Recaps

Ancestor Qingye began testing Li Xiaoyu and his companions with the Heart-Inquiry Array to see whether they were worthy of wielding great power. In Li Xiaoyu’s trial, a sinister version of himself offered him godlike power in exchange for sacrificing ordinary people, and Li Xiaoyu rejected the idea.

• Ancestor Qingye created the Heart-Inquiry Array and explained that the trial would force each person to confront their deepest desires, fears, and obsessions.
• At Qingye’s urging, Li Xiaoyu entered the array and was transported to a magnificent palace with a vast throne.
• A black-robed figure identical to Li Xiaoyu appeared and claimed to be his truest ambition, saying that he had defeated the Outer Realm Demons and become the world’s sole sage.
• The figure offered Li Xiaoyu omnipotent power and a path to higher dimensions, but said the world’s weaker inhabitants would have to be erased and used as fuel.
• Li Xiaoyu angrily condemned the proposed sacrifice of ordinary people, while the figure dismissed them as mere ants.

Li Xiaoyu rejected the power offered by the sinister figure and passed Qingye’s Heart-Inquiry Array trial by reaffirming his Dao of protection. Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan also broke free of their illusions, leaving only Wan Jianyi to face the trial.

• Li Xiaoyu remembered why he cultivated and refused to sacrifice mortals for eternal life, choosing instead to live and die alongside them.
• The sinister figure attacked Li Xiaoyu, but the illusion collapsed, and Qingye congratulated him on passing the trial.
• Lu Xueqi rejected an imagined peaceful life with her beloved, choosing to face hardship by his side.
• Zhang Xiaofan rejected an illusion of his peaceful childhood and accepted the painful past that had shaped him.
• Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, and Zhang Xiaofan passed Qingye’s test, while everyone watched anxiously as Wan Jianyi prepared to face his own obsession.

Wan Jianyi passed Qingye's Heart-Inquiry Array test by accepting that he had lost Shuiyue and letting go of the past. Qingye gave Li Xiaoyu and the others his insights before fading away, and Li Xiaoyu claimed the Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment, gaining a powerful connection to the world's spiritual energy.

• Wan Jianyi faced Shuiyue in the array, apologized, and accepted that their ties were severed.
• Daoxuan appeared as the truth Wan Jianyi had avoided and urged him to let go of the past before fading away.
• Qingye declared that Wan Jianyi, Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, and Zhang Xiaofan had passed his test and gave them his lifelong insights into the mystery beyond the Taiqing Realm.
• Qingye dissipated into the golden sea, ending the oppressive aura around the Dragon Vein Core.
• Li Xiaoyu took the Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment and felt himself resonate with the world and command the Dragon Vein Core's spiritual energy.

Li Xiaoyu and his companions used the first Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment and Zhang Xiaofan’s Heavenly Tome insight to locate the second fragment in the battlefield of the previous era. They traveled to the Ruins of Time and arrived at the Ancient Well, ready to enter the world’s final hope.

• Li Xiaoyu presented the first Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment, and the group used it with the Armillary Sphere to deduce the second fragment’s location.
• Zhang Xiaofan’s Heavenly Tome mark revealed the previous era’s final battle against the Outer Realm Demons and pinpointed the second fragment at the battlefield’s edge.
• Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Xiao Bai set out for the Ruins of Time in the Far North Ice Plains.
• The four crossed the frozen land and paid their respects to the stone statues of the fallen Time-Warding Clan warriors.
• Li Xiaoyu and his companions reached the Ancient Well and stood before its light-devouring darkness.

Li Xiaoyu used the Heavenly Emperor relics to protect his group as they crossed the Turbulence of Time and Space to reach the previous era’s apocalyptic battlefield. There, he told his companions they must not alter history and that their only task was to find the fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal and return it safely.

• Li Xiaoyu explained that the Armillary Sphere could guide them through the Turbulence of Time and Space and used the Sea-Calming Pearl and a fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal to create a protective barrier.
• Li Xiaoyu and his three companions entered the barrier and crossed the Turbulence of Time and Space to the red coordinates.
• Li Xiaoyu, Zhang Xiaofan, Lu Xueqi, and Xiao Bai arrived at the ruined battlefield where the Heavenly Emperor and the Outer Realm Demons had fought their final battle.
• Li Xiaoyu told the others they could not interfere with the past or save anyone from that era because changing history could unleash a Space-Time Storm.
• Li Xiaoyu said their sole purpose was to find the fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal and bring it back safely and intact.

