Chapter Summaries

Li Yan secretly triggered a restriction on the iron-chain bridge, making a monstrous condor appear ahead of Wang Lang and Quan Jiuxing’s group. As the group fought across the final mile, deadly corruption spread among the cultivators, killing more than twenty and leaving the cause unclear.

• Li Yan crossed the dark gate, triggered the restriction, and escaped into the light-band membrane as a monstrous condor struck behind him.
• Wang Lang and Quan Jiuxing sensed an unexpected disturbance ahead and slowed their advance, wary of a change in the trial.
• Wang Lang’s group entered the final mile as condors and golden thread-snakes destroyed the bridge planks and battered the Qi Condensation Realm cultivators.
• A monstrous condor wounded a Ten-Step Academy outer-sword cultivator and nearly killed an inner-sword cultivator before Wang Lang destroyed it with a sword radiance.
• Cultivators who touched the iron chains began dissolving into pus or burning into ash, and more than twenty people from Ten-Step Academy and the Grand Profound Sect died.

Li Yan poisoned the iron chains and disrupted the blue diamond crystals held by Wang Lang and Quan Jiuxing, triggering a catastrophe inside the passage. He escaped as the cultivators were trapped in a yellow sphere beneath the advancing black shadow, then left to find Senior Brother Baili and the others; Wang Lang and a few survivors remained inside as the sphere’s barrier began to ripple.

• Wang Lang and Quan Jiuxing discovered that poison on the iron chains had killed more than twenty cultivators, including many from Tai Xuan Sect.
• Li Yan used the chaos to send spiritual energy toward the blue diamond crystals, but Wang Lang and Quan Jiuxing sensed him and attacked.
• Li Yan’s spiritual energy entered the crystals and destabilized the five-element space, bringing a black shadow down on the cultivators before a yellow sphere enclosed them.
• Li Yan fled the light-band membrane, recovered briefly, and saw that all ten gates in the crystal had turned black, so he set out to find Senior Brother Baili and the others.
• Wang Lang was left wounded inside the sphere with three Ten-Step Academy cultivators, while Quan Jiuxing and most of the others lay dead and the black shadow pressed against the barrier.

Li Yan searched the five-colored space for Baili Yuan and the others while Gan Shi struggled to lead four wounded Wangliang Sect disciples across a haunted snowy ridge. Badly injured and nearly out of supplies, Gan Shi pressed on, hoping Baili and Junior Sister Gong would survive.

• Li Yan sensed several ribbons of light and flew toward the purple one, which was apart from the others.
• Gan Shi shielded his group from blood-red infant faces that rose from the snow as they trudged along the ridge.
• Gan Shi recalled how his group had survived the first two trials, then suffered heavy losses fighting Liang Liang and the Pure Land Sect in the third.
• Gan Shi killed Chan Master Zhiwei by luring him into a poisoned formation, but only six Wangliang Sect disciples survived, most of them gravely wounded.
• Gan Shi refused to abandon his injured juniors and continued toward the end of the ridge, resolving to make their enemies pay.

Li Yan reached the passage where Gan Shi and four disciples were struggling against the trial’s attacks, and stopped Gan Shi from taking a second Aging Vigor Pill. After Li Yan appeared, Gan Shi and the others remained unsure whether to trust him as they recognized him.

• Li Yan identified the fifth gate, then moved to the sixth gate after seeing that Gan Shi’s group faced a swarm of blood-red infant faces.
• Gan Shi prepared to take a second Aging Vigor Pill, knowing it could permanently damage his cultivation, while the disciples behind him tried to stop him.
• Li Yan opened the Light Gate and called out to Gan Shi, who caught the pill and retreated after sensing someone nearby.
• Li Yan emerged from the distorted space, and Gan Shi and the other disciples hesitated because his sudden appearance seemed suspicious.
• Zhu Gaotai recognized Li Yan, and Li Yan greeted him as Martial Nephew Zhu.

