Chapter Summaries

• Chen Jichuan raises Golden-Backed Mantises: He places two rare Third Rank mantis eggs in his Immortal Gourd Space, where a habitat rich in Killing Intent and poisonous fire speeds their development. Using Moka Celestial Venerable’s insect- and herb-rearing scriptures, he prepares specialized spirit liquids and pills. The mantises hatch and reach Second Rank within seven years; he hopes to raise them into a self-reproducing swarm powerful enough to threaten Fourth Rank cultivators.
• He advances his cultivation: While remaining at Flat-Topped Mountain to cultivate and care for the insects, Chen reaches the Third Realm of Spirit Transformation, known as Spirit Separation. He has progressed far faster than in his previous life and hopes to reach the Fourth Rank within a few more centuries.
• A powerful visitor arrives: After ten years at the mountain, Chen is visited by Seven-Finger Daoist, an Eleven-Tribulation Rogue Immortal. The visitor’s strength makes Chen cautious, though he welcomes him politely.
• The Seven-Profound Flying Ant opportunity: Seven-Finger reveals that a secret treasure led him to a Seven Profound Mountain—a mound formed from countless Seven-Profound Flying Ant corpses, rich in spiritual energy, herbs, and potentially Fourth Rank treasures. Since the dangerous Fourth Rank ants are difficult to handle alone, he seeks allies. Chen knows the insects are exceptionally rare and powerful, and is tempted by the potential rewards.
  Character developments and interactions: Chen’s growing confidence rests on his rapid cultivation, accumulated resources, and plans to build a powerful insect swarm, but he remains alert around stronger opponents. Seven-Finger is direct about his discovery and need for help; Chen listens warily, balancing the danger of the expedition against its immense promise.
  Themes: The chapter highlights patient cultivation and long-term preparation, the advantage of rare resources and specialized knowledge, and the tension between risk and opportunity. It also emphasizes the escalating scale of power: Chen’s Golden-Backed Mantises are formidable, yet the Seven-Profound Flying Ants present a still greater challenge.

Key plot points and events

• The Seven-Finger Daoist recruits Chen Jichuan for an expedition to capture the elusive Seven Profound Mountain, home to rare Fourth Rank Seven-Profound Flying Ants. He knows Chen’s past as “Xiao Feng,” who destroyed the Cloud God Sect, and wants his strength and water-freezing and mountain-cleaving techniques.
• Chen weighs the risks against the potential rewards and agrees, reasoning that even failure would cost him little compared with the possible gain.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist assembles five Nine-Tribulation Rogue Immortals, each with a specialized treasure suited to countering the ants. Together with the Eleven-Tribulation Daoist and Chen, they form a seven-person team.
• Because the ants are exceptionally sensitive and the mountain may flee if disturbed, the group agrees to keep the mission secret and travel under the White-Bone Sovereign’s concealing banner.
• After forty-two days of cautious, circuitous travel, they reach the mountain’s vicinity. The Seven-Finger Daoist locates it with an Insect-Seeking Mirror and distributes seven bundles of Nine-Bend Soft Silk. The group plans to cast them together to trap the mountain before breaking in.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan is tempted by the opportunity but remains wary of the unknown recruiter. He ultimately accepts after calculating that the potential reward outweighs the risk. He also envies the Seven-Finger Daoist’s insect-detecting mirror.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist reveals he has researched Chen’s history and carefully gathered a team with complementary abilities. Though powerful, he emphasizes the need for secrecy and warns that anyone who ruins the expedition will face the others’ wrath.
• The five recruited experts introduce their specialized capabilities: concealment, illusion-breaking, extinguishing fire, overwhelming strength, and sealing. They cooperate, but their caution reflects their mutual distrust.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist praises Chen’s past feats to the group, establishing his reputation and explaining why his abilities are valuable to the mission.

Significant themes

• Caution versus opportunity: Chen’s decision shows measured risk-taking rather than reckless ambition.
• Cooperation amid distrust: The team’s success depends on coordinated effort, even though its members are strangers and potential rivals.
• Preparation and specialization: Each expert and treasure has a particular role in overcoming the mountain’s defenses.
• Reputation and hidden identity: Chen’s former name and deeds continue to shape how others perceive and recruit him, despite his changed identity.

Plot points and events

• The Seven-Finger Daoist coordinates a raid on Seven Profound Mountain, using the Nine-Bend Soft Silk to trap it for up to an hour and the Lunar Needle to bore through its nearly indestructible walls. Chen Jichuan and five other powerful cultivators agree to protect him from the Seven-Profound Flying Ants.
• As the group takes position, Blue Ant illusions attack. The Hundred-Desire Wanderer uses his Emotion-Severing Treasure Mirror to expose the way through, allowing everyone to regroup.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist begins drilling into the mountain. The Flying Ants retaliate with a torrent of Three-Mountain Heavy Water. Chen Jichuan splits open the surrounding mountains, swallowing the flood in deep chasms—though the ensuing destruction turns the region into a fiery wasteland.
• Seven Profound Mountain expands and thrashes against its restraints, while the ants launch illusions, fire, magma, and attacks by giant Red Ants wielding Yellow Ant weapons. The allies counter with their own treasures and abilities, holding the attackers off as the Lunar Needle advances.
• After more than half an hour, the needle pierces the mountain but is knocked back by defenders inside. The Seven-Finger Daoist immediately rushes for the opening, followed by the others. Chen Jichuan overtakes them all with his Wind-Thunder Heavenly Realms Grand Escape and enters Seven Profound Mountain first.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan demonstrates both formidable combat ability and exceptional speed. He neutralizes the heavy-water assault and reveals the true value of a movement technique he has quietly cultivated for years.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist displays considerable resources and careful planning, but his immediate dash for the opening confirms his self-interest.
• The other cultivators cooperate effectively under pressure, each deploying a signature treasure or technique, but they also conserve their strength and watch one another warily.
• The group’s alliance is practical rather than trusting: everyone expects cooperation to end once the mountain is breached and its treasures are within reach.

Significant themes

• Cooperation and competition: The cultivators need one another to overcome the mountain’s defenses, yet each intends to claim the best rewards.
• Preparation and hidden strength: The raid succeeds through planning, specialized tools, and abilities whose full value is not obvious until the decisive moment.
• The cost of power: The battle devastates thousands of miles, transforming a living landscape into a wasteland.
• Opportunity and speed: Chen Jichuan’s long investment in his escape technique pays off when a brief lead determines who enters first.

