Chapter Summaries

Prince Li Yang defeated his opponent with the Sky Wolf Bow and faced Li Qing in the Imperial Grand Competition's final round. As Li Qing countered Li Yang's Kirin Treasure Technique, he revealed a colossal Nine-headed Serpent, leaving the two transformed True Spirit forms confronting each other.

• Prince Li Yang defeated the Elephant-Camel Tribe expert with the Sky Wolf Bow, forcing him to concede and advancing to the final round.
• Li Qing watched Prince Li Yang's fight, then accepted his challenge after Li Yang said his mana had mostly recovered using Ten Thousand Year Spirit Milk.
• Li Qing and Prince Li Yang exchanged blows with the Immortal Slaying Sword and Black King Spear before Li Yang attacked with the Sky Wolf Bow.
• Li Qing used the Golden Brocade Armor and Great Sun Golden Flame to withstand Li Yang's arrows and force him to endure the flames while drawing his bow.
• Li Qing blocked Li Yang's charged arrow with Five Elements Annihilation, while Li Yang revealed the Kirin's true form through the Kirin Treasure Technique.
• Li Qing's Nine-headed Serpent emerged from the dust, matching the kirin's imposing presence before the spectators.

Li Qing defeated Prince Li Yang with the Nine-headed Serpent inheritance and won the Mysterious Iron Token, then let King Ning take credit to conceal his possession of it. As Li Qing hid at King Ning’s Estate amid rumors spreading across Jade Capital City, Xia Wushuang remained imprisoned by a defiant old man.

• Li Qing used the Nine-headed Serpent’s abilities to defeat Prince Li Yang, who conceded after Li Qing revealed another killing sword.
• The Empress awarded Li Qing the Mysterious Iron Token and offered to match him with a princess, but he declined because he already had a partner.
• Li Qing told King Ning he had won the token for him, and King Ning agreed to let others believe it belonged to him.
• News of Li Qing’s victories and Nine-headed Serpent inheritance spread through Jade Capital City, so Li Qing stayed at King Ning’s Estate to avoid attention.
• Xia Wushuang threatened his captor with Li Qing’s reputation and King Ning’s support, but the old man slapped him and dismissed the threat.

Li Qing learned that the mysterious writings in his artifact-refining manuals were common script from the distant Xuanming Realm, and he set out to seek help studying them at Jade Capital City's Grand Academy. After learning the academy might require King Ning's assistance, he decided to ask the prince for another favor.

• Princess Qinghe delivered Xia Wushuang's letter asking Li Qing to rescue him from Master Ying, but Li Qing learned that Xia Wushuang had angered her teacher over the Dao of formations.
• Princess Qinghe asked Li Qing to test her revised Inverted Star Formation, and he shattered it with one sword strike.
• Li Qing asked King Ning about Master Ying and learned that the Integrated Body Middle Stage cultivator was an unrivaled Eighth-rank Formation Master, so Li Qing abandoned any thought of rescuing Xia Wushuang.
• Li Qing left King Ning's Estate, returned to his cave abode, and chose to improve his artifact-refining skills while awaiting the opening of the Xuantian Divine Hall.
• Li Qing searched for someone who could identify the writings from the Tianguang Secret Realm and learned at Xuan Ji Pavilion that they were common script from the Xuanming Realm.
• Li Qing learned that scholars at Jade Capital City's Grand Academy could help him study the script and decided to ask King Ning to arrange his entry.

Li Qing sought a position at the Grand Academy so he could study texts written in the Xuanming Realm's script. After proving his artifact-refining skill to Dean Chen, he was accepted as a master and granted access to the academy's book towers.

• Li Qing asked King Ning to help him enter the Grand Academy, and King Ning recommended him for an artifact-refining master position.
• Li Qing arrived at the Grand Academy and followed Ning Hei to Dean Chen's mountain cave abode.
• Dean Chen asked Li Qing to demonstrate his skill by inscribing his proudest artifact on a mural, and Li Qing depicted the Immortal Trapping Sword.
• Dean Chen revealed that Li Qing had been inside his painting and praised the sword he had inscribed.
• Dean Chen accepted Li Qing as an artifact-refining master and gave him free access to the book towers' Xuanming Realm texts.

