Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi confronted Commander Shao and forced him to swear that the group could leave the flying vessel after passing through the passage. Though the commanders departed, Xu Yi warned that they had to expect betrayal and relied on Ning Wuque to keep gathering power from the Heavenly Decline experts.

• Commander Shao attacked Xu Yi, but lightning from Ning Wuque disrupted him and Gold Corpse Old Cao pulled Xu Yi back.
• Ning Wuque and Xiong Bei Ming killed Heavenly Decline experts, whose starlight drifted toward the temple master, forcing Commander Shao to negotiate.
• Xu Yi demanded safe passage off the vessel and made Commander Shao swear a blood oath before he and the others left.
• After Xuan Lengyan sealed the cabin, Xu Yi said they must assume the oath was unreliable and told Ning Wuque to kill the last two Heavenly Decline cultivators.
• Ning Wuque reported that eighty breaths remained as his power continued to build.

Xu Yi turned the trap aboard the vessel against Commander Shao and Meng Temple Master, saving his group and capturing Meng Temple Master's bone flute. The standoff ended with Xu Yi sealing the cabin door, leaving Commander Shao and his allies outside without answers.

• Xu Yi ordered the group to attack the cabin ceiling as the Heavenly Decline powerhouses revived, causing the powerhouses to collapse in agony.
• Commander Shao and Meng Temple Master stopped the attack and opened the cabin, but Gold Corpse Old Cao shot out and seized Meng Temple Master's black bone flute before golden chains pulled him back.
• Xu Yi confronted Commander Shao while the group stood unharmed inside the cabin and the Heavenly Decline powerhouses returned to stillness.
• Xu Yi suggested that one of Commander Shao's own squad officers had interfered, prompting the officers and Commander Shao to prove their identities with a jade token.
• Xu Yi prepared to end the conversation, and Xuan Lengyan sealed the cabin door after he prompted her.

Xu Yi reclaimed the bone flute and used its patterns to help Xuan Lengyan control the Heavenly Decline experts, but the flying ship was nearing its destination. With Xuan Lengyan needing time to master the flute, Xu Yi chose to leave the cabin and try talking to their enemies despite having lost his cultivation.

• Xu Yi explained how he had anticipated the Heavenly Decline experts could be controlled and arranged to seize the bone flute from Gold Corpse Old Cao.
• Xuan Lengyan discovered the flute’s patterns were its notes, and Xu Yi drew the ripples he remembered from Meng Temple Master’s playing.
• Xuan Lengyan played the flute using Xu Yi’s drawn patterns, restoring the Heavenly Decline experts’ movement.
• Ning Wuque announced that time was up, and Xiong Bei Ming warned the group they would be trapped once the ship reached its destination.
• Xu Yi rejected an immediate fight, gathered Origin Seal Beads, and told Xuan Lengyan to master the flute while he went out to talk.
• Xuan Lengyan opened the cabin door, fearing that she and Xu Yi might die together.

Xu Yi negotiated with Commander Shao aboard the flying vessel, then used the Four-Colored Seal to pull him and the others into the Purple Domain Space. The seal destroyed the vessel’s spatial array and sent the powerless ship plunging toward the ground, while Xu Yi attacked Commander Shao inside the domain.

• Xu Yi found that the flying vessel had reached Western Ox Continent and confronted Commander Shao, who had been waiting for the group to arrive.
• Xu Yi offered to leave the vessel and give Commander Shao a treasure in exchange for ending the conflict, and Commander Shao agreed to negotiate.
• Xu Yi revealed the Four-Colored Seal, captivating Commander Shao and Meng Temple Master with its immortal aura.
• A golden portal appeared as the seal shattered the vessel’s spatial array, causing the flying vessel to lose power and plunge from the sky.
• Xu Yi entered the Purple Domain Space with Commander Shao, Meng Temple Master, and three squad officers, then transformed into a giant ape and charged Commander Shao.

