Chapter Summaries

Shen Mo rescued Qin Wenzhen, Ge Qing, the surviving Ancient Vine Sect disciples, and the Enlightenment Tea tree by sheltering them in the Golden Flower World, then faced Lin Zhaozai. His attempts to fight the evil-path Heavenly Monarch faltered when Lin Zhaozai destroyed the Big Dipper Sword Formation and shattered the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, leaving only the iron chains binding him.

• Shen Mo chose to accept Qin Wenzhen's offer and struck Lin Zhaozai as the Founder's Hall's restrictions collapsed.
• Shen Mo used the Golden Flower World to save Qin Wenzhen, Ge Qing, the Ancient Vine Sect's survivors, and the Enlightenment Tea tree, committing himself to a fight with Lin Zhaozai.
• Shen Mo resisted Lin Zhaozai's demonic sound and attack, then sent his Demon Soul Generals to assault the Heavenly Monarch.
• Lin Zhaozai annihilated one Demon Soul General, so Shen Mo ordered the others to disperse themselves and withdrew the Soul Refining Banner.
• Shen Mo changed his Destiny and sent the Big Dipper Sword Formation against Lin Zhaozai, who smashed it apart with the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and broke the pagoda into three sections.

Shen Mo fought Lin Zhaozai with the Evil-Eating Centipede’s help, using the Taiyi Sword to badly split Lin Zhaozai’s skeletal body. Lin Zhaozai began recovering and escaping, while Shen Mo renewed his attack and distant reinforcements refused to enter the battle.

• The Evil-Eating Centipede struck Lin Zhaozai and bit at his Dharma barrier, but its poison failed to penetrate.
• Shen Mo sacrificed his essence, qi, and spirit to unleash the Taiyi Sword’s Senluo sword move, splitting Lin Zhaozai from brow to crotch and forcing him back into skeletal form.
• Shen Mo pursued Lin Zhaozai with the Taiyi Sword, carving deep marks into his bones before Lin Zhaozai recovered enough to evade the remaining Sword Qi.
• Shen Mo realized Lin Zhaozai was using the destruction of the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda to escape his restraints and decided he had to wound or kill him before his strength returned.
• Shen Mo charged Lin Zhaozai again as their battle devastated the Ancient Vine Sect’s mountain gate.
• The Origin Core Realm cultivators who came to reinforce the Ancient Vine Sect watched from several hundred miles away, and none dared join the fight.

Shen Mo fought Lin Zhaozai while badly wounded and realized the evil-path giant was growing stronger, so he used Ami and the Mother Tree Green Leaf to attack Lin Zhaozai’s scattered bones. The green power spread into a vast forest, and Lin Zhaozai’s aura began to weaken.

• Shen Mo coughed up blood and took spirit pills to recover from his severe injuries, while Lin Zhaozai also showed damage but remained stronger.
• Shen Mo concluded that he could not rely on the Heaven-Patrolling Daoist Temple for help and summoned Ami, who had prepared the Mother Tree Green Leaf.
• Lin Zhaozai formed a blood-sword formation, and Shen Mo retrieved his evil-devouring centipede, fled with Sword Evasion, and released dark clouds to conceal Ami’s nature from onlookers.
• At Shen Mo’s signal, Ami sent the Mother Tree Green Leaf toward Lin Zhaozai, who scattered his bones to evade the attack.
• The green radiance struck one of Lin Zhaozai’s bones and spread through his skeleton, covering the scattered bones in a vast forest as his aura rapidly declined.

Shen Mo grievously wounded Lin Zhaozai with the Mother Tree Green Leaf’s immortal art, but Lin escaped after swearing to become a tribulation when Shen Mo attempted to attain Heavenly Monarch. Shen Mo returned to the devastated Ancient Vine Sect, rescued its survivors, and stayed to recover while protecting the sect’s remaining resources.

• Ami’s Mother Tree Green Leaf devastated the forest and shattered Lin Zhaozai’s bones, but he gathered his skull and swore to kill Shen Mo when Shen Mo attempted to attain Heavenly Monarch.
• Lin Zhaozai escaped in a blood rainbow, outrunning Shen Mo’s pursuit after Ami lacked the strength to use the immortal art again.
• Shen Mo concluded that Lin Zhaozai’s shattered bones had grievously wounded him and returned to the Ancient Vine Sect with the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and its chains.
• Shen Mo released Qin Wenzhen, Ge Qing, and the surviving disciples, who thanked him after roughly half the sect’s Qi Gathering Realm and Spirit Sea Realm disciples had died.
• Shen Mo began healing his injuries while the Evil-Eating Flying Centipede guarded him, remaining at the sect to deter looters from its valuable resources.

