Chapter Summaries

Lu Qing traveled upstream through the River of Time to the Fourth Era, where he found the Dao-Seeking Hall preparing to open. The hall summoned a stairway of Dao Shadows to test him, and Lu Qing stepped forward to face the first trial.

• Figures within the Dao-Seeking Hall sensed its disturbance and realized an inheritor from a later age was preparing to open it.
• The Dao-Seeking disciples learned that the hall's opening required the inheritor to face the predecessors' trials and discussed the newcomer’s prospects.
• Lu Qing walked upstream along the River of Time, passed beyond his own era, and reached the Fourth Era’s Nine Heavens Cultivation Realm.
• Lu Qing sensed and located the Dao-Seeking Hall, then saw lights form a heavenly stairway lined with figures bearing different Dao foundations.
• Lu Qing recognized that the figures were Dao Shadows left by predecessors and stepped forward to face their Dao-combat trial.

Lu Qing ascended the Dao-Seeking Hall’s steps and received insights as he passed the figures representing the Great Dao. His progress stirred heavenly secrets across connected worlds and drew the attention of Profound Heaven sect masters, including one from the previous epoch, while Lu Qing continued toward the end of the road.

• Lu Qing stepped onto the first tier, causing its figure to vanish, and gained insight into how the Dao-Seeking Hall’s road distinguished levels of Great Dao cultivation.
• Lu Qing climbed the next tier, received another reward of enlightenment, and continued onward without lingering.
• Old Daoists beside Peach Blossom Creek noticed the heavens’ secrets shift and calculated that karma from the distant Nine Heavens realm had caused the change.
• The old Daoists suspected that a peerless talent had emerged and that a variable had appeared in the Immortal Path of that age.
• The contemporary sect master at the Mysterious Heaven Mountain Gate recognized that someone fated with the Dao-Seeking Hall’s heavenly secrets had arrived, while Profound Heaven sect masters in other worlds showed similar concern.
• As Lu Qing ascended, the figures above grew indistinct and their Great Dao radiance shone increasingly brightly.

Lu Qing climbed the Heaven-Ascending Path, where countless Daos from myriad worlds gathered before the Dao-Seeking Hall. Cultivators across different eras sensed the disturbance and discussed its possible effects, while Lu Qing focused on the opportunity to comprehend the Great Dao.

• Profound Heaven cultivators from earlier eras sensed the Dao-Seeking Hall's energy stirring and debated whether it would open for a destined person from the future.
• Cultivators in the Fourth Era noticed ripples in the River of Time but could not identify their source.
• Profound Heaven figures in Lu Qing's era discussed the Heaven-Ascending Path's benefits and the difficulty of reaching the Dao-Seeking Hall.
• Lu Qing climbed the steps and recognized each platform as a place where Dao Rhymes from myriad worlds gathered.
• Lu Qing continued upward, observing that Dao Shadows grew sparser on the higher steps.

Lu Qing reached the end of the fourth era’s steps and entered a third-era Dao Debate Assembly centered on cultivation treasures. He continued upward using the resonance of his Great Dao and manifested his Great Dao Seal, whose aura dimmed the treasures around it.

• Lu Qing encountered a greenwood Dao shadow that briefly regarded him before disappearing, then sensed that the fourth era’s path was nearly over.
• The Long River of Time came into clearer view beneath the steps as Lu Qing approached an older era.
• Lu Qing arrived at a jade platform where the third era’s steps displayed countless dharma treasures instead of Dao shadows.
• Lu Qing recognized the third era’s renown for artifact refinement and continued upward through his Great Dao resonance without needing a treasure.
• Lu Qing manifested his Great Dao Seal, and its aura caused the surrounding dharma treasures’ light to dim.

Lu Qing crossed another tier of the Dao-Seeking Hall as cultivators across the ages sensed that his Dao surpassed the treasures there. Meanwhile, his incarnations monitored changes across the Nine Heavens and the West Sea, where great sect cultivators gathered at the Immortal Continent Daoist Dojo.

• An elderly violet-robed cultivator sensed that the Dao-Seeking Hall's Karmic Affinity would not fall within his era and reflected on the changing heavenly signs.
• Lu Qing stood on another tier of white jade platforms as the aura of a Great Era surged toward him and distant gazes tried to discern the Heavenly Secrets.
• Lu Qing's Outer Sect incarnation reviewed reports about Strange Gate Temple, the Immortal Daoist Grounds, and dangers in the Southern Sea and North Sea.
• Lu Qing's West Sea incarnation observed that attention on the Daoist Dojo had diminished, the Heavenly Net Chessboard was gone, and its Heavenly Secrets had settled into Fixed Fate.
• Cultivators from various factions gathered in jade towers and halls near the Immortal Continent Daoist Dojo, and Ling Congzi arrived, presented a congratulatory gift, and took his seat.

