Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi and Wen Wuyu crossed the deadly mountain paths beneath the Immortal Palace, rescued two little yakshas, and defeated Crown Prince Lou Che and the Feather Country experts attacking Xiang Kun’s group. Chen Shi revealed that he was Tianchi Kingdom’s skeleton lord and continued toward the Immortal Palace, while Xiang Kun still intended to compete for the immortal destiny.

• Chen Shi found corpses whose missing flesh matched Lord Xiang Fu’s strange death and learned that drifting rosy light cut apart anyone it touched.
• Chen Shi rescued two little yakshas from a falling Da Xi ghost god, and they guided him and Wen Wuyu along the safe path through the rosy light.
• Crown Prince Lou Che and the Feather Country experts cornered Xiang Kun and his injured companions beside the chains securing the Immortal Palace.
• Chen Shi and Wen Wuyu defeated the Feather Country fighters and Lou Che, then Chen Shi revealed his skeleton form and identified himself as Tianchi Kingdom’s lord.
• You Fei, You Huan, and Yan Wu gave up competing for the kingdom lord position, while Xiang Kun insisted he would still contend for the immortal destiny.

Chen Shi and the others entered the Immortal Palace’s Void Realm, where Daoist Tian Tian was fighting an evil corruption that had tainted the stars and flesh. Tian Tian sent the group away, taught Chen Shi a method to temper evil qi, and entrusted him with the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword; Chen Shi discovered Tian Tian’s body had already perished and vowed to return the sword to the Qingyang Palace.

• Crown Prince Lou Che entered the Immortal Palace and was drawn into a strange Void Realm with Chen Shi and Wen Wuyu.
• Chen Shi recognized the sun, moon, and stars of a Yang World cultivator’s realm, then saw the immortal’s domain and stars being overtaken by evil flesh.
• Lou Tianyi rescued Crown Prince Lou Che from the flesh tentacles, then threatened Chen Shi and the Tianchi Kingdom party until Daoist Tian Tian appeared and stopped the confrontation.
• Daoist Tian Tian identified himself as a human cultivator from Taihua Qingyang Palace, gave everyone protective talismans, and opened a way out of the Void Realm.
• Tian Tian taught Chen Shi yin and yang tempering to suppress evil qi and entrusted him with the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword to return to the Qingyang Palace.
• Chen Shi found Tian Tian’s half-body dead in the Immortal Palace, took the sword, and promised to help him return home.

Chen Shi and his companions survived the immortal fire in Daoist Zhen Tian’s palace, then realized the Fog Moon had risen and rushed to escape its deadly fog. The fog swallowed them as Chen Shi fought off its flesh-and-blood tentacles, while Granny Sha began contesting the force that kept her from recalling his Nascent Soul.

• Chen Shi persuaded Wen Wuyu to delay reporting Daoist Zhen Tian’s fate to Despair Slope and promised to return the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword to Taihua Qing Palace.
• Chen Shi recreated Daoist Zhen Tian’s Golden Bell Sealing Art and discovered a strange flame that shattered into countless clusters, unleashing an immense wave of immortal fire.
• Lou Tianyi fled with Crown Prince Lou Che, while the immortal fire killed the other Yu Kingdom fighters; Daoist Zhen Tian’s corpse protected Chen Shi and the others inside the palace.
• After the palace cooled, Wen Wuyu recognized that the approaching night was a Fog Moon Night, and Chen Shi realized Daoist Zhen Tian might come back to life.
• A huge, many-eyed moon poured deadly fog over Yin Mountain, and Chen Shi led the group into a desperate flight as flesh-and-blood tentacles pursued them.
• The fog engulfed the group, Chen Shi used the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword to hold back the tentacles, and Granny Sha set out to challenge the force preventing her from recalling his Nascent Soul.

Granny Sha summoned Chen Shi’s Primordial Spirit while Chen Shi and his companions fought through the deadly Fog Moon Night on Yin Mountain. Chen Shi’s soul was recalled, but his skeleton led the survivors safely to Tianchi Capital City before collapsing; days later, his bones began to stir.