After helping the Ancient Vine Sect survive Lin Zhaozai’s attack, Shen Mo learned from visiting cultivators about the Daoist Temple’s plans, factional shifts, and the likelihood that teleportation and communication would recover. Once the sect rebuilt its defenses and rewarded him, Shen Mo returned to the Hidden Phoenix Mountain Range, where Liu Siyun delivered Hong Gu’s invitation for him to enter the ancient battlefield again.

• Three peak Origin Core Realm cultivators from the Heaven-Patrolling Daoist Temple arrived after the battle and questioned Shen Mo about Lin Zhaozai.
• The cultivators told Shen Mo that teleportation and communication might recover as the world settled, and that Heavenly Monarchs were investigating travel to other worlds and the Immortal Realm.
• The Reformist Faction gained the upper hand in the Daoist Temple as Heavenly Monarchs pursued contact with Forbidden Lands and other worlds.
• Several days later, formation masters rebuilt the Ancient Vine Sect’s mountain-protecting formation, and Cen Wenzhen gave Shen Mo Enlightenment Tea and spiritual treasures in thanks.
• Shen Mo returned to his temporary residence, where Liu Siyun thanked him and passed on Hong Gu’s invitation to enter the ancient battlefield again.

Shen Mo and Hong Gu explored the Ancient Immortal-Demon Battlefield, repaired the outside of the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, and searched for Lin Zhaozai without finding him. After the Ancient Cultivator Tomb Complex vanished, they investigated other sites and gained abundant resources from the Clear Heart Sect’s ancient ruins.

• Shen Mo and Hong Gu entered the Ancient Immortal-Demon Battlefield on the Evil-Eating Flying Centipede while Shen Mo followed the trail of Lin Zhaozai, whose scent had disappeared inside the realm.
• Shen Mo explained the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda to Hong Gu and reforged its exterior with spirit gold ore, incorporating the five restraining iron chains into its seventh floor.
• Shen Mo and Hong Gu explored the Ancient Cultivator Tomb Complex for more than half a year, then left with abundant gains before the complex transformed and vanished.
• Shen Mo and Hong Gu returned to find the tomb complex gone, explored another site using clues from Hong Gu’s birth father, and found little.
• Shen Mo and Hong Gu joined Fu Jianghuo and the Peng Siblings at the Clear Heart Sect’s ancient ruins and secured vast quantities of unspoiled spirit materials and resources.

Shen Mo and Hong Gu joined the Clear Heart Sect and other cultivators in breaking the Qionghua Immortal Sect’s core formation, while Shen Mo’s divination warned of a great calamity. After the formation collapsed, the group rushed into the ruins, but a sudden danger caused the cultivators’ escaping lights to fail and sent them crashing to the ground.

• Fu Jianghuo explained that the Clear Heart Sect had reached the Qionghua Immortal Sect’s core region and offered Shen Mo and Hong Gu copies of its manuals and first choice of treasures for their help.
• Shen Mo recalled that the sect had once held fourteen million disciples and three Divine Bridge Realm Heavenly Monarchs, and remained wary after his Divination Treasure Mirror showed an omen of great calamity.
• The Yanyi Dunjia Sect elder directed the cultivators’ attacks and located 108 formation eyes while Shen Mo studied the formation and advanced toward becoming a Fourth-Grade Formation Master.
• The cultivators shattered the core formation, revealing the ancient buildings, and Fu Jianghuo, the Clear Heart Sect elders, and their reinforcements flew inside.
• Cicada Sense warned Shen Mo of danger, but before his warning could prevent it, the cultivators’ escaping lights failed and they fell from the air.

Shen Mo and Hong Gu escaped the relic’s core but lost the use of their true essence when a vast mass of Longevity Flesh rose from underground and attacked everyone. Shen Mo identified it as an Evil Spirits-like existence and used his Pure Yang Fire Pupils to protect the cultivators as fleshy sprouts spread through the relic.

