Chapter Summaries

Li Xiuchang proposed sending captured evil cultivators into the Immortal Shade Realm to trade them for their shadows and disrupt the Shadow World, winning the Grand Elders’ approval. After settling into the sect, he examined the gains from his ascension and found his cultivation near the True Immortal Stage and his second Dantian space transformed into a small world.

• Li Xiuchang explained that the Upper Realm could not safely send its strongest experts to the lower realm while evil cultivators remained, and True Person Songhe warned that summoning lower-realm experts for a decisive battle would risk casualties before the war against the shadows.
• Li Xiuchang suggested capturing evil cultivators and sending them into the Immortal Shade Realm so they could be exchanged for their shadows; True Person Songhe and the Grand Elders agreed the scheme could weaken both their enemies and the Shadow World.
• Li Xiuchang learned that the lower-realm sect was flourishing, and Yan Kang arranged his residence, activated its Identity Token, and directed him to the sect’s General Affairs Hall and Library Pavilion.
• Li Xiuchang sent souls from the Rainbow Soul Banner to harvest Spirit Potatoes, then planted an enhanced potato in his second Dantian space.
• Li Xiuchang examined his post-ascension cultivation and found his body at the middle Human Immortal Stage, his soul and Qi Refining cultivation near the late Human Immortal Stage, and his Equalizer Dao likely beyond the Human Immortal Stage.
• Li Xiuchang found that his second Dantian space had become a small world.

After ascending to the Upper Realm, Li Xiuchang adjusted to his new immortal power and began planning how to improve his weapons and cultivation. He met Zhao Haihe, learned about the Upper Realm’s major powers, and asked how to contact the Zhang Clan for help reforging his spirit treasures.

• Li Xiuchang renamed his expanded Second Dantian space the Second Dantian world, manifested his restored Vajra Dharma Image, and refined an unnamed Immortal Flame into his dantian true fire.
• Li Xiuchang began cultivating and sent his Second Nascent Soul Clone to the General Affairs Hall to hire someone to temper his Hundred Refinements Immortal Iron.
• Li Xiuchang met Zhao Haihe, recognized him as an ancestor of his master Zhao Yuansi, and hired a True Immortal elder through Zhao Haihe’s recommendation.
• Zhao Haihe explained that the Zhang Clan was respected across the Upper Realm for its cohesion and artifact-refining techniques.
• Li Xiuchang asked Zhao Haihe how to contact the Zhang Clan so he could have his spirit treasures reforged into immortal artifacts.

Li Xiuchang told the Zhang family that Zhang Wanzhi was alive and had become a Grand Elder of the Immortal Dust Sect in the lower realm. The Zhang family rejoiced at finding their heir, while the Immortal Dust Sect prepared to explain the grave news Li Xiuchang had brought from below.

• Zhao Haihe explained the Zhang family's standing and its single-heir tradition, and Li Xiuchang contacted the family to request help upgrading his spirit treasures.
• The Zhang family arrived at Li Xiuchang's residence after hearing about Zhang Wanzhi, and Li Xiuchang confirmed he knew their missing heir.
• Li Xiuchang showed the family his Rainbow Soul Banner and demonstrated his weapon-refining skills, convincing them that Zhang Wanzhi had taught him personally.
• The Zhang family learned that Zhang Wanzhi was alive but had not married or had children, and they furiously scolded him before asking about his life in the lower realm.
• Li Xiuchang revealed that Zhang Wanzhi was a Grand Elder of the Immortal Dust Sect, and True Person Songhe began to explain the crisis in the lower realm.
• Li Xiuchang asked the Zhang family to upgrade his spirit treasures into immortal artifacts.

Li Xiuchang helped the Immortal Dust Sect and other righteous forces prepare to return to the lower realm, then welcomed Chen Changsheng, who began building a teleportation array. The two devised a way to transport the Upper Realm’s mortals through it, while the righteous forces also agreed to capture evil-path Golden Immortals.

