Chapter Summaries

Long Tian and Yu Jin opened a sealed stone door beneath the underwater hollow and entered a chamber containing a detailed route map linked to the dark gray pearl. Long Tian found that the map’s many paths converged on a symbol matching the pearl’s markings.

• Long Tian and Yu Jin entered a dry stone corridor, where Long Tian found a sealed door marked with the three-wave symbol.
• Long Tian inferred that symbols from the underwater hollow could reveal how to open the door, then discovered shallow grooves along its lower edge.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin sent Qi through the grooves from opposite sides, activating the symbol and opening the stone door.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin entered a chamber with a carved floor disc and a detailed route map whose paths converged on a circle marked like the dark gray pearl.

Long Tian and Yu Jin examined the wall map and discovered a hidden silk map that extended their known route beyond the central mark. Long Tian combined it with the routes from the dragon shadow and Tang San’s chart fragments, leaving with a course toward unmarked waters to the southeast.

• Long Tian traced the wall map and matched its route from the southeastern coast to the central mark with paths he had pieced together from the East Sea cavern, the mountain hall, and Tang San’s chart fragments.
• Yu Jin noticed a shallow, later-added branch in the map’s upper right and pointed out a darker patch in the wall along its direction.
• Long Tian pushed the patch inward, found a cavity, and removed a flat metal box hidden inside it.
• Long Tian opened the box and unfolded a silk map that extended beyond the wall map, ending at a wavy line southeast of the central mark.
• Long Tian put the silk map away and combined its route with the dragon shadow’s sea course and Tang San’s chart fragment, setting his direction toward unmarked waters to the southeast.

Long Tian recovered a metal case containing a silk map from the underwater chamber and compared its route with the underwater wall. He and Yu Jin returned to Longfish Bay, and Long Tian headed inland with the maps after agreeing to determine how far southeast to travel.

• Long Tian found no other hidden compartments, climbed out of the underwater opening, and brought the metal case back to the boat.
• Long Tian and the man at the stern examined the silk map and confirmed that its route pointed south-southeast and that its edges were intact.
• The man at the stern turned the boat back toward Longfish Bay and said they would compare the maps with earlier sea charts before deciding how far southeast to go.
• The boat returned to Longfish Bay the following afternoon, and Long Tian and Yu Jin went ashore.
• Long Tian compared the silk map with the fishskin paper, packed them away, and continued inland with Yu Jin toward a valley entrance marked by a newly built wall.

Long Tian and Yu Jin found a hidden message from Shen Mo beneath a mound inside a newly built wall. The note identified Great Abyss as a place named in Meng Changyuan's confession, and the two left the valley to compare it with their map before continuing on their way back.

• Long Tian and Yu Jin examined a fresh stone wall blocking the narrow valley and followed a drag mark through its opening to disturbed earth.
• Long Tian uncovered a jar containing Shen Mo's message that Meng Changyuan's confession had mentioned a southeastern place called Great Abyss.
• Yu Jin judged that the person who buried the jar had done so that day and might still be nearby.
• Long Tian searched the area for signs of Shen Mo, then he and Yu Jin turned back toward Longfish Bay instead of proceeding deeper into the valley.
• Long Tian compared Great Abyss with the silk map and found that its southeastern path ended at an unmarked body of water.
• After resting beneath the trees, Long Tian and Yu Jin resumed their journey back under the moonlight.

Long Tian matched the Great Abyss location on the map to a path’s endpoint, but learned Shen Mo had fled after uncovering a suppressed part of Meng Changyuan’s confession. Long Tian and Yu Jin left for Spirit City to search the route and look for Shen Mo.

• Long Tian compared the silk map with the slip marked “Great Abyss” and identified the location at the end of the southeast path.
• Mu Shuang found that Shen Mo had left the stone house and delivered his note explaining that someone had suppressed part of Meng Changyuan’s confession and that he was withdrawing.
• Long Tian packed the map and notes, left the dark gray metal box behind, and told Long Tieshan he was going to Spirit City for three to five days.
• Yu Jin packed supplies, and he and Long Tian set off down the mountain toward Spirit City.

