Chapter Summaries

Lu Yang recovered through the Golden Elixir Return-to-Dan Verification Diagram and completed the Five Elements Supreme radiance by adding the Great Forest Wood Image. Studying the transformed Northern Exorcism Institute, he realized it resembled the Netherworld and wondered whether he was following the First Generation Monster-Rearing Peak Master’s path.

• Lu Yang used the Golden Elixir Return-to-Dan Verification Diagram to restore his Dharma Body and dharma power to their peak, and realized a surviving strand of Divine Thought could let him be reborn while the Northern Exorcism Institute remained.
• Lu Yang added a wisp of the Great Forest Wood Image to the four True Treasures’ array, briefly uniting the Five Elements into chaotic radiance that could absorb other powers and treasures.
• The chaotic radiance faded when the Great Forest Wood Image was depleted, and Lu Yang concluded that he needed to refine it into a True Treasure to sustain the transformation.
• Lu Yang considered how difficult it would be to obtain more Great Forest Wood cultivation from Sky Soaring, who remained too powerful for him to kill.
• Lu Yang recognized that the Northern Exorcism Institute resembled the Netherworld and wondered whether gathering the Five Elements Supreme True Treasures would make it a Fruit Position, Great Dao, and supreme treasure like the Netherworld.

Lu Yang proposed building the Northern Exorcism Institute into a second Netherworld in the Void Darkness Land, where it could grow without the constraints of the Other Shore. Patriarch Tingyou judged the plan feasible, and Lu Yang concluded that the Netherworld’s founding design offered a way to establish and strengthen such a plane.

• Lu Yang reflected that the Netherworld’s design was sound but limited by its connection to the Real World and the Other Shore.
• Lu Yang told Patriarch Tingyou and True Person Demon-Sweeping that he planned to make the Northern Exorcism Institute a second Netherworld and rival a Dao Lord without ascending to the Other Shore.
• Lu Yang argued that the Void Darkness Land had its own ranks and that leaving the Real World would allow him to escape the Other Shore’s restraints.
• Lu Yang used ranked cultivators’ ability to cross the Light Sea without regard to distance as evidence for his theory, and Patriarch Tingyou agreed that the plan was feasible.
• True Person Demon-Sweeping questioned how Lu Yang would maintain his rank without the Real World, and Patriarch Tingyou identified the Netherworld as a precedent for a plane sustained within Void Darkness.
• Lu Yang explained how reincarnation and the cultivation of dead spirits had strengthened the Netherworld and kept it linked to the Real World, then resolved to use the method for his own Dao Path.

Lu Yang explained how he would raise the Northern Exorcism Institute’s status through a Dao lineage that resonated with it, then used the Dragon-Banishing Ruler’s wisdom to create the Great Void Resonance Canon. He believed organizing his own Dao lineage would give him at least a ninety-percent chance of building an Immortal Bridge.

• Lu Yang described a plan to connect cultivators to the Northern Exorcism Institute through a Dao lineage, reducing harm to mortals while raising the Institute’s status.
• True Person Demon-Sweeping recognized Lu Yang’s earlier promise that the broken world could change, and agreed to try his plan.
• Patriarch Tingyou asked why Dao Lords built Other Shores, and Lu Yang explained that their dangers came with freedom from restrictions and fewer competitors.
• Lu Yang acknowledged to himself that he intended to keep absolute control of the Northern Exorcism Institute and use living beings to advance himself.
• After waiting three days for the Dragon-Banishing Ruler’s wisdom to return, Lu Yang created the Great Void Resonance Canon as the Institute’s Dao lineage.
• Lu Yang concluded that organizing his own Dao lineage could give him at least a ninety-percent chance of building an Immortal Bridge.

Lu Yang established the Northern Exorcism Institute’s cultivation system, but discovered that Heavenly Dao sealed the way beyond the Light Sea and blocked his attempt to build an Immortal Bridge. Sky Soaring appeared and suggested that another path remained, leaving Lu Yang ready to hear him out.

