Chapter Summaries

Xi Yue agreed to meet Chen Wanshang, who wanted to understand why she had defected. Meanwhile, Lu Ce arrived with Wu Ya and Caiyan to seek refuge for their demon clan at the Clear River Commandery Prince's Residence as the second impact approached.

• Chen Wanshang sent word that she wished to question Xi Yue, and Xi Yue agreed to meet her despite Zhong Ming and Ji Qingyue offering to refuse.
• Zhong Ming and the others received a delegation from the Demon Race, including the deer demon Lu Ce and the women Wu Ya and Caiyan.
• Lu Ce asked Princess Qingyue to shelter him and his companions, explaining that their small clan could not survive the coming second impact alone.
• Luo Zhiwei asked why Lu Ce had chosen their residence, and he answered that survival required all living beings to unite against the coming calamity.

Luo Zhiwei recognized how much Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns could accelerate her cultivation and agreed to help Zhong Ming manage access to it. They designed a five-rank guest system for his dream worlds, outlining the current realms and the benefits each rank would receive.

• Luo Zhiwei warned Zhong Ming not to grant others access to the dream world's most powerful feature, and Zhong Ming said he would make her responsible for recruiting guests while seeking Heaven-grade Astral Baleful Energy.
• Luo Zhiwei resolved to draw attention onto herself and work for Zhong Ming so she could keep using the dream world.
• Zhong Ming and Luo Zhiwei divided dreamscape visitors into five ranks, from tourists and ordinary guests to Profound-grade VIPs, Earth-grade guests, and Heaven-grade guests.
• Zhong Ming explained that his eight existing dream worlds were built from Dao Rhymes he had comprehended, and that guests' insights could strengthen those Dao Rhymes.
• They established that Heaven-grade guests could use Zhong Ming's power to construct small dream worlds of their own.

As Immortal Martial City’s clans prepared to challenge Zhong Ming on Purgatory Road, Zhong Ming and Luo Zhiwei finished building a formation that let her connect cultivators to his dream realm. With the formation secure, the Clear River Commandery Prince's Residence began its talent recruitment campaign.

• An elder of the Xia Clan urged its younger cultivators to defeat Zhong Ming on Purgatory Road and win the favor of Luo Zhiwei, Xi Yue, and the commandery princesses.
• Young cultivators from the Xia Clan, Qi Family, and Chu Clan set their sights on the trial, while the Qi Family trusted its familiarity with the road and its defensive cultivation technique.
• The Qi Family head told Qi Yue that defeating Zhong Ming could secure his standing and a chance to marry into Prince of Qinghe’s family, and Qi Yue vowed not to lose.
• Zhong Ming and Luo Zhiwei spent a day and night completing the real-world formation, which let Luo Zhiwei draw cultivators into the dream realm and used the Illusory Spirit Treasure Mirror to protect it.
• After the formation was ready, Zhong Ming praised Luo Zhiwei’s skills, and the Clear River Commandery Prince's Residence began recruiting talent as planned.

Ji Hao planned to use Purgatory Road to embarrass Zhong Ming, while Zhong Ming discussed the struggle to win over Immortal Martial City's clans and declared that he would rely on strength. The chapter left him unaware that the road's difficulty had been raised to the highest level.

• Chen Wanshang forbade her retainers from using underhanded methods to win Luo Zhiwei's support.
• Silver Moon Prince's Residence cultivators opposed using Ji Yao to win Zhong Ming over, and Ji Hao ordered Qi Yue to set Purgatory Road's initial difficulty to high.
• Qi Yue agreed to inform the family elders and raise the difficulty to the highest level.
• Ji Qingyue told Zhong Ming that Rogue Cultivators and small groups had joined their camp, but Immortal Martial City's great clans had not.
• Luo Zhiwei explained that the great clans sought powerful protectors ahead of the second calamity and would join them if the Clear River Commandery Prince's Residence showed overwhelming strength.
• Zhong Ming said he was ready to crush his rivals with sheer force.

Zhong Ming led the Clear River Commandery Prince's Residence onto Purgatory Road after the Silver Moon Prince's Residence and the three great families showed they could withstand its crushing pressure. Most of his followers collapsed or could barely move, leaving only Zhong Ming and Xi Yue at ease as observers judged the group’s poor performance.

• The cultivators entered Purgatory Road and were struck by overwhelming pressure that knocked many of them down.
• The Qi Family Head explained that the road was a demanding trial and advised cultivators to know their limits.
• The Silver Moon Prince's Residence and the Xia, Qi, and Chu Families walked through the pressure with little difficulty.
• Zhong Ming led the Clear River Commandery Prince's Residence into the formation with Xi Yue beside him.
• Most of Zhong Ming's followers collapsed upon entering, while only Zhong Ming and Xi Yue appeared at ease.

Prince of Qinglin realized Zhong Ming could give Clear River Commandery Prince’s Residence a chance to win a second deputy commander’s seat, while Ji Hao feared that outcome. Ji Hao ordered the Silverblood Guards to stop holding back as they faced Zhong Ming in the Rotbone Poison Abyss.

• Prince of Qinglin saw Zhong Ming’s strength as a chance to secure another deputy commander’s position and considered sacrificing Qingque if Zhong Ming succeeded.
• Ji Hao feared Zhong Ming’s victory would raise Clear River Commandery Prince’s Residence’s prestige and weaken Silver Moon Prince’s Residence.
• Ji Hao ordered the Silverblood Guards in Purgatory Road to advance at full speed.
• The Silverblood Guards’ leader praised Zhong Ming for enduring the poisonous mist, then declared that they had to win.

