Chapter Summaries

Qing Chen and the other cultivators entered Immortal-Severing Island and saw the immense formations and spirit-energy pillars sustaining it. Ten Thousand Souls True Person explained the dangers and trials of the Blood Jiangshi Legacy Mansion, while Ghost Corpse True Person suspected the Condensed Jade Sect was hiding deeper secrets.

• Qing Chen stepped into the Overturning Heaven and Earth Four Symbols Formation and arrived on Immortal-Severing Island.
• Qing Chen sensed that the island's spirit energy had been drawn into the Forbidden Grand Array and the pillar near the Blood Jiangshi Legacy Mansion.
• Ten Thousand Souls True Person warned the cultivators not to kill the island's natives recklessly, lest the formation or mansion reject them.
• Ten Thousand Souls True Person explained that Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators had to pass trials to obtain Command Tokens, and that their success would ease the Golden Core trials.
• Ghost Corpse True Person suspected Ten Thousand Souls True Person had concealed secrets about the legacy mansion and recalled his strength in past conflicts.

Qing An ordered Hanchuan City’s defenses after immortals flew overhead, while cultivators from three archipelagos approached the Ghost-Crying Mountain Range and argued over their sects. Their dispute erupted into an attack by Ghost Corpse True Person, leaving Impermanence True Person in immediate danger.

• Qing An sent Deputy General Niu to reassure Hanchuan’s people and impose martial law, then ordered Commandant Zhao to suppress bandits and outlaws.
• Qing An watched the immortals depart and wondered whether his elder brothers and a woman he called a she-devil would pursue immortality.
• The cultivators reached the Ghost-Crying Mountain Range and marveled at the ancient power and mysteries embedded in its landscape.
• Impermanence True Person and Ghost Corpse True Person argued over the Darkness Forbidden Zones and the rival sects’ standing.
• Ghost Corpse True Person summoned a corpse monster and sent it hurtling toward Impermanence True Person.

Impermanence True Person fought Ghost Corpse True Person’s flying yaksha with a powerful Yin-Yang Heavenly Halberd Treasure Talisman, demonstrating that the Impermanence Sect could not be easily dismissed. The group’s argument paused when Ten Thousand Souls True Person announced they had reached the Ghost-Crying Mountain Range.

• The flying yaksha shattered Impermanence True Person’s sword aura, and Impermanence True Person recognized it as a middle Golden Core stage corpse monster.
• Impermanence True Person summoned two heavenly halberds from his Yin-Yang Heavenly Halberd Treasure Talisman and damaged the flying yaksha in their clash.
• Ghost Corpse True Person praised the treasure talisman’s power, while Jingxin Dharma Master urged the cultivators to save their dispute until after entering the ancient mansion.
• Ghost Corpse True Person mocked Jingxin Dharma Master, and Dragon-Seal Vajra challenged him to fight.
• Ten Thousand Souls True Person announced that the group had reached the Ghost-Crying Mountain Range.

Ten Thousand Souls True Person explained that the Blood Jiangshi Legacy Mansion could be opened by gathering the battlefield qi and blood and baleful intent that the Condensed Jade Sect had cultivated over decades. Qing Chen and six other Foundation Establishment cultivators set out to retrieve it, while the Golden Core True Persons stayed behind to await the Blood Jiangshi Bone Tree.

• Ghost Corpse True Person and Dharma Master Jingxin pressed Ten Thousand Souls True Person to explain how to enter the legacy mansion and why their spiritual senses were suppressed.
• Ten Thousand Souls True Person revealed that the sect’s formations across the seven kingdoms had gathered enough baleful intent to summon the Blood Jiangshi Bone Tree, avoiding new killings on Immortal-Severing Island.
• Ten Thousand Souls True Person gave spirit talismans and collection instructions to seven Foundation Establishment cultivators, including Qing Chen, and sent them to retrieve the gathered qi and blood and baleful intent.
• Qing Chen headed for an ancient battlefield in the Shu Kingdom and remembered how Li Muyun had once discussed the banners placed there.
• Ten Thousand Souls True Person ordered the Golden Core True Persons to stay put, and they landed on a hilltop to wait.

