Chapter Summaries

Gai Jiuyou told Lin Shisan that Mu Ling'er could be revived if her body was preserved, and offered to keep it intact while Lin Shisan sought the means to restore her soul. Lin Shisan followed Gai Jiuyou to Netherworld Cave, where a ghost soul attacked Mu Ling'er as they entered.

• Gai Jiuyou revealed that Mu Ling'er was in suspended death and could be revived if her body remained intact.
• Gai Jiuyou offered to preserve Mu Ling'er's body for three years by inhabiting it, in exchange for Lin Shisan recovering her second Dao Seed and finding three Manjusaka flowers on Arctic Snow Mountain.
• Gai Jiuyou told Lin Shisan to take her to Netherworld Cave in Ten Thousand Poisons Valley so she could safely transfer between Mu Ling'er and Zi Yuner.
• Lin Shisan carried Mu Ling'er through the Southern Frontier for fifteen days, following Gai Jiuyou's directions to Netherworld Cave.
• Lin Shisan followed Zi Yuner into Netherworld Cave with Mu Ling'er, and a ghost soul leaped from the cave wall toward Mu Ling'er.

Lin Shisan and Gai Jiuyou tried to transfer Gai Jiuyou's soul into Mu Ling'er's body, but a Heart-Guarding Seal blocked the attempt. They left Mu Ling'er on the stone platform to preserve her while waiting for her to wake, and Lin Shisan asked Gai Jiuyou what it would take to revive his senior sister.

• Lin Shisan carried Mu Ling'er to the center of Netherworld Cave and laid her on the rune-covered stone platform as Gai Jiuyou prepared to leave Zi Yuner's body.
• Gai Jiuyou's soul left Zi Yuner but was repelled by a Heart-Guarding Seal protecting Mu Ling'er, which Gai Jiuyou said had been made with Mu Linger's lifebound essence blood.
• Lin Shisan tried to weaken the seal with his spiritual power, but it rejected him; when he touched Mu Ling'er's brow, the seal trembled instead of rebounding, and he suspected her soul had stirred.
• Gai Jiuyou advised Lin Shisan to wait for Mu Ling'er to wake and keep her body on the platform, where the yin energy could sustain her.
• Lin Shisan asked Gai Jiuyou what she wanted in exchange for reviving his senior sister, promising to agree to any terms.

Gai Jiuyou asked Zi Yuner to retrieve a soul artifact from the Underground Palace beneath Yue Wushuang’s Bedchamber so she could revive Mu Ling'er, and bound herself to the promise with a Soul Contract. After six months of recuperation and cultivation in the Netherworld Cave, Zi Yuner reached Sky Soaring Great Perfection and Lin Shisan advanced to the Yellow Dragon Seventh Layer, while Mu Ling'er remained unconscious.

• Gai Jiuyou explained that the Ten Hells Gate needed her artifact from Nine Nether Mountain’s Underground Palace to awaken its restrictions and scattered disciples.
• Gai Jiuyou offered to suppress Zi Yuner’s curse and raise her temporarily to the Three Flowers Realm if Zi Yuner accommodated her soul form, but warned she had to escape within two hours.
• Zi Yuner agreed to retrieve the artifact after Gai Jiuyou accepted her three conditions, including fully reviving Mu Ling'er, and sealed the promises in a Soul Contract.
• Over six months in the Netherworld Cave, Gai Jiuyou’s soul form grew stronger, Zi Yuner’s injuries and curse eased, and Lin Shisan practiced the Nine Nether Alchemy Scripture.
• Zi Yuner reached Sky Soaring Great Perfection, and Lin Shisan advanced to the Yellow Dragon Seventh Layer as his Hornless Dragon True Spirit grew a fifth claw.
• Lin Shisan promised Mu Ling'er he would take her to Arctic Snow Mountain to see the manjusaka when she woke, and Zi Yuner comforted him.

After six months in Netherworld Cave, Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner left Mu Ling'er protected there and traveled to Nine Nether Mountain to claim the magical artifact in Yue Wushuang's underground palace. Lin Shisan reached the Command Token, but touching it triggered the palace's alarm.

• Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner waited until Mu Ling'er could endure their absence, then Gai Jiuyou entered Zi Yuner's sea of consciousness and they left Netherworld Cave.
• The pair traveled to Nine Nether Mountain, where Gai Jiuyou revealed a hidden entrance through a dried-up underground river.
• Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner found the concealed passage and entered the underground palace beneath Yue Wushuang's bedchamber.
• Gai Jiuyou warned Lin Shisan about the palace's restrictions and told him when to cross safely to the central platform.
• Lin Shisan used Seven Star Step to reach the platform and touch the Humanoid Command Token, triggering the underground palace's alarm.

Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner escaped the Underground Palace with a fake artifact, only to discover Yue Wushuang had lured them into a trap prepared for Gai Jiuyou. As Yue Wushuang’s light net closed around them, Gai Jiuyou identified the formation’s earth-vein source, and Lin Shisan spotted a raised flagstone that might conceal its core.

• Lin Shisan took the artifact from its platform, activating the Underground Palace’s restrictions, and he and Zi Yuner fled into the Underground River passage.
• The artifact shattered into powder, and Lin Shisan realized Yue Wushuang had left a replica as bait while hiding the real artifact elsewhere.
• Runes activated in the passage, opening a fissure that revealed Yue Wushuang behind a net of dark red light.
• Yue Wushuang confronted Gai Jiuyou in Zi Yuner’s Sea of Consciousness and revealed she had spent five hundred years preparing to trap him.
• Zi Yuner held back the contracting light net while Gai Jiuyou explained that they needed to find the formation’s core.
• Lin Shisan spotted a slightly raised flagstone beside Yue Wushuang’s feet.

Lin Shisan used the Myriad Souls Banner, an Array Flag, and Yin Jade to break Yue Wushuang’s restrictions and protect Zi Yuner. After the array failed, Yue Wushuang let them leave the Underground Palace, and Lin Shisan confirmed that the magical artifact he sought was not there.

• Lin Shisan identified the array’s core while Zi Yuner struggled to hold off the contracting threads of light.
• Lin Shisan placed the Myriad Souls Banner and eight small flags to disrupt the array, then used Yin Jade to attack the dome’s central rune.
• Yue Wushuang shattered the array’s core and accelerated the restrictions, but Lin Shisan explained that her strike had redirected their Spiritual Power toward the dome.
• The Yin Jade’s white light flowed through the dome’s runes and severed the restrictions’ Spiritual Power, stopping the threads of light.
• Lin Shisan said he had come to check for a magical artifact and would leave without taking Yue Wushuang’s treasure.
• Yue Wushuang chose not to fight Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner, praised his array-breaking method, and showed them the way out.

Lin Shisan, Zi Yuner, and Gai Jiuyou found the hidden cavern beneath Nine Nether Mountain and discovered Yue Wushuang had used them to open its sealed entrance. After they broke her restrictions, Zi Yuner seized the real artifact, but Yue Wushuang challenged them to escape with it.

• Gai Jiuyou revealed that the real artifact was hidden beneath Nine Nether Mountain and that Yue Wushuang had lured them into opening its entrance.
• Lin Shisan used the Myriad Souls Banner's power to uncover the hidden passage behind the Back Mountain waterfall and open the cavern's stone gate.
• Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner discovered the real artifact and realized Yue Wushuang had secretly been waiting inside the cavern.
• Zi Yuner and Lin Shisan disrupted Yue Wushuang's restrictions, while she trapped them in the Nine Nether Thunder Prison.
• Lin Shisan broke the restrictions with the Myriad Souls Banner, and Zi Yuner fought Yue Wushuang and seized the artifact.
• Yue Wushuang confronted Zi Yuner beside the artifact and asked how they planned to escape.

Yue Wushuang used the Big Dipper Sword Formation to tear apart Gai Jiuyou’s soul inside Zi Yuner, but Gai Jiuyou revealed a hidden escape route beneath the formation. Lin Shisan tried to force it open and was wounded as Yue Wushuang resumed her attack, leaving all three trapped in the cavern.

• Yue Wushuang summoned the Big Dipper Sword Formation and sent its blades into Gai Jiuyou’s soul while sparing Zi Yuner’s body.
• Yue Wushuang recalled how Gai Jiuyou had humiliated her and vowed to kill her and reclaim the Myriad Souls Banner.
• Lin Shisan warned that the formation could damage the Myriad Souls Banner, and Yue Wushuang said she planned to make him a guardian puppet.
• Gai Jiuyou revealed a hidden door beneath the formation base, and Yue Wushuang broke the floor to expose a dark gold fissure.
• Lin Shisan used Dragon Breath Power to force the fissure open, but Yue Wushuang attacked and a sword pierced his shoulder.
• Yue Wushuang declared that Lin Shisan, Zi Yuner, and Gai Jiuyou would all become her corpse puppets.

Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner escaped Yue Wushuang by entering the Independent Space inside the Hidden Vein, where Gai Jiuyou began merging with her second Dao Seed. After forty-nine days, Gai Jiuyou completed her Dharma Body and awakened, declaring her return.

• Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner forced their way through the rift into the Hidden Vein's Independent Space while Yue Wushuang remained outside.
• Yue Wushuang warned that the Hidden Vein's Spiritual Power would run out and its Sealing Restrictions would trap them.
• Gai Jiuyou revealed that the pitch-black artifact was her second Dao Seed and said merging with it would take forty-nine days.
• Lin Shisan raised the Myriad Souls Banner to protect Gai Jiuyou while she merged with the Dao Seed, and Zi Yuner agreed to keep watch.
• Gai Jiuyou's Dharma Body gradually took shape as the days passed, and she awakened on the forty-ninth day, announcing her return.

Gai Jiuyou completed her Dharma body by turning Yue Wushuang’s attack into the final element she needed. After defeating Yue Wushuang in their duel, she revealed that she had deliberately left her Dharma body vulnerable to the five-element steel fork.

• On the forty-ninth day, Yue Wushuang broke through the barrier and attacked Gai Jiuyou while her Dharma body was still incomplete.
• Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner tried to stop Yue Wushuang, but she knocked their defenses aside as Gai Jiuyou awakened and blocked the attack with her Fang Tian Painted Halberd.
• Gai Jiuyou and Yue Wushuang fought through more than a hundred exchanges, and Yue Wushuang’s steel fork began to fall behind.
• Gai Jiuyou let Yue Wushuang pierce her Dharma body, then struck her with the butt of her halberd and revealed that the fork’s five elements completed her Dharma body.
• Gai Jiuyou pulled the steel fork from her shoulder, healed her wound, and told the kneeling Yue Wushuang that she had been waiting for the weapon’s final element.

Gai Jiuyou defeated Yue Wushuang after reclaiming the power she had drawn from Nine Nether Mountain, then spared her and left the mountain in her care. Three days later, Gai Jiuyou awakened Ten Hells Gate’s restrictions and reunited with its ten Sect Masters.

• Gai Jiuyou completed her manifested body and broke through to the Three Flowers Realm, while Yue Wushuang activated the Nine Nether Blood Formation to strengthen herself.
• Gai Jiuyou disarmed Yue Wushuang and explained that she could reclaim the power Yue had borrowed from Nine Nether Mountain.
• Gai Jiuyou offered Yue Wushuang her hand, kept Nine Nether Mountain in her care, and accepted her return to calling her Master.
• Gai Jiuyou left Nine Nether Mountain with Lin Shisan and Zi Yuner and said she would take them to meet the people she had left behind.
• Three days later, Gai Jiuyou placed the artifact into Netherworld Cave’s stone platform, awakening Ten Hells Gate’s restrictions and summoning its ten Sect Masters.
• The ten Sect Masters knelt before Gai Jiuyou and paid their respects as the Venerable Master.

Lin Shisan, Zi Yuner, and Gai Jiuyou traveled to Arctic Snow Mountain to retrieve the Dao Seed needed to revive Mu Ling'er, but learned it had merged with the mountain. Lin Shisan's Little Black Cauldron reacted to the summit's golden halo, and the mountain guardian revealed that the same light had shone there when heavenly fire fell five hundred years earlier.

• Gai Jiuyou awakened the Ten Hells Gate masters and ordered them to gather their disciples and rebuild the Gate's operations.
• Gai Jiuyou told Lin Shisan that reviving Mu Ling'er required the Dao Seed, the manjusaka, and the Reincarnation Mirror; Zi Yuner recommended seeking the first two at Arctic Snow Mountain before traveling to the Southern Frontier.
• Lin Shisan, Zi Yuner, and Gai Jiuyou reached Arctic Snow Mountain and encountered its ancient mountain guardian, who said the Dao Seed had fused with the mountain after heavenly fire struck five hundred years earlier.
• Lin Shisan's Little Black Cauldron reacted to the golden halo on the summit, awakening the hornless dragon true spirit and causing the halo to pulse.
• The mountain guardian told Gai Jiuyou that an identical light had shone from the foot of the mountain when the heavenly fire fell.

Lin Shisan learned that a cauldron-bearing youth had sealed the Heavenly Fire five hundred years earlier, and that the mountain’s seal might respond to his own Little Black Cauldron. His attempt produced a resonance but failed to open the mountain, so he and his companions decided to wait for the right time to retrieve the Dao Seed and Manjusaka.

