Chapter Summaries

Chu Ming tested Golden House Teleportation, then returned to the Literary Prefecture and read its books while Tantai Yuyue, Ling Long, and Yin Fang each sought his attention. The chapter ended with Tantai Yuyue presenting Chu Ming with Xuanyuan Huizhi’s jade cushion and preparing to give him the Tianmu Library.

• Chu Ming marked Pine Valley Peak and discovered that Golden House Teleportation could carry him as far as a hundred li, though each use consumed Golden House Power.
• Chu Ming arranged to meet Old Man Shi and the silver-haired Old Ji the next day in a forest west of Tianmu City, then returned to Ji Wujiang’s residence and hurried to the Wen Residence to read.
• Ling Qiong and Ling Long arrived looking for Chu Ming, but Tantai Yuyue asserted that he was now a personal disciple of the literary preceptor, and Chu Ming left with her for the Literary Prefecture.
• Chu Ming found that most of the Literary Prefecture’s books added little progress to [Book Intent Painting Realm], and he planned to seek higher-tier texts to improve it.
• Tantai Yuyue took Xuanyuan Huizhi’s jade cushion and revealed that her master had arranged for Chu Ming to receive the Tianmu Library after it passed through Xuanyuan Huizhi’s hands.
• When Chu Ming emerged from the book repository space, Tantai Yuyue offered him Xuanyuan Huizhi’s jade cushion as a gift.

Chu Ming received cultivation treasures and a credential for the Langhuan Book World as Granny Yin invited him to join the Nine Heavens Alliance. Before he could decide what to do, Immortal Duanmu and Immortal Zhong Zhan forced Tianmu Kingdom’s Old Ancestors to surrender the book world’s key, leaving the credential’s usefulness uncertain.

• Tantai Yuyue and Xuanyuan Huizhi gave Chu Ming a jade meditation mat, Tianmu Library, and enlightenment pills, which advanced his cultivation insights.
• Chu Ming secretly observed Old Man Shi, Granny Yin, and Tantai Xiu before revealing himself and accepting their gifts of two True Intent divine abilities, a Golden Blade, and a Langhuan Book World credential.
• Granny Yin revealed that she and Old Man Shi belonged to the Nine Heavens Alliance and invited Chu Ming to join, explaining that the alliance opposed forces behind the continent’s catastrophes.
• Immortal Duanmu and Immortal Zhong Zhan appeared through a rift above Tianmu City and demanded the Langhuan Book World key from Tianmu Kingdom’s three Old Ancestors.
• After Immortal Duanmu demonstrated his overwhelming strength, the Old Ancestors surrendered the key, and the two immortals departed with it.
• Tianmu Kingdom’s guards forbade people from discussing the rift, while Chu Ming and the others wondered whether his Langhuan Book World credential remained useful.

After the Langshu Realm key was stolen, Chu Ming learned that Tianmu Kingdom planned to reopen the Tianmu Dao Treasury to find True Sage Qi and forge a replacement. He joined an expedition into the unstable treasury, where he met his fellow disciples and other talented entrants as more princes arrived.

• Granny Yin explained that the Ancient Immortal Kingdom and Divine Martial Kingdom were branches of the Black and White Divine Palace and Heavenly Martial Sacred Hall, and warned Chu Ming that his book talisman would not work without a new key.
• Chu Ming deduced the second level of the True Intent of Destruction, tested the golden True Intent battle weapon, and received Xuanyuan Huizhi's summons.
• Xuanyuan Huizhi told Chu Ming and Xuanyuan Chuye that the Tianmu Dao Treasury held True Sage Qi needed to reforge the Langshu Realm key, and they agreed to enter its trials.
• Xuanyuan Huizhi gathered more than a hundred entrants, warned them that the collapsing treasury was dangerous, and led them through the library space to its entrance.
• Chu Ming met his fellow disciples Xuanyuan Chang, Tantai Fei, and Xuanyuan Shan, then learned about the prodigies Xuanyuan Jun and Tantai Tuocheng.
• The Second Prince, Third Prince, and Ninth Prince appeared at the treasury entrance, drawing everyone's attention.

