Chapter Summaries

Tu Shan Jun supported Zhou Xinglie’s decision to form his core and learned that a Hehuan Sect cultivator might target Fang Yingxue. He warned Taiyi that mounting tensions threatened the sect, but Taiyi chose to consider their options rather than strike first.

• Tu Shan Jun welcomed Zhou Xinglie, Fang Yingxue, and Wu Rong, gave the newlyweds gifts, and told Zhou Xinglie to form his core in the sect.
• Tu Shan Jun accepted Zhou Xinglie’s marriage despite the risks and promised to handle any remaining trouble.
• Tu Shan Jun’s fiend warned that a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Hehuan Sect might target Fang Yingxue now that she had formed her Golden Core.
• Tu Shan Jun reviewed the Taiyi Sect’s conflicts with other powers and went to consult Taiyi about the escalating danger.
• Tu Shan Jun proposed striking first, but Taiyi argued that an unjust war could unite the other powers against them and resolved to think further.

Taiyi weighed the risks of a preemptive war while inviting True Lord Mingyu to settle a dispute over Zhou Xinglie’s wife. Meanwhile, True Lord Golden Turtle learned that the East Sea dragon clan was searching for its patriarch, and Ao Shuang sought information about the Star Abyss Ruins before heading to the Primordial Dao Alliance.

• Taiyi rejected Tu Shan Jun’s proposal to strike first, deciding that an unjust war could endanger the Taiyi Sect.
• True Lord Mingyu accepted the Taiyi Sect’s invitation and planned to use the dispute to demand payment, despite his senior brother warning him not to provoke True Lord Taishi.
• True Lord Golden Turtle learned that Ao Shuang had come seeking information about the Star Abyss Ruins and questioned True Lord Black Ox about his time there.
• True Lord Black Ox told Golden Turtle that True Lord Taiyi had entered the ruins, rescued two cultivators, and escaped the Firecloud Sect’s blockade with them.
• Golden Turtle suspected the dragon patriarch was trapped, recovering, or otherwise in trouble, while Ao Shuang retrieved a sealed box from the Ancient Immortal Tower and continued toward the Primordial Dao Alliance.

Ao Shuang and Ao Jiushan investigated what happened in the ruin and decided to covertly target three cultivators for information about the old ancestor. Meanwhile, Zhou Xinglie prepared to form his core, and Wu Rong discovered that Senior Brother had invited cultivators to the ceremony as Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun discussed the gathering.

• Ao Shuang paid Chen Danming for his account of the ruin, and Chen described the battle, his escape, and three companions whose actions seemed suspicious.
• Ao Shuang reported to Ao Jiushan that cultivators from the nine sects concealed what they knew about the old ancestor, and they identified Black Rhinoceros, Chen Danming, and Taiyi as targets for a covert attack.
• Ao Jiushan ordered Ao Shuang to arrange a trap and recruit several Nascent Soul cultivators to ensure their targets could not resist.
• Zhou Xinglie told Wu Rong that he feared dying during core formation and asked him to place his divine soul in their master's soul-banner spirit treasure if he perished.
• Wu Rong left seclusion as Zhou Xinglie entered the critical stage of core formation, while Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun discussed the invited guests and the possibility of a Hongmen Banquet.
• True Lord Mingyu of the Hehuan Sect arrived for Zhou Xinglie's Golden Core ceremony.

Tu Shan Jun reunited with Taiyi and agreed to help provoke True Lord Mingyu into an attack that would justify killing him publicly. At the banquet, Taiyi’s plan took effect when Mingyu saw a woman who resembled someone he had killed and launched a spell at Taiyi.

• Tu Shan Jun drank with East Sea Lord, then learned Taiyi had not told Xinglie about using his disciple to provoke the Hehuan Sect.
• Taiyi explained that True Lord Mingyu’s jealousy and possessiveness could make him lose control, and Tu Shan Jun said his Emotion-Breaking Art could affect him.
• True Lord Golden Ao visited the Taiyi Sect and agreed to help settle its dispute with the Hehuan Sect.
• At the banquet, Taiyi and True Lord Mingyu exchanged barbs before Taiyi clapped his hands and a woman appeared to Mingyu as someone he had killed.
• True Lord Mingyu erupted, overturned the table, and fired a spell at Taiyi as the Primordial Dao Alliance cultivator shouted a warning.

