Chapter Summaries

Xu Yue confronted Han Guang, Lamp Lighter, and Mong Nan alone, then revealed his power to alter their thoughts and desires without their awareness. The chapter ended with Han Guang realizing he could recognize the manipulation but could not resist it.

• Xu Yue told Han Guang, Lamp Lighter, and Mong Nan that he had come to give them a dignified end.
• Mong Nan threatened Xu Yue, but his words and behavior abruptly changed as he declared that he wanted to eat shit.
• Han Guang and Lamp Lighter questioned Xu Yue, who admitted his control still showed traces of deliberate manipulation.
• Mong Nan reset and repeated his threat, while Han Guang discovered that he genuinely wanted to eat shit and wept as he realized he could not change that desire.
• Han Guang recognized the vast gap between his power and Xu Yue’s and felt powerless before him.

Xu Yue manipulated Han Guang, Mong Nan, and Lamp Lighter in the Nine Heavens, then attained the Dharmakaya as the Nine Heavens began expelling intruders. After the Demon Buddha ordered Meng Qi to kill Gu Xiaosang, she sacrificed herself to give him the remaining Primordial Nine Seals, and Meng Qi left the Nine Heavens carrying her body.

• Xu Yue altered Han Guang, Mong Nan, and Lamp Lighter, then asked the Demon Master and Dharma King to help him.
• Han Guang and Mong Nan fought Lamp Lighter at Heaven's Punishment Gate, and Lamp Lighter vanished after buying enough time for the Nine Heavens to begin expelling them.
• The Demon Buddha regained awareness and gave Meng Qi a temporary death mission to obtain the Primordial Nine Seals and kill Gu Xiaosang.
• Gu Xiaosang gave Meng Qi the true intent of the two seals he lacked, then shattered her primordial spirit and died in his arms.
• Xu Yue told Meng Qi to leave the Nine Heavens, revealed that he had attained the Dharmakaya, and joined him as they were expelled from the realm.

Xu Yue consolidated his Dharma Body while political tensions rose as Recoome united demonic forces against Great Shang. Meng Qi traveled to the Southern Desolation, confirmed the truth of his origins, and returned as a Half-step Dharma Body with Great Shang’s influence spreading there.

• Meng Qi told Xu Yue he was going to the Southern Desolation to investigate the Valley of Eternal Life, and Xu Yue lent him the Great Dao Tree.
• Han Guang, Mong Nan, and Lamp Lighter spread the news that Xu Yue had attained the Dharma Body, while Recoome used the Heaven Punishing Axe to gather demonic factions against Great Shang.
• Xu Yue focused on consolidating his power and analyzing the Nine Heavens, while delaying plans to repair them and rebuild the Heavenly Court.
• Meng Qi reached the Valley of Eternal Life, confirmed he had been raised by a great power, and broke through to become a Half-step Dharma Body.
• The Great Dao Tree absorbed a Haotian Mirror fragment, disrupting the Blood Sea Rakshasa’s plan, while Meng Qi warned Southern Desolation sects to restrain their violence and spread Great Shang’s ideals.
• The Southern Desolation’s evil paths secretly curbed their brutality and began integrating their forces in response to Meng Qi’s warning and Recoome’s invitation.

After learning that Recoome had become an Earth Immortal and consolidated the evil factions, Meng Qi warned Xu Yue that the Righteous Path faced a looming war and was too divided to match them. They decided to travel to the Golden Tent and use their hidden identities to investigate the unorthodox forces.

• Meng Qi told Xu Yue that Recoome had become an Earth Immortal and was uniting the evil factions, shifting the balance of power against the Righteous Path.
• Meng Qi explained that the Righteous Path's Dharma Bodies could use the Zhu Xian Sword Array to restrain Recoome, but the factions lacked unity and risked leaving their families and sects vulnerable.
• Xu Yue argued that the aristocratic families should be warned because unorthodox experts might raid them while the Righteous Path's Dharma Bodies were occupied.
• Meng Qi decided to go to the Golden Tent under the Poison Hand Demon Lord identity, and Xu Yue agreed to accompany him using the Yang Zhenchan identity.

