Chapter Summaries

Yang Zhen barged into Third Lotus Seat’s heavenly tribulation, but the final bolt split and gave Yang Zhen the Heavenly Lightning Origin while Third Lotus Seat was left badly injured. The chapter ended with Third Lotus Seat demanding the origin back and Yang Zhen denying responsibility.

• Everyone at the birthday celebration recognized Yang Zhen as he rushed into Third Lotus Seat’s heavenly tribulation, prompting Third Lotus Seat to call him an idiot.
• Yang Zhen and Third Lotus Seat braced themselves as the last bolt of lightning struck, while the onlookers fled to safety.
• The thunder dragon split in two: its powerful bolt struck Third Lotus Seat, while a smaller bolt landed on Yang Zhen and was absorbed by him.
• Yang Zhen gained the Heavenly Lightning Origin and increased his presence, while Third Lotus Seat remained injured without it.
• Third Lotus Seat demanded that Yang Zhen return his Heavenly Lightning Origin, and Yang Zhen replied that it had come to him on its own.

After Yang Zhen survived Third Lotus Seat’s heavenly lightning tribulation, the group discussed the dangers of the Forbidden Zone of Life. Hua Youyue revealed that she felt compelled to enter it, and Yang Zhen agreed to go with her.

• Third Lotus Seat left with the North Maiden Academy disciples after vowing hostility toward Yang Zhen, who absorbed the heavenly lightning source.
• Hua Youyue calmed the lightning source inside Yang Zhen and explained that her True Essence leaned toward the Lightning Essence attribute.
• Palace Master Liu and Old Man Yao gathered representatives to discuss disturbances in the Forbidden Zone of Life.
• Hua Youyue explained that the zone’s poisonous gas could kill cultivators, while Old Man Yao said people also died there without warning or discernible cause.
• Hua Youyue said she felt compelled to enter the Forbidden Zone of Life, and Yang Zhen agreed to go with her.

Yang Zhen and Hua Youyue learned that a new restriction in the Forbidden Zone of Life barred powerful experts from entering, though formations could send about a thousand people inside. Palace Master Liu revealed that they were risking the journey for primordial inheritances and possible clues about the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth.

• Hua Youyue urged Yang Zhen to leave immediately if they encountered danger, and he told her not to act recklessly either.
• Palace Master Liu explained that a restriction had appeared in the Forbidden Zone of Life, preventing Tribulation Transcendence Realm experts from entering directly.
• Mo Xueling identified the restriction as one that could protect something inside or maintain the balance of the realm, and Palace Master Liu said formations could send roughly a thousand people in.
• After Yang Zhen and Hua Youyue agreed to enter, Palace Master Liu told them the Forbidden Zone might contain multiple primordial inheritances.
• Palace Master Liu warned Yang Zhen about North Maiden Academy and an unfamiliar force, then revealed the Forbidden Zone might hold secrets about the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth.

Yang Zhen learned that Palace Master Liu’s group planned to enter the Forbidden Zone of Life to stop descendants of the Shanggen Secret Clan from resurrecting their ancestors. After three days of travel, the group reached the deadly zone, where a strange sound and a bolt of red lightning greeted them.

• Palace Master Liu told Yang Zhen that Medicine Madman had left a cryptic message in Earth Treasury Roots and that it might point to the Shanggen Secret Clan.
• Palace Master Liu explained that the group intended to prevent the clan’s descendants from resurrecting members of their ancient bloodline.
• Hua Youyue insisted that they had to go because the people involved were dangerous, while Shameless Cat tried to avoid the journey.
• Yang Zhen and the others traveled by flying boat for three days and arrived at the Forbidden Zone of Life, where Medicine Madman’s two-character message was said to seal a presence like the clan’s.
• A muffled, eerie sound frightened Shameless Cat, and Flirtatious Chicken startled him into leaping onto Yang Zhen’s shoulder.
• A red bolt of lightning tore down from the sky and illuminated half the Forbidden Zone of Life.

As the gathered cultivators prepared to enter the Forbidden Zone of Life, Hua Youyue told Yang Zhen that a mysterious presence inside was calling to her, and he promised to help her become someone no one dared offend. Yang Zhen then unexpectedly sent his spirit wandering through heaven and earth, only for a mysterious force to pull his soul into the red mist.

• Yang Zhen surveyed the many factions and Tribulation Transcendence Realm experts gathered near the Forbidden Zone of Life.
• Hua Youyue told Yang Zhen that a presence within the Forbidden Zone of Life was drawing her toward it, and admitted she was worried.
• Yang Zhen promised Hua Youyue he would make her a woman no one dared to offend, and the two reflected on cultivation and the mysteries of heaven and earth.
• Yang Zhen became entranced by the red mist and unconsciously sent his spirit wandering through heaven and earth, startling Palace Master Liu, Mo Xueling, and the others.
• Hua Youyue took Yang Zhen's hand and watched the red mist with newfound resolve as Yang Zhen realized his soul had left his body.
• A mysterious force dragged Yang Zhen's soul into the red mist, where he gradually regained control of it.

