Chapter Summaries

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.

Lu Yang entered the memory of the twelve Great True Lords of the Dharma Body Path and faced their combined assault. He escaped at the crucial moment, recovered in reality, and earned Heaven's Gatekeeper's admiration for his resilience and ability to cultivate despite poor comprehension.

• Lu Yang saw Pan Huang emerge from the formation and attack him with a mountain-sized axe-halberd.
• Lu Yang endured Pan Huang's blow, repaired his Dao Heart with the [Purify Defilement, Wash the Heart Chapter], and judged that Pan Huang could not sustain repeated attacks.
• Di Ku, Supreme Venerable, and the other nine Great True Lords appeared and pressed Lu Yang with their combined mental wills.
• As the twelve attacked together, Lu Yang withdrew from the memory and awoke in reality, where he calmed his surging emotions through nine rounds of breathing.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper praised Lu Yang's timing and resilience, then reflected that Lu Yang was born to cultivate the Dharma Body Path.

Lu Yang used the Mysterious Pass Spirit-Merging Refining Art to turn recovery from Dao Heart injuries into rapid progress, despite his limited time before entering the Netherworld. After twelve years of repeated cultivation and recuperation, he formed the embryonic stage of a Heart Fasting and reassessed what perfected Dao Hearts and Heart Fastings meant for ancient True Lords.

• Lu Yang reached the limit of his Dao Heart cultivation, and Heaven's Gatekeeper told him he would need three years to recover before trying again.
• Lu Yang used the Mysterious Pass Spirit-Merging Refining Art Talent to strengthen the effects of the Purify Defilement, Wash the Heart Chapter while healing his injuries.
• After recovering for three years, Lu Yang's threshold rose to seven hundred and sixty-one attempts, and he began another cycle of cultivation and recuperation.
• Over twelve years and four major improvements, Lu Yang's threshold reached one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred attempts, and his thoughts formed the embryonic cycle of a Heart Fasting.
• Lu Yang concluded that Si Sui had exaggerated the meaning of a perfected Dao Heart and reflected that only three of the twelve Great True Lords likely possessed a complete Heart Fasting.

Lu Yang examined the fasting of the heart and searched his memories for the resolve that could unite his thoughts. He accepted that he was an ordinary, flawed person who wanted to live well, and forged the [Light-Chasing Dao Heart], leaving open the possibility of a future [Radiant Primordial Spirit].

• Lu Yang studied how obsession, wishes, and dreams could unite his thoughts and forge the fasting of the heart.
• Lu Yang revisited memories from his past lives and concluded that he was neither a good person nor an evil person, but a normal person with some flexible boundaries.
• Lu Yang rejected self-condemnation and declared that he wanted to live well and climb to the very top.
• Lu Yang's fasting of the heart manifested on the dark side of the Light Sea as the [Light-Chasing Dao Heart].

Lu Yang completed Mind Fasting almost instantly, unlocking a Hundred Lives Book permission that let him add conditions to gains chosen after Restart. He awakened the twelve Great True Lords in the Light Sea’s Dark Side, but a thirteenth consciousness and three Sword Gods stirred, prompting Pan Huang to warn him of the danger.

• Lu Yang completed Mind Fasting, surprising Heaven's Gatekeeper and unlocking the ability to add conditions when selecting gains after Restart.
• Lu Yang realized he could require his chosen treasure to remain beyond the Light Sea, preserving the Northern Exorcism Institute as his foundation.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper congratulated Lu Yang and urged him to control his obsession, then said Mind Fasting would let him awaken the Great True Lords of the Dharma Body Path.
• Lu Yang entered the Light Sea's Dark Side and awakened the twelve Great True Lords, whose consciousnesses began to return.
• A thirteenth consciousness sounded with a powerful sword cry, and Pan Huang warned Lu Yang that the Sword Lord's first disciple and three Sword Gods had awakened.

