Chapter Summaries

After a year and three months of carefully managing a pregnant woman's health, Chu Mu waited for her child to be born. When the infant proved to have a Fire Attribute Heavenly Spiritual Root, Chu Mu took him away and Chang Hongyi killed the mother and burned the Grand Mansion.

• Chu Mu monitored the pregnant woman and her fetus for over a year while Foundation Establishment Cultivators and servants followed his arrangements.
• The woman wondered why she had been married off and taken from Hope Sky City, but took comfort in the healthy child growing in her womb.
• The woman gave birth during a snowstorm, and the maidservants discovered that the infant had a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
• When the leading maidservant tried to flee, Chang Hongyi killed her and the other maidservants with her red ribbon.
• Chu Mu took the infant, confirmed its Fire Attribute Heavenly Spiritual Root, and left with Chang Hongyi.
• Chang Hongyi killed the mother, and the Grand Mansion burned as the two Escape Lights departed.

After the Grand Mansion burned, Chu Mu revealed that the infant had been created as part of his Heaven-Defying Fate Alteration Plan and arranged for Chang Hongyi to give him a flawless identity. Chu Mu left with the child, whom he viewed as a carefully prepared successor, while the fire erased the mansion and its mistress from Luocheng County.

• Chu Mu explained to Chang Hongyi that the Peace Palace Creation Pill could give the infant a Heavenly Spiritual Root and that the child was part of his plan to enter the Immortal Path, reach Core Formation, and seize his creation.
• Chu Mu told Chang Hongyi to find the infant a suitable family and identity, then guide him into the Longevity Sect as an adult.
• Chang Hongyi promised to arrange the child's background without flaws and flew away to begin.
• Chu Mu recognized the infant's shared root and source with him, along with its True Fire foundation and the Blade Intent inheritance he had prepared.
• Chu Mu took the infant and soared away with his Blade Intent unrestrained, while the fire in Luocheng County burned for seven days and destroyed the Grand Mansion and all trace of its mistress.

Two years later, Chu Mu killed the remaining Golden Core patriarchs of the Fallen Cloud Commerce Alliance while disguised as a Ghost Dao cultivator, then destroyed his record of the people connected to his secret scheme. He believed he had erased every trace, but still worried that someone might uncover what he had done.

• A Ghost Dao figure hunted down and killed Li Changshun, the Golden Core patriarch of the Fallen Cloud Commerce Alliance, and erased his remains.
• Hours later, the figure killed another middle-aged man resembling Li Changshun, then revealed himself as Chu Mu and departed aboard a Flying Boat with Wangcai.
• Aboard the Flying Boat, Chu Mu returned to his usual appearance and marked the deaths of Li Changshun and Li Changyun on a list of Golden Core True Persons involved in his scheme.
• Chu Mu recalled how he had secretly arranged to bring a woman out of the Spark Secret Realm and feared that his research and the scheme's valuable results could expose him.
• Chu Mu burned the list, concluded that he had erased all traces, and watched the sunset while worrying that something might still go wrong.

Chang Er secretly watched over the extraordinary infant Yan Er in Lie Family Village, carrying out orders to guide him toward the Longevity Sect while tempering his heart. Meanwhile, Chu Mu explored the Longevity Sect’s Heavenly Spirit World, harvested Spirit Herbs, and headed to its restricted core to access accumulated cultivation records.

• Chang Er recorded Lie Shan and Er Niu caring for their newborn son Yan Er, whose Heavenly Spiritual Root made him likely to enter the Longevity Sect.
• Chang Er reflected on his assignment to protect Yan Er and follow the True Person’s plan to temper the child before he joined the sect.
• Chu Mu visited Heavenly Spirit Hall and learned that the usual fellow Daoist had left for the Yunlan Frontline, then left him a Jade Bottle containing a pill.
• Chu Mu examined the Heavenly Spirit World’s immense Spirit Fields and compared their mature cultivation system with his own Qiankun World.
• Chu Mu harvested around one hundred mature Spirit Herbs from his thousand mu of fields, then returned to Heavenly Spirit Hall and went to access the Heart of Heavenly Spirit.

