Chapter Summaries

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen returns to Jade Pool with the Golden Ark wreckage, which Liu Qingqing believes can be rebuilt within three years.
• Superior Sankong grants Li Beichen ten million contribution points for his services.
• Li Beichen returns to Nine Provinces with resources from Jade Pool to strengthen the province.

Character Developments

• Liu Qingqing gains confidence in rebuilding the Golden Ark and expresses gratitude to Li Beichen.
• Yun Suyi acknowledges Li Beichen's contributions and offers her assistance in the future.
• Li Beichen remains calm and focused on his goals, showing no signs of arrogance or pride despite his rewards.

Significant Themes

• Gratitude and Reciprocity: Liu Qingqing and Yun Suyi express their gratitude to Li Beichen for saving Jade Pool, and Li Beichen acknowledges their assistance in the future.
• Power and Responsibility: Li Beichen's actions have significant consequences for both Jade Pool and Nine Provinces, highlighting the responsibility that comes with power.
• Transformation and Growth: Nine Provinces undergoes visible changes as it adapts to the Upper Realm, reflecting the theme of growth and transformation.

Character Interactions

• Liu Qingqing and Yun Suyi both approach Li Beichen to express their gratitude and offer their assistance.
• Li Beichen interacts with Superior Sankong, Liu Qingqing, and Yun Suyi, maintaining a respectful and humble demeanor despite his achievements.
• Li Beichen observes the changes in Nine Provinces, showing concern for the people and the province's development.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen returns to Nine Provinces, bearing a recommendation qualification for the Three Thousand Worlds Dharma Assembly.
• He plans to hold a martial lecture in three days, open to all martial artists in the Nine Provinces.
• He shares resources and cultivation methods with Liu Binghu to strengthen the Great Han Dynasty's forces.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen: Shows his commitment to the Nine Provinces' overall strength and well-being, willing to share his knowledge and resources with all martial artists.
• Liu Binghu: Demonstrates his loyalty and dedication to Li Beichen and the Nine Provinces' cause, vowing to improve the Imperial Court's strength.

Significant Themes

• Unity and cooperation among the Nine Provinces' martial artists for their common good.
• The importance of sharing knowledge and resources to advance collectively.
• The struggle for survival and recognition in the face of stronger forces.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Liu Binghu: Their camaraderie and mutual trust are evident as they work together to strengthen the Nine Provinces.
• Li Beichen and the Nine Provinces' martial artists: His decision to hold a public lecture shows his care and support for the entire martial community of the Nine Provinces.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen immerses thousands of divided thoughts in the Upper Realm’s ancient martial texts, intending to combine them with Nine Provinces’ native martial arts. His goal is to create a complete cultivation system spanning from basic martial training to the Grandmaster, Venerable, and even High Person realms.
• He plans to establish the Human Martial Treasury, making most divine arts, secret techniques, cultivation notes, and Upper Realm knowledge available through the Nine Provinces Chamber of Commerce. This will weaken sectarian monopolies and allow martial artists across the world to study advanced techniques.
• Recognizing that ordinary martial artists cannot understand the Upper Realm’s systems without guidance, Li Beichen organizes a public lecture at Elephant Mound. He promises to explain the foundations of the three essential paths: Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
• Before an audience of sect leaders, experts, court officials, martial artists, and commoners, Li Beichen manifests a massive golden Dharma Body and begins teaching:
  • The strengthening of qi and blood, sinews, and bones
  • The condensation and circulation of true qi
  • The refinement of spirit, will, and awareness of Heaven and Earth
  • The progression toward the Grandmaster, Venerable, and High Person realms
• His words resonate with the laws of heaven and earth, producing golden lotuses, auspicious clouds, purple qi, and other miraculous phenomena. He explains cultivation principles in clear language, identifies flaws in Nine Provinces’ existing martial arts, and incorporates fragments of higher-level Floating Sword Sect techniques into his teachings.
• The lecture lasts for thirty days, during which countless listeners overcome bottlenecks, gain insights, and advance their cultivation.
• Later historians declare the lecture a turning point: it ends Nine Provinces’ old era of isolated and incomplete martial development and begins a new age of systematic integration with Upper Realm martial arts. Li Beichen is recognized as the greatest figure in Nine Provinces’ history.
• Two years later, Li Beichen works with Liu Qingqing and thousands of artifact refiners, formation masters, and rune craftsmen to complete a thousand-zhang Golden Ark in the Jade Pool’s secret realm.
• Li Beichen secretly masters the vessel’s crucial Sumeru Primordial Magnetism Grand Array far earlier than others realize. He enters the Ark’s core and repairs its broken formation nodes using spatial power, Star Sea Primordial Magnetism, and Spirit Essence.
• After six hours of precise work, he completes the final stroke. The entire formation activates perfectly, causing the Golden Ark to tremble and emit a powerful resonant clang.
• Liu Qingqing detects the completed formation, becomes stunned and delighted, and immediately rushes toward the Golden Ark’s core to see Li Beichen.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen demonstrates extraordinary vision, knowledge, and responsibility. Rather than hoarding Upper Realm knowledge, he seeks to make it accessible to all Nine Provinces martial artists.
• His role expands from powerful cultivator to teacher, reformer, and founder of a new martial civilization. His ability to simplify profound concepts shows both mastery and concern for future generations.
• His calm confidence grows stronger. He hides the true extent of his progress in formation studies, allowing others to underestimate how quickly he has mastered the Golden Ark’s core array.
• Liu Qingqing is shown as an important organizer and leader of the Golden Ark project. She supervises thousands of craftsmen and deeply admires Li Beichen’s abilities. Her astonishment at the formation’s completion reveals both her respect and emotional excitement toward him.
• The Jade Pool’s craftsmen and elders are portrayed as highly capable contributors, but Li Beichen remains uniquely qualified to complete the Ark’s internal formation because of his mastery of spatial Dao and the Golden Ark’s structure.

