Chapter Summaries

Xu Yang warned True Lord Changrong that the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon might be a world-ending threat and suspected the missing Saint Monk Duxing was behind it. Changrong set out to seek Kunlun’s mirror, while Xu Yang prepared for the possibility that Duxing would return and force a desperate confrontation.

• Xu Yang explained that the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon might use an ancient relic to grow beyond the Demon Emperor realm and devour the world, but he could not track it with his Exalted Eye of Heaven.
• True Lord Changrong proposed borrowing Mount Kunlun’s Kunlun Mirror, then resolved to travel there and persuade the sects to lend it.
• Xu Yang reasoned that the fiend must have a public identity and suspected Duxing, the missing Great Virtuous Saint Monk, had gained power through a Water-Land Dharma Assembly.
• Xu Yang predicted Duxing would return to the capital, choose an emperor, and accumulate power before attacking the Chen Dynasty and the Daoist sects.
• Xu Yang said he might enter the capital and risk his life to kill Duxing if necessary, while Changrong vowed to secure the Kunlun Mirror and warn the world.

After Chang Rong left, Xu Yang took charge of Lanruo Ghost Domain and fed its battle spoils to the Xuanyuan Divine Sword, aiming to raise it into his life-bound magic treasure. He planned to conquer the south and eliminate the Ghost Domain before heading to the capital to confront the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon.

• Chang Rong returned to Baiyun Temple to prepare for Kunlun, and Xu Yang dismissed the cultivators who had guarded Lanruo Ghost Domain.
• Xu Yang sorted the spoils and decided to feed the broken True Dragon Remains, Divine Ship Treasure Boat, and four demonic beast inner cores to the Xuanyuan Divine Sword.
• Xu Yang explained that he had nurtured the sword to the level of a Top-grade Spirit Artifact and believed he could advance it into a magic treasure.
• The sword case consumed the Divine Ship Treasure Boat and the Startling Thunder Flood Dragon's inner core, strengthening the sword.
• Xu Yang weighed how to deal with the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon and chose to first conquer the south, destroy Lanruo Ghost Domain, and then travel to the capital.

Five years later, Ning Caichen fled through a dark forest and met Li Qingshan, who accompanied him to the abandoned Lanruo Temple. Inside, they found a gathering of young men and three women, and Ning Caichen called for Li just as he realized he had been left out of the introductions.

• Ning Caichen ran from wolves in the forest and collided with Li Qingshan, who introduced himself as a traveler from the Qin Riverlands.
• Ning Caichen invited Li Qingshan to seek lodging with him at a temple, and Li agreed to travel together.
• Ning Caichen and Li Qingshan reached Lanruo Temple and entered after finding its gate and grounds in ruins.
• The pair discovered a crowd gathered around a fire in the main hall, including several young men and three women introduced as Miss Nie, Miss Qing, and Miss Die.
• Miss Nie told Ning Caichen to call her Xiaoqian, and Ning Caichen suddenly called for Brother Li, prompting the others to look on in confusion.

Xu Yang and Ning Caichen met scholars in an ancient temple, where Young Master Chu denounced Guo Bei Academy and Ning defended it. When the scholars realized they could not agree on where they were, they grew suspicious of Xu Yang, who began telling them a story.

• Ning Caichen introduced Xu Yang as Brother Li to the scholars, who welcomed them and shared wine.
• Young Master Chu condemned Li Liuxian and Guo Bei Academy, warning Ning Caichen not to enroll there.
• Ning defended Guo Bei Academy, and Young Master Chu drew his sword before the others stopped him.
• The scholars argued over whether the temple was in Suzhou, Guangling, Hangzhou, Jiangning, or Jinyang, then realized something was wrong.
• Young Master Chu pointed his sword at Xu Yang and demanded to know what he was, but Xu Yang said he wrote books and told stories.
• Xu Yang began a story about a mountain with a tree on it, and everyone sat down to listen.

Xu Yang explained the origins of Black Mountain Old Demon, Tree Demon Granny, and Lanruo Temple, revealing that the captives had been lured into a ghost domain. After the temple collapsed, sword light transported everyone to a desolate wilderness, where a Sword Realm suddenly formed around them.

