Chapter Summaries

Song Qingxing returned Bai Zhengchun’s body to the Boundless Sword Sect and later received permission to escort Li Yuxia home with it. Meanwhile, Song Changsheng defeated his Inner Demon Tribulation by rejecting its visions of the future and refusing to surrender to fate, then woke to see Zhuang Yuechan.

• Song Qingxing brought Bai Zhengchun’s body to Li Yuxia, who thanked him and asked to escort it home to erect a monument and offer incense.
• Song Qingxing spent a year studying sword classics at the Boundless Sword Sect before Sunset City’s Great City Lord approved Li Yuxia’s request to return with him.
• The Inner Demon showed Song Changsheng visions of a coming calamity and urged him to abandon his family in pursuit of power and immortality.
• With Zhuang Yuechan chanting Buddhist Scriptures to support him, Song Changsheng challenged the Inner Demon to predict whether they would survive his threat to detonate his Niwan Palace.
• Song Changsheng exposed the Inner Demon’s fear of death and defeated it, though it warned that the visions came from the Heavenly Dao and that Changsheng would face another trial.
• An invisible strike from the Heavenly Dao ended Song Changsheng’s obsession, and he awoke from the tribulation to see Zhuang Yuechan.

After awakening from his Inner Demon Tribulation, Song Changsheng reunited with Zhuang Yuechan and learned how the clan and its allies had fared during his seclusion. He traveled to the Myriad Manifestations Palace to collect his artifact, where Yi Tianzheng recognized his False Nascent Soul and challenged him to a fight.

• Song Changsheng woke after more than twenty years of seclusion, embraced Zhuang Yuechan, and learned that Song Qingxing had formed his Golden Core and recovered Bai’s remains despite complications.
• Zhuang Yuechan told Song Changsheng about the clan’s affairs, including young talents Song Mingshuang and Song Jingxuan, Peng Siying’s Golden Core breakthrough, and Song Yuqing’s preparations to form his Golden Core.
• Song Changsheng recognized that Song Qingxing’s reported experiences matched visions from his Inner Demon Tribulation and worried that the visions could reveal a real future involving someone named Song Xingyuan.
• After spending several days with Zhuang Yuechan, Song Changsheng set out for the Myriad Manifestations Palace to retrieve the artifact forged from his bronze fragments.
• Jian Xin mistook Song Changsheng for a Golden Core cultivator at Great Perfection, but Yi Tianzheng saw through his disguise and learned that he had condensed a False Nascent Soul.
• Yi Tianzheng asked Song Changsheng to exchange pointers with him, leaving Song Changsheng startled by the challenge.

Song Changsheng sparred with Yi Tianzheng to test the strength of his False Nascent Soul and proved he could withstand a True Lord’s full-powered attacks. Yi Tianzheng judged him formidable beneath the Nascent Soul Realm and advised him to cultivate the Space Great Dao to improve his speed.

• Song Changsheng challenged himself to withstand Yi Tianzheng’s attacks in the Cloud Arena and opened with a lightning-wreathed Suanni strike.
• Yi Tianzheng tested Song Changsheng with wind, frost, and lightning, while Song Changsheng defended himself using spatial powers and Golden Lotuses.
• Yi Tianzheng summoned his Frost Giant Dharma Form, and Song Changsheng manifested his Heavenly Dao Tree to meet its attacks with Yin-Yang Divine Thunder.
• Song Changsheng survived the clash with his combat power intact, impressing Yi Tianzheng, who praised his strength and recovery.
• Yi Tianzheng told Song Changsheng that speed was his remaining weakness and urged him to comprehend the Space Great Dao so he could learn spatial transference.

Song Changsheng received the Reflection Dao Mirror and was charged with strengthening the Southwest against the Demon Race before reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. He then hurried toward the Gusu Cultivation World after suspecting that Peng Zhenxiong’s rivals were sabotaging his breakthrough.

