Chapter Summaries

Gong Chenying and Wang Lang’s clash left both badly wounded, and Li Yan saved Gong Chenying from the deadly black shadow at great cost to himself. Li Yan discovered that the Gui Water True Scripture had eased his injuries, then carried the barely conscious Gong Chenying away while Wang Lang could only watch.

• Wang Lang renewed his attack on Gong Chenying with his flying swords, while Gong Chenying fought back using her physical strength and the azure long ge.
• Their clash broke the azure long ge and sent Gong Chenying hurtling toward the black shadow, where Li Yan caught her and took the shadow’s corrosive force on his back.
• Li Yan pushed Gong Chenying away from the shadow and struck the ground with his right fist, then used the Gui Water True Scripture to ease his pain and found his arm intact.
• Wang Lang recovered enough to suppress his bleeding and take pills, but Li Yan carried Gong Chenying away without trying to fight him.
• Li Yan examined his injuries as he fled and realized Gong Chenying’s condition was critical, so he sought a safe place to treat her.

Li Yan hid the gravely injured Gong Chenying in a concealed cave and assessed how little time they had before Wang Lang could recover. He overcame his hesitation and used a rare eighth-grade True Essence Pill to treat her, leaving the pill struggling against his control.

• Li Yan found a small cave, carried Gong Chenying inside, and used Lin Daqiao's formation flags to conceal the entrance.
• Li Yan calculated that he had less than half an incense stick to treat Gong Chenying before returning outside became dangerous.
• Li Yan disarmed Gong Chenying and removed her clothes to reach her reopened abdominal wound, then discovered her shattered organs and unstable Purple Mansion.
• Li Yan hesitated over using one of his precious True Essence Pills but decided to save Gong Chenying rather than keep it for himself.
• Li Yan took out a mid-stage eighth-grade True Essence Pill, which resisted his spiritual power as he began to administer it.

Li Yan used half of an eighth-grade pill to save the gravely wounded Gong Chenying, who dreamed of a painful childhood trial before waking. She discovered that Li Yan had seen her while treating her, and confronted him about it.

• Li Yan split the eighth-grade pill and placed one half in Gong Chenying’s wound and the other in her mouth.
• Gong Chenying dreamed of reaching into a venomous-creature-filled urn while her father and elders watched, then felt the pill’s heat and cooling effects.
• Gong Chenying woke in a cave and tried to defend herself before recognizing Li Yan.
• Li Yan apologized for his impropriety and turned away while Gong Chenying covered herself and checked that she was unharmed.
• Gong Chenying found her injuries nearly healed and realized Li Yan had seen her while treating her.
• Gong Chenying told Li Yan, “Little Junior Brother, you saw.”

Li Yan tried to explain that he had only treated Gong Chenying's wound, while she pressed him about what he had seen. As he left the cave, Li Yan realized Gong Chenying seemed ready to die there and blurted out that he had seen her ring, prompting her to ask if he had seen her navel ring.

• Li Yan told Gong Chenying that he had used an unknown pill from the five-colored space to heal her, and she lamented that the rare pill had been wasted.
• Li Yan urged Gong Chenying to leave before Wang Lang found them, but she repeatedly asked what he had seen while treating her wound.
• Li Yan admitted that he had removed her upper-body undergarment to bandage her, while insisting he had touched nothing else.
• Gong Chenying told Li Yan to go ahead while she recovered, and he left the cave believing she did not want to travel with him.
• Li Yan recognized Gong Chenying's despair as an intent to die, remembered her silver ring, and blurted out that he had seen it.
• Gong Chenying opened her eyes and asked Li Yan hoarsely whether he had seen her navel ring.

Li Yan learned that seeing Gong Chenying’s navel ring bound her by Tianli Clan custom to marry him, and he acknowledged what he had seen. Gong Chenying agreed to accompany him home after he reached Foundation Establishment, while privately resolving to pursue her own goals and reconsider her place if Li Yan and Zhao Min loved each other.