After becoming a Grand Academy master, Li Qing explored Book Mountain Tower to study Xuanming Realm script and examine the academy’s inheritances. He deciphered a valuable artifact-refinement method and chose Master Ying’s formation inheritance, then returned to prepare for his first class.

• Students discussed Li Qing’s appointment as an artifact-refinement master and questioned his abilities ahead of his first class.
• Li Qing entered Book Mountain Tower, read the Annals of the Baoyuan Realm, and learned more about the Spirit Realm.
• Li Qing studied Record of Xuanming Realm Script and deciphered most of the handwritten scroll from the Tianguang Secret Realm.
• Li Qing discovered the Heaven-Stealing Dao Patterns method and learned that it could draw natural Dao patterns into spirit treasures.
• Li Qing browsed the tower’s upper floors and chose Master Ying’s formation inheritance as his one fifth-floor selection.
• Li Qing absorbed Master Ying’s formation knowledge, returned to his cave abode, and prepared to teach artifact refinement.

Li Qing taught artifact refinement at the Grand Academy while studying Master Ying’s formation inheritance and the Xuanming Realm’s writing. After more than half a year, student Liu Qing forged the first magic treasure under his instruction, earning the promised reward of a Yellow-grade Spirit Treasure.

• Li Qing demonstrated the Immortal Slaying Sword and taught students how combining Dao patterns could create unique treasures.
• Li Qing studied Master Ying’s formation inheritance and considered adapting existing formations for his Immortal Slaying Sword Formation Diagram.
• Li Qing continued teaching artifact refinement, advising students on their designs and explaining the limits of combining Five Elements Dao patterns in a spiritship.
• More than half a year later, Liu Qing successfully forged a Crimson Flame Silk using the Fire Melting Pattern and Wind Evasion Pattern.
• Li Qing praised Liu Qing and confirmed she would receive a Yellow-grade Spirit Treasure forged by him before she graduated.

After a year and a half at the Grand Academy, Li Qing prepared to proctor the year-end assessment in the dangerous Valley of Hundred Flowers, where he hoped to steal natural Dao patterns while refining his Human Seed Bag. The disciples were sent into the valley, while Dean Chen received a warning that the Joyful Union Demonic Sect had been unusually active there.

• Li Qing learned that the year-end assessment would take place in the Valley of Hundred Flowers and studied its dangers, including mutated Demonic Flowers and the Three Extremes Alliance’s presence.
• Li Qing decided to refine his Human Seed Bag in the valley and attempt to steal its natural Dao patterns using the Heaven-Stealing Dao Patterns secret art.
• Dean Chen announced the assessment’s team rules and delivery task, prompting the disciples to scramble for teammates before he randomly assigned those left out.
• Dean Chen sent the disciples and instructors into a painting world, then traveled to Master Ying’s secret realm to ask for passage to the Valley of Hundred Flowers.
• Master Ying warned Dean Chen that the Joyful Union Demonic Sect had recently made unusual movements in the valley, then sent him there while Xia Wushuang remained trapped as a sweeping servant.

Li Qing used the Heaven-Stealing Dao Patterns to refine the Human Seed Bag during the Grand Academy’s ten-day assessment at the Valley of Hundred Flowers. Dean Chen realized the technique might restore the valley without damaging its terrain and asked Li Qing to hand it over to the academy, offering a reward as Li Qing considered what to request.

• Dean Chen brought the Grand Academy’s disciples to the Valley of Hundred Flowers, explained the assessment rules, and started the ten-day trial.
• Master Huang Yuan assigned the masters to judge or oversee the assessment, and Li Qing chose to enter the valley as an overseer.
• Li Qing sensed the valley’s natural Dao patterns and imprinted some onto the Human Seed Bag to refine it.
• Dean Chen noticed Li Qing’s technique and realized it might remove the Origin Demonic Energy without destroying the valley’s foundation.
• Dean Chen asked Li Qing to give the technique to the academy and offered him a reward, including a Mysterious Iron Token for the Xuantian Divine Hall.
• Li Qing decided that handing over the exposed technique was prudent and began weighing what to ask for in return.

