Chapter Summaries

Li Tianming accepted Dongyang Zhuo’s life-and-death challenge after learning that Dongyang Zhuo had supplied Jiang Yu with the Soul-Locking Necro Tome. The barrier closed around them, and Li Tianming prepared to fight Dongyang Zhuo’s seven-headed Ancient Sacred Beast, the Poison Sword Demon Sun Nine Infant.

• Jiang An summoned Dongyang Zhuo, Emperor Yu’s grandson and the ancient imperial clan’s top genius under twenty, to challenge for the Earth Ranking.
• Dongyang Zhuo admitted that he had given Jiang Yu the Soul-Locking Necro Tome and challenged Li Tianming to a battle ending only when one of them died.
• Li Tianming agreed, demanded that both fighters surrender illegal trump cards for inspection, and returned the Heavenly Pattern tomes Bai Mo had given him.
• The Decapath Dao Heaven barrier closed around Li Tianming and Dongyang Zhuo as they faced each other on the battlefield.
• Dongyang Zhuo revealed his seven-headed Poison Sword Demon Sun Nine Infant, a seventh-tier Ancient Sacred Beast, while Li Tianming and his lifebound beasts prepared to fight.

Li Tianming used five Sea Spirit Books to turn the battle against Dongyang Zhuo, trapping and killing his lifebound beast before slaying Dongyang Zhuo himself. He ended the fight by accusing the Ancient Imperial Clan of being the Nine Nether Clan, and the Ten Directions Dao Heaven battlefield collapsed amid a tremendous earthquake.

• Li Tianming unleashed five Sea Spirit Books, flooding the sealed battlefield so Lanhuang could overpower Dongyang Zhuo's fire-attributed Venom Sword Demonic Sun Nine Infants.
• Yinghuo, Miaomiao, and Lanhuang blinded the Venom Sword Demonic Sun Nine Infants, wounded it, and killed it while Li Tianming kept Dongyang Zhuo from reaching it.
• After the beast died, Li Tianming defeated Dongyang Zhuo with a hidden black Eastern Emperor Sword and cut off his head.
• Li Tianming stepped on Dongyang Zhuo's face and challenged the Ancient Imperial Clan, asking whether the man he had killed was actually a member of the Nine Nether Clan.
• The Ten Directions Dao Heaven battlefield's seats and walls shattered, and an earthquake shook the Divine Capital.

Li Tianming provoked the ancient royal clan into attacking the Ten-Directional Dao Heaven Barrier, giving the Ten-Directional Dao Palace a chance to confront its royal-born factions. Ye Yi and the Dark Hall forced the royals to retreat under the Ten-Directional Demon-Suppressing Barrier, and Li Tianming ended the standoff by trying to return Dongyang Zhuo’s head to Dongyang Fen.

• Li Tianming told Jiang Feiling that the hall kings had asked him to provoke the ancient royal clan and that the Palace Lord intended to use the ensuing conflict to uproot factions within the Dao Palace.
• The ancient royals attacked the Ten-Directional Dao Heaven Barrier, but Ye Yi led the Dark Hall’s Ten-Directional Legion out to confront them.
• Dongyang Fen and the hall kings called the attack a misunderstanding, while Ye Yi warned that the Dark Hall would defend the Dao Palace to the death.
• The Ten-Directional Demon-Suppressing Barrier rose around the Dao Palace, and the ancient royals backed down as Ye Yi ordered them to leave.
• Li Tianming tossed Dongyang Zhuo’s head toward Dongyang Fen, but it hit the still-active barrier and bounced back.

After Li Tianming won the Heaven Ranking final, the Divine Realm’s Crown Prince invited him to the Fireworks Festival banquet and mentioned the upcoming Ancient God Burial. Bai Mo explained the burial’s history and its connection to the realm’s great divine artifacts, leaving Li Tianming and the others wondering what change had caused it to open unusually soon.

• Li Tianming accepted Ye Yi’s praise after defeating Dongyang Zhuo and was told to collect his prepared ancient divine source.
• The Crown Prince, Dongyang Fengchen, praised Li Tianming, invited him to the Fireworks Festival banquet, and revealed that he could enter the Ancient God Burial again.
• Bai Mo told Li Tianming that the Ten Directions Dao Palace and the ancient imperial clan had both risen through divine artifacts found in the Ancient God Burial.
• Bai Mo explained that the burial had opened only eight years after its last opening, following three earthquakes, and said they suspected something inside had changed.