Ling Congzi, an overseas West Sea cultivator and spirit herb master, attended a banquet in the Heaven of Universe and assessed the cultivators around him. Lu Qing’s incarnation recognized a strange Variable Fate hidden within Humanity Providence, which might alter the Fixed Fate surrounding the rise of the Humanity Human Emperor.

• Ling Congzi drank Jade Nectar and marveled at its ability to clear his mind.
• Ling Congzi recognized the cloud patterns on a nearby cultivator’s robes as the White Crane Flying Cloud Pattern associated with the Eastern Heaven Continent.
• A newcomer sat above Ling Congzi, asked whether he had come for the Daoist Dojo opportunity, and learned that the cup contained Jade Nectar.
• The master of the pavilion hall arrived as Ling Congzi looked up.
• Lu Qing’s incarnation sensed a Variable Fate cloaked in Humanity Providence and considered how it might change the Fixed Fate governing the Humanity Human Emperor’s emergence.

Lu Qing recognized Ling Congzi as an unforeseen variable in the Humanity Human Emperor’s succession, possibly a person from another age whose fate was tied to a White Marsh. As Ling Congzi attended a gathering for the Southern Departing Fire Divine Lord’s Daoist Dojo, Zhu Changshou approached him, while Lu Qing watched for signs of the variable’s awakening.

• Lu Qing realized Ling Congzi was an added variable among the Sons of the Humanity Human Emperor and suspected he came from another age.
• Lu Qing noticed that Ling Congzi carried the fate of another White Marsh and considered how the Divine Lord’s Domain in the Daoist Dojo might affect him.
• Lu Qing observed that the mighty beings of the Nine Heavens had stopped paying attention to the Daoist Dojo.
• Zhu Changshou, a True Disciple of Heavenwatch Tower, approached Ling Congzi and greeted him at the gathering.
• Zhu Changshou asked Ling Congzi several questions before turning to the other invited cultivators.

Lu Qing deduced that the earlier ominous Heavenly Secrets came from an outside force, and that the Daoist Dojo itself seemed peaceful. He connected the growing turmoil in the Nine Heavens’ Fate Allotment to the fragile Human Path and recognized a dormant Variable Fate within Ling Congzi.

• Lu Qing used the Heaven-Turning Divination to see that the Heavenly Secrets had become peaceful as the Auspicious Cloud and outside gaze disappeared.
• Lu Qing concluded that the earlier danger had come from outside the Daoist Dojo, though he could not rule out hidden arrangements left by its former master.
• Lu Qing judged the people in the hall to have favorable Fate Allotments and decided he had no reason to enter the Immortal Continent.
• Lu Qing observed that the Human Path’s rising fortunes and the intermingling Long River of Time would weaken the Heaven of Universe’s Humanity's Mortal-Dust Great Net.
• Lu Qing identified Ling Congzi’s dormant Variable Fate and believed it would awaken rapidly once its confusion was dispelled.

Lu Qing observed how the world’s transformation was producing more heavenly prodigies and increasingly elusive tribulations. At the Immortal Continent, cultivators still had not entered the Daoist dojo, and the Seeking Dao Immortal Sect argued that it needed a true name before they could approach it.

• Lu Qing reflected that the great transformation had made tribulations harder to detect and would bring fiercer struggles over the Hidden Dragon Ranking’s limited fate allotment.
• After Zhu Changshou’s banquet, Lu Qing looked over the mist-shrouded Immortal Continent and recalled the humanlike silhouette that had appeared there.
• Yu Huan, a rogue cultivator assigned by the Cloud Heaven Academy, waited outside the Immortal Continent to observe the beyond-heavens cultivators’ methods.
• Cultivators from the Seeking Dao Immortal Sect and others agreed that the Daoist dojo needed a true name to reflect its nature before anyone could enter.

Lu Qing considered how the Immortal Continent’s connection to Variable Fate might change what it contained, while powerful cultivators sought a way to enter it by obtaining True Names. Zhu Changshou agreed to cooperate with disciples of other major lineages, and Tu Miao'er urged her companions to act before he gained greater influence at Heavenwatch Tower.

• Lu Qing reasoned that the Immortal Continent could hold transformed remnants of the Primordial Era because it had become part of the game of Variable Fate.
• Yao'er and three blue-robed cultivators approached Zhu Changshou, proposing to cooperate and use Heavenwatch Tower’s Heavenwatch Mirror to find a way into the Immortal Continent.
• Zhu Changshou agreed to cooperate after Yao'er assured him that only those who obtained their True Names could share the Karmic Affinity needed to enter.
• Tu Miao'er told Qin Tianshi, Zhuang Chengkong, and Hua Guzhao to act quickly, warning them that Zhu Changshou might soon become one of Heavenwatch Tower’s eighteen core disciples.

