Chapter Summaries

Ding Ling annihilated the Japanese pirate force attacking Fuqing City and met Gu Shaotang, who asked him to help end the coastal pirate menace. He learned that the raids had lasted for years because few capable fighters remained after many experts ascended to the Upper Realm.

• Gu Shaotang and Feng Lidao discussed the mysterious warrior who had saved them and hurried after him.
• Gu Shaotang saw that the warrior had killed Japanese pirates with precise strikes and reached the city center as he finished wiping them out.
• Gu Shaotang called out to Ding Ling, learned his name, and asked him to help protect the suffering coastal people.
• Gu Shaotang explained that Japanese pirates had plagued the coast for years and that the remaining fighters could not stop them.

Ding Ling promised Gu Shaotang he would travel to Japan to eliminate the threat to the Central Plains, then destroyed the Japanese Island and departed. His deed spread through the Nine Provinces, frightened the treacherous ministers into reform, and helped bring peace and prosperity to the Great Ming realm.

• Ding Ling told Gu Shaotang he would go to Japan to remove the mastermind behind the threat, then vanished before she could speak further with him.
• Feng Lidao arrived, recognized Ding Ling as the Immortal Realm Great Emperor, and praised his decisive treatment of the Japanese pirates.
• Within a day, Outsiders reported that Japan had been destroyed, and Feng Lidao and the players spread the news across the Nine Provinces.
• The treacherous ministers learned Ding Ling had left, feared he might return to punish them, and one minister vowed to become loyal after kneeling and kowtowing.
• The Great Ming realm later grew peaceful and prosperous, while Gu Shaotang and the other righteous heroes yearned to follow Ding Ling.

After destroying Japan’s islands, Ding Ling left the Great Ming world and entered Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils through the Sky Ladder. He arrived near Heng Mountain and discovered Tianshan Child Elder and others fighting over a mysterious golden bead, while firearms complicated the contest.

• Gu Shaotang stayed with Feng Lidao and urged him to train after Ding Ling’s defeat of the Japanese pirates inspired him.
• Ding Ling read the Great Ming Imperial Palace’s million books, then traveled to Chang’an’s Sky Ladder without alerting the imperial court.
• Ding Ling passed through the Gate of Glory and entered the world of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, where his abilities were more heavily suppressed.
• Ding Ling used his Divine Meditation Technique to locate himself near Heng Mountain and identify Tianshan Child Elder, Duan Zhengchun, and other figures.
• Ding Ling saw martial artists fighting to seize a golden bead as an unseen person fired a firearm, prompting Tianshan Child Elder to threaten the shooter.

Ding Ling arrived during a battle over the Supreme Sword Pill and stopped the fighting by taking the bead and killing the attackers. He learned that Chen Jinnan, Jiu Nan, and Su Quan had emerged from the Dali Everlasting Youth Valley with Sword Pills, while the Tianshan Child Elder demonstrated how she refined hers.

• Ding Ling grabbed the golden bead in midair and caught and returned arrows and bullets, killing the divine archers and sharpshooters who attacked him.
• The Tianshan Child Elder, Fu Sigui, Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum, Zhu Danchen, Duan Zhengchun, and others recognized Ding Ling and paid their respects.
• Duan Zhengchun explained that the bead was the Supreme Sword Pill, one of eight that had flown out of the Dali Everlasting Youth Valley, and that rival groups had fought over it for a month.
• The Tianshan Child Elder told Ding Ling that Chen Jinnan, Jiu Nan, and Su Quan had obtained Sword Pills and grown far stronger after leaving the valley.
• The Tianshan Child Elder spat out her scarlet Sword Pill, transformed it into a sword, and demonstrated its fiery sword qi before explaining how to refine it.

After learning the Heavenly Evasion Swordplay from a golden armor fragment, Ding Ling taught the Tianshan Child Elder its deeper principles and refined the Supreme Sword Pill into a Golden Sword. He then took the Tianshan Child Elder and Lingjiu Palace away to hear her account of the Everlasting Youth Valley.