• True Person Demon-Sweeping recognized Lu Yang’s method as a First Grade True Art and considered using the Northern Exorcism Institute to resume his stagnant cultivation.
• Lu Yang created the Divination Golden Book, allowing Qi Refining cultivators to calculate karma and grasp their own fates.
• Lu Yang set out the Northern Exorcism Institute’s cultivation stages, from refining true qi and establishing the Dao Foundation to Knocking on Heaven’s Gate.
• Lu Yang reset his cultivation and tried to establish an Immortal Bridge beyond the Light Sea, but found that Heavenly Dao sealed the surrounding Void Darkness.
• Sky Soaring appeared, told Lu Yang that Heaven never sealed every path, and invited him to talk.

Lu Yang met [Sky Soaring] in the Taihuang Realm and learned that his path to escape the Dao Lords’ control depended on entering the Netherworld. [Sky Soaring] revealed a route through the Netherworld’s core that could lead Lu Yang into Void Darkness unnoticed.

• Lu Yang and [Sky Soaring] descended on an island in the Taihuang Realm and made a Tea Pavilion.
• [Sky Soaring] guessed at Lu Yang’s identity and recognized that he had been unable to advance because the [Heavenly Dao] had sealed the Light Sea.
• Lu Yang revealed the [Great Void Resonance Canon] he had created, and [Sky Soaring] observed that its principles resembled those of the [Heavenly Dao].
• [Sky Soaring] advised Lu Yang to conceal both his creation and his intentions from the Dao Lords while appearing to remain under their control.
• [Sky Soaring] explained that the Netherworld’s core lay beyond the [Heavenly Dao]’s reach and offered it as a way for Lu Yang to enter Void Darkness unnoticed.

Lu Yang negotiated with Sky Soaring, trading a path to the Tribulation Dao for Great Forest Wood's True Lord cultivation. With the cultivation and Great Forest Wood's Image, Lu Yang could complete the final fragment of his Empty Attainment.

• Lu Yang suspected Sky Soaring had abandoned Netherworld after sensing danger, and that he was pretending to be aggrieved to obtain help.
• Lu Yang demanded Great Forest Wood's True Lord cultivation in exchange for giving Sky Soaring a new Dao Path.
• Sky Soaring saw Lu Yang's four Supreme Fruit Position True Treasures and agreed to provide Great Forest Wood's cultivation.
• Lu Yang gave Sky Soaring the He Transforms into the Heart Demon Scripture and explained what he knew about Tribulations.
• Lu Yang and Sky Soaring exchanged their Divine Thought books, and Lu Yang returned to Nourishing Life Lord with Great Forest Wood's Image and cultivation.

Lu Yang studied Sky Soaring’s method and reconstructed how its four divine abilities formed Great Forest Wood’s Sun-Shielding foundation. The method ended at Foundation Establishment, leaving Lu Yang—and Sky Soaring—furious that the rest was missing.

• Lu Yang realized Sky Soaring had created Great Forest Wood’s cultivation method by deriving its divine abilities backward from the Fruit Position.
• Lu Yang cultivated Sun’s Afterglow and Dragon Guarding the Treasury, while the Great Forest Wood resonance alarmed Old Dragon Lord, Tianqiu, and Mu Changsheng.
• Lu Yang formed True Yin Earth and Head of the Six Yangs, completing the four divine abilities that combined into the Sun-Shielding foundation.
• Lu Yang concluded the foundation reached perfection and provided a basic Golden Seeking ritual, then discovered the scripture ended on a blank page.
• In the Human World, Sky Soaring threw down the He Transforms into the Heart Demon Scripture and demanded to know where the rest was.

Lu Yang used divination to assess Sky Soaring’s plan to cross secretly through the Netherworld and identified a better time for the crossing. He decided to help Mu Changsheng prove [Fire in the Sky], hoping the resulting upheaval would let him pass beyond the Light Sea unnoticed.

• Lu Yang estimated that the [Nourishing Life Lord] booklet and the Dragon-Banishing Ruler would let him understand [Great Forest Wood]’s Golden Core method within thirty years.
• Lu Yang combined the [Northern Exorcism Institute], the Image of [Great Forest Wood], and his divination techniques to investigate the dangers of Sky Soaring’s proposed crossing.
• Lu Yang read the first divination as a warning that Sky Soaring’s proposal carried hidden dangers.
• Lu Yang added the Qian trigram and concluded that the crossing would be most favorable while someone proved [Fire in the Sky].
• Lu Yang decided that Mu Changsheng should join the Dao Court, open [Non-Existent Heaven], unify the Immortal Pivot, and prove [Fire in the Sky] to create a diversion for his crossing beyond the Light Sea.

