Chapter Summaries

Song Changsheng used negotiations with [Brocade Banner] to inflame its internal divisions and force its leaders to answer for their crimes. After Song Daoling attacked him, Song Changsheng wounded him and threatened to destroy anyone who stood against him.

• Song Changsheng reminded Song Zhexuan of [Brocade Banner]'s decline and blamed Song Wuji and Song Jiyuan for its disgraceful conduct.
• Song Changsheng demanded that [Brocade Banner] hand over Yu Xinchou's wife and the person who ordered the crime, provide Five Elements yang-attributed spiritual objects, and publicly repent.
• Song Tianyuan objected to the public repentance, but Song Zhexuan knelt on the clan's behalf, intensifying the cultivators' resentment toward Song Jiyuan.
• Song Jiyuan delivered Yu Xinchou's wife, the spiritual objects, and Song Yuchun as a scapegoat, while Song Daoling secretly prepared to attack.
• Song Daoling launched a sword attack, but Song Changsheng countered with a blood-red spear that pierced him after breaking his shield.
• Song Changsheng accused Song Daoling of disregarding Song Yuqing's hostage status and warned that he would kill anyone who sided with him.

Song Changsheng defeated Song Daoling, captured Song Yuchun, and left the Brocade Banner divided and shaken. Song Tianyuan moved to convene a Grand Clan Meeting, while Song Daoling sought outside support and Song Tianyuan nominated Song Zhexuan to replace Song Jiyuan as Patriarch.

• Song Changsheng gravely wounded Song Daoling, warned Song Shouhe that Song Yuqing would pay for his actions, and departed with Song Yuchun as the Brocade Banner watched.
• Song Tianyuan helped Song Zhexuan to his feet and announced that he would convene a Grand Clan Meeting, prompting Song Daoling to leave with Song Jiyuan and his allies.
• Song Shouhe and most branch-lineage elders sided with Song Tianyuan, while Song Jiyuan condemned them for abandoning his faction.
• Song Daoling urged his supporters to contact Song Minghuang and seek help from Myriad Manifestations Palace against Song Changsheng.
• Song Tianyuan planned to remove Song Jiyuan as Patriarch and curb Song Daoling's control, then nominated Song Zhexuan as the next Patriarch.

Song Changsheng secured Myriad Manifestations Palace’s neutrality while the [Brocade Banner] Song Clan’s luck began to decline as Song Minghuang used a golden lotus in seclusion. After Song Changsheng reunited Yu Xinchou with Li Xinrou, he urged Song Yuqing to take responsibility for leading the clan.

• True Lord Jianxin refused Song Daoling’s request for Myriad Manifestations Palace to intervene, declaring the conflict an internal Song Clan matter.
• Song Minghuang ignored Song Jiyuan’s plea to emerge from seclusion and drew power from a golden lotus, whose Mysterious Yellow Qi began turning crimson.
• Song Changsheng noticed Song Yuchun’s Power of Luck draining, then arranged his house arrest and reunited Yu Xinchou with Li Xinrou.
• Yu Xinchou agreed to serve the Wangyue Song Clan for one hundred and fifty years, lifting curses and teaching disciples rather than killing with curses.
• Song Changsheng realized the [Brocade Banner] Song Clan’s Power of Luck was declining collectively and asked Song Yuqing to become a more responsible and wise Patriarch.

Song Changsheng studied Yu Xinchou’s curse art manual and planned new clan protections while preparing the Song Clan and East Sea Alliance for a possible war with the Brocade Banner. He then saw Xu Yunhe and Xia Wanyun depart to seek a cure, while Zhu Yiqun planned to contact his senior sister before his own Golden Core breakthrough.

• Song Changsheng learned about curse arts from Yu Xinchou and planned to develop curse-warning jade artifacts and identity tokens that recorded a cultivator’s death.
• Song Changsheng tasked Song Youfu and Song Youlin with preparing the East Sea Garrison Manor to exploit the Brocade Banner’s internal conflict while minimizing losses.
• Song Changsheng gave Song Youfu and Song Youlin Heavenly Clarity Jade Marrow Pills, approved restarting the third Sky Battleship project, and reviewed plans to build an East Sea fleet.
• Song Changsheng accompanied Xu Yunhe back to Vast Peak, where Xu Yunhe and Xia Wanyun said farewell before leaving to seek a cure for her condition.
• Zhu Yiqun said he would contact the Old Man for help and planned to visit his senior sister before pursuing his Golden Core breakthrough.

