Chapter Summaries

Zhang Ling agreed to help Jin Tu take revenge on the Zheng Family, even abandoning his mission if necessary. Meanwhile, Wang Lan explained her plan to recruit cultivators from the Wang Family and assigned Lin Yao and a companion to hold off their pursuers.

• Jin Tu told Zhang Ling that he wanted to kill every member of the Zheng Family to avenge his past.
• Zhang Ling offered to help Jin Tu torture the Zheng Family using the Daoist Sect’s methods, and Jin Tu accepted.
• Zhang Ling said he would abandon his Epoch Passage mission to help Jin Tu, then flew toward the Zheng Family with Jin Tu following.
• Wang Lan told Lin Yao that she had arranged to meet a Wang Family insider who could help them recruit cultivators.
• Wang Lan explained that Lin Yao and his companion would need to hold off the Wang Family’s pursuers during the group’s departure.

Wang Lan left Lin Yao and Feng Ran to prepare for their mission, while the two discussed the secret plan Meng De had devised to restore the team’s morale. In the void, Cui Yunzheng and Baleful Shadow revealed their desire to test each other’s abilities and agreed to settle who was stronger.

• Wang Lan explained why he had chosen Lin Yao and his companion, then left to take care of something before the Teleportation Array opened.
• Feng Ran told Lin Yao that he had planted a seed on Wang Lan to monitor him, following Meng De’s orders.
• Feng Ran explained that he and Meng De had pretended to be despondent to force Master to act and save the team’s morale.
• Feng Ran warned Lin Yao to kill Wang Lan if he showed any signs of trouble during the mission.
• Cui Yunzheng and Baleful Shadow discussed each other’s powers and agreed to find out who was stronger.

Cui Yunzheng negotiated with Baleful Shadow over borrowing the Cui Family's Great Dao Law Ranking, hoping to perfect his Eighteen Transformations of Wuji and secure a Virtual World qualification. Meanwhile, Zhou Jingting and Mo Bai discussed their failed ambush and the danger of Lao Chu and Mu Yunzhong joining the great clans.

• Cui Yunzheng offered Baleful Shadow use of the Cui Family's Great Dao Law Ranking in exchange for a wager involving the Soul Secret Method and the Eighteen Transformations of Wuji.
• Baleful Shadow refused to wager his Virtual World slot, explaining that its holders could return it to Mister to keep it from being seized.
• Cui Yunzheng explained that his Eighteen Transformations of Wuji could not last long and that the Virtual World might help him obtain the Bitter Sea System's Original True Understanding.
• Cui Yunzheng and Baleful Shadow decided to go to the Cui Family, where Cui Yunzheng planned to recruit members of his branch, though they might have to fight their way out.
• Zhou Jingting, injured after fighting Lu Guan, urged Mo Bai to find Lao Chu and Mu Yunzhong before the Heavenly Lotus Sect pursued them.
• Mo Bai warned Zhou Jingting that Lao Chu and Mu Yunzhong had likely already joined the great clans.

Mo Bai told Zhou Jingting that the conflict in the Pill Epoch could only be settled through war, revealing that he and Baleful Shadow had brought war artifacts to arm their allies. Zhou Jingting struggled to accept the coming conflict, then agreed to return with Mo Bai to the Heavenly Lotus Sect, where he would explain the Heavenly Lotus Sacred Method.

• Mo Bai explained that the Chang Sheng Epoch’s group would wage war against whoever Lao Chu joined and against anyone in the Heavenly Lotus Sect who opposed them.
• Mo Bai showed Zhou Jingting a Storage Ring filled with war artifacts and said he and Baleful Shadow had brought supplies to arm allies for a strike on the Pill Epoch.
• Mo Bai suspected Meng De could obtain war artifacts through Jiang Shan, who ruled an Epoch that Sir had turned into a stronghold.
• Mo Bai said Li Changsheng, Cui Yunzheng, and Wang Lan stood with Meng De, and that the Epoch Passage, Zheng Xuan’s death, and the Zheng Family’s losses made war unavoidable.
• Zhou Jingting asked whether the conflict could still be negotiated, but Mo Bai said there was no room for negotiation.
• Zhou Jingting agreed to return to the Heavenly Lotus Sect with Mo Bai, who offered to tell her the secrets of the Heavenly Lotus Sacred Method.

