Recaps

Lin Yu walked through the repeating Strange Forest and concluded that it was the last remnant of the original Twelve True Palaces, preserved after outsiders corrupted the land. He wondered whether the mysterious great figure still lived there and why they had created the Twelve Star Officials.

• Lin Yu kept walking through the repeating scenery, determined to discover where the transparent butterflies came from.
• Lin Yu recalled how outsiders had arrived in the Twelve True Palaces, indulged their desires, and eventually killed the original inhabitants and one another.
• Lin Yu concluded that the Four Great Lineage had emerged from the victorious outsiders and now occupied the lands beyond the Strange Forest.
• Lin Yu reasoned that a great figure had abandoned the outer lands to preserve the Strange Forest as a final pure realm.
• Lin Yu speculated that the great figure might live in the Strange Forest and had used a magical artifact to create another Twelve Star Officials, then wondered why he had done so.

Lin Yu explored the Strange Forest and discovered that its transparent butterflies were formed from the water in a deep well. After his blood attracted them, the butterflies surged out of the well and flew toward his wound.

• Lin Yu reflected that the great figure had trapped the cultivators of the Four Great Lineage within the Twelve True Palaces and continued along the peaceful path.
• Lin Yu entered a vast peach grove filled with dense spiritual energy, but found no transparent butterflies there.
• Lin Yu came upon a clear well and realized that the transparent butterflies lived in its water and were made of the same insubstantial substance.
• Lin Yu found that he could not touch the well water, though his spiritual power could pass through it and observe the butterflies swimming inside.
• Lin Yu cut his palm with the power of an Origin Technique and let his blood drip into the well, where the butterflies absorbed it completely.
• The well surroundings trembled as the butterflies burst from the water, grew larger, and flew toward Lin Yu’s wound.

Lin Yu discovered that Water Butterflies healed his wound by feeding on the healing energy, then explored the peach grove and found rare unripe peaches that seemed connected to the well water. He took three for Feng Nianzhi to test and returned through the vortex, where Feng Changge had been anxiously waiting.

• Water Butterflies healed Lin Yu's wound, grew larger, and returned to the well after a breeze carried the scent of peach blossoms.
• Lin Yu examined the peach trees and found an unripe fruit with a milky, translucent center resembling the well water.
• Lin Yu tasted the fruit, sensed its energy was condensed and similar to the well water, and picked three unripe peaches for Feng Nianzhi to try.
• Lin Yu searched the grove, found little else, and flew back through the vortex.
• Feng Changge saw Lin Yu return and was overjoyed after waiting alone inside the protective barrier.

Lin Yu returned from the vortex and reunited with Feng Changge, who had waited anxiously inside Lin Yu’s protective barrier. Lin Yu revealed a rare treasure that could help restore Feng Nianzhi, and Feng Changge recognized the fruit as one once reserved for Phoenix Lords of the Archaic Phoenix Clan.

• Feng Changge rejoiced at Lin Yu’s return, then confirmed Lin Yu’s identity when Lin Yu manipulated the protective barrier.
• Feng Changge complained that Lin Yu had left him waiting and explained how worried he had been about Lin Yu and Feng Nianzhi.
• Lin Yu asked whether the Four Great Lineage had tried to pressure Feng Changge while he was alone.
• Lin Yu explained that he had found a treasure in the vortex that could help Feng Nianzhi more than the hundred-year immortal herb.
• Lin Yu showed Feng Changge the treasures and an unripe little peach, and Feng Changge recognized the fruit as a treasure once enjoyed only by Phoenix Lords of the Archaic Phoenix Clan.

Lin Yu gave Feng Changge an Immortal Realm fruit to help him recover, then asked whether the Four Great Lineages had tried to recruit him. Feng Changge revealed that he had refused their threats and inducements, leaving their attempt to control him unsuccessful.

• Lin Yu offered Feng Changge a small green peach, and Feng Changge ate it, gaining warmth and abundant spiritual energy.
• Feng Changge asked whether another world lay inside the vortex, but Lin Yu gave only a brief answer and changed the subject.
• Lin Yu asked whether the Four Great Lineages had contacted Feng Changge while he was away, and Feng Changge said they had threatened and tempted him.
• Feng Changge told Lin Yu that he had refused to become their puppet, fearing they would force him to fight the Archaic Phoenix Clan.

Lin Yu and Feng Changge decided to leave the Twelve True Palaces after Feng Changge refused to sacrifice himself to the Four Great Lineages. Lin Yu explained that the outer Twelve True Palaces were an imitation built around the ruined true realm, and that the cultivators there were descendants of prisoners.

