Chapter Summaries

Li Fugui and Zhu Yike received Master Shou’s supplies and instructions for escorting Aunt Xiang, while Master Shou transferred his avatar consciousness into Zhu Yike. At the fur shop, Zhu Yike discovered an Exit-City Token and Heavenly Secrets Art aura on Dongdong, then destroyed both the token and her slave contract.

• Li Fugui gave Zhu Yike a trove of supplies, and Master Shou explained that his true body was recovering in the Apricot Realm while his avatar consciousness resided in Li Fugui.
• Master Shou ordered Zhu Yike to escort Aunt Xiang to the Cao Clan Blacksmith Shop in Changde Town, find Ba Zunan, and flee to the Apricot Realm if danger arose.
• Master Shou transferred his consciousness from Li Fugui into Zhu Yike, leaving Li Fugui behind as the group prepared for a struggle involving the Ten Seat Holders.
• At the fur shop, Dongdong worried that Li Fugui would not give her the antidote, while A Yao brought Aunt Xiang a piece of Silver Elephant Jade-White Tusk.
• After Master Shou detected Heavenly Secrets Art aura on Dongdong, Zhu Yike seized her and revealed an Exit-City Token, which stunned Dongdong and A Yao.
• Zhu Yike crushed the Exit-City Token and Dongdong’s Slave Contract Jade Talisman.

Cao Erzhu discovered a lightning-type Profound Meaning and learned that White Robes, August, and White Bear Lord were leaving Qingyuan Mountain for many years. August left him the Seven Heaven-Walking Swords and a note bearing a name, while Cao Erzhu remained unsure how to leave the mountain and find them again.

• As Cao Erzhu hunted on Qingyuan Mountain, he recalled how strange events repeatedly happened at home whenever his father sent him away, and remembered meeting August and her master when he was a child.
• Cao Erzhu blocked August’s Sword Thought and defeated White Bear Lord with his newly cultivated lightning-type Profound Meaning, startling August and the old man in White Robes.
• The old man warned Cao Erzhu to hide his Profound-Meaning Array Diagram, then told him that he, August, and White Bear Lord were leaving and would not return for many years.
• Cao Erzhu begged to go with them and asked how he could leave Qingyuan Mountain, but the old man refused and August’s group disappeared after she told him to wait.
• Cao Erzhu found the Seven Heaven-Walking Swords and a note August had left on her table, and saw that the note contained a person’s name.

Dao Qiongchang manifested from Dongdong and confronted Zhu Yike, who trapped him inside a blood cloth with Vivid on the Page. As Zhu Yike tried to send Li Fugui, Aunt Xiang, and A Yao away, his soul was forcibly separated from his body by the arriving white-robed cultivators.

• Dao Qiongchang emerged from Dongdong, who dissolved into ancient words, and formed a Saint Domain around the battlefield.
• Dao Qiongchang killed the shopkeeper Li Fugui, but Zhu Yike used Heaven-Stealing Sun-Swapping to rescue him and smear filth across Dao Qiongchang’s face.
• Dao Qiongchang forced Zhu Yike to kneel with the Great Suppression Technique, but Zhu Yike used Vivid on the Page to trap Dao Qiongchang inside a bloody cloth.
• Zhu Yike tried to send Li Fugui, Aunt Xiang, and A Yao away, but his soul suddenly separated from his body as white-robed cultivators surrounded them.
• A gray-clad young man used Soul-Controlling Arcane Art · Yin-Yang Separation to pierce both Zhu Yike’s body and separated soul with ghostly cyan sword energy.

Jinren used Xu Xiaoshou’s name and a bluff about the Illusion Sword Technique to drive Xi and the White Robes away, buying the group time to escape. Xi returned too late to stop them and realized he had been fooled, while Jinren’s apparent power left his allies stunned.

• Zhu Yike temporarily restrained Dao Qiongchang, but Xi controlled Zhu Yike’s spirit and confronted the group with the White Robes.
• Jinren invoked Xu Xiaoshou’s name and threatened the White Robes with the Illusion Sword Technique, prompting Xi to order a retreat.
• Xi fled through an apparent illusion and returned to the battlefield shaken, while Zhu Yike regained control of his body.
• Jinren ordered Li Fugui to open the Apricot Realm passage and told Aunt Xiang and Zhu Yike to move the group toward Changde Town.
• Aunt Xiang directed them south, Li Fugui threw the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet through the passage, and Zhu Yike used Heaven-Stealing Sun-Swapping to move the group away.
• Xi arrived too late to stop them and realized that Jinren had bluffed about using the Illusion Sword Technique.