• Yi Tianzheng warned Song Changsheng to strike the Demon Race before reaching the Nascent Soul Realm and to unite the Southwest’s forces without breaking the Ancient Alliance.
• Yi Tianzheng gave Song Changsheng a copper mirror forged from ancient fragments, explaining that it could repel and return attacks and preserve Great Dao comprehension for others to study.
• Yi Tianzheng named the artifact the Reflection Dao Mirror and told Song Changsheng that the palace would investigate the Thunder King Hall’s theft of the Human King Sword and Imperial Seal.
• Song Changsheng left the Myriad Manifestations Palace and weighed his duties, including uniting the Southwest and helping Peng Siying amid the Wanlong Merchant Association’s power struggle.
• Song Changsheng suspected that Peng Zhenxiong’s opponents were acting because they knew he would fail to break through, perhaps due to a betrayal, and hastened toward the Gusu Cultivation World.

Song Changsheng found the Gusu Cultivation World in decline as Wanlong Merchant Association fractured into rival factions. He reached Four Directions City in disguise and discovered Peng Siying was under heavy guard, leaving him poised to help her regain control and build support for a Southwest alliance.

• Song Changsheng observed that conflict between Ancient God Pavilion, Xuanling Sect, and factions within Wanlong Merchant Association had destabilized Gusu and driven Loose Cultivators toward Great Qi and the East Sea.
• Song Changsheng arrived at Four Directions City under a temporary identity and found the city subdued, with Song Clan shops watched by the power-seizing faction.
• Song Changsheng used his Divine Sense to locate Peng Siying, who had taken refuge in a guarded pavilion in the Outer City rather than the safer Inner City.
• Song Changsheng approached Peng Siying's pavilion with her identity token, but a Late Golden Core Cultivator barred his way.
• Song Changsheng asked the guard to summon Qingluan or Hong Luan, concealing his identity while assessing Peng Siying's defenses.

Song Changsheng arrived in Four Directions City and found Peng Siying besieged by factions that had seized control of the Wanlong Merchant Association. After revealing his False Nascent Soul realm, he promised to help her reclaim Wanlong, and they began planning their response as a conspiracy against her gathered force.

• Song Changsheng warned a gray-robed cultivator monitoring the pavilion not to interfere, then showed Hong Luan Peng Siying's token and entered to hear how the Peng Clan had lost the Inner City.
• Hong Luan told Song Changsheng that Peng Siying had remained in the city to protect her father and the Peng Clan, and begged him to take Peng Siying away before her enemies captured her.
• Song Changsheng reassured Hong Luan by revealing his Golden Core Great Perfection cultivation and went to meet Peng Siying, who urged him to leave rather than risk himself in the merchant association's internal conflict.
• Song Changsheng disclosed his False Nascent Soul realm and offered either to help Peng Siying regain control of Wanlong or take her somewhere safe.
• Peng Siying chose to reclaim Wanlong and pledged its support for Song Changsheng's mission to unite the Southwest against the Demon Race, while a conspiracy targeting her was brewing.

Peng Siying and Song Changsheng planned to draw the four leaders of the Wanlong Merchant Association into a trap and eliminate them without endangering Four Directions City. After the leaders chose a meeting place and prepared their own countermeasures, Song Changsheng revealed his new Chief Guest Elder status to Quan Chong and began proving his strength.

• Peng Siying identified Mao Dongxing, Li Qinghe, Shen Xingyi, and Peng Huaming as the four leaders behind the seizure of power, and explained that her keys to the Secret Realm, Family Treasury, and merchant association Treasure Vaults restrained them.
• Song Changsheng proposed using Peng Siying's bargaining chips to lure the four leaders outside the city, and Peng Siying gave him the Chief Guest Elder Waist Token that Peng Zhenxiong had left for him.
• Mao Dongxing, Peng Huaming, Li Qinghe, Shen Xingyi, and a hidden fifth man discussed Peng Siying's invitation, suspected a trap, and decided to choose the meeting place and prepare a formation with Gu Insects against Song Changsheng.
• The leaders arranged for Master Zhang to spend a month preparing his formation, while Peng Siying and Song Changsheng prepared to attend their chosen meeting place together.
• Quan Chong questioned Song Changsheng's Chief Guest Elder status, so Song Changsheng offered to prove himself through strength and unleashed the Great Divine Ability [World in the Palm].

