Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke attacked Duan Yifeng’s Imperial Clan group after they surrounded him, killing two prodigies with single punches and overwhelming the others with his allies and Flying Swords. The chapter ended as Lin Ke’s punch neared Duan Yifeng, whose mountain defenses had cracked under the Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning Method.

• Duan Yifeng ordered the Imperial Clan members to surround Lin Ke, and Lin Ke knocked Wu Dao away to keep him out of the fight.
• Lin Ke used the Giant Sun Dragonfly-Swift Flight and Dragon-Elephant Prison-Suppressing Force to kill an Imperial Clan prodigy with one punch.
• Lin Ke struck down a second Imperial Clan prodigy while his ten Flying Swords attacked the remaining members.
• The Dream-Eating Gecko and Lin Xuanyuan joined the battle, giving Lin Ke an opening to attack Duan Yifeng.
• Duan Yifeng summoned mountain defenses and a Giant Mountain Seal, but Lin Ke’s Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning Method cracked them as his punch closed in.

Lin Ke defeated Duan Yifeng and forced him to reveal that the Jade Commandery Princess, Duan Yuyan, had disclosed Lin Ke’s Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereign through a Heart-Linked Mother-and-Child Jade. Lin Ke realized the secret had spread through a small Imperial Clan circle and began planning to use Duan Yifeng to contain the threat.

• Lin Ke struck Duan Yifeng with the Dragon-Elephant Prison-Suppressing Force, breaking his arm and leaving him gravely injured but alive.
• Lin Ke demanded to know how Duan Yifeng learned about his Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereign.
• Duan Yifeng revealed that Duan Yuyan had sent him the information through a Heart-Linked Mother-and-Child Jade shared among four Imperial Clan descendants.
• Duan Yifeng explained that he had been sent to test Lin Ke first, and that Duan Yuyan and the others would act if he failed.
• Lin Ke concluded that the information remained within Duan Yuyan’s small circle and decided Duan Yifeng would be more useful alive.

Lin Ke enslaved the wounded Duan Yifeng with a Soul-Hunting Mosquito and recruited him to help resolve the trouble surrounding Lin Ke's Spirit Insect. After gathering the spoils from the defeated Imperial Clan Geniuses, Lin Ke, Wu Dao, and Duan Yifeng prepared to carry out Lin Ke's plan.

• Lin Ke concealed himself and Duan Yifeng inside a Mirage Scene, then used a Soul-Hunting Mosquito to enslave Duan Yifeng and make him a Soul Servant.
• Wu Dao watched from the Hidden Space, recognized Lin Ke's strength, and reaffirmed his trust in him.
• The Dream-Eating Gecko and Lin Xuanyuan collected the defeated Imperial Clan Geniuses' belongings and presented them to Lin Ke.
• Lin Ke thanked Wu Dao for waiting and asked for his help resolving the troubles involving his Spirit Insect.
• Lin Ke introduced the enslaved Duan Yifeng as their helper and explained his plan to Wu Dao.
• Wu Dao questioned whether the method would work, and Lin Ke insisted it would before the three prepared to begin.

Lin Ke and Wu Dao prepared to ambush the Jade Commandery Princess and two other powerful Imperial Clan disciples after Duan Yifeng lured them to the Ancient City Ruins. The two teams arrived at the sacrificial platform, where Duan Yifeng claimed Lin Ke was trapped in its Hidden Space.

• Lin Ke used Duan Yifeng's Child Jade to summon the Jade Commandery Princess and two others, then planned with Wu Dao to capture them and keep the Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereign secret.
• Lin Ke divided the seized goods with Wu Dao, who accepted most of the Ancient Talismans after Lin Ke insisted they would need his help in the coming battle.
• Lin Ke and Wu Dao prepared for the arrival of roughly thirty opponents, including three prodigies they judged to be about as strong as Wu Dao.
• The Jade Commandery Princess and two teams led by an easygoing man and a rugged man arrived, bringing their numbers to over forty.
• The two men mocked Duan Yifeng's injuries, while the Jade Commandery Princess asked after him; Duan Yifeng then said Lin Ke was trapped inside the sacrificial platform's Hidden Space.

