Chapter Summaries

Xiao Huo and Wang Lin both passed the Original Heart Assessment, while Zhang Xiaofan manifested three Immortal Seals, leaving Zhang Taixuan unable to decide who should receive the sole Immortal Crystal. Winter Alliance Master responded to Zhang Taixuan’s report by sending three crystals and a letter, whose contents stunned him.

• Zhang Taixuan discovered that Xiao Huo and Wang Lin each manifested two Immortal Seals, while Zhang Xiaofan manifested three, and reported that two candidates had passed despite the assessment having one quota.
• Zhang Taixuan sent a letter to the upper echelons, and Xiao Huo returned to his residence worried that Wang Lin’s connection to the Third Alliance Master would decide who received the Immortal Crystal.
• Yun Tian tried to console Xiao Huo, who explained that the Endless Fire Domain was counting on him and that the next opportunity could be years away.
• Winter Alliance Master read Zhang Taixuan’s report, prepared three transparent crystals and a letter, and sent them with an Azure Phoenix.
• The Azure Phoenix delivered the boxes and Winter Alliance Master’s letter to Zhang Taixuan, who activated his Cave Abode’s barrier and froze in disbelief as he read it.

Zhang Taixuan delivered the Alliance Leader’s rewards to Wang Lin and Xiao Huo, assuring them that both had earned an Immortal Crystal fairly. He then visited Zhang Xiaofan, who remained determined to improve after failing to pass the assessment’s first two stages.

• Zhang Taixuan awarded Wang Lin an Immortal Crystal, and Wang Lin asked whether he could compete again to prove he had earned it fairly.
• Zhang Taixuan assured Wang Lin that his reward came through his own strength and told him he would soon become a Lower Immortal Domain’s Domain Lord and an alliance general.
• Zhang Taixuan awarded Xiao Huo an Immortal Crystal, and Xiao Huo asked whether he could compete again for the sake of fairness.
• Zhang Taixuan told Xiao Huo that Wang Lin had also received an Immortal Crystal because Winter Alliance Master had made an exception for both assessment passers.
• Zhang Xiaofan told Zhang Taixuan he planned to return for the next assessment and hoped to pass its first two stages; Zhang Taixuan then ordered him to receive the Alliance Leader’s decree.

Zhang Xiaofan received an Immortal Crystal by order of Winter Alliance Master despite believing he had failed the assessment. He chose to save it until he could pass openly, leaving Zhang Taixuan more convinced of Winter Alliance Master’s role in the Shepherd Heaven Alliance’s unity.

• Zhang Taixuan told Zhang Xiaofan that Winter Alliance Master had awarded him an Immortal Crystal, and Zhang Xiaofan accepted it after learning that Xiao Huo and Wang Lin had received one as well.
• Zhang Xiaofan said he would store the crystal until his strength qualified him to pass the assessment and use it without damaging Winter Alliance Master's prestige.
• Zhang Taixuan praised Zhang Xiaofan's resolve and left, reflecting on Winter Alliance Master's influence on the Alliance's cohesion.
• A blood-soaked figure entered Green Fragrance Courtyard on Southern Shepherd Immortal Island, and Dong'er stood up.

Old Three returned injured from Green Yang Immortal City with a plan to steal a divine treasure, and Dong'er showed him how to break its protective formation. Elsewhere, ten dark figures declared Huang nearly defeated, while Su Mu spotted a River Crossing Person drifting down the Long River and went to meet them.

• Old Three arrived at the courtyard covered in blood and told Oldest that Deputy Domain Lords had driven him away from a divine treasure in Green Yang Immortal City.
• Old Three showed Dong'er the treasure’s protective formation, and she drew a complete formation diagram with the cores that had to be destroyed in order.
• Old Three planned to recruit Little Five to help steal the treasure, but Oldest warned him after recalling that Little Five had spent a long time recovering from their previous adventure.
• Ten dark figures on the Weird Plateau claimed they had cut off Huang’s escape routes and worn him down, and the central figure celebrated their apparent victory.
• Su Mu noticed a River Crossing Person drifting down the Long River, stopped the water, and walked toward the newcomer.

Chu Feng crossed the River of Time and met Su Mu, its river warden, who demanded a crossing fee. After accepting Chu Feng’s offerings, Su Mu offered to help him reach the Source of the Strange, where Ye Fan and two others had gone before.

