Chapter Summaries

Su Mu confronted the Golden Crow brothers for wreaking havoc in his stretch of the River of Time, then effortlessly stopped their attack and learned they had come there to recover from severe injuries. He left them alive but questioned how long they planned to keep healing in his territory.

• Su Mu demanded that the Golden Crow brothers explain why they were causing trouble on his territory.
• Little Golden Crow attacked Su Mu with fiery Time Water, and Big Golden Crow joined the assault.
• Su Mu extinguished the divine flames and froze the Time Water without moving, revealing his overwhelming strength.
• Big Golden Crow forced Little Golden Crow to apologize and recognized Su Mu as the River Warden.
• Big Golden Crow explained that the brothers had been ambushed, fled to the River of Time, and sacrificed its living beings to heal.
• Su Mu acknowledged their wrongdoing and asked how much longer they intended to stay and recover.

Su Mu agreed to let Dijun and Taiyi recover by the river for two years, but demanded rent, so Dijun offered their unborn third brother, a Golden Crow Egg. Dijun hoped Su Mu could help the third Golden Crow be born and become a powerful ally, leaving Taiyi anxious as Su Mu considered accepting the egg.

• Dijun said he and Taiyi needed another year to recover, and Su Mu granted them two years but explained they would have to pay rent.
• Dijun brought down a Golden Crow Egg from the treetop while Taiyi protested.
• Dijun explained that the egg held their unborn third brother, whose powerful destiny had prevented him from being born.
• Dijun revealed that he hoped Su Mu could help the third Golden Crow hatch and that their connection to Su Mu could give them another path against their enemy.
• Su Mu said accepting the egg seemed inappropriate, though he inwardly wanted it, while Taiyi grew anxious.

Su Mu accepted the Golden Crow Egg from Dijun and Taiyi, then restored the damaged worlds in the River of Time and set limits on where the brothers could heal. Back home, he examined the egg and discovered that something was preventing the powerful life inside from hatching.

• Dijun insisted that Su Mu take the Golden Crow Egg, and it ended up in the last hidden space within Su Mu's Dantian Space.
• Su Mu froze and thawed the damaged reservoir, restoring the burned worlds and earning 25,000 Favor Points.
• Su Mu told Dijun and Taiyi to keep their healing within the ruined waters, then left them to recover.
• Dijun told Taiyi that entrusting their Third Brother to Su Mu was best for his fate, and that the brothers needed to heal and wait for their chance to act.
• Su Mu returned home before dawn, released A Fei, and showed the Golden Crow Egg to the Five Little Ones.
• Su Mu sensed that something blocked the egg from hatching and abruptly pulled his hands away after probing its life force.

Su Mu learned that the shackles preventing the Third Golden Crow from hatching could be broken with the vanished Fusang Divine Tree, and realized Little Golden Ant might have reincarnated as it. After sending Little Golden Ant a recall command, the story shifted to Xiao Huo waiting for his Senior Brother in the Tian An God Domain.

• Su Mu found ancient, rune-covered shackles binding the Little Golden Crow inside its egg and went to ask Dijun and Taiyi about them.
• Dijun identified the shackles as a curse from the Great Desolate Heavenly Dao and said the Fusang Divine Tree could resolve the problem.
• Su Mu recognized the name Fusang beside Little Golden Ant's name on his status panel and suspected it had reincarnated as the tree.
• Su Mu returned home, searched for Little Golden Ant, and sent it a recall command when he could not locate its aura.
• Five hundred years after the Shepherd Heaven Alliance conquered the Tian An God Domain, Xiao Huo waited outside Zhong Yuan Hall for his Senior Brother.
• Xiao Huo heard his Senior Brother call from above and looked up.

Lin Dong took Xiao Huo to the Sen Yao Immortal Domain to subdue it and the Qing Hui and Mo Gu Immortal Domains, ordering Xiao Huo to prepare his Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus. Though their master's letter instructed them to try courtesy before force, Lin Dong raced straight toward Sen Yao's imperial city, leaving their approach unclear.

• Lin Dong arrived above Zhong Yuan Hall in his ark and summoned Xiao Huo aboard.
• Lin Dong told Xiao Huo that they were going to subdue the Sen Yao, Qing Hui, and Mo Gu Immortal Domains, whose people had killed alliance negotiators.
• Lin Dong gave Xiao Huo their master's letter, which instructed them to try persuasion before using restrained force.
• Xiao Huo explained the letter's instructions, but Lin Dong focused on its permission to fight if persuasion failed.
• Lin Dong accelerated the ark and entered the Sen Yao Immortal Domain, heading directly for its imperial city.

