Recaps

Qin Tiexin studied the Sumeru Immovable Instruction and found that its strength, stability, and mental defenses suited his fighting style. He planned to leave the crowded stone platform and cultivate its first nine Earth Wheel layers somewhere secluded.

• Qin Tiexin had Xiao Rou sit on the stone platform before turning his attention to the stone jade slip.
• Qin Tiexin used his Divine Sense to uncover the Sumeru Immovable Instruction and read its stance training, breathing method, visualization, and realm-specific effects.
• Qin Tiexin learned that the instruction strengthened attacks and mental resistance but required the practitioner to stay grounded and could leave them vulnerable to ranged attacks or multiple opponents.
• Qin Tiexin judged the instruction well suited to his head-on fighting style and calculated that its first nine Earth Wheel layers could raise his punching force to nearly a hundred and fifty thousand jin.
• Qin Tiexin committed the instruction to memory and decided to seek a secluded place to cultivate its first nine layers.

Qin Tiexin waited while Xiao Rou underwent the stone platform’s test, refusing Qian Donglai’s offers to buy or borrow his jade slip. Xiao Rou emerged with two jade slips, one ordinary and one original, and Qin Tiexin stopped others from trying to buy the original.

• Qin Tiexin waited beside Xiao Rou as she remained on the stone platform, while other cultivators wondered why he had not gone to the third floor.
• Qian Donglai offered Qin Tiexin up to eighty thousand Spirit Stones for his jade slip, but Qin Tiexin refused because he planned to go to the third floor.
• Xiao Rou spent longer on the platform than the others before it produced a dull jade slip and then a second, golden original cultivation method.
• Xiao Rou looked to Qin Tiexin for help as nearby cultivators offered to buy her original jade slip.
• Qin Tiexin stood with Edgeless and told the bidders that the jade slip was not for sale.

Qin Tiexin and Xiao Rou reached the third floor, where a formation guarded the central area with regenerating bronze puppets. After Xiao Yan failed to reclaim Xiao Rou, Chen Chen invited Qin Tiexin and Xiao Rou to study the Eighteen Bronze Men Formation.

• Qin Tiexin returned Xiao Rou's authentic Jade Slip, and they used their slips to pass through the gates to the third floor.
• Qin Tiexin and Xiao Rou found a ruined floor crowded with onlookers watching a body cultivator fight a dark-golden puppet.
• Xiao Yan recognized Xiao Rou and ordered her to return, but Xiao Rou chose to stay with Qin Tiexin, who told Xiao Yan he had saved her life.
• The body cultivator split the puppet in half, and Qin Tiexin watched the formation restore it alongside several identical puppets.
• Chen Chen introduced himself and invited Qin Tiexin and Xiao Rou to study the Eighteen Bronze Men Formation.

Chen Chen explained that the resources of the Pure Land Chan Temple were sealed behind a formation guarded by eighteen self-repairing bronze men, and proposed breaking it through synchronized attacks. Qin Tiexin agreed to join and walked toward the formation to take Chen Chen’s strength test.

• Chen Chen told Qin Tiexin that Chengxin had sealed Devil Venerable Xuanli and the temple’s resources inside the formation, guarded by eighteen bronze men.
• Chen Chen explained that all eighteen bronze men had to be destroyed within the same incense-stick’s burn to create a chance to break the formation, with the recovered resources divided into eighteen shares.
• Qin Tiexin agreed to join as the sixteenth group after Chen Chen warned that anyone who tried to steal the spoils would become everyone’s enemy.
• Xiao Rou declined to participate and went to wait on a stone platform while Chen Chen’s people kept watch.
• Chen Chen told Qin Tiexin that approaching within five paces would activate a bronze man, and Qin Tiexin walked toward the light barrier carrying Edgeless.

Qin Tiexin entered the formation and defeated a bronze guardian with his bare hands, earning Chen Chen's approval and a place in the group. He withdrew to recover while the formation still needed two more people to activate.

• Qin Tiexin examined the sealed treasures, then chose a shield-bearing bronze guardian to test his strength.
• Qin Tiexin exchanged punches with the guardian and discovered that his strength exceeded its roughly one-dragon power.
• Yan Yue recognized Qin Tiexin as the man he wanted to kill and take treasures from, but held back after witnessing his strength.
• Qin Tiexin battered the guardian with punches and kicks, then shattered its torso with a Primordial Unity Stance Fist before it reassembled.
• Chen Chen praised Qin Tiexin and accepted him into the group, which still needed two more people to activate the formation.
• Qin Tiexin retrieved Edgeless and sat down to regulate his breathing as Xiao Rou watched from nearby.

