Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi gave Ancestor Qiongyang a life-extending fruit and revealed that Chen Yindu could be saved, prompting her to leave Taihua Qingyang Palace and join Chen Shi. Back in Huangpo Village, Chen Shi explained his theory that the world itself was undergoing demonic corruption and that Yin Yang Tempering might let his Dao influence heaven and earth.

• Chen Shi gave Yin Yang Tempering to Daoist Changying and Ancestor Qiongyang, then gave Qiongyang a Ginseng Grass Fruit that extended her lifespan by more than three hundred years.
• Ancestor Qiongyang left Taihua Qingyang Palace to find Chen Shi, and Qing Goat later vanished as well, leaving a note that it had gone to Ganyang Mountain.
• Yulingzi explored the Lesser Heavens, joined the Ministry of Rites, and began studying cultivation techniques under Li Tianqing's supervision.
• Ancestor Qiongyang reached Huangpo Village, learned from Chen Shi that Chen Yindu could be saved, and declared herself Chen Shi's real grandmother.
• Chen Shi told Chen Tang that demonic corruption might affect heaven and earth itself, and proposed using Yin Yang Tempering to make the external Dao unite with his own.

Chen Shi contemplated Yin and Yang and unexpectedly comprehended all sixty-four Ghost and God Domains of the Eight Trigrams. After Yang Bi’s attendant invited him to their agreed battle in the Upper Realm, Chen Shi prepared to go, and Chen Tang insisted on accompanying him.

• Chen Shi’s Heaven and Earth Transformation briefly altered the space around Huangpo Village, and he later manifested several other dangerous transformations that villagers first mistook for illusions.
• Chen Shi completed his contemplation by creating a sun-and-moon domain, then explained how reversing the order of the trigram pairings brought his total to sixty-four Ghost and God Domains.
• Granny Sha recognized that Chen Shi had grasped the essence of the Supreme Eight Trigrams Body Protection Art, while she and Ancestor Qiongyang exchanged barbs about their cultivation and Chen Tang’s parentage.
• Yang Bi’s attendant arrived and invited Chen Shi to the Upper Realm for their agreed battle, reporting that Yang Bi had reached the Body Integration Realm and was determined to fight.
• Chen Shi accepted the invitation, and Chen Tang said he would accompany him to guard against danger.

Chen Shi prepared to enter the Upper Realm, while Chen Tang revealed the oppressive scrutiny he had endured and recovered his resolve after seeing the gods slain on Wuliang Cliff. Chen Shi then left for the Upper Realm with the white-robed female immortal instead of his father, where he faced the immense gods and their divine power.

• Chen Shi learned that Yang Bi had predicted he would bring Chen Tang, and Chen Tang showed him the gods of the Upper Realm that had oppressed him for half a year.
• Chen Shi took Chen Tang to Wuliang Cliff, where Chen Tang saw rows of slain heavenly gods and regained his confidence.
• Chen Tang returned to Huangpo Village and prepared to accompany Chen Shi, but Chen Shi departed in an Azure Cloud Grand Carriage with the white-robed female immortal instead.
• Chen Tang realized Chen Shi must have had his reasons for bringing the female immortal, while she rested on Chen Shi's lap during their journey.
• The carriage entered the Upper Realm, where Chen Shi saw an enormous god whose divine might rivaled Great Serpent Xuan Shan, and dismissed him as rotten bones in a tomb.

Chen Shi traveled through the Upper Realm to meet Yang Bi, but the white-robed female immortal accidentally injured him when she knocked him across the Azure Cloud Grand Carriage. After arriving at Yang Bi’s residence and meeting Li Qianyun and Zhang You, the immortal sensed someone of her own kind nearby.

