Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng revealed that he had survived through a plan for Fleshly Rebirth, leaving Bai Ze to protect his tiny piece of flesh and gather supplies. Meanwhile, Zhang Bairen said his own plan was nearly ready and asked Desolate Heaven Emperor Wu Li to keep others from interfering.

• Yue Ying, Xu Mao, and the others left after Bai Ze ordered them to stay away from him.
• Bai Ze opened the Wooden Box and learned from Chen Changsheng's message that he had pursued Fleshly Rebirth to escape his Karmic Debt and that his life depended on the tiny piece of flesh inside.
• Chen Changsheng instructed Bai Ze to take the Dragon Pearl and Old Mud Loach's corpse, then bring Potato and the others to the Qingqiu Fox Clan for protection.
• Bai Ze regained his confidence, resolved to protect Chen Changsheng, and eagerly imagined making Dragon Meat Hotpot from Old Mud Loach.
• Zhang Bairen stopped fighting Nian Sheng and Desolate Heaven Emperor Wu Li, said his plan had an eighty percent chance of success, and asked Wu Li to prevent others from interfering.

Zhang Bairen and Nalan Xingde discussed Chen Changsheng’s confusion and the burden of dealing with the aftermath of the war. In the years after the Flood Dragon Race fell, the Beast Race was weakened by its enemies, and Bai Ze finally brought a child to confront Peacock.

• Zhang Bairen asked Nalan Xingde to handle the postwar aftermath, but Nalan said Zhang was better suited and admitted he could not kill his own son.
• Zhang Bairen recalled betraying Hundred Defeats Immortal and spending fifty thousand years in despair before meeting Chen Changsheng.
• After Azure Dragon and the Undertaker supposedly died, the Qingqiu Fox Clan conquered Hidden Dragon Zhou and reduced the Flood Dragon Race to livestock.
• The Heavenly Silk Clan declared unity with the Demon Race, while the God Race joined the Human Race in squeezing the Beast Race’s territory.
• Fifty years later, Bai Ze brought a child and a Big Fat Silkworm to the Peacock Clan, where he told Peacock that he had come to make him submit.

Chen Changsheng explained that the Beast Race was being sacrificed because it had resisted change while the Great Trend of the World shifted, and Peacock accepted the need to submit to the Human Race. The chapter left Peacock hoping for the Beast Race’s resurgence, which Chen Changsheng said would come only after heaven and earth were remade.

• Chen Changsheng told Peacock that the Beast Race’s decline followed the changing Great Trend of the World and its refusal to adapt.
• Peacock asked whether the Beast Race could still reform, but Chen Changsheng said it was too late to escape becoming a sacrifice in the coming calamity.
• Peacock admitted that many Beast Race clansmen opposed adopting human form and studying newer cultivation systems.
• Chen Changsheng told Peacock to submit to the Human Race during the Demon Race’s decline and promised the Heavenly Silkworm, Peacock, and Flood Dragon races would be spared if they caused no trouble.
• Peacock accepted the terms and asked whether the Beast Race would ever rise again; Chen Changsheng replied that it would have to wait until heaven and earth were remade.

Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze withdrew from worldly affairs as the Beast Race fell and the Three Thousand Zhou entered a long peace. Fifteen hundred years later, the Jade Emperor reopened the Heavenly Dao and shattered the Ascension Road, drawing the Upper Realm and Lower Realm together as Tian Xuan emerged from his seal and Chen Changsheng remained hidden in the Qiongqi Tomb.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze he wanted to live for himself, and the two disappeared into the mountains to rest.
• The Peacock Clan submitted to the Demon Race, and the Human Race and God Race defeated the Beast Race after a war lasting more than five hundred years.
• Xu Mao sought Hu Qiuyue’s hand in marriage, while Hu Tudou became an adult and opened the Peaceful Inn.
• Chen Changsheng told Hu Tudou he was leaving to avoid interfering when people he cared about came looking for him, then vanished with Bai Ze.
• Fifteen hundred years later, the Jade Emperor reopened the Heavenly Dao, ended the Mandate of Heaven, and caused the Ascension Road to collapse as the two realms drew closer.
• Tian Xuan emerged from a Longevity Bloodstone, while Chen Changsheng remained concealed inside the Qiongqi Tomb.

