Chapter Summaries

Xiao Kongtong revealed himself and secured Lu Shiyu’s promise to lend the Life Sword for half a year, but a battle-hungry voice calling for Ba Zunan interrupted the exchange. Across the Five Domains, swords rose and bowed toward the north, while Wen Ting noticed that Qingju alone remained at the Burial Sword Tomb.

• Xiao Kongtong pressured Lu Shiyu to lend the Life Sword, then revealed that he was the famous Laughing Sword Immortal and admitted he was not Ba Zunan.
• Lu Shiyu presented the Life Sword to Xiao Kongtong on the condition that it be returned after half a year.
• A dim sword light flashed from the north, and a rough voice challenged Ba Zunan as the wailing of ghosts spread across the Five Domains.
• Millions of swords rose into the sky in Wind Clan City and bowed northward, leaving Feng Zhongzui kneeling and unable to rise.
• The Burial Sword Tomb’s swords, including those from the Sword-Washing Pool, flew north, while Wen Ting saw that Qingju remained behind.

Hua Changdeng hunted Ba Zunan through the Ghost Buddha Realm and reached Lingyu Mountain, where he extracted Li Fugui’s soul after Li Fugui could not reveal Ba Zunan’s whereabouts. Zhu Yike intervened and rescued Li Fugui’s remnant soul, but Hua Changdeng reversed time and confronted him before his escape could take effect.

• Hua Changdeng emerged from Fengdu with a ghost tide and headed for Lingyu Mountain to find Ba Zunan.
• Li Fugui told Hua Changdeng that Ba Zunan had gone to the Deer-Pattern Forbidden Ground in the Southern Domain, then tried to escape.
• Hua Changdeng returned, attacked Li Fugui, and drew Li Fugui’s soul toward his bronze lamp.
• Zhu Yike used Heaven-Stealing Sun-Swapping to knock the Black Baleful Coin against Hua Changdeng’s lamp and seize Li Fugui’s remnant soul.
• Zhu Yike fled with Li Fugui to Wind Clan City’s Sword Pavilion, using his arts to disarm and rearrange the pavilion guards.
• Hua Changdeng reversed time before Zhu Yike could complete his escape and asked him to state his name.

Hua Changdeng confronted Zhu Yike on Lingyu Mountain, where Zhu used deception and spatial techniques to evade his attacks. Hua Changdeng revealed his soul form and saw through Zhu’s disguises, then the bronze lamp absorbed the souls of a nearby ancient sword cultivator.

• Spectators gathered as Hua Changdeng asked Zhu Yike where Xu Xiaoshou was, and Zhu claimed Xu had gone to the Time Realm Rift to face an Ancestor God.
• Zhu stole Hua Changdeng’s bronze lamp with Heaven-Stealing Sun-Swapping, but the White Sinful Karma Flame burned his hand and forced him to sever his arm and part of his soul.
• Zhu flattened the lamp into a sheet of paper and fled, while Hua Changdeng’s sword strike met Gou Wuyue’s Desireless Reckless Sword after Zhu switched their positions with Heaven and Earth Shift.
• Zhu disguised himself as Gou Wuyue, then switched the appearances of the spectators to disappear among them, but Hua Changdeng entered the path of the soul and located him.
• Hua Changdeng’s bronze lamp absorbed two wisps of soul from a nearby ancient sword cultivator, and its flame grew brighter.

During the Transcendent Dao Transformation of the Way of Time, Xu Xiaoshou entered the Time Realm’s past and met Kong Yuhen, who gave him a damaged Source of Time and Space and told him to seek answers from the dial. Xu Xiaoshou returned to the doors with the pearl, but the River of Time opened the second door and pulled him inside.

• Xu Xiaoshou found himself in a shifting Four-Sided Platform world, where he could not contact Ba Zunan and the River of Time merged with the surroundings.
• Xu Xiaoshou passed through the first of three ancient doors and met a back-facing Kong Yuhen in the Time Realm’s Thirty-Third Heaven.
• Kong Yuhen revealed that Xu Xiaoshou had opened the Door of the Past and that they were meeting at the source of the River of Time.
• Kong Yuhen gave Xu Xiaoshou a damaged Source of Time and Space that could trace things back to their source, then urged him to look for answers from the dial.
• Xu Xiaoshou returned to the void with only two doors remaining and tried to reach Ba Zunan through the River of Time.
• The second door opened on its own and pulled Xu Xiaoshou inside.

