Chapter Summaries

Han Chi used himself as a medium for the Witch Emperor to open a passage into Earth's Core City, and Wu Wei, Shen Qian, and Jiang Huan tried to stop him. Jiang Huan's golden spear struck Han Chi, but the Witch Emperor sent him two Heaven-grade weapons that deflected the fatal blow, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Shen Qian warned Wu Wei to kill Han Chi, but Han Chi awakened a Witch Clan curse and manifested the Witch Emperor's mark.
• Wu Wei explained that killing Han Chi could close the transmission passage, and Shen Qian struck Han Chi with his Perfect Blade Strike without finishing him.
• Jiang Huan arrived and attacked Han Chi, then unleashed his Great Sun Golden Body to forge a golden spear from his origin power.
• The Witch Emperor forced the passage wider and sent Han Chi the Illusion-Extinguishing Cloak and Heavenly Man Crown, which deflected Jiang Huan's spear from a fatal strike.

Han Chi broke free of the Witch Emperor’s control only briefly before the black mist revealed the Heaven-Piercing Path and he became a Martial King. Wu Wei gathered the Nine Cauldrons and the Wang Hou’s power to attack him, but Han Chi answered by summoning the projections of China’s mountain ranges, and their forces collided.

• Han Chi survived Jiang Huan’s attack, and a black tentacle tore Jiang Huan in two before he reappeared badly injured.
• Wu Wei tried to remind Han Chi of his former self, briefly weakening the Witch Emperor’s hold, but Han Chi became captivated by the black mist’s revelation of the Heaven-Piercing Path.
• Han Chi broke through to the Martial King realm, and the Illusion-Extinguishing Cloak and Heavenly Man Crown fused with him again.
• Wu Wei summoned the Nine Cauldrons, and the assembled Wang Hou poured their Star Power into them to launch an attack on Han Chi.
• Han Chi summoned the projections of ten thousand mountain ranges, and they collided with the Nine Cauldrons’ destructive beam.

Shen Qian used the Time River Snail to temporarily reach the Martial King realm and confronted Han Chi after the Wang Hou’s combined attack failed. He overwhelmed Han Chi’s domain and shattered his arm with a final punch, leaving the fight unresolved.

• The Nine Cauldrons’ combined strike failed to defeat Han Chi, and Shen Qian stepped forward to confront him.
• Shen Qian crushed the Time River Snail and froze heaven and earth, gaining the power of a Martial King.
• Shen Qian struck Han Chi and severely wounded him, though the Illusion-Extinguishing Cloak began healing him.
• Shen Qian’s rainbow-colored domain overpowered Han Chi’s gray-black domain, and Shen Qian used his command to suppress weapons.
• Han Chi’s heavenly-grade treasures briefly failed, allowing Shen Qian to crush his arm and strike his chest.

Shen Qian killed Han Chi after damaging the Heavenly Man Crown and driving off the Witch Emperor’s protection, but Jiang Chengye emerged from the spatial rift carrying a Female Corpse. Shen Qian’s first attack failed to stop him, and the chapter ended with Shen Qian realizing Jiang Chengye had reached the Martial King realm.

• Shen Qian battered the Heavenly Man Crown’s shield until the crown cracked, then destroyed Han Chi and his corrupted divine soul.
• The Witch Emperor’s laughter announced a new arrival as Jiang Chengye emerged from the spatial rift carrying a Female Corpse.
• Jiang Chengye mocked Earl Luoshen and summoned fragments of Han Chi’s flesh and blood for the Female Corpse to devour.
• Shen Qian ambushed Jiang Chengye, but Jiang Chengye met his punch with one of his own and was only knocked back a hundred zhang.
• Shen Qian recognized that Jiang Chengye had broken through to the Martial King realm.

Shen Qian fought Jiang Chengye and the Female Corpse as the Time River Snail’s power waned, then sacrificed his Dao to forge a temporary blade and unleash Perfect Blade Strike. Jiang Chengye answered with his own Martial King technique, and their attacks collided in an explosion that overwhelmed the marquises’ defenses.

