Chapter Summaries

Li Xiuchang accepted an undercover mission to infiltrate the Demonic Arts Convention, where he was supposed to learn its location and find the Demon Sealing Land. After Shen Kai’s acquaintances nearly exposed his disguise, Li Xiuchang continued to Corpse Burial Valley and spotted an imposing demonic cultivator who seemed like a better identity to impersonate.

• Elder Xu recruited Li Xiuchang for the mission and gave him the Illusory Heart Pearl, a rare Innate Spirit Treasure, to impersonate Shen Kai.
• Li Xiuchang subdued Shen Kai’s leopard Fierce Ghost, learned that Corpse Burial Valley was the announced convention site, and set out with the Immortal Dust Sect’s forces while Elder Liu secretly guarded him.
• Several of Shen Kai’s acquaintances approached Li Xiuchang on the way, and their questions revealed that they suspected his disguise.
• Elder Liu killed the four demonic cultivators, and Li Xiuchang killed another acquaintance of Shen Kai before deciding Shen Kai was too well-connected to impersonate.
• Near Corpse Burial Valley, Li Xiuchang saw a powerful, dignified middle-aged demonic cultivator whom the surrounding cultivators feared.

Li Xiuchang ambushed Chu Xiangnan outside Corpse Burial Valley and subdued him with help from his clones, merit, and Immortal Burning Grass. After learning that Chu Xiangnan had recovered a Teleportation Array fragment that could lead to the Demonic Arts Convention, Li Xiuchang disguised himself as Chu Xiangnan and headed into the valley.

• Li Xiuchang learned that Chu Xiangnan was the Red Demon Sect's Sect Master and decided to use his identity to enter Corpse Burial Valley.
• Li Xiuchang followed Chu Xiangnan into a secluded forest and attacked him with his clones, but Chu Xiangnan's protective Spirit Treasure blocked the initial assault.
• Chu Xiangnan fled into the Origin World, where Li Xiuchang and his Second Nascent Soul Clone overwhelmed him, and the Blood Diamond Clone prepared to control Chu Xiangnan's body outside.
• Li Xiuchang forced Chu Xiangnan to leave the Origin World and captured him, then took his treasures and discovered that the fragment he had dug up belonged to a Teleportation Array.
• Li Xiuchang learned that the fragment could complete the array leading to the Demonic Arts Convention, put Chu Xiangnan in his Beast Taming Bag, and disguised himself as him before entering Corpse Burial Valley.

Li Xiuchang infiltrated Corpse Burial Valley as Chu Xiangnan and used a recovered formation fragment to reach the true Demonic Arts Convention with Mo Tu and Xue Qingshan. There, Mo Tu attacked the gathered demonic leaders, while Li Xiuchang interrogated Chu Tianfang and prepared to question the remaining survivors.

• Li Xiuchang entered Corpse Burial Valley disguised as Chu Xiangnan, reported to Elder Xiang, and learned from Chu Tianfang’s messages that the demonic leaders planned to evacuate through a hidden Teleportation Array.
• Li Xiuchang told Mo Tu he had the formation fragment, and they concluded that the convention’s real location had been concealed behind several possible sites while the gathering at Corpse Burial Valley served as a distraction.
• Li Xiuchang repaired the Teleportation Array and sent his Second Nascent Soul Clone, disguised as Chu Xiangnan, with Mo Tu and Xue Qingshan to the convention while he stayed behind.
• At the convention, Chu Tianfang discovered that the real Chu Xiangnan remained in Corpse Burial Valley, and Mo Tu revealed himself and killed three demonic leaders’ avatars.
• Mo Tu restrained Chu Tianfang’s Primordial Spirit and handed him to Li Xiuchang, who interrogated him until he confessed; the other demonic leaders then cried out that they would confess too.

Li Xiuchang used the Rainbow Soul Banner to kill the Demonic Arts cultivators in Corpse Burial Valley, then credited Xue Qingshan with the purge and gave the Four Great Immortal Sects the locations of the demonic strongholds. After the sects launched their assault and Li Xiuchang visited the Ascension Pavilion with Chen Gao, he was approved to try its Ascension Stairway.