Yang Zhen’s soul wandered through the Forbidden Zone of Life, where he encountered a bone mountain and a mysterious woman who looked exactly like Hua Youyue. He returned injured and told Hua Youyue that he had seen her inside the forbidden zone, leaving her shaken and asking where.

• Yang Zhen discovered he could move through the red mist by doggy paddling with his soul body.
• Yang Zhen passed an ancient bronze tree covered in corpses and a swamp filled with skeletons before finding a wooden house.
• A force dragged Yang Zhen into the house’s courtyard, where the illusion changed to reveal a vast mountain of bones.
• Yang Zhen reached the summit and saw a jade stele, a coffin, and a woman whose face he could not bear to face.
• The woman’s energy struck Yang Zhen as he fled, causing him to spit blood and return to his body.
• Yang Zhen told Hua Youyue that someone inside the Forbidden Zone of Life had looked exactly like her, and Hua Youyue grabbed his arm and demanded to know where.

Yang Zhen described seeing a terrifying woman resembling Hua Youyue atop a mountain of bones in the Forbidden Zone of Life. Mei Chaofeng opened the entrance formation, and Yang Zhen, Hua Youyue, and the others entered, while a sinister middle-aged man followed covertly.

• Yang Zhen told Hua Youyue and the others about the mountain of bones and the woman whose glance nearly killed him.
• Mei Chaofeng arrived with the Earth Profound Sect, and Palace Master Liu introduced him to Yang Zhen and the others.
• Mei Chaofeng activated the formation and warned everyone that it would remain open for only twenty days.
• Yang Zhen and Hua Youyue entered the first archway, followed by Foot Hair, Flirtatious Chicken, Mo Xueling, and the others.
• After the group entered, a sinister middle-aged man slipped toward the first archway and vanished through a ripple of True Essence.

Yang Zhen and his companions entered the Forbidden Zone of Life and learned that an ancient bronze tree stood nearby. After Yang Zhen described the corpses impaled on its branches, Mo Xueling suspected it was Blood Illusion Bronze and urged everyone to investigate.

• Yang Zhen and Hua Youyue entered the Forbidden Zone of Life and found that its strange presence had made their True Essence dormant.
• The Shameless Cat asked Yang Zhen to lead them to Bone Mountain, but Yang Zhen admitted he had forgotten the route and pointed out an ancient bronze tree instead.
• Liu Zongqi and Shi Yan of the Azure Cloud Sect asked Yang Zhen about the tree, but he denied knowing anything and walked away with Hua Youyue.
• Mo Xueling explained the Azure Cloud Sect's history with a giant bronze tree, prompting Yang Zhen to turn back and lead the group toward it.
• Yang Zhen described corpses impaled on the tree's branches, and Mo Xueling suspected it was Blood Illusion Bronze and hurried everyone after the others.

Yang Zhen and his companions discovered the Blood Illusion Bronze’s deadly power as it drew cultivators into fatal illusions. When its invisible wave caught up to them, Yang Zhen set the two women down and charged toward it.

• Shameless Cat recalled that Blood Illusion Bronze trapped people in illusions and stole their life origins, while Mo Xueling warned Yang Zhen to stay away from it.
• Hua Youyue said she felt anger toward the bronze tree despite never having heard of it, and Yang Zhen decided to catch up with Liu Zongqi and the others.
• Yang Zhen found Liu Zongqi’s group walking unresponsive toward the ancient bronze tree, and one cultivator impaled himself on a branch.
• Mo Xueling shouted for everyone to run as the tree released an invisible wave that drove people toward it like living corpses.
• Yang Zhen fled with Mo Xueling and Hua Youyue, but when the wave caught up, he put them down and charged at it.

Yang Zhen resisted the Blood Illusion Bronze’s mind-affecting presence and used the Ageless Tree’s vitality, Golden Lotus Heavenly Fire, and Gen Metal True Runes to fight the evil shadows haunting it. As the others recovered and Liu Zongqi died, a gigantic Evil Shadow Black Taotie appeared and turned its scarlet eyes on Yang Zhen.

• The ancient bronze tree’s presence controlled the group, but Flirtatious Chicken’s Golden Crow Fire briefly helped Hua Youyue and Shameless Cat resist it.
• Yang Zhen charged the tree despite Hua Youyue’s warning, and Liu Zongqi was impaled on a branch and drained by the evil shadows.
• The little sapling awakened within Yang Zhen, restoring his clarity and letting him see the shadowy creatures clinging to the tree.
• Yang Zhen drove the shadows back with Golden Lotus Heavenly Fire and Gen Metal True Runes as Hua Youyue, Mo Xueling, and the others regained consciousness.
• A giant Evil Shadow Black Taotie emerged from the tree, and Hua Youyue rushed to warn Yang Zhen.

