Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou tried to persuade the flood dragon demon to cooperate and reach the Mohists' Mechanism City, but the demon attacked him after insisting that Ao Li blocked the mountain stairs. Zhang Xuezhou kept the demon chasing him through the air while Gongsun Hong gathered Li Shaojun's body, only for Li Shaojun to get back up and fix his attention on the stairs.

• The flood dragon demon told Zhang Xuezhou that the Mechanism City had crashed into a secret realm and that Ao Li had repeatedly stopped him from climbing the mountain.
• The flood dragon demon lunged at Zhang Xuezhou, who rose into the air with the Cloud Soaring Technique and taunted him into transforming and pursuing him.
• Zhang Xuezhou dodged the demon through the air, while Gongsun Hong realized he was controlling the chase and could wear the demon down.
• Gongsun Hong gathered Li Shaojun's body, pulled the spear from it, and threw the spear into the purple mist before retrieving his green bamboo swords.
• Li Shaojun rose with a hand pressed to his pierced neck and stared eagerly at the stairs leading into the mist.

Zhang Xuezhou kept the flood dragon monster busy while Li Shaojun and Gongsun Hong searched for the entrance to the Mohists' Mechanism City, relying on a five-element lodestone to counter its mechanism men. Inside the purple mist, Gongsun Hong encountered an illusion of Dong Zhongshu and realized the mirage monster had combined its illusions with a mechanism man to attack.

• Zhang Xuezhou taunted the flood dragon monster and drew it into a relentless chase, giving Li Shaojun and Gongsun Hong time to search for Mechanism City.
• Li Shaojun showed Gongsun Hong his five-element lodestone, which could disrupt the gears inside the Mohists' mechanism men, and sent a Mechanism Bird up the mountain path.
• Li Shaojun and Gongsun Hong entered the purple mist and climbed eighty-one steps to the Mohist School gate without encountering any mechanism men.
• Gongsun Hong saw an apparent Dong Zhongshu behind the gate, denied that he feared him, and tried to break the illusion with his Law Power.
• Gongsun Hong realized the apparition was a mechanism man combined with a mirage monster's illusion and concluded that the monster could attack through the union of illusion and reality.

Zhang Xuezhou convinced the flood dragon demon that the purple mist had distorted his perceptions and persuaded him to use his Gold-Binding Rope to pull Gongsun Hong out of the Mechanism City. The flood dragon demon remained confused about what had happened and prepared to retrieve Zhang Xuezhou’s other companion.

• Zhang Xuezhou dodged the flood dragon demon and praised his appearance, claiming the Mechanism City’s purple mist had made him hear insults.
• The flood dragon demon explained that his Gold-Binding Rope had pulled him out of the Mechanism City and agreed to use it to retrieve Zhang Xuezhou’s companions.
• The flood dragon demon dragged Gongsun Hong down the mountain and asked him to judge his appearance, and Gongsun Hong agreed with Zhang Xuezhou’s praise.
• Zhang Xuezhou told the flood dragon demon to retrieve their remaining companion, while the demon questioned his memory of killing someone and fighting Gongsun Hong.

Li Shaojun, Zhang Xuezhou, and Gongsun Hong flattered the flood dragon demon, Ao Sheng, until he agreed to join them in investigating Mohist Mechanism City. They concluded that a mirage demon was guarding the city and planned to enter while it rested, leaving them to find a way to locate its true body.

• Li Shaojun used a Five Elements lodestone to attract the gold-binding rope, which pulled him down the mountain to Ao Sheng.
• Li Shaojun praised Ao Sheng’s appearance, and Ao Sheng revealed that he was Ao Sheng of the Western Sea.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Gongsun Hong praised Ao Sheng’s strength and name, citing Chen Sheng and the ambitions of a swan until Ao Sheng warmed to them.
• The three persuaded Ao Sheng to pool their strength and explore Mohist Mechanism City together.
• Gongsun Hong explained that a mirage demon’s water techniques caused the danger and proposed entering the city while it rested, then locating and dealing with it.
• Gongsun Hong said someone skilled in water techniques would need to fight the mirage demon while another watched for its true body, and Li Shaojun looked to Ao Sheng.

Ao Sheng inhaled the clam demon’s mirage fog, allowing Zhang Xuezhou, Gongsun Hong, and Li Shaojun to climb toward the Mohists' Mechanism City. They disabled the wooden guards on the stairs, but the clam demon still remained ahead.

• Gongsun Hong concluded that the clam demon was a Divine Ability Realm demon and that its mechanism men were ordinary wooden guards.
• Ao Sheng agreed to inhale the mirage fog while the others searched for and attacked the clam demon.
• Ao Sheng transformed into his flood dragon form and drew in the purple fog, clearing the view of the stairway.
• Gongsun Hong led the group up the stairs as the fog thinned.
• Li Shaojun kicked off the head of the wooden guard that had killed him in the mirage, and Gongsun Hong cut off the arms of the guard that had resembled Dong Zhongshu.
• Zhang Xuezhou admired the Mohists' mechanism craft and looked farther up the stairs for the clam demon.

