Chapter Summaries

Oldest and Old Three recruited Zhang Taixuan and the Tai Xuan Church to organize intelligence ahead of the Domain Conquest War, promising the Church a future in the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain. In the Endless Fire Domain, Xiao Huo asked to join the war’s Main Battlefield, but Yao Lao warned that their forces were too weak, leaving Xiao Huo to propose a bold idea.

• Old Three suggested that the Tai Xuan Church handle the vast information gathered for the coming Domain Conquest War.
• Zhang Taixuan said the Church could organize the information in about fifty years, and Oldest agreed to provide whatever resources were needed.
• Zhang Taixuan asked for the Tai Xuan Church to be allowed to establish its lineage in the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain, and Oldest promised to support it there.
• Xiao Huo told Yao Lao that he wanted to fight on the Domain Conquest War’s Main Battlefield.
• Yao Lao used their game of stones to illustrate how Xiao Huo’s impatience could backfire and warned that the Endless Fire Domain would be cannon fodder on the Main Battlefield.
• Xiao Huo said he had a bold idea.

Yao Lao stopped Xiao Huo from rushing to offer Strange Fires or join the Main Battlefield, advising him to develop the Endless Fire Domain and contribute through resource support. Xiao Huo accepted the lesson, then began to propose another idea to Yao Lao.

• Xiao Huo said he wanted to give all the Strange Fires to Master in hopes of winning support for the Endless Fire Domain, but Yao Lao warned that Master would not value them and that haste could ruin their prospects.
• Yao Lao advised Xiao Huo to use the Endless Fire Domain’s spirit mines and alchemists to supply future campaigns, while steadily building strength and earning merit.
• Xiao Huo recalled how Oldest and Old Three conquered the Endless Fire Domain, then treated its people and rulers with respect, helping him recover his Dao Heart and choose sincere loyalty.
• Yao Lao told Xiao Huo that Master needed loyalty and strength more than treasures, and that fulfilling their duties was the finest gift they could offer.
• Xiao Huo said he had an idea and asked whether it would work, leaving Yao Lao wary that he had not learned his lesson.

Xiao Huo decided to unite the Endless Fire Domain’s alchemists and supply the Main Battlefield with pills, earning Yao Lao’s approval. Su Mu discovered that his next reincarnation was Heavenly Despair and completed it, then encountered a mysterious figure beside a cabin in a small lake.

• Xiao Huo announced his plan to establish an Alchemist Guild Alliance and provide the Main Battlefield with medicinal pills, and Yao Lao urged him to act quickly.
• Su Mu cultivated beneath the Golden Phoebe Tree and reviewed his six completed immortal apertures, struggling to identify the final three reincarnations.
• Su Mu found the word “despair” in the Stone Book, entered the reincarnation dreamscape, and successfully cultivated his seventh immortal aperture by experiencing Heavenly Despair.
• Su Mu went out to patrol the river channel, earned unusually few Favor Points, and entered an unfamiliar small tributary to improve his luck.
• Su Mu found a small wooden house in the middle of a lake and saw a figure seated before it.

Su Mu met Su Han, an elderly man living in a small house on the River of Time, and concealed that he was a River Warden while they got acquainted. The chapter ended with Su Han going to fetch wine after learning that Su Mu preferred drinking to tea.

• Su Mu found a wooden house standing over a lake and met its resident, Su Han, who called the area his territory.
• Su Mu introduced himself and said he was thirty-two, while Su Han misunderstood the age as thirty-two epochs and revealed that he was one hundred epochs old.
• Su Mu concealed his River Warden identity and claimed it was his first visit to the river.
• Su Han invited Su Mu into his small Cave Abode and served Dragon Ovum Tea, which Su Mu found too astringent to enjoy.
• After Su Mu said he usually drank alcohol, Su Han went to fetch fine wine and proposed they drink together.

