Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Killing Fiend”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Wang Yan decisively defeats the five Immortal Venerables who helped block the Immortal Gate and threaten her and Chen Jichuan’s Dao paths. Guangmu and Jiuyang beg for mercy, but Wang Yan refuses, considering their actions an unforgivable attack on her future.
• Immortal Venerable Guangmu curses Chen Jichuan as he dies, but Wang Yan’s newly completed Anger Intent overwhelms the curse. Guangmu’s true spirit enters the Immortal Gate.
• When eight Heavenly Venerables attempt to flee, Wang Yan pursues them using Wind-Thunder Walk and kills all eight in a single exchange.
• Jiuyang, Mohe, Lunar Yin, and Golden Radiance are successively slain. Golden Radiance threatens to destroy Fierce Bird Mountain’s legacy after his rebirth, but Wang Yan remains unmoved and kills him.
• Wang Yan continues fighting the remaining Heavenly Venerables, slaughtering nearly all of them while the Five Directions’ Emperor Aspects restrict their movements. Only Shan Hua and Yu Cheng survive from that group.
• Chen Jichuan observes that Wang Yan’s Seven Emotions Sword, supported by her Orthodox Grade cultivation method, gives her extraordinary killing power—enough to defeat Peak Fourth Rank Immortal Venerables.
• Wang Yan’s battle completes her fourth emotional state, Anger Intent, bringing her closer to the Fifth Rank. Chen Jichuan realizes that leaving the Brightwing Realm may provide the trials and changes she needs for further breakthroughs.
• Chen Jichuan withdraws from his own battle with Immortal Venerables Bi Xia and Xuanming because his strongest abilities are defensive, evasive, or divinatory rather than killing techniques. Wang Yan takes over.
• Xuanming unleashes twenty-four powerful Azure Thunderbolts to create an opportunity for escape, but Wang Yan evades them and kills him. Bi Xia soon accepts his fate and is also slain.
• In total, Wang Yan and Chen Jichuan eliminate seven Immortal Venerables and fifty-three Heavenly Venerables, nearly wiping out the major powers of the Ninth Heaven.
• Rather than immediately leaving, Chen Jichuan proposes visiting the Seven Immortal Courts and the domains of the fallen Heavenly Venerables to collect their treasures and resources. News of the massacre spreads, causing the entire Ninth Heaven to fear and defer to the couple.

Character Developments

• Wang Yan fully embraces her ruthless resolve. Her anger over having her Dao blocked, her past imprisonment, and her impending separation from Chen Jichuan completes her fourth emotional state, Anger Intent.
• Her combat ability is revealed to be vastly superior to the other Immortal Venerables. Her Orthodox Grade cultivation method and Third-Realm killing technique make her nearly unstoppable against those relying on weaker Heterodox methods.
• Chen Jichuan demonstrates calm confidence and sharp judgment. He recognizes both Wang Yan’s unprecedented strength and the limitations of his own current offensive abilities.
• Chen becomes increasingly focused on Wang Yan’s future advancement. He believes that leaving the stagnant Brightwing Realm is essential for her to encounter the trials necessary to reach the Fifth Rank.
• Guangmu, Golden Radiance, Xuanming, and Bi Xia each react differently to defeat: Guangmu curses Chen, Golden Radiance threatens their legacy, Xuanming begs for mercy out of fear of losing his progress, and Bi Xia dies with regretful resignation.
• Yu Ming, Shan Hua, and Yu Cheng are relieved that they had previously allied themselves with Chen Jichuan and Wang Yan. Witnessing the slaughter makes them realize how easily they might otherwise have become victims.

Significant Themes

• Consequences of opposing another’s Dao: Blocking Wang Yan and Chen Jichuan’s path creates a blood feud that leaves no room for mercy.
• Power and cultivation quality: The chapter contrasts Orthodox Grade cultivation and high-level divine abilities with the weaker methods of the fallen Immortal Venerables. Superior foundations determine the outcome even among powerful experts.
• Emotional cultivation: Wang Yan’s anger is not merely destructive; it becomes a completed stage of her Dao and directly strengthens her combat power.
• The cost of stagnation: The Immortal Gate preserves the true spirits of the dead, but rebirth requires rebuilding bodies, treasures, and progress. The survivors fear not death itself, but the loss of time, momentum, and hope of transcendence.
• Mercy versus justice: Wang Yan rejects pleas for mercy because she sees her enemies’ actions as deliberate attempts to destroy her and Chen Jichuan’s future.
• Reputation and deterrence: The scale of the massacre transforms the couple’s standing. Their overwhelming victory ensures that the remaining powers of the Brightwing Realm will fear provoking them.
• Resources and future preparation: Chen Jichuan’s decision to collect the fallen experts’ wealth shows that survival and advancement depend not only on strength but also on preparation.

Important Character Interactions

• Wang Yan refuses Guangmu and Jiuyang’s pleas, affirming that anyone who blocks her Dao must die.
• Guangmu’s final curse targets Chen Jichuan, but Wang Yan shields him by destroying the curse before killing Guangmu.
• Golden Radiance attempts to emotionally threaten the couple by promising to attack Fierce Bird Mountain after rebirth; Wang Yan dismisses the threat and kills him.
• Chen Jichuan and Wang Yan cooperate seamlessly: he restrains and occupies powerful opponents, then withdraws so she can deliver the killing blows.
• When Chen signals that he cannot finish Bi Xia and Xuanming, Wang Yan immediately understands and takes responsibility for the battle.
• Xuanming uses his treasured Azure Thunderbolts in a desperate escape attempt, but Wang Yan penetrates his defense and kills him despite his pleas.
• Yu Ming, Shan Hua, and Yu Cheng witness the couple’s victory and realize that their past efforts to maintain friendly relations saved them from sharing the fate of the other Immortal and Heavenly Venerables.
• After the battle, Chen invites these surviving allies to accompany him and Wang Yan as they raid the domains of the defeated powers, turning victory into further preparation for the future.

Plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan and Wang Yan plunder the treasuries of the Seven Immortal Courts and the fallen Venerables’ holdings. Over several months, they acquire nine especially valuable immortal treasures, dozens more of lesser grades, and an estimated total fortune approaching two million cubic measures of Essence Crystals in treasures and resources.
• Chen gives Wang Yan nearly all the wealth to take with her to the Upper Realm, keeping only a modest reserve for himself. She worries that the Venerables they killed will eventually return and threaten Fierce Bird Mountain.
• Chen plans to strengthen the mountain’s defenses and conceal its disciples’ movements. With three Heavenly Venerables among its leaders, Fierce Bird Mountain should be able to survive the coming hostility—and perhaps grow stronger under it.
• Wang Yan and Chen make their second farewell at the Immortal Gate. Wang Yan ascends alone, promising to wait for Chen in the Immortal Realm. Chen cannot follow yet, sensing a terrifying barrier beyond the Gate that he must overcome through further cultivation.
• Back at Fierce Bird Mountain, Chen gives Immortal Venerable Yu Ming eighty-eight Sacred Artifacts containing 518 Saint Marks. He will trade them under his identity as the Tyrant for more artifacts, which can yield far more marks.
• Chen says he will remain in the Brightwing Realm to protect Fierce Bird Mountain and help Yu Ming and his companions gather the Saint Marks needed for Transcendence. He reveals that he can now help Peak Archmages reach the Legendary Realm, making future Sacred Artifacts easier to obtain.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan remains powerful and generous, prioritizing Wang Yan’s future and his friends’ Transcendence over his own departure. He accepts their separation with sadness but focuses on practical plans to protect the people they leave behind.
• Wang Yan moves from exhilaration at their sudden wealth to anxiety about Fierce Bird Mountain, then faces the pain of parting. She leaves with the couple’s fortune and expresses her love and hope for reunion.
• Immortal Venerable Yu Ming is deeply grateful but initially misunderstands why the couple are ascending separately. He offers to stay and help Chen, but Chen refuses so Yu Ming and his companions can pursue their own Transcendence.
• The couple’s tenderness at the Gate contrasts with their matter-of-fact cooperation over wealth and strategy. Yu Ming’s respect for Chen is reinforced by Chen’s willingness to stay behind and aid him.

