Chapter Summaries

Li Yu followed a jade talisman’s karma to Might-Displaying Celestial Venerable’s ancient cave mansion, hoping to find clues about the being called “him.” He found only the dead Celestial Venerable’s blood and a record describing the Heavenly Emperor realm, then left determined to strengthen himself quickly.

• Li Yu used the jade talisman fragment to follow its sole remaining Karma Line to a cave mansion in western Southern Sky Province.
• Li Yu destroyed the seals on the gate, entered the deserted estate, and identified the central palace as Might-Displaying Holy Hall.
• Li Yu found Might-Displaying Celestial Venerable’s pool of blood but rejected the risky idea of Tracing Time to witness his death and encounter “him.”
• Li Yu searched the palace and found a fist imprint containing Might-Displaying Celestial Venerable’s belief that a Heavenly Emperor realm existed above Celestial Venerable.
• Li Yu left the cave mansion and resolved to raise his cultivation as quickly as possible.

Li Yu entered Yu Yu Heaven to investigate Shi Xuan’s expected arrival and found Du Bai meditating in Xia'an Prefecture. He set up Shi Xuan with Du Bai’s memories and a demonic technique, then left as the Mountain River Bead entered Du Bai’s body.

• Li Yu entered the damaged Yu Yu Heaven and descended into Central Continent, where he searched for Shi Xuan before the transmigration had occurred.
• Li Yu found Du Bai practicing the Moonlight Cleansing Spirit Technique and removed his burning Divine Soul, storing it in the Resource Library.
• Li Yu caught the Mountain River Bead, copied its contents and the Yu Yu inheritance, and placed Du Bai’s memories inside it.
• Li Yu branded the Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring True Word into Shi Xuan’s Divine Soul and sent the Mountain River Bead into Du Bai’s sea of consciousness before departing.

Shi Xuan woke with the orthodox Shang Qing Bao Lu and the demonic Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring True Word, while Li Yu traveled to Luojing and prepared to make Du Bai the heir of a new demonic path. The chapter left Du Bai restored in Li Yu’s stark white cave, with Li Yu gone and the young man poised to inherit his Freedom Method.

• Shi Xuan examined the two cultivation techniques in his memories and accepted the Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring True Word despite its power to devour souls.
• Li Yu reached Luojing, watched rival gangs fight, and collected a corpse while deciding not to interfere.
• Li Yu studied the world’s cultivation system and concluded that he could use its techniques to understand its laws without competing for a Great Dao.
• Li Yu restored Du Bai’s soul and body, then created a Freedom Method that could plunder cultivation and devour souls.
• Li Yu prepared a pure-white cave dwelling, named Du Bai the future creator of the Demonic Sect, and sent him out of the Resource Library before disappearing.

Li Yu studied Yu Yu Heaven, Divine Firmament Palace, and the Shang Qing Bao Lu to understand the world’s cultivation methods. He left to create a cultivation method of his own, intending to establish the Great Dao of matter and order.

• Li Yu reflected on Yu Yu Heaven’s ancient destruction and the consequences of Yu Yu Daoist’s transcendence.
• Li Yu surveyed the twenty-seven Golden Immortals and decided to study Yu Yu Daoist’s cultivation method rather than rush his progress.
• Li Yu examined Divine Firmament Palace and learned that its artifact spirit, Old Mother Divine Firmament, had joined with the Great Dao of Electricity.
• Li Yu compared Divine Firmament Palace’s restrictions with the Shang Qing Bao Lu and fully grasped the Yu Yu True Inheritance.
• Li Yu left Yu Yu Heaven and began creating a cultivation method to comprehend this world’s laws and establish the Great Dao of matter and order.

Li Yu concluded that he had to experience this world’s cultivation laws firsthand, so he lowered a Split Spirit Thought to mortal level and sent it to be reincarnated. It was born as a prince and Crown Prince Yu of the Central Continent Empire, while Li Yu sealed his divine sense and discovered he had wet the bed.

• Li Yu tested how his power could create a world but realized he could not incorporate this world’s laws without experiencing them himself.
• Li Yu lowered a Split Spirit Thought to mortal level and sent it to reincarnate in the Central Continent.
• The Split Spirit Thought descended into the imperial palace at Luojing as the Noble Consort struggled through a difficult labor.
• A Great Sun appeared over the palace, and the Noble Consort gave birth to a son amid Dragon and Phoenix cries and Wind and Thunder.
• The Emperor named the child Yu, declared him Crown Prince, and ordered an amnesty and celebration.
• Boss Li sealed his divine sense and privately panicked after realizing he had wet the bed.

