Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi fought Wu Guanyun and his Azure Dragon Immortal while severing the chains, drawing on the Primordial Chaos Sword Scripture and the Minor Heavenly Tribulation Array with strength bolstered by the surrounding world. After Wu Guanyun stopped the fighting, he knelt before Chen Shi and addressed him as the Young Master.

• Chen Shi unleashed Azure Heaven is Dead, Yellow Heaven Rises, and Wu Guanyun sensed that Chen Shi had grasped the technique’s profundity.
• Wu Guanyun’s Azure Dragon Immortal attacked Chen Shi with the World in the Palm, but Chen Shi used the Minor Heavenly Tribulation Array to badly wound the dragon’s claws.
• Zhong Lin wondered whether Chen Shi was the Golden Immortal mentioned in the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll, while Hu Feifei observed Dao Radiance streaming across the Western Ox Continent toward a common direction.
• Wu Guanyun intervened with a sword strike that shattered Chen Shi’s star domain, and Chen Shi severed two more chains as the Azure Dragon Immortal moved behind him.
• Wu Guanyun ordered Zhang Xian and the immortals to halt their attack on Black Pot and Zhong Lin, then knelt before Chen Shi and apologized to the Young Master.

Chen Shi used his connection to the Great Desolation Ming Dao Collection to make Wu Guanyun conceal his identity and spare the rebels. After the Aftermath Immortals secretly replaced the demon-refining cauldrons, Chen Shi realized they might be planning to unleash the imprisoned great demons, then prepared to return to the Heavenly Court with Wu Guanyun.

• Wu Guanyun recognized Chen Shi's cultivation technique, mistook him for a disciple of the Great Desolation Ming Dao Collection's master, and agreed to conceal his identity.
• Chen Shi ordered Wu Guanyun to spare the Fire Character Camp and keep the day's events secret; Wu Guanyun reorganized the camp and made the immortals swear a karmic oath.
• Chen Shi wondered whether the Western Ox Continent was another part of his Dao realm, while Zhong Lin decided to observe Chen Shi before reporting his suspicions.
• Black-clad Aftermath Immortals arrived with wooden boxes containing miniature worlds, and their tiny workers mapped the Demon Refining Cauldrons and replaced them with near-identical copies.
• Chen Shi suspected the Aftermath Immortals intended to release the great demons trapped in the removed cauldrons, and Wu Guanyun invited him to return to the Heavenly Court.

Chen Shi watched Heavenly King Li inspect the Three Pure Ones' Demon Refining Well, then returned to the Western Heaven Sweep and advanced his swordsmanship. Zhong Lin deduced that Chen Shi had the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll, and Chen Shi’s answer confirmed it.

• Chen Shi accompanied Wu Guanyun and the Fire Character Camp as Heavenly King Li arrived to inspect the Three Pure Ones' Demon Refining Well.
• Heavenly King Li failed to recognize that the demon refining cauldrons were fake, ordered the well sealed, and rewarded the Fire Character Camp.
• Chen Shi gave his inferior Five Elements Immortal Pills to the Black Pot, which used them to make friends among the immortals.
• Chen Shi practiced the Primordial Chaos Sword Scripture and advanced to controlling forty strands of sword qi, perfectly executing Cloud-Shrouded Mist-Gathering.
• Zhong Lin confronted Chen Shi about his rapid progress, guessed that the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll had helped him, and learned that Chen Shi possessed it.

Chen Shi explained that the complete Heavenly Mechanism Scroll was branded into his consciousness, while Zhong Lin reconciled his duty to the Heavenly Dao with his gratitude to Chen Shi. After Chen Shi struggled to comprehend the sword scripture’s final move, Heavenly King Li summoned him and demanded that he move his Dao realm from the Western Heaven Sweep.

• Chen Shi told Zhong Lin that the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll had branded its Heavenly Dao Patterns into his consciousness, and Zhong Lin realized that surrendering them to the Heavenly Court could doom Chen Shi.
• Chen Shi urged Zhong Lin to balance the Heavenly Dao with human principles, and Zhong Lin resolved to obey heaven while repaying Chen Shi’s kindness.
• Chen Shi practiced the Primordial Chaos Sword Scripture but could not grasp the power of its ninth move, Primordial Chaos Divided.
• Zhong Lin explained that his principle was to comply with the heavens and respond to humanity, then admitted that Heavenly Mechanism Scholars could misinterpret Heavenly Dao Patterns.
• General Zhang summoned Chen Shi to meet Heavenly King Li, who pointed out that Chen Shi’s ten-thousand-mile Dao realm obstructed the Western Heaven Sweep and demanded that he choose another place to integrate with the Dao.

