Chapter Summaries

After Ning Wangshu killed Xue Ning and the others, Wei Laosan feared for his life and wondered whether Ning Wangshu had truly surpassed the Golden Core realm. At the Yaowang Sect, Xue Hongyuan sensed his daughter’s death and, unable to reach her or Wu Changfeng, prepared to seek answers.

• Wei Laosan knelt and begged Ning Wangshu to spare him, then watched as Ning Wangshu burned the corpses and left with Song Guowei.
• After Ning Wangshu had gone, Wei Laosan reflected on his survival and questioned whether a realm above the Golden Core existed.
• At the Yaowang Sect, Xue Hongyuan sensed that the Dharma Seal he had placed on Xue Ning had shattered, and his Alchemy Furnace exploded as he reacted in grief and fury.
• Xue Hongyuan told the sect members who rushed in that Xue Ning was dead, and they urged him to contact her and Wu Changfeng.
• The Yaowang Sect members called Xue Ning and Wu Changfeng but could not reach either of them, then turned toward Xue Hongyuan.

After learning that his daughter Ning'er had been killed, Xue Hongyuan sought Wuxiang Zhenren's help to find and kill the likely Golden Core Great Grandmaster responsible. Wuxiang Zhenren agreed and revealed that the Huntian Pill might help him break through Peak Golden Core into a higher realm, leaving Xue Hongyuan eager to learn more.

• Xue Hongyuan learned that Ning'er and Elder Wu had gone to Jingzhou City and concluded that a Golden Core Great Grandmaster had likely killed them.
• Xue Hongyuan decided to seek Wuxiang Zhenren's help and considered calling on other Golden Core Great Grandmasters who owed the Yaowang Sect favors.
• Xue Hongyuan asked Wuxiang Zhenren to help avenge Ning'er, promising the Yaowang Sect would gather the ingredients for the Huntian Pill and refine it.
• Wuxiang Zhenren agreed to help but warned that the two of them might not be able to stop a Golden Core Great Grandmaster from fleeing.
• Wuxiang Zhenren told Xue Hongyuan that the Huntian Pill could help him break through Peak Golden Core, a realm he believed could be surpassed.
• Xue Hongyuan was astonished and excited by the possibility of a realm beyond the Golden Core.

After securing Xue Hongyuan’s help in finding Phoenix Sun Grass and refining the Huntian Pill, Wuxiang Zhenren traveled with him to investigate Ning’er’s death. Meanwhile, Ning Wangshu tracked down the seller of the deadwood and revealed he was a Golden Core Great Grandmaster, leaving the man stunned as Ning demanded the full story behind it.

• Wuxiang Zhenren told Xue Hongyuan that his stalled cultivation had begun stirring, and Xue agreed to help him refine the Huntian Pill once they found Phoenix Sun Grass.
• Elder Yan reported that the Zhu family of Heiliao Province had bought a stalk of Phoenix Sun Grass, and Xue ordered him to obtain it.
• Wuxiang Zhenren and Xue Hongyuan set off for Jingzhou City to investigate Ning’er’s death.
• Ning Wangshu warned Song Guowei to leave Jingzhou because Xue Hongyuan might target him, then went to find the deadwood seller.
• Ning Wangshu conjured True Fire and revealed himself as a Golden Core Great Grandmaster, then demanded the full story behind the deadwood.

Ning Wangshu learned that Fan Xuping found the withered wood in a fissure in the Kunlun Mountains and agreed to travel with him to investigate. Meanwhile, Xue Hongyuan arrived at the Cao Family to discover what had happened to his daughter, Xue Ning, after the Dharma Seal he placed on her shattered.

• Fan Xuping told Ning Wangshu that he found the withered wood when a fissure opened in the Kunlun Mountains, where members of the Qi City Meng Family were also present.
• Ning Wangshu offered Fan Xuping two Zengyuan Pills to guide him to the mysterious place, and Fan Xuping agreed.
• Ning Wangshu and Fan Xuping booked a high-speed train to Qicheng City and headed to the station.
• Xue Hongyuan and Wuxiang Zhenren arrived in Jingzhou, and Xue Hongyuan went to the Cao Family because he did not know where the exchange meeting was being held.
• Xue Hongyuan told Cao Qinming that the Dharma Seal on Xue Ning had shattered and asked the Cao Family to help find out what had happened to her.

Xue Hongyuan and Cao Qinming connected the deaths and disappearances to the young man who sold Zengyuan Pills, Ning Wangshu. They learned Ning Wangshu had left Jingzhou with Fan Xuping, but Fan’s strength remained unknown.

