Chapter Summaries

Yang Zhen fought a sinister black-cloaked cultivator who repeatedly tried to kill him, then watched the man die after declaring that Moluola lived forever. Yang Zhen suspected the man was connected to the Saint Law restriction, and a strange dark bluish-black rune appeared beneath his skin.

• Yang Zhen startled a black-cloaked cultivator when he emerged from the storm, but the man attacked him with a lightning-fast sword strike.
• Yang Zhen used Shadow Clones to trick the cultivator, then hit him with Golden Lotus Heavenly Fire and Earth Release as he tried to flee.
• Yang Zhen subdued the Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivator and questioned him, but the man declared, "Moluola lives forever!" and shriveled into a corpse.
• Yang Zhen wondered if the man belonged to the group that had triggered the Saint Law restriction and whether more such cultivators were inside the ruins.
• A dark bluish-black rune appeared beneath Yang Zhen's skin, and he cursed in alarm.

After the entrance storm separated Yang Zhen from his companions, he wandered through an ancient mountain forest and met Gong Sanhe and two younger cultivators. He learned that he was in a High Antiquity ruin, but the trio grew wary as he continued following them.

• Yang Zhen searched for the vanished rune on his body, found nothing unusual, and decided to look for his companions or another Moluola.
• After wandering for a day and night through the ancient forest, Yang Zhen encountered an old man and two young cultivators.
• Yang Zhen pretended to be Li Cangxu, inheritor of the Heavenly Spring Sacred Land, and learned that the old man was Gong Sanhe.
• The young man told Yang Zhen that the forest was a High Antiquity ruin and that he might find fortuitous opportunities there.
• When the young man asked why Yang Zhen was following them, Yang Zhen questioned whether he was forbidden from taking the same road, making the young man suspicious.

Yang Zhen joined Gong Sanhe, Ding Chun, and Wen Yuning as they searched the High Antiquity ruins for the legendary Heavenly Secret Lock. After Wen Yuning explained that only mastery of the Heavenly Book: Earth Treasury Chapter could locate it, Yang Zhen realized that he had the chapter himself.

• Gong Sanhe invited Yang Zhen to travel with him and warned him to avoid the deathsworn from Mara Palace.
• Yang Zhen learned that Ding Chun and Wen Yuning belonged to the Ancient Life Sect and followed the group toward the Heavenly Secret Lock.
• Gong Sanhe explained that the Heavenly Secret Lock contained one of the Three Purities and could help a cultivator evolve their Dao into a Great Dao.
• Wen Yuning explained that the Heavenly Secret Lock evaded the will of heaven and earth, and that an earth master needed the Earth Treasury Technique to find it.
• Yang Zhen realized that the Heavenly Book: Earth Treasury Chapter Wen Yuning described was already in his possession.

Yang Zhen stayed with Gong Sanhe, Ding Chun, and Wen Yuning as they tried to locate the Heavenly Secret Lock. After Gong Sanhe’s sacred luopan search failed and injured him, Yang Zhen claimed that holding a blade of grass might help, leaving the others stunned and Ding Chun furious.

• Yang Zhen decided to remain with the group after Ding Chun warned that the Heavenly Secret Lock was perilous.
• Gong Sanhe used a sacred luopan to create a miniature landscape and search it for the lock.
• Gong Sanhe’s search failed, and he coughed up blood from the backlash.
• Ding Chun accused Yang Zhen of cursing Gong Sanhe, and Yang Zhen said he had called out, “Hold grass.”
• Yang Zhen claimed that holding a blade of grass might reveal the lock, and Gong Sanhe asked whether he truly had a method.
• Yang Zhen stared at Ding Chun instead of answering, and Ding Chun demanded to know why he was looking at him.

Yang Zhen used Ding Chun’s pose and Gong Sanhe’s Heaven and Earth Compass to locate the Heavenly Secret Lock, concealing his Earth Treasury Technique behind an elaborate performance. The group prepared to investigate the distant peak, though Ding Chun warned that it was dangerously perilous.

• Ding Chun mocked Yang Zhen’s claim that grabbing grass could reveal the Heavenly Secret Lock, then crouched and grabbed a handful himself.
• Yang Zhen measured the direction Ding Chun’s backside pointed, ordered him to keep holding the grass, and borrowed Gong Sanhe’s Heaven and Earth Compass.
• Yang Zhen activated the compass with the Earth Treasury Technique while disguising it with flashy gestures and a recited chant.
• The compass marked a red dot on a distant peak, and Yang Zhen announced that the Heavenly Secret Lock was there.
• Gong Sanhe decided to investigate the peak, but Ding Chun warned him that the place was far too dangerous.

