Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Twelve Ancestral Witches simultaneously release their immense bloodline auras across the Great Wilderness, causing mountains, rivers, demon beasts, and weaker members of the newly founded Demon Court to tremble.
• Their display serves as a warning: although the Demon Court has united the Demon Clan, the Witch Clan remains powerful and independent.
• Grand Unity considers confronting the Ancestral Witches, but Di Jun prevents an immediate battle. He argues that the display is intimidation rather than a formal attack and that the newly established Demon Court must first consolidate its territories and internal order.
• Di Jun orders Baize to instruct all Demon Clan forces not to provoke a large-scale war. However, if the Witch Clan crosses their borders, they are to be driven back.
• After the ceremony, various cultivators leave the Heavenly Court. Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun remark that the growing fortunes and expanding territories of the two clans make an eventual war inevitable.
• Luxuan and his companions return toward the Eastern Sea and discover increasing numbers of rogue cultivators migrating there to escape the conflict between the Witch and Demon Clans.
• A message from Purple Palace Isle reveals that Witch-Demon clashes have already begun spilling into the Eastern Sea, suggesting that the Great Wilderness’s troubles are only beginning.

Character Developments

• Di Jun demonstrates political restraint and strategic judgment. Rather than allowing Grand Unity’s battle instincts to trigger an unnecessary confrontation, he prioritizes stabilizing the newly formed Demon Court while making clear that the Demon Clan will not submit to the Witch Clan.
• Grand Unity shows strong eagerness to fight but ultimately respects Di Jun’s authority. His knowledge of Dijiang’s abilities also reveals his awareness of the danger posed by the Ancestral Witches.
• Luxuan remains observant and detached, recognizing that the conflict between the two clans is structurally inevitable. He also explains the difference between Dijiang’s instinctive spatial power and Bixiao’s cultivated understanding of space.
• Bixiao becomes fascinated by Dijiang’s mastery of spatial laws and expresses a desire to study his techniques. Her impulsive nature is lightly mocked by Zhao Gongming and cautiously warned against by Luxuan and Grand Unity.
• Yunxiao notices that the Twelve Ancestral Witches’ individual powers seem capable of complementing one another, possibly hinting at a powerful formation or coordinated technique.
• Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun recognize the coming instability and choose to remain away from the conflict, valuing the safety of Longevity Mountain.
• Zhao Gongming acts as the group’s messenger and later reports that Witch-Demon clashes have reached the Eastern Sea.

Significant Themes

• Rising tension between major powers: The Demon Court’s creation does not establish peace; instead, it sharpens the division between the Demon and Witch Clans.
• Political restraint versus martial impulse: Di Jun’s caution contrasts with Grand Unity’s desire for immediate confrontation, emphasizing the importance of timing and consolidation.
• The cost of territorial expansion: As both clans expand, independent cultivators lose safe places to live and are forced to migrate.
• Power and bloodline: The Ancestral Witches’ authority comes from their Pangu-derived bodies and bloodline abilities, especially Dijiang’s space control and Zhujiuyin’s manipulation of time.
• The inevitability of conflict: Even though open war is avoided for now, territorial overlap, competing resources, and growing clan fortunes make future confrontation unavoidable.
• Safety outside the centers of power: The Eastern Sea appears to be a refuge because of Luxuan’s lasting rules and the fall of the former Celestial Court, but the arrival of Witch-Demon conflict threatens that stability.

Important Character Interactions

• Di Jun restrains Grand Unity from attacking the Ancestral Witches, establishing a balance between the brothers’ strategic caution and aggressive instincts.
• Luxuan explains Dijiang’s spatial abilities to Bixiao, distinguishing innate bloodline power from cultivated Dao comprehension.
• Luxuan jokes with Bixiao about not immediately using the Golden Flood-Dragon Scissors against Dijiang, while Zhao Gongming silently doubts her claim that she is not impulsive.
• Grand Unity warns Bixiao that Dijiang is exceptionally difficult to catch, and she accepts the advice more seriously than usual.
• Di Jun’s order to “drive them back” reassures the Demon Clan’s newly joined forces that restraint does not mean weakness.
• Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun discuss the approaching conflict with Luxuan, reinforcing the chapter’s sense that the Great Wilderness is entering a more dangerous era.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Luxuan returns to the Eastern Sea with Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, Bixiao, and Zhao Gongming, but first visits Purple Palace Isle.
• Purple Palace Isle, formerly the center of the Celestial Court, has become a refuge for Eastern Sea rogue cultivators and migrants fleeing turmoil on the Great Wilderness Continent.
• The population has greatly increased, including entire clans, solitary cultivators, and relocated immortal islands. Many newcomers bear injuries or signs of recent conflict.
• The local Golden Immortal reports that immigration has nearly tripled over the past five hundred years. Most migrants come from the central and northern continent, including areas near the Witch and Demon Clans.
• Although ordinary cultivators coexist peacefully, Witch- and Demon-aligned clans continue old grudges and occasional fighting after arriving in the Eastern Sea.
• Luxuan announces three rules for the Eastern Sea:
  1. Everyone may come and go freely.
  2. No one may seize another’s dwelling, spiritual resources, or life by force.
  3. The war between the Witch and Demon Clans must not spread into the Eastern Sea.
• The cultivators are relieved by the simplicity and fairness of the rules, especially because Luxuan does not require registration, tribute, or control over their movements.
• Less than a century later, a large Witch-Demon conflict erupts near Purple Palace Isle. Over one hundred thousand demons retreat while tens of thousands of Witch warriors pursue them, devastating a small immortal island in the process.
• Bixiao intervenes to protect a Golden Immortal from stray demonic flames and confronts the two factions for violating the newly established rules.

