Chapter Summaries

Zheng Fa and the Nine Mountains Sect faced a vast Gu swarm that the Magnetic Array mostly contained, while the Gu God avoided direct combat and appeared to be buying time. As Zheng Fa considered the threat and the Devil Ancestors’ possible plans in the Nine Luminaries Heaven, Mu Qingyan developed a medicine for the Gu worms and Gu Chang uncovered a possible method behind the Gu God’s control of them.

• Senior Sister Zhang used the Pure Tranquility Bamboo to expel the Gu poison from the Golden Phoenix Fairy, while Zheng Fa learned that the Nine Mountains Sect had lost three squads of Divine Firmament Warships.
• Zheng Fa and the elders assessed the advancing Gu swarm, its airborne eggs, and the heavy cost of trying to reclaim the contaminated territory, then considered focusing on defense.
• The Gu God watched Zheng Fa through a light screen, killed a Lu Clan man by turning him into a Thousand-Thread Gu, and ordered the clans to bring her more people to cultivate her offspring.
• Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang suspected the Gu God was stalling while the Devil Ancestors pursued something important in the Nine Luminaries Heaven.
• Zheng Fa visited Mu Qingyan’s laboratory, where she reported progress on a special medicine and Gu Chang revealed that he might have discovered how the Gu God controlled her swarms.

Gu Chang explained his theory that the Gu God and her power came from organized insect colonies, prompting Zheng Fa to plan how to locate and harm her. After learning the Four Sects could enter Xuanwei in thirty years, Zheng Fa prepared to pursue another defense while setting an ambush for the Gu God at Vast Sun Mountain.

• Gu Chang used Spirit Root Theory and Pheromone Theory to explain that insect colonies transmitted information and that the Gu God was a collective of Gu insects.
• Zheng Fa proposed that a specialized brain colony might control the Gu God, and Gu Chang said they could trace the colony hierarchy using different Gu samples.
• The Nine Nether Emperor warned Zheng Fa that the Four Sects would be able to enter Xuanwei through Reincarnation in at most thirty years, so Zheng Fa resolved to strengthen the Tianhe Sword Formation and seek the Fusang Wood's essence.
• Zheng Fa and the Nine Mountains Sect prepared to strike the Gu God before he left for the Nine Luminaries Heaven.
• At Vast Sun Mountain, Zheng Fa disguised himself among the people captured for the Gu God, then revealed himself and attacked her with golden flame.

Zheng Fa, Senior Sister Zhang, and Xie Qingxue confronted the Gu God, who trapped them in a valley filled with swarming Gu insects. Zheng Fa’s plan turned the swarm against itself, and the Gu God called him “Master” as the chapter ended.

• The Gu God survived Zheng Fa’s Great Sun True Fire and summoned formations of Gu insects to surround the three cultivators.
• The Sky-Rending Butterfly blocked Zheng Fa’s escape, while Senior Sister Zhang used the Pure Tranquility Bamboo to counter his Gu poison.
• The Gu insects buried Zheng Fa, Senior Sister Zhang, and Xie Qingxue, but the trio emerged with many insects now obeying them.
• The Gu God realized Xie Qingxue had scattered Gu secretions that Zheng Fa had used to disrupt her control over the swarm.
• The Gu insects went berserk and attacked one another, destabilizing the Gu God, who called Zheng Fa “Master.”

Zheng Fa used the Yin-Yang Qi Bottle to cripple Gu God and end the insect tide, though she escaped by abandoning her swarm. After returning to the Nine Mountains Realm, he learned that the patterns on Gu God’s Bronze Cauldron resembled markings on ancient tortoiseshells found by Xiao Yuying, leaving their origin unexplained.

