Recaps

Yuan Zhihui deduced that the mysterious mastermind was in Yang Province City, targeting Li Wushuang and using the Longevity Ritual and a vast Tribulation to conceal his plans. He prepared to hunt the mastermind while his allies readied for the coming war at Dragon Path City, where sects might deploy treasures of attainment.

• Yuan Zhihui told Black Lotus Madam, the Demon Bull King, and the others that the mastermind had drawn powerful cultivators to North Province while setting his plan in motion around Li Wushuang in Yang Province City.
• Yuan Zhihui privately concluded that the mastermind was a person without fate, so the Tribulation could affect him but could not pinpoint his location.
• Yuan Zhihui said he would go to Yang Province City and kill the mastermind, while concealing his own desire to seize the man's treasure and keep the secret of surviving the Tribulation.
• The Demon Bull King questioned whether they should still join the siege at Dragon Path City, and Yuan Zhihui said a mysterious force tied to the Great Tang Dynasty would prevent the three Daoist sect masters from coming.
• Yuan Zhihui announced that his side would summon its sect-guarding treasure of attainment and press ahead with the battle, though the Primordial Spirit powerhouses feared becoming cannon fodder.
• Yuan Zhihui told the others to prepare for the coming battlefield and left for Yang Province.

The lords of the Demonic, Buddhist, Monster, and Ghost paths each drew out their Dao-Accomplishing Treasures, preparing for a battle with their master. In Yang Province City, Li Qing spotted the arrival of a figure he had not expected.

• The Ten Thousand Demons Devil Lord drew the Otherworldly Demon from a stone stele and wondered how many strikes Master could withstand.
• The old monk Shen Kong retrieved the Demon-Subduing Vajra Pestle from a black Buddha statue.
• The Monster Lord, Godslayer True Lord, pulled a twisted spear from an idol and prepared to settle old scores with Master.
• The Yama King drew the Yama Sword from his bone throne and said the battle could not be avoided.
• Li Qing noticed a newcomer in Yang Province City through his Shadow Paper Dolls and was surprised that the figure had come.

Li Qing learned that Yuan Zhihui had uncovered much of his plan and come to Yang Province City to capture him before the Yang Fire Great Tribulation. As Li Qing sent letters designed to manipulate several targets, Su Muqin and an ancient corpse each received information that pushed them toward action or flight.

• Li Qing used the Jade Tablet to learn that Yuan Zhihui had deduced his schemes, informed the four paths, and come to capture him during the tribulation.
• Li Qing decided to keep Yuan Zhihui under surveillance, prepare a backup plan, and send letters to selected targets before the Master Great Tribulation began.
• Su Muqin found a letter exposing his Memorial Organization identity and revealing that Yang Taikun planned to sacrifice Two Realms City's residents, and he suspected the Black Hand was behind it.
• An old tofu-pudding seller named Zhang Daqian received a letter identifying Ma Bowen as Li Tongming and revealing the Longevity Stone Stele's location.
• Zhang Daqian dismissed the stele as useless to him and decided to leave because his identity had been uncovered.

Li Qing arranged a second escape route after learning that Yuan Zhihui would investigate the ritual sites. He found the hidden formation beneath Bright Lake and began reconstructing the pocket world it concealed.

• Li Qing sent new letters to mysterious figures, prompting more than half of the remaining targets to act and setting members of the Evil Spirit Sect and Memorial Organization on a course toward conflict.
• Li Qing reasoned that Yuan Zhihui would investigate Yang Province City’s three ritual sites and searched for other indestructible locations to prepare another escape route.
• The Jade Tablet revealed a gate foundation beneath the western gate and a water-vein grotto-heaven beneath the rivers’ convergence, so Li Qing sent Shadow Paper Dolls to both locations.
• When a Shadow Paper Doll failed to find the grotto-heaven beneath Bright Lake, Li Qing used a Dream Projection to probe the lake and detect the concealed formation.
• Li Qing recorded the Eight Rivers Soul-Locking Heaven-Shrouding Pocket World Diagram and learned that creating it required sacrificing ten thousand people and livestock and would bring heavenly lightning upon its maker.