Tian Xuan unified the Demon Race, bore the Heaven's Mandate, and established the Demon Court, but refrained from attacking the Upper Realm. A dispute between Upper and Lower Realm cultivators then escalated into a wider conflict.

• Tian Xuan fought through the Demon Race's Three Hundred Eighty Zhou over thirty years while Nalan Xingde waited in the chaos for his elder brother, Nalan Fuyao.
• Nalan Xingde confronted Nalan Fuyao about helping Tian Xuan claim the Heaven's Mandate, but Fuyao said he had yielded it before because the timing was wrong and promised to handle Zi Ping's matter.
• Four hundred and seventy years after unifying the Demon Race, Tian Xuan bore the Heaven's Mandate in the void, where lightning raged for nine days and killed a Mortal Shedding Realm expert who tried to watch.
• Tian Xuan merged the Demon Race and Heavenly Court into the Demon Court, then entered seclusion instead of launching a war.
• Two Human Race cultivators from the Upper and Lower Realms fought over a spiritual herb, and their allies joined the dispute until forces on both sides began fighting.

Tian Xuan’s relentless wars left him opposed by every race, while Chen Changsheng remained hidden in Qiongqi Tomb despite Nalan Xingde and Wu Li urging him to intervene. After Bao’er arrived seeking a coffin, Chen Changsheng sent him to bring Tian Xuan back.

• Tian Xuan launched the Two Realms War, rejected peace offers, and led the Demon Court into a devastating conflict that ended with the Three Thousand Zhou submitting after its rulers suffered heavy losses.
• After a two-hundred-year truce, Tian Xuan ordered attacks on the Forbidden Grounds, rejected opposition, and continued conquering them despite Mountain and River Academy dissolving its alliance with the Demon Court.
• As the Demon Court’s campaigns killed countless powerful beings, all races realized Tian Xuan wanted everyone, including himself, to die and united against him.
• Nalan Xingde visited Qiongqi Tomb and asked whether Chen Changsheng would ignore Tian Xuan, but received no answer.
• Wu Li tried to enter Qiongqi Tomb to persuade Chen Changsheng to intervene, but Chen Changsheng stopped him with a slip of paper bearing his name.
• Three hundred years later, Bao’er came to Qiongqi Tomb seeking a coffin, and Chen Changsheng sent him to bring Tian Xuan back.

Tian Xuan refused to leave the battlefield until Chen Shisan defeated him, then returned with him to the Demon Court as Qian Bao'er prepared to face the end of her life. The chapter left Chen Shisan and Tian Xuan arriving beside Qian Bao'er and Chen Changsheng.

• Tian Xuan fought the besieging forces until Chen Shisan entered the Ten Directions Absolute Array to bring him back.
• Tian Xuan challenged Chen Shisan to defeat him, and Chen Shisan's sword strike ended the battle; his hair turned ash-gray as he and Tian Xuan departed.
• The gathered powerful beings decided to wait two thousand years before confronting the Demon Emperor and the Sword God.
• Chen Changsheng prepared a coffin for Qian Bao'er using a puppet made from the Blood Demon's Life Force, while she said she was ready to die.
• Chen Shisan arrived at the Demon Court with Tian Xuan, and Qian Bao'er reminded Chen Shisan of his promise to give her the stars.

Qian Bao'er said goodbye to Chen Changsheng, Chen Shisan, and Tian Xuan before disappearing, and Chen Changsheng confronted Tian Xuan over Linglong's death. Tian Xuan later stopped forcing others onto the Deathward Path, while Chen Changsheng returned to the Qiongqi Tomb and prepared to sleep for 5,120 years.

• Qian Bao'er received star-forged earrings from Chen Shisan and Tian Xuan, then lay in her coffin and dissolved into a stream of light, leaving the earrings behind.
• Tian Xuan angrily confronted Chen Changsheng about Linglong's death, and Chen Changsheng told him to seek out his true body if he wanted revenge.
• Chen Changsheng urged Tian Xuan to pursue his enemies without abandoning reason, then left with Bai Ze while Chen Shisan stayed briefly with Tian Xuan.
• In the 1,800th year of the Demon Court, Tian Xuan stopped forcing others to take the Deathward Path and fought the Forbidden Grounds alone, bringing peace back to the world.
• At the Qiongqi Tomb, Chen Changsheng took Qian Bao'er's coffin and announced he would sleep for 5,120 years, while Bai Ze sealed himself inside a Longevity Bloodstone.

