Chapter Summaries

Wang Ping prepared to use a fate array and refining array to attempt advancement through a Puppet, while Thousand Wood Temple delayed other changes until his attempt was complete. After a long calculation, he tried to draw the Sky-Veiling Talisman, but the Puppet collapsed and agonizing pain struck Wang Ping.

• Wang Ping canceled the advancement attempt at Jiang Cun's dojo and sent Puppets to complete an array for refining spiritual substance in Sanhe Prefecture.
• During the Spring Festival gathering, Xia Weny raised the Dao Palace's duties, and Wang Ping assigned plans to expand Thousand Wood Temple before Ruan Chunzi urged them to wait until Wang Ping advanced.
• Wang Ping sealed the pool depths in Sanhe Prefecture, completed preparations, and began calculating possible futures through a Puppet.
• After months of calculations showed the Puppet's success rate peaking at nine percent, Wang Ping chose to attempt advancement at that rate.
• The Puppet inscribed the Sky-Veiling Talisman, then its body and consciousness collapsed as agonizing pain erupted between Wang Ping's brows.

Wang Ping recovered from the failed attempt to draw the Sky-Veiling Talisman, absorbed spiritual matter, and completed the spiritualization of his physical body. He discovered that his transformed body could affect the Inspiration World, leaving him ready to await his chance to advance to the Fourth Realm.

• Wang Ping recovered from the backlash of his attempt to draw the Sky-Veiling Talisman and told Yulian that the unseen power had killed the Puppet before he could resist.
• Wang Ping arranged to build his next destiny array at the Six Hearts Sect while supplies and conscription preparations continued across the mortal world.
• Wang Ping absorbed a dark green energy crystal, raising his Light Screen Panel compatibility to (31/100) and sensing a power resembling the Sky-Veiling Talisman.
• Wang Ping and Yulian isolated the cavern and began refining his physical body, with Wang Ping moving his consciousness into his Primordial Spirit.
• A flash of golden light completed the spiritualization of Wang Ping's body, and he found that he could use it to affect the Inspiration World.

Wang Ping’s repeated advancement attempts stalled, but he decided his opportunity to reach the Fourth Realm had arrived and prepared to enter secluded cultivation. He left Thousand Wood Temple’s affairs to his disciples and demanded peace in the Southern Cultivation World while he was away.

• Wang Ping’s latest attempt failed, raising his advancement compatibility to 41/100 and his deduction progress to 97/100, while a weak Wood Spirit aura was absorbed by his consciousness.
• Wang Ping’s later attempts raised his advancement compatibility to 70/100, but his deduction progress remained at 98/100, and he stopped using luck formations when his materials ran low.
• After waking from meditation, Wang Ping told Yulian that he would enter secluded cultivation to advance, despite her fear that the attempt could be fatal.
• Wang Ping summoned Yuan Zheng, Ruan Chunzi, Dong Can, Xia Weny, and Wu Fu, announced that he would not emerge until he advanced, and entrusted Thousand Wood Temple to them.
• Dong Can congratulated Wang Ping, who then told Ruan Chunzi that the Southern Cultivation World must remain peaceful during his secluded cultivation.

As Daoist Changqing entered secluded cultivation to advance to the Fourth Realm, powers across the Southern Cultivation World mobilized to prevent conflict and protect his attempt. The chapter ended with Wang Ping at Thousand Wood Temple calculating the possibilities of advancement alongside two Puppets and Yulian.

• The Dao Palace issued a ban on sectarian conflict and called on cultivators to suppress bandits, while Daoist Hua Yun sent Daoist Le Xin to oversee Jinhuai City and protect Daoist Changqing’s advancement.
• Hu Yin ordered her clansmen to remain in the forest and sent Hou Jun to Jinhuai City to support Daoist Tong Jing, while Shan Wei gathered intelligence for Thousand Wood Temple.
• Jiang Cun learned that Daoist Changqing had entered secluded cultivation and ordered his flying ship to patrol the southern seas against pirates.
• Wang Ping sat within a fate formation beneath Thousand Wood Temple, calculating advancement possibilities with two Puppets as Yulian watched Bishi’s Primordial Spirit.

Wang Ping completed the Sky-Veiling Talisman after decades of calculations and learned that it was the first step toward advancing to the Fourth Realm. As the talisman obscured Thousand Wood Temple’s Heavenly Secrets, Ruan Chunzi and the others recognized his success and moved to secure the sect.

