Chapter Summaries

Wang Xu traveled as a prisoner toward the Divine Capital, reflecting on his defeat by Lu Xun and the overwhelming power of Great New. He wondered what kind of ruler the Heaven-Answering Emperor was and watched the snow-covered lands he had once dreamed of conquering.

• Great New’s announcement that the barbarian royal family would be tried and executed stirred grief and anger among survivors of the Northern Plains raids.
• Wang Xu was transported in a prison cart with his surviving siblings as the escorting party headed for the Divine Capital.
• Wang Xu recalled how Lu Xun had defeated his five thousand troops, overcoming more than five hundred muskets with his speed and martial divine intent.
• Wang Xu lamented his khanate’s defeat and remembered a recurring dream in which he conquered the Divine Capital and claimed half the Divine Province.
• Wang Xu observed the Heaven-Answering Army’s strict discipline and humane treatment of prisoners, and wondered what sort of man the Heaven-Answering Emperor was.

Wang Xu’s party was brought to the Divine Capital as the people watched, while Gao Shou and Han Jinyue discussed how their new roles and bestowed titles had awakened their destinies. They suspected Zhao Cheng’s growing Dao Nation and the conflict between Heaven and earth were behind their transformations.

• The chapter explained that the Heaven-Answering Army enforced strict discipline, while Wang Xu’s tribal troops routinely looted and broke ranks after Lu Xun killed over two hundred of them.
• Wang Xu and the surviving royal captives were escorted to the Divine Capital before the Spring Festival, where crowds gathered to watch their procession.
• Gao Shou and Han Jinyue observed the procession from a tower and discussed Lu Xun’s fame and their own positions in Great New.
• Han Jinyue said her Daoist cultivation had earned her the chief researcher post at the Heavenly Craft Pavilion, though she had gained little fate so far.
• Gao Shou said his Wisdom had developed into strength and proposed that their titles had catalyzed their destinies, while Zhao Cheng’s Dao Nation was forming naturally amid a struggle between Heaven and earth.

At New Year, Zhao Cheng issued an edict affirming the Retired Emperor’s retirement and Zhao Xiang’s regency, then returned to seclusion to seek a way to refine the earth and resist the Void’s corruption. Meanwhile, Great New’s control over the grasslands and its expanding trade remained firm.

• Zhao Cheng held a New Year court assembly and banquet, then sent an edict to the Retired Emperor to quell rumors and political schemes surrounding Zhao Xiang’s regency.
• Zhao Cheng returned to seclusion to study how the Human Dao could refine the earth and help him forge a Dao Nation without succumbing to the Void’s corruption.
• Great New maintained intimidation and strict rules at Northern Wasteland Market, keeping the grassland tribes from attacking merchant caravans.
• The court’s first merchant caravans traded salt, ironware, and clothing for cattle and sheep, earning substantial profits.

Lin Yi learned the court’s plan to transform Northern Wasteland Market through schools and ranches, then left Misty Mountain in charge with ten thousand troops. Nearly ten years later, Great New had expanded through railways and overseas trade, and its human fortune had reached an unprecedented peak.

• Lin Yi recognized that the court’s ranching and schooling plans would consolidate the grasslands and reshape their people, but he entrusted the project to Misty Mountain and departed with his forces.
• Lu Xun criticized the plan’s exploitation, then met Gu Daotian, who offered him eternal martial fortune and asked whether he could bear it.
• Over the following years, railways connected the Southern Wasteland, Divine Capital, and Northern Plains, while Wang Shouzheng opened maritime trade.
• By the twentieth year of Heaven-Answering, Great New traded with more than two hundred nations, amassed vast wealth, and became revered abroad as the Celestial Dynasty.

Fan Qingmeng reflected on Great New’s expansion, education, and industrialization as she watched its ships and railway from a ferry outside the Divine Capital. She admired Zhao Cheng’s achievements despite their opposing paths, while recalling the fates of Wu Qi and Cao Zheng.

• Great New opened free schools across market towns to find scientific talent and sent the cleverest students to study in the Divine Province.
• The court invested trade wealth in industrialization and used grain trade and state price guarantees to support farmers and acquire goods from neighboring nations.
• Fan Qingmeng watched steel cargo ships and a railway outside the Divine Capital and considered Great New’s rapid growth over the ten years since she fled.
• Fan Qingmeng praised Zhao Cheng’s imperial undertaking and recalled that Wu Qi had died and Cao Zheng had recently withdrawn from public life after a reprimand from the Eldest Princess.