Song Changsheng accompanied Peng Siying to a meeting at Heavenly Glory Peak, where Mao Dongxing and his allies intended to seize her waist tokens and kill her. After the traitors activated a Gu formation and their concealed allies emerged, Song Changsheng prepared to counterattack with the Power of Law.

• Song Changsheng defeated Quan Chong in one move, then proposed that Quan Chong and Peng Siying lead the meeting while he disguised himself as an attendant.
• At Heavenly Glory Peak, Mao Dongxing and Li Qinghe discussed their plans to seize control of the Wanlong Merchant Association and use poisoned pills to weaken its Golden Core Cultivators.
• Song Changsheng detected the Gu formation and hidden attackers, warned Peng Siying and Quan Chong, and told them to enter the trap so they could expose their enemies.
• Peng Siying presented her waist tokens and demanded her father and uncles in return, but Mao Dongxing declared that the meeting was a trap and that none of them would leave alive.
• Zhang Chuqiu activated the Gu formation, fog engulfed the peak, and Shen Xingyi, Li Qinghe, and allies from the Xuanling Sect and Ancient God Pavilion appeared.
• Song Changsheng protected his companions with the Power of Law, stopped Quan Chong from attacking, and summoned dark clouds and thunder as he prepared to fight.

Song Changsheng destroyed Zhang Chuqiu’s Gu formation and overwhelmed the conspirators gathered to seize control of the Wanlong Merchant Association. After crippling Mao Dongxing and Peng Huaming, he demanded that the wavering survivors kneel if they wanted to live.

• Song Changsheng summoned lightning that wiped out Zhang Chuqiu’s Gu formation, and he captured Zhang Chuqiu after exposing his escape illusion.
• Mao Dongxing and the others tried to flee, but Song Changsheng sealed Spirit Peak with Formation Flags and pierced Mao Dongxing’s heart with lightning.
• Peng Huaming urged the conspirators to fight, while Shen Xingyi, Li Qinghe, Xuan Chen, and Yuan Fang hesitated over whether to surrender.
• Peng Siying condemned the plotters and offered the lesser accomplices a chance to surrender, but Peng Huaming denounced her and Song Changsheng’s intervention.
• Song Changsheng crippled Peng Huaming and Mao Dongxing, then ordered Shen Xingyi and the others to kneel if they wanted to live.

Song Changsheng forced the Wanlong Merchant Association elders to submit, killed Li Qinghe when he tried to bargain with poisoned pills, and defended Peng Zhenxiong’s reforms against Shen Xingyi’s accusations. After sparing the elders and explaining the need for centralized power, he turned to the bound Zhang Chuqiu and asked whether he came from the Gu Immortal Sect.

• Song Changsheng gave Xuan Chen, Yuan Fang, and the Wanlong elders the choice to confess or resist, and Xuan Chen and Yuan Fang knelt to protect their sects.
• The remaining elders, including Shen Xingyi, surrendered, but Li Qinghe refused to kneel and threatened them with a secret poison hidden in his medicine.
• Song Changsheng beheaded Li Qinghe, shattered his Golden Core, and ordered the surviving elders to serve the Merchant Association and support Peng Siying.
• Shen Xingyi challenged the judgment and blamed Peng Zhenxiong’s reforms, so Song Changsheng argued that the Chairman had sought necessary change and that the elders’ selfishness had weakened Wanlong.
• Song Changsheng approached the bound Zhang Chuqiu and asked whether he came from the Gu Immortal Sect.

