Recaps

Chen Ning received Zhao Jin’s favor and was appointed commander of the Golden Feather Guard after helping thwart the Carefree King’s plot. Later, he used the Rice Ancestor’s inheritance to create a towering Peashooter, beginning to explore its ability to turn plants into warriors.

• Zhao Yinyin returned to the palace and found Zhao Jin following Chen Ning with unusual deference.
• Zhao Jin appointed Chen Ning commander of the Golden Feather Guard and gave him his personal sword, while forbidding him from kneeling in the future.
• Zhao Jin ordered Chen Ning to move out of Zhao Yinyin’s residence so he could oversee the palace defenses before the emperor’s birthday.
• Zhao Yinyin questioned Chen Ning about why her father had treated him so favorably, and Chen Ning suggested Zhao Jin needed capable allies.
• Chen Ning studied the Rice Ancestor’s inheritance and created a towering Peashooter with basic intelligence and combat power.

On Zhao Jin’s birthday, Chen Ning watched the Carefree King bring Li Changsheng to court as a rival prodigy, signaling a contest for control of the Azure Heaven Realm. Meanwhile, a suspicious person in a conical hat was stopped at the heavily guarded city gate.

• Chen Ning reflected that plants created by the Rice Ancestor’s method could grow stronger over time and might one day become a powerful force for the Dragon-Seeking Sect.
• The Carefree King arrived at Zhao Jin’s birthday celebration and presented him with a supreme-grade night-luminescent pearl.
• Zhao Jin introduced Chen Ning as his right-hand man, and the Carefree King warned that he also had a prodigy to offer the emperor.
• Li Changsheng entered the hall, signaled to Chen Ning that the final contest had begun, and took a seat after Zhao Jin welcomed him.
• At the city gate, soldiers stopped a person wearing a conical hat and demanded that they remove it.

Old Man Ghost Cry’s zombies infiltrated the imperial city as the Carefree King’s forces prepared to seize power during the emperor’s birthday. Their plan depended on the Carefree King killing Song Huai and forcing Zhao Jin to surrender the throne.

• A dead soldier disguised as a man attacked guards at the city gate, where they destroyed him at the cost of four soldiers killed or wounded.
• The gate guards noticed that other people in the crowd also moved stiffly and had greenish faces.
• Old Man Ghost Cry distributed talismans that let people control zombies hidden throughout the imperial city.
• Old Man Ghost Cry told his follower that the zombies were ready to help the Carefree King capture the gathered nobles and sect experts.
• The Carefree King’s plan called for him to kill Song Huai and force Zhao Jin to issue an edict passing on the throne.

The Carefree King challenged Zhao Jin over the throne, then seized him and fought Song Huai, whose age and failing Qi and Blood left him badly injured. After defeating Song Huai, the Carefree King asked Zhao Jin why the strange happenings in the imperial city had not yet caused a commotion.

• The Carefree King questioned Zhao Jin about becoming emperor and accused him of wanting to get rid of him.
• Zhao Jin revealed that he knew the Carefree King was connected to the disturbances in the city and offered to let him leave unharmed.
• The Carefree King seized Zhao Jin, prompting Song Huai to attack him while Zhao Yinyin drew her sword.
• The Carefree King fought Song Huai and, after several exchanges, sent him flying and broke many of his bones.
• The Carefree King asked Zhao Jin why the strange happenings in the imperial city had not yet made a disturbance.

Zombies overwhelmed the imperial city as the Carefree King’s forces blocked escape routes and demanded surrender. In the palace, the Carefree King seized Zhao Jin, while Chen Ning challenged the nobles who had switched allegiance and was invited to kneel beside them.

• Yang Lie killed the Black and Yellow Sect elder at the east gate and declared that the Carefree King would soon claim the throne.
• Old Man Ghost Cry learned that several hundred Ninth Rank fighters had retaken the western city, but believed they could not turn the tide.
• The Carefree King grabbed Zhao Jin and accused him of having deceived him about the succession, then struck Zhao Yinyin down when she tried to intervene.
• The imperial relatives knelt and pledged themselves to the Carefree King, while Chen Ning warned them that another Celestial Person might still appear.
• A nobleman dismissed the mysterious Celestial Person as a legend and urged Chen Ning to kneel beside him.

As the Carefree King's zombie army invaded the imperial palace, he moved to force Zhao Jin to surrender the throne and kill Song Huai. Zhao Jin revealed himself as the mysterious Celestial Person and stopped him, while the Carefree King accused Zhao Jin of scheming against him.

