Chapter Summaries

After killing Sima Qingshan, Chu Qing examined his belongings and uncovered secrets about the Gods and Devils and a diary filled with forbidden-zone coordinates. The diary ended with a warning about a dangerous nest that could grant immense power, and Chu Qing suspected its author had deliberately baited future readers into going there.

• Chu Qing killed Sima Qingshan, and Yue Manlou praised his strength before presenting three boxes of the dead emperor’s belongings.
• Chu Qing examined a Water-Avoiding Pearl and refined a Great Emperor’s seal, learning it could depose a grade one God or Devil and discovering the Demon Prison Law Net’s hidden purpose.
• Chu Qing opened the last box and found a diary whose author had recorded coordinates and discoveries from centuries of walking the forbidden zones.
• Chu Qing read that the diary’s female author had found a forbidden-zone overlord’s nest containing treasures, a spring that could make children Outsiders, and a cup of an Ancient God and Demon’s heart-blood.
• Chu Qing read the author’s warning not to visit the nest and suspected she had written it to lure future readers there.

Chu Qing sent Yue Manlou toward the Imperial Capital with a candle flame to aid the Outsiders against the Innate Gods and Demons, while the Princess learned that Chu Qing had killed Sima Qingshan and resolved to join him against the Divine Court. In the Demon Prison Law Net, revived Great Emperors debated their next move under the command of the ruthless Ancient and Modern Empress.

• Chu Qing remembered the name First Illumination Person, then gave Yue Manlou a candle flame and ordered him to find the Outsider Princess Consort and use it against the Gods and Devils.
• Yue Manlou set off for the Imperial Capital, while the Princess received reports confirming that Chu Qing had killed Sima Qingshan at Stone Ridge Mountain.
• The Princess learned that Chu Qing and Sima Qingshan had killed each other through a brutal headbutting contest and resolved to help Chu Qing purge the Divine Court from her empire.
• Revived Great Emperors discussed gathering more incense offerings and waiting until the Outsiders were near defeat before helping them attack the Innate Gods and Demons.
• The Ancient and Modern Empress rejected the Great Emperors’ doubts and revealed her history as a conqueror who had once joined the Outsiders to slaughter more than a thousand Innate Gods and Demons.

Yue Manlou delivered Chu Qing’s dwindling fire seed to the Princess Consort during the battle between the otherworlders and the Innate Gods and Demons. She planted it inside a wounded God and Demon, which healed its injuries before suddenly letting out a piercing scream.

• The Ancient and Modern Empress deduced a fragment of Chu Qing’s future and secretly traveled to the Imperial Capital to watch for him.
• The Innate Gods and Demons agreed to revive Hundred-Eyed to kill Chu Qing and focused their incense offerings on nurturing him.
• Yue Manlou reached the astral-wind battlefield and gave the Princess Consort Chu Qing’s fire seed, warning that it would last only ten more minutes.
• The Princess Consort contacted Chu Qing, who explained the fire seed could harm powerful evils and offered to help seal a God and Demon if it worked.
• The Princess Consort slipped the fire seed into a wounded God and Demon, which healed its wounds before screaming in agony.

Chu Qing and the Others sealed the Ghost Scorpion God and Demon beneath seven mountains, then Chu Qing reinforced the seal through the earth veins. After learning that scorpions might feed on the captive demon, he gathered followers to head for the Imperial Capital and hunt Gods and Devils.

• The Princess Consort and the Others dragged the wounded God and Demon to Stone Ridge Mountain, where Chu Qing began a ritual to seal it.
• Chu Qing used seven Cold Pond dragons and seven mountains to bring the God and Demon to its knees and suppress it.
• Chu Qing linked the mountains to earth veins, strengthening the seal and healing its cracks as scorpions emerged from the stones.
• The Princess Consort identified the captive as a Ghost Scorpion God and Demon and explained that the scorpions might feed on its flesh, though its indestructible true spirit could not escape.
• Chu Qing asked the Princess Consort to collect essence blood from Innate Gods and Demons, then told Mingyue to gather his followers for a trip to the Imperial Capital to kill Gods and Devils.

