Chapter Summaries

Chu Qing went to Chimon to obtain Emperor Seats for a ritual, and the Otherworlders guarding the empire supplied them after acknowledging their debt to him. He then asked them to help Great Qian fight the Innate Gods and Demons.

• The Chimon Emperor led his guards and Otherworlders outside the capital to confront Chu Qing and his thousand-plus experts.
• Chu Qing asked for an Emperor Seat, and an Otherworlder silenced the Chimon Emperor before he could object.
• The Otherworlders warned the Chimon Emperor not to offend Chu Qing and arranged to provide nine more Emperor Seats.
• The Chimon Emperor handed over his Emperor Seat, and nine others arrived through a mirror, giving Chu Qing ten in total.
• Chu Qing thanked the Otherworlders and asked them to help Great Qian clear out the Innate Gods and Demons.

Chu Qing sent Yue Manlou to deliver a candle flame, a scripture, and a message to the Princess Consort while asking her to find essence blood from ten Gods and Devils. After the scripture taught her to create candle flames, the Princess Consort prepared to use one against the Innate Gods and Demons, who rushed to stop her.

• Chu Qing returned to Stone Ridge Mountain and sent Yue Manlou to the Imperial Capital with a candle flame and a box, asking the Princess Consort for essence blood from ten Gods and Devils and telling her that his sealing ritual was ready.
• Yue Manlou arrived at the battlefield, where the Outsiders and Innate Gods and Demons were fighting, and the Princess Consort rescued him from White-eyed God Demon's attack.
• The Princess Consort and the Outsiders struck White-eyed God Demon with the candle flame, then used its agony as an opening to wound it with a barrage of attacks.
• Yue Manlou delivered Chu Qing's message and the box; the Princess Consort said essence blood was difficult to obtain and told Yue Manlou to leave.
• The Princess Consort read the expanded Enlightenment Star Scripture, created a candle flame, and prepared to attack the Innate Gods and Demons.
• An Innate God and Demon spotted the flame and warned the others, who turned toward the Princess Consort to stop her.

Chu Qing enhanced his Emperor Seat with Gods and Devils Essence Blood, then prepared for the next calamity. He arrived at Liuli’s point in time, found a settlement of people who revered him as a divine being, and could not understand their language.

• Yue Manlou brought the Princess’s Gods and Devils Essence Blood to Chu Qing, and Chu Qing used it to advance the Emperor Seat.
• Chu Qing learned that the Emperor Seat could exist between illusion and reality and dispel evil, while its next advancement required Innate God and Demon Essence Blood.
• Chu Qing focused on cultivation and strengthening himself, setting aside concerns about the Imperial Capital and Divine Court.
• When the calamity descended, Chu Qing prepared with treasures and secret medicine, then arrived at Liuli’s point in time.
• Chu Qing searched for Liuli but did not find her, then followed the mountains to a settlement whose people knelt before him.
• An old man told Chu Qing in the common tongue that the people did not understand his divine language.

Chu Qing reached the green-mist mountain in search of this world’s Divine Beings, only to encounter deadly poison and reunite with Liuli, who had summoned him a year earlier. After they discussed the Liuli sect and its tangled history, Chu Qing asked her for help improving his cultivation and survival skills.

• Chu Qing learned the savages’ language, taught them a revised Mantis Fist, and set off for the Divine Beings’ mountain.
• The green mist poisoned Chu Qing’s arm, so he cut it off and regrew it before deciding not to climb farther.
• Liuli appeared from the sky carrying an Incense Burner and said she had summoned Chu Qing a year earlier.
• Chu Qing explained the two versions of Liuli’s history, and Liuli decided to establish a sect that would record her legacy.
• Chu Qing told Liuli about Ba Liuli and the thirty-two Liulis, then asked her to deduce a scripture, teach him protective methods, and obtain Innate God and Demon Essence Blood.

Chu Qing received Liuli’s essence blood and learned that it could replace Innate God and Demon essence blood for the Emperor Seat ritual. He returned from the tribulation with the blood, leaving him unsure whether to use it for promotion or keep it as a weapon.

• Liuli offered Chu Qing her essence blood and explained that her Dream Weaving Method was difficult to learn.
• Liuli studied Chu Qing’s Qi Ming Star scripture, condensed a fire seed, and gave him an incantation to use her essence blood as a weapon.
• Liuli warned Chu Qing to avoid mountains and lakes inhabited by beings like her, then spoke with him about the future until the tribulation ended.
• After Chu Qing vanished, Liuli told Green Robe not to harm him, and Green Robe promised to remember the warning.
• Chu Qing returned with Liuli’s essence blood, and the Profession Slot identified it as a substitute for Innate God and Demon essence blood in the Emperor Seat ritual.
• Chu Qing debated whether to use the essence blood for promotion or preserve it as a powerful weapon.

