Chapter Summaries

At Myriad Manifestations Palace’s Supreme Ceremony, Song Changsheng confronts Taixuan Dao Sect’s attempt to visit the Abyss and learns that many guests are pursuing a prophecy about a benefit in the Southwest. He later reveals Xia Qingxue’s family connection to Xu Miaoyin and learns about the paired Magatamas, then ends the chapter asking True Monarch Yingyue about the Array Dao Academy’s recent shortage of manpower.

• Yi Tianzheng rebukes True Lord Xuanzhen for demanding access to the sealed Abyss, and she apologizes and agrees to attend the ceremony.
• Yi Tianzheng tells Song Changsheng that the prophecy “Benefit Lies in the Southwest” has drawn many forces to the ceremony, possibly because they suspect the Abyss holds the promised benefit.
• Song Changsheng visits Xia Qingxue and reveals that she is Xia Wanyun’s twin sister and that Xu Miaoyin is Xia Wanyun’s daughter; Xia Qingxue confirms she possesses the white Magatama and can borrow its power.
• Song Changsheng urges Xia Qingxue to meet Xu Miaoyin and return to the Golden Crow Sect, warning that Fellow Daoist Chen has little time left.
• Song Changsheng asks True Monarch Yingyue about the Array Dao Academy’s relationship with the Heavenly Meridian Sect, and she explains their connection before revealing that the Academy is short-handed for an undisclosed reason.

True Monarch Yingyue explained to Song Changsheng that the Array Dao Academy was leading a comprehensive inspection and repair of the Four Poles Great Array, the barrier protecting the Ziyu Realm from threats beyond the heavens. After Song Changsheng revealed how cultivators had accidentally entered the array barrier, Yingyue recognized the discovery's importance and warned him to keep the matter secret.

• Song Changsheng connected the black-market materials ban to the Array Dao Academy's shortage of manpower, and True Monarch Yingyue confirmed both were related to repairing a seal.
• True Monarch Yingyue described the Ziyu Realm's history of meteor strikes and alien invasions, and explained how the Four Great Killing Arrays once concealed and guarded it.
• True Monarch Yingyue said the Array Dao Alliance had built the Four Poles Great Array to protect the realm, and that the Academy was now inspecting and improving it after flaws appeared.
• True Monarch Yingyue told Song Changsheng that information about the Four Poles Great Array was top secret and that he might someday become one of its guardians.
• Song Changsheng described how Grandmaster Xuanlei and others had encountered the array barrier after pursuing Gao Yu, and True Monarch Yingyue said the discovery revealed an important loophole.
• True Monarch Yingyue ordered Song Changsheng to keep the matter secret and promised to seek a reward for his contribution.

Song Changsheng prepared for the Supreme Ceremony as cultivators gathered in the millions at Myriad Manifestations Mountain. After his family’s delegation arrived, Zhuang Yuechan told him that Yun'er had returned.

• Song Changsheng reflected on True Monarch Yingyue’s revelations and watched the night pass from Myriad Manifestations Mountain’s Moon-Watching Platform.
• As the Supreme Ceremony approached, guests poured in, and Song Changsheng patrolled the mountain to prevent disturbances.
• Ji Shinian returned from delivering invitations and joined Song Changsheng in overseeing the crowds, which numbered at least six million.
• Song Qingxing and Zhuang Yuechan arrived with a large delegation of talented cultivators from the Song clan.
• Song Changsheng asked why Xi'er was absent, and Zhuang Yuechan explained that she would arrive before the ceremony; she then told him that Yun'er had returned.

Song Changsheng arranged for the Song Clan’s younger generation to test themselves against elite cultivators at Myriad Manifestations Mountain, where delegates from allied powers arrived for Grandmaster Xuanlei’s Supreme Ceremony. As dawn broke, the ceremony began with the inauguration of two Grand Elders, while the awaited guest had still not appeared.

