Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Song Shuhang drains the Nine Nether evil energy from the slain Evil-Energy Dragon Beast, triggering another evolution of his Core World. The world’s functions remain available, and he stores the beast’s valuable bones.
• The Black Horse Branch receives a growing stream of people afflicted by the “pollution.” Song and the staff work through the night, while the locals are frightened into behaving after witnessing the beast’s defeat.
• Master Turtle reports that a route to the Present World lies at Asura Lake, but its passage opens only every two years and last opened two months ago. Song would have to wait nearly two years to use it.
• Song realizes he cannot return through the route or teleport directly with the sealed Great Sea Turtle. He worries about his family, friends, and companions back home, and hopes Pavilion Master Chu can bring him back.
• Song asks Great Sea Turtle what Song Blockhead looks like. The turtle projects an image of a handsome, golden-haired scholar and explains that his hair changed after drinking the Golden Dragon Progenitor’s blood.
• An unknown caller finally reaches Song, identifies him as Tyrant Song, and says its master—Senior White Two—is trapped in the Evil Lotus World after losing contact with his avatar. The caller confirms Song’s location and begins a spatial jump toward him.

Character developments and interactions

• Song remains committed to helping the afflicted, but recognizes that he cannot save everyone alone. His exchange with Miss Shan reveals that she shares his compassionate instinct to help within her limits; he also worries that her kindness may leave her vulnerable.
• Miss Shan expresses gratitude for Song’s night of work and hopes he will stay longer. Song gently explains that the scale of the crisis exceeds what he can handle by himself.
• Master Turtle helps Song by finding information about a possible exit, though the timing makes it impractical. Song also relies on Great Sea Turtle for advice, only to learn its teleportation range is severely limited.
• Song’s lighthearted curiosity about Song Blockhead gives way to surprise at the portrait and playful denial when the turtle teases him about resembling the scholar.
• The chapter ends with a new connection to Senior White Two, offering Song a possible lead while also raising questions about who the caller is and what the spatial jump will bring.

Significant themes

• Compassion and limits: Song and Shan want to help others, but both acknowledge that good intentions cannot overcome the scale of the crisis alone.
• Isolation and longing for home: Song’s failed return options make him anxious about those waiting for him in the Present World.
• Escalating danger and uncertainty: The rising number of polluted people suggests a spreading catastrophe, while the unexpected communication hints that help—or further complications—may be on the way.

Chapter 1241 Summary: “Look Up at the Sky—The Sun Smiles at Me”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Senior White Two’s mysterious Pet No. 1 finally arrives to meet Song Shuhang through a space jump.
• Song Shuhang initially cannot find the pet, but the Beast Realm’s inhabitants soon panic after a second “sun” suddenly appears in the sky.
• The newcomer, You Busy T233, reveals that it is not actually a sun but a gigantic lion transformed by Senior White Two after suffering a near-fatal injury. Its enormous body makes it appear star-like from the Beast Realm.
• T233 currently functions mainly as an artificial sun, emitting light and heat. It possesses little offensive ability because most of its energy is used to move and sustain its huge body. Its “ultimate weapon” role is only secondary, and it must hibernate after using too much energy.
• T233 explains that it has successfully contacted Song Shuhang but cannot reach Senior White Two through Song’s Core World because the Core World is undergoing an upgrade.
• Song Shuhang informs T233 about the Beast Realm’s dangerous dharma artifacts, which appear to be guiding people toward depravity. He suspects the other Netherworld Ruler has gone mad and is preparing widespread trouble.
• During their conversation, T233 repeatedly asks Song Shuhang for a joke or amusing remark. Song jokingly says, “Roll around, baby ox!” T233 takes the statement seriously and promises to report it to Senior White Two as a humorous quip, much to Song’s alarm.
• Before entering low-energy mode, T233 offers to help. Song asks it to shrink the mysterious palace he acquired. T233 reduces it to five cubic meters, allowing Song to transfer it into his upgraded Core World.
• Song then asks whether T233 can perform divination to locate Daoist Mulan of the Empty Thieves’ Sect.

Character Developments

• Song Shuhang continues to be shocked by the bizarre scale and nature of Senior White Two’s pets, especially after learning that Pet No. 1 is essentially a living artificial sun.
• He demonstrates caution and responsibility by trying to prevent T233 from damaging the Beast Realm and by relocating the strange palace rather than abandoning it.
• Song also remains concerned about the wider crisis involving the corrupted dharma artifacts and the apparently unstable Netherworld Ruler.
• You Busy T233 is established as an enormous, intelligent, obedient, and somewhat literal creature. Despite being labeled an “ultimate weapon,” it is currently more useful as a sun-like energy source and messenger.
• T233’s personality is cheerful and mechanical, frequently issuing confirmations and corrections while enthusiastically enjoying Song’s accidental joke.
• Senior White Two becomes even more mysterious and formidable through the revelation that one of his pets is a colossal, modified lion capable of appearing like a sun.

Significant Themes

• The absurdity and unpredictability of cultivation-world power: A creature that looks like a sun is merely one of Senior White Two’s pets.
• Identity versus appearance: T233 appears to be a star but is actually a transformed lion; its frightening appearance does not match its current peaceful function.
• Power and limitation: Although T233 is potentially capable of destroying a star, its present abilities are restricted by energy consumption and the need for prolonged hibernation.
• Communication amid crisis: Song uses T233 as a link to Senior White Two while the Core World’s upgrade disrupts normal communication.
• Humor amid danger: The chapter balances serious threats—corrupted artifacts, the mad Netherworld Ruler, and the Beast Realm’s instability—with comic misunderstandings involving T233’s literal interpretation of Song’s words.

Character Interactions

• Song Shuhang and T233: Their first meeting is marked by confusion, corrections, and T233’s overly formal, automated speech. Song is bewildered by T233’s nature, while T233 treats their interaction as a successful mission.
• Song Shuhang and Senior White Two: Though Senior White Two does not appear directly, Song communicates concerns to him through T233 and remains conscious of Senior White Two’s unusual influence and resources.
• Song Shuhang and the Black Horse Branch: Song reassures the frightened branch members after the artificial sun appears and takes responsibility for investigating the phenomenon.
• Song Shuhang and Merit Snake Beauty: She accompanies and protects him as he leaves the room to inspect the sudden second sun.
• Song Shuhang and the palace: With T233’s assistance, Song safely shrinks and transfers the palace into his Core World, preserving a potentially important object for future investigation.

