Chapter Summaries

The chapter explained how disagreements over the purest essence and the path to immortality turned into conflict among the Three Realms, ending in the God Race’s victory and enslavement of the Human Race and Devil Race. Zhuge Cheng sensed that Jiang Liu’s unusual cultivation method contained Nether Realm energy without darkening him, leaving Zhuge Cheng increasingly curious about Jiang Liu.

• The Human Realm and God Realm Qi Refiners came to believe their own cultivation methods alone could lead to immortality, while Nether Realm Qi Refiners trusted ancestral bloodlines and began consuming their own kind.
• The Nether Realm’s essence darkened into Dark Primal Qi, and the Human Race and God Race began calling its cultivators the Devil Race.
• The Three Realms’ dispute over the orthodox path of Qi refinement escalated into invasion and war, with the stronger God Race eventually enslaving the Human Race and Devil Race.
• Zhuge Cheng sensed exceptionally pure essence in Jiang Liu’s cultivation method and detected a faint Nether Realm aura within it.
• Zhuge Cheng saw that Jiang Liu had not been darkened and grew more curious about his strange destiny and cultivation method.

After Jiang Liu confirmed the Nether Realm aura was gone, he saw that the Human Realm’s Heaven and Earth Essence had become much purer, allowing martial artists across the realm to advance. The revival also heightened concerns about stronger beasts, while Elder Han Bai wondered whether Jiang Liu could find cultivation techniques for the Frost Race; Zhuge Cheng flew to meet Jiang Liu as he left the ruins.

• Jiang Liu sensed the greatly improved Heaven and Earth Essence and concluded that the Human Realm had truly begun to revive.
• Human Realm martial artists celebrated faster cultivation, while Nangong Yun and the Hall of Governmental Affairs worried that beasts would grow stronger and threaten Human Race cities.
• The Star Cloud Saint Sect gained strength as its martial artists broke through, while Elder Han Bai lamented that the Frost Race lacked suitable cultivation techniques.
• Elder Han Bai wondered whether Jiang Liu had found techniques for the Frost Race and thought of Han Yi and Han Yue as his aura neared a Third-Order Saint Realm breakthrough.
• After confirming that no Nether Realm aura remained, Jiang Liu left the ruins, and Zhuge Cheng hurried over to meet him.

Jiang Liu discussed joining Heaven's Mandate Pavilion with Zhuge Cheng and considered using the organization to advance his own plans. They agreed that Jiang Liu would travel to the Shadowed Starstone, where Zhuge Cheng would announce his entry and he could meet the other members.

• Jiang Liu confronted Zhuge Cheng, now confident he was no longer threatened by him.
• Jiang Liu asked whether joining Heaven's Mandate Pavilion came with restrictions, while considering how he might take control of it.
• Zhuge Cheng said Jiang Liu only had to avoid harming Heaven's Mandate Pavilion and explained its strength and Star Source Stone holdings.
• Jiang Liu and Zhuge Cheng avoided discussing the light-and-shadow joining mark and agreed to arrange a visit to the Shadowed Starstone.
• Zhuge Cheng planned to announce Jiang Liu's entry there, and Jiang Liu would meet the pavilion's members.

Zhuge Cheng asked Jiang Liu to help take a treasure from Huangfu Hao, explaining that Jiang Liu’s Time-Space Rules could control it. Jiang Liu hesitated because confronting Heaven's Mandate Pavilion’s Pavilion Master would disrupt his plan to gain control of the organization gradually.

• Zhuge Cheng asked Jiang Liu for a favor after Jiang Liu joined Heaven's Mandate Pavilion, and Jiang Liu agreed to hear him out.
• Zhuge Cheng explained that Huangfu Hao held a treasure he and Zhuge Cheng had brought from the Human Realm, which could help Supreme Gods evade the Three Rule Lords and enter the void.
• Zhuge Cheng revealed that controlling the treasure required dual-cultivation Power of Rule and said Jiang Liu’s Time-Space Rules made him suited to take it.
• Zhuge Cheng planned to retrieve the treasure from Huangfu Hao without informing him, believing it was time for Huangfu Hao to give it up.
• Jiang Liu hesitated because taking the treasure would bring him into direct conflict with Huangfu Hao and threaten his gradual plan to control Heaven's Mandate Pavilion.

