Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang asks why Senior White isn’t using his time guarding a seal to enter seclusion. Senior White explains that he has been in “Background Seclusion” continuously for over three months, a mode Shuhang invented that lets someone cultivate while doing other things.
• The Pitch-Black Sun, imprisoned in the seal, listens and objects internally that this hardly resembles real seclusion.
• Senior White asks about the Confucian Sage’s talent. Shuhang says he used it to absorb 90% of the Nine Netherworld Ruler Fat Ball, leaving Fat Ball unconscious for tens of thousands of years; Shuhang’s Nine Netherworld body, Song Youyou, plans to make him a Companion Artifact.
• Shuhang proposes using his Longevity Dao of Primordial Language and Script as the sacrifice for Senior White to inherit the Sage Talent. Senior White cautions that Shuhang should have another Longevity Method ready to avoid a dangerous drop in realm.
• Shuhang shares his preliminary insights into a Longevity Dao based on Merit and karma. Senior White studies the information and, in about fifty-eight minutes, develops a prototype: a network-like Longevity Method that links people through Merit and karma.
• Senior White lays out the next step: Shuhang will sacrifice his current Longevity Dao in the Sage Talent Inheritance Ritual and use the talent on Senior White, who will transfer the new prototype and part of his existence to Shuhang.

Character developments

• Song Shuhang shows confidence in his unusual cultivation methods and explains that a temporary fall from the Longevity Immortal Realm would not greatly diminish his strength.
• Senior White demonstrates extraordinary speed and insight, turning Shuhang’s rough ideas into a new Longevity Method prototype in under an hour. He also takes a cautious, supportive role in planning the ritual.
• The Pitch-Black Sun grows increasingly alarmed as it overhears the pair, especially after learning about Fat Ball’s near-total absorption and witnessing Senior White’s rapid breakthrough.

Significant themes

• The chapter comically reimagines cultivation conventions: Shuhang’s “Background Seclusion” lets him cultivate while gaming, much to the Pitch-Black Sun’s disbelief.
• It emphasizes the protagonists’ exceptional, almost absurd capabilities, contrasting them with the Sun’s slower, more traditional expectations.
• The new Merit-and-karma method suggests connection and shared existence as a path to longevity.

Character interactions

• Shuhang and Senior White trade easy banter, with Shuhang flattering Senior White and sharing his plans and insights.
• Senior White guides Shuhang through the risks of sacrificing a Longevity Dao, then collaborates with him on the inheritance ritual.
• The Pitch-Black Sun silently eavesdrops, reacting with disbelief and anxiety to their casual discussion of feats and breakthroughs.

Key plot points and events

• Senior White quickly completes an Embryonic Cause-and-Merit Longevity Method for Song Shuhang, using Song’s data and his own research. The Pitch-Black Sun is astonished by how easily Senior White accomplishes in an hour what once took him years.
• Song Shuhang begins a carefully planned ritual using the Confucian Sage’s Book and an improved Sage’s Secret Technique. The book’s cover protects Daozi’s Dao from being sacrificed.
• The Merit Snake Beauty removes Song’s eyes as requested. Song replaces one with an unsacrificed Sage’s Eye, while another eye containing the Knowledge-and-Language Longevity Method is passed to Tyrant Evil.
• Tyrant Evil travels into the Heavenly Dao Little Black Room, carrying out his part of the plan.
• Seeing Song prepare for another sacrifice, the Kun King Egg assumes Song intends to sacrifice its Longevity Method—and despairs. But Song instead sacrifices his own Holy Eye Golden Core and newly formed Knowledge-and-Language Longevity Dao. His cultivation weakens and his Immortal Moon Wheel dims.
• The Kun King realizes it may not be the intended sacrifice after all, though it wonders whether its interruption caused Song to sacrifice himself by mistake.

Character developments

• Senior White demonstrates extraordinary skill and speed, further impressing—and unnerving—the Pitch-Black Sun.
• Song Shuhang remains composed and methodical despite repeatedly sacrificing parts of his cultivation. He coordinates each stage with confidence.
• The Merit Snake Beauty shows both playful resentment and sharp understanding: she takes revenge by blinding Song, but follows his instructions precisely.
• The Kun King shifts from certainty that it is doomed to confused, cautious hope.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and cultivation: Song accepts losses to advance the plan, while the possibility of sacrificing another’s Dao creates tension.
• Misunderstanding and comic irony: The Kun King’s fearful assumptions contrast with Song’s actual actions.
• Extraordinary talent and ingenuity: Senior White’s rapid breakthroughs underline the scale of his ability.
• Cooperation and trust: Song’s allies carry out specialized roles in a complicated ritual.

Character interactions

• Song jokes with and directs the Merit Snake Beauty, who responds with mock hostility but cooperates.
• Song, Senior White, the Merit Snake Beauty, and Tyrant Evil coordinate the ritual’s stages.
• The Kun King silently panics over what it believes Song plans to do, then speaks up at the worst possible moment and nearly disrupts the procedure.