Yang Zhen led Gong Sanhe, Ding Chun, and Wen Yuning to a mountain covered in Three Lives Flowers and poisonous miasma, where they believed the Heavenly Secret Lock lay. After the group descended, two Death Servants appeared, marked a rock, and followed them.

• Gong Sanhe asked Yang Zhen about his Mountain-Moving Daoist legacy, then agreed to seek the Heavenly Secret Lock after Yang Zhen claimed to be eighty percent certain of its location.
• Gong Sanhe brought Yang Zhen, Ding Chun, and Wen Yuning to a thorn-covered mountain shrouded in miasma that burned Divine Sense and could damage the soul.
• Yang Zhen recognized the danger of the Three Lives Flowers and considered destroying them, while Gong Sanhe sensed a Death Servant nearby and warned the group not to provoke them.
• Gong Sanhe led the others down toward the mountaintop, while Yang Zhen wondered whether a Death Servant had followed him.
• Two peak Mahayana Realm Death Servants appeared after the group descended, marked a rock, and vanished as they pursued them.

Yang Zhen followed Gong Sanhe into the poisonous miasma to find the Heavenly Secret Lock, staying wary while Gong Sanhe praised his composure. They discovered two colossal statues guarding a canyon filled with immense Heavenly Dao will, and wondered if the lock lay inside.

• Yang Zhen claimed he was careful and low-profile, prompting Gong Sanhe to praise him and advise Ding Chun to learn from his humility.
• Yang Zhen warned Ding Chun to heed his elders, irritating him while Wen Yuning laughed at their exchange.
• Gong Sanhe spotted the location of the Heavenly Secret Lock and led Yang Zhen, Ding Chun, and Wen Yuning down into the poisonous miasma.
• Yang Zhen held fast to his mind inside the miasma, impressing Gong Sanhe, while Ding Chun dismissed his caution as an act.
• The group reached two enormous statues beside a black canyon filled with powerful Heavenly Dao will, and Yang Zhen wondered whether the Heavenly Secret Lock was within.

Yang Zhen and his companions tried to understand the canyon’s strange loop and learned that the Mara Sect’s Soul Chain Technique was likely responsible for the Curse on him. The group continued inward as Mara Sect deathsworn followed, leaving Yang Zhen furious at whoever had used the technique.

• Gong Sanhe explained that the statues were Ancient War Gods, and Yang Zhen questioned why such beings would guard the Heavenly Secret Lock.
• The group found themselves back outside the canyon, and Yang Zhen struck one statue with the Great Deficiency Sword to mark it despite Ding Chun and Wen Yuning’s warnings.
• Gong Sanhe identified nearby pursuers as deathsworn from the Mara Sect and said they should avoid provoking them.
• Yang Zhen asked Gong Sanhe about the Mara Palace’s Curse technique, and Gong Sanhe identified it as the Soul Chain Technique.
• Wen Yuning explained that using the Soul Chain Technique required the caster to sacrifice their life, prompting Yang Zhen to wonder what hatred could have driven his attacker.

Yang Zhen was ambushed by a death warrior and used saint-grade formation disks to reveal a force of twenty-five death warriors led by Death Shadow. Death Shadow claimed that Yang Zhen had been marked by the Soul Chain Technique and therefore had to die, prompting Yang Zhen to explain how he had encountered a death warrior earlier.

• Yang Zhen secretly placed formation disks as he followed Gong Sanhe, Ding Chun, and Wen Yuning into the canyon.
• A death warrior attacked Yang Zhen, but Yang Zhen caught the weapon barehanded, broke the attacker’s hand, and slammed him to the ground.
• Gong Sanhe confronted the attackers, while Death Shadow identified himself and accused Yang Zhen of torturing one of his men and provoking the Soul Chain Technique.
• Yang Zhen activated saint-grade formation disks, clearing the dust and revealing twenty-five death warriors, including a Peak Mahayana Realm expert.
• Death Shadow said anyone struck by the Soul Chain Technique had to be killed, and Yang Zhen began recounting his earlier encounter with a death warrior.

Yang Zhen fought Death Shadow and the twenty-four death attendants after they refused to believe his account of how he acquired a curse. He used his strength and the dust-filled battlefield to turn the fight around, then dropped an enormous door panel onto Death Shadow.

• Yang Zhen denied killing the death attendant and demanded that the others explain how to remove the curse placed on him.
• Death Shadow ordered the twenty-four death attendants to attack Yang Zhen, while Gong Sanhe and his companions watched.
• Yang Zhen summoned the Great Deficiency Sword and created Shadow Clones, confusing the attackers and striking one death attendant with a powerful blow.
• Yang Zhen fought the death attendants in the dust they raised, then vanished and began attacking them from concealment.
• Death Shadow moved to intervene, but Yang Zhen appeared to drop a huge door panel onto him from above.

