Chapter Summaries

Xu Yang used the Increase-Decrease Two Generals to kill Zhou Mingyu and attacked the Zhou Family treasure ship as Yin Mountain Daoist. He let the surviving Zhou Family members escape so they would spread the story and draw attention away from Dongting Spiritual Land.

• Zhou Mingyu awoke to the curse and activated soul-stabilizing talismans, but the Increase-Decrease Two Generals shattered his defenses and drained his life essence and lifespan.
• Zhou Mingyu collapsed, and the Zhou Family members rushed in but could not save him.
• The Increase-Decrease Two Generals emerged from Zhou Mingyu and killed the Foundation Establishment cultivator who tried to intervene.
• Xu Yang, disguised as Yin Mountain Daoist, attacked the flying ship with the Hundred Ghosts Banner and slaughtered Zhou Mingyu and other Zhou Family cultivators.
• Xu Yang allowed several Zhou Family members to escape so they could report the attack and shift suspicion away from Li Jianchen and Dongting Spiritual Land.
• The hundred ghosts swallowed the flying ship and departed with Xu Yang.

Bai Yunzi investigated the Zhou Family’s destruction and concluded that the Yin Mountain Daoist had likely ambushed Zhou Mingyu after Li Jianchen wounded him. Xu Yang opened the Zhou and Wang Families’ storage pouches and discovered a trove of wealth, including a Second-grade Artifact Refiner inheritance.

• Bai Yunzi heard that evil cultivators had ambushed the Zhou Family, killing its members and leaving Zhou Mingyu and Zhou Jifeng missing.
• Bai Yunzi considered whether Xu Yang had killed Zhou Mingyu, then set aside his suspicion after hearing that the attacker resembled the Yin Mountain Daoist.
• Bai Yunzi decided to let the report implicate Li Jianchen, since Li Jianchen had grievously wounded Zhou Mingyu with the Golden Core Sword Art.
• Xu Yang opened Wang Tianling’s storage pouch and found more than a hundred thousand spirit stones, five Top-grade magic artifacts, and a low-grade spiritual flying sword.
• Xu Yang examined the jade slips in Wang Tianling’s pouch and found an inheritance of a Second-grade Artifact Refiner.

Xu Yang inventoried the wealth seized from Wang Tianling and the Zhou Family, then discovered that the White Tiger Geng Metal Art belonged to a larger Five Elements Battle Body tradition linked to Five-Colored Divine Light. He memorized the method and entered a dream to study it further, where twenty-five years had passed.

• Xu Yang examined Wang Tianling's and the Zhou Family's storage bags, finding their combined treasures worth over two million Spirit Stones.
• Xu Yang studied the White Tiger Geng Metal Art and used the Spiritual Eye Mysterious Light to uncover its connection to the Five Spirits Five Elements Battle Body and Five-Colored Divine Light.
• Xu Yang decided not to investigate the supernatural ability further and planned to adapt the body-tempering method into the Martial Scripture through experiments in dreams.
• Xu Yang sorted and stored the seized treasures, then meditated before the ritual altar and sank into a dream.
• After three months in reality, Xu Yang awoke in the dream to find that twenty-five years had passed.

Prince Liang Xiao traveled through Guo Bei County with a monk and considered Li Liuxian’s vast influence, the province’s prosperity, and the emperor’s decline. Hoping to secure elixirs from Stone Dharma King for Emperor Xianzong, Liang Xiao ended by asking whether Li Liuxian would rebel.

• Liang Xiao admired the concrete highway and discussed how Li Liuxian’s practical academy had transformed Jiangzhe’s roads, trade, and agriculture.
• Liang Xiao criticized Emperor Xianzong for pursuing elixirs instead of good governance, while the monk warned him to speak carefully about the emperor.
• The chapter recounted how Emperor Xianzong had restored Great Chen after Emperor Yingzong’s death, but had grown old and increasingly obsessed with immortality as court strife and unrest returned.
• Liang Xiao explained that he had been demoted and sent from the capital, and hoped to obtain pills from Stone Dharma King to regain his father’s favor.
• Liang Xiao described Li Liuxian’s academy, wealth, supporters, and standing as a Sword Immortal, then asked the monk whether Li Liuxian would rebel.

