Chapter Summaries

Lu Yang escaped the Broken Place through Beyond Heaven and arrived in a new Jietian, where Hongyun's influence and protections kept the realm from rejecting him. He planned to cultivate toward Foundation Establishment Perfection and rely on Yama Hall's False Holding Gold Position Method rather than pursue a Fruit Position.

• Lu Yang left his Sword Dao avatar behind and transformed Parting Sorrow Heaven into his new true body within the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner.
• Lu Yang crossed Beyond Heaven's Two Extremes Life-Death Profound Light using Hongyun's coordinates and saw the Broken Place devouring the surrounding Jietian holes.
• Lu Yang arrived in a new Jietian, confirmed he could still sense his Sword Dao avatar, and resolved not to return to the Broken Place until he was stronger.
• Lu Yang used Hongyun's memories to understand why the Fruit Position Prototype in the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner could not support a True Lord and how the Primordial True Person had used Long Flowing Water to overcome that limit.
• Lu Yang saw Hongyun's Seven Luminaries Stabilizing World Preserving Truth Array protecting the Jietian and decided to seek Foundation Establishment Perfection, then use False Holding Gold Position with nine such cultivators.

Lu Yang cautiously explored Seven Radiance Heaven and discovered that its mortals worshipped local gods who grew stronger through incense. After luring a white-haired village god into a trap and defeating him with ease, Lu Yang wondered whether the world was far less dangerous than he had expected.

• Lu Yang entered Seven Radiance Heaven through Chen Xin'an, found that it had no Spiritual Qi, and tested that his spiritual powers still worked.
• A white-haired old man investigated Lu Yang’s signs of magic, mistook them for Wild Fox Zen, and left without discovering him.
• Lu Yang followed the old man’s sandalwood trail to a village shrine and saw that incense offerings strengthened the old man’s rank.
• Lu Yang prepared layered formations in a mountain valley and deliberately disturbed the surroundings to lure the old man out.
• The old man charged into Lu Yang’s trap and fainted; Lu Yang attacked from a distance, then cautiously approached with a false body.

Lu Yang searched the White Village Land God's memories and learned how Seven Radiance Heaven's Incense Fire Divine Path worked. He decided to seize the Eight-Hundred-Mile Skull Mountain Earth Vein to make Heaven and Earth accept him as a local and advance his plans.

• Lu Yang searched the Land God's soul and discovered that the former White Village chief had become a Land God through the villagers' worship.
• Lu Yang learned that City Gods, the White Lotus Sect, and the Imperial Ancestral Temple divided the world's incense fire and controlled population to prevent a fourth Capital City God from rising.
• Lu Yang realized that the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner's loyal spirits could help him gather faith, but he first needed Seven Radiance Heaven to recognize him as one of its own.
• Lu Yang concluded that offering Jietian an entire Earth Vein could secure that recognition and recalled the Eight-Hundred-Mile Skull Mountain Vein.
• Lu Yang blamed Heaven and Earth for influencing his thoughts through the Spirit Immortal's body and decided to dig into their foundations by taking the Eight-Hundred-Mile Skull Mountain Vein.

Lu Yang visited True Person Demon-Sweeping to learn about the Buddhist Fate linking him to Pure Land’s Buddha’s Son, but insisted on retrieving Skull Mountain’s Earth Vein. True Person Demon-Sweeping seized it from afar with Mystic Virtue Blessed Land, and Lu Yang’s avatar lost its Merit Fortune as his No-Kill Sword cultivation advanced.

• Lu Yang’s avatar met True Person Demon-Sweeping, who revealed that Pure Land’s Buddha’s Son had bound Lu Yang to Buddhist Fate and introduced Jingguan, the previous Buddha’s Son.
• True Person Demon-Sweeping explained that Jingguan’s evil Buddhist Fate had once targeted him, then warned Lu Yang that he was too weak to keep venturing out.
• Lu Yang told True Person Demon-Sweeping he intended to retrieve the Earth Vein beneath Skull Mountain in Jiangbei to aid his cultivation.
• True Person Demon-Sweeping used Mystic Virtue Blessed Land to pull Skull Mountain’s Earth Vein from afar and handed the shrunken vein to Lu Yang.
• Lu Yang stored the Earth Vein in the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner, and his avatar’s Merit Fortune vanished as his No-Kill Sword made progress.