• The Golden Feather Guard and palace troops resisted the zombie army as the Carefree King acknowledged Zhao Jin's preparations and said the contest depended on the Celestial Persons.
• Zhao Yinyin urged Chen Ning to escape and avenge her and Zhao Jin, but Chen Ning assured her they would be all right.
• The Carefree King told Li Changsheng to deal with Chen Ning, then dragged Zhao Jin toward the Hall of Mental Cultivation to demand a surrender edict.
• The Carefree King repelled Golden Feather Guard soldiers and prepared to kill the weakened Song Huai, but Zhao Jin seized his arm and extinguished his power.
• Zhao Jin revealed his Celestial Person aura and condemned the Carefree King's rebellion, while the Carefree King accused Zhao Jin of waiting to expose court traitors.

Zhao Jin revealed that he had become a Celestial Person and asked Chen Ning to save the people of the imperial city from the zombie calamity. As the Carefree King held Zhao Jin back, the zombie horde advanced on the western district, where its defenders prepared to fight.

• Zhao Jin revealed his Celestial Person cultivation, shocking the imperial relatives who had sided with the Carefree King.
• The Carefree King blocked Zhao Jin and revealed that Old Man Ghost Cry had been ordered to slaughter everyone in the imperial city if he received no new orders.
• Zhao Jin asked Chen Ning to save the city’s people, and Chen Ning assured him that the zombies were nothing to worry about.
• Grandmaster Danxia and several hundred ninth-rank experts held the western district as its defenders faced an approaching zombie horde, Yang Lie, and Old Man Ghost Cry.
• The Curly-Bearded Grandmaster of Ten Thousand Swords Valley charged toward the horde and unleashed a blood-red force against the zombies.

Li Xuanjun arrived in time to save the Curly-Bearded Grandmaster and kill Yang Lie. He treated the wounded Grandmaster and revealed that Chen Ning had prepared a plan to overcome the zombie calamity, while Old Man Ghost Cry ordered the attack on the imperial city to continue.

• The Curly-Bearded Grandmaster held back the corpse tide with the other Grandmasters as Yang Lie attacked him with his axes.
• Yang Lie grievously wounded the Curly-Bearded Grandmaster and prepared to kill him.
• Li Xuanjun arrived and killed Yang Lie, whose corpse was devoured by zombies.
• Li Xuanjun treated the Curly-Bearded Grandmaster and told him that Chen Ning had devised a plan to overcome the calamity.
• Old Man Ghost Cry ordered the Carefree King's subordinates to trample the imperial city and exterminate its inhabitants.

Li Xuanjun completed Chen Ning’s preparations as Sunflowers, Peashooters, and Potato Mines formed a defensive line against Old Man Ghost Cry’s zombie army. The Sunflowers replenished the other plants, and Old Man Ghost Cry ordered his forces to break through at all costs.

• Old Man Ghost Cry sent over a hundred zombie kings charging toward the west city while Li Xuanjun remained focused on placing Chen Ning’s divine objects.
• Sunflowers and Peashooters emerged to defend the Grandmasters, firing peas that pierced the zombies.
• Potato Mines covered the ground and exploded beneath the advancing zombies, stopping the horde’s charge.
• Sunflowers supplied energy that restored the Potato Mines and replenished the Peashooters’ ammunition.
• Old Man Ghost Cry ordered his forces to break through the plants at all costs.

Li Xuanjun used Chen Ning’s miraculous plants to burn through the zombie horde, but Old Man Ghost Cry unleashed a forbidden art that multiplied and strengthened the remaining zombies. The two Black and Yellow Sect Grandmasters were trapped by zombie kings as the growing army threatened to overrun the imperial city.

• Old Man Ghost Cry sent waves of weak zombies to wear down the Potato Mines and shield the main horde as it advanced on the Peashooters.
• Li Xuanjun held back the Curly-Bearded Grandmaster and revealed dozens of Jalapenos, which burned tens of thousands of zombies with flames powered by the Sunflowers.
• Old Man Ghost Cry and his subordinates realized that zombies they controlled elsewhere in the imperial city had also been destroyed by the plants.
• Old Man Ghost Cry spent his life force to multiply and strengthen the remaining zombies, while white-furred zombie kings tore up Potato Mines and led the charge.
• The two Black and Yellow Sect Grandmasters tried to reach Old Man Ghost Cry, but zombie kings surrounded them while he waited for his growing horde to overwhelm the imperial city.

Li Xuanjun used Chen Ning’s Doom-shroom to destroy Old Man Ghost Cry’s zombie army, while the fighting in the imperial palace shifted to the final battles. As Zhao Jin and the Carefree King clashed, Li Changsheng challenged Chen Ning to a duel.