Plot and key events

• Chen Jichuan races into Seven Profound Mountain ahead of the Seven-Finger Daoist and quickly clears the first cavern of its treasures.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist follows, fending off a Yellow Ant attack. He releases thirty thousand spirit insects to scout the mountain’s maze of chambers and passages, then searches for Fourth-Rank spirit herbs, magical treasures, and flying-ant eggs.
• He repeatedly finds caverns already stripped of their valuables and suspects Chen Jichuan, whose trail soon disappears.
• Meanwhile, Chen Jichuan discovers a third Fourth-Rank spirit herb, a Four-Colored Crimson Cloud Flower. By then he has collected three Fourth-Rank herbs, two Fourth-Rank magical treasures, and forty flying-ant eggs in under half an hour.
• Chen Jichuan continues sweeping through the mountain, using his Five-Element Grand Escape to pass through solid terrain and the Great Expansion Divination Method to guide his search. The other treasure hunters, including the White-Bone Sovereign and Hundred-Desire Wanderer, fall far behind.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan proves that his versatility and mastery of specialized arts can overcome the Seven-Finger Daoist’s greater cultivation. He is delighted by his haul and feels no obligation to share it with the other members of their temporary group.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist is startled by Chen Jichuan’s speed, then grows frustrated and suspicious as he repeatedly arrives too late. His urgent search is driven partly by the coming twelfth Rogue Immortal Tribulation, which he has little chance of surviving without stronger resources.
• Their interaction is mostly indirect: the Daoist pursues Chen Jichuan through the mountain but cannot keep up, while Chen’s rapid movement and vanishing trail frustrate him.

Significant themes

• Preparation and versatility: Chen Jichuan’s range of skills—not just raw power—gives him a decisive advantage in a hostile, complex environment.
• Competition over opportunity: Chen treats the expedition as every cultivator for themselves, arguing that the others would likewise seize the treasures if they could.
• Urgency and survival: The Daoist’s hunt for rare resources reflects the life-or-death stakes of his approaching tribulation.

Plot points and events

• The Seven-Finger Daoist and the other intruders try to leave Seven Profound Mountain as the flying ants gather to surround them.
• White-Bone Sovereign, Great Void Chan Master, Hundred-Desire Wanderer, and Sea-Covering Demon Sovereign block the only passage with a magic coin. Believing the Seven-Finger Daoist has taken the mountain’s treasures, they demand he hand over valuables as security.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist insists the mountain has already been emptied by someone else, naming Great Strength Dharma King and Daoist Huang Quan as possible culprits. The group refuses to trust him.
• He battles the four Rogue Immortals with his seven-string zither while the flying ants close in. He warns that the mountain will soon escape the Cloud Net and be cast into the turbulent void.
• The four eventually abandon the blockade, but the flying ants have already sealed the passage with Purple Ants. The Seven-Finger Daoist’s Lunar Needle cannot reopen it.
• The Cloud Net breaks. Seven Profound Mountain tears into the turbulent void, where violent currents batter the mountain and kill even its tough Yellow Ants.
• Deep inside the mountain, the Purple Abode Immortal Gourd falls out of thin air.

Character developments and interactions

• Seven-Finger Daoist goes from frustrated and empty-handed to furious at being falsely accused. He tries to reason with the others, then fights when they insist on taking his belongings. His warning proves correct, but he and the others are trapped.
• White-Bone Sovereign and the other three Rogue Immortals act out of resentment and suspicion, hoping to secure a share of the expedition’s gains. Their greed gives way to fear as the danger escalates; they withdraw, though they return when the passage is sealed.
• Hundred-Desire Wanderer is the most reckless, threatening to die alongside the Seven-Finger Daoist and continuing to demand a treasure even after the others retreat.
• The Seven-Finger Daoist’s conflict with the four intruders compounds the group’s peril: instead of escaping together, they waste time fighting and bargaining while the ants close in.

Significant themes

• Greed and mistrust: The group’s assumption that the Seven-Finger Daoist has hoarded the treasure drives them to threaten him rather than cooperate.
• Pride and blame: The Seven-Finger Daoist cannot prove his innocence, and the others prefer an easy target to an uncertain explanation.
• The cost of delay: Their struggle over possessions consumes precious time, leaving them trapped when the passage seals and the mountain enters the void.
• Danger beyond personal power: Even formidable Rogue Immortals are helpless against the mountain’s collapse into the turbulent void.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan remains inside the Purple Abode Immortal Gourd while Seven Profound Mountain is cast into the dangerous void of the Brightwing Realm.
• He witnesses the destructive power of void currents. Even mountain walls that resisted Eleven-Tribulation Rogue Immortals are gradually shattered, and the Immortal Gourd Space trembles from the impacts.
• Chen reflects on the hierarchy of the

Fourth Rank Cauldron-Claiming Realm

1. Inner Landscape Realm
2. Outer Landscape Realm
3. Dharma Body Realm
4. Celestial Ladder Realm

• He learns that the first three realms condense up to nine layers of Immortal Light, while the Celestial Ladder Realm is reached after those layers transform. Immortal Light provides near-absolute defense and represents a cultivator’s Dao attainment and strength.
• Chen decides not to leave Seven Profound Mountain immediately. Since the Immortal Gourd protects him and the mountain still contains unexplored treasures, he plans to eventually eliminate the Seven-Profound Flying Ants and refine the entire mountain into a magic treasure after reaching the Fourth Rank.
• He examines his gains:
  • Two Fourth Rank magic treasures
  • Six Fourth Rank spirit herbs
  • 112 insect eggs
• The treasures are identified as:
  • Fire Dragon Fork, effective against net-shaped magic treasures
  • Vajra Divine-Fire Bow, an especially valuable Fourth Rank weapon that attacks the enemy’s Primordial Spirit
• As the mountain continues drifting through the void, the five Nine-Tribulation Rogue Immortals—Great Strength Dharma King, Hundred-Desire Wanderer, Great Void Chan Master, Sea-Covering Demon Sovereign, and White-Bone Sovereign—are killed by the void currents.
• Seven-Finger Daoist, who survives longer because of his greater cultivation and fortune, eventually dies as well.
• Chen spends the following years cultivating, refining treasures, and studying methods to breed the Golden-Backed Mantis and Seven-Profound Flying Ants.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan gains a much clearer understanding of the terrifying gap between Third Rank cultivators, Rogue Immortals, and true Fourth Rank Upper Immortals. His shock at the void’s danger is balanced by growing confidence in the protection of the Immortal Gourd.
• His ambitions expand: he no longer merely seeks to survive Seven Profound Mountain but intends to claim the mountain itself as a powerful magic treasure.
• Chen acquires a reliable offensive weapon in the Vajra Divine-Fire Bow, resolving his previous lack of suitable combat treasures.
• He becomes increasingly strategic and patient, choosing to cultivate and accumulate resources rather than act rashly.
• His interest in spirit-insect breeding introduces a long-term development path. He recognizes that the Seven-Profound Flying Ants have enormous potential but will require extraordinary wealth and resources.

3. Significant Themes

• The danger of greed: The Rogue Immortals’ deaths result from their selfishness, mutual suspicion, and unwillingness to leave Seven Profound Mountain. Their greed turns a possible opportunity into a collective disaster.
• Cultivation as accumulation: Advancement depends not only on talent but also on time, resources, insight, and endurance. The growth of the Seven-Profound Flying Ants illustrates how immense wealth and long-term investment are necessary for power.
• The gap between realms: The chapter emphasizes that nominally similar cultivators can differ vastly in strength. Even the strongest Rogue Immortals are only comparable to newly advanced Fourth Rank cultivators, while a One-Pattern Upper Immortal can effortlessly suppress Third Rank opponents.
• Patience and preparation: Chen’s willingness to wait, cultivate, and prepare contrasts with the dead Rogue Immortals’ reckless behavior.
• Fate and the Rogue Immortal path: Chen reflects that the Rogue Immortals were already facing near-certain death because of the tribulation path they had chosen. Their deaths are tragic, but also portrayed as the inevitable result of their limited prospects.

