Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi, Yang Bi, and Zhong Wuwang studied the witch sacrifice Dao patterns on bones scattered through the Great Shang Heavenly Court while Chen Shi pieced together the history of the demonic corruption and questioned Despair Slope’s purpose. They discovered the remains of a colossal battle between a Great Shang immortal and the source of the corruption, whose bloodied flesh reached all the way to the moon.

• Zhong Wuwang caught Chen Shi and Yang Bi stealing a withered bone, but Chen Shi revealed himself and proposed they study it together.
• Chen Shi, Yang Bi, and Zhong Wuwang memorized the witch sacrifice Dao patterns on the arm bone and finger bones.
• Chen Shi reconstructed how the Great Shang ancestors fought the source of the demonic corruption and began to suspect that Despair Slope had strayed far from its original purpose.
• The three used the finger bones to locate more skeletal fragments and continued searching through the Great Shang Heavenly Court.
• Chen Shi, Yang Bi, and Zhong Wuwang found an immense field of shattered flesh and blood, and saw a crater in the flesh-covered moon that marked the site of the final clash.
• Yang Bi concluded that Great Shang’s strongest immortal had sacrificed himself and the Heavenly Court’s deities to strike down the entity that invaded the Western Ox Continent.

Chen Shi, Yang Bi, and Zhong Wuwang recovered the missing bones of a Great Shang immortal on the moon and learned the immortal’s skeleton contained an Undying Immortal Method. As they memorized its Dao patterns, the supposedly dead culprit revealed it was still alive and attacked them, leaving Zhong Wuwang demanding to go back for his disciple.

• Chen Shi, Yang Bi, and Zhong Wuwang pieced together half of a Great Shang immortal’s skeleton and suspected the missing skull and spine were on the moon.
• Zhong Wuwang, Chen Shi, and Yang Bi traveled toward the moon, where living flesh and blood attacked them along the way.
• Zhong Wuwang found the skull and spine in the crater, and the three restored the immortal’s skeleton, causing its bones and witch sacrifice Dao patterns to reassemble.
• Yang Bi recognized the patterns as an Undying Immortal Method, and the three began memorizing them as the culprit’s flesh surged across the moon.
• Chen Shi fled in the Demon-Dispelling Shuttle with Yang Bi, Zhong Wuwang, and the skeleton while the culprit pursued them with a giant hand.
• Zhong Wuwang asked Chen Shi to turn back for his disciple, but Chen Shi refused, and Zhong Wuwang demanded to be let off so he could save him himself.

Chen Shi and his companions escaped the flesh-and-blood tide in the ruined Great Shang Heavenly Court with the immortal bone’s help, then speculated that the Heavenly Honored One might be the ancient culprit. Zhong Wuwang returned to Despair Slope to investigate, while Chen Shi and Yang Bi considered the fused true god and True King watching from the sun and the next rebellion.

• Chen Shi rescued Fang Zhenxiu, but the flesh-and-blood tide overwhelmed the shuttle until the immortal bone unleashed a powerful strike that swept it away.
• The immortal bone’s witch sacrifice Dao patterns shattered after its strike, and Chen Shi’s group gathered its remains and escaped the Great Shang Heavenly Court.
• Chen Shi, Yang Bi, and Zhong Wuwang reasoned that the culprit could be the Heavenly Honored One, who might have attacked Great Shang and later manipulated the True King’s sacrifice.
• Chen Shi accused Zhong Wuwang of being the Heavenly Honored One’s pawn, and Zhong Wuwang left for Despair Slope to retrieve Dao spring water and investigate.
• Chen Shi told Yang Bi that the true god and True King might have fused into one, and said he would keep resisting even if he failed.

Zhong Wuwang returned to Despair Slope with Fang Zhenxiu, where the Heavenly Venerate explained three paths to immortality while Zhong secretly suspected him of being the ultimate culprit. Chen Shi repaired the Great Shang immortal’s skeleton and, challenged by Yang Bi to surpass Zhong Wuwang, declared that he would become the first immortal.

