Chapter Summaries

Chu Mu returned from Crimson Clouds to the Great Chu Cultivation Realm, wary that his fame after the Ba Prefecture calamity would draw powerful figures and trouble. He reached a winter camp near Cloud Ripple Snow Mountain and began reviewing the intelligence available there.

• Chu Mu used his remaining spirit materials to refine pills, then resumed cultivation aboard the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat.
• Chu Mu crossed the Chu River and reflected on his return to Great Chu after many years away.
• After several months of travel, Chu Mu arrived in the snowy Land of Ice and Snow, where the Longevity Sect and the Righteous Path Alliance had fought for decades.
• Chu Mu disguised himself as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and entered the camp beneath Red Peak Mountain.
• Chu Mu sat in a camp tavern and examined intelligence recorded on a Jade Slip.

After investigating the Cloud Ripple Mountain Range, Chu Mu realized the Changping Zhao Family had stalled the Longevity Sect with an immense ice-and-snow domain that monitored and suppressed intruders. He wondered what powered the domain and why its apparent wielder had not simply destroyed the Longevity Sect.

• Chu Mu drank Cloud Ripple Spiritual Wine in a private room at Cloud Mountain Wine House and observed the snow-covered Cloud Ripple City.
• Chu Mu reviewed the decades-long conflict and concluded the Longevity Sect's strength and the region's ice-and-snow domain had prevented it from defeating the Changping Zhao Family.
• Chu Mu learned the domain could monitor and suppress intruders, reducing even Nascent Soul Great Experts' combat strength and helping the Changping Zhao Family kill two Longevity Sect experts and severely wound another.
• Chu Mu deduced that the domain used Divine Soul Aura to identify allies and could focus its power against powerful opponents.
• Chu Mu questioned what supported the vast domain and why its wielder had not used its apparent power to destroy the Longevity Sect.

Chu Mu discovered that his Sky Palace Guest Elder Token reacted to the strange region covering the Cloud Ripple Mountain Range, suggesting a connection between the region and the Sky Palace. After he reentered the region, the token displayed a new blood-red task and sent its information directly into his Sea of Consciousness.

• Chu Mu concluded that the region was not an ordinary array and considered drawing out whoever controlled it.
• Chu Mu found the Sky Palace Guest Elder Token trembling inside its sealed bronze box and suspected the region had summoned it.
• Chu Mu tested the token across the region's boundary and confirmed it reacted only within the region's coverage.
• Chu Mu removed the seals and reopened the token's Sky Palace task list after stepping back into the region.
• The task list produced a blood-red light that entered Chu Mu's mind and delivered new information into his Sea of Consciousness.

Chu Mu accepted a Sky Palace mission requiring him to select one hundred cultivators for a Trial Land more than twenty years later, in exchange for access to the Sky Palace Treasure Vault. The Guest Elder Token then used a mysterious teleportation method to deliver a diamond-shaped crystal to him, leaving him stunned by what it implied about the token and spatial arrays.

• Chu Mu read the mission contract and learned that refusing it would cost him his Sky Palace Guest Elder status, while accepting would earn him access to the Sky Palace Treasure Vault.
• Chu Mu weighed the mission against the opportunity and inscribed his True Name on the contract, binding himself to its terms.
• The Sky Palace Guest Elder Token formed a compass-like pattern and manifested a diamond-shaped crystal through a spatial passage.
• Chu Mu examined the crystal and concluded that the token had performed real teleportation in a way that defied his understanding of array formations.
• Chu Mu compared the token’s feat with the costly, complex teleportation arrays of the cultivation world and struggled to comprehend how it had succeeded.

After discovering that the Sky Palace Guest Elder Token connected him to the domain and spared him suppression, Chu Mu used the Heart Questioning Pendant to test cultivators and recruit one for a future task. He selected Jian San, bound him by contract, and returned to Cloud Ripple City.

