Chapter Summaries

Zhao Sheng returned to Rising Dragon City, helped Zhao Xuanjing plan the Zhao Clan’s response to the approaching war between worlds, and completed an Enlightenment Pill for Dong Miaozhen. As the Eight-Meridian Grand Competition resumed, he opened the Corpse-Ghost Purgatory Diagram as a trial for the clan’s cultivators, with one thousand days remaining until Nine Stars Align.

• Zhao Sheng returned to Rising Dragon City, met Zhao Xuanjing, and agreed that the Zhao Clan would prune troublesome branches, participate in the war to a limited extent, and retreat to the Shattered Star Sea if Central Continent could not win.
• The Mountain Dragon Seventh Ancestor awakened, claimed Zhao Sheng’s pink flesh offering, and returned underground to recuperate.
• Zhao Sheng completed an Enlightenment Pill and gave it to Dong Miaozhen to help her pursue a golden core.
• Zhao Sheng read reports of the Alliance’s war preparations and conscription orders, then decided to use the Corpse-Ghost Purgatory Diagram at the Eight-Meridian Grand Competition.
• Zhao Sheng opened the diagram at the competition and invited the clan’s cultivators to test how long they could endure its trials for a chance at unrestricted rewards.

Zhao Sheng’s Corpse-Ghost Purgatory Diagram trial revealed Zhao Zhao as its longest-surviving contestant, while Zhao Shiluo was assigned to the Dragon Guard Camp as the Zhao Clan built its Rising Dragon Dao Soldier Legion. The clan then received an alliance conscription order for Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing; Zhao Xuanjing left for Heaven Burial Plain after securing the clan up to a year to prepare.

• Zhao Shiluo was killed by an Ironclad Corpse in the diagram, then awoke on the high platform and left the trial.
• Zhao Zhao outlasted the other contestants by evading danger, and Zhao Sheng rewarded him and appointed him vice president of the Immortal Martial Academy.
• The Zhao Clan announced the Rising Dragon Dao Soldier Legion, conscripted Innate martial artists, and assigned Zhao Shiluo to the Dragon Guard Camp under Zhao Hong.
• Zhao Sheng received an alliance conscription order naming him and Zhao Xuanjing, and the two discussed the clan’s preparations and the risks posed by the demonic and evil paths.
• Zhao Xuanjing secured up to a year of delay, then departed for Heaven Burial Plain while Zhao Sheng took command of the clan.

Zhao Sheng brought the Xinglong Army to Heaven Burial Plain, where the Sect Alliance had built fortified walls around a sealed rift into the Nether Ghost Realm. He rejected the Dong Clan’s proposal to join its Immeasurable Merit invasion plan, then pursued cultivation techniques and a possible connection to the Carefree Myriad Formations Diagram.

• Zhao Sheng entrusted the clan to Zhao Degang and led the eight hundred Xinglong Dao Soldiers to Heaven Burial Plain, where Zhao Xuanjing received them.
• Zhao Sheng inspected Cliff Cave and declined Dong Bichen’s invitation to join the Immeasurable Merit plan to invade the Nether Ghost Realm.
• The Xinglong Army took up its station on the Second Ring Golden Wall Great Wall and began organizing its defenses and supplies.
• Zhao Sheng used the Sect Alliance’s exchanges to acquire three Golden Core techniques and attended Tranquil Void Ancestor’s lecture on the Dao.
• Yu Fuzi told Zhao Sheng that his Feather Profound Sect had connections to the Carefree Gate, and Zhao Sheng agreed to discuss the Carefree Myriad Formations Diagram with him.

As war between Sky Pillar World and the Nether Ghost Realm drew near, Zhao Sheng learned he had been named an alternate for a secret mission to smuggle people across worlds. He accepted that he might have to go, but he and Zhao Xuanjing decided the Xinglong Zhao Clan would not join the Immeasurable Merit plan.