• Li Xuanjun cut down the zombie kings, ordered the Grandmasters to retreat, and planted the Doom-shroom.
• The blast turned the zombies and the Carefree King’s zombie controllers to ash, and Li Xuanjun destroyed Old Man Ghost Cry’s remnant soul with Calamity Annihilation Slash.
• The Golden Feather Guard cleared the palace of zombies after the explosion weakened them, and Zhao Jin thanked Chen Ning for his help.
• Zhao Jin ordered the Golden Feather Guard to withdraw and remove the Carefree King’s defectors before facing the Carefree King in battle.
• Li Changsheng challenged Chen Ning to a duel, and Chen Ning accepted.

Chen Ning faced Li Changsheng in a battle to decide the Azure Heaven Realm and tested himself against the Vast Land’s strongest young cultivator. Li Changsheng revealed seven Divine Meridians, and the fight was just beginning.

• Li Changsheng acknowledged Chen Ning as a worthy opponent and said their battle would decide who claimed the Azure Heaven Realm.
• Li Changsheng unleashed a presence that made Zhao Jin and the Carefree King feel pressure despite his ninth-rank aura.
• Chen Ning and Li Changsheng exchanged punches, and neither gave ground.
• Li Changsheng rejoiced that Chen Ning could withstand his attack, then activated his Kunlun Divine Marks and Divine Meridians.
• Chen Ning saw that Li Changsheng possessed seven Divine Meridians and recognized why he was considered destined to become a god.

Chen Ning fought Li Changsheng in the imperial palace and revealed two newly mastered forms of lightning, combining them with his existing techniques into a five-type lightning attack. Li Changsheng endured the attack untouched, leaving their battle unresolved.

• Chen Ning and Li Changsheng exchanged powerful blows, with Chen Ning relying on lightning to withstand Li Changsheng’s strength.
• Under Li Changsheng’s pressure, Chen Ning manifested Bing Fire Yang Lightning and Wu Earth Nether Lightning, adding them to his three existing forms of lightning.
• Li Changsheng summoned divine wings and sent hurricanes through the imperial palace, destroying buildings and killing people who had not evacuated.
• Chen Ning fused all five types of lightning and hurled the resulting attack at Li Changsheng, overwhelming his hurricanes.
• Zhao Yinyin asked Zhao Jin whether Chen Ning had won, but Li Changsheng emerged from the dust unharmed and praised Chen Ning’s strength.

Chen Ning fought Li Changsheng, whose power summoned a great tide of savage beasts, stone warriors, and spirits. After Chen Ning's prepared plants overwhelmed the tide, he attacked with the complete body of a devil god, but Li Changsheng's divine figure stopped its palm with one finger.

• Li Changsheng attacked Chen Ning with enormous waves and more than a hundred sea beasts, which Chen Ning absorbed and froze with his Great Dao of Frost.
• Li Changsheng explained that heaven had granted him mastery over the Great Daos and the power to empower beasts, and savage beasts, stone warriors, and spirits gathered to fight Chen Ning.
• Chen Ning summoned rows of Twin Sunflowers, Three-Headed Peashooters, and Torchwoods, whose barrage suppressed Li Changsheng's forces.
• Chen Ning transformed into the complete body of a devil god and struck at Li Changsheng.
• Li Changsheng's majestic divine figure stopped the devil god's descending palm with one finger, surprising Chen Ning.

Chen Ning’s Devil God Transformation failed to defeat Li Changsheng, whose true god’s thought was the Spirit Martial God. Li Changsheng invited Chen Ning to show him the full power of the Great Dao of Time.

• Li Changsheng said Chen Ning’s complete Devil God body could grievously injure a Saint Emperor, while the imperial city’s people and experts watched the colossal figures in fear and awe.
• The Devil God body attacked again, but the Spirit Martial God’s divine thought shattered its fist and split its body.
• Chen Ning withdrew the Devil God Transformation after realizing it could not defeat Li Changsheng, and Li Changsheng explained the difference between a summoned dead body and a true god’s thought.
• Chen Ning proposed that they fight without either divine manifestation, but Li Changsheng said the Spirit Martial God’s thought was part of his own power.
• Li Changsheng identified the Great Dao of Time as one of Chen Ning’s remaining abilities and challenged him to demonstrate its limits.

Chen Ning sent himself and Li Changsheng five hundred years into the past, where Li Changsheng fought Song Huai while the Myriad Spirits Imperial Dynasty faced a succession crisis. The chapter ended with Zhao Jin being stabbed by a trusted subordinate as Zhao Shen prepared to seize the throne.

