Chapter Summaries

Hua Luo fought Cao Zhang through his repeated regeneration and managed to seal his divine soul, but Cao Zhang broke free of the sealing power and struck her again. The Dragon-Seeking Sect’s defense of the platform remained unresolved as Cao Zhang claimed his immortal body could overcome the seal.

• Cao Zhang used his skeletons and reckless attacks to wound Hua Luo, while regenerating from devastating damage after each clash.
• Chen Ning prepared to leave the mountain to help Hua Luo, but Mu Tianji warned that intervening could get the Dragon-Seeking Sect disqualified.
• Cao Zhang’s strike damaged the platform and barrier, allowing Hua Luo to appear behind him and seal his divine soul with black power.
• The crowd and Luo Changhe believed Hua Luo had defeated Cao Zhang, but Cao Zhang suddenly attacked her again and declared that his immortal body could resist the seal.

Hua Luo stripped Cao Zhang of his immortality and left him dying on the arena, prompting the Asura Divine Lord and his sect to intervene. As Asura Divine Sect experts rushed toward the arena, a butcher wielding a cleaver killed one of them, and Chen Ning recognized him.

• Chen Ning arrived at the arena and told Hua Luo she could come down, while Cao Zhang threatened her and the Asura Divine Lord ordered him to kill her.
• As Cao Zhang charged, Hua Luo grew angry over her bloodied dress and used a terrifying force to drain the white light from his body, making him rapidly age and collapse.
• The Asura Divine Lord rushed to save Cao Zhang, but Luo Changhe and the Heavenly Lake judges tried to prevent him from breaking the arena rules.
• The Asura Divine Lord struck the Heavenly Lake judges aside, and more than ten Asura Divine Sect experts charged toward the arena.
• A red saber light killed one of the advancing experts, and Chen Ning recognized the cleaver-wielding attacker as the butcher who had appeared with the Heavenly Lake Holy Lord.

The Purgatory Slaughter God killed Cao Zhang, while the Yellow Springs Saint appeared and intervened on the Asura Divine Sect’s behalf. Mu Tianji summoned Chen Ning to answer two questions, but first revealed that Heavenly Lake was merely a watchdog.

• The Purgatory Slaughter God stopped the Asura Divine Sect’s experts and killed Cao Zhang, ending his undying streak.
• Chen Ning carried the weakened Hua Luo from the arena as the Asura Divine Lord took the central platform.
• The Yellow Springs Saint emerged from a spatial rift and restrained Luo Changhe, while the Purgatory Slaughter God watched him warily.
• Chu Xuanyuan sent the man in the ghost-face mask away, saying it was time for them to make their move.
• Mu Tianji summoned Chen Ning away from the gathering and offered to answer two questions; he asked what Mu Tianji expected of him and whether the old sect leader was alive.
• Mu Tianji challenged Chen Ning’s view of Heavenly Lake as the world’s overlord, calling it a watchdog.

The Heavenly Lake Holy Lord, Mu Tianji, revealed to Chen Ning that the Nine Provinces was a created world controlled from beyond the heavens, and that the Asura Divine Lord now had support from an outsider. At a gathering, the Asura Divine Lord announced plans to replace Heavenly Lake and lead an alliance to conquer two provinces, until an opposing voice challenged him.

• Mu Tianji told Chen Ning that Saints were not the true limit of cultivation and that the Nine Provinces was a created world under the control of someone beyond the heavens.
• Mu Tianji explained that the Asura Divine Lord had learned the world's secret, which had kept him from retaliating against Chen Ning, and admitted he had used the knowledge as leverage.
• Mu Tianji revealed that the Asura Divine Lord had gained support from a person from beyond the heavens and wanted to take Heavenly Lake's place.
• The Asura Divine Lord declared that Heavenly Lake's authority had ended and that he would oversee the Nine Provinces.
• The Asura Divine Lord announced an alliance and a plan to seize You Province and Desolate Province, but an unnamed speaker condemned the war as harmful to heaven's harmony.

The Asura Divine Sect revealed a second Saint and rallied factions to its alliance, while the Heavenly Lake Holy Lord explained why he stayed hidden and revealed a prophecy about Chen Ning. He left Chen Ning with the knowledge that the powers beyond the heavens suppressed the Nine Provinces and that Chen Ning was its only chance.

