Chapter Summaries

Zheng Fa learned that the Nine Nether Devil Ancestor had used the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s death to advance the Book of Life and Death, while he himself was credited with killing the Demon Emperor. Afterward, Zheng Fa organized aid for flood survivors and was invited to the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly, signaling that the Hundred Immortals Alliance might gain a place among Xuanwei’s leading sects.

• Chen Ting and Qin Mu activated the Avici Sword’s altar, allowing the Nine Nether Devil Ancestor to consume the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s phantom and record his life and death in the Book of Life and Death.
• The Nine Nether Devil Ancestor took the Book of Life and Death and departed with Chen Ting and Qin Mu, leaving Zheng Fa unaware of who had truly killed the Great Freedom Demon Emperor.
• Zheng Fa ordered the Hundred Immortals Alliance cultivators to guide refugees, count survivors, treat injuries, and distribute grain, while Senior Sister Zhang used the Pure Tranquility Bamboo to heal and comfort the people.
• Zhao Jingfan noticed that some Azure Wood Sect cultivators resented using their limited medicinal supplies on mortals, while Zheng Fa reflected on the unequal relationship between cultivators and ordinary people.
• First Seat Mingde questioned Wuzhi, who invited Zheng Fa to the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly, and Wuzhi and Immortal Luo supported Zheng Fa’s participation after the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s death.

Zheng Fa agreed to attend the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly, secured the Nine Mountains Sect’s claim to the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s territory, and discovered Jiao Wuji’s resonance with the Myriad Demon Banner. After Xie Qingxue and Yan Wushuang returned to the Tianhe Sect, Xie Qingxue deflected her master’s questions about Zheng Fa and the Founder’s legacy.

• Xie Qingxue explained that the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly would divide territory among the Five Sects and establish an alliance against Devil Ancestors, while Immortal Luo said the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s territory belonged to Vast Sun Mountain.
• Zheng Fa agreed to attend the assembly, tasked Sect Master Song with caring for flood victims, and brought his companions back to the Nine Mountains Realm.
• Jiao Wuji revealed his resonance with the Myriad Demon Banner, and Zheng Fa realized he might be the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s most legitimate heir; Old Yuan and Blood River Ancestor then offered to study and teach the Demon Emperor’s methods.
• Zheng Fa thanked Xie Qingxue and promised to help her if she ever faced trouble, while she and Yan Wushuang departed for the Tianhe Sect.
• Xie Qingxue warned Yan Wushuang that the assembly could put Zheng Fa in danger and said they would gather information and help clear his suspected connection to the Founder.
• Sect Master Yan questioned Xie Qingxue about Zheng Fa and the Founder’s legacy, and she argued that Zheng Fa probably had not inherited it because the Founder had never killed a Dao Fruit cultivator at Golden Core.

Zheng Fa studied the Great Freedom cultivation methods with the Nine Mountains Sect and began devising a transformation method that could conceal his origins before the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly. He shared the unfinished Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation with Senior Sister Zhang for testing.

• Xie Qingxue warned Zheng Fa that the Tianhe Sect might investigate his connection to the Patriarch Tianhe and offered to look into ways to conceal or alter his aura.
• Zheng Fa and the Nine Mountains Sect studied the Great Freedom True Method and the Myriad Demon True Exposition, learning that Demonic Sect Spirit Transformation involved constructing a Dharma Body through spells.
• Old Yuan gave Zheng Fa his notes on Spirit Transformation and said he intended to test the path himself, leaving the notebook as guidance if he failed.
• Zheng Fa proposed forming a Nascent Soul from particles produced by the Nine Mountains Golden Core Method so it could transform and hide his cultivation origins.
• Zheng Fa gave Senior Sister Zhang his unfinished Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation drafts, asking her to examine the method with her Primordial Spirit Dao Body.

