Chapter Summaries

Wang Teng and Zhou Tong fought at the peak of their realm, with Wang Teng relying on Great Emperor Luangu’s Chaotic Ancient Chariot and Heavenly Emperor Sword to challenge Zhou Tong’s overwhelming strength. After both suffered injuries, Zhou Tong healed and they charged into battle again.

• Wang Teng drove the Chaotic Ancient Chariot into Zhou Tong’s attack, and its ancient emperor phantom blocked Zhou Tong’s Soldier Character Secret.
• Wang Teng and Zhou Tong exchanged blows, with Wang Teng’s Heavenly Emperor Sword cutting deeply into Zhou Tong’s arm while Zhou Tong’s fist force sent Wang Teng tumbling from his chariot.
• Purple Haze Fairy identified Wang Teng’s sword as a weapon forged from Dao Tribulation Gold and Primordial Stone, left by Great Emperor Luangu for his successor.
• The ancient emperor phantom pulled Wang Teng back onto the chariot, and Zhou Tong dismissed Wang Teng’s power before healing his wound with his vast blood and qi.
• Wang Teng merged with the phantom and charged at Zhou Tong again, and the two collided amid the destruction of heaven and earth.

Zhou Tong overwhelmed Wang Teng in a brutal battle above Sword Lake, revealing the Sky Horn Ant Treasure Art and crushing Wang Teng’s defenses. Wang Teng used desperate secret arts to survive, but Zhou Tong’s final palm destroyed his body and primordial spirit.

• Zhou Tong and Wang Teng fought fiercely above Sword Lake as Zhou Tong relied on immense physical strength while Wang Teng wielded secret arts, the Heavenly Emperor Sword, and the Chaotic Ancient Chariot.
• A Sky Horn Ant manifestation appeared behind Zhou Tong, and his punch sent Wang Teng’s sword flying, shattered his arm, mangled his body, and knocked away the ancient chariot.
• Wang Teng created a Crossed Star Domain, but Zhou Tong shattered its stars with repeated punches and pursued him.
• Wang Teng used the Self-Slaying Path Proving Art to rebuild his body, but the incomplete technique left him badly injured.
• Wang Teng tried to escape using the Chaos Heaven Secret Art, but Zhou Tong’s palm shattered the dimensional abysses and destroyed Wang Teng’s fleshly body and primordial spirit.

After killing Wang Teng, Zhou Tong seized his protective treasures and weapons, including an Eternal Blue Gold fragment containing a Supreme's remnant consciousness. The group reflected on Wang Teng's defeat, while Zhou Tong teased Ye Fan about his tangled relationships and the dangers surrounding Li Xiaoman.

• Zhou Tong struck Wang Teng's shattered body again, seized the Chaotic Ancient Emperor Talisman, and prevented Wang Teng from reviving.
• Zhou Tong retrieved the Eternal Blue Gold fragment and explained that it held the Void Great Emperor's blood and a remnant consciousness from an Undying Mountain Supreme.
• Zhou Tong recovered Wang Teng's Chaotic Ancient Chariot and Heavenly Emperor Sword, then sent the sword to have Wang Teng's Dao patterns erased.
• Zhou Tong told Purple Haze Fairy that Wang Teng's death was the inevitable result of competing on the Emperor's Path.
• Zhou Tong teased Ye Fan about Ji Ziyue and Qin Yao, prompting Purple Haze Fairy to glare at Ye Fan as he tried to explain himself.
• Pang Bo told Zhou Tong that Li Xiaoman and Hua Yunfei were wanted for learning the Ruthless Great Emperor's cultivation technique, and Zhou Tong said he would leave Li Xiaoman to Ye Fan.

Zhou Tong analyzed the fine differences in combat power among Eight Restrictions cultivators and reflected on the role of luck in reaching the Emperor's Path. He considered whether to sever his Dao and become a King, but hesitated over whether cutting away parts of himself would leave him unchanged as a person.

• Pang Bo joked that he needed to find Saintesses of his own, while Zhou Tong sat down to reflect on his gains from fighting Wang Teng.
• Zhou Tong estimated his combat power at 8.99 and reasoned that Immortal Qi and other supplementary cultivation methods could bring him closer to triggering Divine Prohibition.
• Zhou Tong compared himself with Ji Zi, Wang Teng, and Imperial Sons, concluding that small differences in combat power could decide battles but had not yet given him a decisive advantage.
• Zhou Tong considered how luck and the actions of others had shaped the Emperor's Path, including how the Woodcutter Elder had cleared obstacles for Ye Fan.
• Zhou Tong examined the Reincarnation Mirror and contemplated Self-Severing, but questioned whether cutting away his past, emotions, or beliefs would make him cease to be himself.