• The Asura Divine Lord threatened factions that refused to join his alliance, and several superpowers declared their support for it.
• The Asura Divine Lord summoned the Spear Saint, revealing that the Asura Divine Sect had two Saints and alarming the Yin-Yang Holy Land.
• The Heavenly Lake Holy Lord told Chen Ning he stayed hidden because an envoy from beyond the heavens backed the Asura Divine Sect, and explained that killing the envoy would be extremely difficult.
• The Heavenly Lake Holy Lord revealed that a prophecy named Chen Ning the Nine Provinces' only chance and said the powers beyond the heavens imposed a Saint barrier and used lightning tribulations to suppress gifted figures.
• Chen Ning realized that restrictions from beyond the heavens also explained the danger of refining pills above the immortal grade and the decline of artifact refining, and the Heavenly Lake Holy Lord confirmed his inference.

The Heavenly Lake Holy Lord revealed that Heavenly Lake had long worked to break the barrier imposed on the Nine Provinces and believed Chen Ning had the best chance of succeeding. Meanwhile, the Asura Divine Lord tried to seize Cang Yue’s power at the gathering, but the Purgatory Slaughter God intervened and fought the Spear Saint until an unknown figure stopped the Saint’s killing strike.

• The Heavenly Lake Holy Lord told Chen Ning that Heavenly Lake’s ancestors had spent generations seeking to break the barrier, and that the Crimson Firmament Sword Saint had once tried and failed.
• The Heavenly Lake Holy Lord revealed that the founding sect master of the Dragon-Seeking Sect had once broken through the barrier and gone beyond the heavens.
• The Asura Divine Lord ended the gathering and demanded that Cang Yue hand over the Dragon-Seeking Sect fairy’s powers for the alliance.
• Cang Yue refused, and the Asura Divine Lord sent Heaven Martial Realm experts to seize the fairy, but the Purgatory Slaughter God stepped in and killed one of them.
• The Spear Saint attacked the Purgatory Slaughter God, overpowering his meat cleaver and then hurling his spear to kill him.
• A streak of chaos-colored light struck the spear, broke its head, and made the Spear Saint stare in terror at the newcomer.

Wangyou Saint intervened to protect the Yin-Yang Holy Land, triggering a clash with Yellow Springs Saint while the Spear Saint fought the butcher. As the alliance moved to destroy the Holy Land and the Asura Divine Sect targeted the Dragon-Seeking Sect, several powers came to its aid and a massive battle erupted, leaving Cang Yue facing an overwhelming enemy.

• Wangyou Saint asked the Asura Divine Lord to spare Hua Luo, but the divine envoy ordered the alliance to destroy the Yin-Yang Holy Land.
• Yellow Springs Saint fought Wangyou Saint, while the butcher confronted the Spear Saint.
• Cang Yue prepared the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s disciples to escape with talismans as the Asura Divine Sect closed in.
• Heavenly Venerable Minghua, the old palace master, and Li Changtian arrived to support the Dragon-Seeking Sect.
• The alliance’s forces clashed with the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s allies, and an Asura Divine Sect Celestial Person shattered Cang Yue’s fire phoenix with a thunderous attack.

Li Changtian and the Dragon-Seeking Sect’s defenders struggled against the Asura Divine Sect until Chen Ning returned and killed Sword Heavenly Venerable and Giant Spirit Venerable. Chen Ning then attacked Crow Heavenly Venerable, leaving him wounded and unable to harm Chen Ning, while the wider battle remained unresolved.

• Li Changtian fought four Heaven Martial Realm Seventh Layer experts while the Bear King, Monkey King, Cang Yue, and Meng Yuyi battled other Asura Divine Sect Celestial Persons.
• Sword Heavenly Venerable overwhelmed Meng Yuyi and moved to seize Moon-Slaying, but Chen Ning appeared and killed him with Sword Intent.
• Chen Ning burned Giant Spirit Venerable to nothing with one punch, terrifying the Asura Divine Sect’s experts.
• Chen Ning attacked Crow Heavenly Venerable and pierced his chest with Sword Intent after evading his thunder strike.
• Crow Heavenly Venerable’s lightning struck Chen Ning, but silver armor appeared and absorbed it, leaving Crow Heavenly Venerable at a disadvantage.

Chen Ning joined the battle, trapping Crow Heavenly Venerable and using his stolen bones to turn the tide against the Asura Divine Sect. The Beyond the Heavens envoy recognized that someone had hidden Chen Ning from their watch and revealed that the old sect leader was imprisoned, leaving Chen Ning determined to kill the envoy.