Du Bai awoke in a seamless mutton-fat jade cave dwelling in a different body, believing a cultivator had saved him. He found a blank jade scroll bearing the Freedom Method and heard the voice of the Great Freedom Demon Lord declare that he had left behind his Method of Proving Dao.

• Du Bai woke alive in a pristine jade cave dwelling and concluded that a senior cultivator had rescued him.
• Du Bai discovered that he had been given a different body with only two meridians opened.
• Du Bai searched the empty, doorless cave dwelling and found a hidden compartment containing a white jade box.
• Du Bai opened the box and found a blank jade scroll inscribed with the characters Freedom Method.
• Du Bai pressed the scroll to his brow, and the Great Freedom Demon Lord's voice declared that he had left behind his Method of Proving Dao.

Du Bai accepted the Freedom Method after deciding that demonic cultivation was no different in essence from Daoist or Buddhist cultivation. The jade slip transmitted the method into his mind, and Du Bai embraced its path of plunder without realizing how easily it could lead him astray.

• Du Bai read the Freedom Method’s teachings that Buddha, Dao, and demon shared the same destination, and learned of realms far beyond Golden Core, including Creation and Eternity.
• Du Bai decided that true demons pursued the self rather than surrendering to wicked desires, and accepted the Freedom Method as his inheritance.
• Du Bai kowtowed to the jade slip and swore to inherit the Great Freedom Demon Lord’s path.
• The jade slip exploded into white light, sending the Freedom Method’s cultivation information into Du Bai’s sea of consciousness.
• Du Bai learned that the method called cultivation a path of plunder and reasoned that demonic arts merely plundered more, committing himself to the demonic path.

At three years old, Li Yu used the Merit and sacred virtue gained from developing hybrid rice to merge his avatar fully with the world, then left the palace for Huilong Temple to seek a path toward cultivation. He exposed the temple’s hidden master by striking his portrait with Merit and sacred virtue qi, drawing an old Taoist’s furious response.

• Li Yu’s hybrid rice harvest earned him Merit and sacred virtue qi, erasing the last estrangement between his avatar and the world.
• Li Yu left the palace with a thousand imperial guards and ordered Wang Shuo to take him to impoverished Anle Ward.
• Li Yu arrived at Huilong Temple, where a Golden Core cultivator and a teleportation array to the Eastern Sea were located.
• Li Yu gave gifts to the people and visited the temple, where two Daoists accepted his silver and food while claiming to have transcended worldly affairs.
• Li Yu lit incense before Daoquanzi’s portrait, and his Merit and sacred virtue qi shattered it, provoking an old Taoist in the rear hall.

Daoquanzi tried to impress three-year-old Li Yu with his daoist abilities, but Li Yu recognized the displays as illusions and called them tricks. Daoquanzi was left stunned by the prince’s response.

• Daoquanzi learned that Li Yu’s incense offering had damaged his fortune and decided to meet him and assess his aptitude.
• Daoquanzi used his Heavenly Eye to inspect Li Yu and was nearly blinded by the child’s immense merit, sacred virtue, and blood qi.
• Daoquanzi created an illusion of a starry sky and drew the Moon Palace close, summoning the Guanghan Fairy to provide Osmanthus Immortal Brew.
• Li Yu calmly praised the displays as pretty tricks, leaving Daoquanzi stunned.

Li Yu convinced Daoquanzi that he would pursue the Dao, then revealed his divine identity to Emperor Li Yan and gave him a method of Sage Virtue. Heaven bestowed merit on Li Yu, establishing his Sage Virtue Dao and settling some of his karma with the imperial family.

• Li Yu asked Daoquanzi whether his longevity method could grant immortality, and Daoquanzi invited him to Huilong Temple after he settled his mortal attachments.
• Li Yu returned to the palace and told Emperor Li Yan he intended to cultivate the Dao, then revealed his golden radiance and claimed to be the reincarnated Great Heavenly Venerate Emperor Yu.
• Li Yu assured Li Yan that his birth would secure the empire's prosperity and bestowed the Law of Human Dao Sage Virtue upon him.
• Li Yu outlined the stages of the Human Emperor's Dao, from Warmth and Fullness to Great Harmony, and promised Li Yan the possibility of becoming an eternal Sacred Emperor.
• Heaven bestowed merit on Li Yu, making Sage Virtue a branch of the world's Dao and allowing Li Yan's cultivation to potentially extend his life by thousands of years.

Li Yu resolved his ties to the imperial family, arranged for Imperial Consort Hua to remain fixed in time, and left to cultivate under Daoquanzi. After receiving the Samadhi Divine Wind True Law, Li Yu rapidly advanced to the Out of Body Realm, leaving Daoquanzi stunned.

