Chapter Summaries

Zheng Fa learned that Vast Sun Mountain was using lavish subsidies and the Profound Mystery Sect’s strategic position to weaken the Hundred Immortals Alliance and restrict its trade. As the Nine Mountains Sect faced a shortage of resources, a successful trial run of its Divine Firmament Mining Ship revealed a powerful alternative to relying on trade and smuggling.

• At Ninth Elder’s cave residence, Zheng Fa let his Second Senior Brother take the assignment to Vast Sun Mountain, while Ninth Elder promised the disciples generous resources from Vast Sun Mountain and described the growing opposition to Zheng Fa.
• Zheng Fa returned to the Nine Mountains Realm and learned from Senior Sister Zhang that the Profound Mystery Sect controlled a key southern trade passage, while the Nine Mountains Sect already struggled to afford its research and cultivation expenses.
• Old Han proposed that the Wushuang Association could smuggle scarce materials and that Tianhe Sect artifact-refining expertise could help the Nine Mountains Sect, hoping Zheng Fa would repay their kindness if Tianhe Sect faced trouble.
• The group watched Madam Xuanhua demonstrate the Divine Firmament Mining Ship’s ore scanning, drilling, excavation, and separation, which used a small crew and Nascent Soul-level refining techniques.
• Zheng Fa told Madam Xuanhua to store some Heavenly-Thunder Darksteel and convert the rest into other materials, leaving Old Han to wonder whether Vast Sun Mountain’s resource blockade or the Wushuang Association’s smuggling routes still mattered.

Zheng Fa confronted the cost of the Nine Mountains Sect’s rapid industrialization while Old Han and Xie Qingxue considered how the Tianhe Sect might survive by supporting it. As Zheng Fa investigated the Profound Mystery Sect, Old Han discovered Vast Sun Mountain had supplied Zheng Fa with artifact-refining methods, leaving him worried that his own contribution would be overshadowed.

• Senior Sister Zhang explained that the Spirit Material Conversion Factory still produced spirit materials at a high cost, and Zheng Fa said the Nine Mountains Sect needed far more to industrialize.
• Old Han and Xie Qingxue discussed Zheng Fa’s ambitions and the Tianhe Sect’s uncertain future, and Old Han decided to seek a place in the Heavenly Crafts Pavilion.
• Madam Xuanhua showed Old Han a plan for a Divine Firmament Warship formation that could challenge Nascent Soul cultivators, and Old Han agreed to study it.
• Zheng Fa visited the Ninth Elder, who tested his Heaven-Burning Grand Method and offered to teach him artifact-refining secrets obtained from Vast Sun Mountain.
• Old Han brought Madam Xuanhua his own artifact-refining ideas, but she said she was testing the secret method Zheng Fa had learned from Vast Sun Mountain first.

Zheng Fa studied Vast Sun Mountain’s artifact-refining secrets, helped Nine Mountains Sect prepare a merchant fleet, and impressed Ninth Elder with his own refining skills. His master sought permission to bring him to the mountaintop, where a mysterious supreme treasure was being refined, while the Profound Mystery Sect learned that Nine Mountains Sect was already selling cheap, powerful Dharma Tools.

• Zheng Fa invited Old Han and Madam Xuanhua to study Vast Sun Mountain’s Heavenfire Treasure-Refining Formula, whose experiments greatly improved Nine Mountains Sect’s artifact refining.
• Zheng Fa sent Han Qi and more than thirty Divine Firmament Warships to trade Nine Mountains Realm goods with major sects of the Hundred Immortals Alliance, warning him to avoid Profound Mystery Sect territory and rely on the ships’ defenses against interference.
• Ninth Elder tested Zheng Fa by asking him to refine a Flying Cloud Sword, and his high-grade Dharma Tool impressed her enough that she proposed sending him to the mountaintop to attract Vast Sun Mountain’s attention.
• Ninth Elder told the Profound Mystery Sect Leader that Zheng Fa might gain protection by meeting the High Person of Vast Sun Mountain, but the Sect Leader said he would first seek permission.
• The Profound Mystery Sect Leader showed Ninth Elder a Greenleaf Needle made by Nine Mountains Sect and revealed that it cost only twenty Spirit Stones while outperforming their own products.
• Ninth Elder reassured Zheng Fa that his artifact-refining talent exceeded that of the Greenleaf Needle’s refiner.