• Granny Sha built a soul-summoning altar in the Underworld and called on Chen Tang to help recall Chen Shi’s Primordial Spirit.
• Daoist Zhen Tian’s flesh-and-blood tentacles attacked Xiang Kun, You Huan, Yan Wu, Chi Zun, Gou Xi, You Fei, Chen Shi, and Wen Wuyu in the fog, while Granny Sha’s repeated summons began pulling Chen Shi’s spirit from his skeleton.
• Daoist Zhen Tian attacked Empress Shi Ji, but the white-robed female immortal destroyed his fleshy wings and drove him into the fog.
• Chen Shi’s Primordial Spirit left with Empress Shi Ji and the white-robed female immortal, while his skeleton pledged to protect the survivors and led them through the fog toward Tianchi Capital City.
• Skeleton Chen Shi fought through resurrected enemies, guided Wen Wuyu and the injured young experts past Wuliang Cliff, and reached the royal palace at daybreak.
• Skeleton Chen Shi’s bones collapsed in Tianchi Capital City, and Xiang Kun and the others guarded them until the fragments began to move days later.

Chen Shi returned to his body after the attempt to eradicate the evil in his Sea of Consciousness, unaware that a Calamity remained and had shown Chen Tang and Granny Sha a mysterious star map. After learning about the hidden danger and recalling his companions’ plight in the Underworld, Chen Shi and Black Pot searched for them and arrived at Tianchi Capital City.

• Chen Shi woke in his body, reunited with Black Pot, and learned that 102 evils had been eradicated, though Chen Tang concealed the Calamity that had appeared.
• Chen Tang and Granny Sha recalled how the Calamity had displayed an unfamiliar star map that they suspected showed the starry sky hidden by the True God.
• Chen Shi persuaded Black Pot to reveal what the others were hiding, then shared his Underworld adventures and suspected that someone had used immortal fire to try to turn Daoist Zhen Tian into a heavenly calamity.
• Chen Shi decided to return to Yin Mountain with Black Pot to rescue his companions, and they searched the Underworld for more than ten days without finding it.
• Chen Shi recognized Wuliang Cliff and guided Black Pot to Tianchi Capital City, where Xiang Kun and You Fei were guarding his shattered bones.
• Chen Shi arrived atop Black Pot in its Huo Dou form as his scattered bones began to tremble.

Chen Shi returned to Tianchi atop Black Pot and won the allegiance of the ghost tribes, while his allies began organizing the kingdom and strengthening its forces. After investigating clues about the underworld’s ancient past and deciding to deal with the threat surrounding Daoist Zhen Tian, Chen Shi set out for Taihua Qing Palace with Black Pot.

• Black Pot carried Chen Shi into Tianchi, where Xiang Kun, You Fei, and the ghost tribes bowed and swore allegiance to him.
• Lei Qu and Chi Di hailed Chen Shi as the ghost tribes’ savior, and a bright moon and blazing sun appeared around him as Wen Wuyu watched and decided not to report his return yet.
• Li Tianqing and Yutian City organized Tianchi’s court and military reforms, while Chen Shi ordered Sang Sixi to release the rest of his treasury for their work.
• Peng Yan’er demonstrated her speed at the Divine Machine Battalion and awakened more of her bloodline, transforming her feathers to gold.
• Chen Shi and Li Tianqing discussed the ghost tribes’ forgotten language, ancient relics, and possible ties to Despair Slope and the Huaxia Divine Continent.
• Chen Shi left Tianchi’s affairs to his skeleton body and told Black Pot to accompany him to Taihua Qing Palace to fulfill Daoist Zhen Tian’s wish.

Chen Shi learned that the primeval star chart could make Dao Integration and immortality possible, while Chen Tang and Wu Qingyu confronted the terrifying beings watching them. The chapter left Chen Tang learning that Chen Shi had attracted dangerous followers during his eight years in the underworld.

• Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village after visiting Wuliang Cliff and spent several days worshipping the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword.
• Granny Sha, Du Yiran, A Zhuo, and the others revealed that they had matched the primeval star chart to the stars and taught Chen Shi its positions and transformations.
• Du Yiran explained that the modern cultivation path had failed to achieve Dao Integration because its star chart was wrong, and demonstrated how a corrected celestial model could merge with a cultivator's body and Void Realm.
• Du Yiran told Chen Shi to memorize the star chart and prepare to follow the old cultivation path if their new path to Dao Integration failed.
• Wu Qingyu entered Chen Tang's Divine Shrine and saw the godlike beings he had been watching; she comforted him, then revealed that Chen Shi had made a name for himself during his eight years in the underworld and had attracted terrifying followers.

Chen Shi traveled with Green Goat and Black Pot to Mount Taihua, where Green Goat grazed on the Qing Palace ancestors’ grave grass and provoked its Daoists. The Taihua Qing Palace Sect Master recognized Green Goat and invited him back to the palace.

• Wu Qingyu told Chen Tang that she had found Chen Shi in a sea of demonic fire among mysterious beings who called him the Prince, and she revealed a strange phrase that summoned a vast phantom.
• Chen Shi said he was going to Taihua Qing Palace with Black Pot, while Chen Tang complained that his family kept leaving him out and declined to join them.
• Green Goat pulled Chen Shi and Black Pot in the wooden cart to Mount Taihua, where he and Black Pot ate grass from more than a dozen grave mounds and Chen Shi offered incense.
• Chen Shi told Green Goat about Daoist Zhen Tian and demonstrated the Yin Yang Tempering, which could refine evil qi and prevent evil transformation.
• Taihua Qing Palace Daoists confronted the group over the ancestors’ graves, but Green Goat stopped their swords and one Daoist fled, calling Chen Shi a demon from the Chen family.
• The Qing Palace Sect Master arrived with a crowd of Daoists and bowed, inviting Ancestor Green Goat back to the palace.

Chen Shi brought Qingyang back to Taihua Qing Palace and returned the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword, while Qingyang explained why he had once left the sect with Chen Yindu. The sect welcomed Qingyang for a short stay and planned to hear more about Daoist Zhen Tian’s return.

• Daoist Changying and the other Daoists escorted Qingyang toward Taihua Qing Palace after Chen Shi and Black Pot stopped him from pulling their cart.
• Chen Shi learned about Taihua Qing Palace’s buried ancestors and the Eighty-Eight Demon Peaks as the group reached the sect.
• Qingyang told Daoist Changying that he had left with Chen Yindu to find a way to keep generations of Daoist disciples from dying; Daoist Changying learned his master had regretted Qingyang’s departure.
• Chen Shi explained that Daoist Zhen Tian wanted to return to Qingyang Palace and presented the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword, which Daoist Changying accepted for enshrinement.
• Daoist Changying persuaded Chen Shi to stay, and Qingyang revealed that some ancestors’ empty tombs contained only clothes or swords because they had achieved Liberation by Violence and become immortals.

Chen Shi met Ancestor Qiongyang, who revealed her past with Chen Yindu and agreed to help him release Yulingzi. She then took Chen Shi and Yulingzi to dig up Sect Master Jinghong’s grave, where they found an empty coffin and a Daoist robe.

• Green Goat told Chen Shi that several Taihua Qing Palace sect masters had empty tombs and might have become ghost immortals, while Black Pot confirmed Jinghong’s grave grass tasted bland.
• Chen Shi learned that Yulingzi was confined in the Demon Suppressing Cave and asked Ancestor Qiongyang to have him released.
• Ancestor Qiongyang recalled her romance with Chen Yindu and admitted that she had helped him dig up the ancestors’ graves in the past.
• Qiongyang gave Chen Shi a Luoyang shovel and brought Yulingzi along to investigate Jinghong’s grave.
• Chen Shi and Qiongyang opened Jinghong’s coffin and found it empty except for a Daoist robe.

Chen Shi, Ancestor Qiongyang, and Yulingzi followed Sect Master Jing Hong’s robe fragment into the Demon Suppressing Cave and discovered evidence of Jing Hong’s repeated transformations and his use of the Sun Gold Crystal to refine fairy fire. They realized Jing Hong was not there and might be outside gathering strength for his next transformation.

