Chapter Summaries

Meng Chuan attacked a Nether Serpent in its underground den, blinding it and then fighting it with his layered defenses and varied abilities. He had damaged the serpent and recovered from its blows, but the battle continued as he unleashed Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning.

• Meng Chuan sensed a sleeping Nether Serpent beneath the sand and decided to attack it for its battle merits and potential treasures.
• Meng Chuan hurled Tiger Soul through the Nether Serpent’s right eye, then fled as it awakened and struck back with a shockwave and corrosive sand mist.
• Meng Chuan used his Dao Heart, Dragon Demon, and a Cloudwater Pill to expel the mist’s invading energy before escaping the cave.
• Meng Chuan fought the Nether Serpent outside, striking its head and blinding its other eye, but it sent him crashing into a sand dune.
• Meng Chuan recovered from his injuries and dodged another sand-mist attack before unleashing Five Thunders Strike the Summit—Evil-Slaying Divine Lightning.

Meng Chuan killed the high-ranking Nether Serpent, claimed its Serpent Pearl, and searched the creature’s lair for treasure. In a hidden cave, he found Sky Demon Cores and a strange, ancient-looking humanoid skeleton, whose identity he began to question.

• Meng Chuan used lightning, Bone Shatter, and repeated attacks to slow the Nether Serpent before killing it.
• Meng Chuan recovered the Serpent Pearl from the serpent’s remains and harvested nearby Heavenly Demons drawn by the battle.
• Meng Chuan retrieved and cleaned Tiger Soul, then searched the serpent’s pool and found an entrance to an underground river.
• Meng Chuan swam through the underground river and discovered the Nether Serpent’s hidden lair, where he collected Void-type Sky Demon Cores.
• Meng Chuan found a partial, demon-like humanoid skeleton and wondered who it belonged to, since Yellow Sand 011 had been under military guard.

Meng Chuan found evidence that humanoid Heavenly Demons had worshipped a figure resembling Brahma, raising doubts about Brahma’s true nature. He set the mystery aside and spent two days hunting demons in Yellow Sand 011, ending with nearly full backpacks and an interest in finding wondrous objects.

• Meng Chuan found a second Serpent Pearl and valuable remains in the Nether Serpent’s Cave, bringing his estimated gains from the hunt to more than a hundred million.
• Meng Chuan found humanoid remains and worn carvings that suggested the cave had once been a base for humanoid Heavenly Demons.
• Meng Chuan saw a mural of a four-headed figure resembling Brahma being worshipped and wondered whether Brahma was a demon god.
• Meng Chuan reasoned that the mural was not conclusive and left the cave to continue hunting for battle merits.
• Over the next two days, Meng Chuan hunted Upper Sky Demons across Yellow Sand 011 and filled both backpacks with materials.
• After storing a scorpion’s tail stinger, Meng Chuan considered seeking wondrous objects.

Meng Chuan explored deeper into the Demon Nest, piecing together the meaning of murals while hunting powerful demons. After defeating the Sandgrit Demon in the Crystal Cave on the trial’s final day, he hurried southwest to escape an approaching sandstorm.

• Meng Chuan continued through the Demon Nest as Chen Xuan examined a mural and realized the murals suggested a temple lay within the nest.
• Meng Chuan found more murals depicting Brahma and a formless being, and suspected Brahma served as a puppet for the true object of the demons’ worship.
• At North Union University’s camp, Xu Qingfeng and the others celebrated Meng Chuan’s growing lead in battle merits while Shang Ruyi hoped the team would win the trial.
• On the final day, Meng Chuan emerged from the collapsed Crystal Cave after killing its upper Sandgrit Demon and collecting its pure core and a large crystal.
• Meng Chuan saw signs of an approaching sandstorm and hurried southwest, wary after experiencing the Yellow Sand Sky phenomenon earlier.

After a sandstorm sent him off the trial route, Meng Chuan hunted while trying to find his way back. He discovered an intelligent crocodile-headed demon that outsmarted his attempt to follow it to its tribe, so he killed it and scattered its remains as bait.

• Meng Chuan fled the sandstorm alongside a Sand Scorpion Ancestor, then realized he had strayed from the designated route and could no longer navigate by the map or sky.
• Meng Chuan chose to follow the wind in hopes of returning to the Crystal Cave and encountered a crocodile-headed Alligator Man hiding beneath a dune.
• Meng Chuan wounded and captured the Alligator Man, but released it and followed it to find its kin.
• Meng Chuan realized the Alligator Man had deliberately led him astray, crushed its throat, cut it into eight pieces, and scattered them to lure other Alligator Men.

