Chapter Summaries

Lin Xun killed Lin Yan after Emperor Mo Ran restrained her, then recruited Mo Ran by promising to retrieve the magical treasure he needed for his breakthrough. The chapter ended with Mo Ran giving Lin Xun evidence that justified Lin Yan's death and agreeing to return in three months.

• Emperor Mo Ran restrained Lin Yan and forced her to her knees as Lin Xun approached.
• Lin Xun killed Lin Yan with a strike to the head.
• Lin Xun learned that Emperor Mo Ran had joined Lin Yan to reclaim the magical treasure Lin Xun's father had taken from him.
• Lin Xun borrowed Li Zhōujūn's authority to convince Emperor Mo Ran to become her subordinate, promising to retrieve his treasure.
• Emperor Mo Ran gave Lin Xun a jade stone recording his collaboration with Lin Yan as evidence, and Lin Xun told him to return in three months.

Lin Xun explained to the Lin Family elders that she killed Lin Yan after Lin Yan plotted with Emperor Mo Ran to kill her. She learned that the elders had sentenced her to the punishment secret realm to protect her from Great Emperor Fuhai, then offered a way to counter the threat.

• Lin Xun showed the elders a Recording Stone proving that Lin Yan and Emperor Mo Ran had plotted to kill her, and Lin Kongbai agreed that Lin Yan had deserved death.
• Lin Heitie urged the elders to punish Lin Xun for acting without their approval, and Lin Kongbai sentenced her to one hundred thousand years in the punishment secret realm.
• After Lin Xun left, Lin Heitie revealed that Great Emperor Fuhai, Lin Yan's maternal grandfather, might seek revenge, and explained that the secret realm could shelter Lin Xun from him.
• Lin Xun returned and said Emperor Mo Ran now obeyed her and might become a Fourth-Rank Dao Emperor if the Lin Family returned his magic treasure.
• Lin Xun explained that a friend had helped her gain control of Emperor Mo Ran, while the elders learned she had overheard their plan to protect her.

Lin Xun convinced her family to return Emperor Mo Ran’s magic treasure, then Great Emperor Fuhai arrived to confront the Lin Family over Lin Yan’s death. Great Emperor Northern Star offered to intervene on Li Zhōujūn’s behalf, while Li Zhōujūn agreed only to appear.

• Lin Xun claimed that her friend Li Zhōujūn had fought Great Emperor Northern Star evenly, but Lin Heitie and Lin Kongbai doubted her story.
• Lin Xun summoned Emperor Mo Ran, and Lin Kongbai returned his magic treasure after Lin Xun vouched for him.
• Emperor Mo Ran swore loyalty to Lin Xun and the Azure Emperor, prompting Lin Kongbai to realize that Li Zhōujūn was the Azure Emperor.
• Great Emperor Fuhai arrived at the Lin Family, accused Lin Xun of killing his granddaughter Lin Yan, and destroyed the main hall’s roof.
• Emperor Mo Ran challenged Great Emperor Fuhai’s authority, while Great Emperor Northern Star offered to handle the confrontation and asked Li Zhōujūn to appear.

Lin Kongbai stood up to Great Emperor Fuhai to protect Lin Xun, while Emperor Mo Ran warned that she had the Azure Emperor’s backing. Great Emperor Fuhai dismissed the warning, and Lin Heitie ended the chapter still unsure where the Azure Emperor was.

• Great Emperor Fuhai challenged Emperor Mo Ran and insisted that Lin Yan’s death and the Lin Family’s affairs concerned him as her grandfather.
• Lin Kongbai defied Great Emperor Fuhai and vowed to protect Lin Xun, leaving her stunned by his resolve.
• Emperor Mo Ran claimed that the Azure Emperor was as powerful as the Northern Star Great Emperor, but Great Emperor Fuhai dismissed the claim as a fabrication.
• The Northern Star Great Emperor teased Li Zhōujūn about Great Emperor Fuhai’s disbelief, and Li Zhōujūn calmly accepted it.
• Lin Heitie asked Emperor Mo Ran where the Azure Emperor was, and Emperor Mo Ran admitted that he did not know.

