Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng questioned Tie Yunpeng about the Greenwood Epoch’s hidden threat and the forces behind it. Tie Yunpeng pointed to the Great Song imperial family and Grand Preceptor Pang, while Chen Changsheng decided to wait for the culprit to reveal himself.

• Jiang Shan learned that Tie Yunpeng had sent one of his Eight Vajras to kill him, and Chen Changsheng returned to paper form.
• Chen Changsheng met Tie Yunpeng in his command tent and learned that Tie Yunpeng had reached Immortal King Ninth Grade but feared a hidden enemy.
• Tie Yunpeng said local forces had supported his rise because something had gone wrong in the Greenwood Epoch, and he urged Chen Changsheng to investigate the Great Song imperial family and Grand Preceptor Pang.
• Tie Yunpeng said he would rebel if necessary and asked Chen Changsheng to spare his men if they lost.
• Tie Yunpeng said a Prefect had killed Jiang Shan’s family, but the investigation had gone no further; Chen Changsheng decided to follow the original plan and wait for the culprit to surface.

Chen Changsheng challenged Tie Yunpeng’s authority, then learned from Grand Preceptor Pang that Hong Jing and Chen Qiang of the Outer Heavens had investigated Jiang Shan’s death. As Chen Changsheng left to pursue the truth, the Seven Kill Army surrounded Shui Po Liang Shan and demanded Jiang Shan surrender the stronghold.

• Chen Changsheng told Tie Yunpeng that Jiang Shan would be tested against his army and warned Tie Yunpeng that he might not even match His Majesty.
• At Grand Preceptor Pang’s residence, Chen Changsheng demanded answers about Jiang Shan’s death, and Pang named Hong Jing and Chen Qiang of the Outer Heavens as diligent investigators.
• Grand Preceptor Pang pierced Chen Changsheng’s hand, exposing a clone that burned away, and Chen Changsheng accepted Pang’s explanation before telling him to consider teaching at an academy.
• The Seven Kill Army’s silver-armored general demanded that Jiang Shan hand Nine Caves and Eighteen Forts over to the army, but Jiang Shan declared the land was Shui Po Liang Shan and demanded an Imperial Edict.
• The general ordered two hundred thousand troops to surround Shui Po Liang Shan and threatened to attack if its people did not come out.

Seven Killings’s two-hundred-thousand-strong army bombarded Shui Po Liang Shan’s defenses and sent its Vanguard Army into the ruins, where hidden defenders ambushed and routed them. Shui Po Liang Shan’s fighters struck down the Vanguard General and withdrew underground, leaving Seven Killings stunned.

• Seven Killings ordered his warships to bombard Shui Po Liang Shan after surrounding it with two hundred thousand troops.
• The bombardment shattered all eighteen layers of defenses and devastated the mountains, rivers, and ground.
• Seven Killings sent the eight-thousand-man Vanguard Army into the ruins, where three thousand fighters emerged from underground and broke their formation with coordinated attacks.
• The defenders regrouped into units of thirty, overwhelmed the Vanguard Army again, and pinned down its Vanguard General with an elaborate formation.
• A combined flying-sword attack pierced the Vanguard General, and a Title Immortal Venerable used an object that released black mist to engulf his remaining flesh and blood.
• Shui Po Liang Shan’s fighters retreated underground, leaving corpses and scattered survivors as Seven Killings wondered what had happened.

Jiang Shan’s bandits routed Seven Killings’s Vanguard Army with tactics taught by Chen Changsheng, leaving Seven Killings to launch a reckless nighttime attack. Chen Changsheng showed Tie Yunpeng the battle and agreed to observe him, while Tie Yunpeng asked how the bandits could form formations so quickly.

• Seven Killings withdrew his battered Vanguard Army after losing half its soldiers and most of its mid-level cultivators in a brief battle.
• Shui Po Liang Shan celebrated its victory, while Jiang Shan recorded the battle’s results and White-Faced Scholar recognized the power of Chen Changsheng’s teachings.
• Seven Killings blamed Jiang Shan’s tactics for the defeat, then realized his campaign was likely lost before Jiang Shan raided his camp at night.
• Chen Changsheng showed Tie Yunpeng the battle footage and said he would observe him to ensure he was not being deceived.
• Tie Yunpeng asked Chen Changsheng how the bandits had learned to form formations so quickly.