True Lord Mingyu attacked Taiyi, but Tu Shan Jun intervened and overwhelmed him, seizing him by the throat. True Lord Golden Ao tried to prevent Mingyu’s death, while Taiyi argued that the Hehuan Sect had declared war; the chapter left Mingyu’s fate unresolved as Golden Ao urged Taiyi to hear his explanation.

• True Lord Mingyu struck at Taiyi, but True Lord Golden Ao intercepted him and broke the illusion that had clouded Mingyu’s mind.
• Tu Shan Jun’s pressure filled the hall, and True Lord Golden Ao shielded Mingyu while warning that killing him would provoke the Hehuan Sect.
• Tu Shan Jun struck past Golden Ao, tore through Mingyu’s protective aura, and seized him by the throat.
• Mingyu tried to concede and leave, but Tu Shan Jun kept him from speaking while the other cultivators watched in alarm.
• True Lord Golden Ao stopped attacking and pleaded with Tu Shan Jun to spare Mingyu, then asked Taiyi to hear Mingyu’s explanation.
• Taiyi said Mingyu had attacked him in his own sect and called it a declaration of war, while Golden Ao insisted there had been a misunderstanding.

Taiyi killed True Lord Mingyu after baiting the gathered factions into witnessing the clash, then urged them to unite against the Hehuan Sect. True Lord Jin Ao left without committing, while Tu Shan Jun realized Taiyi had intended to start a war and was left uneasy by his senior brother’s decision.

• Taiyi ordered Tu Shan Jun to kill True Lord Mingyu, whose Yin Spirit and Nascent Soul Tu Shan Jun seized.
• Taiyi let the Hehuan Sect’s cultivators take Mingyu’s corpse and told them to report the events exactly as they had happened.
• Taiyi proposed that the gathered factions ally against the Hehuan Sect, offering them plans for a five-hundred-zhang warship’s internal combustion pill furnace.
• True Lord Jin Ao rejected Taiyi’s plan and offered Tu Shan Jun a place at Golden Ao Palace if the Taiyi Sect fell.
• Taiyi revealed that he wanted Jin Ao to join the war and warned him that the Sea of Wandering Souls was too narrow.
• After Jin Ao departed without answering, Tu Shan Jun questioned whether Taiyi’s radical plan had to be carried out this way.

Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun prepared the Taiyi Sect for war, while True Lord Golden Ao concluded that he had been maneuvered into joining them against the Hehuan Sect. The Yuan Dao Alliance considered exploiting the crisis, and the Hehuan Sect mobilized its forces after learning Mingyu had been killed.

• Taiyi ordered Tu Shan Jun to prepare for a war against the Hehuan Sect within ten years, while delaying the refinement of True Lord Mingyu's yin spirit.
• True Lord Golden Ao suspected Taiyi had secretly engineered Mingyu's attack and death, but decided to fight alongside the Taiyi Sect, estimating their alliance had seven and a half Nascent Souls.
• The Yuan Dao Alliance debated whether to assist the Taiyi Sect and ultimately demanded its diagrams and help building giant warships in exchange for possible support.
• The Hehuan Sect learned that Mingyu had died at the Taiyi Sect and ordered its Nascent Soul cultivators and attendants to prepare for war.
• The Hehuan Sect's leader demanded Mingyu's Nascent Soul and yin spirit and threatened to destroy the Taiyi Sect if it refused.

Tu Shan Jun probed True Lord Mingyu for information about the Hehuan Sect while continuing to refine pills, then killed him after learning he would not cooperate. Half a year after entering seclusion, Zhou Xinglie emerged with a Golden Core and learned the sect was preparing for war; he went to Pill Peak to ask Tu Shan Jun about Mingyu’s death.

• The demon suggested extracting Mingyu’s memories, and Tu Shan Jun warned it not to kill him before turning the idea toward the Hehuan Sect’s defenses and secrets.
• Tu Shan Jun questioned Mingyu about the Hehuan Sect and its main sect, then used his arts to influence Mingyu into revealing his memories over time.
• Zhou Xinglie learned from Xu Zhao that True Lord Mingyu had attacked Tu Shan Jun and been killed, leaving the sect to prepare for war.
• Zhou Xinglie visited Pill Peak, where the demon commented on his newly strengthened spiritual soul and his wife’s depleted physique.
• Tu Shan Jun permitted Zhou Xinglie to enter while he was refining pills.