• Jiang Chengye and the Female Corpse attacked Shen Qian, who held them off despite the fading power of the Time River Snail.
• Shen Qian used Seal to freeze Jiang Chengye briefly, then retreated and summoned his Dao Projection.
• Shen Qian tore apart his own Dao and fused its elements with the Nirvana Black Flame and Twin Life Fire to create a brilliant blade.
• Shen Qian unleashed Perfect Blade Strike, while Jiang Chengye countered with a giant demon-god palm formed from his original Martial King technique.
• Wu Wei and the other marquises used the Nine Cauldrons and their domains to protect Earth’s core, but the collision’s shockwave shattered their defenses and injured them.

After defeating Jiang Chengye, Shen Qian urged humanity’s Wang Hous to evacuate Earth’s Core City and activate the Nine Kings’ Trapped Dragon Formation against the Witch Clan. He stayed behind to hold the spatial passage shut, but his borrowed Martial King power faded, while Wu Wei began to reveal his doubts about Shen Qian’s choice.

• Wu Wei ordered the capture of the injured Divine Emperor Palace Wang Hous, and Shen Qian emerged from the ruined battlefield as the victor, confirming that Jiang Chengye was dead.
• Shen Qian warned that the Witch Clan’s spatial passage could not be destroyed and proposed evacuating Earth’s Core City before activating the Nine Kings’ Trapped Dragon Formation.
• Shen Qian insisted on staying behind to delay the Witch Clan, and Wu Wei led the other Wang Hous toward the Teleportation Array to activate the Nine Departments Seals.
• Shen Qian returned to the void and revealed that Jiang Chengye’s body, pierced by the Ten Thousand Dao Long Blade, was blocking the spatial passage while the Female Corpse remained in his arms.
• The Time River Snail’s power faded, leaving Shen Qian at the Eighth Heaven of Mountain Sea and badly weakened, as Jiang Chengye mocked his attempt to hold back the Witch Clan.
• At the Teleportation Array, Wu Wei paused before activating the Trapped Dragon Formation and told the Wang Hous that Shen Qian had not been the best choice to stay behind.

Wu Wei proposed a no-return mission to stop the Witch Clan, protect Shen Qian, and exploit a possible secret behind becoming a Martial King. Meanwhile, Shen Qian defeated Jiang Chengye and confronted the Witch Clan army as the Dragon-Trapping Formation activated.

• Wu Wei told the Kings and Marquises that Shen Qian was vital to humanity and asked elite fighters to join him in a potentially fatal strike against the Witch Clan.
• Wu Wei said he suspected the Witch Emperor's method of making Han Chi a Martial King revealed a secret that could rapidly strengthen those trapped near a breakthrough, though it might cause severe aftereffects.
• Jiang Chengye accused Shen Qian of being abandoned, but Shen Qian condemned his betrayals and called him a coward for refusing to face his feelings for Zhong Li.
• The Witch Clan's pressure shattered Shen Qian's Dao Projection blades, and Jiang Chengye's body crumbled into ash.
• As the spatial rift widened and the Dragon-Trapping Formation began to activate, Shen Qian used Emperor's Demeanor and Ten Directions Creation Body to face the Witch Clan army.

Shen Qian faced the Witch Clan’s invasion alone, drawing on Emperor’s Demeanor and the Ten Directions Creation Body to confront seventeen Wang Hou. He identified the human traitor Marquis Tuodong among them and killed him, leaving the Witch Clan Wang Hou to launch their attack.

• Shen Qian activated the Ten Directions Creation Body and the Demon King character card to unleash the full power of Emperor’s Demeanor as Witch Clan forces poured through the spatial passage.
• No. 56 revealed himself as Bru, Grand Elder of the Blood Witch Clan, and urged Shen Qian to surrender as seventeen Witch Clan Wang Hou gathered around him.
• Shen Qian recognized Marquis Tuodong among the Wang Hou and suddenly struck him with the Greedy Wolf saber, catching the traitor off guard and wounding him.
• No. 56 ordered the other Wang Hou to attack, while Shen Qian used the Greedy Wolf saber’s Blood Curse to weaken Marquis Tuodong further.
• Shen Qian ignored the incoming attacks, shattered Marquis Tuodong’s Star Shield, and killed him with a second saber strike.

