Chapter Summaries

He Zhen brought the remaining black snakes to the Ten Thousand Snake Cave and told its Snake King that Iron Sword Gate was taking Mang Cang Mountain, prompting the Snake King to summon two Spirit Wandering Realm snakes. Outside, Shi Hao failed to persuade the Moon Bear King’s children to leave with him, while the Snake King erupted at the mention of Sword God Old Man.

• He Zhen drove the surviving young black snakes into the Ten Thousand Snake Cave, where a black-gold Snake King devoured them.
• He Zhen told the Snake King that Mang Cang Gate would be annexed by Iron Sword Gate and that Sword God Old Man was behind the takeover.
• The Snake King spoke aloud for the first time and summoned two Spirit Wandering Realm black snakes, offering them to help He Zhen fight Iron Sword Gate.
• He Zhen explained that Iron Sword Gate had True Self Realm experts and Sword God Old Man, and the Snake King began slamming into the cave walls while repeating the Sword God’s name.
• The Moon Bear King dismissed the commotion as one of its snakes molting and told Shi Hao that its children would not leave the bamboo forest with him.
• The Moon Bear King carried off its youngest cub, and its other two children hurried after it, leaving Shi Hao unable to take any of them.

Shi Hao sought help catching a Moon Bear cub, while his rapid cultivation and Chen Zhixing’s collection of Apex Realm Great Demons shocked Heaven Sword Old Man. As Shi Hao headed to befriend the cub, one of Chen Zhixing’s thoughts exploded in the Spirit Realm, where intelligent Gold Nature fragments surrounded the Ice Spirit Ancient Tomb.

• Shi Hao asked Chen Zhixing and then Heaven Sword Old Man for help taking a Moon Bear cub, but neither agreed to catch the bears for him.
• Shi Hao’s claims about his cultivation speed and Chen Zhixing’s dozens of Apex Realm Great Demons stunned Heaven Sword Old Man, who later regretted not offering to help.
• Heaven Sword Old Man summoned Ji Hu to hear about his trip to Mang Cang Mountain, while Shi Hao decided to befriend the cub over time and visited Moon Lake Blessed Land the next morning.
• Chen Zhixing sent another thought toward Mang Cang Mountain and sensed that one of his thoughts in the Spirit Realm had exploded.
• Outside the Ice Spirit Ancient Tomb, a group of intelligent Gold Nature fragments gathered around the site.

Chen Zhixing learned from his surviving thought incarnations that the Spirit Realm followed dangerous game-like rules and abandoned further exploration. He then ordered the Iron Sword Sect to find spatial rifts in Ganzhou and learned that one lay beneath Chongming Mountain, watched by the Great Demon Chongming Esteemed One.

• Thirty-four thought avatars in the Ice Spirit Ancient Tomb discovered that the Spirit Realm gave them weak game-like stats while its monsters had enormous health and lifespan.
• The thought avatars saw the Heavenly Fox identified as a fatal Dao Sin and sent Chen Zhixing a warning against sending more incarnations into the Spirit Realm.
• Chen Zhixing checked the surviving thought incarnations, stopped sending them into the Spirit Realm, and decided to investigate World Descent and spatial rifts in Ganzhou.
• Chen Zhixing offered an elixir to the Iron Sword Sect for finding a spatial rift, prompting the Heaven Sword Old Man to organize a search.
• Three days later, the Sword God Old Man reported six suspected rifts, including genuine ones at Withered Willow Mountain and beneath Chongming Mountain, where the Great Demon Chongming Esteemed One kept watch.

Teng Qianshou and Zhang Chong panicked when Chen Zhixing arrived at Chongming Mountain to see Chongming Esteemed One, fearing he meant to free the imprisoned Golden Peng. Chongming Esteemed One met Chen Zhixing in private and mocked his title and ruined clan, while Chen Zhixing remained unimpressed.

• Chongming Esteemed One demanded that Teng Qianshou read him a book accurately, and the chapter revealed that the Golden Peng lived on Chongming Mountain under the Three Great Holy Lands' guard.
• Zhang Chong told Teng Qianshou that Demon Lord Chen Zhixing had arrived to see Chongming Esteemed One, and both guards feared a prison break.
• Teng Qianshou persuaded Zhang Chong to go down the mountain with him and assess Chen Zhixing before deciding whether to flee.
• After the guards left, Chongming Esteemed One revealed that he had noticed Chen Zhixing hiding in the hall and laughed at his surprised reaction.
• Chongming Esteemed One explained that he enjoyed being Ganzhou's powerful garrison commander, then mocked Chen Zhixing for losing his clan and becoming known as the Demon Lord.