• The Heavenly Venerate welcomed Zhong Wuwang and Fang Zhenxiu at the Yingxian Pavilion, gave Fang a jade pendant, and refused to intervene in the Yan family’s destruction.
• Zhong Wuwang told the Heavenly Venerate about the demonic transformation and the Great Shang immortal, then asked how to attain immortality.
• The Heavenly Venerate described seeking immortal blessed lands, undergoing tribulation, or refining the body and primordial spirit over time, and urged Zhong to forge an immortal path.
• Zhong Wuwang left with Fang, suspecting the jade pendant could monitor them and the Heavenly Venerate might be the ultimate culprit.
• Chen Shi pieced the Great Shang immortal’s skeleton together and saw its witch sacrifice Dao patterns slowly recovering.
• Yang Bi warned Chen Shi that he would perish unless he became an immortal; Chen vowed to become the very first immortal.

Chen Shi transformed the Blood Lake True Scripture into an immortal cultivation method and used it to advance his skeleton body toward Great Ascension, triggering a heavenly tribulation in the Underworld. The Heavenly Venerable identified the hidden tribulation site as the Second Hell of the Great Shang Era and said he would handle it personally.

• Fairy Xiaoduan identified the skeleton Chen Shi sent as Wu Qi, the Great Shang’s First Great Wu, who had combined immortal and witch arts to create the Undying Immortal Method.
• Chen Shi resisted the urge to cultivate Wu Qi’s method and instead spent seven days converting the Blood Lake True Scripture’s witch sacrifice patterns into an immortal cultivation method.
• Chen Shi’s skeleton body used the new method and the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade to advance rapidly, absorb the Blood Sea Hell, and form a blood-colored halo indicating Great Ascension completion.
• The skeleton’s breakthrough triggered a heavenly tribulation in the Underworld, alarming ghost clans, hell powers, and the Heavenly Dao Immortals.
• Immortal Kou could not locate the tribulation with the Pu Tian Grand Ceremony’s bronze mirrors, so the Heavenly Venerable revealed it was occurring in the Second Hell of the Great Shang Era and said he would intervene.

Skeleton Chen Shi endured a heavenly tribulation of yin and yang thunder, using his Yin Yang Freedom Intent to refine the lightning and strengthen his cultivation. As Chen Yindu, Feng Ruotong, and the Grand Libationer gathered nearby, the Fog Moon appeared and rushed toward Chen Shi.

• Skeleton Chen Shi ordered Tianchi’s citizens to evacuate as yin thunder struck the palace and flooded it with blood.
• Yan Shihai and the revived dead confronted Chen Shi, but Chen Shi reversed yin and yang, dissolving their flesh into cultivation and restoring his scattered bones.
• Chen Shi reasoned that the Underworld followed the same heavenly rules as the Yang World and that mixed righteous and evil qi explained the yin thunder in his tribulation.
• Yang thunder joined the yin thunder, and Chen Shi refined both into yin and yang qi as his cultivation rose.
• Chen Yindu and his companions encountered Feng Ruotong and the Grand Libationer near the tribulation site.
• The Fog Moon emerged over the gathered factions, filled the area with mist, and flew toward Chen Shi.

The Fog Moon appeared early over Wuliang Cliff, reviving the Heavenly Gods and threatening the ghost clans of Tianchi. As Chen Shi underwent his tribulation, the Fog Moon attacked him, but he survived and began transforming into an immortal, with Houtu’s figure appearing to help him confront it.

• The Fog Moon rolled over Wuliang Cliff, and resurrected Heavenly Gods attacked the ghost clans as Lei Qu ordered his people to seek the Sovereign’s protection.
• Chen Yindu and the others pursued the Fog Moon, which began interfering with Chen Shi’s tribulation and intensified the evil qi around them.
• Created Being Xiao Wu used the power of the sun and moon to suppress the group’s evil transformations, and they attacked the Fog Moon together.
• The Fog Moon fused the yin and yang lightning and struck Chen Shi’s skeleton body, but Chen Shi reassembled his bones, completed his tribulation, and began transforming his Primordial Spirit into an immortal.
• Chen Shi wielded the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade and struck at the Fog Moon, while Houtu emerged and offered to lend him a hand.