• Bishi’s Primordial Spirit spent years calculating possible futures, while Wang Ping repeatedly rested it and maintained the Fortune Array’s data.
• After twenty-two years, Wang Ping’s talisman-inscription success rate reached 99/100, and he completed the Sky-Veiling Talisman without harm.
• The talisman revealed that Wang Ping needed to merge his Primordial Spirit with a spirit vein and grow a Wood Spirit within his body to advance.
• Wang Ping activated the Sky-Veiling Talisman, severing his connection to the old Heavenly Secrets web and forming a powerful new one.
• Ruan Chunzi, Yuan Zheng, and Dong Can sensed that Thousand Wood Temple’s Heavenly Secrets had been obscured, and Wu Fu urged them to activate the Inner Sect barrier.
• Ruan Chunzi suggested that Yuan Zheng use the obscured Heavenly Secrets to refine Longevity Pills, and Yuan Zheng went to gather materials.

Wang Ping merged with the spiritual vein and recovered memories of his origin as the Wood Spirit, one of the universe’s original Five Elements lifeforms. He awoke with his Wood Spirit Core fully formed, while the memories ended just as the Demon Race appeared in the ancient universe.

• Wang Ping merged his Primordial Spirit Consciousness with the spiritual vein and experienced memories of the original Five Elements lifeforms creating and shaping the universe.
• Wang Ping’s memories showed the five spirits stopping an early conflict, then falling into slumber as their descendants resumed slaughtering one another.
• A radiant figure condemned the lies and wars, but the conflict continued until the Demon Race appeared at the edge of the universe, where Wang Ping’s memory ended.
• Wang Ping awoke and told Yulian he was fine but felt sad.
• Wang Ping discovered that his Wood Spirit Core had undergone Form Completion and was slowly absorbing the Wood Spirit Origin within him.

After advancing to the Fourth Realm, Wang Ping tested his new abilities and sent Golden Armored Soldiers into outer space, where he found hostile spirit creatures and sensed danger when he considered visiting the moon. He returned to Thousand Wood Temple, discovered Liu Shuang and Yang Rong had advanced to the Third Realm, and looked through the Cave Heaven Mirror to observe the world more than a century later.

• Wang Ping learned about the Clone Talisman's uses and limitations, then learned that he had spent exactly one sixty-year cycle merging with the spirit vein.
• Wang Ping tested his Fourth Realm abilities, stored Puppet One and Puppet Two in blank talismans, and transported himself above Thousand Wood Temple without using a Transfer Talisman.
• Wang Ping flew beyond the atmosphere and sent two concealed Golden Armored Soldiers ahead, where they encountered and killed an Inspiration World spirit creature.
• Wang Ping sensed danger when he considered going to the moon, abandoned the plan, and returned to the Mountain Top Dojo.
• Wang Ping observed that Liu Shuang and Yang Rong had advanced to the Third Realm, then used the Cave Heaven Mirror to view the world more than a hundred years later.

Wang Ping observed how the realm had changed since the Datong Kingdom’s unification and tested the Divine Art Array, which now covered Central Province and drew strength from hundreds of millions of believers. His disciples and companions visited him after his advancement, and Yulian announced that he had reached the Fourth Realm.

• The Datong Kingdom unified the realm twenty-six years earlier, granted the Wang Family a southern fief, and established temples to worship Wang Ping as the Saint Emperor.
• Wang Ping reviewed his remaining Puppets and found that the Divine Art Array’s map had spread across Central Province, the Southeast Sea Region, and the northern Cloud Sea Grassland.
• Yulian connected to Wang Ping’s consciousness and sensed the believers’ voices as Divine Art Radiance gathered in the array.
• Ruan Chunzi and Yuan Zheng led Liu Shuang, Xia Weny, and the others into Wang Ping’s garden, where he examined their cultivation and spotted problems in Liu Shuang’s spiritual meridians.
• Yulian told the gathered visitors that Wang Ping had advanced to the Fourth Realm, and Dong Can, Ruan Chunzi, Yuan Zheng, and the others congratulated him as a True Monarch or True Person.

Wang Ping revealed that he had reached the Fourth Realm and announced his advancement across the Southern Cultivation World. He went to visit Wanzhi at the Six Hearts Sect, while the Third Realm cultivators in Jinhuai City debated how to greet him.