Chen Changsheng explained to Tie Yunpeng how he trained ordinary soldiers to form battle arrays quickly and defeat stronger forces. He defended spending heavily to support even soldiers with poor aptitude, arguing that such loyalty would strengthen the army’s courage and morale.

• Chen Changsheng demonstrated using soldiers as an array’s core and explained how divine power let them form formations quickly in battle.
• Chen Changsheng described drilling soldiers to follow fixed patterns, turning their unpredictable ideas into disciplined, fast attacks.
• Tie Yunpeng recognized how Jiang Shan’s three thousand trained men had defeated Seven Killings’ eight thousand by disrupting their communications and formations.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Shui Po Liang Shan compensated for training time with generous supplies of Divine Sources and Spirit Stones, and reassigned soldiers or equipped them with talismans when needed.
• Chen Changsheng insisted that he would spare no resources for an incompetent soldier, whose gratitude and courage could inspire the whole army to fight fearlessly.

Chen Changsheng and Tie Yunpeng discussed the strength and resources of their armies while Jiang Shan defeated Seven Killings and launched a night raid on the Seven Kill Army Camp. The chapter ended with Seven Killings forced to choose between defending the camp’s formation and sending senior cultivators to counterattack from afar.

• Chen Changsheng told Tie Yunpeng that a smaller, better-trained army could defeat a much larger force, then pointed out that Jiang Shan was overpowering Seven Killings.
• Jiang Shan defeated Seven Killings in a spear duel and criticized him for abandoning command of his two hundred thousand troops.
• Jiang Shan revealed that he had used seven underground pits, gravity formations, poison, and explosive talismans to kill nearly ten thousand low-level cultivators.
• Jiang Shan explained that scouting had revealed the camp’s location and that cultivators had dug the pits in only three shichen.
• A distant force attacked the camp from one thousand seven hundred li away, beyond the range of the Seven Kill Army’s warships.
• Jiang Shan told Seven Killings that sending senior cultivators to counterattack would weaken the camp’s Grand Formation and leave the army without command.

Seven Killings ordered his army to attack while Jiang Shan explained that superior tactics and magical artifacts would decide the battle. Jiang Shan unleashed fast-moving explosives against the exposed troops, leaving Seven Killings to confront them himself as they raced toward Nine Caves and Eighteen Forts.

• Seven Killings lifted the defensive array and ordered his troops to charge and dig out the enemy positions.
• Jiang Shan told Seven Killings that his superior tactics and magical artifacts gave him the advantage in war.
• Jiang Shan activated a Qilin Communicator and launched special magical artifacts capable of explosions comparable to a Fifth Grade Immortal King's full-force strike.
• Seven Killings ordered his army to retreat and tried to destroy the incoming artifacts with long-range spells, but they were too fast to stop.
• Seven Killings moved in front of the artifacts to bear their explosions himself as they sped toward Nine Caves and Eighteen Forts.

Jiang Shan defeated Seven Killings by exploiting the limits of his speed and forcing him away from Shui Po Liang Shan. After Jiang Shan launched a spear attack, Chen Changsheng told Tie Yunpeng that Seven Killings would die at Jiang Shan’s hands and urged him to learn from the new method of warfare.

• Seven Killings failed to stop the special Magical Artifacts, and Jiang Shan explained that his lack of self-awareness about his limits had made him vulnerable.
• Jiang Shan revealed that he had chosen the artifacts to make Seven Killings defend Shui Po Liang Shan and draw him 2,738 li away from it.
• Seven Killings asked to see Jiang Shan’s spear technique, and Jiang Shan prepared to kill him using only Immortal King Rank Six cultivation.
• Chen Changsheng ended the viewing of the battle and told Tie Yunpeng that Seven Killings would die at Jiang Shan’s hands, not his.
• Chen Changsheng urged Tie Yunpeng to learn from the new method of warfare and left the tent, while Tie Yunpeng vowed to make him repay the blood debt.

After Shui Po Liang Shan’s victory brought a court crisis, Chen Changsheng found Chen Qiang hiding as an old vegetable seller and questioned him about events from a hundred thousand years earlier. Chen Qiang revealed that Jiang Shan had suffered unexplained memory lapses before the known events began.