Li Qing restored the method for creating a tribulation-avoiding Grotto-Heaven and prepared it as a possible refuge from the coming Longevity Ritual. As tensions mounted around Yang Province City, Yuan Zhihui reasoned that Li Wushuang must be hiding somewhere impossible to destroy.

• Li Qing studied the restored Grotto-Heaven method and considered its protection, risks, and potential use as a long-term retreat.
• Li Qing sent his Dream Projection into the small Grotto-Heaven, inspected the area around its black palace, and withdrew without disturbing the unknown presence inside.
• After finishing his preparations, Li Qing waited beneath Lockstone Well and anticipated that Yuan Zhihui might die there.
• By October 31st, factions and cultivators had gathered around Yang Province City and its hidden sites, but their searches revealed little beyond corpses.
• Yuan Zhihui assessed the evidence surrounding the Longevity Ritual and suspected Li Wushuang had planned a trap.
• Yuan Zhihui concluded that Li Wushuang must be hiding in a place that could not be destroyed.

Yuan Zhihui used his Wisdom Divine Eye to search the Longevity Ritual sites for Li Wushuang, while Li Qing watched his movements from beneath Lockstone Well. Li Qing buried part of his cavern and planted a misleading clue before relocating, leaving Yuan Zhihui’s next choice uncertain.

• Yuan Zhihui reasoned that Li Wushuang was most likely hiding among the corpses beneath Lockstone Well, but first searched the Wordless Stone Stele and found no sign of him.
• Huang Qiying observed Yuan Zhihui at the Wordless Stone Stele and suspected he was an expert from the Buddhist Sect.
• Yuan Zhihui searched Blue Moon Bridge but found nothing as Li Qing monitored him with Hundred Things Eyes and Shadow Paper Dolls.
• Li Qing noticed Yuan Zhihui approaching the ritual sites and decided to relocate from Lockstone Well.
• Li Qing partially refilled his cavern with earth, leaving a misleading hollow that Yuan Zhihui could detect from outside the Netherworld passage.
• Li Qing placed a Shadow Paper Doll and a subsidiary Hundred Things Eye in the cavern, then left to see how Yuan Zhihui would respond.

Yuan Zhihui used his wisdom cultivation to uncover hidden anomalies in Yang Province City and discovered Li Qing’s abandoned cavern beneath the West Gate. He failed to find Li Qing beneath Bright Lake, but began watching the area closely, leaving Li Qing trapped in the pocket-heaven.

• Li Qing hid thirty zhang beneath Bright Lake and used a Shadow Paper Doll to monitor the Netherworld passage through Wen Zhengming’s records.
• Yuan Zhihui’s wisdom led him to identify the West Gate and Bright Lake as places mysteriously protected from change and public attention.
• Yuan Zhihui found a stone platform and a recently dug cavern beneath the West Gate, recognized that Li Wushuang had likely used it, and marked the location.
• Yuan Zhihui searched beneath Bright Lake but could not detect the formation or reach the pocket-heaven, and he concluded Li Wushuang might be hiding there.
• Yuan Zhihui stationed a golden figure beneath Bright Lake to watch for movement, while Li Qing realized that leaving would expose him.

Yuan Zhihui investigated the corpses beneath Lockstone Well while Ji Changsheng considered Li Qing’s offer and began spreading information about the Longevity Ritual. Both men suspected the ritual concealed dangers and searched for the person behind the scheme.

• Yuan Zhihui sent his invisible Wisdom True Form into Lockstone Well to investigate the cavern beneath it.
• Ji Changsheng read Li Qing’s letter, agreed to trust him for now, and prepared papers detailing the Longevity Ritual to circulate through Yang Province City.
• Li Qing secretly watched Ji Changsheng through a subsidiary Hundred Things Eye hidden in a stone.
• Yuan Zhihui examined the corpses and concluded that the Longevity Ritual was real but likely contained hidden traps.
• Yuan Zhihui searched the corpse pile for clues to Li Wushuang’s whereabouts.

