Chapter Summaries

Zheng Fa spoke with Xiao Qing and learned that the Thunderclap Sect exploited Half-Mountain City and preyed on its women. When the sect leader tried to claim the temple and declare himself the new Thunder God, Zheng Fa struck him down with heavenly lightning, leaving the sect followers in panic.

• Xiao Qing told Zheng Fa about the Thunderclap Sect’s control of the city’s food and her belief that its members tortured and ate women.
• Auntie Yun gave Xiao Qing the clothes of Sister Xia, who had been taken by the Thunderclap Sect for the sect leader’s celebration.
• The Thunderclap Sect leader arrived with his followers and a vast crowd, demanding that Xiao Qing surrender the temple so it could become his shrine.
• The sect leader displayed sparks of lightning and claimed to be Half-Mountain City’s true Thunder God, while the townspeople offered Xiao Qing no help.
• Xiao Qing prayed for heavenly justice as the sect leader boasted that he could command thunder and lightning.
• Zheng Fa sent a golden bolt of heavenly lightning down on the sect leader, who vanished in ash; another bolt struck a man, and the burly followers fled.

After seizing control of the God-Investiture Register, Zheng Fa punished the Thunderclap Sect and allowed Xiao Qing to share the temple’s offerings with Half-Mountain City’s starving residents. A month later, Yan Wushuang discovered Zheng Fa had taken first place on the Heavenly Stele, while Chu Tianque revealed he had lost his spirit stones betting on Xiao Fairy.

• Zheng Fa used Heavenly Tribulation Lightning to kill the Thunderclap Sect’s attackers, and the people of Half-Mountain City fled or knelt before the temple.
• For five days, Zheng Fa struck down the Thunderclap Sect members hiding across his fief while Xiao Qing watched the temple’s worshippers grow more devout.
• Zheng Fa told Xiao Qing she could eat the offerings, and she instead distributed the food to hungry people in Half-Mountain City.
• Yan Wushuang told Chu Tianque and Junior Sister Xue how Xiao Fairy’s fortune had humiliated him and changed his life.
• At the Heavenly Stele, Yan Wushuang saw that Zheng Fa ranked first and celebrated, while Chu Tianque admitted he had bet all his spirit stones on Xiao Fairy.

Zheng Fa left the Heavenly Stele Realm after punishing Thunderclap Sect’s former followers and directing Xiao Qing to distribute offerings to deserving city folk. Outside, he discovered that he ranked first on the Heavenly Stele and that cultivators welcomed him because they hoped he could challenge Xiao Yuying, who then approached him to ask who Zheng Fa was.

• Zheng Fa learned that Half-Mountain City’s people brought offerings because they feared he might disappear, and he asked Xiao Qing to distribute them to people known for good deeds.
• Zheng Fa left the Heavenly Stele Realm, having nearly three hundred heavenly merit and plans to visit other settlements to earn more.
• Yan Wushuang and the other cultivators showed Zheng Fa the Heavenly Stele ranking, where his name stood above Xiao Yuying’s.
• Yan Wushuang and the cultivators explained that Xiao Yuying had made many enemies, so they hoped Zheng Fa could defeat her.
• Xiao Yuying emerged, saw Zheng Fa’s name at the top of the ranking, and asked him who Zheng Fa was; he identified himself.

Zheng Fa celebrated taking first place in the Heavenly Stele rankings while Master Yuan arrived at Thunder Pool and learned how formidable Xiao Yuying was. Senior Sister Zhang then revealed that two diagrams on a bronze coffin matched symbols in Lin Bufan’s blood, suggesting a connection to the Great Freedom Demon Cult.

