Chapter Summaries

Zong Chengze and Hong Jing discussed the coming second onslaught of demons, monsters, and evil entities and the danger facing their sects. Zong Chengze pinned his hopes on Zhong Ming becoming a Child of the Morning Star, but Hong Jing revealed that candidates had to break through one limit, leaving Zhong Ming’s prospects uncertain.

• Hong Jing feared the approaching onslaught could wipe out small and mid-sized sects like the Golden Armor Sect.
• Zong Chengze argued that joining the Clear River Commandery Prince’s alliance and producing a Child of the Morning Star could help Jade Lake City survive.
• Hong Jing explained that the alliance might exploit their strength and that he hoped to preserve the Golden Armor Sect’s disciples if Jade Lake City fell.
• Hong Jing said contenders for Child of the Morning Star had to break through one limit, and asked whether Zong Chengze’s sect had such a prodigy.
• Zong Chengze doubted Zhong Ming could meet that requirement, since he had cultivated for only a little over a month and lacked the advantages of great sect prodigies.

Zhong Ming’s Sword Seed transformed into the incomplete Dao Seed · Torchlight Vortex Dragon, granting him a major increase in power and control over wind, rain, and thunder. He realized the Dao Seed still needed to grow and that he had to strengthen his body before he could advance to Foundation Establishment.

• Zhong Ming saw that his Sword Seed had become a Dao Seed, though its growth progress had fallen from 81 to 13.
• Zhong Ming observed the Dao Seed’s illusory dragon and its crimson and deep-blue eyes, which reminded him of Zhulong.
• Zhong Ming entered the Dao Seed with his consciousness and understood how the Torchlight Heart-Eye and Water Vortex had brought about its transformation.
• Zhong Ming fused the Dao Seed with his body and gained control over wind, rain, thunder, and the light beneath dark clouds.
• Zhong Ming recognized that his body and other abilities remained incomplete, and he decided to cultivate a body-tempering technique as the Dao Seed grew.

Princess Qingyue offered Zhong Ming the chance to choose a top-grade Earth-rank body-tempering art in exchange for refusing to aid demons or the Evil God Cult and protecting the people under his rule. Zhong Ming accepted the condition, then challenged her about the political cost of giving away the technique, while her guards glared at him.

• Princess Qingyue visited Zong Chengze and revealed that she could provide the opportunity to study a top-grade Earth-rank body-tempering art.
• Qingyue asked Zhong Ming to avoid demons and evil spirits, refuse to collude with the Evil God Cult, and protect the people under his rule when possible.
• Zhong Ming agreed to her condition, and Qingyue handed him a jade slip containing the Prince of Qinghe's Manor's technique catalog.
• Zhong Ming questioned whether Qingyue's generosity would damage her standing and her influence in the struggle for the Prince's position and the new alliance.
• Qingyue's attendants and guards reacted with hostility, but Zhong Ming remained calm under their spiritual pressure.

Zhong Ming raised Reading to Minor Accomplishment by reciting Dao Repository · Heavenly Derivation and realized the scripture steadily advanced both skills. As a new Reading trait called Immersion began to form, the Torchlight Vortex Dragon within his Dao Fruit opened its crimson eye and fixed its gaze on it.

• Zhong Ming discovered that Reading had reached Stage 4: Minor Accomplishment after repeated recitations of Dao Repository · Heavenly Derivation.
• Zhong Ming reflected that the scripture’s insights had let him improve Reading and the cultivation method at the same time.
• Zhong Ming realized the Clear Sound Spring Stone’s cleansing had increased how many times he could activate Intent Reading, enabling prolonged recitation.
• Zhong Ming recited the scripture and received insights about writing, civilization, and reading as an exchange with the past.
• Zhong Ming began forming the new Reading trait Immersion, but the Torchlight Vortex Dragon opened its crimson eye and stared at it.

Zhong Ming enabled Yi Yunya to comprehend Dao resonance, shocking the gathered cultivators and making them see him as a powerful ally who could guide her toward higher realms. Yi Yunya collapsed from the strain but awakened with genuine reverence for Zhong Ming and hopes that he would help her rise.

• Yi Yunya's comprehension of Dao resonance shocked Hong Jing, Su Lingya, Ning Yunlu, and the other cultivators, who realized Zhong Ming could guide her along the path of cultivation.
• Hong Jing offered the Golden Armor Sect's support to Zong Chengze and asked him to arrange a place beside Zhong Ming for Hong Jing's granddaughter.
• Zong Chengze said Zhong Ming would have to agree, then asked whether Hong Jing's granddaughter was obedient and well-behaved.
• Yi Yunya's mental strength gave out, and she fell from the sky with blood seeping from her seven orifices.
• Yi Yunya realized Zhong Ming had enabled her breakthrough and looked at him with genuine excitement, reverence, and hope that he would guide her to the True Person realm.

