Chapter Summaries

After the Ask Dao Sect won the competition, Song Duantian let its disciples choose true flames from the Five Elements Sect’s collection. Lu Yang chose the Solar True Flame and heard the Everlasting Fairy’s story about the Ninth Immortal’s Golden Crow experiments.

• Lu Yang revealed that his Daoist Silent Words disguise had been a Wood Clone, and Yuan Gang accepted his master’s rebuke and withdrew.
• Song Duantian declared the Ask Dao Sect the winner and offered its disciples one chance each to choose a true flame.
• Li Haoran chose the Six Ding Divine Flame, while Meng Jingzhou chose the Phoenix Nirvana Flame for its healing ability.
• Lu Yang chose the Solar True Flame to strengthen his attacks.
• The Everlasting Fairy said the Ninth Immortal had tried to study yin and yang by pairing Golden Crows with Jade Rabbits, then shot down nine escaped Golden Crows.

Lu Yang comprehended the Golden Crow's True Flame, but his attempt to manifest it produced a two-legged golden bird instead of a three-legged Golden Crow. The other cultivators pursued different flames, while the Five Elements Sect elders debated whether Lu Yang was a threat.

• Lu Yang contemplated the Golden Crow's True Flame as Man Gu chose the Samadhi True Fire and Tao Yaoye chose the Southern Bright Separation Flame.
• Lu Yang's vision briefly led him toward merging lunar and solar powers, alarming the Five Elements Sect disciples and prompting the Metal Branch Elder and Song Duantian to consider dealing with him.
• Lu Yang cast aside the lunar power and successfully comprehended the Golden Crow's True Flame, causing his eyes to glow like suns.
• Lu Yang manifested the flame as a lifelike but two-legged bird, and Bai Ming concluded it was the Golden Bird's True Flame.

Lu Yang and the others comprehended different true flames, and the lineage elders praised Meng Jingzhou for mastering the Nirvana True Fire without realizing how much he regretted it. Bai Ming then led the group through the Five Elements Sect’s water vein, where they explored an underwater world inhabited by sea races.

• The Undying Fairy proposed three explanations for why Lu Yang’s Golden Crow True Flame took the form of a two-legged Golden Crow, and Lu Yang accepted it as a powerful true flame.
• Li Haoran comprehended the Liuding Divine Fire and used it to refine his wig, while Man Gu comprehended the Samadhi True Fire.
• Meng Jingzhou comprehended the Nirvana True Fire and Tao Yaoye comprehended the Southern Bright Li Fire; the lineage elders admired Meng Jingzhou’s perseverance, while he privately regretted choosing a fire that intensified his yang.
• Song Duantian let go of his grudge against Daoist Buyu, and the lineage elders and Qiu Jin'an left as the true flame seeds sank beneath the fire vein.
• Bai Ming led Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, Li Haoran, Man Gu, and Tao Yaoye into the water vein, explaining how an elder brought seawater and sea races from the Eastern Sea to the Five Elements Sect.

Bai Ming guided Lu Yang and the others through the Seafolk’s underwater domain and into the Ice Domain, where they endured the extreme cold. The group learned that ten-thousand-year-old ice was mostly a merchant scam, while Meng Jingzhou privately revealed his family had promoted it.

• Bai Ming explained that the Seafolk included merfolk, turtlefolk, sharkfolk, and clamfolk, and revealed that Tang Fuling was researching seawater salt production to sell illicit salt.
• The Undying Fairy recounted how the Kunpeng ancestor had asked the Five Immortals of antiquity to standardize units of measurement.
• Bai Ming led the group toward the Ice Domain, a vast iceberg region formed and reinforced by generations of Water Vein Elders.
• The group swam deeper into the Ice Domain until the cold slowed their spiritual energy, and Bai Ming called for them to stop.
• Bai Ming told Man Gu that claims about ten-thousand-year-old ice’s value were merchant hype, and Meng Jingzhou privately admitted his family had promoted it.

As winter brought a lull in attacks, the narrator weighed the planetary wills’ claims about a powerful third-party threat and learned that the zombie zone had split into eight factions. Suspecting the Zombie Planet’s planetary will had kept the news from them, they decided to investigate the Corpse Kings.

• The narrator considered siding with the Blue Star’s planetary will but worried that humanity could not unite against the third-party force described by the Zombie Planet’s planetary will.
• The doctor reported that the zombie zone had split into eight factions, each led by a self-proclaimed Corpse King competing to become the ultimate Corpse King.
• The narrator suspected the Zombie Planet’s planetary will had concealed the upheaval to keep them from learning about the Corpse Kings.
• The narrator planned to pack that night, take a day off, and investigate the zombie zone the next day.