Zheng Fa learned that his master, the Ninth Elder, was trying to give him a chance to survive the coming conflict by helping him impress a Spirit Transformation cultivator from Vast Sun Mountain. After Zheng Fa demonstrated extraordinary artifact-refining talent atop Divine Fire Mountain, he glimpsed a fearsome black sword and discovered that it was called the Immortal-Trapping Sword, one of Tianhe Sect’s legendary treasures.

• The Ninth Elder explained that the Profound Mystery Sect might not survive the conflict between the Nine Mountains Sect and Vast Sun Mountain, and urged Zheng Fa to develop his artifact-refining skills to earn protection from a Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• Zheng Fa spent months studying the Profound Mystery Sect’s artifact-refining methods, quickly mastering its teachings and asking the Ninth Elder about the secret Mystic Heaven Artifact Canon.
• The Sect Leader summoned Zheng Fa and the Ninth Elder to Divine Fire Mountain’s crater, where seven Spirit Transformation cultivators were refining a treasure; Shi Nandang asked Zheng Fa to forge another Flying Cloud Sword.
• Zheng Fa combined multiple artifact-refining traditions to create a top-grade Flying Cloud Sword, impressing Shi Nandang and the Ninth Elder.
• A black sword erupted from the crater, and Zheng Fa glimpsed it as the Spirit Transformation cultivators struggled to restrain it before he was taken away.
• Back in the Nine Mountains Realm, Xie Qingxue identified the sword as the Immortal-Trapping Sword, one of Tianhe Sect’s five supreme treasures, leaving Zheng Fa to wonder why Vast Sun Mountain possessed one too.

Xie Qingxue learned that the Four Immortal-Slayer Swords were fragments of the Founders, who had betrayed Patriarch Tianhe because his swords threatened all cultivators, and she saw how deeply resources favored powerful sects. Zheng Fa explained his alternative vision of sharing wealth according to contribution and asked whether she would join him, leaving her considering her answer.

• Xie Qingxue returned to the Tianhe Sect, and Sect Master Yan revealed that the Four Immortal-Slayer Swords were the four Founders and that they had conspired with the Four Sects during the Tianhe Upheaval.
• Sect Master Yan explained that Patriarch Tianhe had forged swords meant to judge cultivators and draw on all living beings' Incense Power, prompting the Founders to rebel and hand the swords to the Four Sects for suppression.
• Xie Qingxue read the Hundred Immortals Alliance census report and saw that a small number of powerful sects controlled most resources while low-level cultivators surrendered much of their income.
• Xie Qingxue told Zheng Fa what she had learned, and he realized the Immortal-Trapping Sword had reacted to the Tianhe sword-forging methods used in his Flying Cloud Sword.
• Zheng Fa showed Xie Qingxue reports of improving mortal livelihoods in the Nine Mountains Realm and described his aim to distribute wealth according to contribution rather than strength.
• Zheng Fa asked Xie Qingxue whether she would join his difficult path, and she thought she might have found the answer to Sect Master Yan's question.

Xie Qingxue began teaching Sword Cultivator Fundamentals at the Nine Mountains Sect, while Zheng Fa planned to expand the sect’s trade and mining operations. After Vast Sun Mountain offered bounties for attacks on Nine Mountains ships, Zheng Fa spotted a way to profit by exploiting the rewards.

• Xie Qingxue taught her first Sword Cultivator Fundamentals lesson to the Nine Mountains Sect disciples, who warmly thanked her afterward.
• Xie Qingxue told Zheng Fa she had enjoyed teaching, and he explained why the Nine Mountains Sect gave top cultivators responsibility for foundational courses.
• Senior Sister Zhang reported that the Nine Mountains Realm had turned a profit, and Zheng Fa proposed trading goods for mining rights with sects across the Hundred Immortals Alliance.
• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang discussed expanding sea routes because the Profound Mystery Sect and Vast Sun Mountain threatened the Nine Mountains Sect’s overland trade.
• The Ninth Elder told Zheng Fa that Vast Sun Mountain had offered large bounties for stealing Nine Mountains goods and killing its disciples.
• Zheng Fa realized that claiming the bounties might earn more than ordinary trade and eagerly volunteered to try it.

Zheng Fa planned to exploit Vast Sun Mountain’s bounty while protecting the Nine Mountains Sect’s merchant convoys, organizing warnings, support, and an intelligence division. After Divine Firmament Warships crushed an ambush by Profound Mystery Sect disciples, Zheng Fa invited Junior Sister Ye to descend the mountain with him.