Significant Themes

• Knowledge should be shared: Li Beichen rejects sectarian secrecy and seeks to create a public treasury of martial knowledge.
• Education as transformation: Profound teachings become useful only when properly organized and explained. Li Beichen provides the foundations necessary for ordinary people to understand higher cultivation.
• Synthesis of traditions: The chapter emphasizes combining Nine Provinces’ native martial arts with the broader Upper Realm system rather than abandoning one for the other.
• The beginning of a new era: The lecture symbolizes the transition from scattered, experimental martial development to a systematic and expansive path toward ascension.
• Mastery through patience and precision: The Golden Ark’s completion highlights Li Beichen’s deep study, technical control, and ability to solve problems others cannot.
• Individual greatness and collective progress: Li Beichen’s achievements are extraordinary, but their greatest value lies in how they advance all of Nine Provinces.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen addresses the entire martial world as a unified audience, breaking down barriers between sect experts, court officials, ordinary martial artists, and commoners.
• His teachings challenge the limitations of existing sect traditions while still preserving and sharing selected higher-level techniques.
• During the Golden Ark project, Liu Qingqing oversees the construction while Li Beichen provides the decisive technical breakthrough. Their roles complement one another: she manages the collective effort, while he completes the most difficult formation work.
• Liu Qingqing’s immediate rush to meet Li Beichen after witnessing the activation conveys her admiration, excitement, and close personal connection to him.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen completes the restoration of the damaged Sumeru Primordial Magnetism Grand Array after six hours of work. His success establishes the core foundation needed to rebuild Jade Pool’s legendary Golden Ark.
• Liu Qingqing is overjoyed and announces that, with the array restored, only about two more months of construction remain.
• Two months later, the rebuilt thousand-zhang Jade Pool Golden Ark is completed. Liu Qingqing presents the final master-control array plate to her master, Superior Sankong.
• Superior Sankong inserts the control hub, fully activating the Golden Ark. Its immense defensive power spreads through the secret realm, demonstrating that it can rival the authority of a High Person and protect Jade Pool’s foundations.
• While the sect members celebrate the return of their former glory and security, Superior Sankong orders everyone to keep the Golden Ark secret and forbids its deployment without his permission.
• This secrecy strengthens Li Beichen’s suspicions that Jade Pool is concealing a major ancient secret connected to its past.
• Li Beichen investigates Jade Pool’s records and discovers that:
  • Its history before settling in the Ethereal World has largely been erased.
  • Jade Pool was once a powerful sect in the Middle Nine Heavens.
  • It later fell into the Lower Nine Heavens and eventually declined into its present weakened state.
  • References to the Venerable Queen Mother of the West, the World-Saving Necro-Scripture, and the Yama Son of Heaven Scripture are missing or deliberately obscured.
• Believing that Venerable Qingshan may know the truth because of his extraordinary lifespan, Li Beichen visits him with fine wine.
• During a relaxed drinking session, Li Beichen carefully asks about Jade Pool’s ancient history without directly revealing what he suspects.
• Venerable Qingshan begins to confirm that Jade Pool’s ancient past was once extraordinarily glorious.

2. Character Developments

• Li Beichen proves himself indispensable to Jade Pool by restoring the Golden Ark’s most difficult formation. His power, composure, and technical ability far exceed what would normally be expected of a Venerable.
• He also develops from a capable contributor into a deliberate investigator. Rather than accepting official records, he analyzes gaps, altered histories, and missing information to uncover Jade Pool’s hidden past.
• Liu Qingqing experiences immense relief after years of pressure rebuilding the Golden Ark. Her confidence is validated, and the completion of the vessel restores hope for Jade Pool’s revival.
• Superior Sankong reveals his cautious and politically farsighted nature. Instead of openly displaying Jade Pool’s restored strength, he prioritizes concealment, suggesting that he fears powerful enemies or consequences tied to the sect’s ancient history.
• Venerable Qingshan is presented as an easygoing, nearly detached elder who has accepted his approaching death. Despite his leisurely personality, his longevity makes him one of the few living witnesses to Jade Pool’s forgotten era.

3. Significant Themes

• Restoration and revival: The Golden Ark symbolizes Jade Pool’s recovery from decline and its return to strength.
• Secrecy and buried history: The sect’s official records have been altered or purged, implying that its fall and ancient connections are dangerous truths.
• Caution versus ambition: Although the sect could now flaunt its power, Superior Sankong chooses concealment, emphasizing survival over immediate dominance.
• Historical erasure: The disappearance of information about the Queen Mother of the West and the Yin-Spirit Unification plan suggests deliberate suppression by powerful forces.
• Legacy and decline: Jade Pool’s transformation from a great Middle Nine Heavens sect into a struggling frontier power raises questions about what caused its downfall.
• Mortality and detachment: Qingshan’s acceptance of his limited lifespan contrasts with the sect’s desperate struggle to preserve its future.

4. Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Liu Qingqing: Liu Qingqing excitedly confirms the array’s completion and expresses her relief and gratitude toward her Junior Brother.
• Li Beichen and the Jade Pool disciples: The Golden Ark’s activation creates a shared sense of security among the sect members, who feel their long period of fear has finally eased.
• Superior Sankong and the sect: He formally completes the Golden Ark but immediately commands everyone to conceal it, creating confusion and reinforcing his authority.
• Li Beichen and Superior Sankong: Li Beichen observes Sankong closely, interpreting his secrecy as evidence that he knows more about Jade Pool’s ancient past than he reveals.
• Li Beichen and Venerable Qingshan: Li Beichen uses wine and indirect questioning to build trust and draw out information. Qingshan’s initial reminiscence marks the beginning of a possible revelation about Jade Pool’s lost golden age.

Chapter Summary: Western Imperial Palace, the Mastermind, Above Immortals!