Li Xiaoyu and his companions crossed the Space-Time Storm to reach the second fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal, the last hope of their world. As Li Xiaoyu approached it, the legendary Heavenly Emperor appeared and his gaze overwhelmed the four travelers.

• Li Xiaoyu led Zhang Xiaofan, Lu Xueqi, and Xiao Bai through the storm toward the shattered continent, passing the slaughter of the Allied Forces and the Outer Realm Demons.
• Li Xiaoyu told the group that the Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment lay at the storm’s center, and Lu Xueqi pledged to go with him.
• The four crossed the Space-Time Storm and found the fragment floating above a massive altar of pure light.
• As Li Xiaoyu flew toward the fragment, a terrifying pressure halted the battlefield and revealed the Heavenly Emperor standing amid the chaos.
• The Heavenly Emperor looked toward Li Xiaoyu and the others, and the force of his gaze stripped away their senses.

Li Xiaoyu and the other three met the fading Heavenly Emperor, received his final inheritance, and learned they could still defeat the Outer Realm Demons. As they returned to the apocalyptic battlefield, the collective will of the Outer Realm Demons awakened after sensing a fluctuation from another universe.

• Li Xiaoyu and the other three arrived at a vast palace, where the Heavenly Emperor revealed that he had foreseen the Outer Realm Demons' return and their eventual defeat by the four.
• The Heavenly Emperor gave Li Xiaoyu the fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal, allowing him to command the shattered world's remaining fundamental laws.
• The Heavenly Emperor passed his memories, insights, and final strength into the four, raising their cultivation and strengthening their Dao Hearts.
• The Heavenly Emperor faded away after entrusting the world's future to them, and Li Xiaoyu and the other three returned to the chaotic battlefield.
• In the depths of a dying universe, the collective will of the Outer Realm Demons awakened after detecting a spatial-temporal fluctuation and identified it as the Heavenly Emperor.

Li Xiaoyu and the others used the Heavenly Emperor relics to glimpse a future ruled by Outer Realm Demons, where the final fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal lay. Li Xiaoyu decided to travel there alone, and he and Lu Xueqi shared a quiet farewell before his departure.

• Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Wan Jianyi, Daoist Daoxuan, Xiao Bai, and Zhou Yixian used the Heavenly Emperor relics to see a future transformed into a Demon Realm.
• Li Xiaoyu sensed the final fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal in the future and decided to go there alone.
• Lu Xueqi, Wan Jianyi, Daoist Daoxuan, Xiao Bai, and Zhou Yixian offered to accompany Li Xiaoyu, but he explained that only he could use the gray Wine Gourd and relics to cross time and space.
• Li Xiaoyu promised Lu Xueqi he would return, then asked the elders to protect the world while he was gone.
• Li Xiaoyu and Lu Xueqi stood together at Moon-Watching Terrace, where Lu Xueqi gently straightened his robes before his departure.

Li Xiaoyu said goodbye to Lu Xueqi and traveled through time to a devastated future, surviving the chaotic passage with the gray Wine Gourd’s protection. He began searching the Demon Realm for the final Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment and sensed a familiar, holy aura in the east.

• Li Xiaoyu embraced Lu Xueqi, apologized for making her worry, and promised to return after she vowed to wait for him.
• Li Xiaoyu activated the Heavenly Emperor relics and gray Wine Gourd at Heaven-Reaching Peak and vanished into a space-time vortex as Lu Xueqi and the others watched.
• The gray Wine Gourd protected Li Xiaoyu’s consciousness from the violent space-time torrent, allowing him to complete the jump to the future.
• Li Xiaoyu arrived in a ruined, demon-corrupted world and resolved to find the final Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment and change the future.
• Li Xiaoyu searched the wasteland and sensed a faint, holy aura in the east that resonated with his fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal.

Li Xiaoyu discovered Green Cloud Mountain in ruins and saved a group of Green Cloud Sect disciples from Demon Remains, then suddenly turned his attack on them. He stopped the Golden Dragon just before it killed the resistance fighters, leaving them confused about his motives.

• Li Xiaoyu found Green Cloud Mountain devastated and collapsed in grief over its destruction.
• Li Xiaoyu heard fighting nearby and discovered Green Cloud Sect disciples resisting hundreds of Demon Remains.
• Li Xiaoyu summoned a Golden Dragon that destroyed the Demon Remains and saved the cultivators.
• Li Xiaoyu turned the Golden Dragon on the resistance fighters after they questioned him.
• Li Xiaoyu stopped the Golden Dragon just before it struck the fighters, leaving their leader bewildered.