Zhong Ming decided to challenge Thousand Autumn Valley rather than hide his strength, believing he needed to secure the resources to survive the coming demonic onslaught. When he and Lin Qingqing prepared to fight, Ji Qingyue stepped between them and took Zhong Ming’s side, prompting Lin Qingqing to demand whether she would make an enemy of her sect.

• Zhong Ming resolved to pursue the Child of the Morning Star position and force Thousand Autumn Valley to recognize his strength.
• Zhong Ming concluded that Thousand Autumn Valley had sent Lin Qingqing to isolate Ji Qingyue and drive away other potential allies.
• Lin Qingqing threatened Zhong Ming after he insulted her, and both prepared to draw their weapons.
• Ji Qingyue intervened and rebuked Lin Qingqing while standing between her and Zhong Ming.
• Lin Qingqing accused Ji Qingyue of betraying Thousand Autumn Valley, and Aunt Qin warned Lin Qingqing to know her place.

Zhong Ming demanded resources from Ji Qingyue and remained confident that he would master Starry Heaven Lord. At the Starry Sky Courtyard, Ji Qinglian arrived to mock Ji Qingyue and offer her brother’s cooperation, but Ji Qingyue refused.

• Zhong Ming’s arrogance and confrontation with Lin Qingqing led others to privately dismiss him as reckless and overconfident.
• On the way to the Starry Sky Courtyard, Zhong Ming praised his talent and demanded resources from Ji Qingyue.
• Ji Qingyue promised to provide most of the resources if Zhong Ming successfully got started with Starry Heaven Lord.
• Ji Qinglian arrived with a group, mocked Ji Qingyue’s allies, and urged her to accept the cooperation her brother had proposed.
• Ji Qingyue firmly refused Ji Qinglian’s offer and said she trusted Zhong Ming and the others.
• Zhong Ming impolitely stepped between the sisters before Ji Qinglian could continue.

Zhong Ming entered the ruined Starry Sky Courtyard to receive the Heavenly Stellar Cycle Sect’s inheritance, hoping to use Everlasting Flame to recover its lost techniques. He activated Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns and transformed the incoming inheritance into a complete Starry Sky Courtyard within his dream.

• Zhong Ming reassured Ji Qingyue that he would win and asked her to cover for him later.
• Zhong Ming examined the incomplete stone stele and realized Everlasting Flame might let him restore the inheritance and discover the sect’s other techniques.
• The Sixth Elder activated the inheritance formation with a starstone, and streams of information flooded Zhong Ming’s mind.
• Zhong Ming used Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns to create a dream realm where he could shape and explore the inheritance.
• Zhong Ming let the stele’s information form the foundation of his dream, which evolved into a complete Starry Sky Courtyard.

Zhong Ming comprehended Starry Heaven Lord in a dream while everyone outside mistook his stillness for failure and then watched him fall asleep. After gaining a new understanding of the technique, he used the inheritance stele and his heart-and-soul power to activate Everlasting Kindling.

• Zhong Ming focused on comprehending Starry Heaven Lord until he lost awareness of his surroundings and collapsed asleep.
• The onlookers speculated about Zhong Ming’s condition, while Ji Qingyue remembered his request to catch him and ordered the others to protect him.
• Ji Qinglian teased Ji Qingyue as Zhong Ming’s opponents began to think they had won their wager.
• In the dream, Zhong Ming repeatedly tested the technique, accumulated experience, and rested before merging with the Divine Lord phantom.
• Zhong Ming gained a new understanding of the technique and used his heart-and-soul power as kindling, with the inheritance stele as a medium, to activate Everlasting Kindling.

Zhong Ming studied the completed Heaven-grade Starry Heaven Lord technique and learned how stellar origins could shape artifacts and spiritual beasts. He considered drawing upon the Purple Forbidden Enclosure, confident that his authority as ruler of the dream world might meet its requirement of noble fate.

• Zhong Ming realized Starry Heaven Lord had become a mid-tier Heaven-grade technique and focused on understanding its changes.
• Zhong Ming learned that the technique could draw upon the origins of the Twenty-Eight Constellations, the Three Enclosures, the sun, and the moon to forge stellar artifacts or beasts.
• Zhong Ming considered the traits and difficulty of drawing upon different constellations and learned that the Purple Forbidden Enclosure was the hardest to condense because it symbolized dominion and nobility.
• Zhong Ming saw the Emperor Star in his dream and reasoned that, as ruler of the dream world, he had the noble fate needed to draw upon its power.