Zheng Fa worked with Senior Sister Zhang and scholars from the modern world to develop the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation, a technique meant to simulate cultivation methods and eventually all kinds of matter. Senior Sister Zhang obtained a dual cultivation method from Aunt-Master Huang to help Zheng Fa advance, while Zheng Fa organized teams of experts to begin the technique’s research.

• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang continued testing the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation, and Senior Sister Zhang discovered that it resembled her Primordial Spirit Dao Body.
• Senior Sister Zhang visited Aunt-Master Huang and requested her dual cultivation method so she could help Zheng Fa improve his cultivation; Aunt-Master Huang eventually gave her the Jade Slip.
• In the modern world, Zheng Fa asked Old Man Bai and Tang Mudao to assess the technique, and they agreed that it was theoretically viable but exceptionally difficult.
• Zheng Fa divided the research into cultivation-method conversion, simulation of nonliving substances, and simulation of living things, assigning teams of scholars to each area.
• Zheng Fa promised the scholars cultivation methods, spirit medicines, and contribution points for their work, motivating former rivals to cooperate on the project.

Zheng Fa oversaw the success of Spirit Wheat No. 1 and planned how to use the Institute’s earnings to support future research. Tang Lingwu helped find a way to make Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation easier to learn, and Zheng Fa began cultivating it with Senior Sister Zhang.

• Zheng Fa visited Rainbow Mountain’s agricultural research base, where Elder Hou praised Spirit Wheat No. 1 for its high yield, nutritional value, and adaptability.
• Tang Lingwu reported that Nine Mountains No. 2 had been distributed nationwide and said Spirit Wheat No. 1 could reach the market after trials; she also described efforts to protect the grain seeds from outsiders.
• Zheng Fa directed Tang Lingwu to use the grain company’s earnings to equip the Institute’s laboratories and fund independent research projects.
• Zheng Fa reviewed the Nursing Home’s extensive work on Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation, and Tang Lingwu proposed limiting its forms or using a scanning technique to make it more practical.
• Zheng Fa brought Senior Sister Zhang the developed transformation method, and she confirmed it was sound before guiding him as he began to cultivate it.

After dual cultivation with Senior Sister Zhang, Zheng Fa reached the Golden Core Late Stage and learned that the Five Sects might investigate his connection to Venerable Tianhe. Chen Ting arrived with a Nine Nether Talisman Edict to conceal Zheng Fa’s secrets, and Zheng Fa accepted it while demanding an extra reward for keeping quiet.

• Senior Sister Zhang and Zheng Fa shared their fears and feelings after dual cultivation, which rapidly advanced his cultivation toward Golden Core Completion.
• Half a month later, Senior Sister Yuan found Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang well, and Zheng Fa effortlessly suppressed her with his increased spiritual power.
• Zheng Fa read Xie Qingxue’s messages warning that the Tianhe Sect might investigate his Nine-Turn Golden Core Method or how he learned it, potentially exposing the Yin-Yang Fish Jade Pendant.
• Chen Ting entered the Nine Mountains Realm and offered Zheng Fa a Nine Nether Talisman Edict that could prevent ordinary Dao Fruits from investigating his secrets.
• Chen Ting explained that Nine Nether Devil Ancestor wanted to protect his plans from the Five Sects, and Zheng Fa accepted the talisman before asking what reward Chen Ting had received for delivering it.

Zheng Fa’s Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation triggered Old Yuan’s sudden enlightenment and gave him confidence to attempt Spirit Transformation, while the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly’s approaching threat pushed Zheng Fa to prepare a Demon Emperor-like disguise. The chapter ended with Senior Sister Yuan and Little Golden Crow sensing that Zheng Fa had developed an overpowering Demon Emperor aura.