Lu Yang faced Quexie, a destructive Mind Fast belonging to the Great Sword Sect, and held firm with his Light-Chasing Dao Heart. After Pan Huang called him back to help suppress the three Sword Gods, Heaven's Gatekeeper explained that the Great Sword Sect had possessed three Mind Fasts and extraordinary Dao Heart talent.

• Three sword arrays attacked Lu Yang on the dark side of the Light Sea, and Pan Huang identified their leader as Quexie, one of the Great Sword Sect's Mind Fasts.
• Lu Yang resisted Quexie's assault with his Light-Chasing Dao Heart until the sword aura withdrew.
• Lu Yang realized that the sword aura possessed clear consciousness and suspected the Heaven's Gatekeeper had concealed information from him.
• Pan Huang asked Lu Yang to bring the Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram so they could suppress the three Sword Gods and prevent harm to consciousness projections and the Real World.
• Lu Yang returned to the palace within the painting and demanded an explanation from Heaven's Gatekeeper.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper explained that the Great Sword Sect had three spirits, three Mind Fasts, and a Three Spirits Unification Method that let him surpass other Great True Lords.

Lu Yang learned that Heaven's Gatekeeper could revive only one Great True Lord at a time, then entered the Light Sea's Dark Side to help the Dharma Body cultivators fight the three mind sword formations. The twelve Great True Lords formed a powerful formation with the [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram], and Lu Yang saw a way to unite countless mind projections.

• Lu Yang reasoned that Butian Que had abandoned the [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram] because fighting the Great Sword Sect might alert the Sword Pavilion Dao Lord.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper admitted that he could revive only one Great True Lord at a time, though he could restore all of them within a hundred years.
• Lu Yang took Heaven's Gatekeeper into the Light Sea's Dark Side, where Pan Huang and the other eleven Great True Lords were battling three mind sword formations.
• Lu Yang opened the [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram], and the twelve Great True Lords formed a formation that subdued the three sword formations.
• Lu Yang realized the formation might let him unite the mind projections of countless living beings into a force powerful enough to challenge a Dao Lord.

Lu Yang learned that Pan Huang’s formation was a method for weaving Fruit Positions, not a formation to comprehend, and realized it might point toward a new Dao Heart Fruit Position based on the [Seven Radiance Heaven]. He left the chapter resolved to pursue this path in a future life, alongside the [Northern Exorcism Institute].

• Pan Huang and the eleven other Dharma Body Path Great True Lords suppressed the three autonomous sword formations with the [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram], and Heaven's Gatekeeper returned to Lu Yang.
• Pan Huang explained that the Great Sword Sect had been refined into the Sword Lord’s personal sword and that the formation had been devised by Si Sui.
• Lu Yang asked Pan Huang to demonstrate the formation, but his burst of wisdom light did not help him understand it as a formation.
• Pan Huang revealed that Si Sui’s method was for weaving Fruit Positions and that Si Sui had sought to create a [Dao Heart] Fruit Position to balance Dao Heart and Dharma Body.
• Lu Yang recognized that the method’s principles resembled the [Seven Radiance Heaven] and considered whether Si Sui had left a path toward becoming a Dao Lord.
• Lu Yang decided he might pursue this path in a future life, using the [Hundred Lives Book] to gather surviving Variables across lives.

Lu Yang revived King Xi and arranged for him to continue manipulating events in the Real World under a false identity. He then prepared to enter the Netherworld as an undead, leaving [Sky Soaring] with tools to advance his own plans.

• Lu Yang used the [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram] and the Yang Great Dao to revive King Xi, then restored his strength to the Merge with Dao realm.
• Lu Yang discussed divination with King Xi and gave him intelligence and planted arrangements so he could take over as the hidden mastermind behind Old Dragon Lord and support Mu Changsheng.
• Lu Yang altered King Xi’s memories, erasing Lu Yang’s involvement and replacing it with King Xi’s own efforts.
• Lu Yang told [Sky Soaring] he would enter the Netherworld using the [Reincarnation Life-and-Death Pill], while a contingency in the Light Sea would handle affairs in the Real World.
• Lu Yang gave [Sky Soaring] the [Purify Defilement, Wash the Heart Chapter] and the Yang Great Dao, and [Sky Soaring] gave Lu Yang something in return before they parted.