Chen Shi refused Heavenly King Li’s offer to exchange his Western Heaven Sweep Dao realm until Li forced him to accept the Ruins of Dao instead. After surviving the dangerous journey there, Chen Shi claimed the million-li territory and completed Dao Integration, leaving for the Heavenly Court as its new lord.

• Heavenly King Li offered Chen Shi increasingly vast Dao Integration grounds, then ordered him to trade Western Heaven Sweep for the Ruins of Dao and had a heavenly god press his seal.
• Heavenly King Li sent Chen Shi toward the Ruins of Dao in his Bifang Chariot, guarded by two heavenly gods and six Bifangs.
• The chariot crossed the Heavenly River and entered a region of gloomy winds, where a corpse-like creature seized and devoured one Bifang.
• Chen Shi raised Heavenly King Li’s golden mace, and the land deed proclaimed him ruler of the Ruins of Dao and its mountains, rivers, and inhabitants.
• Chen Shi released his Dao Integration across the Ruins of Dao, awakened its ancient aura, and became its lord before the chariot carried him away.

Chen Shi stabilized his ten-thousand-li Dao realm in the Ruins of Dao and discovered that he could suppress and refine a Great Dao anomaly. Heavenly King Li and powerful figures from across the heavenly court watched as Chen Shi’s cultivation surged, and the chapter ended when Chen Shi sensed countless gazes upon him.

• Chen Shi returned to the heavenly court, where Heavenly King Li warned him about Great Dao anomalies in the Ruins of Dao and told him to report any he found.
• Chen Shi consolidated his Dao realm by shaping its yin-yang, sun-and-moon, Eight Trigrams, and Primordial Chaos transformations, bringing the ten-thousand-li region into order.
• Chen Shi detected a Great Dao anomaly in a valley and used his Dao realm to connect with, assimilate, and drain its power.
• A heavenly god informed Heavenly King Li that Chen Shi had encountered an anomaly and was refining it, prompting Li to rush to the Ruins of Dao.
• Heavenly King Li and the Earth Official observed Chen Shi refining the anomaly as many powerful heavenly figures gathered to watch.
• Chen Shi suppressed the anomaly, entered his Dao realm with his Primordial Spirit, and sensed about a hundred unseen gazes fixed on him.

Chen Shi entered a dangerous Great Dao anomaly and discovered a Demon Blood Treasure Tree whose well contained a hidden demonic Dao world. He harmonized his demonic Dao there, gained a third Dao Realm, and left the Heavenly Court observers suspecting he had mastered the anomaly.

• Chen Shi reflected that Immortal Dao could harmonize with the Great Dao and even repair it, alarming Heavenly Court officials who feared his growing power.
• Chen Shi approached the anomaly, mocked Heavenly King Li’s warnings, and sat outside it briefly before walking into the valley.
• Chen Shi adapted his Dao field to the demonic Dao and found an ancient well containing the Demon Blood Treasure Tree and its vast inner world.
• Chen Shi harmonized his demonic Dao beneath the tree, strengthened his cultivation, and realized he now had three Dao-harmonization locations.
• Chen Shi emerged safely as the valley’s demonic energy receded, and Heaven Official Great Emperor concluded that Chen Shi had concealed the anomaly by making it his own.
• Heavenly King Li left to find a way to test Chen Shi, while Chen Shi wondered why the watching presence had disappeared.

Chen Shi discovered Fulou Village in the Dao Ruins, where its long-lived residents guarded a green stele left by Daoist Lingbao. After studying its powerful Dao Patterns and passing out, he returned to his Dao realm with spiritual pills and questions about the village and the Dao Ruins.

• Chen Shi left his Dao realm, found Fulou Village, and told its residents the Heavenly Court had granted him the Dao Ruins.
• Chen Shi promised not to collect rent after learning that Fulou Village guarded Daoist Lingbao’s green stele, then ate cherries and a cucumber whose medicinal power he refined through his Dao realms.
• Bailu led Chen Shi to the green stele, where Chen Shi studied the Green Dragon Chant until its Dao Patterns overwhelmed him and he collapsed.
• The villagers explained that Daoist Lingbao had given them an alchemy furnace and pill-refining method, and Shang Dugong revealed they had lived there since the Great Shang fell over thirty thousand years earlier.
• Chen Shi took a handful of the villagers’ spiritual pills and returned to his Dao realm, wondering about Daoist Lingbao, the green stele, and the secrets of the Dao Ruins.