Lu Yang offered the Eight-Hundred-Mile Skull Mountain Vein to Seven Radiance Heaven, gained an Incense Fire Divine Talisman, and urged Patriarch Tingyou to reestablish the Witch Ghost Sect. He then tried to expand Parting Sorrow Heaven through White Village’s Land God Temple, but the temple suddenly shook, leaving him afraid that his plan had been exposed or that someone had set a trap.

• Lu Yang offered Seven Radiance Heaven a strand of earth-vein qi, which formed an Incense Fire Divine Talisman and granted him household registration in the realm.
• Lu Yang inscribed the title Yama Heaven Profound Underworld Seizing Ghost Prefect on the talisman and persuaded Patriarch Tingyou to take charge of it while proposing to reestablish the Witch Ghost Sect.
• Lu Yang possessed Chen Xin'an and entered White Village’s Land God Temple, where he found an incense-fire domain connected to the temple.
• Lu Yang replaced the Land God Temple’s sacred domain with Parting Sorrow Heaven and began planning to gather the villagers’ incense fire and expand his influence.
• The Land God Temple shook violently, and Lu Yang feared that someone had exposed his actions or laid a trap for him.

Lu Yang intervened when White Lotus Sect disciples used a wolf attack to undermine the Land God of White Village and seize its incense fire. Lin Sheng and Wang Anping stormed the Land God Temple, only to find themselves surrounded by Lu Yang’s gathered forces.

• Lu Yang realized that White Village’s wavering faith had destabilized the Land God Temple and had the unconscious Land God’s incense fire replaced with Patriarch Tingyou’s power to strengthen the Temple Priest.
• Lu Yang assembled Longyue, the Peak Master of Heaven Mending, Patriarch Tingyou, Dragon Girl Chong Ling, and the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner’s spirits in case he needed to fight or escape.
• Lin Sheng and Wang Anping revealed that they had sent wolves to attack White Village so they could later win the villagers’ faith and establish a White Lotus Sect stronghold.
• The empowered Temple Priest charged into the wolf pack and killed two giant wolves, prompting Lin Sheng to decide to seal the Land God Temple.
• Lin Sheng and Wang Anping broke into the Land God Temple and froze when they found Lu Yang’s formidable forces waiting inside.

Lin Sheng and Wang Anping entered Parting Sorrow Heaven, where Lin Sheng mistook its powerful gods for an illusion and Wang Anping tried to summon help. Lu Yang killed and refined three summoned White Lotus Sect Divine Lords into Banner Spirits, while Lin Sheng still insisted everything was an illusion.

• Lin Sheng dismissed the gods in Parting Sorrow Heaven as an illusion and shattered his Flying Sword against Longyue’s protective dharma power.
• Wang Anping slapped Lin Sheng, then begged the gods for mercy while secretly activating his White Lotus Token.
• The token summoned the Green Lotus Divine Lord, who mistook the scene for an illusion and was killed and refined into a Banner Spirit by Lu Yang.
• The token summoned two stronger White Lotus Sect Divine Lords in succession, and Lu Yang killed and refined both into Banner Spirits.
• Wang Anping collapsed in despair, while Lin Sheng continued to insist that the events were an illusion.

Lu Yang discovered that the White Lotus Sect’s slain Divine Lords could still draw incense fire as Banner Spirits, and began exploiting the loophole to poach their followers. At the White Lotus Sect headquarters, Black Lotus realized the three Divine Lords might have been captured and feared they would take their followers with them.

• Lu Yang reasoned that the White Lotus Sect’s repeated attacks came from its lack of experience with large-scale conflict, and resolved to prepare before its next, more cautious assault.
• Lu Yang found that the three White Lotus Sect Divine Lords, now Banner Spirits, could receive incense fire from their former followers.
• Lu Yang invited Wang Anping to join the Witch Ghost Sect, turned Lin Sheng into a Banner Spirit when he refused, and watched Wang Anping transform voluntarily.
• Lu Yang confirmed that Wang Anping’s incense fire went to Patriarch Tingyou and decided to bring Sacred Sect shock to Seven Radiance Heaven.
• At the White Lotus Sect headquarters, Black Lotus saw the three Divine Lords’ ruined halls and intact statues, then ordered an investigation into their followers and incense fire.
• Black Lotus feared the Divine Lords had been captured and could betray the White Lotus Sect by taking their followers with them.