Qin Tiexin and the others waited for the final two cultivators needed to activate all eighteen bronze figures. After a swift-sword cultivator and Qian Donglai arrived and destroyed their figures, Chen Chen explained the group’s coordinated plan to break the formation.

• A tall, thin sword cultivator arrived and defeated his bronze figure with rapid strikes and precise footwork.
• After a long wait, Qian Donglai arrived with his guard and used two third-tier lightning talismans to destroy his bronze figure.
• When someone objected to Qian Donglai using talismans, he showed a dozen more, and Chen Chen confirmed the rules allowed them.
• With all eighteen people gathered, Chen Chen instructed them to destroy their bronze figures simultaneously at the one-incense-stick mark, then said he would use a Law Artifact to break the formation during their brief restoration interval.
• No one objected, and Chen Chen ordered everyone to get ready.

Chen Chen coordinated eighteen groups to destroy the bronze figures and used a Restriction-Breaking Needle to shatter the formation’s light barrier. The barrier’s collapse released a powerful shock wave that threw the cultivators back, leaving the way beyond it exposed.

• Qin Tiexin and the other cultivators fought their assigned bronze figures while Chen Chen monitored the formation and Xiao Yan watched from its edge.
• At Chen Chen’s command, the eighteen groups destroyed all the bronze figures simultaneously, disrupting the formation.
• Chen Chen rushed to the light barrier and drove a Restriction-Breaking Needle into it until cracks spread across its surface.
• Chen Chen called for everyone to fall back as he and his guards shielded themselves.
• The light barrier shattered, and its released spiritual-power wave hurled the cultivators away; Qin Tiexin braced behind Edgeless as the barrier vanished.

The barrier revealed a vast cache of treasures and a pure white, eleven-bead bracelet hovering between a golden skeleton’s hands. As everyone raced to seize the Mid-Grade Spirit Artifact, Chen Chen gained the lead and lunged toward it with his storage ring ready.

• The barrier cleared to reveal hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones, rare treasures, and a golden skeleton holding a white bracelet with eleven beads.
• Qin Tiexin noticed the bracelet had one more bead than Jiang Lie’s Jade Slip described and felt his severed arm react to it.
• Everyone abandoned the plan to divide the treasures and charged for the bracelet, with Chen Chen, Xiao Yan, and a purple spirit marten moving ahead of Qin Tiexin.
• Xiao Rou stayed hidden in the shadows as Qin Tiexin used Mountain-Shaking Steps and Burst Step to pursue the leaders.
• Chen Chen used two guards’ shoulders to launch himself toward the skeleton, his activated storage ring ready to take the bracelet.

Cultivators raced to seize the bracelet, but its spiritual barrier shattered and unleashed a force that drained their spiritual power. The beads turned red and black as Devil Venerable Xuanli’s demonic intent emerged.

• Chen Chen, Xiao Yan, the spirit marten, and others reached for the bracelet, but its spiritual power membrane blocked them.
• Qin Tiexin and Yan Yue sensed danger and tried to retreat as the membrane shattered and a suction force began draining spiritual power.
• Chen Chen and Xiao Yan escaped the bracelet’s grasp, while the spirit marten withered to death and its master’s beast-taming ring broke.
• Ten beads turned red and black while one remained golden-white, and Devil Venerable Xuanli’s overwhelming demonic intent burst forth.

Qin Tiexin and the other cultivators accidentally broke the formation that had been wearing away Devil Venerable Xuanli’s soul, allowing him to take form. Xuanli emerged with unstable Golden Core cultivation and turned on them, declaring that they would nourish his body.

• The half-black, half-white bracelet drained the cultivators and the formation’s Spirit Stones, while Chengxin’s golden skeleton began to move.
• Incense ash and bone dust gathered around the skeleton, and the cultivators attacked it as it formed a body.
• Devil Venerable Xuanli emerged unharmed, despite the group’s attacks, and Qin Tiexin sensed his unstable early-stage Golden Core cultivation.
• Xuanli recalled his escape from the seal and the slaughter a thousand years earlier, then judged the cultivators as nourishment for his flesh.
• White powder surged from Xuanli’s body and formed more than a dozen enormous hands that reached to seize everyone in the formation area.

Qin Tiexin and the other cultivators repelled Devil Venerable Xuanli’s first attacks, and Chen Chen trapped and pierced him with the Morning Star Chain and Morning Star Blade. Xuanli broke free with his bead bracelet, opened a hole in the ground, and escaped below.

