Chapter Summaries

Huang Xiao and his companions were dragged into a powerful whirlpool that they suspected was a teleportation formation, while crew members who abandoned ship were swallowed. They emerged in another sea with the Holy Envoys’ ships intact, but their own dead crew members floated nearby.

• Huang Xiao and the others realized the whirlpool might be a teleportation formation, but they could not escape its pull.
• A Holy Envoy tried to fly away and fell into the whirlpool, and his ship and the other Holy Envoys’ ships were swallowed afterward.
• He Ya and many crew members abandoned ship, but the whirlpool swallowed them; He Ya chose to remain with Huang Xiao.
• Huang Xiao and his companions’ ship sank beneath the whirlpool, where He Ya lost consciousness and the others’ awareness grew hazy.
• Huang Xiao and the others came around in another sea and found the Holy Envoys’ ships intact, with the Holy Envoys alive and their own crew members’ bodies floating nearby.

Huang Xiao and his companions encountered a powerful group after the five Holy Envoys fled toward an island. The newcomers claimed a connection to the Creation Sect, and Huo Lian identified the group as travelers from the Desolate Domain who had befriended Feng Duo, but the strangers still demanded to know who they were.

• The five Holy Envoys fled toward an island, where a group of powerful strangers attacked them.
• After the strangers killed the Holy Envoys, fifteen of them surrounded Huang Xiao's group and threatened to kill them.
• Huang Xiao and Huo Lian suspected the strangers were connected to the Creation Sect, and the woman's hostile reaction to Feng Duo confirmed a deep connection.
• Huo Lian told the leader that his group came from the Desolate Domain and had traveled across the sea seeking a martial arts holy land.

Huang Xiao and his companions convinced the islanders that they came from the Desolate Domain, but the leader remained wary and ordered them to meet the Ancestor. They were brought onto the island, where they waited under guard and agreed to maintain their cover story.

• Huo Lian explained that the five slain Holy Envoys had revealed their sect, and the woman said everyone from across the sea deserved to die.
• The leader ordered Huang Xiao and his companions to come onto the island so the Ancestor could judge whether their story was true.
• Huang Xiao learned that the islanders could not leave, while the woman warned him that he and his companions might also be trapped there if the Ancestor believed them.
• Huang Xiao and his companions saw the island's thriving community and were led to a small courtyard without having their powers sealed or their belongings searched.
• Baili Zhen asked what they should do, and Huang Xiao sent He Ya outside to keep watch.
• Huo Lian told He Ya to consider himself someone from the Desolate Domain, and He Ya agreed to protect their cover story.

Huang Xiao and the others worried that they could not keep deceiving the people of the Desolate Domain and resolved to face whatever came. After three days in confinement, they met the Ancestor, who privately confronted them with his suspicion that they were not from the Desolate Domain.

• Huo Lian admitted that he had no confidence they could fool the Ancestor, and the group discussed the danger of being exposed.
• Huang Xiao and the others stayed under guard for three days, unable to learn more from their captors.
• A woman took the group to the Ancestor’s rock cave, where he ordered her to leave so he could speak with them alone.
• After the group sat down, the Ancestor told them they probably were not from the Desolate Domain.

Huang Xiao and the others learned that an aura from their Cross-Realm Teleportation Formation revealed they came from the Martial World, though it would eventually fade. The old man explained how the Creation Sect was betrayed after his father and the other great warriors fell into slumber, and admitted that his own trust had helped bring the sect to ruin.

• The old man recognized that Huang Xiao and the others came from another realm, and Huo Lian admitted they were from the Martial World.
• The old man explained that lingering aura from the Cross-Realm Teleportation Formation gave away their origins and would normally dissipate after about a year.
• Huang Xiao learned that the old man's father had helped establish the formation and had died from injuries suffered while fighting the Demon God’s forces.
• The old man said the surviving warriors on both sides had fallen into slumber, leaving younger factions free to conspire against the Creation Sect.
• The old man admitted that he had trusted the conspirators too readily and bore much of the responsibility for the Creation Sect’s decline.

