Recaps

Li Yan learned that Yellow Springs City connected the Netherworld to the mortal realm and suspected Zhao Min and the others had been trapped there after a cross-realm attack. He also discovered why cultivators were imprisoned on the first level of Shura prison: they harvested Flowers of the Other Shore, though doing so cost them decades of lifespan.

• Li Yan learned that Yellow Springs City was the Netherworld's only route for living beings to cross between realms and suspected Zhao Min and the others had entered it through the passage used in the attack.
• Monk Fa Ke and the other two insisted that no cultivators besides Li Yan had arrived in the past four months, leaving him hopeful that Chu Yinghong had escaped but without any allies to rely on.
• Li Yan learned that the prisoners had been captured after falling into traps leading to Yellow Springs City, then sent to Shura prison to harvest Flowers of the Other Shore.
• Li Yan learned that Flowers of the Other Shore over three hundred years old could reveal the boundary between yin and yang, but Netherworld ghosts could not harvest them without losing lifespan.
• Ghost cultivators had once harvested the flowers for the Netherworld, but each flower cost them roughly sixty years of mortal life and caused extreme agony.

Monk Fuke explained to Li Yan how Yellow Springs City’s ghost cultivators captured people and forced prisoners in Asura Prison to harvest Other Shore Flowers along the dangerous Netherfall River. The chapter left the prisoners’ grim choices and the rewards for harvesting ancient flowers laid out.

• Ghost cultivators in Yellow Springs City trapped cultivators at hidden spatial nodes and delivered them to Asura Prison in exchange for rewards.
• Monk Fuke explained that prisoners were forced to gather Other Shore Flowers to meet quotas, losing lifespan with every trip.
• Monk Fuke used his squad-leader authority and two lackeys to make others gather flowers for him, leaving only three members of the squad alive.
• Monk Fuke described the Netherfall River’s warped space and dangerous monsters, which made gathering older flowers especially risky.
• Monk Fuke explained that exceptionally old flowers could earn lifespan-increasing Pills or a chance to become a Ghost Sect disciple in Yellow Springs City.

Li Yan questioned Monk Faqi about the Netherworld and considered whether Zhao Min and A-Ying had been captured, while planning how to survive and escape. After an hour, the cell door opened and the prisoners were ordered out to pick the Flowers of the Other Shore.

• Monk Faqi explained that cultivators could become Netherworld ghost cultivators, but doing so meant giving up reincarnation and life in the living world.
• Faqi told Li Yan that a Soul Search was less likely after entering the Netherworld, and Li Yan concluded that the Five Immortals Sect's secrets were probably safe.
• Li Yan reasoned that Zhao Min and A-Ying might be captured and brought to the prison later, while hoping they could evade Yellow Springs City and receive help from the Phantom Sect and the Extinction Sect.
• Li Yan decided he needed to escape before he could help anyone and judged that Fan Nan would likely leave him alone if he picked the Flowers of the Other Shore.
• Monk Faqi resolved to ask Fan Nan to transfer him to another cell, but the stone door opened before he could act, and Li Yan agreed to follow Faqi and the others to pick flowers.

Li Yan joined Monk Faqi and two others on a mission to gather Other Shore Flowers, carried by vicious ghosts to the edge of a distorted region beside the Netherfall River. After entering the strange landscape, Li Yan asked how they could tell the flowers’ age, leaving the group poised to begin the task.

• Li Yan received a gray bottle magic treasure and was bound and carried away with Monk Faqi and the others by two vicious ghosts.
• The ghosts took the four groups apart and flew Li Yan’s group along the Netherfall River, where Li Yan saw tortured faces trapped in its currents.
• The ghosts set Li Yan’s group down near the river and ordered them to collect Other Shore Flowers within four days.
• Li Yan let Monk Faqi lead the way into the spatially distorted region, where the flowers grew larger and the vegetation was black.
• Li Yan asked whether the red flowers were Other Shore Flowers and how to determine their age.