Character Developments

• Luxuan demonstrates a restrained and pragmatic leadership style. Rather than creating a complex system of governance, he establishes only the minimum rules necessary to preserve peace.
• He makes clear that Penglai’s authority is limited to preventing disorder, not controlling every aspect of life in the Eastern Sea.
• Bixiao continues to admire and understand her master’s simple, efficient approach. Her protective instincts emerge when she shields a Golden Immortal from the battlefield.
• Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, and Bixiao are revealed to have all reached the Great Luo realm, astonishing the surrounding cultivators and reinforcing Penglai’s growing prestige.
• Zhao Gongming acts as a practical observer, clarifying why migrants feel freer in the Eastern Sea than they once did under the Celestial Court.
• The newly arrived cultivators shift from fear and uncertainty to relief and loyalty after hearing Luxuan’s rules.

Significant Themes

• Freedom versus centralized control: The Eastern Sea offers refuge without the oppressive registration and tribute systems associated with the former Celestial Court.
• Order through simplicity: Luxuan believes a few clear, enforceable principles are better than an elaborate bureaucracy.
• The consequences of war: Even before the Witch and Demon Clans formally enter a larger war, their rivalry already displaces populations and threatens neutral territories.
• Authority and legitimacy: Luxuan’s reputation as the destroyer of the Celestial Court creates fear, but his restrained policies earn trust rather than submission.
• The fragility of peace: The Eastern Sea’s peaceful refuge is immediately tested when the external conflict reaches its borders.

Character Interactions

• Purple Palace cultivators react with awe and nervousness upon seeing Luxuan and the Three Cloud Sisters, whose Great Luo cultivation confirms the rumors about Penglai.
• Luxuan questions the local administrator about migration and conflicts, showing concern for practical governance.
• Luxuan’s announcement reassures the refugees, who publicly promise to obey the Eastern Sea’s rules.
• Bixiao privately comments that Penglai effectively controls the Eastern Sea, while Luxuan modestly corrects her, saying they only control whether people cause trouble.
• At the end of the chapter, Bixiao confronts the Witch and Demon forces after their pursuit violates the very rules Luxuan has just established.

Key plot points and events

• A large battle between the Demon Clan and Witch Clan spills into the Eastern Sea, damaging an island and threatening local rogue cultivators.
• Bixiao blocks a demon attack, while Qiongxiao cuts apart a pursuing witch warrior’s strike. The Three Cloud Sisters warn both armies that Penglai’s Eastern Sea is a peace-stopping zone and order them to withdraw.
• The armies argue over who started their feud. Yunxiao refuses to judge their old grievances, insisting they stop fighting within the Eastern Sea and settle matters elsewhere.
• When a witch general refuses, Yunxiao traps both armies—over a hundred thousand demons and tens of thousands of witches—in her Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation. The formation repeatedly redirects the demons and replenishes itself against the witches’ attacks, gradually dividing and disorienting both forces.
• Before the dispute can be resolved, Demon Sage Jimeng and Great Shaman Xingtian arrive, escalating the confrontation.

Character developments and interactions

• Yunxiao demonstrates calm authority and formidable Array Dao skill. She applies Penglai’s rule impartially, trapping both sides rather than taking either faction’s side.
• Bixiao is impatient with the armies’ arguments and focuses on carrying out their master’s simple instruction: make them stop.
• Qiongxiao supports her sisters in defending the boundary and recognizes how Yunxiao’s formation has grown more sophisticated through its use of spatial structures.
• The Demon and Witch commanders remain hostile and unwilling to abandon their feud, even when ordered to withdraw.
• The rogue cultivators move from fear to confidence in Penglai’s protection, though the arrival of two powerful leaders renews their anxiety.

Significant themes

• Neutrality enforced through action: Penglai does not decide who is right; it enforces peace within its territory.
• Order versus vengeance: The armies’ desire to pursue old grievances threatens everyone nearby, while Yunxiao insists they take their conflict elsewhere.
• Power and deterrence: Yunxiao’s formation shows that Penglai’s rules carry real force, regardless of the size or status of those who violate them.

Plot points

• Jimeng arrives at the Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation and discovers that more than a hundred thousand Demon Court soldiers remain trapped inside, alive but cut off from their units and command. Even his Late Daluo Immortal-level spiritual sense is repeatedly diverted by the formation.
• Xingtian arrives and recognizes the formation’s strength. He confirms that the Witch Clan troops are also trapped, despite their attempts to smash through it.
• Yunxiao says the Demon soldiers may leave, and Xingtian agrees not to continue fighting inside the Eastern Sea. Yunxiao sets the terms: both forces must leave together, keep their distance, and settle their dispute beyond Penglai’s territory.
• Before leaving, Jimeng asks to test Yunxiao’s formation himself. She accepts, seeing the encounter as a chance to measure its limits against a veteran Late Daluo opponent.
• As Jimeng enters, the formation’s cloud rivers surge and close around him while his Wind-and-Rain Dao erupts.
• While the test begins, Xingtian challenges Qiongxiao to a later trial of strength. She accepts by drawing her sword slightly.