Li Tianming learned why the Ancient Divine Burial admitted only those under thirty and discussed the Fireworks Feast with Bai Mo, who warned that the imperial clan might set a trap. He then went to the Dark Hall to meet the Ten Directions Palace Lord, whose voice revealed that she was a woman.

• Bai Mo explained that age limits kept the Ancient Divine Burial focused on young cultivators, and that people gradually lost their cultivation and vitality as they aged.
• Li Tianming asked whether he could enter the Ancient Divine Burial, and Bai Mo said he would need to prove himself at the Fireworks Feast and warned him to prioritize obtaining an Ancient Divine Source.
• Li Tianming learned that Dongyang Fengchen possessed the rare Nine Heads talent and suspected the crown prince had invited him to the feast with a trap in mind.
• Li Tianming parted from his companions and went to the Dark Hall, where its members welcomed him and praised his performance.
• Li Tianming reached the Dao Heaven Palace and entered after hearing the Ten Directions Palace Lord call to him, surprised that her voice belonged to a woman.

Li Tianming met Palace Master Weisheng Yunxi, who rewarded his Earth Ranking victory with three mid-grade Ancient Divine Sources and spoke about his father and the Eastern Emperor Sword. She then took him to the Dao Follows Nature Hall to recommend a demanding battle art.

• Weisheng Yunxi gave Li Tianming three mid-grade Ancient Divine Sources as his Earth Ranking prize, explaining that she had secretly made the reward more generous.
• Weisheng Yunxi told Li Tianming that she had once shared a master-disciple bond with Li Muyang and described him as a righteous man who would not disappoint his son.
• Weisheng Yunxi revealed that the Gan Emperor had blinded her with Voidfire, then asked to examine Li Tianming's Eastern Emperor Sword and urged him to study its two components.
• Weisheng Yunxi invited Li Tianming to the Dao Follows Nature Hall to try a battle art that relied on physical strength and enduring hardship.

Wei Sheng Yunxi brought Li Tianming to the Sword Qi Pool and explained how the Indestructible Sword Body was cultivated by integrating Indestructible Sword Qi into the body. Li Tianming began testing his compatibility with a flame Sword Qi, enduring its pain as the Supreme Unity Tower repaired his flesh.

• Wei Sheng Yunxi explained the Indestructible Sword Body’s cultivation method, its four thresholds, and the Sword Qi Pool’s stored spirit calamities.
• Wei Sheng Yunxi advised Li Tianming to try flame, water, earth, or lightning Sword Qi, and Li Tianming chose fire.
• Wei Sheng Yunxi selected a weak Azure Ling Fire Sword Qi strand and injected it into Li Tianming’s right arm after he asked her not to use his buttocks.
• Li Tianming endured the tearing pain as Wei Sheng Yunxi suppressed and guided the Sword Qi through his arm.
• The Supreme Unity Tower began repairing Li Tianming’s damaged flesh, and he distracted himself to cope with the pain.

Li Tianming began cultivating the Undying Sword Body, then returned to find Jiang Feiling briefly possessed by a terrifying being who ordered him to bring her back to the tomb and threatened her life. He stayed awake watching over her and, by morning, promised that he would die before she did.

• Weisheng Yunxi praised Li Tianming's ability to absorb Sword Qi and urged him to pursue the Hundred Tribulations Sword and possibly the Thousand Tribulations Sword.
• Li Tianming gave the Flame God Emperor Wings to Yinghuo, the Ten Thousand Demons Poison Fangs to Miaomiao, and the Extinction Divine Sword to Lanhuang for their evolution.
• Li Tianming found Jiang Feiling possessed by a cold, powerful entity that said it had opened the tomb and demanded he bring her back, threatening to snap her neck.
• Jiang Feiling collapsed and returned to normal, and Li Tianming held her through the night while she slept.
• In the morning, Li Tianming promised Jiang Feiling that he would be the one to die first.

Li Tianming studied the Immortal Sword Body, witnessed his lifebound beasts’ evolutions, and broke through to the third level of the Earth Saint realm. He then told Yinghuo about the mysterious presence that had controlled Jiang Feiling and demanded that he bring her back to the Ancient Divine Burial, leaving their connection unexplained.