Lin Dong and Xiao Huo forcibly subdued the Sen Yao and Qing Hui Immortal Domains for the Shepherd Heaven Alliance. They headed toward the more powerful Mo Gu Immortal Domain, where Lin Dong warned Xiao Huo that the coming fight would be tougher.

• Lin Dong attacked Domain Lord Lin Yuetian before Xiao Huo could negotiate, then suppressed thousands of Sen Yao cultivators who refused to submit.
• Lin Dong and Xiao Huo left Sen Yao Holy City and traveled to the Qing Hui Immortal Domain, where Xiao Huo prepared fire lotuses.
• Lin Dong ordered Xiao Huo to attack Zhao Zhongtian and the Deputy Domain Lords, then finished them with the Great Desolation Imprisoning Sky Finger.
• Lin Dong suppressed the Qing Hui cultivators who resisted and set off for the Mo Gu Immortal Domain.
• Lin Dong told Xiao Huo that Mo Gu was unusually strong and instructed him to prepare at least a dozen fire lotuses for the coming battle.

Lin Dong and Xiao Huo reached the Mo Gu Immortal Domain, whose frontier marshal Xiao Yang refused to join the Shepherd Heaven Alliance and threatened them with war. They infiltrated the sacred city and destroyed the Deputy Domain Lords’ residences and the formation cores; with the defenses down, they prepared to face the domain’s remaining leaders.

• Xiao Yang intercepted Lin Dong and Xiao Huo at the border and declared that the Mo Gu Immortal Domain would not join the Shepherd Heaven Alliance.
• Lin Dong and Xiao Huo hid their ark and entered the sacred city, where Xiao Huo used Buddha’s Fury Fire Lotuses to destroy the five Deputy Domain Lords’ residences over several days.
• The attacks killed all five Deputy Domain Lords and several powerful cultivators, while destroying the formation cores that powered the ninth-grade immortal formation.
• Lin Dong and Xiao Huo shattered the domain’s defenses and advanced toward the imperial city.
• Lin Dong confronted Xiao Yang with the Great Wilderness Heaven-Imprisoning Finger, and Xiao Yang raised his broadsword to resist.

Lin Dong and Xiao Huo attacked the Mo Gu Immortal Domain after its Domain Lord broke an agreement with the Shepherd Heaven Alliance, then defeated and captured its two Immortal Kings. Their swift subjugation of the Three Great Immortal Domains won them widespread support in the alliance.

• Lin Dong and Xiao Huo confronted Domain Lord Yuan Changwu and an elder in the Sacred City over the Mo Gu Immortal Domain's broken agreement.
• Lin Dong attacked Yuan Changwu and the elder, while Xiao Huo hurled four Buddha's Fury Fire Lotuses at them.
• Lin Dong knocked both Domain Lords unconscious, sealed their powers, and stored them in his sleeve for the alliance to deal with.
• As Lin Dong and Xiao Huo returned by ark, Lin Dong asked Xiao Huo to read a confidential note naming the Black Prison Domain.
• News that Lin Dong and Xiao Huo had subdued the Three Great Immortal Domains in a week spread through the alliance, silencing their critics and earning them support.

Su Mu continued earning Favor Points by purifying polluted tributaries, bringing his River Affinity to seventy percent and leaving him about fifteen months from refining the river. Old Man Zero visited and revealed that he had found the missing Artifact Spirit of the Samsara Stone Ring, intending to restore the ring to its true form.

• Su Mu incubated the Golden Crow Egg in a nest in the Golden Phoebe Wood Tree and steadily increased his Favor Point income by purifying eighteen tributaries.
• Su Mu reached seventy percent River Affinity and calculated that he needed fifteen more months to refine the river completely.
• Old Man Zero arrived by boat while Su Mu was clearing a blocked tributary, and Su Mu invited him aboard to rest and drink tea.
• Su Mu noticed Old Man Zero’s boat and aura had changed, and Old Man Zero said he had become more complete.
• Old Man Zero refused to take back the Stone Ring and explained that it was incomplete because it lacked an Artifact Spirit.
• Old Man Zero told Su Mu he had found the Artifact Spirit and revealed it with a wave of his hand.

Old Man Zero revealed the Reincarnation Ring’s Artifact Spirit to Su Mu and explained the Ring’s importance as a Great Dao Source Artifact. He said a Great Personage had helped him find the Spirit because of Su Mu, leaving Su Mu puzzled about the connection.

• Old Man Zero showed Su Mu the half-inch Purple Little Snake, the Reincarnation Ring’s Artifact Spirit.
• Old Man Zero explained that the Reincarnation Ring embodied the origin of the Reincarnation Great Dao and had been sought after in countless wars.
• Old Man Zero said he had handed the Ring to Su Mu because he believed Su Mu was qualified to wield it and might reach the supreme pinnacle.
• Old Man Zero revealed that an unnamed Great Personage had helped him find the Artifact Spirit and suspected she had done so because of Su Mu.
• Su Mu asked why the Great Personage would help because of him.

