Chapter Summaries

The petite Princess Consort warned Chu Qing that the Law Net had become the focus of a continent-wide struggle, but Chu Qing still insisted he wanted to destroy it. As she teleported him back to Stone Ridge Mountain, Great Emperor Sima Qingshan arrived too late and angrily accused Chu Qing of leading him in circles.

• The petite Princess Consort warned Chu Qing that the Innate God and Demon he had sealed would seek revenge because it had burned its imperishable divine light.
• She explained that the Law Net was built with contributions from Outsiders and other forces, and that organizations across the continent were fighting to control it.
• Chu Qing insisted he still wanted to destroy the Law Net, so the petite Princess Consort urged him to seek resources in the restricted zone and grow stronger first.
• Chu Qing chose to return to Stone Ridge Mountain to speed up his imbuement of the Liuli River, and the petite Princess Consort began teleporting him.
• Great Emperor Sima Qingshan arrived after Chu Qing vanished and shouted angrily that Chu Qing had led him around in circles.

Sima Qingshan raced toward Stone Ridge Mountain to kill Chu Qing, while Chu Qing entered another ordeal after gaining fragmented memories from the Three-headed Dog-headed God and Demon. A dozen experts searching Stone Ridge Mountain were swept into the same ordeal, where they and Chu Qing faced monsters emerging from scarlet seawater.

• Sima Qingshan used the Law Net and incense to speed toward Stone Ridge Mountain, determined to catch Chu Qing before he escaped.
• Chu Qing examined the Three-headed Dog-headed God and Demon's fragmented memories, sealed them away, and prepared for a new ordeal.
• A gaunt old man led more than a dozen New Realm experts across Stone Ridge Mountain in search of an unparalleled treasure, and they found abnormalities on over a hundred mountains.
• The experts' ordeals arrived together, and before they could flee, phantoms appeared and drew them into the ordeal alongside Chu Qing.
• On a small island amid a boundless ocean, the group questioned Chu Qing, then fought monsters transformed by the scarlet seawater while Chu Qing observed.

Chu Qing joined a group of Top Experts fighting endless monsters in a calamity and discovered that killing the monsters only brought stronger ones. When the calamity failed to end, he decided to clear out every enemy himself, leaving the island covered in ash as more monsters surged from the sea.

• Chu Qing joined the experts' Army Formation after they told him the calamity had a time limit and the monsters could not all be killed.
• Chu Qing killed monsters with ease, prompting the gaunt old man to warn that stronger monsters arrived whenever one died.
• Chu Qing stopped killing and knocked the monsters away, but the experts grew badly injured as the calamity continued.
• Chu Qing left the Army Formation and held back the monsters while the experts rested, and the gaunt old man suspected he wanted the Divine Court treasure.
• Chu Qing concluded that the calamity required every enemy to be killed and began slaughtering the monsters, turning them to ash as more surged onto the island.

Chu Qing survived wave after wave of increasingly powerful monsters during the calamity, while the experts on the island watched in awe. After the monsters vanished, Ba Liuli arrived and recognized Chu Qing from a painting in a palace, where the person had been named Chu Qing.

• Chu Qing slaughtered monsters for hours as their strength increased, and the gaunt old man and the other experts debated whether to follow him.
• Fish-headed giants attacked, and Chu Qing used the Divine Blade Technique to destroy them, leaving behind valuable Black Gold Sand.
• The monsters disappeared and the experts thanked Chu Qing, but he warned them that the calamity was not over.
• Ba Liuli arrived in a jeweled carriage with armored shrimp soldiers and crab generals, and the experts found their Force suppressed in her presence.
• Ba Liuli called Chu Qing Emperor and said that a person resembling him in a palace painting had been named Chu Qing.

During the calamity, Chu Qing met Ba Liuli, who revealed her sect master was Liuli and gave him a crystalline antler before vanishing. After returning to Stone Ridge Mountain with the antler and Black Gold Sand, Chu Qing faced the experts he had saved, who offered to follow him, and asked what they really wanted.

• Ba Liuli recognized Chu Qing, resisted his killing intent, and told him her sect treasured a portrait of him as a person from the future.
• Chu Qing questioned Ba Liuli about her sect and sect master, but the calamity began to collapse before she could answer fully.
• Ba Liuli said her sect master was Liuli, identified herself as Ba Liuli, and asked Chu Qing to tell Liuli that she missed her before vanishing into ash.
• Ba Liuli's antler remained with Chu Qing, strengthening his bloodline and physique, and the calamity's Black Gold Sand appeared with him when he returned to the real world.
• The gaunt old man and the other experts thanked Chu Qing for saving them and offered to follow him.
• Chu Qing asked the experts what they hoped to obtain from him.