• Su Mu stopped Chu Feng on the River of Time and demanded a treasure as the crossing fee.
• Su Mu chose Chu Feng’s Stone Jar, but relented when Chu Feng explained it was his Natal Magic Treasure.
• Chu Feng offered Su Mu three magic treasures, and Su Mu accepted them as the fee.
• Chu Feng told Su Mu that Ye Fan was one of the seniors who had advised him, and Su Mu recalled that Ye Fan still owed him a lot.
• Su Mu recognized Chu Feng’s destination as the place Ye Fan and two others had visited and offered to help him.
• Chu Feng excitedly asked whether Su Mu truly meant to help him reach the Source of the Strange.

Su Mu sent Chu Feng toward the Source of the Strange on the Little Killer Whale, and Chu Feng uncovered a hidden plan to give unpolluted worlds more time to grow. At the end of the tributary, he realized Huang had severed the ages and was facing the Source of the Strange alone.

• Su Mu summoned the Little Killer Whale and told it to take Chu Feng to the Source of the Strange.
• The Little Killer Whale carried Chu Feng through a strange tributary where sections of the current flowed at different speeds.
• Chu Feng concluded that the faster-flowing, unpolluted worlds had been given extra time to develop and prepare to resist the Source of the Strange.
• Chu Feng asked the Little Killer Whale to travel farther than its previous destination, and they reached the end of the tributary.
• Chu Feng realized Huang had severed the ages and was confronting the Source of the Strange alone.

Chu Feng discovered that Huang had severed time itself to keep the Source of the Strange from corrupting later generations, and decided to send him the Stone Jar without joining his battle. As Huang faced the ten Weird Progenitors’ final attack, a disturbance in the void scattered the destructive light.

• Chu Feng realized Huang had cut off the ages and fought alone to protect later generations from the Source of the Strange.
• Chu Feng decided to deliver the Stone Jar to Huang rather than risk weakening Huang’s barrier by joining the fight.
• Chu Feng asked the Killer Whale to help, and it agreed to open a brief passage so he could throw the Stone Jar through.
• On the Weird Plateau, the ten Weird Progenitors attacked the exhausted Huang, who refused to retreat.
• The void trembled and scattered the black radiance about to engulf Huang.

Chu Feng sent the Stone Jar from the future to Huang, who healed his wounds and pursued the ten Progenitors into the Weird Plateau. While paying the Killer Whale to keep watching, Chu Feng noticed the plateau’s strange layout and realized Huang was in danger, but he could no longer warn him.

• A voice from the future told Huang that Chu Feng had come to help, and Huang caught the Stone Jar sent through the River of Time.
• Huang activated the Stone Jar, healed his accumulated injuries, and gained the Weird Plateau’s momentum, frightening the ten Progenitors.
• The ten Progenitors fled deeper into the plateau, and Huang pursued them with the Stone Jar.
• The Killer Whale closed the viewing passage, but Chu Feng paid it with a Space Ring to reopen the light screen for one night.
• Chu Feng noticed the plateau’s layout and shouted for Huang not to chase the Progenitors, then realized Huang could no longer hear him.

Chu Feng realized the Weird Plateau was a coffin concealing the true source of the Strange, while Huang pursued the progenitors and split the plateau apart. As a hidden aura awakened beneath the opened fissure, Chu Feng understood Huang had exposed the grave’s lid rather than destroyed its buried occupant.

• Chu Feng saw from the River of Time that the Weird Plateau resembled a coffin and suspected the ten Weird Progenitors served a greater power buried beneath it.
• The Killer Whale confirmed the progenitors were minor lackeys empowered by someone’s ashes and warned Chu Feng not to enter the plateau.
• Huang pursued the ten progenitors into the plateau with the Stone Jar and defeated them when they attacked together.
• Huang struck the plateau with an Immortal Qi Spirit Sword, splitting it in two and weakening its aura.
• Chu Feng watched the fissure and realized Huang had only opened the plateau’s coffin lid as an aura began awakening below.

Huang’s strike opened the Weird Plateau and revealed the Black Coffin buried beneath it, exposing the true Source of the Strange. As the ten Weird Progenitors lost their power and realized they might have been sacrifices all along, Chu Feng looked to Senior Killer Whale, who calmly told him to keep watching.

• The ten Weird Progenitors recalled how opening the Black Coffin long ago released black blood that transformed them, raised them to Sacrificial Dao, and bound their strength to the plateau.
• Huang’s sword strike split the plateau, and the awakened force beneath it froze time and space while draining the Progenitors’ power down to Quasi-Immortal Emperor.
• A pitch-black coffin rose from the fissure, and the Progenitors realized it had been beneath them all along and might have used them as sacrifices.
• Chu Feng recognized the coffin as the true Source of the Strange, while Senior Killer Whale said the real boss had appeared.
• Chu Feng anxiously asked what to do, but Senior Killer Whale told him not to panic and to keep watching.