Sky Soaring realized that cultivating the He Transforms into the Heart Demon Scripture required making Heart Demons real, but doing so risked exposing his abandonment of the Netherworld path. After unsealing his memories, he chose to seek the World Honored One’s help despite fearing the World Honored One might betray him, and reached him through the Karmic Net.

• Sky Soaring concluded that he could use Quzhi to turn illusory Heart Demons into real ones, but doing so might reveal his shift toward seeking Tribulation to the Sacred Sect Ancestor.
• Sky Soaring decided that he needed guidance on Tribulation and unsealed the memories he had buried for his former pursuit of the Netherworld.
• Sky Soaring learned that the World Honored One was closely connected to him, but suspected the World Honored One might seize Tribulation by converting or killing him.
• Sky Soaring chose to risk relying on the World Honored One and used the Dragon-Serpent Shadow Bodhisattva’s body and City-Wall Earth to enter the Karmic Net.
• Sky Soaring traced Karma back to his Qi Refining days in the Sacred Sect, where the World Honored One appeared and asked whether he had wanted to meet.

Sky Soaring told Radiant World Exchange Light True Lord that the Lord of Netherworld had awakened and asked for help seeking the Tribulation and ascending to the Other Shore. Radiant World Exchange Light True Lord explained how the other Dao Lords and a powerful figure stood in Sky Soaring’s way, but Sky Soaring argued that simultaneous crises could weaken that figure and urged the World Honored One to join him.

• Sky Soaring revealed that the Lord of Netherworld had awakened and gained preliminary control of the Netherworld, explaining why he had abandoned that path.
• Sky Soaring asked Radiant World Exchange Light True Lord to help him seek the Tribulation and attain Enlightenment.
• Radiant World Exchange Light True Lord listed the Dao Lords’ contenders for the Tribulation and warned that the most powerful figure could decide who succeeded by paying a sufficient price.
• Radiant World Exchange Light True Lord recounted how the Sword Lord had lost to that figure, who had since grown even stronger.
• Sky Soaring argued that the Lord of Netherworld, the Ancestral Dragon, and other threats would force that figure to expend his strength, and asked Radiant World Exchange Light True Lord to help him challenge the Tribulation.

Lu Yang arranged Mu Changsheng’s pursuit of [Fire in the Sky] while concealing his involvement, then used the [Divination Golden Book] and [Northern Exorcism Institute] to investigate [Pomegranate Wood]. His divination brought his mind to an endless Abyss Surface, sinking toward its unseen bottom.

• Lu Yang erased Tian Qiu’s memories of [Nourishing Life Lord] and had Ao Guang escort him away.
• Lu Yang gave Mu Changsheng the [Heavenly Radiance Dragon Scripture] and promised to help him pursue Golden Seeking, with a forty percent chance of success.
• Lu Yang concealed Mu Changsheng’s memories of him, replacing his existence with Ao Guang’s, then sent Mu Changsheng away.
• Lu Yang examined the fruit-position tome [Pomegranate Wood] and wondered about Butian Que, the first Peak Master of Mending Heaven.
• Lu Yang used the [Divination Golden Book] and [Northern Exorcism Institute] to divine the secrets of [Pomegranate Wood], and his mind sank toward an unseen abyssal bottom.

Lu Yang deduced that the darkness around him was a tunnel linking Pomegranate Wood to the Ancestral Dragon’s seal, then risked his Divine Thought to see what the seal contained. He discovered that the Ancestral Dragon’s Five Elements Great Dao supported the Other Shore and suspected the First Generation Peak Master of Heaven Mending had tried to use it to cross over.

• Lu Yang strengthened his status with the Northern Exorcism Institute and sensed Pomegranate Wood’s true body in the darkness.
• Lu Yang deduced that the Five Elements Fruit Positions had been excavated from the Immortal Pivot and that the darkness was a tunnel leading toward the Ancestral Dragon’s seal.
• Lu Yang followed the darkness away from Pomegranate Wood and found a Great Dao, but the seal’s suppressive force shattered his Eight Trigrams Divine Thought and injured him.
• Lu Yang saw the Ancestral Dragon’s Five Elements Great Dao beneath the Other Shore and realized the Other Shore was what truly suppressed the Ancestral Dragon.
• Lu Yang suspected that the First Generation Peak Master of Heaven Mending had intended to use the Five Elements Great Dao to reach the Other Shore.

