Chapter Summaries

Lu Chen negotiated with Star Lord of Water Virtue, who agreed to help the Lu Clan Temple advance if Lu Chen invited him into its main hall and performed a grand rite for him. Lu Chen proposed a Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite for Jiangdu and other worshippers, then considered using its merit to bargain with the three families’ deities, though Plague Lord urged him to fight any who refused.

• Lu Chen refused to replace the three chosen main-hall deities, assuring Star Lord of Water Virtue that he remained grateful for his help.
• Star Lord of Water Virtue revealed that he had been testing Lu Chen and offered to support the Lu Clan Temple’s advancement if Lu Chen invited him into the temple before the Temple-Breaking.
• Star Lord of Water Virtue asked Lu Chen to explain the Well Dragon King Offering Ritual, and Lu Chen described how worshippers offered first so the deity was bound to fulfill their wishes afterward.
• Star Lord of Water Virtue said he would help Lu Chen if Lu Chen arranged a grand rite for him, and Lu Chen explained that such rites required a suitable opportunity.
• Lu Chen proposed a Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite for Jiangdu and worshippers elsewhere, planning to use its merit to negotiate with the other deities of the three families.
• King Yama asked what Lu Chen would do if those deities refused, and Plague Lord replied that they should fight them.

Lu Chen learned that Temple-Breaking could be won through contests suited to each deity’s powers, then planned the ritual staff needed for a Daoist grand rite. He realized that performing it would require him to establish a sect, and wondered who had guided him toward that goal.

• Star Lord of Water Virtue explained that King Yama could challenge the Southern Pole Immortal Elder by competing to extend a mortal’s lifespan with the Book of Life and Death, while Lord God of Wealth volunteered to face Xuantan True Lord.
• Lu Chen agreed to sound out the Moon Goddess and the old Star Official, while Star Lord of Water Virtue warned that the odds remained uncertain and his own power would be restricted as a side-hall deity.
• After the others departed, Lu Chen and King Yama reconciled, and King Yama said he would report the Temple-Breaking opportunity to the Supreme One.
• Lu Chen considered the staff required for the Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite and concluded that finding qualified ritual masters meant beginning Register Ordination by establishing a sect.
• Lu Chen realized his Daoist arts did not come from the Great Heavenly Venerable and wondered who had been guiding him toward founding a sect, leaving him shaken and covered in cold sweat.

Lu Chen planned to attract worshippers to the Lu Clan Temple by mass-producing talismans, while Hu Sanniang was tasked with dealing with the Four Duty Merit Officers. In Heaven, the Southern Pole Great Emperor discussed Lu Chen’s rise and warned True Martial Great Emperor to enforce heavenly laws if Lu Chen broke them again; the chapter ended as the immortals debated how to respond to Lu Chen’s plans for Jiangdu’s three temple families.

• Lu Chen rejected Hu Sanniang’s suggestion to spread a plague and planned to draw worshippers with mass-produced talismans.
• Lu Chen returned to Jiangdu and told Hu Sanniang to manage the two City God Streets and work on conquering the Four Duty Merit Officers.
• The Southern Pole Great Emperor told the assembled immortals that Lu Chen was about to elevate his family, involving all but True Martial.
• The Southern Pole Great Emperor instructed True Martial Great Emperor to uphold heavenly law if Lu Chen violated it again, while not adding to the punishment already decreed by the Great Heavenly Venerable.
• Southern Pole Immortal Elder, Thunder Ancestor, and Zhao Gongming found that Lu Chen’s heavenly secrets were obscured and discussed his plan to break the three temple families in Jiangdu.

Lu Chen sought divine support for his plan to break three families, but the Wu family refused him entry, so he secured the Lunar Star Lord’s promise not to interfere. He then wrestled with whether to pursue official divine investiture before entering Venus Star Hall, while Venus Star watched from the Heavenly Court and descended to meet him.

• Southern Pole Immortal Elder, Thunder Ancestor, and Zhao Gongming agreed to follow heavenly rules and dismissed Lu Chen’s plan as reckless confidence.
• Lu Chen went to the Wu family shrine, but its steward barred him from worshipping there under orders from the master.
• Lu Chen visited the Lunar Star Lord at the Li family and offered to turn worshippers’ wish-power into merit in exchange for her noninterference; she agreed not to stop him but refused to help.
• Lu Chen considered asking Venus Star for the Great Heavenly Venerable’s Register Ordination, then decided to focus on persuading him not to interfere and entered Venus Star Hall.
• Venus Star told the Great Heavenly Venerable that Lu Chen’s careful thinking would benefit them, then descended to the lower realm.

