Chapter Summaries

Plot and events

• A deathly old man at Peak Third-Grade confronts Manor Lord Seven Lives Talisman, calling him “Song” and threatening to trigger his Heavenly Tribulation so they die together.
• The old man blames Seven Lives Talisman for killing his Calamity-Averting Lifebound Ghost Marshal and ruining his chance of advancing to Fourth-Grade. Seven Lives Talisman explains that “Song” was one of many aliases he once used.
• Seven Lives Talisman recognizes that the old man’s threats mask a desire to survive: he hopes to make Seven Lives Talisman share the burden of his tribulation. But the old man has prepared to trigger it if attacked, making a sudden strike risky.
• Song Shuhang points out that his own imminent tribulation could join the disaster, turning the situation into a potentially fatal group ordeal. Fairy Eastern Six and the weakened True Lord White Crane stay alert, while Eastern Six looks for a chance to kill the old man in one blow.
• Daoist Horizon arrives after sensing Nine Nether Evil Energy on White Crane. Seeing several cultivators near tribulation, he tries to leave, but the old man threatens to include him too. The added danger pushes the old man closer to panic.
• Seven Lives Talisman urges Horizon to leave and offers the old man substantial support for his tribulation—equipment, an array, and a stated seventy-percent chance of success—along with an oath not to seek revenge. The old man appears tempted, and Shuhang hopes the crisis can be defused.
• Just as matters seem to be calming, another visitor calls from outside asking for “Overlord Blade.”

Character developments and interactions

• Seven Lives Talisman remains composed and perceptive, correctly identifying the old man’s ambivalence and responding with practical help rather than force. His aliases explain the mistaken identity.
• The old man shifts between vindictive threats and a clear desire to live. His anger and impulsiveness make him increasingly dangerous, especially once more potential tribulation victims arrive.
• Shuhang tries to understand the misunderstanding and assess how to protect everyone, including considering whether his Core World could shield them from tribulation.
• Eastern Six stays ready to act, but understands that only an immediate fatal strike would be safe.
• Daoist Horizon arrives as a would-be responder but quickly recognizes the danger and attempts to withdraw.

Significant themes

• Heavenly Tribulation as shared risk: adding more people does not make the ordeal easier; it can turn a perilous advancement into certain catastrophe.
• Revenge versus survival: the old man’s stated desire for vengeance conflicts with his reluctance to die.
• De-escalation and trust: Seven Lives Talisman tries to resolve a deadly confrontation through aid and a credible oath rather than violence.
• Comic escalation: mistaken aliases, Shuhang’s alarm, and Horizon’s arrival turn a two-person revenge plot into an absurdly dangerous gathering of “ticking bombs.”

Plot points and events

• Other Shore Demon Lord arrives early with Chang Yuanzi, unexpectedly joining Song Shuhang and several cultivators whose Heavenly Tribulations are near.
• The gathering includes Song Shuhang, Manor Lord Seven Lives Talisman, Daoist Horizon, Nameless Old Man, and Chang Yuanzi. The prospect of so many tribulations being triggered in one place alarms everyone.
• Song explains that two “accidents” recently boosted his cultivation despite his efforts to slow his progress and avoid triggering a tribulation.
• Other Shore Demon Lord and True Lord White Crane recognize each other and exchange teasing insults.
• A polite Second-Grade cultivator from Profound Wind Valley arrives to deliver a box to Song. Opening it releases a seal on the messenger, revealing that his cultivation was concealed and triggering a Heavenly Tribulation.
• The messenger is a puppet controlled by the dangerous puppet user Song encountered in the Forbidden Land. Chang Yuanzi kicks him in half, but the puppet’s body does not bleed, and the attack comes too late: the tribulation has already formed.
• The assembled cultivators attack the puppet, but its completed tribulation begins drawing out their own. Five additional clouds appear and merge with the first into one enormous field of Tribulation Clouds.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang remains anxious about his rapidly advancing cultivation and the danger of facing a tribulation amid so many vulnerable cultivators.
• Other Shore Demon Lord’s loud, explosive personality is evident as he complains about the risky gathering and urges the group to separate.
• Chang Yuanzi, despite his gentle appearance and romantic awkwardness, acts decisively and violently when he sees the messenger’s tribulation threat.
• Other Shore Demon Lord and True Lord White Crane display a familiar, combative rapport through playful insults.
• The messenger calmly completes his mission despite knowing he will be killed, suggesting he is a disposable puppet serving Song’s established enemy.
• Nameless Old Man fears that he and Seven Lives Talisman will die together.

Significant themes

• Chaotic fate and misfortune: Song’s “accidents” repeatedly accelerate his cultivation, turning good fortune into danger.
• Collective peril: The cultivators’ proximity means one person’s tribulation can endanger everyone nearby.
• Hidden threats and manipulation: The seemingly ordinary messenger is revealed as a puppet, making the enemy’s reach and persistence clear.
• Comedic contrast: Banter and absurd comparisons—such as deciding what game five tribulation-ready cultivators could play—offset the escalating catastrophe.

Key plot points and events

• Song Shuhang, Seven Lives Talisman, Daoist Horizon, Other Shore Demon Lord, and Fairy Eastern Six shatter the puppetized Profound Wind Valley cultivator. The Heavenly Tribulation continues because his Puppet Core—hidden nearby—remains intact.
• The puppet’s tribulation combines with those of Song Shuhang and four other cultivators, creating a vast, six-part storm over Jiangnan University Town. Song Shuhang tries to use his Core World to escape with his allies, leaving their enemies to face the lightning.
• Instead of reaching the Core World, Song Shuhang, several seniors, the nameless old man, and the damaged Puppet Core are transported into a mysterious space filled with tribulation lightning. Song Shuhang can still sense the Core World, but reaching it now would take a long time.
• Seven Lives Talisman recognizes the space as a possible Tribulation World, where exceptionally powerful tribulations take place. The group realizes the combined lightning may be comparable to an Eighth-Grade advancement tribulation—far beyond what their ranks should face.
• The storm abruptly vanishes from the ordinary sky, leaving people in the city confused, while the group is trapped inside a seemingly endless sea of lightning and prepares to fight for survival.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang acts quickly and resourcefully, attempting to protect his allies, but his escape plan fails. He responds with grim humor despite the danger.
• Seven Lives Talisman identifies the Puppet Core as the reason the tribulation persists and later explains the likely nature of their prison.
• Daoist Horizon reacts angrily to the danger and initially argues that killing the nameless old man might reduce the tribulation’s power. Other Shore Demon Lord counters that it is already too late and the old man may instead help absorb the burden.
• Chang Yuanzi faces the likely death ahead with unexpected bravery, regretting only that he has no heroic poem to recite.
• The nameless old man is terrified and repeatedly insists they are going to die.
• The group shifts from blame and confusion to collective resolve: Seven Lives Talisman and Chang Yuanzi urge everyone to use every ability they have.