• Cao Qinming told Xue Hongyuan that Xue Ning and Wu Changfeng had encountered Ning Wangshu at an exchange meeting, where he sold Zengyuan Pills and refused Xue Ning’s invitation to join their sect.
• Cao Qinming revealed that his son, Cao Yanbin, and other relatives had followed Ning Wangshu and were now missing, leading Xue Hongyuan to suspect Ning Wangshu was connected to Xue Ning’s death.
• Xue Hongyuan asked Cao Qinming to help find Ning Wangshu, and Cao Qinming agreed while waiting for his investigators to report back.
• Cao Qinming’s investigator reported that Ning Wangshu had left Jingzhou by high-speed train with Fan Xuping, while Song Guowei and two attendants had flown to Jiangnan City.
• The investigator identified Ning Wangshu as being from Linchuan City and said Fan Xuping’s ID listed him as forty-two, but could not determine Fan’s cultivation.

After learning that Xue Ning's killer must have been a Golden Core Grandmaster, Xue Hongyuan heard that Ning Wangshu might be a young, exceptionally powerful Grandmaster from Jiangnan. Wuxiang Zhenren warned that they could only hope to kill him by luring him into a prepared formation that blocked his escape technique.

• Xue Hongyuan explained that only a Golden Core Grandmaster could have killed Xue Ning despite Elder Wu's protection and the sect's treasures.
• Cao Qinming learned that the reported killer was Ning Wangshu from Linchuan City in Jiangnan Province and recalled rumors of a young Grandmaster surnamed Ning.
• Cao Qinming recounted how the Grandmaster Ning defeated Real Person Pingyang and escaped the Golden Core explosion with a technique like Teleportation.
• Xue Hongyuan and Wuxiang Zhenren concluded that Ning Wangshu might be at least a late-stage Golden Core Grandmaster, while Cao Qinming learned Wuxiang Zhenren was a reclusive Peak Golden Core master.
• Wuxiang Zhenren warned that they could not stop Ning Wangshu without first trapping him in a formation that blocked his escape technique.

Xue Hongyuan confirmed that Ning Wangshu was the Grand Greatmaster who had killed Real Person Pingyang and resolved to help Wuxiang Zhenren refine the Huntian Pill so he could seek revenge. Meanwhile, Ning Wangshu reached Qicheng and began drawing the mysterious aura from the deadwood into his body, convinced it might be immortal qi.

• Xue Hongyuan asked Cao Qinming for surveillance and ID photos of Ning Wangshu so cultivators in the Southeast Seven Provinces could identify him.
• After the cultivators confirmed Ning Wangshu was the Grand Greatmaster surnamed Ning, Xue Hongyuan agreed to refine the Huntian Pill for Wuxiang Zhenren once they obtained Phoenix Sun Grass.
• Ning Wangshu messaged Lin Qingzhu and Ma Junfan from the train and told them his investigation of Kunlun Mountain would delay his return.
• Ning Wangshu and Fan Xuping arrived in Qicheng and checked into a hotel before continuing toward Kunlun Mountain the next day.
• Ning Wangshu examined the deadwood’s Xiantian Dao Patterns, drew out its mysterious aura, and let the wisp he believed was immortal qi flow into his body.

Ning Wangshu refined a wisp of immortal qi from the deadwood, transforming his soul slightly and easing the suppression on his cultivation. He wondered whether Kunlun Mountain's rift connected Earth to the Immortal Realm, but resolved not to leave Lin Qingzhu and Ning Ruoxuan behind.

• Ning Wangshu's soul absorbed the deadwood's wisp of immortal qi, beginning its transformation toward an Immortal Soul.
• Ning Wangshu found that his usable spiritual power had risen from early-stage to late-stage Nascent Soul, while his Divine Sense reached more than ten kilometers.
• Ning Wangshu speculated that the rift in Kunlun Mountain might connect Earth to the Immortal Realm, but decided he would not enter it without Lin Qingzhu and Ning Ruoxuan.
• Ning Wangshu discovered the deadwood could serve as a powerful artifact material and might one day be used to forge an Immortal Artifact.

Ning Wangshu and Fan Xuping traveled toward Shanglin Town, where Ning Wangshu intervened when a man tried to seize a young woman on the bus. After forcing the man off the bus, Ning Wangshu learned that the woman had been trafficked and had escaped her captor.

• Ning Wangshu and Fan Xuping took buses from Qicheng toward Shanglin Town, stopping in Bujin County for lunch and supplies.
• A frightened young woman boarded their bus, and a man who called himself one of Brother Leopard's men followed and tried to grab her.
• The woman told Ning Wangshu that she had been trafficked and was not the man's wife, so Ning Wangshu seized the man's arm and threw him off the bus.
• The woman thanked Ning Wangshu and explained that an unlicensed taxi driver had drugged and sold her, but she had escaped by striking a captor and fleeing.

