Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun discovered that the beast hide absorbed the ancient malice in Chāngchi’s cavern and deduced that powerful beings had been sealed there through the ages. After devouring Blue Mountain, he found a stone slab that appeared to map the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas.

• Fang Yun took out the beast hide, which absorbed all the malice lingering in Chāngchi’s cavern.
• Fang Yun examined the cavern’s ancient claw marks and inferred that Chāngchi had been imprisoned for ages by a power that preserved its strength.
• Fang Yun feared that the Burial Saint Valley’s changes might awaken ancient menaces and decided to abandon missions if the danger became too great.
• Fang Yun asked Yun Yangzhao why he had not devoured Blue Mountain, and Yun Yangzhao explained that he would not take what Fang Yun had earned.
• Fang Yun finished devouring Blue Mountain and found sacred qi, spirit bones, divine objects, and a Space-Breaking Talisman inside his enlarged Mountain Island.
• Fang Yun discovered an earthen-yellow stone slab bearing colored peaks and recognized it as a map of the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas.

Fang Yun charted a course through the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas, gave Yun Yangzhao supplies and directions, and sailed toward the largest treasure mountain while gathering treasures and avoiding Emperor Realm foes. On the eve of the Spring Festival, he reached the enormous black mountain, where beings from many races were already fighting around it.

• Fang Yun shared what he could about his map and gave Yun Yangzhao a Space-Breaking Talisman, Fifth Realm spirit bones, and a special treasure.
• Fang Yun sailed toward the largest treasure mountain, sorting valuable treasures and devouring two smaller mountains along his route.
• As Emperor Realm beings grew more numerous, Fang Yun avoided them and killed only those who attacked him first.
• Fang Yun finished History of Medicine, began History of Law, and recited a poem on Little New Year as he traveled alone.
• On the eve of the Spring Festival, Fang Yun reached the immense black treasure mountain and saw beings from many races fighting around it.

Fang Yun surveyed the races battling around the Great Black Mountain and avoided joining the conflict as he circled toward its northern side. He arrived in a relatively quiet area and spotted the monstrous creature Murky Mud.

• Fang Yun observed the competing races and monstrous creatures fighting around the Great Black Mountain, including the Demon Barbarians battling allied races and the Fierce Spirits fighting the Saint Spirits.
• Fang Yun saw that the human Great Scholars were safe and decided to avoid the battle while searching for a place to approach the mountain.
• Fang Yun circled around the mountain, suspecting that Burial Saint Valley's opening signaled coming chaos and resolving to seek more treasures for himself and the human race.
• Fang Yun passed the western battlefield and reached the northern side, where he found no Emperor Realm beings.
• Fang Yun spotted Murky Mud sprawled across a Mountain Island.

Fang Yun devoured Black Treasure Mountain while the beings around him watched, then lured a fifth-realm Fierce Spirit close and swallowed it with his Crime-Suppressing Literary Platform. As Fang Yun began consuming the Fierce Spirit’s Mountain Island, other Fierce Spirits confronted him, including one from the Forbidden Lands of Inverted Stele Mountain.

• Fang Yun sailed to Black Treasure Mountain and began devouring it, finding few treasures despite spending half a day at it.
• A fifth-realm fish-shaped Fierce Spirit asked whether Fang Yun had killed Fierce Spirits from Moon-Splitting Lake, then attacked him with water spears.
• Fang Yun feigned weakness until the Fierce Spirit drew near, then used his Crime-Suppressing Literary Platform to swallow it with a Sin Turtle.
• Fang Yun began devouring both Black Treasure Mountain and the dead Fierce Spirit’s Mountain Island, prompting the other races to realize he had baited it close.
• Several Fierce Spirits demanded that Fang Yun stop, and a leader from Inverted Stele Mountain threatened him while the Saint Spirits hesitated.

Fang Yun faced three fifth-realm fierce spirits while a Sunless Peak Saint Spirit exposed the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit’s limitations and warned its allies against interfering. Fang Yun summoned his literary platforms and war-poem generals, then brought out two damaged emperor spirit-bone sets as the fierce spirits intensified their assault.

