Chapter Summaries

Lin Heng revealed himself at a Medical Path sacrifice site and fought through the assembled cultivators to confront the old immortal master. The old master remained confident and called Lin Heng the sacrifice he most desired, but Lin Heng slapped him before he could finish.

• The old immortal master identified the disguised Lin Heng, who removed his mask and admitted who he was.
• Medical Path Elders were shocked that Lin Heng had followed them after they thought the Immortal Palace core explosion had trapped him.
• The old immortal master invited Lin Heng onto the platform as a main sacrifice, then ordered everyone to attack him.
• Lin Heng used Imperial Dragon Qi and Time Force to defeat the attackers, leaving the believers fallen, fleeing, or kneeling.
• The old immortal master praised Lin Heng as a valuable sacrifice, and Lin Heng slapped him across the face.

Lin Heng fought the old immortal master after slapping him repeatedly and interrupting his transformation. Their battle revealed that the old master might not be a living person, and Lin Heng struggled to hurt him through his strange gray armor.

• Lin Heng slapped the old immortal master several times, delaying the strange transformation spreading across his body.
• Three Buddhist Path envoys attacked Lin Heng, giving the old immortal master time to stab his peachwood staff into the ground and charge.
• Lin Heng’s six Daos failed to suppress the old master, whose strike sent him staggering back and made him suspect the old man was not alive.
• Lin Heng used his five-element halo and Imperial Dragon Qi to block the old master’s attacks, but the dragon qi only caused pain.
• As their fight shattered the stone platform, Lin Heng realized the old master’s gray patterns weakened or swallowed most attacks and asked what he was.

Lin Heng discovered that the old immortal master drew power from the believers and attacked the crowd to weaken him, but the master struck back and drained hundreds of followers to restore himself. The master believed Lin Heng was immobilized and prepared to hand his body over as a vessel to the Buddhist Incense Society, while Lin Heng hinted that he still had a way to resist.

• Believers urged the old immortal master to kill Lin Heng, so Lin Heng turned on the crowd and killed them, weakening the master's gray power.
• Lin Heng deduced that the master drew strength from the believers, and the enraged master struck him into the mountain wall with a huge black hand.
• Lin Heng recognized the master's unfamiliar power as Calamity and wondered whether it came from the First Epoch.
• The old immortal master drained the remaining believers of their life force, restoring his appearance as the Buddhist Path envoys watched approvingly.
• The old immortal master approached the apparently weakened Lin Heng and revealed that he intended to make Lin Heng a vessel for the Buddhist Incense Society's Buddha Master.
• Lin Heng asked whether the old immortal master truly thought he had him in his palm.

Lin Heng deduced that Song Wuji and the Buddhist Path planned to use special bloodlines to create memory puppets, including a possible puppet of Lin Ziqing, and tried to turn Song Wuji against the Buddhist envoys. When the envoys revealed Song Wuji was a Buddhist believer and he restrained Lin Heng, Hua Qi arrived, killed one envoy, and freed Lin Heng, who admitted he had feigned helplessness to make them reveal the truth.

• Lin Heng guessed that the immortality scheme involved using special bloodlines to create memory puppets and identified Lin Ziqing as a possible target for his own bloodline.
• Song Wuji confirmed the plan and explained that a puppet could believe itself real and fight the original for its place.
• Lin Heng urged Song Wuji to cooperate against the Buddhist Path, but an envoy revealed that Song Wuji was the medical sage Song Wuji and had long been a Buddhist believer.
• Song Wuji restrained Lin Heng as Bone-Eroding Ash Breath weakened him, and Lin Heng shouted for Huahua to save him.
• Hua Qi appeared in a flower of divine power, killed one Buddhist Path envoy with a petal, and shattered Song Wuji's binding on Lin Heng.
• Lin Heng told Hua Qi that he had acted sweetly to make the others reveal the truth.

Hua Qi confronted Song Wuji, whose body contained the First Epoch’s Bone-Eroding Ash Breath, while Lin Heng captured the Buddhist Path envoys and sent one back with a warning for the Buddha Master. The fight continued as Hua Qi recognized that Song Wuji’s power was tied to Calamity, a force that challenged what she knew about the First Epoch.

• Hua Qi appeared and called Song Wuji a remnant parasitizing a living person before they began fighting.
• Hua Qi unleashed her Hundred Flowers Divine Domain, while Song Wuji used gray power to resist her petals.
• Lin Heng caught one Buddhist Path envoy and used soul-searching art, killing him as Hua Qi blocked the other envoy’s escape.
• Lin Heng cut off the fleeing envoy’s arm and sent him to warn the Buddha Master that Lin Heng would visit soon.
• Hua Qi noticed that Song Wuji’s Bone-Eroding Ash Breath was slowly affecting her divine power and wondered what kind of being could wield Calamity.