Zhou Tong realized that Dao Severing need not mean cutting away parts of oneself; he could instead defy and sever the Great Dao, proving the Dao with strength. He resolved to take this path after gaining a second strand of Immortal Qi, making his third-strand tribulation his Dao Severing calamity.

• Zhou Tong considered how Dao Severing forced cultivators to sacrifice memories, obsessions, or other parts of themselves, and rejected the idea of losing what made him who he was.
• Zhou Tong concluded that defying and severing the Great Dao meant destroying obstacles to his path rather than cutting himself, and he connected this approach to the Desolate Heaven Emperor and several Great Emperors.
• Zhou Tong reasoned that preserving the Seed of Oneself and breaking Heaven and Earth's restrictions could widen his path toward the Immortal Emperor realm and allow him to surpass the Heavenly Heart Imprint.
• Zhou Tong judged that the Undying Heavenly Empress or the Golden Crow would likely attain the Dao in this age unless someone broke the five-hundred-year restriction and proved the Dao by force.
• Zhou Tong resolved to sever the Heavenly Dao before it could sever him, and decided he needed another strand of Immortal Qi before facing his third-strand Dao Severing tribulation.

Zhou Tong left Big Dipper with Ye Fan, Zi Xia, Pang Bo, and Little Nannan by activating the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin. After surviving its destructive power at the Primordial Forbidden Land, he adjusted its course toward the Ziwei Star Domain, and the group departed through a spatial tunnel.

• Zhou Tong told Ye Fan and the others he planned to leave Big Dipper, then brought them to the Primordial Forbidden Land to test whether the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin could be activated.
• Zhou Tong opened the bronze coffin, sensed danger through the Front Character Secret, and retreated with the group as its power destroyed everything within a thousand li.
• The bronze coffin flew into the Primordial Forbidden Land, where the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin rose and began assembling the Five-Colored Altar.
• Zhou Tong led the group onto the coffin, then used the Group Character Secret to alter its course toward the Ziwei Star Domain.
• The Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin carried Zhou Tong and the others through a spatial tunnel and out of Big Dipper.

Zhou Tong and the others traveled through the starry sky aboard the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin, where he began comprehending Wu Shi the Great's Time Passes secret technique. After Zhou Tong destroyed an ancient battleship carrying dying Ancestor Kings, he salvaged its weapons and a mysterious Saint's skull.

• Zhou Tong, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Zi Xia, and Little Nannan traveled through the void aboard the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin, and Zhou Tong gained a new insight into Time Passes.
• The coffin emerged into a star field near the Big Dipper, and Zhou Tong chose to spend the journey cultivating and consolidating his foundation.
• Several months later, Zi Xia sensed living beings aboard a Purple-Gold Battleship, and Zhou Tong swallowed it with his Vajra Ring before its occupants could reach a life planet.
• Zhou Tong told the others that the battleship held dying Ancient Creatures who would slaughter inhabitants to recover, while he secretly identified them as more than forty Ancestor Kings, including three Great Sages.
• Zhou Tong collected the battleship's surviving Heirloom Sacred Weapons and preserved the skull of a human female Saint he suspected was Di Lisi, Wu Shi the Great's beloved.

During the journey aboard the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin, Zhou Tong spent three years studying the Ten Evils Treasure Art and the ten ancient scriptures he cultivated, seeking a way to link his five secret realms through his own understanding. A ninth entry into the Divine Prohibition State brought the scriptures into faint resonance, but Zhou Tong concluded that he was not yet strong enough to create his own ancient scripture.

• Zhou Tong studied the Ten Evils Treasure Art and transformed its runes into Dao patterns while considering its connection to the Azure Heaven Hegemonic Body’s ancestral reversion.
• Zhou Tong reflected on how his ten cultivated scriptures formed the foundation of his strength and why he needed his own profound meaning to link his five secret realms.
• After three years of contemplation, Zhou Tong entered the Divine Prohibition State and manifested the auras of his scriptures as he pursued a scripture of his own.
• Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Zi Xia were astonished by Zhou Tong’s many scriptures and heard him say that he could not yet create an ancient scripture.
• Zhou Tong recognized that his scriptures had begun to resonate through his own insights, while identifying the Golden Crow and the Undying Heavenly Empress as the era’s greatest obstacles to attaining the Dao.