Chu Qing attended the Square Inch Gathering, where the prodigies discussed humanity’s war against the forbidden zones and the coming new era. He offered one favor in exchange for a drop of Innate God and Demon Essence Blood and chose Moon God’s offer.

• Chu Qing put away Liuli’s essence blood, deciding to preserve it rather than use it for the Emperor Seat’s advancement.
• At the Square Inch Gathering, Heavenly Court and the other prodigies explained that humanity’s major organizations had launched a full-scale war against the forbidden zones.
• The prodigies predicted the new era would establish new realm names, a sole cultivation path, and a Great Unification organization, while Chu Qing and Luo Tian argued that becoming stronger mattered most.
• Near the end of the gathering, Chu Qing offered one favor for a drop of Innate God and Demon Essence Blood, and several prodigies made offers.
• Chu Qing chose Moon God’s proposal to obtain the essence blood.

Chu Qing joined Second Generation Moon God and a group of experts to attack the Harvesters, whom she suspected of causing her sister’s death. After arriving, he dismissed the group’s concerns and prepared to lead the assault on their fortress.

• Second Generation Moon God recruited Chu Qing to help kill a Harvester in exchange for a drop of Innate God and Demon Essence Blood.
• Moon God gathered several dozen experts outside the fortress, but they questioned whether Chu Qing would arrive and objected to waiting.
• Chu Qing set a ten-minute return limit and teleported to Moon God’s ritual altar.
• Chu Qing claimed he could kill the assembled experts in three minutes, then learned that the enemy was inside the fortress.
• Moon God warned that the Harvesters were terrifying, but Chu Qing drew his blade and prepared to attack.

Chu Qing stormed the Reapers' stronghold and slaughtered the black-robed figures who had plotted to skin Second Generation Moon God. After Second Generation Moon God stopped one of her own experts from entering the fight, she realized Chu Qing was even more ruthless than she was.

• The Reapers prepared to skin Second Generation Moon God, confident that their hidden traitors and defenses would ensure her death.
• Chu Qing burst into the stronghold and killed the black-robed figures, using the future Daylight Scripture to trade injuries for faster kills.
• Second Generation Moon God arrived with her recruited experts and ordered them to seal the stronghold instead of entering it.
• When the twin-sword expert defied her and charged inside, Second Generation Moon God cut off his head and warned the others to obey.
• Watching Chu Qing fight, Second Generation Moon God feared his strength and realized he might have meant to kill her as well.

Chu Qing helped the Second Generation Moon God destroy the trap set for her, then received Innate God and Demon Essence Blood and returned to Stone Ridge Mountain. Myth later warned the Moon God that Chu Qing was exceptionally dangerous and compared his potential to Luo Tian’s.

• Chu Qing slaughtered the black-robed figures in the fortress and joined the Second Generation Moon God in killing the escaping enemies.
• The Second Generation Moon God thanked Chu Qing for saving her from the trap, and he accepted a ruby from her that granted him Innate God and Demon Essence Blood +1.
• Chu Qing encouraged the Second Generation Moon God to tell the Square Inch Gathering about his strength so its members would not plot against him.
• Chu Qing returned to Stone Ridge Mountain, and the Second Generation Moon God contacted Myth to report what he had done.
• Myth said Chu Qing would probably never join them, described Luo Tian’s formidable reputation, and warned the Second Generation Moon God never to make Chu Qing her enemy.

Chu Qing advanced the Mountain Water Path to Emperor Seat Proficient and learned that its next promotion required Innate God and Demon kneecaps and an empire’s submission. He headed for the Great Qian Imperial Capital to seek the Princess’s help, but after seeing how the Divine Court’s Law Net shaped the rebellion across the realm, he arrived to find the capital unrecognizable.

• Chu Qing had Yue Manlou fetch ten portions of exotic flowers and strange herbs, then used them to advance the Mountain Water Path to Emperor Seat Proficient.
• Chu Qing learned that the Emperor Seat’s next promotion required Innate God and Demon kneecaps and an empire’s submission, and decided to ask the Square Inch Gathering’s prodigies and the Princess for help.
• Chu Qing visited the temple outside Stone Ridge Mountain, saw that its statues had become wild Gods and Devils, and resolved to bring down the Divine Court.
• Chu Qing traveled slowly toward the Imperial Capital, finding most cities peaceful but some Rebel Armies resisting the Divine Court after escaping the Law Net’s Twisted Cognition.
• Chu Qing reached the Great Qian Imperial Capital after four or five days and was bewildered by how unfamiliar it looked.

Chu Qing found the Imperial Capital destroyed after the Divine Court Law Net defeated the Princess and seized Great Qian’s Imperial Seal. He urged her to spread news of wild Gods and Devils to undermine the Divine Court, then remained behind to cultivate as she left and advised him to consider cultivating a second path.

