Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan’s breakthrough stalled at half-step Nascent Soul as a heavenly tribulation gathered above the altar. When Crown Prince Li and the other prodigies attacked, divine lightning struck Chen Fan and tore open bloody wounds.

• Chen Fan’s Golden Core began transforming, but the change stopped midway while his intent and Divine Soul reached the Nascent Soul Realm.
• The first and second primary souls returned to Chen Fan after devouring the Divine Souls of more than twenty Eastern Wasteland prodigies.
• Crown Prince Li and the other prodigies surrounded Chen Fan and noticed his cultivation had stalled at half-step Nascent Soul.
• A Demon Race expert recognized the gathering clouds as a possible heavenly tribulation, but Crown Prince Li and others dismissed the danger and attacked Chen Fan.
• Divine lightning descended from the clouds and struck Chen Fan, leaving the attacking prodigies stunned.

Chen Fan’s attempt to enter the Nascent Soul Realm triggered an overwhelming heavenly tribulation, but the lightning strengthened his recovery through the Heaven-Burning Art. He dragged the sacrificial platform’s prodigies into the storm and, as the chapter ended, approached the trapped Crown Prince Li.

• Chen Fan endured the first lightning bolts as the Heaven-Burning Art absorbed their power and healed his injuries.
• The tribulation escalated into nine lightning waterfalls, shocking Mu Yunshui, Bald Bird, and the gathered experts.
• Chen Fan charged into the clouds, then turned back and led the pursuing lightning toward the sacrificial platform.
• Chen Fan forced Su Jingyun, Crown Prince Li, and other prodigies into the tribulation as the storm intensified into a vast sea of lightning.
• Chen Fan resisted the lightning with his intent and Heaven-Burning Art, then walked toward the immobilized Crown Prince Li.

Chen Fan endured the heavenly tribulation’s divine lightning, killed Crown Prince Li, and forced his remaining rivals to face the tribulation with him. After most prodigies fled the altar, Chen Fan confronted Qin Changtian and the others who remained trapped behind their barriers.

• Chen Fan shattered Crown Prince Li’s lightning barrier, destroyed his treasures, and killed him as the tribulation lightning engulfed them.
• Crown Prince Li’s masked master and the Valley Master of Heartless Valley watched Chen Fan, while the Valley Master warned Cai Teng to leave the altar.
• Several Demon Race prodigies entered the lightning, but the tribulation annihilated them before they could escape; experts identified Chen Fan’s Burning Wood Art.
• A monk, Jian Tianmo, Fei Fengxuan, Dugu Ghost Sword, and the other prodigies withdrew from the altar as the lightning intensified.
• Chen Fan approached Su Jingyun, Qin Changtian, and the Immortal Palace’s Three Talents and One Empress, whose barriers were being battered by the tribulation.
• Chen Fan challenged Qin Changtian, saying he had wanted to stop him and could now fight.

Chen Fan fought Qin Changtian during the heavenly tribulation and discovered that Qin had carved the Qin Clan’s killing array into his body, granting him an undying ability to regenerate. As the tribulation entered its final stage, Chen Fan had not found the array’s core or a way to defeat Qin.

• Qin Changtian withdrew his Magic Array and let divine lightning destroy half his body, then regenerated as Chen Fan realized Qin himself was a mobile killing array.
• Qin Changtian revealed that Xian'er was imprisoned in the Qin Clan after she told him about Chen Fan, and Chen Fan vowed to visit the clan for her.
• Qin Changtian attacked with the power of his bodily array, while Chen Fan used the Snow Studio Sword Art and Nine Palaces Footwork to probe for its core.
• Chen Fan detonated snow seeds inside Qin Changtian, but Qin instantly healed his damaged dantian and heart with spiritual energy.
• Little Golden Monkey suggested using a formation to break Qin Changtian’s formation, while Bald Bird doubted Chen Fan could match the Qin Clan’s strongest killing array.
• The heavenly tribulation began to recede as Chen Fan’s Golden Core shed another fragment and the upper half of his Nascent Soul emerged.