Song Changsheng broke Zhang Chuqiu’s resistance and uncovered the Gu Immortal Sect’s alliance with several forces preparing to attack the Ancient Alliance when the Calamity Source Star appeared. He took Zhang Chuqiu as an informant and left to verify the intelligence while Peng Siying and Quan Chong handled the Wanlong Merchant Association.

• Song Changsheng pressured Zhang Chuqiu into revealing the Gu Immortal Sect’s plans and marking its hidden strongholds across the Borderlands on a map.
• Zhang Chuqiu disclosed that the allied forces planned to join the Demon Race when the Calamity Source Star descended, and that the Thunder King Hall was their strongest force.
• Song Changsheng learned that most of the allied forces lacked Nascent Soul True Lords and that the Demon Race’s strategist had only estimated the star’s arrival.
• Song Changsheng placed a restriction in Zhang Chuqiu’s Golden Core and ordered him to act as an inside informant after his intelligence was verified.
• Song Changsheng marked the surrendered Wanlong Merchant Association elders, tasked Quan Chong with the cleanup, and warned that the Xuanling Sect and Ancient God Pavilion would be punished.
• Song Changsheng left with the unconscious Zhang Chuqiu and Li Qinghe’s head to verify the intelligence and assess the enemy forces.

Song Changsheng interrogated Zhang Chuqiu and uncovered a conspiracy by the Gu Immortal Sect and other remnants of the old era to exploit turmoil in Guqiu and the Demon Race to overturn the borderlands. He resolved to protect the Ancient Alliance by luring the Demon Race into an early attack and disrupting the conspirators’ plans.

• Song Changsheng questioned Zhang Chuqiu in his Law Domain, and Zhang revealed that the Gu Immortal Sect had hidden branches throughout the borderlands.
• Zhang Chuqiu explained that the Sect Master had sent him to investigate the prophecy “Benefit Lies in the Southwest” and later ordered him to help the Demon Race break the Ancient Alliance’s restrictions.
• Zhang Chuqiu described a coordinated plan involving the Gu Immortal Sect, Heavenly Fire Cult, Thunder King Hall, and other forces to destabilize the borderlands and launch attacks across the Human Cultivation World.
• Song Changsheng connected the conspiracy to changes in Guqiu and suspected the Black Market’s control of Nine Heavens Secret Treasures might be related.
• Song Changsheng decided to safeguard the Ancient Alliance by tempting the Demon Race into attacking before the remnants of the old era were ready, and he chose to keep their minor agents alive for now.

Song Changsheng confirmed intelligence on the evil-path forces, secured the Wanlong Merchant Association’s cooperation, and planned to unite the Southwest against the Demon Race. He returned to Wangyue Market, where he sensed Song Qingxing’s powerful Sword Intent and wondered whether his return had taken fifty-three days.

• Song Changsheng detained Zhang Chuqiu, then spent a month checking the intelligence about the evil-path strongholds.
• Song Changsheng found that Peng Siying had stabilized the Wanlong Merchant Association, though the turmoil had cost it clients, supply lines, and trust.
• Peng Siying rebuked elders who wanted Song Changsheng to punish the Song Clan, and Song Changsheng said he would soon leave the Borderlands.
• Song Changsheng asked Wanlong to support his plan to convene an alliance assembly and unite the Southwest’s major forces against the coming threat.
• Song Changsheng gave Peng Siying the pill recipe for neutralizing Li Qinghe’s secret medicine and left Four Directions City.
• Song Changsheng returned to Wangyue Market, sensed Song Qingxing’s Sword Intent, and wondered whether he had arrived after fifty-three days.

Song Changsheng welcomed Song Qingxing back to Vast Peak after sixty years and confirmed that his return matched a future vision from the Inner Demon Tribulation. He kept the vision of an approaching Demonic Calamity to himself and asked Qingxing to remain with the clan while Song Qingxi was in seclusion.