Lu Yang learned how extreme cold and heat could stop time, then visited the Five-Element Sect’s Metal Vein and heard how its first elder acquired its ore deposits. The group arrived at the Metal Vein, where disciples practiced controlling magical treasures.

• The Undying Fairy explained that the Ninefold Immortal used extreme cold and heat to stop time, and Lu Yang concluded that different Dao Fruits could lead to the same destination.
• Lu Yang and the others entered the Metal Vein, where metal energy tingled against their skin until their Golden Cores protected them.
• Lu Yang observed Five-Element Sect disciples practicing control of magical treasures, and Bai Ming described the Metal Vein’s origins.
• Bai Ming said the first Metal Vein elder had moved ore veins to the sect, then bought them after the imperial court rejected his argument that the move was natural migration.
• Bai Ming revealed that the Meng family’s loan for the ore veins had been repaid sixty thousand years earlier.

Lu Yang and the other Ask Dao Sect guests learned about the Meng family's ancient conflict with the founding Xia Emperor before Bai Ming showed them the Earth Vein and Kong Ling's cultivation. At the Wood Vein, Shangguan Yu gave Lu Yang a Jianmu protective talisman after he called her Big Sister Shangguan.

• Meng Jingzhou said that he and his family did not know how their ancestor had lost to the founding Xia Emperor, and Man Gu shared what he had heard about the battle and the agreement between the two sides.
• Bai Ming took the five guests to the Earth Vein, where they learned its footprints were made by cultivators enlarging themselves through the Law of Heaven and Earth and the Art of Size.
• Kong Ling arrived after creating another footprint and was identified as the Earth Vein's senior-most disciple, nearing a breakthrough to the Body Integration Realm.
• Bai Ming led the group to the Wood Vein, where Shangguan Yu greeted Lu Yang and praised his cultivation progress.
• Shangguan Yu offered Lu Yang a protective talisman if he called her Big Sister, and Lu Yang accepted; the Everlasting Immortal identified the wooden token as Jianmu.

Lu Yang learned that Shangguan Yu’s wooden talismans were made from Constructive Wood, the true body of the Immortal of Years. After scanning the Wood Vein, the Everlasting Fairy discovered that the giant tree had suffered devastating attacks, leaving the Immortal of Years’s life and condition unknown.

• Lu Yang recognized Shangguan Yu’s wooden plaque as Constructive Wood, and the Everlasting Fairy said it came from the Immortal of Years.
• Shangguan Yu explained that a charred giant tree beneath the Wood Vein sustained its vitality and gave wooden talismans to Lu Yang and the others.
• The Everlasting Fairy scanned the Wood Vein and saw that the giant tree was scarred by fire, lightning, and other attacks.
• The Everlasting Fairy concluded that the tree was the Immortal of Years’s true body and that a great battle had destroyed much of it.
• The Everlasting Fairy told Lu Yang that the Immortal of Years might still be alive, but had lost his true body and was likely in a dire state.

Lu Yang and the others learned that the Jianmu was slowly regrowing from a fragment, while the Time Immortal’s fate remained unknown. At their lodging, they met Lin Shaoyou, whose dangerous new spell trapped him until Shangguan Yu’s lightning somehow failed to hurt him.

• The Everlasting Immortal recalled only that she had been sleeping when her soul began to float away, and she vowed to avenge the Time Immortal if she found the culprit.
• The Everlasting Immortal explained that the Jianmu beneath the Wood Vein would grow into a new tree, unrelated to the Time Immortal, and that its vitality had caused a nearby tree to grow unusually tall.
• Shangguan Yu arranged for Bai Ming to take Lu Yang and the others to their lodging at the junction of the five veins, where they encountered Lin Shaoyou.
• Bai Ming warned the group that Shangguan Yu hated being called old after Lin Shaoyou called her Grandma, and a lightning bolt struck him, though he emerged unharmed.
• Lin Shaoyou demonstrated a spell that combined the Seed-Planting Art with the Ground-Sealing Prison, then admitted he did not know how to dispel it and called for Shangguan Yu.
• Three bolts of lightning struck Lin Shaoyou without harming him, leaving him wondering how he had survived.

During a lecture on the five elements, Lu Yang recalled the Ancient Five Immortals’ cultivation knowledge and accidentally answered the elder’s question with details about their Dao Fruits. The lecture moved on to five-element spells, and Lu Yang was asked to explain how he had learned them.

• The Undying Fairy told Lu Yang how the Ninth Immortal chose the Dao Fruit of Yin and Yang after drawing lots three times and studied chaos and the five elements with the other immortals.
• The transmission elder called on Lu Yang, who had not heard the question, and Lu Yang listed the Dao Fruits of the Ninth Immortal, Responding Heaven Immortal, Time Immortal, and Qilin Immortal.
• The transmission elder failed to remember Lu Yang’s answer, accepted it as more or less correct, and explained how the number five appeared in the world and within Ask Dao Sect.
• The other four younger disciples pointed to Lu Yang when the transmission elder asked who knew the most about five-element spells.
• Lu Yang said he had learned the spells by practicing a little and following his gut.

