Chapter Summaries

Ying Huaixu speculated that Lü Qingyi had once been a person of Heavenly Mandate and complained to the silent Heavenly Dao about being made her successor’s guardian. Meanwhile, the Divine Firmament Sword Sect’s disciples responded to his battle record by training desperately and began discovering that their strength and cultivation were growing beyond their previous limits.

• Ying Huaixu reasoned that Lü Qingyi may have been a person of Heavenly Mandate whose failed tribulation led the Heavenly Dao to choose another, and he angrily messaged the unresponsive Heavenly Dao about his guardian role.
• Ying Huaixu reassured He Xixiang that he would be cautious, and He Xixiang promised to stay with him once Lü Qingyi emerged from seclusion.
• The Divine Firmament Sword Sect’s disciples read Ying Huaixu’s battle record, felt ashamed of their poor performance in the Cold Pool Secret Realm, and began competing to improve their combat strength.
• Some disciples were injured badly in the Illusory Dream Trial, while others kept fighting and noticed their strength and cultivation speed rising beyond their expected limits.
• The disciples sensed that spiritual energy was denser than they had thought, privately investigated the change, and came to understand why the Cold Pool Secret Realm’s demonic beasts had been so powerful.

The Divine Firmament Sword Sect’s disciples realized their inherited cultivation methods had kept them within stagnant limits and began developing new ones. With Chen Zhiyuan’s yellow-covered book and inspiration from a portrait of Ying Huaixu, they eventually created the Book of All Wonders.

• Huang Tianqi and Qiu Shiyi concluded that the sect’s ancient methods were complete but had not advanced, while Ancestor Lü, Ancestor He, and Ying Huaixu had gone beyond their limits.
• Huang Tianqi proposed that the disciples create their own cultivation methods and use Chen Zhiyuan’s yellow-covered book to perfect them.
• After several days of failed attempts, a disciple used a portrait of Ying Huaixu to develop a Body Tempering method five times stronger than the existing methods.
• Huang Tianqi and Qiu Shiyi tried studying the portrait and found it helped their ideas take shape, so the other disciples used it as well.
• The disciples combined and revised their ideas, then had Chen Zhiyuan’s yellow-covered book extrapolate and perfect their method, which they named the Book of All Wonders.

Chen Zhiyuan tested the new Zehao Cultivation Technique and reached the Ninth Layer of the Qi Sea, while Qiu Shiyi and the disciples decided to keep their breakthrough secret. Ying Huaixu received a mysterious mission to reinforce Demon-Suppressing Pass and set out with Chen Zhiyuan.

• Chen Zhiyuan cultivated with the Zehao Cultivation Technique, rapidly advancing to the Ninth Layer of the Qi Sea and defeating a fellow disciple with one finger.
• Chen Zhiyuan found that the Zehao Cultivation Technique merged easily with his original technique and tripled his strength again.
• Qiu Shiyi and the disciples agreed to hide their technique, fearing that revealing it could draw danger to the Divine Firmament Sword Sect.
• Huang Tianqi predicted that Ying Huaixu would be hunted after his secret-realm venture and urged the disciples to use the time to cultivate in secret.
• Ying Huaixu received a mysterious rescue mission to reinforce Demon-Suppressing Pass and checked its distant location on a map.
• Chen Zhiyuan told Ying Huaixu that he had reached the Ninth Layer of the Qi Sea, and Ying Huaixu invited him to come along to Demon-Suppressing Pass.

Ying Huaixu and Chen Zhiyuan followed an Adventure Quest to the Ancient Demon Ruins, where Chen Zhiyuan used his formation skills to clear the way. They left the ruins’ traps and defenses disabled, and Chen Zhiyuan kept the Puppets they found.

• Ying Huaixu reviewed the mysterious rescue quest and wondered why its writer wanted him to save Demon-Suppressing Pass.
• Chen Zhiyuan sensed an opportunity below the Flying Boat, and Ying Huaixu accepted an Adventure Quest to explore the Ancient Demon Ruins.
• Ying Huaixu followed the quest marker to the ruins’ entrance while Chen Zhiyuan broke the entrance formation and sent Puppets to scout.
• Chen Zhiyuan dispelled an illusion formation after they entered the ruins and told Ying Huaixu to leave the remaining formations to him.
• Chen Zhiyuan disabled the ruins’ mechanisms, formations, and defensive Puppets, then collected the Puppets after Ying Huaixu refused to take them.