Key plot points and events

• Song Shuhang performs the Sage Talent inheritance ritual for Senior White, sacrificing his Holy Eye Golden Core and his Longevity Dao of language and writing. Boss Pitch-Black Sun is struck by Shuhang’s extreme willingness to sacrifice himself and considers recruiting him.
• Kun King sees Shuhang’s temporary weakness after the sacrifice as a chance to escape. But the ritual’s final stage gives Shuhang the aura of the Confucian Sage, frightening Kun King into submission.
• Senior White cooperates with Shuhang in exchanging a small portion of their existence. Shuhang receives Senior White’s prepared Embryonic Dao of Longevity, based on Cause and Effect and Merit.
• Shuhang’s Heavenly Dao deduction expands that embryonic Dao into a complete Longevity Dao. His Longevity Immortal Moon Wheel returns, and he regains the Longevity Immortal Realm almost immediately—stronger after the repeated cycles of loss and recovery.
• Shuhang begins using the new Dao to build a network linking members of the Nine Provinces Number One Group as a foundation for the Cultivation Chat System.
• He notices that Senior White’s portion of existence has not merged with his own. Senior White suggests this may be because Shuhang is still “complete,” making the added portion redundant.

Character developments

• Song Shuhang demonstrates extraordinary devotion to Senior White, sacrificing major powers without hesitation. He also proves increasingly resilient: each setback and recovery leaves him more powerful.
• Senior White actively cooperates in the exchange and provides a Longevity Dao suited to Shuhang. His explanation points toward a missing condition in their plan for simultaneous enlightenment.
• Kun King abandons his escape attempt and becomes wary of Shuhang, especially after sensing the Confucian Sage’s aura.
• Boss Pitch-Black Sun admires Shuhang’s ruthless self-sacrifice and considers whether he might be persuaded to join his faction.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and devotion: Shuhang’s willingness to harm himself is driven by his desire to help Senior White.
• Resilience through adversity: His repeated loss and restoration of power make him stronger, provided the setback is not death.
• Cooperation and shared existence: The exchange between Shuhang and Senior White advances their plan to achieve simultaneous enlightenment while remaining distinct individuals.
• Power as a source of fear: Kun King’s plans collapse when Shuhang’s strength and aura return.

Character interactions

• Shuhang and Senior White cooperate closely in the inheritance ritual and exchange portions of their existence; afterward, they discuss why the exchanged existence has not fused.
• Kun King watches Shuhang’s apparent weakness, then retreats into caution when Shuhang’s power returns.
• Boss Pitch-Black Sun observes Shuhang’s sacrifice and considers recruiting him.

Key events

• Song Shuhang offers Senior White a portion of his existence so they can complete their earlier fusion experiment.
• Senior White uses the Confucian Sage’s talent to devour that portion. Song’s own Immortality defense initially blocks the technique, but the immortal power of Senior White’s Star River cancels it out long enough for the transfer to succeed.
• The Pitch-Black Sun witnesses the technique breach Immortality and panics, fearing it was designed to target beings like itself. It desperately tries to calculate an escape and send a distress signal.
• Song and Senior White realize the same technique may work on the Pitch-Black Sun, which possesses Immortality through the Heavenly Dao’s remnants.
• Senior White suggests calling Daozi to help secure the situation. Daozi arrives, having been studying how to dismantle the Stellar Destruction Virus data taken from the Pitch-Black Sun.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang willingly risks losing part of his existence and treats even the unsettling sensation of the procedure as something to observe and learn from.
• Senior White carefully tests the Confucian Sage’s talent and works with Song to overcome the Immortality defense.
• The Pitch-Black Sun shifts from confidence in its Immortality to fear and frantic self-preservation after seeing it breached.
• Daozi is positioned as a cautious ally: he is called in to support the next step, while independently investigating the virus rather than trying to create it.

Themes

• Immortality is not necessarily invulnerable: one form of immortal power can counter or breach another.
• Song’s willingness to sacrifice himself contrasts with the Pitch-Black Sun’s desperate instinct to survive.
• The Confucian Sage’s legacy continues to shape events, unsettling those who encounter its power.

Key plot points and events

• Daozi abandons his experiment and enters the Seal Land after learning that Song Shuhang and Senior White may be able to devour the Pitch-Black Sun’s existence. He hopes they can neutralize the threat before his retirement.
• Daozi destroys the Pitch-Black Sun’s distress signals and warns it to remain still. He considers using Heavenly Punishment, but the Sun reacts with excitement rather than fear, so he decides against it.
• Song and Senior White have become incomplete in complementary ways, allowing the parts of each other’s existence they swallowed to begin merging. Their changes satisfy the conditions for proving the Dao together.
• As Song and Senior White prepare their technique and open part of the seal, the Pitch-Black Sun’s unstable body lashes out by sending more distress signals.
• A charred figure wrapped in Karma Fire appears, drawn by the Immortality Aura around Song and Senior White. It crushes a distress signal and moves toward the seal, apparently intent on reaching the Pitch-Black Sun.

Character developments and interactions

• Daozi is determined to prevent the Pitch-Black Sun from becoming a danger to future generations. He takes an active role in guarding the ritual, suppressing its signals, and confronting the newcomer.
• Song Shuhang adapts to his altered state, likening it to replacing his Seven-Colored Big Kidney, and enters Pseudo-Immortality Mode. His body and Fat Whale Golden Core are synchronizing with Senior White’s existence.
• Senior White and Song act with close coordination, silently agreeing to begin their joint effort.
• The Pitch-Black Sun is cornered and unstable, yet its eagerness for Heavenly Punishment hints at an unknown motive or connection.
• Daozi and the charred figure exchange a palm strike as it appears. The newcomer’s arrival interrupts the attempt to contain the Sun and raises the possibility of a rescue.

