Chapter Summaries

Chu Tianshu retrieved a second self-repairing jade figure from the lake, and Mo Xiaoyu identified it as a Kunlun Jade device tied to ancient Totem Patterns. As the group discussed their unusual knowledge and abilities, Chu Tianshu realized his companions each had a remarkable background, leaving them with new material to investigate.

• Chu Tianshu smashed the broken-legged jade figure with a powerful descent, then pulled it from the lakebed and disabled its limbs with palm strikes.
• Chu Tianshu told Tang Nu and Mo Xiaoyu that the jade figures had repaired themselves from wreckage over the past half month.
• Mo Xiaoyu identified the jade as Kunlun Jade, an intelligent material from the Queen Mother of the West's Kingdom, and explained its connection to Totem Patterns.
• Mo Xiaoyu described Totem Patterns as complex systems of divine instruction and said her childhood experience with a Spirit Realm creature had helped her study them.
• Tang Nu explained that swallowing an eagle-bone whistle had changed his constitution, while Chu Tianshu reflected on the unusual abilities of his companions.

Mo Xiaoyu deciphered the jade figures’ patterns as describing a protected secret realm, while Chu Tianshu and Lin Chucheng waited by the lake and trained. That night, people gathered across Tianshan for a coordinated effort to find the elixir of immortality, which an old tattooed man said should not belong to the Mystic Kingdom alone.

• Mo Xiaoyu decoded the jade figures’ totem patterns as instructions for protection and a secret realm hidden in a stable space between reality and the Spirit Realm.
• Chu Tianshu found no traces of the jade figures around the lake, so he, Mo Xiaoyu, and Tang Nu stayed there while Mo Xiaoyu continued testing the patterns.
• Lin Chucheng told Chu Tianshu he wanted his adult body and memories back, and explained that he still considered his younger and older selves the same person.
• Chu Tianshu advised Lin Chucheng to keep practicing and studied the jade figure’s primordial Qi before drawing Sanqi and practicing saber techniques beneath the moon over Tianshan.
• Tang Nu pitched tents as Chu Tianshu and Lin Chucheng trained, while groups of extraordinary people gathered at different locations across Tianshan.
• An old tattooed man said the people gathered for the next day’s effort needed proof and progress, then declared that the elixir of immortality should not be left to the Mystic Kingdom.

Joe gathered Belial, Xu Ziqian, and other trusted practitioners to seek the elixir of immortality and urged them to work together. After demonstrating its dangerous power, he explained that they needed Lin Chucheng and the secret realm to obtain the complete elixir.

• Belial arrived at Joe’s cabin, where Joe proposed that the gathered practitioners share and research the elixir of immortality rather than betray one another.
• Xu Ziqian urged the group to unite into a stronger force that could claim future opportunities and contend for power.
• Joe used a golden hand to reverse a hare’s age until it became a newborn, then watched it die when the spell ended.
• Joe revealed that he and Lin Chucheng had each absorbed part of the elixir’s power during a battle in a secret realm, and that Lin had later turned into a child.
• Joe concluded that the group needed Lin Chucheng and had to return to the secret realm to obtain the complete elixir of immortality.

Joe planned to capture Lin Chucheng by drawing the Special Investigation Bureau’s experts away from their base, while secretly promising Jia Fang captives for sacrifice. At the lake, Mo Xiaoyu discovered how to enter the shifting secret realm, but the group’s preparations were interrupted by a violent incident on the road.

• Joe presented a diversion plan to Xu Ziqian, Belial, and the others, arguing that the Bureau’s protectors would respond to threats outside their base.
• Joe promised Jia Fang captives to sacrifice once they raided the base, while Jia Fang’s followers revealed they had found other potential sacrifices and Jia Fang secretly prepared to act.
• Mo Xiaoyu told Chu Tianshu that the secret realm moved within a limited area and required wood-attribute power to open, which she planned to teach Lin Chucheng to use.
• A driver brought breakfast to Chu Tianshu, Mo Xiaoyu, Tang Nu, and Lin Chucheng, then mentioned that a group transporting seedlings was on its way.
• A call to the driver was interrupted by crashing metal, panicked shouts, and blaring horns, prompting Chu Tianshu to calm the driver and demand to know the group’s route.

