Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi and Scholar Zhu reasoned that Chen Shi had cultivated in the Underworld using a physical body before reuniting with Wu Qingyu. They discovered a peaceful settlement sheltered by Liu Qinghong, a giant green snake who had become the Willow God, and Chen Shi left the story by appointing her the Orthodox God of Changyi County.

• Chen Shi concluded that his past self had practiced cultivation in a skeleton or corpse body and had not severed his three corpses.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot found villages where Liu Qinghong's protection had spared the people from the violence and cannibalism outside.
• An old man sang of being rescued from a butcher's shop by the Willow God and warned listeners not to leave the settlement.
• Chen Shi met Liu Qinghong and learned that she had sheltered the people for three years using her Void Realm and nearby food sources.
• Liu Qinghong sensed Chen Shi could kill her, but Chen Shi told her he had come to confer divinity and appointed her the Orthodox God of Changyi County.

Chen Shi accompanied Liu Qinghong to Yangu County, where a wounded Li Family ancestor confronted a hidden rival and uncovered a pristine Void Realm marked as Jueyangzi’s ascension site. The supposed ascension ended in mystery when the sword light vanished and the skeleton in the clouds began to move, prompting Chen Shi to flee with Liu Qinghong.

• Chen Shi conferred divine authority on Liu Qinghong, who gained command of Changyi County’s gods and spirits and told him about a heavenly god in neighboring Yangu County.
• Chen Shi and Liu Qinghong entered Yangu County and found a wounded Li Family ancestor using incense and Blood Taisui to sustain the local people.
• The Li Family ancestor raised an Upper Realm fragment and entered a hidden world to confront another powerful being, while Chen Shi and Liu Qinghong followed.
• Chen Shi discovered the world contained no malevolent Qi and recognized a boundary marker announcing that Jueyangzi had ascended there.
• The Li Family ancestor found a skeleton pierced by sword light beneath the immortal Qi, and the light vanished when a Li Family ghost and god touched it.
• The skeleton twitched, so Chen Shi threw Liu Qinghong into the wooden cart and told Black Pot to retreat.

Jueyangzi resurrected as a corrupted evil immortal and overwhelmed the Li Family Patriarch, while Scholar Zhu escaped with the Upper Realm fragment. When Jueyangzi nearly attacked Chen Shi and the others, he regained control, cut apart his own Dao Integration world, and revealed the tragic truth of his failed path to immortality.

• Black Pot carried Chen Shi and Liu Qinghong as the Li Family Patriarch drew vital energy from everyone in the Upper Realm and Jueyangzi resurrected from his skeleton.
• The Li Family Patriarch attacked Jueyangzi, but his strikes failed to stop the immortal from recovering, and Scholar Zhu fled with the Upper Realm fragment on his back.
• The Li Family Patriarch's golden body and Primordial Spirit disintegrated, while Scholar Zhu found the exit sealed and joined Chen Shi and the others before Jueyangzi.
• Jueyangzi prepared to attack Chen Shi, Black Pot, Scholar Zhu, and Fairy Xiaoduan, but stopped when he saw the common folk in the Upper Realm fragment.
• Jueyangzi pierced himself with an immortal sword and slashed apart his own Dao Integration world, returning it to a Void Realm and weakening his corruption.
• Jueyangzi recounted how the True King's ban on immortals had driven him to ascend, only for him to discover that Dao Integration inevitably caused evil transformation.

Chen Shi took Jueyangzi into his small temple after Jueyangzi severed his corrupted Void Realm, while Scholar Zhu received a cultivation manual from him. As Chen Shi traveled onward and a fourth temple began to form, Yu Changbai fought four hidden cultivators; later, three of them revealed themselves as Chen Yindu’s created beings and confronted him.