Chen Fan discovered that his heavenly tribulation had not ended and forced Su Jingyun and the Immortal Palace prodigies to face him on the altar as a third wave gathered. The third tribulation appeared as humanoid lightning bearing the likeness of a Shu Mountain Patriarch.

• Su Jingyun and the Immortal Palace's four cultivators attacked Chen Fan after escaping the second wave, while Qin Changtian mocked his incomplete breakthrough.
• Chen Fan realized the tribulation was continuing as war drums sounded and a vast sea of lightning formed above the altar.
• Chen Fan attacked Su Jingyun and the four Immortal Palace cultivators, trapping them on the altar while the factions' elders pleaded for him to let them go.
• Qin Changtian intervened, and Su Jingyun and the Immortal Empress escaped, but Chen Fan bound the other three Immortal Palace prodigies with his Divine Silkworm Seal.
• Humanoid lightning emerged from the clouds with a sword, and Shu Mountain experts recognized it as their Patriarch.

Chen Fan faced the humanoid lightning of Shu Mountain’s ancient Patriarch, whose Myriad Sword Art devastated the sacrificial platform and wounded Chen Fan. The Patriarch’s final sword struck Chen Fan’s neck, leaving his fate uncertain as he remained standing and bleeding.

• The humanoid lightning appeared as the young Shu Mountain Patriarch, and the experts recognized his overwhelming sword aura.
• The Patriarch attacked Chen Fan with thousands of sword strikes, forcing Chen Fan to defend himself with the Heaven and Earth Disk’s Sword Formations.
• The barrage injured Chen Fan and the three Immortal Palace prodigies, while Qin Changtian regenerated his crushed arms with his immortal body.
• Chen Fan invoked Reincarnation and Life and Death as the Patriarch closed in with a lethal sword strike.
• The Patriarch’s blade drew blood from Chen Fan’s neck, but Chen Fan remained upright as the sword trembled.

Chen Fan faced Shu Mountain’s founding ancestor’s humanoid lightning as it unleashed the Nine Heavens Thunder Sword, while Qin Changtian tried to interfere and was badly wounded. Chen Fan met the overwhelming attack head-on with One Sword Breaks All Arts, having seen through it.

• Chen Fan used Nine Palaces Footwork to evade the founding ancestor’s first sword strike, though its Sword Qi cut his neck.
• Qin Changtian survived the remaining swords, but three Immortal Palace disciples were pierced and reduced to tribulation ash.
• The humanoid lightning drew lightning from all nine heavens into a divine sword aimed at Chen Fan.
• Qin Changtian tried to stop Chen Fan from evading, but the humanoid lightning cut off his arm and damaged the formation within his body.
• Chen Fan rose to meet the descending Nine Heavens Thunder Sword with One Sword Breaks All Arts, choosing to attack because he had seen through it.

Chen Fan defeated the humanoid lightning and completed his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Early Stage, but Qin Changtian recovered and challenged him for the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings. Chen Fan exposed the formation core in Qin Changtian’s body and prepared to confront him.

• Chen Fan caught the Nine Heavens Thunder Sword, broke it with his Dao of Life and Death Reincarnation, and destroyed the humanoid lightning with the White Bone Sword.
• Chen Fan’s half Golden Core fell away, revealing a complete Nascent Soul and stabilizing his Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivation.
• The Shu Mountain elders protested their ancestor’s defeat while factions across the gathering grounds moved toward the Eastern Wasteland to pursue Chen Fan’s treasure arts.
• Bald Bird prepared the Teleportation Array as Little Golden Monkey worried that the Human Emperor-level experts could prevent Chen Fan’s escape.
• Qin Changtian regenerated most of his body and declared that he would outlast Chen Fan to claim first place on the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings.
• Chen Fan identified Qin Changtian’s formation core with the Heavenly Eye Treasure Art and dismissed his threat.

