Chapter Summaries

Trapped in the Heavenly Court Ruins, Li Shun accepted that he might never return and spent an unknown span reflecting on his life and practicing his arts. He perfected a new final form of the Emperor-Slaying Sword Technique, then suspected the web-like pattern inside him had enabled his breakthrough.

• Li Shun decided to stop seeking escape and remain in the Heavenly Court Ruins, reviewing his past and cultivating in solitude.
• After pondering the Emperor-Slaying Sword Technique for an unknown time, Li Shun concluded its final form should be about return rather than killing.
• Li Shun created the final move [Mutual Return], a mutual-destruction strike intended to reconcile and end the relationship between former friends.
• Li Shun realized his improvement surpassed Elder Wei's original technique and questioned how he could have achieved it.
• Li Shun recalled the web-like pattern that had entered his body and considered it as the explanation for his insight.

Li Shun discovered that the web-like pattern in his body periodically heightened his comprehension, letting him study techniques and cultivation principles beyond his natural ability. He resisted its addictive pull and maintained his sense of self while continuing to use its aid cautiously in the Heavenly Court Ruins.

• After perfecting a Heaven and Earth Realm divine ability, Li Shun suspected the web-like pattern had enhanced his comprehension and tried to test it on Threefold Self-Reflection, but failed.
• When the pattern’s effect returned, Li Shun used it to grasp the workings of Threefold Self-Reflection and briefly saw the world’s laws from a Sage’s perspective.
• The pattern’s clarity vanished, and Li Shun recognized his desperate craving for it as a dangerous temptation that might be corroding his mind.
• Over the following years, Li Shun used the pattern intermittently to analyze techniques and cultivation, while meditating whenever its pull threatened his self-control.

Li Shun's incarnation of thought neared death after spending countless years in the Heavenly Court Ruins, where he had refused to let the Ancient Web pattern follow him back to his true body. The pattern finally revealed its origins and proposed becoming a Square Inch Puppet, leaving Li Shun to consider his connection to Square Inch.

• As his incarnation weakened, Li Shun waited calmly for death rather than flee the Heavenly Court Ruins and risk carrying the Ancient Web pattern to his true body.
• The Ancient Web pattern left Li Shun's body and appeared on a nearby wall, where it asked whether he wanted to leave the ruins.
• Li Shun rejected the pattern's offer, but it explained that it was a mark left by [Ancient Web Across Time] and claimed it posed no threat to his true body.
• The pattern asked Li Shun to make his incarnation into a Square Inch Puppet so it could leave the ruins within him.
• The pattern showed Li Shun an image of himself and all creation, prompting him to reflect that Square Inch was his own heart and that an illusion could not sever their bond.

Li Shun reconnected with Square Inch and learned that the Heavenly Court Ruins were a projection of the fallen Ancient Heavenly Court, drawn forth by concepts that still anchored it to reality. The web-like pattern explained that gods could remain alive, persist through indelible imprints after death, or be erased so completely that even their existence was forgotten.

• Li Shun returned to Square Inch and confirmed it was real by sensing his familiar surroundings and the imprint of an Outer God.
• Li Shun discovered that almost no time had passed in the outside world despite his seemingly endless imprisonment in the Heavenly Court Ruins.
• Li Shun asked the web-like pattern whether the ruins were an illusion, and it explained that the Ancient Heavenly Court had been reduced to ashes but could still manifest through conceptual anchors.
• Li Shun compared the ruins to the Formless Mystic Skull and concluded that Metal God Roushou had been annihilated completely.
• The web-like pattern described three states of gods: living gods, dead gods whose imprints endured, and gods erased so thoroughly that no trace of them remained.

Li Shun turned the web-like pattern into a Square Inch Puppet and named it Ancient Web. After the Heavenly Court Ruins vanished, he returned to Mount Buzhou and discovered that colossal Outer Gods were looming through rifts in the Primordial Illusion Realm’s sky.

