Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Shun attempts to learn the name of the god (Roushou) guarding Mount Buzhou but is met with a trial of immense power.
• Li Shun is blown off the mountain but returns, determined to challenge Roushou.
• Li Shun argues for a fair contest, suggesting Roushou match his cultivation level for a weapon-wielding duel.

Character Developments

• Li Shun: Demonstrates courage, determination, and diplomatic skills, challenging Roushou despite the power gap.
• Roushou: Initially dismissive and threatening, Roushou shows curiosity and consideration for Li Shun's argument.

Significant Themes

• Fairness and equality in competition.
• The power dynamics between gods and mortals.
• The importance of understanding and respecting one's opponent.

Character Interactions

• Li Shun and Roushou: Li Shun's boldness and persuasive speech challenge Roushou's initial dismissive attitude, leading to a tense standoff.
• Li Shun's determination and respectful demeanor intrigue Roushou, who begins to consider Li Shun's proposal for a fair contest.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Shun challenges Roushou (Western Gold God) to a duel, with both suppressing their divine power to equal Li Shun's level.
• Li Shun uses the Emperor-Slaying Sword Technique, disguised as the Sword of No Killing, to "defeat" Roushou.
• Roushou reveals that the Buzhou Heavenly Gate leads to the Heavenly Court, and Li Shun steps through it.
• Li Shun finds himself in a desolate, ruined Heavenly Court, with no sign of life or the Buzhou Heavenly Gate.

Character Developments

• Li Shun demonstrates his growth and prowess by defeating Roushou, even with both parties equal in power.
• Roushou shows excitement and nostalgia when he believes Li Shun to be an old friend, hinting at his past relationships and emotions.

Significant Themes

• The illusionary nature of the Primordial Illusion Realm, which cannot truly replicate the power of gods.
• The contrast between the Outer Gods' influence and the disappearance of the native gods of the Primordial Continent.
• The loneliness and emptiness of the ruined Heavenly Court, reflecting the absence of the gods.

Character Interactions

• Li Shun and Roushou's duel showcases Li Shun's skill and determination, while Roushou's excitement and nostalgia hint at a past friendship.
• Li Shun's interaction with the ruined Heavenly Court leads him to ponder the fate of the native gods and the true nature of the Primordial Illusion Realm.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Shun finds himself in the ruins of the Ancient Heavenly Court, the capital of the Primordial Realm, now a desolate and distorted place.
• He discovers that the ruins show no signs of destruction by supernatural attacks but rather seem to have been drained of their essence and distorted.
• Li Shun finds a strange, web-like pattern on a stone slab, which he suspects is a "footprint" of an Outer God.
• The pattern suddenly comes to life and attacks Li Shun, but he can't find any trace of it on his body afterward.
• Li Shun realizes he's trapped in the illusion realm, with time flowing differently than in the outside world.

Character Developments

• Li Shun demonstrates his analytical and perceptive abilities, noticing the strange state of the ruins and the peculiar pattern.
• He shows courage by venturing deeper into the ruins alone and facing the unknown pattern.
• Li Shun exhibits caution and self-awareness, immediately checking himself for any sign of the pattern after it attacks him.

Significant Themes

• The power and influence of Outer Gods, hinted at through the pattern Li Shun finds.
• The destructive nature of time, as seen in the decay of the once-magnificent Heavenly Court.
• The theme of being trapped, both physically (in the ruins) and mentally (in the illusion realm).

Character Interactions

• Though not present in this chapter, Li Shun's past interactions with Zhao Cheng are referenced, providing context for his current situation.

Plot points and events

• Li Shun realizes that people trapped in the Primordial Illusion Realm may be in greater danger than expected: their real bodies can remain unconscious until they become “living corpses.”
• Rather than panic, he decides to stop trying to escape. Protected by the Square Inch Space, he believes his own consciousness can afford to remain trapped—and refuses to let the web-like presence inside him use him to return to reality.
• In the desolate Heavenly Court Ruins, he reflects on his life. He sees himself as someone who once wanted only a quiet, ordinary existence, but who was repeatedly swept into events beyond his control.
• With time no longer meaningful, he alternates between meditation and reviewing the techniques he has learned.
• He finally understands how to complete the Emperor-Slaying Sword Technique. Its final move should not simply kill an old friend, but bring their relationship and unresolved history to an end. He names the mutual-destruction technique [Mutual Return].
• Li Shun recognizes that he should not have been capable of improving a Heaven and Earth Realm divine ability. He suspects the web-like pattern that entered his body may be connected to his sudden insight.

Character developments

• Li Shun shifts from an instinctive desire to survive toward acceptance and introspection. He confronts his lack of personal ambition and finds contentment in solitude.
• His long reflection leads to a major breakthrough in swordsmanship, while also making him question whether the achievement is truly his own.

Character interactions

• Li Shun and Elder Wei: Li Shun reinterprets Elder Wei’s failed attempt to use the Emperor-Slaying Sword against Emperor Gan, concluding that the final move must transcend killing intent and resolve their bond.
• Li Shun and the web-like presence: Though its intentions remain unclear, Li Shun resists its apparent attempt to use him as a vessel to escape the illusion.
• Li Shun and Elder Mu: Li Shun recalls the tree horse Elder Mu gave him during his twenty-five years in the Imperial Tomb, a quiet companion in an otherwise isolated period.

