Chapter Summaries

Miaoxuan used the white-jade lotus stalk Li Qingyun had saved to condense a physical body and achieve Yang Spirit. The three Lingbao Sect Yang Spirits agreed to oppose Moon Yin Palace and Biyou Sect, while Li Qingyun proposed founding Southern You in the Southern Border.

• Miaoxuan absorbed the white-jade lotus stalk and fully condensed her physical body as a Yang Spirit.
• Miaoxuan vowed to settle accounts with Moon Yin Palace and Biyou Sect, and Li Qingyun and Nangong Fengchuan agreed to stand with her.
• Li Qingyun, Miaoxuan, and Nangong Fengchuan compared their goals for the sect's ancestral incense offerings, naming four, seven, and thirteen prefectures respectively.
• Li Qingyun proposed that the three Yang Spirits secure the seven inner prefectures and that he establish Southern You across four Southern Border prefectures.
• Miaoxuan and Nangong Fengchuan agreed to Li Qingyun's plan and declared they would act against Biyou Sect and Moon Yin Palace.

Li Qingyun revealed his Yang God realm to rally the Li imperial clan into counterattacking the Liu forces, then escorted Princess Bao Sheng Li Shaojiang and thirty-five others across the border into Zhu. When the dragon-fortune backlash struck him for defying the Dao Lord boundary, he diverted most of it to his mysterious soul-corpse, where it became nourishment.

• Li Qingyun appeared in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, displayed his Yang God might, and rallied Zhaozong, King You, and the Li imperial clan to launch a counterattack against the Liu and Zhong armies.
• Li Qingyun opened a void rift and sent Princess Bao Sheng Li Shaojiang and thirty-five Li disciples toward Zhu, instructing them to find Li Zhenbai in Yunxi County and pose as his distant relatives.
• Li Qingyun brought the group to the border and tore open the Dao Lord restriction, allowing them to pass into Zhu.
• The new dragon's fury and Dao-fortune backlash struck Li Qingyun, clouding his spiritual nature and covering his Yang God with a grayish curse.
• Li Qingyun redirected most of the backlash to his mysterious soul-corpse, leaving his true body with only a force he could endure.

Princess Bao Sheng broke through to refining Baleful Intent and escaped into the restriction passage with Li Qingyun’s help. Li Qingyun then confronted True Lord Jihua, overwhelming her with his Yang God and lightning arts.

• True Lord Jihua immobilized Princess Bao Sheng and tried to kill her, but Bao Sheng broke through her restraints by refining Baleful Intent into an infant.
• Li Qingyun blocked Jihua’s attack, shattered her scarlet beam, and sent Bao Sheng toward Candle Country with a jade talisman.
• After Bao Sheng vanished into the restriction passage, Li Qingyun attacked True Lord Jihua and pierced her Yang God with a crushing finger.
• Li Qingyun unleashed a lightning Dao art amplified by his Yang God, shattering Jihua’s Eight Directions Seal Void and striking her Yang God.

Li Qingyun killed True Lord Jihua’s physical body and warned Biyou Palace’s Yang Gods not to interfere with Great You’s fortune renewal, then left for Lanling Commandery. The chapter ended as Zhaozong and Emperor Xian faced each other in the first major clash between the old and new dragons.

• Li Qingyun froze True Lord Jihua and struck her down with Divine Lightning, while two Biyou Palace Yang Gods failed to save her.
• True Lord Jihua revived at Biyou Palace, and True Lords Chihong and Chaozi confronted Li Qingyun over his interference.
• Li Qingyun invoked the rule barring experts above the Yang God from intervening in fortune renewal and threatened to retaliate if Biyou Palace broke it.
• Li Qingyun rejected Chaozi’s proposal to let the sects’ Yang Gods set rules and departed, while Chihong and Chaozi resolved to endure him for now.
• Li Qingyun reached the outskirts of Lanling Commandery as Zhaozong’s five-thousand-strong force faced Liu Xian’s larger army.
• Liu Xian challenged Zhaozong to dismount and surrender as Yin God experts exerted pressure over the Li clan army.