• Ancestor Qiongyang learned that natural disasters remained hidden inside Chen Shi and that incorrect alignment with the Dao of Heaven and Earth caused corruption.
• Chen Shi used a piece of Jing Hong’s Daoist robe to track him, and the fragment led them toward the Demon Suppressing Cave.
• Ancestor Qiongyang explained that the cave contained powerful pure-yang qi and demon souls sealed inside black urns.
• The group found multiple empty shells of Jing Hong suspended by blood-red tentacles and discovered a palace with a mural of the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell Heavenly Immortal Diagram.
• Chen Shi recognized the Sun Gold Crystal in the palace and suspected Jing Hong had used it to refine the fairy fire that broke Daoist Zhen Tian’s seal.
• Yulingzi wondered where Jing Hong had gone, and Ancestor Qiongyang concluded that he was outside gathering strength for another transformation.

Chen Shi and Yulingzi searched Mount Taihua for Jing Hong, who was undergoing an eerie metamorphosis, and Chen Shi appointed mountain spirits as local gods to illuminate the peaks on his Map of Mountains and Rivers. On the main peak, they discovered Daoists shedding their skins and crawling toward Qingyang Palace, where the chapter ended as a courtyard door opened behind them.

• Ancestor Qiongyang hid in the heavens while Chen Shi and Yulingzi searched the mountain, and Black Pot scouted through the Underworld.
• Chen Shi found Huanfei on Xiuyun Peak and used the West King's Jade Seal to make her its Mountain God; he later appointed Suishou, Qiangwei, and Qingluan to guard other peaks.
• After the other peaks showed no sign of Jing Hong, Chen Shi and Yulingzi suspected Ancestor Qingyang was his target and headed for Qingyang Palace with Black Pot.
• Chen Shi's leaf-transformed birds fell from the sky after their flesh and blood vanished, and the searchers discovered that a night-watch Daoist had shed his skin and crawled toward the palace.
• They recognized the metamorphosing Daoist as Uncle Wen and watched him emerge from a new split in his skin before crawling onward; then a courtyard door creaked open behind them.

Chen Shi and Yulingzi followed Taihua Green Palace’s Daoists as they underwent a deadly skin-shedding mutation and discovered that Sect Master Jing Hong was cultivating the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell Heavenly Immortal Diagram. They reached Qingyang Palace, where Jing Hong called the transformation the sect’s collective ascension, and the Taihua Four Elders began succumbing to it.

• Chen Shi found Yulingzi beginning to molt and used Yin Yang Tempering within his primordial spirit domain to suppress the evil mutation.
• The Daoists gathered outside Qingyang Palace shed their skin and primordial spirit shells, then continued transforming as they crawled into the palace.
• Chen Shi concluded that the accelerating transformations pointed toward a pollution source inside Qingyang Palace and followed the Daoists there with Yulingzi.
• Daoist Changying and the Taihua Four Elders met Chen Shi and Yulingzi, then proceeded toward the main hall to confront the evil entity.
• Jing Hong told Qingyang that he was cultivating the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell Heavenly Immortal Diagram and intended for the entire sect to ascend together.
• The Taihua Four Elders began resisting the mutation, but one elder shed his skin and declared that he was about to ascend, prompting the others to call on Changying to join them.

Chen Shi entered Qingyang Palace and learned how Jing Hong’s rivalry with Chen Yindu shaped his pursuit of ascension through the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell Heavenly Immortal Diagram. As Taihua Qing Palace’s Daoists transformed into cicada-like beings, Chen Shi realized Jing Hong did not know about Daoist Zhen Tian, and the green goat seized the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword to attack Jing Hong.

