Chapter Summaries

Aunt Hong explained that the Demon Corpse and Monster Corpse had aided Meng Zhao to secure their own chance to escape the Heavenly Corpse Faction, while she wanted him to inherit the powerful figure’s Imperial Masterpiece. In the desert, the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord sought to investigate the deadly Time Sand, and Zhu Shisan suspected it concealed a supreme treasure tied to time.

• Aunt Hong told Meng Zhao that the Demon Corpse and Monster Corpse hoped to use his inheritance to gain freedom from the Heavenly Corpse, while she wanted the Imperial Masterpiece’s legacy to endure.
• Meng Zhao promised Aunt Hong that he would devote himself to inheriting the Imperial Masterpiece.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord and Zhu Shisan reached the Time Sand after gaining treasures in Black Mountain, including a Mechanical Martial Saint for Zhu Shisan.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord asked Zhu Shisan to lend him the Mechanical Martial Saint to test the Time Sand, but Zhu Shisan resisted and urged them to find the others instead.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord pointed out that the Time Sand was unique in the desert, leading Zhu Shisan to suspect that a supreme temporal treasure lay beneath it.

The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord persuaded Zhu Shisan to lend him the Mechanical Martial Saint so they could provoke the Time Blade and seek the Great Dao of Time. Zhu Shisan agreed after securing a promise of three Dao Mark Stones, while the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord wondered what Meng Zhao was doing in the Ancient Battlefield space.

• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord revealed that a Time Blade lay beneath the Time Sand and explained that its power of time had nearly killed him before.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord proposed using the Mechanical Martial Saint to stir the Time Sand, draw out the Time Blade, and let them seek an opportunity to comprehend the Dao of Time.
• Zhu Shisan doubted the plan and feared the dangers of the Time Sand as well as the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord's motives.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord promised to bear the risks himself and give Zhu Shisan at least three Dao Mark Stones containing laws of time.
• Zhu Shisan agreed to lend the Mechanical Martial Saint but warned that any deception would end their alliance.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord tested the Time Sand and thought about what opportunities Meng Zhao might encounter in the Ancient Battlefield space.

The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord awakened a Mechanical Martial Saint and used it to stir the Time Sand with the Vast Desolation Divine Fist, hoping to draw out the Time Blade. He explained the fist’s Space-Time Great Dao and its dangers, while Zhu Shisan watched and assessed his ally’s strength.

• Zhu Shisan gave the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord the Mechanical Martial Saint, and the Lord awakened it with his essence blood.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord tested the Mechanical Martial Saint’s abilities and sent it above the Time Sand to endure the flow of time.
• The Mechanical Martial Saint performed a fist technique that stirred the Time Sand, and Zhu Shisan recognized that it carried the Dao of Time.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord identified the technique as the first path of the Vast Desolation Divine Fist and explained that its three paths carried time, space, and Space-Time.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord revealed that the Vast Desolation Divine Fist came from an ancient god’s Dao Fruit, was perilous to cultivate, and had never allowed anyone to transcend.

The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord and Zhu Shisan drew out the Time Blade and entered the temporal currents around it to comprehend the Great Dao of Time. As Zhu Shisan advanced in his understanding, the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord secretly tried to leave a demonic imprint on the blade for a chance to subdue it in the future.

• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord used the Vast Desolation Divine Fist to stir the Great Dao of Time in the Time Sand, while he reassured the fearful Zhu Shisan that the Time Blade would calm the resulting storm.
• The Time Blade emerged, and the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord stopped Zhu Shisan from looking directly at it; Zhu Shisan briefly considered seizing its Dao Fruit but recognized that the blade was beyond his reach.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord led Zhu Shisan to a position near the Time Blade, where its Dao rhyme and the Mechanical Martial Saint’s formed a balanced temporal environment that let them comprehend time.
• Zhu Shisan immersed himself in the Great Dao of Time and began connecting it to the Emperor Demon Dao, while the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord gathered nearby Dao Mark Stones.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord used twelve drops of essence blood to form the All-Heavens Secret Demons, Shadow-Following Formation around the Time Blade, then began comprehending the Dao of Time as Zhu Shisan’s cultivation and combat strength rapidly advanced.