Li Yan learned how to identify other shore flowers and followed Monk Faqi and two cultivators along the River of Nether Oblivion to search for flowers suitable for the task. The group reached a towering mass of ghost brambles and stopped before the dangerous thicket.

• Monk Faqi explained how to identify other shore flowers, and Li Yan allowed him to remain squad leader.
• Monk Faqi led Li Yan and the two cultivators toward the riverbank, explaining that the nearby flowers were too young and that they needed three flowers around three hundred years old.
• Monk Faqi cautiously suggested that three flowers of that age would satisfy the task, while the two cultivators worried Li Yan might make them gather more and shorten their lives.
• Li Yan told Monk Faqi to find suitable flowers first, leaving the group uncertain about how many they would have to pick.
• The four men traveled through fast-growing ghost brambles and stopped when they encountered a person-high black thicket of sharp thorns blocking their way.

Li Yan traveled with Monk Fike and two spell cultivators across a vast mountain of mutated Ghost Thorns to reach a hollow where Flowers of the Other Shore grew. The chapter left Li Yan at the hollow while the others struggled far behind him.

• Monk Fike explained that the prison secretly harvested Flowers of the Other Shore from Ghost Thorn mountains and preserved hidden sites for future tasks.
• Li Yan questioned Monk Fike about why they left some flowers unpicked and learned that fresh flowers were valuable and the prison required a minimum harvest rather than driving its cultivators to exhaustion.
• Monk Fike and the others removed or rolled up parts of their clothing before crossing the Ghost Thorns, and Li Yan followed barefoot.
• Li Yan broke the Ghost Thorn spikes with his body as he walked, astonishing Monk Fike, who judged that Li Yan had achieved the Greater Arhat Golden Body.
• After hours of crossing, Li Yan reached a hollow dotted with red flowers and confirmed with the exhausted Monk Fike that it was their destination.

Li Yan led Monk Fa Ke and two Dharma cultivators to a patch of Flowers of the Other Shore, only to find that the suitable plants had already been taken. With the mission deadline approaching, he forced Fa Ke to reveal another possible place to search, near the Netherfall River.

• Li Yan questioned Monk Fa Ke about whether the Flowers of the Other Shore ahead were the right age, and Fa Ke discovered that the patch had been stripped of all suitable plants.
• Monk Fa Ke angrily realized that someone had taken the flowers he had kept as reserves, while Li Yan asked where else they could search.
• When Fa Ke said there were no other places, Li Yan repeatedly slapped him until he admitted that he knew of four possible locations.
• Li Yan warned the group that he would beat them again for every day they failed to find the flowers, and Fa Ke suggested searching within five li of the Netherfall River.

Li Yan learned that the Netherworld River might hold three-hundred-year-old Flowers of the Other Shore, but its banks were filled with lethal monsters. He ordered Monk Fa Ke and the two Dharma cultivators to lead him there, and the group approached the river through the dark, eerie landscape.

• Monk Fa Ke explained that Flowers of the Other Shore near the riverbank were well-preserved, but strange monsters could take many forms and leave victims trapped in the river forever.
• Fa Ke said he had approached the river five times and that many prisoners had died there, prompting Li Yan to suspect he was using the warnings to manipulate him.
• Li Yan gave the group time to recover, then ordered them to head for the Netherworld River and scout ahead in separate directions.
• Fa Ke privately planned to use the two Dharma cultivators as shields and hoped Li Yan would retreat if danger killed them.
• The group advanced through dim blue darkness and bone-chilling wind as Li Yan watched the others and the swaying Flowers of the Other Shore warily.

Li Yan led Monk Fako and two Dharma cultivators toward the River of Netherfall, using a sudden question to learn that dangers mostly came from the river’s direction. They found two Flowers of the Other Shore, and Ji picked the larger one, suffering severe pain and losing strength as he clutched it.

