Chapter Summaries

After surviving the repeated erasure of White Eye, Zhang Chu healed and spent most of his Merit Points removing the Fu Character Technique’s contamination and strengthening it. The technique permanently amplified his physical abilities tenfold, and he left the chapter anticipating its fusion with the Sea Moon Residual Illumination Technique and the birth of his Fourth Phenomenon.

• Zhang Chu used the Erasure Power in his Chaos Qi to weaken White Eye through fourteen rounds, earning fourteen million Merit Points but suffering severe injuries.
• Zhang Chu spent seven days recovering with the South Bright Longevity Technique, and his injuries healed while his Divine Mansion Rudiment grew more stable.
• Zhang Chu used ten million Merit Points to eliminate the Fu Character Technique’s Calamity Qi Erosion, then spent eight million more to strengthen the technique.
• Zhang Chu gained the Fu Character Technique’s permanent tenfold amplification, which strengthened his body, power, and speed.
• Zhang Chu tested his enhanced strength by pulverizing a stone pillar with a casual wave and racing a thousand zhang without disturbing a branch.
• Zhang Chu resolved to fuse the Fu Character Technique with the Sea Moon Residual Illumination Technique, expecting the fusion to produce his Fourth Phenomenon.

Zhang Chu harvested the remaining rainbow blood from the Ancient God Relic and used his Merit Points to merge and strengthen the Fu Character Technique and Sea Moon Residual Illumination Technique into the East Sea Undying Tribulation Armor. The new armor birthed his Fourth Phenomenon, which completed the Chaos Phenomenon, opened a small world, and transformed his Divine Mansion Rudiment as a Dao Embryo began to form.

• Zhang Chu repeatedly erased the Ancient God Relic's rainbow blood, recovering between each round until he gained another fifteen million Merit Points.
• Zhang Chu merged the Fu Character Technique and Sea Moon Residual Illumination Technique into the East Sea Undying Tribulation Armor and strengthened it through all three layers.
• Zhang Chu's Tribulation Armor gave birth to the Fourth Phenomenon, Undying Shines Upon the Firmament.
• Zhang Chu spent ten million Merit Points to merge Undying Shines Upon the Firmament into the Chaos Phenomenon, opening an independent small world.
• Zhang Chu's Divine Mansion Rudiment transformed into a vast palace, greatly increasing his Spiritual Power.
• Zhang Chu sensed a heartbeat within the Divine Mansion and recognized it as the sign of a Dao Embryo Prototype being born.

Zhang Chu discovered that his power came from decomposition and that his cultivation would center on his inner world. When Illusionary City emerged, he watched a confrontation between Zhu Xi and Li Beihai, which was interrupted by Wei Shanhe, who then found Zhang Chu hiding nearby.

• Zhang Chu realized his attribute was decomposition, assessed his growing strength, and concluded that forming a Dao Embryo would open his third eye.
• Zhang Chu saw Illusionary City emerge beneath a dark-blue pillar of light and joined the cultivators gathering at its ruins.
• Li Beihai arrived seeking Zhang Chu and demanded answers from Zhu Xi, who killed a brocade-robed man with one saber strike after the man pointed him out.
• Li Beihai recognized Zhu Xi as an inheritor of the Purgatory Grotto-Heaven and used his Daoist Scripture Realm pressure to force him to reveal Zhang Chu's whereabouts.
• Wei Shanhe arrived, dispersed Li Beihai's pressure, and said he had come at King Zhao's request to take two young people back.
• Wei Shanhe sensed Zhang Chu behind a dune and called for him to show himself, while Zhang Chu recognized Wei Shanhe's Secret Treasury of Qi.

Zhang Chu confronted Li Beihai over the Eye of the Evil God and challenged the Daoist Scripture Realm expert despite Wei Shanhe’s attempt to protect him. Zhang Chu survived Li Beihai’s full-force strike without injury and left Li Beihai shocked by his strength.

• Zhang Chu emerged from behind a sand dune and greeted Wei Shanhe, who said King Zhao had invited him to Zhongzhou as a guest.
• Li Beihai demanded the Eye of the Evil God, and Zhang Chu openly admitted taking it.
• Wei Shanhe blocked Li Beihai’s pressure and argued that Zhang Chu should keep the relic, but Li Beihai threatened them both.
• Zhang Chu insulted Li Beihai and charged toward him as the enraged elder launched a devastating attack.
• Zhang Chu met Li Beihai’s strike head-on and emerged completely unharmed, forcing Li Beihai back a step.
• Zhang Chu asked Li Beihai, “Is it enough to kill you?”

