Chapter Summaries

Chu Mu used his remaining strength to preserve Wangcai's life as a halberd-wielding man defeated and captured the True Demon incarnation. The man offered Chu Mu a chance to recover in Great Heng because of his connection to the Demon Domain, but Chu Mu refused for now and was left with intense hatred for the one who had nearly destroyed him and Wangcai.

• Chu Mu sealed Wangcai's ruined body in a vitality-filled Jade Box, preserving its final thread of life.
• The halberd-wielding man repeatedly defeated the True Demon incarnation, then captured it in a blood-red battle flag marked with the character "Meng" and an image of a halberd.
• The man gave Chu Mu two Moon Essence Pills and told him that His Majesty had summoned him to Great Heng if he formed a Nascent Soul.
• Chu Mu refused the man's offer to take him to Great Heng to recover, but asked to keep Li Xiu and Xu Ning; the man refused, saying they needed to be interrogated.
• The man assured Chu Mu that Great Heng would protect him if he could not resolve his injuries, while making clear that Chu Mu's value depended on the Demon Domain calamity.

Chu Mu was carried away from the Outer Sea battle in critical condition while the Longevity Sect discovered that its expedition had suffered catastrophic losses. The sect mobilized toward the coast, and the truth behind the disaster threatened to shake the cultivation world.

• Armored soldiers collected the dead and carried the unconscious, grievously injured Chu Mu aboard a concealed Sky-Piercing Flying Boat.
• The flying boat traveled slowly under the protection of its puppet soldiers, who treated Chu Mu and another broken body while keeping the vessel hidden.
• In the Northern Border, Life Soul Lamps belonging to Outer Sea expedition members went out or showed signs that their owners were near death.
• Nine Bell Rings sounded across Longevity Immortal Mountain, and Longevity Sect leaders gathered at Longevity Heaven before launching a major response toward the coast.
• The sect mobilized its forces across Great Chu as other factions turned their attention toward the Outer Sea, where the battle’s full revelation threatened a world-shaking upheaval.

The Longevity Sect and Vast Sea Alliance gathered at the Demon Suppression Islands as several rival demon clans formed an unprecedented alliance, apparently connected to events inside the Sky Palace Relic. The Longevity Sect suspected the imprisoned Heavenly Evolution Sacred Beast might be involved, but lacked proof and could not determine whether it could defeat the Three Clans Alliance.

• The Dark Serpent Clan and Jiaolong Clan joined several other rival demon clans in an alliance, drawing the Longevity Sect and Vast Sea Alliance toward a new conflict at the Demon Suppression Islands.
• The Vast Sea Alliance mobilized its forces, while the Longevity Sect fortified the islands and assembled its Supreme Elders aboard a Longevity Flying Boat.
• The Longevity Sect Master asked about the missing Peeking Truth Lineage Master, Suppressing Prison Lineage Master, Array Cloud, and Array Wind, and learned their Life Soul Lamps remained lit despite being unreachable.
• The elders reported that captured third-order demon beasts had emerged from the Sky Palace Relic and that their capture preceded the clans' coordinated attack, though investigations revealed no clear motive.
• The Longevity Sect Master considered whether the demon alliance was connected to the relic and its imprisoned Heavenly Evolution Sacred Beast, then asked what chance the sect had against the Three Clans Alliance.

After waking from years of unconsciousness, Chu Mu discovered that his body, cultivation, and lifespan had been devastated by his injuries. He found a faint hope of recovery in the idea of rebirth, but Wangcai remained near death, and Chu Mu's concern turned to killing intent.

• The concealed flying boat drifted through the seabed for years while the Armored Soldier Puppet treated Chu Mu and nurtured Wangcai.
• Chu Mu awoke and reviewed the flying boat’s journey before examining his ruined body and Divine Soul.
• Chu Mu realized his meridians and elixir field were shattered, his Golden Core was cracked, and he had less than two hundred years to live.
• Chu Mu considered whether he could shed his damaged state through a form of rebirth and regain hope.
• Chu Mu touched Wangcai’s wreckage and sensed its faint response, then felt killing intent surge within him.

Chu Mu slowly treated the widespread injuries left by the calamity in the Outer Sea, using Emerald Cloud Pills and years of careful recovery. In the tenth year, he investigated the strange frozen seabed and sensed something unexpected as his puppets melted the ice.

• Chu Mu took an Emerald Cloud Pill and began sorting through the injuries to his body, soul, cultivation, and other powers.
• Chu Mu spent years healing, gradually reconstructing his body while recognizing that he needed to find a single point from which to treat his interconnected injuries.
• Chu Mu ordered Armored soldier puppets to conceal the frozen sea region and continued focusing on his recovery.
• In the tenth year, Chu Mu arranged for the puppets to melt the rapidly shrinking ice and guarded himself with additional puppets as the frost thickened.
• Chu Mu sensed something within the frozen seabed and reacted with surprise and delight.