Jiang Liu agreed to help Zhuge Cheng contend with Huangfu Hao and received materials and a jade token from him. He learned how to control the Yin-Yang Fish Array and discovered the treasure was called the Heaven's Mandate Mirror.

• Jiang Liu agreed to Zhuge Cheng's request, deciding to stay hidden while Zhuge Cheng confronted Huangfu Hao over the Heaven's Mandate Pavilion.
• Jiang Liu and Zhuge Cheng pledged their agreement, and Zhuge Cheng flew toward the deep sea after giving Jiang Liu a Space Pouch.
• Jiang Liu studied Zhuge Cheng's Grand Array Compendium and learned how to set up and control the Yin-Yang Fish Array.
• Jiang Liu examined the jade token and learned that it marked membership in the Heaven's Mandate Pavilion and could transmit voices, track locations, and send distress signals.
• Jiang Liu heard Zhuge Cheng's explanation of his plan through the token and learned the treasure's name was the Heaven's Mandate Mirror.

Jiang Liu headed back toward the Imperial City after the Human Realm’s revival, intending to investigate its effects and the demon god’s traces. Lin Chi reported that Qin Bailian and the Iron Blood Army were trapped by a ferocious beast riot in the Mo Province mountains, so Jiang Liu rushed there to investigate.

• Jiang Liu decided to return to the Imperial City, visit the Nether Realm, and leave the desert ruins for the Iron Blood Army to investigate once the area stabilized.
• Jiang Liu considered how the Human Realm’s revival might strengthen ferocious beasts, especially the Sand Devouring Serpents and Iron Wire Snakes in the desert.
• Lin Chi sent Jiang Liu an urgent message that Qin Bailian and the Iron Blood Army had run into trouble in the Ten Thousand Mountains.
• Jiang Liu used the Space Rule to travel rapidly to the Mo Province mountains, where dense forests and numerous Saint Beasts had trapped Qin Bailian and the army.
• Jiang Liu searched for the beast leading the riot and wondered whether Divine Beasts had appeared, which might force him to purge the Human Realm’s ferocious beasts.

Jiang Liu searched the dense forest for the exotic beasts that had trapped Qin Bailian and the Iron Blood Army, but found only eight newly advanced first-stage Saint beasts. He released an ostracized Three-Eyed Flying Tiger after discovering it knew nothing about the army, then continued deeper into the forest.

• Jiang Liu reasoned that Qin Bailian and Nangong Xing were unlikely to have been killed, and swept his Divine Sense across the forest to locate its strongest exotic beasts.
• The exotic beasts sensed Jiang Liu’s powerful Divine Sense; after some Saint beasts initially roared in protest, they concealed their auras in fear.
• Jiang Liu found eight Saint beasts, all at the first stage, and concluded they were too weak to have trapped the Iron Blood Army and Qin Bailian.
• Jiang Liu pursued a fleeing Three-Eyed Flying Tiger and captured it with a hand formed from primordial energy.
• Jiang Liu searched the Three-Eyed Flying Tiger’s memories, learned it knew nothing about the Iron Blood Army, and released it; the beast roared in gratitude before flying away.
• Jiang Liu continued toward the depths of the dense forest to find the stronger exotic beasts.

Jiang Liu discovered that a fruit deep in the mountains had caused monstrous beasts to evolve and drawn them into the area, where the Iron Blood Army had been surrounded. As he hurried toward the dense forest to rescue them, Nangong Xing and the others faced dozens of Saint Realm beasts, including a Saint Realm Fourth-Tier Fire-Winged Monkey.

