Chapter Summaries

Lu Yang killed Ying Guang True Lord, then left the Ming Luo Tree Sea with Taihao True Lord and two captives. Xin Ye Great True Lord investigated the scene and concluded that Lu Yang and the others had ambushed Ying Guang for treasure.

• After Ying Guang True Lord died, the former Grand Preceptor and Wugou Bodhisattva offered to guide Lu Yang to the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool and revealed what they knew about the Netherworld’s powerful figures.
• Taihao True Lord warned that Ying Guang’s death would alert the Sword Pavilion, and Lu Yang agreed that they had already been noticed.
• Lu Yang displayed the Floating Light Realm Sea Great Immortal Art, then told Taihao True Lord to gather everyone and leave before the Sword Pavilion arrived.
• Less than half an hour later, Xin Ye Great True Lord and two others reached the crater left by the vanished Ming Luo Tree Sea and used the Sin Mirror Illuminating Karma Grand Spell to investigate.
• Xin Ye Great True Lord identified the attackers’ Fruit Position profundities and inferred that Lu Yang, Precious Wheel, Shang Xuan, and a third person had ambushed Ying Guang for treasure and fled.

Great True Lord Xin Ye concluded that a Spell Dao Great True Lord had killed Ying Guang and ordered a force to hunt the culprit at Northern Feng Mountain. Lu Yang used divination to realize his ruse had drawn the Netherworld forces away, then set off with True Lord Taihao for the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool.

• Great True Lord Xin Ye rejected True Lord Golden Hall’s suspicion that a Dharma Body Path Great True Lord had acted and identified a Spell Dao Great True Lord as the likely culprit.
• Great True Lord Xin Ye guessed the culprit had rescued True Lord Taihao to gain her trust and access Great True Lord Ming Luo’s hidden reserves.
• Bodhisattva Baoyu Mianxiang suggested Wugou and Shang Xuan had survived because they surrendered quickly.
• Great True Lord Xin Ye ordered his forces, Heaven Furnace, and Youhai to pursue the Spell Dao Great True Lord at Northern Feng Mountain.
• Lu Yang read the trigrams and realized the Spell Image had lured the Netherworld forces away, leaving Northern Feng Mountain unguarded.
• Lu Yang told True Lord Taihao to accompany him to the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool.

A Spell Dao infiltrator fled toward Northern Feng Mountain after the Ming Luo Tree Sea vanished, while Lu Yang and Taihao True Lord slipped past the mountain’s defenses. Lu Yang declared the mountain his opportunity and made Northern Feng Mountain disappear from the Four Directions Ghost Domain.

• A disguised Spell Dao infiltrator suspected that the Ming Luo Tree Sea incident was a trap and tried to flee Northern Feng Mountain.
• The infiltrator’s fate jade cracked, warning him that escape meant certain death, so he turned back toward Northern Feng Mountain.
• A young man cultivated alone in the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool while Xin Ye and others pursued the suspected Great True Lord of the Spell Dao.
• Lu Yang and Taihao True Lord passed unnoticed through the Grotto-Heaven Method’s formations with the aid of a bright lamp.
• Lu Yang said Northern Feng Mountain was his opportunity, closed his hand, and made the mountain vanish from the Four Directions Ghost Domain.

Lu Yang concealed his presence from the Immortal Bridge cultivator at Northern Feng Mountain by falsifying the mountain’s karmic signals, then climbed with Taihao True Lord and Patriarch Tingyou. Patriarch Tingyou sensed a hidden entrance that could let them bypass the summit’s barrier formation.

• At the summit, the young man sensed danger, but his divination found nothing amiss, so he resumed cultivating after concluding his intended attacker had given up.
• At the foot of Northern Feng Mountain, Lu Yang used Radiance, the dead spirits’ karmic threads, and [Heaven Within the Palm] to deceive the Karmic Net and conceal the danger from the young man.
• Lu Yang and Taihao True Lord climbed the mountain, and Lu Yang summoned Patriarch Tingyou, who said the place felt familiar and improved his thoughts and comprehension.
• Taihao True Lord explained that a barrier formation encircled the summit and lowered anyone who entered from the formation’s standing.
• Patriarch Tingyou found a hidden entrance at the mountain’s edge, where the rock sank inward to reveal a pitch-black passage.

