Chapter Summaries

Jiang Man tried to pressure the Black-Robed Man by approaching three of his sect contacts, but they all resigned, and the man demanded compensation for them. As Jiang Man cultivated and continued answering the man’s questions about written characters, Xiang Feiyue decided Jiang Man had to enter the Secret Realm despite Shangguan Zheng’s assessment.

• Jiang Man identified Hu Feiling, Murong Shi, and Chen Jin as contacts of the mysterious man and openly approached them, prompting the Black-Robed Man to order them to resign.
• After Hu Feiling’s shop closed, Murong Shi resigned, and Chen Jin stepped down, Jiang Man realized his tactic had failed and braced for retaliation.
• The Black-Robed Man demanded one hundred thousand spirit source for each of his three displaced subordinates, but Chang Qiwen returned without accepting Jiang Man’s three hundred thousand.
• Jiang Man cultivated through December and January, advancing his physical body and Visualization Method while continuing Shangguan Zheng’s assessments and receiving increasingly difficult written characters to decipher.
• Shangguan Zheng said Jiang Man would not meet the requirements for the Secret Realm unless he surpassed him, while Xiang Feiyue learned of the assessment and insisted Jiang Man must enter the Secret Realm.

Jiang Man chose to enter the Secret Realm despite the Immortals’ threat and studied formation arts with Ji Meng to prepare. After Ji Meng finished explaining the advanced books, rumors spread about their time together, while the Black-Robed Man advanced a hidden plan involving Jiang Man and Drunken Floating Life.

• Xiang Feiyue and Xiang Lingling discussed how to get Jiang Man into the Secret Realm after Shangguan Zheng rejected him, and decided to wait before approaching him directly.
• Jiang Man concluded the Xiang Family might want him in the Secret Realm and chose to go despite Old Yellow Ox warning that he could not contend with the Immortals.
• Jiang Man went to Ji Meng’s Residence and studied formation arts with her, finishing the Seventy-Two Books of Entry by mid-February and signing an IOU for five hundred thousand Spirit Sources.
• Ji Meng explained the One Hundred and Eight Books of Thorough Understanding over three days and nights, while Miao Yulin and Qi Xi misinterpreted their seclusion and spread rumors.
• The Black-Robed Man gave Chang Qiwen a letter and declared that Jiang Man and Drunken Floating Life would become pawns in his plan.

Jiang Man emerged from months of studying formation arts and collected hush money from people spreading rumors about him and Ji Meng. Back at his residence, Old Yellow Ox explained that the Black-Robed Man’s writing was meant to trigger a Life-and-Death Incantation and gave Jiang Man a shaobing that could detect it.

• The Black-Robed Man returned to the Shaobing Shop, left Little Fatty and the others a letter to deliver, and said he would come back for a reply.
• After finishing one hundred formation books, Jiang Man learned that rumors about him and Ji Meng had spread, then collected five hundred thousand Spirit Source from Small Courtyard members to keep quiet.
• Shangguan Zheng told Jiang Man he would need to surpass him in formation arts now to earn a place, while Ji Meng had no points and Jiang Man ranked second to last.
• Old Yellow Ox told Jiang Man that the Black-Robed Man’s scrambled Emperor Script could trigger the Life-and-Death Incantation and that the man believed Jiang Man was cursed.
• Old Yellow Ox gave Jiang Man a shaobing inscribed with the incantation so he could sense its activation, and said he could eventually curse the Black-Robed Man in return.

Jiang Man joined Xiang Feiyue’s team for the Secret Realm after missing out on the official selections, suspecting the Xiang Family had dangerous intentions. Shangguan Zheng declined to intervene, but Ming Chengfei challenged Xiang Feiyue’s decision, leaving him facing a rules dispute.

• Jiang Man finished studying all one hundred and eight formation books, but Ji Meng told him the Secret Realm places had already gone to Ji An and Wei Ran, leaving him last.
• Ji Meng taught Jiang Man the third and fourth Mountains and Seas Array Patterns, and he began setting up the fourth formation in his furnace.
• Xiang Feiyue sent Xiang Lingling to invite Jiang Man onto his team, and Jiang Man accepted while privately suspecting the Xiang Family planned to use him.
• Shangguan Zheng told Mu Luohua not to interfere with Jiang Man’s choice, arguing that Jiang Man had failed to meet the selection requirements and that his fate was his own responsibility.
• Ming Chengfei filed a complaint against Xiang Feiyue for accepting Jiang Man without proper authority, and Xiang Feiyue was asked to justify his decision.

