Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng advised Mo Bai to build his faction by recruiting from the Pill Epoch and cooperating with the Five Tigers Group, while telling Baleful Shadow to help the group by defeating Pill Epoch fighters. At Five Tigers Group headquarters, Meng De explained that he backed Baleful Shadow over Long Aotian because the group needed someone to counter Mo Bai.

• Mo Bai asked Chen Changsheng how to establish his own faction, and Chen Changsheng said he should seek people from the Pill Epoch and cooperate with the Five Tigers Group for resources and territory.
• Chen Changsheng told Mo Bai that he was unsuited to join the Five Tigers Group but could serve as its capable helper.
• Baleful Shadow asked about the Ferocious Beast lineage, and Chen Changsheng said its future was bleak but urged him to defeat Pill Epoch fighters to advance the Five Tigers Group's objectives.
• Chen Changsheng took the bound Bai Ze into the cabin, leaving Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow to consider his advice.
• Long Aotian asked Meng De why he had backed Baleful Shadow and given him the Five Tigers Group's resources, and Meng De said Long Aotian was not currently capable of bearing that responsibility.
• Meng De explained that he had backed Baleful Shadow to counter Mo Bai, who might otherwise swallow up the Five Tigers Group.

Meng De persuaded Long Aotian to endure Baleful Shadow’s current advantage and explained how patience, judgment, and managing the Five Tigers Group could build a path to power. Long Aotian agreed to reconsider, while Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow faced off aboard the flying boat.

• Long Aotian questioned whether Meng De still considered him inferior to Baleful Shadow, and Meng De urged him to accept temporary setbacks without resentment.
• Meng De explained that Sir had taken Baleful Shadow away to test the Five Tigers Group and argued that Long Aotian’s reaction would determine whether he could shoulder responsibility.
• Long Aotian recognized that he would not direct resources toward himself if he held power, and he praised Meng De’s wisdom and composure.
• Meng De described how he was building toward power by setting the Five Tigers Group’s goals and resolving its internal conflicts, while accepting that failure could cost him his position.
• Long Aotian asked for time to change, and Meng De left after agreeing, explaining that he had not used the Five Tigers Group to pressure him because he still admired him.
• Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow entered an intense confrontation aboard the flying boat.

Baleful Shadow and Mo Bai refrained from fighting, while Chen Changsheng revealed that he had secretly marked them as targets for pill researchers in the Pill Epoch. Their journey was interrupted when Baleful Shadow collapsed while cultivating the Soul Secret Method, and Chen Changsheng saved him.

• Baleful Shadow and Mo Bai traded insults but agreed not to fight, then discussed the dangers awaiting them in the Pill Epoch and chose different routes there.
• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that he had spread a rumor in the Pill Epoch that the pair’s blood could prolong life and increase cultivation.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he intended to use their arrival to provoke fights with Pill Epoch geniuses and encourage exchanges between the two epochs.
• Baleful Shadow collapsed and convulsed after cultivating the Soul Secret Method, and Chen Changsheng went to help him.
• Chen Changsheng saved Baleful Shadow and warned him not to recklessly sever his True Spirit again.

Chen Changsheng explained the dangers and uncertain origins of the cultivation materials he gave Baleful Shadow and Mo Bai, then let them continue training while he stood guard. After they entered meditation, he sent a prepared message across the Pill Epoch announcing that someone had passed his first two trials.

• Chen Changsheng told Baleful Shadow that his Soul Secret Method had been tested but could still injure him by cutting his True Spirit.
• Chen Changsheng pulled Mo Bai from a dangerous visualization and explained that the painting depicted the Desolate Heaven Emperor and the Three Thousand Demonic Paths, created to trap and kill enemies.
• Chen Changsheng admitted he did not know whether the painting could trigger a special state, since his own repeated study had revealed no way to do so.
• Chen Changsheng urged Baleful Shadow to cultivate the Soul Secret Method before reaching the Quasi-Emperor Realm, explaining that he hoped to uncover the soul's mysteries; Baleful Shadow agreed to try again carefully.
• Chen Changsheng stood guard as Baleful Shadow and Mo Bai meditated, then sent a message to everyone throughout the Pill Epoch declaring that a brave soul had passed his first two trials.