• Xiao Yuying questioned Zheng Fa about his identity, then left Thunder Pool, and Zheng Fa’s companions invited him to celebrate surpassing her in the rankings.
• Master Yuan arrived at Thunder Pool to teach Zheng Fa lightning arts, but changed his mind about competing for the Heavenly Stele after hearing of Xiao Yuying’s potential.
• Uncle-Master Pang learned that Zheng Fa had risen to first place by ranking above Xiao Yuying and urged Master Yuan to stay and support him.
• Zheng Fa returned to the Five-Dragon Heavenly Palace, where Master Yuan praised his achievement and declared that the sect would prioritize the Heavenly Stele Realm.
• Senior Sister Zhang reported that two diagrams on the bronze coffin matched the symbols in Lin Bufan’s blood, revealing a possible clue about the Great Freedom Demon Cult.

Zheng Fa discovered that the Talisman Diagrams on the Bronze Coffin Elder’s coffin matched subsymbols found in Lin Bufan’s blood, suggesting they represented the Great Freedom Devil Ancestor or other powerful beings who created the world’s rules. In the modern world, he compared the diagrams to programs left behind by unknown creators, leaving the group to consider what cultivation might let them become.

• Senior Sister Yuan failed to melt the bronze coffin when silver Talisman Diagrams appeared and withered hands reached from it.
• Zheng Fa used the Five-Colored Divine Light on the coffin and sensed an unseen owner competing with him from the heavens.
• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang concluded that the matching subsymbols might represent the Great Freedom Devil Ancestor, raising the possibility that powerful beings created the Talisman Diagrams and the world’s rules.
• Senior Sister Zhang connected the theory to the Heavenly Stele Realm’s vanished immortals and gods, suggesting they might no longer be able to affect the world.
• In the modern world, Zheng Fa told Old Man Bai and Tang Lingwu that the Talisman Diagrams might be programs left by unknown creators, and Tang Lingwu compared their task to deciphering undocumented legacy code.

Tang Lingwu, Zheng Fa, and Old Man Bai analyzed talisman diagrams and created candidate Heavenly Tribulation Lightning Origin Talismans while Old Man Bai advanced his Five-Thunder Dharma Body. Zheng Fa then prepared to open the nursing home and recruit residents once its new laboratories were complete.

• Tang Lingwu found that a dozen or so Divine-Name Sub-Talismans accounted for most talisman diagrams, and Zheng Fa suggested their creators were exceptionally powerful and might be connected to Spirit Transformation.
• Old Man Bai and Tang Lingwu used the computer to simulate ten possible Origin Talismans for Heavenly Tribulation Lightning, which Zheng Fa memorized for later testing in the Xuanwei Realm.
• Old Man Bai told Zheng Fa he was about to break through to Flesh Refinement with his Five-Thunder Dharma Body.
• Zheng Fa watched excavators begin work on an agricultural laboratory for Professor Tian and an electromagnetism laboratory.
• Old Man Bai showed off his newly advanced physique in the guesthouse owner's livestream, attracting attention and calls about advertisements and senior dating.
• Zheng Fa proposed opening the nursing home after construction finished so it could earn income and recruit people for cultivation experiments, especially someone with meteorology expertise.

Zheng Fa studied atmospheric science in the modern world and learned that electromagnetic methods for influencing rainfall were being researched, while in Xuanwei Realm he taught Master Yuan his Heavenly Tribulation Lightning Spirit Talisman. The chapter left Zheng Fa worried that Xiao Yuying, now able to use Heavenly Tribulation Lightning, might outmatch him in the Heavenly Stele Realm.

• Zheng Fa audited an atmospheric science lecture, and the professor told him about laser experiments for influencing rainfall and the energy costs of electromagnetic methods.
• Master Yuan began teaching Zheng Fa the Talisman-Array Method and explained that his Heavenly Circuit Thunder Talisman Array had reached its limits.
• Zheng Fa demonstrated his Heavenly Tribulation Lightning Spirit Talisman, and Master Yuan asked Senior Sister Yuan to keep the discovery secret.
• Zheng Fa offered to teach Master Yuan the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning Spirit Talisman, and Master Yuan accepted.
• Xiao Yuying told Zheng Fa she had mastered Heavenly Tribulation Lightning and expected her higher cultivation to give her the advantage.
• Zheng Fa worried that Xiao Yuying might overpower him in the Heavenly Stele Realm despite the talismans he had prepared.