Lu Chen learned that his status as an Atoning Strongman prevented most immortals from responding to his offerings, making his temple-breaking plans difficult. He secured the Giant Spirit God’s support and resolved to use the Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite, then returned to Jiangdu City to test whether it could overcome the remaining obstacles.

• Lu Chen asked Venus Star for leniency during his temple-breaking, explained that his secret arts had appeared in his memories after a dream, and learned that his guilty status made other immortals wary of him.
• Venus Star declined to enter Lu Chen’s temple to preserve his impartiality and warned that Lu Chen’s punishment for offending the Matchmaker God would bring serious inconveniences until he earned one hundred thousand merits.
• Lu Chen tested offerings at several immortals’ temples, including the Longevity Star and the Toilet God, but received no response; the Giant Spirit God, however, remained receptive because of their existing relationship.
• Lu Chen concluded that he needed to rely on his own strength and invited the Giant Spirit God to bring the Military Department into his Lu Clan Temple, promising a gift more precious than Heavenly Gold.
• Lu Chen returned to Jiangdu City and identified the Thunder Ancestor, Zhao Gongming, the Longevity Star, the Star Lord of Fire Virtue, and Emperor Wenchang as the remaining temple-breaking obstacles, then planned to rely on the Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite.

Lu Chen gathered the Rakshasa Cult followers at the factory and demonstrated how his self-refined Talisman for Sweeping Away Calamity could block and rebound a powerful attack. He began testing their aptitude with the Five-Dragon Spiritual-Root Visualization Method to choose members for his new team.

• Lu Chen summoned the factory workers, including Zeng Rou and Wang Zhidong, and announced he would select talented followers for a new team.
• Lu Chen showed the followers a Talisman for Sweeping Away Calamity and said he had refined it himself.
• Zeng Rou struck Lu Chen with her Azure Demon Unorthodox Path Great Method, and the talisman blocked and rebounded her attack before Wang Zhidong helped stop it.
• Lu Chen told the followers that talent, not rank or background, would determine who could join the team and learn his power.
• Lu Chen taught the assembled followers the Five-Dragon Spiritual-Root Visualization Method and watched them begin practicing.

Lu Chen tested the Rakshasa Cult members for spiritual-root aptitude and selected thirty-nine people to form the first batch of disciples for his new sect. When Sun Yourong tried the visualization method, a brilliant radiance appeared above her head within two minutes, revealing a top-grade heavenly spiritual root.

• Lu Chen used the Lunar Dharma Eye to watch the cult members visualize, and Zeng Rou became the first to succeed within half an hour.
• Wang Zhidong later succeeded, and by the end of the twelve-hour test, thirty-nine people had gained earth spiritual roots.
• Lu Chen named the thirty-nine successful candidates the new sect’s first disciples and told the others they could still qualify by succeeding within half a year.
• Sun Yourong arrived at the factory, learned the visualization method from Zeng Rou, and agreed to test her aptitude for a chance to learn from Lu Chen.
• Sun Yourong manifested a brilliant clear radiance after two minutes, and Lu Chen recognized that she had a top-grade heavenly spiritual root.

Lu Chen discovered that Sun Yourong had a supreme-grade heavenly spiritual root and tried to make her his disciple, but she refused because she would not acknowledge him as her master. He devised a way to grant her Register Ordination through a senior lineage, then concluded that he needed to establish a Vacant Dharma Patriarch and take the Dao as teacher, with the Dharma as his lineage.

• Sun Yourong opened her eyes after visualizing a spiritual-root organ in her lungs, and Lu Chen recognized her supreme-grade heavenly spiritual root.
• Lu Chen asked Sun Yourong to become his disciple so he could teach her talisman crafting, but she refused; Zeng Rou explained that Sun Yourong could not accept becoming the disciple of her good friend.
• Lu Chen told Sun Yourong that Register Ordination was required to use his Heavenly Court connections and craft talismans, but Sun Yourong still refused to call him her master.
• Lu Chen considered granting Register Ordination on behalf of a senior master, but ruled out the Three Pure Ones, the Great Heavenly Venerable, and other deities as restrictive lineage founders.
• Lu Chen settled on establishing a Vacant Dharma Patriarch, taking the Dao as teacher and the Dharma as lineage.

