Chapter Summaries

Qi Yun met Deng Yin, a Foundation Establishment True Person who offered to fund his cultivation in exchange for becoming a future protector. Qi Yun accepted, gaining [Blood-Guided Profound Mysteries] and a powerful backer in the Holy Sect.

• Deng Yin dismissed Ding Tai and privately asked Qi Yun what he thought of the Holy Sect, then criticized its secretive schemes.
• Deng Yin explained that a failed attempt at Foundation Establishment Late Stage had nearly destroyed him and that he wanted to support a cultivator who could protect him after he reincarnated.
• Qi Yun asked why Deng Yin had not chosen Ding Tai, and Deng Yin said Ding Tai was too soft to survive the trials of Foundation Establishment.
• After Qi Yun asked what he would gain, Deng Yin promised substantial support from his centuries of accumulated wealth, and Qi Yun agreed to serve him.
• Deng Yin gave Qi Yun the [Blood-Guided Profound Mysteries] jade talisman and told him to invoke Deng Yin's name if another Foundation Establishment True Person bullied him.
• Deng Yin revealed that his fellow sect members called him the Blood Demon True Person.

Qi Yun received his Double First-Place Champion reward: a metal-element spiritual object that upgraded his Iron Sand Method and a gourd of Jade-Contained Elixir that could bring him to qi refining fifth layer perfection. He suspected Blood Demon True Person had arranged the valuable gifts, and wondered how his new backing would help him.

• Qi Yun learned that he had been named Double First-Place Champion and that his reward had been delivered to his courtyard.
• Qi Yun opened the first box, refined its metal-element spiritual object, and upgraded his Iron Sand Method to version 6.0.
• Qi Yun recognized that his new iron sand was Sunken Abyss Iron, which could block Divine Sense and improve his concealment.
• Qi Yun opened the second box and found Jade-Contained Elixir, which could nourish his five viscera and bring him to qi refining fifth layer perfection.
• Qi Yun suspected Blood Demon True Person had provided the rewards and reflected on having a powerful backer.

Qi Yun received a [Jade-Contained Elixir] and a [Great Wondrous True Gauze] cushion from the old True Person, then used the elixir to perfect the tempering of his five organs. He prepared to use the cushion to attempt a breakthrough to the Qi Refining sixth layer.

• Qi Yun examined the [Great Wondrous True Gauze] cushion and learned that it could calm the mind, nourish the soul, and foster spiritual essence.
• Qi Yun entered his quiet chamber, set the cushion on his stone bed, and sat down to cultivate.
• Qi Yun drank the [Jade-Contained Elixir] and circulated his cultivation method to absorb its medicinal potency.
• Qi Yun's five organs formed a seamless internal cycle, bringing his Qi Refining fifth-layer tempering to perfection.
• Qi Yun resolved to condense his spiritual essence and break open the ancestral aperture to reach the Qi Refining sixth layer.

Qi Yun found and began nurturing his innate divine rhyme, but discovered that the ancestral aperture was too formidable to break through safely. He studied the demonic divination method Blood-Guided Profound Mysteries and considered finding a healing technique to counter its costs.

• Qi Yun used the Great Wondrous True Gauze to quiet his mind and locate a faint trace of innate divine rhyme.
• Qi Yun carefully nurtured the divine rhyme with the Qi of his perfected five viscera, then probed the ancestral aperture and felt its immense barrier.
• Qi Yun decided not to attempt a breakthrough until his divine rhyme had grown stronger.
• Qi Yun studied the Blood-Guided Profound Mysteries talisman given to him by True Person Deng Yin and learned that the method consumed Essence Blood, vital Qi, and lifespan for divination.
• Qi Yun considered using his Clear Breeze Technique to replenish the costs, then recalled seeing a healing Law Technique at the Holy Sect Treasure Market.

Qi Yun repeatedly divined that a great calamity would befall him within three days, but could not discover its nature without risking a fatal backlash. When the deadline arrived, a tremendous boom shook the Great Void Mirror Heaven, yet the event that emerged on the horizon was an unexpected peach tree.

