Chapter Summaries

Gu Changze revealed the truth about Gu Rui’s parentage and the Fragrant Consort’s betrayal, then took her cultivation through the turbid water sin-blood. As the Fragrant Consort died, Gu Changze destroyed himself and the demon shadow tormenting him, entrusted the Pure Water Spirit Mirror to you, and asked you to spare Gu Rui.

• Gu Changze told the Fragrant Consort that her joy on the night they conceived Gu Rui had been for Gu Jingming, and that Gu Rui was his son rather than the Dragon Monarch’s.
• Gu Rui learned that he was not the Dragon Monarch’s legitimate heir, while the Fragrant Consort discovered the turbid water sin-blood that Gu Changze had planted in him.
• The Fragrant Consort willingly let the sin-blood consume her cultivation, restoring Gu Changze’s strength as she rapidly aged and died.
• You and Xuanji tried to purify the Soul-Binding Demon Shadow attached to Gu Changze, but could only suppress it briefly.
• Gu Changze destroyed his cultivation and burned himself with the demon shadow, gave you the Pure Water Spirit Mirror, and asked you to spare Gu Rui.
• You agreed to let Gu Rui live in exile, and Gu Changze bowed to you as the Dragon Monarch before dying.

Gu Changze died, but the Profound Heaven Demon Embryo that had parasitized him escaped after the Heavenly Devil Master's Stomach Earth projection intervened. The Third Prince defeated the remaining opposition, broke through to the eighth tier, and took the Dragon Monarch's throne at Azure Sea Lake.

• Gu Changze died while holding the Fragrant Consort, and their remains became two embracing mountain ranges within the heavenly grotto.
• Hu Xiaozi recognized the surviving demonic shadow as a Profound Heaven Demon Embryo, and it fled after the Third Prince severed part of it with his sword.
• The Heavenly Devil Master's Stomach Earth projection retrieved the demon embryo, while Gu Changqing abandoned his attempt to destroy his cultivation and submitted to the Third Prince's Prison Slave seal.
• The Third Prince absorbed Gu Changze's and the Fragrant Consort's eighth-tier spiritual treasures, advanced to the eighth-tier Three Stars Water Fruit Status, and restored the shattered heavenly grotto.
• Jiang Ziyang, Hu Xiaozi, and the other demons bowed to the Third Prince, who opened the grotto and declared himself the Dragon Monarch.

After Gu Xing won the Dragon Monarch’s succession and claimed the Three Stars Water fruit status, the cultivators above Azure Sea Lake discussed the dangers blocking his path to the ninth tier and the Heavenly Devil Master’s return. They departed with plans to gather at Jianmu in thirty years, while Gu Xing’s thirty-year reign and seclusion began.

• Venerable Blood Extremity and the others recognized Gu Xing’s victory, while Yu Liuli left after her plans to control Azure Sea Lake failed.
• Jiao Xiu explained that Gu Xing would have to overcome the Sword Ancestor’s lingering authority and his father Gu Jingming’s claim to the Three Stars Water dao to reach the ninth tier.
• The cultivators discussed the Heavenly Devil Master’s three fruit statuses and hidden void-certified fruit status, and Jiao Xiu recalled that Gongyang Yu had once defeated him.
• The Divine Silkworm Daoist told Yanli and Jiao Xiu to return to Jianmu in thirty years to learn what had happened in its hidden realm, and the cultivators departed.
• Gu Xing was proclaimed Dragon Monarch, Gu Changqing was stripped of his title, and two years later Gu Xing ascended the throne before entering a thirty-year seclusion.

Over sixty years, Zhang Zhongxing saw how the Dragon Monarch’s reforms transformed Azure Sea Lake and humbled former great clans, then tested Jinhai’s loyalty before returning to the Dragon Palace. The Dragon Monarch emerged from seclusion after Xia Guang arrived with important business.