• The Sunless Peak Saint Spirit revealed that the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit was an incomplete stele spirit and warned that Sunless Peak would not stand aside if the fight became a Pyrrhic victory.
• Fang Yun examined the three attackers, identified the Green Sea Fierce Spirit’s weakness to flames and the Iron Desert Fierce Spirit’s weakness in prolonged battles, and prepared his powers and war-poem generals.
• The three fierce spirits cautiously probed Fang Yun’s defenses before launching stronger attacks that began to overwhelm him.
• Fang Yun summoned the Snake Emperor Spirit Bones and Eagle Emperor Spirit Bones, prompting the watching races to discuss their ability to restrain two of the attackers.
• The fierce spirits briefly hesitated, then renewed their assault as the Green Sea Fierce Spirit filled the sky with explosive water spirits.

Fang Yun faced the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit, whose Inverse Stele reversed attacks and summoned creatures within a hundred li, but Fang Yun’s War Poetry remained unaffected. The Fierce Spirit unleashed Black Sun Light, which sliced through the Snake Emperor Spirit Bones and left Fang Yun confronting a deadly threat.

• Fang Yun fought the Green Sea, Iron Desert, and Broken Stele Fierce Spirits, and the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit asked how he wielded the power of the Sacred Way.
• The Broken Stele Fierce Spirit demanded the Space-Breaking Talisman, transformed into a giant bone lion, and used its Inverse Stele to reverse many of the emperor skeletons’ attacks.
• Fang Yun’s War Poetry did not turn against him, and he mocked the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit by asking whether its Inverse Stele was broken.
• The enraged Broken Stele Fierce Spirit formed a Gloomy Black Sun and fired Black Sun Light at Fang Yun.
• Fang Yun used Protective War Poetry and placed the Snake Emperor Spirit Bones in the beam’s path, but the Black Sun Light cut them in two and pulverized them.

Fang Yun withstood the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit’s Black Sun Light and turned the fight against the three Forbidden Lands Fierce Spirits. As he and his allies pressured two of them, the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit began drawing power from his own bones into the Inverse Stele.

• Fang Yun’s Realm of Family, State, and World blocked the Black Sun Light, forcing the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit to concede and turn to leave.
• Fang Yun refused to let the three Fierce Spirits go and attacked the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit with a rain of swords, but its stele’s power left him unharmed.
• Fang Yun sent his Poison-Attack Literary Platform against the Green Sea Fierce Spirit and his True Dragon Literary Platform against the Iron Desert Fierce Spirit.
• Fang Yun summoned Flame Plume and revealed the Starfire Armillary Mirror, helping his allies overwhelm the Green Sea Fierce Spirit and weaken the Iron Desert Fierce Spirit.
• The Broken Stele Fierce Spirit announced he would reveal the Inverse Stele Clan’s true power, then drained power from his bones into the stele, which began gathering immense gray mist.

Fang Yun endured the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit’s Pale Hand and shrinking inscriptions, then escaped its time-reversal attack with the Time-Pointing Chariot. The Broken Stele Fierce Spirit fell to the Fourth Realm, and the onlookers were left stunned by Fang Yun’s survival.

• The Broken Stele Fierce Spirit summoned eight Pale Hands, and Fang Yun fought them with Flowing Current and the Eagle Emperor Spirit Bones.
• The Fierce Spirit repeatedly used Shrink to reduce Fang Yun and drain his literary qi, but the Blood Radiance Literary Platform protected him.
• The Broken Stele Fierce Spirit used its third inscription to turn the Green Sea Fierce Spirit and Iron Desert Fierce Spirit into bone steles and absorb them.
• The Fierce Spirit reversed time against Fang Yun, but the Time-Pointing Chariot let him evade the gray wind.
• Fang Yun returned to normal size as the Pale Hands crumbled, while the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit weakened to the Fourth Realm.