Zhou Tong found the Sun Sacred Emperor’s Divine Thought on a poisoned Five Elements Life Ancient Star and led Ye Fan and the others to its Five-Colored Altar. The Divine Thought vanished after revealing a sealed Stone Coffin and the Sun Sacred Emperor’s Imperial Pagoda, leaving Zhou Tong excited by the artifact.

• Zhou Tong discovered a Five Elements Life Ancient Star and suspected the Sun Sacred Emperor’s Divine Thought was building an altar on its highest peak.
• The Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin landed on the planet, and Zhou Tong shielded Ye Fan, Little Nannan, and the others from its poisonous air.
• Zhou Tong’s group fought off Tree Demons and collected Five-Colored Crystals as they climbed toward the summit.
• At the mountaintop, Zhou Tong recognized the old man building a Five-Colored Altar as the Sun Sacred Emperor’s Divine Thought, while Zi Xia explained its nature to Ye Fan.
• The Divine Thought tore a sealed Stone Coffin from the planet’s core, warned Zhou Tong to return it to the Ziwei Ancient Star, then vanished and left the Sun Sacred Emperor’s Imperial Pagoda behind.

Zhou Tong’s Reincarnation Mirror revived the Sun Sacred Emperor completely, and the Emperor recognized the clues to immortality in Little Nannan. After discovering that the Undying Heavenly Emperor had taken his corpse’s essence, he realized the present age’s coming Path to Immortality was a trap, but saw Little Nannan as hope.

• Zhou Tong reached for the masterless Imperial Weapon, but the Reincarnation Mirror acted on the Sun Sacred Emperor’s Divine Thought and brought him back to life.
• The Sun Sacred Emperor’s aura compelled Pang Bo and Zi Xia to kneel, while Ye Fan’s bronze fragment and Zhou Tong’s Immortal Qi protected them from its pressure.
• The Sun Sacred Emperor recognized Ye Fan’s bronze fragment and Zhou Tong’s different Cultivation System, then realized Little Nannan was a Great Emperor’s Dao Fruit and a path toward immortality.
• The Sun Sacred Emperor opened his coffin and found only human skin and golden blood, then identified the Undying Heavenly Emperor as the one who had taken his corpse’s essence.
• The Sun Sacred Emperor understood that the coming Path to Immortality was a trap, but saw Little Nannan as a glimmer of hope in the darkness.

The Sun Sacred Emperor brought Zhou Tong and the others to Tanggu in the Ziwei Star Domain and promised Zhou Tong the Fusang Divine Tree. He then sank Tanggu into a sea eye, trapping Zhou Tong inside to test whether he could claim the tree.

• The Sun Sacred Emperor carried Zhou Tong, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Zi Xia, Little Nannan, and his coffin to the Ziwei Star Domain in a single step.
• The Sun Sacred Emperor led them to Tanggu, where Zhou Tong recognized the Fusang Divine Tree and described the legends of Tanggu from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
• The Sun Divine Talisman emerged from Zhou Tong and absorbed Sun Sacred Power, shielding Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Zi Xia, and the others from the heat.
• The Sun Sacred Emperor promised Zhou Tong the Fusang Divine Tree, then sent Order Divine Chains through Tanggu and disappeared with his coffin.
• Tanggu sank into a sea eye, trapping Zhou Tong beside the Fusang Divine Tree as Ye Fan and Pang Bo urged him to escape.
• Zhou Tong told the others that the Sun Sacred Emperor had set him a trial and that he would emerge in a few years.

After leaving Zhou Tong at the Northern Sea Eye, Ye Fan and the others traveled on while Zhou Tong explored the prison and gathered the imprints of the ancient criminals held there. He reached the Fusang Divine Tree, but found that the Sun Sacred Emperor had left him only the tree, not the other treasures he had hoped to obtain.