• Zhang Zhongxing sailed past the Dragon Palace’s public spirit fields and reflected on the reforms that had reshaped Azure Sea Lake.
• Jinhai and hundreds of Three-Eyed Golden Toad Tribe members worked in the fields after their clan lost much of its wealth and status.
• Zhang Zhongxing offered to seek help for Jinhai, who refused special treatment and said he hoped to redeem his clan through military merit.
• Zhang Zhongxing told a Water Tiger elder that he had been testing Jinhai’s attitude toward the Dragon Monarch, then bowed toward the Dragon Palace.
• After sixty years of seclusion, the Dragon Monarch received word that Xia Guang had arrived from Flame Mountain to discuss important matters.

After sixty years of seclusion, Gu Xing emerged with his three Eighth-Tier fruit statuses perfected and displayed auspicious signs across Azure Sea Lake. As the clan patriarchs hurried to the Dragon Palace, Jin Zhou saw that its fortune golden dragon had grown horns, suggesting it was nearing a breakthrough.

• Gu Xing completed his cultivation of the Can Shui Sacred Rite, Myriad Forms Returning to the Hidden, and Li Chamber Void-Burning True Fire, while remaining unable to claim a Ninth-Tier fruit status.
• Xuanji emerged from the Crimson Gourd in his restored fleshly body, thanked Gu Xing, and gave him the Sword-Nurturing Gourd.
• Gu Xing and Xuanji left seclusion together, and Gu Xing’s emergence triggered auspicious signs above the Azure Sea Dragon Palace.
• The Nine Great Clans’ experts gathered at the Dragon Palace as the fortune of Azure Sea Lake converged into a golden dragon above it.
• Jin Zhou used his fortune-gazing divine ability and saw that the golden dragon had grown horns, showing signs of a breakthrough.

Jin Zhou discovered sacred-white fortune within the Azure Sea Dragon Monarch’s Nation-Guarding Divine Dragon and wondered whether the ruler could be a legendary Sage King. As Jin Zhou headed to the Dragon Palace, Xia Guang arrived with Caiyun, who dismissed the Dragon Monarch as inferior to the Demon Race’s greatest talents.

• Jin Zhou recalled how the Dragon Monarch’s rule strengthened Azure Sea Lake’s fortune and how he had refused to support the Ghost Flood Dragon rebellion.
• Jin Zhou spotted a strange hue on the Divine Dragon and used his tribe’s Qi-Gazing art to identify it as sacred-white fortune, a legendary sign of a Sage King.
• The Divine Dragon detected Jin Zhou’s scrutiny and roared, prompting him to withdraw his divine radiance and continue toward the Dragon Palace.
• Xia Guang and Caiyun watched the auspicious radiance from a hundred miles away as Xia Guang reflected on the Dragon Monarch’s strength and cultivation.
• Caiyun mocked Xia Guang for overestimating the Dragon Monarch and argued that he could not compare with the Demon Race’s holy sons or Ye Wuchen.

Xia Guang and Caiyun came to Azure Sea Lake on behalf of Red Cloud to meet Gu Xing before the Jianmu Assembly, while Caiyun doubted the young Dragon Monarch’s standing among Southern Shu’s prodigies. Gu Xing received them after reviewing Azure Sea Lake’s affairs, and the chapter ended as they were summoned into his hall.

• Xia Guang compared Gu Xing with Ye Wuchen, Xiao Minghuan, and the Demon Race’s three Holy Sons, while Caiyun dismissed him as unworthy of their attention.
• Caiyun explained that Red Cloud had sent her to contact Gu Xing before the Demon Race entered the Jianmu Assembly, and Xia Guang revealed she had also come to invite the Dragon Monarchs to travel together.
• Liu Sui, who had reached the eighth tier of the Sword Way, welcomed Xia Guang and Caiyun and led them toward the Dragon Palace.
• Gu Xing presided over a court meeting, approved most of the Grand Secretariat’s policies, and refused to divert Azure Sea Lake’s public funds into a private treasury.
• Du Ziqian and Hu Xiaozi reported on Azure Sea Lake’s affairs and rising unrest in the Demon Cult before a guard announced Liu Sui, Xia Guang, and Caiyun.
• Gu Xing ordered Xia Guang and Caiyun admitted to the hall, while Caiyun privately scoffed at his grand display of authority.