Plot points and events

• Pet No. 1, a golden-sun-like weapon belonging to Senior White Two, reveals it has a Netherworld-based search engine. Searching for Daoist Mulan—an Empty Thieves’ Sect disciple who knows Ancient Script—narrows the results to four possible candidates.
• The most promising is Daoist Mulan No. 4: he became a Netherworld Demon in 2019 and has been wandering the Netherworld’s Calamity Plain. Song Shuhang suspects he may possess the decoder hidden in a “filthy place,” and considers seeking him out.
• Pet No. 1 offers to send Song back to the Present World, but Song chooses to stay in the Beast Realm for about two more days to finish his work and wait for Pavilion Master Chu. He receives a teleportation rune that will let him return to Earth within three days, though its accuracy may be imperfect.
• Song returns to meditating, then resumes treating contaminated people and collecting materials, Nine Nether Evil Energy, and Merit. He expects the stored energy to help expand his upgrading Core World.
• He remembers that he forgot to ask Senior White Two about Senior Skylark for Senior Three Waves, writes himself a reminder, and considers joining Three Waves on a future trip to the Netherworld.
• As Song works late into the night, he senses through the Eye of Merit that the battle at Jadewater Pavilion has escalated: two more beast-cultivator Tribulation Immortals have joined.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang remains dutiful and practical: although he can leave, he delays his return to honor his commitments. He also recognizes that his busy life makes him forget important tasks, so he starts keeping written reminders.
• Miss Shan is disappointed at the prospect of Song leaving but respects his choice and wishes him well. She is delighted when he decides to stay a little longer, and impressed by his powerful connections.
• Pet No. 1 proves helpful and capable, using its search system and offering Song a return rune. Its polite, service-oriented manner adds a comic touch, especially its disclaimer about teleportation mishaps.
• Song and Pet No. 1 communicate privately through mental transmission, while Miss Shan intuitively senses that Song may be preparing to leave.

Significant themes

• Duty and personal choice: Song postpones an easy return because he has promised to help others.
• Memory and responsibility: Even a strong memory can fail under pressure, prompting Song to record obligations rather than rely on recollection.
• Accumulation and future growth: Song’s present labor may eventually strengthen his Core World and enable new possibilities.
• Comic contrast: A mysterious, powerful Netherworld search engine behaves like an ordinary service, complete with a three-day “shelf life” warning.

Plot points and events

• Pavilion Master Chu initially holds off four beast-cultivator Tribulation Immortals, but two powerful reinforcements arrive, bringing the attackers’ total to six. One seals the surrounding space, trapping her at the Jadewater Pavilion.
• The attackers aim to capture rather than kill her: they want her to maintain the pavilion while they take control of it.
• A Liquid Tribulation Immortal poisons Chu with 1,241 deadly toxins while she is forced to fight at close range. She appears weakened, but reveals that the Jadewater Pavilion is especially resistant to poison. She expels the toxins and sends them back with her sword energy.
• The Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortal, whose Path is Devouring, absorbs Chu’s counterattack. He and Chu briefly discuss the dangers of pursuing that seemingly limitless Path.
• As the six surround Chu and threaten the pavilion, she claims that everyone in it is her “alternate account.” The Ox-Horned, Tiger-Striped, One-Horned, and Eagle-Winged Tribulation Immortals then repeat the exact same claim, leaving the Dragon-Scaled and Liquid Tribulation Immortals bewildered.

Character developments and interactions

• Chu remains composed and formidable despite being outnumbered and poisoned. Her confidence and playful manner suggest she has a plan, though its nature is not yet revealed.
• The Liquid Tribulation Immortal is smug and taunting, relying on poison and trying to exploit Chu’s attachment to the pavilion.
• The Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortal is quiet and self-assured, confident in his Devouring Path and his ability to block Chu’s attacks.
• The six attackers coordinate their assault but are unsettled by Chu’s unexpected remark and the other four’s identical repetition.
• Song Shuhang watches through the Eye of Merit and worries about Chu’s apparent disadvantage.

Significant themes

• Strength and strategy: Chu’s apparent vulnerability may conceal a larger tactic.
• Ambition and risk: The Dragon-Scaled Immortal’s pursuit of the Devouring Path is portrayed as exceptionally dangerous, with a history of failure.
• Attachment and leverage: The attackers try to use Chu’s care for the Jadewater Pavilion against her.
• Identity and absurdity: The “alternate account” joke abruptly disrupts a deadly confrontation, leaving its meaning—and the truth behind it—open.

Key plot points

• Pavilion Master Chu reveals that her prolonged fight with the four Beast-Cultivator Tribulation Immortals was a ruse. Anyone inside the Jadewater Pavilion can be absorbed into her power, and she has quietly brought the four under her control—turning the battle into five against the Liquid and Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortals.
• Song Shuhang watches through the Eye of Merit and recognizes the tactic as a glimpse of the Heavenly Emperor’s path.
• The Dragon-Scaled Immortal proves far stronger than the Ox-Horned Immortal, breaking his club and knocking him away. But the controlled Beast-Cultivators keep taunting their opponents and urging them to strike lethally.
• The Liquid Immortal tries to poison Pavilion Master Chu from behind, only to discover he has stabbed the Tiger-Striped Immortal, who had been made to look like her. The substitution is convincing even to the two powerful intruders. The Tiger-Striped Immortal is left incapacitated but continues repeating Chu’s challenge.
• The Dragon-Scaled Immortal orders the Liquid Immortal to poison and ruin the pavilion, reasoning that damaging it will break Chu’s hold over the others. The Liquid Immortal spreads corruption through the grounds, transforming the garden into a toxic wasteland.
• Chu remains composed. She explains that the Jadewater Pavilion has long been her Heart Demon: she has been bound to it since the Ancient Era, and its presence has obstructed her advancement. Yet she has advanced without overcoming it. Her revelation unsettles the Dragon-Scaled Immortal as the chapter ends.

Character developments and interactions

• Pavilion Master Chu shows strategic patience, formidable control, and a playful, taunting manner. Once the pavilion is attacked, her smile fades, but she remains steady and reveals that her bond to the place is also a long-standing personal burden.
• The Dragon-Scaled Immortal is the strongest direct fighter among the invaders and shields the Liquid Immortal, but Chu’s control and deception frustrate his plans. He shifts from combat to attacking the pavilion itself.
• The Liquid Immortal relies on stealth and poison, but his attempted ambush backfires. He then follows the Dragon-Scaled Immortal’s plan to corrupt the grounds.
• The four Beast-Cultivator Immortals act as Chu’s controlled allies, turning against their former companions and joining her taunts. The Tiger-Striped Immortal becomes the unwitting victim of the poison attack.
• Song Shuhang observes the confrontation and reflects on how powerful the Heavenly Emperor’s path must be when even an incomplete version can command such influence.

Significant themes

• Power through patience and preparation: Chu’s apparent stalemate was part of a plan.
• Perception and deception: Even elite cultivators cannot distinguish Chu from her controlled decoy.
• The cost of attachment: The pavilion is both the source of Chu’s power and the Heart Demon that has bound her for ages.
• Control and vulnerability: Chu’s opponents exploit the pavilion’s importance to her, setting up a conflict between destroying her power and confronting her unresolved bond.