• Chen Shi and the white-robed female immortal watched the Upper Realm’s powerful deities as the Azure Cloud Grand Carriage crossed their territory.
• Chen Shi playfully chased the white-robed female immortal and tried to kiss her, but she pushed him across the carriage and broke several of his bones.
• Chen Shi treated his injuries as the carriage arrived at Yang Bi’s mountain palace, where Yang Bi, Li Qianyun, and Zhang You awaited him.
• Chen Shi greeted Zhang You and Li Qianyun, then teased Li Qianyun by mentioning his closeness with Li Tianqing.
• The white-robed female immortal sensed someone of her own kind in the depths of the Upper Realm, and Chen Shi followed her gaze.

Chen Shi recuperated in White Lang Palace, deciphered new talismans from the Heaven Measuring Iron Ruler, and nearly exhausted himself activating one that tried to create a Void Realm. After waking, he advised Li Qianyun on facing Li Tianqing, just as an unseen speaker challenged his assessment of the young man.

• In White Lang Palace, Chen Shi used medicinal herbs and the First New Talisman to heal his broken bones while the white-robed female immortal helped regulate his Qi.
• Chen Shi asked the white-robed female immortal to decipher the Heaven Measuring Iron Ruler, and she revealed five new talismans before falling asleep from the effort.
• Chen Shi activated the Fifth and Sixth New Talismans, discovering they cultivated Qi and merged his primordial spirit, domain, and body, then tried the Seventh and collapsed as it drained his strength.
• The ancestors of the Thirteen Noble Families sensed an immortal scripture’s fluctuation near White Lang Palace, while Li Qianyun found Chen Shi unconscious and brought him to bed.
• After Chen Shi woke and ate Li Qianyun’s saved snacks, she asked how to counter Li Tianqing; Chen Shi advised attacking before Li Tianqing could study his weaknesses.
• An unseen speaker questioned Chen Shi’s claim that only his speed could overcome Li Tianqing.

Chen Shi defended his praise of Li Tianqing by studying Xia Tianjie and challenging him to a duel using Li Tianqing’s methods. After recovering for a day, Chen Shi defeated Xia Tianjie with the Eight Awe Dragon Summoning Art, then claimed Li Tianqing could defeat Li Qianyun even faster.

• Xia Tianjie criticized Chen Shi for avoiding a duel and exaggerating Li Tianqing’s strength, so Chen Shi wagered he could defeat Xia Tianjie using Li Tianqing’s methods after a day of observation.
• Chen Shi identified Xia Tianjie’s cultivation techniques and discovered that an evil Sui had broken his primal yang, leaving a flaw in his spear arts.
• While Chen Shi recovered his cultivation, he noticed a three-inch crack in his Dao field that seemed to contain power he could not yet use.
• Xia Tianjie demonstrated his combat methods for a day as Chen Shi observed, then the two fought in the sky using the Eight Awe Dragon Summoning Art.
• Chen Shi exploited the Yin Energy in Xia Tianjie’s body and pierced him with a single decisive spear technique, though he said Li Tianqing would need only one move.
• Li Qianyun challenged Chen Shi to prove Li Tianqing’s strength, and Chen Shi replied that Tianqing could defeat her in half a day.

At White Lang Palace, Chen Shi posed as Li Tianqing and challenged the young heirs of the noble families, defeating them by exposing flaws in their techniques. Li Qianyun’s heart demon deepened after he broke her Dao field six times, and the chapter ended with Chen Shi offering to face the remaining challengers using his own methods.

• Zhang You and Zhai Yuanyuan explained that Li Qianyun’s obsession with defeating Li Tianqing had become a heart demon after her earlier defeat.
• After Xia Tianjie conceded, Zhai Yuanyuan, Ma Zhe, and other young heirs gathered at White Lang Palace to challenge Chen Shi, who agreed to give them half a day to prepare.
• Chen Shi defeated Zhai Yuanyuan with the Jade Flute Three Melodies and broke Ma Zhe’s Profound Turtle Mountain Talisman with sword Qi.
• Chen Shi swiftly defeated Gao Shaokun, Jiang Baoyi, Cui Xingcai, and the other challengers, leaving Li Qianyun and Zhang You as the only ones who had not fought.
• Li Qianyun challenged Chen Shi to a hundred-li spell duel, but he broke her Dao field with six consecutive spells, prompting her to return to White Lang Palace in distress.
• Cui Xingcai suspected that Chen Shi had defeated them with his own methods rather than Li Tianqing’s, and Chen Shi invited everyone to challenge him together as a killing intent swept over the crowd.