The Northern Star Great Emperor stopped Great Emperor Fuhai from attacking the Lin Family, and Li Zhōujūn revealed his friendship with the Azure Emperor. As Lin Xun considered Fuhai’s fate, Fuhai claimed that his daughter Shen Youyou had become Great Emperor Xuannan’s disciple.

• Great Emperor Fuhai summoned a heavenly river to threaten the Lin Family and demanded that the Azure Emperor appear.
• The Northern Star Great Emperor pierced through the river, crushed Fuhai with his aura, and arrived alongside Li Zhōujūn.
• Emperor Mo Ran identified Li Zhōujūn as the Azure Emperor and explained that the Northern Star Great Emperor had intervened for Lin Xun’s sake.
• The Northern Star Great Emperor and Li Zhōujūn asked Lin Xun what to do with Fuhai, while Emperor Mo Ran urged her to kill him.
• Great Emperor Fuhai warned that Shen Youyou had become a disciple of the Ninth-Rank Dao Emperor, Great Emperor Xuannan, shocking Lin Kongbai.

Northern Star Great Emperor killed Great Emperor Fuhai after learning that Shen Youyou had gone to Great Emperor Xuannan, his mortal enemy. After Li Zhōujūn and Northern Star Great Emperor left, the Lin Family worried about Xuannan’s possible retaliation, while Lin Heitie tricked Lin Youcai into taking responsibility for repairing the hall.

• Lin Kongbai learned that Great Emperor Fuhai had known Shen Youyou was with Great Emperor Xuannan, and Emperor Mo Ran explained Xuannan’s history with Northern Star Great Emperor’s wife.
• Northern Star Great Emperor crushed Great Emperor Fuhai with a divine spear, then apologized to Li Zhōujūn for losing his composure and drank three cups of wine.
• Emperor Mo Ran told Lin Xun he planned to enter seclusion and promised to protect her after reaching the Fourth-Rank Dao Emperor realm.
• Lin Heitie asked Lin Xun about her relationship with Azure Emperor, while Lin Kongbai ordered the Lin Family hall repaired and Lin Heitie worried that Xuannan might retaliate.
• Lin Heitie tricked Lin Youcai into accepting responsibility for obtaining the money and manpower to repair the hall, leaving Lin Youcai stunned.

After Shen Youyou learned that her father and daughter had died, Great Emperor Xuannan attacked the Moon Yao Domain to avenge her. Northern Star Great Emperor stopped the attack, and Xuannan confronted him and Li Zhōujūn, asking Li Zhōujūn who he was.

• Shen Youyou told Great Emperor Xuannan that her father and daughter had died and blamed the Lin Family, so Xuannan vowed to destroy the Moon Yao Domain.
• Great Emperor Xuannan summoned a phantom mountain over the Moon Yao Domain and sealed it, terrifying its inhabitants and the Lin Family elders.
• Northern Star Great Emperor pierced the phantom mountain with his spear and appeared above the domain alongside Li Zhōujūn.
• Northern Star Great Emperor admitted that he had killed Great Emperor Fuhai, and Great Emperor Xuannan approached him and asked Li Zhōujūn who he was.

Great Emperor Xuannan challenged Northern Star Great Emperor, and their clash shook the Central Continent. Xuannan revealed an Ancient Saint Scroll that could grant him Half-step Dao Saint strength, while Li Zhōujūn wondered at the scale of his ancestor Qin Tianyi’s ancient deeds.

• Great Emperor Xuannan dismissed Li Zhōujūn’s achievement of helping someone withstand a Dao Emperor Lightning Tribulation and warned him to stay out of the fight.
• Northern Star Great Emperor attacked Xuannan, and the two exchanged blows that devastated the surrounding landscape and awed the Lin Family.
• Northern Star Great Emperor rose and unleashed his imperial might as Ninth-Rank Dao Emperors across the Central Continent watched their confrontation.
• Great Emperor Xuannan produced an Ancient Saint Scroll and explained that it could let him wield Half-step Dao Saint strength to kill Northern Star Great Emperor.
• Li Zhōujūn heard Xuannan describe Qin Tianyi’s ancient battle against Dao Saints and wondered whether the Qin Tianyi mentioned was his ancestor.

