Chapter Summaries

Li Qi continued directing the stalemated war until his long-lost brother Ma Ji arrived, near the end of his lifespan. Shen Shuibi recovered enough to visit, and Ma Ji died soon afterward, leaving Li Qi to bury him.

• Li Qi recovered from his injuries as the Human Path and Shaman Path settled into a prolonged stalemate, and Shen Shuibi left to heal.
• A world lord reported that Ma Ji had come seeking an audience, and Li Qi ordered him brought to his command world.
• Li Qi met the aged Ma Ji, learned he had only months to live, and invited him to stay; Ma Ji chose to rest beside him.
• Shen Shuibi returned after recovering and quietly spent time with Ma Ji, giving him pills to help him stay alert.
• Ma Ji's lifespan ended, and Li Qi buried him on a mountain in the dying world.

Li Qi learned that Liu Junyi’s impending advancement threatened the Shaman Path’s chances, and Zhu Fengdan urged him to reach the fifth rank with the help of a mysterious treasure. When Li Qi examined the Jade Bead, White Chen Fox King Bodhisattva’s influence appeared to let him draw cultivation from his past and future selves, giving him the power needed to advance.

• Li Qi watched the Human Path contract its defenses while its morale suggested it still had a way to turn the war around.
• Zhu Fengdan warned Li Qi that Liu Junyi was close to the fifth rank and told him to prepare for advancement with cultivation-boosting materials.
• A Jade Bead arrived, but Li Qi could not activate or identify it through ordinary means.
• Li Qi scanned the Jade Bead with the True Knowledge Dao Charm and sensed White Chen Fox King Bodhisattva’s presence.
• White Chen Fox King Bodhisattva’s smile led Li Qi to merge with his past and future selves, drawing their cultivation into his present body.

Li Qi used the Jade Bead to draw on his past and future cultivation, then made his inner world real by devouring several worlds and advanced to Fifth Rank. After absorbing the world's abundant Qi, he set out through Liesu to attack the Human Path's front line before Liu Junyi could break through.

• Li Qi tripled his cultivation with the Jade Bead and began solidifying his inner world.
• Li Qi formed a World Barrier and drew matter from a dying Sixth-Rank World and several other worlds into his inner world.
• Li Qi completed his Fifth Rank world, then discovered the Jade Bead had exhausted its power and shattered.
• Li Qi absorbed Qi from his new world, restoring his cultivation to a level stronger than before.
• Li Qi sensed that the front-line situation was unchanged and headed for the nearest Liesu to reach the Human Path's defensive line.

Li Qi advanced his plan to break the Human Path’s War Fortress by leading the Shaman Path into a major assault and using curses to cripple its defenders. The battle raged as the Human Path countered with soldiers of hard fate, but Li Qi’s forces continued pushing toward the fortress’s core, Gansong City.

• Li Qi revealed that he had advanced to the fifth rank and persuaded the Shaman Path’s world lords to launch a major assault in five days.
• The Shaman Path attacked the Human Path’s War Fortress with waves of worlds and cultivators, while the fortress and World Cluster Formation clashed.
• Li Qi cursed five fifth-rank Human Path cultivators, weakening their formations so the Shaman Path army could destroy them and advance.
• Li Qi’s army pushed deeper toward Gansong City, the fortress’s core, while the Human Path deployed soldiers with hard fates to resist his curses.
• Li Qi mobilized the Executioner Squad and the World Cluster Formation to destroy another force of five fifth-rank cultivators and one hundred thousand soldiers.

Li Qi’s army defeated two elite Human Path armies and advanced deep into the War Fortress, aiming for its energy source, Gansong City. As the other Shamanic Way fronts suffered enormous losses, Li Qi abandoned his main force and supplies to race ahead with a small elite squad, leaving the contest with Liu Junyi unresolved.