Character developments and interactions

• Yunxiao remains composed and authoritative, enforcing neutrality without yielding to pressure from either side. She also welcomes Jimeng’s challenge as a practical test of her formation.
• Jimeng shifts from concern for his trapped troops to admiration and curiosity about Yunxiao’s work. Rather than force a confrontation, he negotiates and then seeks a direct test.
• Xingtian openly respects Yunxiao’s ability, but insists on accountability for the Witch casualties. He accepts her boundary once the terms are clear, then turns his competitive interest toward Qiongxiao.
• Qiongxiao answers Xingtian’s challenge calmly and confidently; Bixiao is visibly excited by the prospect.
• The watching cultivators react with awe and nervousness, impressed that the young Cloud Sisters can command respect from major Demon and Witch leaders.

Significant themes

• Neutrality and restraint: Penglai prevents fighting within its borders while leaving disputes to the two sides beyond them.
• Skill beyond rank: Yunxiao’s formation challenges opponents whose cultivation surpasses hers, suggesting that strategy and specialized ability can overcome a realm gap.
• Respect and rivalry: Jimeng and Xingtian acknowledge the sisters’ strength, while the proposed trials turn conflict into measured tests—at least for now.

Plot points and events

• Demon Saint Jimeng enters Yunxiao’s Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation. He initially uses his command of wind, rain, and water to identify and break through its apparent layers.
• He eventually realizes that the rivers he has been breaking are only decoys around the formation’s perimeter. Yunxiao has folded space so that Jimeng repeatedly circles back to the first river.
• Jimeng abandons careful probing and unleashes the full force of his Late Daluo Great Dao of Wind and Rain, tearing through clouds and rivers. The formation repairs itself from other layers, even absorbing his rain to replenish its waters.
• After breaking through eighteen layers and still finding himself trapped, Jimeng declares that he will attack the formation in earnest. Yunxiao finally forms seals with both hands, setting all nine main rivers roaring.
• As attention shifts to the next bout, Xingtian challenges Qiongxiao. He invites her to use her sword without restraint, while she draws the Mystic Origin Immortal-Slaying Sword and begins gathering a million sword intents into one.

Character developments

• Yunxiao demonstrates that her mastery of formations can overcome a substantial gap in cultivation. Calm and composed throughout, she turns Jimeng’s own power into a resource for her formation.
• Jimeng moves from confident experimentation to serious respect for Yunxiao’s skill. He remains controlled, but recognizes that the formation is far more formidable than its apparent layers suggest.
• Qiongxiao accepts Xingtian’s challenge without hesitation and prepares to meet his immense physical strength with her sword.
• Xingtian shows respect for Qiongxiao by asking her not to hold back. He is impressed by the sisters’ abilities and values direct tests of strength.
• The onlookers revise their assumptions about the sisters, realizing that cultivation rank alone does not predict their capabilities.

Significant themes

• Skill can overcome differences in raw power: Yunxiao’s spatial strategy holds off a Demon Saint two minor realms above her.
• Adaptability and resourcefulness: The formation redirects Jimeng’s attacks and converts his rain into fuel, turning his strength against him.
• Appearances can mislead: Jimeng seems to be advancing through many layers, but he remains on the formation’s outer perimeter.
• Strength proven through action: Xingtian prefers a direct contest, and the spectators learn not to underestimate the sisters based on their cultivation alone.

Character interactions

• Yunxiao remains courteous toward Jimeng even as she frustrates his attempts to escape; he responds by escalating the fight and openly acknowledging the challenge.
• Xingtian praises Yunxiao’s formation work to Qiongxiao, who matter-of-factly confirms her sister’s skill.
• Xingtian offers Qiongxiao a chance to fight at full strength. She answers with action, drawing her sword and preparing a concentrated strike.

Key events

• Above the Eastern Sea, Qiongxiao tests her Mystic Origin Immortal-Slaying Sword against Xingtian, a top-tier Great Shaman renowned for his near-indestructible body.
• Xingtian invites her to strike his chest. Her first blow leaves only a white mark; the second, aimed at precisely the same spot despite his displacement, reddens the mark and reaches his skin.
• For her third strike, Qiongxiao draws on the sword intent stored in her Innate Sword Casket, compressing hundreds of thousands of strands into one attack. It cuts a shallow but bleeding wound in Xingtian’s chest, proving that her sword can pierce even his formidable flesh.
• Xingtian accepts her achievement with respect and begins healing. He then takes his turn: his bare-handed punch collides with Qiongxiao’s sword, driving her back, while leaving a visible sword mark on his knuckles. Bixiao uses her Space-Locking Ring to steady the space behind her sister and keep her from being hurled into spatial turbulence.
• Bixiao declines to match Xingtian’s physical strength, but jokes that she would rather immobilize him and attack with her Golden Flood-Dragon Scissors.
• Elsewhere, Jimeng breaks out of the Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation. Zhao Gongming arrives above the battle with the Twenty-Four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls and Cosmos Ruler, apparently ready to confront him.

Character developments and interactions

• Qiongxiao demonstrates patience, precision, and growing mastery of her Sword Dao. She adapts after her first strike fails, repeatedly targets the same point, and concentrates vast sword intent into a single decisive blow. She respects Xingtian’s toughness as sincerely as he respects her sword.
• Xingtian begins confidently testing Qiongxiao, but comes to recognize her as a genuine threat. He remains good-humored and sportsmanlike even after being wounded, then answers her challenge with a powerful punch.
• Bixiao supports Qiongxiao during the exchange and shows practical judgment: she protects her sister without trying to compete with Xingtian in brute strength. Her teasing remark lightens the tension.
• The onlookers move from disbelief to alarm and admiration as Qiongxiao’s attacks penetrate Xingtian’s body and the two fighters reveal their strength.

