Chapter Summaries

Mo Tianji fought the Fierce Spirit while the Wolf King Valley forces counterattacked, and Lin Ke completed Master Zhuang’s meditation trial. After awakening with his mental power at the Nascent Soul Late Stage, Lin Ke returned to the illusory realm and asked the Heart-Testing Mirror to let him abandon the challenge.

• Mo Tianji attacked the Fierce Spirit with the Bone Flute, and the Wolf Queen rallied her forces to counterattack Shi Yuan and the Illusionless Gu Sect.
• Lin Ke meditated through an illusion of decades or centuries of changing seasons, enduring insects, petals, and snow until he understood Master Zhuang’s question.
• Lin Ke answered that he came from nowhere and went nowhere and was, in essence, emptiness, then returned to the Cold Moon Pavilion.
• Lin Ke sensed that Zong Ya and Nan Shang were injured and Mo Tianji was nearing defeat, and found that his mental power had reached the Nascent Soul Late Stage.
• Lin Ke reentered Master Zhuang’s illusory realm, prepared tea in the stone cup, and asked the Heart-Testing Mirror to let him abandon the challenge.

Mo Tianji tried to use the Fierce Spirit to destroy the Cold Moon Pavilion and bury Lin Ke in the illusory realm, while Zong Ya, Nan Shang, and the wounded defenders fought to protect it. The barrier finally shattered under Shi Yuan’s blow, leaving the pavilion exposed.

• Mo Tianji lured the Fierce Spirit toward the Cold Moon Pavilion while the three Cloud Ink Sect cultivators escaped amid the battle.
• Zong Ya used pills and her lifespan to overpower the Illusionless Gu Sect cultivators, then sent Nan Shang to save Lin Ke.
• Mo Tianji attacked Fang Mengdie and Dongfang Yao as they reinforced the barrier, knocking Dongfang Yao unconscious and opening a breach.
• Nan Shang arrived to defend the barrier, and the wounded and elderly inside helped restore it while he used Bone Nails to restrain Mo Tianji.
• Shi Yuan struck the barrier with full force and shattered it.

Lin Ke emerged from the Heart-Testing Mirror trial after reaching the top ten of the Purple Mansion Ranking, overwhelming Mo Tianji, Shi Yuan, and the fierce spirit. The Wolf Queen and Wolf King Valley’s cultivators welcomed him as their savior.

• Mo Tianji and Shi Yuan allied to destroy the Cold Moon Pavilion and trap Lin Ke, while Zong Ya, Nan Shang, and Shen Wei defended it.
• The Cold Moon Pavilion shone repeatedly as Lin Ke’s ranking rose, and the Wolf Queen declared that he had entered the top ten of the Purple Mansion Ranking.
• The Wolf Queen and the wolf cultivators knelt to welcome Lin Ke as the Purple Mansion Sacred Master, while Mo Tianji attacked the pavilion with his Domain Body.
• Lin Ke walked out of the Cold Moon Pavilion, froze Shi Yuan in midair, and hurled the fierce spirit into a rock wall.
• Lin Ke stopped the yin souls from approaching him, and some of the weaker souls burst apart.

Lin Ke subdued Shi Yuan and the Illusionless Gu Sect while assessing the upheaval outside the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm. A message from Hua Wujiang revealed that the major powers were preparing for war and that the Poison Tempering Mountains had formed a Fourth Force, leaving Lin Ke to consider how to protect his sect.

• Lin Ke crushed the Illusionless Gu Sect cultivators and gathered their souls around Shi Yuan, then pulled three fleeing Cloud Ink Sect disciples back under his mental pressure.
• Mo Tianji tried to appease Lin Ke by offering to teach him talisman-making, but the Wolf Queen and Nan Shang reminded Lin Ke that Mo Tianji had joined Shi Yuan in trapping him.
• Lin Ke detected that fighting had broken out outside the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm and that the Dali Domain Imperial Sovereign was probing the realm for a Purple Mansion cultivator.
• Lin Ke received Hua Wujiang's message that the Illusionless Gu Sect, the Imperial Clan, and the Jade Great Radiance Church were mobilizing, while Hua Wujiang and True Lord Zheyu had formed a Fourth Force.
• Lin Ke concluded that the Cloud Ink Sect and the Golden Wing Sect were now allies and decided that sparing Mo Tianji could help protect their side.

