Chapter Summaries

Gold Horn recognized that the Phoenix Race was using treasures to create karmic ties and refused to accept benefits that might bind him. When the Five Virtues Phoenix Lord revealed the legendary Phoenix-Wing Gilded Trident, Gold Horn approached it, suspecting its Artifact Spirit might choose to follow him freely.

• Gold Horn told Feng Yao that he distrusted the Phoenix Race's generosity and had completed his karma by tempering himself with Nirvana True Fire.
• Gold Horn and Feng Yao continued climbing the Altar while other Demon Race powerhouses fought over treasures and the White Tiger Demon Venerable battled Kong Xuan.
• The Five Virtues Phoenix Lord praised Gold Horn's caution and revealed several damaged Dao Artifacts, including the Phoenix-Wing Gilded Trident, Blood Phoenix.
• Feng Yao explained that Blood Phoenix's sleeping Artifact Spirit could refuse anyone and had come to the Altar for another purpose.
• Gold Horn approached Blood Phoenix as its Nirvana True Fire grew stronger, while the White Tiger Demon Venerable and Kong Xuan abandoned their hopes of taking it and resumed competing for the sacred medicine.

Gold Horn agreed to help Feng Yao undergo her final Nirvana after the Dragon Lord confirmed the Phoenix Race’s account and the Phoenix-Wing Gilded Trident promised him a share of the benefits. The two reached the true Phoenix Pool, where a drop of the Primordial Phoenix’s blood appeared before them, ready for their transformation.

• The Phoenix-Wing Gilded Trident brought Gold Horn and Feng Yao to the True Phoenix Pool and explained that Feng Yao’s final transformation required her to absorb Primordial Phoenix blood and truly die once.
• Feng Yao told Gold Horn that she needed a guardian to help bear the Nirvana True Fire, and Gold Horn questioned whether the Phoenix Race might be using him instead.
• Feng Yao revealed a phantom of the Dragon Lord, whose voice confirmed that the Nirvana was genuine and its risks were real, after which Gold Horn agreed to take part.
• The Phoenix-Wing Gilded Trident lifted the seal and led Gold Horn and Feng Yao through a hidden passage to the real Phoenix Pool, then gave them instructions for sharing the flames.
• Gold Horn and Feng Yao entered the blood sea, and a drop of Primordial Phoenix blood in the shape of a phoenix emerged before them.

Feng Yao and Gold Horn began fusing Phoenix True Blood in the blood sea while the Five Virtues Phoenix Lord explained Jiang Shu’s hidden identity and extraordinary fate to the Phoenix-Wing Gilded Trident. After months of cultivation, Jiang Shu emerged stronger and challenged Zhan Feng to a spar, which escalated into a clash between their powerful techniques.

• Gold Horn absorbed Feng Yao’s Nirvana True Fire as she fused the Phoenix True Blood, and the two sank into the blood sea while their bodies burned and renewed.
• The Five Virtues Phoenix Lord told the Phoenix-Wing Gilded Trident that Gold Horn was Jiang Shu’s external incarnation and that Jiang Shu was a Human Race cultivator marked by fate.
• Jiang Shu emerged from several months of seclusion in the Minor Universe, having strengthened himself through the Laws of Creation and Destruction.
• Jiang Shu met Zhan Feng at the trading district and invited him to spar.
• Zhan Feng used Sunfall and then activated the Undying Battle Body, while Jiang Shu countered with the Law of Destruction and summoned the Pan Wu Splitting Heaven Axe.
• Jiang Shu and Zhan Feng’s attacks collided, sending turbulent currents through the cosmos.

Jiang Shu learned how the Mech Clan was containing the Insect Hunter, then joined the other Venerables when a powerful destruction cultivator emerged from subspace. The newcomer demanded the Insect Hunter, and the gathered factions prepared to refuse.

• Jiang Shu defeated Zhan Feng in another sparring match, and Zhan Jiuxiao took him to the Torch.
• Jiang Shu met an incarnation of the Mech Mother, who explained the Insect Hunter’s abilities and the decision to keep her imprisoned beneath the Torch.
• The Torch turned crimson after a Peak Venerable-level presence emerged from subspace and destroyed much of the Outer Area’s equipment, including a Mech Clan Venerable.
• Jiang Shu, Zhan Jiuxiao, and other Venerables confronted the spreading Black Tide and recognized its source as an exceptionally powerful destruction cultivator.
• The newcomer demanded that the factions hand over the Insect Hunter, but Blood Sickle refused and Zhan Jiuxiao promised the allies would not easily give in.