Significant themes

• Shared identity and interdependence: Song and Senior White’s complementary incompleteness allows them to function as a combined entity.
• Responsibility across generations: Daozi wants to resolve a dangerous legacy rather than pass it on.
• Uncertainty amid apparent control: Though the Sun seems trapped, its signals and the unexpected Karma Fire figure reveal that the situation remains unpredictable.

Key plot points and events

• Daozi isolates a mysterious, charcoal-like attacker in a Mirror World so its battle won’t disrupt the seal containing the Pitch-Black Sun.
• The attacker ignores Daozi, smashes through the supposedly unbreakable Mirror World, and charges toward Song Shuhang and Senior White.
• ＠＃％×Fairy protects them by summoning the Merit-powered phantom of the Ancient Heavenly Court. Merit Power extinguishes much of the attacker’s Karma Fire, exposing its vulnerability.
• The attacker recognizes Senior White by his ancient-language dao title, then withdraws without explanation. Song Shuhang suspects it is Merit Daoist, whom he recalls seeing emerge from the Tomb of the Immortal wrapped in Karma Fire.
• The Pitch-Black Sun had expected the attacker to rescue it. Its hope collapses when the attacker retreats, leaving it in deeper despair.
• Song Shuhang and Senior White turn back to the sealed sun and prepare to offer up the Confucian Sage Talent.

Character developments

• Daozi confidently invokes his Heavenly Dao authority, but is shocked when the attacker breaks through his Mirror World.
• Song Shuhang pieces together the clues about the attacker’s identity and stays focused on the more immediate task.
• Senior White does not recognize the attacker, though Song Shuhang suggests it may know a different figure: Heavenly Dao White.
• The attacker shifts from ferocious aggression to confusion upon seeing Senior White, then retreats in a conspicuously cowardly fashion.
• The Pitch-Black Sun goes from anticipating rescue to renewed despair.

Significant themes

• Power has limits: Daozi’s immense authority cannot contain the mysterious attacker.
• Merit counters karma: Merit Power proves to be a direct and effective defense against Karma Fire.
• Hope and despair: The Pitch-Black Sun’s near-rescue makes the attacker’s sudden departure especially crushing.
• Recognition and mystery: The attacker’s response to Senior White hints at a deeper connection to the past, but its identity remains unconfirmed.

Character interactions

• Daozi tries to shield Song Shuhang and Senior White by confronting the attacker, but the attacker bypasses him.
• ＠＃％×Fairy acts automatically to protect Song Shuhang, using the Ancient Heavenly Court against the Karma Fire.
• Song Shuhang and Senior White exchange thoughts about the attacker’s recognition of White and consider its possible identity.
• The attacker’s retreat leaves Daozi and the others puzzled, while the Pitch-Black Sun is left watching its chance of rescue vanish.

Key events

• Song Shuhang and Senior White combine their Sage Talent techniques, briefly pierce the Black Sun’s Immortality defense, and tear away a piece of its existence. The Black Sun’s body and mind become clearer without it, though it instinctively feels the loss was important.
• Before they can strike again, the Black Sun hides inside the particles of its Immortal Heavenly Dao Remnant Body. Their attacks can no longer reach its existence, but the Sage Talents still gather and copy Immortality Information from the sand.
• The pair keep striking, using the copied information to strengthen Song Shuhang’s golden core, clarify Senior White’s Star River, and improve their Longevity Methods. Their cultivation advances through successive epiphanies while the Black Sun remains trapped, unable to understand what they are doing or safely reveal itself.
• Daozi protects the cultivators and searches the realms for the charred, Karma-Fire-covered figure that previously attacked him. Unable to locate it—likely because it is concealed in a Heavenly Dao blind spot—he adds it to Supervisory Insight so it can be detected if it appears again.
• A Stellar Doomsdayer hides in a star and uses a pure-aura avatar to post a cryptic distress message on the Cultivation Chat System’s new bounty forum. It disguises the message in ancient script and offers a billion-part Spirit Stone reward so it will reach many people, then destroys the avatar to conceal its trail.
• Lady Dragon Network intercepts the post during her review of the forum. Using Heavenly Dao computational power, she creates a billion accounts, answers the question with each, and collects the entire bounty.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang and Senior White demonstrate near-perfect teamwork. Their mutated Sage Talent not only strips away an enemy’s existence but also copies Immortality information, turning the Black Sun into an unwilling source of cultivation insight.
• The Black Sun shifts from chaotic and impaired to clear-minded after losing part of itself. It adapts by hiding in its immortal body, but its restored cunning is useless while the repeated attacks keep it pinned down.
• Daozi remains vigilant despite finding some comfort in the Black Sun’s predicament; he is still worried about the dangerous, unidentified figure and the instability of his role as temporary Heavenly Dao.
• The Stellar Doomsdayer ingeniously exploits Tyrant Song’s own system to spread its master’s distress message, while Lady Dragon Network turns the opportunity into a comically enormous payday.

Significant themes

• Adaptation and unintended consequences: The Black Sun becomes more capable after losing something it valued, while the Sage Talent gains an unexpected “information-copying” function.
• Cooperation and growth: Song Shuhang and Senior White’s coordination lets them overcome defenses and advance together.
• Vulnerability amid vast power: Even powerful beings face blind spots, uncertainty, and threats they cannot immediately locate.
• Resourcefulness and humor: The Doomsdayer’s covert use of the chat system and Lady Dragon Network’s billion-account response provide comic relief amid the larger crisis.