Lu Yang demonstrated several unusual Five-Element spells to the cultivation instructor, who decided he had talent and taught him the Water-Splitting Technique. Lu Yang mastered it quickly, but his attempts made water vanish by splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen.

• Lu Yang showed the instructor his Golden Bird True Flame, Samādhi True Fire, Tree-Planting Art, and Shukuchi, then admitted he had not learned a Water-element spell.
• The instructor praised Lu Yang’s talent and taught him and his companions the Water-Splitting Technique, describing how a cultivator once divided a great river to help a town escape.
• Lu Yang grasped the technique’s principles in less than two hours, while Meng Jingzhou and the others struggled to make progress.
• Lu Yang tried splitting a water ball, but it vanished; the Undying Fairy explained that he had turned the water into invisible hydrogen and oxygen gases.

Lu Yang demonstrated his unusual Water-Splitting Technique in class, then accepted Li Haoran’s challenge to test their five-element spells. The fight left Lu Yang facing Li Haoran’s unexpected four-armed form and a volley of attacks.

• The transmission elder recognized that Lu Yang’s Water-Splitting Technique split water into two gases, though he could not explain how it also granted immunity to water-based attacks.
• Lu Yang burned up the quiz with the Golden Bird’s True Flame, and the transmission elder ended class with a dark expression.
• Li Haoran challenged Lu Yang, drawing on Qin Haoran’s memories of powerful spells, and Lu Yang accepted while warning him that curses would backfire.
• Li Haoran opened with Palm Thunder and Borrow the Wind, but Lu Yang’s Golden Bird’s True Flame blocked his attacks.
• Li Haoran revealed four arms after reconnecting his detached arms with his Rebirth Golden Core, then prepared to cast four spells at once.

Lu Yang defeated Li Haoran by combining spells and exploiting the air around them. Li Haoran surrendered after Lu Yang revealed he had altered the atmosphere throughout their fight.

• Meng Jingzhou used Nirvana True Fire with Samadhi True Fire to grow and roast new lambskin, while Man Gu resolved to learn from him and Lu Yang.
• Li Haoran attacked Lu Yang with four spells and poisoned bamboo, but Lu Yang countered with Arhat Fist and sent him flying.
• Lu Yang trapped Li Haoran in a Six-Zhang Golden Body, then used a clone, stored lake water, and fire to trigger an explosion inside it.
• Li Haoran escaped by swapping places with a hidden clone, but Lu Yang exposed the trick and continued the fight.
• Lu Yang explained that he had used the Water-Dividing Technique to increase the oxygen in the air, leaving Li Haoran dizzy, and Li Haoran surrendered.

Lu Yang defeated Li Haoran in a spar, and Li Haoran dissolved his flesh clone with bone-dissolving water, prompting the Elder of Transmission to question how righteous disciples knew its recipe. The next day, the Elder assigned the five disciples their roles in a Five-Element Battle Formation.

• Lu Yang defeated Li Haoran by combining Five-Element spells and exploiting Li Haoran's lack of combat experience.
• Li Haoran used bone-dissolving water to dispose of his flesh clone, and Man Gu alarmed the arriving Elder of Transmission by describing it as destroying a body and covering tracks.
• Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou explained that the group had been testing Lu Yang's combined spells, while Meng Jingzhou said the recipe came from supplies seized from the Undying Cult.
• The Elder of Transmission taught the Five-Element Battle Formation and assigned Lu Yang to Metal, Tao Yaoye to Wood, Meng Jingzhou to Water, Li Haoran to Fire, and Man Gu to Earth.

The Elders of Transmission taught Lu Yang and the others to coordinate their spiritual power through the Five-Element Battle Art, and their first combined strike split the ground. After the five learned to control the flow of power, he began the next exercise, arranging them in a circle to channel spiritual power at a steady pace.

• The Elders of Transmission had Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, Man Gu, Li Haoran, and Tao Yaoye sense one another’s cultivation realms and auras.
• The five channeled their spiritual power in sequence to Lu Yang, who released it as a massive sword strike that carved a deep fissure into the ground.
• The Elders of Transmission praised their first coordinated attack and explained that the Five-Element Sect elders had once used the art against their own sect elders, including during a clash involving Bu Yu.
• The Undying Fairy compared the technique to an idea from the Ninefold Immortal, which turned out to be Go-Moku.
• The five practiced channeling controlled amounts of spiritual power until they could regulate the flow, then the Elders of Transmission arranged them in a circle for the next exercise.