4. Character Interactions

• Chen has no direct physical interactions in the chapter, remaining hidden within the Immortal Gourd while observing events outside.
• His reflections contrast his own cautious strategy with Seven-Finger Daoist and the other Rogue Immortals’ greed and infighting.
• He considers how the Fire Dragon Fork could have changed the earlier conflict: if the Seven-Profound Flying Ants had possessed it, they could have broken Seven-Finger Daoist’s cloud net, preventing the group from entering and possibly saving their lives.
• Chen’s internal response to the Rogue Immortals’ deaths is mixed: he feels pity and regret, but also recognizes their selfish choices and the doomed nature of their cultivation paths.
• His future relationship with the Seven-Profound Flying Ants shifts from opposition to potential domestication and exploitation, as he studies how to raise them into a powerful force.

Key events

• Chen Jichuan spends two centuries cultivating inside the Purple Abode Immortal Gourd while Seven Profound Mountain drifts through the void and later wanders from Spirit Stone vein to vein.
• At age 348, he reaches the peak of Spirit Transformation. Fourth Rank is within reach, but advancing would trigger the Ninety-Ninefold Heavenly Tribulation.
• Rather than attempt it unprepared, he decides to find defensive treasures, replenish his exhausted pills, and learn the local situation. Although he has accumulated twelve Fourth-Rank treasures, none offers the protection he needs.
• After emerging, he subdues the depleted Seven-Profound Flying Ants, gathers them and the reduced mountain into his gourd, and leaves.
• He discovers he has reached the Sea of Constellations, far from Tu Continent, in a region where many races and factions overlap. After investigating its powers and risks, he decides to seek protection from a major force during his tribulation, offering to serve as a guest elder afterward, and heads south.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Jichuan’s strength and confidence have grown, but he shows greater caution and strategic maturity: he resists the temptation to advance immediately and plans for dangers both during and after the tribulation.
• His encounter with the flying ants is now one-sided; he easily gathers the once-formidable swarm, whose numbers were devastated by the void’s turbulence.
• He observes the Graywing Tribe and other peoples in the Sea of Constellations, learning that shared race does not guarantee unity or trust. He concludes that even a human Upper Immortal may not be a reliable ally.

Significant themes

• Cultivation through trials: Each rank brings a more formidable heavenly tribulation.
• Preparation over recklessness: Power alone is insufficient; resources, information, and security matter.
• Survival amid uncertainty: The mountain’s random journey leaves Chen Jichuan in unfamiliar territory, where he must adapt.
• Fragmentation and self-interest: The realm’s races and factions are politically entangled, making alliances necessary but potentially dangerous.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan travels to Black Tortoise Island to visit the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall, one of the eight strongest human powers in the Sea of Constellations.
• He chooses the Sacred Hall over the more militant Colossal Elephant Immortal Sect and Azure Yang Immortal Estate because its merchant-oriented, peaceful culture offers greater freedom and fewer obligations to participate in constant warfare.
• In the Four Seas Hall, Chen meets Wan Tianming, known as Upper Immortal Wanming, the hall master and a powerful Two-Pattern Upper Immortal at the mid-stage of the Inner Landscape Realm.
• Wanming questions Chen about his confidence in breaking through to the Fourth Rank and surviving the subsequent Nine-Nine Heavy Tribulation.
• Chen openly explains that he is confident in advancing but lacks sufficient tribulation-crossing treasures. He requests both sect membership and access to pills and magical treasures.
• Wanming offers two arrangements: Chen may join the sect and receive resources and protection for free, or remain independent and purchase the sect’s goods and services. Chen chooses to join, believing cooperation will help him establish himself after reaching the Fourth Rank.
• Wanming warns that Chen’s background and enemies must be investigated so the sect does not unknowingly invite disaster. Chen agrees to swear before the patriarch’s image and undergo a karmic examination.
• Three days later, Chen completes the oath and formally enters the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall.
• Rather than integrating through ordinary sect activities, Chen retreats into cultivation and studies the treasure catalogs provided by Wanming.
• Because Wanming has confidence in Chen’s foundation and advancement prospects, he approves a generous tribulation-support allowance: ten cubic measures of Essence Crystals, an exceptionally valuable high-grade currency and cultivation resource.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan: Demonstrates careful long-term planning and a preference for controlled, peaceful cultivation over reckless conflict. He reveals strong confidence in reaching the Fourth Rank and pragmatically accepts the protection and resources of a powerful sect. His alias, Qi Baihu, and identity as the White Tiger Recluse are established.
• Upper Immortal Wanming/Wan Tianming: Introduced as Chen’s first publicly encountered Fourth Rank Upper Immortal, a profoundly powerful but mild and straightforward leader. He is practical in protecting the sect’s interests while remaining fair and accommodating toward potential recruits.
• The Eight Extremes Sacred Hall: Develops from a background organization into Chen’s new political and cultivation base. Its merchant origins explain its emphasis on open dealings, flexibility, and mutually beneficial arrangements.

Significant Themes

• Pragmatism over pride: Chen prioritizes survival, cultivation, and independence of action rather than choosing a sect based solely on prestige or combat strength.
• Mutual benefit and fair exchange: The Sacred Hall offers either familial support through membership or clear commercial transactions for outsiders, reflecting its merchant heritage.
• Trust and hidden danger: Even a promising cultivator must have his enemies and karmic connections investigated before joining a major power.
• Preparation for advancement: Reaching the Fourth Rank requires not only cultivation but also resources, protective allies, and preparation for the Nine-Nine Heavy Tribulation.
• Power and institutional strength: The presence of Fourth Rank Upper Immortals determines the influence and status of major sects, making Chen’s potential advancement valuable to the Sacred Hall.

Character Interactions

• Chen initially converses with a Spirit Transformation mountain-guarding elder, who receives him courteously and introduces him to Wanming.
• Wanming treats Chen respectfully, personally guides the discussion, and presents the advantages and conditions of joining the Sacred Hall.
• Chen responds candidly rather than hiding his ambitions, and Wanming’s favorable impression strengthens as he recognizes Chen’s confidence and potential.
• Their exchange establishes a relationship based on openness, caution, and mutual advantage: Chen gains shelter and tribulation resources, while the Sacred Hall gains a future Upper Immortal and increased strength.