Xi unleashed a ghost tide and the White Sinful Karma Flame across Changde Town, while Jinren used the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet to hold the ghosts back. Kui Leihan struck Zhu Yike down from inside the Cao Clan Blacksmith Shop, but Dao Qiongchang emerged from Zhu Yike’s blood cloth and revealed that he had made the hole in the shop and had been waiting for Xu Xiaoshou.

• Jinren took control of the battered Heavenly Mechanism Puppet and used its Perception to scan Changde Town.
• Xi’s Ghost Sword Technique darkened the town and filled its streets with ghosts burning with the White Sinful Karma Flame.
• Aunt Xiang identified the Cao Clan Blacksmith Shop as a refuge, but Kui Leihan’s voice knocked Zhu Yike unconscious when he tried to exchange weapons remotely.
• Jinren drained the puppet’s Spirit Palace and used Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers to weave a web that halted the ghost tide.
• Kui Leihan warned that his shop was too small for everyone, and Aunt Xiang noticed a hole in its ceiling.
• Dao Qiongchang tore his way out of Zhu Yike’s blood cloth, claimed he had made the hole, and addressed Xu Xiaoshou.

Jinren brought Aunt Xiang to the Cao Clan Blacksmith Shop and tried to persuade Kui Leihan to help them, using praise and Ba Zunan’s favor as leverage. Kui Leihan refused to intervene until Xi attacked, then struck him down with violet lightning, leaving Jinren wondering what could keep such a powerful figure confined.

• Jinren used the Great Shift Technique to bring Aunt Xiang and the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet to the Cao Clan Blacksmith Shop while Dao Qiongchang and Xi watched.
• Jinren knocked with Ba Zunan’s Eight-Character Order and flattered Kui Leihan, then offered him control of Void Island in exchange for help.
• Kui Leihan refused to interfere, despite Jinren’s offer and Aunt Xiang’s insistence.
• Jinren insulted Dao Qiongchang through the puppet, prompting Xi to attack Aunt Xiang and the puppet with the White Calamity Yama Lord.
• Kui Leihan struck the White Calamity Yama Lord with violet lightning, blasting it beyond Changde Town’s boundaries and knocking Xi unconscious.

Jinren provoked Kui Leihan through the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet, prompting Kui Leihan to reveal the terrifying force of his God-Punishing Execution Tribulation and destroy the puppet with a glance. Dao Qiongchang tried to turn the confrontation into a boast before Kui Leihan blasted him away.

• Kui Leihan challenged Jinren to speak plainly, and Jinren taunted him about being afraid of Dao Qiongchang and compared him to dog shit.
• Kui Leihan destroyed the blacksmith shop and revealed his immense power as purple lightning surged around him.
• Kui Leihan's thought-driven gaze obliterated the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet's back, while Jinren understood how Divine Mind Penetration turned thought into tangible force.
• Dao Qiongchang summoned the White Robes and explained that Kui Leihan's gaze carried the momentum of thought, then claimed Kui Leihan would have to kill Xu Xiaoshou to prove loyalty to the Holy Spirit Hall.
• Kui Leihan turned his gaze toward Dao Qiongchang and blasted him away, leaving his Heavenly Secrets Compass and two teeth behind.

Xi played dead after witnessing Kui Leihan overpower the Dao Hall Master, then Dao Qiongchang left him to go to Qingyuan Mountain while returning toward Changde Town. In Changde, Jinren used the ruined Heavenly Mechanism Puppet to insult Kui Leihan before its final consciousness faded.

• Xi weighed the Ten-Person Council’s strength against the Saint Slave and feared an approaching world-destroying war over Kui Leihan’s allegiance.
• Dao Qiongchang found Xi pretending to be dead, kept him from returning to Changde Town, and sent him to Qingyuan Mountain to find Yu Zhiwen.
• Kui Leihan’s power knocked out the White Robes around Changde Town, while Jinren struggled to restore the crippled Heavenly Mechanism Puppet.
• Jinren made the puppet approach Kui Leihan, leap onto his thigh, and strike him on the head with its fallen arm.
• The Heavenly Mechanism Puppet collapsed and called Kui Leihan a worthless dog for licking the showy old Daoist’s boots.