Lu Chen planned to establish a dharma lineage with Sun Yourong as his junior sister, but Sun Yourong warned him that the imperial court prohibited private sects, so they settled on creating an association instead. He organized forty former Rakshasa Cult members as the Spirit Void Association and prepared them for a register ordination, while realizing their training could delay his plans to break temples.

• Lu Chen proposed that he and Sun Yourong become fellow disciples under a Dharma Ancestor, and she agreed after he promised not to make her his disciple.
• Sun Yourong warned Lu Chen that the imperial court suppressed private sects and advised him to register an association with no more than a hundred members; Lu Chen agreed to use the Spirit Void Association as a temporary name.
• Sun Yourong feared Lu Chen would target the Sun family temple, but he reassured her and revealed that he intended to break the temples of three families.
• Lu Chen told forty core members to prepare for apprenticeship and register ordination in three days, named their group the Spirit Void Association, and assigned Zeng Rou to arrange ritual equipment.
• Lu Chen returned home and began planning scriptures, rules, and training, then worried that teaching the members could take a year or two and delay his temple-breaking plans.

Lu Chen prepared Daoist scriptures while Sun Yourong’s family discussed his plans to challenge the three great families and offered to watch them. Two days later, Lu Chen appeared at Cloudtop Manor in a grand ritual robe and told his followers to address him as True Person.

• Lu Chen decided to copy three scriptures and nine volumes, planning to seek help from the Heavenly Court if his progress stalled.
• Sun Yourong told her family Lu Chen intended to challenge the three great families, and Sun Qingcang offered to monitor them for him.
• Sun Qingcang explained that Zhao Wanliang’s murder would not strip the Zhao family of its great-family status, while the Wu and Qin families had barred Lu Chen from their temples.
• Sun Yourong concealed her joining the Spirit Void Sect, and her brother mistakenly guessed she was pregnant when she declined meat.
• At Cloudtop Manor, Sun Yourong and Zeng Rou examined five memorial tablets, including ones bearing Lu Chen’s divine offices.
• Lu Chen arrived in a crimson ritual robe and instructed his followers to address him as True Person.

Lu Chen completed Sun Yourong’s admission into the Dharma Patriarch’s lineage, then ordained forty-one disciples into the Spirit Void Sect and explained how talismans could borrow divine power. The chapter left the new disciples realizing that mastering talismans could give them abilities like immortal officials who commanded heavenly forces.

• Lu Chen and Sun Yourong performed the disciple-taking ceremony before the plaque of the Dharma-Origin Patriarch, and an unexplained thunderclap sounded during their bows.
• Lu Chen conferred a Dharma register on Sun Yourong, formally admitting her into the Spirit Void Dharma lineage despite his worry that the thunder had been a warning.
• Sun Yourong led Zeng Rou and the others through the disciple rites, and Lu Chen conferred registers and ritual implements on all forty-one disciples.
• Lu Chen gave the disciples a daily curriculum and introduced the four deities enshrined at the Spirit Void Sect’s altar.
• Lu Chen explained that talismans borrowed the power of deities and could summon divine forces, prompting Zeng Rou and the others to realize they might gain the abilities of immortal officials.

Lu Chen established ranks and advancement rules for Spirit Void Sect disciples, then taught them the Celestial-Step Ritual they would need for the large Temple-Breaking ceremony. After completing the disciples’ register ordination, he prepared to connect the sect with the heavenly departments and sought a protector for the Pagoda-Subduing Heavenly King.

• Lu Chen explained the four ranks of the Spirit Void lineage, how disciples could advance, and which deities could grant qualified disciples spirit troops.
• Lu Chen appointed Zeng Rou and Wang Zhidong as the second-generation disciples’ senior sister and senior brother, then assigned Zeng Rou to record his demonstration of the Celestial-Step Ritual.
• Lu Chen demonstrated the ritual steps, and Sun Yourong managed six before her lack of accumulated qi stopped her; he told the disciples they would need to learn thirty-six steps for now.
• Lu Chen told Sun Yourong that ritual helpers were essential to convert wish power into merit for the upcoming Temple-Breaking ceremony, leaving her worried about the amount they still had to study.
• After the disciples left, Lu Chen reflected on the danger during ordination and decided to open the line between Heaven and Earth by registering the sect with the relevant departments.
• Lu Chen considered who could serve as the Pagoda-Subduing Heavenly King’s Dharma-protecting god, then lit incense at the Giant Spirit God’s burner.

