Chapter Summaries

Jiang Sheng received Four Symbols Returning to One and faced Daoist Lord Juehua and Daoist Lord Miaoyan’s questions about his Dao. He explained how his methods formed his own path, passed their trials, and received a gift to strengthen his Purple Mansion Realm.

• Jiang Sheng learned that Four Symbols Returning to One recorded the insights of four Dao-Holding Realm cultivators, who would accompany him to expound the Dao for five hundred years.
• Daoist Lord Juehua questioned Jiang Sheng about how wind, thunder, water, and fire embodied Yin and Yang, and Jiang Sheng explained how their union formed his Dao.
• Jiang Sheng demonstrated his Four Symbols and related cultivation methods, revealing his own Yin-Yang Calamity Three-Transformation Five-Element Dao Fruit, and Daoist Lord Juehua bestowed Qingming light upon him.
• Daoist Lord Miaoyan asked Jiang Sheng where his Dao lay, and Jiang Sheng described how water, wind, fire, and thunder had shaped his path and methods.
• Daoist Lord Miaoyan accepted Jiang Sheng’s answer and bestowed an Xuanqing spiritual charm to help anchor his Dao within his Purple Mansion Realm.

Daoist Lord Yueheng tested Jiang Sheng's combat methods and taught him to return to the origins of Wind Thunder Water Fire, cultivate overwhelming momentum, and keep his true heart steadfast. He transformed the lightning in Jiang Sheng's dantian with thunderfire from the Illuminating Profound True Yang Method, leaving Jiang Sheng to pledge that he would remember the lesson.

• Daoist Lord Yueheng told Jiang Sheng that he would teach him combat and explained how greater cultivation, Divine Abilities, treasures, and experience could overwhelm stronger enemies.
• Daoist Lord Yueheng summoned an image of his battle with the Scarlet Dragon and Flame Dragon Ancestors, then challenged Jiang Sheng to attack him.
• Jiang Sheng's Jietian Sword Art and Heaven-Cutting: Severing Karma both clashed with stars summoned by Daoist Lord Yueheng and were dispersed.
• Daoist Lord Yueheng urged Jiang Sheng to return to the original nature of Wind Thunder Water Fire, then attacked him with a thunderfire ruler while explaining combat momentum and the harmony of the Four Symbols.
• Daoist Lord Yueheng sent thunderfire into Jiang Sheng's dantian and taught him that the Illuminating Profound True Yang path relied on steadfastness and overwhelming strength.
• Jiang Sheng sensed the thunderfire in his dantian, understood Daoist Lord Yueheng's resolve to protect the Tianhe Dao Sect, and promised to remember his teachings.

Patriarch Dejing discussed the Dao of Void Refinement and Integration with Jiang Sheng, who explained her understanding of the Three Calamities and Five Tribulations. As Dejing expounded the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, Jiang Sheng learned why Integration cultivators remained hidden and what stood between them and Pure Yang.

• Patriarch Dejing asked Jiang Sheng about Void Refinement and Integration, and she described the Three Primes and manifested the Three Flowers Above the Head.
• Jiang Sheng explained that Void Refinement involved the Three Calamities, while Integration involved the Five Elements and their harmony and reversal.
• Patriarch Dejing affirmed Jiang Sheng's understanding and taught her about the Five Decays of Heaven and Man and ways to face or evade them.
• Jiang Sheng learned that Integration cultivators rarely appeared because their Five Tribulations were unpredictable and left them vulnerable, and that Five-Tribulation True Lords still faced a difficult path to Pure Yang.
• Daoist Lord Juehua, Daoist Lord Miaoyan, and Daoist Lord Yueheng praised Jiang Sheng's talent and discussed the Shanhe Daoist Sect's prospects with her as a future leader.

Houtu joined the Eastern Heaven Daoist Sect and was installed as Celestial Emperor Houtu, ruler of its eastern Netherworld Pure Land. After finishing Daoist Lord Dejing’s lecture in the world of chaos, Jiang Sheng returned to Little Penglai with a new method quietly absorbed into his cultivation.

• Daoist Lord Xuanming arrived in the Netherworld and introduced Houtu as the new ruler of the Eastern Heaven Daoist Sect’s domain.
• Yin Ji Dark Mountain Great Emperor and Great Emperor Beiluo Yinfeng recognized Houtu, failed to contact the Golden Palace Heavenly Emperor, and chose not to challenge her.
• Daoist Lord Xuanming announced Qingyan Heavenly Venerable’s decree, granting Houtu the title and authority of Celestial Emperor Houtu over reincarnation and the eastern Pure Land.
• Daoist Lord Dejing finished teaching Jiang Sheng about Void Refinement, Integration, and tribulation, then presented him with a five-colored jade Ruyi.
• Jiang Sheng absorbed the Ruyi’s spiritual essence while unconsciously refining his cultivation method, then awoke in the hall he had designed and exclaimed, “Little Penglai?!”