Recoome gathered the demonic factions in the Golden Tent to plan a united strike against the Righteous Path and Great Shang. Xu Yue and Meng Qi arrived disguised as Poison Hand and Yang Zhenchan, hoping to gain entry to the gathering and learn what the demons were planning.

• Recoome welcomed the master of the Formless Sword Gu Lineage and urged the gathered demonic leaders to unite against their enemies.
• Mong Nan and Recoome supported cooperating with Life-Taking Yaksha, and the lineage master reluctantly agreed to set aside his objections.
• Recoome said the Blood Sea Rakshasa, the Shengsi Wuchang Sect, and the demon race were preparing to join the campaign, with the demons keeping a separate contingent.
• Recoome condemned Gao Lan for killing their envoy and said he might confront him personally if the opportunity arose.
• Xu Yue and Meng Qi arrived disguised as Poison Hand and Yang Zhenchan, registered as ordinary Exterior Scenery demons, and considered demonstrating Grandmaster-level strength to enter the Golden Tent.

Xu Yue and Meng Qi used Soul Chaser Demon Lord’s provocation to demonstrate their strength and gain entry to the Golden Tent. Inside, they encountered Ninth Master Yun, whose presence revealed that the Yun Family had secretly aligned with the grassland forces.

• Soul Chaser Demon Lord recognized Poison Hand and taunted him, then released his peak expert aura to pressure Meng Qi.
• Meng Qi used the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts to imitate the aura of the Nine Nethers, causing Soul Chaser to spit blood and fly backward.
• Golden Tent samurai confirmed Soul Chaser had provoked the clash and allowed Meng Qi and Xu Yue into the tent, with Meng Qi vouching for Xu Yue.
• Ninth Master Yun recognized Poison Hand and Yang Zhenchan inside the tent, and Meng Qi realized the Yun Family had secretly defected to the Golden Tent.

Meng Qi and Xu Yue watched the demonic alliance grow as Righteous Path families and sects joined Recoome, leaving Meng Qi unable to warn anyone back home. Life-Taking Yaksha arrived, accepted the deputy alliance leader position, and assigned Meng Qi and Xu Yue to accompany him in ambushing Lu Zhiping.

• Xu Yue and Meng Qi established credible identities among the demonic figures and began gathering intelligence in the Golden Tent.
• Representatives from major Righteous Path families and sects denounced Great Shang and pledged themselves to Recoome, while Meng Qi worried that their alliance was growing too quickly to alert his allies.
• Life-Taking Yaksha arrived with a powerful aura, and Recoome appointed him deputy alliance leader after cutting off the pressure.
• Life-Taking Yaksha volunteered to ambush Lu Zhiping and claimed Meng Qi and Xu Yue as his companions, noting that Yang Zhenchan was Lu Zhiping's disciple.

The Demonic Path Alliance planned its campaign against the Righteous Path while Meng Qi and Xu Yue approached Huamei Villa with Life-Taking Yaksha. Their attempt to prepare for battle was interrupted when Ye Yuqi mistook them for the traitor Yang Zhenchan, suggesting unseen forces were influencing events.

• Recoome explained that Life-Taking Yaksha was nearing the Earth Immortal realm and had been sent to kill Lu Zhiping.
• The Demonic Path Alliance discussed disrupting the Zhu Xian Sword Array and reducing its own losses.
• Meng Qi worried that Life-Taking Yaksha might threaten Lu Zhiping and hoped Xu Yue would help stop him.
• Life-Taking Yaksha gave Meng Qi and Xu Yue communication talismans near Huamei Villa, then went to investigate.
• Ye Yuqi appeared and accused Xu Yue and Meng Qi, disguised as Yang Zhenchan and Poison Hand, of daring to return.
• Xu Yue and Meng Qi recognized that Ye Yuqi's arrival might be a coincidence engineered by powerful forces, possibly connected to Yuan Hong awakening early.