After breaking through to Nascent Soul Early Stage, Chen Fan used his Heavenly Eye to discover that Qin Changtian's Storage Ring connected him to the Qin Clan's formation eye. Chen Fan killed Qin Changtian on the sacrificial platform after severing his arms, leaving the Qin Clan's threat unresolved.

• Chen Fan saw through Qin Changtian's formation patterns and identified the Storage Ring as a vessel linking him to the formation eye.
• Chen Fan pursued Qin Changtian across the sacrificial platform, while Qin Changtian used the killing formation to flee.
• The Qin Clan experts pleaded for Chen Fan to spare Qin Changtian, but one expert threatened him and provoked him to attack.
• Chen Fan slowed Qin Changtian with the Snow Studio Sword Art, severed his left arm, and caused the formation patterns in his body to dim.
• Chen Fan pinned Qin Changtian to the platform and killed him with a sword through the throat after realizing only Qin Changtian knew about Qin Xian'er.

Chen Fan defeated Qin Changtian and was inscribed on the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings, but he discovered that the rankings were stealing his intent and sword Dao. He realized the humanoid lightning had appeared in the likeness of the young Shu Mountain Patriarch for a reason.

• Chen Fan killed Qin Changtian with a single sword strike, enraging the Qin Clan and other factions who plotted to capture and torment him.
• Bald Bird prepared the Teleportation Array while Mu Yunshui worried that she could not help Chen Fan again.
• The sacrificial platform lifted Chen Fan into the clouds, and the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings inscribed his name without sending him to the Enlightenment God Tree.
• Chen Fan broke free of the white light binding him and moved to the platform's edge after sensing danger.
• Chen Fan told Bald Bird that the rankings were stealing his intent and sword Dao, and he understood why the humanoid lightning had resembled the young Shu Mountain Patriarch.

After realizing the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings had stolen a trace of his Intent and Sword Dao, Chen Fan suspected it served the Heavenly Dao and refused to trust it. He erased his own name from the rankings and asked a senior for help as powerful factions prepared to attack him.

• Chen Fan told Bald Bird that the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings might let the Heavenly Dao use the powers and names recorded on it.
• Chen Fan decided his name should not remain on the rankings and flew back toward it with his sword drawn.
• Chen Fan struck the unfinished characters of his name and erased them from the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings.
• The cultivators below condemned Chen Fan for defying Heaven, while powerful factions surrounded the altar with Divine Sense.
• Chen Fan calmly descended, declared that he would make this life eternal, and asked a senior in the gathering ground for help.

Chen Fan called on Dugu Han, the white-haired elder he had met years earlier, and learned that he was the Nine Palaces Elder’s chief disciple. Dugu Han revealed his restored power, killed a Qin Clan expert who challenged him, and announced that the Nine Palaces Elder had reached a higher level of cultivation and would meet Chen Fan.

• Chen Fan recognized Dugu Han in the crowd and asked him for help, while Dugu Han promised to protect him if he won first place.
• The Shu Mountain expert exposed Dugu Han’s ties to the Dugu Clan and the Nine Palaces Elder, and Dugu Han denied being his master’s abandoned disciple.
• Dugu Han rebuked the major factions for planning to interfere in the younger generation’s battle and insisted that Chen Fan must be protected.
• After a Qin Clan expert threatened him, Dugu Han revealed that his cultivation had not been destroyed and killed the man with a single Sword Qi strike.
• Dugu Han warned the gathered experts not to challenge him and said the Nine Palaces Elder had reached a new level of cultivation and would come to meet Chen Fan.

After the Heavenly Prodigy Battlefield ended, Dugu Han asserted his protection of Chen Fan and invited him to the Nine Palaces Sect. Chen Fan said farewell to Old Yellow Tooth and left with Dugu Han, Bald Bird, and Little Golden Monkey.

