Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xiaohua fought his way through the Ruined Wasteland’s deadly vines and pursued a powerful branch to Qingmu Hall. He entered the hall and was stunned by what he found at its formation eye.

• Zhang Xiaohua noticed tiny holes in the bones and followed a faint fragrance that distracted him long enough for a vine to wrap around his ankle.
• Zhang Xiaohua cut the attacking vine, then used Dream Chaser and his sword radiance to sever the many vines that surrounded him.
• A thick branch attacked Zhang Xiaohua, healed wounds from his lighter weapons, and extinguished the flames from his fire talismans.
• Zhang Xiaohua pierced the branch with the Prajna Heavy Sword, whose wounds would not heal, and drove it into retreat before following it toward Qingmu Hall.
• Zhang Xiaohua entered Qingmu Hall and stared in astonishment at its formation eye.

Zhang Xiaohua destroyed Qingmu Hall’s strange tree, secured its Wood Element Pearl, and discovered a withered infant-shaped fruit and a dead Ruijin Hall disciple’s belongings. A Bloody Letter identified the dead man as Mo Qingyan and asked a Yi Xiang Peak disciple to return the object in the jade box to Senior Sister Jingyi, leaving Zhang Xiaohua to wonder whether she was Abbess Jingyi.

• Zhang Xiaohua evaded the strange tree’s attacking branch and hacked through the trunk until its remaining green core died.
• Zhang Xiaohua uprooted the tree, sealed its small living root in a jade box, and uncovered Qingmu Hall’s array eye and Wood Element Pearl.
• Zhang Xiaohua placed an Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace over the array eye to stabilize the formation and stored the Wood Element Pearl with the gold pearl.
• Zhang Xiaohua opened a jade box near the skeleton and found a shriveled infant-shaped fruit, then searched the dead man’s bundle.
• Zhang Xiaohua read a Bloody Letter signed by Mo Qingyan, which asked a Yi Xiang Peak disciple to return the jade-box object to Senior Sister Jingyi and offered the bundle’s contents as a reward.
• Zhang Xiaohua wondered whether Senior Sister Jingyi was Abbess Jingyi before opening the second Bloody Letter.

Zhang Xiaohua read Mo Qingshan’s final letter, buried his remains, and learned a bone-changing Shapeshifting Technique from the jade slips. He continued through the Ruins of Huan and broke Lihuo Hall’s Fire Crow Grand Formation, discovering that his beast-head paperweight could absorb the Fire Crows.

• Zhang Xiaohua read Mo Qingshan’s Bloody Letter and resolved to return the Grass Returning Pill to Abbess Jingyi.
• Zhang Xiaohua buried Mo Qingshan’s remains and studied the jade slips, finding the Shapeshifting Technique unusually easy to perform.
• Zhang Xiaohua crossed Ruoshui Hall, defeated its beasts and formation, and obtained a blue water pearl.
• Zhang Xiaohua entered Lihuo Hall and used Xi Mujun’s beast-head paperweight to scatter and absorb the Fire Crows guarding the formation eye.
• Zhang Xiaohua removed Lihuo Hall’s fiery red pearl and wondered how the paperweight could fit inside his pouch despite apparently holding storage space.

Zhang Xiaohua encountered the Mountain-Shaking Bear in Houtu Hall and found that his weapons, the Dragon Binding Ring, and fire talismans could not defeat it. After six bears surrounded him, they unexpectedly left a gap and gestured for him to follow, making him wonder whether someone had raised them.

• Zhang Xiaohua entered Houtu Hall and wondered why its mechanisms and array eyes seemed to have run out of Primordial Qi.
• A Mountain-Shaking Bear tracked Zhang Xiaohua by scent, and he fought it with the Prajna Heavy Sword and nameless short sword without harming it.
• Zhang Xiaohua tried to restrain the bear with the Dragon Binding Ring and fire talismans, but neither worked, so he fled.
• The bear pursued Zhang Xiaohua and called five others, surrounding him with six Mountain-Shaking Bears.
• The bears did not attack; they opened a gap and gestured for Zhang Xiaohua to follow, prompting him to wonder if someone had raised them.