Kui Leihan raged against Jinren’s insults but repeatedly stopped short of killing him, exposing his fear and conflict over leaving his secluded life. When Dao Qiongchang appeared, Kui Leihan remembered his children and blasted everyone out of Changde Town to keep the town safe.

• Kui Leihan tore apart the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet and crushed its body after Jinren called him a useless dog.
• Jinren taunted Kui Leihan until he nearly triggered a Saint Tribulation, but Kui Leihan suppressed his fury and spared the array-disc for Ba Zunan’s sake.
• Kui Leihan told Aunt Xiang he would not leave Changde Town and pointed her toward Qingyuan Mountain if she needed help.
• Jinren challenged Kui Leihan’s fear, and Kui Leihan silently recognized that he had become afraid compared with his former self.
• Dao Qiongchang appeared, and Kui Leihan remembered his children before blasting Aunt Xiang, Jinren, and everyone else out of Changde Town.

Yu Zhiwen explored Qingyuan Mountain to prepare the Thirty-Three Heavens Star-Weaving Net Formation and encountered Cao Erzhu beside the waterfall. Their meeting ended when Cao Erzhu learned that she knew Xu Xiaoshou and eagerly asked her about him.

• Yu Zhiwen made a Star Pool from the moonlit waterfall and dragonfish, then continued her survey of Qingyuan Mountain.
• Yu Zhiwen found the name Xu Xiaoshou on a sheet of paper and heard Cao Erzhu warn her not to steal it.
• Cao Erzhu mistook Yu Zhiwen for a witch and pretended to be a reclusive senior to make her leave.
• Yu Zhiwen introduced herself as Yu Xingxing and asked Cao Erzhu who had written Xu Xiaoshou's name.
• Cao Erzhu realized Yu Zhiwen knew Xu Xiaoshou, rose from beneath the waterfall, and asked her about him.

Yu Zhiwen met the wary Cao Erzhu on Qingyuan Mountain and completed the Thirty-Three Heavens Star-Weaving Net Formation. After realizing Dao Qiongchang might be using her to trap Xu Xiaoshou, she saw Cao Erzhu as a possible uncertainty and rushed after him, warning that Xu Xiaoshou was in great danger.

• Cao Erzhu hid his connection to Xu Xiaoshou and tried to drive Yu Zhiwen away, but he let her use his spot after she explained she needed it for her formation.
• Yu Zhiwen formed the Thirty-Three Heavens Star-Weaving Net Formation, and Cao Erzhu watched the mountain’s vitality awaken before attempting to leave with the table.
• Yu Zhiwen admitted she had lied about her name and profession, and Cao Erzhu confessed that he had lied too before giving her his real name.
• Yu Zhiwen recognized Cao Erzhu as Kui Leihan’s son and suspected Dao Qiongchang had arranged the formation to ensnare Xu Xiaoshou.
• Yu Zhiwen concluded Cao Erzhu might be an uncertainty capable of breaking Dao Qiongchang’s plan, completed the formation, and chased after him, warning that Xu Xiaoshou was in great danger.

Cao Erzhu fled toward Changde Town but was pursued by Yu Zhiwen and Xi, who learned his identity and that he wielded the God-Punishing Execution Tribulation. After Cao Erzhu took their laughter at his severing-robe gesture as an insult, he subdued them with successive transformations of the technique and prepared to finish them off.

• Cao Erzhu escaped Yu Zhiwen’s pursuit with a burst of speed, but Xi arrived and followed after him when Yu Zhiwen tried to point him out.
• Xi confronted Cao Erzhu in the Ghost Domain, and Cao Erzhu denied his surname before Xi recognized him as Kui Leihan’s son and identified his violet lightning as the God-Punishing Execution Tribulation.
• Yu Zhiwen arrived, and Cao Erzhu cut off his robe hem and threw it down to sever ties; Xi laughed, enraging Cao Erzhu.
• Cao Erzhu unleashed the oppressive form of the God-Punishing Execution Tribulation, then used its manifestation and refinement forms to seal Xi and Yu Zhiwen’s spiritual seas and drag them away.
• Cao Erzhu carried the helpless Xi and Yu Zhiwen to a waterfall and raised them to kill them, while recalling his father’s lessons about another transformation.