Mu Changsheng learned that attesting [Fire in the Sky] was possible but depended on a secret in the Cloud Sea of Heaven-Reaching, and that his soulless state prevented him from seeking Gold. Old Dragon Lord reshaped a soul for him and prepared him to pursue [Fire in the Sky], leaving Mu Changsheng suspicious that the unusually smooth path was part of someone else’s scheme.

• Mu Changsheng questioned Heavenly Duke about attesting [Fire in the Sky], seeking Gold, and the obstacles posed by his lack of a soul and spirit.
• Heavenly Duke said [Fire in the Sky] depended on a secret in the Cloud Sea of Heaven-Reaching and advised Mu Changsheng to seek Old Dragon Lord’s help with his condition.
• Mu Changsheng found Old Dragon Lord using a jade bell to rouse Tian Qiu from a trance.
• Old Dragon Lord reshaped a dragon soul for Mu Changsheng and promised him the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches needed to seek [Fire in the Sky].
• Old Dragon Lord planned to send Mu Changsheng to the Dao Court to cultivate before opening [Non-Existent Heaven] and usurping the True Lord’s position.
• Mu Changsheng wondered whether Heaven and Earth were helping him or whether someone had already set him up.

Lu Yang warned [Sky Soaring] about Butian’s plan to cross to the Other Shore, then failed to seize him when [Sky Soaring] evaded the attack. Lu Yang left for the Netherworld, intending to loot [Equality of Things] before giving up the opportunities of the Real World.

• Lu Yang reflected on Mu Changsheng’s wariness and the risks surrounding [Fire in the Sky].
• Lu Yang told [Sky Soaring] about [Pomegranate Wood], the dark tunnel, and his suspicion that Butian planned to smuggle himself to the Other Shore.
• Lu Yang tried to seize [Sky Soaring] while the forbidden knowledge stunned him, but [Sky Soaring] escaped the strike.
• Lu Yang revealed that the Lord of Netherworld and the World Honored One had been fellow disciples, then left the [Human World].
• Lu Yang decided to enter the Netherworld and loot [Equality of Things] before leaving the Real World behind.

Lu Yang entered [Equality of Things] and discovered its Heavenly Gate Palace was a painting that could only be entered by adding himself to it. Si Sui’s remnant thought awakened a memory and opened the painted gates, prompting a young Martial General to mistake Lu Yang for his returning master.

• Lu Yang used the [Heavenly Man Unity Formula] to leave [Responding King] and reach [Equality of Things].
• Lu Yang climbed the nine hundred and ninety-nine red steps on foot and entered the Heavenly Gate Palace, which revealed itself as a painting.
• Lu Yang realized he could not enter the palace within the painting without adding his own likeness to it.
• Si Sui’s remnant thought recognized the place, formed a Dharma Seal, and opened the palace gates.
• A young Martial General emerged and accused Si Sui of impersonating Yao, then made the palace painting turn solid and crash down.
• Lu Yang held back the palace with a punch, and the young Martial General mistook him for his returning master.

Lu Yang discovered that the palace within the painting was Si Sui’s former place of enlightenment and learned that the [Heavenly Gate Diagram] had preserved the core essence of [Yin-Yang]. After promising to avenge Si Sui, he asked the artifact spirit Heaven's Gatekeeper to help him.

• Lu Yang sent an incarnation into the palace, where Heaven's Gatekeeper mistook his Dharma Body for evidence that he had inherited Si Sui's lineage.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper identified the First Generation Peak Master of Heaven Mending as the monster who had violated him and stolen the Yin Dao from the [Heavenly Gate Diagram].
• Heaven's Gatekeeper explained that Si Sui had forged him as the vessel for [Yin-Yang] and had attained enlightenment at [Equality of Things].
• Heaven's Gatekeeper said the First Generation Peak Master had taken Si Sui's insights and trial rewards, while Si Sui had hidden [Yin-Yang]'s remaining essence from Chu Sheng before his death.
• Lu Yang connected [Yin-Yang] to Immortal Pivot's sun and moon and the Yin-Yang transformations in its Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
• Lu Yang vowed to avenge Si Sui and asked Heaven's Gatekeeper to help him.

