Chapter Summaries

Yan Changfeng worried over the upheaval in Liang Kingdom until Bai Yunzi arrived as an envoy of the Stone Dharma King and ordered the Yan Family to submit to the new ruler. Bai Yunzi announced increased labor duties and a grand auction and Grand Competition of Prodigies at Azure Jade Mountain in three months, leaving Yan Changfeng stunned as he began explaining the competition.

• Yan Changfeng reflected on how the Yan Family had gained Red Maple Mountain while Liang Kingdom’s cultivation world collapsed around them.
• Bai Yunzi arrived at Red Maple Mountain as an envoy and told Yan Changfeng that Liang Kingdom now belonged to the Stone Dharma King.
• Yan Changfeng pledged the Yan Family’s allegiance, and Bai Yunzi described law enforcement squads led by Golden Core cultivators that would hunt sect remnants and rogue cultivators.
• Bai Yunzi said the Yan Family’s taxes would stay the same but its labor duties would increase to support production.
• Bai Yunzi announced an auction and Grand Competition of Prodigies at Azure Jade Mountain in three months, urging Yan Changfeng to gather spirit stones for Golden Core treasures and techniques.
• Yan Changfeng asked about the competition, and Bai Yunzi began explaining its purpose as an incentive for Liang Kingdom’s cultivators.

Three months later, Xiao Miao used the Cloud and Rain Summoning Technique to tend Azure Jade Mountain’s thriving spiritual fields and lent Old Farmer Tian spirit stones for a Foundation Establishment Pill. As Azure Jade Mountain’s economic system drew Liang Kingdom’s cultivators into its workforce, Xiao Miao resolved to seize the opportunity to grow stronger and compete in the Grand Competition of Prodigies.

• Xiao Miao summoned spiritual rain over his Azure Corn field, and Elder Zhen credited its exceptional growth to the seeds and spiritual field.
• Old Farmer Tian asked Xiao Miao for spirit stones to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill, offering his Spiritual Planter inheritance and future harvest as repayment; Xiao Miao agreed and drew up an agreement.
• Xiao Miao reflected on how Stone Dharma King’s sale of cultivation goods and training programs had made work for Azure Jade Mountain the main path to advancement across Liang Kingdom.
• Xiao Miao decided to use Azure Jade Mountain’s resources to strengthen himself and enter the next day’s Grand Competition of Prodigies, while leaving the auction for another time.

Yan Changfeng and other cultivators attended Azure Jade Mountain’s auction, where Bai Yunzi offered cheap Golden Core techniques, Dharma-money methods, false Golden Core pills, and a lifespan-extending Lightning Creation Pill. The auction ended with an unaffordable Golden Core formation item left unsold, and Bai Yunzi invited the crowd to stay for the Grand Competition of Prodigies, where the Dharma King would appear.

• Yan Changfeng bought a low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill after learning that Azure Jade Mountain planned to sell Golden Core techniques cheaply and was developing a Five Elements Golden Core Pill.
• Bai Yunzi opened the auction by offering complete Golden Core cultivation techniques and combat inheritances for set prices, along with a method for turning Dharma power into Dharma money.
• Bai Yunzi auctioned ten purified demonic inner cores that could create false Golden Cores, and Chen Nanfeng won the first one for thirteen million spirit stones.
• Bai Yunzi offered Lightning Creation Pills that could extend cultivators’ lifespans, then failed to sell the Mysterious Yin Spiritual Liquid at its fifty-million-spirit-stone starting price.
• Bai Yunzi announced a three-day Grand Competition of Prodigies, promising rewards and the possibility of becoming the Dharma King’s direct disciple.

Bai Yunzi announced the Grand Competition of Prodigies and unveiled the Azure Cloud Rankings, prompting Xiao Miao and Elder Zhen to plan to exploit its rewards. Xiao Miao entered the Qi Refining tournament in Tongtian Tower, where his first opponent, Shui Lingling, revealed overwhelming lightning and mountain-summoning arts.

• Bai Yunzi introduced the Grand Competition’s combat and arts categories, Azure Cloud Points, rankings, and rewards through the hundred-zhang Azure Cloud Rankings.
• Elder Zhen warned Xiao Miao that Stone Dharma King was consolidating control of Liang Kingdom, but agreed to help him claim competition rewards and undermine the Dharma King’s plans.
• The next morning, Bai Yunzi announced that the competition would take place inside Tongtian Tower, which could host many contestants and help them Enlighten Dao.
• Xiao Miao entered a Qi Refining match against Shui Lingling, trusting that Elder Zhen’s concealment art had hidden his Foundation Establishment cultivation.
• Shui Lingling unleashed a thunder wyrm and lightning dragon, then invoked a spell that brought thousands of mountains crashing down on Xiao Miao.