• Qin Tiexin and the other cultivators destroyed Xuanli’s grasping white hands, prompting him to attack in earnest.
• Xuanli charged Chen Chen, but Chen Chen retreated, recovered his spiritual power with a pill, and took cover behind his guards’ shields.
• Chen Chen used the Morning Star Chain to bind Xuanli, then struck him with the Morning Star Blade, slowing the regeneration of his white body.
• Xuanli activated his bead bracelet to force away the chain and star blades, then smashed open the ground and escaped into the darkness below.

After Devil Venerable Xuanli slaughtered several cultivators to restore his strength, Chen Chen and the others pursued him to the first floor. Qin Tiexin followed to recover the bead linked to his severed arm and found the group fighting Xuanli, who was still being suppressed by their combined attacks.

• Xuanli dragged several cultivators from the first floor to him, crushed them, and absorbed their Blood Qi to stabilize and strengthen himself.
• Chen Chen identified Xuanli as the Devil Venerable from a thousand years ago and jumped down with his guards to pursue him.
• Qian Donglai, Yan Yue, and several clan disciples followed Xuanli, while others fled; Xiao Yan and the Buddhist cultivators stayed behind.
• Qin Tiexin warned Xiao Rou, took Xu Ying’s Qi Recovery Pills, and descended to the first floor after the bead Xuanli carried.
• The severed arm promised to help Qin Tiexin at a critical moment, and he followed the sounds of fighting through the main hall.
• Qin Tiexin saw Chen Chen, Qian Donglai, Yan Yue, and the other cultivators attacking Xuanli, who remained suppressed despite absorbing Blood Qi.

Devil Venerable Xuanli absorbed the Qi and Blood of cultivators in the ruins to restore his strength, then unleashed an incomplete Pill Domain against Chen Chen and the others. As the shield formation collapsed, Xuanli dragged Chen Chen toward him and reached for his face.

• Xuanli recovered from the cultivators’ attacks by reforming his ash body, but his spiritual power weakened as he retreated.
• Chen Chen warned nearby rogue cultivators that Xuanli was about to absorb their Qi and Blood, but Xuanli drained several before they could escape.
• Xuanli’s body grew more lifelike and his Golden Core cultivation surged as he absorbed the rogue cultivators.
• Qin Tiexin recognized Xuanli’s incomplete Pill Domain, which slowed everyone within its range while Xuanli attacked freely.
• Xuanli drained A Si and knocked the remaining guard away, breaking Chen Chen’s shield formation.
• Chen Chen bound Xuanli with the Morning Star Chain, but Xuanli seized it, dragged Chen Chen toward him, and reached for his face.

Qin Tiexin watched Xuanli overwhelm Chen Chen’s group as the fiend grew stronger and the cultivators were driven toward defeat. When the battered survivors could no longer hold out, Qin Tiexin finally attacked with Edgeless.

• Chen Chen used his essence blood to unleash Morning Star Blades, escaped Xuanli’s chains, and received pills from Qian Donglai.
• Yan Yue and the sword cultivator fought Xuanli while Qian Donglai and Chen Chen supported them, but Xuanli rapidly healed and grew stronger.
• Qin Tiexin saw the group being forced back as Xuanli’s speed and strength increased, while most other cultivators fled the first floor.
• Xuanli attacked the retreating group and drained the sword cultivator by absorbing his blood, leaving him unconscious and the others badly injured.
• Qin Tiexin saw Chen Chen, Qian Donglai, and Yan Yue on the verge of collapse, then launched Edgeless at Xuanli with his full strength.

Qin Tiexin fought Xuanli, using Edgeless to expose the golden bones beneath Xuanli’s bone powder and weaken his Pill Domain. As the battle continued and Qin Tiexin was struck hard, Qian Donglai and Chen Chen restored their strength and prepared to support him.

• Qin Tiexin’s throw drove Edgeless into Xuanli’s palm, scattering bone powder and exposing golden bones that weakened Xuanli’s Pill Domain.
• Qin Tiexin struck Edgeless deeper into Xuanli’s shoulder, endured Xuanli’s counterattack, and then traded blows with him using the Heavy Mountain Saber Technique.
• Xuanli fought back with bone-powder spikes, hands, and threads while Qin Tiexin tried to strip away more powder and weaken him.
• Qian Donglai and Chen Chen took Instant Essence Pills, restored their strength, and decided to support Qin Tiexin.
• Xuanli struck Qin Tiexin in the back and sent him flying, but Qin Tiexin landed on one knee and kept Edgeless planted in the ground to steady himself.

Qin Tiexin struck Xuanli with a powerful saber attack, blasting away much of his bone powder but failing to kill him. As Xuanli approached the buried Qin Tiexin, Xiao Yan and three Buddhist disciples trapped him inside the Pure Light Devil-Subduing Formation.

