Chapter Summaries

Ling Shuyao, Qin Tiexin, and Liu Suifeng agreed to explore an intact Spirit Pivot Sect ruin together. Ling Shuyao used the High Antiquity Array-Breaking Mystic Key on its sealed stone door, beginning to unlock it.

• Ling Shuyao thanked Qin Tiexin and Liu Suifeng for helping her defeat their attackers, then explained she had come seeking Spirit Pivot Sect ruins.
• Qin Tiexin and Liu Suifeng revealed they were also searching for the sect’s inheritance, and the three agreed to enter the ruin together.
• Liu Suifeng set up warning formations around the stone house in case their earlier attackers returned.
• Liu Suifeng identified the stone door’s authorization formation and warned that forcing it open could destroy the house and its contents.
• Ling Shuyao brought out the High Antiquity Array-Breaking Mystic Key, and Liu Suifeng asked to buy it after their exploration.
• Ling Shuyao fitted the key into the recess beside the door, and its formation patterns began meshing with the gear patterns.

Ling Shuyao used the Mysterious Key to break the treasury door’s array, and Qin Tiexin opened it after the key’s power failed to move the door. The three entered the treasury, where its guardian puppets activated and sealed them inside, leaving Qin Tiexin to meet their attack.

• Ling Shuyao used the Mysterious Key to extinguish the stone door’s protective Spirit Runes, but the door would not move until Qin Tiexin pushed it open.
• Qin Tiexin, Liu Suifeng, and Ling Shuyao entered the spatially expanded treasury and found five battle-scarred Spirit Pivot Sect guardian puppets.
• Liu Suifeng detected lingering spiritual power in the puppets, and the three’s entry activated the floor array and awakened all five guardians.
• The treasury doors slammed shut, and the puppets advanced in formation with swords and spears.
• Qin Tiexin told Liu Suifeng and Ling Shuyao to hold back, then deflected the first puppet’s sword with his monk’s staff and thrust toward its chest.

Qin Tiexin fought five guardian puppets until Ling Shuyao identified their weaknesses and attack patterns, allowing him to destroy them. After the battle, Liu Suifeng asked whether Qin Tiexin had experienced sudden enlightenment, and Qin Tiexin looked toward Ling Shuyao instead of answering.

• Qin Tiexin struggled to defend against five coordinated puppets, but noticed their movements had a shared delay and that his staff's vibration effect disrupted their gears.
• Ling Shuyao sent Qin Tiexin precise warnings about the puppets' weaknesses and incoming attacks, and he used her guidance to disable them one by one.
• Qin Tiexin destroyed all five guardian puppets in less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
• Liu Suifeng asked Qin Tiexin whether he had suddenly gained enlightenment in battle, and Qin Tiexin looked at Ling Shuyao without answering.

After the group defeated five guardian puppets, Ling Shuyao explained how her Bright Eyes Break Techniques let her identify their weaknesses and guide Qin Tiexin in battle. With the hall confirmed safe, Qin Tiexin led the others to search it.

• Qin Tiexin and the others examined the wreckage of five puppets after defeating them.
• Ling Shuyao revealed her Bright Eyes Break Techniques and explained its strengths and limits.
• Ling Shuyao said her ability worked best while she controlled puppets from outside the fighting, while Qin Tiexin’s fast reactions let him exploit the openings she found.
• Qin Tiexin considered combining his instincts with Ling Shuyao’s ability, then decided to stay on his own path.
• Liu Suifeng scanned the hall with the formation disk and confirmed that the puppets were inactive and no other spiritual power was present.
• Qin Tiexin led the group toward the left side of the hall to search.

Liu Suifeng, Ling Shuyao, and Qin Tiexin explored the Spirit Pivot Sect’s stone hall and found abandoned puppet-making workshops, unfinished puppets, and preserved manuals. They gathered their discoveries in the main hall, where Qin Tiexin revealed Jade Slips containing detailed techniques for puppet refining and combat construction.

• Liu Suifeng searched the workshops and found scattered puppet components, but complained that most of the materials were damaged or incomplete.
• Ling Shuyao examined three unfinished puppets and identified them as ranged-attack, defensive, and scout types from the Spirit Pivot Sect.
• Qin Tiexin asked what the others had found, and they laid their discoveries out on the main hall’s stone platform.
• Liu Suifeng displayed intact Spirit Rune plates, gears, and drive cores, while Ling Shuyao brought the unfinished puppets and their assembly parts.
• Qin Tiexin opened two preserved stone cases and found Jade Slips detailing puppet refining, soul puppets, battle designs, Spirit Runes, and autonomous combat.

Qin Tiexin, Liu Suifeng, and Ling Shuyao divided the Spirit Pivot Sect’s puppet-making treasures and made plans to exchange knowledge and rewards. As they prepared to leave, Qin Tiexin sensed an ambush, and Liu Suifeng’s formation disk detected seven late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators outside.

