Chapter Summaries

With the Nine Provinces faction ranking gathering two months away, Chen Ning prepared the Dragon-Seeking Sect for a difficult attempt to reach the top three and appointed Shi Tian to lead its artifact-refining branch. Inside the Sacred Armament Pavilion, Shi Tian began forging a Spirit Artifact with seemingly innate mastery.

• The system unlocked the third stage of Chen Ning's legendary quest, requiring the Dragon-Seeking Sect to rank among the top three superpowers at the Nine Provinces gathering.
• Su Ling'er decided to focus on managing the Dragon-Seeking Sect in Spirit Province while Chen Ning returned to Central Province with Cang Yue and Hua Luo.
• Chen Ning appointed Shi Tian master of the newly built Sacred Armament Pavilion and tasked him with overseeing artifact refinement.
• Shi Tian entered the Pavilion, where its blueprints and facilities seemed to awaken his ability to refine artifacts.
• Shi Tian used ten-thousand-year-old mystic iron and a Starry Sky Leopard beast soul to begin forging the spirit sword shown in a blueprint.

Shi Tian led the Holy Armament Pavilion to produce a large number of Spirit Artifacts, but its dwindling material reserves threatened output. News of the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s success spread across Central Province, drawing powerful factions’ attention, and Ling Xiaoyun learned that the sect had set terms for acquiring artifacts.

• Shi Tian refined a Low-Grade Spirit Artifact and was appointed to lead twenty-nine disciples in the Holy Armament Pavilion.
• The pavilion’s disciples refined Spirit Artifacts, and Shi Tian reached its second and third floors to produce Mid-Grade and High-Grade Spirit Artifacts.
• After half a month, Shi Tian reported that the pavilion had refined seven High-Grade, twenty-one Mid-Grade, and three hundred and twenty Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts, including three perfect-quality High-Grade artifacts.
• Shi Tian warned Chen Ning that the pavilion was running short of materials, and Chen Ning told him to wait a few days for more supplies.
• News of the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s artifact production spread across Central Province, while a Heaven Martial Realm Seventh Layer expert died outside Azure Cloud Mountain and deterred factions from attacking.
• Ling Xiaoyun heard that the Dragon-Seeking Sect had announced its terms, and he eagerly asked what they were.

Chen Ning’s tenfold material requirement drew powers from across the Nine Provinces to the Dragon-Seeking Sect, while the sect’s artifact-forging operation prospered. After failing to see through the Jade Slip again, Chen Ning learned that the founding sect leader still considered his cultivation far behind.

• Ling Xiaoyun decided to personally visit the Dragon-Seeking Sect with materials after learning that the Yin-Yang Holy Land, the War Academy, and the Snow God Pavilion had already sent offerings.
• The Heavenly Sea Sect deputy sect master left for Central Province with gifts despite an artifact refiner’s claim that he could forge a Low-Grade Spirit Artifact in five years.
• Wind and Thunder Divine Cult disciples secretly discussed escaping to join the Dragon-Seeking Sect after hearing its inner disciples could receive Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts.
• Shi Tian explained how the Holy Armament Pavilion’s three floors forged different grades of Spirit Artifacts and realized that successful crafting left most of the supplied materials for the Pavilion.
• Chen Ning accepted martial arts scrolls from the Heaven-Praying Hall Master in exchange for a High-Grade Spirit Artifact.
• Chen Ning failed to see through the Jade Slip, and the founding sect leader teased him about the gap between their cultivation.

Chen Ning agreed to join Zhuge Bai at the Hall of Heroic Souls, where soul cultivators from across the Nine Provinces had gathered to help unlock the founder’s ancestral hall and claim the Prajna Ancient Scripture. As they arrived, someone broke a statue’s mental-power restriction before the gathered disciples could finish, prompting an angry demand to know who had taken the reward.

