Chapter Summaries

Hong Yuan killed Kokonoe Shuichi and Zongxiang Xuanwu through a combination of mental arts, deception, and a decisive strike, then learned that several True Void Dao cultivators were hidden at the Divine Radiance Palace. After recovering, he infiltrated Ancestral Spirit Mountain and reached a concealed area rich in numinous energy, where he prepared to strengthen himself before facing them.

• Hong Yuan ambushed Kokonoe Shuichi and his escort, killing the warriors with a mental art and decapitating Kokonoe Shuichi after a Blade Guard warrior unexpectedly stabbed him.
• Hong Yuan disguised himself as Mr. Kato and delivered Kokonoe Shuichi's head to Zongxiang Xuanwu, using the head's gaze and the Taiyin Soul-Slaying Curse to distract him before killing him with a finger strike.
• Hong Yuan learned that Mingxu Zi, Cangyun, and Suqing of the True Void Dao were hidden in the Divine Radiance Palace, along with Bai Fengtao and Oni Cut, and decided to strengthen himself before confronting them.
• Hong Yuan impersonated Zongxiang Xuanwu to enter Ancestral Spirit Mountain, disposed of the corpses, recovered from his injuries, and infiltrated the cavern using the Mirror-Realm Mental Method.
• Hong Yuan sensed four presences near a stairway and entered a hidden chamber, where he intended to compete with Mingxu Zi for the rich numinous energy.

Hong Yuan stole the numinous energy Mingxu Zi needed to break through, then advanced from foundation establishment into meridian unblocking. Meanwhile, Zhang Yunting and Elder Sun plotted for the Netherworld Sect to exploit a coming conflict between the Xuan Emperor and another man who should not exist, as Hong Yuan faced Mingxu Zi and the two elders.

• Hong Yuan absorbed the numinous energy from the Dragon-Locking Well, causing Mingxu Zi's repeated attempts to form a lesser celestial circuit to fail.
• Hong Yuan filled his void aperture and reached foundation establishment perfection while Mingxu Zi remained unable to break through.
• Commander Li and Commander Leng examined Zhang Yunting, took his governor-general's official seal, and assumed command of the troops in Izumo.
• After the commanders left, Zhang Yunting and Elder Sun revealed their Netherworld Sect ties and discussed using the conflict between the Black Tortoise Guard and the Divine Radiance Palace to advance their plans.
• Elder Sun told Zhang Yunting to cultivate the yellow springs spirit aperture while they waited for the Xuan Emperor and the other man who should not exist to clash.
• Hong Yuan broke through into meridian unblocking, burst from his hidden chamber, and confronted Mingxu Zi, Cangyun, and Suqing, who attacked him.

Hong Yuan overwhelmed the True Void Dao elders and the Divine Radiance Palace fighters in the Dragon Vein cavern, then demanded the True Void Dao’s Orthodox Dharma. Elder Suqing recognized that he had cultivated their lineage’s method and explained the True Void Diagram and its scripture; after verifying the information, Hong Yuan questioned Mingxu Zi and forced Bai Fengtao to choose whether to submit or die.

• Hong Yuan used his Tribulation Force to control the cavern’s surroundings, then defeated Cangyun and Suqing with a palm strike and subdued Mingxu Zi with a finger.
• Bai Fengtao fled, but Hong Yuan caught her, then killed the charging Naginata Corps warriors with curse-power arrows before returning to the cavern.
• Hong Yuan threatened Bai Fengtao’s life to pressure Mingxu Zi into revealing the True Void Dao’s methods, but Suqing offered to teach them and recognized Hong Yuan’s cultivation as their Orthodox Dharma.
• Suqing described the four sections of the True Void Diagram and the True Void and Wondrous Being Scripture, while Hong Yuan put Bai Fengtao to sleep and listened.
• Hong Yuan verified Suqing’s account, let her take Cangyun to heal, and questioned Mingxu Zi before waking Bai Fengtao.
• Hong Yuan asked Bai Fengtao whether she wanted to live or die, and she knelt and agreed to submit.

Hong Yuan prepared to strengthen his combat abilities at the Divine Radiance Palace while Bai Fengtao handled the Mystic Court’s demand for an explanation. When Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang attacked the palace, Hong Yuan’s trap struck them both and hurled them from the dragon-vein cavern.