Chu Mu confirmed that the deep-blue froststorm signaled the birth of an Azure Ice Flame, then entered the concealed waters to approach it. The living spiritual fire turned hostile and its froststorm threatened to engulf him.

• Chu Mu inspected the changing frost and confirmed it matched the signs of an Azure Ice Flame forming.
• Chu Mu used the Slave Seal to control the wounded corpse puppet and extracted the Azure Ice Flame hidden inside it.
• Chu Mu froze the surrounding sea with the Azure Ice Flame and concealed the anomalous waters with arrays.
• Chu Mu restrained the extracted flame and entered the froststorm with his armored puppets.
• The forming Azure Ice Flame sensed Chu Mu as an intruder, grew hostile, and unleashed a violent froststorm against him.

Chu Mu reached the Azure Ice Flame’s core and discovered it was only beginning its transformation from a heavenly treasure into a living being. He estimated that it would need thirty or forty years to finish gestating, then a sudden insight began to form in his mind.

• Chu Mu reasoned that the Azure Ice Flame was vulnerable during its transformation and that the frost storm’s apparent attacks were only illusions.
• Chu Mu followed his senses down through the frost storm to the seafloor, where he found a vast wonder of frost, flame, and seawater.
• Chu Mu recorded the scene in a Heavenly Traces Jade Slip and cautiously approached the pale-blue radiance at its center.
• Chu Mu sensed that the Azure Ice Flame had only just begun gestating and would need thirty or forty years to complete its transformation.
• Chu Mu withdrew his Divine Sense, and a sudden flash of inspiration stirred a faint, indistinct idea.

Chu Mu concealed the Storm Whirlpool Land and the Azure Ice Flame with the Nine Stars Array, then left the area under the guard of six Armored Puppets. In Yao Guang City, Chang Hongyi sensed a change and hurried to a loft where a lamp that had flickered for over a decade had grown slightly brighter.

• Chu Mu decided he could not wait the thirty or forty years needed for the Azure Ice Flame to finish transforming, so he prepared to hide it from outsiders.
• Chu Mu used the Nine Stars Array to conceal the Storm Whirlpool Land, exhausting himself and coughing blood as he completed the Third Order High Grade array.
• Chu Mu left six Armored Puppets to kill intruders and guard the Azure Ice Flame, then departed on the Sky-Piercing Flying Boat.
• Chang Hongyi, whose true cultivation had reached the Golden Core Middle Stage, sensed something and hurried from her secluded chamber to another loft.
• Chang Hongyi found the lamp flame there had grown a little brighter after more than a decade.

Chang Er sent two controlled Fire Attribute cultivators toward Lie Shan Village, where Lie Yan had grown into an extraordinarily strong hunter and brought prosperity to his village. As his mother’s illness worsened, Lie Yan urged his parents to spend their savings on a renowned doctor, but she insisted they preserve the money for his future.

• Chang Hongyi received a message from the Soul Lamp Fire saying Chang Er would return safely in a few days, then left for Qinghe County in disguise.
• Chang Er emerged from a ruined Marketplace with two controlled Qi Refining Realm cultivators and flew with them toward a remote mountain village.
• Over a decade, Lie Yan’s strength and hunting had helped Lie Family Village prosper, and its elders planned to make him Village Head and send him to study in the city.
• Lie Yan told Lie Shan that their savings and the proceeds from a tiger hunt could pay for his mother to see a miracle doctor in the Prefecture City.
• Lie Yan’s mother refused to spend the money, saying it should be saved for his education and future, and he set aside his plan for the moment.

Chang Hongyi and Chang Er staged a fight between two controlled cultivators to make the youth witness immortals and pursue cultivation. When the battle headed toward his village, the youth raced home to protect it.

• Chang Hongyi praised Chang Er for guiding the youth and confirmed that the two Qi Refining cultivators had been prepared for the plan.
• The youth entered the deep mountains alone, hoping to hunt enough prey to ease his mother's worries about money.
• Chang Er used the Soul Control Jade to send the two cultivators into the mountains, where they began acting out a staged feud over a Cave Abode.
• The youth watched the cultivators' spectacular battle and longed to become an immortal so he could cure his mother's illness.
• The youth realized the battle was moving toward his village, dropped his hunting gear, and ran back in terror.

Chang Hongyi ordered Chang Er to ensure the youth’s parents and Lie Family Village were wiped out, then watched as two fighting immortals destroyed the village. The battle left both immortals gravely wounded and helpless, while the youth stood amid the ruins, and the staged calamity awaited its final act.