• Li Xiuchang sealed Corpse Burial Valley's formation and used the Rainbow Soul Banner to slaughter every Demonic Arts cultivator there.
• The Four Great Immortal Sects arrived, and Li Xiuchang told the elders that Xue Qingshan had planned the purge and gave them the strongholds of the Four Great Demonic Sects and the Red Demon Sect.
• The Ascension Pavilion's Formation Masters traced the teleportation array and found Chu Tianfang and the corpses of three demonic sect second-in-command figures, while Xue Qingshan remained missing.
• The Four Great Immortal Sects attacked the demonic strongholds, destroying the Red Demon Sect and Bloodthirsty Sect, wiping out the Blood Flower Sect, and driving the Black Soul Sect and Desire Demon Sect leaders to flee.
• Li Xiuchang accepted Chen Gao's invitation to visit the Ascension Pavilion and admired its towering structure and bustling first-floor market.
• Chen Gao brought Li Xiuchang to the Ascension Stairway, where an elder approved his challenge and a spiral staircase descended before him.

Li Xiuchang challenged Ascension Pavilion's knowledge-based stairway, contributed a spirit-plant sprouting method absent from its Library Pavilion, and quickly reached its second level. While browsing there, he discovered that the vanished Zhang Family's final heir matched Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi.

• Chen Gao explained that the Ascension Stairway tested knowledge and comprehension, and that reaching higher levels unlocked access to increasingly valuable Library Pavilion collections.
• Li Xiuchang answered the first question with the Dark Heaven Realm's Spirit Severing Method and explained it when the stairway requested details.
• The Library Pavilion rewarded Li Xiuchang for contributing new knowledge by advancing him thirty steps and granting him an Anointing opportunity.
• Li Xiuchang answered questions across several fields, reached the second level, and unlocked access to the first level of the Library Pavilion.
• Li Xiuchang found a history of the Zhang Family and realized its final patriarch's description matched Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi.

Li Xiuchang climbed Ascension Pavilion’s trials by contributing valuable cultivation knowledge, reaching the seventh floor and earning a hundred Anointing chances. Although he wanted to keep a low profile, he considered pressing on to the eighth floor if the seventh floor held nothing worth his rewards.

• Li Xiuchang left the first floor of the Library Pavilion and contributed the Five Ghosts Soul Snatching Technique and Heartfire Blood Refining Technique, earning a major level skip and two Anointing chances.
• Li Xiuchang supplied spirit-cuisine recipes and answered a question about cleansing Malevolent Energy, skipping more levels and advancing to the fifth floor of Ascension Pavilion.
• Li Xiuchang studied the craft inheritances on the fifth floor, then shared Pure Land Realm methods for refining organs with tobacco, earning a leap of more than ninety steps and reaching the sixth floor.
• Li Xiuchang contributed knowledge about Soul Artifacts and Soul Materials, skipped sixty steps, and then reached the seventh floor, tying Ascension Pavilion’s record.
• Li Xiuchang received one hundred Anointing chances on the seventh floor and decided to inspect its knowledge before choosing whether to climb to the eighth floor.

Li Xiuchang studied the seventh level of the Ascension Pavilion, uncovered a clue linking Immortal Dust Sect’s missing Grand Elders to the neighboring Senior Brothers and Sisters, and climbed the Ascension Stairway while answering increasingly difficult questions. After sharing valuable knowledge about the Pure Land Realm and Demon Suppressing Realm, he was carried past the eighth level and landed on the ninth.

• Li Xiuchang memorized useful technique insights and spells on the seventh level, then read intelligence about the Four Great Immortal Sects and found that two Immortal Dust Sect Grand Elders had disappeared while exploring the Immortal Shade 2,200 years earlier.
• Li Xiuchang suspected the Grand Elders’ disappearance was connected to the Senior Brothers and Sisters from next door, who had infiltrated Immortal Dust Sect, and continued climbing the Ascension Stairway.
• Li Xiuchang answered questions about his cultivation and experience until he was asked to explain the decline of the Buddhist Path.
• Li Xiuchang argued that the Buddhist Path had declined mainly in the Immortal Shade Realm, described the Zen Heart Realm and Pure Land Realm, and conjectured that damage to the Buddhist and Confucian Dao Origins might be connected to the Demon Suppressing Realm.
• The Ascension Pavilion asked Li Xiuchang to supplement its records on the Pure Land Realm and Demon Suppressing Realm, then sent him upward in azure light past the eighth level and all the way to the ninth.

