Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Quickly Retreat, or Zhang Jian Will Be Slain!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan again intervenes in the battle at North Camp River, striking Zhang Jian from behind and saving Li Qingshan for the second time.
• Zhang Jian, enraged by being repeatedly thwarted, challenges Chen Jichuan to fight him directly. Chen ignores him and instead sends Wang Yan into battle.
• Li Qingshan withdraws after his defeat, discouraged by how much the martial world has changed during his six-hundred-year sleep. Chen reassures him that defeat is part of cultivation and that he can use the experience to improve.
• Wang Yan reveals herself as the Heavenly Tribulation Sword, one of the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect’s Three Taixu Ancestors. Although she is only in the early Empty Nether Realm, her superior armor and sword—both refined by Chen—allow her to withstand Zhang Jian’s overwhelming attacks.
• Wang Yan fights Zhang Jian throughout the night and into the next morning. Though she eventually becomes exhausted and is about to be killed, Chen intervenes once more, knocking Zhang Jian into the river.
• After Wang Yan’s defeat, Chen sends Li Qingshan back into battle rather than allowing Wang Shan to take the field. This surprises and frustrates the watching martial artists.
• The six major sects respond strategically. Four additional Empty Nether Realm experts—Meng Qi, Yan Sidao, Changsun Chongyang, and Dong Changlai—challenge Chen Jichuan, Wang Yan, Wang Tuan, and Sun Zhenshan, intending to overwhelm the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect and prevent Chen from rescuing others.
• Chen orders the four challengers to retreat within three breaths, threatening to kill Zhang Jian if they refuse. The opponents and spectators dismiss this as an empty boast.
• Once the three breaths pass, Chen casually releases his power. Hundreds of Sword Qi erupt from inside Zhang Jian, killing Night Asura instantly and reducing him to ashes.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Demonstrates extraordinary confidence, tactical intelligence, and overwhelming swordsmanship. Rather than responding emotionally to Zhang Jian’s provocations, he controls the battle’s tempo and ultimately proves that his threat was genuine.
• Li Qingshan: Struggles with the shock of losing after awakening from six centuries of sleep. Chen’s encouragement helps him accept the defeat as a chance for growth, and he willingly returns to battle to test himself again.
• Wang Yan: Shows courage and endurance against an opponent far stronger in cultivation. Her top-grade equipment compensates for her lower realm, and she gains valuable combat experience despite eventually being forced to retreat.
• Zhang Jian: Initially proud and dominant, Zhang Jian becomes increasingly frustrated and humiliated after being repeatedly rescued victims and knocked into the river. His confidence collapses when Chen kills him effortlessly.
• The six major sects: Reveal their willingness to abandon the agreed one-on-one rules when Chen’s presence prevents them from securing victories. Their tactical response shows both numerical strength and fear of Chen’s interference.

Significant Themes

• The power of hidden strength: Chen’s calm demeanor conceals an ability far beyond what the surrounding experts expect.
• Adaptation across generations: Li Qingshan and Wang Yan confront the reality that the modern martial world has surpassed the one they knew centuries earlier.
• Experience versus cultivation: Wang Yan’s superior equipment, preparation, and observation allow her to survive against Zhang Jian despite a major realm disadvantage.
• Strategy and battlefield control: The six major sects attempt to manipulate the rules through coordinated challenges, while Chen counters with psychological pressure and a decisive demonstration of power.
• Pride and humiliation: Zhang Jian’s refusal to accept Chen’s superiority leads him to underestimate the threat and ultimately causes his death.

Character Interactions

• Chen comforts Li Qingshan after his defeat and encourages him to treat the battle as training.
• Chen supports Wang Yan by providing her with powerful weapons and armor, then advises her to cultivate peacefully and pursue a breakthrough.
• Zhang Jian repeatedly challenges and insults Chen, demanding a direct fight, but Chen dismisses him until killing him.
• Li Qingshan and Wang Yan alternate in testing Zhang Jian, with Chen standing ready to intervene.
• The four experts from the six major sects attempt to force Chen into a dilemma: fight them and abandon his allies, or refuse and allow Li Qingshan to be surrounded.
• Chen resolves the confrontation by killing Zhang Jian exactly as promised, shocking both the combatants and the watching martial artists.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• At the North Camp River, Chen Jichuan effortlessly kills the formidable “Night Asura” Zhang Jian with a casual sweep of his sleeve, leaving both the six major sects and the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect stunned.
• Chen orders Meng Qi to remain while the other three opponents return to the northern bank. Instead, the six major sects launch a coordinated assault under Wei Sili’s leadership.
• Chen activates the Innate One-Qi Demon-Subduing Bone-Locking Body-Shrinking Method, a powerful area-restriction technique prepared through formations beforehand.
• Golden light spreads across the battlefield, repelling more than a hundred powerful martial artists and preventing the six major sects from advancing. The technique effectively seals off the battlefield and traps the enemies within a designated area.
• The spell’s true function is revealed: it immobilized Zhang Jian before Chen killed him and later neutralized the combined attack of the six sects.
• Three proud Void Insight Realm experts attempt to break through the golden barrier. The formation manifests enormous Vajra hands, crushing all three to death instantly.
• Chen then announces that the trapped opponents may neither cross the North Camp River nor leave the golden-lit area.
• With the battlefield completely under Chen’s control, he tells Li Qingshan to fight Meng Qi without interference. Meng Qi, enraged at being treated as a sparring partner, attacks Li Qingshan, beginning a fierce duel.
• Despite the apparent intensity of the battle, everyone realizes that the outcome is meaningless because Chen has already determined the overall situation. The confrontation becomes more like a farce than a decisive war.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Reveals overwhelming strength and strategic preparation. His mastery of the high-grade spell demonstrates that he is not merely bluffing but possesses power approaching the divine. He remains calm, confident, and slightly amused while controlling the entire battlefield.
• Li Qingshan: Initially shocked by Chen’s strength and uncertain about fighting Meng Qi under such circumstances. Once attacked, he regains focus and engages seriously.
• Meng Qi: Changes from a confident attacker into a frustrated and humiliated opponent. He realizes Chen deliberately preserved him and the others so they could serve as opponents for Li Qingshan and Wang Yan, causing his anger to erupt.
• Wang Yan: Becomes even more admiring of Chen after witnessing his technique. Her gaze and reaction show deep respect and emotional attachment, though she defensively denies wanting to learn the spell.
• The six major sects: Their confidence collapses after their mass assault is effortlessly repelled. Their experts are reduced from aggressors to trapped and helpless spectators.
• The three barrier challengers: Their deaths demonstrate the consequences of underestimating Chen and refusing to accept his warning.

3. Significant Themes

• Overwhelming power and control: Chen’s strength transforms a massive sect conflict into a one-sided display of domination.
• Preparation versus brute force: The spell’s effectiveness comes not only from Chen’s cultivation but also from days of planning, altar construction, formations, and careful setup.
• Humiliation and pride: The sect experts’ refusal to submit stems from arrogance, but their pride leads directly to their deaths. Meng Qi’s fury likewise comes from being treated as insignificant.
• The collapse of established authority: The six major sects, once dominant and feared, are rendered powerless by a single individual.
• Spectacle versus genuine conflict: Although the battlefield appears to contain a major war, Chen’s intervention removes all uncertainty, making the remaining duel seem theatrical and meaningless.
• Restraint and calculated violence: Chen does not kill everyone immediately. He kills Zhang Jian and the three challengers but merely repels or confines the others, showing deliberate control over the level of violence.

4. Character Interactions

• Chen directly confronts and commands Meng Qi and the other senior experts, treating them as people whose movements he can dictate.
• Wang Yan reacts with awe to Chen’s power, while Chen lightly teases her about the difficulty of learning his technique.
• Chen encourages Li Qingshan to fight freely, but Li initially finds the situation absurd because Chen has already neutralized the supposed crisis.
• Meng Qi interprets Chen’s actions as deliberate humiliation and challenges Li Qingshan in a rage.
• The six major sects act collectively under Wei Sili’s instruction, but their united assault fails instantly against Chen’s formation.
• The spectators, initially doubtful of Chen, shift to astonishment and fear, recognizing that the “Seven-Star Sword Saint” possesses genuine and extraordinary power.

Chapter Summary: “Longevity for a Thousand Years, the Seven Provinces Gather!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan continues orchestrating the battle at North Camp River. He has imprisoned experts from the six major sects with his Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Technique and uses them as training opponents for Li Qingshan, Wang Yan, Wang Tuan, and Sun Zhenshan.
• While observing the battles, Chen also cultivates Fate Dao and repeatedly attempts to capture and refine a slippery Soul Shadow within his body. He hopes this will allow him to advance to the Second Rank of Fate Dao and enter the Soul Refinement Realm.
• The four fighters take turns battling, resting, cultivating, and returning to the battlefield. Whenever they are in danger, Chen intervenes. His overwhelming power prevents the imprisoned experts from escaping; several who attempt to flee are killed.
• Over the course of a month, the situation reverses completely. The six major sects become exhausted, fearful, and demoralized, while the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect grows confident and enthusiastic because of its repeated victories and training.
• Lu Li of the Form-Intent Sect arrives and recognizes the weapons and armor of Li Qingshan and Wang Yan as the Reincarnation Spear and Reincarnation Armor, originally belonging to the sect’s ancestor, Lu Fanchen.
• By comparing portraits, relics, and the presence of the Great Sun Golden Peng Bird, Lu Li concludes that Wang Shan, Li Qingshan, and Wang Yan are actually the Three Taixu Ancestors, legendary figures who unified the Seven Provinces eight hundred years earlier.
• Lu Li is shocked to discover that the three have survived for more than a thousand years. He becomes eager to seize them and obtain their longevity secret, but Chen’s terrifying control of the battlefield makes him hesitate.
• News of the Three Taixu Ancestors’ return and their apparent immortality spreads throughout Central Land. Powerful sects from all seven provinces—including Form-Intent Sect, Twofold Balance Mountain, Sun-Shooting Divine Mountain, Supreme Profound Abbey, Great Sun Vajra Temple, and Imperial Heaven City—send experts to North Camp River.
• The gathered martial artists are united by one goal: capture the Three Taixu Ancestors and learn the secret that has allowed them to live for over a millennium and continue cultivating at the highest levels.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan remains calm, calculating, and overwhelmingly powerful. He treats the battlefield as both a public demonstration of strength and a means of gathering the strongest experts in Central Land. His focus is divided between training others and pursuing his own breakthrough.
• Wang Yan, Li Qingshan, Wang Tuan, and Sun Zhenshan steadily improve through continuous combat. Their repeated defeats, recovery, and renewed battles turn the initially one-sided confrontation into a source of growth and confidence.
• Wang Yan is distracted by Chen’s Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Technique, admiring its power more than the battle itself. Her reaction highlights both her fascination with Chen’s abilities and her trust in his protection.
• Lu Li develops from a cautious observer into the central instigator of the coming conflict. His discovery of the Three Taixu Ancestors’ identities fills him with greed and ambition, though Chen’s strength forces him to suppress his immediate impulse to attack.

