Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke and his companions posed as defectors from the Illusionless Gu Sect and persuaded Mu Dan Yi to bring them before Consort Yueji. Their cover was immediately challenged when Yueji discovered they had no gu insects and threatened them with overwhelming force.

• Lin Ke told his companions that claiming to defect was their best chance to reach the Imperial Clan's higher-ups, while Mu Dan San chased the fraudulent Formation Master who had taken their Spirit Stones.
• When Mu Dan Yi ordered the Imperial Clan cultivators to surround them, Lin Ke claimed expertise as an Artifact Refiner and Talisman Master, showed his Spirit Insects, and said they had been abducted by the Illusionless Gu Sect.
• Shaoyao vouched for the group, and Mei claimed that the Eldest Princess had died fighting Undead Armored Soldiers; Mu Dan Yi examined Zhu and Lan but saw unfamiliar faces beneath their robes.
• Mu Dan Yi exposed Mu Ting's robe, but Lin Ke covered him again and invoked their dignity as captives, convincing Mu Dan Yi to stop questioning them and lead them onward.
• At Consort Yueji's palace, the group passed the guards' test papers, but Yueji demanded to know why they had no gu insects and threatened to slaughter them as her aura and two Divine-Grade Round Fans pressed upon them.

Lin Ke and his companions joined the Imperial Clan’s formation affairs office after Consort Yueji demanded that Lin Ke surrender his intelligence and keep quiet. Lin Ke planned to use the Blood-Drop Restriction method to gain access to influential figures and get closer to the formation behind the Falling Formation.

• Lin Ke offered a Gu-removal method to the Imperial Clan, and Consort Yueji offered him a place in the formation affairs office instead of requiring him to castrate himself, provided he handed over his intelligence and stayed silent.
• Lin Ke wrote down the Method for Breaking the Blood-Drop Restriction and was told to share it with Liu Mingqing, one of Consort Yueji’s people.
• Shaoyao escorted Lin Ke and his companions to the affairs office, arranged lodgings, and promised to register false names for them.
• At midnight, Mu Ting explained that her Spirit Artifact could imitate other people’s appearances, while Duan Dongqing noted that talismans could produce a similar effect.
• Lin Ke explained that the restriction-breaking method would give them time to approach the Imperial Clan’s leaders, then prepared archives bearing Blood-Drop Restrictions for the others to give to important people.

Lin Ke and Mu Ting planned to use a Blood-Drop Restriction to gain access to the Imperial Clan’s higher-ups, but Liu Mingqing ambushed their group and demanded the method for breaking it. Lin Ke trapped Liu Mingqing with a restriction, learned that the Mountain Stream Jade was at Ancient Charm Mountain, and led his party there while Jiang Ruoyan stayed behind to guard Liu Mingqing.

• Lin Ke explained that afflicting an important Imperial Clan figure with the restriction could help the group investigate the Falling Formation, and Mu Ting realized he would need to meet the Imperial Clan’s higher-ups.
• Liu Mingqing attacked Lin Ke’s party with a formation and demanded the method for breaking the restriction.
• Lin Ke handed Liu Mingqing a scroll that triggered a Blood-Drop Restriction, leaving him incapacitated, and discovered from Liu Mingqing’s jade pendant that the Mountain Stream Jade was at Ancient Charm Mountain.
• Liu Mingqing attacked with his emerald broadsabers, but Lin Ke’s companions restrained him and Mu Ting knocked him unconscious.
• Lin Ke decided to head to Ancient Charm Mountain to take the Mountain Stream Jade and potentially spread the restriction to Imperial Clan members; Jiang Ruoyan stayed to guard Liu Mingqing as the others flew out under cover of night.

The Grand Consort, Second Consort, and Qinghe True Person built a formation platform to activate the Falling Grand Array and destroy the cultivators trapped in the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm. Lin Ke and his companions reached the summit and spotted how close the formation was to completion.