• Song Changsheng surveyed Vast Peak, observed the clan's changing cultivation practices, and noticed Song Jingxuan refining pills with Wujie.
• Song Qingxing's sword manifestation appeared over Vast Peak, and Song Changsheng broke it after witnessing its transformations into the Guarding Sword Intent and Heaven-Opening Sword Intent.
• Song Qingxing returned, bowed to Song Changsheng, and explained that his time on the Trial Road had taught him to understand the clan's inheritance and the meaning of guarding.
• Song Changsheng revealed that he had reached the False Nascent Soul realm, and Qingxing recognized his unusual spiritual perception.
• Song Changsheng realized Qingxing's return after fifty-three days matched his vision, but the future memories blurred as he recalled an impending Demonic Calamity.
• Song Changsheng chose not to warn Qingxing about the calamity, told him to stay with the clan while Song Qingxi was in seclusion, and invited him into the hall to share their experiences.

Song Changsheng learned that Song Qingxing had reached the Ninth-grade superior Golden Core and planned to use him as a hidden trump card against the enemies surrounding the Song Clan. As Song Changsheng perfected the Vast Small World’s Laws, Hun Sha and an old man escaped the Abyss, while his Dao Tree transformed the Small World and continued to bloom.

• Song Qingxing told Song Changsheng about surviving the Trial Road and achieving a Ninth-grade superior Golden Core, and Song Changsheng ordered him to remain hidden and consolidate his cultivation.
• Song Qingxing gave Song Changsheng the [Thousand Shadow Tracing] divine ability, and Song Changsheng set off to perfect the Vast Small World before the alliance assembly.
• Hun Sha and an old man emerged from the Abyss, decided to stay in the Lu Kingdom Cultivation World, and planned to awaken the Protector Envoys and seek help from Golden-Eyed Demon Lord.
• Song Changsheng warned the Vast Small World’s residents to shelter and activate their defenses, then planted a Dao Tree and used its blossoms to gather Laws and create a sun.
• Over the next half year, Song Changsheng’s Dao Tree bloomed several Dao Flowers, his Law insights improved, and the tree spread across nearly half of the Vast Small World.

After sixty years apart, Song Qingxi reunited with Song Qingxing, then joined the clan elders in planning how to draw the Demon Race into an early confrontation. Song Changsheng won Myriad Manifestations Palace’s support for the risky campaign and received a mysterious item from Yi Tianzheng as he prepared for the coming war.

• Song Qingxi completed her preparations for a Golden Core breakthrough and reunited joyfully with Song Qingxing after sixty years apart.
• At the Council of Elders meeting, Song Luzhou explained the Southwestern Alliance plan, and Song Qingxi, Song Qingxing, and Song Youfu discussed ways to pressure the Demon Race into acting.
• Song Changsheng ordered the clan to suppress alien races, Heretics, and Demonic Cultivators and invited the Southwest’s Golden Core forces to an alliance gathering three years later.
• Song Changsheng traveled to Myriad Manifestations Palace with Zhang Chuqiu and argued to Yi Tianzheng and Thunder Elephant True Monarch that the dangers of the coming Calamity made an early campaign necessary.
• Yi Tianzheng and Thunder Elephant True Monarch agreed to support Song Changsheng’s plan, promised to restrain Kongsang Lifeng and Thunder King Hall, and Yi Tianzheng gave him a mysterious item.

Song Changsheng visited Myriad Manifestations Palace, then inspected the East Sea Alliance’s defenses and its nearly completed Fourth-Tier Sky Battleship. He ordered the ship finished in time for the next Sea Race invasion and called for a second one to be built afterward.

