Chapter Summaries

Jiang Sheng revealed that Emperor Su’s mausoleum had been emptied, leaving only a black mark in its innermost coffin, and returned Shen Yao and the others to Jinhua Mountain. During meditation, Shen Yao experienced what seemed to be Emperor Su’s burial and uncovered a Yin Ji cultivation method that connected Taiyin transformation, returning to the Void, and becoming an immortal.

• Jiang Sheng led Shen Yao and the others through an illusion into Emperor Su’s mausoleum and opened its bronze, silver, and gold-and-jade coffins.
• Shen Yao found only a pitch-black mark in the innermost coffin, and Jiang Sheng concluded that the Yu Dynasty’s Ghost Emperors had emptied the mausoleums before taking the group to inspect others.
• Back at Jinhua Mountain, Shen Yao meditated in Red Radiance Cave Abode and felt his soul travel to an immense mausoleum.
• Shen Yao entered a gold-and-jade coffin, wore an emperor’s robes and crown, and sank through the Netherworld into the Abyssal Ruins beneath layers of filth.
• As Shen Yao descended, he heard verses and realized the name of a Yin Ji true scripture and its method: “Lunar Form-Refining Method of Returning to the Void.”

Jiang Sheng investigated Shen Yao’s violent soul fluctuations and suspected his True Spirit had been unusual since birth. He used his Daoist thunder voice to pull Shen Yao out of a mire in his sea of consciousness, leaving Shen Yao awakened and addressing him as the True Lord.

• Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch observed Shen Yao’s troubled meditation, and Xiangyu warned that his True Spirit might be unusual or concealed by a Mahayana being.
• Jiang Sheng used his Truth-Seeing Golden Pupils to see strange energies entwined around Shen Yao’s soul.
• In the vision of the Abyssal Ruins, filth invaded Shen Yao as a mysterious voice lured him toward oblivion and the Bone-Skin Golden Chapter.
• Jiang Sheng recited Daoist verses, and his thunderous voice dispelled the mire and drew Shen Yao back to clarity.
• Shen Yao realized he had been sinking into oblivion in his own sea of consciousness, then saluted Jiang Sheng and called him the True Lord.

Shen Yao told Jiang Sheng about the Lunar-Yin Eclosion-into-Immortality Method, and Jiang Sheng realized the Netherworld’s Senluo Heavenly Son and the Purple Empyrean Emperor were competing to attain Pure Yang and escape the Mountain Sea Realm. Jiang Sheng visited the emperor for more resources, but his mention of the Taiyin Void-Returning Body-Refining Formation revealed that the hidden schemer was Rahu, the emperor’s old friend.

• Shen Yao recounted the Eclosion-into-Immortality Method and worried that he had obtained an evil scripture, so Jiang Sheng reassured him and left him a jade pendant.
• Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch concluded that the Senluo Heavenly Son and the Purple Empyrean Emperor were scheming to attain Pure Yang, and Xiangyu agreed to oversee the Netherworld.
• Jiang Sheng reasoned that the two immortals were rivals and decided to visit the Purple Empyrean Emperor for more treasures.
• Jiang Sheng traveled to the Eastern Sea Sunken Palace and told the Purple Empyrean Emperor that he had discovered a Taiyin Void-Returning Body-Refining Formation.
• The Purple Empyrean Emperor recognized the formation and identified the hidden schemer as Rahu, his former loyal friend from the previous cosmic cycle.

The Purple Empyrean Emperor realized that Rahu had likely prepared the Taiyin Void-Returning Body-Refining Formation to seize control of the Netherworld, and Jiang Sheng sensed that the plan was already underway. In the Netherworld, Gao Yan’s outmatched forces struggled to hold the line against the Qian Dynasty’s blood-moon-controlled ghost-gods.

• The Purple Empyrean Emperor told Jiang Sheng that Rahu had once governed the Netherworld and may have secretly prepared his scheme long before the current cosmic cycle.
• The Purple Empyrean Emperor warned that Rahu would act swiftly, and Jiang Sheng looked north as fighting spread across the Netherworld beneath a blood-red moon.
• Gao Yan watched the Qian Dynasty’s ghost-gods attack, unaware that threads of blood-moon light controlled them through their true spirits.
• An Orthodox God warned Gao Yan that their opponents no longer seemed human, while Jinhua Mountain’s heavenly gods grew fearful after seven days of near-constant fighting.
• Gao Yan refused to request reinforcements and urged the heavenly gods to keep fighting, reminding them that the Xiangyu Immortal Monarch controlled their registered true spirits.