Jia Fang sacrificed twenty-four desert-control workers to the Tulo God while preparing to attack the planting base. Chu Tianshu arrived, killed Jia Fang’s thirteen Ghoul subordinates, and battled Jia Fang, whose lightning strike left the outcome uncertain.

• Jia Fang began sacrificing twenty-four captured desert-control workers to heal his injuries.
• Chu Tianshu appeared and broke through the Ghouls’ sand illusion before killing all thirteen subordinates with the Four-Leaf Seal.
• Chu Tianshu confronted Jia Fang and struck the sheep-head hammer aside, revealing its hidden iron chain.
• Jia Fang invoked thunder, and three bolts of lightning struck the iron sheep’s head as Chu Tianshu faced the blinding flash.

Chu Tianshu defeated Jia Fang with a gray saber slash that extinguished his lightning and destroyed the foundation of his cultivation. As Chu Tianshu questioned the helpless Jia Fang, Lin Chucheng and others arrived, leaving Jia Fang stunned that they had escaped the base.

• Jia Fang attacked Chu Tianshu with his lightning-charged ram's-head hammer, smashing the highway and wrecking a nearby truck.
• Chu Tianshu slashed the iron chain, disrupting Jia Fang's hammer's return and creating an opening.
• Chu Tianshu unleashed a gray saber Qi that extinguished Jia Fang's lightning, crippled his cultivation, and crushed his Mind Power.
• Chu Tianshu held his saber to Jia Fang's neck and demanded to know where he came from and whether he had accomplices.
• Lin Chucheng and several others approached from the east, and Jia Fang asked Lin Chucheng why he was there and whether they had been caught at the base.

After learning that enemies had taken the Special Investigation Bureau base, Chu Tianshu negotiated a hostage exchange while refusing their demand that Lin Chucheng sacrifice an arm. He took charge of the response and questioned Mo Xiaoyu and Jia Fang, while Lin Chucheng noticed Chu Tianshu’s eyes turning grayish black.

• Mo Xiaoyu discovered that the base could not be contacted, searched Jia Fang, and used his phone to reach the attackers.
• Joe revealed that the attackers had taken the base and killed eleven people, then demanded Lin Chucheng’s severed arm in exchange for the hostages.
• Chu Tianshu refused the demand and negotiated with Xu Ziqian to meet within three hours, promising to provide a location in an hour.
• Mo Xiaoyu proposed splitting up and protecting Lin Chucheng, but Chu Tianshu told her to leave the decisions to him and answer his questions.
• Chu Tianshu questioned Mo Xiaoyu and Jia Fang as Lin Chucheng noticed his eyes turning grayish black.

Chu Tianshu prepared nearly invisible hair needles in the flower field while waiting to exchange the hostages for Lin Chucheng. When the exchange turned into a confrontation, he disrupted the spells on the hostages and poisoned the armed guards, but Joe, Xu Ziqian, and Belial rushed in as a child emerged from a hidden hole and a strange force tore petals into the air.

• Chu Tianshu refined hair needles with magic and Mind Power while waiting at the plantation.
• Xu Ziqian, Joe, and Belial arrived with their subordinates, and nearly two hundred injured hostages were brought into the flower field.
• Chu Tianshu demanded that the hostages be allowed forward and that Lin Chucheng appear after he confirmed their safety.
• Chu Tianshu swept hair needles at the hostages to jam their spells, then struck the armed guards in the front row with lethal poison needles.
• Chu Tianshu sprang toward the hostages as Joe, Xu Ziqian, and Belial moved to intercept him.
• A child leaped out of a hidden hole beneath the flower field, and an invisible force tore the remaining petals loose.

Lin Chucheng opened the Secret Realm of the Elixir of Immortality, where Chu Tianshu ambushed Joe, Xu Ziqian, and their allies. After Chu Tianshu’s barrage killed most of their forces, the three remaining leaders launched a coordinated attack with eight golden and silver palms.

