Chapter Summaries

Fang Xun realized that Yin Fengshuo’s delays and accusations were part of a tribulation meant to make him bear the blame while another cultivator advanced. He chose to endure and turn his apparent downfall into a chance to save East Mountain and secure a shrine, then discovered Fang Han was largely unaffected by the tribulation qi.

• Yin Fengshuo delayed supplies and repeatedly summoned Fang Xun, leaving East Mountain’s refugees convinced Fang Xun had embezzled their food.
• Fang Xun recognized that a Celestial Phenomenon Realm cultivator was using him as cultivation fuel and considered sacrificing himself to save the people and earn their gratitude.
• Fang Xun decided to endure until the tribulation qi grew stronger and secretly spread rumors that further damaged his own reputation.
• Fang Xun returned to the Town Protectorate Office and heard Fang Han defending him against several officials.
• Fang Xun questioned Fang Han in his study and found that he was largely immune to the tribulation qi.

Fang Xun realized the Heavenly Lifespan Lock Tribulation was twisting him into the corrupt official described by rumors, while Shentu Xin triggered a catastrophe that exposed an alleged secret deal between Yin Fengshuo and the Jun Family. The officials grew suspicious of Yin Fengshuo as the earth shook and black pillars erupted across Former Tomb Commandery.

• Fang Xun warned Fang Han to stay in the residence, then told him that Li Shun would guide his studies and cultivation when he returned.
• On the fifteenth day of the fourth month, Fang Xun felt an overpowering urge to seize disaster-relief supplies and resisted the tribulation as it cut bloody marks across his skin.
• Fang Xun concluded that the tribulation would alter his body and soul until he became the man described in the rumors.
• On the eighteenth day of the fourth month, Shentu Xin descended beneath East Mountain and detonated his remaining life essence, unleashing Heavenly Dao Severed Qi in a massive black pillar.
• A resentful voice accused Yin Fengshuo of breaking a promise to reshape its speaker’s body and declared that the Jun Family would not be bullied.
• The officials suspected Yin Fengshuo of secretly colluding with the Jun Family, but he dismissed the accusation as slander and framing.

Yin Fengshuo struggled to contain repeated eruptions of Heavenly Dao Severed Qi across Former Tomb Commandery and realized rumors surrounding him were drawing him into a Form-Transformation Origin-Substitution Tribulation. Lu Hanmo arrested him over alleged collusion with the Jun Family, but Shentu Xin unleashed an even greater outbreak as Yin was being taken away.

• Yin Fengshuo organized evacuations and relief efforts after Heavenly Dao Severed Qi erupted from shattered earth veins across Former Tomb Commandery.
• Shentu Xin repeatedly claimed that the Jun Family would not be bullied, triggering fresh eruptions and forcing officials to repair the earth veins over several days.
• Yin Fengshuo realized the rumors and disasters were pulling him into a Form-Transformation Origin-Substitution Tribulation alongside Fang Xun.
• Lu Hanmo arrived with a Black-Robed Envoy and ordered Yin Fengshuo arrested over alleged collusion with Shentu Xin and the Jun Family.
• As Yin Fengshuo was escorted out of his residence, Shentu Xin promised him another gift and caused a far more violent eruption of Heavenly Dao Severed Qi.

Yin Fengshuo and Lu Hanmo helped contain the Severed Qi eruption while a mysterious vortex drew in some of the black qi. Fang Xun evacuated East Mountain Town and thirteen nearby counties, but the Severed Qi continued climbing toward the refugees’ summit refuge.

• Yin Fengshuo asked Lu Hanmo to let him help quell the eruption, and Lu Hanmo joined him as officials raised a barrier around the raging Severed Qi.
• A vast vortex appeared in the sky and drew in black qi, easing pressure on the barrier and allowing officials to aid other stricken areas.
• Fang Xun ordered East Mountain Town’s residents to evacuate, and Zheng Zhi supported his warning after the ground shook.
• Fang Xun guided more than a hundred thousand refugees from thirteen counties into the mountains before black qi swallowed their abandoned towns.
• Fang Xun and the officials carried exhausted refugees uphill as the crowd gathered on the summit, where Fang warned them to keep climbing because the Severed Qi was still advancing.