Zhang Chu faced Li Beihai’s full power in the desert and revealed his strongest combination of techniques to overcome the Daoist Canon expert. He killed Li Beihai with one slash and earned seven million merit points.

• Li Beihai unleashed the Great Sun Burning Heaven Fist, but Zhang Chu shattered its flame dragon with the Nine Feathers Heavenly Saber.
• Wei Shanhe and Zhu Xi recognized that Zhang Chu’s Decomposition Attribute could dissolve Daoist Canon techniques, while Li Beihai prepared his Essence Extinction attack.
• Zhang Chu summoned the Tribulation Armor and blocked Li Beihai’s Essence Extinction punch, forcing both fighters back.
• Li Beihai compressed his Secret Treasury of Essence into Yuantu, and Zhang Chu summoned the Heavenly Palace phantom and amplified his power tenfold.
• Zhang Chu’s slash decomposed Yuantu, pierced Li Beihai, and killed him, earning Zhang Chu seven million merit points.

After killing Li Beihai, Zhang Chu concealed his grave injuries, declined King Zhao’s invitation, and learned that he had never truly encountered the Illusionary City. He left the desert to recover and prepare for a journey to the Daoist Sect Ancestral Court in Zhongzhou, while Zhu Xi returned to Purgatory Grotto-Heaven to cultivate.

• Zhang Chu reflected that Li Beihai’s final strike had severely damaged his meridians, while the watching crowd reacted in shock to Li Beihai’s death.
• Wei Shanhe addressed Zhang Chu as a Dao Master and invited him to Zhongzhou on King Zhao’s behalf, but Zhang Chu declined the visit to King Zhao Mansion and accepted a jade slip for Zhongzhou Academy.
• Zhu Xi declined King Zhao’s invitation, vowed to repay Zhang Chu for saving his life, and departed to return to Purgatory Grotto-Heaven and cultivate.
• Wei Shanhe explained that the Illusionary City was an invisible Pupil Secret Treasury reached through spiritual resonance and comprehension of the Dao, not a physical city or inheritance.
• Zhang Chu concluded that he was not fated to open the Pupil Secret Treasury and chose to seek answers about the old man and the Twelve Chapters of the Yellow Court at the Daoist Sect Ancestral Court.
• Zhang Chu left to recover from his injuries, and Wei Shanhe predicted that news of the desert battle would spread throughout the martial world.

After reaching Zhongzhou, Zhang Chu learned that boats were vanishing on the Bila River and that the Liang Family had closed the crossing to investigate something glowing beneath the riverbed. He killed a Liang Family steward who threatened an old boatman, and Liang Family experts arrived to confront him.

• Zhang Chu reached Zhongzhou after recovering from his fight with Li Beihai and set out for the Daoist Sect Ancestral Court.
• While crossing the Bila River, Zhang Chu learned from Old Man He that boats and passengers had vanished, the Sky Patrol Guard had found nothing, and the Liang Family was forcing boatmen to surrender their boats.
• Old Man He told Zhang Chu that the Liang Family was hiring divers to salvage something from the riverbed, and that the divers who returned had died after muttering that something was alive and had moved.
• Steward Liu ordered his men to smash Old Man He's boat and demanded a fine from Zhang Chu for crossing the river.
• Zhang Chu used the Blood Mist Technique to kill Steward Liu and helped Old Man He ashore as the other Liang Family men fled to report to Second Master.
• A group of Liang Family Hidden Force experts surrounded the ferry crossing with a young girl.

Zhang Chu discovered that a mysterious stone tablet lay somewhere beneath the Bila River and killed Zhao Feng of the Long River Sword Sect when he attacked. When the sect’s Third Grand-Ancestor arrived to threaten him, he recognized Zhang Chu as the Yellow Court Dao Master and knelt before him.

• Liang Wan'er arrived with Liang Family experts, accused Zhang Chu of killing their steward, and Zhao Feng of the Long River Sword Sect attacked him.
• Zhang Chu effortlessly killed Zhao Feng, then used Spiritual Power to make Wan'er reveal that the Liang Family and Long River Sword Sect were searching for a glowing stone tablet beneath the Bila River.
• Wan'er threatened Zhang Chu with the Long River Sword Sect, and its Third Grand-Ancestor arrived with four Jade Liquid experts to confront him.
• The Third Grand-Ancestor recognized Zhang Chu, struck himself with his own palm, and dropped to his knees, greeting him as the Yellow Court Dao Master.

