Chapter Summaries

Zhang Bairen confronted Chen Changsheng about the secret behind his immortality and asked him to help establish standards for the Heavenly Emperor Realm. After Zhang Bairen left to obtain an admission ticket to a battle, the system explained that he had grown old in spirit because Chen Changsheng’s existence made him conscious of his finite lifespan.

• Zhang Bairen explained that Chen Changsheng’s unchanging focus on the future and Nalan Fuyao’s willing death convinced him that Chen had obtained a secret that could not be shared.
• Zhang Bairen rejected killing Chen Changsheng, saying immortality had erased many of his goals and that he now pursued the world’s secrets and the salvation of living beings.
• Chen Changsheng agreed to help Zhang Bairen establish suitable standards for the complicated Heavenly Emperor Realm, and Zhang went to obtain an admission ticket from the Heavenly Dao Society.
• Chen Changsheng asked why Zhang Bairen would not use another way to live longer, and Zhang said he would not take that path as the Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Court.
• Chen Changsheng asked the system why Zhang Bairen seemed old, and the system said awareness of life’s eventual end had made him grow old in spirit.

Chen Changsheng reflected on his relationships and argued with the system about whether his openness had burdened those around him. In the Water Realm, he set the prodigies a three-month mortal-world trial to change someone’s fate, receive a freely given gift, and obtain their tear, with pills as rewards.

• Chen Changsheng told the system that his honesty and extraordinary longevity may have pressured those around him, then blamed the system for encouraging his arrogance.
• The system insisted that Chen Changsheng had done nothing wrong, and he laughed at its inability to understand human sentiment.
• Chen Changsheng told the waiting prodigies, including Heng Tian, Ling Dao, Liu Yidao, and Ku Mu, to spend three months living as mortals and change a person's fate, receive a freely given gift, and obtain that person's tear.
• Chen Changsheng placed fragile seals on the prodigies that would shatter if they used cultivation, exceeded mortal limits, or violated the trial's rules.
• Chen Changsheng promised successful participants two immortal elixirs and one pill suited to them, leaving the prodigies eager to attempt the trial.

Chen Changsheng launched a Mortal World Heart Refinement trial and wagered with Wang Hao on whether the younger generation would follow him or Wang Hao over the next three thousand years. Wang Hao then learned that Chen Changsheng had found a way to eliminate people like him, while his conflict with Ye Yongxian paused as they considered the growing threat.

• Chen Changsheng told the gathered cultivators there was no limit on trial participants and gave them half an hour to choose their locations.
• Wang Hao explained that cultivators of every path needed Mortal World Heart Refinement, then argued with Baturu about the weakness of successors who neglected their Dao hearts.
• Chen Changsheng told Wang Hao that he had found a way to eliminate people like him and warned that Wang Hao's death was near.
• Wang Hao wagered that he and Chen Changsheng would guide the younger generation for three thousand years without controlling their choices; Chen Changsheng accepted the Dark Turmoil as the stake if he lost.
• Wang Hao sent out blood avatars and Chen Changsheng released Paper figures so their allies could Enter the Game.
• Wang Hao and Ye Yongxian halted their long battle so Wang Hao could return to the Water Realm, and Ye Yongxian agreed to help oppose Chen Changsheng while rejecting the Dark Turmoil for now.

Ye Yongxian warned Wang Hao that Chen Changsheng’s Mortal World Heart Refinement could undermine their influence by raising a new generation in a peaceful era, and they discussed preserving the Forbidden Ground and exploiting the trial. In the Water Realm, Jun Lin and the others debated how to approach the trial as Liu Yidao warned that it was more perilous than slaughter and asked Chen Xiao to consider how much he had changed.

• Ye Yongxian told Wang Hao that the peaceful era Chen Changsheng created would make the young prodigies less extreme and threaten their ability to control the world.
• Ye Yongxian proposed keeping the Forbidden Ground alive as a root of future calamity and chaos, and said they might have to help Chen Changsheng at a critical moment.
• Wang Hao revealed his interest in using the trial’s young participants, especially Ye Yu, but Ye Yongxian threatened him and forbade him from touching Ye Yu.
• In the Water Realm, Jun Lin, Liu Yidao, Bai Zhi, and the others debated whether the trial required following their true hearts or finding their true selves.
• Liu Yidao warned the group that the Mortal World Trial was more dangerous than any slaughter, then challenged Chen Xiao to notice how he had changed since leaving the mountain gate.