Li Changsheng refused to spare his younger brother Li Shou’s branch from the coming purge of the great clans, though he agreed to let three people abandon the Li surname and survive elsewhere. In the wilderness, Li Ziming warned Long Aotian that Li family experts were coming to capture him, then began teaching him gentle movements to balance his rigid cultivation.

• Li Shou asked Li Changsheng to spare his descendants, but Li Changsheng insisted they must give up the Li surname or survive by their own abilities.
• Li Shou agreed that only three selected people would retain a path to survival, with no ties to the Longxi Li Clan, and Li Changsheng promised to arrange their relocation after the Epoch Passage was completed.
• After Li Shou left, Li Changsheng spat blood as he watched his brother’s lonely departure.
• Li Ziming told Long Aotian that he had sent experts to capture him, but said the warning and the capture did not conflict.
• Li Ziming guided Long Aotian through gentle loosening movements and suggested that balancing hardness and softness could help him overcome his stalled cultivation.

Li Ziming offered Long Aotian guidance but refused to commit the Longxi Li Clan to either side of the coming conflict. At the Cui Family meeting, Cui Yunzheng learned that his branch had been wiped out and vowed to destroy the Cui Family faction responsible.

• Li Ziming taught Long Aotian an ordinary set of movements to help him balance his strength, then warned that opponents would come to capture him in two hours.
• Li Ziming told an old man that he admired the young fighters but would wait to see which side was winning before committing the Longxi Li Clan.
• Cui Family experts surrounded Baleful Shadow and Cui Yunzheng, and Cui Zhe demanded that only one of them leave alive.
• Cui Yunzheng asked Cui Zhe about his relatives and learned that no direct blood relatives besides himself remained alive and that the Clan Leader had been removed from office.
• Cui Yunzheng vowed to wipe out Cui Zhe and the others, even if it cost him everything.

Cui Zhe ordered thirty-six Immortal King Ninth Grade cultivators to kill Cui Yunzheng, who charged into the hopeless battle after Baleful Shadow abandoned him. As the fighting began, Cui Zhe argued that the Cui Family had to defeat Chen Changsheng or lose its power and place in the Pill Epoch.

• Baleful Shadow chose to leave, and Cui Zhe opened a path for him to escape the encirclement.
• Cui Yunzheng attacked Cui Zhe, but two Immortal King Ninth Grade experts intercepted his strike and sent him crashing to the ground.
• Cui Zhe told the thirty-six Immortal King Ninth Grade cultivators to kill Cui Yunzheng within three days, or they would not be allowed to return.
• Cui Yunzheng rose unharmed and charged the thirty-six cultivators despite seeing no chance of victory.
• Cui Zhe told two Cui Family Ancestors that the aristocratic families would lose everything if Chen Changsheng defeated them, then mocked one Ancestor for being no match for him.

Cui Zhe argued that the Cui Family Ancestors were dependent on their aristocratic status and could not compare with true talents like Immortal Emperors. One Ancestor admitted he opposed the Imperial Tutor’s reforms to protect his family’s position, while Cui Zhe learned that Chen Changsheng had brought Cui Ling Shuang back to the Cui Family headquarters.

• A Cui Family Ancestor stopped Cui Zhe and another Ancestor from continuing their conflict, but Cui Zhe called them trash and explained that their status depended on the Cui Family.
• Cui Zhe described the vast number of worlds and potential Quasi-Emperors, arguing that the Ancestors’ cultivation was unremarkable across the Pill Epoch.
• One Ancestor admitted he approved of the Imperial Tutor’s reforms but opposed them because they threatened his status and descendants’ prospects.
• The Ancestor praised Meng De, Lin Yao, and Feng Ran for their talent despite their humble origins, and said his own descendants would lose to them.
• Cui Zhe said the Ancestors had returned to supporting the Clan Leader and blamed Chen Changsheng for influencing him.
• Cui Zhe received a message that Chen Changsheng wanted Cui Ling Shuang to return to the ancestral fold and that she was at the Cui Family headquarters.

Chen Changsheng arrived at the Bo Ling Cui Family with Lu Mingyu and Chen Feng for his wife’s return to her roots, facing a hostile gathering and the Cui Family’s hidden expert. He revealed that Lu Mingyu would have to overcome three opponents to claim the title of Number One Under Heaven, with Chen Changsheng himself waiting at the final hurdle.