The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord and Zhu Shisan advanced their understanding of the Dao of Time near the Time Blade, but their temporary alliance ended when the Palace Lord attacked. Zhu Shisan was trapped in a space-time killing array and prepared to use the Mechanical Martial Saint to open a path to survival.

• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord gathered Time Mark Stones and set up the Myriad Heavens Secret Demon Shadow Array, while Zhu Shisan focused on comprehending the Dao of Time and formed an incomplete Emperor Wheel Seal.
• The Time Blade hummed and disrupted their meditation, leaving the Mechanical Martial Saint cracked and nearly destroyed.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord attacked Zhu Shisan with Demonic Realm in Palm, but Zhu Shisan defended himself with the Pillar of Heaven and Demon Spine.
• Zhu Shisan resolved to kill the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord, while the Palace Lord revealed the Mechanical Martial Saint had secretly practiced the second form of the Vast Desolation Divine Fist and used its spatial gates to trap him.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord escaped beyond the Time Sand as space-time turbulence surrounded Zhu Shisan, who planned to use his hidden imprint on the Mechanical Martial Saint to create a Space-Time Channel.

Zhu Shisan entered a spatial gate as the Time Sand Array folded space-time around him, sending him away from the Divine Continent. The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord claimed the Time Blade and then discussed winning over the Holy Infant Child, who challenged him to show what he could offer.

• Zhu Shisan used his command of time to reshape the chaotic Time Sand region, where spatial gates revealed scenes from different eras and planes.
• Zhu Shisan leapt into a spatial gate, and a blinding aurora appeared before he and the Mechanical Martial Saint vanished.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord concluded that Zhu Shisan had been removed from the present age, securing his Heavenly Demon Palace against the Demon Master’s claim to its origin.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord explained that he had tainted the Time Blade and believed that mastering it required cultivating into one of the Gods and Devils.
• The Holy Infant Child arrived and said he envied Zhu Shisan’s chance to explore the unknown, then predicted that the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord would try to win him over.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord invited the Holy Infant Child to join him, and the child agreed only if he offered something dazzling enough.

The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord paid Holy Infant Child twelve Dao Mark Stones in exchange for his oath to keep the scheme against Zhu Shisan secret. He invited Holy Infant Child to help obtain Yellow Springs Water from a Corpse Demon stronghold, but Holy Infant Child refused to serve as bait because he did not trust him.

• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord gave Holy Infant Child twelve Dao Mark Stones, and Holy Infant Child swore not to reveal what had happened to Zhu Shisan.
• Holy Infant Child asked where the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord planned to go next and considered whether he might use him to travel to another era or world.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord invited Holy Infant Child to seek Yellow Springs Water, explaining that it could refine a Celestial's Primordial Spirit and aid their path toward the Divine Demon Realm.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord admitted that two Gods and Devils-level Corpse Demons guarded the area and proposed using Holy Infant Child to distract them while he stole the water.
• Holy Infant Child rejected the plan, saying he would not become the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord's scapegoat.

The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord persuaded the Holy Infant Child to join him in seeking Meng Zhao and Monk Huikong at the corpse demon ancient city, where they hoped to obtain the Yellow Springs Water and other treasures. Meanwhile, Meng Zhao and his companions sheltered from the yin rain in the city as Aunt Hong explained how it strengthened the corpse demons.

• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord explained his plan to share the Yellow Springs Water with the Holy Infant Child and proposed joining forces with Meng Zhao and Monk Huikong.
• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord used Star Tribulation to track the scattered auras of Meng Zhao and Monk Huikong, revealing that both were alive and heading toward the corpse demon ancient city.
• The Holy Infant Child agreed to travel with the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord toward the corpse demon ancient city, while remaining wary of his motives.
• Meng Zhao and his companions watched corpse demons absorb yin rain and corpse Killing Intent beneath the ancient tree.
• Aunt Hong explained that the annual yin rain helped low-level corpse demons grow stronger, while Jiang Zixuan and Hua Xin became more convinced of Meng Zhao's extraordinary fortune.