Jiang Sheng persuaded the Purple Empyrean Emperor to give Shen Yao the Heavenly Emperor’s genuine cultivation legacy, hoping the child of destiny could hinder Rahu. After Jiang Sheng left, the Emperor revealed that he had let Rahu shoulder the Mountain Sea Heavenly Dao’s blame, while Black Shadow mocked his ambition.

• Jiang Sheng told the Purple Empyrean Emperor that Shen Yao had nearly fallen into the Return Ruins after obtaining the Taiyin Void-Returning Body-Refining Scripture, which the Emperor suspected was Rahu’s scheme.
• The Purple Empyrean Emperor brought out the Central Heaven Golden Mystery Supreme Dharma Grand Way-Evolving True Scripture, the legacy of the Mountain Sea Heavenly Emperor, and entrusted it to Jiang Sheng for Shen Yao.
• Jiang Sheng accepted the genuine pure yang cultivation legacy and promised to nurture Shen Yao and oppose Rahu.
• After Jiang Sheng left, Black Shadow asked whether the Emperor expected him to believe the scroll was genuine, and the Emperor confirmed it was.
• The Purple Empyrean Emperor said Rahu would bear the karmic consequences of his schemes, then froze Black Shadow for daring to speak Shen Shun’s name.
• Black Shadow escaped the ice and watched the Purple Empyrean Emperor leave, mocking him by calling him Li Yang.

Rahu revealed how the Black Lotus had led him to plan his transformation into a Taiyi Golden Immortal by exploiting the Mountain Sea Realm’s final calamity. As the Great Calamity spread across the Netherworld and mortal world, Rahu began gathering his merit and fortune to remake his true form and ascend to immortality.

• Rahu watched the young Heavenly Gods hold back his Netherworld ghosts and gods, then set his hidden agents in the southwest in motion.
• Rahu recalled how Shen Shun had warned that the Mountain Sea Realm was nearing its final calamity and proposed sacrificing the Heavenly Palace and countless Immortal Deities to preserve it.
• A seven-petaled Black Lotus had tempted Rahu with the promise of the Taiyi Golden Immortal Dao Fruit and revealed two secret scriptures that would let him scatter and later restore his Dao Fruit and True Spirit.
• Rahu ordered forces in the Netherworld, southwest, and Great Qian Dynasty to attack the Yu Dynasty and bring the Great Calamity back to the mortal world.
• As the boundary between the Netherworld and the mortal world broke, Rahu sensed his buried true body and accumulated merit and fortune gathering toward him.
• Rahu recited the method of joining essence, energy, and spirit, declaring that he would transform yin’s extremity into yang and ascend to immortality.

Jiang Sheng organized the defense of the Yu Dynasty against Rahu’s coordinated attacks, sending Xiangyu Immortal Monarch to the Netherworld and assigning his disciples to protect the human world. As Gao Yan battled Qian Dynasty ghost gods and spreading monstrosities, Xiangyu Immortal Monarch confronted Rahu and declared that he had come to stop him.

• Jiang Sheng learned that the Yu Dynasty faced attacks from the Qian Dynasty and southwestern barbarians, while its Netherworld territories and royal capital were also in turmoil.
• Jiang Sheng sent Xiangyu Immortal Monarch to stop Rahu, assigned Ji Zhang and his disciples to defend the Yu Dynasty, and gave Shen Yao the Central Heaven Golden Mystery Grand Way-Evolving Canon to cleanse his true spirit.
• Gao Yan and the Orthodox Gods fought the Qian Dynasty’s ghost gods and the growing evil entities and uncanny creatures in the Netherworld.
• Rahu attempted to use the Taiyin Year Star to control the Orthodox Gods, but sensed danger and dodged Xiangyu Immortal Monarch’s five-colored divine light, which erased Myriad Forms Nether Mountain’s summit.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch appeared before Rahu and identified himself as Xiang Yu, declaring that he had come to stop him.

Xiangyu Immortal Monarch fought Rahu in the Netherworld and unleashed his Five Manifestations Essential-Separation Divine Radiance, destroying Rahu’s spectral hand. He raised the Myriad Laws Bewildering Mirror and manifested as the Dongyang Emperor, whose divine light reached across the Netherworld.

• Rahu sealed the battlefield within his domain and attacked Xiangyu Immortal Monarch with Great Darkness Myriad Forms Palm.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch manifested his Five Elements wheels and countered with Five Manifestations Essential-Separation Divine Radiance.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch’s strike erased Rahu’s spectral left hand and began corroding his form and cultivation.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch summoned the Myriad Laws Bewildering Mirror, whose golden sunlight broke through Rahu’s darkness and Restrictive Wards.
• Gao Yan and the Orthodox Gods of Jinhua Mountain sensed Xiangyu Immortal Monarch’s power as a bright Heavenly Star appeared over the Netherworld.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch emerged from the five-colored halo as the Dongyang Emperor, and Gao Yan recognized him by his full divine title.