• Qi Yun used Blood-Guided Profound Mysteries to divine his fortune and received a warning that great calamity would descend within three days.
• Qi Yun repeated the divination and got the same warning, while wounds caused by the technique healed through his recovery ability.
• Qi Yun reasoned that he faced no obvious danger in the Holy Sect, but stopped trying to identify the calamity when his body warned him of deadly backlash.
• As the three-day deadline arrived, Qi Yun prepared his courtyard with protective formations and waited for the calamity.
• A tremendous boom shook the Great Void Mirror Heaven, so Qi Yun encased himself in Sunken Abyss Iron Sand and readied his three skulls' Death Substitution ability.
• Qi Yun emerged from the cocoon after no attack followed and saw a peach tree on the distant horizon.

The Peach Garden Secret Realm opened, and Qi Yun’s peach petal marked him for entry. Though three influential figures urged him to go and he refused because he foresaw great danger, an old True Person appeared and forced the petal back into his hand, sending him toward the realm.

• A peach blossom rain spread across the outer prefectures, and the Holy Sect announced that disciples could enter the newly opened Peach Garden Secret Realm using their petals.
• Qi Yun received urgent messages from Blood Demon True Person Deng Yin, True Person Yang Cuan, and Li Chong, all telling him to enter immediately.
• Despite the warnings and the promising opportunity, Qi Yun discarded his petal because he feared the calamity he had divined and wanted to focus on cultivation.
• An old True Person appeared in Qi Yun’s meditation chamber and urged him to enter, claiming that good fortune lay within the danger.
• The old True Person made Qi Yun’s discarded petal return and caused his hand to close around it, leaving Qi Yun unable to refuse entry.

Three mysterious figures ordered their disciples to enter [Peach Garden] through hidden routes and intercept the Holy Sect, which had reopened the realm. After arriving there, Qi Yun tried to avoid danger but was attacked by Stone King Bees, and a pale pink character appeared on his left hand.

• Three figures discussed Guan Sihai reopening [Peach Garden] and ordered their disciples to enter through secret passages to stop the Holy Sect from reaching the hidden 'thing.'
• Qi Yun arrived in [Peach Garden], found himself on a vast peach tree, and considered hiding until the realm closed because of his ominous fortune.
• A swarm of Stone King Bees approached, and Qi Yun recognized the venomous insects as dangerous Qi Refining killers.
• Qi Yun used the [Clear Breeze Technique] to conceal himself, but the bees tracked him, so he fled and attacked them with Sunken Abyss Iron sand pellets.
• The Stone King Bees' hard shells resisted Qi Yun's attack, and a pale pink ancient seal-script character, [One], appeared on the back of his left hand.

Qi Yun discovered that kills in the Peach Garden earned Spirit Points, then fought his way upward through waves of strange creatures. On a broad natural platform, he found a vast bird-headed divine statue whose sight stirred him as powerfully as the demon child’s devil fire had.

• Qi Yun trapped and burned the Stone King Bees, confirmed that the number on his hand counted kills, and learned that Spirit Points could be used to pluck a Spirit Source at a bastion every five levels.
• Qi Yun decided he had to climb the Peach Garden and killed a concealed Human-Faced Gecko, earning five Spirit Points for the kill.
• Qi Yun fought through the creatures attacking him as he climbed, using iron sand and the white-bone skull while his Spirit Points rapidly increased.
• Qi Yun reached a broad platform and saw a towering jade-green statue of a bird-headed deity fused with the peachwood branch.
• Qi Yun felt a powerful stirring at the sight of the statue, nearly identical to the sensation he had experienced when he saw the demon child’s devil fire.

Qi Yun discovered a spiritual treasure vault and hesitated over which Dao essence to choose before an unseen attacker ambushed him. He defeated the attacker with Sunken Abyss Iron Sand and Southern Brightness Devil Fire, then realized the stranger was not a Holy Sect disciple and demanded to know how they had entered.