• The Grand Consort, Second Consort, and Qinghe True Person discussed using the Falling Grand Array to kill the secret realm's cultivators while claiming their plan served the Imperial Sovereign.
• The Second Consort lured a Jade Great Radiance Church cultivator into a trance, then killed him, while Qinghe True Person killed his companion and the Grand Consort burned both bodies.
• Lin Ke and his companions climbed Ancient Charm Mountain as ash fell from above, and Lin Ke and Mu Ting raced ahead of the others.
• Lin Ke and Mu Ting reached the summit first, hid behind a stone pillar, and saw that the formation needed only a Hollow Pentagonal Heavenly Eye to be completed.
• Shen Wei, Mei Lanzhu, and the others ran past Lin Ke and Mu Ting, drawing the attention of the cultivators working on the platform.

Lin Ke and the others searched for a way to reach the formation chambers, planning to dig a tunnel into them. Lin Ke found Mei and Lan held hostage by Jade Great Radiance Church elders, while Zhu lay dead in a cavern full of treasure.

• An official caught Lin Ke and Shen Wei near the formation, and Lin Ke claimed they had come to donate Spirit Stones before joining the offering line with the others.
• The First Consort and Second Consort publicly vowed to defend Cloud Frontier, then left to visit Liu Mingqing, so Lin Ke urged the group to act before they discovered anything amiss.
• Lin Ke proposed tunneling beneath the formation using Positioning Talismans, and the group split up to find a suitable entrance.
• Mei, Lan, and Zhu found a fissure with running water, and Lin Ke entered it using the Formation Stone.
• Lin Ke found Mei and Lan held at knifepoint by Jade Great Radiance Church elders, while Zhu lay dead among Spirit Stones and treasures.

Lin Ke rescued Mei, Lan, and Zhu from two cultivators who had attacked them while tunneling toward the Empty Storehouse. Mu Ting arrived and killed the surviving attacker with a powerful art, but the technique reduced her cultivation to the early Nascent Soul stage.

• Mei told Lin Ke that two cultivators had trapped them in a formation, made filthy demands, and attacked Zhu when he refused.
• Lin Ke noticed a tunnel toward the mountaintop and realized the cultivators intended to steal treasures from the Empty Storehouse.
• Lin Ke distracted the attackers by calling out to the Grand Consort, then used the Seven Stars Dazzling Eyes Art to kill one and cut off the other's hand.
• Mu Ting broke through the cavern entrance with Flowing Wind Annihilation Slash, forced the remaining cultivator to kneel, and killed him with her command.
• Lin Ke caught Mu Ting as she collapsed, and Mei explained that her Yin-Yang Exchange Annihilation Art had drained her spirit power and lowered her cultivation to the early Nascent Soul stage.
• Mei explained Mu Ting's orange eyes could compel anyone who desired her to obey her commands, then covered her face with a fresh veil.

Lin Ke and the others debated how to dig out of the mountain before their enemies discovered them, then learned that Mirror Ancient Millipedes could tunnel through the rock and reproduce by splitting. Their small numbers and shrinking size left Lin Ke reconsidering the plan.

• Lin Ke explained that Zhu and two Jade Great Radiance Church cultivators had died after the church cultivators tried to tunnel toward the spiritual qi gemstones, then placed Zhu's nascent soul in a stone artificial body and entrusted her to Lu Yuanchun.
• Lin Ke found that the tunnel ended high inside the mountain and that his Windglow Spirit Dragon Saber could barely chip the spirit-vein-reinforced rock.
• Shen Wei, Mu Ting, and Duan Dongqing proposed digging, blasting, and using Explosive Talismans, but each method was too slow, risky, or costly.
• Lin Ke released a Mirror Ancient Millipede, which readily ate through the mountainside, and Shen Wei summoned another to help dig.
• Lin Can said she could not replicate the Mirror Ancient Millipedes, but Shen Wei discovered that one had split into two after eating through the rock.
• Lin Ke realized the millipedes reproduced by splitting, but saw that the new insects were smaller and concluded that his dozen millipedes could not dig the entire tunnel.

