Chapter Summaries

Ma Liang arrived in Haotian City as the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s chief examiner and found the city reshaped by people trying to imitate his plain appearance and condemn the Great Moon Kingdom. Remembering that his success came from Chu Xinghe, Ma Liang resolved to surprise his senior brother during the recruitment examination.

• The Vast Heaven Holy Land confirmed that Ma Liang would be chief examiner and Chu Xinghe would not come to Haotian City.
• Haotian City’s examination candidates tried to look plain or distinctive, and Zhang Ashui became a celebrated hairstylist by making them uglier.
• Residents circulated books attacking the Great Moon Kingdom’s imperial family and Ling Su, while Ma Liang’s relatives sought help through Bai Jingyan and candidates changed their surnames to avoid being mistaken for Ma Liang’s Lineage.
• Ma Liang entered Haotian City, recalled arriving there with Senior Brother Xinghe, and vowed to give him another enormous surprise during the recruitment.

Ma Liang took charge of recruiting disciples in Haotian City and rejected the top three candidates after learning they had stayed away because they assumed the Vast Heaven Holy Land would turn them down. His decision revived the city’s belief that the Holy Land always rejected its top-ranked candidates, and both the Grand Elder and Chu Xinghe approved.

• Ma Liang arrived at the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s Haotian City courtyard, understood Deacon Yang’s deliberate distinction between welcoming him and welcoming Chu Xinghe, and bowed to Yang.
• Ma Liang declined Yang’s welcoming feast and reviewed booklets listing the top three and top hundred candidates, explaining that past rejections had involved specific problems and that candidates who manipulated their rankings deserved rejection.
• After hearing the top three had not come to Haotian City because they expected to be rejected, Ma Liang marked them rejected for lacking the confidence and temperament required of disciples.
• The courtyard announced Ma Liang’s decision, and rumors spread through Haotian City that the Vast Heaven Holy Land had rejected the top three again.
• The Grand Elder supported Ma Liang’s decision, and Chu Xinghe praised it.

Tantai Jing defended the Demonic Sect against rumors that the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s rejected top three were spies, while the three candidates found themselves barred from every major faction. Deacon Yang explained that their failure to attend the selection test had disqualified them, then sought Ma Liang and was stunned by his recruitment plan.

• Tantai Jing threatened Zhao Dakui after he claimed the top three candidates were Demonic Sect spies, and predicted that fifty-five of Zhao Dakui’s koi would die that night.
• A gang of bandits broke into Zhao Dakui’s home and poisoned exactly fifty-five koi, after which the Purple Gold Sect stripped Zhao Dakui of his elder position.
• The rejected top three tried to join Martial Emperor City, but Zheng Yu turned them away, and other major factions across the Four Continents followed suit.
• The White Spirit Evil Lord also refused to take in the three candidates, leaving them blacklisted by factions throughout the Four Continents.
• Deacon Yang argued that Ma Liang had correctly disqualified the candidates because they had not attended the test, then sought Ma Liang to discuss recruitment and was dumbfounded by his plan.

Ma Liang conducted Vast Heaven Holy Land’s recruitment assessment by testing conventional talents instead of formation ability, despite the plan to recruit formation masters. After the assessment baffled Haotian City and the Grand Elder, Ma Liang completed the recruitment and declared it a success.

• Deacon Yang met with Ma Liang and learned that he planned to recruit formation masters without testing formation talent; he agreed after Ma Liang said Xinghe had approved the plan.
• Vast Heaven Holy Land announced four conventional tests, prompting candidates and other factions to suspect a hidden trick.
• Ma Liang publicly insisted the assessment was normal, but candidates with exceptional formation talent were eliminated if they failed the other tests.
• The Grand Elder challenged Deacon Yang over the assessment, then accepted it after hearing Xinghe had approved and possibly proposed it.
• Ma Liang finished recruiting disciples in Haotian City and considered the candidates a success, noting that some had strong formation talent and that the recruits were talented overall.

Ma Liang’s unconventional recruitment of formation-master disciples sparked confusion and protests across Haotian City, while Bai Yu’s Xinghe Haters’ Group tried to inflame the rejected candidates. Ma Liang followed Deacon Yang’s advice and refused to respond, as Bai Yu claimed to have another plan.