Fang Xun burned his life force to hold back the Heavenly Dao Severed Qi and died protecting the people of East Mountain, while Yin Fengshuo arrived too late to save him. As Li Shun learned of the crisis, Kong Zhao ordered him to return to East Mountain.

• Fang Xun and dozens of East Mountain officials held back the rising Severed Qi until Fang Xun burned his life force, allowing Lu Hanmo, Yin Fengshuo, and their companions to arrive and suppress it.
• Yin Fengshuo received the crowd’s praise while Fang Xun realized the calamity qi still clung to him and resolved that he might have to die.
• Li Shun’s Threefold Self-Reflection revealed that, in another course of events, Fang Xun used Shentu Xin’s illusory image to accelerate the Severed Qi’s spread and died shielding the people before help arrived.
• Fang Han and the people condemned Yin Fengshuo for arriving late, and Yin Fengshuo learned that Fang Xun had died saving them.
• Li Shun received Kong Zhao’s message: “Return to East Mountain!”

Li Shun returned to East Mountain after Fang Xun died saving the people and investigated the rumors and failures surrounding the disaster. He published an eulogy praising Fang Xun and a proclamation accusing Governor Yin Fengshuo of negligence and demanding an investigation into the man-made catastrophe.

• Li Shun returned to ruined East Mountain and learned from Zheng Zhi that Fang Xun had been swallowed by the Heavenly Dao Severed Qi.
• Li Shun questioned the survivors, gathered their signed accounts, and traveled through Former Tomb Commandery to reconstruct what had happened.
• Li Shun asked Kong Zhao about the tribulation and Governor Yin Fengshuo, but Kong Zhao warned him not to investigate too deeply and urged him to focus on his future.
• Li Shun wrote an eulogy for Fang Xun and a proclamation denouncing Yin Fengshuo and calling for an investigation into the damaged earth veins.
• Li Shun's essay was posted throughout Former Tomb Commandery the next day.

After Fang Xun’s burial, Li Shun sought approval to build a shrine in East Mountain so people could honor his master. Zhao Cheng accepted a petition bearing thousands of names and handprints and promised to report the request to Duanmu Qiuche.

• Li Shun received mourners in an orderly fashion as his memorial essay spread and changed public sentiment in East Mountain.
• Officials and Confucian School members arrived to pay their respects to Fang Xun.
• On April twenty-ninth, Li Shun buried Fang Xun in a cenotaph and met Zhao Cheng at the graveside.
• Li Shun asked Zhao Cheng to help secure court approval for a shrine to Fang Xun in East Mountain.
• Li Shun presented a petition bearing thousands of names and handprints, and Zhao Cheng promised to report the request to Duanmu Qiuche.

After Fang Xun’s memorial, Zhao Cheng explained that Yin Fengshuo had been made a scapegoat for the Old Tomb disaster and invited Li Shun to train in the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven. Li Shun accepted the chance to take Fang Xun’s place in the Feast of the Hundred Schools, leaving him two years to reach the Spiritual Resonance Realm.

• Li Shun held a memorial for Fang Xun, then met Kong Zhao and Zhao Cheng at the East Mountain government offices.
• Zhao Cheng revealed that Yin Fengshuo had been sentenced to death and explained that the Old Tomb disaster stemmed from earth veins connected to the Heavenly Dao Severed Sea, while the court concealed the Right Chancellor’s role in sealing it.
• Zhao Cheng told Li Shun that his rapid advance to the Grand Simplicity Realm qualified him for direct-disciple status, though the ceremony would be delayed.
• Zhao Cheng explained that Li Shun was expected to take Fang Xun’s vacant place among the Confucian School’s three participants in the Feast of the Hundred Schools and reach the Spiritual Resonance Realm within two years.
• Kong Zhao offered Li Shun access to the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven, which could help him bypass advancement barriers but would make later breakthroughs far more difficult.
• Li Shun agreed to enter the grotto-heaven and was told to settle his affairs in East Mountain and travel there alone.