Lin Ke and his allies planned to gather outside help and delay the Imperial Clan’s mining while seeking tools to tunnel toward the Mountain Stream Jade. At Consort Liuye’s underground auction, Lin Ke began preparing to trade for the Mountain-Splitting Axe.

• Lin Ke assigned Shen Wei and Duan Dongqing to impersonate Jade Great Radiance Church elders and deliver spirit stones while Mu Ting searched for a secret auction.
• Mu Ting found Consort Liuye’s auction in Ancient Rhyme Gorge, where the host offered a Mountain-Splitting Axe, a Fusion Marrow-Cleansing Pill, and Ten Thousand Longevity Returning to the Mountain Grass.
• Lin Ke explained that the group needed to prepare thoroughly to dig out the Mountain Stream Jade, since a surprise attack would not give them enough time to break through the Formation Stone.
• Lin Ke, Mu Ting, and the others went to the auction, where masked guests began trading Dragon Armor and Dragon Weapons with little interest from the audience.
• Lin Ke and Mu Ting arranged lodging near the camp and separately considered how to obtain the Mountain-Splitting Axe.
• Lin Ke reviewed his trade goods and decided that his stone Artificial Bodies and Grain Rain Dragon Pearl Liquid could attract bidders.

On the final day of the guest auction, Lin Ke sold stone Artificial Bodies that could let cultivators survive the destruction of their physical bodies. The Rafflesia Lineage won the first ten, and Lin Ke began auctioning a more attractive batch at a higher starting price.

• Lan told Lin Ke, Mei, and Mu Ting that the auction had begun featuring more interesting items, and they returned to watch.
• Lin Ke and Mu Ting speculated that the Imperial Clan cultivators were saving their resources for resurrection methods and Teleportation Formations.
• Lin Ke took Mei’s auction number to the stage and presented stone Artificial Bodies made by the Mirror Ancient Millipede clan, explaining that they could help cultivators retreat after death.
• The Rose, Hyacinth, and Rafflesia Lineages competed for ten Artificial Bodies, and the Rafflesia Lineage won them at three million one hundred thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones each.
• Lin Ke revealed ten better-looking Artificial Bodies and set their starting price at three million Mid-Grade Spirit Stones each.

Lin Ke and Mu Ting used the auction to draw out a cultivator from Mo Qi Qi's lineage, hoping to obtain high-grade Artificial Bodies and their refining method. After Mo Qi Qi followed them from the auction, they trapped him in Duan Jihong's Wisteria Magic Array, but he revealed a powerful silver body and attacked Lin Ke.

• Lin Ke sold five more stone Artificial Bodies to the Rose Lineage and arranged for Lan to auction the final three while claiming to be the Mo Qi Clan's only successor.
• Lin Ke explained to Mu Ting that finding a cultivator from Mo Qi Qi's branch could help them face the three Fusion powerhouses without needing the Mountain-Splitting Axe.
• Lan's Artificial Bodies sparked a bidding frenzy, while Lin Ke and Mu Ting collected 86.5 million Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and left the auction cavern.
• A black-clad figure followed Lin Ke and Mu Ting into a purple rift, where Duan Jihong's Wisteria Magic Array trapped him.
• The figure was revealed as Mo Qi Qi, now in a Flowing Silver Ever-Changing Indestructible Body, and he attacked Lin Ke with a thunderous punch.
• Purple iron bars appeared between Mo Qi Qi and Lin Ke, blocking the punch.

Lin Ke defeated Mo Qi Qi and took the Flowing Silver Ever-Changing Indestructible Body and a teleportation Formation Stone. He offered the Formation Stone to Consort Liuye in exchange for helping the Eldest Princess expose the Grand Consort and the Second Consort’s scheme, leaving Consort Liuye to consider his proposal.