Ying Huaixu and Chen Zhiyuan explored a Secret Realm, where Chen Zhiyuan disabled its puppets and claimed a Puppet Heart Seed while Ying Huaixu learned the secrets of Blood Luo Fruit. On their way to Demon-Suppressing Pass, Chen Zhiyuan defeated a Red-Name Monster and revealed why he was delaying his breakthrough; Ying Huaixu proposed using lightning formations and recruiting helpers to get through his heavenly tribulation.

• Chen Zhiyuan disabled the Secret Realm's puppets with a Formation Disk and took the Puppet Heart Seed from the giant puppet after Ying Huaixu gave him permission.
• Ying Huaixu received an Ancient Demon Codex and learned that Blood Luo Fruit could strengthen human physiques and souls, then wondered whether any grew in reality near Demon-Suppressing Pass.
• Chen Zhiyuan handled dangers on the road while Ying Huaixu gained experience and Spirit Stones without fighting.
• Chen Zhiyuan defeated a Red-Name Monster but suppressed the cultivation surge he received from its death, and Ying Huaixu told him to keep the beast's materials for his Spirit Sea breakthrough.
• Chen Zhiyuan privately explained why he was delaying his breakthrough, and Ying Huaixu suggested using lightning-attribute formations and finding people to help him survive his heavenly tribulation.

Demon-Suppressing Pass faced another attack from the Ten Thousand Demons Sacred Land after the Taiyin Sacred Land ignored its pleas for aid, so the general appealed to the Divine Firmament Sword Sect instead. Ying Huaixu and Chen Zhiyuan arrived, discovered blood soul crystals beneath the pass, and prepared to face the new assault on Chen Zhiyuan’s terms.

• The general decided to ask the Divine Firmament Sword Sect for aid and promised that Great Yu would honor it as its overlord sect if Demon-Suppressing Pass survived.
• The Divine Firmament Sword Sect replied that Ying Huaixu and Chen Zhiyuan had already been sent, and the general went out to welcome them.
• Ying Huaixu and Chen Zhiyuan arrived at the devastated pass, where Ying Huaixu concealed his face beneath a veiled bamboo hat.
• Ying Huaixu sensed blood soul crystals beneath the city walls and learned from the general that the soldiers had destroyed Blood Luo Fruits because the fruit had killed livestock.
• When the Demonic Beasts attacked again, Ying Huaixu flew onto the wall as Chen Zhiyuan asked him not to interfere with the chaos he needed.

Chen Zhiyuan used a formation that drew heavenly tribulation lightning to destroy the demonic army attacking Demon-Suppressing Pass, then advanced to the Spirit Sea Realm. After the mission entered its second phase, he charged the Demon Clan encampment and defeated five Spirit Sea demonic beasts while Ying Huaixu watched.

• Ying Huaixu encouraged Chen Zhiyuan to fight, and Chen Zhiyuan unleashed his Nine Heavens Lightning-Inducing Formation on the charging demonic army.
• The formation’s heavenly tribulation lightning killed the demonic beasts and their formation master, while Ying Huaixu told the general that Chen Zhiyuan had lost his parents to the Demon Clan.
• Ying Huaixu fed Chen Zhiyuan a pill, and Chen Zhiyuan recovered, reached the Spirit Sea Realm, and privately confirmed that his performance had fooled the others.
• Ying Huaixu received the reward for defending Demon-Suppressing Pass and a new mission to kill the person behind the demonic tide.
• Chen Zhiyuan attacked the Demon Clan encampment and killed five Spirit Sea demonic beasts without Ying Huaixu’s help.

Chen Zhiyuan reached the second level of the Spirit Sea realm after killing Demonic Beasts with Ying Huaixu, and the two completed Phase Two of the Demon-Suppressing Pass quest. Ying Huaixu discovered Blood Luo Fruit that could increase vitality, and Chen Zhiyuan's strength surged after eating fifty-six of them.

• Chen Zhiyuan showed off his breakthrough in the sect group chat while keeping Ying Huaixu's demon-killing method secret.
• Ying Huaixu declined the general's banquet and accepted the Phase Three quest to reorganize Demon-Suppressing Pass.
• Ying Huaixu considered using the pass and its Blood Soul Crystals to help develop the Divine Firmament Sword Sect, then found a Blood Luo Fruit plant with the Eye of Insight.
• Chen Zhiyuan ate Blood Luo Fruit at Ying Huaixu's request, increasing his vitality and strength until he could no longer consume more.
• Chen Zhiyuan tested his strength by punching Ying Huaixu, who judged him far stronger than others at the same cultivation level.