Significant Themes

• Longevity and immortality: The revelation that the Three Taixu Ancestors have lived for more than a thousand years causes the martial world to obsess over the possibility of extending life.
• Power and restraint: Chen’s strength is so great that entire sects are forced to obey him, yet he does not slaughter them indiscriminately. His controlled use of power makes him even more intimidating.
• The reversal of fortune: A month of continuous combat transforms the morale and standing of both sides, showing how quickly power can shift through endurance, training, and strategy.
• Greed and ambition: The major sects are motivated less by justice than by the desire to obtain the longevity technique and perhaps gain the chance to become Supreme Powerhouses.
• The return of legends: The reappearance of the Three Taixu Ancestors reconnects the present world with its lost history and threatens the balance maintained by the established sects.

Character Interactions

• Chen reminds Wang Yan to watch the battle, but she is more absorbed in studying his technique than in observing the fighters.
• Chen repeatedly rescues the four combatants when they are defeated, enabling them to continue training against the imprisoned experts.
• The six major sects’ experts are forced into reluctant cooperation with Chen, choosing to fight as sparring partners rather than risk death by escape.
• Lu Li studies Wang Shan, Li Qingshan, and Wang Yan from a distance, identifies their ancient relics, and links them to the Three Taixu Ancestors.
• The newly arrived sect leaders and experts gather around the shared objective of confronting the three legendary figures and uncovering their secret of longevity.

Chapter Summary: “Breakthrough: Second-Order Soul Refinement Realm!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan awakens on the southern bank of the North Camp River, where experts from the six provinces have gathered to seize his Longevity Method and eliminate him.
• He intentionally allows the Mysterious Gate Technique to reappear, using the resulting attention and danger to force a breakthrough while also preventing the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect from becoming too dominant.
• Before entering battle, Chen protects Wang Yan, Li Qingshan, and the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect disciples with a powerful Heaven-and-Earth Net formation.
• He boldly flies away from his protected position and attacks the Form-Intent Sect directly. Their forces—nearly one hundred experts ranging from the Astral Force Realm to the Empty Nether Realm—surround him.
• Using his superior speed, the Lesser Forty-Nine Wind-Thunder Escape Technique, and defensive Golden Light Bodyguarding Method, Chen fights them with ease. He kills four Astral Force Realm experts with consecutive punches, provoking the Form-Intent Sect.
• Lu Li, the Form-Intent Sect patriarch, urges the other sects to join forces. The strongest experts from the six great sects converge, forcing Chen to fight seventy-three Indestructible Divine Manifestation and Empty Nether Realm powerhouses simultaneously.
• Chen uses the intense battle to refine his body and spirit. His blood, qi, force, will, and consciousness gradually trap the elusive Soul Shadow within him.
• He successfully refines the Soul Shadow through Marrow Cleansing and Blood Replacement, completing his breakthrough into the Second-Order Soul Refinement Realm.
• The Soul Shadow reveals itself as the Strength Soul, one of the Seven Po, governing physical power, flesh, bones, blood, and bodily transformation.
• Chen’s physical strength more than doubles. He immediately overwhelms the assembled experts, breaking Lu Li’s spear defense with one punch and sending the leading figures of the various sects crashing from the sky.
• The watching martial artists are stunned by the reversal. The six sects on the northern bank, which had hoped to destroy the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect, become terrified, while Chen’s allies celebrate his victory.
• Just as Wang Yan realizes Chen has broken through, the heavens darken and gather with threatening power. A heavenly tribulation is about to descend.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Demonstrates exceptional strategic planning, deliberately making himself the target of the entire martial world to create the pressure needed for advancement. His breakthrough transforms him from an already formidable fighter into an overwhelmingly powerful Second-Order Soul Refinement expert. He gains mastery of the Strength Soul, greatly increasing his physical strength and potentially allowing true bodily transformation.
• Wang Yan: Remains deeply concerned for Chen while trusting his abilities. Her fear turns to joy when he defeats the assembled experts, but she quickly becomes alarmed upon sensing the coming heavenly tribulation.
• Li Qingshan, Wang Tuan, Sun Zhenshan, and the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect: Initially fear that Chen’s defeat would lead to the sect’s destruction. After his victory, they regain confidence and openly celebrate his invincibility.
• Lu Li: Begins as the leader of the effort to defeat Chen and relies on the combined strength of the major sects. Despite his confidence in his defensive abilities, he is completely overwhelmed after Chen’s breakthrough and is left severely injured.
• The rival sect leaders and experts: Their greed for longevity unites them temporarily, but their confidence collapses once Chen’s breakthrough reverses the battle.

Significant Themes

• Pressure as a catalyst for growth: Chen deliberately places himself in extreme danger, turning a mass attack into the final condition needed for his breakthrough.
• Longevity and greed: The promise of a thousand years of life drives the strongest figures in the world to abandon caution and cooperate against Chen.
• Strategic sacrifice and calculated risk: Chen accepts becoming the focus of the world’s hostility in order to weaken the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect’s monopoly and create an opportunity for his own advancement.
• Physical and spiritual integration: The refinement of the Strength Soul shows the connection between soul, blood, will, consciousness, and the physical body.
• The reversal of power: The chapter shifts from the sects’ confidence that Chen will be defeated to their fear and humiliation after his sudden ascension.
• The limits of numbers: Even dozens of elite experts cannot overcome a single combatant whose speed, defense, willpower, and cultivation have surpassed theirs.

Character Interactions

• Chen reassures and protects Wang Yan and the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect before entering battle alone.
• Lu Li attempts to persuade the other sect leaders to unite against Chen, framing him as a dangerous and vicious opponent.
• The rival sects cooperate because they fear losing access to Chen’s Longevity Method, despite recognizing that Chen’s battle with the Form-Intent Sect could weaken a competitor.
• Chen taunts the surrounding experts, challenging them to intervene, then deliberately kills four Form-Intent Sect fighters to force the stronger figures into action.
• During the final battle, Chen’s direct clashes with Lu Li and the other patriarch-level experts display the enormous gap created by his breakthrough.
• The Grand Vacuity Sword Sect responds with enthusiastic cheers, while the northern-bank sects watch in dread as their hoped-for revenge turns into another defeat.
• Wang Yan identifies the approaching heavenly tribulation, signaling that Chen’s breakthrough has not yet truly concluded and that an even greater trial awaits.

Chapter Summary: “Forty-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, All Beings After the Trial!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan begins the Forty-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, the trial required to advance to the Second Rank and become a Supreme Powerhouse.
• Dark clouds gather over North Camp River, and the tribulation descends with terrifying lightning, thunder, wind, rain, and destruction.
• Chen remains confident because of his solid foundation, abundant pills, magical treasures, and powerful defensive technique, the Three-Unity Indestructible Golden Light Bodyguarding Method.
• The first lightning strike causes him almost no harm. As the tribulation intensifies, Chen uses the Yellow Essence Sword to battle the heavenly lightning directly.
• His sword formation repeatedly weakens the thunderfire, while the tribulation devastates the surrounding landscape. Mountains collapse, the ground splits, and North Camp River is cut off.
• After enduring the full tribulation, Chen emerges unharmed as the clouds disperse and the sun sets. He successfully advances to the Second Rank.
• The Grand Vacuity Sword Sect celebrates Chen’s breakthrough, recognizing that he is now the sect’s second Supreme Powerhouse and that the sect is positioned to unify the Central Land once again.
• Chen immediately orders the rival sects and armies to disband and surrender their territories within three years. They may flee overseas or to remote regions, but resistance will be crushed.
• The rival powers, including major sect leaders who once stood at the peak of the martial world, are forced to submit after witnessing Chen’s overwhelming strength.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan proves both his immense power and his confidence by confronting the tribulation directly rather than relying solely on defense. His successful advancement establishes him as the fifth Supreme Powerhouse in history.
• Despite his triumph, Chen remains concerned about Wang Yan’s future. He recognizes that her limited lifespan, low cultivation level, and different cultivation path make her own advancement extremely difficult.
• Wang Yan shows deep concern for Chen during the tribulation, watching anxiously rather than focusing on the sword techniques she might learn from observing it. After Chen succeeds, her fear turns into genuine joy and admiration.
• Li Qingshan, Wang Tuan, Sun Zhenshan, and the other Grand Vacuity Sword Sect members become hopeful about the sect’s future, including the possibilities of wealth, influence, longevity, and access to the sect’s secret arts.
• Leaders of the opposing sects are humbled. Figures who were once considered invincible beneath the heavens must now bow and submit to Chen.

Significant Themes

• Heavenly judgment and transformation: The tribulation represents the ultimate test separating ordinary cultivators from Supreme Powerhouses. Surviving it symbolizes a carp transforming into a dragon.
• Power and political authority: Chen’s breakthrough immediately changes the balance of power across the Central Land. Personal cultivation translates directly into political dominance.
• The destruction of worldly ambitions: The rival sects’ centuries of struggle and territorial conquest become meaningless once Chen reaches the Supreme Powerhouse realm.
• Loyalty and shared success: The Grand Vacuity Sword Sect’s members rejoice because Chen’s achievement benefits the entire sect, showing how one person’s advancement can elevate all who serve under them.
• Mortality and inheritance: Chen’s concern over Wang Yan’s limited lifespan highlights the difficulty of passing on cultivation insights and the unequal opportunities faced by different practitioners.
• Fear versus hope: The tribulation terrifies observers, but Chen’s success inspires the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect and gives its followers confidence in a powerful future.