• Mo Qi Qi broke Lin Ke’s Wisteria Magic Array and attacked him with a red phantom, but Master Zhuang redirected Mo Qi Qi’s fireball and Lin Ke defeated him.
• Lin Ke seized the Flowing Silver Ever-Changing Indestructible Body and the Formation Stone for the Teleportation Formation from Mo Qi Qi’s scattered belongings.
• Consort Liuye learned that the holder of the Flowing Silver Ever-Changing Indestructible Body had left before the auction and decided to sell Fission Insects to raise funds.
• Lin Ke secretly visited Consort Liuye and offered her the teleportation Formation Stone in exchange for hearing his proposal.
• Lin Ke showed Consort Liuye the Snow Moon Reflecting Frost Blade and argued that the Eldest Princess, the Golden Wing Sect, and the Cloud Ink Sect were still alive.
• Consort Liuye suspected that the Grand Consort and the Second Consort planned to sacrifice cultivators in the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm, and Lin Ke asked her to help the Eldest Princess expose their lies.

Lin Ke returned to the Mountain Cave after recruiting Consort Liuye, while Duan Dongqing revealed that the Falling Formation on Ancient Charm Mountain had already been activated. Consort Liuye tried to find cultivators serving the Eldest Princess, but her amplified call echoed across the summit and alerted everyone there.

• Consort Liuye accepted Lin Ke's invitation to meet at Ancient Charm Mountain and received a blood-colored restriction after reading his note.
• Lin Ke returned to his lodgings, told Mei, Lan, and Mu Ting that Consort Liuye would help expose the Grand Consort and Second Consort, and warned that he could trigger her restriction if she betrayed them.
• Duan Dongqing told Lin Ke that the Falling Formation was active and that the spirit power added to the Empty Storehouse sustained it.
• Lin Ke and the others hid in the Mountain Cave as two Imperial Clan cultivators patrolled nearby and discussed the Grand Consort and Second Consort's absence and Liu Mingqing's rapid breakthroughs.
• Consort Liuye disguised her purpose, put the two patrolling cultivators to sleep, and called out to find cultivators serving the Eldest Princess.
• Consort Liuye's call resonated across Ancient Charm Mountain, reaching the cultivators at the summit as they offered spirit stones.

Mu Ting reunited with Consort Liuye, who agreed to expose the Grand Consort and Second Consort, but Qinghe True Person attacked before they could act. As Consort Liuye fought him, Lin Ke began helping the Centipede Dragon Cultivator take over the Flowing Silver Hundred-Transformation Indestructible Body.

• Consort Liuye reunited with Mu Ting, who reminded her of Princess Liuxu’s suspicious death and persuaded her to oppose the Grand Consort and Second Consort.
• Consort Liuye sent messages summoning other imperial consorts and relatives to Ancient Charm Mountain, but Qinghe True Person discovered the group and attacked.
• Consort Liuye confronted Qinghe True Person and fought off his Thousand Mountain Cone attack with her Willow Leaf Transformation Art.
• Lin Ke retreated to begin resurrecting the Centipede Dragon Cultivator in the Flowing Silver Hundred-Transformation Indestructible Body while his companions guarded him.
• The Centipede Dragon Cultivator asked Lin Ke to help establish circulation through the body’s meridians and offered to teach him the Xia Dragon Lineage cultivation technique.

Lin Ke accepted the Centipede Dragon Cultivator’s Thousand Changes Long Night Burning Sun Art and began circulating Dragon Pearl Fire through his meridians. As Lin Ke struggled through the dangerous first step, Consort Liuye and Lu Yuanchun fought Qinghe True Person outside the cave to protect the Eldest Princess.