• The ancient scroll vanished, the battlefield shook, and the surviving prodigies were sent away; only six Eastern Wasteland prodigies, including Chen Fan, survived.
• The crowd recognized Chen Fan’s victory and feared acting against him after learning Nine Palaces Elder intended to guide him.
• Dugu Han spoke with Dugu Ghost Sword, who shook her head and left, then invited Chen Fan to come with him.
• Bald Bird warned Chen Fan not to trust Dugu Han, but Dugu Han teased it about stealing the Nine Palaces Sword and his master’s purple-gold teapot.
• Old Yellow Tooth briefly appeared, sent Chen Fan and Bald Bird a farewell, and told Bald Bird not to wreak havoc on Shu Mountain.
• Chen Fan entered the Nine Palaces Sword Formation with Dugu Han, and Bald Bird and Little Golden Monkey followed.

Dugu Han brought Chen Fan to Nine Palaces Elder’s secluded small world, where Chen Fan recognized the profound Dao essence woven into the peach grove and was told he possessed a Sword Heart like the elder’s. Dugu Han left Chen Fan there to cultivate, abandoning his plan to arrange a match with Dugu Ghost Sword after learning Chen Fan already had two Tao companions.

• Dugu Han used the Nine Palaces Sword Formation to bring Chen Fan and his companions to the entrance of Nine Palaces Sect’s small world.
• Chen Fan entered the peach grove and sensed that its leaves, breeze, and surroundings embodied the Nine Palaces Dao.
• Dugu Han told Chen Fan he possessed a Sword Heart like Nine Palaces Elder’s and could cultivate in the small world while Dugu Han handled matters outside.
• Dugu Han refused to let Bald Bird and Little Golden Monkey stay because the killing intent would wear away their states of mind, so they prepared to leave.
• Dugu Han proposed that Chen Fan become Dao companions with Dugu Ghost Sword, but Bald Bird revealed Chen Fan already had two Tao companions.
• Dugu Han left the small world with Bald Bird and Little Golden Monkey, while Chen Fan remained in the peach grove to study its Dao essence.

Chen Fan spent ten years cultivating and comprehending the Nine Palaces Dao in the Peach Blossom Spring Small World while the Four Divine Continents speculated about Nine Palaces Elder and saw many defeated prodigies enter harsh seclusion. He finally opened his eyes after reaching a miraculous, transcendent realm of artistic conception.

• Chen Fan absorbed the Nine Palaces power from falling peach leaves as it strengthened his Nascent Soul and sword Dao.
• Cultivators across the Four Divine Continents debated whether Nine Palaces Elder would enter the Integration Stage and what Dugu Han's return meant.
• Fei Fengxuan entered Shu Mountain's forbidden grounds, Jian Tianmo leapt into Firecloud Purgatory Abyss, and Cai Teng pursued the True Supreme Forgetting Emotions Art among mortals.
• Mu Yunshui entered seclusion to refine the Immortal Empress's Heart, while the Qin Clan announced that Xian'er had become its leading talent of the new generation.
• After ten years of secluded cultivation, Chen Fan opened his eyes and recognized the transformation of the Nine Palaces.

After ten years of secluded cultivation, Chen Fan reached Nascent Soul Great Perfection but became stuck at a bottleneck. The Nine Palaces Elder accepted him as his tenth and final disciple, then asked him about his cultivation and how he understood his bottleneck.

• Chen Fan spent ten years cultivating in the small world, reaching Nascent Soul Great Perfection and deepening his understanding of the Nine Palaces Sword Art, but could not find a path to the Spirit Refining Stage.
• The Nine Palaces Elder contacted Chen Fan without revealing himself and explained that he had asked Little Han to seek him out because he wanted to learn about Chen Fan's Sword Heart.
• The Nine Palaces Elder asked whether Chen Fan had a master, and Chen Fan explained that his former master might have died and that he had relied on the world around him to learn the Dao.
• The Nine Palaces Elder offered to take Chen Fan as his tenth and final disciple, and Chen Fan knelt to accept.
• The Nine Palaces Elder named Chen Fan the tenth disciple of the Nine Palaces Sect and laid out when he would and would not avenge him.
• Chen Fan confirmed that he had reached a cultivation bottleneck, and the Nine Palaces Elder asked how he viewed it himself.

