Chapter Summaries

Cai Youwan passed the Xiao Jian Sect’s disciple test with astonishing aptitude, while his friend Lu Tan failed. As the sect’s emissaries prepared to bring Cai Youwan away, a nobleman ordered his people to kill him, the Xiao Jian Sect disciples, and everyone in Little Bay Village.

• Li Zhōujūn reassured Cai Youwan and encouraged him to prepare for the Xiao Jian Sect’s recruitment test.
• Liu Chengyang and two fellow Xiao Jian Sect disciples arrived in Little Bay Village and tested the children’s aptitude.
• Cai Youwan made the testing stone shine brilliantly, earning the emissaries’ attention, while Lu Tan failed and asked Cai to help him join the sect.
• Sun Jingyuan welcomed Cai Youwan, and Liu Chengyang sent a disciple to alert the elders about Cai’s rare talent.
• A black-robed man reported Cai’s talent to a noble young man, who ordered the village’s people and the Xiao Jian Sect emissaries killed to conceal the matter from his sister’s future in-laws.

Snake Fool and Long Fusheng tried to wipe out everyone within five hundred thousand kilometers, but Li Zhōujūn stopped the attack from afar and declared that even a First-Rank Dao Venerable was unworthy of seeing his threshold. Long Fusheng threatened Li Zhōujūn, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Snake Fool shrouded the area in black mist and prepared to kill every living creature within five hundred thousand kilometers at Long Fusheng's order.
• Liu Chengyang, Sun Jingyuan, and Lu Jipeng realized they could not escape or contact the Xiao Sword Sect's elders, while the villagers feared for their lives.
• Snake Fool hesitated to attack the villagers, but Long Fusheng reminded him that the Long Household had saved his life, and Snake Fool sent the giant hand crashing down.
• A spring breeze cleared the black mist and dissipated the giant hand, and Snake Fool asked the unseen expert to reveal himself.
• Li Zhōujūn dismissed the threat of even a First-Rank Dao Venerable, and Long Fusheng angrily threatened him and vowed to kill everyone in the area.

Li Zhōujūn crushed Long Fusheng beneath a mountain and sentenced him to five hundred years of suppression after he threatened the people of Little Bay Village. The Long Household’s head accepted the punishment, while Xiao Jian Shangren agreed to personally teach Cai Youwan, leaving Lu Tan hopeful that he could join the Xiao Jian Sect too.

• Li Zhōujūn revealed his Dao Venerable aura, crushed Long Fusheng beneath a transformed mountain, and sentenced him to five hundred years of suppression.
• She Chi explained that Long Fusheng had come to Little Bay Village because of his Miss’s joke about marrying Cai Youwan, and the villagers thanked Li Zhōujūn for saving them.
• Long Bin and Xiao Jian Shangren arrived; after hearing what happened, Long Bin apologized for his son and left She Chi behind, while Xiao Jian Shangren demanded that the Long Household answer for its actions against the Xiao Jian Sect.
• Li Zhōujūn urged Xiao Jian Shangren not to waste Cai Youwan’s talent, and the Sect Master promised to teach him personally.
• Lu Tan was delighted that Cai Youwan’s new position as Xiao Jian Shangren’s disciple might help him join the Xiao Jian Sect.

After leaving Little Bay Village, Li Zhōujūn continued his journey and encountered Zhang Ruoyuan, who invited him to the Purple Gold Emperor’s ten-thousand-year birthday banquet. Li Zhōujūn decided to attend and visit the Purple Gold Emperor, while the emperor wondered who was thinking about him.

• Li Zhōujūn left Cai Youwan in Xiao Jian Shangren’s care, and Cai Youwan chose to ask his new Master privately about helping Lu Tan join the Xiao Jian Sect.
• Cai Youwan hurried to Li Zhōujūn’s residence but found that he had already left Little Bay Village.
• Ten days later, Li Zhōujūn destroyed an evil creature that had been pursuing Zhang Ruoyuan, a seventh-grade Dao Ancestor from the Liuxi Sect.
• Zhang Ruoyuan told Li Zhōujūn she was preparing to accompany her Master to the Purple Gold Emperor’s birthday banquet, and Li Zhōujūn decided to attend and visit his old friend.
• The Purple Gold Emperor sneezed while arranging the banquet and wondered whether someone was thinking about him.