After returning to Penglai, Jiang Sheng cultivated in Xuanqing Hall and resolved to reach the ultimate limit of Void Refinement within five hundred years. Meanwhile, the Mystic Bird High God told Wu Tang that the Heavenly Emperor had destined him to unite Yang Province and expand across Jiuzhou, promising Yin Mound’s protection.

• Jiang Sheng returned to Xuanqing Hall and resumed cultivating, aiming to reach the ultimate limit of Void Refinement.
• Jiang Sheng judged that his prior accumulations would let him reach that cultivation in five hundred years.
• Wu Tang watched Yin Mound perform a rite announcing its deeds to Heaven and Earth, then asked whether the kingdom would remain protected after his death.
• The Mystic Bird High God told Wu Tang that he was favored by the Heavenly Emperor and destined to become the Son of Heaven, uniting Yang Province and expanding across Jiuzhou.
• Wu Tang vowed to use the heavenly scripture to strengthen Yin Mound and sweep across Yang Province, and the Mystic Bird High God promised divine aid if needed.

Wu Tang led Yin Mound’s army to destroy a key Ying Kingdom fortress and advance toward its capital. Above the battlefield, the Mysterious Bird High God and the White-Robed Lay Devotee revealed their competing interests in Jiuzhou World before Bai He’s incarnation departed to repay Daoist Jiang’s favor.

• Wu Tang ordered Yin Mound’s warriors to attack the capital pass, and their wind-summoning formations brought down the fortress.
• Wu Tang rallied the victorious army as the Mysterious Bird High God watched from the sky with indifference.
• The White-Robed Lay Devotee praised the Mysterious Bird High God’s work, and the two discussed Ling Yuan, Lan Xin, and their presence in Jiuzhou World.
• The White-Robed Lay Devotee said Shaoguang World had no intention of meddling and warned the Mysterious Bird High God not to disturb Yang Province while they stole something.
• The White-Robed Lay Devotee left to find the thing she sought and repay Daoist Jiang’s favor, while both divine figures silently dispersed the abilities they had prepared.

Bai He secretly entered Myriad Forms Mountain to find the Myriad Laws Immortal Sect’s shattered secret realm and retrieve a key. After she was discovered in a demon’s cave, the leopard demon begged for his life and claimed to know where a secret treasure was.

• Bai He recalled her true self’s warning to avoid interfering in Yang Province and to secretly find the Myriad Laws Immortal Sect’s ruins and retrieve a key.
• Bai He reached the former mountain gate, now a demon’s cave, and concealed herself as she made her way inside.
• A leopard demon ambushed Bai He and ordered his minions to attack her.
• Bai He destroyed the lesser demons with lotus light, and the leopard demon turned to flee.
• Bai He recognized the leopard demon as a Spirit Transformation cultivator and attacked him, but he knelt and begged for mercy, claiming to know a secret treasure’s whereabouts.

Bai He’s Dharma Body took the Illuminating Jade from a leopard demon and discovered the buried gate of the Myriad Laws Immortal Sect. An Integration Realm immortal named Yunmei confronted her, but she self-destructed; Yunmei then received orders to guard Yangzhou for further intruders.

• Bai He’s Dharma Body stopped her Pure Lotus Buddha Light and questioned the great leopard demon, which revealed that a jade mirror had led it to treasures for more than two thousand years.
• Bai He seized the leopard demon’s soul, learned its history, and recognized the mirror as Illuminating Jade from the Myriad Laws Immortal Sect’s gate.
• Bai He uncovered the buried ruins of the sect’s gate in the leopard demon’s den and lamented that they had been hidden for six thousand years.
• An undetected white-haired immortal emerged from a jade pillar, pinned Bai He’s Dharma Body with mystic light, and questioned her about her identity and purpose.
• Bai He triggered the thread of her true nature and self-destructed, collapsing the space around her; the immortal repaired it and identified himself as Yunmei in a message.
• Yunmei received an order to watch over Yangzhou and check for other intruders.