Significant themes

• Survival and sacrifice: Shuhang tries to save his allies, but not his enemies, showing that his compassion has limits.
• Unintended consequences: The attempt to escape does not deliver the group to safety; instead, they are drawn into an even more dangerous space.
• Courage amid overwhelming odds: The characters respond differently to near-certain death, from panic to defiance.
• The scale of cultivation’s dangers: The merged tribulations reveal how quickly an imbalance in power can turn a routine advancement into a catastrophe.

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang, Manor Lord Seven Lives Talisman, Daoist Horizon, Chang Yuanzi, a nameless old man, and a Puppet Core are trapped in a dark space as a massive Heavenly Tribulation begins.
• Each is assigned a separate portion of the first wave. Seven Lives Talisman urges everyone to survive and suggests protecting the Puppet Core so it can draw attacks in the next wave.
• The cultivators prepare their defenses, but the old man’s ghost familiars are immediately destroyed by the tribulation’s aura.
• The others face ordinary tribulation lightning, while Shuhang’s trial takes an unusual form: twelve primitive warriors made of lightning attack him.
• Before Shuhang can respond, his Merit Snake Beauty appears with Senior White Two’s God-Slaying Mother Cannon and annihilates the warriors, carving a temporary channel through the lightning sea.
• The spectacular blast gives the group a brief glimmer of hope, but the Heavenly Tribulation begins forming a new wave of modern, tail-finned objects, alarming Seven Lives Talisman.
• Elsewhere, Drunk* Layman reads a flattering, ten-thousand-word review of his villain role and plans to act in a film so he can receive more reviews. He also reflects on wanting to reach Eighth Grade and become widely remembered.

Character developments and interactions

• Seven Lives Talisman stays practical and takes charge, distributing protective talismans and pushing the others to fight despite the odds.
• Chang Yuanzi volunteers to protect the Puppet Core and is stunned when Shuhang explains that his defensive-looking armor is actually Saber Intent.
• Daoist Horizon laments that his unfinished tribulation artifacts may go to waste, but brings them out to fight.
• The nameless old man remains despairing and proves poorly equipped when his ghosts are instantly destroyed; Seven Lives Talisman has to jolt him into action.
• Shuhang remains composed and asks whether surviving might grant them the world-wide recognition associated with an Eighth-Grade Profound Sage. He jokes that Mouthbound Layman would envy the opportunity.
• The Merit Snake Beauty acts decisively, using the cannon to save Shuhang and demonstrate overwhelming firepower.
• The group briefly gains hope from the cannon’s strength, then loses it as the next wave begins to form.
• Drunk Layman* is preoccupied with fame and recognition, contrasting the tribulation-bound group’s immediate struggle for survival.

Significant themes

• Defiance and perseverance: Cultivation is framed as seeking a way through apparent death, so the group chooses to fight rather than surrender.
• The peril and unpredictability of advancement: Carefully prepared formations and artifacts are suddenly useless, while Shuhang’s tribulation takes a bizarre, unexpected form.
• Recognition and fame: Shuhang and Drunk* Layman both contemplate being remembered, though one does so amid mortal danger and the other through reviews and acting.
• Brief hope amid escalating danger: The cannon’s success offers a moment of optimism, but the looming next wave immediately raises the stakes.

Key plot points and events

• The second wave of Song Shuhang and four companions’ tribulation transforms into a Modernized Heavenly Tribulation: thousands of missiles and nearly four thousand tanks form in the Tribulation Lightning Sea.
• The group realizes the barrage could overwhelm even powerful cultivators. Song Shuhang prepares his defenses while the others brace for a fight.
• The Merit Snake Beauty attacks first with the God-Slaying Cannon, destroying many weapons before they can fire. The four cultivators then join in, but their attacks barely reduce the growing numbers.
• Once the weapons launch, a shattered puppet core draws some of the fire and is destroyed. The Manor Lord Seven Lives Talisman’s formation, Horizon’s unfinished Dharma artifact, and Chang Yuanzi’s sword formation are quickly broken.
• The Merit Snake Beauty shields all five, absorbing the bombardment. She repeatedly pretends to “die,” prompting confused reactions from the others, but her strength steadily fades.
• Believing death is near, Seven Lives Talisman asks Song Shuhang to pass on his love confessions; Chang Yuanzi asks him to tell Fairy Bie Xue of his devotion, while Horizon reveals he has a hidden treasure on River-Return Mountain.
• The Merit Snake Beauty is finally shattered by another barrage. At once, Song Shuhang’s Appraisal Secret Method activates, sending golden runes from his eyes toward the Heavenly Tribulation weapons.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang remains determined and fights with every defense available, while privately worrying that later tribulation waves may be even more destructive. He is also the only one the others believe has a real chance of survival, owing to his extraordinary Fortune.
• The Merit Snake Beauty proves to be the group’s most effective defense, using her merit-based resistance to protect everyone. Her habit of theatrically pretending to die provides comic relief amid the danger.
• Seven Lives Talisman, Chang Yuanzi, and Horizon confront the likelihood of death and reveal personal matters to Song Shuhang. Their farewells show both their trust in him and their distinct personalities: Seven Lives Talisman’s many crushes, Chang Yuanzi’s intense love for Fairy Bie Xue, and Horizon’s practical concern for his hidden treasure.
• Horizon, previously fearful of death, finds his Dao Heart unexpectedly firm once death seems imminent.
• The shattered puppet core appears to divert some attacks, though its intentions—and how much control it retained—remain uncertain.