Chen Zhixing fled Ganzhou after Chongming Esteemed One relentlessly pursued and harassed him, then tore through space into Moon Lake Secret Realm. He settled in Moon Lake Blessed Land, leaving Shi Hao to manage the locals while the Moon Bear couple remained terrified of him.

• Chen Zhixing tried to leave Ganzhou, but Chongming Esteemed One caught up and followed him while boasting about its speed and asking after Azure Pheasant.
• Chen Zhixing realized Chongming Esteemed One could roam freely throughout Ganzhou and cut open space with the Azure Pheasant Immortal Sword to escape.
• Chongming Esteemed One was stunned that Chen Zhixing could tear through space, while Chen Zhixing arrived in Moon Lake Secret Realm beside Shi Hao.
• The Moon Bear King and his wife cowered before Chen Zhixing, who told Shi Hao he planned to stay in Moon Lake Blessed Land and ordered him to greet the Iron Sword Gate.
• After Chen Zhixing left, the Moon Bear couple told Shi Hao that his master terrified them, and Shi Hao wondered how others saw him.

After the Moon Bear family fled Chen Zhixing’s presence, Shi Hao questioned whether rising in cultivation meant accepting loneliness and grew weary of training. Chen Zhixing had the Heaven Sword Old Man expose him to the cruelties of the cultivation world, but Shi Hao balked when ordered to kill a weak clan, and the old man attacked him with cruel words.

• The Moon Bear family left Moon Lake Blessed Land with Shi Hao’s blessing, relieved to escape Chen Zhixing’s overwhelming presence.
• Shi Hao brooded over the bears’ fear and began to doubt whether higher cultivation was worth the loneliness it brought.
• Chen Zhixing left Shi Hao’s state of mind for him to resolve, while arranging for the Heaven Sword Old Man to temper him through Iron Sword Gate’s expansion.
• For a year, the Heaven Sword Old Man took Shi Hao through conflicts and showed him betrayal, massacres, and the brutal treatment of powerless people.
• When the Heaven Sword Old Man ordered Shi Hao to kill a slave-trading clan, Shi Hao hesitated and questioned the point of slaughtering the weak.
• The Heaven Sword Old Man mocked Shi Hao as weak and a waste, invoking his family’s extraction of his root bone and provoking Shi Hao’s furious protests.

Shi Hao returned to Chen Zhixing after Heaven Sword Old Man repeatedly defeated him, and his master urged him to endure hardship rather than make others suffer. When Heaven Sword suddenly advanced to the fifth Nirvana level, Shi Hao discovered the old man’s actual combat strength had barely improved and renewed his resolve to catch up.

• Shi Hao came back covered in sword wounds after losing to Heaven Sword Old Man, and asked Chen Zhixing how to improve his combat skill.
• Chen Zhixing told Shi Hao that he could either endure hardship himself or make others suffer, and arranged for him to keep fighting Heaven Sword instead of letting the old man attack small sects.
• Shi Hao trained by challenging Heaven Sword daily, while his progress gradually improved his ability to withstand the old man’s attacks.
• After Shi Hao broke through to the second surge of Nirvana, he found Heaven Sword had reached the fifth Nirvana level and was astonished by the sudden increase.
• Shi Hao discovered Heaven Sword’s combat strength had risen only slightly, while his own continued to grow, and he resolved to catch up and defeat the old man within three years.

Three years later, Shi Hao continued growing under Chen Zhixing while Heaven Sword Old Man accepted that his own cultivation had reached its limit. Chen Zhixing helped a golden python become a juvenile dragon, then revealed that he had reached the Absolute Peak and found no road forward within the Heavenly Xuan Realm.

• Heaven Sword Old Man sparred with Shi Hao, realized the youth was holding back even while suppressing his cultivation, and left disheartened by the gap between their talent.
• Shi Hao found Chen Zhixing watching a golden python shed its skin in the Ten Thousand Snake Cave, and Chen Zhixing explained that he had fed it Transformation Dragon Grass to guide its transformation.
• The python endured a deadly tribulation until Chen Zhixing reversed the heavenly punishment with a sword; after it became a juvenile dragon, Chen Zhixing gave it to Shi Hao as a pet.
• Chen Zhixing reflected that his cultivation had reached the Heavenly Xuan Realm's limit and that the Dao Lord's path left no road forward for those who did not enter Longevity.
• Chen Zhixing went to Chongming Hall and challenged Golden Roc, who fled before fighting him and recognized that Chen Zhixing had reached the Absolute Peak.