Chapter Summary: “Half-Step Fourth Rank!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan receives ten units of Essence Crystal, equivalent to one hundred million Origin Stones, giving him enough wealth to prepare for his impending Ninety-Ninefold Tribulation.
• He purchases one hundred Fourth-Rank recovery pills, including high-grade medicines such as the Five-Qi Pill, Form-Matching Pill, and Origin Tortoise Pill. These are intended to restore his magic power, mental state, vital blood, and injuries during the tribulation.
• He sells four Fourth-Rank magical treasures he no longer needs—the Sword Zither, Lunar Needle, Great Strength Divine Pestle, and Buddha-Light Treasure Coin—for five units of Essence Crystal.
• Using his remaining funds, he buys:
  • The Jade-Cloud Screen, a powerful defensive treasure particularly effective against wind, lightning, water, and fire.
  • The Azure Rainbow Sword, an ordinary Fourth-Rank flying sword.
• Over the next several years, Chen studies tribulation methods, consults Immortal Wan Ming, and coordinates with the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall regarding the timing of his breakthrough and the protection arrangements for his tribulation.
• At age 336, after completing all preparations, Chen begins his breakthrough from Third-Rank Spirit Transformation to the Half-Step Fourth Rank.
• He successfully establishes the Heaven-Earth Bridge, merging more deeply with Heaven and Earth and triggering a fundamental transformation of his essence, qi, spirit, body, and magic power.
• During the breakthrough, Chen senses both the Brightwing Realm and the greater Heaven and Earth beyond it. He perceives Heaven and Earth as becoming more intimate with him while also imposing stronger restraints.
• Once the transformation is complete, he receives a heavenly indication that his Ninety-Ninefold Tribulation will occur three years later.
• After emerging from seclusion, Chen is congratulated by Immortal Wan Ming, who now treats him as a fellow senior or junior brother rather than merely a junior disciple.

Character Development

• Chen Jichuan demonstrates exceptional wealth, foresight, and discipline by making extensive preparations for the tribulation instead of relying solely on his strong cultivation foundation.
• His understanding of Heaven and Earth has reached the threshold required for Fourth-Rank advancement, allowing his breakthrough to occur smoothly and naturally.
• He becomes more aware of the complex relationship between cultivators and Heaven and Earth: greater closeness brings greater power, but also stronger limitations.
• His successful breakthrough elevates his status within the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall. He is no longer viewed merely as a promising Third-Rank cultivator but as a likely future Fourth-Rank Immortal.
• Immortal Wan Ming grows more respectful and openly values Chen as an important fellow disciple, reflecting Chen’s increased status and the rarity of reaching the Fourth Rank.

Significant Themes

• Preparation versus talent: Chen’s deep foundation is important, but the chapter emphasizes that careful preparation—medicines, treasures, knowledge, allies, and timing—is essential for surviving the Ninety-Ninefold Tribulation.
• The cost of advancement: Fourth-Rank cultivation requires enormous resources, and even Chen’s considerable wealth is barely sufficient for his needs.
• Transformation and immortality: The Fourth Rank represents a major transition from mortal cultivation toward true immortality, involving the transformation of the body, spirit, magic power, and Inner Heaven and Earth.
• Harmony and restraint: Becoming closer to Heaven and Earth grants greater support and power, but also subjects the cultivator to stronger restrictions, creating a paradoxical relationship between freedom and dependence.
• Rarity and status: The chapter stresses how few Spirit Transformation cultivators ever reach the Fourth Rank, explaining why Chen’s breakthrough causes Immortal Wan Ming and the sect to regard him with increased importance.

Character Interactions

• Chen consults Immortal Wan Ming repeatedly about breakthrough timing, tribulation preparations, and sect arrangements.
• Wan Ming and the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall organize immortals to protect Chen during his future tribulation.
• After Chen’s breakthrough, Wan Ming personally congratulates him and changes how he addresses him, acknowledging Chen as a fellow senior or junior brother.
• Their interaction shows both genuine camaraderie and the institutional respect Chen now commands as a Half-Step Fourth-Rank cultivator.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan accepts Wan Ming Immortal’s offer of brotherly fellowship, agreeing to address each other as senior and junior brothers now that Chen is approaching the Fourth Rank.
• He reveals that his Ninety-Ninefold Tribulation will descend in three years. Wan Ming Immortal praises his exceptional foundation, saying only the legendary Three Suns Immortal may surpass him among the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall’s Fourth Rank cultivators.
• Wan Ming Immortal promises that two additional Immortals will return to protect Chen during his tribulation. He then personally guides Chen in understanding his recent breakthrough.
• Three years later, Chen undergoes the Ninety-Ninefold Tribulation on Black Tortoise Island. With the protection of Wan Ming Immortal, Eight-Armed Immortal, and Wulou Immortal—and the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall’s control of the island—he faces no outside interference.
• Chen successfully endures all eighty-one lightning tribulations, along with inner demons, yin winds, yin fires, and other calamities. He completes his transformation and officially enters the Fourth Rank of the Immortal Dao, the Cauldron-Claiming Realm.
• The Eight Extremes Sacred Hall plans to hold a grand Ascension-to-Immortality ceremony to announce Chen’s advancement throughout the Starry Sea and allow other Immortals to congratulate and assess him.
• Chen returns to seclusion to consolidate his cultivation and examine his new status and future path.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan transitions from a half-step Fourth Rank cultivator into a true Fourth Rank Immortal. His long-term efforts across seven Dao Fruit Worlds finally bear fruit in his eighth life.
• He gains a greatly expanded lifespan of 48,000 years, which can potentially be increased to 96,000 years through the Azure Dragon Longevity Scripture. Combined with the four-hundredfold time difference in the Dao Fruit Worlds, this gives him an enormous amount of time to pursue higher realms.
• Chen becomes more self-aware regarding his limitations. Although his cultivation is now Fourth Rank, his alchemy, formations, artifact refining, and talisman-making remain only Third Rank, preventing him from relying on technical skills for rapid advancement.
• Rather than rushing into dangerous adventures, Chen decides to cultivate patiently, improve his magical arts and crafting abilities, and better understand the Brightwing Realm before venturing out.
• Wan Ming Immortal acts as Chen’s mentor and senior brother, offering both protection and guidance.
• Eight-Armed Immortal, a powerful three-marked, late Inner Landscape Realm Immortal, displays a bold and protective personality.
• Wulou Immortal, a younger and weaker early Inner Landscape Realm Immortal, joins the protection effort, demonstrating the sect’s serious investment in Chen’s safety.
• Three Suns Immortal is established as a distant but extraordinary figure: an ancient patriarch, disciple of the sect’s founder, and the only known Fourth Rank genius who may surpass Chen’s foundation.

Significant Themes

• The difficulty of the Immortal Dao: Reaching Fourth Rank is celebrated as a tremendous achievement, yet Chen realizes that even a 48,000-year lifespan and the title of “High Immortal” do not guarantee true immortality or access to the Heaven Realm.
• Patience and long-term cultivation: Chen embraces the idea that immortality requires enduring loneliness and accumulating strength over vast stretches of time rather than constantly seeking immediate opportunities.
• Sect loyalty and mutual support: The Eight Extremes Sacred Hall treats Chen as family and mobilizes three Immortals to ensure his tribulation succeeds, emphasizing the value of institutional protection.
• The contrast between lifespan and advancement: Immortals may live for tens of thousands of years while making only slow progress through the Fourth Rank’s realms. Longevity alone does not make advancement easy.
• Preparation before exploration: Chen’s new strategy is to improve his foundation, techniques, and knowledge before traveling widely, replacing opportunistic wandering with deliberate planning.
• Mortality beneath immortality: Despite becoming an Immortal, Chen remains aware that even the highest Fourth Rank cultivators are ultimately still far from genuine, eternal existence.

