Chapter Summaries

Lu Ren and Wen Liangong opened the Jade Capital Secret Realm and discovered that the Shangjing Sect's hidden strength lay in thousands of sleeping cultivators. Lu Ren hurled a hydrogen bomb into the realm and escaped with Wen Liangong, leaving them to witness its immense explosion engulf Jade Capital Mountain.

• Wen Liangong brought Lu Ren the Nine Provinces Cauldron, which Lu Ren identified as one of King Yu's Nine Cauldrons.
• Lu Ren tore open the Jade Capital Secret Realm and saw the many coffins containing the Shangjing Sect's sleeping predecessors.
• Lu Ren set the hydrogen bomb to detonate in fifteen seconds and threw it into the realm as powerful beings began to awaken.
• Lu Ren dragged Wen Liangong through the Seeking Truth Realm and teleported nearly ten li away to escape the blast.
• A blazing nuclear explosion struck Jade Capital Mountain, engulfing it in fire and vaporizing nearby snow-covered peaks.

Lu Ren destroyed the Shangjing Sect with a nuclear bomb and gained a huge amount of proficiency and Skill Points. Far away, Supreme Unity Sect Patriarch Wang Lingguan learned of the sect’s destruction while struggling against corruption, and Shao Yi hoped the returning elders might be able to save him.

• Lu Ren and Wen Liangong watched the nuclear blast devastate the Shangjing Sect’s secret realm, and Lu Ren received two points of Force of Destiny and thirty-two Skill Points.
• Lu Ren took Wen Liangong away from the blast site to avoid the turmoil it would draw.
• Wang Lingguan awoke in chains and ordered Shao Yi to send someone to confirm whether the Shangjing Sect had been wiped out.
• Martial Uncle Cui told Shao Yi that Wang Lingguan was nearing the point where he would have to disperse his Dao Fruit to avoid becoming a Mad God.
• Shao Yi said the Supreme Ascendant Jade Tablet had begun emitting Supreme One’s Spiritual Radiance and hoped the elders who left during the mythological apocalypse would return soon.

Lu Ren returned from the Kunlun Otherworld after the hydrogen bomb destroyed Jade Capital Mountain, then entered his Inner World to ask Chang'e about the Shangjing Sect. He left Chang'e horrified when he revealed that he had wiped out the sect’s lineage.

• Martial Uncle Cui told Shao Yi to gather ten thousand young children for a sacrificial rite and wondered about the old fellows’ research.
• The Tongtian Sect and the Buddha at Western Spirit Mountain sensed the upheaval at Shangjing Sect.
• Lu Ren returned to the present world with Wen Liangong, who hurried off to report the operation.
• Lu Ren visited Chen Han, who became distraught after learning that Jade Capital Mountain had been destroyed, and checked that Li Qingling’s Phoenix Fist Scripture caused no adverse effects.
• Lu Ren went to the guarded island near Sun Wukong’s Sealed Land, avoided contacting Sun Wukong, and entered his Inner World.
• Lu Ren asked Chang'e about the Shangjing Sect’s status and told her he had destroyed its lineage, shocking and frightening her.

Lu Ren returned to Wang City after learning that Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning had sensed his attack on Shangjing Sect but could not yet reach him. At the market, Lin Shu approached him and asked for protection inside Wang City, warning that the city was more dangerous than Lu Ren realized.

• Chang'e panicked when Lu Ren revealed that Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning had established a connection with him, but Lu Ren said the great figure remained unable to return.
• Lu Ren left Xu Fu and the others and traveled along the increasingly warped Primordial Path to Wang City.
• Lu Ren saw cultivators buying Spirit Meridian Pills and watched a tiger-headed demon leave the market under hostile stares.
• Lin Shu met Lu Ren with a young attendant and explained that Wang City's cultivation methods offered a way to advance without becoming a Mad God.
• Lin Shu asked Lu Ren to look after him inside Wang City and said the fox spirit who had previously advised Lu Ren knew nothing about the city.

Lin Shu and Lin Hui discussed the spreading corruption and their hopes for Wang City after Lu Ren left them. Lu Ren returned to Wang City's gates, where its Lishi offered him entry and useful information if he fought him, and Lu Ren accepted the challenge.

