Chapter Summaries

Zhong Shan lured Zhi Guang Arhat into a memorial hall and killed him while avenging his wife, Wei Kui Er. After absorbing the Bodhi Seed and advancing one level, Zhong Shan agreed to help Nian Youyou capture a mysterious beast that steals fortune or merit through dreams.

• Nian Youyou brought Zhi Guang Arhat to Zhong Shan, who separated them from the outside with a formation and revealed Wei Kui Er's memorial tablet.
• Zhong Shan sealed Zhi Guang Arhat with the Black Jade Talisman, but Zhi Guang's Primordial Spirit escaped and attacked him inside his Niwan Palace.
• The Eight Extremes Heavenly Tail devoured the Bodhi Seed and Zhi Guang's Primordial Spirit, allowing Zhong Shan to break through to the fourth level of the Nascent Soul Stage.
• Zhong Shan beheaded Zhi Guang Arhat and placed his head before Wei Kui Er's tablet, while news of the Arhat's death caused chaos in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
• Zhong Shan told Nian Youyou he had eaten the Bodhi Seed, then agreed to capture her desired beast after she explained that it could lure people into dreams and steal their fortune or merit.

Nian Youyou explained how she had been trapped in dreams by the little beast and brought Zhong Shan into the depths of the Refining Heart Blue Sea to find it. They fell asleep and entered a dream where Zhong Shan lived as Xu Xian and met Nian Youyou, who appeared as Bai Suzhen.

• Nian Youyou told Zhong Shan about her repeated hundred-year dreams and the two possible ways to escape them.
• Zhong Shan accompanied Nian Youyou deeper into the Refining Heart Blue Sea, where a blue illusion made them fall asleep.
• The little blue furball found the sleeping pair and celebrated as they entered a dream.
• In the dream, Xu Xian boarded a boat in the rain and met Bai Suzhen, who said she was traveling to seek refuge with relatives.
• When a voice called for Bai Suzhen from outside the boat, she secretly told Xiaoqing to stop playing as a gigantic green snake swam across the lake.

Zhong Shan realized his life as Xu Xian was a dream, but chose to keep it going while preparing for the events ahead. He began building a vast business operation, leaving Xiaoqing stunned by how quickly it accumulated wealth.

• Zhong Shan realized that more than a thousand days had not passed for the Soul Searching Stone and concluded he was dreaming as Xu Xian.
• Zhong Shan decided not to tell Nian Youyou he had awakened and planned to keep acting as Xu Xian while preparing for the coming months.
• Zhong Shan hired an old physician to run Bao'an Hall, sold the Household's belongings, and began doing business.
• Xiaoqing secretly followed Zhong Shan to a courtyard and discovered a cellar filled with an enormous amount of gold and silver.
• Xiaoqing watched Zhong Shan build a large commercial operation in only two hours a day, while almost none of its workers knew who he was.

After Fahai imprisoned Bai Suzhen in Leifeng Pagoda, Zhong Shan kidnapped Fahai’s disciples to force him to release her. When Fahai attacked and Xiaoqing killed the hostages, Zhong Shan hinted that a crisis at Jinshan Temple would make Fahai open the pagoda.

• After Bai Suzhen gave birth, Fahai seized her with his alms bowl and imprisoned her in Leifeng Pagoda, while Xiaoqing returned wounded.
• Zhong Shan moved the family’s money and, three months later, kidnapped Fahai’s thirty disciples to lure him to Leifeng Pagoda.
• Fahai arrived after receiving Zhong Shan’s ransom letter, and Zhong Shan held Liu Jing at knifepoint while demanding Bai Suzhen’s release.
• Zhong Shan denounced Fahai’s past actions and rejected his claims that Bai Suzhen’s imprisonment was justified, while Bai Suzhen urged her husband and Xiaoqing to flee.
• When Fahai refused to open the pagoda, Xiaoqing killed the thirty monks and stepped between Fahai’s attack and Zhong Shan, suffering a wound.
• Zhong Shan used his Sharp Shout to freeze Fahai, then told him to divine what had happened at Jinshan Temple.

