Chapter Summaries

Xiao Huo accepted Yao Lao’s advice to publicize the Endless Fire Domain’s Golden Military Merit, while Jin Yao revealed her past as an undercover agent to Huan Ye. Huan Ye remained loyal to her, and Jin Yao asked her to look again at the rebuilding Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain.

• Yao Lao explained that the Endless Fire Domain had earned Golden Military Merit by supplying a large share of the front lines’ pills and urged Xiao Huo to accept the honor openly.
• Xiao Huo decided to attend Old Thief Gu’s concubine-taking celebration and planned to explain the Endless Fire Domain’s contributions.
• Dong’er helped Oldest distribute postwar rewards fairly among the Great Worlds.
• Jin Yao asked Huan Ye whether she resented her for helping conquer the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain, then revealed she had been an undercover agent from the beginning.
• Huan Ye said Jin Yao was her family and that she cared more about her master than the domain or Jin Yao’s identity.
• Jin Yao invited Huan Ye to stand beside her and look down at the rebuilding domain, then told her to look more carefully.

Huan Ye learned why Jin Yao’s forces were rebuilding the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain and winning the support of its people. Elsewhere, Heavenly Emperor Ye reunited with the Beginningless Great Emperor, and the two resolved to aid the lone figure blazing a path through his greatest tribulation.

• Jin Yao explained to Huan Ye that most reconstruction workers were former invaders who had spared ordinary people and now helped repair the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain.
• Huan Ye saw cultivators and mortals repairing cities, treating the wounded, and restoring fields and waterways, as the victors sought to earn the people’s support.
• Heavenly Emperor Ye waited at Dragon Spine Mountain Peak until a Space Crack opened and the Beginningless Great Emperor emerged.
• Ye Fan and the Beginningless Great Emperor played chess beneath the Glass Treasure Tree, reaching their ten-thousandth draw.
• Ye Fan said there was no road ahead, but the Beginningless Great Emperor replied that someone was blazing a trail alone and they had to help him face his greatest tribulation.

Ye Fan learned from the Beginningless Great Emperor that they had found the place where “him” was fighting, but would have to sail upstream on the River of Time to reach the past. As they prepared to travel, Ye Fan recalled a mysterious encounter during his own journey to this era and asked whether anyone guarded the River of Time.

• The Beginningless Great Emperor told Ye Fan that he had found the space where “him” was, but not the exact timeline.
• The Beginningless Great Emperor explained that “him” was in the past and said they would sail upstream along the River of Time to save him.
• Ye Fan recalled passing through a strange river aboard the Nine Dragons Coffin and meeting a powerful man who gave him a “Transmigration Loan.”
• The Beginningless Great Emperor described how powerful cultivators traveled into the past to change their fates, despite the risks of others lying in wait for them.
• Ye Fan asked whether the River of Time had an owner, and the Beginningless Great Emperor said no one could control it.
• Ye Fan asked whether anyone served as a warden guarding the River of Time.

Ye Fan and the Beginningless Great Emperor discussed whether a River Warden guarded the River of Time and prepared to travel upstream to rescue someone. As they began to pinpoint the time they needed, a mysterious woman arrived by boat.

• Ye Fan told the Beginningless Great Emperor about meeting a mysterious man on a strange river, and the emperor concluded it could not have been the River of Time.
• Ye Fan wondered whether his Transmigration Loan had been a dream, then felt relieved that no River Warden existed.
• The Beginningless Great Emperor said they had to travel through the River of Time to rescue someone and proposed deducing the exact point in time together.
• Ye Fan said another person was coming, and the Beginningless Great Emperor realized she had arrived of her own accord.
• A white-clad immortal figure sailed out of the rippling void on a Small Boat.

The Ruthless Great Emperor joined Ye Fan and the Beginningless Great Emperor in planning a journey through the River of Time to save someone whose existence was vital to the future. As the three prepared to depart in a month, Su Mu’s repeated failed reincarnation deductions brought him closer to discovering the truth about his ninth reincarnation.

• The Ruthless Great Emperor arrived and helped Ye Fan and the Beginningless Great Emperor use a rune-covered stone disk to deduce the precise time for their rescue.
• The Beginningless Great Emperor confirmed that he had already identified the destination, and the Ruthless Great Emperor said they would enter the River of Time to prevent a fatal tribulation.
• The Ruthless Great Emperor set their departure for one month later, then left; the Beginningless Great Emperor soon departed as well.
• Ye Fan felt uneasy about the journey and moved all his stored treasures into his Dantian World in case of unforeseen events.
• Su Mu resumed his reincarnation deduction, failed seven or eight more times, and realized what his ninth reincarnation was.