Significant themes

• Love and separation: The farewell emphasizes a long marriage’s intimacy and the uncertainty of reunion.
• Generosity and loyalty: Chen gives Wang Yan the resources she needs and delays his own departure to help friends and protect his disciples.
• Power and consequences: The couple’s victory over the Venerables leaves Fierce Bird Mountain exposed to future revenge, making their triumph carry a lasting cost.
• Perseverance through adversity: Chen sees future persecution as a possible trial that could forge stronger disciples.
• Limits and ambition: Despite his strength, Chen cannot yet pass beyond his world, setting up further cultivation and eventual reunion.

Key plot points and events

• After Wang Yan ascends, Chen Jichuan becomes the supreme figure of both the Brightwing Realm and the Immortal Gate Realm, but feels the loneliness of having no companions left on his path.
• Using the “Legendary Potion” as bait, he obtains thousands of Sacred Artifacts. When the twelve leading organizations attack Vaglion, he defeats them alone and kills every invader, leaving the Immortal Gate Realm fearful and subdued.
• Yu Ming, Shan Hua, and Yu Cheng depart through the Immortal Gate for the Upper Realm. Their true spirits remain bound to the Gate, so their ultimate freedom and prospects for reaching Fifth Rank are uncertain.
• Chen reaches the Ninefold Fourth Realm and becomes the Wind-Thunder Immortal Venerable. He then turns from strengthening body, mana, and spirit to pursuing a Five-Elements Intent Domain—the understanding of the Dao needed for Fifth Rank.
• Despite abundant time, resources, sacred sites, and texts, he sees no clear path to Fifth Rank. He accepts that the Brightwing Realm may limit his progress and continues cultivating without despair. His attempt to ascend fails when his Magic-Power Avatar is destroyed at the threshold.
• Chen strengthens his crafts and defenses, eventually bringing his formation skill to Fourth Rank. Fierce Bird Mountain and the Yu Ming Immortal Court consolidate into the dominant Eastern Ning Immortal Court.
• Near the end of his life, Chen meets his eldest disciple, Sima Hanchuang. He teaches him Pagoda-Mind Practice, a divine ability meant to preserve the mind against the madness that may come from eternal life bound to the Immortal Gate. Chen then dies peacefully, closing his life and the chapter of his reign.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Jichuan moves from triumph and overwhelming authority into solitude, patient cultivation, and acceptance of his limits. Though unable to reunite with Wang Yan or reach the Upper Realm, he prepares carefully for the future and shows deep affection for his disciples.
• Sima Hanchuang chose to bind himself to the Immortal Gate to protect Fierce Bird Mountain, sacrificing the chance to ascend. Chen disapproves of the sacrifice but respects his devotion, strengthening him with powerful abilities and ultimately entrusting him with a way to guard his mind. Sima responds with grief and gratitude.
• Yu Ming leaves with hope and without regret, preferring an uncertain future to endless stagnation. Shan Hua and Yu Cheng depart with him.
• Wang Yan remains a powerful influence on Chen’s thinking: their reunion and years of cultivation together gave him time and a foundation he would not otherwise have had.

Significant themes

• The loneliness of the Great Dao: reaching the summit brings not only power but isolation.
• Limits and perseverance: Fifth Rank may be beyond the Brightwing Realm’s reach, yet Chen accepts uncertainty and keeps cultivating.
• Freedom versus security: Yu Ming and others risk the Upper Realm for possibility, while Sima stays behind out of loyalty.
• The cost of immortality: a spirit may endure while the mind deteriorates, making mental cultivation essential.
• Legacy and care: Chen’s final act is not a feat of power but preparation for his disciple’s long, uncertain future.

Chapter summary

• A life reviewed and concluded: Chen Jichuan relives his 143,982 years in the Double-Bright World—from losing his family and beginning cultivation, through becoming a Transcendent Immortal and later the dominant power of the Immortal Gate, to reuniting with Wang Yan and spending forty thousand years with her. After their eventual parting, he spends decades of thousands of years cultivating alone, but dies of old age on Fierce Bird Mountain without reaching the Fifth Rank.
• A major achievement, despite failure: Back in his sea of consciousness, Chen Jichuan sees the seventh Dao Fruit bloom. His previous life’s cultivation reached the peak Fourth Rank, leaving him only one step from the Fifth. He regrets not breaking through, but believes his accumulated foundation should give him a good chance in a future life. He also advanced his unified cultivation method, mastered nineteen divine abilities—thirteen at the third level—and brought array formation, artifact refining, and alchemy to the Fourth Rank. His formation skill is especially formidable.
• Wang Yan remains his greatest concern: Chen Jichuan treasures the forty thousand years they shared, but worries that she may not have reached the Fifth Rank after ascending to the Upper Realm. He hopes she survived, though he has no way to know.
• Preparing for the next world: Chen Jichuan spends Immortal Origin to form 128 Subsidiary Dao Fruits. These include fruits from powerful figures he and Wang Yan killed, talented Fourth Rank cultivators he knew, and experts from the Immortal Gate Realm. He particularly selects mages who understood the profound truths of rules, hoping to compare their system with Immortal Dao cultivation and uncover how the two paths relate.
• The next world is delayed: When Chen Jichuan tries to open another Dao Fruit World, the system warns that the world’s level is too high for him to enter yet. Analysis will take a hundred years in the system, or about three months in reality, so he waits.

Character development, themes, and interactions

Chen Jichuan emerges more accomplished and reflective, accepting the limits of his past life while turning its gains into preparation for the next. The chapter emphasizes impermanence and the cost of longevity, knowledge accumulated across lifetimes, and different paths converging on the Dao. His bond with Wang Yan remains central: their long reunion shaped his life, and their later separation leaves him with unresolved worry. His partnership with her is also recalled through their joint campaign against powerful Immortal Gate and Immortal Realm opponents.

Plot points and events

• After centuries in the Seven Profound Sect, Chen Jichuan has reached the peak of third-rank Spirit Transformation, while his younger brother Chen Shaohe has advanced to its second realm. Both remain low-profile despite their high positions.
• The loss of one of Chen Jichuan’s separated spirits in the Maze Realm once injured his primordial spirit. In response, he devised the Cloning Technique, a powerful new divine ability that lets a practitioner create increasingly numerous clones; as long as one survives, the practitioner cannot die.
• Chen Shaohe masters the technique’s first level, creating nine clones. Chen Jichuan demonstrates his own greater mastery and explains how clone numbers trade off against individual combat strength.
• Because Coiling Dragon Mountain offers few cultivation partners or good training grounds, Chen Jichuan sends Chen Shaohe’s nine clones into different parts of the Maze Realm to gain experience. His own many clones also pursue separate tasks, including exploration toward the Hanging Mirror Sea.
• One of Chen Jichuan’s clones finally emerges from the Maze Realm into the Hanging Mirror Sea, arriving in the Northwind Desert. He witnesses a hundred Spirit Transformation cultivators use a battle formation to defeat a fourth-rank beast, revealing the region’s formidable martial organization.
• A patrol led by Captain Yu Can questions Chen Jichuan. After he explains that he came from the Maze Realm, the soldiers identify him as a newcomer from a “lesser realm” and invite him to Northwind City. Chen Jichuan accepts, hoping to learn more about his new surroundings.