Song Shuhang and Senior White completed their hundredth combined strike against the Pitch-Black Sun, and Song Shuhang’s Fat Whale Golden Core finished its transformation into an Immortalized state. As Song Shuhang entered the Time Secret Realm to digest the gains, he saw a vision of Senior White preparing to prove the Dao.

• Song Shuhang and Senior White launched their hundredth combined strike, harvesting Immortality power while Daozi supported them.
• Song Shuhang’s Fat Whale Golden Core completed its transformation and began releasing Immortality power that formed a light cocoon around his head.
• The cocoon broke apart and strengthened Song Shuhang’s facial skin and skull to a Quasi-Immortal state, beginning a gradual transformation expected to take about a day.
• Daozi opened a passage to the Time Secret Realm, and Song Shuhang entered it while Senior White stayed to guard the Pitch-Black Sun’s seal.
• Song Shuhang settled down to digest the Immortality power, entered a tranquil state, and saw a scene of Senior White preparing to prove the Dao.

Key plot points and events

• Song Shuhang watches fragments of the Pitch-Black Sun’s memories, using a vision triggered by the existence he had consumed from it. His protective artifacts conceal him from the Sun’s perception.
• The first memory shows Heavenly Dao White about to attain Immortality. The Pitch-Black Sun secretly prepares a rare treasure to interfere, but White pauses his ascension and trades the Heavenly Dao position to Merit Daoist for the Myriad Heavens Piercing Shuttle. Merit Daoist ascends instead, leaving the Sun’s plan—and its treasure—wasted.
• In a later cycle, the Pitch-Black Sun prepares to target White again, but White’s ascension proceeds at extraordinary speed. He becomes Immortal before the Sun can use its treasure, which then dissipates unused.
• Song Shuhang delights in the Sun’s repeated failures and infers that its treasure uses a powerful rule of “seizing and occupying,” perhaps intended to steal some measure of Heavenly Dao authority.
• The vision shifts to a battle between the Confucian Sage and Boss Fat Ball. The Pitch-Black Sun focuses on the Sage, apparently expecting him to become the next Heavenly Dao.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang acts as an amused, increasingly capable observer. His equipment and experience let him evade the Pitch-Black Sun’s awareness, and he relishes watching its plans fail.
• Heavenly Dao White proves unpredictable: he willingly abandons the position once to obtain a toy he prefers, then later attains Immortality so quickly that the Sun cannot act.
• Merit Daoist, despite being battered, confirms he is still alive and takes the Heavenly Dao position when White offers it. Both he and the onlookers are bewildered by the sudden exchange.
• The Pitch-Black Sun is revealed as a patient schemer who has spent immense time and resources preparing to seize an opportunity. White repeatedly frustrates it, producing rage and despair.
• Song Shuhang and the Pitch-Black Sun never directly confront one another, but Shuhang’s hidden observation and mockery create an ironic, one-sided antagonistic dynamic.

Significant themes

• Fate thwarted by personal choice: White’s unexpected decisions derail a plan built over millions of years.
• The absurdity of power and ambition: The coveted Heavenly Dao position is treated by White as less valuable than a shuttle.
• Repeated cycles and futile preparation: The Sun’s repeated hopes, identical complaints, and recurring failures underline the cyclical nature of events.
• Humor through reversal: The would-be manipulator repeatedly loses its rare resources, while Shuhang finds joy in witnessing the reversals.

Key plot points

• The Confucian Sage continues to dominate his final battle against Fat Ball. Though they are at a comparable level, the Sage’s superior techniques, experience, formations, and treasures keep Fat Ball on the defensive.
• Boss Pitch-Black Sun, newly awakened and eager to seize the Heavenly Dao, initially believes the Confucian Sage is certain to prove Immortality. Remembering past failures, it restrains itself and waits for the right moment rather than using its improved seizure technique too soon.
• The battle drags on for ten days and then much longer. Fat Ball’s extraordinary durability and regeneration frustrate the Boss, whose time awake in the Present World is limited.
• Song Shuhang realizes that the scheming Boss Pitch-Black Sun may be distinct from the Pitch-Black Sun active in the world: the latter could be a modified Netherworld Ruler, while the true Black Heavenly Dao remains hidden and awakens only around a Heavenly Dao’s decisive moment. Song resolves to warn his allies and prevent the hidden entity from turning the tables.
• Watching the Sage fight gives Song Shuhang ideas for using Confucian Script—and, eventually, his own “Tyrant Scripts”—in combat.

Character developments and interactions

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun is relieved not to face the troublesome, handsome Heavenly Dao from a prior cycle, but its confidence gives way to impatience as the battle refuses to end. Its past failures have made it cautious, though not entirely patient.
• Song Shuhang quietly observes the battle, recognizes a major hidden threat, and plans to alert powerful allies. He also learns from the Sage’s fighting style.
• The Confucian Sage and Fat Ball remain locked in a prolonged, punishing contest: the Sage has the advantage in skill, while Fat Ball’s resilience keeps it from being defeated.

