Chapter Summaries

Wang Ming absorbed Evil Sword Immortal’s power into Lifeshort, then restored Long Kui’s body and negotiated with Jing Tian over resurrecting Evil Sword Immortal’s victims. The chapter ended with Jing Tian accepting Wang Ming’s condition and Wang Ming turning his attention to Saintly Aunt.

• Wang Ming drained Evil Sword Immortal’s power into Lifeshort, revealing that he had secretly prepared to exploit Evil Sword Immortal’s growth; Evil Sword Immortal turned to ashes.
• Hong Kui asked Wang Ming to save Long Kui, whose soul had been badly weakened by the God-Demon Sword’s forging, and Wang Ming restored her physical body.
• Jing Tian asked Wang Ming to resurrect the people Evil Sword Immortal had killed, and Wang Ming demanded that Jing Tian help him unconditionally with one future task.
• Wang Ming summoned Chonglou, Zi Xuan, Saintly Aunt, and the Five Elders of Mount Shu, then told Chonglou that he owed him two favors; Chonglou agreed and left.
• Wang Ming told Saintly Aunt that they could talk about her role as guardian of the Nüwa clan, while Jing Tian accepted Wang Ming’s condition.

Wang Ming observed people entering the Dao and grew wary of becoming a servant to the Dao. Years later, in Li Xiaoyao’s era, Liu Jinyuan asked Wang Ming to teach him martial arts, and Wang Ming gave him a mysterious portrait.

• Wang Ming put Long Yang and Long Kui in charge of the Fengdu Ghost Realm and cultivated Hong Kui and the Fire Ghost King as enforcers.
• Wang Ming watched Jiang Ming, Yin Ruozhuo, Mo Yixi, Qing'er, and Bai Yue, learning that Yin Ruozhuo and Qing'er entered the Dao by surrendering themselves to it.
• Yin Ruozhuo and Qing'er discovered Wang Ming observing them, fought him, and failed to stop him from escaping.
• Wang Ming cast a spell on Zhao Ling'er so any man who touched her would be repelled.
• Liu Jinyuan knelt before Wang Ming and asked to learn martial arts so he could marry his cousin.
• Wang Ming accepted Liu Jinyuan as a disciple and gave him a portrait, which Liu Jinyuan could not understand.

Wang Ming taught Liu Jinyuan a newly devised cultivation method based on visualizing a powerful, martial version of Confucius and studying Lun Yu. After Liu Jinyuan began learning it, Wang Ming planned to use him to test whether the method worked and how Confucian cultivation compared with the Immortal Dao.

• Liu Jinyuan recognized the muscular man in Wang Ming’s portrait as Confucius after Wang Ming cited historical accounts of the sage’s strength.
• Wang Ming released a powerful aura that forced Liu Jinyuan to the ground, then gave him a booklet of Lun Yu and claimed it recorded Confucius’s martial teachings.
• Wang Ming convinced Liu Jinyuan to study Lun Yu and use a Breath Control Method, sending the method directly into his mind.
• Wang Ming reflected that he had combined Buddhist visualization with his research on entering the Dao to create Lun Yu, and intended to test it on Liu Jinyuan.
• Wang Ming planned to have Liu Jinyuan spar with Li Xiaoyao once he gained some proficiency, to compare Confucian cultivation with the Immortal Dao.

At Lin Family Fortress, Lin Tiannan held a marriage tournament for Lin Yueru, while Wang Ming kept Liu Jinyuan from joining until Li Xiaoyao challenged her. The chapter ended with Wang Ming reflecting on the red Threads of Fate connecting him to powerful women.

• Lin Tiannan announced that whoever defeated Lin Yueru could marry into the Lin family, and the crowd eagerly entered the tournament.
• Wang Ming advised Liu Jinyuan to wait, then restrained him as a parade of strange challengers fought Lin Yueru and were knocked off the stage.
• Wang Ming released Liu Jinyuan after Li Xiaoyao began fighting Lin Yueru, and Liu Jinyuan rushed downstairs to intervene.
• Wang Ming reflected on the Threads of Fate linking him to Long Kui, Hong Kui, Fire Ghost King, Saintly Aunt, and others, and suspected Yue Lao had arranged them to weaken powerful figures through marriage.