Lu Yang learned that the White Lotus Sect supported its most devoted believers in the Vacuum Home, then decided its methods were too righteous and began recruiting its followers into the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner. He planned to use the Banner Spirits to gradually replace the sect’s believers without alerting the Eternal Unborn Mother.

• Golden Lotus Divine Lord, Green Lotus Divine Lord, and Purple Lotus Divine Lord explained how the White Lotus Sect used genuine benefits and the Vacuum Home to win believers’ faith.
• Golden Lotus Divine Lord revealed that the sect’s growing costs had pushed it into deficit, prompting it to seek new believers.
• Lu Yang criticized the sect for spending money on its believers and proposed using illusion magic instead, then ordered the Divine Lords to take him to their followers.
• Lu Yang announced that believers could enter Parting Sorrow Heaven, and crowds rushed into the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner after the Divine Lords endorsed his claim.
• Lu Yang released the new Banner Spirits without immediately changing their faith and planned to convert the White Lotus Sect’s followers gradually.

After Patriarch Tingyou reached Foundation Establishment Late Stage, he explained the strengths and dangers of incense fire divine power to Lu Yang. Lu Yang’s trap for the White Lotus Sect was sprung, and the chapter ended as the sect’s vast incense fire surged toward Parting Sorrow Heaven.

• Patriarch Tingyou recovered to Foundation Establishment Late Stage and reported his findings about the Incense Fire Divine Talisman to Lu Yang.
• Patriarch Tingyou explained that incense fire grants rapid advancement without bottlenecks but leaves its gods dependent on incense and vulnerable to madness from stray thoughts.
• Lu Yang reflected that he had secretly transformed ninety percent of the White Lotus Sect’s believers into Banner Spirits while keeping their offerings directed toward the sect.
• The White Lotus Sect, led by the Black Lotus Divine Lord, surrounded Parting Sorrow Heaven with its forces and reached for Lu Yang.
• Lu Yang summoned the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner, and the White Lotus Sect’s vast incense fire surged toward Parting Sorrow Heaven.

Lu Yang drained the White Lotus Sect’s incense fire, destroyed its Incense Fire Gods, and captured the Eternal Unborn Mother, securing Parting Sorrow Heaven’s victory. He then sensed an unexpected change: the Ancestor of the Yun Family had reincarnated early and entered the Law Refining Secret Realm.

• The White Lotus Sect brought the Vacuum Home and a force of Divine Lords to attack Parting Sorrow Heaven, but Lu Yang began drawing away their incense fire.
• Parting Sorrow Heaven’s power surged as White Lotus Sect Incense Fire Gods lost their support and burst into flames.
• Lu Yang used Incense Fire Empowerment to seize the Eternal Unborn Mother, crush her, and refine her into a Banner Spirit.
• Lu Yang realized the White Lotus Sect’s incense fire could help him cultivate Incense Fire Great Gods, then sensed that the Ancestor of the Yun Family had reincarnated early and entered the Law Refining Secret Realm.
• Lu Yang used Puppet on Strings to witness Mu Changsheng curse the Demon Sect and vow that one side would not rest until the other was dead.

Lu Yang realized that Wang Boyuan was the reincarnated soul of Mu Changsheng, whose consciousness had planned to possess him and ascend through the Non-Existent Heaven. The Sacred Sect Ancestor had secretly trapped Mu Changsheng’s soul in the Law Refining Secret Realm, leaving him stranded there after five thousand years of helping Sacred Sect Disciples cultivate.

• Mu Changsheng’s frail soul phantom appeared in the Law Refining Secret Realm and questioned the Ancestor of the Yun Family.
• Mu Changsheng revealed that he had founded the Non-Existent Heaven and described his plan to possess his reincarnated soul after Chongguang ascended.
• Lu Yang recognized the phantom as Wang Boyuan and pieced together that his soul had never entered reincarnation because it had been trapped in the secret realm.
• Lu Yang concluded that the Sacred Sect Ancestor had seized Mu Changsheng’s soul from the Netherworld and thrown it into the Law Refining Secret Realm.
• Lu Yang marveled that the Sacred Sect Ancestor’s hidden move had ruined Mu Changsheng’s five-thousand-year scheme.