After Ying Huaixu took Demon-Suppressing Pass, Zhuang Mu revealed that the Divine Firmament Sword Sect’s leaders had their paths to higher cultivation severed. He decided to use the crisis to eliminate threats to Ying Huaixu, even at the risk of his own life.

• Zhuang Mu ordered Tong Xinran to take over Demon-Suppressing Pass and said he would notify the Taiyin Sacred Land.
• Zhuang Mu told Meng Wuya that the Grand Ancestor’s prophecy had been disrupted by Ying Huaixu, and explained that his own path to advancement had been severed.
• Zhuang Mu revealed that the Divine Firmament Sword Sect’s other peak masters faced the same obstruction, while He Xixiang and Lü Qingyi had overcome similar limits in different ways.
• Zhuang Mu explained that Ying Huaixu had given him hope that the sect would endure, so he planned to kill powerful figures who might threaten him.
• Meng Wuya asked about Ye Ningshuang, and Zhuang Mu said he could not determine her purpose as a Person of Heavenly Mandate or help much with her mission.

Meng Wuya learned that other sects might be secretly raising their limits and vowed to protect Ying Huaixu, while the Mile-High Heaven Clan debated how to contain Chen Zhiyuan. Tong Xinran took over Demon-Suppressing Pass, and Ying Huaixu received a new mission to find Ye Ningshuang and disrupt the Thousand Mechanisms Sect’s plan.

• Meng Wuya worried that hidden forces were manipulating the world and resolved to pave a way for Ying Huaixu, but Zhuang Mu said the sect’s disciples already understood the danger.
• The Mile-High Heaven Clan’s figures watched Chen Zhiyuan’s lightning formation, then decided to send Descent Envoys to test him and Ying Huaixu.
• Tong Xinran arrived to take command of Demon-Suppressing Pass and brought outer disciples to mine its Blood Crystal deposit.
• Ying Huaixu completed his mission to reinforce Demon-Suppressing Pass and received a new task to find Ye Ningshuang and disrupt the Thousand Mechanisms Sect’s plan.
• Ying Huaixu complained that the mission credited Ye Ningshuang with conquering the Cold Pool Secret Realm, then checked his rewards and found materials for his next cultivation realm.

Ying Huaixu advanced to Spirit Sea Sixth Layer and decided to strengthen his sect by taking Chen Zhiyuan to fight a boss at Cold Mountain Temple. As Ying Huaixu headed there, the black dragon learned he was coming, and An Ruoyun of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect arrived to offer support and a deal.

• Ying Huaixu spent all his experience and Spirit Stones to advance from Spirit Sea Third Layer to Spirit Sea Sixth Layer, leaving him with a vast Spirit Sea.
• Worried that his strength far outpaced his sectmates, Ying Huaixu told Chen Zhiyuan he would take him to fight a Spirit Sea Realm King-Level Boss.
• Ying Huaixu asked Qiu Shiyi for the Cold Mountain Temple mission, learned the Thousand Mechanisms Sect was behind the demonic dragon, and received a three-star subjugation mission.
• The black dragon devoured Blood Crystals at Cold Mountain Temple and questioned how a human had killed Azure Fox and her companions.
• An Ruoyun, the Holy Maiden of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect, appeared before the black dragon and the abbot, saying Ying Huaixu was on his way and offering support and a deal.

An Ruoyun gave Black Dragon life energy in exchange for fighting Ying Huaixu, while Ying Huaixu tested how Blood Crystals strengthened Xiaoxue and brought Chen Zhiyuan toward Cold Mountain Temple. The chapter ended with Qiu Shiyi asking Huang Tianqi how he entered the Spirit Sea Realm without a lightning tribulation.

• An Ruoyun gave Black Dragon life energy and told him to fight Ying Huaixu for as long as he could, then vanished after warning him not to die too quickly.
• Black Dragon chose to absorb the Life Essence and told the abbot to avoid conflict with the Divine Firmament Sword Sect, while the abbot sent a novice to check for other sect members.
• After Blood Crystals at Demon-Suppressing Pass began working normally, Ying Huaixu took Chen Zhiyuan toward Cold Mountain Temple and made Xiaoxue devour Blood Crystals.
• Xiaoxue's physique limit increased fivefold, and Chen Zhiyuan warned the Divine Firmament Sword Sect's group about how quickly Demonic Beasts could grow stronger.
• Huang Tianqi praised Chen Zhiyuan, then told Qiu Shiyi that his cultivation method was different when asked about his Spirit Sea Realm breakthrough and missing lightning tribulation.