Zheng Fa discovered that Xiao Qing had begun organizing Half-Mountain City into a fairer order, earning him Heavenly Merit without requiring him to manage believers himself. After cultivating the Heavenly Net Thunder Armor and opening his Thunder Field, he unexpectedly saw his Azure Yang Dao Body take root inside it, leaving him unsure what his cultivation had produced.

• Zheng Fa returned to Half-Mountain City and watched Xiao Qing organize its residents to gather food, fish, and make clothes for fair distribution.
• Xiao Qing explained that the city had fallen into disputes after the Thunderclap Sect was eliminated, so she asked the older men Zheng Fa had rewarded to help create a shared system.
• Zheng Fa gained several points of Heavenly Merit from Xiao Qing's efforts and decided ordinary people could manage the city while he guided them from above.
• Zheng Fa spent five hundred Heavenly Merit on a Thousand-Year Yang-Thunder Spider inner core and used it to complete the Heavenly Net Thunder Armor and open his Thunder Field.
• The Azure Yang Dao Body appeared as a red shoot inside Zheng Fa's Thunder Field, while the twenty-four faceless statues in the Heavenly Palace lowered their heads toward the central hall.

Zheng Fa discovered that a fiery Spirit Sprout was consuming his spiritual power, then used an extended stay in the Heavenly Stele Realm to reclaim first place from Xiao Yuying. After Xiao Yuying formally greeted him and Senior Sister Yuan shared her betting winnings, she became strangely eager to bite him because his body smelled fragrant.

• Zheng Fa stopped cultivating after the Spirit Sprout in his dantian devoured his spiritual power, then discovered his God-Investiture Register had advanced to a Gold Scroll and expanded his fief.
• Yan Wushuang and Chu Tianque saw Xiao Yuying take first place on the Heavenly Stele rankings and waited with her for Zheng Fa to emerge.
• Zheng Fa reclaimed first place after spending several more days in the Heavenly Stele Realm, and Xiao Yuying solemnly introduced herself before leaving.
• Yan Wushuang worried that Xiao Yuying might endanger Zheng Fa, then lamented that she treated him more politely than she treated Yan Wushuang.
• Senior Sister Yuan gave Zheng Fa part of the Spirit Stones she had won by betting on him, then offered him more money for permission to bite him.

Zheng Fa sought advice about the strange sprout growing in his dantian, but neither Master Yuan nor Uncle-Master Pang knew what it was, so they planned to ask the Founder. Xiao Yuying visited and explained that certain Dao bodies opened the way to Spirit Transformation, then revealed the Great Freedom Demon Cult had made contact with the Demon Race, leaving Zheng Fa wondering whether spiritual beasts were involved.

• Zheng Fa described his dantian sprout to Master Yuan and Uncle-Master Pang, who decided he should return to the Nine Mountains Sect and consult the Founder.
• After several days of cultivation, Zheng Fa found that the sprout had not grown despite consuming spiritual power.
• Xiao Yuying visited Zheng Fa and explained that Dao bodies corresponded to Dao paths, with some serving as admission tickets to Spirit Transformation.
• Zheng Fa asked whether anyone existed at the ends of those paths, and Xiao Yuying said such people might once have existed but did not remain in the Xuanwei Realm.
• Xiao Yuying revealed that the Great Freedom Demon Cult had contacted the Demon Race, prompting Zheng Fa to wonder about the Spirit Beast Sect and Senior Sister Yuan.

While flying to Nine Mountains Sect, Zheng Fa heard Old Han reveal that Venerable Tianhe had tried to replace the inherited cultivation system with a New Method suited to Xuanwei Realm, but was abandoned and defeated. Zheng Fa was left pondering whether the current path was wrong, while in modern times he sat reading with the look of someone stuck at a dead end.