Liu Yidao explained that Mortal World Trial could quietly change a person's heart and force prodigies to choose between failure and losing their former selves. After the prodigies departed to seek their paths, Ye Yongxian confronted Chen Changsheng over his changing principles and past methods.

• Liu Yidao told Jun Lin that Mortal World Trial could kill a person's old self without them realizing it, and that abandoning the trial meant giving up the chance to advance.
• Xu Qianzhui asked whether Liu Yidao's second master had taught him how to overcome the trial, and Liu Yidao said there was no standard answer.
• When Chen Changsheng announced that time was up, Liu Yidao said he would travel with Bai Zhi, and they were teleported away.
• The prodigies and many Dao Protectors said their farewells and were teleported away to seek their own paths.
• Ye Yongxian arrived in the Water Realm as Ye Yu's Dao Protector, and Chen Changsheng asked what path he planned for Ye Yu; Ye Yongxian said Ye Yu needed no path of his own.
• Ye Yongxian criticized Chen Changsheng for changing his principles, while Chen Changsheng argued that different eras required different methods.

Chen Changsheng confronted Ye Yongxian and Wang Hao over their expanding powers and warned that he would stop them if they threatened his plans. Ye Yongxian rejected his demand for a truce, and Wang Hao proposed a three-thousand-year contest to settle their conflict.

• Chen Changsheng rejected Ye Yongxian’s request for fifty thousand years of immunity and explained that Ye Yongxian’s Bloodline Immortality had spread across the Chang Sheng Epoch.
• Chen Changsheng said he would prevent Ye Yongxian and Wang Hao from acting freely while he remained alive, threatening to focus entirely on defeating them if they refused.
• Chen Changsheng accused Wang Hao of leaking his flesh-devouring method to the major Forbidden Grounds to purge Ye Yongxian’s bloodline.
• Wang Hao dismissed Chen Changsheng’s objection and argued that the method had been his reward to use as he wished.
• Ye Yongxian declared that he and Wang Hao would fight for three thousand years, with the loser submitting, and challenged Chen Changsheng to stop the Dark Turmoil.

Chen Changsheng set a three-thousand-year limit for the prodigies’ Mortal World Trial, where they would serve as chess pieces. After two days without food, Heng Tian, Jun Lin, and Ling Dao struggled to survive in the mortal world despite retaining their cultivation.

• Chen Changsheng proposed that the era’s prodigies serve as chess pieces, with the loser submitting, and Wang Hao followed him into the trial.
• Kong Xuan explained that Heng Tian’s hunger came from Chen Changsheng’s seal and warned him that he would be eliminated if he did not eat within eight hours.
• Heng Tian abandoned his ineffective trap after Kong Xuan criticized it.
• Jun Lin and Ling Dao met at a sesame cake stall, both pretending they had already eaten.
• Ling Dao told Jun Lin that his attempt to seize food had ended with mortals beating him, while Jun Lin explained that he could not pawn his only clothes.
• Jun Lin and Ling Dao rejected working or begging for food after finding those plans impractical.

Jun Lin and Ling Dao struggled with hunger in Luoyang City until Liu Yidao gave them food, ordinary clothes, and advice on surviving the trial. Liu Yidao explained that he was saving money to become a servant at Hundred Fragrances Pavilion, and the three set out with Jun Lin and Ling Dao better prepared for life in the mortal world.

• Jun Lin and Ling Dao abandoned the idea of taking each other's clothes and continued searching the streets for food.
• Liu Yidao recognized Jun Lin, led him and Ling Dao to a hidden room, and gave them hard steamed buns and coarse hemp clothes.
• Liu Yidao warned Jun Lin and Ling Dao not to rob people, explained how to buy cheap food, and told them they would not get sick during the three-month trial.
• Liu Yidao said he had helped them for their fine clothes, which would help him raise money to become a servant at Hundred Fragrances Pavilion.
• Liu Yidao explained that he had survived the initial hardship by entering from outside the city and finding food in villages and small towns.