• Zhao Sheng negotiated with Yu Fuzi, agreeing to provide spirit pills in exchange for the Carefree Myriad Formations Diagram and Soaring Cloud Flying Wings.
• As preparations for Nine Stars Align intensified, Zhao Sheng trained the Xinglong Army's Dao Soldiers and gathered intelligence about the coming war.
• Beggar Immortal and Zhao Xuanjing told Zhao Sheng that the Sect Alliance had listed him as an alternate for its secret Stealing the Sky and Swapping the Sun plan to smuggle people into the Nether Ghost Realm.
• Zhao Sheng accepted that he would go if called, despite the risk of never returning.
• Zhao Xuanjing asked whether the family should join the Immeasurable Merit plan, and Zhao Sheng chose not to gamble on it.

As the Nine Stars Align broke the seal between the Sky Pillar World and the Nether Ghost Realm, Zhao Sheng and the assembled cultivators fought off probing attacks from the other side. The first assault ended with the enemy withdrawing, but Zhao Sheng suspected the Nether Ghost Realm had known the seal would break and was prepared in advance.

• Zhao Sheng sensed the spatial-temporal rift open as a blood-red spiritual energy tide poured from the Crescent Moon into the Sky Pillar World.
• Zhao Sheng and the cultivators destroyed the first wave of ghost fires, but a Nether Ghost art disrupted the heartbeats of many Dao soldiers until a Buddhist chant suppressed it.
• Nearly a thousand phantoms fled the Buddhist light and joined into Thousand Shadows Underworld God, which Lin Yizhi struck with his sword before it retreated toward the rift.
• Bone God's giant skeletal hand reached through the Crescent Moon, and Spirit Stone Cannons battered it until it withdrew as Thousand Shadows Underworld God vanished.
• Misty Eyebrow Ancestor warned that the attacks had only been a probe, while Zhao Sheng wondered how the Nether Ghost Realm had anticipated Nine Stars Align and prepared two Spirit Transformation-level monsters.

Sky Pillar World’s forces fought off the Nether Ghost Realm’s opening assault, destroying its Grotto-Heaven Armored Dragon but suffering casualties as waves of zombies and ghosts attacked. Above the battlefield, Lin Yizhi and the other True Lords debated the invasion and whether to join the Immeasurable Merit plan, while recognizing that the Nether Ghost Realm had not yet revealed its true strength.

• Gongyang Heng ordered the defenders to attack the Grotto-Heaven Armored Dragon, and Zhao Sheng joined the barrage that broke its barrier and severely wounded it.
• Zhao Sheng fled from a pursuing Flying Underworld King, and Beggar Immortal intercepted the monster and fought it in midair.
• The Grotto-Heaven Armored Dragon fell after attacks from the defenders and two Sea Suppression Cloud Boats, but more than a hundred demon corpses and vast numbers of ghosts and zombies crossed into the world.
• Ghosts and zombies attacked across the battlefield, and cultivators began suffering casualties as Gongyang Heng directed the defense from Flying Immortal City.
• Lin Yizhi discussed the invasion with Flame Emperor, Xie Wuxu, Old Monk Hui Tong, and Water Granny; Flame Emperor warned that the Nether Ghost Realm’s human forces had yet to appear and that the current assault was likely a probing attack.

Zhao Sheng fought on the Golden Wall Great Wall as the Nether Ghost Realm’s invasion continued, surviving the increasingly dangerous battlefield through careful tactics and powerful fire techniques. After a month of combat, he saw that the living beings’ fortune was falling further and arranged to trade for rare monster cores before returning to battle.

