Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng used the newly activated Cowardly Path to Sainthood System to fake going berserk and evade a deadly mission to the Flowing Fire Meteor Abyss. After receiving a century of cultivation and the Innate Stealth Technique, he broke through to Mid Heavenly Immortal and prepared to survive in the Primordial World.

• Zhang Feng announced a trial at the Flowing Fire Meteor Abyss and selected Chen Changsheng among the disciples sent there.
• The system offered Chen Changsheng three choices, and he chose to fake going berserk to avoid the mission.
• Chen Changsheng collapsed convincingly, causing Zhang Feng to replace him with Zhao Si and send the selected disciples away.
• After his fellow disciples carried him back to his cave dwelling, Chen Changsheng sprang up unharmed.
• The system rewarded Chen Changsheng with one hundred years of cultivation and the Innate Stealth Technique, raising him to Mid Heavenly Immortal.

After Zhang Feng returned from the deadly expedition and accused Chen Changsheng of abandoning the sect, the Law Enforcement Hall exposed Zhang Feng’s crimes and took him away. Chen Changsheng gained new cultivation and a defensive treasure, but Zhao Gongming then summoned him.

• Chen Changsheng learned that Zhang Feng and only twelve others had survived the expedition to the Flowing Fire Meteor Abyss.
• Zhang Feng confronted Chen Changsheng and tried to kill him, accusing him of pretending to be sick to avoid the mission.
• Senior Brother Liu stopped Zhang Feng and revealed that he had accepted bribes, targeted disciples, and abandoned his companions during the expedition.
• Senior Brother Liu sealed Zhang Feng’s mana and took him to the Law Enforcement Hall as nearby disciples began to regard Chen Changsheng as a hidden expert.
• The system rewarded Chen Changsheng with five hundred years of cultivation and the Turtle Breath Formation Disk, raising him to the peak of the late Heavenly Immortal Realm.
• Zhao Gongming arrived outside Chen Changsheng’s cave abode and ordered him to come out.

Chen Changsheng persuaded Zhao Gongming that following his instincts could help Interception Sect disciples survive the coming tribulation, earning Zhao’s respect and personal token. The system rewarded him and unlocked a quest to preserve the sect’s core disciples during the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, with a fragment of Primordial Violet Qi as the prize.

• Zhao Gongming visited Chen Changsheng to ask how he had avoided the fatal trip to the Flowing Fire Meteor Abyss.
• Chen Changsheng claimed a nightmare about stolen pearls and a blood-red mist had warned him of danger.
• Chen Changsheng framed his decision to stay behind as following his heart and avoiding the Killing Tribulation, earning Zhao Gongming’s appreciation and personal token.
• Zhao Gongming asked how the Interception Sect should conduct itself, and Chen Changsheng advised its disciples to conceal their edge, strengthen their foundations, and await the right time.
• The system rewarded Chen Changsheng with a thousand years of cultivation and the Great Freedom Head-Shrinking Technique, then assigned him a quest to keep more than 80 percent of the sect’s core disciples alive.
• Chen Changsheng was stunned when the quest’s success reward included a fragment of Primordial Violet Qi.

Chen Changsheng accepted the main quest, rose to middle-stage Golden Immortal, and learned a Divine Ability that could conceal him from danger. He planned to spread a cautious survival philosophy among the Interception Sect’s Outer Sect Disciples to help meet the quest’s survival requirement.

• Chen Changsheng accepted the quest to ensure that more than 80% of the Interception Sect’s core disciples survived, and the reward raised his cultivation to middle-stage Golden Immortal.
• Chen Changsheng activated the Turtle Breath Formation Disk to hide the signs of his breakthrough from others on Golden Ao Island.
• Chen Changsheng comprehended the Great Freedom Head-Shrinking Technique and mastered its first realm, Turtle Breath, concealing his aura until he seemed weaker than an Earth Immortal.
• Chen Changsheng emerged from his cave with a feigned appearance of severe weakness, and nearby disciples mistook his condition for the cost of healing injuries.
• Chen Changsheng decided to influence the sect’s Outer Sect Disciples by teaching them to lie low, then began writing the Golden Ao Island Safety Conduct Code and Interception Sect Disciple Anti-Fraud Guide.