Key Plot Points and Events

• Venerable Qingshan reveals that Jade Pool’s former leader, Sankong, deliberately sealed and destroyed records concerning the sect’s ancient history. He hoped to sever the sect from the dangers, karma, and enemies connected to its past.
• Qingshan explains that such an attempt was probably futile, pointing to the mysterious disappearance of Xiaolou, a former Jade Pool genius whose soul lamp was extinguished while exploring the desolate edge of the Star Sea.
• He reveals Jade Pool’s original identity: it was once the Western Imperial Palace, a supreme power in the Middle Nine Heavens that commanded the respect of countless sects.
• The current Jade Pool inheritance is only a small remnant of the Western Imperial Palace’s legacy. Even its powerful Twelve Golden Ark Zhou Heaven Grand Array was merely a second-rate treasure in the former palace.
• At some unknown point, the Western Imperial Palace abandoned its name, history, and position in the Middle Nine Heavens, descending into obscurity in the Lower Nine Heavens as Jade Pool.
• Qingshan suggests that this transformation was connected to the Heavenly Court and its mysterious Yin-Spirit Unification plan. The Western Imperial Palace may have participated in a major Heavenly Court scheme, only to become entangled with forbidden secrets or taboos.
• He believes the Heavenly Court may have ordered subordinate forces to monitor Jade Pool and prevent it from ever returning to the Middle Nine Heavens.
• Xiaolou’s death may have been the result of this hidden restriction. Since he possessed overwhelming strength and a complete Golden Ark, only an immortal-level force or trap could have killed him without leaving any remnant or message.
• Qingshan warns Li Beichen that ancient sects, hidden Dao lineages, the Celestial Patrol Office, and other organizations may possess access to immortals, even though ordinary forces in the First Heaven are limited to High Persons.
• The chapter ends with Qingshan advising Li Beichen not to investigate too deeply or accept suspicious opportunities, favors, or invitations from higher-level beings.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen learns that Jade Pool’s history is far grander and more dangerous than he imagined. He connects the Western Imperial Palace’s downfall to the Heavenly Court’s Yin-Spirit Unification plan and begins to suspect that Xiaolou’s death was deliberate rather than accidental.
• He is shown to be thoughtful and cautious, asking increasingly important questions while recognizing the seriousness of the information. He accepts Qingshan’s warnings with solemnity.
• Venerable Qingshan shifts from a relaxed elder sharing old stories to a deeply cautious and fearful guide. His reverence for the Western Imperial Palace reveals his attachment to its lost glory, while his warnings show that he understands the danger of the hidden powers involved.
• Sankong is portrayed as a pragmatic but possibly overly hopeful leader who tried to protect Jade Pool by erasing its history and cutting off its connection to past enemies.
• Xiaolou emerges as a tragic predecessor to Li Beichen: a once-in-a-generation genius whose attempt to revive Jade Pool likely provoked powerful hidden forces. Li Beichen may now be carrying on Xiaolou’s unfinished ambition.

Significant Themes

• The impossibility of escaping karma: Erasing records and changing identities cannot truly sever a sect from the consequences of its past.
• Buried history and hidden identity: Jade Pool’s humble present conceals the legacy of the mighty Western Imperial Palace.
• Powerful institutions and unseen control: The Heavenly Court may influence events across the lower realms through subordinate forces without revealing itself directly.
• Dangerous knowledge: Learning the truth can provide preparation, but discovering too much may attract the attention of beings far beyond one’s ability to resist.
• Inherited destiny: Li Beichen’s connection to Xiaolou suggests that the former genius’s unfinished goals and fate may have passed to him.
• The limits of apparent power: Even beings who dominate the lower realms may remain vulnerable to immortals and hidden organizations operating above them.

Important Character Interactions

• Qingshan and Li Beichen share a private, serious conversation in which Qingshan decides to violate Sankong’s wishes and reveal Jade Pool’s forbidden history because he believes Li Beichen is exceptional enough to benefit from the knowledge.
• Li Beichen repeatedly presses Qingshan for answers about the sect’s downfall, the Heavenly Court, and Xiaolou’s killer.
• Qingshan responds cautiously, refusing to speak certain names beneath the heavens and emphasizing that even discussing these matters may be dangerous.
• Their exchange develops into a mentor-student moment: Qingshan warns Li Beichen to distrust coincidences, suspicious benefactors, and opportunities linked to higher beings, while Li Beichen promises to remember his teachings.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen returns to the Nine Provinces after two years, assessing the progress of the New Martial Arts system.
• He enters the Jade Pool Secret Realm, discovering a hidden space within a stone stele using his mastery of the Sumeru Primordial Magnetism Grand Array.
• Inside the hidden space, he encounters a contingency of Venerable Queen Mother of the West, who reveals she is neither human nor ghost and her state is unknowable.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen has advanced his cultivation to the Five Qi Realm and mastered the Sumeru Primordial Magnetism Grand Array.
• Venerable Queen Mother of the West's contingency shows no signs of physical or divine soul form, hinting at her mysterious state.

Significant Themes

• The power of secret techniques and hidden spaces, as demonstrated by Venerable Queen Mother of the West's contingency.
• The passage of time and its impact on cultivation progress, shown through Li Beichen's advancement in two hundred years.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Venerable Queen Mother of the West's contingency discuss the state of Jade Pool and her own condition, revealing her as an inheritor of the Western Imperial Palace.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen questions the projection of the Venerable Queen Mother of the West about two major mysteries:
  • Why the Western Imperial Palace was forced to abandon its identity and retreat to the lower realm.
  • The true purpose of the “Yin-Spirit Unification” plan.
• She reveals that the plan was a secret research project led by the Heavenly Court’s Plague Department, involving the origins of the Nether World and the living world.
• The Western Imperial Palace participated in only a small portion of the project, but even that fragment exposed a terrifying secret linked to the Upper Nine Heavens, the fallen Thirty-Three Heavens, and the necro-spirit calamity spreading across the Star Sea.
• Because the project threatened forces far beyond the palace’s power, the Western Imperial Palace was nearly destroyed. Its survivors negotiated with Supreme Clarity Primordial One Immortal Venerable, one of the plan’s leaders, surrendering almost everything in exchange for permission to rename themselves Jade Pool and hide in the lower realm.
• The palace preserved crucial research materials and evidence inside a mysterious crystal. The crystal cannot be opened until its bearer reaches true immortality.
• Li Beichen realizes that the World-Saving Necro-Scripture he previously obtained was only a derivative and decoy product of the Yin-Spirit Unification plan. The true results remain sealed in the crystal.
• Though the Queen Mother offers him the crystal, Li Beichen wisely refuses, recognizing it as both a priceless opportunity and a dangerous liability. She agrees to keep it concealed.
• Li Beichen explains Jade Pool’s current decline:
  • Only Superior Sankong remains to support the sect.
  • Sankong has fewer than eighteen years of life left.
  • The sect lacks a successor capable of reaching immortality.
  • Martial Uncle Xiaolou, once Jade Pool’s greatest hope, vanished while exploring the Star Sea and is presumed dead.
• The Queen Mother reacts with anger, realizing that Jade Pool has suffered for ten thousand years yet is still being persecuted.
• Li Beichen speculates that the enemies may soon act because they doubt whether the Western Imperial Palace’s hidden secret still exists.
• In response, the Queen Mother passes down Jade Pool’s supreme combat inheritance: the Twelve Zhou Heaven Yuanchen Sword Array.
• The art is based on the Sumeru Primordial Magnetism Sword Art and requires refining twelve Yuanchen Immortal Sword prototypes. When perfected, it could allow Li Beichen to slay immortals despite not being immortal himself.
• Li Beichen receives the inheritance directly into his consciousness, including sword-refining methods, array formations, and combat principles.
• He is excited by the technique but alarmed by the enormous quantity of rare materials required, including Star Core Mystic Gold, Void Origin Crystals, Starwood Hearts, Taiyi Geng Metal, and Nine Nethers Nether Iron.
• The Queen Mother then asks whether Li Beichen still possesses the vessel called the Profound Radiance, hinting that it may be relevant to obtaining or refining the required materials.