Chen Changsheng slept for thousands of years, then returned to his work in the Qiongqi Tomb while the Demon Race prospered and the wider calamity continued. His isolated routine was interrupted when Nian Sheng broke into the tomb and found him worn down by his research.

• Chen Changsheng chose to sleep for four thousand eight hundred and eighty years, reasoning that he did not need the extra attribute points from a longer sleep.
• While Chen Changsheng slept, the Demon Emperor repeatedly attacked the Forbidden Grounds alone, and the Demon Race rose to power as the other races avoided provoking it.
• Chen Changsheng woke in the Qiongqi Tomb, saw Bai Ze still sealed in the Longevity Bloodstone, and resumed his research without adding his attribute points.
• After three thousand years, Bai Ze left to seek company, then returned eight hundred years later and found Chen Changsheng still working among more special puppets before going back to sleep.
• An alarm formation alerted Chen Changsheng that someone was forcing entry into the Qiongqi Tomb, and the intruder shattered the formation.
• Nian Sheng entered and teased Chen Changsheng about staying in tombs, then comforted him after seeing his bloodshot eyes.

Chen Changsheng rested while Nian Sheng helped him accept that his dead friends still lived in his memories and recounted the devastating battle that had shattered the realms. After sleeping for two days and nights, Chen Changsheng awoke clear-minded, found Nian Sheng gone, and freed Bai Ze to demand an explanation.

• Nian Sheng urged Chen Changsheng to stop dwelling on his dead friends, and he realized they would live on in his memories.
• Nian Sheng told Chen Changsheng she had beaten Wu Li, Zhang Bairen, Teacher, Teacher's brother, and others, and had also beaten Hu Qiuyue.
• Nian Sheng told Chen Changsheng that Tian Xuan had died in a battle that killed the Demon Emperor and shattered the Upper Realm, Lower Realm, and Three Thousand Zhou.
• Chen Changsheng told Nian Sheng not to blame herself for keeping others from seeing him, then went to sleep while she continued on her path.
• After sleeping for two days and nights, Chen Changsheng found Nian Sheng gone and freed Bai Ze from the Longevity Bloodstone, demanding an explanation.

Chen Changsheng confronted Bai Ze about the formation trapping him and learned that Wu Li and the others had concealed a powerful enemy. He ruled out Nalan Fuyao as their target, leaving an unknown force in the shadows whose strength may exceed what even Zhang Bairen and the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Ground could handle.

• Chen Changsheng accused Bai Ze of leaking the formation arrangements and forced him to admit that the woman who visited had set up the Grand Array with help from Wu Li and Sour Scholar.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Nalan Fuyao had once been a potential rival for Heaven's Mandate but had not challenged Tian Xuan, suggesting Fu Yao was pursuing a larger scheme.
• Bai Ze said he did not know who Wu Li and the others were facing, but confirmed that the enemy was not Fu Yao because Bookworm was among those chosen to fight.
• Chen Changsheng realized an extraordinarily powerful force remained hidden and that it was separate from the group involved in Zhang Bairen's fall.

Chen Changsheng discussed the obstacles to immortality with the system, which explained why his puppet path could not overcome the limits of bodies and souls. He inspected Ao Chuang, the self-learning formation he had created, and left it to keep developing while he waited for the outside world to settle.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze he would stay inside until the upper and lower realms finished rebuilding their power structure and the danger of attracting attention had passed.
• Chen Changsheng asked the system why his puppet path of immortality could not succeed, and it explained that a living puppet might choose death or turn against him, while souls also aged.
• Chen Changsheng concluded that immortality required preserving the body, soul, and Dao Heart, then called over his puppet Ao Chuang.
• Chen Changsheng went to Qiongqi Tomb and inspected Ao Chuang, a self-learning formation with a golden-gas form and a Divine Sense Realm range of fifty thousand li.
• Chen Changsheng ordered Ao Chuang to optimize its algorithms and activate the defenses, while Ao Chuang estimated it would need at least one hundred thousand years to reach the next level.

