Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng urged Wang Lan to stop defining himself by his past crimes and to choose whether he would remain true to his original intentions. He left Wang Lan to decide his path, then asked whether Wang Lan had feared the recorded images from the Hundred Flowers World being exposed.

• Wang Lan suspected Chen Changsheng was trying to control him, but Chen Changsheng warned him against Wang Hao and compared his fear to a rat hiding from the light.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Wang Lan had begun to see himself as a traitor and feared others because he believed that label defined him forever.
• Wang Lan broke down over his guilt for his clansmen’s deaths and his belief that his infamy could never be erased.
• Chen Changsheng argued that others’ judgments did not define a person and that Wang Lan still had the power to choose who he became.
• Chen Changsheng said he had come to save Wang Lan, then left his choice to him and asked whether he had feared the exposed recordings from the Hundred Flowers World.

Chen Changsheng revealed that the Wang Family, Transcendent Void Hall, and Mystic Heaven Sect had plotted rebellion, and he spared the Wang Family’s lower ranks because Wang Lan cooperated. As the Pill Epoch’s great clans continued to fall, Chen Changsheng and Dream prepared to bring in new cultivators and enable lightning tribulations there.

• Chen Changsheng told Wang Lan that he had known about the Wang Family’s rebellion and that the upper ranks of Transcendent Void Hall and Mystic Heaven Sect would also be destroyed.
• Chen Changsheng offered Wang Hao a chance to serve as his inside man, but Wang Hao said he had no intention of becoming a good person.
• Chen Changsheng and Wang Hao discussed how the Wang Family ancestor might have been released if the family had acted patiently, then departed into the Void.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the fourth trial would be cleared by obtaining Thunder Tribulation Liquid, and that he and Dream planned to bring part of the Pill Epoch’s Epoch Heaven’s Mandate there.
• The great clans’ forces suffered heavy losses as Wu Li, the Clear River Cui Family, Chen Xiao, and others pressed their attacks, while the remaining clan forces refused to surrender.
• Chen Changsheng said the Pill Epoch needed a thorough cleansing, and Dream offered to buy Ao Chuang after Chen Changsheng explained its role in bringing lightning tribulations to the Pill Epoch.

Chen Changsheng refused Dream’s proposal to merge Ao Chuang with the Great Dream Immortal Art, warning of its dangers. During the war against the aristocratic families, cultivators in the Pill Epoch began encountering legendary figures’ Great Dao Imprints in their thunder tribulations, while the Desolate Heaven Emperor Wu Li’s imprint remained beyond the reach of successive challengers until Lu Jun and Cui Shuo encountered it.

• Chen Changsheng told Dream that merging Ao Chuang with the Great Dream Immortal Art was too dangerous, and Dream accepted his answer without argument.
• In the fourth year of the war, Wu Li’s thunder tribulation appeared in the Pill Epoch, and Wu Li declared that those who recited his true name could attain immortality.
• In the seventh year, Yi An Jushi defeated fifteen Humanoid Thunder Tribulations across two breakthroughs but did not encounter Wu Li’s Great Dao Imprint.
• In the tenth year, Mo Bai held off enemy forces while covering a retreat and undergoing a tribulation, where he saw the Phoenix Empress’s imprint instead of Wu Li’s.
• In the fifteenth year, Cui Yunzheng advanced to the third level of the Quasi-Emperor Realm and wounded a fifth-level Quasi-Emperor, but still did not see Wu Li’s imprint.
• In the twentieth year, Lu Jun and Cui Shuo defeated ten Humanoid Thunder Tribulations and finally saw Wu Li standing above the Nine Heavens, with two figures beneath him moving to meet their challenge.

Cui Shuo and Lu Jun failed their tribulations, while Chen Changsheng revealed his unusual strength by advancing one Quasi-Emperor level each year. As the war against the aristocratic families turned in their favor, Baleful Shadow fell to demonic deviation, and Mo Bai and Zhou Jingting faced the prospect of killing their former comrade.

• Lu Jun was defeated by Jade Emperor Zhang Bairen’s Humanoid Thunder Tribulation and regressed in cultivation, while Desolate Heaven Emperor Wu Li’s imprint saved Cui Shuo from death after Cui Shuo defeated an Immortal Emperor’s tribulation.
• Chen Changsheng defeated three Humanoid Thunder Tribulations each year for six years, reaching the sixth level of the Quasi-Emperor Realm before declaring he would wait fifty years for his opponent.
• The five great clans’ foundations fell in the fortieth year of the war, freeing Desolate Heaven Emperor Wu Li and others to join the fighting.
• Zhang Bairen and Lu Mingyu visited Baleful Shadow, whose killing intent returned after Lu Mingyu urged him to stand up and live; Zhang Bairen stopped Lu Mingyu from intervening as Baleful Shadow fell to demonic deviation.
• Mo Bai, Zhou Jingting, and their companions battled Baleful Shadow for twenty days as his power surged, and Zhou Jingting warned that the Ninth Heaven’s elders would kill him if they did not act within an hour.