• Lin Hui confronted Lin Shu for speaking ill of others, and the two watched Lu Ren leave before discussing the crisis and their plans for Wang City.
• Lu Ren sprinted back to Wang City and examined the Lishi guarding its gate, recognizing that he had taken an unusual path that seemed designed to avoid corruption.
• The Lishi told Lu Ren he could enter without Wang Coin and offered useful information if Lu Ren fought him.
• The Lishi shrank from nearly a hundred meters tall to five meters and invited Lu Ren to strike him once with all his strength.
• Cultivators gathered to watch the fight, while Lu Ren surveyed them and saw no one who seemed stronger than him.

Lu Ren overwhelmed Lishi with a single punch during their spar, then received cryptic directions before entering Wang City. Lin Hui and Lin Shu watched him disappear into the darkness, while Lin Hui decided not to return to Wang City.

• Lu Ren struck Lishi with a powerful punch that sent him flying into Wang City's wall, but the wall healed and Lishi pulled himself free.
• Lu Ren began powering up for another attack, but Lishi stopped the spar and admitted Lu Ren's strength was nearly equal to his own.
• The watching cultivators were astonished by Lu Ren's physical power and newly awed by Lishi's ability to endure the blow.
• Lishi told Lu Ren to stay beneath the light, continue toward the deepest part of Wang City, and avoid detours.
• Lu Ren opened Wang City's gate and entered the darkness, while Lin Hui told Lin Shu she would not return to the city.

Lu Ren entered Wang City and learned that Wang Coins kept its darkness at bay for a limited time, then followed Lishi’s directions through its eerily silent streets. He reached a massive ancient building at the end of the road.

• Lin Shu asked Lin Hui to cultivate with him as a farewell, but she angrily refused and left.
• Lu Ren used a Wang Coin to restore his perception and discovered that one coin let him remain in Wang City for twenty-four hours.
• A gate attendant offered Lu Ren a black robe and information for a Wang Coin; Lu Ren accepted the robe but refused to pay for information.
• Lu Ren walked through Wang City’s silent streets for nearly a hundred li and arrived at an enormous domed building.

Lu Ren entered Wang City’s Battle Arena after learning that only its ultimate victor could meet the Supreme One. As the arena crowd stirred his insight into the Three Lifetimes Sutra, he prepared to fight for the information he sought.

• Lu Ren approached the Battle Arena and asked Black Robe whether he could meet the Supreme One.
• Black Robe explained that the arena’s ultimate victor could make a request of the Supreme One, then gave Lu Ren an identity plaque that tracked victories.
• Black Robe revealed that Lu Ren had been assigned gold-rank treatment and said victory would grant him useful information.
• Lu Ren entered the arena and found the spectators’ faces concealed, though their emotions remained visible.
• Lu Ren gained insight into the myriad faces of living beings, increasing his proficiency in the Three Lifetimes Sutra.

Lu Ren entered the Battle Arena’s strange Yin level and was chosen to fight Blade, who had just won thirty-five matches. He took the arena name Jinfu and went to challenge her, while the sword cultivator waiting beside him wondered at Lu Ren’s Buddhist identity and intense killing intent.

• Lu Ren watched Blade defeat a bloated opponent and learned from the bare-chested sword cultivator that the spectators’ aura resembled that of evil gods.
• Blade agreed to continue fighting after the crowd urged her on, and the host announced Lu Ren as her next challenger.
• Lu Ren met the spectators’ stares with a fierce burst of intent, silencing them briefly before they began chanting for him.
• At the sword cultivator’s suggestion, Lu Ren chose the arena name Jinfu and headed to fight Blade, temporarily taking the man’s place in the match.
• The sword cultivator questioned whether Lu Ren was a Buddhist Bodhisattva because of his immense killing intent.

Lu Ren entered the Battle Arena and defeated Blade with a single devastating strike, then chose to continue fighting after learning that greater rewards awaited. The arena host kept the purpose of the event secret, promising Lu Ren would understand after winning one hundred matches.

• Lu Ren discovered that his True Essence worked freely inside the Battle Arena and faced Blade, whose armor was already heavily damaged.
• Lu Ren evaded Blade’s opening attacks and crushed her into the ground with a single blow, destroying her internal organs.
• The audience fell silent at Lu Ren’s swift victory, then erupted in cheers as Blade died and the system increased his Physique Proficiency.
• Lu Ren absorbed traits from Blade’s blood to advance the Myriad Forms Convergence method and questioned the host about the arena and its rewards.
• The host promised greater rewards for continued victories and said Lu Ren would understand the Supreme One’s opportunity after one hundred wins, so Lu Ren agreed to continue.