• Song Changsheng told Zhuang Yuechan to take the clan’s younger generation to exchange pointers with other forces and broaden their horizons.
• Zhuang Yuechan brought Song Xingyuan, Chi Li, Xu Miaoyin, and the other youths to the Training Grounds, where Song Changsheng watched them begin their trials.
• A warship carrying Zhao Yin, the Old National Teacher, True Lord Tianpeng, Ji Liangyu, Li Yufeng, and others arrived together, and Song Changsheng and Ji Shinian welcomed them.
• The final month passed as millions of cultivators and nearly one hundred Nascent Soul forces gathered, but the Myriad Manifestations Palace’s expected guest had yet to arrive.
• At dawn, the morning bell rang 108 times, and Yi Tianzheng announced that the palace would establish two Grand Elders before the Supreme Ceremony.

Myriad Manifestations Palace formally appointed Ji Shinian and Song Changsheng as Grand Elders, cementing closer ties with the Song Clan. The ceremony ended with the unexpected arrival of Eight Directions Pavilion’s Supreme Xuanyin, whose presence unsettled the gathered guests.

• Yi Tianzheng welcomed Ji Shinian and Song Changsheng, revealing Song Changsheng would serve as a Grand Elder alongside Ji Shinian.
• Song Changsheng’s appointment was accepted despite breaking precedent, and he agreed to share his inheritance and open cultivation opportunities between Myriad Manifestations Palace and allied forces.
• Yi Tianzheng bestowed fifth-rank magic artifacts and Grand Elder waist tokens on Ji Shinian and Song Changsheng, and the gathered disciples paid them respects.
• Grandmaster Xuanlei and Supreme Jingxuan noticed a newcomer whom the Nascent Soul True Lords could not sense, and the black-robed Supreme identified himself as Xuanyin of Eight Directions Pavilion.
• Grandmaster Xuanlei invited Xuanyin into the hall, where the three Supremes took the seats prepared for them and the guests wondered why Xuanyin had come.

At Grandmaster Xuanlei’s Supreme Ceremony, Song Changsheng learned why Supreme Xuanyin’s arrival alarmed the Central Continent cultivators and worried that the Eight Directions Pavilion might threaten the Wanlong Merchant Association. Grandmaster Xuanlei honored the victims of the Demonic Calamity and privately negotiated with Xuanyin; after the banquet, Yi Tianzheng announced that Xuanlei would expound upon his Great Dao.

• Song Changsheng asked True Lord Guying about Supreme Xuanyin, and Guying explained Xuanyin’s power, brutal reputation, and likely interest in the frontier’s growing markets.
• Song Changsheng worried that the Eight Directions Pavilion’s expansion could damage the Wanlong Merchant Association, while Yi Tianzheng advised waiting to learn more.
• Grandmaster Xuanlei toasted the more than ninety million people who died in the Demonic Calamity, and Supreme Jingxuan and other leaders drank in acknowledgment.
• Song Changsheng and Ji Shinian mingled with guests as Grandmaster Xuanlei privately spoke with Supreme Xuanyin and learned what he wanted.
• After the banquet, Yi Tianzheng announced that Grandmaster Xuanlei would expound upon his Great Dao, and the crowd fell silent.

Grandmaster Xuanlei gave a sermon that reached living beings across the Dagan Cultivation World, and Golden Lotuses emerged as heaven and earth responded to his inclusive teaching. Supreme Jingxuan and Supreme Xuanyin discussed the Eight Directions Pavilion’s plans for the borderlands before a dragon roar shook Myriad Manifestations Mountain.

• Grandmaster Xuanlei began his sermon on the Dao’s origin, and its sound spread throughout Myriad Manifestations Palace and across much of the Dagan Cultivation World.
• Golden Auspicious Clouds formed above Grandmaster Xuanlei, and Golden Lotuses sprouted across the hall and surrounding land as the sermon continued.
• Supreme Jingxuan recognized the Golden Lotuses as a rare response from heaven and earth, and Supreme Xuanyin explained that Grandmaster Xuanlei’s teaching reached all living beings.
• Supreme Jingxuan and Supreme Xuanyin discussed the Eight Directions Pavilion’s plans for the war-threatened borderlands and the Demon Subduing Hall’s own direction.
• A high-pitched dragon roar sounded outside the hall, shaking Myriad Manifestations Mountain.