After Zhong Ming demonstrated his talent, Ji Qinglian silenced her followers’ accusations and offered him a place in her camp. The spirit-stone bet remained unresolved as she tried to turn her former opponent into an ally.

• Ji Qinglian pretended she had learned the cultivation art quickly and secretly paid Ji Qingyue eight hundred spirit stones to keep her difficulty quiet.
• Zhong Ming reminded Ji Qinglian that she owed him cultivation resources and eighty thousand spirit stones from her subordinates.
• Ji Qinglian’s followers accused Zhong Ming of cheating and refused to pay the debt.
• Ji Qinglian rebuked her followers, praised Zhong Ming, and invited him to join her side.

Ji Qingyue promised to find Zhong Ming a suitable cultivation method, while Ji Qinglian discovered that her brother intended to marry her to one of two sect disciples. She concealed her resentment and praised Zhong Ming's exceptional talent to her brother.

• Ji Qingyue asked what kind of cultivation method Zhong Ming wanted, and he requested water- or sword-attributed techniques, preferably from the Heavenly Stellar Cycle Sect.
• Ji Qinglian's followers insulted Zhong Ming, but she dismissed them and went to see her brother, Ji Qinghui.
• Ji Qinghui introduced Ji Qinglian to Zhu Junfeng and Lin Kong, two prestigious disciples he hoped she would marry.
• Ji Qinglian realized her family was treating her as a prize for the two men and hid her anger.
• Ji Qinglian recounted what had happened and told Ji Qinghui that Zhong Ming's talent was exceptional.

Ji Qingkang assessed Zhong Ming and planned to exploit Ji Qinglian's likely move against him to recruit him. Back at the Seven Mysteries Sect's residence, Zhong Ming began cultivating Starry Heaven Lord and used his abilities to open more apertures.

• Ji Chengping dismissed Zhong Ming's intelligence report because he disliked Zhong Ming's arrogance.
• Ji Qingkang and a black-robed man judged Zhong Ming's pride to be partly genuine and partly an act.
• Ji Qingkang planned to let the Empty Moon Sect challenge Zhong Ming, then intervene and bring him under his command.
• Zhong Ming returned to the Seven Mysteries Sect's residence and began cultivating Starry Heaven Lord with the power of his Torchlight Heart-Eye.
• Zhong Ming used his prior experiments and abilities to open more star apertures as he tempered his body.

Zhong Ming slew heart demons in his dream, sharpening his sword and discovering that it could cut the heart-souls, spirits, wills, and divine senses of others. His path evolved into the high Earth Grade Dragon Creek Sword Dao: Mirror-Heart Demon-Slaying, a technique with powerful benefits but dangerous requirements for anyone else who tried to cultivate it.

• Zhong Ming realized his heart demons were weak because he had few doubts and a resolute will, then cut down the demons surrounding him.
• As Zhong Ming slaughtered more demons, his mind grew clearer and his sword gained the ability to cut intangible spiritual forces.
• Zhong Ming's Dragon Creek technique did not advance; instead, it diverged into a Dao unique to him and became a fourth-realm, high Earth Grade technique.
• Zhong Ming recognized that his technique could guarantee a clear sword heart for those who met its conditions, but warned that heart demons could damage other cultivators' sword hearts and Dao hearts.

Zhong Ming reluctantly accompanied Ji Qingyue to recruit Zhuo Feng, secretly cultivating as they traveled. He had opened all thirty-six acupoints of the first Starry Heaven Lord layer, but remained concerned about advancing his cultivation technique and choosing a stellar weapon or beast.

• Ji Qingyue explained that she wanted more allies and asked Zhong Ming to help recruit Zhuo Feng of the Star-Picking Sect.
• Zhong Ming agreed to go with Ji Qingyue, though he dismissed the idea of recruiting others and continued cultivating while walking.
• Ji Qingyue described Zhuo Feng's star-power daggers and Star-Picking Hand, which had let him kill a late Qi Condensation evil cultivator while at Mid Qi Condensation.
• Zhong Ming secretly used his Torchlight Heart-Eye and other methods to open all thirty-six acupoints of the first Starry Heaven Lord layer in one night.
• Zhong Ming raised his body-tempering progress to 33, then worried about advancing his cultivation technique and deciding what stellar weapon or beast to forge.