Li Qing traded his Heaven-Stealing Dao Patterns for Dean Chen’s promise to have Dean Ying forge a formation for his treasured swords, but the Xuantian Divine Hall appeared before he could finish refining the Human Seed Bag. As Dean Chen evacuated the Grand Academy disciples and prepared to shield them from descending forbidden beings, Li Qing fled toward Nanfeng County City to avoid being summoned into danger near the hall.

• Li Qing offered Dean Chen the secret art behind his Heaven-Stealing Dao Patterns, and Dean Chen promised to have Dean Ying forge a formation for Li Qing’s swords and grant him academy rewards.
• Li Qing resumed refining the Human Seed Bag while Dean Chen painted and the Grand Academy disciples explored the Valley of Hundred Flowers.
• The Xuantian Divine Hall appeared above the valley, and Dean Chen ended the examination and ordered the disciples and masters to withdraw to Nanfeng County City.
• Li Qing told Dean Chen that he had a Mysterious Iron Token and fled toward Nanfeng County City before the hall could summon him.
• Dean Chen covered the valley with a painting scroll as forbidden beings attacked, and he urged someone to come out.

The Xuantian Divine Hall appeared above the Valley of Hundred Flowers, drawing powerful beings from across the Canglan Continent who failed to break or move it. When the hall summoned everyone holding a Mysterious Iron Token, Li Qing entered its gateway, leaving Dean Chen worried about his fate.

• The Xuantian Divine Hall emerged above the Valley of Hundred Flowers, and experts from across the Canglan Continent gathered near Nanfeng County City.
• A Golden-winged Great Peng Bird and a nine-halo phantom failed to move the hall, and the Golden-winged Great Peng Bird offered protection and Peng Clan rewards to whoever brought him the Heavenly Mandate Immortal Fruit.
• Li Qing remained in Nanfeng County City, relieved he had left the Valley of Hundred Flowers and waiting for the Xuantian Divine Hall's summons.
• Powerful beings tested the hall with attacks and treasures, but none could force it open, and they eventually departed.
• The Xuantian Divine Hall sent out light gates for Mysterious Iron Token holders, and Li Qing entered one with his Mysterious Iron Shield.
• Dean Chen worried that Li Qing might die inside the Xuantian Divine Hall and regretted not first demanding his strange secret art.

Li Qing crossed a Chaos Sea inside the Xuantian Divine Hall, discovered a Chaos Green Lotus he could not approach or claim, and moved on through a light gate. In a Bronze Relic, he learned that excavated artifacts could be offered at an altar to directly increase his cultivation, so he began mining faster.

• Li Qing found that the Chaos Sea dissolved anything that touched it and that Two Realms Travel could not take him to the Eternal Night World.
• Li Qing spotted a Chaos Green Lotus growing in the sea, but his attacks and attempts to claim it failed, so he continued to a light gate.
• Li Qing entered a Bronze Relic where four people were breaking Bronze Stone to find artifacts, and the red-skinned yaksha explained that only pure magical power could break the stones.
• Li Qing excavated Bronze Prayer Beads and placed them on a Bronze Altar, which increased his cultivation by the equivalent of three to five years of meditation.
• Li Qing realized the altar rewarded every excavated artifact with cultivation gains and began breaking Bronze Stone faster.

Li Qing and the red-skinned Yaksha destroyed much of the Bronze Relic to reveal more Ancient Bronze Artifacts, awakening a Bronze Colossus comparable to the Body Integration Realm. Li Qing and four others stayed to fight it, and their combined attacks began melting its armor, though Li Qing suspected the battle was not over.

• Li Qing and the red-skinned Yaksha destroyed much of the Bronze Relic, causing many Ancient Bronze Artifacts to appear, and Li Qing seized thirty-four of them.
• A Bronze Colossus rose from beneath the relic, killed an early Void Refinement cultivator, and drove most of the others toward the exit.
• Li Qing, the red-skinned Yaksha, a Silver Glow Giant Wolf, a crossbow-wielding female cultivator, and a young Puppet Master stayed to battle the colossus.
• The Red Yaksha blocked the colossus's spear while the wolf, the female cultivator, and Li Qing attacked; the Puppet Master sent wooden puppets to restrain it.
• Li Qing formed the Myriad Flames Burn Heaven Formation, melting the colossus's armor, but he sensed that the fight was not so simple.