Zhang Xuezhou, Li Shaojun, and Gongsun Hong entered the ruined Mohist Mechanism City and tried to approach the mirage demon through its purple fog. As Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun succumbed to the demon’s influence, Zhang Xuezhou covered his eyes and headed toward the light alone.

• Zhang Xuezhou and his companions found the Mohist Mechanism City reduced to ruins, and Gongsun Hong proposed defeating the mirage demon before searching for valuables.
• Zhang Xuezhou suspected the purple light was connected to the demon’s illusion and put on Li Shaojun’s black clothes, covering his head and eyes; Li Shaojun copied him.
• Gongsun Hong heard a voice calling him and saw a figure approaching through the fog, realizing he had fallen under the mirage demon’s influence again.
• Zhang Xuezhou noticed Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun ignoring him and walking away, then wondered whether he too had fallen for the illusion.
• Zhang Xuezhou half-covered his eyes with his sleeve and hurried toward the purple light, which was now half a li away.

Zhang Xuezhou crossed the chasm and climbed the steps to Purple Cloud Palace, where he discovered that its purple radiance caused powerful illusions. After entering the silent palace, he stumbled upon a long-lived Sacred Land master who had watched him approach.

• Zhang Xuezhou found Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun wandering near a bottomless chasm under the influence of the purple light.
• Zhang Xuezhou shoved Li Shaojun and Gongsun Hong across the chasm, then crossed it himself.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Eye of the Ba Snake and the Kunpeng Combat Technique to resist the illusions as he climbed the ninety-nine steps to Purple Cloud Palace.
• Zhang Xuezhou called out to the palace's master, then entered when nobody replied.
• Zhang Xuezhou felt a person wearing a Heavenly Robe and holding a Law Treasure, realizing he had found a long-lived Sacred Land master who had been watching him.

Zhang Xuezhou stumbled upon a Sacred Land master while trying to navigate the purple light in the secret place, then decided to interfere with the man rather than risk breaking the formation. His efforts failed to free the jade ruyi, and the master’s condition worsened.

• Zhang Xuezhou prostrated himself and begged the silent Sacred Land master to spare him and his companions.
• Zhang Xuezhou recognized the man’s Three Flowers Atop the Head and used the Eye of the Ba Snake to clear some of his own daze.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized the purple light’s source remained out of reach and suspected it came from a bead caught in the formation.
• Zhang Xuezhou judged that breaking the formation could be dangerous, so he tried to pull the jade ruyi from the master’s hand.
• Zhang Xuezhou failed to take the jade ruyi, and the Sacred Land master’s complexion turned ashen under the purple light’s influence.

Zhang Xuezhou borrowed the jade ruyi from its stricken owner and searched Purple Cloud Palace for useful treasures, finding only ancient remains. In the final hall, a fading message revealed the palace master's orders to suppress the alien demon Hei, leaving Zhang Xuezhou with a new understanding of the ruyi's owner and the secret realm.

• Zhang Xuezhou took the jade ruyi from its owner and found that it protected him from the secret realm's purple light and calmed his mind.
• Zhang Xuezhou searched the palace grounds and the Sacred Land master's pockets for medicines but found nothing.
• Zhang Xuezhou opened all twelve side chambers and found only skeletal remains and burned debris.
• Zhang Xuezhou entered the great hall, where a distant voice ordered three guardians to preserve balance and suppress alien demons.
• The voice identified Hei as an alien demon who had entered the Three Realms and ordered the guardians to find and suppress him.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized the message was intended for the jade ruyi's owner and that the voice belonged to the true master of Purple Cloud Palace.

Zhang Xuezhou used a jade ruyi to wake Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun from the formation’s illusions, then led them into the Mohists’ Mechanism City to search for a way out and treasure. The trio entered a hidden passage and encountered a huge golden-armored mechanism man.

• Zhang Xuezhou found no treasures in the palace but suspected its great hall contained a way to enter and leave the secret place.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the jade ruyi to awaken Gongsun Hong and explained that a formation, not a mirage demon, had caused the illusions.
• Zhang Xuezhou woke Li Shaojun with the jade ruyi and told him the group might find an exit or treasure in the Mohists’ Mechanism City.
• Li Shaojun won a round of finger-guessing and persuaded Zhang Xuezhou and Gongsun Hong to search for treasure first.
• The three crossed the chasm into the Mohists’ Mechanism City and crawled into a secret passage beneath the ruins.
• Li Shaojun found a luminous pearl and a five-element lodestone as a twenty-foot-tall golden-armored mechanism man rose before them.

