Chapter Summaries

Chu Qing demanded that the Gods and Devils give up the Liuli River and Stone Ridge Mountain, but they refused, so he killed their summoned forms and threatened their worshippers. He declared that anyone who worshipped Gods and Devils would die, while the miniature Gods and Devils mocked him over the Divine Court law requiring worship.

• Chu Qing defeated the miniature Heaven-Shaking God and Green-faced God, then demanded that the Gods and Devils stay out of the Liuli River and Stone Ridge Mountain.
• When the two miniature Gods and Devils refused, Chu Qing killed them, and Heaven-Shaking God summoned a superior God and Devil, whom Chu Qing killed and dissected.
• Chu Qing repeatedly summoned and killed superior Gods and Devils, killing forty of fifty, while the survivors refused his demands.
• The Divine Court Law Net stopped sending Gods and Devils, and the remaining miniature Gods and Devils taunted Chu Qing, confident they could revive and grow stronger.
• Chu Qing unleashed his killing intent and vowed to kill anyone who worshipped Gods and Devils, but the miniature Gods and Devils mocked him because Divine Court law required everyone to worship them.

Chu Qing massacred worshippers and destroyed temples across the Imperial Capital to prove to the Gods and Devils that he would kill without hesitation unless they met his demands. He left the city drenched in blood, with the remaining miniature Gods and Devils terrified of him.

• Chu Qing arrived at the Imperial Capital’s largest temple and killed worshippers who admitted they worshipped Gods and Devils.
• Chu Qing summoned more believers to the temples, then strode through the city, creating blood lotuses that killed crowds and awakened Gods and Devils alike.
• As temples collapsed and bloody rain fell, some believers fled or broke free of the Divine Court Law Net, while others kept walking toward the temples.
• Chu Qing killed two miniature Gods and Devils when they condemned his brutality and threatened his place in history.
• Chu Qing continued walking for an hour, leaving the Imperial Capital scarlet and declaring that he had shown the Gods and Devils his resolve.

As Chu Qing's bloody slaughter terrorized the Imperial Capital, Princess and Miss Heaven considered his attack on the Gods and Devils' incense offerings. The Gods and Devils refused to yield, but grew uneasy at the possibility that Chu Qing might take his campaign to another city.

• A day and night of bloody rain left the Imperial Capital's survivors hiding indoors, while aristocratic families ordered their members not to go outside.
• Princess and Miss Heaven discussed Chu Qing's slaughter, and Princess argued that he could not fear the Gods and Devils if he eliminated the people who sustained them.
• The Gods and Devils learned that the Imperial Capital's incense offerings had fallen and discussed Chu Qing's actions through the Law Net.
• Most of the Gods and Devils agreed to let Chu Qing continue slaughtering the Imperial Capital, confident they could withstand its loss.
• A God or Devil warned that Chu Qing might move to another city, leaving the others uneasy about whether he would dare.

Chu Qing destroyed ten cities to force the Gods and Devils to surrender the Liuli River and Stone Ridge Mountain, then demanded that their local gods kneel and die. He gained the title Tyrant Dominator, which began merging with his other titles and had already doubled his lethality against acknowledged enemies and his cultivation speed.

• Chu Qing slaughtered believers across three cities while carrying eight lesser Gods and Devils, frightening the Divine Court Law Net into agreeing to yield the Liuli River and Stone Ridge Mountain.
• After the eight lesser Gods and Devils accepted the terms, Chu Qing demanded that the river gods and mountain gods kneel, worship him, and vanish into ashes and smoke.
• When the Gods and Devils refused, Chu Qing continued his purge, reaching five cities before they agreed to have the local gods kneel at the Liuli River's source.
• Chu Qing continued through the seventh city, causing the Gods and Devils to lose a third of their incense offerings and prompting people to break free of the Divine Court Law Net.
• Chu Qing declared he would destroy ten cities, completed the purge, and earned the title Tyrant Dominator as it began merging with Emperor Liuli and Peak of Mountains.
• The new title's first third fused, doubling Chu Qing's lethality against enemies he acknowledged and his cultivation speed; his Liuli River chains could now extend twenty thousand meters daily.