• Chang Er suggested leaving the youth’s parents alive to motivate him, but Chang Hongyi insisted that they and the villagers must all die.
• Chang Hongyi warned Chang Er not to pity the youth or interfere with his fate, and Chang Er swore obedience.
• One of the battling immortals crashed into a house in Lie Family Village, reducing it and the surrounding courtyard to dust while the youth feared his parents had been inside.
• The immortals’ fight devastated the village, killing its residents as the youth watched in despair.
• Li Cangnan ignited his essence blood to turn the battle against Huang Yunhong, but their final clash left both men gravely wounded and unable to move.

After immortals destroyed Lie Family Village, the youth buried his family and neighbors and grieved over their deaths. Chang Hongyi and Chang Er watched from above and confirmed they had arranged treasures and clues to guide him into the Cultivation World.

• The youth wandered through the ruined village and found his father’s shattered body outside their home.
• He buried the villagers, including his parents, and knelt before their graves with the immortals’ corpses and seized treasures nearby.
• The youth repeatedly kowtowed before the graves and the treasures, overwhelmed by grief and hatred.
• Chang Er told Chang Hongyi that he had prepared magical artifacts, spirit pills, talismans, spirit stones, cultivation techniques, and materials for the youth.
• Chang Er explained that he had planted clues to a Relic Cave Estate and spread news of it near three Marketplaces, while Chang Hongyi checked that the arrangements had no flaws.

After the cultivators’ deaths, the boy left the ruins and settled in Changjing County City, where extraordinary talent carried him from mortal to immortal in less than three months. He began studying the Great Sun True Scripture and prepared to cultivate Condensing True Fire, still burdened by grief and wondering whether his parents might have survived if he had been a cultivator.

• The boy discovered the secrets of the treasures in the Storage Talisman, mutilated the two cultivators’ corpses, and burned them.
• The boy crossed the mountains to Changjing County City while Chang Er secretly followed him.
• The boy studied reading and writing at a Private School, then began cultivating the Body Forging Art and reached the peak of Blood Qi Cultivation in less than three months.
• The boy broke through his bottleneck and became an immortal, with a copy of the Great Sun True Scripture and superior materials for Condensing True Fire waiting for him.
• The boy entered the Jade Slip with his Divine Sense and began learning the ancient cultivation method.

Chu Mu returned to the Jingmen region and reflected on how war and time had changed the land before traveling to an underground sea of magma. He examined the Earth Fire Spirits and the repaired formation around the altar, then wondered whether the Fire Spirit Root Supplementing Pill could supplement a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

• Chu Mu watched a youth shed mortality and enter immortality, then changed the flying boat’s course toward the former battlefield near Jingmen.
• Chu Mu surveyed the Jingmen region, recalling the Xie Family’s mortal clansmen and the devastation that had likely erased their surname from the land.
• Chu Mu traveled through the Magma Fire Sea and captured an Earth Fire Spirit while examining the other spirits that lived there.
• Chu Mu entered the repaired grand formation and inspected the altar and pill furnace where the Fire Spirit Root Supplementing Pill had been prepared.
• Chu Mu wondered whether the Fire Spirit Root Supplementing Pill could supplement a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

Chu Mu studied and modified the hidden alchemy site, hoping its arrangements would reveal the mysteries of the Fire Spirit Root Supplementing Pill. Facing a short lifespan and two difficult paths to survival, he returned to the Longevity Sect after receiving an urgent summons from the Sect Master.

• Chu Mu copied the alchemy site's formations and inscriptions onto a Heavenly Traces Jade Slip and spent nearly half a year improving the site's concealment and fire-attribute resources.
• Chu Mu weighed reaching Nascent Soul against making the similar flower bloom and bear fruit, knowing either path would be extremely difficult within his remaining lifespan.
• Chu Mu flew to a Longevity Sect Marketplace and used the sect's Teleportation Arrays to return to his True Inheritance Palace.
• The Sect Master sent Chu Mu a decree ordering him to report to the Sect Main Hall, and Yan Qiuling gave him the intelligence she had gathered.
• Chu Mu reviewed the jade slip's information, waited for permission outside the Sect Main Hall, and entered when the Sect Master called him in.

Chu Mu met the Longevity Sect Master, who examined him after the Outer Sea expedition and tested his skill in arrays. The Sect Master revealed that Chu Mu’s insight might help decipher a soul-sealing inscription, while the Outer Sea conflict over the Sky Palace Relic had escalated beyond the sect’s control.

