Chapter Summaries

Song Yan and Ruan Zhi encountered a Yin Wandering Soul, and Song Yan destroyed it before returning to the hideout. While rebuilding his Dharma Body with diluted Yin-Sha Qi and searching Ruan Zhi’s books for a way to purge the corruption in his body, he discovered a medical jade slip whose author shared his grandfather’s Daoist name.

• A Yin Wandering Soul attacked Song Yan, who closed his eyes and destroyed it with Tide-Severing while Ruan Zhi’s talisman lost much of its stored Sun Spirit.
• Ruan Zhi showed Song Yan more than twenty Heaven and Earth Bags entrusted to her by cultivators who had died beneath the abyss, and let him use their contents.
• Song Yan cultivated, read through Ruan Zhi’s collection, and found that diluted Yin-Sha Qi could help him reshape his destroyed Void-Aspect Dharma Body.
• Song Yan searched for places with suitable Yin Qi and noted that jade slips mentioning it also referred to Gaochang City in Western Province and Yuzhou Mountain City.
• Song Yan found a jade slip called Essentials of the Hundred Herbs that described expelling Yin Qi from the body and was written by Miaoying, the Daoist name his grandfather had used.

Song Yan learned that true Thunder Spirit could purge the Yin-Sha Qi in his body and discovered that the Medicine Garden beneath the abyss might contain both lightning and the ingredients he needed. After finding that Ruan Zhi possessed a key ring containing many Jade Keys, he planned to visit the garden later and began advising her to change her saber technique.

• Song Yan studied the Thunder-Hanging Pill formula, searched Ruan Zhi’s collected Heaven and Earth Bags for its ingredients, and found several supporting medicines but no thunder-patterned ying flower grass leaves.
• Ruan Zhi showed Song Yan a detailed map of the World Beneath the Abyss and told him the Medicine Garden sometimes echoed with thunder when the Restrictions closed.
• Song Yan realized the Medicine Garden’s lightning might help purge his Yin-Sha Qi, and Ruan Zhi offered to guide him there with her keys.
• Song Yan postponed the trip and spent the following days reconstructing his Dharma Body and cultivating while sparring with Ruan Zhi.
• After noticing that Ruan Zhi’s saber technique did not suit her nimble build, Song Yan suggested that she change her approach to cultivation.

Song Yan and Ruan Zhi traveled to the Wu-Character Area to search for medicinal plants after Song Yan reconstructed his Void-Aspect Dharma Body. They found no Thunder-Pattern Ying Flowergrass in the fields or terraces, while a purple-robed mechanism puppet watched them from the mountains and wondered how Song Yan had entered alive.

• Song Yan advised Ruan Zhi to try sword techniques, taught her the basics of the Sword Dao, and guided her for more than a month.
• Song Yan completed the reconstruction of his Void-Aspect Dharma Body and decided to leave for the Wu-Character Area with Ruan Zhi, whose Jade Key was needed to enter.
• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi flew northeast, enduring repeated attacks from Yin Wandering Souls, and reached the Wu-Character Area after two days and a night.
• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi entered the vast, overgrown medicinal region, where they found the Yin Qi unusually thin and the thunder quiet.
• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi searched the wilderness and terraces for Thunder-Pattern Ying Flowergrass and possible substitutes but found none, then headed toward the hills and valleys.
• A purple-robed mechanism puppet observed Song Yan and Ruan Zhi through an eye of gathered Thunder Spirits and questioned why a Foundation Establishment cultivator was alive in the area.

Song Yan found Thunder-Pattern Ying Flowergrass, refined Upper-Grade Thunder-Hanging Pills, and used them to purge most of the Yin-Sha Qi from his body. As he planned to investigate the source of the thunderclouds, a Purple-Robed Puppet watched him and considered whether he posed a threat.

• Ruan Zhi led Song Yan to a secluded valley where he broke the Restriction and harvested enough Thunder-Pattern Ying Flowergrass to refine pills.
• A thunderstorm struck the valley, and lightning hit the tree Ruan Zhi was clinging to; Song Yan brought her back to safety after she fainted from fright.
• Song Yan refined Thunder-Hanging Pills with his Sword Furnace, eventually producing Upper-Grade Pills after more than a month of attempts.
• Song Yan took the pills over several cultivation sessions and purged most of the Yin-Sha Qi from his body, then made more pills and planned to investigate the thunderclouds' source.
• The Purple-Robed Puppet observed Song Yan and Ruan Zhi, judged Song Yan to be a dangerous Corpse Puppet, and resolved to intervene if they disturbed forbidden spirit medicine.

