Chapter Summaries

The mages prepared to escape the Zhou Tian Star Array while Daoyuan made final preparations for his ascension. Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable revealed to Wanxiang that he had allowed the upheaval because he, too, sought the missing change in the Heavenly Dao.

• Randolph and the mages refused Fenghun’s invitation into the Zhou Tian Star Array, and Neham planned to use the Dark Realm Formula to break free if they were confined.
• Daoyuan learned that the Original Heavenly Demon was nearing the Immortal Realm and that the True Spirit Mage had killed Hanxu and Xuanwei, but he dismissed their deaths as inconsequential.
• The Great Heavenly Venerable told Wanxiang she had done well, then explained that the immortal Dao had lost the one that escaped while the mages had gained the power of change.
• Wanxiang suffered a sudden tribulation as she grasped the implications of Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable’s teaching, and he protected her from the calamities.
• Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable told Wanxiang that Daoyuan had fallen into demonhood and admitted he had allowed events to unfold because he was also seeking the one that escaped.

After learning that Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable had secretly supported both paths to find The Escaped One, Wanxiang withdrew her forces while Adam and Neham planned the Eighth Holy Tower around Dark Realm Matter. Their discussion ended when the Magic Net announced Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable’s arrival.

• Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable lifted Wanxiang’s restrictions, and she returned to the Wanxiang Sect to shut herself away.
• After regaining her composure, Wanxiang ordered all personnel and Forces under the Wanxiang Sect to withdraw.
• At the mages’ Temporary Base, Mathison invited Adam to join the Seventh Alchemy Holy Tower, but Adam chose to help Neham establish the Eighth Holy Tower.
• Neham explained that Dark Realm Matter was the precursor of aether, and Adam suggested building the Eighth Holy Tower in the Dark Realm and training Dark Realm Mages.
• The Magic Net warned all personnel that Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable was descending.

Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable asked the True Spirit Mages not to interfere with Daoyuan’s ascension attempt and offered to reveal the Zhou Tian Star Array’s secrets. After he left, Adam suspected Daoyuan planned to use the Original Heavenly Demons and possibly Tai Chu as energy for his ascension, and questioned why Tai Chu was shielding him.

• Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable entered the starship and asked the True Spirit Mages to watch Daoyuan’s ascension without interfering.
• Tai Chu offered the mages the Life Gate’s location and the method for deriving it, then asked them not to attack Daoyuan even if he attacked them.
• The True Spirit Mages agreed to remain uninvolved unless Daoyuan attacked them, and Tai Chu departed.
• Ingrid True Spirit and Mayer True Spirit assessed Tai Chu’s strength and speculated that he might kill Daoyuan if the ascension failed.
• Adam argued that Daoyuan might be using the Original Heavenly Demons and others as energy, and asked why Tai Chu was preventing the mages from intervening.

The mages watched as Daoyuan and the Six Teachings prepared an immense array to revive the True Demon and let Daoyuan face the Heavenly Tribulation in its place. As the ascension ceremony began, the mages held position at the edge of the Immortal Realm and observed the array ignite.

• Laura True Spirit returned to the fleet and gave every mage one chance to revive with the Reincarnation Technique.
• The immortals expanded an Energy Gathering and diversion array toward the edge of the Zhou Tian Star Array while the mages studied its twelve major nodes.
• Six Original Heavenly Demons arrived, entered the Zhou Tian Star Array, and sent their Demon Sons and Grandsons into the Immortal Realm.
• Celestial Venerable Wanxiang told Adam that Daoyuan planned to revive the True Demon and use its body to undergo the Heavenly Tribulation.
• Wanxiang informed the mages that ascension would begin in three days, and the fleet moved to the Immortal Realm’s boundary to observe.
• The Six Teachings filled the array’s Energy Nodes as Neham moved the fleet to the void–Dark Realm intersection and the array’s light pillar ignited.

