Chapter Summaries

Lu Yang entered Responding King's trial, where a dark realm blocked his senses but allowed him to escape by extending his Divine Thought. He discovered the trial created an opponent with a copy of his Divine Firmament Thunder and prepared to fight, confident his other abilities gave him the advantage.

• Lu Yang sat in the Grand Preceptor chair and was transported to a dark realm that sealed his senses, then discovered that extending his Divine Thought returned him to the pavilion.
• Lu Yang reentered the darkness and used his connection to Divine Firmament Thunder to restore his senses and manifest the lightning.
• Lu Yang tested the restored scene and found that the Righteous Banner gave no response, revealing that the surroundings and their apparent contents were illusory.
• A masked, dark-robed figure appeared with a Fruit Position bearing black Divine Firmament Thunder, and Responding King instructed Lu Yang to defeat him to open a passage through the chaos.
• Lu Yang realized the trial had copied his Divine Firmament Thunder but not his Dharma Body Path or True Treasures, and he approached the figure confidently.

After losing to the black-robed man at Responding King, Lu Yang asked True Person Demon-Sweeping how to improve his magical combat and learned that he needed more experience against strong opponents. He returned for another fight, hoping to use the man’s skills to expose his own weaknesses.

• Lu Yang asked Patriarch Tingyou and True Person Demon-Sweeping to assess his magical combat, and True Person Demon-Sweeping told him his foundation was strong but his combat ability was ordinary.
• True Person Demon-Sweeping advised Lu Yang to fight more experts and gain experience through repeated battles, and Lu Yang accepted the advice.
• Lu Yang returned to Responding King and challenged the black-robed man again, asking for his honored title if he won.
• Lu Yang and the black-robed man simultaneously unleashed Three-Nine Lightning Tribulations, and the man healed his injuries by altering his Image.
• Lu Yang decided he had come to be beaten and planned to use the fight to discover his weaknesses.

Lu Yang survived the black-robed man’s first trial by adapting True Constant Heart and combining it with other mysteries, learning how to coordinate them. After escaping Responding King, he challenged True Lord Flying Snow to another fight, and she sensed that he had grown stronger.

• The black-robed man used four coordinated mysteries to trap Lu Yang and strike him with a Nine-Nine Lightning Tribulation.
• Lu Yang studied the black-robed man’s technique, strengthened True Constant Heart, and combined it with Trend Taking Shape and Spring Water to withstand the lightning.
• Lu Yang broke through the Nine-Nine Lightning Tribulation and punched the black-robed man apart, clearing the first trial.
• Inside the pavilion, Lu Yang realized he had successfully combined mysteries and escaped Responding King to test his new insight.
• Lu Yang challenged True Lord Flying Snow to another fight, and she noticed that he had grown stronger before accepting.

After defeating True Lord Flying Snow, Lu Yang returned to Responding King and learned that he had one chance to connect with its reward before needing to defeat the black-robed man again. He sensed a message identifying the reward as the Nascent Light Sea and inviting its finder to seek the First Saint Sect’s Monster-Rearing Peak Master in the Netherworld.

• Lu Yang defeated True Lord Flying Snow in a half-hour battle, then left to check on Responding King.
• Lu Yang discovered a hole in the land of darkness, through which heavenly light illuminated his right eye and revealed a distant object.
• The black-robed man explained that Lu Yang could contemplate the reward once, but had at most six attempts, since a seventh was fatal.
• Lu Yang directed his Divine Thought toward the light and sensed an inscription describing an item left in place of Responding King’s wondrous object.
• Lu Yang learned that the item was called the Nascent Light Sea and that its maker, the First Saint Sect’s Monster-Rearing Peak Master, awaited him in the Netherworld.