Key plot points and events

• Pavilion Master Chu reveals two complementary aspects of her Dao: a flourishing green tree that represents recreating Jadewater Pavilion, and a withered, deathly tree that represents reversing that creation. Though Jadewater Pavilion is her Dao, she intends to let it go and reshape it into something new.
• As Chu advances toward Longevity, Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortal attacks to stop her. One-Horned, Ox-Horned, and Eagle-Winged Tribulation Immortals hold him back, but he breaks through. Chu uses the word “Collapse” to distort space, leaving them locked in a struggle.
• Song Shuhang watches through his Eye of Merit and is overcome by grief, apparently through his heart-link with Ye Si. The Merit Snake Beauty comforts him, while Miss Shan walks in and finds the normally imposing Tyrant Song sobbing. She offers him candy; Shuhang is mortified by the damage to his dignified image.
• Ye Si warns that Chu’s advance will make her disappear completely, beyond resurrection. Shuhang realizes the resurrection method Chu gave him may not be enough and decides to reach her.
• He summons the Great Sea Turtle and, with the Merit Snake Beauty locating the Eye of Merit’s coordinates, opens a portal toward Jadewater Pavilion. However, after the others pass through, Song Shuhang is mysteriously missing.

Character developments and interactions

• Pavilion Master Chu moves toward a new stage of her cultivation by embracing both creation and destruction, rather than merely preserving the old Jadewater Pavilion.
• Ye Si clarifies that her distress is chiefly fear of losing Chu, not grief over Jadewater Pavilion’s collapse. Her warning gives Shuhang urgency.
• Song Shuhang is emotionally overwhelmed by Ye Si’s sorrow, then quickly shifts from helpless crying to action when he learns Chu may vanish permanently.
• The Merit Snake Beauty shows growing sensitivity by comforting Shuhang and then assisting with navigation.
• Miss Shan sees a vulnerable, undignified side of the revered Tyrant Song and protects his privacy from the Division Head and Master Turtle.

Significant themes

• Letting go and renewal: Chu’s willingness to release the old Jadewater Pavilion is framed not as surrender, but as a path to rebuilding it in a more suitable form.
• The danger of transformation: Chu’s breakthrough may bring genuine advancement, but at the cost of her complete disappearance.
• Emotional bonds and shared suffering: Ye Si’s connection with Shuhang makes her grief his, and his concern for her and Chu motivates his rescue attempt.
• Public image versus vulnerability: Shuhang’s uncontrolled tears humorously contrast with his reputation as an almost omnipotent sage.

Character interactions

• Chu refuses to explain her Dao to Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortal, while the three other Tribulation Immortals physically intervene to protect her.
• The Merit Snake Beauty comforts Shuhang; Miss Shan catches the scene and offers candy, while Shuhang tries—unsuccessfully—to preserve his dignity.
• Ye Si urgently warns Shuhang about Chu’s fate, prompting him to enlist the Great Sea Turtle and Merit Snake Beauty in a rapid journey to Jadewater Pavilion.

Chapter Summary: Vajra Beneath the Withered and Flourishing Twin Trees

• Song Shuhang disappears during teleportation, leaving the Merit Snake Beauty unable to locate him. Instead, she catches Ye Si, who has been separated from him while undergoing her Heart Devil tribulation. The snake beauty instinctively protects Ye Si, gently wiping away her tears despite having no instructions.
• At the Jade Water Pavilion, Lord Chu’s Dao Condensation reaches its crisis point. The Dragon Scale Tribulation Immortal breaks through her spatial defenses and strikes her, but her body dissolves into light rather than being physically wounded. The attackers initially assume her Dao Condensation has failed.
• The withered and flourishing twin trees continue growing, revealing that Lord Chu’s Dao has not truly failed. Her body is being sacrificed or transformed as part of the process, while the trees become increasingly connected to the entire Jade Water Pavilion. Destroying them would destroy the Pavilion—the attackers’ target—creating a dilemma between stopping Lord Chu and preserving the Primordial Heavenly Court’s foundation.
• Lord Chu appears willing to die completely. As her body dissolves from the chest upward, the Tribulation Immortals warn her to stop, claiming her Dao is flawed and that she will be unable to revive. Lord Chu remains silent, reflecting on how she once hoped someone would come to save Jade Water Pavilion. She concludes that relying on others is weakness and that cultivators can only depend on themselves.
• The Dragon Scale Tribulation Immortal realizes the danger. He suspects Lord Chu’s Heart Devil has not disappeared but may have mutated into something capable of inheriting or continuing her Dao. He orders the others to destroy the twin trees and Jade Water Pavilion completely, abandoning their original plan to seize the site intact.
• The Tribulation Immortals launch devastating attacks, including a black hole, corrosive venom, a spiked club, a hurricane, and a storm of blades. Before they can destroy the trees, however, a mysterious golden giant emerges directly from the void, reciting lines from the Heart Sutra.
• The golden man effortlessly defeats the attacks. His fists destroy the black hole and venom, his legs shatter the club and hurricane, and his body withstands the winged Tribulation Immortal’s blade barrage without injury. He protects Lord Chu by standing between her and the attackers.
• The stranger stabilizes Lord Chu’s collapsing form. With Lord Chu reduced to only her head, the golden man pats her head and restores her dissolving body. Although she does not recognize him, the warmth of his touch feels familiar, making her realize that the person she had been waiting for has finally arrived.
• Emotional reunion and comic relief: Lord Chu bursts into tears from relief and grievance. The golden man jokingly points out that, since she has no hands left, she cannot stop him from patting her head. Her tears immediately stop, and she angrily calls him a “bastard.”

Character Developments and Interactions

• Lord Chu moves from apparent self-sacrifice and resignation to renewed emotional vulnerability when her hoped-for rescuer arrives. Her philosophy of self-reliance is challenged by the return of someone she deeply trusted.
• The Dragon Scale Tribulation Immortal shifts from confidence to alarm after recognizing that Lord Chu’s Heart Devil and Dao may survive her physical destruction.
• The Merit Snake Beauty displays an unexpectedly tender, protective side toward Ye Si, acting independently when Song Shuhang is absent.
• Ye Si is separated from Song Shuhang and remains emotionally distressed, silently comforted by the snake beauty.
• The golden man is introduced as overwhelmingly powerful, familiar to Lord Chu despite her not recognizing his appearance, and both protective and irreverently humorous.

Significant Themes

• The conflict between self-reliance and the need for companionship.
• The possibility that a person’s Dao can survive beyond the destruction of the body.
• Sacrifice, transformation, and rebirth through Lord Chu’s strange Dao.
• The contrast between the attackers’ destruction and the golden man’s protective, almost comedic intervention.
• Emotional payoff through the arrival of the long-awaited rescuer, combining dramatic reunion with absurd humor.