• Li Yan embraced the Path of Sage Virtue and vowed to become the Sacred Emperor of Sage Virtue.
• Li Yu gave Imperial Consort Hua fruit marked with Time Imprisonment, then left the imperial palace for Huilong Temple.
• Li Yu told Daoquanzi he would keep his worldly self and agreed to become his disciple in the Yingzhou Immortal Sect.
• Daoquanzi transmitted the first three levels of the Samadhi Divine Wind True Law to Li Yu.
• Li Yu used his abundant blood and vitality to strengthen his soul and broke through to the Out of Body Realm in moments.

Li Yu underwent his first soul departure and Heaven-Man Induction, comprehending the surface-level rules of Heaven and Earth and astonishing Daoquanzi and Jade Divine Firmament. Jade Divine Firmament took him away to become a True Disciple of Shangqing Yu Yu Sect, leaving Daoquanzi lamenting that his disciple had become his patriarch.

• Li Yu's soul left his body, and he used Divine Soul Unity to comprehend the Heaven and Earth rules during Heaven-Man Induction.
• The meditation chamber filled with Five Elements, light and darkness, wind and thunder, and images of the Innate Five Virtues and Five Innate Primes, astonishing Daoquanzi.
• Jade Divine Firmament appeared, questioned Daoquanzi about Li Yu, and decided to accept Li Yu as a disciple on Yu Yu Daoist's behalf.
• Li Yu's soul returned to his body, and he explained that he had gained insight from the surface-level rules but had not comprehended the profound Great Dao.
• Jade Divine Firmament took Li Yu away to acknowledge Yu Yu Daoist as his master, while Daoquanzi lamented that his disciple had become his patriarch.

Du Bai absorbed the ghosts of North Mang Mountain and advanced to the Out of Body Realm before traveling to Tongxuan Mountain to investigate unusual Yin and demon energies. At a haunted manor, he saw a young Daoist emerge from a room—and recognized the youth as himself.

• Du Bai cleared North Mang Mountain of ghosts, refined their souls into Soul Power, and advanced to the Out of Body Realm.
• Du Bai gained five minor innate divine abilities through Heaven-Man Induction and set out for Tongxuan Mountain in Chu State.
• Du Bai reached Tongxuan Mountain and used the Heavenly Demon Eye to detect Yin, baleful, and demon energy in a valley.
• Du Bai entered a haunted manor and saw female ghosts with physical bodies attending three rooms.
• A Daoist youth killed one female ghost with lightning, emerged from his room, and Du Bai saw his own face.

Du Bai confronted Shi Xuan, the transmigrator inhabiting Du Bai’s former body, and proved his identity by recounting his life. Before they could settle their conflict, Du Bai rescued Ding Mingde and Yan Jujian from female ghosts, then the pair faced a horde of ghosts filling the courtyard.

• Du Bai recognized Shi Xuan as the person occupying his original body and confronted him over it.
• Shi Xuan claimed his memories were damaged, but Du Bai recounted his life and revealed that he was the original Du Bai.
• When Ding Mingde cried for help, Du Bai’s crescent blade killed the female ghost attacking him, and Shi Xuan realized the ghosts had poisoned their victims.
• Du Bai sent another blade into Yan Jujian’s room and killed the female ghost attacking the swordsman.
• Du Bai told Shi Xuan they would settle their debt later, as a horde of ghosts surged into the courtyard.

Du Bai purified the haunted courtyard and faced the Tiger Demon behind the tiger ghosts, while Shi Xuan supported him with talismans. Du Bai struck the demon down with the Heavenly Demon True Word, then turned to settle the matter of the body with Shi Xuan.

• Du Bai dispelled the ghosts and cleansed the courtyard with his Freedom Eternity divine power.
• Du Bai warned Shi Xuan that a great enemy was coming, and Shi Xuan prepared talismans taken from Du Bai.
• The Two-headed Giant Tiger arrived and revealed that the ghosts were souls of people it had killed.
• Du Bai's Great Yin String Moon Saber failed against the Tiger Demon's high-grade magic artifact, and Shi Xuan blocked its wind blades with a talisman.
• Du Bai used the Heavenly Demon True Word to wound the Tiger Demon and send it crashing to the ground.
• Du Bai turned to Shi Xuan and said they would discuss the matter of the body.

Shi Xuan and Du Bai discovered that each could wield a version of the Heavenly Demon True Word and agreed to settle their dispute over Shi Xuan’s body in a duel after reaching the Primordial Spirit. After Du Bai left, Shi Xuan collected the Tiger Demon’s treasure and revived Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde, then began examining the banner.