Fang Yun killed the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit and learned that Inverted Stele Mountain might pursue him for it. The Sunless Peak Saint Spirit warned him about powerful Saint-Stele Fierce Spirits and the Bone-Painting River, while Fang Yun decided to seek Shanzhong Sheng’s advice.

• Fang Yun killed the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit with the True Dragon Ancient Sword and drew its Spirit Bones toward himself, stopping when the Sunless Peak Saint Spirit warned him not to touch them.
• Fang Yun’s Mountain Island devoured the Broken Stele Fierce Spirit’s Mountain Island and the three neighboring mountains, while Flowing Current remained undamaged.
• The Sunless Peak Saint Spirit offered to seek shelter for Fang Yun in exchange for the remains, but Fang Yun said he would ask Shanzhong Sheng for advice instead.
• The Sunless Peak Saint Spirit explained that Saint-Stele Fierce Spirits were linked to the Inverse Saint and warned Fang Yun not to provoke them.
• The Sunless Peak Saint Spirit warned Fang Yun about the Bone-Painting River, where fierce spirits could control others and assemble complete Spirit Bones from fragments.

Fang Yun examined the Black Treasure Mountain’s contents and concluded they came from a Dragon Emperor’s personal campaign, leaving him uncertain whether to pursue its possible dangers. He traded for dragon qi and learned that a Human Race Half-Sage Former Residence had appeared in Mist Village.

• Fang Yun found an ancient dragon scale among the treasures and let his True Dragon Ancient Sword absorb the remaining dragon qi.
• Fang Yun traced the Black Treasure Mountain’s practical Dragon Race objects to a Dragon Emperor’s personal campaign and suspected a Sainthood-level monstrosity might remain there.
• Fang Yun offered sacred qi for useful treasures, traded six sacred qi clusters with an Ice Clan Great Demon King for a dragon qi-bearing bone, and learned others had gained far less sacred qi than he had.
• The Sunless Peak Saint Spirit offered information about a hidden Human Race Half-Sage Former Residence in exchange for a Space-Breaking Talisman.
• Fang Yun deduced that the Former Residence was in Mist Village, and the Sunless Peak Saint Spirit confirmed his guess.

Fang Yun rejected the Sunless Peak Saint Spirit's offer to guide him to Mist Village and traded sacred qi clusters for secrets and discarded treasures. He learned that the Demon Emperor had brought two avatars, including a Shellwing that entered the Sky-Hanging River, and planned to kill Yi Zhishi; the chapter ended with the Shadow Race member warning Fang Yun not to waste sacred qi.

• Fang Yun refused to visit Mist Village with the Sunless Peak Saint Spirit and set a price of two thousand sacred qi clusters for a Space-Breaking Talisman.
• A Shadow Race member traded information about the Demon Emperor for three hundred sacred qi clusters, revealing that the Demon Emperor had brought two avatars into Burial Saint Valley.
• The Shadow Race member identified one avatar as a six-pair Shellwing that had entered the Sky-Hanging River to seek a divine object.
• The Shadow Race member revealed that the Demon Emperor had brought the Forbidden Law Divine Tree and wanted to kill Yi Zhishi.
• Fang Yun publicly offered to buy goods worth at least fifty sacred qi clusters, then spent over a thousand clusters purchasing discarded items from members of various races.
• The Shadow Race member warned Fang Yun that sacred qi was essential in Burial Saint Valley and urged him not to trade it away for uncertain treasures.

Fang Yun sifted through discarded treasures in Burial Saint Valley and deciphered several ancient records, discovering artifacts of immense value. He gained control of the Two-Dragon Seal and secured Demon Ancestor Insight Diagrams, leaving him with new authority and valuable items to use or trade.

• Fang Yun sorted through written records and diagrams, then deciphered six obscure artifacts with the aid of Sacred Qi.
• Fang Yun discovered that a bone fragment was a Dragon Bone Sage Edict that could let him command a Half-Sage's forces after the original commander died.
• Fang Yun used the Sage Edict to gain control of Lian Pingchao's Two-Dragon Imperial Seal, giving him genuine authority in Dragon City and easing his path into the Sky-Hanging River or Dragon Race Blood Tomb Mausoleum.
• Fang Yun identified a metal fragment as a historical record of a battle during the War of Proclaiming Ancestorhood.
• Fang Yun recognized two crude statues as Luan Mang and Xiaoxing's Demon Ancestor Insight Diagrams and stored them away to trade or bring back to Saint Origin Continent.