Jiang Sheng guarded Yu Capital as Netherworld ghosts and gods used a vast ritual to invade the mortal world, then destroyed their ghost gates with a sword strike. After killing the returning Ghost Emperor, he identified himself as Ling Yuan, Lord of Mountain and Sea Justice, and warned the remaining ghosts and gods to stay in the Netherworld or be slain.

• Jiang Sheng sensed the Netherworld invasion forming in Yu Capital and prepared to guard the city while Xiangyu Immortal Monarch fought Rahu.
• Yu Capital's aristocratic nobles let ghosts and evil entities slaughter its people, feeding resentment and blood into a ritual that opened ghost gates across the city.
• Jiang Sheng struck with a sword that shattered the ghost gates and obliterated the ghosts and evil entities throughout Yu Capital.
• A ten-thousand-foot Ghost Emperor emerged from the Imperial Palace gate, and Jiang Sheng killed it with the Three Calamities Cataclysm Sword.
• Jiang Sheng declared himself Ling Yuan, Lord of Mountain and Sea Justice, and ordered the remaining ghosts and gods to return to the Netherworld or be slain.

Jiang Sheng defeated the Yu Dynasty’s ghost emperors and ordered Jinhua Mountain’s cultivators to seal Yu Capital with the Four Symbols Spirit-Sealing Formation. He then explained the path to Void Refinement and the Great Dao to the Seven Xuanqing Disciples, leaving Shen Yao shaken by his words.

• Jiang Sheng slew two ghost emperors with his swords, frightening the remaining ghosts and gods into retreating behind the ghost gate.
• Jiang Sheng ordered Jinhua Mountain’s cultivators to work with the heavenly gods and form the Four Symbols Spirit-Sealing Formation around Yu Capital.
• Jiang Sheng summoned the Seven Xuanqing Disciples and explained that the ghost emperors had stagnated because they had lost their Dao hearts and failed to overcome tribulations.
• Jiang Sheng taught the disciples that Void Refinement required surviving the three calamities to gather the three flowers, then passing through the five ordeals to achieve Five Qi Converging at the Origin.
• Shen Yao trembled as Jiang Sheng’s teaching about the three flowers and five qi sank in.

Shen Yao studied the Heavenly Emperor's Golden Canon, mastered its Heavenly Saber, and advanced to Spirit Transformation while training in the Netherworld. After defeating dozens of southwestern ghosts and gods, he joined Ji Hong as the disciples prepared to counterattack the Qian Dynasty's forces.

• Shen Yao used the Heavenly Emperor Shen Shun's Golden Canon to suppress the restless Taiyin Talisman Scripture and found that its path to Pure Yang suited him.
• Shen Yao cultivated the Golden Canon's Xuanhuang Heavenly Saber, which protected his true spirit and drew upon Heaven and Earth's power.
• After replacing his dharma power and reaching late Nascent Soul, Shen Yao trained in the Netherworld and broke through to Spirit Transformation.
• Shen Yao killed dozens of southwestern ghosts and gods with one strike of his Heavenly Saber, then gave their black jade spoils to Ji Hong.
• Ji Hong told Shen Yao that the Dongyang Emperor was holding back the Qian Dynasty's Mahayana Ghost Emperor and that their side had begun its counterattack.
• Shen Yao invited Ji Hong to join him in fighting the Qian Dynasty's ghosts and gods in the north.

At Jinhua Mountain, a Daoist told new cultivators that Emperor Dongyang was fighting the Ghost Emperor beyond the Mountain Sea Realm, while Jiang Sheng and Binmou discussed the battle and a looming threat in Myriad Forms Nether Mountain. After Binmou warned that someone within the mausoleum was close to awakening, Jiang Sheng decided to go to the Netherworld.

• A Jinhua Mountain Daoist recounted the mountain’s origins and said Emperor Dongyang had entered the Netherworld to subdue its ghosts and gods.
• The Daoist told the cultivators that Emperor Dongyang was fighting a powerful Ghost Emperor beyond the Mountain Sea Realm, while Shen Yao and the other Seven Xuanqing Disciples were campaigning in the Netherworld.
• Binmou told Jiang Sheng that the Senluo Heavenly Son had many hidden schemes and warned him about the imperial palace mausoleum inside Myriad Forms Nether Mountain.
• Binmou said the Taiyin Void-Returning Body-Refining Formation was filling with nether qi and that someone inside the mausoleum was close to awakening.
• After Binmou vanished, Jiang Sheng considered Rahu’s scheme and decided to go to the Netherworld.