Chu Qing led more than ten thousand experts toward the Imperial Capital, prompting its Divine Court officials to prepare a defense. Before they could act, Qian Shanliu Huo arrived, took control of the Divine Court, and began gathering detailed information on Chu Qing.

• Chu Qing left Stone Ridge Mountain with more than ten thousand experts while Zhao Hongxiu and Mingyue stayed behind to guard it.
• The Divine Court’s fifth-generation grand officials decided to use God-Worshippers and Enfeoffment Gods and Devils to stop Chu Qing from reaching the Imperial Capital.
• The Divine Court Law Net summoned Qian Shanliu Huo, who announced that he would take control of Great Qian’s Divine Court.
• Qian Shanliu Huo demanded that the fifth-generation grand officials surrender their authority, then dismissed them when they complied.
• Qian Shanliu Huo took the throne and ordered the Divine Court to collect every available detail about Chu Qing.

Qian Shanliu Huo studied Chu Qing and ordered waves of Gods and Devils to intercept him, hoping to wear down his anger before preparing a killing blow. Chu Qing's party continued toward the Imperial Capital, while Qian Shanliu Huo resolved to send out fifth-rank Gods and Devils next.

• Qian Shanliu Huo examined Chu Qing's history and ordered lower-ranked Gods and Devils to intercept him, temples to be inspected, and the city's Gods and Devils to prepare for battle.
• Chu Qing's party killed thousands of Enfeoffment Gods and Demons, whose deaths became permanent, and Chu Qing let his followers keep the spoils.
• Chu Qing tried washing his divine weapons with God and Demon blood, but his Profession Slot did not acknowledge the blood.
• Chu Qing explained that the Divine Court was sending cannon fodder to drain his anger before hiding an expert among stronger attackers.
• Qian Shanliu Huo monitored the battles and their duration, then ordered fifth-rank Gods and Devils to die in the next attack before he delivered a killing blow.

Qian Shanliu Huo led an army and the sixth-generation dukes and ministers into an ambush against Chu Qing, hoping to use him as a whetstone. Chu Qing broke the trap and charged straight at Qian Shanliu Huo, who unleashed his power and rushed to meet him.

• Qian Shanliu Huo armed himself with a divine sword and armor empowered by phantom Heaven-Connecting Paths, then ordered the sixth-generation dukes and ministers to hide among an army of Gods and Devils and ambush Chu Qing.
• Qian Shanliu Huo approached Chu Qing while the sixth-generation dukes and ministers closed in, and all twelve launched attacks as Qian Shanliu Huo struck at Chu Qing's mind with battle intent and sword intent.
• Qian Shanliu Huo's thoughts wandered, allowing Chu Qing to disrupt his battle intent; he tried to recover and used a sonic art to aid the ambush.
• Chu Qing dodged the ministers' killing trap, blasted the Three Dukes away, and smashed through the army as he charged toward Qian Shanliu Huo.
• Qian Shanliu Huo summoned three hundred and sixty phantom Heaven-Connecting Paths and charged at Chu Qing, declaring that he would use Chu Qing's head to open a new path.

Chu Qing and Qian Shanliu Huo fought through the army until Qian Shanliu Huo trapped Chu Qing and his summoned future selves in his Heaven-Connecting Sword Ring. Chu Qing resolved to find a way to break the ring head-on, while Qian Shanliu Huo also sought a decisive victory to open his path.

• Chu Qing and Qian Shanliu Huo traded attacks amid the army, each using powerful secret inheritances without gaining the advantage.
• Qian Shanliu Huo realized Chu Qing could summon a future self, but Chu Qing distracted him by claiming he had opened his own spot in the Square Inch Gathering and summoned that future self.
• Qian Shanliu Huo revealed three hundred and sixty-five Heaven-Connecting Paths and formed a Sword Dao ring that trapped Chu Qing and both future Chu Qings.
• Chu Qing tried to lure Qian Shanliu Huo into a counterattack, but Qian Shanliu Huo saw through him, and the two future selves soon disappeared.
• Qian Shanliu Huo threatened to exhaust Chu Qing, but Chu Qing trusted his recovery and decided to use the ring as a trial while searching for its weakness.