Lu Yang reconsidered the forces behind the Primordial True Person’s predicament and suspected a Dao Lord had influenced events in the previous life. As the Primordial True Person mistook Yun Qingchuan’s rescue attempt for a scheme to locate Heaven and Earth’s Spirit Immortal, that Spirit Immortal was revealed to be trapped by Lu Yang’s Pomegranate Wood Destiny and its Chastity Vow.

• Lu Yang reasoned that the Sword Pavilion might have arranged Mu Changsheng’s reincarnation to use him to fill the Sword Dao Fruit Position.
• Lu Yang connected Wang Boyuan’s escape from the Law Refining Secret Realm to the Primordial True Person’s Dao Abomination being exposed to Heavenly Killing Intent, and wondered whether a Dao Lord was behind it.
• Yun Qingchuan told the Primordial True Person that True Person Quexie had sent him to rescue him from the Law Refining Secret Realm.
• The Primordial True Person rejected Yun Qingchuan’s claim, then guessed that the Sword Pavilion wanted to use him to find Heaven and Earth’s Spirit Immortal.
• The Spirit Immortal, trapped in a moonlit pool, discovered Lu Yang’s Pomegranate Wood Destiny and Chastity Vow had transferred to its body, forcing it to choose between sleeping around and suffering the vow’s backlash.

Lu Yang gathered the White Lotus Sect’s incense fire and decided that taking the slower route to False Holding Gold Position was not enough. He resolved to refine all of Seven Radiance Heaven into the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner and take its Fruit Position Prototype with him.

• Lu Yang severed his connection with the Ancestor of the Yun Family and focused on improving his strength.
• Lu Yang gathered the White Lotus Sect’s incense fire and realized that taking the City God system’s and imperial court’s reserves would take too long.
• Wu Ning and Yan Taizu sensed the White Lotus Sect’s incense fire had changed worshippers and discovered Patriarch Tingyou, the Eternal Unborn Mother, and Longyue receiving it in Parting Sorrow Heaven.
• Lu Yang reflected on his failures and chose to refine all of Seven Radiance Heaven into the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner, including its Fruit Position Prototype.

Lu Yang began refining Seven Radiance Heaven, using the Heaven Mending Scripture and Hongyun’s array to withstand its immense power and reach its Fruit Position Prototype. He locked the incense fire in place as Seven Radiance Heaven resisted, leaving the refinement underway and its outcome uncertain.

• Lu Yang activated the Opening Altar Cultivation Ritual and used the Heaven Mending Scripture to embed Parting Sorrow Heaven into the world.
• Lu Yang sensed the vast information within Seven Radiance Heaven and used the Seven Luminaries Stabilizing World Preserving Truth Array to sort and contain it.
• Lu Yang fed Seven Radiance Heaven Qi of Earth Vein until he reached its Fruit Position Prototype and glimpsed the thought that had given rise to the Jietian.
• Lu Yang thrust his incense fire divine power toward the prototype, prompting Seven Radiance Heaven to resist and try to withdraw his incense-fire authority.
• Lu Yang activated the array to pin the incense fire to himself and suppress Seven Radiance Heaven, officially beginning the refinement.

Lu Yang began seizing Seven Radiance Heaven’s power, gaining the Innate Divine Ability Exquisite Heart and triggering the Heaven’s first tribulation. As Yan Taizu and the Capital City God attacked, Patriarch Tingyou intervened, leaving Lu Yang free to continue refining Seven Radiance Heaven.

• Lu Yang deprived Seven Radiance Heaven of Fruit Position power, strengthening Parting Sorrow Heaven and gaining Exquisite Heart.
• Lu Yang used Exquisite Heart to perceive three tribulations forming and recognized the first as his Human Calamity.
• The Capital City God and Yan Taizu gathered the world’s incense fire and attacked Lu Yang, while the other Incense Fire Gods lost their power.
• Lu Yang asked Patriarch Tingyou to protect him, and Patriarch Tingyou confronted the two Great Gods.
• Patriarch Tingyou used the Mountain Moving True Method with incense fire divine power to turn Yan Taizu into a stone statue, reassuring Lu Yang that the Human Calamity could not stop him.