• Zhao Sheng returned to his cloud boat, burned away the Wailing Ghosts surrounding it, and used his Grand Sun Mirrors and Golden Crow True Fire to destroy monsters while retreating toward the battlefield’s edge.
• The Sky Pillar World gained the upper hand in the first battle, but Zhao Sheng warned Zhao DeNing that the invasion was only beginning and the Nether Ghost Realm had not yet revealed its full strength.
• Three days later, Zhao Sheng returned to the front alone, learned battlefield precautions, and adopted a cautious fighting style that kept him close to the wall.
• Over the following month, the enemy’s Corpse Birds and zombie fowl attacked the Great Wall as exhausted Dao soldiers were replaced by reserve forces; Zhao Sheng continued fighting without injury and gained a reputation for misfortune and survival.
• Zhao Sheng used the Qi Observation Art and saw that fortune had fallen again, suffering backlash that made his eye bleed.
• Zhao Sheng traded pills for enemy corpses and ordered a black-market merchant to obtain Golden Armor Corpse cores in exchange for Light Escape Talismans, then flew back into battle.

Zhao Sheng learned that the Zhao Clan had obtained the Nascent Soul Grade Five Elements Classic and led the Xinglong Dao Soldiers through their first battle on the Great Wall. As the clan recovered from heavy casualties, Zhao Sheng discovered that his master, the Beggar Immortal, would join the alliance’s planned counteroffensive, which he feared was a trap.

• Zhao Sheng rewarded Zhao Shiluo with a protective jade talisman, then received word that the Zhao Clan had obtained the Five Elements Classic.
• Zhao Sheng arrived at the abyss battlefield, accepted the deployment order, and sent the Xinglong Dao Soldiers to defend a three-hundred-zhang stretch of wall.
• Zhao Sheng watched over the Dao Soldiers as they fought for three days, rescued a neighboring force by killing a White Bone Giant Tusk, and helped the soldiers complete their first true battle trial.
• Beneath the abyss, the Thousand Shadows Underworld God possessed Earth Treasury Sect disciples while a white-boned monstrosity began forming inside the Corpse Peak.
• The Beggar Immortal told Zhao Sheng that the alliance planned a counteroffensive and that he would take part, but Zhao Sheng warned him that the Nether Ghost Realm was likely plotting something dangerous.

Thousand Shadows Underworld God, Imperishable Bone God, Daheitian, and Bai Tian agreed to launch a general assault on Sky Pillar World in seven days, while Zhao Sheng prepared his clan for danger after foreseeing declining fortunes. Flying Immortal City’s formation wiped out the creatures on the battlefield, and the counteroffensive army entered the rift but failed to return or send word.

• Thousand Shadows Underworld God, Imperishable Bone God, Daheitian, and Bai Tian discussed their preparations and agreed to attack Sky Pillar World in seven days.
• The Mountain Dragon warned Zhao Xuanjing that danger was coming from the abyss, and Zhao Xuanjing consulted Zhao Sheng about the counteroffensive.
• Zhao Sheng told Zhao Xuanjing that his observations showed everyone’s fortune had sharply declined, so Zhao Xuanjing arranged escape measures for the Zhao Family.
• Zhao Sheng distributed escape talismans and spent the following days preparing supplies while the invading creatures dwindled and spiritual energy weakened.
• Flying Immortal City descended and activated the Sky Restriction Demon Extinction Grand Formation, destroying every creature on the abyss battlefield.
• The counteroffensive army followed the Sea Suppression Cloud Boat through the spacetime rift, but after a day it had not returned or sent a message, and no more creatures emerged.

Zhao Sheng learned that Zhao Xuanjing had been gravely injured by a powerful ghostly avatar, while a deployment order forced the Zhao clan toward a battlefield already on the brink of disaster. The Great Wall collapsed, the Netherworld forces engaged the local True Lords, and floating divine temples began descending through the rift.