As the Grand Emperor arrived in the Divine Capital near the end of his heavenly lifespan, Fan Qingmeng considered Zhao Cheng’s struggle against demonic corruption and the worsening barrier between the void and the mortal world. She met Mu Xuan, who had sided with Zhao Cheng’s golden age, and used her power to secure his help entering the Heavenly Works Academy under a hidden identity.

• The Grand Emperor came to the Divine Capital as his heavenly lifespan neared its end, while rumors about Zhao Cheng and the Eldest Princess spread among the common folk.
• Fan Qingmeng observed that Great New’s human fate had grown enormously, but believed Zhao Cheng could not reverse his Heavenly Mandate and that the barrier between the void and earth was weakening.
• Mu Xuan met Fan Qingmeng and said he would not help her deal with Zhao Cheng, explaining that he supported the golden age Zhao Cheng had created.
• Fan Qingmeng told Mu Xuan that strength, not ideals, determined the world’s course and asked him to arrange a hidden identity for her at the Heavenly Works Academy.
• Fan Qingmeng placed a strange mark in Mu Xuan’s eyes, and he agreed to help her.

Fan Qingmeng used her Dao art to influence Mu Xuan and, with his help, entered the Divine Capital to seek access to the Heavenly Craft Pavilion. The chapter left her preparing to pursue her undisclosed plan inside the court’s center of technological development.

• Mu Xuan explained that Fan Qingmeng’s Dao art had overcome his lack of protection from the nation’s fortune, then urged her not to challenge the court and its human-way momentum.
• Fan Qingmeng said she had her own plans and departed, while Mu Xuan accepted that their paths might conflict despite their old affection.
• Two days later, Mu Xuan arranged for Fan Qingmeng to enter the Divine Capital openly, where gaining access to the Heavenly Craft Pavilion remained the difficult task.
• The chapter recounted how Mu Xuan had joined the Heavenly Craft Pavilion, quickly mastered its accumulated technology, and gained the authority to help Fan Qingmeng.
• Fan Qingmeng entered a Divine Capital transformed by electric lighting from a small thermal power plant that supplied the palace, inner city, and selected court buildings.

Fan Qingmeng disappeared after sacrificing herself to perform a strange Daoist art, and the karmic ties of her past with Han Jinyue revived through a dream. Han Jinyue awoke in a high school classroom, where she recognized her brother Zhao Cheng and remembered that the girl beside him was Fan Qingmeng.

• Fan Qingmeng reflected on the Empire’s knowledge and technology, then recalled how she had submitted a space opera to Great World.
• Fan Qingmeng spent a month working as an assistant on Han Jinyue’s research team at the Heavenly Craft Pavilion.
• Two months later, Fan Qingmeng vanished during an off-site inspection after sacrificing herself to perform a strange Daoist art.
• Han Jinyue dreamed of events from ten years earlier, when Fan Qingmeng had used a Daoist art against her without Zhang Huang'er intervening.
• Han Jinyue awoke in a high school classroom during a thunderstorm and remembered that the girl beside Zhao Cheng was Fan Qingmeng.

Han Jinyue grew suspicious of Fan Qingmeng and imagined herself as a heroine battling the transfer student, deciding to use Zhao Cheng to gather intelligence. After class, the rain was still pouring, but Han Jinyue expected her father’s driver to take her home.

• Han Jinyue recalled why Fan Qingmeng seemed like a hypocritical, angelic rival and imagined her as an evil villain plotting something in the class.
• Han Jinyue decided she would lead her own story as Great Hero Han and considered Zhao Cheng a suitable underling for gathering information about Fan Qingmeng.
• Han Jinyue reflected on Zhao Cheng’s persistent but timid attempts to get close to her and concluded he would be better suited as a loyal errand-runner than a lover.
• Class ended while the rain continued, and Han Jinyue expected her father’s driver to pick her up and take her home.

As Zhao Cheng waited out the rain while sick, Han Jinyue considered giving him a ride but refused when he asked. Fan Qingmeng then took Zhao Cheng home, leaving Han Jinyue watching them go and feeling that something important had been taken from her.

• Han Jinyue watched Lu Xun run into the rain while Zhao Cheng stayed behind, ill and waiting for the rain to stop.
• Zhao Cheng gathered the courage to ask Han Jinyue for a ride, but she refused because they were not going the same way.
• Fan Qingmeng noticed Zhao Cheng was burning up and offered to take him home under her umbrella.
• Han Jinyue watched Fan Qingmeng lead Zhao Cheng away and grew angry, but stopped herself from confronting them because she had no reason or standing to do so.