Significant themes

• Specialized strengths and mutual respect: Qiongxiao’s refined swordsmanship can overcome Xingtian’s overwhelming physical defense, while his raw power can force her back; neither is simply dominant in every dimension.
• Precision over spectacle: Qiongxiao’s most powerful strike is not flashy. Its strength comes from concentrating immense force into one exact point.
• Escalation and balance: The fight shifts from Qiongxiao testing her sword against Xingtian’s body to a reciprocal exchange, while Zhao Gongming’s arrival signals that the larger battle is about to intensify.

Plot points and events

• After Yunxiao’s Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation traps Jimeng, Zhao Gongming arrives and manifests all twenty-four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls as the Twenty-Four Heavens. Their combined pressure forces Jimeng to stop and lets him escape the formation only after Zhao eases the weight.
• Jimeng praises Yunxiao’s formation, noting that although his greater cultivation let him break through much of it, he would need more time to overcome its core. He believes it will grow even more formidable as Yunxiao advances.
• Zhao declares the Eastern Sea a ceasefire zone and directs the Demon and Witch forces to withdraw in separate directions without attacking. When a Witch general nearly reignites the battle, Zhao uses the Twenty-Four Heavens to immobilize both armies and enforce the order.
• Xingtian asks to test the full force of the Twenty-Four Heavens. He withstands all twenty-four worlds with his immense strength, sinking the sea beneath him but never kneeling. Zhao ends the test before it becomes a real fight; both acknowledge each other’s power.
• As the armies prepare to leave, Baize arrives with an edict from the Demon Emperor ordering Jimeng to withdraw immediately.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao Gongming demonstrates both overwhelming power and firm restraint: he can suppress an entire battlefield, but uses that strength to maintain the ceasefire rather than escalate the conflict.
• Yunxiao earns increased respect from Jimeng and the watching Demon Clan. Her formation has proven capable of delaying a Late Great Luo despite her relatively recent entry into the Great Luo realm.
• Jimeng accepts the limits of the formation test, praises Yunxiao, and agrees to withdraw. His reaction also highlights his frustration at Penglai’s layered methods.
• Xingtian is eager to test strength directly. His feat impresses the spectators, while his exchange with Zhao shows mutual respect and an understanding that a controlled test differs from combat.
• Bixiao briefly objects when Xingtian calls her sisters’ methods less straightforward, but is satisfied when he clarifies that he does not consider them inferior.
• Baize’s arrival introduces the Demon Emperor’s authority into the standoff and reinforces the Demon Clan’s withdrawal.

Significant themes

• Power balanced by restraint: Zhao’s strength is most significant because he uses it to stop renewed bloodshed.
• Respect earned through demonstrated ability: Yunxiao’s formation and Xingtian’s endurance change how others regard them.
• Different forms of strength: The chapter contrasts tactical, layered magic with Xingtian’s direct physical power, while showing that neither a test nor raw strength alone determines the outcome of a real battle.

Key plot points and events

• Baize delivers Di Jun’s decree ordering the Demon Army to withdraw from the Eastern Sea and stop fighting within Penglai’s ceasefire zone. Jimeng accepts without protest, recognizing that the Demon Court must honor the rules Di Jun made with Luxuan.
• Baize thanks Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, Bixiao, and Zhao Gongming for sparing the trapped fighters. The Demon and Witch forces are released from the Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation and leave the Eastern Sea.
• The Witch Clan remains eager to fight, but Xingtian confirms with Zhao Gongming that Penglai will not interfere once the armies are outside its territory. He and Jimeng openly agree to resume their conflict elsewhere.
• After both armies depart, the Eastern Sea’s cultivators celebrate Penglai’s success. News spreads rapidly, and Zhao Gongming reveals that people across the Great Wilderness are asking whether Penglai is accepting disciples.

Character developments and interactions

• Di Jun is shown to value his word and the Demon Court’s credibility over a show of force.
• Baize recognizes that Penglai’s strength lies not only in Luxuan but also in his accomplished disciples. He privately considers how difficult a conflict with Penglai would be.
• Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, Bixiao, and Zhao Gongming demonstrate that they can enforce Penglai’s rules without Luxuan appearing. Yunxiao earns Jimeng’s respect with her formation; Qiongxiao and Xingtian exchange compliments and agree to fight again; Zhao Gongming calmly clarifies Penglai’s boundary.
• Jimeng and Xingtian remain hostile, but both respect the ceasefire and withdraw as required. Their rivalry is merely postponed, not resolved.
• Bixiao is reluctant to leave, but accepts that Penglai’s responsibility ends at the Eastern Sea’s border.

Significant themes

• The power of keeping agreements: Di Jun’s compliance strengthens the Demon Court’s legitimacy.
• Penglai’s growing influence: Its rules hold even without Luxuan’s presence, showing that his disciples have become powerful in their own right.
• Boundaries and restraint: Penglai stops the fighting within its domain but does not interfere once the clans leave.
• Reputation and opportunity: The battle’s outcome spreads quickly, making Penglai’s disciples’ achievements a source of wider interest—and prompting questions about recruitment.