• Chen Ning asked the founding sect master about Hua Luo’s origins, but the old man said he did not know and explained that he had hidden the Jade Slip in the Heaven-Burying Ancient Land so no one would find it.
• Zhuge Bai told Chen Ning that the Hall of Heroic Souls had invited soul cultivators to break the restrictions on its founder’s ancestral hall, with the Prajna Ancient Scripture promised as a reward.
• Chen Ning decided to join the contest, hoping the scripture would help him understand the light in the Jade Slip and resolve Hua Luo’s problem.
• Chen Ning and Hua Luo met Zhuge Bai in Seven Stars City, then traveled with him to the North Wind Region as he described the Hall of Heroic Souls.
• At the Hall of Heroic Souls, a restriction on one of the statues vanished and its blessing descended into the crowd before the disciples working on it could break it.
• A disciple of the Hall of Heroic Souls angrily demanded to know who had broken the statue’s restriction and claimed the reward.

Soul cultivators gathered at the Hall of Heroic Souls to compete for a chance to receive the Prajna Ancient Scripture. After Hall Master Hua Xusheng led them to the ancestral hall, he explained that anyone who broke the founding ancestor’s restriction would be rewarded with the scripture.

• Pei Wen challenged Snake Venerable for taking the fruits of his attempt to break a statue’s restriction, but Song Qingzi silenced him.
• The waiting soul cultivators discussed the Prajna Ancient Scripture and the powerful guests who had gathered to seek it.
• Chen Ning arrived with his companions and noticed that an unknown burly man had soul power exceeding Grandmaster Ge’s.
• Hua Xusheng appeared, greeted the guests, and led them to the ancestral hall.
• Hua Xusheng explained that the guests had to enter the founding ancestor’s restriction with Divine Sense and promised the Prajna Ancient Scripture to whoever broke it.

Chen Ning, Zhuge Bai, and other soul cultivators entered the Hall of Heroic Souls' ancestral hall to seek the Prajna Ancient Scripture, facing soul pressure and the first trial. They reached a swarm of Spiritual Light Jellyfish, which they would have to break through to continue.

• Hua Xusheng assured the gathered cultivators that the ancestral hall was safe and that four Heaven Martial Realm elders would protect their bodies.
• Chen Ning told Hua Luo to guard their bodies in exchange for two divine fruits, then entered the ancestral hall with Zhuge Bai.
• The cultivators struggled against soul pressure created by the Divine Sense of the Hall of Heroic Souls' predecessors, and about a dozen had to withdraw.
• Chen Ning and Zhuge Bai noticed a burly stranger who moved through the soul pressure as easily as Song Qingzi and Snake Venerable.
• Song Qingzi explained that the Spiritual Light Jellyfish ahead formed the next trial and that the group would have to break through their swarm.

Song Qingzi led the remaining soul cultivators through the Spiritual Light Jellyfish to the final trial: a mysterious painting that concealed the Prajna Ancient Scripture. The group learned that the Hall of Heroic Souls had invited cultivators from across the Nine Provinces because it had failed to decipher the painting for ten thousand years.

• A soul cultivator charged into the Spiritual Light Jellyfish and was killed when they exploded around him.
• Zhuge Bai used the Shield of Star Concealment, Snake Venerable sent illusory snakes ahead, and Song Qingzi used spiritual power to make their way through the swarm.
• A burly man endured the jellyfish explosions unharmed, while Chen Ning also passed through without revealing his abilities.
• Song Qingzi led the roughly twenty survivors to a painting made by the founding ancestor ten thousand years earlier and explained that filling its patterns with spiritual power would unlock the Prajna Ancient Scripture.
• The group realized the Hall of Heroic Souls had invited soul cultivators from across the Nine Provinces because it could not unravel the painting on its own.

Chen Ning sensed something suspicious about the Hall of Heroic Souls’ image and urged Zhuge Bai to abandon the Prajna Ancient Scripture, while most of the gathered soul cultivators chose to decipher it. Chen Ning and Zhuge Bai left with the burly man as Song Qingzi began the process.

• Song Qingzi offered each of the gathered soul cultivators one scroll of the Prajna Ancient Scripture if they helped decipher the image, and Snake Venerable agreed to join in.
• Chen Ning warned Zhuge Bai that something was strange and advised him to give up, and Zhuge Bai trusted him and agreed to leave.
• Chen Ning urged Grandmaster Ge to abandon the scripture, but Grandmaster Ge refused and prepared to decipher the patterns.
• Song Qingzi told Chen Ning to leave with Zhuge Bai, and the burly man also chose to give up and follow them.
• Song Qingzi poured spiritual power into the image, lighting up the first pattern as the others began deciphering it.