• Chen Shi and Yulingzi passed the transforming Taihua Four Elders under the protection of the sun-and-moon tempering, briefly restoring the elders’ awareness before the evil transformation took hold again.
• Chen Shi met Jing Hong in Qingyang Palace and revealed that he was Chen Yindu’s grandson, prompting Jing Hong to recount how Chen Yindu once outshone and defeated him at Taihua Qing Palace.
• Jing Hong described finding Chen Yindu’s annotated Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell Heavenly Immortal Diagram and declared that he would use it to lead Taihua Qing Palace’s Daoists to ascension.
• The Taihua Four Elders and other Daoists continued shedding their bodies and Primordial Spirits, while Daoist Changying questioned whether Jing Hong’s path truly led to immortality.
• Chen Shi realized Jing Hong did not know about Daoist Zhen Tian or the person who had used immortal fire to burn away the Golden Bell Sealing Art.
• The green goat seized the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword and called on Changying and Qionghua to help slay Jing Hong.

Jing Hong’s influence drove Taihua Qing Palace’s people to shed their skins and believe they were ascending, while Chen Shi empowered Green Goat to resist him. Green Goat beheaded Jing Hong, but Jing Hong shed another skin and returned, still pursuing immortality.

• Green Goat and Daoist Changying halted their attacks after the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword and Tai Zhen Ruyi revealed visions of ascension, while Yulingzi also began transforming under Jing Hong’s influence.
• Chen Shi used the West King’s Jade Seal to gather the power of Taihua’s mountain deities into Green Goat, restoring his sanity and allowing him to attack Jing Hong alongside Ancestor Qiongyang.
• Jing Hong evaded Green Goat’s sword and Qiongyang’s lightning, then struck Qiongyang and left her on the verge of transformation as the influence spread across Mount Taihua and into the Underworld.
• Green Goat abandoned the sword, fought Jing Hong with his horns, and eventually drove one into Jing Hong’s chest before cutting off his head.
• As Chen Shi and Green Goat believed they had won, Jing Hong’s corpse shed its skin and a new, skinless Jing Hong emerged, claiming he was closer to becoming a true immortal.

Chen Shi exhausted himself fighting Jing Hong, who began a cataclysmic metamorphosis as Green Goat carried Chen Shi and Black Pot away. In Youzhou, Fu Xiu discovered that people and animals across the region were shedding their skin, and realized the disaster had spread for a thousand li.

• Green Goat lent Chen Shi his magical power as Chen Shi unleashed the Bodhi Battle Victory Method and drove thousands of sword lights at Jing Hong.
• Jing Hong fled through the Underworld into his Void Realm, where Chen Shi’s sword net cornered him before Chen Shi’s strength gave out and his final strike pierced Jing Hong.
• Empress Shi Ji attacked Jing Hong to disrupt his metamorphosis, while Green Goat rescued Chen Shi and Black Pot and struggled to carry them away from Mount Taihua.
• Empress Shi Ji realized Jing Hong was undergoing a cataclysm, as his tentacles absorbed evil Qi and the natural disaster began.
• Fu Xiu found Youzhou’s people and animals frozen and shedding their skin, then flew across the countryside and discovered the cataclysm had spread for a thousand li.

As the Youzhou catastrophe spread, Fu Xiu failed to open the Lesser Heavens, and Green Goat struggled to carry the dying Chen Shi out of Mount Taihua. A young man slew Jing Hong and ended the metamorphosis, but Green Goat then set out to reclaim Chen Shi’s Innate Dao Embryo before a resurrected-looking Chen Shi stopped him.

• Fu Xiu tried to save Youzhou’s people with Xia Fenghua’s Myriad Souls Banner and the Heavenly Court Token, but the Lesser Heavens would not open, and he began to undergo metamorphosis.
• Yan Xianshi and Xia Canghai ordered Wuying Hall to head for Youzhou, while discussing the catastrophe and the possibility that more disasters would follow.
• Green Goat resisted the disaster’s pull toward Jing Hong and carried Chen Shi and Black Pot onward, even as he underwent a second metamorphosis.
• As Chen Shi neared death, a young man arrived and struck Jing Hong down with a fused Primordial Spirit, Void Realm, and Divine Embryo, ending the disaster’s influence.
• Green Goat recognized the young man’s Innate Dao Embryo and went to attack him, but Chen Shi rose and grabbed his shoulder, telling him not to go.