Xia Guang and Caiyun brought congratulatory gifts and Divine Silkworm’s invitation for Gu Xing to attend the Jianmu Assembly. Gu Xing agreed to go, made arrangements to protect Azure Sea Lake in his absence, and set out for Cloud Dream Marsh with his companions and three thousand Dao soldiers.

• Xia Guang presented the Flame Spirit Mountain, which Gu Xing expanded into a fiery mountain range in Azure Sea Lake, and Caiyun presented Red Cloud’s spirit cloud.
• Xia Guang delivered Divine Silkworm’s invitation to the Jianmu Assembly, and Caiyun said Red Cloud wanted to travel there with Gu Xing.
• Gu Xing chose to attend the assembly, despite concerns that Azure Sea Lake could be left vulnerable if he did not return.
• Gu Xing ordered Xuanji to oversee Azure Sea Lake and arranged for Liu Sui, Daoyuan, Lingmiaozi, and three thousand Dao soldiers to accompany him.
• Three months later, Gu Xing and his party departed Azure Sea Lake for Cloud Dream Marsh, marking his first journey beyond the lake in 110 years.

Gu Xing led Azure Sea Lake’s fleet toward the Jianmu Assembly, where the Divine Silkworm Crown Prince tested his passage through Mulberry Fields. The crown prince let Gu Xing pass but vowed to settle accounts with him at Jianmu.

• Gu Xing traveled aboard the Azure Sea Dragon Palace’s treasure ship with three thousand Dao soldiers and several commanders, including Liu Sui, Ye Chenjun, Ling Mei, True Person Dao Yuan, and Lingmiaozi.
• A Winged Tiger mountain lord watched the procession cross Mist-Tinted Mountain and considered leaving his territory to see the world beyond it.
• Three seventh-tier Divine Silkworm elders blocked Gu Xing’s fleet in Mulberry Fields, claiming the territory was under martial law.
• Ling Mei asked the elders to let the fleet pass, and Gu Xing asserted his right to travel to the Jianmu Assembly under the Divine Silkworm Dao Lord’s invitation.
• Liu Sui, True Person Dao Yuan, and Lingmiaozi prepared to fight until the Heavenly Silkworm Crown Prince intervened and ordered the elders to clear a passage.
• The Heavenly Silkworm Crown Prince revealed that he had staged the obstruction to test Gu Xing and vowed to tame him as a servant at Jianmu.

Gu Xing and Azure Sea Lake’s delegation traveled to Cloud Dream Marsh amid growing tensions among the Demon Race’s three Saint Son factions. Red Cloud welcomed Gu Xing warmly and revealed that Xiao Minghuan had praised him years earlier; the chapter ended with Holy Maiden Feng Wei’s arrival.

• Ling Mei explained that the Celestial Silkworm Crown Prince had obstructed the delegation because Azure Sea Lake was believed to be siding with Feng Wei against Lin Wu and the third Saint Son.
• Gu Xing argued that Azure Sea Lake could not stay out of the factional struggle and praised Red Cloud for showing sincerity; Ling Mei remembered that Gu Xing had freed her from her binding and reaffirmed her loyalty to him.
• Three days later, the treasure ship reached Cloud Dream Marsh, where Red Cloud, Xia Guang, and Caiyun welcomed Gu Xing and his party with a grand reception.
• Red Cloud publicly apologized for the Celestial Silkworm Crown Prince’s obstruction, and Gu Xing accepted before the party entered the cloud palaces for a banquet.
• After half a month of discussions, Red Cloud told Gu Xing that Xiao Minghuan had praised him years earlier and that her recommendation had inspired his invitation.
• Holy Maiden Feng Wei arrived at Cloud Dream Marsh.