• Li Tianming studied the Immortal Sword Body and resolved to endure its painful cultivation to grow strong enough to protect the people he loved.
• Yinghuo, Miaomiao, and Lanhuang completed their evolutions, gaining new weapons and abilities as their star points rose.
• Li Tianming symbiotically cultivated with the three beasts and broke through to the third level of the Earth Saint realm after using his Saint Crystals.
• Li Tianming told Yinghuo that a mysterious presence had controlled Jiang Feiling and said he must bring her back to the Ancient Divine Burial.
• Li Tianming connected Jiang Feiling’s unknown origins on the Abyssal Battlefield to the Divine Burial but found no answers about her relationship to the presence.

Li Tianming told Jiang Feiling about the threat tied to the Ancient God Burial, and they agreed to face it together while he considered their options. He then began cultivating the Immortal Sword Body, enduring brutal pain to fuse fourteen strands of Immortal Sword Qi in one day.

• Li Tianming decided he would enter the Ancient God Burial with Jiang Feiling rather than risk leaving her to face the threat alone.
• Jiang Feiling returned from shopping, and Li Tianming told her about the mysterious figure and his suspicions; she agreed to go with him and encouraged him to stay calm.
• Li Tianming asked Weisheng Yunxi to move the Sword Qi pool, then found that Lanhuang could not endure the pain of fusing Immortal Sword Qi.
• Li Tianming and Yinghuo began cultivating the Immortal Sword Body, screaming through hours of painful attempts while continuing to fuse Sword Qi.
• Li Tianming emerged after fusing fourteen strands, and Weisheng Yunxi revealed that he had cultivated the Ten Tribulation Sword in a single day.
• Li Tianming said he would keep enduring the cultivation because he wanted his family to live well.

An old fisherman in the forest by the North Nether River spoke with a little girl, then revealed his anguish over the Dao and ate the living fish he had caught. Meanwhile, Li Tianming endured a month of Immortal Sword Body cultivation, reached the fourth level of the Earth Saint Realm, and prepared to go to the imperial palace on the night of the Fireworks Festival.

• An old fisherman gave a little girl a colorful fish and spoke to her about life and the Dao while they waited beside the flooded North Nether River.
• The girl's parents mistook the fisherman for a threat, kicked him down, and took her away.
• The fisherman caught the escaped fish, lamented that people were like fish caught in the Heavenly Dao, ate it, and walked toward the Divine Capital reciting a poem.
• Li Tianming endured twenty-eight days of Immortal Sword Body cultivation, fusing over three hundred strands of Sword Qi while Yinghuo fused over one hundred and seventy.
• Li Tianming and his companions reached the fourth level of the Earth Saint Realm, and he went to tell Bai Mo that he would enter the imperial palace that night.

Li Tianming learned that entering the Ancient Divine Burial might be the only way to save Jiang Feiling, despite the danger from the mysterious presence and the royal family. He chose to pursue a burial qualification at the Fireworks Banquet, and Ye Lingfeng insisted on joining him.

• Li Tianming brought Jiang Feiling to the Dao Palace, where Weisheng Yunxi warned him that the Fireworks Banquet and Ancient Divine Burial could expose him to royal retaliation and deadly danger.
• Li Tianming explained Jiang Feiling's origins and the mysterious force controlling her during Spirit Possession; Weisheng Yunxi examined her but could not explain her miraculous condition.
• Li Tianming decided he had to enter the Ancient Divine Burial to try to save Jiang Feiling, and Weisheng Yunxi agreed to let him compete for a qualification at the Fireworks Banquet.
• After Li Tianming left, Weisheng Yunxi, Bai Mo, and Ye Yi discussed the grave risks he faced and hoped he would survive the tests ahead.
• Ye Lingfeng told Li Tianming he wanted to enter the Ancient Divine Burial and avenge the Soulburner Clan; Li Tianming agreed they would attend the Fireworks Banquet together.

Li Tianming and his companions prepared to attend the Fireworks Festival banquet, where younger disciples would compete for entry to the Ancient Thearch’s Tomb. As they walked through the Divine Capital’s festive streets, Li Tianming recognized that its prosperity rested on the suffering and deaths of people beyond the capital.