Cao Erzhu spared Yu Zhiwen and Xi, but Yu Zhiwen teleported him off Qingyuan Mountain as White Robes arrived to attack. He returned to Changde Town and found it devastated, then discovered his father’s severed head in a wine barrel.

• Cao Erzhu unleashed his God-Punishing Execution Tribulation on Xi and Yu Zhiwen, then withdrew the lightning and knocked Xi unconscious while sparing Yu Zhiwen.
• Cao Erzhu left Yu Zhiwen with Xi and headed down Qingyuan Mountain, but Yu Zhiwen used a starlight passage to teleport him to the foot of the mountain.
• A Dao Hall Master’s Heavenly Secrets Art appeared over Qingyuan Mountain as White Robes arrived through the Great Shift Technique, and Cao Erzhu recognized Xu Xiaoshou’s name on August’s note.
• Cao Erzhu chose to continue home rather than return to the mountain, then reached Changde Town and found the town reduced to a ruined battlefield.
• Cao Erzhu searched the wreckage for his father, found the Lost Craftsman Shop sign and an intact wine barrel marked with a familiar handshake pattern, and saw his father’s head inside.

Li Fugui carried out Master Shou’s three backup plans, contacting Ba Zunan and Long Xing before bringing a Recording Pearl to Changde Town. There, he met the grieving Cao Erzhu, pointed him toward the Dao Hall Master as a possible killer, and offered to help him grow stronger.

• Li Fugui used a hidden Apricot Realm jade talisman to reach Yujing City and contacted Ba Zunan, relaying Master Shou’s request for help and the return of Mr. Siren.
• Li Fugui used a Blood Tree Yin Branch to reach Long Xing and played Master Shou’s invitation for him to come to Qingyuan Mountain.
• Li Fugui teleported to Changde Town, saw the devastation there, and found Cao Erzhu mourning his father beside the wine barrel.
• Li Fugui told Cao Erzhu that the Dao Hall Master might have killed his father and gave him a Recording Pearl that could summon help in danger.
• Cao Erzhu followed Li Fugui and asked who he was, and Li Fugui called himself Lord Li.

After Dao Qiongchang sent the group to Qingyuan Mountain, Jinren encountered Yu Zhiwen, who had secretly prepared a formation to help Xu Xiaoshou escape, but Dao Qiongchang exposed and controlled her plan. Jinren failed to teleport away and was surrounded by White Robes, though the damaged puppet retaliated with a fart before swelling up to self-destruct.

• Dao Qiongchang’s Great Shift Technique scattered Jinren and the others across Qingyuan Mountain, where Yu Zhiwen confronted Jinren and mistook him for Xu Xiaoshou.
• Yu Zhiwen revealed her Thirty-Three Heavens Star-Weaving Net Formation, but Dao Qiongchang appeared and exposed how she had arranged its flaws beneath a waterfall.
• Dao Qiongchang teased Yu Zhiwen until she fainted, and Jinren grabbed Splendor and tried to use the star chart to teleport with her.
• Dao Qiongchang revealed that he had already broken the formation and summoned fifty or sixty White Robes, leaving Jinren’s attempted escape ineffective.
• Jinren’s puppet released a cloud of gas that Dao Qiongchang inhaled, then laughed and began to swell as it announced its farewell.

Dao Qiongchang captured Zhu Yike after the thief rescued Jinren and outwitted the White Robes, revealing that he had used multiple incarnations and a hidden scrap of paper to defeat him. With Zhu Yike subdued and Yu Zhiwen safe, Dao Qiongchang again asked Jinren to talk.

• Dao Qiongchang used the Great Embroidery Technique and Great Imprisonment Technique to trap Jinren’s spiritual thought inside the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet and sever its link to Yu Zhiwen.
• Zhu Yike stole the puppet half and used Heaven-Stealing Sun-Swapping and Vivid on the Page to confuse the White Robes and seal several of them inside paper.
• Dao Qiongchang appeared before Zhu Yike, but Zhu escaped by swapping places with Yu Zhiwen, whom he then sealed in paper as a hostage.
• A jade-white hand emerged from the paper and wounded Zhu Yike, revealing that Dao Qiongchang had replaced Yu Zhiwen after Zhu rescued Jinren.
• Zhu Yike reversed his wounds onto Dao Qiongchang and redirected the Great Annihilation Technique, but a second Dao Qiongchang emerged from a scrap of paper and pierced his vital energy.
• Dao Qiongchang subdued Zhu Yike with a Martial-Sealing Talisman, and Xiao Qi appeared before Jinren as Dao Qiongchang asked to talk.