After eating a miraculous pill from Fulou Village, Chen Shi gained a burst of insight and corrected flaws in the many cultivation techniques he had learned; Black Pot experienced the same after eating another pill. Their display alarmed Heavenly King Li, who ordered Chen Shi’s camp to investigate the Mud Bodhisattva Incident.

• The villagers of Fulou Village praised Chen Shi as a benevolent master and recalled how they had driven off heavenly officials in the past.
• Chen Shi ate a miraculous pill and used its effects to correct errors in his swordsmanship and cultivation, improving more than a hundred techniques.
• Black Pot ate a duck egg and smashed buildings in Heavenly Dao Residence while venting its medicinal power, then ate a miraculous pill and mastered many techniques in Western Heaven Sweep.
• Heavenly King Li heard about Chen Shi and Black Pot’s display and approved an order testing Chen Shi’s background.
• The Fire Character Camp received orders to go to Thunder Profound Province and investigate the Mud Bodhisattva Incident immediately.

Chen Shi’s Fire Character Camp traveled to Thunder Profound Province to investigate the Mud Bodhisattva Incident, while Chen Shi harvested Profound Sky Aurora and began refining it into sword qi. At Feng'an County, they learned that people and investigators transformed into mud, and Chen Shi recognized the phenomenon as a ghost and god domain.

• Zhong Lin explained the Thunder Ministry’s vast hierarchy and divined that the mission to investigate the Mud Bodhisattva Incident was highly inauspicious.
• Chen Shi used the Purple Sky Gourd to collect Profound Sky Aurora from the star gate and refined it into a strand of Profound Sky Sword Qi during the journey.
• Wu Xie welcomed Zhang Xian’s Fire Character Camp to Thunder Profound Province and explained that Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva’s golden body had turned to mud.
• Wu Xie led the camp to Feng'an County, where Long Huang described how residents and investigators had turned into mud people and melted in the rain.
• Chen Shi identified Feng'an County’s phenomenon as a ghost and god domain.

Chen Shi and the Fire Character Camp entered Feng'an County under an Exorcism Banner to investigate the Muddy Bodhisattva’s Great Dao pollution, while Heavenly King Li revealed he intended to use the mission to test Chen Shi. The camp learned they had already been contaminated and could survive only by finding and resolving the source before the banner failed.

• Long Huang gave Zhang Xian an Exorcism Banner that could protect the Fire Character Camp inside Feng'an County for twelve hours, and Zhang Xian led the group in.
• Master Ge met Heavenly King Li, who explained that he suspected Chen Shi was a dangerous being from the Dark Sea and had sent the camp to test him.
• Master Ge and Heavenly King Li watched the group enter Feng'an County and discussed the danger of the Muddy Bodhisattva incident.
• As the camp advanced, its members found their magic power and Dao Laws growing dull, and Zhang Xian told those who could not endure to take refuge in their Dao realms.
• An immortal who entered his Dao realm turned into mud in the rain, and Zhong Lin explained that the camp was already contaminated and could not leave Feng'an County without being destroyed by the Pure Yang Divine Mirror.

Chen Shi and Zhong Lin investigated the Great Dao Pollution in Feng'an County and traced it to the Muddy Bodhisattva, whom Chen Shi identified as Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva. Chen Shi and Black Pot pursued the Bodhisattva beyond the Exorcism Banner’s protection, where the strange polluted Dao began to affect their Yin Yang Dao Fields.

• Black Pot and the Fire Character Camp found the people and beasts of Feng'an County transformed into mud lifeforms, many suffering or dying after the rain.
• Chen Shi suspected the rain had been caused by someone using divine abilities, and An Daozi told him and Zhong Lin that he had sensed such fluctuations near Lotus Mountain.
• At the ruined Immortal Lotus Sect, Chen Shi recognized a Buddhist palm print and concluded that the Muddy Bodhisattva was Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva and the source of the pollution.
• The Muddy Bodhisattva attacked Chen Shi and Zhong Lin with the Mahana Bodhi Seal, but Chen Shi countered with the Green Dragon Chant and Black Pot’s Hundun Sword Array drove the Bodhisattva away.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot activated their Yin Yang Dao Fields and chased the Muddy Bodhisattva beyond the Exorcism Banner’s range, where the pollution began slowing their Dao Fields.

Chen Shi and Black Pot fought Muddy Bodhisattva in Feng'an County, then discovered he was not behind the Great Dao Pollution. Muddy Bodhisattva revealed that a stranger’s poisonous incense had shattered his golden body, and Chen Shi set out to find the culprit.