Lin Ke and Mo Tianji reconciled after Lin Ke attacked the Cloud Ink Sect cultivators, while news of the war outside forced the secret realm’s factions to choose sides. Lin Ke joined the Golden Wing Sect and Cloud Ink Sect alliance, which tasked the Heaven’s Chosen with opening a passage into the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm before its spatial disturbances closed in a month.

• Lin Ke called his clash with Mo Tianji a misunderstanding, and the two agreed to treat each other as brothers while their allies regrouped.
• Cultivators learned that the Illusionless Gu Sect and Jade Great Radiance Church had gone to war with the Dali Domain Imperial Clan, and several groups fled Wolf King Valley.
• Howling Ape Old Ghost ordered Illusionless Gu Sect disciples to prepare for war, while Lin Ke announced he would side with the Golden Wing Sect and Cloud Ink Sect.
• Nan Shang chose to stay with Lin Ke until his memories returned, and Fang Mengdie gave Lin Ke Mo Qi Qi’s prosthetic-limb refinement technique before leaving to recover.
• Hua Wujiang ordered the Heaven’s Chosen to help the Golden Wing Sect and Cloud Ink Sect open a passage into the secret realm within a month, when the Dragon Pearl would emerge.
• Dongfang Yao woke and asked why everyone had fallen silent.

Lin Ke led the group toward the Autumn Chrysanthemum Mountain Range to find an entrance to the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm, while Duan Dongqing joined them as a guide and talisman expert. After several days of travel and a rest stop, Duan Dongqing announced that she had found the entrance's direction.

• Lin Ke chose to search southeast near the Autumn Chrysanthemum Mountain Range, explaining that the south would likely become contested ground.
• Mo Tianji introduced Duan Dongqing and asked her to accompany Lin Ke, who awkwardly greeted her after their earlier clash.
• Lin Ke and the others traveled for several days to the southeastern mountain range, while Duan Dongqing mapped the terrain and Lin Ke searched for passages and Dragon Tombs.
• Lin Ke stopped the group to let Zong Ya rest and recover, then studied the talisman-making manual and considered learning to make artificial bodies.
• Duan Dongqing approached Lin Ke and said she knew which direction the entrance lay, then told the group to follow her.

Lin Ke led the group away from the cavern Duan Dongqing had chosen and toward the lake he believed concealed the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm’s entrance. As the group searched underwater, Dragon-Lipped Crocodiles attacked, and Lin Ke summoned his Domain Body to face the swarm.

• Lin Ke used his knowledge of the terrain and formations to argue that the entrance lay beneath the lake, while Duan Dongqing insisted it was in a nearby cavern.
• Nan Shang confirmed Lin Ke’s warning about Golden Autumn Garden’s single death gate, and Zong Ya, Nan Shang, Dongfang Yao, and Shen Wei sided with Lin Ke.
• Lin Ke knocked Duan Dongqing unconscious, carried her, and led everyone to search beneath the lake for the entrance.
• Dragon-Lipped Crocodiles ambushed the group, biting Shen Wei and chasing Zong Ya, Nan Shang, and Dongfang Yao out of the water.
• Lin Ke discovered that more than four hundred Dragon-Lipped Crocodiles filled the lake, sent one flying, and summoned a towering Domain Body as Zong Ya asked how they should fight the swarm.

Lin Ke led Dongfang Yao, Nan Shang, and Zong Ya to an underwater altar that appeared to be the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm’s entrance, but its depleted spirit stones left it inactive. Meanwhile, Shen Wei fled the monsters Lin Ke had inadvertently sent his way, rescued Duan Dongqing, and took shelter with her inside a barrier-protected courtyard.

• Lin Ke blasted hundreds of Dragon-Lipped Crocodiles away, impressing Dongfang Yao, Nan Shang, and Zong Ya before leading them underwater to search for the entrance.
• Shen Wei crawled out of a shattered crocodile, cursed Lin Ke for forgetting him, and fled as the crocodiles produced pursuing humanoid monsters.
• Lin Ke found an altar inside an underwater cavern and discovered that its formation had gone dormant because its supreme-grade spirit stones were drained.
• Shen Wei reached the shore with the monsters after him, saw Duan Dongqing unconscious, and carried her toward a nearby cave abode as the crocodiles pursued them.
• Duan Dongqing woke on Shen Wei’s shoulder, accused him of molesting her, and struck him after he brought her inside a barrier-protected courtyard.
• Duan Dongqing hid behind Shen Wei when a crocodile crashed into the barrier, and Shen Wei offered her food while they waited for Lin Ke and the others.