• Li Qi summoned his fifth-rank world and its Inner Gods, forming a Star Official that overwhelmed the two Human Path generals and broke through their elite armies.
• Li Qi’s forces surged through the War Fortress toward Gansong City while the Shamanic Way armies elsewhere endured catastrophic casualties to tie down the Human Path.
• Li Qi realized Liu Junyi was letting him advance to buy time to defeat the Shamanic Way forces outside.
• Li Qi ordered his army to abandon its supplies and most soldiers, then raced toward Gansong City with only fifth-rankers and sixth-rankers.

Li Qi ignored the fifth-rank world lords’ demands to retreat and pressed onward, judging that the Human Path no longer had enough troops to stop him. He decided to race alone toward Gansong, using a vision of his future self to silence the leaders who opposed him.

• Li Qi ordered the Executioner Squad and Shen Shuibi to keep the alliance fighting, forbade unauthorized retreats, and refused to restart the Blood Sacrifice.
• As the armies’ losses mounted and the battle slowed, Li Qi estimated that the Shaman Path’s worlds would reach their limits within a day and four chen.
• Li Qi decided to leave the main force and advance alone toward Gansong, despite the fifth-rank world lords warning that enemy Soldier’s Qi could kill him.
• The golden-furred balancer demanded evidence that the Human Path could no longer mobilize a great army, and the other world lords refused to let Li Qi risk himself without proof.
• Li Qi showed them a vision of his future self in seclusion and claimed it proved his decisions would succeed, then used the third-rank power behind the vision to overrule their objections.

Li Qi raced alone toward Gansong City while Liu Junyi struggled to break through to Fifth-Rank amid the pressure of the war. Liu Junyi steadied his Dao heart and advanced just as Li Qi arrived to attack the city, bringing the two commanders face to face.

• Li Qi deceived the Fifth-Ranks accompanying him and left the army to travel faster, while the Balancer recognized the lie but let him go.
• Liu Junyi recalled how he had sent Gansong City's defenders to the front and made his breakthrough dependent on facing Li Qi alone.
• Liu Junyi reflected on the gentleman's duty and realized his doubts had shaken his Dao heart despite the soldiers' faith in him.
• As Li Qi drew near, Liu Junyi regained his calm, understood the meaning of human harmony, and broke through to Fifth-Rank.
• Li Qi arrived at Gansong City and attacked its walls just as Liu Junyi advanced, and their auras revealed each other.

Li Qi fought Liu Junyi above Gansong City, using his Star Official, Chaos Qi, and Martial Dao punches to overwhelm Liu Junyi and destroy the city’s infrastructure. Just as Liu Qi’s assault seemed to be winning, Liu Junyi unleashed a burst of power that blasted the Star Official away.

• Li Qi sensed that Liu Junyi had broken through to the fifth rank and formed a Dharma Aspect, while realizing that unseen powers had influenced their encounter but failed to control its outcome.
• Li Qi manifested his own Dharma Aspect and Inner Gods, and he and Liu Junyi immediately began fighting without exchanging pleasantries.
• Li Qi combined the Star Official with Chaos Qi and eighth-rank Carp Flowing Intent, punching through Liu Junyi’s defenses and battering his Dharma Aspect.
• Li Qi used the Star Official’s immense body to pin Liu Junyi down and smash Gansong City’s buildings and Dragon Vein tributaries, weakening the War Fortress.
• A passing World-Class Giant Ship witnessed the battle from far away as Li Qi’s Star Official relentlessly battered Liu Junyi and the void city.
• Liu Junyi erupted with terrifying power and blasted the Star Official away.

Li Qi battled Liu Junyi in Gansong and initially gained the upper hand, but Liu Junyi copied Li Qi’s Star Official and turned the fight into a brawl. After Liu Junyi transferred his consciousness into Gansong to control the Dragon Vein, Li Qi spotted Li Shiwei inside the city, though he believed she was in the Buddhist Kingdom.