Qin Tianshi, Zhuang Chengkong, Tu Miao'er, and Hua Guzhao discussed how to identify the true name of a Primordial Immortal’s dojo without provoking deadly backlash. Hua Guzhao summoned his fellow disciple Lou Hai, who brought out a jade cicada spirit treasure to divine the heavenly secrets.

• Qin Tianshi said the dojo’s immortal had mastered fire arts and was known as the Fire Law Dao Lord and Divine Lord Lihuo.
• The cultivators considered possible names for the dojo but could sense no connection to them, so Zhuang Chengkong suggested finding a heavenly secrets cultivator.
• Hua Guzhao said he knew a fellow disciple skilled in the Heavenly Secrets Path and called for Lou Hai.
• Lou Hai arrived, discussed the Ancient Heavenly Court era, and warned that divining the dojo’s true name would bring backlash.
• Lou Hai took out a luminous white jade cicada spirit treasure.

Tu Miao'er recognized Lou Hai's Jade Heavenly Secrets Cicada as a treasure of the famed Lou Clan, and Lou Hai used it to draw out a karmic true name. Lu Qing sensed the heavenly-secret disturbance and considered the Lou Clan's history while observing the mysterious Immortal Continent, whose connection to Southern Departing Fire Divine Lord remained unclear.

• Tu Miao'er identified Lou Hai's jade cicada as the Lou Clan's Jade Heavenly Secrets Cicada, prompting the others to recall the clan's former renown.
• Lou Hai began using the cicada, and its cry disturbed heavenly secrets as it tried to draw a karmic true name from the ancient past.
• Lu Qing sensed the disturbance and recognized the treasure as the Lou Clan's Jade Heavenly Secrets Cicada.
• Lu Qing reflected on the Lou Clan's decline and noted the fortune surrounding cultivators listed on the Hidden Dragon Ranking.
• Lu Qing watched cultivators gather around the hard-to-reach Immortal Continent and questioned its connection to Southern Departing Fire Divine Lord.

Lu Qing’s avatar waited amid the commotion over an Immortal’s True Name while Lu Qing’s main body explored the First Era through the River of Time. He found that the Dao-Seeking Hall reflected each era’s distinctive Energy Flow, but it had not appeared in the First Era’s river, leaving him to seek it within that ancient world.

• Cultivators gathered at the Immortal Continent debated the recorded name Departing Fire and its possible connection to Kan Water, while Lu Qing’s avatar waited and wondered how long the main body had been in the Dao-Seeking Hall.
• Lu Qing’s main body reached the First Era by tracing the River of Time back from his own time and observed its ancient, untamed world.
• Lu Qing considered how the Dao-Seeking Hall differed across the eras, reflecting each period’s Energy Flow and cultivation style.
• Lu Qing recalled that he had passed the Second Era’s Dao-Seeking Hall without seeing its Heaven-Ascending Path and wondered whether its secluded cultivation style had suited him.
• Lu Qing failed to find the First Era’s Dao-Seeking Hall in the River of Time and concluded that it must be situated within that era’s world.

Lu Qing realized that the Dao-Seeking Hall’s purpose in the First Epoch was tied to the newly born Immortal Path, and he suspected its Dao-Seeking Brush had fallen into that era. He traveled to the Nine Heavens cultivation world and arrived at an ancient mountain where he began seeking traces of immortals.

• Lu Qing inferred that the Dao-Seeking Hall was connected to the First Epoch’s newly born Immortal Path and that its Dao-Seeking Brush was likely there.
• Lu Qing entered the ancient era and reached a rural village beneath a renowned immortal mountain.
• The old village chief told the children that immortals lived in the mountain, though he had never confirmed the stories.
• Lu Qing, disguised as a green-robed scholar, told the village chief he had come to seek immortals.
• The village chief warned Lu Qing about wild beasts and recalled seeing a strange Immortal Sun Sea near the mountain when he was young.
• Lu Qing thanked the village chief, then stood on a stone platform to survey the immortal mountain.

Lu Qing reached Emerald Cloud Mountain, where he discovered that Emerald Cloud Temple was debating a sweeping reform of Immortal Path cultivation in the changed world after the Primordial Era. The temple master argued that heaven and its new Tribulation Qi made the old cultivation path impossible to sustain, while the elders resisted changing their inherited Dao.