Lin Heng and Hua Qi failed to stop Song Wuji from activating the sacrificial altar, which unleashed a flood of Black Mist and forced them to flee the secret realm. Outside, the ground began to shake, and Hua Qi warned Lin Heng of danger above.

• Hua Qi struck Song Wuji with Myriad Flowers Heavenly Burial, but the dark gray corruption spreading across her hand stopped her from finishing him off.
• Lin Heng tried to capture Song Wuji with the Human Emperor Banner, but Song Wuji knocked it aside and charged the altar; Lin Heng split him with the Time Sword too late to stop him activating it.
• The altar stripped the divine souls from ninety-nine imprisoned sacrifices, while Lin Heng and Hua Qi could not break its protective barrier without killing them.
• The central pillar grew into a black pillar that tore open the secret realm's sky and unleashed a flood of Black Mist, so Lin Heng carried Hua Qi as they fled through the entrance.
• The Black Mist consumed the secret realm's entrance, and the ground outside began to tremble as Hua Qi pulled away from Lin Heng and warned him to look above.

A gigantic eye and black hand appeared over the Northern Domain and nearly crushed Lin Heng, but Hua Qi saved him with a flower-lotus shell. As Lin Heng and Hua Qi recovered, the tremor drew others’ attention, and Meng Yutong and Dugu Zixuan set out to intercept a Cloud Boat formation approaching the forbidden zone.

• A huge eye appeared in the sky, and a black hand struck Lin Heng, shattering his defenses and crushing his body.
• Hua Qi wrapped Lin Heng and herself in a flower-lotus shell and carried them more than a thousand li away before the shell gave out.
• Xiao Muyu sensed that the Immortal Realm’s destiny had targeted Lin Heng and sent the Sword Spirit to investigate and bring him to the Underworld.
• Lin Heng and Hua Qi survived the attack and began recovering, while Hua Qi’s divine source was nearly exhausted.
• Mu Liuxi and True Person Xu felt the Northern Domain shake, and Meng Yutong and Dugu Zixuan traced the tremor toward Lin Heng.
• Meng Yutong and Dugu Zixuan spotted three Cloud Boats speeding toward the tremor’s source and led their group to intercept them.

Xiao Juming, the Medical Ancestor, returned after more than three hundred years and effortlessly absorbed the Calamity fog. After hearing Song Wuji's account of the revived figures and Lin Heng's approach, he announced his return and ordered Song Wuji to keep the Literary Emperor's puppet asleep.

• A dark-red drop of blood activated the black pillar, and Xiao Juming emerged as Song Wuji greeted him as his master.
• Xiao Juming gathered the Calamity fog into a black sphere and put it away, then learned that 316 years had passed since he entered Longevity Land.
• Song Wuji explained that he had revived several ancient figures, including Martial Emperor Jiang Wu and Literary Emperor Jiang Zhao, using Buddhist methods and memory puppets.
• Xiao Juming sensed Lin Heng and Hua Qi approaching but chose not to confront them, telling Song Wuji to announce that he had returned and to summon the Female Emperor of the Jiang Clan.
• Before entering the black pillar, Xiao Juming ordered Song Wuji not to awaken the Literary Emperor's puppet yet.

While Hua Qi carried Lin Heng away from danger, they discussed whether the First Epoch had humans and whether immortals and gods might have transformed into humans. Hua Qi remained unable to grasp Lin Heng’s explanation through Fourth Epoch myths.

• Hua Qi landed to rest after flying with Lin Heng for half a day, then resumed their retreat when they had recovered some strength.
• Hua Qi asked whether the First Epoch had only humans because Calamity infected immortals and gods but not Human Path cultivators.
• Lin Heng argued that humans could not have ruled the First Epoch and later voluntarily differentiated into immortals and gods, suggesting instead that immortals and gods had transformed into humans.
• Lin Heng connected his theory to Fourth Epoch myths about Pangu, Nuwa, and humans’ fall from Human Kings and Human Emperors to Sons of Heaven.
• Hua Qi said she could not understand the Fourth Epoch myths or imagine the beings Lin Heng described.

Meng Yutong and Dugu Zixuan captured Shadow Alliance remnants working for the Medical Path, while Hua Qi brought a gravely wounded Lin Heng back to camp. After recovering for five days without a visit, Lin Heng learned that Jiang Jingyi and his Master had summoned his Senior Sisters and set out to find out why.