Su Mu visited Su Han and tried his aged wine, which tasted bitter and sour to him but delicious to Su Han. As they talked, Su Mu asked about Su Han’s lake and its fish, while Su Han mistook his questions for inquiries about the strength of his domain; the chapter ended with Su Mu making an unreasonable request.

• Su Han hauled a jar of wine aged beneath the riverbed for fifty thousand years into the cabin and offered some to Su Mu.
• Su Mu found the wine bitter and sour but praised it out of courtesy, while Su Han enjoyed it and asked whether Su Mu brewed wine of his own.
• Su Han explained that he only visited the place occasionally, though he secretly controlled the Small Tributary and believed he was managing much of the River of Time.
• When Su Han asked where he came from, Su Mu invented the name Evergreen, and Su Han assumed he meant the powerful Evergreen Immortal Domain.
• Su Mu asked whether Su Han’s lake had big fish, and Su Han interpreted the question as one about powerful forces under his jurisdiction.
• Su Mu began to make an unreasonable request to Su Han.

Su Mu visited Su Han’s fishing spot on the River of Time and the two began fishing together, with Su Mu using mud as bait and Su Han using a saint-grade pill. Su Han caught several fish while Su Mu’s line stayed still, but the chapter ended when Su Mu’s rod suddenly shook under a powerful pull.

• Su Mu asked Su Han if he could fish at the spot, and Su Han brought out his own Fishing Rod.
• Su Han admired Su Mu’s powerful wooden Fishing Rod and baited his hook with a saint-grade pill.
• Su Mu used a lump of mud as Fish Bait, explaining that his specially treated hook attracted fish without valuable bait.
• Su Han caught five large fish in less than half a shichen while Su Mu waited without a bite.
• Su Han urged Su Mu to change his bait, but Su Mu’s Fishing Rod began to tremble as a powerful fish took the hook.

Su Mu caught Su Han’s Golden Dragon Fish in the River of Time, then returned it and left after learning about Su Han’s fishpond. Back in the Cold Heaven Immortal Domain, Su Han scolded Zhao Wu Hai for being caught by Su Mu’s fishing bait, then learned that the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain seemed to be in trouble.

• Su Mu caught a Golden Dragon Fish from Su Han’s fishpond, and Su Han begged to buy it back because it was one of his key subordinates.
• Su Mu returned the fish without asking for anything in exchange, then left the river channel and decided to let Su Han manage the tributary and fishpond for now.
• Su Han returned to the lake and later berated Zhao Wu Hai in the Celestial Palace Above the Sky for being hooked by Su Mu’s bait.
• Zhao Wu Hai explained that a divine treasure had appeared in the Cold Heaven Immortal Domain and pulled him into the River of Time.
• Su Han warned Zhao Wu Hai to be more careful, then asked about his assignment, and Zhao Wu Hai reported that the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain seemed to have run into trouble.

Su Han learned that the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain was under attack and decided to watch the war before choosing whether to intervene. At the battlefield, a black-robed man gave a Brocade Sack to the Gray-robed Man, saying it was time to open it.

• Zhao Wu Hai told Su Han that an unknown enemy had invaded the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain, taken one percent of its territory, and apparently killed the Cold Heaven Immortal Domain's diplomatic envoys.
• Su Han reasoned that the enemy was prepared to fight the Cold Heaven Immortal Domain too, so he ordered Zhao Wu Hai to observe rather than send reinforcements immediately.
• Su Han said they would join other Immortal Domains to reinforce the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain if it held, but attack the enemy after its victory if the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain fell.
• Zhao Wu Hai asked about the senior who had fished him onto the River of Time, and Su Han warned him not to pursue knowledge that could bring him harm.
• At the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain's border battlefield, a black-robed man met the Gray-robed Man and handed him a Brocade Sack to open.