Character development

• Chen Jichuan is resourceful and cautious. His past loss drives him to create the Cloning Technique, and his many clones let him explore, cultivate, and manage risk on several fronts at once. The strength of the battle formation also makes him more alert to the dangers and possibilities of the Hanging Mirror Sea.
• Chen Shaohe continues to progress rapidly and proves capable of mastering the first level of the new technique. He trusts Chen Jichuan’s judgment and welcomes the chance to broaden his experience beyond Coiling Dragon Mountain.

Significant themes

• Survival through adaptation: A painful failure leads Chen Jichuan to invent a stronger means of protecting himself.
• Cultivation requires opportunity: Progress depends not only on methods and resources, but also on suitable companions and places to train.
• Power through cooperation: The soldiers’ formation lets many individually limited cultivators challenge a powerful beast.
• Exploration and hidden worlds: Reaching the Hanging Mirror Sea opens a much larger, more organized world beyond the Maze Realm.

Character interactions

• Chen Jichuan encourages Chen Shaohe, teaches him the Cloning Technique, and arranges for his clones to travel and train.
• Chen Shaohe responds with admiration and trust, following his brother’s plans willingly.
• Zheng Jun and the patrol treat Chen Jichuan warmly once they learn he is a newcomer from the Maze Realm. Zheng Jun invites him to Northwind City and hopes to introduce him to his friend Lei Xin.

Chapter Summary: “The Grand Plan to Make Money!”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Jichuan travels with Yu Can, Zheng Jun, and their squad toward Northwind City after emerging from the Northwind Desert.
• Zheng Jun explains the structure of the Hanging Mirror Sea:
  • It contains 48,000 Hanging Mirror Ancient Cities, each connected to a small world such as the Heavenly Ray Realm.
  • These ancient cities are ruled by powerful Fourth-Rank experts, including City Lords and Kingdom Lords.
  • The E Kong Kingdom controls thirteen ancient cities, including Skyglow Ancient City.
  • Skyglow Ancient City governs the Northwind Domain, which contains twelve major cultivator cities.
• Chen learns about the military hierarchy of the Northwind Domain. Yu Can leads their hundred-man squad and possesses Ninth Transformation Spirit Transformation cultivation, with strength comparable to a Ten-Tribulation Rogue Immortal.
• After reaching Northwind City, Chen parts ways with Yu Can and the others. Zheng Jun recommends that he rent a cave dwelling at Jadegreen Mountain.
• Chen settles in an ordinary cave dwelling and begins planning how to acquire the enormous number of Essence Crystals needed to cultivate his divine abilities.
• Unable to rely on old sources of wealth or simply rob powerful enemies, Chen decides to return to his former professions: pill refinement and artifact refinement.
• He considers seeking the protection of the Northwind Domain Lord, since revealing himself as a Fourth-Rank-level alchemist could make him valuable—but also potentially attract danger.
• For more than two months, Chen investigates Northwind City's markets, prices, trade volume, social circles, and the Domain Lord’s reputation. He eventually hears major news, setting up the next development.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Jichuan adjusts to life in the Hanging Mirror Sea. Although powerful in potential, he recognizes that he is currently only a Third-Rank Spirit Transformation cultivator in the eyes of others.
• He displays caution and practicality, prioritizing survival, information gathering, and protection of his accumulated wealth.
• Chen’s main immediate goal becomes financial: he needs roughly 3,000 cubic Essence Crystals to advance the Great Expansion Divination Method.
• Zheng Jun acts as an enthusiastic guide, explaining the Hanging Mirror Sea’s geography, political structure, and power hierarchy. He hopes merely to reach Fourth Rank, while Yu Can has more ambitious aspirations.
• Yu Can is established as a highly capable squad leader whose actual combat strength exceeds what his Ninth Transformation cultivation would normally suggest.
• Chen’s companions treat him warmly because of his extraordinary talent as an ascender from a small world and his strong likelihood of reaching Fourth Rank.

3. Significant Themes

• The vastness and hierarchy of the cultivation world: The Hanging Mirror Sea is far larger and more populated with experts than Chen’s former realms, emphasizing the scale of the new setting.
• Ascension and opportunity: Small-world cultivators who reach the Hanging Mirror Sea are viewed as unusually promising, much like dragons entering the sea.
• Wealth as a foundation for power: Even a cultivator as talented as Chen cannot advance freely without the resources required for divine abilities.
• Adaptation and pragmatism: Chen abandons fantasies of easy wealth and accepts the need to rebuild his fortune through steady work.
• Power, reputation, and protection: Becoming a high-level alchemist could bring immense wealth and influence, but it could also make Chen a target. He must balance visibility with security.
• The difference between worlds: Chen reflects that the real world offers less automatic support and fewer opportunities for effortless accumulation of wealth than the Dao Fruit World.

4. Character Interactions

• Zheng Jun speaks enthusiastically with Chen throughout the journey, educating him about the Hanging Mirror Sea and its powerful rulers.
• The other squad members gradually join the conversation and show Chen genuine goodwill, hoping to establish a relationship with a promising future expert.
• Yu Can remains mostly reserved but is respected by the squad as their powerful captain.
• At Northwind City, Zheng Jun recommends Jadegreen Mountain to Chen and promises to introduce him to Lei Xin after the squad completes its military duties.
• Chen politely thanks the group, and they part on friendly terms.
• In the city, Chen interacts indirectly with merchants, cultivators, trade groups, appraisal gatherings, and Dao discussions while investigating both the commercial environment and the Northwind Domain Lord’s character.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan meets Zheng Jun and Lei Xin, fellow cultivators from the Heavenly Ray Realm. They discuss the rumor that the Quliang City Lord is close to reaching the Fifth Rank and ascending to the Upper Realm.
• Lei Xin explains that peak Fourth-Rank cultivators are called Dao Seekers. They compete to control ancient cities, which extend their lives by ten thousand years apiece. Quliang Ancient City is likely to become the focus of a major conflict if its lord ascends, and E Kong Kingdom is preparing for war.
• The news raises Chen’s suspicions about the Hanging Mirror Immortal Palace, the Bewildering Spirit Scroll, and the fate of cultivators who ascend. He keeps these concerns to himself.
• Lei Xin invites Chen to join Skymang Palace, one of two factions gathering ascendants from the Heavenly Ray Realm. Chen politely declines to commit, believing his skills and ambitions may be better served independently.
• Chen decides to seek the protection of Zhang Pei, the Northwind Domain Lord, rather than join Skymang Palace. Presenting himself as a Fourth-Rank Alchemist, he gains entry to the lord’s manor and meets Zhang, who welcomes him warmly.

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan reveals himself as cautious and strategic. He gathers information, hides his deeper suspicions, and chooses a powerful patron he believes can better protect and support him.
• Lei Xin acts as a friendly recruiter for Skymang Palace, but accepts Chen’s hesitation without resentment.
• Zheng Jun shares military intelligence and helps Chen understand the political landscape.
• Zhang Pei appears personable and politically astute. He recognizes Chen as a cultivator from a small world and becomes more respectful of him.