• Zhao Sheng received the deployment order and decided the Zhao clan would depart after the permitted one-hour delay, despite ominous intelligence from the front.
• Yu Fuzi tried to form an alliance with Zhao Sheng, but Zhao Sheng abruptly rejected him and left to meet Zhao Xuanjing.
• Zhao Xuanjing revealed that a powerful ghostly avatar had attacked him and Mountain Dragon Xiao Qi, and Zhao Sheng used Golden Crow True Fire to suppress some of the lingering ghost power.
• A violent disturbance brought Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing aboveground, where they saw the Golden Wall Great Wall collapse as the skeletal monster and ghostly forces assaulted the battlefield.
• Three Netherworld figures blocked the local True Lords while the Imperishable Bone God attacked Flying Immortal City and Thousand Shadows Underworld God stalled Lin Yizhi.
• Grand floating divine temples passed through the rift between worlds and descended onto the battlefield.

The Nether Ghost Realm overwhelmed Sky Pillar World's forces, forcing Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing to follow the Sect Alliance's order to shelter behind the Golden Wall defenses. The Alliance's meteor strike devastated both armies and the battlefield, and Zhao Sheng emerged from underground to survey the largest crater.

• The Nether Ghost Realm's temples and fanatics broke through the abyss battlefield, destroyed the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Grand Array, and routed Sky Pillar World's exhausted forces.
• Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing returned to the Zhao Clan's position, where Zhao Sheng showed Zhao Xuanjing the Alliance's directive to activate the defenses and shelter in secure fortresses.
• Zhao Sheng gave Zhao Xuanjing the Naha Shell and treasure pearl to protect the clansmen, then vanished to observe the battlefield while Zhao Xuanjing went to shelter.
• Flying Immortal City charged through the enemy's attacks as the Nether Ghost Realm celebrated its apparent victory and hunted down fleeing cultivators.
• The Sect Alliance's meteors struck the battlefield, obliterating temples and breaking the Golden Wall defenses; Zhao Sheng survived underground and later emerged to inspect the largest crater.

Zhao Sheng descended into the Meteor Crater to collect treasures and seized a jade-white bone pearl from a pool of black flames, suffering severe injuries in the process. A Nascent Soul Ghost King ambushed him and tried to take his body, but an unexpected change interrupted the possession.

• Zhao Sheng reached the Meteor Crater, entered its magma lake, and gathered spiritual treasures as other cultivators converged and fought above.
• Three Nascent Soul Ancestors clashed at the crater while five Sky Pillar World True Lords faced the Nether Ghost Realm’s three Spirit Transformation cultivators near Flying Immortal City.
• The Nether Ghost Realm’s forces retreated toward the spatial-temporal rift under orders, while Sky Pillar World did not pursue them.
• Zhao Sheng reached the crater’s deepest point and took a jade-white bone pearl from a black-flame pool, where the collision of the black flames and his Golden Crow True Fire badly injured him.
• A Nascent Soul Ghost King attacked Zhao Sheng with a Skull Nail and divine-sense assaults, then abandoned his own body and prepared to possess Zhao Sheng’s.

Zhao Sheng survived the battle by sealing the Nascent Soul Ghost King, collecting the black flames, and returning to the Great Wall, where he learned the Alliance would keep his family on the front lines. He was then selected for the Heaven-Stealing Sun-Reversal Plan and arrived at Ghost Chi Cave Heaven, where he realized the dangerous crossing ahead might require him to leave his spatial treasures behind.

• Zhao Sheng used the Death-Substitute Doll and Soul Hook Rod to seal the Nascent Soul Ghost King in the Treasure Sealing Map, then collected the pool of black flames with the Void Snatching Basket and escaped.
• Zhao Sheng returned to Zhao Xuanjing, discussed the Alliance's sacrifices and the Zhao Clan's continued deployment, and received the Naha Shell and Shell Pearl back.
• After the armies paused to recover, Zhao Xuanjing brought Zhao Sheng to Xie Wuxu, who selected him for the Heaven-Stealing Sun-Reversal Plan and transported them to Ghost Chi Cave Heaven.
• Zhao Sheng saw the unstable spacetime vortex and nine Chi Demon Banners in the prepared hall, then learned he could not bring Storage Bags or other spatial treasures across.

