Chapter Summaries

Cultivators discussed Heavenly Sun Mountain’s arrival and the dangers and opportunities surrounding the returning Heavenly Sun Earth Continent. At the Profound Heaven Dao Sect, Bai Sheng’s fading obsession could not recall his Dao, but Fu Huazi suggested that lingering karmic affinity might allow him to return.

• Cultivators speculated that Heavenly Sun Mountain was connected to the Primordial Era and noted that Tu Miao'er and other Demon Race prodigies had joined the contest for its Variable Fate.
• Experts at the Seeking Dao Immortal Sect discussed Heavenly Sun Mountain’s hidden secrets, the deaths of Rogue Cultivators who had visited it, and how strong Fate Allotment might protect those who went there.
• The Seeking Dao Immortal Sect’s elders lamented losing the Seeking Dao Immortal Cauldron and discussed the difficulty of suppressing their sect’s Fate Allotment without it.
• At the Profound Heaven Dao Sect, Jiang Wuya asked Bai Sheng whether he remembered who had attacked him, and Bai Sheng said he remembered neither the attacker nor his own Dao.
• Fu Huazi told Bai Sheng that his remaining karmic affinity might give him a way to return despite his Dao having become empty.

Fu Huazi foresaw a future calamity and sent White Crane Ancestor to investigate several named figures while Bai Sheng sought refuge in the Dao Sect Treasury. Lu Qing opened the gate to the Great Dao and merged his Dao Heart with it, leaving the world around him motionless as a nameless terror stirred.

• Fu Huazi saw a future calamity and told Bai Sheng to seek survival in the Dao Sect Treasury.
• Yu Youshu suspected that the Dao Sect’s ancient enemy had survived the calamity from three thousand years earlier.
• Fu Huazi asked White Crane Ancestor to make a journey and gave him several names to pursue.
• Lu Qing opened the gate before him and declared that his Dao was that only he was natural.
• Lu Qing merged a thread of thought from his Dao Heart with the Great Dao, and the wind, clouds, and rain fell still across tens of thousands of miles.

Lu Qing used a rare resonance of heaven, earth, and people to glimpse the Reincarnation Nether Sea and deepen his understanding of the Reincarnation Dao as he crossed into the Dongzhen Realm. In the No-Dao Hall, Demonic Path elders chose to hide their strength and have Wuwei Old Devil inform the Five Elders.

• Lu Qing’s tribulation crossing made hidden cultivators sense a Bell Shadow that identified him, while some resented how quickly and calmly he advanced.
• Lu Qing briefly saw the Nether Sea and gained further insight into the Reincarnation Dao before returning his attention to himself.
• Demonic Cultivators in the No-Dao Hall discussed Lu Qing’s advance and decided to avoid confronting the Immortal Path while Fate Allotment remained strong.
• The Demonic Cultivators agreed to seek instruction from the Five Elders, and Wuwei Old Devil said he would inform them.

Lu Qing calmly passed his tribulation and entered the Dongzhen Realm, where his Spiritual Heart revealed the meaning of his past trials and the road that had brought him there. As his past selves acknowledged him, they merged into his Great Dao, leaving him alone as the sole bearer of his Dao.

• Heart Fox sensed a faint trace of Energy Flow within Elder Wuwei’s deathly aura and grew wary as the Five Elders appeared in the No-Dao Hall.
• Lu Qing withdrew his gaze from the scene in the Southern Heaven Continent and reached the Dongzhen Realm.
• Lu Qing reflected that the Golden Core realm shaped one’s preparation for tribulations and that entering Dongzhen let him understand the tribulations of earlier realms.
• Lu Qing saw the figures of his past selves appear along his Great Dao, each recalling moments from his cultivation journey.
• Lu Qing’s past selves nodded to him, then transformed into streams of light that became him, leaving him as the sole presence upon the endless Great Daos.

Lu Qing entered the Dongzhen Realm, startling the Profound Heaven Bell, the Profound Heaven Mirror, the Profound Heaven Sword, and the Dao Sect’s leaders with how quickly he had advanced. The sect decided to reward him with a journey to Yellow Heaven so he could perfect his Three Spirits.

• The Profound Heaven Bell concealed Lu Qing’s Dongzhen Tribulation from those watching the River of Time, fearing they might see him as the final bearer of Immortal Path Fate Allotment.
• The Profound Heaven Mirror admitted that Lu Qing’s progress had exceeded its expectations, while the Profound Heaven Sword said it had recognized him.
• The Profound Heaven Bell told the Council Hall that a Profound Heaven disciple had entered the Dongzhen Realm, and the leaders later discussed Lu Qing’s achievement.
• Fu Huazi raised Lu Qing’s reward and proposed sending him to Yellow Heaven to refine his Three Spirits.
• Yu Youshu and the others accepted Fu Huazi’s plan, and Zhang Qingyun reflected that Lu Qing should be allowed to cultivate on his own.