Character Interactions

• Wang Yan watches Chen’s tribulation with intense anxiety and relief, revealing her emotional attachment and loyalty to him.
• Chen reassures and teases Wang Yan afterward, offering to use his Five Thunders Orthodox Method to help her study lightning and improve her cultivation.
• The Grand Vacuity Sword Sect publicly congratulates Chen, celebrating him as their patriarch and new Supreme Powerhouse.
• Rival leaders offer formal congratulations despite their fear, hoping Chen will spare their sects.
• Chen responds not with reconciliation but with a direct demand for surrender, ordering them to abandon their organizations and territories within three years.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan finally advances to the Second Rank of the Fate Dao, entering the Soul Refinement Realm after more than a thousand years of cultivation across several worlds.
• He realizes that Qinling World can no longer support his growth. Further advancement will require abundant resources, powerful opponents, and a better cultivation environment.
• While practicing the Five Forms Eight Methods Fist, Chen tears open a void passage. The dangerous aura from within alarms him, so he immediately goes offline rather than entering it blindly.
• His disappearance causes Wang Yan and the disciples of the Grand Vacuity Sword Sect to believe that he has shattered the void and ascended. Wang Yan waits miserably at the place where he vanished.
• Chen returns half a month later and finds Wang Yan devastated. She embraces him, confessing how much she missed him and how frightened she was that he had left without saying goodbye.
• Wang Yan finally asks whether Chen has ever truly been moved by her. Chen admits that he has loved her but deliberately suppressed his feelings, fearing the pain of eventually losing her to mortality.
• The two confess their love and marry in a grand wedding attended by powerful figures from across the world.
• For forty-six years, Chen and Wang Yan travel together, revisiting places connected to their shared past and creating final memories.
• When Wang Yan’s lifespan nears its end, Chen performs a forbidden or highly advanced soul-transfer ritual using the Undying Grass and the Yin-Yang Ritual Altar.
• The ritual appears to succeed in preserving Wang Yan’s life, but Chen’s body becomes lifeless. Beforeward, he leaves her his techniques and a heartfelt message explaining that he has gone to another world rather than truly died.
• Wang Yan awakens with renewed vitality, inherits Chen’s cultivation methods, and vows to wait for him in the Immortal Realm.
• Later history records that Chen—known as Wang Shan, the Seven-Star Sword Saint—shattered the void and ascended, becoming revered as the Qinling Heavenly Emperor.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Reaches a major cultivation milestone but becomes increasingly aware of the limits of his current world. His emotional development is even more important: after centuries of emotional avoidance, he acknowledges his love for Wang Yan and chooses to share the remainder of her life with her. His final sacrifice demonstrates that he values their reunion more than his own safety or immediate advancement.
• Wang Yan: Moves from a powerful, lonely ancestor who silently waits for Chen to a woman willing to openly express her love. Her grief and fear expose her vulnerability, but her survival and vow at the end show renewed determination and hope.
• Li Qingshan: Understands the emotional situation between Chen and Wang Yan and tactfully gives them privacy, showing his sensitivity and support.
• Later generations: Transform Chen’s personal journey into legend, honoring him as the Qinling Heavenly Emperor.

Significant Themes

• Love versus fear of loss: Chen avoids commitment because he fears the future pain of Wang Yan’s death, but the chapter argues that avoiding love does not eliminate suffering; it only sacrifices the happiness that could have been shared.
• Mortality and separation: Despite immense cultivation and a lifespan of a thousand years, Chen cannot naturally escape the pain of mortal aging. Wang Yan’s impending death forces both characters to confront the limits of power.
• Sacrifice and reunion: Chen’s ritual represents a willingness to give up his current life and identity so that Wang Yan can survive. His departure is framed not as death, but as a temporary separation before their eventual reunion.
• Memory and companionship: Their long journey through familiar locations emphasizes that shared experiences give meaning to an otherwise endless life.
• Legend versus reality: The public sees Chen as a supreme powerhouse who shattered the void, while privately he is a husband who spent his final years loving and protecting Wang Yan.
• Cultivation and emotional growth: Chen’s physical advancement to the Second Rank parallels his emotional breakthrough—he not only becomes stronger in power, but also learns to accept attachment and responsibility.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen and Wang Yan’s reunion: Wang Yan clings to Chen after believing he has ascended, while he comforts her and promises not to leave without saying goodbye.
• Their confession: Chen explains that he had been moved by her for years but suppressed his feelings. Wang Yan’s question finally breaks through his emotional defenses.
• Their married life: They travel together, revisit old locations, and recall their first meeting and years of companionship.
• Their final conversation: Wang Yan fears that death will make them forget each other. Chen reassures her, then secretly prepares the ritual to preserve her life.
• Wang Yan’s awakening: She discovers Chen’s sacrifice, receives his techniques and farewell message, and promises to wait for him in the Immortal Realm.

This passage is a brief revision notice rather than a narrative chapter. The author asks readers to review the material again, explaining that the main changes affect the latter section—particularly the transition between life and death. The author also sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused. No plot events, character developments, interactions, or broader themes are presented.

Chapter Summary: “The Fourth Dao Fruit!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan returns to the Azure Lotus space after completing the Qinling World and recalls the forbidden technique Capital-Heaven Rakshasa Chaos of Yin and Yang, Nine Netherworlds Cycle of Death and Life Great Treasury Miaofa.
• He explains that, after shattering the void, he discovered he could not ascend normally. Because he originated from a Dao Fruit World, the world’s will would detect him as an anomaly and destroy him if he attempted to leave.
• Rather than abandoning Wang Yan, whom he had grown to love, Chen Jichuan remained in the Qinling World, married her, and spent forty-six years living with her while seeking a way to help her advance.
• He eventually used the reverse form of the evil technique, with the rare Undying Grass as its medium, to transfer his vitality, qi and blood, cultivation, and other powers to Wang Yan. The process caused his soul and spirit to dissipate, ending that lifetime.
• The technique normally steals everything from an opposing female cultivator and transforms the caster into an ageless, indestructible Capital-Heaven Rakshasa. Chen Jichuan deliberately weakened and altered it so Wang Yan could benefit without losing her body or identity.
• Wang Yan gained Chen Jichuan’s cultivation, immense vitality, and the ability to shatter the void and ascend, though she did not inherit all of his knowledge or talents and would need considerable time to control her new power.
• Chen Jichuan reviews the major accomplishments of his Qinling and Great Hui lifetimes, including creating the Fate Dao system, ruling nations, cultivating through divine, orthodox, and evil paths, and reaching the Soul Refinement Realm.
• A new lotus seed forms in his sea of consciousness, signifying the creation of his fourth Dao Fruit.
• He evaluates his gains: the Tenth Qi-Refining Layer, First Soul-Refining Stage, Tenth Tier of Night Roaming, two Heterodox Grade cultivation methods, nine High-Tier Arts, First Rank alchemy, and First Rank artifact refinement.

Character Development

• Chen Jichuan becomes increasingly detached, experienced, and composed after living through multiple lifetimes and paths of cultivation. However, his relationship with Wang Yan reveals that he still possesses deep affection and loyalty.
• He accepts the Dao Fruit system’s restriction on ascension with disappointment but adapts rationally, recognizing that his accumulated knowledge and future opportunities compensate for the limitation.
• His willingness to sacrifice an entire lifetime for Wang Yan demonstrates his growth from an ambitious cultivator into someone capable of profound emotional commitment.
• Chen Jichuan also shows careful consideration for Wang Yan’s feelings. He modifies the evil technique to prevent her from being forced into a different body or suffering the full consequences of the ritual.
• Wang Yan receives a tremendous increase in power and a chance to ascend, but must endure the difficulty of adapting to Chen Jichuan’s transferred cultivation.

Significant Themes

• Love and sacrifice: Chen Jichuan gives up his life and much of the technique’s potential benefit to secure Wang Yan’s future.
• Freedom versus limitation: The Dao Fruit grants extraordinary opportunities but also prevents Chen Jichuan from ascending normally, making it both a source of power and confinement.
• Life, death, and renewal: The chapter repeatedly contrasts the end of one lifetime with the birth of a new Dao Fruit, emphasizing death as part of continued advancement.
• Identity and transformation: The evil technique’s gender and body transformations raise questions about whether identity lies in the body, soul, cultivation, or consciousness.
• Accumulated knowledge as true wealth: Chen Jichuan values the methods, arts, experiences, and insights gained across worlds more than material treasures.
• Orthodox and unorthodox cultivation: His mastery of divine, orthodox, and evil systems reflects the chapter’s broader idea that power and understanding can be gathered from every path, regardless of reputation.

Character Interactions

• Chen Jichuan and Wang Yan’s relationship is the emotional center of the chapter. Their marriage develops from his inability to abandon her grief into a deeply affectionate partnership.
• Chen’s decision to hide the full nature of the ritual from Wang Yan reflects both his protectiveness and his fear that she would be unable to accept the transformation.
• Although the technique leaves Wang Yan with fewer benefits than it could have provided, Chen prioritizes preserving her body and giving her the possibility of ascension.
• Their final years together are portrayed as a period of mutual companionship, with Chen remaining beside Wang Yan despite knowing that he could not leave the Dao Fruit World with her.
• After their separation, Chen remains sorrowful but hopeful, believing that as long as both survive, they may one day meet again.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan reviews his progress after more than five hundred years of cultivation. His cultivation, techniques, alchemy, and artifact refinement have all advanced significantly.
• His alchemy and artifact-refinement skills remain at the First Rank because the Qinling and Great Hui Worlds lack sufficient Second-Rank materials. However, he has perfected and improved many First-Rank pill formulas, increasing their success rates, quality, and reducing material costs.
• Through his Chen Clan Alchemy and Artifact Workshop, these improvements have earned him a strong reputation and a considerable amount of Spirit Stones.
• Chen Jichuan identifies two major shortcomings:
  • He failed to form a Dao Fruit in the Great Hui World.
  • The Qinling World contains too few powerful experts, limiting the quality of its Subsidiary Dao Fruits.
• He selects eight of the Qinling World’s strongest martial artists and sword cultivators to form Subsidiary Dao Fruits, spending eight million Origin Force. Although dissatisfied with their limited potential, he accepts the cost for the future benefit they may provide to Chen Shaohe.
• Opening a new Dao Fruit World now requires ten million Origin Force, a major increase from the costs of previous worlds. Chen Jichuan converts thirty thousand Spirit Stones into Origin Force to meet the requirement.
• He opens the next Dao Fruit World, but an unexpected warning appears: the world is too powerful for the Dharma Master to be deployed. The system begins analyzing it at a rate of one point per roughly three years in the new world.
• After waiting three days in reality, the analysis progresses from 1/100 to 3/100. Chen Jichuan calculates that the world will be fully analyzed in about one hundred years of in-world time, or approximately three months in reality.
• Relieved, he decides to use the delay to rest, cultivate in reality, and recover from years of relentless effort. He leaves his cave abode and heads to the Chen Clan Alchemy and Artifact Workshop.