Xiang Feiyue maneuvered to get Jiang Man into the Secret Realm, while Shangguan Zheng left the choice to Jiang Man after explaining the risks. Jiang Man learned how to counter the Black-Robed Man’s imperial script, and the chapter ended with the Secret Realm list finalized and Teacher Yan instructing Jiang Man and Ji Meng to report to Main Peak.

• Xiang Feiyue decided to pressure Shangguan Zheng into supporting Jiang Man’s entry into the Secret Realm, but Shangguan Zheng chose to explain the situation and let Jiang Man decide.
• Mu Luohua told Jiang Man about the political conflict and risks, and Jiang Man delayed his decision while waiting for the imperial script and the other side’s next move.
• Little Fatty delivered a new imperial script from the Black-Robed Man, and Old Yellow Ox identified it as an attempt to bind Jiang Man with the Tranquil Heart Incantation and prepared a countermeasure.
• Jiang Man revised Little Fatty’s cultivation plan and prepared to enter the Secret Realm, while Jiang Nian urged Qin Luoyang and Wei Chuan to help Spirit Spring Mountain through legitimate work.
• On June 1, Teacher Yan confirmed the Secret Realm list, teased Jiang Man and Ji Meng about their rankings, warned them against making a spectacle of their rumored courtship, and told them to report to Main Peak.

Jiang Man prepared for the Secret Realm, secured an advance of Spirit Sources, and learned that it might be tied to the ancient Ji Family. After arriving, he discovered the rankings and was confronted by a group demanding payment for passage into the Area Below the Immortals.

• Jiang Man bargained with Ren Qian for an advance of a year and a half, then spent most of his Spirit Sources on pills and formation materials.
• Ji Meng told Jiang Man that the Secret Realm might be linked to the Ji Family and a powerful faction from before the Immortal Court.
• Jiang Man and the other Wuyun Sect teams entered the Secret Realm and sent their auras into its three stone steles to register for the rankings.
• The group examined the cultivation and auxiliary cultivation rankings, where Shangguan Zheng ranked ninth and Ji Yu and Ji Wu occupied the middle stele's top two places.
• Six cultivators arrived to receive the newcomers and demanded one hundred thousand Spirit Sources per person, asking Jiang Man to pay first.

Jiang Man entered the Secret Realm and turned an attempt to charge him Spirit Sources into a payment of pills and gifts from fellow disciples. After hearing the Immortal Gate group’s warnings and finding that the village’s farmhouse owner had been waiting for him, Jiang Man secured a place to stay and prepared to learn about his task.

• Jiang Man refused to pay a hundred thousand Spirit Sources to enter, so Xiang Feiyue invoked his higher rank and Shen Ting paid Jiang Man with ten Return to the Void Refining Void Pills.
• Ji An and Wei Ran gave Jiang Man Spirit Sources in thanks, prompting Qiao Ling'er, Nangong Tian, and Lin Yue to pay him as well.
• Shen Ting recognized Jiang Man as the famous Heavenly Pride and guided him and the others to Nine Provinces Village, where Senior Brother Luo Nandu’s group warned them to find lodging and stay out of its claimed resources.
• Luo Nandu told his companions to watch Jiang Man and Wei Ran, expecting the newcomers to eventually join his camp or serve as scouts.
• Jiang Man went to a farmhouse courtyard despite Shen Ting’s warning that its owner rejected everyone, paid a hundred Spirit Stones per night, and secured a room for three nights.

Jiang Man mastered the Suppressing Origin Method and opened every path into the mountain, astonishing Shen Ting and prompting her to warn Luo Nandu. Back at the courtyard, Jiang Man questioned the youth about his origins and grasped his hand to investigate whether he was ancient.

• The youth led Jiang Man, Shen Ting, Ji An, and the others to the Entering-Mountain Stele and explained that mastering the Suppressing Origin Method could open all paths.
• Jiang Man studied the Suppressing Origin Method, then quickly advanced through its nine layers and achieved Great Accomplishment within the two-hour test.
• The youth warned Shen Ting that Jiang Man's talent would make people like her feel inferior, and Jiang Man returned to the courtyard to wait for the villagers.
• Shen Ting told Luo Nandu that Jiang Man had completed the first test and that all paths would open the next day; Luo Nandu chose to watch Jiang Man and the Primordial Spirit rather than interfere.
• Jiang Man asked the youth whether he was ancient, then clasped his hand and activated the Heavenly Mirror of a Hundred Books.