Lin Yueru and Li Xiaoyao fought on the competition stage until an arrow struck Li Xiaoyao, prompting Liu Jinyuan to arrive and challenge his cousin. Liu Jinyuan revealed unexpected martial arts and began fighting Lin Yueru with his Confucian Five Constant Techniques.

• Lin Yueru and Li Xiaoyao fought evenly on the stage while Lin Tiannan watched approvingly.
• An arrow hit Li Xiaoyao, who said it had no arrowhead and had been aimed at the scabbard on his back.
• Liu Jinyuan arrived in a galloping carriage and announced that he would compete to win Lin Yueru.
• Liu Jinyuan refused to draw his sword and said he would use Subdue with Virtue, then nearly knocked Lin Yueru off the stage with a golden-lit punch.
• Liu Jinyuan claimed he had mastered the Lin family's martial arts and challenged Lin Yueru with the Confucian Five Constant Techniques, while Lin Yueru chose not to use a weapon.

Liu Jinyuan fought Lin Yueru at the sparring stage, revealing a powerful physique and ferocious martial arts that Wang Ming had taught him. Lin Tiannan realized Liu Jinyuan would win, but worried that his status as the Liu family’s only son made marriage to Lin Yueru impossible.

• Lin Yueru struck Liu Jinyuan with her Qi Sword Finger, but he took the attack without injury and his robe was torn away, revealing his muscular body.
• Liu Jinyuan used the Confucian Five Constant Techniques against Lin Yueru, forcing her to dodge his crushing attacks and grab a sword.
• Liu Jinyuan shattered Lin Yueru’s sword qi and stomped through the sparring stage as they continued fighting.
• Lin Tiannan watched anxiously, judged that Lin Yueru could not win, and worried that Liu Jinyuan could not marry her as a resident son-in-law.
• Wang Ming explained that he had invented the Confucian Five Constant Techniques and that Liu Jinyuan’s training used self-hypnosis, a portrait of Confucius, and a breathing method to draw power from heaven and earth.

Liu Jinyuan defeated Lin Yueru but refused to force her into marriage, so Lin Tiannan ended the tournament and took him inside to discuss the matter. While traveling with Liu Jinyuan, Wang Ming studied the tangled Threads of Fate and realized that divine and immortal unions could strip away their power, leaving him wary of a scheme aimed at him.

• Liu Jinyuan caught Lin Yueru's sword, destroyed it, and declared that she had lost.
• Lin Yueru rejected the result, but Lin Tiannan ended the tournament, dismissed the onlookers, and led Liu Jinyuan into Lin Family Fortress.
• Wang Ming asked Liu Jinyuan about abandoning his pursuit of Lin Yueru, and Liu Jinyuan said he would not force his cousin to marry him.
• Wang Ming examined the Threads of Fate linking Liu Jinyuan, Lin Yueru, Li Xiaoyao, and Zhao Ling'er, and considered how romantic entanglements had weakened Nüwa's descendants and the Demon Realm.
• Wang Ming realized that divine and immortal beings lost their power through romantic unions and wondered whether the Threads of Fate were meant to entrap him.

Wang Ming completed his Five Elements Divine Body but again refused to enter the Dao, fearing the Heavenly Dao’s controller would bind him. When he saw Liu Jinyuan interrupt Yin Ruozhuo’s attempt to seize Zhao Ling'er, Wang Ming watched the confrontation through the Fire Qilin’s eyes.

• Wang Ming completed his Five Elements Divine Body, restored his strength, and decided not to challenge Fuxi or enter the Dao.
• Wang Ming viewed Liu Jinyuan’s situation through a water curtain linked to the Fire Qilin.
• After Wang Ming left him, Liu Jinyuan returned to Li Xiaoyao and the others and encountered Yin Ruozhuo as he tried to capture Zhao Ling'er.
• Liu Jinyuan questioned Yin Ruozhuo’s reason for taking Zhao Ling'er to the Demon Locking Tower, and Yin Ruozhuo reached to seize her.

Liu Jinyuan fought Sword Saint Yin Ruozhuo to prevent him from taking Zhao Ling'er, while Wang Ming considered how the Heavenly Dao had doomed her in the original plot. As Liu Jinyuan recited the Analects, his power surged and an illusory Confucius appeared behind him.