Jiang Shu, Zhan Jiuxiao, Blood Sickle, and the other Venerables battled a Black Tide led by a Mechanical Giant that was altering the sub-cosmos’s Laws. After learning that the giant could not sustain the alteration indefinitely, Jiang Shu gathered his Laws and struck back, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Zhan Jiuxiao confronted the Black Tide’s leader, and the Mech Mother warned that the surrounding Law power was being altered.
• Jiang Shu and the other powerful figures attacked, but the enemy countered with a massive energy spear and a Law that caused things to crumble.
• The Mech Mother warned that the enemy could mobilize power beyond hers and the other Mech Mother, while the Venerables fought through the Black Tide’s monstrous forces.
• Jiang Shu, Zhan Jiuxiao, and Blood Sickle advanced to the Black Tide’s center and found a huge black Mechanical Giant covered in symbols resembling Laws.
• The Mech Mother revealed that the giant was being assimilated by the cosmos and could not alter the Laws for long.
• Jiang Shu united multiple Laws and used the Qi Swallowing Myriad Forms Fist to halt the Black Tide’s torrent for an instant.

Jiang Shu and the assembled Venerables battled a Mechanical Giant made from countless machines, while the Mech Clan’s united computational power disrupted its control of the Laws. The giant attempted to escape through subspace, but its contingency plan unleashed devastating destruction, leaving Jiang Shu badly injured and wondering whether he would have to use Two Worlds Travel.

• Jiang Shu, Zhan Jiuxiao, Blood Sickle, and the other Venerables attacked the Mechanical Giant while the Mech Clan’s Mothers and Venerables joined their computational power to counter its manipulation of the Laws.
• Jiang Shu shattered the darkness covering the giant and discovered that countless mechanical cores and heads had been fused together to form its body.
• When the Mechanical Giant tried to flee through subspace, the Venerables pressed their attack, and Jiang Shu teleported through a flaw in its curved-space barrier to confront it.
• Jiang Shu endured the giant’s strike and hurled the Desolate Star Halberd into it, while Zhan Jiuxiao, Blood Sickle, and the other powerhouses broke through the spatial seal and struck the giant together.
• The Mechanical Giant activated a prepared contingency plan that stirred subspace into a destructive tide; Jiang Shu broke free from its grasp but was badly wounded by the ensuing annihilating blast.

Jiang Shu was swept through a space-time tide and stranded, injured, on an unfamiliar planet, where he began learning about its cultivation system. After recovering and stopping a carriage, he questioned Li Gang and Li Feng about spiritual roots, ending by asking what they looked like.

• The Mechanical Giant malfunctioned and stirred up a storm in subspace, separating Jiang Shu from the pursuing powerhouses as he was swept away.
• Zhan Jiuxiao told Zhan Feng that Jiang Shu might survive, while the Mech Mother revealed that their opponent was a collective consciousness called a Mechanical Civilization.
• Jiang Shu emerged from the space-time tide onto a ruined planet, killed a giant bear, and spent nearly half a month recovering in a cave.
• Jiang Shu stopped a carriage driven by a mechanical puppet and learned that Li Gang and his nephew Li Feng were discussing spiritual roots and cultivation.
• Jiang Shu asked Li Gang to describe what spiritual roots looked like.

Jiang Shu traveled with Li Gang and Li Feng to Luotian Sect, where he taught Li Feng a cultivation method and investigated the region’s spiritual roots. After arriving at Mount Luotian, Jiang Shu secretly entered the sect and discovered it held dozens of Tenth Realm cultivators and four Venerables.