• Jiang Shan’s forces routed Seven Killings’ army, and the court rewarded Jiang Shan despite calls to punish him after Tie Yunpeng declared rebellion.
• Chen Changsheng recognized Chen Qiang in a market and insisted on following him to a secluded wooden house.
• Chen Changsheng asked Chen Qiang to explain the truth about events from a hundred thousand years earlier.
• Chen Qiang said that Hong Jing, Jiang Shan, and important figures in the capital had not known the full truth.
• Chen Qiang recalled that Jiang Shan periodically lost memories without noticing, and said he later suspected someone had arranged it.
• Chen Qiang said Jiang Shan’s subsequent misfortune interrupted his investigation and reflected that he had once admired Jiang Shan and considered recruiting him into Outer Heavens.

Chen Qiang revealed that Jiang Shan’s family had been killed by an overzealous Prefect and explained how Jian Fei and Greenwood Epoch allies fought the Outer Heavens founder. Chen Changsheng learned the mastermind was still hidden and preparing for a final confrontation, while the suspected puppets were products of the Greenwood Epoch’s internal conflict.

• Chen Qiang told Chen Changsheng that Jiang Shan’s family massacre had been an unauthorized act by a Prefect, though the mastermind was the founder of Outer Heavens.
• Chen Qiang recounted meeting Jian Fei’s Divine Sense at Jiang Shan’s tomb and learning that the mastermind had tried to seize Jiang Shan’s body.
• Chen Qiang explained that Jian Fei and Greenwood Epoch experts battled the mastermind, and Jian Fei sacrificed his final wisp of Divine Sense to save the epoch.
• Chen Changsheng deduced that Chen Qiang was Jian Fei’s hidden piece, and Chen Qiang confirmed the account.
• Chen Qiang said the mastermind had not appeared since the battle and was preparing for a final, open confrontation with Chen Changsheng.
• Chen Qiang denied that Duke Who Pacifies the Nation, Emperor Song, or Grand Preceptor Pang was the mastermind’s puppet, attributing their actions to internal strife in the Greenwood Epoch.

Chen Changsheng explained his ambitions and claimed he had created the Bitter Sea System, while Chen Qiang weighed whether to believe him. Chen Changsheng said Jiang Shan could defeat the hidden mastermind, but chose not to search for him yet.

• Chen Qiang confronted Chen Changsheng about his plan to take control of the Greenwood Epoch and said he would detonate the Spirit Stone Mine if necessary.
• Chen Changsheng argued that the Greenwood Epoch’s natives had failed to change their stagnant society and should accept the opportunity he offered.
• Chen Changsheng claimed he had created the Bitter Sea System and revealed that Jian Fei had been a swordsman from the Chang Sheng Epoch who defeated the mastermind.
• Chen Changsheng described the realms above the Heavenly Emperor and said Jiang Shan would eventually be able to defeat the mastermind without a Great Emperor’s help.
• Chen Changsheng explained that his conflict with the mastermind was a Great Dao Contention, then said he could find the mastermind immediately but did not want to look for him yet.

Chen Changsheng sealed the Greenwood Epoch and told Chen Qiang he was keeping his identity secret while the world recovered. Over the next five hundred years, Jiang Shan and the scattered groups endured Tie Yunpeng’s war as Bai Ze prepared for a coming counterattack.

• Chen Changsheng neutralized the Spirit Stone Mine’s measures, explained that he had sealed the Greenwood Epoch, and gave Chen Qiang a medicinal pill before leaving.
• Tie Yunpeng’s rebellion plunged the Greenwood Epoch into war, while Jiang Shan repeatedly escaped his encirclements and the three squads spread across the land.
• Yan Qing and Lin Yuan scattered the academy students, Lin Tianlang and Hong Jing aided civilians and gathered deserters, and Bai Ze and Xing Piaopiao recruited people while roaming the wilderness.
• After five hundred years, Bai Ze located a grand tomb in a primordial mountain range and ordered his tomb robbers to alter the surrounding terrain to suppress it.
• Xing Piaopiao asked when they would join the war, and Bai Ze said Chen Changsheng would notify them when it was time to begin their counterattack.

Bai Ze and Chen Changsheng discussed the preparations for the Greenwood Epoch and an awakened Imperishable Bone, while Chen Changsheng ordered Bai Ze to follow Jiang Shan’s plan. In Baling County, Chen Changsheng learned that He Youguang had become genuinely loyal to Great Song and executed him.