• The Tianshan Child Elder told Ding Ling that she had learned part of the sword-refinement method from a golden armor fragment taken from an expert from the Everlasting Youth Valley, then gave him the fragment.
• Ding Ling instantly mastered the incomplete Heavenly Evasion Swordplay recorded on the fragment, astonishing Duan Zhengchun, the Tianshan Child Elder, and the others.
• Ding Ling answered the Tianshan Child Elder's questions, helping her break through and develop a powerful sword aura that complemented her Crimson Sword.
• The Tianshan Child Elder and the people of Lingjiu Palace pledged to follow Ding Ling, and he accepted them.
• Ding Ling refined the golden Sword Pill into a spiritual Golden Sword and wondered whether the Green Pearl that had evolved the Lightning Mink was another Sword Pill.
• Ding Ling asked the Tianshan Child Elder about the Everlasting Youth Valley, then took her and the Lingjiu Palace group away from Heng Mountain to speak privately.

Ding Ling took Tianshan Child Elder and the others from Heng Mountain and learned that Huo Dou had obtained the Crimson Sword in the Everlasting Youth Valley before she killed him. After hearing that the valley’s rising abyss might flood their world, Ding Ling chose to return to Chang’an first, while Tianshan Child Elder and the Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum Four Swords asked to follow him.

• Duan Zhengchun basked in the onlookers’ flattery after Ding Ling left with the Golden Sword, knowing they hoped to gain his favor through him.
• Ding Ling carried Tianshan Child Elder and the others out of Heng Mountain and landed in a forest.
• Tianshan Child Elder explained that she had killed Huo Dou after catching him abusing a woman, and told Ding Ling that Huo Dou had obtained the Crimson Sword in the Everlasting Youth Valley.
• Tianshan Child Elder revealed that a Sword Pill now allowed people to enter and leave the valley, where an abyss was filling with water that might overflow into their world within a few years.
• Ding Ling decided to return to Chang’an to visit Zhong Ling and his other confidantes before investigating the valley.
• Tianshan Child Elder and the Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum Four Swords asked to follow Ding Ling, and he agreed to accept them.

Ding Ling accepted the Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum Four Swords and flew with them to Chang'an using the Heavenly Evasion Swordplay's Sword Control Technique. He reunited with Li Canghai and the others in the Imperial Palace, where Li Canghai greeted him as his power left her astonished.

• Ding Ling accepted the Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum Four Swords and invited Tianshan Child Elder to follow him to Chang'an and report to Li Canghai.
• Tianshan Child Elder declared that Lingjiu Palace would follow Ding Ling and began preparing to bring its forces to Chang'an.
• Ding Ling used the Heavenly Evasion Swordplay and his Golden Sword to carry the four women through the air toward Chang'an.
• Li Canghai, Li Qinglu, Zhong Ling, and Mu Wanqing saw Ding Ling arrive at the Imperial Palace, and Zhong Ling recognized him.
• Li Canghai greeted Ding Ling and was startled by his immense, unfathomable aura.

Ding Ling reunited with Li Canghai and his wives, then taught them the Martial Dao True Understanding and helped the women rapidly improve their cultivation. Tianshan Child Elder arrived with Lingjiu Palace’s forces, while Xiao Feng and Xiao Yuanshan met Ding Ling; the chapter ended with Ding Ling telling the Great Ming emperor Xiao Feng not to kneel to him.

• Zhong Ling, Mu Wanqing, and Li Qinglu embraced Ding Ling, and he asked Li Canghai to address him by name.
• Ding Ling taught the Martial Dao True Understanding to Li Canghai, his wives, and the Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum Four Swords; Li Canghai crossed its threshold, while the seven women reached the Innate Realm through his Empowerment Method.
• Ding Ling stayed in Chang'an and cultivated a husband-and-wife technique with the seven women, steadily raising their cultivation.
• The Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum Four Swords received Tianshan Child Elder, who learned that Ding Ling had helped them surpass her cultivation and asked them to arrange a meeting with him.
• Xiao Feng and Xiao Yuanshan reunited with Ding Ling and knelt to greet him, but Ding Ling stopped Xiao Feng and reminded him that he was the emperor of the Great Ming Empire.