• Fairy Xiaoduan explained that she had integrated with the space in Chen Shi’s temple to avoid demonization, and Chen Shi invited Jueyangzi to stay there.
• Jueyangzi moved his remaining immortal mountain and stone tablet into the third temple, then helped Scholar Zhu evacuate people from the collapsed Upper Realm and gave him the Primordial Treasure Scripture.
• Chen Shi gave Scholar Zhu the Yin Yang Sun Moon Ring for cultivation, while Jueyangzi refused to accept thanks because Scholar Zhu was descended from the True King.
• Chen Shi arranged shelter for the people of Yangu County and continued his journey; Jueyangzi described the cataclysm, the True King’s return from Despair Slope, and the Immortal-Sealing Decree.
• A fourth small temple began forming behind Chen Shi as Yu Changbai discovered and defeated four hidden cultivators, who later reunited and traveled to the Divine Capital.
• Cang Songzi, Tu Ying, and Yan Shichong revealed themselves to Chen Yindu as his created beings, declared him their prisoner, and heard him say he regretted suppressing them.

Chen Yindu joined forces with Created Being Xiao Wu and freed Du Yiran, Sha Qiutong, Green Goat, and Hu Xiaoliang from their guards in Divine Capital. When demon gods, rogue cultivators, and descendants of the Great Shang blocked their way, Chen Yindu threatened to unleash a technique that would make them slaughter one another, and a voice ordered the group to be let go.

• Chen Yindu rejected Tu Ying, Cang Songzi, and Yan Shichong as flawed creations but said he still needed them, then linked his mind with Tu Ying to restore their shared abilities.
• Chen Yindu and Tu Ying entered Du Yiran’s stone house, where Du Yiran and Zen Master Dao Xing discussed Buddhism and evil transformation.
• Zen Master Dao Xing manifested a Pure Land Evil Buddha World, but Chen Yindu saw through its techniques, and Du Yiran left with the others.
• Chen Yindu’s group found Sha Qiutong, Green Goat, and Hu Xiaoliang, then continued through Divine Capital together.
• Demon gods, rogue cultivators, and descendants of the Great Shang blocked their path, so Chen Yindu threatened to unleash the Cang Cuo Seven Kill Demonic Sound.
• A heavy voice ordered the assembled forces to let Chen Yindu and his companions go.

Chen Yindu met the Grand Libationer outside the vanished Divine Capital and learned that Chen Shi had devised a devil-path technique capable of transforming true gods through evil. After confronting the Grand Libationer’s assumptions about Chen Shi’s trust and memories, Chen Yindu left with his companions and revealed that he—not Chen Shi—had sealed the boy’s memories.

• Chen Yindu left the Divine Capital with his companions, then met the Grand Libationer beneath a pine tree and learned that Shang’s ghost race preserved its civilization through divine transformations.
• At Chen Yindu’s request, Tu Ying demonstrated the Cang Cuo Seven Kill Demonic Sound, and the Grand Libationer explained that Chen Shi had recognized the Divine Capital’s vulnerability to it.
• The Grand Libationer showed Chen Yindu Chen Shi’s incomplete devil-path cultivation technique and described its intended method for subjecting true gods to evil transformation.
• Chen Yindu suspected that Chen Shi and Wu Qingyu had used her capture to escape the Grand Libationer’s control, and argued that Chen Shi had never trusted him.
• After leaving with his companions, Chen Yindu revealed that he had sealed Chen Shi’s memories and recalled the boy proposing that they destroy the world and forge a new era.

Chen Yindu led his allies toward Despair Slope while the Grand Libationer and Feng Ruotong mobilized forces to hunt Chen Shi. After Chen Shi lit the final province on the Map of Mountains and Rivers, he set out for home, unaware that both sides had discovered him and were racing toward Beilai City.

