Chapter Summaries

Wang Hao and Liu Yidao joined Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling on their journey to the Buddhist Kingdom, where Liu Yidao advised Li Changsheng to build a vast network of transmission passages. He offered his hired-killer service to deal with anyone who obstructed the plan.

• Lin Yao thanked Xuanjing and promised to remain in the Buddha Pagoda and defend the Buddhist Sect as long as Lin Yao stood firm.
• Wang Hao arrived in a Small World to help Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling, explaining that their request had brought the Virtual World's Rescue Team to their aid.
• Wang Hao introduced Liu Yidao as his eldest disciple and left to scout the way to the Buddhist Kingdom.
• Li Changsheng appeased Liu Yidao with three Golden Cores and ten-thousand-year wine, then asked for guidance on what to pursue next.
• Liu Yidao advised Li Changsheng to build more transmission passages across the Chang Sheng Epoch and Pill Epoch to prepare for the Virtual World's resources.
• Liu Yidao offered to have his group remove anyone who obstructed the project, explaining that they were cheaper than the Rescue Team and willing to kill.

Li Changsheng realized that the Imperial Tutor had spent a hundred thousand years preparing a path for young prodigies by supporting the Children of the Forbidden Ground, who needed them as a shield. Mo Bai set off to challenge the Buddhist Kingdom, and Li Changsheng called Sword Come to help him force his way in.

• Liu Yidao explained that his Forbidden Ground origins barred him from open authority, though he could still wield power from the shadows.
• Li Changsheng concluded that the Imperial Tutor had chosen the Children of the Forbidden Ground to support ambitious young prodigies and help them gain power.
• Liu Yidao toasted the group, and Mo Bai decided to head to the Buddhist Kingdom to seek battle while Wang Hao was still scouting.
• Mo Bai departed, and Li Changsheng asked Sword Come to help him force his way into the Buddhist Kingdom.

Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling joined Mo Bai in storming the Buddhist Kingdom while Wang Hao blocked its Grand Hall and kept the Four Great Buddhas from intervening. Watching the young fighters, Liu Yidao chose to support their era from the sidelines, but promised Chen Changsheng one slash if needed.

• Li Changsheng asked Sword Come to join the fight, then invited Zhang Ling, who agreed to go with him.
• Wang Hao confronted the Four Great Buddhas in the Grand Hall and said he had come to block the Buddhist Kingdom's gates in revenge for an old slight.
• Wang Hao killed Buddhist experts who tried to leave the hall, while Bai Zhi and the other Buddhas sat down to chant sutras.
• Li Changsheng, Zhang Ling, and Mo Bai battled the Buddhist Sect experts outside, with Mo Bai defeating opponents using Martial Arts alone.
• Chen Changsheng spoke with the drunken Liu Yidao, who said he would not take the young fighters' spotlight and would give them his all.
• Liu Yidao promised he would draw his saber for one slash if necessary, and Chen Changsheng told him to keep it in reserve.

Chen Changsheng explained why he had spared Liu Yidao and urged him to keep faith in doing what he believed was right. Liu Yidao accepted a Spiritual Fruit and asked what his saber strike could accomplish, and Chen Changsheng told him it would be handsome enough to inspire later generations.

• Chen Changsheng told Liu Yidao he had spared him because he believed Liu Yidao could still be saved, not because he foresaw his future usefulness.
• Chen Changsheng urged Liu Yidao not to mock his own efforts to do good and said he would never laugh at him for trying.
• Chen Changsheng praised Ye Yu and said he would have scolded him if they could meet again, while Liu Yidao listened and ate a Spiritual Fruit.
• Liu Yidao asked whether his saber strike could cut through everything or defeat every expert, and Chen Changsheng said it could not.
• Chen Changsheng called Liu Yidao's saber strike handsome because it could make heroes lower their heads and inspire later generations, then confirmed that his First Master had once had the chance to make such a strike.

Chen Changsheng explained why Zhang Zhen had borne Heaven's Mandate despite not becoming the second Sword God, and encouraged Liu Yidao to let the younger generation choose its own paths. Outside the Buddhist Kingdom, Li Changsheng confronted Zen Master Mingxing, whose unusual cultivation Liu Yidao identified.