Significant themes

• Acceptance and inner freedom: Li Shun finds peace by giving up the struggle to control his circumstances.
• Self-knowledge: Isolation prompts him to ask what he truly wants, beyond the demands of events and other people.
• Reconciliation and closure: [Mutual Return] turns the sword’s final purpose from simple killing into the severing and resolution of a shared past.
• Uncertain agency: Li Shun’s extraordinary breakthrough raises the possibility that an outside force is influencing him.

Plot points and events

• A web-like pattern, previously absorbed into Li Shun’s body and then seemingly vanished, appears to have helped him unexpectedly deduce a powerful Heaven and Earth Realm ability.
• To test the connection, Li Shun tries to comprehend another ability, Threefold Self-Reflection, but makes no progress. He suspects the pattern’s power may be temporary and depleted after use.
• After a long period of waiting, the pattern’s influence returns. Li Shun can then perceive the structure of Threefold Self-Reflection and the laws it manipulates with astonishing clarity, though the insight quickly fades.
• The loss triggers an intense craving for the pattern’s help. Recognizing this as possible corruption or temptation, Li Shun resists and reminds himself that he does not need its power.
• Over the years, he adopts a cautious balance: using the pattern when its aid returns, but meditating to suppress his growing dependence on it.

Character development and interactions

• Li Shun’s insight into the pattern deepens, but so does his awareness of its danger. He remains curious and pragmatic without surrendering his judgment.
• His only direct interaction is with the pattern: it intermittently grants him extraordinary comprehension, then withdraws it, provoking longing. Li Shun counters this influence through discipline and self-restraint.

Significant themes

• Power and temptation: Extraordinary insight comes with the risk of dependence and loss of self.
• Self-control and identity: Li Shun preserves his true self by recognizing and resisting the pattern’s pull.
• Patience and limits: He accepts that progress is uneven, continuing his work when the pattern is inactive.
• Different levels of understanding: He makes major progress within the Spiritual Resonance Realm, but the deeper, law-governing Sage abilities remain largely beyond his grasp.

Plot points and events

• Li Shun’s thought-incarnation has endured for ages in the Heavenly Court Ruins. Time is finally eroding it: his spiritual awareness and memories have weakened, and he calmly waits for his death rather than attempt to escape.
• His refusal to leave stems from the mysterious Ancient Web pattern that once entered his body. Fearing it could follow him back and taint his true self, Li Shun has resisted its repeated attempts to tempt him.
• As Li Shun nears death, the pattern leaves his body and appears on a ruin wall. It communicates with him in Great Qian script, asking whether he wants to leave.
• The pattern claims it is only a mark left by the being called [Ancient Web Across Time], not an Outer God in the sense Li Shun fears. It describes that being as timeless Causality spanning all space and time, and admits it has been trapped in the ruins since its creation.
• The pattern says it wants to experience the outside world and proposes a compromise: Li Shun can turn this incarnation into a Square Inch Puppet, with the pattern contained within it. It also offers to try to awaken the bond between Li Shun and Square Inch.
• Li Shun recognizes that the pattern learned about Square Inch while residing within him. He considers its proposal, reflecting that Square Inch is his own heart and that even this fragment of thought remains himself.

Character developments

• Li Shun remains composed in the face of death and skeptical of the pattern’s claims. His long isolation has worn down his body and memory but strengthened his emotional discipline. The proposal makes him reconsider his absolute refusal to engage with the pattern.
• The Ancient Web pattern shifts from silent influence and temptation to direct negotiation. It presents itself as curious and confined, but its vast origin and ability to manipulate its appearance leave its trustworthiness uncertain.

Significant themes

• Mortality and acceptance: Li Shun meets the end of his incarnation without fear, having accepted its fate long ago.
• Caution versus curiosity: He must weigh the danger of carrying an unknown presence against the possibility of escape and greater understanding.
• Selfhood and identity: Li Shun’s reflection that even a fragment of thought is still himself links personal identity to the heart and mind, not merely the physical body.
• Vast cosmic scale: The pattern depicts mortals as insignificant before a timeless force, while its own desire to experience the world introduces a surprising note of curiosity.

Character interactions

• Li Shun and the pattern engage in a tense negotiation: he challenges its motives, while it tries to reassure and persuade him.
• The pattern mocks Li Shun’s fear of cosmic attention, then adopts a more earnest tone by describing its confinement and proposing the Square Inch Puppet arrangement.
• The chapter ends before Li Shun makes a decision; he is still weighing the proposal.