Shen Yao and Ji Hong accidentally chased their quarry to within a hundred thousand li of Myriad Forms Nether Mountain, where they sensed something mysterious and returned to Jinhua Mountain’s outpost. Gao Yan warned them to stay away until Jiang Sheng arrived, while Shen Yao fell into another nightmare that ended with two titles being spoken.

• Shen Yao and Ji Hong discovered they had pursued their quarry nearly two million li through oppressive mist and reached the outskirts of Myriad Forms Nether Mountain.
• Shen Yao felt an unseen pull toward the mountain but chose to return with Ji Hong.
• Gao Yan told Shen Yao and Ji Hong that other scouts had also lost their bearings and revealed that Jiang Sheng had forbidden an attack on Myriad Forms Nether Mountain.
• Gao Yan ordered the Seven Xuanqing Disciples to keep away until Jiang Sheng arrived in person, and he told them to keep the news confidential.
• Late that night, Shen Yao fell into another nightmare as oppressive qi surged around the outpost, and he heard the titles Xuanming Senluo Celestial Emperor and Netherworld Prison-Suppressing Prefect Lord.

Shen Yao followed Black Shadow’s warning to Myriad Forms Nether Mountain and found the sealed gate to Rahu’s imperial tomb. Meanwhile, Li Yang revealed his plan to lure Lingyuan away and raise the Sunken Palace to establish the Heavenly Court anew.

• In a dream, Black Shadow told Shen Yao that Rahu had once ruled the Netherworld and would drain the Mountain-Sea Three Realms to become pure yang unless someone stopped him.
• Shen Yao traveled through the Netherworld’s corpse-strewn ruins to Myriad Forms Nether Mountain, evading the Qian Dynasty’s formations and wards.
• Following Black Shadow’s guidance, Shen Yao entered a hidden cave beneath the deserted main peak and found a bronze gate sealing Rahu’s true body inside his imperial tomb.
• At the Eastern Sea Sunken Palace, Black Shadow told Purple Empyrean Emperor Li Yang that Shen Yao had set out for Myriad Forms Nether Mountain.
• Li Yang explained that he planned to lure Lingyuan into the Netherworld, then raise the Sunken Palace and establish the Heavenly Court anew.

Shen Yao opened the Nether Gate and entered what seemed to be a Cave Heaven within Rahu’s tomb, where its decorations revealed the slaughter of the merfolk and the Immortal Longevity Banquet. His words awakened the tomb’s guardians and the Yu Dynasty’s ancestor, who began draining the dynasty’s ghost emperors; the Solemn Emperor faced him as a blood-red moon rose.

• Shen Yao used the Taiyin Talisman Scripture to unravel the bronze doors’ wards and opened the Nether Gate.
• Shen Yao entered the tomb’s hidden domain and recognized merfolk remains in its lamps and an Immortal Longevity Banquet in its carvings.
• The tomb bell rang after Shen Yao named the banquet, stirring the Tomb Guardian Beasts and awakening the Yu Dynasty’s ancestor.
• The Yu Dynasty’s ancestor appeared in the Ghost Capital, trapped its ghost emperors, and drained their essence.
• The Yu Dynasty’s ancestor recognized the Solemn Emperor, who faced him without fear as the moon turned blood-red.

Jiang Sheng led an assault toward Myriad Forms Nether Mountain after the Taiyin Year Star appeared, while Shen Yao fought through its mausoleum defenses. As Shen Yao’s scriptures resonated across the Three Realms, an imperial lord’s corpse began climbing out of the Mountain-Sea Abyssal Ruins toward the Netherworld and mortal world.

• Jiang Sheng identified the blood-thread-stained moon as the Taiyin Year Star and ordered an all-out assault on Myriad Forms Nether Mountain.
• Jiang Sheng used Break Ten Thousand Laws to clear a two-million-li stretch of stagnant qi, formations, and ruins, then led the Orthodox Gods and Jinhua Mountain disciples onward.
• Shen Yao fought through the mausoleum’s nether-armored soldiers with the Golden Feather Heavenly Garment and Yellow-Black Heavenly Saber while an Ox-Headed Tomb-Guardian Beast pursued him.
• The Taiyin Talisman Scripture and Heavenly Emperor’s Golden Canon resonated together within Shen Yao, sending waves of the Great Dao across the Three Realms.
• An imperial lord’s corpse emerged from the filth of the Mountain-Sea Abyssal Ruins and began climbing toward the Netherworld and mortal world.