Yunmei searched Yangzhou for remnants of the Myriad Laws Immortal Sect and discovered one while the Mysterious Bird High God fled an approaching Integration Realm expert. The High God could not escape Yunmei and surrendered to him.

• Yunmei reflected on the Myriad Laws Immortal Sect’s lingering fortune and the dangers of its treasures falling into human hands.
• Yunmei sent out hundreds of incarnations with the spell “Myriad Forms Without Limit, Trace All Beneath Heaven!” to search Yangzhou.
• Yunmei’s southern incarnation found a remnant of the Wanfa Sect, and Yunmei tore through space to pursue it.
• The Mysterious Bird High God sensed an omen, left the Yin Mound army, and warned her true body that something had gone wrong in Yangzhou.
• Yunmei pursued the Mysterious Bird High God across nearly two hundred million miles, keeping ten million miles behind her.
• The Mysterious Bird High God stopped fleeing and surrendered to Yunmei.

The Mysterious Bird High God detonated herself to attack Old Immortal Yunmei, who survived and killed the demons drawn to the blast. At White Lotus Pool, Lanxin warned Bai He that failing their trial could leave them as guardian Sangharamas like Venerable Napushe.

• The Mysterious Bird High God dispelled her defenses, rushed toward Old Immortal Yunmei, and detonated herself.
• Old Immortal Yunmei survived the blast, caught a ghostly bird, and killed the demons that had rushed to the explosion site.
• After Yunmei left, a speck of spiritual light gathered among the ruins and drifted away.
• At White Lotus Pool, Lanxin and Bai He recalled their last meeting at Venerable Napushe's Sangharama Dharma Assembly.
• Lanxin told Bai He that if they failed their trial, they might have to become guardian Sangharamas like Venerable Napushe.

Lan Xin warned Bai He that helping Ling Yuan could jeopardize Shaoguang World’s interests, but Bai He chose to continue supporting him after receiving his thanks. Meanwhile, visitors from Jurong and Zhuming Worlds arrived in the Three Realms, where Vermilion Ibis set out to find Ling Yuan and pursue the Nine-Headed Insect, possibly drawing her world into the conflict in Jiuzhou World.

• Lan Xin questioned Bai He’s decision to help Ling Yuan and warned that Shaoguang World could lose its opportunities by backing him.
• Bai He told Lan Xin that her help served Shaoguang World’s future interests, then received a message of thanks and flew toward Pure Lotus Temple.
• Jiang Sheng wondered why Ye Wenshu had sent a Dharma body to Jiuzhou World and agreed to meet Lin Fan’s visitors at Little Penglai.
• Kui Yue, Lingyin, Vermilion Ibis, and Blazing Owl arrived in the Three Realms from Jurong and Zhuming Worlds and headed for Little Penglai.
• Vermilion Ibis and Blazing Owl left Kui Yue and Lingyin so Vermilion Ibis could seek Ling Yuan; Kui Yue suspected she meant to hunt the Nine-Headed Insect in Jiuzhou World.

The Crested Ibis Demon Monarch and the Flame Owl Demon Monarch visited Jiang Sheng at Little Penglai, where she revealed her intent to hunt the Nine-Headed Insect in Jiuzhou World. Jiang Sheng warned them of the danger and shared what Penglai knew, but they left determined to go, and he suspected they might become the ones who opened the calamity.

• Li Jianchun welcomed the Crested Ibis Demon Monarch and the Flame Owl Demon Monarch to Little Penglai and guided them to meet Jiang Sheng.
• Li Jianchun described Little Penglai’s many treasures and explained that much of its splendor had been given to Jiang Sheng as gifts.
• Jiang Sheng received the two Demon Monarchs with an elaborate banquet, and the Crested Ibis Demon Monarch said she had come to hunt the Nine-Headed Insect in Jiuzhou World.
• Jiang Sheng warned that entering Jiuzhou World could entangle the Southern Fire Divine Palace in the conflict, but the Crested Ibis Demon Monarch insisted on going and the Flame Owl Demon Monarch pledged to accompany her.
• Jiang Sheng gave the pair a jade slip with information about Vermilion Province and Yangzhou, then urged them to wait before departing.
• After they left, Jiang Sheng told Li Jianchun that the two might become the spark that opened the calamity.

Jiang Sheng explained to Li Jianchun how karmic ties could drive Crested Ibis and Nine Phoenix to fight for transcendence. In Vermilion Province, the Nine-Phoenix Demon Lord persuaded the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Waves to lure the Seven Absolutes Empress to a banquet and drug her with Love-Ensnaring Jade Elixir.