• Qian Donglai bound Xuanli with Star Chains and Binding Talismans, giving Qin Tiexin an opening to attack.
• Qin Tiexin used Mountain-Shaking Steps and Shatter the Mountain to blast away more than thirty percent of Xuanli's bone powder.
• The blast knocked Qin Tiexin, Chen Chen, and Qian Donglai away, while Xuanli survived and found the others unconscious.
• Qin Tiexin hid beneath rubble and gathered the strength to strike Xuanli when he came close.
• Xiao Yan arrived with three Buddhist disciples and trapped Xuanli in the Pure Light Devil-Subduing Formation.

Xiao Yan and three Buddhist disciples trapped Xuanli in a formation and used a bronze Artifact of Faith to suppress him, but Chengxin’s Buddhist nature on Xuanli’s bracelet shielded him from the Buddhist power. Qin Tiexin prepared to use the great bell from Zhaoming Temple as Xuanli suddenly weakened and spread his palm.

• Xuanli repeatedly battered the light barrier, while Xiao Yan brought out a bronze bowl whose sound caused him intense pain.
• Xiao Yan placed the bowl atop the formation and joined the three Buddhist disciples in chanting, filling the enclosure with Buddhist light.
• Qin Tiexin recognized the bowl as an Artifact of Faith and suspected the Buddhists had taken the great bell from Zhaoming Temple to deal with Xuanli.
• Xuanli used the bracelet’s Devil Qi to resist the Buddhist light, and Xiao Yan realized Chengxin’s Buddhist nature on its beads was shielding him.
• Qin Tiexin prepared to take out the great bell, but Xuanli’s cultivation suddenly fell to Foundation Establishment Peak Stage as he spread his right palm.

Xuanli broke Xiao Yan’s formation and bronze bowl, then regained strength by draining a Buddhist disciple and survived the other two disciples’ self-detonations. Badly damaged and weakened, he planned to escape the ruins and hunt for blood Qi so he could recover.

• Xiao Yan used her essence blood to strengthen the bronze bowl, but Xuanli shattered the formation and the bowl with his prayer beads.
• The explosion injured Xiao Yan and the Buddhist disciples, while Xuanli reformed from white ash with his right arm missing.
• Xuanli drained one wounded Buddhist disciple, restoring his cultivation to the Golden Core early stage.
• The two surviving Buddhist disciples detonated their Dantians and blasted Xuanli apart, but he survived with the prayer beads.
• Xuanli’s body slowly began to mend as the Buddhist light faded, and he resolved to escape and hunt living beings to regain his strength.

Qin Tiexin invoked the severed arm’s power to reach the Meridian Opening Realm and confront Xuanli at the mountain gate. He left Xuanli gravely wounded and desperate to escape.

• Qin Tiexin refused to let Xuanli pass and asked the severed arm to lend him its strength.
• The severed arm covered Qin Tiexin in dark-gold runes, raising his cultivation to the Meridian Opening Realm for one hour.
• Qin Tiexin attacked Xuanli with Edgeless and severed his left arm with Suppress the Mountain.
• Qin Tiexin struck Xuanli again, cutting away most of his remaining torso and causing his cultivation to fall from the foundation establishment peak stage to the late stage.
• Xuanli abandoned thoughts of revenge and focused only on escaping.

Xuanli gathered the bone powder in the ruins and transformed into a thirty-foot combat puppet, hoping to kill Qin Tiexin and escape through the mountain gate. Qin Tiexin summoned his Arhat Dharma Manifestation and met Xuanli’s attack head-on, leaving their clash unresolved.

• Qin Tiexin blocked Xuanli’s escape at the mountain gate, and Xuanli realized he could not outrun him.
• Xuanli poured his remaining Devil Qi into the bracelet and gathered the surrounding bone powder into a giant puppet.
• Qin Tiexin activated his Arhat Dharma Manifestation as Xuanli’s puppet charged him.
• Qin Tiexin’s Arhat Fist collided with Xuanli’s giant fist, and he followed with a second punch, Vajra Flame.

Qin Tiexin destroyed Xuanli’s bone-powder giant and broke the bracelet, leaving Xuanli without a body. As Qin Tiexin reached for the bracelet, Xuanli’s surviving soul invaded his sea of consciousness and prepared to seize his body.

