Chapter Summaries

After consuming the Black Water River God’s Divine Marrow, Mo Hua gained the Tree of Divine Authority and began to ponder the meaning of Divine Thought Daoization. He discovered a hidden passage in the real River God Temple and found an altar linked to a mysterious, childlike node, which he recognized as Yu'er.

• Mo Hua swallowed the Pale Gold and Pure Gold Divine Marrow, and his divine sense underwent another qualitative change as he merged with the Tree of Divine Authority.
• Mo Hua considered the phrase “Divine Thought Daoization” and concluded that he would need to seek guidance rather than puzzle over it alone.
• Mo Hua noticed that the real River God Temple’s layout differed from the Nightmare’s and found a concealed Divine Dao Array behind the River God Statue.
• Mo Hua had Gu An and Gu Quan break through the sealed wall, then entered the hidden passage and discovered an altar.
• Mo Hua examined the Tree of Divine Authority and found a bright, pure node carrying the aura of a child; he identified it as Yu'er.

Mo Hua used the Evil God of the Great Wilderness's Authority to schedule waves of demon beasts and Evil Spirits to invade Yu'er's nightmares seven days later, planning to protect Yu'er while consuming them. After destroying the altar and preparing to return, Mo Hua spared Master She when he revealed his Great Wilderness Imperial Clan heritage, then forced him to keep silent by convincing him he had become the God Lord's traitor.

• Mo Hua studied Yu'er's node on the Tree of Divine Authority and realized he could command its demon beasts and Evil Spirits to invade Yu'er's dream.
• Mo Hua selected an army of creatures, staggered their arrival times for seven days later, and branded his orders onto the Tree of Divine Authority.
• Mo Hua planted Earth Kill Arrays on the altar and detonated them, burying it before leaving with Gu An, Gu Quan, and the others.
• Mo Hua exposed Master She as still alive and ordered Gu Quan to kill him, but Master She begged for his life and claimed descent from the Shentu Clan.
• Mo Hua spared Master She but threatened to expose him as a traitor to the God Lord unless he kept silent about Mo Hua.

After killing the River God and dismantling the Fishing Village’s threat, Mo Hua restored the Divine Dao Array and led the Gu Family Cultivators back with captives and monster materials. The rescued children showed signs of an eerie mutation, and Mo Hua ordered River-Crossing Dragon to deliver the finished pills to the unknown young master so he could uncover their identity.

• Mo Hua planted the thought of betrayal in Master She’s heart, then demanded the Divine Dao Array; Master She said the God Lord had taught his arrays through borrowed dreams and Divine Thought.
• Mo Hua and the Gu Family Cultivators searched the ruined Preaching Ground and pieced together a complete Divine Dao Array from its scattered patterns.
• Mo Hua burned the water from the well pool with fire arrays, and the Gu Family Cultivators killed the Water Monster and harvested its core and spine.
• Mo Hua gave the Water Monster core to Gu An to sell and share among the cultivators, while keeping the spine as a possible sword material.
• Mo Hua found abnormal Divine Thought marks on the rescued children and gave Yu Dahe water-element manuals for them and the village to study.
• Mo Hua connected Master She’s finished pills to an unknown young master and ordered River-Crossing Dragon to deliver them so he could discover who the young master was.

Mo Hua followed River-Crossing Dragon’s Human Pill delivery to a Wine Shop in a Third-Grade State Boundary, where he and the Gu brothers confronted Young Master Jin and his accomplices. When a Golden Core Sword Cultivator tried to kill Mo Hua, a mysterious Bamboo Hat cultivator intervened and challenged him.