• Ma Liang recruited three thousand disciples based on their general assessment results, despite many having little aptitude for formations, and the published list caused an uproar.
• Bai Yu arrived in Haotian City with the Xinghe Haters’ Group and proposed stirring up rejected candidates with strong formation talent.
• Bai Yu’s subordinates fanned resentment among the candidates, who gathered at the Haotian Courtyard to accuse Ma Liang of unfair recruitment.
• Deacon Yang advised Ma Liang not to respond to the protest, and Ma Liang agreed that Senior Brother Xinghe had likewise never explained his recruitment decisions.
• Bai Yu told his followers to stay calm and promised that he had more ideas.

Bai Yu spread a rumor that Ma Liang had recruited three thousand gifted disciples as test subjects for an unproven formation-training plan, throwing Haotian City and the Four Continents into turmoil. As Ma Liang struggled to answer the disciples’ fears, Chu Xinghe publicly accepted responsibility and promised to protect them if the plan failed.

• Bai Yu spread word that Ma Liang’s three thousand new disciples were being used to test an experimental formation-training path that could waste their cultivation potential.
• The recruits and people across the Four Continents began questioning Ma Liang’s intentions, and the controversy topped the Haotian Mirror’s trending list.
• Ma Liang realized the rumor had turned recruitment into a public crisis, while his new junior brothers and sisters asked whether they were test subjects.
• Chu Xinghe announced that he had approved Ma Liang’s plan to train the recruits as formation masters for at least two years.
• Chu Xinghe promised to refine divine pills for the disciples if the path failed and declared that he would take responsibility for the consequences.

Chu Xinghe publicly defended Ma Liang’s three thousand recruits, expecting the Four Continents to attack him instead, but the recruits interpreted his intervention as a promise to make them his direct disciples and future supernovas. The Haotian Mirror’s users praised Chu Xinghe rather than criticizing him, leaving him frustrated that no one would blast him.

• Chu Xinghe told Shen Chun to ignore Bai Yu’s people stirring up trouble and let Ma Liang’s disastrous recruitment proceed.
• After hearing that the recruits were being called test subjects, Chu Xinghe answered on the Haotian Mirror and invited everyone to direct their criticism at him instead of Ma Liang.
• Bai Yu’s people posted that Chu Xinghe still intended to use the three thousand recruits as test subjects, but the recruits had already begun to trust Chu Xinghe and eagerly anticipated becoming his direct disciples.
• Ma Liang told the recruits that Chu Xinghe had arranged their cultivation paths, and they apologized for doubting Ma Liang and celebrated their prospects.
• The Haotian Mirror’s trending topics praised Chu Xinghe’s plans and the recruits’ futures instead of attacking him, leaving Chu Xinghe longing to be criticized.

Chu Xinghe tried to discourage the elders from adding their friends’ children to his experimental formation-training program, warning that it might fail. Instead, the risk made the families more eager to participate, and Chu Xinghe decided to take in the extra recruits and train four thousand disciples.

• The Grand Elder and the palace elders asked Chu Xinghe to accept more recruits after around a thousand connected families sought places in his program.
• The elders explained that the additional candidates were powerful geniuses, chosen through fierce competitions within their lineages.
• Chu Xinghe realized the recruits were talented in cultivation but ordinary at formations, and that he intended to use the two-year program to consume sect resources before sending them to study normally.
• Chu Xinghe warned the elders that the experiment could fail and that their friends’ children might lose two years of progress.
• The families responded that they still wanted their children to join, and Chu Xinghe agreed to expand the program to four thousand disciples.

Ma Liang brought the newly recruited disciples to Vast Heaven Holy Land, where Chu Xinghe welcomed them with Tribulation-Breaking Pills that temporarily sealed their spiritual power. Chu Xinghe believed the pills would reward the disciples with a major cultivation breakthrough after two years, while Bai Yu expected Chu Xinghe’s plan to fail.