• Xu Yang told the captives how Black Mountain became Black Mountain Old Demon and how the Netherworld-Connecting Yin-Yang Huai Tree became Tree Demon Granny.
• Xu Yang explained that the two demons used Lanruo Ghost Domain to capture living people and that the crowd had been drawn there through Tree Demon Granny’s Spatial Shifting.
• Nie Xiaoqian confessed that Tree Demon Granny had forced her and the other ghosts to lure men to their deaths, and Xu Yang agreed to spare them.
• Nie Xiaoqian warned Xu Yang that they were in a dangerous underworld ghost domain connected to Black Mountain City of Wrongful Deaths.
• Tree Demon Granny attacked and destroyed Lanruo Temple, but a burst of sword light transported everyone to a desolate wilderness.
• An unseen group called out a sword formation command, and converging sword lights formed a Sword Realm around the ghost domain.

Xu Yang killed the Yin-Yang Huai Tree with one sword, then descended into the netherworld and attacked Black Mountain Old Demon. Black Mountain expelled the Xuanyuan Divine Sword after it bored through the mountain, then fell silent and withdrew into itself.

• Xu Yang pierced the Yin-Yang Huai Tree with one sword, killing Granny and freeing the Tutelary Ghosts trapped in the Sword Realm.
• Nie Xiaoqian and the two Qingdie ghosts rejoiced that their surrender had spared them and brought them freedom.
• Xu Yang passed through the yin-yang barrier and descended into the netherworld, where his sword awakened Black Mountain Old Demon.
• Black Mountain formed a giant hand to block Xu Yang’s sword, but the blade pierced it and struck the mountaintop.
• Black Mountain engulfed the sword in Black Sand Venomfire, but the sword bored through its body until the old demon expelled it and withdrew into itself.

Xu Yang used thunder and the Xuanyuan Divine Swords to drain the Black Mountain Old Demon's Earth Essence and began refining it. As the old demon launched its ghosts and Ghost Emperors in a desperate counterattack, Xu Yang's two Dharma Guardian Divine Generals met them while he continued the siege.

• Xu Yang sent tens of millions of swords and nine Xuanyuan Divine Swords into Black Mountain to absorb its Earth Essence.
• Xu Yang summoned thunder that disrupted the old demon's defenses and drove the swords deeper into its mountain body.
• The Black Mountain Old Demon opened the City of Wrongful Deaths and sent its yin soldiers, ghosts, and four Ghost Emperors to attack Xu Yang.
• Xu Yang summoned the Increase-Decrease Two Generals, now Ghost Gods, to fight the advancing ghosts while he continued refining Black Mountain.
• The Black Mountain Old Demon made a desperate counterattack, but roaring thunder swallowed it.

Xu Yang finished destroying Black Mountain Old Demon's Yang Spirit and left the Xuanyuan Divine Sword to refine Black Mountain over the coming years. After warning the underworld’s Daoist True Lords about Pudu Cihang, he departed, while the looming conflict between northern Buddhism and southern Daoism remained unresolved.

• After forty-nine days of fighting, Xu Yang scattered Black Mountain Old Demon's Yang Spirit, and the Xuanyuan Divine Sword began absorbing the mountain’s essence.
• Xu Yang gave Yin-Yang Life-Nurturing Pills to the underworld’s Daoist True Lords and warned them that Pudu Cihang had vast designs.
• Two Buddhist monks rejected Xu Yang’s accusation and left their pills behind, while the Daoist True Lords remained wary of taking sides in the brewing conflict.
• The True Lords questioned Xu Yang about holding another Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian and urged him to reconcile with the Buddhist sects.
• Xu Yang refused to back down, told the True Lords to remember his warning, and rode away on the clouds.

After destroying the Lanruo Ghost Domain, Xu Yang held a grand banquet to celebrate victory, reward allies, and test Pudu Cihang’s response. When Prince Zhao arrived with an imperial edict and insulted Xu Yang’s academy and companion, Xu Yang ordered him beheaded and sent a warning to Pudu Cihang.

