden cave on a barren lava island in Qiang He Sea and spent a hundred years in secluded cultivation. His Buddhist and Confucian paths advanced significantly while he continued cultivating Daoist methods, though his Confucian Dan Xin remained incomplete.

• Xiao Hua fled from a powerful sea beast and chose a barren lava island where its fire-attributed spiritual energy and lack of sea beasts made it suitable for seclusion.
• Xiao Hua dug out a cave residence, explored the nearby islands, and concealed his home with the Duotian Star Array before returning underground to cultivate.
• Over the first dozen years, Xiao Hua repaired the damage to his Daoist and Buddhist cultivation and converted his Carefree Heart Sutra true Qi into Confucian true Qi.
• Xiao Hua spent the following decades cultivating the three paths, forming an incomplete Dan Xin outline inside his sword-shaped Primordial Spirit and turning Taiyi and Taiwei Azure Light into powerful sword Qi.
• Xiao Hua advanced his Buddha Sarira to the fourth level of the Baye Linglong Scripture, while the Buddhist flame and its mysterious golden threads grew denser during his seclusion.

After more than a century of cultivation, Xiao Hua remained unable to figure out how to nurture a Nascent Soul from his strange, imperceptible Golden Core. He tested his newly refined As-You-Wish Staff against the sea beast that had defeated him years earlier, and their rematch began with Xiao Hua cracking one of its tentacles.

• Xiao Hua reflected that the Five Elements Annihilation Great Formation and Qin Jian's Formless Golden Thread Sword may have made his Golden Core dark and impossible to perceive with divine sense.
• Xiao Hua decided not to return to Xiaoyu Continent while the two Divided Spirit experts remained a danger, and instead flew north to challenge the sea beast that had once defeated him.
• The sea beasts around Xiao Hua's island hid as he approached the large island where the crab-like sea beast lived.
• Xiao Hua revealed that he had spent over a century refining the As-You-Wish Staff and challenged the sea beast to a rematch.
• Xiao Hua struck the sea beast's tentacle with the staff, cracking its tip, but the beast quickly healed it with pure Qi.

Xiao Hua tested his strength against Crab Old Monster, overpowering it with his staff and Spirit Severing Primordial Light before retreating when its dangerous misty radiance injured him. He concluded that the beast’s strength came from its body and the Qiang He Sea rather than a high demon-beast rank, then spotted another sea-beast carcass.

• Xiao Hua enlarged himself and struck Crab Old Monster with the As-You-Wish Staff, shattering its tentacle and cracking its shell.
• Crab Old Monster trapped Xiao Hua with its bead’s power, but Xiao Hua’s Taiyi Azure Light broke the confinement and his Spirit Severing Primordial Light pinned the beast’s Primordial Spirit.
• Crab Old Monster counterattacked with corrosive, illusion-inducing radiance that damaged Xiao Hua’s protective light and robe, so he drove it off with lightning and plunged into the sea.
• Xiao Hua examined the Spirit Severing Primordial Light and reasoned that Crab Old Monster’s extraordinary strength came from its powerful body and the Qiang He Sea, not a high demon-beast rank.
• Xiao Hua noticed bubbles rising around a blackened sea-beast carcass and swam toward it.

Xiao Hua found a mysterious object among the remains of enormous overseas cultivators, then returned to cultivation near Lava Island. Years later, a dignified woman arrived there seeking a place identified by a jade slip, but a Leopard-headed humanoid confronted her and she attacked it.

• Xiao Hua found a heavy black object flecked with gold in a damaged storage ring among the burned bones of giant cultivators, then discarded the ring.
• Xiao Hua decided to avoid the overseas islands until he reached the Nascent Soul realm and returned to his cave abode to cultivate.
• Several years later, a woman riding a colorful luan crossed the Western Sea, using a divine ability to adjust her course toward Lava Island.
• The woman stopped near Lava Island, where Xiao Hua was cultivating, and studied the location on her jade slip.
• A Leopard-headed humanoid emerged from the sea and asked whether the woman was the immortal friend Xu Suanzi had invited.
• The woman scorched away the Leopard-headed humanoid’s foul breath and sent sparks flying toward it.

Xu Zhuoliang gathered Master Jingchen, True Person Leopard, and Chu Muhuan for a search for the Western Sea Relic Treasure, but Chan Master Liao Kong could not join them to help break its formation. As the group began discussing the treasure’s location, Xu revealed that someone else was involved, alarming Chu Muhuan.

• True Person Leopard and Master Jingchen prepared to fight over their treasures until Xu Zhuoliang arrived and explained that he had withheld the others’ names, clearing up their misunderstanding.
• Chu Muhuan arrived on a white crane and told Xu Zhuoliang that Chan Master Liao Kong could not come because urgent business prevented him from leaving.
• Xu Zhuoliang introduced Chu Muhuan, Master Jingchen, and True Person Leopard, then gave his own name and explained his Tianji Sect background and Divine Calculator title.
• Chu Muhuan asked how they would handle the formation and where the Western Sea Relic Treasure was located, and Xu Zhuoliang began to explain the plan.
• Xu Zhuoliang said that other people were involved in the treasure hunt, and Chu Muhuan questioned whether he could trust the expedition.

Xu Zhuoliang showed Chu Muhuan, True Person Leopard, and Master Jingchen an ancient Ink Cloud Pupil containing information about a mysterious ally, then discovered a powerful hidden formation beneath their feet. The group debated whether the secluded overseas cultivator behind it could be recruited, while Xu urged caution and prepared to lead them onward.