Yuan Zhihui discovered that Li Qing’s hidden cave lay across a strange spacetime boundary and planned to conceal his discovery so Li Qing would return. Li Qing had recorded Yuan Zhihui’s investigation and prepared for the upheaval beginning that night, urging Ji Changsheng to act.

• Yuan Zhihui searched beneath the underwater hollow and found signs of a refilled cave where Li Qing had hidden.
• Yuan Zhihui sent an invisible severed finger upward and realized the black mud concealed an unknown spacetime layer.
• Yuan Zhihui concluded that Li Qing had hidden across the boundary and decided to pretend he had found nothing.
• Li Qing reviewed the Jade Tablet’s record of Yuan Zhihui’s thoughts and actions, including the hidden probe Yuan Zhihui thought had gone unnoticed.
• As night fell, Li Qing told Ji Changsheng to make his move or he would act himself.

Ji Changsheng spread the Longevity Ritual across Yang Province City, igniting a bloody scramble while four Dharma Form powerhouses fought over its details. As the city’s battle erupted and the King of Yang Province joined the fray, more powerful cultivators approached, leaving the city engulfed in chaos.

• Huang Mountain Guest, Starry Sky Elder, Bloodthirsty Granny, and the previous King Yama began verifying the Longevity Ritual and negotiating how it could be performed.
• Ji Changsheng scattered copies of the ritual throughout Yang Province City, and Rogue Cultivators began fighting to seize and record them.
• The city guards activated the grand formation to seal ordinary people away, while the four Dharma Form powerhouses attacked one another.
• Li Qing watched through Shadow Paper Dolls as the four powerhouses unleashed their Dharma Forms and their battle caused nearby cultivators to mutate.
• The King of Yang Province empowered himself with the city’s formation and Dao soldiers, then struck Bloodthirsty Granny with a Dao artifact spear.
• Four more powerful auras approached Yang Province City as Dharma Forms and Primordial Spirits fought amid the city’s raging battle.

Zhao Qiankun and the three major gangs exploited Yang Province’s chaos to kill Rogue Cultivators and gather their spoils as Anomalies rampaged through the city. Watching through a Shadow Paper Doll, Li Qing anticipated a larger plan involving Yuan Zhihui, while Su Muqin prepared to strike a member of Li Qing’s hostile faction in Two Realms City.

• Zhao Qiankun led his Dao soldiers through Yang Province City, using his battle luck and their strength to overwhelm Rogue Cultivators and aberrated Anomalies.
• Ma Mingyue, Wang Chunhan, and Wu Meixiang followed with their Dao soldiers, supporting Zhao Qiankun and collecting valuables from the fallen; Zhao Qiankun reassured his adjutant that their spoils would not be lost.
• A powerful Anomaly broke through a couple’s gray protective restriction, devoured them, and grew laughing heads on its back as it attacked more residents.
• Li Qing watched the slaughter through the Shadow Paper Doll, linked the spreading chaos to his arrival in the world, and anticipated that Yuan Zhihui might take the bait when his master began acting.
• Su Muqin appeared at a residence in Two Realms City belonging to a member of Li Qing’s hostile faction and decided to make his move, warning Li Wushuang not to celebrate yet.

Su Muqin entered the residence after discovering that Li Wushuang knew his fatal secret, while Zhang Daqian departed without interfering. At the northern border pass, the Barbarian Tribe launched a massive assault, and Long Yingtai met the Barbarian King with the power of the Military School formation.

• Su Muqin resolved to lull Li Wushuang into complacency and kill him before his secret reached the School of Diplomacy, then silently entered the residence.
• Zhang Daqian sensed the disturbance, acknowledged Li Wushuang as a player on the chessboard, and left without intervening.
• Phantom Demon Daoist summoned a supernatural storm beyond the northern border pass, but the city's formation blocked its force.
• Long Yingtai watched the million-strong Barbarian Tribe army begin its siege against the pass defended by three hundred thousand troops.
• The Barbarian King attacked the formation as a colossal demon god, and Long Yingtai summoned a military formation that engaged him with a flood of giant soldiers.

Master faced a killing Tribulation in Dragon Path City as four powerful enemies attacked him and Great Tang forces fought to support him. In Yang Province City, Li Qing watched the battle begin and prepared to act while rival groups slaughtered one another around Lockstone Well.