Chen Zhixing reached the Absolute Peak and learned that the Heavenly Dao would create someone close to him to oppose him if he tried to open a new path. One Wonder True Lord explained that leaving during the World Descent would not free him from his predicament, and Chen Zhixing learned the Universal Realm had a different cultivation system.

• One Wonder True Lord sensed Chen Zhixing had reached the end of his path and rode a giant Flower Bear to see him, while Li Er refused to leave his chess game and Shi Hao sensed his master from afar.
• Chen Zhixing realized the Heavenly Dao had marked Shi Hao as the one who would counter him if he opened a new path, and he cursed at the prospect of being forced to oppose those close to him.
• One Wonder True Lord arrived, mocked Chen Zhixing for ignoring her earlier warning, and explained that Huayu had faced the same torment for more than a thousand years.
• Chen Zhixing said he would leave the Heavenly Xuan Realm when the World Descent began, but One Wonder True Lord warned that the Universal Realm's cultivation system differed and Huayu had failed to escape there.
• One Wonder True Lord said she would remain in Tianxuan because it was her homeland, despite the forces that disturbed her heart.

Chen Zhixing proved the Dao of the Star Lord Path and became its Longevity Realm Dao Lord, gaining authority over the borrowing of Stellar Force. After stabilizing his realm, he learned that cultivators across Heavenly Xuan had felt the Star Lord Path change.

• One Wonder mocked Chen Zhixing and returned to her Holy Land without fighting him, while he concluded that she could guard Heavenly Xuan after he left.
• Chen Zhixing decided to wait for World Descent before leaving Heavenly Xuan and resolved to attain Longevity first.
• Chen Zhixing proved the Dao of the Star Lord Path, and the stars shone as the world announced his arrival as a Dao Lord.
• Chen Zhixing discovered that he could approve or refuse cultivators' use of Stellar Force, though refusing it cost him far more cultivation than approving it earned.
• Chen Zhixing found that entering Longevity had begun a slow, incomplete transformation of his body and extended his lifespan.
• Cultivators of the Star Lord Path at the Heavenly Saint Palace sensed that the spirit world had begun drawing on their cultivation after Chen Zhixing's breakthrough.

After Chen Zhixing proved the Dao, Star Lord Path cultivation surged as disciples rushed to advance before future offerings made the path harder. One Wonder declined to invest in Chen Zhixing, expecting to raise a successor after he left, while Chen Zhixing’s realm rapidly rose to the Fourth Sequence.

• Cultivators across Heavenly Saint Palace felt relieved that Chen Zhixing had proved the Dao, then hurried to advance before later Star Lord Dao Lords increased the path’s cultivation burden.
• Demand for Star Lord Path resources soared, and Heavenly Saint Palace turned the Ziwei Mountain ruins into a Forbidden Ground to protect its valuable new Starry Spiritual Vein and the Chen Clan.
• Heavenly Saint Palace and Ascension Immortal Sect prepared to establish the Star Palace and contacted Chen Zhixing, while One Wonder refused to join them and said the Great Luo Dao Land would not bow to the Demon Lord.
• One Wonder explained that she expected Chen Zhixing to leave Heavenly Xuan, then planned to nurture a Star Lord to replace him while his Dao Lord authority was sealed away.
• At Moon Lake, Chen Zhixing found that the spirit realm’s force-feeding had raised him to the Fourth Sequence and expected to reach the Fifth within about a year.

Chen Zhixing studied Dao conduct and wondered whether the Dao Lord path could transform a world into one without cultivation, then asked Mo Qingyue to find records about Heavenly Saint Palace’s former world. The Astral History Book revealed that the Blackpeak Human Race entered a Spirit Realm created by the Blue Star God Race, and that Blue Star’s mortals later developed an atomic bomb.

