Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng let Ming Yu pursue his own path and set out to meet an old acquaintance for a business arrangement. At Linlang Blessed Land, Liu Yidao recognized Chen Changsheng’s voice and hesitated before entering his wooden house.

• Chen Changsheng explained to Bai Ze that he would not hold Ming Yu back, even though losing his protection could put him in danger.
• Chen Changsheng told Shui Yue and Wei Guang he needed a discreet ally and sensed an old acquaintance nearby.
• Tengshe visited Linlang Blessed Land, where cultivators tended spiritual medicines and a manager received another order through his Qilin Communicator.
• Wei Guang led the manager more than a thousand li into the wilderness, where the man suspected an ambush and turned to leave.
• Chen Changsheng called the man Liu Yidao from the wooden house, and Liu Yidao drew his saber before approaching and entering.

Liu Yidao recognized Chen Changsheng, who had returned after faking his death for a hundred thousand years, and Chen offered him a role in a major undertaking. Liu Yidao initially refused, but Chen confronted him over the Linlang Blessed Land and persuaded him to agree.

• Liu Yidao recalled Wang Hao explaining that Chen Changsheng's eyes could never be convincingly disguised.
• Chen Changsheng invited Liu Yidao to tea, and Liu recognized him as the man who had faked his death.
• Chen Changsheng offered Liu Yidao a chance to join his business and a larger undertaking, but Liu tried to decline.
• Chen Changsheng challenged Liu about the Linlang Blessed Land and his plans involving that person, then threatened to have him dealt with.
• Liu Yidao reversed course, called Chen Changsheng Sir, and agreed to help in exchange for a founder's position.

Chen Changsheng arranged for Liu Yidao to secure Qilin Communicator distribution rights in Bai Ze Clan territory while keeping his plans quiet. He showed Bai Ze a special-edition communicator and explained that its advanced services would require a larger system, upgraded devices, and payment.

• Chen Changsheng told Liu Yidao to prepare matters for his visit to the Ten Thousand Races Academy, then left with Bai Ze.
• Liu Yidao asked Wei Guang and Shui Yue whether they came from the Pill Epoch, then agreed to arrange Qilin Communicator distribution rights and negotiate with the Bai Ze Clan.
• Chen Changsheng explained to Bai Ze why Liu Yidao was the best person to handle affairs discreetly.
• Chen Changsheng gave Bai Ze a special-edition Qilin Communicator, whose virtual Qilin described features that were not yet active.
• Chen Changsheng explained that advanced communicator services required a complete system, upgraded devices, and payment.

Chen Changsheng explained to Bai Ze how the Virtual World could profit by collecting, verifying, and selling cultivators’ knowledge. He proposed paying cultivators for their cultivation methods and offering insights and instruction, leaving Bai Ze stunned by the scale of the scheme.

• Chen Changsheng argued that the Virtual World’s greatest value would be access to a vast store of cultivator knowledge, not money.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he could buy cultivation methods at high prices, copy them, and resell them across the Virtual World.
• Chen Changsheng proposed contracts to prevent sellers from widely distributing their methods, and said verified Virtual World copies would be safer than pirated ones.
• Chen Changsheng outlined paid cultivation insights and personal instruction as additional products for cultivators struggling to master high-grade methods.
• Bai Ze was shocked by Chen Changsheng’s plan and warned that powerful people might punish him severely if it succeeded.

Chen Changsheng explained to Bai Ze why he had to cautiously protect the Virtual World from top-level cultivators and the devastation they could cause. Bai Ze realized how many powerful threats remained, and Chen Changsheng left him with the knowledge that each mountain they crossed revealed higher peaks ahead.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that top-level cultivators could shape or destroy entire eras, making them a serious threat to the Virtual World.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Dream could destroy the Virtual World by attacking the Chang Sheng Epoch or killing its defenders, while Heaven could devastate the Greenwood Epoch by striking its world core.
• Chen Changsheng said that damage to the Greenwood Epoch's world core could disrupt its environment, laws, and World Spiritual Energy, making cultivation and survival difficult.
• Chen Changsheng listed other powerful threats, including the Creator of the Ominous, the Master of the Netherworld Forest, the Heavenly Dao Society, and the founders of the Great Forbidden Grounds.
• Chen Changsheng reassured Bai Ze that the Forbidden Grounds had not grown stronger; their own increased strength and horizons had revealed greater dangers beyond the mountains they had crossed.

Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze arrived at the Ten Thousand Races Academy, where Chen Changsheng explained why the Forbidden Ground had once ignored them and warned against probing the academy with divine abilities. At the academy, he paid respects to Scholar’s statue before going to investigate Bai Ze’s latest dispute over stolen offerings.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that the Forbidden Ground had ignored them in the past because their power had seemed insignificant, and compared their former disregard for Tie Yunpeng and Grand Preceptor Pang to that attitude.
• Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze arrived at the Ten Thousand Races Academy, where Chen Changsheng rejected using Bai Ze’s sensing ability because experts might notice them and chose to investigate with their eyes instead.
• Chen Changsheng visited Scholar’s statue, left Spiritual Fruit and wine as offerings, and promised to continue the work they had once planned together.
• Chen Changsheng heard Bai Ze arguing over accusations that he had eaten offerings and went toward the other side of Academy Plaza, where someone condemned a Beast Race member for eating offerings before statues of the Imperial Tutor and Bai Ze.

Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze settled a dispute after Bai Ze ate offerings at the Ten Thousand Races Academy, then entered the academy to begin their business and prepare to help Meng De succeed in his studies. At the opening ceremony, they watched Vice Dean Yin Jie appear and speculated that a young Quasi-Emperor might be the son of Jun Lin and Wu Yang.

• Bai Ze admitted that he had eaten the offerings, and Chen Changsheng persuaded Meng De and the crowd to accept an apology to the statues.
• Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze ate a spiritual fruit from Meng De's offerings and agreed to help fulfill his wish for success in his studies.
• Chen Changsheng said they would run a shop at the Ten Thousand Races Academy and train Meng De without disguising themselves as students.
• Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze entered the academy grounds as the opening ceremony began and Vice Dean Yin Jie was introduced.
• Chen Changsheng and Bai Ze speculated that a young cultivator at the third heaven of Quasi-Emperor was Jun Lin and Wu Yang's son.

Chen Changsheng explained why he was hiding and told Bai Ze they had to repay their debts to the Netherworld Forest by helping it take human form. Later, he opened a shop at the Ten Thousand Races Academy and tried to sell Li Changsheng an outdated Qilin Communicator for an exorbitant price.

• Chen Changsheng told Bai Ze that the Emperor Realm Bitter Sea System could trap cultivators from other systems at bottlenecks, and that powerful old experts might come after him.
• Chen Changsheng revealed that he and Bai Ze needed to repay two favors to the Netherworld Forest by helping it take human form before its master returned.
• Bai Ze worried about facing the Master of the Netherworld Forest, while Chen Changsheng said they could seek powerful mediators and reassured him.
• After the opening ceremony, Li Changsheng found Chen Changsheng setting up a shop and asked why he had not enrolled at the Ten Thousand Races Academy.
• Chen Changsheng offered Li Changsheng a crude Qilin Communicator for a hundred thousand Divine Source, and Li Changsheng claimed he had run out of money.

Chen Changsheng sold Li Changsheng a Qilin Communicator for one hundred thousand Divine Source, while Sword Come sensed that Chen Changsheng and Xiao Hei were offering an extraordinary opportunity. Li Changsheng and Sword Come left convinced the pair were mysterious benefactors, and planned to watch for other divine beasts drawn to the shop.

• Chen Changsheng let Li Changsheng defer payment for the Qilin Communicator, and Li promised to bring one hundred thousand Divine Source the next day.
• Sword Come tried to curry favor with Xiao Hei, who rebuffed it but accepted its communicator number.
• After Li Changsheng and Sword Come left the shop, Xiao Hei asked why Chen Changsheng had sold Li a communicator when Meng De had already been chosen as a test subject.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the Virtual World needed more test subjects and that Sword Come’s Bai Ze instincts had sensed the opportunity, but he refused to seal its bloodline.
• Away from the shop, Sword Come told Li Changsheng that its instincts and their unlikely encounter suggested Chen Changsheng and Xiao Hei were extraordinary figures offering an opportunity.
• Sword Come proposed watching to see whether other divine beasts were drawn to the shop, which would strengthen their suspicion.

Li Changsheng and Sword Come activated the Qilin Communicator and discovered its knowledge base and many other functions required payment. Li Changsheng deduced that “Chen Changsheng” was likely Lu Mingyu in disguise, and the chapter ended with the communicator offering paid information on Lu Mingyu’s two supreme arts.

• Li Changsheng and Sword Come activated the Qilin Communicator, which introduced its functions and revealed that advanced knowledge and special features cost money.
• Li Changsheng reasoned that the Imperial Tutor’s disciple, Lu Mingyu, might be behind the strange opportunities and the name Chen Changsheng.
• Li Changsheng told Sword Come that the Longxi Li Clan had heard Lu Mingyu had run away from home and ordered its members to report his whereabouts discreetly.
• Li Changsheng speculated that Lu Mingyu was traveling with the Pill Tower Master’s shape-shifting Chaos Beast, which had acquired Bai Ze bloodline.
• Li Changsheng searched the knowledge base for the Immaculate Body and Heaven and Earth Avatar, and the communicator offered detailed information on both for payment.