Li Dong'er revealed that she had anticipated the threat from the Lofty Central Immortal Domain, the Azure Entropy Immortal Domain, and the Cold Heaven Immortal Domain, and prepared three letters as countermeasures. She predicted the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain would fall in 1,320 years and asked the Oldest and Old Three to deliver the letters after 1,300 years.

• The Oldest and Old Three learned from the Celestial Secrets Clan's message that three Upper Immortal Domains might attack after the Grand Grief Immortal Domain conquered the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain.
• Old Three warned that their depleted forces could not withstand the Lofty Central Immortal Domain, the Azure Entropy Immortal Domain, and the Cold Heaven Immortal Domain, so the Oldest paused the offensive to consider their options.
• Old Three suggested asking Li Dong'er, whose command had helped the Grand Grief Immortal Domain seize one percent of the enemy's territory in ten years.
• Li Dong'er presented three letters containing countermeasures she had prepared after studying the neighboring Immortal Domains and anticipating their intervention.
• Li Dong'er predicted victory over the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain in 1,320 years and asked the Oldest to deliver the letters to the three Immortal Domains in 1,300 years.
• Li Dong'er asked the Oldest and Old Three for help with another matter.

Li Dong'er asked Oldest and Old Three for intelligence on three Upper Immortal Domains, prompting them to remember their brother Old Five, who ran an intelligence network. Old Five arrived at the Grand Grief Immortal Domain, and the brothers prepared to introduce him to the famed commander Li Dong'er.

• Li Dong'er asked Oldest for historical and current information about the Lofty Central Immortal Domain, the Azure Entropy Immortal Domain, and the Cold Heaven Immortal Domain.
• Old Three reminded Oldest that their Fifth Brother gathered intelligence, and Oldest recalled Old Five's network.
• Li Dong'er explained that she had inferred Oldest had six siblings but had avoided probing further into his secrets.
• Old Five arrived at the Grand Grief Immortal Domain and was welcomed by Oldest and Old Three.
• Old Five praised Li Dong'er's reputation as the Grand Grief Immortal Domain's God of War, and Old Three led him to meet her.

Night Cliff agreed to gather intelligence on the Three Great Immortal Domains for Li Dong'er, then First Brother pressed him about Second Brother's secret plans. Meanwhile, Su Mu completed his eighth reincarnation and awakened with a new immortal aperture, leaving only the final reincarnation before he could reach the Immortal King realm.

• Night Cliff met Li Dong'er and agreed to gather information on the Three Great Immortal Domains within five hundred years.
• First Brother explained the threat posed by the other Immortal Domains, and Li Dong'er said broad intelligence would help her deduce their secrets.
• First Brother questioned Night Cliff about Second Brother, but Night Cliff insisted that Second Brother was secretly monitoring the war and making plans.
• First Brother asked Night Cliff to stay a few days and take a batch of promising talents with him.
• Su Mu completed his eighth reincarnation, Heavenly Sentiment, after severing his attachments to the mortal world.
• Su Mu saw several small figures running toward him from the riverbank as he contemplated his final reincarnation.

After Little Monkey and the Wild Boar returned badly injured, Su Mu learned they had been tortured for entering a guarded medicine garden and set out with them to find it. Along the way, he discovered that the Stone Book’s final pages had been torn out, and the trio reached a strange stretch of water near a Purple Bamboo Forest.

• Little Monkey and the Wild Boar returned with severe whip injuries, and Su Mu healed them before hearing how they had been captured while gathering herbs and fruit from a guarded medicine garden.
• Little Monkey described a much larger, richer medicine garden by the river, so Su Mu asked the two to lead him there.
• Su Mu stopped for the night because of the dangerous riverbank, heard wolves howling, and failed to deduce the ninth lifetime from the Stone Book.
• Su Mu found a faint mark suggesting the Stone Book’s final pages had been torn out, then continued upstream with Little Monkey and the Wild Boar.
• After several more hours, the trio reached a vast, unusually empty stretch of water and spotted a Purple Bamboo Forest, where Su Mu sensed something and his pupils contracted.