Li Xiuchang accidentally skipped the eighth floor and reached the summit of the Ascension Stairway, earning a huge reward and drawing attention to himself and the Immortal Dust Sect’s outer disciples. While the Ascension Pavilion’s Ancestor Yuhe went to meet him, Li Xiuchang read classified reports about other worlds and the expanding Immortal Shade, finding an account of two Immortal Dust Sect Grand Elders who had disappeared inside it.

• Li Xiuchang reached the ninth floor in a single leap from the seventh, received ten thousand Anointing opportunities, and began searching its shelves for books and Jade Slips.
• Chen Gao and the spectators learned Li Xiuchang’s identity and connected his feat to the Immortal Dust Sect’s outer sect, while the Ascension Pavilion Grand Elder reported the event to Ancestor Yuhe.
• Ancestor Yuhe decided to meet Li Xiuchang and walked with the Grand Elder toward the library, discussing the classified reports and the dangers of the Immortal Shade.
• Li Xiuchang read classified reports about other worlds and the Immortal Shade’s expansion, then found an account that two of four Immortal Dust Sect Grand Elders had vanished during an exploration more than two thousand years earlier.

Li Xiuchang read Ascension Pavilion’s account of the Immortal Shade and reassured Ancestor Yuhe that he intended to focus on cultivation, while concealing the true source of his knowledge. He used nearly four thousand Anointing chances to absorb technical insights from the library, then left to return to Immortal Dust Sect, where fellow cultivators were already congratulating him for reaching the pavilion’s ninth floor.

• Li Xiuchang met Ancestor Yuhe and Ascension Pavilion’s Grand Elder, who praised his composure and granted him unrestricted access to the library.
• Li Xiuchang claimed he had cleared over a hundred steps by combining demonic cultivation techniques and spells he had learned on missions and recovered at Corpse Burial Valley.
• Li Xiuchang used Anointing to absorb a Seventh Tier artifact-refining grandmaster’s insights and confirmed that Ascension Pavilion and the Preaching Ranking were Confucian Treasures using a Daoist teaching method.
• Li Xiuchang absorbed technical knowledge about artifact refinement, spirit plants, formations, spirit cooking, immortal brewing, talismans, and soul control, advancing his artifact-refining skill to the Sixth Tier.
• Li Xiuchang stopped Anointing before using all twelve thousand chances and left Ascension Pavilion to return to Immortal Dust Sect.
• Immortal Dust Sect cultivators congratulated Li Xiuchang for reaching the ninth floor of Ascension Pavilion, surprising him with how quickly the news had spread.

Li Xiuchang returned to the Immortal Dust Sect, kept his treasures and avoided being transferred to the inner sect while his companions arranged more Ascension Stairway challengers to obscure the source of his knowledge. After months of secluded cultivation, he joined Zhang Wanzhi at the Ascension Pavilion, where Zhang appeared in disguise as a Qi Condensation cultivator.

• Li Xiuchang met Elder Xu, explained his Ascension Stairway achievement, returned most of the sect’s borrowed treasures, and kept the Illusory Heart Pearl in exchange for Contribution Points.
• Elder Xu urged Li Xiuchang to enter the inner sect, but Li Xiuchang refused and returned to the Eastern Geng District.
• Li Xiuchang asked his senior brothers and sisters to help conceal the knowledge he had contributed, so they arranged for other people to challenge the Ascension Stairway; Ye Yuqiu, Chu Ya, Fakong, and Fahua reached its upper floors.
• Li Xiuchang cultivated in seclusion for two months, advanced to mid-stage Void Refinement, improved several skills, and increased his Length Value to 4,700.
• Zhang Wanzhi invited Li Xiuchang to the Ascension Pavilion, where Li Xiuchang studied and received Anointing on the eighth and ninth floors.
• Li Xiuchang heard a commotion and saw Zhang Wanzhi disguised as a striking young man whose Cultivation Level was only at the Qi Condensation Stage.