The Stone Jar swallowed Huang and sealed him beneath the Weird Plateau, leaving the ten Weird Progenitors weakened and trapped there. Chu Feng learned Huang was still alive and returned to the River of Time, where Su Mu found him exhausted and asked what had happened.

• The Stone Jar escaped Huang's control, swallowed him, and fell beneath the Weird Plateau with the black coffin as the plateau restored itself.
• Killer Whale told Chu Feng that Huang had been sealed rather than killed and that later generations would have to break the deadlock.
• The ten Weird Progenitors realized their Sacrifice Dao cultivation had been false, then followed First Brother's order to keep cultivating and submit to the power above them.
• Huang's severing of the ages left the ten progenitors unable to affect later generations, buying them time to grow.
• Chu Feng returned to the River of Time on a small wooden boat, and Su Mu found him haggard and asked what had happened to his Natal Magic Treasure.

Chu Feng gave Su Mu a crystal containing what he had learned about the Weird Plateau and left his treasures with him before setting out for a stronger world. After Chu Feng departed, Su Mu began his patrol, but a colossal creature suddenly approached.

• Su Mu learned that Chu Feng had given away the Stone Jar himself, so he declined to pursue the matter beyond the river.
• Chu Feng asked Su Mu to give Ye Fan a crystal recording his discoveries and messages if Ye Fan ever came by.
• Chu Feng handed Su Mu his Space Ring, explaining that he planned to start over in another world and build a connection with the senior.
• Chu Feng sailed away on the Small Boat, intending to grow stronger before returning to save Huang and sever the Weird Plateau.
• Su Mu put away the Space Ring and began his patrol, but a colossal creature rapidly approached him.

Su Mu spent Favor Points to raise his River Affinity to forty percent and gained a much clearer sense of control over the River of Time. Meanwhile, Oldest and Dong'er received urgent reports from the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain’s border and moved to respond.

• Killer Whale gave Su Mu a storage bag of treasures he had received from Chu Feng, and Su Mu accepted it as a fair reward for helping him cross the river.
• Su Mu began his patrol, lamented his lower daily earnings, and spent 400,000 Favor Points to raise his River Affinity from 36% to 40%.
• Su Mu sensed a stronger connection to the River of Time and found that his Divine Sense could reach across four-tenths of its Main River Channel.
• Oldest received an urgent report, destroyed it in anger, and rode an Azure Phoenix toward the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain’s border.
• Dong'er received a secret report from the front lines and sent a Snowy Eagle to deliver a purple Brocade Sack to the Grand Alliance Master.

Oldest annihilated a billion-strong enemy army threatening the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain, then returned to find Little Five gravely injured and Old Three wounded. Old Three claimed he had brought back a powerful treasure for Master, leaving Oldest to hear how it had caused their injuries.

• Oldest arrived at the northern border, learned that only thirty million troops were defending against a billion enemies, and initially ordered two billion reinforcements to be mobilized.
• After receiving a message in a Brocade Sack, Oldest canceled the reinforcement order and identified two arriving streaks of light as allies.
• Oldest faced the billion-strong enemy army alone and destroyed it with a Black Dragon phantom in three breaths.
• Oldest returned to Green Fragrance Courtyard, found Little Five unconscious with severe injuries, and scolded Old Three for failing to protect him.
• Oldest gave Little Five a golden pill and confirmed that his life was no longer in danger.
• Old Three told Oldest that he had returned with a top-tier treasure for Master and that it was the reason Little Five had been badly hurt and they had been pursued by the Longevity Immortal Domain's army.

Old Three revealed that he had stolen a heart-shaped crystal from beneath the Longevity Immortal Domain's Imperial City, triggering a crisis that he and Dong'er managed to divert toward a hundred other Immortal Domains. Dong'er examined the crystal and declared that they had made a huge profit.

• Old Three showed Oldest the crystal and explained how stealing it caused tremors across the Longevity Immortal Domain and led its rulers to pursue him and Little Five.
• Old Three said he had created a hundred avatars to send the pursuers toward different Immortal Domains, avoiding immediate suspicion of the Ancient Desolate Immortal Domain.
• Dong'er explained that she had arranged for Oldest to conceal his reaction so the Longevity Immortal Domain would not suspect their involvement.
• The Longevity Immortal Domain's army threatened the Ancient Peace Immortal Domain and demanded that it surrender the thief, while similar confrontations unfolded at other borders.
• Old Three asked Dong'er to identify the crystal, and she concluded that they had made a huge profit.