Chu Qing recruited several former empire experts by giving them cultivation methods and sending them to Yue Manlou, then headed for the forbidden zone to enter a calamity. Great Emperor Sima Qingshan arrived after Chu Qing had left and learned from the Innate Gods and Demons that Chu Qing was heading toward the Great Zhou Empire.

• The gaunt old man and his companions asked to follow Chu Qing and receive guidance, and Chu Qing agreed on the condition that they work for him and not betray him.
• Chu Qing gave the group cultivation methods from the Square Inch Gathering and sent them to Yue Manlou at the source of the Liuli River.
• After hearing about the supposed Divine Court treasure, Chu Qing explained that his Way of Mountains and Rivers had transformed the mountains.
• Chu Qing told Mingyue and Hongxiu he was going to the forbidden zone to enter a New Realm calamity, then rushed there alone.
• Sima Qingshan arrived at Chu Qing's mountain after he had left, and the Innate Gods and Demons told him Chu Qing was heading toward the Great Zhou Empire.

Chu Qing entered the forbidden zone to trigger a calamity and returned to Liuli’s era, where he finally found her after searching the empty wilderness. He told Liuli about the future and asked her to preserve or derive the complete scripture, while Sima Qingshan was swept away by a calamity trying to pursue him.

• Sima Qingshan followed Chu Qing to the forbidden-zone boundary, entered despite the danger, and vanished when a calamity struck.
• Chu Qing let the forbidden zone’s darkness invade him, triggered a calamity, and arrived in Liuli’s historical fragment.
• After failing to find Liuli on the snow mountain or along the river, Chu Qing wandered the wilderness and recited the scriptures until Liuli appeared.
• Liuli explained that people avoided places where she stayed and later came searching for treasures, and she described the vast world and its giant beasts.
• Chu Qing told Liuli about Ba Liuli and warned her that the Reincarnation God and Demon would kill her disciple.
• Chu Qing asked Liuli to place the complete scripture in the Liuli River or a forbidden zone, and Liuli promised to do so or derive a copy herself.

Chu Qing left the Restricted Zone after resisting its corruption and returned to Stone Ridge Mountain, while the Divine Court’s search for him descended into accusations and confusion. With powerful outsiders disrupting his cultivation and endangering Mingyue and Zhao Hongxiu, he summoned Yue Manlou and the other new-realm experts to guard the mountain.

• Chu Qing studied Liuli’s changed history, waited in the Restricted Zone, and escaped its corruption with the Qiming Star Scripture before returning to Stone Ridge Mountain.
• An Innate God and Demon found Chu Qing’s location through the Divine Court Law Net, but could not reach Sima Qingshan and accused Goddess King Bailu of being a traitor.
• The Law Net’s Innate Gods and Demons disbelieved Bailu’s explanation that Cui Moyang had captured her, and their accusations drove her to declare she would become an infiltrator.
• Sima Qingshan emerged from the Restricted Zone after more than a month, learned Chu Qing was at Stone Ridge Mountain, and raced there in fury.
• Chu Qing found experts searching Stone Ridge Mountain for Divine Court treasures and threatening Mingyue and Zhao Hongxiu, so he asked Yue Manlou to bring the new-realm experts to guard the mountain.

Zhao Hongxiu organized Chu Qing’s followers to guard Stone Ridge Mountain and recruit powerful outsiders, but Yue Manlou’s group was badly beaten by members of Sky Garden. After Chu Qing rescued them, the group realized they were outmatched and began considering how to find Otherkin for him.

• Yue Manlou led Chu Qing’s experts to Stone Ridge Mountain, where Zhao Hongxiu stopped them from disturbing Chu Qing’s cultivation and assigned them to guard the peaks.
• Zhao Hongxiu ordered the experts to recruit outsiders willing to join them, hoping to strengthen Chu Qing’s forces and have recruits help create earth veins.
• Yue Manlou’s team clashed with a group from Sky Garden and suffered severe injuries before Chu Qing arrived and drove the attackers away.
• Chu Qing told Yue Manlou’s group to cultivate harder and directed them to get whatever resources they needed from Zhao Hongxiu.
• The gaunt old man explained that Sky Garden was a powerful second-tier organization with many Otherkin, prompting Yue Manlou to wonder where they could find an Otherkin for Chu Qing.

Yue Manlou used Outsider Materials to become an Outsider, alarming the top experts who knew the transformation could bring death, madness, or disappearance. As Chu Qing continued cultivating, he postponed meeting them for ten days.