• Xu Yang returned to Guobei Academy, announced a three-day feast, and used the celebration to assess Pudu Cihang’s reaction to the Black Mountain Old Demon’s defeat.
• Daoist leaders and demon immortals gathered at the banquet, where Xu Yang explained that his elder brother was establishing Yinshan Prefecture and his second brother was sweeping the realm to exterminate demons.
• Prince Zhao arrived with a monk and proclaimed an edict naming Xu Yang King of Zhennan and Guobei Academy the foremost academy under heaven.
• Prince Zhao asked Xu Yang to have the academy’s women perform music and dance, then began to demand that Xu Yang’s companion be offered to him.
• Xu Yang ordered Prince Zhao dragged away and beheaded, then told the monk to warn Pudu Cihang that such tricks would not save him.

Fifteen years after the northern and southern realms reached a stalemate, Xu Yang arrived in the northern capital during a Water-Land Dharma Assembly and encountered Caifeng, a courtesan trapped at Phoenix Perch Tower. He saved her from a prince and his companions, then flew toward the city, determined to act amid the Great Calamity of Common People.

• Caifeng lamented her fate to her maid Die'er and invited a lone man aboard her pleasure boat.
• Xu Yang introduced himself as Li Liuxian and learned that the emperor had summoned the holy monk Pudu Cihang to hold a Water-Land Dharma Assembly.
• Caifeng hesitated to ask Xu Yang for help, but he vanished when the madam arrived and ordered her to entertain several distinguished guests.
• The guests praised Pudu Cihang and predicted the defeat of the southern rebels, while Prince Liang demanded Caifeng despite the pavilion's rules.
• Xu Yang reappeared as Prince Liang pursued Caifeng, killed the gathered men with one sword stroke, and sent Caifeng away on a cloud of mist.
• Xu Yang flew toward the capital, determined to do what he could during the Great Calamity of Common People.

Xu Yang interrupted the Water-Land Dharma Assembly and challenged Pudu Cihang, striking with the Xuanyuan Divine Sword. Pudu Cihang answered with the Tathagata Dharma Form, and the chapter ended as the two prepared to clash.

• Xu Yang flew into the palace, cut down Imperial Forest guards who tried to stop him, and climbed the altar to face Pudu Cihang.
• Xu Yang and Pudu Cihang exchanged calm words, acknowledged their uncertainty, and agreed to fight as Xu Yang prepared to strike once.
• The chapter recounted how Guobei Academy and Yinshan Prefecture had grown stronger over fifteen years, while Pudu Cihang’s losses in the contests against Xu Yang’s forces pushed him to hold the assembly.
• Xu Yang summoned the Xuanyuan Divine Sword, whose power alarmed the Buddhist monks and Daoist True Lords watching the altar.
• Pudu Cihang manifested the Sixteen-foot Golden Body and Tathagata Dharma Form, revealing the depth of his Buddhist cultivation.

Pudu Cihang defeated Xu Yang’s attack at the Water-Land Dharma Assembly, then began preaching to the Imperial Capital Region. Xu Yang realized Pudu Cihang planned to devour the Northern Territory and concluded that he needed another way to kill him before he could break through the seventh realm.

• Pudu Cihang’s Shakyamuni Dharma Form clashed with Xuanyuan, and their battle ended in a draw, with both the Dharma Form and Xuanyuan Divine Sword disappearing.
• Pudu Cihang healed his sword wound, declared the Water-Land Dharma Assembly would continue, and preached Buddhist Dharma to the gathered crowd.
• At Roaring Firmament Temple, Xu Yang’s Yang God returned from the capital wounded, and he reflected on Pudu Cihang’s home-ground advantage and his own failed attack.
• Xu Yang concluded that Pudu Cihang intended to devour the Northern Territory to grow stronger, while Guo Bei Academy’s developing forces could not stop him in time.
• Xu Yang decided he had to eliminate Pudu Cihang before the demon broke through the seventh realm and resolved to pursue another method.

Pudu Cihang revealed itself as a demon and unleashed its forces against the northern Buddhist and Daoist sects, while Xu Yang’s warnings proved true. After catastrophic losses across the north, Xu Yang gathered the surviving cultivators at Roaring Firmament Temple as demons and ghosts advanced south.