• Li Qingyu warned Li Tianming that the Ancient Imperial Clan’s followers had been provoking her, and Li Tianming vowed to make them stop.
• Bai Mo and the elders gathered with Li Tianming, Ye Lingfeng, and the Heaven Ranking disciples Situ Yiyi, Bai Xiaozhu, and Chen Jinghong before setting out for the banquet.
• Bai Mo explained that twenty-one Saint Realm of Heaven disciples had guaranteed entry to the Thearch’s Tomb, while the remaining nine spots would be decided in battles among thirty-six Saint Realm of Earth disciples.
• The group walked through the lively Divine Capital as Bai Mo showed Li Tianming and the others the city during the Fireworks Festival.
• Li Tianming admired the capital’s visible prosperity but reflected that it had been built on the plunder and deaths of people outside it.

At the Grand Fireworks Feast beside Reincarnation Mirror Lake, Crown Prince Dongyang Fengchen arranged for Li Tianming and Ye Lingfeng to win staged matches so they would enter the Divine Burial. Li Tianming arrived with the Deca-Direction Dao Palace elders as the feast began, while Dongyang Fengchen stayed behind to confront Qingqing about her pregnancy.

• Before the feast, Dongyang Fengchen ordered four eighth-level Earth Saint disciples to fight Li Tianming and Ye Lingfeng, then deliberately lose to them.
• Dongyang Fengxiao and Jiang Fengyue questioned the plan, and Dongyang Fengchen explained that he wanted Li Tianming to enter the Divine Burial with Jiang Feiling before taking revenge.
• After the others left, Qingqing told Dongyang Fengchen she was pregnant, and he ordered her to get rid of the child and warned her not to interfere in his affairs.
• Li Tianming followed the Deca-Direction Dao Palace elders to their seats beside Reincarnation Mirror Lake as the Grand Fireworks Feast began.

At Emperor Yu’s Fireworks Festival banquet, Li Tianming was chosen to face Yang Yang of the Qilin Ancient Clan in a staged opening match. The battle began at Reincarnation Mirror Lake, where Li Tianming sent his companions forward against Yang Yang’s two Three-Eyed Crimson Sun Qilins.

• Li Tianming attended the banquet with Jiang Feiling and watched the Divine Capital’s fireworks as they shared a quiet moment together.
• Meng Tingyu proposed a youth sparring competition, and Emperor Yu approved it.
• Meng Tingyu drew Yang Yang of the Qilin Ancient Clan and Li Tianming as the first pair of contestants.
• Li Tianming recognized that the match had been arranged to provoke him and entered Reincarnation Mirror Lake, where a barrier sealed the battlefield.
• Yang Yang summoned two Three-Eyed Crimson Sun Qilins, while Li Tianming brought out Lanhuang and sent Yinghuo, Miaomiao, and their companion to fight.

Li Tianming’s lifebound beasts crushed Yang Yang, and Li later defeated Jiang Fengyue with the Hundred-Calamity Sword, securing a place in the Ancient Divine Tomb and humiliating the imperial clan. Dongyang Fengchen then planned for Dongyang Fengxiao to injure Ye Lingfeng in an upcoming match.

• Yinghuo, Miaomiao, and Lanhuang defeated Yang Yang and his two Three-Eyed Scarlet Sun Qilins, while Yinghuo nearly killed Yang Yang before Meng Tingyu rescued him.
• Ye Lingfeng defeated Dongyang Bo, following Li Tianming’s instruction not to kill him.
• Li Tianming faced Jiang Fengyue, whose three Blackwater Netherpoison Xiangliu fought his lifebound beasts across Reincarnation Mirror Lake.
• Li Tianming shattered Jiang Fengyue’s Northern Nether Killing Sword with the Fourth Shenxiao Sword and the Hundred-Calamity Sword, then cut off one Xiangliu’s head before Meng Tingyu rescued the remaining opponents.
• Dongyang Fengchen ordered Dongyang Fengxiao to arrange a match with Ye Lingfeng and seize a chance to injure him.

Ye Lingfeng faced Dongyang Fengxiao in the Fireworks Feast’s second-round sparring match and pretended to succumb to the prince’s soul attacks before badly wounding his lifebound beast. The fight continued with Ye Lingfeng evading Dongyang Fengxiao and worsening the beast’s injuries.