Mo Bai tried to stop the demonized Baleful Shadow by entering the Heavenly Prohibition State, while his companions withdrew and waited for Shi Qi. After a month of battle, Shi Qi arrived, reunited with his teacher, and learned from Chen Changsheng what had caused the two fighters’ frenzy.

• Mo Bai ordered his companions to leave and summon Shi Qi, then faced Baleful Shadow alone and entered the Heavenly Prohibition State.
• Chen Changsheng explained that obsession-fueled methods of entering the Heavenly Prohibition State could drive practitioners mad, and he doubted Shi Qi could subdue the two while they were in that condition.
• Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow fought for a month, rising from the fourth to the sixth level of the Quasi-Emperor Realm as their bodies became gravely wounded.
• Shi Qi arrived after forty years of searching, reunited with Dugu and Chen Changsheng, and agreed to let Chen Changsheng introduce him to potential marriage matches.
• Chen Changsheng told Shi Qi that Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow had fallen into a frenzy because of a cultivation method known as the Heavenly Prohibition.

Chen Changsheng learned that Shi Qi did not know whether the flaws in the Heavenly Prohibition state could be corrected, and Shi Qi returned to the Small World. Over the following decades, the war against the great clans and the struggle to overcome thunder tribulations reshaped the Cultivation World, ending with a devastating rebel army victory that left both sides gravely weakened.

• Chen Changsheng asked Shi Qi whether the flaws in the Heavenly Prohibition state could be corrected, and Shi Qi admitted he did not know before returning to the Small World.
• Rumors spread that Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow had comprehended Heavenly Prohibition, but the Cultivation World largely dismissed the stories as gossip.
• Tushan Honghong failed three times to overcome the Phoenix Empress's Great Dao Imprint and withdrew from the battlefield, while Li Changsheng, Feng Ran, Lin Yao, and Zhang Ling reached different levels of success in their tribulations.
• Long Aotian endured and shattered Desolate Heaven Emperor Wu Li's Great Dao Imprint during his Fifth Heaven tribulation, becoming the age's most celebrated prodigy.
• Cultivators discovered that a powerful Immortal Emperor's Great Dao Imprint guarded the sixth Quasi-Emperor layer, making it a dividing line for prodigies.
• In the final battle of the War of Aristocratic Families, the rebel army defeated the Old Aristocratic Families, but lost seventy percent of its strength as eighty percent of the opposing cultivators perished.

At a postwar meeting, Li Changsheng proposed developing the Pill Epoch through a group model rather than restoring the old aristocratic system. He outlined territorial reforms and resource arrangements, but the discussion ended before he explained every way factions could obtain resources.

• Meng De presented new postwar regulations and urged the Rebel Army’s leaders not to repeat the Old Aristocratic Families’ mistakes.
• The acting Clan Leader of the Zheng Family objected to territories being assigned to Wang Lan, and Li Changsheng silenced the dispute by arguing against dividing land by merit.
• Li Changsheng proposed that most conquered lands belong to a group and that the Heavenly Lotus Sect, Sword Sect, Pill Domain, and Beast Race Alliance surrender part of their territories.
• After Meng De urged the factions to focus on rebuilding, Li Changsheng advocated streamlining administration and reducing each faction’s territory.
• Li Changsheng proposed opening surrendered lands to Loose Cultivators and smaller factions in exchange for resources over a hundred thousand years, then said factions would have other ways to obtain resources.

Li Changsheng proposed the Dan Clan Group to manage trade between the Pill and Chang Sheng Epochs, while Wang Hao and Chen Changsheng discussed their rivalry and Wang Hao’s looming fight with Ye Yu. The chapter ended in the eighty-first year of the War of the Aristocratic Families, as young prodigies and veteran powerhouses turned toward competing for Number One Under Heaven.