2. Character Developments

• Li Beichen demonstrates increasing maturity and political caution. Rather than greedily accepting the dangerous crystal, he recognizes its potential to attract the Heavenly Court’s most powerful figures and refuses responsibility he is not yet capable of bearing.
• He also shows growing loyalty to Jade Pool, taking the initiative to investigate its history and provide an honest account of its current weakness.
• His strategic insight deepens when he deduces that Jade Pool’s enemies may soon resume their assault.
• The Venerable Queen Mother of the West is revealed as both burdened and protective. She has carried the guilt of preserving only a tiny remnant of the Western Imperial Palace, but Li Beichen’s survival and Jade Pool’s continuation offer her emotional relief.
• Her anger resurfaces when she learns that Jade Pool remains persecuted after ten thousand years, especially after the loss of Xiaolou.
• She increasingly treats Li Beichen as the most suitable successor to the Western Imperial Palace’s true inheritance.

3. Significant Themes

• Survival through compromise: The Western Imperial Palace sacrificed its status, wealth, and identity to preserve even a small portion of its lineage.
• The danger of forbidden knowledge: The Yin-Spirit Unification research offers immense power and truth but brings catastrophic karmic consequences to anyone connected with it.
• Burden versus opportunity: The crystal represents both a path to extraordinary power and a deadly connection to Heavenly Court secrets. Li Beichen’s refusal emphasizes restraint and judgment.
• Inheritance and continuity: Despite ten thousand years of suppression, Jade Pool’s survival proves that preserving even a tiny spark of tradition can be meaningful.
• Decline and revival: Jade Pool is on the verge of collapse, but Li Beichen’s rise and reception of the supreme sword inheritance suggest the possibility of restoration.
• Power through compression and refinement: The Twelve Zhou Heaven Yuanchen Sword Array transforms the immense power of the Golden Arks into concentrated immortal swords, reflecting the chapter’s broader idea of turning remnants into something stronger and more precise.

4. Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and the Queen Mother engage in a serious exchange built on historical revelation and mutual trust.
• He presses her for answers about the Western Imperial Palace’s downfall, while she provides only fragments of the forbidden truth due to its immense danger.
• Their relationship shifts from mentor and descendant to something closer to inheritor and guardian: she entrusts him with the sect’s highest martial legacy.
• Li Beichen’s refusal of the crystal demonstrates that he is not reckless, earning implicit approval from the Queen Mother.
• His report on Jade Pool’s condition reignites her grief and fury, strengthening her determination to equip him for the sect’s defense.
• The chapter ends with her asking about the Profound Radiance, suggesting that their collaboration—and Li Beichen’s role in Jade Pool’s future—is about to deepen.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Venerable Queen Mother of the West explains that the twelve Golden Arks were secretly designed as a way for the Western Imperial Palace to preserve its power after its downfall. Their materials were chosen so that dismantling the intact Profound Radiance Golden Ark would yield enough resources to forge the twelve Yuanchen Immortal Sword embryos.
• Before her projection vanishes, she gives Li Beichen an ancient talisman. When he is strong enough—and if he is willing to shoulder the associated karmic burden—he can crush it to call on her again.
• Li suspects that the Queen Mother’s true body remains in the Nether World, possibly transformed into an unusual undead that retained its memories and clear mind. He connects this possibility to the mysterious Yin-Spirit Unification plan.
• Concerned that the talisman could expose the Western Imperial Palace’s secrets, Li hides it inside the fate-shielding Prajna Secret Realm, sealing it behind a powerful barrier.
• Studying his new inheritance, Li discovers the Zhou Heaven Sumeru Reverse-Dissolution Array, which safely dismantles a Golden Ark and recovers its valuable materials.
• Because the Ark is difficult to sustain, less agile than Li, and dangerously tied to hidden history, he decides it can no longer be used openly. He dismantles it, salvages its components, and refines its keel into twelve Sword Pellets—the embryonic Twelve Yuanchen Immortal Swords.
• After more than half a year of work, Li emerges with one month remaining before the Three Thousand Worlds Dharma Assembly. He learns that preparations are complete: Liu Binghu will stay in the Nine Provinces, while Zhuge Yangming and Sun Zhige will lead the Imperial Court delegation with four commanders.

Character development

• Li Beichen shows growing caution and responsibility. Rather than keep using a powerful but compromising vessel, he accepts its destruction to protect himself and the Nine Provinces from the dangers attached to it.
• He also proves his patience and technical skill by mastering the inherited array and spending months forging the sword embryos.
• Venerable Queen Mother of the West is revealed as a long-term planner whose contingency plans may help restore her sect. Her cryptic confidence suggests she believes the Western Imperial Palace’s return is inevitable.
• Liu Binghu demonstrates sound judgment by remaining in the Nine Provinces, where his Son of Heaven Dragon Qi is strongest, and ensuring preparations are managed in his absence.

Significant themes

• Legacy and preservation: The Golden Arks were not merely weapons or vessels; they were carefully concealed stores of the Western Imperial Palace’s future.
• Power and responsibility: Li gives up a formidable asset because its risks could endanger an entire world.
• Secrecy and fate: The talisman, the Prajna Secret Realm, and the Queen Mother’s survival all point to hidden histories and forces beyond ordinary perception.
• Preparation and patience: The chapter emphasizes plans laid across millennia, as well as Li’s sustained effort to forge the swords before the coming assembly.