After Chen Shi defeated the noble families’ descendants, the ancestors debated whether to kill him, while one suffered a renewed evil transformation. Chen Shi and Zhang You discussed the noble families’ rule and their purpose in fighting Despair Slope, ending with Zhang You challenging Chen Shi to a future battle.

• Yan Shaoxuan and the other young heirs vowed to confront Li Tianqing after learning he had defeated them, while Li Tianqing sensed he had become entangled in unexpected karma.
• The thirteen ancestors praised Chen Shi’s skill but worried about his strength and the treasures he possessed; Yang Bi urged them not to attack him before Despair Slope was destroyed.
• Gao Xuan was seized by an evil transformation, and the ancestors suppressed the writhing flesh tendrils before he warned that the old path could no longer continue.
• The white-robed female immortal awoke in White Lang Palace, prompting Yan Shaoxuan and the other injured heirs to flee; Zhang You stayed because he believed any danger from Qixia Temple would already have emerged in Western Capital.
• Chen Shi challenged Zhang You over the noble families’ monopolies and their failure to improve people’s lives, while Zhang You defended their mission to defeat Despair Slope and the true gods.
• Chen Shi asked Zhang You to leave his family as Li Tianqing had left the Li Family, but Zhang You refused, and the two parted with Chen Shi promising to see him off and Zhang You challenging him to fight.

Chen Shi and Yang Bi followed the white-robed female immortal to a hidden shattered realm beside the Upper Realm, where they discovered an enormous dead immortal she recognized as one of her kind. The Thirteen Noble Families’ ancestors identified the site as a possible self-sealed disaster, and Chen Shi wondered why these powerful figures had survived the True King Sealed Immortality.

• Zhang You explained that he had to uphold the Zhang Family’s mandate even if he realized the family was doing wrong, then bade farewell to Chen Shi.
• Chen Shi accidentally knocked himself unconscious by head-butting the white-robed female immortal, and Yang Bi found him injured after she had cared for him.
• The white-robed female immortal recognized a nearby presence as one of her kind and mastered the Third New Talisman while leading Chen Shi and Yang Bi toward it.
• The female immortal opened a hidden realm near the Jade Firmament, revealing a shattered immortal palace, a gigantic skull, and fragments of a ruined world.
• The Thirteen Noble Families’ ancestors identified the skull as a possible Pre-Qin Qi Refiner and the realm as a self-sealed disaster or calamity.
• Gao Xuan said the families had dealt with similar threats before, while another elder warned that Despair Slope must not discover the Upper Realm.

Chen Shi used the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade to strike the immortal skull invading the Upper Realm, absorbing its blood and halting the mass demonic transformation. The Blood Lake True Scripture advanced into Blood Sea Hell, where a massive immortal’s head rose from the blood.

• The ancestors of the Thirteen Noble Families gathered at the gateway to the other world and prepared to seal it, while Gao Xuan placed the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade on an altar.
• A thousand-foot deity opened the gateway with an axe, but the immortal skull dragged him into the other world and unleashed evil qi that began transforming the deities and polluting the Upper Realm.
• Gao Xuan, Xu Zisheng, Zhang Longhu, Yan Weizhong, and others began losing control to demonic transformation as the evil qi spread through the ancestors’ Void Realms.
• Chen Shi seized the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade and struck the immortal skull, which recognized the blade and poured its blood into it.
• The blade drew blood from the skull and the polluted deities, allowing Chen Shi’s Blood Lake True Scripture to advance into a thousand-li Blood Sea Hell, from which an immortal’s head rose.

Chen Shi used the Blood Lake True Scripture to wield the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade, but the blade’s demonic nature nearly took control of him before the ancestors of the Thirteen Noble Families subdued it. After they entered a fractured world to investigate, Chen Shi was left with Yang Bi and looked ahead to testing himself against the next generation.

