Chapter Summaries

After Shen Zhui killed an Alien Venerable, Tan Lang helped him conceal the true course of the battle from the Grand Inspector. Shen Zhui persuaded the Grand Inspector to hide nearby, and two figures arrived to find Shen Zhui apparently near death.

• Shen Zhui killed the Alien Venerable with his Yinglong Avatar, then agreed to let Tan Lang claim credit under his assumed identity as Yang Xiao.
• Tan Lang explained that Bette’s spatial formation had concealed the ambush from Dayuan Prefecture’s officials, and Shen Zhui suspected the Sect Realm, King Xiangshan, or King Liang’s Estate had ordered it.
• The Grand Inspector arrived and questioned Tan Lang, who recounted the battle while keeping Shen Zhui’s role concealed.
• Shen Zhui voiced his suspicions and asked the Grand Inspector to hide and watch who came to check the scene; the Grand Inspector agreed.
• Two figures appeared and found Shen Zhui lying bloodied and barely breathing, while Tan Lang and the Grand Inspector were out of sight.

Shen Zhui feigned mortal injuries to draw out Xia Hong and Cui Deyuan, then exposed their attempt to frame him as an alien-controlled servant. The Grand Inspector revealed himself as a witness, turning the accusations against the Venerables who had sided with Xia Hong.

• Xia Hong and Cui Deyuan arrived at Shen Zhui’s apparent death scene, and Cui used divine retracing to confirm that Shen Zhui seemed to have killed a Venerable Third Tier alone.
• Xia Hong and Cui agreed to claim Shen Zhui had died after Cui arrived, while Shen Zhui waited for Xia Hong to approach and finish him.
• Four Venerables arrived to investigate, and Marquis Lan Ling treated Shen Zhui and learned through his divine sense that the Grand Inspector was present.
• Shen Zhui told Cui that an unknown assassin had summoned an Alien Venerable, then challenged him to explain how his whereabouts had been leaked.
• Xia Hong accused Shen Zhui of being a soul servant and urged a soul examination, but Shen Zhui refused and Marquis Lan Ling defended him.
• As several Venerables backed Xia Hong’s proposal to take Shen Zhui away, the Grand Inspector emerged and announced that he had witnessed their conduct.

Grand Inspector Long Xiao exposed the officials’ plot against Shen Zhui and punished those involved. He sentenced Xia Hong to death and killed him with the Son of Heaven Sword.

• Long Xiao revealed a recording of Cui Deyuan and Xia Hong plotting to kill Shen Zhui and falsify the circumstances of his death.
• Long Xiao stripped Cui Deyuan of his office and cultivation, then sentenced him to a thousand years in the Extreme Cold Divine Prison.
• Han Guangfu and Dou Jianming confessed that they had used surveillance and official power to help Xia Hong track Shen Zhui and arrange the assassination; Long Xiao sentenced them and Liu Wu to prison.
• Long Xiao fined the officials who had committed only minor offenses and condemned Xia Hong for colluding with outsiders and targeting a military official.
• Long Xiao sentenced Xia Hong to death, drew the Son of Heaven Sword, and killed him.

After Xia Hong was executed for attempting to assassinate Shen Zhui, the officials settled the aftermath and Marquis Lan Ling escorted Shen Zhui back toward Ten Thousand Peaks City. There, Xia Jing learned that Shen Zhui had won the Sacred Word Secret Realm and that Grand Inspector Long Xiao had met with Marquis Wu'an.

• Long Xiao reported the events to the officials, praised Tan Lang for his aid, and offered him a military post, which Tan Lang politely refused.
• After Long Xiao and Marquis Wu'an disappeared into a Space Crack, Marquis Lan Ling guessed that the imperial court might be preparing to grant Zhao Xing a kingdom.
• Marquis Lan Ling arranged fifty Fortune Coins in compensation for Shen Zhui and escorted him aboard a warship toward Ten Thousand Peaks City.
• Tan Lang thanked Shen Zhui for his invitation to visit Ten Thousand Peaks City and vanished to resume his travels.
• Wen Qingfeng told Xia Jing that Xia Hong had been executed, several Dayuan officials had been imprisoned, Shen Zhui had won first place in the Sacred Word Secret Realm, and Long Xiao had met Marquis Wu'an.
• After Wen Qingfeng left, the plants in Xia Jing's estate blossomed, and someone came out through the courtyard's bamboo door.