Chu Qing killed Qian Shanliu Huo after exploiting the moment his Heaven-Connecting Path advanced, while Qiyue escaped with his remains. At her master’s mountain hideout, the black-robed man identified Chu Qing as the person who had defeated Qiyue’s clone and ordered her to create another one and infiltrate Myth.

• Qiyue blocked Princess and Ying Hongzhuang from disturbing Qian Shanliu Huo, then fought Princess in the sky as the armies clashed outside the Imperial Capital.
• Qian Shanliu Huo opened his three hundred and sixty-sixth Heaven-Connecting Path, and Chu Qing attacked during the brief moment when he struggled to control his new strength.
• Chu Qing shattered Qian Shanliu Huo’s sword-path mirror, used his Fire Seed and hundreds of secret inheritances to destroy Qian Shanliu Huo’s foundation, then tore off his head and spine.
• Qiyue carried Qian Shanliu Huo’s body into a forbidden zone and brought it to her black-robed master, who recognized Chu Qing’s flame as the cause of death and ordered her to make a replacement clone and send it into Myth.
• The black-robed man revealed that he had once swallowed a Martial Arts Outsider whose remaining human skin served Chu Qing, and Qiyue privately vowed to find allies and eventually kill her master.

After killing Qian Shanliu Huo, Chu Qing gained a deeper understanding of her sword path ring and went with the Princess to seek ten tons of God and Demon blood. The blood from Enfeoffment Gods and Demons proved unusable, and none of the temples’ Innate Gods and Demons answered their summons, leaving Chu Qing unsure where to find the blood he needed.

• Chu Qing explained that killing Qian Shanliu Huo had helped him grasp the framework of her sword path ring, while the Princess warned that Qiyue might seek revenge.
• Chu Qing told the Princess he needed her Emperor Seat and ten tons of God and Demon blood, and she agreed to help him.
• Chu Qing tested blood from the defeated Gods and Devils but found that it did not meet his ritual’s requirements.
• The Princess took Chu Qing to temples worshipping Innate Gods and Demons, but the priests could not summon any of them, so Chu Qing destroyed the temples one by one.
• After visiting every temple of Innate Gods and Demons in the Imperial Capital without success, Chu Qing worried that he could not safely gather the ten tons of blood he needed.

Chu Qing went to Great Qian’s Divine Court to demand Gods and Devils blood so he could use the Emperor Seat’s Profession Slot, while Thousand Heart Knots erupted into an internal dispute over Qian Shanliu Huo’s death. The blood he received proved useless, and he ordered Princess to kill two-thirds of the remaining officials.

• Chu Qing told Princess he would demand Gods and Devils blood from the Divine Court, then brought her, Stone Ridge Mountain experts, and Imperial Guards to its headquarters.
• The Divine Court’s dukes and ministers panicked at Chu Qing’s arrival, then knelt and begged him to spare their lives.
• Thousand Heart Knots’ higher-ups argued over Qian Shanliu Huo’s death and the competing Dao Lineages, then learned Chu Qing had gone to the Divine Court for blood.
• Chu Qing examined more than thirty kinds of Gods and Devils blood, but none gained the Profession Slot’s approval.
• After Princess asked whether to wipe out the surviving officials, Chu Qing ordered her to kill two-thirds of them and leave some to do the work.

Chu Qing discovered that the Imperial Capital’s fake temple idols had become self-aware wild Gods and Devils whose blood could serve as ritual material. After collecting ten tons of their blood, he forged a divine weapon Emperor Seat, while the Empress arranged for new idols of herself to be worshipped.