Chen Shi’s skeleton body used the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade to split the foggy moon and injure its owner, the Heavenly Lord, while Feng Ruotong and the others helped destroy the moon. The Heavenly Lord extracted the blade’s poison and suspected an avatar of Empress Houtu had helped Chen Shi.

• Chen Yindu, Created Being Xiao Wu, Feng Ruotong, the Grand Libationer, and their allies attacked the foggy moon, but its divine light overwhelmed them and damaged the Seven Immortal Swords.
• Chen Shi’s skeleton body wielded the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade to cut through the foggy moon, absorb its blood Qi, and open a canyon in it.
• Feng Ruotong, the Grand Libationer, Chen Yindu, and their allies severed the moon’s re-forming patterns until it split in two, while Chen Shi’s Blood Lake Hell expanded as he absorbed its power.
• Feng Ruotong traced the moon’s leaking blood Qi with sword Qi and struck the Heavenly Lord’s eye; the Heavenly Lord was injured and went to retrieve the Yin Yang Qi Bottle.
• Zhong Wuwang returned the damaged Vermilion Bird Sword, noticed the Yin Yang Qi Bottle was missing, and suspected the Heavenly Lord had been struck by Chen Shi’s blade.
• The Heavenly Lord removed the blade’s poison and concluded that an avatar of Empress Houtu might have helped Chen Shi injure him.

Tianjun reflected on how Chen Shi had become the True King's chosen successor, while Chen Shi survived the heavenly tribulation and revealed himself as the Demon Emperor. After Feng Ruotong left and Chen Shi began helping the ghost tribes, Chen Yindu and the others reached Huangpo Village and were invited into Empress Houtu's temple.

• Tianjun restored his shattered brow-eye and realized the True King had chosen Chen Shi as his backup plan, but he had failed to stop Chen Shi from reaching his current strength.
• Chen Shi told Chen Yindu that Empress Houtu had revived, prompting Chen Yindu and the others to hurry back to Huangpo Village.
• Chen Shi revealed to Feng Ruotong that he was the Demon Emperor, and the Grand Libationer confirmed that Chen Shi was the Divine Emperor of their Divine Capital.
• Feng Ruotong concealed Chen Shi's identity and departed, while Chen Shi told him to speak with Zhong Wuwang if they met.
• Chen Shi offered to decipher the ghost tribes' cultivation methods and began explaining their techniques to the chieftains.
• Chen Yindu and the others arrived at Huangpo Village, where Daoist Liu let them enter Empress Houtu's temple after Xiao Wu teased him about his name, Little Liuer.

Created Being Xiao Wu glimpsed the vast unity of the Yin and Yang Worlds inside Empress Houtu’s Dao field, while Empress Houtu gave her visitors gifts and sent them on new paths. Chen Shi received a paper boat capable of traveling to other worlds, and the green goat seized an Immortal Elixir before fleeing through the Pure Yang Immortal Realm.

• Created Being Xiao Wu saw the Yin and Yang Worlds reflected as one and realized the immense scale of Empress Houtu’s Dao field.
• Empress Houtu bestowed a lotus platform on Created Being Xiao Wu, Reincarnation Qi on Chen Yindu, Profound Yellow Qi on Du Yiran, and new opportunities on the green goat and heavenly fox.
• Empress Houtu recruited Qiao Zhuo, Granny Sha, and Sha Qiutong to assist her, then gave Chen Shi a golden paper boat that could travel to other worlds.
• Chen Shi tried to bring the Witch Covenant to Empress Houtu for revival, but Daoist Liu stopped him; Empress Houtu later resolved to fight Despair Slope despite the poor odds.
• The green goat reached the Pure Yang Immortal Realm, found Immortal Ku Rong’s celestial tree, devoured its Immortal Elixir, and fled past the startled golden dragon.