Meng Chuan tracked the Alligator Men to their ruined settlement and watched them perform a blood ritual that recreated his likeness. A beam of green light marked him with the blood used in the ceremony, leaving him exposed to whatever the Alligator Men intended next.

• Meng Chuan killed an Alligator Man, noticed it lacked a true spirit, and suspected the creatures were not genuine Heavenly Demons.
• Meng Chuan used a corpse as bait and followed a larger Alligator Man to a burrow among crumbling ruins.
• Meng Chuan watched the Alligator Men gather around their leader, a towering creature surrounded by powerful demonic qi.
• The Alligator Men cut their scales and poured their blood onto a stone altar, where demonic qi formed a figure resembling Meng Chuan.
• A beam of green light bathed Meng Chuan and covered him in the bloodstink used to locate him.

Meng Chuan slaughtered the Alligator Men at their village and discovered that their blood activated a gateway revealing a distant divine mountain. He decided to pursue the mystery of the mountain, the palaces, and Brahma himself.

• Meng Chuan charged into the Alligator Men and killed them with his spear, lightning, and martial techniques.
• Meng Chuan defeated the Alligator boss in close combat, wiping out the entire Alligator Village.
• The altar absorbed the Alligator Men's blood, and a beam of green light revealed a fleeting vision of mountains and palaces.
• Meng Chuan recognized the divine mountain from the mural and resolved to uncover the secrets surrounding Brahma.

As the seven-day Demon Nest trial ended, Meng Chuan’s battle merits secured him first place and put North Union University ahead of its rivals. Shang Ruyi and Lan Caixia praised his achievement while Wu Hong left the trial with a stronger resolve to pursue the martial path.

• Xu Qingfeng left the Demon Nest with his spoils and saw that Meng Chuan had raised his lead to 5,671 battle merits.
• Shang Ruyi praised Wu Hong for learning from his defeat and urged him to train the Dragon-Tiger Stance Training and reach the Second Limit.
• Shang Ruyi saw Meng Chuan’s overwhelming lead in the rankings and concluded that his endurance set him apart from other strong fighters.
• Lan Caixia congratulated Shang Ruyi on Meng Chuan’s achievement and said he might one day reach the heights of Principal Sui.
• Shang Ruyi credited Principal Sui’s foresight for Meng Chuan’s opportunity and noted that Chen Xuan had mainly fallen behind in stamina and endurance.

Meng Chuan climbed the growing mountain in Yellow Sand 011 and reached the floating Buddhist palace, where an illusion began to expose him to Buddhist teachings. As the vision enveloped him, black mist appeared and destroyed the scene.

• Shang Ruyi told Sui Chunqiu that North Union University had won the four-school trial and that Meng Chuan was still missing inside the Demon Nest.
• Sui Chunqiu said Meng Chuan might have entered a temple and assured Shang Ruyi that he had left a contingency measure on him.
• Shang Ruyi led the other North Union students away while the garrison brought Chen Xuan out of the Demon Nest.
• Meng Chuan realized that the mountain was growing taller and hurried up it until he reached a palace floating above the clouds.
• When Meng Chuan stepped onto the palace platform, he lost his vision and became trapped in an illusion of a Buddha preaching scriptures.
• As Meng Chuan rapidly grasped Buddhist principles, black mist surged in and shattered the Buddhist light and golden lotus dais.

Meng Chuan encountered Brahma in a spiritual realm and learned that the deity was being corrupted by the Heavenly Demon. After Brahma sent him into a lotus bud as a fortune, Meng Chuan began strengthening his innate spiritual foundation through the scriptures carved on its walls.

• Meng Chuan witnessed an illusion of black mist corrupting Brahma and learned that even the Brahma Avatar could not withstand the Heavenly Demon.
• Brahma told Meng Chuan that the place was Its Dharma Realm and that a fragment of Its soul remained in the human world to protect people with great Brahma wisdom.
• Meng Chuan learned that Brahma was the Form of All Beings after nirvana, sustained by the wishes of living beings, and that he would ultimately have to break through delusion himself.
• The black mist consumed Brahma’s northern head, and Meng Chuan awoke inside a lotus bud covered in Brahma script.
• Meng Chuan studied the scriptures and discovered that his spiritual power had become more solid, strengthening the innate foundation of his spirit.

Meng Chuan strengthened his spiritual foundation in the lotus bud and began fusing four Duomo toughening arts into a new technique. As the illusion started pulling him out, Zhengning manifested Principal Sui’s Three-legged Golden Crow, shielding him from the black mist and the lotus’s force.