• Yue Manlou decided to become an Outsider so he could better assist Chu Qing, and Zhao Hongxiu gave him Outsider Materials.
• Yue Manlou emerged from seclusion as an Outsider, displaying his power to create moons and travel through their light.
• The gaunt old man and the other top experts warned Zhao Hongxiu that Yue Manlou might be in danger because Martial Arts practitioners who became Outsiders could suffer terrible fates.
• Zhao Hongxiu explained that Chu Qing had advised her to take the Unorthodox Path if she wanted to become an Outsider, then agreed to contact him.
• Chu Qing, focused on advancing the Peak of Mountains and his Mountain Water Path, told Zhao Hongxiu to have the experts return in ten days.

While Chu Qing was in seclusion, Yue Manlou became a powerful Outsider, but Chu Qing discovered that Yue Manlou was only a human skin animated by an obsession. Experts explained how such human skins persisted and suggested the era might be beginning like the Great Emperor Era.

• Yue Manlou celebrated becoming an Outsider and urged the skinny old man and the others to follow his example, but they refused.
• Zhao Hongxiu summoned Chu Qing on the eleventh day and told him that something had happened to Yue Manlou.
• Chu Qing examined Yue Manlou and found that a glowing slit on his neck revealed only a sheet of human skin, though it retained Yue Manlou's memories and powers.
• Yue Manlou spoke of serving Chu Qing and building a Lineage, then resumed patrolling the mountains while Chu Qing concealed his grief.
• The skinny old man and other experts explained that Yue Manlou's human skin was likely sustained by an obsession and could vanish once it was fulfilled.
• A young married female expert recalled that similar human skins appeared at the start of the Great Emperor Era and suggested their own era might be beginning.

Chu Qing confirmed that the world had entered the Golden Age and urged his allies to cultivate before heading to a forbidden zone. At Tang Wuming’s Divine Hall, Tang Wuming asked whether he could still lead a rebellion, and Chu Qing advised him on winning over believers in Gods and Devils.

• Chu Qing confirmed that the current era was the Golden Age, and he urged everyone to strengthen their cultivation.
• The gaunt old man suggested that Chu Qing visit forbidden zones for Exotic Flowers and Herbs, and Chu Qing agreed to go alone.
• Chu Qing instructed Yue Manlou to guard the mountains and protect Mingyue and Hongxiu before leaving.
• Chu Qing visited the Divine Hall at the quarry, where Tang Wuming asked whether he could still rebel without soldiers.
• Chu Qing told Tang Wuming to let believers keep their faith and explained brainwashing and ideological theories to him.

Chu Qing ordered Sima Zhao to distribute improved secret medicine for free and use invented gods to divert worship from the Divine Court Law Net. As Chu Qing traveled toward the Imperial Capital, Sima Qingshan tried to intercept him but learned the Law Net could not teleport him yet.

• Chu Qing learned that the secret medicine’s third version worked well but required ingredients that ordinary people could not afford, so he ordered the fourth version distributed for free, starting in villages.
• Sima Zhao proposed creating false temples and statues so people would worship fake gods instead of the Gods and Devils.
• Chu Qing approved the idea, suggested using Sima Zhao or animal figures as the false gods, and set out for the Imperial Capital on foot after failing to reach the Princess Consort.
• Sima Qingshan left the forbidden zone intent on attacking Chu Qing, then learned through the Law Net that Chu Qing was heading toward the Imperial Capital and Postnatal Gods and Devils had been sent to block him.
• Sima Qingshan asked the Law Net to teleport him ahead of Chu Qing, but it said it lacked the ability and told him to wait another month.

The Princess and Miss Heaven struggled to defend the Imperial Palace from Bai Qingyang and the Divine Court’s assault. As Chu Qing entered the besieged Imperial Capital, he headed toward the palace and swiftly destroyed two Gods and Devils.

• The Princess and Miss Heaven fought Bai Qingyang but were wounded and failed to heal, while the Imperial Guards fell into a worsening disadvantage.
• Bai Qingyang threatened to destroy the Imperial Guards and kill the palace officials unless the Princess submitted.
• Miss Heaven and the Princess both realized Chu Qing was their best hope of defeating Bai Qingyang.
• Chu Qing entered the Imperial Capital and continued toward the Imperial Palace as a God and Devil demanded that he kneel.
• Golden Toad Money coins sliced apart the Gate God of Vermilion Bird Street, turning it to ash.

Chu Qing fought his way through the Imperial Capital, forcing the battles there to cease, and reached the Imperial Palace. The Princess offered him the Emperor Seat, and when he sat down, his Profession Slot began flashing wildly.

• Chu Qing slaughtered the enfeoffed Gods and Devils sent after him until the Innate Gods and Demons used their authority to call them back.
• Chu Qing walked through a battle between the Imperial Guards and worshippers of gods, prompting both sides to stop fighting and spread a ceasefire throughout the Imperial Capital.
• Bai Qingyang prepared for the unknown expert approaching the Imperial Palace, while the Princess and the others waited inside.
• Chu Qing entered the palace, and the Princess offered him the Emperor Seat, saying he alone was qualified to sit there.
• Chu Qing sat on the Emperor Seat, and his Profession Slot began flashing wildly.