Character Development

• Chen Jichuan has become an increasingly well-rounded cultivator. His cultivation and combat techniques remain strong, while alchemy and artifact refinement provide him with financial independence.
• He displays greater maturity and practicality regarding his resources. Although he feels regret over spending eight million Origin Force on weak Subsidiary Dao Fruits, he accepts the decision because it may help Chen Shaohe avoid future mistakes.
• His growing wealth and abilities are emphasized by his capacity to convert thirty thousand Spirit Stones into Origin Force, though he remains careful because Spirit Stones are essential for purchasing materials and cultivation resources.
• The unexpected delay in entering the new world reveals his anxiety over losing access to the Dao Fruit system. Once he understands the situation, he recognizes his physical and mental exhaustion and chooses to prioritize rest and balance.

Significant Themes

• Long-term accumulation and refinement: Chen Jichuan’s progress comes from centuries of persistent cultivation, experimentation, and resource investment.
• The cost of advancement: Higher-level breakthroughs require exponentially greater quantities of Origin Force and resources.
• Utility versus quality: The weak Qinling experts are not ideal Subsidiary Dao Fruit candidates, but Chen Jichuan still values their possible future usefulness.
• Exhaustion and the need for recovery: His constant cultivation, world exploration, and business responsibilities have left him mentally strained, making the three-month delay an unexpected opportunity to recuperate.
• Uncertainty before greater power: The new Dao Fruit World’s excessive level suggests that future worlds will be more dangerous, complex, and difficult to control.

Character Interactions

• Chen Jichuan has no major direct conversations in the chapter, but his decisions are shaped by his relationship with Chen Shaohe, for whose future cultivation he accepts the cost of creating the eight Subsidiary Dao Fruits.
• His past dealings with Luo Ming and others are briefly referenced, particularly the large amount of Spirit Stones he previously spent bribing them.
• His business and financial success are connected to the Chen Clan Alchemy and Artifact Workshop, which he now revisits after deciding to take advantage of his temporary freedom from Dao Fruit World cultivation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan explores Flame Dragon Grotto Market and learns about the upcoming Ascension Assembly and the opening of Great Southern Valley.
• Great Southern Valley is controlled by the Flamecloud, Divine Banner, and Seven Profound Sects. It contains rare herbs needed to make Ascension Pills, which give Innate Realm cultivators a chance to advance to Qi Refinement.
• Access to the valley is highly competitive: thirty Rogue Cultivator slots are divided between wealth-based bidding and arena duels. Chen watches the matches but does not participate.
• Over the next several months, Chen’s cultivation progresses steadily:
  • Qi Refinement reaches the third layer.
  • Fate Dao reaches the third layer of Elixir Embracement, nearing the fourth.
  • Nature Path reaches the second layer of Night Roaming.
• Chen reflects on his good fortune compared with ordinary cultivators, who must fight, gather herbs, and risk their lives merely for a chance to advance.
• After the market’s excitement subsides, Chen selects six Rogue Cultivators—Wang Cheng, Bi Qinghe, and four others—as fire-tending attendants. He intends to test their patience and character before accepting any as true disciples.
• Three months later, Luo Ming visits Chen and delivers a bottle of Primordial Heavy Water, completing the materials Chen needs to construct additional teleportation arrays near Flame Cloud Grotto.
• Luo Ming also reveals that Master Mo Longyuan recommended Chen to the Divine Banner Sect. The sect invites Chen to refine a batch of Ascension Pills and offers several pills as payment.
• Chen accepts the commission, seeing it as a valuable opportunity, especially because the pills may benefit his relative Chen Shaohe.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan becomes increasingly calm and confident. His high cultivation in the Dao Fruit World gives him a broader perspective and allows him to view other cultivators’ struggles with detachment and gratitude.
• He demonstrates practical wisdom by recruiting attendants gradually rather than immediately treating them as disciples. He plans to judge their loyalty, diligence, and character through furnace work.
• Chen’s reputation as a skilled pill and artifact refiner continues to grow, attracting attention from major sects.
• Luo Ming continues acting as Chen’s contact and intermediary, gathering rare materials and helping him establish connections with the Divine Banner Sect.
• Master Mo Longyuan, a Second-Rank Alchemist, recognizes Chen’s exceptional First-Rank alchemy skills and recommends him to his sect.

Significant Themes

• Opportunity versus struggle: Ordinary cultivators must compete violently for scarce resources, while Chen possesses unusual advantages and can advance with comparatively little danger.
• Fortune and gratitude: Chen recognizes how fortunate he is to have a secure path toward higher realms and does not take his advantages for granted.
• Patience and careful judgment: Rather than giving his new attendants everything immediately, Chen tests them through humble, repetitive work.
• Building influence through skill: Chen’s accomplishments in alchemy and artifact refinement allow him to gain resources, allies, and recognition without relying solely on combat strength.
• Preparation and security: The new teleportation arrays will give Chen safer travel options and reduce the dangers associated with his exposed old formation.

Character Interactions

• Chen listens to market cultivators discussing the Ascension Assembly and watches the arena battles, gaining insight into the desperation and ambition of Rogue Cultivators.
• His six new attendants respectfully welcome Luo Ming, recognizing him as an important figure in the market and realizing that Chen’s reputation has attracted powerful connections.
• Chen and Luo Ming speak familiarly as trusted associates. Luo delivers the Primordial Heavy Water and explains the Divine Banner Sect’s offer.
• Luo reassures Chen that the sect will not blame him if the difficult Ascension Pill refinement fails, emphasizing that the invitation is both a test of his skill and an attempt to establish a relationship.
• Chen accepts the commission confidently, marking another step in his growing cooperation with the Divine Banner Sect.

Chapter Summary: “Return to Great Chu!”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan secretly leaves his cave in Flame Dragon Grotto Market using the Grand Yin Magnetism Stealth Method, evading numerous Qi-Refining cultivators who have been watching him and hoping to rob him.
• He chooses not to confront or kill them, deciding that fighting would waste time and that the impoverished pursuers likely possess nothing valuable.
• Chen travels toward the Seven Emotions Waters, having delayed his departure for several days to refine Ascension Pills for the Divine Banner Sect.
• He successfully produces thirty-six high-grade Ascension Pills across three batches and receives three pills as payment. This confirms that his First Rank alchemy is comparable to that of Mo Longyuan, the Divine Banner Sect’s Second-Rank Alchemist.
• After reaching the Seven Emotions Waters, Chen upgrades the teleportation array and returns from Coiling Dragon Mountain to Great Chu, arriving in Shian Commandery’s Peach Haven Mystic Realm.
• Meanwhile, his younger brother Chen Shaohe has risen greatly in status. He is now the head of the Martial Alliance’s Medicinal Affairs Bureau and its chief alchemist, possessing the cultivation of the Second Innate Layer.
• Shaohe refuses to attend the upcoming Governance Council, preferring to focus on alchemy, cultivation, and becoming strong enough to eventually leave Great Chu and find Chen Jichuan.
• When Chen Jichuan arrives at Shaohe’s residence, Shaohe reacts defensively, summoning forty-nine Innate-level paper soldiers and multiple Innate Peak Realm Refined Corpses.
• Chen Jichuan dismisses the defenses, revealing himself. The brothers joyfully reunite after three years apart.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan has become more cautious, powerful, and accomplished. His stealth technique allows him to evade hostile Qi-Refining cultivators, while his alchemy has advanced to the level of a Second-Rank Alchemist in practical ability.
• His extensive experience across multiple Dao Fruit Worlds has given him vastly more opportunities to refine pills than ordinary alchemists, helping him surpass or rival established experts.
• Although Chen Jichuan remains capable of ruthless violence, he demonstrates restraint in the real world, avoiding unnecessary conflict because it would delay his plans.
• Chen Shaohe has matured from a reckless youth into a composed, influential young man. Three years of responsibility have transformed him into a respected leader and expert alchemist within the Martial Alliance.
• Despite his elevated status, Shaohe remains devoted to cultivation and alchemy rather than political authority. His ultimate goal is to reach the Innate Peak Realm and leave Great Chu to reunite with Chen Jichuan.
• Shaohe has also become highly vigilant and well protected, commanding powerful paper soldiers and Refined Corpses left behind by his brother.

3. Significant Themes

• Growth through time and dedication: Chen Jichuan’s vast alchemical experience demonstrates how long-term effort, repeated practice, and abundant resources can produce extraordinary mastery.
• Power and vulnerability: Chen’s wealth and low cultivation make him a target, while Shaohe’s defensive forces show how status and survival in a dangerous world depend on preparedness.
• Pragmatism over needless violence: Chen chooses stealth and efficiency instead of slaughtering his enemies, emphasizing his growing ability to prioritize long-term objectives.
• Family loyalty and reunion: The brothers’ bond remains central. Despite years apart and their increasingly different positions, both continue working toward reunification.
• Freedom from worldly authority: Shaohe’s rejection of the Governance Council reflects a desire to escape bureaucratic obligations and pursue cultivation, alchemy, and a larger destiny beyond Great Chu.