Chen Changsheng wrote and secretly distributed an anti-fraud survival guide among Golden Ao Island’s Outer Sect Disciples, where it quickly reshaped their outlook and conduct. Daoist Duobao discovered the guide and reacted with mounting anger.

• Chen Changsheng finished his survival guide, made over a thousand Jade Slip copies, and secretly planted them around the Outer Sect district.
• Wang Ermazi and Li Tieniu found copies and recognized the guide’s advice in their own experiences.
• Outer Sect Disciples spread and embraced the guide, reflecting on the deadly defeat led by Zhang Feng and adopting more cautious habits.
• Daoist Duobao noticed a Registered Disciple’s timid swordsmanship and learned it came from the guide.
• Daoist Duobao read the Jade Slip, and his expression darkened as he gripped it.

Chen Changsheng defended the Guidebook’s survival-first principles before Daoist Duobao by citing the Interception Sect’s devastating losses among disciples sent to protect the human race. Daoist Duobao left without answering, while Chen Changsheng’s system rewarded him for shaking the sect’s ideological direction.

• Daoist Duobao confronted the Outer Sect Disciples and threatened ten years of meditation at Repentance Cliff unless the Guidebook’s author came forward.
• Chen Changsheng stepped forward and argued that disciples had to stay alive before they could pursue the Dao.
• Chen Changsheng cited the hundred disciples led by Senior Brother Zhang Feng, of whom only thirteen returned, and challenged Daoist Duobao to say what their deaths had won.
• Daoist Duobao called Chen Changsheng’s words clever but left without rebutting his argument.
• Chen Changsheng’s system announced that the Guidebook had sparked the Interception Sect’s first dispute over ideological direction and awarded him three thousand years of cultivation and initial comprehension of Sever Causality.

After Chen Changsheng publicly challenged Daoist Duobao over the needless deaths of Outer Sect Disciples, Duobao examined a thousand years of mission records and began to doubt his beliefs. Sect Leader Tongtian watched Chen Changsheng and summoned him to Jade Palace.

• Chen Changsheng concealed his exhaustion from the adoring disciples and returned to his cave dwelling, while news of his confrontation spread across Golden Ao Island.
• Zhao Gongming worried that Daoist Duobao would hold a grudge against Chen Changsheng for embarrassing him publicly.
• Daoist Duobao read mission records showing severe casualties and unfairly distributed rewards, then questioned whether his understanding of the Interception Sect's path was wrong.
• Sect Leader Tongtian observed Duobao's shaken Dao heart and Chen Changsheng's progress, and reconsidered the meaning of seeking survival.
• Zhao Gongming warned Chen Changsheng to be careful, and Chen Changsheng calmly defended the pursuit of survival.
• Sect Leader Tongtian summoned Chen Changsheng to Jade Palace before every living being on Golden Ao Island.

Chen Changsheng faced Sect Leader Tongtian and defended his Dao of Survival as a way for the Interception Sect to preserve its strength through the coming tribulation. Tongtian approved his principles, appointed him Dao Protector, and ordered the sect to study his Safety Guidelines.

• Sect Leader Tongtian summoned Chen Changsheng to Jade Palace with a Rainbow Bridge, and Chen used concealment techniques to hide his presence on the way.
• Tongtian revealed that he knew Chen had concealed his cultivation and questioned him about disturbing Daoist Duobao's Dao heart with his words on the Dharma Transmission Platform.
• Chen argued that striving required judgment and that the Interception Sect should lie low during the coming Killing Tribulation rather than waste lives in futile battles.
• Tongtian praised Chen's principle of preserving people to preserve both people and land, then appointed him Dao Protector of the Interception Sect.
• Chen received ten thousand years of cultivation, Primordial Merit, and a fragment of the Chaos Bead, broke through to Grand Unity Golden Immortal, and gained a Supreme Dao Seed.
• Tongtian's decree made Chen a Dao Protector equal in status to a direct disciple and ordered all Interception Sect disciples to study his Safety Guidelines.