• Feng Changge refused the Four Great Lineages’ demands, saying he would not become a burden or bring shame upon the Archaic Phoenix Clan.
• Lin Yu told Feng Changge they should leave and shattered the barrier around the place with his Power of Thunder.
• Lin Yu explained that he had wanted to investigate the disappearances of cultivators, but learned the truth after entering the vortex.
• Lin Yu revealed that the outer Twelve True Palaces were an imitation made to fulfill an important figure’s wish, while the real Twelve True Palaces lay beyond the vortex in ruins.
• Lin Yu said the cultivators outside were descendants of prisoners who had destroyed the immortal realm and now fought over the limited resources left to them.

Lin Yu and Feng Changge escaped the Twelve True Palaces and returned to Daoist Shouyang’s residence. Lin Yu used the small green peach to heal Feng Nianzhi, whose condition began to improve though she remained unconscious.

• Lin Yu concluded that the Twelve True Palaces’ cruel treatment of outside cultivators had trapped its own people in a cycle enforced by the seal.
• Lin Yu left the Twelve True Palaces with Feng Changge, breaking through the formation and carrying him away at great speed.
• Lin Yu returned with Feng Changge to Daoist Shouyang’s residence in half the time their earlier journey had taken.
• The Archaic Phoenix Clan welcomed Feng Changge back unharmed and thanked Lin Yu for helping him.
• Lin Yu infused Feng Nianzhi with energy from the small green peach, and her complexion began to improve.

Lin Yu decided to return to the Twelve True Palaces to help the innocent cultivators trapped there, while keeping his plans separate from the Archaic Phoenix Clan. His deductions revealed that the Twelve True Palaces had always consisted of two sides, and that the great figure had watched the suffering on one side without intervening.

• Lin Yu considered taking Feng Nianzhi to the peach grove to help restore her strength, but kept the place secret and returned to cultivation after reassuring the Archaic Phoenix Clan.
• Feng Nianzhi woke with Feng Changge guarding her, while Feng Changge worried about the people persecuted inside the Twelve True Palaces.
• Lin Yu resolved to take He Buxian and the Fallen Black Phoenix back to the Twelve True Palaces and act against the imprisonment and abuse of outside cultivators.
• Lin Yu used the Hongmeng System to deduce that the Twelve True Palaces had always had a front and reverse side, with the Four Great Lineages on one side and the great figure living on the other.
• Lin Yu discovered that the great figure had watched the cultivators on the other side struggle, kill one another, and harm outsiders without intervening.

Lin Yu returned to the Twelve True Palaces to confront the white-robed figure who had allowed the great clans to wreak havoc, and used the well water to summon him. The figure revealed himself as Daoist Wushuang and recognized that Lin Yu was not from their era.

• Lin Yu entered the Twelve True Palaces and used the Hongmeng System's method to summon the great figure by stirring the well water in a precise rhythm.
• Lin Yu met the white-robed cultivator and decided to ask where the Twelve True Palaces' vital point was before considering destroying it.
• Lin Yu asked the cultivator for his name, and he introduced himself as Daoist Wushuang, the strongest cultivator of the Dao Awakening Era.
• Daoist Wushuang told Lin Yu with certainty that he was not from their era, and Lin Yu smiled without surprise.

Lin Yu confronted Daoist Wushuang about allowing the cultivators in the other Twelve True Palaces to become greedy and corrupt. Daoist Wushuang revealed that he had trapped them in a cycle meant to expose their nature, but their actions against outsiders had left him helpless and exhausted.

• Daoist Wushuang realized Lin Yu came from another era, and Lin Yu confirmed it.
• Lin Yu asked why Daoist Wushuang ignored the abuses in the other Twelve True Palaces and blamed him for letting the situation worsen.
• Daoist Wushuang admitted he had linked the magnetic fields of the two Twelve True Palaces, trapping the native cultivators in a cycle shaped by their greed.
• Daoist Wushuang said the cycle was meant to make the cultivators settle down, but they had instead targeted outsiders.
• Lin Yu recognized Daoist Wushuang's melancholy and exhaustion, and agreed the cultivators were not worth his intervention.

Lin Yu asked Daoist Wushuang whether he would interfere if Lin Yu dealt with the Twelve True Palaces cultivators exploiting others. Daoist Wushuang explained that he had left them to their fate and revealed that he suspected Lin Yu’s arrival was connected to the barrier’s reappearing entrance, then calmly concluded that his era had perished.