• Chu Qing ordered the Empress to bring temple idols to him, and she found that the stone statues had grown astonishingly heavy.
• The Empress beheaded the surviving dukes and ministers, then struck an idol and discovered it bled golden blood and could speak.
• Chu Qing confirmed that the wild Gods and Devils’ blood counted as Gods and Devils Blood, and ordered the Empress to replace the Imperial Capital’s idols with statues she had commissioned.
• The Empress gathered more than three hundred wild Gods and Devils, who supplied ten tons of blood, and ordered twelve golden statues of herself placed in the most populous temples.
• Chu Qing sat on a bloodied divine weapon Emperor Seat as the Empress wondered about its purpose, and his consciousness examined the Profession Slot’s refreshed information.

After initiating the Way of Mountains and Rivers Emperor Seat, Chu Qing used it to speed up the recovery from his Future Daylight Scripture price and prepared to gather more Emperor Seats and raise his cultivation. He left the Princess to spread wild Gods and Devils through the empire, then set out with a thousand Stone Ridge Mountain experts for Chimon and Great Zhou.

• Chu Qing sat on the Emperor Seat and paid the Future Daylight Scripture's price, discovering that Qian Shanliu Huo's sword scar would take about ten days to heal.
• Chu Qing refused the Princess's request to stay and help, instead asking her to follow his plan to create and promote wild Gods and Devils.
• The Princess warned that the Incense Path would resist replacing divine statues beyond the Imperial Capital, but Chu Qing urged her to undermine the Divine Court's foundation with wild Gods and Devils.
• The Princess and Ying Hongzhu arranged for more than a thousand temples in the Imperial Capital to receive new statues and began training the wild Gods and Devils.
• Chu Qing gathered a thousand Stone Ridge Mountain experts and had thirty-six strongmen carry the Way of Mountains and Rivers Emperor Seat toward Chimon, planning to visit Great Zhou afterward.

Chu Qing arrived at Peace Inn in the great desert while eight factions sent their strongest rising stars to intercept him on the way to the Yimeng Empire. Daoist Golden Toad proudly revealed that he had chosen the Creation Path and challenged one of Chu Qing’s sedan bearers to demonstrate his strength.

• Thousand Heart Knots sent experts from eight factions to hunt Chu Qing, and they learned he was heading toward the Yimeng Empire.
• Chu Qing arrived at Peace Inn with a thousand new-realm guards, leaving Daoist Golden Toad dismayed by the scale of his entourage.
• Chu Qing praised Daoist Golden Toad’s inn and offered to let his subordinates spar with him.
• Daoist Golden Toad said he had chosen the Creation Path, passed his first tribulation without a scratch, and developed killing methods.
• Chu Qing arranged a spar so he could see Daoist Golden Toad’s techniques, but the chosen sedan bearer inwardly objected to fighting someone so newly advanced.

Chu Qing faced eight heavenly prodigies who came to kill him, confident that the Emperor Seat had doubled his combat power. He killed Qian Shanqian Shui with a single saber strike and challenged the remaining seven to attack.

• Eight heavenly prodigies emerged from vortices and confronted Chu Qing, while Daoist Golden Toad and the guards were overwhelmed by their killing intent.
• The prodigies argued over who would be the first to take Chu Qing's head, dismissing his objections and urging him to accept his death.
• Chu Qing drew a divine saber from the Emperor Seat as the prodigies drew lots to choose their first attacker.
• Qian Shanqian Shui won the draw and attacked Chu Qing with the Force Path, but he cut through her forces and beheaded her with a swift strike.
• Chu Qing revealed his identity to the remaining seven prodigies and challenged them to come next.

Chu Qing fought the seven Path prodigies on the Emperor Seat and killed six of them, though he suffered severe injuries and damaged the seat. The last survivor, the Incense Path prodigy, revealed that they had already opened an Incense Path before calling for a god to descend.

• The seven Path prodigies attacked Chu Qing together, combining their abilities to overwhelm him.
• Chu Qing killed the Gods and Devils Path prodigy, then used the Sacred God Path prodigy's attack to destroy the Mechanical and Sacred God Path prodigies.
• Chu Qing fought the Flesh and Blood and Gene Path prodigies, smashing the Gene Path prodigy's gemstone-like head until both were dead, even as the Emperor Seat cracked and one of his hands was bitten off.
• Chu Qing confronted the sole survivor, the Incense Path prodigy, who said they had opened an Incense Path before Qian Shanliu Huo attempted to open a Heaven-Connecting Path.
• The Incense Path prodigy cried, "God—descend!"