• Shen Mo used Sword Evasion to flee with Hong Gu, but their true essence froze and they crashed into buildings.
• Shen Mo and Hong Gu saw a mountain of Longevity Flesh covered in smiling faces, and fleshy sprouts seized a Clear Heart Sect elder.
• Fleshy sprouts erupted throughout the relic and grabbed Shen Mo and Hong Gu, while Shen Mo cut them with the Demon Slayer Sword.
• Shen Mo unleashed his Pure Yang Fire Pupils, burning the sprouts and saving the Clear Heart Sect elder and other cultivators.
• Shen Mo told Hong Gu, Fu Jianghuo, and the others that the flesh mountain was Longevity Flesh transformed into an Evil Spirits-like existence.

Shen Mo led the cultivators through the Qionghua Immortal Sect ruin after discovering that the Longevity Flesh Evil Spirit could not be defeated and the halls had been emptied. More than ten days later, he and eight others escaped the ruin, though their true essence remained dormant and many of their companions had died.

• Shen Mo used Pure Yang True Flame against the mountain of flesh, then urged Fu Jianghuo and the other cultivators to abandon the core region and join him.
• An elder of the Clear Heart Sect and two Origin Core Realm cultivators reported that the halls were empty, so the group agreed to flee the ruin.
• Shen Mo and Hong Gu gathered the cultivators and led them toward the outskirts, fighting through the fleshy sprout arms with weapons and bursts of Pure Yang True Flame.
• Shen Mo vowed to make the Longevity Clan suffer if he ever encountered its demons.
• After more than ten days, Shen Mo, Hong Gu, Fu Jianghuo, Peng Leyao, and five others escaped the ruin, while many cultivators had fallen along the way.

Shen Mo and the surviving cultivators escaped the Ancient Immortal-Demon Battlefield after waiting for the Evil Spirits’ power to fade. He chose to remain in the Colorful Garment Kingdom to cultivate and gather resources, while the Ancient Vine Sect rebuilt and expanded over the following decades.

• Several Spirit Sea Realm cultivators attacked Shen Mo’s group, and Fu Jianghuo and the others killed them with their Divine Souls before the Yanyi Dunjia Sect cultivator strengthened the concealment formation with their remains.
• After half a month, Shen Mo and the others recovered their true essence and flew out of the battlefield, where Xu Nan and the surviving Origin Core cultivators thanked Shen Mo and invited him to visit their sects.
• Shen Mo told Hong Gu he would not return to the battlefield or Wangxian Mountain yet, choosing instead to stay in the Colorful Garment Kingdom, cultivate, and earn resources while watching over the Ancient Vine Sect.
• Hong Gu said she would return to Wangxian Mountain and offered to introduce Shen Mo to her father, the Mount Li Alchemy Sect’s sect master.
• Over the following decades, the Ancient Vine Sect recruited many disciples and strengthened its mountain-protecting formations, while the Clear Heart Sect weakened after suffering losses in the Qionghua Immortal Sect ruins.
• Shen Mo continued advancing his cultivation toward the late Origin Core Realm as cultivators from various sects visited him.

Shen Mo reunited with Yuan Jing after the Heaven-Patrolling Daoist Temple released him, and learned that Yuan Jing had formed an Origin Core during his confinement. After hearing Shen Mo’s account of the upheaval in the Red Flame Domain, Yuan Jing settled in a temporary residence while Shen Mo declined to renew his Ancient Vine Sect position and continued waiting for Lin Zhaozai to emerge.

• Shen Mo welcomed Song Shenglong and Yuan Jing, then spoke privately with Yuan Jing after Song Shenglong departed.
• Yuan Jing credited the Daoist Temple’s resources for helping him form an Origin Core and thanked Shen Mo for his efforts to secure his release.
• Shen Mo sent away the attendants and told Yuan Jing about the upheaval, the Extraterrestrial Beings, and the events that had brought him to the Heaven-Patrolling Domain.
• Shen Mo rented a cultivation residence for Yuan Jing because he could not safely cross the River of the Dead and the Sea of Buried Immortals alone.
• Shen Mo thanked Qin Wenzhen and the Ancient Vine Sect for helping Yuan Jing, then declined to renew his Guest Elder position.
• Shen Mo continued watching for Lin Zhaozai, but he had found no trace of the evil-path Heavenly Monarch.

Shen Mo failed to find Lin Zhaozai before the Ancient Immortal-Demon Battlefield disappeared and concluded that the enemy was likely hiding somewhere in the Heaven-Patrolling Domain. He considered seeking a Heavenly Monarch’s protection when he eventually faced his tribulation, weighing possible help from Flower Fairy Valley or the Mount Li Alchemy Sect.