Lu Yang examined the Netherworld Emissary gifted by [Sky Soaring] and learned about the Netherworld from its scripture. He prepared to preserve the memories of those inside the Righteous Banner through the Restart, but True Person Demon-Sweeping revealed why he planned to abandon [Sword Dao], leaving Lu Yang to suspect the Dao Lord had killed the Great Sword Sect for cultivating a forbidden version of it.

• Lu Yang awakened the Netherworld Emissary and studied its five soul-focused divine abilities, including [Path of No Return], which could help him enter the Netherworld without drawing attention.
• Lu Yang transformed the emissary into the [Sky Soaring Netherworld Scripture], which described the Netherworld's [Four Directions Ghost Domain] and the continuing conflict between Grotto-Heaven Method and Three Foundations cultivators.
• Lu Yang decided to merge the Righteous Banner, Calamity Waves, Yellow Court, and Dragon-Banishing Ruler into the [Northern Exorcism Institute] so Patriarch Tingyou and the others would retain their memories after the Restart.
• True Person Demon-Sweeping left the Righteous Banner and asked Lu Yang for a copy of his lineage, declaring that he would stop cultivating [Sword Dao] because its foundation might be flawed.
• True Person Demon-Sweeping explained that the Great Sword Sect had likely tried to attain [Sword Dao] but died because his version targeted Dao Heart consciousness, which Lu Yang concluded the Dao Lord had forbidden.

Lu Yang used the Reincarnation Life-and-Death Pill to enter the Netherworld and discovered that it could deceive the Netherworld into marking him as a dead spirit. As he crossed the Bridge of Forgetfulness, he saw eight stars overhead and realized the Dao Lords were watching him.

• True Person Demon-Sweeping dispersed his cultivation and agreed to test Lu Yang's Great Void Resonance Canon while studying the three Sword God Heart Fasts.
• Lu Yang protected True Person Demon-Sweeping with the Righteous Banner and swallowed the Reincarnation Life-and-Death Pill to pursue his goals in the Netherworld.
• The pill deceived the Netherworld by making Lu Yang's apparent death draw guidance from the Yellow Springs Road.
• Lu Yang followed the Netherworld's guidance past the Ghost Gate and onto the Yellow Springs Road, where the Bridge of Forgetfulness's power marked the pill as a dead spirit.
• Lu Yang saw eight stars above the Netherworld and recognized the four pairs of watching eyes as the Dao Lords.

Lu Yang discovered that the Four Dogs of Immortal Pivot controlled most of the Netherworld, then survived the World Honored One’s inspection by hiding behind the Reincarnation Life-and-Death Pill. The World Honored One mistook him for Danding and seemed to believe he had come to rescue the First Generation Monster-Rearing Peak Master.

• Lu Yang realized the Four Dogs of Immortal Pivot controlled five components of the Netherworld and had sealed off a route for escaping the Light Sea.
• The World Honored One and other Dao Lords raised the Bridge of Forgetfulness and exposed its true spirits to their Images, erasing thousands of them.
• The World Honored One swept the surviving spirits with Unity of Ten Thousand Hearts, but Lu Yang’s Heart Fasting resisted the contamination.
• The World Honored One stopped short of searching Lu Yang’s consciousness after noticing the Reincarnation Life-and-Death Pill.
• The World Honored One addressed Lu Yang as Danding, and Lu Yang concluded that he had been mistaken for the First Generation Elixir Peak Master.

Lu Yang crossed the Netherworld’s checkpoints and leaped from the Three Lives Stone into the Four Directions Ghost Domain. He arrived in the Ming Luo Tree Sea just as three embattled dead spirits despaired of finding a savior, and his arrival left them stunned.