Chu Qing forced the Divine Court to make the mountain and water gods worship him, restoring his methods and strengthening his titles. He then threatened to destroy more cities unless the Gods and Devils supplied resources, and the chapter ended with him preparing to kill all but one of the seven avatars despite their feigned friendship.

• Chu Qing made tens of thousands of mountain and water gods worship him, and their offerings strengthened his titles.
• The mountain and water gods’ worship restored Chu Qing’s Peak of Mountains Method and Great River Method, and the Liuli River’s tainting resumed.
• Chu Qing threatened to destroy cities across the empires unless the Gods and Devils compensated him with resources for his cultivation.
• The Innate Gods and Demons agreed to send resources and told their seven avatars to placate Chu Qing while they waited for a brother to be born.
• The seven avatars returned and called Chu Qing their brother, but he said he would kill all of them except one liaison.

Chu Qing returned to Stone Ridge Mountain after slaughtering ten cities and drove the Gods and Devils away from the area. As he expanded the mountain’s earth veins to cultivate, Cui Moyang began interrogating the captured Goddess King Bailu.

• Chu Qing contacted the Princess Consort, then returned to Stone Ridge Mountain with Goddess King Bailu tied to his hair.
• Cui Moyang told Chu Qing he had been too softhearted by sparing the Great Gan Empire, and moved Goddess King Bailu to her own hair.
• Cui Moyang pinned Goddess King Bailu to a stone slab and began dissecting her while Chu Qing studied resources to improve the Peak of Mountains Method.
• Chu Qing used resources and the Earth Scripture to connect Stone Ridge Mountain’s earth veins, while Mingyue and Zhao Hongxiu built more veins.
• Chu Qing observed that connected peaks grew, their vegetation and animals flourished, medicinal herbs changed, and hidden pearls became more numerous.
• Chu Qing joined Mingyue and Zhao Hongxiu in forging earth veins to expand the network faster.

Sima Zhao created a secret medicine that freed people from the law net’s distorted cognition, and he and Tang Wuming spread its prescription across the Great Gan Empire. As the Gods and Devils tried to stop the spread and an Innate God and Demon arrived in the empire, Princess strengthened her control of the Imperial Capital while the aberrants fought the newcomer.

• Sima Zhao created a secret medicine that freed people from the law net’s influence, and Chu Qing gave him permission to use it as he wished.
• Sima Zhao used the medicine to free Tang Wuming, then the two spread its prescription, weakening the Gods and Devils’ hold on people.
• Princess secured the Imperial Palace, filled several departments with freed loyalists, and took firmer control of the Imperial Capital.
• Miss Heaven warned Princess that the law net and minor gods were growing stronger and that an Innate God and Demon had entered the Great Gan Empire.
• The aberrants attacked the Innate God and Demon to prevent him from reaching Chu Qing, while the Gods and Devils tightened the empire’s borders and hunted down the medicine’s users and distributors.
• The Gods and Devils discovered Sima Zhao had created the prescription and angrily complained that Chu Qing and Goddess King Bailu were undermining them.

Goddess King Bai Lu revealed what she knew about the Liuli River and Stone Ridge Mountain after she and Chu Qing and Cui Moyang swore an oath to the Emperor. She began explaining which God or Devil and Outsider had fallen at Stone Ridge Mountain, leaving that answer unfinished.

• Cui Moyang repeatedly dissected Goddess King Bai Lu until Bai Lu offered to reveal secrets in exchange for freedom.
• Chu Qing and Cui Moyang agreed to Bai Lu’s terms and swore an oath to the Emperor, each losing two-thirds of their Spirit and Energy.
• Bai Lu said the Liuli River contained a hidden residence holding Azure Netherworld’s resources and the sealed resources of a powerful creature.
• Bai Lu revealed that the residence’s greatest treasure was a sun or spark, while Chu Qing suspected it might be connected to a scripture taken into the forbidden zone.
• Bai Lu said Stone Ridge Mountain formed from the corpses of an Outsider and a God or Devil, and Chu Qing pressed her to identify them.