The green goat returned from the winding road with an immortal body, while Hu Xiaoliang met Empress Tushan and received a method to purify his bloodline. At Chen Shi’s camp, Zhong Wuwang revealed that the Heavenly Honored One had been wounded by the Yin Yang Qi, and Chen Shi recognized the wound as his own handiwork.

• Immortal Ku Rong discovered that the Immortal Elixir had been eaten, punished the golden dragon and green goats, and learned the elixir could still regrow.
• The green goat reached the end of the winding road, saw his past selves disappear into the Sea of Darkness, and returned to Empress Houtu with an immortal body.
• Hu Xiaoliang followed a qin melody to Tushan, where Empress Tushan identified him as her descendant and gave him a Heavenly Fox Dao Proving Method.
• Empress Houtu explained Tushan’s history with the Human Sovereign and how the old grievance led to the nine-tailed fox’s role in Great Xia’s downfall.
• Zhong Wuwang brought Dao Spring water to Chen Shi, who soaked in it with the Witch Covenant’s skeleton and described his plan to merge with the Dao.
• Zhong Wuwang revealed that the Heavenly Honored One had a blade wound from the Yin Yang Qi, and Chen Shi declared that he had inflicted it.

Chen Shi deduced a way for cultivators of the new path to undergo tribulation and achieve immortality by severing their divine embryos. As Empress Shao began the first such tribulation, Zhong Wuwang resolved to seek immortality without severing his Innate Dao Embryo.

• Fairy Xiaoduan explained the cultivation realms and Dao-realm sizes, leading Chen Shi to suspect the Heavenly Venerate was between the Golden Immortal and Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realms.
• Zhong Wuwang shared Yang Bi's insight that all mighty power belonged to oneself, and Chen Shi used demonic sound to urge him to sever his Innate Dao Embryo and pioneer a new cultivation realm.
• Zhong Wuwang resisted, warning that severing the embryo could let evil Qi corrupt him, and asked Chen Shi to wait before bringing him into Despair Slope.
• Chen Shi taught Empress Shao that severing her divine embryo would let her sense and undergo heavenly tribulation, while Yin Yang Tempering could protect her from evil Qi.
• Empress Shao severed her divine embryo on Ganyang Mountain, triggering the first tribulation of the new path, while Chen Shi studied the Undying Immortal Method.
• Watching the tribulation clouds, Zhong Wuwang decided he would not sever his Innate Dao Embryo but would still pursue becoming the most powerful immortal of the new path.

Empress Shao and three rogue cultivators crossed their tribulations without evil mutations, proving the new cultivation method could produce immortals. Zhong Wuwang discovered a fifth path through the Innate Dao Embryo and achieved Dao Integration, becoming the first immortal of the new method.

• Chen Yindu concluded that Empress Shao had crossed her tribulation by severing her divine embryo, and Du Yiran and Dragon Roaming Rogue Cultivator tried the same approach.
• Zhong Wuwang returned to Despair Slope, despaired over his origins and perceived mediocrity, then realized he could cultivate his own Void Realm into a true god's Dao arena and achieve Dao Integration with himself.
• Zhong Wuwang used the Innate Dao Embryo to create his Dao arena above the Red Frost River in Heavenly Dao City and began cultivating within it.
• Empress Shao, Dragon Roaming Rogue Cultivator, Mu Daozi, and Pei Rogue Cultivator completed their tribulations without evil mutations, prompting Gong Wanqing to declare that the True King's new method had succeeded.
• The Heavenly Dao Immortals sensed Zhong Wuwang achieving Dao Integration without a tribulation, and the Heavenly Lord identified him as the first immortal of the new method.

