Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi visited the heavenly prison, learned Chu Xiangxiu’s Outer Dao and obtained a map to the dangerous Niraya World, then sought out his unknown backer. He met East King Duke, who recognized his attempt to save Chu Xiangxiu and accepted the map.

• Jiang Guo collected his heavenly soldier supplies and stipend, while Chen Shi visited the heavenly prison to see Chu Xiangxiu and the Feng'an County little Earth God.
• Chen Shi learned that Chu Xiangxiu and the little Earth God were sentenced to beheading, and Chu Xiangxiu passed on his Outer Dao and a map to the Niraya World.
• Chen Shi left the prison and asked Heavenly King Li who had rescued him; Heavenly King Li identified his backer as East King Duke of the East Heavenly Palace.
• Chen Shi visited the East Heavenly Palace and met East King Duke, who called them both rebels and recognized that Chen Shi wanted him to save Chu Xiangxiu.
• Chen Shi demonstrated Chu Xiangxiu’s Outer Dao and offered East King Duke the map, and East King Duke accepted it.

Chen Shi used Chu Xiangxiu’s geographic map of the Niraya World to persuade East King Duke and Heavenly King Li to send an expedition into the Dark Sea, hoping to save Chu Xiangxiu and the Feng'an County Land God. After Heavenly King Li’s army was defeated, both prisoners were released, and Chen Shi waited outside the Heavenly Prison to see them off.

• East King Duke recognized the outer dao within Chen Shi and explained that he had protected him, then advised him to give Chu Xiangxiu’s map to Heavenly King Li.
• Chen Shi presented the map of the Niraya World to Heavenly King Li and urged him to delay Chu Xiangxiu’s execution.
• Heavenly King Li led one hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals into the Dark Sea, while Chen Shi’s Fire Character Camp stayed behind.
• Two months later, Heavenly King Li’s expedition suffered a great defeat, and the Emperor ordered Chu Xiangxiu and the Feng'an County Land God released.
• Chen Shi waited outside the Heavenly Prison and welcomed Chu Xiangxiu as he and the Feng'an County Land God emerged.

Chen Shi helped Chu Xiangxiu leave imprisonment and discovered that a strange Outer Dao within his body could resist and refine Niraya's Dao. After studying it with Fulou Village spiritual pills, he returned to Fulou Village to investigate further.

• Chen Shi bid farewell to Chu Xiangxiu, then learned from their clash that a mysterious power in his Dao field could counter Niraya's Outer Dao.
• Chu Xiangxiu suggested Chen Shi had absorbed the Dark Sea's Great Dao when he united with the Dao, and Chen Shi realized his method might have let Outer Dao enter him.
• Chen Shi returned to the Heavenly Dao Residence and used Fulou Village spiritual pills to study the Western Ox Continent Outer Dao for several days.
• After finally grasping a clue, Chen Shi visited the demonic tree in his Dao realm and then entered Fulou Village.
• Chen Shi calmed the wary villagers, took a duck egg and an unripe peach, and went to ask the pill-refining man whether his pills were ready.

Chen Shi accompanied Tang Feng through the Dao Ruins to find Fu Lingxian, meeting several powerful residents who offered him hospitality and gifts along the way. After Tang Feng harvested the rare ingredient and refined spiritual pills, Chen Shi took a handful and left to study the Outer Dao.

• Tang Feng told Chen Shi that Fulou Village needed Fu Lingxian from the Dao Ruins to brew another batch of spiritual pills, and Chen Shi agreed to accompany him.
• Chen Shi encountered the Peony Fairy, then shared wine and food prepared by Emperor Changchun’s Dao boys, which improved his cultivation.
• Ding Sisi welcomed Chen Shi on behalf of her injured mother, Yuanjun Niangpo, and gave him a purple gold crown.
• Tang Feng defeated a strongman and shaved his beard, explaining that the beard was the Fu Lingxian they needed.
• Tang Feng refined a batch of spiritual pills, and Chen Shi took a handful before leaving to comprehend the Outer Dao.

Chen Shi comprehended and refined the first Dao Rule of the Western Ox Continent’s Outer Dao, triggering Great Dao Pollution across the Heavenly Soldier Camp. After the Heavenly Court suppressed the anomaly and chose not to pursue the source, Chen Shi continued perfecting the rule and considered creating an eighth form of the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade.