Lu Chen persuaded Giant Spirit God to help recruit the Four Heavenly Kings and train his staff to make talismans, offering rewards and a plan to boost the Military Forces Office. He then presented a batchable talisman to Plague Lord and Lord God of Wealth, seeking permission to involve his disciples in expanding their incense offerings.

• Lu Chen asked Giant Spirit God to sound out the Four Heavenly Kings about becoming guardian gods for his Pagoda-Subduing Heavenly King.
• Lu Chen convinced Giant Spirit God to help teach registered Military Forces Office personnel to make talismans, offering thirty Heavenly Gold per talisman and urging him to keep the plan from the Grand Marshal for now.
• Lu Chen summoned Broom Star to invite Plague Lord and Lord God of Wealth, then traveled to Qianjiang City God Street to meet them.
• Lu Chen told Plague Lord and Lord God of Wealth that Lunar Star Lord and Venus Star had agreed to join, while his guilty-laborer status limited his contact with other immortals.
• Lu Chen showed them an Evil-Comet Disaster Talisman he had made and asked permission for his disciples to use the Plague Department's and Lord God of Wealth's divine powers to produce talismans and attract offerings.
• Plague Lord asked whether Lu Chen had established a sect, then explained that the Profound Light Mirror could not be used constantly to watch him.

Lu Chen secured the Plague Lord and Lord God of Wealth’s support for using talismans to increase their incense offerings, while explaining that his rituals could help him earn the merit needed to ascend. As the two immortals departed, the Plague Lord began to suspect that Lu Chen’s strange divine abilities, divine office, and another hidden factor were connected.

• Lu Chen persuaded the Plague Lord to approve his talisman plan, provided he kept his work within the temple’s rules and did not separate himself from it.
• Lu Chen promised Lord God of Wealth that talismans would help his incense offerings compete with Zhao Gongming’s, and Lord God of Wealth agreed to cooperate.
• Lu Chen explained that his rituals accumulated merit and might allow him to reach the required amount for ascension sooner than expected.
• The Plague Lord and Lord God of Wealth accepted Lu Chen’s ritual registers for the Spirit Void Sect and departed for Heaven.
• Lu Chen summoned Xie Qingyi and Fan Rusong to invite King Yama, while the Plague Lord told Lord God of Wealth that Lu Chen’s experiences pointed to three underlying factors.

Lu Chen secured the Plague Lord and Lord God of Wealth’s support for his talisman plan and explained how his rituals could help him earn merit and ascend. As the immortals returned to Heaven, the Plague Lord began to identify three forces underlying Lu Chen’s experiences, but did not yet reveal the third.

• Lu Chen persuaded the Plague Lord to approve his talisman plan for boosting the Lu Clan Temple’s incense offerings, while keeping his sect’s patriarch separate from the immortals.
• The Plague Lord and Lord God of Wealth agreed to cooperate, and Lu Chen gave them ritual registers for the Spirit Void Sect.
• Lu Chen explained that his salvation rituals earned merit and might eventually allow him to ascend to the Heavenly Court.
• After the two immortals left, Lu Chen summoned Xie Qingyi and Fan Rusong and told them to invite King Yama.
• On the journey back to Heaven, the Plague Lord told Lord God of Wealth that three points underlay Lu Chen’s experiences, naming his strange divine abilities and receiving divine offices before hinting at a third.

Plague Lord revealed to Lord God of Wealth that divine offices, merit, and incarnations were tied to three paths toward sainthood, with Lu Chen unknowingly positioned to pursue them. A month later, Lu Chen found his Void Spirit Sect disciples still struggling with training and decided to ask the Heavenly Court for reinforcements.

• Plague Lord explained that Lu Chen’s strange abilities might support merit-based sainthood and revealed that incarnations were the threshold to severing the Three Corpses.
• Plague Lord told Lord God of Wealth that mortals could obtain incarnations by accepting divine offices and attaining three Zenith Heaven fruition ranks, and warned him to keep the secret from Lu Chen.
• Lu Chen returned to Cloudtop Manor pleased that he had settled the talismanic register matter and resolved to train his Void Spirit Sect disciples to earn merit and incense offerings.
• After a month of training, Zeng Rou reported that the disciples were still making basic mistakes, while Lu Chen worried that their progress lagged behind preparations at the temple.
• Lu Chen told Zeng Rou that he would ask the Heavenly Court to send reinforcements.