Huang Tianqi explained how replacing his meridians and Dantian with space let him reshape his cultivation, wield spatial powers, and store resources, leaving Qiu Shiyi stunned by his strength. After Ying Huaixu and Chen Zhiyuan joined them, Chen Zhiyuan began considering whether formations that sealed space could counter Huang Tianqi.

• Huang Tianqi demonstrated a spatial spell that burned a tree to charcoal and explained how his understanding of space let him create spaces with different attributes.
• Huang Tianqi trapped Qiu Shiyi with Spatial Shackles, then revealed that his spatial Dantian stored resources and converted them into Spiritual Power.
• Qiu Shiyi asked whether Huang Tianqi could defeat Ying Huaixu, and Huang Tianqi said he could not affect her spatial fluctuations.
• Ying Huaixu arrived with Chen Zhiyuan and learned from Qiu Shiyi how Huang Tianqi had transformed his cultivation.
• Chen Zhiyuan considered improving his formations to seal space and potentially restrain Huang Tianqi.

Qiu Shiyi, Huang Tianqi, and Chen Zhiyuan led the assault on Cold Mountain Temple while Ying Huaixu stayed back as support. Huang Tianqi annihilated the temple’s defenders, and Black Dragon emerged as the last opponent.

• Qiu Shiyi asked Ying Huaixu to watch while he, Huang Tianqi, and Chen Zhiyuan handled the secret realm themselves.
• Qiu Shiyi killed the gatekeepers and attacked Cold Mountain Temple, while Chen Zhiyuan sealed the area with a formation.
• Huang Tianqi shattered the temple’s protective formation and killed the demon monks and destroyed the mountain gate with a single move.
• An Ruoyun watched the Divine Firmament Sword Sect’s overwhelming strength and noted that Ying Huaixu had not even acted.
• Black Dragon emerged from the pool, transformed into his true form, and faced Huang Tianqi, Qiu Shiyi, and Chen Zhiyuan.

Chen Zhiyuan, Huang Tianqi, and Qiu Shiyi defeated the Black Dragon at Cold Mountain Temple, while Ying Huaixu reconsidered the dangers of the Main Quest. After they left, An Ruoyun watched from hiding and decided to make plans of her own.

• Chen Zhiyuan and the others overwhelmed the Black Dragon with their strength, formations, poison, and spatial powers, then captured his divine soul.
• The system announced that the Cold Mountain Temple Subjugation Mission was complete and awarded experience, Spirit Stones, and Spirit Leaves.
• Chen Zhiyuan asked Ying Huaixu to take them to a stronger opponent, and Huang Tianqi looked forward to another fight.
• Ying Huaixu agreed to continue while focusing on the Main Quest and investigating the Star-Seizing Sect's Secret Realm.
• After the others left, An Ruoyun hid in a dark corner and decided to make plans.

Ye Ningshuang pushed her body through repeated destruction and healing to force a breakthrough after reaching the peak of the qi sea stage without a heavenly tribulation. She reached the absolute peak of the spirit sea realm and opened two complementary spirit seas, leaving Black Shadow and Black Cat stunned by the Netherworld Spiritual Root’s potential.

• Ye Ningshuang slaughtered monsters and repeatedly tore her body apart to strengthen it, ignoring Black Cat and Black Shadow’s warnings.
• After drinking Black Shadow’s soup, Ye Ningshuang reached the peak of the qi sea stage but found no heavenly tribulation to help her advance.
• Ye Ningshuang detonated and rebuilt her Dantian eighty-one times, forcing her way into the spirit sea realm.
• Ye Ningshuang’s spirit sea expanded as it absorbed souls, carrying her from the first layer to the absolute peak of the spirit sea realm.
• Ye Ningshuang opened a black spirit sea and a white spirit sea, which merged while separately absorbing evil thoughts and combat abilities from souls.
• Black Cat and Black Shadow realized Ye Ningshuang had revealed a way to use the Netherworld Spiritual Root that Black Shadow had never discovered.

After leaving the gray world, Ye Ningshuang sensed that someone was suppressing the Hongmeng World and absorbed the combat memories she had collected. Black Cat warned Black Shadow that Ye Ningshuang’s discovery of the world’s hidden opportunity would put her in danger, but Ye Ningshuang received a message from Ying Huaixu to gather for a mission.