• Li Qi struck Liu Junyi repeatedly, while Gansong’s Dragon Vein eruptions disrupted the War Fortress and cost the Human Path hundreds of thousands of lives.
• Liu Junyi altered the surrounding qi with Legalist rules, then used the resulting constellation to imitate Li Qi’s Star Official and learn Carp Flowing Intent.
• Li Qi used True Knowledge Dao Charm to find the flaws in Liu Junyi’s Star Official, shattered it, and suppressed Liu Junyi with his own Star Official and karmic threads.
• Liu Junyi shifted his thoughts into a Jade pendant to evade Li Qi’s karmic attack, then abandoned his body and transferred his consciousness into Gansong to control the Dragon Vein.
• Li Qi sensed that Liu Junyi could now wield the Dragon Vein’s power and saw Li Shiwei inside Gansong, despite believing she was in the Buddhist Kingdom.

Li Qi discovered that Li Shiwei had secretly helped him defeat Liu Junyi by destroying the Nexus of All Realms base station, with the Demon Prince’s aid. The Demon Prince revealed that the Demonic Path had joined the war, and as Li Qi prepared to move toward the Shaman Path’s heartland, the universe shattered and a great power fell.

• Li Qi saw Li Shiwei near Gansong City but focused on Liu Junyi, who transferred his thoughts into a Jade pendant and merged with the city.
• A torrent of information overwhelmed Liu Junyi when the Nexus of All Realms failed, and Li Qi rushed to destroy Gansong City’s base station.
• Li Qi found Li Shiwei at the base station and learned she had infiltrated it and brought about Liu Junyi’s defeat.
• Li Shiwei said the Demon Prince had brought her from the Buddhist Kingdom, where he had helped her after she asked to aid Li Qi.
• The Demon Prince told Li Qi that the Heavenly Demon had joined the war and revealed that he had reached fifth rank.
• Li Qi agreed to leave for the Shaman Path’s heartland with the Demon Prince, but the universe shattered as a great power fell.

Li Qi witnessed the Shaman Path’s first Second Rank candidate die while attempting to advance, giving the Shaman Path victory in the vanguard war. After the Demon Prince challenged the battered Liu Junyi, Li Qi returned to the rear and was summoned by a Second Rank Ranked Shaman under an order severe enough to permit shattering Liesu.

• A rising crimson sun failed to produce a moon and shattered, killing the first Shaman Path Second Rank who tried to accommodate the Great Dao Opportunity and advance to First Rank.
• The Demon Prince approached Liu Junyi’s jade pendant, where Liu Junyi survived the Nexus of All Realms’ collapse and formed a weakened dharma body.
• The Demon Prince gave Liu Junyi a letter challenging him to fight once he had recovered, then left as Liu Junyi hurried to rebuild the command system and organize the army’s retreat.
• The Shaman Path won the war after the Human Path lost command and coordination, and the Human Path repaired the Nexus of All Realms before retreating.
• Li Qi handed Li Shiwei over to Shen Shuibi and left for a rear war zone after being relieved of his command post.
• A Second Rank Ranked Shaman ordered every war zone to cooperate in sending Li Qi back alone, even if doing so required shattering Liesu.

Li Qi arrived at the Shaman Path’s ultimate command headquarters and learned that the Ranked Shamans planned to confine him for 350 years to prevent a future disaster caused by his cooperation with the Demonic Path. A Ranked Shaman explained that the second-rank war involved repeatedly reorganizing matter and trying possible futures, leaving Li Qi to confront the fact that he had already lived through events he could not remember.

• Li Qi hurried from the front after being ordered back, and two Liesu shattered during his journey to the Shaman Path’s ultimate command headquarters.
• A Ranked Shaman’s spirit fragment told Li Qi he would be confined to the grotto-heaven for 350 years, without contact with the outside or further cultivation.
• The Ranked Shaman explained that, 342 years later, Li Qi would defy Zhu Fengdan and cooperate with the Demonic Path to save his family, resulting in the loss of one-seventh of the main front and more than 16.4 million war zones.
• Li Qi questioned how the Shamans could punish him for a future he might change, then struggled to understand the time paradox behind their claim that the disaster had already happened.
• The Ranked Shaman told Li Qi that time was only a subjective perception of matter and that the Shamans repeatedly reorganized matter to try different futures as part of their war against the Human Path.