Significant themes

• Facing death and courage: The cultivators move from panic to resolve when survival seems unlikely.
• Sacrifice and protection: The puppet core and especially the Merit Snake Beauty absorb attacks on the group’s behalf.
• The changing world: The modern weapons embody a new era in which even ancient Heavenly Tribulations evolve.
• Humor amid catastrophe: The Beauty’s staged deaths and the companions’ last-minute love confessions lighten an otherwise overwhelming crisis.

Key plot points and events

• A Heavenly Tribulation Missile destroys Song Shuhang’s Merit Snake Beauty, and his Appraisal Secret Method activates spontaneously. It reveals that the attack is a group-type, Seventh-Grade-or-higher Mutated Heavenly Tribulation and recommends facing it with an Eighth-Grade Profound Sage.
• Song Shuhang appraises possible countermeasures. The options are grim: gamble on a Life-Talisman with only a little over a twenty-percent chance of revival, somehow upgrade his Merit Light, or open his Inch-Shrinking Bag.
• Searching the bag, he realizes he may be able to combine the intact Pseudo-Eternal Furnace core from his badly damaged Peak Eighth-Grade Half-Spider Puppet King with a powerful custom puppet. He has almost no time to do so.
• His Saber Intent Armor briefly slows the explosion, buying him a moment. Song Shuhang throws out the ruined puppet, whose destruction releases its core, then hurls the custom puppet toward it.
• The custom puppet absorbs the core and transforms into a powerful-looking, female-form puppet. Just as Song Shuhang hopes it will save them, it abruptly hugs its head and crouches.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang remains resourceful under extreme pressure, weighing terrible risks and improvising with the items in his bag. He chooses the uncertain puppet plan rather than immediately gambling his life on the Life-Talisman.
• His companions are largely powerless against the bombardment: Seven Lives Talisman stands calmly, Daoist Horizon meditates, Chang Yuanzi thinks of Fairy Bie Xue, and the nameless old man repeatedly panics about their imminent deaths.
• Onion Lady is unconscious in the bag; Song Shuhang considers using her but rejects the idea, knowing the tribulation would likely destroy her.
• The newly activated puppet appears formidable, but its crouching response instantly undermines Song Shuhang’s hope that it will protect them.

Significant themes

• Improvisation under pressure: Song Shuhang turns obscure possessions and appraisal clues into a last-ditch plan.
• Desperate odds and sacrifice: Every suggested solution carries a steep cost or seems nearly impossible.
• Contrast between grandeur and absurdity: The chapter’s apocalyptic danger and the puppet’s dramatic transformation end on a comic anticlimax—its supposed “defense” is simply crouching with its head covered.

Key plot points and events

• A barrage of modernized Heavenly Tribulation Missiles overwhelms the group. The missiles combine Fire, Metal, Wind, Lightning, and Heart Demon tribulations, and their area attacks strike everyone at once.
• Song Shuhang’s saber technique and Saber Intent Armor fail against the blast, leaving him badly burned and wounded. The nameless old man is killed outright, reduced to ashes.
• The Premium Puppet initially appears useless, crouching with her hands over her head. But after sensing Song Shuhang’s disappointment, she briefly reveals a delicate face beneath her frightening mask and releases a faint light that spreads to him and then to the others.
• The light does little to protect the group directly. Instead, when Seven Lives Talisman and Chang Yuanzi lose consciousness, it makes them involuntarily assume the puppet’s crouching posture. They then enter an “Offline Invincibility Mode” and stop taking damage.
• Daoist Horizon, still fighting and confused by the others’ apparent cowardice, also loses consciousness before the chapter ends.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang goes from despairing at the puppet’s apparent failure to unknowingly triggering her response through his thoughts. He continues fighting even after his defenses collapse.
• The Premium Puppet is revealed to have a hidden ability connected to her crouching posture. Her quiet intervention saves the others, though neither they nor Shuhang understand what has happened.
• Seven Lives Talisman exhausts his talismans and fights until collapse. His final vision reflects his admiration for the Fairies he has encountered; afterward, the puppet’s power protects him.
• Chang Yuanzi fights with reckless courage, preferring to die standing. His body nevertheless crouches once he loses consciousness, creating an ironic contrast with his resolve.
• Daoist Horizon maintains a calm, seemingly transcendent composure, then misreads Seven Lives Talisman and Chang Yuanzi’s protective crouching as cowardice.
• The nameless old man’s helpless panic provides a grim counterpoint to the others’ attempts to resist.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The puppet’s seemingly cowardly pose conceals a powerful ability, while the others’ involuntary crouching is not surrender but protection.
• Courage and helplessness: The characters fight bravely, yet the overwhelming tribulation makes their efforts nearly futile.
• Irony and misunderstanding: The survivors mistake one another’s actions, especially Daoist Horizon’s judgment of the crouching pair.
• Survival through unexpected means: The group’s hope comes not from their own attacks or defenses, but from the mysterious puppet’s hidden power.

Key plot points and events

• Daoist Horizon initially condemns Seven Lives Talisman and Chang Yuanzi for crouching in fear. The Heavenly Tribulation’s force soon bends his knees and raises his hands against his will, forcing him into the same “Head-Hugging Crouch Defense” pose. He realizes the others weren’t cowards—their bodies were being controlled too.
• Song Shuhang continues enduring the missile barrage in a near-unconscious state, instinctively using his saber techniques and armor. A mysterious energy cycles among him, the Premium Puppet, and the three seniors, helping them survive.
• Merit Snake Beauty reappears, briefly shields Song Shuhang, then is overwhelmed and collapses. Her intervention gives him enough of a mental reprieve to realize he is still alive and use pills and medicine to recover.
• The final missile barrage ends. Song Shuhang finds the Premium Puppet unharmed and the three seniors gravely wounded but alive. He suspects the puppet’s protection is what kept them all from dying.
• The Tribulation Sea then condenses into a nuclear-missile-silo-like form, signaling an even more dangerous final attack. The Premium Puppet changes from her crouch into a kneeling orz pose, leaving Song Shuhang fearful that she cannot withstand what comes next.