• Li Yan confirmed that he had seen Gong Chenying’s navel ring, and she took him from the cave on a white jade boat.
• Gong Chenying explained that she came from the Tianli Clan, whose customs required her to marry the unrelated man who first saw her navel ring if he acknowledged it.
• Li Yan considered the consequences of refusing and chose to tell Gong Chenying he had seen the ring, offering to take her home when he reached Foundation Establishment.
• Gong Chenying agreed to go with Li Yan and privately resolved to reach the late Golden Core Realm before deciding what to do about her feelings and Zhao Min.

Mei Bucai and five surviving disciples evaded the battles until Gan Shi discovered them and raced to their aid. As Bai Liyuan’s group regrouped with the survivors, Qiu Jiuzhen realized that unfamiliar forces had entered the region and feared the Tai Xuan Sect’s other teams had been lost.

• Mei Bucai led five disciples cautiously through the fighting, but Gan Shi detected them with his Divine Sense.
• Gan Shi followed a faint Divine Sense ripple to Mei Bucai’s group, and Bai Liyuan left Qiu Jiuzhen to pursue him.
• Gan Shi’s Divine Sense caught Mei Bucai and the others again, and they recognized his voice and celebrated their rescue.
• Gan Shi told Bai Liyuan that only six disciples remained, Gong Chenying was absent, and Li Yan was not among them; Bai Liyuan ordered his disciples to hurry ahead while he guarded the rear.
• Bai Liyuan unleashed his formidable aura, prompting nearby Divine Senses to turn away, while Qiu Jiuzhen realized unfamiliar forces were present and feared for the Tai Xuan Sect’s other teams.

Gan Shi reunited with Mei Bucai and learned that Gong Chenying had stayed behind, so he and Baili Yuan led the disciples to search for her. As Wang Lang found Li Yan and Gong Chenying aboard a flying boat, Gong Chenying sensed his Divine Sense and opened her eyes.

• Gan Shi reached Mei Bucai and the others, who lowered their poisonous mist after verifying his token.
• Mei Bucai told Gan Shi that Gong Chenying had stayed behind to cover their escape after Wang Lang seriously wounded her.
• Gan Shi and Baili Yuan led the disciples back toward the battlefield, but found only traces of the fight and no sign of Gong Chenying or Wang Lang.
• Wang Lang pursued Li Yan, discovered his flying boat traveling along the black shadow, and hesitated when Gong Chenying's aura appeared to be recovering.
• Gong Chenying sensed Wang Lang's Divine Sense sweep over the boat, recognized it, and opened her eyes.

Li Yan realized the North Sea Shadowwater could not harm him while the Gui Water True Scripture was circulating, and he used that discovery to stage a deception for Wang Lang. Gong Chen Ying escaped the black shadow after Li Yan fell into it, but Wang Lang caught up and attacked her with his Moon Becomes Shadow Cup.

• Li Yan reasoned that the Gui Water True Scripture had protected him from the North Sea Shadowwater, then secretly approached the shadow with the white jade skiff.
• Li Yan and Gong Chen Ying pretended to quarrel and lose control of the skiff, convincing Wang Lang that they were about to crash into the black shadow.
• Gong Chen Ying struck Li Yan into the black tide, then took control of the skiff and sped toward the center while Wang Lang pursued her.
• Wang Lang caught up with the injured Gong Chen Ying and confronted her as she held her broken ge.
• Gong Chen Ying attacked from above, but Wang Lang countered with his enlarged sword and released the time-wielding tea from his Moon Becomes Shadow Cup.

Gong Chenying turned the fight against Wang Lang with a surprise counterattack, and Li Yan struck him from the black shadow, forcing him to flee. Li Yan reappeared injured and naked, leaving Gong Chenying flustered before they boarded the skiff and headed toward the region's center.