Li Xiaoyu revealed himself as the legendary First Patriarch Sect Leader to Zeng Zihang and the Resistance soldiers. He promised to change the dark future and give humanity hope.

• Li Xiaoyu recognized that Zeng Zihang and the Resistance soldiers were still human despite being tainted by demonic energy.
• Zeng Zihang introduced himself as a disciple of Wind Return Peak, leader of the Dawn Squad, and a member of the Green Cloud Sect.
• Li Xiaoyu realized that Dawn, founded by his old friend Zeng Shushu, had survived for centuries as humanity's resistance force.
• Li Xiaoyu revealed that he was the First Patriarch Sect Leader who had returned from the past, and Zeng Zihang and the soldiers knelt to pay their respects.
• Li Xiaoyu promised Zeng Zihang and the Resistance soldiers that he would change the future and find hope for their world.

Li Xiaoyu proved to Zeng Zihang that he was Green Cloud Sect’s First Patriarch Sect Leader and explained that he sought the Heavenly Emperor Seal fragments to fight the Outer Realm Demons. Before retrieving the final fragment, he visited Moon-Watching Terrace and found the grave of the woman he had loved, marked by her sword Tianya.

• Li Xiaoyu demonstrated the Divine Sword Thunder Control Technique, convincing Zeng Zihang that he was the legendary First Patriarch Sect Leader.
• Li Xiaoyu showed Zeng Zihang a Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment and explained that the final fragment lay deep within the ruins.
• Li Xiaoyu asked to visit an important place before seeking the final fragment, and Zeng Zihang agreed to guide him.
• Li Xiaoyu and Zeng Zihang traveled to Moon-Watching Terrace, where Li Xiaoyu broke down upon seeing the woman’s grave and the sword Tianya embedded above it.

Li Xiaoyu learned from Zeng Zihang how Lu Xueqi led Green Cloud's survivors against the Outer Realm Demons and died protecting them while waiting for Li Xiaoyu to return. He resisted the urge to destroy everything, vowed to change the future, and left with Zeng Zihang for the place holding their final hope.

• Zeng Zihang told Li Xiaoyu that the Demon Lord defeated the righteous alliance, and that Wan Jianyi and Daoxuan died trying to stop him.
• Zeng Zihang explained that Lu Xueqi led the surviving Green Cloud Sect through a hundred-year war before sacrificing her life to protect them, still believing Li Xiaoyu would return.
• Li Xiaoyu grieved at Lu Xueqi's grave and nearly gave in to his desire to destroy the world, but the Heavenly Emperor Seal fragment protected his Dao heart.
• Li Xiaoyu vowed to avenge Lu Xueqi and create a hopeful future, then took the broken Tianya Divine Sword from her grave.
• Li Xiaoyu asked Zeng Zihang to lead him to the place that carried their final hope, and they flew deeper into the ruins of Green Cloud Mountain.

Li Xiaoyu arrived at Hope Bastion, humanity’s last refuge in the demon-corrupted world, where survivors had protected the final fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal for centuries. He and Zeng Zihang entered the Grand Hero Hall, where two old friends waited in the darkness.

• Zeng Zihang explained that survivors had built Hope Bastion around the ruins of Heavenly Sound Temple and the Holy Mother Sect to protect the last fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal.
• Li Xiaoyu learned that the Buddha-Demon Unity Barrier, created by Patriarch Faxiang and Patriarch Jin Ping'er, shielded the refuge and turned demonic energy into spiritual energy.
• Li Xiaoyu saw the exhausted but hopeful survivors working, rebuilding, praying, and preparing to resist the enemy.
• Zeng Zihang brought Li Xiaoyu to the Grand Hero Hall, where resistance soldiers saluted him and cleared the entrance.
• Li Xiaoyu entered the hall with Zeng Zihang and saw two familiar yet unfamiliar figures waiting at its far end.

Li Xiaoyu reunited with the dying Faxiang and Jin Ping'er, who explained how they had survived the final battle. They gave him the last fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal and urged him to return to his own era to change the future.

