Chapter Summaries

Dao Xuanji tried to convince Ai Cangsheng that Dao Qiongchang had defected and Xu Xiaoshou was attacking Holy Mountain, but Ai Cangsheng mistook the crisis for one of Dao Qiongchang’s elaborate pranks. After finally looking outside and seeing the assembled forces, he still refused to believe the truth and aimed the Evil Sin Bow at Dao Xuanji.

• Dao Qiongchang showed the Storyteller, Ba Zunan, Gou Wuyue, Wei Feng, and the others his Smiling Face Mask and used its uncanny effects to tease them.
• Dao Xuanji told Ai Cangsheng that Dao Qiongchang had defected, allied with Ghost Beasts, and fled with Gou Wuyue and Wei Feng.
• Ai Cangsheng assumed Dao Xuanji and the others were part of one of Dao Qiongchang’s pranks, while Xi’s reaction deepened his suspicions.
• Dao Xuanji explained that Xu Xiaoshou had gathered powerful allies, threatened Holy Mountain, and taken Yujing City into his world.
• Ai Cangsheng looked down the mountain but dismissed what he saw as an illusion and drew the Evil Sin Bow on Dao Xuanji.

Ai Cangsheng confronted Dao Xuanji over Yujing City’s disappearance and the loss of his chance to secure the Ancestor God Fateframe, then attacked her when she invoked her authority as chief hall master. Fish Elder tried to save Dao Xuanji, but Ai Cangsheng’s arrows pierced her and left her headless.

• Dao Xuanji raised her hands as Ai Cangsheng aimed the Evil Sin Bow at her, while Fish Elder and the Nine Sacrificial Divine Envoy tried to vouch for her.
• Ai Cangsheng learned that Xu Xiaoshou had destroyed two of Dao Xuanji’s demisaint incarnations and demanded an explanation for Yujing City’s disappearance and the dead Demi-Saints.
• Ai Cangsheng explained that Dao Qiongchang had lured him into the Ran Ming Ruins to pursue the Ancestor God Fateframe, but Dao Xuanji had called him back before he could finish.
• Dao Xuanji claimed her rank as chief hall master and ordered Ai Cangsheng to lower his bow, but he rejected her authority and fired arrows that stopped everyone who tried to move.
• Fish Elder seized an arrow and carried Dao Xuanji out of the Holy Firmament Hall, but Ai Cangsheng’s next arrow pinned the Nine-Sacrifice Osmanthus against Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain’s protective formation.
• Ai Cangsheng’s final arrow pierced Dao Xuanji’s chest and severed her head as she began to say “Ran...”

After Gu Yu died, Wen Ting appeared and took Plum Rain to the Burial Sword Tomb, while Xu Xiaoshou reflected on the mysterious Sword Immortal. As Ai Cangsheng returned to Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain, Xu Xiaoshou prepared to face him with Cao Erzhu at his side.

• Mei Suren asked Xu Xiaoshou whether the profundity of life could revive Gu Yu, and Xu Xiaoshou silently shook his head as Gu Yu's life faded away.
• Wen Ting appeared beside Plum Rain, explained that the sword should not be buried with Gu Yu, and took it back to the Burial Sword Tomb after Mei Suren agreed.
• Wen Ting greeted Xu Xiaoshou before leaving, and Xu Xiaoshou wondered whether Wen Ting's strange presence hinted at the strength of a Holy Emperor.
• Feng Tingchen, Yang Xizhi, and Feng Zhongzui departed, while Xu Xiaoshou heard explosions from Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain and Zhong Yuanzi announced that Ai Cangsheng had returned.
• Mu Zixi and the others left, but Cao Erzhu stayed with Xu Xiaoshou and refused to enter the Apricot Realm; he told Xu Xiaoshou that his father had called Ai Cangsheng the strongest alive today.

Xu Xiaoshou listened as Li Fugui assessed Great Emperor Cangsheng and the other powerful figures, then reconsidered his assumptions about what drove people to seek strength. Li Fugui warned that confronting Cangsheng directly was unwise and urged Xu Xiaoshou to enter the Godslayer Official Ruins to gather allies and plan his next move.