Li Yan found Gan Shi's injured group amid the attacks in the passage and explained how the three sects had allied using blue diamond crystals. After Gan Shi accepted his account, Li Yan supplied pills to help the group survive the remaining distance.

• Li Yan approached Gan Shi while helping defend against the passage's attacks, then relayed what he and Gong Chenying had learned about the sects' alliance.
• Gan Shi gradually trusted Li Yan after hearing his account and learning that the blue diamond crystal let Li Yan travel through the passage.
• Gan Shi explained that his group lacked healing pills and asked whether Li Yan could help them after they reached the ten-li mark.
• Li Yan gave Gan Shi several bottles of pills, including Spirit-Soaring Pills and Threefold Golden Body, which Gan Shi used to restore his strength and treat his leg.
• Gan Shi distributed pills to the others and prepared to press on toward the final three li.

Li Yan led Gan Shi’s group to the ten-mile mark, then used the crystal to enter another stage and briefly encountered Ten-Step Academy’s team. He left Miao Zhengyi wary of an unexplained appearance as the group reached the stage’s end.

• Li Yan reflected on his family’s hardships and resolved to raise his cultivation so he could return home.
• Li Yan and Gan Shi’s group fought their way to the ten-mile mark, where Gan Shi distributed medicine and began recovering.
• Li Yan vanished with the blue crystal and entered the white band of light, finding Ten-Step Academy’s team nearing the end of its flower-filled stage.
• Miao Zhengyi forced his exhausted disciples through the dangerous sea of flowers while guarding them from attacks and sleep-inducing fragrance.
• Li Yan briefly appeared near the yellow sphere and departed, but Miao Zhengyi noticed the anomaly and warned his disciples to stay alert.
• Miao Zhengyi’s team reached the yellow sphere without encountering the attack he expected, leaving him uneasy.

Li Yan and Gan Shi used poison and a concealed formation to ambush Ten-Step Academy’s group, killing several disciples and leaving Miao Zhengyi fatally poisoned. Miao Zhengyi died in the yellow sphere, and Gan Shi asked Li Yan what they should do next.

• Li Yan brought Gan Shi into the yellow sphere, where Gan Shi arranged a concealment formation around Li Yan’s ambush.
• Li Yan explained that he had poisoned Ten-Step Academy’s approaching group, while Gan Shi warned everyone not to cross the formation’s boundary.
• Miao Zhengyi attacked the sphere’s inner wall in a frenzy, and Zhu Gaotai recognized the poison Love in the Eyes affecting him.
• Gan Shi revealed himself to Miao Zhengyi, who sensed that the poisons killing his disciples had come from the same person.
• Li Yan appeared beside Gan Shi and questioned Miao Zhengyi about joining people from different paths; Miao Zhengyi then sat down and died.
• Gan Shi asked Li Yan what they should do next.

Li Yan and Gan Shi cleared the sphere by killing the remaining Ten-Step Academy cultivators, then emerged into a ruined battlefield that appeared to be the final stage. Li Yan planned to avoid fighting through it and use blue rhombus crystals to leave and find Baili Yuan or Gong Chenying, while making the injured companions wait in the Spirit Storage Pouch.

• Li Yan collected the Storage Pouches and spirit artifacts from the fallen cultivators, then gave Gan Shi Miao Zhengyi’s Spirit Storage Pouch.
• Gan Shi released six Ten-Step Academy cultivators from the pouch and killed them, causing a passage to appear in the sphere wall.
• Li Yan collected the six new Storage Pouches and led Gan Shi’s group through the passage into a ruined battlefield.
• Gan Shi prepared to place Zhu Gaotai and Kong Si in the Spirit Storage Pouch, but Li Yan also told Rui Feikai and Dai Jing to enter it.
• Li Yan explained that he planned to leave the stage using blue rhombus crystals and seek Baili Yuan or Gong Chenying, and Gan Shi agreed to send Rui Feikai and Dai Jing into the pouch first.