Su Mu realized that the mysterious black-robed woman he had met was the Houtu Goddess, who had helped Old Man Zero find the Reincarnation Ring’s Artifact Spirit. After thanking her and seeing the waters ripple in response, Su Mu accepted the little purple snake, but Old Man Zero stopped him as he prepared to put it into the Stone Ring.

• Old Man Zero explained that the Houtu Goddess controlled the Reincarnation Great Dao and had sent him the Artifact Spirit, though he had never seen her true face.
• When Old Man Zero described her as surrounded by Profound Yellow Primordial Qi, Su Mu remembered meeting a black-robed woman whose face he could no longer clearly recall.
• Old Man Zero realized the Houtu Goddess had favored Su Mu, resolved to keep the secret, and decided his fate was tied to Su Mu’s.
• Su Mu asked whether the Houtu Goddess could hear him, thanked her, and saw a ripple spread across the water.
• Old Man Zero offered Su Mu the purple little snake, and Su Mu picked it up before preparing to place it in the Stone Ring.
• Old Man Zero suddenly sprang to his feet and told Su Mu to wait.

Su Mu returned home after Old Man Zero hurriedly fled, then celebrated New Year's Day with Nannan and learned how much she cherished their family life. After Nannan shared food with everyone, she called Su Mu to the riverbank, leaving him to follow her.

• Old Man Zero fled after deciding that witnessing the Reincarnation Ring's secrets would burden him with unbearable karmic ties, and Su Mu returned home with the Artifact Spirit snake.
• Nannan surprised Su Mu with a New Year's Day feast and reminded him that she had remembered the holiday he had established for them.
• Su Mu explained that New Year's Day represented a new beginning, and Nannan promised to welcome every new year by his side.
• After dinner, Nannan washed the dishes by hand and delivered food to Old Green Ox, the Five Little Ones, their subordinates, and the Little Fox.
• Nannan went to the riverbank and called for Su Mu to come quickly.

Su Mu’s Spirit Beasts celebrated New Year’s Day with Nannan, while the Shepherd Heaven Alliance observed a three-day holiday. After Su Mu tried to fuse the Artifact Spirit with the Stone Ring, he was pulled into an enormous void space and struggled to find a way out.

• Nannan gave homemade cakes to Su Mu’s seven Spirit Beasts and wished them a happy New Year’s Day.
• The Spirit Beasts returned to the Shepherd Heaven Alliance and declared a three-day amnesty and celebration.
• Xiao Huo and the other Transmigrators recognized New Year’s Day from their former home but kept their identities secret.
• Su Mu tried to fuse the Artifact Spirit snake with the Stone Ring, and the snake coiled around the ring before transporting him to a void space.
• Su Mu wandered through the seemingly boundless space, failed to activate the ring mark, and grew exhausted.
• A glowing speck emerged from the mark and led Su Mu forward, where he finally saw something ahead.

Su Mu encountered a transparent fruit in a vision and became one of the fruits on a strange tree before waking as a disabled, impoverished vagrant in Chang Xun City. He returned to City Lord Manor during a banquet for Liu Chang Xun, whose modest homecoming concealed how lowly his position was in the Upper Realm.

• Su Mu approached a gigantic tree, ate a fallen transparent fruit, and transformed into a fruit on its canopy as his consciousness and memories disappeared.
• Su Mu woke drunk in a tavern, was thrown into a sack and dumped on a garbage heap, then recalled that he was a forty-four-year-old beggar missing his right hand.
• Su Mu bought clean clothes with his last coins and hurried back to City Lord Manor, where Liu Chang Xun was attending a private family banquet.
• Liu Chang Xun accepted his relatives’ praise quietly because, after centuries in the Upper Realm, he had risen only to a lowly soldier in the Shepherd Heaven Alliance’s Ninth Reserve Detachment.

Liu Chang Xun returned to Chang Xun City, where his family tried to enlist his help getting Liu Lu into the Shepherd Heaven God Alliance. Unable to promise anything, he announced a citywide ceremony at Shepherd Heaven Temple, hoping to renew his faith and confidence.

• Liu Lu toasted Liu Chang Xun, while his parents praised him and asked Liu Chang Xun to guide their son toward joining the God Alliance.
• Liu Chang Xun corrected Liu Lu’s father for framing service to the Alliance as helping Liu Chang Xun, and Liu Lu vowed to serve the Alliance.
• Liu Chang Xun explained that he lacked the influence to secure Liu Lu a place and asked when the Alliance would next recruit soldiers.
• Liu Chang Xun changed the subject and announced that he would hold a grand ceremony to worship the Master at Shepherd Heaven Temple in two days.
• Liu Chang Xun told Liu Lu’s father to arrange the ceremony, then left to rest.