Li Shun prepared to enter the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven, entrusting Li Qing with maintaining Fang Xun Shrine and caring for Fang Han. In the Square Inch Space, he discovered that worship-generated Mystic Yellow Qi could make wishes come true, though its cost rose sharply with the distance between the present and the desired result.

• Li Shun explained to Li Qing why he would not inherit Warden Fang's post and said he would cultivate at the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven.
• Li Shun asked Li Qing to keep Fang Xun Shrine's incense burning for fifty years by spreading stories of Fang Xun and organizing worship, and to take Fang Han under his care.
• Li Shun entered the Square Inch Space and found that nearly half of the Mystic Yellow Qi gathered by Fang Xun flowed into it, transforming the space.
• Li Shun realized Fang Xun's status as a puppet before gathering Mystic Yellow Qi made him a link that let the Square Inch absorb it directly.
• Li Shun learned that Mystic Yellow Qi could fulfill wishes, but returning home required an incomprehensible amount and reaching the Heaven and Earth Realm required thirty-six epochs.
• Li Shun found that reaching the Spiritual Resonance Realm required ten strands of Mystic Yellow Qi, more than simply cultivating to that realm, and recalled Great Qian's policy to supervise its use without encouraging it.

Li Shun spent one thread of Mystic Yellow Qi to form a gate in the Square Inch Space that seemed to lead to another world and promised a way to gather more qi. He resisted the gate’s seductive influence and tried to send Shentu Xin’s phantom through, but the gate rejected it, leaving him uncertain whether puppets could cross.

• Li Shun realized that his existing sources of Mystic Yellow Qi were too slow and wondered how to obtain more.
• The Mystic Yellow Qi consumed one thread to create the Gate of Myriad Mysteries, which stirred Li Shun’s greed and urged him to enter.
• Li Shun halted himself and returned his consciousness to Great Qian, where Li Qing noticed his aura had become disorderly.
• After calming down, Li Shun considered closing the gate but decided to test it with a puppet instead.
• Li Shun sent Shentu Xin’s phantom toward the gate, but an invisible force stopped it, suggesting that non-living beings could not pass.

Li Shun and Kong Zhao discovered that Fang Han’s Creation had been forcibly seized, leaving him close to death and his cultivation ruined. As Fang Han’s condition worsened, Li Shun chose to offer him survival as a puppet within the Square Inch, and Fang Han agreed.

• Li Shun examined Fang Han and learned from Kong Zhao that someone had likely seized Fang Han’s Creation through a secret art.
• Kong Zhao explained that some clans stole talented descendants’ Creation, while Li Shun suspected the Fan Clan because Fang Han’s essence blood had been taken at birth.
• Kong Zhao said Fang Han could not be treated and would remain weak even if he survived, so Li Shun and Li Qing delayed their departure to care for him.
• As Fang Han’s life faded, Li Shun decided to make him a puppet within the Square Inch to save him.
• Li Shun entered Fang Han’s mind, explained that his Creation had been seized, and asked whether he wanted to live and seek revenge; Fang Han answered yes.

Li Shun brought Kong Zhao to the Kong Family’s blessed sanctuary on Dai Mountain and began cultivating in seclusion. Meanwhile, Li Qing went to investigate the theft of Fang Han’s Creation Realm, and Fang Han disappeared from the Great Qian World into Square Inch Space.