Li Zhōujūn encountered Abbess Liuxi and her disciples being threatened by White-Browed King and four Second-Rank Dao Venerables over a Universe Heart-Condensing Pill. He challenged White-Browed King after agreeing with his argument about climbing to the top, but the confrontation had not yet turned to fighting.

• Li Zhōujūn came across Zhang Ruoyuan, Abbess Liuxi, and the Liuxi Sect disciples facing White-Browed King and his four sworn brothers.
• White-Browed King demanded half of Abbess Liuxi's Universe Heart-Condensing Pill and proposed taking Zhang Ruoyuan as his wife.
• White-Browed King threatened to overwhelm Abbess Liuxi and kill her disciples, while his four brothers revealed their powerful beast forms.
• Li Zhōujūn agreed with White-Browed King's claim that those who reach the top become superior, drawing surprised reactions from Zhang Ruoyuan and Abbess Liuxi.
• Li Zhōujūn rejected White-Browed King's demand that he leave and warned him to stay humble, while Abbess Liuxi worried that Li Zhōujūn could not protect them.

Li Zhōujūn killed King Juyuan with a casual wave, but Shangren Jiu arrived and announced that he would take everyone to the Purple Extreme Imperial Dynasty as bargaining chips. Shangren Jiu dismissed Li Zhōujūn as an ant, and the system gave Li Zhōujūn a mission to reveal his identity and frighten the old man.

• King Juyuan attacked Li Zhōujūn with a powerful suction force, but Li Zhōujūn immobilized him and crushed him into a blood mist.
• White-Browed King and his surviving subordinates discussed retreating to attend Emperor Purple Gold's birthday banquet.
• Shangren Jiu appeared, revealed Sixth-Rank Dao Venerable pressure, and refused White-Browed King's offer of fine wine, declaring that he would take the group to the Emperor as bargaining chips.
• Abbess Liuxi tried to explain that White-Browed King had provoked the conflict, but Shangren Jiu interrupted her and said everyone would come with him.
• Li Zhōujūn remarked that few people recognized him after his absence, but Shangren Jiu mocked him as an ant.
• The system ordered Li Zhōujūn to accompany Shangren Jiu to the Purple Extreme Imperial Dynasty and reveal his identity, promising an Eighth-Rank Dao Venerable breakthrough upon completion.

Jiu Shangren forced Li Zhōujūn and the others to accompany him to the Purple Extreme Imperial Dynasty, where the assembled Dao Realm powers recognized Li Zhōujūn as the Azure Emperor. The Purple Extreme Emperor welcomed him but grew worried when he noticed Jiu Shangren beside him.

• Jiu Shangren threatened White-Browed King, Abbess Liuxi, and the others into following him, while Li Zhōujūn agreed to go see the Purple Extreme Emperor.
• White-Browed King urged Abbess Liuxi and Li Zhōujūn to claim they had been sparring, and Zhang Ruoyuan worried that they had dragged Li into their troubles.
• Jiu Shangren led the group to the Purple Extreme Imperial Dynasty for the Purple Extreme Emperor's hundred-thousandth birthday celebration and the activation of the Purple Extreme Grand Formation.
• Dao Realm dignitaries recognized Li Zhōujūn as the Azure Emperor and bowed to him, leaving Jiu Shangren, White-Browed King, Zhang Ruoyuan, and the others stunned.
• The Purple Extreme Emperor appeared and welcomed Li Zhōujūn, then asked whether he knew Jiu Shangren.

Li Zhōujūn revealed himself as the Azure Emperor, and Jiu Shangren lost his cultivation after the Purple Gold Emperor spared his life. In a dark corner, Jiu Shangren accepted a mysterious old man’s offer to enter the Evil Spirit Path and gain power.