Character Interactions

• Chen and Wan Ming Immortal establish a closer senior–junior brother relationship. Wan Ming offers personal instruction, while Chen respectfully seeks his advice.
• Wan Ming informs Chen about Three Suns Immortal and reassures him that he will eventually meet this legendary figure in the heavens.
• Wan Ming, Eight-Armed Immortal, and Wulou Immortal jointly safeguard Chen during his tribulation. After his success, they congratulate him and encourage him to recover while they manage the visiting Immortals.
• Chen expresses sincere gratitude to the three Immortals and agrees to follow the sect’s arrangements for his ceremony and public introduction.
• Through these interactions, Chen becomes more firmly integrated into the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall, gaining both senior brothers and a powerful sect backing his future development.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After ascending, Chen Jichuan enters the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall under the alias Qi Baihu, becoming its newest Fourth Rank White Tiger Immortal.
• He establishes Myriad God Island as his private cultivation base outside Black Tortoise Island. There, he divides his time among cultivation, alchemy, socializing with fellow immortals, exploring relics, helping sect members in battle, and handling occasional sect affairs.
• Because he simultaneously cultivates four Orthodox Grade techniques and studies numerous spells, Chen Jichuan requires enormous resources. He supports himself through sect income, alchemy, and the Purple Abode Immortal Estate, while focusing on improving his alchemy to secure greater long-term wealth.
• Chen resumes accepting disciples, selecting primarily for character and accepting far more disciples than other immortals. He repeatedly trains, tests, recalls, and redeploys them, allowing weaker disciples to be eliminated while steadily nurturing stronger ones.
• Over the course of twenty thousand years:
  • Qiao Zhouzhao achieves enlightenment during one of Chen’s lectures, later becoming the ninth immortal of the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall.
  • Chen’s disciple Sima Hanchuang becomes a Fourth Rank immortal, becoming the tenth immortal of the sect and the first Fourth Rank immortal directly beneath Chen.
  • More immortals emerge from the Myriad God Island lineage, greatly increasing Chen’s fame and causing the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall to grow into a powerful, near-overlord faction in the Sea of Constellations.
• In the present, Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch, one of the sect’s most senior and powerful immortals, unexpectedly visits Myriad God Island. Chen is initially absent, so disciples Ding Shan and Yu Buwei receive her and notify him.
• Chen returns two days later. Through his appraisal, he sees that Golden-Thread is an ancient Four-Pattern Immortal in the early Outer Vista Stage, aged nearly forty-five thousand years and nearing the end of her lifespan.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan becomes a powerful and influential Fourth Rank immortal. He is no longer merely a talented newcomer but the central figure managing the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall’s affairs in the Sea of Constellations.
• His cultivation, alchemy, combat ability, and understanding of multiple cultivation methods continue to improve.
• Chen’s greatest distinction becomes his ability to cultivate disciples. Unlike veteran immortals who demand only exceptionally gifted disciples capable of reaching the Fourth Rank, he accepts many candidates, develops their loyalty, and uses systematic training and trials to produce results.
• His disciples, especially Ding Shan, Yu Buwei, and Sima Hanchuang, mature into Fourth Rank immortals and form a powerful, tightly connected lineage.
• Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch remains a formidable senior figure, but her advanced age reveals that even the strongest veteran immortals are approaching their life limits.

Significant Themes

• Long-term cultivation and patience: Chen’s power and influence grow over twenty thousand years through steady effort rather than sudden opportunities.
• Resource management: Advancement requires not only time and talent but also vast resources, making alchemy and economic self-sufficiency essential.
• The value of cooperation: Sect immortals survive by supporting one another in battles, explorations, and disputes; mutual aid strengthens the entire organization.
• Mentorship and legacy: Chen’s broad, patient approach to disciples contrasts with the rigid standards of older immortals and allows him to create a lasting succession of powerful cultivators.
• Generational change: The old supreme methods and veteran immortals are gradually declining, while Chen’s “Four Symbols Four Classics” and Myriad God Island lineage rise to prominence.
• Mortality amid immortality: Even Fourth Rank immortals eventually face lifespan limits. The approaching deaths of figures such as Golden-Thread and Wan Ming foreshadow a changing era.

Character Interactions

• Chen frequently interacts with fellow Fourth Rank immortals through Dao discussions, sparring, friendship, and joint battles.
• His relationship with his disciples is unusually close: he lectures them personally, arranges their trials, guides their development, and maintains an ongoing cycle of training and practical experience.
• Ding Shan and Yu Buwei respectfully receive Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch, but their status as Fourth Rank disciples of Chen means she treats them with unusual courtesy despite her seniority.
• Golden-Thread discusses the sect’s development with Chen’s disciples while waiting for Chen’s return, suggesting that her visit concerns an important matter affecting the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall.
• Chen and Golden-Thread address each other as senior and junior fellow disciples, but Chen recognizes that their relationship is distant and that her unexpected visit likely signals a major upcoming event.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch visits Chen Jichuan and asks whether he has heard about the recent upheaval in the Ninth Heaven.
• The disturbance was caused by a mysterious Heavenly Venerable who emerged suddenly from beyond the heavens, fought through the Four Directions Heaven, and challenged the many Heavenly Venerables near the Immortal Gate. The battle reportedly caused a Heavenly Venerable’s fall.
• The upheaval shook the nine heavens, causing previously hidden secret realms, ancient ruins, and the cave abodes of powerful Transcendent Immortals and Heavenly Venerables to emerge.
• Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch has discovered one such cave abode, which she believes belonged to a Heavenly Venerable. Because its outer formations remain active, she wants to gather the strength of Eight Extremes Sacred Hall to break through it.
• Chen Jichuan agrees immediately, attracted by the possibility of obtaining rare treasures—especially an immortal treasure comparable to his Purple Abode Immortal Gourd.
• Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch leaves to recruit Eight-Armed Immortal and Immortal Wan Ming, while Chen Jichuan summons the other members of the sect.
• Two months later, all nineteen Transcendent Immortals of Eight Extremes Sacred Hall travel together through the Abyss Heaven of the Southern Heaven Thunder Immortal Realm.
• Their destination lies in the void beyond the realms, and the Abyss Heaven provides the fastest route. Upon reaching a strange location filled with cracks and leaking wind, Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch identifies the entrance and leads the group into the void.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan is shown as the most influential and authoritative figure in Eight Extremes Sacred Hall. Although he prefers secluded cultivation and avoids unnecessary danger, he recognizes the value of the Heavenly Venerable’s cave abode and acts decisively.
• His interest in the expedition is practical rather than reckless. He hopes to acquire an immortal treasure that could strengthen his cultivation and resources, just as the Purple Abode Immortal Gourd has supported him for thousands of years.
• Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch reveals both urgency and ambition. With less than four thousand years of lifespan remaining and little hope of advancing naturally, she sees the cave abode as a potential chance to break through to the Fourth Rank, Fourth Realm and reach the Ninth Heaven.
• Immortal Wan Ming appears older after twenty thousand years but remains sociable and experienced. He encourages Chen Jichuan to leave his secluded island and explore the wider Four Directions Heaven.
• The chapter emphasizes Chen Jichuan’s growing prestige: many sect members respect him as a mentor, and even newly advanced Transcendent Immortals treat him with the courtesy owed to a half-teacher.