• Aunt-Master Huang tested the Nine Nether Talisman Edict herself and confirmed it could enter and leave her Divine Soul without apparent harm.
• After studying Zheng Fa’s Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation, Old Yuan entered sudden enlightenment and, seven days later, declared he was ninety percent confident in achieving Spirit Transformation.
• Old Yuan recognized that Zheng Fa’s technique could help reconcile the Great Freedom True Method with the Heavenly Circuit Divine Thunder Immortal Formation, then rushed into seclusion to attempt Spirit Transformation.
• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang discussed the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly, which would take place at sea in two months, and Zheng Fa decided to simulate the Myriad Demon True Exposition to reveal a convincing Demon Emperor path.
• More than a month later, Senior Sister Yuan and Little Golden Crow sensed a Demon Emperor’s aura coming from Zheng Fa, and Senior Sister Yuan asked Senior Sister Zhang to let her try cultivating with him.

Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang traveled to Radiant Glow Island for the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly, where the five sects confronted them and tested Zheng Fa’s strength. When Zheng Fa revealed the Myriad Demon Banner, Immortal Luo mistook his aura for that of the Great Freedom Demon Emperor.

• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang boarded Deng Cheng’s tower ship and learned that he hoped his gifted daughter, Deng Yan, would enter one of the Five Sects.
• The Five Sects arrived at Radiant Glow Island, and their leaders fixed their attention on Zheng Fa’s ship.
• Immortal Luo greeted Zheng Fa, who flew up beside the Five Sects and displayed a Golden Core aura powerful enough to astonish them.
• The Five Sects’ Dao Fruit cultivators challenged Zheng Fa with their phenomena, but the Fusang Wood dispelled their pressure.
• Zheng Fa revealed the Myriad Demon Banner, and Immortal Luo cried out that Zheng Fa was the Demon Emperor.

Zheng Fa used the Myriad Demon Banner and a stolen prayer bead to convince the Five Sects’ Dao Fruits that he had inherited the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s power, earning a place at their alliance meeting. At Jade Pool, he learned that the approaching calamity was linked to the Loose Immortal Tribulations and that spreading the Dao might help cultivators repay Heaven and Earth and ease those trials.

• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang staged a show of strength before the Five Sects’ Dao Fruits, and Zheng Fa snatched Wuzhi’s prayer beads while appearing to challenge Old Monk Zhixu.
• Zhixu accepted Zheng Fa’s praise and stopped pressing the matter, while the other Dao Fruits inferred that Zheng Fa had inherited the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s legacy.
• Hundred Flowers invited Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang to Radiant Glow Island, where they drank tea that helped advance their Void-Piercing Spirit Eyes.
• The Five Sects’ Dao Fruits treated Zheng Fa as an equal and explained that their alliance had formed in response to an approaching great calamity.
• Hundred Flowers said Loose Immortals faced nine deadly tribulations and that spreading the Dao could repay Heaven and Earth and ease those trials.

Zheng Fa passed the Five Sects’ test by challenging their account of cultivation and learning that they were preparing for a coming calamity in which Ancient Immortals might awaken. As the sects divided the Xuanwei Realm, he sought more territory for the Hundred Immortals Alliance and claimed the Sea Region as the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s successor.

• Hundred Flowers Fairy tested Zheng Fa’s understanding of Dao Fruits, and he argued that spreading teachings strengthened a cultivator’s Dao rather than repaying Heaven and Earth.
• The Five Sects accepted Zheng Fa’s insight and explained that they were preparing for a Measureless Kalpa in which spiritual energy would be cut off and immortals and gods might disrupt Xuanwei.
• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang decided to use the time before the Ancient Immortals appeared to gather resources and strengthen themselves.
• After ten days of negotiations, the Five Sects divided the realm’s territories while leaving the Hundred Immortals Alliance with its existing holdings.
• Zheng Fa invoked the Myriad Demon Banner and claimed the Sea Region for the Hundred Immortals Alliance as the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s successor.