• Qin Tiexin chose two puppet-making jade slips for Chen Xi, while Liu Suifeng took two drive cores and Ling Shuyao gathered the remaining puppet parts.
• Ling Shuyao offered Qin Tiexin the right to choose a Golden Core Realm martial technique in exchange for copying the jade slips, and invited Liu Suifeng to take an ancient formation-diagram volume.
• The three finished collecting the chamber’s remaining equipment and prepared to leave.
• Qin Tiexin sensed multiple killing auras outside and warned the others to be careful.
• Liu Suifeng’s warning formation detected seven cultivators outside, all at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

Qin Tiexin, Liu Suifeng, and Ling Shuyao detected and thwarted an ambush by seven cultivators from the Imperial Pivot Pavilion. Their leader, Meng Qingchen, called for a halt and explained that the treasury was tied to his pavilion, leaving the two sides facing one another under an uneasy truce.

• Liu Suifeng identified seven coordinated cultivators waiting outside, so Ling Shuyao sent two puppets to scout the entrance.
• The seven ambushers struck the puppets with a coordinated attack of binding chains, flying swords, an ice spike, and a net, revealing their ambush.
• Seven cultivators in matching uniforms emerged with puppets, and Ling Shuyao recognized their craftsmanship as an imitation of Spirit Pivot Sect designs.
• Liu Suifeng activated two formations, trapping three cultivators in quicksand while the others readied their puppets to fight.
• Meng Qingchen stopped his companions from attacking, introduced himself as a member of the Imperial Pivot Pavilion, and apologized for the ambush.
• Meng Qingchen recognized Liu Suifeng and Ling Shuyao but mistook Qin Tiexin for an hired guard.

Meng Qingchen explained that the Imperial Pivot Pavilion had inherited the Spirit Pivot Sect’s legacy and asked Liu Suifeng, Qin Tiexin, and Ling Shuyao to sell the treasury’s contents. After Liu questioned his claim and objected to the Pavilion’s attack, the group stepped aside to discuss the offer.

• Meng Qingchen showed Liu Suifeng a token matching the stone doorway and explained that it served as proof of the Imperial Pivot Pavilion’s inheritance and the treasury’s key.
• Liu Suifeng challenged Meng Qingchen’s claim, and Meng admitted that Rogue Cultivators had revealed the treasury’s location to his party.
• Meng Qingchen offered to buy back the items, arguing that they mattered greatly to the Imperial Pivot Pavilion and appealing to the group’s sect connections.
• Liu Suifeng criticized the Pavilion for attacking them before requesting a sale, while Meng explained why his sect could not abandon the inheritance.
• Liu Suifeng looked to Qin Tiexin and Ling Shuyao for their decision, and Ling Shuyao nodded before the three moved aside to discuss the offer.

Qin Tiexin and the Imperial Pivot Pavilion agreed to settle their dispute over the treasury gains with a single combat bout. The Pavilion sent the quiet Meng Qingxin, who revealed a giant puppet and climbed inside it to face Qin Tiexin.

• Liu Suifeng proposed a one-on-one bout to avoid a fight between the two groups, and Meng Qingchen accepted with terms for either side's victory.
• Qin Tiexin entered the field to represent his group, while Liu Suifeng warned Ling Shuyao that Meng Qingchen was likely not a specialist in offense.
• Meng Qingchen called forward Meng Qingxin instead of fighting himself.
• Meng Qingxin deployed a twenty-foot-tall puppet giant from a spatial formation pattern.
• Meng Qingxin climbed inside the puppet's armored control compartment, shocking Liu Suifeng.

Qin Tiexin tested the Imperial Pivot Pavilion’s armored puppet in a spar, finding its defenses and reactions difficult to overcome. The battle remained unresolved as Meng Qingxin, shaken inside the control cabin, urged Qin Tiexin to concede.

• Ling Shuyao recognized that the armored puppet used its operator’s Divine Sense for direct control, and offered to help Qin Tiexin.
• Qin Tiexin dodged the puppet’s chain hammer and struck its knee, but cushioning layers absorbed most of his attack.
• The puppet countered with its shield, then blocked Qin Tiexin’s strike at its other knee with the chain hammer.
• Qin Tiexin considered using Edgeless but held back, deciding not to reveal a killing weapon during a spar.
• Meng Qingxin endured the impacts inside the puppet’s control cabin and asked Qin Tiexin to concede again, but Qin Tiexin did not respond.

Qin Tiexin summoned an Arhat Dharma Manifestation and used it to overwhelm Meng Qingxin’s armored puppet. After Ling Shuyao found a flaw in the puppet’s chest armor, Qin Tiexin cracked it, but Meng Qingxin escalated the puppet’s attacks.