• Chu Mu realized the Sky Palace Guest Elder Token had changed the domain’s attitude toward him and wondered whether he could command its power.
• Chu Mu dropped his disguise, confirmed that the domain did not suppress him, and reflected on the Sky Palace’s vast power and mysterious collapse.
• Chu Mu captured five fighting Foundation Establishment cultivators and used the Heart Questioning Pendant to test their will.
• Chu Mu selected Jian San, gave him a sword cultivation technique, and bound him with a Soul Contract to return in twenty years for a task.
• Chu Mu released Jian San and left the snowy mountains for Cloud Ripple City.

Chu Mu had spent months in Cloud Ripple City trying to lure Li Yun out of the Li Family residence, but the family’s isolation and the city’s protections thwarted him. He realized that killing Li Yun was necessary to resolve the obsession threatening his future Heart Demon Tribulation, leaving his path to the Nascent Soul Realm uncertain.

• Chu Mu watched the Li Family residence from Azure Frost Pavilion while disguising his purpose with drink and revelry.
• Chu Mu recalled that his attempts to lure Li Yun from Cloud Ripple City had repeatedly failed because the Li Family rarely ventured outside and many factions watched it for profit.
• Chu Mu assessed the Li Family’s remaining strength and its precarious position beneath the Righteous Path Alliance’s order and the Zhao Family’s influence.
• Chu Mu recognized that he had reached a deadlock and that coercing Li Yun in Cloud Ripple City would be nearly impossible.
• Chu Mu concluded that his obsession with Li Yun had become a fatal flaw that could doom his attempt to reach the Nascent Soul Realm if he failed to resolve it.

Chu Mu followed Li Yun and the Li Family force to Shou Zun City, where they destroyed the city’s defenses and slaughtered the Kui Family. As he watched, he recognized that one of the eight Golden Core cultivators might be the target he had pursued for months, and prepared to seize his chance.

• Chu Mu saw Li Yun and the Li Family cultivators leave Cloud Ripple City, then secretly followed them toward Shou Zun City.
• The Li Family force surrounded Shou Zun City, where Kui Tianshan and the Kui Family prepared to defend themselves.
• Li Yun accused the Kui Family of causing the deaths of 288 Li Family members and ordered its people killed after the city fell.
• The Li Family shattered Shou Zun City’s protective array, killed Kui Tianshan, and began slaughtering the city’s inhabitants.
• Chu Mu considered why the Zhao Family and other Righteous Path Alliance forces had not intervened, then focused on the eight Golden Core cultivators and resolved not to miss his opportunity.

Chu Mu prepared a concealed network of teleportation routes so he could strike the Righteous Path Alliance and escape before the Li Family or a Nascent Soul cultivator could pursue him. By sunset, he had finished setting up the routes and returned to Shou Zun City as the slaughter neared its end.

• Chu Mu decided to seize the opportunity to act against the Righteous Path Alliance, while planning how to escape its territory and the bizarre field afterward.
• Chu Mu reviewed his Teleportation Talismans and Array Platforms, which he had designed after being hunted in the Ba Zhou Basin.
• Chu Mu calculated a relay route using six Teleportation Talismans and twelve one-use Array Platforms, then marked the escape paths on his map.
• Chu Mu signaled Wangcai and secretly left the crowd to set up the teleportation equipment around the region.
• Chu Mu returned to Shou Zun City by sunset, saw that the slaughter was nearly over, and checked his escape routes while watching Li Yun.

Chu Mu annihilated the Li Family cultivators who had destroyed Shou Zun City, then was trapped by a powerful Nascent Soul cultivator. As the enemy prepared to kill him, Chu Mu waited for the concealed Teleportation Array Platform to activate and carry out his plan.