Shen Yao escaped the tomb’s trap while Jiang Sheng uncovered that Rahu’s Netherworld palace was a decoy and that his scheme spanned several realms. The chapter left Xiangyu Immortal Monarch attacking the emperor’s corpse as it climbed out of the Abyssal Ruins.

• Shen Yao used True Lord Yuchen Lingyuan’s talismans to break free of the Ox-Headed Tomb-Guardian Beast and escape deeper into the tomb.
• Jiang Sheng gathered Ji Hong, Anping, and the others, then left Gao Yan to destroy the fiends and specters around Myriad Forms Nether Mountain.
• Jiang Sheng explained that the Lunar Void-Returning formation was an orthodox body-refining setup, but the chained Netherworld palace was a decoy rather than Rahu’s true resting place.
• Jiang Sheng destroyed the palace with the Heavenly Heart Five Thunder Method, revealing only an imperial throne and a hidden fissure leading below.
• Jiang Sheng told Shen Yao and the others that Rahu had returned to the Netherworld and that his True Spirit, Dao Fruit, and former body would never reunite.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch struck the emperor’s corpse in the Abyssal Ruins with the Five Manifestations Essential-Separation Divine Radiance.

Xiangyu Immortal Monarch battled the divine corpse from the previous cosmic cycle in the Abyssal Ruins and concluded that it was not Rahu’s true body. Meanwhile, Jiang Sheng fought four Tomb Guardian Beasts inside Myriad Forms Nether Mountain while Shen Yao and the others searched the Ninefold Mystic Platform for the true tomb, where something appeared close to awakening.

• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch drove the divine corpse into the depths of the Abyssal Ruins with Five Manifestations Essential-Separation Divine Radiance, then attacked it with heavenly fire and other arts.
• The divine corpse fought back with filth and evil thoughts, but Xiangyu Immortal Monarch used the Myriad Laws Bewildering Mirror and Six-Element Dissipation Wind to contain its attacks.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch told Jiang Sheng that the corpse was not Rahu’s true body, and Jiang Sheng replied that he had found clues to its location.
• At Myriad Forms Nether Mountain, Jiang Sheng kept four Integration Realm Tomb Guardian Beasts occupied while Shen Yao and the other Seven Xuanqing Disciples tried to open the true tomb through the Ninefold Mystic Platform.
• Jiang Sheng sensed that the beasts’ cultivation was falling and that something in the true tomb was about to awaken; he saw Shen Yao apparently trapped in an illusion.

Rahu revived his Yu Dynasty founding emperor avatar and went to the East Sea to confront Li Yang, who had emerged as the enormous Emperor Lord Zixiao Tianyi while raising the Sunken Palace. Rahu combined his Yu and Qian Dynasty avatars to hold Li Yang back, and Li Yang answered by attacking with his Solar Year Star power.

• Rahu revived his avatar with the essence and offerings of more than a hundred and fifty Yu Dynasty ghost deities, then crossed the turbulent void toward the East Sea.
• Li Yang emerged from the East Sea beneath the Sunken Palace, revealing his immense true body after a hundred thousand years.
• Rahu and Li Yang accused each other of seeking their own ends as they prepared to fight.
• Li Yang raised the imperial palace and began recreating the Heavenly Palace, while Rahu revealed that the Qian and Yu Dynasty founding emperors were both his avatars.
• Li Yang manifested his Solar Year Star and attacked Rahu with Heavenly Unity, Boundless Auspicious Radiance.

Shen Yao found Rahu’s hidden true body beneath Myriad Forms Nether Mountain, but Jiang Sheng sensed the karmic trap and severed it. Rahu’s avatars converged on the Netherworld, where his true body awoke and began the rite to unite the three origins and ascend to immortality.

• Jiang Sheng held the four Tomb Guardian Beasts in check as Rahu’s true body absorbed spiritual resonance and nether qi.
• Shen Yao used his heavenly eye and the Heavenly Emperor’s Golden Canon to find a flaw in Rahu’s Formation and force the hidden tomb into the Netherworld.
• Jiang Sheng sensed karmic threads converging and used the Qingping Sword to sever the karma.
• Rahu’s divine corpse and founding emperor avatar abandoned their battles and entered the Netherworld, bringing the Taiyin Year Star and ghostly worship qi.
• As chanting filled the Netherworld, Rahu opened his eyes in the nine nether sinking wood coffin and declared that the three origins would unite as one.