Xiao Miao lost consecutive battles to Shui Lingling and Gui Sanqian in the Grand Competition of Prodigies, but broke through to combining three elements during his second fight. He bought another Azure Cloud Jade Talisman and began a third battle against Ji Changkong.

• Shui Lingling defeated Xiao Miao with her lightning wyrm technique, shattering his Azure Jade Talisman.
• Xiao Miao bought another Azure Cloud Jade Talisman and faced Gui Sanqian, who used Taiji to counter his attacks.
• Xiao Miao combined water, fire, and metal qi during the fight, but Gui Sanqian used Qi Transforms Three Thousand to defeat him.
• Xiao Miao spent two hundred spirit stones on a third Azure Cloud Jade Talisman and entered another battle.
• Ji Changkong confronted Xiao Miao and opened the fight by unleashing a torrent of sword streams.

On the third day of the Grand Competition of Prodigies, Xiao Miao drank in a market wine house while cultivators debated the Azure Jade rankings. After seeing how overwhelmingly powerful Azure Jade Mountain’s disciples were, he resolved to train for ten years and surpass them.

• Wine-house peddlers sold jade slips of the Azure Cloud rankings as drinkers argued over Azure Jade Mountain’s dominance in the competition.
• Elder Zhen comforted Xiao Miao after his defeat, pointing out the extraordinary records and abilities of the top-ranked fighters.
• Xiao Miao insisted that he had failed because he was not strong enough, rather than because his opponent was beyond reach.
• Xiao Miao vowed to catch up to the Azure Jade Mountain disciples and surpass them within ten years.

Ten years after Liang Kingdom’s rapid development under the Dharma King, Xu Yang prepared to use a standard Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian on Fish Dragon Island to advance from Four Laws Golden Core to Nascent Soul. His breakthrough was imminent, though his Martial Dao and body-tempering systems remained incomplete and he still had to face a heavenly lightning tribulation.

• Li Liuxian secured the Dongting waters for the Li Family, which expanded Fish Dragon Island, developed the surrounding lake, and transformed into a sect with ten inheritance islands.
• Xu Yang prepared a standard Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian, using offerings and spirit stones to gather the power needed for his Nascent Soul breakthrough.
• Xu Yang’s Daoist Magic skill gained Exalted Eye of Heaven and The One That Escapes, and he transmitted The One That Escapes to protect himself from Heavenly Mechanism deductions.
• Xu Yang reflected that his Daoist Magic and Primordial Spirit systems had methods up to Nascent Soul, while his Martial Dao and body-tempering systems lacked complete paths beyond their sixth realms.
• Xu Yang began his preparations for the breakthrough, resolved to take the coming heavenly lightning tribulation seriously, and focused on advancing to the Seventh Realm.

Xu Yang completed his breakthrough to the seventh realm as both a Cultivation Primordial Spirit Nascent Soul and a Daoist Celestial Master, then used the Mirage Dragon illusion to make his tribulation appear over Azure Jade Mountain. As factions across the Liang Kingdom watched and wondered whether he would attack the Tian Shu Sect, Xu Yang stepped into the tribulation clouds.

• Xu Yang disguised himself as Shi Jian, shut down Fish Dragon Island’s formations, and used the Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian to prepare for his breakthrough.
• Xu Yang shattered his golden core to form a Nascent Soul, then merged part of his Yang God with the Great Dao and became a Daoist Celestial Master.
• Xu Yang redirected the apparent signs of his heavenly tribulation to the Tian Shu Sect’s array, where Yun Ji, Jing Yue, and the old demon recognized it as a Nascent Soul tribulation.
• Yun Ji used the Heavenly Mechanism Treasure Eye to observe the tribulation, revealing thunderclouds gathering above Azure Jade Mountain.
• Xiao Miao, Elder Zhen, and cultivators throughout Azure Jade Mountain realized the Stone Dharma King was crossing a Nascent Soul tribulation, and factions began sending word and preparing for what he might do next.
• Xu Yang stepped into the tribulation clouds as the first bolt of lightning struck toward Azure Jade Mountain.

Xu Yang crossed a Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, deliberately induced a Six-Nine tribulation, and refined its lightning fortune. He then took Azure Jade Mountain’s spiritual-vein core to complete his Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping Seal, whose emergence drew a new storm of calamity clouds.