• Zhang Qianzhi and the Zhang Clan ancestors upgraded Li Xiuchang’s three spirit treasures into low-grade immortal artifacts, and Li Xiuchang tested them with satisfaction.
• Li Xiuchang told representatives of the hegemonic forces that a teleportation array to the lower realm would soon open, and the righteous forces agreed to coordinate efforts to capture evil-path Golden Immortals alive.
• Li Xiuchang reached the peak of the Human Immortal realm, then received word that Chen Changsheng had ascended and was on his way to the Immortal Dust Sect.
• Chen Changsheng began setting up the teleportation array after arriving, while Li Xiuchang revealed that his spatial treasure could carry people through it.
• Chen Changsheng told the Immortal Dust Sect’s Grand Elders about the treasure, and they planned to gather the mortals in their territory so Li Xiuchang could transport them to the lower realm.

Li Xiuchang reached the True Immortal realm, strengthened his equipment, and used his new elder privileges to study the Upper Realm’s craft knowledge while Chen Changsheng completed the Teleportation Array. The array successfully sent Zhang Qianzhi to the lower realm and back, confirming it worked and that Zhang Wanzhi was alive.

• Li Xiuchang broke through to the True Immortal realm, upgraded the Second Dantian world and his artifacts, and received elder status from True Person Songhe.
• The Righteous Path gathered mortals and low-level disciples for the first descent while tensions with the Demonic Path increased after five Demonic Path Golden Immortals were captured.
• Chen Changsheng completed the Teleportation Array and gave Li Xiuchang a Jade Gourd to conceal that he would store the people in his Second Dantian world.
• Zhang Qianzhi volunteered to test the array and teleported to the lower realm as a Golden Immortal ascended to open the passage.
• Chen Changsheng used the brief opening to send several captured Demonic Path Golden Immortals through the array before it closed.
• Zhang Qianzhi returned through the array and confirmed that it worked and that his son, Zhang Wanzhi, was still alive.

Li Xiuchang helped transfer hundreds of millions of Upper Realm mortals to the Dark Heaven Realm as the Upper and lower realms coordinated their forces against the Demonic Path. The chapter ends with the first attempt to use a Demonic Path Golden Immortal to replace a shadow succeeding, leaving the group to subdue and remove the newly arrived shadow.

• Li Xiuchang stored the Upper Realm disciples in his Second Dantian world and brought them to the lower realm through the Teleportation Array.
• Four Grand Elders from the Sword Seeking Sect, Ascension Pavilion, Seal Heaven Sect, and Rogue Cultivator Alliance descended, then quickly left the Immortal Dust Sect to explore their homeland.
• Li Xiuchang brought hundreds of millions of mortals to the Dark Heaven Realm, where the Magic Dust Sect took charge of settling them.
• The Upper and lower realms agreed to withdraw more Righteous Path cultivators from the Upper Realm, concentrate Golden Immortal fighters there, and prepare to capture Demonic Path experts.
• Li Xiuchang joined his Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters in bringing a sealed Demonic Path Golden Immortal into the Immortal Shade Realm's trapping formation.
• The formation replaced the Demonic Path Golden Immortal with a shadow of the same appearance and Cultivation Level, and the group rushed to subdue it.

Zhang Wanzhi and the others tested exchanging five Demonic Path Golden Immortals with their shadows in the Immortal Shade Realm, successfully retrieving three shadows. Li Xiuchang’s interrogation of them revealed that Wang Jingxing’s main body had escaped to the Shadow World, and Li Xiuchang was promoted to Grand Elder at thirty-two.

• Sun Desheng’s main body arrived in the Shadow World, killed nearby shadows, and escaped the encircling Golden Immortals by using an Immortal Concealment Talisman.
• Sun Desheng’s shadow was exchanged into a trap, beaten and sealed by Zhang Wanzhi and the others, and taken outside the Immortal Shade Realm.
• Zhang Wanzhi and the others exchanged five Demonic Path Golden Immortals and retrieved three of their shadows, then assigned Li Xiuchang to interrogate them.
• Li Xiuchang questioned the three shadows, and Sun Desheng’s account revealed that Wang Jingxing was among those who had escaped to the Shadow World.
• Liang Daocheng announced that Li Xiuchang would become a Grand Elder of the Immortal Dust Sect, making him a thirty-two-year-old Grand Elder.