Key plot points and events

• Li Shun focuses on the web-like pattern’s diagram and reconnects with Square Inch, confirming that it is his real domain, not an illusion. Its familiar inhabitants and the Outer God’s lingering imprint reassure him.
• He discovers that although he experienced what felt like endless ages in the Heavenly Court Ruins, less than half a day has passed in the outside world.
• Questioning whether the ruins are merely part of the Primordial Illusion Realm, Li Shun learns that the Ancient Heavenly Court was physically destroyed—but concepts associated with it can act as anchors, briefly drawing its phantom back into existence.
• The pattern explains that this is why the illusory Buzhou Heavenly Gate could summon the ruins, and why powers such as the Formless Mystic Skull can affect a person even across the boundary between illusion and reality.
• Li Shun concludes that Metal God Roushou must have been annihilated completely, unlike the fallen Heavenly Court, whose imprint still influences the world.
• The pattern describes three states of gods: living and powerful; dead but persisting through indelible imprints; and absolutely erased from existence, with no trace of their names or deeds.

Character developments

• Li Shun regains his composure and uses his connection to Square Inch to test what is real, showing growing discernment.
• His understanding of gods’ deaths deepens: he recognizes that divine “death” can leave a lasting presence, while true annihilation means erasure from all memory and reality.
• The web-like pattern reveals knowledge it claims to possess innately and appears to share a subdued sorrow as it describes the final state.

Significant themes

• Reality and illusion: An illusory setting can still connect to real forces and have genuine consequences.
• Time and existence: Time passes at radically different rates in different realms, and places can persist as manifestations after their physical destruction.
• Death and erasure: The chapter distinguishes physical destruction, lingering conceptual existence, and complete annihilation.
• Memory and concepts: A being or place may continue to affect the world as long as its identity remains anchored in concepts.

Character interactions

• Li Shun questions the web-like pattern about the ruins’ true nature; it first gives a terse answer, then explains their connection to the fallen Heavenly Court.
• The pattern affirms Li Shun’s reasoning and shares its innate classification of gods, creating a moment of trust and quiet, shared sorrow.

Key plot points and events

• Li Shun questions the web-like entity about whether gods can die and learns that the Heavenly Court Ruins are tied to his consciousness. If that consciousness perishes, the ruins will vanish, and the resulting backlash could seriously harm his true body.
• The entity offers to become Li Shun’s Square Inch Puppet by allowing its origin to infect his detached consciousness. Li Shun asks whether it would retain self-awareness; the entity admits the outcome is uncertain, though it expects to become more like an accessory or “cheat” in his mind.
• Concluding that the entity’s knowledge and power are worth the risk, Li Shun transfers his consciousness into the Square Inch Space and leaves an empty vessel behind. The entity enters that vessel, identifies itself as Ancient Web, and Li Shun successfully captures it as a puppet.
• Ancient Web says that, despite losing its freedom, it has gained a state beyond ordinary life and death. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Court Ruins disappear when Li Shun’s consciousness withdraws.
• Rather than being expelled from the Primordial Illusion Realm, Li Shun returns to Mount Buzhou and sees enormous black rifts torn across the sky. Vast, menacing shadows peer through them, suggesting an invasion by the Outer Gods.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shun is cautious and strategic: he probes the risks and consequences before accepting Ancient Web’s offer, then uses his Square Inch authority to contain the entity. His confidence is shaken when he encounters the apparent Outer God incursion.
• Ancient Web is revealed as a remnant imprint that reasons through causality but cannot reliably predict the future. It willingly submits to Li Shun, though its identity and degree of selfhood remain uncertain.
• Their exchange shifts from negotiation to an uneasy master–puppet relationship. Li Shun is wary of the uncanny version of himself inhabited by Ancient Web, while Ancient Web speaks with detached, mechanical composure.

Significant themes

• Life, death, and transformation: The death of gods and the destruction of the ruins are presented as part of a larger cycle; becoming a puppet may paradoxically free Ancient Web from ordinary mortality.
• Knowledge versus uncertainty: Ancient Web can deduce vast patterns but cannot foresee unpredictable outcomes, including what the Square Inch transformation will do to it.
• Power and containment: Li Shun turns a dangerous entity into a controlled asset, but the world beyond his immediate control grows more threatening.
• Fear made real: Li Shun’s concern that knowledge of the Outer Gods might attract their attention appears to come true, ending the chapter on a looming catastrophe.

Key plot points and events

• In the Primordial Illusion Realm, Li Shun is overwhelmed by the terrifying presence of many Outer Gods, who tear open the sky. He wonders what they seek in a continent that has already shattered in reality.
• Powerful ancient beings rise to oppose them: a pair of immense, sun-like eyes forces the Outer Gods back, while a radiant figure seals the breaches in the heavens. The beings then depart beyond the world’s barrier, where a divine battle continues for three days.
• Unable to take part, Li Shun watches from Mount Buzhou and commits the upheaval to memory. As the illusion realm collapses, he is pulled back into Great Qian.
• In reality, Li Shun senses a faint trace of the Outer Gods’ presence. Other survivors have also seen the invasion, and the Hundred Schools Gathering is halted. Survivors are confined and questioned under heavy guard by Creation Stage experts.
• Li Shun waits for his interview, which is conducted by an unfamiliar middle-aged man who appears to be a Confucian cultivator.

Character developments

• Li Shun’s composure is tested by the Outer Gods’ overwhelming presence, but he remains observant and intellectually engaged, trying to identify the ancient defenders and understand the invaders’ motives.
• He recognizes the limits of his own strength and accepts that he can only witness the gods’ war. Back in reality, he stays calm while awaiting questioning, despite realizing the danger may have reached beyond the illusion realm.