• Jiu Shangren confessed that he had brought Li Zhōujūn to the banquet without knowing he was the Azure Emperor, and the Purple Gold Emperor declared Li Zhōujūn his sworn brother.
• The Purple Gold Emperor left Jiu Shangren’s punishment to Li Zhōujūn, then offered to spare his life while crippling his cultivation.
• Jiu Shangren destroyed his own cultivation, became an old man, and left the banquet as Zhang Ruoyuan and Abbess Liuxi watched.
• Jiu Shangren sat alone in a street corner, unable to accept his fall and planning to starve to death.
• A mysterious old man offered Jiu Shangren stronger power through the Evil Spirit Path, and Jiu Shangren accepted in order to trample the Purple Gold Emperor and Li Zhōujūn beneath his feet.
• The mysterious old man laughed, and Jiu Shangren vanished from the corner.

Li Zhōujūn and the Purple Gold Emperor received a challenge from Jiu Shangren and agreed to meet him at Yantian Mountain in three days. Meanwhile, the White-Browed King worried that his ties to the Liuxi Sect could bring trouble and planned to consult the clever man he had brought from the Three Thousand Realms.

• The Purple Gold Emperor received a message challenging him to a life-or-death battle at Yantian Mountain, and Li Zhōujūn agreed to go with him after receiving a second challenge.
• Jiu Shangren revealed that he had reached Eighth-Rank Dao Venerable with help from an old man, who had prepared an isolation formation so Jiu Shangren could use the power of the Evil Spirit Realm.
• Li Zhōujūn encountered Abbess Liuxi and the Liuxi Sect group as they prepared to leave, and he teased Zhang Ruoyuan about once calling him Fellow Daoist Li.
• The White-Browed King saw Li Zhōujūn speaking with the Liuxi Sect and decided to consult the clever fellow he had brought from the Three Thousand Realms about what to do next.

Ghost Lord advised White-Browed King to abandon Tiger King Stronghold after learning the Liuxi Sect had Azure Emperor’s backing, and the Liuxi Sect took over the deserted territory. Three days later, Jiu Shangren confronted Purple Gold Emperor and Li Zhōujūn at Yantian Mountain, confident his newfound Eighth-Rank Dao Venerable cultivation would let him kill them.

• Ghost Lord urged White-Browed King to move the stronghold, and White-Browed King ordered everyone to leave after hearing that Azure Emperor backed the Liuxi Sect.
• Ghost Lord suspected Azure Emperor might be Supreme Elder Li, while White-Browed King dismissed his concerns.
• Abbess Liuxi and Zhang Ruoyuan took over White-Browed King’s abandoned territory, believing Azure Emperor’s reputation had frightened him away.
• Three days later, Jiu Shangren waited at Yantian Mountain, confident that his Eighth-Rank cultivation surpassed the Seventh-Rank cultivation of Purple Gold Emperor and Li Zhōujūn.
• Purple Gold Emperor and Li Zhōujūn arrived, recognized Jiu Shangren, and heard him threaten Azure Emperor.

Jiu Shangren revealed his Evil Spirit allegiance and attacked Li Zhōujūn and the Purple Gold Emperor, but Li Zhōujūn easily stopped him and trapped him with a chessboard. A powerful shadow appeared to aid Jiu Shangren, yet it was also restrained and ended by offering Li Zhōujūn rule over the Dao Realm if he joined the Evil Spirits.

• The Purple Gold Emperor taunted Jiu Shangren, who revealed that he had become an Eighth-Rank Dao Venerable with an Evil Spirit aura.
• Jiu Shangren unleashed a storm from his wine gourd at Li Zhōujūn and the Purple Gold Emperor, but Li Zhōujūn stopped and shattered it with a cold snort.
• Li Zhōujūn explained that Jiu Shangren's past choices had led to his downfall, then trapped him with a phantom chessboard.
• Jiu Shangren summoned a shadow whose power seemed to rival a Ninth-Rank Dao Venerable, but the chessboard restrained it as well.
• The shadow offered Li Zhōujūn rule over the Dao Realm if he submitted to the Evil Spirit clan, leaving Jiu Shangren stunned.

Li Zhōujūn rejected Taishizun’s offer to join the Evil Spirit Realm and trapped his clone until Purple Gold Emperor’s slap provoked Taishizun’s true body to attack. Li Menglan intervened, Jiu Shangren was killed, and she urged Li Zhōujūn to stay by her side while warning him not to enter the Evil Spirit Realm.

