Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yunlu recovered from her injuries and chose to keep nurturing her treasured Ice Crystal Longsword, while Lin Xuanxuan prepared for the contestants’ planned attack on the Heavenly Spirit Sect. In the main timeline, Zhao Ruoming defeated a World Relief Valley alchemist, and Lin Changsheng encountered Xuan Xing, the Heavenly Spirit Sect’s second-generation Founder Ancestor.

• Lin Xuanxuan treated Zhang Yunlu with a medicinal bath, and Zhang Yunlu repaired her cracked Ice Crystal Longsword with the Sword Nurturing Art.
• Zhang Yunlu finished the bath and used an entry-level nurturing sword sheath while she and Lin Xuanxuan discussed the contestants’ plan to retaliate against the Heavenly Spirit Sect.
• Zhao Ruoming defeated a World Relief Valley alchemist in a sea of lava, and the dying alchemist mocked him over his loss to Chi Jiuyu before taking his own life.
• Lin Changsheng recovered in Bliss Immortal City and set out to hunt for contestants, but Xuan Xing stopped him and said he wanted to ask a few questions.

Lin Changsheng bluffed his way through a meeting with Xuan Xing, then fled with a gift he did not trust. Elsewhere, the immortals discussed Xuan and Xu Xing's past, Mu Yong found a discarded opportunity, and Chi Jiuyu returned to the rankings race.

• Lin Changsheng told Xuan Xing that his group was a resource exploration team and claimed Xuan Xing was vastly weaker than the Void Return cultivators he knew.
• Xuan Xing gave Lin Changsheng a storage ring of spirit plants and let him leave, then concluded that the world behind the extraterrestrial cultivators was immensely powerful.
• The Tyrant Sovereign, Pill Ancestor, Ning Ruo, Yuanjun, and Charm Ancestor discussed Xuan Xing's name and whether Xuan regretted not acting against Xu Xing earlier.
• Lin Changsheng inspected Xuan Xing's gift, discarded the ring because he feared it had been tampered with, and Mu Yong picked it up on his way back to the sect.
• Chi Jiuyu recovered at Surging Waves Sword Palace, captured a seabird for her storage ring, and set out to regain points after her ranking fell to seventh.

Zhao Ruohan used her spirit-plant puppets to eliminate a Spirit Sound Workshop contestant as the fourth safe-zone update revealed the remaining contestants’ locations. The Taixuan Immortal Network then spread across the Xuanxiang World, exposing the world’s rules as nodes that could be forcibly merged and reorganized to uproot the Spirit Herding lineage.

• Zhao Ruohan prepared dozens of spirit-plant puppets and began cultivating a rare seed before sensing a nearby contestant.
• A Spirit Sound Workshop cultivator entered the forest, where Zhao Ruohan’s hidden puppets surrounded and attacked her.
• The fourth safe-zone update activated real-time rankings, maps, and periodic displays of contestants’ precise coordinates, alarming the Supreme Dao Sect contestants.
• Zhao Ruohan’s puppets eliminated the sound cultivator, though Zhao Ruohan was injured by her causal sound art and lost several puppets.
• The Immortal Network swept across the Xuanxiang World, causing its inhabitants and Void Return cultivators to sense an overwhelming power from beyond their world.
• The Taixuan Immortal Network connected to nodes left where contestants had been eliminated and revealed the world’s rules, preparing to impose a new order.

Mu Yong glimpsed other versions of his fate and replaced his cultivation art as the Immortal Net weakened Xuan’s influence. At the grand competition, Lin Changsheng pursued a newly marked contestant, while Chi Jiuyu and nearby participants rushed toward another pursued contestant.

• Mu Yong recalled visions of alternate lives in which unknown cultivators disrupted events and he was killed, then resolved to seize control of his fate.
• Mu Yong replaced the Heavenly Spirit Qi Refining Formula with the Vast Radiance Self-Nourishing Mystic Art and decided to use his previously unused storage ring.
• Ning Ruo reported that the Immortal Net nodes were installed, and Hong Sovereign noted that Mu Yong’s thinking was changing as Xuan’s influence faded.
• Lin Changsheng saw Qiu Zheng eliminated by Di Xing, then used the newly unlocked map to rush toward the nearest contestant outside Miao City.
• Chi Jiuyu spotted a contestant fleeing from a pursuer and used Great Void Sword Escape to intervene as four other nearby participants also moved toward the hunted contestant.