While studying the First Generation Monster-Rearing Peak Master’s Nascent Light Sea, Lu Yang discovered how Fruit Position profundities could merge and created the Inverted Branch Bearing Mountain Dao Fruit. He realized this was the Dao Fruit Secret Method of Grotto-Heaven Method Great True Lords and wondered whether gaining True Lord affiliations for Sand Gold and Spring Water could make him a Pine and Cypress Wood Great True Lord.

• Lu Yang recognized that Nascent Light Sea depicted the prototypes of Fruit Positions and showed them intersecting and merging.
• Lu Yang focused on the Pine and Cypress Wood prototype as it intersected with Sand Gold and Spring Water, and comprehended their combination.
• Patriarch Tingyou and True Person Demon-Sweeping saw Talismans and Images combine around Lu Yang into a fruit-shaped orb of light.
• Lu Yang returned to the real world and identified the orb as the Inverted Branch Bearing Mountain Dao Fruit, created by combining three Fruit Position profundities.
• Lu Yang concluded that the Dao Fruit Secret Method was a hallmark of Grotto-Heaven Method Great True Lords and wondered whether Sand Gold and Spring Water affiliations would let him become a Pine and Cypress Wood Great True Lord.

Lu Yang invited Patriarch Tingyou and True Person Demon-Sweeping to enter Responding King’s trial so they could gain chances to comprehend the Nascent Light Sea. Patriarch Tingyou passed without fighting and used his perspective to help Lu Yang study Fruit Position mysteries, leaving Lu Yang eager to create another Dao Fruit secret art.

• Lu Yang reflected on his Dao Fruit secret art, recognizing that it still lacked the actual Fruit Positions needed to become a Grotto-Heaven Method Great True Lord.
• Lu Yang explained Responding King’s trial to Patriarch Tingyou and True Person Demon-Sweeping, then warned Patriarch Tingyou about the vicious black-robed man.
• Patriarch Tingyou entered the Land of Darkness, and the black-robed man studied his Carefree Heaven before letting him pass without a fight.
• Patriarch Tingyou reached the Nascent Light Sea but chose to study familiar Fruit Position mysteries and their ratios rather than cultivate or take the Sea away.
• Lu Yang borrowed Patriarch Tingyou’s perspective and began studying the mysteries to create a second Dao Fruit secret art.

True Lord Flying Snow brought Great Sage Mingzhu and Xuan Yuan Great Sage under the Sacred Sect’s protection, while reflecting on the prison-like nature of the Immortal Pivot. In the Responding King, Lu Yang completed his eighth round of comprehension, gained three Dao Fruit secret arts, and prepared to face the trial himself.

• True Lord Flying Snow returned to Sacred Fire Cliff and told True Lord Radiant Floating Truth that Mingzhu was hers and Xuan Yuan was his.
• True Lord Flying Snow welcomed Great Sage Mingzhu and Xuan Yuan Great Sage into the Sacred Sect, and they recognized that the Old Dragon Lord’s flight had pushed them toward safety.
• True Lord Flying Snow sensed a distant gaze watching her and reflected that everyone in the Immortal Pivot had a prison cell of some kind.
• True Person Demon-Sweeping defeated the black-robed man’s challenge and opened the fourth aperture before leaving to comprehend the newborn Light Sea.
• After another two and a half years, Lu Yang finished his eighth comprehension, gained three Dao Fruit secret arts, and decided to clear the trial himself.

Lu Yang entered the darkness to challenge the black-robed First Generation Monster-Rearing Peak Master for the second aperture, then defeated him with the unfamiliar Yin-Yang Mirror Divine Fruit. His boast of being unrivaled under heaven stirred an ancient Divine Thought in the Netherworld.

• Lu Yang met the black-robed man in the darkness and revealed his Inverted Branch Bearing Mountain Dao Fruit.
• The black-robed man copied Lu Yang's Dao Fruit and explained that he had prepared a counter to Lu Yang's resistances.
• Lu Yang transformed his Dao Fruit into the Yin-Yang Mirror Divine Fruit, and the black-robed man recognized its mysteries.
• Lu Yang attacked with the mirror's darkness and Golden Light, overwhelming the black-robed man's soul and shattering his body.
• Lu Yang celebrated his victory and declared himself unrivaled under heaven.
• A long-sleeping Divine Thought in the Netherworld stirred at Lu Yang's boast.