• Li Yun sensed someone watching the Li Family procession, and Chu Mu struck with his Blade Domain and dawn, killing more than a thousand Li Family cultivators.
• A furious old man arrived beneath an Ink Black Banner, sealed the area, and immobilized Chu Mu.
• Chu Mu stayed calm as the old man attacked him with a White Bone Giant Claw and noticed the chaotic spiritual energy surrounding the ruins.
• Chu Mu relied on his concealed Teleportation Array Platform, which was set to begin operating three breaths after his strike and activate the teleportation after ten breaths.

Chu Mu escaped the Li Family ancestor’s pursuit through a chain of spatial passages and was hidden away in a concealed cave, where Wangcai began healing him. News of the destruction outside Shou Zun City spread across the Yunlan Frontline, bringing Chu Mu’s name back to the attention of the Cultivation World’s major powers.

• Chu Mu endured the Nascent Soul Great Expert’s attack until his teleportation talisman opened a passage and carried him eight hundred li away.
• Chu Mu used spatial power to escape again before the old man could catch up, leaving the Nascent Soul pursuer raging without a trace to follow.
• Chu Mu appeared in a hidden cave about two thousand li away, crushed a jade token to activate the cave’s concealment arrays, and collapsed.
• Wangcai emerged, checked the cave, and used medicinal mist from jade bottles to heal Chu Mu’s wounds.
• The destruction outside Shou Zun City sparked rumors and turmoil across the Yunlan Frontline as the Righteous Path Alliance and the Longevity Sect recognized Chu Mu’s involvement.

After Chu Mu destroyed the Li Family in Shou Zun City and escaped, Xu Lingtian and Xu Changqing discussed the strange power behind his slash and the Righteous Path Alliance’s search for him. Xu Lingtian ordered the Longevity Sect to locate Chu Mu, protect him, and watch the Alliance.

• Xu Changqing reported that Chu Mu’s father had been killed by Li Yun after being ordered to escort forced laborers, likely prompting Chu Mu’s actions.
• Xu Lingtian watched a record of Chu Mu’s slash and noted that it seemed to come from Chu Mu alone while also carrying the power of many.
• Xu Changqing said the Li Family and Righteous Path Alliance were searching for Chu Mu, with the Alliance offering Spirit Accumulation Ganoderma for information.
• Xu Changqing suggested the search might be connected to the Righteous Path Alliance’s mysterious Domain and Chu Mu’s escape from its suppression.
• Xu Lingtian ordered the Longevity Sect to find and protect Chu Mu, locate his True Inheritance Token, and stop Alliance cultivators who crossed the border.

After recovering from his near-fatal escape, Chu Mu discovered that his revenge in Shou Zun City had sparked a major conflict between the Righteous Path Alliance and the Longevity Sect because the Sky Palace Guest Elder Token made him an anomaly within the domain. Xu Lingtian summoned him to the Sky Palace, where Chu Mu began explaining how he had obtained the token.

• While Chu Mu remained unconscious in a mountain cave, the Righteous Path Alliance and the Longevity Sect escalated their search for him into fierce battles along the Yunlan Frontline.
• Chu Mu awoke, recalled his escape from a Nascent Soul Great Expert, and gained insight into the power involved in forming a Nascent Soul.
• After healing his injuries, Chu Mu reached Dingbei Camp and learned that both sides were searching for him because of the Sky Palace Domain and his Guest Elder Token.
• Xu Lingtian invited Chu Mu to the Sky Palace and asked about the token’s ability to protect him from the domain’s suppression.
• Chu Mu presented the Sky Palace First-Class Guest Elder Token and began recounting how he had obtained it, while withholding the reincarnation in his mind world.

Chu Mu revealed the Trial Land’s secrets to Xu Lingtian, who arranged for a future trial and offered him help advancing to Nascent Soul. Chu Mu then learned how the Longevity Sect had tracked him and questioned Xu Changqing about the Sky Palace Domain and the sect’s knowledge of the ancient Sky Palace.