Xuan Yuanxiang told Huang Xiao and the others how betrayal had destroyed the Creation Sect and explained that the Longevity and Imperishability Scripture came from Longevity Daoist. The group learned that Longevity Daoist had stayed out of the Creation Sect’s catastrophe, leaving his motives and whereabouts unclear.

• Xuan Yuanxiang lamented that his friends had betrayed the Creation Sect and warned Huang Xiao and the others to be cautious of their own friends.
• Xuan Yuanxiang recognized the aura of Longevity Daoist’s cultivation method in Huang Xiao and learned that Huang Xiao possessed only incomplete chapters.
• Huo Lian explained that a Martial World cultivator had brought the complete Longevity and Imperishability Scripture to this world around ten thousand years earlier.
• Xuan Yuanxiang said the scripture was unusually comprehensive and advised Huang Xiao to keep cultivating it, while noting that he might someday meet the cultivator who had brought it over.
• Huo Lian asked why Longevity Daoist had not helped the Creation Sect, and Xuan Yuanxiang said he had mostly avoided the great battle and believed events could not be forced.

Xuan Yuanxiang explained how Senior Daoist’s presence deterred the Evil and Demonic Forces and how the Martial World had served as a retreat route from the Ancient World. He learned that the Xuanyuan Sword had been repaired, that Kui Yong had been killed, and that Huang Xiao had gained strength through the Soaring Immortal Fruit.

• Xuan Yuanxiang said the Evil and Demonic Forces withdrew after his father defeated the Demon God because they feared Senior Daoist might intervene.
• Xuan Yuanxiang explained that the Martial World had been a retreat route from the Ancient World, where righteous and evil experts had fought and left behind cultivation methods and divine weapons.
• Xuan Yuanxiang said he would not take the divine weapons Huang Xiao and the others had obtained, then asked about the Xuanyuan Sword.
• Zuo Qiu Shu told Xuan Yuanxiang that the Xuanyuan Sword had been repaired and swept into the Ancient World, and that the Demon God had awakened.
• Zuo Qiu Shu recounted the battle against Kui Yong, and Xuan Yuanxiang praised Huang Xiao for defeating the Demon General.
• Huang Xiao credited Senior Daoist’s Longevity Chapter and his companions for their victory, and Xuan Yuanxiang remarked that the Soaring Immortal Fruit’s growth had been fate.

Xuan Yuanxiang explained how the Soaring Immortal Fruit was planted and worried that the awakened Demon God might obtain the Xuanyuan Sword. He also answered questions about other realms and Huang Xiao’s cultivation method, leaving Huang Xiao reassured that few could recognize its aura and that it could sometimes protect him.

• Xuan Yuanxiang told Wu Xuancang and Huang Xiao that Senior Daoist Elder planted the Soaring Immortal Fruit seed in the cross-realm formation because it gathered spiritual energy, and that the first fruit was refined into Longevity Pills while the second went elsewhere.
• Xuan Yuanxiang feared the awakened Demon God would claim or destroy the Xuanyuan Sword, while Huang Xiao and Zuo Qiu Shu hoped the Righteous Path could secure it.
• Huo Lian asked whether another realm existed, but Xuan Yuanxiang said he had never heard of one and knew little about the Martial World himself.
• Huo Lian privately considered the Central Plains a possible final retreat route connected to Xuan Yuanxiang’s father and the Minghong Saber’s saber soul.
• Huang Xiao asked whether others could detect the Longevity Chapter’s aura, and Xuan Yuanxiang said only a handful of people might recognize it.
• Xuan Yuanxiang advised Huang Xiao that revealing the cultivation method’s aura could deter powerful enemies by invoking Senior Daoist Elder’s reputation.

Huang Xiao and the others learned why Xuan Yuanxiang had hidden the Creation Sect and how the formation treated outsiders differently from its disciples. They told him that the Desolate Domain had become nearly as spiritually barren as the Martial World, leaving Xuan Yuanxiang stunned by the vast disparity with the lands across the sea.