Chen Changsheng arranged to impersonate Lu Mingyu and prepared to use improper missions to meddle with Li Changsheng and Sword Come. The next morning, he gave Meng De a communicator, while Bai Ze turned away a horned customer at their shop.

• Chen Changsheng told Lu Mingyu to hide, arrange for Little White to be taken, and send him copies of their origins so he could impersonate Lu Mingyu.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he planned to use an improper-mission feature to give Li Changsheng and Sword Come more chances to pursue an epoch, and he gave Bai Ze the device to issue missions.
• Meng De's communicator broke, and Chen Changsheng handed him a replacement while claiming it was a new-store gift.
• A horned man visited Chen Changsheng's Virtual World shop, but Bai Ze claimed everything was sold out and refused to help him.

A True Dragon bought a special-edition Qilin Communicator from Bai Ze, and Chen Changsheng discussed why the Human Race was falling behind the Beast Race. Chen Changsheng said he would not force the Human Race to remain hegemonic, leaving Bai Ze to watch the shop while he rested.

• A horned man complained about the price of the Qilin Communicators, but Bai Ze taunted him and refused to sell to him.
• The man took the most expensive communicator and paid Bai Ze one million five hundred thousand Divine Source before leaving.
• Chen Changsheng emerged and told Bai Ze that the Human Race was losing ground as other races reformed and cooperated.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he wanted to build a hopeful world for all races, not preserve Human supremacy.
• Chen Changsheng went inside to sleep, while Bai Ze kept the Beast Hide Pouch and settled down to watch the shop.

Chen Changsheng activated the Virtual World, drawing Meng De and several other cautious students into it with an exclusive first-user trial. Inside, Long Aotian and a woman with True Phoenix bloodline recognized several of the other users, including Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling.

• Chen Changsheng used a backup backend to activate the six Qilin Communicators across Ten Thousand Races Academy.
• The communicator broke free from Meng De’s Storage Bag and explained that the Virtual World was open for free, though certain services required payment.
• After learning he could receive a top-tier trial experience, Meng De agreed to enter the Virtual World, while Li Changsheng and "Sword Come" had already joined.
• Meng De arrived in a white space with six other figures, and "Sword Come" remarked that the Virtual World seemed crude.
• Long Aotian and the woman with True Phoenix bloodline discussed the users’ identities, identifying Li Changsheng and Zhang Ling among them.

Long Aotian and the others discovered the Virtual World’s valuable services and suspected Li Changsheng and Sword Come knew more about it. They gathered to discuss controlling access to the opportunity and left to meet at the shop.

• Long Aotian and the woman in red agreed to wait and see what the Virtual World would do, trusting the Confucian Sage’s protection at the Ten Thousand Races Academy.
• Zhang Ling and the others completed their first top-ups, then saw cultivation methods and rare dragon and phoenix treasures available in the Knowledge Base and Treasury.
• Long Aotian, Zhang Ling, and Feng Zhi arranged to find Meng De and keep the Virtual World secret from their elders and sect seniors.
• Meng De gave Zhang Ling and the others his dormitory location and agreed to meet them at the shop entrance.
• Long Aotian asked Li Changsheng and Sword Come about their information, and Sword Come admitted they could not keep the opportunity to themselves.

Li Changsheng explained why the Virtual World’s creators needed experimental data and why he believed cooperation would benefit everyone. After Long Aotian and the others compared how they obtained their Qilin Communicators, Li Changsheng offered to explain why he and Sword Come had bought two for a fee.

• Li Changsheng told Sword Come that the Virtual World’s creators needed experimental data and used the God of Wealth Lineage’s history to explain his understanding of their plans.
• Li Changsheng and Sword Come left the virtual space when Long Aotian and the others arrived outside the shop.
• Li Changsheng proposed that everyone share how they had obtained their Qilin Communicators, and the group compared their accounts.
• Zhang Ling learned Li Changsheng had paid only one hundred thousand Divine Source, while Long Aotian said he and Feng Zhi had each paid one million five hundred thousand and Meng De had received his communicator for free.
• Long Aotian questioned why Li Changsheng and Sword Come had bought a second communicator, and Li Changsheng demanded five hundred thousand Divine Source from each person to reveal the reason.
• Zhang Ling angrily challenged Li Changsheng to fight over his price.

Li Changsheng charged the group for his theory that the Virtual World was tied to Lu Mingyu and the Imperial Tutor’s unfinished plan. The six first users agreed to cooperate and discuss keeping the Virtual World secret, though Zhang Ling doubted secrecy would last and questioned how they would obtain resources.