Shen Wei cooked for Duan Dongqing while they waited, but she rushed to activate the cavern formation despite his warning that it was the Death Gate. The altar exploded, and Shen Wei shielded Duan Dongqing as the blast struck him.

• Shen Wei cooked noodles with smoked horse meat and roots while Duan Dongqing watched the crocodiles and Slop Men outside the barrier.
• Duan Dongqing accepted Shen Wei's food, enjoyed it, and then noticed that the Dragon-Lipped Crocodiles had withdrawn into the water.
• Duan Dongqing hurried to the cavern and activated the square altar, ignoring Shen Wei's warning that Lin Ke had called it the Death Gate.
• The altar exploded and blasted Shen Wei and Duan Dongqing out of the cavern as Lin Ke and the others emerged from underwater and saw the golden blast coming toward Duan Dongqing.
• Shen Wei activated the Golden Wings Scale Armor Art, grew larger, and shielded Duan Dongqing as the blast struck him.

Lin Ke contained the Guardian Array’s explosion, organized the trapped cultivators, and sent a message to Hua Wujiang while the Wolf Queen punished the Illusionless Gu Sect prisoners. The Wolf Queen’s pack fled from an arriving Fusion Stage cultivator, True Person Hanjiang, who asked the prisoners which one would become his attendant.

• Lin Ke contained the blast with a golden Guardian Array, gave the cultivators Spirit Stones, and went underwater to activate the Teleportation Altar.
• Duan Dongqing’s Guidance Talisman pointed toward the lake, and Zong Ya and Dongfang Yao helped organize the group inside the array.
• Lin Ke sent a wisp of Mental Power through the altar to find Hua Wujiang and deliver a message.
• The Wolf Queen and the Three-Eyed Wolf Demons tortured the bound Illusionless Gu Sect cultivators, including Shi Yuan.
• The Wolf Queen heard that a Fusion Stage cultivator was approaching and fled with her pack, shooting Shi Yuan with her crossbow as she left.
• True Person Hanjiang arrived at Wolf King Valley and asked the prisoners which one would be his attendant.

True Person Hanjiang turned Shi Yuan into a Human Gu after Shi Yuan offered information about Lin Ke and the Dragon Pearl. Meanwhile, Lin Ke emerged near the Golden Autumn Mountain Range as several thousand Golden Wing Sect disciples arrived and were attacked by Dragon-Lipped Crocodiles.

• Shi Yuan offered a cultivator’s life to True Person Hanjiang, who killed three captives and used their Divine Souls to sustain Yinshan True Person.
• True Person Hanjiang recognized Shi Yuan as a sect sinner, criticized his failed mission, and nearly strangled him.
• Shi Yuan claimed Lin Ke possessed the Windglow Spirit Dragon Saber and guessed that Mo Tianji had obtained the Dragon Pearl.
• True Person Hanjiang transformed Shi Yuan into a Human Gu and ordered him to lead the hunt for vital fortune and treasures in the northern territory.
• Lin Ke emerged from the lake as several thousand Golden Wing Sect disciples descended near the Golden Autumn Mountain Range.
• Dozens of Dragon-Lipped Crocodiles attacked the Golden Wing Sect disciples, scattering them as they fled toward Lin Ke and the shore.

Zhuge Qi Tian returned to the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm as Spring Yang True Person and joined Lin Ke to prepare the Golden Wing Sect for an approaching war. When Qinghe True Person arrived with the Jade Great Radiance Church and threatened their defenses, Lin Ke began a plan to take the Thousand Mountain Cone before it could break the protective array.

• Lin Ke recognized Spring Yang True Person as Zhuge Qi Tian, who explained that he had come to lead cultivators in gathering supplies and establishing defenses for the Golden Wing Sect.
• Zong Ya, Shen Wei, Nan Shang, and the other disciples drove off the Dragon-Lipped Crocodiles and set up across Golden Autumn Mountain, while Dongfang Yao profited from his fellow disciples.
• Jade Main Halls descended onto the protective Grand Array, and Qinghe True Person taunted Lin Ke and Zhuge Qi Tian from outside it with Liu Mingqing at his side.
• Zhuge Qi Tian identified Qinghe True Person and explained that the Thousand Mountain Cone could pierce the array, prompting Lin Ke to propose a surprise attack to seize it.
• Lin Ke secretly channeled spiritual qi into the Insect Jade as Qinghe True Person handed the Thousand Mountain Cone to Liu Mingqing, who struck the barrier with it.