• The Centipede Dragon Cultivator offered Lin Ke his cultivation technique and warned that mastering it required severing emotion and desire for the rest of his life, and Lin Ke agreed.
• The Centipede Dragon Cultivator explained the technique’s three stages, including shaping fire into creatures and Spell Arts before rebuilding the body from Spirit Fire.
• Lin Ke drew Dragon Pearl Fire into his meridians, while Mu Ting, Shen Wei, and Duan Dongqing guarded the cave and kept others from disturbing him.
• Lin Ke’s fire circulation caused severe pain and depleted his Spiritual Qi; after a collision injured him, he swallowed Heart-Steadying Pills and tried again, but his body became badly dehydrated.
• Outside the cave, Consort Liuye weakened while fighting Qinghe True Person, who urged her to join him; she refused to abandon the Eldest Princess, and Jiang Ruoyan brought her a Mirror Ancient Millipede.

Consort Liuye and her allies fought Qinghe True Person while Lin Ke endured the Dragon Pearl Fire to cultivate the Thousand Transformations Long Night Burning Sun Art. The Grand Consort and Second Consort arrived, and Jiang Ruoyan sacrificed himself to blast them before they summoned their domain spirits and prepared to continue the battle.

• Consort Liuye used the Mirror Ancient Millipede to gain Fusion-level strength and joined the assault on Qinghe True Person.
• Lin Ke rejected Shen Wei's plea to escape and continued tempering himself with the Dragon Pearl Fire, aided by the Centipede Dragon Cultivator's flame butterfly.
• The Grand Consort and Second Consort arrived and forced Consort Liuye, Jiang Ruoyan, and Lu Yuanchun back toward the Mountain Cave.
• Jiang Ruoyan self-detonated, sending a shock wave across Ancient Charm Mountain and leaving the Grand Consort and Second Consort disheveled.
• The Grand Consort and Second Consort revealed their Battle Armor, released their domain spirits, and summoned two ornate buildings filled with enchanting women.

Lin Ke's side fought the Grand Consort and Second Consort as the Red Powder Skeletons attacked, and Lu Yuanchun sacrificed himself to destroy their towers. Consort Liuye shielded the survivors with a formation, but the Second Consort began battering it with the Thousand Mountain Cone and peach-blossom Flying Swords.

• The Grand Consort and Second Consort sent Red Powder Skeletons against Lin Ke's side, killing several cultivators and creating new skeletons.
• Lu Yuanchun and the Dream-Eating Gecko deployed the Insect Net and unleashed the Void Illusion Strangulation Flow, cutting down many Red Powder Skeletons.
• The Grand Consort and Second Consort counterattacked with peach-blossom Flying Swords, injuring the Dream-Eating Gecko, Duan Dongqing, Mu Ting, and Consort Liuye.
• Lu Yuanchun self-detonated, and Consort Liuye raised a formation over the cave entrance that shielded her allies and destroyed the two towers.
• The Second Consort took Qinghe True Person's Thousand Mountain Cone and attacked Consort Liuye's formation with it and her peach-blossom Flying Swords.
• Consort Liuye urged the surviving cultivators to pour their spiritual qi into the formation so they could hold out longer.

Lin Ke pushed himself to refine Dragon Pearl Fire while his allies struggled to hold back the Second Consort, but his body and soul began to fail. Mu Ting infused him with her extreme-cold power, and as his consciousness returned, fire-attribute natal spiritual qi appeared in his nascent soul.

• Mu Ting urged Lin Ke to keep refining Dragon Pearl Fire as she and the others reinforced the formation against the Second Consort.
• Lin Ke refined more than two hundred strands of Dragon Pearl Fire, but his body, nascent soul, and divine soul neared collapse.
• Lin Ke’s attempt to envelop fresh Dragon Pearl Fire with refined fire destroyed his prosthetic left hand and ruptured his meridians.
• Consort Liuye gave Mu Ting a spirit artifact and told her to escape with Lin Ke, but Mu Ting instead asked the others to keep supporting the formation.
• Mu Ting covered Lin Ke from view, removed his charred clothing, and used her extreme-cold spiritual qi to soothe his damaged body.
• Lin Ke regained some consciousness as the cold power reduced the Dragon Pearl Fire’s damage, and fire-attribute natal spiritual qi manifested in his nascent soul.