Zhang Xuezhou, Li Shaojun, and Gongsun Hong entered the Mohist Mechanism City and found the Fire guardian mechanism blocking a small doorway. Unable to overcome it with their own attacks, they withdrew to fetch Ao Sheng, hoping his water would extinguish the flames.

• Li Shaojun explained that the stronghold was guarded by a huge mechanism man as Zhang Xuezhou and Gongsun Hong joined him inside.
• The mechanism man revealed itself as Fire and attacked all three with blue flames, forcing them to dodge within the jade ruyi's protective range.
• Gongsun Hong tried a Water Technique, but the mechanism man’s flames turned the water to steam.
• Zhang Xuezhou proposed asking Ao Sheng to spray water at Fire, and the group withdrew after waiting for the entrance to cool.
• Zhang Xuezhou and the others returned to Ao Sheng, who praised them for coming back after finding a treasure that countered the illusion.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others used Ao Sheng to trap and destroy the Mohist mechanism man guarding the way, though its flames badly injured him. They entered the newly cleared passage to search the Mohist treasury for medicine for Ao Sheng.

• Zhang Xuezhou and the others returned to the mechanism chamber and urged Ao Sheng to use his water against the mechanism man called Fire.
• Ao Sheng flooded the chamber and trapped the mechanism man in a Water Prison, while Gongsun Hong hoped to reach the door behind it and find a treasure.
• The mechanism man erupted in flames despite the water, burning Ao Sheng and leaving him dazed; he mistook Ao Li for the mechanism man before recovering.
• Li Shaojun checked Ao Sheng with a luminous pearl, and the others returned after escaping the danger.
• Zhang Xuezhou promised to find medicine for Ao Sheng in the Mohist treasury, and Ao Sheng shrank enough to clear the doorway.

Zhang Xuezhou opened the Mohist mechanism vault by solving its combination lock, and the group found a chamber full of special fuel instead of treasure. After the others split up to search for medicine and resources, Ao Sheng accidentally ignited the fuel and fled as the flames melted the vault door.

• Zhang Xuezhou examined the trapped mechanism man's double door and opened its inner lock by trying the possible combinations.
• Li Shaojun, Gongsun Hong, and Ao Sheng joined Zhang Xuezhou in discovering that the vault held a large supply of Mohist fuel rather than medicine or cultivation treasures.
• The group decided to split up and search nearby passages, leaving Ao Sheng outside with the jade ruyi because his burns made it difficult for him to move.
• Ao Sheng dismantled the mechanism man and accidentally stoked the flames beneath its cauldron, igniting the stored fuel.
• The spreading fire melted the iron door, and Ao Sheng fled with the jade ruyi as the flames grew hotter.

Zhang Xuezhou explored the Mohists’ mechanism rooms and found a crossbow-design scroll, a working clock, and bamboo scrolls containing Mohist teachings. As Gongsun Hong read them, Zhang Xuezhou wondered whether the Mohists’ history and their search for someone connected to Mechanism City involved an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.

• Zhang Xuezhou opened a mechanism room, found parts and a bamboo scroll describing how to assemble a powerful crossbow, and stored the scroll.
• He searched more rooms and restarted a well-preserved clock that measured time with one hundred and eight graduations.
• Gongsun Hong joined him and complained that he had broken his sword trying to force open locks that could be opened by shaking them.
• Gongsun Hong read bamboo scrolls titled “Explications of the Canons” and identified another as Mohist sayings recorded by Master Xiang, quoting Mo Di.
• Gongsun Hong read a scroll arguing that ghosts existed, and Zhang Xuezhou suspected its heavenly ghosts referred to Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons.
• Zhang Xuezhou wondered whether Mechanism City had been seeking a suppressed Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon when it collided with the Purple Cloud Palace.

Zhang Xuezhou and Gongsun Hong searched Mohist records for the rumored Time-Space treasure, while Gongsun Hong resolved to find it. Their search was interrupted when a fire started spreading through Mechanism City, forcing them to flee before it reached the city’s power source.

• Gongsun Hong read the Mohist scroll on duration and space and concluded that the Mohists might have built a treasure called Time-Space.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to help Gongsun Hong search for Time-Space, and Gongsun Hong inferred that it could be found in the Mohist founding master's largest mechanism room.
• Li Shaojun arrived and warned that the mechanism man Fire had ignited fuel, producing a spreading blaze and poisonous smoke that water could not extinguish.
• Zhang Xuezhou, Dong Zhongshu, Gongsun Hong, and Li Shaojun abandoned the bamboo slips and searched the passages for an exit as flames approached.
• Zhang Xuezhou feared the fire might reach Mechanism City's power source and decided they needed to escape to the secret land for shelter.