Su Mu became the Great Dao and lived countless fulfilling lives, but his belief that he had reached the ultimate peak trapped him in reincarnation. An Old Beggar’s words restored Su Mu’s memories, and he flew toward the Nine Heavens as the ninth reincarnation succeeded.

• Su Mu entered the dream realm, became the Great Dao, and watched over the continent’s people and history.
• He lived countless lives, including those of a hero, emperor, physician, monk, teacher, clan leader, and the continent’s strongest cultivator.
• Su Mu remained trapped in the fulfilling reincarnation, unaware that he needed to awaken and complete it.
• Su Mu met an Old Beggar and asked him what the highest pursuit in life was.
• The Old Beggar said that the peak one believed to be the peak might not be the true peak, prompting Su Mu’s memories to return.
• Su Mu gave the Old Beggar a Brocade Sack, flew toward the Nine Heavens, and remembered that his reincarnation had succeeded.

Su Mu broke free from his ninth reincarnation as the Heavenly Dao and rose to the Peerless Immortal King Realm. He realized that advancing further would require great opportunities, then hurried to the riverbank when a disturbance arose.

• Su Mu credited the Old Beggar's words with helping him realize that the pinnacle he had reached was not the true summit.
• Su Mu completed the ninth reincarnation, awakened, and merged nine immortal apertures within his body.
• Su Mu's cultivation surged to the Peerless Immortal King Realm, revealing the immense gap between it and Heavenly Immortal Completion.
• Su Mu concluded that future advancement would depend on finding great opportunities and treasures, and that he would need to collect more River Crossing Fees.
• Su Mu noticed a disturbance on the river and hurried toward the riverbank.

Su Mu rewarded Little Six for bringing him a rare jade pearl, while a delivery meant for Little Six caused a crisis at the Great Xuan Divine Sect. The Old Ancestor returned to find that Lin Yi had shot the messenger crane and locked it away, and he urgently demanded to know where it was.

• Little Six gave Su Mu a jade pearl containing a fiery-red leaf, and Su Mu healed its injury and rewarded it with Favor Points.
• A white immortal crane carrying a letter addressed to Little Six flew into the Great Xuan Divine Sect's Ancestral Land, where Lin Yi shot it down and imprisoned it.
• Lin Yi told the returning Old Ancestor that he had intercepted a letter for someone named Little Six, whom he suspected of being a spy.
• The Old Ancestor recognized the situation as serious and angrily ordered Lin Yi to take him to the imprisoned crane.

Lin Xuan learned that Lin Yi had injured and imprisoned Crane Commander, the messenger carrying First Lord’s letter, and punished Lin Yi after hearing the letter’s importance. After reading the letter, Lin Xuan replied that he would build Master’s statue and Taoist Temple but remain in his domain rather than join his elder brothers at the front; Crane Commander carried his reply away as Su Mu prepared to make a grand display above the Long River.

• Lin Xuan healed Crane Commander, apologized for Lin Yi’s actions, and gave him an offering that Crane Commander refused.
• Crane Commander explained that First Lord’s letter was in Lin Yi’s hands, and Lin Xuan demanded that Lin Yi hand it over.
• Lin Yi realized Lin Xuan was First Lord’s sixth brother and apologized; Lin Xuan ordered him to face the wall at Contemplation Cliff.
• Lin Xuan read First Lord’s instructions to build Master’s statue and Taoist Temple, along with First Brother’s offer to join the fighting.
• Lin Xuan wrote back that he would complete the construction and remain in the Lin Xuan Immortal Domain to develop the rear; Crane Commander carried the reply away.
• Above the Long River, Su Mu prepared to stretch his limbs and make a grand display.

After increasing his River Affinity to 20%, Su Mu strengthened his water-control abilities and earned Favor Points by patrolling the river. At dawn the next day, he sensed an unusual disturbance downstream and went to investigate, ordering Nannan to stay home.

• Su Mu spent 500,000 Favor Points to raise his River Affinity from 15% to 20%, expanding his Divine Sense and making the river’s mists harmless to him.
• Su Mu used 50,000 Favor Points to raise Separation, Acceleration, Stillness, and Backflow to Level 6 and Solidification to Level 3, then demonstrated his enhanced control over the water.
• Su Mu patrolled the river for an hour, handled more than a hundred abnormal situations, and earned 9,000 Favor Points.
• Su Mu cooked a meal and drank his homemade fruit wine before sleeping through the night.
• At dawn, Su Mu sensed unusual movement downstream, told Nannan to stay home, and headed toward the river.