Despair Slope’s immortals debated threats to their realm, and Immortal Kou accompanied Zhong Wuxie to investigate Feng Ruotong’s disappearance. Their search led them into a demonic domain, where they found an ancient Shang settlement and the shattered Great Shang Heavenly Court.

• Tianzun ordered Despair Slope to eliminate Empress Houtu and human collaborators while sparing the other Outer Gods, and assigned immortals to guard the slope and hunt the Demon Capital.
• Immortal Kou insisted on guarding Zhong Wuxie’s Dao, then tested his strength and learned that Zhong Wuxie’s new immortal path could not be passed on to others.
• Zhong Wuxie asked about Great Shang, and Immortal Kou revealed that Feng Ruotong and Tianzun were both Shang-era immortals before the pair set out to find Feng Ruotong.
• Immortal Kou recognized that someone had forged Feng Ruotong’s magical traces to lure them into an ambush, but the pair continued into a demonic domain.
• Immortal Kou and Zhong Wuxie entered an ancient Shang village, where Immortal Kou killed the corpse-controlled villagers with a shout.
• Zhong Wuxie spotted the shattered Great Shang Heavenly Court and a moon wrapped in flesh and blood, then urged Immortal Kou to flee.

Immortal Kou and Zhong Wuwang fought their way through a Ghost and God Domain formed by the demonic remnant of an ancient culprit, and Zhong Wuwang found a way out. After escaping, he met someone wearing Immortal Kou’s face, who killed him before Zhong Wuwang’s Undying Immortal Method began repairing his brain.

• Immortal Kou recognized that the merchant village was trapped in a Ghost and God Domain, where dead merchants attacked using his Purple Mansion Primordial Cauldron Technique.
• Immortal Kou fought the merchants and protected Zhong Wuwang, who spotted a glimpse of the Yang world and opened a way out.
• Immortal Kou held off the merchants while Zhong Wuwang escaped and set out for Heavenly Dao City to find help.
• Wounded and exhausted, Zhong Wuwang stopped to recover, then met a bloodied figure who looked like Immortal Kou.
• Zhong Wuwang guessed the figure was Feng Ruotong, but the impostor killed him and disappeared; the Undying Immortal Method began repairing Zhong Wuwang’s brain.

Zhong Wuwang returned to Despair Slope with his brain badly damaged and no memories, while the Heavenly Lord suspected the Demon Emperor had killed Immortal Kou and injured him. After recovering, Zhong Wuwang concealed that his memories had returned and asked Yang Bi to help him see Chen Shi.

• Wen Wuyu and Daoist Qingheng saw Zhong Wuwang return with a fist-sized hole in the back of his head, and the Heavenly Lord learned that Immortal Kou's life lamp had gone out.
• The Heavenly Lord blamed the Demon Emperor, ordered Despair Slope to prepare heavenly soldiers, and kept Zhong Wuwang at Tianyuan Palace to recover.
• Zhong Wuwang healed but appeared to have forgotten his past, and the Heavenly Lord sent him back to Changming Peak to reunite with Fang Zhenxiu.
• Zhong Wuwang studied cultivation methods with Fang Zhenxiu and traveled with him to Tianyu County, where Yang Bi deduced that the Heavenly Lord was the real culprit.
• Zhong Wuwang revealed to Yang Bi that he had been pretending to have amnesia and asked to see Chen Shi.

Chen Shi learned that the Celestial Sovereign was behind the demonic corruption and had ordered Despair Slope to forge powerful Heavenly Soldiers. He prepared to enter Despair Slope with Chen Yindu and asked Zhong Wuwang to find a way in, then returned to Huangpo Village to speak with his mother.