Yang Zhen subdued Death Shadow by controlling the Two Qi of Yin and Yang and turning them into Taiji patterns, while also defeating the twenty-four death warriors. He repeatedly battered Death Shadow and demanded his submission, leaving Death Shadow terrified and the onlookers questioning Yang Zhen’s idea of winning people over with virtue.

• Death Shadow unleashed his Yin-Yang Phantom, but Yang Zhen put away his sword and caught its blasts of yin and yang with his hands.
• Yang Zhen combined the two forces into a stable Taiji pattern and struck Death Shadow, sending him crashing to the ground.
• The twenty-four death warriors lay incapacitated in strange patterns as Yang Zhen approached Death Shadow and demanded that he submit.
• Death Shadow attacked Yang Zhen with two streams of yin-yang Qi, but Yang Zhen’s diagrams exploded against him and sent him flying.
• Death Shadow tried to vanish and attack from concealment, but Yang Zhen found him and struck him again while insisting he wanted to win him over with virtue.

Yang Zhen countered Death Shadow’s insect swarm with Golden Lotus Heavenly Fire and pursued him through the air. After knocking Death Shadow down, Yang Zhen threatened him with the Two Qi of Yin and Yang until he screamed, then asked if he would submit.

• Death Shadow unleashed a swarm of tiny insects and declared that the Mara Sect would kill anyone carrying a Technique Talisman.
• Yang Zhen charged into the swarm and burned the insects with Golden Lotus Heavenly Fire, forcing Death Shadow to flee.
• Yang Zhen caught Death Shadow and knocked him down with a punch as Gong Sanhe, Ding Chun, and Wen Yuning watched in disbelief.
• Yang Zhen asked Death Shadow to submit while holding a Yin-Yang Diagram in one hand and Companion Heavenly Fire in the other.
• Death Shadow refused, so Yang Zhen struck his face with the Yin-Yang Diagram and asked again if he would submit.

Yang Zhen subdued Death Shadow and the twenty-four death warriors, then demanded their storage rings as compensation before asking how to remove the Soul Chain Technique. Death Shadow said the technique could not be removed, leaving Yang Zhen without an answer.

• Death Shadow declared himself convinced heart and soul, and Yang Zhen questioned whether his body was convinced too.
• Death Shadow admitted there might have been a misunderstanding, and Gong Sanhe confronted him for ignoring that possibility earlier.
• Yang Zhen demanded compensation for emotional distress and collected the storage rings from Death Shadow and the twenty-four death warriors.
• Yang Zhen asked Death Shadow how to remove the Soul Chain Technique from his body, and Death Shadow said it could not be removed.

Yang Zhen pondered how to remove the Technique Talisman implanted in him and entered enlightenment while Death Shadow and the others watched. He awakened in the True Form Tide, which Death Shadow recognized as a state where nothing could invade his body.

• Death Shadow told Yang Zhen that the Technique Talisman could not be removed, but recalled the Grand Ancestor's claim that a person with special heavenly tribulations and an exceptional Spirit Root might become impervious to foreign things.
• Yang Zhen realized he might meet those conditions and sat down to seek enlightenment while Death Shadow, the death servants, and Gong Sanhe's group watched.
• Death Shadow warned that the Mara Sect had never seen anyone remove a Technique Talisman, while his servants hinted that they longed to be free of theirs.
• Yang Zhen's body crackled with lightning and resonated with a tidal rumble as he entered the True Form Tide.
• Death Shadow declared that Yang Zhen had reached a state where nothing could invade him.

Yang Zhen extracted the Technique Talisman from his own body and learned that Death Shadow and the other twenty-four death servants carried talismans too. Death Shadow offered his life in exchange for Yang Zhen removing theirs, but Yang Zhen challenged the bargain, prompting Death Shadow to begin a divine-soul oath.

• The crowd was stunned when Death Shadow and Gong Sanhe declared Yang Zhen impervious to all things, while Yang Zhen complained that the protection had limits.
• Yang Zhen revealed the Technique Talisman he had extracted, and Death Shadow excitedly asked whether Yang Zhen could remove the talisman in his body.
• Yang Zhen said he could not remove another person's talisman, and Death Shadow revealed that all twenty-four death servants had one that would destroy their bodies and Dao if removed.
• Death Shadow explained that he had not detonated Yang Zhen's talisman because it might not kill him and because he had been gambling on a chance to leave without regrets.
• Death Shadow offered his life as payment for removing the talismans, but Yang Zhen pointed out that the deal would leave the Mara Sect free to pursue him.
• Death Shadow laughed, declared that he had won his bet, and began swearing a divine-soul oath before asking Yang Zhen's name; Yang Zhen answered, "Yang Decao."