Su Mu entered the Purple Bamboo Forest and medicinal garden to gather seeds, where the garden’s owner caught Little Monkey and Wild Boar. After recognizing Su Mu as the guardian of the Long River, the Daoist Robe Man welcomed him into his courtyard, where Su Mu saw a strange fruit tree.

• Su Mu concealed Little Monkey and Wild Boar, transformed into a Golden Cicada, and led them into the Purple Bamboo Forest.
• Su Mu gathered rare bamboo shoots and seeds, then collected seeds from about a hundred kinds of Great Medicine in the medicinal garden.
• The Daoist Robe Man appeared and caught Little Monkey and Wild Boar, accusing them of returning to steal medicine.
• Su Mu revealed himself, and the Daoist Robe Man divined his identity as the guardian of the Long River before forgiving the animals.
• The Daoist Robe Man invited Su Mu into his pavilion courtyard, where Su Mu noticed a great tree bearing unusually shaped fruits.

Su Mu met Zhen Yuanzi, a reclusive cultivator living by the river, and learned that Little Monkey’s fate had changed after Su Mu taught it spells. Zhen Yuanzi urged Su Mu to value Little Monkey, and Su Mu agreed to look after it more.

• Zhen Yuanzi welcomed Su Mu to tea and introduced himself by his Daoist title.
• Su Mu and Zhen Yuanzi discussed their lives, and Zhen Yuanzi described his long retreat from conflict.
• Su Mu told Zhen Yuanzi that he had taught Little Monkey spells and considered himself half its master.
• Zhen Yuanzi said Su Mu had changed Little Monkey’s original fate and called their meeting a fortuitous opportunity.
• Zhen Yuanzi asked Su Mu to value Little Monkey, and Su Mu agreed to look after it more.
• Zhen Yuanzi called Little Monkey over.

Zhen Yuanzi befriended Su Mu and left him access to the Purple Bamboo Forest’s ginseng fruits and plants before departing the River of Time. Back home, Su Mu expanded his vegetable garden and rapidly cultivated a thriving medicinal garden, then formed a bold idea while examining a ginseng fruit.

• Zhen Yuanzi told Little Monkey to follow Su Mu and said it could visit the vegetable garden with Su Mu’s permission.
• Zhen Yuanzi explained that he had to leave the River of Time periodically, then formally asked Su Mu to become his friend, and Su Mu accepted.
• Zhen Yuanzi gave Su Mu twenty ginseng fruits and permission to pick from the garden before Su Mu departed with Little Monkey and Wild Boar.
• Su Mu reclaimed sixteen mu of land with help from Old Green Ox, bringing his garden to twenty mu, and planted seeds for more than a hundred kinds of medicinal herbs.
• Su Mu irrigated the garden with his Water Control Mystical Power, and the seeds rapidly grew into a lush medicinal garden.
• Su Mu took out a ginseng fruit and, while looking at it, came up with a bold idea.

Su Mu planted ten Ginseng Fruits using river water, while the Grand Grief Immortal Domain advanced against the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain. Jin Yao reunited with her siblings and Li Dong'er, then warned them that she had very bad news.

• Su Mu discovered that a Ginseng Fruit could sprout and planted ten of the fruits in his Vegetable Garden.
• After another fruitless night of deduction, Su Mu's story shifted to the war between the Grand Grief Immortal Domain and the Upper and Ancient Desolate Immortal Domains.
• Little Five delivered the final batch of intelligence to Li Dong'er and told the group that their spies had withdrawn.
• Jin Yao arrived at the Grand Grief Immortal Domain's meeting, where Oldest, Old Three, Little Five, and Li Dong'er welcomed her.
• Jin Yao and Li Dong'er immediately took a liking to each other, and the group caught up after decades apart.
• Jin Yao told the group she had very bad news, leaving Oldest, Old Three, and the others concerned.