• Qi Yun approached the bird-headed statue, and the number on his hand activated it, revealing clusters of Dao essences marked with spirit costs.
• As Qi Yun considered the treasures, an ambusher attacked with a dark green shortsword and shattered his three white-bone skulls.
• Qi Yun blocked the sword with a Sunken Abyss Iron Sand cocoon, then exploded it and relentlessly attacked the hidden assailant.
• Qi Yun forced the masked attacker out of their spatial evasion technique and used calculations to locate them after they vanished into mist.
• Qi Yun seized the attacker with Southern Brightness Devil Fire, removed their mask, and demanded to know how someone who was not a Holy Sect disciple had entered.

Qi Yun killed the attacker who had ambushed him, gained the man's Spirit Points, and used them to trigger a major update to Clear Breeze Technique. The new Law Technique, Gather Form and Disperse Qi, let him leave behind a convincing false body while his true body turned into smoke, and he waited in that form as someone approached.

• Qi Yun identified himself as the Holy Sect's outer court chief, crushed the attacker’s throat, and watched him die after revealing his name.
• Qi Yun absorbed the dead man’s Spirit Points, raising his total to 3,759, then spent 3,000 to obtain the orb compatible with Clear Breeze Technique.
• Qi Yun refined the orb, and the Law Technique Panel removed Clear Breeze Technique during its major update and replaced it with Gather Form and Disperse Qi.
• Qi Yun comprehended the new technique, which reshaped his body and allowed him to become pale green smoke while leaving a lifelike false body behind.
• Qi Yun discovered that he could control the false body’s movements but not make it cast, then dismissed it and waited in smoke form as he heard someone approach.

Qi Yun encountered Du Yunian and Shen Fan in Peach Garden and forced them to take Five Poisons Soul-Corroding Pills so they would speak openly with him. He promised to give them the antidote after they left the Remnant Realm, then prepared to question them.

• Du Yunian and Shen Fan replenished their True Qi with Spirit Sources and discussed the treasures beyond Peach Garden's tenth floor.
• Qi Yun appeared behind them, and Du Yunian discovered that his Evil-Tasting Bell had failed to detect Qi Yun's improved concealment technique.
• Qi Yun pressured the two into accepting his invitation to chat, then bound them with Sunken Abyss Iron chains.
• Qi Yun forced Du Yunian and Shen Fan to swallow Five Poisons Soul-Corroding Pills and explained that he would provide the antidote after they left Peach Garden.

Qi Yun learned that the Peach Garden held increasingly valuable Spirit Sources on its higher levels, then forced Du Yunian and Shen Fan to reveal a shortcut to the fifteenth level. The three headed upward, where Qi Yun effortlessly crushed the dangerous creatures in their path.

• Du Yunian explained that the Peach Garden had ninety-nine levels and that its upper levels might hold treasures capable of improving aptitude.
• Shen Fan guessed that the Holy Sect had sent outer court disciples into the recently recovered Peach Garden to scout for dangers.
• Qi Yun attacked Du Yunian and threatened the two men until Shen Fan revealed a hidden route from the tenth level to the fifteenth.
• Qi Yun withdrew his iron sand spikes, warned Du Yunian not to hide anything again, and led both men toward the higher levels.
• Qi Yun used his iron sand to crush powerful beasts with ease as Du Yunian and Shen Fan followed in awe.

Qi Yun slaughtered his way through the eighth floor of the Yellow Springs Netherworld before a group of hidden cultivators ambushed him and his companions. After exposing their trap and destroying Yang Sanming’s attack, he forced more than a dozen Yellow Springs cultivators into the open, then sensed a new danger.