• Chen Yindu explained that he had sealed Chen Shi’s memories after reviving him, then planned to infiltrate Despair Slope by imitating its people and exploiting its response to the Divine Capital’s movements.
• The Grand Libationer realized Chen Yindu had deceived him, ordered the Divine Capital to search for Chen Shi, and considered several ways to complete the demonic art.
• Feng Ruotong learned that the Divine Capital’s forces were mobilizing, recalled his draw with the Grand Libationer, and led Heavenly Dao Walkers to track them.
• Chen Yindu and his companions moved toward Despair Slope after Tu Ying reported that Feng Ruotong had joined the hunt.
• In Beilai Province, Chen Shi sealed the Kitchen God Temple, lit the final province on the Map of Mountains and Rivers, and started toward home after deciding to buy new shoes.
• Divine Capital scouts found Chen Shi, while a distant observer alerted a Sky Listener; the Grand Libationer and Feng Ruotong both hurried toward Beilai City.

Chen Shi encountered Xia Canghai in Beilai City, then agreed to help the Grand Libationer complete the Profound Yin Nine Heavens Art. As he practiced the manual, it began restoring memories sealed by Chen Yindu, including fragments from his childhood and the County Examination.

• Chen Shi admitted killing Xia Tianjie, Lord Fengyang, and Xia Xiude, and Xia Canghai warned him that the Xia family would pursue him after he left Beilai City.
• The Grand Libationer invited Chen Shi into a teahouse and asked him to complete the fragmentary Profound Yin Nine Heavens Art, which Chen Shi recognized as a powerful demonic technique.
• Chen Shi agreed to complete the manual, and the Grand Libationer promised that his people would keep others from disturbing him.
• Chen Shi realized the manual might help him master the Blood Transformation Divine Blade, but suspected it could also attract the attention of the True God from Beyond the Heavens.
• As Chen Shi practiced the manual, Chen Yindu’s seals began releasing memories, and Chen Shi recalled childhood events, the County Examination, and a girl named Wen Wuyu following him.

Chen Shi’s cultivation of the Profound Yin Nine Heavens Art unlocked memories of his childhood, including his murder and the theft of his Innate Dao Embryo. As his demonic nature surged in the teahouse, Xia Canghai approached the Grand Libationer with a force meant to punish Red Mountain Hall.

• Chen Shi remembered the Thirteen Noble Families and Despair Slope competing over his Innate Dao Embryo, then resolved to uncover more of his sealed memories.
• Chen Shi relived Daoist Wei Luowei killing him and transplanting his Innate Dao Embryo into Zhong Wuwang, before his ghost fell into the underworld and possessed a little yaksha.
• Xia Canghai told Xia Xuanming that Chen Shi was in Beilai City and described the people accompanying him, including a likely Red Mountain Hall contingent.
• Xia Xuanming ordered Xia Canghai to punish Red Mountain Hall, while the Grand Libationer sensed the growing demonic nature inside the teahouse and strode toward it.
• Xia Canghai arrived with a crowd and confronted the Grand Libationer, who stopped in his path.

Feng Ruotong confronted the Grand Libationer in Beilai City and deduced that the Divine Capital wanted Chen Shi to develop a path to Dao integration. The Grand Libationer and Feng Ruotong sensed hidden observers as Chen Yindu led them away to capture more Heavenly Dao Walkers and infiltrate Despair Slope.

• Xia Canghai recognized that the people gathered around Chen Shi were powerful, hurried back to the Xia Manor, and reported his discovery to Xia Xuanming.
• Feng Ruotong arrived in Beilai City and sat with the Grand Libationer, while Gouzi prepared tea for them.
• Feng Ruotong accused the Divine Capital of using Chen Shi to develop a Dao integration method, and he and the Grand Libationer gained leverage over one another during their exchange.
• Xia Xuanming and the two Xia family ancestors approached the tea house, but a monk, a Daoist, and a Confucian scholar overwhelmed them with their pressure; the Grand Libationer stopped the three from killing the ancestors.
• The Grand Libationer and Feng Ruotong sensed several hidden gazes, while Chen Yindu led Created Being Xiao Wu and the others away to capture Heavenly Dao Walkers and sneak into Despair Slope.