Significant themes

• Human vulnerability before cosmic power: Li Shun and the other cultivators are powerless beside the gods’ conflict.
• Knowledge gained through witness: Though unable to fight, Li Shun treats the rare sight of divine warfare as valuable experience.
• The boundary between illusion and reality: The Outer Gods’ influence appears to leave a trace in Great Qian after the realm collapses, raising doubts about how secure that boundary is.
• Uncertainty and looming danger: The invaders’ purpose remains unknown, while the surviving cultivators face scrutiny and possible consequences.

Character interactions

• The Outer Gods confront the ancient defenders, whose intervention drives them back and seals the sky.
• The ancient beings then clash with the Outer Gods beyond the world’s barrier, a battle Li Shun can only observe from afar.
• In Great Qian, the survivors are placed under guard and questioned. Li Shun’s examiner is a new, unidentified man whose manner suggests an affiliation with the Confucian School.

Key events

• Li Shun is subjected to a lengthy, exacting interrogation on Confucian classics and philosophy by Fu Yue, a Haoran Qi practitioner, and Jiang Guanyu, an inspector of the Heaven Oversight Bureau. His composed answers and uncorrupted energy satisfy them.
• They explain that Outer Gods threatened to discover Great Qian during the Hundred Schools Gathering, but the Grand Arbiter concealed the world’s heavenly traces. The Celestial Array—formed by Great Qian’s unusual territory—helps hide the world from the Outer Gods.
• Corrupting energies erupt repeatedly through the night as five people become Outer God envoys. The authorities eventually subdue them, though the battles grow harder and the danger exposes the Gathering’s risks.
• Fu Yue and Jiang debate whether the Gathering should continue. Despite the danger and likely political opposition, they argue that the Primordial Illusion Realm is one of Great Qian’s few relatively safe ways to encounter the complete Dao.
• Zhao Cheng later tells Li Shun that two of the three Confucian participants, He Wanbai and Xu Tingshen, were corrupted. Li Shun was the third, and his survival spared the school a potentially devastating political setback.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shun conceals his full understanding, performs nervousness during questioning, and carefully listens as officials reveal the wider stakes. He remains composed throughout the night’s crisis.
• Fu Yue is stern and cautious, but his discussion with Jiang reveals concern that Great Qian’s protection has also made it spiritually stagnant.
• Jiang Guanyu is vigilant and confident in the court’s preparations. She insists that the Gathering must continue despite its dangers.
• Zhao Cheng returns exhausted and relieved to find Li Shun unharmed, then explains how important his survival is to the Confucian School.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and discipline as protection: The Hundred Schools’ coherent teachings help anchor practitioners’ minds against supernatural corruption.
• Protection versus stagnation: The Celestial Array shields Great Qian but isolates it, limiting spiritual progress; the Gathering offers a risky way to access the broader Dao.
• Personal danger and political consequence: The corruption of only five people threatens both lives and the standing of an entire school.
• Human arts against cosmic forces: The Hundred Schools’ traditions are not merely competing philosophies, but defenses against beings beyond the world.

Plot points and events

• Zhao Cheng explains that the Confucian School is under attack from rival schools after its disastrous showing at the Hundred Schools Gathering. Two representatives, He Wanbai and Xu Tingshen, have suffered unknown fates, while five participants became fanatical servants of the Outer Gods.
• He asks Li Shun about his journey in the Primordial Illusion Realm. Li says he reached Mount Buzhou and fought the Metal God Roushou, but omits that he passed the trial and entered Buzhou Heavenly Gate.
• Li shares the profound Dao insights he gained during his long stay in the Heavenly Court Ruins. Zhao Cheng is astonished, judging them enough to make a future breakthrough to the Celestial Phenomenon Realm likely.
• Zhao Cheng explains that Great Qian is only one fragment of the shattered Primordial Continent, so its Great Dao is incomplete. The Primordial Illusion Realm offers rare access to the fuller Dao of the ancient world.
• He reveals another way to restore what Great Qian lacks: explore and assimilate other world fragments. Cultivators who acquire missing aspects of the Dao can help “mend the heavens,” strengthening both themselves and their world. Such journeys are extremely dangerous, and time may pass at very different rates.
• Li notices a change in Zhao Cheng’s aura and begins to ask whether his martial uncle has undertaken such an expedition. The chapter ends before he gets an answer.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shun is modest about failing Roushou’s trial, but his accumulated insights prove far more valuable than Zhao Cheng expected. His success at the gathering has also made him the Confucian School’s remaining hope.
• Zhao Cheng shifts from worry over the school’s crisis to admiration for Li’s accomplishments. He treats Li as a trusted, increasingly important figure and shares a closely guarded secret with him.
• Their exchange is respectful and candid: Zhao reassures Li about the failed trial, praises his understanding, and answers his questions about the world and its Dao.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and growth through hardship: Li’s unsuccessful battle still yields transformative insight.
• A fractured world and incomplete truth: Great Qian’s limits stem from the shattered Primordial Continent.
• Personal cultivation tied to collective renewal: Strengthening one’s understanding of the Dao can help restore the world itself.
• Cost and uncertainty of exploration: Recovering lost knowledge may involve lethal danger and radically altered time.
• School rivalry and crisis: The Confucian School’s vulnerability highlights the political stakes of the Gathering.