• Liu Yidao asked Chen Changsheng why Zhang Zhen had abandoned the Sword God's path, and Chen Changsheng said he had not wanted to force him into a life his heart rejected.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he had made Zhang Zhen the Heaven's Mandate Bearer despite formidable rivals because he had hoped to raise him as a second Sword God, which left Zhang Zhen feeling guilty.
• Chen Changsheng said he now hoped Zhang Zhen would live free of guilt and described the younger generation as having more choices and greater potential.
• Chen Changsheng gave Liu Yidao a wine gourd that produced wine when infused with blade or sword intent, and Liu Yidao drank from it.
• Outside the Buddhist Kingdom, Li Changsheng defeated a monk with the Undying Seal Art and met a gray-robed monk who asked him to leave.
• Liu Yidao told Li Changsheng that the gray-robed monk was Zen Master Mingxing, a Zen cultivator who had practiced Meditative Blindness since birth.

Li Changsheng reached the Buddhist Kingdom to seek justice for Lin Yao and faced Zen Master Mingxing, whose Meditative Blindness could test and improve Li’s cultivation. As Li prepared to accept the test, Chen Changsheng explained the Buddhist Sect’s strategy and wagered with Liu Yidao over whether he could leave the kingdom uninjured.

• Liu Yidao told Li Changsheng that Zen Master Mingxing had been blind since birth and had cultivated Meditative Blindness for thousands of years.
• Zen Master Mingxing agreed to let Li Changsheng pass, then blocked him and offered to cleanse the flaws in Li’s cultivation with Meditative Blindness.
• Chen Changsheng told Li to trust Mingxing and warned that the monk could defeat Li in a life-or-death battle, so Li prepared to face the test.
• Chen Changsheng explained to Liu Yidao that the Buddhist Sect was using the confrontation to preserve its dignity and settle its internal conflict while arranging for Jun Lin to remove the Buddhist Verse.
• Chen Changsheng said Liu Yidao would face a real fight in the Buddhist Kingdom, and the two wagered that Liu would make one move: an uninjured return would earn him a promise, while an injury would give Chen a chance to act.

The Imperial Tutor arranged for Liu Yidao to test Yin Jun Lin if Liu lost their wager, while planning to challenge whoever emerged victorious. In the wilderness, Zen Master Mingxing trapped Li Changsheng in his Meditative Blindness, and Liu Yidao saved him by killing the monk, leaving Li Changsheng troubled by the death.

• The Imperial Tutor told Liu Yidao that he wanted him to test Yin Jun Lin's strength if Liu lost, then planned to challenge the winner himself.
• Zen Master Mingxing recognized the hidden Sword Intent within Li Changsheng and urged him to rely on his inherited family art instead.
• Zen Master Mingxing used Meditative Blindness to freeze Li Changsheng in seven-colored Buddha Light, warning that he would die if he could not break free in half a cup of tea.
• Liu Yidao cut through the Buddha Light and freed Li Changsheng, splitting the glazed Buddhist land with his blade.
• Liu Yidao told Li Changsheng that Zen Master Mingxing was dead, and Li Changsheng questioned why he had killed a monk who had not meant to kill him.

Liu Yidao explained how the Buddhist Sect had used Zen Master Mingxing’s Meditative Blindness to test Li Changsheng and secure his gratitude or avoid blame. He then revealed how brutal the old Cultivation World had been, leaving Li Changsheng questioning whether its recorded conflicts had truly been over trivial matters.

• Liu Yidao told Li Changsheng that Mingxing had expected to die when he used Meditative Blindness, and that the Buddhist Sect had arranged the test to make Li Changsheng owe it a favor or shield it from his family’s anger.
• Liu Yidao contrasted the Peace Era with the old Cultivation World, where only overwhelming strength or the ability to survive every threat offered safety.
• Liu Yidao revealed that Forbidden Ground prodigies had hunted righteous prodigies to support their cultivation, and that many supposed periods of secluded cultivation had actually involved killing and seizing opportunities.
• Liu Yidao explained that assassins in the old Cultivation World targeted prodigies and their relatives, allies, and sects to steal their treasures and opportunities.
• Liu Yidao described how the Buddhist Sect could have killed Li Changsheng by sabotaging its Teleportation Array, then recounted how the Imperial Tutor had once blasted enemy reinforcements out of Space Channels.
• Li Changsheng asked whether the great-power conflicts recorded in history had really been over trivial matters.