• Li Shun questioned the web-like pattern about the risks of staying and what becoming a Square Inch Puppet would do to its awareness.
• After weighing the benefits and risks, Li Shun withdrew most of his consciousness and left an empty vessel for the web-like pattern to possess.
• The pattern revealed that it was the remnant imprint of Ancient Web Across Time and agreed to be called Ancient Web.
• Li Shun used Square Inch authority to turn the possessed vessel into a puppet, and Ancient Web described its new state.
• The Heavenly Court Ruins disappeared when Li Shun withdrew his consciousness, returning him to Mount Buzhou.
• Li Shun saw massive shadows peering through torn-open rifts in the sky and feared that the Outer Gods had invaded.

Li Shun witnessed ancient gods repel the Outer Gods during the Primordial Illusion Realm’s final collapse, then sensed an Outer God presence in Great Qian after returning. The surviving Hundred Schools disciples were confined for questioning, and an unfamiliar Confucian cultivator came to question Li Shun.

• Li Shun watched a pair of immense eyes and a towering ocher figure drive back the Outer Gods and seal the tears in the Primordial Continent’s sky.
• Li Shun observed the gods’ battle beyond the sky continue for three days before the Primordial Illusion Realm shattered and pulled him back to Great Qian.
• Li Shun sensed a trace of the Outer Gods’ presence in reality, while the other survivors on Dai Mountain stared at the sky in alarm.
• Great Qian officials confined the survivors and placed them under guard by Creation Stage experts before questioning them separately.
• An unfamiliar middle-aged man with Haoran Qi entered to question Li Shun.

Li Shun endured a rigorous interrogation after the Primordial Illusion Realm collapsed and learned that Outer Gods had targeted the Hundred Schools Gathering. The night ended with five corrupted envoys subdued, while Zhao Cheng revealed that two Confucian participants had fallen and thanked Li Shun for surviving.

• Fu Yue and Jiang Guanyu questioned Li Shun about Confucian classics and his understanding of the Dao, then identified themselves and explained the threat of the Outer Gods and the Celestial Array.
• Jiang Guanyu reassured Li Shun that Great Qian’s Celestial Array concealed the world’s location, but corrupted energy soon erupted from elsewhere in the estate.
• Five Outer God envoys manifested during the night, and the Creation Stage cultivators took increasing time to defeat them before dawn arrived without further disaster.
• Fu Yue and Jiang Guanyu discussed the danger of holding future gatherings and the importance of the Primordial Illusion Realm as one of Great Qian’s few paths to the complete Dao.
• Zhao Cheng told Li Shun that He Wanbai and Xu Tingshen had been corrupted, and explained that the Hundred Schools’ teachings anchored cultivators against Outer God corruption.

Li Shun returned from the Primordial Illusion Realm with insights from his battle with Metal God Roushou, giving the Confucian School hope after the disaster at the Hundred Schools Gathering. Zhao Cheng explained how cultivators could explore other world fragments to recover Great Dao and mend Great Qian’s incomplete heavens, and Li Shun began to suspect Zhao Cheng had done so himself.

• Zhao Cheng told Li Shun that the other schools were exploiting the Confucian School’s losses and that five participants had become fanatical Outer God believers.
• Li Shun described reaching Mount Buzhou and meeting Metal God Roushou, but he concealed that he had passed the trial and entered Buzhou Heavenly Gate.
• Li Shun shared his genuine Great Dao insights from the Heavenly Court Ruins, and Zhao Cheng said they could help him advance to the Celestial Phenomenon Realm.
• Zhao Cheng explained that Great Qian was a fragment of the shattered Primordial Continent and that its Great Dao was incomplete.
• Zhao Cheng revealed that cultivators could assimilate other world fragments into Great Qian to restore missing traces of the Great Dao, though expeditions were extremely perilous and time could pass differently there.
• Li Shun remembered the change in Zhao Cheng’s aura and asked whether Zhao Cheng had ventured into another fragment world.

Zhao Cheng told Li Shun how Taiyi Xuanpin’s descent devastated Bing Province and shaped Great Qian’s efforts to guard against Outer Gods. After the Hundred Schools Gathering, Zhao Cheng ordered Li Shun to remain with the Kong Family until the danger passed, then promised to take him to the Sacred Capital.