Lu Ren dominated the Battle Arena, killing or defeating a string of challengers while secretly gaining useful physical traits from them. As he began to suspect the arena’s walls concealed something and restrained an urge to attack the spectators, he faced Rhine Lunis, whose magic failed to freeze him.

• Lu Ren killed or defeated more than a dozen opponents in succession, and Lin Xiao surrendered rather than risk his life.
• Lu Ren absorbed advantageous traits from foreign fighters and discovered that his fingers could sink into a wall beneath the spectator stands.
• Lu Ren suppressed the urge to attack the spectators because the Supreme One might control the Battle Arena.
• Rhine Lunis of the Silver Family challenged Lu Ren, and her Sixth Circle spell, Heart of Frost, failed to affect him.
• Lunis began casting a single-target tenth-circle spell, but Lu Ren appeared beside her and warned that artillery-type mages died ugly deaths.

Lunis survived Lu Ren’s first lethal strike with the help of her ring and staff, then faced him again after revealing that his previous victim had been her mentor and older sister. Lu Ren attacked at overwhelming speed and tested the arena’s protective barrier while striking her violet shield.

• Lunis’s ring shielded her from Lu Ren’s first attack, and she used her staff to teleport away.
• Lunis realized the arena was a life-or-death battlefield and steadied herself to face Lu Ren.
• Lunis told Lu Ren that the woman he had killed was her mentor and older sister.
• Lu Ren charged at Lunis and smashed her violet shield into the arena wall.
• Lu Ren inspected the spectator stands’ restriction, then formed a seal and pressed it against Lunis’s shield.

Lu Ren defeated Lunis and won ninety-nine consecutive Battle Arena matches, gaining insights into other cultivation systems. In his hundredth match, he faced the hostile North Empress, whose first attacks clashed with his Tathagata Dharma Body before she sent ten thousand swords at him.

• Lu Ren shattered Lunis’s defenses with his Six-Syllable Mantra Hand Seal and blasted her apart.
• Lu Ren continued through the Battle Arena, won ninety-nine matches, and considered exploring a path beyond the Immortal Dao.
• Lu Ren agreed to fight his hundredth match and encountered North Empress, whose face seemed familiar to him.
• North Empress reacted with fury when Lu Ren asked her real name and launched a powerful sword strike.
• Lu Ren countered with his Tathagata Dharma Body, and the two attacks vanished in a silent clash.
• North Empress split her longsword into ten thousand blades and sent them surging toward Lu Ren.

Lu Ren recognized his former disciple Guo Muyang, now the Beidou Empress, during a Battle Arena match and learned that eighty years had passed on her homeworld since he left. After winning one hundred matches, he departed to meet the Supreme One and found himself in an immense city beneath a colossal golden tree.

• Lu Ren shattered Guo Muyang's sword attacks, caught her blade, and recognized her as his former disciple from Beidou Emperor Star.
• Guo Muyang told Lu Ren that eighty years had passed on Beidou since he left, though he believed he had been gone for only seven or eight years.
• Lu Ren comforted Guo Muyang and teased her about once wanting to marry him, prompting her to blush, threaten to settle accounts later, and concede the match.
• Lu Ren asked the hosting sphere where to find the Supreme One after reaching one hundred victories, and it directed him through the arena's entrance.
• Lu Ren emerged in a vast cluster of colossal cities beneath a golden tree that spanned nearly half the planet, confirmed he could contact his physical body, and continued toward the Supreme One.

Lu Ren chose the Tali Body Tempering Art from the Golden Jade Sacred Tree’s rewards and was transported back to the Primordial Path. He could no longer sense Wang City and suspected that winning one hundred Battle Arena matches had triggered the change.

• Lu Ren questioned the Golden Jade Sacred Tree, but it identified itself as the Supreme One and then stopped answering him.
• Lu Ren examined a planetary-class mothership, a powerful mech, and several cultivation scriptures, but decided none suited his needs.
• Lu Ren selected the Tali Body Tempering Art, which promised an internal transformation independent of heaven and earth.
• Lu Ren absorbed the art’s information for two hours and let the spatial force carry him back to the Primordial Path.
• Lu Ren found that Wang City had vanished from his perception and wondered whether his hundred Battle Arena victories had triggered the loss.

Lu Ren left the Primordial Path after obtaining what he wanted in Wang City, while Guo Muyang departed Beidou Emperor Star through an ancient teleportation array to pursue an unknown destination. Ao Li offered Lu Ren a cultivation path in exchange for his release, but Lu Ren refused.