• Lin Yu pressed Daoist Wushuang for permission to act against the Twelve True Palaces cultivators, determined to stop further victims from suffering.
• Daoist Wushuang said he had moved away after learning of their greed and considered the opposite side their grave, since he had failed to guide them earlier.
• Daoist Wushuang questioned why the entrance had reappeared twice when Lin Yu came and asked who he was.
• Lin Yu gave an ambiguous explanation for crossing eras and said he intended to act because he could not tolerate the cultivators’ crimes.
• Daoist Wushuang inferred that Lin Yu came from a later era and calmly stated that his era had perished.

Lin Yu concealed the Hongmeng System’s role in breaking Daoist Wushuang’s barrier and used a modified jade pendant to offer another explanation. Daoist Wushuang accepted that the pendant’s connection to the Twelve True Palaces had guided Lin Yu inside.

• Daoist Wushuang pressed Lin Yu to explain how he had broken through the barrier, while Lin Yu sought his help with the Twelve True Palaces.
• Lin Yu claimed he had found the barrier’s flaw and entrance by chance, but Daoist Wushuang remained unconvinced.
• Lin Yu presented Daoist Shouyang’s jade pendant, which he had secretly modified to resemble the peach grove’s magnetic field.
• Daoist Wushuang examined the pendant and concluded that its connection to treasures from the previous era had drawn Lin Yu to the Twelve True Palaces.

Lin Yu obtained Daoist Wushuang’s instructions for restarting the Twelve True Palaces’ formation, which would end the lives of its cultivators while sparing the imprisoned outsiders. As he headed for the formation mechanism, the major lineages discovered him and confronted him.

• Daoist Wushuang returned Lin Yu’s jade pendant and told him he could free the captured outsiders without seeking permission.
• Lin Yu asked about the Twelve True Palaces’ formations, and Daoist Wushuang gave him a scroll explaining how to restart the entire place.
• Lin Yu learned that restarting the formation would kill the Twelve True Palaces’ cultivators but would not affect the imprisoned outsiders.
• Lin Yu left the peach grove uneasy about Daoist Wushuang and wondered whether he had destroyed the Dao Enlightenment Era.
• Lin Yu used the scroll to navigate the Twelve True Palaces toward its formation mechanism, but the major lineages discovered him before he arrived.

Lin Yu returned to the Twelve True Palaces and demanded to know where they had imprisoned the innocent cultivators, while secretly probing the area for clues. The cultivators led him toward a barrier at his invitation, unaware that he was testing their methods and had already noticed their reaction to the northwest.

• Lin Yu demanded that the Twelve True Palaces cultivators reveal where they had imprisoned the other cultivators.
• The cultivators mocked Lin Yu and boasted that the Twelve True Palaces' barriers could trap anyone, though one of them urged caution.
• Lin Yu used his spiritual power to search the area and noticed several cultivators glance northwest when he mentioned puppets.
• The cultivators joked about Lin Yu's stillness and delayed attacking because they wanted to toy with him.
• Lin Yu invited the cultivators to try trapping him, and they began leading him toward one of their barriers.

Lin Yu deliberately let the Twelve True Palaces’ cultivators trap him so he could investigate how they made puppets, but his spiritual pressure accidentally broke three barriers before the fourth held him. The cultivators believed they had captured him, while Lin Yu declared that they were prisoners too.

• Lin Yu followed the Twelve True Palaces’ cultivators into a barrier, hoping to reach the place where they made puppets.
• Lin Yu suppressed his resistance, but his spiritual pressure crushed three barriers before the fourth contained him.
• The Twelve True Palaces’ cultivators mistook Lin Yu’s sweat for exhaustion and mocked him for being trapped.
• Lin Yu asked whether they planned to turn him into a puppet and described how they sent puppets into the outside world to gather information.
• Lin Yu dismissed the cultivators’ taunts and told them they were prisoners despite not being his captives.

Lin Yu provoked the cultivators of the Twelve True Palaces, then pretended to submit so they would reveal their history and take him to their puppet-making grounds. He arrived at a bloodstained gallows where outside cultivators were bound, and the chapter left him facing the cruel process used to make puppets.