Chapter Summary: “Come Forth, My Army!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Pavilion Master Chu, reduced to only her head after the battle, angrily tries to bite the golden man. He reassures her that his Vajra Body would make biting him painful, adding comic relief despite the dire situation.
• The golden man takes responsibility for protecting Chu and confronting the six Beast-Cultivator Tribulation Immortals, including the recovering enemy on the ground.
• Claiming that he prefers overwhelming numbers, he summons a vast crimson-gold world containing:
  • Seventy thousand golden-armored soldiers
  • Seven powerful Longevity Immortals
• The summoned figures include the Northern Great Emperor, master of Great Sea Turtle, and the Western Great Emperor, master of the Summer Palace. Their appearance shocks the observers because Longevity Immortals are extremely rare.
• The golden man attempts to give grand speeches about the Way of Kings, Tyrant Dao, and Confucian Dao. The answers become increasingly humorous, especially when Western Great Emperor declares that the golden man has no connection to Confucian Dao.
• Northern Great Emperor attacks Liquid Tribulation Immortal and instantly freezes his poison, demonstrating the overwhelming difference between Longevity Immortals and Tribulation Immortals.
• Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortal and the others try to escape through Space Gates, taking Liquid Tribulation Immortal and their allies with them.
• A second mysterious Longevity Immortal uses golden chains to pierce through space, forcibly dragging all the fleeing enemies back and imprisoning them in golden cages that prevent teleportation.
• The seventy thousand soldiers surround the captured enemies. The golden man orders them to be hung up so he can personally beat them later, but the Longevity Immortals explain that he cannot currently enter their “realm” and fight directly.
• The golden man angrily dismisses the army, while the captured Tribulation Immortals remain imprisoned inside the crimson-gold world.
• After the battle, Jadewater Pavilion continues collapsing, polluted by deadly poison and drained by the Withered-Glory Twin Trees.
• The golden man continues supplying immortal energy to Pavilion Master Chu to prevent her remaining form from dissipating.
• Chu reveals that she cannot stop condensing her Dao, though she has prepared a possible resurrection method. The golden man worries that her extreme Dao may render that method ineffective.
• The golden man announces that his time is nearly over and that someone else will have to handle the remaining crisis.

Character Developments

• The golden man: Demonstrates immense power, confidence, and theatrical humor by summoning an army of soldiers and seven Longevity Immortals. Despite his boastful presentation, he is unable to personally enter the summoned realm or fight the captured enemies himself. His concern for Pavilion Master Chu becomes more apparent as he sustains her and worries about the consequences of her Dao.
• Pavilion Master Chu: Remains defiant and aggressive even after being reduced to a head. Her decision to continue condensing her extreme Dao shows determination and willingness to risk herself, though she has prepared a backup resurrection plan.
• Northern Great Emperor: Revealed as Great Sea Turtle’s master. He effortlessly neutralizes Liquid Tribulation Immortal’s poison and escapes Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortal’s black hole, emphasizing his superior cultivation.
• Western Great Emperor: Revealed as the Summer Palace’s master. He acts as the golden man’s dry and irreverent adviser, deliberately undermining the golden man’s dramatic speeches.
• The second mysterious Longevity Immortal: Uses powerful spatial chains to capture the fleeing enemies, displaying precise control over space and a pragmatic personality.
• Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortal and the Beast-Cultivators: Shift from attacking confidently to desperately fleeing once the golden army appears. Their escape attempt fails, leaving them imprisoned.

Significant Themes

• Overwhelming power and hierarchy: The gap between Longevity Immortals and Tribulation Immortals is made explicit, particularly when Northern Great Emperor freezes Liquid Tribulation Immortal’s poison effortlessly.
• Theatricality versus practical strength: The golden man’s grand declarations and “army” are partly a display of intimidation. His army is extremely powerful, but even he cannot use it exactly as he wishes.
• Loyalty and protection: The golden man protects Pavilion Master Chu, supplying her with energy and taking responsibility for avenging her.
• Sacrifice and irreversible choices: Chu’s continued Dao condensation may be dangerous or impossible to stop, suggesting that power and survival may come at a severe cost.
• Humor amid catastrophe: Banter about biting, imperial titles, Confucian Dao, and “showing off” contrasts with the destruction of Jadewater Pavilion and the characters’ life-threatening situation.

Important Character Interactions

• Pavilion Master Chu and the golden man exchange hostile but familiar banter, revealing comfort and trust beneath their quarrelling.
• The golden man orders the summoned Longevity Immortals around like subordinates, but they freely mock him and refuse to follow his preferred script.
• Great Sea Turtle recognizes Northern Great Emperor as its master, adding a personal connection to the otherwise astonishing appearance of the summoned army.
• Dragon-Scaled Tribulation Immortal attempts to rescue his allies and escape through space, but the second Longevity Immortal counters him directly.
• The golden man and the Longevity Immortals argue over whether he can personally punish the captured enemies, highlighting both his authority and his current limitations.
• At the end, the golden man and Pavilion Master Chu share a more serious exchange about her Dao, resurrection plan, and his approaching disappearance.

Plot points and events

• Golden Man tells Pavilion Master Chu that he cannot remain in the Myriad Heavens and Realms for long. Before leaving, he pours his immortal energy into her to keep her surviving head intact.
• He jokes that Song Shuhang is his illegitimate son, then denies it. Pavilion Master Chu presses him about who the mother would be, and he insists he was only teasing before he vanishes.
• Song Shuhang escapes a collapsing spatial passage after becoming separated from Merit Snake Beauty and Senior Turtle. His usual ways of getting out—opening his Core World and using a return rune—are blocked, so he must run until he reaches an exit.
• He emerges in midair near Pavilion Master Chu, who now consists only of her head. She tells him Ye Si is still caught in a Heart Demon Tribulation and cannot help.
• Pavilion Master Chu says Golden Man claimed Song Shuhang was his illegitimate son. Shuhang is alarmed, but Chu later explains that Golden Man admitted it was a joke—though neither of them is certain how seriously to take his words.
• Ye Si and Merit Snake Beauty return to Shuhang. Ye Si briefly urges him to save Pavilion Master Chu before sinking back into her Heart Demon state. Shuhang asks Chu what he can do, but she has no solution.

Character developments and interactions

• Pavilion Master Chu remains composed and teasing despite her dire condition. She challenges Golden Man’s claims and later enjoys seeing Shuhang equally flustered by the alleged parentage.
• Golden Man shows concern by lending Chu his immortal energy, but masks his departure with provocative jokes. His ambiguous humor leaves both Chu and Shuhang uncertain.
• Song Shuhang survives the spatial collapse through persistence, then becomes comically distressed by the possibility that Golden Man is his father. Despite being only a Fourth-Grade cultivator, he is asked to help Chu.
• Ye Si briefly breaks through her Heart Demon state to call for Chu’s rescue, while Merit Snake Beauty returns to Shuhang’s body.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and unreliable joking: Golden Man’s habit of mixing serious revelations with jokes makes the truth about Shuhang’s origins impossible to determine.
• Survival through perseverance: With his usual escape methods unavailable, Shuhang relies on speed and endurance to escape the collapsing passage.
• Help amid helplessness: Chu’s condition is grave, yet neither she nor Shuhang knows how to restore her; the chapter ends with the problem unresolved.