Li Yan tested the purple-core diamond crystal and escaped the battlefield to investigate its properties, then tried to show Gan Shi how to break through the barrier. Gan Shi was thrown back, leaving them uncertain whether five-element spiritual roots or the Five Elements Immortal Sect’s techniques were required to pass through.

• Rui Feikai and Dai Jing entered the spirit storage pouch to search for Martial Uncle Baili and Martial Uncle Gong's group.
• Zhu Gaotai and Kong Si discussed Li Yan’s skill and survival abilities before Rui Feikai and Dai Jing arrived.
• Li Yan turned Gan Shi’s blue diamond crystal purple, checked the life markers within it, and confirmed he could carry it outside the battlefield.
• After recovering for half a shichen, Li Yan directed Gan Shi toward a route through the barrier and warned him to prepare his defenses.
• Gan Shi attempted to break through without using a Ghost Chariot Talisman, but the barrier hurled him back.
• Li Yan and Gan Shi wondered whether only cultivators with five-element spiritual roots or Five Elements Immortal Sect techniques could pass through the barrier.

Li Yan discovered that he could escape the battlefield with the purple crystal and spirit storage bags by using his own green crystal separately, then helped Gan Shi leave as the battlefield collapsed. In the multicolored space, they searched for Baili, whom Gan Shi believed was still alive, while Li Yan worried about his Sixth Senior Sister.

• Li Yan tested the barrier with Gan Shi’s purple crystal and a spirit storage bag, confirming that they could not pass through together.
• Li Yan used his green crystal to leave the battlefield with the spirit storage bags, then replenished Gan Shi’s purple crystal so Gan Shi could escape last.
• The battlefield cracked apart and collapsed after Li Yan and Gan Shi departed.
• Li Yan and Gan Shi found themselves on a purple light band that began to fade, and Gan Shi sensed another purple band nearby.
• Li Yan judged that the nearby purple band might be Baili’s, and Gan Shi hurried off with Li Yan to find him.
• Li Yan worried that his Sixth Senior Sister might still be in danger and recalled Quan Jiuxing’s warning about having three high-level cultivators inside the sphere.

Li Yan learned that a lightning strike had sent Baili Yuan’s group to the passage’s beginning and erased the Tai Xuan Sect cultivators, then set out alone to find Gong Chenying. A massive vortex appeared and dragged him toward it, where he saw two purple ribbons merge before losing consciousness.

• Gan Shi and Li Yan joined Baili Yuan’s group, where Baili Yuan explained that lightning had transported them to the current stage after the Tai Xuan Sect group vanished.
• Li Yan gave Baili Yuan the green gourd and restored the Five Elements balance in Baili Yuan and Gan Shi’s blue diamond crystals.
• Li Yan rejected Baili Yuan’s offer to accompany him and left alone to search for Gong Chenying.
• A huge vortex appeared behind Li Yan and pulled him backward despite his efforts to resist.
• Li Yan saw two purple ribbons merge before the vortex, then lost consciousness.

Cultivators and sect elders waited outside the Wheel of Life and Death as only seven teams remained, while Zhao Min worried about Li Yan. Far away, three emaciated figures sensed a familiar aura and spoke of returning, hinting at a coming change.

• Zhao Min watched the remaining bands of light and thought that Li Yan would be safe with Sixth Senior Sister.
• Li Wuyi and Li Changting discussed Zhao Min’s growing closeness with Li Yan and her improving relationship with her Master.
• Elder Peng, Elder Yi, and Peak Master Li suspected the other three sects had plotted against them and considered retaliating against the Supreme Mystery Sect.
• The elders of the Supreme Mystery Sect, Ten-Step Academy, and Pure Land Sect expressed confidence in their disciples and secret killing weapons inside the Wheel of Life and Death.
• Three emaciated figures rode an enormous meteoroid through a deadly void, and one sensed a familiar aura ahead and spoke of returning.

Li Yan found himself trapped in a sealed chamber filled with pure golden spiritual energy, where an ancient presence recognized the aura of the Gui Water Immortal Sect and questioned him about Dong Fuyi and the Gui Water True Scripture. After confirming Li Yan’s identity and learning that his fellow disciples had survived, the presence appeared in human form and promised him a stroke of good fortune.