After more than thirty years away, Qing Chen returned to Hanchuan City and reflected on the formidable cultivation, techniques, artifacts, and resources he had gained. He then reached the ancient battlefield, where he found a landscape buried in bones and marked by traces of battle.

• Qing Chen returned to the land outside Hanchuan City, where he had once said farewell to his family.
• Qing Chen considered how his cultivation, combat abilities, spirit artifacts, and wealth had grown over the past thirty years.
• Qing Chen set aside his reflections and flew toward the ancient battlefield using the Six Jia Evasion Technique.
• Qing Chen arrived at the battlefield and saw mountains of bones, dense killing intent, broken weapons, damaged armor, and fading runes.

Qing Chen gathered the ancient battlefield’s accumulated qi and blood, killing intent, and resentment into two spirit bottles while defeating the vengeful spirits that emerged. With the bottles secured, he headed toward Hanchuan City before returning to the Ghost-Crying Mountain Range.

• Qing Chen used Blood Butterfly Talismans to draw qi and blood, killing intent, and resentment from the ancient battlefield.
• A Foundation Establishment middle stage Snake-Scorpion Vengeful Spirit rose from underground, and Qing Chen destroyed it with his Buddhist Baleful Qi Art and physical strength.
• Qing Chen smashed several Qi Refining stage vengeful spirits as the Blood Butterfly Talismans absorbed the remaining killing intent and resentment.
• After two hours, Qing Chen collected the battlefield’s condensed essence into two specially made spirit bottles and stored them in his Storage Ring.
• Qing Chen decided to visit Hanchuan City before returning to the Ghost-Crying Mountain Range and arrived at the official road outside the city gates.

Qing Chen returned to Hanchuan City after more than thirty years and found the Qing Residence transformed into the City Lord's Mansion. He reunited with his nephew and younger brother, Qing An, and brought them into a pavilion after knocking out the guards.

• Qing Chen entered the City Lord's Mansion and realized the old Qing Residence had been extensively rebuilt.
• A youth recognized Qing Chen's resemblance to his eldest uncle, and Qing Chen knocked the youth's servants unconscious.
• The youth claimed his name was Qing Yun and identified Qing An as the city lord and his mother as Qing Yun.
• Qing An arrived with soldiers, recognized Qing Chen's face, and hesitated over whether he was truly his missing eldest brother.
• Qing Chen knocked out Qing An and the soldiers, then drew Qing An and the youth into the pavilion.

Qing An told Qing Chen how Qing Jie and he rose to prominence during the Seven Kingdoms war and discovered the immortal cultivation manual Qing Chen had left behind. Zhao Ningyi later reunited with the Twin Dragons, learned of Qing Chen’s departure, and eventually vanished after offering them a chance to leave the island and pursue immortal cultivation.

• Qing An told Qing Chen that Qing Jie had gone missing and recounted how Qing Jie and Qing An enlisted when war broke out across the Seven Kingdoms.
• Qing Jie and Qing An renamed the Twin Eagles Association the Twin Dragons Association, won fame as commanders, and discovered the Everlasting Spring Inner Vista Art and secrets of immortal cultivation in Qing Chen’s manual.
• Zhao Ningyi, known as the White-Haired Witch, surrounded the Twin Dragons Army, then met Qing Jie and Qing An and asked whether they knew Qing Chen.
• Qing Jie and Qing An gave Zhao Ningyi the manual and cultivation records, and the two sides ended their hostilities.
• Zhao Ningyi discovered she had a middle-grade spiritual root, exposed the Jing Kingdom ruler’s deception, and disappeared after the kingdom fell.
• Zhao Ningyi later visited Hanchuan City and offered Qing Jie and Qing An a path to immortal cultivation, but they declined, so she left them a letter and departed.