Chu Ming and the Tianmu Kingdom’s expedition entered the unstable Tianmu Dao Treasury, where animated objects and lethal trials endangered the group. After the Vermilion Bird Marquis sacrificed himself to get them through the Immortal Desk, Tantai Yu volunteered to paint the blood-required World Within a Painting.

• Tantai Xiu warned Chu Ming that the Dao Treasury’s disordered rules could give life to objects and urged him to enter under Hong Jun’s identity, but Chu Ming declined.
• Tantai Xiao led the group into the Dao Treasury, where ten Eighth Realm cultivators broke the Book Mountain Sword Shadows and Ink Sea Surging Waves trials.
• At the Immortal Desk, illusions killed several cultivators, while Chu Ming secretly used the [Book Intent Painting Realm] to free Xuanyuan Chuye, Xuanyuan Shan, and his other fellow disciples from illusions.
• When the four scholarly formations produced endless spirit creatures, the Vermilion Bird Marquis sacrificed himself to open a path, allowing the survivors to escape the Immortal Desk.
• Tantai Xiao identified a blank scroll ahead as the World Within a Painting and prepared to paint it with blood, but Tantai Yu stepped forward and volunteered first.

Chu Ming and the others broke through the damaged World Within a Painting and reached the Sea of Characters, the next trial on the path to the Immortal Palace. After entering, they fought animated characters and discovered that their fragments could form the secret art Array Breaker.

• Chu Ming pointed out hidden cracks in the World Within a Painting, prompting Tantai Xiao and three other eighth-realm cultivators to enter and widen the damage until the scroll shattered.
• Duke Anguo guided the Golden Sword through the broken painting, and the group reached the Sea of Characters beneath the Immortal Palace.
• Tantai Xiao gave the entrants protective earth qi, while Xuanyuan Huizhi gave Chu Ming and his senior siblings Crystal Fusion Divine Plaques and warned them about the remaining trials.
• Xuanyuan Chang led Chu Ming, Tantai Fei, Xuanyuan Shan, and Xuanyuan Chuye into the Sea of Characters, where the five fought attacking characters and assembled fragments into the first two levels of Array Breaker.
• Chu Ming examined the fragments and realized that attacking certain kinds of characters could produce Array Breaker.

Chu Ming secretly helped Xuanyuan Chang’s group break two Pathguiding Immortal Characters while gathering the layers of Array Breaker in the Sea of Characters. The group reached the seventh layer and continued onward, determined to find all three Pathguiding Immortal Characters and the complete art.

• Xuanyuan Chang’s group collected bronze-colored fragments and assembled the first five layers of Array Breaker as Chu Ming’s Book Intent Painting Realm progress increased.
• Xuanyuan Chang, Tantai Fei, and Xuanyuan Chuye attacked a Pathguiding Immortal Character, and Chu Ming secretly weakened its core so Xuanyuan Chuye’s strike shattered it.
• Xuanyuan Chang’s group followed the revealed route and gathered more fragments while Chu Ming assembled the sixth layer of Array Breaker.
• Xuanyuan Chuye struck a second Pathguiding Immortal Character, which drew nearby characters into an attack, and Chu Ming secretly shattered them all.
• Outside the Sea of Characters, Tantai Xiu used his perfected Godspeed True Intent to pass through the Realm of Lyrics and enter the Clear Heart Platform.
• Chu Ming assembled the seventh layer of Array Breaker, which required first-level perfection in the Law of Destruction, and Xuanyuan Chang’s group pressed on toward the remaining Pathguiding Immortal Character.

Xuanyuan Chuye shattered the third Guiding Immortal Character with a single strike, winning Tantai Fei the first seven layers of Carving Dragons with a Literary Mind. The five Songmo Literary Prefecture disciples reached the Word Realm, where Xuanyuan Jun joined forces with Guyang Literary Prefecture while Vermilion Bird Ze'an was left behind.