Plot points and events

• Zhao Cheng recounts his own dangerous journey to another fragment world, where he spent a century seeking laws that might complete Great Qian’s Dao. He returned empty-handed, and fewer than one in ten of his companions survived.
• He explains that Great Qian’s ongoing efforts to “mend heaven”—including exploring other worlds—are meant to defend against the Outer Gods and protect its people.
• Li Shun asks whether an Outer God has ever personally descended. Zhao Cheng confirms that Taiyi Xuanpin was the only one to do so, in New Calendar Year 261.
• The god’s arrival plunged Bing Province into darkness and blood-red skies, drove countless people into fanaticism, and transformed them into monstrous creatures. A million-strong army and the Hundred Schools’ supreme experts fought it, but all seven Creation Realm experts died. The emperor ultimately erased its projection.
• Bing Province was devastated and has never recovered, despite centuries of forced resettlement and labor. This catastrophe prompted the court to establish the Heaven-Mending Bureau and pursue ways to resist future invasions.
• Zhao Cheng warns Li Shun that the surviving participants in the Hundred Schools Gathering are politically vulnerable: rival schools may exploit any connection to the Outer God against the Confucian School. Li Shun is told to remain with the Kong Family until the crisis passes, then go with Zhao Cheng to the Sacred Capital for greater support.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shun’s questions reveal his growing awareness of the true scale of the Outer God threat; Zhao Cheng’s account leaves him shaken.
• Zhao Cheng shares painful history and counsels Li Shun to consider not only supernatural dangers but also internal political divisions and the emperor’s withdrawal from governing.
• Zhao Cheng also notes a troubling paradox: public knowledge of the Outer Gods might invite their influence, yet secrecy and the passage of time cause officials to forget the danger.
• Encouraged by Li Shun’s survival and insight from Mount Buzhou, Zhao Cheng promises that the Confucian School will fully support his cultivation in the Sacred Capital.

Significant themes

• Collective survival and sacrifice: Great Qian’s defenses depend on costly efforts and the lives of those who confront unknown worlds.
• Trauma, memory, and complacency: The devastation of Taiyi Xuanpin’s descent shaped policy, but later generations’ distance from the disaster weakens their vigilance.
• Secrecy versus awareness: Concealing the Outer Gods may reduce the risk of attracting them, but also makes society forget the need to prepare.
• External threats and internal division: The Outer Gods menace Great Qian, while factional rivalry and weak governance create dangers of their own.

Plot points and events

• After the Primordial Illusion Realm disaster, Zhao Cheng reassures Li Shun that his standing in the Spring-Autumn Brush Lineage and among young Confucian disciples is now secure—so long as he avoids reckless behavior. Li Shun outwardly accepts the praise with exaggerated gratitude.
• The sealed estate reopens after the corrupted prodigies are subdued and taken away by Creation Stage powers. Their fate remains unknown, and the surviving disciples refuse to discuss what happened, fearing that speaking of it could draw the attention of the Outer Gods.
• Li Shun notices Sun Lang, the reserved and wary heir of the Jun Family, whose appearance recalls Shentu Xin’s but whose manner is very different.
• Meanwhile, Shentu Xin’s phantom continues crossing the Heavenly Dao Severed Qi toward the Martial World. The route is longer than Li Shun expected, the qi is thinning, and Shentu may be nearing the edge of the Severed Sea—where unknown dangers could await.
• Seeking answers, Li Shun consults the Ancient Web through a puppet in the Square Inch Space. It explains that this sea is not true Chaos: worlds are concealed within protective Heaven and Earth Membranes. The Primordial Continent’s shattered fragments remain sheltered by a damaged remnant membrane, though Chaos and Outer God corruption are seeping through its holes.
• As the explanation continues, the Square Inch Space abruptly darkens. The strange door in its dome reacts violently, its patterns twisting as if in response to a powerful, approaching threat.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shun recognizes that his new status is valuable but conditional. He remains outwardly deferential to Zhao Cheng while privately weighing the risks surrounding Shentu Xin’s journey and the worlds beyond the Severed Sea.
• Zhao Cheng offers encouragement and promises of future advancement, then leaves once he has spoken with Li Shun.
• Sun Lang is introduced as cautious and withdrawn, keeping his distance from other schools because the Jun Family remains wanted by Great Qian.
• The Ancient Web gives Li Shun a measured explanation of the structure of Chaos and the weakened barrier protecting the surviving world fragments.

Significant themes

• The danger of knowledge and speech: Survivors fear that even discussing the Outer Gods could create a causal connection and attract their attention.
• Fragile protection: The worlds endure behind a battered membrane, but its defenses are failing as Chaos and corruption penetrate it.
• The unknown as a threat: Shentu Xin’s journey becomes more dangerous as familiar protection thins and uncharted territory approaches.
• Status and restraint: Li Shun’s elevated position depends on not making a costly mistake, underscoring the limits of his newfound security.