Character developments and interactions

• Daoist Horizon moves from pride and contempt to humility and understanding. He recognizes that Seven Lives Talisman and Chang Yuanzi were not acting out of cowardice, and he dies unconscious after seeing Song Shuhang still standing.
• Song Shuhang shows extraordinary endurance, but is badly injured and running on instinct. His concern for the seniors persists even while he is fighting to survive.
• The Premium Puppet remains silent and strangely posed, yet appears to be the key protector of Song Shuhang and the seniors. Song Shuhang thanks her, but her final change of pose offers no reassurance.
• Merit Snake Beauty instinctively protects Song Shuhang, though she is quickly overwhelmed.
• Onion Lady, trapped inside Song Shuhang’s bag, repeatedly blacks out from the impacts; the layered protections keep her alive.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: What looks like cowardice is revealed to be an involuntary effect of the tribulation.
• Endurance and solidarity: Song Shuhang and the others survive through persistence and a mysterious shared protective connection.
• Humility and reconsideration: Daoist Horizon’s experience forces him to revise his judgment of his fellow cultivators.
• Uncertain survival: The group survives the missile wave, but the approaching nuclear-scale attack makes their reprieve precarious.

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang watches the Heavenly Tribulation form a nuclear-bomb launch silo and realizes its power could exceed anything he can withstand.
• The tribulation stalls, then receives “supreme” runes that strengthen it. It announces that an external Eighth-Grade-level object has interfered, raising the tribulation to the peak of the Eighth Grade—nearly Ninth Grade.
• The cause is the premium puppet: she is powerful but was not refined by Shuhang, so she does not count as his own magical treasure. Her intervention has made her a target of the tribulation too.
• Merit Snake Beauty fires the God-Slaying Cannon, but the silo’s protective barrier erases the shot.
• The tribulation transforms into a futuristic fighter jet, which drops a hydrogen bomb. Its explosion forms a vast mushroom cloud and subjects the group to immense heat.
• The premium puppet exhausts her power source and is badly destroyed, but continues shielding Shuhang and the three cultivators from the Seven Lives Talisman Manor. As her defenses fail, Shuhang prepares to die.
• Just as the blast continues, a voice reaches him: a merchant introducing himself as “Everything Can Be Sold” and offering to sell anything in the universe for the right price.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang moves from anxious calculation to helpless resignation. He feels guilty that the puppet’s help has drawn her into danger, but does not blame her; he recognizes that she saved him from the previous wave.
• The premium puppet remains timid and silent, yet demonstrates remarkable loyalty and self-sacrifice, maintaining protection for Shuhang and the others even after her own body and defenses collapse.
• Merit Snake Beauty makes another attempt to stop the tribulation with the God-Slaying Cannon, but the attack fails.
• Everything Can Be Sold abruptly contacts Shuhang at the apparent point of death, potentially offering a new way out.

Significant themes

• The cost of help: The puppet’s intervention saves Shuhang temporarily but causes the tribulation to escalate and endangers her as well.
• Rules and unintended consequences: The tribulation treats an unowned powerful puppet as an outside force, showing how strictly its conditions are enforced.
• Self-sacrifice and loyalty: The puppet keeps protecting others after losing the ability to protect herself.
• Cultivation meets technology: The tribulation’s weapons escalate from missiles to a near-Ninth-Grade hydrogen bomb, making the danger both absurd and overwhelming.

Key plot points and events

• Song Shuhang, trapped in the Tribulation World and facing a deadly Ninth-Grade Heavenly Tribulation, makes contact with the mysterious merchant Everything Can Be Sold. He offers the Spirit Stones borrowed from Venerable White in exchange for anything that might help him survive.
• Everything Can Be Sold sends him a golden Heaven-Leveling Crown. Song Shuhang first assumes it is useless, but Merit Snake Beauty takes it for herself.
• The crown transforms her into a towering, empress-like figure clad in a golden dragon robe made of Merit Power. She shelters Song Shuhang, the damaged Premium Puppet, and the others, then forms a golden saber from her Saber Intent.
• With one slash, Merit Snake Beauty destroys both the Heavenly Tribulation and the hydrogen-bomb-like explosion. Because she is part of Song Shuhang, the tribulation ends rather than escalating.
• The Tribulation World breaks apart and grants breakthroughs to the group. Seven Lives Talisman reaches Fifth Grade and forms an eight-Dragon-Pattern Golden Core; Horizon and Chang Yuanzi also advance. Song Shuhang begins his own breakthrough from Third to Fourth Grade, though it takes longer.
• As his advancement continues, cultivators across the universe suddenly stop and look toward the void, signaling that something extraordinary is happening.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang shifts from panic and desperation to trusting the merchant’s deal, then relies on Merit Snake Beauty when the crown proves unusable for him. His cultivation advances, but the chapter ends before the wider reaction is explained.
• Everything Can Be Sold is revealed as powerful enough to communicate through the Tribulation World and read Song Shuhang’s thoughts. Though openly calculating and wary of the deal’s cost, he honors it and provides the crown.
• Merit Snake Beauty transforms from her earlier comic, seemingly helpless behavior into a majestic and decisive protector. She claims the crown, shields the group, and single-handedly ends the calamity.
• Seven Lives Talisman, Horizon, and Chang Yuanzi benefit from the tribulation’s destruction and complete their breakthroughs. Seven Lives Talisman achieves the eight-pattern Golden Core he had hoped for.