Ling Dao and Jun Lin left Liu Yidao after hearing his advice that the Mortal World Trial required them to abandon their cultivator identities. At Hundred Fragrances Pavilion, Xu Qianzhui chose Zhang Zixuan as his trial target, while Heng Tian vowed to change Qin Liu’s fate.

• Ling Dao asked Liu Yidao what his clothes were worth, then departed after Liu Yidao valued them at two taels of silver.
• Liu Yidao told Jun Lin that his extravagant clothes and cultivator identity were obstacles to completing the Mortal World Trial, and Jun Lin left.
• Zhang Zixuan visited Hundred Fragrances Pavilion to see Murong Xing Shuang, bringing his pageboy Xu Qianzhui, who had chosen him as his trial target.
• Zhang Zixuan dismissed Xu Qianzhui’s warnings about the Imperial Examination and listened to music from the pavilion above.
• Heng Tian urged Qin Liu to pursue martial achievements, but Qin Liu refused and warned him not to target Murong Xing Shuang.
• Heng Tian left, promising to help Qin Liu change his fate, and Qin Liu dismissed him as strange.

Chen Changsheng explained that Ku Mu’s condition was not true One Body, Two Souls but a second personality formed as a Heart Demon under the Forbidden Ground’s pressure. Ku Mu recognized Chen Changsheng’s account of his childhood, but the chapter ended before they found a way to resolve the condition.

• Chen Changsheng told Ku Mu that his condition did not involve two true spirits and that the voice in his head was a Heart Demon.
• Chen Changsheng revealed that Ku Mu, rather than the voice, was the Heart Demon clinging to the other personality’s body.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Ku Mu’s condition began when he was thirteen, when pressure from the Forbidden Ground likely caused a second personality to form.
• Ku Mu recalled falling unconscious for three days after a cultivation deviation and awakening without his former hatred of the Forbidden Ground.
• Chen Changsheng said Ku Mu’s original personality had found arduous cultivation unbearable and had imagined growing to enjoy it, allowing the second personality to emerge.

Chen Changsheng explained Ku Mu and Wu Du’s shared-body condition and proposed letting Wu Du take control so he could speak with both personalities. Wu Du emerged, and Chen Changsheng ordered him to undergo Mortal World Heart Refinement under the Rules.

• Chen Changsheng identified Wu Du as the other personality sharing Ku Mu’s body and explained how their conflict had developed.
• Chen Changsheng said neither erasing Wu Du nor suppressing him forever was a viable solution, and that separating their True Spirit was possible only if Wu Du agreed to leave.
• Ku Mu let Wu Du take control after warning that they would die together if Chen Changsheng stirred up trouble.
• Wu Du greeted Chen Changsheng and discussed how the two personalities cultivated separately within the shared body.
• Chen Changsheng ordered Wu Du to undergo Mortal World Heart Refinement, telling him he had to follow the Rules or withdraw.

Chen Changsheng sent Wu Du to treat Minister Gu’s mad daughter as part of his Mortal World Trial, then began guiding Zhao Wu Yu in divination after warning that his reckless calculations would kill him. The chapter left Wu Yu reconsidering his path as Chen Changsheng explained how numbers could be used to deduce the world.

• Chen Changsheng sent Wu Du to cure Minister Gu’s daughter and told him to complete the Mortal World Trial by going through the motions for three months.
• Wang Hao asked Chen Changsheng how long it would take to destroy Wu Du, and Chen Changsheng warned him to determine whether the chosen target was Wu Du or Ku Mu first.
• Chen Changsheng asked Zhao Wu Yu to divine the winner of the Mortal World Trial, but the calculation caused Zhao Wu Yu to bleed and he admitted he could not determine the result.
• Zhao Wu Yu explained that he had chosen divination to understand the Great Trend of the World and avoid repeating the mistake that had led to his enemy’s death.
• Chen Changsheng warned Zhao Wu Yu that divination could not fully reveal the world’s trend and that his practice would exhaust his life, then began teaching him through a chess game.
• Chen Changsheng explained that numbers could replace the trigrams as a way to deduce the world, leaving Zhao Wu Yu stunned by the idea.