Significant themes

• Appearances and hidden identities: The active Pitch-Black Sun may be only an avatar, with a more dangerous true form concealed behind it.
• Patience, timing, and repeated failure: The Boss’s past mistakes shape its strategy, but the drawn-out battle tests its self-control.
• Learning through observation: Song Shuhang turns the Sage’s combat techniques into inspiration for his own future abilities.
• The escalating schemes of successive Heavenly Daos: Their elaborate plans make defeating an apparent enemy insufficient; the hidden structure behind the threat must also be addressed.

Key plot points and events

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun, running out of time before the Present World rejects him, decides to use his once-in-ten-million-years Seizure Secret Technique against the Confucian Sage.
• Song Shuhang watches closely and memorizes both the technique’s hand seals and a second technique that marks Fat Ball, which could transfer the first technique to Fat Ball if it becomes the next Heavenly Dao.
• Pitch-Black Sun targets the Sage because the Sage is steadily overcoming Fat Ball and appears likely to win the battle—and the chance to become Heavenly Dao. He then withdraws, confident that one of his two plans will work.
• Song Shuhang resolves to study and improve the technique, especially its absurdly long charging time.
• After Pitch-Black Sun exits, he remains awake in the darkness, waiting for the battle to end. His estimates of its duration climb from decades to thousands and then ten thousand years, while Song Shuhang realizes something is wrong and concludes Pitch-Black Sun may never live to see his plan succeed.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang shows his strong academic instincts: despite his rushed cultivation, he quickly learns complex techniques and plans to consult his powerful seniors to analyze and simplify them.
• Boss Pitch-Black Sun is strategic but impatient. He hedges against the possibility that Fat Ball—not the Sage—wins, yet his confidence gives way to exhaustion as the wait stretches on.
• The Confucian Sage has the upper hand in his battle with Boss Fat Ball, repeatedly finding and exploiting weaknesses in Fat Ball’s defenses. Fat Ball remains able to defend himself, but increasingly struggles to withstand the Sage’s attacks.
• Song Shuhang observes Pitch-Black Sun’s technique without being detected, then privately claims it as something he intends to improve.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and adaptation: Song Shuhang turns observation into an opportunity to learn and refine an enemy’s technique.
• Preparation and contingency: Pitch-Black Sun makes a backup plan in case his preferred candidate does not become Heavenly Dao.
• Time and irony: A technique that takes ten million years to prepare may be powerless in practice, while Pitch-Black Sun’s expectation of a timely outcome is undercut by the seemingly endless wait.

Song Shuhang learned more about Boss Pitch-Black Sun’s failed Seizure Secret Technique and encountered Karma Fire Daoist, who warned him not to research the Stellar Destruction Virus. The chapter ended with Senior Everything Can Be Sold attaching a Merit Power seed to Song Shuhang, connecting him to the Merit Network.

• Song Shuhang observed Boss Pitch-Black Sun give up after waiting a hundred thousand years and memorized the formations that powered his Seizure Secret Technique.
• The Heavenly Dao Time Secret Realm shook when Daozi’s reversed Stellar Destruction Virus prototype exploded, and Karma Fire Daoist arrived outside the realm.
• Song Shuhang confronted Karma Fire Daoist, whose distress worsened when he could not find White, and used Merit Power to suppress his Karma Fire.
• Karma Fire Daoist warned Song Shuhang not to research the Stellar Destruction Virus, then ran away, while Song Shuhang told Daozi about the hidden Boss Pitch-Black Sun.
• Senior Everything Can Be Sold rushed past Song Shuhang and left a Merit Power seed on his chest, giving him a connection to the Merit Network.

Plot points

• Song Shuhang receives a small Merit Seed, a treasure cultivated by the Heavenly Dao and connected to the Merit Network. Everything Can Be Sold says someone else paid for it, then quickly departs.
• Shuhang discovers that Everything Can Be Sold has blocked him, but gets around the block using his Server function. He asks what the seed is for and what its buyer wants him to do. The seller claims not to know and suggests eating it.
• The Merit Snake Beauty appears and forcefully feeds the seed to Shuhang’s evolved Fat Whale Golden Core, which swallows it willingly.
• Meanwhile, Everything Can Be Sold visits the Merit Network’s core and tells the silent Charcoal Daoist that he delivered the seed without taking payment. He asks if there is any way to save him.
• The Charcoal Daoist says a dead person cannot be saved, then disappears. Outside the Merit Network, the karma fire consumes his remaining reason and his charred shell falls away, revealing a red-eyed figure with Senior White’s appearance.
• That transformation awakens the long-dormant Pitch-Black Boss, whose Seizure Secret Technique unexpectedly connects him to an object in the Present World before the Heavenly Dao Succession Battle has begun. He wakes looking utterly confused.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang remains curious and irrepressible, using humor and the chat system to pursue answers even after Everything Can Be Sold tries to escape and block him.
• Everything Can Be Sold is exasperated by Shuhang but quietly follows through on delivering the seed. His concern for the Charcoal Daoist reveals a more tender, grieving side.
• The Merit Snake Beauty acts decisively, using Shuhang’s Golden Core as the means to consume the seed.
• The Charcoal Daoist appears to be at the end of his endurance; he entrusts what comes next to someone else before losing himself to the karma fire.
• The Pitch-Black Boss is abruptly pulled into events by the red-eyed, Senior White-like figure, setting up a new complication.