Long Tian and Yu Jin entered the city and followed Shen Mo’s cryptic message to an abandoned soul-refining ground. Long Tian found a hidden diagram marked “Moon Tide” and left with the new clue.

• Long Tian gave the city guards a false identity, then noticed a Spirit Hall notice titled “Iron Guard disciplinary notice.”
• Long Tian and Yu Jin visited Changyu at an old bookshop, where Changyu said Shen Mo had left an envelope three days earlier.
• Long Tian read Shen Mo’s message, “Meet old friend, pond,” and deduced that the pond was at an abandoned soul-refining ground outside the city.
• Long Tian found a hidden oilcloth bundle by the pond and discovered a diagram of the sea chart marked “Moon Tide.”
• Long Tian put the diagram away and left the grounds with Yu Jin, considering the new clue alongside “Great Abyss.”

Long Tian and Yu Jin realized the marked underwater structure might become accessible during the monthly moon tide and pieced together clues from four documents to clarify its location. They planned to consult the cave keeper the next day to learn the tide’s height and timing before making their journey.

• Long Tian studied the sketch with Yu Jin, who explained that a moon tide could expose areas normally underwater.
• Long Tian concluded that the structure might surface during the lowest tides and proposed checking the perpetual calendar for upcoming dates.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin ate noodles, returned to the old house, and compared the fish-skin parchment, Shen Mo's note, the sketch, and the silk map to trace the location.
• Yu Jin said they needed to confirm the moon tide’s effect on the water level, and Long Tian proposed asking the cave keeper about the waters and the best time to travel.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin went to rest after agreeing to seek the cave keeper the next day.

Long Tian and Yu Jin left the city and learned that the spring tide would reveal the Great Abyss in three days. After studying the tidal records and the map, Long Tian worked out a route and schedule, then noticed fresh carriage ruts heading southeast along the road.

• Long Tian and Yu Jin left the city and traveled to Longfish Bay.
• The old man told Long Tian that the map led to the Great Abyss, whose entrance would appear during the spring tide in three days, and gave him ten years of tidal records.
• Long Tian questioned the old man about the currents and compared the tidal records with the silk map to plan their journey.
• Long Tian noticed fresh, deep carriage ruts turning southeast near Longfish Bay, in a direction related to but not directly toward the Great Abyss.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin continued along the road toward the stone house.

Long Tian and Yu Jin prepared to sail toward the Great Abyss during the Moon Tide, then set out by boat and followed the tide records across the open sea. As evening fell, a band of nearly black water appeared ahead of them.

• Long Tian told Long Tieshan that the Moon Tide would arrive in three days and explained when the Great Abyss might emerge.
• Long Tieshan gave Long Tian a thick coat and provisions for the voyage.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin left before dawn and boarded the same boat at Longfish Bay.
• The boat sailed southeast as Long Tian and Yu Jin checked its course against the tide records and changing currents.
• After several hours, the dragon's shadow shifted its light, and the boat adjusted course slightly.
• At dusk, the travelers saw a dark band of water stretching across the sea ahead.

Long Tian and Yu Jin guided their boat into ink-dark waters, following a current channel toward the target waters. They continued southeast through the night, checking their course against the tide records as the current began to shift toward another stretch.

• Long Tian tested the dark water, and the helmsman steered the boat across the boundary into the ink-dark waters.
• Long Tian compared the current with the tide records, and Yu Jin confirmed that their route matched the recorded channel.
• The boat followed the curving current south-southeast while the dragon's shadow illuminated the way ahead.
• At night, the helmsman lit a storm lantern at the stern as Long Tian and Yu Jin watched over the boat's course.
• Long Tian sensed a slight change in the current, and he and Yu Jin sat together at the bow as the boat continued through the darkness.

Long Tian and his companions sailed across the pale waters as the Moon Tide receded, revealing a stone platform beneath the sea. The chapter ended with Long Tian stepping onto the exposed platform, facing a narrow slit in a curved wall.