• Ninth Elder told Zheng Fa that Venerable Shi refused to let him use the Immortal-Trapping Sword because his Flying Cloud Sword had previously triggered a dangerous reaction.
• Junior Sister Ye offered to serve Zheng Fa, shared news about Profound Mystery Sect disciples and rogue cultivators preparing to descend the mountain, and promised to follow his lead.
• Zheng Fa and his allies planned to sell seized goods to Vast Sun Mountain, protect their convoys with an early-warning system and coordinated support, and establish an Intelligence Division under Old Han.
• Zheng Fa questioned Junior Sister Ye about the disciples who had descended Divine Fire Mountain and sent their movements to Senior Sister Zhang and the others.
• Five Golden Core disciples of the Profound Mystery Sect ambushed a Nine Mountains Sect convoy, but thirty Divine Firmament Warships appeared and overwhelmed them.
• Junior Sister Ye told Zheng Fa that the disciples had not returned and that the sect’s Golden Core cultivators feared descending the mountain, so Zheng Fa invited her to come down with him.

Zheng Fa, disguised as Profound Mystery Sect disciple Li Hao, raided Nine Mountains Sect supplies and later killed the Azure Water Poison Immortal for murdering eight Foundation Establishment disciples. As Li Hao prepared to leave the mountain again, Venerable Shi summoned him.

• Zheng Fa used his Mystic Fire Mirror to withstand the Divine Firmament Warships, then took their abandoned supplies for Junior Sister Ye to exchange for bounty rewards.
• Junior Sister Ye displayed the seized Nine Mountains Sect goods in the Affairs Cave, spreading Li Hao’s reputation and earning him the steward disciple’s respect.
• Zheng Fa learned that Azure Water Poison Immortal had killed eight Foundation Establishment disciples and tracked him down, killing him with a strike from the clouds.
• Zheng Fa told Xie Qingxue that the seven Spirit Transformation cultivators could not freely wield the Immortal-Trapping Sword, then resolved to act more boldly within the Profound Mystery Sect.
• Junior Sister Ye told Li Hao about Profound Mystery Sect disciples who had chosen to remain in the Nine Mountains Realm, and he persuaded her to accompany him down the mountain.
• Ninth Elder Bixia defended Li Hao before the Profound Mystery Sect Leader and Eighth Elder, but the Sect Leader revealed that Venerable Shi had summoned him.

Zheng Fa joined Shi Nandang atop Divine Fire Mountain, where he learned Vast Sun Mountain planned to refine the Immortal-Trapping Sword with a formation that could shatter the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s Spirit Veins. Shi Nandang recruited Zheng Fa’s Li Hao persona to help arrange the formation, leaving Zheng Fa to study its methods while concealing his true identity.

• Eighth Elder bowed to a Spirit Transformation cultivator and received a Spirit Transformation method as his new disciple, while Ninth Elder and the Profound Mystery Sect Leader looked uncomfortable.
• Shi Nandang praised Li Hao’s exploits against the Nine Mountains Sect, gave him cultivation resources and a token to enter the mountain’s great formation, and rewarded Ninth Elder with Vast Sun Mountain’s Sun-Shooting Divine Canon.
• Shi Nandang revealed that Vast Sun Mountain would use the Heaven-and-Earth Divine Sha Formation to refine the Immortal-Trapping Sword and shatter Spirit Veins throughout the Hundred Immortals Alliance.
• Zheng Fa chose not to attack immediately, deciding he needed to learn more about the sword and formation first.
• Shi Nandang gave Zheng Fa a Spirit Stone and began teaching him that true formations used carved formulas in Spirit Stones to control formations independently of Spirit Veins.

Zheng Fa proposed trading Vast Sun Mountain’s formation inheritance to Sect Master Yan in exchange for the Tianhe Sect’s Immortal-Trapping Sword methods, hoping its lost formations could help avert the sect’s destruction. Meanwhile, Venerable Tongming arrived secretly to support the Nine Mountains Sect, where Sun Daoyu and Zheng Shan’s rapid cultivation surprised him.

• Zheng Fa told Xie Qingxue that the Tianhe Sect might face destruction and suggested its formation inheritance had been suppressed by the Four Sects.
• Xie Qingxue agreed to return to the Tianhe Sect and try to persuade Sect Master Yan to trade its Immortal-Trapping Sword lineage methods for Vast Sun Mountain’s formation knowledge.
• After Xie Qingxue left, Zheng Fa learned that Venerable Tongming had secretly brought disciples to the Hundred Immortals Alliance, and he arranged for them to stay outside the Nine Mountains Realm.
• Venerable Tongming warned his disciples not to slight Zheng Fa and reflected that the Supreme Dao hoped to use the Nine Mountains Sect against Vast Sun Mountain.
• Sun Daoyu greeted Venerable Tongming, who was astonished to learn he had reached the Golden Core Middle Stage.
• Venerable Tongming met Zheng Shan and was startled that she had reached Foundation Establishment Late Stage after less than four years of cultivation.