After becoming a Grand Elder, Li Xiuchang continued cultivating while the Immortal Shade Realm gathered forces and fought shadows and heretical cultivators. When shadows entered the Demon Suppressing Realm, Li Xiuchang hurried there with his senior brothers and sisters to protect Yang Hao and Su Qingchun.

• Li Xiuchang was unanimously promoted to Grand Elder and kept a low profile while continuing his interrogation work and studies in the various arts.
• Zhang Wanzhi proposed searching the Shadow World for Wang Jingxing, but Chen Changsheng and the others rejected the plan as too dangerous without knowing Wang Jingxing's whereabouts.
• The Immortal Shade Realm sent heretical cultivators to replace shadows, while the Upper Realm Righteous Path withdrew weaker experts and sent them to the lower realms; the Four Great Immortal Sects later suspended further replacements to prepare a larger effort.
• Li Xiuchang arranged for Golden Horn to enter the Second Dantian World and merge its Great Dao of Defense into the Equalizer Dao as it advanced toward the Dao Integration Stage.
• Chen Changsheng's clone warned Li Xiuchang that many shadows had entered the Demon Suppressing Realm, where Yang Hao and Su Qingchun were comprehending the Dao.
• Li Xiuchang and his senior brothers and sisters teleported to the Demon Suppressing Realm and split into groups, with Li Xiuchang heading toward the place where the Confucian Sage had fallen.

Li Xiuchang and the others reached the Confucian Sage’s sealed demon corpse as an organized force of shadows attacked, overwhelmed the defenses, and broke the grand formation. Li Xiuchang fought back to protect the seal and was left facing a charging Golden Immortal shadow after Zhang Wanzhi and Mo Tu were pinned down.

• Li Xiuchang brought Yang Hao and Su Qingchun away from their Wordless Stele comprehension and joined Zhang Wanzhi and Mo Tu at the Confucian Sage’s demon corpse.
• Mo Tu sensed approaching enemies, and Li Xiuchang activated the grand formation as more than thirty shadows, including nearly ten Golden Immortals, arrived and attacked.
• Zhang Wanzhi and Mo Tu left the formation to fight the Golden Immortal shadows, while the others’ attacks shattered the formation and targeted the seal.
• Li Xiuchang used an Immortal Concealment Talisman to ambush and capture a Mystic Immortal shadow’s soul, then killed a True Immortal shadow and attacked the remaining enemies with his bees, Soul Slicing Saber, and Rainbow Soul Banner.
• The shadows turned on Li Xiuchang, and a Golden Immortal broke away to attack him while Zhang Wanzhi and Mo Tu remained tied down; Li Xiuchang calmly used Send Enemy a Thousand Miles.

Li Xiuchang sent a Shadow Golden Immortal into the seal, where the Confucian Sage's Demon Corpse awakened and polluted him with Primordial Demonic Power. As the Shadows battered the seal and held Zhang Wanzhi and Mo Tu back with repeated self-detonations, the seal shattered and the Demon Corpse broke free.

• Li Xiuchang used "Send Enemy a Thousand Miles" on a Shadow Golden Immortal, sending him into the seal and into the arms of the Confucian Sage's Demon Corpse.
• The Confucian Sage's Demon Corpse polluted the Golden Immortal Shadow with Primordial Demonic Power, transforming him into a mindless monster that attacked the seal from within.
• The Shadows ordered Mystic Immortals to pursue Li Xiuchang and sent Golden Immortals to attack the seal, while Li Xiuchang captured three more Mystic Immortal Shadows in his Second Dantian world.
• A Golden Immortal Shadow self-detonated, and Zhang Wanzhi used the Palace in the Palm to shield herself and Mo Tu; more Golden Immortals then self-detonated to keep them occupied.
• Li Xiuchang evaded a Golden Immortal Shadow's attacks, but he could not stop the Shadows from battering the seal until the bones of the Twelve Sub-Sages turned to ash and the seal shattered.
• The Confucian Sage's Demon Corpse broke free as the twelve Wordless Steles crashed to the ground.