• Li Tianming warned Ye Lingfeng that Dongyang Fengxiao might be a dangerous opponent, and Ye Lingfeng entered the match despite being the weaker fighter.
• Dongyang Fengxiao insulted Ye Lingfeng and the ancient imperial clan, then attacked him with the Ninefold Soul-Scattering Melody and his Azure Bat Demonwing Nine-Infant’s Supergod Soundwave.
• Ye Lingfeng feigned being overwhelmed by the soul attacks, luring Dongyang Fengxiao into ordering his lifebound beast to bite him.
• Ye Lingfeng revealed his ruse and slashed open the Azure Bat Demonwing Nine-Infant’s abdomen with his Burning Blood Soul Swords.
• Dongyang Fengxiao pursued Ye Lingfeng with his Nameless Wind Xiao, but Ye Lingfeng evaded him and attacked the injured beast again, worsening its condition.

After Ye Lingfeng humiliated Dongyang Fengxiao at the fireworks feast, Emperor Yu warned Dongyang Fengchen to kill Li Tianming in the divine tomb or lose the crown prince position. The feast then erupted into a rebellion led by Dongyang Ling, leaving the Imperial City and divine capital engulfed in battle as Bai Mo fled with Li Tianming and Ye Lingfeng.

• Meng Tingyu pulled Dongyang Fengxiao and his dying lifebound beast from the fight, and Emperor Yu dismissed him after Ye Lingfeng emerged from Reincarnation Mirror Lake.
• Emperor Yu told Dongyang Fengchen that the divine tomb was his only chance to eliminate Li Tianming, and threatened to replace him as crown prince if he failed.
• Black-clad intelligence agents reported that Dongyang Ling had attacked the Martial Saint Manor during the fireworks festival and was marching toward the Imperial City with forces from the nine territories.
• More than three hundred guests, including members of the Tanlang, Taotie, Bifang, and Qilin Ancient Clans and the Jiang imperial clan, suddenly attacked, enabling Dongyang Ling's forces to enter the Imperial City.
• Bai Mo seized Li Tianming and Ye Lingfeng and escaped with them as fighting and destruction spread through the Imperial City and divine capital.

Dongyang Ling’s assault plunged the Divine Capital into civil war, while Weisheng Yunxi sealed the Deca Dao Palace and used the crisis to consolidate her control. As Li Tianming prepared for the Ancient Divine Burial, he advanced his Imperishable Sword Body and joined Jiang Feiling in completing a two-star Heavenly Pattern Book.

• Bai Mo and the others discussed Dongyang Ling’s attack on Emperor Yu and returned Li Tianming and the others to the Deca Dao Palace.
• Weisheng Yunxi activated the Deca Demon-Suppressing Barrier, barred Dao Palace disciples from leaving, and began purging rival factions while their leaders joined the war.
• Li Tianming continued training in the Sword Qi Pool, reaching five hundred strands of Imperishable Sword Qi in ten days.
• Weisheng Yunxi gave Li Tianming a Voidworld Stone that could store over a thousand strands of Imperishable Sword Qi for use in the Ancient Divine Burial.
• Li Tianming and Jiang Feiling completed the two-star Heavenly Pattern Book together before setting out for the Ancient Divine Burial the next day.

Li Tianming and his companions traveled to the Second Divine Capital to enter the Ancient Divine Burial, where he faced the threat of Crown Prince Dongyang Fengchen and worried about Jiang Feiling. The burial’s eerie entrance opened, Dongyang Fengchen went in first, and a blood-red number appeared on the door.

• Bai Mo and Ye Yi escorted Li Tianming, Jiang Feiling, and Ye Lingfeng through the Abyssal Battlefield to the Second Divine Capital and warned them about the royal clan’s faction inside the Divine Burial.
• Bai Mo told Li Tianming that Crown Prince Dongyang Fengchen had reached the third level of the Heavenly Saint Realm two years earlier and could be even stronger now.
• Zhao Shenhong met the group in the Second Divine Capital, where Dongyang Fengxiao and Jiang Fengyue had been added to the thirty entrants after other clans’ places became vacant.
• Dongyang Fengchen mocked Li Tianming on the way to the burial, and Li Tianming taunted him by saying he had deliberately invoked the Nine Nether Clan.
• Bai Xiaozhu explained that an indestructible blue brick stone house concealed the entrance to the Ancient Divine Burial, and Li Tianming resolved to survive with Jiang Feiling.
• After the wooden door opened, Dongyang Fengchen entered first, and a blood-red number, twenty-nine, appeared on the door.