During Grandmaster Xuanlei’s sermon, Li Tiezhu unconsciously advanced from the fifth level of Qi Refining to its Great Perfection and neared a dangerous breakthrough. The ceremony ended in an uproar when a golden Dragon of Luck appeared, linked to Song Xingyuan, and a dozen purple Dragons of Luck rose to circle it.

• Li Tiezhu, a self-taught cultivator, absorbed the Sound of the Grand Dao and underwent Cleansing Meridians and Marrow.
• Li Tiezhu’s cultivation soared from the fifth level of Qi Refining to Great Perfection, and his body began swelling as it absorbed spiritual energy.
• A golden dragon appeared above Myriad Manifestations Mountain and devoured the Auspicious Clouds, startling the gathered cultivators and the Supremes.
• Song Changsheng recognized that the golden Dragon of Luck’s karmic line led to Song Xingyuan and realized the spectacle could not be concealed from the Supremes.
• A dozen purple Dragons of Luck, including those of Song Youfu and Li Yufeng, rose from the mountain and circled the golden dragon.

Song Xingyuan’s golden Dragon of Luck emerged during Grandmaster Xuanlei’s ceremony, drawing the attention of powerful forces, but Grandmaster Xuanlei and Supreme Xuanyin made clear they would not move against the Song Clan. After the ceremony, the forces began recruiting lucky and talented cultivators, while Li Tiezhu’s sudden leap in cultivation was exposed and a Purple Palace Cultivator seized him for answers.

• Song Xingyuan’s golden Dragon of Luck appeared, revealing that the Song Clan had two bearers of great luck and attracting the forces’ attention.
• Grandmaster Xuanlei declared his support for Song Changsheng and warned the gathered forces against targeting the Song Clan, while Supreme Xuanyin chose not to interfere.
• Grandmaster Xuanlei ended the sermon, refined the remaining Golden Lotuses into Magic Artifacts, and distributed them among the forces.
• Grandmaster Xuanlei brought the major forces’ representatives into the Main Hall to discuss business as their elders began recruiting lucky and talented cultivators.
• Li Tiezhu’s rise from the fifth level of Qi Refining to Great Perfection in one night was exposed, and a Purple Palace Cultivator grabbed him by the throat and demanded to know what he had obtained.

Song Qingxing rescued Li Tiezhu from Li Hongming, discovered that Li Tiezhu had rare talent wasted by the wrong cultivation method, and recruited him into the Wangyue Song Clan. Meanwhile, Grandmaster Xuanlei challenged the other powers over support for the borderlands, threatening to abandon its defense.

• Li Hongming strangled Li Tiezhu for his sudden cultivation breakthrough while the surrounding cultivators refused to intervene.
• Song Qingxing broke Li Hongming's grip, restrained him, and saved Li Tiezhu.
• Song Qingxing discovered Li Tiezhu's Wood-Fire Dual Spiritual Root and pure-yang Special Physique, then learned he had spent decades practicing an incompatible method.
• Song Qingxing invited Li Tiezhu to cultivate with the Wangyue Song Clan, and Li Tiezhu eagerly accepted.
• True Monarch Xuanzhen challenged the proposed resources for Myriad Manifestations Palace, and Grandmaster Xuanlei declared that his side would no longer defend the borderlands if the other powers refused to help.

Song Changsheng and Myriad Manifestations Palace demanded support from the northern powers or warned that the Southwest would abandon its borderlands, while the other cultivators dismissed their losses and disputed the threat. The meeting ended without agreement, with Grandmaster Xuanlei affirming that Myriad Manifestations Palace would stand by its Palace Master.