Chen Shi's demonic dao field spread across Beilai City, calming evil qi and reversing transformations as the Xia family and Divine Capital witnessed a new path of cultivation. Feng Ruotong and the Grand Libationer wounded each other before Feng fled, while Dao Chengzi, Hui Kong, and Song Yi resolved to protect Chen Shi; the chapter ended with a memory of the Grand Libationer telling Chen Shi that Despair Slope's Heavenly Dao Walkers were searching for him.

• The Xia elders left Yang Street, and Xia Min identified Chen Shi's pursuers as likely corrupted rogue immortals before the Xia family chose not to provoke them.
• Chen Shi's demonic dao field spread from the teahouse, making evil qi orderly and allowing Black Pot and others affected by evil transformation to use or regain their true forms.
• Feng Ruotong attacked Chen Shi, but the Grand Libationer intervened; their simultaneous strikes wounded both, and Feng fled as the Grand Libationer pursued him.
• Xia Min and cultivators across Beilai City felt their evil qi grow peaceful, while Sheng Sheng reverted from a monstrous form into a Feng Xi.
• Dao Chengzi, Hui Kong, and Song Yi recognized that Chen Shi's techniques made the righteous and demonic paths choices, and they agreed to protect him despite the threat from Despair Slope.
• In an unsealed memory, the Grand Libationer told Chen Shi that Despair Slope's Heavenly Dao Walkers were searching for him and that he had laid restrictions to prevent them from tracking him.

Chen Shi recalled his time in the Underworld and completed the Profound Yin Nine Heavens Art for the Grand Libationer, while concealing whether his sealed memories had returned. The Grand Libationer let him leave with the manual, still suspecting Chen Shi had awakened and plotted against him.

• Chen Shi remembered how Wu Qingyu had restored his humanity, how he had secretly sent a thought to meet the Benevolent Lord, and how the Grand Libationer had seized him during the Underworld chaos.
• After his memories returned, Chen Shi calmed his demonic nature and wrote out the completed Profound Yin Nine Heavens Art for the Grand Libationer.
• The Grand Libationer read the manual and asked whether it could produce a divine embryo, then noticed Chen Shi’s reaction when he mentioned the memory seal.
• Chen Shi denied remembering the Underworld and refused the Grand Libationer’s offer to undo the seal, then left the city in his wooden cart.
• The Grand Libationer asked whether Chen Shi had lured Feng Ruotong, but Chen Shi feigned ignorance and departed.
• The Grand Libationer told a Great Shang scholar that he would not violate the Divine Emperor’s wishes, while privately suspecting Chen Shi had awakened and plotted against him.

Chen Shi encountered the wounded Feng Ruotong in a ghost town, where his Yin Yang Dao Field transformed the ghosts into humans and his demonic dao field stabilized their energies. Feng Ruotong explained his bond to the True God and warned that other Heavenly Dao followers would still try to kill Chen Shi before departing.

• Chen Shi reflected on his plan to use the Profound Yin Nine Heavens Art to demonize the True God from Beyond the Heavens, then reached a ghost town after the wooden carriage landed.
• Chen Shi found Feng Ruotong receiving treatment from a Bian Que ghost physician, who could heal even wounds inflicted by the Grand Libationer.
• Chen Shi spread his Yin Yang Dao Field, transforming the town’s ghosts into humans, then demonstrated how his demonic dao field kept their bodies human while regulating their Yin Energy and malevolent energy.
• Feng Ruotong questioned Chen Shi about his dao fields and revealed that he was not a true immortal, but had entrusted his Dao to the True God and would vanish if the True God were destroyed.
• Feng Ruotong said he had to protect the True God and that Heavenly Dao followers would continue trying to kill Chen Shi, then left with his attendants.
• The ghost physician drove Chen Shi out of town, and Chen Shi departed in the wooden carriage as the town’s inhabitants returned to their ghost forms.

Feng Ruotong abandoned his attack on Chen Shi after seeing hope in his Dao Fields, then gathered Heavenly Dao Walkers to pursue the Grand Libationer. Meanwhile, Chen Yindu and the others uncovered the True King's history and suspected the Heavenly Lord had sacrificed him to reopen the true god’s eyes; Zhong Wuwang discovered their research and feared he would be sacrificed next.