Li Zhōujūn saved Northern Star Great Emperor by shattering Great Emperor Xuannan’s Ancient Saint Magic Treasure, then advanced to the Third-Rank Dao Emperor Realm. Elsewhere, the Azure Ink Painting Saint sensed that his painting fragment had been destroyed and wondered whether Dao Saints could return to the Central Continent.

• Great Emperor Xuannan revealed his Ancient Saint Scroll and sent an immortal palace crashing toward Northern Star Great Emperor, who prepared to flee.
• Li Zhōujūn threw his wine cup and destroyed the immortal-palace image and Great Emperor Xuannan’s treasure, completing the system’s quest and advancing to the Third-Rank Dao Emperor Realm.
• Northern Star Great Emperor told Great Emperor Xuannan to run, then pursued him after Xuannan fled.
• The Azure Ink Painting Saint sensed that one of his painting fragments had been destroyed and considered whether the Central Continent had become accessible to Dao Saints.
• The Azure Ink Painting Saint decided not to enter the Central Continent rashly in case Qin Tianyi was still there.

Li Zhōujūn entered a mysterious world within a painting and discovered that several Ninth-Rank Dao Emperors had also been drawn there. The group grew as Central Great Emperor pulled Great Emperor Xuannan and Northern Star Great Emperor into their midst.

• Li Zhōujūn fell asleep after the system announced a mission to enter a world within a painting, then woke there with his cultivation advanced to the Fourth-Rank Dao Emperor Realm.
• Li Zhōujūn met Mu Zhenhuang, also known as Phoenix Emperor, and learned that she had been brought into the painted world by an irresistible drowsiness.
• Old Immortal Liu arrived and confirmed that he too had entered the world while asleep; he and Mu Zhenhuang realized Li Zhōujūn had also been drawn there.
• A disturbance revealed Central Great Emperor, who said he had tried and failed to escape and believed the strange place had gathered Ninth-Rank Dao Emperors.
• Great Emperor Xuannan and Northern Star Great Emperor arrived while fighting, and Central Great Emperor used two phantom hands to pull them out of the void and bring them before the group.

Li Zhōujūn and five others were trapped in the Ink Mountain Painting Realm by the Painting Immortal, who declared it a trial with an unparalleled reward for the last survivor. As an indestructible divine statue attacked them, Li Zhōujūn received a system mission to make the Painting Immortal cry.

• The Northern Star Great Emperor and Great Emperor Xuannan reunited with Li Zhōujūn, the Central Great Emperor, Mu Zhenhuang, and Old Immortal Liu, and they realized the realm was connected to Xuannan's Ancient Saint Magic Treasure.
• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal appeared, wounded the Central Great Emperor with a single finger, and revealed that she had brought them to her realm for a trial.
• The Painting Immortal said the last survivor would receive an unparalleled reward, then vanished as a divine statue formed from the mountains attacked the group.
• The Central Great Emperor repeatedly destroyed the Ninth-Rank Dao Emperor-level statue, but it regenerated each time, and he proposed that they take turns attacking it.
• The system assigned Li Zhōujūn a mission to make the Painting Immortal cry, while she watched from the shadows and called the statue only an appetizer.

Li Zhōujūn revealed that he had reached First-Rank Dao Saint strength and forced Ink Mountain Painting Immortal out of hiding. After blocking his attack, Ink Mountain Painting Immortal challenged him, and she summoned a mountain range to crush him.

• Li Zhōujūn rejected the emperors’ plan to attack together and said they should target Ink Mountain Painting Immortal first.
• Li Zhōujūn became Fifty-Fifty with the painting realm, unleashing a First-Rank Dao Saint aura and locating Ink Mountain Painting Immortal.
• Li Zhōujūn attacked Ink Mountain Painting Immortal with thousands of thunderbolts, and she used the painting realm’s power to block them.
• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal appeared and questioned how Li Zhōujūn could act on the Central Continent and why he had entered the painting realm.
• Li Zhōujūn said he had come to beat Ink Mountain Painting Immortal until she cried, provoking her into summoning towering mountains to attack him.

Li Zhōujūn fought Ink Mountain Painting Immortal until she cried, completing his mission and advancing to the Seventh-Rank Dao Emperor Realm. After learning that her master, Azure Ink Painting Saint, sought a vessel to travel through the Central Continent, Li Zhōujūn asked where he was, intent on learning about Qin Tianyi.