• Jiang Liu searched a pool and dragged out a hidden Deep Pool Serpent that was on the verge of transforming into a flood dragon.
• Jiang Liu searched the serpent’s sea of consciousness and found traces of the Iron Blood Army, along with the reason the serpent’s bloodline had begun to change.
• Jiang Liu learned that the serpent had eaten a fruit in the mountains, attracting many beasts and contributing to the Iron Blood Army’s encirclement.
• Jiang Liu realized the monstrous beasts had multiplied and advanced so rapidly that they could threaten the Human Realm, then hurried toward the dense forest while concealing his aura.
• Nangong Xing and the others faced dozens of Saint Realm beasts and grew tense when a Saint Realm Fourth-Tier Fire-Winged Monkey appeared.

Nangong Xing and the Iron Blood Army were ambushed in the dense forest by mutated beasts led by an intelligent Fire-Winged Monkey. As the battle intensified and the monkey grew stronger, Jiang Liu appeared above the forest, unable to see or sense what was happening below.

• The Fire-Winged Monkey revealed itself as the leader of the mutated beasts that had trapped the Iron Blood Army in the forest.
• The mutated beasts attacked, and Nangong Xing led the Iron Blood Army into battle while she and four Saint Realm warriors targeted the Fire-Winged Monkey with a combined-strike formation.
• Nangong Xing and the four warriors wounded the Fire-Winged Monkey, but its wounds quickly healed and its attacks became more violent.
• Jiang Liu arrived high above the forest and sensed the battle, but neither his Divine Sense nor his vision could penetrate the dense woods.

Jiang Liu broke through a mysterious formation and found the Iron Blood Army fighting powerful exotic beasts inside. After saving Nangong Xing and killing a Fourth Tier of the Saint Realm Fire-Winged Monkey, he began investigating why the formation seemed to favor the beasts.

• Jiang Liu sensed fighting inside a formation but could not detect Qin Bailian or the combatants, so he used the Godslayer Blade to break through.
• Jiang Liu's oppressive aura halted the battle below, and a soldier pushed Nangong Xing out of the Fire-Winged Monkey's attack, dying as it tore out his heart.
• Jiang Liu killed the Fire-Winged Monkey with one slash, and the Iron Blood Army recognized him as the Saint Lord while the exotic beasts held back.
• Jiang Liu noticed dozens of Saint Realm beasts and wondered whether even stronger ones might threaten the Human Realm after he left.
• Jiang Liu examined the abandoned formation and questioned why it naturally favored exotic beasts, which could not ordinarily learn Human Race formations.

Jiang Liu studied the damaged formation while Nangong Xing led the Iron Blood Army against the exotic beasts. As he explored deeper into the forest, he sensed four powerful beast-like consciousnesses and wondered whether they were willing residents or Formation Spirits.

• Jiang Liu examined the still-operating formation after forcibly breaking it open, while the Iron Blood Army wondered why he had not addressed them.
• Nangong Xing realized Jiang Liu was giving the Iron Blood Army a chance to earn merit, so she led the soldiers back into battle.
• With the Fire-Winged Monkey dead and Jiang Liu nearby, the Iron Blood Army adapted its tactics and gained control of the fight despite suffering injuries.
• Jiang Liu used his Divine Sense to find a weak point in the formation and ventured deeper into the forest to investigate it.
• Jiang Liu sensed four powerful exotic-beast consciousnesses and considered whether they had chosen to remain in the formation or were its Formation Spirits.

Jiang Liu used the Sky Devouring Cat to draw out the four exotic-beast consciousnesses that controlled the grand formation. The cat overwhelmed the Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger, leaving Jiang Liu to intervene before it devoured their souls so he could learn how the formation worked.

• Jiang Liu summoned the Sky Devouring Cat, whose aura provoked the four exotic-beast consciousnesses within the grand formation.
• The Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger appeared, each with an aura at the Second-Order Divine Realm.
• The four Divine Beasts attacked the Sky Devouring Cat, but it recognized that their actual battle power only reached the Divine Realm and fought without fear.
• Jiang Liu realized the Sky Devouring Cat was overpowering the four beasts and decided to make it spare their souls so he could learn the formation's details.
• The White Tiger's soul neared dispersal after bearing the brunt of the Sky Devouring Cat's attacks, while the Black Tortoise stayed at a distance and attacked from afar.