Significant Themes

• Opportunity born from catastrophe: The battle in the Ninth Heaven creates danger but also causes ancient inheritances and secret realms to reappear.
• Longevity and advancement: Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch’s limited lifespan highlights the intense pressure facing powerful cultivators who cannot break through.
• Power, influence, and leadership: Chen Jichuan’s authority within the sect allows him to mobilize all nineteen Transcendent Immortals.
• Caution versus ambition: Chen Jichuan prefers safety and secluded cultivation, while the promise of an immortal treasure draws him into a dangerous expedition.
• The vastness of the cultivation world: The discussion of the thirty-three heavens, the Ten Under-Heavens, the Abyss Heaven, and countless external worlds expands the story’s cosmic scale.

Character Interactions

• Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch explains the Ninth Heaven’s turmoil and the cave abode’s origins to Chen Jichuan, relying on his support because of his influence over most of the sect.
• Chen Jichuan questions her carefully, showing prudence before committing, then agrees and divides the recruitment responsibilities between them.
• He sends jade summons to the sect’s other Transcendent Immortals, while Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch seeks out Eight-Armed Immortal and Immortal Wan Ming.
• During the journey, Immortal Wan Ming advises Chen Jichuan to broaden his experience, while Chen Jichuan defends his preference for remaining in the safer Sea of Constellations.
• The chapter ends with the entire sect expedition entering the unknown void, beginning the search for the Heavenly Venerable’s cave abode.

Chapter Summary: Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan and eighteen other transcendent immortals arrive at a mysterious stretch of colorful clouds in the void. Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch identifies it as the location of a celestial venerable’s hidden abode.
• The clouds are actually formed from countless overlapping formations. Most of the group cannot see through them, while Chen Jichuan, Immortal Wan Ming, and Eight-Armed Immortal can discern their extraordinary nature.
• The formations are too complex to break through by force. The group forms the Nine-Bend Dragon-Snake Formation and enters the cloud region, relying heavily on Chen Jichuan’s mastery of formations and Insight Art.
• Inside, the clouds transform into vast, dangerous landscapes filled with illusions, shifting environments, and sudden heavenly calamities. Chen Jichuan guides the party safely through them.
• Chen Jichuan notices another group of transcendent immortals attempting to cross the formations, but his party advances much faster.
• After approximately ten days, they reach a cluster of glazed immortal light and discover the legendary Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda.
• The pagoda is revealed to be the supreme immortal treasure once wielded by the Pagoda-Bearing Celestial Venerable. It contains nine levels, each with unique powers, and was forged from the venerable’s Glazed Dharma Body and Ninefold Immortal Radiance.
• Chen Jichuan considers using the Great Luo Heavenly Sleeve to seize it immediately but realizes that the surrounding formations would unleash devastating spatial storms. He decides that entering the pagoda and following its trials is safer.
• With the pagoda’s first-floor entrance open, the nineteen immortals enter together.

Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan demonstrates major growth in formation mastery and insight. Though still only at the third pattern and not yet in the Outer Landscape Realm, he can understand formations that even veteran transcendent immortals cannot decipher.
• His awareness of his own limitations becomes clear. Rather than recklessly claiming the pagoda, he evaluates the risks and chooses a more reliable strategy.
• Chen Jichuan’s ambition increases upon seeing the treasure. He recognizes that the pagoda could provide both powerful offense and defense and potentially make him invincible beneath the celestial venerable level.
• Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch, Eight-Armed Immortal, and Immortal Wan Ming act as the party’s senior leaders, but they acknowledge Chen Jichuan’s superior formation ability and rely on his guidance.
• The newly advanced transcendent immortals, including Qiao Zhouzhao and Sima Hanchuang, are awed by the hidden abode and the level of power involved.

Significant Themes

• The difficulty of cultivation: Advancement becomes increasingly difficult at higher realms, and even decades of diligent cultivation have not allowed Chen Jichuan to break through to the fourth pattern.
• Caution versus ambition: The Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda is immensely tempting, but Chen Jichuan chooses patience over a dangerous attempt at immediate acquisition.
• Knowledge as power: Chen Jichuan’s formation expertise allows the group to traverse an area that would otherwise take decades to cross, emphasizing the value of skill and insight over brute force.
• Legacy and inheritance: The celestial venerable appears to have prepared the pagoda as a trial and possible inheritance for future successors.
• Competition among immortals: Another group is exploring the same region, establishing that Chen Jichuan’s party may soon face rivals for the treasure.

Character Interactions

• Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch identifies the location and explains the likely method of entering the abode.
• The other immortals openly recognize and praise Chen Jichuan’s formation abilities, entrusting him with navigation.
• Chen Jichuan cooperates with the group rather than revealing that he might be capable of bypassing the formations more directly.
• Eight-Armed Immortal and Immortal Wan Ming consult with Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch and Chen Jichuan before agreeing to enter the pagoda.
• The entire party acts collectively, forming an array and entering the Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda together.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan and eighteen fellow immortals from the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall enter the pagoda, joining twenty-three upper immortals already gathered in a vast, star-filled hall.
• Chen recognizes many of the powerful arrivals through his knowledge of the Brightwing Realm. The most formidable include the five sixth-pattern immortals of the Ten Thousand Slaughters Sect, as well as the Kan-Li Immortal Xu Yuantong, the Seven-Tailed Immortal Fox Su Yazi, and the Lone-Lamp Immortal Yizhenzi.
• A voice from the Heaven-Bearing Pillars announces that anyone seeking the pagoda must first enter the Heaven-Bearing Realm. The divine presence behind the message reveals the overwhelming power of the Pagoda-Bearing Celestial Venerable, a Heavenly Ladder Realm expert.
• The entrants learn that the Heaven-Bearing Realm is a dangerous trial ground. One hundred upper immortals must form twenty-five five-person squads; trials, rival groups, and a shrinking realm will gradually eliminate participants. Survivors who are forced into the Endless Void risk losing centuries—or their lives.
• The Eight Extremes Sacred Hall chooses to send only its five strongest members rather than expose its other fourteen immortals to the danger. The group selects the Eight-Armed Immortal, the Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch, Immortal Wan Ming, Chen Jichuan, and Heavenly Calamity.
• Three years pass as more immortals arrive. When twenty-five squads have registered, the Heaven-Bearing Realm opens.

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan shows careful judgment: he studies the other immortals, assesses their strengths, and considers how he might counter the most dangerous opponents. The Celestial Venerable’s power intensifies his desire to claim the pagoda’s inheritance.
• The Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch and Immortal Wan Ming take the lead in deciding how the Sacred Hall will participate, prioritizing survival by limiting entry to the five strongest.
• Heavenly Calamity is selected over Flawless for the final place, while Flawless accepts the decision without protest.

Character interactions

• The newcomers keep their distance from the other immortals, who watch them warily.
• Within the Sacred Hall, the senior members discuss the risks and agree on a five-person team. The decision reveals the group’s internal hierarchy and the influence of cultivation methods on its members’ interests.
• Chen notices Flawless’s resentment over being passed over. He suspects Wan Ming favored Heavenly Calamity because both practice the Immortal Sword Preaching Diagram, meaning Heavenly Calamity’s success could benefit Wan Ming. This exposes private agendas within the supposedly allied group.