• Mo Hua forced River-Crossing Dragon to lead him, Gu An, and Gu Quan to the abandoned ferry, where they boarded an unmanned skiff and drifted into a Third-Grade State Boundary.
• At a riverside Wine Shop, River-Crossing Dragon delivered Human Pills to Young Master Jin, who revealed that he knew Mo Hua and the Gu brothers were following him.
• Gu An and Gu Quan fought Young Master Jin and his Duanjin Gate companions, while Mo Hua disrupted a disciple’s Gold-Breaking Imperial Sword Art with three Fireballs.
• Mo Hua provoked Young Master Jin into admitting that he had trafficked cultivators, killed people, and refined Human Pills, then ordered the Gu brothers to arrest him.
• A blue-robed Golden Core Sword Cultivator appeared and attacked Mo Hua, but a Bamboo Hat cultivator outside the Wine Shop blocked the sword qi and confronted him.

Gu Changhuai arrested Young Master Jin, Xie Liu, and their accomplices after exposing their involvement with Human Pills, while Mo Hua uncovered signs of a more powerful group behind them. The chapter ended with Mo Hua glimpsing a mysterious young “Young Master” aboard a Flower Boat, who seemed to sense him through the mist.

• Gu Changhuai confronted Young Master Jin and Xie Liu, then forced Xie Liu to attack first so he could establish grounds to arrest them.
• Gu Changhuai defeated Xie Liu with the Seven-Colored Peacock Feather Fan, while Mo Hua and Gu An and Gu Quan captured Young Master Jin and the other fugitives.
• Young Master Jin invoked his family’s status and threatened Gu Changhuai, who humiliated him and ordered the prisoners taken to the Dao Prison.
• Gu Changhuai explained that the Dao Court Office had been watching Young Master Jin and Xie Liu, then parted ways with Mo Hua at a fork in the road.
• As Mo Hua returned along the Yanshui River, he questioned whether Young Master Jin was the true recipient of the Human Pills and spotted a Flower Boat carrying a group of young masters.
• Mo Hua sensed a mass of black-purple Phecda and Karma around a young figure called the “Young Master,” who turned toward him through the mist.

After returning to Void Gate, Mo Hua left Elder Xun to confront signs of a looming threat to the sect, while Mr. Tu blamed Void Gate for the destruction of the River God Temple and vowed to advance the God Lord’s plans. In Small Fishing Village, the survivors honored the little immortal they believed had saved them by making a shrine with a statue resembling Mo Hua, where a wounded Little Silver Fish secretly recovered.

• Mo Hua returned to Void Gate, reported to Elder Song, and paid his respects to Elder Xun, who was preoccupied with the sect’s uncertain future.
• Elder Xun studied the Heavenly Calculation Compass, a map of the Ganlong Mountain Range, and sect rankings, and feared that hidden forces threatened Void Gate.
• Mr. Tu told the God Lord that Void Gate was responsible for the River God Temple’s destruction and declared that the plan against the sect and Gu Family must be brought forward.
• Gu Changhuai arranged registration and protection for the Small Fishing Village cultivators, who later discussed their nightmares and the little immortal who had slain the fish monster in their dreams.
• The villagers built a Little Immortal Temple and Old Yu made a clay statue modeled on Mo Hua, while a weak Little Silver Fish hid there and fed on the incense.

Mo Hua prepared Yu'er for a summoned invasion of Evil Spirits, then fought and devoured wave after wave of Demons in his Sea of Consciousness while protecting the sleeping child. The Long-Bearded Elder and Mr. Tu sensed the Evil God's Authority, but the chapter ended with Mo Hua still holding off the invasion as his spiritual sense neared a breakthrough.

• Mo Hua placed Divine Dao Arrays around Yu'er's bed and warned Wenren Wei about the danger expected at midnight.
• The Tree of Divine Authority appeared and sent hordes of powerful Evil Spirits toward Yu'er, but Mo Hua blocked their path and drew them into his Sea of Consciousness.
• Mr. Tu sensed someone using the God Lord's Authority, while the Long-Bearded Elder sensed the Evil God's Authority at Void Gate and prepared to strike before the Evil Qi vanished again.
• Mo Hua killed and devoured successive Demons, including Sheep-Horned Executives, a Pig-Head Demon, Fox Demons, and a Sheep-Horned Warrior.
• Mo Hua continued fighting the arriving Demons as his spiritual sense approached a bottleneck, while Wenren Wei watched him shield Yu'er from the invasion.