Li Qing and the others defeated the Bronze Colossus by exploiting its weakness to spirit treasures, then divided its remains and used the Bronze Altar to gain cultivation. After introducing themselves, the group prepared to part ways as Li Qing headed through the light gate to explore another space.

• The Bronze Colossus absorbed the group’s spells and released the captured flames, but the Puppet Master youth explained that spirit treasures could damage it and that its puppet core powered its movements.
• Li Qing, Red Yaksha, the werewolf, and the crossbow-wielding woman damaged the Colossus’s foot and brought it down, allowing Mo Bai’s Sky Roaming Falcon puppet to extract its core.
• The group divided the Colossus’s remains, and Li Qing sacrificed his share at the altar, gaining nearly two thousand years of cultivation without advancing from the early Void Refinement stage.
• Duan Jingsi, Ye Ming, Xiao, Mo Bai, and Li Qing introduced themselves and discussed the dangers of encountering a true Body Integration Realm expert.
• Li Qing left the group and walked toward the light gate to seek opportunities in another space.

Li Qing entered a cemetery where a powerful Vengeful Spirit attacked him with sinister winds and began taking over his body. As the spirit discovered Li Qing’s secrets, it abruptly recognized him as the Demon Venerable’s successor.

• Li Qing arrived in a corpse-strewn cemetery, found a Body Integration Realm Gold Splitting Beast, and stored its body after failing to cut it apart.
• A sinister wind overwhelmed Li Qing’s defenses, and he discovered the cemetery had no exit as more tornadoes surrounded him.
• The Vengeful Spirit whispered to Li Qing and invaded his body, freezing him despite his spirit fires and other protections.
• Li Qing transformed into a Nine-headed Serpent, but the spirit continued its possession and displayed the complete Kunpeng True Form using his Kunpeng Divine Power.
• As Li Qing’s eyes turned white and the spirit prepared to claim his body, it sensed his fate and exclaimed that he was the Demon Venerable’s successor.

Li Qing learned from a lingering immortal that his lifespan-enhancing artifact refinement and other abilities came from the Demon Venerable’s inheritance, making him a hunted successor. Cast through a gate into a strange ocean, he discovered his Kunpeng Treasure Art had become complete and began studying it to escape.

• A female vengeful spirit recognized Li Qing as a successor of the Demon Venerable and explained that his Chaotic Void fate and artifact-refinement ability exposed his identity.
• The woman recounted how she had been punished and reduced to a lingering thought after a nine-revolutions immortal pill escaped, then warned Li Qing that the Xuantian Divine Hall had nearly made him a target for True Immortals.
• As Li Qing fell through a light gate, the woman revealed that the Immortal Palace had once ordered the successors of the Demon Venerable killed and urged him to conceal his identity.
• Li Qing landed in a peculiar ocean of Weak Water that dragged him downward and prevented him from swimming or using mana.
• Li Qing found that the Kunpeng Treasure Art in his mind had become a more complete version containing the Sky-Roaming Giant Kun and Void Sky Roc forms, and he began cultivating it to escape the ocean.

Li Qing escaped the Weak Water sea and entered a chamber where five Body Integration Realm cultivators were trapped by the Six Extremes Sky Locking Array. While they waited for someone strong enough to face the vacant pillar’s Desolate Gale trial, Li Qing studied the array’s Fine Iron pillars and tried to reproduce their mysterious refining method, but failed.

• Li Qing used his Kunpeng form to cross the Weak Water sea, found the light gate, and entered a new space before reverting to human form.
• He discovered five Body Integration Realm cultivators occupying pillars in a six-pointed formation, including Prince Ning, and learned that the Six Extremes Sky Locking Array trapped them there.
• The Cloud Robe woman explained that each pillar imposed a different trial and that the vacant Xun Men Extreme exposed its occupant to the deadly Desolate Gale.
• Li Qing declined to attempt the trial, explored the chamber, and restored his Kunpeng Divine Power while the others waited for another cultivator to arrive.
• Li Qing examined a Fine Iron pillar, sensed its complex Dao patterns, and repeatedly failed to reproduce its internal-refining art using ordinary Fine Iron.