Daoyuan triggered the Twelve Divine Gods Killing Formation and brought the True Demon out of the Demon Submerging Abyss, then entered its head to battle the Original Heavenly Demons. As their fused consciousness overwhelmed him, Daoyuan turned the True Demon's spear toward the Mage Legion.

• Daoyuan activated the Twelve Divine Gods Killing Formation, drawing Spiritual Qi and Demonic Qi into opposing pillars as the demonic shadow absorbed energy.
• The True Demon's torso broke through the membrane sealing the Demon Submerging Abyss, and Hugo and the True Spirit Mages defended the fleet from its impacts.
• The True Demon emerged and merged with the demonic shadow, while the six Original Heavenly Demons joined its body.
• Daoyuan called for Fenghun to begin, bound the True Demon with the five Heavenly Venerables, and entered its head to fight the Original Heavenly Demons.
• The Original Heavenly Demons fused and overpowered Daoyuan, who then aimed the True Demon's spear at the Mage Legion.

Daoyuan’s ambush failed to destroy the fleet after the True Spirit Mages and Adam countered the Zhou Tian Star Array and Heaven-Turning Seal. He turned on the Five Heavenly Venerables, devoured the Six Teachings’ immortals, seized control of the True Demon, and began preparing to confront Tai Chu.

• Daoyuan used a spear to distract the True Spirit Mages while the Zhou Tian Star Array and Heaven-Turning Seal trapped the fleet in a Death Gate.
• Adam ordered the fleet to evade and fire its Holy Tower Main Cannons, and Wilde shielded it by swallowing the fleet into his body.
• The True Spirit Mages destroyed the spear and Zhou Tian Star Array, then declared that Daoyuan would die at their hands after Tai Chu gave them an explanation.
• Daoyuan turned the Heaven-Turning Seal and formations against the Five Heavenly Venerables, then summoned six Level Nine Creatures to attack them.
• Daoyuan devoured the Six Teachings’ immortals and suppressed the Original Heavenly Demon consciousness, gaining full control of the True Demon.
• Daoyuan looked toward Tai Chu in the Tai Chu Immortal Palace and raised his hand as Demonic Qi gathered into countless spheres.

Daoyuan absorbed the six Level Nine Creatures and severed his Three Corpses to open the gateway to ascension. He endured the Heavenly Tribulation’s attacks and, after three hours, entered the gateway.

• Adam told Wendy that Daoyuan was not yet ready to fight Tai Chu, while Aisha identified the six Level Nine Creatures as Third Epoch Remnants.
• Daoyuan turned the dark spheres on the six Level Nine Creatures, shackled them, and absorbed them as Energy Quanta, reaching the threshold of Level Ten.
• Daoyuan severed Peng Zhi, Peng Ju, and the third duplicate; Peng Zhi struck the gateway and vanished, while Peng Ju widened it by wrapping around it.
• The gateway unleashed attacks that battered Daoyuan’s True Demon Body and purified it for an hour.
• Daoyuan addressed Tai Chu Heavenly Venerable, who appeared with Celestial Venerable Wanxiang, then charged into the gateway through the renewed Heavenly Tribulation.
• After three hours of enduring attacks of pure concepts, Daoyuan entered the gateway.

Daoyuan emerged from the gateway as a Level Ten lifeform, but his failed ascension drove him to attack Tai Chu and the mages. As Prometheus and Tai Chu clashed, Tai Chu restrained Daoyuan and revealed that he and the True Demon had never been separate.

• After three days of waiting, the gateway burst open and expelled Daoyuan, whose power had reached Level Ten.
• Daoyuan demanded to know why he had not ascended, and Tai Chu told him that his path and ascension had been self-deception.
• Daoyuan attacked Tai Chu and urged the mages to merge with him, but Laura protected the fleet while the True Spirit Mages, Randolph, Neham, and Prometheus fought back.
• Prometheus tore Daoyuan's Primordial Spirit apart, but Daoyuan reassembled; Tai Chu intervened and exchanged a devastating strike with Prometheus.
• Daoyuan entered the True Demon Body to escape, but Tai Chu restrained him and revealed that the True Demon and he had never been separate.