Mo Hua devoured the Evil Spirits afflicting Yu'er, then refined their power and advanced his Divine Consciousness to Seventeen-Pattern before a Great Dao Law prevented it from reaching Eighteen-Pattern. At Void Gate, the Long-Bearded Elder sensed a powerful Sword Intent and wondered who had wielded it, while Elder Xun failed to identify the person.

• Mo Hua eliminated the Evil Spirits in Yu'er’s room, and Wenren Wei found Yu'er sleeping peacefully.
• Mo Hua refined the demons’ Thought Power, advanced his Divine Consciousness to Seventeen-Pattern, and discovered a void-like Great Dao Law that confiscated further gains.
• Mo Hua finished consuming the remaining demon evil thoughts and began reviewing array patterns in preparation to learn Seventeen-Pattern Array Techniques.
• Elder Xun arrived at the Sword Graveyard after sensing powerful Sword Intent and asked the Long-Bearded Elder whether he had drawn his sword.
• The Long-Bearded Elder asked whether Void Gate had a divine beast, a visiting expert, or an exceptionally gifted disciple, but Elder Xun denied knowing of anyone who fit.
• After Elder Xun left, the Long-Bearded Elder vowed to identify the person behind the Sword Intent the next time they acted.

Mr. Tu endured the God Lord’s punishment and concluded that an Evil God was behind the stolen Divine Authority, while Mo Hua received eight thousand merit points for helping the Dao Court Office and learned that Jin Yicai had been released. The chapter ended with Elder Xun discovering Mo Hua’s unexpected reward and wondering what the boy had done.

• Mr. Tu survived Divine Punishment, received the God Lord’s Array Dao inheritance, and blamed an Evil God for the attacks on the Great Wilderness Altar and its servants.
• Mo Hua asked Gu Changhuai about his promised merit points and learned that Jin Yicai had been released while Xie Liu and other Duanjin Gate disciples remained detained.
• Gu Changhuai warned Mo Hua that Jin Yicai might seek revenge, and Mo Hua began learning the Second-Grade Seventeen-Pattern Metal-Suppressing Array.
• The Merit Elder transferred eight thousand merit points to Mo Hua for his service to the Dao Court Office.
• The Merit Elder mistakenly accused Elder Xun of using his connections to secure Mo Hua’s reward, then learned he had been wrong and hurriedly apologized.
• Elder Xun read the Dao Court Office’s award letter and wondered what Mo Hua had done to earn so many merit points.

After learning that Mo Hua had helped capture the notorious Fire Buddha and had grown his Divine Consciousness to Seventeen-Pattern, Elder Xun decided to protect and elevate him. He arranged a grand Array Technique class and appointed Mo Hua Senior Martial Brother over the cohort, despite the other prodigies’ objections.

• Elder Xun investigated Mo Hua’s assignments and discovered his role in capturing Fire Buddha, then summoned him to reprimand him for taking dangerous bounties.
• When Mo Hua revealed that his Divine Consciousness had reached Seventeen-Pattern, Elder Xun abandoned the reprimand and concluded that Mo Hua was crucial to Void Gate’s future.
• Elder Xun told the Void Gate Sect Master to keep the sect cautious and arranged for all disciples of Mo Hua’s generation to attend one large Array Technique class.
• Elder Xun appointed Mo Hua Senior Martial Brother of the class and declared that Mo Hua’s word would be final when he and the instructors were absent.
• Several disciples protested the appointment, but Elder Xun dismissed their objections and compelled the cohort to address Mo Hua as Senior Martial Brother.

Mo Hua was appointed Senior Martial Brother, and Elder Xun grounded him in Ganxue Prefecture so he could focus on cultivation and formations, giving him second-grade high-level Array Diagrams to study. As Mo Hua’s formation skills advanced, Master Gu explained how Array Mediums, Spirit Artifacts, and custom-made Spirit Artifacts related, leaving Mo Hua intrigued by Sword Arrays.