• Jiang Sheng described the Dual-Aspect Luan from Mountain Mystic and compared its struggle to Crested Ibis and Nine Phoenix’s karmic entanglement.
• Jiang Sheng advised Li Jianchun to read widely and learn from biographies and accounts of strange phenomena.
• At a feast in Ten Thousand Waves Marsh, the Nine-Phoenix Demon Lord urged the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Waves to expand his domain by marrying the Seven Absolutes Empress.
• The Nine-Phoenix Demon Lord proposed provoking a clash with Nine-Headed Mountain, then inviting the Seven Absolutes Empress to a peace banquet and drugging her with Love-Ensnaring Jade Elixir.
• The Dragon King of Ten Thousand Waves accepted the plan and put the Nine-Phoenix Demon Lord in charge.

Demon Lord Nine Phoenix, Blood Sea Daoist, and Five-Water Profound Lord plotted to exploit Ten Thousand Waves Marsh and Nine-Head Mountain by provoking a war between them. As the Seven Absolutes Empress prepared her forces to fight, she received a communication from Dragon Lord Ao Hui.

• Demon Lord Nine Phoenix, Blood Sea Daoist, and Five-Water Profound Lord agreed to seize the territories and resources of Ten Thousand Waves Marsh and Nine-Head Mountain.
• Blood Sea Daoist and Five-Water Profound Lord helped provoke the two realms by poisoning waterways and framing Nine-Head Mountain for harvesting its inhabitants.
• The Dragon King of Ten Thousand Waves welcomed the rising conflict, hoping to use it to marry the Seven Absolutes Empress.
• The Seven Absolutes Empress found her clansmen's shriveled bodies and ordered Nine-Head Mountain to muster for battle.
• The Seven Absolutes Empress received a message from Dragon Lord Ao Hui and remarked that she had not used the communication jade token in fifteen hundred years.

The Seven Absolutes Empress reconnected with Dragon Monarch Aohui, who revealed the East Sea Dragon Palace and Shanhe World had fallen and warned that a devastating war was coming to Jiuzhou World. He offered her a chance to help a fellow Daoist of True Lord Lingyuan in Vermilion Province, which could earn goodwill from the Eastern Heaven Daoist Sect and protect her Nine-Headed Mountain.

• The Seven Absolutes Empress confronted Aohui over his fifteen-hundred-year silence, and he told her the East Sea Dragon Palace had been destroyed and Shanhe World had ceased to exist.
• Aohui explained that a great war would soon engulf Jiuzhou World and described the upheavals across the Three Realms.
• The Seven Absolutes Empress asked which side Aohui served, and he revealed he was the Guardian Dragon Monarch of the East Sea's Broken Star Sea under the Eastern Heaven Daoist Sect.
• Aohui clarified that he had not come to recruit her but to offer her a chance to assist True Lord Lingyuan's fellow Daoist in Vermilion Province.
• The Seven Absolutes Empress fell silent as Aohui described True Lord Lingyuan's stature and the potential benefit to her and Nine-Headed Mountain.

Jiang Sheng learned about Vermilion Province and the Seven Absolutes Empress from Dragon Monarch Aohui, then met Ye Wenshu in the Heavenly Court to discuss Yangzhou. After Jiang Sheng refused to help disrupt the region, Ye Wenshu went to the Golden Palace Heavenly Emperor, who authorized her to act forcefully against the Jiuzhou World and prevent East Heaven’s plans from proceeding too smoothly.

• Dragon Monarch Aohui told Jiang Sheng about Vermilion Province and the Seven Absolutes Empress, and Jiang Sheng warned Li Jianchun and Huang Ping'an to remain cautious during their coming expedition to the Jiuzhou World.
• Ye Wenshu invited Jiang Sheng to the Heavenly Court and asked him to help conceal her plan to kill an Integration Realm cultivator in Yangzhou.
• Jiang Sheng refused to cooperate because he wanted the Jiuzhou World to remain unchanged while East Heaven’s plans proceeded safely.
• Ye Wenshu told the Golden Palace Heavenly Emperor that Jiang Sheng would not act, and he authorized her to make decisions as circumstances demanded so East Heaven would not have an easy path to control the Jiuzhou World.

Seven Absolutes Empress sent Nine-Head Mountain’s forces against Ten Thousand Waves Marsh, while Azure Cloud Madam fought Heaven Toad Demon King in her place. As the battle remained unresolved, Nine Phoenix Demon Lord, Blood Sea Daoist, and Five-Water Profound Lord watched and discussed their plans, with Five-Water vowing to avoid Jiang Sheng in the coming war.