Su Mu worked at the City Lord Manor as Chang Xun City prepared for Liu Chang Xun’s return and a grand pilgrimage to Shepherd Heaven Temple. When Su Mu realized he had no memory of the temple, Wu Han warned him against blasphemy, leaving Su Mu questioning his past as the pilgrimage approached.

• News spread that former City Lord Liu Chang Xun had returned from the Upper Realm and would lead a citywide pilgrimage to Shepherd Heaven Temple.
• As workers prepared for the ceremony, Su Mu asked Wu Han what Shepherd Heaven Temple was, and Wu Han warned him that blasphemy was a capital offense.
• Wu Han defended his faith in Shepherd Heaven Temple and Master, then left Su Mu alone in a warehouse to sober up.
• Su Mu spent the day wondering why he had no memory of the temple or its importance.
• Wu Han returned after finishing Su Mu’s work and said he was thrilled to attend the pilgrimage the next day.

Su Mu questioned Wu Han about the Shepherd Heaven Temple and the Master worshipped by the God Alliance, provoking Wu Han’s anger before hearing why he remained devoted. Wu Han described his humble but safe life and his beloved family, then told Su Mu that he was wrong to think the Master had never helped him.

• Su Mu admitted that his memories were muddled and asked Wu Han what was inside the Shepherd Heaven Temple.
• Wu Han explained that the temple held a statue of the God Alliance’s Master and became furious when Su Mu called their faith brainwashing.
• Wu Han forgave Su Mu after he apologized, then explained that surviving safely for forty-eight years despite being unable to cultivate had left him deeply grateful.
• Wu Han showed Su Mu a portrait of his wife and daughter and told him how much the girl had loved the paper pinwheel Su Mu gave her.
• Su Mu asked what Wu Han’s family happiness had to do with the Master, and Wu Han smiled and said Su Mu was wrong.

Wu Han told Su Mu how the Shepherd Heaven God Alliance and the Pilgrimage Road had ended his family's generations of vengeance and made Master his faith. He revealed that his greatest dream was to meet Master, then excitedly said he would see Master's statue at Shepherd Heaven Temple the next day.

• Wu Han explained that the Shepherd Heaven God Alliance had united the Eastern Yuan Continent and established the Pilgrimage Road, where enemies could settle their grudges without seeking revenge afterward.
• Wu Han recounted how his family's enemies hunted him after his grandfather killed a young master, and how he later fled with his wife and daughter when assassins came for them.
• Wu Han accepted the assassins' challenge to settle their grudge on the Pilgrimage Road and survived three years of pursuit until he reached Shepherd Heaven Temple.
• The twenty assassins laid down their blades before Shepherd Heaven Temple and left after patting Wu Han's shoulder, ending his family's generations of hatred.
• Wu Han told Su Mu that his greatest dream was to meet Master, and said he would see Master's statue at Shepherd Heaven Temple the following day.

Su Mu and Wu Han joined Chang Xun City's procession to worship at the Shepherd Heaven Temple, where the city’s people gathered to offer tribute to the God Alliance. After Liu Chang Xun led the procession east, Su Mu and Wu Han finally saw a structure ahead.

• Wu Han told Su Mu that the Shepherd Heaven Temple contained Master's statue, then tucked the portrait against his chest as they rested.
• Chang Xun City's citizens prepared for the pilgrimage, and Wu Han and Su Mu helped load thousands of tribute carriages.
• Liu Chang Xun addressed the city, praising the God Alliance and urging everyone to serve it, then led the procession toward the temple.
• Wu Han shared flatbread with Su Mu as they traveled east, and the two saw a structure ahead after several hours.

Su Mu learned that Shepherd Heaven Temple’s humble roof tiles symbolized the God Alliance’s care for ordinary people, and he was deeply moved by its values. During the worship ceremony, an inexplicable summons drew him toward the temple, leaving the gathered crowd staring as he climbed its steps.

• Su Mu asked Wu Han why the magnificent Shepherd Heaven Temple had ordinary roof tiles, and Wu Han explained that they represented the God Alliance protecting and valuing ordinary people.
• Su Mu developed deep respect for the God Alliance after learning that the ceremony’s offerings would support poorer towns and continents.
• Liu Chang Xun led the crowd in kneeling before Shepherd Heaven Temple at noon.
• Su Mu remained standing, felt a summons from within the temple, and began climbing its steps as the crowd raised their heads in alarm.