• Elder Xun defended Mo Hua’s Senior Martial Brother title, warned him about the dangers of pursuing Fire Buddha, and forbade him from leaving Ganxue Prefecture.
• Elder Xun gave Mo Hua ten sets of second-grade Seventeen-Pattern Array Diagrams, and Mo Hua devoted himself to cultivation and studying formations.
• Mo Hua ignored provocations from his fellow disciples and assigned extra formation homework to those who disrupted his classes, with Elder Xun tacitly supporting him.
• During his breaks, Mo Hua visited Aunt Wan and discussed Array Mediums with Master Gu in Qingzhou City.
• Master Gu explained that Spirit Artifacts generally served standardized functions, while Array Mediums served arrays, and that custom-made Spirit Artifacts such as Spirit Swords had to match their arrays.
• Mo Hua asked about Sword Arrays, and Master Gu said they were closely guarded inheritances of sword Dao clans that he had never seen.

Mo Hua reached the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage bottleneck after his Divine Sense transformed, and he began solving the silver Riddle Array in his Sea of Consciousness. During Void Gate’s year-end holiday, he visited the Gu Family for its banquet and found the gathering tense because Shangguan Ce had arrived.

• Mo Hua sensed that his cultivation was nearing a minor-realm bottleneck, and he realized the Heavenly Derivation Art required sufficient Divine Consciousness, array attainments, and Divine Rank to break through.
• Mo Hua spent the following months steadily unraveling the Riddle Array while his second year at Void Gate ended with the same grades as the year before.
• Elder Xun gave Mo Hua calligraphy as a gift for the Gu Family banquet, saying Void Gate owed the Gu Family and its allies an immense debt of gratitude.
• Mo Hua took Yu'er around festive Qingzhou City, shared candied hawthorn with him, and returned to the Gu Family after nightfall.
• Gu An told Mo Hua that a high-status visitor from the Shangguan Family had made the Gu Family unusually cautious.
• Mo Hua joined the banquet, where he saw the Gu Family Head seated beside Shangguan Ce, the current head of the Shangguan Family.

At the Gu Family banquet, a Shen Family elder publicly insulted Wenren Wan, Yu'er, and Mo Hua, but Mo Hua turned the confrontation around by revealing that he had brought calligraphy from Old Ancestor Xun of the Void Gate. The family heads honored the gift with a seat above the other honored guests, where Mo Hua, Wenren Wan, and Yu'er ate in peace while the elder was left below them.

• Mo Hua noticed that Shangguan Yi, Gu Changhuai, and several Shangguan elders were watching Wenren Wan and Yu'er during the banquet.
• A Shen Family elder criticized Wenren Wan for staying with the Gu Family, then disparaged Yu'er and insulted Mo Hua's origins and Spirit Roots.
• Mo Hua mocked the elder as a fierce old granny, provoking her to smash a table and threaten him and the Gu Family.
• Mo Hua presented calligraphy from Elder Xun, and the gathered elders recognized it as the work of Old Ancestor Xun of the Void Gate.
• Shangguan Ce and Gu Shouyan honored the calligraphy and gave Mo Hua, Wenren Wan, and Yu'er a seat above the other honored guests.

Mo Hua arranged for custom Spirit Artifacts and concealed Array Mediums to help Cheng Mo and his fellow disciples catch a swift flying thief. After the new tools led to the thief's capture, Cheng Mo began bringing Mo Hua more bounty-hunting problems and introduced him to another disciple as Senior Martial Brother.

• Mo Hua learned from Situ Jian that custom Spirit Artifacts required close cooperation between Array Masters and Artifact Refiners, then arranged for Master Gu to make concealed needles and special Array Disks.
• Master Gu and Mo Hua finalized artifact-refining diagrams, and Mo Hua asked him to make the items for his fellow disciples rather than charge him personally.
• Cheng Mo and his companions failed to catch the flying thief during their first attempt, so Mo Hua gave them Stone Needles, Silver Needles, and concealed Array Disks for their next pursuit.
• Cheng Mo and his companions used the new tools to track, exhaust, and capture the flying thief, then Cheng Mo praised Mo Hua and offered him a chicken leg.
• Cheng Mo began consulting Mo Hua about bounties and brought another disciple to meet him, telling the disciple to call Mo Hua Senior Martial Brother.