Chen Changsheng announced that he had hidden gifts honoring legendary figures throughout the Pill Epoch, provoking powerful cultivators to pursue them. At the Five Tigers Group headquarters, Li Changsheng warned that Baleful Shadow and Mo Bai would be in danger because the gifts were priceless to the Pill Epoch’s young cultivators.

• Chen Changsheng publicized hidden gifts, including youth portraits, the Supreme Sage’s ancient texts, and a Demon Emperor escape technique, then prepared an outfit for Baleful Shadow.
• A Li family descendant persuaded the Li Family Ancestor to let him enter the trials for Desolate Heaven Emperor Wu Li’s youth combat skills and the Supreme Sage’s calligraphy.
• Dugu asked Yun Ya Zi and Guan Ping to help him obtain the Sword God Youth Portrait, offering Guan Ping a sword strike in return for killing Lu Mingyu.
• Li Changsheng warned Zhang Ling, Meng De, Feng Ran, and the others that the gifts’ significance would draw the Pill Epoch’s cultivators after Baleful Shadow and Mo Bai.
• Li Changsheng explained that the Supreme Sage’s calligraphy and Sword God relics were so coveted that cultivators might trade quasi-Emperor treasures for them.

Li Changsheng explained that the Pill Epoch's cultivators lived beneath invisible limits that cut off their Paths to Longevity, and that they admired the Chang Sheng Epoch's heroes because their relics offered guidance they had never received. After Meng De offered support, Li Changsheng turned the discussion to Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow, whose prominence could complicate efforts to open trade in medicinal herbs between the two epochs.

• Zhang Ling and Lin Yao asked why relics from the Pill Epoch's predecessors were so sought after, and Li Changsheng described the forces that oppressed cultivators there.
• Li Changsheng explained that the great powers of the Pill Epoch had severed everyone's Path to Longevity, including those of the Five Surnames Seven Realms, and said his own advancement was capped at the Quasi-Emperor Ninth Heaven.
• Li Changsheng recounted how the Chang Sheng Epoch's heroes had fought for cultivators and said Pill Epoch cultivators revered their relics to find guidance for their own paths.
• Meng De told Li Changsheng that he and the others would come to help if needed, and Li Changsheng thanked him.
• Li Changsheng proposed discussing Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow, warning that the attention they attracted could hinder their plan to establish medicinal-herb trade between the two epochs.

Meng De and Li Changsheng decided to hurry to Pill Epoch, where Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow risked losing their rewards and the Five Tigers Group’s standing. Aboard Chen Changsheng’s vessel, Baleful Shadow briefly touched the soul’s power, destroyed a meteorite with one punch, and learned how difficult it would be to reach that state again.

• Meng De warned Li Changsheng that Pill Epoch’s deep foundations could let its powers defeat Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow, and they agreed to set off at once and follow his command.
• As Baleful Shadow cultivated aboard the vessel, he entered a strange space and met a glowing version of himself, who revealed himself as Baleful Shadow’s soul.
• The soul showed Baleful Shadow its power over countless stars, then commanded him to attack, and his punch tore him out of the strange space and split a meteorite in two.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Baleful Shadow’s flesh alone had delivered a blow near the strength of an Immortal King Seventh Grade cultivator, but the power’s recoil had destroyed his right arm and shattered many bones.
• After healing, Baleful Shadow tried to enter the soul state again, but Chen Changsheng told him the elusive state was difficult to trigger and impossible to summarize.

Chen Changsheng reunited with Guan Ping at the Pill Tower, then met Cui Xingye, who sought an explanation for his daughter’s fate and her unresolved relationship with Chen. Cui Xingye confronted Chen about their family’s marriage agreement, but Chen had not yet answered why he had failed to give her daughter an explanation.

• Mo Bai felt uneasy about Baleful Shadow’s progress with the Soul Secret Method as Chen Changsheng led them back to the flying vessel.
• Cui Xingye decided the Cui Family would take part in the Imperial Tutor’s plans, while Cui Hongyuan vowed Chen Changsheng would never enter the family’s gates.
• Cui Xingye arranged a private meeting with Chen Changsheng to seek an explanation about his daughter.
• Guan Ping joyfully greeted Chen Changsheng at the Pill Tower and offered to speak to the Cui Family for him, but he refused and went to meet Cui Xingye.
• Cui Xingye asked Chen Changsheng whether he had agreed to the marriage arrangement and whether the Cui Family had pressured him; Chen answered no to both questions.
• Cui Xingye asked why Chen Changsheng had refused to give his daughter an explanation.