Xu Yi captured Commander Shao, Meng Temple Master, and three squad leaders, then questioned them about Wish Beads and their cultivation. After discovering two jade seals that alarmed Commander Shao, Xu Yi offered to spare him if he revealed his secrets.

• Xu Yi used his giant ape form to knock out Commander Shao, Meng Temple Master, and the three squad leaders, then bound them with Dragon Binding Ropes.
• Xu Yi questioned Squad Leader Cao about a green Wish Bead and learned how Wish Beads fused the Divine Infant with the body.
• Squad Leader Cao explained that Wish Beads could only be used by those whose Divine Infant and body were strong enough to withstand wish power, and Xu Yi considered using them before Lightning Tribulation.
• Xu Yi questioned Squad Leader Xia and Squad Leader Zhu, who confirmed the information Squad Leader Cao had provided.
• Xu Yi woke Commander Shao and showed him two jade seals, one bearing a Crescent Moon with Three Stars and the other a Demon Race totem.
• Xu Yi offered to let Commander Shao live if he revealed why the seals mattered to him.

Xu Yi forced Commander Shao to reveal his ties to the Divine Temple, then refined both authority seals and questioned him about wish pearls and the realms of humans and demons. He woke Meng Temple Master with the wish pearls and Crescent Moon Three Stars Seal, and Meng erupted in anger before demanding to know where the seal came from.

• Xu Yi threatened to wake Meng Temple Master, and Commander Shao admitted that the Crescent Moon Three Stars Seal was the Divine Temple's seal and that he was its spy.
• Xu Yi used the Minor Cloud Crane Art to refine the Crescent Moon Three Stars Seal and then the Ancestor Demon Seal, despite Commander Shao's belief that the seals could not be refined by outsiders.
• Commander Shao explained the stages of human Transcendence and demonic Illusory Transformation, the role of wish pearls, and the hierarchy of the Western Ox Continent.
• Xu Yi knocked Commander Shao unconscious and woke Meng Temple Master, who had taken the form of an oversized yellow weasel with a golden snout.
• Meng Temple Master saw Xu Yi's more than thirty wish pearls and the Crescent Moon Three Stars Seal, cursed him as a Divine Temple remnant, and demanded to know where the seal came from.

After escaping the collapsing Purple Domain Space, Xu Yi found himself stranded without cultivation and hid in a forest to seek a way to regain strength. An experiment with Cloud Crane Pure Qi and a Wish Bead triggered an uncontrolled tempering process that left his Qi Sea Realm almost empty.

• Xu Yi killed Meng Temple Master and the other captives, then escaped as the Purple Domain Space collapsed and used the Four-Colored Seal to survive his fall.
• Xu Yi discovered that the Ruyi Pearl had been left behind and failed to sense Bai Jizi, but reasoned that Xiong Bei Ming and the others could manage without him.
• Xu Yi concealed himself in a forest cave and studied manuals on tempering the body with willingness before deciding to refine a Wish Bead.
• Xu Yi directed some Cloud Crane Pure Qi into his inner vortex, causing a Wish Bead to burst and its willingness to begin tempering his body and Divine Infant.
• The willingness concentrated on Xu Yi’s legs as the vortex vanished, his Infant Essence disappeared, and only one drop remained in his Qi Sea Realm.

Xu Yi used wish pearls to strengthen his body and discovered that wish power delayed the strange vortex, but his third Dragon Gate was about to disappear. He swallowed a Nine Spirit Sacred Blood Pill to break through the gate, then found the vortex had returned and consumed all his Mana Yuan.

• Xu Yi dissolved wish pearls, gaining Mana Yuan as the vortex repeatedly vanished and reappeared, and suspected wish power could treat it.
• After dissolving his thirtieth wish pearl, Xu Yi stopped to conserve the rest and realized his third Dragon Gate was on the verge of disappearing.
• Xu Yi refined a Nine Spirit Sacred Blood Pill with phoenix blood and Myriad Pill Aid Qi, then swallowed it.
• The pill's power shattered Xu Yi's third Dragon Gate and transformed his body as he circulated the Nine Revolutions Saint Creation Art.
• The strange vortex returned in Xu Yi's Qi Sea Realm and consumed the more than ten drops of Mana Yuan he had gathered.