Jiang Man learned that the young man was an ancient conqueror who had destroyed his own clan, then advanced his formation arts while the Black-Robed Man briefly approached. After bargaining with the villagers for a payment, Jiang Man allowed them to send him into the Forbidden Cellar, where he fell into the ancient well as the villagers waited for him to die.

• Jiang Man read the young man's history and realized he had once swept across the world and seized the Ji Family's secret realms.
• Jiang Man's formation studies brought a sudden breakthrough, and the shaobing activated when the Black-Robed Man approached.
• Nangong Tian and two others thanked Jiang Man with pills, and Jiang Man arranged to sell the villagers information about his whereabouts.
• Jiang Man negotiated a payment of ninety-five thousand Spirit Sources in exchange for letting the villagers send him into the Forbidden Cellar.
• The Old Village Chief pushed Jiang Man into the ancient well and ordered two villagers to wait by its entrance until dark.

Jiang Man explored the Forbidden Cellar, where the Peerless Heaven's Chosen Destiny let him see and uncover the Myriad Worlds Stele, Eternal Night, and a lost account of the Ji Family's research. After escaping, he learned the writing he had copied belonged to a dead Orthodox God of the Immortal Court and revealed the villagers' scheme, then hurried away after hearing the Secrets of the Four Seas were stored in the man's bones.

• Jiang Man used the Peerless Heaven's Chosen Destiny to see through the Forbidden Cellar's darkness and crossed the floating stones to find the Myriad Worlds Stele.
• Jiang Man read a surviving Genius Biography that described the Peerless Heaven's Chosen Destiny, the fate pattern, and the Ji Family's preparations to preserve its history.
• Jiang Man touched Eternal Night and recorded it, then climbed out of the Forbidden Cellar as two villagers watched in disbelief.
• Jiang Man returned to the youth and learned that his Heaven-Defying Fortune had been cut off; he paid the youth ten thousand Spirit Sources to translate his copied writing.
• The youth translated an account in which an Orthodox God of the Immortal Court condemned the villagers for trapping him, then explained that the Secrets of the Four Seas were stored in the dead man's bones.
• Jiang Man ran out after hearing about the Secrets of the Four Seas, while the youth complained that he had left the remains behind.

Jiang Man returned from the Ancient Well, learned that the Water God’s ability had to be extracted before its skeleton dissipated, and rapidly advanced his cultivation in the Secret Realm. As villagers plotted to trap him in the mountains, Ting Fengyin arrived just before the deadline for saving the Water God’s ability.

• The village chief and two guards found someone in the Ancient Well and doubted the guards’ claim that Jiang Man had climbed out, but Jiang Man emerged again and left to ask the youth about extracting the Water God’s ability.
• The youth identified the smaller skeleton as the one containing the ability and warned Jiang Man that it would dissipate in a month if he failed to extract it.
• Jiang Man advanced to the middle stage of Return to the Void and reached great accomplishment in the Middle Grade Method, while Shen Ting reported the climbers’ rankings and agreed to help alert the villagers that he had escaped.
• The village chief and villagers vowed to lure Jiang Man into a trap in the mountains, while a villager offered Luo Nandu more knowledge about formation arts in exchange for a favor.
• With only three days left before the Water God’s remains dissipated, Jiang Man heard water flow and saw vegetation spread, realizing Ting Fengyin had arrived.

Jiang Man learned about the Lord of the Nine Provinces and obtained a Water-Blue Pearl and a wisp of immortal qi before accelerating his cultivation with pills and paid challenges. After advancing to the late stage of Return to the Void, he became the target of a village plan to lure him into the mountains.

• Jiang Man asked Ting Fengyin about the powerful figure he had met, and Ting Fengyin identified him as the Lord of the Nine Provinces and explained that he was dead.
• Ting Fengyin extracted the Water God's core ability from a skeleton and gave Jiang Man a strengthened Water-Blue Pearl, then advised him to seek immortal qi from the Lord of the Nine Provinces.
• The youth gave Jiang Man a wisp of immortal qi but rejected his claims about the Nine Provinces, and Jiang Man began cultivating with renewed urgency.
• Mo Yun challenged Jiang Man for Spirit Sources, but Jiang Man defeated him and continued accepting challenges as a way to fund his pills.
• Jiang Man filled his second Cultivation Gourd and advanced to the late stage of Return to the Void, prompting Luo Nandu to report the change to the villagers.
• The villagers tasked Luo Nandu with drawing Jiang Man into the mountains, while Shen Ting suggested asking Jiang Man directly and the village chief's group prepared to confront him.