Li Xiuchang secretly repaired the Demon Suppressing Realm’s boundary wall whenever the Confucian Sage Demon Corpse attacked it, preventing the corpse from reaching the Upper Realm and earning an enormous amount of virtue. Reinforcements arrived and prepared to fight the corpse and attempt to seal it, while Li Xiuchang remained hidden above them.

• The Confucian Sage Demon Corpse contaminated shadows, and Li Xiuchang observed that lower-Cultivation-Level shadows mutated more severely.
• Li Xiuchang collected all twelve Wordless Steles into the world within his Second Dantian while the corpse and shadows were distracted.
• The Confucian Sage Demon Corpse attacked the boundary wall, and Li Xiuchang secretly used Length Value to restore it, repeatedly thwarting the corpse and gaining vast virtue.
• Reinforcements from the Four Great Immortal Sects and the Rogue Cultivator Alliance arrived, and Chen Changsheng said he had less than a one-in-ten-thousand chance of sealing the corpse with a formation.
• The Golden Immortals decided to attack the Confucian Sage Demon Corpse while Chen Changsheng prepared a formation, unaware that Li Xiuchang watched from above beneath a vast cloud of virtue.

Li Xiuchang used his immense merit to shield the Golden Immortals from the Confucian Sage's demon corpse and its Primordial Demonic Power. As the corpse recovered a trace of consciousness and attacked their Dao hearts with demonized Righteous Qi, a mysterious young man with doubled pupils appeared atop it.

• The Immortal Shade Realm's Golden Immortals attacked the Confucian Sage's demon corpse with their Great Daos, but Primordial Demonic Power fused with their laws and spread pollution across the area.
• Merit light from Li Xiuchang's enormous merit cloud purified the Primordial Demonic Power within him, and he gathered the Golden Immortals beneath his protection.
• Li Xiuchang expanded his merit cloud to cover the demon corpse, eroding its Primordial Demonic Power as the corpse gradually regained a trace of consciousness.
• The demon corpse released demonized Righteous Qi that resisted merit and unleashed Great Confucian Debates, threatening to shake the Golden Immortals' Dao foundations.
• The debates abruptly stopped, and the Golden Immortals saw a young man with naturally doubled pupils standing atop the demon corpse.

Li Xiuchang recognized the mysterious rescuer as the Confucian Sage, who resealed his demon corpse and warned that stronger demons would emerge in the Demon Suppressing Realm. The Confucian Sage revealed that Yang Hao was the reincarnation of his first disciple, then left Li Xiuchang with a way to seek him in the Seventh Layer World.

• Li Xiuchang recognized the double-pupiled young man as the Confucian Sage, who sealed his demon corpse beneath the earth and warned that the influx of spiritual energy would awaken stronger demons.
• The Confucian Sage explained that destroying his remains would release nearly half the Primordial Demonic Power in the Demon Suppressing Realm, and promised to act if a greater threat arose.
• The Confucian Sage took Li Xiuchang aside and revealed that Yang Hao was the reincarnation of his first disciple, one of the Twelve Sub-Sages.
• The Confucian Sage explained that he had restored and reincarnated five disciples according to their subconscious wishes, and Yang Hao's wish to avoid the Confucian Path had left him unable to read characters.
• Li Xiuchang released Yang Hao to meet the Confucian Sage, who chose not to reveal their past connection and asked Li Xiuchang to care for him.
• The Confucian Sage gave Li Xiuchang a strand of breeze that could lead him to the Seventh Layer World if he faced a problem he could not resolve.

