Chapter Summaries

Lu Qing attended Profound Heaven Dao Sect’s gathering of Dao Lords and learned that a vast variable tied to the Ancient Era was approaching. As the festivities continued below, Zhang Yunchuan sensed something stir within his divine sense, and his fortune began to change.

• Fu Huazi told Lu Qing that the greatest variable yet had arrived and was connected to the Ancient Era.
• Lu Qing observed the arriving Ghost Path lineages and other Dao Lords, who were astonished by how young he was.
• Dao Lords from the Scarlet Heaven Dao Sect, Grand Heaven Dao Sect, Seeking Dao Immortal Sect, Ghost Path, and Demon Path toasted the new fellow Daoist.
• Zhang Yunchuan and Lu Chenyuan explored the gathering’s elaborate seating areas as the Profound Heaven sect master appeared and welcomed the guests.
• Zhang Yunchuan sensed something appear in his divine sense, and the fortune above his head began to transform.

Lu Qing reflected on fate, the stars beyond the heavens, and the hidden truths surrounding the Void Ground. At the Dao Lords’ gathering, Dao Lord Dumi invited him to join the Heavenly Net Chessboard and hinted that major variables would soon arise.

• Lu Qing considered how powerful figures might shape fate by placing pieces far in advance and recalled the stellar omens and mighty beings he had once witnessed.
• Lu Qing suspected that powerful old monsters remained hidden beyond the vanished Void Ground.
• Dao Lord Dumi approached Lu Qing and asked whether he would participate in the Heavenly Net Chessboard.
• Lu Qing agreed, and Dao Lord Dumi offered his help and said he wanted to build a good connection before variables arose.
• After Dumi left, Lu Qing suspected the coming variables would have a broad impact and might connect to the final variables.

At the Profound Heaven Seven-Day Banquet, Lu Qing examined the Dao Lords, reflected on lifespan and the Dao of Longevity, and considered how he would continue cultivating. The gathering then turned to friendly duels, where young cultivators competed while the elders watched.

• Lu Qing observed the lone Incense Divine Path Dao Lord and realized that his attainment rested on more than the path of incense deities.
• Lu Qing studied the great Daos beyond heaven and the lifespans of the Dao Lords, concluding that transcending reincarnation, time, and heaven and earth was essential.
• Lu Qing chose to begin exploring longevity through divine abilities and considered the Long River of Time as a place to cultivate.
• The banquet’s guests presented Lu Qing with rare congratulatory gifts, though he found that many treasures no longer suited his needs.
• The banquet hosted friendly duels for the gathered prodigies, while elderly cultivators watched the arena from the sidelines.

Cultivators discussed Profound Heaven’s four Dao Children, their fortunes, and their ties to the Profound Heaven Dao Academy in the Heavenly Domain. A plain-looking Void Realm cultivator with a cloth-wrapped sword listened nearby as the scene left his identity unexplained.

• Cultivators observed that Profound Heaven had four Dao Children whose fortunes shone exceptionally brightly.
• A cultivator explained that three Dao Children came from the Profound Heaven Dao Academy in the Heavenly Domain, and suggested the fourth was connected to it as well.
• A middle-aged cultivator cautioned his companion against discussing the Dao Lord openly and redirected their conversation toward the Heavenly Domain.
• A young Void Realm cultivator with plain robes and a cloth-wrapped sword stood nearby, claiming he had greeted the three Dao Children in the past.

Shang Wuliang returned to Profound Heaven with Broken Sword, while Broken Sword worried about the Dao Lord and wondered why it had been allowed to approach people favored by fortune. At a gathering of Dao Lords, the Profound Heaven sect master revealed that the heavenly secrets were chaotic and that the Ancient Era was tied to a final change, leaving the others wary of what might come.

• Broken Sword warned Shang Wuliang not to draw the Dao Lord's attention, and Shang Wuliang promised to be cautious.
• Broken Sword reflected on choosing Shang Wuliang as a host and regretted how it had once acted toward Profound Heaven.
• Lu Qing joined the Dao Lords' gathering as a Heavenly Net Chessboard appeared above the sea of clouds.
• Beidou Dao Lord asked whether Profound Heaven had glimpsed changes in the heavenly secrets, directing the question toward Lu Qing and reincarnation.
• The Profound Heaven sect master said the heavenly secrets were chaotic and that the Ancient Era was connected to the final change.
• The Dao Lords discussed the change's scale and the possibility that it could draw the attention of distant powers and forbidden lands.

Lu Qing listened as Dao Masters discussed the dangers and growing variables of the coming Ancient Era, then watched them assign their attention across the cultivation world. He claimed a strand of fortune tied to the Long River of Time, where he intended to cultivate.