Chen Ning and Zhuge Bai left the ancient diagram, where Chen Ning agreed to spar with Zhao Jinxiu, a villain of Three Quarters Past Noon. Meanwhile, Hua Xusheng revealed that the diagram was a trap meant to consume powerful divine souls, and he set out to capture Chen Ning and Zhuge Bai after it absorbed the others.

• Zhao Jinxiu revealed that he had come to challenge Chen Ning, and Chen Ning agreed to spar while Zhuge Bai stood guard.
• The soul cultivators at the ancient diagram found they could no longer stop their spiritual power from being drained into it.
• Hua Xusheng appeared and admitted that the Hall of Heroic Souls had lured the soul cultivators into a deadly trap.
• Hua Xusheng told Song Qingzi that the diagram needed powerful divine souls and that he had never planned to spare him.
• The ancient diagram absorbed the gathered divine souls and lit up halfway, while Hua Xusheng lamented that Chen Ning and Zhuge Bai had escaped the trap.
• Hua Xusheng vanished to capture Chen Ning and Zhuge Bai himself.

Zhao Jinxiu unleashed his strongest soul attack against Chen Ning, but Chen Ning absorbed it with the Feipeng Battle Robe and returned it threefold, defeating him. Chen Ning spared Zhao Jinxiu on the condition that he pledge service to the Dragon-Seeking Sect while remaining with Three Quarters Past Noon.

• Zhao Jinxiu ignored the trapped soul cultivators’ questions and challenged Chen Ning to settle their fight.
• Zhao Jinxiu unleashed an ocean-like spiritual power attack that tore through the Spiritual Light Jellyfish swarm.
• Chen Ning used the Feipeng Battle Robe to absorb Zhao Jinxiu’s attack and return it with threefold power, crushing the jellyfish and nearly destroying Zhao Jinxiu’s divine soul.
• Zhao Jinxiu admitted defeat and asked Chen Ning to spare Sister Qiu Shui if he ever fought Three Quarters Past Noon.
• Chen Ning refused to make that promise, spared Zhao Jinxiu, and ordered him to pledge service to the Dragon-Seeking Sect while continuing as a member of Three Quarters Past Noon.

Chen Ning confronted Hua Xusheng, who revealed that the Hall of Heroic Souls planned to kill the gathered soul cultivators and use their souls to decipher the ancient diagram. Chen Ning weakened Hua Xusheng’s soul, while four Heaven Martial Realm experts received orders to destroy Chen Ning’s physical body.

• Chen Ning stopped repairing Zhao Jinxiu’s soul and warned that the Hall of Heroic Souls intended to kill everyone in the secret realm.
• Hua Xusheng arrived, admitted the soul cultivators would die, and named Chen Ning and Zhao Jinxiu as the souls he truly wanted for the ancient diagram.
• Hua Xusheng outlined a false account blaming Zhao Jinxiu for the deaths, but Chen Ning questioned how he could conceal Zhuge Bai’s death from the Star God Palace’s master.
• Hua Xusheng attacked Chen Ning, but Chen Ning’s words unsettled him and caused his soul realm to rapidly weaken.
• Four Heaven Martial Realm experts of the Hall of Heroic Souls received Hua Xusheng’s message ordering them to destroy Chen Ning’s physical body.

Hua Luo trapped the four chief elders in terrifying mental illusions while Chen Ning faced Hua Xusheng inside the ancestral hall's secret realm. Just as Hua Xusheng's chains seemed to leave Chen Ning with no escape, Chen Ning used the eternal fire to burn them and Hua Xusheng's divine soul.