Shen Zhui considered how to fund and strengthen his Cave Heaven World before Marquis Lan Ling turned their conversation about marriage into a matchmaking effort. Back at Falling Snow Peak, Yun Duo introduced two possible Yun Clan brides, but Shen Zhui said he already had someone he liked.

• Shen Zhui learned from Zenheart that advancing the Seven Absolute Heavens would require vast wealth, with the second layer alone demanding thousands of Fortune Coins.
• Marquis Lan Ling urged Shen Zhui to marry and, mistaking his polite agreement for consent, volunteered to arrange a match for him.
• After returning to Ten Thousand Peaks City, Marquis Lan Ling visited Shen Zhui’s adoptive parents, and rumors spread that he would arrange Shen Zhui’s marriage.
• Yun Duo told Shen Zhui that Marquis Lan Ling often played matchmaker and showed him portraits of Yun Ying and Yun Xue as possible brides.
• Shen Zhui said he already had someone he liked, and Yun Duo challenged him to explain whom he meant.

Shen Zhui rejected the Yun Clan’s arranged marriage because he loved Zi Xuan and refused to marry against his heart, despite warnings that he needed powerful allies. Marquis Lan Ling Yun Kang accepted his decision after striking him, but asked Shen Zhui to introduce the mysterious woman when he was ready.

• Shen Zhui told Yun Duo he could not accept marrying Yun Ying and Yun Xue, and Yun Duo advised him to explain himself to the Ancestor.
• Yun Duo explained that the Yun Clan had supported Marquis Wu'an for generations and that the marriage had been arranged to secure Shen Zhui’s position in the emerging Zhao Kingdom.
• Cheng Jiao told Shen Zhui that his master had approved the marriage and argued that the Yun Clan’s support would protect him from further attacks.
• Shen Zhui said he loved someone whose identity and origin he did not know, and insisted that marrying someone else would harm his Dao Heart.
• Marquis Lan Ling Yun Kang emerged after hearing Shen Zhui’s refusal, hit him, then stopped opposing the decision and asked him to bring the woman for an introduction someday.

Shen Zhui refused the Yun Household’s proposed marriage and ordered Yue Cheng to send soldiers to Phoenix Mountain Ridge, then learned that Zi Xuan had taken the Cold Lord Crown from the Cold City Secret Realm, causing the realm to explode. Marquis Wu'an helped Zi Xuan claim the crown and revealed that Long Xiao had arrived to deliver the edict, leaving her afraid he had come to take her back.

• Shen Zhui’s adoptive parents praised Yun Ying and Yun Xue as marriage prospects and revealed that they had met them before, while Shen Zhui explained that he had refused the engagement.
• Shen Zhui asked Yue Cheng to send soldiers to Phoenix Mountain Ridge and learned that Zi Xuan had entered the Cold City Secret Realm.
• Zi Xuan emerged from the secret realm with the Cold Lord Crown, and the realm exploded soon after, leaving its guardians and soldiers bewildered.
• Marquis Wu'an arrived, ordered Han Fei to guard the Realm Channel, and told everyone to keep the secret realm’s destruction quiet.
• Marquis Wu'an helped Zi Xuan make the Cold Lord Crown acknowledge her as its master and told her he was preparing for the War of Conferring Kings.
• Marquis Wu'an said Long Xiao had arrived to deliver the edict, and Zi Xuan asked fearfully whether Uncle Long had come to take her back.

Zi Xuan returned to Falling Snow Peak and learned that Shen Zhui had become a seventh-tier Divine Ability expert and was rumored to be marrying into the Yun Clan. Shen Zhui confessed his feelings after refusing the match, but Zi Xuan revealed that she was Princess Anle, Ji Zixuan, and that Grand Inspector Long Xiao had come to take her back.

• Marquis Wu'an told Zi Xuan that Long Xiao would come for her within a month, after meeting Marquis Divine Sword and Marquis Dingwu.
• Zi Xuan returned to Falling Snow Peak and learned from Huang Li that Shen Zhui had won first place at the Great Xia Academy secret realm, advanced to the seventh tier of Divine Ability, and attracted hundreds of experts to his command.
• Huang Li told Zi Xuan that Marquis Lan Ling had arranged a marriage between Shen Zhui and a Yun Clan woman, leaving Zi Xuan distressed until Shen Zhui found her in the garden.
• Shen Zhui told Zi Xuan he had long known she was a woman, refused the Yun Clan match, and confessed that he wanted to spend his life with her.
• Zi Xuan revealed that she was Princess Anle, Ji Zixuan, daughter of the Human Emperor, and that her father had arranged a future betrothal to the Fan Family.
• Shen Zhui offered to flee with Zi Xuan, but she warned him that Long Xiao had arrived at the Wu'an Army to ensure she was brought back.