• Zheng Fa, Senior Sister Zhang, and Xie Qingxue disrupted Gu God’s insect swarms, and Xie Qingxue weakened her with medicine that induced the Gu insects to mate.
• Gu God fled with her swarms in a Bronze Cauldron, but Zheng Fa used the Yin-Yang Qi Bottle to draw in the insects and threaten to capture her.
• Gu God left behind an empty husk and dead insects, then escaped; Zheng Fa suspected she had been seriously wounded and was hiding to recover.
• Zheng Fa returned to the Nine Mountains Realm with the Rogue Cultivators and captured Lu Clan prisoners, and he told Uncle-Master Pang that the insect tide had ended.
• Xiao Yuying recognized patterns on the Bronze Cauldron as resembling markings on tortoiseshells she had found in an ancient ruin, and said she had more than five hundred and sixty pieces.

Senior Sister Zhang passed the Heart Demon Tribulation and became the Nine Mountains Sect’s second Mahayana cultivator, while Zheng Fa arranged a cautious campaign to cleanse Vast Sun Mountain’s Gu-poisoned land. As the sect prepared to enter Vast Sun Mountain under a false identity, the chapter ended with Shi Nandang returning there as its people faced the Gu God’s rule and growing despair.

• Senior Sister Zhang broke through the tribulation clouds, passed the Heart Demon Tribulation, and became the Nine Mountains Sect’s second Mahayana cultivator.
• Zheng Fa and the elders planned to have rescued Rogue Cultivators cleanse Vast Sun Mountain’s poisoned land while Xie Qingxue protected them and the sect’s disciples prepared to establish formations.
• Zheng Fa entrusted the Yin-Yang Qi Bottle to Senior Sister Zhang and revealed that he would enter Vast Sun Mountain under a false identity, prompting Shi Nandang to realize he was the intended disguise.
• Two Nine Mountains Sect agents saw Vast Sun Mountain’s Marketplace nearly deserted as vendors discussed people being taken to feed the Gu God’s insects.
• Luo Clan disciples warned Yun Clan members that the Gu God threatened all Three Clans, and the gathering learned that Founder Shi Nandang had returned.

Zheng Fa returned to Vast Sun Mountain disguised as Shi Nandang and faced suspicion over how he escaped the Underworld. As Luo Yun sought his help against the Lu Clan, Shi Nandang's master revealed the Lu Clan's plan to obtain Ancestor Lu's relic and asked Zheng Fa to help force the other clans to feed Gu God.

• Zheng Fa returned to Vast Sun Mountain, explained that Thunderclap Temple had helped him escape the Underworld, and left the elders' gathering to recover.
• Luo Yun begged Zheng Fa to save Vast Sun Mountain, explaining that the Lu Clan was sending Luo Clan members as blood sacrifices to Gu God.
• Luo Yun offered herself to Zheng Fa in exchange for the Luo Clan's submission, but she hid when Shi Nandang's master arrived with three Lu Clan elders.
• Shi Nandang's master told Zheng Fa that the Lu Clan sought Ancestor Lu's relic in Nine Luminaries Heaven and had allied with Gu God to seize it.
• Shi Nandang's master asked Zheng Fa to join the Lu Clan in making the Yun and Luo Clans help Gu God recover.

Zheng Fa pretended to cooperate with the Lu Clan as they used the Gu God statue to sacrifice Vast Sun Mountain cultivators, while the Nine Mountains Sect planned to exploit the clan’s hidden methods. When the Gu insects attacked, they spared the Yun and Luo Clans and devoured the Lu Clan instead, leaving Shi Nandang’s Master suspicious of Zheng Fa.

• Shi Nandang’s Master and the Lu Clan elders threatened Zheng Fa with the Gu God statue and demanded that he help offer fellow disciples as sacrifices.
• Zheng Fa’s Heavenly Emperor Body discussed investigating the Lu Clan’s methods and having Mu Qingyan develop King Insects to influence the Gu God.
• Zheng Fa stood with the Lu Clan as they prepared hundreds of captured cultivators for the Gu insects, while Luo Yun led an unsuccessful rescue attempt and was captured.
• The Lu Clan elders defended their sacrifice plan as necessary to protect Vast Sun Mountain, while Zheng Fa secretly acted as the insects approached Luo Yun and the others.
• The Gu insects passed over the Yun and Luo Clan captives and attacked the Lu Clan members instead, prompting Zheng Fa to claim that the Gu God had chosen to merge with them.