Duan Yifeng lured the Jade Commandery Princess, Duan Chen, and Duan Yannian into the Hidden Space by claiming Lin Ke was gravely weakened and guarding more than two thousand Ancient Talismans. As the Imperial Clan Geniuses rushed to seize the treasure and attack Lin Ke, Lin Ke revealed that he had been waiting for them.

• Duan Chen mocked the injured Duan Yifeng and tried to strike him, but the Jade Commandery Princess intervened.
• Duan Yifeng exaggerated Lin Ke's injuries and claimed the Hidden Space contained more than two thousand Ancient Talismans, persuading the others to enter.
• Duan Yifeng opened the Hidden Space with the nine beads and stayed behind as the Jade Commandery Princess, Duan Chen, Duan Yannian, and their followers went inside.
• Duan Chen and his subordinates saw Lin Ke amid the Ancient Talismans and immediately reached for him and the treasure.
• Duan Yannian and the Jade Commandery Princess led the other cultivators into the attack, and Lin Ke opened his eyes and said he had been waiting for them.

Lin Ke trapped the Jade Commandery Princess, Duan Chen, Duan Yannian, and their followers in a mental firestorm that annihilated most of the group. When the surviving three blamed the Jade Commandery Princess to save themselves, Lin Ke asked why they had come to kill him.

• Lin Ke unleashed a crimson firestorm that bypassed defenses and attacked the souls of everyone who charged him.
• The flames annihilated the followers’ souls, while Duan Chen, Duan Yannian, and the Jade Commandery Princess struggled against Lin Ke’s mental assaults.
• Duan Yannian recognized that the attack used Spiritual Techniques, and the Jade Commandery Princess realized Lin Ke was keeping the three survivors alive for a reason.
• Duan Chen and Duan Yannian begged Lin Ke for mercy and blamed the Jade Commandery Princess for sending them to capture him.
• Lin Ke, hidden in the shadows, asked the three why they had come to kill him.

Lin Ke interrogated the Jade Commandery Princess, Duan Chen, and Duan Yannian after trapping them in the Dream-Eating Gecko’s illusion, and learned the Imperial Clan had targeted him because of his Dragon Qi. The revelation led Lin Ke to suspect the aura came from Lin Xuanyuan, while the Imperial Clan’s plan to seize it left his situation more dangerous.

• Duan Chen and Duan Yannian begged Lin Ke to end the illusion, while Wu Dao questioned why Lin Ke had left them alive.
• Lin Ke threatened the captives, and Duan Chen and Duan Yannian revealed that the Jade Commandery Princess had orders from the Imperial Clan to kill him because of a secret connected to the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm.
• Lin Ke focused a mental assault on the Jade Commandery Princess until she agreed to explain the Imperial Clan’s motive.
• The Jade Commandery Princess said someone in the Imperial Clan had told her father that Lin Ke carried pure Dragon Qi similar to the aura in the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm.
• Lin Ke realized the Dragon Qi might have come from Lin Xuanyuan and learned the Imperial Clan had ordered the Jade Commandery Princess to capture him, identify its source, or kill him and seize it.

Lin Ke learned that the Dali Imperial Clan’s Great Fate Officer had ordered the Jade Commandery Princess and her companions to kill him after detecting his Dragon Qi. He spared their lives only long enough to enslave them as Soul Servants, then arranged a cover story before they woke.

• Lin Ke questioned the Jade Commandery Princess and learned the Great Fate Officer had ordered the ambush because Lin Ke’s Dragon Qi had drawn his attention.
• The Jade Commandery Princess explained that her claim about Lin Ke being a Shu Frontier spy was a pretext based on speculation about his Spirit Insect.
• Lin Ke concluded the Great Fate Officer was avoiding direct action because of the Golden Wing Sect and Hua Wujiang, and decided his backing made him safe during the Heavenly Pride Gathering.
• Lin Ke ended the illusion’s mental assault, then sent Soul-Hunting Mosquitoes into the Jade Commandery Princess and her two companions.
• Lin Ke turned all three into Soul Servants and arranged what they would say after waking so Wu Dao would not discover the truth.