Xu Yue and Meng Qi were captured by Ye Yuqi near Huamei Villa after she mistook them for demonic fugitives, and they revealed their identities to Lu Zhiping. They warned that the demonic alliance had rapidly consolidated its forces, leaving Huamei Villa and the righteous factions facing a serious threat.

• Ye Yuqi attacked Xu Yue and Meng Qi, who concealed their identities and let her take them to Huamei Villa.
• Meng Qi survived Ye Yuqi's strike, complained about her unequal treatment, and revealed his true appearance alongside Xu Yue.
• Xu Yue explained that a demonic Dharma Body had been nearby, prompting Ye Yuqi to worry that Huamei Villa had been targeted.
• Xu Yue and Meng Qi told Ye Yuqi that Recoome, the Heaven Punishing Axe, the demon race, the Blue-blooded Man, and other factions had joined the growing demonic alliance.
• Lu Zhiping suspected that Xu Yue's national policies had pressured the demonic forces into uniting.

Xu Yue helped Lu Zhiping break through to the Earth Immortal realm, but Life-Taking Yaksha escaped into the Nine Nethers after taking Lu Zhiping’s sword. As the Righteous and Demonic Paths prepared for war, four Demon Kings ambushed near the Pure Yang Sect to target Chong He.

• Lu Zhiping deduced that the Demonic Path might ambush Chong He and admitted that unexplained agitation had delayed his breakthrough.
• Xu Yue discussed Lu Zhiping’s My Way is My Way characteristic and imparted the true meaning of Dao-transmitted Universe to help him cross the threshold.
• Lu Zhiping broke through to the Earth Immortal realm and severed the connections between his Other Selves across Time-Space Fragments.
• Lu Zhiping attacked Life-Taking Yaksha, who took a sword strike and fled into the Nine Nethers, seemingly turning Lu Zhiping’s attack into an arrangement that could make him stronger.
• Xu Yue proposed gathering the Righteous Path’s forces and using aristocratic family formations to wear down the Demonic Path, even if those families hesitated to commit.
• Tai Li and the other three Demon Kings prepared to ambush Chong He near the Pure Yang Sect, hoping to remove another Righteous Path Dharmakaya.

Cui Qinghe learned that aristocratic families might be colluding with the Golden Tent and set out for the Divine Capital, but Han Guang and Mong Nan intercepted him. Meanwhile, Chong He survived an ambush by Tai Li and three Demon Kings, and Lu Da and Gao Lan arrived just as the Demon Saint Spear awakened and Chong He's sword array fell.

• Cui Qinghe suspected that aristocratic families were secretly colluding with the Golden Tent and decided to go to the Divine Capital to stand with the Righteous Path.
• Han Guang and Mong Nan blocked Cui Qinghe shortly after he left the Cui Family headquarters.
• Tai Li and three other Demon Kings ambushed Chong He as he hurried from the Pure Yang Sect toward the Divine Capital.
• Chong He used a secret treasure to evade Tai Li's spear and trapped the four Demon Kings in the Zhu Xian Sword Array, killing two of them.
• The Demon Saint Spear awakened to the Earth Immortal level, forcing Chong He to let the sword array disperse as Tai Li prepared to attack.
• Tai Li spotted Gao Lan and Lu Da, whose terrifying aura revealed that Lu Da had become an Earth Immortal.

Xu Yue defeated Han Guang and Mong Nan, rescued Cui Qinghe, and sent the attackers away. As Recoome led the Demon Sect toward the Central Plains, Chong He, Lu Da, Gao Lan, and He Qi surrounded his forces and formed the Zhu Xian Sword Array.