Feng Wei arrived at Cloud Dream Marsh with Xi Yao, Jiao Chu, and Xu Yan, a disciple of the lord of Colorful Cloud City. After introductions and a display of Xu Yan’s status and cultivation, Feng Wei’s party joined Gu Han and the others at the gathering, where Feng Wei took the seat of honor.

• Lingmiaozi and the others saw Feng Wei arrive on an eighth-tier white phoenix with Xi Yao, Jiao Chu, and Xu Yan beside her.
• Feng Wei greeted Gu Han as Azure Sea Lake’s Dragon Monarch, and Jiao Chu stopped staring at him after Feng Wei intervened.
• Feng Wei introduced Xu Yan as a disciple of the lord of Colorful Cloud City, accepted within the past thirty years and already an eighth-tier cultivator at age 120.
• Jiao Chu noted that Gu Han had reached the eighth tier at age 100, prompting Xu Yan and Xi Yao to scrutinize him.
• Xu Yan told Caiyun that he had seen his master within a painting and described him as an Immortal in the Painting.
• Red Cloud invited Feng Wei and her companions into Cloud Dream Marsh, where Feng Wei took the seat of honor.

Feng Wei revealed that the Jianmu Divine Tree was withering and had borne four divine fruits, prompting the Demon Race’s eighth-tier cultivators to compete for them and preserve their Dao lineage. After learning that rival Saint Sons Li Hong and Qi Wu were already heading to Jianmu, the assembled factions departed for the secret realm.

• Feng Wei told Red Cloud, Xia Guang, Xu Yan, Xi Yao, Jiao Chu, and the others that Jianmu was withering after the Old Demon Emperor, the Qi Mountain Demon Emperor, and Gongyang Yu had drawn on its power.
• Feng Wei explained that the previous Jianmu Assembly had been convened to find a way to save the tree, and that Jianmu had now borne four divine fruits that fruit-status cultivators could not claim.
• Xu Yan spoke of his master’s prediction that the Heaven Gate would open again, and Feng Wei urged the group to travel together to Jianmu before the secret realm reopened in one month.
• Feng Wei warned the group about Saint Sons Li Hong and Qi Wu, while Xu Yan reported that someone from White Jade Capital would aid Li Hong.
• Three days later, the factions gathered with thirty thousand Dao soldiers and set off toward Jianmu.

The Dragon Monarch accepted Xi Yao’s proposal to ally at the Jianmu Assembly, swearing a Heavenly Dao Oath to protect her. After they parted, Xun Hao revealed that the oath had broken Li Hong’s hidden Fortune Way curse on Xi Yao, and suggested the Dragon Monarch bore the heavenly mandate.

• Xi Yao and Xun Hao visited the Dragon Monarch aboard his treasure ship and proposed an alliance to contest for a Jianmu Divine Fruit.
• Xun Hao explained his connection to Elder Zhuang and praised the Dragon Monarch, while Xi Yao swore to share a fruit and risk her life to save him.
• The Dragon Monarch swore to save Xi Yao if she faced mortal danger, and Xi Yao shared secrets about the Jianmu Assembly before leaving.
• Back aboard Western Kunlun’s treasure ship, Xi Yao thanked Xun Hao for helping dispel the ominous calamity planted in her by Li Hong.
• Xun Hao explained that the Dragon Monarch’s oath had broken Li Hong’s curse because the Dragon Monarch’s fortune surpassed his, and suggested he bore the heavenly mandate.

Jiao Chu revealed that his rivalry with Gu Xing stemmed from Blazing Sun Mountain’s hopes for Jiaozhu’s bloodline and his determination to prove himself the rightful Crown Prince. Gu Xing’s party reached the Demon Race’s sacred domain, beheld Jianmu, and prepared to enter its secret realm, while Li Hong and Qi Wu remained absent.