Lin Ke tricked Liu Mingqing into the Guardian Array and seized the Thousand Mountain Cone, then reviewed the Golden Wing Sect’s mission and Hua Wujiang’s secret offer. As Lin Ke began planning how to prepare the sect’s Golden Core cultivators for war, Zhuge Qi Tian triggered a hidden danger in the cone and collapsed.

• Liu Mingqing fell into the Guardian Array, and Lin Ke took the Thousand Mountain Cone before returning with the others to Golden Autumn Mountain.
• Lin Ke gave the Thousand Mountain Cone to Zhuge Qi Tian and read the sect’s mission archives, which called for gathering spirit insects and training disciples to produce spiritual goods.
• Lin Ke discovered Hua Wujiang’s secret promise of the Sect Master’s legacy, a thousand supreme-grade spirit stones, and the chance to lead people in founding his own school.
• Lin Ke considered how to motivate the Golden Core cultivators to prepare for war.
• Zhuge Qi Tian suddenly spat blood and collapsed after the Thousand Mountain Cone lit up with bloody runes.

Lin Ke sent a group of Golden Wing Sect cultivators into Golden Autumn Garden to rescue people abducted by masked assassins. Led by Zhang Miaomiao and equipped with Royal Family Crossbows, they reached the Death Gate cavern where the kidnappers were hiding.

• Masked figures in black abducted several cultivators in the Golden Autumn Mountain Range, prompting the survivors to seek Lin Ke's help.
• Lin Ke said the sect's elders had been killed and offered spirit stones and Royal Family Crossbows to anyone willing to rescue the hostages.
• Zhang Miaomiao volunteered first, and Dongfang Yao and several cultivators whose loved ones had been taken joined her.
• Lin Ke gave the group directions and Voice Transmission Captives so they could coordinate during the rescue.
• Zhang Miaomiao led the armed group into Golden Autumn Garden, where they found the Death Gate cavern.

Lin Ke led hundreds of cultivators to seek a Dragon Tomb, hoping to strengthen their forces against the Jade Great Radiance Church. At a swamp where their search stalled, Lin Ke set the ground ablaze, and the landscape began to transform.

• Dongfang Yao’s group fought black-robed attackers in the mountain woods and rescued the Golden Wing Sect’s abducted cultivators, though Dongfang Yao suffered minor injuries.
• Lin Ke summoned the cultivators and proposed exploring a Dragon Tomb for weapons, armor, and spirit stones before the Jade Great Radiance Church broke through the protective array.
• More than four hundred cultivators joined Lin Ke, while he asked the Senior Sister and Nan Shang to guard the Golden Autumn Mountain Range and contact Mo Tianji and the Cloud Ink Sect.
• Lin Ke’s party reached a swamp full of dangerous creatures, where Duan Dongqing’s Positioning Talisman stopped pointing in a fixed direction.
• Lin Ke decided the swamp’s bad feng shui meant they should set it on fire, then dropped mystic flame and Dragon Pearl fire onto the ground as everyone flew up.

Lin Ke and the Golden Core cultivators uncovered the entrance to the Cold Dew Tomb Abode and entered its eerie village. After Lin Ke captured a mirror-shelled millipede, the tomb’s inhabitants rose to defend themselves, and the millipedes began merging with stone figures to attack the outsiders.

• Lin Ke restored the ground around the Dragon Tomb, helped the cultivators defeat the venomous beasts, and shared their valuable crystal cores.
• Lin Ke found the Cold Dew Tomb Abode entrance, and he and the others entered its misty, deserted world.
• Duan Dongqing knocked the head from a stone figure, exposing maggots, and Lin Ke caught a mirror-shelled millipede that transformed into a boy and warned them not to go outside at night.
• Lin Ke used his mental power to take information from the boy and sent another mirror-shelled millipede into his Niwan Palace for the Spirit Silkworm to examine.
• A voice accused the outsiders of harming a clan junior as mirror-shelled millipedes occupied stone figures, empowering them and advancing toward the cultivators.