• Song Changsheng secured Myriad Manifestations Palace’s consent and received favorable news, then invited True Lord Jianxin and the palace’s other cultivators to the Southwestern Alliance Conference.
• Song Changsheng visited Zhuang Yuechan, explained that he was keeping Qingxing hidden for a future surprise, and spent several days with her before inspecting the East Sea defenses.
• Song Changsheng found the Soaring Dragon Archipelago’s defenses well prepared and learned that Li Anmin was overseeing the Fourth-Tier Sky Battleship at the Heaven-Character Shipyard.
• Li Anmin explained that the battleship could withstand Late Golden Core attacks and unleash powerful bombardments, but a saturated attack theoretically cost five million Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Song Changsheng ordered the battleship completed before the next Sea Race invasion and directed the clan to begin building a second ship afterward.

Fang Zhengli sent Hou Yu to represent the Nine Profound Gate at Song Changsheng’s Southwest Alliance Conference, wary that the gathering might force the region’s sects into a fight against the Demon Race. Meanwhile, Zhu Yiqun learned that his destiny might require him to master the Heavenly Sword Stele and sacrifice himself to save everyone, and he decided to face that fate.

• Fang Zhengli explained to Hou Yu that Song Changsheng’s alliance conference might be an effort to unite the Southwest against the Demon Race, and Hou Yu argued that the Nine Profound Gate should attend and support it.
• Fang Zhengli told Hou Yu that the strongest cultivator from each sect had to attend, and entrusted him with deciding whether the Nine Profound Gate would submit or resist.
• Zhu Yiqun complained that Song Changsheng had not invited him to the conference, while his Martial Uncle warned that the Calamity Source Star would emerge and that Zhu needed to reach the Nascent Soul Realm.
• Zhu Yiqun’s Martial Uncle asked whether he would give his life to save his master, Senior Sister, Xu Yunhe, Song Changsheng, Zhuang Yuechan, and everyone under Heaven, and said the Heavenly Sword Stele’s Sword Intent could give him that power.
• After his Martial Uncle vanished, Zhu Yiqun recognized the Stone Tablet as the lost Heavenly Sword Stele and resolved to confront his destiny.

Song Changsheng secured Heartbreak Valley’s attendance at the Southwest Alliance Conference by breaking its defenses and defeating its four Golden Core Cultivators. With the conference about to begin at Vast Peak, guests from Myriad Manifestations Palace arrived.

• Song Changsheng gathered support for the alliance conference as forces across the Southwest announced they would attend, while Heartbreak Valley remained silent.
• Song Changsheng traveled to Heartbreak Valley, broke through its protective array, and defeated its four Golden Core Cultivators in a single exchange.
• Song Changsheng warned True Person Tianjue that the coming Calamity threatened the entire Borderlands, and Tianjue agreed that Heartbreak Valley would attend the conference.
• Song Changsheng returned to Vast Peak, where Golden Core guests had arrived ahead of the conference, and asked Song Youfu to keep the clan prepared.
• Song Youfu reported that the honored guests from Myriad Manifestations Palace had arrived.

Song Changsheng defended his claim to lead an alliance of the Nine Regions of the Southwest by citing his accomplishments and challenging the gathered cultivators to test his strength. After decisively defeating Wang Changqing in one strike, he challenged three other powerful cultivators to face him together.

• Myriad Manifestations Palace sent Ling Xiao, Jian Xin, Gu Xueying, Baili Yuntu, Liu Yunxuan, Caidie, and Master Guhong to the Song Clan, and Ling Xiao delivered True Lord Longxiang’s promise of support.
• At the alliance gathering, Song Changsheng proposed forming an alliance against the Demon Race and Wicked Path forces and nominated himself as its leader.
• Wang Changqing questioned the danger, Song Changsheng’s qualifications, and his right to lead, so Song Changsheng listed his achievements and challenged anyone who doubted his strength.
• Wang Changqing accepted Song Changsheng’s challenge and attacked with his sword, but Song Changsheng disrupted the strike with Spatial Power and knocked him down with a single sword blow.
• Song Changsheng called on the other three potential challengers to come at him together and settle the contest within three moves.