Key events

• After Li Shun learns a forbidden truth about Chaos, its attention presses against the Square Inch Space. The pressure nearly destroys it, dimming its light and leaving it in a deathly state.
• The Ancient Web explains that the space reflects Li Shun’s mind and laws, and his current cultivation is too weak to withstand Chaos’s notice. Reaching the Profound Insight Realm should help him endure it.
• Li Shun instructs the Ancient Web to assess the risks before answering future questions, while reserving the right to demand the full truth if he chooses.
• Sun Lang, heir of the Jun Family, unexpectedly approaches Li Shun, praises his endurance in the illusion, and gives him a token. Li Shun suspects Sun Lang may have sensed something about his encounter with Chaos.
• Three days later, the Grand Arbiter arrives to examine the Hundred Schools’ disciples. Li Shun is startled: she now appears as a commanding, mature woman, unlike the childlike figure he met before.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shun remains composed despite the danger, but recognizes the limits of his current strength and sets safeguards for how he will pursue forbidden knowledge.
• The Ancient Web explains the danger and agrees to follow Li Shun’s new rules, though its bluntness irritates him.
• Sun Lang shifts from wary distance to apparent friendliness. Li Shun accepts his token outwardly but remains suspicious of his motives.
• The Grand Arbiter’s startlingly different appearance raises an unexplained question for Li Shun.

Significant themes

• Forbidden knowledge can carry immediate, catastrophic consequences.
• Greater power is necessary to face truths beyond one’s current capacity.
• Trust and appearances are uncertain: Sun Lang’s sudden warmth seems significant, while the Grand Arbiter’s changed form suggests hidden mysteries.

Key plot points and events

• Li Shun attends a gathering of the Hundred Schools and questions whether this formidable Grand Arbiter is the same childlike figure he once encountered. Her presence exerts an immense, soul-probing pressure, but his disciplined state of mind helps him conceal his thoughts.
• The Grand Arbiter identifies six disciples whose Dao hearts have become unsettled. She judges that their souls remain uncorrupted and sends them to the Heaven-Watching Tower to recover.
• She praises the remaining disciples for holding to their convictions under terror, then transports them and the schools’ elders to a vast starfield.
• There, she reveals five prodigies transformed into grotesque emissaries of the Outer Gods, with vast, threatening shadows behind them. She destroys both the emissaries and the shadows in a blinding storm of starlight.
• She leaves the disciples with a final assurance: the Outer Gods are nothing to fear.

Character developments

• Li Shun remains cautious and observant. His experiences in the Primordial Illusion Realm have strengthened his composure, allowing him to withstand the Grand Arbiter’s scrutiny.
• The six selected disciples are shown to be troubled but not wholly corrupted; the Grand Arbiter treats them as salvageable and gives them a chance to regain their resolve.
• The Grand Arbiter is revealed as extraordinarily powerful and uncompromising, yet capable of distinguishing those who can still be saved from those already transformed.

Significant themes

• Resistance to corruption: A troubled or weakened resolve does not necessarily mean a soul is beyond rescue.
• Fear and conviction: The disciples’ ability to endure terror without abandoning their beliefs is explicitly praised.
• The scale of power: The Outer Gods appear overwhelming to the young disciples, but the Grand Arbiter demonstrates that they can be defeated.
• Self-mastery: Li Shun’s inward discipline protects him from an invasive spiritual examination.

Character interactions

• The Grand Arbiter silently commands the hall, tests the disciples, and singles out six for rehabilitation.
• She addresses the remaining disciples as witnesses, validating their endurance and reshaping their fear through her example.
• Li Shun observes her with guarded uncertainty, while the gathered disciples react with awe and terror to both the Outer Gods’ horrors and her decisive victory.

Key events

• After the vision of the Grand Arbiter destroying the Outer God emissaries and the Outer God’s probing will, everyone returns to the manor in shock. Li Shun recognizes that the event was real, not an illusion.
• He understands that the Grand Arbiter’s overwhelming display was meant to reassure the Hundred Schools’ disciples that the Outer Gods could be defeated and to strengthen their resolve against corruption.
• The Gathering ends, and the disciples depart. Li Shun returns to the Kong Family residence as instructed.
• Kong Family patriarch Kong Changqing praises Li Shun for surviving the ordeal and gives him a broken wooden staff once used by the Confucian Sage. When Li Shun accepts it, the staff miraculously regrows its missing half, producing a powerful resonance of the Dao.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shun remains composed and modest despite Kong Changqing’s praise. He recognizes the Grand Arbiter’s strategic purpose and accepts the staff only after Kong insists.
• Kong Changqing shifts from approving host to fervent believer in Li Shun’s significance. The staff’s restoration convinces him that the Confucian Sage’s power may be connected to Li Shun.
• Sun Lang, heir of the Jun Family, briefly shows deep doubt after the Grand Arbiter’s intervention. He and Li Shun exchange a glance, but Sun says nothing.
• The Hundred Schools’ disciples respond to the Grand Arbiter with awe and admiration, while Li Shun and Kong Changqing share the astonishment of the staff’s transformation.

Significant themes

• Hope against cosmic terror: The Grand Arbiter’s victory shows that the Outer Gods are not invincible.
• Faith and resolve: Her display serves as a psychological anchor for the next generation of defenders.
• Legacy and destiny: The Confucian Sage’s staff revives in Li Shun’s hands, hinting that ancient power—and perhaps a new Sage—may be returning.