• Xu Yang absorbed all four stages of his Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, then used his Yang God to induce and survive a Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.
• After consolidating his cultivation and gaining insight into his martial path, Xu Yang traveled to Azure Jade Mountain to obtain its spiritual-vein core.
• Xu Yang offered Qinglong the choice of becoming the Sky-Flipping Seal’s artifact spirit, and Qinglong eagerly agreed.
• Xu Yang removed Azure Jade Mountain’s core, causing its spiritual qi to drain and its grand array to collapse.
• Xu Yang forged the gathered materials and Azure Jade into the Three Mountains Five Peaks Seal, the Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping Stone.
• As the completed treasure revealed its aura, calamity clouds gathered over Azure Jade Mountain again.

After Xu Yang entered the Nascent Soul Realm, he used Azure Jade Mountain’s spirit vein core to refine a sentient treasure and crossed another heavenly tribulation to temper it. He completed the Mid-grade Spirit Treasure Three Mountains Five Peaks Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping Seal, then returned to the mountain as the onlookers watched in bewilderment.

• Yun Ji, Jing Yue, and the Nascent Soul old demon realized Xu Yang’s breakthrough threatened the Tian Shu Sect, and Jing Yue urged them to request powerful reinforcements from the main sect.
• Yun Ji spotted a second heavenly tribulation over Azure Jade Mountain, and Elder Zhen explained that it was a spirit treasure tribulation caused by Xu Yang refining a treasure from the mountain’s spirit vein core.
• Xu Yang rose into the tribulation clouds and used Geng Gold and Wu Earth lightning from a Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation to refine the Three Mountains Five Peaks Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping Seal.
• Xu Yang completed the Mid-grade Spirit Treasure, infusing it with Innate Five Elements essence and giving it enormous potential.
• Xu Yang put away the Sky-Flipping Seal and returned to the mountain, leaving the crowd bewildered.

Xu Yang completed the Ten Million Artifact Grade Three Mountains and Five Peaks Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping General, prompting a Nine-Nine Law Creation Tribulation. The chapter left him facing the calamity as Tian Shu Sect’s defenders braced for his impending assault.

• Yun Ji, Jing Yue, and the Nascent Soul old demon realized Xu Yang had forged a Mid-grade Spirit Treasure designed to break arrays and resolved to defend Tian Shu Grand Array for one more month.
• Xu Yang spoke with the newly awakened Dragon Child and had it help control the Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping Seal.
• Xu Yang combined the Spirit Treasure with ten million Gold-Earth artifact components to assemble the Three Mountains and Five Peaks Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping General.
• Xu Yang’s Yang God entered the enormous mecha, shaking Azure Jade Mountain and drawing new tribulation clouds that alarmed Xiao Miao and Yun Ji’s group.
• Xu Yang identified the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation as a Law Creation Tribulation for establishing Heavenly Craftsmanship, Spirit Treasure Mecha.

Xu Yang faced a Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation for his method of Heavenly Craftsmanship and art of Spirit Treasures, using the Spirit Treasure Mecha to meet it directly. The tribulation revealed flaws and solutions to him, and he emerged with new methods and a divine ability.

• Yun Ji, Jing Yue, and others realized the third tribulation was a divine ability tribulation, likely tied to the Heavenly Sword advancing to the fourth tier.
• Elder Zhen warned Xiao Miao that Xu Yang’s success could make him invincible among Nascent Souls and threaten the Tian Shu Sect and Big Dipper Immortal Sect.
• Shi Jian’s Spirit Treasure Mecha took shape as a Daoist and strode into the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.
• Xu Yang used the Heaven-and-Earth Tribulation Creation Method and Spirit Treasure Mecha to face the lightning, learning how to address weaknesses in his craft and treasures.
• After the tribulation ended, Xu Yang announced the Heaven-and-Earth Tribulation Creation Method and Thunderfire Divine Ability Tempering Art, then returned to the mountain laughing.

After surviving the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, Xu Yang planned how to balance Azure Jade Mountain’s growing power against the Tian Shu Sect and the Big Dipper Immortal Sect. He announced that he would attack the Tian Shu Sect in one month, while releasing the Golden Core cultivators who had served in Azure Jade Mountain’s law enforcement brigade.