• Li Fugui explained why Great Emperor Cangsheng was among the strongest Ten Seat Holders, citing his combat ability, freedom from constraints, and readiness to take charge.
• Li Fugui described the Ten Seat Holders’ paths and current circumstances, including Ba Zunan, Gou Wuyue, Resentful Buddha, and Shen Yi, and discussed the Inverted Buddha Pagoda.
• Xu Xiaoshou questioned Li Fugui about the Bei Clan Holy Emperor, Elder Sang, and Wen Ting, while Li Fugui cautioned that not everyone sought godhood and ultimate power.
• Li Fugui advised Xu Xiaoshou not to storm Holy Mountain while Great Emperor Cangsheng was poised to undergo Heaven’s Liberation.
• Li Fugui proposed that Xu Xiaoshou enter the Godslayer Official Ruins, join Shen Yi in seeking the Godslayer Official’s opportunity, and consult Wuxiu about leaving the Dead Sea.

Ai Cangsheng destroyed Holy Firmament Hall, silenced the golden-robed Judge, and declared that he would kill anyone guilty of wrongdoing before leaving with half the Cold Palace Imperial Realm. At the former site of Yujing City, Xu Xiaoshou returned from the Apricot Realm and noticed that Ai Cangsheng had finished shooting.

• Ai Cangsheng shot Fish Elder, Nine-Sacrifice Osmanthus, and Dao Xuanji, then ignored the Judge’s authority and frightened him unconscious with warning shots.
• Ai Cangsheng’s arrows struck Crossroads Corner in the City of the Dead Futu and the ruins of Cao Clan Blacksmith Shop, prompting the hidden townspeople to react to a drunken voice beneath the rubble.
• Ai Cangsheng searched the Southern Domain for Dao Qiongchang but found many lookalikes and could not locate him.
• Ai Cangsheng told the Judge he had killed Dao Xuanji because he recognized no Xuanji Hall Master and would slay anyone guilty of wrongdoing, then said he would take half the Cold Palace Imperial Realm when he left.
• Xu Xiaoshou switched his will back from the Apricot Realm, looked toward Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain, and grinned at Ai Cangsheng.

Xu Xiaoshou confronted Ai Cangsheng at Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain, shattered its protective formation, and caught an Evil Sin Bow arrow with his bare hand. After warning Ai Cangsheng that he had lost the initiative over the Godslayer Official Ruins, Xu Xiaoshou vanished beneath a divine light summoned by Ran Ming.

• Li Fugui told Xu Xiaoshou that Ai Cangsheng inherited the Evil Sin Bow and the Evil God's Power, and described him as a stubborn defender of a relative idea of justice.
• Xu Xiaoshou arrived at Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain with Cao Erzhu, while Feng Zhongzui broadcast his approach through the Dao Transmission Mirror.
• Xu Xiaoshou broke the mountain-protecting formation with a single strike and accused Ai Cangsheng and the Holy Spirit Hall of hypocrisy and injustice.
• Ai Cangsheng fired the Evil Sin Bow, but Xu Xiaoshou caught and dispelled the arrow with his bare hand.
• Xu Xiaoshou warned Ai Cangsheng that the Holy Spirit Hall could no longer catch up over the Godslayer Official Ruins, then disappeared as Ran Ming's divine light descended.

After Xu Xiaoshou escaped the Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain, Ai Cangsheng became acting Hall Master and began preparing the Holy Spirit Hall for Xu Xiaoshou’s return. Elsewhere, Yu Zhiwen left the Dao Department, convinced that her life and memories had all been false.