Significant themes

• Power, longevity, and ambition: Dao Seekers use ancient cities to prolong life while pursuing the Fifth Rank.
• Uncertainty and hidden schemes: Chen suspects the systems governing ascension and the small worlds conceal a larger agenda.
• Alliance versus independence: Joining a faction offers security, but Chen weighs that against his own abilities and goals.
• Political competition: The expected vacancy at Quliang could trigger a major struggle among kingdoms and cultivators.

Character interactions

• The three friends share information openly, with Lei Xin explaining the Hanging Mirror Sea’s hierarchy and recruiting Chen while Zheng adds context.
• Chen refuses the invitation tactfully, preserving his cordial relationship with Lei Xin.
• At Zhang Pei’s manor, Chen presents his alchemical standing to ensure he is taken seriously. Zhang responds with warmth and curiosity, setting the stage for a potential patronage relationship.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan gives the Northwind Domain Lord samples of two Fourth-Rank pills, explaining their uses and quality. The Clear Wind Pill’s ability to heal severe injuries is especially valuable amid looming conflict around Quliang Ancient City.
• The Domain Lord offers Chen protection and a place in Northwind Domain. Chen asks only for secure quarters, medicinal herbs, and an arrangement to sell his surplus pills to the Domain Lord. They agree, and Chen settles in to practice alchemy.
• Chen plans to use his eighty-one clones to spread his operations, divide and protect his wealth, and establish multiple pill-refining and artifact-refining businesses. He hopes the resulting income will eventually fund mastery of a divine ability.
• Three months later, Chen enters his ninth Dao Fruit World, where time passes 400 times faster than in the Dharma Lord World. He awakens as Zhou Yan inside a cauldron during a ritual that transforms mortals into strongmen.
• Zhou Yan’s father, Zhou Zhan, died on an expedition serving the disciple Wang Pu. By inheriting his father’s position, Zhou Yan becomes a low-ranking Cauldron-Bearing Strongman at Dongqi Dao Academy and is assigned to weed Jade Peach trees.
• Recognizing the academy’s immense power and his own limited strength, Chen decides not to flee. He works quietly while assessing his options.
• Months later, his childhood friend Zhang Yang shares a Jade Peach with him and tells him that Wang Pu survived the expedition, advanced to become a Second-Order True Person, and earned elite-disciple status.

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan negotiates pragmatically in Northwind Domain, trading pill sales for stability while keeping his independence and broader ambitions in mind. In the new world, he adjusts to an unexpectedly humble, physically demanding life and chooses patience over a risky escape.
• The Northwind Domain Lord sees Chen as a valuable asset and makes a sincere effort to secure his presence.
• Zhang Yang is sociable and generous, sharing peaches and encouraging Chen to seek advancement as a strongman. His aspirations reveal his desire to rise beyond menial service.
• Wang Pu, though absent, gains importance as the sole survivor of the expedition that killed Zhou Yan’s father and Zhang Yang’s father; his rapid advancement makes him a figure of both interest and resentment.

Significant themes

• Security versus freedom: Chen accepts protection and a stable base in exchange for cooperation, while preserving the option to leave later.
• Power and vulnerability: His many clones and alchemical skill offer leverage in one world, but in the new world he starts as a low-ranking laborer under a powerful institution.
• Ambition and hierarchy: Both Northwind’s struggle for influence and the strongmen’s hopes of promotion show how advancement depends on resources, status, and institutional favor.
• Patience and adaptation: Chen avoids reckless action, choosing to learn the new world’s rules before deciding his next move.

Character interactions

• Chen and the Northwind Domain Lord establish a mutually beneficial alliance: the Domain Lord provides protection and supplies, while Chen provides pills.
• In Jade Peach Garden, Zhang Yang and Chen maintain their childhood friendship through casual conversation and the sharing of food, despite their separate assignments.
• Zhang Yang’s account of Wang Pu connects their personal losses to the academy’s hierarchy and sparks Chen’s renewed interest in the One Origin Dao Gate.

Key plot points

• Four years after becoming a strongman, Zhou Yan (actually Chen Jichuan) regularly studies the Myriad Immortals Rock Wall, whose inscriptions preserve Transcendent Immortals’ insights for younger cultivators.
• Shi Ze, a newly returned Transcendent Immortal and former student of Academy Head Feng Chang, visits Dongqi Dao Academy. While Shi Ze and Feng Chang talk, they notice Zhou Yan demonstrating an unadorned sword technique inspired by the inscription of Meng Qing’s Ten Directions Water-Fire Sword Art.
• Impressed by Zhou Yan’s comprehension and persistence, Shi Ze recommends that Feng Chang admit him as a formal disciple. Shi Ze offers further help if Zhou Yan reaches Spirit Transformation before age two hundred and enters One Origin Dao Gate. Feng Chang arranges Zhou Yan’s admission, though neither elder meets him directly.
• Chen reveals that he deliberately engineered the encounter. For four years he studied the wall while waiting for a suitable opportunity; when Shi Ze arrived, Chen used his abilities to identify Shi Ze’s connection to the sword art and staged his own “enlightenment” to attract attention and escape the risks of life as a strongman.
• As disciple Zhou Yan, Chen cultivates cautiously, presenting himself as a single-minded sword prodigy. He advances rapidly, becoming an Elite Rank disciple at thirty, winning academy competitions with the sword art, and eventually reaching Spirit Transformation at age 120.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan/Zhou Yan moves from low-status laborer to academy disciple through patience, planning, and calculated self-presentation. He intends to appear extraordinarily gifted without revealing the full extent of his abilities.
• Shi Ze returns proud of becoming a Transcendent Immortal and aims to earn a True Disciple seat. He recognizes Zhou Yan’s talent and offers conditional mentorship through Meng Qing.
• Feng Chang takes pride in Shi Ze, his first student to become a Transcendent Immortal during his tenure, and supports Zhou Yan’s admission after hearing of his diligence.
• Shi Ze and Feng Chang discuss their academy connections and jointly observe Zhou Yan’s apparent breakthrough, interpreting it as a fortunate coincidence. Zhou Yan, however, has deliberately created that impression.

Significant themes

• Perseverance and opportunity: Four years of steady study prepare Chen to seize a carefully chosen opening.
• Talent and cultivation: The chapter presents aptitude as a combination of physical foundation, comprehension, and temperament.
• Appearance versus reality: The elders see a gifted strongman blessed by fate, while Chen’s advancement is the result of deliberate strategy.
• Ambition tempered by caution: Chen aims to become a peerless prodigy but limits what he reveals, planning his cultivation and reputation step by step.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan meets Dean Feng Chang after reaching Spirit Transformation at age 120, a record for Dongqi Dao Academy. Feng recalls that Transcendent Immortal Shi Ze once hoped to recommend Chen to Hall Master Meng Qing, but recognizes Chen’s achievements have surpassed that route.
• The Dao Sect summons Chen to One Origin Dao Gate’s Golden Wind Mountain Sea. Deacon Wu Qiang guides him through the sect, explaining its facilities, routines, opportunities, and ways to attract a master’s attention.
• Chen pays respects in the Patriarchs’ Hall, takes his oaths, receives his sect equipment, and claims a peak in the Endless Sea. He begins exploring the Book Repository and preparing for cultivation.
• Five hundred years later, Shi Ze returns from six centuries of travel at the mid-Inner Landscape realm. He hopes to advance further and eventually earn True Disciple status.
• Shi Ze learns that a former Dongqi Academy disciple reached the fourth rank at just 620 and has been selected as the East River Palace Lord’s twenty-fifth True Disciple. When he sees the newcomer’s records, he recognizes him: “It was him?!”