• Hua Luo resisted the four chief elders' mental attacks and trapped each of them in an illusion shaped by his greatest fears.
• Hua Xusheng, whose divine soul had weakened, bound the soul cultivators in the secret realm with pitch-black chains and prepared to crush their divine souls.
• Zhuge Bai broke several chains but was then restrained, leaving Chen Ning surrounded by Hua Xusheng's chains.
• Chen Ning unsettled Hua Xusheng by asking why he had entered the secret realm despite knowing its dangers, then revealed his eternal fire could attack souls.
• The eternal fire burned through the chains and spread across Hua Xusheng's divine soul, leaving him screaming in agony.

Chen Ning destroyed Hua Xusheng and deciphered the ancient diagram with Hua Luo’s spiritual power, obtaining the complete Prajna Ancient Scripture. He returned to the Dragon-Seeking Sect with Hua Luo and Zhuge Bai to prepare for the Nine Provinces Grand Gathering.

• Chen Ning burned away Hua Xusheng’s three fleeing remnant-soul fragments with the Eternal Fire, then opened an exit so the surviving soul cultivators could leave.
• Chen Ning stayed behind to decipher the ancient diagram and asked Zhuge Bai to take Zhao Jinxiu out and tell Hua Luo not to resist his intrusion.
• Chen Ning borrowed Hua Luo’s spiritual power through the Heaven-Stealing Ghost Hand, but the strain nearly shattered his divine soul before the Heaven-Slaying Sword’s red light illuminated the final pattern.
• Chen Ning saw the Crimson Firmament Sword Saint depicted in the diagram and realized that the sword’s remnant soul had left the Heaven-Slaying Sword to help him.
• A golden divine pattern from the diagram merged into Chen Ning’s soul and gave him the complete Prajna Ancient Scripture.
• Chen Ning returned to the Dragon-Seeking Sect with Hua Luo and Zhuge Bai, intending to prepare for the Nine Provinces Grand Gathering.

As the Hall of Heroic Souls faced public condemnation and internal power struggles, Hua Xusheng survived in secret and met with the Asura Divine Lord. Hua agreed to place the Hall under the Asura Divine Sect’s command, while suspecting the alliance had arranged some of the denunciations.

• The Hall of Heroic Souls faced demands for an explanation across the Nine Provinces while its elders fought over power after the hall master’s death.
• Hua Xusheng awakened in a secret chamber, alive only because he had left a strand of his soul behind, and blamed Chen Ning for ruining his plans.
• The Asura Divine Lord told Hua that Chen Ning had obtained the Prajna Ancient Scripture with help from the mysterious person from the Heaven-Burying Ancient Land.
• The Asura Divine Lord offered to protect the Hall and help Hua take revenge in exchange for the Hall joining his alliance against Heavenly Lake.
• After hearing that the Asura Divine Sect had more than one Saint, Hua agreed to follow its orders and promised to restore order in the Hall within one day.
• Hua questioned whether the Asura Divine Lord had arranged the voices calling for the Hall’s punishment, but the Divine Lord evaded the question and left.

Chen Ning prepared for the Nine Provinces faction ranking gathering, accepting Cang Yue’s report before spending the night with her and giving Hua Luo two promised divine fruits. He then arrived at Heavenly Lake as powerful factions from across the Nine Provinces gathered for the event’s opening day.

• Chen Ning cultivated the Prajna Ancient Scripture and strengthened his spiritual power before the ranking gathering began.
• Cang Yue visited Chen Ning to explain the gathering’s procedures, and the two spent the night together.
• Hua Luo revealed she had been watching from the room and received the Longevity Divine Fruit and World-Destroying Divine Fruit from Chen Ning.
• Chen Ning set out for Heavenly Lake, where factions and recluses from across the cultivation world had gathered.
• Attendants announced the arrivals of prominent first-rate factions and then the super factions, drawing the crowd’s attention.

Super factions gathered in Central Province for the Nine Provinces Faction Ranking, with the Dragon-Seeking Sect drawing attention despite arriving without fanfare. Chen Ning greeted old friends and faction leaders, while the gathering’s atmosphere shifted when a powerful wave of battle intent descended.