• Ma Liang’s relatives and other influential people sent over a hundred candidates to Haotian City, but none met the minimum exam score, while the Xinghe Haters' Group grew discouraged.
• Bai Yu argued that Chu Xinghe had been forced to improvise and predicted that his plan to train the recruited disciples would backfire.
• Ma Liang arrived at Vast Heaven Holy Land with the three thousand new disciples, and Chu Xinghe greeted them at the mountain gate with three thousand divine pills.
• The new disciples swallowed the pills and discovered that their spiritual power had been sealed, prompting Ma Liang to quiet the commotion.
• Mu Bai explained that the pills were Tribulation-Breaking Pills, which would temporarily restrict cultivation before bringing the disciples a major breakthrough after two years.

Chu Xinghe gave all four thousand new disciples Tribulation-Breaking Pills before leading them to the Formation Spirit Palace to study formations. He joined the White Tiger Holy Venerable and Elder Ling Mou to plan their lessons, but objected when they proposed beginning with theory to conserve resources.

• Chu Xinghe gave Tribulation-Breaking Pills to all four thousand new disciples, claiming the pills would help them recover and surpass the cultivation they would miss during two years of formation study.
• Chu Xinghe led the disciples into the Vast Heaven Holy Land, where the White Tiger Holy Venerable questioned why he had sealed their spiritual power; Chu Xinghe told him to teach formations as usual and said the time had not come to explain.
• Elder He saw the Fate Divinity grow after he cursed it, then arranged to meet the Holy Mother of Wujiang privately to investigate its growth.
• Ma Liang arranged the disciples’ daily needs while Chu Xinghe joined the White Tiger Holy Venerable and Elder Ling Mou to plan their formation lessons.
• Elder Ling Mou proposed teaching theory before practice to conserve resources, and Chu Xinghe objected internally because he wanted the disciples to practice immediately.

Chu Xinghe celebrated as the Formation Spirit Palace’s four thousand new disciples and the Dead Spirit Realm consumed resources, while spirit stones spread across the Four Continents and the Misfortune Compass spun rapidly. Martial Emperor City adopted Zheng Yu’s plan to train its recruits as formation masters, but Chu Xinghe’s celebration ended when the compass suddenly slowed.

• Elder Ling Mou arranged for the Formation Spirit Palace’s four thousand new disciples to study and practice formations, and Chu Xinghe watched the Misfortune Compass spin as they began cultivating.
• Chu Xinghe celebrated the resource consumption and the distribution of forty million spirit stones, convinced that his luck had finally turned bad enough for him to lose.
• Zheng Yu proposed that Martial Emperor City recruit talented disciples without regard to formation aptitude and train them as formation masters, following Ma Liang’s method.
• Cheng Xiaotian and the other leaders agreed to try Zheng Yu’s plan, reasoning that they could switch the disciples to normal cultivation and compensate them with pills if Chu Xinghe’s effort failed.
• Chu Xinghe enjoyed checking on the Dead Spirit Realm, the new disciples, and the Haotian Mirror until he noticed that the Misfortune Compass was spinning more slowly.

Chu Xinghe investigated why the Misfortune Compass had slowed, checking the Dead Spirit Realm, the Formation Spirit Palace, and Ma Liang for trouble. He discovered the Civil Engineering Department blamed him for a flood of resources that had increased its workload, then brought Huang Ritian to confront the Great Elder, who immediately extended Huang Ritian’s confinement by a hundred years.

• Chu Xinghe inspected the Dead Spirit Realm and found that it was consuming resources steadily as instructed.
• Chu Xinghe checked the Formation Spirit Palace and saw that its new disciples were learning formations through ordinary foundational training.
• Chu Xinghe found Ma Liang reprimanding core disciples and confirmed he had not caused any unusual trouble.
• Chu Xinghe entered the Civil Engineering Department, where the disciples glared at him while building treasure vaults at an unexpectedly frantic pace.
• Huang Ritian told Chu Xinghe that the Great Elder had sent resources and credited Chu Xinghe, prompting Chu Xinghe to take him to the Spirit Crane Palace to protest the supposed slander.
• The Great Elder accused Huang Ritian of leaving confinement and extended his sentence by another hundred years.

The Grand Elder explained that the lineages whose disciples joined the Vast Heaven Holy Land had sent resources in return for its help, crediting Chu Xinghe for setting the favors in motion. As word spread that Xinghe had given four thousand formation students Tribulation-Breaking Pills to create temporary bottlenecks, Zheng Yu and others struggled to understand his plan.