• Song Changsheng argued that the Southwest should leave the borderlands rather than keep sacrificing lives without aid, and Thunder Elephant True Monarch openly threatened that they could seize lands north of Heavenly Mountain.
• Yi Tianzheng rebuked Wuxiang Hall for claiming to speak for the entire Human Cultivation World, while True Monarch Xuhuo and a Lingshui Cultivation World cultivator dismissed the Demonic Calamity as an accident and accused Song Changsheng of seeking private gain.
• Song Changsheng countered that the borderlands bore the danger for the whole Human Cultivation World and declared that Myriad Manifestations Palace and the Song Clan would return the borderlands to the Demon Race rather than shoulder further risks.
• True Monarch Xuanzhen and the other cultivators protested, but Thunder Elephant True Monarch affirmed Song Changsheng's authority as Myriad Manifestations Palace's Grand Elder, making clear that the borderlands were united.
• A senior True Monarch appealed to Grandmaster Xuanlei to prevent war, and Xuanlei replied that he would follow the will of the Palace Master.

Myriad Manifestations Palace and the Song Clan demanded aid for the Borderlands, warning that they would otherwise either abandon it or lead a northern expedition. Supreme Jingxuan invoked the coming Calamity to secure a consensus on assistance, and Grandmaster Xuanlei then introduced the next topic: the Soul Race.

• Grandmaster Xuanlei rejected attempts to bind Myriad Manifestations Palace with appeals to human morality, and Yi Tianzheng and Song Changsheng insisted that the Borderlands would not force anyone to stay or leave.
• Supreme Jingxuan warned that the coming Calamity threatened all cultivation worlds and called for the other factions to aid the Borderlands and prepare for the Demon Race.
• Supreme Xuanyin said Eight Directions Pavilion would follow the majority, while True Monarch Yingyue offered resources and technical support for an ultra-long-range Cross-Domain Space Teleportation Array.
• Boundless Sword Sect, Dazhen Immortal Dynasty, Hundred Cauldrons Pavilion, Qingfeng Dao Sect, Great Zhou's Qu Clan, Shadow Pavilion, and Taixuan Dao Sect agreed to provide aid.
• Supreme Jingxuan and True Monarch Yingyue pledged to push for further cooperation, and the assembly reached a tentative consensus on helping the Borderlands.
• Grandmaster Xuanlei displayed a Liuli bottle and opened discussion of the Soul Race.

Grandmaster Xuanlei revealed that the Soul Race had survived and was infiltrating the Ziyu Realm, then shared evidence that its members had changed how they survived and reproduced. The gathered powers agreed to work together to find the suspected Mother Emperor.

• Grandmaster Xuanlei displayed a fourth-tier Soul Race member, stirring fear and suspicion among the gathered cultivators.
• Song Changsheng reflected on his own identity, while the Old National Teacher remained unusually calm and asked how the Soul Race member had survived outside a host.
• Yi Tianzheng explained that Myriad Manifestations Palace had captured the Soul Race members from a Thunder King Hall branch helm after suppressing a rebellion in the Central Region.
• Yi Tianzheng said the captured Soul Race members could survive far longer without hosts but appeared unable to reproduce, and he revealed intelligence about an existence called the Mother Emperor.
• The gathered cultivators agreed to cooperate in finding the Mother Emperor, while Supreme Jingxuan wondered why Grandmaster Xuanlei had withheld the intelligence earlier.

The Human Race’s leaders discussed how to detect and prevent Soul Race parasitism, agreeing to combine Sea of Consciousness defenses with inspections while keeping captured Soul Race individuals at Myriad Manifestations Palace. After the meeting, Song Changsheng prepared for his Nascent Soul ceremony and learned that his nephew had discovered a cultivator with a [Pure Yang Dao Body].