• Li Gang offered Jiang Shu a demon core, and Jiang Shu agreed to accompany him and Li Feng to Luotian Sect.
• Jiang Shu taught Li Feng a cultivation method, and Li Feng successfully began cultivating it.
• Jiang Shu sensed spiritual roots inside Li Feng and Li Gang and learned that Li Feng had a rare Grade C root.
• After three days, Li Gang and Li Feng reached Mount Luotian, where Li Feng went to seek entry into the sect.
• Jiang Shu left the Li family, concealed himself inside Mount Luotian, and sensed nearly ten thousand people, including dozens of Tenth Realm cultivators and four Venerables.

Jiang Shu discovered that he had landed in a region beyond the Torch’s known range and questioned Luotian Sect’s Venerables about the unfamiliar world. When Zhao Luotian suddenly went mad and attacked the sect, Jiang Shu protected the disciples from the battle’s aftermath as the fight escalated.

• Jiang Shu revealed his Venerable aura and asked Luotian Sect’s three Venerables for records about the region.
• Jiang Shu read Luotian Sect’s books, found no records of the Human Federation, and learned that the Venerables did not know of the Mingkuang Star Sector or the Torch.
• A disordered aura erupted from within Luotian Sect, and Zhao Luotian emerged in a frenzy and attacked the sect.
• Zhao Luotian shattered Luotian Sect’s Grand Array, forcing the three Early-stage Venerables to fight him to protect the disciples.
• Jiang Shu blocked Zhao Luotian’s blade qi from striking the disciples and promised to maintain the battlefield.
• Zhao Luotian unleashed Blade Falls on the Celestial River, and one of the three Venerables looked to Jiang Shu for help.

Jiang Shu helped the Luotian Sect subdue the threat posed by its deranged Sect Leader, Zhao Luotian, and joined Li Dewen in pursuing him. After Zhao Luotian claimed the sky was fake, Heaven's Secret Venerable arrived, accused Jiang Shu of coming from beyond the heavens, and urged the gathered Venerables to capture him.

• Jiang Shu shattered Zhao Luotian's Blade Falls on the Celestial River with a punch, driving Zhao Luotian to flee while Li Dewen thanked him and explained the Sect Leader's madness.
• Jiang Shu agreed to help track Zhao Luotian, hoping to learn what had caused his condition and establish an identity in the world.
• After a day of pursuit, Jiang Shu and Li Dewen intercepted Zhao Luotian by the ocean, where Zhao claimed he had discovered that the heaven and earth were not what they seemed and that the sky was fake.
• Four Venerables surrounded Zhao Luotian, but Heaven's Secret Venerable arrived and questioned Jiang Shu about his origins.
• Heaven's Secret Venerable accused Jiang Shu of coming from beyond the heavens and called on the Venerables to capture him, claiming he might be connected to Zhao Luotian's madness; Li Dewen began to turn against Jiang Shu.

Jiang Shu fought Old Man Tianji and the Venerables who had branded him a Demon from Beyond the Heavens, killing one opponent and breaking Tianji’s powerful attacks. Just as the battle was about to escalate, a mysterious black shadow appeared beside a river-like aura linked to the Abyss.

• Old Man Tianji attacked Zhao Luotian while the other Venerables turned against Jiang Shu, but Li Dewen held back.
• Jiang Shu killed a Venerable with three punches, frightening the others and prompting Tianji to confront him directly.
• Jiang Shu destroyed Tianji’s self-strengthening streams and shattered the colossal qi dragon with his mastery of the Dao of Space.
• Zhao Luotian blocked the other Venerables as Jiang Shu pressed Tianji in close combat and gained the upper hand.
• As Tianji prepared a powerful Killing Move, he and Jiang Shu sensed a dark, unfathomable aura and saw a black shadow seated beside a river connected to the Abyss.

Jiang Shu escaped Old Man Tianji with the Heaven-Defying Alliance leader and learned that Zhao Luotian’s madness came from seeing a monster resembling the Mechanical Giant. The leader explained that this world’s powerful beings were fated to reach their realms, and that outsiders like Jiang Shu could disrupt that destiny.

• The Heaven-Defying Alliance leader joined Jiang Shu against Old Man Tianji, who withdrew with the other Venerables.
• Jiang Shu, Zhao Luotian, and the leader traveled through a dark river to the Heaven-Defying Alliance’s gathering place.
• Zhao Luotian described seeing a monster assembled from countless heads, and Jiang Shu showed him an image of the Mechanical Giant.
• The leader told Jiang Shu that a Venerable who ventured deeper into subspace had died because of Fate, and offered to let Jiang Shu witness it himself.
• The leader revealed that the region had seven Late-stage Venerables and thirteen visitors from beyond the heavens under his organization, six of whom had died.
• The leader said people’s cultivation and destinies were decided from birth, but outsiders like Jiang Shu could slightly alter the ordained path.