Lu Yang questioned the black-robed man about Responding King's trial and learned that opening apertures was not the way to pass it. As Lu Yang prepared to continue, a mysterious thought overwhelmed the man and made him vanish, leaving Lu Yang wondering whether he had broken Responding King.

• Lu Yang suspected the black-robed man had misled him and asked whether opening apertures was required to clear Responding King.
• The man explained that opening apertures was only consolation for those who had already failed; the real method was to sever one's connection to the outside world and connect with the nascent Light Sea in chaos.
• The man said Lu Yang had lost his chance after sensing Fruit Positions, but Lu Yang accepted the loss and prepared to open another aperture.
• A faint thought seized the man when Lu Yang claimed to be invincible beneath Heaven, and he recognized that the Tribulation had manifested in the Real World.
• The thought overwhelmed the man, causing his body to explode and vanish; Lu Yang waited half an hour, but neither the man nor the thought returned.

Sky Soaring used his Dao Fruit to investigate the Netherworld and suspected that its supposedly dead master might still be alive. He returned to the Attaining-Enlightenment Hidden Profound Residence, then sensed that Dragon-Serpent Shadow Bodhisattva had developed a Heart Demon in the Pure Land.

• Sky Soaring opened the Attaining-Enlightenment Hidden Profound Residence and used the Dao Fruit of Peering into the Depths and Seeing Through the Void to survey the Netherworld.
• Sky Soaring found no anomaly in the Netherworld's outer realms and concluded that the mysterious fluctuation he had sensed might have come from its central region.
• Sky Soaring suspected that the master of the Netherworld was still alive and feared that pursuing the Netherworld Dao Path could lead to his death.
• Sky Soaring connected the fluctuation to the birth of the Heart Demon and Tribulation, and decided to speak with Immortal Lord of Tribulation and Karma.
• Sky Soaring returned to the Attaining-Enlightenment Hidden Profound Residence and sensed that Dragon-Serpent Shadow Bodhisattva had developed a Heart Demon in the Pure Land.

Lu Yang spent two and a half years refining three Fruit Position Talismans into a single consumable talisman for his Thunder-Subduing Axe-Wielding Dao Fruit. As he completed it, Divine Firmament Thunder sensed that a second True Demon had been born in the Pure Land.

• Lu Yang returned to the Xuanling Realm, and the Supreme of the Xuanling Realm supplied him with high-quality talisman paper and ink.
• Lu Yang explained to Patriarch Tingyou that he wanted to turn the Fruit Position mysteries behind his Thunder-Subduing Axe-Wielding Dao Fruit into consumable Talismans.
• After many failed attempts over two and a half years, Lu Yang completed three Fruit Position Talismans.
• Lu Yang merged the three Talismans into one golden talisman bearing the words Thunder-Subduing Axe-Wielding Demon-Quelling Divine General.
• Lu Yang sensed that a second True Demon had been born in the Pure Land.

Arhat Rong E arrived at Great Thunderclap Temple and learned that Supreme Victory Bodhisattva had entered Nirvana, prompting the Pure Land to gather its Buddhist Cultivators to summon the World Honored One. Instead, Dragon-Serpent Shadow Bodhisattva’s Heart Demon consumed the assembly and gave rise to the Primordial Heavenly Demon, leaving the Pure Land silent.