• Li Changsheng charged each person five hundred thousand Divine Source to explain what he knew, and Long Aotian lent Meng De the money he lacked.
• Li Changsheng argued that Lu Mingyu, the Undertaker Lineage’s leading expert in unorthodox arts, had likely created the Virtual World, and Zhang Ling confirmed that Lu had run away from home two hundred years earlier.
• Feng Zhi described the Imperial Tutor’s vast plan, which had stalled after his death, and suggested that Lu Mingyu might have restarted it.
• The group considered whether the Imperial Tutor and Bai Ze had returned from the dead or Lu Mingyu had taken the name Chen Changsheng to continue the plan.
• Long Aotian asked Li Changsheng how they should pursue the commercial opportunity, and Li proposed that the six first users cooperate to gain an advantage.
• Li Changsheng urged them to keep the Virtual World secret and rely on their own cultivation techniques, but Zhang Ling questioned whether they could hide it or obtain resources without their backers.

Li Changsheng argued that the young geniuses at Ten Thousand Races Academy had been starved of resources under the Imperial Tutor’s Probability Theory of Genius Emergence, leaving them desperate to profit by selling cultivation techniques. He tried to recruit the others into the dangerous scheme, but Long Aotian demanded proof that their gains would be real.

• Long Aotian warned Li Changsheng that ordinary resources in the Virtual World brought little profit and that selling inherited cultivation techniques could amount to betraying their clans.
• Li Changsheng accused the gathered geniuses of coming for money and explained that the Imperial Tutor’s theory had reduced the resources their families gave them.
• Meng De, Long Aotian, and Zhang Ling discussed how the theory treated geniuses as rare occurrences and favored broad cultivation over lavishly nurturing a few chosen individuals.
• Li Changsheng described the pressure of competing with diligent geniuses from collateral and concubine-born branches, while Long Aotian and Feng Zhi feared being overtaken by rising members of their own clans.
• Long Aotian challenged Li Changsheng to explain how he would ensure the proposed scheme produced real gains and did not cost them their lives.

Li Changsheng and the others pooled their techniques to buy the Talisman Emperor’s Insights, and Zhang Ling confirmed it was genuine. As they exchanged more techniques, the Virtual World offered Meng De personalized cultivation advice and a way to earn Virtual Points.

• Li Changsheng proposed that the group pool their cultivation techniques to buy a copy and verify its authenticity, with Zhang Ling judging whether it was genuine.
• The group contributed techniques until Zhang Ling had one million Virtual Points, then bought the Talisman Emperor’s Insights and confirmed it was authentic.
• Long Aotian and the others began exchanging their techniques, while Chen Changsheng raised the price of the Dragon and Phoenix clans’ secret arts by twenty percent.
• The Virtual World rejected techniques already in its treasury, leading the group to further suspect that Chen Changsheng was Lu Mingyu in disguise.
• Meng De used the Qilin Communicator’s advisory function and received cultivation recommendations and a plan to earn Virtual Points by expanding space in the Virtual World.

Chen Changsheng considered the threats posed by Dream and Ao Chuang while waiting for morning, then negotiated with the Ten Thousand Races Academy youths over the Virtual World. He offered them the chance to help promote it in exchange for wearing clothes made by his shop.

• Zhang Ling and the others waited for morning, hoping to seize an advantage from the Virtual World.
• Chen Changsheng worried that Dream and Ao Chuang could threaten his plans if they joined forces.
• When Chen Changsheng opened the shop, Li Changsheng asked him to explain the Virtual World and sell them more devices.
• Chen Changsheng refused to let them buy out his supply and offered them an opportunity in exchange for helping him.
• Chen Changsheng told the youths to wear custom-made clothes at designated times and places and promote the Virtual World publicly.

Chen Changsheng gave Zhang Ling, Li Changsheng, and Meng De time to qualify as Virtual World spokespersons, while warning them to gather resources and complete trial tasks. Far away, Wang Hao treated Zhang Zhen’s severe injuries and revealed that he suspected Chen Changsheng was still alive because his investigating avatar had discovered a secret and killed itself to protect it.

• Chen Changsheng told Zhang Ling and the others that they could become Virtual World spokespersons by taking first place at the Ten Thousand Races Academy, and warned that he could revoke their qualifications if they failed to meet his standards.
• Chen Changsheng assured Meng De that he would keep his qualification because Xiao Hei and he had eaten Meng De’s offerings, then urged everyone to gather resources and try the Virtual World’s small tasks.
• Wang Hao found Zhang Zhen recovering from a deep chest wound in the Blood Sea and criticized him for risking his life to repay Chen Changsheng.
• Wang Hao listed the many deaths and severe injuries caused by the battle against Heaven and warned that Chen Changsheng’s surviving allies might not be strong enough to protect him.
• Wang Hao told Zhang Zhen that he suspected Chen Changsheng was still alive, explaining that his investigating avatar had discovered Chen Changsheng’s secret and committed suicide to keep it.