• Seven Absolutes Empress ordered a million demon troops to march on Ten Thousand Waves Marsh after recalling Dragon Lord Ao Hui’s warning about Jiuzhou World and the Three Realms.
• Azure Cloud Madam and Three Phoenix Madam visited Seven Absolutes Empress, and Azure Cloud Madam offered to face Ten Thousand Waves Marsh in her stead.
• Heaven Toad Demon King attacked Nine-Head Mountain’s forces with poison, and Azure Cloud Madam confronted him and began fighting him in the sky.
• Azure Cloud Madam and Heaven Toad Demon King fought to a stalemate over several days while Nine Phoenix Demon Lord, Blood Sea Daoist, and Five-Water Profound Lord watched.
• Five-Water Profound Lord said he would hide during the coming war in Jiuzhou World to avoid encountering Jiang Sheng again.

Demon Lord Nine Phoenix maneuvered Ten Thousand Waves Marsh and Nine-Head Mountain into a peace banquet while secretly advancing his own scheme. At the banquet, Lady Seven Absolutes grew suspicious and confronted Nine Phoenix, who was absent from the hall.

• The four demon kings fought in their true forms until both sides suffered heavy losses and could no longer continue.
• Demon Lord Nine Phoenix persuaded the Ten Thousand Waves Dragon King to prolong the fighting, then went to Seven Absolutes Cave to propose peace to Lady Seven Absolutes.
• Lady Seven Absolutes agreed to a ceasefire and contacted Dragon Lord Ao Hui to report that she had found the person he sought.
• The Ten Thousand Waves Dragon King hosted a lavish banquet, and Lady Seven Absolutes arrived with Lady Biyun, Lady Three Phoenixes, and the other demon kings of Nine-Head Mountain.
• When the Ten Thousand Waves Dragon King apologized for the war, Lady Seven Absolutes questioned whether it had truly been a misunderstanding and called out Demon Lord Nine Phoenix.

Demon Lord Nine Phoenix poisoned the demon kings at a banquet in the water palace and revealed that he had lured them there as prey. Seven Absolutes Empress helped some of them recover, but Nine Phoenix overpowered the gathering and slaughtered most of the demon kings, leaving the battle among a few survivors.

• Demon Lord Nine Phoenix revealed that he had poisoned the banquet wine and intended to make the demon kings his prey.
• Osmanthus Demon King attacked Nine Phoenix, who stopped him and slammed his rhinoceros form into the floor.
• Seven Absolutes Empress fought Nine Phoenix and gave Three Profound Jade Radiance Pills to Dragon King of Ten Thousand Waves, Azure Cloud Madam, and the others to cure the poison.
• Dragon King of Ten Thousand Waves recovered enough to attack Nine Phoenix with the Azure Wave Trident, but Nine Phoenix killed him with one strike from a phoenix-headed short crutch.
• Heaven Toad Demon King attacked Nine Phoenix with his Heavenly Toad Myriad-Poison Pearl, but Nine Phoenix shattered it and killed demon kings as they tried to flee.
• Nine Phoenix surveyed the fallen demon kings and relished his strength, thinking of Jiang Sheng and Daoist Ling Yuan.

Nine Phoenix Demon Lord and his allies subdued the surviving Demon Kings and interrogated Seven Absolutes Empress about how she knew his identity. When Azure Cloud Madam opened the azure slip, its single character transformed into True Lord Ling Yuan, who struck at the three fiends with his sword.

• Nine Phoenix Demon Lord's true form suppressed Seven Absolutes Empress and Azure Cloud Madam as Blood Sea Daoist and Five-Water Profound Lord arrived among the ruins.
• Five-Water Profound Lord threatened to use Heaven Toad Demon King and Seven Absolutes Empress as materials, while Nine Phoenix Demon Lord seized Azure Cloud Madam to force Seven Absolutes Empress to speak.
• Seven Absolutes Empress revealed that Dragon Lord Ao Hui had told her Nine Phoenix Demon Lord's identity and that True Lord Ling Yuan was investigating him on behalf of Vermilion Ibis Demon Lord.
• Nine Phoenix Demon Lord took the azure slip from Seven Absolutes Empress and ordered Azure Cloud Madam to unfold it.
• The slip's character for sever became a figure resembling True Lord Ling Yuan, who attacked Nine Phoenix Demon Lord, Blood Sea Daoist, and Five-Water Profound Lord with Heaven-Cutting.