• Zhao Cheng recalled surviving a dangerous journey to another fragment world and explained why Great Qian continued its efforts to mend heaven despite the losses.
• Li Shun asked whether an Outer God had ever truly descended, and Zhao Cheng revealed that Taiyi Xuanpin had manifested in Bing Province in the year 261 of the New Calendar.
• Zhao Cheng described how Taiyi Xuanpin’s arrival turned Bing Province into a living hell before the court and the Hundred Schools joined forces to destroy its projection, with His Majesty delivering the final blow.
• Zhao Cheng explained that Bing Province had never recovered and that Great Qian’s policies against Outer Gods grew from the catastrophe, while secrecy and political infighting threatened those efforts.
• Zhao Cheng ordered Li Shun to stay at the estate until the investigation ended and advised him to remain with the Kong Family because other schools might target him.
• Zhao Cheng promised to bring Li Shun to the Sacred Capital and said the Confucian School would provide him with resources and opportunities.

After the Primordial Illusion Realm crisis, Li Shun questioned the Ancient Web about the dangers beyond the Heavenly Dao Severed Sea and learned that Chaos was seeping through the damaged membrane around the Primordial Continent fragments. The Square Inch Space then plunged into darkness as its eerie door reacted to an approaching terror.

• Zhao Cheng encouraged Li Shun, whose standing among the Confucian School’s new generation had become secure after the upheaval.
• Creation Stage powers subdued and took away five Hundred Schools prodigies corrupted by the Outer God, while the surviving disciples kept silent about what they had encountered.
• Li Shun noticed Sun Lang, the reserved and wary rumored heir of the Jun Family, among the survivors.
• Li Shun sensed that Shentu Xin’s phantom was nearing the edge of the Heavenly Dao Severed Sea and worried about the unknown dangers beyond it.
• Li Shun asked the Ancient Web about Chaos, and it explained that the Primordial Continent’s damaged membrane still sheltered its fragments while letting Chaos and Outer God corruption seep through.
• The Square Inch Space suddenly darkened, and the eerie door’s totem patterns writhed as though reacting to a great terror.

After learning a forbidden truth about Chaos, Li Shun saw the Square Inch Space nearly collapse under its pressure and was warned to grow stronger before probing further. Three days later, the Grand Arbiter arrived to examine the disciples, and Li Shun was shocked to see that she now appeared as a tall, mature woman rather than the tiny child he remembered.

• Chaos's pressure battered the Square Inch Space after Li Shun learned the truth, and the Ancient Web explained that he needed to grow stronger to withstand it.
• Li Shun instructed the Ancient Web to judge whether he could bear the consequences before answering questions, while agreeing it must reveal everything if he insisted.
• Sun Lang approached Li Shun, praised his survival in the illusion, and offered him a token; Li Shun suspected Sun Lang had noticed something about him.
• Three days after the illusion ended, the Grand Arbiter arrived from the Sacred Capital to examine the Hundred Schools' disciples.
• Li Shun recognized the Grand Arbiter but was stunned that she appeared as a tall, mature beauty instead of the tiny child he had previously met.

Li Shun watched the Grand Arbiter reveal overwhelming power and remove six unsettled disciples for quiet cultivation. She transported the Hundred Schools disciples and elders to a starfield, where she destroyed five corrupted emissaries and the Outer God shadows behind them.

• Li Shun suspected the Grand Arbiter before him was different from the childlike one he had seen in Blazing Fire County, but he concealed his thoughts from her scrutiny.
• The Grand Arbiter selected six Hundred Schools disciples whose Dao hearts had grown restless and sent them to the Heaven-Watching Tower to cultivate in quiet.
• The Grand Arbiter transported the remaining disciples and school elders from Dai Mountain to a dim starfield containing five golden cages.
• The Grand Arbiter shattered the cages, revealing five monstrous Outer God emissaries and the vast shadows behind them.
• The Grand Arbiter unleashed her starlit power and annihilated the five emissaries and their shadows, declaring that Outer Gods were nothing to fear.