• Xuan Yuanxiang explained that outsiders could leave freely, while Creation Sect disciples faced restrictions because the formation incorporated their cultivation aura.
• Xuan Yuanxiang said he had hidden the Creation Sect after its destruction to preserve its bloodline, but feared the awakened Demon God might eventually discover their refuge.
• Xuan Yuanxiang revealed that he periodically brought people in through the formation to learn news, and that he had arranged for Huang Xiao and the others to be captured.
• Huo Lian told Xuan Yuanxiang that the Desolate Domain's strongest known expert had died and that it might no longer have anyone in the Void-Escaping Realm.
• Huang Xiao, Wu Xuancang, and Leng Guhan explained that spiritual energy in the Desolate Domain was sparse and unstable, while the lands across the sea remained abundant in spiritual energy.

Xuan Yuanxiang discussed the Cross-Realm Grand Formation, the destruction of the Creation Sect, and why the newcomers had survived its dangerous ruins. He explained that returning to the Martial World would be difficult, urged them to settle in, and offered to send them out when they were ready if they took someone with them.

• Xuan Yuanxiang said the formations at sea and the dense spiritual energy across it were likely connected to enemies who had seized the Desolate Domain’s spiritual energy.
• Huo Lian reasoned that remnants of the Cross-Realm Grand Formation had protected them in the Creation Sect’s ruins, and Xuan Yuanxiang agreed that the formation could have survived the attackers.
• Xuan Yuanxiang explained that people could use similar formations to communicate across realms but probably could not directly activate the Cross-Realm Grand Formation to travel.
• Huang Xiao asked about returning to the Martial World, and Xuan Yuanxiang said the activation restrictions were unknown to him and their current internal power was likely insufficient.
• Baili Zhen and Tan Ming said they had come to find people, including the Immortal Alchemist and their disciples, and Xuan Yuanxiang urged them to settle in before offering to send them out with someone when they wished to leave.

Xuan Yuanxiang asked Huang Xiao’s group to take Xuanyuan Xin outside so she could gain experience and help find a future escape route as the formations weakened. He offered them one year in a sacred ground where time could amount to decades, leaving Huang Xiao to weigh its cultivation benefits against the need to cross the sea soon.

• Xuan Yuanxiang asked Huo Lian’s group to take Xuanyuan Xin with them, explaining that the formations would not last and she needed experience to help find a route of retreat.
• Xuan Yuanxiang offered each of them one chance to enter the Creation Sect’s sacred ground, where one year could equal ten to a hundred years of cultivation.
• Xuan Yuanxiang learned that Huang Xiao was not yet forty and suggested he might achieve an exceptional result in the sacred ground.
• Huang Xiao considered whether to stay and strengthen himself or cross the sea sooner, but found the choice difficult.

Huang Xiao agreed to postpone using Xuan Yuanxiang’s formation and leave with the others, while Xuan Yuanxiang arranged for Xuanyuan Xin to accompany them outside the Ancient World. The chapter ended with Xuan Yuanxiang warning Xuanyuan Xin that her dismissive attitude could make her unfit to go.

• Huo Lian, Wu Xuancang, Zuo Qiu Shu, and the others urged Huang Xiao to save the formation’s opportunity for a more crucial time and face danger with them.
• Huang Xiao agreed to leave and told Xuan Yuanxiang he would return another time.
• Wu Xuancang asked about similar formations, and Xuan Yuanxiang explained that his father’s formation was more powerful than the Demon God’s and that the Creation Sect led in such formations.
• Xuan Yuanxiang summoned Xuanyuan Xin and told her she could leave with Huang Xiao and the others to learn from them.
• Xuanyuan Xin resisted the idea of learning from them, so Xuan Yuanxiang warned that she might not be suited to going outside after all.

Huang Xiao and the others took Xuanyuan Xin out through a whirlpool, leaving He Ya behind on the island. Once outside, they confirmed the Wind Eye had barely shifted and prepared to push their ship onward across the sea.