The Heaven-Defying Alliance's leader showed Jiang Shu how fate arranged events and explained that people’s spirit roots and demon cores were computers that helped fate cultivate selected powerhouses. Jiang Shu understood why the Venerables targeted him as a Demon from Beyond the Heavens, then asked why the leader had chosen to help him.

• The Heaven-Defying Alliance's leader explained that an outside force had torn away Zhao Luotian’s view of reality and driven him toward madness.
• The Heaven-Defying Alliance's leader took Jiang Shu to a village and showed him how fate caused a child’s leg to be broken despite Jiang Shu’s attempt to prevent it.
• The Heaven-Defying Alliance's leader told Jiang Shu that fate favored him and other Venerables, while their spirit roots and demon cores functioned as computers that aided cultivation.
• The Heaven-Defying Alliance's leader explained that fate gave selected people suitable trials and opportunities, allowing it to produce powerful cultivators efficiently.
• Jiang Shu accepted that fate explained the Venerables’ actions against him, then asked the Heaven-Defying Alliance's leader why he had helped him.

Jiang Shu learned that the Heaven-Defying Alliance wanted to break the world’s predetermined fate and agreed to help them gather powerful allies. He traveled to Xuanwu City, found the imprisoned Li Chong, and revealed himself to the panicked elder.

• The Heaven-Defying Alliance leader explained that he sought to gather variables and transcend fate, and Jiang Shu told him that fate’s injuries might create an opportunity to resist it.
• Jiang Shu and the leader agreed to cooperate, and the leader gave Jiang Shu coordinates for finding other powerful experts who had learned the truth.
• Jiang Shu left the Alliance’s alternate-dimensional space and teleported to Xuanwu City, where he found the aftermath of Li Chong’s rampage and sensed a Venerable in the city.
• Jiang Shu located Li Chong in an underground prison, incapacitated the guards, and broke the seal holding him.
• Li Chong recognized Jiang Shu and panicked, and Jiang Shu suppressed his voice and confirmed his identity.

Jiang Shu rescued Li Chong from an underground dungeon, killed the Venerable guarding it, and learned that Li Chong had glimpsed a monstrous being connected to Jiang Shu’s past. After the Venerable of Strength tracked them down, Jiang Shu fought him in a fierce contest of power and began to overwhelm him.

• Jiang Shu broke Li Chong out of the dungeon, defeated the guarding Venerable, and snapped his neck before escaping with Li Chong.
• A Late-stage Venerable arrived, learned Jiang Shu’s appearance from witnesses, and followed traces of aura to track him down.
• Li Chong told Jiang Shu he had seen himself as a tiny part of a monster and had watched Jiang Shu trapped in a giant hand.
• The Venerable of Strength confronted Jiang Shu, who challenged him to fight and exchanged powerful blows with him.
• Jiang Shu suppressed the Venerable of Strength through repeated clashes, then seized an opening and struck him with a devastating punch.

Jiang Shu rescued Li Chong from the Venerable of Strength and continued gathering people who had learned the truth of their existence. In Jiangdong City, he discovered a Mechanical Giant assembled from many beings and learned it was the will of the collective, possibly formed through the assimilation of a Mech Clan outsider.

• Jiang Shu defeated the Venerable of Strength, escaped with Li Chong, and left the Venerable trapped behind spatial isolation until Old Man Tianji and a demonic tiger arrived.
• Old Man Tianji, the demonic tiger, and the Venerable of Strength discussed finding infected people and silencing those who knew the truth.
• Jiang Shu returned Li Chong to the Heaven-Defying Alliance leader, then spent seven or eight days locating and rescuing others who had learned the truth of their existence.
• Jiang Shu traveled to Jiangdong City to find Xiang Dongliu and discovered a ruined city filled with headless, stone-coated bodies and a towering Mechanical Giant made from heads.
• The Mechanical Giant identified itself as the will of the collective and said its vast computational power let it observe and interfere; Jiang Shu suspected it had assimilated the Mech Clan outsider.