Plot points and events

• Pavilion Master Chu reveals that her head is all that remains of her body. Song Blockhead’s Immortal Energy is keeping her from vanishing, but it is incompatible and running out. Once her body disappears, she has over a 90% chance of suffering irreversible body-and-soul annihilation.
• Her condition is the price of taking a second path to her Dao of Longevity; the Withered-Glory Twin Trees behind her are part of the result, from which a new Jadewater Pavilion may eventually be reborn.
• With Song Blockhead gone and no obvious way to help, Song Shuhang uses his Appraisal Secret Method on Chu. The technique succeeds but causes severe wounds and immense pain, which his liquid body can survive.
• The appraisal gives him three possible remedies: find Empress Cheng Lin to reshape Chu using her Dao of Longevity; use the Spirit-Taming Art with Chu’s prepared resurrection method, which has only a 30% chance of success; or take her to the Life Spring in the Dead Spirit Realm. Chu knows the Spirit-Taming Art, but says it took her two months to learn—far longer than her remaining time.
• Shuhang cannot reach Cheng Lin, and the Dead Spirit Realm seems too dangerous and distant to reach within the roughly 94 minutes Chu has left. The chapter ends as he remembers the Living Spring in his inner world, suggesting it may offer another possibility.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang shifts from awkwardly refusing Chu’s offer of the ruined pavilion to urgently trying to save her. He reasons through the problem, accepts the pain of using his appraisal technique, and searches for a workable solution despite his limited cultivation.
• Pavilion Master Chu remains outwardly calm about her imminent death, though she softens when she realizes Shuhang is genuinely trying to help. She allows him to touch her head and appreciates his sacrifice.
• Their exchange mixes humor with urgency: Shuhang asks to touch Chu’s head as a pretext for appraisal, while she threatens to bite him and challenges his excuses for stroking her hair.
• The Great Sea Turtle explains the danger posed by Chu’s dwindling Immortal Energy and helps Shuhang understand the situation. Song Blockhead’s absence leaves Shuhang responsible for finding a solution.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and responsibility: Shuhang is willing to endure extreme pain to help Chu.
• The limits of power and knowledge: His appraisal reveals options, but each is difficult, dangerous, or unlikely to succeed.
• Life, death, and renewal: Chu’s second Dao requires “dying once,” while the twin trees and possible resurrection methods suggest that death may also lead to transformation or rebirth.
• Humor amid danger: Their teasing contrasts with the severe countdown on Chu’s survival.

Plot and events

• Song Shuhang brings the fading Pavilion Master Chu into his Core World and immerses her in its Living Spring. The spring stabilizes her and may keep her from dispersing for years, though it only suppresses her condition rather than curing it.
• Pavilion Master Chu says she has completed her responsibility to the Jadewater Pavilion. She expects a younger “Pavilion Master Chu Two” to emerge, carrying on her existence in some form.
• Outside, the Jadewater Pavilion has become a deadly wasteland: poison has consumed the grounds, its disciples are gone, and the Withered-Glory Twin Trees have merged when the Withered Tree swallowed the Glory Tree.
• A new, youthful Pavilion Master Chu emerges from a fruit on the Withered Tree. She gives Song Shuhang a beast-hide scroll left by Song Blockhead, but its Ancient Era writing is unreadable to him. The scroll’s lingering poison briefly affects him before she removes it.
• Chu Two embraces Song Shuhang and asks him to give her the “final part” of the other Pavilion Master Chu, implying that she needs it to become whole. The chapter ends with Song asking whether refusing will make her use “Embrace-and-Slay.”

Character developments and interactions

• Pavilion Master Chu accepts help and lets go of responsibility for the Jadewater Pavilion, while facing the prospect of continuing in a new form.
• Pavilion Master Chu Two appears lively, playful, and very different in manner from the weary original. Despite her warmth toward Song Shuhang, her request carries an unsettling threat.
• Song Shuhang tries to help Chu with the Living Spring, jokes about the possibility of successive “versions” of her, and eagerly accepts the scroll before discovering he cannot read it.
• Senior Turtle carries Song Shuhang away from the collapsing pavilion and comments on the strange transformation of the trees.

Significant themes

• Renewal and continuity: Chu’s expected successor raises questions about whether a new version is truly the same person, especially regarding memory and identity.
• Life and death intertwined: A life-giving spring forms in the Dead Spirit Realm, while the Withered Tree absorbs its life-associated counterpart and produces new life.
• Care mixed with danger: Song Shuhang’s kindness toward Chu leads to a close bond, but Chu Two’s intimate embrace and demand make that bond feel threatening as well as affectionate.

Key plot points and events

• Pavilion Master Chu Two confronts Song Shuhang and demands that he return her “other self,” whose sacrifice she believes is necessary for her to regain her complete strength and protect the Jadewater Pavilion.
• When Song tries to escape by turning into a puddle, Chu Two traps him and the Great Sea Turtle with a spatial circle. She rejects his objections, but lets him go after he blames “Song Blockhead” for interfering with the other Chu’s plan.
• Chu Two announces that rebuilding the Jadewater Pavilion and awakening her companions’ souls will take about a month. She warns that she will return for Song’s answer, then disappears into the fruit on the withered tree.
• Song and the Great Sea Turtle flee. The turtle warns that Chu Two may be dangerous even if she does not intend to kill Song, and admits it felt she was eyeing it as a potential meal.
• The turtle recalls seeing its master, the Northern Great Emperor, among seven Longevity Immortals in a crimson-gold space summoned by Song Blockhead. Song suspects it may be the Emperor’s refuge during the Heavenly Change.
• In the Core World’s Winter Hall, the turtle contacts the Emperor. The Emperor denies ever visiting the Beast Realm and says he has been waiting for Fairy Bie Xue to cook a snake tail. He explains that he beat a snake occupying his old secluded cave, then had its tail prepared as food.
• The chapter ends with Song asking whether the figure in Song Blockhead’s crimson-gold space was an incarnation of the Emperor. The Emperor says it was not, but the matter is difficult to explain.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang uses humor, evasion, and a convenient scapegoat to deflect Chu Two’s demand. Though he remains wary, he believes she does not mean him immediate harm.
• Pavilion Master Chu Two shows her determination to regain her full self and protect the Jadewater Pavilion. Her teasing manner masks a forceful, potentially dangerous nature; she gives Song a month before returning.
• The Great Sea Turtle is openly frightened of Chu Two and protective of Song. It is also confused by seeing its master in the crimson-gold space and seeks answers directly.
• The Northern Great Emperor appears unaware of the Beast Realm encounter and treats his supposed “seclusion” casually, prioritizing a meal prepared by Fairy Bie Xue.