Venerable Tongming saw the Nine Mountains Sect’s apparent decline, while Senior Sister Zhang explained that Zheng Fa had deliberately concealed the sect’s strength to avoid drawing Vast Sun Mountain’s attention. At the Profound Mystery Sect, Zheng Fa discovered that the Heaven-Earth Divine Baleful Array would sacrifice its disciples, learned the Ninth Elder was secretly aiding him, and decided to recruit programmers to build a backdoor into the array.

• Venerable Tongming visited the Nine Mountains Sect, saw its shuttered Marketplace and failing Medicine Garden, and arranged regular trades and intelligence sharing with Senior Sister Zhang.
• Senior Sister Zhang told Uncle-Master Pang and Xiao Yuying that Zheng Fa had made the Nine Mountains Sect appear weak because he distrusted the Supreme Dao and feared Vast Sun Mountain; Uncle-Master Pang proposed crying to Venerable Tongming.
• Zheng Fa learned that the Supreme Dao’s offer to share intelligence was connected to Thunderclap Temple, then saw the Profound Mystery Sect’s factional divisions and received Junior Sister Ye’s roster of more than fifty recruited disciples.
• Zheng Fa impressed Shi Nandang with his understanding of the Heaven-Earth Divine Baleful Array, and the Ninth Elder revealed that its completion would kill Profound Mystery disciples who had practiced Vast Sun Mountain’s secret arts.
• The Ninth Elder admitted she had recognized Zheng Fa as Alliance Leader Zheng and offered to help him; Zheng Fa asked her to arrange transport to the Supreme Dao.
• Zheng Fa asked Old Man Bai to find as many quick-learning programmers as possible so he could secretly add a backdoor to the Heaven-Earth Divine Baleful Array.

After reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, Zheng Fa opened Rainbow Mountain to meritorious cultivators and began a month-long public lecture, hoping it would awaken the changing Fusang Wood Dao Fruit. As his lessons reached Talisman Arts, a torrent of new insights flooded his mind, and he sensed the Fusang Wood beginning to change.

• Zheng Fa told Old Man Bai that he needed help analyzing the Heaven-Earth Divine Baleful Array and the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation, while Tang Lingwu agreed to help but Zheng Fa urged her to focus on cultivation.
• A special project team spread through companies and universities, drawing programmers who heard they could study cultivation at Rainbow Mountain.
• After Zheng Fa reached Nascent Soul, he admitted people who had rendered meritorious service and summoned them to Rainbow Mountain for a month of lectures on cultivation and Talisman Arts.
• Zheng Fa lectured for twenty days without seeing a change in the Fusang Wood, then began teaching Talisman Arts to his assembled disciples.
• As Zheng Fa explained Talisman Arts, numerous insights suddenly surged through his mind, and he saw the Fusang Wood trembling and growing in the sun.

While lecturing, Zheng Fa discovered that the Fusang Wood let him absorb listeners’ insights, so he used physics and chemistry lectures to advance his Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation. After demonstrating his new mastery, he introduced Spirit-Testing Jade and proposed using science to understand Spirit Roots, hoping to make cultivation accessible to more people in the Modern World.

• Zheng Fa discovered that the Fusang Wood let him sense listeners’ realizations and used lectures to learn from the researchers’ knowledge of physics and chemistry.
• Cheng Yun and Professor Wang endured several days of Zheng Fa’s science lectures, then returned for the final session and found he had not arrived on time.
• Zheng Fa transformed the Sermon Hall into himself, demonstrated transformations into a sword, wind, and dewdrop, and thanked the researchers for helping him reach minor mastery.
• Zheng Fa presented Spirit-Testing Jade and explained that he wanted to use spectral analysis and genetic research to understand Spirit Roots.
• Zheng Fa resolved to investigate lowering the Spirit Root threshold so more people could cultivate and contribute their insights to his Dao Field.

Zheng Fa arranged research into the genetic basis of spirit roots and discovered Tang Lingwu had accelerated work on the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation by organizing a paid forum. He gave Senior Sister Zhang the improved formation as a birthday gift, and she unexpectedly attained the Dao while reading it.