• Lu Ren turned away from the Primordial Path and left after reviewing the Tali Body Forging Art.
• Guo Muyang descended into Central Province Imperial City, silenced its defenders with a sword strike, and activated the ancient teleportation array to leave Beidou Emperor Star.
• An elderly man of the Central Province Imperial Clan confirmed Guo Muyang was gone and warned that her departure could plunge the world into chaos.
• Ao Li told Lu Ren that the universe had been consumed by madness and offered to teach him a path focused on the primordial spirit and physical body if Lu Ren released him.
• Lu Ren rejected Ao Li's offer outright, as the other imprisoned figures listened in hope of bargaining for their freedom.

Lu Ren refused to release Ao Li and returned to studying the Tali Body Forging Art, which proved capable of rapidly improving his body and spirit. He continued practicing its first posture as his physique grew denser and more compact.

• Lu Ren left Ao Li imprisoned in the Inner World, ignoring Ao Li's warning about the treasures in Wang City.
• Ao Li revealed a terrifying aura after Lu Ren departed, while Xu Fu and the others watched and Subhuti remained silent.
• Lu Ren reviewed the history of the Tali Civilization and considered the mysteries behind its disappearance and the origins of the Tali Body Forging Art.
• Lu Ren absorbed the morning's Innate Violet Qi and began practicing the art's first posture, receiving repeated physique and spirit proficiency increases.
• Lu Ren sensed the posture drawing his body and spirit into a beneficial frequency, and he repeatedly practiced it rather than moving on to the next posture.
• Lu Ren's muscles became denser and his frame more compact, shrinking his height from around 1.97 meters to 1.9 meters.

Lu Ren completed half of the ancient Tali Body Forging Art, transforming his body and discovering a route to the True Immortal Realm apart from the immortal path. With Shakya and Laozi expected to arrive in two weeks and danger looming beneath the Sealed Land, he warned Li Qingling to prepare for what was coming.

• Lu Ren cultivated the Tali Body Forging Art for three days and began mastering its 2,048 movements, which reshaped his body down to the cellular level.
• After completing half the movements, Lu Ren realized the art offered a path to the True Immortal Realm through the sublimation of the body and Spirit Soul.
• Lu Ren learned that completing the incomplete art would cost 15 points of Force of Destiny, while he had only 2.
• Lu Ren sensed that Shakya and Laozi would arrive on Earth in two weeks, accompanied by a surge of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy.
• Lu Ren sensed a great terror sealed beneath the Sealed Land and recalled Ao Li's warning about Wang City.
• Lu Ren went to Falcon Fist Martial Hall and told Li Qingling that something big might happen soon, but she teased him about always raising her free-range.

Lu Ren spoke with Li Qingling about his relentless pursuit of strength before Shakya summoned his mind through a spacetime-transcending connection. Shakya revealed that he and Li Er had fused, and Lu Ren was left confronting the extent of the old monk’s madness.

• Lu Ren acknowledged that he had kept pushing forward to deal with the dangers facing him, while Li Qingling understood the burden he carried.
• Li Qingling told Lu Ren that Thor had revived in Northern Europe but had been captured by god worshippers after his power was depleted.
• Shakya drew Lu Ren’s mind into a distant quantum communication space, where Lu Ren recognized the old monk from the Inner World.
• Shakya remarked that Lu Ren could attain the Human Immortal Dao Fruit, and Lu Ren challenged him about the madness brought on by his pursuit of the Dao.
• Shakya boasted that he needed only one more opportunity to become a Heavenly Immortal and defeat the strange beings threatening the world.
• When Lu Ren asked about Li Er, Shakya laughed and declared that he was both Shakya and Li Er, leaving Lu Ren disturbed by their apparent fusion.

Lu Ren confronted Shakya in a resonance space, rejected his offer to protect China in exchange for Lu Ren’s body, and prepared to face him. Lu Ren warned China’s decision-making body that Shakya would arrive in thirteen days, and the country mobilized its defenses as the supernatural tide approached.

• Shakya offered to protect China from other Outer Gods if Lu Ren gave him his body, but Lu Ren refused.
• Lu Ren returned to the present, told Li Qingling to stay prepared, and gave her the Illumination Mirror for protection.
• Lu Ren activated the emergency protocol with Zhang Li and Li Changming present, convening China’s decision-making body.
• Lu Ren told the decision-making body that Shakya would arrive with the first minor peak of the supernatural tide in thirteen days and urged preparations for evacuation and defense.
• China mobilized its hidden weapons and defenses, including launching a warship into orbit, as the thirteen-day deadline arrived.