4. Character Interactions

• Chen Jichuan internally assesses the cultivators monitoring him, recognizing their greed but deciding they are not worth engaging.
• The Divine Banner Sect rewards Chen’s alchemical service, reinforcing his growing reputation and connections among powerful organizations.
• Zhang Yuan respectfully urges Chen Shaohe to attend the Governance Council, but Shaohe dismisses the request because he considers alchemy and cultivation more important.
• When Chen Jichuan enters Shaohe’s residence, Shaohe immediately responds as though facing an intruder, deploying his full defensive formation.
• Once Chen Jichuan reveals himself, the tension disappears. Shaohe recognizes his brother and rushes to greet him, expressing intense happiness after their three-year separation.

Chapter Summary: “New World: A Standard Opening!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan and his younger brother, Chen Shaohe, reunite after three years apart and spend an entire night discussing cultivation, alchemy, the Martial Alliance, and the chaotic state of Great Chu.
• Chen Jichuan explains that Great Chu’s spiritual energy is too weak and its cultivation development too slow to support his long-term ambitions. He believes meaningful advancement will require returning to the Coiling Dragon Mountain region.
• Chen Shaohe describes his progress:
  • He has avoided becoming dependent on the Iron Lotus Seed.
  • He secretly traveled under disguises to gain combat experience.
  • He discovered that cultivating medicinal herbs and refining pills suited him better than fighting.
  • His cultivation has advanced to the Innate Realm.
• Chen Jichuan reflects on the proper use of the Iron Lotus Seed, comparing it to a reference answer in problem-solving: useful after sincere effort, but harmful if relied upon too early.
• Rather than ordering Chen Shaohe to follow him, Chen Jichuan asks whether he genuinely wishes to go to Coiling Dragon Mountain. This marks a change in how he views his brother—as an independent person rather than someone who must simply obey him.
• Chen Shaohe willingly chooses to accompany him, believing Coiling Dragon Mountain offers better opportunities for cultivation and alchemy and that staying behind in Great Chu would waste his potential.
• After spending three days helping Chen Shaohe settle his affairs, Chen Jichuan takes him through a teleportation array to Coiling Dragon Mountain.
• To protect them from jealousy or enemies, Chen Jichuan conceals their relationship and secretly arranges for Chen Shaohe to settle in Flame Dragon Grotto Market. Chen Shaohe adapts quietly, studying local customs while continuing cultivation, herb cultivation, and pill refinement.
• With his affairs in the real world settled, Chen Jichuan enters his sixth Dao Fruit World.
• The new world has a time-flow ratio of 400:1 compared with the Dharma Lord World, indicating that time passes much faster within it.
• Unlike the weaker worlds he previously entered, this world possesses a powerful and perceptive world will. To avoid being treated as an outsider and suffering restricted cultivation and poor fortune, the Dao Fruit spent a century analyzing the world and replaced a native person’s identity, status, foundation, and destiny with Chen Jichuan’s.
• Chen Jichuan awakens in a carriage on the way to a prefectural city, attended by a maidservant. He assumes the identity of Dai Zong, whose background resembles a classic transmigration story:
  • His father, Dai Xiong, was formerly a jianghu figure who enlisted in the army and disappeared for twelve years.
  • Dai Zong’s mother died after a difficult life, while his clan mistreated him and forced him to live in a dog kennel.
  • Dai Xiong eventually became a powerful military vice commander after earning distinction on the northern frontier.
  • Upon returning and learning how his son had been treated, Dai Xiong summoned hundreds of veteran soldiers and removed Dai Zong from the clan.
• Chen Jichuan confirms that although he has inherited Dai Zong’s identity and memories, his physical body remains essentially the same as his eighteen-year-old body.
• He recognizes the situation as a stereotypical transmigration opening and prepares to face the new world.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Becomes more mature and thoughtful in his relationship with Chen Shaohe. He recognizes that excessive control could create dependence or resentment, so he gives his brother the freedom to choose. His caution and strategic thinking are also evident in his decision to conceal their relationship in Coiling Dragon Mountain.
• Chen Shaohe: Has grown from a dependent younger brother into a steady, capable, and self-aware cultivator. He develops his own interests in herb cultivation and alchemy, gains practical combat experience, and demonstrates loyalty without being reckless or rebellious.
• Dai Xiong: Though not directly present, his backstory reveals a dramatic rise from jianghu wanderer to respected military commander. His anger at his clan’s treatment of Dai Zong establishes him as a powerful and protective father.
• Dai Zong: His inherited history presents him as an abused and neglected young man whose fortunes have suddenly changed through his father’s return and Chen Jichuan’s arrival.

Significant Themes

• Independent growth versus dependence: Chen Jichuan realizes that helping someone does not mean making every decision for them. Chen Shaohe’s voluntary choice is more meaningful than blind obedience.
• The proper use of shortcuts: The Iron Lotus Seed can accelerate breakthroughs, but relying on it too soon can weaken independent thought and cultivation ability.
• Caution and risk management: Chen Jichuan emphasizes gathering information, understanding one’s environment, concealing vulnerabilities, and avoiding unnecessary attention.
• Limits of one’s environment: Great Chu’s weak spiritual energy and slow development contrast with the greater opportunities of Coiling Dragon Mountain.
• Fate, identity, and integration: In the new world, the Dao Fruit does not merely insert Chen Jichuan as an outsider; it replaces a native person’s destiny and identity so that he can develop without resistance from the world’s will.
• Classic transmigration conventions: The chapter deliberately introduces a familiar setup involving a neglected heir, a powerful returning father, a dramatic family injustice, and a new beginning.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen Jichuan and Chen Shaohe’s overnight conversation deepens their brotherly bond and allows them to exchange views on cultivation, alchemy, combat, and worldly affairs.
• Chen Jichuan advises Chen Shaohe on balancing perseverance with the sensible use of external aids.
• Their discussion about returning to Coiling Dragon Mountain demonstrates mutual trust: Chen Jichuan asks rather than commands, and Chen Shaohe responds honestly and decisively.
• Chen Jichuan’s protective instincts appear when he hides their relationship and arranges Chen Shaohe’s settlement discreetly.
• In the new world, Chen Jichuan’s brief interaction with the maidservant provides the immediate transition into his new identity and setting.

Chapter Summary: “Blood-Handed Butcher” Dai Xiong!

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan observes Dai Xiong arriving with hundreds of elite Northern Frontier soldiers. Although the troops are physically powerful, they possess little actual cultivation, while Dai Xiong himself has reached the third layer of the Transformative Force Realm.
• Using his Far-Sight ability, Chen identifies Dai Xiong’s cultivation method, Great Vajra Fist, and notices the mysterious technique Bloodflame, which suggests that Dai Xiong’s strength may come from a demonic or otherwise questionable source.
• Chen follows Dai Xiong to his new post in Five Spirits Prefecture, where Dai Xiong serves as Deputy General. The large residence and gifts of property indicate that Dai Xiong is not entirely incorruptible.
• During his stay at the Dai Residence, Chen recovers from the physical damage caused by six years in Black Prison through medicinal baths and meals. Dai Xiong then begins teaching him Great Vajra Fist.
• While practicing, Chen secretly investigates the prefectural city using Far-Sight and Wind-Hearing. He learns that ghosts, demons, and evil spirits are common, but immortals and true cultivators are only legends. The region’s spiritual energy is too weak for ordinary people to reach the Qi Refinement Realm.
• After about a month, Dai Xiong reveals that he is secretly an imperial envoy investigating corruption within Five Spirits Prefecture. To protect Chen from the political conflict, he orders trusted subordinate Song Dazhi to take Chen to Jinshui Prefecture.
• A month later, Song Dazhi suddenly flees Jinshui with Chen. He explains that Dai Xiong has been declared a wanted criminal and is being hunted by the imperial Six Gates, the Demon-Subduing Bureau, and martial artists across the realm.
• Song claims Dai Xiong was framed during an official investigation, but Chen suspects the truth is connected to Dai Xiong’s demonic cultivation.
• Through Wind-Hearing, Chen discovers the official accusation: Dai Xiong supposedly slaughtered all 322 members of his clan, including women, children, and elders. The massacre has shocked the nation, and Dai Xiong has earned the name “Blood-Handed Butcher.”

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan remains calm, observant, and calculating. He carefully studies Dai Xiong’s abilities and secrets while pretending to be an ordinary, obedient son.
• Chen becomes increasingly aware that the world’s cultivation environment is extremely limited in this region. His main goal shifts toward gathering information and finding a place where true cultivation is possible.
• Dai Xiong is presented as a powerful, complicated figure: a self-made military commander, loving but guilt-ridden father, imperial investigator, and possible practitioner of demonic arts. His public image changes dramatically from respected general to notorious fugitive.
• Song Dazhi demonstrates deep loyalty to Dai Xiong by protecting Chen and risking becoming wanted himself. However, he conceals information about Dai Xiong’s true actions and motives.

Significant Themes

• Cultivation and wealth: Ordinary people may possess perseverance but lack the food, medicine, and resources needed to cultivate. Social status and financial means determine access to martial power.
• Appearances versus reality: Dai Xiong appears to be a successful general and devoted father, yet he hides an imperial mission and possibly demonic techniques. Likewise, the official explanation of his downfall may not be the full truth.
• Political corruption and injustice: Dai Xiong’s investigation into officialdom leads to his persecution, raising the possibility that he was framed by powerful enemies.
• The limits of the known world: Although supernatural beings are common, immortality remains mysterious. Chen’s search for the true cultivation world is only beginning.
• Loyalty and family: Dai Xiong’s concern for Chen and Song Dazhi’s unwavering loyalty contrast with the brutal accusation that Dai Xiong destroyed his own clan.