• Meng Yutong and Dugu Zixuan defeated the Cloud Boat formation and discovered the captives were Shadow Alliance remnants serving the Medical Path.
• Dugu Zixuan tortured a captive into revealing that the Northern Domain group would meet their people at Dragonspine Gorge in four days, and Meng Yutong ordered the prisoners taken back.
• Hua Qi returned to camp with Lin Heng, and she told Dugu Qingyang and the others how Song Wuji had used an altar and ninety-nine special-bloodline prodigies to summon a giant hand that attacked Lin Heng.
• Hua Qi explained that the Bai Clan Immortal Palace used special bodies and inherited memories to create resurrection puppets, prompting Dugu Qingyang to warn that anyone with a bloodline, bones, and memory fragments could be targeted.
• After five days of recovery, Lin Heng found that none of his usual visitors had come and learned from Wu Ba that Jiang Jingyi and his Master had summoned his Senior Sisters.
• Lin Heng left the stone chamber to find out why Jiang Jingyi had called his Senior Sisters away.

Jiang Jingyi told Lin Heng’s companions that he had to undergo his missing Mortal Tribulation by dying at the hands of one of his women, or the Heavenly Dao might eventually impose an irreversible death tribulation. The women began considering how to make his death a happy one, and one of them rose with a plan.

• Jiang Jingyi revealed that Xiao Muyu had asked them to send Lin Heng to the Underworld by killing him themselves.
• Jiang Jingyi explained that Lin Heng had skipped his Mortal Tribulation, also called the Peach Blossom Calamity, because his relationship with Dugu Yueli had bypassed its expected cause and effect.
• Jiang Jingyi said the Heavenly Dao had already struck Lin Heng and warned that delaying the tribulation could bring an irreversible death tribulation.
• Jiang Jingyi explained that Lin Heng had to die at the hands of one of his women, and the group considered making him die happily from exhaustion.
• An unnamed woman stood up and announced that she had a plan to send the Show-off happily to the Underworld.

Duan Shuyun proposed that the women help Lin Heng die by exhausting him through intimacy, and the council voted on the plan. The women began discussing the order and agreed to keep it secret from Lin Heng, while Jiang Caiyan shyly asked to go near the front.

• Duan Shuyun proposed making Lin Heng an exhausted ox, and Yun Yao enthusiastically supported the idea.
• Meng Yutong called for a vote, and Leng Qingyun, Leng Qingqiu, Su Wanyue, and Su Qiubai raised their hands alongside Duan Shuyun and Yun Yao.
• Dugu Zixuan stopped Dugu Yueli from joining in, saying she was too young and should wait until Lin Heng's crisis was resolved.
• Jiang Jingyi urged the women to arrange turns and hide the plan from Lin Heng until he could no longer hold on.
• Meng Yutong claimed the right to lead the arrangement, and Jiang Caiyan shyly asked if she could go first.

Jiang Jingyi and Meng Yutong organized a secret plan to exhaust Lin Heng under the guise of healing him. After Meng Yutong restrained him in a sealed room, Jiang Caiyan was sent in to serve him, leaving Lin Heng to wonder if she wanted a baby.

• Yun Yao claimed to be a clean freak so she could go first, but Meng Yutong slapped her out of the council hall.
• Jiang Jingyi and Meng Yutong agreed on a schedule for the women to take turns with Lin Heng and instructed them to tell him they were helping him heal.
• Lin Heng entered the council hall, and Meng Yutong dragged him away under the pretense of taking him to handle proper business.
• Meng Yutong bound Lin Heng to a bed and restricted his spiritual power in a prepared quiet room.
• Jiang Caiyan entered the room to serve Lin Heng, and he asked her whether she wanted to hold a baby.

Jiang Caiyan, Duan Shuyun, Yun Yao, and the Leng Family twins took turns with Lin Heng in the quiet chamber as they pursued their plan to conceive. After more than ten days, Lin Heng was exhausted, and Leng Qingyun and Leng Qingqiu were still arguing over whose turn it was.

• Jiang Caiyan spent nearly two and a half days with Lin Heng, stopping only after she could barely stand.
• Duan Shuyun went next and lasted three days, after which Yun Yao immediately took her turn.
• For three more days, Duan Shuyun, Yun Yao, and Jiang Caiyan rotated while Lin Heng pleaded for rest.
• On the fourth day, Leng Qingyun and Leng Qingqiu arrived and told Lin Heng they would take turns.
• Leng Qingyun insisted that she should be the only one to take her turn while Leng Qingqiu complained that she was taking too long.

Lin Heng endured twelve days of exhausting treatment by the women around him before Meng Yutong revealed that they were trying to fulfill his Peach Blossom Calamity by causing him to die at the hands of his lovers. The women sealed off the space around his bed and prepared to continue, leaving Lin Heng helpless and unconscious.

• Lin Heng pleaded for rest after the twins took turns exhausting him, but Su Wanyue and Su Qiubai arrived and joined in.
• After another two days, Lin Heng's depleted body could barely recover, and Hua Qi, Meng Yutong, Jiang Jingyi, and Mu Li gathered at his bedside.
• Meng Yutong explained Xiao Muyu's warning that Lin Heng faced a Mortal Tribulation and a death omen tied to love.
• Lin Heng realized the women intended to fulfill the tribulation by killing him through his lovers, then passed out despite protesting.
• Mu Li, Hua Qi, and Jiang Jingyi discussed who would go next while Meng Yutong sealed off the space around the bed.