• Tantai Fei bet Xuanyuan Chuye could break the third Guiding Immortal Character within three moves, wagering her freedom against Tantai Minglang's first seven layers of Carving Dragons with a Literary Mind.
• Xuanyuan Chuye's Golden Character Ten Transformations struck the character once, causing it to explode and winning Tantai Fei the secret art.
• Tantai Fei shared copies of the secret art with her companions, and Chu Ming gained progress in the Book Intent Painting Realm while studying it.
• Tantai Xiao learned that Xuanyuan Chuye had destroyed the third character in one move as Songmo Literary Prefecture continued through the Sea of Characters.
• Xuanyuan Chang's group reached the Word Realm and encountered Xuanyuan Jun, Xuanyuan Si, and Vermilion Bird Ze'an.
• Xuanyuan Jun gave Xuanyuan Si an eighth-level Literary Heart Dragon Capture and entered the lyric realm with Guyang Literary Prefecture, leaving Vermilion Bird Ze'an and his companions behind.

Vermilion Bird Ze'an joined forces with Chu Ming and Songmo Literary Prefecture, but the Lyric Realm’s trial turned into the Selfless Abyss, where the gathered cultivators discovered the Selfless Sage’s inheritance. As the prodigies rushed to claim the bronze mirrors holding his techniques and artifacts, Chu Ming considered choosing a Law Artifact.

• Vermilion Bird Ze'an greeted Chu Ming and joined his group as they entered the Lyric Realm together.
• The Lyric Realm opened into the Selfless Abyss, and Chu Ming and the other cultivators fell into its darkness as the Selfless Sage’s words echoed around them.
• Xuanyuan Jun, Tantai Tuocheng, Tantai Si, Vermilion Bird Ze'an, and the others gathered in the abyss, where Chu Ming’s senses revealed a cluster of bronze mirrors containing techniques and treasures.
• The cultivators recognized the Selfless No-Thought manual as the Self-Sacrificing True Saint’s inheritance, and Xuanyuan Jun seized its mirror after striking Vermilion Bird Ze'an aside.
• The bronze mirrors allowed each person to claim only one treasure, so Chu Ming and his companions set out to choose mirrors containing Law Artifacts.

Chu Ming discovered that the River of Rebirth altered the bronze mirrors despite failing to restore the dead, and he secretly tested his theory by throwing his mirror into it. Xuanyuan Jun then proposed sacrificing mirrors to unlock their treasures and persuaded two juniors to cast theirs into the river.

• Everyone obtained bronze mirrors containing treasures but could not retrieve what was reflected inside, and the mirrors floating in the abyss disappeared.
• A river appeared, showing people the deceased relatives they missed, and a voice promised their return in exchange for casting in a mirror.
• Xuanyuan Shan threw her mirror into the river to try to bring back her mother, but it returned corroded, with its law artifact ruined.
• Chu Ming threw in his own mirror and found that the river had weakened its illusory nature, though he concealed this discovery as the others assumed he had acted to comfort Xuanyuan Shan.
• Xuanyuan Jun proposed that sacrificing enough mirrors might unlock the treasures in others, then offered two juniors rewards to cast in their mirrors.

Chu Ming and Xuanyuan Shan entered the left-hand path in the Selfless Sage’s trial, which seemed to demand that they surrender their cultivation and risk destruction. Their choice left everyone outside unable to sense them, while Tantai Xiao revealed that the Thick Earth Protections had lost their connection.

• Xuanyuan Jun and Tantai Tuocheng persuaded their companions to throw more bronze mirrors into the River of Rebirth, which vanished and revealed the Selfless Sage’s trial of abandoning worldly possessions and cultivation.
• Chu Ming chose the left light gate despite Xuanyuan Shan and the others trying to stop him, and Xuanyuan Si and Tantai Tuocheng offered him protective treasures before Xuanyuan Jun lent him the Vast Sea Dragon Abyss Armor.
• Xuanyuan Shan followed Chu Ming through the gate, where the black-robed Selfless Sage presented a lethal-looking vortex on the left and an exit on the right.
• Chu Ming concluded that the left vortex concealed a path to the inheritance and entered it; after Xuanyuan Shan asked whether he trusted him, she followed.
• Those outside lost their ability to sense Chu Ming and Xuanyuan Shan, and Tantai Xiao said that all the Thick Earth Protections had lost their connection inside the Selfless Abyss.

Chu Ming and Xuanyuan Shan entered the black vortex and reached the Selfless Sage’s hidden inheritance, while the other cultivators took the right-hand gate toward the immortal gate. The Sage bestowed Selfless No-Thought and the Law of Destruction on Chu Ming and Xuanyuan Shan, and Chu Ming began preserving the inheritance in his Golden House as he discovered its power.