Xu Xiaoshou entered the second door and found himself in a hospital room resembling the one from his previous life, where he discovered the Gate of Reincarnation and began to suspect his powers and reincarnation had been arranged by himself. Outside, Ba Zunan entrusted Kong Yuhen with the Subdimensional Door and asked him to help Xu Xiaoshou if he could, while Xu remained in enlightenment.

• Mei Suren left the Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion to face Hua Changdeng while Ba Zunan stayed to guard Xu Xiaoshou.
• Ba Zunan asked Kong Yuhen whose side he was on and requested that he help Xu Xiaoshou if danger overwhelmed him.
• Ba Zunan placed the Eight-Character Order and Subdimensional Door on the tea table, and Kong Yuhen agreed to help if he could.
• Xu Xiaoshou awoke in a hospital room behind the second door and found the Source of Time and Space, the Passive System, and a phantom wooden door.
• Xu Xiaoshou recognized the wooden door as the Gate of Reincarnation and suspected it had preserved his memories and shaped his path after reincarnation.
• Xu Xiaoshou wondered whether the Source of Time and Space could reveal the truth about his origins and the forces guiding him.

Xiao Kongtong challenged Hua Changdeng, hoping to learn from the Ghost Sword Immortal and buy time for Ba Zunan by enduring his attacks. His opening sword dragged the spectators into a vision of Hua Changdeng’s past, where the young Hua entered the Screen-and-Candle Grounds after an unworthy victory.

• Xiao Kongtong stepped forward after Hua Changdeng captured Zhu Yike and Li Fugui in the bronze lamp and began searching their souls.
• Xiao Kongtong challenged Hua Changdeng to release captives for each sword he endured and to wait an hour for Ba Zunan if he survived three swords.
• Mei Suren emerged from the Time Realm Rift, learned what was happening from Feng Tingchen, and recognized Xiao Kongtong’s resolve to seek the Dao.
• Xiao Kongtong used his Second World sword, Slay the Young, to pierce Hua Changdeng and pull the spectators into a scene from Hua Changdeng’s past.
• The vision showed Hua Changdeng entering the Screen-and-Candle Grounds as a young man, lamenting an unworthy victory and vowing to imprison himself for thirty years.

Xiao Kongtong used the Second World to challenge young Hua Changdeng, but Hua Changdeng’s Intent Ghost defeated his strongest techniques and killed him. Hua Changdeng ended the illusion after reminding Xiao Kongtong that seeing the Intent Ghost could not bring back the people he had lost.

• The spectators discussed Hua Changdeng’s past as the young Hua Changdeng slept beneath Broken Willow in the Screen-and-Candle Grounds.
• Xiao Kongtong sent the Kongtong Formless Sword from the future and struck Hua Changdeng, but Hua Changdeng stopped it with the Intent Ghost revealed through his Red-Character Ghost Talisman.
• Hua Changdeng summoned Fengdu and the Lords of the Ten Halls, who overwhelmed Xiao Kongtong and tore at his body and soul.
• Xiao Kongtong invoked Heaven’s Liberation: Kongtong Formlessness, shattered Ice-Fire Hell and the Ten Halls, and pierced the Fengdu manifestation.
• Hua Changdeng’s Intent Ghost struck Xiao Kongtong three times, killing him and sending his body and the Kongtong Formless Sword into the abyss.
• Hua Changdeng returned the Second World to the past and told Xiao Kongtong that the people he wanted to bring back could not be restored.

Xiao Kongtong survived Hua Changdeng’s devastating strike, recalled his teacher Ba Zunan, and tried to open the Mysterious Gate before Ba Zunan pulled him back. He rose again with transformed Sword Thought and faced Hua Changdeng with a mysterious finger technique, ending as he unleashed Dao Pointing: To Stop.

• As Xiao Kongtong fell into the abyss, he relived meeting Ba Zunan on Great Fortune Street and remembered the teacher who had changed his life.
• Xiao Kongtong crashed onto Lingyu Mountain and, inspired by Ba Zunan’s words, summoned the Kongtong Formless Sword and opened the Mysterious Gate.
• Ba Zunan appeared before Xiao Kongtong and pulled him away from the gate, telling him to sleep and leave the rest to his teacher.
• Mei Suren caught the unconscious Xiao Kongtong, but Xiao Kongtong rose again as silver Sword Thought surged from his wounds.
• Xiao Kongtong faced Hua Changdeng and pointed two fingers at him, unleashing Dao Pointing: To Stop.