• Xu Yang used his heavenly eye to observe Yun Ji, Jing Yue, and the old demon as they decided to report the crisis to the Tian Shu main sect and await its orders.
• Xu Yang weighed the dangers of destroying the Tian Shu Grand Array against leaving the sect unchecked, then chose to pursue a balance while Tian Shu True Lord remained trapped in the Northern Region Secret Realm.
• Three days later, Xiao Miao and other cultivators at Azure Jade Mountain speculated about the coming conflict, while Elder Zhen said the Big Dipper Immortal Sect would likely avoid breaking the Void Spirit Cave Heaven unless forced.
• The Azure Jade Bell summoned the cultivators, and Stone Dharma King announced that he would attack the Tian Shu Sect in one month.
• Stone Dharma King returned the freedom of the Golden Core law enforcement elders, telling them to leave and cultivate well before he enveloped them in spiritual light.

Xu Yang refused to take his followers with him as Azure Jade Mountain prepared to attack the Tian Shu Sect, leaving the Liang Kingdom cultivation world anxious about the coming conflict. At the Tian Shu Sect, Yun Ji received twenty-one Nascent Soul reinforcements from the Big Dipper Immortal Sect, whose leaders warned that the Void Spirit Realm was nearing a Great Change.

• Xu Yang dismissed the cultivators who offered to follow him, and Feng Qingqing ordered Azure Jade Mountain, Medicine King Valley, and the major markets to close while preparations for war began.
• Xiao Miao and Elder Zhen feared that the Tian Shu Sect and the powerful forces behind it would bring disaster to the Liang Kingdom.
• One month later, Yun Ji, Jing Yue, and the old demon waited at the Tian Shu Sect as the Tian Shu Grand Array opened a passage to the Big Dipper Immortal Sect.
• Twenty-one Nascent Soul cultivators arrived in three teams led by Chen Zhang, Yu Yao, and Di Kui, and Yun Ji confirmed that Xu Yang had survived the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.
• Di Kui warned the reinforcements that the Void Spirit Realm held major secrets, that other powers were mobilizing, and that the realm would undergo a Great Change within a hundred years.

Di Kui and the Big Dipper Immortal Sect prepared their forces and treasures to defend the Tian Shu Grand Array against Xu Yang. Xu Yang decided to raid Medicine King Valley for its spiritual vein before withdrawing, while the names of the Brahma Gate and Jing Nian Nunnery stirred memories of women he had sent into rebirth.

• Di Kui told the Big Dipper Immortal Sect's group to hold the Tian Shu Grand Array until reinforcements arrived and revealed that the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper Banner would strengthen it.
• Yu Yao announced that her group had brought twenty-one Circulating Stars Mirrors, and Chen Zhang revealed that he carried the High-grade Spirit Treasure Tian Shu Sword.
• Xu Yang watched the group through a mysterious mirror and judged that the immortal sect's forces were preparing to oppose him.
• Xu Yang flew toward Medicine King Valley to take its third-rank spiritual vein and merge it into Fish Dragon Island before withdrawing.
• Xu Yang wondered whether the Brahma Gate and Jing Nian Nunnery were connected to the women he had sent into rebirth, then set those thoughts aside to deal with the Tian Shu Sect.

Xu Yang attacked Tian Shu Sect’s Big Dipper formation, smashing open its defenses with the Three Mountains and Five Peaks but failing to destroy the array itself. Trapped inside, he faced the sect’s star mirrors and a sword prepared to strike as its killing formation closed around him.

• Xiao Miao watched from a distant peak as Xu Yang arrived at Tian Shu Sect and announced he would destroy it.
• Xu Yang’s first Mountain Range Seal strike failed to damage the Big Dipper formation.
• Xu Yang unleashed the Three Mountains and Five Peaks, blasting a huge hole through the array’s defenses and damaging its foundations.
• Di Kui restored the formation and vanished into it to stabilize the array and block Xu Yang’s escape.
• Xu Yang emerged from a crater and used the Nine Ox Mountain-Creating Method, but twenty-one star mirrors shattered the technique.
• The star mirrors focused their beams on Xu Yang as a sword rose to deliver a killing blow.

Xu Yang's Turbid Yellow Earth Qi withstood the Big Dipper formation's star mirrors and Chen Zhang's sword, then let him counterattack and destroy one of Yu Yao's mirrors. As Xu Yang prepared to smash the remaining mirrors, Chen Zhang's trapped Tian Shu spirit sword suddenly erupted with sharpness from within the Earth Qi.