Song Changsheng prepared for the Song Clan’s wave of Golden Core breakthroughs and received a reconstructed longevity lock from Song Xianming. After Song Xianming and Zhuang Yuechan entered seclusion, Song Changsheng began forging a fleshly body for Wujie.

• Song Changsheng and Zhuang Yuechan discussed Zhu Yiqun’s return to the Ancient Sword Gate and his resolve to draw on its foundations to advance his cultivation.
• Song Changsheng gave Zhuang Yuechan the pills she needed to enter Golden Core seclusion, then promised Song Xianming he would repay the Eastern Heaven Chen Clan for its legacy.
• Song Xianming gave Song Changsheng a silver longevity lock forged from fragments of the one made for his father, and said he would enter seclusion that night.
• Song Xianming and Zhuang Yuechan entered seclusion, and Song Changsheng began the ritual to forge Wujie a body using the spirit pool, a Supreme Clarity Body Sculpting Pill, and spiritual materials.
• After nearly three months, Song Changsheng completed the first stage of shaping Wujie’s body and began adding five-element, yang-aspected Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects.

Song Changsheng completed the crucial stages of reconstructing Wujie's body and entrusted his recovery to time. He then advanced his plan to weaken the [Brocade Banner], placed Song Qingxi in charge during his seclusion, and appointed her Deputy Clan Head.

• Song Changsheng used five rare spiritual objects and the [Creation Law] to form Wujie's organs, then used his own blood and spiritual qi to give Wujie's new body life and the foundation for cultivation.
• Song Qingxi reported that Song Tianyuan and Song Zhexuan's reforms had divided the [Brocade Banner] into warring factions after Song Jiyuan retained the clan head position and Song Zhexuan became executive deputy clan head.
• Song Changsheng ordered the East Sea Alliance to pressure the [Brocade Banner]'s sea territory at a critical point in the reforms, aiming to draw Song Tianyuan away and give Song Jiyuan's faction an opening to counterattack.
• Song Changsheng told Song Qingxi to govern the clan while he entered long-term seclusion and gave her a bronze bell to awaken him if necessary.
• Song Changsheng issued a Dharma Edict appointing Song Qingxi Deputy Clan Head and granting her authority to act in the patriarch's stead.

Song Changsheng issued a luck-based dharma edict, examined the Song Clan’s rising fortune, and entered the Wutong Small World to pursue a lengthy cultivation retreat. Meanwhile, Song Qingxing began fighting on the Trial Road, and Song Jiyuan sought to counter Song Zhexuan’s purge by secretly summoning Song Wuji.

• Song Changsheng placed his dharma edict beneath the Human King Sword in the Ancestral Hall, then entered the Wutong Small World to pursue a breakthrough and several other cultivation goals.
• Song Qingxing killed a middle-aged cultivator who tried to rob him and continued toward the Floating Island where Bai Zhengchun had fallen.
• An elder told Song Jiyuan that Song Zheyuan had been stripped of his position and detained in the Law Enforcement Hall.
• Song Jiyuan regretted failing to expose Song Shouhe earlier as Song Zhexuan’s purge weakened his faction and implicated hundreds of clan members.
• Song Jiyuan ordered the elder to find an opportunity to secretly bring Song Wuji from the Back Mountain.

Song Jiyuan decided to ally with Song Wuji against Song Zhexuan, whose harsh purges threatened Song Jiyuan and his supporters. Meanwhile, Song Changsheng postponed his breakthrough and condensed his Law insights into hundreds of runes to organize the chaotic Laws in the Wutong Small World.

• Song Jiyuan explained that Song Zhexuan’s purge campaign left him no choice but to seek Song Wuji’s help.
• Song Jiyuan assured a hesitant elder that he could control Song Wuji, and the elder agreed to arrange his release.
• Song Changsheng sensed that breaking through to the Late Golden Core Stage would leave a flaw, so he postponed it to contemplate the Laws.
• Song Changsheng formed Law Runes from the Laws he had mastered and linked them together with his dharma power.
• Song Changsheng used the runes to draw in and organize several hundred types of chaotic Power of Law while deepening his insights.

Song Changsheng discovered that the [Immeasurable Grand Dao] required him to unite his Laws through a living vessel, and he comprehended his Dao while advancing to the Late Golden Core Stage. After ten years in seclusion, he prepared to meet the clan members emerging from theirs.