Character interactions

• The Queen Mother clarifies the Ark’s purpose, entrusts Li with the talisman, and leaves him with the choice of whether to take on the associated burden.
• Li responds with respect and accepts the talisman, but keeps its existence—and the connection it represents—carefully concealed.
• Though absent from the main events, Liu Binghu’s messages reassure Li that the Nine Provinces’ leadership and delegation are organized for the upcoming Dharma Assembly.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen returns to Jade Pool to handle sect affairs before departing for the Three Thousand Worlds Dharma Assembly.
• Jade Pool's team, led by Yun Suyi, sets out for the assembly, while Li Beichen decides to travel with the Nine Provinces World team.
• Superior Sankong reveals that the Western Imperial Palace's history is cursed and advises Li Beichen not to pursue it.
• Superior Sankong decides to pass down the Western Imperial Palace's true inheritance to Li Beichen, who decides to establish the Eastern Imperial Palace instead.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen: Stands firm in his decision to pursue his own path, refusing to be bound by the Western Imperial Palace's past.
• Superior Sankong: Accepts Li Beichen's decision and agrees to pass down the Western Imperial Palace's inheritance, choosing to sever Jade Pool from the risks involved.

Significant Themes

• The burden of the past and the pursuit of one's own path.
• The struggle between humility and pride, and the consequences of each approach.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Superior Sankong: Engage in a heart-to-heart conversation, leading to a mutual understanding and agreement.
• Li Beichen and Yun Suyi: Bid each other farewell as Li Beichen decides to travel with the Nine Provinces World team instead of Jade Pool's team.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen receives a divine brick and a jade talisman from Superior Sankong, which contain the secrets of the Western Imperial Palace.
• Li Beichen decides to lead the entire Nine Provinces world to the Three Thousand Worlds Dharma Assembly to secure a ranking and free Nine Provinces from its status as a Wandering World.
• Nine Provinces departs from the Jade Pool's subsidiary star domain, with all its people and elite forces, heading for Northern Dipper Star City.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen demonstrates his resolve to lead Nine Provinces and sever ties with the Jade Pool to protect it from potential backlash.
• Superior Sankong shows his ambition for the Jade Pool's survival and longevity, choosing to support Li Beichen while cutting ties to avoid implicating the sect.
• Liu Binghu, Sun Zhige, Ximen Ye, and other elite forces show their determination and unity in supporting Li Beichen's decision.

Significant Themes

• The struggle for survival and self-reliance in the face of adversity, as seen in Nine Provinces' decision to fight for its own place in the Upper Realm.
• The consequences of past actions and the weight of history, as seen in Superior Sankong's decision to cut ties with Li Beichen to protect the Jade Pool.
• The importance of unity and cooperation among allies, as seen in the Nine Provinces' elite forces supporting Li Beichen's decision.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Superior Sankong have a heart-to-heart conversation, leading to Li Beichen's decision to sever ties with the Jade Pool to protect it.
• Li Beichen, Liu Binghu, Sun Zhige, Ximen Ye, and other elite forces discuss and agree on leading the entire Nine Provinces world to the Dharma Assembly.
• Yun Suyi, Liu Qingqing, and Wang Xiangyu discuss the implications of Superior Sankong's decision to cut ties with Li Beichen, with Yun Suyi relaying the news to her fellow disciples.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Yun Suyi receives and presents a brocade pouch from her master, Superior Sankong, who instructed her to open it only upon reaching the borders of Southern Dipper Star City.
• The message reveals that Jade Pool intends to part ways with its exceptionally talented junior disciple, Li Beichen. Although he is destined for greatness, Jade Pool’s weakened state cannot protect him from the dangers accompanying his rise.
• Yun Suyi encourages the disciples not to lose hope, suggesting that if Jade Pool restores its reputation at the Three Thousand Worlds Dharma Assembly, their master might reconsider. Privately, however, she doubts this will happen.
• The Nine Provinces World reaches Northern Dipper Star City for the Dharma Assembly. Hundreds of Wandering World contingents have already gathered.
• The Celestial Patrol Office sends identical, highly realistic incarnations to verify each delegation. Li Beichen recognizes that these figures are formed through an advanced technique involving Baleful Intent and thought.
• After confirming Nine Provinces’ recommendation certificate, the incarnation leads them to a designated star region and issues them a jade register proving their official participation.
• The Nine Provinces delegation encounters the Mad Dragon Realm, a former member of the Three Thousand Worlds Prefecture that was demoted after years of poor performance.
• Mad Dragon Realm has since regained strength through the rise of a powerful sect and a High Person. Its leader, Wu Tiankuang, declares its intention to reclaim its former status and eventually enter the Prefecture’s top hundred.
• Wu Tiankuang approaches Li Beichen and recognizes that, despite Nine Provinces’ apparently weak overall forces, Li Beichen himself is an extraordinary expert. He believes Li may rank among the strongest Venerables and could appear on the Heaven’s Chosen Ranking.
• Li Beichen explains that the Three Thousand Worlds Prefecture occupies only the Lower Nine Heavens of the Upper Realm, also known as the Human Immortal Realm. The Middle and Upper Nine Heavens correspond to the Earth Immortal and Heavenly Immortal realms.
• Despite the immense gap between these realms, Li Beichen vows that Nine Provinces will eventually ascend to the Upper Nine Heavens and allow all its people to attain immortality.

2. Character Developments

• Yun Suyi has matured through Jade Pool’s recent disasters. Once driven mainly by conviction and passion, she now understands that sect survival requires real strength rather than ideals or reliance on external allies. She resolves to break through from the Venerable realm to the High Person realm.
• Li Beichen continues to demonstrate calm confidence and hidden strength. He accurately analyzes the Celestial Patrol Office’s incarnation technique and earns Wu Tiankuang’s respect despite Nine Provinces’ modest apparent power.
• Wu Tiankuang is presented as Mad Dragon Realm’s supreme prodigy: proud, perceptive, ambitious, and powerful. He can recognize Li Beichen as a genuine peer even when others dismiss Nine Provinces.
• The Nine Provinces experts are impressed and somewhat intimidated by the strength of the wider Upper Realm, but Li Beichen’s declaration gives them renewed determination and a larger collective vision.
• Jade Pool’s disciples initially react with disappointment to the impending separation from their junior brother, but Yun Suyi redirects their sorrow toward the possibility of restoring the sect’s prestige.