Han Jinyue realized her strange dream had been caused by Fan Qingmeng’s Daoist art and asked Zhang Huang'er and Gao Shou whether they remembered Fan Qingmeng. Zhang Huang'er denied that Fan Qingmeng existed, but Gao Shou remembered her as Zhao Cheng’s former love, leaving Han Jinyue facing a contradiction between their memories.

• Han Jinyue recalled that Fan Qingmeng had used a Daoist art on her ten years earlier and suspected that it had finally taken effect through the dream.
• Han Jinyue remembered fragments of a different life in which Fan Qingmeng won Zhao Cheng’s affection and later died of cancer.
• Han Jinyue told Zhang Huang'er about the dream and her suspicion that Fan Qingmeng had targeted Zhao Cheng, but Zhang Huang'er insisted Fan Qingmeng did not exist in their world.
• Han Jinyue visited Gao Shou at the estate of Marquis Sacred Flourishing and asked whether he remembered Fan Qingmeng.
• Gao Shou confirmed that he remembered Fan Qingmeng as Zhao Cheng’s former love and recalled Han Jinyue’s dislike of her in high school.

Han Jinyue investigated her memories and the altered events surrounding Fan Qingmeng, but ultimately concluded that Fan Qingmeng had used Daoist arts to steal part of her life. Zhao Cheng studied how that alteration worked and, as his Daoist body neared its limit, emerged from seclusion to announce a decisive ritual that would pursue immortality.

• Gao Shou warned Han Jinyue that Zhao Cheng had disliked her since she attacked Fan Qingmeng in their past.
• Han Jinyue examined the archives and found that Mu Xuan had taken Fan Qingmeng's place in the records, leading her to question whether her perception had been distorted by cultivation deviation.
• After several days of reflection, Han Jinyue decided Fan Qingmeng had used Daoist arts to alter her life and suspected karmic balance had constrained the changes.
• Zhao Cheng observed that Fan Qingmeng had altered only his Daoist body's past through an equivalent exchange, then considered how true power might endure across all time.
• In the first month of the twenty-first year of Heaven-Answering Kingdom, Zhao Cheng announced that he would perform the Feng and Shan rites on Tai'e Mountain in March and seek an everlasting Dao Kingdom and immortality.

Zhao Cheng discussed Han Jinyue’s account of Fan Qingmeng’s influence and showed his detached understanding of their past. He inspected the Heavenly Craft Pavilion’s steam inventions, then left as the Empire prepared for a long-awaited sacrifice.

• Zhao Cheng told Han Jinyue that whether Fan Qingmeng was real or a creation of Dao arts made no difference to him, since she was only a strand of fate.
• Han Jinyue doubted whether the emperor before her was the same Zhao Cheng she remembered after hearing his indifferent response.
• Zhao Cheng toured the Heavenly Craft Pavilion, reviewed its latest achievements, and bestowed rewards.
• Zhao Cheng saw steam-powered armor, guns, and tanks, which the Pavilion had explored only superficially because the Empire was already pursuing nuclear energy.
• News of Zhao Cheng’s coming sacrifice spread throughout the Empire, stirring excitement among its people.

Lu Xun returned to the Divine Capital and received the title of Divine Martial King as Zhao Cheng bestowed noble ranks on those who helped open trade routes and advance Great New. After the ceremonies, Zhao Cheng toured the capital with Lu Xun and Gao Shou, where a child offered him a collection of Teacher Cao’s latest work.

• Zhao Cheng welcomed Lu Xun back to the capital, where Lu Xun received the title of Divine Martial King alongside several other officials made kings, dukes, and marquises.
• Li Tonghai and Lin Yi knelt with emotion as they accepted their royal decrees, while Lu Xun and Gao Shou reflected on how their youthful jokes about becoming kings had come true.
• Zhao Cheng left the palace to walk through the Divine Capital with Lu Xun and Gao Shou, remarking that he had never properly explored the land he had conquered.
• A child approached the three men and offered the latest Great Thousand Worlds journal, and Zhao Cheng bought a Cao Dade collection.

Zhao Cheng discussed Cao Zheng’s talent and the Empire’s careful allowance for banned entertainment, then ordered Cao Zheng restored to his post with three years’ salary docked. After receiving the Emperor’s gift and decree, Cao Zheng reflected on the political danger he had once avoided and the spirit he had lost.

• Zhao Cheng and Lu Xun discussed Cao Zheng’s talent and how Gao Shou had kept Great Thousand Worlds alive under limited restrictions.
• Zhao Cheng ordered his guards to restore Cao Zheng to his former post, dock his salary for three years, and deliver him the booklet first.
• Cao Zheng received the booklet and decree while writing banned fiction at home.
• Cao Zheng recalled exposing his writing to distance himself from a political struggle over the Eldest Princess’s rule.
• Cao Zheng set down the booklet and remembered his former command over Qing Province and his faded resolve.