Qing Chen gave Qing An another chance to leave Immortal-Severing Island and seek immortality, then rejoined the cultivators at the Ghost-Crying Mountain Range. Their ritual revealed a gigantic bone tree bearing [Red-Blood Fruit], emerging from a spatial vortex in the valley.

• Qing An told Qing Chen that he had once refused to join their Second Brother on the road to seek immortality, and Qing Chen asked whether he still wanted to go.
• Qing Chen gave Qing An an Inspector's Command Token, a Jade Slip, protection for his journey, and part of the Five-Colored Guardian Immortal Nether Lotus Method, while erasing his memories of the cave abode.
• Qing Chen returned to the Condensed Jade Sect's main force and gave Ten Thousand Souls True Person the last Jade Bottle.
• Ten Thousand Souls True Person combined the contents of fifteen spirit bottles into a giant blood butterfly and sent it flying over the Ghost-Crying Mountain Range.
• A vortex in a cloud-filled valley devoured the blood butterfly, and a nearly two-hundred-zhang bone tree bearing enormous [Red-Blood Fruit] emerged from it.

Qing Chen entered the Blood Jiangshi Legacy Mansion with his companions but was separated from them by the passage’s chaotic forces. Alone inside, he advanced cautiously and discovered that three sinister portraits had reappeared around him, while an unseen presence watched from the blood mist.

• Ten Thousand Souls True Person warned Ghost Corpse True Person that the Blood Jiangshi Bone Tree was protected by a powerful Forbidden Grand Array, then ordered the disciples to enter the mansion for the trial.
• Qing Chen and Xu Jiuling, Gu Jianchun, Xue Qingxia, and Ji Cangming flew into the black entrance, but its force scattered them through a distorted passage.
• Qing Chen landed alone inside a blood-mist-filled passage and summoned the Gold-Armored Corpse and two Silver-Armored Corpses to protect him.
• Qing Chen examined eerie portraits along the passage walls and continued forward with his refined corpses guarding him.
• After walking for a while, Qing Chen found the same three portraits beside him again and suspected he would have to deal with them to escape the passage.

Qing Chen fought the eerie corpse-ghost art hidden in a series of paintings, destroying the bride’s ghost before a gigantic Rag Doll attacked him. He met the Rag Doll’s punch head-on with his combined Buddhist and demonic powers, forcing it to stagger backward.

• A Silver-Armored Corpse shattered the painting of the bride, triggering two bronze saber qi strikes that Qing Chen’s Gold-Armored Corpse and Silver-Armored Corpse intercepted.
• Rusty scissors attacked Qing Chen from above, but he shattered them with the Formless Illusion-Annihilation Seal and destroyed the female Grudge Ghost behind them.
• Qing Chen saw the bride painting reappear with a new scene and recognized that the paintings contained an unusual corpse-ghost art.
• A ghostly howl briefly dazed Qing Chen, allowing a fifty-to-sixty-foot Rag Doll to kick a Silver-Armored Corpse aside and punch at him.
• Qing Chen reinforced himself with Buddhist and demonic power and met the Rag Doll’s punch with his own, making it stagger backward.

Qing Chen battled the paintings’ attacks in the passage, using his refined corpses, swords, and powerful body to withstand their assaults. After he destroyed the Young Girl Rag Doll Painting, Human-Faced Blood Moths from a third painting struck at him with green slime, and his concealed blood lotus was ready to respond.

• Qing Chen realized the passage walls absorbed attacks and reflected their force, while his three refined corpses fought the rag doll.
• The painted girl attacked Qing Chen with tracking silver needles, which he fought off with his Dark Yin Swords and hardened body.
• Qing Chen combined the Six Jia Evasion Void technique with the Three Yin Sword Formation to evade the needles and close in on the Young Girl Rag Doll Painting.
• A fissure opened in the pregnant woman’s painting, releasing Human-Faced Blood Moths that fired dark green slime at Qing Chen.
• Qing Chen smashed the Young Girl Rag Doll Painting, then sensed the slime closing in as the blood lotus he had concealed between his brows awaited its moment.