• The Heavenly Demon Wonder Manor and several other super factions arrived in spectacular fashion, prompting excited discussion about their reputations and Heaven Ranking positions.
• The Yin-Yang Holy Land arrived, and the presence of holy lords Qingfeng and Qinghe stirred the crowd and helped some low-ranked faction members stabilize their realms.
• The Dragon-Seeking Sect arrived quietly aboard a void warship, disappointing onlookers who had expected a grand spectacle.
• Chen Ning exchanged greetings with faction leaders, then reunited with Li Changtian and greeted the Palace Master of Immortal Music Palace, Lan Yuqing, and Shang Qingya.
• A surge of battle intent swept over the gathering, leaving members of weaker factions unsteady and restless.

The Asura Divine Sect directed its killing intent at the Dragon-Seeking Sect, but Chen Ning answered with a terrifying illusion that stunned the assembled forces. The illusion vanished, yet the Asura Divine Sect’s carriage and statues shattered, leaving its experts scattered on the ground.

• The Asura Divine Sect arrived in a blood-red carriage pulled by a statue and overwhelmed weaker forces with its killing intent.
• The Asura Divine Sect focused its killing intent on the Dragon-Seeking Sect, prompting the Yin-Yang Holy Land, Star God Palace, and Li Changtian to prepare to help.
• Chen Ning thanked the would-be helpers and unleashed a vast illusion of calamity, Gods and Devils, and the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s disciples battling them.
• The illusion disappeared, leaving the assembled forces stunned by Chen Ning’s display.
• An Asura Divine Sect expert dismissed the spectacle as an illusion, but the carriage and statues suddenly shattered, scattering the sect’s experts.

Chen Ning humiliated the Asura Divine Sect and gained the respect of other forces before the Nine Provinces Forces Heaven Ranking gathering began. As the gathering opened, a warning revealed that Three Quarters Past Noon planned to appear in full force.

• Chen Ning destroyed the Asura Divine Sect’s treasure, and the Asura Divine Lord restrained his anger when the conical-hatted figure stopped him from acting.
• Cultivators thanked Chen Ning after his illusion reforged their resolve, while the Heavenly Lake Holy Lord and the middle-aged butcher discussed the threat posed by the Asura Divine Sect and the time they needed.
• Chen Ning received Zhao Jinxiu’s warning that Three Quarters Past Noon would turn out in full force at the gathering.
• Mu Tianji opened the grand gathering and announced that the Nine Provinces Forces Heaven Ranking would be remade, then Luo Changhe took charge of the proceedings.

Luo Changhe announced the disciples’ battle across four secret realms, and Chen Ning sent the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s disciples in with an unusual order to spare spirit beasts and attack people instead. In the Starry Sky Realm, Ling Xiaoxiao ignored a Wind and Thunder Divine Cult disciple who tried to block her path, and several of them surrounded her.

• Luo Changhe explained that one hundred disciples aged twenty or younger from each force would hunt spirit beasts and earn points in a realm assigned by their force’s rank.
• Chen Ning encouraged Jun Wuya and told the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s disciples to leave spirit beasts alone and focus on killing people to plunder their beast souls.
• Yan Bao ordered the Asura Divine Sect’s disciples to target and torture Dragon-Seeking Sect disciples in the Starry Sky Realm.
• Ling Xiaoxiao flew through the Starry Sky Realm while ignoring spirit beasts and approached a group of Wind and Thunder Divine Cult disciples fighting a Tyrant Crimson Tiger.
• A Wind and Thunder Divine Cult disciple told Ling Xiaoxiao to go around, but she continued forward, prompting several disciples to surround her.

Ling Xiaoxiao forced her way past Wind and Thunder Divine Cult disciples while the factions in the Starry Sky Realm formed alliances. Yan Bao led an alliance of six factions to attack the gathered Dragon-Seeking Sect disciples, but their first challenger was defeated in one move by an unseen attacker.

• Ling Xiaoxiao tore a Wind and Thunder Divine Cult disciple in half, then made the others let her pass so she could find her fellow disciples.
• Two days passed as the factions formed alliances, and Yan Bao gathered disciples from five factions to target the Dragon-Seeking Sect.
• Yan Bao led more than five hundred allied disciples toward the canyon where the Dragon-Seeking Sect had gathered under Ling Xiaoxiao.
• Zhou Zhuo charged the Dragon-Seeking Sect, but an unseen attacker defeated him in one move.