• Hong Yuan considered using the Breath of All Things and creating a new astral body to improve his strength while he pursued greater cultivation.
• Bai Fengtao told Hong Yuan that the Governor-General’s Office had demanded an answer about Zhang Yunting’s attempted assassination, and he let her deliver the preserved heads of the Qian Yong remnants.
• Bai Fengtao rejected Mingxu Zi’s familiar address and left him behind as the Black Tortoise Guards prepared a surprise attack on the Divine Radiance Palace.
• Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang stormed the palace, subdued Cangyun and Suqing, and searched for Zongxiang Xuanwu.
• Hong Yuan’s fire dragon and domain-like pressure struck Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang in the cavern, injuring them and blasting them back toward the divine hall.

Hong Yuan drove off Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang, then advanced to the lesser celestial circuit while the Mystic Court gathered an army to attack the Divine Radiance Palace. As the invasion approached, Hong Yuan demanded that Bai Fengtao prove the palace was worth his help.

• Hong Yuan forced Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang to flee the Divine Radiance Palace, while Elder Sun watched from nearby and retreated.
• Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang suspected Hong Yuan had borrowed the might of heaven and earth, then took command of Sakai Port’s troops and ordered three camps to march on the palace.
• Izumo’s Royalist Faction learned that Western Luo planned to strike the Sakai Port garrison, raising the prospect of a wider conflict.
• Hong Yuan reached the lesser celestial circuit and continued working on a new Astral Body.
• Bai Fengtao told Hong Yuan that the Mystic Court’s army was advancing, and Hong Yuan warned her to prove the Divine Radiance Palace’s worth before expecting him to act.

The Mystic Court's Black Army broke through the ambush at Soul-Breaking Gorge and attacked the Divine Radiance Palace, where Bai Fengtao and her allies prepared to resist. As cannonfire devastated the palace grounds, Hong Yuan confronted a black-robed man with a true dharma spirit aperture and drove him into the battle below.

• Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang routed the ambushers at Soul-Breaking Gorge, allowing the Black Army to continue its advance.
• Bai Fengtao ordered the Divine Radiance Palace's forces to prepare for battle, while Mingxu Zi and Suqing chose to stay and fight.
• Hong Yuan watched from the palace roof as the armies gathered and began fighting below.
• Yu Qingshan ordered the Thunderbolt Camp to bombard the palace buildings, and Suqing and Mingxu Zi attacked him amid the battle.
• Hong Yuan recognized the black-robed man's true dharma spirit aperture, struck him, and pursued him down into the fighting armies.

Hong Yuan arrived at the battlefield and fought Sun Chujiu, Yu Qingshan, and Fu Zhengyang at once, overwhelming the three Greater Celestial Circuit experts with his True Qi. The chapter ended with the fighters and spectators stunned by his unprecedented strength.

• Hong Yuan crashed onto the battlefield, exchanged blows with Sun Chujiu, and was mistaken by him for an heir of the True Void Dao.
• Sun Chujiu introduced himself and urged Hong Yuan to ally with him, but Hong Yuan attacked him instead.
• Hong Yuan drew Yu Qingshan and Fu Zhengyang into the fight, forcing the two to battle alongside Sun Chujiu against him.
• Hong Yuan's attacks drove the surrounding armies to retreat, while Mingxu Zi, Suqing, and Bai Fengtao watched in astonishment.
• Sun Chujiu, Yu Qingshan, and Fu Zhengyang struggled to understand how Hong Yuan's True Qi could withstand and threaten their Astral Qi.

Hong Yuan defeated the Netherworld Sect masters and forced the Black Tortoise Guard commanders and thousands of fighters to surrender. Meanwhile, Izumo Royalists and the Western Luo army attacked Sakai Port, which fell to them within half a day.

• Hong Yuan used Unimpeded All-Illuminating Wisdom to find weaknesses in Sun Chujiu, Yu Qingshan, and Fu Zhengyang's Astral Qi, then defeated and spared all three.
• Hong Yuan knocked hundreds of fighters unconscious with the Taiyin Soul-Slaying Curse and called on the remaining forces to surrender.
• Leng and Li surrendered, prompting thousands of soldiers to lay down their weapons.
• Izumo Royalist fighters rose up in Sakai Port, and the Jing'an Camp troops fought them in a chaotic battle across the city.
• Western Luo warships emerged from dark mist and bombarded Sakai Port's harbor walls.
• The Jing'an Camp collapsed under attacks from the Izumo Royalist Faction and the Western Luo army, and Sakai Port fell.