Lu Yang used the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner and a Fruit Position Prototype to overcome the backlash from refining Seven Radiance Heaven, while Patriarch Tingyou held off Yan Taizu and the Capital City God. After Lu Yang manifested a third Divine Illumination and integrated the Incense Fire power into himself, Seven Radiance Heaven summoned heavenly punishment against him.

• Yan Taizu broke free of Patriarch Tingyou's spell by expending Incense Fire divine power, but Patriarch Tingyou continued to hold him and the Capital City God at bay.
• Lu Yang manifested Embodied True Qi and used it to refine the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner with the essence of Seven Radiance Heaven, but the strain injured him and cracked Parting Sorrow Heaven.
• Lu Yang realized Seven Radiance Heaven was learning to resist him and holding back its second Tribulation, so he used the Grand Void Sacrificial Rite to draw power from the Fruit Position Prototype in the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner.
• With that support, Lu Yang renewed his refining effort and manifested the Primordial Convergence Art, which stabilized his consciousness and integrated the Incense Fire power into his strength.
• Seven Radiance Heaven unleashed heavenly punishment, filling the sky with thunderclouds and lightning that locked onto Lu Yang.

Lu Yang faced Seven Radiance Heaven’s heavenly punishment and an unfinished Fate Calamity while trying to refine the realm. After Patriarch Tingyou stabilized Parting Sorrow Heaven, Lu Yang chose to pit the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner’s Fruit Position Prototype against Seven Radiance Heaven’s, trusting the Hundred Lives Book to give him more chances if he failed.

• Seven Radiance Heaven unleashed its fully formed heavenly punishment and an unfinished Fate Calamity, and Lu Yang realized the latter had doomed his fortune to nine deaths and one life.
• Lu Yang summoned Patriarch Tingyou and handed him control of Parting Sorrow Heaven; Patriarch Tingyou used the Seven Luminaries Stabilizing World Preserving Truth Array to keep it from collapsing.
• Lu Yang realized Patriarch Tingyou could save his life but could not help him refine Seven Radiance Heaven, so he considered using the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner’s Fruit Position Prototype to weaken it.
• Lu Yang accepted the risk that Seven Radiance Heaven might devour the banner’s Fruit Position Prototype and vowed to Restart as needed.
• Lu Yang resolved to act despite the Fate Calamity, and a clear sword cry rang out from his Sea of Consciousness.

Lu Yang used Sword Intent and the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner to weaken Seven Radiance Heaven, then split its domain with Calamity Waves and absorbed its power. He reached Foundation Establishment Perfection as the banner devoured the battered domain.

• True Person Demon-Sweeping sensed Lu Yang's Sword Intent erupt from Extreme Heaven Cliff and rejoiced that the Earth Veins had tempered it.
• Lu Yang had Patriarch Tingyou summon the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner's Fruit Position Prototype, drawing Seven Radiance Heaven's heavenly tribulation away from him.
• Yan Taizu and the Capital City God struck Lu Yang, making him appear gravely weakened while the two Fruit Position Prototypes clashed.
• Lu Yang used Sword Intent and Calamity Waves to pierce Seven Radiance Heaven's Fruit Position talisman and split the domain.
• The Ten Thousand Spirit Banner devoured Seven Radiance Heaven as Lu Yang absorbed its power and attained Foundation Establishment Perfection.

Lu Yang reached Foundation Establishment Perfection in Seven Radiance Heaven, defeated Yan Taizu and the Capital City God, and discovered that he could strengthen a Fruit Position Prototype only by gathering far more than three hundred Ten Thousand Spirit Banners. He considered the obstacles ahead on the path to Golden Seeking, then turned to Patriarch Tingyou for a spar to gauge his new strength.

• Lu Yang emerged from the iridescent light at Foundation Establishment Perfection and realized Hongyun's arrangements had made his breakthrough possible.
• Lu Yang used Heavenly Guideline to destroy Yan Taizu and the Capital City God, then refined them into Banner Spirits.
• Patriarch Tingyou reported that the nameless Fruit Position Prototype was damaged, and Lu Yang fed it to Seven Radiance Heaven to strengthen its own prototype.
• Lu Yang estimated that merging the prototypes would require more than three hundred Ten Thousand Spirit Banners and abandoned the plan.
• Lu Yang assessed his standing and the obstacles to Golden Seeking, then challenged Patriarch Tingyou to a spar.