• Cui Zhe refused to return to the Cui Family, reasoning that Chen Changsheng could not be handled and someone there would deal with him.
• Chen Changsheng, Lu Mingyu, and Chen Feng arrived at the locked-down Bo Ling Great World, where Chen Feng warned that the Cui Family was ready to kill them.
• Lu Mingyu’s laughter cracked the Cui Family’s defense formations, prompting a Heavenly Mandate Great Emperor in the Ancestral Tomb to exchange a palm strike with him.
• Chen Changsheng told Lu Mingyu to fight without restraint and named Chen Feng and Nalan Zi Ping as his first two hurdles toward becoming Number One Under Heaven.
• Chen Changsheng declared that he would face Lu Mingyu himself as the third hurdle, and Lu Mingyu vowed to pass the first two.

Chen Changsheng accepted Cui Hongyuan’s challenge and negotiated to take his injured father-in-law to retire in the Chang Sheng Epoch. Cui Ling Shuang was formally entered into the Cui Family register as Chen Changsheng’s wife, and Chen prepared to leave with her father.

• Cui Hongyuan confronted Chen Changsheng and demanded a fight, while Chen said he had come to bring Cui Ling Shuang home and take his father-in-law away.
• Chen accepted Cui Hongyuan’s challenge but said Cui Hongyuan first had to defeat his subordinates; Cui Hongyuan agreed to let Chen’s father-in-law retire in the Chang Sheng Epoch.
• Cui Hongyuan asked whether Cui Ling Shuang could enter the Chen Family Ancestral Tomb as Chen Changsheng’s principal wife, and Chen affirmed that she could.
• Cui Hongyuan led Chen Changsheng into the Cui Family Ancestral Hall, where the family completed Cui Ling Shuang’s return-to-roots ceremony and added her name to the register.
• After the ceremony, Cui Hongyuan told Chen Changsheng he could take Cui Ling Shuang’s father away and asked about Cui Zhe; Chen replied that Cui Hongyuan could not kill the two young people.

Chen Changsheng explained to Cui Hongyuan that Lu Mingyu would test whether anyone could defeat the supposedly invincible Immortal Emperor, while he arranged for Cui Xingxue to retire to the Great Shang Dynasty and revealed plans to destroy the Cui Family Ancestral Tomb. On the battlefield, exhausted and grievously wounded, Cui Yunzheng faced a fresh charge from the remaining Immortal Kings.

• Chen Changsheng told Cui Hongyuan that the aristocratic families were destined to fall and that Lu Mingyu would be his wager against their belief in invincibility.
• Cui Hongyuan insisted on fighting Chen Changsheng, but Chen Changsheng left the ancestral hall supporting the injured Cui Xingxue.
• Chen Changsheng arranged for Cui Xingxue to retire to the Great Shang Dynasty and help Yin Jie govern, then said the Cui Family Ancestral Tomb would be destroyed by its founding ancestor.
• Cui Xingxue learned that Chen Changsheng planned to eliminate the Cui Family by destroying its ancestral tomb and dispatching others against the remaining members.
• Cui Yunzheng, badly injured and nearly out of strength, faced the charge of the remaining twenty-six Immortal Kings.

Cui Yunzheng broke free from the ward and endured a desperate assault by the Boling Cui Clan’s Quasi-Emperors as Cui Zhe tried to kill him and stop Baleful Shadow’s war artifacts. The explosion destroyed the Great World’s ward, and Cui Tian Rui arrived with an order forbidding Quasi-Emperors from intervening.

• Cui Yunzheng burned his flesh and divine sense to shatter the ward, then recovered with world spiritual energy and resumed fighting the Ninth Grade Immortal Kings.
• Cui Zhe decided the Cui Family Ancestors would kill Cui Yunzheng after the deadline, then struck Baleful Shadow and shattered the life lamp of his clone.
• Cui Zhe ordered the two Cui Family Ancestors to kill Cui Yunzheng while he rushed to stop Baleful Shadow’s war artifacts from reaching the Great World.
• The two Quasi-Emperors grievously wounded Cui Yunzheng but failed to kill him before the war artifacts destroyed the Great World’s ward, and the explosion earned Cui Yunzheng the horizontal strike realm.
• Cui Tian Rui arrived with a hundred-person squad and announced that, by order of the Imperial Tutor, Quasi-Emperors were forbidden to intervene.

Chen Changsheng explained to Cui Zhe how coordinated saturation attacks could kill heaven’s chosen, then revealed the costly alloy armor behind the Tiger Guard’s strength. The Tiger Guard continued crushing the Cui Family Ancestors as Chen recorded their performance.