Dong'er explained that the crystal Old Three stole contained a third of the Longevity Immortal Domain’s Innate Rule Source, and First Brother realized its loss would weaken the domain and delay its response. Old Three and Little Five set off to deliver the crystal to Master, while Su Mu wandered by the river, lamenting how hard Favor Points had become to earn.

• Dong'er explained that the heart-shaped crystal held the remaining third of the Longevity Immortal Domain’s Innate Rule Source, whose loss had cut off part of the domain’s future potential.
• Old Three and First Brother realized the Longevity Immortal Domain would investigate the theft but would likely stay hidden for fifty thousand years as its resources weakened.
• First Brother said the crystal should be delivered to Master and reminded Old Three that their goal was to conquer higher worlds for Master.
• First Brother told Old Three to take Little Five to Master once he woke, and Old Three immediately set off with Little Five and the crystal.
• Su Mu wandered along the riverbank and complained that Favor Points were getting harder to earn.

Su Mu spent a day tending to small problems along the river, which calmed his impatience about earning fewer Favor Points. Old Three and Little Five returned injured with a treasure, and after caring for and rewarding them, Su Mu went home to dinner with Nannan.

• Su Mu rescued stranded river creatures and cleared weeds and debris, earning eight hundred Favor Points while finding peace in the work.
• Old Three and Little Five came ashore, and Su Mu healed their injuries for eight hundred Favor Points.
• Su Mu accepted a small box containing an unusual treasure and spent four thousand Favor Points helping Old Three and Little Five grow.
• Su Mu praised the pair, told them not to take such risks, and let them return to the river.
• Su Mu went home and had dinner with Nannan, reflecting that he had been too anxious and should not rush things.

Su Mu offered Nannan a chance to leave the river and play, but she chose to stay by him and gave him a notebook of her patrol observations. After promising to celebrate her tenth birthday somewhere beautiful, he agreed to teach her cultivation and planned to prepare her for life beyond the river, but Nannan presented him with a written plan of her own.

• Su Mu asked Nannan to go out with Oldest, but she refused and gave him a notebook documenting unusual events from her river patrols.
• Su Mu noticed Nannan was staying up to read cultivation books and had reached perfected Human Immortal despite being not yet six years old.
• Nannan told Su Mu she trusted he had his reasons for keeping them on the river, and he promised to hold a beautiful celebration for her tenth birthday.
• Su Mu decided to refine the river and leave within five years, then agreed to teach Nannan cultivation and told her she could stop patrolling.
• Nannan asked Su Mu to look at a better plan she had written in a notebook.

Su Mu discovered Nannan’s extraordinary cultivation talent and agreed to teach her, then refined a treasure that advanced him into the Immortal Emperor Realm. He resumed patrolling the river and began Nannan’s cultivation lessons that night.

• Su Mu read Nannan’s cultivation notebook and was astonished that her ideas, including novel Golden Core methods, were correct despite her having no prior cultivation knowledge.
• Nannan asked to patrol with Su Mu by day and cultivate at night, and Su Mu agreed to teach her each night if she took her training seriously.
• Su Mu refined the heart-shaped crystal from Old Three and Little Five, experienced a vision of a world forming, and woke at dawn having advanced from Half-Step Immortal Emperor to Immortal Emperor Realm.
• Nannan told Su Mu that he had turned into a ball of golden light while cultivating and that the disturbance had wrecked the courtyard.
• Su Mu followed Nannan’s patrol records, handled three hundred situations, and earned eighty thousand Favor Points.
• After dinner, Su Mu taught Nannan how to sit in meditation, and she asked whether she was holding the posture correctly.

Su Mu discovered that Nannan learned cultivation with extraordinary speed, reaching the perfected Human Immortal Realm and mastering several levels of a cultivation art almost immediately. After earning a large number of Favor Points while patrolling, Su Mu heard snoring from the grass beside the river channel and went to investigate.

• Nannan learned to mobilize spiritual energy and form a miniature spatial formation in one hour, astonishing Su Mu.
• Over the next three nights, Nannan comprehended cultivation from the Qi Refining Realm through the Human Immortal Realm, so Su Mu began teaching her the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art.
• Nannan perfected the first level of the art overnight and had already reached the third level, though Su Mu had not taught it to her.
• Su Mu cleared a blocked tributary and rescued more than a hundred Great River Turtles, earning twenty-four thousand Favor Points in one day.
• On his way home, Su Mu heard snoring in the grass beside the river channel and went to investigate.