• Dao Masters warned that the Long River of Time and forbidden grounds concealed mysteries, and that powerful beings might return anew as the Ancient Era approached.
• The sect leader True Person organized Dao Masters to watch the Heavenly Net Chessboard, the Long River of Time, the void beyond the heavens, and other regions.
• Dao Masters claimed assignments, including the Supreme Unity Immortal Court taking responsibility for the North Sea's void and the Great Compassionate True Buddha choosing the western reaches beyond the heavens.
• Lu Qing claimed a strand of fortune for the Long River of Time, surprising several Dao Masters before they recalled his past influence there.
• The gathered Dao Masters distributed fortune across the cultivation world, seeking to reveal the heaven's secrets of its growing variables.

After the Profound Heaven Banquet, Lu Qing questioned Yu Youshu about variables in the past and learned that the ancient era remained alive, with some immortals possibly still enduring its calamities. Meanwhile, Zhang Yunchuan left transformed by the banquet, and the Nine Heavens continued to expand.

• Lu Qing expounded his Great Dao during the banquet and discussed with Yu Youshu how Dao Lords taught and perceived the world's variables.
• Yu Youshu explained that the Eight Wastelands' variables lay beyond fate and heavenly secrets, and that the ancient era was still alive, unlike the severed Eight Wastelands.
• Lu Qing inferred that some ancient immortals might have survived, and Yu Youshu warned that great changes could affect even Dao Lords.
• Zhang Yunchuan departed the Profound Heaven Dao Sect with his providence ignited, while Lu Chenyuan reflected on the gains they had made at the banquet.
• The Nine Heavens continued expanding, with growing distances between Immortal Cities and increasing numbers of spiritual objects.

The Hidden Dragon Ranking placed the previously unknown Ye Kong in first place, drawing attention from geniuses across the Nine Heavens. In the West Sea, Lu Qing watched the Strange Gate Temple and concluded that its destined affinity did not belong to this era as a treasure boat emerged from the painting scroll.

• Cultivators discussing the Immortal Gate Feast noticed that Ye Kong had suddenly taken first place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking.
• A young man eating in a tavern wondered why the Qilin Child had lost first place, then sensed that Ye Kong had ordinary roots.
• Geniuses and powerful elders began trying to deduce Ye Kong’s origins, stirring the currents of heavenly secrets and destiny fortune.
• Lu Qing observed the Strange Gate Temple and inferred that its destined affinity lay outside the current spacetime era.
• A solemn treasure boat crossed through the air from within the painting scroll.

Lu Qing’s incarnation watched Zhu Changshou and the others emerge from a Divine Lord’s dao field, then discovered Huang Wuxuan’s killing intent toward Ling Congzi amid the West Sea’s growing Human Path variables. Meanwhile, Lu Qing’s main body stayed at Profound Heaven Dao Sect to establish the Dao-Seeking Main Lineage, which had settled into its routines by spring.

• Lu Qing’s incarnation saw Zhu Changshou and the other Heavenwatch Tower disciples escape the Reincarnation Scroll, and Zhu reassured Yao'er and the narrow-eyed young man that he would honor their agreement.
• After the others departed, Zhu Changshou questioned Ling Congzi, who asked only for rare spirit plant seeds, while Zhu remained wary of his strange behavior.
• Lu Qing’s incarnation assessed the changing Human Path fortune and recognized Huang Wuxuan directing killing intent at Ling Congzi, identifying both men as variables in the West Sea.
• Lu Qing’s incarnation concluded that the crowded West Sea drew the attention of several powers and faded from view, while his main body remained at Profound Heaven Dao Sect to oversee the Dao-Seeking Main Lineage.
• By spring, Lu Qing saw the Dao-Seeking Main Lineage running smoothly alongside the busy Outer Sect Main Lineage.

Lu Qing considered the Dao-Seeking Hall and Outer Sect Main Lineage before examining the blood-red future he had glimpsed. He concluded that the coming ancient epoch might bring a vast, unavoidable catastrophe and decided to investigate reincarnation.

• Lu Qing reflected on the Dao-Seeking Hall’s high threshold and the Outer Sect Main Lineage’s large, lively population, and remained unconcerned about governing either lineage.
• Lu Qing considered how the Dao Masters were expanding the variables in the great age and sensed that the ancient epoch would not be the final, greatest upheaval.
• Lu Qing foresaw blood-red light and calamity spreading across realms, and judged that quiet cultivation alone would not let cultivators escape the coming turmoil.
• Lu Qing wondered which ancient era would manifest and considered whether the Demon Sect’s flourishing could return, despite the calamity that had followed it.
• Lu Qing decided to examine reincarnation, noting that the Lord of Reincarnation and the restored Nether Sea had brought another measure of order to heaven and earth.