• Yu Yao and Chen Zhang attacked Xu Yang with the Circulating Star Mirrors and the Tian Shu Sword, but his Turbid Yellow Earth Qi blocked both assaults.
• Chen Zhang's sword could penetrate only three inches into the Earth Qi, and Xu Yang struck him with one palm, leaving him gravely injured.
• Yu Yao tried to suppress Xu Yang with a pillar of starlight, but his Sky-Flipping Seal shattered it and dimmed the star mirrors.
• Xu Yang explained that his Spirit Treasure Mecha combined tens of millions of artifacts to produce powerful defense and strength through Turbid Yellow Earth Qi.
• Xu Yang broke through Yu Yao's formation and smashed one of the star mirrors, injuring its controller and weakening the formation.
• As Xu Yang sent another Sky-Flipping Seal toward the remaining mirrors, Chen Zhang's Tian Shu spirit sword erupted with sharpness inside the Earth Qi.

Xu Yang survived a coordinated assault by Chen Zhang and Yu Yao, only to discover they were controlled by powerful Divided Spirit Incarnations and that Di Kui had lured him into a trap. The three revealed their full formation and prepared to finish him, leaving Xu Yang encircled in a deadly confrontation.

• Chen Zhang trapped Xu Yang with the Tian Shu Sword’s sword net while the Star Mirror and Seven Stars Command Flag struck him with soul-attacking and destructive supernatural abilities.
• Xu Yang emerged from the abyss and counterattacked with the Heaven-Turning Seal, but Chen Zhang vanished as the Tian Shu Grand Array shifted.
• Di Kui, Chen Zhang, and Yu Yao revealed that Chen Zhang and Yu Yao were Divided Spirit Incarnations of the East Cang Sword Master and Tai Hua True Person.
• Di Kui explained that the hidden supernatural abilities and Tian Shu Grand Array had been concealed to exploit Xu Yang’s Heavenly Mechanism Art and lure him into a trap.
• The three surrounded Xu Yang, questioned how much strength he had left, and prepared to decide the battle with their full force.

Xu Yang fought Di Kui, Tai Hua True Person, and East Cang Sword Master, destroying their formation and killing Tai Hua and East Cang despite sustaining severe injuries. As Di Kui prepared to sacrifice Tian Shu Mountain’s spirit vein, Xu Yang unleashed eighteen Sky-Flipping Seals in every direction, and the battlefield erupted in mutual destruction.

• Xu Yang countered the three divine abilities and broke the Big Dipper Heavenly Pivot Grand Formation, shattering most of the Star Mirrors and killing six Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Xu Yang struck Tai Hua True Person with the Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping Seal, killing her and destroying her Nascent Soul.
• East Cang Sword Master launched a life-risking sword attack, but Xu Yang compressed its Sword Qi and killed East Cang.
• Xu Yang suffered severe injuries and swallowed a spirit pill as the Tian Shu Mountain spirit vein began to surge toward detonation.
• Elder Zhen warned the spectators to flee, and Xiao Miao shouted that the Tian Shu spiritual vein was about to explode.
• Di Kui activated the damaged formation to sacrifice the spirit vein, but Xu Yang sent eighteen Sky-Flipping Seals in all directions, causing a catastrophic blast.

After destroying Tianshu Sect in a cataclysmic battle, Xu Yang withdrew from ruling Liang Kingdom and returned to Fish Dragon Island, hoping to preserve the spread of Azure Jade teachings while avoiding becoming a target in the coming Void Spirit upheaval. He assessed his damaged Spirit Treasure and spoils, with the surviving Seven Stars Command Flag offering a chance to advance Myriad Dao Academy’s Array Dao research.

• The battle’s aftermath left Tianshu Mountain as a deadly forbidden domain, and the surviving cultivators fled as Tianshu Sect’s destruction threatened to throw Liang Kingdom into chaos.
• Xu Yang examined his severely damaged Three Mountains Five Peaks Lightning Fire Sky-Flipping Seal and explained that he had used the strength and resources of an entire system to defeat Tianshu Sect’s three cultivators.
• Xu Yang decided to fake his death and retreat behind the scenes, preserving Liang Kingdom’s cultivation world so its practitioners would continue studying Azure Jade teachings and supporting his cultivation.
• Xu Yang planned to melt down the broken Tian Shu Spirit Sword and Circulating Stars Mirror to repair and strengthen the Sky-Flipping Seal, and to refine captured Nascent Soul cultivators into ghost generals.
• Xu Yang recognized the ruined Seven Stars Command Flag as his greatest prize because its Tianshu Array Dao principles could help Myriad Dao Academy reach fifth-grade Array Dao, then fell asleep atop the Nine Ritual High Altar.