Song Yan and Ruan Zhi traveled east to investigate the thunderclouds, and Song Yan used the lightning to purge the Yin-Sha Qi from his body. After clearing the last trace on the mountainside, he was struck again while unable to move, and a purple-robed puppet descended from the storm to confront Void Aspect.

• Ruan Zhi told Song Yan she wished to leave the World Beneath the Abyss, explore the martial world, and find her parents, then promised to accompany him east toward the thunderclouds.
• Song Yan tested the lightning at the foothills, discovered it could cleanse his Yin-Sha Qi, and found that his Wood-Element Spiritual Source absorbed residual Thunder Spirit.
• Song Yan repeatedly endured lightning strikes and climbed the mountain over the course of a month as the Yin-Sha Qi in his body gradually diminished.
• On the mountainside, Song Yan used a powerful bolt to eradicate the last trace of Yin-Sha Qi, but another strike knocked him down before he could move.
• A lightning palm attacked Void Aspect, and a purple-robed puppet descended from the storm above the summit.

Song Yan and Ruan Zhi encountered a purple-robed puppet guarding Void Thunder Mountain, and Song Yan defeated it after recovering from its lightning strike. He held the dismembered puppet at swordpoint and demanded to know who it was.

• The purple-robed puppet attacked Song Yan and his Void-Aspect Dharma Body with lightning, leaving Song Yan temporarily paralyzed.
• Ruan Zhi carried Song Yan down the mountainside while the Void-Aspect Dharma Body fought the puppet and wounded its arm with dark-gold Sword Qi.
• Song Yan recovered beyond the mountain's foot, then returned to confront the purple-robed puppet with the Unmoored Boat and his sword techniques.
• The purple-robed puppet's lightning attacks struck Song Yan's illusions, while Song Yan's Sword Domain bypassed its lightning mantle and severed its limbs and head.
• Song Yan drew the puppet's scattered pieces before him and gave it one chance to answer who it was.

Song Yan questioned Purple Robe about Deng Ruikai’s experiments and the thunder source, then destroyed the puppet after uncovering his lies. At the summit, Song Yan and Ruan Zhi found the thunder source, but it rushed into Song Yan and left him convulsing with lightning.

• Purple Robe told Song Yan that Deng Ruikai had implanted souls into puppets and used Yin Qi to keep them from dissipating.
• Song Yan learned that Deng Ruikai was blind and that the short flute controlled thunder, but he exposed Purple Robe’s deception and destroyed the puppet.
• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi climbed to the mountain summit and discovered a hidden valley with a stone stand that drew lightning into the short flute.
• Song Yan identified the gathered thunder spirit as a spiritual source and approached it, intending to take it away for later refinement.
• Thunder Breath surged into Song Yan’s body, and he screamed as lightning filled his eyes and shot from his skin.

Song Yan survived refining the Thunder Breath, which cleared the baleful Yin Qi from his body and strengthened his movement and cultivation. After spending more than a year recovering, training, and studying Ruan Zhi’s books, he found an annotated map of the Immortal Tomb that appeared to depict a formation.

• The Thunder Breath rampaged through Song Yan before entering his Dantian, where it condensed into a Spiritual Source as Ruan Zhi guarded him.
• Ruan Zhi carried Song Yan back to their hiding place, and he slept for two days before waking with the baleful Yin Qi gone and his cultivation able to advance again.
• Song Yan discovered that the Thunder Breath made his movement techniques much faster and gradually tempered his Sword Qi.
• Song Yan trained, read Ruan Zhi’s books, and taught her Sword Dao methods while continuing to prepare for Core Formation and a possible rescue.
• Song Yan found an annotated Jade Fold map of the Immortal Tomb and suspected its markings showed a formation.

Song Yan discovered that the Immortal Tomb Spirit Abyss’s great formation had been designed to encompass a second city suspended above the ruins, the White Jade Capital. Unable to find a way out by studying the formation alone, he learned that Ruan Zhi had found the formation Jade Fold in a hidden archive and agreed to explore that area with her.

