Chapter Summaries

After completing their Kunpeng Palace mission, two Sacred Alliance brothers traveled toward a gathering of variables and found an island linked to the Great Dream Immortal Sect. They watched its formation activate and questioned whether the blue-robed cultivators there were truly ancient disciples, as the island began to fade from view.

• A cultivator considered the Human Path fortune and concluded that the variable’s arrival meant other forces might also be plotting around it.
• The two brothers left Kunpeng Palace with their mission completed and decided to stop near the place where variables were gathering before returning to the Sacred Alliance.
• The brothers concealed their fortune and approached the shallows, where onlookers gathered around an island marked by a vast golden turtle fortune.
• The junior brother’s attempted divination failed and left him sensing great danger, while his senior brother agreed that the island’s fortune was too deep for ordinary cultivators to meddle with.
• The island turned hazy as blue-robed cultivators activated its mountain-protecting formation, prompting observers to doubt that they were merely the original Great Dream disciples.

Variable Island departed, leaving behind a vast fortune and a transformed seascape, while cultivators debated the strange Dao auras of the blue-robed Ancient Era cultivators. The blue-robed cultivators realized that the later Great Dream Disciples had left Golden Turtle Island after an unseen summons.

• The Dharma-Free Immortal Gate's law-enforcement disciples spread formation light across the sea and restricted those who might act.
• The two martial brothers noticed that the blue-robed cultivators' Dao auras were unusually complicated and seemed patched together.
• The junior brother looked at a fortune-blessed cultivator, felt a hollow sensation from the glance, and realized that even slight malice could provoke fortune's backlash.
• Cultivators speculated that the blue-robed Ancient Era cultivators had left for Golden Turtle Island in the Southern Earth Continent.
• A blue-robed cultivator learned that the later Great Dream Disciples had already left Golden Turtle Island after an unseen summons.

The islands of the Great Dream Immortal Sect left Golden Turtle Island, and the blue-robed cultivators accepted that they had entered a changed later age. As Kunpeng Sea settled into a new order, two martial brothers departed by tower ship after encountering Bifang, whose Heaven-blessed fortune left a strong impression on them.

• The Great Dream Immortal Sect cultivators realized their assessment identities and inheritance could endure beyond Golden Turtle Island, and they prepared to face the unfamiliar later age.
• Whirlpools and temporal rifts remained around Kunpeng Sea, while linked grotto-heaven islands and new tower ships offered routes through and out of the region.
• The junior brother and his senior brother boarded a tower ship after staying in Kunpeng Sea to experience the treasure fruit’s effects.
• The junior brother saw Bifang again but avoided examining his fortune, while his senior brother recognized Bifang’s rare, direct fortune of Heaven’s will.
• The two martial brothers watched the tower ship carry them away from Kunpeng Sea.

True Person Ming and True Person Xuanfa learned that the All-Living Alliance had welcomed a Holy Son and suspected the appointment would draw them into a power struggle over fortune. As they returned to the Kunpeng Sea, Bifang noticed their concealed fortune and prepared to enter seclusion.

• True Person Xuanfa read a message announcing that the All-Living Alliance had welcomed a Holy Son.
• True Person Xuanfa and True Person Ming suspected the Wind Gate had backed the Holy Son and that alliance factions were contending for power and fortune.
• True Person Xuanfa advised True Person Ming not to get involved with the Holy Son's protector of the Dao identity before learning more.
• The tower ship carried the two martial brothers away as Bifang noticed their concealed fortune and thought back to his last departure from Golden Turtle Island.

After returning from the Ancient Immortal Ruins, Bifang considered what the Great Dream Immortal Sect and the ruins revealed about variables and other worlds. Meanwhile, True Person Ming and True Person Xuanfa returned to the All-Living Alliance and were summoned by Elder Yimu.

• Bifang concluded that the Ancient Immortals encountered by the Great Dream Immortal Sect had come from beyond the Nine Heavens cosmos, and that the ruins concealed secrets beyond the place where the explorers had stopped.
• Bifang reflected that the island’s variable had opened a path for the Great Dream Immortal Sect and that the coming storm would eventually reach Golden Turtle Island.
• True Person Ming and True Person Xuanfa returned to the All-Living Alliance and sensed that its fortune was stirring amid internal turmoil over the newly arrived Saint Son.
• A black-eyed boy told True Person Ming and True Person Xuanfa that Elder Yimu wanted to see them, and they followed him along an immortal path to a gate beside a heavenly river.
• A fisherman beside the heavenly river caught a silver-red fish as True Person Ming and True Person Xuanfa approached.

