Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chen investigated the Feng Shui Arrays in the Pacifying Border Prince's Mansion's Daoist Temple and discovered that one array used Ascension Pool energy to act on his fate. After choosing to remain in the temple and study its secrets, he activated the array himself and uncovered the scheme just as it began to affect him.

• Zhang Chen brought Chen Xu into the guarded Daoist Temple, where Chen Xu found a jade beast hidden in the incense cauldron and identified it as part of a life-substitution technique.
• Chen Xu warned Zhang Chen about the arrays, then transformed into a tiny Ba Snake and slipped out of the temple.
• Zhang Chen decided to cultivate the Invisibility Talisman, explored the temple's library, and spent the night reading while Five Six Teacher watched him from outside.
• The next morning, Zhang Chen lit incense in the cauldron, activating the array and drawing immense energy toward himself.
• Zhang Chen used his Devouring Eye to see the energy entering his fate, where a miniature Feng Shui Array was operating, and realized the Pacifying Border Prince's Mansion had schemed against him.

Zhang Chen discovered that he could devour the Ascension Pool’s energy without harming his fate, then found a way to channel it into his Devouring Space and replenish his mysterious objects. He cut off the Feng Shui Array’s energy supply to force Five Six Teacher’s side to react, and watchers noticed the array had stopped.

• Zhang Chen used the Innate Mosquito's mouthpart to devour the energy entering his fate, then swallowed more energy from the jade beast into his Devouring Space.
• Zhang Chen found that the energy protected ordinary supplies from being digested and nourished his slingshot, pellets, and other mysterious objects.
• Five Six Teacher believed the Feng Shui Array had killed Zhang Chen and left, confident the array would deliver his possessions to the Eldest Young Master.
• The Great Sovereign Demon King taught Zhang Chen a method using the old osmanthus tree and Thousand Mile Marriage Thread to channel the Ascension Pool's energy directly into his Devouring Space.
• Zhang Chen estimated that the energy would fill his space in about three days, then stopped the flow into the Feng Shui Array at dawn.
• Those secretly watching the Feng Shui Array noticed that it had stopped operating and hurried to report the problem.

Zhang Chen discovered that a spirit tablet controlled the Feng Shui Array’s energy, turning it to greatly accelerate the filling of his Devouring Space. While reading He Lu Temple’s ancient records, he uncovered a mystery about the lost inheritance of cultivation, and the Great Sovereign Demon King spotted something strange about a book’s binding thread.

• Five Six Teacher restored the Feng Shui Array, unaware that Zhang Chen had secretly been observing him as a Vampire Bat.
• Zhang Chen turned the steel spirit tablet, increasing the energy entering his Devouring Space more than thirtyfold.
• Zhang Chen read an ancient account of He Lu Temple’s failed ascension and questioned how cultivation’s inheritance had been lost.
• The Great Sovereign Demon King said Zhang Chen’s ancient book was wrong, then identified its binding thread as the source of the anomaly.

Zhang Chen discovered that the ancient scripture concealed a skill for sending souls to the Netherworld, collected the Golden Wind Flowers, and upgraded his Nine Bends Yellow River Rune Formation as he prepared to seize the Ascension Pool. Chen Xu then warned him that the Pacifying Border Prince's Mansion's ancestral grave was emitting green smoke, signaling extraordinary fortune and a possible contender for the realm.

• Zhang Chen unraveled the scripture's binding thread, found the ancient Taiyi Saves from Suffering and Uproots Sins Scripture, and gained the Deliverance skill, which required one hundred billion Experience Points to level up.
• The Great Sovereign Demon King explained that the scripture could send souls to the Netherworld and that its gauze could trap soul-type cultivators; Zhang Chen stored the gauze and beast hide in Devouring Space.
• Zhang Chen collected the Golden Wind Flowers, checked that his Eight Trigrams Furnace was progressing, and upgraded his Nine Bends Yellow River Rune Formation to Fourth Order with a coverage range of one thousand two hundred meters.
• Chen Xu arrived at dawn and told Zhang Chen that the Pacifying Border King's ancestral grave was emitting green smoke, a sign of the mansion's immense fortune.
• Zhang Chen dismissed Chen Xu's fear, reasoning that the Pacifying Border King's rising fortune had benefited him after he intercepted Zhang Xiaohua's destiny.