Jiang Liu stopped the Sky Devouring Cat before it could destroy the Vermillion Bird's divine soul, then tried to learn about the Four Divine Beasts and their formation. The Azure Dragon and Vermillion Bird fled from his Divine Sense, but the White Tiger approached him, and Jiang Liu began communicating with it.

• Jiang Liu grabbed the Sky Devouring Cat, halting its attack on the Vermillion Bird's divine soul.
• The Four Divine Beasts stopped fighting and feared Jiang Liu after sensing his overwhelming power.
• Jiang Liu examined the beasts' divine souls and suspected they had been forcibly turned into Formation Spirits by the formation's creator.
• Jiang Liu suppressed the Four Divine Beasts and used his consciousness to try to make them reveal their origins and the formation's secrets.
• The Azure Dragon and Vermillion Bird fled from Jiang Liu's Divine Sense, while the White Tiger approached him.
• Jiang Liu began communicating with the White Tiger's divine soul.

Jiang Liu learned that the Four Symbols Illusion Formation strengthened exotic beasts and also connected the Human Realm to the Ancient Battlefield, so he set aside plans to dismantle it and flew to study its core. Meanwhile, Nangong Xing and the Iron Blood Army continued fighting the remaining Saint Realm exotic beasts.

• Under Jiang Liu's threats, the White Tiger divine soul explained the Four Symbols Illusion Formation and revealed that it was a passage linking the Human Realm to the Ancient Battlefield.
• The Black Tortoise, Vermillion Bird, and Azure Dragon divine souls trembled at the White Tiger's revelation, then calmed down and faded away without helping the exotic beasts.
• Jiang Liu decided to investigate the formation's secrets and repair it rather than risk provoking the Three Rule Lords, then headed for its core area.
• Nangong Xing and the Iron Blood Army continued battling the dwindling exotic beasts, but the remaining Saint Realm beasts and their bursts of power made the fight difficult.

Jiang Liu discovered that the Four Symbols Illusion Formation’s core had been forged from the bones and blood of Human Race warriors, and he pieced together the cruel purpose behind the formation and the War of Rules. He suspected the Three Rule Lords and Zhao Hao knew the truth, but he remained unsure what awaited inside the Ancient Battlefield.

• Jiang Liu found that the formation core was made from Human Race warriors’ bones and blood, whose intense resentment suggested they had been refined alive.
• Jiang Liu realized the White Tiger had likely revealed the formation to enlist his help in breaking it and gaining freedom from the Holy Master of the Human Realm.
• Jiang Liu connected the formation to the disappearance of Human Realm experts and the Three Rule Lords’ costly efforts to enter the Ancient Battlefield.
• Jiang Liu concluded that the formation’s bloodline power could strengthen exotic beasts, with the surrounding mutated fruit trees likely contributing to their growth.
• Jiang Liu suspected the Three Rule Lords had concealed the deaths of high-level warriors and that Zhao Hao had known the truth and had ulterior motives in giving him Human Race cultivation manuals and secret texts.

Jiang Liu began repairing the Four Symbols Illusion Formation and discovered the lingering consciousnesses of martial artists tortured and killed by the Holy Master of the Human Realm inside its core. Among them, he found one calm, hollow-eyed consciousness that left him shaken.

• Jiang Liu suspected Zhao Hao wanted to raise his strength quickly and sensed an ominous atmosphere surrounding the Three Realms.
• Jiang Liu reasoned that the Holy Master of the Human Realm likely had not noticed the damaged formation and began probing its core with his Divine Sense.
• The formation’s core sent chaotic consciousnesses into Jiang Liu’s Divine Sea, and he stopped its waters from overwhelming them.
• Jiang Liu observed that the lingering consciousnesses were weak and debated whether consuming them would prevent the formation’s repair or attract the Holy Master’s attention.
• Jiang Liu approached an unusually calm consciousness, whose hollow, emotionless eyes made his heart tremble.