• Senior Sister Yuan carried Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang toward Nine Mountains Sect as Zheng Fa questioned the limits and correctness of cultivation paths.
• Old Han arrived with Yan Wushuang and told Zheng Fa that he had repeatedly approached Spirit Transformation but turned back because he feared losing himself.
• Old Han explained that Venerable Tianhe believed cultivation beyond Spirit Transformation involved cultivating someone else's Dao Fruit and that the inherited Old Method was incompatible with Xuanwei Realm.
• Old Han revealed that Venerable Tianhe had sought to create a New Method, but his followers returned to the Old Method, his cause collapsed, and its writings and supporters were destroyed.
• Old Han warned Zheng Fa that the Founder was gone while the Devil Ancestor remained alive, and Zheng Fa thanked him for the guidance.
• In modern times, Zheng Fa spent a day and night reading at the nursing home, and Tang Lingwu and Old Man Bai wondered whether he had reached another intellectual dead end.

Zheng Fa chose to pursue the dangerous New Method after Tang Lingwu’s song reminded him of what he wanted to protect. He and his companions began testing Cloud-Rain Talisman techniques in their new laboratory, while the guesthouse owner’s grandmother urged him to visit the Goddess Temple.

• Zheng Fa weighed the risks of the New Method against the Old Method and worried that spiritual transformation could endanger Tang Lingwu and his friends in the Modern World.
• Tang Lingwu sang “You'll Never Walk Alone,” and Zheng Fa told Old Man Bai that the song gave him courage to become the enemy of the entire world by choosing the New Method.
• Zheng Fa used the Cloud-Rain Lightning Talisman in the laboratory, where Tang Lingwu detected rising humidity and Old Man Bai catalogued its varied sub-talismans.
• Zheng Fa, Tang Lingwu, and Old Man Bai reviewed research on laser-induced rain and decided to test a laser-based method using the Talisman’s precise Thunder Method control.
• The guesthouse owner’s grandmother asked him to drive her to the Goddess Temple, hoping their prayers would improve the guesthouse’s business.

The guesthouse owner and his grandmother witnessed the Goddess Temple’s power when the rain stopped over Rainbow Mountain, while Zheng Fa and his companions discussed Cloud-Rain Lightning and the Azure Yang Dao Body. The Nine Mountains Patriarch recited an ancient passage linking Azure Yang to Emperor Donghua, leaving Zheng Fa wondering whether the sprout within him was Fusang Wood and whether he was preparing to grow a sun.

• The guesthouse owner drove his grandmother to the Goddess Temple through dangerous rain, where she prayed for his fortune and her own peaceful death while he wished for her to live a hundred years.
• A lightning strike stopped the rain over Rainbow Mountain, and the owner’s grandmother declared that the Goddess had shown her divine power.
• Zheng Fa, Tang Lingwu, and Old Man Bai reviewed three Cloud-Rain Lightning techniques and noted that their precision and spiritual reserves remained insufficient for large-scale use.
• On the way back to the Nine Mountains Sect, Zheng Fa speculated that Venerable Tianhe’s new cultivation method might keep spiritual energy from being taken away.
• Zheng Fa asked the Nine Mountains Patriarch about the Azure Yang Dao Body and explained how his thunder seed had been replaced by a sprout.
• The Nine Mountains Patriarch recited an ancient passage about Azure Yang and Emperor Donghua, prompting Zheng Fa to connect it to the Precious Invocation to Emperor Donghua and wonder if his sprout was Fusang Wood.

Zheng Fa recognized the Mountain-River True-Form Talisman as a living existence and resolved to create a New Method by gathering the wisdom of people across Xuanwei Realm. He planned to first secure the Heavenly Stele Realm and begin reforming Nine Mountains Sect, while Senior Sister Zhang ended by admitting she had underestimated him.

