Chapter Summaries

Jiang Sheng lent his body to the Wrongful Death Heavenly Son, who met Yu Ming of the Penglai Dao Sect and received the Bright King Sarira as thanks. The chapter then showed the fallout from Yu Ming’s battle with the World-Pacifying Wheel-Turning Wisdom King and left Li Yan and Huang Yu worrying about Yuchen’s disappearance.

• Jiang Sheng agreed to let the Wrongful Death Heavenly Son occupy his body for the final days before the City of Unjust Death sank into the Netherworld.
• Yu Ming visited the Wrongful Death Heavenly Son, thanked him for protecting Lingyuan, and offered him the Bright King Sarira.
• Yu Ming’s victory over the World-Pacifying Wheel-Turning Wisdom King became known, while Sun Xing recognized the vast power gap between himself and the holy lands’ True Lords.
• Zhu Jiu learned that Master Jue Kong had left with a Daoist priest, and Li Yan and Huang Yu wondered whether Yuchen would return.

Jiang Sheng escaped the collapsing City of Unjust Death after the Wrongful Death Heavenly Son taught him about Dharma Images and left him a piece of ancient yellow jade. He met Zhu Jiu, King Ming, and demanded that the Ming Kingdom replace Buddhism with the Daoist Tradition, leaving Zhu Jiu free to decide what to do beyond that.

• The Wrongful Death Heavenly Son explained how a Dharma Image formed and gave Jiang Sheng ancient yellow jade before entering reincarnation.
• Jiang Sheng escaped as the City of Unjust Death sank into the Netherworld and emerged from the collapsing secret realm at Vulture Ridge.
• Jiang Sheng went to the Ming Kingdom and met Zhu Jiu, who had been waiting for him and suspected that Jue Kong had lost.
• Jiang Sheng told Zhu Jiu that Penglai would allow him to rule as he wished but would not permit the Ming Kingdom to follow Buddhism.
• Zhu Jiu said he had no plans to conquer the world, and Jiang Sheng told him that Penglai would not interfere with his choices beyond its religious boundary.

Jiang Sheng settled on Rosy Cloud Mountain to refine the Divine Path power within him and prepare for Scarlet Cloud True Lord’s Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly. After more than three years of secluded cultivation, he had greatly improved his control over wind, thunder, water, and fire, while Li Yan set out for Southern Yue and Jiang Sheng sensed that Huang Yu concealed secrets.

• Zhu Jiu asked Jiang Sheng to take his son to the Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly, and Jiang Sheng agreed if he emerged from secluded cultivation in time.
• Zhu Jiu offered Jiang Sheng Rosy Cloud Mountain, then declared Daoism the Ming Kingdom’s state religion and ordered the suppression of the Ming Cult.
• Li Yan and Huang Yu visited Jiang Sheng, who connected the phrase “Southern Ming, flowing fire” to Scarlet Cloud True Lord’s assembly; Li Yan decided to travel to Southern Yue.
• After Li Yan and Huang Yu departed, Jiang Sheng sensed a murky aura around Huang Yu, sealed Rosy Cloud Mountain, and began refining the Divine Path power within him.
• Over three years of cultivation, Jiang Sheng refined the residual divine power and practiced wind, thunder, water, and fire, developing a smoother sword formation and three kinds of true thunder.

After eleven years of seclusion on Rosy Cloud Mountain, Jiang Sheng completed the first draft of his Four Symbols sword treatise and reached the late Golden Core Realm. He traveled toward the Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly, killed several attackers along the way, and joined Qian Yushan’s Dharma Boat, where he met three Southern Frontier cultivators.

• Jiang Sheng spent years integrating wind, thunder, water, fire, and earth into his own Dao, then completed and titled Daoist Yuchen's Four Symbols Sword Scripture Canon.
• Jiang Sheng emerged from eleven years of seclusion in the year 39,957, and Zhu Jiu learned that he was nearing perfection in the Golden Core Realm.
• Jiang Sheng traveled south toward the Cloudbound Mountains and killed the Six Ghosts of Cloud Pool when they tried to involve him in their fight.
• Jiang Sheng continued toward Southern Yue, defeating threats on the road, including a Nascent Soul Realm sky eagle, with his sword.
• Qian Yushan invited Jiang Sheng aboard his Dharma Boat, where Jiang Sheng met Han Jun, Fairy Miao Yu, and Duan Changhe.