Zhao Sheng crossed into the Nether Night Realm, reached the Nine Demon Continent, and rescued Moye and his guards from Spotted Wolf Beasts. He traveled with them to Mo Family Stronghold and arrived at its fortified gates.

• Zhao Sheng gave Zhao Xuanjing instructions and entrusted him with several treasures before preparing to cross realms.
• True Lord Xie gave Zhao Sheng an array sphere, a Heaven Deceiving Talisman, and Concentric Silkworms to aid his journey.
• Zhao Sheng leaped into the spatial-temporal vortex and emerged in a primeval forest beneath two suns and an enormous planet.
• Zhao Sheng killed the Spotted Wolf Beasts attacking Moye and his two guards, then used Divine Sense to communicate with Moye.
• Zhao Sheng learned the local language and discovered he was in the Su Mu Mountain region of the Nether Night Realm, a vassal world of the Secluded God Realm.
• Moye led Zhao Sheng to Mo Family Stronghold, where they arrived outside its heavily fortified walls.

Zhao Sheng arrived at Mo Family Stronghold, where he learned about the Nether Night Realm and the Nine Demon Continent before investigating a mysterious tower. Three days later, Irrigation Rats attacked the stronghold, and their elders empowered the horde as the defenders fought to hold the walls.

• Moye escorted Zhao Sheng into Mo Family Stronghold, where Stronghold Lord Mo Kan and the clan elders knelt to welcome him.
• Zhao Sheng surveyed the stronghold, noticed the white tower gathering spiritual energy, and spent seven days studying the Mo Family’s books and customs.
• Zhao Sheng learned that the Nine Demon Continent was dominated by nine nonhuman races and that the Irrigation Rats were infamous for their enormous population.
• Zhao Sheng secretly left his residence and headed toward the white tower after the residents finished their nightly worship.
• An Irrigation Rat horde attacked Mo Family Stronghold’s western wall, while Mo Kan, Moye, guards, and commoners fought them off.
• The Irrigation Rat elders sent their blue-feathered birds diving and empowered the rats, turning their eyes red and driving them into a frenzy.

Zhao Sheng drove off the Rabid Rat Plague at Mo Family Stronghold, then traveled to Azure Gold City to gather information and supplies for his journey east. After learning how dangerous and vast the route to the Candlelight Mountain Range was, he prepared to continue toward his destination.

• Zhao Sheng killed the Irrigation Rats and blue-feathered birds attacking Mo Family Stronghold, and his Golden Core pressure sent the remaining swarm fleeing.
• Mo Kan and his son tried to pay their respects to Zhao Sheng, but he had already left the stronghold.
• Zhao Sheng reached Azure Gold City, explored its bustling streets, and settled at an inn.
• Zhao Sheng traded a copy of the Corpse Transformation Great Art for maps and texts about the Nine Demon Continent and the Candlelight Mountain Range.
• Zhao Sheng bought a Purple Qi Ganoderma for three hundred Spirit Stones, then returned to the inn to study his collected materials.
• Zhao Sheng learned that the Candlelight Mountain Range lay nearly thirty thousand li to the east and considered the dangers of the journey and the Nether Ghost Realm's strength.

Two months after arriving at the Candlelight Mountain Range, Zhao Sheng defeated the Fierce Flame Lion and later received rare pill ingredients from Dao Yanfeng. Twenty years afterward, a convoy carrying Dao Xiaodao was ambushed by Ghost Thieves led by Xiong Jia.