• Li Zhōujūn and Ink Mountain Painting Immortal fought for a thousand years while the others waited in the painted world.
• Li Zhōujūn kept attacking Ink Mountain Painting Immortal until anger brought tears to her eyes, completing his mission and raising his cultivation to the Seventh-Rank Dao Emperor Realm.
• Li Zhōujūn learned that Ink Mountain Painting Immortal was a Dao Saint-level treasure, not a Dao Saint, and that her master was Azure Ink Painting Saint.
• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal revealed that Azure Ink Painting Saint had survived Qin Tianyi and wanted her to select a vessel for traveling through the Central Continent.
• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal expelled Central Great Emperor, Northern Star Great Emperor, and the others from the painted world, but Li Zhōujūn stayed and asked where her master was.

Li Zhōujūn left Ink Mountain Painting Immortal and woke beside Luo Baiyu, a rabbit who claimed she had guarded him and wanted him as her Bandit Chief's Wife. As they headed for her Jade Ginseng Radishes, Luo Baiyu drove off a Third-Rank Dao Emperor Black Python, then continued leading Li Zhōujūn through the forest.

• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal told Li Zhōujūn that her master was not on the Central Continent and sent him out.
• Li Zhōujūn woke by the lake beside Luo Baiyu, who introduced herself and claimed he belonged to her because she had guarded him.
• Luo Baiyu led Li Zhōujūn toward the Jade Ginseng Radishes she had planted in the woods.
• A Third-Rank Dao Emperor Black Python confronted Li Zhōujūn and Luo Baiyu, but Luo Baiyu uprooted a huge tree and chased it away.
• Luo Baiyu boasted about her strength and resumed leading Li Zhōujūn toward the radishes.

Li Zhōujūn met with the Central Great Emperor, who asked him to help enter an ancient saint secret realm, while Azure Ink Painting Saint pursued a key to a different secret realm. The chapter left Li Zhōujūn preparing to explore the ancient realm and Azure Ink Painting Saint still searching for his elusive key.

• Li Zhōujūn cooked chicken and jade-colored radish soup while Luo Baiyu watched and called him her Bandit Chief's Wife.
• The Central Great Emperor arrived, praised Li Zhōujūn's strength, and asked him to help enter an ancient saint secret realm so he could seek a breakthrough to the Dao Saint Realm.
• Li Zhōujūn accepted the Central Great Emperor's request, and his system issued a mission to explore the ancient saint secret realm, with a Ninth-Rank Dao Emperor breakthrough as the reward.
• Azure Ink Painting Saint told Ink Mountain Painting Immortal that he knew what had happened in the world within the painting and that the Azure Emperor shared the aura of the person who destroyed his treasured artifact fragment.
• Azure Ink Painting Saint said he intended to find the intelligent, shape-shifting key to a secret realm and break through to the Third-Rank Dao Saint Realm.

Li Zhōujūn agreed to meet the Central Great Emperor at a secret realm in three years, while Luo Baiyu grew upset at the thought of him leaving. After Li Zhōujūn departed, Luo Baiyu discovered that she was the key to the ninth-grade Dao Saint secret realm and set off toward it, hoping it was not the realm he planned to visit.

• The Central Great Emperor gave Li Zhōujūn a map to the secret realm and said he would search for its key before contacting him in three years.
• Luo Baiyu grew dispirited when Li Zhōujūn confirmed he intended to enter the secret realm, then asked him to coax her to sleep.
• Li Zhōujūn filled a vast Jade Bottle with chicken soup, left it with Luo Baiyu and a note, and departed while she slept.
• Luo Baiyu woke to find Li Zhōujūn gone, read his note, and began drinking the seemingly endless chicken soup.
• Luo Baiyu remembered that she was the key to the ninth-grade Dao Saint secret realm and that opening it would likely cost her her memories and consciousness.
• Luo Baiyu set off toward the secret realm, hoping it was not the one Li Zhōujūn planned to enter, and paused to drink more soup.

Ink Mountain Painting Immortal attacked Luo Baiyu to take her to Azure Ink Painting Saint, but she shattered the Jade Bottle Li Zhōujūn had given Luo Baiyu. Li Zhōujūn appeared to comfort Luo Baiyu and confronted Ink Mountain Painting Immortal, who warned him that her master wanted him dead.