• Wang Ping used the Sky-Veiling Talisman to assess Ruan Chunzi, Yuan Zheng, Dong Can, and Wu Fu, and realized Wu Fu was closest to a breakthrough.
• Wu Fu urged Wang Ping to publicly assert his authority over the disorderly Southern Cultivation World, and Wang Ping agreed to announce his advancement before visiting Wanzhi.
• Wang Ping released his Fourth Realm aura above Thousand Wood Temple, causing Wood Spirit Qi to surge across the southern lands as Yulian cheered.
• Daoist Hua Yun sensed Wang Ping's aura and burned away the thread of power that had locked onto him, while cultivators across the region turned their attention toward Shang'an Prefecture.
• Wang Ping arrived at the Six Hearts Sect and presented a calling card, as Third Realm cultivators in Jinhuai City argued over whether to go pay their respects.

Wang Ping visited Six Hearts Sect and Daoist Wanzhi brought him to meet True Lord Yuanwu, who explained why Fourth Realm advancement required him to bear karma. True Lord Yuanwu began describing the threat behind the world’s spiritual disorder and said dealing with it was one of Wang Ping’s obligations.

• Daoist Wanzhi invited Wang Ping to Heart Questioning Hall and gave him permission to fly there directly.
• Wang Ping met Daoist Wanzhi, and Yulian sensed an ancient earth spirit within her struggling against an obscure presence.
• Daoist Wanzhi took Wang Ping to a thatched courtyard in Ningzhou Road, where an illusion concealed True Lord Yuanwu.
• Wang Ping and Daoist Wanzhi greeted True Lord Yuanwu, who told Wan Zhi to wait while he spoke with Wang Ping.
• True Lord Yuanwu explained that outside pollution had worsened the world’s spiritual disorder and that aging Fourth Realm cultivators needed someone to handle the resulting crisis.

True Lord Yuanwu explained the duties Wang Ping had inherited and revealed that the world faced a threat from beyond the realm. Wang Ping became the head of the Southern Dao Lineage in Central Province and the Dao Palace’s Second Seat, with responsibilities that included cultivating Fourth Realm successors and supplying the Star God Alliance.

• True Lord Yuanwu told Wang Ping that Fourth Realm cultivators could not simply eliminate the troublesome beings because doing so would overload spiritual consciousness, and he ordered Wang Ping to find more candidates while preventing reckless advancement attempts.
• True Lord Yuanwu said the Taiyan Sect could be reestablished and gave Wang Ping the complete Transfer Talisman secret art, warning that worshiping True Monarch Huishan would make the sect’s followers his Puppets.
• Wang Ping asked about Lord Xiaoshan, and True Lord Yuanwu explained that Xiao Shan restrained Huishan’s madness.
• True Lord Yuanwu revealed that the moon’s formations drew in Outer Realm Objects, while other formations at places such as the Southern Chaotic Sea attracted objects that fell into the world.
• True Lord Yuanwu appointed Wang Ping head of the Southern Dao Lineage in Central Province and Second Seat of the Dao Palace, giving him a token to access secret materials and receive supply requests from the Star God Alliance.

True Lord Yuanwu assigned Wang Ping to organize the southern Cultivators and pursue a way to deal with the Outer Realm Object, while Daoist Wanzhi prepared to sacrifice her Earth Spirit to help Zhi Gong advance. Wang Ping returned to the Six Hearts Sect with a Transfer Talisman secret art and unresolved concerns about the True Lords’ competing plans.

• True Lord Yuanwu gave Wang Ping a thousand years to find a way to deal with the Outer Realm Object, reminded him to repay Daoist He Feng’s favor, and told him to limit Fourth Realm power in this world.
• True Lord Yuanwu promised Daoist Wanzhi that one of her Disciples would receive a Fourth Realm slot and agreed to help Zhi Gong advance, warning that the effort would exhaust Wanzhi’s Earth Spirit within ten years.
• True Lord Yuanwu ordered Wang Ping to gather the southern sects for a dharma assembly so he could openly command the south, and Wanzhi left the Six Hearts Sect’s arrangements to him.
• Yulian told Wang Ping that Wanzhi’s Earth Spirit was close to exhaustion, while Wang Ping questioned whether the True Lords agreed on how to deal with the world and the Star God Alliance.
• Wang Ping read the jade slip’s Transfer Talisman secret art, which required Forest Blood Wolf totem markings and blood from creatures carrying their lineage, then returned to the Six Hearts Sect.