Shi Chan arrived at Ask Dao Sect for the immortal sect exchange and sought to learn Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou’s fist techniques, but both were away. Dai Bufan learned that Master Jiesha had taken the Hanging Temple’s cultivators to Desolate Province to find the Sect Master and warned the Grand Elder, who was impersonating him there.

• The five disciples blended their spiritual energy while practicing the Heaven-Swallowing Cultivation Method, surprising the transmission elder with how quickly they reached the required state.
• Shi Chan ate meat at a restaurant, argued that refusing to pay would mean no transaction had occurred, and left without paying.
• Shi Chan arrived at Ask Dao Sect, where Dai Bufan welcomed him and learned that Master Jiesha and the Hanging Temple’s cultivators had gone to Desolate Province to search for the Sect Master.
• Shi Chan asked to learn Lu Yang’s Arhat Fist and Meng Jingzhou’s Single Curse Fist, but Dai Bufan explained that both disciples were away at the Five Elements Sect.
• Dai Bufan warned the Grand Elder that Master Jiesha was searching Desolate Province, and the Grand Elder replied, “Tell me sooner next time.”

Shi Chan explored the Ask Dao Sect, tested the warnings about Yun Zhi, and then followed a cultivator to a barbecue shop that turned out to be run by a demonic cult master. He joined the master’s farm, where his slaughterhouse skills and powerful Rebirth Mantra startled the three ghost workers.

• Shi Chan admired the Ask Dao Sect’s lively atmosphere, refused an arena match, and asked its disciples about Lu Yang and Yun Zhi.
• Shi Chan went to Heaven Gate Peak and challenged Yun Zhi to fight at the late Golden Core stage, then limped away bruised and concluded she should not be provoked.
• Shi Chan followed a cultivator he suspected was from a demonic cult, only to find him delivering meat to a barbecue shop and inviting Shi Chan to eat.
• Shi Chan offered to work at the cultivator’s farm in exchange for the skewers and used Dai Bufan’s token to accompany him there.
• Shi Chan met the ghosts Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu, and Xiao Qi, butchered cattle with expert skill, and chanted a Rebirth Mantra that forced the ghosts to ask him to stop.

Shichan slaughtered a cow after attempting to let it choose its fate, inspiring Immortal Bu and the Immortal Sect congregation to study Buddhism as part of their reform. Dai Bufan later asked Yun Zhi how to handle Shichan’s unusual behavior, and she said it was unsurprising after he had challenged her.

• Shichan recited his self-written Cow Salvation Sutra to a cow, then killed it when it did not respond.
• Immortal Bu met Shichan, learned about his slaughterhouse rituals, and decided the Immortal Sect should adopt them to improve its image.
• Immortal Bu gathered the Sect Master, Vice-Sect Master Jin, Little Five, and others to propose that they study Buddhism under Shichan.
• Shichan agreed to teach the congregation, reassuring the three ghosts that ghosts could study Buddhism without accidentally being sent onward.
• Dai Bufan told Yun Zhi about Shichan’s activities, and she explained that his willingness to challenge her made his other actions unsurprising.

Lu Yang and the others completed their initial training in the Five-Element Battle Formation, then learned how its founder, Mr. Tiankui, created it after witnessing a game played by immortals. Lu Yang realized the game had been gomoku, and the Transmission Elder agreed to ask the Sect Master whether they could visit the immortal realm where it took place.

• The Transmission Elder praised Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and their companions for quickly mastering the Five-Element Battle Formation.
• The Transmission Elder explained that Mr. Tiankui founded the Five-Element Sect after a career of thwarted rebellion and a chance encounter with an immortal realm.
• The Transmission Elder recounted how Mr. Tiankui watched two immortals play a game for a hundred years and used the vision to create the Five-Element Battle Formation.
• Lu Yang connected the immortals' game and the woodcutter's presence to the Everlasting Immortal's story about Ying Tian Immortal, Qilin Immortal, and Ninefold Immortal playing gomoku.
• Lu Yang asked to visit the immortal realm, and the Transmission Elder said he would seek the Sect Master's approval.

Qiu Jin'an led Lu Yang and the others into the Immortal Realm to see the site where the Patriarch had attained enlightenment. As they examined the ancient chessboard, Lu Yang was drawn into a vision of two immortals beginning a game.

• Qiu Jin'an agreed to take Lu Yang and the others to the Immortal Realm after showing them paintings of Mr. Tian Kui and the ancient immortals.
• Qiu Jin'an explained that the Patriarch had moved the entire mountain to preserve the Immortal Realm and that a leftover court-closure notice was not a seal.
• Qiu Jin'an led the group into the cave, where they found the immortals' five-in-a-row game still ended in a draw.
• Lu Yang lost awareness of his companions and saw two strangers preparing to play on an empty chessboard.
• Yingtian Immortal placed a white piece in the center and made the first move.