Chang Xiao escaped a six-person pursuit and entered a spirit city to eliminate witnesses while trying to catch up with Lin Changsheng’s score. As the world’s Void Return cultivators debated surrendering to the outsiders, Xuan Xing discovered Mu Yong was a reborn one.

• The pursued contestant accelerated beyond the six contestants chasing him, and Chi Jiuyu abandoned the pursuit as the real-time coordinates disappeared.
• Chang Xiao entered a spirit city, planned to eliminate its cultivators, and saw that Lin Changsheng had taken first place with eight points while he had six.
• The fourth safe-zone update eliminated contestants across the three time branches, leaving thirty-seven in the Spirit Transformation group, forty-five in the Nascent Soul group, and twenty-one in the Golden Core group.
• Xuanxiang World’s Void Return cultivators debated surrendering to the outsider Spirit Transformations, and the Blood Vajra Temple cultivator suggested the conflict was a trial in which supposedly dead contestants might have survived.
• Xuan Xing sensed that his safeguard had been triggered and found Mu Yong cultivating in a sealed stone room; he recognized Mu Yong’s techniques and identified him as a reborn one.

Xuan Xing discovered Mu Yong’s memories of a past life and tried to uncover the Xuanxiang Heavenly Track’s secrets, but Xuan Qi’s protection forced him to spare Mu Yong and take him as a disciple. The chapter revealed that Mu Yong was Xuan’s chosen subject for a transformation ritual, while the contest’s contestants remained unaware of the plot and Lin Changsheng faced an approaching opponent.

• Xuan Xing searched Mu Yong’s memories and learned that Mu Yong had lived a future life as the Radiant Immortal Sovereign and had seen possible attacks on the Heaven Spirit Sect.
• Xuan Xing tried to force open the memories obscured by Xuan Qi’s protection, but his cultivation began draining, so he stopped and restored it with super-grade Xuanxiang Scripts.
• Xuan Xing’s killing intent toward Mu Yong triggered another threat to his cultivation, so he asked Mu Yong to become his disciple, and Mu Yong accepted.
• Hong Sovereign and the others explained that Xuan intended Mu Yong to use the Xuanxiang Heavenly Track to become a Cang Race member and serve as part of a larger plan.
• The contestants remained unaware of the events in Xuanxiang World, while Lin Changsheng, ranked first with eight points, found himself facing a battle-hungry opponent whom Chang Xiao had lured to him.

Lin Changsheng accepted Yue Zhongfeng’s challenge, and the two fought to a stalemate as the grand competition’s observers watched. After the contestants’ coordinates appeared, Chi Jiuyu encountered a Supreme Dao Sect cultivator and attacked him as nearby competitors converged.

• Yue Zhongfeng challenged Lin Changsheng, who refused to admit he was weaker and drew his sword to fight.
• Lin Changsheng and Yue Zhongfeng battled for hours while Immortal Sect leaders and eliminated contestants watched the projected divisions.
• A beam of light brought Zhang Yunlu to the stands as an eliminated contestant, surprising Lin Xuanxuan.
• Chi Jiuyu saw the newly displayed contestant coordinates and struck at a nearby Supreme Dao Sect cultivator.
• The gray-robed cultivator proposed that they cooperate against the approaching competitors, but Chi Jiuyu attacked him again.

Chi Jiuyu pursued the elusive Supreme Dao Sect contestant to draw her pursuers into conflict, while Mu Yong suspected that his rebirth and cultivation were part of Xuan Qi’s scheme and triggered a dangerous change in his spiritual power. As Xuan Xing considered using the Heavenly Track to address the crisis, Mu Yong’s actions caused Xuan Xing’s own cultivation to begin draining again.

• The Supreme Dao Sect contestant escaped Chi Jiuyu’s attack using a golden-patterned bead, and Chi Jiuyu chased him to distract the contestants converging on her.
• The contestant escaped Chi Jiuyu a second time, while Charm Ancestor, Bie Xuening, and Xu Xing watched the competition and assessed Chi Jiuyu’s predicament.
• Mu Yong realized Xuan Qi might have fabricated his past-life memories to prepare him for possession, and the Spirit Herding Self-Nourishing Cang True Scripture began converting his spiritual power as he coughed up blood.
• Void Return cultivators watching Lin Changsheng and Yue Zhongfeng admired their abilities and considered joining them, prompting Xuan Xing to worry that they might defect.
• Xuan Xing began to suggest that the cultivators examine the Xuanxiang Heavenly Track, but sensed his cultivation draining and discovered that Mu Yong had reduced himself to a half-dead state.