Zhang Xiaohua was escorted by Mountain-Shaking Bears through the Ruined Wasteland and learned that they could disrupt his attempt to use Earth Escape. The bears led him to a strange stretch of earthen slopes and boulders, where he noticed something astonishing about the stones.

• Zhang Xiaohua considered using the Beast-head Paperweight against the Mountain-Shaking Bears, but a bear stopped him when he reached into his robes.
• Zhang Xiaohua watched two Mountain-Shaking Bears fight a dozen Strange Fierce Beasts, which burrowed underground and disappeared after neither side gained an advantage.
• Zhang Xiaohua tried to use Earth Escape, but a Mountain-Shaking Bear shattered his hand seal with a burst of earth-aspected power.
• The Mountain-Shaking Bears escorted Zhang Xiaohua around the outskirts of the Ruined Wasteland to a desolate area of raised earthen slopes.
• A Mountain-Shaking Bear directed Zhang Xiaohua toward several enormous boulders, and he discovered that the distance to them behaved strangely.

Zhang Xiaohua crossed a shrinking enchantment and entered a mountain passage at the direction of an unseen Immortal Path senior, who asked him to refine a stone stele. As he began the ritual, the senior revealed that it would test his cultivation and whether he belonged to the Incense-Passing Cult, despite Zhang Xiaohua saying he was a Protector disciple.

• Zhang Xiaohua realized that an enchantment was making him shrink as he approached the boulder, then used Earth Evasion to enter it after an unseen voice instructed him.
• The voice guided Zhang Xiaohua through the mountain passage, while Xiaohei awakened and sniffed toward a side path; Zhang Xiaohua decided to ask the cave’s owner before investigating it.
• At the passage’s end, the senior instructed Zhang Xiaohua to refine a stone stele and recited the ritual incantation three times.
• Zhang Xiaohua admitted he did not know how to produce natal True Essence, received no reply, and began refining the stele with his true qi.
• The stele glowed gold as Zhang Xiaohua refined it, and the senior said the process tested his cultivation and whether he was an Incense-Passing Cult disciple; Zhang Xiaohua identified himself as a Protector disciple of Mocu Palace.

Zhang Xiaohua refined a stone stele in the Heavenly Evolution Five Elements Array and followed a passage into a jade hall, where he encountered the fading Primordial Spirit projection of a dead cultivator. The projection revealed that he belonged to the Divine Blade Sect and began explaining the paintings, leaving Zhang Xiaohua puzzled by its claim that there were four.

• Zhang Xiaohua used essence stones to finish turning the stone stele pale gold, but he could not expel natal True Essence.
• A rotating red passage opened in the wall, and Zhang Xiaohua crawled into it before riding it to a jade hall.
• Zhang Xiaohua emerged from one of three paintings and watched the painting’s depicted man appear as a Primordial Spirit projection.
• The projection explained that it had nearly exhausted its True Essence and said it had hoped to preserve its identity for its descendants.
• The projection said he had belonged to the Divine Blade Sect and wanted Zhang Xiaohua to carry news of him there.
• The projection pointed out four paintings, while Zhang Xiaohua saw only three and guessed the missing one had been taken away.

Zhang Xiaohua realized that the Carefree Heart Sutra might be an ownerless cultivation method from a hidden treasure trove, rather than an inheritance of the Misty Sect. Huan Wuxin identified himself as the Divine Blade Sect’s founding leader and began explaining how the Cultivation World originated.

• Huan Wuxin told Zhang Xiaohua he was fortunate not to belong to the Incense-Passing Cult, Misty Sect, or Heavenly Dragon Sect, and Zhang reconsidered the origin of his Carefree Heart Sutra.
• Zhang Xiaohua said he belonged to no Immortal Path sect and jokingly named himself a founding disciple of the Big Dipper Sect.
• Huan Wuxin introduced himself as a branch disciple of the Taibai Sect and revealed he had founded the Divine Blade Sect with Yue Mingxin and Yang Haoya.
• Huan Wuxin explained that he and the other founders had come from the Ruins to pursue remnants of the Demon Realm, then began describing the Cultivation World’s origins.