• Yi Tianzheng proposed using arrays to inspect cultivators’ True Spirits, and True Monarch Yingyue offered the Array Dao Academy’s help while warning that arrays could not prevent parasitism.
• The Heavenly Soul Palace representative offered the palace’s Sea of Consciousness Defense method and asked to study the captured Soul Race individuals, drawing suspicion from the other delegates.
• Supreme Jingxuan kept the Soul Race individuals at Myriad Manifestations Palace, and the delegates agreed that Demon Subduing Hall and Array Dao Academy would oversee alternating inspections.
• The meeting lasted three days and two nights, after which most delegates departed while guests stayed at Myriad Manifestations Palace for Song Changsheng’s Nascent Soul ceremony.
• Ji Shinian arranged for experienced palace elders to help the Song Clan organize the ceremony and told Song Changsheng that his nephew had found a qi-refining cultivator with a [Pure Yang Dao Body].

Song Changsheng learned that the Song Clan had discovered a Pure Yang Dao Body and welcomed Li Tiezhu into the clan as Li Chunyang, while confronting Song Qingxi and Song Qingxing about Qingyun’s return. Before leaving Myriad Manifestations Palace for Vast Peak, he learned that Eight Directions Pavilion had tested the Palace’s strength and would have replaced it if he had lost his battle against the Sea Race.

• Ji Shinian reflected that the Song Clan’s newly discovered Pure Yang Dao Body and Song Xingyuan’s Five Elements Dao Body could secure the clan’s future.
• Song Qingxi told Song Changsheng that Song Qingxing was cleansing Zhao Wuji’s blocked meridians and acupoints after awakening his Pure Yang Dao Body.
• Song Changsheng welcomed Zhao Wuji, gifted him the sword Cold Shadow, and encouraged Li Tiezhu before naming him Chunyang and placing him under Song Qingxing’s tutelage.
• After Zhao Wuji and Li Chunyang left, Song Changsheng confronted Song Qingxi and Song Qingxing for hiding Qingyun’s return, then agreed to examine Qingli’s decayed letter.
• Grandmaster Xuanlei told Song Changsheng that Eight Directions Pavilion had assessed Myriad Manifestations Palace and would have replaced it if Song Changsheng had lost his battle against the Sea Race.

Song Changsheng learned that Song Qingyun had been abducted by the mysterious Old Man Remnant Dream and returned to confront his regrets over Song Qingli. After investigating the master and reuniting with the clan, Song Changsheng turned to the war’s losses, finding a casualty report that began with 439,000.

• Song Changsheng found Song Qingyun cleaning the family graves and heard how Old Man Remnant Dream had abducted him, taken him to the Northern Continent, and trained him until he reached the Golden Core Stage.
• Song Qingyun told Song Changsheng that he had searched for Su Xiaoxiao but she had refused to see him and was not human; Song Changsheng urged him to let the past go and cherish those still beside him.
• Song Changsheng gave Song Qingyun a preserved letter from Song Qingli and explained that she had wanted to become his Dao companion before her death, leaving Song Qingyun devastated by what he had missed.
• Song Changsheng contacted True Lord Guying to investigate Old Man Remnant Dream, and True Lord Guying promised to search the records and respond within five days.
• Song Qingxi and the others returned to Vast Peak with Li Chunyang and Ji Shinian, and the clan began preparations for a grand ceremony honoring Song Changsheng.
• Song Changsheng reviewed the postwar reports, noted that the battle had added 1,300 graves to the clan cemetery, and opened a report showing a red-marked figure of 439,000.

Song Changsheng advised Peng Siying to reject the Eight Directions Pavilion’s takeover and helped her plan a new path for the Wanlong Merchant Association. He revealed that the Southwest’s new teleportation array and the alliance’s unity could give Wanlong room to grow, leaving Peng Siying ready to accept his proposal.