Zhou Xinglie blamed himself for the crisis with the Hehuan Sect, but Tu Shan Jun told him the coming war stemmed from the region’s shifting powers. As True Lord Golden Ao and the Myriad Dharma Sect weighed their choices, the death of True Lord Black Rhinoceros suggested that the Eastern Sea Dragon Clan had entered the conflict, and Taiyi prepared to travel to the Three Mountains Region with Tu Shan Jun.

• Zhou Xinglie offered to take responsibility for the Hehuan Sect dispute, but Tu Shan Jun said the war was inevitable and urged him to stay and watch him refine pills.
• True Lord Golden Ao decided Golden Ao Palace would support Taiyi only if the Taiyi Sect could hold its ground, while the Myriad Dharma Sect refused to intervene.
• Three months later, True Lord Golden Ao told Taiyi that True Lord Black Rhinoceros had been killed by multiple powerful attackers.
• Taiyi suspected the Eastern Sea Dragon Clan had killed True Lord Black Rhinoceros and revealed that the Yuandao Alliance had invited him to the Three Mountains Region.
• Taiyi decided to accept the invitation, and Tu Shan Jun agreed to accompany him and add another layer of protection.

Tu Shan Jun bound a fiend to his service before the story shifted to Zhu Hao surveying Great Central City and the Taiyi Sect’s war preparations. Impressed by a five-hundred-zhang spirit ark, Zhu Hao and his father, Zhu Xianzong, planned to secure one as a heavy weapon and went to meet their host.

• Tu Shan Jun bound the fiend with Yin Soul Art, and the fiend agreed to follow him while warning him to worry about himself.
• Zhu Hao rode through Great Central City with Huang Pu, who described the city’s prosperity and the impending war between the Taiyi Sect and the Hehuan Sect.
• Zhu Hao saw a giant spirit ark during a Taiyi Sect drill and learned it was a five-hundred-zhang warship powered by a Nascent Soul Patriarch.
• Zhu Hao reported to Zhu Xianzong that the city was prepared for war and argued that the Yuandao Alliance should obtain a giant warship.
• Zhu Xianzong and Zhu Hao went to meet the people who had arrived to see them.

Taiyi secretly negotiated with the Primordial Dao Alliance, the Pill Alliance, and the Artifact Alliance for support against Hehuan Sect. As he returned to his sect, six Nascent Soul cultivators ambushed him and demanded that he reveal everything he had learned at the Star Abyss Ruins.

• Taiyi offered the internal-combustion pill furnace catalog to whoever helped him, asking for Taiyi Sect to become the Primordial Dao Alliance’s main supplier and receive a three-share stake in trade with the Eastern Wasteland Realm.
• Tu Shan Jun told Lord East Sea that Taiyi’s forces were preparing to act, and Lord East Sea explained that Taiyi was rushing to change the dangerous situation before his own death.
• Taiyi left Great Central City and flew toward his sect without revealing his identity or slowing down.
• Six Nascent Soul cultivators intercepted Taiyi in a plain and sealed the area with a formation.
• Taiyi recognized the Wan brothers among the attackers, who demanded that he recount everything he had seen and gained at the Star Abyss Ruins.

Taiyi held off the Great True Lords and the Wan brothers while probing them about the deaths tied to the Star Abyss Ruins. Golden Turtle True Lord arrived and attacked the assailants, and Taiyi’s concealed ally appeared as the battle continued.

• Taiyi used spirit-treasure armor to withstand a Great True Lord’s flying sword while the Wan brothers’ formation suppressed him.
• Taiyi questioned the attackers about their ambushes and whether they had killed True Lord Black Ox.
• Golden Turtle True Lord arrived, broke the Wan brothers’ formation, and charged the smaller Great True Lord after accusing them of killing Black Ox.
• Taiyi noted that the two leaders had anticipated an ambush and remained cautious while Golden Turtle fought them.
• A towering figure appeared beside Taiyi after a hoarse voice called him Junior Brother.