Liu Yidao explained that the Forbidden Ground’s wars had been driven by stolen treasures before helping Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling leave a dangerous battlefield. In the Skycloud Great World, Qiongqi defended Baleful Shadow’s victory and argued with Li Yibai over the Virtual World’s opportunities, ending the exchange by dismissing her rank.

• Liu Yidao told Li Changsheng that the Forbidden Ground had become a target because its people stole treasures from powerful forces, then took him to Wang Hao and Zhang Ling when Silent Meditation appeared.
• Liu Yidao revealed that Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling had received the Buddhist Eyes and Buddhist Resonance abilities, while Wang Hao said he had captured Li Changsheng’s spirit pet and flew deeper into the Buddhist Kingdom.
• Liu Yidao told Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling to wait rather than enter the danger ahead, and warned Zhang Ling that pursuing the Imperial Tutor’s relics could be a dead end.
• In the Skycloud Great World, Li Yibai challenged Qiongqi over Baleful Shadow’s chance to claim the Virtual World’s opportunity and the possibility of forces crossing epochs to seize more slots.
• Qiongqi argued that the Virtual World would shape the future world and dismissed Li Yibai as unqualified to discuss the matter.

Chen Changsheng intervened in Mo Bai’s assault on the Buddhist Pagoda, then halted the battle in the Grand Hall and asserted his authority over the Buddhist Sect. He hurried to address the capture of Li Yibai by the four ancient fiends and other ferocious beasts, leaving Li Changsheng shocked to learn that his Dao Protector had been taken.

• Mo Bai defeated Xuanjing with a shot from the Carved Bow after Chen Changsheng guided his aim, then Chen Changsheng entered the Buddha Pagoda and threw Lin Yao out.
• Chen Changsheng ended the fight in the Grand Hall and ordered Wang Hao, Yidao, and Buddhist Sect experts to respond to an urgent incident.
• The Buddhist Sage agreed to go, and Wang Hao lost half his body as the Sage passed him before the Grand Hall was partly carried away.
• Liu Yidao told Mo Bai that the four ancient fiends and other ferocious beasts had captured Li Family members, including Li Yibai, prompting Li Changsheng to react in shock.

Li Changsheng learned that the Four Ferocious Beasts had captured Li Yibai after a dispute over Zhang Ling's Virtual World, and Chen Changsheng entered their prison space to negotiate. The Ferocious Beasts demanded an epoch or the Divine Beast lineage's submission, and Chen Changsheng erupted in anger.

• Liu Yidao told Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling that the Four Ferocious Beasts had seized Zhang Ling's ownerless Virtual World and captured Li Yibai after she clashed with Qiongqi's Clan Leader.
• The Ancestral Dragon and Primordial Qilin discussed whether to rescue the captives, then decided to wait for Chen Changsheng.
• Chen Changsheng arrived at the Ferocious Beast territory and persuaded Qiongqi to let him enter the prison space to negotiate.
• Chen Changsheng acknowledged his past promises to the Ferocious Beasts and apologized for the Four Ferocious Beasts who had died fighting Heaven.
• Hundun demanded an epoch, while Qiongqi proposed that the Divine Beast lineage revere the Ferocious Beasts as their superiors.
• Chen Changsheng rejected the demands and angrily cursed the Ferocious Beast Clan Leaders.

Chen Changsheng rescued Li Yibai from the Ferocious Beast lineage and refused their demands for a share of the Virtual World, threatening war if they harmed her or endangered its progress. The beasts returned Li Yibai and agreed to negotiate again in three days, while Chen Changsheng began preparing allies for a possible war.

• Chen Changsheng resisted the ancient ferocious beasts' pressure and refused to grant them territory or extra shares in the Virtual World.
• Chen Changsheng demanded that the beasts return Li Yibai and warned that he would go to war if they refused; the beasts agreed to release her and resume negotiations in three days.
• Chen Changsheng left the special space with the unconscious Li Yibai, and Cui Hao Yu caught her and agreed to send her back.
• Chen Changsheng told Cui Hao Yu to prepare the Pill Epoch and asked him to secure the Li Family's cooperation.
• Wang Hao praised Chen Changsheng, then agreed to mobilize the Asura Tribe and the Six Great Forbidden Grounds after Chen Changsheng offered the price of an epoch.