• Lin Chucheng’s power distorted the flower field and opened the secret realm, transporting both sides and the hostages into a vast cavern.
• Mo Xiaoyu and Tang Nu urged their companions to find cover as Joe recognized Mo Xiaoyu’s eyes and Chu Tianshu taunted the enemy.
• Xu Ziqian realized the jade figures were rushing toward Lin Chucheng, but Mo Xiaoyu and Lin Chucheng attacked Xu as Chu Tianshu declared his intent to kill everyone.
• Chu Tianshu unleashed a torrent of palm strikes that killed the enemy’s armed subordinates and left only three leaders standing.
• Lin Chucheng cut his arm to supply Chu Tianshu with blood, while Joe and Xu Ziqian condemned Chu Tianshu as a devil.
• The three remaining leaders sent eight golden and silver palms flying from behind the stone pillars and formed a blood-red wheel of light to attack Chu Tianshu.

Chu Tianshu battled Joe and Xu Ziqian, using his Blade of Remembrance to destroy Joe’s suitcase artifact before clashing with Xu Ziqian’s spell sword and Joe’s eight-handed halo. The halo sent Chu Tianshu crashing into a pillar, but Joe then clutched his chest and abdomen, leaving Xu Ziqian alarmed.

• Chu Tianshu scattered with his three figures to evade Joe’s eight-handed bloody halo, while Tang Nu hurled stone statues at it to divert its pursuit.
• Chu Tianshu found Joe hiding behind a pillar and used six rapid Blade of Remembrance slashes to split Joe’s suitcase monster in two.
• Xu Ziqian appeared beside Joe and deflected Chu Tianshu’s Weapon Soul with a brass sword formed from his harmonica.
• Chu Tianshu exchanged thirty-seven slashes with Xu Ziqian, then attacked with a heavy, cliff-like downward strike that forced Xu Ziqian to dodge.
• Joe’s eight-handed halo returned and clashed with Chu Tianshu’s strike, sending Chu Tianshu into a stone pillar.
• Xu Ziqian called for a joint attack, then noticed Joe had gone pale and was clutching his chest and abdomen.

Chu Tianshu defeated Joe, Xu Ziqian, and Belial in the secret realm while Lin Chucheng kept Belial occupied. After Belial fell, Chu Tianshu and Lin Chucheng stood together beside the burning carpet.

• Joe, mortally wounded by Chu Tianshu’s Blade of Remembrance, unleashed the Eight-Hand Halo in a desperate attack, and Chu Tianshu redirected the palms with a Taiji diagram.
• Xu Ziqian attacked Chu Tianshu, but Chu Tianshu used saber force traveling through the ground to shatter Xu Ziqian’s heart and then decapitated him and Joe.
• Belial began the Salt Lamp Esoteric Sect’s fire technique and tried to ambush Chu Tianshu, but Lin Chucheng attacked him and kept him occupied.
• Chu Tianshu confronted Belial at the flaming carpet, pierced his heart, and cut him apart with his saber.
• Lin Chucheng rubbed his eyes as Belial’s body fell apart and Chu Tianshu landed beside him.

After the attack at Tianshan, the Salt Lamp Esoteric Sect and Rose Society learned that their invited leaders had died, while Chu Tianshu and his companions recovered inside the hidden realm. Lin Chucheng followed the eight golden and silver hands to a chamber containing the bodies of his attackers and the remains of an ancient Wusun king, whose carvings revealed the hidden realm’s history.

• Belial’s genie emerged from its golden pot in shock and named Chu Tianshu after learning that the invited faction leaders had died.
• The Rose Society confirmed that Joe, Xu Ziqian, and Jia Fang were suspected dead, and its members anticipated concessions to the Mystic Kingdom.
• Chu Tianshu, Lin Chucheng, and Mo Xiaoyu recovered from the battle as the eight gold and silver palms flew from the pit and followed Lin Chucheng.
• Lin Chucheng led Chu Tianshu and Mo Xiaoyu through the cavern to more than twenty bodies and a hexagonal pit containing a jade statue.
• Mo Xiaoyu read carvings describing how an ancient Wusun king found a supernatural stele, swallowed its powdered remains, and entered the hidden realm seeking to extend his life.