Significant themes

• Dangerous competition: The inheritance is attainable only through a lethal contest in which rivals face both the realm’s trials and one another.
• Power and ambition: The Celestial Venerable’s immense authority inspires awe while sharpening the immortals’ desire for his legacy.
• Alliance versus self-interest: The Sacred Hall cooperates, but its members’ differing cultivation paths, status, and ambitions create tensions beneath the surface.
• Risk and opportunity: Sending fewer participants protects weaker immortals but denies them a chance at the inheritance.

Chapter summary

Plot and events

• Chen Jichuan and four fellow immortals arrive in the Bearing Heaven Battlefield, where the Pagoda-Bearing Celestial Venerable has sealed everyone’s cultivation at the level of a newly advanced Second-Rank immortal. Spells and magical treasures are also restricted.
• The battlefield’s rules reveal two ways to gain an edge: find scattered Black Stones to restore cultivation, and master Summon Wind and Rain, the only art permitted for combat.
• The five companions agree to split up to search for Black Stones and periodically share what they learn. Chen searches alone while practicing the art.
• After three days, Chen reaches its first level. He then uses his Enlightenment ability to accelerate his understanding, advancing to the third level in what feels like a century of study.
• After a month of searching without finding any Black Stones, Chen spots a streak of black light descending from the sky and realizes that a new opportunity has arrived.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen initially worries that the restrictions have erased his advantages, since his cultivation is relatively low and his command of spells is unavailable. Learning that his comprehension remains intact restores his confidence.
• His exceptional learning speed—and especially his use of Enlightenment—quickly gives him an advantage in mastering Summon Wind and Rain. He remains cautious, however, knowing that restored cultivation could still overpower him.
• Immortal Wan Ming welcomes the leveling of cultivation because it helps weaker entrants, but his earlier self-interest has also left the group without Wulou Immortal, whose expertise in wind and rain would have helped them.
• The five cooperate pragmatically, but divide their efforts rather than travel together.

Significant themes

• Adaptation under imposed limits: The battlefield strips away familiar strengths and forces the immortals to compete under new rules.
• Talent and preparation: Prior knowledge of wind-and-rain arts may help, but Chen’s comprehension and Enlightenment prove more decisive.
• Cooperation versus self-interest: The group’s plan relies on mutual assistance, while Wan Ming’s earlier choice has weakened their collective position.
• Balancing immediate and long-term goals: Chen must both improve the combat art and search for Black Stones, since neither advantage alone guarantees survival or victory.

• Black Stone ambush: Chen Jichuan reaches a fallen Black Stone in the Savage Wastes and waits in hiding for a competitor. When Jin Mengzi, a Four-Pattern Upper Immortal, arrives, Chen traps him with his far more advanced Summon Wind and Rain. Jin Mengzi breaks his cultivation seal to escape, but doing so triggers the battlefield’s defenses: he is expelled into the Endless Void and eliminated from the contest. Chen then defeats the Black Stone’s Divine Dragon Puppet, claims the stone, and releases one layer of his cultivation, reaching the Second-Heaven Stage of the True Person realm.
• The battlefield’s rules and stakes: Chen reflects that Transcendent Immortals are extraordinarily difficult to kill because Immortal Light and heaven’s protection shield them. The battlefield’s seals are maintained partly through the participants’ cooperation; breaking a seal restores a competitor’s full power but expels them from the contest. Black Stones gradually restore cultivation, while Summon Wind and Rain tests the contestants’ comprehension and aptitude.
• A slow contest turns dangerous: During the first ten years, Chen encounters no one else. The battlefield then begins shrinking every decade, forcing contestants closer together. By the first contraction, only four of the original hundred participants have been eliminated. Chen dismisses the wider competition and focuses on finding Black Stones and improving his technique.
• Chen pulls ahead: In the second decade, Chen eliminates two more competitors. His annual use of Enlightenment has brought Summon Wind and Rain to its fourth stage, nearing the fifth—far beyond the progress of his fellow Eight Extremes Sacred Hall entrants. His growing mastery also improves his speed and search range, helping him find more Black Stones and advance his cultivation faster.
• Character development and interactions: Chen is patient and calculating, choosing ambushes over direct confrontation and treating each elimination as a practical advantage. He becomes increasingly confident as his lead over the other contestants widens. His only direct encounter in the opening decade is with Jin Mengzi, whom he decisively outclasses; the other competitors remain distant rivals whose progress Chen monitors.
  The chapter closes with a broad time jump: a hundred years pass, setting up the next stage of the contest.

Plot points and events

• After a century on the Bearing Heaven Battlefield, Chen Jichuan has advanced Summon Wind and Rain to the fifth level, a feat that would normally take thousands of years. He waits for the tenth calamity as the Savage Wastes shrink to a final hundred thousand li.
• Twenty-four rival Transcendent Immortals surround Chen and the three surviving members of the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall: Immortal Wan Ming, the Eight-Armed Immortal, and the Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch. With the battlefield collapsing and no room left to hide, the rivals hope to overwhelm Chen together.
• The three companions refuse to retreat despite the enemies and risks awaiting them beyond the battlefield. Chen tells them to wait, then confronts the attackers alone.
• Using fifth-level Summon Wind and Rain, Chen takes command of the surrounding weather and effectively controls the entire remaining battlefield. The rivals cannot advance; many are driven into the void and eliminated as the terrain collapses.
• The four members of the Eight Extremes Sacred Hall are the last to remain. Golden light carries them away, and the Bearing Heaven Battlefield shatters.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan has become overwhelmingly powerful through his talent and repeated use of Enlightenment. He is confident about facing the consequences of his growing list of enemies, especially if victory brings the Celestial Venerable’s legacy.
• Wan Ming remains carefree and determined, dismissing the danger of making powerful enemies. The Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch jokes that Transcendent Immortals can still be killed on the Immortal-Slaying Platform; the Eight-Armed Immortal stays silent, but neither he nor the others backs down.
• The three companions’ survival has depended largely on Chen’s protection. They support him in the final battle, striking at the edges of his storm while he holds the center.
• The assembled rivals, including Su Yazi and the Five Peaks Immortals, recognize that Chen’s mastery has left them no viable path to victory. Their earlier successes and high status cannot overcome the gap between their fourth-level art and Chen’s fifth-level command.

Significant themes

• Talent and accelerated growth: Chen’s Enlightenment lets him achieve in a century what normally takes millennia.
• Power and its consequences: His dominance earns victory but also creates many future enemies.
• Loyalty and shared ambition: Chen’s companions accept the risks because they all desire the Celestial Venerable’s legacy.
• The limits of conventional strength: Even elite cultivators are helpless when faced with mastery that lets one person command the battlefield itself.