Liang Xiao worried that Li Liuxian and Guo Bei Academy would threaten Great Chen’s future, then sought news of Saint Monk Duxing, his last hope for restoring the realm. On the way, he discovered Guo Bei’s extraordinary rice fields and learned that the academy encompassed the entire county, while Wuhua noticed something troubling about the student patrol.

• Liang Xiao reasoned that Li Liuxian would likely enter the Dragon Contention and feared that Guo Bei Academy’s rise would leave Great Chen with no hope.
• Liang Xiao asked Wuhua where Saint Monk Duxing was, but Wuhua said he did not know, leaving Liang Xiao despondent.
• Liang Xiao spotted golden rice fields, stopped the carriage, and tasted the unusually nourishing grain as he wondered how the harvest had been improved.
• An old farmer accused Liang Xiao of stealing rice, and Wuhua stopped the driver from striking him before Guo Bei Academy’s student patrol arrived.
• The patrol settled the dispute by returning most of Liang Xiao’s silver and explained that all of Guo Bei County belonged to Guo Bei Academy.
• Liang Xiao asked for directions to Li Liuxian and received a map and Academy Rules, while Wuhua watched the departing patrol with a furrowed brow.

Liang Xiao and Wuhua explored Guo Bei Academy’s prosperous county, then applied to study there after discovering its unusual resources and open admissions. Their assessments placed Liang Xiao in an affiliated primary school while Wuhua qualified for the Agriculture Main Courtyard and a guest-instructor post.

• Liang Xiao and Wuhua saw Guo Bei Academy’s highly productive farmland and vast county city, and Wuhua explained how its population and resources supported its growing power.
• At a wine house, Liang Xiao discovered that spirit wine could increase his magical power despite the imperial family’s usual inability to cultivate.
• Liang Xiao and Wuhua reached the main academy but were directed to register at the admissions office, where they joined a long queue.
• Liang Xiao applied for the Martial Military Sword Discipline, accepted the academy’s blood-mark requirement, and agreed to take an entrance assessment; Wuhua applied for Liberal Arts agriculture.
• The assessments assigned Liang Xiao to Shu Mountain Academy Affiliated Middle School Affiliated Third Primary School and the Martial Military Sword Discipline, while Wuhua entered the Agriculture Main Courtyard and became a guest instructor at Pure Heart Zen Monastery.

Xu Yang welcomed Xin Shisiniang’s parents and offered them spirit tea and pills, including a Foundation Establishment Pill for Xin Yiniang. He reassured them that the gift did not misuse academy resources and announced plans to expand pill production and provide pills to qualified students, leaving the elders stunned by the prospect of many cultivators advancing to the fifth realm.

• Xu Yang hosted the Xin elders and gave them Thunder Peak Mist Bud to take home for the family.
• Old Man Xin reported that the Golden Silver Leopard had vanished from its lair before they arrived.
• Xu Yang gave the elders a Foundation Establishment Pill for Xin Yiniang and ordinary spirit pills for the other sisters.
• The Xin elders refused the pills at first, concerned that accepting them would undermine Guo Bei Academy’s contribution system.
• Xu Yang explained that the pills were his private gifts and announced that the academy would provide Foundation Establishment Pills to qualified students as production increased.
• Old Man Xin realized that expanded pill supplies could help dozens of Spirit Monsters and human cultivators reach the fifth realm, and he stared at Xu Yang in astonishment.

After thanking Xu Yang for helping her family obtain top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, Xin Shisiniang spent the night with him. Xu Yang then flew to Accumulating Thunder Mountain and reflected on the cultivation and skill-trait advances he had made over twenty-five dream years, which had transformed Guo Bei Academy and its allied temples into powers capable of expanding across Jiangnan, though he had kept their influence centered in Guobei.