Elder Yimu assigned True Person Ming and Xuanfa a secretive mission concerning the Human Path: take a sacred token down the mountain, find the person who made it react, and bring them to the Alliance. As they returned to report to their master, they heard cultivators arguing about the newly appointed Holy Son and the destiny behind his selection.

• True Person Ming and Xuanfa greeted Elder Yimu, who praised their recent mission and said their new assignment was unrelated to the Holy Son.
• Elder Yimu gave them a jade-white token and ordered them to find the person it reacted to and bring that person back to the Alliance.
• A gale swept True Person Ming and Xuanfa from the mountain, and they decided to report the unexplained mission to their master.
• True Person Ming and Xuanfa overheard cultivators discussing the Holy Son’s sudden appointment and speculating about his extraordinary destiny.
• The cultivators noted that Alliance geniuses had competed for the Holy Son position for centuries, but an unfamiliar person had been chosen instead.

Alliance cultivators discussed the newly appointed Saint Son and the opportunity to pursue fortune in the Human Path. True Person Ming and True Person Xuanfa accepted a dangerous mission tied to a reincarnated body, while hidden observers foresaw that its success could unleash upheaval across the Six Paths.

• Young cultivators in the All-Living Alliance speculated about the Saint Son’s lower-realm origins, weak cultivation, and the great figures’ support for him.
• The cultivators turned to the Human Path, where they hoped to gain fortune by helping the Dragon Court rise, and heard that a mission might soon be issued.
• True Person Ming and True Person Xuanfa discussed their perilous mission to find a reincarnated body and connected it to the Kunpeng Young Lord and the Human Emperor.
• True Person Ming and True Person Xuanfa decided to pursue both the mission’s promised rewards and the fortune stirred up by its karmic ties.
• A hidden observer in the snowy plain reported that they had seen one part of the heavenly secret, while the old man fishing at the Heavenly River warned that the Saint Son and the mission could transform the world.

Bifang attended a banquet before the Mingshan Auction with Chen Zhang, intending to obtain the Clear Lake Cauldron and refine his fortune. He noticed that everyone at the gathering carried a trace of black qi as he waited for the auction to begin.

• Bifang left Kunpeng Sea and followed Chen Zhang to a banquet hall hosting powerful cultivators and geniuses.
• Chen Zhang explained that the Mingshan Auction would begin after the banquet and warned Bifang that bidding could drive prices over budget.
• Bifang sensed a trace of black qi above every guest and anticipated that the auction would be lively.
• Bifang revealed that he had come to obtain the Clear Lake Cauldron, a naturally formed treasure he planned to use to refine his fortune.

At Bright Mountain’s auction, Bifang and Chen Zhang recognized that demonic cultivators and Divine Path gods had gathered, making trouble possible. The auction opened with the Fire Buddha Divine Kingdom and then revealed True Phoenix Netherfire, whose appearance stunned the crowd.

• Bifang sensed demonic cultivators among the guests and suspected that the Devil Master's reincarnated body might be present.
• After the banquet, Liu Quan opened the auction beneath a transformed starry sky, and Chen Zhang told Bifang about Liu Quan's history on the Spirit Path.
• Liu Quan presented the Fire Buddha Divine Kingdom, and attendees debated its origins, claims, and limited usefulness before bidding began.
• The auction's second item, True Phoenix Netherfire, appeared with a fiery phoenix phenomenon, astonishing the attendees.

Bifang acquired the Clear Lake Cauldron, whose effect refined his fortune and gave him an intuition for karmic events. The auction’s final item was an apparently flawless cauldron resembling the Seeking Dao Immortal Cauldron, and its supreme aura left the bidders stunned.

• Bifang watched bidders compete for the True Phoenix Nether-Fire, though he preferred the Northern Darkness Divine Fire.
• Bifang obtained the Clear Lake Cauldron after no one answered the third call.
• The Clear Lake Cauldron refined Bifang’s fortune and granted him an intuition for a coming bidding war and karmic enmity.
• Mingshan Auction presented a flawless cauldron resembling the Seeking Dao Immortal Cauldron, whose aura revealed it as a supreme treasure.

Bifang watched the incomplete supreme treasure Clear Lake Cauldron go up for auction, then recognized that Demonic Path cultivators were targeting something hidden inside it. As the cauldron changed under the influence of demonic qi, Bifang connected it to the Devil Master's revival and caught a spark of insight.