Jiang Shu was trapped by the Mechanical Giant and several Late-stage Venerables, who had studied his exposed abilities and prepared counters to prevent his escape. Injured and surrounded, he learned that a Great Destruction Venerable meant to target the Human Race was still being nurtured, and faced the choice of submitting or dying.

• The Mechanical Giant revealed that it and its race had been created to destroy the Mech Clan, then attacked Jiang Shu as Old Man Tianji and a massive black tiger joined the fight.
• The Mechanical Giant manipulated the Laws of time and space and weakened Jiang Shu's Heaven-Connecting Jianmu, while the black tiger and Old Man Tianji pressed their attacks.
• Another Late-stage Venerable joined the assault, and Jiang Shu was injured by the combined attacks of four powerful opponents.
• The Mechanical Giant admitted that it had recorded Jiang Shu's exposed methods and offered to spare him if he implanted a spirit root and joined its collective body.
• Jiang Shu asked about the Great Destruction Venerables targeting the other races and learned that the one meant for the Human Race was still being nurtured.
• The Mechanical Giant demanded that Jiang Shu submit or die, but Jiang Shu laughed and rejected its claim that those were his only choices.

Jiang Shu escaped the Mechanical Giant and the Late-stage Venerables, then found Zephyr Light True Water in the time-scarred ruins of Myriad Gods Cave. Unable to leave through the sealed gates, he returned to a safer part of the cave to cultivate the Great Dao of Time.

• Jiang Shu vanished just before the Mechanical Giant’s controlled Late-stage Venerables struck, escaping their attacks.
• Jiang Shu appeared in the ruined Myriad Gods Cave, where a drop of Zephyr Light True Water eroded nearly a hundred years of his Lifespan.
• Jiang Shu used the Heaven-Connecting Jianmu and his spacetime methods to collect three drops of Zephyr Light True Water.
• Jiang Shu left the chaotic-time region but found the Bronze Ancient Gate chained shut and the rift sealed, preventing his escape from the Heavenly Court Ruins.
• Jiang Shu returned to the bottom layer of Myriad Gods Cave and decided to cultivate the Great Dao of Time using the River of Time’s phantom and his three drops of true water.

Jiang Shu refined three drops of Zephyr Light True Water in the River of Time and neared the Late-stage Venerable realm before the river vanished. A golden Three-Legged Golden Crow statue emerged from the river, and the Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor spoke from within it, revealing he had left a contingency behind.

• Jiang Shu refined and absorbed three drops of Zephyr Light True Water, gaining insights into the Great Dao of Time without losing lifespan.
• Jiang Shu caught another drop barehanded and realized his body could now withstand Zephyr Light True Water, while his cultivation neared the Late-stage Venerable realm.
• Jiang Shu saw a Phoenix feather and a Dragon Scale drift through the River of Time, then watched the river churn and scatter Zephyr Light True Water and Time Sand before disappearing.
• Jiang Shu approached a stone expelled from the river, broke it open, and found a golden statue of a Three-Legged Golden Crow inside.
• The Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor spoke from the statue and said he had left a contingency in the River of Time; Jiang Shu questioned whether only the Ba Snake Demon Lord had died in the final strike.

Jiang Shu learned that faith could keep the dying Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor alive by balancing the erosion of faith against the Great Dao’s erosion. The emperor offered to help Jiang Shu reach Late-stage Venerable, leaving Jiang Shu to weigh the bargain against the time he could lose.

• The Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor deduced that Jiang Shu had fled to another world, and Jiang Shu admitted it and described the Mechanical Giant he had encountered there.
• Jiang Shu shared the Orc Saint’s faith inheritance with the emperor, who used faith power to stabilize his fading soul.
• The Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor explained that faith did not stop the Great Dao’s erosion but created a second erosion that had to remain in balance with it.
• Jiang Shu demanded a reason not to kill the emperor, who offered to help him reach Late-stage Venerable.
• The emperor warned that Jiang Shu might need decades or a hundred years to advance alone, asking whether he could afford to gamble that time while pursued and sealed away.