Plot points and events

• After the Eastern Sea battle, news spreads that Luxuan’s disciples performed remarkably well: Yunxiao trapped Demon Saint Jimeng, Qiongxiao wounded Great Shaman Xingtian, Bixiao used space-sealing techniques to disrupt both opponents, and Zhao Gongming’s Twenty-Four Heavens struck with overwhelming force.
• Cultivators across the Great Wilderness are astonished—not only by the disciples’ strength, but because Luxuan did not need to intervene. Penglai’s reputation rises, and many people seek to join.
• Purple Palace Isle is overwhelmed with applications and gifts. Luxuan reviews them but says he will accept only someone genuinely suitable, not recruit for the sake of numbers.
• The disciples reflect that they can now handle serious challenges without their master. Luxuan is pleased: he wants them to fight and resolve matters themselves so their Dao can mature.
• With traffic and activity on the Eastern Sea increasing, Luxuan orders Zhao Gongming to reorganize Purple Palace Isle. Its trade, lodging, and communication services will remain, while the old Celestial Court’s other remnants will be cleared.
• The site will become Three Immortals City, a neutral, open hub for cultivators and visitors to the Eastern Sea. Zhao Gongming and the Three Cloud Sisters begin the work, and the new name excites the Rogue Cultivators already settling there.

Character developments and interactions

• Luxuan remains selective about disciples and is content to let his students act independently. He sees their self-reliance as essential to completing their cultivation.
• Yunxiao recognizes that her sisters and Zhao Gongming have grown capable of handling major threats without Luxuan.
• Bixiao shares that realization, though she jokingly hopes it means Luxuan can stay home while they handle his errands.
• Zhao Gongming is moved by the public discussion of Luxuan’s absence and is entrusted with leading the city’s reorganization.
• The disciples’ easy conversation with Luxuan shows their confidence and closeness, while their coordinated response to his orders reflects their growing responsibility.

Significant themes

• Independent growth: Disciples must face challenges themselves for their Dao and abilities to mature.
• Teaching over recruitment: Luxuan values a few well-suited students over a large following.
• Reputation and results: Penglai’s standing rises because its disciples’ achievements demonstrate the quality of Luxuan’s teaching.
• Institution-building: Three Immortals City turns rising interest in the Eastern Sea into an organized, shared space for the wider cultivation world.

Plot points and events

• Three Immortals City rapidly grows on the former site of the Celestial Court. Zhao Gongming keeps the old infrastructure, removes its symbols of authority, and organizes practical districts for trade, lodging, commissions, and visiting envoys.
• The city is governed by three rules: no fighting, no coercive trade or resource seizure, and no using factional ties to intimidate others. Entry requires no registration or allegiance, and the rules apply equally to the Demon and Witch Clans.
• Demon Court and Witch Clan caravans arrive separately and obey the rules despite their mutual hostility. Their example helps establish the city’s credibility as a neutral, safe place to trade.
• Rogue cultivators flock to the city, where valuable goods can be bought and sold without the usual threat of robbery. The city’s prosperity grows as its markets fill with goods from across the Great Wilderness.
• Bixiao visits the market, buys a Northern Sea Cold Jade Fruit, and insists on paying even after the vendor recognizes her. Her purchase brings the stall unexpected attention and customers.
• Penglai begins selling some surplus resources. Their exceptional quality attracts crowds, but Zhao Gongming cautions against releasing too much, explaining that Three Immortals City should connect Penglai to the outside world rather than depend on Penglai goods.
• The city becomes a striking contrast to the old Celestial Court: people from rival groups gather freely and follow the rules voluntarily. A former Celestial Court member reflects that this is livelier than Dongwang Gong’s dream of “Ten Thousand Immortals Paying Homage.”
• Luxuan checks the city’s condition, then returns to his cultivation, leaving most external affairs to Zhao Gongming and the Three Cloud Sisters.
• In the third millennium after the city’s founding, Baize arrives from the Demon Court as dense Witch blood qi gathers outside as well. Zhao Gongming notices both arrivals and wonders why they have come at the same time.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao Gongming emerges as a capable, measured administrator. He enforces fair rules, understands how resource supply affects markets, and keeps Penglai from overwhelming local trade.
• Bixiao shows an approachable, principled side: she enjoys ordinary market goods and refuses to take them without paying. Her status briefly transforms a small vendor’s fortunes.
• Luxuan is confident enough to delegate, focusing on his Dao cultivation while trusting Zhao Gongming and the Three Cloud Sisters to manage the city.
• The Demon and Witch delegations remain wary of one another but restrain themselves in the city, demonstrating that its rules command genuine respect.
• Rogue cultivators gain confidence as the city proves safer than other markets. The old cultivator’s reflection highlights the difference between compelled loyalty under the Celestial Court and voluntary cooperation in the new city.

Significant themes

• Neutrality and rule of law: Clear rules, enforced consistently, allow even bitter rivals to coexist.
• Voluntary order versus imposed authority: The city thrives without requiring registration, worship, or allegiance.
• Safety as the foundation of prosperity: Trust draws traders and cultivators from across the wilderness.
• Responsible stewardship: Zhao Gongming recognizes that abundance should be managed carefully, not dumped into the market.
• A changed legacy: The former Celestial Court site becomes more vibrant after losing its old symbols of power, suggesting that openness can succeed where coercive authority failed.

Plot

• Baize arrives at Three Immortals City as an envoy from the Demon Court. Xingtian, representing the Witch Clan, arrives soon afterward, prompting speculation that both powers want Penglai’s support.
• Luxuan hears both sides’ proposals. The Demon Court offers nine Innate Star Domains, spiritual veins, and spiritual roots in exchange for Penglai holding back several Ancestral Witches. The Witch Clan offers noninterference in the Eastern Sea and access to rare resources in return for help against the Demon Court.
• Luxuan refuses to join either side. He declares that Penglai will remain neutral in any conflict fought elsewhere, but neither faction may bring the war into the Eastern Sea; if they do, he will stop both.
• Baize and Xingtian accept the decision and depart. Twelve hundred years later, a million-strong Demon army gathers near Mount Buzhou as the Witch tribes mobilize, bringing the two powers to the brink of war.