• Master rose into the sky above Natural Abode as Calamity Qi and hostile forces gathered around him.
• King Yama, Ten Thousand Demons Devil Lord, Shen Kong, and Godslayer True Lord confronted Master, while Chancellor Liu Luoguo and Sima Changkong arrived to aid him.
• Ten Dharma Form cultivators held Liu Luoguo and Sima Changkong back as the four attackers unleashed their powers against Master.
• Li Qing observed the battle from Yang Province City and said he would bring the great Tribulation to an end after watching for the enemies' further preparations.
• Crowds fought over the ritual at Lockstone Well, throwing corpses into it as beams of light struck down would-be sacrificers.

As Yang Province City descended into chaos, Li Qing used a Shadow Paper Doll to lure Yuan Zhihui into chasing him through an unknown passage. Yuan Zhihui escaped the horrifying world he found there, but the strange entities left dangerous traces in his memories that he struggled to burn away.

• Cultivators battled across Yang Province City as the city's formation shook and corpses were thrown into Lockstone Well.
• Li Qing sent a black-robed Shadow Paper Doll into the cavern beneath Lockstone Well while Yuan Zhihui followed the traces he had planted.
• Yuan Zhihui killed a Rogue Cultivator, left a lifelike illusion among a pile of corpses, and entered the Netherworld Dark Side to pursue the black-robed figure.
• Yuan Zhihui chased the figure upward and emerged into a terrifying world filled with decaying buildings and strange entities.
• Yuan Zhihui retreated underground and used the nameless fire of his Primordial Spirit to burn away the strange entities' traces in his memories.

Yuan Zhihui unleashed a black stone that began corrupting Yang Province City and its surroundings as he called for Li Wushuang. Meanwhile, Master was close to defeat in Dragon Path City until Li Qing's Shadow Paper Doll summoned a War Soul Puppet, whose arrival froze the world.

• Yuan Zhihui burned away the traces in his memories and suffered severe wounds as he suppressed his aberration.
• Yuan Zhihui opened a box containing a black stone, whose ripples warped Yang Province City, its citizens, and its formations.
• Yuan Zhihui threw the stone to the ground, spreading its corrupting influence across the city and calling out for Li Wushuang.
• Master used the Discourse on the Way to resist the four experts, but their Dharma Forms overwhelmed his radiance and left him near death.
• Li Qing's Shadow Paper Doll activated a talisman and summoned a War Soul Puppet, whose appearance caused heaven, earth, space, and time to fall silent.

The Battle Soul Puppet repelled four attackers wielding supreme treasures and began slaughtering the Monster, Demon, Ghost, and Buddhist forces in Dragon Path City. After receiving a message from Li Qing, he stopped pursuing the fleeing experts and focused on killing their cultivators and Anomalies.

• The Battle Soul Puppet’s presence terrified Dragon Path City and made the four experts attacking Master recognize that he rivaled the Longevity Realm.
• Ten Thousand Demons Devil Lord, Shen Kong, Godslayer True Lord, and King Yama unleashed their supreme treasures against the Battle Soul Puppet.
• The Battle Soul Puppet struck once, destroyed the four treasures, and sent the four experts flying in different directions.
• After Li Qing sent him a message, the Battle Soul Puppet halted his pursuit and killed ten Dharma Form cultivators who were still attacking Sima Changkong and Liu Luoguo.
• The Battle Soul Puppet massacred cultivators and Anomalies from the four paths, focusing his first wave of attacks on their Primordial Spirits and Divine Souls.

The Battle Soul Puppet left Dragon Path City to confront Yuan Zhihui and the Contamination Origin Stone ravaging Yang Province City. It extracted the contamination from the city and carried the unstable stone into the Netherworld Dark Side, where it exploded.