Character Interactions

• Chen studies Dai Xiong from a distance before accepting him as his “father,” treating the familial relationship as a useful identity rather than an emotional bond.
• Dai Xiong personally teaches Chen Great Vajra Fist and shows genuine concern for his son’s weakened body.
• Dai Xiong confides in Chen about his secret imperial mission and arranges his escape, though he withholds the full danger surrounding the investigation.
• Song Dazhi acts as Dai Xiong’s loyal agent, escorting Chen first to Jinshui Prefecture and later fleeing with him when the authorities begin hunting them.
• Chen listens politely to Song’s explanation but privately doubts that Dai Xiong was merely a naïve victim of political manipulation, suspecting that the hidden truth involves his demonic cultivation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan realizes that Dai Xiong deliberately arranged for Song Dazhi to take him away a month earlier so that he would survive the massacre of the Dai Clan.
• He deduces that Dai Zong’s slaughter of over three hundred clan members was likely revenge against those who had abused him. Dai Xiong, as Dai Zong’s father, had apparently orchestrated or enabled the massacre.
• Chen reflects on Dai Xiong’s motives. Although Dai Xiong could have used his military influence to destroy the clan indirectly, he personally carried out the violence—possibly out of bloodlust, a desire for personal revenge, or a determination not to let anyone escape.
• Song Dazhi takes Chen toward Liangye Mountain, where he is supposed to reunite with Dai Xiong. Their journey lasts over twenty days after leaving Great Nest, forcing them to abandon their carriage and horses as the terrain becomes increasingly remote.
• After arriving at Liangye Mountain, they wait for Dai Xiong. Song Dazhi anxiously watches for him, while Chen patiently cultivates and studies his Dao Fruit and subsidiary Dao Fruits.
• Chen reviews his cultivation goals. His Fate Dao has already reached the Second-Order Soul Refinement Realm, while his Qi Refinement and Nature Path cultivations remain at the tenth layer of First Rank. He resolves to advance both to Second Rank.
• He also recognizes the need to improve alchemy, artifact refining, spells, talismans, elixirs, and other means of protecting himself, since these skills will help him acquire resources and survive future dangers.
• While secretly practicing the powerful Five Forms Eight Methods Fist beneath an illusion, Chen unintentionally benefits Song Dazhi. Song Dazhi, who has reached the Transformative Force Realm through strong physical cultivation but lacks refined control, begins to comprehend Hidden Force and approaches a breakthrough.
• Without warning, a blood-red light strikes Chen’s shoulder and enters his body. He becomes temporarily immobilized and experiences violent impulses and an intense thirst for blood.
• Chen identifies the phenomenon as a manifestation of Dai Xiong’s Blood Flame Technique, a demonic art that sacrifices living beings to absorb their qi and blood.
• The Bloodflame transfers the Blood Flame Technique into Chen’s mind, apparently attempting to corrupt or influence him. Chen suppresses its effects with the Clear-Mind Mantra, then prepares to inspect and eliminate the evil influence using his Insight Art and Immortal Register.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Becomes more sympathetic toward Dai Xiong because of the suffering endured by Dai Zong, though he does not approve of mass slaughter or demonic cultivation. He displays increasing maturity, strategic caution, and commitment to long-term cultivation. His priorities expand beyond cultivation itself to include combat arts, alchemy, artifact refining, and survival techniques.
• Dai Xiong: Is revealed as ruthless, vengeful, and willing to use demonic methods. His massacre of the Dai Clan appears motivated by his desire to avenge his abused son, but his reliance on the Blood Flame Technique suggests that his actions may also be connected to bloodlust and the pursuit of power.
• Song Dazhi: Remains loyal and protective toward Chen, but is inwardly worried about Dai Xiong’s fate. Through Chen’s concealed guidance, he improves his understanding of martial force and moves closer to reaching Transformative Force properly rather than relying primarily on brute strength and enhanced qi and blood.
• Dai Zong: Though absent from the chapter, his past abuse and humiliation provide the emotional justification for the Dai Clan massacre and explain Dai Xiong’s extreme retaliation.

Significant Themes

• Revenge versus justice: The chapter explores whether revenge can be justified when a child has been cruelly abused. Chen understands Dai Xiong’s anger but rejects indiscriminate slaughter as a true form of justice.
• Parental protection and loyalty: Dai Xiong’s actions, however monstrous, originate partly from his determination to avenge his son. Chen likewise refuses to endanger Dai Xiong simply because of their complicated relationship.
• The danger of demonic power: The Blood Flame Technique offers rapid strength by consuming life and blood, but it carries moral and spiritual consequences. Its corruption threatens both the practitioner and anyone connected to him.
• Cultivation as preparation: Chen views cultivation as an interconnected system involving power, resources, crafting skills, spells, and defensive tools. Advancement requires preparation in every area, not merely higher realms.
• Hidden strength and restraint: Chen conceals his true abilities from Song Dazhi while still helping him improve. His use of illusion and subtle guidance highlights his caution and control.
• The contrast between brute force and true comprehension: Song Dazhi possesses powerful qi and blood but lacks refined technique. Chen’s insights demonstrate that understanding and control are more important than raw physical strength.

Character Interactions

• Chen and Song Dazhi travel together under the pretense that they are merely fleeing the aftermath of the Dai Clan massacre.
• Song Dazhi maintains the agreement he made with Dai Xiong and intends to reunite Chen with him at Liangye Mountain, while Chen quietly understands more of the situation than Song realizes.
• Chen watches Song Dazhi’s martial practice and subtly allows his own superior insights to guide him. Song Dazhi mistakes Chen’s disguised practice for the Great Vajra Fist and is deeply impressed by his apparent talent.
• The chapter ends with Chen confronting the Bloodflame connected to Dai Xiong, suggesting that their relationship is linked not only by family but also by Dai Xiong’s demonic cultivation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan discovers that the Bloodflame Fork, a Second Rank demonic artifact, has appeared inside his body. Because he is regarded as Dai Xiong’s son, the artifact’s bloodline and karmic curse transferred to him after Dai Xiong’s death.
• The Bloodflame Fork is extremely dangerous: it is fused with Chen Jichuan’s flesh, organs, qi, blood, and soul, gradually corrupting his mind and hindering his cultivation. Removing it is beyond his current ability.
• Chen deduces that Dai Xiong learned the Blood Flame Technique and used sacrifices to strengthen himself, but was eventually killed by the imperial court, the Demon-Subduing Bureau, and the five great martial sects.
• Chen attempts to resist the curse with the Láng-Release Curse and Hundred-Release Curse, but realizes he must reach the cultivation world and find a powerful expert to remove the artifact.
• Without informing Song Dazhi of Dai Xiong’s death, Chen secretly leaves Liangye Mountain. He leaves behind a letter claiming he is going into the wilderness to cultivate and a manual containing the Great Vajra Fist.
• Using the Grand Yin Magnetism Stealth Method, Chen travels hundreds of miles overnight, successfully escaping before Song Dazhi can find him.
• Ten years later, Song Dazhi reaches Immortal Affinity Island after searching for Chen for a decade. He learns that Dai Xiong was killed and that Dai Zong has vanished.
• Following a map Dai Xiong once gave him, Song Dazhi spends eight years crossing mountains and seas in search of immortal opportunities, eventually reaching the island.
• Song discovers that Dai Zong is alive and has become a famous young immortal master. At twenty-one, Dai Zong broke through during battle, attracted the attention of numerous Immortal Gates, and was ultimately accepted into the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate.
• Song Dazhi is overjoyed but hesitates to contact him, fearing that revealing Dai Xiong’s death might disrupt Dai Zong’s cultivation and immortal future.
• At the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate, Chen Jichuan—now with white hair, an ominous mark between his brows, and greatly enhanced presence—emerges from seven years of demon refinement with the estate’s benevolent white-haired elder.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan/Dai Zong: Becomes more pragmatic and decisive. Rather than wasting time trying to fight the Bloodflame Fork directly, he prioritizes finding the cultivation world and an expert capable of saving him. His secret departure marks a major step toward independence. Seven years of demon refinement appear to have transformed both his appearance and temperament.
• Dai Xiong: His story is confirmed to have ended. Once empowered by the Bloodflame Fork, he became a notorious killer, but his limited cultivation and the authorities’ pursuit ultimately led to his death.
• Song Dazhi: Demonstrates deep loyalty and affection toward Dai Xiong and Chen. He spends ten years searching for Dai Zong, enduring great hardship, and remains determined to protect him and avenge Dai Xiong.
• Chen and Song’s relationship: Although Chen regards Song as only a nominal uncle, Song sincerely treats him as family. Their separation highlights the difference between Chen’s calculated path and Song’s emotional devotion.

Significant Themes

• Fate, bloodline, and karmic inheritance: The Bloodflame Fork transfers from father to son through both blood and karma, showing how Dai Xiong’s actions continue to affect Chen even after death.
• The cost of power: Dai Xiong’s demonic artifact grants him strength but ultimately leads to his destruction, while Chen risks becoming a tool for the mysterious Old Withered Vine.
• Independence and sacrifice: Chen abandons the safety of Song Dazhi’s protection to pursue his own survival and advancement.
• Loyalty and revenge: Song’s decade-long search reflects unwavering loyalty, while his desire to avenge Dai Xiong risks drawing him into conflict with powerful institutions.
• Immortal opportunity and perseverance: Immortal Affinity Island represents the narrow possibility of transcending mortality. Song’s journey shows how determination and endurance can eventually lead to news of the cultivation world.
• Transformation: Chen’s seven years of demon refinement suggest both physical and spiritual change, foreshadowing a more powerful but potentially more dangerous stage of his cultivation.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen reflects on Dai Xiong’s death and recognizes the tragedy of a mortal who gained power only to be consumed by it.
• Chen and Song share a final period of peaceful martial practice, but Chen deliberately conceals the truth before leaving.
• Song discovers Chen’s letter and fist manual, reacts with alarm, and begins a desperate search.
• On Immortal Affinity Island, Song questions locals and learns of Dai Zong’s extraordinary achievements, changing his despair into hope.
• Chen’s emergence from Dripping Pearl Rock alongside the white-haired elder marks his return after seven years of hidden cultivation and sets up the next stage of the story.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After seven years of torment, White Cloud Ancestor successfully removes and seals the Bloodflame Fork from Chen Jichuan’s body. The process required isolating it with Dripping Pearl Rock, suppressing it with a joint confinement technique, and repeatedly refining it over seven years.
• Chen Jichuan reflects on his journey: ten years earlier he left Liangye Mountain, found Immortal Affinity Island after three years, entered the Elixir Embracement Realm during the Immortal Gate selection, and joined the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate.
• White Cloud Ancestor accepts Chen Jichuan as his seventh personal disciple, recognizing his exceptional talent, firm will, and ability to endure the Bloodflame Fork’s torture without falling into demonic corruption.
• The Bloodflame Fork is placed inside Dripping Pearl Rock, a powerful second-rank artifact connected to Guanzhi Mountain’s earth veins and specifically used by the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate to suppress demons. This prevents the fork from escaping unless Withered Vine Old Freak personally intervenes.
• White Cloud Ancestor introduces Chen Jichuan to the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate, its relationship with the powerful Heaven-Mending Sect, its major figures, and its various secret realms and resources.
• Chen learns that he may qualify to enter the Heaven-Mending Sect if he reaches the Late Elixir Embracement Stage before age one hundred. He has seventy-two years remaining and is confident he can achieve this.
• After moving into his deceased Fourth Senior Brother’s cave dwelling in Fragrant Orchid Valley, Chen evaluates his future. He identifies merit as the key to accessing the sect’s secret realms, arts, and resources.
• Since he does not yet want to reveal his alchemy abilities, Chen decides to earn merit through the more dangerous route of exploring secret realms, hunting demons, and eliminating monsters.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Emerges from seven years of demonic torture with his will strengthened rather than broken. He becomes White Cloud Ancestor’s disciple and begins planning his long-term advancement within the sect. His ambition grows as he learns about the Heaven-Mending Sect’s superior resources and the many powerful arts available through merit.
• White Cloud Ancestor: Demonstrates his compassion, technical mastery, and high expectations by personally spending seven years removing the Bloodflame Fork. He acts as both Chen’s savior and mentor, teaching him about cultivation goals, sect relationships, and proper conduct.
• Chen’s senior brothers and sisters: Their roles are established: some have gone to the Heaven-Mending Sect, one travels to slay demons, one manages sect affairs, one died fighting demons, and one is stationed at Azure Spirit Island. These figures provide Chen with potential allies and connections.
• Fourth Senior Brother: Though already deceased, his death while training against demons indirectly shapes Chen’s new residence and foreshadows the dangers of the path Chen intends to pursue.