• Shang Dugong distributed Spirit Pills to Fulou Village’s residents, who studied the green stele’s Dao patterns as a strange clash of Dao forces shook the Dao Ruins.
• The green stele repelled the strange force, but Shang Dugong and Emperor Changchun worried that its fading patterns would eventually fail to suppress the Dao Ruins.
• Chen Shi studied the Western Ox Continent’s Outer Dao with Fulou Village Spirit Pills and formed his first Outer Dao Rule.
• Chen Shi’s new rule triggered Great Dao Pollution throughout the Heavenly Dao Residences, and the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals formed the Primordial Sword Array to suppress the spreading cracks.
• East King Duke explained that Chen Shi had turned the Outer Dao into Immortal Dao, and the Heavenly Court deities decided not to pursue the matter.
• Chen Shi refined the first Outer Dao Rule into his Dao field and considered developing an eighth form of the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade.

Chen Shi returned to the Western Ox Continent after sensing it through the Great Dao, then reunited with Hu Feifei, Scholar Zhu, Witch Covenant, and Empress Houtu. After giving Hu Feifei a spiritual pill that advanced her understanding of cultivation, he learned that Empress Houtu wanted him to visit the Earth Deity.

• Chen Shi used a Fulou Village spiritual pill to locate the Western Ox Continent and descended into it, causing the Heavenly Dao Residence’s apparent invasion anomaly to vanish.
• The Heavenly Mechanism Scholars investigated the disturbance, but a divine person ordered them to stop; a little daoist boy then waited at Chen Shi’s residence for his return.
• Hu Feifei welcomed Chen Shi, who told her he was wanted in the Earthly Immortal Realm and had not yet found his parents or grandfather.
• Chen Shi gave Hu Feifei his last Fulou Village spiritual pill, and she used its effects to master the Great Desolation Ming Dao Collection and advance her cultivation.
• Chen Shi visited Scholar Zhu and Witch Covenant in the Underworld, telling them about Golden Ao Island and the Shang people in the Earthly Immortal Realm.
• Empress Houtu welcomed Chen Shi and urged him to visit the Earth Deity, whose attention had turned toward him.

Chen Shi visited Empress Houtu, took the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade from Chu Feng, and created its eighth form, Heaven Pillar Collapse. After returning to the heavenly court, he heard East King Duke’s warning to practice his outer Dao away from the court.

• Chen Shi told Empress Houtu about his recent experiences and discussed the mysterious outer Dao, and she urged him to visit Houde Guangda Heavenly Palace to seek Huangdiqi’s guidance.
• Chen Shi subdued Chu Feng, took custody of the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade, and gave him Dao scriptures to study.
• Chen Shi mastered the blade’s seven forms and forged a new eighth form called Heaven Pillar Collapse.
• Chen Shi visited Ganyang Mountain and Huangpo Village, learned that Old Lady Wuzhu had died, and found her reunited with Jiang Tong in the underworld.
• Chen Shi returned to the heavenly court, where Jingshu relayed East King Duke’s warning about practicing the outer Dao away from the heavenly court.

Chen Shi learned that his Western Ox Continent could attract powerful rivals and refined Yuanjun Niangpo’s purple gold crown into a formidable treasure. After sharing a meal with Black Pot, he arranged to travel with it to the Houde Guangda Heavenly Palace to pay respects to Houtu Huangdiqi, despite the risk of punishment for leaving without leave.

• Chen Shi reflected on East King Duke’s warning about his outer Dao cultivation, and Zhong Lin cautioned him that the Western Ox Continent could draw covetous immortals because new worlds were fiercely contested.
• Chen Shi strengthened the Heavenly Net Blood-Transforming Divine Blade and branded multiple Dao rules and techniques onto Yuanjun Niangpo’s purple gold crown, then refined the crown in his Dao realm.
• Chen Shi observed Black Pot practicing a fused cultivation method and realized its strength had advanced considerably.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot shared a home-cooked meal, and Chen Shi proposed visiting Houtu Huangdiqi at the Houde Guangda Heavenly Palace.
• Black Pot brought back a fairy friend who knew the route and offered to draw a map, warning that their unauthorized journey could land them at the Execution Stage.

Chen Shi and Black Pot traveled from Heavenly Court to Fenyin Province, where Chen Shi set out across the strange, heavy Xuanhuang Sea toward Houde Guangda Heavenly Palace. After discovering that walking and flying across the sea were both perilous, they boarded a boat offered at ten times the usual price.