Li Dong'er explained that the allied forces would finish conquering the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain in one year, despite three Upper Immortal Domains preparing to intervene. She revealed a plan involving three blank sheets and assigned Old Three, Jin Yao, and Little Five to deliver them, leaving the final sheet’s purpose undisclosed.

• Jin Yao said the Old Domain Lord had traded away his territory and resources for help, prompting the Lofty Central, Azure Entropy, and Cold Heaven Immortal Domains to prepare troops.
• Li Dong'er explained that the Celestial Secrets Clan’s prediction remained accurate: the three domains would arrive as the Ancient Desolate campaign neared completion.
• Li Dong'er said Old Three’s fierce fighting, alongside the group’s intelligence and support, had shortened the conquest to one more year.
• Li Dong'er declared that the war’s outcome would not change and placed three blank sheets on the table as the key to victory.
• Li Dong'er gave Little Five a sheet to deliver to a high-ranking figure in the Lofty Central Immortal Domain and gave Jin Yao one for the Azure Entropy Immortal Domain.
• Li Dong'er handed the final sheet to Old Three and told him that only he could carry out its task.

Dong'er sent Old Three, Fourth, and Little Five to deliver blank sheets to the Three Great Immortal Domains, keeping her reasons secret because speaking of the matter could affect causality. She then told Oldest that he held the family together and reassured Dong'er that Master would accept her, leaving her hopeful of joining their family.

• Dong'er asked Old Three, Fourth, and Little Five to trust her and deliver blank sheets to the Three Great Immortal Domains within a year, before they sent out their troops.
• Old Three, Fourth, and Little Five left the Grand Grief Immortal Domain to make their arrangements, while Oldest stayed behind with Dong'er.
• Dong'er drew six ink dots inside a circle and explained that Oldest was the circle who united and supported the others.
• Oldest added an ink dot for Dong'er, showing her that he considered her part of the family.
• Dong'er worried that Master might not accept her, and Oldest promised to bring her to meet him and said Master would like her.

After the Grand Grief Immortal Domain conquered the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain, Li Dong'er explained how her secret intelligence forced the Three Great Immortal Domains to withdraw. As the family planned the conquered domain’s pacification, Dong'er proposed establishing faith in the Master, and Oldest’s drawing of the Master triggered a miracle.

• The rulers of the Three Great Immortal Domains received blank sheets that revealed their domains’ weaknesses and ordered their armies not to attack, allowing Grand Grief Immortal Domain to conquer Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain.
• At the victory banquet, Dong'er explained that she had deduced the confidential weaknesses from intelligence gathered by Little Five.
• Oldest said that pacifying Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain would be harder than stabilizing Taishang, and Dong'er provided lists of loyal resisters to eliminate, potential administrators, and worlds to reward.
• Dong'er proposed establishing statues and Taoist Temples for the Master throughout their domains to cultivate lasting faith.
• Oldest drew the Master’s appearance, and a miracle occurred when he finished the final stroke.

Oldest and the others found that depictions of the Master shattered whenever they drew his eyes, so they ordered vague, eyeless portraits for worship. In the Endless Fire Domain, Xiao Huo celebrated receiving Golden Military Merit and recognized an unsettling resemblance in the Master's portrait.

• Oldest and the others found that even powerful artifacts shattered when they drew the Master's eyes, and they decided to make a vague portrait without them.
• Xiao Huo brought Yao Lao a Golden Military Merit banner and celebrated the Endless Fire Domain's achievement.
• Yao Lao reminded Xiao Huo to focus on strengthening the domain, and Xiao Huo said the authorities had ordered statues and Taoist temples of the Master.
• Xiao Huo and Yao Lao examined the blurry, eyeless portrait, and Xiao Huo said the Master resembled someone he had encountered while transmigrating.
• Yao Lao warned Xiao Huo to oversee the worship project carefully, and Xiao Huo began to ask him a question.