Xu Yi awakened the Wrathful Chi Aspect and tested its three powerful monkey forms, but nine bolts of mystic thunder struck him unconscious. After recovering in Second Madam’s home, he examined Meng Temple Master’s tortoise shell and revealed hidden writing by channeling spiritual energy through the Demon Ancestor Seal.

• Xu Yi transformed into the Sky-Soaring Imp, the Water-Flowing Monkey, and the Three-Eyed Wrathful Chi Ape to test the Wrathful Chi Aspect’s abilities.
• Nine bolts of mystic thunder struck Xu Yi, and he lost consciousness.
• Xu Yi awoke seven days later in Second Madam’s home, where Cui’er told him that Second Madam had rescued him and was praying in seclusion.
• Xu Yi agreed to remain until Second Madam emerged, then set up a barrier and examined Meng Temple Master’s tortoise shell.
• Xu Yi channeled spiritual energy through the Demon Ancestor Seal into the tortoise shell, revealing hidden writing and a glowing pattern.

Xu Yi was caught in a household dispute when Second Madam was accused of adultery and her son Yun'er was taken hostage. He rescued Yun'er and returned him to Second Madam, leaving the household stunned by his strength.

• Xu Yi memorized the mysterious characters and spent two days studying Commander Shao's notebooks before Cui'er brought him to thank Second Madam.
• A middle-aged woman accused Second Madam of adultery, but the brocade-robed Eldest Master ordered her to leave.
• Cultivators warned the Eldest Master that his father was near death and that his rival Second Master had the advantage in the family-head succession struggle.
• Lei Ting brought in the unconscious Yun'er and surrounded the courtyard, while the middle-aged woman continued to accuse Second Madam.
• The Eldest Master tried to seize Second Madam, but Xu Yi stopped him, disarmed Lei Ting, rescued Yun'er, and revived the boy with spiritual liquid.

Xu Yi rescued Second Madam from the Lei family's power struggle, defeated the white-robed young man and his allies, and helped Lei Ming reclaim control of the family. He left Second Madam a Ruyi Pearl as a promise of help, then took Young Master Lei Er away and discovered that he had only three wish pearls.

• The white-robed young man arrived with the eight elders, revealed that he had inherited the family token, and demanded that Lei Ming kneel before him.
• Xu Yi struck down the white-robed young man and his entire party after mocking his ambition to become the Lei family's founding ancestor.
• Lei Ming's household urged him to make Second Madam his primary wife and name her son his heir, and Xu Yi gave Second Madam a Ruyi Pearl before leaving with Old Second Lei.
• The white-browed old man advised Second Madam to keep the pearl for an emergency, and Lei Ming promised to support her from then on.
• Xu Yi asked Young Master Lei Er what he had brought, and Lei Er said he had only three wish pearls because he had blown up his Starry Sky Ring.

Xu Yi forced Lei Ming to explain Western Ox Continent’s political structure and the importance of Wish Pearls, then decided to seek power by joining the army amid Fanyang Prefecture’s unrest. At Guangling, he learned that the purple cloud above the city held wish power that could become thousands of Wish Pearls, and he headed for the recruitment station.

• Xu Yi struck Lei Ming and forced him to describe the region, its unrest, and how the Ancestral Court and Church controlled Wish Pearls.
• Xu Yi decided to enter the turmoil to obtain Wish Pearls and forced Lei Ming to guide him toward the nearest major city.
• Xu Yi and Lei Ming reached Guangling, where Xu Yi noticed a purple cloud above the city and pressed Lei Ming to explain it.
• Lei Ming revealed that the cloud was gathered wish power and that Guangling could produce at least ten thousand Wish Pearls.
• Xu Yi took Lei Ming toward the city gate and declared that they would join the army, where they found a recruitment station.