Shen Qian killed Marquis Tuodong, then faced the Witch Clan Wang Hous’ combined assault and unleashed the Silent Calamity Blade’s self-destructive mythic effect against their formation. The blast devastated the Witch God phantom and left the surviving Wang Hous roaring his name.

• Shen Qian killed Marquis Tuodong, then survived the Witch Clan Wang Hous’ combined attack by briefly releasing more of the Ten Directions Creation Body’s power.
• Shen Qian switched to the Silent Calamity Blade and charged the sixteen gathered Wang Hous as they formed the Witch God Formation under No. 56’s lead.
• Shen Qian entered the Witch God phantom’s lightning storm and hurled the Silent Calamity Blade toward the Witch Clan Wang Hous.
• The Silent Calamity Blade activated Absolute Kill and destroyed itself in a blast that shattered the Witch God phantom and killed or wounded several Wang Hous.
• Shen Qian used his Calamity Form and the Earth Book to endure the blast’s aftermath, then saw the surviving Witch Clan Wang Hous’ auras emerge as they roared his name.

Shen Qian used the Silent Blade’s destruction to devastate the Witch Clan forces, then unleashed Martial King-level power and killed No. 56 once before the Blood Witch elder revived. As his body began to collapse under the strain, two Witch Clan Martial Kings and a Witch Emperor projection trapped him, but Wu Wei arrived with nearly ten human experts.

• Shen Qian charged the scattered Witch Clan marquises after the Silent Blade’s explosion killed five marquises and hundreds of Mountain Sea Martial Artists.
• No. 56 rallied the surviving marquises, who surrounded Shen Qian and forced him onto the defensive.
• Shen Qian unleashed his Martial King domain and used Swallowing Heaven to kill No. 56, but No. 56 revived through a Blood Witch Clan secret art.
• A Qianwu Clan Grand Elder and a snake-bodied Witch Clan Queen appeared as Martial Kings, followed by a projection of the Witch Emperor.
• The Queen restrained Shen Qian while the Grand Elder waited for his body to collapse, but Wu Wei arrived with nearly ten human experts and challenged her.

Wu Wei, Heavenly Swordsman, and Duke Baili broke through to Martial King and joined the human counterattack, while Shen Qian discovered that their new power came at the cost of corruption by the polluted Heavenly Dao. As the humans fought to get Shen Qian away, Wu Jun stayed behind to shield him from the Witch Emperor’s attack, and the enraged Witch Emperor’s aura turned the world scarlet.

• Wu Wei killed No. 56 and revealed that he had become a Martial King; Heavenly Swordsman and Duke Baili also joined the fight as Martial Kings.
• Shen Qian used the Eye of Truth to see black mist corrupting the newly advancing humans, and realized they had accepted the danger to clear a path for him.
• Shen Qian stopped using the Ten Directions Creation Body and tried to retreat, but the Witch Emperor ordered the Witch Clan Wang Hous to keep him there.
• Marquis Yidao, Marquis of Qingcheng, and Marquis of Dongchuan blocked the pursuers while Golden Tower Marquis and Wu Jun escorted Shen Qian away.
• Wu Jun stopped to protect Shen Qian from the Witch Emperor’s Heart-Piercing attack, and his aura vanished along with those of many Witch Clan Wang Hous.
• The Witch Emperor became truly enraged, and his aura dyed the world scarlet.

Shen Qian escaped Earth's Core City as Golden Tower Marquis and other human Wang Hous held off the Witch Emperor, then dreamed of his first day of high school before waking in the Myriad Manifestations Tower. He learned that he had been unconscious for nearly five days and asked Earl Luoshen whether the Dragon-Trapping Formation had worked.

• Golden Tower Marquis gave Shen Qian a bonded spirit artifact and stayed behind to confront the Witch Emperor while it carried Shen Qian toward the Teleportation Array.
• Earl Luoshen caught Shen Qian as the Wang Hous sealed Earth's Core City with the Nine Imperial Seals, and a red arrow struck the closing barrier before Shen Qian lost consciousness.
• Shen Qian dreamed of his first day of high school, where he saw Gao Wenyuan watching his younger self and realized Gao had noticed him long before.
• Shen Qian woke inside the Myriad Manifestations Tower beside Earl Luoshen and learned that Gu Donglai had also been brought there to recover.
• Earl Luoshen told Shen Qian he had been unconscious for nearly five days, and he asked whether the Dragon-Trapping Formation had worked.