After Lu Qing entered the Dongzhen Realm, the Profound Heaven Sect’s Chiefs discussed his reward and whether to tell him about his past and the Demon Domain. White Crane Ancestor and Yu Youshu’s incarnation visited Lu Qing, bringing a Jade Slip filled with information.

• The Chiefs decided to use Lu Qing’s reward to ask where he wished to take an Immortal post, and Li Luoyang agreed not to interfere with his path.
• Yu Youshu arranged to accompany White Crane Ancestor to visit Lu Qing, while the Chiefs debated whether to tell him about the Dao Academy and the Demon Domain.
• Lu Qing sensed White Crane Ancestor approaching and went out to greet him.
• Yu Youshu introduced himself as Senior You and teased Lu Qing for not visiting his formation lineage.
• White Crane Ancestor gave Lu Qing a Jade Slip that revealed information the Chiefs had discussed.

After choosing to remain at Spirit Plant Peak, Lu Qing received a glimpse of Yu Youshu’s Dao and was urged to visit Wufa. Preparing to travel to the Heavenly Domain and conceal his Daoist Dojo, he awakened the wisdom of a long-dormant Stone Vein.

• Lu Qing chose to remain at Spirit Plant Peak, and Yu Youshu praised his resolve.
• Yu Youshu bestowed a glimpse of his Dao upon Lu Qing and suggested that he visit Wufa to study its many Dao paths.
• Lu Qing decided to travel to the Heavenly Domain and the Demon Domain, while planning to conceal his Daoist Dojo before departing.
• Lu Qing used Qing Feng to awaken Wisdom Light within the Stone Vein of the southern mountain peak.

Lu Qing enlightened the Stone Vein, named it Chaosheng, and entrusted its care to the White Crane Boy before heading north toward the Heavenly Domain. On the way, he observed the merging realms and the lingering dangers of the Eight Wastelands.

• Lu Qing enlightened the Stone Vein, named it Chaosheng, and instructed it to cultivate diligently.
• Lu Qing told the White Crane Boy about Chaosheng and asked him to have White Marsh guide the new spirit.
• Lu Qing traveled north toward Heavenly Sun Mountain and saw a mountain range crossing the sea from the Eastern Heaven Continent.
• Lu Qing observed the Fate Allotments of two realms merging and reflected on how the Nine Heavens had expanded to encompass other worlds.
• Lu Qing sensed Ancient Demonic Path Energy Flow in the Eight Wastelands and saw its turbid qi and Killing Intent still resisting purification.
• Lu Qing recalled that Senior Brother Wang Chunfeng had reached the Primordial Spirit realm and that the Eight Wastelands’ Cause and Effect on him had diminished.

Lu Qing returned to the Dao Academy, accepted a Formation Dao Jade Slip from Elder Liu, and traveled to the Southern Sea to investigate the seals connected to the Demon Domain. He found a formation altar beneath the sea and suspected it was one of the seals, as he sought to reduce the damage from the Demon Domain’s breach and sever its connection to the Heavenly Domain.

• Elder Liu gave Lu Qing a Formation Dao Jade Slip and wished him caution as he set out for the Four Seas.
• Lu Qing reflected on Karmic Affinity and how he incorporated other cultivators’ inheritances into his own Dao.
• Lu Qing used the Sea-Calming Pearl to part the Southern Sea and descended toward its dark, lifeless depths.
• Lu Qing found a hundred-zhang altar that he suspected was one of the Demon Domain’s seals.

Lu Qing studied the destructive Formation Dao sealed beneath the Southern Sea altar and compared it with the Dao Rhymes of two Dao Academy elders. He remained committed to his own path as he continued examining the altar’s pure Annihilation Formation Dao.

• Lu Qing identified the altar’s Formation Dao as a Life-Killing Formation Dao whose True Intent existed solely to annihilate.
• He sat on the altar and used his Great Dao Jade Slip to explore three Formation Dao worlds formed from different Dao Rhymes.
• Lu Qing observed a senior Chief’s Formation Dao, where birth and extinction coexisted in each moment.
• He recognized Elder Liu’s world as a Heaven’s Will Formation Dao that preserved a sliver of life beneath the Heaven’s Way, and understood the solace Elder Liu had found in passing on her Dao.
• Lu Qing examined the altar’s own Dao Rhymes and found an Annihilation Formation Dao of pure, terrifying destruction.

Lu Qing studied the Slaughter True Intent at a sealed Formation Eye and gained insight into how it could restrain what the formation contained. As he comprehended Dao Intent, a Reincarnation World emerged in his Inner World, deepening his connection with Heaven and Earth and leaving him to suspect that the unrest reached beyond the known cultivation world.