Significant themes

• Fate and connection: Characters keep crossing paths despite attempts to part or block contact, while the seed links Shuhang to the larger Merit Network.
• Sacrifice and loss: Everything Can Be Sold’s question about saving the Charcoal Daoist, and the Daoist’s resignation, underscore the cost of his condition.
• Unintended consequences: Feeding the seed to the Golden Core and revealing the figure’s true appearance trigger developments whose effects are not yet clear.

Key plot points

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun wakes and senses that his Seizure Secret Technique has taken effect on a Heavenly Dao—though he can’t remember using it.
• Expecting a trap, he prepares extensive escape plans before investigating. He first mistakes the target for the familiar “Handsome Heavenly Dao,” then realizes it is the Merit Daoist, who acquired the Heavenly Dao Seat through a transaction.
• The technique should never have been cast on the Merit Daoist. Boss considers several explanations, including that someone copied or repurposed his secret technique.
• He discovers the truth: the Merit Daoist’s associated Netherworld Ruler took on the Handsome Heavenly Dao’s appearance as its template. Boss’s old technique had followed that likeness and lain dormant within the Netherworld Ruler.
• When the Merit Daoist borrowed the Netherworld Ruler’s power to control his body, the technique reactivated and seized his now divinity-less Immortal body.
• Boss concludes that, although he failed to seize the Heavenly Dao, he has gained a powerful Immortal body—a potential advantage in the coming Ninth Heavenly Dao Epoch.

Character developments and interactions

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun remains deeply suspicious, especially of the Handsome Heavenly Dao, whom he regards as dangerously cunning. His paranoia leads him to prepare countless safeguards, even as he becomes excited by his unexpected gain.
• The Merit Daoist loses his Heavenly Dao Seat and borrows the Netherworld Ruler’s power to suppress his rampaging body. This enables the dormant seizure technique to activate.
• The Handsome Heavenly Dao does not appear directly, but his resemblance to the Netherworld Ruler is central to the mystery and to Boss’s mistaken assumptions.
• Boss’s technique, unknowingly carried by the Netherworld Ruler, links him to the Merit Daoist’s crisis and turns an old failed attempt into a new opportunity.

Significant themes

• Unintended consequences: A technique that failed in one era eventually succeeds through an unexpected chain of events.
• Caution versus ambition: Boss insists on proceeding carefully while already planning to exploit his newfound advantage.
• Identity and inheritance: The Netherworld Ruler’s borrowed appearance causes the secret technique to follow a likeness rather than its original target.
• Fortune after repeated setbacks: Boss sees the acquired Immortal body as a possible reversal of his past misfortunes.

Plot points

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun cautiously completes his seizure of the Merit Daoist Body, finding no resistance or lingering will. He hides the body for later use rather than deploying it immediately.
• He recommits himself to achieving Heavenly Dao Transcendence during the Ninth Heavenly Dao Cycle. Beyond that goal, he hopes to pursue a faint, magically preserved impression of the erased First Heavenly Dao.
• Exhausted from prolonged wakefulness and being roused before the new cycle begins, he plans to sleep—but discovers that his backup, the Pitch-Black Sun, has been sealed inside a small world created with Heavenly Dao Authority. He postpones sleep to deal with the problem.
• Elsewhere, Song Shuhang and the Merit Snake Beauty inspect the Fat Whale Golden Core after it shows no obvious response to swallowing a Merit Seed. When the Snake Beauty reaches for it, the core triggers Quasi-Immortalization, cocooning Song Shuhang’s upper body and advancing it to the Sub-Immortality State.

Character developments and interactions

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun remains wary because White has deceived him before, but his success in obtaining the body gives him a valuable new resource. His fixation on Transcendence—and on discovering what links him to the First Heavenly Dao—continues despite his fatigue. His discovery about the sealed Pitch-Black Sun forces him to prioritize work over rest.
• Song Shuhang jokes about squeezing the unresponsive core, while the Merit Snake Beauty readily follows through. The core responds by protecting itself and unexpectedly improving Song Shuhang, bringing his whole-body Quasi-Immortalization closer to completion.
• The chapter also recalls the Confucian Sage and Fat Ball’s earlier battle, which contributed to Boss Pitch-Black Sun’s exhaustion.

Significant themes

• Ambition and obsession: Boss Pitch-Black Sun’s drive to transcend the Heavenly Dao is bound up with an incomplete, possibly personal connection to the forgotten First Heavenly Dao.
• Caution and contingency: He hides his newly acquired body and maintains a backup, reflecting his expectation that plans may go wrong.
• Exhaustion versus duty: Even when desperate for sleep, he pushes himself to address an emerging threat.
• Unexpected progress: What appears to be a failed experiment with the Fat Whale Golden Core instead produces a major advancement for Song Shuhang.

Key plot points and events

• Song Shuhang’s upper body—including his waist—has undergone Quasi-Immortalization, giving him exceptionally strong defenses. The Merit Seed’s effect also strengthens his Fat Whale Golden Core, Merit and Karma cultivation, and the Cultivation Chat System.
• Hoping to accelerate the process, Song Shuhang asks Dog Egg’s Dad for more Dao Artifact Raw Materials. Dog Egg’s Dad refuses, partly because Shuhang’s future descendants are apparently his only reason to consider him a worthwhile investment.
• Senior Three-Eyed Youth suggests that complete Dao Artifacts might also contain useful Immortality Information. Shuhang considers extracting and copying that information without damaging the artifacts.
• Shuhang joins Senior White and repeatedly launches their combined attack on the Pitch-Black Sun, while discussing the Dao Artifact idea with the Sage’s Eye Research Discussion Group.