Qing Chen destroyed the three Corpse Demon Paintings and obtained a Blood Jiangshi True Mansion Token bearing one blood mark, which granted access to the Outer Hall. After passing through a bone gate, he found himself separated from the passage by blood-red fruit peel.

• Qing Chen used the Demon Lotus Karmic Fire and his other abilities to withstand the human-faced blood moths and destroy the three Corpse Demon Paintings.
• The White-Robed Pregnant Woman Painting shattered, and its apparition vanished before it could finish speaking.
• The paintings burned away and revealed a Blood Jiangshi True Mansion Token with one blood mark, which Qing Chen secured in a Storage Bag.
• Qing Chen continued down the passage and cautiously passed through a bone gate.
• The bone gate vanished behind Qing Chen, and blood-red fruit peel sealed off the passage containing the three paintings.

Qing Chen discovered that the stele offered him a choice between remaining in the Outer Hall and entering the Inner Hall trial, where greater dangers and rewards awaited. Encouraged by his meditation cushion’s response and his own resolve, he chose to advance.

• Qing Chen found a stone stele in the forest of blood-colored fruits and read its instructions for the Blood Jiangshi True Mansion trials.
• Qing Chen realized that pressing the outer handprint would let him search for treasures safely, while pressing the inner handprint would send him into another trial.
• Qing Chen weighed the Inner Hall’s opportunities against the danger of confronting Golden Core Stage cultivators and recalled Xu Jiuling’s warning about the token’s limits.
• Qing Chen saw his old meditation cushion glow and sense a connection to the inner handprint.
• Qing Chen recalled choosing the dangerous Brahma Demon-Refining Art and resolved to pursue the opportunity, declaring that he would advance.

Qing Chen entered the Inner Hall trial and found himself on a floating platform above a deadly river, facing an iron-chain bridge called Naihe Bridge. As he sent his summoned ghosts and demons ahead to scout, an unknown creature emerged from the blood mist and swallowed the Grudge Ghost general.

• Qing Chen pressed the stele’s inner handprint, opened a blood-colored vortex, and stepped into the Inner Hall trial.
• The vortex carried Qing Chen to a floating stone platform where he found an iron-chain bridge extending into the blood mist.
• Qing Chen summoned three Armored Corpses and the White Bone Demon Mara Banner, then ordered its Grudge Ghosts and White Bone Demons to scout the bridge.
• The Grudge Ghosts struggled to fly over the bridge, and Qing Chen discovered a tablet naming the crossing Flowing Sand River and Naihe Bridge.
• An unknown creature lunged from the blood mist and swallowed the Grudge Ghost general.

Qing Chen sent a Foundation Establishment White Bone Giant Wolf cavalry squad onto the Naihe Bridge to investigate the blood mist and the shark demons. The squad encountered a strangely coordinated formation of Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals, whose defenses resisted its charge.

• Qing Chen’s scouts discovered that Red-Eyed Shark Demons were devouring the demons, monsters, ghosts, and fiends sent ahead, and he suspected several lurked by the Naihe Bridge.
• Qing Chen sent a carefully selected White Bone Giant Wolf cavalryman and three peak Qi Refining wolves deeper into the blood mist to investigate.
• The exploration squad traveled farther than the earlier scouts without attracting the shark demons’ attention.
• A band of Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals led by a patterned Spirit Serpent approached and formed ranks, their clattering shells slowing Qing Chen’s soldiers.
• Qing Chen ordered the White Bone Giant Wolf cavalry to charge, but the Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals’ formation dispersed much of the attack and resisted being broken.