• Gong Chenying used a Ghost Chariot Talisman to fend off Wang Lang's tea attack, then countered his sword strike and drove him back with her broken halberds.
• A hidden weapon shot out from the black shadow and pierced Wang Lang's back, letting Gong Chenying wound his shoulder as he staggered.
• Wang Lang swallowed a red object, his aura surged, and he fled while the weapon embedded in his back was knocked into the black shadow.
• Li Yan emerged from the black shadow injured and naked, and Gong Chenying turned away in embarrassment while he asked for his Storage Pouches.
• After Li Yan dressed and assured Gong Chenying that his injuries were minor, they boarded the white jade skiff and flew toward the region's center.

Li Yan and Gong Chenying’s ambush drove Wang Lang to flee after he took a life-burning Foundation-Borrowing Pill to survive Li Yan’s poisoned sword. As Wang Lang raced toward the secret realm’s center, the poison continued corroding him and he struggled to stay alive long enough to report his suspicions about the Phantom Sect.

• Li Yan recalled how he and Gong Chenying had tricked Wang Lang into approaching the black shadow, where Li Yan emerged to stab him with a poisoned sword.
• Gong Chenying misunderstood Li Yan’s glances and sinister smile, believing they reflected romantic interest and remembering his earlier gaze at her.
• Wang Lang swallowed a Foundation-Borrowing Pill that burned his life to protect him from harm, and his body rapidly aged.
• Wang Lang recognized the sword as Miao Zhengyi’s and suspected that the Phantom Sect had discovered secrets of the realm unknown to the other sects.
• Wang Lang fled toward the center to report his suspicions, but the poison kept corroding his body despite the pill’s protection.

Li Yan and Gong Chenying headed toward the central region while searching for their missing companions. At the metal sphere, Baili Yuan and Gan Shi outmaneuvered two Demon Cultivator groups and claimed one of the three positions, leaving Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wu'an to contest the last one.

• Li Yan and Gong Chenying flew toward the center, confirmed their companions were still alive, and continued searching for them.
• Baili Yuan and Gan Shi led the Wangliang Sect disciples to the central platform, where the Golden Flame Sacred Lions and Azure Crystal Centipedes were fighting.
• Baili Yuan charged into the demons’ partial encirclement and used formations and poisonous miasma to block their path to the arch.
• Baili Yuan’s group slipped through the arch into the metal sphere, where they used one of the three position discs before the demons broke through the formations.
• Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wu'an found only the lowest disc still available and turned on each other over who would claim it.

Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wuan filled the third rotating disc with their Demon Beasts and used a blue crystal to transport everyone away, while Gan Shi’s group explored a treasure chamber. Qiu Jiuzhen arrived at the empty platform searching for Quan Jiuxing, but a transparent bubble carried her and her disciples through the archway.

• Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wuan agreed to board the third rotating disc together, alternate their clansmen onto it, and divide any treasures they found equally.
• Jin Chuiyan inserted a blue diamond-shaped crystal into the disc, transporting him, Wu Wuan, and all the Demon Beasts away as Wu Wuan’s crystal crumbled in his Storage Pouch.
• Gan Shi inspected rare medicinal plants, Pills, jade slips, and magic treasures in a secret chamber, while regretting that he and Baili Yuan had only two crystals for the three discs.
• The platform outside the metal sphere reset, erasing the evidence of the battle between Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wuan.
• Qiu Jiuzhen arrived with eight Supreme Profound Sect disciples, found no sign of Quan Jiuxing, and was carried with her companions through the archway inside a transparent bubble.

Gong Chenying and Li Yan reached the metallic sphere at the center of the Life-and-Death Wheel and were carried inside by a strange bubble. There they found nine Taixuan Sect cultivators trapped in another bubble, while the three platforms suggested the first three places had already been claimed.

