Chapter Summaries

Liang Zhaohuang learned how the five parts of the Kunpeng Secret Realm were arranged and brought the Giant Whale Demon into the South City Secret Realm, where its Kunpeng bloodline began to stir. While scouting the West City Secret Realm, he found it filled with enormous whale bones and uncovered a possible connection between the realm and the pills that had drawn the Giant Whale Demon into an alliance with East Sea cultivators.

• Liang Zhaohuang learned that the Kunpeng Secret Realm had been divided among the four outer cities and the skies above Eight Directions City, and he planned to reclaim its five parts.
• Liang Zhaohuang met the Giant Whale Demon near New City Port and brought it into the South City Secret Realm, where the realm’s aura invigorated its Kunpeng bloodline.
• Liang Zhaohuang rested in the South City Secret Realm while spirit-wandering through the other realms and waiting for the cities to fall into chaos.
• Liang Zhaohuang explored the West City Secret Realm and found an underwater wasteland covered with enormous whale bones, some apparently from the Giant Whale Demon’s race.
• Liang Zhaohuang learned that an East Sea Nascent Soul True Lord had offered the Giant Whale Demon pills that promoted its Kunpeng bloodline, and he suspected the pills were connected to the secret realms and the whale bones.

Xie Wenyun committed the Orchid and Jade Xie Family to a costly assault on West City to secure merit and a chance at aristocratic status. After ten days of fighting, the alliance conquered the city, and Liang Zhaohuang noticed new changes in the West City Secret Realm.

• Aunt Luan told Xie Wenyun that the Dragon River Yang Family had taken South City, while West City's defenders remained unwilling to surrender.
• Xie Wenyun learned that the Grand Impartiality Officer could not quickly break West City's defensive formation and concluded that his family had run out of time.
• Xie Wenyun volunteered to lead his troops as the vanguard and ordered Aunt Luan to tell Third Grandfather to gather the clan forces for an all-out assault.
• Three days later, the Orchid and Jade Xie Family alliance attacked West City with more than a hundred formations and over a hundred thousand cultivators.
• After ten days of assaults, the Xie Family alliance conquered West City, and Liang Zhaohuang discovered new changes in the West City Secret Realm.

Liang Zhaohuang discovered that the West City Secret Realm held a Skeleton Demon Body that was growing into the White Bone Devil Master, and he entered the realm with Black Tiger and the Giant Whale Demon to stop it from claiming the secret realm. When the Skeleton Demon Body trapped Black Tiger and tried to subdue it, Liang used Five-Colored Buddha Light to shatter its assault within Black Tiger’s soul.

• Liang Zhaohuang saw the whale-type demon beast bones in the West City Secret Realm crumble into bone grains and feed a Skeleton Demon Body seated on a skull altar.
• The Skeleton Demon Body transformed West City’s battlefield, raising skeletons from the fallen and summoning thunderclouds as the Xie Family alliance searched for the demonic cultivator behind the attack.
• When the Skeleton Demon Body began spreading bones through the secret realm, Liang opened a passage from the South City Secret Realm and sent Black Tiger through before following with the Giant Whale Demon.
• Black Tiger attacked the Skeleton Demon Body while Liang and the Giant Whale Demon fought the skeletons it summoned, but the altar’s demonic light trapped Black Tiger with its opponent.
• The Skeleton Demon Body tried to force Black Tiger to submit and merge with it, so Liang sent Five-Colored Buddha Light into Black Tiger’s soul and shattered the white-bone giant attacking it.

Liang Zhaohuang used the Five-Colored Buddha Light to stop Black Tiger from losing control after he devoured the Skeleton Demon Body, then dismantled the skull altar and began moving the West City Secret Realm. The Xie Family alliance retook West City, but Xie Wenyun arrived too late to enter the secret realm before its entrance vanished.

