Chapter Summaries

Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan cooked and ate the Foundation Establishment Realm Demon Beast they had killed, absorbing its vital essence before dividing up the remaining materials. After strengthening himself and organizing their spoils, they settled in for the night in the secret realm.

• Duan Xuan persuaded Qin Tiexin to cook the Demon Beast’s leg in his cauldron, seasoning it with herbs and spices from her storage ring.
• Qin Tiexin taught Duan Xuan how to circulate the vital essence from the meat, and she absorbed it while they ate.
• Qin Tiexin ate several batches of meat, then refined the Demon Beast’s concentrated vital essence and increased his one-handed strength to nearly eighteen thousand jin.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan dismembered the corpse, divided its meat and materials, and kept the horns, Spirit Bone, and hide.
• Duan Xuan took the first watch and Qin Tiexin the second as they rested through a night filled with distant roars and battles.

Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan hunted mutated Ironback Pigs in an abandoned herb garden, then searched Demon Beast lairs for Jade Slips and uncovered how the sect’s beasts had grown abnormally. After finding martial skills suited to each of them, they encountered a powerful Blazing Mountain Bear, and Qin Tiexin prepared to fight it alone with Duan Xuan backing him up.

• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan killed six unusually large Ironback Pigs in the ruined herb garden and found Blood Strengthening Vine among the remains.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan concluded that the Demon Beasts had grown abnormally by eating abandoned medicines and herbs, and that the beasts might carry Jade Slips from the Cultivation Method Pavilion.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan searched Demon Beast lairs, finding the Stone Skin Technique for Qin Tiexin and Slithering Snake Steps for Duan Xuan.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan encountered a Foundation Establishment early stage Blazing Mountain Bear, and Qin Tiexin asked Duan Xuan to back him up while he fought it alone.

Qin Tiexin fought a Blazing Mountain Bear barehanded, trading heavy blows and enduring its stone-spike and vine techniques. The bear trapped him on the ground and crashed down with its Heavy Mountain Technique.

• Qin Tiexin left Edgeless planted in the ground and charged the Blazing Mountain Bear with his fists.
• Qin Tiexin struck the bear's abdomen, but the bear hit his left shoulder and temporarily disabled his arm.
• Qin Tiexin diverted the bear's next blow and punched its wounded abdomen again, injuring its internal organs.
• The Blazing Mountain Bear raised stone spikes beneath Qin Tiexin, then used an Earth Phase Vine to trip him.
• The Blazing Mountain Bear used Heavy Mountain Technique to increase its weight and leaped down onto Qin Tiexin.

Qin Tiexin defeated a Blazing Mountain Bear and found Golden Needle Bee honey and the complete Heavy Mountain Saber Technique in its cave. As he and Duan Xuan left, a heavily armed man confronted them and demanded they surrender what they had taken.

• Qin Tiexin entered the Primordial Unity State, struck the Blazing Mountain Bear with both fists, and made it flee before killing it with the Vajra Hammer Fist.
• Qin Tiexin stored the bear's corpse, treated his injuries, and followed its tracks with Duan Xuan to its cave.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan found and divided a jar of Golden Needle Bee honey.
• Qin Tiexin discovered a jade slip containing the complete Heavy Mountain Saber Technique, including its final three forms and the Iron Spine Sect disciples' insights.
• A man in dark leather armor confronted Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan outside the cave, claiming he had found it first and demanding they put down what they had taken.

Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan confronted Zhang Chen of the Greatsword Sect over the contents of a lair, and Duan Xuan drove him off with a carefully timed series of attacks. After resting and finding most of the ruins already looted, they camped for the night and prepared the Blazing Mountain Bear’s paws to help Qin Tiexin recover.

• Zhang Chen demanded that Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan hand over what they had found, but Qin Tiexin refused and Duan Xuan chose to fight him.
• Duan Xuan used her whip, longsword, and Fire Dragon Technique to exploit Zhang Chen’s poor control of his surging Qi and Blood, striking the wound behind his heart.
• Zhang Chen withdrew after Duan Xuan’s fourth thrust nearly pierced his heart, and Qin Tiexin gave her Healing Pills for her burns and damaged whip.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan rested for an hour, then explored the ruins and found that most chambers and lairs had already been stripped of their valuables.
• As night approached, they made camp beneath a secluded stone platform, where Qin Tiexin cut the Blazing Mountain Bear’s paws off and Duan Xuan urged him to eat them to replenish his Qi and Blood.

Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan refined bear meat beneath a stone platform, and Duan Xuan broke through to the ninth layer of Body Tempering. After hearing that cultivators had discovered the Iron Spine Sect’s trial hall and its powerful rewards, they reached the hall and entered separate adjacent passages to test themselves.

• Duan Xuan ate a bear paw, refined its essence, and broke through to the ninth layer of Body Tempering.
• Qin Tiexin consumed the remaining bear meat and stored a vast amount of Qi and Blood, though he could not advance without a suitable Cultivation Method.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan heard that the Iron Spine Sect’s trial hall had yielded an Upper-Grade Law Artifact sword blank and hurried toward it.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan watched exhausted cultivators emerge from the hall with rewards, including a broad defensive cultivator carrying a purple round shield.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan chose adjacent passages and entered the trial hall separately.

Qin Tiexin endured the Trial Hall passage’s crushing pressure, heat, and chaotic forces, which helped him break through the strength threshold of the early Qi and Blood Realm. After crossing into the great hall, he found a longsword at his throat and a woman ordering him not to move.

• Qin Tiexin entered the passage and discovered that its pressure grew stronger with each step while the entrance sealed behind him.
• Qin Tiexin resisted rising heat and chaotic multidirectional forces, keeping his balance without using spiritual power outside his body.
• Qin Tiexin adapted to a sudden surge in pressure, which squeezed stored food essence through his body and strengthened his bones past twenty thousand jin of strength.
• Qin Tiexin crossed the water-like barrier at the passage’s end, where the pressure abruptly vanished and he stumbled.
• A woman pressed a longsword against Qin Tiexin’s throat and told him not to move if he wanted to live.

Qin Tiexin was forced by a masked woman to drain his spiritual power and retrieve a short sword from a pillar of light. After tricking her into thinking he was exhausted, he seized the moment her attention shifted to attack her.

• A masked woman held a sword to Qin Tiexin's throat and ordered him to retrieve the short sword from the third pillar on the front left.
• Qin Tiexin realized the pillars drained spiritual power and suspected the woman had been waiting to rob whoever entered the hall.
• Qin Tiexin poured spiritual power into the pedestal until the pillar vanished and the short sword fell to the floor.
• Qin Tiexin pretended to be drained, picked up the upper-grade law artifact, and handed it to the woman.
• When the woman briefly relaxed her vigilance while taking the sword, Qin Tiexin dodged the blade and launched a Burst Step attack into her chest.

Qin Tiexin defeated the speed-type cultivator Jiang Li, then discovered the hall allowed each person to claim only one item. As he investigated a heat pulsing from his black ring toward the wall, Jiang Li returned injured and exhausted, drawing the greedy attention of the other cultivators.

• Qin Tiexin caught Jiang Li after she tried to strike from behind, slammed her into the floor, and broke her left ankle before she escaped into a passage.
• Qin Tiexin recovered his spiritual power and found that the hall’s pillars would not let him claim a second item.
• Qin Tiexin concluded that each cultivator could take only one item from the hall’s pillars.
• Qin Tiexin’s black ring grew hot at the center of the rear wall, signaling something behind it.
• Jiang Li stumbled back into the hall badly injured and drained, and the watching cultivators began eyeing her and her storage ring covetously.

Jiang Li fled from pursuing cultivators while Qin Tiexin discovered how to open a hidden door in the trial hall’s bluestone wall. He entered the passage beyond it, and another exhausted cultivator arrived too late to see the door.

• Jiang Li used a burst of killing intent to escape the approaching cultivators, who chased after her.
• Qin Tiexin tested a bluestone brick with his fist and saber, then realized the mechanism required pure physical strength applied to an invisible handprint.
• Qin Tiexin pushed the brick with his full strength until it locked into place and revealed a passage leading toward the source of his ring’s signal.
• Qin Tiexin swallowed Healing Pills, drew Edgeless, and entered the passage; the stone door closed and the brick returned to its place.
• A burly cultivator emerged from the passage and headed toward a pillar holding a heavy hammer, unaware that Qin Tiexin had entered the hidden door.

Qin Tiexin witnessed visions of the Iron Spine Sect’s final days, when its disciples gathered in an underground formation to defend against a Devil King seeking the [Ancient Witch Arm]. The formation survived the Devil King’s first strike, but he launched a devastating dive at its center.