• Xin Shisiniang thanked Xu Yang for obtaining top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills for her parents and eldest sister, and Xu Yang embraced her.
• Xu Yang and Xin Shisiniang spent the night together, and he left for Accumulating Thunder Mountain the following morning.
• Xu Yang reviewed his dream-world progress: his inner and outer cultivation had reached the Five Gates Realm, his Daoist cultivation had reached Departure, and his lifespan had grown to seven hundred years.
• Xu Yang had transmitted numerous developmental skill traits from the real world, strengthening Guo Bei Academy's teaching, farming, animal breeding, crafting, and cultivation.
• Xu Yang's traits and imported methods had greatly advanced Guo Bei Academy, Roaring Firmament Temple, and Yin Mountain Temple, but he had kept their expansion focused on Guobei.

Xu Yang used the Celestial Eye he had cultivated for twenty-five years to spy on a gathering of demons at North Mang Mountain, where Chu Gonghou proposed attacking Guo Bei Academy. The demons had not yet answered his call, leaving the danger to Guo Bei looming.

• Xu Yang explained why he had concentrated his forces in Guobei and cultivated the Mystic Light Eye Technique to guard against spying and attacks.
• Xu Yang opened his Celestial Eye at Roaring Firmament Temple and used it to look into North Mang Mountain.
• Xu Yang saw Chu Gonghou, newly advanced to Demon Emperor, feasting on humans with hundreds of demons.
• Chu Gonghou urged the demon kings to attack Guo Bei Academy and exploit its people and cultivators as blood food, then asked them to join his plan.

Chu Gonghou gathered the Demon Kings and revealed his plan to attack Guo Bei Academy, backed by newly risen Demon Emperors and Dragon Seeking Master. He used a treasure ship made from a True Dragon’s Dragon Shedding to promise concealment from the Dao sects, and the demons agreed to join the assault.

• The Demon Kings questioned Chu Gonghou’s confidence, recalling how Li Liuxian, Shi Jian, and Yin Mountain Daoist had defeated powerful demons who attacked Guo Bei County.
• Chu Gonghou introduced the South Mountain Sword Demon Ape and the Mang Mountain Startling Thunder Flood Dragon, both of whom had reached the Demon Emperor realm.
• Chu Gonghou revealed Dragon Seeking Master, who would face Yin Mountain Daoist, while the other Demon Emperors held off Guo Bei Academy’s strongest defenders.
• Chu Gonghou explained that the Demon Kings would attack the academy, destroy its formations and temples, and plunder Guo Bei County’s inhabitants as blood meals.
• When the Demon Kings worried that the Dao sects would discover the invasion, Chu Gonghou displayed a Golden Dragon Treasure Ship made from a True Dragon’s Dragon Shedding, which could conceal ten thousand demons.
• The Demon Kings accepted Chu Gonghou’s invitation and pledged to join the attack.

Xu Yang discovered that several Demon Emperors of Mount Mang planned to attack Guo Bei Academy and suspected a hidden ally behind them. He warned True Lord Changrong that Lanruo Temple and the Black Mountain Old Demon might be involved, then revealed that he planned to hold a Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian to deal with the demons.

• Xu Yang saw the Mount Mang demons gathering for an attack through the Mystic Light Mirror, but avoided probing for the hidden force he suspected was guiding them.
• Xu Yang traveled to Lanruo Temple and met True Lord Changrong, who had spent decades suppressing the Lanruo Ghost Domain.
• Xu Yang told True Lord Changrong that he, Yinshan, and Jianchen would leave their guard rotation because Mount Mang's Demon Emperors planned to attack Guo Bei Academy.
• Xu Yang warned that the demons might have support from Lanruo Temple and the Black Mountain Old Demon, prompting True Lord Changrong to plan reinforcements and invite allies.
• Xu Yang said he would hold a Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian in Guo Bei County, and True Lord Changrong agreed to help coordinate with the surrounding regions.

Liang Xiao adjusted to life at Guo Bei Academy and reflected on how its ordered, energetic system contrasted with the failing court he had left behind. Rumors of doubled meals and reduced prices for supplies convinced him that the academy had begun a full mobilization.

• Liang Xiao woke refreshed by the academy’s Morning Bell and went to breakfast with Li Da Niu and his roommates.
• While waiting in line, Liang Xiao recited his assigned false scripture to earn credits and thought about the political decay that had made his exile feel liberating.
• Li Da Niu told Liang Xiao that the academy was increasing meal portions, and other students confirmed that benefits and supplies had also improved.
• Liang Xiao realized that these changes signaled Guo Bei Academy’s full mobilization.