• Lin Yu taunted the cultivators of the Twelve True Palaces about being unable to leave, then admitted defeat and asked to hear the truth before he died.
• The cultivators of the Twelve True Palaces explained that dwindling resources and their inability to cross the barriers had driven them to turn outsiders into puppets to explore beyond their realm.
• The cultivators escorted Lin Yu northwest through the mountains toward the location Daoist Wushuang had identified.
• Lin Yu reached an open-air platform with a bloodstained gallows and saw several haggard cultivators bound beneath it.
• Lin Yu recalled that making a puppet required stripping away a living creature's organs, flesh, blood, and mental power.

Lin Yu watched the Twelve True Palaces extract a cultivator’s spiritual power to turn him into a puppet, while their people justified their cruelty as repayment for the suffering their ancestors endured. He challenged their version of history, but they refused to believe him.

• The Twelve True Palaces bound a cultivator to the gallows and painfully extracted his spiritual power as Lin Yu watched.
• A cultivator of the Twelve True Palaces claimed outsiders deserved punishment because they had enjoyed freedom while his people were confined.
• Lin Yu said the Twelve True Palaces’ ancestors had chosen to settle there out of greed and had brought their imprisonment upon themselves.
• The Twelve True Palaces’ cultivators rejected Lin Yu’s account, unaware that Daoist Wushuang had imprisoned their ancestors after their greed destroyed his paradise.

Lin Yu confronted the Twelve True Palaces cultivators over their ancestors’ choices and their cruelty toward fellow cultivators. After they refused his chance to show mercy, he broke the Immortal-Binding Rope and left them suspended in the air, while the victims hailed him as a god.

• The Twelve True Palaces cultivators defended their ancestors’ actions and resented being confined, while Lin Yu concluded they had ignored Daoist Wushuang’s chance to change.
• An impatient cultivator shoved Lin Yu and threatened him, but Lin Yu stood firm and challenged them to try.
• Lin Yu caused the Twelve True Palaces cultivators and their companions to float, prompting them to wonder how he could act while bound.
• Lin Yu revealed the broken Immortal-Binding Rope and explained that he had snapped it with little effort.
• Lin Yu decided the Twelve True Palaces needed to be restarted after the cultivators refused his chance to spare them.
• The puppets and remaining victims stared at Lin Yu in awe and called him a god.

Lin Yu freed the cultivators trapped on the Puppet Terrace and headed to the heart of the Twelve True Palaces to restart its formation. There he met Elder Changshou, who had come specifically to see him, and asked what the elder wanted to tell him.

• Lin Yu introduced himself as the Hall Master of the Primordial Hall, broke the cultivators’ Immortal-Binding Ropes, and warned them to leave before the Twelve True Palaces was destroyed.
• Lin Yu flew to the formation’s restart location, intending to cleanse the ruined Twelve True Palaces and undo the cultivators’ sins.
• Lin Yu encountered Elder Changshou, whom the Hongmeng System identified as one of the oldest figures in the fantasy world.
• Elder Changshou said Daoist Shouyang had told him about Lin Yu and praised Lin Yu’s knowledge and spiritual power.
• Lin Yu asked Elder Changshou why he had waited at the formation’s center and whether he had something to tell him.

Daoist Changshou warned Lin Yu that restarting the Twelve True Palaces would release the fiend imprisoned there and bring disaster upon the xuanhuan world. He revealed that twelve cultivators had sacrificed themselves to create the prison and that the fiend had manipulated the Four Great Lineage, but he left Lin Yu’s question about “that person” unanswered.

• Lin Yu asked Daoist Changshou whether he intended to stop him from restarting the Twelve True Palaces, and Daoist Changshou warned that doing so would release a powerful fiend.
• Daoist Changshou explained that the Twelve True Palaces had been built by twelve cultivators to imprison the fiend, and that restarting the world would endanger the surrounding cultivators and the entire xuanhuan world.
• Lin Yu told Daoist Changshou that Daoist Wushuang had claimed to create the Twelve True Palaces, but Daoist Changshou said it had arisen through the twelve cultivators’ combined efforts.
• Daoist Changshou suggested that the fiend had manipulated the Four Great Lineage into mastering the Puppetry Technique and drawing out their own evil nature.
• Daoist Changshou said the twelve sacrifices acted as locks that confined evil connected to “that person,” but he did not answer when Lin Yu asked who that person was.

Daoist Changshou revealed that the Twelve True Palaces were a prison containing a powerful demon who had manipulated the Four Great Lineage and posed as Daoist Wushuang. Lin Yu realized he had nearly helped the demon escape, then asked why Changshou had known he would come.