• Ye Ningshuang slaughtered the monsters in the gray world, sealed their souls in her Spirit Sea, and returned to the Hongmeng World, where she sensed that its growth was being suppressed.
• Ye Ningshuang washed away the blood and meditated by a river, absorbing her combat memories and strengthening her sword mastery.
• Black Shadow recalled that she had detonated herself after discovering the Hongmeng World, while Black Cat reasoned that Ye Ningshuang’s discovery of its hidden opportunity would attract danger.
• Black Cat urged Black Shadow to reveal what she knew and help protect Ye Ningshuang, but Black Shadow said she could not help with the Netherworld Spiritual Root.
• Ye Ningshuang finished meditating and felt ready to stand alongside Ying Huaixu, though she worried about facing him after disappointing him.
• Ying Huaixu contacted Ye Ningshuang and told her to stay where she was while he and the others came to gather her for a mission.

Ying Huaixu learned that Qiu Shiyi needed a vessel for his Weak Water to break through to the Dao Seal realm, and discovered that the Merfolk Clan’s Tear of Returning to the Sea could provide one. Remembering the coming merfolk civil war and Ye Ningshuang’s role in it, Ying Huaixu headed to find her while Chen Zhiyuan fought off their pursuers.

• Chen Zhiyuan searched Black Dragon’s soul and learned that the Thousand Mechanisms Sect was investigating Ying Huaixu’s strength.
• Qiu Shiyi revealed that he needed a treasure capable of holding Weak Water before he could break through to the Dao Seal realm.
• Ying Huaixu explained that the Merfolk Clan’s Tear of Returning to the Sea could hold divine water, but Qiu Shiyi rejected the idea of becoming cultivation partners with the merfolk princess.
• Ying Huaixu recalled that the Thousand Mechanisms Sect would spark a Merfolk Clan civil war and that Ye Ningshuang would help resolve it and receive the Tear of Returning to the Sea.
• Ying Huaixu and the others boarded a Flying Boat to find Ye Ningshuang while Chen Zhiyuan killed their pursuers along the way.

Ying Huaixu and his companions fought off increasingly powerful assassins, and Ying Huaixu’s freezing artistic conception wiped them out. They suspected the Thousand Mechanisms Sect and its allies were preparing a deadly trap for the next secret realm, leaving the Divine Firmament Sword Sect facing an unprecedented threat.

• Chen Zhiyuan, Huang Tianqi, and Qiu Shiyi fought the attackers, whom Huang Tianqi identified as Death Servants, while protecting Ying Huaixu.
• Ying Huaixu suspected the Thousand Mechanisms Sect was probing his strength to prepare a more dangerous next secret realm.
• Ying Huaixu unleashed his artistic conception, freezing the attackers and his companions before withdrawing it.
• Huang Tianqi theorized that other sects had allied with the forces behind the Thousand Mechanisms Sect and were targeting the Divine Firmament Sword Sect.
• Chen Zhiyuan argued that the enemy feared something and urged the group to conceal Ying Huaixu’s strength, while Ying Huaixu considered whether they might try to eliminate that fear.
• Ying Huaixu and Huang Tianqi realized the other sects might sacrifice the Divine Firmament Sword Sect to gain power, and Huang Tianqi warned of an unprecedented challenge.

The Thousand Mechanisms Sect master reluctantly accepted more life essence from the Mile-High Heaven Clan to keep testing Ying Huaixu, while An Ruoyun planned to use other demonic cultivators to do the probing. He tried to leave the sect to clear his head but found the Divine Firmament Sword Sect blacksmith blocking its entrance until Ying Huaixu returned, so he went back to sleep.

• The Thousand Mechanisms Sect master complained to the Mile-High Heaven Clan that his disciples and deathsworn were dying while testing Ying Huaixu, and they offered more life essence in exchange for continuing.
• The Thousand Mechanisms Sect master accepted the Mile-High Heaven Clan's supplies, including blood soul crystals An Ruoyun had requested.
• An Ruoyun told the sect master she would learn Ying Huaixu's plans and create obstacles so other demonic cultivators would test him, possibly drawing on their desire for revenge over the Blood Crystals.
• The Thousand Mechanisms Sect master suspected An Ruoyun had deeper plans and decided to leave the sect to clear his head.
• The sect master found the Divine Firmament Sword Sect blacksmith blocking the entrance and learned the sect was preventing anyone stronger than Ying Huaixu from leaving until his return.
• The sect master left the smithy and went back to sleep.