Jiang Man completed his forced advancement to Return to the Void perfection and prepared to enter the mountain, while Luo Nandu and the villagers made plans to lure him into a formation trap. Jiang Man set out determined to reach the summit without turning back.

• Jiang Man cultivated the Twelve Azure Lotus Void Refinement Method to great accomplishment, shocking Shen Ting with his talent.
• Shen Ting told Jiang Man that Luo Nandu wanted him to enter the mountain and offered to provide pills; Jiang Man agreed to start climbing after advancing to Return to the Void perfection.
• Jiang Man used the pills and his Spirit Sources to force his cultivation forward, while Luo Nandu advanced to the eighth stage and sent Shen Ting to check on him.
• Shen Ting confirmed Jiang Man had reached Return to the Void perfection, and Luo Nandu gave him a congratulatory gift and instructed others to treat him politely.
• The Village Chief and the villagers prepared a formation trap, planning for a girl to draw Jiang Man into it when he entered the mountain.
• After recovering from the painful advancement, Jiang Man ate mushroom-stewed chicken and headed toward the mountain, saying he would reach the summit without turning back.

Jiang Man ignored warnings from two supposed protectors and began climbing the mountain, defeating the woman who tried to stop him with his Immortal Origin Art and swordsmanship. He suspected the Black-Robed Man and the Xiang Family awaited him near the summit, which he expected to reach within three days.

• Shen Ting delivered Jiang Man a hundred thousand Spirit Sources and warned him that entering the mountain might be unsafe, but he continued toward the Back Mountain.
• A man and a woman at Return to the Void perfection blocked Jiang Man and urged him to stay in the Village, revealing a Token that connected them to the Black-Robed Man.
• The woman attacked Jiang Man, but he countered with the Immortal Origin Art and Three-Origin Star-Dipper Sword Art, badly wounding her.
• The man shielded the woman and fled with her after giving Jiang Man a hundred thousand Spirit Sources; Jiang Man chose not to pursue them.
• Jiang Man set off up the mountain, convinced he would face the Black-Robed Man and the Xiang Family at the summit, which he expected to reach within three days.

Jiang Man raced up the formation-art route and challenged the Village’s theories, exposing flaws in Hua Qian’s methods before asking to meet its masters. The Village Chief arrived with the villagers and began explaining another theory, but Jiang Man immediately identified a missing factor: vibration.

• Jiang Man climbed to the sixth stone stele at astonishing speed, rising to sixth place in the rankings and startling Ji Yu.
• Hua Qian introduced her theory of controlling formations by making the person their core, but Jiang Man identified flaws in her calculations and pointed out six problems in her Anchoring Method.
• Jiang Man refused to flee despite Ji Yu warning that the Village might attack him, choosing to study its formation arts instead.
• Hua Qian summoned the Village’s formation masters, and the villagers surrounded Jiang Man as the Village Chief sat down to explain how the body could withstand a formation’s pressure.
• The Village Chief demonstrated a method using the body’s nine key points and spiritual qi, and Jiang Man said the calculations had omitted vibration.

Jiang Man defeated the Village Chief and the villagers in their debate over formations, absorbed their knowledge, and rose beyond the Stone Stele rankings. He reached the mountain summit, found a shortcut to the Ji Family Legacy, and left a note for Senior Brother Luo.

• The Village Chief and the villagers challenged Jiang Man with their formation theories, but he learned from their arguments and gradually forced them to withdraw.
• Jiang Man absorbed the formation cloud and ascended to the summit, where his name disappeared from the Stone Stele rankings.
• Ji An told the Village Chief and the villagers about Jiang Man's age, cultivation, and rapid progress in formation arts.
• Jiang Man examined the summit and discovered that the Heavenly Mirror of a Hundred Books described a shortcut to the Legacy, but he had no interest in claiming it.
• Jiang Man left a note for Senior Brother Luo before continuing to explore the summit.

Jiang Man took a shortcut into the trial’s deeper regions, where his unusual connection to the villagers changed the formation challenge and let him bypass its rankings. While the others entered a new trial and found another Stone Stele, Jiang Man’s whereabouts remained unknown to them.