• The marks on Tantai Tuocheng’s Thousand Dust Inkstone and Xuanyuan Jun’s Vast Sea Dragon Abyss Armor shattered, and the other cultivators took the right-hand gate toward Clear Heart Platform.
• Xuanyuan Chang, Tantai Fei, and Xuanyuan Chuye feared Chu Ming and Xuanyuan Shan had died, but they entered the right-hand gate before the Selfless Sage and both gates vanished.
• Chu Ming secretly removed the armor’s mark and erased the mark on Xuanyuan Shan’s Thousand Dust Inkstone while guiding her deeper into the void.
• Chu Ming and Xuanyuan Shan found the black-robed Selfless Sage, who granted them Selfless No-Thought and the Law of Destruction.
• Chu Ming drew Selfless No-Thought’s spiritual insights into his Golden House and learned that the Law of Destruction inheritance could lead to the perfected third level of its True Intent.

Chu Ming and Xuanyuan Shan escaped the collapsing Selfless Abyss, and the Immortal Palace opened to everyone as a childlike spirit pushed its gates wide. Tantai Xiu, Xuanyuan Jun, and Tantai Tuocheng entered the palace with a pale-red-robed girl, where Tantai Xiu tried to choose a book but sensed no response.

• Chu Ming reached minor achievement in the second level of True Intent of Destruction before the orb weakened, and the Selfless Saint vanished after warning him about the black curtain's choice.
• Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming escaped the collapsing void, while Xuanyuan Chuye believed they had died and began telling Tantai Xiu that Chu Ming had fallen.
• The Immortal Palace gates opened to everyone, and Tantai Xiu received a warning that a sentient being inside appeared to have pushed them open.
• Tantai Xiu, Xuanyuan Jun, and Tantai Tuocheng approached the gates, attacked a child who transformed into a giant infant, and were spared when a pale-red-robed girl intervened.
• After Tantai Xiao ordered them to enter, the three followed the girl into the palace's outer hall, where she said they could take at most one volume and Tantai Xiu began searching for a book that would respond to him.

Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming revealed themselves alive inside the Immortal Palace, where they had entered after receiving the Selfless Sage’s inheritance and befriending its spirit entities, Tiny and Red Caltrop. The others entered the palace and drew manuals from its stellar library, while Chu Ming stayed behind because he was waiting for a particular text he had sensed but could not summon.

• Tantai Xiu, Xuanyuan Jun, and Tantai Tuocheng attacked Tiny and Red Caltrop after the spirits tried to force them out of the Immortal Palace, but the spirits vanished when a woman’s voice called them to stop.
• Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming emerged from the palace depths, and Tantai Xiu confirmed through a message from Tantai Xiao that they were truly alive and had entered from the Selfless Sage’s inheritance.
• Xuanyuan Shan explained that Tiny and Red Caltrop were spirits left by the Selfless Sage, and Chu Ming told Tantai Xiu that the inheritance had been imparted directly into their seas of consciousness.
• Vermilion Bird Ze'an, Xuanyuan Chang, Tantai Fei, Xuanyuan Chuye, and the others entered the palace and recognized Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming; several visitors then summoned manuals from the stellar library.
• Tantai Xiu and the others each obtained a manual after Xuanyuan Shan explained that Red Caltrop had suppressed their earlier attempts, while Chu Ming stayed behind to wait for the Classic of Mountains and Seas and Great Wilderness: Wilderness Classic.

Chu Ming drew the travelogue Record of the Wild Sea from the Boundless Sea of Books and secretly gained progress toward advancing his Book Intent Painting Realm. The group reached another sealed immortal gate, where Xiaoxiao and Red Caltrop claimed they needed rare treasures to open it and revealed that Nine-Revolution Golden Pills might remain inside.