Lin Ke and Wu Dao collected nearly three thousand Ancient Talismans and continued deeper into the Wasteland to investigate the competition. In the blood-red sands, the Jade Commandery Princess revealed that the Wasteland was an ancient battlefield where the Dali Imperial Clan fought Extraterrestrial Fiends, and that a True Dragon died resisting their invasion.

• Lin Ke explained that he had used a mental technique to make the Jade Commandery Princess and her companions surrender their Storage Bags, then split the captured Ancient Talismans with Wu Dao.
• Lin Ke and Wu Dao counted nearly three thousand Ancient Talismans and decided to explore deeper with the three captives to assess their rivals’ progress.
• Lin Ke summoned Duan Yifeng into the Hidden Space, and the group waited until morning before setting out.
• On their eighth day, Lin Ke and his companions reached a blood-red sand plain, where Wu Dao wondered about the Wasteland’s origin.
• The Jade Commandery Princess said the Wasteland was stained by the blood of her ancestors, who had fought invaders called Extraterrestrial Fiends, and revealed that a True Dragon had died resisting them.

Lin Ke and his companions encountered a tide of more than a thousand Wasteland Spirits carrying Ancient Talismans in the Red Sand Land. As the first stage of the Trial officially shifted into its latter half, Lin Ke chose to fight the horde.

• Lin Ke led his group onward through the bloodstained Wasteland, still puzzled by the lack of other Trial participants.
• In Dian Cang Prefecture, Howling Ape Old Ghost and Yin Jue boasted that their sects' disciples had reached the Red Sand Land ahead of most rivals, while Hua Wujiang trusted Lin Ke and Zhuge Qi Tian to catch up.
• The Imperial Sovereign of the Dali Domain announced that the latter half of the Trial's first stage had begun and sent ripples through the Wasteland.
• Lin Ke spotted more than a thousand black Wasteland Spirits with crimson flames in their eyes and Ancient Talismans inside them.
• Lin Ke decided to fight, summoned the Dream-Eating Gecko and Lin Xuanyuan, and charged at the horde as Wu Dao and the others joined him.

Lin Ke and his companions defeated two waves of Wasteland Spirits and collected hundreds of Ancient Talismans, but three enormous spirits then emerged with power nearing the Nascent Soul level. Lin Ke sheltered the exhausted Jade Commandery Princess and the others in his Golden-Wing Envoy Nest as he and Wu Dao prepared to face the new threat.

• Lin Ke, Wu Dao, the Dream-Eating Gecko, and their companions destroyed a horde of Wasteland Spirits and gathered several hundred Ancient Talismans.
• A larger second wave appeared, forcing Lin Ke and the others to fight again until they wiped it out.
• Lin Ke sensed danger and ordered everyone to collect the talismans and leave, while Wu Dao joked that another wave might appear.
• Three enormous Wasteland Spirits rose from the dunes, their power nearing the Nascent Soul level, and battered Lin Ke's Heavenly Net and Earthly Boundary.
• Lin Ke moved the exhausted Jade Commandery Princess and the others into his Golden-Wing Envoy Nest, while Wu Dao released the Dry Ants and asked Lin Ke what to do.

Lin Ke and his companions struggled to break through against powerful wasteland spirits with unusual defenses and abilities. Lin Ke discovered how one spirit shifted into a mental form and destroyed it, leaving behind a Red Crystal.

• Lin Ke split the enemies between himself and Wu Dao, while Lin Xuanyuan and the Dream-Eating Gecko joined his fight.
• The Dream-Eating Gecko’s mental attack and Lin Xuanyuan’s Gold-Shattering Cry failed to stop their wasteland spirit, and Lin Ke found his attacks could barely damage another spirit.
• Lin Ke trapped a wasteland spirit with the Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning Method, but it turned incorporeal and escaped.
• Wu Dao remained locked in a stalemate as Lin Ke summoned his Mystic Flame Horned Beetle Sovereigns and burned the escaped spirit severely.
• Lin Ke used Yang Pupil to see that the incorporeal spirit had become pure mental energy, then destroyed it with a mental assault, causing a Red Crystal to fall.