After Sect Leader Tongtian appointed Chen Changsheng as the Interception Sect’s Dao Protector and made his Safety Guidelines compulsory, Chen established the Calamity Aversion Department to put survival first. He ended the gathering by sealing Golden Ao Island for a thousand years and ordering every disciple to study and take an exam on survival and calamity aversion.

• Chen Changsheng returned from Jade Palace empowered by ten thousand years of cultivation and the Chaos Bead fragment, while Sect Leader Tongtian’s decree left the disciples stunned.
• Zhao Gongming welcomed Chen Changsheng, and Daoist Duobao bowed to him as the new Dao Protector and admitted he had nearly been mistaken about Chen’s teachings.
• Chen Changsheng proposed the Calamity Aversion Department to assess mission risks, develop life-saving techniques and artifacts, and organize survival drills.
• Daoist Duobao, Zhao Gongming, and other disciples volunteered to join the department, and Chen Changsheng officially established it.
• Chen Changsheng sealed Golden Ao Island for one thousand years and ordered all disciples to study and take an exam on Interception Sect survival and calamity aversion ideology.

Chen Changsheng used the Myriad Tribulations Samsara Mirror to teach the Interception Sect’s disciples the reality of surviving deadly calamities. After True Lord Huoyun died ninety-nine times in its trials, Chen Changsheng ordered all disciples to complete the Hundred Deaths Achievement or go without food.

• Chen Changsheng established the Calamity Aversion Department, with Daoist Duobao overseeing development and Zhao Gongming overseeing drills.
• As disciples grew lax about their training, Chen Changsheng introduced the Myriad Tribulations Samsara Mirror and declared that the first lesson was to survive.
• True Lord Huoyun volunteered to demonstrate, then repeatedly entered the Ten Ultimate Arrays and died in the mirror.
• After ninety-nine deaths, True Lord Huoyun was thrown from the mirror, trembling and with his Dao heart crushed by the experience.
• Chen Changsheng ordered every inner and outer disciple to complete the Hundred Deaths Achievement or be denied food.

Chen Changsheng forced Interception Sect disciples to face repeated deaths in the Cycle Mirror as training, while Zhao Gongming and Daoist Duobao kept them from refusing or fleeing. The lesson ended for the day, but disciples who had not reached one hundred deaths were ordered to continue tomorrow.

• Chen Changsheng announced that disciples who failed the task would receive no meals, and Zhao Gongming warned that anyone who objected would face a thousand deaths in the Cycle Mirror.
• Li Xuantong, Zhang Yuanshan, Fairy Biyun, and successive batches of disciples entered the mirror and were killed by the Ten Ultimate Arrays, driving the crowd into terror.
• Daoist Duobao stopped a disciple who tried to flee, ordered his cultivation crippled, and had him sent away from Golden Ao Island.
• Fairy Yu faced a simulated hunt by Ancestor Minghe and was killed thirty-six times before the Cycle Mirror expelled her, leaving her in despair.
• Chen Changsheng ended the lesson and offered an Inedia Pill to disciples who had completed one hundred deaths, ordering the rest to continue the next day.

Chen Changsheng continued the Cycle Mirror trials, forcing Interception Sect disciples to learn how to survive the Ten Absolute Arrays. Wang Youcai endured an hour by hiding in a narrow crack, and the chapter left the disciples eager to enter the mirror as strange changes stirred in the heavens.

• Chen Changsheng resumed the trials as disciples tried and failed to evade the Ten Absolute Arrays.
• Wang Youcai hid in a narrow crack, sealed it, and concealed his aura until he survived an hour in the mirror.
• Chen Changsheng praised Wang Youcai, and Daoist Duobao awarded him the Invisibility Immortal Robe and Ten Thousand Mile Earth Escape Talisman.
• The disciples rushed to volunteer for the trials, eager to earn life-saving treasures.
• As the disciples' enthusiasm peaked, the winds and clouds changed above the nine heavens.

The Heavenly Court ordered the Interception Sect to send disciples to kill a demon dragon on the East Sea Coast, prompting Chen Changsheng to invoke the Calamity Aversion Department’s risk-assessment rules. He had the decree registered as a mission request and began evaluating it, leaving Zhao Gongming to identify anything suspicious about the assignment.