• Zi Xia concluded that the Sun Sacred Emperor had set Zhou Tong a trial to obtain the Fusang Divine Tree, and Ye Fan and Pang Bo decided to explore the Ziwei Star Domain while he remained behind.
• Zhou Tong surveyed the Northern Sea Eye and found imprints left by fifty-seven Saints, nineteen Saint Kings, eight Great Sages, and two Quasi-Emperors.
• Zhou Tong branded eighty-six imprints into his Hegemonic Bell, balancing its earlier collection of mostly righteous Dao imprints with the criminals’ evil and violent Daos.
• Zhou Tong approached the Fusang Divine Tree and found it standing alone, with the Sun Sacred Emperor’s palaces, alchemy chamber, coffin, and the Emperor Pagoda all absent.
• Zhou Tong regretted that he could not obtain the Emperor Pagoda, which he wanted as protection against Imperial Sons wielding Great Emperor-level forbidden artifacts.

Zhou Tong reached the Fusang Divine Tree and triggered the Sun Sacred Emperor’s trial, a contest of wills against a remnant of the emperor’s will. He endured its agonizing, seemingly hopeless challenge, but All Beings’ Evil Karma appeared around him to taunt him as he kept advancing.

• Zhou Tong approached the Fusang Divine Tree and endured its intense Sun Sacred Power without injury.
• Zhou Tong touched the tree and entered a golden world where he recognized a fragment of the Sun Sacred Emperor’s will.
• Zhou Tong realized he had to defeat the emperor’s will in a battle of wills to obtain the Fusang Divine Tree.
• Zhou Tong advanced toward the Sun Sacred Emperor despite soul-deep pain and a distance that never seemed to shrink.
• After Zhou Tong had taken thousands of steps, the remaining Karma Fire on his body ignited and figures formed from All Beings’ Evil Karma mocked him.

Zhou Tong changed his approach to withstand the Sun Sacred Emperor’s will, immersing himself in Dao comprehension until his will outlasted the phantom and claimed the Fusang Divine Tree. As the Northern Sea Eye opened, Zhou Tong shot upward, while Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Zi Xia set out to investigate the Golden Crow Clan’s report about the tree.

• Zhou Tong ignored the All Beings' Evil Karma phantoms, but as exhaustion set in, he shifted from resisting the Sun Sacred Emperor’s will to studying the Dao and the scriptures and arts he had gathered.
• By immersing himself in Dao comprehension despite the pain, Zhou Tong strengthened his will until he reached the Sun Sacred Emperor’s phantom and outlasted it.
• In the Ziwei Star Domain, Ye Fan learned from Pang Bo that the Golden Crow Clan had found clues to the Fusang Divine Tree, and he, Pang Bo, and Zi Xia decided to investigate.
• Zhou Tong’s will replaced the Sun Sacred Emperor’s connection to the Fusang Divine Tree, which entered his divine ring and took root in the sun of his Immortal Domain phenomenon.
• The Northern Sea Eye opened after Zhou Tong subdued the tree, and he immediately shot upward.

Cultivators gathered in the North Sea to find the Fusang Divine Tree, but Tang Valley was nowhere to be seen because it had sunk into the Northern Sea Eye with Zhou Tong. As Ye Fan and his companions discussed Zhou Tong’s imprisonment and the powerful Yin Tiande, a fissure suddenly opened in the sea.

• The Golden Crow Clan searched the map’s marked location for Tang Valley and the Fusang Divine Tree, then angrily found neither.
• Cultivators speculated that the Sun God Cult might be behind the missing site and cursed whoever had made the maps.
• Ye Fan and Pang Bo revealed that Tang Valley and the Fusang Divine Tree had sunk into the Northern Sea Eye with Zhou Tong.
• Pang Bo, Ye Fan, and Purple Haze Fairy wondered whether Zhou Tong was still trapped in the Northern Sea Eye and discussed his possible test from the Sun Sacred Emperor.
• Ye Fan and his companions compared Zhou Tong’s strength with Yin Tiande, who had become master of the Eight Sceneries Palace and might be preparing to sever the Dao.
• A fissure suddenly opened across the dark sea, drawing the cultivators’ attention.

Zhou Tong emerged from the North Sea Eye and immediately provoked the Golden Crow Clan, killing its Ninth Prince with a glance. When Lu Ya attacked with the Crow Wing Divine Halberd, Zhou Tong blocked it with his Undying Wonderful Tree, leaving the gathered cultivators stunned by the weapon’s power and its apparent flaw.