Lu Qing established order in the reincarnation realm behind the Nether Sea and assigned three reincarnation beings to govern it. He began strengthening reincarnation’s laws, while recognizing that the return of the ancient era could endanger the current cultivation world.

• Lu Qing ordered the vicious demon to guard the Reincarnation Gate and appointed its two companions to oversee reincarnation and the underworld.
• Lu Qing judged that the reincarnation realm remained weakened by an ancient calamity and needed cultivators and stronger laws to restore it.
• Lu Qing created the Book of Life and Death, the Judge's Brush, and the Soul-Reaping Chain, then began forming additional reincarnation Dharma treasures.
• Lu Qing directed the three beings to guide true spirits into reincarnation and said that other Dharma treasures would go to those fated to obtain them.
• Lu Qing considered seeking further manpower through Cui Jue and noted that the ancient era's return could threaten the current cultivation world.

Lu Qing assessed the risks the Ancient Era posed and established a cycle of reincarnation, though it still lacked people and needed to develop into a lasting system. After he left, the three old monsters resolved to recruit useful true spirits for the underworld.

• Lu Qing concluded that the Ancient Era could bring danger to present-day cultivators and prepared for the possibility of turmoil in Nine-Nether.
• Lu Qing considered a risky course of action but chose to hold back and focus on developing the cycle of reincarnation.
• Lu Qing left the underworld cycle after creating its dharma treasures, leaving its future development to those who would arrive.
• The Faceless Man, Old Monster Zhou, and the vicious demon discussed the treasures and agreed to watch for useful true spirits and recruit them into the underworld.

Evil Demon guarded the Reincarnation Gate and directed True Spirits into reincarnation while watching for those who retained their consciousness or carried signs of destined fortune. As wave after wave entered, Evil Demon noticed their lingering calamity aura and suspected the Mortal Realm’s calamity had not ended.

• Evil Demon took charge of the Reincarnation Gate while the other two old monsters managed the palaces, and decided to find helpers for the Yellow Springs Road.
• Evil Demon ordered the arriving True Spirits forward and warned those who still retained their wits to keep quiet.
• Old Ghost recognized that some famous experts had lost their consciousness in reincarnation and feared he might suffer the same fate.
• Old Ghost approached the terrifying gate, where Evil Demon let the True Spirits pass into the darkness beyond.
• Evil Demon scanned the True Spirits as they arrived from the Nether Sea and noticed that many still bore calamity aura, including blood-red light around some.

Lu Qing reshaped reincarnation in the Nether Sea, severing its fortune from the Mortal Realm and preparing to comprehend the Six Paths of Reincarnation. He sealed the underworld against outside attention and planned to open the Six Paths when the ancient era arrived.

• Lu Qing left the Nether Sea’s reincarnation under the control of his Samsara Dao incarnation and identified those seeking to seize reincarnation’s authority as a threat.
• He erased the karmic ties that let former reincarnation beings draw on reincarnation’s fortune to cultivate in the Mortal Realm.
• Lu Qing considered changes to the underworld and began drawing on his Six Paths of Reincarnation world.
• A terrifying aura swept through reincarnation, frightening the three old monsters who witnessed it.
• Lu Qing sealed reincarnation from outside gazes and resolved to open the Six Paths when the ancient era arrived.
• He regarded the Immortal-Human Path, where the most reincarnation Dao opportunities had appeared, as his Six Paths slowly drew upon all of reincarnation.

Lu Qing established the laws of the Netherworld and assigned its newly formed officials to manage reincarnation. Faceless and Old Monster Zhou began using the Book of Life and Death and the Judge’s Brush to record the destinies of the dead.

• Lu Qing recognized Gray Crow among the figures tied to the Southern Heaven Continent and dismissed the contingencies Gray Crow had left behind.
• Lu Qing created laws for the Six Paths of Reincarnation, directing ghosts and nether spirits who were not Ghost Path cultivators into reincarnation.
• Lu Qing established the Netherworld and its karmic order, intending to draw its officials from powerful beings who had died across the great worlds.
• Faceless and Old Monster Zhou examined the Book of Life and Death and found that it recorded the lives and lifespans of beings across the worlds.
• Old Monster Zhou took up the Judge’s Brush, learned how it marked life, death, and lifespan, and prepared to process the True Spirits entering reincarnation.

Old Monster Zhou accepted Qian Qiongli for reincarnation as cultivators gathered to observe the East Sea, where the aura of reincarnation had vanished but a stronger sense of danger remained. The cultivators left wary of entering the sea and discussed a powerful being who had hidden within a painting and tried to return from the upstream reaches of time.