• The Longevity Sect Master summoned Chu Mu for an examination to ensure he had not been controlled by demons, and noted the expedition’s heavy losses.
• The Sect Master sent an incomplete Array Inscription into Chu Mu’s Sea of Consciousness, and Chu Mu identified it as an ancient Divine Restriction that could control souls and minds.
• The Sect Master explained that the Peeking Truth Lineage Master had returned with four Monster Beast souls, two of which survived sealed away with their memories hidden by the inscription.
• Chu Mu recalled Yan Qiuling’s intelligence about the Outer Sea, where the Longevity Sect and the Three Clans Alliance had fought over the Sky Palace Relic.
• The conflict around the Demon Suppression Islands had grown into a prolonged war, while the Longevity Sect’s claims about the Sand Tail Scorpion Queen failed to rally other powers and the Outer Sea slipped beyond its control.

The Longevity Sect Master tasked Chu Mu with probing the Divine Restrictions on two Demon Race souls and rewarded him with a Heavenly Essence Fruit. In the Spark Secret Realm, Chu Mu found the souls’ minds resisting his intrusion despite their apparent blankness, leaving the mystery of the restrictions unresolved.

• The Longevity Sect Master explained why the Three Clans Alliance rumor had drawn little response, ordered Chu Mu to investigate the two Demon Race souls, and gave him a token to use the Spark Secret Realm’s power.
• The Longevity Sect Master gave Chu Mu a lower-grade Heavenly Essence Fruit, which could extend his life by several decades and nourish his depleted origin.
• Chu Mu learned that a Sword Dao Nascent Soul had been away from the Longevity Sect for years and that two other sect experts remained missing.
• Chu Mu entered the Spark Core and found a White Serpent and a giant eagle sealed inside dark clouds.
• Chu Mu used the secret realm’s power to awaken and probe the demon beast souls, discovering blankness within them even as they resisted like beings with active minds.

Chu Mu spent months examining the Divine Restriction inside two Demon Souls and discovered it fused ordinary Array Restrictions with mysterious patterns from the Sky Palace. He realized that understanding the unknown pattern system was necessary to break the restriction, but his limited time left him unsure whether he could afford the effort.

• Chu Mu cautiously probed the Demon Souls and recorded what he could discern of their hidden Divine Restriction on a jade slip.
• After months of repeated investigation, Chu Mu noticed the restriction's gate and pass changed constantly and seemed disconnected from ordinary Array Inscriptions.
• Chu Mu used Spirit Radiance Blessing to probe more forcefully and connected the restriction's strange nature to the mysterious patterns he had encountered in the Sky Palace.
• Chu Mu concluded that the Divine Restriction fused familiar Array Restrictions on the surface with Sky Palace patterns at its core.
• Chu Mu recognized that he would need to understand the unknown pattern system to dismantle the restriction, but worried that studying it would consume the time he did not have.

Chu Mu reported that the Divine Restriction combined Cultivation World arrays with mysterious patterns inherited from the ancient Sky Palace, and the Longevity Sect Master ordered him to recover while the sect searched for records. In seclusion, Chu Mu chose a formula for refining his sole Heavenly Essence Fruit, settling on the Heavenly Essence Life-Extending Pill.

• Chu Mu suspected that the Divine Restriction and the demon clans’ repeated appearances in the Sky Palace Relic were connected to the Heavenly Evolution Sacred Beast.
• Chu Mu reported to the Longevity Sect Master that mysterious patterns were key to breaking the Divine Restriction, and the Sect Master explained their ancient origins.
• The Longevity Sect Master told Chu Mu to remain in the sect, promised to protect him, and gave him a token to obtain healing materials.
• Chu Mu instructed Yan Qiuling to exchange the token for spirit materials and refuse visitors while he recovered in seclusion.
• Chu Mu compared Heavenly Essence Fruit pill formulas and chose the Heavenly Essence Life-Extending Pill formula created by a former Longevity Sect Master.

The Outer Sea’s factions formed a fragile alliance that reclaimed a Spatial Portal, then halted further advances as they awaited the Sky Palace Relic’s next opening. At the Longevity Sect, Chu Mu completed a One Pill Pattern Life-Extending Pill, hoping its effects would restore his damaged body and extend his life.

• The Longevity Sect’s warnings about an ancient calamity helped bring the human factions together against the Three Clans Alliance, while other demon clans stayed neutral.
• The fragile alliance reclaimed the Spatial Portal and built a deep-sea camp, but its members refused to advance further, and the Outer Sea returned to an uneasy calm.
• After several months, Chu Mu finished refining a Life-Extending Pill despite his unhealed injuries.
• Chu Mu nurtured the pill until it absorbed its remaining medicinal power and gained a clear pattern.
• Chu Mu retrieved the pill and confirmed that it had reached the One Pill Pattern grade.