Tai Chu explained that Daoyuan had been created from the part of himself he severed, but Prometheus refused to release Daoyuan and took him away for experiments. Tai Chu offered Wanxiang and Heavenly Dao to secure the surviving immortals’ safety, then began his own ascension before the True Spirit Mages.

• Tai Chu revealed that Daoyuan was formed from the energy and Primordial Spirit he had cut away, and Daoyuan’s despair worsened as he understood his role in Tai Chu’s plans.
• Prometheus refused to let Daoyuan go, and the True Spirit Mages bound and crippled him before Laura took him away for experiments.
• Tai Chu offered Wanxiang and Heavenly Dao to the mages, and Prometheus guaranteed that Wanxiang and the remaining immortals would remain alive and unharmed.
• Tai Chu began his ascension, filling his domain with avatars and cycling through the civilizations and epochs in his memories.
• Tai Chu’s vision reached the rise of immensely powerful Hypervoid Lives, whose strength accelerated the epoch’s destruction until the Annihilation Tribulation descended.

Tai Chu gathered the Disaster Zone’s Demonic Qi and ascended beyond the conceptual heavens, leaving the mages unsure whether he had succeeded. Wanxiang mourned her creator, then agreed to return to the Mage World with the surviving immortals and continue his search for The Escaped One.

• Tai Chu recited the Dao and absorbed the Disaster Zone’s Demonic Qi, restoring his former strength before tearing open the conceptual heavens and vanishing into them.
• Energy Rain fell through the void, strengthened Wanxiang, and spread across the Disaster Zone, where planes appeared and life returned.
• Wanxiang grieved for Tai Chu, whom she regarded as her father, while Adam told Wendy he believed the ascension had failed.
• Wanxiang explained that Tai Chu had sought change as his life waned, and that Daoyuan had depleted the Immortal Realm’s reserves while pursuing the wrong path.
• Wanxiang agreed to return to the Mage World with the surviving immortals and hoped to spread the Dao and continue Tai Chu’s search for The Escaped One.

The Immortal Army dwindled after the mages retaliated against Daoyuan’s forces, while Wanxiang secured the return of surviving ordinary cultivators. Back in Shanti, Adam managed the growing campaign and the influx of Free Mages until the war neared its end, then departed for the Mage World with Neham.

• The mages covertly destroyed much of the Immortal Army, and Wanxiang asked them to return any surviving ordinary cultivators.
• The fleet reached Shanti after twenty years, and the General Command established the former Emissary Zone as a trading and exchange platform for the region’s races.
• Neham took command of the Disaster Zone and appointed Adam to oversee the General Command’s affairs.
• Adam organized recruitment as Free Mages left their faction to join the Holy Towers, with many Hyperdimensional Mages seeking places under Neham’s command.
• After eighty years, mages controlled seventy percent of the Disaster Zone, and Adam recalled his legion and left with Neham for the Mage World.

After returning from the three-century war against the Disaster Zone, Adam discussed how to use the Heavenly Dao with Croft and proposed combining it with Magic-Guide Constructs. The story left Adam’s plan poised to give ordinary mortals access to supernatural power.

• Adam and Neham returned to Mage World after nearly three hundred years of war, and Neham underwent his formal return ceremony as a newly advanced True Spirit Mage.
• After calculating his Battle Merit, Adam received a summons from Croft to discuss the Heavenly Dao.
• Croft explained that the Heavenly Dao was too complete to merge safely with Mage World's origin and suggested placing it in Adam's Virtual World.
• Adam agreed that the Heavenly Dao could upgrade the Third Epoch instance, but warned that it might turn the instance into a real world with conceptual lifeforms.
• Adam proposed using the Heavenly Dao as the core of Magic-Guide Constructs modified with immortal artifact-forging methods, allowing ordinary people to wield powerful magical items.