Character developments and interactions

• Shuhang is pleased by his growing defenses but remains eager to improve further. He believes combining Immortality Information from different sources may produce better results.
• Dog Egg’s Dad treats Shuhang less like an adult and more like a child asking for money, teasing him about his finances and future family.
• Senior Three-Eyed Youth is amused by the disagreement and helps Shuhang develop a new research direction.
• Senior White collaborates closely with Shuhang, while the Pitch-Black Sun becomes increasingly resentful at being repeatedly used as a target.

Significant themes

• Cultivation through experimentation: Shuhang seeks new ways to gather and apply Immortality Information.
• Transactional relationships and family teasing: Even requests for powerful resources become negotiations, jokes, and comments about Shuhang’s future descendants.
• Persistence amid indignity: Shuhang and Senior White continue their “farming” routine despite the Pitch-Black Sun’s protests.

Key events

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun recognizes Immortal White and suspects he may be connected to the former Seventh Heavenly Dao, making him a threat to the Ninth Heavenly Dao Cycle.
• Senior White and Song Shuhang repeatedly strike Pitch-Black Sun with their Confucian Sage Talent Combined Strike. It can bite away data from his Immortal Body, despite the danger that Immortality Information should pose to anyone below Heavenly Dao status.
• Pitch-Black Sun expects the pair to collapse, but they remain unharmed and continue attacking. Unable to explain this—especially Song Shuhang’s resistance—he stops observing them and decides to act.
• He plans to use his Merit Daoist Body and Heavenly Dao Remnant Shells to create chaos, break the seal around Pitch-Black Sun, and recover the body containing his Netherworld Ruler Incarnation.
• Three days later, his preparations are finally complete, delayed by missing Remnant Shells and the unexpected destruction of his Star Destroyers.
• Song Shuhang has also spent the three days completing the Quasi-Immortalization of his Tyrant Song skin and bones.

Character developments and interactions

• Pitch-Black Sun shifts from suspicion and confidence to frustration and caution. He regards Immortal White as a potential obstacle, then is unsettled by the pair’s ability to withstand Immortality Information and damage his Immortal Body. Rather than attack recklessly, he develops a careful plan.
• Song Shuhang and Senior White work together in repeated combined strikes, apparently improving their technique while remaining busy and composed. Their resistance to the information’s effects remains unexplained.
• Pitch-Black Sun and the pair are locked in an indirect contest: they keep damaging him while he turns his attention to breaking the seal and rescuing his incarnation.

Significant themes

• Immortality’s danger and mystery: Contact with Immortality Information should incapacitate even powerful cultivators, yet Song Shuhang and Senior White appear unaffected.
• Caution versus disruption: Pitch-Black Sun’s elaborate plan is repeatedly slowed by unpredictable events.
• Progress through collaboration: The combined strike grows more effective, while Song Shuhang advances toward Quasi-Immortalization.

Plot points and events

• Dog Egg’s Dad despairs that Song Shuhang’s path to fatherhood is effectively closed now that he has reached Sub-Immortality. Heavenly Emperor’s Son points out that Song still has his biological daughter, Little Lingxiao, while Dog Egg’s Dad insists he hopes Song might also have a more conventional family life.
• Boss Pitch-Black Sun launches his planned attack while Daozi is distracted. He triggers a hidden back door in a Heavenly Dao calamity-alert program, flooding Daozi’s awareness with warnings across the worlds.
• Using the brief opening, Pitch-Black Sun sends three virus-infected artificial stars into the seal around the thirty-three Unknown Whites. Their explosions crack the seal’s outer shell.
• He follows up by unleashing hundreds of destructive Heavenly Dao Remnant Shells. Their black holes wreak havoc inside the formation, though Drama Horse destroys some of them and the formation shifts to protect its occupants.
• Pitch-Black Sun urges the sealed Pitch-Black Sun to break free. Merit Daoist’s burning body charges into the formation and attacks the seal, but an ordinary-looking man blocks its Immortality-level punch.
• The man reveals Sub-Immortality radiance, establishing that he is extraordinarily powerful despite not being the Heavenly Dao.

Character developments and interactions

• Dog Egg’s Dad shows a sentimental, if eccentric, concern for Song Shuhang’s descendants; Heavenly Emperor’s Son counters his despair by reminding him of Little Lingxiao.
• Boss Pitch-Black Sun is revealed as a meticulous former Heavenly Dao who prepared a concealed contingency and is willing to unleash dangerous weapons to free his successor.
• Daozi is caught off guard by the false emergency alerts, giving Pitch-Black Sun a narrow window to act.
• Drama Horse and White Two Golden Leg react to Merit Daoist’s arrival with a strange resonance, briefly disrupting their response.
• The ordinary-looking man emerges as a formidable defender, stopping Merit Daoist’s attack and becoming the chapter’s cliffhanger.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and inherited power: Former Heavenly Daos leave behind tools and hidden mechanisms that can shape the actions of their successors.
• Power beneath authority: The closing revelation suggests that the strongest figure need not be the Heavenly Dao.
• Family and legacy: The opening discussion about Song’s ability to have descendants contrasts with the chapter’s broader focus on successors, remnants, and inherited roles.
• Escalating danger: The attack grows from deception to cosmic-scale destruction, with each side forced to reveal more of its strength.