Hong Yuan gained the Sky Soaring Sect’s orthodox dharma and opened his heavenly eye aperture, learning that the Xuan Emperor planned to devour the Ancestral Dragon Vein and usher in an Age of Dharma Decline. He decided to strengthen himself before considering whether to oppose the Xuan Emperor, and tested the powerful mental force granted by his new aperture.

• Hong Yuan opened the heavenly eye, yellow springs, and green wood apertures using methods obtained from Sun Chujiu, joining them with his existing void aperture.
• Hong Yuan reflected on Sun Chujiu’s warning that the Xuan Emperor intended to devour the Ancestral Dragon Vein, causing Dragon Veins to lose their manifestation and bringing an Age of Dharma Decline.
• Hong Yuan learned that Shi Yan had perfected two orthodox dharma methods and that the Xuan Emperor had perfected five layers of astral qi, far exceeding Hong Yuan’s current strength.
• Hong Yuan decided to improve his combat strength before intervening in the Xuan Emperor’s plan.
• Hong Yuan used his heavenly eye aperture to project mental force into a huge hand that struck a deep imprint into the cavern wall.

Hong Yuan created the Dragon Vein True-Form Astral Art, greatly strengthening his body and spirit and revealing possible unawakened spirit apertures. After learning that Sakai Port had fallen to Izumo’s Royalist Faction and the Western Luo fleet, he summoned several figures to investigate a puzzling connection to the Eight Lineages of Orthodox Dharma.

• Hong Yuan used mental force to fly around the cavern and, inspired by the dragon vein, true qi, and Great Yin astral body methods, began creating a new astral art.
• Bai Fengtao reported that Izumo’s Royalist Faction and the Western Luo fleet had taken Sakai Port from the Mystic Court’s Jing'an Camp and that an envoy sought an alliance against Great Xuan.
• Hong Yuan refused to meet the envoy and ordered Bai Fengtao to send him back until someone with real authority came to negotiate.
• Hong Yuan completed the Dragon Vein True-Form Astral Art, transforming his body and spirit and sensing he could soon use the last two Six Voids Force transformations.
• Hong Yuan detected five faint spirit-aperture responses beyond the four he had opened and wondered whether they were connected to the Nameless Immortal and the Eight Lineages of Orthodox Dharma.
• Hong Yuan summoned Sun Chujiu, Mingxu Zi, Suqing, Cangyun, Yu Qingshan, and Fu Zhengyang.

Hong Yuan questioned the gathered cultivators about the Immortal and let Sun Chujiu go to contact Netherworld Sect Master Shi Yan about the plan to slay the Xuan Emperor. Meanwhile, visitors from Izumo and Western Luo arrived at Ancestral Spirit Mountain, where Hong Yuan confronted Takahashi Naoji for challenging his authority.

• Hong Yuan asked Mingxu Zi, Sun Chujiu, Yu Qingshan, and Fu Zhengyang what they knew about the Nameless Immortal, and they described the Green Lantern Immortal and pointed him toward the Xuan Emperor for further answers.
• Sun Chujiu told Hong Yuan that Netherworld Sect Master Shi Yan led the plan to slay the Mystic Emperor, and Hong Yuan released Sun's sealed true qi so he could contact Shi Yan.
• Three days later, Bai Fengtao welcomed Matsuo Tetsushin, Takahashi Naoji, and other prominent visitors from Izumo and Western Luo to Ancestral Spirit Mountain.
• Takahashi Naoji criticized Bai Fengtao for accepting a man from the Central Lands as Divine Lord, and Hong Yuan appeared and challenged him to explain his boldness.

Hong Yuan subdued the Izumo leaders, uncovered a trace of the Night King’s black blood, and attained the Greater Celestial Circuit by cultivating with the Divine Radiance Palace’s dragon vein. He arrived at Sakai Port as the Black Army attacked, ready to test his new strength.

• Hong Yuan killed Takahashi Naoji, forced Matsuo Tetsushin and the other leaders to their knees, and left Bai Fengtao to deal with them.
• Hong Yuan interrogated the Western Luo envoy, learned that the Night King had risen to power and that the word “Molting” was associated with him, then extracted a drop of black blood from the man.
• Hong Yuan studied the black blood and spent more than ten days cultivating, attaining the Greater Celestial Circuit as the Dragon-Locking Well and dragon vein collapsed.
• The Royalist Faction’s leaders remained missing, and fighting over Sakai Port plunged Izumo’s forces into deeper disorder.
• Leng and Li led the Black Tortoise Guard in an assault on Sakai Port, and Hong Yuan caught a cannonball before entering the city.