• Chen Zhixing reasoned that Dao Lords perfected both themselves and the world’s rules, and feared the path might ultimately lead to a world without cultivation.
• Chen Zhixing asked Mo Qingyue to search Heavenly Saint Palace’s Astral History Book for records of the world it had left tens of thousands of years earlier.
• Mo Qingyue brought Chen Zhixing the book, whose entries chronicled the Blackpeak Human Race’s resource exhaustion, exodus, and arrival in a new star system.
• The book’s second recorder described the Blackpeak Human Race’s arrival in the Spirit Realm, which the Blue Star God Race had created for the dead.
• Chen Zhixing read that the Blue Star God Race let mortal races leave Blue Star, after which wars broke out and the mortals eventually developed an atomic bomb.

Chen Zhixing read a diary tracing how the Dao Lords removed Blue Star’s humans and how the Great Wilderness Heavenly Court later used them as expendable soldiers against the Witch Clan. The latest recorder, the sixteenth-generation Heavenly Saint, survived the Nascent Soul tribulation and vowed that a future Heavenly Saint would take revenge on Full Moon.

• The third recorder described how the Dao Lords planned to relocate Blue Star’s ten billion humans and destroy their weapons, then sent them to the Great Wilderness Star River.
• Full Moon recorded how the Great Wilderness struggled to contain the remnants of the Three Clans, established the Heavenly Court, and taught the humans cultivation to fight the proliferations.
• The Heavenly Court restricted humans to Nascent Soul Realm, while human cultivators rose quickly but died fighting the Witch Clan or under heavenly tribulations.
• Heavenly Saint revealed that the immortals treated humans as cannon fodder, gave them an incomplete cultivation method, and killed cultivators who reached Nascent Soul Realm.
• The sixteenth-generation Heavenly Saint survived the Nascent Soul tribulation, took over the diary, and threatened revenge against Full Moon.

Chen Zhixing learned that Primordial Spirit cultivation was the path to hatching an Immortal Gold Nature from a Dao Fruit, but Mo Qingyue warned that it was perilous and mostly lost. After he left Heavenly Saint Palace, Tihu ordered Qin Yi’s Southern Region Alliance to begin exploring the Universal Realm early, while Qin Yi woke from a nightmare and questioned her choices.

• Chen Zhixing asked Mo Qingyue about Primordial Spirit cultivation, and she explained its connection to Gold Nature and the danger of pursuing it.
• Mo Qingyue let Chen Zhixing take the astral history book, and he left after sensing Longevity True Lords probing her residence.
• Tihu praised Chen Zhixing’s rapid progress and ordered Mo Qingyue to send Qin Yi and the Southern Region Alliance to explore the Universal Realm ahead of schedule.
• Mo Qingyue learned that Qin Yi controlled seven Absolute Peaks and a hundred Nirvanas, making the Alliance a powerful vanguard.
• Qin Yi woke from a nightmare, regretted her choices, and challenged herself over whether she would truly give up her current authority.
• An unidentified person addressed Qin Yi by name.

Chen Zhixing returned to the Southern Region, took command of Qin Yi and the Southern Region Alliance, and organized an early expedition into the Universal Realm. He promised the expedition members a chance at longevity for meritorious service, then waited with Shi Hao for the first scouts to return before deciding whether Shi Hao would cross.

• Chen Zhixing slapped Qin Yi, and she submitted to him and placed the Southern Region Alliance’s resources and forces under his command.
• Chen Zhixing ordered Qin Yi to prepare the Alliance to explore the Universal Realm and said the Heavenly Saint Palace would issue a directive.
• Chen Zhixing met the Alliance’s Nirvana and Apex Realm cultivators, promised a longevity position to anyone who earned enough merit, and tasked them with gathering information about the Universal Realm.
• More than a hundred Southern Region cultivators entered the Universal Realm, led by the first Apex Realm cultivator.
• Chen Zhixing stopped Shi Hao from crossing the rift and told him to wait until the scouts returned with information.

Four cultivators from the Heavenly Xuan Realm arrived in the Universal Realm and found their abilities severely weakened by its laws. Elsewhere, Zhang Wen was swallowed by a flesh-and-blood tree but escaped by attacking it from within, leaving him badly injured and recovering amid the burning remains.

• Four Heavenly Xuan Realm cultivators emerged from a spatial rift into the Sea of Desolation and marveled at the Universal Realm’s strange layered terrain and floating Ancient God Kingdoms.
• The four tested their techniques and found that the Universal Realm’s laws had weakened most of their abilities by more than ninety percent, though Han Guang retained considerable strength as a body cultivator.
• The four chose to stay together and investigate nearby, hoping to find a native life-form and learn about the Universal Realm.
• Zhang Wen survived a spatial storm that killed two other cultivators, but a flesh-and-blood tree swallowed him while he was severely injured.
• After a day of being digested, Zhang Wen fired a desperate blast of flame inside the tree, causing it to split into thousands of fleeing branches and leaving him once again in a Nirvana recovery state.