• Zheng Fa learned that Nine Mountains Patriarch was a lonely divided soul with limited power and knowledge.
• At the Mountain-River True-Form Talisman, Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang considered it a life form made entirely of spiritual energy and connected it to the path beyond Spirit Transformation.
• Zheng Fa told Senior Sister Zhang and Senior Sister Yuan that he intended to create a New Method and first bring the Heavenly Stele Realm under his control for safety.
• Zheng Fa proposed popularizing foundational immortal arts and encouraging research across sectarian lines so cultivators throughout the world could develop a New Method together.
• Senior Sister Yuan supported Zheng Fa, while Senior Sister Zhang said she had underestimated him.

Zheng Fa asked Senior Sister Zhang to help him investigate how the Mountain-River True-Form Talisman developed spiritual intelligence, hoping to create a Spiritual-Energy Computer. At the Heavenly Stele, Xiao Yuying revealed that she knew the location of a Spirit Treasure connected to Venerable Tianhe, making Zheng Fa reconsider her dangerous invitation.

• Senior Sister Zhang reaffirmed her support for Zheng Fa’s New Method and urged him to build his reputation and talent so the sect would back his plans.
• Senior Sister Zhang offered Zheng Fa the resources in her jade bracelet, but he instead asked to use her Primordial Spirit Dao Body to test Composite Talisman Diagrams.
• Zheng Fa proposed that the Mountain-River True-Form Talisman’s spiritual intelligence might have arisen from a process like computation, and Senior Sister Zhang agreed to help investigate.
• At the Heavenly Stele, Xiao Yuying offered to take Zheng Fa to a dangerous Spirit Treasure, but he initially refused because he was only at Foundation Establishment.
• Xiao Yuying secretly told Zheng Fa that the Spirit Treasure was related to Venerable Tianhe, and Zheng Fa stopped to reconsider her offer.

Zheng Fa used the God-Investiture Register’s weather map to promise Half-Mountain City three safe days of fishing, then cleared the storm over the river valley with Rain-Stopping Thunder. The townspeople thanked Lord Thunder God and rushed to fish, while Sister Hong’s mother-in-law hurried back to bring her along.

• Zheng Fa discovered that his golden God-Investiture Register displayed a month of weather over his consecrated territory and learned that the river valley’s storm was scheduled to clear in three days.
• Xiao Qing told Zheng Fa that lightning had stopped the people of Half-Mountain City from fishing, leaving them short of food, and he instructed her to send them to the river three days later.
• Sister Hong and her mother-in-law shared their dwindling food with Bao'er, who gave his piece of fish to his mother, and the older woman decided she would go fishing in Sister Hong’s place.
• Xiao Qing led the townspeople toward the dangerous river valley, where she announced Lord Thunder God’s decree and Zheng Fa dispelled the clouds, rain, wind, and lightning with a pillar of light.
• The townspeople thanked Lord Thunder God and ran to fish, while Sister Hong’s mother-in-law hurried back up the mountain to fetch Sister Hong.

In Half-Mountain City, Zheng Fa used the people’s fish offerings to begin testing edible mushroom cultivation with local materials and his spiritual abilities. At the Myriad Treasures Hall, Xiao Yuying spent a long time browsing spirit materials, but Zheng Fa’s bulk purchases spoiled her mood.

• Xiao Qing told Zheng Fa that Half-Mountain City’s people had caught plenty of fish, then received baskets of dried fish they had brought as offerings.
• Zheng Fa asked Xiao Qing to find experienced mushroom gatherers and began testing different culture mediums, using Cloud-Rain Lightning to sterilize them and planning to select productive strains with his Void-Piercing Spirit Eye.
• Cultivators at the Myriad Treasures Hall discussed exchanging Heavenly Merit points for spirit materials and noted that Yan Wushuang had stopped appearing on the Heavenly Stele.
• Xiao Yuying browsed the Jade Stele for a long time while the other cultivators and Zheng Fa waited behind her.
• Zheng Fa bought materials for his secret arts and selected every cheap spirit material on the first page, leaving Xiao Yuying no longer in the mood to shop.