Significant themes

• Trust under pressure: Song Shuhang must trust a notorious profiteer when he has no time to negotiate.
• Unexpected power and identity: Merit Snake Beauty’s transformation reveals a far more formidable, queenly side beneath her earlier antics.
• Shared fate and advancement: Because Merit Snake Beauty is part of Song Shuhang, her intervention ends his tribulation and enables the group’s breakthroughs.
• Awe and consequence: The final reaction from cultivators across the universe suggests Song Shuhang’s advancement—or what accompanies it—has effects far beyond the immediate group.

Summary

• A historic breakthrough occurs: Across all cultivation systems, cultivators sense that someone has become an Eighth-Grade Profound Sage—the first such advancement in a thousand years. The unprecedented event sets the entire cultivation world buzzing with speculation. Possible candidates include Venerable Spirit Butterfly, a Confucian expert, and Venerable White, but no one knows who has advanced.
• The Nine Provinces Number One Group reacts: Group members trade guesses and wait for the Sage’s public manifestation. They expect the Sage’s identity to be revealed by a Sage Seal, which would make every cultivator remember the Sage’s title for a year.
• A misleading manifestation appears: The first image is a majestic female emperor in golden robes. Many assume she is the new Sage, while members of the group recognize her as resembling the snake-bodied beauty formed from Song Shuhang’s Merit Golden Light. They speculate that she could be tied to Shuhang, though they cannot determine how.
• The supposed Sage seems to be a Buddhist monk: The image shifts to reveal an enormous, shining bald head beside the female emperor. Buddhist cultivators interpret the scene as a virtuous eminent monk whose vast Merit Golden Light has taken the form of the female emperor. They celebrate the apparent success of their tradition.
• The Sage Seal reveals the truth: The seal keeps shifting through a series of characters, including “Tyrant,” “Armor,” “Whale,” and “Saber,” confusing observers who expect a monk’s title. It finally settles as “Tyrant Song.” The first Sage of the millennium is therefore identified as High Monk Tyrant Song—a title that strongly suggests a connection to Song Shuhang.
• The chapter ends on a cliffhanger: Members of the group recognize the name as suspiciously familiar, and the manifestation continues downward toward the Sage’s face. His identity has not yet been visually confirmed.

Character developments and interactions

The group’s members move from excited speculation to stunned suspicion as the Sage Seal points toward Song Shuhang. Fairy Eastern Six privately suspects a connection because Shuhang and other cultivators recently disappeared during a tribulation, but she lacks proof and stays quiet. Meanwhile, the Buddhist cultivators enthusiastically claim the apparent monk as one of their own, unaware that the title may indicate something quite different. Mad Saber Three Waves also provokes Bright Moon, When Will You Be, who jokingly threatens him over his misuse of her daoist title.

Significant themes

• Public identity versus appearance: The female emperor and bald head lead observers to misidentify the Sage; the final title complicates those assumptions.
• Reputation and recognition: The Sage Seal makes the new Sage’s name known throughout the world, highlighting the power of titles and public fame.
• Comedy through misunderstanding: Cultivators confidently build elaborate theories from incomplete visual clues, while the group’s banter adds humor to a momentous event.
• The extraordinary and the familiar: The first Sage in a millennium is a universe-shaking figure, yet his title may belong to the familiar and unpredictable Song Shuhang.

Plot points and events

• The world watches the Manifestation Before All reveal the First Millennium Sage, High Monk Tyrant Song. Instead of the venerable, compassionate face people expect, Song Shuhang appears young and ordinary-looking.
• Those who know him are stunned: Shuhang has somehow advanced from the Third Grade to the Eighth-Grade Profound Sage. Members of the Nine Provinces Number One Group debate whether the figure could be someone else, but Su Clan’s Sixteen, Medicine Master, and Soft Feather recognize him.
• The manifestation then reveals three more figures behind Shuhang. They are also becoming Profound Sages: Manor Lord Seven Lives Talisman, Chang Yuanzi, and Daoist Horizon.
• All three are unconscious and posed in conspicuously fearful positions—two crouching with their heads covered, and Horizon kneeling in an “orz” pose. Since they cannot choose their Sage Seals, the world’s laws use their Dao titles.
• The four sages are presented together in a grand group portrait: Shuhang stands upright while the three Daoist sages cower around him. Daoist cultivators are embarrassed by the image, though some try to explain the poses as a special tribulation technique or formation.
• Deep within the Limitless Demon Sect, Gongzi Hai reacts by spitting blood.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang becomes the First Millennium Sage, astonishing his friends and the wider cultivation world with his unprecedented leap in strength. His youthful, approachable appearance clashes with the public’s image of an eminent monk.
• Su Clan’s Sixteen, Medicine Master, and Soft Feather confidently identify him; Soft Feather even proposes betting on the revelation, prompting her father, Venerable Spirit Butterfly, to hesitate over whether to support her.
• Wuyinzi had wished for Daoist sages to emerge and rival the Buddhist School. His wish comes true immediately, but the sages’ humiliating poses leave him exasperated.
• Seven Lives Talisman, Chang Yuanzi, and Horizon gain sage status, yet their unconscious, defensive postures undermine the expected dignity of newly born Profound Sages. Their associates are equally shocked by their advancement.
• The Nine Provinces Number One Group reacts with disbelief, jokes, and speculation; Doudou is especially annoyed by how quickly Shuhang has surpassed it.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus identity: Shuhang’s ordinary, youthful face leads observers to reconsider what makes someone a true “high monk.”
• Sudden, inexplicable advancement: Shuhang’s leap in rank highlights the extraordinary and almost absurd nature of his cultivation progress.
• Public image and embarrassment: The Daoist sages’ awkward poses turn a moment of prestige into comedy, contrasting sharply with the solemn grandeur expected of the Manifestation Before All.
• Buddhist–Daoist rivalry: Wuyinzi’s wish for Daoist sages to answer the Buddhist School is fulfilled, but not in the dignified way he hoped.