Chu Qing killed Bai Qingyang with a finger in the Imperial Palace after discovering a new framework for the Mountain Water Path. At Stone Ridge Mountain, Yue Manlou fought Great Emperor Sima Qingshan until Sima left for the Imperial Capital to pursue Chu Qing.

• Chu Qing gained a crude insight into the next step of the Mountain Water Path while sitting on the Emperor Seat.
• Bai Qingyang announced that he had come to kill Chu Qing, but Chu Qing struck first and killed him with a finger.
• Bai Qingyang recognized several secret inheritances in Chu Qing’s attack before turning to ash.
• At Stone Ridge Mountain, Yue Manlou fought Sima Qingshan, who had come to destroy Chu Qing’s foundations.
• The Innate Gods and Demons urged Sima Qingshan to go after Chu Qing in the Imperial Capital, so he left while Yue Manlou pursued him.

Chu Qing entered the forbidden zone and encountered a Morning Star group in a calamity he had experienced before. He memorized ten pages of their scripture before the calamity collapsed, then returned to the real world with the knowledge but no box.

• Chu Qing instructed Princess to disrupt the Divine Court's incense offerings before heading into the forbidden zone.
• Chu Qing recognized a Morning Star woman from the First Calamity and attacked the evils that surrounded her group.
• The woman gave Chu Qing a box containing a scripture called a Fire Seed, and the calamity's collapse revealed that the group was already dead.
• Chu Qing lit more than thirty sticks of scarlet sandalwood incense to extend the calamity and memorized ten pages of scripture.
• Chu Qing told the woman he was from the future and would eventually pass the scripture on to martial artists, then returned to the real world without the box.

Chu Qing created a candle flame by chanting the scripture, then reached the valley where the Fire Pit cleansed his contamination. He learned that Madam Jin and the others had joined Great Qian's Ninth Princess on an expedition to establish a bridgehead deep in the forbidden zone, but he could not get directions to them.

• Chu Qing translated and chanted the expanded scripture, creating a candle flame that could purge anomalies and evil but drained his Spirit and Energy.
• Chu Qing traveled deeper into the forbidden zone, killed the powerful evil beings that attacked him, and reached the valley where Madam Jin and the others had stayed.
• Chu Qing entered the valley, burned two evil corpses in its Fire Pit, and chanted the scripture to cleanse all contamination from his body.
• Chu Qing learned that Madam Jin and the others had been recruited by Great Qian's Ninth Princess to help establish a bridgehead in the forbidden zone with more than a hundred thousand low-level martial artists.
• Chu Qing asked for the expedition's location so he could help, but the man he questioned did not understand what coordinates were.

The Ninth Princess fought to keep her Mirror Moon Lake stronghold from falling as a growing horde of evils overwhelmed its defenses. She secured the experts’ commitment by promising them the lake’s future profits, but the survivors were ultimately driven to the lake’s edge with only a handful of Fire Pits left.

• The Ninth Princess hired experts and brought cannon fodder to Mirror Moon Lake, where she built a wall and set up Fire Pits around its supply of White Lotus Flowers.
• A new assault began, and Zuo Yan, Consort Mei, Madam Jin, Madam Shi, and the other experts fought the evils while the Ninth Princess’s defenders suffered heavy losses.
• The experts demanded more compensation, and the Ninth Princess promised to share Mirror Moon Lake’s treasures and future profits to persuade them to keep fighting.
• Madam Shi and the others secretly planned to seize the Ninth Princess’s three chests of Exotic Flowers and Herbs if the stronghold fell.
• The evils destroyed most of the Fire Pits and forced the defenders back to the edge of Mirror Moon Lake, where they urged the Ninth Princess to flee.

Chu Qing rescued the defenders at Mirror Moon Lake, slaughtered the evils, and helped Ninth Princess establish a new Fire Pit bridgehead. When an enormous face attacked and swallowed the towers, Chu Qing destroyed it with a candle flame, but a sphere fell from the sky.

• As New Realm experts fled and Ninth Princess refused to leave, Chu Qing arrived and told the survivors to guard the Fire Pit while he killed the evils.
• Ninth Princess ordered the Thousand Machine Path experts to build nine towers and place Fire Pits atop them, while Madam Shi and the others helped defend the site.
• After hours of fighting, a Great Terror approached, and Madam Jin, Zuo Yan, and Consort Mei fled with the crowd as Madam Shi carried Chu Qing toward the valley encampment.
• An enormous human face swallowed the tower Fire Pits and pursued Madam Shi and Chu Qing through the darkness.
• Chu Qing sent a candle flame into the face's eye, destroying it; the face turned to ashes, and a sphere fell from the sky.