• The Heavenly Court’s decree ordering the Interception Sect to exterminate the East Sea demon dragon arrived at Golden Ao Island, and Daoist Duobao angrily rejected it.
• Daoist Duobao objected to the order, while frightened disciples warned that defying the Heavenly Court could bring grave consequences.
• Chen Changsheng said the decree had to be accepted but insisted that disciples could not be sent out before the mission received a risk assessment.
• Chen Changsheng reminded the disciples that Master’s rules required every mission to be assessed and forbade missions judged certain death.
• Daoist Duobao carried the decree to the Calamity Aversion Department, where it appeared on the Mission Assessment Wall as the East Sea Dragon Slaying mission.
• Chen Changsheng picked up a cinnabar brush and asked Zhao Gongming whether anything about the mission seemed suspicious.

Chen Changsheng’s Calamity Aversion Department assessed the Heavenly Court’s East Sea Dragon Slaying mission as dangerously risky and barred Interception Sect disciples from fighting. After returning the imperial edict with a promise to send an Observer, Chen Changsheng chose Shen Gongbao for the assignment.

• Zhao Gongming identified the mission’s suspicious circumstances, and Wang Youcai argued that unclear details made it too dangerous to accept.
• Chen Changsheng recorded the disciples’ potential risks on the jade wall and stamped the assessment with “Nine Deaths, One Life,” declaring the mission highest risk and forbidding combat participation.
• Daoist Duobao asked how the sect would answer the Heavenly Court, and Chen Changsheng announced that it would send an Observer to gather intelligence before deciding further.
• The imperial edict vanished after Chen Changsheng explained the sect’s process, leaving the disciples stunned that the Heavenly Court had accepted the response.
• Chen Changsheng selected the reluctant Shen Gongbao to travel to the East Sea as the Observer and speak with the Dragon Clan.

Chen Changsheng assigned Shen Gongbao to investigate the East Sea Demon Dragon, persuading the reluctant disciple that his gift for conversation made him the ideal diplomat. Shen Gongbao set off equipped with escape treasures and a Jade Slip containing Chen Changsheng’s supposed life-preserving words.

• Chen Changsheng singled out Shen Gongbao for the Observer mission, and Shen Gongbao begged to be spared from the dangerous assignment.
• Chen Changsheng told Shen Gongbao that his eloquence made him uniquely suited to diplomacy and intelligence gathering, not combat.
• Daoist Duobao gave Shen Gongbao an Invisibility Immortal Robe and ten Ten Thousand Mile Earth Escape Talismans.
• Chen Changsheng promised Shen Gongbao promotion to Chief Elder if he returned with intelligence and a completed Risk Assessment Report, and Shen Gongbao eagerly accepted.
• Chen Changsheng handed Shen Gongbao an empty Jade Slip and instructed him to open conversations by asking others to fill out the Interception Sect’s Risk Assessment Survey Form; Shen Gongbao then flew toward the East Sea.

Shen Gongbao entered the East Sea Crystal Palace to deliver the Interception Sect’s Risk Assessment Survey Form instead of declaring war. Ao Bing’s rage gave way to confusion and curiosity when he saw the form’s first question.

• Shen Gongbao used his Invisibility Immortal Robe and Ten Thousand Mile Earth Escape Talismans to approach the East Sea Crystal Palace, driven by the promise of becoming Chief Elder.
• Ao Bing prepared to confront the Interception Sect envoy as armored Aquatic Clan forces surrounded the Crystal Palace.
• Shen Gongbao shouted, “Fellow Daoist, please stay your step!” and presented Ao Bing with a Risk Assessment Survey Form.
• Shen Gongbao explained that the Interception Sect’s Calamity Aversion Department required the survey to assess the conflict and prevent unnecessary losses.
• Ao Bing took the Jade Slip and projected the Dragon Clan survey form, which asked whether the operation was an uprising, rebellion, military exercise, team-building activity, or something else.

Ao Bing confronted Shen Gongbao's Interception Sect assessment forms and discovered that the sect would not mobilize for a battle without completed paperwork. After the troop and casualty questions broke his resolve, he accepted a brush and asked for a template to quantify the East Sea Dragon Clan's dignity.