• Chen Shi told Zhong Wuwang that he planned to overthrow the Twelve Noble Families and end their control over cultivation and resources.
• Zhong Wuwang revealed that he had achieved Dao Integration, but the Celestial Sovereign had executed him after he became immortal.
• Zhong Wuwang explained that the Celestial Sovereign had caused the demonic corruption, targeted rival powers, and ambushed him while he and Immortal Kou investigated Feng Ruotong.
• Zhong Wuwang warned that Despair Slope was forging five hundred Heavenly Soldiers, with eleven of the hundred required forging days already elapsed.
• Chen Shi asked Zhong Wuwang to find a way for him and Chen Yindu to enter Despair Slope, then requested a map to a dangerous Shang commoner village.
• Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village, found Black Pot, and asked whether their mother was there.

Chen Shi and Black Gou entered the Underworld demon domain, where Black Gou defeated its challengers and became king of the Huo Dou with help from its mother and Chen Shi. Chen Shi reached the village at the center of the Heavenly Zun’s Primordial Spirit disintegration and found a corpse whose witch sacrifice Dao patterns revealed the Heavenly Zun’s flaw.

• Chen Shi and Black Gou traveled through the dangerous demon domain, where Chen Shi observed that demonic Qi and evil Qi coexisted.
• Black Gou killed a group of giant apes but was ambushed by adult Huo Dou seeking to kill it.
• Black Gou’s mother intervened, and Chen Shi used his Yin Yang Dao Field to reverse the Huo Dou’s demonization and weaken them.
• Black Gou and its mother killed the Huo Dou leader, prompting the other Huo Dou to submit to Black Gou as their new king.
• Chen Shi reached the village marked on Zhong Wuwang’s map and searched its houses and surroundings for a particular corpse.
• Chen Shi found a preserved corpse and revealed its witch sacrifice Dao patterns, identifying the Heavenly Zun’s flaw.

Chen Shi discovered that the Heavenly Venerate and the flesh and blood that devoured the sun and moon were separate beings, but he still did not know how they were connected. Empress Houtu warned that the flesh and blood’s master might be preparing a calamity and could have destroyed other worlds before Western Ox Continent.

• Chen Shi realized the Heavenly Venerate’s body shared Metal Official Rushou’s bloodline patterns and resolved to work with Fairy Xiaoduan to find their flaw.
• Chen Shi found Li Tianqing in Qingzhou and brought him to the demonic domain to investigate its energy balance.
• Li Tianqing used Underworld bean pods and observations of the demonic creatures to determine that the domain’s true demonic Qi-to-evil Qi ratio was seventy-three to twenty-seven, proving the Heavenly Venerate and the devouring flesh and blood were not the same being.
• Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village and learned that Fairy Xiaoduan and Wu Qingyu were visiting Empress Houtu.
• Chen Shi told Empress Houtu about Li Tianqing’s finding, and she said Western Ox Continent might not be the first world destroyed by the flesh and blood’s master.

Chen Shi learned that unifying the Yin and Yang worlds was necessary for Empress Houtu to face Heavenly Venerate, and Fairy Xiaoduan identified eight flaws in Heavenly Venerate’s body. After Empress Houtu named Chen Shi the True King, Chen Tang began gathering allies and preparing New Xiang City for his rebellion, ending with an official asking whether the East Factory would still be needed.

• Empress Houtu explained that Chen Shi needed to unify the Yin and Yang worlds, and Chen Shi revealed that Heavenly Venerate’s body carried Rushou’s Dao patterns.
• Fairy Xiaoduan studied the Autumn Official Heavenly Punishment Art and found eight difficult-to-exploit flaws in Heavenly Venerate’s body before falling asleep from exhaustion.
• Empress Houtu gave Chen Shi the West King's Jade Seal and named him the True King, shocking Chen Tang when he heard the news.
• Chen Tang informed Scholar Zhu of Chen Shi’s plans, recruited rogue cultivators through Chen Shi’s disciples, and organized the transfer of government offices and construction of New Xiang City.
• Chen Tang persuaded Jin Hongying and Prince Xiao to bring the Divine Machine Battalion to support Chen Shi’s rebellion, and they marched toward New Xiang City.
• After recruiting retired Western Capital officials, Chen Tang heard one ask whether the East Factory would still be needed when the True King took the throne.