Ba Zunan used Xiao Kongtong’s body to battle Hua Changdeng on Lingyu Mountain, countering Fengdu’s defenses with layers of sword techniques and illusions. He finally tricked Hua Changdeng into raising his Intent Ghost, struck him with Xiao Kongtong’s stopped finger, and forced the Holy Emperor to retreat half a step.

• Ba Zunan appeared through Xiao Kongtong and met Hua Changdeng’s Ten-Stage Sword Finger with Ghost Hunter and the Hundred Ghost Altar.
• Ba Zunan halted his finger strike, spread a ripple of Sword Thought, and unleashed Myriad Sword Technique attacks that Hua Changdeng countered with Fengdu’s gates.
• Hua Changdeng recognized the Sunset Angel as an Illusion Sword Technique feint and let its swords pass through his body without harm.
• Ba Zunan revealed an Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion, then projected a young version of himself from the night sky and made Hua Changdeng raise his Intent Ghost.
• Xiao Kongtong’s stopped finger passed through the Hundred Ghost Altar and struck Ghost Hunter into Hua Changdeng’s nose, making him stumble back half a step.

Ba Zunan briefly appeared through Xiao Kongtong and forced Hua Changdeng back, then refused to reveal his Sword Self until Hua could enter the Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion. Meanwhile, Xu Xiaoshou used the Source of Time and Space to undo the Passive System, which transformed into a black roulette wheel.

• Ba Zunan used Xiao Kongtong to clash with Hua Changdeng, forcing the Ghost Sword Immortal back half a step before Xiao collapsed from his severe injuries.
• Hua Changdeng asked Ba Zunan about his Sword Self, and Ba said he would fight if Hua could enter the Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion.
• Hua Changdeng gave Mei Suren one hour to wait, while Ba told Kong Yuhen that his victory had been a clever trick and asked after Xu Xiaoshou.
• Xu Xiaoshou pressed the Source of Time and Space against the Passive System interface, preparing to lose his skills and cultivate anew if necessary.
• Xu Xiaoshou remembered Greed God and the resources available to him, and the reversal ended with the Passive System replaced by a black roulette wheel.

Xu Xiaoshou broke the black wheel and glimpsed a meeting between the Name Ancestor, the Time Ancestor, and the Nuo Ancestor as they discussed a coming great calamity. The Name Ancestor chose to use the Nine-Lifetime World-Breaking Fruit and reincarnate through nine lives in parallel, accepting that failure could leave him unable to return.

• Xu Xiaoshou snapped the pointer on the black wheel, and its destruction pulled his consciousness into a misty scene with three figures.
• Xu Xiaoshou identified the black-robed figure as the Name Ancestor and the pale-gold-robed figure as the Time Ancestor, who was called Kong Yuhen.
• The Nuo Ancestor agreed that the Name Ancestor's plan to seek a way through reincarnation could work, provided they took measures against the coming great calamity.
• The Name Ancestor proposed nine simultaneous reincarnations, and the Nuo Ancestor offered his Nine-Lifetime World-Breaking Fruit.
• The Nuo Ancestor warned that later lives would make transcendence increasingly difficult and that failure could strand the Name Ancestor in reincarnation.
• The Name Ancestor accepted the risk and declared that he would die trying if he did not succeed.

Xu Xiaoshou considered whether he was connected to the Name Ancestor through reincarnation and parallel timelines, then watched the three ancestors debate how the Time Ancestor should protect the Name Ancestor during his lives. The discussion ended with Nuozu warning that after enough reincarnations, the Name Ancestor’s identity would change.

• Xu Xiaoshou weighed whether his former self or his current self was the Name Ancestor, using the Black Turntable and the nature of parallel time to question their connection.
• Xu Xiaoshou moved closer to the scene and watched Nuozu propose that the Time Ancestor create nine protective avatars across the Name Ancestor’s lifetimes.
• The Name Ancestor rejected the plan, warning that the Time Ancestor could lose himself in the River of Time if he split into too many forms.
• The Time Ancestor agreed to create nine avatars, and the Name Ancestor warned that the arrangement could leave him guarding the Name Ancestor for ten thousand lifetimes.
• Nuozu argued that the Nine-Lifetime World-Breaking Fruit would make ten thousand lifetimes unnecessary and warned that the Name Ancestor might no longer be the Name when they met again.

Xu Xiaoshou watched the Time Ancestor split the River of Time into nine streams and discovered scenes from Void Island’s distant past, including the Heavenly Ancestor’s birth and his own appearance. As the three Ancestors discussed reincarnation and their roles in an approaching calamity, Nuozu began a mysterious ritual with the Name Ancestor’s and Time Ancestor’s blood and hair.