3. Significant Themes

• Strength versus ideals: Jade Pool’s decline shows that noble convictions alone cannot preserve a sect; sufficient power is necessary to protect beliefs and allies.
• Ambition and revival: Both Jade Pool and Mad Dragon Realm seek to recover former glory, though Mad Dragon Realm approaches its goal through overwhelming strength and aggressive competition.
• Hidden strength and appearances: Nine Provinces seems weak because its accompanying experts are ordinary by the Dharma Assembly’s standards, yet Li Beichen is secretly one of its most formidable participants.
• Vastness of the cultivation world: The chapter expands the setting by revealing the hierarchy of the Nine Heavens and emphasizing how insignificant the Lower Nine Heavens are compared with higher realms.
• Collective destiny: Li Beichen’s final speech transforms the Dharma Assembly from a mere competition into the first step in Nine Provinces’ long-term ascent toward immortality.

4. Character Interactions

• Yun Suyi speaks to the Jade Pool disciples about their master’s decision, balancing the painful farewell with encouragement to restore Jade Pool’s standing.
• Li Beichen interacts formally with the Celestial Patrol Office incarnation, presenting Nine Provinces’ credentials and receiving its participation register.
• Mad Dragon Realm’s subordinates mock the Celestial Patrol Office only after its incarnation departs, revealing their fear of its authority.
• Wu Tiankuang confronts and respectfully introduces himself to Li Beichen. Their brief exchange is courteous but carries the tension of two powerful rivals assessing one another.
• Wu Tiankuang later explains to his companions that Li Beichen is far stronger than he appears and suggests recruiting him as a major combatant.
• Li Beichen addresses the Nine Provinces delegation directly, acknowledging the difficulty of the Upper Realm while inspiring them with the promise that their world will one day reach the highest heavens.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen and his group arrive at Northern Dipper Star City, entering through a strict gate process involving identity binding and rule proclamation.
• Guan Yue's sword resonates with an ancient building, leading her to discover the Upper Realm source sect of her [Seven-Star Sword Canon], the Seven-Star Sword Sect.
• Guan Yue joins the Seven-Star Sword Sect, and they receive a geomantic map of Northern Dipper Star City marking Upper Realm sect locations.

Character Developments

• Guan Yue: Discovers her Upper Realm source sect and joins it, demonstrating her dedication to her cultivation path.
• Zhuge Yangming: Admires Northern Dipper Star City's governance, seeing it as a model for the Nine Provinces.
• Li Beichen: Encourages Guan Yue and others to pursue their cultivation paths, showing his support for their growth.

Significant Themes

• The importance of finding one's Upper Realm source sect for cultivation growth and guidance.
• The value of strict governance and order, as seen in Northern Dipper Star City.
• The need for martial artists to seek out worthy opponents and learn from others to improve their skills.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Ximen Ye support Guan Yue in joining her Upper Realm source sect.
• Guan Yue respects and values her master's opinion in her decision to join the Seven-Star Sword Sect.
• The group shares the geomantic map and agrees to split up to search for their respective Upper Realm sects.

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Nine Provinces experts depart to find their respective opportunities in Northern Dipper Star City.
• Li Beichen arrives at the Heaven-Piercing Tower, where he sees the Heavenly Pride Ranking, which ranks cultivators based on their accumulated cultivation power.
• Li Beichen's name appears on the ranking, placing him third with a cultivation foundation of 4,480 years.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen demonstrates his immense cultivation foundation, placing him among the top three cultivators in Northern Dipper Star City.
• Other Nine Provinces experts find their opportunities, with some encountering unexpected challenges or revelations about their cultivation methods.

Significant Themes

• The intensity of competition in the Three Thousand Worlds Prefecture, with even the Wandering World's top cultivator barely making it into the top thousand at the official assembly.
• The importance of accumulated cultivation power (Gang and Baleful Intent) in determining a cultivator's strength.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen encounters no one of note at the Heaven-Piercing Tower, but his appearance on the ranking sparks discussion among the gathered cultivators.
• Other Nine Provinces experts encounter various figures and challenges, with some facing off against each other or discovering connections to the Heavenly Court.

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Heaven's Chosen Ranking is revealed, with Li Beichen ranked third.
• Li Beichen's cultivation value is 4,480 years, which is higher than Wu Tiankuang's.
• The rules for the Dharma Assembly are announced: individual and team competitions.
• The team competition is held before the individual competition, allowing Li Beichen to strategize.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen's strength is recognized and feared by other Wandering Worlds.
• Zhuge Yangming and Sun Zhige discover the origins of their cultivation methods.
• Yun Wuya gathers information about the Dharma Assembly.

Significant Themes

• The struggle for recognition and resources among Wandering Worlds.
• The importance of finding one's source in cultivation.
• The strategic planning and adaptability of Li Beichen and his team.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen interacts with Wu Tiankuang, who acknowledges Li Beichen's strength.
• Zhuge Yangming and Sun Zhige discuss the origins of their cultivation methods privately.
• Yun Wuya reports the Dharma Assembly rules to Li Beichen and the others, leading to strategic discussions.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Two months have passed since Li Beichen's arrival at Northern Dipper Star City.
• Li Beichen has been covertly investigating other Wandering Worlds to understand their strengths and prepare for the Three Thousand Worlds Dharma Assembly.
• The red and blue teams of Nine Provinces are finalized, with dynamic lineups based on the secret realms and opponents they encounter.
• Li Beichen compiles a secret ranking of Wandering Worlds, more detailed and accurate than the public [Top Hundred Wandering Worlds List].
• The Prodigy Rankings are updated, with Li Beichen ranking ninth, Wu Tiankuang ranking beyond twentieth, and other Nine Provinces cultivators unranked.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen: He has been meticulously preparing for the assembly, investigating other worlds, and training his team. He ranks ninth on the Prodigy Rankings.
• Yan Gucheng: He has been cultivating and is confident that Li Beichen will lead Nine Provinces to the assembly. He believes Li Beichen is unmatched among his peers.
• Nine Provinces cultivators: They have been training and improving their skills. They are now more adaptable and stronger as a team.