• Qi Yun killed a demon toad on the eighth floor, while Du Yunian and Shen Fan watched him with over three thousand Spirit Points.
• Hidden cultivators attacked with Hundred Ghosts' Collective Howl, but Qi Yun shielded Du Yunian and Shen Fan with Sunken Abyss Iron Sand and revealed that he had feigned weakness.
• Qi Yun recognized the attackers as fellow devil-path cultivators and unleashed Southern Brightness Devil Fire, burning away their ghosts and injuring Yang Sanming.
• Yang Sanming called for help, and Qi Yun used blood-red light to locate the hidden cultivators before knocking Yang Sanming unconscious.
• Qi Yun attacked with iron-sand chains and forced more than a dozen Yellow Springs cultivators out of hiding, then felt a tremor of foreboding.

Qi Yun unleashed the full Southern Ming Sword Devil and defeated a group of Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators, then drained their cultivation to restore and strengthen himself. He discovered that their Storage Bags also stirred his interest in the [Skull Incantation].

• Qi Yun attacked the Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators with a storm of burning iron sand, but they blocked it with a barrier of ghost hands.
• The cultivators launched a soul-attacking technique at Qi Yun’s apparent body, which vanished as an illusion.
• Qi Yun appeared behind them, chanted the incantation, and fully released the Southern Ming Sword Devil.
• His torrent of Sword Qi and devil fire broke through the cultivators’ defenses and grievously wounded them all in one strike.
• Qi Yun suppressed the demonic thoughts caused by the technique and used his three white-bone skulls to drain the cultivators, restoring his strength and raising his Spirit Points to 14,936.
• Qi Yun examined the cultivators’ Storage Bags and sensed that they were connected to the [Skull Incantation].

Qi Yun refined Yellow Springs Sacred Water and compatible artifacts to update his Skull Incantation, then released Du Yunian and Shen Fan and learned that three great demonic sects were conspiring against the Holy Sect in Peach Garden. The Yellow Springs Netherworld was widening a hidden route that could soon bring powerful cultivators, including True Persons, into Peach Garden.

• Qi Yun refined the Yellow Springs Sacred Water and two Law Artifacts, completing the Skull Incantation 6.0 update and increasing his protective skulls to nine.
• Qi Yun released Du Yunian and Shen Fan from the iron-sand cocoon and asked them who could search the captured Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivator’s soul.
• Shen Fan used Soul-Scraping Sand to discover that Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators had entered Peach Garden through a hidden route to intercept Holy Sect disciples.
• Shen Fan told Qi Yun that the route was being widened and could soon admit true cultivators, including True Persons, from the Yellow Springs Netherworld.
• Shen Fan revealed that at least two other great demonic sects had sent disciples into Peach Garden to join the Yellow Springs Netherworld in surrounding the Holy Sect.

Qi Yun suspected the Holy Sect had deliberately allowed three rival sects to enter [Peach Garden] so it could trap them, and he eagerly set out to kill their disciples. Meanwhile, Holy Sect True Persons revealed their plans to close the net in ten days, while Deng Yin secured a share of Qi Yun’s future in exchange for cultivation guidance to Yang Cuan.

• Qi Yun dismissed Du Yunian and Shen Fan’s fears, reasoning that the Holy Sect had likely planned the rival sects’ entry into [Peach Garden], then led them onward with thoughts of slaughter and plunder.
• Deng Yin asked Yang Cuan for a share of the karma associated with Qi Yun, and Yang Cuan agreed to give him access to the young disciple in exchange for Deng Yin’s breakthrough insights.
• The Holy Sect’s leader announced that disciples from all three rival sects had entered the net and ordered the elites under the True Persons to enter [Peach Garden] in ten days.

Qi Yun’s upgraded Skull Incantation helped him wipe out the Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators on the tenth floor and amass nearly forty thousand Spirit Points. Finding no aptitude-changing divine object among the Spirit Sources, he joined Shen Fan and Du Yunian in using a hidden passage to travel directly to the fifteenth floor.