Ding Ling heard from Xiao Feng and Xiao Yuanshan that the abyssal floods and rotten aura threatened Dali Everlasting Youth Valley, and he promised to investigate. After teaching Tianshan Child Elder and the Xiao father and son martial arts, he prepared to travel to the valley with Li Canghai and the seven women.

• Xiao Feng told Ding Ling that the abyssal floods and spreading rotten aura could turn the lands around Dali into a barren forbidden area within a few years.
• Ding Ling promised to investigate Everlasting Youth Valley after handling his other affairs.
• Ding Ling taught Tianshan Child Elder the Martial Dao True Understanding and Heaven Flipping Palm, and taught Xiao Feng and Xiao Yuanshan the fundamental method and God Emperor Fist.
• Over the next three months, the seven women reached the peak of the Great Grandmaster realm, aided by Ding Ling's cultivation methods and Dao Rhyme Infusion.
• Ding Ling decided to visit Dali Everlasting Youth Valley, and Li Canghai and the seven women asked to accompany him.

Ding Ling and his companions traveled to the Dali Everlasting Youth Valley, drawing an excited crowd of players, natives, and ascenders. He ignored their calls and reached the deep pool in Wuliang Mountain, while the onlookers wondered how they might follow him toward immortality.

• Ding Ling agreed to head south with his group, and Li Canghai and Tianshan Child Elder were astonished by the speed and cultivation Zhong Ling and the other six women had gained.
• Xiao Feng and Xiao Yuanshan returned to Luoyang Imperial Capital to resume their duties in the Great Ming Empire.
• Ding Ling and his companions arrived at the Wuliang Mountain peak above Manggu Zhuha's deep pool, where a crowd recognized him and praised the women's extraordinary cultivation.
• Players shouted for Ding Ling to open a martial arts school and declare their admiration, but he left without responding.
• The players' talk of Ding Ling pursuing immortality stirred the ascenders, who considered how they could attach themselves to him.
• Ding Ling reached the deep pool with Tianshan Child Elder and the others.

Ding Ling entered Everlasting Youth Valley with his Sword Pill and discovered the Everlasting Tree was speaking to him as he healed it. He realized the tree and the valley were helping suppress a rapidly rising Abyssal Flood that threatened the Nine Provinces, and the tree was startled that he could hear it.

• Ding Ling used his Sword Pill to pass through the Carefree Ten Absolute Formation and reach the Abyssal Flood.
• Ding Ling sensed unusual activity and found the Everlasting Tree decaying, so he poured Martial Dao True Understanding qi into it.
• Ding Ling heard a young girl's voice from the tree and asked whether she was the Everlasting Tree.
• Ding Ling sensed the Everlasting Tree, Fountain of Youth, and sword qi suppressing the flood, whose force grew stronger as the tree revived.
• The Everlasting Tree thanked Ding Ling and asked in surprise how he could hear it when he had been unable to hear it a few years earlier.

Ding Ling learned from Xiao Shanhai that Shen Shanhai had entrusted her with guarding the Void Nether Soul Zombie, a Desolate Domain that threatened the realm. After Lü Dongbin’s sword resisted the Desolate Domain, Ding Ling realized the eight Sword Pills belonged to the Eight Immortals, leaving him to wonder who had made the green one.

• Xiao Shanhai told Ding Ling that her mother was Shen Shanhai and that she had been left to guard the abyss.
• Xiao Shanhai explained that the Void Nether Soul Zombie had captured Duan Siping and Murong Longcheng after they sought immortality in the Heavenly Court.
• Xiao Shanhai said she had protected Ding Ling from the abyssal flood and warned that the Profound Abyss beneath the Broken Bridge connected to the Void Nether Soul Zombie.
• Ding Ling sent his divine sword into the Desolate Domain, where it resisted the corrosive realm and grew brighter.
• Xiao Shanhai identified the sword as Lü Dongbin’s and explained that the Eight Immortals’ swords had once suppressed the abyssal flood.
• Ding Ling realized the eight Sword Pills belonged to the Eight Immortals and wondered whose sword the green Sword Pill was.