Chu Tianshu and Mo Xiaoyu reconstructed the stone stele’s writing from patterns hidden throughout the chamber, discovering that it contained a cultivation technique. The chapter ended with the technique appearing in Chu Tianshu’s token interface.

• Chu Tianshu stopped Lin Chucheng from approaching the jade statue and learned that its icy attack had tried to enter Lin Chucheng’s mind.
• Chu Tianshu concluded that the Wusun king’s evil spirit had caused Lin Chucheng’s memory loss, and Mo Xiaoyu suggested Lin Chucheng had used mental anchors to preserve important memories.
• Chu Tianshu and Mo Xiaoyu noticed that patterns on the mural, floor, dome, and statue formed a hidden design.
• Chu Tianshu reconstructed the patterns as a stone stele covered in Warring States writing and Queen Mother of the West’s Kingdom totem patterns.
• After Chu Tianshu finished reproducing the stele, its cultivation technique appeared in his token interface.

Chu Tianshu examined the Dao Power-level Drifting Tumbleweed Sun-Chasing True Art and considered how to strengthen himself before attempting a Taboo breakthrough. After Lin Chucheng described his reaction to the stele, Chu Tianshu offered him vital Qi from eight severed palms, but Lin chose to wait until they had taken everyone outside.

• Chu Tianshu saw that the technique required more than the Pear God material could provide and concluded that Dao Power-level techniques concerned cultivation after entering the Taboo realm.
• Chu Tianshu decided to further cultivate the Sky-Spanning Divine Art and Sword Intent before attempting a Taboo breakthrough.
• Mo Xiaoyu warned Chu Tianshu that studying the stele could exhaust his mental strength, while Lin Chucheng said its inscription felt natural and had brought back memories of his former main cultivation technique.
• Chu Tianshu suggested extracting vital Qi from eight severed palms and integrating it into Lin Chucheng so he could study the stele more deeply.
• Lin Chucheng accepted the palms but said they should first take the wounded and their belongings outside; Chu Tianshu questioned his recovered memories, rubbed his head, and agreed to leave.

Chu Tianshu and Tang Nu investigated a cursed tap at a mutton soup shop, destroyed the buried cursed object, and returned to the base. There, Lin Chucheng successfully broke through to Taboo, and Chu Tianshu asked him to share his experience.

• Tang Nu explained how the cursed tap was bewitching the shop owners, and Chu Tianshu and Tang Nu entered the kitchen to handle the supernatural incident.
• Chu Tianshu dispelled the bloody-water illusion and destroyed a goat apparition, while Tang Nu dug up a sheep-bone headdress six meters underground.
• Chu Tianshu destroyed the evil spirit inside the headdress, and Tang Nu warned the shop owners to use certified cinnabar talismans and take precautions.
• On the way back to the base, Chu Tianshu noticed his Fortune bar increase, and Tang Nu realized Lin Chucheng might be attempting a breakthrough.
• Lin Chucheng drew power from the wind and wood, completed his breakthrough to Taboo, and playfully ruffled Chu Tianshu's hair from across the rooftop.
• Chu Tianshu approached Lin Chucheng and asked him to tell him everything he experienced during the breakthrough.

Chu Tianshu spent his final days in the northwest discussing cultivation with Lin Chucheng and learning how Dao Power worked, while Mo Xiaoyu struggled to translate the stele. After a farewell dinner with the recovering survivors, Chu Tianshu left for home, promising to return.

• Chu Tianshu and Lin Chucheng discussed their breakthrough insights, and Chu Tianshu learned how the Nanhua True Interpretation extracted Dao Power and how it differed from Lin Chucheng's cultivation.
• Lin Chucheng explained that the power could be named differently according to one's cultivation path, while Mo Xiaoyu admitted that she could not yet translate the stele into an understandable text.
• Lin Chucheng told Chu Tianshu that conviction and being true to oneself mattered at a breakthrough, then left to sleep.
• Mo Xiaoyu arranged a farewell dinner where Xiong Zhengsan and other survivors thanked Chu Tianshu for avenging the dead.
• Chu Tianshu said goodbye to Mo Xiaoyu at the airport and flew away from the northwest.