Yang Zhen fought the Evil Shadow Black Taotie on the ancient bronze tree and forced it to retreat. He then began cutting bronze from the tree to forge a weapon that could trap the beast inside.

• Yang Zhen charged the Evil Shadow Black Taotie while Hua Youyue and the others watched, and his soul-powered punch struck the beast but sent him crashing into a bronze branch.
• Yang Zhen summoned eighteen golden dragons and combined them with eighteen Shadow Clones, driving the Evil Shadow Black Taotie back into the bronze tree.
• Yang Zhen crafted a chainsaw from Star Iron, and Shameless Cat offered him a collection of storage rings in exchange for it.
• Yang Zhen used the chainsaw to cut a piece from the bronze tree, explaining that he wanted to seal the Evil Shadow Black Taotie inside it and use it as a weapon.

Yang Zhen forged the Great Deficiency Sword from Blood Illusion Bronze and attracted the Evil Shadow Black Taotie into it as its sword spirit. As the group set out toward a bone mountain and a strange swamp, Yang Zhen recognized the swamp as a place filled with Earth Treasury Roots, where Medicine Madman might also be.

• Yang Zhen explained that the cross-eyed black iron caused the ancient bronze tree’s illusions, then decided to forge a sword from its Blood Illusion Bronze.
• Yang Zhen spent four hours forging the massive Great Deficiency Sword, covered it with Gen Metal True Runes, and struck the ancient bronze tree with his chainsaw.
• The Evil Shadow Black Taotie emerged from the tree and darted into the Great Deficiency Sword, while Shameless Cat refused to let Yang Zhen test the weapon on him.
• Yang Zhen, Hua Youyue, and Mo Xueling considered how the area might have escaped the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth, then decided to investigate the bone mountain.
• Mo Xueling asked where Medicine Madman had sent his message about the Earth Treasury Root, and Yang Zhen said he had seen countless Earth Treasury Roots in the swamp ahead.

Yang Zhen and his companions reached the blood-red swamp, where the Shanggen Secret Clan ambushed them. Yang Zhen discovered that the Great Deficiency Sword could stagger its targets as the group fought the clan in a place where True Essence could not be used.

• Yang Zhen led the group to the blood-red swamp and silently warned Hua Youyue that someone was nearby.
• Yang Zhen's sword exposed an invisible Shanggen Secret Clan member, and Mo Xueling identified the ambushers.
• The Shanggen leader threatened Yang Zhen, who charged the clan with the Great Deficiency Sword.
• The leader attacked Yang Zhen while invisible, but the Great Deficiency Sword struck and staggered him.
• Yang Zhen realized the sword had a passive stagger effect and chased the leader while Mo Xueling, Hua Youyue, and the others fought the remaining clan members.

Yang Zhen used the Great Deficiency Sword to overwhelm the Shanggen Secret Clan, whose members could vanish and whose leader he captured. He demanded to learn their invisibility talent, and the leader finally admitted it might be possible to teach him.

• Yang Zhen charged the Shanggen Secret Clan leader and told Hua Youyue and the others to leave the fight to him.
• The Shanggen Secret Clan members attacked Yang Zhen, but the Great Deficiency Sword sent them flying and left them dazed by its daydream effect.
• The Shanggen Secret Clan vanished into mist and tried to find an opening to kill Yang Zhen.
• Yang Zhen used Multiple Shadow Clones to flush out the clan, then caught and interrogated its leader while his other clones fought the rest.
• Yang Zhen demanded to know how to learn the clan's invisibility talent, and the leader pleaded with him to stop hitting him before conceding that it was possible.

Yang Zhen learned that the Sin Clan was searching the Sea of Sin Swamp for the Shanggen Secret Clan’s inheritance, while Hua Youyue displayed mysterious knowledge and a connection to the rare epiphyllum. As the group stood by the swamp, a black shadow burst from the water and attacked the Shameless Cat.

• Yang Zhen questioned the Sin Clan leader about the Shanggen Secret Clan’s inheritance and learned that the leader’s small branch had not found it.
• Hua Youyue unexpectedly identified the Sin Clan and warned Yang Zhen that its inheritance could have dangerous aftereffects.
• Thunder cracked after Yang Zhen challenged the heavens, and Hua Youyue urged him not to question the dignity of heaven’s Principles.
• Mo Xueling recognized Hua Youyue’s fragrance as that of an epiphyllum, leaving Yang Zhen unsettled by the flower’s rarity and his own place in the world.
• Yang Zhen drove the Sin Clan away, then kicked the Shameless Cat after it retched at the swamp’s bloody water.
• The Shameless Cat cried out about a ghost as a black shadow shot from the Sea of Sin Swamp and charged at him.