• An immortal maiden gave Chen Shi a detailed map, and Chen Shi left a letter for Jiang Guo before departing with Black Pot.
• A ferry official let Chen Shi leave without a transfer order, explaining that the Heavenly King had instructed them not to keep him in the Heavenly Soldier Camp.
• During the voyage, Chen Shi harvested Profound Sky Aurora and refined his fifth and sixth sword qi.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot arrived in Fenyin Province and headed toward the Xuanhuang Sea, drawing the attention of several powerful immortals.
• Chen Shi and Black Pot struggled against the sea's heavy yellow qi and found that flying did not carry them forward.
• A young girl offered them passage on her vessel for ten times the price, and Chen Shi promptly boarded.

Chen Shi and Black Pot were recognized in the Xuanhuang Sea by immortals seeking the rewards for the Immortal Slaying List, and Black Pot fought them off. As more hunters gathered, Luo Xiyao and the mute fled, while the Immortal Court’s grand carriage entered the sea and became stranded.

• Chen Shi and Black Pot boarded a ship across the Xuanhuang Sea, where Chen Shi discovered a giant talking fish and apologized after Black Pot considered eating it.
• The immortals on the ship recognized Chen Shi and Black Pot as the top two bandits on the Immortal Slaying List and attacked them to claim their rewards and stolen spiritual roots.
• Black Pot defeated several attackers, while Chen Shi questioned Luo Xiyao and revealed enough of his lineage to make her and the mute flee.
• Luo Xiyao and the mute reached Deng Hai Town and saw crowds gathering, including several Golden Immortals, to hunt Chen Shi and Black Pot.
• The mute identified an approaching carriage as belonging to Bandit Two’s Immortal Court sect, but Young Master Xi’s Azure Qirins exhausted themselves in the Xuanhuang Sea and could go no farther.

Chen Shi and Black Pot traveled toward Mount Tai Island with Fish San'er, learning about the dangers and strange sights of the Xuanhuang Sea. At Mount Tai, immortals attacked Black Pot for the bounty on its head, and Chen Shi helped it devour hundreds of attackers before the battle’s outcome was clear.

• Black Pot returned to the ship, and Fish San'er revealed that it owned the vessel and had been sharing its earnings with Luo Xiyao and the mute.
• Chen Shi used the map to guide Fish San'er toward Mount Tai Island, while Fish San'er described the island’s mysterious origins and warned them about Calamity Ash Immortals and sea dens of gold-draining.
• As they reached Mount Tai, immortals recognized Black Pot from the Immortal Slaying List and attacked it for the promised rewards.
• Black Pot fought off the attackers, using its Dao methods and pills to overcome abilities that restrained the Five Elements and the Three Realms.
• After Chen Shi freed Fish San'er from the ship’s chains, he enlarged Black Pot with his Dao patterns, and Black Pot swallowed hundreds of immortals and their attacks.

Chen Shi left Mount Tai for the Houde Guangda Heavenly Palace despite the immortals pursuing him, while Bi Xia Yuan Jun offered him protection and asked the Tian Qi Ren Sheng Great Emperor to let the Goddess’s trial run its course. When the pursuers attacked his ship, Chen Shi destroyed their treasures and turned them against one another, leaving the chase in chaos.

• Chen Shi swallowed hundreds of immortals with the black pot, then used a gale to carry Fish San’er’s ship toward Mount Tai and stored it in the Dao ruins.
• Bi Xia Yuan Jun recognized Chen Shi, offered him refuge on Mount Tai, and agreed to watch for his missing family after he insisted on continuing to the Houde Guangda Heavenly Palace.
• Bi Xia Yuan Jun escorted Chen Shi down the mountain, while the Tian Qi Ren Sheng Great Emperor said the Goddess was testing him and ordered Mount Tai Prefecture not to intervene.
• Immortals pursued Chen Shi’s ship and attacked with their treasures; Chen Shi’s sword qi severed an attacker’s hands, and his Yin Yang Dao Field and sword strike destroyed hundreds of treasures.
• Chen Shi used the Great Law of Self-Transformation and Freedom to make pursuing immortals attack their companions, breaking their formation as Young Master Xi observed.

Chen Shi and Wu Banshan wreaked havoc across the Xuanhuang Sea by taking over other immortals’ bodies with the Great Law of Self-Transformation and Freedom. Chen Shi broke Wu Banshan’s control of the Black Pot and learned that Xi Muran, the Heavenly Venerate’s master, belonged to the Immortal Court; the chapter ended with Wu Banshan arriving at Deng Hai Town and vowing to hunt Chen Shi down.