Shen Qian learned that the Witch Clan and allied races had devastated humanity’s territories, while the Dragon-Trapping Formation might hold for less than half a month. He entered seclusion in the Myriad Manifestations Tower, fused with his avatar, and prepared to break through all three domains toward the Nine Forbidden level.

• Earl Luoshen showed Shen Qian that the damaged Dragon-Trapping Formation still held the Witch Clan inside Earth's Core City, but might fail within days.
• Earl Luoshen revealed that the Witch Emperor had united the myriad races, which had occupied much of the restricted zone and left humanity badly outmatched.
• Shen Qian learned that his family and friends were safe and that the formation might last no more than half a month, then went to the Sky-Reaching Tower to enter seclusion.
• Inside the time illusion, Shen Qian assessed his injuries and learned that his avatar had found a way to temper origin power toward the Eighth Restriction.
• Shen Qian fused with his avatar, restoring his soul and inheriting its Dao, then resolved to pursue the Nine Forbidden level in all three domains.

Shen Qian used the Ancestral Dragon Inverse Scale and Ji Ruoshui’s remaining supremely yin power to survive the Purple Firmament Divine Thunder and break through to the Eighth Restriction in body. After stabilizing, he began tempering his origin energy in the Shennong Cauldron, where the amplified heat made him scream in pain.

• Shen Qian endured repeated strikes of Purple Firmament Divine Thunder while using the Ancestral Dragon Inverse Scale to push his body to the edge of death.
• Shen Qian unleashed Ji Ruoshui’s supremely yin power, which restored his life force and rebuilt his body as he crossed the second Life and Death Gate.
• Shen Qian tested his reborn body, shattered space with a physical punch, and found that the Mountain River Saber could barely wound him.
• After more than ten days of recovery, Shen Qian prepared to break through the Hundred Refinements Gate by tempering his origin energy in the Shennong Cauldron.
• Shen Qian merged the Twin Life Fire with the Nirvana Black Flame and activated the Shennong Cauldron’s temperature-amplifying effect, causing him to scream from the heat.

Marquis Wu Ding revealed that North Capital was surrounded by nearly a hundred Wang Hou-level enemies and could fall within three days as a being beneath the earth neared release. Meanwhile, Shen Qian completed his three-year training in Time-Space Purgatory and reached the peak of the Eighth Restriction in all three fields, but remained unable to break through the Ninth.

• Marquis Wu Ding thanked Ding Anbai for the Southwest Pharmaceutical Association’s medicine donation and brought him to inspect North Capital’s defenses.
• Marquis Wu Ding warned that North Capital might fall within three days, then exposed the alien powerhouses concealed around the city by striking one of them.
• Marquis Wu Ding explained that the enemies were waiting for a being beneath the earth to break free and that the Nine Cauldrons might then fail to protect North Capital.
• Ding Yi asked about Shen Qian, and Marquis Wu Ding said Shen Qian was healing in seclusion and would not be allowed to come to North Capital.
• Shen Qian completed his training in Time-Space Purgatory, perfected his Mental Power, body, and elemental force at the peak of the Eighth Restriction, and sensed that the Ninth Restriction required a special opportunity.

Shen Qian discovered that Gu Donglai was actually an incarnation of King Zhouyi, who demanded the Seed of Fire and claimed he could defeat Shen Qian inside the Myriad Manifestations Tower. The chapter ended as Shen Qian realized King Zhouyi’s record of clearing ninety-nine floors might explain his confidence.

• Shen Qian found the tower spirit guarding Wishing Lake and used the White Emperor’s character card to gain full authority over the lake and the Myriad Manifestations Tower.
• Shen Qian discovered a dusty octagonal mirror hanging from a small sapling in the deepest part of Wishing Lake.
• Gu Donglai told Shen Qian that North Capital was surrounded by Wang Hou experts and the Dragon-Trapping Formation beneath the earth was nearing collapse.
• Gu Donglai offered to take Shen Qian’s place as humanity’s final hope, then demanded the thing Shen Qian had obtained through the door in the earth’s core.
• Shen Qian exposed Gu Donglai as an incarnation of King Zhouyi, who admitted he wanted the Seed of Fire and demanded that Shen Qian hand it over.
• King Zhouyi claimed the Myriad Manifestations Tower gave him the advantage, prompting Shen Qian to recall that King Zhouyi held its ninety-nine-floor clearance record.