Zhang Wanzhi used the alias Zhang Yuanfu to impress the crowd at Ascension Pavilion, leaping 787 stairs before voluntarily ending his challenge. Back at the Immortal Dust Sect, Chen Changsheng planned to send him and Steady to the Demon Suppressing Realm, while Li Xiuchang helped Zhang Wanzhi begin developing a magic tool handgun and started tempering his Golden Body with the Great Dao.

• Denied entry to the Ascension Stairway because of his Qi Condensation cultivation, Zhang Wanzhi claimed to be Zhang Yuanfu, heir to the ancient Artifact Refining Zhang Family, and proved his identity with the Azure Flowing Silver Armor.
• After Ancestor Yuhe confirmed the armor and granted Zhang Wanzhi permission to challenge the stairway, he leaped from the first level to the eighth, reaching the eighty-seventh stair before his rise stopped.
• Zhang Wanzhi abandoned the challenge rather than attempt the ninth level, saying he planned to return and leap to the summit, then left Ascension Pavilion as the crowd praised Zhang Yuanfu.
• Chen Changsheng planned to send Zhang Wanzhi and Steady to the Demon Suppressing Realm and asked Li Xiuchang to keep Zhang Wanzhi occupied; Li Xiuchang then drew Zhang Wanzhi into developing a handgun for mortals.
• Zhang Wanzhi built a basic handgun that fired an iron pellet, and Li Xiuchang left a clone to research it with him while his true body entered the Origin World to temper his Golden Body with the Great Dao.

Li Xiuchang strengthened his Golden Body and Second Dantian, discovered that Misty Qi could upgrade an Innate Spirit Treasure, and developed weapons with Zhang Wanzhi for the Demon Suppressing Realm. After more than two months of cultivation and research, Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi prepared to leave for the realm with Chen Changsheng and Steadfast.

• Li Xiuchang irrigated his Golden Body with the Great Dao, spent Length Value strengthening his Vajra Dharma Image and expanding his Second Dantian, and raised his Body Refining cultivation to the mid-stage of the Sixth Tier.
• Li Xiuchang let the Illusory Heart Pearl absorb Misty Qi, upgrading it from a Low-grade to a Mid-grade Innate Spirit Treasure and improving its disguise effect.
• Li Xiuchang announced through the Four Immortals Merchant Association that he wanted to buy Innate Spirit Treasures, while his clones continued Dao comprehension and handgun research.
• Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi developed a Five Elements Handgun and a Talisman Bullet Launcher for use by mortals in the Demon Suppressing Realm.
• After Chen Changsheng urged them to depart, Li Xiuchang left a clone in the Eastern Geng District and went with Zhang Wanzhi to meet Chen Changsheng and Steadfast by the Teleportation Array.

Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi tested their Talisman Bullet Launcher in the Demon Suppressing Realm and learned that its demon monsters could grow stronger by absorbing spiritual energy. After reaching Chen Changsheng’s human settlement, Li Xiuchang found an account claiming that the Sage had died suppressing the Demonic Well, leaving him questioning the history he had been told.

• Li Xiuchang, Zhang Wanzhi, and Wanzi traveled with Chen Changsheng’s clone into the Demon Suppressing Realm, a vast world without spiritual energy.
• Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi killed a sleeping Sixth Tier demon monster with their Talisman Bullet Launcher, and Chen Changsheng showed them its Primordial Demonic Power.
• Chen Changsheng explained that demon monsters could absorb spiritual energy and gain the battle prowess of higher realms without comprehending the Great Dao.
• Li Xiuchang and the others collected Primordial Demonic Power as they traveled through the monster-infested realm toward Chen Changsheng’s settlement.
• Li Xiuchang met the sheltered human survivors and visited their academy, where he read that the Sage had died suppressing the Demonic Well and the Confucian Path had been severed.

Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi helped the Demon Suppressing Realm villagers learn to wield Primordial Demonic Power, giving them the means to fight demon monsters. Chen Changsheng found the caves containing accounts of the Saint, including a clue that the Saint's Remains lay beneath a mountain.