• Li Xiaoyu found Faxiang near death and Jin Ping'er's remnant soul lingering above the Holy Mother statue, and apologized for returning too late.
• Jin Ping'er told Li Xiaoyu that she had detonated her body and divine soul to protect the mortals, and that the Holy Mother statue had preserved her last remnant soul.
• Faxiang revealed that he and Jin Ping'er had held on to give Li Xiaoyu the final fragment of the Heavenly Emperor Seal.
• The jade seal joined the other two fragments, awakening the complete seal's power and allowing Li Xiaoyu to resonate with the world's remaining fundamental laws.
• Jin Ping'er asked Li Xiaoyu to return to his era and change the despairing future, and he promised to create a future filled with hope.

After Faxiang and Jin Ping'er gave their lives to reinforce Hope Bastion's barrier, the Demon Lord's arrival shattered it and exposed the survivors to demonic energy. As Zeng Zihang led the refugees away, Faxiang and Jin Ping'er reappeared to buy Li Xiaoyu time, and Faxiang sent a giant Vajra charging at the black vortex.

• Faxiang and Jin Ping'er dissolved into light, strengthening Hope Bastion's protective barrier with their energy.
• A roar shook the underground city, and Li Xiaoyu recognized it as the Demon Lord's arrival.
• Li Xiaoyu and Zeng Zihang emerged above Hope Bastion and saw a vast black vortex form, destroying the barrier and exposing the inhabitants to demonic energy.
• Li Xiaoyu ordered Zeng Zihang to lead the survivors to safety, and Zeng Zihang charged toward them to help them escape.
• Faxiang and Jin Ping'er reappeared beside Li Xiaoyu and explained they had merged their power into the barrier to buy him time.
• Faxiang summoned a towering Vajra and sent it charging toward the black vortex.

Jin Ping'er sacrificed herself to hold back the black vortex, allowing Li Xiaoyu to escape through a spacetime passage with the four sacred artifacts. He returned gravely wounded to Green Cloud Mountain, where Lu Xueqi caught him as he fell.

• Jin Ping'er detonated the Holy Mother statue, combining its white holy light with Buddhist light to push back the black vortex.
• Li Xiaoyu summoned the three Heavenly Emperor relics and the Wine Gourd to open a spacetime passage and attempt to return home.
• The black vortex sent a destructive giant hand after Li Xiaoyu, but the broken Tianya Divine Sword released a sword intent that bought him time to reach the passage.
• After waiting three days, Wan Jianyi, Daoist Daoxuan, Xiao Bai, Zhou Yixian, and the Green Cloud Sect disciples saw Li Xiaoyu emerge from the spatial vortex, badly wounded and unconscious.
• Lu Xueqi caught Li Xiaoyu and held him, relieved that he had returned.

Lu Xueqi used her Cultivation to heal the gravely wounded Li Xiaoyu, who awakened after seven days. Reunited, Li Xiaoyu and his companions gathered at Heaven-Reaching Peak to begin their journey toward Kunlun and seek the Heavenly Emperor’s inheritance.

• Lu Xueqi carried the unconscious Li Xiaoyu to Small Bamboo Peak and asked the elders to keep their distance while she healed him.
• For seven days, Lu Xueqi poured her Cultivation into Li Xiaoyu, repairing his meridians and nourishing his weakened body.
• Li Xiaoyu woke on the seventh morning, and he and Lu Xueqi embraced as he apologized for making her worry.
• At Heaven-Reaching Peak, Li Xiaoyu told the Green Cloud Sect disciples that Kunlun held their hope of resisting the Outer Realm Demons.
• Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao prepared to open the way to Kunlun.

Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao fused the Heavenly Emperor’s relics and their powers to open a heavenly ladder to Kunlun. They entered the sacred realm, where their strength recovered, but ominous cracking sounds began to rise from its depths.

• Li Xiaoyu summoned the three relics of the Heavenly Emperor, and he, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao poured their powers into them.
• The relics fused and sent three divine beams into the sky, which converged to open a vortex and summon a white jade staircase to Heaven-Reaching Peak.
• Li Xiaoyu and his companions climbed the heavenly ladder and arrived in Kunlun, a celestial realm floating above a golden ocean of spiritual energy.
• The four explored Kunlun, recovered their strength in its dense spiritual energy, and Li Xiaoyu sensed his cultivation nearing a breakthrough.
• Cracking sounds rose from the depths of the immortal realm, and Li Xiaoyu watched the ominous place with vigilance.

Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao met the Heavenly Emperor, who set them three final trials to earn his inheritance. They entered the first trial, the Ancient Stellar Array, and began fighting its Star Soul Puppets.