• Liang Zhaohuang broke the Skeleton Demon Body's demonic suppression, and Black Tiger devoured it and took its place atop the skull altar.
• As Black Tiger's cultivation surged toward the Nascent Soul Devil Master realm, Liang Zhaohuang used the Five-Colored Buddha Light to suppress his demonic qi and stabilize him at the late Golden Core stage.
• Liang Zhaohuang ordered Black Tiger to dismantle the skull altar, causing the white bones, skeletons, and lightning tribulation to disappear.
• The Grand Guardian ordered the cultivators to retreat, and Xie Benqing sent the Xie Family alliance back into West City after the tribulation clouds dispersed.
• Liang Zhaohuang activated a formation to draw the West City Secret Realm toward the South City Secret Realm.
• Xie Wenyun discovered the secret realm entrance in a hidden chamber, but it vanished before he could enter.

Liang Zhaohuang seized the chance to draw the East City Secret Realm into the merging Kunpeng Secret Realm after the Liu Family of Changfeng's cultivators abruptly left. With three of the five parts united, the Giant Whale Demon began growing stronger, while Liang found three dead cultivators at the entrance and collected their belongings.

• Liang Zhaohuang discovered that the Liu Family of Changfeng and the Song Family had taken the East City Secret Realm and watched their cultivators plunder it.
• Song Shihao and the other Golden Core cultivators received messages and hurried out of the secret realm, giving Liang Zhaohuang a chance to act.
• Liang Zhaohuang entered the East City Secret Realm with the Giant Whale Demon, set the Black Tiger Sword to guard the entrance, and prepared a formation to draw the realm in.
• Liang Zhaohuang activated the formation and joined the East City Secret Realm with the South City and West City Secret Realms as cultivators fought at the entrance.
• Liang Zhaohuang cleansed the Black Tiger Sword with Five-Colored Buddha Light, buried three dead cultivators, and opened four Storage Bags to inspect the spoils.

Liang Zhaohuang examined the belongings of three dead Spirit Insight Ma Family cultivators, finding a safe Water Escape Divine Ability inheritance and a recording of the battle that breached East City. While monitoring the remaining North City Secret Realm, he confirmed the inheritance was sound and began cultivating it in the surrounding seawater.

• Liang Zhaohuang identified the three dead cultivators as members of the Spirit Insight Ma Family and decided to keep their deaths and the recovered jade slips secret.
• Liang Zhaohuang found a Water Escape Divine Ability inheritance and watched a recording of two Changfeng Liu Clan Cloud Ships overpowering East City's Cloud Roc Ship, leaving the city's defenses exposed to attackers.
• Liang Zhaohuang surveyed the remaining secret realms and focused on North City, which the Longevity Camphor Peng Family was still attacking.
• Liang Zhaohuang studied the Water Escape Divine Ability for several days, confirmed the inheritance was complete and safe, and quickly began cultivating it in the undersea secret realm.

Liang Zhaohuang watched the Peng Family breach North City by driving a giant toon tree into its secret realm, then salvaged half of the realm before the tree could consume it. After two dangerous days in spatial turbulence, the damaged half merged with the Three City Secret Realms, causing the underwater realm to reveal sea surface and islands.

• Liang Zhaohuang practiced Water Escape and inspected the North City Secret Realm, where the Peng Family's giant toon tree suddenly broke through and began draining its origin.
• Liang Zhaohuang set up a grand array and shifted half of the North City Secret Realm away from the toon tree, abandoning the half its roots had seized.
• The Peng Family's leaders noticed the disturbance, ordered their forces to abandon the city assault, and sent them to seize the Cloud Roc Ship.
• Liang Zhaohuang and the Giant Whale Demon guided the broken realm through spatial turbulence as pieces, seawater, and creatures were lost along the way.
• After two days, the remaining half merged with the Three City Secret Realms, where the sea receded and islands emerged.