Lin Ke absorbed the Dragon Pearl Fire and recovered as the Grand Consort shattered the formation and trapped Mu Ting and the others. Mei was mortally wounded while saving Mu Ting, but Lin Ke rose to face the consorts, and the Grand Consort secretly attacked him with a Soul-Slaying Hairpin.

• Lin Ke refined the Dragon Pearl Fire, restored his body, and advanced his Nascent Soul as Mu Ting nourished him with cold qi.
• The Grand Consort transformed her domain spirit and broke Consort Liuye's formation, killing the Mirror Ancient Millipede and knocking the defenders unconscious or injuring them.
• Mu Ting tried to teleport everyone away, but the Grand Consort used a spatial ring to pin them in place, and the Second Consort prepared to kill Mu Ting.
• Mei intercepted the Second Consort's Soul-Slaying Hairpin and returned Mu Ting's ring, urging her to escape while she detonated herself to buy time.
• Lin Ke rose in Sect Master Armor with Dragon Pearl Fire wings, slapped the Second Consort into the mountain wall, and faced the three consorts.
• The Grand Consort pretended she meant no harm to Lin Ke, then secretly thrust her Soul-Slaying Hairpin at his throat.

Lin Ke broke through the Grand Consort’s attack and drove the battle outside the Mountain Cave, where he and his allies fought Qinghe True Person, the Grand Consort, and the Second Consort. As the Second Consort rallied cultivators to strengthen the Falling Grand Array, Lin Ke began using the Nine-Turn Jade Dragon Incineration Art.

• Lin Ke froze the Grand Consort with the Oil Lamp, wounded her with Dragon Pearl Fire and his saber, then blasted everyone out of the Mountain Cave with the Northern Frontier Sea-Calming Seal.
• Lin Ke and the Centipede Dragon Cultivator attacked Qinghe True Person, and the latter’s Nine-Turn Buddha-Light Dharma Form repeatedly crushed him despite his attempts to recover.
• Lin Ke summoned Lu Yuanchun, Jiang Ruoyan, and Lin Xuanyuan, and gathered supreme treasures from Consort Liuye, the Eldest Princess, Duan Dongqing, and Shen Wei to form two Four-Armed Dharma Forms.
• Lin Ke struck at the retreating Second Consort and wounded her, but the Grand Consort and Red Powder Skeletons held him back while the Second Consort urged cultivators to strengthen the Falling Grand Array.
• Lin Ke pointed his Windglow Spirit Dragon Saber and invoked the Nine-Turn Jade Dragon Incineration Art.

Lin Ke defeated the Second Consort’s body as the True Lord of the Five Poisons revealed the Illusionless Gu Sect’s betrayal and seized control of the Grand Consort. The secret realm’s fall was shown to be aimed at an unfamiliar range of black mountains rather than the Dali Domain.

• Lin Ke’s nine fire dragons overwhelmed the Second Consort, and he discovered that her divine soul had escaped her hollow body.
• The True Lord of the Five Poisons appeared, took the Blood-Colored Cube from True Person Hanjiang, and revealed that the Illusionless Gu Sect had tricked the Imperial Clan.
• The True Lord used gu poison to control the Grand Consort, while the Second Consort seized her Storage Bag and entered an Artificial Body.
• Lin Ke realized the Illusionless Gu Sect had infiltrated Ancient Charm Mountain and redirected its Falling Grand Array toward the Shu Frontier, then withdrew to his cave.
• The True Lord displayed the Cloud Dragon Secret Realm’s descent through a Heaven-Watching Formation, revealing that it was heading toward unfamiliar black mountains rather than the Dali Domain.