Significant themes

• Identity and wholeness: Chu Two’s plan centers on becoming her “complete self,” raising questions about the relationship between divided selves and sacrifice.
• Power and vulnerability: Song’s cleverness helps him escape immediate danger, but he and the turtle remain at the mercy of beings vastly stronger than them.
• Uncertainty and mistaken appearances: The Emperor’s presence in the crimson-gold space conflicts with his account, leaving the nature of Song Blockhead’s summoned world unresolved.
• Humor amid danger: Banter about tofu, memes, and snake-tail cuisine offsets the chapter’s serious questions about sacrifice, survival, and powerful hidden forces.

Key plot points and events

• The Northern Great Emperor explains that a flaw in the Heavenly Emperor’s Dao forced him to die to escape the Ancient Heavenly Court. After his resurrection, he sensed that some part of himself remained behind there.
• Song Shuhang speculates that the Emperor in Song Blockhead’s crimson-gold world may be a second Northern Great Emperor. The Great Sea Turtle asks which one is original; the Emperor insists he is.
• Song and the Great Sea Turtle briefly argue with the Emperor over his hot-and-sour tofu pudding preference, prompting him to threaten to eat their brains with sugar.
• The Great Sea Turtle recounts how Beast Realm Tribulation Immortals dragged Pavilion Master Chu’s Jadewater Pavilion into the Beast Realm, claiming it was the Primordial Heavenly Court. Song Blockhead captured the Tribulation Immortals, while the Pavilion itself collapsed after Pavilion Master Chu’s Dao produced a new version of her.
• The Northern Great Emperor theorizes that Pavilion Master Chu’s Dao may resemble the Heavenly Emperor’s path, in which a “second self” is central. He cannot explain how such selves arise, but suspects the Ancient Heavenly Court’s Heavenly Emperor may also have had two.
• Song recalls clues that may connect the Emperor to a second identity: Puppet Girl once called him an impostor, and an image of a horned, rune-covered figure appeared in Daoist Li Tiansu’s swordsmanship paintings. Song privately wonders whether the Emperor is “Northern Great Emperor Two,” but decides that the identity does not change how he regards him.
• The Emperor offers to translate Song’s animal-hide scroll, which contains Song Blockhead’s decoding guide. He sends Song a modern-language translation using a spatial artifact.
• The guide begins by instructing Song to tear up and eat a secret manual, drink a bottle of ink, and practice its techniques four times—then reveals that the first three steps were fabricated.

Character developments

• Song Shuhang becomes increasingly curious about the Emperor’s possible divided identity, but ultimately values their relationship over which version is “original.” He also commits to learning Ancient Era Script.
• The Northern Great Emperor shares his uncertainty about his past and offers a theory connecting his condition to Pavilion Master Chu’s Dao, while remaining casual and good-humored.
• The Great Sea Turtle acts as a thoughtful observer, relaying events and teasing out others’ reactions, though the Emperor’s threat briefly frightens him.

Significant themes

• Identity and multiplicity: The chapter explores whether a person can have multiple selves and what makes one the “real” original.
• Incomplete knowledge of the past: Memories, historical clues, and uncertain theories shape the characters’ understanding of the Ancient Heavenly Court.
• Friendship over labels: Song’s loyalty to the Emperor is unaffected by unresolved questions about his identity.
• Comedy and absurdity: The tofu-pudding debate and Song Blockhead’s deliberately ridiculous “decoding” instructions punctuate the serious mysteries.

Character interactions

• Song and the Emperor trade matching “long story, summarize it in two or three sentences” jokes.
• Song, the Emperor, and the Great Sea Turtle banter over tofu-pudding flavors, with the Emperor turning their teasing into a mock threat.
• Song and the Emperor discuss the Beast Realm incident and compare the possible origins of their respective “second selves.”
• The Emperor helps Song by translating the scroll, while the decoded guide’s prankish instructions leave the actual cipher unresolved.

Key events

• Song Shuhang reads Song Blockhead’s decoding scroll and discovers that most of its early steps are deliberately empty or insulting. Northern Great Emperor tells him to skip ahead to Step 44.
• Step 45 explains that decoding the Thirty-Three Beasts Innate Unity Qi Technique requires three things: the Beast God Division’s secret manual, the decoding scroll, and a Companion Book. The Companion Book’s original is held by a hidden human organization in nonhuman worlds.
• The scroll then reveals that Song Blockhead has a sect in the Present World with the complete Beast God Division inheritance, and that the technique Song Shuhang has painstakingly assembled is an outdated version 1.9. Version 2.0 can be obtained through an upgrade package hidden somewhere especially filthy in the Beast God Division.
• Song Shuhang suspects the hiding place may be Daozi’s cesspool palace, but his appraisal found nothing there.
• He tries to work out how to read a duplicate decoding scroll hidden in the human organization’s secret manual. A Master Turtle’s attempt using the required Divine Beasts Annihilating the World Technique failed. Northern Great Emperor suggests the technique’s role in replacing a spirit beast may be the key, then logs off to eat.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang is furious at Song Blockhead’s relentless trolling, but keeps his composure, drawing on his unusually resilient will.
• The Great Sea Turtle sympathizes with him and encourages him to vent; Song Shuhang insists he is fine.
• Northern Great Emperor shares his own exasperation with Song Blockhead and notes that many others have wanted revenge, though few succeeded because the Ancient Heavenly Court was so skilled at fleeing.
• Song Shuhang and the Emperor discuss the failed attempt to read the manual, with the Emperor offering a possible clue before leaving.

Significant themes

• Persistence amid frustration: Song Shuhang endures deliberate obstacles and mockery without giving up.
• The absurdity of the quest: Song Blockhead turns cultivation research into a drawn-out treasure hunt, repeatedly revealing that the results are incomplete or outdated.
• Progress through collaboration and clues: The next step depends on understanding how two techniques work together, rather than simply possessing the manuals.