• Lu Qing realized the Slaughter True Intent could serve as a seal and resolved to guard the Formation Eye against waves from the broken seal.
• He sat down to comprehend the Dao Intent and saw a world bearing a trace of Reincarnation emerge in his Inner World.
• Lu Qing descended to the bank of a Netherworld River and connected its annihilation True Intent with his Reincarnation Great Dao.
• He considered the difficulty of advancing his cultivation and concluded that his Dao Heart helped protect him from being assimilated by the Great Dao.
• Lu Qing's Reincarnation World deepened his connection with Heaven and Earth, prompting him to question the relationship between the Nine-Nether and the Nether Sea.
• He sensed that unrest extended beyond the Earth Continents and the cultivation forces known on the surface.

Lu Qing dissolved the great formation and separated the Fate Allotment of the two great domains, while his actions sent a ripple through the Nether Sea. The Gray Crow sensed the present world’s Reincarnation Dao stirring and feared what its emergence meant.

• Lu Qing considered how the arrival of Heavenly Sun and the Demon Domain’s approaching emergence coincided with the growing Fate Allotment of the Eight Wastelands.
• A Gray Crow in the Nether Sea sensed a ripple bearing the aura of the present world and feared that someone had walked a Reincarnation Great Dao.
• After seven days, Lu Qing contained the altar’s ripples, watched its Formation Eye dissolve, and let the altar vanish without triggering its Annihilation True Intent.
• Lu Qing dispersed the final trace of Karmic Affinity, completing the separation of the Heavenly Domain’s Fate Allotment from that of the other great domain.
• Lu Qing left the Southern Sea and saw chaotic Fate Allotment merge into the Demon Path.

Lu Qing watched the sealed Demon Domain emerge and considered how the new Variable Fates would affect the Nine Heavens. He returned to his Daoist Dojo, where the Star Tree had grown stronger, and anticipated the coming upheaval around Heavenly Sun Earth Realm.

• Lu Qing saw the Demon Domain appear as the currents of Fate Allotment shifted, and observed powerful demons emerge within it.
• Lu Qing perceived conflicting Heavenly Secrets about the Demon Domain’s emergence and judged that the situation remained within the expectations of those guiding events.
• After seven days, Lu Qing left messages for the Dao Academy elders, recorded the altar and Annihilation Formation Intent, and returned to the Daoist Dojo.
• On his journey back, Lu Qing saw Heavenly Sun Mountain nearing a boundary and considered the opportunities and likely conflicts awaiting cultivators in Heavenly Sun Earth Realm.
• Lu Qing settled beneath the Star Tree to review his gains and observed that the tree had changed enough to approach giving birth to Spirit Light.

Lu Qing used Moon Essence from the Star Tree to create a rain that spread across the Daoist Dojo, Immortal City, and surrounding lands, enriching nearby beings. As White Marsh and Chaosheng absorbed the rain, spirit beasts across the region also gained clarity and felt the world’s Killing Intent ease.

• Lu Qing let the Star Tree continue cultivating on its own, and it offered him a cloud of pure Moon Essence.
• Lu Qing infused the Moon Essence with Dao Rhyme and turned it into a rain that spread across the Daoist Dojo, Immortal City, and nearby wilderness.
• White Marsh noticed the Moonlight Rain and urged Chaosheng to sit and absorb it.
• Spirit beasts throughout the surrounding lands absorbed the rain, finding their intelligence clearer and the Killing Intent of heaven and earth diminished.

Moonlight Rain from an exalted expert brought spiritual creatures and cultivators across the region insight and a chance to cultivate. After one greedy cultivator failed to seize more than his share, the Immortal City’s residents recognized the rain as a gift from the Daoist Dojo’s master and settled into peaceful cultivation.

• The Moonlight Rain cleared minds and deepened the cultivation insights of spiritual creatures, travelers, and cultivators throughout the mountains and Immortal City.
• A cultivator drove others away to claim the rain for himself, but found that he could not refine its Moon Essence power and lost control of his state of mind.
• A Primordial Spirit elder warned his green-robed grandson that greed could damage a cultivator’s Dao Heart, and the boy asked who had bestowed the Creation.
• The elder explained that the exalted expert dwelled quietly in the mountains, and the boy recognized the master of the Daoist Dojo from stories he had heard.
• After witnessing the greedy cultivator’s failure, other residents abandoned their selfish impulses and accepted the rain as a blessing they should not try to monopolize.

Lu Qing taught the Star Tree about single-minded cultivation while rain nourished its growing spirituality. In the Immortal City, his avatar received an invitation to Sword-Pillow Mountain, which revealed a hidden thread of Dao Rhyme and a troubling glimpse of the future.