• Fang Han began recovering, and Li Shun asked Li Qing to investigate whether the Fan Clan arranged the theft of Fang Han’s Creation Realm and to identify the thief.
• Li Shun traveled with Kong Zhao to the Kong Family’s sanctuary inside Dai Mountain, passing through Peach Blossom Valley and its hidden entrance.
• Kong Zhao offered Li Shun a cottage and permission to explore the sanctuary, and Li Shun began his seclusion.
• Li Qing set out for Qingyuan County while Fang Han shut his door to visitors to recuperate.
• Fang Han faded from the Great Qian World and floated toward the Gate of Myriad Mysteries inside Square Inch Space.

Fang Han entered a new world where martial artists relied on body refinement and learned about the secret art Reclaim the Divine Peak. At the Dongning City Martial Arts Association, he tried to take the Mystic Yellow Qi from Long Xuanji’s statue, but a grandmaster’s tribulation struck him and turned him to ash.

• Fang Han entered a new world and learned that its martial arts realms culminated in the Innate Realm, while the secret art Reclaim the Divine Peak could briefly restore a fighter to their prime at a terrible cost.
• Fang Han traveled to the Dongning City Martial Arts Association, believing its seven statues might hold Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi.
• Fang Han saw immense Mystic Yellow Qi around the statues and focused on Long Xuanji, the most powerful of the seven.
• Fang Han touched Long Xuanji’s statue to claim its Mystic Yellow Qi, but the energy did not move and tribulation clouds gathered overhead.
• A lightning bolt struck Fang Han, turning him to ash.

Li Shun sent Fang Han into the Martial World, where Fang Han found that his Borrowing Longevity from Heaven technique could reach heaven but could not earn a response. After discovering his poor martial aptitude, Fang Han tried the Azure Wood Invocation, which stirred the world’s vitality.

• Li Shun reflected on the Outworld Heavenly Demons and concluded he would need to become an Innate Grandmaster to obtain Mystic Yellow Qi in the Martial World.
• Three days later, Fang Han arrived in Heavenly Eye City and learned that news of a grandmaster’s failed tribulation had spread from nearby Dongning City.
• Fang Han used Borrowing Longevity from Heaven to reach the heavens, but repeated requests to borrow lifespan went unanswered.
• Fang Han reasoned that the method worked but that he was too weak to negotiate with heaven, and he resolved to become the Martial World’s first lifespan borrower.
• Fang Han found that an afternoon of Body Refinement training brought no progress and concluded that his body lacked martial aptitude.
• Fang Han recalled the Azure Wood Invocation and began chanting it, causing the vitality of Heaven and Earth to surge.

Fang Han used Azure Wood Invocation to strengthen his body, learned that Martial Dao advancement required martial will, and discovered the legends of Long Xuanji and martial divine abilities. He then fought Duan Rui for an hour, healing through repeated injuries until Duan Rui conceded.

• Fang Han used Azure Wood Invocation to nourish and repair his body, bringing it to the apparent limit of the Body Tempering Realm.
• Fang Han studied Martial Dao and learned that battle-tempered martial will was needed to advance, then read about Long Xuanji and the divine abilities awakened by some Innate Grandmasters.
• Fang Han entered a sparring room and faced Duan Rui, a fellow Body Tempering Realm martial artist.
• Fang Han repeatedly healed from Duan Rui's blows with Azure Wood Invocation and kept fighting until Duan Rui exhausted himself and conceded.

Fang Han tempered his martial will by fighting thirteen matches and then taking assassination missions under the alias Li Shun, eventually killing Wang Feng. A Grandmaster named Luo Jinghai confronted and killed him, after which the story shifted to Li Shun in the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven seeking close-combat techniques.

• Fang Han won thirteen consecutive Body Tempering matches before abandoning open competition because it no longer challenged him.
• Fang Han joined the Black River Society as Li Shun and chose Wang Feng as his assassination target.
• Fang Han killed Wang Feng using his lifespan-burning technique, claimed his reward, and continued taking deadly missions to temper his martial will.
• Luo Jinghai found Fang Han and explained that Wang Quan had hired him after Fang Han's suspicious move and house purchase drew attention.
• Fang Han burned his lifespan and attacked Luo Jinghai with Foundation Fist Technique, then the scene shifted to Li Shun requesting close-combat manuals in the Kong Family Grotto-Heaven.