During the Spring Festival, Ji Anchang arrived at the Qing Kingdom’s Yueyang literary assembly, revealing that he had become a Great Scholar and that his Parting Sword Song had reached the fourth realm and crystallized into literary jade. He declared his intention to destroy Li Wenying’s literary reputation at the Saint Apricot Literary Assembly and later challenge Fang Yun.

• Zong Xueyan delayed announcing the literary champion while awaiting the arrival of an important guest.
• Ji Anchang arrived, and the guests learned he had become a Great Scholar after years of training in the Desolate City Ancient Land.
• Ji Anchang revealed that his Parting Sword Song had reached the fourth realm and crystallized into literary jade.
• Ji Anchang said he had entered the Cultivation of the Self Realm and intended to defeat Li Wenying at the Saint Apricot Literary Assembly.
• Ji Anchang vowed to challenge Fang Yun after he returned from the Burial Saint Valley and reclaim Xiang Prefecture.

Fang Yun uncovered powerful treasures and learned that Burial Saint Valley’s secrets could doom anyone who learned too much. After finding a map that pointed toward a terrifying center in the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas, he fled the Black Treasure Mountain with six human Great Scholars just as it began to crack and shake.

• Fang Yun inventoried the three Fierce Spirits’ treasures, finding Longevity Trees, a Dragon Blood Jade Shell, and a Fertile Soil Stone, among other items.
• Fang Yun learned from the valley’s Fierce Spirits and Saint Spirits that some Fierce Lands were Myriad Saints Pastures and that Burial Saint Valley drew in anyone who learned too much about it.
• Fang Yun’s Mountain Island joined two broken stone tablets into a map showing treasure mountains arranged around a central location he sensed was deadly.
• Fang Yun stopped devouring the Black Treasure Mountain and secretly warned the six human Great Scholars fighting nearby to leave with him.
• The Man-Faced Centipede left the mountain, then cracks spread across it and it began to shake violently as Fang Yun urged the Great Scholars to flee and prepare their defenses.

Black Treasure Mountain erupted, releasing a terrifying power that revealed the ancient great menace known as the Coffin-Bearer. After the Coffin-Bearer departed with his enormous coffin, Fang Yun survived the destruction that killed everyone near the mountain.

• Black Treasure Mountain exploded, and its purple aura plunged beings across the region into terror while Fang Yun struggled against its effects.
• A crimson beam emerged from the black mist but withdrew before striking Fang Yun, revealing a vast vertical eye that eventually closed.
• The black flames faded to reveal the Coffin-Bearer, an ancient great menace carrying an enormous coffin on his back.
• The Coffin-Bearer looked toward the sky, then launched himself into the air with the coffin, and the shock waves crushed nearby beings.
• Fang Yun remained alive after the blast weakened before reaching him, while every living being near the mountain and the fragments of Black Treasure Mountain were destroyed.

After the Coffin-Bearer’s appearance, Fang Yun avoided the aura at the Black Treasure Mountain’s former site and hurried toward his next destination while strengthening himself by writing books. He finished five works and began considering a potentially momentous History of Political Science.

• Fang Yun wondered why the Coffin-Bearer had spared him and detoured around the powerful aura left at the Black Treasure Mountain’s former site.
• Fang Yun decided to avoid the upheaval near the center of the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas and spent sacred qi to write faster.
• Fang Yun completed History of Medicine, History of Law, History of Engineering, History of Agriculture, and History of Military Studies, leaving the final punctuation unwritten in each.
• Fang Yun felt the five works steadily strengthening his power and wondered whether New Annotations to the Analects would manifest its true effects after he left the Burial Saint Valley.
• Fang Yun considered what to write next and turned his thoughts toward History of Political Science and the Sacred Way.