• Xu Zhuoliang gave Chu Muhuan and Master Jingchen the Ink Cloud Pupil, and both verified its contents through their supernatural abilities.
• Xu Zhuoliang told the others they needed to travel farther before dawn to meet the person who had invited them.
• Xu Zhuoliang detected a hidden cave abode and powerful formation beneath the lava island, and Chu Muhuan confirmed that it resembled a legendary ancient formation.
• True Person Leopard argued that the overseas cultivator could be killed if he refused to help, but Chu Muhuan and Master Jingchen warned that such cultivators might be unusually powerful and unpredictable.
• Xu Zhuoliang stopped True Person Leopard from acting rashly as the group considered the danger beneath the rising moon.

Xu Zhuoliang and the others tried to contact the cultivator inside the lava island, but their attack provoked Xiao Hua into unleashing lightning against them. After they established a limited means of communication, Xiao Hua learned they came from the Cangxian Continent and wondered how they had reached his world.

• Xu Zhuoliang asked Chu Muhuan to send a Cloud Crane into the lava island, and they suspected the island was protected by the Star Dou Great Formation.
• Xu Zhuoliang sent eight golden sword lights into the lava, shaking the island and drawing Xiao Hua out beneath dark thunderclouds.
• Mistaking the four visitors for enemies from the Four Overseas Islands, Xiao Hua attacked with the Nine Heavens Thunderfall; Master Jingchen's cauldron faltered, and Chu Muhuan's Vine staff was battered.
• Xiao Hua stopped the lightning when he realized the four were not attacking, but neither he nor Xu Zhuoliang could understand the other's language.
• Xiao Hua recognized Xu Zhuoliang's sword qi as Confucian cultivation and used oracle bone script to communicate with him.
• Xu Zhuoliang explained that the group came from the Cangxian Continent, and Xiao Hua asked which direction it lay.

Xiao Hua learned that the Western Sea bordered three vast realms unknown to him, then questioned Master Jingchen about the Heart Extinction Realm. He agreed to consider traveling with her to meet an eminent monk who had emerged from it, while the others prepared to leave for urgent business.

• Xu Zhuoliang explained that Cangxian Continent, the Pure Land, and the Sacred Realm of a Thousand Demons lay in different directions, and Xiao Hua discovered that Xu Zhuoliang had never heard of Xiaoyu Continent.
• True Person Leopard attacked Xiao Hua with the Mountain Peak Casket, but Xiao Hua shattered it with the Sea-Overturning Seal and let True Person Leopard leave unharmed.
• Xiao Hua returned Xu Zhuoliang’s flying sword and asked Master Jingchen about the Heart Extinction Realm and how outsiders could awaken someone within it.
• Master Jingchen explained that Buddha Lord Tathagata had emerged from the Heart Extinction Realm after eighty-one thousand years, but she did not know where Thunder Sound Temple was.
• Master Jingchen revealed that she knew an eminent monk who had emerged after half a year in the Heart Extinction Realm and offered to take Xiao Hua to meet him after her group’s business in the Western Sea.
• Master Jingchen urged Xiao Hua to accompany them, appealing to his supposed Confucian righteousness, and Xiao Hua paused to consider her offer.

Xiao Hua agreed to join Xu Zhuoliang and the others on their search for the Western Sea Relic Treasure, hoping the journey would help him find a way to awaken Jiang Liuer and advance his cultivation. After Xiao Hua went to prepare, the group discussed his mysterious abilities and Xu Zhuoliang’s troubling divination of great fortune.

• Xiao Hua decided to leave Lava Island with the group after learning that his old enemies were gone and that the journey might help him awaken Jiang Liuer and resolve his cultivation problems.
• Xu Zhuoliang and True Person Leopard privately disagreed over whether Xiao Hua’s strength and unknown origins made him a danger to their treasure expedition.
• Master Jingchen told Xiao Hua that she would reveal the place connected to the eminent monk only if she accompanied him, then transmitted its name to him.
• Xiao Hua agreed to join the expedition and flew back to Lava Island to make preparations.
• Xu Zhuoliang, Chu Muhuan, True Person Leopard, and Master Jingchen discussed Xiao Hua’s unusual mix of powers and Master Jingchen’s sense that he carried an aura associated with Buddhist cultivators.
• Xu Zhuoliang revealed that his divination predicted great fortune, but admitted he suspected the sign might be tied to Xiao Hua rather than the treasure hunt itself.

Xiao Hua left Lava Island with Xu Zhuoliang and the others, concealing how little he knew about the Three Great Continents while seeking maps and records. The group continued toward the Western Sea, and Xiao Hua’s abrupt flight and unusual control over the cloud crane astonished Xu Zhuoliang and Chu Muhuan.

• Xiao Hua asked Xu Zhuoliang for a map and records, then introduced himself to Xu Zhuoliang, Master Jingchen, Chu Muhuan, and True Person Leopard.
• Xiao Hua traveled by flying sword using Vast Righteous Qi, and Xu Zhuoliang recognized the method as resembling a lost Confucian sword-travel technique.
• Xiao Hua accepted Xu Zhuoliang’s jade pupil but could not inspect it, so he asked for a Confucian Clear Sight Technique and learned Xu Zhuoliang did not have one.
• Xiao Hua overtook Xu Zhuoliang and flew to Chu Muhuan, then stepped onto the cloud crane’s back and remained steady as it struggled.
• Chu Muhuan soothed the cloud crane with his azure radiance, and it resumed flying after the multicolored luan.