• Xu Yue overwhelmed Han Guang and Mong Nan, who had attacked Cui Qinghe, and Mong Nan fled after Xu Yue let him go.
• Xu Yue released Han Guang, healed Cui Qinghe, and ordered him to return and guard his territory while sparing his younger brother's life.
• Recoome rallied the Demon Sect at the Golden Tent and led its forces toward the Central Plains.
• Chong He, Lu Da, Gao Lan, and He Qi surrounded Recoome and the Demon Sect while Kong Wen guarded the perimeter.
• Chong He and the other three activated the Zhu Xian Sword Array, plunging the battlefield into chaos.

Xu Yue intervened when the Golden Emperor’s assault on the Zhu Xian Sword Array put Recoome and the Demon Path forces at risk. Recoome escaped badly injured, while the Golden Emperor concluded that Xu Yue was hiding schemes and began considering his possible identity.

• Recoome watched the grassland Great Shaman, the Formless Sword Gu lineage master, and the Demon Path army become part of the Zhu Xian Sword Array as the Golden Emperor pressed him.
• Xu Yue sensed the Heaven Punishing Axe awaken to the Heavenly Immortal stage and paused his journey south to connect with the Human Emperor Sword.
• The Human Emperor Sword left Gao Lan’s hand and struck Recoome as he broke through the array, blasting away nearly half his body before the Heaven Punishing Axe carried him to safety.
• The Human Emperor Sword returned to Gao Lan, leaving him and the other formation setters stunned by Xu Yue’s intervention.
• The Golden Emperor judged that Xu Yue’s flawless attack revealed a hidden problem and considered several possible identities for him without reaching a conclusion.

Xu Yue assessed Golden Emperor’s probing attack, then went to investigate Shengsi Wuchang Sect while continuing his plans. Nether Emperor discovered him alone outside the sect’s formation and decided to lure him inside and unleash the sect’s strongest foundation.

• Xu Yue recovered and concluded that Golden Emperor’s attack had been a test, while considering how to use Haotian’s identity without inviting Demon Buddha’s betrayal.
• Xu Yue went to Dragon Platform near Shengsi Wuchang Sect, where the sect detected his presence and reported it to Nether Emperor.
• After learning that no other Dharma Bodies were nearby, Nether Emperor grew confident and revealed the coffins of the sect’s former Dharma Body patriarchs.
• Nether Emperor considered deploying the sect’s True Dragon Remains, despite its severe risks and the need to sacrifice Dharma Body remains.
• Nether Emperor decided to open the formation and lure Xu Yue inside so the sect could attack him with its strongest foundation.

Xu Yue entered Shengsi Wuchang Sect’s minor world and faced the Nether Emperor’s powerful defenses and True Dragon Remains. He used the Heaven Severing Seven Swords to sever the sect’s control over the dragon corpse, which then attacked the Nether Emperor.

• Xu Yue entered Shengsi Wuchang Sect after the Nether Emperor opened the gate and challenged him to talk.
• The Nether Emperor sacrificed a patriarch’s remains and released the True Dragon Remains to confront Xu Yue while the sect’s formation suppressed him.
• The Nether Emperor boasted about the sect’s foundations and attacked Xu Yue with the dragon corpse and the Life and Death Brush.
• Xu Yue thrust the Tianzi Sword through the Void and used Slay the Dao, See the Self to sever the sect’s restraints on the dragon corpse.
• The dragon corpse regained control of its power, roared, and blasted the Nether Emperor backward, tearing apart much of the flesh attached to his Yellow Springs Remains.

Nether Emperor's plan collapsed when Xu Yue severed his control of the True Dragon Remains and turned the Corpse Dragon against the Shengsi Wuchang Sect. The sect's final trump card, the Heart Saint's Remains, erased nearly everything around it, but Xu Yue matched its shifts between illusion and reality and left Nether Emperor facing defeat.

• Nether Emperor realized Xu Yue had transformed into a smaller Corpse Dragon, and the True Dragon Remains attacked the sect and its protective formation.
• Nether Emperor escaped the Corpse Dragon and extinguished the coffin's last three lamps, releasing the Heart Saint's Remains as the sect's final weapon.
• The Heart Saint's power spread across the sect, turning its disciples, corpses, and elders into illusory bubbles; the Corpse Dragon retreated into its coffin.
• Nether Emperor saw Xu Yue keep pace with the Heart Saint's shifts between illusion and reality and struggled to accept that the attack had failed to kill him.