• The Battle Soul Puppet sensed a crisis in Yang Province City and departed Dragon Path City after Master noted that the four Demonic Path ancestors had escaped.
• Yuan Zhihui used the Contamination Origin Stone to spread flesh and aberrant limbs through Yang Province City, killing at least a hundred thousand people.
• Li Qing summoned the Battle Soul Puppet, which attacked Yuan Zhihui and forced him to retreat while containing the contamination threatening the city.
• The Battle Soul Puppet compressed the contamination and extracted the Contamination Origin Stone, leaving Yang Province City largely clear of the spreading aberrant matter.
• The Battle Soul Puppet carried the unstable stone through Lockstone Well into the Netherworld Dark Side, where it exploded and destroyed nearby Anomaly matter.

After the contaminated origin stone’s destruction, the stars descended and terrifying forces stirred across the world, signaling the beginning of a great upheaval. Yuan Zhihui recovered and departed in a transformed state as the future grew chaotic, while new aberrations began slaughtering people.

• The stars shone and fell across the Nine Provinces and Four Regions, prompting Emperor Kuntai, an old Daoist, and Master to recognize the arrival of a great calamity and age of contention.
• Terrifying auras rose across the world, then quieted as an unknown change merged with Heaven and Earth and the starry sky returned to normal.
• Yuan Zhihui recovered from his wounds and Aberration, gained an ethereal, all-seeing nature, and left Yang Province City while commenting on Li Wushuang and the supreme treasure.
• The deaths of countless cultivators eased the Calamity Qi, but a mysterious force tangled the future and subtle changes spread throughout the world.
• A green-furred aberration emerged in the wilderness, entered a village, and slaughtered its inhabitants as they tried to defend themselves.

Li Qing endured the dangerous compression of immense Qi Fate and formed the Supreme Fate Flame, advancing to a new realm. His achievement was identified as Li Wushuang, drawing the attention of the Nine Provinces’ major powers, which began searching for him.

• Li Qing controlled his Supreme Dao Foundation as it compressed the Qi Fate, enduring the risk of death until a flame formed within it and absorbed the Qi Fate.
• The flame released a torrent of chaotic information, which Heavens Civilization Torrent swept away, then traveled through Li Qing’s body and triggered nine waves of alternating heat and cold.
• Li Qing felt an unseen shell shatter as boundless vitality surged through him, marking his advancement to a new realm.
• A Daoist Sect elder recognized the Supreme Fate Flame and identified its bearer as the one who had previously achieved the Supreme Dao Foundation.
• The mysterious name Li Wushuang resurfaced in Confucian records, and rumors credited him with orchestrating the northern upheaval alongside Master and attaining the Supreme Fate Flame.
• The major powers across the Nine Provinces dispatched people to search for Li Wushuang and inspect cultivators throughout cities, towns, and villages.

As Anomalies plunged Great Tang into chaos, Master announced a Longevity Banquet after attaining the Longevity Realm. Li Qing learned that the Heaven and Earth Killing Tribulation had begun and planned to secure Dragon Province, then began studying a Spirit Consciousness Realm technique.

• Master invited every Dao Lineage to the Longevity Banquet in Dragon Path City to calm unrest and gather powerful cultivators.
• Ji Changsheng wondered whether Li Wushuang came from the Upper Realm and hoped he could help him escape his predicament.
• Li Qing learned from the Jade Tablet that ancient Upper Realm existences were awakening and the Children of Destiny were beginning to follow their paths.
• Li Qing resolved to expand into Dragon Province and formally cultivate a Spirit Consciousness Realm technique.
• The technique’s demonic voices attacked Li Qing’s will, but the Supreme Fate Flame burned them away.

Li Qing studied the Spirit Consciousness Realm’s stages, dangers, and cultivation methods, then examined a chart of three thousand spirit awareness grades. He suspected that these manifestations could become Dharma Forms in higher cultivation and prepared to record and test his idea.

• Li Qing learned that the Spirit Consciousness Realm had four stages: Spirit Refinement, Soul Gathering, Soul Guiding, and the Heart Demon Tribulation.
• Li Qing studied the Supreme Curse of Myriad Spirits, which required 365 recitations and sufficient dharma power to refine his will into spirit consciousness with certainty.
• Li Qing read the chart of spirit consciousness grades, which listed around three thousand qualities from ninth grade to first grade and a legendary ungraded quality.
• Li Qing suspected that spirit awareness manifestations could develop into Dharma Forms, recalled seeing similar images in Master and the others' battles, and took out a Record Book to write down and test his conjecture.