• Xu Xiaoshou’s escape left the people on Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain despairing, while Fish Elder recognized that Xu Xiaoshou had reached the level of combatants who could withstand multiple arrows from the Evil Sin Bow.
• Ai Cangsheng rejected Zhong Yuanzi as a candidate and was chosen as acting Hall Master, despite the elders’ uncertainty about Dao Qiongchang’s possible plans.
• Ai Cangsheng estimated that Xu Xiaoshou would return with more than ten Semi-Saints and Holy Emperor-level forces, then ordered the elders to summon their Holy Emperors and threatened the Cold Palace Imperial Realm if any family refused.
• Ai Cangsheng told Xi that Dao Qiongchang feared a prophecy becoming reality, and Xi pointed out the pile of rotten flesh beside them.
• Yu Zhiwen left her longtime room in the Dao Department wearing black, grieving the people and memories she believed were false and deciding that her dream should end.

Xu Xiaoshou entered the Ran Ming Ruins, learned from Godslayer Official Ran Ming’s vision that the Relics of the Gods came from fragments of the Thirty-Three Heavens, and began gathering the Saint Power drifting through the realm. After studying the inheritance rules and opening the Ancestor God Ranking, he found Zhou Tianshen in first place with six Divine Life Stars.

• Xu Xiaoshou entered the Ran Ming Ruins and carefully observed Ran Ming’s vision of the god war, identifying Heaven Ancestor Power and fragments of the Thirty-Three Heavens.
• Xu Xiaoshou learned that the Relics of the Gods consisted of fragments from the First, Eighteenth, and Thirty-Third Heavens and that an ancestor tree had helped form the realm.
• Xu Xiaoshou failed to get Ran Ming’s remnant to answer him, then swallowed a drifting wisp of Saint Power.
• Xu Xiaoshou examined the realm’s stronger Saint Power and more complete Great Daos, and reasoned through the paths to Ran Ming’s inheritance and the Ancestor God fate.
• Xu Xiaoshou opened the Ancestor God Ranking and saw Zhou Tianshen listed first with six Divine Life Stars.

Xu Xiaoshou studied the Ancestor God Ranking and realized Zhou Tianshen had become the target of a bizarre scheme involving six Divine Life Stars. As Zhou Tianshen fled his pursuers, they drove him into a strange black forest, where he began transforming and tenderly addressing the child in his swelling belly as Little Shoushou.

• Xu Xiaoshou read the Ancestor God Ranking, found Zhou Tianshen in first place with six Divine Life Stars, and sensed that Nian was near Zhou Tianshen.
• Zhou Tianshen fought off thousands of pursuers while the Divine Life Stars protected and replenished him, and he recalled how an effeminate stranger had killed a demi-saint and helped him grow stronger.
• Zhou Tianshen led the pursuing army to a black forest where people behaved as though they were pregnant, then hesitated at its boundary.
• A pursuer struck Zhou Tianshen with a flying axe and sent him into the black forest, where his belly swelled and he began acting strangely.
• Zhou Tianshen stroked his enormous belly and murmured, "Little Shoushou, grow up quickly..."

Xu Xiaoshou reached the Dark Life Forest and overpowered the pursuing crowd while searching for Zhou Tianshen and the hidden Nian. He recovered a Divine Life Star and sent Ai Cangsheng a message offering to forgive his past sins if he left Holy Mountain.

• Xu Xiaoshou arrived at the crowded outskirts of the Dark Life Forest, killed a Cutting Path cultivator, and read the nearby cultivators’ memories to learn about Zhou Tianshen and his six Divine Life Stars.
• Xu Xiaoshou wounded and then killed a robed Higher Void with Hidden Pain and Soul Reading, revealing himself to the hunting legion as Master Shou.
• Xu Xiaoshou found Zhou Tianshen surrounded by people who had become pregnant inside the forest and questioned the crowd about the forest’s power.
• Xu Xiaoshou surrounded the crowd with Ash-Illuminating White Flame and demanded that Nian reveal herself, killing two people who falsely claimed to be her.
• An unseen person dropped a Divine Life Star, and Xu Xiaoshou collected it after failing to identify the person with Perception or Spatial Reversion.
• Xu Xiaoshou told the crowd to relay a message to Ai Cangsheng: he would forgive Ai Cangsheng’s past sins if he left Holy Mountain.