• Li Yan woke in a sealed room of dense golden spiritual energy and heard an unseen voice say he could not find the exit with his current abilities.
• The voice identified the place as the former Ji Earth Immortal Sect and recognized the Gui Water Immortal Sect’s aura in Li Yan.
• A gigantic face used its Divine Sense to probe Li Yan and compelled him to reveal that Dong Fuyi had taught him the Gui Water True Scripture.
• Li Yan learned how terrifyingly powerful the presence was, then explained that Dong Fuyi had found him after searching for two million years.
• The presence told Li Yan that his fellow disciples had suffered heavy losses but that the three minor Foundation Establishment cultivators were alive.
• The presence manifested as a middle-aged man and promised Li Yan a stroke of good fortune.

Ping Tu told Li Yan the history of the secret realm, explaining how True Lord Qianzhong created it while searching the Mortal Realm for a successor to the Ji Earth Immortal Sect. He revealed that Qianzhong never returned after leaving the realm, while his disciple Pei Buchong eventually departed with three drops of Ping Tu’s source power.

• Ping Tu explained that the secret realm had been created by True Lord Qianzhong as a place to cultivate and search for successors to the five Immortal Sects.
• Ping Tu described how Qianzhong’s informants sought mixed-spiritual-root children and other valuable clues, and how the Flowing Torrent Sect was massacred after finding Qianzhong’s future disciple.
• Ping Tu told Li Yan that Qianzhong had used the Five Elements Dao-Evil Bead to create the Wheel of Life and Death and temper his disciple, Pei Buchong.
• After Pei Buchong reached the Nascent Soul Realm, Qianzhong left the secret realm after receiving a jade slip and never returned.
• Pei Buchong later reached the Spirit Transformation Realm and left to search for Qianzhong, taking three of Ping Tu’s five accumulated drops of source power for protection.

Ping Tu recounted how his slaughter of the cultivators shattered and sealed the secret realm, then explained why Li Yan had awakened him. He offered Li Yan the Five Immortals Sect’s three promised gifts and advised him to save the breakthrough opportunity for later.

• After losing more source power, Ping Tu awakened to find cultivators had spread through the secret realm and were attacking his master's cave residence and the Wheel of Life and Death.
• Ping Tu destroyed the realm's ten exits and fought five Void Refinement cultivators, detonating a drop of source power that killed two and devastated most of the realm.
• When the survivors escaped into spatial rifts, Ping Tu sealed the rifts, preserved the remaining third of the realm, and fell into a deep slumber.
• Ping Tu explained that Li Yan's entry into the Wheel of Life and Death had resonated with the Five Elements Dao-Evil Bead and awakened him.
• Ping Tu told Li Yan that the Five Immortals Sect had arranged three gifts for a destined visitor: a future breakthrough, a supreme-grade spatial treasure, and a crystal that opened a passage into and out of the realm.
• Ping Tu advised Li Yan to save the breakthrough gift for a later stage and required him to swear by a Blood Word Curse to replace the spatial treasure after reaching the Integrated Body Middle Stage.

Li Yan accepted Ping Tu’s conditions and signed an ancient blood contract to obtain Tuban, a top-grade storage treasure that could also shelter him in a secret realm. He stored his belongings inside it and received an ancient formation crystal, leaving with treasures whose powers he hoped to explore as his cultivation advanced.

• Li Yan chose to save his advancement opportunity for a later breakthrough, then asked Ping Tu about the contract and Tuban’s limits.
• Ping Tu explained that Tuban would return after five thousand years or Li Yan’s death, and that breaking the blood contract would bring inner demons; Li Yan then signed the oath with his essence blood.
• Ping Tu gave Li Yan Tuban, and Li Yan linked it to his Divine Sense, shaped it into a birthmark on his wrist, and transferred items into its spacious inner world.
• Li Yan planned to conceal Tuban and sell his spare Storage Pouches so no one would discover his treasure.
• Ping Tu gave Li Yan a soybean-sized diamond crystal engraved with an ancient formation, and Li Yan placed it inside Tuban.