• Cui Tian Rui led the Tiger Guard’s hundred-man squad in a charge that shattered the Cui Family Ancestors’ magic treasures and seriously injured them.
• Chen Changsheng recorded the battle as the fourth-level Quasi-Emperor fell and the fifth-level ancestor neared defeat.
• Cui Zhe questioned why Chen recorded the Tiger Guard’s performance, and Chen explained that he studied the future path of cultivators and refined saturation attacks.
• Chen Changsheng criticized Cui Zhe’s earlier plan, explaining that the thirty-six Immortal Kings lacked the coordination needed to kill a heaven’s chosen.
• Chen Changsheng revealed that the Tiger Guard’s imitation Bronze Armor was forged from advanced alloys developed through the God of Wealth Hall’s costly research.

Chen Changsheng explained the Tiger Guards’ armor, supplies, techniques, and Dragon Horse mounts as Cui Zhe learned how overwhelmingly powerful they were. As the Tiger Guards prepared to kill him, Cui Zhe spoke with Cui Tian Rui, revealed that he had hidden survivors from his branch, returned the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear, and resolved to face the charge.

• Chen Changsheng explained that the Tiger Guards’ Dao-pattern armor, supplies, tailored cultivation technique, and Dragon Horses made them formidable in battle.
• Cui Zhe recognized that the Tiger Guards could leave most genius cultivators without a chance to survive, and Chen Changsheng told him they were coming to kill him.
• Cui Zhe asked to speak with Cui Tian Rui, who questioned why his Thirteenth Uncle had chosen a battle he could not win.
• Cui Zhe gave Cui Tian Rui a Jade Slip revealing where he had hidden survivors from his branch and returned the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear.
• Cui Zhe urged Cui Tian Rui not to waver and declared that he would be the first to test the Tiger Guards for the sake of future genius cultivators.

Cui Zhe fought Cui Tian Rui and the Tiger Guard to his death, while Chen Changsheng judged the squad’s performance and disciplined its members. Elsewhere, Baleful Shadow helped the badly wounded Cui Yunzheng form a starlight formation to heal, and Cui Yunzheng explained the power and origins of the Eighteen Transformations of Wuji.

• Cui Zhe learned from Chen Changsheng that he could neither defeat nor reach him, then prepared to face the Tiger Guard alongside Cui Tian Rui.
• Cui Zhe battled the Tiger Guard, knocked seven members from their mounts, and died after his Life Lamp shattered.
• Chen Changsheng reprimanded Cui Tian Rui over the injured Tiger Guard members, and Cui Tian Rui demoted the seven to reserves.
• Baleful Shadow carried the badly wounded Cui Yunzheng through the void and stopped so he could recover.
• Cui Yunzheng had Baleful Shadow form a starlight formation, then described the Eighteen Transformations of Wuji and said only the Dao Ancestor and one other person could master all eighteen transformations.

Cui Yunzheng revealed hidden origins and conflicts behind the Chang Sheng Epoch’s Three Teachings, then explained how one man reshaped the Pill Epoch after seizing the Great Dream Immortal Art. An old man appeared behind Cui Yunzheng, leaving Baleful Shadow on edge.

• Cui Yunzheng told Baleful Shadow that Dao Ancestor Jiancheng had taught the Daoist Sect Sage and that the founders of the Three Teachings had once been disciples of a mysterious person.
• Cui Yunzheng said Little Immortal Elder, whose original name was Ge Hong, had revealed that the four disciples tried to seize an opportunity from the Dao Ancestor, triggering a war that shattered the Eight Nine Mysterious Technique and scattered powerful figures.
• Cui Yunzheng explained that the Chang Sheng Epoch’s four oddities, two strange mysteries, nine revolutions, and eighteen transformations held extraordinary secrets, and that Little Immortal Elder had nearly mastered the Eighteen Transformations of Wuji.
• Cui Yunzheng revealed that most of the Pill Epoch’s powerful figures were killed fighting for the Great Dream Immortal Art, which its victor passed to the young man who now stood at the top of the Pill Epoch.
• Cui Yunzheng said that young man founded the Five Clans, Four Sects, and One Pill Domain and trained their founders, before an old man appeared behind him and Baleful Shadow’s hair stood on end.

Dream appeared before Cui Yunzheng and Baleful Shadow after Cui Yunzheng repeated Little Immortal Elder’s cryptic words about the Pill Epoch, then tried to seal their memories. Chen Changsheng intervened, and Dream withdrew after warning Little Immortal Elder not to enter the Chang Sheng Epoch; Chen Changsheng revealed that Little Immortal Elder had used the two as pawns to target Dream and him.