Fang Han descended into Heavenly Eye City in the body of the Fang Family's eldest young master, mastered the Emperor Fist, and used it to kill the Inner Force martial artist Luo Yu. After advancing to the Qi and Blood realm, he planned to challenge the True Qi realm guards protecting the Wang Family's heirs.

• Fang Han entered the Martial World again as the Body Tempering realm eldest young master of the Fang Family in Heavenly Eye City, whose fortunes depended on his grandfather Fang Dian and younger brother Fang Lie.
• Fang Han used Azure Wood Invocation to strengthen his body, then practiced the Emperor Fist until he mastered it during half a month of secluded cultivation.
• Fang Han scouted the Wang Family and learned that each of its six named heirs had a True Qi realm martial artist guarding him, so he abandoned his plan to attack them directly.
• Fang Han went to kill Luo Yu, an Inner Force martial artist from the Black River Society's target list, and endured Luo Yu's opening attack before striking with the Emperor Fist.
• Fang Han killed Luo Yu, healed his wounds with Azure Wood Invocation, and reached the Qi and Blood realm as he prepared to test himself against the Wang Family's guards.

After Wang Quan fled and Fang Dian died, Fang Han secretly protected the Fang Family before turning to ancient texts about the Ten Witches. His research led him to an isolated southern village, where the villagers recognized his Azure Wood Invocation and worshipped him.

• Fang Han learned that the Wang Family had abandoned Heavenly Eye City, then searched their empty residence and suspected Wang Quan could foresee the future.
• After Fang Dian died, Fang Lie drove off attackers and urged the Fang Family to consolidate its strength, while Fang Han secretly intimidated the factions threatening them.
• Fang Han found an ancient account of the Ten Witches and discovered that belief in them persisted in remote mountain villages.
• Fang Han broke through to the Inner Force realm, left a note, and traveled to an isolated village deep in the southern mountains.
• The villagers fell to their knees when Fang Han activated Azure Wood Invocation, and he stayed to learn their language, the witch tongue.

Fang Han learned the Witch Clan’s fragmented history, left the village with Ying, and returned to Heavenly Eye City, where he severed his ties with the Fang Family. He then returned to the Great Qian World after sensing Li Qing had arrived with the results of his investigation.

• Fang Han learned that the Ten Witches had vanished after an ancient calamity and that the Witch Clan’s written language had been lost.
• Fang Han failed to draw Mystic Yellow Qi through the villagers’ worship and continued cultivating while hunting dangerous beasts around the village.
• The villagers sent Ying to accompany Fang Han, and they traveled together back to Heavenly Eye City.
• Fang Han found the Fang Family occupying his villa, gave up the house, and rented a small courtyard with Ying.
• Fang Han sensed someone had triggered his ward, returned to the Great Qian World, and found Li Qing back from investigating the theft of his fortune.

After learning that Fan Cheng and Shao Lingxu were involved in the theft of his Creation, Fang Han chose to postpone revenge and focus on cultivation. He broke through to the True Qi Realm, then discovered that Heaven and Earth's Primordial Qi was concentrated in a few places before one concentration struck back at him.

• Li Qing told Fang Han that Fan Cheng had become Shao Lingxu's disciple soon after Fang Han's Creation was stolen, and Fang Han vowed to settle the debt later.
• Fang Han decided not to join the Confucian School and chose to focus on strengthening his body while considering which school to join.
• Li Qing left and quietly spread word of Fang Xun's heroic deeds, while Fang Han returned to the Martial World and found Ying still kneeling.
• A little over half a month later, Fang Han entered the True Qi Realm and realized his cultivation would slow without Primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth.
• Fang Han used the Twelve Longevity Method to examine the world and found Primordial Qi concentrated in a few places, but one concentration attacked him with killing intent and made him spit blood.