Liang Zhaohuang reunited the four undersea secret realms into a barren Ocean Secret Realm and gained a deeper grasp of Water-element Dao resonance. His attempt to inspect the remaining Sky Secret Realm revealed Eight Directions Pavilion’s powerful defenses, leaving him to wait for the Immortal Dynasty’s attack on Eight Directions City before deciding whether to pursue it.

• Liang Zhaohuang absorbed the Ocean Secret Realm’s feedback, improved his Water-element Dao resonance, and advanced his Water Escape divine ability to the proficient level.
• Liang Zhaohuang saw that the Giant Whale Demon was growing toward the late Golden Core stage and expected it to become a strong guardian for the Liang Family.
• Liang Zhaohuang sent his consciousness into the Sky Secret Realm and glimpsed a vast aerial pavilion filled with busy figures.
• Eight Directions Pavilion unleashed lightning that nearly scattered Liang Zhaohuang’s consciousness, convincing him that reclaiming the Sky Secret Realm would be difficult.
• Liang Zhaohuang surveyed the Ocean Secret Realm, recorded plans to develop its barren islands, and left the Giant Whale Demon behind as he departed.

Liang Zhaohuang investigated strange ships spying on Eight Directions Island and discovered they were likely part of a powerful alliance rather than ordinary pirates. He reported the threat to Yang Xiue and awaited the Immortal Dynasty’s response.

• Liang Zhaohuang returned from the ocean secret realm and learned from Liang Zhaosong that ships suspected of being pirates were watching New City Port.
• Liang Zhaohuang spotted a ship carrying at least three Golden Core cultivators and ordered the Alligator Snake to have the Crocodile Dragon Clan investigate the waters around Eight Directions Island.
• Wen Xiu, Wen Zhongzheng, Wu Daochong, and others returned to New City, while Liang Zhaohuang told them that multiple ships had been scouting without attacking.
• The Alligator Snake reported that ships carrying Golden Core cultivators—and some with Nascent Soul True Lords—were spread throughout the surrounding sea, leading Liang Zhaohuang to suspect an alliance of powerful sects.
• Liang Zhaohuang reported the findings to Yang Xiue, who said the Yang Family had contacted the Liu Family and the Peng Family and sent Nascent Soul True Lords to investigate.

Liang Zhaohuang visited South City to learn more about the siege of Eight Directions Island and strengthen the Liang Family by acquiring Five Elements inheritances. After inspecting Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s catalog, he selected several lower-rank inheritances and the Five Elements Life-Extinction Sword, while leaving the story with the other third-rank options still under consideration.

• Liang Zhaohuang left New City Port for South City after arranging the Ocean Secret Realm as a possible refuge for the Liang Family.
• Liang Zhaohuang entered the South City market and stopped at Hundred Treasures Pavilion, where he reunited with Pavilion Master Xin.
• Liang Zhaohuang told Xin Ruyu that he wanted Five Elements inheritances to build up the Liang Family’s foundations, and she prepared a catalog for him.
• Liang Zhaohuang marked the lower-rank Five Elements inheritances the Liang Family lacked and selected the Five Elements Life-Extinction Sword refining inheritance.
• Liang Zhaohuang passed on the Five Elements Treasure-Form Shield, favoring the more versatile Five-Colored Canopy inheritance he already possessed.

Liang Zhaohuang selected numerous cultivation inheritances from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and arranged for a large transaction, while asking about joining its commercial alliance in New Sea Commandery. After leaving the pavilion, he headed to the Yang Family's Yang Tower to look for rare goods.

• Liang Zhaohuang marked the five-element formations and other inheritances he wanted, and Xin Ruyu offered him a thirty percent discount.
• Liang Zhaohuang asked Xin Ruyu to seek the Five Elements Great Hand Seal, the remaining Yin-Yang thunder pearl methods, and the complete five-element escape arts; she said the pavilion would try to gather what it could.
• Liang Zhaohuang asked how the Five-Colored Lotus Liang Family could join the Hundred Treasures Pavilion through New Sea Commandery, and Xin Ruyu promised to recommend him when the pavilion entered the new province.
• Liang Zhaohuang arranged to pay for the inheritances at New City Port in one month and asked Xin Ruyu to include any third-order Five Elements spiritual lotuses she could obtain.
• Liang Zhaohuang left the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and went to the Yang Family's Yang Tower to inspect its rare goods and inheritances.