Zhang Chu learned that a strange stele beneath the Bila River was likely one of the Seven Limits and descended to investigate it. He found the Suffering Character Stele, whose cries and visions of human misery were driven back by his Heavenly Palace.

• Zhou Changfeng recognized Zhang Chu, apologized for threatening him, and explained that river witnesses who saw the glowing stele had gone mad and died.
• Zhang Chu connected the stele’s first appearance to the moment he strengthened the Tribulation Character Stele, then asked Uncle He to lead him to the riverbed fissure.
• Zhang Chu set out by boat while Zhou Changfeng broke with the Liang Family, ordered its confinement, and began investigating sect disciples who had oppressed the people.
• Zhang Chu sensed the stele’s sorrowful power, descended nearly three thousand feet, and found the character Suffering carved into the earth-yellow stele.
• The stele’s cries and visions overwhelmed Zhang Chu until his Heavenly Palace restored his clarity, revealing the underwater relic as the Seven Limits’ Suffering Stele.

Zhang Chu discovered that the Bitter Character Stele taught the Sorrow Mantra and was absorbed alongside the Tribulation Character Stele into his Chaos Small World. At the ferry crossing, he destroyed the Liang Family and its collaborators, freed the locals from their oppression, and left as Zhou Changfeng bid him farewell.

• Zhang Chu examined the Bitter Character Stele, and the System identified the Sorrow Mantra as a technique that converted sorrow and suffering into Spiritual Power at the risk of consuming the cultivator's mind.
• The Heavenly Palace absorbed the Bitter Character Stele and the Tribulation Character Stele into Zhang Chu's Chaos Small World, making the world feel more substantial.
• Zhang Chu emerged from the river and found Zhou Changfeng kneeling with the Liang Family and colluding Long River Sword Sect disciples captured at the ferry crossing.
• Zhang Chu killed more than two hundred captives with the Covering the Sky Palm and told the boatmen that the riverbanks would belong to everyone.
• Zhou Changfeng promised that the Long River Sword Sect would protect the locals and patrol the Bila River, while Zhang Chu encouraged them to claim the Liang Family's wealth.
• Zhang Chu vanished into the mist, and Zhou Changfeng sincerely bade farewell to the Dao Master.

Zhang Chu reached Dao City as the Daoist Sect began accepting disciples and learned that the recruitment had drawn thousands of martial artists. At the mountain gate, Xuanqing announced the first trial, the Ascending Heaven Ladder, and the contestants surged forward to begin.

• Zhang Chu studied the Bitter Character Stele and learned that its art could convert worldly sorrow into Spiritual Power before setting out for Dao City.
• Zhang Chu arrived in Dao City, discovered the Daoist Sect's recruitment had attracted more than ten thousand hopefuls, and headed to the Ancestral Court to seek cultivation methods and information about his old master.
• At the crowded plaza, Zhang Chu noticed Little Fatty, a wealthy Hidden Force youth accompanied by eight Grandmasters, who offered him Northern Abyss meat jerky.
• Xuanqing appeared above the mountain gate, introduced the three-trial recruitment, and revealed the ninety-nine-step Ascending Heaven Ladder as the first test.
• Xuanqing declared that candidates had to climb the ladder within the time it took an incense stick to burn, and the crowd surged toward the first trial.

Zhang Chu watched the Heavenly Ladder trial as a fierce young martial artist fell under its Spiritual Power and Little Fatty used a mechanical Heavenly Mechanism Box to race upward. Shen Baiyi, Tie Wushuang, Liu Rufeng, and Wen Qingyuan reached the summit first, while the academy heads debated their talents; the chapter ended as they noticed Zhang Chu steadily climbing without using Gang Qi or movement techniques.

• A fierce young martial artist reached the twentieth level, lost control under the Heavenly Ladder’s pressure, and fell to the ground.
• Little Fatty deployed the Heavenly Mechanism Box and used its mechanical legs to climb rapidly, while the academy heads debated whether his divine weapon violated the trial’s rules.
• Xu Yuanzhen identified Little Fatty as a descendant of the Jiangnan Qian Family and allowed him to continue using the box.
• Shen Baiyi, Tie Wushuang, Liu Rufeng, and Wen Qingyuan reached the summit and discussed who might arrive next.
• The academy heads argued over which of the four young geniuses they wanted to recruit, and Xu Yuanzhen reminded them that the Daoist Sect’s senior masters would choose first.
• True Man Qingyuan noticed Zhang Chu climbing at a measured pace without using movement techniques, Gang Qi, or changing his breathing.