• Chen Ning pierced Crow Heavenly Venerable with Unyielding Sword Intent and sealed the area with the Heaven-Sealing Instruction when Crow tried to escape.
• Chen Ning tore off Crow Heavenly Venerable's arm, thigh bone, and breastbone with the Power of Plunder and sent them into the battlefield, where they helped Old Eight, Bear King, and Monkey King kill and overwhelm their opponents.
• Chen Ning repelled the Asura Divine Sect's attacks with the Feipeng Battle Robe, reflecting their force and killing three Celestial Persons while gravely wounding the others.
• The Beyond the Heavens envoy concluded that someone had hidden Chen Ning from their notice and suspected Heavenly Lake of betraying Beyond the Heavens.
• The envoy said the old sect leader was from the Dragon-Seeking Sect and would soon be reunited with Chen Ning, prompting Chen Ning to recall that the old sect leader had been imprisoned to protect the Nine Provinces Realm's prophesied hope.
• Chen Ning resolved to kill the Beyond the Heavens envoy in the Nine Provinces Realm.

The Divine Envoy fought Chen Ning, while the Asura Divine Lord held off Qingfeng and Qinghe. Huan Wuyan and other members of Three Quarters Past Noon appeared across the battlefield, displaying strange abilities and defenses that even Celestial Persons could not overcome.

• The Divine Envoy attacked Chen Ning with one finger, but Chen Ning used the Power of the Void to evade him and then failed to sway him with the Immoral Scripture.
• Qingfeng and Qinghe joined the fight, and the Asura Divine Lord confronted both Holy Lords of the Yin-Yang Holy Land.
• Huan Wuyan appeared and killed the Martial Venerable who identified him by making his body explode into bloody mist.
• Zhao Jinxiu and Yin Qiu Shui disrupted the southeastern battlefield, causing cultivators to attack one another until a Celestial Person from the Hall of Heroic Souls broke their bewitchment.
• Yi Two attacked cultivators in the northwest with boulder-tipped vines and grew stronger when Earth Martial Realm experts struck him.
• More members of Three Quarters Past Noon appeared, and their mysterious defenses left even Celestial Persons unable to harm them.

Three Quarters Past Noon revealed that the Nine Mysteries Killing Formation made its members immune to attacks and announced that they had come to kill the divine envoy from beyond the heavens. As the battle resumed, Chen Ning ran into Bai Cangtian and taunted him as his defeated foe.

• Xiao Qian called the factions to regroup, and Huan Wuyan explained that the Nine Mysteries Killing Formation used their killing intent and Blood Qi to protect Three Quarters Past Noon.
• Huan Wuyan said Three Quarters Past Noon had come to kill the divine envoy, who refused the Asura Divine Lord’s offer to escort him out of the formation.
• Wangyou Saint kept Yellow Springs Saint from leaving their fight, while the Spear Saint continued battling Purgatory Slaughter God.
• More than a hundred members of Three Quarters Past Noon charged the divine envoy as Asura Divine Sect’s experts tried to stop them.
• Bai Cangtian greeted Chen Ning, who called him his defeated foe and made his expression sour with the Immoral Scripture’s amplification.

At the Medicine King Valley gathering, Chen Ning killed Bai Cangtian despite the Nine Mysteries Killing Formation, revealing that the formation did not affect him. As Three Quarters Past Noon attacked the divine envoy from Beyond the Heavens, the envoy summoned five powerful puppets that turned the battle against them.

• Bai Cangtian took an immortal pill to temporarily reach the Heavenly Martial Realm and challenged Chen Ning to settle his heart demon.
• Chen Ning killed Bai Cangtian with Eternal Fire and took his spatial ring, shocking the members of Three Quarters Past Noon.
• Huan Wuyan realized Chen Ning was unaffected by the Nine Mysteries Killing Formation and asked him to join forces against the divine envoy, but Chen Ning refused to go first.
• The divine envoy from Beyond the Heavens countered Zhao Jinxiu's spiritual power attack and revealed that Zhao's soul cultivation method came from Beyond the Heavens.
• The divine envoy summoned five Heavenly Martial Realm puppets, which killed one member of Three Quarters Past Noon and began slaughtering the attackers.
• Huan Wuyan prepared to enter the fight as the puppets overwhelmed Three Quarters Past Noon.