Goddess King Bai Lu explained the Mythological Era, the origins of Gods and Devils’ honorifics, and the prophecies behind the Golden Age. Chu Qing and Cui Moyang resolved to make their mark on the era, while Bai Lu believed they were destined to become its stepping stones.

• Goddess King Bai Lu recounted that the Mythological Era lasted over a million years and that Stone Ridge Mountain came from an Ancient God and Demon and part of an Otherkin’s immense strange treasure.
• Goddess King Bai Lu explained that Gods and Devils split themselves into gods and demons to gain supernatural authorities, and that Sons of Gods and Devils were created as another path toward evolving into Ancient Gods and Devils.
• Goddess King Bai Lu said the Golden Age began when Gods and Devils revived after divining the right time for advancement, and that it would bring a new martial realm, new Innate Gods and Devils, and humans claiming forbidden zones.
• Chu Qing vowed to dominate the Golden Age and seek ways to extend his lifespan, while Cui Moyang asked whether taking an Innate God and Demon’s body could transform her into one.
• Goddess King Bai Lu said that possessing an Innate God and Demon would only provide a puppet body, but Chu Qing and Cui Moyang still decided they would try to become Innate Gods and Devils.
• Goddess King Bai Lu privately judged that the Golden Age would last at least a hundred thousand years and that people of Chu Qing and Cui Moyang’s era would become its cannon fodder and stepping stones.

After learning about the Golden Age and sharing the news at the Square Inch Gathering, Chu Qing revealed that he had personally slaughtered the people of ten main cities. Luo Tian pondered his ambition as she ventured deeper into the forbidden zone, and Chu Qing’s third tribulation descended.

• Chu Qing freed Goddess King Bailu, who stayed on his mountain to avoid attracting the Divine Court Law Net’s attention and to cultivate.
• Chu Qing sent the information Goddess King Bailu had revealed to his allies and prepared for the next Square Inch Gathering.
• At the gathering, Chu Qing told the members about the Golden Age, and they discussed extending their lifespans and the era’s future.
• Chu Qing explained that he had personally wiped out ten main cities, and Luo Tian questioned whether he had been afraid.
• Luo Tian continued deeper into the forbidden zone, declaring that she would reach its source, while Chu Qing’s third tribulation began seven or eight days after the gathering.

Chu Qing entered a tribulation and met Liuli, who used an Incense Burner to draw him into an ancient fragment of history. He told her about the future before returning to his own time, suspecting the Incense Burner was what brought him there.

• Chu Qing entered the tribulation after its omens intensified and met Liuli, who revealed that her Incense Burner had locked onto him.
• Chu Qing told Liuli about the future, including the Millennial Tribulation and forbidden zones, and explained that her era might only be a fragment of history.
• Liuli asked Chu Qing to find records of her in future history, but he said he knew only of a Liuli River.
• Chu Qing discovered Liuli had never heard of martial artists, Innate Gods and Demons, or Ancient Gods and Demons, suggesting her era was extremely ancient.
• Liuli promised to use the Incense Burner to summon Chu Qing again, and he returned from the tribulation after its incense burned away.

Chu Qing asked Goddess King Bai Lu to search ancient records for Liuli, and the Divine Court mobilized empires across its Law Net to investigate. After growing stronger by assimilating mountains, Chu Qing received a historical record about Liuli and gave Bai Lu ten days to cultivate in seclusion.

• Chu Qing asked Goddess King Bai Lu to find history books and investigate whether Liuli had existed before the Mythological Era.
• Goddess King Bai Lu contacted the Innate Gods and Demons, who arranged resources for Chu Qing and ordered a search for records mentioning Liuli and the Liuli River.
• The search spread across more than a thousand empires as people combed through historical texts for Liuli.
• Chu Qing continued linking and forging earth veins at Stone Ridge Mountain, growing stronger with each mountain he assimilated.
• Goddess King Bai Lu brought Chu Qing a historical record about Liuli, then asked to cultivate in seclusion; Chu Qing granted her ten days.