• Xu Xiaoshou strengthened his sense of self as the Time Ancestor summoned the River of Time and divided it into nine parallel streams.
• Xu Xiaoshou found Void Island in one stream and watched the Heavenly Ancestor’s birth, the Devil Ancestor’s arrival, and glimpses of his own era.
• The Time Ancestor said that everything they saw was the past, leaving Xu Xiaoshou puzzled about how the worlds beyond the doors related to time.
• Nuozu stopped the discussion of the coming calamity and conjured the Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion’s wooden turntable.
• Nuozu collected blood and hair from the Name Ancestor and Time Ancestor, then began a ritual that revealed his own black blood.

Xu Xiaoshou witnessed Nuozu prepare a black dial to guide and protect Name Ancestor after his Reincarnation, then realized the summoned mosquito may have been Nuozu’s long-delayed reminder. After confirming that the Passive System remained intact, Xu Xiaoshou prepared to use the Gate of Reincarnation to investigate his own past.

• Nuozu painted the wooden dial with blood and gu worm corpse fluid, claiming it would help Name Ancestor grow after Reincarnation and let his incarnation locate him.
• As the vision faded, Xu Xiaoshou saw Nuozu summon a tiny black mosquito, then woke from a nightmare and suspected a mosquito he had once swatted had been Nuozu’s contingency plan.
• Xu Xiaoshou found that the black dial had become the red Passive System interface inside his Purple Mansion Yuan Ting, and he used Transformation to imitate the three ancestors before summoning a mosquito.
• Xu Xiaoshou reconsidered Kong Yuhen’s plans and decided to question the Devil Ancestor about cooperation without giving away the secrets he had learned.
• Xu Xiaoshou remained in the world behind the second door, grasped the golden bead, and pressed it toward the Gate of Reincarnation to investigate his own Reincarnation.

In the starry sky, the Old Locust Tree, Sui Yin, and the Devil Ancestor discussed Xu Xiaoshou, Hua Changdeng, and their plans, while the Devil Ancestor dismissed Xu as a nobody. Xu Xiaoshou then witnessed a reincarnation vision in which Nuozu confronted Kong Yuhen over countless failed cycles and the missing Name Ancestor, before a changed Kong Yuhen addressed him as Master Xi He.

• The Old Locust Tree, Sui Yin, and the Devil Ancestor discussed the extra hour, Hua Changdeng, and the danger Xu Xiaoshou posed as a source of unpredictable variables.
• Sui Yin warned the others not to underestimate Xu Xiaoshou, but the Devil Ancestor mocked its caution and called Xu Xiaoshou a nobody.
• Xu Xiaoshou arrived in a ruined world through the Gate of Reincarnation and saw Nuozu accuse Kong Yuhen of enduring 129,600 reincarnations without finding an end.
• Nuozu revealed that Name Ancestor had rejected his protection, sent his protective talisman into the past, and placed himself in reincarnation toward the future.
• Nuozu repeatedly attacked Kong Yuhen and his incarnations, then stopped when a refined, weakened Kong Yuhen appeared and respectfully addressed him as Master Xi He.

Xu Xiaoshou witnessed Time Ancestor and Nuozu discuss a plan to use reincarnated people’s heavenly mandates to restore Name Ancestor, realizing that his own life had been arranged as part of that plan. Back in the hospital room, he suspected the third door might reveal not truth but another attempt to influence his will, and hesitated to open it.

• Nuozu calmed after Kong Yuhen spoke, admitted the great calamity had made Him unable to control “us,” and kept His distance while Kong Yuhen presented the Gate of Reincarnation.
• Kong Yuhen proposed binding the Gate of Reincarnation to Nuozu’s black disc so chosen souls could reincarnate into Name’s fallen vessel, preserving their discovery and steadfastness while borrowing their heavenly mandates.
• Nuozu condemned the plan as sacrificing other lives to restore Name, but restrained His killing intent after Kong Yuhen argued that the reincarnated person could choose whether to become Name Ancestor.
• Xu Xiaoshou realized his former life had been Name Ancestor’s reincarnated vessel and that his qualities had been cultivated to help Name awaken, though he was now grateful he remained himself.
• Xu Xiaoshou awoke from a nightmare in the hospital room, considered that Nuozu might be the only Ancestor to have succeeded at Self-Discernment, and worried about resisting the Ancestors’ influence.
• Back in the chaos before the third door, Xu Xiaoshou hesitated to open it, suspecting it would expose him to influence rather than reveal the truth.