• Luo Nandu reached the mountaintop first, followed Jiang Man’s note to kneel and kowtow, and received a complete Immortal Dao legacy before discovering he could not enter the shortcut reserved for the true first arrival.
• Jiang Man entered the shortcut, met an Old Man, and learned that the formation assessment’s Dharma Form was the Village Chief.
• When Jiang Man touched the Bead, darkness and resentment engulfed the area, and the formation Dharma Form took on Jiang Man’s appearance after the villagers’ formation experts returned to study.
• The Old Man told Jiang Man that he could bypass the coming challenges and explore deeper, so Jiang Man headed toward the island bearing nine statues.
• Ji An and Wei Ran reached the mountaintop rankings, but Jiang Man’s name never appeared; Ji An later revealed that Jiang Man had arrived before Luo Nandu and probably taken a shortcut.
• The others entered a dark void trial and eventually reached another Stone Stele, where Jiang Man was again absent from the rankings.

Jiang Man’s formation manifestation overwhelmed the challengers until Shen Ting passed by offering Spirit Sources for guidance, while the real Jiang Man reached the Ji Family’s nine statues. There, he learned Meng Qiewei might be the daughter of Jian Ci and Yue Jinchao, whom he suspected was the Wuyou Evil God.

• The old man explained the two ways to pass the trial, and the group chose to challenge the manifestations individually.
• The group discovered that Jiang Man had replaced the formation arts manifestation, and he defeated Bai Miao and Shangguan Zheng by exposing their weaknesses.
• Shen Ting offered Jiang Man’s manifestation thirty thousand Spirit Sources, received guidance, and passed; other challengers followed her example and paid for instruction.
• Shangguan Zheng finally chose the formation arts route and paid Spirit Sources to challenge Jiang Man’s manifestation.
• Jiang Man reached the island of the Ji Family’s nine statues and met an indistinct man who said Meng Qiewei might be Jian Ci’s daughter.
• Jiang Man realized that if Jian Ci’s dao companion Yue Jinchao was the Wuyou Evil God, Meng Qiewei might be the Wuyou Evil God’s daughter.

Jiang Man learned about the Ji Family’s nine surnames and discovered how to use the Profound Heaven Gourd to return the floating island to the family. After gaining recognition from the statues and meeting Meng Qiewei, he approached the mysterious, cracked statue of the first surname, Wen.

• Jiang Man learned that the nameless man was an earlier bearer of the peerless heaven's chosen destiny and that the nine statues represented the Ji Family’s surnames.
• The nameless man explained that the Profound Heaven Gourd could connect the island to the Ji Family’s ancestral land, but Jiang Man first needed recognition from the statues.
• Jiang Man used the Heavenly Mirror of a Hundred Books to identify the Great Dao Foundation Stones and began recording them as he approached the statues.
• Jiang Man activated the statues’ recognition, then spoke with Meng Qiewei, who appeared through the Dream Surname statue and agreed to retrieve a fruit he left for her after the island returned to the Ji Family.
• Jiang Man reached the cracked, chaos-shrouded statue of the first surname, Wen, and placed his hand on it to see what would happen.

Jiang Man discovered the First Surname’s unusual secret, took the Ji Family’s Nine Layers Mountain, and used the Gourd to return the island and its statues to the Ji Family. The spectacle exposed the son-in-law’s survival to the Ji Family and drew outside visitors, while Xiang Feiyue set out to intercept Jiang Man on his way back for the Spirit Sources.

• Jiang Man learned that recording the First Surname would destroy the Great Dao Foundation Stone, then found Nine Layers Mountain beneath the Ninth Surname statue and compressed it with the Four Symbols Seal.
• Jiang Man used the Gourd to send the island back to the Ji Family, where the nine statues appeared above the ancestral hall and Qing Dai and Ji Wuye realized the mysterious figure was the son-in-law.
• Ji Wuye decided to claim that Jiang Man had returned the island from the Secret Realm, keeping the son-in-law hidden while giving Jiang Man the credit.
• The Bai Family Ancestor told Qing Dai that he had arranged the Secret Realm to obtain Nine Layers Mountain, then condemned the Ji Family before departing.
• Jiang Man began returning by a detour, while Xiang Feiyue sent Qiao Ling'er away and planned to wait near the stump to catch Jiang Man collecting the Spirit Sources.