• Pudu Cihang exposed its demonic nature at Longevity Palace and attacked True Lord Danyang with the Shakyamuni Dharma Form.
• The Old Demon of Bashan assaulted Pure Yang Palace, and True Lord Changrong arrived to drive it back and lead the cultivators in a retreat south.
• True Lord Changrong explained that Pudu Cihang had empowered ten-thousand-year-old demons with seventh-realm methods and that the northern sects could no longer hold their ground.
• One month later, survivors reached Roaring Firmament Temple and begged Xu Yang to defeat the demon after admitting they had ignored his warnings.
• True Lord Changrong reported that the Imperial Capital Region had become a demonic domain, the northern Daoist and Buddhist lineages were devastated, and a vast demon and ghost army was advancing south.

Xu Yang resisted Pudu Cihang’s powerful curse, but the Exalted Eye of Heaven revealed the demon was attacking him with a straw effigy and a forbidden rite. The chapter ended with Xu Yang identifying the curse as the Seven Arrows of the Nail-Head Plow-Head.

• The cultivators feared Pudu Cihang would use its cultivation-method inheritance and the bloodshed in the capital to reach the Eighth Realm, while Xu Yang’s allies admitted they lacked time and strength to stop it.
• Xu Yang’s Exalted Eye of Heaven was obstructed as ominous calamity clouds descended, and True Lord Changrong’s Hundredfold Evil-Method Dispelling Spell failed, injuring him.
• Inside Xu Yang’s sea of consciousness, mountains and a green ox pulling a heavenly plow attacked him, but his Golden Light Spell endured and drove off the assault.
• Xu Yang awoke and said Pudu Cihang’s evil art had not yet broken his Golden Light Spell, then forcibly reopened his Exalted Eye of Heaven despite the strain.
• Xu Yang saw Pudu Cihang performing a rite at the ruined Water-Land Dharma Assembly altar over a straw effigy bearing the words “Guobei Thunder-Gathering Sky-Shaking Dao,” with a nail driven into its head and a piece of redwood.
• Xu Yang identified the object and rite as the Seven Arrows of the Nail-Head Plow-Head.

After learning that Pudu Cihang had cursed Xu Yang with the Seven Arrows of the Nail-Head Plow-Head, Xu Yang rejected immediate ascension and planned a desperate assault on the Imperial Capital Region before the seven-day curse could kill him. The cultivator army marched north while Xu Yang remained at Guobei to resist the curse and watch for Pudu Cihang’s tribulation.

• The Mystic Light Mirror revealed that the Seven Arrows of the Nail-Head Plow-Head was a deadly demonic curse that could kill Xu Yang over seven days.
• Xu Yang explained that ascending would escape the curse, but said he would not let Pudu Cihang force him to leave the realm.
• Xu Yang proposed attacking Pudu Cihang during the tribulation caused by its attempt to break through to the eighth realm.
• Xu Yang ordered True Lord Changrong and Fairy Qingluan to lead the army north while he stayed in Guobei to resist the curse and monitor Pudu Cihang.
• The cultivators, Dao sects, and Yinshan Prefecture forces marched toward the Imperial Capital Region as the people of the seven provinces held a Grand Ceremony of Luo Tian.

Xu Yang mobilized Roaring Firmament Temple and summoned the Yinshan Prefecture underworld army to join the war against the demons in the Northern Territory. As the forces crossed north, they crushed pursuing ghosts, while other armies gathered to march into battle.

• Xu Yang ordered his three disciples to lead three thousand True Persons and sixty thousand spell masters to Qinhuai Camp and establish the Dutian Altar and Shenxiao Great Array.
• Xu Yang summoned the Five Directional Ghost Marshals and the Yin Soldiers, then merged the Two Generals of Longevity Increase and Life Decrease into Grand Marshal Zengsun.
• Grand Marshal Zengsun led the underworld army through a Netherworld Passage, crushing the evil ghosts pursuing the White-browed Old Monk and Baiyun.
• The White-browed Old Monk and Baiyun recognized the underworld army as the forces of Yinshan Prefecture and moved aside as it marched north to fight the demons.
• Roaring Firmament Temple's Ming Xiao Daoists marched north beneath dark clouds, followed by a vast torrent of swords, armored troops, and spiritual vehicles.