• Liu Jinyuan threw Zhao Ling'er away, transformed into a muscular fighter, and attacked Yin Ruozhuo, whose protective barrier withstood him.
• Yin Ruozhuo recited a Mount Shu incantation and tried to subdue Liu Jinyuan gently, but Liu remained unaffected and kept striking his barrier.
• Wang Ming reviewed the original plot, reasoning that Zhao Ling'er was destined to die and suspecting that Heavenly Emperor Fuxi had used Evil Sword Immortal to weaken several realms.
• Yin Ruozhuo drove Liu Jinyuan back, but Liu advanced again while reciting passages from the Analects.
• Liu Jinyuan's aura and cultivation rose with each phrase, and an illusory Confucius appeared as spiritual Qi poured into him.

Ten years after Qing'er’s death, Yin Ruozhuo and Bai Yue sought Zhao Ling'er for different reasons, while Wang Ming’s intervention altered the expected course of events. Yin Ruozhuo defeated Liu Jinyuan and took Zhao Ling'er away, leaving Wang Ming to wonder what disrupting the Demon Locking Tower’s progression would cause.

• Ten years after Qing'er died, Bai Yue went to take Zhao Ling'er away to pursue his plan to change the world, while Yin Ruozhuo sought her to make amends and repair his Dao heart.
• Liu Jinyuan attacked Yin Ruozhuo’s protective barrier, but Yin Ruozhuo broke through his defenses with a strike of Sword Radiance.
• Yin Ruozhuo pulled Zhao Ling'er to his side and vanished with her before Li Xiaoyao, Lin Yueru, Anu, and Tang Yu could stop him.
• In Fengdu Ghost City, Wang Ming watched the scene through a water curtain and worried that disrupting the Demon Locking Tower’s events could alter the protagonists’ fates.

After Liu Jinyuan was gravely wounded by Yin Ruozhuo, he returned home, married Caiyi, and fought the spider spirit that had once trapped her. Caiyi sacrificed her inner core to save him, and Wang Ming restored her spirit but said Liu Jinyuan would have to reach the Entering the Dao level and rewrite her destiny to revive her.

• Yin Ruozhuo suppressed Zhao Ling'er in the Demon Locking Tower, while Wang Ming sensed Liu Jinyuan was in danger through a restriction in his cultivation technique.
• After Yin Ruozhuo wounded Liu Jinyuan and left with Zhao Ling'er, Liu Jinyuan returned home and married Caiyi, the butterfly spirit he had rescued.
• A spider spirit attacked Liu Jinyuan, and Caiyi revealed her identity to help him fight it.
• Liu Jinyuan killed the spider spirit after summoning a vision of Confucius, but Caiyi used her inner core to save him and her physical form began to dissipate.
• Wang Ming restored Caiyi's condensed primordial spirit and explained that Liu Jinyuan would need to reach the Entering the Dao level and rewrite her destiny to bring her back to life.

Li Xiaoyao and Lin Yueru traveled with the Drunken Sword Immortal toward Mount Shu, troubled by Wang Ming’s prediction that saving Zhao Ling'er would force them to choose between her and Lin Yueru. The chapter explained that Li Xiaoyao was the Child of Destiny and difficult to kill, though his companions faced grave danger.

• The chapter described Mount Shu's powerful lineage and introduced Dugu Yuyun and Situ Zhong as the sect's surviving higher-ups.
• The Drunken Sword Immortal flew Li Xiaoyao and Lin Yueru toward Mount Shu on his enlarged gourd and warned Li Xiaoyao to behave respectfully before Dugu Yuyun.
• Li Xiaoyao and Lin Yueru remembered Wang Ming's prediction that saving Zhao Ling'er would require choosing between Zhao Ling'er and Lin Yueru.
• Li Xiaoyao resolved to protect Lin Yueru and take any danger upon himself while still trying to save Zhao Ling'er.
• The narration revealed that Li Xiaoyao was the Child of Destiny, who could not easily die, while the people around him were highly vulnerable.