Lu Yang and his companions explored a cave in Northern Feng Mountain and discovered that the mountain was condensed from degraded Void Darkness. Patriarch Tingyou realized that Void Darkness, the void, planes, and Grotto-Heavens formed a God-Ascending Ladder, explaining why the Grotto-Heaven Method surpassed other cultivation methods.

• Lu Yang checked the newly appeared cave for traps, entered with True Lord Taihao, and used the Covered Lamp Fire to reveal traces of Void Darkness.
• Patriarch Tingyou and True Person Demon-Sweeping examined the cave walls and concluded that Northern Feng Mountain was condensed from a degraded form of Void Darkness.
• Patriarch Tingyou drew Xuan energy from the mountain, released it, and watched it unfold into countless interwoven Images.
• Patriarch Tingyou realized that Void Darkness descended into the void, then planes and Grotto-Heavens, forming a God-Ascending Ladder.
• Patriarch Tingyou explained that Chu Sheng added Grotto-Heavens beneath the Light Sea plane, making the Grotto-Heaven Method uniquely able to wield powerful Immortal Pivot Fruit Positions.

Lu Yang and True Lord Taihao used the Dragon-Banishing Ruler to understand how the God-Ascending Ladder related cultivation realms to planes. Lu Yang concluded that the Sacred Sect Ancestor had engineered a flaw in the Grotto-Heaven Method and suspected True Lord Clear Serene Flying Snow was a Variable destined to become the Dao Lord of Tribulation.

• True Lord Taihao found Patriarch Tingyou's discussion incomprehensible until Lu Yang struck him with the Dragon-Banishing Ruler and awakened his wisdom-light.
• Lu Yang and True Lord Taihao deduced that Great True Lords sought to raise themselves to the status of a plane, and Lu Yang concluded that the Heaven-Treading Realm involved creating something akin to a plane.
• Lu Yang realized that the Grotto-Heaven Method's incomplete planes limited its practitioners, while [Sky Soaring] had used an Empty Attainment Fruit Position to mend a flaw in his Five Elements Perfection Grotto-Heaven.
• Lu Yang concluded that Immortal Venerable Greater Yin could not use her Empty Attainment [Gathering of All Gold] to mend her Grotto-Heaven's flaw, leaving her Nascent Soul prospects at roughly ten percent.
• Lu Yang connected True Lord Clear Serene Flying Snow's [Moistening Downward] Fruit Position to a possible way of repairing her Grotto-Heaven and suspected she was a Variable from False History chosen to become the Dao Lord of Tribulation.

Lu Yang learned more about the Void Stones and the limits of the Immortal Bridge Realm, then prepared to deal with Emperor Cang’s avatar at the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool. When the avatar tried to escape Northern Feng Mountain, Lu Yang twisted his path and sent him back inside.

• Lu Yang thanked Patriarch Tingyou for revealing secrets about the Grotto-Heaven Method and the Void Stones, and realized that reaching Sky-Stepping required more than two Immortal Bridges.
• Taihao True Lord identified the summit as the location of the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool and waited for Lu Yang’s instructions.
• Emperor Cang’s avatar sensed danger, discovered Northern Feng Mountain had been sealed off, and suspected a powerful supreme treasure was involved.
• Lu Yang decided against attacking the avatar directly because a battle could expose him and damage Heaven Within the Palm.
• Emperor Cang’s avatar flew toward the mountain’s exit, but Lu Yang used the Heaven-Rotating Sun-Turning Dao Fruit to twist his path and send him back into Northern Feng Mountain.

Lu Yang trapped Emperor Cang's avatar in Northern Feng Mountain and overwhelmed him with silver incarnations, a self-detonation, and two supreme treasures. Emperor Cang escaped their prison by detonating the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool, only to crash headfirst into the mountain wall.

• Patriarch Tingyou closed the passage gate after Emperor Cang's avatar fell into Northern Feng Mountain, where Lu Yang's silver incarnations attacked him.
• Emperor Cang's avatar summoned the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool to block the incarnations, but Lu Yang ordered them to self-detonate and badly burned him.
• Lu Yang trapped Emperor Cang's avatar inside the Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram and struck it with the Northern Exorcism Institute.
• Emperor Cang's avatar detonated the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool, blasting the Institute away and tearing open the diagram so he could flee.
• Emperor Cang's avatar charged in a random direction, expecting to escape, but smashed his head bloody against Northern Feng Mountain.