Li Yan learned that the blue crystals had to remain in the Wheel of Life and Death and received Ping Tu’s guidance on the rare materials needed for his lifebound Guiyi Water-Parting Spike. Ping Tu warned that Li Yan’s team was in danger, while Gong Chenying’s fight against Demon Beasts ended with her gravely wounded.

• Ping Tu told Li Yan that the blue crystals sustained the Wheel of Life and Death and could not be taken away or absorbed freely.
• Li Yan asked where to find an Endless Roaming tree, and Ping Tu said one might grow near the Northern Abyss Sea or Mingqin Lake and described the dangers of seeking it.
• Ping Tu gave Li Yan a jade slip detailing the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike’s required materials, their sources, and nearby Demon Beasts and plants.
• Ping Tu asked whether Li Yan would wait in the secret realm or join the final stage, warning that his team was in dire circumstances.
• Gong Chenying and the Wangliang Sect fought five Demon Beasts inside the yellow sphere, using poisons to weaken and kill them.
• The longhorn beetle leader traded its life for a final lance thrust into Gong Chenying’s lower abdomen, leaving her gravely wounded.

After the Wheel of Life and Death abruptly changed its rules, Gong Chenying and the other surviving teams were transported into a vast realm and ordered to reach a central sphere. As the teams set out, immense black shadows gathered behind them and drove everyone toward the center.

• Gong Chenying's team emerged from the previous stage badly wounded, with only six people still able to fight.
• An aged voice announced that teams could fight one another freely and that reaching the central sphere would complete the trial.
• Wang Lang, Qiu Jiuzhen, and Baili Yuan each heard the announcement and began considering how to reach the center.
• Gong Chenying spotted the metallic sphere atop a distant mountain and discovered that powerful black vapor was gathering nearby.
• Gong Chenying ordered Mei Bucai and the others to flee toward the hollow's exit as the black shadows spread across the realm and drove the teams toward the center.

Gong Chenying stayed behind to delay Wang Lang while Mei Bucai and the others escaped toward the center. After Wang Lang broke through her formation and pursued her, Baili Yuan's and Qiu Jiuzhen's groups met, with Qiu Jiuzhen harrying Baili Yuan to stop him from reaching the battle.

• Gong Chenying detected Wang Lang's squad approaching and ordered Mei Bucai and the others to flee while she stayed behind to intercept them.
• Gong Chenying drove Mei Bucai's group away, gave them a spirit storage bag, and set out to trap Wang Lang with formations.
• Wang Lang entered the formation, where Gong Chenying's traps killed the three Qi Condensation Realm cultivators accompanying him.
• Wang Lang shattered the formation and pursued the injured Gong Chenying, vowing to hunt down Mei Bucai's group afterward.
• Baili Yuan's group and Qiu Jiuzhen's group encountered each other as they headed toward Wang Lang, and Qiu Jiuzhen harassed Baili Yuan to prevent his advance.

Li Yan received two precious True Essence Pills from Ping Tu and was sent to the final trial to find his injured Senior Sister. There, Gong Chenying fought Wang Lang while retreating toward the black qi, and their battle continued with her close to being overwhelmed.

• Li Yan learned that Gong Chenying was badly injured, and Ping Tu gave him two True Essence Pills before explaining how to reach the final trial.
• Ping Tu warned Li Yan not to use the round diamond crystal to leave the secret realm and sent him directly to the final trial.
• Gong Chenying fled from Wang Lang, who pursued her despite his own injuries, and she led him toward the advancing black qi.
• Wang Lang continued attacking Gong Chenying near the black qi, and she sent four azure monstrous insects against his flying swords and himself.
• Wang Lang drew a cold-radiating sword and struck as two explosions erupted; Gong Chenying coughed blood and retreated with the black shadows close behind her.