Chen Changsheng explained to Wu Yu that divination worked by building a small-world model to simulate reality and infer the future. He left her understanding why the Sages’ methods were practical and why divination should not be trusted as infallible.

• Chen Changsheng asked Wu Yu which Bagua method she had studied, and she said she learned the Acquired Bagua.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the essence of deduction was creating a Small World from patterns in nature to glimpse the future.
• Chen Changsheng described how the Innate Bagua combined the elements of a world and said its vast scope made it unsuitable for ordinary practitioners.
• Wu Yu lost their game and realized the Innate Bagua modeled changes in heaven and earth while the Acquired Bagua modeled human affairs; Chen Changsheng called such a model a simulation of reality.
• Chen Changsheng rebuked Wu Yu for dismissing models as simple and explained that the Sages relied on their own efforts rather than expecting divination to provide certain answers.
• Chen Changsheng said the Sages warned that Divination Readings could be wrong, then asked Wu Yu whether she understood why divination had declined.

Chen Changsheng explained the costs and limits of deduction to Zhao Wu Yu, who remained determined to avenge her father and prevent the Great Calamity of the Common People. After Chen Changsheng left, Zhang Zixuan celebrated Xu Qianzhui's poem winning him a meeting with Xing Shuang, while Xu Qianzhui recognized the passing servant as Liu Yidao.

• Chen Changsheng explained that deduction could simulate worlds and reveal flaws, but warned Zhao Wu Yu that pursuing her goals through it could cost her life.
• Zhao Wu Yu vowed to kill Chen Changsheng to avenge her father and stop the Great Calamity of the Common People, and Chen Changsheng told her that her father had understood his actions despite opposing him.
• Chen Changsheng refused to clear Zhao Wu Yu's father's name publicly but promised to remember and tell the truth, then vanished from the divination stall.
• At Hundred Fragrances Pavilion, Zhang Zixuan celebrated Xu Qianzhui's poem winning for him and learned that Xing Shuang had postponed their meeting for three days because she was unwell.
• As Zhang Zixuan left, Xu Qianzhui recognized the servant who brushed past him as Liu Yidao.

Liu Yidao explained his wager with Bai Zhi over whether Bai Zhi could reform Murong Xing Shuang, and asked Xu Qianzhui to help keep her from leaving the trade. Xu Qianzhui refused to harm Zhang Residence, but Liu Yidao argued that Murong Xing Shuang should marry Zhang Zixuan to help him mature.

• Xu Qianzhui met Liu Yidao outside Zhang Residence, and Liu explained that Bai Zhi had accepted a wager to reform Murong Xing Shuang within three months.
• Liu Yidao recounted how he challenged Bai Zhi to reform Murong Xing Shuang or break his precept against lust, while Bai Zhi vowed to help her through compassion.
• Liu Yidao said Murong Xing Shuang had gone to see Bai Zhi, threatening his wager and potentially worsening Zhang Zixuan's obsession.
• Xu Qianzhui refused to cause Zhang Residence's downfall, saying the trials should not turn them into beasts.
• Liu Yidao argued that Murong Xing Shuang should marry Zhang Zixuan to help him grow, and insisted she must first have no interest in him.

Liu Yidao tried to recruit Xu Qianzhui to help change Murong Xing Shuang's fate by making Zhang Zixuan strive for a place on the Golden List, while Xu Qianzhui considered the plan. At the Zhang Residence, Zhang Zixuan defended his carefree life and persuaded Xu Qianzhui to cover for him, then left excitedly to enjoy himself.

• Liu Yidao argued that making Murong Xing Shuang lose hope would change her fate and declared he would win the trial.
• Xu Qianzhui said he needed time to decide, but required Liu Yidao to waive Bai Zhi's punishment if he won; Liu Yidao agreed and gave him three days.
• Xu Qianzhui found Zhang Zixuan asleep over his books and woke him to continue studying.
• Zhang Zixuan argued that he preferred being a salted fish and challenged Xu Qianzhui's insistence that he change his life.
• Xu Qianzhui took Zhang Zixuan's book and brush, offered to do his schoolwork, and promised not to tell the master.
• Zhang Zixuan thanked Xu Qianzhui and announced he would take him to see Luoyang's Number One Courtesan.