Xuan Xing persuaded the Void Returns to investigate the Xuanxiang Heavenly Track by sacrificing cultivators and mortals as scouts, while Lin Changsheng and Yue Zhongfeng fought fiercely during the Immortal Sect Grand Competition. Chi Jiuyu tracked down the Supreme Dao Sect contestant who had ambushed her, but he escaped again just as Zhao Ruoming arrived.

• Xuan Xing secretly sent an incarnation toward Mu Yong’s Heavenly Spirit inheritance Dao-seed and proposed that the Void Returns decipher the Heavenly Track.
• The Void Returns agreed to Xuan Xing’s plan and began gathering mortals and cultivators from multiple realms to scout the Heavenly Track.
• Lin Changsheng and Yue Zhongfeng continued their fierce battle as Chang Xiao waited for them to weaken so he could seize the championship.
• Chang Xiao recognized Yue Zhongfeng’s progress in the Yin-Yang Metamorphosis Method while observing the combatants’ techniques.
• Chi Jiuyu tracked the masked Supreme Dao Sect contestant using her sword-intent mark, but he escaped by sacrificing a gold-patterned pearl.
• Zhao Ruoming arrived and called out to Chi Jiuyu as she prepared to pursue the escaping contestant.

Zhao Ruoming challenged Chi Jiuyu, but she ignored him and Ye Zhiwei intercepted him, leading to a fierce battle. Meanwhile, Xuan Xing brought Mu Yong and a million expendable pathfinders to the Xuanxiang Heavenly Track, where he sent Mu Yong to scout it as the immortals watched.

• Zhao Ruoming challenged Chi Jiuyu to a rematch, but she told him to go play somewhere else and continued pursuing the Supreme Dao Sect contestant.
• Ye Zhiwei blocked Zhao Ruoming with her Imitative Fire Art, and the two fought to a standstill as the other contestants also revealed their trump cards.
• The Supreme Dao Sect contestant led Chi Jiuyu into a remote desert and activated preparations for a decisive fight.
• Xuan Xing gathered a million expendable pathfinders and brought Mu Yong and several Void Return cultivators to the Xuanxiang Heavenly Track.
• Xuan Xing gave Mu Yong the artifacts containing the pathfinders and ordered him to scout the Heavenly Track, then ordered a Spirit Transformation cultivator to follow him.
• Mu Yong cursed Xuan Xing and walked toward the Heavenly Track while the Void Return cultivators demanded an explanation and the immortals watched.

Mu Yong approached the Heavenly Track and saw Tyrant Sovereign seize its armillary sphere after Mu Yong recoiled from the light of spirituality’s demand to treat all living beings as livestock. Meanwhile, Chi Jiuyu accepted defeat to the Supreme Dao Sect contestant and was eliminated from the competition.

• Mu Yong walked toward the Heavenly Track and realized his memories of reaching it had been fabricated by Xuan Qi.
• Mu Yong saw the light of spirituality and hesitated to embrace its vision of herding all living beings, prompting Tyrant Sovereign to reveal himself and grasp the Heavenly Track.
• Tyrant Sovereign and Xu Xing watched Mu Yong, while the altered flow of time kept nearby cultivators from entering their domain.
• Chi Jiuyu recovered from a near-fatal throat wound and admitted that the Supreme Dao Sect contestant had defeated her.
• The safe-zone notice eliminated Chi Jiuyu after she failed to enter the safe zone.

Cheng Sheng defeated Chi Jiuyu, but Chang Xiao arrived and eliminated Cheng Sheng, bringing his score level with Lin Changsheng’s. Sheng Qingqing rescued the badly injured Lin Changsheng, who woke beside a river and agreed to repay her for saving him.

• After the final safe-zone rules were announced, Cheng Sheng prepared to hide, but Chang Xiao appeared and confronted him.
• Chang Xiao defeated Cheng Sheng, took the storage rings, and tied Lin Changsheng’s score at nine points before setting off to hunt him.
• The realm’s observers discussed Zhao Ruohan’s puppet army and joked about Sheng Qingqing rescuing the unconscious Lin Changsheng.
• As the safe zone contracted, Lin Changsheng woke beside a river and learned that Sheng Qingqing had saved him.
• Sheng Qingqing said she had once fallen from the Void Return Realm and demanded twelve first-grade spiritual opportunities as repayment; Lin Changsheng agreed.