On Qingyuan Mountain, Dao Qiongchang questioned Jinren while holding him and Zhu Yike captive, then discussed the ultimate meaning of Heavenly Secrets Art and the nature of profound meanings. He left Jinren and Zhu Yike suddenly alert by revealing that Ba Zunan had a child.

• Dao Qiongchang questioned Jinren about his Heavenly Mechanism Puppet research and returned its array-disk head after discovering it contained information about Number Two.
• Dao Qiongchang pressed Jinren about his choices and his main body's recovery, then explained his theories about profound meanings and the cultivation of the Great Dao.
• Dao Qiongchang asked Jinren what the ultimate profound meaning of Heavenly Secrets Art might be, and Jinren proposed, "Flesh is frail and bitter; Heavenly Secrets ascends?"
• Dao Qiongchang revealed that Ba Zunan had a child, jolting Zhu Yike, Jinren, and the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet into sudden interest.

Dao Qiongchang revealed that Ba Zunan and Moon Palace Slave had a child who was secretly sent into the outside world, then tried to persuade Jinren to pursue Yu Zhiwen. He ended the matchmaking talk when he sensed that the enemies had arrived, shifting the gathering back to the struggle for the Great Dao.

• Dao Qiongchang explained that Saint Emperor families called rebels against their bloodline rules “Saint Slaves” and believed Moon Palace Slave’s child had survived and escaped into the outside world.
• Dao Qiongchang teased Jinren about having children and argued that he should find a powerful bloodline to ensure his descendants’ talent.
• Dao Qiongchang cited Yu Zhiwen’s repeated efforts to protect Jinren and urged him to choose her, claiming he would arrange their marriage and win over her family.
• Dao Qiongchang showed Jinren portraits of possible partners, declared Yu Zhiwen a perfect match, and told him not to regret missing his chance.
• Dao Qiongchang sensed that someone had arrived, put away the portraits, and announced that it was time to discuss the struggle for the Great Dao.

Dao Qiongchang learned that a mysterious attacker had devastated the White Robes in the spatial torrent, then tried to stop Du Liang from completing a sinister ritual. The altar was destroyed, but not before a scarlet thread shot from Qingyuan Mountain toward the Holy Mountain.

• Jin Feng and Huang Zhao told Dao Qiongchang that absolute darkness in the spatial torrent had killed or crippled most of their comrades, while Du Liang had returned with a shattered Dao foundation.
• Dao Qiongchang used the Great Purification Technique to restore Du Liang's reason, and Du Liang revealed that he had been made to prepare an altar of earth, blood, stones, and severed fingers.
• Dao Qiongchang recognized the ritual and attacked Du Liang and Jin Feng, but Jin Feng struck Dao Qiongchang, and Du Liang completed the offering with his severed fingers.
• Dao Qiongchang annihilated Jin Feng and Du Liang's head, while Huang Zhao tried to shield the altar; Du Liang's headless body still positioned it toward Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain.
• Dao Qiongchang received the dead White Robes' souls and the ritual's sinister summons, then destroyed the altar, but a scarlet thread escaped toward the Holy Mountain.

Dao Qiongchang received Five Declines of Heaven and Man’s curse and found that his divinations showed only misfortune, while he refused to calculate a tenth hexagram. At Qingyuan Mountain, Mei Suren met Cao Erzhu, learned that his father Cao Yihan had been murdered, and took him up the mountain to seek the killer.

• Dao Qiongchang found no trace of Five Declines of Heaven and Man’s curse, but his Heavenly Secrets Compass flashed scarlet nine times when he divined his own fate.
• Dao Qiongchang told the Nine Sacrificial Divine Envoy he would accept the misfortune and declined to calculate a tenth hexagram.
• Mei Suren stopped Cao Erzhu at the foot of Qingyuan Mountain and learned that Cao Yihan had been killed and that Lord Li suspected the murderer was on the mountain.
• Mei Suren realized Cao Yihan was one of the Ten Seat Holders and recognized the significance of the news that he had been killed.
• Cao Erzhu helped Mei Suren see beyond the lonely figure in his fan painting, and Mei Suren laughed with renewed clarity.
• Mei Suren took Cao Erzhu through the mountain formation to find his father’s killer and gave him a purple-red sword that reacted with delight.