Chu Mu accessed the Heavenly Spirit Realm’s records through the Heavenly Mark Crystal Stone and spent several years absorbing its vast store of spirit plant knowledge. Urgent sect notifications pulled him away before he could finish exploring the archive.

• Chu Mu used his True Inheritance Token to open the doorway to the isolated chamber at the top of Heavenly Spirit Hall.
• The True Inheritance Token denied Chu Mu permission to access the Heavenly Spirit World Heart, so he turned to the Heavenly Mark Crystal Stone instead.
• Chu Mu entered the crystal’s records and witnessed the Longevity Sect rebuild the war-ravaged realm and develop it into a Spirit Planting Heaven and Earth.
• Chu Mu spent several years absorbing detailed records of spirit plants and their growth, harvest, and properties.
• Urgent voice transmissions reached Chu Mu through the array restrictions, and he realized his time in the chamber was up.

Chu Mu led the Longevity Sect’s disciples into the Sky Palace Relic and learned that only Sky Palace descendants could access its secrets. He bound Jian San with a Slave Seal, offered him a chance to form a core in exchange for carrying out a task, and watched the relic portal with growing caution.

• The Longevity Sect’s forces gathered at the seafloor chasm, and Chu Mu opened the Spatial Portal with his Sky Palace Guest Elder Token before ordering the disciples to enter the relic.
• Xu Lingtian examined Chu Mu’s flawed origin, then confirmed that the Sky Palace Treasure Vault’s details were visible only to Sky Palace descendants and warned him to keep the mission secret.
• Chu Mu brought Jian San aboard the flying boat and offered him a choice between entering the perilous relic trial or undertaking a secret task in exchange for a guaranteed chance to form a core.
• After learning the relic trial gave cultivators below Golden Core less than a one-in-a-hundred chance of survival, Jian San accepted Chu Mu’s Slave Seal and received a Sword Dao inheritance and instructions.
• Chu Mu sent Jian San to cultivate in seclusion and reflected that his standing as a Longevity True Disciple made the relic and its treasures less tempting, though he remained wary of the portal.

Chu Mu watched Longevity Sect disciples slaughter intruders around the Spatial Portal and discovered that his Sky Palace Guest Elder Token had unlocked the ancient palace’s mission system. He realized the Heavenly Heart might be tied to both the Sky Palace’s collapse and the lost Ascension Passage, and decided that gaining authority within its order could reveal the Sky Palace’s secrets.

• A Longevity Sect disciple ambushed and killed three Foundation Establishment Cultivators who had entered the guarded sea region.
• Chu Mu viewed recordings of Longevity Direct Lineage disciples killing intruders and reflected on the Sect’s overwhelming advantage over rogue cultivators.
• Chu Mu activated his Sky Palace Guest Elder Token and found that its mission interface had become accessible near the Spatial Portal.
• Chu Mu filtered the missions and found three active tasks from the Heavenly Heart, all aimed at weakening the Heavenly Evolution Sacred Beasts.
• Chu Mu reasoned that the Heavenly Heart might have caused the Sky Palace’s collapse and might be connected to the lost Ascension Passage.
• Chu Mu concluded that gaining sufficient authority in the Heavenly Heart’s order could expose the Sky Palace’s secrets.

Chu Mu learned that the Dark Serpent Clan’s Monster Beasts had reached the waters near the Sky Palace Trial relic, while Longevity Sect experts confronted the clan over access to the relic. The two sides stood on the brink of battle after the Dark Serpent Clan proposed searching the area together.

• Wangcai showed Chu Mu an image of Mo Bai and two other Dark Serpent Clan Monster Beasts near the Sky Palace Trial relic.
• A Heaven's Secrets Lineage disciple killed an itinerant cultivator, but Mo Ji’s golden thundercloud nearly killed him before a Golden Armor Puppet intervened.
• Xu Lingtian and the Longevity Sect cultivators confronted the Dark Serpent Clan’s Nascent Soul cultivators over their presence in the sea.
• The Purple-Robed Man argued that the Dark Serpent Clan had a claim to the Sky Palace because its ancestors had helped suppress the Heavenly Evolution Sacred Beast.
• The Purple-Robed Man proposed that both sides search the area independently, and the Longevity Sect and Dark Serpent Clan prepared for battle.