• Bright Mountain Auction House revealed that the incomplete supreme treasure had come from the Ancient Nether Forest and claimed it could peer into heavenly secrets and alter fate.
• Bidders drove the price into eight figures while Bifang sensed through his destiny that the cauldron carried a serious problem.
• After the auction ended, Demonic Path cultivators attacked the palace, seeking an item inside the cauldron rather than the treasure itself.
• Bifang used heavenly destiny to spot a black-jade token marked with the character for “Ancient” amid the demonic shadows.
• Demonic qi stirred the cauldron and revealed its connection to the Demonic Path, prompting Bifang to link it to the Devil Master's revival and gain an insight.

Bifang recognized Ancient Nether Forest as the place where the Second Devil Master, the Longevity Devil Master, had emerged, and suspected the Demonic Path was searching there for the Devil Master’s reincarnated body. A white-robed divine man arrived and shattered the demonic qi, while Bifang sensed that his appearance was tied to hidden forces and shifting fortune.

• Bifang recalled that Ancient Nether Forest erased itself from living beings’ memories and had been the Longevity Devil Master’s birthplace.
• Bifang connected the Demonic Path’s search in the forest to its effort to find the Devil Master’s reincarnated body.
• Bifang sensed someone from the Divine Path approaching and believed the turmoil would soon end.
• The white-robed divine man noticed demonic qi near the Divine Path’s fortune and redirected his dragon beast toward it.
• The white-robed divine man rebuked the demons, shattered their demonic qi, and calmed the formation.
• Bifang recognized the man’s innate foundation and Heavenly God True Art, then sensed fortune shifting around him.

A white-robed God-Man destroyed a Nine-Ghost Demonic Way devil and dispersed the demonic clouds around the cauldron, while Bifang sensed that it was tied to the Devil Master's past cause and effect. In the Four Lands, the Six Demonic Sects debated whether to retrieve the cauldron from Bright Mountain, but no one was willing to risk entering territory protected by the Divine Path.

• The white-robed God-Man shattered the devil's three pairs of blood-red eyes and annihilated its demonic shadow, breaking the impending tribulation.
• Bifang examined the cauldron and sensed that it was seeking someone destined for it, while outside gazes fell upon him.
• The Six Demonic Sects' old devils discussed upheavals in the Yellow Springs of Wrongful Death and the search for the Devil Master's Reincarnation.
• After news arrived that a cauldron from the Ancient Nether Forest had appeared at the Mingshan Auction, the devils debated whether it was linked to the Devil Master and whether someone was baiting them.
• Heart Fox and Netherghost traded barbs while the burly demonic cultivator asked where Old Ghost had gone and suggested finding him to trace the Devil Master's cause and effect.
• The devils hesitated to retrieve the cauldron because Bright Mountain lay within a world protected by the Divine Path's providence.

At the Mingshan Auction on Bright Mountain, a cauldron from Ancient Nether Forest crumbled into dust after demonic clouds and a clash involving the Demon Sect and the Divine Path. The experts who sensed the upheaval could not determine why the former supreme treasure had vanished, leaving its cause shrouded in uncertainty.

• The gathered cultivators debated whether the cauldron carried karmic traces or signaled a Divine Path conspiracy, then suspected it was only residue from the past.
• Bifang watched as the black aura around the cauldron dispersed and the cauldron collapsed into gray dust.
• The shocked onlookers blamed the demonic cultivators, while Chen Zhang moved aside and wondered what trick had shattered it.
• The Mingshan Auction disturbance ended quickly, but distant experts sensed the immense demonic clouds and recognized that a major event had occurred.
• The old fisherman beside the Heavenly River and other observers traced the upheaval to the Mingshan Auction, where the cauldron had vanished without any detectable cause.

Bifang sensed present-day powers probing the hidden history around the cauldron, while a violet-robed young man confronted demonic shadows outside the Demon Abyss. Lu Qing then traveled back three thousand years to investigate the era’s rising demonic qi and arrived near the Zhou Clan ancestor’s birthday celebration.

• Bifang sensed that present-day powerhouses were probing the past, but their gazes withdrew without uncovering anything.
• A violet-robed young man destroyed demonic shadows outside the Demon Abyss, while powerful demons remained hidden within it.
• The violet-robed young man considered the Demon Sect’s Devil Masters and the growing influence of the Samsara Dao Lord.
• Lu Qing entered the Long River of Time to investigate the era three thousand years earlier and noticed demonic qi appear near the border of Northern Heaven Continent and Western Heaven Continent.
• Lu Qing reached the flourishing Nine Heavens Cultivation Realm and observed guests arriving for the Zhou Clan ancestor’s three-thousandth birthday banquet.