• Ling Shuyao scanned the puppet and found a recently repaired Spirit Rune on its chest that left a gap in its cushioning layer.
• Qin Tiexin refused Ling Shuyao’s suggestion to retreat and summoned an eighteen-foot Arhat Dharma Manifestation.
• Qin Tiexin and the manifestation struck the puppet’s shield, shattered its defensive Spirit Runes, and drove it backward.
• Qin Tiexin continued attacking the puppet in coordinated strikes, cracking its chest armor along the misaligned repaired Spirit Rune.
• Meng Qingxin switched the puppet to its highest attack setting and sent its shield and chain hammer against Qin Tiexin.

Qin Tiexin defeated Meng Qingxin’s giant puppet, then gave the Imperial Pivot Pavilion its drive core and parts to turn defeat into goodwill. After the group departed, Qin Tiexin explained that befriending Meng Qingxin could benefit them, and Liu Suifeng asked Ling Shuyao what she planned to do next.

• Qin Tiexin and his phantom shattered Meng Qingxin’s puppet, leaving Meng Qingxin exhausted and the giant machine disabled.
• Meng Qingchen conceded and gave Qin Tiexin the agreed Middle-Grade Law Artifact curved saber.
• Qin Tiexin gave Meng Qingchen a Storage Bag of puppet parts and its intact drive core, crediting Liu Suifeng and Ling Shuyao for providing them.
• Meng Qingchen thanked Liu Suifeng and Ling Shuyao, promised the Imperial Pivot Pavilion would help them, and departed with his party.
• Qin Tiexin explained that giving the parts after winning would make the Imperial Pivot Pavilion grateful, and Liu Suifeng revealed he had already made rubbings of the drive core.
• Liu Suifeng asked Ling Shuyao what she planned to do next.

After defeating the puppet guarding the Spirit Pivot Sect's treasury, Qin Tiexin, Liu Suifeng, and Ling Shuyao headed toward the Vast Waves Sea and then waited outside the Spirit Taming Cave for Lin Chuan and the others. Two hidden Brahma Sound Valley disciples recorded Qin Tiexin's fighting technique and withdrew to report to Martial Uncle Benhong.

• Ling Shuyao agreed to travel toward the Vast Waves Sea with Liu Suifeng and Qin Tiexin to collect seawater.
• Two Brahma Sound Valley disciples secretly recorded Qin Tiexin's battle with the puppet and discussed reporting his Dharma manifestation to Martial Uncle Benhong.
• Qin Tiexin and his companions returned to the Spirit Taming Cave entrance, where Liu Suifeng confirmed that the formation flags and Jade Slip showed Lin Chuan's group was still inside.
• Qin Tiexin took Qi Recovery Pills and meditated while Liu Suifeng and Ling Shuyao talked about formations.
• After several groups emerged from the cave, Liu Suifeng asked three rogue cultivators what was happening inside.

Lin Wei won the Spirit Taming Sect's inheritance, and the group regrouped with Ling Shuyao before continuing northeast. As they approached a new area, the severed arm in Qin Tiexin's Frost Storage Bag began to resonate with something nearby.

• Lin Wei and the others emerged from the trials, and Lin Wei revealed that she had won the inheritance by defeating the stone puppet.
• Lan Lingwei explained that Lin Wei had sliced apart the puppet, whose remnant consciousness granted her the inheritance because the Spirit Taming Sect's young master had been similarly fierce.
• Liu Suifeng introduced Ling Shuyao to Lin Chuan and the others, and Lin Chuan welcomed her into the group.
• Xu Ying gave Lin Chuan a Qi Recovery Pill while Ling Shuyao noticed her subdued reaction and moved to walk beside Liu Suifeng.
• Lin Wei left with Lan Lingwei, Liu Xiaoyu, and Han Ling, while the remaining six traveled northeast.
• The severed arm in Qin Tiexin's Frost Storage Bag began glowing with a slow rhythm as something of the same origin drew closer.

Lin Chuan and the others crossed the ancient battlefield, avoiding spatial rifts as they approached the Vast Waves Sea. They reached the ruined Pure Land Chan Temple and found a dense, dangerous forest blocking the way to its entrance.

• Liu Suifeng detected spatial rifts ahead, and the group took a long detour through the unstable area.
• The group continued toward the sea, finding increasing signs of the thousand-year-old battle across the scorched battlefield.
• The six reached the ruined Pure Land Chan Temple, which Ling Shuyao identified as the main battlefield of the Vast Waves Great War.
• Liu Suifeng checked the map and pointed out a dense forest filled with strange trees, eerie cries, and powerful demon-beast fluctuations.
• The group spotted areas of constant lightning, corrosive rain, and unnatural stillness around the forest near the temple gate.