Plot points and events

• Gongzi Hai, Devil Lord Anzhi, and Zheng Neng watch Song Shuhang’s public manifestation as an Eighth-Grade Profound Sage. Gongzi Hai confirms it is real, not an illusion.
• Zheng Neng suggests Song Shuhang may have been a powerful senior undergoing Red-Dust Tempering. Gongzi Hai accepts this as the likeliest explanation and resolves to focus on reaching the Fifth Grade rather than letting Song become a Heart Demon.
• In the Pacific, Sea King and a crude puppet discuss Song’s manifestation. The puppet refuses to believe Song has truly reached the Eighth Grade and leaves to verify matters by its own means.
• Song Shuhang, meanwhile, is still completing his advancement from the Third to the Fourth Grade. His body reaches the Fourth-Grade limit, and his true qi becomes Innate True Essence.
• His advancement takes an unusual turn: the Sage Seal enters his dantian and alters the whale-shaped Phantom Core formed by his cultivation technique into a strange, dragon-like “Fat Whale” form.
• Once the advancement ends, Song receives a message that an Eighth-Grade Profound Sage must give a lecture to cultivators across the Myriad Heavens and Realms. He wonders what he is supposed to teach.

Character developments and interactions

• Gongzi Hai is shaken by Song’s sudden rise but recommits himself to his pursuit of immortality and the Limitless Demon Sect’s plan. He recognizes that his rivalry with Song can no longer be easily resolved.
• Zheng Neng remains calm and offers a face-saving explanation for Song’s rapid progress: Red-Dust Tempering.
• Devil Lord Anzhi is stunned that the person he once nearly killed has become a Sage.
• Sea King reacts with grim resignation, while the puppet remains skeptical and plans to investigate.
• Song Shuhang reaches the Fourth Grade, gains the ability to use sword flight, and discovers an unexpected transformation in his cultivation core. His public Sage status now brings an unfamiliar obligation: delivering a lecture.

Significant themes

• The unpredictability of cultivation: Song’s dramatic rise overturns others’ expectations and assumptions.
• Rivalry and ambition: Gongzi Hai turns envy and shock into renewed determination to pursue immortality.
• Power bringing responsibility: Song’s Sage manifestation comes with a duty to teach the cultivation world.
• Transformation and uncertainty: Song’s unusual Fat Whale Phantom Core suggests his advancement may not follow ordinary rules.

Key plot points and events

• Newly advanced Fourth-Grade cultivator Song Shuhang panics as his Profound Sage Lecture approaches. He doubts he has enough experience or knowledge to teach the cultivators of the Myriad Heavens and Realms.
• He considers recounting his chaotic tribulation experience, but the story—including the group’s desperate reactions and Senior Everything Can Be Sold’s rescue—seems far too absurd to present as wisdom.
• Cultivators across the realms eagerly anticipate the lecture, expecting Buddhist teachings because of Song Shuhang’s title and abundant merit.
• At the last moment, Song Shuhang decides to recite the opening of the Daoist Canon, drawing on his memory of Longevity Immortal Cheng Lin’s lecture. As he imitates her posture and aura, his presence becomes mysterious and profound.
• The Merit Snake Beauty’s light gives receptive listeners personal insights even before the lecture formally begins; hostile observers, including Sea King and members of the Limitless Demon Sect, gain nothing.
• Song Shuhang’s explanation of the familiar scripture proves extraordinarily insightful. White lotuses, auspicious clouds, and the Voice of the Great Dao accompany his words.
• Experienced cultivators conclude that his lecture resembles—or exceeds—a Tribulation Immortal’s lecture, while Buddhist listeners are surprised that he chose Daoist scripture.
• Members of the Nine Provinces Number One Group recognize the lecture’s style as strikingly familiar.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang moves from anxious improvisation to a surprisingly powerful performance by borrowing Cheng Lin’s approach. His lack of confidence contrasts sharply with the immense impact of his lecture.
• The Merit Snake Beauty supports him by amplifying his majesty and creating a merit-filled spectacle that allows receptive audiences to find their own insights.
• Cheng Lin’s influence is central: Song Shuhang’s karmic connection to her, including Ye Si’s origin as one of her fragments, helps him reproduce her aura.
• The audience responds in sharply different ways: many cultivators are enlightened, Daoist experts are astonished, Buddhist disciples are puzzled, and hostile figures are left unimpressed.
• The Nine Provinces Number One Group’s members react silently, recognizing the lecture’s familiar origins.

Significant themes

• Unexpected wisdom: A novice with little formal experience delivers a lecture of extraordinary depth.
• Perspective and receptivity: The same words yield different insights depending on the listener; goodwill toward Song Shuhang enables enlightenment, while hostility blocks it.
• Influence and inheritance: Song Shuhang’s karmic ties to Cheng Lin let him draw on her teaching style.
• Appearances versus reality: Though the audience expects Buddhist doctrine from him, he lectures on the Daoist Canon—and does so at a level beyond his apparent rank.

• Song Shuhang’s lecture: The group recognizes that Song Shuhang’s Profound Sage Lecture is essentially a Mandarin translation of Longevity Immortal Cheng Lin’s lecture. Though translated down from a Longevity Immortal’s level, it remains extraordinary; his ability to recite it and resonate with the Great Dao shows genuine understanding. His lecture is nearing its end, and despite the pressure of being watched by countless cultivators, he is relieved it has gone smoothly—and is hungry after the strain of the tribulation.
• Group speculation and comedy: The Nine Provinces Number One Group discusses how other members might handle their future lectures. They worry about Seven Lives Talisman, Chang Yuanzi, and Transmission Maniac, while joking that a lecture on power transmission could inspire dangerous habits. Dharma King Creation imagines replacing a lecture with a universe-wide concert, then panics when everyone goes silent. Fairy Lychee changes the subject; Bright Moon, When Will You Be proposes live calligraphy to make his title memorable, and is met with another awkward silence. Yellow Mountain explains that the Sage Seal already makes a sage’s title unforgettable.
• Character developments and interactions: Venerable Spirit Butterfly praises Shuhang but grows wary of his rising closeness with Soft Feather, fearing he may lose her. Soft Feather openly admires Shuhang. The group’s repeated silences become a running joke, with Creation and Bright Moon both pleading for others to “save face” and speak. Their banter reveals both their affection for one another and their tendency to avoid encouraging potentially disastrous ideas.
• Themes and ending: The chapter contrasts the solemn, universal nature of a Profound Sage Lecture with the group’s irreverent humor. It also presents teaching the Dao as a mutually beneficial act: the audience’s gratitude and wishes gather around Shuhang, transform into Merit, and descend upon him. The Merit merges into the Merit Snake Beauty, who dramatically falls over and “dies.”