Significant Themes

• Refining the heart through suffering: The removal of the Bloodflame Fork symbolizes more than physical healing. The seven years of torture tempered Chen’s will and strengthened his resistance to demonic influence.
• Mentorship and gratitude: Chen sincerely credits White Cloud Ancestor for saving him, while White Cloud Ancestor invests heavily in Chen’s future and treats him as a valued disciple.
• Ambition and opportunity: The Nine Refinements Immortal Estate opens access to greater cultivation resources, but Chen must earn them through service and merit.
• Integration into a larger cultivation world: Chen transitions from an isolated wanderer to a member of a major immortal institution with established hierarchies, traditions, allies, and obligations.
• Duty versus personal advancement: Chen views demon-slaying as both a practical way to gain merit and a responsibility expected of cultivators.
• Concealing one’s true abilities: Although highly skilled in alchemy and artifact refinement, Chen plans to reveal those talents gradually and establish a believable history to avoid arousing suspicion.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen respectfully thanks White Cloud Ancestor for removing the Bloodflame Fork and preventing him from falling into the demonic path.
• White Cloud Ancestor reassures Chen that master and disciple need not be overly formal, then explains the danger posed by the Bloodflame Fork and how it was sealed.
• White Cloud Ancestor praises Chen’s intelligence and will, predicts a promising future, and encourages him to enter the Heaven-Mending Sect.
• He advises Chen to build relationships with his senior brothers, sisters, elders, peak masters, and other immortal masters to strengthen his position within the sect.
• Chen listens obediently to his teacher’s guidance, though the narration reveals that his experience across many worlds already exceeds White Cloud Ancestor’s assumptions about his social and worldly knowledge.
• By the chapter’s end, Chen acts on his own judgment, leaving Fragrant Orchid Valley to pursue merit through demon-slaying and monster-hunting.

Chapter Summary: “Reunion!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Servants gather at Stone Gate Peak of the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate, hoping to be selected to serve an immortal master. Such positions are highly coveted because servants may receive guidance, pills, artifacts, or opportunities to advance their cultivation.
• Song Dazhi, who recently joined the Internal Affairs Hall, participates in the selection for a personal reason: he has spent ten years searching for his nephew, Dai Zong, and has learned that Dai Zong entered the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate.
• The Internal Affairs Hall announces that an immortal master will recruit twenty-four servants for work on Jade Flask Island:
  • Six experts skilled in medicinal herbs and pill-related work
  • Six experts skilled in identifying and refining minerals
  • Twelve capable combatants
• The steward secretly expects tribute in exchange for selection. Zhang Pei, who has expertise in medicinal herbs, asks Song Dazhi to lend him money for a bribe. Song refuses because he also needs the funds to compete for a position, causing a brief strain between them.
• Three days later, Zhang Pei and Song Dazhi are both selected. At the sect gate, they meet the immortal master they are to serve, accompanied by six outer disciples.
• The immortal master summons a flying boat and leads the group toward Jade Flask Island. During the journey, he turns and recognizes Song Dazhi as his “Uncle Song.”
• Song discovers that the immortal master is actually his long-lost nephew, Dai Zong, now known as Chen Jichuan. Their unexpected reunion ends his decade-long search.
• Chen explains that he intends to avenge his father Dai Xiong, who was murdered, but cannot return immediately because he has just emerged from seclusion, needs to stabilize his cultivation, and must fulfill his mission to garrison Jade Flask Island.
• Chen entrusts Song Dazhi with managing the newly recruited disciples and servants, relieved to have someone loyal and capable overseeing his affairs.

Character Developments

• Song Dazhi: Revealed as persistent, loyal, and deeply devoted to his deceased brother Dai Xiong and nephew Dai Zong. His ten-year search culminates in an emotional reunion. His practical abilities and trustworthiness earn him an important role in Chen’s new household.
• Chen Jichuan/Dai Zong: Now an immortal master with six outer disciples and significant responsibilities, he remains mindful of his family obligations. Although he has little personal attachment to Dai Xiong, he accepts the need to avenge his father’s murder to preserve his reputation and honor.
• Zhang Pei: Initially confident that his specialized medicinal knowledge will make him more valuable than combat-oriented servants, Zhang becomes envious and regretful after learning of Song’s connection to the immortal master. His attitude shifts from superiority to a desire to repair the relationship and gain Song’s favor.
• The six outer disciples: They begin speculating about Song’s importance after witnessing Chen’s familiarity with him, suggesting that Song’s status will influence the group’s internal relationships.

Significant Themes

• Persistence and loyalty: Song’s decade-long search demonstrates the strength of familial devotion and personal responsibility.
• Luck versus merit: Zhang Pei possesses useful skills and is selected, but Song’s hidden relationship with Chen gives him an advantage far greater than technical ability or bribery.
• The corrupting influence of power: The steward’s willingness to accept tribute reveals the bureaucracy and opportunism within the immortal sect.
• Family duty and revenge: Chen accepts vengeance as a necessary obligation tied to his father’s death and his own reputation, even though he does not personally share a close bond with Dai Xiong.
• Status and social hierarchy: The servants’ attitudes change immediately once Song is revealed to be related to the immortal master, emphasizing how power and connections shape relationships.

Character Interactions

• Zhang Pei and Song Dazhi discuss the need to bribe the steward; Song’s refusal creates a subtle distance between them.
• At first, the immortal master appears aloof and distant from the servants, but his recognition of Song transforms the situation.
• Song and Chen share an emotional conversation during the flight, with Song recounting his hardships and Chen acknowledging his uncle’s sacrifices.
• Chen entrusts Song with practical authority over the group, establishing a relationship based on family loyalty and mutual confidence.

Chapter Summary: “Forty Years: Jade-Faced Judge!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan arrives at Jade Flask Island, a remote territory of the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate, after an eight-day journey from Radiant Light Island.
• The island is named for its jade-flask shape and is valuable because its underground rivers contain Cloud-Brocade Fish, which produce Five-Colored Spiritual Qi used to refine magical treasures.
• Chen is assigned to guard the island, eliminate its demonic creatures, and gather the spiritual qi. Finding no powerful First Rank monsters worth subduing, he orders his disciples and servants to purge the island while establishing a cave abode on Jade-Capped Mountain.
• Over the next forty years, Chen studies Eroded Script, cultivates the Nine Refinements True Method and the Five Elements Five Directions Profound Origin Secret Record, translates cultivation texts, hunts demons, and exchanges merit for techniques, treasures, materials, and access to secret cultivation sites.
• His repeated battles against demons earn him the title “Jade-Faced Judge.” His reputation spreads throughout the Radiant Light Domain, and demons come to fear him.
• The chapter then shifts to Phoenix Pool Island, now a demonic stronghold ruled by the Death Omen Deity. Chen arrives and immediately attacks the island with the Five Thunders.
• The Death Omen Deity counters with the ancient Second Rank Death Omen Nail, but Chen captures it using the Embroidered Net, a treasure he created from Jade Flask Island’s Five-Colored Spiritual Qi.
• Chen traps the Death Omen Deity with his Seven-Star Sword Diagram, but the demon uses the Primordial Yin Gourd to absorb and neutralize the Sword Qi.
• Drawing on treasures acquired through decades of preparation, Chen unleashes forty-nine Peach Blossom Flying Swords. They destroy the gourd’s black clouds, seize the Primordial Yin Gourd, and trap both the treasure and its master.
• The demons under the Death Omen Deity abandon him and flee Phoenix Pool Island. The chapter ends with Chen’s sword formation overpowering the Death Omen Deity, whose scream terrifies the escaping fiends.

Character Development

• Chen Jichuan develops from a newly appointed island guardian into a highly experienced and feared demon hunter. His cultivation, knowledge, combat ability, and collection of countermeasures all grow substantially over forty years.
• His study of Eroded Script strengthens his understanding of cultivation methods and allows him to translate and interpret profound techniques more accurately.
• Chen becomes increasingly strategic. Rather than relying solely on cultivation, he prepares specifically for different enemies by acquiring suitable treasures and spells.
• His title, Jade-Faced Judge, reflects both his handsome appearance and his ruthless dedication to eliminating demons.
• Death Omen Deity is presented as a powerful but overconfident demon lord who relies heavily on ancient magical treasures. He underestimates Chen and loses control of both the Death Omen Nail and Primordial Yin Gourd.
• The demons serving the Death Omen Deity reveal their lack of loyalty, abandoning him as soon as his advantage disappears.