Yang Zhen freed twenty-four Mara Sect death servants by explaining how they could remove their Technique Talismans, and Death Shadow stayed with him and Gong Sanhe. The five ventured deeper into the canyon toward the Heavenly Secret Lock, where the oppressive will of heaven and earth grew stronger.

• Wei Wujin, Shan Yang, Ma Hai, Duan Wuque, and the other death servants swore divine-soul oaths to obey Yang Zhen if he helped remove their Technique Talismans.
• Yang Zhen explained how the death servants could remove their Technique Talismans, and the twenty-four departed after swearing allegiance to him.
• Death Shadow refused to leave, suspecting Gong Sanhe might be in danger and wanting to see the Heavenly Secret Lock.
• Gong Sanhe revealed that Yang Zhen had found the Heavenly Secret Lock, while Death Shadow explained that the High Antiquity ruins had changed and scattered the groups inside.
• Yang Zhen, Gong Sanhe, Death Shadow, and Gong Sanhe's two companions entered the canyon and found its growing pressure and strange surroundings increasingly disorienting.

Yang Zhen and the others found the immense structure believed to be the Heavenly Secret Lock, but the terrain around it concealed a dangerous formation. Yang Zhen recognized that it was a death trap and prepared to explain what he had discovered.

• Yang Zhen and the others reached a vast structure that Death Shadow and Gong Sanhe identified as the Heavenly Secret Lock.
• Death Shadow warned the group that entering the Heavenly Secret Lock would not be easy, and Gong Sanhe noticed a problem with the surrounding terrain.
• Yang Zhen identified the terrain as resembling a twin dragons defy and seize the wind formation, then questioned why its features did not fit.
• Yang Zhen realized the formation was actually a death trap that people could enter but never leave.
• Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow asked Yang Zhen how to break the formation, and Yang Zhen said they had asked the right person.

Yang Zhen recognized that the Heavenly Secret Lock was surrounded by the Three Lives Dragon Rock Formation, a deadly formation built around the twin dragons, ancient war god statues, and Three Lives Flowers. Though Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow chose to proceed despite the danger, Yang Zhen found a possible way to alter the formation and prepared to try it.

• Yang Zhen explained that the twin dragon configuration and ancient war god statues formed part of a larger formation, and Gong Sanhe identified it as the Three Lives Dragon Rock Formation.
• Yang Zhen warned Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow that the Qi of Utmost Purity might be gone and the Heavenly Secret Lock could be a deathtrap, but both elders decided to enter anyway.
• Ding Chun suggested using the Earth Treasury Technique to conceal the statues, and Gong Sanhe explained that their cultivation was insufficient to make it work.
• Yang Zhen realized that instead of breaking the formation, he could change it, and he claimed to have a fifty percent chance of success.

Yang Zhen attempted to alter the Three Lives Coiled Dragon Formation using the origin of Heaven and Earth True Runes. As his True Essence seemed insufficient and Death Shadow nearly intervened, Yang Zhen released another overwhelming surge of power, leaving the others stunned.

• Gong Sanhe agreed to guard Yang Zhen while he tried to change the Three Lives Coiled Dragon Formation.
• Yang Zhen activated the origin of Heaven and Earth True Runes and began enveloping the formation’s twin dragons with his True Essence.
• Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow realized Yang Zhen’s True Essence seemed too weak to sustain the change, while Ding Chun and Wen Yuning marveled at its power.
• Death Shadow tried to rush to Yang Zhen’s aid, but Gong Sanhe stopped him because Yang Zhen had forbidden anyone from disturbing him.
• Yang Zhen released another terrifying surge of True Essence, and Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow cried out in disbelief.

Yang Zhen endured the Three Lives Coiled Dragon Formation’s immense power, but the Three Lives Flowers bloomed and fully activated the formation. Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow rushed back to save him as Yang Zhen invoked the Desolate Heaven Sacrifice.

• Yang Zhen released a vast, pure surge of True Essence and withstood the formation’s violent power, astonishing Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow.
• Yang Zhen wielded the Great Deficiency Sword as the Evil Shadow Black Taotie roared, and the Three Lives Flowers bloomed, filling the formation with pink mist.
• Gong Sanhe ordered Ding Chun and Wen Yuning to retreat, while Death Shadow decided to stay and save Yang Zhen.
• Gong Sanhe rejected Death Shadow’s suggestion that he leave and charged toward Yang Zhen, with Death Shadow following.
• A powerful crash erupted inside the churning formation, and Yang Zhen shouted, “Desolate! Heaven! Sacrifice!”