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan is portrayed as disciplined, ambitious, and self-reliant. He enters the Dao Sect not as a novice seeking a patron, but as an exceptionally fast-rising cultivator determined to pursue the Great Dao.
• Feng Chang feels pride and wistfulness at his former disciple’s success, while accepting that Chen’s prospects now exceed what he once imagined.
• Shi Ze has grown through years of dangerous travel, returning with greater strength and a hardened presence. His surprise at Chen’s identity sets up a connection between their pasts and the coming revelation.

Significant themes

• Ambition and perseverance: Chen’s rapid cultivation reflects devotion and sustained effort.
• Competition on the immortal path: Wu Qiang stresses that advancement requires competing for opportunities within the sect and struggling for survival beyond it.
• Institutions and opportunity: One Origin Dao Gate’s teachings, texts, trials, and resources offer Chen a path toward surpassing the fourth rank.
• Fate and recognition: Chen’s past encounter with Shi Ze—and Shi Ze’s later recognition—suggests that earlier connections may shape his rise.

Character interactions

• Feng Chang advises Chen and celebrates his achievements, while Chen responds with humility and respect.
• Wu Qiang welcomes Chen, explains sect life, and encourages him to seek instruction and test his abilities.
• Shen Mo speaks with Shi Ze, reveals Chen’s extraordinary advancement, and explains that the East River Palace Lord has chosen him as a direct disciple.
• Shi Ze’s final reaction hints that he and Chen share an important history not yet explained.

Key plot points and events

• After five hundred years of cultivation in the One Origin Dao Gate, Chen Jichuan—living as Zhou Yan—reaches Fourth Rank at age 620, becoming a Transcendent Immortal. His rapid rise comes from studying in the Book Repository, training on the sect’s paths and Sword-Testing Peak, creating cultivation arts, and winning competitions to obtain useful rewards.
• His accomplishments draw the attention of East River Palace. Senior disciple Shen Mo arrives on the Palace Lord’s behalf and invites Zhou Yan to become the Palace Lord’s twenty-fifth direct disciple.
• Zhou Yan accepts, partly because he already has a connection to the lineage: at Dongqi Dao Academy, he began his immortal path by comprehending Meng Qing’s sword art and later received Meng Qing’s guidance.
• Shen Mo takes him to East River Palace, where he meets the Palace Lord and sees Shi Ze again. Zhou Yan formally becomes the Palace Lord’s disciple.
• The Palace Lord gives him the Five-Elements Dao Canon, two supreme arts—the Cycle-Turning Technique and Space-Rending Technique—and a flying sword and shuttle. He also invites Zhou Yan to attend East River Palace’s lectures.

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan/Zhou Yan: His methodical cultivation pays off, and he moves from hoping to attract a True Immortal’s notice to formally entering a True Immortal’s lineage. He remains cautious and respectful, while confidently recognizing the value of his talent and opportunities.
• Shen Mo: A once-renowned powerhouse now nearing the end of his life, he sees Zhou Yan as a rare hope for East River Palace and possibly its next True Immortal. His concern for Zhou Yan’s future shows both his experience and his longing to see someone from the lineage succeed.
• Shi Ze: Having returned from years of travel, he reappears as an established East River Palace disciple and shares a cordial greeting with Zhou Yan.
• The East River Palace Lord: He quickly recognizes Zhou Yan’s promise, formally accepts him, and provides substantial resources while encouraging him to keep developing his own cultivation path.

Significant themes

• Many paths to greatness: Records of past prodigies show that extraordinary achievement can arise from very different lives and methods.
• Diligence and opportunity: Zhou Yan combines sustained study and training with competition rewards and mentorship to accelerate his progress.
• Legacy and succession: Shen Mo’s reflections on aging and the deaths of fellow disciples underscore how rare—and important—it is for a lineage to produce a future True Immortal.
• Power and reverence: The Dao Gate’s numerous True Immortals and Immortal Palaces reveal its immense strength, deepening Zhou Yan’s hopes while reminding him of the stature of those he now serves.

Character interactions

• Shen Mo offers Zhou Yan the invitation but warns that other True Immortals may also seek him as a disciple. Zhou Yan explains his longstanding ties to East River Palace and accepts.
• Zhou Yan and Shi Ze exchange a brief greeting, with Zhou Yan eager to reconnect after Shi Ze’s return.
• In the formal audience, Zhou Yan kneels and acknowledges the Palace Lord as his master; the Palace Lord responds with teachings, treasures, and encouragement.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan reunites with senior brother Shi Ze and is introduced to senior sister Snow Valley and senior brother Wu Qi at the East River Palace.
• Snow Valley plans to establish a Dao academy in the demon-filled Savage Wastes, a prerequisite for competing for one of the Dao Gate’s twelve chief-disciple seats. She invites Chen Jichuan to help, but Wu Qi notes that only Dao Gate True Disciples may assist.
• The group explains the Dao Gate’s ranks and advancement requirements. Becoming a True Disciple requires passing the Fourth Peak of Sword-Testing Peak before age five thousand; becoming a chief disciple additionally requires passing the Twelfth Peak, establishing an academy, and securing or winning a seat.
• Snow Valley has passed the Twelfth Peak and hopes to succeed Liu Hechuan, who plans to relinquish his chief-disciple seat, but she doubts she can hold it against challengers. She has secured only four True Disciples’ help.
• Snow Valley encourages Shi Ze to pursue a vacant True Disciple seat and asks Chen Jichuan whether he might pass the Fourth Peak. He says he has not tested himself yet, while privately believing he can succeed.
• Chen Jichuan settles into his new cave residence and reviews his teacher’s gifts: the Five-Elements Dao Canon and two Transcendent Arts. The Canon is largely redundant for him; Space-Rending is inferior to his Wind-Thunder Walk, while the cultivation-focused Cycle-Turning Technique offers useful principles.
• He plans to learn the gifts out of respect, but his main concern is gathering resources to restore and improve his divine abilities. He expects to send his clones beyond the sect to hunt fiends, make pills, and forge artifacts, and considers acquiring a disguise ability.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan is welcomed as the newest and twenty-fifth direct disciple. Though outwardly modest about his prospects, he is confident in his strength and continues to plan strategically around his exceptional cultivation knowledge and abilities.
• Shi Ze warmly reconnects with Chen Jichuan and is encouraged to try for a True Disciple seat while the opportunity remains open.
• Snow Valley emerges as an accomplished but uncertain contender: her strength is formidable, yet she recognizes that establishing an academy and winning a chief-disciple seat require allies and the ability to withstand rivals. She invites Chen Jichuan to join her effort.
• Wu Qi provides practical context about the Dao Gate’s hierarchy and emphasizes why Chen Jichuan cannot yet help Snow Valley.
• Chen Mo introduces the siblings and advises Snow Valley to gather support.

Significant themes

• Ambition and institutional competition: Advancement depends not only on talent, but on strict trials, vacant seats, alliances, and political standing.
• Strength versus uncertainty: Even highly capable cultivators like Snow Valley and Shi Ze face genuine doubts about meeting the Dao Gate’s standards.
• Mentorship and belonging: Chen Jichuan’s new place in the East River Palace lineage is marked by warm introductions, advice, and an invitation to join a senior sister’s undertaking.
• Preparation and resourcefulness: Chen Jichuan weighs the usefulness of his gifts and plans carefully for the resources and concealment he will need to advance.