Lu Yang suppressed Emperor Cang's avatar on Northern Feng Mountain and destroyed it with Divine Firmament Thunder. The avatar's death alerted powers in Nether Capital, while a Spell Dao spy discovered that Northern Feng Mountain had vanished.

• Emperor Cang's avatar crashed into Northern Feng Mountain, and Lu Yang used the Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram, the Northern Exorcism Institute, the Dragon-Banishing Ruler, and Sword Light to suppress him.
• Lu Yang deflected Emperor Cang's avatar's offers and claims, then struck him with Divine Firmament Thunder and destroyed him.
• A Golden Light rose in Nether Capital, where a voice reacted to Blue Heaven's avatar's death and a young man wondered who had killed him.
• A Spell Dao spy disguised as a Foundation Establishment cultivator searched for Northern Feng Mountain, repeatedly lost his way, and realized the mountain had disappeared.

At the border between Northern Feng Mountain and Mount Luofu, Great True Lord Xin Ye and his allies confronted True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan and argued over their betrayal of the Dao Lords. Emperor Cang then ordered Xin Ye to return after Northern Feng Mountain vanished and his Azure Heaven Avatar was slain, leaving Xin Ye convinced that Chiyuan had staged a diversion.

• Great True Lord Xin Ye, Great True Lord Youhai, and True Lord Heaven Furnace Smelts the World joined forces against True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan but were suppressed by his True Dharma Body.
• Great True Lord Youhai accused the Dao Lord of abandoning them, while Great True Lord Xin Ye said they had joined Emperor Cang for the [Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool].
• True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan insisted that Xin Ye and Youhai were wrong, saying that some things would never be wrong.
• Emperor Cang ordered Great True Lord Xin Ye, Great True Lord Youhai, and True Lord Heaven Furnace Smelts the World to return after Northern Feng Mountain vanished, the Azure Heaven Avatar was slain, and the [Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool] was taken.
• Emperor Cang assured Xin Ye that the attacker was no stronger than Immortal Bridge and said his true body would also go to Northern Feng Mountain.
• Great True Lord Xin Ye accused True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan of using the confrontation as a diversion for the attack on Northern Feng Mountain.

Lu Yang contacted True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan through Qing Kui and agreed to join forces against Emperor Cang. He then revealed to Taihao True Lord that they would avoid the ambush at Northern Feng Mountain and head for Embracing-Calf Mountain instead.

• Qing Kui was transported to the vanished Northern Feng Mountain, where he saw Lu Yang gathering pill fire from the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool.
• Lu Yang used Qing Kui’s jade statue to contact True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan and propose a joint operation.
• True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan warned Lu Yang that Emperor Cang’s true body was powerful and that the Dao Court controlled Embracing-Calf Mountain and Mount Bozhong.
• Lu Yang and True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan agreed to gather at Northern Feng Mountain and ambush Emperor Cang’s group.
• Lu Yang knocked Qing Kui unconscious and sent him away after Taihao True Lord excitedly suggested using the mountain’s formation.
• Lu Yang corrected Taihao True Lord, ordering a retreat to Embracing-Calf Mountain so Emperor Cang’s forces could fight among themselves.

Lu Yang traveled to Embracing-Calf Mountain and learned that three Dao Court Great True Lords guarded it, with Emperor Cang able to reinforce them. He decided to kill them all by sacrificing a supreme treasure, then fixed his attention on Heaven's Gatekeeper.

• Lu Yang and Taihao True Lord used Patriarch Tingyou's passage to enter Embracing-Calf Mountain and evade its formations.
• The former Grand Preceptor identified the mountain's three Merge with Dao guardians and explained how Dao Court ministers could claim Grotto-Heavens; he also warned that Emperor Cang could arrive as reinforcements.
• Taihao True Lord cautioned Lu Yang that defeating the three guardians would be difficult, but Lu Yang insisted on wiping out the Ghost Domain to conceal the cost of exposing his origins.
• Heaven's Gatekeeper urged Lu Yang to make a small sacrifice to kill the guardians, and Lu Yang proposed blowing up a supreme treasure like the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool.
• Lu Yang stared at Heaven's Gatekeeper as he suggested sacrificing a supreme treasure, leaving Heaven's Gatekeeper stunned.