• Li Yan asked Monk Fako how far they were from the River of Netherfall, startling the three men ahead and prompting Fako to warn that river monsters could follow sounds.
• Li Yan inferred from the men’s reactions that dangers mainly approached from the riverbank, then followed them onward in silence.
• The group found two Flowers of the Other Shore, including one more than three hundred years old, and Li Yan asked who would pick it.
• Monk Fako ordered Ji to take the flower, and Ji warned Li Yan to protect him while he recovered.
• Ji tore the larger flower free, convulsed in agony, and held it tightly as his eyes began to lose focus.

Li Yan led the group onward after Cultivator Ji harvested a Flower of the Other Shore, but the flower’s contact with his bottle triggered a mysterious burst of heat and cold in his body. As they continued searching, Li Yan tried to determine whether the sensation came from the death restriction, the Netherworld’s yin energy, or the flower, while weighing how to escape and use his Shattered Poison Body.

• Cultivator Ji endured the Flower of the Other Shore extracting his vitality, then recovered enough to hand it to Li Yan.
• Li Yan stored the flower in a gray bottle and ordered Cultivator Ji to follow behind while Fa Ke and the other Dharma Cultivator led the way.
• Fa Ke mistook Li Yan’s involuntary hand tremor for fear and privately resolved to find a way to deal with him after returning.
• Li Yan recalled that the flower’s arrival near the bottle had caused scorching heat in his organs and extreme cold in his hand.
• Li Yan considered whether the blood-colored death restriction or the Netherworld’s yin energy had caused the sensation, and concluded that he needed to learn the restriction’s full power before attempting to escape.
• Li Yan identified his Shattered Poison Body as a potential trump card, since he could release poison from his own flesh despite his restraints.

Li Yan recognized the familiar sensations around the River of Netherfall and discovered a Flower of the Other Shore over five hundred years old. He picked it himself, collapsed in agony, and then warned Faku and the others not to attack him as he sat up, bloodied and laughing.

• Li Yan recalled that the scorching heat and icy chill resembled something from his distant past, though he could not yet place the memory.
• Faku and the others searched for another Flower of the Other Shore, and Faku grew anxious about having to venture farther from their route.
• Faku found a Flower of the Other Shore more than five hundred years old and ordered the spell cultivator to pick it.
• Li Yan stopped the spell cultivator, told Faku and the others to stay back, and picked the flower himself.
• Li Yan collapsed after picking the flower, and Faku considered attacking him while he lay helpless.
• Li Yan sat up, bloodied and laughing, and challenged Faku and the other two to make a move.

Li Yan tested whether the Flowers of the Other Shore were connected to the strange sensation that had stirred his Undying Nether Phoenix bloodline, while keeping Fa Ke and the other two under his control. He concluded that only flowers over three hundred years old might trigger the sensation, and the group continued searching deeper along the riverbank.

• Li Yan feigned madness to stop Fa Ke and the other two from fleeing, then ordered them to continue gathering Flowers of the Other Shore.
• Li Yan recalled experiencing the same burning and icy sensation during a near-death vision at Windcool Mountain and suspected it was connected to his Undying Nether Phoenix bloodline.
• Li Yan tested younger Flowers of the Other Shore by brushing and touching their petals, but his bloodline did not react and his vitality was not drained.
• Li Yan realized the ghosts might need flowers over three hundred years old because younger ones lacked the power to strip vitality, and he suspected only older flowers would stir his bloodline.

Li Yan tested the reaction between his Undying Nether Phoenix bloodline and an other shore flower, then continued gathering flowers to investigate further. Three days later, he forced Monk Fake to pick another flower by pressing the unconscious man’s hand against its stem, and Monk Fake woke screaming as he tore it free.

• Li Yan picked a flower over three hundred years old and endured its vitality-draining pain before his bloodline power pulled hot and cold currents from it into his body.
• Li Yan suspected the hot current had restored his lost lifespan, but he remained uncertain about the cold current and the flower’s altered properties.
• Li Yan decided to keep searching for old other shore flowers and tested them by making Monk Fake and another Dharma cultivator pick them.
• After three days, the group had collected five flowers, including two over three hundred years old and one over four hundred years old.
• When Monk Fake refused to pick another flower, Li Yan knocked him unconscious, pressed his hand to its stem, and pulled him backward as the flower came free.