Plot and events

• Three years after reaching the Fourth Rank, Chen Jichuan clears the fourth peak on Sword-Testing Peak at age 623, becoming one of the Dao Sect’s True Disciples. His achievement draws widespread attention.
• At the True Disciple Hall, Meng Qing and Hall Master Han Jueming welcome him and explain the demons’ Immortal-Slaying Ranking, which identifies promising cultivators as targets. They expect Zhou Yan may soon appear on it.
• Chen receives the True Disciple benefits: an initial allowance worth 500 Essence Crystals, further resources every century, and access to secret realms. He studies the available treasures and cultivation grounds.
• He spends nearly all his allowance on rare items that aid comprehension of the Great Dao and Five-Elements Intent Domain, rather than on ordinary cultivation aids. Though Meng Qing warns this is premature, Chen insists his cultivation rises easily and that these treasures suit his needs.
• Chen heads to Purgatory Mountain, a secret realm rich in Five-Elements energy and inhabited by elemental fiends whose remains yield valuable Five-Elements Crystal Jade. He chooses to use its limited access now, confident he will later become Chief Disciple and gain broader privileges.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Jichuan / Zhou Yan embraces a bold, ambitious path, aiming not merely to stand out but ultimately to become a True Immortal. He maintains his persona as a fierce enemy of demons and welcomes the danger of being targeted.
• Meng Qing is proud of Chen but also concerned for him. Chen’s confidence—and his refusal to follow conventional cultivation advice—initially exasperates him. Watching his junior’s drive also prompts Meng to reconsider his own long, cautious seclusion and contemplate seeking the Dao beyond the sect.
• Han Jueming befriends Chen, explains the demonic ranking, and reveals his own fierce hostility toward demons.
• The exchanges show the warmth and respect between the three men, alongside the contrast between Chen’s audacious momentum and Meng’s age, uncertainty, and nearing lifespan.

Significant themes

• Ambition and striving: Chen sees cultivation as a contest and pursues the highest goal without hesitation.
• Talent versus convention: He follows his own unusual cultivation rhythm, even when it contradicts experienced mentors’ advice.
• The cost and value of cultivation: The sect invests enormous resources in True Disciples because even one additional True Immortal could transform its influence.
• Duty and danger: The Immortal-Slaying Ranking reflects the deadly conflict between immortals and demons, and how recognition can bring both prestige and peril.
• Seeking the Dao: There is no guaranteed route to enlightenment; both action and stillness may be necessary, as Meng’s renewed resolve suggests.

Key plot points and events

• Over two centuries, Chen Jichuan steadily advances as a Transcendent Immortal, concentrating on the five-elements intent domain and deepening his understanding of the Dao.
• He returns to East River Palace for his teacher Dong He’s lecture. His fellow disciples gather beforehand, where Chen learns that Shi Ze has recently become a True Disciple.
• Snow Valley reveals that she plans to leave in two years to establish a Dao academy in the Savage Wastes. Shi Ze volunteers to accompany her, and Chen offers to go as well.
• His senior brothers warn him that he has been placed fourth hundred on the fiends’ Immortal-Slaying Ranking. Many demons may target him for the reward attached to his death, making his presence more dangerous than helpful.
• Dong He lectures for three days. Chen uses his Enlightenment ability to grasp the life-saving art Blood-Drop Rebirth.
• After the lecture, Dong He urges Chen to store a drop of vital blood in a protected East River Palace dwelling so he can be reborn if killed.
• Chen reports that, in only two hundred years, he has advanced both the Cycle-Turning and Space-Rending Techniques to their sixth levels, astonishing everyone.

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan remains patient and broad-minded in his cultivation, but his extraordinary talent is drawing dangerous attention. He is unaware of his growing notoriety because he has been absorbed in secluded study.
• Shi Ze is pleased with his promotion to True Disciple and volunteers to support Snow Valley, even though helping her may delay his own cultivation plans.
• Snow Valley is preparing for a major undertaking: establishing a Dao academy as part of her bid to contend for chief disciple.
• Dong He shows special concern for Chen, recognizing his potential and giving him a powerful safeguard against assassination.
• The other disciples show affection through teasing, camaraderie, and candid concern for Chen’s safety.

Significant themes

• The uncertainty of pursuing the Dao: There is no guaranteed method of understanding it; progress requires personal exploration, patience, and the willingness to avoid premature certainty.
• Talent and danger: Chen’s exceptional abilities bring prestige, but also make him a target for powerful enemies.
• Fellowship and obligation: The disciples’ bonds lead them to support one another, even when doing so conflicts with personal cultivation goals.
• Preparation and protection: Dong He’s gift underscores that talent alone cannot ensure survival in a hostile world.

Character interactions

• Chen reunites warmly with his fellow disciples, congratulates Shi Ze, and joins their joking conversation about the rare Hundred Flowers Brew.
• The group discusses Snow Valley’s departure; Shi Ze volunteers first, and Chen follows, prompting laughter when the others point out that his notoriety could endanger her.
• During the lecture, Dong He notices Chen’s aptitude and later offers him Blood-Drop Rebirth as protection.
• Chen’s revelation about mastering two arts at the sixth level leaves his fellow disciples stunned, with Shi Ze privately lamenting the pressure of having such a prodigious junior brother.

Key plot points and events

• The East River Palace Lord tells Chen Jichuan that the Great Expansion Tournament will take place in five hundred years and urges him to remain in the Inner Landscape Realm if he can clear the seventh peak of Sword-Testing Peak. Chen accepts the challenge, treating it as a worthwhile opportunity.
• During the True Immortal’s teaching, Chen asks when Fourth-Rank Dao comprehension ends and how one attains the Dao. The Palace Lord answers through a vision: Chen sees the Great Dao as a vast, tangled web and road, realizing that he can perceive it but cannot yet understand it.
• At a farewell gathering, Meng Qing announces he will leave the sect to travel and seek the Dao, having grown dissatisfied with years of quiet cultivation. Snow Valley and Shi Ze later depart to establish an academy in the Savage Wastes.
• After remaining in the sect for six more years, Chen leaves as well. He travels for twenty years, then returns to Dongqi Dao Academy—seven hundred and thirty years after he first left it.
• Academy head Feng Chang welcomes him and reflects on Chen’s remarkable rise from a strongman in the Jade Peach Grove to a celebrated Dao Sect True Disciple.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan takes the Palace Lord’s tournament challenge seriously and confronts the limits of his understanding of the Dao. His return to Dongqi shows how far he has risen, though he remains warm and respectful toward his former home.
• The East River Palace Lord recognizes Chen’s exceptional potential, offers him a distant but demanding goal, and gives him a glimpse of the Dao rather than a direct explanation.
• Meng Qing chooses travel and action over continued secluded cultivation, while Shen Mo worries about the decision but ultimately does not try to dissuade him.
• Snow Valley and Shi Ze take on the difficult mission of founding an academy in demon-held territory. Shi Ze’s future advancement may depend on how long and successfully the expedition goes.
• Feng Chang welcomes his former student with pride. The academy’s older cultivators greet Chen with respect, while Chen acknowledges them graciously.