Character developments and interactions

• Luxuan demonstrates that Penglai’s neutrality is deliberate and firm, and that protecting the Eastern Sea is his priority. He treats both factions equally despite their competing offers.
• Baize presents the Demon Court’s generous terms but understands Luxuan may refuse. He accepts the decision and agrees to relay the warning.
• Xingtian is impressed by the Three Immortals World’s layered, strengthened space. He is direct and pragmatic, accepting Luxuan’s refusal without argument.
• Qiongxiao and Xingtian renew their friendly rivalry: Xingtian proposes another duel after their earlier fight, and Qiongxiao agrees.
• Zhao Gongming recognizes the significance of both envoys’ arrival and brings them before Luxuan. Bixiao notices the political stakes of the Demon Court’s request.

Themes

• Neutrality and restraint: Luxuan refuses to be drawn into a struggle for supremacy while setting a clear boundary to protect his territory.
• Penglai’s growing influence: Both major powers seek its support, while the Eastern Sea’s cultivators recognize that its neutrality may preserve their peace.
• Inevitable conflict: The competing powers’ expansion and overlapping interests make war increasingly unavoidable, despite attempts to secure allies.

Key plot points and events

• Luxuan takes Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, Bixiao, and Zhao Gongming to observe the looming war between the Demon Court and the Witch Clan, viewing it as a rare chance to study powerful combatants and Dao manifestations.
• The armies gather at Mount Buzhou: the Demon Clan deploys vast warships, organized formations, and its leading Demon Sages, while the Witch Clan assembles its twelve tribes under the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
• Luxuan and his disciples are noticed by both sides. Di Jun acknowledges Luxuan, and Xingtian waves to Qiongxiao, underscoring Penglai’s cordial relations with both factions.
• Di Jun and Dijiang exchange accusations over years of territorial seizures, hunting, and border clashes. With neither side willing to yield, Dijiang gives the order to fight.
• The armies collide on an enormous scale. Spectators flee from the shock waves, but Luxuan protects his group with a thin Primordial Unity Domain. As the first Demon formation attacks, Dijiang vanishes into its midst, beginning the battle in earnest.

Character developments and interactions

• Luxuan remains a neutral observer and teacher, guiding his disciples to learn from the battle while quietly shielding them. His presence commands respect from both armies.
• Yunxiao focuses on the rival armies’ formations; Qiongxiao is eager to judge the Ancestral Witches’ physical strength; Bixiao is struck by the scale of the armies and watches Dijiang closely; Zhao Gongming seeks insight into powerful Dao techniques.
• Di Jun and Dijiang meet as opposing leaders, but their grievances make peaceful resolution impossible. Zhurong and Gonggong openly intensify the confrontation, rejecting Di Jun’s demands.
• Xingtian’s friendly greeting to Qiongxiao and Di Jun’s respectful nod to Luxuan reveal personal ties and mutual recognition amid the gathering conflict.

Significant themes

• War’s overwhelming scale: The clash threatens even distant observers and transforms the landscape into a battlefield.
• Power expressed through the Dao: Dijiang’s spatial control and Zhujiuyin’s manipulation of time show how profoundly great experts embody their domains.
• Neutrality and learning: Luxuan treats the war as an opportunity for his disciples to study, while maintaining distance from both factions.
• Escalating conflict: Longstanding competition over land and people has hardened into mutual hostility, making open war seem inevitable.

Summary

Key events

• Dijiang appears inside the million-strong Demon Army’s formation and uses his mastery of space to scramble its positions, breaking the formation into disconnected sections. Onlookers realize that space seems to move with him rather than merely being manipulated by him.
• Bixiao studies Dijiang’s method and recognizes a new approach to the Space Great Dao. Her insight feeds back to Luxuan through their connection, deepening his own understanding.
• Grand Unity counters Dijiang with the Chaos Bell, stabilizing the distorted space. The two clash at tremendous speed, with Bixiao focusing on the changes in space rather than trying to follow their movements.
• Zhujiuyin enters the battle and manipulates time: flames rapidly burn out, a shattered mountain reverses its destruction, and Demon Soldiers are slowed enough for the Witches to overwhelm them. Grand Unity uses the Chaos Bell to oppose him, creating conflicting zones of accelerated, slowed, and halted time.
• Zhao Gongming draws insight from Zhujiuyin’s techniques, considering how time might become a controllable rule within his Twenty-Four Heavens. This, too, deepens Luxuan’s understanding of the World Great Dao.
• As the Twelve Ancestral Witches fight, their separate powers begin to resonate. Yunxiao notices that their positions seem to complement one another and starts recording their movements.

Character developments and interactions

• Bixiao moves beyond simply controlling spatial nodes and begins imagining a more responsive relationship with space. Her observation also strengthens Luxuan’s cultivation.
• Zhao Gongming gains a clearer conception of time as a rule governed by a world’s origin, rather than a fixed flow.
• Luxuan quietly absorbs both disciples’ insights, expanding his understanding of space, time, and world-building.
• Yunxiao identifies a possible pattern in the Witches’ formation and takes the initiative to study it. Luxuan encourages her to keep watching.
• Dijiang and Grand Unity are shown as familiar rivals: Grand Unity’s bell can disrupt Dijiang’s spatial advantage, but neither yields.

Significant themes

• Observation as a path to growth: Watching powerful figures reveals new possibilities, and individual insights can benefit others.
• Different paths to the same Great Dao: Dijiang and Bixiao both engage with space, but in fundamentally different ways.
• Worlds as systems with their own laws: Zhao Gongming and Luxuan consider how time—and other forces—can function as rules within a complete world.
• Coordination and hidden patterns: The Ancestral Witches’ powers may be more than a collection of individual abilities; their shared resonance suggests deliberate mutual support.