Zheng Fa won the Yun and Luo Clans’ support by secretly exposing Gu God’s threat and giving Yun Fan the guidance he needed to overcome his cultivation obstacle. As the clans debated seeking refuge, Zheng Fa revealed why the Devil Ancestors could not protect them, then challenged their assumption that Nine Mountains Sect would accept them.

• The Yun and Luo Clan cultivators thanked Zheng Fa, and he denied responsibility for Gu God’s attacks while they pledged to follow him.
• Yun Fan asked Zheng Fa for guidance on overcoming the cultivation deviation preventing him from undergoing Corpse Liberation, and Zheng Fa’s advice immediately helped him.
• Yun Fan and the other cultivators knelt and asked Zheng Fa to preside over Vast Sun Mountain as they considered whether the sect could survive.
• Zheng Fa warned that Vast Sun Mountain faced threats from the Lu Clan, Devil Ancestor, and Nine Mountains Sect, then led the clans to consider surrendering to a stronger side.
• Zheng Fa revealed that the Devil Ancestors were pursuing a treasure tied to Ancestor Lu’s bloodline, making them unreliable allies for the Yun and Luo Clans.
• After the cultivators leaned toward joining Nine Mountains Sect, Zheng Fa asked why the sect would accept people who looked down on it.

Zheng Fa persuaded the Yun and Luo Clans to turn against the Lu Clan and preserve Vast Sun Mountain for the Nine Mountains Sect, while the Lu Clan prepared to seek the Holy Ancestor Relic. The chapter left Lu Yan among the Lu Clan members selected to enter the secret Origin Venerable Peak.

• Zheng Fa convinced the Yun and Luo Clans to pledge themselves to the Nine Mountains Sect, secure Vast Sun Mountain's treasures, and help expose the Golden Sun Incinerating Heaven Formation.
• Luo Yun freed Rogue Cultivators from the Lu Clan's chains by invoking Shi Nandang's command, and Yun Fan took control of Thousand Wonders Peak after revealing his Corpse Liberation breakthrough.
• The Lu Clan's Grand Elder rejected activating the formation and ordered the clan to choose new Holy Ancestor Bloodline members to seek the relic.
• Lu Yan, secretly a Nine Mountains Sect disciple, followed his fake elder sister to Origin Venerable Peak while worrying about the sect's other infiltrators.
• The Lu Clan's Grand Elder gathered the selected members and warned them that outsiders, including the Lu Clan's direct descendants, could not be trusted with the secret of Origin Venerable Peak.

Lu Yan discovered that the Lu Clan planned to conduct a clan-wide sacrifice to obtain a relic in the Nine Luminaries Heaven and gain greater control over the Primordial’s corpse. Back in the Nine Mountains Realm, the Heavenly Emperor Body and his allies weighed the danger, while Xiao Yuying linked the altar’s runes to ancient patterns Zheng Fa was investigating in the modern world.

• The Lu Clan's Grand Elder led Lu Yan and the other newcomers into the upside-down Origin Venerable Peak and showed them the Sun-Shooting Divine Bow and the altar at its summit.
• The Grand Elder revealed that the Primordial’s corpse was a powerful Dharma Treasure and the key to opening and closing the Nine Luminaries Heaven, and he explained that the Lu Clan intended to sacrifice its entire clan to control it.
• When a Lu Clan disciple protested, the Grand Elder sacrificed him at the altar and warned the others that the Lu Clan’s power came from the Holy Ancestor.
• The Heavenly Emperor Body, Senior Sister Zhang, and Uncle-Master Pang discussed how to prevent the Lu Clan from obtaining its relic, while the Heavenly Emperor Body prepared to enter the Nine Luminaries Heaven.
• Xiao Yuying noticed that the altar’s runes resembled those on the Bronze Cauldron and her turtle shells, prompting her to ask Zheng Fa what he had learned from them.
• Professor Liu told Zheng Fa that the patterns he had sent might be connected to a revolution in writing during the Shang-Zhou period.