• Shen Gongbao explained that the Interception Sect needed Ao Bing to classify the conflict before it could decide whether to respond.
• Ao Bing threatened to attack Golden Ao Island unless the Interception Sect gave the East Sea an explanation within three days.
• The Turtle Prime Minister advised Ao Bing to exaggerate the Dragon Clan's strength and threats on the form to frighten the sect into backing down.
• Ao Bing read the troop-strength, treasure, formation, and casualty questions, then vomited blood in anger and helplessness.
• Ao Bing accepted Shen Gongbao's brush and asked whether option E had a template for its quantifiable standards.

Shen Gongbao used the Interception Sect’s investigation form to persuade Ao Bing and the East Sea Dragon Clan to negotiate their grievances through procedures rather than fight. After Shen Gongbao returned with the completed report, Chen Changsheng received Heavenly Dao merit, ten thousand years of cultivation, and a merit treasure.

• Shen Gongbao improvised an explanation of quantifiable demands, convincing Ao Bing that the investigation form could help the Dragon Clan negotiate for its dignity.
• Ao Bing convened a form-filling meeting, where the Dragon Clan recorded its actual military strength, assessed its neglected treasure, and set a goal of ranking among the Primordial World’s top ten clans for a Yuanhui.
• Shen Gongbao accepted the completed investigation report, promised to submit it for review, and received Ao Bing’s token of hospitality.
• Shen Gongbao left the Crystal Palace proud of resolving the dispute without bloodshed and returned toward Golden Ao Island.
• Chen Changsheng received Heavenly Dao merit, ten thousand years of cultivation, and the first-edition draft of General Principles of Primordial Era Procedures.

Shen Gongbao returned with the East Sea Dragon Clan’s completed risk assessment, letting Chen Changsheng use their disclosed weaknesses to teach the Interception Sect the power of process and reorganize its administration. As Chen Changsheng stalled the Dragon Clan’s proposal until the next Yuanhui, he learned that the Chan Sect’s Twelve Golden Immortals were heading to Golden Ao Island to punish the Interception Sect.

• Shen Gongbao presented the Dragon Clan’s signed survey, which revealed its forces, neglected weapons, missing array, and goal of gaining a place among the Primordial World’s top ten clans.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the report showed the Dragon Clan was weak and sought negotiation rather than war, and he proclaimed process the Interception Sect’s guiding principle.
• Chen Changsheng ordered Daoist Duobao to establish three administrative departments and Zhao Gongming to create a center for tactical wargaming and data analysis.
• Chen Changsheng appointed Shen Gongbao Chief Elder of the Department of External Relations Risk Assessment for his successful mission.
• Chen Changsheng instructed the sect to delay the Dragon Clan’s proposal until the next Yuanhui while requesting a detailed feasibility plan.
• The system warned Chen Changsheng that the Chan Sect’s Twelve Golden Immortals were bound for Golden Ao Island and would arrive in three hours.

Chen Changsheng learned that the Chan Sect’s Twelve Golden Immortals were coming to enforce Heaven’s punishment and organized Golden Ao Island’s response through formal emergency procedures. He transformed the island’s defenses into a festive welcome and left Guangchengzi and the others stunned by a banner inviting them to inspect and offer guidance.

• Chen Changsheng revealed the Chan Sect’s impending arrival, prompting Daoist Duobao and Zhao Gongming to prepare for battle before Chen ordered them to follow procedure.
• Chen Changsheng activated the Level 1 External Conflict Emergency Plan and ordered Zhao Gongming to gather detailed intelligence on the Twelve Golden Immortals.
• The Calamity Aversion Department displayed profiles of the Chan Sect leaders, and Chen identified their arrogance and desire for a grand battle as weaknesses.
• Chen Changsheng ordered the Ten Ultimate Arrays changed into welcoming spectacles and instructed the disciples to wear ceremonial robes and avoid showing hostility.
• Golden Ao Island was decorated for visitors, and Chen Changsheng had a banner hung welcoming Yuanshi’s direct disciples for inspection and guidance.
• Guangchengzi and the other eleven Golden Immortals arrived in a killing fury, but halted in surprise after reading the banner.