Meng Zhao learned that God-and-Devil-level Corpse Demons required the remains of Gods and Devils, and Aunt Hong revealed that the Heavenly Corpse had once been the famed archer General Ti Di. After the Profound Origin Water Controlling Banner absorbed Yin Sha water, Aunt Hong explained how Weak Water Essence had enabled its potential, and Meng Zhao began planning how to strengthen it.

• Meng Zhao questioned Aunt Hong about the requirements for God-and-Devil-level Corpse Demons and learned that their former bodies and retained memories were crucial.
• Aunt Hong said the Heavenly Corpse had likely been General Ti Di, an Ancient Times battlefield general whose Ti Di Palace and Falling Star Arrow had been destroyed by the inheritor of an Imperial Masterpiece.
• Meng Zhao sent the Profound Origin Water Controlling Banner to absorb the rain of Yin Sha, and Aunt Hong praised its potential to advance through nourishing waters and Dao resonance.
• Aunt Hong suggested Yellow Springs Water could strengthen the banner, and Meng Zhao asked whether Mystic Shark the Corpse Demon might trade some for his Weak Water Essence.
• Aunt Hong recognized Weak Water Essence as the foundation that had made the banner a Heavenly Divine Weapon, prompting Meng Zhao to plan to nourish it with other potent waters.
• Aunt Hong swallowed the Weak Water Essence Meng Zhao had given her, startling Meng Zhao, Jiang Zixuan, and Hua Xin.

Meng Zhao learned how Weak Water Essence could benefit Aunt Hong and considered using his abundant supply to build influence among the corpse demons. The group reached the Ascending Heaven Tower, where Aunt Hong explained that its trials and treasures had already been claimed, but Meng Zhao remained determined to pursue the Imperial Masterpiece within.

• Aunt Hong swallowed Weak Water Essence, recovered from her injuries, and grew more powerful and radiant.
• Meng Zhao revealed that he could replenish his Weak Water Essence through the Profound Origin Water Controlling Banner, and Aunt Hong explained its value to corpse demons and the risks of trading without first suppressing the Heavenly Corpse.
• Aunt Hong led Meng Zhao and the others to a snowy region bordering the Heavenly Corpse Ancient City, where corpse demons struggled to move and the Ascending Heaven Tower stood.
• Aunt Hong explained that the tower had once held twenty-four treasure vaults and trials, but a powerful expert had emptied them, attained the Dao, and created the Imperial Masterpiece.
• Meng Zhao judged that the inheritance mattered more than the tower's lost treasures and decided to obtain it despite suspecting it might conceal a body-possession scheme.

Aunt Hong explained the Ascending Heaven Tower’s inheritance and its unknown trials, while Meng Zhao speculated that it contained part of a martial expert’s Dao Fruit power. Meng Zhao entered the tower, leaving Aunt Hong, Jiang Zixuan, and Hua Xin outside to wait anxiously for his outcome.

• Meng Zhao demonstrated how he had grasped the Dao of illusion and reality, and Aunt Hong warned that the tower’s real trials would be far more dangerous than the Mystic Shark the Corpse Demon’s test.
• Aunt Hong explained that the inheritance comprised the Imperial Masterpiece, power within her body, and an aura inside the Heavenly Corpse, and she mentioned another opportunity hidden in the tower.
• Meng Zhao suspected the inheritance’s power and aura were parts of a martial expert’s Dao Fruit, and that Aunt Hong might be unable to leave because of it.
• After traveling through the snow, Meng Zhao reached the Ascending Heaven Tower and entered its first level, while Jiang Zixuan and Hua Xin remained outside with Aunt Hong.
• Jiang Zixuan expressed confidence in Meng Zhao, but Aunt Hong revealed that another promising young talent had died in the tower and worried that Meng Zhao might fail.

Meng Zhao was drawn into the Ascending Heaven Tower and found himself in the frail body of Li Zheng, an impoverished orphan in Tian Yuan Kingdom. After deciding to treat the experience as a second transmigration, he tried to cultivate with a martial art from his former life but discovered that this world would not let him draw in star qi.