Zhao Cheng drew on the accumulated power of civilization to forge the Divine Martial Sword and Sacred Flourishing Brush for Lu Xun and Gao Shou, who left Divine Capital on their missions. Elsewhere, the Buddha awakened in a child’s body with his memories and powers restored, and began converting everyone touched by his Buddhist light.

• Zhao Cheng revealed a radiance that encompassed the world and summoned the accumulated spirit of humanity’s past and future.
• Zhao Cheng split the human way’s power into two fruits, which became the Divine Martial Sword and Sacred Flourishing Brush in Lu Xun and Gao Shou’s hands.
• Lu Xun and Gao Shou departed Divine Capital with their artifacts and began growing rapidly stronger as they bonded with them.
• A seven- or eight-year-old child awakened with the Buddha’s memories and declared his intention to ferry all living beings across the earth.
• The Buddha manifested Buddhist light that converted everyone it illuminated.

Shijia descended into the mortal world after sacrificing most of his Dao Fruit and began converting people to rebuild his strength and pursue Immortality. He left more than ten thousand believers in his wake while considering the powerful beings competing to seize the Great Dao’s dragon.

• Shijia descended to the land after burning away most of his Dao Fruit, aiming to restore it through faith and unite Heaven, Earth, and Man.
• Shijia judged that the main threats in the struggle to seize the Great Dao’s dragon were Taishang, Jun Heavenly Emperor, and the mysterious Ancient Ones Qing, Yu, and Gu.
• Shijia enveloped a town in Buddhist light and converted more than ten thousand people into believers.
• The believers’ faith flowed into Shijia’s Dao Fruit, which refined power from both the Void and the land to gradually restore its essence.
• Shijia’s power remained limited on the land, where his Buddhist light could reach only a little over ten li.

Shijia rapidly expanded his following by converting hundreds of thousands of people, while revealing that he was the source of the Void’s Buddhist Dao and had devoured its Buddhas. His advance halted when he sensed immense danger and saw a sword-bearing man approaching at the end of the earth.

• Shijia converted the people of successive towns, gathering more than five hundred thousand believers who spent their days praying to him.
• Shijia sent three dark-golden Buddhist phantoms into the crowd, reviving three powerful beings as Buddhas who bowed before him.
• Shijia revealed that the revived Buddhas were his incarnations and disciples, and that he had devoured the entire Buddhist Dao to strengthen his attempt to seize the Dragon of the Great Dao.
• Shijia sensed a danger like the one that had accompanied the Void’s study of the Final Calamity and recalled how powerful beings had helped bring disaster upon themselves.
• Shijia saw a man carrying a sword approach from the end of the earth, as if intending to sever Heaven and earth.

Lu Xun used the Divine Martial Sword to make the earth recognize Shijia as an outsider, stirring the human path’s wrath against him. As the earth’s power blessed Lu Xun, it gave him the insight and direction to rapidly advance martial arts beyond its previous limits.

• Shijia recognized the sword’s human history and realized that the karmic consequences of his and the Dao Patriarch’s teachings had come due.
• Lu Xun used the sword to guide the earth into sensing Shijia, causing the earth’s order to strengthen and suppress him as a heretic.
• The earth’s power poured into Lu Xun, transforming into wisdom rather than directly increasing his strength.
• Lu Xun’s spiritual world became a vast river of stars as he began comprehending the earth, the world, and life.
• The human path’s martial fortune gave Lu Xun direction, and the road ahead for martial arts extended at an astonishing pace.

Lu Xun explored the future of martial arts and concluded that Divine Transformation enabled life to evolve by raising its limits and allocating its potential. He chose to develop both body and spirit, then committed to forming extraordinary organs rather than following the acupoint path.

• Lu Xun reasoned that Divine Transformation opened the shackles of life, allowing genes to evolve toward an imagined form within a raised attribute cap.
• In a special state, Lu Xun explored countless possible martial paths through innumerable versions of himself and rejected them one by one.
• Lu Xun settled on a path that maximized the body's potential while tempering the spirit and refining the earth's power into himself.
• Lu Xun chose to spend his free points on condensing extraordinary organs as a framework for further evolution.
• Lu Xun compared building an internal acupoint system with modifying existing organs into an extraordinary system, then chose the latter because it better matched earthly evolution and could surpass human limits.