Zhang Xuezhou, Gongsun Hong, and Li Shaojun fled through Mechanism City as fire and explosions filled its passages, while Gongsun Hong continued searching for Time-Space. After the explosion exposed the Mohists’ heavily trapped lower chambers, they followed Zhang Xuezhou’s distant call that Time-Space seemed to be nearby.

• Zhang Xuezhou urged Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun to hurry through the descending passages as smoke spread through Mechanism City.
• An explosion shook the mountain, and Zhang Xuezhou disappeared from the passage, prompting Li Shaojun to question Gongsun Hong about Time-Space.
• Gongsun Hong told Li Shaojun that Time-Space might be a person-sized bronze mirror, and the two pursued Zhang Xuezhou.
• The explosion collapsed part of the passages, revealing trapped lower chambers filled with crossbows, other mechanisms, and scattered bones.
• Gongsun Hong called for Zhang Xuezhou and heard him say that Time-Space seemed to be nearby.

Zhang Xuezhou, Gongsun Hong, and Li Shaojun found the giant Time-Space mirror in the Mohists’ mechanism hall and tried to activate it. As smoke spread through the underground city, Gongsun Hong infused it with Law Power, and the mirror began to melt and pull them toward an unknown destination.

• Zhang Xuezhou examined the Mohist mechanism hall and called Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun to inspect the Time-Space mirror.
• Gongsun Hong identified that the mirror had no switch or fuel and said it needed Law Power.
• Gongsun Hong pressed himself against the mirror and began infusing it with Law Power.
• The mirror lit up, revealing countless reflections of the three men, and Li Shaojun and Zhang Xuezhou disputed how many facets it had.
• As smoke thickened nearby, Gongsun Hong continued channeling Law Power until the mirror began to melt and exert a pulling force.

Zhang Xuezhou helped Gongsun Hong use the mirror Law Treasure to traverse space by locking onto purple light, but they arrived in a hall where Dong Zhongshu’s presence reversed Gongsun Hong’s memories. Li Shaojun also became trapped in a false past, and his recitation of the Daoist scripture began restoring his memories.

• Gongsun Hong let Zhang Xuezhou control his body and sense the mirror Law Treasure, which divided Zhang’s soul into 129,600 pieces.
• Zhang Xuezhou identified the formation’s purple gemstone as a spatial landing point and used the mirror to take himself, Gongsun Hong, and Li Shaojun through space.
• Gongsun Hong arrived in a great hall and encountered Dong Zhongshu, whose presence made his recent memories disappear and returned him to a conversation in Xuanhua Tower.
• Li Shaojun was sent back in his memories to Fengxi Marsh and resisted the illusion by reciting a Daoist scripture.
• Li Shaojun began to understand the scripture, and his lost memories started returning.

Zhang Xuezhou endured a time-splitting vision while using Time-Space and recalled that ancient cultivators had suppressed Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons by trapping them until time erased them. He returned to the Purple Cloud Palace, where the illusion formation trapped him and left Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun unconscious, while the jade ruyi remained just out of reach.

• Zhang Xuezhou watched memories of his life unfold across 129,600 versions of himself and realized that the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon in his body had helped protect him from Time-Space’s dangers.
• Zhang Xuezhou recalled the Purple Cloud Palace speaker’s command to suppress alien demons forever and understood that time could eventually erase even an undying demon.
• Ao Sheng found the jade ruyi and called out to the Celestial Venerable as Zhang Xuezhou reappeared inside the Purple Cloud Palace’s great hall.
• Zhang Xuezhou found Gongsun Hong and Li Shaojun trapped in the illusion’s effects, then discovered an invisible spatial barrier prevented him from reaching the jade ruyi or leaving the hall.
• The great cultivators outside began to awaken, and a voice rebuked the accursed dragon for causing the speaker such misery.

Ao Sheng’s attempt to find a treasure to defeat Ao Li led him into the Purple Cloud Palace, where he accidentally swallowed Celestial Venerable Yuanshi. Yuanshi regained his senses and spared Ao Sheng, but could not enter the palace’s great hall and was left waiting for his teacher amid a sudden blaze.

• Ao Sheng recounted his hardships and explained that he had entered the Mohists’ Mechanism City seeking a treasure to defeat Ao Li.
• Gravely wounded and starving, Ao Sheng bit down on Celestial Venerable Yuanshi, then spat him out when Yuanshi’s Auspicious Cloud appeared.
• Yuanshi realized the dragon’s attack had broken the formation’s bewildering effects, spared Ao Sheng, and ordered him to stay nearby until he finished his business.
• Yuanshi tried to enter the great hall but struck an invisible barrier, so he knelt and asked his teacher for forgiveness and instructions.
• After Yuanshi waited at the entrance for nearly half a quarter of an hour, an enormous blaze and deafening sound erupted several li away.