Yang Zhen chased Shameless Cat into the Sea of Sin Swamp and found a route to Medicine Madman's hidden inheritance. He entered a separate world with Hua Youyue and Mo Xueling, then began receiving Medicine Madman's alchemy memories.

• Yang Zhen plunged into the swamp after a dark figure dragged Shameless Cat underwater, then escaped a swarm of sea monkeys with Shameless Cat.
• Yang Zhen told Hua Youyue and Mo Xueling to follow him to another exit, and the group swam through a cavern beneath the swamp.
• Hua Youyue, Mo Xueling, Yang Zhen, and Shameless Cat emerged into a lush world where True Essence worked freely.
• Yang Zhen identified Medicine Madman's dried corpse and used the old man's handwritten notes to activate his inheritance.
• Yang Zhen copied Medicine Madman's pose, and countless alchemy memories entered his mind.

Yang Zhen received Medicine Madman’s inheritance and discovered another, stronger inheritance in the Forbidden Zone of Life. After he comprehended a forbidden technique, the hidden world began collapsing, but his command sent the attacking sea monkeys fleeing.

• Yang Zhen buried Medicine Madman, carved a gravestone, and received his inheritance, greatly advancing his alchemy skills.
• Hua Youyue sensed another inheritance more powerful than the Shanggen Secret Clan’s, though she could not locate or identify it.
• Yang Zhen copied Medicine Madman’s strange posture and began comprehending a forbidden technique, causing the hidden world to collapse and its restrictions to break.
• Yang Zhen led the group toward the exit as a flood of sea monkeys charged through the tunnel.
• Yang Zhen shouted “Scram!” and an invisible wave of Qi drove the sea monkeys away, leaving him and Mo Xueling astonished.

Yang Zhen and his companions escaped the flooded Sea of Sin Swamp, where greedy cultivators were attacked by frenzied sea monkeys. They identified the mysterious token Yang Zhen had absorbed as a legendary Nine-Step Heaven-Ascending Token, though its secrets remained unclear.

• A towering flood swept through the small world, and Yang Zhen, Hua Youyue, Mo Xueling, Shameless Cat, and Flirtatious Chicken struggled through it before escaping.
• Cultivators rushed toward the transformed Sea of Sin Swamp, where waves and vicious sea monkeys killed many of those who entered.
• Yang Zhen explained that he had absorbed a gray token marked with the character for nine, but he could no longer sense or remove it from his Divine Sense space.
• Hua Youyue recognized the token as a Heaven-Ascending Token after seeing Yang Zhen's drawing, though she did not know how she knew its name.
• Shameless Cat identified it as a Nine-Step Heaven-Ascending Token, a legendary secret treasure, and Flirtatious Chicken recalled that Holy Maiden Tianxuan had once possessed two.

Yang Zhen and his companions learned that they were trapped in the Forbidden Zone of Life, the realm Holy Maiden Tianxuan had destroyed. As they set out for Bone Mountain, Hua Youyue hinted at a sorrowful connection to Yang Zhen and an inheritance waiting for her there.

• Flirtatious Chicken revealed that Holy Maiden Tianxuan once possessed two Heaven-Ascending Tokens, and Hua Youyue warned Yang Zhen not to comprehend his token before he had passed his tribulation.
• Hua Youyue remembered a legacy that belonged to her and said it lay in the direction of Bone Mountain.
• Shameless Cat recalled that Holy Maiden Tianxuan had used the tokens’ sixth step to destroy a realm, creating the Forbidden Zone of Life where the group now stood.
• Yang Zhen realized they likely could not escape and decided to explore Bone Mountain while keeping the other cultivators from learning the danger.
• Hua Youyue asked whether Yang Zhen would remember her, then walked toward Bone Mountain; Yang Zhen reassured her that he would defy heaven for her.

Yang Zhen and his companions discussed the Saint Law guarding Hua Youyue’s inheritance and continued toward the mountain of bones. They reached the valley where Hua Youyue sensed her inheritance, as a Saint-level phenomenon erupted around them.

• Yang Zhen learned from Hua Youyue that the power he had encountered was Saint Law, and she insisted she could obtain the inheritance despite its powerful guardian.
• Yang Zhen and the others traveled past numerous corpses, including cultivators who had died without visible wounds, and saw injured people ahead on the path.
• A thunderous blast shook the ground, and flower petals filled the sky as people rushed toward the valley, calling the eruption a Saint-level inheritance.
• Yang Zhen recognized the valley as the place with the wooden house and asked Hua Youyue if this was her inheritance.
• Hua Youyue confirmed that she could feel its presence as more petals fell and the Heavenly Sound Grand Chant filled the valley.