• Long Tian compared the tide-level record with their progress as the boat crossed from ink-dark water into a pale band.
• Long Tian and the person at the stern observed a light-colored plane beneath the water and felt the warmer, strengthening current.
• Long Tian rested aboard the boat with Yu Jin while the tide steadily lowered the water over the hidden plane.
• The Moon Tide exposed a clean stone platform with a raised central ridge and a curved wall containing a narrow slit.
• Long Tian vaulted from the boat onto the dry stone platform.

Long Tian and Yu Jin explored a submerged structure exposed at Moon Tide’s lowest level and found a map-like platform linked to a sealed mechanism below. They left without activating it, and the stone entrance remained accessible for another Moon Tide.

• Long Tian descended into a lower hall and examined a carved relief that matched the central mark on the silk map.
• Yu Jin brought his dark gray orb near the relief’s recessed center, and Long Tian recognized its resonance with the Origin Return Pearl, but neither inserted it.
• Long Tian found a passage leading to a room with sea carvings and a circular stone slab; his Origin Return Pearl pulses changed the slab’s color but did not open it.
• Yu Jin suggested the slab might require the orb in the platform’s recess to activate, and Long Tian returned to the lower hall without opening it.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin returned to their boat, and it sailed away as the exposed stone platform remained faintly lit at Moon Tide’s lowest level.

Long Tian returned from the Great Abyss and reported what he had found to Long Tieshan before showing the silk map to Tang San. Tang San identified the stone slab as a functioning seal and advised Long Tian to fit Yu Jin’s orb into its interface slot if he returned to the ruins.

• Long Tian and Yu Jin returned to Longfish Bay, where Long Tian noticed recent heavy cart tracks on the road to the stone house.
• Long Tian told Long Tieshan about the Great Abyss, including the resonance between its stone slab and the dark-gray orb.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin traveled to Shrek Academy, where Tang San examined Long Tian’s silk map and compared it with a book’s diagram of suspected ocean ruins.
• Tang San concluded that the stone slab was sealed and still operating, and advised Long Tian to fit the orb into the slab’s interface slot on his next visit.

Long Tian and Yu Jin returned to the Great Abyss and used the deep-gray pearl to open a hidden chamber beneath the circular stone slab. There, the dragon pattern revealed a complete map whose ancient inscription marked a final destination, and Long Tian felt his Origin Return Pearl and new core connect to it.

• Long Tian checked the tide table, gathered supplies, and returned with Yu Jin to Longfish Bay before sailing toward the Great Abyss.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin waited for the Moon Tide to recede, then retraced their route to the circular stone slab.
• Yu Jin placed the deep-gray pearl in the slab’s revealed outline, and the slab opened to expose a staircase descending into a domed chamber.
• Long Tian’s dragon shadow aligned with the carved pillar, causing a complete map and an ancient-script destination mark to appear on the chamber’s dome.
• Long Tian read the inscription and felt his Origin Return Pearl and new core connect with the map’s final mark.

Long Tian studied the map inside the dome, added its newly revealed endpoint to his silk map, and returned to Longfish Bay with Yu Jin. There, Shen Mo told him that the ancient characters meant roughly “the place where the dragon sleeps.”

• Long Tian memorized the map’s endpoint and the ancient characters carved at the pillar’s base before he and Yu Jin left the chamber.
• Long Tian marked the route’s extension and endpoint on his silk map, then told Yu Jin he would set out after matching the routes and confirming the characters’ meaning.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin returned by boat to Longfish Bay on the third day.
• Shen Mo arrived on horseback and told Long Tian that the characters referred to “the place where the dragon sleeps.”

Long Tian and Shen Mo matched the ancient phrase “The Place Where the Dragon Sleeps” to a blank stretch of sea by overlaying old maps and tide records. Long Tian and Yu Jin left the next morning by boat to reach the location.

• Shen Mo explained that an old sea chart linked the phrase “The Place Where the Dragon Sleeps” to a location marked by converging guide lines.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin returned to the stone house and overlaid the maps and tide records, identifying a blank stretch of sea beyond the silk map’s original markings.
• Long Tieshan reheated porridge for Long Tian and Yu Jin as they studied the completed map.
• Long Tian confirmed to Yu Jin that they would leave the next day and packed the maps and records.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin boarded the boat at Longfish Bay, and the man from the stern set sail toward the open sea.