Chu Qing fought the descending finger of an Innate God and Demon after the Incense and Fire Path prodigy summoned it, and survived by attacking until it missed him. The battle strengthened Chu Qing and gave him the God Desecrator title, while the shattered Emperor Seat began reassembling itself.

• Chu Qing killed the Incense and Fire Path prodigy, but the prodigy's incense smoke pursued him and summoned an Innate God and Demon.
• Chu Qing hurled the Emperor Seat at the descending finger, then attacked it with divine weapons and secret arts as the Emperor Seat absorbed some divine blood.
• The finger struck the desert and formed a thousand-meter-wide crater, while Chu Qing survived by transferring his injuries into the future with the Future Daylight Scripture.
• Chu Qing gained doubled defense and recovery, and his mutated title became God Desecrator, which increased his damage to gods and reduced the damage they dealt to him.
• Fragments of the destroyed Emperor Seat grew little feet, ran together, and began reassembling into a damaged seat.

Chu Qing survived the Innate God and Demon's finger, and his blood-stained Emperor Seat recovered and absorbed the fallen prodigies. After Daoist Golden Toad chose to stay behind, he revealed that his Creation Path could animate plants, prompting Chu Qing to ask about learning it.

• Daoist Golden Toad and the other experts recovered from the attack and went to check on Chu Qing, whom they found unharmed.
• Chu Qing discovered that the divine blood had strengthened the Emperor Seat, then ordered his people to retrieve its fragments and the prodigies' corpses.
• The Emperor Seat restored itself and absorbed the corpses, gaining the prodigies' secret inheritances and bloodlines.
• Chu Qing asked Daoist Golden Toad whether he would accompany him, but Daoist Golden Toad chose to stay and plant trees.
• Daoist Golden Toad used his Creation Path to make a Euphrates poplar walk and bury itself, and Chu Qing asked to learn about the path.

Chu Qing explored Golden Toad Daoist’s unusual Creation Path and joined him and his guards in trying to develop it. As Chu Qing traveled toward the Chimon Imperial Capital, he experimented with the path on his Emperor Seat, and one of its divine weapons suddenly grew eyes.

• Golden Toad Daoist explained how his Creation Path could animate trees and gradually turn desert sand into soil.
• Chu Qing and the guards spent days deducing the Creation Path with Golden Toad Daoist, and a poplar treant demonstrated the method’s growing power.
• Golden Toad Daoist failed to affect Chu Qing’s Emperor Seat, so Chu Qing left with his experts for the Chimon Imperial Capital.
• Chu Qing practiced Golden Toad Daoist’s modified Creation Path on the Emperor Seat, but repeated attempts produced no visible change.
• An expert noticed that one of the divine weapons on Chu Qing’s Emperor Seat had suddenly grown eyes.

Chu Qing gained a boost from an eyed divine saber and led his followers toward the Yimeng Imperial Capital. After learning he had killed eight Dao Lineage prodigies, the Thousand Heart Knots leaders chose not to confront him, while Yimeng’s defenders braced for his arrival.

• Chu Qing tore an eye-bearing divine saber from the Emperor’s Seat, discovered it increased his power, and ordered his followers onward.
• The Thousand Heart Knots leaders reviewed a memory crystal showing Chu Qing killing eight Dao Lineage prodigies, including Qian Shanliu Huo and an Incense Path prodigy.
• The Thousand Heart Knots leaders refused to leave their headquarters to retaliate, citing the dangers of calamities and the Harvesters.
• Chu Qing and his followers reached the Yimeng Imperial Capital, whose defenders shut the gates and prepared for a possible attack.
• Chu Qing’s old man demanded that Yimeng either open the gates or send out its Emperor, threatening that they would otherwise fight their way in.