• Song Yan projected the formation Jade Fold and compared it with Ruan Zhi’s map, finding that the formation covered a vast empty space above the ancient city ruins.
• Song Yan placed a third map, obtained from a Red Mountain Association Golden Core cultivator, into that space and revealed the illusion of the White Jade Capital in the Heavens.
• Song Yan spent days studying the formation but found no way to break through its restrictions, and he suspected that a site associated with Deng Ruikai might connect its Yin and Yang principles.
• Ruan Zhi explained that she had found the formation Jade Fold in an archive beneath the A-Character Area after the restrictions allowed her to pass, and described another locked room she could not enter.
• Song Yan suspected that the Black Jade Tally might open the locked room, and he agreed to return to the hidden archive with Ruan Zhi.

Song Yan and Ruan Zhi entered the hidden library beneath Ruan Tongchen's Pavilion, where Song Yan fought off two Yin Wandering Souls and collected unprotected books and Jade Slips. They used Song Yan's black Jade Token to open a concealed room, revealing an enormous closed Bronze Gate.

• Song Yan disguised himself with a blindfold and a concealing gauze cloak before following Ruan Zhi through the hidden passage to the library.
• Two Yin Wandering Souls attacked as they entered, and Song Yan destroyed them with silent sword strikes.
• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi searched the nearby tables, and Song Yan took the unprotected books and Jade Slips for later study.
• Ruan Zhi led Song Yan to a smooth black wall with a keyhole, and Song Yan gave her a black Jade Token to try.
• The Jade Token opened the wall, revealing a room filled with bookshelves and Formation materials, with a massive closed Bronze Gate at the far end.

Song Yan and Ruan Zhi explored a formation chamber and discovered a Jade Fold detailing the formations beneath the Spirit Abyss, but Song Yan fled after sensing a terrifying presence behind a Bronze Gate. Back in their hiding place, he learned the chamber was connected to the Twelve-Story Tower and found the entry for the Heaven-and-Earth Reversal Formation.

• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi searched the chamber, where Song Yan found and took an ancient Jade Fold.
• Song Yan sensed danger at the Bronze Gate, seized Ruan Zhi, and escaped through the ink-wash doorway and secret passage.
• Deng Ruikai used gray-mist phantoms to replay their visit, noticed Ruan Zhi, and decided to continue pursuing his cultivation rather than chase them.
• Song Yan warned Ruan Zhi that Deng Ruikai might be cultivating behind the Bronze Gate and urged her not to return to the chamber.
• Song Yan studied the Jade Fold and learned that the Spirit Abyss's formations formed the Twelve-Story Tower, then found the entry for the Heaven-and-Earth Reversal Formation.

Song Yan studied the Heaven-and-Earth Reversal Formation and sought the formation flags needed to break the Sun-Moon Transfer Formation, finding help from Ruan Zhi. Five years after the Spirit Abyss incident, Xu Ran True Lord arrived with Deng Su and three Golden Core cultivators, and Deng Ruikai opened a passage into the abyss.

• Song Yan learned that breaking the Sun-Moon Transfer Formation required twelve fourth-tier formation flags and found six in his Heaven and Earth Bag.
• Song Yan asked Ruan Zhi for help, and she gave him three formation flags, including one fourth-tier flag, and showed him where she had found them in the Ding-Character Area.
• Two years later, Xu Ran True Lord arrived above the Spirit Abyss with Deng Su and three Golden Core cultivators.
• Xu Ran True Lord began descending to break the restriction, but Deng Ruikai spoke from beneath the abyss and opened a passage.
• Xu Ran True Lord told the others he would handle Deng Ruikai and ordered Deng Su to search for the Sword Sect descendant, who should still be alive.

Xu Ran True Lord, revealed as Deng Ruixu, confronted his younger brother Deng Ruikai inside the ancient restriction while Deng Su and the sect cultivators searched the ruins. The searchers were attacked by intelligent Mechanism Puppets, but Song Yan appeared and addressed Deng Su’s presumed captor, the sword-wielding puppet.