Significant Themes

• Preparation and strategy: Li Beichen's meticulous planning and preparation for the assembly are emphasized.
• Hidden strengths: The theme of hidden powers and forces keeping a low profile is explored through Li Beichen's secret ranking of Wandering Worlds.
• Rank and reputation: The importance of one's rank and reputation is shown through the Prodigy Rankings and Li Beichen's ninth-place position.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Liu Binghu: They have discussed their strategy and plan for the assembly.
• Li Beichen and other Wandering Worlds' cultivators: Li Beichen has been observing and learning from them without their knowledge.
• Yan Gucheng and Li Beichen: Though not directly interacting, Yan Gucheng is confident in Li Beichen's strength and believes they will meet at the assembly.

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Three Thousand Worlds Dharma Assembly preliminaries begin.
• Li Beichen leads the Nine Provinces team to the Heaven-Piercing Tower.
• A supreme Superior from the Heavenly Court appears, stabilizing the collapsing secret realm with an immortal artifact, a bronze bell.
• Teams are assigned to secret realms, with 60 worlds sharing one secret realm. Each team has half an hour to investigate their assigned secret realm through a single representative.
• Zhuge Yangming investigates their assigned secret realm, Doorway Number Sixty-Three.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen demonstrates his strategic thinking and leadership by assigning Zhuge Yangming to investigate the secret realm.
• Zhuge Yangming showcases his investigative skills using the [Only-Me Heavenly Heart Art].

Significant Themes

• The power dynamics between the Heavenly Court and the Wandering Worlds are highlighted, with the Heavenly Court's overwhelming strength and indifference to the outcomes of the Dharma Assembly.
• The importance of preparation and investigation before entering the secret realm is emphasized.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Zhuge Yangming work together, with Li Beichen assigning tasks based on Zhuge Yangming's strengths and Zhuge Yangming executing them flawlessly.
• Teams from other worlds are introduced, setting the stage for future interactions and competition.

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Beichen observes and memorizes the opponents grouped with Nine Provinces.
• Teams from various worlds discuss strategies and assess their chances against each other.
• Zhuge Yangming explores the secret realm and shares his findings with Li Beichen.
• Li Beichen decides on a battle plan and prepares his team.
• The Celestial Patrol Office selects teams for the secret realms.
• An expert from a powerful world approaches Li Beichen with a recruitment offer, but he declines.

Character Developments

• Li Beichen demonstrates his strategic prowess and calm demeanor under pressure.
• Zhuge Yangming showcases his ability to explore and deduce the layout of the secret realm.
• Wu Tiankuang, from the Mad Dragon Realm, displays confidence in Li Beichen's potential and plans to recruit him after the competition.

Significant Themes

• The disparity in strength between worlds and the resulting dynamics in competition.
• Strategic planning and preparation for battle.
• Recruitment and alliances among powerful cultivators.

Character Interactions

• Li Beichen and Zhuge Yangming work together to prepare for the secret realm competition.
• Li Beichen declines a recruitment offer from a powerful world, showing his independence and self-assurance.
• Wu Tiankuang discusses Li Beichen's potential with his junior brother, displaying his confidence in Li Beichen's future prospects.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Wu Tiankuang’s faction considers recruiting Li Beichen, but Wu insists on first consulting his master and determining what level of sincerity to offer. Li rejects an initial envoy, saying he is too occupied by the ongoing battle.
• The competition takes place in secret realms where time flows much faster than outside. In Secret Realm No. 63, more than half an hour has passed while only a short time has elapsed externally.
• Teams search a vast secret realm for a hidden key. Finding it early provides a major strategic advantage, while waiting until the final reveal would force all teams into a chaotic battle.
• Purple Sword World accidentally enters the nest of an enormous, extremely powerful exotic beast. During their attack, they discover that the secret realm key is hidden inside it.
• The Purple Sword team chooses to fight rather than flee. After a desperate, ten-breath struggle, they kill the beast, though all five are severely injured, with several losing limbs.
• They seal the key’s aura to conceal its location, but the seal can last only until the rules force the key to reveal itself near the end of the round.
• Other teams, including Rock Realm, Flying Cloud World, and Nine Provinces, converge on the nest. Rock Realm offers protection in exchange for the key, but Purple Sword refuses.
• Purple Sword attempts to escape through the surrounding beast tide. Flying Cloud World uses a cloud-like transformation to slip through the beasts, while Rock Realm attacks directly.
• Sun Zhige and the four generals of Wind, Fire, Forest, and Mountain arrive and unleash their Military School battle formation, devastating the beast tide and shocking the observing factions.
• The chapter ends with the Nine Provinces team advancing through the beasts toward Purple Sword World, while the surrounding teams prepare to fight for the key.

Character Developments

• Wu Tiankuang shows patience, political calculation, and respect for Li Beichen’s value, recognizing that recruiting him requires a carefully prepared offer.
• Li Beichen remains detached and focused on the competition, refusing to be distracted by recruitment attempts.
• The Purple Sword leader demonstrates determination and sacrifice. Even after losing an arm and suffering severe injuries, he continues leading the team and refuses to surrender the key.
• The Purple Sword team evolves from a coordinated group into a desperate, mutually committed unit willing to trade their lives for victory.
• Shi Pan of Rock Realm becomes increasingly wary of Nine Provinces, realizing that Sun Zhige’s group may be strong enough to threaten his own team.
• Sun Zhige and the Four Generals reveal the true strength of their battle formation, changing the other worlds’ perception of Nine Provinces.

Significant Themes

• Strategy over haste: Success depends not only on strength but also on timing, preparation, concealment, and choosing when to reveal one’s abilities.
• The value of hidden strength: Nine Provinces initially appears ordinary, but its Military School formation proves unexpectedly formidable.
• Sacrifice and determination: Purple Sword World’s members accept crippling injuries and risk death rather than surrender the key.
• Competition and opportunism: Most teams wait for others to weaken themselves before striking, while some attempt bold, direct action.
• The vastness of cultivation techniques: Heavenly Court’s manipulation of space and time, along with the specialized battle formations, emphasizes the depth and complexity of the cultivation world.
• Collective fortune and unity: The Nine Provinces spectators’ shared excitement and support appear to strengthen their world’s fortune, suggesting that morale and collective will have tangible power.