Shen Zhui sought Marquis Wu'an's help to keep Zi Xuan from being forced into a political marriage, and Marquis Wu'an laid out a dangerous plan that depended on Shen Zhui earning a marquis title in the War of Conferring Kings. Shen Zhui accepted, leaving himself five months to prove his worth and secure a chance to marry Zi Xuan.

• Zi Xuan fell asleep in Shen Zhui's arms, and her suppressed cultivation rose to peak Divine Ability as he vowed to protect her.
• Zenheart warned Shen Zhui that fleeing with Zi Xuan would fail and urged him to seek Marquis Wu'an Zhao Xing's help.
• Shen Zhui reached Heaven's Heart Hall and, after Marquis Wu'an steadied his state of mind with tea, asked him for a way to be with Zi Xuan.
• Marquis Wu'an explained that Zi Xuan's royal status and the Fan Family's marriage proposal made the matter difficult, then described how he could delay the proposal until May.
• Marquis Wu'an said Shen Zhui had to earn enough Merit Points to become a marquis during the War of Conferring Kings so he could formally propose on Shen Zhui's behalf at the emperor's birthday banquet.
• Shen Zhui accepted the dangerous plan, and Marquis Wu'an privately said he hoped the young man would surprise him.

Shen Zhui prepared for the coming War of Conferring Kings, learned why the Sect Alliance and the Great Zhou fought over the land beyond the Canglan River, and completed the first layer of his Cave Heaven World. After Zi Xuan was taken back to the capital, Shen Zhui entered the Blood Demon Battlefield and headed for Cloud Dragon Bridge to seek the wealth he needed to grow stronger.

• Shen Zhui and Zi Xuan planned how to secure their future, while his clones strengthened his forces and prepared for the war.
• Cheng Jiao explained that the Nine Nether Realm was formed from connected Cave Heaven Worlds and that control of the land beyond the Canglan River determined the Sect Alliance's survival.
• Long Xiao took Zi Xuan away before the New Year festival, while Shen Zhui watched without revealing that he had resisted Long Xiao's technique.
• Shen Zhui fused World Stones and added the Wood World Tree, Divine Star Fire Mirror, and Nine Heavens Gale Stone to complete the first layer of his Seven Absolute Heavens.
• Shen Zhui used a Four Dragon Token to enter the Blood Demon Battlefield, ordered Luo Yong to open the passage to Cloud Dragon Bridge, and vanished into the secret realm.

Shen Zhui entered the ninth palace’s abyss and absorbed its remaining Blood Origin lake and nearly a hundred million Blood Origin Crystal Cores into his Cave Heaven World. As the palace and its secret realms collapsed, he entered the newly accessible second palace and reached the sealed Monster Locking Palace.

• Shen Zhui used his Formless Divine Skill to disguise himself as a Blazing Flame Tiger King, passed through the secret realm, and located the mountain of nine palaces.
• Shen Zhui and Chanxin found that the Blood Origin lake had dwindled, and Chanxin identified its water and crystals as sources of life force.
• Shen Zhui collected the lake and counted 98,230,000 Blood Origin Crystal Cores, while Chanxin offered to fuse and refine them.
• The ninth palace began collapsing after Shen Zhui took the lake, and its light faded as Shen Zhui escaped.
• Shen Zhui found that he could enter the second palace and approached the chained, black-and-white Monster Locking Palace.

Shen Zhui and Chan Xin broke through the Monster Locking Palace’s ancient defensive formation and entered its main hall. They found a Purple Gold Gourd on the altar, and Chan Xin recognized it with alarm.

• Shen Zhui’s clones and the God Annihilation Cannon failed to break the palace chains, though repeated cannon shots weakened the formation.
• Chan Xin used her combat form to force through the barrier, breaking all eight chains and opening the palace gates.
• Shen Zhui and Chan Xin entered the hall as distant vicious beasts roared, then cautiously followed a long path lined with beast-human statues.
• At the altar, Shen Zhui found a floating Purple Gold Gourd, and Chan Xin reacted with shock at what it was.