• Xing Piaopiao realized that Chen Changsheng’s five centuries of preparation had built a core workforce to replace Great Song’s officials with minimal upheaval.
• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze to stop after opening the tomb and act according to Jiang Shan’s plan, then identified the creature inside as an Imperishable Bone.
• Bai Ze promised to capture the Imperishable Bone, and Xing Piaopiao asked for three days to defeat it in exchange for a share of the newest magic treasure.
• Chen Changsheng questioned He Youguang, who explained that he had watched Baling County prosper and recognized Chen Changsheng’s ambitions for all of Great Song.
• Chen Changsheng concluded that He Youguang had become a true loyal minister and turned him to ash.

Jiang Shan began his campaign to end the five-hundred-year war by confronting the rulers of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties and demanding their submission. He left the Northern Song capital after defeating its forces, while Chen Changsheng and the bookstore owner discussed Jiang Shan’s rise and the owner’s eventual death.

• Chen Changsheng killed He Youguang, took his appearance, and told Jiang Shan that preparations were nearly complete; Jiang Shan ordered the plan to begin immediately.
• Jiang Shan told White-Faced Scholar that he would attack both exhausted factions at once and ordered an army prepared within a month.
• Jiang Shan confronted Tie Yunpeng in the Southern Song Dynasty and proposed that Tie Yunpeng stay put and surrender if Jiang Shan’s army arrived; after they fought in a Spatial Rift, Jiang Shan emerged unharmed and treated Tie Yunpeng’s silence as agreement.
• Jiang Shan repeated his terms in the Northern Song Dynasty, where Emperor Song, Grand Preceptor Pang, and the dynasty’s hidden foundations fought him; Jiang Shan killed three powerful vassals and left after warning that he would return in twenty years.
• Chen Changsheng, disguised as a shop assistant, called Jiang Shan too soft-hearted, while the bookstore owner said Jiang Shan was fit to rule and challenged Chen Changsheng to kill him himself.

Chen Changsheng confronted the Limitless Celestial, who explained how he survived the Ascension Road War and why he had stayed hidden rather than challenge Chen Changsheng. The Limitless Celestial admitted he was tired of fleeing and no longer wanted to run.

• Chen Changsheng demanded to know whether the Limitless Celestial had spread seeds of the Uncanny, and the Limitless Celestial denied doing so.
• The Limitless Celestial explained that Zhang Bairen spared him in exchange for his Golden Core, the secrets of the Golden Core System, and fragments of his power.
• The Limitless Celestial said he avoided fighting Chen Changsheng because Chen Shisan, the White-Haired Sword God, and Nalan Xingde also stood in his way.
• The Limitless Celestial described how Chen Changsheng's growing power, allies, and creation of the Sky Abyss World made resistance seem hopeless.
• The Limitless Celestial said he had expected Chen Changsheng to find him after Jian Fei arrived in the Greenwood Epoch, but he had not fled because he was tired of running.

Limitless Celestial accepted that he could never surpass Chen Changsheng and asked him to prepare a thin coffin for his death. Chen Changsheng agreed to keep him close, while news of a coming war against the northern and southern Great Song brought Yan Qing, Lin Yuan, and the others back together at Shui Po Liang Shan.

• Limitless Celestial explained that his resentment toward Chen Changsheng stemmed from the Golden Core System rejecting him and blamed Chen for the Bitter Sea System eclipsing it.
• Chen Changsheng told Limitless Celestial he had found him by tracing changes to cultivation methods back to the shops where they were altered.
• Limitless Celestial asked Chen Changsheng to prepare a thin coffin, and Chen agreed to take care of his body after he died.
• Chen Changsheng and Limitless Celestial left the shop to eat, bickering over what food they could afford.
• Yan Qing, Lin Yuan, and the others gathered at Shui Po Liang Shan after hearing war was about to break out against the northern and southern Great Song.

Jiang Shan gathered the Greenwood Epoch leaders to decide how to wage war against the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, but the group rejected his plan to attack the Northern Song Dynasty first. He assigned Lin Yuan and Yan Qing to lead an invasion of the Southern Song Dynasty while he guarded the central army against a Northern Song attack.