Huan Wuxin recounted how he, Yang Haoya, and Yue Mingxin were stranded in another world after pursuing a Demon Realm invader, then founded three cultivation sects alongside Di Shitian and helped establish cultivation there. As they began building a Teleportation Array home, an unforeseen matter halted their work, which Huan Wuxin left Zhang Xiaohua to guess.

• Huan Wuxin explained that he, Yang Haoya, and Yue Mingxin pursued a wounded Demon Realm man through a mysterious array and emerged in another world.
• Huan Wuxin said the Demon Realm man founded the Heavenly Dragon Sect as Di Shitian and spread the Great Heavenly Cycle Star Fist, while the three stranded cultivators founded the Divine Blade Sect, Incense-Passing Cult, and Misty Sect.
• Huan Wuxin described how the Great Forest Temple arose and how the five sects brought cultivation arts to the new world.
• Huan Wuxin said he, Yang Haoya, Yue Mingxin, and Di Shitian allied to build a Teleportation Array back to Void, but an unforeseen matter interrupted construction.
• Zhang Xiaohua told Huan Wuxin that the Immortal Way had vanished, and Huan Wuxin ended by hinting that Zhang Xiaohua could guess what had halted the array's construction.

Huan Wuxin explained how he and the other founders discovered the Heavenly Evolution Five Elements Array, concealed its existence, and spent years studying and breaking it. He left Zhang Xiaohua in suspense by revealing that the object at its center had surpassed even his wildest expectations.

• Huan Wuxin said he, Yue Mingxin, and Yang Haoya had discovered the array and kept its existence from Di Shitian while the Incense-Passing Cult built a protective formation around Yi Xiang Peak.
• Huan Wuxin speculated that the area had once held a powerful cultivation lineage, citing its advanced formations, remarkable magic treasures, and the Heavenly Evolution Five Elements Array.
• Huan Wuxin explained that the array and its heavenly lightning had emerged from the void, and that he and the other two founders spent three years studying its flaws.
• Huan Wuxin said the three founders broke into the array's center, causing much of its damage and enabling Zhang Xiaohua to reach it.
• Huan Wuxin revealed that the object at the array's center had exceeded all his expectations, but he had not yet named it.

Huan Wuxin explained that the object beneath the heavenly lightning was believed to be an Earth's Core and recounted how he, Yue Mingxin, and Yang Haoya had tried to claim it before Di Shitian betrayed them. He warned Zhang Xiaohua that the Earth's Core could not be taken, then whispered his final instructions, leaving Zhang Xiaohua incredulous.

• Huan Wuxin explained that he, Yue Mingxin, and Yang Haoya had identified the object beneath the heavenly lightning as a possible Earth's Core.
• Huan Wuxin described how the three founders used Yang Haoya's Lightning Pearl to weaken the restrictions and open a small crack after seven days and nights.
• Di Shitian infiltrated the Incense-Passing Cult's grand array, attacked the exhausted group, and was badly wounded when Huan Wuxin detonated a magical artifact.
• Huan Wuxin escaped into the Heavenly Evolution Five Elements Array but later found his injuries incurable and left behind a Primordial Spirit projection.
• Zhang Xiaohua suggested that Yue Mingxin might be the Incense-Passing Cult senior suppressed beneath Mochou Lake and told Huan Wuxin that the Misty Sect had been destroyed.
• Huan Wuxin warned Zhang Xiaohua against trying to take the Earth's Core, then whispered his final instructions, leaving Zhang Xiaohua disbelieving.

Zhang Xiaohua learned that Huan Wuxin had planted a mysterious mark on his forehead and escaped the sealed jade chamber with the three portraits. Following Xiaohei up another passage, he opened a jade door and was struck by white light that harmed his divine sense, while Xiaohei reacted with delight.

• Huan Wuxin marked Zhang Xiaohua's forehead and urged him to deliver news to the Divine Blade Sect before his projection vanished.
• Zhang Xiaohua discovered a red grain on his forehead and wondered about Di Shitian's missing portrait and the sealed chamber's history.
• Zhang Xiaohua took the three portraits, reopening the passage, and escaped the chamber before it sealed again.
• At the fork, Zhang Xiaohua followed Xiaohei up the other passage and opened a jade door.
• Dazzling white light stabbed at Zhang Xiaohua's divine sense until a crane-shaped talisman appeared in his Niwan Palace, while Xiaohei welcomed the light with pure-white eyes.