• Meng Zhao awoke in a wretched hut, realized his former powers and most of his treasures were gone, and concluded he was inhabiting someone else's body.
• Li Zheng’s memories revealed that he was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old orphan in Little Cold Village, threatened by hunger, the village bully Wen San, and villagers considering expelling him.
• Meng Zhao considered whether his surroundings were a trial or illusion, then decided to treat them as real and hoped he could eventually awaken the Heaven-Illuminating Divine Mirror.
• Meng Zhao chose the Circulating Star God Breathing Technique to rebuild his strength, since his old Myriad Heavens Imperial Dragon Ziwei Emperor Scripture did not suit Li Zheng’s body.
• Meng Zhao failed to draw in any star qi, coughed up blood, and realized that Tian Yuan Kingdom’s laws might prevent him from cultivating inner force or using the Heaven-Illuminating Divine Mirror.

Meng Zhao recovered enough to eat and learned that Wen San had killed two people in a robbery, making him a more dangerous threat to Li Zheng. When Wen San’s lackeys came to summon him and harass Cui Ying, Meng Zhao defied them, leaving them stunned.

• Meng Zhao set a goal to heal his body, gather followers in Little Cold Village, and earn his first fortune despite being unable to cultivate martial arts.
• Cui Ying brought Meng Zhao a flatbread and told him that her family had received goods from a robbery in which Wen San killed two people.
• Cui Ying warned Meng Zhao that Wen San had grown bolder and might target him, but Meng Zhao decided he was not afraid.
• Two of Wen San’s companions, Ma Feng and another hooligan, entered Li Zheng’s hut and taunted Cui Ying.
• Meng Zhao told the men to have Wen San come himself and accused him of being jealous, shocking everyone in the hut.

Meng Zhao defeated Ma Feng and Yang Xiaoshu after they confronted him, then let them leave with only the money they had surrendered. He sent Cui Ying to buy medicine and provisions while he rested and recovered, leaving his next move against Wen San for later.

• Meng Zhao insulted Ma Feng and Yang Xiaoshu, then evaded Yang Xiaoshu's kick and knocked him down with a few deft moves.
• Meng Zhao pinned Yang Xiaoshu, dislocated his jaw, and demanded that he and Ma Feng hand over their valuables before leaving.
• Ma Feng and Yang Xiaoshu gave up twenty-eight copper coins and a piece of silver, then limped away.
• Meng Zhao explained his sudden skill by claiming he had met an expert, and Cui Ying helped him sit down after noticing his leg was cramping.
• Cui Ying took one copper coin to explain the flatbread to her father, then left to buy medicine and dry provisions for Meng Zhao.

Ma Feng and Yang Xiaoshu reported to Wen San that Meng Zhao had beaten them, and Wen San tried to determine how Li Zheng had suddenly gained such skill. Suspecting Widow Zhou might be involved, he ordered his men to capture A Que and use him to lure Li Zheng into his hands.

• Ma Feng and Yang Xiaoshu waited for Wen San to finish with Liu Xiaomei, then told him that Li Zheng had beaten them and taken their money.
• Wen San doubted their account but reconsidered after hearing how effortlessly Li Zheng had defeated them.
• Wen San speculated that Li Zheng might have learned his techniques from Widow Zhou, whose mysterious abilities and hidden backing made her feared in the village.
• Ma Liu urged Wen San to cripple or kill Li Zheng, while Yang Xiaoshu urged him to act before Li Zheng recovered.
• Wen San decided to have his men capture A Que and force Li Zheng to come meet him.

Wen San abandoned his plan to abduct Cui Ying after Ma Liu and Yang Xiaoshu warned that it would turn Little Cold Village against them, and he sent them to retrieve weapons instead. Meanwhile, Meng Zhao recovered his health and met Widow Zhou when she visited his hut to ask about his injuries.