• Xu Ran True Lord entered the ancient restriction with Deng Su and three Golden Core cultivators, then faced Deng Ruikai amid the Yin-Sha.
• Deng Ruikai recognized Xu Ran True Lord as his elder brother, Deng Ruixu, and attacked him after they discussed the clan’s decision to execute him.
• Xu Ran True Lord summoned a star disk and used its power to meet Deng Ruikai’s Yin-Sha attacks.
• Deng Su and the three Golden Core cultivators searched the ruins but were ambushed by four intelligent Mechanism Puppets, including a sword-wielding puppet.
• Deng Su suspected the sword-wielding puppet was Old Song, while the puppets attacked the sect cultivators.
• Song Yan appeared with a petite Mechanism Puppet and asked Old Deng why he had called his name upon seeing someone wielding a sword.

Song Yan and the Heavenly Mechanism Sect cultivators joined forces against Deng Ruikai’s Golden Core puppets while Song Yan began setting up the Heaven-and-Earth Reversal Formation. The outer formation flags were placed, and Heroine Xiao Zhi destroyed a fleeing puppet head as the battle continued.

• Song Yan met Deng Su and three Heavenly Mechanism Sect cultivators, who told him their True Lord was fighting Deng Ruikai and offered to help him leave.
• A hammer-wielding puppet attacked Song Yan, but Gu Chang dodged it and Song Yan’s Void-Aspect Dharma Body pinned the hammer and spread Yin-Sha Cold Flame over the puppet.
• The Heavenly Mechanism Sect cultivators and Song Yan’s Dharma Body fought the four puppets while Song Yan persuaded Deng Su to help place formation flags.
• Song Yan, Deng Su, and Ruan Zhi split up and placed the outer flags for the Heaven-and-Earth Reversal Formation before returning to the battlefield.
• The Heavenly Mechanism Sect cultivators and the Dharma Body badly damaged the puppets, and Heroine Xiao Zhi shot down the head of one puppet as it fled.

Song Yan continued preparing a formation to collapse the abyss’s outer restrictions, despite the Heavenly Mechanism Sect cultivators’ doubts, and secured two fourth-tier formation flags from Xu Fei. As he and his Dharma Body moved toward the dangerous central Formation Eyes, Ruan Zhi returned to safety, while the battling True Lords noticed Song Yan’s actions.

• Ruan Zhi returned after placing two formation flags, and Song Yan inspected the remains of a sword-wielding puppet before explaining that he was setting up a formation to collapse the outer restrictions.
• Xu Fei and the other Heavenly Mechanism Sect cultivators warned Song Yan that the ancient restrictions were too dangerous to challenge, but Song Yan said he wanted to test his formation studies and quietly completed the six outer Formation Eyes.
• Song Yan asked Deng Su to request spare fourth-tier formation flags from Xu Fei, who lent him two Star-Guiding Banners and urged him to abandon the attempt if it became too dangerous.
• Song Yan told Ruan Zhi to return to the hiding place because he might teleport away if the great formation collapsed; she asked where to find him again, and he answered Jun Mountain before they parted.
• Song Yan and his Dharma Body approached the central battlefield and began placing flags near the remaining Formation Eyes while Xu Ran True Lord and Deng Ruikai continued their battle.
• Xu Ran True Lord recognized Song Yan as the Sword Sect disciple, and Deng Ruikai sensed Song Yan nearby and felt an unexpected unease.

Song Yan activated the Heaven-and-Earth Reversal Formation while Xu Ran True Lord kept Deng Ruikai from attacking him. The formation overturned the sun and moon and began breaking the Luohou Abyss restrictions as the Nascent Soul battle neared its end.

• Deng Ruikai attacked Xu Ran True Lord and tried to strike Song Yan, but Xu Ran True Lord stopped his attacks with Divine Silence and the star chart.
• Song Yan decided to continue despite the danger and planted the final formation flag, setting the Heaven-and-Earth Reversal Formation in motion.
• Song Yan used a Spirit-Absorbing Sword Formation to gather enough Spiritual Power to activate the damaged formation, while Xu Fei watched and assessed his efforts.
• Deng Ruikai attacked the sword formation, but Xu Ran True Lord neutralized the Yin lightning and redirected scattered Spiritual Power into the formation.
• The formation reversed the sun and moon, causing restrictions across the Luohou Abyss to crack as the nine flying swords shattered and the Nascent Soul battle approached its conclusion.