Chen Changsheng welcomed Ge Hong, the Little Immortal Elder who had left Bai Ze as an egg in the Bronze Ancient Hall, and heard his request to help restore order to the world. Ge Hong’s complaint about being served ordinary spirit tea led Chen Changsheng to brew his prized bitter tea, which Ge Hong praised as the finest under heaven.

• Bai Ze sensed a familiar visitor approaching and became unusually excited.
• Ge Hong arrived, and Chen Changsheng recognized their connection through the bond of incense and offerings.
• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that Ge Hong had likely left it as an egg in the Bronze Ancient Hall.
• Ge Hong asked Chen Changsheng to clean up the world and restore stability, citing the debts he owed for Hundred Defeats Immortal’s fist art, the Ascension Road’s treasures, and Bai Ze.
• Chen Changsheng objected to Ge Hong’s demanding attitude, and Ge Hong complained that he had not been served Chen Changsheng’s famous bitter tea.
• Chen Changsheng brewed his hand-grown bitter tea, and Ge Hong declared it the finest under heaven.

Little Immortal Elder secretly asked Chen Changsheng to help reform the New World by changing the entrenched ideas of powerful survivors. Chen Changsheng explained how difficult that would be and insisted Little Immortal Elder owe him a favor, leaving Little Immortal Elder reconsidering the price.

• Little Immortal Elder asked Chen Changsheng to help, admitting that Wu Li and Scholar had opposed involving him and that he had come secretly.
• Chen Changsheng asked about the enemies, and Little Immortal Elder explained that the New World still contained survivors from Three Thousand Zhou and the Lower Realm who clung to old ways.
• Little Immortal Elder asked Chen Changsheng to change those survivors’ thinking so they would not hinder the New World or recreate the old Upper Realm and Lower Realm.
• Chen Changsheng refused to promise help without a favor in return, while Little Immortal Elder tried to offer weapons, pills, techniques, and Natural Treasures instead.
• Chen Changsheng compared changing people’s ingrained beliefs to making them eat shit while enjoying it, then used the example of going unclothed for a thousand years to show how difficult reform would be.
• Little Immortal Elder agreed that changing a sect’s rules was harder than going without clothes and began to see that owing Chen Changsheng a favor might not be such a loss.

Chen Changsheng agreed to help Little Immortal Elder reform the New World, then left Qiongqi Tomb with Bai Ze to explore the changed outside world. The Golden Silkworm Gu remained dormant, so Chen Changsheng planned to use one of Ao Chuang’s spare puppets as a trump card.

• Little Immortal Elder promised Chen Changsheng a favor if he helped with reform, warned him not to provoke battles involving Immortal Venerables, and gave him a jade pendant tied to an arranged marriage.
• Bai Ze asked Little Immortal Elder about its origins, but Little Immortal Elder refused to explain and urged it to persuade Chen Changsheng to stop working on dangerous matters.
• Chen Changsheng added 4,880 attribute points to his defense, but the system said he had not reached Mortal Shedding Realm.
• Chen Changsheng noted that the Golden Silkworm Gu had begun its first transformation and decided to prepare another trump card using one of Ao Chuang’s spare puppets.
• Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze left Qiongqi Tomb, learned that neither knew what had become of the outside world, and Chen Changsheng turned Bai Ze into a dog to avoid attracting attention.

Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze traveled to the Spirit Region to investigate the new world and visit Chen Changsheng’s fiancée’s family. After discovering the Su Family Third Branch had fallen into poverty, Chen Changsheng entered their home and found the woman in the bamboo hat crying over a jade pendant.

• Chen Changsheng explained that he planned to investigate the Nine Regions, find Tian Xuan’s corpse and Thirteen, and check on Mountain and River Academy; Bai Ze secured his promise to help him take a Human Pet.
• Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze went to the Spirit Region, where the Su Family Main Branch rejected their engagement token and directed them to the impoverished Su Family Third Branch.
• Young men from the Su Family Main Branch mocked Chen Changsheng and the allegedly ugly woman, but she pulled him into the courtyard before they could stop him.
• The woman told Chen Changsheng to wait for her father, then left him with an old servant, while Chen Changsheng followed the servant toward the back courtyard.
• Chen Changsheng found the woman crying with the jade pendant and teased her by asking whether she really was an ugly freak.

