Chapter Summaries

Yu Ci chose Xusheng, a middle-stage ghost cultivator, to face Zhang Tianji in the Myriad Manifestations Method, while the chapter also revealed Daoist Qianbao's victory and the political tensions surrounding Flying Soul City. Xusheng invoked a powerful force from the heavens, and his display left the gathered cultivators stunned as the sky cleared.

• Wandering Cultivator Tianfeng lost control of his talisman when Daoist Qianbao used a technique that made their talismans collide, and Madam Xia declared Daoist Qianbao the winner.
• Daoist Qianbao's qi surged toward a breakthrough, but the Xi Yu Lake seal suppressed him before he could break through.
• Chu Xiangyuan and Yang Zhu discussed the Li Chen Sect's recent rise in Longevity cultivators and the challenges it would face after the Great Tribulation.
• Zhang Tianji decided to fight for Zhengyi Dao and stepped forward to face an opponent in the talisman competition.
• Yu Ci sent Xusheng to compete against Zhang Tianji using the Myriad Manifestations Method, prompting surprise because Xusheng was a ghost cultivator.
• Xusheng invoked the Three Privals, Four Sovereign Emperors, and Dao Lords, drawing down a tremendous force that filled him with yang qi and shook heaven and earth.

Yu Ci reclaimed the Death Star after Xusheng used the Myriad Manifestations Method to overwhelm Zhang Tianji, and the falling fragments revealed that the blazing sky had been an illusion. As the other realm contests continued, Madam Xia summoned Yu Ci to the sealed second floor of Shuxuan Tower.

• Xusheng's display of a blazing sun and clear sky drove Zhang Tianji to concede, and Madam Xia declared the Death Star the dominion of Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu.
• Fragments of talisman forms fell like snow, revealing that Xusheng had created the apparent sunshine and sky through the Myriad Manifestations Method.
• The cultivators discussed Xusheng's power, while Yu Ci maintained his position and the contests for the Feipuo Realm, Nine Qi Circle Realm, and other worlds proceeded.
• Xue Pingzhi won the Feipuo Realm after taking three of four rounds and agreeing to provide resources and protection arrangements for three hundred years.
• Great Wizard Cang You summoned Yu Ci to the sealed second floor of Shuxuan Tower, where Madam Xia was waiting for him.

Yu Ci met Madam Xia, who thanked the Later Sage for helping suppress a rebellion in Flying Soul City and sought Witch Sect cooperation in Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing. Xin Yi then drew Yu Ci into negotiations with Eight Sceneries Palace, warning that the Shangqing Later Sage’s Divine Path could unsettle Mystical Gate unity as the threat of the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm loomed.

• Madam Xia told Yu Ci that the Later Sage’s displayed might had frightened the conspirators in Flying Soul City, giving her time to respond, and she proposed cooperation between the Witch Sect and Mystical Gate in Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing.
• Madam Xia identified elders of the Ancestral Witch Hall and their juniors as the rebels, said You Huang had detained them, and denied that Crane Sorcerer was involved.
• Yu Ci questioned Madam Xia about her motives and detected an unusual incense scent, but learned little from her reactions before heading upstairs.
• Xin Yi intercepted Yu Ci, revealed that he had overheard the discussion, and took him aside to discuss Eight Sceneries Palace’s position on Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing.
• Xin Yi warned that the Shangqing Later Sage’s leadership through the Divine Path could disrupt the Mystical Gate’s traditional reliance on cultivators and qi arts, while Eight Sceneries Palace’s main concern was containing the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm before the two realms collided.

Yu Ci learned that the looming Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing could reshape the True Realm, while Xin Yi offered the Eight Sceneries Palace’s help in exchange for changes to Shangqing’s Spirit Preservation art and a chance for Yu Ci to loosen the vows restraining his cultivation. After You Rui reported unrest in Flying Soul City and a rumor that Madam Xia was pregnant, Yu Ci confronted Xue Pingzhi when her reaction suggested she had already known.