Chen Changsheng used the Ferocious Beast lineage’s conflict with the Divine Beasts to renegotiate their shares and planned to recruit them by giving them territory. He proposed creating a new epoch within Hundun using the Virtual World’s resources, though Bai Ze doubted the plan.

• Chen Changsheng blamed the Divine Beast lineage for failing to keep the Virtual World stable, threatened to reduce its share, and hired the Forbidden Ground for protection.
• True Dragon, Ancestor Phoenix, and Primordial Qilin became angry at Chen Changsheng’s intervention and entered the special space to confront the Ferocious Beasts.
• Back at the Meteorite Cluster, Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that the Ferocious Beasts and Divine Beasts were fighting and that he intended to help the Ferocious Beasts rather than suppress them.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he wanted to recruit the Ferocious Beast lineage by giving them territory, while Bai Ze warned that they would be difficult to control.
• Chen Changsheng proposed using the Virtual World’s resources to create an epoch within Hundun, and Bai Ze questioned whether it could work.

Chen Changsheng set strict rules for the dangerous mission tied to the Virtual World, then visited the graves of old allies and family to reflect on the past and the pressure he carried. He suspected the Ferocious Beast lineage’s unrest was meant to create an opening for the Forbidden Grounds to return, and wondered whether someone had manipulated the battle a hundred thousand years earlier.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze to proceed with the planned fight over the second Imperial Tutor relic and imposed strict participation and replacement rules for the Virtual World mission.
• Chen Changsheng went to a hidden cemetery, drank with the dead, and confided in Supreme Sage, Gongsun Huaiyu, Xu Hu, Chen Xiang, and Yin Qi about the burdens he faced.
• Chen Changsheng remembered the costly battle against Heaven and the deaths of his allies, including Xu Hu, while the Divine Beast lineage and Dream of the Pill Epoch had refused to fight to the death.
• Chen Changsheng admitted he had lied about hiring the Forbidden Grounds for protection and suspected their agents had stirred up the Ferocious Beast lineage to secure a chance to return.
• Chen Changsheng asked whether someone had manipulated the battle a hundred thousand years earlier and why Heaven had focused on the Four Fiends, but the gravestones gave no answer.

Chen Changsheng wondered whether Heaven had deliberately targeted the Four Fiends of the Current Era in the battle a hundred thousand years ago, shifting its course and causing devastating losses. Unable to find evidence or an answer from the system, he reaffirmed that he had chosen the burden of changing the era and would carry it through his belief.

• Chen Changsheng reviewed the battle against Heaven and questioned why Heaven had focused on killing the Four Fiends, whose deaths had changed the battle’s course and damaged his alliance with the Ferocious Beast lineage.
• Chen Changsheng considered whether someone had manipulated the battle but found no evidence that anyone had colluded with Heaven.
• Chen Changsheng asked the system whether the battle’s outcome had been a coincidence, and the system said it could not deduce the answer.
• Chen Changsheng admitted the pressure of shaping the future weighed on him, then accepted that he had chosen this difficult path himself.
• Chen Changsheng concluded that his belief in opening a path ahead gave meaning to his long life and was worth bearing even in the face of death.

Chen Changsheng negotiated with the Ferocious Beast and Divine Beast lineages over their demands for the Virtual World, arguing that its future depended on expanding beyond the Chang Sheng Epoch and the Pill Epoch. He proposed linking worlds so resources could flow between them and give everyone a way to survive.

• Chen Changsheng left the cemetery, promising the dead that he would keep pursuing the Virtual World and return if he could not go on.
• Three days later, the True Dragon demanded the original terms, while the ancient Qiongqi demanded that the Ferocious Beast lineage's share increase by thirty percent.
• Chen Changsheng accused both lineages of joining forces to pressure him and argued that their reliance on force and rigid thinking held the Cultivation World back.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the Two Great Epochs had limited room for growth and that the lineages would need to expand outward for greater resources.
• Chen Changsheng described how the growing number of cultivators had driven up resource values and warned that suppressing the Common People could eventually lead to rebellion.
• Chen Changsheng proposed that the Virtual World link every known world and circulate resources so both the powerful and the Common People could survive.