Zhong Ming openly insulted the Empty Moon Sect after its disciples provoked and slandered him, drawing the sect’s retaliation. Ji Qingyue stepped in to protect him, while Zhu Hao warned her that doing so would make the royal family an enemy of the Empty Moon Sect.

• Qin Hongyu recognized the defiance behind Zhong Ming’s words, while Autumn Cicada insisted they should still recruit him and said the Empty Moon Sect might not defeat him easily.
• Zhu Hao erupted at Zhong Ming’s insult, but Zhong Ming reminded him that the Empty Moon Sect had started the confrontation by fabricating the accusation and provoking him.
• Zhu Hao refused to admit fault and prepared to attack Zhong Ming, claiming he had only been testing him.
• Ji Qingyue shouted for Zhu Hao to stop and stood up for Zhong Ming despite Zhu Hao warning her against offending the Empty Moon Sect.

Zhong Ming effortlessly defeated Zhu Hao with a single glance, stunning the crowd and making Ji Qingyue recognize his extraordinary ability. As Zhuang Mingzhu confronted him and threatened revenge, she shrank from his gaze, leaving the conflict unresolved.

• Zhong Ming's victory convinced Ji Qingyue that his earlier boasts were true, while Ji Qinglian grew jealous and resolved to seek his support through her sister.
• Zhu Hao collapsed with severe soul injuries, and Zhuang Mingzhu rushed to check on him.
• Zhuang Mingzhu accused Zhong Ming of using a trick, but Zhong Ming mocked her and the Empty Moon Sect disciples as trash.
• Humiliated by the crowd's looks, Zhuang Mingzhu threatened that the matter was not over, then avoided Zhong Ming's gaze.

News of Zhong Ming defeating Zhu Hao and Zhuo Feng with a single glance spread through Clear River Prefecture City, bringing new attention to Princess Qingyue's faction. Ji Qingkang learned the full story and accepted that Zhong Ming's strength was genuine, leaving him to reflect on how badly he had underestimated him.

• People across Clear River Prefecture City discussed Zhong Ming's defeat of Zhu Hao and considered joining Princess Qingyue's faction.
• Some residents speculated that Zhong Ming had joined Princess Qingyue because he desired her beauty.
• Qin Hongyu and Ji Qinglian returned to the three young masters' residences and reported what they had witnessed.
• Ji Qingkang questioned whether Zhong Ming had defeated Zhu Hao through an ambush or trick.
• Qin Hongyu explained that Zhuo Feng had witnessed Zhu Hao's defeat, challenged Zhong Ming anyway, and was also crushed before pledging allegiance to Princess Qingyue.
• Ji Qingkang accepted that Zhong Ming had won openly and admitted he had misjudged his strength.

Zhong Ming accepted Demon Star’s origin power and learned that Prince of Qinghe was using him as bait to draw attention away from hidden forces. When Ji Qingyue warned him that rumors had made him the city’s supposed number one, Zhong Ming embraced the coming challenges.

• An old man gave Zhong Ming a porcelain bottle of Demon Star’s refined origin power and warned him that taking too much could mutate his flesh.
• Prince of Qinghe told Tower Master Qin that Zhong Ming was a useful target and troublemaker who could keep attention away from his concealed trump cards and the shadowy undercurrent.
• Zhong Ming suspected Prince of Qinghe had other forces backing him, but decided that the prince’s resources made his role acceptable.
• Ji Qingyue rushed in with female officials and guards to warn Zhong Ming that rumors portraying him as Clear River Prefecture City’s number one would provoke challenges from across the city.
• Zhong Ming refused to deny the title and declared that he would let every prodigy challenge him and show them what a true prodigy was.

Zhong Ming let his cells absorb Demon Star’s demonic energy while considering how to safely open apertures in his tendons and bones. Before he could cleanse the demonic nature with Purifying Flame, his Dao Fruit changed and the Morning Star Dragon became more substantial, granting him a new ability.

• Zhong Ming recognized that unchecked absorption of Demon Star’s energy could deform him and turn him into an avatar of the taboo beast, but judged the refined origin and his protective abilities made the danger manageable.
• Zhong Ming reasoned that cultivators had to expand their bodily limits through cultivation and comprehension, and that Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns let him test dangerous aperture-opening methods in dreams.
• Zhong Ming prepared to use Purifying Flame to burn away Demon Star’s demonic nature, but a new change occurred within his body first.
• Zhong Ming saw that the Torchlight Dragon in his Dao Fruit had become less illusory and that its Morning Star Dragon form was made of star energy.
• Zhong Ming realized that his advancing Dao Fruit had given him another ability, possibly due to Demon Star’s contamination or the Dao Fruit’s connection to his physical body.