Significant themes

• The vastness and difficulty of the Dao: Chen’s vision conveys that seeing the path is not the same as understanding or completing it.
• Different paths to enlightenment: Stillness and travel can both support Dao comprehension, but neither guarantees success; inner conviction matters.
• Growth and change over time: Chen’s return highlights the distance between his humble beginnings and his present status.
• Service and struggle: Establishing academies in the Savage Wastes is a dangerous, long-term effort to expand the Dao Sect’s influence and guide others.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan spots Wang Pu, the former academy disciple whose abandonment of Zhou Zhan contributed to Zhou Zhan’s death. Now an aging, stalled cultivator, Wang Pu has been consumed by fear of Zhou Yan’s success. Chen chooses not to confront him, recognizing that letting him live is more fitting than punishing him.
• After spending several days at Dongqi Dao Academy, Chen inscribes “Zhou Yan” on the Myriad Immortals Rock Wall and leaves the first five levels of the mind-cultivation art Pagoda-Mind Practice. He hopes worthy practitioners may benefit and perhaps someday become his disciples, though he has no immediate plans to teach.
• Chen travels across the Eastern Continent for over a century, cultivating his divine abilities and using eighty-one clones for different purposes: gathering resources, hiding, fighting demons, and experiencing ordinary mortal life. He keeps his rare abilities secret while still a Transcendent Immortal.
• Returning to the Golden Wind Mountain Sea, Chen advances to the peak of the Inner Landscape Realm at age 1,020. He deliberately delays entering the Outer Landscape Realm so he can compete in the Great Expansion Tournament, tempering his magical power and strengthening his combat skills instead.
• The tournament approaches, and the One Origin Dao Gate holds regional selection contests. Chen clears Sword-Testing Peak’s seventh peak, satisfying the East River Palace Lord’s tougher requirement for his disciples.
• Five hundred years later, as the participants gather to depart for the Heavenly Court, Chen meets Liu Hechuan for the first time. Meng Qing has returned and introduces Liu, the East River Palace Lord’s eighteenth personal disciple and a chief disciple of the Dao Gate. Wu Qi has not yet arrived, leaving Chen wondering whether he will attend.

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan / Zhou Yan shows restraint toward Wang Pu and generosity toward his former academy. His extensive travel broadens his experience, while his disciplined preparation reflects how seriously he takes the tournament.
• Wang Pu is portrayed as having undermined his own prospects through fear and weak resolve after Zhou Yan’s rise.
• Meng Qing returns in time for the tournament preparations and brings Liu Hechuan into the group.
• Liu Hechuan is introduced as quiet and taciturn, but formidable: he is one of the Dao Gate’s twelve chief disciples.
• Snow Valley and Shi Ze skip the tournament to focus on establishing academies in the Savage Wastes. Meng Qing’s participation had seemed uncertain, while Wu Qi’s absence remains unexplained.

Significant themes

• Restraint and consequences: Chen recognizes Wang Pu’s guilt but avoids revenge, while Wang Pu’s own fear and choices have already damaged his life.
• Cultivation beyond power: Chen values travel, lived experience, and cultivating the mind and character alongside mastering techniques.
• Preparation and sacrifice: Chen delays advancement and spends time and resources strengthening himself to improve his chances in the tournament.
• Secrecy and responsibility: Chen conceals his extraordinary divine abilities until he can safely reveal them.
• Fate and opportunity: The academy inscription leaves a potential path for future disciples, but Chen leaves their prospects—and his own future teaching—to chance.

Character interactions

• Feng Chang explains Wang Pu’s decline to Chen and invites him to inscribe the academy’s rock wall.
• Chen repays the academy by leaving both his inscription and a valuable cultivation art.
• At the Dharma Flower Hall, Meng Qing introduces Chen to Liu Hechuan, prompting Chen to greet his senior brother formally. Meng keeps the conversation flowing despite Liu’s reserved manner.
• Chen’s final question about Wu Qi highlights the group’s uncertainty over who will join the once-in-490,000-years tournament.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan learns that his junior brother Wu Qi has entered seclusion and will miss the Great Expansion Tournament. He suspects Wu Qi’s poor standing among the East River Palace Lord’s exceptionally accomplished disciples—and the pressure of not wanting to embarrass his master—may have driven him to withdraw.
• Shen Mo and Liu Hechuan also discuss Meng Qing, who devoted himself to Dao comprehension rather than spells. Though powerful, he has missed a chance to compete in the tournament.
• The East River Palace Lord takes Chen Jichuan, Shen Mo, and Liu Hechuan to the Heavenly Court, the central realm of the Divine Land. Established by the Four Great Dao Sects to unite the Immortal Dao against demons, it has helped the Dao Sects extend their influence across the continents.
• The Great Expansion Tournament brings together Transcendent Immortals from across the Divine Land. Competitors are divided into four realms and judged through magical combat; high ranks earn rewards, while each realm’s champion may enter the supreme treasure, the Great Expansion Go Board.
• The Go Board offers a rare chance to witness cosmic creation and destruction and has helped 25 of 64 entrants attain True Immortalhood. Chen Jichuan is determined to win first place in the inner landscape realm and gain entry.
• The tournament begins amid a grand gathering of True Immortals and other dignitaries. Chen and the other competitors must wait outside the Jade Pool pavilion, then take part in a large, staged points competition.
• Chen welcomes the format: wins and losses accumulate into rankings, reducing the danger that one unfavorable matchup will end his campaign. His first match takes place in a randomly generated realm, against Wan Xing of the Southern Continent. Chen introduces himself as Zhou Yan of the One Origin Dao Gate.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen shows empathy for Wu Qi, reconsidering how the gap between his peers and his master’s concern for reputation may have affected the junior disciple. He keeps these thoughts private and does not press Shen Mo for details.
• Liu Hechuan expresses regret that Meng Qing’s choices kept him from this opportunity, while acknowledging Meng’s commitment to pursuing the Dao.
• Chen’s confidence and ambition become clear: he believes his cultivation and spell mastery can carry him to first place, despite keeping some of his abilities from public use.
• The East River Palace Lord escorts the three disciples to the Heavenly Court, then leaves them to join the One Origin Dao Gate’s True Immortals.

Significant themes

• Achievement and its personal cost: Wu Qi’s comparatively modest progress highlights the loneliness and pressure that can accompany life among exceptional disciples.
• Different paths to cultivation: Meng Qing prioritizes Dao comprehension over practical arts, illustrating how personal convictions can bring both purpose and missed opportunities.
• Unity and legitimacy: The Heavenly Court’s shared governance and the Go Board’s open competition help bind the Immortal Dao together against demonic forces.
• Merit tested through action: The tournament’s streamlined combat rules favor observable performance over subjective judgments of temperament or comprehension.
• Ambition and opportunity: For Chen, the tournament is more than a contest; winning could grant access to a rare path toward True Immortalhood.

Chapter Summary: “Advancing Zhou Yan! A True Immortal’s Reward!”

Key plot points and events

• Competing under the name Zhou Yan, Chen Jichuan dominates the first two rounds of the Inner Landscape Realm tournament, winning all nineteen fights in each round. His victories reveal how far he surpasses most rogue-cultivator Transcendent Immortals.
• After his second flawless round, True Immortals begin watching his performance. Qianming Palace Lord gives him an Origin Heart Fruit, while his teacher, East River Palace Lord, sends insights into the God-Shaking Art.
• Chen chooses to save the fruit for a future opportunity to comprehend the Dao, confident that his existing techniques are sufficient for the next round.
• The third round is much more difficult. Chen faces an opponent whose Ninth-Peak strength, Nine Netherworld Spirit Fire, and Human-Skin Bag defeat Chen’s usual methods. He counters with Heaven-One Profound Yin True Qi and true water refined from it, extinguishing the fire and winning.
• Chen again wins every match, entering the top thousand and qualifying for tournament rewards. Four additional True Immortals send him rare Dao-comprehension treasures. East River Palace Lord also provides recovery pills and Fourth-Rank treasures, promising a celestial artifact if Chen reaches the top hundred.
• Chen sets his sights on the championship and prepares for opponents who may possess extraordinary treasures or divine abilities.