• Meng Chuan transformed his spiritual foundation from sand into azure stone, repairing the crack caused by his innate lack of spirit.
• Feeling his Danzhong Acupoint stir, Meng Chuan decided to combine the Duomo Iron Body, Iron Arms, Iron Legs, and Iron Crotch into a personal toughening art.
• Meng Chuan began tracing a new qi-and-blood circulation, but the lotus bud shook as black mist seeped through its cracks and the illusion tried to pull him out.
• Zhengning shone with crimson light and manifested Principal Sui’s Three-legged Golden Crow above Meng Chuan.
• The Golden Crow burned away the black mist and prevented the lotus illusion’s force from reaching Meng Chuan.

Meng Chuan fused the four Duo Mo toughness arts by visualizing the Brahma Avatar, creating the body-tempering technique Brahma's Prison Suppression. He left the Lotus Wall Illusion Realm with a transformed body and a new technique to cultivate further.

• Meng Chuan realized Principal Sui's Golden Crow sun embodied the Dao of fire and sensed the Lotus Wall Illusion Realm was close to collapsing.
• Meng Chuan recalled Dong Yue's advice about visualization and projected the four Duo Mo techniques onto the Brahma Avatar.
• Meng Chuan stimulated the techniques' acupoints, fusing them into an art that strengthened his internal organs, bones, and meridians while expelling impurities.
• Meng Chuan named the technique Brahma's Prison Suppression and saw that it had Proficient mastery and an advanced limit-breaking trait.
• Meng Chuan concluded that the technique began at the intermediate True Skill level and wondered whether his Dao Affinity with Buddhism surpassed his Dao Affinity.

Meng Chuan escaped the trial’s vision and found himself trapped in a strange hall by a cyan light, which transformed into an elderly Daoist who claimed to be human. After learning Meng Chuan came from North Union University, the Daoist appeared to recognize why he did not know him, leaving Meng Chuan poised to ask more.

• Meng Chuan emerged from the vision into a hall filled with grotesque Arhat statues and a cyan glow on the throne.
• Meng Chuan tried to escape, but the hall’s shifting threshold and warped distance kept him from reaching the doors.
• The cyan glow became an elderly Daoist, who explained that he had kept Meng Chuan there to speak with him.
• The Daoist moved them to a concealed mountain valley and asked Meng Chuan about his connection to Brahma and how he found the shrine.
• Meng Chuan described the trial and asked what a shrine was; the Daoist instead asked which United University he attended.
• Meng Chuan answered that he was from North Union University, and the Daoist said that explained why Meng Chuan did not recognize him.

Meng Chuan met Xun San, the Seven Limits Divine Dragon Great Sage, who explained the role of divine temples and the fate of Brahma. He learned that Brahma had given him its final spiritual power and that reaching Transcendent Realm Attainment might let him help Brahma be reborn.

• Meng Chuan recognized the old Daoist as Xun San, the Seven Limits Divine Dragon Great Sage, and greeted him.
• Xun San explained that divine temples let powerful Heavenly Demons steal and convert faith through human-like Demonic Path creatures.
• Xun San told Meng Chuan that Brahma had lingered through its bond with him but had died protecting him, giving him its final spiritual power.
• Meng Chuan asked how he could help Brahma be reborn, and Xun San said he would need to attain the Transcendent Realm.
• Meng Chuan learned that Transcendent Realm Attainment was the Eighth Great Limit and that he would need to ask Zhao Linyuan about it.

Meng Chuan learned that divine temples could let Great Chu’s martial artists enter the Sky Demon Realm and would serve as invasion routes for a future counterattack. After returning to Fengtian, he learned how Great Chu planned to deal with gods tainted by Heavenly Demons and received confirmation that Brahma’s legacy would be passed to him.

• Shenlong Daoren explained that divine temples let Grandmasters above the Fourth Limit enter the Sky Demon Realm and could become teleportation arrays for Great Chu’s counterattack.
• Shenlong Daoren carried Meng Chuan out of the Demon Nest and dropped him above Fengtian headquarters, where Sui Chunqiu told him to rest and report the next morning.
• Meng Chuan called Luo Guanyun and recounted his encounter with Shenlong Daoren and what he had learned about divine temples.
• Luo Guanyun explained that Great Chu would turn temples of Demon-Contaminated gods into martial shrines and convert their statues and offerings into Demon-Suppressing Steles and Martial Arts Aura.
• Luo Guanyun told Meng Chuan that Great Chu would give him the inheritance tied to Brahma’s legacy after reforms, provided he signed a Bone Docket artifact.
• Meng Chuan fell asleep exhausted, resolved to return Brahma’s legacy, and reflected on the Heavenly Demons’ efforts to plunder the human world.