• Lu Yang reasoned that the World Honored One guarded the Bridge of Forgetfulness, while the Sword Pavilion Dao Lord, the Dao Court Lord, and the Sacred Sect Ancestor controlled other parts of the passage into the Netherworld.
• Lu Yang passed the Three Lives Stone without incident and jumped from the precipice into the Four Directions Ghost Domain.
• In the Ming Luo Tree Sea, Xuan Fa, Hong Li, and Hao Jiang prepared to flee as hostile dead spirits threatened their refuge and argued over whether Lord Si Sui had died.
• Hao Jiang said no savior would come, and a brilliant light crashed into the Ming Luo Tree Sea, forming a powerful figure before the three men.

Lu Yang learned that the Taihao Sect’s inheritance treated Dharma Bodies as fields for nurturing Spiritual Plants, and he recognized the Netherworld as a chance to study ancient cultivation methods. After hearing about Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s call for surviving ancient-method cultivators, he headed toward the besieged Taihao instead, intending to defeat several True Lords and take their heads as proof of his allegiance.

• Lu Yang questioned three Foundation Establishment undead spirits and learned he was in the Ming Luo Tree Sea, where the Taihao Sect’s survivors were sheltering.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper explained that the World Honored One had killed Great True Lord Ming Luo and described the Taihao Sect’s Spiritual Plant-based Dharma Body inheritance.
• Lu Yang realized the Netherworld’s ancient methods could help him build his own inheritance.
• Hong Li told Lu Yang that Dragon-Tiger Mountain was gathering ancient-method cultivators and urged him to go there rather than risk himself in the doomed Ming Luo Tree Sea.
• Lu Yang told the undead spirits to stay put and walked toward the center of the Ming Luo Tree Sea to take the heads of the besieging True Lords.

True Lord Taihao was overwhelmed by three Dao Court True Lords, but she used the Scatter Beans to Make Soldiers Technique to seek a way out. Precious Wheel Wugou Bodhisattva was forgotten amid the battle and found himself trapped beneath a strange lamp as a black-robed man appeared.

• Bodhisattva Wugou struck True Lord Taihao with his True Principle Wheel, and the sword-wielding True Lord sent her crashing into the Ming Luo Tree Sea.
• True Lord Taihao raised the Tree Sea into a colossal giant, but Grand Preceptor Shangxuan Fubi used the Northern Feng Capital-Sealing Seal to suppress it.
• True Lord Taihao scattered her golden beans into Illusory Bodies, hoping one would escape and give her disciples a chance to flee.
• Precious Wheel Wugou Bodhisattva realized that everyone had forgotten his existence as a lamp’s light revealed a black-robed man standing over him.

Lu Yang learned that the Netherworld’s Dao Court ruled most Grotto-Heaven cultivators and realized its system sent generations of powerful true spirits there. He intervened to restore Taihao True Lord’s strength, but the sword-wielding True Lord dismissed his suspicions and continued fighting her.

• Precious Wheel Immaculate Bodhisattva recognized Lu Yang as a Great True Lord and explained how the Netherworld recreated undead cultivators’ powers.
• Immaculate Bodhisattva revealed that Grand Preceptor Shang Xuan had died only about five thousand years earlier and was valued by the Netherworld’s Dao Court.
• Lu Yang deduced that Emperor Jiayou had secretly killed the former Grand Preceptor and that the Dao Court’s true power lay in the Netherworld.
• Immaculate Bodhisattva told Lu Yang that the Netherworld’s Dao Court ruled nearly all Grotto-Heaven Method cultivators, prompting Lu Yang to understand how the Dao Court sent powerful true spirits there.
• Lu Yang reached out, and Taihao True Lord regained her strength and battered the sword-wielding True Lord with her Spiritual Plants.
• The sword-wielding True Lord used his Sword Light to clear his mind, then decided nothing had been wrong.

Lu Yang investigated the Netherworld’s imitation of the Immortal Kingdom Dao Law and captured True Lord Zaoyuan Yingguang while Taihao True Lord fought him. After Taihao fled and found herself trapped by Lu Yang’s Boundless Dao, he claimed to practice the Precious Life Complete Form Scripture and persuaded her that he was not a bad person.