Li Yan forced Monk Fako and the other two toward the River of Nether Oblivion, where they found another ancient Other Shore Flower. A water-ghost monster appeared and attacked him with a swarm of white worms, leaving Li Yan to fight back using the surrounding Ghost Brambles.

• Li Yan ordered Monk Fako and the other two to continue toward the River of Nether Oblivion, threatening to torment them if they refused.
• The trio led Li Yan deeper through ghost plants, where they found an Other Shore Flower over four hundred years old.
• Li Yan sensed danger and shoved Monk Fako and the other two away as a sinister wind swept through their former position.
• A bloated, waterlogged monster appeared and roared at Li Yan, launching white worms from its mouth.
• Li Yan dodged the worm attack and ripped two thick Ghost Brambles from the ground.

Li Yan fought off a water ghost near the Netherfall River, then seized a Flower of the Other Shore and escaped its pursuit. He caught up with Fa Ke and the two Dharma cultivators who had abandoned him, and warned them they would keep picking flowers next time.

• Li Yan hurled Ghost Thorns at the water ghost, then circled and peppered it with spinning thorns to disrupt its pursuit.
• Li Yan judged the water ghost to be around the Spirit Transformation Realm and watched Fa Ke and the two Dharma cultivators flee without helping him.
• Li Yan launched a volley of Ghost Thorns at the water ghost's head, grabbed the Flower of the Other Shore, and endured the pain as its vitality was drained.
• Li Yan evaded the water ghost's attack and sprinted away from the Netherfall River until its pursuit and sinister wind weakened.
• Li Yan caught up with Fa Ke and the two Dharma cultivators, knocked them down, and warned them to keep picking Flowers of the Other Shore next time.

Li Yan returned from gathering Otherworld Flowers with an extraordinary harvest, earning Fa Nan’s praise and an Extend Yang Pill. His success left Fa Ke and the others fearful of him, while the other prisoners understood Fa Nan was using the reward to encourage riskier expeditions.

• Fa Nan inspected the groups’ harvests, accepting one group’s three flowers and leaving another group’s trembling old leader kneeling after judging their two flowers too young.
• Li Yan stepped forward in place of Fa Ke and reported that their four-person group had gathered six Otherworld Flowers, including one over five hundred years old.
• The prisoners reacted with astonishment and speculation, while Fa Ke and the other two realized Li Yan had risked gathering flowers near the River of Nether Oblivion even as they fled a water ghost.
• Fa Nan praised Li Yan’s group for returning without casualties and awarded him an Extend Yang Pill that could add ten years to his lifespan.
• The prisoners recognized Fa Nan was rewarding Li Yan to encourage him and provoke others to take greater risks.

Li Yan returned from the Other Shore Flower mission with a Life-Extending Yang Pill and analyzed what he had learned about the flowers and the River of Netherfall. He suspected the river might connect to the Yang Realm, but he lacked proof and knew entering it could trap him forever.

• Li Yan took the Life-Extending Yang Pill from Fa Nan and hid it from the covetous cultivators before returning to his cell.
• Fa Nan had the people from two failed cells tortured, while Li Yan reviewed the mission and waited to see whether Monk Fa Ke would accuse him.
• Li Yan concluded that Other Shore Flowers stopped responding after absorbing a cultivator's lifespan and that their icy currents might strengthen his Undying Nether Phoenix bloodline.
• Li Yan connected the flowers' yin-yang power to the Nine Layers of Netherworld and wondered whether the River of Netherfall was linked to the River of Yellow Springs.
• Li Yan speculated that the River of Netherfall might lead to the Yang Realm, then restrained himself because the river's dangers and nature remained uncertain.