Ai Cangsheng learned that Xu Xiaoshou had entered the Relics of the Gods and warned that their paths would eventually clash. Xu Xiaoshou claimed Nian’s Divine Life Star, disrupted Yue Gongli’s plans, and stepped into the Dark Life Forest, where the Life Dao Disk reacted to him.

• Xi reported that Xu Xiaoshou had taken Nian’s Divine Life Star and publicly warned Ai Cangsheng to leave Gui-Zhe Holy Mountain.
• Ai Cangsheng recalled Dao Qiongchang’s warnings about Xu Xiaoshou and said that Saint Slave’s path would one day bring them into conflict.
• Elder Sang saw Xu Xiaoshou appear on the Ancestor God Ranking, while Water Ghost noted that the rankings did not show the whole truth.
• Yue Gongli learned that Nian’s name had disappeared from the ranking and ordered his group to move before Xu Xiaoshou could take more Divine Life Stars.
• Xu Xiaoshou tried to pierce a Divine Life Star, caught it after it shot away, and entered the Dark Life Forest despite the warnings around him.
• The Life Dao Disk unfolded and spun as Xu Xiaoshou entered the forest, sending a warm current into his mind.

Xu Xiaoshou resisted the Dark Life Forest’s power, destroyed the Dao Fruit it formed inside him, and cut a path through the forest while tracing the source of its evil life force. After reuniting with Zhou Tianshen and driving others away from the Divine Life Stars, Xu Xiaoshou was nearly killed by a dagger-wielding attacker whom no one could remember.

• Master Shou’s belly deflated as he awakened, while Xu Xiaoshou resisted the forest’s influence and discovered it had formed an evil Dao Fruit inside his sea of energy.
• Xu Xiaoshou split the Dao Fruit with Sword Thought and traced the escaping life force back toward its source.
• Xu Xiaoshou unleashed a sword strike that cut a ten-mile gash through the Life Forest and forced its life patterns to retreat.
• Xu Xiaoshou guessed that the forest’s source was the Saint-Infant Bearing Plant, then watched Zhou Tianshen and the others awaken from their pregnant stupor.
• Xu Xiaoshou reunited with Zhou Tianshen, stopped the crowd from reaching the Divine Life Stars, and sensed the strange life force return to its origin.
• A disguised attacker lunged at Xu Xiaoshou with a gold-and-silver dagger, nearly severed his throat, and vanished from everyone’s memory.

Li Fugui identified the assassin who had nearly killed Xu Xiaoshou as Nian, whose Returning Thought Dagger could erase an enemy’s thoughts and memories. Xu Xiaoshou tracked down Yue Gongli in the Relics of the Gods, overwhelmed the battlefield, and sealed everyone in his Dragon-Fusion Realm.

• Xu Xiaoshou’s Second True Body summoned Li Fugui and demanded information about the attacker who had slashed Xu Xiaoshou’s throat.
• Li Fugui recognized Nian as the Darkness Division’s head and explained her history, her Returning Thought Dagger, and her one-strike assassination method.
• The Second True Body concluded that Nian had already fled, but insisted that Xu Xiaoshou could still take revenge.
• Yue Gongli broke free of Xu Xiaoshou’s Time Ancestor Shadow Staff and used the Glazed Moon Mirror to break its time restraint.
• Xu Xiaoshou suppressed the battlefield with Divine Mind Penetration, then cast Dragon-Fusion Realm and Exile, trapping everyone inside a shifting space.

Li Fugui explained that Yue Gongli was the Moon Clan’s sole chosen heir, wealthy, dangerous, and able to wield Guidance and Forgetting. In the Dragon-Fusion Realm, Xu Xiaoshou realized Yue had distracted him while Nian escaped, killed Nian, and then turned to deal with Yue.