• Li Zhōujūn refused Taishizun’s offer of power and continued restraining his clone with the chessboard.
• Purple Gold Emperor slapped Taishizun’s clone, prompting Taishizun to tear open a fissure and reach for him and Li Zhōujūn.
• Li Menglan’s sword light forced Taishizun’s true body to retreat and saved the two men.
• Jiu Shangren lost his cultivation after Taishizun departed, and Purple Gold Emperor killed him.
• Li Menglan told Li Zhōujūn to stay by her side and warned him not to go to the Evil Spirit Realm.

Li Zhōujūn chose to remain behind rather than accept Li Menglan’s protection, while Evil Spirit Greed and the other Evil Spirit Ancestors prepared a formation against the Dao Realm. The chapter ended when Li Zhōujūn appeared inside their formation, stunning Greed.

• Li Zhōujūn asked the system to teleport him to the Evil Spirit Realm, then reassured Li Menglan and Purple Gold Emperor that Greed could not harm them.
• Evil Spirit Anger and Evil Spirit Ignorance confronted Greed over his attack on the Dao Realm, and Anger warned him that the mysterious Existence expected them to proceed with their plans.
• Emperor Nian, Great Emperor Jíwǔ, and Li Menglan discussed the danger of cultivators falling into the Evil Spirit Path and their doubts about the mysterious figure’s formation.
• The Three Ancestors gathered in the Evil Spirit Realm and began refining a formation meant to defeat the Dao Realm’s leaders.
• Li Zhōujūn stepped out at the center of the formation, and Evil Spirit Greed recognized him with fury and astonishment.

Li Zhōujūn faced the Three Ancestors of Evil Spirits in their Great Killing Array and emerged unharmed. The Ancestors were left struggling to explain his survival as the threat to the Dao Realm remained.

• Greed identified Li Zhōujūn as the Azure Emperor and threatened to test the Great Killing Array on him.
• Li Zhōujūn dismissed the array, while Greed boasted that it could defeat Emperor Nian, Great Emperor Jíwǔ, and Li Menglan.
• Greed, Anger, and Ignorance activated the array, sending ancient characters crashing down and shaking the Evil Spirit Realm.
• Emperor Nian, Great Emperor Jíwǔ, and Li Menglan sensed the disturbance and vowed to guard the entrances between the realms.
• After the array’s final strike, Li Zhōujūn walked out of the storm unharmed, leaving the Three Ancestors bewildered.
• Greed insisted Li Zhōujūn had survived by luck, and Ignorance admitted that Greed’s reasoning seemed plausible.

Greed attacked Li Zhōujūn, but Wrath and Delusion turned against Greed after realizing Li Zhōujūn might truly be a Dao Master. Greed escaped, while Li Zhōujūn gained the Ninth-Rank Dao Venerable Realm and ordered Wrath and Delusion to stop their activities and hunt him down.

• Greed unleashed a devouring darkness at Li Zhōujūn, whose radiance left him unharmed.
• Li Zhōujūn offered to spare Wrath and Delusion if they captured Greed, and Wrath ambushed Greed while Delusion attacked him.
• Greed, badly injured, vanished using a life-saving trump card, and Wrath explained that killing him would be difficult.
• Li Zhōujūn received a system reward that raised his cultivation to the Ninth-Rank Dao Venerable Realm.
• Li Zhōujūn ordered Wrath and Delusion to halt their activities in the Dao Realm and relentlessly hunt Greed.

Emperor Nian, Great Emperor Jíwǔ, and Li Menglan prepared to practice a formation as activity from the Evil Spirit Realm subsided. At a lakeside, Ghost Lord reunited with Li Zhōujūn and learned he was the Dao Realm’s Azure Emperor, while White-Browed King tried to use their friendship to win favor.

• Emperor Nian told Great Emperor Jíwǔ and Li Menglan that he had finished studying the formation and reported that the evil spirits had disappeared from the Dao Realm.
• Li Menglan urged the others to begin practicing the formation while the evil spirits remained inactive.
• Ghost Lord recognized Li Zhōujūn while they were fishing and explained that he had been kidnapped and brought to the Dao Realm.
• Ghost Lord learned that Li Zhōujūn was the Azure Emperor, and White-Browed King arrived and pleaded with him to spare Little Tiger.
• Li Zhōujūn told White-Browed King that Ghost Lord was an old friend, and White-Browed King invited him to visit.
• Li Zhōujūn declined the invitation and asked White-Browed King to bring him roast chicken and fine wine instead.