Li Yan realized he had to recover his cultivation and escape within months, while investigating whether the Flowers of the Other Shore could restore his body. Meanwhile, Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, and the surviving cultivators of the two sects learned that they had reached the road to the Netherworld and were being hunted for capture.

• Li Yan concluded that the icy power from the Flowers of the Other Shore might reshape his body, but he needed to recover his cultivation and escape within three months to avoid suspicion.
• Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, and the two sects’ cultivators fled after eight ghost cultivators attacked them, killing several of their group before poison forced the attackers to retreat.
• The survivors continued deeper into remote lands as ghost cultivators pursued them, losing more people and sensing powerful enemies nearby.
• Gong Chenying and the other leaders organized an ambush and captured several Nascent Soul ghost cultivators for interrogation.
• The captives’ Soul Search revealed that the group was near the Bridge of No Return, on the road to the Netherworld, and that Yellow Springs City’s ghost cultivators intended to capture them alive.

Gong Chenying and the others planned to fight their pursuers while hoping Li Yan had survived, as Li Yan remained imprisoned in the Netherworld and Fan Nan arranged to move him to another cell. Monk Faku returned to Li Yan, who beat him for asking Fan Nan to transfer him elsewhere.

• Gong Chenying urged the cultivators of the Extermination Sect and Phantom Sect to keep moving into the perilous lands, gather supplies from their pursuers, and survive until Li Yan could find them.
• A burly Extermination Sect cultivator ordered the group to prepare for battle and break through in several directions rather than risk capture.
• Monk Faku returned to the cell, where Li Yan stayed hidden in the darkness and the two Dharma cultivators watched in tense silence.
• Fan Nan tortured three cultivators who had plotted to escape, ordered their public punishment and eventual exile to the first level of Shura prison, and assigned Li Yan to their cell.
• Monk Faku admitted that he had asked Fan Nan to transfer him elsewhere, and Li Yan slapped him down and stamped on his face.

Li Yan was transferred from Monk Fake’s cell to a new one after Fake persuaded Lord Fan Nan to keep him for a mission in seven days. He subdued two suspicious cellmates, learned the cell was divided into factions, and went to inspect a third man whose lifespan was nearly exhausted.

• Li Yan was summoned away while the white-clothed hanged ghost reminded Monk Fake that his mission would begin in seven days and that two more people would be sent to him.
• The hanged ghost took Li Yan to a new cell containing three other cultivators, and Li Yan realized he had been reassigned instead of Fake.
• An old man and a thin young man confronted Li Yan, so he beat them down and questioned them.
• The old man told Li Yan that the three people being punished in the plaza had plotted to escape and suspected Monk Fake had reported them.
• Li Yan learned that the man lying in the darkness was near the end of his lifespan and went to look at him.

Li Yan discovered that the unconscious prisoner was Buluo, his former book attendant, and tried to save him despite his near-exhausted lifespan. After giving Buluo a Life-Extending Yang Pill and clothes taken from the cell’s old man, Li Yan left Buluo to awaken in the darkness.

• Li Yan cautiously approached the unconscious prisoner and ordered the yellow-haired youth to move him against the wall.
• Li Yan recognized Buluo beneath his hair and found that his lifespan was nearly exhausted.
• Li Yan beat the old man and yellow-haired youth, took the old man’s clothes and boots for Buluo, and warned them they would die before Buluo if he did.
• Li Yan gave Buluo the Life-Extending Yang Pill he had received from Fa Nan.
• Buluo wandered through a freezing darkness, then slowly opened his eyes as a voice called his name.

Li Yan found Bu Luo in a weakened, nearly mindless state and used a Yang-Extending Pill to rouse him. After confirming each other’s identities through a veiled reference to Tonggui Ridge, they agreed to endure the Netherworld together, while Bu Luo turned his hatred toward the two men by the stone door.