• Feng Ruotong summoned Heavenly Dao Walkers in Heavenly Dao City, but five of the twelve who had left Despair Slope were missing.
• Chen Yindu, Yu Changbai, Zhang Yunhe, Zhao Xiaoyao, Qingfeng Rogue Cultivator, and Lin Taixu searched the Dao Inquiry Institute and found records identifying the True King as the creator of the new cultivation method and the first to receive an Innate Dao Embryo.
• The group read that the Heavenly Lord had sacrificed the True King on the Day of Extinguished Sun, and Chen Yindu proposed finding the sacrificial site to make the true god open its eyes.
• Zhong Wuwang noticed the group’s suspicious visit, read the True King's Biography, and concluded the Heavenly Lord might be preparing to sacrifice him for his Innate Dao Embryo.
• Zhong Wuwang decided he would not wait for death and resolved to break through to the immortal realm.

Chen Shi returned to Ganyang Mountain, where he reunited with his family and learned that Godmother was close to reviving. He went to Gao Gang with Chen Tang and saw a vast temple taking shape in radiant light, but the chapter left Godmother’s awakening unresolved.

• Chen Shi traveled home, declared that he could become the imperial court, and filled his cart with food taken from villagers along the way.
• Chen Shi reunited with Chen Tang and Wu Qingyu, while the mountain’s residents and Red Mountain Hall talisman masters gathered to welcome him.
• Chen Shi met Yan Xianshi, learned that Godmother’s revival was near, and argued with Chen Tang about his missing grandfather.
• Great Serpent Xuan Shan gave Chen Shi a green rain umbrella to restrain his demonic nature, but it burned to ashes as Chen Shi left the mountain.
• Chen Shi and Chen Tang reached Gao Gang and saw radiant light forming a temple filled with visions of countless beings and realms.

Chen Shi entered the forming Empress Houtu Temple and witnessed the vast cycle of life, death, and reincarnation, resolving to become immortal and escape it. At the temple’s lotus platform, he saw a female emperor approaching through a gateway before a huge axe severed the bridge of light and blocked her descent to the Western Ox Continent.

• Jueyangzi and Fairy Xiaoduan explained Empress Houtu’s ancient power and the breadth of her worship, while Chen Shi described why villagers took spirits as godmothers.
• Scholar Zhu asked Daoist Liu to let him hang from the old willow again, and Daoist Liu bound him to the tree with a willow branch.
• Daoist Liu allowed Chen Shi into the forming Empress Temple but kept Chen Tang outside.
• Inside the temple, Chen Shi saw countless beings cycle through birth, death, and reincarnation, and realized some souls ascended beyond the cycle.
• Chen Shi crossed the manifested Sea of Darkness toward the lotus platform where Empress Houtu was reviving.
• Chen Shi saw a female emperor approaching through a gateway, but a huge axe severed the bridge of light connecting her to the Western Ox Continent.

Chen Shi used the West King's Jade Seal and the Western Ox Continent’s deities to protect the bridge carrying Empress Houtu’s avatar, while Daoist Liu taught the others the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Dharma Realm. The new technique gave Fairy Xiaoduan a way to leave Chen Shi’s small temple, and the chapter ended with Chen Shi boldly approaching her as she washed her feet.

• Chen Shi gathered divine power through the West King's Jade Seal to reconnect the bridge, and Empress Houtu’s ribbons repelled the round axes attacking her avatar and the bridge.
• Chen Shi left the temple and told Daoist Liu, Fairy Xiaoduan, and the others what had happened; Daoist Liu said the temple needed four or five days to stabilize if the remaining gods awakened.
• Daoist Liu gave Scholar Zhu a refined willow branch and taught Scholar Zhu, Jueyangzi, and Fairy Xiaoduan the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Dharma Realm so they could leave the small temple without suffering evil mutation.
• Chen Shi worried that Fairy Xiaoduan might leave, while Daoist Liu hoped the group would use the technique to help defend the empress’s temple from Despair Slope.
• Chen Tang advised Chen Shi to fight for his happiness, and Chen Shi decided to act on the advice before fleeing when Chen Tang opened his box.
• Chen Shi found Fairy Xiaoduan washing her feet and sat beside her, offering to wash them.