Key plot points

• After touching the restored Sage’s Staff, Li Shun experiences vivid visions of the Confucian Sage’s journeys, teachings, and debates. He feels as if he has personally relived the Sage’s travels.
• Kong Changqing takes this as proof that the Sage’s will has chosen Li Shun to inherit his legacy. He orders Li Shun to keep the staff’s restoration and its significance secret—even from senior members of their own school—and to say only that Kong gave it to him.
• Kong gives Li Shun a lavish, secluded residence in Kong Mansion’s inner quarters, treating him far more generously than before. Li Shun declines the offer of servants.
• Kong Zhao is astonished by Li Shun’s new lodgings and notices the staff, but concludes it cannot be the legendary Sage’s Staff because he believes that relic remained broken.
• Li Shun mentions that two other Confucian participants in the Hundred Schools Gathering died, while he survived by luck. Kong Zhao does not question him about the ordeal.
• They discuss the Left Chancellor’s failing health and the uncertain political future of Great Qian. Kong Zhao fears that the Confucian School lacks a leader capable of uniting it, while rival schools await an opportunity to seize power.
• Li Shun dismisses their worries as matters for their elders and turns the conversation to Kong Zhao’s case against Grand Envoy Zhou Shengzhe.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shun gains a mysterious connection to the Confucian Sage and receives Kong Changqing’s protection, though he conceals how important the staff is. He remains modest, cautious, and unwilling to indulge in luxury.
• Kong Changqing shifts from viewing Li Shun as a talented youth to treating him as a chosen successor. He is both excited by the revelation and protective of its secrecy.
• Kong Zhao reacts with surprise and mild envy at Li Shun’s sudden rise, then expresses concern over the Confucian School’s political weakness. He respects Li Shun’s reluctance to discuss the dangerous gathering.
• The exchanges emphasize both Kong Changqing’s paternal care for Li Shun and Kong Zhao’s more candid, familiar friendship with him.

Significant themes

• Inheritance and destiny: The staff’s response suggests that Li Shun may be destined to carry on the Confucian Sage’s legacy.
• Secrecy and protection: Kong Changqing believes Li Shun’s new status must be hidden to keep him safe.
• Political instability: The Left Chancellor’s impending death threatens the balance between the Confucian and Legalist Schools and could invite challenges from rival schools.
• Mortality and risk: Li Shun’s survival at the gathering contrasts with the deaths of the other participants, underscoring the danger of pursuing extraordinary opportunities.

Plot points and events

• Kong Zhao tells Li Shun that he has collected evidence against Zhou Shengzhe, the Grand Messenger. Zhou’s former disciples accuse him of taking large sums for bogus “Lifespan Borrowing” instruction, and he continues secretly recruiting disciples for money.
• Kong Zhao also possesses a secret recording in which Zhou, drunk, mocks and boasts about cheating his disciples. He plans to expose Zhou at court, though Li Shun notes that ordinary corruption may not be enough to bring down a high-ranking official.
• Kong Zhao explains that the Pavilion of Hearing the Dao predates the Kong Mansion and is said to have housed the Confucian Sage and his disciples. Family legend claims the pavilion retains sacred energy that greatly accelerates cultivation.
• After Kong Zhao leaves, Li Shun tests the pavilion’s supposed benefits but senses nothing. The Ancient Web confirms that the tale is embellished: the Sage left no power in the building. It warns, however, that Li Shun’s staff contains a profound law and could help produce a new Confucian Sage—but at a potentially dangerous cost.

Character developments and interactions

• Kong Zhao is methodical and confident in his campaign against Zhou, sharing his evidence with Li Shun. He also envies Li Shun’s privileged, leisurely life in the pavilion.
• Li Shun listens supportively but remains cautious about Kong Zhao’s legal strategy. He reflects on why Kong Changqing may regard him as the Sage reborn, concluding that the misunderstanding is useful protection. He is more concerned with keeping his true trump card, [Square Inch], concealed.
• The Ancient Web challenges the pavilion’s legend and gives Li Shun a serious warning about the staff, suggesting that its power might lead not to simple advancement but to Li Shun’s assimilation into the next Sage.

Significant themes

• Myth versus truth: The pavilion’s reputation proves to be a later embellishment, while the staff’s real power is far more consequential.
• Power and identity: Others’ belief that Li Shun may be the Sage’s reincarnation benefits him, even as he questions what the staff might make him become.
• Ambition and sacrifice: Becoming a Confucian Sage may require surrendering one’s own identity, a cost Li Shun is unlikely to accept without question.
• Corruption and public image: Zhou’s dignified official persona contrasts sharply with the contempt for his disciples revealed in the recording.

Summary of the Chapter

1. Key Plot Points & Events

• Li Shun, now a Confucian Sage figure, uses the Sage's Staff to bolster the incomplete Threefold Self-Reflection Stone Statue inside his Square Inch space.
• The statue's stability improves: the number of time reversions increases to nearly six, though the time span remains limited to one day.
• When brought into the real world, the staff reacts to the missing lower half of the statue, pointing toward the southwestern horizon.
• Li Shun suppresses the urge to investigate immediately, choosing to lie low and cultivate in peace.
• He successfully breaks through from Spirit Resonance to the Profound Insight Realm, achieving a qualitative transformation in cultivation.