• Wen San told Ma Liu and Yang Xiaoshu that he intended to assault and kill Cui Ying, then frame Li Zheng for her death, but they refused to risk the village's anger.
• Wen San conceded that the villagers would not believe the frame-up and sent the group to retrieve weapons from the back mountain so they could deal with Li Zheng.
• Cui Ying delivered herbs and dried rations to Meng Zhao, who used medicinal soup, food, and a breathing method to restore his health.
• After night fell, Meng Zhao considered killing Wen San, but someone knocked at his hut; he let the visitor in and recognized Widow Zhou.
• Widow Zhou told Meng Zhao that she had heard Wen San injured him and had come to check whether his injuries were serious.

Widow Zhou warned Meng Zhao that Wen San’s killings had made him more dangerous, then offered to teach him martial arts if he joined her. After Meng Zhao guessed she belonged to either the authorities or the underworld, she revealed a deadly weapon and asked him to decide whether to become one of her people.

• Widow Zhou told Meng Zhao that Wen San had killed two travelers and warned that his growing boldness put Meng Zhao at risk.
• Meng Zhao claimed he planned to leave Little Cold Village, prompting Widow Zhou to offer him a way to survive and prosper.
• Widow Zhou demonstrated the Twelve Paths of Grappling Hand and offered to teach Meng Zhao if he agreed to work for her.
• Meng Zhao questioned Widow Zhou’s identity and guessed she was connected to either the authorities or the underworld.
• Widow Zhou revealed the Life-Stealing Thorn and its lethal technique, then asked Meng Zhao whether he would join her.

Widow Zhou revealed her identities as a Six Gates secret agent and a member of Star Palace, then offered to take Meng Zhao under her control and teach him about Martial Dao. Meng Zhao learned how secret medicines and innate talent shaped cultivation, leaving him interested in how this world’s system compared with the Divine Continent.

• Widow Zhou told Meng Zhao that refusing her offer would mean death, then revealed her dual identities in the Six Gates and Star Palace.
• Widow Zhou explained that Meng Zhao would be her subordinate, while promising to recommend him to either organization if he performed well.
• Meng Zhao agreed to follow Widow Zhou and concealed his true thoughts about her motives.
• Widow Zhou taught Meng Zhao the basics of Martial Dao, including the roles of internal and external arts, secret medicines, and innate talent.
• Meng Zhao learned that different secret medicines produced different effects and that Li Zheng’s exceptional physique made him valuable to cultivate.

Meng Zhao learned how the Tian Yuan Kingdom’s Martial Dao stages differed from the Divine Continent’s and planned to rebuild his cultivation by strengthening his depleted body and studying local martial arts. Zhou Zhihan set Wen San as his test, taught Meng Zhao two combat arts, and was impressed by how quickly he mastered them.

• Meng Zhao learned that Tian Yuan Kingdom’s four Martial Dao stages measured a person’s development rather than their strength compared with others, and he planned to study the kingdom’s methods and secret medicines.
• Zhou Zhihan refused to give Meng Zhao manuals and medicine formulas, warned him to restore his depleted body, and promised him a first-rate foundational martial art suited to his aptitude.
• Zhou Zhihan declared that martial arts existed for killing and set Wen San as Meng Zhao’s test, requiring him to deal with the man to prove himself.
• Meng Zhao agreed to face Wen San and asked Zhou Zhihan for aged herbs on credit; she gave him two mountain ginseng roots and taught him the Twelve Grappling Hands and Life-Stealing Thorn.
• Meng Zhao mastered the techniques exceptionally quickly, delighting Zhou Zhihan; after she left, he rigged a small contrivance by the hut’s door and went to sleep.

Meng Zhao, inhabiting Li Zheng, persuaded San Gouzi to abandon stealing Crippled Li’s hens and instead kill him, rob his home, and frame Wen San. The two headed toward Crippled Li’s house with a plan to make the village blame Wen San, though the chapter ended before they carried it out.

• San Gouzi came to Li Zheng’s hut and proposed stealing Crippled Li’s hens and planting the evidence at Wen San’s home.
• Meng Zhao agreed to go with San Gouzi and learned how Wen San and Crippled Li had fallen out over the spoils from a robbery.
• Meng Zhao proposed killing Crippled Li, taking his wealth, and framing Wen San to weaken his standing in the village.
• San Gouzi hesitated because he had never killed anyone, but Meng Zhao stirred his resolve and outlined ways to make the murder appear to be Wen San’s work.