Character developments

• Chen Jichuan (Zhou Yan) proves himself a formidable, adaptable fighter. His victories rely not only on raw strength but also on broad knowledge of techniques and the ability to counter unusual opponents. His ambition rises with his success, though he continues to conceal his strongest abilities.
• East River Palace Lord moves from expecting his disciple merely to gain experience to taking pride in his rapid advance and anticipating further success.
• Qianming Palace Lord and other True Immortals recognize Chen’s promise and support his progress with valuable gifts, signaling that his reputation is spreading.

Significant themes

• Preparation and adaptability: Chen’s varied arsenal lets him counter the Ninth-Peak opponent when his familiar techniques fail.
• Talent rewarded: Chen’s success draws attention and substantial support from powerful figures.
• Competition within rules: The Great Expansion Go Board makes the dangerous tournament nonlethal, allowing contestants to fight fiercely without dying.
• Ambition and restraint: Chen aims for first place but keeps his trump cards hidden unless circumstances demand their use.

Character interactions

• Chen defeats Wan Xing, a wary One Origin Dao Gate opponent, establishing his superiority early in the tournament.
• Qianming Palace Lord discusses Chen’s prospects with East River Palace Lord and gives him the Origin Heart Fruit; East River responds with his own teacherly gift.
• As Chen reaches the top thousand, several True Immortals send him treasures and encouragement, while East River offers a conditional reward for reaching the top hundred.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Great Expansion Tournament advances through its final rounds, narrowing each of the four Transcendent Immortal realms to a top hundred. Chen Jichuan, competing as Zhou Yan, remains undefeated in the Inner Landscape Realm.
• Chen watches the stronger realms closely. Shen Mo excels in the Celestial Ladder Realm, while Liu Hechuan is eliminated before the top hundred.
• In the top-hundred round, Chen reveals a succession of powerful arts and techniques. Two opponents wielding immortal artifacts push him hard, forcing him to use the Great Luo Heavenly Sleeve to disarm them and win.
• Chen finishes first in the Inner Landscape Realm with a perfect record, earning the right to enter the Great Expansion Go Board. The other champions are Huang Zhi, a Rogue Cultivator from the Central Continent; Chi Chang of the Luosheng Dao Sect; and Liang Qiu, a Rogue Cultivator from the Southern Continent.
• Shen Mo places seventh in the Celestial Ladder Realm. Despite his extraordinary strength, he misses the chance to enter the Go Board—a rare opportunity that will not recur in his lifetime.
• The four champions are transported to a secret realm and each receives a Harmony-Through Immortal Fruit, a precious aid to enlightenment, before entering the Go Board.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan/Zhou Yan demonstrates the full depth of his hidden abilities and proves himself the Inner Landscape Realm’s strongest contender. His victory brings prestige to East River Palace and strengthens his prospects of becoming a True Immortal.
• The East River Palace Lord openly takes pride in Chen’s success and believes his young disciple has the makings of a True Immortal. That joy is tempered by disappointment for Shen Mo.
• Shen Mo confirms his reputation as a formidable, once-renowned chief disciple. His seventh-place finish is impressive, but missing the Go Board opportunity leaves his already slim hopes of True Immortalhood even slimmer.
• Liu Hechuan shows the danger of relying on a newly practiced divine ability: he performs well but does not advance as far as Shen Mo.
• Other True Immortals praise Chen and congratulate his master, while the four realm champions meet in tense, expectant silence before receiving their rewards.

Significant themes

• Potential versus present strength: Chen’s youth and rapid progress impress the True Immortals more than the victories of older, long-established cultivators.
• Opportunity and regret: A single tournament result can shape a cultivator’s future; Chen gains a life-changing chance, while Shen Mo narrowly loses one he will never see again.
• Rogue Cultivators’ strength: Rogue Cultivators claim two of the four championships, showing that exceptional talent and opportunity exist beyond the major Dao Sects.
• Mentorship and recognition: Chen’s achievement honors the East River Palace Lord, whose support and pride reflect the importance of a disciple’s promise to their master.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jichuan enters the Great Expansion Go Board and receives the Harmony-Through Immortal Fruit. In a vision of creation and destruction, he witnesses the Dao’s mysteries and gains an extraordinary amount of insight—an advance he estimates at roughly ten thousand miles along the Great Dao.
• Only three months pass outside the board. Soon after Chen Jichuan returns, he sees Liang Qiu undergo the Wind-Fire Tribulation and attain True Immortalhood, ending forty thousand years of arduous cultivation.
• Inspired by Liang Qiu’s breakthrough, Chen Jichuan devotes himself to cultivation. Over the next thousand years, he advances to the Heavenly Ladder Realm.
• A thousand years after the tournament, Chen Jichuan returns to Sword-Testing Peak and clears the Twelfth Peak. Disciples interpret this as a sign that he intends to establish a Dao academy and compete for a chief disciple’s seat.
• Chen Jichuan notices Meng Yan, a new Dao Sect disciple who learned the difficult Pagoda-Mind Practice method. He considers taking him as a disciple only if Meng Yan reaches its fifth level before age two thousand.
• At East River Palace, Chen Jichuan tells his fellow disciples he plans to pursue a chief disciple’s seat as soon as he establishes a Dao academy. The chapter ends as Shi Ze brings a newly ascended Transcendent Immortal to the hall—the palace’s first new personal disciple in seventeen hundred years.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jichuan grows substantially through the Go Board’s vision and a millennium of training. Ambitious and practical, he plans to seek a chief disciple’s position as soon as he qualifies, rather than wait to become stronger.
• Liang Qiu achieves the chapter’s major milestone: his success at the Go Board leads to his ascension as a True Immortal, inspiring cultivators across the Divine Land.
• Chen Mo is deeply affected by missing the Go Board opportunity and by Liang Qiu’s success. He appears older and weary, and Chen Jichuan worries that his time may be running short.
• Snow Valley remains bitter about losing her chief disciple’s seat to Liu Xing. She urges Chen Jichuan to avenge her, then is surprised by how quickly he intends to challenge for the position.
• Liu Hechuan shows quiet anxiety, while Wu Qi remains easygoing and Bu Yin is reserved.
• Meng Yan admires Chen Jichuan and asks where he lives, but is gently reminded that a newly arrived Spirit Transformation disciple cannot expect easy access to such a prominent senior.
• Chen Jichuan’s warm reunion with his fellow disciples reveals their differing fortunes and concerns; he deliberately keeps the conversation light.

Significant themes

• The arduous path to transcendence: Liang Qiu’s breakthrough embodies the reward of long effort, while others remain burdened by age, setbacks, and uncertain prospects.
• Opportunity and ambition: The Go Board gives Chen Jichuan a major leap forward, and he immediately turns his attention toward the next institutional challenge.
• Time and its costs: A thousand years pass, changing reputations and deepening the weariness of those who have not reached the Dao.
• Different paths, shared struggles: The disciples respond differently to success and failure, but each carries private anxieties as they pursue cultivation.