• Old Monster Zhou read Qian Qiongli’s information and permitted him to reincarnate, and Qian Qiongli agreed.
• Cultivators on a cliff noticed a growing sense of dread around the East Sea and agreed that its dangers had become clearer despite the loss of the reincarnation aura.
• The cultivators concluded that entering the sea’s depths could have been fatal, especially since several other Daoists had vanished.
• A blue-robed cultivator brought up news that a Daoist from an Eastern Heaven Continent sect had died and a painting had immolated itself in heavenly fire before Heavenwatch Tower took it away.
• The cultivators said a mighty Dao shadow had hidden in the painting and tried to return from the upstream reaches of time to revive the place and investigate reincarnation.

Human Path fortune manifested as Heaven of Universe joined the Nine Heavens, and the Mysterious Stone Tablet warned Huang Wuxuan that the nine Sons of the Human Emperor could become stepping stones for a variable seeking to unite their dao attainments. The fortune’s movement drew the painted scroll and its divine mountain toward the manifested world, while cultivators across both realms watched the changes.

• Huang Wuxuan questioned the Mysterious Stone Tablet about a variable with abundant Human Path fortune, and it warned that all nine Sons of the Human Emperor might become stepping stones on that variable’s path to dao attainment.
• Huang Wuxuan began drawing Human Path fortune into his own fortune phenomenon as Heaven of Universe manifested in the Nine Heavens.
• Chen Zhen, ranked seventh among the nine Sons of the Human Emperor, sensed the change and sat within linked formations to receive Human Path fortune.
• Human Path cultivators including Zhao An and Qin Yu noticed the surging fortune, while a young green-eyed cultivator also gathered its power.
• The painted scroll stirred as fortune connected, then carried the divine mountain toward the manifested world and startled cultivators who witnessed its passage.
• Cultivators exchanged reports about the moving scroll, crushed forbidden zones, and the Human Path fortune gathering across the Milky Way Ruins.

Lu Qing examined the unusual realm beneath the Daoist Dojo and recognized the black mist and severed palm connected to the Eight Wastelands. He moved the realm into Reincarnation and reflected on the coming Variable Fate of the Ancient Era.

• Lu Qing surveyed the realm and saw eerie creatures sustained by currents of evil qi and demonic thoughts.
• Lu Qing found a severed palm suspended in Heaven’s Will and connected it to the mysterious demonic shadow and the Eight Wastelands.
• Lu Qing decided the realm was unsuitable for Immortal City but useful as a space for Reincarnation.
• Lu Qing moved the realm into Reincarnation so its evil entities and eerie thoughts could take root in the Underworld Bureau’s netherworld.
• Lu Qing considered how the coming Ancient Era’s Variable Fate would clash with the present age’s Fixed Fate.

Lu Qing merged a stretch of heaven and earth into reincarnation, strengthening its foundation as he considered the Devil Masters and the approaching ancient era. He suspected the Devil Master titled Longevity might still be alive, while the blood-red future continued drawing closer to the Nine Heavens cultivation world.

• A nine-eyed Evil Demon recognized the newly arrived heaven and earth as tainted by the Sentient Freedom Demon and found itself unable to remember the first Devil Master's title.
• Lu Qing received the heaven and earth into reincarnation, where its Dao rhythm merged with reincarnation and strengthened its foundation.
• Lu Qing considered probing Nine-Nether for insights but chose not to act rashly as the ancient era approached.
• Lu Qing saw traces of the All-Beings' Self-Emancipated Devil Master in the Heavenly Sun continent's Sentient and Mystic Paths and judged that its danger was fading.
• Lu Qing suspected the Devil Master titled Longevity might still be alive, then watched the blood-red future draw closer to the Nine Heavens cultivation world.

Lu Qing prepared for future changes to the Nine Heavens while refusing to manipulate the Heavenly Net Chessboard directly. Five hundred years later, Yue Youya completed his confinement at Heart-Questioning Cliff for crimes tied to the Yue Clan and its demonic schemes.

• Lu Qing created several incarnations to observe changing variables across the Nine Heavens and began making preparations for their arrival.
• Over five hundred years, the Profound Heaven Dao Sect developed new lineages, including a Dao-Seeking Hall lineage focused on comprehension of the Dao.
• The Law Enforcement Lineage took control of Heart-Questioning Cliff, where sect members who broke Dao rules were confined.
• A young disciple released Yue Youya after his five hundred years of confinement.
• Yue Youya's confinement had stemmed from old affairs involving the Heavenly Domain, the Dao Academy, the Yue Clan's alliance with demonic cultivators, and the Blood-Transforming Formation.