Zhang Chen sent Chen Xu to spread news that Zhang Shicheng planned to transform into a divine dragon, hoping to distract the Pacifying Border Prince's Mansion while he pursued the Ascension Pool. He entered the Second Heaven of the Spiritual World, where the Golden Twisting Scissors carried him into a deadly sea of purple lightning, leaving him trapped and unable to find his way back.

• Zhang Chen reassured Chen Xu and ordered him to tell the Heroes of the Northern Lands that Zhang Shicheng intended to transform into a divine dragon.
• Chen Xu agreed to carry out Zhang Chen's plan, though he warned he would flee if the Pacifying Border Prince's Mansion gained the upper hand.
• Zhang Chen entered meditation to explore the Second Heaven, while the Ascension Pool's energy poured into his soul and escaped the Goddess's control.
• Zhang Chen used the Golden Twisting Scissors to cut through the Second Heaven's World Barrier, then encountered a sea of purple lightning on the other side.
• The Golden Twisting Scissors shielded Zhang Chen and carried him through the lightning, but he could not find the barrier again and discovered that his Buzhou Seal was missing.
• Zhang Chen urged the weakening Golden Twisting Scissors toward the edge of the lightning sea as their light and speed dwindled.

After the Two Brushes shattered in the purple thunder sea, Zhang Chen absorbed the Yin Yang Origin, which suppressed nearly all his divine abilities. He awoke gravely injured in a ruined temple in Yangzhou, where the beggar girl Xu Er Niu had rescued him and claimed him as hers.

• The Two Brushes' shield broke, and after the brushes shattered, their black-and-white lights entered Zhang Chen's soul.
• Zhang Chen discovered that the Yin Yang Origin had disabled most of his skills, leaving him helpless and gravely injured.
• Xu Er Niu found Zhang Chen, gave him water and medicine, and kept him alive.
• Zhang Chen woke in a ruined temple, realized his voice sounded like a child's, and learned Xu Er Niu had spent three hundred coins to save him.
• Xu Er Niu told Zhang Chen they were in Yangzhou and insisted that he belonged to her.

Zhang Chen awoke in a young beggar’s body after being struck by lightning in the Spiritual World, and the Great Sovereign Demon King told him he had reincarnated. Zhang Chen believed he was in the Second Heaven and resolved to recover his power and reactivate the mark that could return him to the Material World, while Xu Er Niu cared for him in a ruined temple.

• Zhang Chen discovered his new, frail body and learned from the Great Sovereign Demon King that the Golden Twisting Scissors had preserved his soul through reincarnation.
• Zhang Chen found that the damaged Golden Twisting Scissors could absorb his Yin-Yang Dual Energies, though his other skills remained suppressed as the energies regenerated.
• Zhang Chen sensed a mark in his Spiritual World and concluded that restoring it could let him return to the Material World; the Great Sovereign Demon King left to explore.
• Xu Er Niu fed Zhang Chen wild vegetables and bran, while Zhang Chen found that the new body’s memories had been erased by the Innate Yin-Yang Energy.
• Zhang Chen stayed in the ruined temple for seven days as Xu Er Niu spent her savings on his medicine and he repaired the Golden Twisting Scissors.
• Xu Er Niu worried over the money she had spent, and Zhang Chen promised to repay her with a better life once he recovered.

Zhang Chen recovered from his injuries while learning that Xu Er Niu hoped to find her father, an immortal at Qingcheng Mountain, and promised to accompany her there. After Xu Er Niu took him to Treasurer Jiang’s birthday banquet, they were welcomed and fed generously.

• Xu Er Niu gave Zhang Chen half of her flatbread and told him to repay her by gathering medicinal herbs once he recovered.
• Xu Er Niu told Zhang Chen that her father was an immortal at Qingcheng Mountain, and Zhang Chen promised to go there with her after he recovered.
• Over three days, Zhang Chen’s Yin-Yang Dual Energies healed most of his injuries, while Xu Er Niu spent more of her copper coins.
• Xu Er Niu took Zhang Chen to wash in a stream, clean their clothes with washing grass, and gather flowers for Treasurer Jiang’s birthday banquet.
• Xu Er Niu presented Master Jiang with a flower basket, and he welcomed her and Zhang Chen as guests and ordered a lavish meal for them.
• After Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu ate their fill, Master Jiang’s steward packed the leftovers for them to take away.