Zhang Chu climbed the Heavenly Ladder without being affected by its Mental Imprints and reached the summit, astonishing the Daoist Sect’s academy masters. Xu Yuanzhen decided to speak to the Twelve True Persons about keeping Zhang Chu, while Shen Baiyi and Liu Rufeng grew uneasy about his arrival.

• Daoist Cangsong and the other academy masters noticed that Zhang Chu’s pace never changed and that he climbed without using Gang Qi.
• As the other participants faltered, they crowded behind Zhang Chu, whose presence eased the Mental Imprints’ attacks on them.
• Zhang Chu passed the ninetieth step without strain, while Tie Wushuang, Shen Baiyi, Wen Qingyuan, and Liu Rufeng reacted to his remarkable composure.
• The academy masters argued over which academy should claim Zhang Chu, and Xu Yuanzhen stopped them and promised to petition the Twelve True Persons if Zhang Chu passed all three trials.
• Zhang Chu stepped onto the ninety-ninth step and reached the summit, prompting Shen Baiyi to feel threatened and Liu Rufeng to anticipate the next trial.

Zhang Chu passed the Heart-Breaking Array without using any visible technique, and his spiritual power counter-controlled its eight elders. The academy masters fought to recruit him, and Xu Yuanzhen asked Zhang Chu to become his disciple.

• Qian Duoduo reached the summit on the Heavenly Mechanism Box as the final candidates arrived, and True Person Xuanqing eliminated everyone who had not made it up in time.
• True Person Xuanqing introduced the Eight-Trigrams Golden Thread Array, and a burly youth was knocked unconscious after failing to cross it.
• Liu Rufeng used his spiritual secret art to pass the array, Tie Wushuang endured its pressure, and Shen Baiyi cut through it with sword intent.
• Zhang Chu walked through the array without releasing his aura, while his glance left all eight elders confused and drooling.
• The academy masters argued over which academy should recruit Zhang Chu, and Xu Yuanzhen flew down and asked him to take him as his master.

Xu Yuanzhen offered to take Zhang Chu as his disciple, but Zhang Chu refused, saying he already had a master. The Daoist Sect’s Twelve True Persons then recognized him as the Yellow Court Dao Master and invited him to meet the Mountain Master.

• Xu Yuanzhen asked Zhang Chu to become his disciple, angering the other academy heads who accused him of ignoring their agreement and the Ancestral Court’s rules.
• Zhang Chu declined Xu Yuanzhen’s offer and asked whether the Bone Law Realm was truly strong, prompting the academy heads to condemn his apparent arrogance.
• True Man Xuanwei arrived, bowed to Zhang Chu, and addressed him as Dao Master, stunning the gathered crowd.
• A young martial artist identified Zhang Chu as the Yellow Court Dao Master who had slain Li Beihai, causing Qian Duoduo, Liu Rufeng, and the other young geniuses to recoil in fear and disbelief.
• True Men Xuanming, Xuanqing, and Xuanyu arrived and paid their respects to Zhang Chu on behalf of the Daoist Sect.
• True Man Xuanming said the Mountain Master had sensed Zhang Chu’s arrival and invited him to come for a discussion.

Zhang Chu met Qingxu, who revealed that his master Huang Xugu had once been one of the Daoist Sect’s Twin Jades and had been blamed for the mysterious theft of the Last Three Chapters of the Yellow Court. Qingxu gave Zhang Chu a Celestial Master token and unlimited access to the Ten Thousand Scriptures Pavilion, where Zhang Chu discovered records about the Seven Limits and the Medicine Dao Master.

• Xuanming, Xuanqing, Xuanyu, and Xuanwei escorted Zhang Chu to meet Mountain Master Qingxu.
• Qingxu revealed that Huang Xugu had been his disciple and told Zhang Chu how the Last Three Chapters of the Yellow Court vanished while Xugu and Xuansu guarded the Ten Thousand Scriptures Pavilion.
• Qingxu explained that Xugu had left the Daoist Sect to search for the missing chapters, and Zhang Chu connected his master’s travels to that search.
• Qingxu gave Zhang Chu a Celestial Master token and opened the Ten Thousand Scriptures Pavilion to him without a time limit.
• Zhang Chu found Travels of the Cloud Crane on the pavilion’s third floor and learned that the First Generation Celestial Master and the Medicine Dao Master had cultivated a technique from a Seven Limits Stele.
• Zhang Chu read that the Medicine Dao Master, originally named Yao Ling, had joined the Demonic Cult partly because Dugu Weiwo once possessed two steles.