• Dao Yanfeng guided Zhao Sheng through the Fire Fiend Belt to the Fierce Flame Lion’s territory, then retreated while he confronted the beast alone.
• Zhao Sheng overwhelmed the Fierce Flame Lion with his Golden Crow True Fire and physical attacks, killing it after its fire control failed against him.
• Ten years later, Dao Yanfeng brought Zhao Sheng top-grade herbs, including Golden Core Realm Corpse Mushroom flesh, as their agreed share for refining Profound Nether Bone Tempering Pills.
• Zhao Sheng agreed to refine the pills and let Dao Yanfeng stay at Rising Dragon Estate, warning her not to venture beneath the underground Magma River.
• Twenty years later, Ghost Thieves ambushed a convoy carrying Dao Xiaodao, who identified their leader as Xiong Jia of the Mad Bear Tribe, an early Golden Core cultivator.

Zhao Sheng wiped out powerful enemies across the Candlelight Mountain Range while supporting the Flame Blade Division, then advanced to Golden Core Great Perfection after a century of cultivation. He hid a black-and-flame object in a Jade-White Bone Bead as he prepared for the approaching end of the Heaven Deceiving Talisman, and the chapter ended with Dao Yanfeng confronting him over their children and his concubines.

• Dao Xiaodao lured the Mad Bear Ghost Bandit Gang into an attack, and Zhao Sheng killed Xiong Jia with the Grand Sun Mirror before setting out to hunt Tree Granny.
• Zhao Sheng slew Tree Granny, gathered the Demon Thought Flower in a forest filled with Demon Calamity Worms, and later eliminated powerful evildoers throughout the region.
• The Flame Blade Division grew in strength under Zhao Sheng's support, and Zhao Sheng advanced to Foundation Establishment Late Stage before spending decades cultivating.
• Dao Yanfeng sensed Zhao Sheng's breakthrough as the gray light around him exploded, and he reached Golden Core Great Perfection after a hundred years of cultivation.
• Zhao Sheng considered the danger posed by the approaching end of the Heaven Deceiving Talisman's limit, placed a black-and-flame mass inside the Jade-White Bone Bead, and left his secret chamber.
• Dao Yanfeng asked about their children’s marriages, and Zhao Sheng's reminder that she could decide prompted her to criticize his neglect and his concubines.

Zhao Sheng pursued a thousand-year-old Frigid Wasteland Flood Dragon to obtain its Serpent Core and use its yin energy to balance his cultivation. After gravely wounding the dragon and taking the core, he lost track of it, while Zhe Yan and Jin Jing trapped it beneath the sea and attacked before Zhao Sheng could return.

• Zhao Sheng learned from Zhe Yan and Jin Jing that they had found a Frigid Wasteland Flood Dragon near a Desolate Island in the Cliffless Sea, and he hired them to help corner it.
• Zhao Sheng and the others waited near the island until the Frigid Wasteland Flood Dragon emerged to feed on Nine-Joint Ice Shrimp.
• Zhao Sheng followed the dragon into an undersea cavern, wounded it, and seized its Serpent Core, but the dragon escaped by merging with the glacier.
• Zhe Yan and Jin Jing trapped the wounded Frigid Wasteland Flood Dragon beneath the ice and attacked it with vines and fire while Zhao Sheng was away.

Zhao Sheng discovered Ice Soul, survived an ambush by Zhe Yan and Jin Jing, and returned to save the Flame Blade Division. After secretly preparing to advance, he traveled to an undersea volcano and activated his tribulation-crossing formation.

• Zhao Sheng found Ice Soul beneath the ice cavern and concealed the site before emerging from the sea.
• Zhe Yan and Jin Jing ambushed Zhao Sheng and revealed that they were Nether God Sect Judgement High Priests, but Zhao Sheng killed them both.
• Zhao Sheng returned to the Flame Blade Division, ending the siege and allowing the division to retaliate against its most aggressive enemies.
• Zhao Sheng refined an Extreme Yin Pill and concluded that his chances of reaching the Nascent Soul Realm remained low, while threats from the Nether God Sect and Heavenly Dao pressed him to act.
• Zhao Sheng secretly traveled to an undersea volcano cluster and activated the formation he had prepared for his tribulation.