Wang Ping inspected Lord Xiaoshan’s storybooks, received visitors from the Six Hearts Sect, and then traveled to the Southern Chaotic Sea. He met Cheng Xi at a settlement growing Heart-Devouring Grass, but Cheng Xi urged him to return to Thousand Wood Temple before examining the formation.

• Yulian explored Lord Xiaoshan’s bookshelves and found an old storybook among his collection of tales.
• Tong Jing, Hong Yuan, and Qin Zifeng visited Wang Ping, who asked about Zi Luan and told Tong Jing to dismiss the cultivators gathered outside the sect.
• Wang Ping told Hong Yuan to pass on that he did not blame Zi Luan and would let him reclaim the Six Hearts Sect’s Sect Master position if he returned.
• Wang Ping traveled to the Southern Chaotic Sea and found Cheng Xi overseeing a town of Central Continent criminals growing Heart-Devouring Grass.
• Wang Ping asked Cheng Xi where the formation that attracted Outer Realm Objects was arranged, but Cheng Xi urged him to return to Thousand Wood Temple and receive the cultivators’ homage first.

At the Thousand Wood Temple ceremony, Qiu Qing learned that the Ancestor had advanced to the Fourth Realm, while Leng Kezhen revealed his own breakthrough to the Third Realm. Months later, Leng Kezhen arrived at Thousand Wood Temple with Qiu Qing and reunited with Wen Hai and Jiang Cun as the ceremony’s guests gathered.

• A Thousand Wood Temple disciple invited Qiu Qing to the Ancestor’s ceremony and announced the Ancestor’s successful advancement to the Fourth Realm.
• Qiu Qing told Leng Kezhen the news, and Leng Kezhen appeared with the power and Demonic Qi of a Third Realm cultivator.
• In the ninth month, Leng Kezhen and Qiu Qing submitted their invitation at Thousand Wood Temple’s Ascension Stage.
• Leng Kezhen recognized Wen Hai, and the two recalled their days on Mozhou Road before following a disciple into the transformed temple grounds.
• At the ceremony square, Leng Kezhen spotted Jiang Cun and greeted him as the Ninth Prince.

Wang Ping broke Lord Xiaoshan’s seal on his memories and learned the requirements and dangers of cultivating Taiyan Talisman Volume Five. He began using the Sky-Veiling Talisman to record a possible future appointment, while visitors were directed to help at Thousand Wood Temple.

• Yang Rong escorted Wen Hai and Leng Kezhen to help at the busy front hall after Wang Ping requested their assistance.
• Wang Ping finished breaking Lord Xiaoshan’s seal and recovered secret methods for Taiyan Talisman Volume Five, along with a warning not to trust anyone completely, especially the True Lords.
• Wang Ping read that he had nine hundred years to fuse the Sky-Veiling Talisman, with only five chances to fail and serious risks from altering civilization’s course.
• Wang Ping used his Wood Spirit to inscribe a future in which Changqing would become Taiyan Sect Dao Palace Prefect on the seventeenth day of the ninth month in the 140th year of Dao Palace Zhengli.

Wang Ping distributed his spare magical artifacts among his disciples and continued preparing for the seventeenth of September as the front courtyard received prominent cultivators. Daoist Huai Mo met with Wang Ping and said he had come seeking his guidance on several matters.

• Wang Ping assigned the Purgatory Banner and Mysterious Jade Token to Shen Xiaozhu, the Eight Trigrams Disk and Spirit Communication Stone to Liu Shuang, and the Water Moon Bell and Chaotic Fire Spirit to Xia Weny.
• Liu Shuang reported that representatives from the Five Sects of Mystic Gate and Two Sects of Heavenly Gates had arrived, and Wang Ping gave her the Eight Trigrams Disk and Spirit Communication Stone.
• Yang Rong told Liu Shuang that cultivators from her mortal Yang Family wanted to join the gathering, and Liu Shuang ordered them to come see her.
• Wen Hai told Liu Shuang that Li Lin had entered closed-door cultivation unto death ten years earlier.
• Liu Shuang arranged for Daoist Huai Mo to meet Wang Ping, who asked what important matter had brought him.