• Xuanyuan Xin persuaded Huang Xiao and the others to take her with them, and Xuan Yuanxiang allowed them to depart after five days of preparation.
• Huang Xiao reassured He Ya that he could stay alive on the island, while Leng Guhan warned him to behave.
• Xuanyuan Xin boarded the ship and said goodbye to her clanspeople before Huang Xiao and the others sailed into the whirlpool.
• Huo Lian confirmed that they had escaped the island and found that the Wind Eye had barely moved.
• Xuanyuan Xin agreed to follow the others' lead as they prepared to take turns pushing the ship through the windless Wind Eye.

After months of surviving storms at sea, Huang Xiao and his companions reached West Mountain Harbor and rested in West Mountain Town. They gathered to decide what to do next, with Leng Guhan suggesting they join a faction.

• Huang Xiao and his companions spent another month in the Wind Eye before sailing into the storms, where Huo Lian's formation skills helped them survive.
• Xuanyuan Xin recognized that Huang Xiao had impressive cultivation and formation skills despite his youth, and felt humbled by the gap between them.
• Three months later, Huang Xiao's group broke through the storm barrier, but Li Bai reported that their ship was badly damaged.
• Huo Lian spotted ships ahead, and the group confirmed they had reached West Mountain Harbor after Huang Xiao asked a passing sailor for directions.
• Huang Xiao and his companions went ashore, settled in West Mountain Town, and gathered to discuss their plans.
• Zuo Qiu Shu said she had come to find her elder brother but would accept whatever the group decided, and Leng Guhan proposed joining a faction.

Wu Xuancang and the others discussed joining factions in the Immortal Spirit Domain, and Xuanyuan Xin warned them about the dangers and limited prospects awaiting newcomers. She explained how the Slaughter Domain rose under the Slaughter Evil Lord, leaving Huang Xiao and the others surprised by her claim that the Ruthlessness Dao had once been considered an unorthodox method.

• Leng Guhan said he was willing to serve beneath someone stronger and hoped to join a faction, while Xuanyuan Xin explained that established factions scrutinized recruits and often relegated outsiders to dangerous, low-reward work.
• Xuanyuan Xin warned Leng Guhan that the Slaughter Domain allowed members to kill one another, but Leng Guhan said that danger was exactly what he wanted.
• Zuo Qiu Shu and Huo Lian asked Xuanyuan Xin about the Immortal Spirit Domain's factions, and she listed the major domains and agreed to describe the Slaughter Domain.
• Xuanyuan Xin said the Slaughter Domain had emerged a little over two thousand years earlier and had become powerful through the Slaughter Evil Lord, a prodigy who popularized the Ruthlessness Dao.
• Xuanyuan Xin said the Ruthlessness Dao had once been considered an unorthodox method, leaving Leng Guhan displeased and Huang Xiao and the others astonished.

Xuanyuan Xin explained that Ruthlessness Dao cultivators inevitably died after reaching the Ancient Realm, unless the Slaughter Evil Lord had somehow overcome its fatal flaw. She recounted his rise and sudden disappearance, leaving Leng Guhan wondering what had happened to him.

• Xuanyuan Xin told Huang Xiao, Leng Guhan, and the others that Ruthlessness Dao cultivators died upon reaching a realm beyond the Ancient Realm.
• Leng Guhan considered whether to continue cultivating the Ruthlessness Dao, while Huo Lian suggested the Slaughter Evil Lord might have solved its fatal flaw.
• Xuanyuan Xin said the Slaughter Evil Lord had emerged more than nine thousand years earlier and might have cultivated in seclusion for around a thousand years beforehand.
• Zuo Qiu Shu grew thoughtful when Xuanyuan Xin estimated that the Slaughter Evil Lord had lived for at least ten thousand years.
• Xuanyuan Xin explained that the Great Powers had not panicked over the Slaughter Evil Lord because he was only one expert, and that he later vanished from the Jianghu.

Xuanyuan Xin recounted how the Slaughter Evil Lord returned from millennia of seclusion with a way to resolve the Ruthlessness Dao’s fatal flaw and built the Slaughter Evil Domain despite attacks from other powers. The Slaughter Domain grew into a force equal to the old powers, and the group wondered whether its continued expansion would provoke another united assault.