Zhong Shan forced Fahai to release Nian Youyou by arranging the destruction of Buddhist temples and blaming the attacks on Fahai. The apparent deaths beneath Leifeng Pagoda turned out to be a dream, and Zhong Shan and Nian Youyou awoke in the Pure Land with Little Fur Ball caught stealing their merit and fortune.

• Zhong Shan revealed that Jinshan Temple had been destroyed by explosives, then another blast reduced Jingci Temple to ruins.
• Zhong Shan threatened to destroy every temple in Great Song and left inscriptions blaming Fahai as temples across Hangzhou exploded.
• Fahai released Nian Youyou from Leifeng Pagoda, but Zhong Shan said the remaining temple destructions could not be stopped.
• Fahai attacked Zhong Shan, Nian Youyou, and Xiaoqing, and the scene ended as their world collapsed and the dream shattered.
• Little Fur Ball was caught eating Zhong Shan and Nian Youyou's merit and fortune as Zhong Shan awoke and seized it.
• Nian Youyou woke from the dream and blushed when Zhong Shan teased her about her sleeping words.

Zhong Shan and Nian Youyou were confronted by Fragrant Aroma Bodhisattva, who accused them of killing her disciple, Zhi Guang Arhat. Nian Youyou’s master’s old friends protected her, but the chapter ended with Corpse Mister identifying Little Fur Ball as an Ancestor God Beast and urging Nian Youyou to flee with it.

• Zhong Shan gave Little Fur Ball to Nian Youyou, who remained unsettled by their shared dream of being married.
• Fragrant Aroma Bodhisattva arrived with monks, accused Zhong Shan and Nian Youyou of killing Zhi Guang Arhat, and attacked them with her overwhelming pressure.
• Nian Youyou rang Youyou Bell, summoning Senior Tian Ji, Senior Mo Bei, and Senior Cang Ao, who drove Fragrant Aroma Bodhisattva away and promised to protect her.
• Nian Youyou told the three experts that her master remembered their friendship, winning their continued support.
• In Nian Youyou’s courtyard, Corpse Mister recognized Little Fur Ball as an Ancestor God Beast and warned Nian Youyou to flee with it.

Mr. Corpse identified Nian Youyou’s Little Fur Ball as a juvenile Ancestor God Beast and warned that Golden Cicada Buddha would try to seize it. Nian Youyou left for the Eternal Life Realm with three powerful escorts, while Golden Cicada Buddha visited Zhong Shan and brought up Zhi Guang Arhat’s recent death.

• Mr. Corpse told Nian Youyou that Little Fur Ball had created the Refining Heart Blue Sea and warned her to flee before Golden Cicada Buddha learned of it.
• Zhong Shan arranged for three Emperor Realm powerhouses to escort Nian Youyou back to her master in the Eternal Life Realm, and she named the beast Little Green.
• Nian Youyou left the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss with the three escorts, while Zhong Shan, Zhong Tian, and Mr. Corpse returned to their courtyard to await the Great Nirvana Assembly.
• Golden Cicada Buddha arrived with a group of Bodhisattvas and Arhats, then met Zhong Shan, Zhong Tian, and Mr. Corpse inside the courtyard.
• Golden Cicada Buddha told Zhong Shan that Zhi Guang Arhat had met with disaster a few days earlier.

Golden Cicada confronted Zhong Shan over Zhi Guang Arhat’s death, then recruited Zhong Tian as the missing Arhat for the Great Nirvana Assembly and showed Zhong Shan the eleven Immortal Steles. As the assembly began, Past Amitabha Buddha, Future Golden Cicada Buddha, and Present Guiyuan Buddha appeared on the three central lotus seats, while Bai Ye entered the Buddha Forbidden Hundred Thousand Great Mountains seeking the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

• Golden Cicada said Zhi Guang Arhat’s dying resentment had pointed to Zhong Shan, but agreed to stop pursuing the death because of a woman from his past.
• Golden Cicada asked to borrow Zhong Tian as the missing Arhat for the Great Nirvana Assembly, and Zhong Shan agreed after Zhong Tian nodded.
• Golden Cicada revealed the eleven Immortal Steles and left them under a Buddha restriction, telling Zhong Shan he could take them when he had the ability.
• Bai Ye entered the Buddha Forbidden Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and forced a monk to guide him to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
• The Great Nirvana Assembly began at the Buddha Altar, where Zhong Tian sat among the five hundred Arhats and twenty Bodhisattvas took their places.
• Past Amitabha Buddha and Future Golden Cicada Buddha appeared on the outer lotus seats, and Zhong Shan noticed Present Guiyuan Buddha already occupying the middle seat.