Ye Fan traveled upstream on the River of Time with the Beginningless Great Emperor and the Ruthless Great Emperor, realizing that he had encountered the same river and a mysterious creditor hundreds of thousands of years earlier. As their Lotus Platforms stopped before an approaching figure in the mist, Ye Fan recognized the familiar presence.

• Ye Fan told the Beginningless Great Emperor and the Ruthless Great Emperor that he had visited the River of Time before and asked whether anyone could live there for hundreds of thousands of years.
• The Beginningless Great Emperor explained the dangers of lingering on the river, while the Ruthless Great Emperor described how time flowed differently there and said dwellings could exist only on weaker tributaries.
• Ye Fan realized that the mysterious man who had lent him money had built a Cave Abode on the main riverbank, though he wondered whether the creditor could still be alive.
• The Ruthless Great Emperor said they were three hours from their destination, and the three continued upstream on their Lotus Platforms.
• The Lotus Platforms suddenly stopped as the river fell still, and rhythmic splashes sounded from the mist ahead.
• Ye Fan sensed a familiar presence approaching through the mist and stared ahead in alarm.

Su Mu appeared on the halted River of Time and recognized Ye Fan as an old borrower with an enormous unpaid debt. Ye Fan confirmed the contract and found he could not repay it with his available treasures, so the chapter left him asking Beginningless Great Emperor for a loan.

• Beginningless Great Emperor and Ruthless Great Emperor watched in shock as Su Mu stopped the River of Time and approached them.
• Su Mu recognized Ye Fan after searching through his contracts and recalled their past encounter.
• Su Mu showed Ye Fan the contract, and Ye Fan confirmed that he had personally incurred the debt.
• Ye Fan calculated that his debt amounted to several hundred thousand years' worth and that his treasures were insufficient to repay it.
• Ye Fan asked Beginningless Great Emperor to lend him money, and Beginningless agreed before asking how much he needed.

Ye Fan, the Beginningless Great Emperor, and the Ruthless Great Emperor gave Su Mu treasures to settle Ye Fan’s debt, but still needed to pay a separate River Crossing Fee to cross the River of Time. The Ruthless Great Emperor paid with the Heaven Swallowing Magic Art, while Ye Fan was left with nothing to offer.

• The Beginningless Great Emperor gave Ye Fan five Space Rings and then all his remaining treasures, but Ye Fan said they were still short.
• The Ruthless Great Emperor handed Ye Fan three Space Rings containing her treasures, and Su Mu accepted more than half of the dozen-odd rings Ye Fan brought him.
• Su Mu returned the remaining rings and told Ye Fan the treasures were enough to settle the debt.
• Su Mu demanded a separate River Crossing Fee from all three, charging one treasure that caught his eye per person.
• The Ruthless Great Emperor offered the Heaven Swallowing Magic Art, which Su Mu accepted as her fee.
• Su Mu told Ye Fan he also had to pay, and Ye Fan realized he had no treasures left after repaying his debt.

Su Mu collected new loan contracts from Beginningless Great Emperor and Ye Fan, then reopened the River of Time and offered to guide the three travelers across. He summoned his Beloved General to escort them, leaving Ye Fan and the others stunned by the colossal beast’s arrival.

• Beginningless Great Emperor returned the Beginningless Bell to Su Mu and signed a loan contract to pay for crossing the river.
• Ye Fan signed another loan contract, resolving to find supreme treasures and repay it quickly.
• Su Mu lifted the Stillness on the River of Time and let the waters flow again.
• Ruthless Great Emperor asked Su Mu to guide them, and Su Mu said the service was free.
• Su Mu summoned his Beloved General to escort the three, and a colossal aquatic beast surfaced before them.

Su Mu sent Ye Fan, the Ruthless Great Emperor, and the Beginningless Great Emperor after three enemies who had reached the battlefield days ahead of them. They arrived at a dangerous stretch of the River of Time as an elderly man in gray declared that Huang’s path had been severed.

• The Beginningless Great Emperor recognized the killer whale’s aura as belonging to the race that had once swallowed an entire Sea of Realms.
• Su Mu recalled helping three travelers who matched the group’s enemies, and the Ruthless Great Emperor confirmed they were pursuing the same target from the future.
• Ye Fan asked Su Mu to hurry them after the enemies, and Su Mu ordered Little Killer Whale to take them there at full speed.
• Little Killer Whale pulled the three lotus platforms through the River of Time and reached a murky, chaotic region filled with whirlpools and dead fish in under half an hour.
• On the Main Battlefield, an elderly man in gray told Huang that his path ahead had been severed.