Huan Wuyan fought the divine envoy from Beyond the Heavens, but the envoy’s living black markings overwhelmed him and the other members of Three Quarters Past Noon. After the envoy challenged Chen Ning to resist, Chen Ning answered confidently, and the envoy insisted that only a Saint could defeat him.

• Huan Wuyan used an Essence-Breaking Pill to reach the Heaven Martial Realm Sixth Layer and destroyed two puppets, while the others struggled against the remaining three.
• Huan Wuyan attacked the divine envoy, whose black facial markings dissolved his arm and broke free of the Nine Mysteries Killing Formation.
• Huan Wuyan raised his cultivation to the Heaven Martial Realm Eighth Layer and charged the envoy, but the black markings absorbed his strength and threatened his life.
• The envoy sent the markings after Three Quarters Past Noon members who rushed to save Huan Wuyan, and Chen Ning assessed the envoy’s powers as methods from Beyond the Heavens.
• The envoy challenged Chen Ning to resist him, and Chen Ning replied that the envoy might lose; the envoy declared that only a Saint could defeat him.

Chen Ning activated the Supreme Immortal-Slaying Grand Formation and killed the Divine Envoy from Beyond the Heavens. As the factions fought over the envoy’s belongings, Chu Xuanyuan arrived, but the black spatial bag swallowed him and flew into Chen Ning’s hand.

• Chen Ning destroyed the three blade-wielding puppets with his Unyielding Sword Intent.
• Chen Ning activated the Supreme Immortal-Slaying Grand Formation, which stripped away the Divine Envoy’s power and trapped him.
• The Divine Envoy begged for mercy and threatened the Nine Provinces Realm, but Chen Ning killed him with the formation.
• The Asura Divine Lord and the two Holy Lords of the Yin-Yang Holy Land fought over the Divine Envoy’s black spatial bag as the formation dimmed.
• Chu Xuanyuan arrived, trapped Chen Ning’s Fire God Seal with a pagoda, and tried to claim the bag.
• The black spatial bag swallowed Chu Xuanyuan and flew into Chen Ning’s hand.

Chen Ning used the black spatial pouch to trap Chu Xuanyuan and revealed that he could control powerful treasures, while the Heavenly Lake Holy Lord arrived and crushed the Spear Saint. The Yellow Springs Saint urged an end to the fighting, and the Asura Divine Lord was ordered to disband the alliance.

• Chen Ning explained that he had used the Prajna Ancient Scripture to take control of the black spatial pouch and trap Chu Xuanyuan.
• The Asura Divine Lord demanded that Chen Ning surrender, but Chen Ning challenged him to destroy the divine envoy's relic first.
• The butcher fell from the sky badly wounded after fighting the Spear Saint, leaving the Spear Saint free to attack Chen Ning.
• The Heavenly Lake Holy Lord arrived, broke the Spear Saint's spear, and pressed him flat against the ground.
• The Yellow Springs Saint and Wangyou Saint intervened, and the Yellow Springs Saint ordered the Asura Divine Lord to disband the alliance.

Yellow Springs Saint agreed to disband the alliance and cede two Central Province regions to Heavenly Lake, while Heavenly Lake Holy Lord let the Asura Divine Sect leave. Chen Ning stayed at Heavenly Lake to study the spatial bag and learned more about Three Quarters Past Noon, which Chu Xuanyuan had founded less than a thousand years earlier.

• Yellow Springs Saint swore never to reconvene the alliance and agreed to give Heavenly Lake the Western Heaven and Liyang regions.
• Heavenly Lake Holy Lord freed Spear Saint, and the Asura Divine Sect and other powers departed, leaving the alliance’s former members anxious about possible reprisals.
• Heavenly Lake Holy Lord asked Chen Ning to stay in seclusion and study the spatial bag, whose artifact spirit had confined Chu Xuanyuan.
• Chen Ning asked about Three Quarters Past Noon, and Heavenly Lake Holy Lord explained that Chu Xuanyuan founded it as a gathering of desperadoes before it drew Central Province’s attention through its lawless actions and mysterious methods.

After the Heavenly Lake Holy Lord explained Three Quarters Past Noon and Beyond the Heavens, Chen Ning examined the dead emissary’s spatial bag and discovered an enormous store of rare resources, including Chaos Fish Kings and an Aperture-Breaking Saint-Connecting Golden Pill. He left the unknown treasures to investigate later and planned to visit the powers that had opposed the Dragon-Seeking Sect.