• Song Changsheng realized that his Law runes needed to be connected and carried by a vessel before he could enter the [Immeasurable Grand Dao].
• Song Changsheng formed a giant tree of Laws with the [Yin-Yang Law] as its trunk and used it to unite and nourish his Laws.
• After three more years of comprehension, Song Changsheng shattered an invisible shackle and entered a new realm, while a white-haired old man noticed a crimson star and sensed a new variable.
• Song Changsheng drew the giant tree of Laws into his [Yin-Yang Dao Foundation] and discovered that he could command the Wutong Small World's Power of Law.
• Song Changsheng realized that he had refined the [Heavenly Clarity Jade Marrow Pill] and reached the Late Golden Core Stage, then noted that ten years had passed and the clan members' seclusion was due to end.

Song Qingxi considered reforming the Song Clan’s cultivation policies as its rapidly growing population threatened to overwhelm its resources. Song Changsheng returned from seclusion, learned of major shifts across the cultivation world, and faced the devastating toll of the clan elders’ failed breakthroughs.

• Song Qingxi weighed changing the ancestral rules to restrict cultivation opportunities for future Four-Element Spiritual Root cultivators, then received Song Changsheng’s summons to the Wutong Small World.
• Song Changsheng told Song Qingxi that he had reached the Late Golden Core Stage and entered the Dao, and she briefed him on Su Ye’s breakthrough and turmoil within the Brocade Banner and other factions.
• Song Changsheng ordered Song Qingxi to wait for the Brocade Banner to weaken further, preserve Deer Chasing Academy’s findings on Xia Yunxue’s condition, and arrange mediation if the war between the Heavenly Firmament Sect and Qingyang Hall continued.
• Song Qingxi gave Song Changsheng the list of clan elders who had attempted breakthroughs; it showed several successes but also five deaths, four cases of demonic deviation, and nearly two hundred Foundation Establishment breakthrough casualties.

Song Changsheng mourned the Song Clan cultivators lost during their breakthroughs, then supported Song Qingxi’s plans to reform the clan and gave her his authority to overcome opposition. As he began refining two spiritual treasures, Kongsang Xiruo stirred from her long sleep and a middle-aged man beneath the distant sea sensed that he had lost something important.

• Song Changsheng reviewed the names of the dead and learned that eleven cultivators had successfully broken through, including Song Luzhou and Song Chang'an.
• Song Changsheng ordered Song Qingxi to seek better ways to heal Qingdian and the others, and she reported that Wujie’s body reconstruction was progressing well.
• Song Qingxi proposed restricting cultivation opportunities for those with weaker spiritual roots, removing limits on clan women marrying out, and loosening rules for training journeys; Song Changsheng endorsed her reforms and gave her his identity waist token to counter the Council of Elders.
• After Song Qingxi left to draft reforms and fill vacant leadership positions, Song Changsheng suppressed his grief and began refining the Extreme Yang Sky Crystal and Moonlight Tears.
• Kongsang Xiruo stirred in her sleep as a middle-aged man in an undersea palace awoke with a sense that he had lost something important.

A demon lord uncovered signs that his memories of the Canglan River and a girl had been erased, and secretly sent Wu Mihuang to find her. At the Song Clan meeting, Song Qingxi announced a sweeping reorganization and proposed a controversial reform targeting the clan’s many Mixed Spiritual Roots cultivators.

• After a painful deduction revealed the Canglan River’s direction, the middle-aged man learned from Wu Mihuang that he had visited it two hundred years earlier but remembered nothing of the trip.
• The middle-aged man suspected someone had altered his memories, showed Wu Mihuang an image of a little girl who had grown into a woman, and secretly ordered him to find her and bring her back.
• Song Qingxi announced appointments to the Song Clan’s halls and offices, forming a Family Council of Elders as the clan’s eighteen Purple Palace Cultivators impressed the meeting’s attendees.
• Song Qingxi proposed a reform in response to cultivators with Mixed Spiritual Roots making up over sixty percent of the family, and she said she would personally bear responsibility before calling for a vote.

Song Qingxi passed clan reforms and announced new trade routes after reporting Song Changsheng’s breakthrough to the Late Golden Core Stage, while Song Yuqing recognized the Song Clan’s strength and the Brocade Banner’s worsening prospects. Ling Mou accelerated her plans to counter Song Changsheng, who began a ten-year seclusion and spent five years contemplating yin and yang.