Li Qingyun revealed his Yang God on the battlefield, overturning the Liu clan’s advantage and forbidding the sect cultivators from interfering. When True Lord Fengyang and True Lord Wanyue attacked him, he destroyed Fengyang’s Yang God and shattered Wanyue’s binding rings.

• The Liu clan’s Dao might suppressed the Li clan army, and Zhaozong and the nobles cried out that Dao fortune was unjust.
• Li Qingyun’s Yang God appeared and overwhelmed the Liu clan’s pressure, letting the Li clan army counterattack as Zhaozong and Prince You urged their forces forward.
• True Lord Fengyang and True Lord Wanyue appeared to oppose Li Qingyun, who ordered the sect experts to stop interfering or die.
• True Lord Fengyang attacked with a sword strike while True Lord Wanyue tried to bind Li Qingyun’s Yang God with sixteen moon rings.
• Li Qingyun’s Divine Lightning destroyed Fengyang’s Yang God, and his own Yang God shattered Wanyue’s rings, leaving her afraid.

Li Qingyun and the Li Dynasty routed the Liu clan army and the forces of several sects, while Lingbao Sect and allied rulers launched counterattacks. At Biyou Palace, True Lord Jihua obtained a Death Mandate Scroll from Senior Mingchan to target the Li Imperial Clan.

• Miaoxuan arrived to confront True Lord Wanyue, and Li Qingyun weakened his Divine Lightning so Miaoxuan could attack her with Pure Mind Divine Fire.
• Li Qingyun struck down several Yin Gods and drove the remaining sect cultivators from the battlefield as True Lord Luoyan fled.
• Zhaozong led the Li clan army in pursuit of Emperor Xian and routed the Liu clan forces.
• Lingbao Sect, King of the West Ye Ran, Huo Jun, Teng Li, and King of the South Shama Ding'an launched counterattacks that threw the besieging sects into disarray.
• True Lord Jihua summoned Senior Mingchan and received a Death Mandate Scroll, agreeing to record the names of every branch of the Li Imperial Clan.

True Lord Jihua used the Death Mandate Scroll to inscribe members of the Li clan, suffering severe backlash when she wrote Li Qingyun’s name. Meanwhile, Liu Xian fled toward Wuchuan as Zhaozong pursued him, while Li Qingyun watched the Li army’s advance.

• True Lord Jihua ordered Liu Xian guided toward Wuchuan, the ancestral land of the Yang family, and began recording Li clan names on the Death Mandate Scroll.
• True Lord Jihua suffered increasingly severe backlash while inscribing Li Jiuling, Li Ji, and Li Zuo, then damaged her cultivation foundations writing Li Qingyun’s name.
• Liu Xian fled through the rain with a small band of followers after Zhaozong routed the Liu-Zhong army.
• A Biyou Daoist led Liu Xian and his remaining soldiers into a newly appeared road toward Wuchuan, calling it an auspicious omen.
• Li Qingyun followed Zhaozong’s army from the sky as Zhaozong pursued Liu Xian to restore the Li Dynasty.

Li Qingyun sensed a new dragon qi interfering with his plans as Liu Xian discovered and burned the Death Mandate Scroll, triggering a curse against the Li clan. Zhaozong and the other Li princes collapsed under its power, while Li Qingyun redirected most of the curse away from himself and ordered the pursuit stopped.

• Li Qingyun judged that the Li Dynasty could not be restored and sensed Biyou Palace’s scheme being obscured by the new dragon qi.
• Guided by a Biyou Palace Daoist, Liu Xian found the Yang family tomb and uncovered the Death Mandate Scroll.
• Liu Xian read the scroll’s prophecy, then burned it in the belief that it would reverse his defeat and bring him the mandate of Heaven.
• True Lord Jihua watched Liu Xian burn the scroll and accepted that the scheme would bring her some karma.
• Zhaozong, Prince You Li Xuanxiao, Li Ke, and other Li princes were struck by the death curse during their pursuit of Liu Xian’s army.
• Li Qingyun redirected most of the curse into a mysterious soul-corpse, then ordered the pursuit halted and the carriage returned to the capital.