Mo Hua developed a plan to complete his custom Spirit Artifact system by fitting the Five Elements Source Array into wearable armor or Daoist Robes, while Master Gu’s custom artifacts earned Void Gate a large profit. When Cheng Mo sought advice about capturing cultivators who used demonic methods, Mo Hua suspected their missions were connected to the mysterious Demonic Cultivators near Ganxue Prefecture and asked the disciples to bring him any suspicious objects or messages they found.

• Mo Hua realized that wearable armor or Daoist Robes inscribed with the Five Elements Source Array could provide mobile Lingli amplification and complete his Array Artifact system.
• Master Gu and Mo Hua drafted a prototype for special armor, and Master Gu later collected proceeds after nearly a hundred custom Spirit Artifacts sold for about five hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
• Master Gu decided to reward the Lone Mountain Artifact Refining Guild and secretly set aside a share of the proceeds for Mo Hua.
• Elder Xun continued giving Mo Hua Second-Grade Array Techniques to study but told him there was no rush to undergo grading.
• Cheng Mo asked Mo Hua how to guard against demonic methods before pursuing a Dao Court Office bounty, and Mo Hua explained several ways to counter them.
• Mo Hua suspected the bounty missions targeted the Demonic Cultivators near Ganxue Prefecture and told Cheng Mo and other disciples to bring him suspicious objects, messages, and Sect Tokens they found.

Mo Hua restored a blank Message Token and discovered that Demonic Cultivators planned to gather in Qingping City and exterminate a family on the fourteenth day of the fourth month. He alerted Gu Changhuai and recruited fifty trusted Void Gate disciples to help the Dao Court Office set an ambush, leaving the group ready to claim a vague, high-reward bounty.

• Mo Hua restored a blank Message Token Yang Qianjun had brought him and recovered a message about Demonic Cultivators gathering in Qingping City to exterminate an entire family.
• Mo Hua connected the planned massacre to the construction of Demon Sect halls and Evil God altars, then warned Gu Changhuai that the attack was four days away.
• Gu Changhuai revealed that the Dao Court Office had already learned of the plot but did not know which family was targeted, and Mo Hua inferred that they planned to ambush the Demonic Cultivators as they entered the city.
• Mo Hua persuaded Gu Changhuai to hire trusted Void Gate disciples as support, negotiating a reward of three hundred Merit Points per person.
• Mo Hua asked Cheng Mo to recruit fifty reliable disciples with limited ties to Gan Province's local families, and Cheng Mo gathered them.
• Mo Hua coordinated with Gu Changhuai and seized a vague, high-reward bounty in front of the gathered disciples.

Mo Hua tested the Five Elements Source Armor and discovered that its array needed Divine Consciousness to convert Divine Thought and enhance Lingli. After Cheng Mo’s group returned safely from Qingping City, Gu Changhuai revealed that the Demonic Cultivators had also massacred Yu Family Water Stronghold, and Mo Hua’s Jade Slip showed the name Water Yama replacing Fire Buddha.

• Mo Hua warned Cheng Mo and the fifty Void Gate disciples not to underestimate Demonic Cultivators, to fight in groups, and to prioritize survival before they departed for Qingping City.
• Mo Hua tested the Five Elements Source Armor and realized its sealed Spirit Artifact array could not use Divine Consciousness to convert Divine Thought and enhance Lingli, so he began redesigning it as an open-source array.
• Cheng Mo returned with all fifty disciples, who had suffered injuries but survived; he reported that Demonic Cultivators had been killed, captured, and partly escaped during the operation in Qingping City.
• Gu Changhuai told Mo Hua that the Demonic Cultivators had attacked two places at once and slaughtered every resident of Yu Family Water Stronghold by the Yanshui River.
• Mo Hua examined Jiang Laoda’s list with his deeper sight and saw Fire Buddha’s name disappear as Water Yama emerged in its place.