During the Great Nirvana Assembly, the Buddha Ancestor appeared through a tear in the heavens and bestowed three treasures. Zhong Shan absorbed the heavenly Buddhist light while the Buddha Ancestor sent two treasures to Zhong Tian, leaving the three Buddhas visibly displeased.

• The Arhats, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas began the Great Nirvana Assembly, filling the altar with golden light and sealing the spectators in absolute silence.
• A crack opened above the assembly, pouring down heavenly Buddhist light that Zhong Shan’s Eight Extremes Heavenly Tail frenziedly devoured.
• The three Buddhas opened the way for the Buddha Ancestor to appear, while thunderclouds gathered across the Pure Land and the Buddha Forbidden Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
• The Buddha Ancestor bestowed the Seven-Colored Buddhist Beads on Golden Cicada Buddha, but sent the Twenty-Four Heavens Dharma Wheel and golden swastika rune to Zhong Tian.
• Zhong Tian received the Dharma Wheel and absorbed the swastika rune into his brow, prompting the three Buddhas to turn coldly toward him.

After the Great Nirvana Assembly, Zhong Shan used a coded exchange with Zhong Tian to conceal the Buddha Ancestor’s insight and rejected Golden Cicada Buddha’s invitation, while returning the Twenty-Four Heavens Dharma Wheel. The chapter ended with Bai Ye arriving on behalf of the mysterious Great Qin Heavenly Dynasty and demanding that Golden Cicada honor an old promise by handing over Houtu.

• Zhong Shan broke through to the fifth layer of the Nascent Soul Stage as the Buddha Ancestor’s passage closed.
• Zhong Shan prompted Zhong Tian to claim he had received only one Buddha Treasure and describe the other as sealed insight.
• Golden Cicada Buddha invited Zhong Shan and Zhong Tian to join the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss and offered them the Bodhisattva Fruit, but Zhong Shan deferred his decision until after his mission.
• Zhong Shan returned the Twenty-Four Heavens Dharma Wheel to Gui Yuan Buddha, leaving Golden Cicada without grounds to detain him.
• Bai Ye stormed into the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, identified himself as Duke Wu An of the Great Qin Heavenly Dynasty, and told Golden Cicada that Emperor Ying demanded Houtu in fulfillment of an old promise.

Zhong Shan used a supposed imperial message to draw Bai Ye away from Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, then led Fragrant Aroma Bodhisattva into a trap. The group gathered above Yellow Springs Road, where Corpse Mister warned the formation would hold her for only ten days.

• Bai Ye refused to persuade Golden Cicada Buddha to surrender Hou Tu, then announced that Great Qin's Emperor had returned and called for Guigu.
• Zhong Shan revealed his identity to Bai Ye and claimed Great Luo's Emperor wanted to negotiate with Ying about Hou Tu, giving Bai Ye jade slips to verify the message.
• After Bai Ye departed, Zhong Shan told Zhong Tian that the slips carried information about the Great Nirvana Assembly and two Buddha Treasures, and warned him to keep the Buddha Ancestor's rune secret.
• Zhong Shan and Zhong Tian led five Great Ming Temple monks west, circling for nearly twenty days while Fragrant Aroma Bodhisattva followed them.
• Zhong Shan's group entered a dark canyon, and Fragrant Aroma Bodhisattva pursued them into a formation that trapped her; Zhong Shan, Zhong Tian, the monks, and Corpse Mister appeared above it.
• Corpse Mister identified the formation as Yellow Springs Road and said it could hold Fragrant Aroma Bodhisattva for at most ten days.

Zhong Shan escaped the Yellow Springs Road with Corpse Mister and learned that Nian Youyou’s master wanted her to kill him so she could advance in the Supreme Forget Love Art. Meanwhile, Shui Wuhen’s army found Bei Qing Si surrounded by the Nightmare Legion and prepared to intervene.