After surviving nearly a month in Fanyang Prefecture’s army, Xu Yi spent a quiet evening with Cheng Yan and Zhong Wu, two squadmates with very different reasons for risking their lives. Zhong Wu decided to remain in Xu Yi’s Geng Squad because he trusted Xu Yi’s ability to keep the squad alive.

• Xu Yi rested after dinner while Cheng Yan offered him two Hundred Spirits Fruits in gratitude for saving his life.
• Zhong Wu teased Cheng Yan for staying in the army to earn another wish pearl and redeem Xueli Mei, and Xu Yi stopped him from insulting her.
• Xu Yi reflected on how cultivators’ outlooks changed after they realized wish pearls and the authorities’ monopoly made advancement beyond the Calamity Tribulation Realm difficult.
• Zhong Wu said he had enlisted only to earn a wish pearl and asked Xu Yi not to favor Cheng Yan, while Xu Yi suggested he join Squad Leader Liu’s Ding Squad instead.
• Cheng Yan urged Zhong Wu to transfer to Squad Leader Liu’s stronger squad, but Zhong Wu chose to stay in Geng Squad because he trusted Xu Yi’s judgment and ability to anticipate danger.

Xu Yi became leader of the newly merged Third Squad, astonishing the soldiers when he revealed that he had survived nine battles. As he rested before the coming battle, he reflected on the wish beads he had earned and the strength that had kept him alive.

• Cheng Yan reported that understrength squads would merge, and Xu Yi learned that Squad G would join Squad C.
• Cheng Lian challenged Xu Yi for leadership, boasting of his five battle merits, but Jia Kang announced that Xu Yi had already been named leader of the new squad.
• Cheng Lian demanded an explanation, so Xu Yi showed his merit token with nine marks and convinced Cheng Lian and the others to accept his command.
• Xu Yi returned to rest beneath the elm tree while Cheng Yan kept watch, and he counted the twenty-three wish beads he had accumulated.

Xu Yi used twenty-three wish pearls to try to break through to the Mortal Transformation First Realm, but remained at pale gold and concluded that his unusual circumstances might explain the failure. He returned to camp as a massive army marched to Guangling City, determined to give everything in the coming battle.

• Xu Yi entered a cave before dawn and refined all twenty-three wish pearls, but his lower limbs stayed pale gold and he failed to break through.
• Xu Yi reasoned that Commander Shao’s qualification that cultivators advanced within a certain range left room for unusual cases, then returned to camp.
• Xu Yi and Cheng Yan rushed to the drill ground before the final drumbeat and joined their unit as the army assembled for battle.
• A black-armored elder promised doubled rewards and bonuses, and the troops marched toward Guangling City.
• Xu Yi noted that the wish cloud above Guangling City was nearing gold and that the garrison was short on soldiers as the rebels grew stronger.
• Xu Yi prepared to fight at full strength by refining more than twenty wish pearls, temporarily making the vortex disappear so he could use his spiritual power.

Xu Yi led his squad through a brutal battlefield assault and then killed Tong Ba, the enemy commander responsible for the deaths of three leaders. His sudden victory made him the center of attention on the battlefield.

• Xu Yi guided his squad through spiritual formation attacks and Spirit Cannon fire, saving them from several strikes.
• Xu Yi led the squad against charging Tiger-Tearing Beasts, saving Cheng Yan and keeping the third squad from being wiped out.
• Commander Kong Dian, Deputy Commander Zhao, and Commander Dong died, and the enemy announced that Tong Ba of Beiling had killed them.
• Xu Yi and three others charged Tong Ba after the prefectural army offered its highest merit and twenty Wish Pearls for his death.
• Xu Yi used the Three Hearts Two Minds Sword to shatter Tong Ba's spear and kill Tong Ba, his mount, and rider alike.