After the banquet, Gu Shouyan and Shangguan Ce discussed the Shen Family’s offer, the Gu Family’s principles, and the political pressures surrounding Shangguan Yi’s marriage to Wenren Wan. Shangguan Ce revealed that his grandson Yu’er was fated to die young, while Mo Hua returned to Void Gate with a warning that unknown Demonic Cultivators had entered the prefectures near Ganxue.

• Shangguan Ce told Gu Shouyan he planned to transfer the Shangguan Family’s businesses to the Shen Family for greater profit, and Gu Shouyan agreed to take them back.
• Gu Shouyan explained that the Gu Family refused to trade its integrity for powerful families’ favor, while Shangguan Ce warned that the Gu Family would face trouble.
• Shangguan Ce explained that he opposed Shangguan Yi’s marriage to Wenren Wan because it offered little political benefit and revealed that Yu’er had been born with the fate of a dead man.
• Gu Shouyan condemned Shangguan Ce’s youthful behavior but asked whether Yu’er could be saved, and Shangguan Ce said an Imperial Observatory ancestor had judged his fate impossible to change.
• Mo Hua gave Wenren Wan Elder Xun’s calligraphy and accepted her food, drink, and array materials before preparing to return to Void Gate.
• Gu Changhuai warned Mo Hua that unknown Demonic Cultivators had entered the area around Ganxue Prefecture, and Mo Hua agreed to be careful.

Wenren Wan and Shangguan Yi planned to thank Mo Hua with array techniques, while Shangguan Ce’s attempt to calculate Mo Hua’s fate cracked his Compass and warned him against probing further. Back at Void Gate, Mo Hua settled into the new year and began considering a way to help Cheng Mo catch a swift flying thief, ending with a keen interest in Cheng Mo’s Spirit Stones.

• Wenren Wan and Shangguan Yi decided to gather suitable array techniques from the Shangguan and Wenren families as gifts of thanks for Mo Hua.
• Shangguan Ce tried to calculate Mo Hua’s origins, suffered a terrifying backlash that cracked his Compass, and resolved not to investigate Mo Hua’s fate again.
• Mo Hua returned to Void Gate, spent the holiday practicing arrays, and set goals for the coming year, including helping the Gu family prosper.
• Cheng Mo asked Mo Hua for advice about a bounty to catch a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage flying thief whose Movement Technique kept letting him escape.
• Mo Hua asked whether Cheng Mo had Spirit Stones, and Cheng Mo’s claim that he had plenty prompted Mo Hua to eye him like a fat sheep.

Mo Hua designed specialized fire-resistant robes that helped Xie Ling and his companions capture a Sinful Cultivator, then began advising more Void Gate disciples and arranging custom Spirit Artifacts for sale. Xie Ling revealed his family’s secret geomancy inheritance, and Mo Hua committed the location of the Xie Family in Gen Province to memory.

• Xie Ling asked Mo Hua for help defeating a fire-technique-wielding Sinful Cultivator, and Mo Hua worked with Master Gu to create highly fire-resistant Daoist Robes.
• Xie Ling and four companions used the robes to capture the Sinful Cultivator and thanked Mo Hua for his help.
• Xie Ling told Mo Hua that his Xie Family inherited geomancy methods and the Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Array, including secret teachings related to reversing Celestial Pivot; Mo Hua remembered the family’s location in Gen Province.
• Xie Ling repeatedly sought Mo Hua’s advice on bounties, and other disciples began coming to Mo Hua for guidance and custom Spirit Artifacts.
• Mo Hua asked Master Gu to sell the custom Spirit Artifacts through the Gu Family’s Merchant Pavilion, and Wenren Wan helped arrange the sale.
• Mo Hua’s network and reputation at Void Gate grew as disciples increasingly sought his advice in the Dining Hall.