Lu Yang learned from Heaven's Gatekeeper that the paintings in the palace held more than a dozen Great True Lords who had followed Si Sui, and heard about the Ancestral Dragon and Chu Sheng's role in shaping the Light Sea. He realized that Chu Sheng had created several major cultivation paths, and suspected their missing Daos lay on the Other Shore.

• Lu Yang asked Heaven's Gatekeeper for help and was led into the palace's dark inner hall.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper revealed that the portraits showed Great True Lords who had escaped with Si Sui after his defeat in the war between new and old laws.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper explained that the Ancestral Dragon was an innate Dao God and the strongest Dao Lord, while Chu Sheng had once united cultivators and founded the First Saint Sect.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper said Chu Sheng had created the Alchemy, Artifact, Dual Cultivation, and Yao Taming Daos, prompting Lu Yang to wonder why those Daos were absent from the inheritances he knew.
• Lu Yang concluded that the missing Daos might exist somewhere beyond his sight, on the Other Shore.

Lu Yang learned that the Sacred Sect Ancestor’s four Great Daos may have been preparations for [Other Shore], with the Beast Taming Dao possibly intended to enslave Dao Lords. Heaven's Gatekeeper explained how Lu Yang could claim the [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram]: he had to awaken twelve Great True Lords whose minds were preserved in the Light Sea’s Dark Side, and the chapter ended with a blunt instruction to beat them up.

• Lu Yang concluded that the Sacred Sect Ancestor had used the four Great Daos to prepare [Other Shore], and suspected his Beast Taming Dao was meant to enslave Dao Lords.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper said the Fruit Positions of the Chu Sheng were unknown to him because his master had erased his memories.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper explained that whoever revived twelve Great True Lords depicted in the paintings would become the master of the [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram].
• Heaven's Gatekeeper told Lu Yang that Butian Que had once drawn out the Great Dao of Yin by resonating with its source, but only the Great Dao of Yang remained.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper revealed that the twelve Great True Lords’ minds had been preserved in the Light Sea’s Dark Side and could be revived by awakening them there.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper told Lu Yang to knock down all twelve Great True Lords to wake them.

Lu Yang learned that the Dharma Body Path seniors required him to fight twelve Great True Lords, then asked Heaven's Gatekeeper about Dao Heart cultivation and the old Dao Lords. Heaven's Gatekeeper gave him a lost cultivation method and advised him to use the dark side of the Light Sea to temper his Dao Heart.

• Heaven's Gatekeeper warned Lu Yang that he would have to fight twelve Great True Lords to challenge the Dharma Body Path seniors, so Lu Yang proposed winning through strategy.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper explained the old stages of Dao Heart cultivation, including Heart Fasting and the third stage, which enabled cultivators to become Dao Monarchs and then ancient Dao Lords.
• Lu Yang connected Dao lineages to ancient Dao Lords' ability to raise their rank by risking the Void Darkness, with the lineage serving as a burden that kept them from being lost.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper gave Lu Yang the [Purify Defilement, Wash the Heart Chapter], explaining that taking beatings would help him cultivate its foundation toward the [Primordial Spirit] stage.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper revealed that the dark side of the Light Sea was the best place to temper Lu Yang's Dao Heart.

Lu Yang entered the Light Sea's Dark Side to test the Dao Heart method Heaven's Gatekeeper had given him and discovered that its projections reflected the states of powerful beings, including Dao Lords. He wondered whether harming those projections could affect the Dao Lords themselves, leaving him alarmed by the implications.

• Heaven's Gatekeeper explained how Lu Yang could enter the Light Sea's Dark Side and warned him that even a perfected Dao Heart risked contamination there.
• Lu Yang entered through a portrait and encountered a giant embodying the rage of a dead Great True Lord of the Dharma Body Path, who roared Butian's name and struck at his Dao Heart.
• Lu Yang resisted the giant's rage and realized that awakening the dead Great True Lords meant using reason to influence their frenzied emotions.
• Lu Yang observed the Light Sea's Dark Side and saw enormous projections of the six Dao Lords, along with the broken projections of Ancestral Dragon and Si Sui.
• Lu Yang wondered whether damaging a projection in the Light Sea's Dark Side could harm its real-world counterpart and feared that this explained why Dao Heart methods had been banned and Si Sui had to die.