Long Tian followed the overlaid maps to an empty stretch of sea and discovered a hidden boundary above a hard structure buried beneath the water. The dragon shadow revealed that the structure had the same dragon-like ridge and ribs as its own, leaving Long Tian facing a motionless counterpart embedded in the seabed.

• Long Tian checked the overlaid maps as the boat crossed the ink-dark waters, and the dragon shadow guided the boat through the current passage.
• Long Tian reached the mapped stretch of empty sea and sensed an invisible boundary about one zhang below the surface.
• The person at the stern lowered a sounding rod through the boundary and found a hard seabed about three zhang down, coated with powder like that from the sea cavern.
• The dragon shadow sent its light through the water and scanned a buried structure with a central ridge and symmetrical projections.
• Long Tian compared the outline with the dragon shadow and saw that the motionless structure had the same dragon-like form.

Long Tian descended beneath the sea to examine a stone structure that matched the dragon shadow’s bones and activated a hidden marker plate with the Origin Return Pearl. He returned to the boat and confirmed the structure’s alignment with the silk map, leaving the marker plate closed beneath the water.

• Long Tian tied a rope around his waist and dove back through the underwater interface to inspect the stone structure.
• He found a darkened section along the ridge and pressed his palm against it, sending the Origin Return Pearl’s breath into a conduit within the stone.
• The ridge lit up and carried the glow to a circular marker plate, whose engravings matched those on the silk map before the light faded and the plate closed.
• Long Tian returned to the boat and told the person at the stern that the ridge formed a stone dragon skeleton whose projections matched the dragon shadow’s ribs.
• The person at the stern repositioned the boat over the marker plate, and Long Tian confirmed that the ridge and plate aligned with the overlaid map.
• Yu Jin watched the submerged outline as the dark gray sphere illuminated the sea around the boat.

Long Tian returned to Longfish Bay and spent several days checking his maps and testing how his dragon shadow moved with him. After Tang San revealed that the underwater dragon skeleton’s marker disc required resonance with a Martial Soul of the same origin, Long Tian tested a coordinated movement with his dragon shadow and felt the Origin Return Pearl and his new core tremble together.

• Long Tian and Yu Jin returned to Longfish Bay, where Long Tian checked the map against the dragon skeleton’s location.
• Long Tian studied the map, marker disc, and ancient characters, then practiced his cultivation route and tested the dragon shadow’s movements.
• Tang San told Long Tian that a note in Spirit Hall’s old archives said the dragon skeleton’s marker disc could only be activated by resonance with a Martial Soul of the same origin.
• Long Tian concluded that the skeleton needed resonance and returned to the stone house with Yu Jin.
• Long Tian lit his six Soul Rings and pointed southeast in unison with his dragon shadow, channeling Soul Power into a point of light.
• Long Tian felt the Origin Return Pearl and his new core tremble together as they continued to turn.

Long Tian and Yu Jin investigated the resonance between Long Tian’s dragon shadow, the Origin Return Pearl, and Yu Jin’s dark gray bead. Their simultaneous light-layer test produced a stable merged glow and a stronger, faster response from the dragon shadow, leaving them with evidence that their powers could work together.

• Long Tian told Yu Jin that the dragon shadow had received a response before the Origin Return Pearl and new core vibrated, and Long Tieshan asked whether the marking disc and circular stone slab were structurally connected.
• Yu Jin proposed that he and Long Tian test simultaneous output with their light layers the next day, without using Soul Skills.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin spread their light layers toward each other in the clearing, where the meeting point formed a sustained glow between gray-gold and dark gray.
• Long Tian pointed southeast, and the dragon shadow and Yu Jin’s dark gray bead produced beams that converged in the same direction as the dragon shadow’s forehead marking responded.
• Yu Jin checked the ground where the light layers had met and found a faint warmth slowly fading away.