Sheng Qingqing rescued Lin Changsheng, accepted his spiritual materials, and planned to meet him again while he continued through the trial. Elsewhere, Zhao Ruohan completed a massive army of spirit plant puppets and faced a Divine Mechanism construct as the Grand Competition continued.

• Sheng Qingqing accepted Lin Changsheng’s spiritual materials instead of killing him, then left him to recover and watched from above as he departed.
• Sheng Qingqing inferred that the Spirit Transformations from beyond the heavens might locate one another and that their battles could be part of a trial.
• The eliminated contestants watched Lin Changsheng’s encounter with Sheng Qingqing on the projection screen, while Chi Jiuyu learned Zhang Yunlu had scored five points and Zhao Ruoming received a message from Zhiwei.
• Chang Xiao pursued the wounded Lin Changsheng, and Sheng Qingqing fled when she saw the pursuer, setting up their second meeting as she had planned.
• Zhao Ruohan completed a giant mountain puppet and an army of spirit plant puppets, then faced a nearly hundred-meter-tall Divine Mechanism construct from the Divine Mechanism Artifact Refining Pavilion.

The Xuanxiang Void Returns debated the frozen Heavenly Track and suspected that Mu Yong’s presence was affecting it, while Sheng Qingqing continued infiltrating Lin Changsheng’s circle. The Golden Core competition ended with Liu Ming in first place, and the Second Time Branch collapsed as he was teleported away.

• Zhao Ruohan activated her divine mechanism construct’s dharma form and fought the mountain puppet with its wave of spirit-plant puppets.
• The Xuanxiang Void Returns discussed the contestants frozen near the Heavenly Track and considered whether Mu Yong was connected to the reduced cultivation drain.
• Sheng Qingqing reported that the otherworldly Spirit Transformation cultivators who had supposedly died might still be alive, then continued replacing her origin and growing closer to Lin Changsheng.
• The remaining Second Time Branch Golden Core contestants were hunted down after their attack on the Heavenly Spirit Sect, leaving Liu Ming as the final survivor.
• Liu Ming received first place in the Golden Core competition and insulted Xuan Xing before being teleported away.
• The Second Time Branch began collapsing into the void, and Xuan Xing realized that its world had been fake.

The second Time Branch collapsed after the Immortal Network stopped sustaining it, while Liu Ming was celebrated as the Golden Core champion in the main competition. In the main timeline, Chang Xiao failed to convince Lin Changsheng that Sheng Qingqing was dangerous, and the world’s rulers agreed to try a modern Divine Path reform.

• The second Time Branch and its inhabitants dissipated into nothingness after the final contestant departed and the Immortal Network withdrew its power.
• Liu Ming descended amid a grand display of auspicious beasts and clouds as the Golden Core Realm Champion, while Chi Jiuyu regretted having entered the Spirit Transformation division instead of receiving similar fanfare.
• Chang Xiao warned Lin Changsheng that Sheng Qingqing was suspicious, but Lin defended her; Sheng Qingqing accepted Chang Xiao’s offer to leave and demanded twenty-four first-grade spiritual opportunities as repayment.
• The Tyrant Sovereign admitted he had won a bet about Lin Changsheng, and Hong Sovereign and Xu Xing exchanged embarrassing memories before turning the discussion to the world’s future.
• Hong Sovereign and Xu Xing supported the Sect Masters’ plan to establish a modern Divine Path system based on moral character, merit, and contributions so the harvested world could recover.

The Founder Ancestors approved the Immortal Sect Masters’ proposal to reform Xuanxiang World’s Divine Path, leaving the Sect Masters responsible for carrying it out. In the Spirit Transformation competition, contestants prepared to confront the linked Divine Mechanism constructs, but Xuan Xing intervened after Lin Changsheng was eliminated.

• Xu Xing and the other immortals approved the Sect Masters’ Modern Divine Path Reform and agreed to delegate some Immortal Net authority.
• The Immortal Sect Masters learned they would have to implement their proposal, and Du Ruoheng and Cheng Junming blamed Shen Qingjun for reporting it.
• A triple-linked Divine Mechanism construct saved Lin Changsheng from Chang Xiao, drove Chang Xiao back, and eliminated other contestants while searching the safe zone.
• Zhao Ruohan evaded the constructs, while several remaining contestants secretly agreed to cooperate against them.
• The competition announcement reduced the coordinate display interval as only ten contestants remained, and Xuan Xing attacked the construct after Lin Changsheng’s elimination, claiming Lin was his close friend.