• Li Changsheng proposed that the Dan Clan Group and the Five Tigers Group manage cross-epoch trade, with independent surname groups handling their own affairs.
• Li Changsheng said the Dan Clan Group’s members would be young people from all factions who had distinguished themselves in the war, and the factions resumed arguing over resource allocations.
• Chen Changsheng told Wang Hao that neither path to cultivating the Heavenly Prohibition suited him, and Wang Hao named Wu Li as a contender for Number One Under Heaven while dismissing the Desolate Heaven Emperor.
• Chen Changsheng warned Wang Hao that Ye Yu had been accumulating strength to fight him, and Wang Hao admitted he feared both Ye Yu and Chen Changsheng but threatened to disrupt the Virtual World if his reward was withheld.
• In the eighty-first year of the War of the Aristocratic Families, former rebel-army prodigies began challenging their former comrades and the veteran powerhouses as the contest for Number One Under Heaven began.

During the final years of the War of Aristocratic Families, New Era prodigies challenged legendary cultivators and repeatedly lost, while Chen Changsheng defeated several challengers without advancing beyond the Seventh Heaven. The war ended amid a cultivation stalemate, broken when the fifth trial of the Imperial Tutor’s relics appeared.

• Cui Shuo advanced to Quasi-Emperor Seventh Heaven, challenged the Immortal Emperor, and was gravely wounded after three moves.
• Cui Hao Yu challenged the Phoenix Empress, unleashed eight swords, then withdrew before using his ninth and was counted as defeated.
• At the fifty-year appointment, Chen Changsheng defeated Feng Ran and Lin Yao before crossing tribulation and reaching Seventh Heaven.
• Yi An Jushi, Lu Jun, and Cui Shuo challenged Chen Changsheng and lost; he postponed facing Mo Bai and Baleful Shadow.
• The War of Aristocratic Families ended in its ninetieth year as cultivators remained stalled below Eighth Heaven.
• The fifth trial of the Imperial Tutor’s relics appeared and broke the Cultivation World’s stalemate.

Li Changsheng sent Cui Shuo, Lu Jun, and the others to the Chang Sheng Epoch with resources and a plan to recruit talent for the Pill Epoch. He secured three thousand years of preferential treatment for the Pill Epoch in the Virtual World and asked Chen Changsheng to arrange political marriages between the two epochs.

• Li Changsheng gave Cui Shuo and the others immortal gold and two Virtual World slots bought from Sword Come and Jin Tu, and Wang Lan explained that he had invested in them as future Teachers for the Pill Epoch’s new academy.
• Li Changsheng ordered Cui Shuo, Lu Jun, and their companion to follow Wang Lan’s command in the Chang Sheng Epoch and return alive.
• Li Changsheng told Chen Changsheng that he had arranged for Jin Tu and the Zheng Family woman to live in concealment, and explained that the Pill Epoch needed talent after losing roughly thirty percent of its cultivators over the past century.
• Li Changsheng asked Chen Changsheng to protect the Pill Epoch through the Virtual World, and they agreed on three thousand years of preferential treatment.
• Li Changsheng proposed political marriages to promote exchange between the epochs, suggesting Cui Shuo and the others as candidates and naming Wind Goose of the Transcendent Void Hall as someone to marry into the Chang Sheng Epoch.

As the Pill Epoch and Chang Sheng Epoch prepared to form marriage alliances, Wang Lan explained that the Five Tigers Group’s prodigies faced pressure to marry for their bloodlines. Long Aotian asked for help, but Meng De revealed that only a temporary reprieve had been secured and Mo Bai’s marriage was already decided.

• Chen Changsheng warned Li Changsheng not to interfere with the Divine Beast lineage and left him to manage the Pill Epoch.
• Wang Lan told the travelers that the Pill Epoch’s urgent task was to build ties with the Chang Sheng Epoch through marriage alliances.
• Cui Yunzheng accepted the Pill Epoch’s approach, while Lin Yao protested when Meng De explained that marriage alliances could help secure support for reforming lay disciples.
• Wang Lan explained that the Divine Beast lineage valued bloodline inheritance, leaving Lin Yao to recognize the pressure facing Mo Bai and the others.
• Long Aotian asked whether the Five Tigers Group could help, and Meng De said the clans had granted only a temporary reprieve while Mo Bai’s marriage was already set in stone.

Shi Qi searched for a marriage match at the Ten Thousand Races Academy while Chen Changsheng negotiated with the Buddhist Sect to meet the Sword Ancestor. Chen Changsheng obtained the Sword Ancestor’s Jade Slip, but learned that he would not reveal anything about Immortal Destiny.