Zheng Fa sought control of the Sea Region for the Hundred Immortals Alliance, hoping to build its resources and maritime trade, but Sect Master Yan of Tianhe Sect tested him with a formation disk linked to Zheng Fa’s Yin-Yang Fish Jade Pendant. The Nine Nether Talisman Edict struck back at Yan, and the Five Sects ultimately accepted the Alliance’s claim to the Sea Region.

• Zheng Fa demanded that the Hundred Immortals Alliance take charge of the Sea Region, which he saw as a source of cultivation resources, population, and maritime trade profits.
• Old Monk Zhixu and Immortal Luo opposed Zheng Fa, while Daoist Li and the Hundred Flowers Fairy supported his claim, leaving Tianhe Sect’s vote to decide the matter.
• Sect Master Yan offered to support Zheng Fa if he tested a formation disk connected to the missing treasure of the Myriad Swords Realm, whose absent piece matched Zheng Fa’s Yin-Yang Fish Jade Pendant.
• The Nine Nether Talisman Edict concealed the pendant from the formation disk, then seized a strange talisman and injured Sect Master Yan, leaving him with bleeding eyes and a blackened gaze.
• Sect Master Yan agreed to support the Alliance’s control of the Sea Region, and Old Monk Zhixu and Immortal Luo conceded that Zheng Fa’s strength was sufficient.

Zheng Fa secured the Sea Region for the Hundred Immortals Alliance and helped establish the Six-Sect Pact, then declined Hundred Flowers Fairy’s request for an alliance against Thunderclap Temple. After the gathering, a stele recorded the pact and the new division of Xuanwei’s territory, leaving cultivators astonished by the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s vast holdings.

• Zheng Fa used Sect Master Yan’s injuries to persuade Old Monk Zhixu to yield the Sea Region to the Hundred Immortals Alliance.
• Zheng Fa and the other leaders signed a pact addressing ancient gods, Devil Ancestors, conflict among Dao Fruit cultivators, and penalties for violations.
• Hundred Flowers Fairy warned Zheng Fa that Thunderclap Temple sought to dominate the Western Continent and asked him to cooperate, but he refused to rush into an alliance.
• Hundred Flowers Fairy refused to sell Zheng Fa the Hundred Flowers Spirit Tea and left Radiant Glow Island.
• Zheng Fa gave Deng Yan a Comprehensive Mirror so she could tell him which of the Five Sects she wished to join, while warning her against Thunderclap Temple.
• Deng Cheng saw the newly raised stele displaying the pact and territorial map and realized the Hundred Immortals Alliance had become one of the Six Sects.

After the Five-Sect Alliance Assembly, Zheng Fa warned that the new agreement would bring only temporary peace and that the Hundred Immortals Alliance lacked the population and resources to face future turmoil. Senior Sister Zhang presented a data-based fifty-year development plan, leaving Uncle-Master Pang and Xiao Yuying stunned by its projection of an army with at least five hundred Nascent Soul cultivators.

• Little Bird Yuan broadcast the alliance agreement’s territorial division, prompting celebrations across Paradise Island and Seeking Immortality Island.
• Zheng Fa told the gathered cultivators that the agreement might preserve peace for only a short time and pointed out the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s weak population and ruined spiritual lands.
• Senior Sister Zhang explained that rising food production could drive rapid population growth in the Nine Mountains Realm.
• Senior Sister Zhang and Zheng Fa described how the sect’s cultivation methods and accumulated data could support rapid growth in population and Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Uncle-Master Pang read the draft fifty-year development plan and asked whether it projected an army of at least five hundred Nascent Soul cultivators, astonishing Xiao Yuying as well.

Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang presented the First Fifty-Year Plan and persuaded the Nine Mountains leadership to pursue rapid development while their new alliance territory remained secure. As Uncle-Master Pang led a census expedition, Aunt-Master Huang urged Zheng Fa to cultivate with Senior Sister Zhang, who had obtained a famous demonic secret art.

• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang explained that the sect needed to unite behind an ambitious fifty-year development plan during its rare period of stability.
• Senior Sister Zhang reminded the leaders of how the Nine Mountains Sect had built its strength, and Uncle-Master Pang agreed to lead the Hundred Immortals Alliance census.
• Zheng Fa briefed more than three hundred disciples on surveying the alliance's population and resources, while Uncle-Master Pang vowed to remain in the field until the census was complete.
• Aunt-Master Huang urged Zheng Fa to cultivate with Wuyi for the sect's sake, and Zheng Fa found Senior Sister Zhang reading a secret art created by the Great Freedom Devil Ancestor.
• Zheng Fa suggested that he and Senior Sister Zhang contribute to the fifty-year plan together, and she responded, "Pah."

After recovering from the Devil Ancestor's secret art, Zheng Fa turned from Senior Sister Yuan's plea for dual cultivation to the sect's work and encouraged the gifted but disadvantaged Gu Chang to become a teacher. Gu Chang began studying Immortal Way and wondered whether knowledge might one day let him change his Spirit Root.

• Zheng Fa left seclusion, and Senior Sister Yuan complained that his cultivation had surpassed hers before asking him to dual cultivate with her; Senior Sister Zhang caught her and sent Zheng Fa fleeing to University Island.
• Zheng Fa found Gu Chang, a talented mathematician who had been excluded from a dangerous mission because he was still at Qi Refinement First Layer and planned to become a teacher on Paradise Island.
• Zheng Fa brought Gu Chang to the Immortal Way Editorial Office and gave him a sample issue, urging him to value learning and treat teaching as an important responsibility rather than a desperate fallback.
• Gu Chang read Immortal Way beneath a lamp on Paradise Island and began wondering whether knowledge could help him change his Spirit Root.

Gu Chang considered whether studying and writing for Immortal Way could help him change his Spirit Root, then rejected a marriage proposal that would have let the Sun Family control his resources and any talented children. He persuaded his parents to stop pressing him to marry by telling them Sect Leader Zheng believed his aptitude might be changed, and he left to buy more issues of the journal.

• Gu Chang studied Immortal Way and considered researching Spirit Roots or earning Merit by contributing to the journal.
• His parents introduced Auntie Chen, who proposed a marriage to Miss Sun, a Three-Spirit Root girl from a true disciple’s collateral family.
• Gu Chang learned Miss Sun wanted control over household Merit and required any child with a Dual-Spirit Root or better to take the Sun surname.
• Gu Chang rejected the match, explaining that Miss Sun’s conditions would leave him and his parents with little say over their family’s resources and children.
• Gu Chang told his parents that Sect Leader Zheng had encouraged him to study and might help him change his Spirit Root, convincing them not to rush his marriage.
• Gu Chang bought two more issues of Immortal Way, while his father reassured his mother that Sect Leader Zheng would not harm them.

Zheng Fa appointed Madam Xuanhua to lead the new Heavenly Crafts Pavilion and explained his plans to industrialize the Nine Mountains Realm. Xiao Yuying then privately asked what kind of sect and Xuanwei Realm Zheng Fa wanted, warning that his ambitions could make enemies of all cultivators.

• Zheng Fa proposed establishing the Heavenly Crafts Pavilion to oversee industry and persuaded Madam Xuanhua to become its Pavilion Master.
• Zheng Fa outlined six planned industries, including talisman seals, External Cores, Spirit Artifacts, food processing, textiles, and Spirit Ore mining.
• Zheng Fa explained that factories powered by Simplified Golden Cores would support production in the mortal world, while Spirit Artifact industries would begin on the Heavenly Palace Nine Isles.
• Madam Xuanhua accepted the appointment and took the document to study the plan.
• Xiao Yuying brought Zheng Fa to her home, sealed the room against outside observation, and asked what kind of Nine Mountains Sect and Xuanwei Realm he wanted to create.
• Xiao Yuying warned Zheng Fa that his path could make enemies of all cultivators and prove more dangerous than Venerable Tianhe's.