• Venerable Vimala told Arhat Rong E that Supreme Victory Bodhisattva had entered complete Nirvana and that the Pure Land planned to summon the World Honored One through its gathered Response Bodies.
• Rong E and Vimala joined the Arhats and Bodhisattvas at Great Thunderclap Temple, where the assembly began Unity of Ten Thousand Hearts.
• Dragon-Serpent Shadow Bodhisattva’s crimson Buddha mark turned black, and his Heart Demon spread through the assembly, causing Arhats to fall from their Lotus Platforms.
• The Heart Demons consumed the Arhats, disciples, and believers while Precious Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva and Vase Water Moon Bodhisattva allowed the process to continue.
• The demonic aura gathered into a black-robed young man, and the two Bodhisattvas were consumed as the Pure Land fell silent.
• The young man declared himself the Primordial Heavenly Demon.

Lu Yang realized that the World Honored One had created the Primordial Heavenly Demon to compete with him for the Tribulation, and he planned to strike before it grew stronger. When City-Wall Earth’s power to grasp past and present activated, Lu Yang alone saw the Primordial Heavenly Demon’s hidden arrival.

• The Primordial Heavenly Demon vanished from the Pure Land, leaving the True Lords alarmed and unable to reach the seemingly restored Bodhisattvas.
• Lu Yang concluded that the World Honored One was competing for the Tribulation and that the Primordial Heavenly Demon would grow by devouring cultivators.
• Lu Yang reasoned that the demon would target Emperor Jiayou because the Demon Race’s two great sages and True Lord Radiant Floating Truth were protected within the Sacred Sect.
• The True Treasure Yellow Court trembled, and Lu Yang recognized the power of City-Wall Earth, which revealed the Primordial Heavenly Demon through the Karmic Net.

The Primordial Heavenly Demon used City-Wall Earth, refined into the Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument, to trap Emperor Jiayou in a karmic scene of his past and weaken his resolve. He began manipulating Emperor Jiayou’s thoughts to rewrite the events that had allowed him to seize control of the Dao Court, preparing to devour its leaders and later confront Lu Yang.

• Emperor Jiayou’s memories and cultivation shifted as he found himself back in Tian Wu Hall on the day he ascended the throne.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon revealed City-Wall Earth and explained that the World Honored One had refined it into the Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon resolved to make Emperor Jiayou abandon his struggle for power, then devour the Three Dukes before seeking out Lu Yang.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon used the instrument’s front-facing mystery to place Emperor Jiayou inside a karmic scene of his past.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon entered Emperor Jiayou’s Sea of Consciousness and stirred thoughts of giving up, hoping to change the course of his past.

The Primordial Heavenly Demon altered Emperor Jiayou’s Karma, turning him into a powerless puppet before devouring him and the Three Dukes. It escaped with their souls and planned to refine demonic artifacts before targeting the Immortal Lord of Tribulation and Karma.

• The Primordial Heavenly Demon repeatedly sabotaged Emperor Jiayou’s attempts to resist until he surrendered power to the Grand Preceptor of Dao Court.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon returned to the real world, where Emperor Jiayou’s cultivation and Dao attainment had collapsed and the court had weakened.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon devoured Emperor Jiayou, the Grand Preceptor, the Grand Tutor, and the Grand Guardian, leaving four empty Golden Core shells.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon revealed itself to the other True Lords, warned that they were next, and fled to spread fear.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon restored Emperor Jiayou’s altered Karma to recover its Golden Core Middle Stage power, then resolved to refine four demonic artifacts and kill the Immortal Lord of Tribulation and Karma.

Lu Yang arranged an ambush for the Primordial Heavenly Demon in the Xuanling Realm, recruiting the Xuanling Realm Supreme as bait and giving him a thunder talisman. After two and a half years, the Primordial Heavenly Demon finished preparing its demonic artifacts and set out to attack Lu Yang.