Liang Xiao mistook Guo Bei Academy’s mobilization for preparations to overthrow the Chen Dynasty, but Wuhua led him away from class to reveal that Guo Bei County was preparing a Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian. Liang Xiao learned how powerful the rite could be, but he did not know whether it was meant to attack the Lanruo Ghost Domain or strengthen a campaign for the realm.

• Liang Xiao feared Guo Bei Academy’s mobilization meant the Chen Dynasty was about to fall, but he decided he could do nothing to stop it and returned to class.
• Liang Xiao’s coachman urged him to leave the academy, but Liang Xiao refused and declared that he was only Xiao Liang now.
• Wuhua stopped the coachman from using force, told Liang Xiao his leave had been approved, and led him and the coachman away from the academy.
• Liang Xiao saw talismans, offerings, incense altars, and Daoist banners throughout the market and recognized that Guo Bei County was preparing a Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian.
• Liang Xiao recalled that the rite could greatly empower its officiants and wondered whether it would be used against the Lanruo Ghost Domain or to support a war for the realm.

Xu Yang began the Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian early to ambush Chu Gonghou’s demon army, summoning the Thunder Ancestor and trapping the demons in a lightning siege. As the battle unfolded, Liang Xiao saw Shu Shan’s sword disciples mobilize, while yin soldiers and elite academy troops marched out, and True Lord Changrong’s forces continued to guard against the old demon.

• Wuhua took Liang Xiao to Roaring Firmament Temple, where they saw the vast preparations for the Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian and discussed its merit and purpose.
• After thirty-three days of sacrifice, Xu Yang spotted Chu Gonghou’s demon army approaching aboard the Divine Ship Treasure Boat and began the ceremony’s attack.
• Xu Yang summoned the Thunder Ancestor, whose lightning shattered the Divine Ship Treasure Boat, then raised the Lightning Purgatory Iron Siege to trap Chu Gonghou and tens of thousands of demons.
• Liang Xiao saw a torrent of sword light rise from the direction of Shu Shan Sword Academy as the storm began.
• Old Ma watched yin soldiers consume the offerings and depart, followed by the Heroic Guard and Tianwu Guard riding out in formation.
• True Lord Changrong ordered his allies to maintain their formations and keep the old demon from disrupting the plan to slay demons.

Xu Yang trapped the demon host in Lightning Purgatory, Iron Siege, but Dragon Seeking True Lord led the demons in a desperate assault while a Blood-Armored Sky Dragon attacked from outside. The siege broke, and as the demons escaped, a torrent of swords swept toward them.

• Xu Yang’s Lightning Purgatory, Iron Siege trapped the demon army, and the demons’ attempts to escape or break the walls failed.
• Dragon Seeking True Lord urged the demons to attack the northern wall together, and Chu Gonghou, the Sword Demon Ape, the Startling Thunder Flood Dragon, and the demon kings risked their lives in the assault.
• A Blood-Armored Sky Dragon burst from the earth and struck the siege from outside, helping the demons shatter the northern wall.
• Heavenly lightning struck the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon, which fled into the earth as the demons rushed through the breach.
• A thousand swords and more swept down upon the escaping demons.

Shu Shan Sword Academy’s Big Dipper Sword Array and Xu Yang’s newly completed Xuanyuan Divine Sword devastated the demons and devils who had escaped the earlier traps. As the survivors fled, Yin Mountain Temple forces and the Nine Academies’ armies closed in, turning the battle into a rout.

• Shu Shan Sword Academy disciples unleashed the Big Dipper Seven Stars Sword Array, killing countless demons and devils and breaking their escape attempt.
• Sword Demon White Ape broke through the array, but Xu Yang’s Xuanyuan Divine Sword cleaved him in two and shattered his demonic sword.
• Chu Gonghou, the Startling Thunder Flood Dragon, Dragon Seeking True Lord, and the remaining demons and devils fled in separate directions as Yin soldiers blocked their paths.
• The Longevity Increase, Life Decrease Yin-Yang General dragged Dragon Seeking True Lord close and killed him, revealing his true form as a Blood Armored Centipede.
• Tianwu Academy, the Military Martial General Academy, Shu Shan Sword Academy, and the other Nine Academies joined the fight and overwhelmed the fleeing demon and devil army.