Professor Liu explained that the patterns Zheng Fa provided might be an ancient talismanic source of Oracle Bone Script, linking the Modern World’s writing to the Immortal Way and Divine Spirits. His team had partly deciphered the inscriptions on the Cosmos Cauldron, and the final line appeared to describe returning to the Precelestial Realm.

• Tang Lingwu prepared Untroubled Tea for Professor Liu, who drank it and relaxed as Zheng Fa welcomed him.
• Professor Liu proposed that Shang Dynasty Oracle Bone Script had begun as talismans used to communicate with Divine Spirits, while Zhou people adapted some symbols into writing.
• Zheng Fa considered possible links between the Modern World, Xuanwei, and Lu Mo, as Professor Liu explained how his team had compared the patterns with ancient inscriptions.
• Professor Liu showed that his team had identified characters meaning Heaven and earth or soil on the bronze cauldron, which they believed was the Cosmos Cauldron.
• Professor Liu said the cauldron’s final inscription appeared to mean returning to the Precelestial Realm.

Zheng Fa learned that the Cosmos Cauldron could refine Dharma Treasures into Precelestial Dharma Treasures, while the Nine Luminaries Heaven opened after the Lu Clan offered three Spirit Transformation cultivators. As the Lu Clan and other arrivals entered the realm, Zheng Fa used the aura of Fusang Wood to overcome its resistance and rush inside.

• The Heavenly Emperor Body identified the Cosmos Cauldron's inscriptions and explained that it could strengthen Dharma Treasures, prompting Zheng Fa's group to plan to study it and seek more First Era inscriptions in the Nine Luminaries Heaven.
• The Lu Clan sacrificed three Spirit Transformation cultivators at Vast Sun Mountain, awakening the primordial corpse and opening the Nine Luminaries Heaven.
• A Yun Clan cultivator charged into the entrance but was consumed by golden flames, and the Lu Clan Great Elder led eight bloodline cultivators inside.
• The Golden-Winged Great Peng arrived carrying a bald monk, who used a golden pearl containing Holy Ancestor Essence Blood to enter the realm.
• Zheng Fa revealed his Sacred Blood Seal, then released an aura of Fusang Wood and flashed past the others into the Nine Luminaries Heaven.

Zheng Fa entered Nine Luminaries Heaven and was surrounded by the Lu Clan, the Golden-Winged Great Peng, and White Lotus, but an unexpected Daoist temple drew them into a meeting with Creation Daoist, Gu God, and White Bone Devil Ancestor. Creation Daoist explained the realm’s ancient origins and revealed that Lu Mo had sought a treasure called Primordial Purple Qi, leaving its nature unknown.

• Zheng Fa and the others entered Nine Luminaries Heaven, where nine Golden Crows scorched a barren continent, and the Lu Clan surrounded him alongside the Golden-Winged Great Peng and White Lotus.
• Brightmoon and Clearwind appeared at a hidden Daoist temple and invited the group inside to meet their master, Creation Daoist.
• Gu God revealed herself from the Lu Clan Grand Elder, and White Bone Devil Ancestor arrived before Creation Daoist asked everyone to cease fighting.
• Creation Daoist explained that Nine Luminaries Heaven was a preserved fragment of the Ancient Immortal Realm, once home to the Fusang Wood, and that Lu Mo had left it after being grievously wounded by Tianhe.
• Creation Daoist said Lu Mo had been searching for a treasure he called Primordial Purple Qi, though he did not know exactly what it was.