Li Xiuchang warned the Golden Immortals that demon monsters in the Demon Suppressing Realm were awakening and growing by devouring one another, while the Immortal Shade Realm prepared to defend against resurrected shadows. After his Five Elements Dao reached perfection, he advanced his formation skills to the Eighth Tier and changed the world inside his second Dantian.

• Li Xiuchang told the Golden Immortals that demon monsters were awakening, growing stronger, and devouring one another, and the group agreed to monitor them while preparing to defend the Immortal Shade.
• Li Xiuchang returned to the Immortal Dust Sect, helped relocate civilians to the Dark Heaven Realm, and joined efforts to safeguard the Immortal Shade from the shadows.
• Li Xiuchang studied formations with Chen Changsheng, reached the Seventh Tier, and sealed the disruptive Wěnwěn in a Beast Taming Bag.
• Li Xiuchang comprehended the Earth Dao from the Bone Hammer, perfected his Five Elements Dao, and advanced his formation skills to the Eighth Tier.
• Li Xiuchang subdued four Mystic Immortal-level shadows in his second Dantian world and merged the Earth Dao into the Equalizer Dao.
• The second Dantian world changed as soil, grass, dark clouds, and gentle rain appeared within it.

Li Xiuchang advanced his cultivation and continued building his Second Dantian world while the Immortal Shade Realm waited for the shadows to act. After Duan Mingshan returned from the Shadow World, he revealed that Wang Jingxing might be leading a refuge group there and warned that the shadows were maintaining a spatial rift in Immortal Shade.

• Li Xiuchang created soil, mountains, rivers, and an artificial sun in his Second Dantian world, then continued comprehending the Dao.
• Su Qingchun integrated his Ghost-Confucian Great Dao into the Equalizer Dao, while Li Xiuchang mastered several Great Daos and advanced to the middle stage of the True Immortal realm.
• Yang Hao mastered the Confucian Path in three Wordless Steles, reached the Tribulation Crossing Stage, and prepared for his first heavenly tribulation.
• Duan Mingshan broke out of Immortal Shade and returned from the Shadow World, where he had spent more than a hundred thousand years cultivating.
• Duan Mingshan told Zhang Wanzhi, Liang Daocheng, and Li Xiuchang that Wang Jingxing might have founded Reflected Shadow, an organization sheltering displaced cultivators.
• Duan Mingshan warned that shadows were gathering in Immortal Shade to maintain and expand a spatial rift, prompting Li Xiuchang and Zhang Wanzhi to suspect they were accelerating Immortal Shade's expansion.

The Immortal Shade Realm’s factions gathered Golden Immortal avatars to stop shadows from enlarging spatial rifts, while Li Xiuchang considered how to strengthen the Equalizer Dao. Chen Changsheng’s team found the shadows’ main force and prepared to intervene after the shadows forced captured Formation Masters to repair their array.

• The factions recruited Golden Immortal-level avatars, recalled experts from the Upper Realm, and sent more than a dozen avatars into the Immortal Shade, with Chen Changsheng claiming he could face its Daluo Golden Immortal shadow.
• Li Xiuchang supplied Immortal Concealment Talismans as Chen Changsheng’s group avoided defenses and searched for the shadows’ main force.
• Yang Hao returned after two heavenly tribulations, and Li Xiuchang planned to broaden the Equalizer Dao by integrating more paths and recruiting his underlings.
• Chen Changsheng’s group found nine Golden Immortal shadows struggling to enlarge a spatial rift with an unstable array.
• The shadows had captured and forced Formation Masters to improve the array, so Chen Changsheng told the other avatars that they had to act.

Chen Changsheng and his companions destroyed the formation sustaining the spatial rift, but the Sky-Piercing Immortal Tree’s branch emerged and kept the rift stable. The Immortal Shade began expanding faster, and Li Xiuchang urged Yang Hao to become an immortal so they could seek help from a senior in the Seventh Layer World.