Lin Ke confronted Mo Qi Qi in the Dragon Tomb, where Mo Qi Qi commanded stone figures and Mirror-Shelled Millipedes. As the Golden Wing Sect cultivators worried that Lin Ke was outmatched, Lin Ke revealed a towering purple domain body to face Mo Qi Qi’s stone giant.

• Lin Ke blocked the way through the Dragon Tomb and demanded that Mo Qi Qi hand over its natural treasures.
• Mo Qi Qi revealed his powerful stone body, threatened to kill Lin Ke, and sent stone figures and Mirror-Shelled Millipedes to attack.
• Lin Ke learned how Mo Qi Qi had returned to life, taken control of the Dragon Tomb, and forced its Mirror Ancient Millipedes to serve him.
• Lin Ke protected the Golden Wing Sect cultivators with an array of Black Ice Centipedes while Mo Qi Qi combined stone figures into a giant over a hundred feet tall.
• Duan Dongqing and Dongfang Yao worried about Lin Ke, while Shen Wei assured them that the advantage was theirs.
• Lin Ke released his mental power and formed a purple domain body even taller than Mo Qi Qi’s stone avatar.

Lin Ke survived Mo Qi Qi’s self-detonation, but Mo Qi Qi’s clan patriarch placed a Soul-Chasing Curse on him and three others and threatened the Cloud Frontier. Lin Ke urged the group to search the Dragon Tomb for weapons while Lin Can revealed that Mirror-Shelled Millipedes could greatly strengthen cultivators.

• The old Daoist Domain Body destroyed Mo Qi Qi’s Rock Giant, and Mo Qi Qi tried to kill Lin Ke by detonating his body and soul.
• Lin Ke survived the blast using the Lu Ban Lantern, and Mo Qi Qi’s clan patriarch appeared through a rift, cursed Lin Ke, Shen Wei, Dongfang Yao, and Duan Dongqing, then retrieved Mo Qi Qi’s soul.
• Duan Dongqing warned that the Mo Qi Clan’s involvement could tip the balance of power against the Cloud Frontier, but Lin Ke told everyone to search the Dragon Tomb for Dragon Armor and Dragon Weapons.
• Lin Can told Lin Ke that Mirror-Shelled Millipedes could strengthen cultivators by replacing their spines, and Lin Ke agreed to find more for him.

Lin Ke secured the Mother Insect’s agreement to provide Mirror Ancient Millipede eggs in exchange for killing the White Soul Worm. His first attempt to lure and attack the worm failed to pierce its hide, so he tried using Blade Spirits to test whether their self-destruction could hurt it.

• Lin Ke found the Mother Insect and agreed to kill the White Soul Worm in return for its eggs.
• Shen Wei, Dongfang Yao, Duan Dongqing, and the others joined Lin Ke as he went to hunt the worm.
• Lin Ke used insect eggs, bones, and Blade Spirits as bait to draw the White Soul Worm out of the sand.
• Lin Ke and Duan Dongqing attacked the worm, but their strikes barely scratched it before it burrowed away.
• Lin Ke summoned three Blade Spirits again and asked whether their self-destruction had damaged the worm.

Lin Ke and his companions drove off the White Soul Worm with the combined self-destruction of six Blade Spirits, then tested whether Blade Spirits could inhabit the stone Artificial Bodies. Blade Spirit One emerged as Lu Yuanchun, while Lin Ke delayed resurrecting the Centipede Dragon Cultivator until he found a more suitable body.

• Lin Ke sent Blade Spirits into the White Soul Worm again, but it stayed underground until six of them drew it out.
• The White Soul Worm surged from the ground and nearly swallowed Duan Dongqing, but Lin Ke's six Blade Spirits exploded and forced it to retreat.
• Lin Ke and the others took shelter in a nearby village, where Lin Ke tested whether Blade Spirits could control stone Artificial Bodies.
• Blade Spirit One entered a stone Artificial Body and transformed into Lu Yuanchun, a former Mental Power cultivator who had reached half a step into the Purple Mansion Realm.
• Lu Yuanchun pledged to serve Lin Ke for ten years, and Lin Ke postponed resurrecting the Centipede Dragon Cultivator because the available body might not support his cultivation.