Hong Yuan devastated Sakai Port, subdued Shi Yan after testing their strength, and learned more about Yang Qingxuan and the Immortal Patriarch. The chapter ended with Hong Yuan asking whom Shi Yan had gathered for his plan to slay the Mystic Emperor.

• Hong Yuan tore through Sakai Port, slaughtering Izumo soldiers and striking down Western Luo troops aboard the warships with a roar.
• Hong Yuan confronted Shi Yan, and the two exchanged blows to test their strength before Shi Yan recognized Hong Yuan's unusual power.
• Hong Yuan unleashed the dragon vein true-form astral art, defeated Shi Yan, and broke a warship before the remaining ships submitted.
• Hong Yuan carried Shi Yan to a mansion, where Shi Yan said Hong Yuan's cultivation art came from beyond the heavens.
• Shi Yan recounted rumors that Yang Qingxuan had crossed the Mist Sea as an infant and that the Immortal Patriarch had searched for a real dragon before riding one into the Mist Sea.
• Hong Yuan asked Shi Yan whom he had gathered for the plan to slay the Mystic Emperor.

The foremost Orthodox and Outer Dao masters gathered at Buried Dragon Ridge to join forces against the Xuan Emperor, with Shi Yan assembling heirs and sect leaders whose legacies had survived the Mystic Court. Hong Yuan arrived last and launched an attack on the gathering to test their skills and learn their arts.

• Dugu Wuwu, Hong Shan, Night Owl, Myriad Gu Madam, and Daoist Netherbone gathered at Buried Dragon Ridge and waited for the other masters.
• Su Qing of the Red Dust Pavilion arrived, followed by Master Green Satchel of the Divine Farmer Valley, Black Heaven of the Black Sect, and Bright Light Temple's Bao Zhuang and Bao Hui.
• Shi Yan arrived and revealed that one more person was expected, then Hong Yuan emerged from beside a boulder.
• Hong Yuan surveyed the surviving heirs and sect leaders, while the gathering learned that Shi Yan had taught Orthodox Dharma arts to the Outer Dao masters.
• When Black Heaven questioned Hong Yuan's identity, Hong Yuan split into afterimages and attacked everyone except Shi Yan to test their skills and learn their arts.

Hong Yuan demonstrated his Illusion Art and helped Shi Yan’s group infiltrate the Imperial Palace, where Yang Qingxuan revealed that the apparent alliance with the Divine Mechanism Manor and Skyreach Hall had been exposed. After defeating their ambush, Yang Qingxuan explained that the dragon vein was the remnant husk of a spirit vein from which an Immortal had taken most of its essence.

• Hong Yuan defeated the assembled experts with his Illusion Art, earned their trust, and concealed the group as they entered the Imperial Palace.
• Hong Yuan examined the altar and its thirty-six chained dragon pillars before Yang Qingxuan appeared and broke the illusion.
• Yang Qingxuan summoned Master Qianji, Madam Xuan Ji, Master Guan Xing, and Layman Measuring Heaven, revealing that they had informed him of Shi Yan’s plan.
• Yang Qingxuan exposed the four experts’ planned ambush and reversed formation, then calmly destroyed their combined attack and survived the Thunderfire Divine Pearls.
• Yang Qingxuan told the group that an Immortal had extracted most of a spirit vein’s essence fifteen hundred years earlier, leaving behind the remnant husk known as the dragon vein.

Yang Qingxuan revealed that Huang Longshi had been the spirit vein’s escaped true nature and used the gathered Orthodox Dharma masters to help him resist its lingering backlash. He began drawing in numinous energy to perfect all eight layers of astral qi, while Hong Yuan arrived and struck at him from afar.

• Yang Qingxuan explained that Huang Longshi had undergone three transformations before leaving the world, weakening the force that punished cultivators who exceeded their limits.
• Yang Qingxuan revealed that he intended to use the Orthodox Dharma masters gathered against him to bear the backlash as he crossed the cultivation boundary.
• Bao Zhuang urged the others to flee, but Yang Qingxuan broke the Sacred Altar open and trapped them in his astral qi.
• The True Void Dao master attacked Yang Qingxuan from behind, but his fist broke against Yang Qingxuan’s six perfected layers of astral qi.
• Yang Qingxuan began absorbing numinous energy to perfect all eight layers, despite the backlash twisting his body.
• Hong Yuan concealed himself on the Sacred Altar, identified the spirit apertures Yang Qingxuan lacked, and sent a force toward him that made his astral qi ripple.