Chen Changsheng promised Cui Xingxue that Ling Shuang would be honored as his principal wife and buried among his old friends. At Ling Shuang’s grave, Immortal Guang Han revealed that Ling Shuang had known Chen Changsheng’s True Spirit stayed with her and left him a message about love crossing time and life and death.

• Cui Xingxue confronted Chen Changsheng over how he had treated Ling Shuang, and Chen Changsheng promised to give her the status of principal wife.
• Chen Changsheng told Cui Xingxue he would bury Ling Shuang among his old friends, and Cui Xingxue agreed to restore her name to the family register.
• Cui Xingxue accepted tea from Chen Changsheng as his father-in-law and hurried away to settle the arrangements.
• Chen Changsheng went to Ling Shuang’s grave, where Immortal Guang Han asked if he had come to take her away.
• Immortal Guang Han explained that Ling Shuang had realized Chen Changsheng’s True Spirit was with her and said she had not regretted loving him.
• Immortal Guang Han passed on Ling Shuang’s final words: love could cross time and life and death.

Chen Changsheng learned why Cui Ling Shuang and Li Fengyi had refused his help to extend their lives, then left her grave after thanking Immortal Guang Han. He met with the Heavenly Dao Society to offer Pill Epoch cultivators a choice, but Dream challenged his motives and asked what he would do if they refused.

• Immortal Guang Han explained that Cui Ling Shuang had refused life-extending aid because she could not accept becoming a mere shadow of Chen Changsheng, and that Li Fengyi had likewise refused his favor.
• Chen Changsheng acknowledged that he had taken the Pill Epoch’s customs for granted and promised that Ling Shuang would receive the recognition she deserved.
• Chen Changsheng offered Immortal Guang Han an Emperor Realm cultivation technique in thanks for tending Ling Shuang’s grave, and agreed to help her obtain the Tower Master’s pill formula.
• Immortal Guang Han accepted the gift, crushed the Jade Slip, and dismissed Chen Changsheng, who left without anger.
• Chen Changsheng’s avatar entered the Heavenly Dao Society’s illusion realm, where Xuan Huo reproached him for neglecting the Pill Epoch and Dream asked why he had summoned them.
• Chen Changsheng asked the Heavenly Dao Society to offer Pill Epoch cultivators a choice and an opportunity, but when Dream asked what he would do if refused, Chen Changsheng said he had never expected them to help.

Chen Changsheng failed to persuade Dream to release the Pill Epoch’s powerful beings and explained the conditions they would need to meet. Back in the real world, he argued that letting them leave could benefit the Pill Epoch, while Dream questioned who would replace them.

• Dream rejected Chen Changsheng’s attempt to negotiate the powerful beings’ release and insisted they repay everything they had gained, including their life’s learning.
• Chen Changsheng told Yun Ya Zi and the others to pass their ultimate arts to disciples and said they would also need to offer one hundred times their own energy, along with a further opportunity he would explain later.
• After Chen Changsheng returned to the real world, Dream confronted him for disturbing the Heavenly Dao Society, then asked whether releasing its members would be right or wrong.
• Chen Changsheng said releasing them would benefit the Pill Epoch by easing the suppression of its development and allowing the powerful beings to gain experience elsewhere.
• Dream argued that the Pill Epoch would lose rare talents if they left, while Chen Changsheng pointed to the lack of new supreme talents and the dangers Lu Mingyu and Guan Ping would have faced without him.

Chen Changsheng negotiated with Dream for a gradual release of Heavenly Dao Society experts, and Dream agreed to let two leave if Lu Mingyu and Chen Feng would replace them. The chapter ended with Lu Mingyu watching a battle in the Chang Sheng Epoch as a Paper Figure Clone emerged from his chest.

• Chen Changsheng warned Dream that the Heavenly Dao Society's rule could provoke rebellion and attract powerful beings seeking Immortal Destiny.
• Chen Changsheng proposed that experts seeking to leave preserve their inheritances, repay twice the energy lost, and wait until cultivators could replace them.
• Dream agreed to let two Pill Epoch experts leave if Lu Mingyu and Chen Feng were willing to remain in their place.
• Chen Changsheng promised to ask Lu Mingyu and Chen Feng whether they would accept the arrangement.
• On a battlefield in the Chang Sheng Epoch, Lu Mingyu watched a man fight two monks as a Paper Figure Clone crawled out from his chest.