• Chen Ning reversed time and brought Li Changsheng to the imperial palace five hundred years earlier, before Li Changsheng had gained the Spirit Martial God's protection.
• Song Huai confronted Chen Ning and Li Changsheng, but Li Changsheng quickly defeated him.
• After the old emperor died, Zhao Shen prepared to kill Zhao Jin and Zhao Yang and take the throne.
• Zhao Jin hurried through the palace to secure control, but a trusted subordinate stabbed him through the chest.

Chen Ning and Li Changsheng arrived as Zhao Jin was being attacked by a black-robed Grandmaster working for the second prince, and Chen Ning killed the assassin and saved Zhao Jin. Zhao Yang learned the truth about the attack, leaving Li Changsheng to wonder whether Chen Ning had changed history by bringing the brothers together.

• The black-robed man poisoned Zhao Jin and revealed he had pledged himself to the second prince, then attacked Zhao Jin’s followers.
• Zhao Jin held the black-robed man back so a surviving follower could escape and warn Zhao Yang to flee the imperial city.
• Chen Ning and Li Changsheng appeared overhead as Zhao Yang arrived, and Zhao Yang charged the black-robed man but was knocked into a palace wall.
• Chen Ning killed the black-robed man with a Sword-Ray and healed Zhao Jin with a verdant light.
• Zhao Jin and Zhao Yang agreed to focus on stopping the second prince before discussing the throne, while Li Changsheng questioned whether Chen Ning had rewritten history.

Chen Ning used a crafted vision of changed history to unsettle Li Changsheng, who eventually saw through the deception and explained how history corrected itself. Chen Ning said the Carefree King and Zhao Jin would still fall out, but the brothers shared a genuine bond for the moment as Li Changsheng declared that Chen Ning had lost his last chance to win.

• Li Changsheng realized that Chen Ning's apparent alteration of the Carefree King and Zhao Jin's past made him fear the Great Dao of Time could change history.
• Chen Ning attacked Li Changsheng, who hesitated and was struck before recovering and catching Chen Ning's next blow.
• Li Changsheng deduced that Chen Ning could not truly alter past events and that history would repair inconsistencies.
• Chen Ning explained that he had created new memories for the brothers, but future misunderstandings would still drive the Carefree King toward resentment and rebellion.
• Li Changsheng said Chen Ning's Great Dao of Time had lost its final advantage now that he understood its limits.

Chen Ning defeated Li Changsheng with the founding master's unnamed move after using the Great Dao of Time to seal the will bestowed on Li Changsheng by Spirit Martial God. The Vast Land chose Chen Ning to take on the coming calamity, and Li Changsheng revealed that they would face it together.

• Chen Ning unleashed the founding master's unnamed move, while Li Changsheng gathered many Great Daos into a chaotic attack and met it head-on.
• Chen Ning's move overwhelmed Li Changsheng, who crashed into a mountainside and admitted defeat.
• Li Changsheng told Chen Ning that the Vast Land had chosen him to fight the coming calamity, and natural power flowed into Chen Ning to restore his strength.
• Chen Ning questioned why the Vast Land had chosen him instead of a god, and Li Changsheng asked whether Chen Ning believed any gods remained in the Vast Land.
• Li Changsheng told Chen Ning that they would stand together against the Vast Land's calamity.

Li Changsheng told Chen Ning that the gods had abandoned the Vast Land and explained how they had hunted Chen Ning’s founding ancestor to prevent his ascension. After Zhao Jin’s forces defeated Zhao Shen’s rebellion, Chen Ning gave Zhao Jin a cryptic warning before he and Li Changsheng vanished.

• Li Changsheng revealed that the gods used the God Clans to harvest the Power of the World Origin and would abandon the Vast Land when it faced calamity.
• Li Changsheng said Chen Ning’s founding ancestor had been hunted by four gods’ consciousnesses on his way to the God Realm, after which all news of him ceased.
• Chen Ning resolved to prepare for the coming calamity while continuing his plans to rescue the old sect master, free the Nine Provinces Realm, and find the first sect master.
• Zhao Yang killed Zhao Shen, ending the second prince’s rebellion and allowing Zhao Jin to take the throne.
• Chen Ning told Zhao Jin to believe a future person who would challenge everything he knew, then Chen Ning and Li Changsheng disappeared through the power of the Great Dao of Time.