Liang Zhaohuang bought inheritances and spiritual lotuses at Yang Tower, then learned from Yang Xiuwen that a coalition from five East Sea islands had surrounded Eight Directions Island to negotiate over Eight Directions Pavilion’s wealth. He suspected that the enormous flying boat and pavilion in the Sky Secret Realm might be Eight Directions Pavilion’s escape route and treasury, but remembered its powerful defenses.

• Liang Zhaohuang purchased Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment supplies, the Bing Fire Yang Thunder inheritance, and three third-tier spiritual lotuses at Yang Tower.
• Liang Zhaohuang met Yang Xiuwen on the fourth floor and treated him to a meal from Sea Sky Tower while they drank spirit tea and discussed recent events.
• Liang Zhaohuang asked Yang Xiuwen about the stalled battle, and Yang Xiuwen revealed that ships from One Heart Island, Four Symbols Island, Five Elements Island, Six Wonders Island, and Ten Absolute Islands had surrounded Eight Directions Island.
• Yang Xiuwen explained that the coalition had come to negotiate because Eight Directions Pavilion intended to withdraw its immense wealth from its final stronghold, Eight Directions City.
• Liang Zhaohuang suspected the enormous flying boat and pavilion he had seen in the Sky Secret Realm might hold Eight Directions Pavilion’s wealth, but recalled that its defenses had nearly destroyed his consciousness.

Liang Zhaohuang learned that Eight Directions Pavilion’s wealth had left the Immortal Dynasty and the pavilion locked in a stalemate, then bought several fourth-tier treasures and searched South City for bargains. After returning to South Mountain City, he told Li Liancheng that the seagoing ships probably would not attack Eight Directions Island and urged him not to overwork himself repairing the Azure Roc Flying Boat.

• Liang Zhaohuang learned from Yang Xiuwen that the Yang Family and other clans wanted Eight Directions Pavilion’s wealth, but feared provoking the ships blockading Eight Directions Island, leaving both sides in a stalemate.
• Yang Xiuwen offered Liang Zhaohuang a discount at Yang Tower, where Liang bought an Earthfire Pearl, Geng Metal Mica, and a fourth-tier water-element spiritual lotus rhizome.
• Liang Zhaohuang learned Yang Xiue was away with the Alligator Dragon and Yang Xiulong was in secluded cultivation, then searched South City’s market for overlooked treasures using his Five Elements Dharma Eye.
• Liang Zhaohuang returned to South Mountain City, where Li Liancheng and Golden Yang Fire Li Family disciples were working to repair the Azure Roc Flying Boat as an escape route.
• Liang Zhaohuang told Li Liancheng that the seagoing ships probably would not attack the island and advised him to ease the pressure on himself and the repair team.

Liang Zhaohuang strengthened ties with Hundred Treasures Pavilion and learned that the Immortal Dynasty and Eight Directions Pavilion would settle the war in a secret-realm duel. After seeing the dueling arena take shape in the Sky Secret Realm, he realized he could not safely intervene and began searching for another way to reach its wealth.

• Liang Zhaohuang received inheritances and spirit lotuses from Hundred Treasures Pavilion, then asked Xin Ruyu to help the Liang Family gather Five Elements resources on a continuing basis.
• At a banquet in New City, Liang Zhaohuang cultivated ties with Xin Ruyu, Hong Shanyi, and Huang Tingjiang, while explaining his actions during the Red Algae Bay conflict.
• Xin Ruyu revealed that the Immortal Dynasty and Eight Directions Pavilion planned to decide the war through duels in a secret realm, with the final rewards reserved for aristocratic clans.
• Liang Zhaohuang returned to the Ocean Secret Realm, where Liang Zhaosong and other Liang Family descendants had begun developing its islands and sea.
• Liang Zhaohuang saw a vast dueling arena forming in the Sky Secret Realm and concluded that Nascent Soul True Lords would make it too dangerous to enter during the battle.
• Unwilling to abandon the Sky Secret Realm and its wealth, Liang Zhaohuang searched the secret realm's fragmented information and began to devise another plan.