Li Qingyun drew the death curse aimed at more than a hundred thousand members of the Li Imperial Clan onto himself, and the Soul Corpse absorbed it, showing signs of life. He tracked down True Lord Jihua and killed her, then vanished as the battle between the sects continued in Lingyang Prefecture.

• Li Qingyun used a curse-breaking spell to draw the Li Imperial Clan’s death curse onto himself, and the Soul Corpse devoured the curse and moved a finger.
• Miaoxuan told Li Qingyun that the Death Mandate Scroll had targeted the clan and that only a Life Gate Realm cultivator could reliably undo its death curse.
• Li Qingyun tracked down True Lord Jihua, who had burned the scroll, and killed her with Divine Lightning, destroying her Yang God and You Tian Shield.
• Li Qingyun killed a fleeing Biyou Palace Daoist with a curse but spared Emperor Xian and his soldiers because Yang Gods could not interfere directly in mortal affairs.
• Li Qingyun vanished, while True Person Zhuxian watched Biyou Palace and Moon Yin Palace hold back Lingbao Sect’s counterattack in Lingyang Prefecture.

Li Qingyun wiped out Biyou Palace’s defenders in Shangyang Commandery and ordered the Lingbao Sect to seize all seven commanderies of Lingyang. He then appeared in Biluo Commandery to confront its elderly Yin God guardian, who called for Junior Brother Chaozi as Li Qingyun’s lightning struck.

• Li Qingyun killed True Person Zhuxian with Divine Lightning, then burned True Lords Luoyan, Qinghe, and another Yin God with Yang fire.
• Li Qingyun shattered Qinghe’s self-destructive attack and dispersed Luoyan’s ghost-faced moth curse with thunder.
• Li Qingyun ordered the Lingbao Sect’s three Yin God True Persons to occupy all seven commanderies, and they led the assault on Biyou Palace’s forces in Shangyang Commandery.
• Li Qingyun appeared before Biyou Palace’s elderly Yin God guardian in Biluo Commandery and struck him with Divine Lightning.
• The old Daoist summoned his Yin God, raised layers of defenses, and cried out for Junior Brother Chaozi to save him.

Li Qingyun attacked Biyou Palace after accusing it of interfering in the mortal struggle for fortune, and defeated its Yang God experts at the mountain gate. He declared that no Biyou Palace cultivator above the Yin God realm could descend the mountain during the current struggle for fortune.

• Li Qingyun killed a Biyou Palace Yin God despite True Lord Chaozi’s plea for mercy.
• Li Qingyun attacked True Lord Chaozi, but True Lord Chihong and True Lord Jihua intervened and formed the Three Talents God Slaying Formation with him.
• True Lord Chaozi and True Lord Jihua denied responsibility for the Li clan’s deaths and defended their actions in the Death Gate Realm as part of the dynasty’s fortune renewal.
• Li Qingyun secretly formed the Five Thunders Burying God Formation, broke free of the Three Talents God Slaying Formation, and killed Chaozi, Chihong, and Jihua.
• Li Qingyun called on the Dao lords to witness Biyou Palace’s alleged violation of the sects’ agreements and forbade its cultivators above the Yin God realm from descending the mountain.

Li Qingyun waited outside Biyou Palace while the karmic backlash from the Death Mandate Scroll destroyed Yuan Jihua’s resurrection vessels and turned her into a Shadow Ghost. True Lord Chaozi sealed the sect and summoned Senior Mingchan to capture her, while Li Qingyun noticed the disciples’ cries had abruptly stopped.