Ding Ling learned that the Eight Immortals and the ancient gods had sacrificed themselves to suppress the Void Nether Soul Zombie in the Abyssal Flood. After Ding Ling restored Xiao Shanhai and she repaired the Carefree Ten Absolute Formation, Xiao Shanhai offered her spirit to guide him in confronting the Void Nether Soul Zombie.

• Xiao Shanhai told Ding Ling that the Eight Immortals had forged eight divine swords with their Primordial Spirits and heart blood to suppress the Abyssal Flood.
• Xiao Shanhai explained that the ancient gods had fought the Void Nether Soul Zombie for hundreds or thousands of years before being wiped out, and that it could create enemies within its world.
• Xiao Shanhai revealed that her suppression of the Abyssal Flood had briefly restored Duan Siping's clarity and saved Ding Ling from him.
• Ding Ling infused Xiao Shanhai with Martial True Qi, restoring her tree body and helping her drive back the Abyssal Flood and repair the Carefree Ten Absolute Formation.
• Xiao Shanhai said she would cooperate with Ding Ling to defeat the Void Nether Soul Zombie and gave him her spirit to guide and assist him.

Ding Ling entered the Heavenly Court’s Profound Abyss to kill the Void Nether Soul Zombies and help Xiao Shanhai’s spirit gather enough World Power to take form. He found Murong Longcheng and Duan Siping guarding a palace and destroyed them, freeing them from their puppet-like state.

• Xiao Shanhai told Ding Ling that killing Void Nether Soul Zombies would let her spirit absorb World Power and might allow her to take form.
• Ding Ling crossed into the Heavenly Court and descended into the Profound Abyss, guided by the light from Xiao Shanhai’s spirit.
• Ding Ling found Murong Longcheng and Duan Siping standing at a palace entrance deep in the abyss.
• Murong Longcheng and Duan Siping attacked Ding Ling with the Six Meridian Divine Sword and Canhe Finger, but their strikes could not harm him.
• Ding Ling killed Murong Longcheng and Duan Siping with a palm strike, and he heard their relieved thanks as they died.

Ding Ling entered a Heavenly Court grotto-heaven, destroyed its puppet soldiers, and found the Void Nether Soul Zombies. Xiaoyao Zi appeared and confronted him, leaving Ding Ling surprised that the long-lived man was still alive.

• Ding Ling received achievement medals for earning Murong Longcheng and Duan Siping's recognition and realized they had retained their intelligence as puppets.
• Ding Ling opened the door to a grotto-heaven and learned that more than a hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals guarded it as puppets.
• Ding Ling destroyed the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, freeing them from their puppetry as their voices thanked him.
• Xiao Shanhai guided Ding Ling to the Void Nether Soul Zombies, where Ding Ling found lifelike human-shaped statues.
• Xiaoyao Zi attacked Ding Ling, and Ding Ling recognized him and explained that the Fountain of Youth had extended his life by at least ten thousand years.

Ding Ling attacked the Void Nether Soul Zombie’s juvenile forms, destroying them by the thousands as Xiaoyao Zi watched. As his life faded with the juvenile forms, Xiaoyao Zi learned Ding Ling’s name, asked after his disciples, and died after warning him that the Zombie’s main body remained a threat.

• Ding Ling recognized Xiaoyao Zi as a cultivator who had come from the Human Realm, and Xiaoyao Zi warned him that the Void Nether Soul Zombie was far stronger than they were.
• Ding Ling struck the Zombie’s humanoid statue with the Heaven Flipping Palm, then used his sword to destroy thousands of juvenile forms.
• Xiaoyao Zi hoped the juvenile forms would survive so he could live, but his body began disintegrating as they died.
• Xiaoyao Zi asked Ding Ling about Li Canghai, Wu Xingyun, Li Qiushui, and Wu Yazi, and Ding Ling told him they were well.
• Xiaoyao Zi warned Ding Ling that the Zombie’s main body was everywhere, then vanished as his body withered away.

Ding Ling killed the juvenile Void Nether Soul Zombies, absorbing their energy and raising his True Force Value while Xiao Shanhai refined World Qi. After they left the Profound Abyss of the Heavenly Court, Ding Ling brought Xiao Shanhai to the Everlasting Tree, which drew her sapling toward itself.