Chu Mu watched the Dark Serpent Clan arrive and wondered why the demons had agreed to enter the dangerous trial land despite its hostility toward them. He chose not to interfere and continued recovering aboard the Longevity Flying Boat as the humans and demons kept their distance for over half a year, until a powerful spatial fluctuation disturbed the sea.

• Chu Mu observed four Fourth Order Great Demons among the arriving Dark Serpent Clan and realized the Longevity Sect had likely reached an agreement with them.
• Chu Mu and Wangcai felt the Ancient Dark Serpent's terrifying gaze, which Chu Mu suspected came from a soul-type divine ability.
• Chu Mu considered why the Dark Serpent Clan would enter the trial land despite its dangers and apparent lack of benefit, but could not determine its motives.
• Chu Mu sealed the Sky Palace Guest Elder Token and focused on recovering from the Peace Palace Creation Pill's damage.
• For more than half a year, the Longevity Sect disciples and the Dark Serpent Great Demons remained apart around the flying boat until an intense spatial fluctuation erupted across the sea.

Chu Mu discovered that disciples returning from the Trial Land had suffered no loss of life source, unlike those who entered previously, and reported the anomaly to Xu Lingtian. After examining a disciple’s memories, the elders found no clear change in the trials and turned their attention to the Dark Serpent Clan’s Fourth Order Great Demons.

• Chu Mu restrained Li Xun as he emerged from the ravine, examined him, and ordered him to record his experiences in the Trial Land.
• Chu Mu examined a returning Qi Refining Completion Outer Sect Disciple and found her essence, qi, spirit, and life source intact, then ordered the disciples waiting on the plaza to inspect and document all returning cultivators.
• Chu Mu told Xu Lingtian that disciples in the Trial Land now showed none of the source depletion he had seen during his previous visit.
• Xu Lingtian used Soul Searching Technique on a returning disciple, leaving him nearly a living corpse, and shared his memories with Chu Mu and two Nascent Soul Supreme Elders.
• Chu Mu and the elders found no unusual events in the disciple’s memories, and Xu Lingtian questioned why the Dark Serpent Clan’s Fourth Order Great Demons had come.

Xu Lingtian fought Mo Tong of the Dark Serpent Clan to a standstill, and the arrival of reinforcements turned their tense confrontation into a battle between the Longevity Sect and the demons. The chapter ended with three captured Third-Order Demon Beasts being thrown onto the Longevity Flying Boat as the fighting intensified.

• Xu Lingtian challenged Mo Tong and unleashed a powerful sword attack, but Mo Tong's darkness gradually wore it away before Xu Lingtian broke through with his teaching sword.
• Chu Mu ordered the Longevity Sect disciples to ready the flying boat for battle as Mo Tong's giant serpent form confronted the sect's forces.
• Dozens of figures teleported into the area, and Xu Lingtian and the two Heaven's Secrets Lineage Nascent Soul experts captured three arriving Third-Order Demon Beasts.
• The Fourth Order Great Demons revealed their True Bodies and attacked, while Mo Tong's serpent cries induced eerie movements and wounded Chu Mu's consciousness.
• The Longevity Flying Boat's bell restored its disciples, who activated its war apparatuses and attacked the darkness as a Nascent Soul battle raged within it.
• The darkness shattered, and the three captured demon beasts—a giant eagle, a White Serpent, and an ape—were sent onto the Longevity Flying Boat.

During the battle between the Longevity Sect and the Dark Serpent Clan, Chu Mu used the Longevity Flying Boat’s control authority to gather the sect’s disciples and questioned three captured demon beasts. The beasts refused to reveal their clan’s secrets, leaving Chu Mu to wait and see whether their elders could rescue them.