Significant Themes

• Preparation and adaptability: Chen’s victories come from studying his opponents, using the Insight Art, and preparing treasures and techniques that counter specific threats.
• Knowledge as power: His study of Eroded Script demonstrates that understanding language and ancient texts is essential to preserving, interpreting, and mastering cultivation inheritances.
• The legacy of ancient wars: The ancient conflict between humanity, demons, and the Seven Sword Emperors left behind ruined lands, diminished world ranks, lost inheritances, and scattered magical treasures that continue to shape the present.
• Cultivation versus magical treasures: Combat strength is not determined by cultivation alone. Ancient treasures and specialized techniques can dramatically alter the outcome of battles.
• Order versus demonic chaos: Chen’s repeated demon hunts and the title “Jade-Faced Judge” symbolize the restoration of order in regions overrun by monsters and demonic cultivators.
• Fear and reputation: Chen’s growing fame becomes a weapon in itself, causing demons to flee or panic once they recognize him.

Character Interactions

• Chen delegates the cleansing of Jade Flask Island to his disciples and servants while personally focusing on cultivation and study.
• His work with the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate is largely transactional: he earns merit through demon extermination and exchanges it for resources, techniques, and treasures.
• His confrontation with the Death Omen Deity is a battle of counters. The Death Omen Nail challenges Chen’s body and techniques, the Embroidered Net captures it, and the Primordial Yin Gourd neutralizes Chen’s Sword Diagram.
• Chen’s Peach Blossom Flying Swords ultimately overcome the Death Omen Deity’s reliance on ancient treasures, demonstrating the superiority of careful preparation and specialized equipment.
• The Death Omen Deity’s followers immediately flee once he is trapped, emphasizing their fear of Chen and their lack of loyalty to their fallen leader.

Chapter Summary: “Sixty-Eight Years Old! Seventh Qi-Refining Layer!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan successfully advances to the Seventh Qi-Refining Layer, entering the Late Qi-Refining Stage and opening his first major aperture and qi channel.
• His rapid progress is attributed to:
  • His previous cultivation experience.
  • Pills he refines himself.
  • The abundant cultivation resources and secret realms of the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate.
• His Immortal Dao cultivation has far surpassed his Fate Dao cultivation: he is at the Seventh Qi-Refining Layer in the former but only the fifth level of the Elixir Embracement Realm in the latter.
• Reflecting on the benefits of belonging to an Immortal Gate, Chen Jichuan begins considering joining a powerful sect in the real world, both to improve his cultivation and to help his companion Shao He.
• After reaching the Late Qi-Refining Stage, he becomes qualified to join the Heaven-Mending Sect, a much stronger organization than the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate.
• He travels from Jade-Capped Mountain to Radiant Light Island and reaches Guanzhi Mountain after five days of high-speed flight using the Wind-Thunder Twin Wings and the Lesser Forty-Nine Wind-Thunder Escape Technique.
• At White Cloud Ancestor’s cave dwelling, Chen Jichuan meets several fellow disciples, including the renowned main-sect true disciples Cheng Beixuan and Xue Xiao.
• His breakthrough is revealed, shocking and delighting everyone. At only sixty-eight years old, Chen Jichuan has surpassed the breakthrough ages of both Cheng Beixuan and Xue Xiao.
• White Cloud Ancestor concludes that Chen Jichuan may become a peerless talent and lead the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate lineage to greater prominence.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Reaches the Seventh Qi-Refining Layer and becomes even more confident in his extraordinary talent. His perspective also matures: he now recognizes the importance of sect resources and is willing to consider joining an Immortal Gate despite his former concerns about exposing his secrets. Besides cultivation, he has become a Second-Rank alchemist and artifact refiner.
• White Cloud Ancestor: Becomes extremely proud and excited by Chen Jichuan’s progress. She now sees him as potentially superior to her other disciples and as the sect’s greatest hope for future advancement.
• Cheng Beixuan and Xue Xiao: Revealed as accomplished senior disciples and Heaven-Mending Sect true disciples. Their own achievements are impressive, but Chen Jichuan’s breakthrough at a younger age places him ahead of them in terms of talent and potential.
• Shao He: Though absent from the chapter, he remains important to Chen Jichuan’s future plans. Chen worries that remaining in the Flame Dragon Grotto Market may limit Shao He’s cultivation prospects.
• Other disciples of the Nine Refinements Immortal Estate: Their respectful behavior toward Chen Jichuan reflects his growing reputation, power, and influence.

Significant Themes

• The importance of resources and institutional backing: Chen Jichuan realizes that secret realms, pills, and sect inheritance allow Immortal Gate disciples to cultivate far faster than unaffiliated practitioners.
• Talent and reputation: His breakthrough at sixty-eight establishes him as an exceptional prodigy, causing other cultivators to seek his favor and view him as a future true disciple of the Heaven-Mending Sect.
• Ambition and the unknown: His thoughts about reaching the speed of aircraft, escaping Earth’s gravity, and exploring the world beyond the heavens reveal his curiosity and long-term aspirations.
• Sect decline and succession: The Nine Refinements Immortal Estate lacks Second-Order True Persons and risks decline. White Cloud Ancestor’s hopes rest on disciples such as Cheng Beixuan, Xue Xiao, and now especially Chen Jichuan.
• Changing priorities: Chen shifts from isolation and secrecy toward cooperation, institutional affiliation, and helping those close to him advance.

Character Interactions

• Chen Jichuan is greeted respectfully by numerous disciples and Immortal Masters because of his strength and the fame he gained from killing the Death Omen Deity.
• He exchanges cordial greetings with fellow disciples while they praise his battle achievements.
• At White Cloud Ancestor’s cave, Zhu Qian introduces Chen to Cheng Beixuan and Xue Xiao, who warmly acknowledge his reputation as the “Jade-Faced Judge.”
• Chen formally greets Cheng Beixuan and Xue Xiao as his senior brother and sister.
• White Cloud Ancestor immediately recognizes Chen’s new cultivation level, prompting astonishment among everyone present.
• His fellow disciples react with genuine happiness and pride, while White Cloud Ancestor openly celebrates his breakthrough and predicts an extraordinary future for him.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan travels from the outer sea to Central Continent with White Cloud Ancestor, Cheng Beixuan, and Xue Xiao aboard the Third-Rank Taiyi Sin Dragon Boat.
• They cross the dangerous middle reaches of the Baleful Ring Sea, where violent wind, fire, lightning, and spatial turbulence make teleportation impossible. The journey takes an entire month.
• After reaching the inner sea, they use the Heaven-Mending Sect’s teleportation network to arrive at Central Continent three days later.
• Chen learns that Central Continent’s major Immortal Gates jointly maintain the teleportation network to prevent demons and devils from destroying it, though the network remains limited because of the shortage of Second-Order True Persons.
• The group arrives at Mount Taimu, the headquarters of the Heaven-Mending Sect. There, Chen sees the Longevity Ranking, also known as the True Disciple Ranking.
• Cheng Beixuan is ranked tenth, while Xue Xiao is ranked one hundred and twenty-fourth.
• After a month of settling in, meeting sect elders, and seeing White Cloud Ancestor off, Chen begins his life as a Heaven-Mending Sect true disciple.
• He studies the sect’s resources, attends lectures, refines pills and artifacts, and sets his sights on advancing to the Second Rank.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan becomes more cautious and self-aware. Although he has dominated opponents in previous worlds, he recognizes that Central Continent contains stronger cultivators, superior artifacts, ancient inheritances, and powerful secret arts. He resolves to remain humble and avoid unnecessary danger.
• He grows increasingly ambitious after learning about the Heaven-Mending Sect’s foundations: five Heterodox Grade cultivation methods, nine Transcendent secret arts, and twelve supreme treasures. His goal shifts from merely becoming a true disciple to reaching the Second Rank.
• White Cloud Ancestor demonstrates his strength as a Second-Order cultivator capable of safely crossing the Baleful Ring Sea with a Third-Rank artifact. He also shows concern for Chen’s future by personally escorting him and asking old friends to look after him.
• Cheng Beixuan is revealed to be far more formidable than his gentle personality suggests. As the sect’s tenth-ranked true disciple, he possesses exceptional potential, though he remains modest about his ranking.
• Xue Xiao acts as an experienced guide, explaining the geography, institutions, and ranking system of Central Continent while showing warmth toward Chen as a junior disciple.

3. Significant Themes

• Humility and self-preservation: Chen realizes that past victories do not guarantee supremacy in a larger and more dangerous world.
• The importance of foundations: Cultivation methods, artifacts, secret arts, resources, and experience all determine a cultivator’s true strength.
• Growth through learning: Chen treats his arrival at the Heaven-Mending Sect as an opportunity to absorb knowledge rather than pursue immediate fame.
• Institutional cooperation: The joint teleportation network shows how powerful sects must cooperate against the persistent threats posed by demons and devils.
• Ambition and higher goals: The Longevity Ranking inspires Chen, but the sect’s true treasures and powers push him to aim beyond discipleship and pursue Second-Rank cultivation.
• The persistence of evil: Because demons arise from living beings and devils from the heart, Chen understands that they can never be completely eradicated.

4. Character Interactions

• Xue Xiao educates Chen during the sea voyage, explaining why teleportation is impossible across the Baleful Ring Sea.
• Chen discusses the dangers of the journey and Central Continent with Cheng Beixuan and Xue Xiao, using them as sources of knowledge and guidance.
• Upon seeing Cheng’s high ranking, Chen expresses admiration, while Cheng downplays the ranking by explaining that many older cultivators are stronger but no longer count as true disciples.
• Chen compliments Xue Xiao’s ranking and potential, strengthening their friendly senior-junior relationship.
• Cheng Beixuan and Xue Xiao help Chen settle into the Heaven-Mending Sect, recommend the Scripture Repository and monthly lectures, and encourage him to make full use of the sect’s resources.
• White Cloud Ancestor escorts Chen to the sect, introduces him indirectly through his old connections, and then departs, leaving Chen to establish himself independently.