• Lu Yang told the Xuanling Realm Supreme about the Primordial Heavenly Demon and learned that the Supreme had prepared a Small Realm Heaven to evacuate the Xuanling Realm’s inhabitants.
• Lu Yang asked the Xuanling Realm Supreme to lure the Primordial Heavenly Demon into an ambush, and the Supreme agreed in exchange for repaying Lu Yang’s past lifesaving grace.
• Lu Yang gave the Xuanling Realm Supreme a Thunder-Subduing Axe-Wielding Demon-Quelling Divine General talisman and instructed him to hide in a cave abode.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon searched for the Old Dragon Lord for two years, then brought four demonic artifacts together with its Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon spotted the star where Lu Yang waited and flew toward it, activating the Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument.

Lu Yang saw through the Primordial Heavenly Demon’s karmic test and criticized his use of City-Wall Earth. He then counterattacked with multicolored light, preparing to teach the demon how Grasp Past and Present should be used.

• Lu Yang relived his entry into the Sacred Sect and was assigned to Joyous Union Hall, where Yu Suzhen began dual cultivation with him.
• Lu Yang recognized the scene as a karmic illusion, remained lucid, and broke it by declaring it lifelike.
• Lu Yang awoke in the Heavenly Court quiet chamber and told the Primordial Heavenly Demon that he had been showing off before an expert.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon wondered why he could not trace Lu Yang’s Karma back before his Golden Core stage.
• Lu Yang spread multicolored light through the chamber and told the Primordial Heavenly Demon he would teach him how to use Grasp Past and Present.

Lu Yang used Karma to manipulate the Primordial Heavenly Demon into attacking the Xuanling Realm's Supreme, where a lightning talisman struck him down. The Primordial Heavenly Demon was reduced to ashes, though Lu Yang suspected his Avatars would let him revive, and he took the Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument.

• Lu Yang overwhelmed the Primordial Heavenly Demon with an imitation of City-Wall Earth and cast him into a scene of past Karma.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon escaped the false vision of his death by lightning and fled Lu Yang's cave.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon followed a Karma thread into the Xuanling Realm's Supreme's Sea of Consciousness, where a lightning talisman attacked him.
• Lu Yang revealed that he had altered the present to guide the Primordial Heavenly Demon into the trap, then took the Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon disintegrated into ashes as Lu Yang returned to his cave, expecting the demon might revive through Avatars.

Lu Yang’s lightning talisman defeated the Primordial Heavenly Demon, shocking the Immortal Pivot and drawing attention to his power. As Gangxing Budao True Lord considered seeking Lu Yang’s help, the Primordial Heavenly Demon was ordered to recover and then travel to the Celestial Court, where he planned to build strength for a future rematch.

• Lu Yang celebrated his victory and watched reactions to his livestream promoting the Righteous Dao’s lightning arts.
• Gangxing Budao True Lord realized Lu Yang might be able to resolve the conflicting Images that prevented him from using Dao Fruit secret arts.
• Monks and Bodhisattvas revived the Primordial Heavenly Demon, who feared Lu Yang’s lightning talisman and lamented the loss of the Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument.
• Vajra Realm Jewel-Born Tathagata told the Primordial Heavenly Demon that the World Honored One disapproved of his losing City-Wall Earth and ordered him to leave the Immortal Pivot for the Celestial Court.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon accepted the order to travel to the Celestial Court after recovering and vowed to kill Lu Yang when he returned.

Lu Yang sent the corrupting Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument to the Star Palace, then predicted that the wounded Primordial Heavenly Demon would seek refuge in the Ten Thousand Martial Realm. He waited in the Void Darkness Light Sea and encountered the demon as it arrived.

• Lu Yang feared the Time-Shifting World-Transposing Instrument would erode his Dao Heart, so he sent it through a Star Gate to the Star Palace.
• Lu Yang reasoned that the Primordial Heavenly Demon would leave the Immortal Pivot and seek a new opportunity beyond it.
• Lu Yang concluded that the wounded demon would first visit an Outer Dao Great Realm Heaven rather than head straight to the Celestial Court.
• Lu Yang went to the Ten Thousand Martial Realm and waited in the Void Darkness Light Sea.
• The Primordial Heavenly Demon emerged from the void and found Lu Yang waiting for it.