• The Longevity Sect’s Nascent Soul experts and the Longevity Flying Boat fought the Dark Serpent Clan’s Great Demons while Chu Mu watched over three captured beasts.
• Xu Lingtian temporarily delegated part of the flying boat’s control authority to Chu Mu through the True Inheritance Token.
• Chu Mu ordered the flying boat to draw in Longevity Sect disciples emerging from the trial ruins, though several hundred had already died in the battle’s aftermath.
• Chu Mu recognized Mo Bai among the prisoners and asked the three demon beasts why they had entered the trial land.
• Mo Bai refused to disclose his clan’s secrets and warned Chu Mu that the battle was far from over, while Chu Mu replied that his fate depended on whether their elders could hold out.

Xu Lingtian and the Suppressing Prison Lineage Master turned the battle against the Dark Serpent Clan, forcing its Great Demons to flee. After collecting the returning Longevity Sect disciples, the sect ordered the Longevity Flying Boat to leave the Outer Sea even though tens of thousands of disciples remained inside the trial relic.

• The Suppressing Prison Lineage Master joined the battle, shifting the advantage toward the Longevity Sect.
• Xu Lingtian wounded Mo Ji and pursued it into the shattered space as Mo Ji and the other Fourth Order Great Demons fled.
• Chu Mu returned to the plaza, and the Longevity Sect gathered its returning disciples aboard the flying boat over the following days.
• The Nascent Soul Great Experts returned on the sixth day, and a command was issued to set sail for the sect.
• Chu Mu saw that fewer than three thousand of the more than thirty thousand disciples who entered the relic had emerged, but ordered the Longevity Flying Boat to depart.

The chapter described Serpent Island, the Dark Serpent Clan’s ancient stronghold, and the enslaved humans whose labor sustained its orderly society. Yan Ming, a former Longevity Sect disciple reduced to a mind-controlled human slave, saw a ruined Longevity Flying Boat arrive and wondered how his sect had fallen before returning to his forced labor in the Serpent Nest.

• The chapter explained how the Dark Serpent ancestor gained power from the Ten Thousand Serpents Fruit and founded the Dark Serpent Clan on Serpent Island.
• The Dark Serpent Clan maintained its ancient order by enslaving humans as Demon Humans and using them to manage the island and its Monster Beasts.
• The clan brought captured Longevity Sect disciples to Serpent Island alongside Dark Serpents and flood dragons.
• Yan Ming watched the procession and recognized a badly damaged Longevity Flying Boat among the arrivals.
• Yan Ming remembered his former status as a Longevity Sect disciple and wondered how the sect and its flying boat had fallen.
• The snake-shaped Slave Seal afflicted Yan Ming, and he returned to mindless labor feeding vital flesh to juvenile Dark Serpents.

After the Longevity Sect’s expedition was overwhelmed by a coalition of sea demon clans, Chu Mu escaped in disguise and killed a pursuing third-order jiaolong. He fled for days with its relatives and other demon beasts on his trail, then stopped at the sea border to face them.

• Chu Mu recalled how the Dark Serpent, Jiaolong, and Crocodile Turtle Clans ambushed the Longevity Flying Boat and scattered the Longevity Sect forces.
• Chu Mu concealed his identity as a Ghost Cultivator and escaped among the fleeing disciples.
• Chu Mu killed a third-order fire-attribute jiaolong, extracted its soul, and refined its blood, but the jiaolong’s kin tracked him down.
• Chu Mu fled across the sea for several days while a fire-attribute jiaolong, three Dark Serpents, and a Crocodile Turtle pursued him.
• Chu Mu stopped at the sea border and calmly watched the pursuing demon beasts arrive.

Chu Mu used the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to hold off a group of Monster Beasts before revealing his identity and striking down the Fire Red Jiaolong. After the other beasts fled, an overwhelming presence appeared, and Chu Mu recognized it as belonging to an old acquaintance.

