Chapter Summaries

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.

Li Yan questioned Buluo about Yellow Springs City, the wardens of Asura Prison, and possible escape routes, learning that powerful Nether Emperors controlled the prison and its interrealm teleportation array. A month later, he remained trapped in his cell, while the old man and yellow-haired young man had failed to reach Fan Nan and grew more fearful as their lifespans dwindled.

• Buluo explained that Yellow Springs City connected the living world, Fengdu City, and Asura Prison, and Li Yan concluded Zhao Min's group might be surviving there alongside Chu Yinghong and her poison cultivators.
• Buluo identified Nether Emperor Yeluo as the first level's warden and described Fan Nan and Deputy Jailor Chihan as Nether Kings, with additional Nether Kings guarding the prison.
• Buluo said the interrealm teleportation array was controlled by a Nether Emperor and described the uncertain Yellow Springs Road and Netherfall River as other possible escape routes.
• Li Yan suspected Fan Nan had examined him to warn him against escaping and realized other cultivators had already considered whether the Flowers of the Other Shore and Netherfall River could lead out.
• After a month in the cell, the old man and yellow-haired young man returned from failed attempts to speak with Fan Nan, while their lifespans continued to diminish.

Li Yan spent weeks trying to find a way to survive Fanan’s inspections as his two captive helpers weakened and his own strength declined. He finally chose to test a dangerous theory near the River of Netherfall, risking death in search of a chance to recover his combat strength.

• Li Yan continued sending the old man and the yellow-haired youth to gather Flowers of the Other Shore while keeping Buluo safe at the edge of the distorted space.
• Li Yan studied the prison and Fanan’s inspection habits, realizing the two men might survive only another five or six months and that Fanan would likely inspect him more often once they died.
• Li Yan took the old man and the yellow-haired youth to a remote patch of Flowers of the Other Shore, collected three flowers, and left the pair resting among the Ghost Thorns.
• Li Yan headed deeper through the Ghost Thorns toward the River of Netherfall to test whether the thorns could help him evade the river monsters.
• Li Yan decided to risk his life at the river, hoping to recover his combat strength and escape Fanan’s control.

Li Yan risked approaching the River of Netherfall to test whether its water could restore his body, using a Ghost Bramble to ward off the river’s bizarre monsters. He reached the Otherworld Flowers but was confronted by a red-clothed ghost, leaving him frozen and uncertain whether his disguise would protect him.

• Li Yan concluded that the River of Netherfall might contain the boundary power he needed and hurried toward it despite the danger.
• Near the riverbank, Li Yan stopped at the end of the Ghost Brambles and spotted a vast field of Otherworld Flowers beyond them.
• Li Yan uprooted a tall Ghost Bramble, but the noise drew numerous bizarre monsters into the flowers, so he waited behind the bramble.
• After the monsters vanished, Li Yan used the Ghost Bramble to creep toward the river, hoping it would keep the creatures away.
• A red-clothed woman appeared beside Li Yan and pressed her face and snake-like nostrils against the Ghost Bramble before suddenly vanishing.

Li Yan cautiously tested the Netherfall River and discovered that contact with its water caused a Ghost Thorn branch to grow eyes and the Other Shore Flower to draw on his life force. He survived the flower’s sudden transformation, but the river’s effects remained dangerous and unexplained.

• Li Yan reached the riverbank and watched faces struggle in the dark green water as he prepared to test it.
• Li Yan lowered Ghost Thorn branches into the river, then found them covered with blinking eyes when he raised them out.
• Li Yan used an Other Shore Flower to test the water, and its contact caused intense pain that nearly made him fall into the river.
• The Undying Nether Phoenix bloodline eased Li Yan’s agony, but the flower drew power from him and contracted around a mass of river water.
• Li Yan withdrew his arm immediately as the transformed flower bud continued struggling with water seeping over its surface.

Li Yan survived the Netherfall River’s lifespan-draining power and hid the altered Flower of the Other Shore to study later, though his investigation cost him more than two hundred years of life. Elsewhere, Gong Chen Ying, Zhao Min, Bai Rou, and six Nascent Soul cultivators struggled through a harsh region, uncertain how far they were from Yellow Springs City.

• Li Yan discovered that contact with the Netherfall River had greatly increased the Flower of the Other Shore’s power to drain lifespan, and he tested the river with gray grass that vanished where it had been submerged.
• Li Yan carried the closed flower away from the river, losing more of his lifespan before his Undying Nether Phoenix bloodline power could contain its extraction.
• Li Yan concluded that entering the Netherfall River would mean certain death and suspected the flower had sealed in river water while reaching a balance between yin and yang.
• Li Yan waited less than half a day, found no clear change in the flower, and hid it beneath Ghost Brambles to examine during a future mission.
• Gong Chen Ying, Zhao Min, Bai Rou, and six Nascent Soul cultivators discussed their situation while Zi Kun and others scouted the area, battered by the harsh conditions and unsure of their distance from Yellow Springs City.

Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, Bai Rou, and Zi Kun volunteered to lure away the ghost cultivators pursuing the two sects, hoping the others could escape and leave markers for them to follow. Ten days later, Li Yan returned to the Netherfall River region and hurried away carrying two half-dead people, wary after Fa Nan unexpectedly examined him.

• A Life Extinction Sect cultivator proposed that the two sects split their forces to distract their pursuers, but Senior Brother Ding objected to dividing their strength.
• Zhao Min, Gong Chenying, Bai Rou, and Zi Kun volunteered to lure the enemy away, and Gong Chenying argued that the four worked best together.
• The bearded Life Extinction Sect cultivator agreed to supply the four with spirit stones and pills and vowed that his sect would take a similar mission next time.
• Ten days later, Li Yan returned to the distorted Netherfall River region, left Bu Luo behind, and flew off carrying two half-dead people.
• Li Yan reflected that Fa Nan's unexpected inspection of his physical condition had shown him how risky even his trusted judgments could be.

Li Yan tested whether Nether Sinking River water stored in an Other Shore Flower could restore his body, after noticing the flower’s effects had changed slightly over ten days. He leaves the chapter enduring a fierce reaction after dripping one drop onto his deliberately damaged little finger.

• Li Yan collected three usable Other Shore Flowers and carried the old man and yellow-haired youth to Ghost Bramble Mountain.
• Li Yan found the flower that had held Nether Sinking River water for ten days and observed that its petals had become unusually resilient.
• Li Yan opened a gap in the petals, checked that no bizarre monster was inside, and set the flower among the Ghost Brambles.
• Li Yan returned to the flower, broke the bones and tendons in his little finger, then dripped one drop of river water onto it.
• Li Yan felt extraordinary cold and then stabbing pain surge through his finger and spread across his body.

Li Yan survived testing a drop of River of Oblivion water, and the Undying Nether Phoenix bloodline regenerated his ruined hand. Seeking more time to rebuild his body, he bargained with Fa Nan for extra manpower by offering to lead a dangerous expedition for rare Flowers of the Other Shore.

• Li Yan placed the Flower of the Other Shore back in the Ghost Thorn bush and let a drop of river water destroy his hand before the Undying Nether Phoenix bloodline restored it.
• Li Yan concluded that the river water could trigger his bloodline's power of rebirth and considered using it to reforge his damaged meridians, dantian, and sea of qi.
• Li Yan calculated that rebuilding his torso would take longer than the four days allowed for a mission and began planning how to gain more time from Fa Nan.
• Ten days later, Li Yan's team returned with four flowers, including one more than five hundred years old, and Li Yan stayed behind to ask Fa Nan for more people.
• After Fa Nan refused to assign manpower, Li Yan offered to bring back six Flowers of the Other Shore more than six hundred years old if Fa Nan granted his requests.
• Fa Nan weighed the danger of the proposed expedition against the risk of losing Li Yan, who still had plenty of lifespan left.

Li Yan negotiated twenty days with Fa Nan to gather six old Flowers of the Other Shore, then entered the twisted space and secretly began preparing to restore his body. On the eighteenth day, Bu Luo waited anxiously as a lone figure approached, and the chapter ended before he could identify it.

• Li Yan persuaded Fa Nan to grant him twenty days in exchange for six Flowers of the Other Shore over six hundred years old, with Fa Nan agreeing to transfer one person if he succeeded.
• Li Yan entered the twisted space, knocked out the old man and yellow-haired youth, and told Bu Luo to wait while he went ahead alone.
• Li Yan gathered Flowers of the Other Shore near the River of Netherfall and threw the two unconscious men into it to conceal his plans.
• Li Yan found a high peak on Ghost Thorn Mountain, built a concealed place to soak his body in river water, and began the process of restoring it.
• On the eighteenth day, Bu Luo grew worried that Li Yan had entered the River of Netherfall and might never return.
• Bu Luo hid in the hollow Li Yan had prepared when he heard someone approach, then saw a lone figure that he could not clearly identify.

Li Yan returned from the River of Netherfall with six Flowers of the Other Shore, while Buluo learned that two cultivators had died and no escape route had been found. Back in the cell, Li Yan discovered that his body and some spiritual power had recovered, but the bloody death restriction still sealed his Nascent Soul and Divine Sense, leaving him searching for a way to remove it safely.

• Buluo hid as Li Yan arrived, and Li Yan told him that bizarre creatures in the River of Netherfall had killed two cultivators while he collected several Flowers of the Other Shore.
• Li Yan returned to the cell with a dying cultivator assigned by Fan Nan and kept his recovered condition concealed.
• Li Yan found that reconstructing part of his body had restored his eight extraordinary meridians and opened his purple mansion dantian, but the bloody death restriction still sealed his Nascent Soul and Divine Sense.
• Li Yan used the Flowers of the Other Shore, sealed his cultivation, and filled his body with Illusion Poison to prevent Fan Nan from discovering his recovery.
• Li Yan reasoned that the restriction likely had no Divine Sense imprint, but his spiritual power vanished whenever he tried to strike it, so he concluded he needed to restore his Divine Sense.