Li Qing used the Jade Tablet to investigate Dharma Forms and deduced that they could bind cultivators to the creators of the first-generation forms. After deciding he would need to infiltrate the six great Dao Lineages to obtain them, he began refining his spirit consciousness and endured the Supreme Fate Flame’s excruciating burn.

• Li Qing recorded his theory that Spirit Awareness shaped a cultivator’s future Dharma Form, and the Jade Tablet supplied information about generations of Dharma Forms.
• Li Qing suspected that first-generation Dharma Forms were roots in a system that fed on later generations and used cultivators as reserves of nourishment.
• Li Qing recorded that first-generation Dharma Forms likely came from the Spirit Awareness of those who first attained the Dao, and the Jade Tablet revealed that later forms helped sustain their creators.
• Li Qing concluded that he would need to infiltrate the six great Dao Lineages to obtain first-generation Dharma Forms, then set aside the plan and began cultivating spirit consciousness.
• Li Qing chanted the Supreme Curse of Myriad Spirits and sent the Supreme Fate Flame into his sea of consciousness, where it painfully refined the information in the Heavens Civilization Torrent.

Li Qing condensed an extraordinary Spirit Awareness, triggering a heavenly phenomenon across the Nine Provinces and Four Regions. After waking, he drove away an eerie woman with his relic and discovered that his new Spirit Awareness could reveal overlapping spaces and entities that might notice him in return.

• Li Qing's knowledge from Earth and this world merged into a vast sphere of information as he condensed his Spirit Awareness.
• A storm and a vision of countless worlds appeared across the heavens, while Yuan Zhihui mistook the phenomenon for Li Wushuang's breakthrough and resolved to claim his treasure.
• Li Qing awoke in Bright Lake Grotto-Heaven and found the eerie woman who had appeared during his earlier encounter with Aberrant Contamination.
• Li Qing used his golden relic to dispel the woman and realized that Aberrant Contamination had grown stronger with his cultivation.
• Li Qing concluded that his Spirit Awareness was likely Supreme-grade and used it to scan the surrounding area.
• Li Qing perceived overlapping spaces and unknown entities, including enormous eyes that seemed to notice him, so he quickly withdrew his Spirit Awareness.

Li Qing replenished his dharma power after reaching the Spirit Consciousness Realm and studied the Seven Souls and the benefits they brought to the body. He began cultivating the Devour-Thief Soul, using the Heavens Civilization Torrent to form the curse glyphs, and left off as they gathered into a pearl-like mass of light.

• Li Qing reflected on the dangers of heightened spirit consciousness and replenished his dharma power with Essence Stones.
• Li Qing studied the Seven Souls, their bodily functions, and how cultivating them could extend his lifespan beyond three hundred years.
• Li Qing chose to cultivate the Devour-Thief Soul using the Earthly Devour-Thief Curse.
• Li Qing used the Heavens Civilization Torrent to steady his Spirit Awareness and weave the curse's 365 glyphs.
• Li Qing infused the glyphs with mana until they linked into a pearl-like mass of light.

Li Qing formed the Thief-Devouring Soul, which revealed and purged external evils from his body and surroundings, then advanced to the second stage of the Spirit Consciousness Realm. After leaving the formation grotto-heaven, he returned to prosperous Yang Province City and looked up at the sky in shock.

• Li Qing used the Supreme Fate Flame to refine the Curse inscriptions into a gray pearl that became his Thief-Devouring Soul.
• The Thief-Devouring Soul exposed and destroyed external evils inside Li Qing and within a foot of him, but strange whispers prompted him to use his Dao Artifact to drive away an unseen presence.
• Li Qing absorbed 115 Baleful Intent-grade Essence Stones and advanced to the second stage of the Spirit Consciousness Realm.
• Li Qing left the mysterious formation grotto-heaven, unaware that an illusory figure in the dark palace watched him depart.
• Li Qing returned to Bright Lake disguised as another person, saw that Yang Province City had prospered again, and froze in disbelief as he looked at the sky.