• Tantai Xiu, Xuanyuan Jun, and Tantai Tuocheng left Seventh Realm cultivators behind to watch Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming while they pressed deeper into the Immortal Palace.
• Xuanyuan Huizhi rebuffed Xuanyuan Song and the Chongming Marquis's suspicions, while Tantai Xiao and Tantai Yu discussed the Selfless Saint's inheritance and the prospect of Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming becoming Saints.
• A fragment of the Wilderness Classic appeared as the travelogue Record of the Wild Sea, and Chu Ming's Book Intent Painting Realm progress rose to 897 out of 1000.
• The group found a second sealed immortal gate, and Tantai Xiu asked Xuanyuan Chang to have Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming bring their spirit creatures to help open it.
• Xiaoxiao and Red Caltrop pretended they were too hungry to push the gate and demanded pills or immortal herbs, then claimed they knew of Nine-Revolution Golden Pills inside a furnace.
• Tantai Xiu and the others were startled by the mention of Nine-Revolution Golden Pills, while Chu Ming doubted the spirit creatures' claim was genuine.

Tantai Xiu and the others entered the immortal palace’s central hall, where they found the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace and three Nine-Revolution Golden Pills. As they attacked the Nine-Dragon Bronze Lamp to reach the pills, Xuanyuan Shan revealed that she and Chu Ming had inherited the Saint Who Forsook Self’s legacy and that she had comprehended the Law of Destruction; Tiny then noticed something unusual about the lamp.

• Xuanyuan Huizhi agreed to ask Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming to open the immortal gate, and Tantai Xiu offered Red Caltrop a Scorching Flame Pearl and a Heaven-Bearing Earth Bottle in exchange for the spirit creatures’ help.
• Red Caltrop and Tiny secretly used invisible energy to open the immortal gate, then gave Xuanyuan Shan and Chu Ming treasures they had collected before following them inside.
• Tantai Xiu and the others entered the central hall and found the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace, but its protective force blasted Xuanyuan Jun, Tantai Tuocheng, and Vermilion Bird Ze'an away.
• Red Caltrop explained that the furnace had developed rudimentary intelligence and suggested attacking the Nine-Dragon Bronze Lamp; Tantai Xiu and the others launched an assault on it.
• Xuanyuan Shan told Xuanyuan Chang, Tantai Fei, and Xuanyuan Chuye that she and Chu Ming had inherited the Saint Who Forsook Self’s legacy and that she had comprehended the Law of Destruction.
• Tiny pointed at the Nine-Dragon Bronze Lamp and anxiously called it an old dragon.

Tantai Xiu and the others used Tantai Minglang’s Netherwater treasure to destroy the Nine-Headed Dragon Shadow guarding the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace, while Chu Ming secretly comprehended the furnace’s control diagram. The group entered the inner hall and found the True Saint Qi above a nine-tiered platform.

• Tantai Xiao identified the dragon’s corrosive violet qi as weakened Blazing Heaven Violet Qi and advised Tantai Xiu to counter it with Netherwater and sustained attacks.
• Tantai Minglang arrived with the Chongming Marquis’s Netherwater treasure, and the group weakened and destroyed the Nine-Headed Dragon Shadow.
• Red Caltrop told Chu Ming that the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Star Diagram controlled the furnace, and Chu Ming comprehended it in less than the time it took for one stick of incense to burn.
• Tantai Xiu claimed the three Nine-Revolution Golden Pills while Chu Ming secretly used his new comprehension to claim the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace.
• Tantai Xiu led the group through the moon gates into the inner hall, where a golden page revealed the words “True Saint Ninth Layer—nothing more than this” and True Saint Qi appeared above the platform.

Tantai Xiu consumed a Nine-Revolution Golden Pill, broke through to the Seventh Realm, and ascended the Nine-Tier Azure Platform, triggering the Nine Luminaries Heart Inquiry, a star chess trial left by Tianmu True Saint. Chu Ming and Tantai Xiu emerged as the leading contenders, but as other players were defeated and the game advanced, the observers sensed that something had gone wrong.