• Qin Tiexin drove the giant back with Arhat Fist and Vajra Flame as Xuanli’s Devil Qi dwindled and the giant’s body weakened.
• When the giant’s foot crumbled, Qin Tiexin struck its chest with a flaming Arhat Fist, breaking the bracelet free and shattering the giant.
• The giant disintegrated, Xuanli’s presence vanished from the battlefield, and Qin Tiexin approached the bracelet amid the ashes.
• Xuanli’s hidden soul pierced Qin Tiexin’s sea of consciousness, intending to devour Qin Tiexin’s soul and take his body.
• Xuanli appeared above Qin Tiexin’s vast sea of consciousness and declared it suitable as his vessel.

Xuanli invaded Qin Tiexin’s sea of consciousness, but an ancient giant appeared and swallowed his soul, ending the threat. Xiao Wan emerged from Xiao Rou’s body and demanded the bracelet for Brahma Sound Valley, leaving Qin Tiexin ready to fight her.

• Xuanli searched Qin Tiexin’s sea of consciousness for his soul core, but an immense ancient being seized and swallowed him.
• Qin Tiexin awoke with the danger gone and reached for the bracelet before hearing footsteps nearby.
• Xiao Rou appeared with two overlapping shadows and a face split between her own features and Xiao Wan’s, then collapsed unconscious.
• Xiao Wan revealed herself as a False Core Stage cultivator and claimed the bracelet was destined for Brahma Sound Valley.
• Xiao Wan offered Qin Tiexin the position of Dharma Protector if he surrendered the bracelet, or death otherwise.
• Qin Tiexin placed his hand on the Edgeless Saber and challenged Xiao Wan to take the bracelet herself.

Qin Tiexin fought Xiao Wan as his borrowed Meridian Opening Realm strength began to fade. He broke through her mental attacks and closed in with a decisive saber strike, leaving the outcome unresolved.

• Qin Tiexin charged Xiao Wan with Edgeless, but she blocked his blow with her eight-armed Buddha phantom and countered with the Great Silence Demon-Subduing Seal.
• Xiao Wan attacked Qin Tiexin with the Thousand Epiphyllum Delusion-Breaking Finger, piercing his Qi Gang and slowing him while keeping out of his saber’s reach.
• Qin Tiexin endured the golden volleys and charged forward, but Xiao Wan’s Brahma Sea Chan Stillness briefly sapped his fighting spirit.
• Qin Tiexin’s Fire of Life dispelled the chant’s influence, and he used Lion’s Roar to disrupt Xiao Wan’s Buddhist seal.
• Qin Tiexin closed the distance and brought Edgeless down with the Heavy Mountain Saber Technique: Sever the Mountain.

Qin Tiexin used Edgeless and the Karma-Burning Wisdom King Flame to wound Xiao Wan, but his borrowed strength ran out before he could finish her. He concealed his weakness by conjuring five pursuing fire lotuses, leaving Xiao Wan struggling to evade them and wondering how he learned the forbidden technique.

• Xiao Wan protected herself with eight Arhat Phantoms and a Spirit Artifact robe, but Qin Tiexin's Edgeless shattered the phantoms and forced the robe to block his slash.
• Qin Tiexin combined Arhat Fist with Vajra Flame, which Xiao Wan recognized as the Karma-Burning Wisdom King Flame, and the flames burned through her Buddhist light and injured her right arm.
• Xiao Wan gouged the burning flesh from her arm and suppressed the remaining flames by reciting Buddhist scriptures.
• Qin Tiexin's half-hour enhancement expired just as he moved to attack, so he planted Edgeless in the ground and hid his loss of strength.
• Qin Tiexin drew on the Fire of Life and the pink bird mark to send five fire lotuses after Xiao Wan, forcing her to evade while she questioned whether he was a Brahma Sound Valley agent or had found another inheritance.

Xiao Wan hesitated to attack Qin Tiexin after he took the bracelet and offered to let her leave, but Lin Chuan’s group arrived and protected him with formations. The chapter then showed how the group had learned of the battle and approached the Pure Land Chan Temple cautiously.

• Xiao Wan recalled how she had entered the secret realm through Xiao Rou and waited for a chance to take the bracelet from whoever killed the Void Spirit Python.
• Qin Tiexin gathered the bracelet beads and told Xiao Wan to leave, though he was too depleted to defend himself without help.
• Xiao Wan prepared a probing attack, but Lin Chuan and Liu Suifeng’s formations appeared and blocked her from reaching Qin Tiexin.
• Lin Chuan, Liu Suifeng, Du Heng, Ling Shuyao, and another companion had found the Pure Land Chan Temple shaking as cultivators fled from a fierce battle.
• After a fleeing cultivator warned them of a white monster and a revived devil cultivator, Lin Chuan stopped the group from entering until they learned more.