Lu Yang discovered that the Divine Tree Seed was drawing knowledge from Si Sui’s past sermons to accelerate his mastery of Great Forest Wood, and he planned to use the Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool to strengthen the resulting True Treasure. He also mapped out a concealed path to the Heaven-Treading Realm by transforming Yellow Court with his five True Treasures and Divine Firmament Thunder.

• Lu Yang tucked away the Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram and prepared to use the recovering Ten-Thousand Refinement Blood Pool, accepting that it might be destroyed.
• Lu Yang saw the Divine Tree Seed absorb the pool’s pill fire and reveal scenes of Si Sui preaching, which taught him wood-element knowledge and accelerated his understanding of Great Forest Wood.
• Lu Yang decided to feed Great True Lords to the blood pool to restore it, then let the Divine Tree Seed drain it to create a powerful Great Forest Wood True Treasure.
• Lu Yang concluded that the Grotto-Heaven Method offered a universal path to plane creation, while Yellow Court could become a plane after he gathered five True Treasures and completed Empty Attainment.
• Lu Yang planned to use Divine Firmament Thunder to repair the Grotto-Heaven Method’s flaw, empowered by the Dharma Body Path and Northern Exorcism Institute, and conceal his Heaven-Treading advancement beyond the Light Sea.

Lu Yang infiltrated a Netherworld palace disguised as a Dao Court undead True Lord and tricked three Great True Lords into accepting the Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram. He detonated the supreme treasure in their grasp, leaving their fate unresolved.

• Three Dao Court Great True Lords feasted and mocked the failures at Northern Feng Mountain while refusing to send support.
• Lu Yang entered in disguise, knelt before the Great True Lords, and claimed the Celestial Master Mansion planned to surround and kill His Majesty's true body.
• Lu Yang presented the Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram as intelligence, using Covered Lamp Fire and the Yin-Yang Mirror Divine Fruit to suppress the Great True Lords' suspicions.
• The dragon-robed Great True Lord realized the scroll was suspicious, but Lu Yang forced him to open it.
• The Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram exploded as the three Great True Lords watched a beam of light in despair.

Lu Yang slaughtered the three Great True Lords guarding Embracing-Calf Mountain and used the resulting spiritual essence to nourish a divine wood seed. As he and Emperor Cang prepared to confront each other, Sky Soaring began reversing Quzhi’s position to restore his Great True Lord cultivation in the Real World.

• Emperor Cang sensed Lu Yang destroy the three Great True Lords at Embracing-Calf Mountain with the [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram], while True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan recognized the ambush and attacked Emperor Cang to buy Lu Yang time.
• Lu Yang burned through Embracing-Calf Mountain, killed its undead spirits, and fed their spiritual essence into the growing divine wood seed.
• Emperor Cang confronted Lu Yang through [Heavenly Rules and Earthly Principles] but hesitated to attack because Lu Yang threatened to destroy the damaged [Dao-Seeking Heavenly Gate Diagram].
• As Emperor Cang’s net descended toward Embracing-Calf Mountain, Quzhi erupted from the Netherworld and rose toward the Real World, revealing that Sky Soaring was trying to restore his Great True Lord cultivation.

Lu Yang used [Out-of-Drama Observer] to witness the catastrophe [Sky Soaring] had unleashed across the Real World. He realized [Sky Soaring] had connected the Light Sea's Dark Side to the Real World, creating a calamity that might also give him a chance to attain [Tribulation].

• Lu Yang activated [Out-of-Drama Observer] to watch the Old Dragon Lord in the Real World.
• The Old Dragon Lord saw the sky's disorder, and the sun, moon, and stars transformed as the Dark Side's influence drove mortals and cultivators into monstrous madness.
• Fruit Position Stars rose to shield the Immortal Pivot, while the Old Dragon Lord feared the chaos spreading from Beyond Heaven.
• Lu Yang learned that the Light Sea had been overwhelmed by the Dark Side, trapping True Lords and endangering the Jietians.
• Lu Yang concluded that [Sky Soaring] had used the Yang Great Dao origin and [Quzhi]'s Empty Attainment Fruit Position, with the World Honored One's help, to open the Light Sea to the Dark Side.
• Lu Yang realized the catastrophe could draw [Tribulation] toward [Sky Soaring] and benefit the Sacred Sect Ancestor, then abruptly sensed danger.