• Mo Bai said he would handle his marriage situation, and Meng De explained why the Five Tigers Group could not interfere.
• Nian Sheng, Wu Li, Zhang Bairen, and Hua Feng accompanied Shi Qi around the Academy as he admired the fairies but chose none of them.
• Chen Changsheng told Zhang Bairen to take Shi Qi to the Kirin Clan and promised to join them as a professional matchmaker.
• Chen Changsheng pressed the Buddhist Sages to let him meet the Sword Ancestor, then agreed that the question of whether the Sword Ancestor stayed or left could be settled later with the Heavenly Dao Society.
• Chen Changsheng met the Sword Ancestor in a Small World, received a Jade Slip containing his insights and cultivation methods, and heard that he would reveal nothing about Immortal Destiny.

Mo Bai and the others returned to the Pill Epoch, where they faced the emotions and obligations waiting at home. Wang Lan planned to livestream a visit to the Heavenly Court, while Mo Bai, Shangguan Jing, and Zhou Jingting traveled onward and Feng Ran reunited with the Wood Demon Tribe.

• Mo Bai invited Lu Jun to visit the Kirin Clan, but Lu Jun declined, and the group parted ways after returning to the Pill Epoch.
• Meng De said he planned to finish his studies at the Ten Thousand Races Academy, gave Wang Lan a Heavenly Court token, and offered to arrange a visit to the academy.
• Wang Lan urged the group to explore the Chang Sheng Epoch and began a livestream announcing that they would visit the Heavenly Court.
• On the teleportation passage, Zhou Jingting and Shangguan Jing argued over the prospect of marrying Mo Bai, worsening his mood.
• Feng Ran returned to the Wood Demon Tribe, learned her reputation had improved the tribe's standing, and asked to see how it had changed.

Feng Ran returned to the Wood Demon Tribe and reflected on how his growing strength had distanced him from his family, while Long Aotian came home to find his mother unhappy and the Dragon Race intent on controlling its bloodlines. Long Bo warned that even becoming a True Dragon would not free Long Aotian from the fate of being bred.

• The Clan Leader welcomed Feng Ran and agreed to his proposal for the Wood Demon Tribe to cooperate with Linlang Blessed Land and the Beast Race Alliance of the Pill Epoch.
• Feng Ran visited his mother's grave, confided his loneliness, and decided that home was wherever his heart found peace.
• The Dragon Race welcomed Long Aotian, who went to see his mother and learned she wanted him to avoid following his father's path.
• Long Bo told Long Aotian that the clan had arranged more than ten concubines for his father and might pressure his parents to have another child.
• Long Aotian vowed to change the Dragon Race, but Long Bo said that even True Dragons were subject to being bred.

Long Bo explained to Long Aotian that the Dragon Race’s breeding rules came from its dwindling numbers and that the Imperial Tutor had promised to find a solution. Meanwhile, Mo Bai defied the Kirin Clan elders, and Chen Changsheng argued with the Divine Beasts about their reproductive restrictions, leaving the debate unresolved.

• Long Bo told Long Aotian that only around 380,000 Dragons were registered, including about 80,000 with pure bloodlines, and urged him to focus on winning Number One Under Heaven while the Imperial Tutor sought a solution.
• Mo Bai rejected the Kirin Clan elders’ demands, saying he would not accept the clan’s shackles or be forced into a war with them.
• Primordial Qilin dismissed the elders and brought Mo Bai to meet Chen Changsheng, Wu Li, and the assembled Human Race and Divine Beast experts.
• Chen Changsheng criticized the Divine Beasts’ breeding rules and argued that bloodlines alone could not make them powerful, while True Dragon and Ancestor Phoenix defended bloodlines as an advantage.

Chen Changsheng argued that intermarriage with the Human Race could help the Divine Beast lineage survive, presenting research on bloodline dilution and atavism. He used Yin Jun Lin and Yin Jie as evidence for his theory, leaving the Divine Beasts to reconsider why mixed bloodlines could produce both exceptional and mediocre descendants.

• Chen Changsheng proposed that Divine Beasts marry into the Human Race, drawing objections from the assembled experts.
• Chen Changsheng presented research showing that purer bloodlines made reproduction harder and argued that diluted bloodlines could preserve a group's identity.
• Chen Changsheng cited Demon Emperor Tian Xuan's descendants, Yin Qi, Yin Jun Lin, and Yin Jie as examples of mixed bloodlines.
• At Chen Changsheng's request, Yin Jun Lin released a drop of essence blood, revealing a remarkably pure aura that astonished the Divine Beasts.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Yin Jun Lin's bloodline had undergone atavism and argued that Yin Jie's comparatively modest strength resulted from two Ancient Bloodlines clashing.