• Qin Wenzhen explained that the Ancient Vine Sect was strengthening its mountain-protecting formation to guard against Lin Zhaozai’s return, while Shen Mo accepted his enmity with Lin Zhaozai as an unavoidable karmic entanglement.
• The Ancient Immortal-Demon Battlefield vanished, ejecting hundreds of thousands of cultivators into a crowded airspace where many immediately fought.
• Shen Mo recalled his Demon Soul Generals and found no trace of Lin Zhaozai, whom he believed had already left the Spirit Ruins Realm and was waiting for Shen Mo’s attempt to erect his Divine Bridge.
• Shen Mo considered asking the Flower Fairy Valley protector Great Miluo to guard him, relying on his good relations with the Flower Fairy Clan.
• Shen Mo also considered seeking Danchengzi’s protection through Hong Gu and Duanmu Yuan, but suspected the aging Alchemy Sect patriarch might demand a long oath of service in return.

Shen Mo returned to Wangxian Mountain and began constructing an ancient teleportation formation to travel between domains. As he reflected on Gu Song’s legacy and past choices in the Ancient Immortal-Demon Battlefield, he suspected his Destiny’s fortune had guided him away from killing Zhu Zhao.

• Shen Mo left the Colorful Garment Kingdom, rewarded Liu Siyun, and departed for Wangxian Mountain with Yuan Jing on the Evil-Eating Centipede.
• Yuan Jing discovered that communication had returned to normal and proposed testing the teleportation formations so they could return to Ancient Altar Island.
• After reaching Wangxian Mountain, Shen Mo restricted access to his cave abode and made pills available through Hong Gu’s shop.
• Shen Mo confirmed the teleportation formations worked and began building an ancient formation Dharma Altar, reasoning that Gu Song had created the formations and the Sword Qi on Heavenly Mountain.
• Shen Mo reflected that sparing Zhu Zhao had preserved the Mother Tree Green Leaf’s spells for his later fight with Lin Zhaozai and avoided a feud with the Taiyi Sword Alliance.

Shen Mo relied on Titan Twenty-Six’s spirit-material refinement talent to advance his formation work and then met Hong Gu’s father, Duanmu Yuan. Duanmu Yuan welcomed him with a cup of tea filled with sharp Sword Qi.

• Titan Twenty-Six delivered spirit jade bricks and demonstrated his Golden Man Clan talent for refining spirit materials, while Shen Mo planned to keep refining the Nine-Pole Crystal Sand Aura.
• Shen Mo reflected that Golden Men could refine their bodies with spirit materials but could not comprehend Dao patterns, so Titan Twenty-Six could prepare artifact embryos but not complete them.
• With Titan Twenty-Six’s help, Shen Mo completed more than half of his formation before Hong Gu invited him to meet Duanmu Yuan.
• Shen Mo and Hong Gu entered a sea mist west of the River of the Dead and found Duanmu Yuan waiting in a pavilion formed from clouds.
• Duanmu Yuan identified Shen Mo as a Formation Dao master and Sword Dao prodigy, then sent him a teacup swirling with Sword Qi and asked him to drink.

Shen Mo met Duanmu Yuan, who tested his swordsmanship and was bested when Shen Mo returned the Sword Qi hidden in the teacup. Their conversation turned to the path to becoming a Heavenly Monarch, leaving Shen Mo with a clearer understanding of the Divine Bridge and the need to find his own way to attain the Dao.

• Duanmu Yuan offered Shen Mo tea infused with his sword attainments to test his skill, and Shen Mo calmly drank it.
• Shen Mo returned the empty cup with his own Sword Qi, which Duanmu Yuan could not suppress before it shattered the cup.
• Hong Gu laughed at Duanmu Yuan's embarrassment, and he invited her and Shen Mo into the pavilion to talk.
• Duanmu Yuan grew warmer toward Shen Mo as they discussed their experiences in the Colorful Garment Kingdom and the Ancient Immortal-Demon Battlefield.
• Shen Mo asked Duanmu Yuan about becoming a Heavenly Monarch and learned that the Divine Bridge connected a cultivator to the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.
• Duanmu Yuan explained that Shen Mo needed to reach the peak of the Origin Core Realm and discover his own path to attaining the Dao.

Shen Mo reflected on Duanmu Yuan’s guidance about reaching Heavenly Monarchhood and inferred that Danchengzi and other Divine Bridge Heavenly Monarchs might have left the Primordial World to seek greater realms or longer life. He returned to Wangxian Mountain with Hong Gu, still weighing the clues and the unexplained absence of the Heavenly Monarchs.