Plot points and events

• The Witch Clan and Demon Clan continue a vast battle near Mount Buzhou, holding back their strongest weapons while testing each other’s strength. Their armies suffer heavy casualties, and the surrounding landscape is devastated.
• Luxuan and his disciples remain safe inside his Primordial Unity Domain, which diverts the battle’s shockwaves.
• Yunxiao notices that the Twelve Ancestral Witches’ shifting positions follow a deliberate pattern. Their blood energy is linking together, suggesting they are experimenting with a living formation.
• She also spots Di Jun using the River Chart and Luo Script to connect the Demon Clan’s battle formations to the stars. The arrangement is an early form of a vast stellar array.
• These opposing approaches to formation-building inspire Yunxiao and deepen her Array Dao. Her insights flow back to Luxuan, strengthening his understanding of how an entire world might function as an array.
• The battle reaches a dangerous tipping point. A collision among Grand Unity, the Ancestral Witches, and several Demon Saints sends an uncontrolled shockwave through a spatial rift—straight toward Luxuan and his disciples. The chapter ends as the force reaches them.

Character developments and interactions

• Yunxiao proves especially observant, identifying the emerging patterns on both sides. She begins imagining how her own Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation might use living beings and shared array nodes.
• Luxuan gains indirectly from Yunxiao’s discoveries, deepening his Primordial Unity Dao and envisioning Fangzhang, Yingzhou, and Penglai as nodes in a world-spanning formation.
• Qiongxiao studies the Ancestral Witches’ near-impenetrable bodies. Rather than lose heart at the limits of her sword, she becomes more determined to sharpen it.
• Bixiao watches Dijiang and, after Yunxiao explains the emerging formation, begins to recognize the links between the Witches.
• Zhao Gongming studies Zhujiuyin and the Demon Court’s fortune. Each disciple focuses on a different aspect of the battle, allowing Luxuan to benefit from all their observations.
• The distant spectators grow wary as they realize the conflict’s scale makes even watching dangerous; they envy the protection Luxuan’s domain provides.

Significant themes

• Observation as cultivation: Studying opponents’ techniques can yield profound insight even without joining the fight.
• Different paths to unity: The Witches connect the powers of living beings, while the Demon Court seeks to unite the stars through formation nodes.
• Growth through challenge: Qiongxiao responds to a formidable opponent by refining her ambition rather than surrendering to doubt.
• The cost of restrained conflict: Though both clans are merely probing each other, the battle’s scale makes collateral destruction impossible to contain.

Plot points and events

• A chaotic aftershock from the Witch–Demon battle races toward Luxuan and his disciples, carrying traces of flames, spatial turbulence, Ancestral Witch power, and Demon Saint abilities.
• Luxuan remains still and unfolds his Primordial Unity Domain. Its Dao principles redirect, absorb, and reorganize the mixed forces until only ordinary spiritual energy remains. The spectators are stunned that he neutralizes the blow without a treasure or visible effort.
• Both the Demon Court and Witch Clan recognize Luxuan’s growing strength. The battle winds down: Di Jun orders the demons to withdraw, and Dijiang leads the witches back to their territory. Neither side wins decisively, but both have learned more about the other.
• Observers conclude that Penglai has become a genuine third power alongside the Witch Clan and Demon Court: despite its small numbers, Luxuan, his powerful disciples, and the secluded Three Immortals World make it difficult to challenge.
• As Luxuan and his disciples prepare to return to Penglai, he senses a faint but growing aura of Creation from a valley near Mount Buzhou. It suggests that a new kind of life may be forming, and he decides to investigate.

Character developments and interactions

• Luxuan demonstrates how far he has advanced: his Primordial Unity path can incorporate and harmonize many Daos, making hostile forces lose their destructive structure. His composure reinforces the disciples’ confidence in him.
• Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, Bixiao, and Zhao Gongming stay beside Luxuan rather than fleeing. They have gained valuable experience from the battle, which Luxuan expects them to study after returning.
• Di Jun and Grand Unity acknowledge Luxuan’s progress. Grand Unity is eager to challenge him again once he reaches the middle Quasi-Saint stage.
• The Ancestral Witches examine Luxuan’s many interwoven Daos with new respect. Xingtian openly praises Penglai, prompting light teasing from Gonggong.
• The Witch and Demon leaders’ mutual retreat shows restraint: both recognize that continuing the fight would bring heavy losses before either side is ready for a decisive war.

Significant themes

• Unity through diversity: Luxuan’s Primordial Unity Dao does not simply resist opposing forces; it brings different powers into a coherent whole.
• Power and political balance: Penglai’s small size is offset by its exceptional top-tier strength, establishing it as an independent third force.
• Respect earned through action: Luxuan’s feat changes how both rival factions and outside observers view him and Penglai.
• Creation and new beginnings: The mysterious aura near Mount Buzhou points beyond the battle toward the emergence of a new form of life.

Chapter 96: What Is Nuwa Making Beneath Mount Buzhou?