• Madam Huanyong explained that the Blood Prison Ghost Mansion had once caused catastrophic damage to the True Realm, and Yu Ci suspected the Great Brahma Demon King and Rakshasa Ghost King might welcome a similar upheaval.
• Xin Yi offered the Eight Sceneries Palace’s support for Shangqing’s restoration and proposed using Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing to give Yu Ci room to break the Great Vow and Great Oath’s remaining shackles.
• Yu Ci realized that his vow to the Ten Directions Ci Guang Buddha had blocked his advancement, but Shadow Ghost was in seclusion, so he asked Tie Lan to have Shadow Ghost contact him when possible.
• You Rui reported that Murong Qingyan had helped Madam Xia suppress a rebellion in Flying Soul City and passed along a rumor that Madam Xia was pregnant through the Embracing Jade technique.
• Yu Ci decided to discuss the rumor with Xue Pingzhi, then asked whether she had known about Madam Xia’s pregnancy after her expression suggested she had.

Yu Ci learned that Madam Xia had used Witch Dao methods and Xue Pingzhi’s Two Forms Circle to conceive a child from You Can’s bloodline, while the Clear Sky Discourse was upended by Xin Yi’s proposal to exchange the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm for the Pingdu Xuanyang Realm. The meeting ended without a resolution, the Three Northern Lakes’ attention shifted toward the East Sea, and an unexpected visitor approached Yi Shui Ju.

• Xue Pingzhi explained that Madam Xia had secretly used her Two Forms Circle in an Embracing Jade ritual, extracting You Can’s bloodline to conceive a child.
• Xin Yi announced that the Eight Sceneries Palace would exchange the Pingdu Xuanyang Realm for the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm, then vowed to seal the latter and cut off contact with it.
• Xin Yi argued that the Zhaoxuan Sacred Realm posed a danger to the True Realm, and the Clear Sky Discourse ended amid uproar without resolving the dispute.
• Madam Xia and Su Shuanghe returned to Flying Soul City as the Three Northern Lakes’ attention shifted toward the East Sea Coast.
• Cultivators gathered outside Yi Shui Ju hoping to join the rebuilding Shangqing Sect, while Xiao and Lu Ya noticed an unexpected visitor and Xiao let her enter.

Yu Ci explored how proper measure and the interaction of laws governed life and death while speaking with Madam Hua in the cold spring. He challenged her for the harm she had caused, and she accused him of favoring personal loyalties over concern for all under heaven.

• Yu Ci relaxed in the cold spring as Madam Hua secretly replaced the maid and tended to him.
• Xue Pingzhi noticed Madam Hua and Yu Ci, then left them alone.
• Yu Ci reflected that measure defined the boundary between life and death and questioned Madam Hua about whether she would forgive his actions.
• Yu Ci pulled Madam Hua into the spring and explained that life-and-death transformations required exchanges with other laws, making true resurrection exceedingly difficult.
• Madam Hua dismissed Yu Ci as a chivalrous man who valued small affections and righteousness but lacked the ambition to help everyone.

Yu Ci confronted Madame Yellow Springs in the cold spring, suspecting her identity and probing her ties to Lu Chen and Ye Bin. He asserted control over the meeting and left her pinned close to him.

• Yu Ci recognized the woman in the cold spring as Madame Yellow Springs and weighed the danger she posed despite her apparent weakness.
• Yu Ci challenged Madame Yellow Springs about Lu Chen's restriction on her body and asked whether she was close to Island Master Ye.
• Madame Yellow Springs responded calmly, acknowledging Yu Ci's suspicions and reacting to his mention of Ye Bin.
• Yu Ci forced Madame Yellow Springs beneath the spring water, pinned her when she tried to rise, and pulled her arm close to his face.

Madam Yellow Springs revealed that she had deduced Yu Ci was impersonating the Post-Sage and explained the clues behind her conclusion. She left him facing the danger that others, especially Empress Pingzhi and the Eastern Sea figure, might uncover his secret.

• Yu Ci greeted Madam Yellow Springs after recognizing her scent, and she proposed exchanging secrets to advance their interests together.
• Madam Yellow Springs threatened to reveal that the Post-Sage was fabricated, then listed Yu Ci’s conduct at Xi Yu Lake as her first clue.
• She cited Xusheng’s talisman illusion, which imitated Yu Ci’s abilities and relied on the momentum of human hearts, as her second clue.
• She pointed to Yu Ci’s lack of cooperation with the supposed Post-Sage during the Eastern Sea battle and warned that the Eastern Sea figure might notice.
• Madam Yellow Springs said she had encountered Yu Ci in the Donghua Void and could infer his identity from his unmasked traits in the Realm of Truth.