Ning Wangshu rescued Su Yanqing from Brother Leopard’s man and agreed to keep her safe in Shanglin Town until her family could collect her. Brother Leopard and his men intercepted the bus, and the passengers urged Ning Wangshu to apologize and surrender Su Yanqing.

• Ning Wangshu refused the driver’s warning to get off early, and Fan Xuping reassured Su Yanqing that she would be safe with him.
• Ning Wangshu introduced himself and Fan Xuping to Su Yanqing, then agreed to let her stay with them in Shanglin Town until her family arrived.
• Su Yanqing called her family using Ning Wangshu’s phone and learned they would reach Shanglin Town around noon the next day.
• Two SUVs forced the bus to stop, and the injured man from earlier arrived with Brother Leopard and several men carrying steel pipes.
• The passengers panicked and advised Ning Wangshu to apologize to Brother Leopard and hand Su Yanqing over.

Ning Wangshu defended Su Yanqing from Brother Leopard and his men, easily defeating the gang members who attacked him. He recognized Brother Leopard as a low-level cultivator and dismissed his boast of being stronger.

• Su Yanqing begged Ning Wangshu not to hand her over, and he promised to protect her.
• Ning Wangshu stepped out of the car and kicked away the man who had challenged him.
• Brother Leopard demanded that Ning Wangshu kneel, apologize, pay one million, and return Su Yanqing, then ordered his men to attack.
• Ning Wangshu sent Brother Leopard's steel-pipe-wielding men flying, stunning the passengers and earning Su Yanqing's admiration.
• Brother Leopard prepared to fight and boasted that Ning Wangshu would learn there was always someone stronger.
• Ning Wangshu recognized Brother Leopard as a Postnatal Stage 2 cultivator and scoffed at his boast.

Ning Wangshu defeated Brother Leopard with a single slap after stopping his men from harassing Su Yanqing, then returned to the bus with her. Brother Leopard was left unable to move and ordered his men to take him to the hospital, worrying that his injuries would prevent him from delivering supplies to Young Master Meng.

• Ning Wangshu slapped Brother Leopard down onto his knees, leaving his arms and legs numb while the passengers watched in shock.
• Ning Wangshu returned to the bus, reassured Su Yanqing that her family would arrive the next day, and agreed to call her Yanqing.
• The driver took the bus around the SUVs, leaving Brother Leopard's men to help him up and carry him to their car.
• Brother Leopard ordered his men to take him to the hospital and warned the man who had harassed Su Yanqing that he would punish him if his injuries delayed the delivery to Young Master Meng.

Ning Wangshu traveled with Fan Xuping to the Kunlun Mountain rift valley, where the spiritual energy had weakened dramatically since Fan’s last visit. After rewarding Fan and sending him away, Ning Wangshu headed toward a camp near the valley.

• Ning Wangshu answered Major Gu’s call and agreed to contact her when he returned, after learning her superior wanted to meet him.
• Su Yanqing’s family arrived in Shanglin Town, thanked Ning Wangshu, and offered him money, which he declined before she left with them.
• Ning Wangshu and Fan Xuping traveled through Kunlun Mountain toward the rift valley, where Ning’s Divine Sense could not penetrate.
• Fan Xuping said the spiritual energy from the rift valley was now less than one-fiftieth of what it had been months earlier and pointed out a camp belonging to the Qi City Meng Family.
• Ning Wangshu gave Fan Xuping two Zengyuan Pills and sent him back, then walked toward the camp.

Ning Wangshu forced his way into the Meng family’s camp to question them about the fissure and its discoveries, defeating the guards and Young Master Meng’s men. When a Grandmaster from the Meng family challenged him, Ning Wangshu revealed overwhelming power and demanded to know whether the family was ready to face the consequences of defying him.

• Ning Wangshu knocked aside the guards blocking the camp and confronted Young Master Meng, who was joined by Brother Leopard, the man Ning Wangshu had injured earlier.
• Ning Wangshu struck Brother Leopard down from a distance and hurled away the group of Meng family attackers who charged at him.
• Ning Wangshu demanded that Young Master Meng explain what the family had found below the fissure and show him the objects that had emerged from it.
• A ninth-level Forming Yuan Stage elder arrived and attacked Ning Wangshu with his aura, but Ning Wangshu’s power overwhelmed him and sent him staggering back.
• The elder recognized Ning Wangshu as a Great Grandmaster, and Ning Wangshu asked whether the Meng family was ready to bear the consequences of defying his will.

Ning Wangshu forced the Meng family to submit and questioned them about the fissure. He learned that the ruins below held a massive True Dragon skeleton, then ordered the family to gather every item they had recovered for his inspection.