• Cui Yunzheng and Baleful Shadow realized an unseen senior was following them, and Dream revealed himself as the young man who obtained the Great Dream Immortal Art and the true ruler of the Pill Epoch.
• Dream asked Cui Yunzheng what Little Immortal Elder had told him, heard the phrase about the dreamscape being the true prison, and ordered him and Baleful Shadow to keep it secret before preparing to seal their memories.
• Chen Changsheng arrived and tried to stop Dream, but Dream’s attack made Chen Changsheng and his Bronze Life Lamp flicker between reality and illusion.
• Lu Mingyu and Chen Feng moved to intervene as Dream rebuked them, then Dream withdrew his divine ability and warned Little Immortal Elder that the Chang Sheng Epoch would become his burial ground if he entered.
• Chen Changsheng told Cui Yunzheng and Baleful Shadow that Little Immortal Elder had used them as pawns to make Dream learn the secrets and to scheme against both Dream and Chen Changsheng.

Chen Changsheng warned Lu Mingyu against investigating the secrets behind Immortal Destiny, arguing that the pursuit of invincibility or immortality was a deadly trap. Lu Mingyu accepted his warning for the moment, and Dream appeared after Chen Changsheng and his companions left.

• Cui Yunzheng recovered enough to move, and Baleful Shadow set off with him to strike the Cui Family while it was in turmoil.
• Chen Changsheng dismissed Chen Feng’s suggestion to investigate Little Immortal Elder and urged Lu Mingyu not to enter the Game or pursue hidden secrets.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the search for Immortal Destiny promised only invincibility or immortality, and warned that chasing either could cost Lu Mingyu and those around him their lives.
• Lu Mingyu questioned Chen Changsheng’s certainty and joked that his long life might make him immortal or give him Immortal Destiny, but Chen Changsheng brushed him off and left.
• Dream appeared after Chen Changsheng, Chen Feng, and Lu Mingyu departed, revealing that he had been monitoring them.

Lin Yao and Feng Ran met Wang Lan and three Wang Family heads, who proposed migrating three main branches to the Five Tigers Group. Feng Ran recognized that the Wang Family had maneuvered them into accepting the alliance, leaving Lin Yao and Feng Ran to decide how to respond.

• Wang Lan welcomed Lin Yao and Feng Ran at the Taiyuan Wang Family stronghold and announced that three main branches were ready to migrate, with nine Ancestors supporting the plan.
• Wang Lan explained that he had served as a bridge for the Wang Family’s plan to join the New Era, while the family heads admitted they intended to bet on both sides.
• Feng Ran questioned whether the Wang Family could be trusted and warned that the Taiyuan Wang Family would not be allowed to continue existing after the migration.
• Feng Ran and Lin Yao discussed privately and concluded they had to accept the Wang Family because the Epoch Passage project needed workers and refusing could make the family their enemy.
• Lin Yao suspected Wang Lan had arranged their journey into the stronghold, and Feng Ran told him to summon all their people.

Feng Ran and Lin Yao planned to place the Wang Family under the control of experienced Greenwood Epoch officials and keep Wang Lan under close watch. Wang Lan then revealed that the other recruitment teams had been captured, trapped, or killed, and that the great clans and four sects were preparing to attack their base.

• Feng Ran proposed scattering the Wang Family members and having Greenwood Epoch officials manage them, and Lin Yao agreed while insisting they keep Wang Lan under observation.
• After the family heads finalized their plan, Feng Ran and Lin Yao questioned Wang Lan about why the negotiations had gone so smoothly.
• Wang Lan reported that Cui Yunzheng and Baleful Shadow’s recruitment effort had collapsed, Cui Yunzheng’s branch had been devastated, and both men might be dead or missing.
• Wang Lan said Jin Tu and Zhang Ling had been captured by the Zheng Family, Mo Bai had also been captured while Yi An Jushi escaped wounded, and the Heavenly Lotus Sect was negotiating with the Zheng Family.
• Wang Lan told them that Long Aotian had been captured, Li Changsheng had escaped while his branch was imprisoned, and Lu Zijian and Cao Mingxian had been trapped by the Sword Sect.
• Wang Lan warned that the great clans and four sects planned to behead their captives and attack the base, leaving Lin Yao stunned by the danger.