Zheng Fa considered Xiao Yuying’s invitation to explore a secret realm linked to Venerable Tianhe, but decided to stay away until the Nine Mountains Sect had control of the Heavenly Stele Realm. The chapter ended when a crow arrived with a warning that the Great Freedom Demon Cult was conspiring with the Demon Race against the sect.

• Xiao Yuying told Zheng Fa that a secret realm bore Venerable Tianhe’s mark and invited him to explore it with her.
• Zheng Fa consumed large quantities of spiritual materials and pills, and the Fusang Wood sprout grew into a small, bare red tree.
• Senior Sister Zhang warned Senior Sister Yuan not to keep throwing herself at Zheng Fa, but Senior Sister Yuan lunged at him and was flung out of the courtyard.
• Zheng Fa told Senior Sister Zhang about Xiao Yuying’s invitation, and they discussed whether the secret realm was credible and dangerous.
• Zheng Fa decided not to enter the secret realm until the Nine Mountains Sect gained control of the Heavenly Stele Realm.
• A black crow flew into Zheng Fa’s arms and warned him that the Great Freedom Demon Cult was colluding with the Demon Race against the Nine Mountains Sect.

Zheng Fa learned that the Great Freedom Demon Cult had joined forces with the Demon Race and was preparing to strike the Nine Mountains Sect, while the Golden Crow that brought the warning sought refuge from being used for breeding. The sect master began arranging defenses and prepared to return to the sect, accepting that he might have little time left to live.

• Senior Sister Yuan seized the crow, and Zheng Fa discovered it claimed to have Golden Crow bloodline despite its low cultivation.
• The Golden Crow revealed that the Demon Race and demonic sects had produced descendants who combined demon bloodlines with the ability to practice demonic cultivation methods.
• The Golden Crow explained that it had escaped the Great Freedom Demon Cult, where it had been sent to breed with demon women, and warned that the cult planned to attack the Nine Mountains Sect rather than fight at the Thunder Pool.
• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang brought the warning to Master Yuan, who summoned Uncle-Master Pang to discuss the threat.
• The sect master planned to return to the Nine Mountains Sect and told Zheng Fa to retreat with the disciples into the Thunder Pool if the situation became critical.
• The sect master said he had only a little over a hundred years to live but was willing to risk his life fighting Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators.

The Sect Master prepared to defend Nine Mountains Sect while Zheng Fa and the others discussed protecting the disciples and tracking the Great Freedom Demon Cult and Demon Race. Zheng Fa refused Xiao Yuying’s secret-realm request at first, then agreed in exchange for her help drawing their enemies to Fengcheng County, leaving Xiao Yuying impressed by his apparent selflessness.

• Senior Sister Yuan asked whether Nine Mountains Sect could be abandoned, but the Sect Master insisted its spirit vein and the trapped Great Freedom Demon Cult made defending it essential.
• Uncle-Master Pang revealed that he intended to return to Nine Mountains Sect because the Sect Master, Huang, and the sect itself were precious to him.
• Zheng Fa, Senior Sister Zhang, and Senior Sister Yuan agreed to focus on protecting the disciples and learning the enemy’s movements, while the Golden Crow identified Fengcheng County as the place it had escaped from.
• Xiao Yuying asked Zheng Fa to accompany her into a secret realm, and he refused until she offered to make a soul contract and explained that she needed his superior lightning arts.
• Zheng Fa agreed to accompany Xiao Yuying if she spread news of Imperial Flowing Essence near Thunder Pool and helped Nine Mountains Sect locate the Demon Race and Great Freedom Demon Cult members in Fengcheng County.
• Xiao Yuying praised Zheng Fa for asking for nothing for himself, while Senior Sister Zhang silently doubted that praise.