Liang Zhaohuang prepared a guiding formation in the Ocean Secret Realm while the Eight Directions Pavilion and the Immortal Dynasty assembled their forces in the Sky Secret Realm. The Immortal Dynasty’s arrival brought the two sides to a standoff, and the Changfeng Liu Clan’s wind control helped the Yang Family’s Alligator Dragon badly wound the Azure Roc King.

• Liang Zhaohuang spent ten days building a guiding formation in the Ocean Secret Realm and sensed the Eight Directions Pavilion preparing for battle.
• Fuyouzi gathered the Eight Directions Pavilion’s Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators and summoned the Azure Roc King to help defend the Sky Secret Realm.
• Five allied East Sea Nascent Soul True Lords entered the Sky Secret Realm, and Fuyouzi opened its gate to welcome the Immortal Dynasty’s forces.
• The Yang Family’s enormous Alligator Dragon charged into the realm and fought the Azure Roc King, scattering the clouds and disrupting the Eight Directions Pavilion’s display of force.
• Yang Ninth Uncle arrived with seven other Immortal Dynasty Nascent Soul True Lords and about fifty Golden Core cultivators.
• A blue-robed True Lord from the Changfeng Liu Clan seized control of much of the realm’s astral wind, allowing the Alligator Dragon to overwhelm and grievously injure the Azure Roc King.

The Immortal Dynasty and Eight Directions Pavilion began their nine-bout contest, and the Xie Family won the first Golden Core match when Xie Benqing killed Zhou Yao. Yang Xiuhong then faced He Chong, whose One Heart Sword was blocked by a spirit treasure; the East Sea side conceded as He Chong prepared to merge with his sword.

• Misty Clouds Wanderer and Uncle Yang Nine briefly clashed before Fuyouzi and Xu Yuan agreed to hold nine bouts between their sides.
• Fuyouzi sent Zhou Yao to fight first, while Xu Yuan selected Xie Benqing of the Orchid and Jade Xie Family.
• Xie Benqing summoned a vast jade tree phantom, shattered Zhou Yao’s Azure Roc sword, and killed him with its treasure light.
• Xu Yuan entrusted the second bout to the Yang Family, and Yang Xiuhong fought He Chong of the One Heart Sword Sect.
• He Chong’s One Heart Sword struck Yang Xiuhong’s Dragon Spirit Treasure Seal, and He Chong began merging with his sword before a One Heart Island True Lord conceded the match.

Fuyouzi’s side lost the third Golden Core match when Jin Lizi defeated Liu Chuanzhou, and the Peng Family then won the fourth match against Four Symbols Island’s Zhu Yan. The contest continued with the Immortal Dynasty leading the latest exchanges as both defeated cultivators withdrew.

• The Nascent Soul True Lord of One Heart Island conceded the second match, and Fuyouzi resolved to rely on Eight Directions Pavilion rather than the other islands.
• Six Wonders Island sent Jin Lizi to face the Changfeng Liu Clan’s Liu Chuanzhou, who used Wind Escape and a spirit treasure Flying Boat against Jin Lizi’s golden transformations.
• The Liu Family Nascent Soul True Lord conceded after Jin Lizi produced two golden men, and Liu Chuanzhou returned to the Immortal Dynasty’s ranks.
• The Peng Family’s Little Sixteen trapped Four Symbols Island’s Zhu Yan inside a spirit treasure pill furnace and began refining it.
• Lu Xuangu conceded the fourth match, and Little Sixteen released Zhu Yan after Lu Xuangu ordered her to withdraw.