• Li Xiaoyu and his companions saw the Kunlun guardians emerge, and the Heavenly Emperor revealed himself as the guardian of the previous era.
• The Heavenly Emperor told the four they had to pass three final trials to obtain his inheritance and activated the Ancient Stellar Array for the first trial.
• Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao entered the array and encountered the Star Soul Puppets guarding it.
• Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao unleashed their powers together and attacked the Star Soul Puppets.

Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Bi Yao, and Zhang Xiaofan discovered that destroying the star-soul puppets only caused them to return, and Li Xiaoyu tasked Zhang Xiaofan with deciphering the Star Dipper Grand Array. Zhang Xiaofan found the formation’s hidden eye and asked his companions for help breaking it.

• The four companions destroyed hundreds of star-soul puppets, but the puppets reformed in even greater numbers.
• Li Xiaoyu explained that the trial required them to decipher the Star Dipper Grand Array, then entrusted Zhang Xiaofan with finding a way through it.
• Zhang Xiaofan asked Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, and Bi Yao to hold off the puppets while he comprehended the formation.
• Using the five volumes of the Heavenly Tome, Zhang Xiaofan saw the laws and star patterns that sustained the endless cycle.
• Zhang Xiaofan identified an inconspicuous star as the formation eye and told his companions he needed their help to break the array.

Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, and Bi Yao destroyed the Perpetual Motion Array’s core, ending the first trial and revealing a dying hidden realm. After learning they had to restore its rampaging elemental sources, the four companions split up, with Li Xiaoyu heading east to confront the Chaotic Storm.

• Li Xiaoyu used his Wine Gourd to disrupt the array-core star, allowing Lu Xueqi and Bi Yao to destroy it with their combined techniques.
• The Perpetual Motion Array collapsed, and Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao awoke in a desolate hidden realm.
• The group found a stele bearing the words “To bear Heaven's mandate, first mend Heaven's flaws,” and four destructive elemental sources appeared across the realm.
• Li Xiaoyu realized the trial required them to purify the elemental sources and restore the dying world, so he assigned each companion a direction.
• Li Xiaoyu flew east toward the Chaotic Storm while Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao headed toward the other three sources.

Li Xiaoyu subdued the destruction storm by using his Dao to restore order, while Lu Xueqi melted the profound ice by awakening life in the Source of Dead Water. Both worlds were reborn, and the chapter ended with streams flowing across the land where the ice mountain had stood.

• Li Xiaoyu entered the destruction storm and realized that brute force could not overcome its chaotic laws.
• Li Xiaoyu comprehended the storm, opened his Guardian Sword Domain, and guided its chaos back into order.
• Lu Xueqi approached the profound ice mountain and realized that force alone could not melt it.
• Lu Xueqi resonated with the ice, awakened its desire for life, and used Tianya to make the mountain melt.
• The storm subsided and the ice mountain became flowing streams as both lands regained life.

Zhang Xiaofan and Bi Yao each faced a force of destruction and used their Dao hearts to transform it into a power that could nurture life. Zhang Xiaofan revived the Extinction Dead Earth, while Bi Yao turned the Endfire Ash Flame into warm flames of rebirth.

• Zhang Xiaofan entered the Extinction Dead Earth and first repelled its devouring force with his Cultivation.
• Zhang Xiaofan understood the land’s longing for life and used the balance of Buddhist, Daoist, and demonic powers to guide it toward reincarnation.
• The Extinction Dead Earth became fertile soil, and green shoots emerged across it.
• Bi Yao entered the Endfire Ash Flame and initially resisted its power with the life force of the Holy Mother Divine Spark.
• Bi Yao embraced the flames, summoned the Holy Mother’s phantom, and guided their power toward rebirth.
• The Endfire Ash Flame subsided into clusters of warm golden flames across the newly reborn land.

Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao restored the small grotto-heaven by purifying its four elemental sources and gained deeper understanding of their Daos. They entered the Kunlun Immortal Realm’s third trial, where the Heavenly Emperor’s Chess Soul challenged them to find a way for the world to survive.

• Li Xiaoyu, Lu Xueqi, Zhang Xiaofan, and Bi Yao purified the four elemental sources, restoring the grotto-heaven and its core spiritual vein.
• The core spiritual vein sent the four powers of creation into them, strengthening their Dao foundations and understanding.
• The ancient stone stele formed a gateway, and Li Xiaoyu and his companions passed through it to reach the third trial.
• The Heavenly Emperor appeared and explained that their next trial concerned the survival of the entire world.
• The Heavenly Emperor summoned a cosmic chessboard and left the four to face his Chess Soul in a game for the world’s future.