• The Fire Red Jiaolong and several Black Serpents and an alligator turtle surrounded Chu Mu and attacked him.
• Chu Mu used the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to counter their attacks, but the Ghost Tide began to break under their combined assault.
• A hidden puppet struck the Fire Red Jiaolong with a Three Feet Blade, nearly severing it and revealing Chu Mu’s strength and identity.
• The Black Serpents and alligator turtle fled, while Chu Mu pursued them and called Wangcai out to deal with their corpses.
• Wangcai sensed something in empty air, and Chu Mu felt heaven and earth suppressing him as an old acquaintance’s presence emerged.

Chu Mu and Li Xiu and Xu Ning fought with talismans containing the power of a True Demon and a heavenly jade seal, but a genuine True Demon emerged from a spatial rift as Chu Mu tried to escape. The chapter ended with Chu Mu unleashing his full power against it.

• Li Xiu and Xu Ning attacked Chu Mu with a True Demon talisman, but his corpse puppet shielded him from the giant palm.
• Chu Mu activated a jade talisman that summoned a Dragon Jade Seal, whose heavenly might shattered the demonic palms and forced Li Xiu and Xu Ning to retreat.
• Chu Mu fled while Li Xiu and Xu Ning pursued, but a withered hand wrapped in True Demonic Qi tore through the void ahead of him.
• Chu Mu recognized the figure emerging from the rift as a True Demon and turned to unleash his mana, Three Foot Blade, and Great Sun True Fire.

Chu Mu fought the Nascent Soul Middle Stage True Demon, but his attacks and puppets could not stop it from overwhelming him. The True Demon abandoned Chu Mu to destroy a glowing jade talisman, only for its mysterious pattern to remain branded on the seabed.

• Chu Mu struck the True Demon's hand with his Blade Domain-enhanced dawn strike, drawing blood before the True Demon hurled him into the sea.
• Chu Mu realized the True Demon was likely an avatar or split soul and suspected it wanted to capture him for the Demon Domain Heart.
• Chu Mu deployed twelve Third Order Puppets in a Small Heavenly Cycle Grand Array, but the True Demon shattered the array and its puppets with three palm strikes.
• As the True Demon prepared to crush Chu Mu, Chu Mu noticed a cracked jade talisman glowing with a pattern identical to the one on the Sky Palace Guest Elder Token.
• The True Demon rushed to destroy the jade talisman, but its mysterious pattern survived and shone on the exposed seabed.

The True Devil trapped Chu Mu and struck him down despite the spatial pattern on the seabed activating too late. Wangcai sacrificed itself to blunt the fatal blow, leaving Chu Mu barely alive and facing the True Devil again as his final attack failed.

• Chu Mu donned the Bright Moon Battle Armor and fled at extraordinary speed, but the True Devil bound him with demonic qi.
• The seabed pattern erupted with spatial fluctuations just as the True Devil's withered palm descended upon Chu Mu.
• Wangcai broke free of the Qiankun Pouch and shielded Chu Mu, taking the brunt of the strike as its body shattered.
• The blow destroyed Chu Mu's armor and most of his body, but Wangcai's sacrifice left him barely alive.
• Chu Mu burned his remaining strength and slashed at the True Devil, but the attack shattered and the demon struck again.

A battle-hardened halberd wielder intervened, forcing the True Demon onto the defensive and leaving Li Xiu and Xu Ning gravely wounded. Chu Mu recovered Wangcai’s shattered remains and found its life aura barely detectable.

• A silver-armored halberd wielder attacked the True Demon, driving it back while Chu Mu summoned puppets to search the sea for Wangcai.
• The True Demon ordered Li Xiu and Xu Ning to kill Chu Mu, but the halberd wielder turned his attack on them and accused the True Demon of betraying Great Heng.
• Xu Ning used a demonic-qi jade talisman to block the halberd, but its stored power shattered and the strike sent Li Xiu and Xu Ning crashing into the sea, barely alive.
• Chu Mu prepared to send a puppet to kill Li Xiu and Xu Ning, but an armored puppet returned carrying Wangcai’s broken remains.
• Chu Mu touched Wangcai’s remains and sensed that its life aura was weaker than a candle flickering in the wind.