After Xu Yi killed Tong Ba and earned a major reward, Zhong Wu warned him that his battlefield fame could make him a target in the struggle over vacant command posts. Zhong Wu advised Xu Yi to approach Li Tang, but Huang Wei arrived before they could continue.

• Xu Yi blocked the enemy's spirit arrows, but a golden orb was shattered by a wave of light from the cloud platform, ending the battle and sending both sides into retreat.
• The camp rewarded Xu Yi with wish pearls for leading his squad and killing Tong Ba, and the soldiers hailed him as Fierce Squad Leader.
• Cheng Yan offered Xu Yi a wish pearl in gratitude for saving his life, but Xu Yi refused to accept it.
• Zhong Wu warned Xu Yi that Li Tang and Huang Wei might see his battlefield success as a threat to their claims on vacant posts.
• Zhong Wu advised Xu Yi to reassure Li Tang that he had no ambitions for higher command and suggested he could then become military law officer.
• Cheng Yan announced that Military Law Officer Huang had arrived.

Xu Yi was deceived into signing a recommendation that Li Tang and his allies intended to use to sideline him, while they planned their own promotions. Their scheme collapsed when Cao Bao announced that Xu Yi had already become the new Regimental Commander.

• Zhao Ling and Huang Wei praised Xu Yi and persuaded him to sign a petition recommending him for Military Law Officer.
• Li Tang, Zhao Ling, and Huang Wei celebrated, believing Xu Yi had accepted the post and would no longer threaten their plans.
• Zhao Ling warned Li Tang and Huang Wei to win Commander Shen's favor to secure further promotions, and Li Tang agreed to offer a bribe.
• Cao Bao rushed in and announced that the Record of Merit Officer had named Xu Yi the new Regimental Commander.
• Li Tang struck Cao Bao in anger, while Huang Wei wondered whether Xu Yi's accomplishments had prompted the Colonel to intervene.

Xu Yi secured the post of Regimental Commander by giving all twenty-four of his reward wish beads to Shen Wuhai, while Li Tang and Huang Wei learned they had been outmaneuvered. After his inauguration, Zhong Wu warned Xu Yi that his enemies’ public congratulations might not be sincere.

• Zhao Ling learned that Xu Yi had met secretly with Shen Wuhai, and he explained to Li Tang and Huang Wei how Xu Yi had arranged his promotion.
• The Record of Merit Officer officially appointed Xu Yi as Regimental Commander of Fifth Regiment, leaving Zhong Wu stunned.
• Xu Yi’s past meeting with Shen Wuhai was revealed: he had offered all twenty-four wish beads from his reward, securing approval for the transfer.
• At Xu Yi’s inauguration, Li Tang and Huang Wei publicly praised his promotion and promised to serve under him.
• Xu Yi made Cheng Yan his personal guard and put off Zhong Wu’s request for the same role.
• Zhong Wu privately warned Xu Yi that Li Tang and Huang Wei might not have meant their congratulations sincerely.

Xu Yi learned about possible attacks from within his own ranks, studied his new commander's manuals through the night, and joined the army as it marched toward a decisive battle over the vow-beads. The chapter ended with the opposing commander challenging Ming Liding and accusing him of trying to claim the beads for himself.

• Zhong Wu warned Xu Yi that Li Tang and Huang Wei might arrange a covert attack and described military schemes for harming rivals.
• After Zhong Wu left, Xu Yi studied the Ancestral Court Code and military manuals until dawn.
• Ming Liding assembled the troops, announced the vow-cloud would condense into vow-beads that day, and promised double rewards for victory while singling out Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi marched with the army to Guangling City, where the vow-cloud had turned gold and the rebels had formed outside the walls.
• Xu Yi focused on the Huang Temple Master, learned the vow-beads would form within an hour, and heard the opposing commander challenge Ming Liding to settle the battle themselves.