• Chen Shi and Black Pot entered the immortal city of Feng'an County and found its people and immortals kneeling to Muddy Bodhisattva.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot attacked Muddy Bodhisattva together, overwhelming him with sword energy, the Heaven Measuring Iron Ruler, and their other techniques.
• Chen Shi stopped Black Pot from delivering a fatal blow and explained that Muddy Bodhisattva lacked the power to cause the Great Dao Pollution.
• Muddy Bodhisattva said a stranger’s incense had broken his golden body and that he had been pursuing the person who used rain to harm Feng'an County.
• Chen Shi accused Muddy Bodhisattva of using the crisis to gather worshippers, then promised to find the culprit and break the pollution.

Chen Shi traced the incense that damaged Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva’s golden body to an immortal who had bridged the divine and immortal Daos, then discovered that Chu Xiangxiu had independently made the same breakthrough. Chu admitted he had used soil from his master’s temple to make the incense, but denied causing the rain and said he was investigating the culprit himself.

• Chen Shi and the Black Pot searched Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva’s temple and found that its disciples controlled extensive land and businesses while doing little productive work.
• Chen Shi lit the remains of the incense and recognized that it combined heretical power with an immortal Dao derived from the divine Dao.
• Chen Shi found Chu Xiangxiu’s talismans and realized Chu had transformed divine patterns into immortal Dao patterns through his studies with the Land God.
• Chu told Chen Shi how his master had raised him and how he had traveled to the Dark Sea to unite with the Dao before returning to the Earthly Immortal Realm.
• Chu admitted he had made the incense from soil from his master’s temple because he suspected whoever benefited most from the Land God’s death, but denied casting spells to bring rain.

Chen Shi discovered that the Feng'an Land God was dead and confronted Mahasthamaprapta as Chu Xiangxiu fought the polluted deities of the Mahapala Temple. After Mahasthamaprapta captured Chu Xiangxiu with his Buddhist beads, Chen Shi called on Houtu Huangdiqi to resurrect the Land God.

• Chu Xiangxiu told Chen Shi that her arts could not affect incense and fire, then left to settle her unfinished business and warned that she would resist capture.
• Mahasthamaprapta and the deities of the Mahapala Temple surrounded Chu Xiangxiu, while Chen Shi concluded from the unresponsive incense that the Feng'an Land God was dead.
• Chu Xiangxiu used her earth-controlling arts and a hidden wisp of heterodox Dao to fight the muddy deities, but Mahasthamaprapta trapped her with the Eighteen Right Thoughts Buddhist beads.
• Chen Shi asked Black Pot for a large stick of incense, lit it before the Land God Temple, and prayed to Houtu Huangdiqi to resurrect the Feng'an Land God.
• Houtu Huangdiqi agreed to help, and scattered divine power and incense gathered in the temple to form the Land God's manifestation.

Chen Shi revived the Feng'an County Land God and confronted Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva over the temple monks’ killing of him and Chu Xiangxiu’s revenge. The Bodhisattva withdrew from Thunder Profound Province, while Chen Shi concluded that an unknown immortal who had caused the rain was still in Feng'an County, trying to provoke war between the Western Heaven and the Heavenly Court.

• Heavenly King Li and Master Ge realized Chen Shi was protected by Empress Houtu and someone in the palace, then agreed to let Chen Shi lead the case while they waited to claim credit.
• Chen Shi learned that monks at the Mahapala Temple had killed the Feng'an Land God after he crossed into their territory to retrieve a woman’s daughter, though the Land God lacked proof that the monks had set a trap.
• Chen Shi accused Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva of harboring monks who plotted against an orthodox deity and demanded that he hand over Chu Xiangxiu, but the Bodhisattva refused.
• Chen Shi and the Fire Character Camp subdued the Bodhisattva and took Chu Xiangxiu and the Feng'an Land God into custody; Chu Xiangxiu then withdrew his Daoist magic and restored the transformed people and animals.
• Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva conceded defeat and announced that he would move the Mahapala Temple out of Thunder Profound Province, suspecting that an unknown immortal had caused the disaster to provoke conflict between the Western Heaven and the Heavenly Court.
• Chen Shi realized that the immortal behind the rain and the deaths was still somewhere in Feng'an County.

After the Thunder Ministry and Western Paradise declared the Mud Bodhisattva case closed, Chen Shi refused to ignore the deaths of hundreds of thousands and stayed behind with Wu Xie to find whoever caused the rain. He ruled out Jiang Guo at first, but Jiang Guo recognized Chen Shi’s Blood-Transforming Divine Blade and called him a fellow sect-mate.

