Chapter Summaries

Li Yan lay imprisoned in the Netherworld, worrying about Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, and the others while testing his injured body and sealed powers. He realized the warden might not have searched his memories, leaving his sect’s secrets protected as he tried to understand why he had been kept alive.

• Li Yan worried that Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, and the other two might have fallen into the Netherworld, then sensed that the Heart-Twining Twin Gu remained dormant.
• Li Yan tried to circulate his soul power, but the Blood-Red Death Seal triggered agony and left him unable to use it.
• Li Yan assessed his condition and found that his meridians and cultivations were sealed or crippled, while his bodily strength had fallen to about ten percent.
• Li Yan reconsidered Fan Nan’s words and concluded that the warden might have judged his soul’s strength without discovering his secrets through Soul Search.
• Li Yan remembered that Shi Ligui had sealed his secret memories and reasoned that the Netherworld’s dangers might explain why the warden had kept him alive.

Li Yan endured the pain of his shattered meridians and sealed powers while imprisoned in the Netherworld, gradually calming himself and reasoning out why his captors had kept him alive. He concluded that he would be taken from the temporary cell in three days and prepared to learn more about the Netherworld and seek a way to survive.

• Li Yan repeatedly tried to sense his sealed powers and touch the prison bars, but the resulting pain and restrictions left him vomiting blood and unconscious.
• Fan Nan secretly watched Li Yan and revealed that the higher-ups wanted to wring value from him, likely by making him produce Other Shore Flowers.
• After waking in agony, Li Yan stopped testing his powers because he feared Min'er would be implicated, then endured the pain until he could think clearly again.
• Over the next day, Li Yan reasoned that his captors would move him in three days and that he might have to fight other prisoners under limits on their strength.
• Li Yan examined his cell and realized his storage and spirit-storage rings had all been taken, though he still had his Tuban.

Li Yan was escorted from his prison by Fan Nan to witness the Netherworld’s punishments. He saw prisoners tortured in boiling oil and on blade ladders, while Fan Nan warned him that refusing to work or seeking death would bring worse suffering.

• Li Yan recovered from his ordeal, kept Tuban’s existence hidden, and prepared himself when Fan Nan arrived with two white-clothed hanging ghosts.
• Fan Nan opened Li Yan’s cage and led him out of the underground prison to a courtyard enclosed by black stone buildings and guarded by a formation.
• Fan Nan explained that the Netherworld punished prisoners who refused to work or committed suicide, and said Li Yan had been brought to observe the ceremony.
• Li Yan watched ox-headed ghosts repeatedly plunge a demonic beast and a cultivator into boiling oil.
• Li Yan saw horse-headed ghosts lash prisoners on ladders fitted with upright blades that disappeared into the clouds.

Li Yan saw the punishments of the Netherworld and the imprisoned cultivators before Fa Nan brought him to a cell. He entered the cell of Monk Fa Ke, whose excitement at gaining a newcomer suggested that Li Yan would be assigned to his team.

• Li Yan watched souls repeatedly dismembered on a mountain of blades and a human and demon tormented in a cauldron of oil.
• Fa Nan led Li Yan past stone cells where imprisoned human and demon cultivators reacted with fear, while some begged to have Li Yan assigned to them.
• Fa Nan stopped at a sparsely occupied cell after its inmates welcomed Li Yan and nearby prisoners cursed Monk Fa Ke.
• Fa Nan opened the cell, warned Li Yan against escaping, and told him to work until death before his soul could reincarnate.
• Li Yan entered and faced the gaunt, bald Monk Fa Ke, who looked at him with ferocity and excitement.

Li Yan entered the first level of Shura prison and overpowered Monk Fa Ke and his two subordinates, forcing them to answer his questions. He learned that the prison was part of the Netherworld and that its warden was a Netherworld King, while his hopes of finding an easy way out faded.

• Fan Nan assigned Li Yan to Monk Fa Ke and warned that he expected equal value from the Void Refinement cultivator.
• Monk Fa Ke demanded obedience and questioned Li Yan, but Li Yan asked him about the prison instead.
• Monk Fa Ke attacked Li Yan, who defeated him and his two subordinates and tortured them into answering questions truthfully.
• Li Yan reasoned that he had needed to establish strength under the prison's law of the jungle, despite risking Fan Nan's attention.
• Li Yan learned that the prison was the first level of Shura prison in the Netherworld, ruled by a Yama God, and that its warden was a Netherworld King.

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.