Xuan Xing intervened in the competition to protect Lin Changsheng and advance his plans with the otherworldly contestants, while Chang Xiao and Zhao Ruohan fought to survive the closing rounds. As the final contestants gathered inside Heavenly Spirit Sect, Xuan Xing cleared the grounds and awaited the next coordinate display.

• Xuan Xing used Time Balance to suppress his cultivation, defeated a contestant, and warned the otherworldly cultivators not to harm the city's mortals.
• Chang Xiao rushed to the fallen body cultivator, secured the points, and escaped the other contestants while Zhao Ruohan prepared to hunt contestants with her spirit-plant puppets.
• Lin Changsheng returned to the Sword Sect venue and watched Chang Xiao's fight, wondering how Sheng Qingqing was doing.
• Zhao Ruohan lured a contestant to her puppets and eliminated him, while Xuan Xing's sect formation killed Chang Xiao when he tried to force his way inside.
• Xuanxiang's Void Return cultivators offered their allegiance to the remaining contestants, but the contestants rejected them; Xuan Xing evacuated the sect grounds as four contestants gathered for the next coordinate display.

The tournament neared its end as the contestants fought through shifting alliances, while Xu Xing and Ning Ruo began purging Xuan’s lingering influence from the Immortal Net. Zhao Ruohan was eliminated after a backstab and counterattack, and Supreme Dao Sect contestants survived to the last in all three divisions.

• The three contestants joined Zhao Ruohan to attack a hidden Supreme Dao Sect contestant, while the Nascent Soul division’s contestants turned on one another after a backstab sparked a free-for-all.
• Ning Ruo drew out a strand of the Immortal Net, and Yuanjun used her improved True Method to purge Xuan’s influence at its root.
• Xu Xing sent Mu Yong and the hesitant Xuanxiang Void Returns back from the time-distorted regions, and Mu Yong reported seeing the Tyrant Sovereign grasp the Heavenly Track.
• A contestant ambushed Zhao Ruohan, who summoned her concealed spirit-plant puppets and eliminated the attacker before the other two contestants eliminated her.
• The remaining Spirit Transformation contestants fought until two Supreme Dao Sect contestants reached the final safe zone, where one stepped outside and lost; Supreme Dao Sect contestants finished last in all three divisions.

After the Grand Competition ended, the Founder Ancestors began transforming Xuanxiang World by embedding a new cultivation method into its rules. They shattered the Heavenly Track, exposed Xuan Qi’s Spirit Herding scheme, and started cleansing the world while its cultivators’ foundations collapsed.

• You Qihong and Chang Xiao were announced as the Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation champions, while Chi Jiuyu admitted she had lost to You Qihong at the previous Grand Competition.
• The Founder Ancestors embedded the Myriad Phenomena Spirit-Washing God-Shedding True Method into Xuanxiang World’s rules and decided to keep its confused world will to assist the Divine Path system.
• An enormous hand crushed the Xuanxiang Heavenly Track, and a distant voice bestowed the Cleansing Fate, Tracing Truth Chapter upon every living being.
• Xuan Xing and the other cultivators learned that Xuan Qi’s Spirit Herding lineage had used them as sacrificial offerings, while their cultivation realms began collapsing as the Immortal Net purged that lineage.
• The Heaven-and-Earth Filth-Cleansing Chapter began cleansing Xuanxiang World through water, fire, wind, earth, and other phenomena as the world’s depleted origin returned.

The new Divine Path formed nine seals that sought suitable wielders, while Xu Xing and the others approved temporary appointments for candidates with limited merit. After the immortals departed, the Water-Ordering Source-Governing Imperial Seal chose Mu Yong as its acting bearer, giving him power that surpassed his former Void Return strength and leaving Xuan Xing and the other fallen cultivators uncertain.

• The Water-Ordering Source-Governing Imperial Seal formed over the No-Return Sea, and the Returnless City Lord and other cultivators failed to seize it before it vanished.
• Nine Divine Path seals scattered across the Xuanxiang World, and Xu Xing and the others agreed to let comparatively decent candidates hold offices provisionally while building merit.
• Pill Ancestor saw the Primordial Qi divine office choose a rebel leader from a mortal dynasty.
• Xuan Xing and the other fallen cultivators discussed how to respond to the collapse of the Spirit Herding lineage and the cleansing of converted portions within them.
• The Water-Ordering Source-Governing Imperial Seal entered Mu Yong and appointed him acting Water-Ordering Emperor, requiring him to earn three thousand merit and erase seven sins within three years.