Lu Qing explored a strange version of the Nine Heavens where unfamiliar cultivation factions existed and the Primordial Cataclysm’s terrifying presence still lingered. He realized that understanding this vanished era might reveal the way forward on the Great Dao.

• People in the city discussed strange events, including bones found in a Spirit Stone mine and killings in the eastern district.
• Lu Qing walked through the city and noted that its factions and cultivation paths were unlike any he knew.
• Lu Qing concluded that this was the Nine Heavens in the correct timeline, but a completely different version of it.
• Lu Qing sensed the Primordial Cataclysm’s aura and understood that its power could have overwhelmed even Great Immortals.
• Lu Qing sensed that uncovering this era’s past could make the obscured path ahead on the Great Dao tangible.

Lu Qing investigated the Nine Heavens Cultivation Realm three thousand years in the past and concluded that primordial Tribulation Qi had abruptly reversed its Great Dao. At the Zhou Clan’s ancestor’s birthday banquet, he found signs of a concealed calamity and began searching the clan’s records for clues about the world’s sudden transformation.

• Lu Qing traced the strange state of Nine Heavens to Tribulation Qi from the primordial cataclysm and suspected the Zhou Clan’s birthday banquet was connected to the clues he sought.
• A steward told Zhou Changyun that the Li Clan had unearthed a Celestial Person-level skeleton at a spirit mine, and Zhou Changyun ordered him to delay the dispute until the banquet ended.
• Lu Qing observed the Zhou Clan’s Providence and saw a White Tiger surrounded by yellow clouds edged with black wisps, suggesting a hidden tribulation.
• Lu Qing entered the Zhou Clan’s Library Pavilion unnoticed and read its records, learning that heaven and earth had been overturned suddenly rather than changing gradually.
• The Zhou Clan’s founding ancestor recorded that the world after his breakthroughs felt different from the world where he had cultivated, and he wondered what had happened ten thousand years earlier.

Lu Qing realized that the world’s ten-thousand-year history had been compressed into three thousand years by a temporal juncture caught in the Primordial Cataclysm. He concluded that the tribulation qi had to be worn away before the past could be restored and set out to find the sect.

• Zhou Hanhai explored a bottomless cavern, where a lingering apparition questioned whether the problem lay with cultivators rather than heaven and earth.
• Near the end of his life, Zhou Hanhai realized that the Nine Heavens he knew were not their true cultivation world and that its missing history came from a different heaven and earth.
• Lu Qing determined that a temporal juncture three thousand years ago had compressed an era spanning ten thousand years from another Long River of Time.
• Lu Qing judged that the demonic calamity might only be the surface of a world-destroying tribulation that even Immortals could not withstand.
• Lu Qing concluded that the tribulation qi must be worn away to restore the era and decided to find the sect, knowing his actions could affect all later futures.

Lu Qing investigated the Nine Heavens Cultivation Realm in the past and traced clues about the Era of Variables to the Zhou Clan and a mineral vein outside the city. He suspected the Primordial Cataclysm had erased the workings of the Great Dao, and arrived at the vein to investigate further.

• A mighty expert six thousand years in the past sensed that the future had become fractured and feared a coming great tribulation.
• Lu Qing sensed disturbances in the Long River of Time and examined the Nine Heavens Cultivation Realm, where cultivators’ memories contained ten thousand years despite the setting being three thousand years in the past.
• Lu Qing connected the Zhou Clan’s birthday banquet and the mineral vein outside the city as clues to the Era of Variables and considered what had caused its changes.
• Lu Qing concluded that the Primordial Cataclysm had likely erased the Great Dao’s workings and might be tied to the push for variables to descend.
• Lu Qing left the city and arrived at the mineral vein to search for evidence about the Primordial Cataclysm and the original Cultivation World.

Lu Qing uncovered the providence beneath a Spirit Stone vein and retrieved a hidden thread of time-bound karma. He realized the Primordial Cataclysm had reversed this world’s timeline, creating a future filled with variable fate.

• Lu Qing saw that the Spirit Stone vein concealed immense golden providence surrounded by black mist formed from the resentment of dead cultivators.
• Lu Qing drew the providence to himself and extracted a minute thread of time-bound cause and effect hidden within it.
• Lu Qing recognized the thread as a contingency left by the Cultivation World of the Nine Heavens to preserve its great daos.
• Lu Qing understood that the Primordial Cataclysm had become lodged in this point in time and reversed the world’s ages, leaving the future uncertain.