• Chen Shi’s urge to kill grew as the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade tried to control him and draw him into slaughter.
• Zhang Longhu, Xia Gongjin, and Yang Ying suppressed Chen Shi’s demonic nature, then the other ancestors joined them until the Blood Sea Hell returned to the blade.
• The ancestors placed the blade back on its altar and explained its history, while Zhang Longhu warned Chen Shi that mastering the Blood Lake True Scripture would make the blade’s control nearly inevitable.
• The ancestors carried the altar away and entered the fractured world, warning Chen Shi and Yang Bi to stay behind.
• Yang Bi praised the ancestors’ abilities and original intentions, while Chen Shi reflected that six thousand years had changed the Thirteen Noble Families.
• Chen Shi declared that he had no peers among his generation and hoped Yang Bi would be the first to make him fight at full strength.

Chen Shi and Yang Bi began their long-awaited duel, trading immortal techniques and counterattacks as each tried to outwit the other. After Chen Shi broke through Yang Bi’s third Jade Emperor Nine Heavens Manual move with close combat, both fighters shifted toward revealing their true abilities.

• Xia Tianjie and the others moved onto a goddess’s shoulder to watch Chen Shi and Yang Bi face off.
• Yang Bi attacked with the first three moves of the Jade Emperor Nine Heavens Manual, and Chen Shi defended with his Eight Trigrams transformations before closing the distance using Heaven and Earth Transformation.
• Chen Shi used close-combat techniques to withstand Primordial Chaos and rushed at Yang Bi, astonishing the watching ancestors and Xia Tianjie’s group.
• Yang Bi defended himself with the Supreme Golden Court Wonderful Scripture, then used the Supreme Emperor Purple Palace Art and disrupted Chen Shi’s Spirit Banner Ten Absolute Array.
• Chen Shi transformed into the Thunder Ancestor True Body and blasted Yang Bi with lightning and a beam from his glabella, but Yang Bi endured the attacks unharmed.
• Chen Shi and Yang Bi both decided it was time to reveal their real abilities.

Chen Shi and Yang Bi fought to a standstill, each suffering severe injuries before they stopped and recovered at White Lang Palace. After Chen Shi departed, he warned Yang Bi to focus on cultivation, and Yang Bi wondered how much stronger Chen Shi would have been if he still possessed his Innate Dao Embryo.

• Yang Bi expected Chen Shi’s Thunder Ancestor True Body to falter, but discovered Chen Shi’s Blood Lake True Scripture kept his vital blood strong and charged into Chen Shi’s Dao arena.
• Yang Bi and Chen Shi fought with their Thunder Ancestor True Bodies as Chen Shi’s Sixty-Four Transformations of Ghosts and Gods clashed with Yang Bi’s pure yang thunder.
• Yang Bi blasted open Chen Shi’s heavenly gate while Chen Shi tore at Yang Bi’s throat and reached for his heart, and they stopped fighting when either could have killed the other.
• Chen Shi and Yang Bi traded warnings about their injuries and cultivation, then an embodiment carried both of them to White Lang Palace for treatment.
• After recovering, Chen Shi left and advised Yang Bi to stop dividing his attention among the Thirteen Noble Families and devote himself to cultivation.
• Yang Bi admitted that Chen Shi had fought him without a divine embryo and wondered how vast the gap would have been if Chen Shi still had his Innate Dao Embryo.

After returning from the Upper Realm, Chen Shi warned Chen Tang that its forces might be unable to withstand Despair Slope. Scholar Zhu showed Chen Shi evidence that the True King Era had ended after the sun disappeared, and when the sun failed to rise, Chen Shi resolved to return to the Upper Realm.