• The Yang-Extending Pill briefly awakened Bu Luo, and Li Yan tried to learn about his condition.
• Li Yan revealed his identity, and Bu Luo recognized his old friend and worried that he had entered the Netherworld too.
• Li Yan said he had arrived only a few days earlier and mentioned Qing Sixteen, prompting Bu Luo to answer with Tonggui Ridge as proof of his identity.
• Li Yan told Bu Luo to stay alive and said they had entered hell together, giving Bu Luo renewed reason to trust him.
• Li Yan told Bu Luo to join the gathering assignments in his supervisor’s outfit, and Bu Luo stared at the two captives with renewed hatred.

Li Yan reunited with Bu Luo in Shura prison and learned how Bu Luo had ascended, been captured, and lost his cultivation. After Bu Luo explained what he knew about the prison, Li Yan faced the problem of escaping with his dying, powerless companion.

• Li Yan knocked unconscious the old man and yellow-haired youth who had threatened Bu Luo, then asked Bu Luo how he had reached the Immortal-Spirit Realm.
• Bu Luo recounted forming his Nascent Soul, ascending to the Cangxuan Realm, and setting out to find Zuo Qiudan through the Pure Land Sect and Phantom Sect.
• A Spirit Transformation cultivator pursued Bu Luo to steal his tattered oilcloth treasure, driving him into a sea of black clouds where he was captured and sent to Shura prison.
• Bu Luo told Li Yan that he had lost his cultivation and had only a little over one hundred and thirty years of life remaining, prompting Li Yan to consider ways to extend it.
• Li Yan explained that a hidden passage had swept him directly into the prison, and Bu Luo described how prisoners exchanged information and were transferred between cells.

Li Yan reunited with Buluo in their prison cell, while Nether Emperor Yeluo ordered Fan Nan to keep Li Yan under close watch and manipulate his missions. On their next assignment, Fan Nan publicly made Li Yan a target by offering others the same reward, and Li Yan threatened his cellmates into leading him to Other Shore Flowers.

• Li Yan and Buluo discussed their past, and Buluo inferred that Fake and his companions had likely paid the price for Li Yan's Life-Prolonging Yang Pill.
• Nether Emperor Yeluo ordered Fan Nan to monitor Li Yan, keep him in Buluo's cell, and let him continue pretending to be near madness without exposing him.
• Li Yan spent several days conserving his strength while Buluo slept and the old man and yellow-haired young man feared his beatings.
• As the prisoners left for a mission, Fan Nan announced that cultivators who brought back enough Other Shore Flowers could receive a Life-Prolonging Yang Pill, drawing attention to Li Yan's previous success.
• Monk Fake watched Li Yan leave and took Fan Nan's actions as evidence that his plan to turn others against Li Yan was working.
• At the River of Netherfall, Li Yan demanded that the old man and yellow-haired young man find two Other Shore Flowers within a day and threatened to make them approach the river first if they hid any stockpiles.

Li Yan feared Fa Nan’s inspection had exposed his plans to restore his cultivation, so he questioned Buluo about the death restrictions and the Netherworld’s control over lifespan. After forcing the old man and the yellow-haired youth to harvest four Flowers of the Other Shore, Li Yan learned that the Book of Life and Death was supposedly kept in Fengdu City under the protection of the Yama Gods and True Immortals.

• Li Yan realized Fa Nan had monitored him and personally examined his body, making it too dangerous to restore his meridians or test the blood-colored death restriction.
• Li Yan forced the old man and the yellow-haired youth to harvest four Flowers of the Other Shore, extracting another hundred years of lifespan from them each time.
• Li Yan moved Buluo away from the nearly unconscious men and asked whether Fa Nan had placed death restrictions and shattered cultivators’ meridians.
• Buluo told Li Yan that all cultivators suffered the same restrictions and that Fa Nan rarely inspected bodies in person, though his Divine Sense could still observe them.
• Buluo explained that the Book of Life and Death was believed to be in Fengdu City, managed by the Yama Gods and supervised by True Immortals.
• Li Yan judged Buluo’s account credible and felt somewhat relieved that Netherworld officials could not freely inspect the living’s lifespans.