• Daoist Changshou explained that the Twelve True Palaces had been built by twelve cultivators to imprison a demon, whose influence tainted cultivators and kept them trapped.
• Daoist Changshou said the Four Great Lineage had been among the demon's first victims and sent puppets outside to protect them from its demonic Qi.
• Lin Yu realized Daoist Wushuang was the demon's incarnation and that the supposed plan to restart the Twelve True Palaces was a scheme to escape.
• Lin Yu regretted trusting Daoist Wushuang and feared he had nearly released the demon, but was relieved he had kept the Hongmeng System secret.
• Lin Yu questioned how Daoist Changshou had arrived in time and known he would come, and Changshou began explaining the matter.

Daoist Changshou explained the prophecy that led him to believe Lin Yu was destined to confront the Twelve True Palaces prison and warned him against releasing its monster. He admitted he had not intervened in the Palaces’ abuses, saying he lacked the strength and feared disrupting the prophecy.

• Daoist Changshou told Lin Yu that the Twelve True Palaces had become a prison outside its territory and that a prophesied cultivator could break its limits.
• Daoist Changshou revealed that he had guarded the prison for over a hundred years, waiting for the unusual cultivator described in the prophecy.
• Lin Yu suspected the prophecy referred to him, but remained wary after his encounter with “Daoist Wushuang” and realized he had narrowly avoided restarting the Twelve True Palaces.
• Lin Yu questioned Daoist Changshou about failing to stop the Four Great Lineage from using the Puppetry Technique on ordinary cultivators.
• Daoist Changshou said he lacked the strength to interfere and feared his actions might make matters worse or prevent Lin Yu from arriving.

Daoist Changshou warned Lin Yu that Daoist Wushuang was a demonic beast whose release could destroy the cultivation world, and urged him to judge the truth through his own actions. Lin Yu thanked him but remained cautious, while Changshou lingered instead of leaving.

• Daoist Changshou explained that he had waited for Lin Yu and could not risk leaving before the chosen cultivator arrived.
• Lin Yu questioned how Daoist Wushuang could have built the Twelve True Palaces if he was a prisoner, and doubted Changshou's account.
• Daoist Changshou said twelve heaven-chosen cultivators had sealed the demonic beast and that its return would destroy the cultivation world.
• Lin Yu told Changshou that Daoist Wushuang had claimed to build the palaces and asked why the rumors supported that claim.
• Daoist Changshou advised Lin Yu to trust what he personally tested rather than what he heard or saw.
• Lin Yu accepted the advice, and Daoist Changshou stayed instead of leaving.

Daoist Changshou warned Lin Yu not to trust appearances in the Youming Immortal Realm and revealed that Daoist Wushuang possessed a unique key forged from the blood essence of twelve ancient experts. Lin Yu questioned the apparent contradiction, and Daoist Changshou explained that the inner prison could only be opened from outside, leaving Daoist Wushuang unable to escape.

• Daoist Changshou urged Lin Yu to trust firsthand experience rather than what he heard or saw in the Youming Immortal Realm.
• Daoist Changshou said Lin Yu’s ability to enter and leave the other half of the Twelve True Palaces marked him as the chosen one he had awaited.
• Daoist Changshou revealed that Daoist Wushuang held the only key capable of opening both Twelve True Palaces, forged from the blood essence of twelve mighty experts.
• Lin Yu challenged Daoist Changshou over why the experts would leave a key for the prisoner they had sacrificed so much to contain.
• Daoist Changshou explained that the prison’s formation trapped those tainted by Daoist Wushuang’s evil aura and that its inner prison could only be opened from the outer layer.

Daoist Changshou explained that the Twelve True Palaces held the only key capable of opening Daoist Wushuang’s prison, and warned Lin Yu that Wushuang might seek to use him to escape. Lin Yu left without the key or any instructions, and Changshou urged him to stay wary if he met Wushuang again.

• Daoist Changshou told Lin Yu that Daoist Wushuang was imprisoned behind a barrier that could only be opened from outside, and that the key had been hidden in the Twelve True Palaces.
• Daoist Changshou suspected that Daoist Wushuang had found the key after centuries, but Lin Yu reassured him that the prison’s creators had anticipated the possibility.
• Daoist Changshou asked whether Daoist Wushuang had given Lin Yu the key, but Lin Yu said he had received no key, treasures, or instructions beyond directions to the gateway.
• Daoist Changshou concluded that Daoist Wushuang probably did not know where the key was and warned Lin Yu not to trust him completely.
• Lin Yu agreed to remain cautious and not let Daoist Wushuang escape and endanger the world.