Wang Ming took Liu Jinyuan to witness the Demon Locking Tower’s collapse and revealed that destiny decreed either Zhao Ling'er or Lin Yueru would die. As demons flooded Mount Shu, Sword Saint Dugu destroyed them in a single strike, leaving Liu Jinyuan to marvel at the gap between their powers.

• Wang Ming brought Liu Jinyuan to a mountain platform to show him the trajectory of destiny as the Demon Locking Tower collapsed.
• Wang Ming told Liu Jinyuan that either Zhao Ling'er or Lin Yueru was fated to die, unsettling him.
• The Demon Locking Tower collapsed, releasing demons that overwhelmed Mount Shu’s disciples.
• Sword Saint Dugu unleashed a wave of light that obliterated the demons above Mount Shu.
• Liu Jinyuan remarked on Sword Saint Dugu’s strength, and Wang Ming explained the difference between nearing and entering the Dao.

On the mountain peak, Wang Ming explained Bai Yue’s power and motives to Liu Jinyuan, along with the nature of Nüwa descendants. Liu Jinyuan concluded that Sword Saint Dugu had imprisoned Zhao Ling'er to test whether he could act beyond the restrictions of his Heavenly Dao.

• Liu Jinyuan asked Wang Ming about the immense power he had witnessed at the Demon Locking Tower, and Wang Ming identified it as Bai Yue’s power.
• Wang Ming explained that Nüwa descendants were immortal and powerful, but their magic weakened during pregnancy, and described how their power was tied to the world’s rules.
• Liu Jinyuan reasoned that Bai Yue had helped break the Demon Locking Tower because he needed Zhao Ling'er’s power to destroy the world.
• Wang Ming recounted Bai Yue’s failed attempt to destroy the world and explained how Qing'er’s sacrifice had led him to give humanity another chance.
• Wang Ming explained that Sword Saint Dugu’s Heavenly Dao made him impartial, and Liu Jinyuan inferred that Dugu had used Ling'er and Xiaoyao to test whether he could interfere with fate.

Wang Ming explained to Liu Jinyuan how Sword Saint Dugu manipulated events around Zhao Ling'er, Li Xiaoyao, and Lin Yueru to test the limits of his Dao and undermine Bai Yue’s convictions. The chapter ended with Wang Ming reflecting that Bai Yue’s power arose from conflicting idealist and materialist beliefs.

• Wang Ming explained that Bai Yue’s Path of Truth grew from his conviction that human nature was flawed and that love did not exist.
• Liu Jinyuan realized that Dugu Yuyun had used the Demon Locking Tower as a calculated test, with plans for either outcome.
• Wang Ming revealed that Dugu Yuyun let Li Xiaoyao enter the tower to intensify the consequences of his choices and deepen his understanding of love.
• Liu Jinyuan understood that Li Xiaoyao’s love for Zhao Ling'er and the sacrifices of Lin Yueru, Tang Yu, and Anu eventually damaged Bai Yue’s beliefs.
• Wang Ming concluded that Bai Yue’s power reflected two coexisting ideologies, idealism and materialism.

After the Demon Locking Tower collapsed, Liu Jinyuan joined the fight against the demons pouring out of Mount Shu, while Dugu Yuyun sensed powerful figures approaching. The chapter ended with Sword Saint Dugu remaining in the hall as an unseen confrontation among the strongest figures threatened to overshadow the demon battle.

• Dugu Yuyun sensed Bai Yue and Liu Jinyuan approaching after clearing away the weakest demons from the Demon Locking Tower.
• Wang Ming told Liu Jinyuan that Lin Yueru might still be saved, and Liu Jinyuan decided to defy destiny and act.
• Liu Jinyuan summoned his Bronze Chariot and destroyed a demon with an arrow as Mount Shu's disciples noticed him.
• Liu Jinyuan drove into the demon horde, using the chariot and its endless glowing characters to crush the demons around him.
• Sword Saint Dugu stayed in Mount Shu's central hall, recognizing Liu Jinyuan's Confucian skills and sensing that the real danger lay in the confrontation among powerful figures.

As Mount Shu’s Demon Locking Tower collapsed, Liu Jinyuan fought through the released demons and rescued Lin Yueru, Li Xiaoyao, and Zhao Ling'er from the rubble. He brought the injured Lin Yueru to Wang Ming, while Wang Ming remained locked in a standoff with Bai Yue and Dugu Yuyun.