Li Qi learned that Ranked Shaman had confined him to prevent future disasters, leaving him to question whether his reality and memories were genuine. After arranging for Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei to be withdrawn from the front line, Li Qi heard an inner voice ask whether he was truly at ease.

• Ranked Shaman told Li Qi to remain in the grotto-heaven for three hundred and fifty years, and Li Qi reflected on how Second Ranks could reset reality and explore possible futures.
• Li Qi concluded that ordinary people helped the Second Ranks probe possibilities, then questioned whether he and the world possessed any true reality.
• Li Qi saw another confined Fifth Rank whose Dao heart had collapsed and realized that Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei remained entangled with the demonic path outside.
• Li Qi tried to contact the outside world, but Ranked Shaman explained that his karmic ties had been severed and refused his request to send a message.
• Ranked Shaman agreed to issue an order withdrawing Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei from the front line, and Li Qi heard a voice in his heart ask whether he was truly at ease.

Li Qi resisted a heavenly demon that offered to reconnect him with the outside world, prompting Ranked Shaman and seventeen second-rank cultivators to intervene. Witch Xian protected Li Qi from further demonic influence by anchoring his reality, but warned that the protection would cause him extreme pain.

• Li Qi’s fears for Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei stirred his heart demon, which appeared and offered to let him contact the outside world.
• Li Qi pretended to accept the demon’s offer, rushed out to attract attention, and was rescued when Ranked Shaman’s will suppressed the demon.
• Seventeen second-rank cultivators gathered around Li Qi in the shaman god’s inner heaven and earth before Witch Xian addressed him.
• Witch Xian praised Li Qi for resisting the heavenly demon and explained that Li Qi’s demonic cultivation prevented him from eradicating every demonic thought without altering his Dao Path.
• Witch Xian placed a protective weight on Li Qi’s karmic thread, making his reality difficult to alter, and warned that the protection would be extremely painful.

After 350 years of confinement, Li Qi left seclusion and reviewed the war’s progress, the Demon Prince’s rise, and the mysteries of causality and time. He arrived at Shen Shuibi’s war zone, where the welcoming commander’s words repeated after Li Qi’s vision went black and the world reassembled.

• Witch Xian completed Li Qi’s preparations and ordered him to remain confined for 350 years, warning him to guard his mind and prepare.
• Li Qi spent his confinement studying battle reports and receiving guidance from Ranked Shaman, while Human Path lost ground and the Demon Prince became the strongest fifth-rank cultivator.
• Li Qi learned that the Demon Prince had killed the Plague Lord and then left the battlefield to face the Little Heavenly Master’s challenge.
• During his confinement, Li Qi felt some of his cultivation siphoned away and then returned, prompting him to consider causality, spacetime, probability, and the Human Path remnant inside him.
• After his confinement ended, Li Qi traveled through Liesu to Shen Shuibi’s war zone and was welcomed by a fifth-rank commander.
• Li Qi’s vision went black, the world reassembled, and the commander repeated his greeting.

Li Qi became trapped in repeated thirty-second time loops after descending from Liesu, then realized he was sharing the Shaman God's perspective and could perceive spacetime being rewritten. He understood that the universe was the ruins of ancient conflicts between Dao lineages, and the chapter ended when Commander Bai told him Guanghan had set out.

• Li Qi repeatedly experienced the same moments after leaving Liesu, tried to escape, and eventually noticed the rewinds stopped after a great victory was announced.
• Commander Bai told Li Qi that their forces had defeated a Human Path advance force and invited him to meet Junior Scribe.
• Li Qi concluded that victory was connected to the time rewinds and that his thoughts could perceive them because he shared the Shaman God's reality.
• Li Qi understood that the universe was a ruin left by conflicts among Dao lineages, and connected its state to the ancient effort to spread the Dao across the world.
• Li Qi recognized that the Heavenly Demon’s dreamlike control of reality resembled the power he was glimpsing through the Shaman God’s perspective.
• Commander Bai told Li Qi that Guanghan had set out.