Meng Yutong and Mu Li drained Lin Heng through successive rounds of dual cultivation as part of a plan to help him survive his mortal tribulation. Hua Qi entered next and began undressing, leaving Lin Heng horrified and the ordeal unresolved.

• Meng Yutong continued dual cultivating with Lin Heng for nearly three days until he fainted and his breathing nearly stopped.
• Mu Li took over from Meng Yutong and drained Lin Heng for another two days despite his pleas to rest.
• Jiang Jingyi told Hua Qi it was her turn, while saying she and Hua Qi together should be enough to finish the task.
• Hua Qi entered the stone chamber and began undressing as Lin Heng begged her to save him.

Lin Heng died after Hua Qi and Jiang Jingyi continued the plan to send him through his mortal-world tribulation. He awakened in the Netherworld, recognized Xiao Muyu as the mastermind, and confronted her while she kept him restrained.

• Hua Qi exhausted Lin Heng’s strength until he was left unconscious with only a faint breath.
• Jiang Jingyi entered Lin Heng’s chamber, and Lin Heng died after she arrived.
• Jiang Jingyi told the others that the plan had succeeded, and they left Lin Heng’s affairs to the Netherworld.
• Xiao Muyu received Lin Heng’s soul at an altar outside Rebirth Prison and revived his consciousness with a touch.
• Lin Heng remembered the people involved, blamed Xiao Muyu for arranging his death, and was slapped back onto the ice bed and restrained.

Lin Heng asked Xiao Muyu why he had been killed and why Destiny’s giant hand had targeted him in the Northern Domain. Xiao Muyu explained that his Peach Blossom Calamity had become a death tribulation and that his ties to several epochs made him a costly threat to the Heavenly Dao.

• Xiao Muyu explained that Lin Heng’s Peach Blossom Calamity had fixed his death through a woman, likely involving Dugu Yueli, and said he was fortunate not to have sided with the Changlin Clan.
• Lin Heng asked what had caused Destiny’s giant hand to attack him and described Song Wuji’s forbidden altar, Hua Qi’s intervention, and the palm that nearly erased them.
• Xiao Muyu theorized that Lin Heng’s unresolved Peach Blossom Calamity had changed into a death tribulation, and that his presence made him a higher priority target than Song Wuji and the revived sages.
• Xiao Muyu listed Lin Heng’s Imperial Dragon Qi, Fifth Epoch immortal art and time-controlling art, and Hua Qi’s Third Epoch divine law as reasons the Immortal Realm’s Destiny would strike him down.

Xiao Muyu explained that Lin Heng’s uncertain place in the epochal game had made him a target, and warned that his many conflicting daos would likely prevent him from reaching Dao Integration in the mortal realm. She told him to remain in the Netherworld and seek a breakthrough there so he could face the powerful forces threatening his loved ones.

• Xiao Muyu explained that Lin Heng’s trip to the Underworld would prove which epochal camp he belonged to, and that destiny might have arranged the danger long ago.
• Xiao Muyu said Lin Heng’s future had become uncertain, though his red-dust tribulation had been made up for and he would not be struck again immediately.
• Xiao Muyu warned that Lin Heng’s many mixed daos would likely prevent him from entering Dao Integration in the mortal realm.
• Xiao Muyu told Lin Heng to seek a breakthrough in the Netherworld, where the Heavenly Dao did not directly govern, because the Medical Ancestor and other revived giants threatened the people he wanted to protect.
• Lin Heng asked Xiao Muyu to undo his restraints so he could pursue Dao Integration, and she agreed to return after he had rested and recovered.

Lin Heng recovered in Rebirth Prison and began sorting through the Great Daos within him, while the Yang Realm prepared to confront ancient sages gathering in the Northern Domain. The Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office and Nine Dust Alliance assembled a vast army and marched north.

• Lin Heng used the Human Emperor Banner to nourish his soul, recovered part of his strength, and remembered the events before his death.
• Lin Heng wondered why Little Cabbage had not joined in, then resolved to cultivate and bite her when he returned.
• Dugu Qingyang told Dugu Yueli that ancient sages and remnants of the Martial Path, Medical Path, and Buddhist Path were gathering in the Northern Domain.
• Dugu Yueli assured Dugu Qingyang that she and Brother Heng had already arranged the matter involving the Immortal Clan.
• Ten days later, more than ten thousand cultivators from the Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office and Nine Dust Alliance assembled under six Great Vehicle Supremes.
• Dugu Qingyang ordered the army to advance north toward the Northern Domain.