Desolate faced World Extinction Old Man and six other supreme powerhouses, including three who arrived from the future and attacked him. After hundreds of years of battle, the Seven Emperors moved to kill the badly wounded Desolate, but a bell and drum sounded as three more figures approached through the River of Time.

• World Extinction Old Man, Feather Emperor, Vast Emperor, and Azure Emperor confronted Desolate, who refused to retreat and raised the Desolate Tower.
• Three powerful figures arrived from the future, and a woman recognized Desolate before she and the two others attacked him.
• World Extinction Old Man realized the newcomers had come to kill Desolate, suggesting Desolate would survive the battle and kill them in the future.
• The seven powerhouses fought Desolate alone for several hundred years, leaving him gravely wounded.
• World Extinction Old Man called for the Seven Emperors to kill Desolate, but a bell and drum sounded as three more figures rushed from the River of Time.

Beginningless Great Emperor, Ye Fan, and Ruthless Great Emperor arrived from the future to defend Huang against the Seven Emperors and their allies. Huang realized that old friends still walked the road ahead, though the future revealed that he had opened that road alone and that his death would erase those who came to save him.

• Beginningless Great Emperor emerged from the River of Time and used the Beginningless Bell to destroy Feather Emperor's attack.
• Ye Fan arrived and struck World Extinction Old Man and the other three time-traveling powerhouses, but the Seven Emperors recovered and besieged him and Beginningless Great Emperor.
• Ruthless Great Emperor emerged and fought the Golden-Armored Empress, with the Silver-Haired Man intervening to protect her.
• The Golden-Armored Empress warned Ruthless Great Emperor that their target was Huang, but Ruthless Great Emperor refused to withdraw.
• Huang felt relieved that his old friends had come from the future, while the narration explained that he had forged the road ahead and that his death would erase their future.

Ye Fan, Beginningless, and Ruthless joined Huang against the Seven Emperors, and Huang recovered and grew stronger. The battle turned against them when the Golden-Armored Empress released a powerful shadow incarnation from the Black Coffin, which declared that no help could come from the future.

• Ye Fan, Beginningless, and Ruthless fought the Seven Emperors while Huang's wounded followers watched and Huang healed.
• Huang recovered in three hours, returned to the battle stronger, and began driving the Seven Emperors back.
• The Golden-Armored Empress released a shadow incarnation from the Black Coffin, and the Golden-Armored Woman, Silver-Haired Man, and another follower called it Master.
• Ruthless Great Emperor, Beginningless Great Emperor, and Ye Fan realized that the shadow's power beyond that of a Quasi-Immortal Emperor left them facing a likely fight to the death.
• The Black Shadow told Huang and the others that everyone in the future who could save them had been held back and that they were trapped in a dead end.

The Black Shadow nearly killed Huang with a hand bone from his true body, but the Killer Whale emerged from the River of Time and stopped him. The Killer Whale accused the Black Shadow of stowing away and declared it would take him back to face its master's judgment.

• The Black Shadow attacked Huang with a Void Hand, and Huang shattered it with a punch despite suffering internal injuries.
• The Black Shadow used a Jet-Black Hand Bone to strengthen his attacks, and Huang endured ten blows before reaching his limit.
• As the Black Shadow's Void Hands descended to kill Huang, the Killer Whale emerged from the River of Time and destroyed them.
• The Killer Whale revealed that the Black Shadow had crossed the River of Time as a stowaway and said it would take him back for its master's judgment.

The Golden Figure captured the Black Shadow and ended the battle, allowing Huang to survive and meet Ye Fan and the others. After they parted, Little Killer Whale returned to Su Mu with the Black Coffin, and Su Mu recognized it as a case of illicit crossing that demanded punishment.

• The Golden Figure crushed the Black Shadow's attack, captured him and the Black Coffin, and let the three travelers who had paid the River Crossing Fee go on their way.
• World Extinction Old Man, Yu Hongcang, the Three Emperors, and the Golden-Armored Empress and her companions fled as Huang survived his death tribulation.
• Huang thanked Ye Fan and the others, healed himself, and learned that the Golden Figure served the River Warden.
• Ye Fan and the others said goodbye to Huang and returned toward their own spacetime, unknowingly planting in him the knowledge of his benefactor.
• Little Killer Whale brought the Black Coffin to Su Mu, who learned it had been involved in an illicit crossing and recognized it as familiar.