• Du Bai’s Freedom True Word struck Shi Xuan, but the Mountain River Bead and Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring True Word protected him, revealing a shared connection between them.
• Du Bai offered Shi Xuan the choice of returning his body or dueling after they both achieved the Primordial Spirit, and Shi Xuan accepted the duel.
• Du Bai left the Tiger Demon’s black banner behind rather than return for it, and Shi Xuan picked it up.
• Shi Xuan revived Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde with talismans and told them to prepare the Tiger Demon’s meat.
• Shi Xuan examined the White Bone Soul-Serving Banner and discovered it had sixty-three layers of restrictions.

After mastering the Freedom Method by rejecting greed, Du Bai pursued the Crimson Cloud Divine Lord, an Incense God famed for granting children. At the Crimson Glow Divine Hall, he discovered how the Divine Lord’s child-giving worked and began considering how to exploit the scheme.

• Du Bai realized that rejecting the black banner reflected his true heart, purified his soul, and helped him gain control over his greatly increased Soul Power.
• Du Bai entered a town and learned from an old woman that the Crimson Cloud Divine Lord was especially renowned for granting children.
• Du Bai traced the Divine Lord’s divine light to Fengzhou City and decided to investigate before acting.
• Du Bai visited the Crimson Glow Divine Hall and saw the Temple Keeper give Madam Zhang a statue to take home and worship.
• Du Bai recognized the statue as a marker that let the Divine Lord descend to women praying for children, and wondered what the god would do if the petitioner were ugly and broad-shouldered.

Du Bai used his Heavenly Demon Eye to expose the Provincial Governor as the Child-Giving Divine Lord and entered his residence under the guise of a physician. He froze the Crimson Cloud Divine Lord, destroyed his divine body, and annihilated him after revealing that the supposed illness came from his growing Yin energy.

• Du Bai saw the Provincial Governor’s medical notice and recognized him as the Child-Giving Divine Lord.
• Du Bai impressed the constable and Steward Wang by naming their hidden ailments, then was led to the Provincial Governor.
• Du Bai examined the Provincial Governor and declared that he was not ill but was a god.
• The Provincial Governor attacked Du Bai with crimson lotus fire, but Du Bai froze him with Nine Nether Cold Qi.
• The Crimson Cloud Divine Lord emerged from the Provincial Governor’s body, and Du Bai destroyed his divine body with the Mysterious Yin Ghost Slaying Technique.
• Du Bai explained that the Divine Lord could have abandoned his Mortal Body and reforged a divine one, then annihilated him completely.

Du Bai searched the provincial governor’s hidden compartment after defeating the Crimson Cloud Divine Lord and found a Divine Path manual, a token, and Taiyi Geng Metal. He recovered his master’s inheritance from Shi Xuan, gave him the manual in exchange, and left Shi Xuan eyeing the Geng Metal he desperately needed.

• Du Bai found four objects in the provincial governor’s hidden compartment, including the Incense Refining Golden Body manual, a mysterious token, and Taiyi Geng Metal.
• Du Bai encountered Shi Xuan in the air above Fengzhou City and learned that Shi Xuan wanted the Crimson Cloud Divine Lord’s cultivation manual.
• Du Bai demanded the return of his master’s belongings after Shi Xuan admitted he had passed the Return to Truth Scripture to the scholar and the swordsman.
• Du Bai attacked Shi Xuan, pursued him outside the city, and retrieved the cloth bag containing the Return to Truth Scripture, though some talismans were missing.
• Du Bai warned Shi Xuan not to share the scripture again and gave him the Incense Refining Golden Body manual.
• Shi Xuan recognized the Taiyi Geng Metal in the bundle and realized he desperately needed it for a divine ability.

Du Bai traded Geng Metal to Shi Xuan in exchange for a promise that Shi Xuan would tell him if he found a way out of the Central Continent. Back in the Divine Firmament Palace, Li Yu endured Jade Divine Firmament’s fury over his bathwater, then claimed his new “Universal Gravitation” insight could help her advance her cultivation.

• Du Bai asked Shi Xuan to inform him if Shi Xuan found a way to leave the Central Continent, and Shi Xuan agreed in exchange for the Geng Metal.
• Shi Xuan took the Geng Metal to cultivate the Taiyin Lung Meridian Geng Metal Sword Qi and departed.
• Jade Divine Firmament found Li Yu bathing in a jade pool and attacked him after learning he had returned his bathwater to the Jade Pure Bottle.
• Li Yu threatened to withhold his guidance, then told Jade Divine Firmament that electricity could extend into the Dao of Yuan Ci and ultimately the Dao of Strength.
• Li Yu named his proposed cultivation method “Universal Gravitation.”