• Xuanyuan Xin explained that the Slaughter Evil Lord’s breakthrough inspired more people to practice the Ruthlessness Dao, though no one else matched his achievement.
• Xuanyuan Xin said the Slaughter Evil Lord reappeared three thousand years ago and recruited Ruthlessness Dao practitioners, offering to resolve the Dao’s fatal aftereffects.
• Xuanyuan Xin recounted how the Slaughter Evil Lord and his followers faced attacks from the Formation Path and the Evil and Demonic Forces, suffering devastating casualties while inflicting even greater losses.
• Xuanyuan Xin said the surviving followers later returned much stronger after receiving the Slaughter Evil Lord’s instruction, and the other forces gradually stopped trying to exterminate them.
• Xuanyuan Xin explained that the Slaughter Evil Domain expanded until it stood equal with the old powers, while Zuo Qiu Shu and Wu Xuancang questioned the danger of its continued growth.

Leng Guhan chose to join the Slaughter Domain despite warnings that the Ruthlessness Dao might have hidden dangers, while the others began considering their own paths. Huo Lian and Huang Xiao leaned toward the Demon Domain and planned to seek a faction that had been on good terms with Kui Yong.

• Huang Xiao, Huo Lian, and Wu Xuancang warned Leng Guhan that the Ruthlessness Dao’s fatal flaw might only emerge at a higher realm, but Leng Guhan refused to change his decision.
• Tan Ming said they would not join the Slaughter Domain, and Leng Guhan accepted that they would have to part ways eventually.
• Huo Lian suggested that everyone stay together for a few more days while they decided how and when to separate.
• Huang Xiao asked Huo Lian whether they should go to the Demon Domain, and Huo Lian said it was their general direction despite its complicated factions.
• Huo Lian proposed finding a Demon Domain faction that had been on good terms with Kui Yong so they could enter more easily and dispel suspicions.

Huang Xiao and his companions decided to split into five groups to seek forces and pursue their own goals. Zuo Qiu Shu chose to travel with Xuanyuan Xin in search of her Big Brother, while Leng Guhan raised the possibility that the Immortal Alchemist might be in the Slaughter Domain.

• Huang Xiao and Huo Lian decided to look for a Demon Domain force connected to Kui Yong and join the Demon Domain.
• Huang Xiao and his companions formed five groups: Huang Xiao with Huo Lian, Wu Xuancang with Li Bai, Tan Ming with Baili Zhen, Leng Guhan alone, and Zuo Qiu Shu with Xuanyuan Xin.
• Wu Xuancang and Li Bai planned to seek a righteous path force, Leng Guhan aimed to join the Slaughter Domain, and Tan Ming and Baili Zhen planned to travel and ask about Hong Yi and Dugu Sheng.
• Zuo Qiu Shu explained that she and Xuanyuan Xin got along and would travel together, but she planned to search for her Big Brother rather than join the Demon Domain.
• Leng Guhan suggested that the Immortal Alchemist might be in the Slaughter Domain because he also pursued the Ruthlessness Dao.

Zuo Qiu Shu and the others agreed to look for the Senior Immortal Alchemist and promised to reunite in ten years if they survived. The next day, Huang Xiao and Huo Lian set out for the Demon Domain, reaching its lawless border after two months of travel and immediately facing frequent attacks.

• Baili Zhen warned that Leng Guhan's ruthlessness Dao might make him turn on his friends as his cultivation advanced, and Leng Guhan threatened to kill him next time they met.
• Wu Xuancang proposed that the group reunite at the same place in ten years if they were still alive, and everyone agreed before sharing a final drink and parting the next day.
• Huo Lian and Huang Xiao traveled toward the Demon Domain, survived a fight with an Upper Ancient Realm expert, and began traveling at night to avoid further trouble.
• Two months later, Huang Xiao and Huo Lian reached the chaotic border between the Alliance Domain and the Demon Domain, where they suffered more attacks than during their entire journey.