• Li Fugui told the Second True Body that Yue Gongli had become the Holy Emperor Moon Clan’s one and only heir and warned that he possessed formidable resources and hidden abilities.
• Xu Xiaoshou attacked Yue Gongli in the Dragon-Fusion Realm, but Yue survived the blows and kept talking while using Guidance and Forgetting to muddle Xu’s thoughts.
• The Second True Body’s information panel revealed the effects of Guidance and Forgetting, helping Xu Xiaoshou recognize Yue’s distraction.
• Xu Xiaoshou realized Nian had escaped by erasing the traces of White Flame while Yue stalled him, then used the Berserk Giant to crush Nian outside the realm.
• Xu Xiaoshou turned back toward Yue Gongli as a massive golden foot filled Yue’s view, and Yue invoked time-freezing.

Xu Xiaoshou battered Yue Gongli inside the Yin Spirit Coffin while using the commotion to expose Nian, the Darkness Division chief, and defeat her with an illusion and Yousi Sword. Nian vanished into starlight after warning that they would meet again, while Xu Xiaoshou left with seven Divine Life Stars and a message for Ai Cangsheng.

• Xu Xiaoshou stomped Yue Gongli into the Yin Spirit Coffin, then repeatedly smashed and swung the coffin until Yue Gongli begged him to stop.
• Xu Xiaoshou spotted Nian disguised among the spectators and hurled the coffin at her, but she dodged and stabbed his golden giant form with the Returning Thought Dagger.
• Nian pierced the giant’s head, but Xu Xiaoshou revealed that the giant was an illusion and used West Wind Withers Snow to cut and cripple Nian.
• Yousi Sword’s demonic aura overwhelmed Nian, who revealed her face, sent Xu Xiaoshou a final warning, and turned into starlight.
• Xu Xiaoshou gathered Zhou Tianshen’s sack and the Divine Life Star, bringing his total to seven, and told Nian to deliver a message to Ai Cangsheng.

Xi investigated Lei Xiaoxiao’s ties to Great Emperor Cangsheng and reported that Cangsheng had shown the Lei family limited, proper protection but had no evidence of misconduct. Cangsheng then ordered an investigation into the Heavenly Mechanism Divine Sect and issued the Saint Invitation Order to send every available Semi-Saint into the Ran Ming Ruins.

• Xi ordered the Aberrant Division to gather firsthand intelligence on Lei Xiaoxiao and her connection to Cangsheng and Saint Slave.
• The bearded intelligence officer reported that Lei Xiaoxiao was dead, had gifted Cangsheng the Eye of the Great Dao, and had been close to her family, which Cangsheng had occasionally protected within proper bounds.
• Xi told Cangsheng that the Aberrant Division had found no misconduct by him, and Cangsheng reacted with distraction to a message about parting and tears.
• Xi reported the rise of the Heavenly Mechanism Divine Sect, and Cangsheng suspected that Dao Qiongchang was connected to its leader, Nangong Youshu, and possibly to Situ Yongen and the Dao Department.
• Cangsheng told Xi to investigate the sect and hand over the entire process, then ordered the Saint Invitation Order and sent every available Semi-Saint into the Ran Ming Ruins to drive Xu Xiaoshou out.

Xu Xiaoshou opened Yue Gongli’s Yin Spirit Coffin, unleashing a Six-Marrow Corpse King infused with Holy Ancestor’s Power. Xu fled into the Dark Life Forest, and the corpse king followed with Yue Gongli trapped in the coffin, where its Marrow-Sucking Hearts began swelling as if it were pregnant.

• Xu Xiaoshou threatened the Yin Spirit Coffin until Yue Gongli began opening it, then fired ten Explosive Origin Seeds and sent Yousi Sword inside.
• The coffin released a Six-Marrow Corpse King whose Holy Ancestor’s Power caused onlookers to explode into starlight, forcing the crowd to flee.
• Yue Gongli revealed that he had refined the corpse king with Divine Nature Power and said Xu would have to subdue it before they could talk cooperation.
• Xu Xiaoshou ran into the Dark Life Forest, and the corpse king hurled Yousi Sword after him before smashing the Yin Spirit Coffin against the ground.
• Yue Gongli ordered the corpse king to chase Xu, and it carried the coffin into the Dark Life Forest while its six Marrow-Sucking Hearts absorbed vitality until its belly swelled.