Chapter 1254 Summary

Key plot points

• Song Shuhang realizes the Beast God Division’s hidden inheritance seems designed to be difficult to access: the clues require knowledge of the Thirty-Three Beasts Innate Unity Qi Technique, while finding those clues appears to require the technique. He suspects Song Blockhead deliberately built this puzzle to guide specific successors—and wonders if it was tailored for him.
• After discussing his earlier dangerous trip through a space gate with the Great Sea Turtle, Song Shuhang returns safely to the Black Horse Branch.
• Many people have been affected by contamination, so Song Shuhang speeds up treatment by seeing groups of patients. In return, he receives merit, Nine Nether Evil Energy, and a large supply of artifact-refinement materials.
• Song Shuhang asks Miss Shan to help test whether the Beast World Annihilation Great-Law can resonate with the Human Alliance’s secret manual. He channels power from a spirit beast crystal into her as she practices.
• When Shan performs the body-tempering method while reciting the secret manual, Song Shuhang senses the resonance he had previously experienced with Phoenix Slayer’s body. The test works, potentially revealing another piece of the hidden inheritance.
• Before they can proceed, Song Shuhang’s consciousness becomes hazy and his body activates the Steel Hand technique. He transforms into a pair of black iron arms, and materials spill from them.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang connects the inheritance clues to his own relationships and abilities, growing more convinced that the hidden legacy may have been intended for him. He remains practical, returning to help the patients and pursuing his artifact-refinement goal.
• The Great Sea Turtle helps Song Shuhang travel back and suggests someone may have tampered with his previous teleportation. He accompanies him through the new gate, which works safely.
• Miss Shan is cheerful and considerate: she gives Song Shuhang candy to comfort him, then willingly assists with his cultivation experiment. Despite being only at the First-Grade Realm, she keeps practicing through the unusual resonance.
• Shan’s concern that her body is becoming hot contrasts with Song Shuhang’s confidence that the process is manageable—until his sudden transformation interrupts the experiment.

Significant themes

• Inheritance and destiny: The elaborate clues may be a deliberate test meant for a particular successor, possibly Song Shuhang.
• Experimentation and cooperation: Progress depends on combining techniques and having others participate, but the results can be unpredictable.
• Comic misfortune: Song Shuhang’s serious cultivation project ends with him becoming a pair of arms, continuing the chapter’s absurd, chaotic tone.
• Preparation and ambition: The materials he earns support his goal of forging the Thirty-Three Beasts Composite Dharma Artifact before reaching the Fifth Grade.

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang’s three clues combine, revealing the complete original Thirty-Three Beasts Innate Unity Qi Technique, including its auxiliary techniques and the forging methods for all thirty-three Natal Dharma Artifacts.
• He focuses on the Reverse Whale Warrior, the Giant Whale Chapter’s pair of gauntlet-shaped artifacts. Since he has the necessary materials, he impulsively tries to begin forging it—but, despite knowing the instructions, he has never forged an artifact and cannot understand the technical steps.
• Song Shuhang’s drunken, half-conscious state leaves him transformed into two massive black-iron arms. As his mind clears, he realizes the attempt is not going well and starts to reconsider.
• Fairy Six Cultivations contacts him through the Nine-Rebirth Phoenix Saber’s contract scroll. She reports that Seven Cultivations’s tribulation is nearing its end; afterward, contract signatories will become candidates to inherit the saber.
• Six Cultivations hints that Song Shuhang may become Eight Cultivations, then asks him to bring back Beast Realm specialties. When he admits he knows none of the items on her long list, she decides to come herself and teleports to his location.

Character developments

• Song Shuhang receives an important cultivation inheritance but remains inexperienced: he has the knowledge to forge a Natal Dharma Artifact, yet lacks the practical skill and vocabulary to do so.
• His unusual, intoxicated condition makes him impulsive and physically unpredictable, though he gradually regains awareness.
• Fairy Six Cultivations emerges as capable but eccentric—she shifts abruptly from discussing a major inheritance to requesting shopping favors, then uses Song Shuhang as a teleportation coordinate.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus experience: Possessing instructions does not guarantee the ability to apply them.
• Inheritance and succession: Seven Cultivations’s approaching tribulation may trigger a contest to inherit the Nine-Rebirth Phoenix Saber.
• Cultivation’s comic absurdity: Grand mystical matters coexist with mundane requests, awkward mishaps, and Song Shuhang’s limited expertise.

Character interactions

• Miss Shan and Great Sea Turtle observe Song Shuhang’s strange transformation and question his plan to forge an artifact in that state.
• Song Shuhang and Fairy Six Cultivations discuss the saber’s future, his possible succession, and Beast Realm goods; their conversation ends with her appearing beside him through a rough spatial teleportation.

Key plot points

• Song Shuhang’s new Eight-Rebirth Candidate status lets Fairy Six Cultivations use the spatial transfer function to reach him—though the journey is painful. Seeing him reduced to a pair of arms, she learns he is practicing Steel Hand and takes photos of him.
• Fairy Six Cultivations recognizes the whale bones and scales Song has gathered as the remains of an Eighth-Grade Profound Sage. Song explains that the Melon-Eating Profound Sage shed his old body and gave it away; the Northern Great Emperor arranged the Whale Sage Banquet made from it. The Great Sea Turtle is appalled until Song points out that the sage had willingly helped prepare the feast.
• Song intends to make a Reverse Whale Warrior, a Natal Dharma Artifact suited to his Thirty-Three Beasts Innate Unity Qi Technique, but admits he does not know how to refine one.
• Fairy Six Cultivations offers to forge its rough form, explaining that she belongs to the Blackweight Sect, a renowned artifact-forging school that originated the Steel Hand technique.
• Her quoted fee—“a hundred for the big hammer, fifty for the small”—turns out to be charged per hammer swing, not for the whole job. With the Great Sea Turtle’s help, Song understands the pricing and agrees that the work is fair.
• Song transfers Fairy Six Cultivations and the turtle to his Core World’s Winter Hall workshop, gives Shan an Eye of Merit so she can contact him, and heads into the workshop with the fairy, who has prepared her hammers.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang remains resourceful and good-humored, but openly admits the limits of his knowledge. He quickly accepts expert help and negotiates the fee once he understands it.
• Fairy Six Cultivations is playful and confident, teasing Song about his Steel Hand form while demonstrating her expertise and offering a practical way to help. Her pricing joke reveals a shrewd business sense.
• The Great Sea Turtle serves as a skeptical voice and protects Song from misunderstanding the fee. Its alarm over the Whale Sage Banquet also highlights its concern about Song’s attitude toward friends.
• Miss Shan silently admires Song’s apparent achievement and receives a means to contact him while he is away.

Significant themes

• Expertise and humility: Having rare materials does not mean knowing how to use them; Song must seek a specialist.
• Trust and friendship: Song’s relationships involve both practical help and candid negotiation, while the turtle questions how he treats friends.
• Humor in cultivation life: The chapter plays on internet threats becoming literal, Song’s unusual “Steel Hand” appearance, and the deceptively simple hammer-pricing slogan.
• Craft and labor: Fairy’s per-swing fee underscores the effort behind artifact forging, turning an apparently outrageous price into a reasonable one.