Chu Tianshu crossed into a desolate world in 2036, where he met a traveler named Chu Yannian who looked like someone from his own world and used Mind Power from the Ghost Gate Witch Doctor lineage. The chapter left Chu Tianshu questioning the connection as they prepared to travel together to Jinling.

• Before crossing over, Chu Tianshu repelled sparrows from his window and tried oats grown in the Spirit Realm.
• Chu Tianshu arrived on an abandoned highway surrounded by neglected fields and encountered a living corpse, which he briefly immobilized with finger force.
• Chu Yannian rode up on a motorcycle, said he was heading to Jinling, and invited Chu Tianshu to travel with him.
• Chu Tianshu recognized Chu Yannian's resemblance to someone he knew, introduced himself, and watched Yannian disable the living corpse with a silver needle.
• Chu Yannian said the year was 2036 and confirmed his name, while Chu Tianshu recognized his Mind Power as belonging to the Ghost Gate Witch Doctor lineage.

Chu Tianshu traveled with Yannian’s convoy toward Jinling, helping clear a road and learning how the Spirit Realm’s intrusion had reshaped the world. He discovered that Chu Yannian had shared his grandfather’s name and that the boy had died young, then the group pressed on through the rain after a monstrous bird attacked.

• Yannian and Chu Tianshu helped the convoy move abandoned vehicles, and Chu Tianshu pushed a cement mixer aside with his strength.
• As they walked toward Jinling, Yannian explained why thousands of people were relocating, while Chu Tianshu mingled with the group to learn about the disaster, Spirit Realm landscapes, and Borderland Species.
• Chu Tianshu learned that Chu Yannian’s master had once been named Lin and that his young grandson had died by suicide after opening his apertures too early.
• A giant bird swooped at the convoy, and the machine gunners shot it down after Chu Tianshu’s gaze made it react strangely.
• Chu Yannian returned through the rain and told the group Jinling was less than half an hour away; the crowd chose to keep traveling.

Chu Tianshu and Chu Yannian led their group through Jinling’s defenses and settled in the crowded outer city, where they shared a meal at a local shop. As they ate, a stranger entered and secretly attacked Yannian with a steel nail.

• Chu Yannian spoke with the guards at Jinling’s fortresses and secured passage for the group through the city’s defensive lines.
• The newcomers reached the outer city and built temporary shelters from tarps while Chu Yannian directed them.
• Chu Tianshu explained that newcomers could barter goods for food, and Chu Yannian took him and others to a busy noodle shop.
• Chu Yannian told Chu Tianshu that the Scale Eagle’s claws could be made into fuel and its reverse scales could help heal wounds.
• A thin middle-aged customer entered the shop and thrust a steel nail toward Chu Yannian’s spine as thunder and lightning drew people’s attention outside.

Yannian foiled an umbrella assassin, while Chu Tianshu stopped a sniper’s shot and killed the gunman with chopsticks. After the attack, Pan Ting arrived from the South Wind Building to help the migrants settle in, and Chu Tianshu questioned whether someone at the city defenses had enabled the assassins.

• Yannian paralyzed the umbrella assassin with needles and subdued him, but the assassin died after failing to take an antidote.
• Chu Tianshu blocked the sniper’s bullet with chopsticks, then threw more chopsticks through the rain and killed the gunman on a rooftop.
• Yannian and Chu Tianshu realized the attackers had used coordinated methods and wondered why they had targeted Yannian.
• Pan Ting arrived from the South Wind Building and offered to coordinate the migrants’ settlement, then ordered people at defense point seventeen taken into custody after Chu Tianshu questioned how the assassins had arrived first.
• Yannian thanked Chu Tianshu and invited him to visit, while a man from Food Is Heaven gave Chu Tianshu meat vouchers; Pan Ting reacted with loathing toward the organization.