Chu Qing discovered that the record of Liuli’s history had changed, raising the possibility that his actions could alter the past. As the Golden Age approached, he urged Zhao Hongxiu and Mingyue to grow stronger while the Princess’s allies reported that the Divine Court Law Net was gaining influence in the Imperial Capital.

• Chu Qing read a Golden Silk White Jade record stating that Liuli was born from a snow mountain, then watched its account change to say her method of birth was unknown and she traveled the Four Directions before sealing herself in a snow mountain.
• Chu Qing wondered whether his conversations with Liuli had changed history and considered what might happen if he gave her more information about the future.
• Zhao Hongxiu woke and went to make ley lines after Chu Qing warned her about the approaching Golden Age and the danger of the current environment.
• Zhao Hongxiu persuaded Mingyue to work hard on ley lines by reminding her that Chu Qing could be injured or killed if he did not grow stronger.
• Ying Hongzhuang told the Princess that anomalies were overwhelming the Anomaly Division, ordinary people increasingly worshipped Gods and Devils, and Mr. Chu’s secret medicine was losing its effectiveness.

Princess and Ying Hongzhu recruited independent and overlooked experts to help fight anomalies, offering New Realm secret medicine in exchange for service. A group of country-born prodigies agreed to pledge allegiance to Princess, while secretly hoping their newfound strength would let them overthrow the aristocratic families and challenge the Divine Court.

• Princess agreed to Ying Hongzhu's plan to use Martial Academy resources to train new martial artists for the Anomaly Division, while Ying Hongzhuang proposed recruiting independent experts and overlooked prodigies.
• Ying Hongzhuang set out to recruit independent experts, and Ying Hongzhu investigated potential recruits from the other departments and sorted them by their loyalties and ambitions.
• With Princess's approval, Ying Hongzhu promised New Realm secret medicine to experts who served the Empress for one month and gave her a handbook of Chu Qing's notes to guide the recruitment.
• More than a thousand country-born prodigies debated whether to pledge allegiance, with one speaker urging them to seize the medicine and unite against the aristocratic families and Divine Court.
• The prodigies pointed to Heaven and Earth and swore to pledge allegiance to Princess.

Ying Hongzhu formed the Imperial Guards from mid- and lower-ranking officials and gave them authority to purge anyone opposing the Empress. The next morning, they raided wealthy households and slaughtered anomalies, then killed an official who tried to stop them and declared his household for confiscation.

• Ying Hongzhu united decision-makers from the Imperial Capital's eleven departments into the Imperial Guards and granted them authority to act first and report later.
• Ying Hongzhu ordered the Imperial Guards to purge anomalies and warned them that anyone who obstructed them opposed the Empress.
• The Imperial Guards divided up the city, then raided wealthy households and purged anomalies the next morning.
• A Ministry of Personnel official tried to stop the Imperial Guards, but they accused him of opposing the Empress and killed him.
• An Imperial Guard identified the dead official as Ministry of Rites official Xiao Paohui and called for his household to be confiscated and raided.

The Princess used the Imperial Guards and newly appointed female officials to purge Great Gan’s institutions and demand taxes from the Divine Court. When the Gods and Devils resisted, she unleashed sweeping orders that plunged the Imperial Capital into chaos, leaving the Divine Court overwhelmed.

• The Imperial Guards cleared half the Imperial Capital’s anomalies, purged their superiors, and sent resources to the Imperial Palace.
• The Princess rewarded the Imperial Guards with a thousand New Realm secret medicines and replaced the middle and upper ranks of the twelve departments with former imperial concubines.
• The Princess ordered the Divine Court to pay one-third in taxes, provoking the Gods and Devils to mobilize their temple forces against her.
• The Princess imposed harsh taxes, ordered Underground Imperial Capital residents onto the surface, required worshippers to pay a daily tax, and sealed the city gates.
• The Imperial Guards looted and burned shops across the Imperial Capital, while the Divine Court struggled to feed the influx of people and keep order.