Chen Changsheng told Lu Mingyu that Dream had agreed to let Pill Epoch powerhouses leave if they surrendered their inheritances, paid resources worth a hundred times their energy, and found replacements. Lu Mingyu chose to take responsibility for her home, the Pill Epoch, and Chen Changsheng left her to follow her own path.

• Lu Mingyu told Chen Changsheng that Zi Ping was at a disadvantage in the distant spar, and he said the Buddhist Sect needed a show of force.
• Chen Changsheng privately told Lu Mingyu that Dream had agreed to loosen the Pill Epoch’s suppression under strict conditions, including that she enter the game first.
• Chen Changsheng made clear that Lu Mingyu could refuse and avoid involvement, but she chose to help because the Pill Epoch was her home.
• Chen Changsheng praised Lu Mingyu for choosing her own responsibilities, then let his paper figure vanish.
• Aboard the flying ship, Chen Changsheng told Baleful Shadow that a child from his memories had grown up and invited her to tea.

Chen Changsheng explained to Baleful Shadow how filial devotion and other principles can complicate a person’s choices, using the Heavenly Lotus Sacred Method as an example. He left Baleful Shadow stunned by his claim that people use sages’ wisdom to justify their actions and soothe their emotions.

• Chen Changsheng asked Baleful Shadow to consider whether he could disregard the wishes of a beloved elder while making decisions as a regional overlord.
• Chen Changsheng used his recommendation that Baleful Shadow learn the Heavenly Lotus Sacred Method to show how conflicting feelings could make him hesitate.
• Chen Changsheng told Baleful Shadow that other people’s choices could stir jealousy and resentment, while inherited wisdom could help people soothe their emotions.
• Chen Changsheng cited sayings about keeping accounts between brothers and having no fathers and sons at the card table, connecting them to the Virtual World’s division of the world.
• Chen Changsheng invoked the conflict between loyalty and filial piety, leaving Baleful Shadow speechless and lost in thought.

Chen Changsheng gifted Baleful Shadow a full set of powerful gear and a Phoenix Winged Golden Rake before hurling him and Mo Bai from the flying vessel with their cultivation suppressed. Meanwhile, Li Changsheng reached the Pill Epoch with Meng De and Feng Ran, then discovered news that made him furiously curse Baleful Shadow and the others.

• Chen Changsheng equipped Baleful Shadow with the Sky Patrol Flowing Cloud Shoulder Armor, Ink Jade Coiled Dragon Armor, Nine Luminaries Star Binding Belt, and Tread Void Chase Moon Boots.
• Chen Changsheng forged a Phoenix Winged Golden Rake from a meteorite, and Baleful Shadow caught it and cooled it with his Killing Intent.
• Chen Changsheng suppressed Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow's cultivation and threw them from the flying vessel, sending them off course while he headed for the God of Wealth Hall with Bai Ze.
• Li Changsheng, Meng De, and Feng Ran arrived at the Longxi Li family's Teleportation Array after a difficult journey.
• Li Changsheng checked his communication device for news of Baleful Shadow and the others, then darkened with anger.

Li Changsheng learned that Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow were being hunted across the Pill Epoch and failed to persuade the Longxi Li Clan to intervene. Meanwhile, Chen Changsheng ordered a shutdown of the Qilin Communicators, and the chapter left Li Changsheng discovering that the God of Wealth had issued the hunt order.

• Li Changsheng told Meng De and the others that Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow had damaged four Li Family halls and were fleeing, while Pill Epoch prodigies hunted them for their rewards.
• Meng De divided the group: Lin Yao and Feng Ran went after Mo Bai, Ao Tian and Zhang Ling went after Baleful Shadow, and Meng De joined Li Changsheng to investigate.
• At the God of Wealth Hall, Chen Changsheng planned to shut down the Pill Epoch's Qilin Communicators in twelve hours, and Qian Ya warned that aristocratic clans and sects controlled much of their authority.
• Li Changsheng asked the Longxi Li Clan Leader to stop the hunt, but his uncle said the Ancestral Tomb had demanded that Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow either defeat the younger generation or publicly admit defeat.
• The Longxi Li Clan Leader told Li Changsheng that the God of Wealth had issued the hunt order and that the Ancestral Tomb's message had arrived at the same time.