Xu Xiaoshou ventured deeper into the Dark Life Forest to investigate its life rules and search for the Saint-Infant Bearing Plant, while Yue Gongli followed with the Six-Marrow Corpse King. After a stolen corpse king baby drew a swarm of stitched monsters, Yue Gongli delivered a Dao Infant of his own, balanced between three kinds of power.

• Xu Xiaoshou repeatedly cut down the Dao Infants forming in his belly as he reasoned that the Dark Life Forest might reflect a failed or restricted Transcending Dao Transformation.
• Xu Xiaoshou pressed deeper into the forest to investigate the Saint-Infant Bearing Plant, preserve his options against Yue Gongli, and pursue the possibility of transplanting the plant into his Apricot Realm.
• Yue Gongli followed Xu Xiaoshou with the Six-Marrow Corpse King, guessed that Xu Xiaoshou sought the highest inheritance of the Three Realms of Feather Ascension, and considered proposing cooperation in exchange for Divine Life Stars.
• The Six-Marrow Corpse King delivered a Dao Infant containing Evil God's Power, but a human-headed, wolf-bodied, branch-limbed monster stole and swallowed it.
• The enraged Six-Marrow Corpse King struck the forest and drew a swarm of stitched monsters, while Yue Gongli lay on the Yin Spirit Coffin and cut a Dao Infant out of his own belly.
• Yue Gongli delivered a newborn Dao Infant containing equal shares of Holy Ancestor's Power, Heaven Ancestor Power, and Evil God's Power.

Xu Xiaoshou learned that Dao Infants were perfect manifestations of a cultivator’s Dao, and realized Yue Gongli’s Dao Fruit could help balance his powers. After teleporting with Yue Gongli out of the monster-filled Dark Life Forest, they arrived before the Saint-Infant Bearing Plant, which called Xu Xiaoshou closer.

• Li Fugui explained that the Saint-Infant Bearing Plant produced Dao Infants that preserved powerful clans’ abilities, and speculated that they resembled Half-Saint Godhood.
• The Dragon Apricot Spirit explained that Dao Infants manifested a cultivator’s Dao and warned Xu Xiaoshou not to approach the changed Saint-Infant Bearing Plant.
• Xu Xiaoshou recognized that Yue Gongli’s Dao Infant appeared to him as a tempting fruit and realized consuming it might help him balance his Ancestral Source Powers and three Daos.
• As monsters drove them deeper into the Dark Life Forest, Xu Xiaoshou resisted the urge to take Yue Gongli’s Dao Fruit and teleported them away together.
• Xu Xiaoshou and Yue Gongli instead appeared before a towering, woman-shaped black tree, which called Xu Xiaoshou closer.

The Heavenly Alliance’s Void Mirror Gathering warned that the Saint Invitation Order might be a trap, while Carefree Demi-Saint Pei Zai revealed that War Maniac Changyi and others had entered the Godslayer Official Ruins. Alliance Leader Yan Sheng then issued an order forbidding anyone from entering after the ruins encountered a major problem, as Elder Sang’s group found corpses in the Ran Ming Ruins and realized something was wrong.

• Northwind Wanderer warned the Heavenly Alliance that Xu Xiaoshou was dangerous and that the Saint Invitation Order might conceal a trap.
• Carefree Demi-Saint Pei Zai revealed that he shared Northwind Wanderer’s premonition and that War Maniac Changyi and others had entered the ruins.
• Alliance Leader Yan Sheng appeared at the gathering and issued a Heavenly Alliance Order telling everyone to return home and keep all demi-saints out of the ruins.
• Elder Sang led Fen Qin’s old crew through the Relics of the Gods and found a battlefield covered with the remains of a large melee.
• Elder Sang’s group realized that the battlefield’s corpses could not be explained, since people were not supposed to die in the Ran Ming Ruins.