• Chu Qing discovered that the Imperial Capital had been reduced to ruins and found the bloodied Princess alone in the ruined palace.
• The Princess explained that the Divine Court Law Net had destroyed the capital, crushed her forces, and taken Great Qian’s Imperial Seal after she used wild Gods and Devils to replace real ones.
• Chu Qing asked the Princess to make Great Qian submit to him so he could complete a ritual, but she refused and revealed that the empire had already lost its legal standing.
• Chu Qing advised the Princess to spread news of wild Gods and Devils throughout the empires, and she vowed to use the rumors to destabilize the Divine Court’s foundation.
• The Princess left Great Qian to spread the news while Chu Qing stayed to refine his Mountain Water Path, and she advised him to cultivate a second path because Dao lineage now stood above all else.

After the Princess departed, Chu Qing reflected on the fierce lineage struggles among martial artists and feared he would eventually be drawn into them. Lin Qingyu of the Martial Academy Alliance tried to recruit him to help secure a position in Heaven’s coming organization, but Chu Qing rejected her.

• The Princess left after revealing secrets about the Great Gan Empire, which Chu Qing expected to collapse after the Millennial Calamity.
• Chu Qing mistook a black-robed visitor for one of the harvesters he had killed, but the visitor revealed herself as Lin Qingyu, a Liaison Envoy from the Martial Academy Alliance.
• Lin Qingyu explained that the alliance sought to seize a Heavenly God Quota in Heaven’s coming organization, which she connected to Great Unification.
• Lin Qingyu promised the alliance would help Chu Qing obtain a position of influence, but Chu Qing called its members idiots and refused to join.

Chu Qing rejected Lin Qingyu’s defense of Great Unification, arguing that powerful organizations could resist it instead of surrendering to the supposed tide of the times. He left the ruined Imperial Palace and headed for the Liuli River, where he sensed the chains had tainted another thirty thousand li and drew closer to fully controlling the river.

• Chu Qing challenged Lin Qingyu to explain why the Martial Academy Alliance supported Great Unification, then argued that it could prevent the new order from arising just as he had resisted the Divine Court.
• Lin Qingyu warned that resisting Great Unification would provoke Heaven’s Millennial Tribulation, but Chu Qing said he would welcome it if fewer people meant more resources for him.
• Chu Qing told Lin Qingyu that strength was the way forward and left the Imperial Palace; Lin Qingyu reflected on her inability to advance without opening a new path.
• Chu Qing crossed the deserted Imperial Capital, passed an abandoned pavilion and a small grave mound, and continued toward the Liuli River.
• At the Liuli River’s source, Chu Qing sensed that the chains had tainted another thirty thousand li and said he was nearing complete control of the river and Perfection in the Great River Method.

Chu Qing failed to find Liuli’s former cave abode and traveled to Stone Ridge Mountain, killing Divine Court spies who monitored him. After the Seventh Generation Officials avoided confronting him and forced his critics to guard the mountain, Chu Qing ordered Zhao Hongxiu to demand golden toad secret medicine from the Divine Court and great families.

• Chu Qing searched the Liuli River for Liuli’s cave abode but found no trace of it and headed for Stone Ridge Mountain.
• Chu Qing killed more than a hundred Divine Court spies who brazenly monitored him, while the Innate Gods and Devils ordered the Seventh Generation Officials to handle the matter.
• The Seventh Generation Officials ignored the order and assigned the Enfeoffment Gods and Devils who had called for Chu Qing’s death to guard Stone Ridge Mountain.
• At Stone Ridge Mountain, Zhao Hongxiu reported that she and the maids had raised more than three thousand golden toads but lacked enough secret medicine to raise more.
• Chu Qing gave Zhao Hongxiu his seal and ordered her to make the Divine Court and great families supply golden toad secret medicine or face his wrath.

Zhao Hongxiu prepared to demand Golden Toad secret medicine for Chu Qing while encouraging Mingyue to stay useful and close to him. At the Zhu Family, Bai Tian planned her own venture and claimed to be Chu Qing’s friend, but his envoys arrived with an Imperial Decree and accused her of impersonating his friend.

• Zhao Hongxiu packed Chu Qing’s seal and set out with over a hundred Top Experts to demand Golden Toad secret medicine from noble families and the Divine Court.
• Zhao Hongxiu urged Mingyue to build earth veins near Chu Qing, and Chu Qing reassured Mingyue that he would remember her and told her to eat a Golden Toad Silver Coin each day.
• The Zhu Family’s executives welcomed Bai Tian, who ordered them to prepare for an expedition into a forbidden zone and bring her information about Chu Qing.
• Bai Tian dismissed the Zhu Family’s concerns about Chu Qing and claimed he could not escape her grasp.
• Two New Realm experts arrived at the Zhu Family with Chu Qing’s sealed decree, and Bai Tian refused to kneel, claiming she was Chu Qing’s friend.
• A New Realm expert accused Bai Tian of impersonating Chu Qing’s friend and threatened her family.