The Nine Palaces Elder explained that humanoid lightning was the heavenly tribulation blocking late Soul Division Stage cultivators from reaching the Integration Stage, and that Chen Fan’s removal from the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings might have revealed its cause. He sent Chen Fan into a secret realm to fight a perfect mirror image, leaving Chen Fan under attack from behind as soon as he arrived.

• Chen Fan told the Nine Palaces Elder that he wanted to fight others to discover his shortcomings and find his direction.
• The Nine Palaces Elder explained that humanoid lightning mirrored a cultivator’s strength and intent, preventing powerful cultivators from advancing to the Integration Stage.
• The Nine Palaces Elder suspected that the Heavenly Dao suppressed cultivators to prevent immortals from appearing, and connected the change to Chen Fan erasing his name from the Heavenly Prodigy Rankings.
• The Nine Palaces Elder gave Chen Fan a jade talisman and sent him into a secret realm where he would face a perfect mirror image, warning him that his current thoughts were wrong.
• Chen Fan appeared in a boundless dark void and was immediately attacked from behind by a violet-gold sword.

Chen Fan fought a mirror image that matched his strength and learned to use their battle to improve his ability to remain at his peak. After decades of combat inside the secret realm, he forgot his original aim, and Nine Palaces Elder realized he was close to succeeding.

• Chen Fan exchanged sword strikes with his mirror image and discovered that it could maintain peak strength while he would eventually tire.
• The mirror image used afterimages and concealed attacks, forcing Chen Fan to rely on his knowledge of himself to evade its blows.
• Chen Fan decided to learn from the mirror image how to remain at peak condition instead of searching for its weakness.
• Nine Palaces Elder praised Chen Fan for using the fight to comprehend a new art.
• Chen Fan battled the mirror image for what felt like decades, replenishing his true essence with the Burning Wood Chapter and becoming absorbed in the fight.
• Nine Palaces Elder explained that time passed ten times faster in the mirror and concluded that Chen Fan was about to succeed.

After thirty years battling his mirror image, Chen Fan identifies flaws in his Dao, defeats it, and returns to the Peach Blossom Spring Small World. The Nine Palaces Elder warns him not to confront the Qin Clan yet, promises to accompany him in twenty years, and directs him toward the approaching Ancient Immortal Road.

• Chen Fan realizes he must treat his mirror image as a stranger to discover flaws in its Sword Dao and his own.
• Chen Fan combines his Life and Death Reincarnation intent with Nirvana Sword Intent to destroy the mirror image and reshape his Great Dao.
• Chen Fan crushes the jade talisman and returns to the Peach Blossom Spring Small World, where the Nine Palaces Elder praises his progress.
• Chen Fan tells the Nine Palaces Elder he plans to demand the Qin Clan release his friend, and the Elder warns that the clan could kill him.
• The Nine Palaces Elder promises to take Chen Fan to the Qin Clan after leaving seclusion in twenty years and gives him a protective token.
• The Nine Palaces Elder tells Chen Fan to find Dugu Han and travel to the soon-opening Ancient Immortal Road before entering final seclusion.

Chen Fan entered an Ancient City in the Eastern Wasteland and learned that the Ancient Immortal Road had opened a year earlier. He discovered that Qin Xian'er had entered the road as the Qin Clan’s new talent, then left without revealing his connection to her.

• Chen Fan overheard cultivators discuss the Ancient Immortal Road, its dangers, and the powerful figures accompanying those who entered.
• Chen Fan paid an inn waiter for information and learned that the road had opened a year earlier in the heart of the Eastern Wasteland.
• The waiter named several talents who had entered, and a nearby cultivator corrected him that the Qin Clan’s new talent had gone a month earlier.
• Chen Fan learned that the Qin Clan’s new talent was Qin Xian'er, a mysterious long-lost descendant who had carved killing formations into her body.
• Chen Fan left the inn without reacting, while a cultivator wondered about the terrifying aura he had sensed from him.