• The old man, Young Master Meng, and Brother Leopard knelt and begged Ning Wangshu to forgive their earlier insults.
• Ning Wangshu agreed to spare the Meng family if they answered truthfully and showed him everything they had obtained from the fissure.
• The old man told Ning Wangshu that the fissure led to ancient battlefield ruins, where they had seen a True Dragon skeleton hundreds of meters long, but an invisible force blocked entry.
• The old man explained that recordings of the ruins showed nothing and that some recovered items had been transported away.
• Ning Wangshu ordered the Meng family to bring back the transported items and led the old man into their camp to inspect what remained.

Ning Wangshu inspected the Meng family’s recovered items and found nothing valuable, then descended into the rift to investigate its source of Spiritual Qi. He discovered a vast sealed battlefield containing a corpse resembling a True Dragon’s Remains and prepared to test a gap in the array with a Magic Artifact.

• Ning Wangshu examined the items in the camp with his Divine Sense and told the old man from the Meng family that none were valuable.
• Ning Wangshu learned that the Meng family’s other recovered items would take two days to return, so he flew down into the rift to explore.
• The old man from the Meng family and Young Master Meng discussed retrieving the remaining items and regretted that the rift’s Spiritual Qi was weakening.
• Ning Wangshu reached the bottom of the rift and found an enormous sealed space scattered with giant creature remains and Magic Artifact fragments.
• Ning Wangshu spotted a tiny gap in the array and sent a Magic Artifact of High-grade treasure rank crashing into it to test the opening.

Ning Wangshu broke through the formation’s gap and discovered a vast, desolate space filled with enormous remains and abundant Spiritual Qi. He found a towering dead Divine Tree covered in Xiantian Dao Patterns and wondered whether it had produced his immortal-energy-bearing deadwood fragment.

• Ning Wangshu tested the formation with spirit artifacts and concluded that the Bahuang Zhentianding could protect him long enough to cross its gap.
• Ning Wangshu entered the formation with the Bahuang Zhentianding and pushed through its intensifying force until he reached a separate inner world.
• Ning Wangshu surveyed the barren space, finding gigantic bones, ruined Magic Artifacts, and no signs of life.
• Ning Wangshu approached the Towering Divine Tree until its pressure forced him to stop at a distance.
• Ning Wangshu recognized Xiantian Dao Patterns covering the Divine Tree and suspected his deadwood fragment came from it and that the tree might contain abundant immortal energy.

Ning Wangshu discovered a ruined palace marked “Western Emperor,” where the plaque’s lingering intent injured him before he ventured inside and found a mysterious golden page. He continued deeper into the palace and stopped before a sealed bronze door stained with dark red blood.

• Ning Wangshu failed to retrieve the divine tree’s fallen branches and searched elsewhere.
• Ning Wangshu found the ruined Western Emperor palace and suffered a powerful mental impact from the plaque’s remaining characters.
• Ning Wangshu recovered with a spiritual pill, summoned the Bahuang Zhentianding for protection, and entered the palace.
• Ning Wangshu found a golden page beneath a shattered couch chair and stored it in his Storage Ring.
• Ning Wangshu continued through the palace and came upon a sealed bronze door marked by a dark red bloodstain.

Ning Wangshu survived an attack from the bloodstain on a bronze door in the Ancient battlefield with help from the golden page, then escaped back to the Outside World. He learned that six days had passed and went with the Meng family's elderly man to inspect the items he had requested.

• Ning Wangshu approached the bloodstain on the bronze door, which unleashed illusions and a blood shadow that attacked him.
• Ning Wangshu used the golden page to dispel the illusions and repel the blood shadow, then fled the palace as another blood shadow pursued him.
• Ning Wangshu escaped through the formation gap and concluded that the Ancient battlefield contained dangers left by beings possibly as powerful as immortals.
• The Meng family's elderly man greeted Ning Wangshu and told him that six days had passed since he entered the battlefield.
• Ning Wangshu learned that the requested items had arrived and followed the old man into the camp to inspect them.

Ning Wangshu returned to Jiangnan City after investigating the Meng family’s collected objects and tested the mysterious golden page, but could not withstand the phantom’s pressure or understand the Sound of the Great Dao. He put the page away and reunited with Lin Qingzhu at his home.

• Ning Wangshu used the Soul Searching Technique on the Meng family’s old man and confirmed that the family was hiding nothing before flying away.
• Ning Wangshu returned to Jiangnan City with his spiritual power raised to the Nascent Soul Late stage and a mysterious golden page from the palace.
• Ning Wangshu examined the golden page, saw an imposing figure, and failed to withstand its pressure or make out the Sound of the Great Dao.
• Ning Wangshu called Lin Qingzhu, who hurried to his home and embraced him when she arrived.
• Ning Wangshu kissed Lin Qingzhu and carried her into the room.