• Caiyun resented Xi Yao for joining forces with the Dragon Monarch of Azure Sea Lake, and Jiao Chu admitted that he wanted to surpass Gu Xing.
• Jiao Chu explained that his aunt Jiaozhu had once been Blazing Sun Mountain’s chosen successor, and that her renown and Gu Xing’s inheritance had become his inner demon.
• After half a month of travel, Gu Xing and his companions arrived at the Demon Race’s vast Central Lands and saw the enormous Jianmu Divine Tree.
• Golden-Winged Peng guardians stopped the fleet at Jianmu’s boundary, but Holy Maiden Feng Wei greeted them and secured passage.
• The party docked on a platform among Jianmu’s branches and agreed to enter the secret realm seven days later, with only Eighth Tier cultivators eligible.
• Red Cloud and Caiyun wondered why Li Hong and Qi Wu had not arrived, and three days later Red Cloud sensed Li Hong approaching on a giant whale.

Li Hong arrived at the Jianmu Assembly with tens of thousands of Dao soldiers and the backing of Qingqiu, Heavenhorn Well, and White Jade Capital. After Feng Wei introduced Xu Yan and the Dragon Monarch of Azure Sea Lake, Li Hong’s allies dismissed the Dragon Monarch as no threat, unaware that the coming contest for the four Jianmu Divine Fruits would be deadly.

• Li Hong arrived on his Cloud-Reaching Banner and deployed tens of thousands of Dao soldiers before meeting Feng Wei and her companions.
• The Dragon Monarch recognized Li Hong’s supporters, including Qingqiu’s Hu Qian, Heavenhorn Well’s Jing Hao, and White Jade Capital’s Chen Zhe.
• Feng Wei introduced Xu Yan of Colorful Cloud City and the Dragon Monarch of Azure Sea Lake, drawing Li Hong’s interest in Xu Yan.
• Li Hong’s group withdrew to its treasure ship, where Hu Qian praised his preparations and Chen Zhe fell asleep.
• Li Hong realized that the tribulation fortune he had planted on Xi Yao had been dispelled, while Jing Hao and Hu Qian dismissed the Dragon Monarch as too weak to threaten them.

Feng Wei, Liu Sui, and their companions entered the Jianmu Secret Realm and arrived in the Star Sea. Meanwhile, a mysterious Confucian scholar entered the realm without a token, left Ye Chenjun a secret manual, and vanished, while the group discovered that the realm’s Great Sun was a dead Three-Legged Golden Crow.

• Qi Wu entered the Jianmu Secret Realm first, then Feng Wei and Li Hong opened gateways with ancient jade tokens and led their parties inside.
• After the Dragon Monarch’s party departed, a mysterious scholar appeared before Daoyuan, Lingmiaozi, and Ye Chenjun, extinguished and restored Daoyuan’s lightning, and entered the secret realm without a token.
• The scholar secretly placed the Ziwei Celestial Calculations manual in Ye Chenjun’s Heart Sea before vanishing into the realm.
• Feng Wei’s party arrived in the Star Sea, where Feng Wei explained the secret realm’s three regions and pointed out the distant Jianmu Divine Palace.
• Xi Yao told Liu Sui that the Great Sun above the Star Sea was a dead Three-Legged Golden Crow, prompting the Dragon Monarch to recall its connection to the Sun and Moon Dao Lineage.

Xu Yan’s party crossed the Jianmu Secret Realm aboard the Gods-and-Devils Sea-Crossing Shuttle and encountered a giant whale whose leap revealed a mirage of the Jianmu Divine Palace. A veiled eighth-tier merfolk appeared on the whale’s back and summoned hundreds of whales, confronting the group on behalf of Li Hong.

• Feng Wei explained the Golden Crow remains, the giant whales, and why creatures in the Jianmu Secret Realm could not form innate Dao bodies.
• Xu Yan launched the Gods-and-Devils Sea-Crossing Shuttle, and the party took turns channeling power into it as they traveled toward the Jianmu Divine Palace.
• The shuttle stopped when Feng Wei noticed giant whales emerging from the sea, and the party watched a whale leap through the mist and reveal a mirage of the Divine Palace.
• Caiyun wondered whether the whales could be controlled because of their weak intelligence, and Xu Yan and Feng Wei sensed an unfamiliar presence beneath the water.
• A veiled eighth-tier merfolk appeared on a whale, used her flute to summon hundreds of whales, and told Feng Wei that her clan served Li Hong.