Fang Yun began compiling the Fang Clan Dictionary while continuing to strengthen and guide his Mountain Island through the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas. A sudden sense of dread led him to witness a Sutra-Chanting Specter battling an unseen opponent in a clash at the level of Sainthood.

• Fang Yun began writing the Fang Clan Dictionary with Zhuyin annotations and realized that compiling it was strengthening his scholarly foundation.
• Fang Yun planned to make the dictionary compulsory in Jing Kingdom and promote it throughout the human nations after he returned.
• Fang Yun absorbed treasure mountains, gathered a third map fragment, and kept away from powerful Emperor Realm beings and the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas' core.
• On the fifth day of the first month, Fang Yun felt an ominous disturbance and spotted a deep-blue sky toward the center of the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas.
• Fang Yun saw a giant Sutra-Chanting Specter battling an unseen figure amid divine lights and spatial upheavals.

Fang Yun watched the Sutra-Chanting Specter and Three Thousand Eyes battle until a mysterious white-robed man arrived and led them away. He then approached the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas' center, reunited with Ye Hongyu, and lent him the History of Military Studies.

• Fang Yun recognized the monstrous opponent as Three Thousand Eyes and used the Strange Book World to record its battle with the Sutra-Chanting Specter.
• A handsome white-robed man appeared, spoke with the two sages, and departed north with them after briefly turning his gaze across the world.
• Fang Yun judged the area safer after the sages left and changed direction to approach the center of the Divine Gift Mountains and Seas.
• Fang Yun met Ye Hongyu, who had advanced his cultivation after finding an object in Thunderweave Mountain.
• Fang Yun told Ye Hongyu about his five histories of scholarly disciplines and gave him the History of Military Studies to read.

Fang Yun and Ye Hongyu exchanged knowledge, prepared to hunt a weaker Emperor Realm foe, and searched Burial Saint Valley for a target. They avoided the Fire Luo Emperor and then spotted a Wolf Barbarian Emperor whom Fang Yun recognized from the attack on Ning'an City.

• Ye Hongyu read History of Military Studies, praised its accounts, and said studying it deeply could lead Fang Yun to become a Half-Sage of the School of War.
• Fang Yun told Ye Hongyu about dealing with the Stone Fetus Blood Egg but kept his efforts to reform Mouse Tai King and Wolf Abyss King secret.
• Fang Yun and Ye Hongyu agreed to hunt an Emperor Realm foe, and Fang Yun shared two sets of Fifth Realm Spirit Bones and two rare treasures with Ye Hongyu.
• Fang Yun spotted the Fire Luo Emperor and urged Ye Hongyu to avoid him because he had grown stronger since their previous encounter.
• Fang Yun then spotted a Wolf Barbarian Emperor accompanied by two fox Demon Kings and recognized him as a former Fifth Realm Great Demon King who had fought in the attack on Ning'an City.

Fang Yun and Ye Hongyu trapped Emperor Langtuo and began their attack, with Ye Hongyu matching the emperor’s strike using his Thunder-Listening Ancient Sword. Fang Yun captured both fox Demon Kings, leaving Emperor Langtuo to face the two of them alone as Fang Yun revealed his Emperor spirit bones.

• Ye Hongyu and Fang Yun planned to have Ye Hongyu hold off Emperor Langtuo while Fang Yun killed the two fox Demon Kings.
• Emperor Langtuo recognized Ye Hongyu and challenged him, unaware that Fang Yun was approaching from behind.
• Fang Yun admitted he had used Ye Hongyu as bait and circled around Emperor Langtuo.
• Emperor Langtuo attacked Ye Hongyu, but Ye Hongyu’s Thunder-Listening Ancient Sword shattered the emperor’s strike.
• Fang Yun captured the Fifth Realm fox Demon King with his palace and swallowed the Fourth Realm fox Demon King with the Poison-Assault Giant Serpent.
• Emperor Langtuo saw the Flowing Current beneath Fang Yun and recognized his Emperor spirit bones.