True Lord Xuran destroyed Deng Ruikai, but Deng Ruikai’s final attack nearly killed Song Yan. After the Sun-Moon Transfer Formation collapsed, Song Yan claimed the Kunwu Remnant Flame and Eye of the Ruinous Sea with his Infinite Treasury Sword Case, while True Lord Xuran explained that Deng Ruikai’s remains and hidden hoard had to return to the clan.

• True Lord Xuran used Sun and Moon Push and Pull to destroy Deng Ruikai, whose last wisp of power struck at Song Yan.
• Song Yan escaped the residual attack with his defenses, though it destroyed Void Aspect’s Dharma Body and snapped the Sword Sect Jade Seal.
• The Sun-Moon Transfer Formation collapsed, and the sun and moon’s lights fell beyond the western horizon of the Spirit Abyss.
• Song Yan raced to the canyon and found the Kunwu Remnant Flame and Eye of the Ruinous Sea, but his storage pouch could not contain them.
• True Lord Xuran and four others arrived, and True Lord Xuran told Song Yan to take the treasures.
• Song Yan drew both Spiritual Sources into the Infinite Treasury Sword Case, then learned that Deng Ruikai’s remains and hidden hoard would be returned to the clan.

Song Yan declined Xu Ran True Lord’s invitation so he could focus on Core Formation and other obligations, then discovered that the Sword Sect Jade Seal had broken. He reunited with Ruan Zhi and explored Deng Ruikai’s lair beyond the Bronze Gate, where they found a hidden compartment containing a Suspended Small Cube.

• Song Yan politely declined Xu Ran True Lord’s invitation to visit the Purple Star Immortal Continent, explaining that he needed to settle other matters and prepare for Core Formation.
• Xu Ran True Lord accepted Song Yan’s decision, gave him the Yin-Flow Spirit-Command Talisman, and left with the Heavenly Mechanism Sect disciples.
• Song Yan examined the broken Sword Sect Jade Seal, then flew to Ruan Zhi’s hiding place and found her still there.
• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi returned to Deng Ruikai’s lair and opened the Bronze Gate, which no longer had its Restrictions and released a surge of Yin-Sha Qi.
• After exploring the cavern and finding Deng Ruikai’s cave abode empty, Song Yan discovered a hidden compartment containing a Suspended Small Cube.

Song Yan and Ruan Zhi escaped the Spirit Abyss and met Xiao Fengjing and Xiao Yin, while the dispersal of the Yin Qi drew more cultivators into Luohou Abyss. Elsewhere beneath the abyss, Deng Ruikai awakened inside a Mechanism Puppet, declared his old identity finished, and took the name Green Sparrow Daoist.

• The blue-black cube flowed into Ruan Zhi when she touched it, and she felt no change afterward.
• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi emerged from the Spirit Abyss, where cultivators had gathered, and Xiao Yin stopped them in a fragrant carriage.
• Song Yan told Xiao Fengjing what had happened beneath the abyss, concealing Ruan Zhi and the sun and moon Spiritual Sources, then departed with her.
• Xiao Fengjing guessed Song Yan had survived by refining a Thunder-Element Spiritual Source, while Xiao Yin suggested killing him to take it; Xiao Fengjing refused.
• As the Yin Qi dispersed, more cultivators entered Luohou Abyss, but they eventually left when the diminished rewards and lack of restrictions made the place less profitable.
• Deng Ruikai awakened in a Mechanism Puppet, escaped the Deng Clan's control, and named himself Green Sparrow Daoist after a Little Sparrow Demon settled on his shoulder.

After parting from Ruan Zhi, Song Yan headed toward Xiangyang to find a secluded valley where he could prepare to form his core. When he lost his way, he encountered a merchant caravan trapped by fighting demon beasts and drove the beasts away with his Dharma Body’s Golden Core presence.

• Song Yan and Ruan Zhi parted on Connecting Cloud Cliff, and he gave her a map and advice before she set off to become a great hero.
• Song Yan reviewed his preparations for Core Formation and chose to seek the secluded valley near Xiangyang rather than return to the Chu Kingdom.
• Song Yan flew toward Xiangyang for a month and a half, then realized he had missed Crane City and was traveling in the wrong direction.
• Song Yan spotted a Great Tang merchant caravan trapped near two fighting late second-stage demon beasts and approached to help.
• Song Yan’s Dharma Body released its Golden Core presence, frightening the demon beasts into fleeing, and he used Spiritual Power to clear away the lingering demon power.