Chen Changsheng demanded that the Ferocious Beast lineage lose its share of the Virtual World, and the True Dragon revealed that the other major powers had already agreed. When the ancient Qiongqi threatened war, Chen Changsheng calculated the likely cost of exterminating the ferocious beasts and the Primordial Qilin asked whether Qiongqi still wanted to fight.

• Chen Changsheng insisted that the Ferocious Beast lineage be stripped of its Virtual World share and warned that he would abandon the plan if they kept it.
• The ancient Taowu threatened to capture Chen Changsheng and force him to work, but Chen Changsheng laughed and said they could not make him cooperate.
• The True Dragon said the Chang Sheng Epoch, the Pill Epoch, the Three Religions Sages, and the Forbidden Grounds had agreed to remove the Ferocious Beast lineage's share.
• The ancient Qiongqi threatened war, while the Primordial Qilin warned that the conflict could lead to the ferocious beasts' extinction.
• Chen Changsheng estimated the casualties, duration, and financial gains of an all-out war, and the Primordial Qilin asked Qiongqi whether he still wanted to fight.

Chen Changsheng explained how his ideals and the interests of most powerful factions let him move between the Two Great Epochs while he crushed the Ferocious Beast lineage. He blamed the beasts’ defeat on misreading the new rules and being too greedy, leaving them silent as he judged their failed attempt to threaten him.

• Chen Changsheng told the Ferocious Beast lineage that the new era’s rule was to destroy an opponent so thoroughly that it could never recover.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he could prevent powerful races from surviving through hidden bloodlines and contingencies, and said his ideals aligned with the interests of most factions.
• Chen Changsheng described how he could satisfy the Pill Epoch’s desire for stability and resources, support the Chang Sheng Epoch’s search for Immortal Destiny, and pursue his conflict with the Forbidden Grounds.
• Chen Changsheng recounted his past victories against the Forbidden Grounds and explained that they had profited by funding him and taking a share of the Ferocious Beast lineage’s power.
• Chen Changsheng admitted the beasts had chosen a crucial moment to threaten him during the Virtual World’s development but said they had erred by greedily taking his share.

Chen Changsheng negotiated with the True Dragon after the Ferocious Beasts withdrew, securing a share for himself and an agreement to leave ordinary beings a path to survive. He then prepared to encourage the young people before their likely final meeting.

• Chen Changsheng explained to the ancient Qiongqi that the Divine Beast lineage and Forbidden Ground had abandoned the Ferocious Beasts, and Qiongqi accepted their defeat while asking that the younger generation remain uninvolved.
• The ancient Qiongqi and the ferocious beasts departed, and the True Dragon appeared beside Chen Changsheng.
• Chen Changsheng told the True Dragon that he sought a path to survival for all living things, and the True Dragon agreed to leave them one.
• Chen Changsheng negotiated for one-third of the Ferocious Beast lineage's share as his private stash, and the True Dragon agreed.
• Chen Changsheng declined the True Dragon's invitation to drink and said he needed to encourage the young people before what might be their last meeting.

Liu Yidao explained that the second Virtual World checkpoint would be far deadlier than the Cosmic Black Hole because it was guarded by the Yin Emperor and filled with people determined to kill Li Changsheng and his companions. The chapter left Li Changsheng facing an imminent trial with slim odds of survival.

• Liu Yidao stayed in the Great Shang Dynasty, explaining that he was avoiding dangerous, enraged people after recent events caused Mister serious trouble.
• Li Changsheng declined to attend the Sage Emperor’s lecture on the Physical Body and said he would focus on the Li Family’s Undying Seal Art.
• Li Changsheng asked Liu Yidao to clarify his earlier hints, and Liu Yidao agreed in exchange for conveniences when he visited the Pill Epoch.
• Liu Yidao explained that the Virtual World had five relics and warned that its second checkpoint was designed to kill the travelers.
• Liu Yidao revealed that Mister had assigned the Yin Emperor to guard the second checkpoint, where a group of determined enemies would attack without regard for the travelers’ identities or backgrounds.