Hong Yuan confronted Yang Qingxuan at the Sacred Altar, and the two fought while opening all eight spirit apertures. Hong Yuan then awakened a ninth aperture, the Aperture of Unity, and surged toward Yang Qingxuan with three perfected layers of astral qi.

• Hong Yuan appeared at the Sacred Altar and challenged Yang Qingxuan for the Ancestral Dragon Vein, then opened four more spirit apertures as they began to fight.
• Yang Qingxuan and Hong Yuan's clash wrecked the Sacred Altar and sent Shi Yan, Su Qing, Bao Zhuang, and the others scrambling beyond the battle's reach.
• Yang Qingxuan perfected a seventh layer of astral qi and urged Hong Yuan to submit, while Hong Yuan opened the remaining four of his eight spirit apertures during their fight.
• Hong Yuan discovered and opened a ninth aperture within his heart, linking it to the other eight and scattering Yang Qingxuan's storm clouds with a pillar of light.
• Hong Yuan's astral qi rapidly grew stronger, and after perfecting three layers he stepped through Yang Qingxuan's attack and brought down a powerful palm.

Hong Yuan defeated Yang Qingxuan with the power of his ninth spirit aperture, then began devouring the ancestral dragon vein to carry out the Dragon-Swallowing Plan. He intended to change the world’s course and usher it from an age of transcendence into a dharma-degenerate age.

• Hong Yuan and Yang Qingxuan clashed, and Hong Yuan’s palm strike shattered all eight of Yang Qingxuan’s spirit apertures.
• Hong Yuan caught Yang Qingxuan with true qi and used his true self aperture to restrain the backlash threatening to destroy him.
• Shi Yan and the other experts congratulated Hong Yuan, declaring that he would become the new myth of the world.
• Hong Yuan spread his arms and used his nine spirit apertures to devour numinous energy from the ancestral dragon vein.
• Hong Yuan revealed that he had come to replace the Xuan Emperor and complete the Dragon-Swallowing Plan to gather karmic calamity power.

Hong Yuan absorbed the numinous energy as the Ancestral Dragon Vein dispersed, ending the realm’s true qi cultivation system. He offered the orthodox dharma experts a new force-cultivation path and sent them to stabilize the Imperial Capital while he took Yang Qingxuan into a nearby hall.

• Hong Yuan absorbed numinous energy, and his dragon vein true-form astral art reached minor completion as the Ancestral Dragon Vein burst apart and its energy dispersed.
• Su Qing, Bao Zhuang, Guan Xing, Liang Tian, and the others mourned the end of their cultivation path, while Master Qianji asked to return to prepare the Divine Mechanism Manor.
• Hong Yuan explained that Yang Qingxuan or he would have caused the same collapse, then offered the experts another path of cultivation.
• Hong Yuan demonstrated force cultivation by forming and launching a sphere of qi-blood force, and Su Qing and the others asked him to teach them.
• Hong Yuan placed a strand of tribulation force in each expert and told them to stabilize the Imperial Capital before he carried Yang Qingxuan into a nearby hall.

After defeating Yang Qingxuan, Hong Yuan learned about the Azure Mystic Token, Huang Longshi, and the Night King, then considered how the Mist Sea had once divided the world. The ancestral dragon vein’s collapse destroyed dragon veins across the realm, while Yang Qingxuan called the great powers to meet in Haijin City and Hong Yuan resumed cultivating.

• Hong Yuan spared Yang Qingxuan, made him remain sovereign of Great Xuan, and ordered him to preserve the realm and promote the Force Art.
• Yang Qingxuan told Hong Yuan about Huang Longshi, the Night King, and the Azure Mystic Token, whose vision showed the Azure Mystic Sect burning.
• Hong Yuan wondered whether the Night King was a corpse-liberated immortal and considered whether distant lands might eventually merge across the Mist Sea.
• The Sword Pavilion’s Dragon-Locking Sword Array failed, and the dragon vein collapsed; dragon veins across the realm also dispersed, shocking and injuring their guardians.
• Hong Yuan found that the collapse barely affected his cultivation, while Yang Qingxuan announced the loss in newspapers and summoned the great powers to Haijin City.
• An enormous fleet and dozens of airships set out toward the Eastern Sea for the gathering.