• The Grand Elder told Chu Xinghe that the lineages had provided resources through reciprocal favors after sending their disciples to the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Huang Ritian accepted his additional hundred years of confinement, saying that Chu Xinghe did not need to defend him.
• Ma Liang explained that even lineages whose disciples had not been accepted had brought resources when asking elders for help.
• Chu Xinghe reasoned that the resources would not outweigh the cost of supporting the thousand new disciples.
• News spread that Chu Xinghe had given four thousand formation students Tribulation-Breaking Pills to seal their spiritual power and create bottlenecks.
• Zheng Yu heard about the plan and could not understand why Chu Xinghe had used the pills that way.

Chu Xinghe watched four thousand disciples train in the Formation Spirit Palace and realized how costly it was to develop formation masters. After seeing a junior sister scolded for her failures, he demanded gentler, more joyful teaching, but Elder Ling Mou argued that the Vast Heaven Holy Land was already unusually lenient.

• Chu Xinghe realized that formation masters were difficult and expensive to train, and that the Formation Spirit Palace’s resource consumption far exceeded his expectations.
• Chu Xinghe saw a junior sister scolded until she cried after failing to set up a formation more than two hundred times.
• Chu Xinghe asked Elder Ling Mou to tell the Formation Spirit Palace disciples to teach their junior brothers and sisters more gently and focus on joy.
• Elder Ling Mou explained that other powers treated new disciples far more harshly and said the Vast Heaven Holy Land could afford its harmonious atmosphere because of Chu Xinghe’s interventions.
• Chu Xinghe became furious when Elder Ling Mou’s explanation sounded to him like a rebuke.

Chu Xinghe ordered Elder Ling Mou to use happy teaching for the Formation Spirit Palace’s four thousand new disciples and opened their training to spies from across the Four Continents. The spies and other palace members were baffled by the praise and excuses, but the disciples’ formation skills improved rapidly, leaving Elder Ling Mou impressed by Chu Xinghe’s Innate Formation Mastery.

• Chu Xinghe insisted that Elder Ling Mou prioritize the new disciples’ happiness and stop scolding them for failures.
• Elder Ling Mou followed Chu Xinghe’s instructions, and Formation Spirit Palace members praised the disciples and blamed mistakes on things like poor sleep or salty food.
• Hua Xizhong asked whether spies could observe the Formation Spirit Palace, and Chu Xinghe invited them to watch the training freely.
• Spies crowded around the palace and witnessed instructors comforting disciples after repeated formation failures instead of punishing them.
• The new disciples began mastering formations faster under the happy teaching method, astonishing the spies and Elder Ling Mou.

Elder Ling Mou discovered that Chu Xinghe’s joyful teaching method improved the Formation Spirit Palace’s disciples, while Chu Xinghe grew alarmed as the Misfortune Compass slowed and the method spread through the Vast Heaven Holy Land. Other factions struggled to copy the results, and Zheng Yu learned that his master Cheng Xiaotian had advanced to the Mystic God realm and neared Half-Step Main God after topping up.

• Formation Spirit Clan disciples told Elder Ling Mou that joyful teaching had doubled their success rates and greatly accelerated their improvement.
• Chu Xinghe checked the Formation Spirit Palace and Civil Engineering Department, found no obvious reason for the Misfortune Compass to slow, and worried that his advantage was disappearing.
• Shen Chun told Chu Xinghe that the Grand Elder had spread joyful teaching throughout the Vast Heaven Holy Land, where disciples were breaking through in large numbers.
• Other factions adopted joyful teaching but struggled because they lacked the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s resources, and Zheng Yu explained that their poverty made the method unsustainable.
• Cheng Xiaotian told Zheng Yu that joyful teaching had helped him reach the Mystic God realm and approach Half-Step Main God, prompting Zheng Yu to ask about refunds for his master’s accidental top-ups.

Cheng Xiaotian’s breakthrough prompted a promotion banquet, and Chu Xinghe eagerly took charge of preparing an extravagant gift from the Vast Heaven Holy Land. Azure Dragon Sacred Venerable tried to expel Gui Li from the Civil Engineering Department for suggesting a modest gift, but Gui Li proved he had been following Gu Mingchao’s actual instructions.