Shen Qian discovered that King Zhouyi had secretly prepared a fate-altering trap inside the Myriad Manifestations Tower and had lost control of the tower. Bound to King Zhouyi’s Life Stealing Catalogue, Shen Qian watched him begin stripping away memories and events from his life.

• Shen Qian reviewed the tower’s records and realized King Zhouyi had concealed his activities during decades of visits to the Myriad Manifestations Tower.
• King Zhouyi took control of the tower, transported Shen Qian to a black-and-white altar, and bound him with ninety-nine layers of the Life Stealing Catalogue.
• King Zhouyi explained that he had spent seventy-three years preparing the array to steal Shen Qian’s fate, and revealed that Marquis Ling Tian had been a test of Shen Qian’s abilities.
• Shen Qian’s attack passed harmlessly through King Zhouyi, who explained that the altar was a fate space where only fate could leave traces.
• King Zhouyi tore away Shen Qian’s college entrance examination memories, causing related records, a school statue, and other people’s memories of him to disappear.
• King Zhouyi failed to remove one scene involving a boy and a girl, then began extracting three more vivid turning points from Shen Qian’s life.

King Zhouyi sent Shen Qian into a pivotal moment from his past to steal his fate through an incarnation, but Shen Qian uncovered the hidden anchor and stopped the attempt. Back at the Myriad Manifestations Tower, Shen Qian challenged King Zhouyi’s claim that his true body could never be found and revealed the mirror from Wishing Lake.

• King Zhouyi rewound Shen Qian to the day he received Wugu Star light and began stealing his fate through the starlight.
• Shen Qian reasoned that King Zhouyi needed a nearby anchor and identified Song Ye as the most likely incarnation.
• Shen Qian attacked Song Ye, prompting King Zhouyi to reveal himself and halt the theft when his incarnation was exposed.
• King Zhouyi explained that he had many other incarnations and anchors, then returned Shen Qian to the altar of the Myriad Manifestations Tower.
• Shen Qian suggested the White Emperor might have deliberately allowed King Zhouyi to believe his true body was hidden and revealed the octagonal mirror, stunning King Zhouyi.

Shen Qian confronted King Zhouyi with the true Sky-Peering Mirror and used Zhouyi’s fear of fate to trick him into taking it. The mirror activated and swallowed both of them, leaving their fate uncertain.

• King Zhouyi recognized Shen Qian’s mirror as the likely true Sky-Peering Mirror and explained why he feared touching an inscrutable fate artifact.
• Shen Qian claimed the King of Jiangling had used the mirror in the River of Time to connect it to Zhouyi’s past self.
• King Zhouyi reached for the glowing mirror, revealing his true body behind Gu Donglai, and Shen Qian disclosed that the story had been a bluff.
• Shen Qian pointed out the mirror’s engraved activation condition, “Believe, and it exists. Doubt, and it does not,” and King Zhouyi realized his belief had trapped him.
• The Sky-Peering Mirror erupted with dazzling light and swallowed King Zhouyi and Shen Qian.

Shen Qian entered King Zhouyi’s fate scroll and witnessed how Xia Yu exploited the child’s gift to seize power, while the child later helped bring down dynasties from captivity. The scroll ended in the late Eastern Zhou, where King Zhouyi awakened and challenged Shen Qian for never striking him.

• Shen Qian followed Xia Yu after he rescued the young Yi and learned that the child was King Zhouyi in his youth.
• Xia Yu forced Yi to reveal how to replace Emperor Shun, then used the child’s guidance to cause a flood and rise to power.
• Shen Qian watched Xia Yu imprison and abuse Yi, who secretly helped bring down the Xia Dynasty before Tang of Shang imprisoned him in chains.
• A fox helped the aged King Zhouyi escape the Shang Dynasty’s prison, and Zhou rulers later continued his tradition of fishing by the Wei River.
• As Qin forces entered the Zhou palace, the fate scroll froze and King Zhouyi awakened, asking Shen Qian why he had never acted.