Chen Ning and Li Changsheng returned after Chen Ning defeated Li Changsheng, and the Carefree King chose to die by Zhao Jin’s hand. Chen Ning entrusted Zhao Jin with the plants protecting the Azure Heaven Realm before departing, while Zhao Yinyin waited for his promised return.

• Zhao Jin realized Chen Ning had been the benefactor whose words had guided him to become a Celestial Person.
• The Carefree King withdrew his attack and let Zhao Jin’s punch kill him, saying his death was the best way to end his crimes.
• Zhao Jin mourned his brother, then ordered the city’s remaining zombies cleared and announced rewards for those who resisted the horde and punishment for those who fled or rebelled.
• Chen Ning told Zhao Jin he would leave the plants protecting the realm under his control and asked him to guard the Azure Heaven Realm.
• Zhao Yinyin asked Chen Ning who he was, and he promised to take her to the Vast Land once he had finished his task.
• Chen Ning and Li Changsheng vanished, leaving Zhao Yinyin to wait for his return.

After Chen Ning defeated Li Changsheng, the Vast Land recognized him as the younger generation’s undisputed strongest, and the Darkness God Clan decided to secretly arrange his death. The chapter ends with the clan’s elders preparing to carry out the order without leaving evidence that implicates them.

• News of Chen Ning’s victory over Li Changsheng spread across the Vast Land, astonishing the God Clans and younger cultivators.
• Former opponents of Chen Ning feared his revenge and resolved not to provoke him again.
• The Darkness God Clan’s leader summoned the nine great elders to discuss Chen Ning’s growing threat to their clan.
• The leader ordered the elders to find a way to kill Chen Ning without allowing anyone to trace the act back to the clan.
• The nine great elders approved the secret command and planned to leave no evidence or survivors.

After defeating Li Changsheng, Chen Ning received the Vast Land’s blessing and broke through to the Early-Stage Saint King Realm. Back in the City of Light, Sui Qingshan told him he had found a lead on one of So Close Yet Worlds Apart’s missing members, who had received a brocade pouch from the first-generation sect leader.

• Chen Ning cultivated atop Heaven-Reaching Peak and transformed through the Vast Land’s blessing, reaching the Early-Stage Saint King Realm.
• The Light Clan Leader celebrated Chen Ning’s breakthrough and said the other God Clans were seeking closer ties with the Light God Clan.
• The Light Clan Leader told Chen Ning that Ji Hongyi had entered seclusion to pursue the Saint King Realm.
• The Light Clan Leader said one of Chen Ning’s subordinates had come looking for him, and Chen Ning returned to the City of Light.
• Sui Qingshan reported that he had learned the whereabouts of one of the two absent members of So Close Yet Worlds Apart, who had received a brocade pouch from the first-generation sect leader.

Chen Ning learned that Lü Xiaochuan was in the Sin Domain, a realm beyond the God Clan’s control, and decided to go there to recruit him and learn more about the first sect master. He and his companions agreed to travel together, while Sui Qingshan received a bamboo slip from Chen Ning.

• Sui Qingshan told Chen Ning that Lü Xiaochuan had been close to the first sect master and was now in the Sin Domain.
• Chen Ning triggered the third stage of the Dragon-Seeking Sect 2.0 quest, which required him to recruit Lü Xiaochuan in the Sin Domain.
• Nalan Yao and Ding Erliang explained that the Sin Domain was ruled by the God of Bandits and filled with vicious people.
• Chen Ning rewarded Sui Qingshan with a bamboo slip after recognizing that he had once been used as a vessel for a god’s power.
• Chen Ning asked his companions to accompany him to the Sin Domain, and they all agreed; Sui Qingshan said he longed to return there.

Chen Ning brought his companions to the Sin Domain, hoping to find information about the founding sect leader and strengthen himself for the coming calamity. After Ding Erliang’s past there came to light, Chen Ning promised to stand up for him, stirring an unfamiliar feeling of gratitude in Ding Erliang.

• Chen Ning set off for the Sin Domain with So Close Yet Worlds Apart, bringing Hua Luo and the little monk along as well.
• The group arrived in the Sin Domain, where most of them felt oppressed by the continent’s atmosphere, while Sui Qingshan seemed pleased by it.
• Shui Ziliu introduced himself as a guide and warned Chen Ning that Ding Erliang had nearly died in the Sin Domain before fleeing after offending the Living King of Hell.
• Ding Erliang tried to explain that his departure had been a tactical retreat, but Chen Ning said he would meet the people Ding Erliang had offended and make them pay.
• Ding Erliang felt gratitude toward Chen Ning and silently vowed to die before allowing a deadly crisis to claim him.