• Dugu Yuyun’s tacit permission allowed Li Xiaoyao to enter the Demon Locking Tower, whose collapse he had anticipated.
• Liu Jinyuan drove his Bronze Chariot through the demons, killing them as Mount Shu’s disciples watched.
• A powerful demon boarded Liu Jinyuan’s chariot, but Liu Jinyuan killed it with a counter-punch.
• Liu Jinyuan searched the Demon Locking Tower’s ruins and dug out Lin Yueru, Li Xiaoyao, and Zhao Ling'er.
• Liu Jinyuan left Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er with Mount Shu, then carried the critically injured Lin Yueru to Wang Ming.

Wang Ming, Dugu Yuyun, and Lord of the Moon Sect held a tense standoff at Shushan, each wary of starting a fight or retreating. As their silent clash of Dao and spirit continued, Wang Ming reflected on how the Nüwa descendants had been left vulnerable by the Saintly Aunt lineage and their own family.

• Liu Jiyuan carried Lin Yueru from the Bronze Chariot and begged Wang Ming to help her cousin, but Wang Ming told him to move her aside and stop interrupting.
• Wang Ming, Dugu Yuyun, and Lord of the Moon Sect maintained a stalemate because none could confidently defeat the other two or safely withdraw.
• Wang Ming considered how Evil Sword Immortal had benefited from the weakened state of other powerful figures when he threatened the world.
• Wang Ming realized the Nüwa descendants had not been properly warned about the cost of bearing children because the Saintly Aunt lineage failed to pass down the necessary knowledge.
• Dugu Yuyun, Wang Ming, and Lord of the Moon Sect used their Dao rhymes and spiritual minds to battle silently across the distance between them.

The clash between Dugu Yuyun, Lord of the Moon Sect, and Wang Ming escalated into a natural disaster, forcing Shushan’s disciples and Liu Jinyuan to flee. As Liu Jinyuan considered the danger of his cultivation method, Zhao Ling’er’s dormant Nüwa bloodline began awakening unnoticed.

• Dugu Yuyun, Lord of the Moon Sect, and Wang Ming continued their escalating standoff, unleashing storms, thunder, ruptured earth, and magma around Shushan.
• Liu Jinyuan evacuated with Lin Yueru’s corpse, and Drunken Sword Immortal Situ Zhong arrived to ask about Wang Ming.
• Liu Jinyuan told Drunken Sword Immortal that Wang Ming was his master and suggested searching Shushan’s records for his identity.
• Liu Jinyuan realized that entering the Dao through Wang Ming’s imperfect method might replace his personality with the Confucius he had observed.
• While Zhao Ling’er and Li Xiaoyao lay unconscious among the Shushan disciples, energy from the earth began activating Zhao Ling’er’s Nüwa bloodline.

Wang Ming, Bai Yue, and Yin Ruozhuo maintained a day-long standoff, but Wang Ming realized he could not outlast the two Dao-integrated powerhouses and prepared to strike. Zhao Ling'er’s Nüwa bloodline suddenly awakened and disrupted their contest, forcing the injured Wang Ming to flee; he returned to Fengdu Ghost City a few days later.

• Wang Ming recognized that his Dao gave him freedom from the world’s laws but left him unable to draw on their power, so he decided to end the standoff before Bai Yue and Yin Ruozhuo wore him down.
• Wang Ming released a chilling killing intent, prompting the Drunken Sword Immortal to explain to Liu Jinyuan that such an aura came from slaughter and to reveal that he had killed thousands of people.
• As Wang Ming prepared to attack, a sudden force made Wang Ming, Bai Yue, and Yin Ruozhuo spit blood while Zhao Ling'er transformed into her Nüwa form and unleashed a powerful wave.
• Wang Ming gave Zhao Ling'er a final glance, smashed open the void, and escaped after her awakening broke the standoff and injured all three powerhouses.
• Wang Ming returned to Fengdu Ghost City a few days later, while Zhao Ling'er's bloodline awakening was traced to the pressure from the standoff and the spell Wang Ming had previously placed on her.