• Lu Yang vivisected the former Grand Preceptor and confirmed that the Netherworld had simulated the Immortal Kingdom Dao Law rather than importing the real one.
• Lu Yang captured True Lord Zaoyuan Yingguang to examine the Netherworld’s simulated Fruit Position, and Taihao True Lord discovered him after the battle’s mysteries lifted.
• Taihao True Lord remembered Lu Yang and fled with her disciples, but Lu Yang sealed the paths with Boundless Dao and forced her back.
• Taihao True Lord stopped trying to escape, bowed to Lu Yang, and guessed that he practiced the Precious Life Complete Form Scripture.
• Lu Yang agreed with Taihao True Lord’s guess and asked whether she believed he was not a bad person, and she nodded repeatedly.

Taihao True Lord gave Lu Yang the seed of the unfinished Taihao Divine Wood, which contained her sect’s inheritance, and he decided to use it to create a Great Forest Wood True Treasure. He planned to cultivate the seed to seize the Netherworld’s power, but still needed to find a suitable place for it to grow.

• Taihao True Lord collapsed the Ming Luo Tree Sea into a seed and explained that her Master had failed to make the Taihao Divine Wood thrive in the Netherworld.
• Lu Yang suggested that Ming Luo had lacked suitable wood-element resources, and Taihao True Lord agreed that her Master had ultimately sacrificed himself to grow the tree sea.
• Taihao True Lord entrusted Lu Yang with the Divine Wood seed and its Taihao Sect inheritance, and Lu Yang accepted it.
• Lu Yang handed his three True Lord captives to Taihao True Lord to interrogate about the Netherworld’s Great True Lords.
• Lu Yang decided to refine the Divine Wood seed into a Great Forest Wood True Treasure and use it to seize the Netherworld’s power.
• Lu Yang wondered where the Divine Wood could best grow and devour the Netherworld’s Creation.

Lu Yang learned that the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool on Northern Feng Mountain could nourish the divine tree seed, but it was guarded by the Grotto-Heaven Method and a traitor’s avatar. Taihao True Lord revealed that the traitor, Emperor Cang, had betrayed Lord Si Sui during the ancient Dao Lord war and was now the Dao Court’s first Son of Heaven.

• Taihao True Lord awakened the three captured True Lords, and Ying Guang True Lord urged her to defect to their side.
• Lu Yang asked where the divine tree seed should take root, and Ying Guang True Lord identified the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool atop Northern Feng Mountain.
• Taihao True Lord warned that the pool was the Grotto-Heaven Method’s foundation and that a traitor had an avatar there.
• Taihao True Lord revealed that Cang, Lord Si Sui’s last disciple, had betrayed him during the final battle and caused his defeat.
• Taihao True Lord identified Cang as Emperor Cang, the Dao Court’s first Son of Heaven, whose true body remained in the Nether Capital.

Lu Yang learned that Emperor Cang had betrayed Lord Si Sui and created three powerful avatars, while True Lord Ying Guang defended a plan to exploit souls through reincarnation. Lu Yang destroyed Ying Guang with a single palm, leaving the conflict over the Netherworld unresolved.

• True Lord Taihao revealed that her master had identified the first Dao Court Son of Heaven as Lord Si Sui’s traitor, fought his avatar at the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool, and died after being ambushed.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper admitted he had not known the traitor was Emperor Cang and explained that Cang had created the Three Profound Heaven-Observing True Method and three avatars.
• True Lord Taihao confirmed that many Three Foundations Dao cultivators had defected alongside Emperor Cang, while True Lord Ying Guang argued that controlling the Netherworld would let cultivators exploit souls and dead spirits indefinitely.
• Lu Yang asked whether True Lords would also be subjected to the reincarnation cycle, prompting Ying Guang to claim that his rank exempted him.
• Ying Guang's hidden sword qi activated, but Lu Yang shattered it and erased Ying Guang with Heaven Within the Palm.