After the Grand Arbiter destroyed the Outer God emissaries, the Hundred Schools Gathering ended and Li Shun returned to the Kong Family Ancestral Residence. Kong Changqing gave him the Confucian Sage’s broken staff, which miraculously regrew in Li Shun’s hands, deepening the patriarch’s belief that the Sage’s power surrounded him.

• The Grand Arbiter’s display of power calmed the Hundred Schools disciples, though Li Shun noticed doubt flicker in Sun Lang’s eyes.
• The Hundred Schools Gathering ended, and Li Shun returned to the Kong Family Ancestral Residence as Zhao Cheng had instructed.
• Kong Changqing praised Li Shun and gave him the broken staff once held by the Confucian Sage.
• The staff sprang to life and restored its missing half when Li Shun touched it.
• Kong Changqing took the miracle as a sign of the Confucian Sage’s favor and looked at Li Shun with renewed conviction.

Li Shun awakened the Sage’s Staff and experienced a vision of the Confucian Sage’s travels, prompting Kong Changqing to protect the secret and elevate Li Shun’s status in Kong Mansion. Li Shun later discussed the Left Chancellor’s declining health and Great Qian’s political instability with Kong Zhao, then asked about Kong Zhao’s case against Zhou Shengzhe.

• Li Shun experienced a vision of the Confucian Sage while holding the restored Sage’s Staff, and Kong Changqing concluded that the Sage’s will had chosen him as an heir.
• Kong Changqing ordered Li Shun to keep the staff’s restoration secret and claimed he had bestowed it upon him, then moved him into a guarded courtyard in Kong Mansion’s inner residence.
• Kong Zhao questioned Li Shun about his new lodgings and noticed the staff, but decided it could not be the Sage’s broken staff.
• Li Shun told Kong Zhao that two Confucian School members had died at the Hundred Schools Gathering, while Kong Zhao described the Left Chancellor’s failing health and the threat of political turmoil in Great Qian.
• Li Shun asked Kong Zhao how his case against Grand Envoy Zhou Shengzhe was progressing.

Kong Zhao told Li Shun about his evidence against Zhou Shengzhe and explained the history behind the Pavilion of Hearing the Dao. After Kong Zhao left, Li Shun learned from the Ancient Web that the pavilion held no Sage power, while his staff could help bring a Confucian Sage into being at a potentially dangerous cost.

• Kong Zhao revealed that Zhou Shengzhe secretly swindled disciples and that he had gathered evidence, including a recording of Zhou mocking his victims.
• Kong Zhao explained that the Pavilion of Hearing the Dao had once housed the Confucian Sage, prompting Li Shun to wonder whether Kong Changqing suspected he was the Sage reincarnated.
• Li Shun concluded that the family’s belief in a Sage backing him benefited him, while keeping [Square Inch] secret remained essential.
• After Kong Zhao left, Li Shun tried and failed to sense any special cultivation benefit from the pavilion.
• The Ancient Web said the pavilion had no remnant Sage power but warned that Li Shun’s staff could help create a Confucian Sage by assimilating its bearer.

Li Shun used the Sage's Staff to stabilize the Threefold Self-Reflection Stone Statue and sensed that it pointed toward the statue's missing half, but chose to wait before investigating. He then broke through into the Profound Insight Realm and began perceiving how his spells interacted with Heaven and Earth's laws.

• Li Shun placed the Sage's Staff beside the Threefold Self-Reflection Stone Statue in his Square Inch space, improving its stability and raising Threefold Self-Reflection's limit to nearly six reversions.
• The staff spun toward the southwestern horizon when Li Shun brought it into the outside world, suggesting the statue's missing half lay in that direction.
• Li Shun suppressed his urge to seek the missing half and decided to cultivate quietly until the upheaval around the Primordial Illusion Realm had passed.
• Li Shun absorbed Heaven and Earth vital energy at the Pavilion of Hearing the Dao and broke through from Spirit Resonance into the Profound Insight Realm.
• Li Shun manifested his divine sense, cast [No Harm Can Befall Him], and perceived how the spell drew upon the laws of Heaven and Earth.