Zhang Chen protected Xu Er Niu from a gang of beggars and took their copper coins, then joined her in trying to save money for their journey to Qingcheng Mountain. After several lean days of selling flowers and eating discarded vegetables, they shared a flatbread and promised to share everything as they traveled together.

• Zhang Chen used the Golden Twisting Scissors to cut off each beggar's left little finger, then forced the gang to hand over their copper coins before he and Xu Er Niu left.
• Xu Er Niu counted the 510 coins and worried they would not have enough for the trip to Qingcheng Mountain, while Zhang Chen promised to get her there safely.
• Xu Er Niu took Zhang Chen to Yangzhou City to sell wildflowers, but they earned little and survived on discarded vegetable leaves.
• After a vendor gave Xu Er Niu a flatbread, she tried to give it all to Zhang Chen, but he split it with her.
• Xu Er Niu declared that they would share everything, and Zhang Chen solemnly agreed.

Zhang Chen made money by gathering medicinal herbs, then used talismans to recruit the beggar chief Xiu Liu for a scheme. He passed the Blood God Scripture into Xiu Liu’s mind, leaving him to cultivate its blood-path method.

• Zhang Chen brought Xu Er Niu into the mountains to gather and process astragalus, then comforted her after village children bullied her.
• Zhang Chen sold the herbs for thirty copper coins and spent most of the money on Yellow Paper.
• Zhang Chen used the Golden Twisting Scissors and the Golden Invisibility Talisman to make fifty Invisibility Talismans and fifty Body Immobilization Talismans overnight.
• Zhang Chen visited the beggar chief and gave him the talismans, warning him about the business deal.
• The beggar chief introduced himself as Xiu Liu, and Zhang Chen passed the Blood God Scripture into his mind.

Zhang Chen trained Xiu Liu in the Blood God Dao and sent him to abduct children, then waited for him to bring money. After Xiu Liu returned with silver and mastered the Blood God Sons, Zhang Chen asked him to secure more travel funds for the journey to Qingcheng Mountain.

• Zhang Chen taught Xiu Liu the Blood God Dao and ordered him to complete his task while keeping his actions discreet.
• Zhang Chen told Xu Er Niu they would stop gathering herbs, buy food, and save up before traveling to Qingcheng Mountain.
• More than forty children went missing, and Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu denied knowing anything when the constables questioned them.
• Xiu Liu brought Zhang Chen three hundred taels of silver, then entered seclusion to cultivate for twenty-one days.
• Xiu Liu returned as a Blood God Son, and Zhang Chen asked him to obtain more money for their distant journey.

Zhang Chen, Xu Er Niu, and Xiu Liu left Yangzhou for Qingcheng Mountain, traveling with Xiu Liu’s Blood Puppets as guards. After Xiu Liu killed bandits and advanced to the Fourth Order, Zhang Chen gave him a Ninth Grade Lotus to refine, and the party continued their luxurious journey while Xiu Liu dealt with the outlaws they encountered.

• Zhang Chen told Xiu Liu to stop collecting silver, prepare a carriage, and accompany him and Xu Er Niu to Qingcheng Mountain.
• Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu left the village with Xiu Liu and ten Blood Puppets, and Xu Er Niu decided to rename herself Xu Fu.
• Xiu Liu killed sixteen thousand bandits, advanced to the Fourth Order, and returned to the carriage.
• Zhang Chen gave Xiu Liu a Ninth Grade Lotus to refine into the Blood God Sons and suppress his unstable blood energy.
• Xiu Liu’s Blood Puppets looted the bandits’ silver, and Xiu Liu continued killing outlaws who threatened the party as Zhang Chen traveled in luxury.

Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu climbed the perilous path toward Five Manor Temple’s Back Mountain, relying on Zhang Chen’s Wind Stabilizing Pearl to survive the fierce winds. They encountered a trapped boy, and Zhang Chen suspected his rescue might be a trial set by the temple.

• Xiu Liu left Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu at Five Manor Temple to pursue his own cultivation in the mortal world.
• Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu passed through the front temple and began climbing the dangerous route to the Back Mountain.
• Zhang Chen used the Wind Stabilizing Pearl to shield Xu Er Niu from the mountain winds as they climbed and camped overnight.
• After climbing for several days, Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu heard crying and found a chubby boy clinging to a branch above an abyss.
• The boy begged Zhang Chen to save him, but Zhang Chen wondered whether the situation was a test from Five Manor Temple.

Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu reached Five Manor Temple, where Longevity Ancestor admitted Zhang Chen as a Daoist child and took Xu Er Niu in for personal instruction. As Zhang Chen studied the temple and its teachings, he learned its cultivation method relied on an Earth Vein and a Grotto-Heaven World, but decided it did not suit him.

• Zhang Chen and Xu Er Niu rescued Zou Wenlong from a cliff using their belts and clothing as a rope, then continued with him to Five Manor Temple.
• At the temple gates, Zou Wenlong went inside without them, while Xu Er Niu told Hong Wan that she had come to find her father, Xu Ze.
• Longevity Ancestor recognized Xu Er Niu as Xu Ze's descendant and accepted Zhang Chen as a Daoist child, assigning him to tend the Medicine Field and allowing him to study in the Library Pavilion.
• Zhang Chen settled into temple life, attending Longevity Ancestor's lectures, tending herbs, and searching the Library Pavilion for knowledge about cultivation.
• Zhang Chen learned that Xu Er Niu was receiving personal instruction while she waited for her father to emerge from seclusion, and that Zou Wenlong had also joined the lectures.
• Longevity Ancestor explained that Five Manor Temple's cultivation method used an Earth Vein to create a Grotto-Heaven World; Zhang Chen judged that method unsuitable for him.

Zhang Chen spent years in Five Manor Temple without gaining Qi Sense, while Xu Er Niu and Zou Wenlong each tried to enlist him for their own purposes. Great Sovereign Demon King returned with a plan to help Zhang Chen resolve his innate energies by seeking the weakened Innate Peacock, whose remnant soul was imprisoned within Five Manor Temple.

• Zhang Chen rejected the Earth Immortal cultivation path and searched the Library Pavilion for a way to harmonize his Yin-Yang Dual Energies and Five Colors Divine Light, but found no answer.
• Xu Er Niu told Zhang Chen she had received a secret art, and Longevity Ancestor later taught him a basic method for producing Qi Sense; Zhang Chen still could not cultivate Qi.
• Xu Er Niu promised to help Zhang Chen become an immortal, while Zou Wenlong mistakenly believed Zhang Chen had agreed to tend his Medicine Field and was punished when its herbs died.
• Zhang Chen spent three years reading every book in the Scripture Pavilion without entering the path, then encountered the returning Great Sovereign Demon King while weeding the Medicine Field.
• Great Sovereign Demon King revealed that the Innate Peacock's remnant soul was suppressed inside Five Manor Temple and urged Zhang Chen to seek its help, proposing they act when the Temple Master's tribulation arrived.

Zhang Chen learned that Xu Er Niu was being cultivated into a Grass Return Pill, a dangerous path taught by Longevity Ancestor, and resolved to bring the ancestor down before pursuing the truth about her family. A month later, the Great Sovereign Demon King revealed that Longevity Ancestor’s true spirit was sealed in a guarded hall and suggested exploiting the rivalry between Five Manor Temple and Taiping Dao.

• The Great Sovereign Demon King claimed he had planted a Demonic Seed in Longevity Ancestor and said the ancestor was approaching a tribulation.
• Xu Er Niu gave Zhang Chen pills she had refined, and the Great Sovereign Demon King identified her cultivation method as the Grass Return Pill technique.
• The Great Sovereign Demon King warned that Xu Er Niu was being turned into a human medicine, while Zhang Chen questioned who her parents were and decided Longevity Ancestor had to be stopped.
• Zhang Chen ate Xu Er Niu’s pills, which had no effect because the Yin-Yang Dual Energies consumed their heat.
• A month later, the Great Sovereign Demon King reported that Longevity Ancestor’s true spirit was sealed in a guarded hall on Five Manor Temple’s Back Mountain.
• The Great Sovereign Demon King proposed exploiting Taiping Dao’s rivalry with Five Manor Temple to create an opportunity amid the chaos.

Zhang Chen arranged to enter the Daoist Temple’s forbidden rear courtyard by using Zou Wenlong and Xu Er Niu, hoping to investigate its mirror and approach the Innate Peacock. After the Longevity Ancestor confirmed Zhang Chen had no detectable Qi Sense, he assigned him to the courtyard, where Zhang Chen began his chores and gained access to the place he had been seeking.