• Xu Lingtian asked Chu Mu to record his Trial Land memories in a Heavenly Traces Jade Slip, then agreed to prepare trial participants and accompany him when the trial began.
• Xu Lingtian told Chu Mu to cultivate in peace and use the sect’s secret inheritances to prepare for forming a Nascent Soul.
• Xu Changqing explained that the sect had tracked Chu Mu through the formation traces on his sect token after he emerged from seclusion.
• Xu Changqing said the Righteous Path Alliance controlled the Sky Palace Domain through an authority it had likely gained from the ancient Sky Palace, while the Longevity Sect had failed to obtain that authority.
• Xu Changqing said the sect believed the Zhao Family had likely obtained the domain from the East Lake Secret Realm, which had vanished after the factions fought over it.

Xu Changqing explained that the ancient Sky Palace’s order was governed by Heavenly Heart through the Sky Palace Cloud Compilation, and Chu Mu realized the Sky Palace Domain might still obey that order. Xu Changqing then revealed that Great Heng may have inherited Heavenly Heart and faced relentless wars for over a hundred thousand years.

• Chu Mu showed Xu Changqing his Sky Palace Guest Elder Token and explained his theory about resisting the Sky Palace Domain’s suppression.
• Xu Changqing said Sky Palace cultivators received Cloud Compilations linked to Heavenly Heart, whose order shaped their minds and governed the ancient era.
• Chu Mu concluded that Heavenly Heart, rather than the Sky Palace itself, had ruled the ancient world and maintained the domain’s order.
• Xu Changqing said Great Heng resembled the ancient Sky Palace, required every citizen to receive a Heaven Inscription, and was rumored to possess Heavenly Heart.
• Xu Changqing told Chu Mu that Great Heng had endured constant wars against neighboring powers for roughly a hundred thousand years.

Xu Changqing explained Great Heng’s long wars, vast territory, and tightly ordered society, prompting Chu Mu to compare its rule with the Heavenly Palace and Great Chu. He also revealed that the Heavenly Palace’s collapse severed the Ascension Passage, leaving ascension possible only through a perilous search across chaotic space.

• Xu Changqing told Chu Mu that Great Heng had fought for over a hundred thousand years and grown stronger, while its ordered society differed sharply from Great Chu’s cruel cultivation world.
• Chu Mu questioned whether Great Heng’s Imperial Family stood above its order, and Xu Changqing explained that this depended on whether Great Heng had inherited the Heavenly Palace’s Heavenly Heart.
• Xu Changqing said the Heavenly Heart came from the Upper Realm and that the Heavenly Palace had once maintained contact with it through an Ascension Passage.
• Xu Changqing revealed that the Heavenly Palace’s collapse severed the Ascension Passage, and that the Righteous Path Alliance’s reaction to Chu Mu’s connection to the Heavenly Palace might relate to its link with ascension.
• Xu Changqing explained that cultivators could still attempt ascension by shattering space and searching its chaotic currents, though the fate of past Longevity Sect patriarchs who tried remained unknown.

Chu Mu learned that the Ascension Passage had vanished and that Great Heng might hold the key to restoring the path to the Upper Realm. After wondering whether the Cultivation World had been sealed like a cage, he entered Weiyang Palace and was greeted by hundreds of cultivators paying respects to him as a True Disciple.

• Chu Mu considered how difficult it would be for Nascent Soul cultivators to reach the Upper Realm by shattering space and realized Great Heng might be the only hope for ascension.
• Xu Changqing said Great Heng denied inheriting the Heavenly Heart, had stopped making public statements, and stood apart from the other Cultivation Worlds.
• Xu Changqing told Chu Mu that Weiyang Palace was vacant and explained that a Golden Core True Disciple held status equal to a Nascent Soul Supreme Elder.
• Chu Mu wondered whether the Upper Realm had sealed the Ascension Passage and used the Cultivation World as a cage, then entered Weiyang Palace.
• Elder Qin Qianqiu and several hundred cultivators arrived, and they bowed to Chu Mu and paid respects to the True Disciple.