The Qi Family patriarch revealed that Zhong Ming’s overwhelming Sword Intent had driven the Purgatory Formation’s Sword Qi and blade radiance away, leaving the crowd stunned by his strength. Zhong Ming reached the Frozen Suffering Hell, where the deadly snow raised doubts about whether he was a sword cultivator or a body cultivator.

• Ji Qingyue nodded for the Qi Family patriarch to explain why the Purgatory Formation’s attacks had avoided Zhong Ming.
• The Qi Family patriarch declared that Zhong Ming had not cheated and that his Sword Intent had forced the formation’s Sword Qi and blade radiance to retreat.
• The crowd questioned how a newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator could possess such powerful Sword Intent, and the Qi Family patriarch recognized Zhong Ming’s exceptional talent.
• Zhong Ming passed through the toxic gas and countless Sword Qi to reach the Frozen Suffering Hell.
• A spectator wondered whether Zhong Ming was a body cultivator rather than a sword cultivator as heavy, deadly snow filled the fifth trial.

Zhong Ming and the seven Silverblood Guards reached the eighth stage of Purgatory Road, where they encountered deadly auras of evil entities that could contaminate and consume cultivators. After hearing the Qi Family patriarch’s warning, Zhong Ming understood the purpose of the trial and continued forward.

• Zhong Ming’s question caused Qi Yue to spit blood and faint, while the lightning around Zhong Ming strengthened him.
• Zhong Ming caught up with the seven Silverblood Guards at the end of the seventh stage, and they crossed the checkpoint together using their combined power.
• Zhong Ming and the Silverblood Guards entered the eighth stage and sensed a sinister force seeping into their meridians.
• The Qi Family patriarch warned them that the eighth stage contained uncontrollable evil auras that could pollute and devour their bodies and spiritual power.
• Zhong Ming understood that the Qi Family was testing whether body cultivators could withstand the auras and continued onward.

Zhong Ming resisted the Weird Sources’ contamination with his supreme sword heart and tried to subdue them by absorbing their power. As the struggle intensified inside Purgatory Road, Ji Qingyue, Ji Qinglian, and Luo Zhiwei feared for him.

• The Source of the Weird questioned how Zhong Ming had absorbed its knowledge without being contaminated, and Zhong Ming declared that his sword heart could suppress all things.
• The onlookers reacted to Zhong Ming’s domineering declaration, while the young cultivators admired him and the Weird Sources continued their assault.
• Weird Source: Fall and Weird Source: Shadow poured their origins and laws into Zhong Ming, transforming his demonic patterns and shadow into terrifying shapes.
• Yin Yi and the Silverblood Guards urged Zhong Ming to stop, but he laughed and unleashed his sword intent to suppress the Weird Sources.
• The Weird Source roared that it was indestructible as Ji Qingyue and Ji Qinglian rose in alarm and Luo Zhiwei moved toward Purgatory Road.

The Qi Family Patriarch offered Zhong Ming an alliance through marriage, hoping to inherit his bloodline and strengthen the clan against evil, but Zhong Ming refused. The Demon Suppressing Division chief then invited Zhong Ming to join and offered to groom him as its next leader.

• The Qi Family Patriarch proposed that a Qi Family woman bear Zhong Ming's child so the clan could inherit his physique and raise the child themselves.
• Zhong Ming refused, saying he would not spread his bloodline casually or abandon his children.
• The Demon Suppressing Division chief arrived and invited Zhong Ming to join the division.
• The chief argued that the division offered Zhong Ming a path to become its next leader, unlike the new army, where he could rise only to Divine General.

Shen Jiuyuan brought Zhong Ming to the Heavenly Sea Prince's Residence and offered him three kinds of heaven-grade Killing Intent. After learning that Divine-Extinction Baleful Qi was the most dangerous to refine but had the greatest reserves, Zhong Ming chose it.

• Shen Jiuyuan took Zhong Ming to the residence courtyard and offered to guard him while he refined Killing Intent.
• Shen Jiuyuan described the properties of Dragon Vein Baleful Qi, Primordial Baleful Qi, and Divine-Extinction Baleful Qi.
• Zhong Ming asked which Killing Intent Shen Jiuyuan had the most of, and Shen Jiuyuan answered that it was Divine-Extinction Baleful Qi.
• Shen Jiuyuan explained that Divine-Extinction Baleful Qi could corrupt the mind or twist the body, but could also temper the body and divine soul and might reveal mysteries of the gods.
• Zhong Ming chose to refine Divine-Extinction Baleful Qi.

Zhong Ming refined ten bottles of Killing Intent with ease, astonishing Heaven Sea King and making him reassess Zhong Ming’s potential. Heaven Sea King continued supplying him and urged Shen Wan Shang to reconsider her feelings, while Shen Wan Shang stayed silent.

• Heaven Sea King watched Zhong Ming refine one bottle of Killing Intent after another, far exceeding his expectations.
• After Zhong Ming refined ten bottles without strain, Heaven Sea King continued supplying him, reasoning that befriending such a rare talent would repay his investment.
• Heaven Sea King considered how quickly Zhong Ming might temper his Essence Qi and advance toward the Golden Core realm.
• Heaven Sea King wondered about Zhong Ming’s cultivation technique and regretted acting too rashly before learning more.
• Heaven Sea King secretly told Shen Wan Shang to reconsider Zhong Ming, and she remained silent while understanding his change of heart.