• The Mountain Guardian told Lin Shisan that a youth with an identical black cauldron had poured his blood into the Heavenly Fire’s fissure five hundred years ago, calming its Chaos Power and sealing it within the mountain.
• Gai Jiuyou explained that reopening the mountain required power of the same origin, while Zi Yuner warned that Lin Shisan lacked the cultivation to succeed by sacrificing his blood.
• The Mountain Guardian suggested that Lin Shisan try resonating with the seal through the cauldron, and he sent Spiritual Power into it to form a pillar of Seven-Colored Rosy Light.
• The mountain shook when the light struck the summit’s halo, but the seal remained closed despite the confirmed resonance.
• The Mountain Guardian revealed that the former cauldron-bearer had also failed to open the seal through resonance and had said the time had not yet come.
• Zi Yuner and Gai Jiuyou urged Lin Shisan to wait, and the group decided to find shelter from the wind and snow.

Lin Shisan discovered that the Little Black Cauldron was a key to locating a rift beneath Arctic Snow Mountain, and learned that opening its door required a road carried in blood. He left the altar with the cauldron, seeking the meaning of that road.

• The Mountain Guardian told Lin Shisan that an ancient altar had marked a rift beneath Arctic Snow Mountain, where a light from within the mountain had collided with the heavenly fire.
• Lin Shisan found carvings matching the Little Black Cauldron and followed them to an underground altar with a cauldron-shaped recess.
• Lin Shisan placed the cauldron in the recess, revealing a star chart that marked the main peak, and concluded that the altar located the rift and the cauldron was its key.
• The Mountain Guardian recalled that the young senior had said the cauldron remembered the way but had forgotten how to open the door, which required a road carved into blood.
• Lin Shisan walked toward the carvings as Zi Yuner and Gai Jiuyou watched, and Gai Jiuyou remarked that he had found something more important than a Dao seed.

Lin Shisan learned that ten spirit vein intersections had to be activated to loosen the seal on Arctic Snow Mountain, and that the Little Black Cauldron could guide him to them. He activated the node beneath the Reincarnation Mirror, loosening the mountain seal and opening the way to retrieve the mirror.

• Lin Shisan learned from the Mountain Guardian that the star chart marked ten spirit vein intersections and that more than one person's blood would be needed to open the seal.
• Lin Shisan, Zi Yuner, and Gai Jiuyou agreed to return to the Ten Hells Gate, where a node lay beneath the Reincarnation Mirror.
• The First Gate Master opened the forbidden ground, and Lin Shisan noticed rune patterns that Gai Jiuyou explained had shifted naturally with the earth vein.
• Lin Shisan used the Little Black Cauldron beneath the Reincarnation Mirror to activate the node, lighting the stars on the ceiling and loosening the seal on Arctic Snow Mountain.
• Lin Shisan said they could soon retrieve the Dao Seed and manjusaka, and that he would activate the remaining nodes after reviving Senior Sister; he then declared they could retrieve the Reincarnation Mirror.

Lin Shisan returned to Arctic Snow Mountain after confirming that Mu Ling'er's soul remained inside the Reincarnation Mirror, then obtained a Manjusaka Seed to help gather her scattered soul fragments. The Mountain Guardian explained that the seed could guide those fragments back, leaving Lin Shisan with a possible way to restore Mu Ling'er.

• Gai Jiuyou helped Lin Shisan use Mu Ling'er's silver chain to confirm her soul was inside the Reincarnation Mirror and said they needed the Dao Seed and Manjusaka to strengthen it.
• Lin Shisan and Gai Jiuyou traveled back to Arctic Snow Mountain, where the Mountain Guardian noted that the golden barrier had thinned and the mountain's fissure had opened.
• Lin Shisan followed the fissure underground and found the Manjusaka, which responded to his aura and released a seed that entered his palm.
• The Mountain Guardian told Lin Shisan that the Manjusaka Seed could gather Mu Ling'er's scattered soul fragments within the Reincarnation Mirror.

Lin Shisan and Gai Jiuyou forcibly retrieved Mu Ling'er's soul from the Reincarnation Mirror and returned it to her body. When Mu Ling'er awoke, she mistook Lin Shisan for Senior Brother Tian and called herself Zhantai Xian.