Qian Yushan revealed that Scarlet Cloud True Lord’s Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly would test cooperation under the theme “Ascending to Immortality,” and Jiang Sheng resolved to compete for a listening seat. At Dan Ying Grotto-Heaven, Scarlet Cloud True Lord announced that the first-place prize would be Heaven-Clearing Qi.

• Miao Yu and Duan Changhe pressed Qian Yushan to explain why he had invited them onto his flying shuttle.
• Qian Yushan said the upcoming Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly was especially important before the Ten-Thousand-Year Tribulation and revealed its theme: “Ascending to Immortality.”
• Qian Yushan proposed that the group cooperate to secure a listening seat, and Jiang Sheng decided he would adapt to the assembly’s arrangements and claim one.
• A handsome young man warned Scarlet Cloud True Lord that the Divine Path might become involved in the coming tribulation and invited her to Azure Firmament Star.
• Scarlet Cloud True Lord formed Heaven-Clearing Qi and declared it the prize for first place in the Dharma Assembly.

Jiang Sheng and his companions arrived in Southern Yue and secured an expensive top-grade cave dwelling on Langya Mountain in Night Lang City. As they began exploring the city, Yin Yuque approached Jiang Sheng and invited him to visit the Exquisite Treasures Pavilion.

• The Hundred Treasures Flying Shuttle reached Cloudbound Mountains, and the group passed through the jade palace into Southern Yue.
• Qian Yushan guided the group to Night Lang City, where Yin Yuque mocked his flying shuttle and offered the others top-grade cave dwellings on Langya Mountain.
• Qian Yushan rented one of the few remaining top-grade cave dwellings for three years, and Jiang Sheng and the others chose their residences.
• After the group agreed to stay in touch, Jiang Sheng left the cave dwelling and encountered Yin Yuque, who invited him to the Exquisite Treasures Pavilion.

As the Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly began, Jiang Sheng entered Scarlet Cloud True Lord’s secret realm with Qian Yushan and the others. The assembly’s challenge was to climb Heaven-Piercing Peak and claim one of the Cloud Palace’s three hundred and sixty meditation cushions, while first prize was a wisp of heaven-clearing qi.

• Yin Yuque learned that Jiang Sheng had killed a Nascent Soul Realm demon and regretted that Jiang Sheng had joined Qian Yushan’s side.
• Yin Yuque visited Li Yushu and met her guests Li Yan and Huang Yu, but Li Yushu withheld information about the coming assembly.
• As the assembly neared, Jiang Sheng, Miao Yu, Qian Yushan, Han Jun, and Duan Changhe spent three years cultivating in seclusion.
• Scarlet Cloud True Lord opened eight gates into a secret realm and announced that participants under five hundred years of age could enter.
• Jiang Sheng followed Qian Yushan through a gate and arrived among more than a hundred thousand cultivators in the mountain realm.
• Scarlet Cloud True Lord announced that participants must climb Heaven-Piercing Peak to reach the Cloud Palace, and Jiang Sheng resolved to win the heaven-clearing qi awarded to first place.

Jiang Sheng and Qian Yushan’s group fought their way up the Flying Immortal Terraces while Yin Yuque sent assassins after them. As Yin Yuque’s larger force closed in, Jiang Sheng agreed to stay behind and hold them off so the others could reach the fifth level.

• Scarlet Cloud True Lord suppressed everyone’s cultivation within the secret realm to the power of the late Purple Mansion Realm, and competitors raced to claim the Flying Immortal Terraces.
• Jiang Sheng, Qian Yushan, Han Jun, Miao Yu, and Duan Changhe climbed through the first levels, where Miao Yu’s Gu insects and Duan Changhe’s Sword Pellet killed five Ghost-Slaying Sect assassins sent by Yin Yuque.
• The group continued upward, drawing attention from spectators in Night Lang City as they passed the third level and approached the fifth.
• Yin Yuque and more than a dozen allies pursued them on three Flying Immortal Terraces, prompting Qian Yushan to ask Jiang Sheng to hold them back.
• Jiang Sheng agreed to face Yin Yuque’s group alone while Qian Yushan and the others continued to the fifth level.