Shen Zhui and Chanxin discovered that the altar held a legacy of the Nine Nether Divine Sect’s Demon God lineage. Shen Zhui claimed the Demon Emperor Token, and the chapter ended with the pair preparing to explore the world of fierce beasts.

• Chanxin identified the altar as part of a Nine Nether Divine Sect legacy and explained how the Monster Refining Pot had empowered the Demon God Legion.
• Shen Zhui climbed the altar stairs, endured a vision of the Demon God’s beast army, and encountered the remnant divine sense of a golden-armored man.
• The golden-armored man recognized Shen Zhui’s Blood Origin Divine Armor and granted him the Demon Emperor Token.
• Shen Zhui mastered the token and learned it could control fierce beasts up to the peak of the Venerable Level.
• Shen Zhui and Chanxin heard beasts roaring outside the hall and set out to explore the world of fierce beasts.

Shen Zhui discovered that the Demon Emperor Tokens could subdue fierce beasts and restore them inside their space, then built an obedient army of 230 beasts. On the eleventh day, with Chanxin’s help, he prepared to venture into the territory of Venerable Level beasts.

• Shen Zhui obtained four Demon Emperor Tokens from the palaces but could not enter the golden clouds surrounding the remaining four.
• Shen Zhui killed a Divine Ability peak Scarlet Flame snake demon by striking too hard, then learned that dead beasts could not be subdued.
• Shen Zhui subdued a wounded winged Tiger Demon and discovered that the token used his divine power to heal captured beasts and could accelerate their cultivation.
• With Chanxin’s help, Shen Zhui refined 230 fierce beasts over ten days, including eight Heavenly Dipper beasts and twelve Earthly Fiend beasts.
• Shen Zhui and Chanxin decided to begin hunting Venerable Level beasts with the army gathered behind him.

Shen Zhui led his fierce-beast army into the Venerable-level region and avoided a powerful Golden Lamp Mad Bee colony. He later subdued the Second-tier Venerable Ji Meng, but the effort drained most of his divine power.

• Shen Zhui discovered a vast spirit-stone deposit guarded by thousands of Golden Lamp Mad Bees and retreated with his army rather than risk a costly battle.
• After detouring around the bee queen’s territory, Shen Zhui found the Second-tier Venerable Ji Meng alone in a lake and approached it while concealed.
• Shen Zhui and Chan Xin attacked Ji Meng, but its formidable defense and Corrosive Water divine ability forced Shen Zhui to transform into an Yinglong.
• Shen Zhui used the Yinglong’s Dragon Might and Absolute Space to make Ji Meng submit, then drew it into the Demon Emperor Token.
• The token drained seventy percent of Shen Zhui’s divine power, but Ji Meng emerged healed and respectfully acknowledged him as its master.

Shen Zhui subdued the Golden Cup Bee Emperor with the help of his nine Venerable subordinates, becoming master of ten Demon Emperors. After exhausting his Cave Heaven World’s red lake to recover, he prepared to leave the fierce-beast world.

• Shen Zhui used the red lake in his Cave Heaven World to restore the divine power he had spent subduing Ji Meng, then learned about the powerful Demon Emperors nearby.
• With Ji Meng’s help, Shen Zhui subdued the Magic Eye Spider and seven more Venerable-level fierce beasts over the next seven days.
• Shen Zhui sent Lei Jue and his other Venerables to attack the Golden Cup Bee Emperor at Seven Colored Mountain, while Snow Fox led demon kings against her bee forces.
• Shen Zhui used the Demon Emperor Token to suppress the Golden Cup Bee Emperor, and his nine Venerables defeated her after half a day of fighting.
• The Golden Cup Bee Emperor surrendered, but sealing her drained Shen Zhui’s divine power; after recovering, he set out with ten Demon Emperors and 242 demon kings.

Shen Zhui took the Golden Cup Bees, their Rainbow Spirit Stone Mine, and vast treasure stores from the secret realm, then discovered that his actions had ended the trial rewards. After Marquis Wu'an learned the truth, Shen Zhui brought about ninety million Blood Origin Crystal Cores to Cheng Jiao at the Star Treasure Pavilion to sell them for the Wu'an Army.