The Evil Spirit Realm’s lord learned that Li Zhōujūn had defeated the Three Ancestors’ formation and ordered them to continue preparing for invasion. Meanwhile, Crocodile Overlord challenged White-Browed King at Li Zhōujūn’s fishing spot, but his elder emerged tiny and resentful, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Greed crashed into the black shadow, and Wrath and Delusion greeted the shadow as their lord.
• Wrath explained that Li Zhōujūn had forced her and Delusion to pursue Greed, and the lord became interested in the Azure Emperor who had withstood his formation.
• The lord ordered the Three Ancestors of Evil Spirits to continue preparing to invade the Dao Realm.
• Li Zhōujūn sneezed while fishing and eating White-Browed King’s roast chicken, then Crocodile Overlord surfaced and threatened to reclaim the waters with help from his Household.
• Crocodile Overlord called for his elder to attack, but the elder surfaced as a tiny crocodile and stared at him resentfully.

Crocodile Clan Elder E Yu rescued Crocodile Overlord from Li Zhōujūn’s wrath, while the Withered Wood Old Man revealed that he planned to capture the Azure Emperor. He sent Sī Qīng to bring Li Zhōujūn to him as the Dao Realm sensed her arrival.

• E Yu respectfully asked Li Zhōujūn to spare Crocodile Overlord, and Li Zhōujūn let them leave.
• The Withered Wood Old Man visited the chained Qin Tianyi, fed him wine, and said the Azure Emperor might be a Dao Master who could help fulfill his plans.
• The Withered Wood Old Man ordered Sī Qīng to bring the Azure Emperor to him, and she left for the Dao Realm.
• Li Zhōujūn continued fishing while White-Browed King fanned him, and Li Zhōujūn sensed a powerful presence had arrived.
• Emperor Nian, Li Menglan, Great Emperor Jíwǔ, and the Three Ancestors of Greed, Anger, and Ignorance sensed the Dao Realm tremble and anticipated a Dao Master’s arrival.

Sī Qīng arrived to take Li Zhōujūn to meet Lord Liǔ, the will of the Dao Realm, but Li Menglan stepped in to protect him. Li Zhōujūn stopped Sī Qīng’s sword with two fingers, revealing that his strength matched hers, as Emperor Nian and Great Emperor Jíwǔ concluded that the Dao Realm was on the verge of change.

• Sī Qīng appeared before Li Zhōujūn and demanded that he come with her to meet Lord Liǔ.
• Li Menglan defended Li Zhōujūn, and Sī Qīng attacked her with an azure sword intent.
• Li Zhōujūn caught the sword intent just before it reached Li Menglan’s forehead, startling Sī Qīng and the onlookers.
• Li Zhōujūn told Li Menglan to rest beside him, and she acknowledged his strength.
• Emperor Nian and Great Emperor Jíwǔ reflected that their era had passed and the Dao Realm’s future was uncertain.

Sī Qīng attacked Li Zhōujūn and demanded that he submit to the Old Lord, but he stopped her sword strikes and refused to be forced. Sī Qīng summoned a colossal willow tree that shook the entire Dao Realm, leaving its defenders fearing she could destroy it.

• The Three Ancestors of Greed, Anger, and Ignorance watched Sī Qīng and concluded that she had been sent to deal with the Azure Emperor.
• Sī Qīng struck at Li Zhōujūn, but he halted her sword with the divine eye on his brow.
• White-Browed King mocked Sī Qīng, while Ghost Lord teased him for flattering Li Zhōujūn.
• Sī Qīng questioned Li Zhōujūn’s origins and warned that no one in the Dao Realm could defy the Old Lord, but Li Zhōujūn said he would not be forced.
• Sī Qīng drew energy from the void and manifested a colossal willow tree, frightening Li Menglan, Emperor Nian, the Great Emperor Jíwǔ, and the Three Ancestors.