Adam sought the Mage Council’s backing for his lucrative Magic-Guide Construct business, and learned that the Council had approved Wanxiang’s First Immortal Mystery Tower. The Council agreed to support both projects, leaving Adam’s business protected and the Immortal Dao poised to develop within the Mage World.

• Croft summoned Wanxiang to Origin Space, where Wanxiang explained that she had voluntarily joined the Mage World and contributed the Immortal Dao system.
• Croft revealed that the Mage Council had approved Wanxiang’s application to establish the First Immortal Mystery Tower.
• Wanxiang offered to help Adam reach Level Nine if he joined her tower, but Adam refused and she agreed to collaborate on his business plan.
• Wanxiang requested half the business’s profits to fund an alien tower and recruit Immortals, and Croft confirmed that the Heavenly Dao belonged to her.
• Croft told Adam that the Council would acquire his Magic-Guide Construct industry on the surface, providing support for the business.

Adam settled plans for the Eighth Holy Tower and declined a role managing Council affairs so he could focus on research. Wanxiang then proposed that the remaining immortals upload themselves into the Virtual World, hoping the Heavenly Dao could help them overcome their Spiritual Qi crisis.

• Croft told Adam that the Council would acquire the Magic-Guide Construct industry publicly while leaving its true ownership and the Council's share of profits to Adam and Neham.
• Croft explained that War Beast Knights developed an Anti-Magic Physique and that the Council was studying later generations before deciding whether the system could be promoted.
• Adam chose a distant site for the Outer World's Eighth Holy Tower and declined Croft's offer to take on Council affairs.
• Wanxiang told Adam that the immortals were running out of Spirit Stones because they could not convert aether into Spiritual Qi.
• Wanxiang asked to establish the First Immortal Mystery Tower in the Virtual World, where she and the other immortals would upload their souls and bodies as Original Inhabitants.
• Adam warned that the Virtual World could not provide the energy the immortals needed, but Wanxiang said she would rely on the Heavenly Dao to change Spiritual Qi's nature.

Adam and Wanxiang transported the Heavenly Dao to the Personal Chip Research Institute, where Aisha, Wendy, and the Night Watchmen sealed it inside the Origin Server facility. Five days later, Adam relayed Wanxiang’s request for the Third Holy Tower to help the immortals upload their souls.

• Adam warned Wanxiang that the Virtual World’s faster time flow would make the immortals’ souls approach death more quickly, and she accepted the risk.
• Adam and Wanxiang brought the Heaven-Turning Seal to the Personal Chip Research Institute, where mages secured the surrounding area for the Heavenly Dao’s arrival.
• Adam, Wanxiang, and the World Guardians transported the Heavenly Dao into the institute while the Heaven-Turning Seal and a Magic Array kept it dormant.
• Aisha, Wendy, and the Night Watchmen added ten layers of seals around the Heavenly Dao inside the facility.
• Five days later, Wendy warned Adam that the Free Faction needed income and that he should beware of profit traps, then quoted Laura’s reassurance about his safety.
• Adam told Aisha that Wanxiang had requested the Third Holy Tower freeze the immortals’ bodily energy and help them semi-permanently upload their souls.

Wanxiang saw the Mage World's energetic research culture and efficient mass production, then learned that Adam intended to build a standardized Magic-Guide Construct industry using Immortal techniques. She worried the mages would no longer need her, but Adam offered a Source Contract to guarantee their agreement as the industry began.

• Wanxiang observed the mages' active research and compared their vitality with the declining Immortal Civilization.
• Adam left the institute with Wanxiang after giving researchers information about the Heavenly Dao and its creation.
• At a factory, Wanxiang modified a Magic-Guide Construct with Immortal Path flames, and it enabled a powerless clone to produce a Second Rank Mage's attack.
• Adam demonstrated an assembly line that produced a thousand identical Magic-Guide Constructs in an hour, and Wanxiang recognized that mass production could make her expertise dispensable.
• Adam offered Wanxiang a Source Contract between the First Immortal Mystery Tower and the Mage World, explaining that the Mage World's origin enforced such contracts.