Lin Ke and his companions defeated three giant Wasteland Spirits and collected their Red Crystal Stones, allowing him to become the first disciple to clear the inner Trial. After reaching an abandoned ancient city, Lin Ke examined the stones and found golden patterns resembling ancient characters inside them.

• Lin Ke used Mystic Flame and Divine Mill to kill the remaining giant Wasteland Spirits and collect their Red Crystal Stones.
• Lin Ke led Wu Dao, the Dream-Eating Gecko, and the others away from the area and traveled for half a day to an abandoned ancient city.
• Hua Wujiang and Grass Louse True Lord watched Lin Ke's progress on the ancient mirror as a scarlet orb appeared above the Golden Wing Sect's mirror, marking Lin Ke as the first to clear the inner Trial.
• Howling Ape Old Ghost protested that Lin Ke had taken the lead, while Hua Wujiang smugly defended his disciple and the other sect leaders watched in silence.
• Wu Dao collapsed from exhaustion, and Lin Ke took out the three Red Crystal Stones and examined the golden patterns inside them, which looked like ancient characters.

Lin Ke and Wu Dao crossed the Red Sand Land and followed a towering pillar of light to an ancient altar, where an old man's phantom appeared. He revealed that they were the first to arrive and lamented the declining generations of the Dali Domain.

• Lin Ke studied a mysterious Red Crystal Stone and suspected it had crystallized from the blood of ancient experts.
• Lin Ke realized the Wasteland trial consisted of successive challenges whose spirits grew stronger in each region.
• After a quiet day of travel, Wu Dao spotted a pillar of light on the horizon, and Lin Ke decided it might guide them through the trial.
• Lin Ke and Wu Dao reached a massive altar beneath the pillar and climbed to its summit without encountering danger.
• An ancient old man's phantom appeared from the pillar and told Lin Ke and Wu Dao that the first arrivals were from the Outer Domain, then criticized the Dali Domain's declining generations.

Lin Ke and Wu Dao met Zheyan, the guardian and observer of the First Stage, who explained that the Wasteland Ancient Altar let cultivators absorb the Celestial Person Soul inside red crystals. Lin Ke offered Wu Dao one of his crystals, but Wu Dao refused, leaving Lin Ke to decide how to use his remaining time before the Trial ended.

• Lin Ke and Wu Dao asked Zheyan who he was, and he identified himself as guardian of the Wasteland Ancient Altar and observer of the First Stage.
• Zheyan explained that the altar was the First Stage’s final destination, where participants with red crystals could absorb Celestial Person Souls to improve their strength.
• Lin Ke showed Zheyan a red crystal, and Zheyan explained that it held ancient cultivators’ power and required blood energy and Nascent Soul-level mental power to absorb.
• Zheyan returned to the pillar of light after advising Lin Ke to use the altar while he still had time.
• Lin Ke offered Wu Dao one of his three red crystals, but Wu Dao refused, saying his mental power was not strong enough to absorb it.

Lin Ke and Wu Dao explained the altar and its red crystals to Zhuge Qi Tian, who learned that the Golden Wing Sect was the first to reach the final area. Lin Ke and Zhuge Qi Tian began absorbing the crystals, unleashing a fierce surge of energy and mental force that they struggled to withstand.

• Zhuge Qi Tian arrived at the altar and asked Lin Ke and Wu Dao about the place and its red crystals.
• Wu Dao explained the altar, and Zhuge Qi Tian recognized the crystals he had collected from wasteland spirits.
• Lin Ke told Zhuge Qi Tian that he and Wu Dao had reached the altar first and that no other sects had arrived.
• Wu Dao stood guard as Lin Ke and Zhuge Qi Tian cut their palms and began absorbing the red crystals.
• Lin Ke used a mental-defense tower to withstand the crystal's violent assault, while Wu Dao watched in alarm and was relieved he had not tried absorbing one.