• Chen Shi and Wu Banshan possessed immortals aboard the boats and fought through the panicked crowd, while Young Master Xi explained the Great Law of Self-Transformation and Freedom.
• Chen Shi and Wu Banshan recognized each other during their battle, exchanged deadly blows through successive vessels, and left the boats deserted as the survivors fled.
• Wu Banshan possessed a maidservant, but Young Master Xi used a seal to break his technique and revealed himself as Xi Muran of the Immortal Court.
• Wu Banshan took control of the Black Pot and attacked Chen Shi, who entered the Black Pot’s Sea of Consciousness and defeated Wu Banshan with a new version of the technique based on the Lin She Method.
• Chen Shi and the Black Pot caught up with Fish San’er, helped him pull the boat, and continued toward their destination.
• Wu Banshan withdrew to his carriage and, upon reaching Deng Hai Town, vowed to make sure Chen Shi could not escape.

Chen Shi reached the Houde Guangda Heavenly Palace, where Houtu Huangdiqi welcomed him and promised justice for Western Ox Continent, moving him to tears. She then began explaining how the Immortal-God War began in the Great Shang Era.

• Xi Muran wondered why Chen Shi was heading to Houtu Huangdiqi’s palace and resolved to question him when he returned.
• Feng Huixue greeted Chen Shi as the Crown Prince and explained that Houtu Huangdiqi had ordered her to rescue him from the Heavenly Prison after he killed Yin Fenglou.
• Chen Shi entered the Houde Guangda Heavenly Palace with Black Pot and Fish San'er and met Houtu Huangdiqi in the Nine Jade Palace.
• Houtu Huangdiqi promised to deliver justice for Western Ox Continent, and Chen Shi wept as he recalled the suffering he had endured while seeking justice.
• Houtu Huangdiqi traced Western Ox Continent’s calamities to the Immortal-God War and described Great Shang’s hereditary divine offices and human sacrifices.

Houtu Huangdiqi explained the history of the wars between gods and immortals, the recurring calamities, and the growing conflict between the Heavenly Court and the Immortal Court. Chen Shi weighed his loyalties and learned that Feng Huixue could provide him with Xuanhuang Ancestral Qi without making him fight for it.

• Houtu Huangdiqi told Chen Shi that Daoist Yuanshi, Daoist Lingbao, and Daoist Daode created the Dao of Qi, and that their followers’ conflict with the Great Shang began the first Immortal-God War.
• Houtu Huangdiqi recounted the overthrow of the Great Shang, the Heavenly Court’s move to the Earthly Immortal Realm, and several theories about why calamities repeatedly kill immortals.
• Houtu Huangdiqi said the approaching Primordial Calamity had intensified the Immortal Court’s desperate actions, including attacks on the Heavenly Court and the destruction of the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll.
• Chen Shi told Feng Huixue he was torn between his ties to Houtu Huangdiqi and his identity as an immortal, but said he would prioritize survival until he had the power to choose a standpoint.
• Chen Shi and Feng Huixue saw immortals fighting over Xuanhuang Ancestral Qi, and Feng Huixue offered to take him to obtain some from the heavenly palace.

Chen Shi gathered a wisp of Profound Yellow Ancestral Qi and deciphered the Bagua Dao Patterns before meeting Empress Houtu of the Empty Like World. After helping her retrieve a white bone duster from the dangerous world beneath the well, he was left behind to guard it.

• Chen Shi studied the divine Bagua Dao Patterns and used the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll to decipher part of them, exhausting himself in the process.
• Empress Houtu revealed that Emperor Fuxi had carved the patterns and asked Chen Shi to retrieve a duster from inside the well in exchange for help gathering and refining ancestral qi.
• Chen Shi entered the well and found a vast land of demonic skeletons, where he seized a white bone duster as the awakened skeletons pursued him.
• Chen Shi pulled the red string at his waist, and Empress Houtu used it to bring him back before the skeletons could escape the well.
• Empress Houtu departed with the duster and told Chen Shi to guard the well, warning that he would have to knock back anything that crawled out.

Chen Shi guarded the well after Houtu took the white-bone horsetail whisk, using Heavenly Emperor Fuxi’s Dao patterns to drive the great fiends back into the Wuji Diagram. Houtu returned after defeating the forces occupying her dojo and found Chen Shi safe, asking to learn how to harvest and refine Primal Yellow Ancestral Breath.

• Chen Shi watched great fiends break through the Wuji Diagram and used a mirror to reflect them back into the well, but one shattered the mirror and attacked him.
• Chen Shi activated the departing-fire Dao pattern, burning apart the scorpion tail and impressing Feng Huixue, whom he sent away while claiming he was fulfilling Houtu’s trust.
• Chen Shi translated and activated the Dui-marsh and Zhen-thunder patterns to trap and injure the fiends, then began studying the Gen-mountain pattern.
• In Emptiness World, Houtu used the white-bone horsetail whisk to destroy the East Videha Great Formation and kill its defenders and a fleeing Bodhisattva.
• Houtu returned to Stamina-Pearl Path-Splendor Palace, found Chen Shi unharmed, and heard him ask to learn how to harvest and refine Primal Yellow Ancestral Breath.