• Gong Chenying worried over the powerful medicinal energy remaining in her body and reflected on Li Yan giving her the pill.
• Li Yan and Gong Chenying reached the mountaintop platform, where a bubble suddenly enclosed them and carried them through the arched door.
• Gong Chenying used her last Ghost Chariot Talisman to protect Li Yan as they were swept into the metallic sphere.
• Inside the sphere, they encountered nine Taixuan Sect cultivators, including Qiu Jiuzhen, trapped in a separate bubble.
• Gong Chenying tested the bubble and confirmed it repelled her spiritual power, while Li Yan concluded the first three spots had already been taken.

Li Yan and Gong Chenying waited in the final safety bubble as the missing blue crystals left them unable to help their allies. Wang Lang arrived gravely wounded and aged by a poison or other vicious method, and the bubbles then transported their occupants away while the people outside the Wheel of Life and Death watched the sphere behave strangely.

• Gong Chenying discovered her blue rhombus crystal had vanished, and Li Yan told her his two crystals were gone as well.
• An unconscious, severely wounded old man arrived in another bubble, and Gong Chenying and Li Yan recognized him as Wang Lang.
• Qiu Jiuzhen identified Wang Lang and feared his injuries and gray, deathly skin would prove fatal without treatment.
• The three bubbles rose and sped into a five-colored space as the metal sphere shook violently.
• Outside the Wheel of Life and Death, the remaining bands of light vanished and a vast radiance illuminated the spherical mountain’s forests.

The sect elders watched the Life-and-Death Wheel produce an unprecedented change as its contestants emerged, and Li Yan reached the spherical mountain alongside Gong Chenying. After Li Yan pointed out the suspicious wounds on Wang Lang, Qiu Jiuzhen tried to approach him, but Sword King Xia Chi stopped her and a Grand Mystery Sect elder intervened.

• Elder Peng and the other observers debated the strange changes in the Life-and-Death Wheel, while Sword King Xia Hua worried that Wang Lang and the others had met with disaster.
• Li Wuyi agreed to take Li Changting and Zhao Min for insect wine, and Wei Chi Tuo asked to join them.
• Li Yan and Gong Chenying emerged onto the spherical mountain as the other contestants appeared, including unconscious Wang Lang.
• Li Yan quietly pointed out that Wang Lang’s wounds looked like cuts from a blade, and Gong Chenying agreed that their direction did not match a Demon Cultivator’s claw attack.
• Qiu Jiuzhen rushed toward Wang Lang, but Sword King Xia Chi blocked her and warned her to move aside.
• A Grand Mystery Sect elder appeared behind Qiu Jiuzhen, dispelled Xia Chi’s pressure, and challenged him for bullying a junior.

Qiu Jiuzhen’s suspicion that Quan Jiuxing’s Scarlet Gold Wheel had wounded Wang Lang nearly sparked a confrontation between the Supreme Mysticism Sect and Ten-Step Academy. After the other sects urged restraint, Xiachi took Wang Lang away, while Hangzhi led Qiu Jiuzhen and the disciples back, leaving Qiu Jiuzhen grieving and angry at Ten-Step Academy.

• Qiu Jiuzhen told Hangzhi that Wang Lang’s chest wound resembled Quan Jiuxing’s Scarlet Gold Wheel attack, though she had not encountered Quan Jiuxing during the trial.
• Hangzhi and Xiachi argued over Wang Lang’s injuries, and both sects grew suspicious of each other as the surrounding cultivators watched.
• Elder Peng, Yin Congfeng, Yan Motian, and Buddha Yisong warned against turning the trial’s violence into a confrontation outside it.
• Sword King Xiahua advised Xiachi to let Hangzhi examine Wang Lang, while Li Yan realized that his remarks had helped sow discord between the sects.
• Hangzhi examined Wang Lang’s wound, and Xiachi carried him away without resolving what had happened.
• Hangzhi took Qiu Jiuzhen and the eight disciples back, while Qiu Jiuzhen continued to glare at Ten-Step Academy in grief and indignation.

Gong Chenying and Li Yan returned to the Wangliang Sect and recounted how Li Yan had uncovered the other sects’ plot and killed several of their cultivators in the Wheel of Life and Death. The elders were astonished by his exploits and questioned him about how he had escaped the trials and wounded Wang Lang.