Chen Changsheng met Su Wan'er, his betrothed, and discovered that Fire Poison had covered her body in sores since birth. He learned that she survived on costly Ice Soul Pills because the Thousand Year Cold Jade needed to cure her was no longer available, and he left to discuss the matter after her father returned.

• Su Wan'er tried to dissolve her engagement, but Chen Changsheng insisted on seeing her face and examined her sores.
• Chen Changsheng identified Su Wan'er's condition as congenital Fire Poison and learned that a Ten Thousand Year Fire Toad had injured her mother while she was pregnant.
• Su Wan'er explained that her master had said Thousand Year Cold Jade could cure her, but the rare jade could no longer be found.
• Su Wan'er said her family had declined because each Ice Soul Pill, which suppressed her Fire Poison, cost more than ten thousand jin of divine source.
• Chen Changsheng returned to the guest room, where Bai Ze complained about keeping Su Wan'er's father occupied, and Chen Changsheng said reform could not be achieved through force alone.

Chen Changsheng explained to Bai Ze that the world’s resources and cultivation had declined after repeated wars, so they would build their power by playing within the Rules and weakening the Su Family Main Branch through the rise of the Su Family Third Branch. He then met Su Wan'er’s father, fulfilled his marriage contract, and learned that Peaceful Inn might be able to cure her illness.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that the world had declined after its great wars and that they should follow the Rules to achieve their aims.
• Chen Changsheng proposed helping the Su Family Third Branch rise so the Su Family Main Branch would be unable to stop them, and Bai Ze eagerly agreed.
• Chen Changsheng met Su Wan'er’s father and said he had come to fulfill the marriage contract arranged by his master.
• Su Wan'er’s father accepted Chen Changsheng and gave him an invitation to Peaceful Inn for him and Wan Er to use together.
• Chen Changsheng learned that Su Wan'er could not cultivate and that her father hoped Peaceful Inn could cure her illness.

Chen Changsheng tried to raise travel money by refining pills from flour, pot ash, honey, and Bai Ze’s urine. Huang Bo believed the pills were powerful and agreed to package them for sale before their journey to Peaceful Inn.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that he needed money to prepare for their trip to Peaceful Inn in half a month.
• Chen Changsheng collected pots and basins, had Bai Ze urinate in one, and mixed the urine with flour, pot ash, and honey to make a batch of supposed pills.
• Chen Changsheng asked Su Wan'er and Huang Bo to help, claiming that someone else had to finish shaping the pills.
• Huang Bo ate one pill, felt power surge through him, and praised its effects before agreeing to package the batch.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Bai Ze’s urine smelled stronger because Bai Ze had gotten fired up, and he regretted not adding more flour to the mixture.

Chen Changsheng brought Su Wan'er to Myriad Treasures Pavilion and used her zither performance to draw the manager out and arrange a meeting. After the pavilion's pill master confirmed the pills' extraordinary value, Chen Changsheng demanded one hundred thousand Divine Sources each and offered Qian Ya news about the Treasure Basin if she bought his entire supply.

• Chen Changsheng encouraged Su Wan'er to be bolder, then set up a stall outside Myriad Treasures Pavilion and asked her to play the zither.
• Su Wan'er's performance drew a crowd and brought out the pavilion's manager, who escorted Chen Changsheng inside after warning him not to cause another disturbance.
• The pavilion's pill master examined Chen Changsheng's pills and confirmed they contained a rare Natural Treasure with benefits for cultivators, including those in the Divine Realm.
• Chen Changsheng identified the manager as Qian Ya, a business prodigy descended from the God of Wealth Lineage.
• Qian Ya offered to buy the pill formula for one million Divine Sources and the pills for fifteen thousand each, but Chen Changsheng raised his asking price to one hundred thousand per pill and promised news about the Treasure Basin if she bought them all.