Chen Shi studied the Profound Yellow Dao Patterns, gathered Profound Yellow Ancestral Qi, and decided to leave Houde Heavenly Palace rather than grow complacent there. After explaining his choice to Houtu Huangdiqi, he prepared to return to the Heavenly Court, where she promised to warn Heavenly King Li not to trouble him.

• The Empress Houtu restored her White Bone Duster to the well and taught Chen Shi the Profound Yellow Dao Patterns.
• Chen Shi spent several days comparing the patterns with Emperor Fuxi's eight trigrams, then learned to control Profound Yellow Ancestral Qi and collected many strands.
• Chen Shi took the white bone scorpion's tail and returned to the Eastern Palace, where he told Black Pot and Fish San'er to prepare to leave.
• Chen Shi gave Black Pot and Fish San'er Profound Yellow Ancestral Qi and sent them ahead to wait at the Heavenly Gate.
• Chen Shi told Houtu Huangdiqi he wanted to leave Houde Heavenly Palace to preserve his fighting spirit and become strong enough to help her.
• Houtu Huangdiqi was moved by Chen Shi's resolve and promised to warn Heavenly King Li not to make things difficult for him.

Chen Shi left Houde Heavenly Palace, learned of the danger of associating with Golden Ao Island, and refined Profound Yellow Ancestral Qi into sword energy before finding himself ambushed at sea. Meanwhile, Chen Tang and the others returned to the Western Ox Continent with help from the Great Shun Emperor, only to learn that Chen Shi had merged with the Dao of Heaven and Earth and the others had already gone to the Earthly Immortal Realm.

• Chen Shi thanked Houtu Huangdiqi and left with Feng Huixue, who warned him that Golden Ao Island was feared as the remnant of the Great Shang Heavenly Court and that ties to it would make him enemies.
• Chen Shi sailed away from Houde Heavenly Palace, cultivated one hundred and eight strands of Profound Yellow Ancestral Qi into sword energy, and strengthened the Purple Sky Immortal Gourd to contain it.
• Chen Shi tested the white bone scorpion's tail and found that its barbs could cover a hundred-mile radius with lethal force.
• Wu Banshan revealed himself as the one controlling Fish San'er and led Chen Shi's ship into an ambush involving Immortal Fairy Yuan Bixia, Daoist Ganyi, Purple Sky Immortal Lord, and other creditors; Chen Shi and Black Pot prepared to fight.
• Chen Tang, Wu Qingyu, Fairy Xiaoduan, and their companions arrived in the Western Ox Continent aboard the Great Shun Treasure Ship, bringing immortals and True Man Zhang to help defeat the Celestial Venerable.
• Hu Feifei told Chen Tang that Chen Shi had merged with the Dao of Heaven and Earth, the Celestial Venerable was dead, and the others had already ascended to the Earthly Immortal Realm; True Man Zhang wondered who Chen Shi was fighting.

Chen Shi fought his way out of Wu Banshan’s Xuanming Gonghua Heaven, killing the three Moro experts and escaping across the Xuanhuang Sea. Back in the Western Ox Continent, True Person Zhang offered a way to help Chen Shi temporarily mobilize five percent of its Dao power.

• Hu Feifei recounted how Chen Shi used the True God from Beyond the Heavens to defeat the Heavenly Venerate, and True Person Zhang explained that Chen Shi’s Golden Immortal realm remained incomplete.
• Chen Shi escaped the Moro expert’s attempt to trap his divine sense, hid Black Pot in his Dao ruins, and had Fish San'er pull the storied vessel through Wu Banshan’s Dao realm.
• Chen Shi used his bone scorpion tail and Profound Yellow sword Qi to break through Wu Banshan’s defenses and cross Jade Silk Cliff.
• Chen Shi shattered Wu Banshan’s Dao realm with the Blood Transformation Divine Blade while killing the three Moro experts who pursued him.
• Chen Shi escaped into the Xuanhuang Sea, using blade strikes and the Xuanhuang Qi to obstruct Wu Banshan’s pursuit.
• Hu Feifei asked True Person Zhang how to help Chen Shi, and he offered a method that would let Chen Shi mobilize five percent of the Western Ox Continent’s Dao power.