• Master Ge rewarded the Fire Character Camp and gave Chen Shi the Danyang Profound Altar, but said the Thunder Ministry considered the case closed despite Chen Shi’s objections over the deaths in Feng'an County.
• Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva executed the disciples who had framed the Earth God, then left the Thunder Province with his followers and urged Chen Shi to consider the Western Paradise.
• Long Huang delivered Master Ge’s letter naming Chao Huang and Jiang Guo as the only immortals in Feng'an County powerful enough to retain some cultivation amid the Great Dao Pollution.
• Chen Shi sent the Fire Character Camp back to the Heavenly Court and stayed with Wu Xie to continue investigating, declaring that he would act because heavenly law was useless.
• Chen Shi and Wu Xie went to Jiang Guo’s mountain in Changyi; Chen Shi judged Jiang Guo was not the rain spellcaster, but Jiang Guo recognized his Blood-Transforming Divine Blade and called him a fellow sect-mate.

Chen Shi and Black Pot attacked Yi'an Immortal City during a banquet and killed Chao Huang and many Chao family immortals. Afterward, Chen Shi drank the banquet wine and declared that he had acted on behalf of the heavens.

• Jiang Guo followed Chen Shi and Black Pot to Yi'an Immortal City, where he saw Chen Shi leave incense at a hidden temple beneath the floating city.
• Chao Huang ordered aid for the people affected by the muddy Bodhisattva case, then hosted a banquet and told his clan to serve the Heavenly Court while privately plotting to overthrow it.
• Chen Shi arrived at the banquet in a downpour, and two streaks of sword energy from his Purple Sky Gourd wounded two Chao family immortals as Black Pot attacked the gathering.
• Chen Shi fought Chao Huang, while a purple vine blocked Chao Huang from drawing on Feng'an County's Dao power; Chen Shi ultimately killed him with a blow from the East Heaven Green Dragon Qi.
• Black Pot pursued the fleeing immortals as Chen Shi returned to the hall, drank the warmed wine, and said he had acted on behalf of the heavens.

Chen Shi and Black Pot killed Yi'an Shou Chao Huang, then encountered Jiang Guo, who claimed Chen Shi was his Golden Ao Island junior brother and invited him to travel there. They boarded a star-skiff for the heavenly court, where Jiang Guo began asking about Chen Shi’s stipend.

• Long Huang delayed mobilizing the Thunder Department until the storm and Purple Sky Vine had vanished, then arrived in Yi'an Immortal City and arrested Chao family members while Master Ge approved his interrogation.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot left the city, but Jiang Guo attacked them with a red peach-wood sword that damaged the Heaven Measuring Iron Ruler.
• Jiang Guo recognized Chen Shi’s techniques and insisted that the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade made him a high-ranking Golden Ao Island disciple, though Chen Shi denied having joined the island.
• Jiang Guo agreed to accompany Chen Shi to the heavenly court before they traveled to Golden Ao Island, and Chen Shi offered to pay his fare on the star-skiff.
• The boatman initially refused Jiang Guo passage, but Chen Shi paid his fare, and Jiang Guo asked how much a Heavenly Soldier earned.

Chen Shi helped Jiang Guo join the Heavenly Soldier Camp and learned that Golden Ao Island was the Master of Tongtian’s lineage, which he himself belonged to. After Heavenly King Li learned Jiang Guo’s origins, he hastily arranged his recruitment, while Chen Shi also learned that Chu Xiangxiu and the Feng'an County Earth God were imprisoned awaiting execution.

• Chen Shi offered to use his connections to get Jiang Guo a place in the Heavenly Soldier Camp so he could earn a salary and repay the starr raft fare.
• Jiang Guo explained Golden Ao Island’s connection to the Master of Tongtian, then praised Chen Shi’s interpretation of the Master’s teachings and learned that Chen Shi’s teacher was hanging by the Empress Houtu Temple.
• Jiang Guo harvested Profound Sky Aurora and forged sword energy, telling Chen Shi that the Primordial Chaos Dao Scripture and Primordial Chaos Sword Scripture were foundational Golden Ao Island techniques.
• Chen Shi brought Jiang Guo to the Heavenly Dao Residence, then asked Heavenly King Li to arrange his entry into the Heavenly Soldier Camp; Li agreed after learning Jiang Guo was from Golden Ao Island and Chen Shi was its disciple.
• Heavenly King Li told Chen Shi that Chu Xiangxiu and the Feng'an County Earth God had been cast into the Heavenly Prison, and Chen Shi left with a decree for Jiang Guo’s recruitment.
• Zhang Xian accepted Heavenly King Li’s decree and enrolled Jiang Guo in the Fire Character Camp of the Geng Character Guard.