Daoist Huai Mo told Wang Ping that the Yuqing Sect’s internal divisions could lead to its collapse and sought Wang Ping’s backing to claim a Fourth Realm seat. Wang Ping discreetly gave him a puppet to assist, and Huai Mo later met Hu Yin while Jiang Cun resisted Yang Shu’s attempt to bring him to pay respects to Changqing.

• Daoist Huai Mo explained the Yuqing Sect’s divided leadership and suggested that its conflicts could cause it to split apart.
• Huai Mo admitted he wanted a Fourth Realm seat for himself, and Wang Ping agreed to support him only if a seat became available.
• Wang Ping gave Huai Mo Puppet One, equipped with the Yuan Hu puppet, to help with secret affairs while denying that he would offer public support.
• Huai Mo met Hu Yin at the mountain-foot plaza, introduced Puppet One as Wang Yi, and learned that Hu Qianqian was Wang Ping’s Disciple.
• Jiang Cun refused Yang Shu’s urging to visit Changqing, saying he was embarrassed that Changqing had advanced to the Fourth Realm while he remained in the Third Realm.

Yang Shu apologized to Wang Ping over Song Qu, then Old Daoist Wu and Daoist Tianshan visited him with requests. Wang Ping offered Old Daoist Wu a way to obtain a Third Realm slot and learned that Daoist Tianshan wanted leave to find a successor after acquiring a Star God core.

• Yang Shu explained that his follower Song Qu had been taken in by Yang Shu’s cultivator and asked Wang Ping to forgive him for planning to pass his spirit vein to Song Qu.
• Wang Ping said Song Qu had left his tutelage to seek his own opportunity and warned Yang Shu to keep the matter between them.
• Old Daoist Wu asked Wang Ping for help obtaining a Third Realm slot from Earth Cave Sect, and Wang Ping offered him a letter of introduction to Liu Shuibin in Haizhou Road.
• Daoist Tianshan gave Wang Ping a letter requesting two hundred years of leave from the Star God Alliance so he could find a successor after obtaining a Star God core.

Wang Ping reviewed the Star God Alliance’s organization and questioned Lord Xiaoshan’s warning that the moon concealed sealed Outer Realm Objects, while approving Daoist Tianshan’s leave and ignoring three later applications. Shen Xiaozhu returned from her travels with a sharper presence but lingering cultivation problems, then told Wang Ping how seeing mortals’ hardships had eased her anxieties.

• Wang Ping learned that the moon had no Fourth Realm Star Gods and that its Second Seats, including him, would have to respond to emergencies, deepening his doubts about Lord Xiaoshan’s warning.
• Wang Ping approved Daoist Tianshan’s leave but ignored three leave applications submitted afterward by Southern Cultivation World Star Gods.
• Shen Xiaozhu returned to Thousand Wood Temple with Mu Yun, and Wang Ping noticed that her Sacred Heart Pill Toxin remained and that she had not fused with the Huai Tree Soul.
• Yulian told Wang Ping that Shen Xiaozhu’s slow progress reflected her nature and that her state of mind would help her fuse with the Huai Tree Soul.
• Shen Xiaozhu described traveling through East Continent and realizing that, compared with mortals facing despair throughout their lives, she was already fortunate.

Wang Ping received Ao Hong, the Seventh Prince of Linshui Prefecture, at Thousand Wood Temple before the Dharma assembly. Ao Hong revealed that the Second Seats planned to nominate Wang Ping to lead their next campaign, while warning that his upcoming hundred-year term as Chief would bring heavy responsibilities.

• Wang Ping met Ao Hong at Shang'an Prefecture's port and escorted him to the Mountain Top Dojo.
• Wang Ping and Ao Hong shared wine and discussed a misunderstanding from more than a hundred years earlier.
• Ao Hong dismissed Liu Shuang and activated an isolation formation before speaking privately with Wang Ping.
• Ao Hong explained that the Star God Alliance and other factions had made the Second Seats their vanguard against the great cultivators of the Mystic Sect and Heaven Sect.
• Ao Hong told Wang Ping that Daoist Chongxing had been named as a first target, but the proposal had stalled because no one dared lead it.
• Ao Hong warned Wang Ping that the Second Seats would likely nominate him to lead their next action and that he would serve as Chief for the next hundred years.