Summary

Key events

• During Song Shuhang’s Profound Sage Lecture, the Merit Snake Beauty suddenly screams and plays dead, alarming cultivators across the realms. Shuhang hurries through the lecture’s final section and ends it with a Daoist seal.
• Afterward, the Snake Beauty revives, gathers and eats the white lotuses created by Shuhang’s lecture, then returns to his body. The lecture’s vast Merit Power has made her more lively, and Shuhang suspects she is nearing another evolution.
• Her Heavenward Crown and dragon robe disappear as she withdraws. Shuhang catches and stores the crown, realizing it contains a powerful supply of Merit Power that gradually replenishes after use.
• Shuhang stores the badly damaged Premium Puppet, whose furnace has overloaded and shut down, intending to repair her later. He then notices three seniors are still in awkward defensive or kneeling positions and can offer them no help.
• As the next lecture is due to begin, Manor Lord Seven Lives Talisman awakens. He discovers that he has advanced to the Fifth Grade and gained an Eight-Dragon-Pattern Golden Core. An imprint in his dantian shows him what happened while he was unconscious—including his humiliating public manifestation—and informs him that he is the next Sage scheduled to lecture.

Character developments and interactions

• Shuhang completes his lecture despite the Merit Snake Beauty’s disruptive antics. He is relieved afterward, but remains concerned about her growing power and the puppet’s condition.
• The Merit Snake Beauty displays increasingly vivid, clownish behavior: she plays dead, eats the lecture’s heavenly lotuses, and appears to absorb power from both them and the gathered Merit.
• Seven Lives Talisman goes from believing he died in the tribulation to discovering an unexpected breakthrough. His joy at reaching the Fifth Grade quickly turns to despair when he learns that his embarrassing manifestation was witnessed—and that he must now lecture.
• Cultivators debate whether Shuhang is Buddhist or Daoist, question whether the lotus phenomena can be eaten, and speculate that someone attacked him when the Snake Beauty collapsed.

Significant themes

• Public image versus reality: Shuhang appears dignified as a Sage, while his Merit manifestation behaves absurdly; Seven Lives Talisman’s advancement comes with public humiliation.
• Power and unexpected growth: The lecture’s Merit, the crown, and even its lotus phenomena may strengthen the Snake Beauty.
• Humor amid danger: A terrifying tribulation and major breakthroughs are followed by comic misunderstandings and awkward revelations.
• The burdens of recognition: Becoming a Sage brings attention and expectations, as Seven Lives Talisman discovers when he is abruptly assigned the next lecture.

Key plot points and events

• Manor Lord Seven Lives Talisman’s tribulation ends with him unexpectedly appearing in a universe-wide manifestation while frozen in a humiliating “Head-Hugging Crouch Defense.” His name is branded in everyone’s mind, earning him the unwanted reputation of the “Second Millennium Cowardly Sage.”
• As his Profound Sage Lecture approaches, he panics: he has no prepared speech, refuses to plagiarize his seniors, and is embarrassed by his own past and awkward tribulation. His only suitable subject seems to be Fourth-Grade Talisman Dao, which he fears is too modest for the occasion.
• Just before he must speak, a calm voice offers him a complete Profound Sage-level lecture script. It belongs to the female puppet Song Shuhang had cast out; she says she helped protect the group during the tribulation and asks for materials to repair her damaged body. Seven Lives Talisman accepts, and she begins transmitting the script.
• While the audience grows impatient and his friends worry he has frozen, Seven Lives Talisman rises, takes seven steps in each direction, and declares, “Above Heaven and Below Heaven, I Alone Am Honored!”
• Buddhist light and a Golden Lotus appear around him. The chapter ends with him beginning a lecture on Buddhist Dharma, astonishing the observers who had assumed his expertise lay elsewhere.

Character developments

• Seven Lives Talisman shifts from mortified, anxious indecision to a commanding, apparently sacred presence. His scrupulous honesty is emphasized: he will not pass off his seniors’ teachings as his own, and he remains committed to his youthful vows despite their burden.
• The female puppet is revealed as the group’s hidden protector during the tribulation. She is practical and composed, trading the lecture script for the resources needed to repair herself.
• Song Shuhang cannot provide the help Seven Lives Talisman seeks, leaving the manor lord to rely on his own judgment—and ultimately the puppet’s offer.

Significant themes

• Public reputation and embarrassment: A single awkward image can eclipse a cultivator’s achievements and become a cosmic spectacle.
• Integrity under pressure: Seven Lives Talisman would rather struggle than plagiarize, reflecting the sincerity that earns his seniors’ trust.
• Unexpected transformation: His apparent silence and awkwardness give way to a dramatic Buddhist manifestation, suggesting the lecture—and his abilities—are not what others expected.

Character interactions

• Seven Lives Talisman silently asks Song Shuhang for help, but Shuhang can only shake his head.
• The puppet offers him a bargain: a lecture script in exchange for materials to repair her body.
• Fellow cultivators, members of Nine Provinces Number One Group, and Seven Lives Talisman’s senior allies all speculate about his silence—some fear he has frozen, while others trust his character.
• His sudden Buddhist display leaves them bewildered, especially Dharma King Creation, who recognizes the Golden Lotus and heavenly Buddhist light as signs of an exceptionally powerful Dharma lecture.