Nangong returned and proved her strength after a New Realm expert attacked her at the Zhu Family. She set out to see Chu Qing, who was still enduring the wounds caused by the Future Daylight Scripture, and arrived at Stone Ridge Mountain to find him with Mingyue.

• Nangong sent a New Realm expert flying with one finger and warned the other not to act arrogantly.
• Zhao Hongxiu learned that Nangong was Chu Qing's friend, reassured the Zhu Family, and ordered the great families to send supplies to Stone Ridge Mountain each month.
• Nangong finished reading Chu Qing's records at the Zhu Family and asked Zhao Hongxiu to take her to him.
• Chu Qing endured the lingering wounds from using the Future Daylight Scripture and asked why the Harvesters' attacks healed so slowly.
• Mingyue fed Chu Qing grapes, then Nangong arrived carrying Zhao Hongxiu and accused Chu Qing and Mingyue of doing something behind her back.

Nangong reunited with Chu Qing, cultivated with him, and urged him to enter the forbidden zone, but he insisted on destroying the Divine Court first. She warned that the Divine Court would eventually attack Stone Ridge Mountain and offered to reinforce its defenses, then toured the mountain with Chu Qing and the others.

• Nangong reunited with Chu Qing and explained that she and Mingyue had lost track of Qing Feng and the others after entering the Imperial Capital.
• Nangong cultivated with Chu Qing and said their compatible dragon sinews helped her improve rapidly.
• Nangong invited Chu Qing to enter the forbidden zone, but he refused because he still intended to destroy the Divine Court Law Net.
• Nangong warned that the Divine Court could target Stone Ridge Mountain or the Liuli River once it gathered its strength, and Chu Qing remained unconcerned.
• Nangong offered to reinforce Stone Ridge Mountain's defenses, and Chu Qing showed her the mountain as Mingyue and Zhao Hongxiu joined them.

After examining Stone Ridge Mountain, Nangong proposed building the Zodiac Twelve Palaces there to protect the mountain and complement Chu Qing’s Peak of Mountains. Chu Qing agreed to let her begin the next day, binding their lives and deaths together through the Twelve Palaces.

• Nangong observed that Chu Qing’s infused peaks were flourishing with rare plants and increasingly intelligent beasts, and worried that the changes would attract powerful outsiders.
• Nangong realized the mountain’s transformation could support the Zodiac Twelve Palaces, which would strengthen her and help defend and cultivate Stone Ridge Mountain.
• Nangong explained to Chu Qing that the Twelve Palaces could fight intruders, draw enemies into them, and temper the mountain, though they would collapse if she died.
• Chu Qing agreed when Nangong said she would begin building the Twelve Palaces the next day.

Chu Qing backed Nangong’s plans for the Twelve Palaces and decided to make the Divine Court build them. Nangong brought the plans to a Divine Court city lord, who agreed to supply the laborers and begin construction.

• Nangong planned to build the Twelve Palaces on nearby mountains and revised her designs after Chu Qing suggested hollowing out the mountains.
• Chu Qing said he would force the Divine Court to build the Twelve Palaces, threatening to purge its main cities if it refused.
• Nangong took the completed plans to a Divine Court city lord, who welcomed her after learning she was connected to Chu Qing.
• Nangong demanded laborers and a strict construction schedule, and the city lord agreed to arrange the work.
• Nangong told the city lord to leave his own home, declaring it hers while he went to prepare the project.

Nangong used the Divine Court’s labor force to begin building the Twelve Palaces at Stone Ridge Mountain, while Chu Qing planned to obtain specialized Gods and Devils from the Divine Court to speed the work. The chapter left Chu Qing preparing to visit the Divine Court, and Nangong bewildered by his plan.

• The city lord consulted the seventh-generation high ministers about Nangong’s demands, and they told him to satisfy her because Chu Qing was backing her.
• The city lord assembled a huge labor force, then used Nangong’s Golden Toad Money to kill dozens of Enfeoffment Gods and Demons who had shouted that they wanted to kill Chu Qing.
• Nangong ordered the army to build the Twelve Palaces at Stone Ridge Mountain and gave Chu Qing’s followers Golden Toad Money whips to punish anyone who slacked off.
• Nangong worried that the project was progressing too slowly and asked Chu Qing if she could recruit construction masters from other main cities.
• Chu Qing rejected her idea and said he would go to the Divine Court to have it custom-make Gods and Devils for the project.