Xu Xiaoshou entered the world beyond the third door and was imprisoned facing away from the River of Time. After tens of thousands of years spent enduring the trap and cultivating his will, he finally turned around, recovered his memories, and met Dian Nuo, who said he had waited ten epochs.

• Xu Xiaoshou pushed open the third door despite his fears about Time and Nuo, then found himself unable to turn toward the River of Time or leave.
• Xu Xiaoshou spent years and centuries struggling against the imprisonment while cultivating Name and the sword, eventually sealing away his memories to keep from losing himself.
• After thousands of years, Xu Xiaoshou gradually regained control of his body, turned his head, and beheld the River of Time.
• Xu Xiaoshou turned his body to face the river, remembered his past and his reason for entering the world, and recognized the voice of Dian Nuo.
• Xu Xiaoshou cast his will across the River of Time and saw Dian Nuo beside a bonfire on the opposite bank; Dian Nuo said he had waited ten epochs.

Xu Xiaoshou escaped the River of Time predicament after hearing the Nuo Ancestor explain the Dharma Ending Great Calamity, the deaths of the Name Ancestor and Time Ancestor, and his own role in tempering Xu Xiaoshou’s will. He woke in Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion with Ba Zunan and Kong Yuhen, and discovered that his Will Dao Disk had reached 99%.

• Xu Xiaoshou watched the Nuo Ancestor reveal that the Name Ancestor and Time Ancestor had fallen, while He alone had survived the Dharma Ending Great Calamity.
• The Nuo Ancestor admitted that He had severed the River of Time to create a predicament that would temper Xu Xiaoshou’s will, and told him to seek the Ancestral Court Great Demon Mountain after the Heavenly Realm if he wished to help.
• The River of Time predicament shattered, and Xu Xiaoshou returned to the chaos after his Time Dao Disc’s Transcendent Dao Transformation, reflecting on the Nuo Ancestor’s words before the chaos collapsed.
• In Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion, Ba Zunan vowed to stay and rescue Xu Xiaoshou if necessary while Kong Yuhen waited with him.
• Xu Xiaoshou awoke, and Ba Zunan sensed the depth of his experience in his eyes.
• Xu Xiaoshou checked his Passive System and saw that his Time Dao Disc was at 90% and his Will Dao Disk was at 99%.

Xu Xiaoshou used his newly advanced Intent and Time Dao Disks to return to the past and confront Sui Yin, humiliating the Ancestor God and then stabbing Evil God Shen Yi in the eye with Hidden Pain. The chapter ended with Hidden Pain burrowing into the eye as Sui Yin’s past self was left at Xu Xiaoshou’s mercy.

• Xu Xiaoshou raised his Will Dao Disk to 99% and prepared to challenge Sui Yin by using his mastery of intent and time.
• Xu Xiaoshou traveled back to the Relics of the Gods, where Sui Yin was about to use Reversal of Forgotten Appearances against his World-Apart Independence.
• Xu Xiaoshou disrupted Sui Yin’s technique by shoving his fingers into Evil God Shen Yi’s mouth and slapping him, sending Sui Yin’s enormous eye flying backward.
• Xu Xiaoshou summoned Hidden Pain and used the Blade of the Fallen Kingdom to leave Evil God Sui Yin’s consciousness blank.
• Xu Xiaoshou drove Hidden Pain into Evil God Shen Yi’s right eye and used Dao Pointing · Dripping Water Pierces Stone to force the blade into the eyeball.

Xu Xiaoshou returned from the past after striking Sui Yin and disrupting its time technique, then concealed his actions from the Ancestors. Back at the Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion, he recovered memories of the mortal world and asked Ba Zunan and Kong whether they knew of the Dao Ancestor.

• Sui Yin concealed Xu Xiaoshou’s past attack from the Devil Ancestor and Medicine Ancestor, then contacted Dao Qiongchang for advice.
• Dao Qiongchang urged Sui Yin to follow the original plan and remain dormant, while promising to handle Xu Xiaoshou himself.
• Xu Xiaoshou returned to Ba Zunan and Kong, revealed that he had struck Sui Yin, and confirmed that his actions had disrupted Sui Yin’s technique.
• Xu Xiaoshou used the Will Dao Disk to guide attention away from himself and recovered memories about the Heavenly Origin Emperor Realm, Turtle Boy, and the Dao Ancestor.
• Xu Xiaoshou sat with Ba Zunan and Kong and asked whether they knew of the Dao Ancestor.