Lu Chen sought medicine to improve his disciples’ learning ability, but a large purchase through the Incense Ledger risked exposing him, so he sent Broom Star to ask Plague Lord for help. Meanwhile, the Four Heavenly Kings forced the Imperial Horse Office to complete Lu Chen’s appointment, and Broom Star encountered the Immortal Official in Charge of Books on his way to the Plague Department.

• Lu Chen asked Growth Heavenly King about obtaining a hundred pills to improve learning, but Growth Heavenly King warned that exchanging for so many would attract an investigation.
• Growth Heavenly King told Lu Chen that Broom Star was at the Imperial Horse Office because the deputy keeper had delayed sealing Lu Chen’s immortal registry.
• Vast-Vision Heavenly King intimidated the deputy keeper into stamping the registry, completing Lu Chen’s appointment as Horse Officer.
• Growth Heavenly King relayed Lu Chen’s request to Broom Star, who set off for the Plague Department to seek medicine from Plague Lord.
• As Broom Star passed the Dipper Department, the Immortal Official in Charge of Books from Wenqu Palace called out to him.

Broom Star obtained a bottle of Illuminating Powder from the Keeper of Books Immortal Official to help Lu Chen, then Lu Chen suspected the gift had been arranged by powerful figures in the Dipper Department. The chapter left him recognizing that the excessive coincidence was likely no coincidence.

• The Keeper of Books Immortal Official stopped Broom Star and praised Lu Chen’s rising reputation, while Broom Star criticized the Heavenly Bureau of Peril’s diminished authority.
• Broom Star realized the Keeper of Books Immortal Official oversaw literary medicines and asked him for pills to aid mortal students.
• The Keeper of Books Immortal Official gave Broom Star a whole bottle of Illuminating Powder, claiming it was a gift for the students who worshipped him.
• After Broom Star left, the Keeper of Books Immortal Official reported to Dipper Mother, Primordial Sovereign, who rewarded him and revealed she had acted on His Majesty’s instructions.
• Broom Star brought the pills to Lu Chen, who considered whether Heavenly Pivot Star Lord, Dipper Mother, Primordial Sovereign, or Emperor Ziwei had arranged the help.

Lu Chen gave his disciples Spirit-Link Powder, and the immortal pills dramatically improved their comprehension and learning. With their training progressing, he turned to his next plan: publicly demonstrate the power of talismans before the Temple-Breaking and Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite.

• Lu Chen confirmed with Broom Star that mortals could safely consume the spiritual pills and promised to increase incense offerings for his divine offices.
• Lu Chen reassured his disciples that their slow progress was understandable, then distributed forty pills of Illuminating Powder among them, leaving Sun Yourong out because her natural comprehension was already exceptional.
• The disciples swallowed the pills, and their thoughts cleared; one disciple immediately performed the Celestial-Step Ritual with newfound ease.
• Lu Chen saw that the pills had greatly improved the disciples’ training and considered using them as rewards for good performance.
• Lu Chen planned to demonstrate talismans’ power, tying their use to worship of his divine offices to bring in incense offerings and attract people to the Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite.

Lu Chen planned four talismans to expand the Plague Department, Underworld Office, and Lord God of Wealth’s offerings, then began making them with the Five Plague Envoys. After crafting twenty plague talismans, he headed to the Lord God of Wealth Hall but suddenly remembered he could not offer incense to his sworn elder brother yet.

• Lu Chen selected talismans suited to each divine department, including a plague-control talisman, a karmic-cleansing talisman, a City God summoning talisman, and a commercial fortune talisman.
• Lu Chen offered incense to Zhou Xin and explained his plan for the Plague-Severing Poison-Vanishing Spirit Talisman.
• Zhou Xin agreed to cooperate and signed the talisman on behalf of the Five Plague Envoys’ divine fruit.
• Lu Chen completed the first plague talisman and made twenty more, with the Five Plague Envoys sharing future offerings and merit.
• Lu Chen went to the Lord God of Wealth Hall to make the next talisman, then abruptly stopped when he remembered he could not offer incense to his sworn elder brother.