After returning from the Demon Nest, Meng Chuan learned that martial arts and secret arts could lead to divine arts and greater power. Principal Sui taught him Boiling Flames, while Meng Chuan signed a confidentiality oath about the temple.

• Meng Chuan reflected on whether his Brahma's Prison Suppression could help Brahma regain a golden body and resolved to keep cultivating.
• She Yu called Meng Chuan to admit defeat, but he was too occupied with the temple matter to deal with her.
• Meng Chuan met Principal Sui, described the Divine Dragon Great Sage’s power, and signed a Bone Docket oath to keep the temple secret.
• Principal Sui praised Meng Chuan’s trial results and began teaching him the fire-controlling secret art Boiling Flames.
• Principal Sui explained that secret arts could serve as paths toward divine arts, revealing that Golden Touch Finger came from the Sword Saint and Boiling Flames from his own fire-element divine art.

Meng Chuan learned from Principal Sui about the changing effects and possible side effects of traits, then received instruction in the Boiling Flames method. After returning to Yong'an, he planned to advance his mental art and heard that someone he had rescued wanted to thank him.

• Meng Chuan asked Principal Sui whether traits could develop side effects, and Sui explained how traits could evolve as their users grew stronger.
• Sui told Meng Chuan he expected to attempt a breakthrough next year, taught him fire-element principles, and imparted the Boiling Flames method for him to study after reaching the Second Limit.
• Li Zhenyue failed to cultivate the Supreme Celestial Art, then watched a video of a young man practicing Five Elements Fist and praised his performance.
• Meng Chuan returned to Yong'an, saw his Heart Demon Planting progress reach 94%, and resolved to focus on breaking through to the fourth layer.
• Meng Chuan learned that Old Fang's child wanted to thank him for rescuing him from a demon den, then transferred another million to Auntie for household expenses.

After returning to Huaqing Pool, Meng Chuan reviewed his earnings and prepared to sell his Heavenly Demon materials and try a new instructor’s class. He began cultivating Brahma’s Prison Suppression, which improved his physical qualities and advanced from 1% to 2% proficiency.

• Meng Chuan noticed that Li Zhenyue, a North Union University professor and Martial Arts Venerable, had followed him and bought all his courses.
• Meng Chuan returned to Huaqing Pool, received five thousand university credits, and planned to exchange his Heavenly Demon materials and book a trial class with a Xingyi School Martial Arts Grandmaster.
• Meng Chuan added Brahma’s Dharma-body portrait beside Shakyamuni’s and decided to test whether his improved body could handle all four hard-body disciplines again.
• Meng Chuan visualized Brahma’s Dharma Avatar while training, guiding his qi and blood to resonate with his body.
• Meng Chuan completed the practice and advanced Brahma’s Prison Suppression from 1% to 2% proficiency, improving his strength, endurance, and flexibility.

Meng Chuan refined his hard-body cultivation, sold Heavenly Demon materials for credits, and spent time with his friends before returning to training. Three days later, he tested the Tiger Form imprint Shang Ruyi had left in his mind, and the world around him changed.

• Meng Chuan realized Brahma's Prison Suppression strengthened his body's fundamental qualities and let him resume cultivating four techniques together.
• Meng Chuan exchanged Heavenly Demon materials for credits, bringing his balance to 20,007 points, and planned to thank Grandmaster Zhao Shousui with a gift.
• Meng Chuan joined Xu Qingfeng and the others for a barbecue, shared what he could about his Demon Nest trip, and avoided Chen Jingyi's invitation afterward.
• Meng Chuan resumed his daily training routine and, after checking that he had recovered, touched the Tiger Form imprint Shang Ruyi had left in his mind.
• The world around Meng Chuan changed as he activated the imprint.

After entering the Imaginary World through his Azure Stone Foundation, Meng Chuan encountered a terrifying tiger and was killed, then decided to try winning it over with Cloudwater Pills. He continued cultivating, advanced Heart Demon Planting to Level 4, and used the surge of Blood-Qi to attempt a muscle-and-bone refinement.

• Meng Chuan entered the Imaginary World and faced a giant tiger that inspected him before crushing him with a single blow.
• Meng Chuan recovered with a Cloudwater Pill and reasoned that the tiger was connected to Shang Ruyi’s tiger-form mark.
• Meng Chuan decided to spend his remaining Cloudwater Pills trying to befriend the tiger and learn from it.
• Meng Chuan cultivated his mental method, and his Azure Stone Foundation rose slightly as his Dao Heart absorbed and returned Blood-Qi.
• Meng Chuan advanced Heart Demon Planting from Level 3 to Level 4 and compressed the resulting Blood-Qi into Essence-Qi of Blood Essence for muscle-and-bone refinement.