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang commissions Fairy Six Cultivations to forge the Reverse Whale Warrior gauntlets, choosing to use both a large and a small hammer: the large hammer for the sturdy outer shell, the small one for delicate components.
• Though Fairy Six Cultivations advises against spending an Eighth-Grade Whale Sage Bone on a Fourth-Grade artifact, Song Shuhang insists. He has sixteen such bones and intends the gauntlets to become the core of a future composite Dharma artifact.
• Fairy Six Cultivations begins forging with Blackweight Sect techniques. Each hammer strike produces visible flame-runes marking the growing cost—mostly “＋100,” with the small hammer adding “＋50.” Song Shuhang finds the display painfully discouraging, while Great Sea Turtle suggests thinking of the amounts in higher-grade Spirit Stones. The advice fails.
• As the bone proves difficult to temper, Fairy Six Cultivations switches from Winter Hall’s fire seeds to Nine-Rebirth Phoenix Fire, which she has borrowed to help her overcome the challenge of refining an Eighth-Grade material. The intense heat makes her sweat, but Song Shuhang cannot safely approach to help.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Shuhang shows confidence in investing heavily in his Natal Dharma Artifact, valuing its future importance over conserving rare materials. His humorously acute sensitivity to the displayed costs contrasts with his willingness to spend the precious bone.
• Fairy Six Cultivations demonstrates both technical mastery and practical judgment: she questions the material choice, explains the likely cost and difficulty, then commits to the demanding task with her specialized techniques.
• Great Sea Turtle acts as an amused, experienced observer, offering Song Shuhang perspective on the cost display and praising Fairy Six Cultivations’s skill. He also lightly suggests Song help her with the heat, though she declines.

Significant themes

• Investment in the future: Song Shuhang treats the gauntlets as foundational to a larger artifact, justifying an extravagant choice of material.
• The emotional cost of money: The magical cost counter turns routine forging expenses into a comic spectacle that makes Song Shuhang suffer.
• Skill and sacrifice: The difficult refinement requires Fairy Six Cultivations’s expertise, special techniques, and borrowed Phoenix fire—though her current cultivation level limits what she can accomplish unaided.

Plot points and events

• Song Shuhang remains stuck in a strange form with oversized steel arms while Fairy Six Cultivations continues forging his artifact. She draws on powerful Nine-Rebirth Phoenix Fire, and the repeated pricing runes make him rue the cost.
• Song Shuhang and the Great Sea Turtle sense another cultivator’s advancement. From within Song’s evolving Core World, he allows a projection of the event to appear.
• They discover that Seven Cultivations has successfully transcended his tribulation and become an Eighth-Grade Profound Sage—the seventh sage to appear in a remarkable burst of advancements.
• Seven Cultivations chooses his familiar name for his Sage Title, establishing himself as Sage Seven Cultivations, the Seventh Sage of the Millennium.
• His Profound Sage Lecture offers practical instruction across many fields of cultivation, from alchemy and artifact forging to spirit-beast care and cooking. It ends, and a great tide of Merit Power descends. Seven Cultivations wonders whether he, too, will face the strange Heart Demon Tribulation experienced by recent tribulation survivors.

Character developments

• Song Shuhang remains frustrated by his altered body and the growing forging bill, but he admires Seven Cultivations’ broad expertise and hopes to become a similarly dependable senior one day.
• Fairy Six Cultivations remains cheerful and teasing about the forging charges, while confidently continuing her work.
• Seven Cultivations claims his established identity as his Sage Title and demonstrates his generosity and mastery through a lecture intended to help cultivators improve over time.
• The Great Sea Turtle shares Song’s unease about the heat and helps him make sense of the unusual advancement.

Significant themes

• A rapidly changing cultivation age: Seven Cultivations is the seventh Profound Sage in a short span, hinting at a broader golden age tied to the coming Power Tide and changes in the Heavenly Dao.
• Knowledge as service: Seven Cultivations’ practical lecture teaches cultivators how to improve for themselves rather than promising instant power.
• Identity and legacy: By choosing “Seven Cultivations,” he affirms that his name and accumulated identity endure despite changes in status or possessions.
• Ambition and mentorship: Song’s admiration reveals his desire not only to grow stronger but to become a knowledgeable, helpful senior.

Character interactions

• Song jokes with Fairy Six Cultivations about his inability to wipe her sweat and asks her to disable the pricing feature; she refuses, treating it as part of the Blackweight Sect’s enjoyment of forging.
• Song and the Great Sea Turtle retreat from the intense flames and discuss Song’s apparent size change.
• Song and Fairy Six Cultivations watch Seven Cultivations’ advancement, with her explaining the timing of his tribulation.
• Across the cultivation world, listeners respond eagerly to Seven Cultivations’ lecture and regret its end.

Key events

• Cultivators across the realms have recently been facing unusually difficult Heart Demon Tribulations, even during advancements when such trials were once impossible.
• During Seven Cultivations’ Profound Sage Lecture, the approval of countless listeners sends him an immense amount of Merit Power. It takes the form of a towering golden figure resembling Six Cultivations. The figure shields him from the approaching calamity, and he completes his advance to Eighth Grade.
• Seven Cultivations explains that he must part with the Nine-Rebirth Phoenix Saber. The saber will choose the next Eight-Rebirth Cultivator, taking with it Six and Four Cultivations, who are bound to it. He hopes that, with time, he can free Six Cultivations from that bond.
• He prepares for the separation by opening his own tomb, a Number Cultivations tradition, and formally relinquishing the saber. He suggests Song Shuhang as a promising candidate, then watches the saber depart.
• The saber abruptly returns, signaling danger. A huge, unstable planet wrapped in cold, sinister Holy Light appears. Its gigantic eye fires a beam at Seven Cultivations; the saber’s flames block it, but Seven sees deathly visions of powerful beings—an illuminated giant, bird, and serpent—being slain.

Character developments and interactions

• Great Sea Turtle teases Seven Cultivations that his female Merit figure reveals a hidden romantic nature. Its dress, face, and physique closely resemble Six Cultivations, prompting Song Shuhang to suspect Seven is expressing his feelings through the manifestation. Turtle also jokes that Shuhang has no room to deny being romantic, given his own Merit Light.
• Seven regards Six as both his teacher and friend, and his farewell reveals his deep attachment to her. His Merit figure’s resemblance to her is deliberate: he says it is part of his plan to eventually free her from the saber.
• Seven’s parting from the saber is emotional and respectful, but the saber’s return shows that it senses a threat serious enough to interrupt its departure.

Significant themes

• Merit and protection: Collective approval and accumulated Merit Power can shield a cultivator from an otherwise formidable Heart Demon Tribulation.
• Attachment and sacrifice: Seven’s advancement requires him to surrender a treasured Dao Artifact—and lose the companionship of Six—despite his hope of rescuing her later.
• Tradition and transition: The tomb ritual marks the end of Seven’s former identity and the passing of the Number Cultivations legacy to a successor.
• Unease and looming danger: The sinister planet, the saber’s alarm, and the visions of slain light-based beings introduce a threat capable of challenging even a powerful Dao Artifact.