Sky Soaring reached the threshold of Late Golden Core and reported the Ancestral Dragon Remnant’s plans to the Other Shore, hoping to prevent its return. He then learned that the Netherworld’s master and its status made it beyond the Other Shore’s reach, while the monk revealed that a past Dao friend had understood his warning but refused to believe it.

• Sky Soaring regained control of Quzhi, reached the limit of Late Golden Core, and gazed toward the Other Shore.
• Sky Soaring accused the Ancestral Dragon Remnant of gathering Images of the Supreme Five Elements Fruit Position to revive its true body, then told the Other Shore it was in the Netherworld with a medicinal pill.
• The Other Shore’s gaze allowed Sky Soaring to speak but departed after he revealed the Ancestral Dragon Remnant’s location.
• Sky Soaring met the golden-robed monk in the Karmic Net, who explained that the Netherworld’s materials and status prevented the Other Shore from interfering with it.
• The monk said only one Dao Lord had ever died and revealed that his Dao friend had understood a past hint but had not believed him.

After three days without an attack, Lu Yang concluded that [Sky Soaring] had protected him while still possibly reporting him, and he decided to trust him only halfway. With the divine wood seed nearing its emergence, Lu Yang headed to [Dragon-Tiger Mountain] to seek the First Generation Elixir Peak Master and recruit someone with enough weight to help his plans.

• Lu Yang waited three days for the Sacred Sect Ancestor or World Honored One to act, but nothing happened, so he concluded that [Sky Soaring] had interfered to protect him.
• Lu Yang reasoned that Quzhi's Inversion was a signal that [Sky Soaring] was ready to attain the Dao and that their cooperation likely involved mutual schemes.
• Lu Yang judged that the divine wood seed would emerge within three months, but he needed allies powerful enough to draw the Sacred Sect Ancestor's attention.
• Lu Yang ruled out the First Generation Monster-Rearing Peak Master as too unpredictable and connected the First Generation Elixir Peak Master to the effort to create the [Fifth Ghost Domain].
• Lu Yang considered that [Sky Soaring] might have exposed him completely, then decided to trust him halfway and set out for [Dragon-Tiger Mountain].

Lu Yang infiltrated Mount Luofu disguised as Qing Kui and met True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan, who trusted the supposed inheritor of Lord Si Sui. Chiyuan declined to contact the inheritor and said he would help if asked, then announced that Danding’s disciples had arrived.

• Lu Yang used [Dove Occupies Magpie's Nest] to enter Mount Luofu disguised as Qing Kui.
• True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan brought Lu Yang into a hall and asked about the inheritor of Lord Si Sui.
• Lu Yang praised the inheritor, and Chiyuan agreed that Lord Si Sui’s chosen successor had to be a good person.
• Lu Yang claimed the inheritor had given him a Jade Pendant for contact, but Chiyuan decided not to reach out and asked Lu Yang to pass on his offer of help.
• Chiyuan noticed the arrival of [Alchemy Maiden] and [Cauldron Child], Danding’s disciples, and told Lu Yang to stay and meet them.

Lu Yang learned that Danding was pressuring the three foundations to finish [Dragon-Tiger Mountain] within three years so he could refine the [Nascent Soul Pill]. True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan explained that Danding hoped to recreate the mythic origin of the Ancestral Dragon and possibly produce a pill capable of making someone a Dao Lord.

• Alchemy Maiden told True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan that her master would open the furnace in three years and demanded that [Dragon-Tiger Mountain] be completed by then.
• True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan agreed to discuss the deadline with the Grand Celestial Master, then told Lu Yang that Alchemy Maiden and Cauldron Child served Danding.
• True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan explained that Danding had helped the three foundations survive in the Netherworld and planned to refine the [Nascent Soul Pill].
• True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan recounted Si Sui's myth of how the Ancestral Dragon formed when a treasure born in the newly created Light Sea was swallowed by a dragon spirit.
• True Lord Zhifa Chiyuan said Danding intended to recreate the myth using the Immortal Pivot as a furnace and the Netherworld as firewood, potentially producing a pill that could make someone a Dao Lord.