Feng Wei’s party was ambushed in the Star Sea by Li Hong and Qi Wu’s allies, who used a merfolk princess, a defensive treasure, and controlled giant whales to trap them. The battle began with the party trying to capture the ambushers without killing any whales, while you and the others remained surrounded by eighth-tier beasts.

• The veiled merfolk woman used a flute to command nearly three hundred giant whales, while Feng Wei realized the ambush had been prepared in advance.
• Feng Wei’s attack exposed the merfolk woman’s illusory form, and she reappeared atop a Primordial Ancient Whale protected by Li Hong’s Gilt Banner.
• The Goose-Buying Old Man and Sword Studio appeared, and Caiyun recognized the merfolk woman as the East Sea’s vanished eldest princess and suspected Li Hong and Qi Wu had joined forces.
• Feng Wei ordered Xia Guang, Gu Xing, Xi Yao, and Jiao Chu to hold off the whales while she, Red Cloud, and Xu Yan targeted the three leaders.
• Xu Yan’s restraint was countered by the Gilt Banner, and the Goose-Buying Old Man and Sword Studio healed their injuries with the White Jade Capital art Five Dreams, Seven Mind-Aspects.
• Feng Wei and Xu Yan renewed their attacks as you, Liu Sui, Xi Yao, and the others fought eight eighth-tier giant whales that sealed the sea with walls of water.

Liu Sui and the others fought the giant whales while Feng Wei, Xu Yan, and Red Cloud pressed the Goose Buyer and Sword Studio, until Qi Wu emerged from the golden banner and grievously wounded Feng Wei. Qi Wu revealed his alliance with Li Hong, then two more powerful figures appeared, including Daoist Donghua, leaving Feng Wei’s group in dire straits.

• The narrator used Sea-Gathering Gates to hold off an eighth-tier giant whale while Jiao Chu, Xia Guang, Xi Yao, and the others battled the remaining whales.
• Feng Wei, Xu Yan, and Red Cloud repeatedly drove the Goose Buyer and Sword Studio to use their Seven Dreams Five Forms safeguards, while the Merfolk’s eldest princess stayed back with the golden banner.
• Feng Wei attacked the Goose Buyer, but a fist imprint burst from the golden banner, struck her, and revealed Qi Wu, who had been hiding inside it.
• Qi Wu admitted he had joined forces with Li Hong because Feng Wei could command the Golden Crow remains in the Jianmu Secret Realm.
• Two more men emerged from the golden banner: a sleepy man from White Jade Capital and Daoist Donghua, Southern Shu’s foremost rogue cultivator.

Qi Wu, Daoist Donghua, and their allies attacked Feng Wei’s group while Chen Che entered Xu Yan’s Thousand-Mile Mountains and Rivers Scroll. As the fighting turned against Xia Guang and the others, Gu Xing appeared behind the Merfolk princess without triggering the Golden Banner.

• Qi Wu revealed that Li Hong was intercepting another group and that the Demon Cult had entered the Jianmu Secret Realm, then joined forces with Daoist Donghua and Chen Che against Feng Wei’s side.
• Chen Che revealed three independent Dream Bodies practicing different Dao Lineages, and Xu Yan invited him into the Thousand-Mile Mountains and Rivers Scroll.
• Qi Wu struck at Feng Wei, while Daoist Donghua, Sword Studio, and the Goose-Buying Old Man attacked Xia Guang, Xi Yao, and the others amid the giant whales’ assault.
• The Merfolk First Princess played her flute to stir the whales, and the attackers noticed that the Dragon Monarch had disappeared after being swallowed by a giant whale.
• The flute stopped, and the Dragon Monarch in an Apricot Robe appeared behind Jiao Lan, disabling her with a hand on her shoulder without alerting the Golden Banner.