• Gong Chenying and Li Yan flew to the Wangliang Sect peak, where Zhao Min, Li Wuyi, Li Changting, and the elders awaited them.
• Elder Peng raised a barrier, and Gong Chenying described their trials, Li Yan’s poisonings, his discoveries, and the attack on Wang Lang.
• Li Yuyin used her alluring spell on Li Yan, but he recovered quickly and retreated warily.
• At Elder Peng’s request, Li Yan explained how he found Gan Shi and Baili Yuan, returned to the trials, and helped devise a plan to wound Wang Lang.
• Li Yan described how his spiritual roots disrupted the five-element balance and recounted his encounters with Wang Lang and Quan Jiuxing, leaving the elders alarmed by the number of enemies he had killed.

Li Yan recounted how he saved Gong Chenying from the deadly black shadow, and Elder Peng ordered them to keep several dangerous secrets quiet. As the group awaited the next contestants, Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wuan emerged with their Demon Cultivator teams, confirming that Baili Yuan and Gan Shi were still alive and provoking the Phantom Sect.

• Elder Peng told Li Yan and Gong Chenying not to spread the secret about the Wheel of Life and Death or the deaths of Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Li Yan explained that he had entered the deadly black shadow while saving Gong Chenying and escaped by striking the ground, while Gong Chenying confirmed his clothes and skin had been corroded away.
• Li Yan said his Fragmented Poison Body had moved through him and eased the pain from the shadow, prompting Elder Yi and the others to focus on his unusual constitution.
• Five-colored light interrupted the elders as Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wuan emerged with their Demon Cultivator teams.
• Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wuan challenged Baili Yuan and Gan Shi before leaving, and the Phantom Sect realized their words suggested both men were alive.

Gan Shi, Baili Yuan, and the surviving Phantom Sect disciples emerged from the Wheel of Life and Death, while Li Yan reunited with companions who treated him with unexpected respect. The sect elders kept the truth about Li Yan’s role in the trials secret as the other factions questioned their returning disciples and watched the Phantom Sect.

• Gan Shi and Baili Yuan emerged from five-colored light with their teams and flew to the Phantom Sect’s mountain.
• Mei Bucai and five companions hurried to Gong Chenying and presented the spirit-storage pouch containing eight wounded survivors; Gan Shi then released ten more wounded disciples.
• Mei Bucai’s group and Baili Yuan’s disciples bowed to Li Yan and thanked him, astonishing the Phantom Sect cultivators.
• A Laojun Peak elder used Divine Sense to tell the returning disciples not to discuss what had happened with Li Yan.
• The returning disciples gave vague accounts of Li Yan’s help in the trials, while the other factions grew grim and the Phantom Sect elders kept the truth concealed.

After the trial, Phantom Sect claimed the top two rewards while the other sects accused one another over their losses and Wang Lang’s mysterious poison. As the three human sects prepared to turn on Phantom Sect, Elder Peng summoned the Demon Cultivators into a sealed barrier, promising to reveal something that concerned them all.

• Yin Congfeng and Lin Mingyu taunted Phantom Sect over winning the top two places, while Elder Yi reminded them that they had to accept the bet’s outcome.
• Yan Motian’s cold snort made Jin Chuiyan and Wu Wu'an spit blood, and Master Yisong and Sword King Xia Hua demanded an antidote for their sects’ losses and Wang Lang’s poison.
• Gong Chenying denied knowing what had poisoned Wang Lang, while Qiu Jiuzhen’s vague testimony led Xia Hua to stop questioning her.
• The three sects grew furious at their heavy losses and began considering a joint attack on Phantom Sect, but Elder Peng invited Yin Congfeng, Yan Motian, and Lin Mingyu to speak privately.
• Elder Yi raised a barrier around the Phantom Sect elders and the three Demon Cultivators, and Elder Peng said his news would affect them all.