Tu Shan Jun killed the Wan brothers’ attackers while Taiyi faced two Great True Lords and feared for Chen Danming. With enemy reinforcements approaching, Tu Shan Jun began forming a Dharma Domain to end the battle quickly.

• Tu Shan Jun appeared before Wan Liuchang, tore out his heart, and killed him before Wan Liuyun could intervene.
• Wan Liuyun burned his essence blood and absorbed Wan Liufang’s Nascent Soul and Yin Spirit to raise his cultivation, but Tu Shan Jun survived his Killing Slash and killed him.
• Tu Shan Jun took the brothers’ black jade formation pieces, then returned to Taiyi as the surviving Nascent Soul cultivators faced them.
• True Lord Golden Turtle refused Taiyi’s offer to end the fight, while the shorter Great True Lord warned that reinforcements were on their way and Chen Danming was in danger.
• Tu Shan Jun formed a hand seal and invoked the Heavenly Dao Seal, Dharma Domain, and Divine Spirit's Bright Death Realm.

Tu Shan Jun fought Ao Mengsheng, a powerful East Sea body cultivator, while Ao Cangmeng and the other cultivators watched. Their opening clash left both of them badly wounded, and Ao Mengsheng transformed into a dragon-like form as the battle continued.

• Ao Cangmeng covered the battlefield in darkness, then summoned an ocean-like canopy that pressed against Tu Shan Jun’s domain.
• Ao Cangmeng’s tall clansman, Ao Mengsheng, challenged Tu Shan Jun while Golden Turtle held back and Grand Unity observed.
• Ao Mengsheng and Tu Shan Jun traded blows, and each injured the other with their weapons.
• Ao Mengsheng drew a blade from his crutch and attacked Tu Shan Jun’s neck, but Tu Shan Jun blocked the strike.
• Ao Mengsheng roared and expanded into a dragon-like form as his blade transformed into a silver moon.

Tu Shan Jun fought Ao Mengsheng and Ao Cangmeng, using his Soul Banner and Yin Gods to restrain the dragon before destroying Ao Mengsheng’s body and capturing his Nascent Soul Yin God. A peak Nascent Soul cultivator arrived, but Tu Shan Jun refused to refine Wan Liuyun and instead began crushing the mystic jade protecting him, leaving it cracked.

• Tu Shan Jun lost both legs to Ao Mengsheng’s dragon form, then regenerated and summoned his shrines and Yin spirits with the Soul Banner.
• Tu Shan Jun broke free of the dragon’s assault and struck Ao Cangmeng with a powerful punch, while True Lord Golden Ao blocked the mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator from intervening.
• A peak Nascent Soul cultivator tore through Tu Shan Jun’s domain as Tu Shan Jun’s punch destroyed Ao Mengsheng’s body and captured his Nascent Soul Yin God.
• Tu Shan Jun’s Ghost King Reborn state ended, and he told Taiyi he could still win without refining Wan Liuyun.
• Tu Shan Jun repeatedly bit Wan Liuyun’s mystic jade until its surface finally cracked.

Tu Shan Jun absorbed the Wan brothers into his soul banner and faced a peak Nascent Soul elder’s True Dragon Treasure Art without defending himself. Though the attack stripped away nearly all his flesh, he suddenly restored his body and struck at the elder.

• Tu Shan Jun shattered Wan Liuyun’s black jade seal and drew the Wan brothers’ Nascent Soul Yin Spirits into his soul banner.
• The Eastern Sea elder unleashed the True Dragon Treasure Art, Heavenly Dragon’s Wrath, at Tu Shan Jun.
• Eastern Sea Lord watched the battle and recognized the eight Nascent Soul Yin Spirits gathered in the sky.
• Tu Shan Jun took the dragon roar’s full force, leaving only his bones and exposed organs as onlookers thought he had died.
• Tu Shan Jun sprang toward the Eastern Sea elder and restored his body as he threw a punch.

Tu Shan Jun overwhelmed Ao Zhen after reaching peak Nascent Soul, then released Ao Mengsheng and let the East Sea cultivators leave to avoid escalating the conflict. On the journey back, Taiyi regretted holding Tu Shan Jun back, who revealed that he had reached an agreement with the East Sea Lord.