Chu Mu returned to the Longevity Sect as a True Inheritance disciple and received the accumulated rewards and stipend owed to him. He learned about the sect’s nine True Inheritance seats and the rules for challenging their holders, while Qin Qianqiu offered to help him settle in.

• Qin Qianqiu and the Internal Affairs Hall officials welcomed Chu Mu and delivered his accumulated True Inheritance rewards and stipend in a Storage Talisman.
• Chu Mu examined the vast stores of spirit stones, pills, robes, seals, and materials, and reflected on how cultivation depended on resources.
• Qin Qianqiu explained that the sect had nine True Inheritance seats, whose holders could be challenged by disciples who surpassed them in specified fields.
• Chu Mu asked whether True Inheritance holders had ever been replaced, and Qin Qianqiu said it had happened rarely and not once in the last several thousand years.
• Chu Mu asked about criticism over his appointment, and Qin Qianqiu admitted that some disciples had hoped to replace him before learning his identity and reputation.
• Qin Qianqiu gave Chu Mu a record of sect laws and regulations and said he would be stationed at Dingbei Camp to oversee logistics.

After months of turmoil and seclusion, Chu Mu adapted to his new identity as the Longevity Sect’s Ninth True Inheritance and studied the sect’s structure. The chapter left him surveying the blood-red sky above Dingbei Camp while learning how the sect’s outer and inner disciples served its vast organization.

• News linking the mysterious Ninth Longevity True Inheritance to Chu Mu spread across the cultivation world and intensified the turmoil around Shou Zun City.
• Chu Mu spent several months inside Weiyang Palace, adjusting to his new status and studying the Longevity Sect.
• Chu Mu read Qin Qianqiu’s dossier, which explained that outer disciples completed sect assignments for resources and could advance to inner disciples through Foundation Establishment.
• Chu Mu learned that inner disciples could pursue secluded cultivation or take sect positions as stewards across Great Chu.

Chu Mu studied the Longevity Nine Veins and the shifting balance of power among them, learning that he had become a true inheritance disciple of the Peeking Truth Vein. He weighed the uncertain benefits and constraints of joining the Longevity Sect and recognized how much of its strength and history remained concealed.

• Chu Mu read that the Longevity Nine Veins were the sect’s core inheritances, each guarded by a Nascent Soul expert and shaped by its own cultivation path.
• The files described how the Five Great Clans’ estrangement and the sect’s internal strife had weakened the Yin Ghost and Transforming Demon Veins and altered the distribution of true inheritance positions.
• Chu Mu realized that he was a true inheritance disciple of the Peeking Truth Vein, which had claimed a vacant position after his arrival.
• Chu Mu considered the Peeking Truth Vein’s tiny number of disciples alongside the formidable power of Xu Lingtian and Li Changqing.
• Chu Mu reflected that the Longevity Sect’s public account of its past strength concealed the true scale of its battles and losses, and that he could no longer live as freely as an independent cultivator.

Chu Mu visited the Longevity Sect’s Blood Pool and arranged to restore his badly damaged corpse puppet using its blood qi. After sealing the puppet in the pool, he left it in Chang Xunsi’s care for three years.

• Qin Qianqiu escorted Chu Mu to a large outpost camp near Dingbei Camp, where Chang Xunsi, Yan Ge, and Qiu Chuxun welcomed him.
• Chang Xunsi explained that the Blood Pool held about one hundred thousand units of blood qi, with roughly forty thousand available for use, and offered Chu Mu a discounted rate.
• Chu Mu inspected the Blood Pool and learned that its refined blood qi had accumulated over about ten years from deaths across the Yunlan Frontline.
• Chu Mu placed his severely wounded corpse puppet in the Blood Pool and sealed it with Array Restrictions.
• Chang Xunsi promised to return the corpse puppet in peak condition within three years, and Chu Mu departed.