The Immortal Dynasty won the fifth Golden Core match after Xie Benqing’s Fifth Sister shattered a Ten Absolute Islands array with her Jade Tree Branch, bringing the score to four wins and one loss. As Xu Yuan and Fuyouzi began the Nascent Soul battles, Liang Zhaohuang discovered signs of a hidden formation aboard the East Sea’s Flying Boat pavilion and suspected a larger twist that might let the Liang Family profit.

• Xie Benqing sent his Fifth Sister to fight the Ten Absolute Islands disciple, and she summoned a Jade Tree phantom that destroyed his array.
• True Lord Liao intervened when the Jade Tree’s radiance threatened him, conceded the match, and withdrew his disciple, giving the Immortal Dynasty four Golden Core wins out of five.
• Xu Yuan and Fuyouzi began the Nascent Soul battles, whose clash of Dao laws shook the Sky Secret Realm beyond Liang Zhaohuang’s ability to understand.
• Liang Zhaohuang noticed that the Flying Boat pavilion’s halls had shifted into what seemed to be a formation, but a thunderclap warned him away when he tried to approach.
• Liang Zhaohuang suspected that the East Sea had a hidden plan and hoped a disruption would give the Liang Family an opportunity to seize benefits.

Liang Zhaohuang discovered that the Eight Directions Pavilion had used the Sky Secret Realm and its enormous Flying Boat to raise the Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace as part of the Heavenly Palace Plan. Just as it neared ascension, the Xie Family summoned the Human Way Heavenly Court and struck it with a golden seal.

• Liang Zhaohuang noticed that the Xie Family cultivators were holding their Jade Tree Branches ready, then searched the Sky Secret Realm for signs of trouble.
• After the Flying Boat’s cultivators mistook Liang Zhaohuang’s probe for an Immortal Dynasty discovery, Fuyouzi deliberately lost his battle with Xu Yuan and fled with the other Eight Directions Pavilion True Lords into the Flying Boat.
• The Eight Directions Pavilion activated a formation that consumed more than half the Sky Secret Realm and lifted the Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace toward the heavens, suppressing the cultivators left inside.
• Liang Zhaohuang sensed that the Heavenly Palace’s transcendent aura resembled the aura he had once found in the five Beast Taming Sect visualization diagrams, though the diagrams’ aura was far stronger.
• True Lord Liao identified the ascent as the Eight Directions Pavilion’s Heavenly Palace Plan, and the East Sea factions watched in anticipation as the Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace rose through the astral winds.
• The Xie Family raised their Jade Tree Branches, manifested the Human Way Heavenly Court, and sent a massive golden seal crashing down on the ascending Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace.

The Eight Directions Pavilion used the clash between the Human Way Heavenly Court and the True Spirit Heavenly Court to complete the Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace’s ascension, but betrayal tore away much of the palace and its secret realm. As Nascent Soul True Lords fought over the falling wealth, Liang Zhaohuang used his Guiding Formation to draw fragments toward the Ocean Secret Realm.

• Chi Leizi and the Demon Emperor coordinated an attack that damaged the Human Way Heavenly Court, and the Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace seized the golden seal to complete its transformation.
• Chi Leizi refused to join the True Spirit Heavenly Court and redirected the Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace away from the stars as East Sea cultivators debated copying the Eight Directions Pavilion’s method.
• The Azure Roc King tore away part of the Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace, declaring that his clan would reclaim what the Eight Directions Pavilion had taken from them.
• The Blood God Son, possessing Misty Clouds Wanderer, tore away another portion of the palace and fled with it, forcing Chi Leizi to focus on preserving the remaining structure.
• Nascent Soul Cultivators rushed to seize the falling palaces, while Liang Zhaohuang activated his Guiding Formation to pull fragments of the Sky Secret Realm toward the Ocean Secret Realm.