After the disaster ended with Sect Master Jinghong’s death, Yulingzi and Fu Xiu helped survivors while Fu Xiu took charge of Youzhou after Prefect Xia Fenghua lost his family. On Mount Taihua, “Chen Shi” revealed that he was Dan Chenzi, the seventy-eighth-generation sect master who had faked his death and become a ghost immortal.

• Daoist Jingtai, Daoist Jingyue, Daoist Jingdong, and Daoist Jingshan mourned Jinghong and speculated that his path might have led to immortality, while Changying told Yulingzi that roughly thirty percent of the young daoists had vanished.
• Fu Xiu organized relief efforts in Youzhou, learned that Xia Fenghua’s family had died during the disaster, and took the Earth Book to protect the city and surrounding settlements.
• Yan Xianshi and Xia Canghai found Fu Xiu had restored order in Youdu and promoted him, then discussed replacing Xia Fenghua and demanding Jinghong’s corpse and forbidden arts from Taihua Qing Palace.
• On Mount Taihua, the Green Goat asked “Chen Shi” about his parents, and the daoists brought Jinghong’s enormous mutated corpse to the main peak.
• “Chen Shi” said Jinghong had stolen the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell Heavenly Immortal Diagram from his grave, and the Green Goat recognized him as Dan Chenzi, the former sect master who had become a ghost immortal.

Dan Chenzi revealed his dangerous beliefs about evil transformation and left Chen Shi’s body, leaving Chen Shi’s soul stranded in the Underworld. After Taihua’s priests recalled him, Chen Shi reunited with Green Goat and learned that Dan Chenzi may have engineered Jing Hong’s disaster and may know who freed Daoist Zhen Tian; Green Goat then asked why Dan Chenzi called Chen Shi Emperor.

• Dan Chenzi visited Taihua’s ruins and explained that the Three Saints’ ascension was impossible, while questioning whether demons were truly demons.
• Dan Chenzi offered Ancestor Qiongyang the ascension divine curse, admitted its cultivation could cause evil transformation, and argued that Daoists needed to transform to harmonize with heaven and earth.
• Green Goat accused Dan Chenzi of leaving the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell Heavenly Immortal Diagram with malicious intent, but hesitated to attack because Dan Chenzi occupied Chen Shi’s body.
• Dan Chenzi left Chen Shi’s body, and Green Goat summoned soul-recalling experts after finding Chen Shi’s body alive but without its primordial spirit.
• Chen Shi returned from the Underworld through the priests’ soul-recalling ritual, reunited with Green Goat, and resolved to reclaim his divine embryo himself.
• Green Goat told Chen Shi that Dan Chenzi may have caused Jing Hong’s calamity and may know who freed Daoist Zhen Tian, then asked whether Chen Shi had done something in the Underworld to be called Emperor.

Chen Shi escorted Taihua Qing Palace’s leaders through the underworld to bring Daoist Zhen Tian’s corpse home, while he and Green Goat considered whether sect masters from other sacred lands might also be hidden within Chen Shi. After Daoist Zhen Tian was returned to his ancestral grave, Chen Shi resolved to transform a world that could not tolerate him.

• Chen Shi and Green Goat joked about Chen Shi being a demon emperor, then wondered whether the missing sect masters of several sacred lands had become natural disasters hidden in Chen Shi’s body.
• At the immortal sword’s return celebration, Prime Minister Yan Xianshi praised Taihua Qing Palace but hurried away after Chen Shi revealed that several natural disasters might remain inside him.
• Daoist Changying and Ancestor Qiongyang led Taihua Qing Palace’s Daoists into the underworld, where Chen Shi’s ghost-and-god forces escorted them across Yin Mountain to Daoist Zhen Tian’s immortal palace.
• Chen Shi presented Daoist Changying to Daoist Zhen Tian, and the immortal palace carried them out of the underworld and returned to Taihua Qing Palace.
• Daoist Changying buried Daoist Zhen Tian’s corpse in the ancestral graves, and Chen Shi resolved to transform the heavens and earth.