Zhang Chu searched the Ten Thousand Scriptures Pavilion for a supreme art that could fuse with his Bitter Character Stele and chose the Jade Purity Book despite its dangers. After a pavilion keeper warned him that it had driven past practitioners to madness or death, Zhang Chu left to enhance it, confident Shenlan would handle the risks.

• Zhang Chu learned that the First Generation Celestial Master had obtained one of the Seven Limits and wondered whether the Daoist Sect still possessed his stone stele.
• Zhang Chu examined the seven supreme arts on the fifth floor, setting aside the first six because they did not suit his needs or would cost too many Merit Points to enhance.
• Zhang Chu found that the Jade Purity Book’s method of refining Spiritual Power with Clear Qi could complement the Bitter Character Stele’s cultivation through suffering.
• A white-haired pavilion keeper warned Zhang Chu that no one had mastered the Jade Purity Book and that past practitioners had died or suffered mental collapse, but Zhang Chu kept the book.
• Zhang Chu left the pavilion and went to a secluded mountaintop platform, where he prepared to enhance the Jade Purity Book.

Zhang Chu spent nine million Merit Points mastering all three layers of the Jade Purity Book, greatly strengthening his body, Spiritual Power, and Dao Embryo. His Divine Union triggered a Heaven and Earth Pure Qi resonance that alarmed the Daoist Sect’s elders and drew them toward the mountaintop.

• Zhang Chu used one million Merit Points to complete Jade Marrow, polishing his bones and meridians and greatly increasing his physical strength.
• Zhang Chu spent three million Merit Points to complete Clear Light, purifying his Divine Mansion and doubling his Spiritual Power.
• Zhang Chu spent five million Merit Points to complete Divine Union, causing his Dao Embryo to pulse and grow more solid.
• A pillar of Clear Qi rose from Zhang Chu and lifted him into the air as the white-haired old man recognized the sign of Divine Union.
• True Man Xuanming, Xuanqing, the Twelve True Persons, and the five Daoist Canon Mountain Masters sensed the resonance and rushed toward the mountaintop.

Zhang Chu failed to use his Spiritual Power to form a Dao Embryo, but Divine Union unexpectedly opened the Secret Treasury of Essence and transformed his body. The five Daoist Canon Mountain Masters witnessed his extraordinary breakthrough, and Zhang Chu ended the chapter realizing he had become a Daoist Scripture Realm powerhouse.

• Zhang Chu drove his Spiritual Power at the Dao Embryo, but his foundation was too shallow to make it form.
• As Zhang Chu withdrew from Divine Union, the power of the Fu Zhe Technique and Jade Marrow shattered his bodily shackles and opened the Secret Treasury of Essence.
• A towering blood-qi dragon rose from Jueyun Peak, drawing the five Daoist Canon Mountain Masters, who sensed both Zhang Chu’s opened Essence Aperture and his Dao Embryo Prototype.
• The blood-qi dragon returned to Zhang Chu, whose transformed body gained immense vitality, recovery, and lifespan.
• Zhang Chu reflected that he had killed Li Beihai only because Li Beihai had underestimated him, then recognized that he was now a Daoist Scripture Realm powerhouse himself.

Zhang Chu met the five Daoist Mountain Masters after his breakthrough and proved his strength by matching Mountain Master Yuan’s palm. The Celestial Master, Zhang Daoxuan, arrived, supported Zhang Chu’s possible rise to Mountain Master, and privately asked whether he possessed one of the Seven Limits.

• Zhang Chu descended from the mountaintop and met Mountain Masters Yuan, Lingyue, Baopu, Yunshu, and True Man Qingxu.
• Mountain Master Yuan tested Zhang Chu with a palm strike, and Zhang Chu matched it without injury.
• Mountain Master Yunshu questioned Zhang Chu about his Divine Mansion, but True Man Qingxu defended his secrecy and proposed establishing another Daoist training ground for him.
• Mountain Masters Yuan and Lingyue objected that Zhang Chu came from a branch line and that only the Celestial Master could approve the proposal.
• Zhang Daoxuan arrived, assessed Zhang Chu’s strength and Divine Mansion, then privately asked whether the thing on him was one of the Seven Limits.