Li Changsheng learned that the Li Family had supported the Imperial Tutor since before his arrival in the Pill Epoch and that Mo Bai’s capture on Li Family territory had been deliberately arranged. After Li Changsheng and Meng De were summoned to the Ancestral Tomb, the story shifted to Mo Bai emerging from rubble in Lotus World and facing a young man who questioned why he had attacked a teleportation establishment.

• The Li Family Clan Leader told Li Changsheng and Meng De to visit the Ancestral Tomb and revealed that the Li Family had long-standing ties to the Imperial Tutor Lineage.
• The Clan Leader explained that the Imperial Tutor had arranged for Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow to land on Li Family territory, then gave Li Changsheng a jade pendant to contact his powerful cousin.
• Li Changsheng and Meng De discussed the Clan Leader’s motives and learned that Li Changsheng’s father had withdrawn from the Clan Leader competition after seeing his cousin’s talent.
• Li Changsheng and Meng De set out for the Ancestral Tomb to hear what its elders wanted to tell them.
• In Lotus World, Mo Bai emerged from the rubble and told a young man that the teleportation establishment’s attackers wanted his belongings, not his Divine Source.

Mo Bai faced Li Changming of the Longxi Li Clan, who challenged him for the first trial’s reward and tested whether he deserved to contend for the Virtual World opportunity. Meanwhile, Li Changsheng and Meng De answered the Li Family ancestor’s questions about Li Changsheng joining the Five Tigers Group.

• Mo Bai learned that Li Changming wanted both the Imperial Tutor’s hidden gift and the reward from the first trial, and accepted his challenge.
• Mo Bai and Li Changming exchanged blows, and Mo Bai identified Li Changming as a member of the Longxi Li Clan and cousin of Li Changsheng.
• Li Changming proposed that Mo Bai reach the Teleportation Array within the time it took to drink a cup of tea; Mo Bai charged at him with the Kirin Clan’s Innate Divine Ability.
• At the Li Family Ancestral Tomb, the ancestor questioned Li Changsheng about joining the Five Tigers Group, and Li Changsheng said it had been his personal decision, not a Li Family investment.

Li Changsheng defended his membership in the Five Tigers Group before the Li Family Ancestors and proposed cooperation as a way to gain Virtual World shares and develop talent. The Ancestors considered his plan and questioned how the family could trust clansmen who advanced through the group.

• A Li Family Ancestor challenged Li Changsheng’s membership in the Five Tigers Group, while another argued that joining outside forces was acceptable if his heart remained with the family.
• Li Changsheng proposed that the Li Family work with the Five Tigers Group, but an Ancestor struck him down for the suggestion.
• Li Changsheng argued that the Five Tigers Group could pursue unfixed Virtual World shares without triggering political consequences for the Li Family.
• Li Changsheng proposed using the Five Tigers Group as a training ground to ease tensions between legitimate and illegitimate lines and among aristocratic clans.
• An Ancestor asked how the family would ensure the loyalty of clansmen who rose within the Five Tigers Group, and Li Changsheng said their goodwill toward the family was enough.

Li Changsheng persuaded the Li Family ancestors to let him reform the family without their support, while Meng De secured the Five Tigers Group’s backing and promised to protect Baleful Shadow. As they began planning their next move, Liu Yidao and Long Ji entered the Pill Epoch, uncertain whether they could profit there.

• Li Changsheng argued that unfair treatment of collateral branches threatened the Li Family and urged the ancestors to adopt the Chang Sheng Epoch’s talent-nurturing model.
• The Li Family ancestors allowed Li Changsheng to proceed with his plan but refused to support it, and he accepted full responsibility if it failed.
• Meng De convinced the Li Family ancestor that the Five Tigers Group would accept Li Changsheng’s proposal and promised to look after the Li Family.
• Li Changsheng and Meng De agreed to protect Baleful Shadow and began considering how to act in the Pill Epoch.
• Long Ji questioned whether Liu Yidao could secure them a share of the opportunities in the Pill Epoch, and Liu Yidao told him to trust his plan.