Liu Yidao rejected Wang Hao’s warning that he was falling into a trap by helping Wang Shanhuo, while Bai Zhi visited Murong Xing Shuang and was challenged over his motives for trying to save her. The chapter ended with Bai Zhi unable to answer her accusations.

• Liu Yidao told Wang Shanhuo that they were even and returned to work at Hundred Fragrances Pavilion.
• Wang Hao warned Liu Yidao that helping Wang Shanhuo had drawn him into a Honey Trap and urged him to fall in love with her before killing her.
• Liu Yidao dismissed Wang Hao’s advice and said he was busy preparing to make a bet with Little Bald Head.
• Bai Zhi refused to look at Murong Xing Shuang until she challenged his restraint and he opened his eyes.
• Murong Xing Shuang accused Bai Zhi of vanity and condescension, saying she did not need his rescue and that he could not offer what she truly wanted.
• Bai Zhi was left speechless by Murong Xing Shuang’s words.

Bai Zhi struggled with whether Buddhist teachings could truly save people after Wang Hao challenged his beliefs using Murong Xing Shuang’s suffering. Chen Changsheng revealed that the elders were using their disciples as pieces in a contest ahead of the Great Calamity, and warned Bai Zhi that his path resembled the Forbidden Ground’s.

• Bai Zhi meditated in seclusion after leaving Murong Xing Shuang, and Wang Hao confronted him about failing to save her.
• Wang Hao urged Bai Zhi to pursue the True Self Realm and argued that suppressing human desires and emotions only caused suffering.
• Bai Zhi questioned his teacher about whether the Buddhist Sect sought to spread its teachings or guide people toward goodness, and the old monk urged him to continue his path.
• Chen Changsheng told Bai Zhi that the elders were using their disciples as Chess Pieces to settle their old contest as the Great Calamity approached.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Bai Zhi’s path and the Forbidden Ground both pursued the self, making the Forbidden Ground impossible to destroy because Bai Zhi would become its future.

Chen Changsheng explained to Bai Zhi the difference between Wang Hao’s desire-driven True Self Realm and the rule-bound self pursued by the Forbidden Ground and righteous sects. He urged Bai Zhi to consider a path of seeking the heart and saving all living beings, then left him with two Buddhist verses.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Zhi that Wang Hao pursued desire while the Forbidden Ground and righteous sects pursued reality through Rules that restrained people and maintained order.
• Chen Changsheng argued that the established order saved people and protected the world, while Bai Zhi questioned its cost and struggled to answer Wang Hao’s arguments.
• Chen Changsheng described his own journey from the True Self Realm to the self and now toward the true self, which he equated with seeking a heart and saving all living beings.
• Chen Changsheng gave Bai Zhi two poems written by the Demon Emperor and Sword God during their trials in the Buddhist Kingdom.
• Chen Changsheng warned Bai Zhi against people who denied the distinction between good and evil, then departed as a Paper figure.
• Bai Zhi read the Buddhist verses on the paper and recited the lines beginning, “The body is a Bodhi Tree.”

Chen Changsheng ended the prodigies’ stalled Mortal World Trial and proposed a Book of Wonders Competition where the stakes would be paid on the spot. After a Righteous Dao Protector insulted him, Chen Changsheng declared the man’s Great World would be Wang Hao’s stake and ordered Wang Hao to destroy it without damaging its foundations.

• Chen Changsheng dismissed Wang Hao’s complaints about their competition, and Wang Hao wondered whether his disciple could overcome the trial.
• After three months passed without the prodigies completing the first Mortal World Trial task, Chen Changsheng proposed that the older generation enter the fray and gamble on a new competition.
• Chen Changsheng agreed that the Forbidden Grounds could add participants as long as both sides kept equal numbers, and he demanded that the stakes be paid on the spot.
• A Righteous Dao Protector challenged Chen Changsheng’s authority, and Cui Hao Yu drew his sword to defend him.
• Chen Changsheng declared the Righteous Dao Protector’s Great World a stake in the competition and assigned it to Wang Hao, who accepted despite expecting others to interfere.