• Yan Qing and the others reunited in the Righteous Gathering Hall, where Jiang Shan arrived and asked for their views on the coming war.
• Lin Yuan warned that fighting both Song Dynasties at once could leave their forces vulnerable, but Jiang Shan argued that ending the prolonged chaos was urgent.
• Jiang Shan proposed attacking the Northern Song Dynasty first, explaining that the Southern Song Dynasty might otherwise strike from behind and that Tie Yunpeng would welcome pressure on the Northern Song Dynasty.
• Lin Yuan opposed Jiang Shan's plan, and everyone present—including Hong Jing—raised their hands in favor of attacking the Southern Song Dynasty first.
• Jiang Shan assigned Lin Yuan and Yan Qing to lead the attack, Xing Piaopiao and Lord Bai to handle logistics, Lin Tianlang and Hong Jing to support from the rear, and himself to guard the central army.
• Lin Yuan felt excited about the campaign because he saw it as a chance to prove himself stronger than Jiang Shan.

Chen Changsheng visited Lin Yuan and Jiang Shan after their disagreement over attacking the Northern Song Dynasty, and let them decide their own course. Jiang Shan planned to unify the Greenwood Epoch without destroying either Song Dynasty, while Chen Changsheng revealed he would restart his plan to turn the epoch into a transit station and have Jiang Shan face the Limitless Celestial.

• Chen Changsheng assured Lin Yuan that he had treated him and Jiang Shan fairly, then approved their decision after learning Lin Yuan opposed the invasion on public grounds rather than private resentment.
• Chen Changsheng asked Jiang Shan whether Lin Yuan's opposition had disrupted his plans, and Jiang Shan said he would not force his generals to obey him.
• Jiang Shan said he intended to make the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties submit rather than destroy them, because slaughter would not extinguish the people’s hopes.
• Chen Changsheng praised Jiang Shan’s judgment, revealed his plan to turn the Greenwood Epoch into a transit station, and said Jiang Shan could fight the Limitless Celestial after unifying it.
• The Limitless Celestial praised Jiang Shan’s potential, while Chen Changsheng said the Greenwood Epoch suited Jiang Shan better than the Chang Sheng Epoch.

Chen Changsheng and Limitless Celestial debated whether Jiang Shan would thrive in the Greenwood Epoch and how he should lead the war against the Song Dynasties. Limitless Celestial conceded Chen Changsheng’s arguments and carried boxes of goods into the bookstore.

• Limitless Celestial challenged Chen Changsheng to debate Jiang Shan’s prospects, with the loser agreeing to carry a box of goods.
• Chen Changsheng argued that Jiang Shan could develop better in the Greenwood Epoch than among stronger rivals in the Chang Sheng Epoch, and Limitless Celestial accepted the point.
• Limitless Celestial objected to Chen Changsheng’s support for letting Jiang Shan’s allies attack the Southern Song Dynasty first.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the attack would unite Jiang Shan’s subordinates behind his command and test their plan before they changed course.
• Limitless Celestial praised Chen Changsheng’s skill at commanding people, carried another box of goods, and Chen Changsheng denied being a genius.

Chen Changsheng challenged Limitless Celestial’s claim that he was a genius by showing how little the founder of the Golden Core System understood ordinary cultivators’ struggles. Meanwhile, Lin Yuan’s first campaign against the Southern Song Dynasty ended in a costly defeat, and Jiang Shan rallied Shui Po Liang Shan before asking Lin Tianlang to assess a plan against the Northern Song Dynasty.

• Chen Changsheng asked Limitless Celestial how long it would take to help a talent-poor cultivator reach Foundation Establishment, then argued that a genius could not understand ordinary cultivators’ hardships.
• Limitless Celestial explained that he had never created a Qi Refining manual because he believed the stage was an instinctive process that anyone could complete quickly.
• Lin Yuan and Yan Qing led two hundred thousand troops into the Southern Song Dynasty and captured eight cities in three days.
• The Northern Song Dynasty attacked Lin Yuan’s army as the two Song dynasties coordinated an encirclement, forcing Lin Yuan to retreat with one hundred and thirty thousand battered troops and lose the captured cities.
• Jiang Shan reassured the defeated leaders that he shared responsibility for the failed campaign and urged them to keep fighting.
• Jiang Shan asked Lin Tianlang about the chances of striking from within the Northern Song Dynasty, and Lin Tianlang estimated them at seventy percent.