• Yang Bi reflected that Chen Shi had matched him without using a divine embryo and that reaching the Great Ascension stage might be the limit for cultivators.
• Fourteen days after the battle, Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village and told Chen Tang that the Upper Realm faced likely defeat unless hidden forces remained.
• Chen Shi asked Scholar Zhu about the True King's death, and Scholar Zhu said his ancestor had perished during an event like the present one.
• Scholar Zhu led Chen Shi and Black Dog into the True King's Tomb, where Chen Shi found that the stored grains were only empty husks, suggesting the sun had once disappeared.
• The sun failed to rise, and the next morning two red suns appeared; Chen Shi clenched his fists and decided to visit the Upper Realm again.

After the sun stayed dark for a day and a night, Chen Shi learned that the Upper Realm’s ancestors expected the darkness to end permanently and that the True King had died at Despair Slope during an earlier catastrophe. As the village prepared to search for Chen Shi’s grandfather, the Heavenly Court’s Ministry of Works completed a coal-powered sword furnace for Situ Wen’s pivot, which Wu Qingyu planned to use to investigate the True God from Beyond the Heavens.

• Granny Sha, Hu Xiaoliang, Green Goat, Du Yiran, and A Zhuo gathered at Chen Shi’s home and left to find Chen Shi’s grandfather in the Underworld.
• Yang Bi told Chen Shi that the sun had gone dark for one day, then two, then three, before it had once failed to shine again; he said the ancestors did not know why it had returned and prepared to confront Despair Slope.
• Chen Shi told Scholar Zhu that the True King had died fighting at Despair Slope and that the deities of Huaxia Divine Continent had also been buried or destroyed there.
• Situ Wen and the Ministry of Works assembled coal-powered sword furnaces for the pivot, and Chen Shi tested one by unleashing a torrent of Xuanwei Sword Qi.
• Wu Qingyu said they would use the pivot to investigate what had happened to the True God from Beyond the Heavens and save themselves.

Chen Shi, Chen Tang, and the heavenly court’s cultivators flew a giant pivot beyond the heavens to investigate the true god, but dense evil qi forced them to turn back. The pivot broke apart during its descent, and Ancestor Qiongyang carried the survivors toward Ganyang Mountain.

• The Ministry of Works prepared the pivot, and Situ Wen led its first flight as Chen Shi, Chen Tang, and others boarded for the ascent.
• The pivot passed through the solar essence qi and Nine Yang Divine Thunder, with Chen Shi and Chen Tang reinforcing its Zhou Tian Grand Ceremony defenses while the crew kept it operating.
• In outer space, Chen Shi saw a living, dark-red moon and a dark sphere threaded with web-like matter, while Chen Tang said the object he sensed as the sun was not the sun.
• Dense outer-space evil qi mutated the Black Pot and threatened everyone, so Chen Tang ordered the pivot to return as Chen Shi used Yin Yang Tempering to protect the passengers.
• Chen Shi’s tempering exposed a chained Pre-Qin Daoist aboard a decaying wooden boat, while Chen Tang replaced an exploded sword furnace to stabilize the pivot.
• The pivot shattered while descending through the thunder and fire, and Chen Tang gathered the flying sword lights as Ancestor Qiongyang carried the survivors toward Ganyang Mountain.

After the expedition beyond the heavens failed, Chen Shi warned the Heavenly Court crowd to prepare for a devastating winter and preserve their humanity. Unable to find a way to prevent the catastrophe, he decided not to be a hero and impulsively announced that he would marry the white-robed female immortal, who remembered the name Little Duan.

• Ancestor Qiongyang landed outside Huangpo Village after the Yellow Earth Slope nearly dragged her out of the sky, and the Heavenly Court crowd admitted they could not safely approach the True God from Beyond the Heavens.
• The crowd pressed Chen Shi to find a solution, but he told them to stockpile food, protect their families, watch for ancient temples, and wait for him while they prepared for a long, deadly winter.
• After the others entered the Lesser Heavens, Chen Shi sat by the stone tablet and lamented that he could not think of a way through the catastrophe; Scholar Zhu urged him to survive rather than shoulder everything as a hero.
• Chen Shi decided he would not be a hero, pulled the white-robed female immortal from the temple, and announced to Chen Tang and Wu Qingyu that he wanted to marry her.
• The female immortal said her name was Little Duan and shyly agreed to marry Chen Shi, so Wu Qingyu began arranging a wedding for the next day while the village prepared the celebration.