Yu Ci used a hidden name to bargain with Madame Yellow Springs for the name of the person she was scheming to benefit, but she avoided answering directly. He rejected her attempt to unsettle him and shifted the conversation to his other identity in the Donghua Void.

• Yu Ci recreated Madame Yellow Springs's study and hinted that he knew a secret name of hers, offering to trade it for another name.
• Madame Yellow Springs accepted the exchange, and Yu Ci asked whom she intended to benefit through her schemes.
• Madame Yellow Springs responded with teasing questions and said she was speaking frankly because she considered Yu Ci one of her own.
• Yu Ci called her a poisonous woman with a vicious heart, stood and left the spring pool, then asked whether she knew his other identity in the Donghua Void.

Yu Ci confronted Madame Yellow Springs over the disasters she had helped set in motion, then weighed the danger of taking her in against the value of her knowledge. Madame Yellow Springs asked him to accept her and began assessing his efforts to restore the Shangqing Sect, ending by asking him to identify his advantages.

• Yu Ci accused Madame Yellow Springs of manipulating events that harmed Donghua Palace, her daughter, and others, and threatened to punish her.
• Yu Ci admitted that his true body had not returned, while Madame Yellow Springs said she had anticipated his hostility after he disrupted her ties with the Sea Merchant Guild.
• Madame Yellow Springs rose from the spring pool and begged Yu Ci to take her in so she could establish herself and avert the coming tribulation.
• Yu Ci recognized that Madame Yellow Springs was dangerous but valuable for uncovering the forces behind the True Realm’s turmoil, and decided he needed to keep her close.
• Yu Ci asked Madame Yellow Springs to advise him on his predicament and his next move toward restoring the Shangqing Sect.
• Madame Yellow Springs praised Yu Ci’s clear goal, criticized his lack of preparation, and asked him what advantages he possessed.

Madame Yellow Springs explained that Yu Ci’s rapid, disruptive approach differed from the long rhythms of other cultivators, and advised him to judge events on the scale of the world’s largest developments. She connected the Purple Extreme Yellow Diagram gathering and Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing to efforts to restrain the Eastern Sea Divine Lord, then left Yu Ci asking how he could act quickly within those events.

• Madame Yellow Springs told Yu Ci that his unusually fast rise and habit of disrupting situations before leaving gave him an advantage over slower cultivators.
• Madame Yellow Springs warned that restoring the Shangqing lineage would require sustained work, so Yu Ci could not simply act and depart as he had before.
• Madame Yellow Springs said Yu Ci should assess the Purple Extreme Yellow Diagram gathering and Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing as the broadest events shaping the world.
• Madame Yellow Springs explained that the Purple Extreme Yellow Diagram gathering was meant to divide the Eastern Sea Divine Lord’s authority and restrain her before Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing.
• Yu Ci asked Madame Yellow Springs how he could make himself fast in dealing with the two gatherings.

Madame Yellow Springs advised Yu Ci to delay rebuilding Shangqing so the Xiyu Alliance could not bind the sect to its existing order. She urged him to establish it at Huayang Mountain and take the lead against the great devils, leaving Yu Ci to consider her proposal.

• Yu Ci asked Madame Yellow Springs how to maintain a fast pace, and she explained that he needed a clear objective and advance preparations.
• Madame Yellow Springs argued that Yu Ci could not simply follow the rising tide of Heaven-Measuring and Yuan-Stabilizing because he lacked the time and strength to act as a latter sage.
• Madame Yellow Springs warned that rebuilding Shangqing too soon would let the Xiyu Alliance and Eight Sceneries Palace bind the sect to their existing framework for centuries.
• Yu Ci said the original site would be best, and Madame Yellow Springs identified it as Huayang Mountain.
• Madame Yellow Springs urged Yu Ci to lead from the front against the great devils, saying that only the End Law Lord could likely resist him in demonic territory.