Creation Daoist explained that Fusang Wood’s trial would send the cultivators through a fragile memory of the First Era, where combat was forbidden and Primordial Purple Qi would go to the one with the highest Dao attainment. The group reached Purple Cloud Palace to hear Hongjun preach, and Zheng Fa realized that the seventh front prayer mat was the coveted seat, with rankings determined by comprehension and cultivation.

• Creation Daoist revealed that Primordial Purple Qi was a treasure Lu Mo had failed to obtain and explained that Fusang Wood’s trial would replay its memories of the First Era.
• The nine Golden Crows flew backward through time, revealing changing scenes of Nine Luminaries Heaven before scattering as Hongjun announced a lecture at Purple Cloud Palace.
• Creation Daoist entered a purple passage to the palace, and Zheng Fa followed with the other cultivators into the illusory sermon hall.
• The cultivators took prayer mats according to their cultivation and Dao comprehension, leaving Zheng Fa near the back while White Lotus monk sat close to the front.
• Zheng Fa realized that the seventh front prayer mat was the only empty one and that its eventual occupant would receive the Primordial Purple Qi through the trial’s rankings.

Zheng Fa and the other cultivators struggled to understand Daoist Hongjun’s lecture, while golden flowers bearing talismans granted spiritual power to those who deciphered them. In the Modern World, Tang Lingwu and Heluo translated the lecture and identified the talismans as incantations used in rituals, leading Zheng Fa to recognize that the Cosmos Cauldron was a ritual vessel for communicating with the Heavenly Dao.

• Daoist Hongjun began lecturing, but Zheng Fa and the other listeners could not understand his words.
• The Lu Clan’s Grand Elder discovered that deciphering the golden flowers’ talismans granted spiritual power, and the other cultivators began absorbing them as well.
• Zheng Fa recorded the lecture for the Modern World, where Professor Liu’s team deciphered part of it and Tang Lingwu announced Heluo’s breakthrough.
• Tang Lingwu explained that Heluo had separated ordinary language from incantations and compiled an Ancient Common-Use Character Dictionary and an Incantation Dictionary.
• Zheng Fa found that the Incantation Dictionary’s entries resembled the markings on the Cosmos Cauldron and altar.
• The Heavenly Emperor Body told Senior Sister Zhang that the Cosmos Cauldron’s talismans described a sacrificial ritual for communicating with the Heavenly Dao and transforming a Dharma Treasure from postnatal to prenatal.

After understanding Daoist Hongjun’s lecture, Zheng Fa spoke with the six Sages and agreed to tell them about the future. Back in Creation Daoist’s temple, the Lu Clan’s Great Elder and other powers cornered Zheng Fa and demanded that he teach them the ancient language, threatening to ruin everyone’s chance at the Primordial Purple Qi.

• Zheng Fa continued contemplating Hongjun’s lecture while Creation Daoist explained that the seventh prayer mat required great comprehension, Merit, and perseverance.
• When the six Sages began leaving Purple Cloud Palace, Zheng Fa stopped them by speaking their language, and they introduced themselves as Taishang, Yuanshi, Tongtian, Nuwa, Jieyin, and Zhunti.
• Zheng Fa told the Sages that later generations did not know their names, and Taishang invited him to Kunlun to discuss the future.
• After Zheng Fa and the others returned to Creation Daoist’s temple, the Lu Clan’s Great Elder demanded that Zheng Fa teach them the ancient language.
• The Lu Clan’s eight Spirit Transformation cultivators surrounded Zheng Fa with their Life-bound Dharma Treasures, while the Great Elder threatened that if the Lu Clan could not obtain the Primordial Purple Qi, no one would.

Zheng Fa refused to teach the Lu Clan and the others the ancient language, provoking a standoff that Creation Daoist stopped before it turned into a fight. After Zheng Fa was escorted to a secluded courtyard in the Five Organs Temple, Brightmoon warned him that he might not be safe beyond its walls.