Zhang Xiaohua discovered a white pearl cave that nourished Xiaohei and the Eye of Delusion Breaking, then left Xiaohei there to grow. Outside, the Mountain-Shaking Bears greeted him with excitement and bowed to his display of strength.

• Xiaohei swallowed the white radiance around the jade door, allowing Zhang Xiaohua to enter the cave and see the white pearl through the Eye of Delusion Breaking.
• Zhang Xiaohua placed Xiaohei on the jade platform, where it absorbed the cave’s white light, then stored the white pearl in a jade box.
• After Xiaohei grew larger and asked for more to eat, Zhang Xiaohua left it in the cave and told it to find him at Yi Xiang Peak when it was full.
• Zhang Xiaohua emerged from the mountain passage and found the Mountain-Shaking Bear raising its arms and celebrating his return.
• Several Mountain-Shaking Bears pounded the ground, and Zhang Xiaohua struck it too; the bears then lined up obediently before him.

Zhang Xiaohua traveled toward Houtu Hall with the Mountain-Shaking Bears and found three dead intruders whose presence suggested the Heavenly Dragon Sect might have entered Huan Ruins. At the ruined hall, he began exploring alone, but a statue ahead started turning toward him.

• Zhang Xiaohua used the Five Elements Pearls to make a Mountain-Shaking Bear understand that he wanted to go to Houtu Hall, and it carried him there with the other bears following.
• Zhang Xiaohua realized the bear moved through the Earth Element Array by making the ground contract beneath its steps.
• After one bear rushed away and a scream sounded, Zhang Xiaohua arrived too late to stop it from killing three apparent inner disciples.
• Zhang Xiaohua wondered whether the dead intruders belonged to the Heavenly Dragon Sect, then continued toward Houtu Hall on the bear's shoulder.
• The bears refused to approach the ruined Houtu Hall, so Zhang Xiaohua entered alone with the Prajna Heavy Sword.
• When Zhang Xiaohua stepped into the ruins, he noticed a statue ahead slowly turning toward him.

Zhang Xiaohua survived the Earth Element Array’s Heaven-Shaking Strike, took the Earth Element Pearl, and disrupted the formation. The next morning, he tried to refine the weakened stone statue, which began absorbing his starlight-infused true Qi.

• The stone statue unleashed an enormous earthen staff that struck Zhang Xiaohua, but he survived and noticed golden threads in his blood.
• Zhang Xiaohua moved the statue aside, retrieved the Earth Element Pearl, and placed the final Eight Trigrams Purple Gold Furnace over the formation eye as the ruins shook.
• At midnight, Zhang Xiaohua cultivated beneath the starlight while the statue also absorbed the light through its seven apertures.
• The next morning, Zhang Xiaohua failed to move or store the statue, so he used Huan Wuxin’s refinement method on it.
• The weakened statue mistook Zhang Xiaohua’s starlight-infused true Qi for returning starlight and opened all seven apertures.

Zhang Xiaohua refined the stone statue, absorbed it into the Eye of Delusion Breaking, and transformed himself into a handsome new identity, Pan An, before flying toward the thunderous center of Huan Ruins. Xia Qing brooded over failing the direct selection as a junior sister approached her with concerns about changes in Huan Ruins.

• Zhang Xiaohua refined the stone statue but could not store it in his money pouch, so he absorbed it into the Eye of Delusion Breaking at the cost of much of his divine sense.
• Zhang Xiaohua found the Mountain-Shaking Bears waiting outside Houtu Hall and sent them back before heading deeper into Huan Ruins.
• Zhang Xiaohua used the Shapeshifting Technique to change his body and face, named himself Pan An, and flew toward the lightning and thunder.
• Xia Qing regretted failing to slay her inner demon in Heart Refining Cave and wondered why Yuyan had passed the direct selection when she had not.
• A junior sister approached Xia Qing and said that Huan Ruins seemed different from when they had first arrived.