Xu Yang emerged as a Yang God and killed the fleeing Chu Gonghou and Startling Thunder Flood Dragon, ending the demon assault. He returned to Roaring Firmament Temple and continued the forty-nine-day Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian, intending to use its power to investigate a lingering doubt.

• Chu Gonghou fled the battlefield, but Xu Yang intercepted him as a Yang God and struck him down with thunder; Heavenly Craftsman Institute disciples finished him with Demon-Breaking Arrows.
• Xu Yang pursued the Startling Thunder Flood Dragon a thousand li away, seized its dragon pearl with Five Thunders Transform Extremes, and killed it.
• After the battle, Xu Yang collected the corpses of Chu Gonghou, Dragon Seeking Lord, and Sword Demon Ape, along with the True Dragon Remains and Divine Ship Treasure Boat wreckage.
• Xu Yang returned to Roaring Firmament Temple and resumed the Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian, which had thirty-three days remaining.
• Xu Yang mounted his cultivator's Dharma body and flew beyond the heavens to complete the ritual and investigate his lingering doubt.

Xu Yang met True Lord Changrong after advancing to the sixth realm and invited Baiyun Temple to join Guo Bei Academy as it prepared to contend for the realm. Changrong accepted, making Baiyun Temple one of the academy’s Daoist lineage legacies.

• Xu Yang greeted True Lord Changrong as an equal after revealing he had become a Daoist Magic True Lord.
• Xu Yang confirmed that Liu Xian and Yinshan had also benefited from the Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian.
• Xu Yang told Changrong that he planned to contend for the fortune of the Daoist lineage and asked for his support.
• Xu Yang offered Baiyun Temple independence within Guo Bei Academy’s system, while warning that refusal would make it an enemy.
• Changrong accepted Xu Yang’s invitation and pledged Baiyun Temple’s service to the Dao Lord.

Xu Yang set a ten-year plan to eliminate the ghost domain and possibly the Black Mountain Old Demon, then warned True Lord Changrong that a mysterious Blood-Armored Sky Dragon had empowered the demons attacking Guo Bei Academy. He explained that ancient immortals and gods had removed all cultivation methods beyond Golden Core, leaving Great Rituals as the only path to becoming a Daoist Celestial Master.

• Xu Yang and True Lord Changrong agreed to wait ten years before attacking the ghost domain, giving Guo Bei Academy time to strengthen itself and process the spoils from battle.
• Xu Yang said he hoped to destroy the Black Mountain Old Demon, whose survival allowed the ghost domain to persist, and True Lord Changrong supported the plan.
• Xu Yang told True Lord Changrong that the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon had likely orchestrated the demon attack and helped three Demon Kings advance to Demon Emperor.
• Xu Yang explained that orthodox cultivators could exceed the sixth realm only by holding a Great Ritual, while demons and monsters could reach only the sixth realm.
• Xu Yang revealed that ancient immortals and gods had removed every cultivation method above Golden Core to prevent desperate cultivators from devouring the world for power.

Xu Yang and True Lord Changrong investigated the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon, but even Xu Yang’s Exalted Eye of Heaven could not reveal its location or true nature. They concluded that it might possess an ancient or otherworldly treasure capable of concealing heavenly secrets, and True Lord Changrong urged Xu Yang to uncover it before it caused a catastrophe.

• Xu Yang resolved to unify the world and gather the wisdom of its people to complete the inheritance of Daoist arts.
• True Lord Changrong agreed that the ten-thousand-year-old demon producing Demon Emperors in batches had to be eliminated, but he could not identify it.
• Xu Yang used his Exalted Eye of Heaven and Mystic Light Mirror to observe Black Mountain Old Demon in the netherworld, and Black Mountain’s attempt to attack him failed.
• Xu Yang could not see any trace of the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon, even with the Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian augmenting his heavenly eye.
• Xu Yang suggested that the demon might possess something ancient or otherworldly, above the Golden Core realm and capable of concealing heavenly secrets.
• True Lord Changrong feared the demon could cause a world-destroying calamity and urged Xu Yang to find it quickly.