As cultivators dwindled outside Yi Shui Ju, a heated argument aboard a pleasure boat exposed Qiu Shi’s contempt for those waiting there and Dong Yan’s ties to the Buyun Society. Dong Yan revealed the society had joined Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu’s Death Star effort and was heading north with Demon Locking Tokens, leaving Qiu Shi mocked by the other passengers.

• Passengers aboard a pleasure boat debated whether Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu was still at Yi Shui Ju and whether he had gone north to face the demonic calamity.
• Dong Yan criticized sects for failing to defend against the demons, and Qiu Shi of the Luan Yun Sect challenged him to go north himself.
• Dong Yan produced a Buyun Society token and announced that the society had returned and was heading north.
• Passengers explained that the Buyun Society, Xiyu Alliance, and Suixin Pavilion were managing access to the Death Star on Yuanxu’s behalf.
• Dong Yan identified his token as a Demon Locking Token, which could store heavenly demon essence qi and be used to enter the Death Star or exchange for goods.
• The passengers mocked Qiu Shi, joking that he would have to change his surname to Dong Shi.

Wu Jing and Dong Yan decided to head north with the Buyun Society, hoping to join Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu and reach Huayang Cave. News of Yuanxu’s victories and sudden turn toward Qingfeng Mountain redirected attention, but the group still planned to depart for Huayang Cave ten days later.

• Qiu Shi left the ship in humiliation after others challenged him over his refusal to trade for passage.
• Wu Jing told Lin Shuangmu he intended to travel north and seek a chance to join the Shangqing Sect.
• The drunken Dong Yan offered to recommend Wu Jing, and the two agreed to travel together to Huayang Cave.
• News spread that Heavenly Monarch Yuanxu had broken the Demon Tide at Fulong River and slain fourteen powerful demons in one day and night.
• Further reports said Yuanxu had turned northwest toward Qingfeng Mountain and the ruins of Yujing Gate.
• Wu Jing and Dong Yan planned to join the Buyun Society’s northbound vanguard, but ten days later news from the north changed again.

Yu Ci’s campaigns against the Heavenly Demons made him the focus of attention across Xi Yu Lake, and he reached Huayang Cave while continuing to elude his pursuers. With Madame Yellow Springs’s guidance, he was linking northern battlefronts into a bounded war against the demonic tribulation.

• Yu Ci ambushed the southbound Demon Tide with his Great Sun divine ability and killed three Outer Realm Calamity Demons, prompting a massive force of Heavenly Demons to pursue him for more than two months.
• Yu Ci arrived near Huayang Cave in his Tiger Chariot Jade Carriage Hidden Wheel while Xuanhuang drove and Madame Yellow Springs traveled with him.
• Yu Ci asked Madame Yellow Springs about Huayang Cave and told her of a hidden Demonic Sect figure who was at least a Calamity Law Grandmaster.
• Madame Yellow Springs suggested that Yu Ci provoke the hidden figure so she could observe, but Yu Ci declined to seek another fight while pursuers remained nearby.
• Yu Ci reflected that Madame Yellow Springs had helped him connect key battlefronts into a large-scale conflict against the demonic tribulation without trapping himself in an open-ended northern campaign.

Yu Ci’s campaign helped the Xiyu Alliance seize the initiative against the demon tide and complete a handover in the Pingdu Xuanyang Realm. As pursuers closed in, he and Madame Yellow Springs discussed her ambitions and chose to head southwest.

• Yu Ci’s attacks killed nearly ten outer realm calamity demons, helping the Yin Mountain Sect and Thirteen Water Mansions join the Pure Void Virtue Sect’s reinforcements and establish a northwest defense line.
• The Xiyu Alliance completed the territorial handover of the Pingdu Xuanyang Realm and built another defensive line, while the demon tide’s eastward shift increased pressure on the East Sea Defense Line.
• Yu Ci recognized how Madame Yellow Springs’s influence through the Buyun Society and her connections had helped shape events across the Northern Wasteland and Xiyu Alliance.
• Yu Ci asked Madame Yellow Springs whether she feared the extreme trials of Dao Integration or Nirvana, and she explained her interest in researching them rather than pursuing transcendence.
• Yu Ci connected Madame Yellow Springs to the mysteries surrounding the Donghua Void, the replica Jade Firmament Celestial Palace, and other figures and forces.
• With pursuers approaching, Madame Yellow Springs advised going southwest through the demon tide’s southward route, and Yu Ci agreed.