• Chen Changsheng and his companions attacked and destroyed the formation, killing the Formation Masters who had helped the shadows sustain the spatial rift.
• A Daluo Golden Immortal shadow sealed the battlefield, and the fighting caused energy to build up until the spatial rift stopped shrinking and began expanding.
• Chen Changsheng set up a teleportation formation to evacuate his companions, but a shadow’s self-destruction raised the energy density and disrupted their escape.
• A branch emerged from the spatial rift and stabilized it; the sealed space then exploded, and Chen Changsheng withdrew with his companions.
• The experts outside the Immortal Shade learned that it was expanding faster and suspected the branch came from the Sky-Piercing Immortal Tree.
• Li Xiuchang urged Yang Hao to undergo his final heavenly tribulation so he could take him to meet a senior in the Seventh Layer World.

Yang Hao ascended to immortality, and Li Xiuchang brought him to visit the Confucian Sage and ask for help against the expanding Immortal Shade. During the visit, the Confucian Sage revealed that the Buddha Ancestor living in the Seventh Layer World was his junior brother’s shadow, while the real Buddha Ancestor had exchanged identities with the shadows to seek a way out of the Buddhist Path’s crisis.

• Yang Hao overcame his tribulation, and Li Xiuchang taught him to make pastries before taking him to the Confucian Sage’s residence.
• Yang Hao offered the Confucian Sage his pastries and asked him to help Li Xiuchang, then asked to eat fish from the pond.
• The Confucian Sage had Shi Tian prepare the Mystic Immortal koi, and Li Xiuchang learned that Shi Tian called him Martial Uncle.
• The Confucian Sage told Li Xiuchang that the Buddha Ancestor was his junior brother and that the Buddha Ancestor currently seen in the Seventh Layer World was only his shadow.
• The Confucian Sage explained that his junior brother had entered the Immortal Shade and exchanged identities and duties with the shadows, then asked Li Xiuchang why he had come.

Li Xiuchang learned from the Confucian Sage that his lack of a shadow let him travel freely through the spatial rift into the Immortal Yang. He entered to investigate, found the Sky-Piercing Immortal Tree branch guarded by two Daluo Golden Immortals, and chose not to attack before descending toward the crowds below.

• The Confucian Sage explained that the Sky-Piercing Immortal Tree branch holding the rift open could only be touched from the Immortal Yang and revealed that Li Xiuchang had no shadow.
• The Confucian Sage gave Li Xiuchang a bell that returned him and Yang Hao to the Immortal Dust Sect, where Li Xiuchang told the sect he planned to scout the Shadow World.
• Li Xiuchang said goodbye to Zhang Wanzhi and the others, entered the Immortal Shade under an Immortal Concealment Talisman, and passed through the rift into the Immortal Yang.
• Li Xiuchang found the branch near the Sky-Piercing Immortal Tree protected by transparent fluid and guarded by two Daluo Golden Immortals, so he decided against trying to sever it.
• Li Xiuchang descended from the branch and saw crowds of shadows gathered below, hoping to leave the Shadow World.

Li Xiuchang explored Xianyang and the Shadow World, then returned with a plan to seek Golden Immortal allies to sever the Sky-Piercing Immortal Tree’s branch and stop the spatial rift. After receiving supplies and a list of eight potential allies, he entered the Shadow World again and began searching for them.

• Li Xiuchang surveyed crowded Xianyang, learned that shadows and native demon beasts lived there, and gathered valuable spiritual plants and herbs outside the city.
• Li Xiuchang returned to the Immortal Shade Realm and told the waiting experts what he had discovered, while they focused on how to close the spatial rift.
• Li Xiuchang proposed recruiting Golden Immortal experts from the Shadow World, including Wang Jingxing, to help sever the branch protecting the rift.
• Chen Changsheng arranged for Li Xiuchang to receive a list of eight Golden Immortal shadows, protective talismans, and treasures, while the group kept those shadows outside the Immortal Shade Realm.
• Li Xiuchang left behind a clone, entered the Shadow World again, and searched the dark wilderness for allies while harvesting herbs along the way.