• Zheng Fa rejected the Lu Clan cultivators’ demand to teach them the ancient language and drew the Sun-Shooting Bow against their Grand Elder.
• Creation Daoist intervened to prevent a battle, then threatened the gathered cultivators with his horsetail whisk and urged them to seek the Primordial Purple Qi through their own abilities.
• Creation Daoist ordered Clearwind and Brightmoon to escort the guests to their rooms, separating Zheng Fa from Gu God, the Lu Clan, and White Bone Devil Ancestor.
• Brightmoon warned Zheng Fa to remain in the Five Organs Temple because Creation Daoist might not be able to protect him outside it.
• Brightmoon explained the temple’s name and left Zheng Fa staring at its towering trees and canopy that seemed to cage the sky.

Trapped in the Five Organs Temple, Zheng Fa discovered that Gu God’s Thousand-Eyed Cicadas could secretly send him information. He learned that Gu God and the White Bone Devil Ancestor were plotting to seize the Primordial Purple Qi, leaving him to consider how to exploit their schemes.

• Senior Sister Zhang and the others worried that Zheng Fa was isolated in the Five Organs Temple, while the Heavenly Emperor Body explained that Creation Daoist had cut the temple off from the outside.
• Zheng Fa recalled being blocked from leaving the temple and spotted Gu God’s Thousand-Eyed Cicadas watching him from the trees.
• Gu God and the White Bone Devil Ancestor agreed to work together to seize the Primordial Purple Qi and escape through a gateway controlled by the Lu Clan.
• Gu God revealed that her Silk-thread Worm could control weaker cultivators and her Painted-Skin Moth could devour and replace a cultivator.
• Zheng Fa received the cicadas’ transmitted information and wondered how to act like someone frequently possessed by gu insects.

Zheng Fa concealed his cultivation and let Gu God’s insects control his body while Gu God and White Bone Devil Ancestor plotted to help Shi Nandang obtain the Primordial Purple Qi. The Five Organs Temple’s inhabitants agreed to seek great merit beyond the temple, but Zheng Fa left with plans focused on events beyond the Witch and Demon Races.

• Zheng Fa let Gu God’s Silk-thread Worms burrow into his body, and Gu God used a Thousand-Eyed Cicada to confirm that she could control him.
• Gu God and White Bone Devil Ancestor decided to help Shi Nandang obtain the Primordial Purple Qi rather than simply wait for him to claim it.
• Creation Daoist proposed that the temple’s fourteen inhabitants work together to help whoever could obtain the Primordial Purple Qi, and Gu God used a Gu to make the Lu Clan agree.
• Creation Daoist and White Lotus suggested that great merit could be earned outside the temple, possibly by addressing the conflict between the Witch and Demon Races.
• The group left the Five Organs Temple to seek merit, while Zheng Fa considered other deeds that could earn the merit needed for the seventh meditation cushion.

Zheng Fa searched the Ancient Immortal Realm for a chance to mooch Merit, then traveled to the Eastern Sea after learning Nuwa was there. Nuwa recognized that Zheng Fa and the others came from the future and challenged him to explain why she should create humans if doing so would eventually lead to her disappearance.

• Zheng Fa failed to find Ancestor Witch Houtu and returned to Five Organs Temple for an exchange of information.
• Golden-Winged Great Peng described joining the Demon Race, while White Lotus said he had helped the Founders guide spirits and dispel war calamities.
• Gu God reported that Nuwa had been wandering the Eastern Sea, prompting Zheng Fa to travel there and seek her out.
• Nuwa revealed that Gu God had told her about Xuanwei and the future, and she had already inferred that Zheng Fa and his companions were future protagonists of heaven and earth.
• Nuwa asked Zheng Fa why she should create humans and become a Sage if everyone from her age would eventually vanish.