Key events

• Manor Lord Seven Lives Talisman delivers a brief but powerful Profound Sage Lecture on Buddhism, despite being a Daoist Profound Sage. Its visions of golden lotuses and arhats impress cultivators across the realms, and Buddhist practitioners gain especially much from it.
• The lecture earns Seven Lives Talisman abundant Merit Power, which condenses into the early form of a new Merit Light. He also gains a Sage Seal and an Eight-Dragon-Pattern Golden Core from his advancement.
• Seven Lives Talisman advises cultivators not to make reckless oaths or grand vows when young. He then thanks Song Shuhang, who points out that the Premium Puppet was the one who helped him.
• Third Millennium Sage Chang Yuanzi awakens after surviving his tribulation and discovers he has reached the Sixth Grade. Remembering his unresolved confession to Fairy Bie Xue, he sees the upcoming Profound Sage Lecture as a chance to reach her—and begins preparing to declare his love publicly.

Character developments and interactions

• Seven Lives Talisman proves unexpectedly skilled in Buddhist teachings and leaves his lecture pleased, though injured and in need of rest.
• Dharma King Creation and other Buddhist cultivators report major gains from the lecture; Daoist cultivators benefit by drawing parallels.
• The group jokes that people with “Three” in their names tend to court disaster. Su Clan’s Seven tells the story of A-San Su, who changed his name to A-Si Su to stop a dangerous habit. Mad Saber Three Waves responds by changing his group name to Mad Saber Four Waves.
• Chang Yuanzi is exhilarated by his breakthrough and fixates on Fairy Bie Xue, interpreting his new status and public lecture as a chance to win her affection.

Significant themes

• The chapter mixes spiritual advancement with comedy: profound lectures bring real cultivation benefits, while the group’s banter punctures the grandeur.
• Oaths and grand declarations can have lasting consequences, underscored by Seven Lives Talisman’s warning and Chang Yuanzi’s eagerness to make a public romantic declaration.
• Advancement opens new opportunities, but characters may be too distracted by personal ambitions to notice their deeper significance—Chang Yuanzi, for instance, overlooks his Sage Seal.

Plot points

• After becoming a Profound Sage, Chang Yuanzi begins the third lecture of the day. Unlike the uneasy Seven Lives Talisman, he appears confident and refuses the Premium Puppet’s offer of a ready-made lecture script.
• He announces an unusual topic: “courtship.” His audience assumes he is about to explain a rare dual-cultivation technique, but Chang Yuanzi instead produces a zither and plays Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix.
• He forgets most of the lyrics and fills the gaps with “la la la,” then completes the performance with a striking musical vision of two phoenixes dancing in a landscape.
• Chang Yuanzi reveals that the song is a public declaration of love to Fairy Bie Xue, promising to pursue and love her forever. His lecture has been an elaborate, crowd-wide confession rather than a lesson.
• The audience is stunned, and Bie Xue is mortified—and ominously considers turning him into a dish. Song Shuhang wonders whether such a lecture is acceptable; Seven Lives Talisman explains that Profound Sages must lecture, but may choose any subject, though Chang Yuanzi likely forfeited the usual Merit Power blessing.

Character developments and interactions

• Chang Yuanzi shows confidence and a thick-skinned disregard for appearances. His sincere, theatrical confession contrasts with his forgetfulness during the song.
• Fairy Bie Xue reacts with embarrassed anger, while the public nature of the confession draws unwanted attention to her.
• Song Shuhang and Seven Lives Talisman watch as audience members, first anticipating an ordinary lecture and then trying to make sense of Chang Yuanzi’s performance.
• In the Nine Provinces Number One Group, Ancient Lake Abbey jokes that Chang Yuanzi is courting disaster and mentions Mad Saber Three Waves’ supposed intuition. Three Waves has changed his name to Four Waves, prompting a playful exchange about his increasing tolerance for risky behavior.

Significant themes

• The gap between public expectation and private purpose: a grand spiritual lecture becomes a personal romantic gesture.
• Sincerity versus propriety: Chang Yuanzi’s boldness may be heartfelt, but it imposes his confession on an entire cultivation world—and on its unwilling recipient.
• Comedy through grandiosity and anticlimax: the audience expects profound teachings, while Chang Yuanzi forgets the lyrics and delivers a very public love declaration.

• Chang Yuanzi ends his Profound Sage Lecture after making a public confession to Fairy Bie Xue. Because the cultivators watching are unimpressed, he gains no Merit—but he considers the confession more important.
• Just as the lecture ends, Chang Yuanzi is struck by a terrifying Heart Demon Tribulation. Daoist Horizon suspects the lecture was part of the larger Heavenly Tribulation: its Merit would have offset the final wave, but Chang Yuanzi’s unserious lecture left him exposed. Song Shuhang considers using Dharma King Creation’s singing to help if needed.
• Horizon prepares to lecture on ways to delay Heavenly Tribulations, drawing on his long experience and seventeen methods. He presents practical advice aimed especially at low-level cultivators, who listen attentively. Shuhang and Seven Lives Talisman judge the lecture a success, though some high-level viewers find it dull.
• The group chat shifts from Horizon’s lecture to discussing Chang Yuanzi’s romantic confession. Several members find the gesture appealing, while others joke about the trouble his story might cause.
• In the middle of Horizon’s lecture, Venerable White suddenly appears through a spatial rift. He greets Shuhang, explains that he briefly left seclusion to undergo his own tribulation, and warns everyone to keep their distance because his Heavenly Tribulation is about to begin.
  Character developments and interactions: Chang Yuanzi shows that his devotion to Fairy Bie Xue matters more to him than Merit, but his casual treatment of the lecture may have left him vulnerable. Horizon reveals that his “Transmission Maniac” reputation is only part of a broader strategy for delaying tribulation, and he uses his lecture to offer useful guidance. Shuhang and Seven Lives Talisman worry about Chang Yuanzi and discuss the likely connection between Merit and the Heart Demon Tribulation. Venerable White’s sudden entrance shifts their attention—and the lecture’s audience—to his impending tribulation.
  Themes: The chapter contrasts sincere personal feeling with the formal duties of cultivation; emphasizes the practical value of knowledge shared for others’ benefit; and suggests that Merit, lectures, and tribulation are more closely linked than cultivators may realize.