• Tantai Xiao and the others debated the unknown golden paper on the Nine-Tier Azure Platform and decided Tantai Xiu should inspect the inner hall before attempting to draw the True Saint aura.
• After the search found nothing, Chu Ming advised Tantai Xiu to take a Nine-Revolution Golden Pill; the Saints authorized it, and Tantai Xiu broke through from the Sixth Realm to the late stage of the Seventh Realm.
• Tantai Xiu climbed the platform, but the True Saint aura and golden paper blurred, and the inner hall transformed into a starry sky where Tianmu True Saint's phantom began the Nine Luminaries Heart Inquiry.
• Tantai Xiao explained that the chess trial could determine whether Tianmu Kingdom gained a new True Saint, while Chu Ming used his Book Intent Painting Realm to analyze the board and placed moves without being defeated.
• Most participants lost after one move, while Chu Ming and Tantai Xiu continued; Tantai Xiu gained the upper hand, and Chu Ming repeatedly restored balance.
• As the defeated players' star clusters and chessboards vanished, several experts sensed that something was wrong.

Chu Ming and Tantai Xiu linked their chess games to defeat the Nine Luminaries Heart-Questioning Game, and Chu Ming received its chess manual and the True Saint aura. Chu Ming then claimed the aura, rose to the Seventh Realm, and left the immortal ruins with the others.

• Chu Ming realized he could use his chessboard as a piece in Tantai Xiu’s game, and the two princes took turns making moves that revived both boards.
• Chu Ming and Tantai Xiu defeated the Tianmu True Saint’s phantom, and Chu Ming received the Nine Luminaries Heart-Questioning Chess Manual and a wisp of True Saint aura.
• Tantai Xiu failed to grasp the illusory aura, so he gave Chu Ming the Great Void Divine Jade and invited him to climb the nine-tier azure platform.
• Chu Ming climbed the platform without difficulty, seized the aura, and rose from the First Realm to the Seventh Realm.
• Chu Ming handed the True Guardian Qi to Tantai Xiu, and the group left the immortal ruins as the Dao Repository’s rules grew unstable.

After returning from the Tianmu Dao Treasury, Chu Ming revealed his Seventh Realm Qi Master strength and entered seclusion to refine his gains. His cultivation rose to the Eighth Realm, Third Layer True Intent perfection, while powerful figures gathered outside his residence to seek him.

• The Second Prince led the expedition out of the collapsing Dao Treasury, and Vermilion Bird Ze'an gave Chu Ming three treasures as tokens of friendship.
• Chu Ming returned to Ji Wujiang’s residence, revealed his Seventh Realm pressure to Baihong Nanyou and Ba Manshan, and gave Ji Wujiang cultivation resources before entering seclusion.
• Chu Ming examined the Dao Treasury’s treasures, used the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace to refine immortal herbs, and began deducing the Selfless Sage’s inheritance and his cultivation arts.
• The Book Intent Painting Realm advanced, allowing Chu Ming to accelerate time in the Golden House and deduce both his martial and Primordial Void cultivation to the Eighth Realm.
• Chu Ming absorbed a Nine-Turn Golden Pill and True Saint qi, reaching Eighth Realm, Third Layer True Intent perfection in martial cultivation and advancing several True Intents.
• Scholars and prominent Tianmu figures arrived in repeated waves to visit Chu Ming, but he remained in seclusion as the visitors eventually departed for the night.

As Tianmu Kingdom prepared for its Sky Curtain Sacred Ceremony, Vermilion Bird Ze'an courted Chu Ming and his companions with estates and powerful weapons. At the ceremony, the Ink Sage made Chu Ming his personal disciple, bestowed him the title of Marquis Earl of Tianmu Kingdom, and gave him three formidable Law Dao Artifacts.

• Vermilion Bird Ze'an offered Ji Wujiang, Baihong Nanyou, and Ba Manshan Vermilion Bird Tokens and gave them a deed to the new Chu Estate, which they decorated with Songmo Literary Prefecture’s disciples.
• Chu Ming emerged from seclusion after advancing his martial and Qi Master cultivation to the eighth realm, and Vermilion Bird Ze'an gave him the Vermilion Bird Heaven-Burning Ring and Xuanyuan Shan a Li Fire Sword.
• Tianmu Kingdom began the Sky Curtain Sacred Ceremony, and the three Sages accepted the talented Immortal Palace participants as disciples, with Xuanyuan Shan becoming the Painting Sage’s personal disciple.
• The Ink Sage made Chu Ming his personal disciple, bestowed on him the title Marquis Earl of Tianmu Kingdom with the title Chu, and presented him with an ink-black crown, robe, and brush.
• The ceremony moved on to its second item, the sacrificial rite.