• Li Xiuchang, Chen Changsheng, and Zhang Wanzhi concluded that the legend of the Saint's death was partly true, then Chen Changsheng went searching for the cave where the murals had been found.
• Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi devised a way for villagers to carry and use Primordial Demonic Power, and two elders successfully became vessels for it and used it to fire Five Elements Handguns.
• Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi led villagers on hunts for demon monsters, gathered Primordial Demonic Power, and formed a Primordial Demonic Warrior Squad equipped with handguns and talismans.
• Chen Changsheng returned after more than a month and told Li Xiuchang, Zhang Wanzhi, and Wenwen that murals had been left by the Saint's second disciple and another cave inscription said the Saint's Remains were buried beneath the mountain.
• Chen Changsheng revealed that the caves also contained Wordless Steles and broken bones bearing a trace of Righteous Qi, stirring the trio's curiosity.

Li Xiuchang and Steady searched the mountain for Wordless Steles and uncovered records of the Sage, then stumbled upon the Sage’s corrupted body buried underground. The group escaped, learned the Sage’s death had severed the Confucian Path, and realized his failure concealed an even greater threat to the Demon Suppressing Realm.

• Chen Changsheng warned the group that the mountain’s Confucian debate could damage their Dao hearts, and they split up to search for caves and Wordless Steles.
• Steady found a collapsed cave and a Wordless Stele; Li Xiuchang pieced together fragments revealing that the Sage’s twelve disciples had each erected a stele.
• Li Xiuchang found another stele and learned that the Sage had founded the Confucian Path, taught students of every background, and become the strongest figure in that path.
• Steady burrowed too deep and found the Sage’s corrupted body, surrounded by the twelve disciples’ skeletons; Li Xiuchang’s failed attempt to teleport Steady placed him in the Sage’s arms.
• The twelve skeletons restrained the Sage with Righteous Qi chains, allowing Li Xiuchang, Steady, Chen Changsheng, and Zhang Wanzhi to escape; Steady lost his shell.
• Chen Changsheng and Zhang Wanzhi explained that Primordial Demonic Power had corrupted the dead Sage, and the group’s records revealed that the Sage had made himself the source of the Confucian Path, causing its collapse when he failed.

Li Xiuchang and his companions learned how the Confucian Sage’s death had damaged the Confucian Path and sealed the Sage’s demon corpse. They then uncovered the pattern behind Li Xiuchang’s “Send Enemy a Thousand Miles”: it sent targets to places their true selves least wanted to go.

• Li Xiuchang reasoned that the Confucian Sage had borne the Confucian Path’s Origin within himself and gathered strength from Confucian cultivators across countless worlds.
• The three learned that the twelve Sub-Sages had sealed the Sage’s demon corpse beneath the mountain with twelve Wordless Steles before dying beside it.
• Li Xiuchang, Chen Changsheng, and Zhang Wanzhi discussed the missing three steles and prepared to search for them, while Wanzi mourned its lost shell.
• Chen Changsheng proposed that “Send Enemy a Thousand Miles” sent targets to the place they least wanted to go within their world layer.
• Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi realized the spell judged the true body’s thoughts even when it transported a clone, explaining why Chen Changsheng’s and Zhang Wanzhi’s clones had been sent to places they feared.

Li Xiuchang and his senior brothers uncovered how the Twelve Sub-Sages sealed the shattered Confucian Path origin in the Wordless Steles, then left Su Qingchun to study them and returned to the Eastern Geng District. There, Li Xiuchang upgraded a newly acquired Innate Spirit Treasure and began planning a Spirit Treasure Handgun, while Steady secretly resolved to find a way out of the Demon Suppressing Realm.