Chen Shi and Fairy Xiaoduan married, but Xiaoduan regained her ancient memories and broke free of Peng Qiong’s influence just as the Yin and Yang realms collided around Huangpo Village. After an evil transformation began to affect Xiaoduan, Chen Shi pulled it from her body and suspected she had merged with the Dao inside his shrine.

• Chen Shi and Fairy Xiaoduan completed their wedding rites and entered the bridal chamber, where Chen Shi lifted her veil and kissed her.
• Chen Shi and Xiaoduan consulted the Chamber Arts book and drank cross-cupped wine, but Xiaoduan’s memories returned before they could continue.
• Xiaoduan quelled Peng Qiong’s influence over Chen Shi, causing Peng Qiong to burst into bloody mist in the Underworld’s Immortal Capital Primordial Palace.
• Xiaoduan awakened as the female immortal of Qixia Temple and left the bridal chamber, where Chen Shi saw Huangpo Village surrounded by unfamiliar mountains, ghosts, and the enormous Scholar Zhu as the Yin and Yang realms intersected.
• Xiaoduan fled into the shrine behind Chen Shi’s head after an evil transformation struck her, and Chen Shi pulled a writhing strand of evil hair from her back.
• Chen Shi asked whether Xiaoduan had merged with the Dao inside his shrine, and Xiaoduan acknowledged that she had merged with the Dao.

Fairy Xiaoduan discovered that she could avoid evil transformation only by harmonizing with the dao inside Chen Shi’s small temple, and her attempt to enter the Huaxia Divine Continent left her badly injured. As her consciousness shifted between her recovered self and an affectionate, amnesiac Xiaoduan, Chen Shi was caught kissing her when Fairy Xiaoduan emerged from meditation.

• Fairy Xiaoduan learned that she had harmonized with the dao of Chen Shi’s small temple and that leaving its protection would expose her to evil transformation.
• Fairy Xiaoduan tried to enter the Huaxia Divine Continent, but lightning and a giant character of “Sin” repelled her and worsened her injuries.
• Fairy Xiaoduan told Chen Shi that her ancestors had established the Xuan Bird Heavenly Court in the Huaxia Divine Continent before the Zhou people destroyed it and exiled their lineage.
• Fairy Xiaoduan recounted how she escaped the Moon Embracing Hall, was injured while crossing the Immortal Bridge, and lost her memory after Chen Shi rescued her; Chen Shi then questioned her belief that cultivators had to sever the Three Corpses.
• After Fairy Xiaoduan entered meditation, an affectionate, amnesiac Xiaoduan emerged, embraced Chen Shi, and helped the villagers butcher a Sheng Sheng that Chen Shi had roasted in his Ghost and God Domain.
• Xiaoduan pulled Chen Shi aside to kiss him, but Fairy Xiaoduan surfaced while they were kissing and called them beasts.

Chen Shi reassured Chen Tang that his growing power could protect Ganyang Mountain’s villages, then sought his father’s advice about Xiaoduan and Fairy Xiaoduan. Chen Tang left him to handle the romantic trouble himself.

• Fairy Xiaoduan punished Chen Shi’s Pengju repeatedly for its complaints, then warned Chen Shi not to dwell on carnal pleasures and returned to the temple behind his head.
• Chen Tang told Chen Shi he could not find Gangzi Village and feared that the villages of Xinxiang County would fall to ghosts and monsters after the worlds merged.
• Chen Shi revealed that he had appointed the Ganyang Mountain Lord and ordered the ghosts and gods of Tianchi Kingdom to protect the villages; powerful beings arrived across Ganyang Mountain and Xinxiang County to guard them.
• Chen Shi told Chen Tang he was the Skeleton King of the underworld and that his territory was expanding.
• Chen Shi asked Chen Tang for advice about being controlled by the Pengju around Xiaoduan and Fairy Xiaoduan, but Chen Tang told him to solve the problem himself.