Qing Chen tested the demonic creatures on the Naihe Bridge and discovered that the Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals were Dao soldiers sustained by the blood mist. After his Wolf Cavalry was overwhelmed by a huge horde, he concluded that traveling in a large group attracted deadly attacks and that a smaller party was safer.

• Qing Chen recognized the Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals as Dao soldiers made of killing intent, while he remained uncertain about the nature of the blood mist.
• Qing Chen's Wolf Cavalry broke through the Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals' formation and killed the Spirit Serpent commanding them.
• Hundreds of demonic creatures, including Spirit Snake Great Demons, attacked and overwhelmed the Wolf Cavalry, while their demonic sound shattered Qing Chen's divine sense.
• Qing Chen estimated that the Naihe Bridge concealed a vast, potentially overwhelming number of demonic creatures and that their attacks could threaten even powerful cultivators.
• Qing Chen worked out that larger groups attracted more demonic creatures and concluded that traveling alone or with only a few companions was safer.

Qing Chen discovered that the Naihe Bridge was a dangerous trap and chose to travel alone through the blood mist instead. Near the Flowing Sand River, he realized the monsters were made of condensed Killing Intent and saw an opportunity to refine his body.

• Qing Chen sent Demon General Pojun across the Naihe Bridge and confirmed that it drew little attention, but sensed something watching him near the far end.
• Qing Chen had Pojun leave the bridge and enter the blood mist, where the sense of being watched disappeared.
• Qing Chen took his other summoned creatures into the White Bone Demon Mara Banner and flew through the blood mist, using his supplies to sustain the Magic Power cost.
• Qing Chen spotted many other Naihe Bridges and saw shrimp soldiers and crab generals besieging one of them, but continued onward without getting involved.
• Qing Chen reached the area around the Flowing Sand River and realized the shrimp soldiers, crab generals, and spirit snakes were formed from condensed Killing Intent.
• Qing Chen began hunting lone monsters, believing their Killing Intent could help him refine his body.

Qing Chen discovered that the monsters in the Trial Space contained high-grade yellow springs baleful intent and considered how it could strengthen his cultivation. Elsewhere, Ding Buxing tried to persuade Chu Feikong to trade the Blood Cliff Scripture for treasure locations and help crossing the Quicksand River Secret Realm.

• Qing Chen collected yellow springs baleful intent from monsters and found it refined better than the blood baleful intents he had used before.
• Qing Chen realized the yellow springs baleful intent came from the Netherworld Ghost Cave and suspected the Flowing Sand River connected to the netherworld.
• Qing Chen recalled True Person Budong's teaching that a stronger physical body could draw his magic power upward through a cycle of mutual cultivation.
• Ding Buxing met Chu Feikong in the Inner Trial Grounds and gave him a jade slip containing testimony about the Blood Jiangshi Legacy Mansion trial.
• Chu Feikong questioned Ding Buxing's motives and mocked his cultivation, while Ding Buxing offered treasure locations and a way through the Quicksand River Secret Realm.
• Ding Buxing reminded Chu Feikong that his Navigation Token and warnings had helped Chu Feikong enter the mansion and survive its dangers.

Qing Chen refined a bottle of yellow springs baleful intent with the Brahma Demon-Refining Art, greatly advancing his body tempering. He then ventured farther through the Flowing Sand River trial to gather more killing intent, until he sensed a fierce battle at a Naihe Bridge.

• Qing Chen used the Brahma Demon-Refining Art to tame the yellow springs baleful intent and endure its painful tempering of his body.
• After more than half a month, Qing Chen had refined the entire bottle and saw his Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method progress as much as nearly half a year of cultivation.
• Qing Chen decided to gather more yellow springs baleful intent, hoping to break through the sixth heaven of his body-tempering method.
• Qing Chen erased the traces in his cave and continued toward the Naihe Bridge, fighting Shrimp Soldiers, Crab Generals, and demon beasts mostly with his physical strength.
• After traveling for several hours, Qing Chen sensed violent energy fluctuations coming from a Naihe Bridge ahead.