• Shen Zhui moved the Golden Cup Bee Emperor, forty peak Demon Kings, four thousand Golden Cup Bees, and the Rainbow Spirit Stone Mine into his Cave Heaven World, planning to sell the unrefined bees.
• Shen Zhui left the Cloud Dragon Bridge Secret Realm with his spoils, and Lei Guangming explained that the Cloud Dragon Bridge and Qingyun Path had stopped granting Blood Origin Crystal Core rewards.
• The Sect Alliance and Border Armies investigated the secret realms, but the Venerables concluded that their stored trial rewards had been exhausted.
• Marquis Wu'an confronted Shen Zhui, who admitted that he had taken roughly ninety million Blood Origin Crystal Cores and offered them to the Wu'an Army.
• Shen Zhui visited Cheng Jiao at the Star Treasure Pavilion and poured out a mountain of Blood Origin Crystal Cores, leaving Cheng Jiao dumbstruck.

Shen Zhui sold Blood Origin Crystal Cores to Cheng Jiao, arranged to trade his more valuable treasures through the Four Seas Merchant Association, and continued cultivating his techniques. After his accumulated Merit Points passed one hundred million, his system upgraded and unlocked Awakening Time.

• Shen Zhui sold ninety-eight million Blood Origin Crystal Cores to Cheng Jiao for seven hundred Fortune Coins and received a list of sixth-tier treasures to consider.
• Shen Zhui asked Tan Lang how to sell thousands of Divine Ability Realm beasts and arranged to trade through the Four Seas Merchant Association outside Liang Kingdom.
• Shen Zhui returned to Ten Thousand Peaks City, studied Ciyun Venerable's secret techniques, and practiced the Thunder God Art's Thunder Dragon Divine Sound.
• Shen Zhui's accumulated Merit Points surpassed one hundred million, upgrading the system and adding Awakening Time.

Shen Zhui tested the system’s new sudden-enlightenment state, mastering the sixth move of the Thunder God Art and perfecting a level of the Illusory God Dao while discovering that the cost depended on the method’s difficulty. Two days later, he and Tan Lang brought valuable treasures to the Four Seas Merchant Association in Mountain River World, where the appraisal continued.

• Shen Zhui spent sudden-enlightenment time on the Thunder God Art and mastered its sixth move, reaching twelve thousand Thunderclap Lassos and touching the threshold of Rule Power.
• Shen Zhui used ten seconds of sudden enlightenment to perfect the Illusory God Dao’s second level and realized that the system charged more for harder methods.
• Shen Zhui decided to use his remaining Merit Points to advance the Illusory God Dao, then two days passed as his Wind Clone traveled with Tan Lang to Dayuan Prefecture.
• Tan Lang explained that Mountain River World belonged to the Four Seas Merchant Association and brought Shen Zhui to a concealed trading space to sell his treasures.
• Two Venerables appraised Shen Zhui’s Seven-Colored Spirit Stone Mine at fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three Fortune Coins.
• Tan Lang brought out four thousand Golden Cup Bees for appraisal after Shen Zhui asked him to add them if the mine’s price fell short.

Shen Zhui sold fierce beasts to raise funds for refining the Seven Absolute Heavens, then learned that the Guiyuan Sect had reopened and his foster elder sister Shen Xinlan was now known as Fairy Lan Ruo. Worried about her fate, he sought intelligence on Wu'an Army agents in the Sect Realm as he prepared to reach her.

• Shen Zhui sold Golden Cup Bees and 282 powerful Demon Kings through Tan Lang, earning 22,715 Fortune Coins for his plans to strengthen his Cave Heaven.
• Chanxin planned to use the funds to buy materials for heavy treasures and exchange for World Stones to smelt into Shen Zhui's Cave Heaven World.
• Bi Ying reported that Falling Snow Peak had organized 121 Divine Ability Realm cultivators into guard, command, and Five Elements Camp units.
• Yu Ziqi and Huang Li told Shen Zhui that the Guiyuan Sect had reopened its mountain gate and would hold a grand ceremony in seven days as it sought recognition as a first-rate sect.
• Shen Zhui learned that his foster elder sister Shen Xinlan had received the dao title Lan Ruo, and Yu Ziqi reassured him that she might not have committed serious atrocities.
• Shen Zhui went to Tianxin Pavilion and asked Wang Qing to retrieve records of Wu'an Army undercover agents in the Sect Realm from the past thirty years.