Chu Qing received Princess's plea for powerful experts as the Divine Court counterattacked the Imperial Capital, threatening to end the delay that had let him cultivate. He considered going to help, while Cui Moyang kept the defeated Goddess King Bailu as an earring.

• Chu Qing spent ten peaceful days tainting mountains and improving the Peak of Mountains Method while the Divine Court's next Innate God and Demon remained delayed.
• Goddess King Bailu awakened in a changed, stronger form and challenged Cui Moyang, hoping to defeat her before going after Chu Qing.
• Cui Moyang fought Goddess King Bailu until she won, then tied her hair and hung her from her ear as an earring.
• Chu Qing received a letter from Princess saying the Divine Court had begun its counterattack and the Imperial Guards needed powerful experts to hold the line.
• Chu Qing told Cui Moyang about the crisis and decided that Princess had to keep the Imperial Capital bleeding the Divine Court dry; Goddess King Bailu mocked him, and he flicked her forehead.

Cui Moyang went to the Imperial Capital and helped the Princess and their allies seal half of an Innate God and Demon, while the Princess Consort asked Chu Qing to use the Liuli River to suppress it. As Chu Qing arrived at the river’s source, Yue Manlou fled after mistaking him for a terrifying abnormality, then learned from Sima Fengchang that a revived Great Emperor intended to kill Chu Qing.

• Cui Moyang left for the Imperial Capital to support the Princess, while Chu Qing focused on cultivating his Mountain Water Path.
• The Princess Consort told Chu Qing that Cui Moyang and their allies had severely wounded an Innate God and Demon and asked him to use the Liuli River to seal it.
• Chu Qing agreed to risk his foundation and traveled with the Princess Consort to the Liuli River’s source near the Imperial Capital.
• Yue Manlou mistook Chu Qing’s arrival for an abnormality, attacked him, and fled when his blood sword was destroyed.
• Yue Manlou asked Sima Fengchang to help investigate, but Sima refused and warned that a revived Great Emperor had declared he would kill Chu Qing.

Yue Manlou returned to the Liuli River source and found Chu Qing preparing a ritual to strengthen his control over the river. As the Princess Consort and the others brought a chained God and Demon to be suppressed in the river, it recognized Chu Qing, broke free of its restraints, and attacked him.

• Yue Manlou rejected Sima Fengchang's attempt to turn him against Chu Qing and returned to guard the Liuli River source, where he reunited with Chu Qing and warned him that a Great Emperor planned to target him.
• Great Emperor Sima Qingshan deduced how to counter Chu Qing's techniques, but the Law Net redirected him from Stone Ridge Mountain to the Imperial Capital after Chu Qing moved to the river source.
• Chu Qing connected with the Liuli River and began a ritual that spread net-like power through the river, making his control stronger.
• The Princess Consort and the others arrived with a bound Three-headed Dog-headed God and Demon and began dragging it toward the Liuli River for suppression.
• The Three-headed Dog-headed God and Demon recognized Chu Qing, ignited its Innate Undying Spiritual Light, broke free with one arm, and swung at him.

Chu Qing used the Liuli River to suppress the Three-headed Dog-headed God and Demon, surviving its devastating attack. After the Princess Consort and the other Altered Ones left to support the battlefield, Chu Qing stayed behind to recover and improve his cultivation.

• The Three-headed Dog-headed God and Demon brought its giant hand down on Chu Qing, while the Princess Consort and the other Altered Ones struggled to stop it.
• Chu Qing empowered the sandalwood incense, sending 365 chain dragons from the Liuli River to restrain the God and Demon and keep its palm from crushing him.
• Though the God and Demon tore away most of Chu Qing’s flesh, he regenerated and used the chains to drag it beneath the Liuli River, where it eventually stopped struggling.
• Chu Qing confirmed the suppression had succeeded and said the Liuli River could potentially hold another Innate God and Demon, but the Princess Consort warned that another ambush would be difficult.
• The Princess Consort and the other Altered Ones hurried to the battlefield, while Chu Qing declined to join them and teased the Princess Consort with her miniature form.