• Xiaoyao Zi died because his lifeline was bound to a juvenile Void Nether Soul Zombie, and Xiao Shanhai explained that his corrupted mind could not be saved.
• Ding Ling observed Xiao Shanhai refining World Qi and mastered the World Qi Refining Method, though his cultivation was not yet sufficient to refine World Qi himself.
• Ding Ling slaughtered the juvenile forms, absorbed their spiritual essence and energy, and raised his True Force Value from 351 to 381 points.
• Xiao Shanhai grew into a seven-foot-tall tree and told Ding Ling they could head to the Lower Realm Abyss once all the Void Nether Soul Zombies were killed.
• Ding Ling left the Profound Abyss of the Heavenly Court and placed Xiao Shanhai beside the Everlasting Tree, which wrapped a branch around her sapling and drew it in.

Xiao Shanhai empowered Ding Ling and followed him into the abyss, where the Eight Immortals’ formation and sword qi protected his descent. At the bottom, Ding Ling faced tribes of powerful Void Nether Soul Zombies and began cutting through their ranks with the Law Breaking Sword.

• Xiao Shanhai gave Ding Ling energy that increased his lifespan to more than forty thousand years and refined his true qi, then pledged to follow him.
• Xiao Shanhai produced a stronger sapling, and Ding Ling carried it as he descended into the Abyssal Flood.
• The Eight Trigrams Demon Subduing Sword Formation and its sword qi protected Ding Ling, and he saw the Eight Immortals’ lingering obsessions guarding the abyss.
• Ding Ling reached the bottom and found tribes of humanlike Void Nether Soul Zombies, who attacked him with a torrent of saber and sword qi.
• Ding Ling used the Law Breaking Sword to kill more than a hundred adult Void Nether Soul Zombies, then unleashed a vast wave of sword qi against thousands more.

Ding Ling slaughtered the Void Nether Soul Zombies in the abyss, advancing to a cultivation realm just short of the Martial Nascent Soul realm while Little Sapling grew stronger. After Xiao Shanhai said the tribe had been wiped out, Ding Ling learned that Xiao Shanhai intended to devour the world once he took form.

• Ding Ling used his Spirit Eyes and Little Sapling's light to locate and expose the Void Nether Qi sustaining the Void Nether Soul Zombies.
• Ding Ling fought through the army, absorbing energy from the adult zombies and advancing to the Sacred Golden Core Perfection Realm and then the Sacred Golden Core Grand Perfection Realm.
• Little Sapling grew to nine feet tall and its radiance immobilized groups of zombies, helping Ding Ling kill them in a slaughter that lasted several hours.
• Xiao Shanhai told Ding Ling that all the adult Void Nether Soul Zombies had been killed, and Ding Ling saw that the abyss tribe had been reduced to ruins.
• Ding Ling reached a True Force Value of 491 and a cultivation realm near the Martial Nascent Soul realm, then Xiao Shanhai said he would swallow the world once he took form.

Ding Ling learned more about the Eight Immortals and helped Xiao Shanhai absorb the Everlasting Youth Valley as she prepared to assume human form. He returned to Zhong Ling, Li Canghai, and the others, leaving them to wonder whether Xiao Shanhai’s transformation would give rise to a new Mountains and Seas World.

• The Eight Immortals thanked Ding Ling for defeating the Void Nether Soul Zombies, then vanished into the void as their obsessions dissipated.
• Ding Ling placed the sapling beside the Everlasting Tree, which absorbed it and released energy that purified his true qi and increased his lifespan by forty thousand years.
• Xiao Shanhai explained that she was about to assume human form and that the Everlasting Tree and Fountain of Youth were her soul and po, then opened a tunnel for Ding Ling to leave.
• Ding Ling emerged in the Wuliang Mountain Range beside Zhong Ling, Li Canghai, and the others as the Carefree Ten Absolute Formation’s aura disappeared.
• Ding Ling told the group about the Void Nether Soul Zombies, and they praised him for protecting their world from the Abyssal Flood.