Jiang Sheng stopped Yin Yuque’s group on Heaven-Piercing Peak’s fourth level and killed twelve late Golden Core cultivators with his sword. He then fought Yin Yuque and Tie Lie, leaving Yin Yuque trapped in a thunder pool as his protective treasure broke, while the Yin Family vowed revenge.

• Yin Yuque sent twelve late Golden Core cultivators to attack Jiang Sheng, who destroyed their spells and killed all twelve in fewer than twelve breaths.
• Jiang Sheng refused Yin Yuque’s offer to negotiate and shredded the ghost dragon and zhen bird Yin Yuque summoned.
• Tie Lie grew into a towering copper-and-iron giant to hold Jiang Sheng back while Yin Yuque tried to flee toward the fifth level.
• Jiang Sheng combined his four sword rainbows to strike Tie Lie and unleashed three-colored true thunder at Yin Yuque.
• Yin Yuque’s Golden Radiance Jade shattered while shielding him from Jiang Sheng’s thunder, and the Yin Family’s cultivators vowed to capture and cripple Jiang Sheng.

Jiang Sheng killed Tie Lie and Yin Yuque on the fourth level of Heaven-Piercing Peak, then advanced to the fifth level. When several groups tried to recruit him and turned on him after he refused, Jiang Sheng destroyed them with thunder and Astral Wind.

• Jiang Sheng pierced Tie Lie with his four-colored sword rainbow, blocked Tie Lie's flames and Yin Yuque's dagger with Autumn Water Untainted by Dust, then killed Yin Yuque with a net of sword threads.
• Jiang Sheng collected two golden points of light from where Yin Yuque fell and ascended to the fifth level, where Qian Yushan watched him arrive safely.
• Jiang Sheng saw fierce battles among cultivators competing for Flying Immortal Terraces as he advanced alone through the fifth level.
• Li Fengyun and cultivators on several Flying Immortal Terraces tried to recruit Jiang Sheng, then attacked when he refused.
• Jiang Sheng unleashed three-colored True Thunder and four-colored Astral Winds, annihilating the cultivators on three Flying Immortal Terraces before leaving.

Jiang Sheng entered the seventh level of Heaven-Piercing Peak alone and faced a flock of Yingdan, ancient spirits of wind and thunder. After their lightning attack failed to harm him, he countered with Ren Water True Thunder and Bing Fire True Thunder.

• Scarlet Cloud True Lord predicted that Jiang Sheng would place in the top ten and claimed one of the Cloud Palace seats would be his.
• Jiang Sheng declined Li Yushu and Qian Yushan’s invitations to join their groups, then entered the seventh level alone.
• Li Yushu and Qian Yushan agreed to join forces and seek second or third place as the Flying Immortal Platforms rose through the dangerous seventh level.
• Jiang Sheng sensed a living presence in the wind and thunder and saw a dozen Yingdan emerge to surround him.
• The Yingdan bombarded Jiang Sheng’s platform with lightning, but he emerged unharmed and retaliated with Ren Water True Thunder and Bing Fire True Thunder.

Jiang Sheng drove off the Yingdan with a sword strike and faced the seventh layer’s true challenge, a Spirit Transformation Kui Ox. By drawing on the layer’s wind, thunder, water, and fire, he met its attack and advanced to the eighth layer.

• Ji Shifeng and the disciples of Hidden Dragon Cave, Cai Sisi and the Xingyue Sect disciples, and Zhang Yunlei’s group fought the Yingdan with formations and combined techniques.
• Jiang Sheng cleaved through the thunderclouds, killed three Yingdan, and frightened the flock into fleeing before continuing upward.
• Jiang Sheng sensed a new threat and discovered a Spirit Transformation Kui Ox guarding the seventh layer.
• The Kui Ox attacked Jiang Sheng with wind, rain, and a thunder dragon, and Jiang Sheng answered with a four-colored sword ray that cleared the skies.
• The Kui Ox departed, and Jiang Sheng’s Flying Immortal Terrace rose toward the eighth layer.

Jiang Sheng entered the eighth level’s vast water-and-fire Eight Trigrams Formation and found the Kan water position by sensing the elements, while the other factions fought the Kui Ox on the seventh level. Li Yushu, Qian Yushan, and their companions reached the maze formation with only seven survivors and prepared to use Miao Yu’s gu insects to find their bearings.