Character Interactions

• Wu Tiankuang restrains his junior brother from immediately inviting Li Beichen and emphasizes negotiating with sincerity.
• Li Beichen dismisses the envoy from another world, prioritizing the battle.
• Shi Pan confronts the wounded Purple Sword team and offers aid in exchange for the key, but their leader rejects him.
• Flying Cloud World attempts to steal the key through stealth, prompting Rock Realm to launch its own assault.
• Sun Zhige’s arrival changes the balance of the conflict. His formation attacks the beast tide directly, causing the other worlds to recognize Nine Provinces as a serious contender.

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Purple Sword World team uses a secret technique, "Purple Qi Incarnation," to create multiple illusions, attempting to escape with the secret realm key.
• Sun Zhige's team pursues the real bodies, while the rest chase illusions that explode into Sword Fiends.
• The Purple Sword World team forfeits and leaves the secret realm.
• Sun Zhige's team secures the secret key token.
• The beast tide increases, and the key's glow is revealed in the final quarter-hour.
• Sun Zhige's team charges into the beast tide's center to survive the final quarter-hour.

Character Developments

• The Purple Sword World's senior brother accepts his fate, burns his life force, and fights Sun Zhige's team despite knowing he'll lose.
• Sun Zhige remains focused on the mission, prioritizing the secret key over a one-on-one duel.
• Li Beichen shows confidence in Sun Zhige's team and the plan they've prepared.

Significant Themes

• Strategic planning and execution (Nine Provinces' team vs. Purple Sword World's desperation).
• Sacrifice and acceptance of fate (Purple Sword World's senior brother).
• Unyielding determination in the face of adversity (Sun Zhige's team).

Character Interactions

• Sun Zhige and the Purple Sword World's senior brother have a tense standoff before the final battle.
• Sun Zhige's team works together to secure the secret key and defend their position.
• Li Beichen watches the match with confidence in his team's abilities.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• The first-round battle in Secret Realm No. 63 concludes with Nine Provinces’ formation, led by Sun Zhige and four other generals, successfully suppressing the secret realm key until the end.
• All participants are transported out, confirming Nine Provinces as the winner. Li Beichen praises Sun Zhige, who credits Li’s advance planning and strategic foresight for the victory.
• Across the wider competition, fewer than one-tenth of the participating teams obtain secret realm keys. The losing worlds are ordered to leave, while the successful teams remain to compete in the second round.
• The Celestial Patrol Office announces that teams will receive only one hour of recovery time. Despite widespread injuries, no one dares protest after the immortal official warns that reluctant teams may simply forfeit.
• Nine Provinces recovers relatively well. The four generals of Wind, Fire, Forest, and Mountain regain roughly seventy to eighty percent of their strength, leaving the team in a favorable position even if they lose the next round.
• Ten second-round secret realms are selected. Nine Provinces is assigned to Secret Realm No. 6, which Zhuge Yangming investigates.
• Zhuge discovers that Realm No. 6 is an illusion-based world where reality and illusion overlap, changing according to each observer’s perception. Most other teams fail to understand its true nature.
• Li Beichen abandons the plan for a direct, coordinated assault and devises a two-team strategy. He will lead the red team in the frontal attack, while Zhuge Yangming leads the blue team and uses his Heart Power to identify the realm’s true structure.
• Li Beichen is selected for the red team, causing Nine Provinces’ allies and spectators to become confident that victory is nearly assured.
• The Hanging Mountain Realm, assigned to the same secret realm, regards Nine Provinces as an arrogant rival and plans to defeat them. Its Eldest Senior Brother, ranked below Li Beichen on the Heaven’s Chosen Ranking, openly anticipates a decisive battle.
• Li Beichen ignores the Eldest Senior Brother’s provocative presence and calmly advances toward the entrance, causing the swordsman’s arrogance to turn into irritation.

2. Character Developments

• Li Beichen: Establishes himself as both a powerful combatant and an exceptional strategist. He recognizes the danger of Realm No. 6, adapts his plans, and personally assumes command of the most dangerous offensive position.
• Sun Zhige: Demonstrates loyalty, endurance, and military discipline. Though covered in blood and exhausted, he remains composed and openly acknowledges Li Beichen’s crucial role in securing victory.
• Zhuge Yangming: Proves the value of his mysterious Heart Power cultivation. Unlike the other investigators, he sees through the realm’s deceptive appearances and becomes the key figure in the blue team’s strategy.
• The Four Generals: Though injured, they remain dependable and obey Li Beichen’s revised battle plan without hesitation.
• The Hanging Mountain Eldest Senior Brother: Initially confident and dismissive, he expects Li Beichen to acknowledge him as a worthy rival. Li’s complete indifference wounds his pride and begins to provoke genuine resentment.

3. Significant Themes

• Strategy over brute force: The first-round victory and the plan for Realm No. 6 both emphasize preparation, prediction, and adaptability rather than relying only on strength.
• Perception versus reality: Secret Realm No. 6 embodies the uncertainty of illusion, showing that different observers may experience entirely different versions of the same world.
• Authority and suppression: The immortal official’s power, especially the threat of the immortal bell, forces even powerful participants to obey without protest.
• Emergence of Nine Provinces: Nine Provinces is portrayed as a rising force capable of competing with worlds backed by High Persons, despite its supposedly weaker foundations.
• Pride and composure: Li Beichen’s refusal to respond to provocation contrasts with the Hanging Mountain swordsman’s growing frustration, highlighting calm confidence against arrogant self-display.

4. Character Interactions

• Li Beichen congratulates Sun Zhige, while Sun humbly attributes the victory to Li’s planning.
• Zhuge Yangming privately reports the secret realm’s unusual nature to Li after creating a barrier to prevent other teams from overhearing.
• Li assigns Zhuge command of the blue team and entrusts him with using Heart Power to manage unexpected developments.
• The Nine Provinces team responds enthusiastically when Li is assigned to the red team, believing his participation nearly guarantees victory.
• The Hanging Mountain Realm discusses Nine Provinces contemptuously and vows to punish them for refusing an earlier alliance or offer.
• Its Eldest Senior Brother attempts to project dominance and invite a confrontation, but Li completely ignores him. This slight visibly frustrates the swordsman and intensifies the coming rivalry.