Key events

• Chen Jichuan receives the Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda after proving he had cultivated Summon Wind and Rain to its fifth level. Other survivors who fell short receive lesser rewards.
• He learns that Pagoda-Bearing Celestial Venerable designed the trial partly in hope of finding a successor who might one day help him return through reincarnation. The pagoda’s records also reveal secrets about the Chongming Spirit Realm and the difficulty of ascending to the Immortal Realm.
• Chen discovers Immortal Wan Ming, Eight-Armed Immortal, and Golden-Thread Divine Matriarch recovering in the pagoda’s life-restoring pool. He lets them heal for half a month, then sends them away and draws the pagoda into his mind.
• Knowing the treasure will attract powerful pursuers, Chen immediately escapes through a tear in space. A formidable sword immortal cuts through the pursuing immortals, but Chen continues fleeing through the turbulent void.
• He uses his best escape, defense, concealment, and stealth techniques, along with the pagoda’s powers, to evade the chase. Before he can get away, a hidden rainbow light strikes him, transforms into six serpentine restraints, and binds his body, essence, qi, and spirit.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan gains a major advantage but also becomes a target. He is cautious and resourceful, fleeing at once rather than risking a fight with Heavenly Venerables. Despite his own urgent escape, he shows consideration for his fellow sect members by allowing them time to recover.
• Immortal Wan Ming and the other two survivors benefit from the pagoda’s healing pool, though they cannot inherit the treasure.
• Pagoda-Bearing Celestial Venerable is revealed as both a master craftsman and a calculating figure who left the trial as a possible route back from death.
• The pursuing immortals close in on Chen; one terrifying sword immortal wounds many of them, demonstrating the danger of the forces competing for the treasure.

Significant themes

• Legacy and reincarnation: Pagoda-Bearing Celestial Venerable’s trial reflects his hope that a worthy successor might help him return.
• Power and its price: The pagoda greatly strengthens Chen, but possessing it brings relentless pursuit.
• Preparation and survival: Chen relies on accumulated skills, caution, and quick decisions rather than confronting enemies he cannot yet defeat.
• Loyalty and generosity: Chen’s treatment of his fellow sect members contrasts with the ruthless scramble for the immortal treasure.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan is trapped by Myriad Shadows Heavenly Venerable’s Three-Treasure Soaring Serpent Ring, which seals his essence, qi, and spirit.
• He breaks free by releasing the sickness and death qi stored in his Heaven-Mending Seal, then uses his seventh-level Wind-Thunder Heavenly Realms Grand Escape to create billions of indistinguishable bodies.
• Myriad Shadows counters with darkness and shadow techniques. Chen detonates the Wind-Thunder Twin Wings in a desperate burst, scattering his bodies and escaping at great cost.
• A woman in white confronts Myriad Shadows. He explains that he was sent to test her by an Immortal Venerable. She reveals her name—Wang Yan—and attacks him.
• Chen reappears badly wounded. Wang Yan’s sword strike had pierced through his false bodies and injured his true body, severing and destroying his right arm and damaging his foundation and soul.
• He returns to the mortal world to hide and recover, using immortal pills and the Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda. Despite this setback, he recognizes that a breakthrough in the real world—the Maze Realm—has emerged.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan demonstrates how far his arts have advanced during long seclusion, but also confronts the limits of his power. He concludes that he can no longer rely on superior techniques and foundation to overcome the cultivation gap with Fourth-Realm Heavenly Venerables. He resolves to advance his Transcendent Arts and pursue divine abilities.
• Myriad Shadows Heavenly Venerable is revealed as a veteran, long-lived power of the Golden Light Immortal Court. His centuries of refinement and Immortal Gate status make his abilities and treasure formidable.
• Wang Yan, a newly recognized Heavenly Venerable with exceptional swordsmanship, is introduced. Myriad Shadows approaches her respectfully, but their meeting turns into a duel.
• Chen suffers at the hands of both opponents: Myriad Shadows forces him to flee, while Wang Yan’s unexpected strike worsens his injuries. He angrily blames her for attacking from behind.

Significant themes

• The cost of survival: Chen escapes only by exhausting stored power and destroying a crucial technique’s wings, leaving him gravely injured.
• Limits and growth: His encounter reveals that mastery of arts cannot always compensate for a major difference in cultivation and accumulated experience.
• The burden of longevity: Immortal Gate figures can remain active for immense spans of time, allowing them to refine their skills and treasures beyond what ordinary cultivators can match.
• Setback alongside progress: Though Chen’s escape is disastrous, his discovery of a breakthrough in the Maze Realm offers a counterpoint to his defeat.

Chapter Summary

Key events

• Chen Jichuan cultivates above Panlong Mountain, gathering Purple-Clear Numinous Essence from the heavens. It takes him thirty-two years to form one wisp, underscoring how scarce these materials are. He already has five wisps of Scarlet-Turbid Profound Mystery, found in a fortunate earth acupoint.
• These treasures can strengthen cultivation and help advance divine abilities such as the Great Expansion Divination Method. Even with Chen Jichuan’s experience, progress is slow, and advancing divine abilities requires rare resources as well as comprehension.
• After spending fifty-one years in reality—while more than twenty thousand years passed in the Chongming Spirit Realm—Chen Jichuan has reached the Third Realm of Spirit Transformation. Panlong Mountain’s weak spiritual qi can barely sustain him, revealing the mountain’s severe limits.
• He sees a newly advanced Spirit Transformation cultivator struggling against the unreachable sky. The sight makes Chen Jichuan reflect that even great cultivators may be trapped by the limits of their world.
• Chen visits his younger brother, Chen Shaohe, who has advanced from the eighth level of Qi Refinement to the Tenth Heaven in fifty-one years. Chen Jichuan’s careful support—secret techniques, medicines, and formation training—has given him exceptional progress without compromising his foundation.
• The brothers discuss Shaohe’s future and potential marriage. Shaohe rejects romance for now, intending to pursue immortality first.
• Chen Jichuan thinks of Wang Yan, whom he has not seen for over forty thousand years. His hopes that she can attain immortality have faded, and he can only hope she is still alive and that they will reunite.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan remains ambitious and disciplined, but recognizes that his own world’s scarcity of resources may obstruct his cultivation. His experience has also made him more realistic about how difficult immortality is—for himself and for those he cares about.
• Chen Shaohe is a major prodigy thanks to his brother’s intervention, yet remains grounded and focused. He appreciates Chen Jichuan’s support, accepts the hardships required for advancement, and is unwilling to pursue a partner before securing a chance at eternal life.
• The brothers share an affectionate, teasing relationship. Chen Jichuan advises Shaohe to aim beyond his current success, while Shaohe jokes that he will become a carefree immortal once he has achieved eternal life.
• Chen Jichuan’s memories of Wang Yan reveal lingering love and concern, tempered by his growing understanding that the path to immortality is extraordinarily difficult.

Significant themes

• The cost and difficulty of cultivation: Higher realms demand increasingly rare resources, greater effort, and deeper understanding.
• The limits of one’s world: Panlong Mountain’s confinement and poor spiritual resources restrict even powerful cultivators.
• Privilege and opportunity: Shaohe’s rapid rise shows how resources, guidance, and family support can create prodigies.
• Immortality and sacrifice: Shaohe postpones romance, while Chen Jichuan reflects on the distance between ordinary cultivators and eternal life.
• Longing across time: Chen Jichuan’s thoughts of Wang Yan show that personal bonds endure even as immense spans of time pass.