• Song Changsheng reviewed the Southwest’s heavy war losses and worried that the alliance could not compensate the families without selling its captured demon beast materials.
• Peng Siying told Song Changsheng that the Eight Directions Pavilion had offered Wanlong a choice between integration and losing its trade channels, and she asked him to help preserve the Peng Clan’s independence.
• Song Changsheng warned that rejecting integration would put Wanlong at risk, then supported Peng Siying after she firmly chose to keep the association independent.
• Song Changsheng proposed that Wanlong claim the Southeast market left vacant after the Myriad Manifestations Palace destroyed Thousand Blades City and the Vast Sea Merchant Association, and use demon beast materials to build new trade ties.
• Song Changsheng explained that a Cross-Domain Space Teleportation Array would be built in Gusu and offered Wanlong access in exchange for maintenance costs and thirty percent of its profits.
• Song Changsheng told Peng Siying that he had distributed the gains fairly to preserve the alliance’s trust, and he called Wanlong the first step in strengthening the alliance.

Song Changsheng backed the Wanlong Merchant Association and used his Nascent Soul ceremony to announce a cultivation exchange meeting across the Nine Regions of the Southwest. As cultivators began gathering to compete, he turned his attention to fusing the Human King Broken Sword fragment into the Chengyuan Sword.

• Song Changsheng assured Peng Siying that the Eight Directions Pavilion could not bully the Wanlong Merchant Association, and Peng Siying agreed to reorganize it and establish a trade route.
• Song Changsheng issued a dharma edict announcing an exchange meeting during his Nascent Soul ceremony, with valuable rewards for the top Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion cultivators.
• Cultivators across the southwest discussed the meeting, while the purple-haired sword cultivator and Qian Jiujin argued over who would claim a top place.
• Song Changsheng discovered that the Human King Broken Sword fragment had begun trembling and considered fusing it into the Chengyuan Sword.
• Song Changsheng heated the broken sword with purple flame as the Chengyuan Sword responded eagerly to the proposed fusion.

Song Changsheng strengthened the [Chengyuan Sword] by having it devour the Golden Runes from a broken Human King Sword, then considered how to secure a Fifth-Tier Spirit Vein and build a lasting defense for the Song Clan. As the clan prepared for a major ceremony and exchange meeting, he rejected outside contestants and encouraged Niu Dazhuang to prepare for a Golden Core breakthrough.

• Song Changsheng melted down a broken Human King Sword, and the [Chengyuan Sword] devoured its Golden Runes, greatly increasing its power.
• Song Changsheng returned the [Chengyuan Sword] to the clan ancestral hall and considered obtaining a Fifth-Tier Spirit Vein to support a new Guardian Great Array.
• Song Qingxi and thousands of Song Clan members completed preparations for the ceremony and Southwest Exchange Meeting, which drew millions of cultivators to Great Qi.
• Niu Dazhuang told Song Changsheng he had a thirty percent chance of breaking through to the Golden Core Stage, possibly rising to forty percent, and Song Changsheng urged him to listen carefully to the sermon.
• Song Changsheng told a Hall of General Affairs deacon that cultivators from outside the alliance would not be allowed to enter the Exchange Meeting.

Song Changsheng held a grand Nascent Soul ceremony, reconciled the Wangyue Song Clan and the Brocade Banner, and privately declared his ambition to claim the World's Throne. The Nine Realms Exchange Meeting then began, where Qian Jiujin won his opening match and Song Youlin faced the renowned Mei Changfeng.

• Song Changsheng rejected allowing cultivators from other regions into the Exchange Meeting but planned to reassure them and prepare for future expansion.
• Representatives from across the Cultivation Worlds attended Song Changsheng's ceremony, where the Brocade Banner elders began accepting reconciliation with the Wangyue Song Clan.
• Song Changsheng led the ancestral worship, offered his public achievements to the ancestors, and privately wrote that he intended to claim the World's Throne; Zhuang Yuechan pledged to stand with him.
• Song Luzhou explained the Exchange Meeting rules, and Qian Jiujin defeated Long Chengyun before accepting a challenge from Jian Jiutao.
• Cultivators competed across the Training Grounds, while Song Youlin won five matches before meeting Mei Changfeng of Heartbreak Valley.