• Song Luzhou supported Song Qingxi’s reforms, and the Council of Elders approved the changes to the family’s cultivation opportunities.
• Song Qingxi announced Song Changsheng’s breakthrough and proposed new trade routes to the Yulong Cultivation World and the Great Xiao Immortal Dynasty.
• Song Yuqing observed the Song Clan’s unity and feared that Song Changsheng’s new cultivation level would leave the Brocade Banner unable to resist him.
• Yu Dongyang told Ling Mou that Song Changsheng had reached the Late Golden Core Stage, and Ling Mou berated him for delays in preparing resources before giving him a Four Revolutions Hun Tian Pill.
• Song Changsheng began ten years of seclusion in the Wutong Small World and spent five years contemplating the question of yin and yang.

After five years of struggling to choose a path through the Dao of Yin and Yang, Song Changsheng used the [Reincarnation Plum] to experience an ordinary lifetime as Chen Yunshu and found his own understanding of the [Immeasurable Grand Dao]. He truly crossed its threshold, with his Dao Tree blooming a black-and-white Dao Flower.

• Song Changsheng reflected on the many interpretations of yin and yang and realized that his pursuit of the perfect path had left him unable to choose.
• Song Changsheng swallowed the [Reincarnation Plum] and began a dreamlike reincarnation as Chen Yunshu, the cherished daughter of a wealthy Chen Family.
• Chen Yunshu grew up loved by her family, married the county magistrate's grandson, and lived a long, ordinary life before dying surrounded by her descendants.
• Song Changsheng regained his memories and concluded that yin and yang were interdependent aspects of one body, changing according to the Dao.
• Song Changsheng formed a Tai Chi Diagram and Eight Trigrams, thickened his Dao Tree, and bloomed a Dao Flower as he truly entered the [Immeasurable Grand Dao].

Song Changsheng comprehended the Immeasurable Grand Dao and formed the Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram, a defensive treasure powerful enough to withstand his full-strength attack. After ending his thirteen-year seclusion, he learned that several major cultivators had advanced and that the human and demon worlds were approaching another peak of strength.

• Song Changsheng used the Chihuo Demon King's Beast Skin and his blood to create the Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram, which instinctively blocked his sword strikes with extraordinary defensive power.
• Song Changsheng tempered the diagram, then discovered that thirteen years had passed during his seclusion and reflected on his experience as Chen Yunshu during the Reincarnation Plum's effect.
• Song Changsheng summoned Song Qingxi but learned from Song Luzhou that Qingxi had entered seclusion to reach Purple Mansion Great Perfection and that Song Luzhou had taken over leading the Family Council of Elders.
• Song Luzhou reported that True Lord Tiangang had reached Golden Core Great Perfection and Zhao Di had become True Person Chengjun, with Wu Qianqian succeeding him as sect master of the Heavenly Meridian Sect.
• Song Changsheng considered the growing strength of the cultivation worlds and concluded that human and demon forces were nearing a peak that would make a great war unavoidable.

Song Changsheng reviewed the region’s shifting alliances, the Song Clan’s war preparations, and the growing threat of the Wanlong Merchant Association before entering seclusion to cultivate two divine abilities. Meanwhile, Zhuang Yuechan faced the Inner Demon left by True Monarch Yusu as she approached her Golden Core breakthrough, and Yusu accused her of arriving too late to save her.

• Song Luzhou told Song Changsheng that the Golden Crow Sect and Heavenly Meridian Sect had agreed to divide the Five Element Immortal Crystal Mine equally for sixty years, while Yin Shang returned to Sunset City as Mu Guibai entered seclusion.
• Song Changsheng learned that the Wanlong Merchant Association had mediated the conflict between Qingyang Hall and the Heavenly Firmament Sect, likely to obtain a treasure that could help someone reach the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Song Luzhou reported that the Song Clan’s legions had reached full strength and that Yu Xueqian, Wang Qianqian, Liu Mingtao, and Chu Ling Xiao had entered the Purple Palace Stage using the Barrier Breaking Pill.
• Song Changsheng ordered preparations to destroy the Brocade Banner after his next emergence from seclusion, then took out the Soul-Snatching and Spirit-Seizing and Flowers Bloom in an Instant jade slips to study.
• Zhuang Yuechan confronted True Monarch Yusu’s Inner Demon during her Golden Core breakthrough and relived Yusu’s traumatic past, ultimately killing her abusers in the vision.
• Yusu appeared before Zhuang Yuechan and thanked her for saving her, then asked why she had not come sooner.