• Zhang Chen decided he needed to enter the rear courtyard to inspect its mirror and find a chance to bargain with the Innate Peacock.
• Zhang Chen told Xu Er Niu to spread word that she was too busy cultivating to manage her daily needs, then asked Zou Wenlong to help him serve her in the rear courtyard.
• Zhang Chen gave Zou Wenlong his Invisibility Talisman, and Zou Wenlong asked the Longevity Ancestor to assign Zhang Chen to the rear courtyard.
• The Longevity Ancestor examined Zhang Chen, found no trace of Qi Sense or dharma power, and ordered him to work as an attendant in the rear courtyard.
• Xu Er Niu welcomed Zhang Chen, showed him his quarters, and explained that he would sweep, clean shrines, and handle chores for her and Zou Wenlong.

Zhang Chen used Zou Wenlong to activate the Nine Bends Yellow River Rune Formation and lure the Longevity Ancestor away from the Heaven and Earth Great Hall. As the formation trapped Zou Wenlong and stunned the gathered disciples, Zhang Chen slipped inside the hall.

• Zhang Chen learned from the Great Sovereign Demon King that the mirror he sought was enshrined in the forbidden Heaven and Earth Great Hall, and they planned to lure the Longevity Ancestor away with the Nine Bends Yellow River Rune Formation.
• Zhang Chen secretly left golden talismans in the lotus pond, where Zou Wenlong found them and took them away.
• After the Longevity Ancestor expelled Zou Wenlong from the lecture for arriving drenched, Zou Wenlong activated a talisman in an empty pavilion, triggering all 365 talismans to form the Nine Bends Yellow River Rune Formation.
• The Longevity Ancestor rushed to the formation and tried to destroy it, but the formation erased his giant hand and trapped Zou Wenlong as disciples gathered in alarm.
• Zhang Chen entered the Heaven and Earth Great Hall while the Longevity Ancestor was distracted by the formation.

Longevity Ancestor sent Chen Ling into the Nine Bends Yellow River Grand Formation, then went to retrieve a supreme treasure. Meanwhile, Zhang Chen collected Experience Points and began refining the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, but it tried to pull him inside just as Longevity Ancestor returned to the hall.

• Longevity Ancestor ordered Chen Ling to probe the Nine Bends Yellow River Grand Formation, and Chen Ling vanished inside despite carrying the Ancestor's protective banner.
• After waiting an hour without Chen Ling returning, Longevity Ancestor decided to retrieve a supreme treasure for examining the formation and left the others behind.
• Zhang Chen entered the main hall, collected ten million Experience Points, and used Innate Yin-Yang Energy to attack the restrictions on the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror.
• A golden orb fell from the mirror, and Zhang Chen picked up the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror Incantation to help refine it.
• The mirror opened, revealed a bronze mirror, and sent chains of order around Zhang Chen's arm to drag him inside as Great Sovereign Demon King warned him of the danger.
• Longevity Ancestor's footsteps approached the hall, and Great Sovereign Demon King prepared to create a quarter-hour diversion so Zhang Chen could escape.

Zhang Chen escaped into the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror and began refining it while the Longevity Ancestor used it to investigate the Nine Bends Yellow River Grand Formation. The ancestor discovered that Zou Wenlong and Chen Ling were trapped inside, but could not find a way to break the formation without damaging Qingcheng Mountain.

• Zhang Chen hid inside the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror as the Longevity Ancestor entered the hall and carried the mirror to the formation.
• The Longevity Ancestor taught Xu Er Niu the mirror's controlling incantation, and she used it to illuminate the Nine Bends Yellow River Grand Formation.
• Inside the mirror, Zhang Chen met the imprisoned Innate Peacock and asked how to transform Innate Five Elements and Innate Yin-Yang, but the Peacock refused to help.
• Zhang Chen used his incantation to begin refining the mirror, then seized the chance to accelerate his work when the Longevity Ancestor lent Xu Er Niu power to activate it.
• The Longevity Ancestor saw Zou Wenlong and Chen Ling suppressed inside the formation and studied its workings for three days.
• The Longevity Ancestor learned that splitting the earth could break the formation, but feared the damage would ruin Qingcheng Mountain and jeopardize his cultivation.