Zheng Fa explained to Xiao Yuying why the Nine Mountains Sect was pursuing reforms that would put it at odds with cultivators, arguing that widespread cultivation and productive use of magic might help address spiritual-energy decline. Xiao Yuying still chose to leave the Nine Mountains Realm, but revealed she intended to continue studying Electromagnetism and explore ancient ruins with Zheng Fa.

• Xiao Yuying warned Zheng Fa that simplifying cultivation and spreading knowledge would threaten cultivators and sects, then offered to seek her master's protection for him.
• Zheng Fa opened a gate to the Xuanwei Realm and invited Xiao Yuying to discuss his plans; he admitted the reforms endangered the old order but said the Nine Mountains Sect had no other short-term path to grow.
• Zheng Fa argued that cultivators had betrayed ordinary people and that collective effort through the Immortal Way might offer a way to confront spiritual-energy decline.
• Zheng Fa described his goal as “Cultivation becomes labor; labor becomes cultivation,” with resources allocated by contribution and cultivation put to productive use.
• Xiao Yuying questioned what the Nine Mountains Realm would ultimately become, then insisted she wanted to leave despite Zheng Fa's appeal for her advice.
• Xiao Yuying revealed she would continue studying Electromagnetism and explore ancient ruins with Zheng Fa, who had wanted to restart the archaeological project team.

Xiao Yuying gave Zheng Fa a Five-Element Orchid that might help him resolve the Yin Five Elements problem in the Nine Mountains Golden Core Method, and she pledged to share responsibility for the taboo technique. She reviewed Mu Qingyan’s ruin records and warned Zheng Fa away from sites tied to the Five Sects; afterward, Zheng Fa asked Xie Qingxue whether she knew about the orchid.

• Xiao Yuying recognized that Zheng Fa had encountered difficulties perfecting the Nine Mountains Golden Core Method and presented him with a Five-Element Orchid linked by rumor to Venerable Tianhe’s Golden Core method.
• Xiao Yuying told Zheng Fa that the Five Sects had likely driven the Five-Element Orchid toward extinction, and she offered to share responsibility if they challenged the Nine Mountains Sect’s research.
• Xiao Yuying asked Zheng Fa for his archaeological plans, reviewed Mu Qingyan’s records, and flagged three ruins connected to Vast Sun Mountain as potentially contentious.
• Zheng Fa decided to avoid ruins associated with Vast Sun Mountain and the Five Sects for now, while Xiao Yuying searched the records for advanced artifact-refining and alchemy inheritances.
• Zheng Fa asked Xie Qingxue through the Creation Jade Disc whether she had heard of the Five-Element Orchid.

Xie Qingxue and Zheng Fa organized a covert search of the Tianhe Sect’s Secret Pavilion for records about the Five-Element Orchid. Yan Wushuang uncovered an old reference linking it to the original Clear Spirit Pill, and Zheng Fa sought further information from Zhao Jingfan of the Azure Wood Sect.

• Xie Qingxue spent a month searching the Tianhe Sect’s Alchemy Dao records but found nothing about the Five-Element Orchid, then learned that more restricted texts were kept in the Secret Pavilion.
• Xie Qingxue recruited Yan Wushuang to investigate the Secret Pavilion while she distracted the elders, and Zheng Fa assembled Xiao Yuying and alchemy disciples to analyze whatever Yan found.
• Yan Wushuang entered the Secret Pavilion and secretly scanned its travel journals and miscellaneous records while pretending to browse carelessly.
• Xiao Yuying identified an old account stating that the Clear Spirit Pill once used the Five-Element Orchid, but that its formula had since been improved; Xie Qingxue confirmed the current formula did not include the orchid.
• Zheng Fa concluded that the old Clear Spirit Pill was linked to the Five-Element Orchid and asked Zhao Jingfan whether he knew about the pill.