Lin Chuan’s team learned that the forest held several Golden Core Realm Demon Beasts, dangerous mutated plants, and valuable ruins, so they decided to detour east toward the coast. As the group prepared to leave, Qin Tiexin announced that he would enter the forest alone to search for something.

• Liu Suifeng detected chaotic spiritual power in the forest, and Qin Tiexin sensed multiple powerful presences within it.
• An ancient pagoda tree strangled and drained a passing Demon Beast, confirming the forest’s danger.
• Lin Chuan questioned an injured cultivator, who warned him about the Golden Core Realm Demon Beasts, poisonous trees, illusion formation, and dangerous lightning while describing treasures found in the ruins.
• Lin Chuan decided the team would take the safer eastern route to the Vast Waves Sea, and Du Heng, Liu Suifeng, Ling Shuyao, and Xu Ying agreed.
• Qin Tiexin told Lin Chuan that he intended to enter the forest alone and part ways with the team.

Qin Tiexin followed the pull of the severed arm toward the depths of Pure Land Chan Temple and insisted on going alone, despite his companions’ concern. As the others headed for the Vast Waves Sea, they struggled with the silence left by his departure and hoped he would meet them again in five days.

• Qin Tiexin told Lin Chuan and the others that he had to enter Pure Land Chan Temple alone, guided by the trembling severed arm in his Frost Storage Bag.
• Liu Suifeng, Lin Chuan, and Xu Ying gave Qin Tiexin supplies, and Lin Chuan set a five-day limit before the group would return to search for him.
• Qin Tiexin bowed to the group and walked alone into the forest toward the temple.
• Lin Chuan led the remaining five along the safer eastern slope toward the coast to collect seawater, while the group traveled in silence.
• Ling Shuyao asked Liu Suifeng about Qin Tiexin, and Liu recounted how Qin had protected the team during the Secret Realm Trial and at Sky-Splitting Cliff.

Lin Chuan turned back with his four companions to find Qin Tiexin, who had entered the dangerous forest alone. Unable to contact him, the group followed his spiritual power trail into the forest, hoping to reach him in time.

• Lin Chuan admitted he had been wrong to let Qin Tiexin enter the forest alone, and Du Heng, Liu Suifeng, Xu Ying, and Ling Shuyao agreed to go back with him.
• The five hurried back to the Pure Land Chan Temple, where Lin Chuan's communication jade talisman failed to reach Qin Tiexin through the forest's chaotic spiritual power field.
• Liu Suifeng used his formation disc to find the fresh traces of Qin Tiexin's spiritual power at the forest entrance.
• Ling Shuyao sent a scout puppet ahead, while Liu Suifeng expanded the group's detection coverage and Du Heng took up a defensive position.
• Xu Ying distributed pills among the group and warned Lin Chuan to save the Blood Burning Pill for a last resort.
• Lin Chuan led the group into the forest, gripping his communication jade talisman and silently asking Senior Brother Ming to wait for them.

Qin Tiexin hid in a rock crevice, changed his appearance and clothes, and reattached his severed arm before setting out for the Pure Land Chan Temple. He planned to retrieve what shared the arm’s origin and catch up with Lin Chuan and the others by the sea.

• Lin Chuan and the others followed traces of Qin Tiexin’s spiritual power deeper into the dangerous forest.
• Qin Tiexin concealed himself in a rock crevice and used Qi and Blood to grow hair and alter his face.
• Qin Tiexin changed out of his monk’s robe, put away the monk’s staff, and attached his severed arm.
• Qin Tiexin tested Edgeless, confirmed the arm pointed toward the Pure Land Chan Temple, and left to travel there alone.

Qin Tiexin crossed the dangerous forest while avoiding other cultivators and Demon Beast territories, killing those who threatened him and collecting useful materials. He continued following the severed arm’s direction, unaware that Liu Suifeng and four others were tracking the faint golden marks on Liu’s array disc.

• Qin Tiexin avoided clashes between cultivators and followed the route indicated by the severed arm, picking up nearby resources along the way.
• A cultivator tried to lure a pursuing Demon Beast toward Qin Tiexin, but Qin killed the man with Edgeless, frightening the Demon Beast into fleeing.
• A barbed vine attacked Qin Tiexin from a cunning ancient tree; he cut it apart, stored the valuable vine, and continued without pursuing the tree.
• Qin Tiexin bypassed a bamboo grove, wary cultivators at a ruined pagoda, and areas occupied by Golden Core Realm Demon Beasts.
• Qin Tiexin killed an Iron-Toothed Crocodile blocking a swamp, stored its body, took a Qi Recovery Pill, and continued along the severed arm’s route.
• Less than an hour after Qin Tiexin left, Liu Suifeng and four others followed his trail using faint golden points on Liu’s array disc.