• Qin Tiexin entered an underground plaza where hundreds of Iron Spine Sect skeletons sat arranged across a vast Spirit Rune formation, and an unseen force showed him the sect’s past.
• True Person Iron Bone, gravely wounded, ordered the disciples to bring Spirit Stones underground and power the mountain-protecting formation.
• A Devil King demanded the [Ancient Witch Arm], but True Person Iron Bone denied that the sect possessed it and refused to open the formation.
• The Devil King struck the formation, destroying buildings and consuming more than half of the Spirit Stones, but the barrier held.
• The Devil King flew high into the sky, then plunged like a meteor toward the center of the formation.

Qin Tiexin witnessed the Iron Spine Sect’s formation backlash kill True Person Iron Bone and all 578 sect members after Devil King Ye Cang escaped. Two Nascent Soul True Lords sealed the ruins and left behind the sect’s memory and a request for revenge, and Qin Tiexin returned to the underground square among the silent skeletons.

• True Person Iron Bone burned his Essence Blood and prepared to fight Ye Cang until two Nascent Soul True Lords arrived.
• Ye Cang escaped through a Long Stairway to Godhood and left a purple formation-breaking fireball behind.
• The purple Law Technique reversed the formation’s spiritual flow, turning True Person Iron Bone and the connected disciples into ash and skeletons.
• The two Nascent Soul True Lords identified the formation backlash, sealed the sect, and preserved its memories and a call to avenge its 578 members.
• Qin Tiexin returned to the underground palace square and examined the skeletons still seated in their formation-maintaining posture.

Qin Tiexin honored the Iron Spine Sect’s dead and gathered their skeletons for burial after learning how Devil King Ye Cang had destroyed the sect. As he finished, his black ring grew hot and pointed toward the ash left at the center of the formation, suggesting the object it sought might be hidden there.

• Qin Tiexin reflected on Ye Cang’s destruction of the Iron Spine Sect and the unanswered questions about the ancient shaman’s arm and the Central Heaven Great Region.
• Qin Tiexin bowed to the Iron Spine Sect’s dead, vowed to repay their blood debt, and sensed the tension around the skeletons ease.
• Qin Tiexin decided to move the remains to the sect’s old burial ground before other cultivators entered the ruins.
• Qin Tiexin discovered that touching each skeleton revealed its owner’s name, cultivation, and brief history, then carefully collected all 578 remains.
• Qin Tiexin examined the ash left by the drained formation supplies and noticed his black ring pointing toward its center.

Qin Tiexin uncovered a jade-like breastbone bearing the True Fire Furnace Scripture, a Body Refining art whose dangerous method suited his immense strength and accumulated reserves. He left the ruins resolved to keep building his energy before attempting its life-threatening breakthrough.

• Qin Tiexin brushed through the ashes in the underground palace and uncovered an engraved breastbone that reacted with his ring and the Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts.
• The Illustrated Catalog identified the breastbone's art as the True Fire Furnace Scripture and revealed its requirements: at least fifteen thousand jin of strength, extensive stored energy, and kindling a fire of life within the body.
• Qin Tiexin learned that kindling the fire of life could either propel him into the Qi and Blood Realm or burn him to ashes, but decided the method suited his foundation and resolve.
• Qin Tiexin stored the breastbone, secured the Storage Bag containing five hundred and seventy-eight sets of remains, and left the underground palace after finding nothing else of value.
• Qin Tiexin crossed the water membrane and headed toward the outer reaches of the great hall, expecting Duan Xuan to be waiting outside.

Qin Tiexin emerged from the passage stronger and found Duan Xuan being worn down by three cultivators who wanted what she had obtained. He drove them off and stood guard over her, leaving the two of them together as she asked him to help her up.

• Qin Tiexin adapted to the passage’s crushing pressure and emerged with greater strength, then spotted Duan Xuan fighting three cultivators.
• Duan Xuan resisted the attackers as they exhausted her and tried to force her to surrender her spoils.
• Qin Tiexin launched three Profound Ice Spears at the shield wielder, creating an opening for Duan Xuan to knock him down.
• Qin Tiexin charged in and used Edgeless to send the axe wielder and heavy sword wielder flying, then stood between Duan Xuan and the onlookers.
• Qin Tiexin asked whether Duan Xuan was hurt, and she told him she had only a flesh wound before asking him to help her up.

Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan rested after escaping the trial hall, and Qin Tiexin used a newly deciphered technique to store far more essence from the Dark Savage Spirit Ox. He revealed his plan to bury the remains of 578 Iron Spine Sect disciples, but Duan Xuan refused to leave him and said she would go wherever he went.

• Qin Tiexin led Duan Xuan northwest and stopped beneath a sheltered cliff so she could recover her spiritual power.
• Qin Tiexin used a True Fire Furnace Scripture technique to store excess essence as he ate five cauldrons of Dark Savage Spirit Ox meat.
• Duan Xuan showed Qin Tiexin the blood silkworm gold silk she had found and explained that it could strengthen her whip.
• Qin Tiexin told Duan Xuan about his fight with the black-armored woman, and Duan Xuan identified her as Jiang Li of the Fleeting Shadow Sect.
• Qin Tiexin revealed that he had collected the remains of 578 Iron Spine Sect disciples and intended to bury them near their ancestors' graves.
• Qin Tiexin offered Duan Xuan the locations of other treasures and suggested they split up, but Duan Xuan said she would go wherever he went.

Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan buried the remains of 578 Iron Spine Sect cultivators in the Mystic Bone Mausoleum, where Qin Tiexin swore to avenge them. After they left, his blood awakened a rune-covered arm bone buried deep beneath the cemetery.

• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan traveled northwest to the Mystic Bone Mausoleum, passing through the ruins and killing three Stone-Scaled Lizards along the way.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan buried the remains of 578 Iron Spine Sect cultivators and marked each grave with the deceased's name.
• Qin Tiexin bowed to the graves, cut his palm, and swore to avenge the dead in the Central Heaven Great Region; Duan Xuan bandaged his hand.
• After Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan left, Qin Tiexin's blood seeped deep underground and reached a rune-covered arm bone.
• The arm bone began to stir and glow, and a hoarse voice asked who had awakened it.

An arm bone revived by Qin Tiexin’s blood recognized him as a clansman and sped southeast after him. On the final day in the ruins, Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan found a guarded herb garden with five rare red-patterned blood ganoderma, and faced the mutated Black Armor Mastiff that had killed three cultivators.

• Qin Tiexin’s blood awakened an arm bone, which remembered that he was its clansman and raced in the direction he had gone.
• As the mountain-sealing grand formation weakened, cultivators fought over treasures while Demon Beasts grew more aggressive throughout the ruins.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan searched intact buildings, finding martial and Law Technique Jade Slips and valuable spirit materials.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan discovered five two-hundred-year-old red-patterned blood ganoderma guarded by a huge, blood-eyed Black Armor Mastiff beside the corpses of three cultivators.
• The Black Armor Mastiff detected Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan hiding nearby, so they stepped out to face it.

Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan fought the Black Armor Mastiff guarding five stalks of blood ganoderma but could barely injure it. As they retreated, a mysterious rune-covered arm burst from underground, killed the mastiff with one strike, and sent them fleeing; Qin Tiexin feared it was after him.

• Qin Tiexin attacked the Black Armor Mastiff while Duan Xuan used her whip to interrupt its lunge, letting Qin strike its jaw.
• The Black Armor Mastiff used Wind-Rending against Duan Xuan and evaded Qin Tiexin's wind blades, then fought off their coordinated attacks with its armor, agility, and Law Techniques.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan decided to abandon the blood ganoderma and began retreating when they sensed movement underground.
• A rune-covered arm burst from the ground and pierced the Black Armor Mastiff's skull, killing it instantly.
• Qin Tiexin grabbed Duan Xuan and fled, suspecting that the mysterious arm might be pursuing him.

Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan fled from a mysterious severed arm that repeatedly appeared beside them. Qin Tiexin recognized its resemblance to the Ancient Witch Arm sought by Devil King Ye Cang, but its nature remained unknown.

• After the Black Armor Mastiff died, Qin Tiexin pulled Duan Xuan away when a gray arm shot from the ground.
• Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan escaped to a stone chamber, where the severed arm appeared behind Duan Xuan without leaving a trace.
• Qin Tiexin fled with Duan Xuan again, but the arm reappeared behind them in an open ruined square.
• Qin Tiexin protected Duan Xuan with barriers and talismans, while Duan Xuan insisted they face danger together.
• Qin Tiexin examined the rune-covered, living arm and wondered if it was the Ancient Witch Arm Devil King Ye Cang had sought.