After escaping a monstrous tree in the Universal Realm, Zhang Wen exhausted his reserves and collapsed, close to death. Two natives brought him to a sentient tree of faith, which treated him with its sap; as Zhang Wen recovered, the tree described his cultivation as an incomplete lifeform dependent on a greater one.

• Zhang Wen realized his Nirvana reserves were gone and dragged his gravely wounded body through the forest, hoping to find the spatial Split back to the Heavenly Xuan Realm.
• Zhang Wen collapsed from his injuries and depleted energy, while two Universal Realm natives who had followed him carried him toward their home.
• Zhang Wen awoke unable to move and learned from a tree demon that it was keeping him alive by soaking his body in its sap.
• Zhang Wen offered to stop the treatment rather than let the tree sacrifice its life, but the tree said its tribe had chosen to help him and would sustain him until the next harsh winter.
• The tree explained that it communicated through fluctuations of will and viewed Zhang Wen’s cultivation as a defective, incomplete lifeform dependent on a higher one.

Zhang Wen learned from the Tree of Faith that the Universal Realm’s strong were selected to become guardians and protect the weak, while the ancient gods’ kingdoms remained a source of vast resources. Meanwhile, Chi Jiu and her companions met a deer-antlered Tree Spirit that invited them to become guardians or settle in the Universal Realm, and Chi Jiu’s instincts warned her to flee.

• The Tree of Faith told Zhang Wen that the Universal Realm’s strong willingly became guardians who protected the weak and brought resources back to them.
• Zhang Wen questioned whether the Tree of Faith was concealing the truth, then focused on the resources in the Ancient God Kingdoms and wished he could explore them.
• Chi Jiu and her three companions encountered a Tree Spirit that had been chosen as a candidate guardian and invited them to join the guardians.
• The Tree Spirit said it knew the four were outsiders but would welcome them as guardians if they had not committed the same evil deeds as the Heavenly Fox.
• The thin male cultivator asked whether they could remain in the Universal Realm without becoming guardians, and the Tree Spirit happily agreed.
• Chi Jiu felt an urgent instinct warning her not to accept and to leave the Universal Realm.

Chi Jiu escaped the Universal Realm after discovering the ancient gods’ divine kingdoms and reported the find to Chen Zhixing. When Shi Junru confronted them, Chen Zhixing struck him with Falling Star Finger, leaving him buried beneath the earth and furious at the loss of eight hundred years of cultivation.

• Chi Jiu trusted her instincts, used Blood Escape to flee the Universal Realm, and returned to the Heavenly Xuan Realm.
• Chi Jiu told Chen Zhixing that the ancient gods’ divine kingdoms were visible in the sky above the Universal Realm.
• Shi Junru and other Longevity True Lords appeared, and Chen Zhixing shielded Chi Jiu before attacking Shi Junru.
• Chen Zhixing’s Falling Star Finger hurled Shi Junru deep into the earth, while the other Longevity True Lords made excuses and withdrew.
• Shi Junru survived by reshaping his body in the magma but lamented that Chen Zhixing’s attack had cost him eight hundred years of cultivation.

Chen Zhixing kept Bai Yu behind to propose that they explore the Universal Realm’s Ancient God Domain together, where divine kingdoms could strengthen Longevity Realm cultivators. Their talk about Heavenly Saint Palace revealed that its Holy Lord had lived for over ten thousand years, leaving Chen Zhixing wondering what realm the mysterious Heavenly Saint had reached.

• Bai Yu mistook Chen Zhixing’s request to stay as an invitation to sleep with him, but he refused and explained that he wanted to discuss the Universal Realm.
• Chen Zhixing proposed that he and Bai Yu explore the Universal Realm’s Ancient God Domain together, and Bai Yu considered the Ascension Immortal Sect’s limited availability for the expedition.
• Chen Zhixing reflected on the danger posed by rival Longevity cultivators and the formidable, ancient Heavenly Saint Palace.
• Chen Zhixing asked Bai Yu about the Heavenly Saint’s original name, and she explained that every generation’s palace lord bore the title Heavenly Saint.
• Bai Yu said the current Heavenly Saint had lived for over ten thousand years, prompting Chen Zhixing to question what Sequence he had reached.