Chen Shi took Fairy Xiaoduan to Tianchi Capital City and used his dao field to transform its ghostly inhabitants back into Great Shang Citizens. Overcome with emotion at seeing her people restored, Fairy Xiaoduan then agreed to accompany Chen Shi toward the mysterious source of the Skyfall.

• Fairy Xiaoduan told Chen Shi she had already comprehended the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Dharma Realm and could not leave him because their lives and her people’s return to humanity depended on him.
• Chen Shi took Fairy Xiaoduan aboard the Taiyi Demon-Dispelling Shuttle and flew to Tianchi Capital City, while Scholar Zhu and Jueyangzi went to help Daoist Liu guard the Empress Temple.
• Chen Shi expanded his dao field across Tianchi Capital City, transforming the ghost races into Great Shang Citizens and restoring their human appearances and inherited witch sacrifice Dao patterns.
• Fairy Xiaoduan wept as she recognized her people and their restored Great Shang heritage, while Chen Shi told her he was their king.
• Chen Shi asked Fairy Xiaoduan whether she wanted to investigate the Skyfall’s unknown origin, and she agreed.

Chen Shi and Fairy Xiaoduan traveled through an ancient river beneath the Skyfall, uncovering the ruins of Great Shang and its fallen divine officials. They found Fairy Xiaoduan’s younger brother Wangziyu, whom Chen Shi identified as the final Shang King, and learned that he had died defending the last subjects of Great Shang.

• Chen Shi and Fairy Xiaoduan rode the Taiyi Demon-Dispelling Shuttle through a fierce vortex and reached a dark riverbed filled with enormous skulls.
• Fairy Xiaoduan explained Great Shang’s hereditary divine officials, the rise of Qi Refiners, and how the Three Pure Ones helped overthrow Great Shang.
• Chen Shi copied witch sacrifice Dao patterns from divine officials’ skulls and bones while he and Fairy Xiaoduan explored the wrecks and ruins along the river.
• They found an intact owl boat and sailed past ruined immortal mountains, shattered magical treasures, and the remains of a great battle.
• Chen Shi and Fairy Xiaoduan discovered a vast bronze city wall bearing the Xuan Bird emblem and a skeleton clutching a broken sword.
• Fairy Xiaoduan recognized the skeleton as her younger brother Wangziyu, and Chen Shi concluded that he had grown old leading Great Shang’s last forces in a final defense of Tianchi Kingdom.

Chen Shi and Fairy Xiaoduan crossed the bronze Great Wall and discovered Chen Yindu and his companions conducting a vast offering in a fairyland beyond a sealing wall. As the offering drew power from the sun and moon across the Western Ox Continent, it opened the sky and revealed the True God from Beyond the Heavens.

• Fairy Xiaoduan placed Prince Shang Wangziyu’s remains on the owl boat, and Chen Shi noticed a crude painting of Chen Yindu beside a woman on the bronze wall.
• Chen Shi and Fairy Xiaoduan climbed the wall and saw a fairyland separated from them by a Great Dao Wall made of witch sacrifice Dao patterns.
• Chen Shi recognized Chen Yindu, Created Being Xiao Wu, Granny Sha, and his other companions on a massive altar as they prepared the Pu Tian Great Offering.
• Chen Yindu and Created Being Xiao Wu matched 3,600 talismans to the altar’s statues, then Chen Yindu activated the offering and led the group toward the Great Dao Wall.
• The offering drained the suns and moons across the Western Ox Continent, and the altar formed a blazing Xuan Bird that split open the sky.
• The True God from Beyond the Heavens appeared clearly in the outer heavens, leaving Fairy Xiaoduan pale and shaken.