• Lu Qing told the Star Tree to focus wholeheartedly on cultivation and let it seek the meaning of one heart after its Wisdom Light emerged.
• Rain transformed into Moon Essence across Lu Qing’s Daoist Dojo for a day and a night before fading.
• An attendant told Lu Qing’s Red Dust Avatar that Chen Su of Sword-Pillow Blessed Land had come with an elder’s invitation.
• Chen Su invited Clearless to Sword-Pillow Mountain, but Lu Qing’s avatar said he had no time to attend.
• The invitation revealed Dao Rhyme Spirit Script that Chen Su could not comprehend, and Lu Qing sensed hidden Heavenly Secrets and a gray mist suggesting trouble at Sword-Pillow Mountain.

Lu Qing considered the possible link between Sword-Pillow Blessed Land and the coming return of Heavenly Sun, then focused on entering Yellow Heaven. He arrived in a mountain wilderness and discovered a world pervaded by profound Earth Vein Qi.

• Lu Qing sensed an unusual trace of Six Paths Fate Allotment and suspected Sword-Pillow Blessed Land would become the first site of conflict before Heavenly Sun's return.
• Chen Su saw Martial Granduncle manifest a spiritual presence and hurried back toward Sword-Pillow Blessed Land, noting the prominent names invited to Sword-Pillow Mountain.
• White Marsh and Stone Vein Chaosheng planned work in the Spirit Fields while Azure Snake, Mountain Tiger, White Crane Boy, and the yellow sparrows pursued their own activities and cultivation.
• Lu Qing used the Jade Slip to enter Yellow Heaven through Divine Wandering of the Primordial Spirit.
• Lu Qing explored a mountain wilderness and sensed ancient, weighty Earth Vein Energy Flow in the water and throughout the world.

Lu Qing explored Yellow Heaven and discovered that its cities, landscapes, and inhabitants were formed from the lingering obsessions of fallen Dao Inquiry cultivators who had sought a path beyond the end of cultivation. He paid his respects to those predecessors, whose efforts deepened his understanding of Earth Veins and the pursuit of the Dao.

• Lu Qing entered a city and realized its people and buildings were fragments left by a fallen cultivator, while the world’s Earth Vein Energy Flow was real.
• He discovered an ancient hall containing the lingering obsession of a cultivator who had attained Dao Inquiry but failed to reach Transcendence.
• Lu Qing encountered other fallen Dao seekers, whose fragments had become landscapes and who had left behind words about the road ahead.
• He understood that Yellow Heaven held the final attempts of ancient cultivators to reconnect the path beyond Dao Inquiry, even though the way forward seemed to be Voidness.
• Lu Qing offered incense to the Dao and to the predecessors who had sacrificed themselves in pursuit of it.

Lu Qing entered Houtu Yellow Heaven to study its Earth Veins and the imprints left by past seekers of the Dao, despite the danger that those imprints could shatter a cultivator’s Dao Heart. As he observed Yellow Heaven, the Three Spirits reached completion, astonishing the figures watching from the Cloud Platform and the academy head, Fu Huazi.

• Lu Qing walked through Yellow Heaven and contemplated its Earth Veins, the Dao Rhymes of earlier cultivators, and the mysteries of the Primordial Era.
• The figures on the Cloud Platform discussed the five steps of Dongzhen and warned that Yellow Heaven’s imprints could devastate even a steadfast cultivator’s Dao Heart.
• The observers noted that Lu Qing had entered Yellow Heaven soon after reaching Dongzhen, but trusted that his naturally formed Dao Heart would withstand its trials.
• Yellow Heaven trembled as ancient Earth Qi churned and its Earth Veins stirred in response to Lu Qing.
• The observers realized that Lu Qing had completed the Three Spirits, and Fu Huazi appeared above the Cloud Platform and remarked that Heavenly Secrets were forty-nine.

Lu Qing spent three years cultivating in Yellow Heaven and took the first step of the Dongzhen Realm, Dao Manifestation, causing a tributary to emerge from the River of Time. His breakthrough astonished powerful observers, and a black coffin in the remote Void Ground began to pulse with Energy Flow.

• White Crane Ancestor and the others observed Lu Qing’s cultivation, while Zhang Qingyun recognized the scale of his Great Dao.
• Lu Qing remained immersed in cultivation for three years as the seasons passed in Yellow Heaven.
• Lu Qing opened his eyes, rose on a cloud, and took the first step of Dongzhen: Dao Manifestation.
• Lu Qing’s manifested Dao stirred the River of Time, where a Time Tributary slowly emerged.
• Powerful figures sensed the new tributary and questioned Lu Qing’s origins, while Energy Flow pulsed from a black coffin in the Void Ground.