Jiang Liu used God Fills the World to calm the bodies of consciousness in his Divine Sea, but one mysterious consciousness erupted with a terrifying aura that revealed how deeply the others feared it. He focused the melody on that consciousness, hoping to learn about the Human Realm’s past while avoiding exposure to the Holy Master of the Human Realm and the Three Rule Lords.

• Jiang Liu played God Fills the World, calming and eventually silencing the bodies of consciousness around him.
• The previously unresponsive consciousness released a violent aura that frightened the others and nearly broke their trance.
• Jiang Liu inferred that the consciousness had once been far more powerful than the other martial artists and had been made into a formation core by the Holy Master of the Human Realm.
• Jiang Liu considered the danger of attracting the Three Rule Lords’ attention and relied on the Data Panel to conceal his aura within his Divine Sea.
• As the mysterious consciousness’s aura settled, Jiang Liu changed the melody to envelop it alone.

Jiang Liu tried to calm a skeletal-blood warrior’s consciousness with God Fills the World, but a hidden restriction disrupted his effort. He recognized the linked formation as the Soul Restriction Curse and began searching for a way to break it without destroying the consciousness bodies or alerting the Holy Master of the Human Realm.

• Jiang Liu played God Fills the World to soothe a consciousness body whose resentment and violent aura had flared in response to his Spirit Suppression.
• A demonic phantom formed from the consciousness body’s fear, then burst apart as Jiang Liu continued playing and its aura grew peaceful.
• An abnormal consciousness attacked through the flute music, triggering a violent eruption that interrupted Jiang Liu and restored the consciousness bodies to their former state.
• Jiang Liu noticed matching restriction patterns across the consciousness bodies and deduced that they formed a linked cycle with the targeted consciousness body as its core.
• Jiang Liu concluded that brute force could destroy the consciousness bodies and attract the Holy Master of the Human Realm, then identified the restriction as the Soul Restriction Curse.

Jiang Liu studied the Soul Restriction Curse and explored the Four Symbols Illusion Formation, hoping to restore it, mark it, and uncover the secrets of the Ancient Battlefield. As he sensed Space, Time, and Life Rule powers within the formation, a distant figure noticed him and called him a rare Human Race genius.

• Jiang Liu concluded that Zhao Hao had deliberately hidden a book about restrictions among miscellaneous books to help him learn about the Three Rule Lords.
• Jiang Liu isolated the bodies of consciousness in his Divine Sea and planned to lift the Soul Restriction Curse so he could fully restore and mark the formation core.
• The Iron Blood Army neared victory over the mutated beasts, with three or four hundred of its five or six hundred soldiers surviving the battle.
• Jiang Liu examined the formation core and sensed the powers of Space, Time, and Life Rules within the Four Symbols Illusion Formation.
• A figure in a distant void sensed Jiang Liu's exploration, praised his talent, and looked toward the Human Realm with a cruel smile.

Jiang Liu discovered that the Four Symbols Illusion Formation contained the Three Rule Lords’ Powers of Rule and suspected that the Human Realm’s calamity had hidden causes. He temporarily repaired the formation, which restarted and transported the Iron Blood Army out while he remained inside.

• Jiang Liu sensed the formation’s Powers of Rule and suspected the Holy Master of the Human Realm and the Nether Realm Ghost Lord had worked together.
• Jiang Liu used his Divine Sense to map the formation and locate the Four Divine Beasts’ souls.
• Jiang Liu formed a net of Heaven and Earth Essence and sealed the formation’s torn opening.
• The formation restarted and its Power of Rule surged, so Jiang Liu used Divine Sense to send the Iron Blood Army soldiers out of the dense forest.
• Nangong Xing stayed behind in midair, watching the forest with concern, as Jiang Liu studied the active formation and worried about keeping those inside alive.