• The grand elder noticed a growing speck and gray mist on Mu Ling'er's forehead, and Gai Jiuyou warned Lin Shisan that yin spirits could possess her body.
• Lin Shisan agreed to risk forcibly reviving Mu Ling'er, and Gai Jiuyou prepared a formation using the Myriad Souls Banner, the Reincarnation Mirror, and the Little Black Cauldron.
• Lin Shisan drew Mu Ling'er's soul from the mirror, while the Myriad Souls Banner devoured a hostile shadow that tried to take her place.
• Lin Shisan returned Mu Ling'er's soul to her body, and the gray mist faded as her face regained color.
• Three days later, Mu Ling'er woke and called Lin Shisan Senior Brother Tian, insisting that she was his junior sister Zhantai Xian.

Lin Shisan learned that the woman who emerged from the Reincarnation Mirror was Zhantai Xian, whose memories and Lingxi Sword Art belonged to a long-lost Senior Brother Tian, while Mu Ling'er's soul remained buried within her. He decided to enter the mirror to find the sealed place and discover who Senior Brother Tian was, and Zi Yuner and Zhantai Xian offered to go with him.

• Zhantai Xian introduced herself and demonstrated the Lingxi Sword Art, convincing Lin Shisan that she was not simply Mu Ling'er.
• Zhantai Xian recalled waiting in Lingxi Valley for Senior Brother Tian and said he had used Lin Shisan's Little Black Cauldron to protect her from heavenly thunder.
• Gai Jiuyou explained that Mu Ling'er's soul remained inside Zhantai Xian and that separating them could harm both souls.
• Zhantai Xian recognized Lin Shisan's cauldron and crooked stitching, while Lin Shisan connected her memories of Senior Brother Tian to the youth who had carried an identical cauldron five hundred years earlier.
• Gai Jiuyou suggested that the Reincarnation Mirror contained a rift connected to Lin Shisan's cauldron, and Lin Shisan decided to enter the mirror to investigate.
• Zi Yuner and Zhantai Xian agreed to accompany Lin Shisan into the Reincarnation Mirror.

Lin Shisan and his companions settled in a hidden grotto-heaven on Arctic Snow Mountain, where Zhantai Xian taught him the Lingxi Sword Art. After reaching the Yellow Dragon Eighth Layer and mastering its first layer, Lin Shisan drew Gai Jiuyou’s attention to how naturally the sword art harmonized with his dragon breath.

• Gai Jiuyou warned Lin Shisan, Zi Yuner, and Zhantai Xian that entering the Reincarnation Mirror alive would kill them, so they decided to seek the Mountain Guardian instead.
• On Arctic Snow Mountain, Zhantai Xian sensed that the summit’s golden light was watching Lin Shisan, and the Mountain Guardian questioned her about how she could see it.
• The Mountain Guardian led them to a warm, spiritual-energy-rich grotto-heaven and showed particular interest in Zhantai Xian.
• Zhantai Xian told the Mountain Guardian that Lingxi Valley lay east and described the glowing bamboo there; that night, the Mountain Guardian watched the eastern ridge until daybreak.
• Zhantai Xian taught Lin Shisan the Lingxi Sword Art, and after three months of cultivation he broke through to the Yellow Dragon Eighth Layer.
• Four months later, Lin Shisan reached the first layer of the Lingxi Sword Art, prompting Gai Jiuyou to wonder whether his talent came from being a great fortune bearer.

Lin Shisan learned that the vanished Lingxi Sect may have found a road to another world in the east, and that the Reincarnation Mirror might help him find it. He decided to wait until Zhantai Xian’s soul was stable and the Arctic Snow Mountain Node was secure before traveling east.

• Zhantai Xian told Lin Shisan that his Lingxi Sword Aura was nearing the second level, while Zi Yuner said the Mountain Guardian had been watching the east for seven days.
• The Mountain Guardian told Lin Shisan that the Lingxi Sect had vanished five hundred years earlier and that a jade fragment left by a young senior bore the words, “There is light in the east.”
• Zhantai Xian dreamed that Lingxi Valley’s stream had dried up and revealed that she had carved the character for “return” there.
• Gai Jiuyou explained that Lin Shisan could eventually use the Reincarnation Mirror’s outer edge to investigate the road, but Zhantai Xian’s unstable dual soul made entering dangerous.
• Zi Yuner and Zhantai Xian promised to accompany Lin Shisan east, and the Mountain Guardian confirmed that the road existed and that the cauldron, mark, and sword art could guide him.
• Lin Shisan resolved to travel east after reaching the fifth level of the Lingxi Sword Art, stabilizing Zhantai Xian’s soul, and securing the Arctic Snow Mountain Node.