• Biyou Palace disciples demanded that their higher realm elders suppress and kill Li Qingyun as he stood outside the gates.
• The Death Mandate Scroll’s backlash destroyed Yuan Jihua’s stored resurrection vessels, forcing her to possess a Dao Foundation disciple and then become a Shadow Ghost.
• True Lord Chaozi learned that Yuan Jihua had become a ghost and ordered Biyou Palace sealed so no disciple could leave.
• True Lord Chaozi summoned Senior Mingchan, who left the ancient temple to capture Yuan Jihua and exile her beyond the Gate of Death.
• Li Qingyun remained outside Biyou Palace, confident that its higher realm experts would risk their own advancement if they attacked him.
• Li Qingyun noticed that the disciples’ cries had stopped and that the mountain gate had taken on an eerie atmosphere.

Li Qingyun confronted True Lord Banruo, who warned him not to obstruct his ascension, then returned to find the Qinghe Li Clan suffering from a mysterious death curse. The chapter left the family gravely ill and Li Jiuling worrying about Li Qingyun’s future.

• True Lord Banruo drew Li Qingyun into a deep-blue plane, revealed his identity, and warned that all existence would be annihilated if his ascension failed.
• Li Qingyun accepted the warning, left Biyou Palace’s territory, and returned to Qinghe County after retaliating against the palace’s experts.
• At Qinghe Royal Manor, a Lingbao Sect physician admitted that he could only ease the death-curse illness afflicting the Qinghe Li Clan.
• King Qinghe Li Jiuling thanked the physician and privately accepted the family’s possible death, while hoping Li Qingyun would find a companion and continue the family line.

Li Qingyun arranged for the Qinghe Li lineage to leave Qinghe County for He Lao Dock, while the Death Mandate Scroll’s curse left the Li Dynasty’s rulers gravely ill and its fortunes collapsing. He then entered Zhaozong’s sickroom, where Empress Derong tried to keep him from intervening.

• Li Qingyun examined Li Jiuling and Li Ji, judged their curse survivable, and ordered the Qinghe Li lineage to migrate to He Lao Dock in the Southern Border.
• Li Jiuling accepted the move, and most of the manor’s servants chose to stay behind after receiving severance pay.
• Empress Derong tended to unconscious Zhaozong and gave Pei Xun spiritual pills to deliver to the ailing Prince of You.
• Li Qingyun appeared in the Hall of Cultivating Heart and went to examine Zhaozong despite Empress Derong’s request that he leave the emperor undisturbed.

Li Qingyun failed to remove the Death Mandate Scroll’s curse from Zhaozong, but used his life fire to revive him temporarily and learned he had about fifteen days to live. Li Qingyun then went to the Misty Tomb and arrived at the Ruins Sea, where he wondered how he could cross its endless nether fire to reach the Death Gate.

• Li Qingyun sensed that Zhaozong and the Li Imperial Clan still suffered from the Death Mandate Scroll’s curse, and discovered his Yang God power could not fully dispel it.
• Li Qingyun condemned Empress Derong for disregarding Zhaozong’s true wish to die standing, and urged that the Li descendants make their deaths serve a purpose.
• Li Qingyun gave Zhaozong some of his life fire, awakening him and restoring a trace of vitality.
• Zhaozong asked how long he had to live, and Li Qingyun told him he had about fifteen days.
• Li Qingyun left the Hall of Mental Cultivation, entered the Misty Tomb, and reached the Ruins Sea, where its endless nether fire blocked his way toward the Death Gate.

Li Qingyun arrived at the Ruins Sea coastline, where Zhao Muxue explained how cultivators used drifting bronze fragments as boats to cross the Yin fire sea. As the fragments reached shore, Li Qingyun agreed to take Zhao with him, and they eyed a medium-sized boat coveted by other Yang Gods.

• Li Qingyun concealed part of his Yang God’s size, and Zhao Muxue approached him after noticing his strength.
• Zhao Muxue explained that cultivators crossed the Ruins Sea on drifting bronze fragments and asked to travel with Li Qingyun.
• Li Qingyun agreed to take Zhao Muxue along in exchange for her knowledge and help.
• Bronze fragments drifted toward the coastline, and the Yang Gods gathered to compete for boats.
• Zhao Muxue recommended a medium-sized fragment for the two of them, while several other Yang Gods eyed it as well.