• Lu Qing studied Emerald Cloud Mountain’s strange spiritual energy and concluded that genuine cultivators likely lived there.
• Lu Qing learned that cultivators called the mountain Emerald Cloud Mountain and that Emerald Cloud Temple stood on it.
• Emerald Cloud Temple’s elders rejected adopting the newly emerging Great Dao methods and defended their inherited cultivation path.
• The temple master warned that the world had changed since the Primordial Era and that the old path had contributed to heaven and earth’s inability to bear immortal cultivation.
• The temple master said the Immortal Path and the other Six Paths would have to change, then fell silent after declaring that the transformation could not be resisted.

Lu Qing arrived at Emerald Cloud Temple seeking the Immortals said to dwell on its mountain, and the temple’s cultivators welcomed him as an extraordinary guest. After hearing that he had recently emerged from seclusion, the temple master began explaining how the cultivation world had changed.

• The cultivators of Emerald Cloud Temple discussed whether anyone could still attain the longevity of the Primordial Immortals.
• Lu Qing reached Emerald Cloud Temple and told the elderly cultivator at its gate that he had come seeking Immortals.
• The elderly cultivator invited Lu Qing inside, and the temple master and other cultivators greeted him warmly.
• Lu Qing introduced himself and asked what had happened in the cultivation world beyond the mountains.
• The temple master told Lu Qing that cultivation had changed greatly and began recounting recent events.

Lu Qing learned that major sects were transforming the Immortal Path to cleanse Heaven and Earth of lingering Tribulation Qi, resentment, and Killing Intent. He was invited to the Green Duckweed Discourse in seven days and suspected that the Great Dao across all Six Paths was changing, with Dao-Seeking Hall connected to those changes.

• Lu Qing discussed with Emerald Cloud Temple cultivators how changes in Heaven and Earth were making cultivation difficult.
• An Emerald Cloud Temple elder explained that the Golden Cloud Sect and other major factions had foreseen bloodshed and the extinction of Daoist lineages unless the Immortal Path was transformed.
• The cultivators said leading figures from several sects and the three great Heavens were transforming the Immortal Path while working to cleanse Heaven and Earth's Killing Intent and resentment.
• An elder invited Lu Qing to the Green Duckweed Discourse on Green Duckweed Mountain in seven days, where cultivators would debate the new and Primordial Era methods.
• Lu Qing accepted the news and reflected that all Six Paths might be changing, with Dao-Seeking Hall's trace likely among them.

Lu Qing learned that the Immortal Cloud Sun Sea above Emerald Cloud Temple reflected a Primordial Era sect and considered whether similar Reincarnations connected the two eras. After sensing the temple’s future hardships, he granted it a Heavenly Secret Thread that could open a path to better fortune.

• Xiao Wu brought Lu Qing breakfast and explained that the cloud-top palaces reflected a sect from the Primordial Era.
• Lu Qing recalled a similar mountain sect he had encountered in the Primordial Era and wondered whether the two places represented similar Reincarnations.
• Lu Qing sensed Emerald Cloud Temple’s aura and a faint connection to the Primordial Era.
• Lu Qing saw hardships in Emerald Cloud Temple’s future Destiny and bestowed a Heavenly Secret Thread that could help its people overcome them.

Lu Qing reflected on the resolve required to pursue the Dao without waiting for perfection, then traveled toward Green Duckweed Mountain to attend the Green Duckweed Discourse. The chapter ended as cultivators arrived at pavilions beside Green Duckweed Lake.

• Lu Qing realized that pursuing the Dao sometimes required pressing forward despite uncertainty and imperfection.
• Lu Qing perceived strange energies linking distant figures to the mortal world and sensed traces of reincarnation around Emerald Cloud Mountain.
• Lu Qing studied the map from the master of Emerald Cloud Temple and located Green Duckweed Mountain in the Central Land of the Eastern Court Divine Province.
• Lu Qing considered how the Green Duckweed Discourse might reveal the mysteries behind the new and old cultivation paths and the Dao-Seeking Hall.
• Lu Qing disappeared from the lakeside, and cultivators arrived in streaks of light at the pavilions surrounding Green Duckweed Lake.

Cultivators from many lineages gathered beneath Green Duckweed Mountain for the Green Duckweed Discourse, including disciples from Beyondworld Mountain. As the Beyondworld disciples arrived, their traveling senior brother reflected that their secluded realm had never truly escaped the wider cultivation world.

• Cultivators beneath Green Duckweed Mountain used their robes' cloud patterns to identify Dao lineages and kept their distance from ancient sects.
• A cultivator explained that the Beyondworld Mountain disciples cultivated in a realm opened by the Beyondworld True Person, where worldly tribulation aura was weaker.
• The Beyondworld Mountain disciples arrived, and a junior brother privately complained about gathering in such a crowded place.
• The senior brother considered whether Beyondworld Mountain's isolation had helped or harmed its disciples and doubted that it had escaped the cultivation world's reach.
• Clouds surged across heaven and earth, and thunder shook the world.