• Jiang Sheng entered the eighth level, recognized that its entire expanse was an Eight Trigrams Formation, and sat down to sense heaven and earth.
• Cai Sisi led the Xingyue Sect’s separate fight against the Kui Ox, exhausted her power to cancel its thunder pool, and brought her group safely to the eighth level.
• Li Yushu and Qian Yushan joined forces against the Kui Ox, while their companions helped fend off its lightning attacks and lightning sparrows.
• Jiang Sheng followed the water and fire essences into the depths, ignored a false glimmer, found the Kan water position, and left a magical beacon there.
• Li Yushu, Qian Yushan, and their companions arrived on the eighth level with seven people remaining, and Qian Yushan proposed using Miao Yu’s gu insects to map the formation.

Jiang Sheng and the other cultivators joined forces to defeat the Eight Trigrams maze’s manifestations and reveal its central palace. They advanced to the ninth level, where Jiang Sheng found himself in a vast star-filled expanse.

• Jiang Sheng, Ji Shifeng, Cai Sisi, and the others realized the maze’s shifting palaces required cooperation, so they divided the eight positions and set out to defeat their manifestations.
• Jiang Sheng destroyed the Kui Ox at Zhen, while Cai Sisi defeated the Kun Fish, Zhang Yunlei and Ji Shifeng claimed their targets, and Jiang Sheng helped Li Yan defeat the white tiger at Dui.
• The cultivators returned with the manifestations’ symbolic objects and used them to open the central palace, revealing five Flying Immortal Terraces.
• Ji Shifeng’s, Zhang Yunlei’s, and Cai Sisi’s groups claimed three terraces, Li Yushu and Qian Yushan shared another, and Jiang Sheng took the last.
• Jiang Sheng reached the ninth level and saw countless enormous meteoric stars suspended in a silent expanse.

On the ninth level of the Heaven-Through Mystic Realm, Jiang Sheng faced a coalition of Southern Frontier cultivators who wanted to keep him from claiming first place and the Heavenly Clear Qi. He broke through their attacks, but the five pursuers surrounded him again as he prepared to unleash four elemental sword auras.

• The five groups reached the ninth level, where Cai Sisi and Ji Shifeng separately told their allies to hold back rival factions.
• Ji Shifeng, Zhang Yunlei, and Cai Sisi urged Li Yushu and Qian Yushan to join them in stopping Yuchen from taking first place; Han Jun and Duan Changhe agreed, while Li Yushu and Qian Yushan declined.
• Miao Yu refused to pursue Yuchen because her Gu insects feared him, but Li Yan and Huang Yu followed the attackers to help him.
• Ji Shifeng, Zhang Yunlei, Cai Sisi, Han Jun, and Duan Changhe attacked Jiang Sheng as he tried to reach the first meteor star, but his Dharma bells and sword techniques countered their spells.
• Jiang Sheng escaped their first assault and destroyed Cai Sisi's Star-Breaking Bolt with his sword light, but the five surrounded him again and threatened him.
• Jiang Sheng summoned four streams of sword aura representing wind, thunder, water, and fire.

Jiang Sheng used his Four Symbols sword formation to defeat five rivals and secure first place in the Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly. As he climbed the meteors, the others resumed fighting over the remaining spots, and Huang Yu urged Li Yan to continue upward while he held them off.

• Jiang Sheng formed a sword array of wind, thunder, water, and fire, then shattered the five cultivators’ combined attacks with his fire and thunder strikes while sparing their lives.
• Cai Sisi conceded, and Ji Shifeng, Zhang Yunlei, Duan Changhe, and Han Jun also withdrew from challenging Jiang Sheng.
• Cai Sisi, Ji Shifeng, and Zhang Yunlei immediately turned against one another to compete for the remaining places as Jiang Sheng climbed the meteors.
• Scarlet Cloud True Lord praised the potential of Jiang Sheng’s sword formation and predicted he would become champion.
• Huang Yu stopped Li Yan from entering the fight and told her to climb while he held the others off.

Jiang Sheng reached Cloud Palace first and waited at its entrance, gaining the power to influence the rankings as the other cultivators climbed. After helping Li Yan reach the summit, he offered assistance to the rival sect leaders below, leaving them to decide whether to accept it.