Key plot points and events

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun assesses Song Shuhang’s extraordinary “Sub-Immortality State.” His presence can overwhelm less perceptive Longevity Immortals with information and illusion, making him a dangerous potential contender for the Ninth Heavenly Dao.
• Concerned that Song and thirty-five other troublesome figures could ruin his plans, Boss Pitch-Black Sun considers sealing them before the next Heavenly Dao succession battle. For now, he decides to avoid a direct confrontation because his diversion of the Eighth Heavenly Dao may soon fail.
• Controlling Merit Daoist’s body, Boss Pitch-Black Sun attacks Song with thousands of causality-based punches. The strikes mostly miss or graze him; Song withstands the one that lands thanks to his newly immortalized skin and bones.
• The punches turn out to be a trap: their force remains suspended in the void and is triggered when Song steps forward. Song recognizes the technique’s potential connection to his own developing Merit-and-causality path.
• His Merit Network and Holy Eye Golden Core analyze the technique, beginning to add it to his repertoire. Meanwhile, Merit Daoist breaks the seal around Pitch-Black Sun, who escapes after several days of confinement.

Character developments

• Song Shuhang shows resilience rather than combat expertise: he recognizes his limits and relies on his defenses. He also demonstrates a talent for learning compatible fist techniques after facing them.
• Boss Pitch-Black Sun becomes increasingly anxious about the future Heavenly Dao contest, but remains calculating and avoids taking unnecessary risks.
• Merit Daoist’s body, under Boss Pitch-Black Sun’s control, displays a deceptive, causality-based fighting style that sets traps beyond the initial barrage.
• Pitch-Black Sun is relieved to regain freedom after being tormented and sealed.

Significant themes

• Power and absurdity: Song’s near-immortal state defies ordinary cultivation expectations and could disrupt the coming succession struggle.
• Adaptation through adversity: Even an attack against Song can become a source of new abilities.
• Causality and misdirection: The “Grazing Fist Technique” is effective not through direct hits but through attacks stored in the void and activated later.
• Strategic restraint: Boss Pitch-Black Sun postpones action when the risks outweigh the opportunity.

Character interactions

• Boss Pitch-Black Sun weighs Song as both a threat and a future obstacle, then has Merit Daoist attack him.
• Song endures the attack and recognizes the technique’s value, while ＠＃％×Fairy re-forms and defiantly vows to stop Merit Daoist from reaching the sealed world.
• Merit Daoist’s assault creates an opening that allows Pitch-Black Sun to escape before the other powerful figures can recover.

Plot and key events

• The Pitch-Black Sun is freed from its seal, but the Merit Daoist Body immediately drags it away through space before Tyrant Song and the others can speak with it. Daozi arrives too late and admits they have been outmaneuvered.
• Senior White remains calm about the escape, reassuring Daozi. Senior White Two’s Golden Leg then warns that researching the Stellar Destruction Virus is dangerous: the virus’s creation method contains a trap that can affect anyone who studies it, even in reverse.
• Daozi realizes his incomplete status as the 8.5th Heavenly Dao may make him especially vulnerable. He had hoped to solve the coming disaster before retiring, but accepts that he must prepare for succession.
• Daozi plans to revive as the Confucian School’s Chief Disciple, knowing he may lose his memories of being Heavenly Dao. Before that happens, he wants to help Song Shuhang progress.
• Song Shuhang explains that he cannot obtain Immortality data from Daozi in his current state, but expects to use two Dao Artifacts to make his body fully Pseudo-Immortalized. Senior White has shared the method with a research group.
• Daozi proposes leaving Song Shuhang an external computational core after retirement, using his Heavenly Dao authority and the “bug” through which he became the 8.5th Heavenly Dao. He hopes this will let Song Shuhang’s computing power keep pace with his Pseudo-Immortalized body.

Character developments and interactions

• Daozi accepts that he has been outmaneuvered and may not be able to resolve everything himself. His focus shifts to preparing Song Shuhang as his successor and leaving him useful resources.
• Song Shuhang reassures Daozi, then reveals confidence in his own path to full-body Pseudo-Immortalization. He jokes that although the Pitch-Black Sun escaped, he can still obtain what he needs elsewhere.
• Senior White stays composed and offers practical support by circulating Song Shuhang’s Pseudo-Immortalization research.
• Senior White Two provides the crucial warning about the virus, prompting Daozi to reconsider his research and the risks to his succession.
• Merit Snake Beauty eagerly steals Tyrant Song’s chance to say that Senior White’s smile must be protected, adding a comic beat to the tense discussion.
• Dog Egg’s Dad and Three-Eyed Youth react with surprise and curiosity to the scope of Song Shuhang’s Pseudo-Immortalization and Daozi’s proposed computational core.

Significant themes

• Inheritance and preparation: Daozi hopes to leave the next generation stronger, even if retirement costs him his memories and body.
• Knowledge as a hidden danger: Researching the Stellar Destruction Virus can itself trigger a trap, illustrating the risks of incomplete or manipulated information.
• Resourcefulness and adaptation: Song Shuhang keeps finding alternative routes toward power and survival, while Daozi seeks to exploit the unusual circumstances of his ascension.
• Duty and self-sacrifice: Daozi’s desire to bear the burden himself reflects his generation’s instinct to protect those who come after.