• Cheng Xiaotian’s breakthrough spread across the Four Continents, and Martial Emperor City prepared a banquet that deliberately excluded Gu Mingchao.
• The Vast Heaven Holy Land ordered its invited elders and disciples to attend, while the Grand Elder defended Cheng Xiaotian’s Haotian Mirror name, Gu Mingchao Is My Defeated Opponent.
• Chu Xinghe volunteered to prepare congratulatory gifts, then rushed to the Civil Engineering Department to announce the news.
• Gui Li suggested sending City Lord Cheng a single inscribed spirit stone and said Gu Mingchao had instructed him to do so.
• Azure Dragon Sacred Venerable accused Gui Li of falsely conveying Gu Mingchao’s orders and sentenced him to leave the Civil Engineering Department.
• Gui Li displayed his Haotian Token and Gu Mingchao’s message confirming the gift instructions, leaving the department’s disciples wailing.

Chu Xinghe and the Civil Engineering Department failed to expel Gui Li after the Holy Lord’s order appeared on the Haotian Token, then competed to take the blame for defying it. After the Great Elder punished the department by withholding resources for a year, Chu Xinghe steered their gift plans away from giving away the Vast Heaven Divine Domain and toward ordinary offerings for City Lord Cheng.

• Chu Xinghe encouraged the Civil Engineering Department to defy the Holy Lord’s order, and its disciples argued over who should be demoted to the outer sect to take responsibility.
• The Great Elder silenced the department and punished everyone by withholding their resources for a year; when Huang Ritian complained, the Great Elder added confinement for talking back.
• After the Great Elder left, Chu Xinghe rallied the department to prepare gifts for City Lord Cheng, hoping to leave Gui Li with nothing to do.
• Azure Dragon Sacred Venerable proposed giving away the Vast Heaven Divine Domain, and the department enthusiastically praised his idea.
• Chu Xinghe warned that the domain belonged to the Beast God and could not safely be given away, then urged everyone to stick to ordinary gifts like divine weapons and spirit stones.

Chu Xinghe brought five hundred carts of valuable gifts from the Vast Heaven Holy Land to Cheng Xiaotian’s promotion banquet, despite Martial Emperor City announcing it would not give return gifts. The lavish gifts prompted the other factions to prepare more, and Zheng Yu concluded that Chu Xinghe had come to support him as a trusted confidant.

• Azure Dragon Sacred Venerable and the Civil Engineering Department backed Chu Xinghe’s plan to avoid mistakes and prepare gifts to give away, while Zheng Yu explained that Martial Emperor City had announced it would give no return gifts because its treasury was depleted.
• Major figures from across the Four Continents arrived for Cheng Xiaotian’s promotion banquet, and Wu Qiushui and Zheng Yu welcomed the guests at Martial Emperor City’s gates.
• White Tiger Holy Venerable set up a teleportation formation for the Vast Heaven Holy Land, whose first elder arrived with its major figures to congratulate Cheng Xiaotian.
• Chu Xinghe ordered Ma Liang to present more than five hundred carts of gifts, rejecting Huang Ritian’s unsuitable betrothal gift lists and insisting they give actual goods instead.
• As Martial Emperor City counted and announced the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s gifts, guests from other factions ordered their subordinates to prepare more valuable gifts.
• Zheng Yu was moved by Chu Xinghe’s gesture and declared himself Chu Xinghe’s third trusted confidant.

Chu Xinghe’s five hundred cartloads of gifts prompted other factions to send more resources to Martial Emperor City, while he remained unconcerned about the chain reaction. As Zheng Yu showed him through the city, onlookers argued over whether Chu Xinghe’s splendid outfit proved the Splendid Faction right about his appearance.

• Zheng Yu welcomed the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s five hundred cartloads of gifts, which encouraged other factions to replace their modest offerings with resources.
• Chu Xinghe stayed calm, reasoning that gifts sent to Martial Emperor City would not affect the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Zheng Yu and Wu Qiushui escorted the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s guests into the inner city, while Zheng Yu led Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang through the outer city.
• Onlookers recognized Chu Xinghe and renewed the dispute between the Splendid Faction and the Plain Faction over how he should look.
• The Splendid Faction pointed to Chu Xinghe’s legendary Spirit God Cloth outfit as proof that he was splendid, then challenged the Plain Faction to respond.