• Zhou Tong emerged from the North Sea Eye and found the Golden Crow Clan and many other cultivators waiting nearby.
• Zhou Tong mocked the Golden Crow Clan and killed its Ninth Prince with a strike from his Martial Heavenly Eye.
• Lu Ya unleashed the Crow Wing Divine Halberd against Zhou Tong after the Golden Crow Clan recognized it could not defeat him in a direct fight.
• Zhou Tong summoned the Undying Wonderful Tree and blocked the Crow Wing Divine Halberd with its seven-colored radiance.
• The gathered Sect Masters recognized the Undying Wonderful Tree, and one observer noticed that its seventh branch was not fully refined.

Zhou Tong overwhelmed Golden Crow Sixth Prince Lu Ya with Lightning Law, forcing him to take the One Day Ten Crow Pill and summon the Golden Crow King's projection. Zhou Tong tricked the projection into lowering its guard, destroyed it, and killed Lu Ya with a lightning sword.

• Zhou Tong struck Lu Ya with powerful Lightning Law, leaving the Golden Crow Sixth Prince badly wounded.
• Lu Ya swallowed the One Day Ten Crow Pill, and the Golden Crow King's projection appeared to protect him.
• The Golden Crow King projected his power from seclusion and challenged Zhou Tong, who mocked him for relying on an incarnation.
• Zhou Tong used a lightning sword to draw the Golden Crow King's attention, then attacked the projection with the Undying Wonderful Tree and destroyed it.
• With the projection gone, Zhou Tong's lightning sword pierced Lu Ya's body and primordial spirit, killing him.

Zhou Tong defeated the Golden Crow Clan’s attackers, killing Daoist Xuan Yi and destroying their weapons, but the clan trapped him in its Primordial Killing Formation. The formation summoned a Great Sage Avatar, while Ye Fan remained confident that Zhou Tong’s unused Vajra Ring could turn the fight around.

• Zhou Tong used the Soldier Character Secret to deflect the revived Crow Wing Divine Halberd, took the weapon, and collected the Golden Crow Sixth Crown Prince’s corpse.
• The Golden Crow Clan attacked Zhou Tong with hundreds of weapons, but he shattered them with his fists and killed Daoist Xuan Yi with the Sun Emperor Fist.
• The surviving Golden Crow Clan experts deployed the Primordial Killing Formation using eight ancient formation flags.
• The formation summoned an avatar of a former Golden Crow Clan Great Sage, whose aura overwhelmed the people watching.
• Pang Bo worried about Zhou Tong, but Ye Fan pointed out that Zhou Tong had not yet used his Vajra Ring.

Zhou Tong broke the Golden Crow Clan’s Great Sage formation by combining the Undying Wonderful Tree with his mastery of the Nine Secrets, then slaughtered the formation’s defenders. The Golden Crow Clan’s princes and cultivators fled in panic.

• Zhou Tong retreated from the Great Sage Avatar and used the Group Character Secret to discern the Golden Crow Clan’s formation.
• Zhou Tong struck the formation’s key nodes with weapons from his Purple Gold Divine Treasury, disrupting its operation, then pierced the Great Sage Avatar with the Undying Wonderful Tree.
• The Golden Crow Clan’s defenders realized Zhou Tong had used the Group Character Secret, Soldier Character Secret, and Battle Character Secret to break into their formation.
• Zhou Tong entered the weakened formation, killed an elderly Golden Crow, and seized his formation flag, causing the formation’s power to collapse.
• Zhou Tong cut down the Golden Crow Clan’s defenders, and its princes and cultivators fled in terror.

After defeating the Golden Crow Clan, Zhou Tong claimed the Northern Sea Eye and Tang Valley as his territory, drawing the gathered factions’ attention to the Fusang Divine Tree. He abducted Yi Qingwu and escaped with her, leaving Guanghan Palace and the other factions in pursuit.

• Zhou Tong let the shattered Golden Crow Clan flee and considered that their broken Dao Hearts had yielded him too little karmic force.
• Zhou Tong declared that the Sun Sacred Emperor had given him Tang Valley, prompting the gathered factions to wonder whether the Fusang Divine Tree was nearby.
• Zhou Tong used the Soldier Character Secret to disable Yi Qingwu’s Guanghan Tower and froze her with Taiyin Sacred Power.
• A woman from Guanghan Palace attacked Zhou Tong with Guanghan Tower, but he used the Great Void Technique to evade her strike while carrying Yi Qingwu away.
• Zhou Tong laughed that he would overlook the factions’ trespass into his cave abode, then escaped across the sky with Yi Qingwu.