Xu Yue harvested the Yellow Springs Skeleton and several powerful remnants, then defeated the Gu God and annexed the Southern Barbarians for Great Shang. Six Doors later announced that the planned war between the Righteous Path and evil had ended before most people knew it had begun.

• Xu Yue used the Yellow Springs Skeleton to glimpse the Life-and-Death Origin Point and decided to wait for a better opportunity to enter it with Meng Qi.
• Xu Yue devoured the Heart Saint's sinister aura and the weakened Corpse Dragon and ghost god, then destroyed the remnants of the Shengsi Wuchang Sect's formation.
• Xu Yue traveled to the Southern Barbarians, defeated the Gu God, and took away its accumulated faith.
• Great Shang incorporated the Southern Barbarians and sent officials south to govern the region.
• Six Doors announced that Recoome and the Heaven Punishing Axe had reached the terrestrial immortal realm and that the war between the Righteous Path and evil had already ended in victory for the Righteous Path.

After destroying the Shengsi Wuchang Sect and the Gu God, Xu Yue expanded Great Shang’s power and established a system of divine offices for the dead. As a mission involving the Black Mountain Old Demon began, Xu Yue prepared to join Meng Qi, who was nearing the Dharmakaya realm.

• Meng Qi visited Xu Yue and learned that Xu Yue’s destruction of the Shengsi Wuchang Sect had already ended the conflict he had prepared to join.
• Xu Yue explained that he had obtained the Yellow Springs Remains, while the Blood Sea Rakshasa stayed hidden and escaped the campaign.
• Xu Yue continued expanding Great Shang, appointed meritorious people as land and mountain gods, and used the Gu God’s faith power to establish Yin deities.
• Meng Qi began placing projections of himself into Time-Space Fragments and advanced to the threshold of the Dharmakaya realm.
• When the Six Paths mission involving the Black Mountain Old Demon began, Xu Yue left the imperial palace to enter the mission world with Meng Qi.

After the war, Xu Yue helped Great Shang consolidate control over the sects and aristocratic families and expand access to cultivation education. The Six Paths then summoned him and Meng Qi to a mission in the Black Mountain Old Demon world, where they had to find and destroy Black Mountain Old Demon's true body.

• Great Shang confiscated the foundations of Northern Zhou's three remaining great families and forced wavering families and sects to submit to the court.
• Xu Yue and Qi Zhengyan's foundational cultivation methods became the basis for compulsory education and new plans to develop ordinary sects and specialized academies.
• Xu Yue left the imperial palace and accepted the Six Paths' summons, entering the body of Black Mountain Old Demon.
• The Six Paths assigned Xu Yue and Meng Qi to find Black Mountain Old Demon's true body at Lanruo Temple, discover its origins, and eliminate it within three months.
• Xu Yue explained that Black Mountain Old Demon was a fragment of consciousness from the Seven Kill Daoist, whose true body had arranged the mission to eliminate the fragment.

Xu Yue entered the Black Mountain Old Demon world to seek the Seven Kill Stele and took the Celestial Master's identity to pursue Black Mountain Old Demon. The Celestial Master learned that Xu Yue had come to eliminate Black Mountain Old Demon, but his origins and location remained unknown.

• Xu Yue considered the Seven Kill Stele's power and its value as a source of information about the Heavenly Emperor and the Dao of time.
• Xu Yue appeared in the Celestial Master's residence and froze the Celestial Master before he could attack.
• Xu Yue told the Celestial Master he would borrow his identity, then transformed into his likeness.
• The Celestial Master cautiously asked why Xu Yue had descended, offering his influence in the mortal world.
• Xu Yue said Black Mountain Old Demon was a reincarnated evil fiend from the Nine Nethers and promised the Celestial Master a reward for finding him.