• Li Xiuchang and his senior brothers found all twelve Wordless Steles and learned that the Twelve Sub-Sages had sealed the shattered Confucian Path origin inside them to protect it and suppress the Confucian Sage's demon corpse.
• Su Qingchun used his Righteous Qi to reveal patterns on a Wordless Stele and became absorbed in studying the Confucian Path origin, so Li Xiuchang left him there with protective talismans and a way to contact Chen Changsheng.
• Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi returned to the village, where Chen Changsheng kept Steady in the Demon Suppressing Realm; Steady began planning to build a Teleportation Array with help from his clone.
• Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi returned to the Eastern Geng District, where Little Zhu delivered the Low-grade Innate Spirit Treasure Tiangang Mother-Child Pearls.
• Li Xiuchang infused the Tiangang Mother-Child Pearls with Misty Qi until they became High-grade Spirit Treasures, then conceived a Spirit Treasure Handgun that could fire and recall the child pearl.
• Li Xiuchang resumed cultivating in the Origin World, his Second Nascent Soul Clone studied the Equalizer Dao, and his Blood Diamond Clone began working on the handgun blueprint.

Li Xiuchang refined a collection of Spirit Treasure tools, discovered that Spirit Plants grown in his second Dantian space had returned to stronger ancestral forms, and completed a Spirit Treasure Handgun design incorporating his Equalizer Dao. After Zhang Wanzhi approved the design, Li Xiuchang began refining the handgun himself, aiming to give it the power of an immortal’s strike.

• Li Xiuchang crafted the Hundred Refinements Hammer and Hundred Refinements Anvil from Hundred Refinements Immortal Iron, then refined several Mid-grade Spirit Treasure tools for his crafts.
• Li Xiuchang harvested mature Spirit Plants from his second Dantian space and found their medicinal power was stronger, though more violent, than ordinary plants.
• Li Xiuchang planted enhanced Spirit Plant seeds in the second Dantian space and sensed a faint energy in the ancestral Heartburning Grass similar to Misty Qi.
• Li Xiuchang showed Zhang Wanzhi his independently designed Spirit Treasure Handgun, which used the Equalizer Dao to weaken enemies and equalize other Great Daos into the Buddha Dao.
• Zhang Wanzhi approved the design and helped refine its details, then Li Xiuchang began crafting the handgun with his main body and clones working together.

Li Xiuchang completed the Equalizing Spear, strengthened it and his other Spirit Treasures with Misty Qi, and advanced his artifact-refining arts to the Seventh Tier. After learning that someone in a lower realm was impersonating Pang Yuanfu and causing trouble, he decided to investigate with Zhang Wanzhi.

• Li Xiuchang finished refining the Mid-grade Spirit Treasure Equalizing Spear, which fired the Tiangang Mother-Child Pearls and used the Mother Pearl for a powerful burst attack.
• Li Xiuchang let the Equalizing Spear absorb Misty Qi until its power amplification reached one hundred percent, then strengthened the Soul Slicing Saber and Rainbow Soul Banner to the same level.
• Li Xiuchang's artifact-refining arts entered the Seventh Tier, and he later broke through to the late Sixth Tier in body refinement.
• Wang Long told Li Xiuchang that Pang Yuanfu had been summoned by an elder because someone had used his name to commit misdeeds in a lower realm.
• Li Xiuchang learned that the impostor's actions had drawn the Immortal Dust Sect's attention and decided to find the culprit with Zhang Wanzhi.
• Zhang Wanzhi agreed to accompany Li Xiuchang, explaining that he was already heading to the Zen Heart Realm to help Shi Tian clear out trouble around the Buddha Head Space trial.

Li Xiuchang and Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi traveled to the Zen Heart Realm to help drive the Snowy Plains Realm’s experts from the Sleeping Buddha Temple, while also waiting for news about the person impersonating Pang Yuanfu. They arrived as the Four Great Immortal Sects fought the Snowy Plains Realm, and Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi told the enemy to leave.

• Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi explained that the Snowy Plains Realm had seized the Sleeping Buddha Temple and charged the Zen Heart Realm’s monks exorbitant entrance fees.
• Li Xiuchang learned that the Immortal Dust Sect was hunting someone who had impersonated Pang Yuanfu, and he and Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi set out for the Zen Heart Realm while waiting for news of the impostor.
• Li Xiuchang and Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi passed through the Sea Boat Realm and forced their way past the Four Great Immortal Sects’ guards to reach the Zen Heart Realm.
• Disguised as monks, Li Xiuchang and Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi arrived at the Sleeping Buddha Temple and found the Four Great Immortal Sects battling the Snowy Plains Realm.
• Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi confronted the leading expert from the Snowy Plains Realm and advised him to leave.