Adam returned to the Atomic Energy Research Institute to begin new research after arranging for Alchemist Mages to help Wanxiang. Yurius revealed that he had found his True Spirit Path in the Strong Nuclear Force, but the institute lacked the equipment to observe the particles and medium involved.

• Adam and Wanxiang signed a contract in triplicate, and Adam asked Neham to hire Alchemist Mages from the Seventh Holy Tower to help her.
• Adam left a clone to coordinate the mages at the Magic-Guide Construct factory and returned to the Atomic Energy Research Institute.
• Yurius told Adam that his research into atomic nuclei had led him to discover traces of the Strong Nuclear Force and identify it as his True Spirit Path.
• Adam entered the heavily guarded institute and was welcomed by its researchers before speaking privately with Yurius.
• Yurius explained that the institute could not observe particles smaller than Protons and Neutrons or determine what medium transmitted the Strong Nuclear Force.

Adam proposed three possible ways to improve the Atomic Energy Research Institute’s particle accelerator, including colliding two worlds. Prometheus judged the World Collision Experiment most feasible, but its immense resource demands and the difficulty of measuring the results remained unresolved.

• Yurius told Adam that the Institute’s advanced collider still could not split protons and neutrons, despite its powerful Magic Arrays and costly materials.
• Adam examined the collider and proposed using Dark Realm Matter, combining Immortal Civilization refining techniques with Mage World technology, or making two worlds collide.
• Adam met with Croft and Prometheus, who agreed that Wanxiang could not yet be trusted with the project and that Neham could not currently process Dark Realm Matter.
• Prometheus identified world collision as the most feasible approach, while Adam considered how to observe the reactions and supply the enormous energy needed to accelerate two worlds.

Adam and Yurius planned to cut the World Collision Experiment’s enormous costs by developing simulations in the Virtual World. Adam then visited Neham at the planned Eighth Holy Tower site, where Neham explained that he intended to seek the Void Dragon Clan’s help with establishing a Dark Realm Holy Tower.

• Prometheus agreed in principle to support the World Collision Experiment but required a budget proposal and limited the Council’s funding to three attempts.
• Adam and Yurius decided to use Virtual World simulations to uncover problems and reduce the risk of costly failures in the real experiment.
• Adam’s institute borrowed twenty Blank Origins and partnered with the Personal Chip Research Institute to build a detailed simulation of two worlds colliding.
• Adam visited the planned Eighth Holy Tower site, where Neham said he could not yet help with Dark Realm Matter because he lacked accumulated methods.
• Neham told Adam he planned to go to the Void Dragons’ homeland and subdue them, since their affinity for both the Dark Realm and the void could help establish the Mage World’s Dark Realm.

Over three centuries, the Academy Continent’s expanding education system left ordinary graduates, unsuccessful mage apprentices, and resurgent nobles competing for power while mages remained indifferent. As the First All-Out Mortal War neared, Colin was maneuvered into planning an assassination of Nicholas V, who was traveling to meet Spencer VII and display his forces.

• The academy system increased the number and quality of apprentices, while ordinary graduates, unable-to-advance apprentices, and Old Nobles developed competing claims to rule the Academy Continent.
• The three groups’ petitions to Academy City went unanswered, tensions escalated into bloody clashes, and mages continued to ignore mortal affairs.
• Nicholas V, a former Golden Palm Intermediate Academy dropout and secret restorer of the Nicholas Kingdom, set out with his family and forces to meet Spencer VII in Dove City.
• Nicholas V’s party traveled slowly and conspicuously to test the mages’ attitude and display its military strength.
• A mysterious person supplied Colin, an ordinary graduate, with powerful Magic-Guide Items and an assassination plan, and Colin decided to attack Nicholas V.