• Zheng Fa asked Team Leader Yang to sequence Rainbow Mountain cultivators’ genomes to investigate the relationship between spirit roots and genes.
• Zheng Fa discovered Tang Lingwu had secretly built a forum and offered cash rewards, speeding up development of the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation, and began giving her private cultivation lessons.
• Zheng Fa learned Senior Sister Zhang was celebrating her one-hundred-and-twentieth birthday, where Senior Sister Yuan gave her saved-up treats and Aunt-Master Huang gifted her a protective Dharma Treasure necklace.
• Zheng Fa gave Senior Sister Zhang a jade slip containing the improved Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation technical manual as her birthday gift.
• Senior Sister Zhang immersed herself in the jade slip, and a surge of spiritual energy and five-colored auspicious light revealed that she had attained the Dao.

Senior Sister Zhang used Zheng Fa’s Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation to reach Nascent Soul Late Stage and complete her Dao, while Zheng Fa planned to use the formation to improve resource allocation in Nine Mountains Realm. At Tianhe Sect, Xie Qingxue asked Sect Master Yan for the Immortal-Trapping Sword inheritance for Zheng Fa, but Yan demanded that Zheng Fa first possess a suitable Spirit Transformation cultivation art.

• Senior Sister Zhang awakened after half a month of enlightenment, advanced to Nascent Soul Late Stage, and declared that her Dao was complete.
• Senior Sister Yuan, Aunt-Master Huang, and Uncle-Master Pang tried to study the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation, but its complexity gave them headaches.
• Zheng Fa asked Senior Sister Zhang to oversee the formation’s use for resource allocation and proposed prioritizing a Spirit Transformation method suited to her Dao.
• Xie Qingxue asked Sect Master Yan to pass her Tianhe Sect’s Immortal-Trapping Sword inheritance so she could teach Zheng Fa, but Yan said Zheng Fa needed a suitable Spirit Transformation art first.
• The Nine Nether Devil Ancestor questioned Yan about withholding the inheritance, and Yan revealed that he wanted Vast Sun Mountain’s secret arts to improve his own chances of victory.

Zheng Fa used the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation to accelerate the Nine Mountains Sect’s planning and found a way to disguise a back door in the Heaven-Earth Divine Baleful Array. The Ninth Elder sought refuge for her clan in Supreme Dao, but after Zheng Fa demonstrated his control over the array, she agreed to give him Vast Sun Mountain’s Spirit Transformation technique and reaffirmed her loyalty to the Hundred Immortals Alliance.

• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang activated the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation, which quickly calculated the Nine Mountains Sect’s resource allocation and issued instructions to its departments.
• Senior Sister Zhang devised a topological transformation that could hide Zheng Fa’s back door in the Heaven-Earth Divine Baleful Array’s Spirit Stones from Shi Nandang’s inspection.
• The Ninth Elder asked Zheng Fa to introduce her and her disciples to Supreme Dao so she could protect her clansmen from the coming conflict.
• Zheng Fa offered to secure the Ninth Elder’s safety on Divine Fire Mountain in exchange for Vast Sun Mountain’s Spirit Transformation technique, then demonstrated his control of the Heaven-Earth Divine Baleful Array.
• The Ninth Elder agreed to Zheng Fa’s deal and withdrew her request to join Supreme Dao, declaring that she would stand with the Hundred Immortals Alliance.

Zheng Fa negotiated with Ninth Elder over joining the Hundred Immortals Alliance, then learned that her Jade Slip held only part of Vast Sun Mountain’s Yang Spirit Method. Senior Sister Zhang found the method suited her and offered a thirty percent chance of reaching Spirit Transformation, while Zheng Fa realized its principles could improve the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation; at Divine Fire Mountain, Shi Nandang remained confident that the Immortal-Trapping Sword would keep Zheng Fa at bay.

• Ninth Elder asked to remain with her clansmen, and Zheng Fa told her she must accept the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s new rules or leave for the Supreme Dao.
• Ninth Elder gave Zheng Fa a Jade Slip containing the Yang Spirit Method only up to Spirit Transformation, and Zheng Fa complained that Vast Sun Mountain had withheld the rest.
• Zheng Fa met Yan Wushuang, who had reached Golden Core Late Stage using the Nine Mountains Golden Core Method, then watched Senior Sister Zhang study the Jade Slip.
• Senior Sister Zhang said the Yang Spirit Method fit her Dao Path and gave her a thirty percent chance of reaching Spirit Transformation, while Zheng Fa urged her to prepare further before attempting it.
• Zheng Fa recognized that the Yang Spirit Method imitated the nervous system and could improve the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation and the intelligence of Spirit Artifacts.
• Shi Nandang and six other Spirit Transformation cultivators continued refining the Immortal-Trapping Sword at Divine Fire Mountain, confident that it would prevent Zheng Fa from attacking them.