• Tu Shan Jun revealed his peak Nascent Soul strength and shattered Ao Zhen's arm in their clash.
• Tu Shan Jun suppressed Ao Zhen with his Soul-Devouring True Intent and defeated his Heavenly Dragon Rends the Void attack with one punch.
• Tu Shan Jun offered to release Ao Mengsheng if Ao Zhen and his people withdrew, and Ao Zhen accepted.
• True Lord Golden Ao thanked Tu Shan Jun and questioned Taiyi about what had happened in the Star Abyss Ruins before departing.
• Tu Shan Jun brought Taiyi back to the sect, where Taiyi said he had held his junior brother back and Tu Shan Jun revealed he had reached an agreement with the East Sea Lord.

Tu Shan Jun discovered the expanded powers of his peak True Lord realm as he carried Taiyi toward Dazhong City to check on the Yuandao Alliance cultivators. They found Zhu Xianzong and Zhu Hao fleeing, and Zhu Xianzong learned that the formidable pursuer was actually Taiyi’s companion.

• Taiyi explained that his dwindling mana had forced him to let the East Sea Nascent Soul cultivators return, while their three Attendant Nascent Souls had strengthened Tu Shan Jun.
• Tu Shan Jun tested his vastly expanded divine sense and discussed the abilities and limitations of peak True Lords with Taiyi.
• Taiyi asked Tu Shan Jun to take him to Dazhong City to look for the Yuandao Alliance cultivators who might have survived the attack.
• Zhu Xianzong and Zhu Hao fled from a powerful aura, and Zhu Xianzong urged his son to escape while he held off their pursuer.
• Tu Shan Jun and Taiyi caught up with them, and Zhu Xianzong recognized Taiyi but cautiously asked who Tu Shan Jun was.

Taiyi escorted Zhu Xianzong back to the Yuan Dao Alliance after persuading him that the Hehuan Sect was behind the attacks and promising support against it. At a welcome banquet, Alliance Leader Xunfengzi secretly recognized that Tu Shan Jun was a peak True Lord, not an ordinary True Lord.

• Taiyi explained that three cultivators had attacked him and that Tu Shan Jun and Golden Ao helped drive them off, while Zhu Xianzong revealed that Chen Danming had been killed.
• Taiyi blamed the Hehuan Sect for the attack, urged Zhu Xianzong to unite against it, and promised to escort him back to the Yuan Dao Alliance.
• After recovering in Great Central City for half a month, Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun escorted Zhu Xianzong to Tianyuan, where Alliance Leader Qi Yuan welcomed them.
• Qi Yuan hosted a banquet for Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun, then arranged for a council to discuss important matters the following day.
• After Taiyi and Tu Shan Jun left, Xunfengzi told the Yuan Dao Alliance leaders that Tu Shan Jun was not merely a True Lord but a peak True Lord.

Tu Shan Jun and Tai Yi discussed the Origin Dao Alliance’s leadership and the risks to their plans before Tu Shan Jun met the Eastern Sea Lord inside the soul banner. The Eastern Sea Lord swore to keep peace with the Taiyi Sect and offered to help Tu Shan Jun reach Spirit Transformation in exchange for the true dragon reverse scale, leaving Tu Shan Jun wary and undecided.

• Tai Yi explained the Origin Dao Alliance’s hierarchy to Tu Shan Jun and worried that Qi Yuan might summon powerful allies, so they planned to press for negotiations and consider courting the Pill Alliance and Artifact Alliance.
• Tu Shan Jun and Tai Yi suspected that the Eastern Sea’s search for its lord might be connected to the true dragon reverse scale and decided Tu Shan Jun should probe the Eastern Sea Lord’s intentions.
• Tu Shan Jun met the Eastern Sea Lord in the soul banner and confirmed their agreement: the Eastern Sea flood dragons would not invade the Taiyi Sect, and the Eastern Sea Lord would not attack Tu Shan Jun during his tribulation.
• The Eastern Sea Lord swore a Heavenly Dao oath and offered to teach Tu Shan Jun how to attain Spirit Transformation and refine a Dao Soldier if Tu Shan Jun returned the true dragon reverse scale.
• Tu Shan Jun declined to commit, saying he would consider the offer because he suspected a possible trap and did not know the scale’s purpose.