• Chen Ning learned that Chu Xuanyuan founded Three Quarters Past Noon and suspected he had come from Beyond the Heavens.
• The Heavenly Lake Holy Lord assured Chen Ning that Heavenly Lake would handle the emissary’s death and that Beyond the Heavens would not want the Nine Provinces Realm destroyed.
• Chen Ning searched the emissary’s spatial bag and found Origin Stones, Saint-Replenishing Stones, more than a thousand Chaos Fish, and three Chaos Fish Kings.
• Chen Ning identified two Earth Element fish kings and one Fire Element fish king, and resolved to share ordinary Chaos Fish with the powers that had aided the Dragon-Seeking Sect.
• Chen Ning found divine fruits and valuable artifact-refining materials, but was disappointed by the bag’s pills except for one Heaven-Envied Pill that could advance a Ninth Level Heaven Martial Realm cultivator to the Saint realm.
• Chen Ning wondered whether Heaven-Envied Pills represented the pinnacle of alchemy and decided to examine the unfamiliar treasures using the Prajna Ancient Scripture.

Chen Ning examined the envoy from Beyond the Heavens’ treasures and found the God-tier Blessing of the God of Darkness, which could awaken a Darkness Divine Mark. After ten days of cultivation, he gained new powers and prepared to meet Chu Xuanyuan.

• Chen Ning used the Prajna Ancient Scripture to identify rare treasures, including Phoenix Essence Blood, Great Dao Soil, Black Silk Wood, and an unknown key.
• Chen Ning discovered martial arts manuals taken from the envoy from Beyond the Heavens, including several peak-grade heaven-tier techniques and the God-tier Blessing of the God of Darkness.
• Chen Ning learned that the Darkness Divine Mark enhanced strength, cultivation speed, and martial arts, and decided to cultivate it.
• After ten days in the small courtyard, Chen Ning comprehended the Great Dao of Earth and the Great Dao of Flames through the two Chaos Fish Kings, bringing his total to six Great Daos.
• Chen Ning awakened a Darkness Divine Mark on his palm and found that his punch had become more than twice as powerful.
• Chen Ning decided it was time to meet Chu Xuanyuan.

Chen Ning subdued Chu Xuanyuan in the spatial bag and then used the Prajna Ancient Scripture to see through the Jade Slip’s light. He learned that it showed the Shattered Star Realm, a war-torn world under Beyond the Heavens’ control, and the founder warned that it could not hold out much longer.

• Chen Ning overwhelmed Chu Xuanyuan with soul pressure and left him trapped, deciding to delay questioning him.
• Chen Ning entered the Jade Slip and used the Prajna Ancient Scripture to see the world behind its light.
• Chen Ning told the founding sect leader how he had killed the Beyond the Heavens emissary and helped Heavenly Lake reclaim its rule.
• The founder revealed that his memories ended before he crossed the world barrier, so he knew nothing firsthand about Beyond the Heavens.
• The founder identified the vision as the Shattered Star Realm and explained that it bordered the Nine Provinces Realm and was controlled by Beyond the Heavens.
• The founder warned Chen Ning that the Shattered Star Realm was nearing collapse amid its widespread devastation and fighting.

Chen Ning learned that the Heavenly Lake Secret Realm was a passage linking the Nine Provinces Realm to the abandoned Shattered Star Realm, whose people were preparing to invade. As he left to warn the Heavenly Lake Holy Lord, the Shattered Star Realm opened the passage ahead of schedule, setting the invasion in motion.

• The founding sect master told Chen Ning that Beyond the Heavens had drained and abandoned the Shattered Star Realm, and its people might invade the Nine Provinces Realm through the Heavenly Lake Secret Realm.
• The founder explained that Saints had once stopped a Shattered Star Realm invasion, after which Beyond the Heavens began killing Nine Provinces prodigies to maintain its rule.
• The founder's wisp dissipated after asking Chen Ning to weather the coming calamity, and Chen Ning left the Jade Slip to find the Heavenly Lake Holy Lord.
• News of the grand gathering spread across the Nine Provinces, where the Dragon-Seeking Sect's rise and the name Beyond the Heavens stirred widespread shock and speculation.
• In the Shattered Star Realm, the Holy Venerable and other experts opened the passage to the Nine Provinces Realm ahead of its usual schedule.