Li Qi traveled to Guanghan, where he met the third-rank Changxi after spending days advising Commander Bai on the war. Changxi revealed that Li Qi’s wife and daughter were in the palaces below and prepared to question him.

• Li Qi reasoned that repeated rewinds on the vanguard battlefield depended on the strength and actions of the warriors below, then returned his attention to Commander Bai.
• Li Qi advised Commander Bai on troop deployments and formations, and Commander Bai praised his grasp of the battle’s details.
• After nine days, Li Qi arrived at Guanghan, exchanged farewells with Commander Bai, and admired the celestial wonder’s palaces, rivers, and spirit rafts.
• A palace atop Guanghan’s Jade tree lit up, guiding Li Qi by spirit raft to meet Changxi, the third-rank Scribe of War for the region.
• Changxi sensed that a Witch God’s protection made Li Qi’s karma, fate, time, and existence impossible to manipulate, then told him his wife and daughter were in the palaces below.

Li Qi passed Changxi’s assessment and reunited with Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei in Guanghan, only to discover that his departures and returns were repeating in a time loop. By his 288th return, he understood that the loop’s true pain came from repeatedly facing the family he had left behind.

• Changxi tested Li Qi, assigned him and Shen Shuibi to lead an Executioner Squad, and sent them to the front lines under a local commander’s deployment.
• Li Qi found Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei beside the Milky Way, reunited with them, and learned how Li Shiwei had contacted the Demon Prince and joined the battlefield.
• Li Qi explained his recent experiences to Shen Shuibi, then spent time with his family before they boarded a spirit skiff.
• Li Qi repeatedly awoke back in Guanghan and reenacted his reunion with Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei, while keeping the truth from them.
• On Li Qi’s 288th return, he realized the Witch God’s promised pain was the heartbreak of repeating his family reunion and separation.

After escaping the repeated days with his family, Li Qi reunited with Bo Yue on a battlefield and learned how the Demon Seed’s backtracking worked. Their shared insights into causality and spacetime began to unify their Dao Paths, giving Bo Yue an opportunity to break through.

• Li Qi arrived with Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei at Bo Yue’s position, where Bo Yue explained that his Executioner Squad had been nearly wiped out by the Human Path army.
• Li Qi recognized that Bo Yue’s Demon Seed could backtrack events and asked about its range; Bo Yue explained that it depended on time, mana, and Heavenly Path pressure.
• After Bo Yue demonstrated the Demon Seed, Li Qi connected its limits to the speed of light and proposed that it backtracked a single light cone.
• Li Qi expounded his understanding of causality, and Bo Yue supplemented it with his knowledge of spacetime as their Dao Paths merged.
• Bo Yue seized the chance to deepen his understanding as causality and spacetime unified, creating an opportunity for his breakthrough.

After Li Qi and Bo Yue’s Dao exposition revealed new insights into causality and the possible path to the third rank, Li Qi took command of the depleted Executioner Squad with Shen Shuibi to support the Shaman Path in the Human-Shaman War. Two months later, Li Shiwei read of their victories and felt useless in the safe rear.

• Li Qi and Bo Yue shared a three-Chen Dao exposition, and Li Qi realized that powerful beings might rewind time to observe possible futures and select one.
• Li Qi glimpsed a possible path to the third rank, then accepted Bo Yue’s Alliance authority and took charge of the Executioner Squad’s wartime assignments.
• Finding the squad unable to fight, Li Qi left with Shen Shuibi to carry out its work while Bo Yue kept Li Shiwei in the rear.
• Li Shiwei reflected on her years of combat, the deaths of her companions, and Shen Shuibi’s choice to save her at great cost.
• Stone delivered a battle report stating that Li Qi had captured Human Path general Jin Rui and that the Executioner Squad had destroyed four fifth-rank armies and thirty-six fifth-rank combatants.
• Li Shiwei read of her parents’ victories and wondered whether she was truly their child, hearing a voice call her useless.