Zhuang Yuechan confronted and absorbed True Monarch Yusu’s Inner Demon, clearing the obstacle to her Golden Core breakthrough, while Song Xianming steadily prepared for his own trial. After recovering Bai Zhengchun’s remains, Song Qingxing concluded that the Trial Road’s Destiny Dice appeared only after enough deaths and set out to hunt other cultivators.

• Zhuang Yuechan embraced Yushu, helping her release her resentment and absorb her obsession, then began her Golden Core breakthrough with the [Golden Core Forming Pill].
• Song Xianming cautiously strengthened his Dao Heart and advanced his cultivation, reaching initial insight into the [Five Element Laws].
• Song Qingxing followed Li Yuxia’s map to Bai Zhengchun’s grave, recovered his remains, and placed them in his Storage Bag to return home.
• Song Qingxing concluded that the Destiny Dice had not appeared because too few people had died on the Trial Road.
• Song Qingxing drew the [Traceless Sword] and pursued other cultivators to spur the slaughter.

Song Qingxing killed his way through the Trial Road and confronted Shen Jingchuan, whose saber skills matched his swordsmanship. Meanwhile, Song Changsheng ended his seclusion when he sensed Zhuang Yuechan was about to undergo her tribulation, and the Minor Heavenly Lightning Tribulation began over Vast Peak.

• Song Qingxing killed a middle-aged cultivator and concluded that the Trial Road turned the dead into nourishment for the few who survived.
• Shen Jingchuan introduced himself as Crazy Saber and challenged Song Qingxing after tracking the sword qi he had deliberately left behind.
• Song Qingxing and Shen Jingchuan clashed, summoning a silver-white dragon and a black tiger whose appearance drew trial participants toward them.
• Song Changsheng perfected [Flowers Bloom in an Instant] to one hundred and eight lotuses, then sensed that Zhuang Yuechan was nearing her tribulation.
• Song Changsheng moved Song Xianming out of Cloud Reaching Hall and ordered the Song Clan to evacuate Vast Peak before the Minor Heavenly Lightning Tribulation descended.

Zhuang Yuechan underwent the Minor Heavenly Lightning Tribulation at Vast Peak, fighting through nine thunderbolts with the Yusu Sword and her own strength. After the final strike, golden light appeared and Sweet Rain fell, leaving her fate unclear as the tribulation ended.

• Chen Zhongfang sensed a coming tribulation near the Wangyue Song Clan and sent Su Ye to observe, while the Heavenly Meridian Sect sent Bai Yan to Vast Peak.
• Song Yuqing watched Zhuang Yuechan begin her tribulation as the clan displayed its strength to him.
• Zhuang Yuechan used the Yusu Sword to pass the first three thunderbolts, then endured the fourth and fifth together and received Sweet Rain.
• Song Changsheng listened as Bai Yan and Su Ye discussed Zhuang Yuechan’s tribulation, then watched her face the remaining thunderbolts.
• Zhuang Yuechan put away the damaged Yusu Sword, survived the seventh and eighth thunderbolts, and was struck down by the final one as golden light and drizzle appeared.

Zhuang Yuechan completed her Golden Core breakthrough, revealing an unusual azure sheen linked to True Monarch Yusu’s Nascent Soul. As news of her achievement reached the East Sea, the divided Song Clan there faced a Black Qilin invasion and an urgent plea for reinforcements.

• Zhuang Yuechan formed an eighth-grade Golden Core with an unexplained azure radiance, and Song Changsheng helped her complete her breakthrough.
• Zhuang Yuechan announced her Golden Core Ceremony, while Song Changsheng and the gathered cultivators celebrated her new status.
• Song Changsheng examined Zhuang Yuechan’s azure-sheened Golden Core and suspected it was connected to True Monarch Yusu’s Nascent Soul.
• News of Zhuang Yuechan’s breakthrough reached the East Sea and intensified pressure on the divided Song Clan there.
• Song Shouhe urged Song Zhexuan to let the clan choose whether to submit, but a messenger reported that the Black Qilin Clan had invaded and the Soaring Dragon Archipelago needed reinforcements.