Xu Yang’s forces shattered the demons’ defenses and killed the Withered Mountain Demon God, driving the surviving demon gods back to the Imperial Capital Region. As the demons confronted Pudu Cihang, Xu Yang’s Seven Arrows Curse Kill reached its Sixth Day.

• Marshal Zengsun led Yinshan Prefecture’s ghost army against the Myriad Ghosts Extreme Evil Array and fought the Withered Mountain Demon God.
• Chang Rong True Lord used the Dutian Altar and Shenxiao Great Array to summon thunder oxen, smash Withered Mountain, and destroy its foundation.
• Marshal Zengsun killed the fallen Withered Mountain Demon God and consumed its mountain heart, causing the ghost array to collapse.
• After five days of fighting, three wounded demons returned to Pudu Cihang and said they could no longer withstand the southern army.
• Pudu Cihang said it was the Sixth Day, then surrounded the three demons with Sanskrit chants as Xu Yang’s sixth curse arrow was about to strike.

Xu Yang used the Xuanyuan Divine Sword to survive the sixth round of Pudu Cihang’s Seven Arrows Curse, then invoked Heaven and Humanity’s Shared Wrath to call down a divine sword and heavenly tribulation. The sword struck Pudu Cihang’s Blood-Armored Sky Dragon in the capital, shattering its defenses as the battlefield’s outcome remained unresolved.

• Xu Yang’s Xuanyuan Divine Sword reinforced his protective golden light and destroyed the azure ox, letting him survive the sixth curse round, while he feared the seventh would leave him unable to stop Pudu Cihang.
• True Lord Changrong ordered the exhausted cultivators to launch a final assault on the capital before the curse’s seventh day, and their forces fought Pudu Cihang’s demons within the Buddhist domain.
• Pudu Cihang tried to persuade Xu Yang to ascend, but Xu Yang declared he would answer the Seven Arrows Curse with Heaven and Humanity’s Shared Wrath and shattered their mystic mirror connection.
• Xu Yang offered the people’s gathered incense power through the Xuanyuan Divine Sword and rose into the heavens, while Xin Shisiniang and the southern provinces witnessed their offerings burn away.
• As Liang Xiao collapsed on the battlefield, swords throughout the fighting rang in response to Xu Yang’s call, and a storm gathered above the capital.
• Xuanyuan’s sword light struck the capital, and the Blood-Armored Sky Dragon’s thousand-zhang body and armor shattered beneath the divine sword.

After the demon calamity, Fairy Qingluan and True Lord Changrong prepared to unite the world’s cultivation lineages and carry on Xu Yang’s plans, believing he had died. Xu Yang returned alive, reunited with Fourteenth Daughter, and invited the others to help usher in a flourishing age of the Dao.

• The battle’s survivors mourned the immense losses suffered by Guo Bei Academy, the sects, and the people of the realm.
• Fairy Qingluan told Fourteenth Daughter that Xu Yang had entrusted the academy to her, while Fourteenth Daughter insisted he would return.
• True Lord Changrong proposed merging the world’s lineages into one academy and using Xu Yang’s sacred sword to guide a renewed age of cultivation.
• Xuanyuan trembled and flew from its shattered case, leading everyone outside to find Xu Yang alive.
• Fourteenth Daughter embraced Xu Yang, and he invited Fairy Qingluan and True Lord Changrong to help usher in a flourishing age of the Dao.

Two thousand years after a fierce battle in a virtual cultivation game, Chu Nan logged off before his college entrance exam and learned about a new game pod that could improve real-world cultivation. As his family discussed buying one, Chu Nan remained set on entering Myriad Dao Academy’s Heavenly Craftsman Institute so he could pilot a Spirit Treasure Mecha.

• Chu Nan’s party defeated a yinsha old ghost, found a Xuanyuan sword in its loot, and auctioned it to Martial God.
• Chu Nan logged off the game and heard a television report about Myriad Dao Academy’s new Yellow Millet Game Pod and its cultivation benefits.
• Chu Zhan wanted to buy a game pod on credit, but Chu Nan and his mother questioned whether the family could afford it.
• Chu Nan’s mother prepared a special meal and spirit wine for him before his college entrance exam.
• Chu Nan rejected his father’s suggestions to choose another academy and insisted he would enter the Heavenly Craftsman Institute and pilot a Spirit Treasure Mecha.