Zheng Fa learned that Vast Sun Mountain’s Three Clans controlled access to its complete techniques and devised a plan to obtain the Scarlet Firmament Jade Register through Li Hao. After Li Hao reached Nascent Soul and attracted Shi Nandang’s attention, Zheng Fa returned to Divine Fire Mountain, where Shi Nandang recognized his Jade Pendant and greeted him as Granduncle.

• Zheng Fa infiltrated Divine Fire Mountain to seek the Scarlet Firmament Jade Register, but the Immortal-Trapping Sword sensed him and nearly escaped before Shi Nandang and the other six Spirit Transformation cultivators subdued it.
• Zheng Fa overheard Shi Nandang explain that the Scarlet Firmament Jade Register given to Bixia and Li Hao was incomplete, then learned from Old Han that Vast Sun Mountain’s Three Clans controlled its true disciple inheritances.
• Zheng Fa consulted Xie Qingxue and learned that the Three Clans had resisted fully opening their techniques, so he planned to use Li Hao’s advancement and search for a cave residence connected to the clans.
• More than half a year later, Li Hao emerged from a Vast Sun Mountain Secret Realm after passing the Nascent Soul Tribulation, and Shi Nandang decided to take him as a disciple.
• When Zheng Fa returned to Divine Fire Mountain as Li Hao, Shi Nandang saw the Jade Pendant at his waist, recognized its origin, and greeted him as Granduncle.

Zheng Fa used a Lu Clan inheritance to establish his place within Vast Sun Mountain and obtained the complete Scarlet Firmament Jade Register from Shi Nandang. When Xie Qingxue revealed the news to Sect Master Yan, the Nine Nether Devil Ancestor was exposed hiding in the Tianhe Sect hall.

• Zheng Fa showed Shi Nandang a Lu Clan Jade Pendant and claimed the seniority of a direct-line inheritor, prompting Shi Nandang to recognize him as a fellow clan member.
• Shi Nandang secretly passed Zheng Fa the complete Scarlet Firmament Jade Register and warned him not to share or record it for outsiders.
• Zheng Fa returned to the Nine Mountains Realm and gave Senior Sister Zhang the complete technique, which included the Yang Spirit and Corpse Liberation realms.
• The Nine Nether Devil Ancestor admitted to Sect Master Yan that his agents had been exposed or turned after trying to obtain the Four Sects' inheritance arts.
• Xie Qingxue told Sect Master Yan that Zheng Fa had obtained the complete Scarlet Firmament Jade Register, and the news startled the Nine Nether Devil Ancestor.
• Xie Qingxue sensed the Nine Nether Devil Ancestor's aura, forcing him to reveal himself in the Tianhe Sect hall.

Xie Qingxue learned that Tianhe Sect’s Immortal-Trapping Sword Canon turned its cultivators into vessels for the Four Lineage Founders, while Sect Master Yan appeared to be seeking freedom from their control. Back at the Nine Mountains Sect, she helped Zheng Fa and Zhang Wuyi prepare Nine Mountains Patriarch for Spirit Transformation, and the chapter ended with Zheng Fa roasting him in Great Sun True Fire.

• Sect Master Yan gave Xie Qingxue the Immortal-Trapping Sword Canon for Zheng Fa and warned her not to cultivate it, while the Nine Nether Devil Ancestor recalled Tianhe’s founders and accused them of being unworthy of the sect.
• Zheng Fa and Zhang Wuyi explained to Xie Qingxue that the Immortal-Trapping Sword Canon could turn its cultivators into cauldrons for the living Four Lineage Founders, and they theorized that Sect Master Yan was seeking freedom.
• Zheng Fa proposed using ideas from the Immortal-Trapping Sword Canon and Zhang Wuyi’s formulas to help Nine Mountains Patriarch merge with the Mountain-River Seal and achieve Spirit Transformation.
• Xie Qingxue agreed to guide Nine Mountains Patriarch, while Zhang Wuyi used the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation to support the procedure.
• Zheng Fa wrapped Nine Mountains Patriarch in Great Sun True Fire to cleanse the remnants of his original consciousness, and the Patriarch screamed as Senior Sister Yuan watched curiously.