Li Shun entered the Profound Insight Realm and considered how to advance further, while Ancient Web proposed taking Great Qian’s Left Chancellor, Gu Zhizhong, as a puppet. Li Shun rejected the dangerous plan, and Kong Changqing brought him treasures to aid his cultivation, including a stone from Dai Mountain.

• Li Shun’s breakthrough into the Profound Insight Realm eased the gloom at the edge of his Square Inch space and clarified the limits of his future cultivation.
• Ancient Web recommended Gu Zhizhong as a puppet candidate, citing his near-ending lifespan and deep cultivation.
• Li Shun refused to approach Gu Zhizhong, fearing the Left Chancellor would seize control of the Square Inch and endanger him.
• Ancient Web admitted that its deductions could not match Li Shun’s own understanding of the laws, then abandoned its proposal.
• Kong Changqing celebrated Li Shun’s breakthrough and gave him precious treasures, including a stone from Dai Mountain to support his enlightenment.
• Kong Changqing told Li Shun that Great Qian had three Heaven-Piercing Divine Mountains and named Dai Mountain, Mount Taibai, and Time-Sand Mountain.

Kong Changqing explained Dai Mountain’s ancient god Cang Ju and the rare Dao Resonance Stone he lent Li Shun. Studying the stone, Li Shun glimpsed the Great Dao’s structure and began to understand how a Heaven-Piercing Divine Mountain came to be.

• Kong Changqing described the dangers of Mount Taibai and Time-Sand Mountain, explaining why Dai Mountain alone could host the Primordial Illusion Realm.
• Kong Changqing recounted how Cang Ju, a god who resembled a human, had guarded Dai Mountain and shown goodwill toward humanity.
• Kong Changqing revealed that Li Shun’s gray stone was a rare Dao Resonance Stone and warned him to guard it carefully.
• After Kong Changqing left, Li Shun studied the stone in the quiet chamber while Kong Changqing’s concealed guards watched over him.
• Li Shun perceived Dai Mountain from above and saw it as a junction in the Great Dao’s lattice, realizing that heaven and earth had met to form the mountain.

Li Shun used the Ancient Web’s puppet to glimpse the source of the Great Dao, but Square Inch shielded his consciousness from the experience. He returned to cultivating with the Dao Resonance Stone and concluded that his body’s Profound Insight Realm was near its limit, leaving him to rely on Square Inch while recognizing that a puppet’s insights could not fully replace his own.

• Li Shun asked the Ancient Web about his vision, and it suggested he use the Enlightenment Seeker puppet to view the Great Dao through its eyes.
• Li Shun summoned the Enlightenment Seeker, saw an immense web of laws, and found himself unable to comprehend it.
• The Ancient Web concluded that Square Inch had protected Li Shun by confining the experience to the puppet’s body.
• Li Shun chose to cultivate with the Dao Resonance Stone, and seven days later sensed that his Profound Insight Dao Contemplation had reached a bottleneck.
• Li Shun judged that his body was unlikely to advance beyond the Profound Insight Realm and resolved to rely on Square Inch while seeking understanding through his own experience.

Li Shun returned the Dao Resonance Stone, and Kong Changqing praised him for following the Sage’s example. Kong Changqing then told him that Sun Lang had won a minor court post and was behaving in a conspicuously dutiful way, which Li Shun suspected concealed a plot.

• Li Shun returned the Dao Resonance Stone to Kong Changqing after gaining little benefit from it.
• Kong Changqing praised Li Shun’s restraint and compared his actions to the Sage’s refusal of a priceless jade.
• Kong Changqing told Li Shun that Sun Lang had demanded a government post in the Sacred Capital and silenced officials who opposed him in debate.
• The Right Chancellor appointed Sun Lang Palace Gate Inspector, and Sun Lang stood at his post every day despite the office being largely inactive.
• Li Shun warned Kong Changqing that Sun Lang’s unusual conduct likely concealed a pursuit of profit tied to the Jun Family’s doctrine.