• Duanmu Yuan kept his own method for erecting the Divine Bridge secret but gave Shen Mo general guidance on attaining Heavenly Monarchhood.
• Duanmu Yuan said Danchengzi had been occupied and unseen for years, but agreed to pass along Shen Mo’s request to meet him when they next spoke.
• Shen Mo inferred that Danchengzi might have left the Primordial World to seek the Immortal World or the Longevity Clan, since his remaining lifespan was limited.
• Shen Mo reasoned that Divine Bridge Heavenly Monarchs could travel to other worlds through methods learned from the Forbidden Land’s protectors.
• Shen Mo considered the Ancient Vine Sect calamity and concluded that the Heavenly Monarchs’ long absence from the Heaven-Patrolling Domain required explanation.

Shen Mo reflected on exploring other worlds and finding ways to extend the lives of his loved ones before preparing to leave Wangxian Mountain for the Red Flame Domain. He entrusted Hong Gu with watching over his cave abode and gave her a key to its protective formation after revealing its teleportation array.

• Shen Mo considered seeking the Immortal Realm and the Outer Realm Longevity Clan to advance his cultivation and help his loved ones live longer.
• Shen Mo stored the Evil-Eating Centipede in the Sword Domain Space and explained how his Cave Heaven sword style had developed.
• Shen Mo invited Hong Gu to the Immortal Delicacies Tower to thank her and bid farewell before returning to the Red Flame Domain.
• Shen Mo asked Hong Gu to protect his cave abode during his absence and told her it contained a teleportation formation connecting the two domains.
• Hong Gu repeatedly asked Shen Mo for a spirit key token, and he gave her one while warning her not to open the cave abode or use the teleportation Dharma Altar casually.

Shen Mo and Yuan Jing tested the ancient teleportation array and returned to Ancient Altar Island, where Shen Mo destroyed the array to prevent Sword Alliance cultivators from using it. He then headed into the Sea of Buried Immortals to strengthen his Demon Soul Generals by hunting Wild Sea Beasts.

• Shen Mo sent the Wedding Dress Female Ghost through the teleportation array to confirm it worked, then traveled with Yuan Jing to Ancient Altar Island.
• Shen Mo destroyed the ancient array and gave Yuan Jing seven coffin soul-securing nails for his disciple Yu Yan.
• Yuan Jing flew toward Sea Province while Shen Mo rode the Evil-Eating Centipede into the Sea of Buried Immortals.
• Shen Mo released 507 Soul Generals, branded ten fourth-order Demon Soul Generals with Soul Splitting Curse Seals, and sent them out in groups.
• The Demon Soul Generals swept across tens of thousands of miles of sea, slaughtering Wild Sea Beasts to grow stronger.

Shen Mo launched an assault on the Near-Sea Demon Cave after strengthening his Demon Soul Generals, determined to avenge the Demon Calamity. He shattered the cave’s defenses and led a massacre, but the battle took an unexpected turn when Fairy Peiyu emerged from the ruins.

• Shen Mo recalled the Demon Soul Generals after more than ten days of feeding, and many advanced in rank.
• Shen Mo rode the Evil-Eating Centipede to the Near-Sea Demon Cave and attacked its protective formation while Sea Province cultivators gathered nearby.
• Shen Mo shattered the formation and split the Demon Cave apart with the Taiyi Sword, killing millions of Heavenly Demons.
• Shen Mo summoned his Demon Soul Generals, who hunted the escaping demons alongside the Sea Province cultivators.
• A peak fourth-rank Heavenly Demon killed several cultivators, but Shen Mo cut down its demon light, and Fairy Peiyu emerged from the ruins in Silver Flame Armor.

Shen Mo confronted Heavenly Demon Peiyu, whose strength had risen to the peak of the fourth order after the Near-Sea Heavenly Demons concentrated their resources on her. He left her gravely wounded with a single sword strike, and she fled.

• Heavenly Demon Peiyu confronted Shen Mo and blamed him for disrupting her planned advance to the fifth order.
• Peiyu explained that the Near-Sea Heavenly Demons had devoted their captured blood-food to raising her strength so she could become their fifth-order powerhouse.
• Shen Mo pointed out the Fire-Spitting Wolf King Demon Soul General and threatened to turn Peiyu into a servant in his blood banner.
• Peiyu attacked Shen Mo, but his Samsara Myriad Phenomena Demon Slayer shattered her crescent-moon defense and cut deeply through her body.
• Peiyu stared at her devastating wound, then fled from Shen Mo.