Yu Ci and Xuan Huang fought through a demon tide led by the Calamity Demon King, relying on their divine abilities and the great sun’s power to break through its encirclement. After their reputation and battle record grew, a real mountain suddenly came crashing down toward them.

• Yu Ci and Xuan Huang charged through the encircling cloud walls, using the golden bell to clear demons and Yu Ci’s void ability to evade a demonic spear.
• Yu Ci reflected on his growing combat experience and focused his attention on mastering the battles he could control.
• Yu Ci and Xuan Huang burned through the demon tide with the great sun’s fire and killed more True Person-level dependents.
• A different demonic roar sounded, and a real mountain came crashing down toward Yu Ci and the chariot.

Yu Ci and Xuanhuang fled the Demon Tide while confronting a Calamity Law Grandmaster-level Vajra Demon Figurine. They plunged into the tribulation clouds, where Yu Ci led their pursuer toward a boiling expanse of jade-green water that erupted with electric plasma.

• Xuanhuang deflected a hurled mountain by disrupting the laws around its path, and its crash swept away much of the Demon Tide.
• Yu Ci identified the armored pursuer as a Vajra Demon Figurine and recalled its role in the destruction at Qingfeng Mountain.
• Yu Ci steered the carriage down into the tribulation clouds to escape the Vajra Demon Figurine and the Calamity Demon King's coordinated attacks.
• The Vajra Demon Figurine pursued through the lightning and fire, while Yu Ci gauged Madame Yellow Springs's condition and waited for an opening.
• Yu Ci accelerated the carriage diagonally downward, causing the Vajra Demon Figurine to overshoot into a hundred-zhang expanse of jade-green water that boiled with electric plasma.

Xuanhuang trapped and wounded the Vajra Demon Figurine in a thunder pool while Yu Ci’s group fled through the tribulation clouds. The Calamity Demon King then redirected the Heaven and Earth Law Will and used a Demon Tide formation, revealing that the Heavenly Demons had joined forces with the Demon Sect to invoke the Boundless Void Divine Lord’s power and seal the region.

• Xuanhuang secretly returned from the carriage and struck the Vajra Demon Figurine while it was trapped in the thunder pool, badly wounding the Heavenly Demon inside it.
• The Heaven and Earth Law Will unleashed a vast storm of electrical plasma, but the Vajra Demon Figurine’s armor healed and it endured the assault in a stalemate.
• Xuanhuang rejoined Yu Ci and the others as they rode deeper through the tribulation clouds, avoiding lightning while the Calamity Demon King rearranged the Demon Tide.
• The Calamity Demon King redirected the Heaven and Earth Law Will’s attention toward the demon kingdom around Huayang Cave, then sent millions of Heavenly Demons to reclaim the outskirts of the tribulation clouds.
• Yu Ci recognized the expanding starry sky above the Demon Tide as the Boundless Void Divine Lord’s power and sensed that Demon Sect practitioners were cooperating with the Heavenly Demons to seal the region.

Yu Ci and his companions were trapped by the Calamity Demon King’s overwhelming divine-intent assault, which drew power from the Boundless Void Divine Lord. After escaping the attack with a talisman, Yu Ci discovered that Madame Yellow Springs’s core life force remained unchanged despite her grave injuries.

• The Calamity Demon King formed a fortified city from the Demon Tide and used a human collaborator to channel the Boundless Void Divine Lord’s power against Yu Ci.
• Xuanhuang severed the laws carrying the divine-intent assault, but the void’s laws regenerated, leaving him unable to protect Yu Ci and Madame Yellow Springs from the relentless attacks.
• Yu Ci hung a protective talisman around Madame Yellow Springs’s neck, shielding her from the assault’s lingering shockwaves.
• As the fortified city and black tide closed in, Yu Ci’s avatar vanished, and Xuanhuang failed to find his core thought.
• The Heavenly Barrier Natal Golden Talisman transformed into a small figure of Yu Ci, letting him escape the divine-intent lock, while Madame Yellow Springs collapsed near death.
• Linked to Madame Yellow Springs through the talisman, Yu Ci sensed that her core life force and inner rhythm had remained unchanged despite her injuries.