Li Qing abandoned his unsuccessful attempt to understand the Fine Iron Pillar and used his time in the Xuantian Divine Hall to develop the Spirit Transformation chapter of the Dao Tribulation Wuji Scripture. When the Body Integration Realm cultivators asked him to face the Desolate Gale, Prince Ning secretly urged him to demand compensation from the others, and the Merman Race expert began by offering a jeweled crown.

• Li Qing stopped studying the Fine Iron Pillar and began cultivating while refining his Dao Tribulation Wuji Scripture.
• Li Qing devised a Spirit Transformation method that used five destructive Five Elements wonders to temper the body and improve its spiritual roots.
• After nearly a year passed without anyone else entering, the Body Integration Realm cultivators discussed trying to break the Six Extremes Sky Locking Array by sending Li Qing into the Desolate Gale.
• Prince Ning gave Li Qing a sixth-rank Wind Returning Talisman and secretly instructed him to pretend they were strangers and demand treasures from the other cultivators.
• Li Qing warned that he could not guarantee he would survive the Desolate Gale, and the other cultivators agreed to provide more support.
• The Merman Race expert brought out a crown set with multicolored pearls and crystals.

Li Qing accepted several treasures and techniques from the other cultivators before joining them to activate the Six Extremes Sky Locking Array. As the Desolate Gale battered him, he tried to endure and use its power to test whether his Dao Tribulation Wuji Scripture could nurture a Wind Attribute Spirit Root.

• The Merman Race expert gave Li Qing the Deep Blue Crown, while the white-robed woman gave him Soul Protecting Pills and taught him the Mist Void secret technique.
• The Ghost Horn Race expert gave Li Qing flood dragon essence blood, and the burly man gave him the Golden Saint Treasure Body art on a Golden Slip that Li Qing recognized as Golden Thunder Bamboo.
• Li Qing and the others stood on the six Fine Iron Pillars and sent Spiritual Power into them, activating the Six Extremes Sky Locking Array.
• The Desolate Gale attacked Li Qing, damaging his Golden Brocade Armor and then breaking through his mana defenses until he used the Deep Blue Crown for protection.
• As the gale withered Li Qing's body and weakened his divine soul, he swallowed a Soul Protecting Pill and circulated the Dao Tribulation Wuji Scripture to try to nurture the gale's essence within himself.

Li Qing endured the Desolate Gale to refine its power into a Dao seed, pushing his body to the brink as the Six Extremes Sky Locking Array collapsed. A Seven-Colored Sapling appeared, and the Integration Stage cultivators fought over it while Li Qing’s cracked body began shedding skin.

• Li Qing activated the Deep Blue Crown only when the Desolate Gale nearly extinguished his life, then used Void Mist and repeated protection to keep refining the gale inside his body.
• As the array weakened, Li Qing endured the Desolate Gale without relying on the crown and refined its final wisp into a Dao seed just as the formation collapsed.
• A light gate appeared, the Fine Iron Earth gave way, and a Seven-Colored Sapling emerged beneath it.
• Zhan Xiong rushed for the sapling, but Fairy Yunni restrained him while the other cultivators tried to discover what it was.
• King Ning and the Ghost Horn Race expert fought over the sapling as the other cultivators blocked one another, while Li Qing’s body cracked and a piece of dry skin fell away.

Li Qing awakened from the Desolate Gale and broke through to the middle Void Refinement stage, then recognized the seven-colored tree as the Seven Marvelous Immortal Tree. The cultivators fought over it but could not move it, and the Xuantian Immortal Hall teleported them away as it closed.

• Li Qing shed his desiccated skin, recovered from the erosion of desolation, and advanced to the middle Void Refinement stage.
• Li Qing recognized the tree as the Nine Marvelous Immortal Tree, and Zhan Xiong explained that it was an incomplete Seven Marvelous Immortal Tree with extraordinary potential.
• The five Body Integration Realm cultivators rushed to claim the tree and fought fiercely while Li Qing watched for a chance to act.
• Zhan Xiong, the Merman Race expert, the Ghost Horn Race expert, King Ning, and Fairy Yunni each tried to take the tree, but none could move it.
• The Xuantian Immortal Hall began closing, and its light teleported the cultivators away before they could claim the tree.