2. Character Developments

• Li Shun demonstrates strategic patience and self-control, avoiding risky actions despite strong temptation.
• He reaches a major cultivation milestone (Profound Insight), recalling the power of his former enemy Xiong Jin and recognizing his own growth from an "ant" to a great cultivator.
• His understanding of spells and the workings of Heaven and Earth deepens, reflecting his new mastery.

3. Significant Themes

• Cultivation progression: Profound Insight marks a true qualitative leap, separating lower realms from true mastery.
• Patience and concealment: Li Shun values lying low to avoid scrutiny, despite his curiosity.
• The incomplete Great Dao: The broken statue and the shattered Primordial Continent symbolize a fragmented world and the limits of power.

4. Character Interactions

• No direct dialogue with other characters in this chapter.
• Li Shun interacts with the Sage's Staff and the Threefold Self-Reflection Stone Statue, which respond to his thoughts and intentions.
• He reflects on Xiong Jin, a past enemy, comparing his former weakness to his current strength.

Summary: A Plan to Take the Left Chancellor

Key Plot Points & Events

• Li Shun successfully breaks through to the Profound Insight Realm, causing the gloomy haze eroding his Square Inch space to recede noticeably.
• The chapter opens with philosophical reflection on the Hundred Schools—though their doctrines differ, they each genuinely touch the Great Dao on some level, which is why they've helped disciples withstand Outer God erosion.
• Ancient Web proposes a plan: target Gu Zhizhong, the Left Chancellor of Great Qian, as a puppet candidate. Its reasoning: Gu Zhizhong's lifespan is nearly exhausted, he might be tempted by the immortality of Square Inch space, and harvesting his insights (including his likely near-Heaven and Earth Realm foundation) would greatly smooth Li Shun's cultivation path.
• Li Shun rejects the plan, suspecting Ancient Web may be luring him into danger. He reasons that a man like Gu Zhizhong—a pinnacle official who has suppressed the realm for centuries—would rather die than become someone's puppet, and the risk of the chancellor turning the tables and seizing Square Inch is too great.
• Li Shun calls out Ancient Web's possible ulterior motive: deliberately driving him into crisis to force dependency on the puppet method.
• The plan is shelved ("one step at a time"), not entirely abandoned.
• Kong Changqing visits, delighted by the breakthrough, and supplies numerous heavenly treasures to consolidate Li Shun's body. He gifts a gray stone from Dai Mountain, which aids enlightenment of the Dao.
• Kong Changqing asks how many Heaven-Piercing Divine Mountains Great Qian possesses, then reveals the answer: three—Dai Mountain, Mount Taibai, and Time-Sand Mountain (the third is left pending as the chapter ends).

Character Developments

• Li Shun: Newly ascended to Profound Insight Realm. His attitude is notably cautious and pragmatic—he resists grand schemes without external pressure, distrusts Ancient Web's motives, and prefers measured, step-by-step advancement. His consciousness returns to an inner state of "ancient well without ripples." He also realistically assesses his own talent: reaching Celestial Phenomenon Realm through ordinary cultivation is nearly impossible for him, which keeps the puppet path viable as a future option.
• Ancient Web: Demonstrates ambition and manipulative persuasion tactics, attempting bold new plans immediately after Li Shun's breakthrough. When caught scheming, it falls silent, but it clarifies the ongoing obligation: "so long as you ask, I naturally cannot refuse to answer" (barring survival-endangering rules).
• Kong Changqing: Warm, generous, and deeply invested in Li Shun's growth—acting as a supportive mentor who pours resources into his disciple without hesitation.

Significant Themes

• Cultivation as rowing upstream: The higher one ascends, the harder the path becomes; Celestial Phenomenon Realm is described as "as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns."
• Knowledge vs. firsthand realization: Ancient Web admits that insights directly transmitted by another cannot match the completeness of personal resonance with the laws—a commentary on the nature of genuine comprehension.
• Prudence vs. ambition: Li Shun's careful nature clashes with Ancient Web's bold gambits. The text argues that without external crisis, reckless risk is foolish—especially when one's life-secret is at stake.
• The Hundred Schools' unity in diversity: All schools touch the same ultimate Dao from different angles, comparable to (but transcending) "blind men feeling an elephant."

Character Interactions

• Li Shun ↔ Ancient Web: Confrontational and suspicious. Li Shun accuses Ancient Web of covert manipulation ("you bastard... could it be that this was precisely what you had been plotting?"). Ancient Web counters with reasoned persuasion but retreats when caught. Their dynamic is one of mutual wariness within a binding contract.
• Li Shun ↔ Kong Changqing: Respectful and warm. Kong Changqing acts as a traditional master—inspecting progress, delivering treasures, posing didactic questions about the world (the Divine Mountains trivia) to expand his disciple's knowledge. The informal "one step at a time" mental remark from Li Shun suggests his plans remain hidden even from his mentor.