• Corpse Mister revealed a Yellow Springs Road that trapped Fragrant Aroma Bodhisattva, and Zhong Shan’s group fled before she could escape.
• Zhong Tian left with five monks for Great Ming Temple, while Zhong Shan and Corpse Mister discussed the stolen Bodhisattva corpses and went to meet Lin Xiao.
• Nian Youyou’s master told her that killing Zhong Shan would let her forget love and break through, but Nian Youyou wept and resisted.
• Shui Wuhen’s army discovered the Nightmare Legion surrounding a group of people, and Lin Xiao recognized the white-haired woman as possibly Bei Qing Si.
• Shui Wuhen confirmed Bei Qing Si’s identity, ordered Liu Wushuang to ready the troops, and commanded the archers to prepare to attack.

Shui Wuhen’s army helped Bei Qing Si defeat the Nightmare Legion, but she left to continue the Eternal Life Realm’s trial before Zhong Shan returned. Zhong Shan and Corpse Mister then infiltrated the Nightmare Legion’s hidden headquarters in disguise, where they posed as divine-seal bearers.

• Bei Qing Si met Shui Wuhen and the Zhong Family Army after they wiped out the Nightmare Legion, then declined to wait for Zhong Shan and left with her senior brothers to pursue the legion’s headquarters and leader.
• Zhong Shan questioned a captured Nightmare Legion commander, learned how divine seals and the legion’s chain of command worked, and decided to seek Bei Qing Si at the legion’s lair.
• Zhong Shan and Corpse Mister disguised themselves and used the commander to approach his superior’s valley, while Blazing Fire Wolf General shot the commander with an Armor Piercing Arrow.
• Zhong Shan and Corpse Mister pretended to be fleeing members of the Nightmare Legion, displayed imitation divine seals, and convinced the old man at the valley to accept their story.

Zhong Shan learned that the divine seals consumed lifespan and warned Old Zhao that headquarters might sacrifice him, while the Nightmare Legion sailed across the inland sea. Bei Qing Si caught up with the ship and froze the sea for thousands of li, trapping it in a giant iceberg.

• Old Zhao ordered Zhong Shan and Corpse Mister to report to headquarters in two days after collecting the Soul Searching Stone and human hearts.
• Bei Qing Si and the Eternal Life Realm group questioned a captured commander, then followed his directions toward the Nightmare Legion.
• Old Zhao led the Legion members to a dock and sailed them across the inland sea to avoid being spotted.
• Zhong Shan asked Old Zhao about his declining health and learned that using a divine seal consumed lifespan and that Nightmare Legion members depended on an antidote to survive.
• The small commander identified Old Zhao's bloodstained handkerchief and led Bei Qing Si's group to the dock, where they spotted the ship.
• Bei Qing Si froze the inland sea across a vast distance, encasing the ship and its passengers in a gigantic iceberg.

Bing Xuan and the Eternal Life Realm’s people offered to remove the divine marks if Old Zhao helped them reach headquarters and kill the master. After Zhong Shan persuaded the marked crew to take the risk, Bei Qing Si and the others prepared to pose as newly marked captives and travel with them.

• Bei Qing Si froze the ocean around the ship, then Bing Xuan arrived as the iceberg began to break apart.
• Old Zhao confronted Bing Xuan, who offered him a pill and promised the Eternal Life Realm could remove the divine marks in exchange for help killing the master.
• Old Zhao sent the crew into the cabin, where Zhong Shan explained that the marks consumed their lifespans.
• Old Zhao revealed the plan to disguise the Eternal Life Realm’s people as newly marked captives and take them to headquarters; Zhong Shan encouraged the crew to join the gamble, and they agreed.
• Old Zhao arranged disguises for the group, while Bei Qing Si darkened her hair and refused Bing Xuan’s request to share her method.

Zhong Shan and the disguised group reached Wild Duck City, where Se Kong arranged their lodging while they waited for the next stage of their journey. When Bing Xuan tried to use a box of Spring of Life to win Bei Qing Si’s favor, Zhong Shan challenged its purity and built a device to reveal the monsters he claimed were inside.