• Huang Yu blocked Cai Sisi and the others while Li Yan climbed, and Han Jun burned a controlled Xingyue Sect disciple to ashes, deepening the factions’ distrust.
• Jiang Sheng climbed a million li to the largest meteorite, reached Cloud Palace first, and meditated at its entrance instead of entering.
• Cai Sisi and the rival sect leaders stopped fighting and began climbing together, while Qian Yushan explained that Myriad Treasures Firm did not compete for the top three.
• Li Yan reached the meteorite below Cloud Palace and rested as Cai Sisi, Ji Shifeng, Zhang Yunlei, Han Jun, and the others caught up and recovered.
• Jiang Sheng helped Li Yan break free of the meteorite’s pull and reach the summit, then offered the cultivators below his assistance.

At the Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly, Jiang Sheng traded aid for cultivation insights and entered the Cloud Palace, where Scarlet Cloud True Lord taught methods of surviving the coming Great Calamity and forming a nascent soul. The chapter ended with her privately telling Jiang Sheng that using Heaven-Clearing Qi and Earth Mother Qi to form a nascent soul was called Taiyi.

• Jiang Sheng agreed to help Han Jun, Cai Sisi, Zhang Yunlei, Ji Shifeng, and Duan Changhe in exchange for their cultivation insights, and Huang Yu realized Jiang Sheng expected an offering from him too.
• Jiang Sheng and Li Yan helped Qian Yushan and Li Yushu enter the Cloud Palace, then took their reserved cushions and studied the jade slips while the other attendees arrived.
• Scarlet Cloud True Lord explained three ways to survive the Great Calamity: evade it, enter it and settle karmic entanglements, or contend with it.
• Scarlet Cloud True Lord taught that middle- and lower-grade Golden Cores generally had to shatter the core to form a nascent soul, while superior Golden Cores could condense it; Clear-Heaven Jade and Earth Womb Stone enabled the Heavenly Dao Method.
• Jiang Sheng asked what lay above the Heavenly Dao Method, and Scarlet Cloud True Lord privately told him that using Heaven-Clearing Qi and Earth Mother Qi to nourish the body and condense the core into a nascent soul was called Taiyi.

Jiang Sheng received Scarlet Cloud True Lord’s Innate Primordial Unity Infant-Forming Method and gained permission to form his nascent soul on Flowing Splendor Mountain. After Li Yan and Huang Yu succeeded in their breakthroughs, Jiang Sheng began his own, drawing the mountain’s Spiritual Resonance into a vast whirlpool as his soul and golden core united.

• Scarlet Cloud True Lord explained the Innate Primordial Unity Infant-Forming Method to Jiang Sheng and awarded him Heaven-Clearing Qi as the Flowing Splendor Dharma Assembly champion.
• After the secret realm collapsed, Li Yan received a jade tablet granting access to Flowing Splendor Mountain, and Jiang Sheng considered where to form his nascent soul.
• Li Yan told Jiang Sheng she planned to go to Flowing Splendor Mountain, and Scarlet Cloud True Lord allowed Jiang Sheng to cultivate there.
• Li Yan and Huang Yu entered seclusion and, after a year and six more months, successfully formed their nascent souls.
• Jiang Sheng began his breakthrough on Flowing Splendor Mountain, gathering its Spiritual Resonance into a vast whirlpool as his golden core’s light entered his sea of consciousness and formed a nascent soul.

Jiang Sheng completed the formation of his Nascent Soul on Flowing Splendor Mountain, breaking free of his Crimson Palace and settling the infant in his Purple Mansion. As his divine ability and domain transformed, spiritual resonance began taking shape behind him, leaving his dharma image on the verge of manifesting.

• Jiang Sheng fused his true spirit, golden core, primal essence, and primordial spirit into a formless inner core as spiritual resonance gathered over Flowing Splendor Mountain.
• Three years passed, and Li Yan and Huang Yu emerged from seclusion and watched the extraordinary signs of Jiang Sheng's cultivation.
• Jiang Sheng formed an inch-tall Nascent Soul in his Crimson Palace, and the infant absorbed the heaven-clearing qi and earth mother qi that flew from his sleeves.
• Jiang Sheng's Nascent Soul grew to three inches tall, shattered the inner core with a four-colored sword formation, and leaped into his Purple Mansion.
• Jiang Sheng's Nascent Soul refined his divine abilities and domain as four blades of sword aura converged into his body.
• Wind, thunder, water, and fire gathered behind Jiang Sheng and began forming an ethereal figure.