Chen Changsheng persuaded the Divine Beast leaders to consider intermarriage and proposed testing it through Long Bo and Feng Ling, while organizing a touring Dao Debate to give younger people opportunities to meet. After the leaders agreed, he reassured Mo Bai that he did not have to marry and took him to find Shi Qi for a meal.

• The True Dragon questioned whether intermarriage could preserve Divine Beast bloodlines without repeating the Heavenly God Race’s failure, and Chen Changsheng proposed a Dragon Gate for mixed-blood beings who wished to join the Dragon Race.
• The Ancestor Phoenix asked whether Chen Changsheng could prevent another Heavenly God Race from emerging, and he admitted that only time and testing with outstanding Divine Beasts could verify the risks.
• Chen Changsheng named Long Bo and Feng Ling as subjects for testing dragon-phoenix marriage and said human–Divine Beast marriage would need to be tested among Mo Bai, Long Aotian, and their generation.
• Chen Changsheng proposed a touring Dao Debate beginning at their current location and continuing through the Dragon Race, Phoenix Race, and major powers, and the gathered experts agreed.
• Primordial Qilin warned Chen Changsheng to consider Mo Bai’s future carefully, and Chen Changsheng told Mo Bai that choosing not to marry was no mistake.
• Chen Changsheng took Mo Bai to find Shi Qi and eat the fresh ingredients Shi Qi had obtained.

Chen Changsheng questioned his former allies about the heavy losses in the war, and Nalan Zi Ping revealed that they had secretly invaded the birthplace of the Uncanny, which other epochs called the Immortal Domain. The revelation left Chen Changsheng confronting Wu Li and the Imperial Tutor Lineage for hiding the truth from him.

• Chen Changsheng shared Pickled Vegetable and Tofu Stew with Mo Bai and Shi Qi, and Little Immortal Elder arrived with wine and joined them.
• Chen Changsheng asked Wu Li, Nian Sheng, and the others why the front-line battles had caused such heavy losses and demanded they tell the truth.
• When the group stayed silent, Chen Changsheng summoned Nalan Zi Ping and pressed him about why other epochs had invaded the Chang Sheng Epoch.
• Nalan Zi Ping revealed that the other epochs called the birthplace of the Uncanny the Immortal Domain and that the group had kept their own exploration of it secret from Chen Changsheng.
• Wu Li admitted that he had led the expedition, and Chen Changsheng learned that almost everyone who fought in the war, including the Imperial Tutor Lineage, had known except him.

Chen Changsheng confronted Wu Li, Hua Feng, Nalan Zi Ping, and Ge Hong over their plan to explore the dangerous special space, then learned why Scholar had died and what had happened to the Master of the Netherworld Forest. He sent the others away to think in private.

• Chen Changsheng slapped Wu Li, Hua Feng, and Nalan Zi Ping, then rebuked them for pursuing the special space and risking calamity.
• Ge Hong defended his decision to help, and Chen Changsheng threatened to kill him if he continued; Ge Hong challenged Chen Changsheng's belief that only he could take dangerous risks.
• Ge Hong explained that Scholar had discovered clues to the special space, traced them to Old Man Yao, and chose to die to halt the plan and force Chen Changsheng into action.
• Chen Changsheng blamed himself for Scholar's death and explained how Scholar's actions had been intended to stop the plan while drawing Chen Changsheng's enemies into battle.
• Ge Hong said the other epochs withdrew after the Master of the Netherworld Forest attacked them, called Chen Changsheng a pest that ought to be killed, and was expected to return.
• Chen Changsheng asked Ge Hong and the others to wait elsewhere while he sought peace and quiet.

Chen Changsheng confronted the system about whether immortality could overcome the Weight of Time, then refused to abandon his attachments. He reconciled with his companions and agreed to investigate the dangerous special space, while challenging their assumptions about immortals and Immortal Destinies.

• Nian Sheng admitted that he had spearheaded the plan, and Chen Changsheng told him not to run away before he flew off.
• Chen Changsheng asked the system whether true immortality existed and declared that he would carry everything forward rather than become emotionless.
• Chen Changsheng called everyone back and said he would investigate the special space, which might hold clues to deathlessness.
• Chen Changsheng forgave Wu Li and the others for concealing their plan, while admitting that he might have made the same choice to protect those he loved.
• Chen Changsheng argued that the Immortal Domain might represent a crooked path to immortality and that so-called Immortal Destinies were merely names for special things.
• Chen Changsheng warned everyone that discovering an immortal who could not escape death might shatter their obsessions and drive them toward demonic ways or destruction.