• Zhong Shan and Corpse Mister recognized Se Kong at Wild Duck City’s gates but kept their disguises as Old Zhao led the group inside.
• Se Kong welcomed the group and lodged them in a valley’s eastern courtyards, where they waited for others to arrive.
• Bing Xuan presented Bei Qing Si with Spring of Life from the Creation God Palace and asked her to address him more intimately.
• Zhong Shan interrupted, claiming the water contained impurities and fighting monsters, while Bei Qing Si played along by asking him to prove it.
• Zhong Shan fashioned a device from metal, lenses, and mirrors, then announced it would show everyone the monsters in the water.

Zhong Shan exposed Bing Xuan’s Spring of Life as contaminated by using a microscope, then later comforted Bei Qing Si by showing her the stars reflected in a basin of water. The chapter ended as he invited her to try grabbing the reflected stars.

• Zhong Shan showed everyone a microscope and used it to reveal tiny organisms in Bing Xuan’s Spring of Life.
• Bing Xuan cleaned the slide and tested another drop, but the organisms appeared again, prompting Zhong Shan to mock him before Bing Xuan angrily left.
• Bei Qing Si thanked Zhong Shan, and he gave her and Shi Si his assumed name, Zhong Shuai, while keeping his true identity hidden.
• At dusk, Bei Qing Si watched the stars from a mountain summit while Zhong Shan observed her from the pavilion.
• Zhong Shan joined Bei Qing Si, asked about her longing for Pure Water, and poured water into a basin to reflect the stars and moon for her.

Zhong Shan and the others learned that the Great Jin Emperor was likely the Nightmare Legion’s Master and prepared to confront him. The Emperor began preparations for a Yin Sacrifice, and Zhong Shan entered a horrific underground altar with the other captives.

• Zhong Shan gave Bei Qing Si a basin reflecting the stars before leaving her, and she watched him go in tears.
• Old Zhao suspected the Great Jin Imperial Dynasty was the Nightmare Legion’s headquarters, so Zhong Shan urged the Eternal Life Realm experts to gather in Wild Duck City.
• The Great Jin Emperor ordered Se Kong to guard Wild Duck City while he prepared a Yin Sacrifice for the following night, using captured people and souls to replenish the dragon vein’s fortune.
• Old Zhao led Zhong Shan and the assembled group into the imperial palace, where Se Kong briefly recognized Zhong Shan’s back but failed to identify him.
• Zhong Shan descended into a vast underground chamber and saw an altar connected to pools of Soul Searching Stones, human hearts, and dead infants.

The Great Jin Emperor performed an evil rite beneath the city, draining fortune and gathering ghosts to grow an infant-shaped fruit. As the fruit neared ripeness, he ordered his death warriors to kill the ceremony’s attendees and feed the altar.

• The Great Jin Emperor sealed the underground altar and began chanting, causing the dead infants to wail, ghosts to emerge, and the pool of hearts to glow.
• The altar’s Jade Platform drew in ghosts and evil energy, while a cyan tree grew from it and bore a purple, infant-shaped fruit that Zhong Shan recognized as resembling a Ginseng Fruit.
• The Great Jin Emperor ordered his death warriors to kill the gathered attendees, and the altar drained the energy from the dead.
• The trapped attendees fought the death warriors as the humanoid fruit neared ripeness and began to emit five-colored light.

The Great Jin Emperor slaughtered the altar’s marked victims to feed the humanoid fruit, then defeated Bei Qing Si and drew Zhong Shan into his Spiritual World. Zhong Shan faced him across a volcano while Corpse Mister moved toward the Evil Fruit, and the supposedly sealed Bei Qing Si secretly opened her eyes.

• The Eternal Life Realm experts and other victims organized a defense against the death warriors, but Bei Qing Si froze the underground altar and attacked the Great Jin Emperor.
• The Great Jin Emperor revealed his purple divine seal, overpowered Bei Qing Si, and detonated everyone implanted with a divine seal to fuel the humanoid fruit.
• Zhong Shan sealed the Great Jin Emperor’s body with talisman shadows, but Corpse Mister warned that his Primordial Spirit remained free.
• The Great Jin Emperor pulled Zhong Shan into his Spiritual World, where Zhong Shan found himself facing him across a volcano.
• Corpse Mister went to take the Evil Fruit as Bei Qing Si secretly blinked despite being sealed.