Li Qingyun and Zhao Muxue crossed the Ruin Sea on a bronze ferry fragment, where Li Qingyun discovered a dangerous Netherbone skull and memorized its mysterious patterns. They continued toward the sea’s end, with Li Qingyun seeking another flame of yangfire for Zhao Muxue.

• Li Qingyun knocked a Blood Rage Palace cultivator off a bronze fragment and took the ferry with Zhao Muxue.
• Li Qingyun guided the ferry through the yinfire toward the Ruin Sea’s end and spotted a patch of black earth bearing yangfire.
• Despite Zhao Muxue’s warning, Li Qingyun picked up the Netherbone skull and resisted its deathly vicious intent.
• Li Qingyun gave the flame of yangfire to Zhao Muxue and studied the skull’s patterns, eventually memorizing them after repeated attempts.
• Li Qingyun tossed aside the skull and continued onward with Zhao Muxue as the black earth disappeared beneath the yinfire.

Li Qingyun explored the Sea of Ruins, pieced together the Netherbone patterns, and discovered the Death Gate Inscription required to enter the Death Gate Realm. He reached the Death Gate and found dozens of great-completion Yang Gods waiting there, with only nine bearing inscriptions.

• Zhao Muxue thanked Li Qingyun, then left the Sea of Ruins after harvesting Yang Flame.
• Li Qingyun collected more Yang Flame and recorded Netherbone secret patterns as he traveled deeper into the Sea of Ruins.
• After recording nineteen distinct patterns, Li Qingyun combined them into a Death Gate Inscription that cleared much of the black ash from his Yang God.
• Li Qingyun realized that Yang God cultivators needed to gather ninety-nine Death Gate Inscriptions to enter the Death Gate Realm.
• Li Qingyun reached the end of the Sea of Ruins and saw the enormous bronze Death Gate, with black ash pouring from a crack in it.
• Li Qingyun found dozens of great-completion Yang Gods gathered before the gate, including nine whose bodies bore Death Gate Inscriptions.

Li Qingyun arrived at the Death Gate and observed True Lord Yuejian and True Lord Wansheng controlling two of its three entry slots while demanding Nether Iron for the last. As the gate began to open, the waiting Yang Gods started bargaining, but Yuejian raised his price.

• Li Qingyun arrived by Bronze Ferry Boat and found dozens of powerful Yang Gods gathered before the barely open Death Gate.
• True Lord Yuejian offered the final entry slot in exchange for three pieces of Void Sea Nether Iron, while True Lord Wansheng held another place.
• Li Qingyun stood on the lowest step and said he did not know what Void Sea Nether Iron was, easing the other cultivators' fears that he would claim the slot.
• The Death Gate widened and released more black ash, prompting the waiting Yang Gods to bargain for the last place.
• A cultivator offered one piece of Nether Iron, and True Lord Yuejian demanded two; the cultivator insisted it was his only piece.

Li Qingyun forced his way past the Death Gate’s second-tier gatekeepers with a third-tier Lightning Dao Divine Office and entered the Netherworld. Inside, he concealed his identity as Gu Xin and asked True Lord Wansheng about the uncanny black book.

• True Lord Yuejian and True Lord Wansheng barred the Yang Gods from the Death Gate, striking down two who challenged their chosen spots.
• Li Qingyun advanced toward the opening Death Gate, and True Lord Yuejian attacked him with the bloodvine.
• Li Qingyun shattered the bloodvine with his thunder seal, revealed his third-tier Divine Office, and drove True Lord Yuejian away.
• Li Qingyun entered the Death Gate as it closed behind him and saw a black book amid the Netherworld’s ruins.
• True Lord Wansheng greeted Li Qingyun, who called himself Gu Xin and demanded to know what the black book was.