Lin Ke refined the celestial person soul in his red crystal, strengthening his mental power and body as other heavenly prides gathered atop the altar. Mo Qi Qi’s group chose not to interfere with Lin Ke and Zhuge Qi Tian, but the arrival of a Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect heavenly pride raised the prospect of a coming clash.

• Lin Ke used Ancient Rust to absorb the crystal’s killing intent and refined its mental power, while the crystal’s nourishing substance strengthened his body.
• After half a day, Mo Qi Qi, Nan Shang, and a Ghost-Face Mask woman arrived and considered disrupting Lin Ke and Zhuge Qi Tian’s cultivation.
• Mo Qi Qi decided against attacking, sensing something strange about Lin Ke and Zhuge Qi Tian, and his group began absorbing crystals elsewhere on the altar.
• Wu Dao relaxed when the Jade Great Radiance Church group did not attack and worried that more sects would soon arrive.
• Half a day later, a heavenly pride from the Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect landed on the altar with a thunderous display of power.

Lin Ke and the others reached the ancient altar, where nearly twenty geniuses from the four great sects had gathered. Zheyan explained that the altar protected them from the Blood Moon and allowed them to contemplate the battlefield’s lingering obsessions and incomplete Dao Arts, leaving the gathered geniuses ready to seek insight there overnight.

• More geniuses from the Cloud Ink Sect, Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect, Jade Great Radiance Church, and Imperial Clan arrived at the altar as evening fell.
• Wu Dao prepared to leave with Lin Ke and Zhuge Qi Tian, but they noticed that most of the other sects’ geniuses planned to stay.
• Fu Tan mocked the Golden Wing Sect group, and Lin Ke challenged his arrogance and told him to prove his strength in the arena.
• Zheyan appeared and announced that the altar was the final destination of the first trial and a sanctuary from the Blood Moon’s power.
• Zheyan explained that the geniuses could observe lingering obsessions and incomplete Dao Arts at night, but warned them not to leave the altar.

Lin Ke and his companions stayed on the ancient altar to avoid the Blood Moon’s corruption and observe the heavenly phenomenon. As the sky revealed a terrifying clash of destruction and repair, Lin Ke used his Yang Pupil to perceive the underlying laws and began comprehending them.

• Zheyan warned everyone that the altar was the safest place at night, then vanished, and Fu Tan glared at Lin Ke without acting.
• Zhuge Qi Tian, Lin Ke, and Wu Dao decided to remain on the altar and wait for the phenomenon rather than risk going outside.
• When the Blood Moon rose, sinister winds, wandering souls, and vast fissures in the sky appeared beyond the altar’s protection.
• Zhuge Qi Tian and the other prodigies began seeking comprehension, and Lin Ke followed after using his Yang Pupil to examine the spectacle.
• Lin Ke saw the law-runes and five-colored threads repairing the ruptured void, then focused on absorbing the truths flooding into his sea of consciousness.

While observing the fissure in heaven and earth, Lin Ke sensed its pulse and began comprehending the Dao. As he entered meditation, Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect disciples moved to disrupt him, and Wu Dao blocked their way, bringing the altar to the brink of conflict.

• Lin Ke felt the world’s pulse and perceived destruction, creation, life, and death as interwoven forces, gaining an insight into the Dao of heaven and earth.
• Mo Qi Qi recognized Lin Ke’s sudden comprehension, while Nan Shang and Fu Tan were shocked by how quickly he had reached insight.
• Fu Tan signaled two Giant Strength Fire Prison Sect disciples to harass Lin Ke while he tried to enter meditation himself.
• Wu Dao stood between the two disciples and Lin Ke, warning them not to approach the area occupied by the Golden Wing Sect.
• Yanlin and the other disciple pressured Wu Dao and took a step forward, while the other cultivators watched without intervening.