• Azure Ink Painting Saint learned that a rabbit carrying a Jade Bottle might be the secret realm's key and ordered Ink Mountain Painting Immortal to bring the rabbit to him.
• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal found Luo Baiyu by a lake and tried to persuade her to come along, but Luo Baiyu refused.
• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal attacked Luo Baiyu, seized the Jade Bottle, and smashed it, spilling Li Zhōujūn's chicken soup.
• Luo Baiyu mourned the broken bottle and soup until Li Zhōujūn appeared beside her and asked whether Ink Mountain Painting Immortal had bullied her.
• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal recognized Li Zhōujūn as the Azure Emperor and warned him that Azure Ink Painting Saint had put him on his death list.
• Li Zhōujūn faced Ink Mountain Painting Immortal and asked what her master thought he was.

Li Zhōujūn rescued Luo Baiyu from Ink Mountain Painting Immortal and forced the Immortal to cook for her, apologize, dance, and hop away like a rabbit. Ink Mountain Painting Immortal returned to Azure Ink Painting Saint, who decided he could no longer let the Azure Emperor interfere with his plans.

• Li Zhōujūn's clone blocked Ink Mountain Painting Immortal's attack and demanded that he apologize to Luo Baiyu and make chicken soup for her.
• Ink Mountain Painting Immortal revealed that Azure Ink Painting Saint had targeted Luo Baiyu and Li Zhōujūn, then disclosed where his master was staying.
• After Li Zhōujūn rejected his soup, Ink Mountain Painting Immortal apologized, danced for Luo Baiyu, and hopped out of her sight like a rabbit.
• Li Zhōujūn cooked fresh chicken soup for Luo Baiyu while Ink Mountain Painting Immortal returned to Azure Ink Painting Saint without the rabbit.
• Azure Ink Painting Saint blamed the Azure Emperor for repeatedly thwarting his plans and decided to stop letting him run unchecked.

Li Zhōujūn left Luo Baiyu and headed toward Azure Ink Painting Saint, who waited in a formation that Li never came to. On the way, Li met Myriad Manifestations Emperor and Medicine Emperor, then encountered Lin Xiashuang at True Phoenix Pavilion, where she greeted him as Azure Emperor.

• Azure Ink Painting Saint prepared a great formation and waited with Ink Mountain Painting Immortal for Li Zhōujūn, but Li did not appear.
• Li Zhōujūn told Luo Baiyu his clone was about to dissipate and said he planned to confront Ink Mountain Painting Immortal's master; Luo urged him to visit the secret realm in three years.
• Li Zhōujūn met Myriad Manifestations Emperor and Medicine Emperor, who explained they hoped to trade a pill for one that could help Myriad Manifestations Emperor advance.
• Li Zhōujūn learned the local True Phoenix Pavilion branch was run by Lin Xiashuang, a Third-Rank Dao Emperor.
• Lin Xiashuang came out to greet Li Zhōujūn as Azure Emperor, startling the gathered crowd and leaving Myriad Manifestations Emperor and Medicine Emperor unaware that she meant their companion.

Li Zhōujūn entered the True Phoenix Pavilion with Myriad Manifestations Emperor and Medicine Emperor, where Phoenix Emperor Mu Zhenhuang welcomed him and revealed that he had once saved her and Northern Star Great Emperor. The two Southern Ming Continent emperors accepted a pill as a gift and realized how vast and dangerous the wider world was.

• Lin Xiashuang greeted Li Zhōujūn as Azure Emperor and invited him and his friends into the True Phoenix Pavilion at Phoenix Emperor’s instruction.
• Li Zhōujūn asked Lin Xiashuang to admit Myriad Manifestations Emperor and Medicine Emperor, and she welcomed them as his friends.
• Lin Xiashuang offered Medicine Emperor the breakthrough pill as a gift, and Phoenix Emperor arrived and insisted they accept it.
• Phoenix Emperor Mu Zhenhuang thanked Li Zhōujūn for saving her and Northern Star Great Emperor in the world within the painting.
• Myriad Manifestations Emperor and Medicine Emperor privately reflected that even Ninth-Rank Dao Emperors could face deadly dangers beyond the Southern Ming Continent.