Key events

• Luxuan, the Three Cloud Sisters, and Zhao Gongming find Nuwa experimenting with clay figures in a secluded valley. Her creations can briefly come alive but soon lose their vitality.
• Nuwa explains that she can animate them, but has not yet made a living kind that can sustain itself and reproduce.
• Luxuan identifies the central problem: her creations depend too much on her power. A genuine living being needs room to learn, grow, and change rather than arriving fully formed.
• Bixiao compares such beings to children, who begin with little knowledge and develop through experience. The idea helps Nuwa rethink her approach.
• Nuwa makes a simpler clay person. It displays curiosity, imitates Bixiao, and remains alive far longer than her earlier creations, though its vitality still fades after several days.
• Nuwa concludes that the creation needs a life-sustaining medium. Luxuan suggests Three Lights Divine Water, astonishing Nuwa.

Character developments and interactions

• Nuwa shifts from trying to create complete, self-sufficient beings at birth toward allowing them to develop naturally. Her Dao of Creation responds to this insight.
• Luxuan draws on his experience cultivating the Three Immortals World to explain that both worlds and living beings must eventually function independently.
• Bixiao’s simple observation provides the breakthrough Nuwa had missed; she then eagerly tests her understanding by letting the clay person imitate her.
• Nuwa admires the Three Cloud Sisters’ progress and notices their distinct strengths: Yunxiao’s stable array mastery, Qiongxiao’s concealed sword intent, and Bixiao’s unusual spatial aura.
• The group works collaboratively: Zhao Gongming recognizes the incomplete life-origin, while Luxuan and Bixiao help Nuwa diagnose and address the remaining problem.

Significant themes

• Life as a process: Real life is not merely being animated; it requires learning, growth, and the ability to continue itself.
• Independence and balance: Creation must eventually operate without constant intervention, much like a world developing its own systems.
• Simplicity and potential: A less complete beginning may leave more room for growth.
• Mentorship and insight: A childlike comparison from Bixiao helps a great creator see a familiar problem differently.

Luxuan opened a gateway to his immense Three Lights Divine Water Lake and supplied Nuwa with enough divine water to improve her nine heavens breathing soil. With it, Nuwa created a self-sustaining clay being that awakened and began learning, and she prepared to bring more beings into the world.

• Nuwa offered to trade for Luxuan's three lights divine water, but he opened a gateway to a vast lake of it in the Three Immortals World.
• Luxuan drew an enormous stream of divine water into the valley, astonishing Nuwa and the nearby rogue cultivators.
• Nuwa mixed the divine water with nine heavens breathing soil and formed a clay body that sustained itself without her continued power.
• Over twelve years, Zhao Gongming, Yunxiao, and Bixiao observed the clay body's development as it formed a complete cycle and awakened on its own.
• Bixiao taught the clay being to imitate her name, and Nuwa resolved to bring more of her creations into the world.

Nuwa created a vast new race of humans, who quickly learned to communicate and revered her as their Holy Mother. Their birth stirred the power of living beings and drew unprecedented merit from heaven, leaving Nuwa on the verge of a profound transformation.

• Nuwa used a vine dipped in Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and Three Lights Divine Water to create hundreds of thousands of humans, whose adaptable bodies held great potential despite their weakness.
• The humans learned simple words and gathered to honor Nuwa as their Holy Mother, forming a shared bond that Luxuan, Zhao Gongming, and Yunxiao recognized as a source of collective power and fortune.
• Bixiao amused the humans by teaching them and became their model, until Yunxiao pulled her away from the crowd.
• Golden clouds of merit spread above Mount Buzhou, and cultivators across the Great Wilderness, including the sages, Di Jun, Grand Unity, Jieyin, Zhunti, and the Twelve Ancestral Witches, reacted to the upheaval.
• Luxuan sensed Nuwa's Dao crossing an unprecedented boundary as the merit continued to swell.

Nuwa created humanity and used the resulting merit and Primordial Violet Qi to become the Great Wilderness’s first Heavenly Dao Sage. After her pressure swept across the world, Luxuan’s Primordial Unity Domain shielded his four disciples, and Nuwa invited him to walk with her.

• Golden merit descended over Mount Buzhou as Nuwa’s Creation Dao, Primordial Violet Qi, and merit carried her beyond the Quasi-Saint barrier.
• Nuwa became a Sage, and her pressure spread across the Great Wilderness, forcing Mighty Figures, the Demon Court, the Witch Clan, and Luxuan’s disciples to feel the gulf between Sages and other cultivators.
• Luxuan unfolded his Primordial Unity Domain, easing Nuwa’s pressure around himself and protecting Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, Bixiao, and Zhao Gongming.
• Nuwa sensed that Luxuan’s Dao formed an independent system, then reined in her pressure and acknowledged his help with the three lights divine water.
• Nuwa invited Luxuan to walk with her, and he accepted.

Nuwa and Luxuan discussed how Sagehood and the Primordial Unity path differed, then agreed that humans should grow independently while having a fair welcome at Three Immortals City. After Nuwa and Luxuan departed Mount Buzhou, Luxuan sensed Taiqing’s dormant Dao aura rising on Kunlun, suggesting another Sage might soon emerge.

• Nuwa showed Luxuan how Sagehood let her draw directly on the Great Wilderness’s Dao rules, and she explained that his self-contained Dao cycle could weaken a Sage’s suppression.
• Luxuan described his goal of becoming a Primordial Unity Great Luo whose Dao could exist independently of heaven and earth, while Nuwa acknowledged how difficult and solitary that path would be.
• Nuwa asked what Luxuan would do if humans reached the Eastern Sea, and he said Three Immortals City would offer them a fair path without special treatment.
• After several hundred years of exchanging insights into Sagehood and the Primordial Unity Realm, Nuwa bid farewell to the humans and left Mount Buzhou.
• Luxuan and his disciples departed through the world gateway, and Luxuan sensed Taiqing’s dormant Dao aura rising on Kunlun.