• Qi Yun’s Skull Incantation updated to version 7.0, giving him twenty-seven bone skulls that helped him defeat the Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators.
• Du Yunian and Shen Fan discussed Qi Yun’s growing Spirit Points and the advantages his champion status would bring him.
• After killing the cultivators, Qi Yun saw that his Spirit Points had reached 39,853 and examined the tenth-floor Spirit Sources, but found no object that could change his aptitude.
• Shen Fan and Du Yunian joined a broken dagger fragment to a damaged hilt and cut the peach tree, revealing a pillar of light that led to upper floors.
• Du Yunian explained that they would travel to the fifteenth floor because the creatures beyond it were more dangerous and the divine statues no longer offered protection.
• Qi Yun brought Shen Fan and Du Yunian into the pillar of light, and the three set off for the fifteenth floor.

Zhao Wuji collected the souls of the Yellow Springs Netherworld disciples and decided to pursue Qi Yun as material for his banner’s main soul. On the fifteenth floor of the Peach Garden, Qi Yun searched for a divine item but remained short of the Spirit Points it required, while a woman from Hehuan Palace arrived and clouded the minds of Qi Yun, Shen Fan, and Du Yunian.

• Zhao Wuji gathered the remnant souls of the slain Yellow Springs Netherworld disciples into his Soul-Gathering Banner and added Yin Sha Qi from their corpses.
• Zhao Wuji decided Qi Yun would make a suitable main soul and hurried to find him before members of the Zombie Alliance and Hehuan Palace could act.
• Qi Yun, Shen Fan, and Du Yunian emerged onto the fifteenth floor of the Peach Garden, where Qi Yun searched the divine statue’s offerings for an item he wanted but lacked more than ten thousand Spirit Points to exchange for it.
• Qi Yun divined great misfortune, left a false body beneath the statue, and used Great Wondrous True Gauze to recover his mental strength.
• Du Yunian and Shen Fan became dazed and began moving toward Qi Yun’s false body as a seductive woman in pink gauze appeared, amused by their condition.

Qi Yun foiled Ling Jiao'er’s attempt to enslave him and nearly killed her before Zhao Wuji intervened. Qi Yun then confronted Zhao Wuji, who accused him of killing more than thirty Yellow Springs Netherworld disciples, and the chapter ended with both men preparing to fight.

• Ling Jiao'er used her secret arts to lure Shen Fan and Du Yunian toward Qi Yun’s illusory double, but Qi Yun revealed himself and trapped the two men beneath iron-sand vats.
• Ling Jiao'er attacked Qi Yun with illusions and her Beauty's Desire, but his twenty-seven skulls held her back while Southern Brightness Devil Fire broke through the seduction spell.
• Qi Yun unleashed the Sunken Abyss Iron Sand and skulls against Ling Jiao'er, destroying her silk handkerchief Law Treasure before Zhao Wuji blocked the killing blow with his Soul-Gathering Banner.
• Zhao Wuji identified Qi Yun’s methods and accused him of killing over thirty members of Yellow Springs Netherworld.
• Qi Yun transformed into a towering mass of devil fire and challenged Zhao Wuji as the two prepared to fight.

Qi Yun fought Zhao Wuji, destroyed his Soul-Gathering Banner, and used its Dao intent to upgrade the Skull Incantation. After discovering Zhao had escaped with a death-substitution technique, Qi Yun turned to Ling Jiao'er and demanded that she help him cultivate.

• Zhao Wuji tried to leave, but Qi Yun blocked his path and forced him to fight.
• Zhao Wuji attacked with the Soul-Gathering Banner, while Qi Yun countered with devil fire, iron-sand pythons, skulls, and sword qi.
• Qi Yun pierced Zhao Wuji with devil fire, but the apparent corpse turned into a straw figure bearing a charred sword mark.
• Qi Yun refined the Soul-Gathering Banner with the Law Technique Panel, upgrading the Skull Incantation and increasing his white-bone skulls from twenty-seven to eighty-one.
• Qi Yun seized Ling Jiao'er by the chin and told her he wanted her to help him cultivate.