Xia Qing learned that unusual beasts had appeared in the Ruins of Purification and headed toward its lightning-filled depths, hoping to claim the sect’s hidden treasure. Zhang Xiaohua rescued her after a violent energy shock knocked her unconscious, then continued toward the mountain where the lightning struck.

• A Mocu Palace disciple told Xia Qing that Sabertooth Tigers, Sky-Piercing Apes, and Fire Wolves had appeared in unexpected parts of the ruins.
• A violent tremor shook the ruins, and Xia Qing sent Lily to report the disturbance before setting out toward the densest lightning.
• Zhang Xiaohua sensed increasingly dense, unstable Primordial Qi as he approached the core of the ruins.
• A lightning-triggered shockwave struck Xia Qing unconscious, and Zhang Xiaohua gave her a Jade Return Pill and carried her to safety.
• Zhang Xiaohua continued toward the lightning-struck mountain, protecting himself with talismans and the Crimson Spirit Guard.

Zhang Xiaohua found a Thunder Pearl at the edge of the lightning-filled restriction in Huan Ruins and discovered that the Eye of Delusion Breaking could absorb lightning. As the pearl and a stone statue entered the Eye, the statue began drawing in something Zhang Xiaohua recognized but could not identify.

• Zhang Xiaohua climbed to the mountain summit, where a seven-colored restriction filled a vast depression and a bolt of light narrowly missed him.
• Zhang Xiaohua followed lightning diverted toward a rocky outcrop and found a pearl that drew heavenly thunder, which he identified as a possible Thunder Pearl.
• Zhang Xiaohua used defensive jade slips and the Crimson Spirit Guard to seize the Thunder Pearl, but a lightning bolt struck his hand and its power flowed into the Eye of Delusion Breaking.
• Xia Qing woke after being saved and treated with a Jade Return Pill, then slowly headed toward the lightning, hoping to find the senior she believed had rescued her.
• Zhang Xiaohua opened the Eye of Delusion Breaking, which drew in more lightning than the Thunder Pearl and absorbed the pearl and the human-shaped stone statue.
• Zhang Xiaohua sensed that the stone statue absorbed lightning to temper its seven apertures and drew in a familiar substance he could not identify.

Zhang Xiaohua used Chasing Dreams and the nameless flow to break through the restriction around the Earth's Core, then entered a vast chamber filled with Primordial Qi. He discovered that the Earth's Core was only a projection he could neither touch nor collect.

• Zhang Xiaohua watched the Eye of Delusion Breaking absorb lightning and restore his divine sense and true qi before it fell dormant.
• Zhang Xiaohua tried the small mirror and the Prajna Heavy Sword against the seven-colored restriction, but neither could open it.
• Zhang Xiaohua infused Chasing Dreams with the nameless flow, melted a gap in the restriction, and slipped inside as it began to close.
• Zhang Xiaohua explored the chamber, found its Primordial Qi extraordinarily dense, and flew toward the Earth's Core.
• Zhang Xiaohua sensed the Earth's Core's immense life force but failed to touch or collect it, realizing it was only a projection.

Zhang Xiaohua cultivated in a place dense with Primordial Qi while Nie Qianyu longed for him at Hui Chun Valley. Her reverie ended when she learned that the Incense-Passing Cult had withdrawn its protection of the valley for ten years, leaving its leaders concerned about threats from the martial world.

• Zhang Xiaohua absorbed the dense Primordial Qi and thought of Nie Qianyu in Hui Chun Valley.
• Nie Qianyu reflected on Ren Xiaoyao and secretly cultivated the method he had taught her.
• Xiao Juzi told Nie Qianyu that the Incense-Passing Cult had ended its protection of Hui Chun Valley for the next ten years.
• Valley Master Nie explained that the Cult Master had learned about the medicine boys Ren Xiaoyao and Qiangshi, but the Cult's disciples had not revealed who was responsible.
• Nie Qianyu worried that enemies might attack Hui Chun Valley once the news spread, and Valley Master Nie declared that the Jade Standing Alliance could defend it.