Chapter Summaries

Plot and key events

• Dao Origin Heavenly Palace stabilizes after its founding, with Princess Yue Ling and the young Feng Ling as its first recruits. Jiang Yun gives them the complete Dao Scripture’s first volume, sealed against disclosure, and leaves them to develop independently.
• Qin Yao explains how members can earn access to deeper levels of the Scripture-Storage Tower: gather rare materials for Jiang Yun’s Source Arts Formation, recruit talented people, or contribute scriptures. Yue Ling sees the Palace as a chance to grow powerful and eventually reclaim her position in the Nine Li Dynasty; Feng Ling promises to work hard.
• Jiang Yun returns to the Jiang Family, which prepares an abundance of supplies for his journey to Earth. The family announces he is entering seclusion to pursue Dao Severing, unsettling rival factions who fear his rapid progress.
• Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Liu Yiyi, and Zhang Wenchang prepare to return home with Jiang Yun. Ye Fan has been withdrawn after encountering his former love, Li Xiaoman, but puts on a cheerful face when the departure is announced. Yiyi and Wenchang are grateful to Jiang Yun, who arranged their return.
• Jiang Yun sets out with six women close to him, prompting Ye Fan to anticipate his parents’ reaction. After Gai Jiuyou brings the group beyond the stars, they behold Big Dipper from space. Jiang Yun recounts the legend that the planet was made from a nearly complete Chaotic Physique; Gai Jiuyou clarifies that its Five Directions Continent is a vast, powerful formation.
• Gai Jiuyou encourages Jiang Yun to develop Source Arts formations that draw power from starlight, potentially allowing him to challenge Supremes before reaching the Quasi-Emperor realm. The group then begins the long journey to Earth, anxious about what has changed during their thirteen years away.

Character developments and interactions

• Yue Ling shifts from seeking security to recognizing the Palace as a path to real power and possibly the throne. Feng Ling shows gratitude and determination.
• Jiang Yun gives his new organization room to grow rather than making it an extension of the Jiang Family. He also accepts his family’s care and remains modest with his old companions.
• Ye Fan is emotionally unsettled by his encounter with Li Xiaoman, though the others do not press him to explain or resolve it.
• Yiyi and Wenchang express deep gratitude to Jiang Yun for protecting and helping their fellow Earthlings; their return is especially meaningful to Wenchang, whose wife was pregnant when he left.
• Gai Jiuyou acts as guide and mentor, revealing Big Dipper’s hidden nature and offering Jiang Yun a new direction for his research. Xia Jiuyou’s familiar attentiveness to her master contrasts with the others’ formal respect.

Significant themes

• Opportunity and ambition: Dao Origin Heavenly Palace offers overlooked talents a chance to rise through effort and merit.
• Independence and institution-building: Jiang Yun wants the Palace to become its own organization rather than a branch of his clan.
• Home, time, and uncertainty: The travelers’ excitement at returning to Earth is tempered by the knowledge that thirteen years have passed.
• Cosmic scale and hidden danger: Big Dipper’s beauty conceals its function as an immense formation, suggesting how little its inhabitants may understand about the forces shaping their world.
• Mentorship and innovation: Gai Jiuyou’s advice encourages Jiang Yun to extend Source Arts beyond the earth and toward the stars.

Key plot points and events

• Gai Jiuyou leads Jiang Yun, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Zhang Wenchang, and the others across the cosmos toward Earth. On the way, they witness a star system destroyed in a collision, prompting reflection on how small and vulnerable life is in the universe.
• To restore the younger generation’s confidence, Gai Jiuyou reverses the destruction and re-forms a planet with a gesture. His power astonishes everyone and prompts speculation that he may be close to the level of an Emperor, though he insists he is still far from attaining the Dao.
• Gai Jiuyou finds the route to Earth using the Immortal Treasure Map, and the group crosses a mysterious passage before arriving above the planet.
• Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Zhang Wenchang are overwhelmed at the sight of home after thirteen years away. Jiang Yun, however, feels conflicted: this Earth is not the hometown that raised him.
• Earth appears ordinary from space, but Gai Jiuyou perceives it as a vast, ancient world concealed beneath powerful formations—larger than the Big Dipper’s Five Regions and steeped in primordial history. He also discovers the hidden, heavily guarded Hangu Pass.
• Ye Fan and the others descend to reunite with their families. Jiang Yun and Gai Jiuyou instead set out for Yinghuo (Mars), while Jiang Yun sends his companions back to the Source World for safety.
• Jiang Yun claims to have sensed Great Emperor Wushi’s aura on Yinghuo, drawing Gai Jiuyou’s attention. The chapter ends as the two arrive at the desolate, blood-red planet.

Character developments and interactions

• Gai Jiuyou reveals immense power and uses it to encourage the younger cultivators. Though others wonder whether he is nearly an Emperor, he warns that attaining the Dao is difficult and shaped by deadly historical forces. He shares what he can perceive about Earth but admits he does not know everything.
• Jiang Yun remains emotionally distant from Earth despite recognizing its extraordinary nature. He takes initiative in directing the group and deliberately invokes Wushi’s aura to ensure Gai Jiuyou treats Yinghuo as a serious danger.
• Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Zhang Wenchang react differently to returning home: Ye Fan and Pang Bo struggle to contain their excitement, while Zhang Wenchang is especially moved by thoughts of his wife and child.
• Xia Jiuyou persistently questions her master about his strength, partly on Jiang Yun’s behalf. Gai Jiuyou gently deflects her questions, noting that he is far from the great Emperors.
• Huolin’er compares Gai Jiuyou’s power to that of an Ancient Emperor, intensifying the group’s awe and speculation. Jiang Yun’s companions trust his judgment and return to the Source World without resentment.

Significant themes

• Humanity’s smallness and potential: The cosmic catastrophe makes the travelers feel insignificant, while Gai Jiuyou’s words and feat remind them that cultivation offers a path to challenge the heavens.
• The hidden past: Earth’s ordinary appearance conceals an immense primordial world, suggesting that familiar legends and histories may preserve fragments of a much older truth.
• The difficulty of greatness: Gai Jiuyou’s remarks about past geniuses and Emperor Qing underline that talent alone does not guarantee success; powerful forces and historical tragedies shape who survives.
• Home and belonging: Earth means reunion and hope to Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Zhang Wenchang, but not to Jiang Yun, whose own origins remain elsewhere and uncertain.

Plot and key events

• Jiang Yun and Gai Jiuyou return to Yinghuo Ancient Star, where Gai senses a lingering, extraordinary danger tied to the star’s ancient history and a long-ago battle between imperial-level powers.
• Near the Five-Colored Altar, Jiang Yun finds the remains of two people who died protecting the group years earlier. He gathers them to be returned to Earth for burial.
• They visit the ruins of Great Leiyin Temple. Gai recognizes traces of the Bodhi Undying Divine Tree, once an Undying Medicine, whose power has since faded.
• Jiang Yun shows Gai a mysterious bracelet of six golden prayer beads that he found atop the Stone Buddha. When Gai activates them with Quasi-Emperor power, the temple’s Buddhist aura awakens, manifesting a fearsome Temple-Guarding Demon God. The apparition eventually dissolves in reverence.
• The beads reveal the Dao rhyme of the Buddhist Six-Character Mantra. As Jiang Yun tries to comprehend it, its power attempts to convert him to Buddhism. He resists, using the Nine Secrets’ Secret of Dou to absorb the mantra’s power while rejecting its religious compulsion.
• Jiang Yun successfully integrates the mantra into his own cultivation. The prayer beads shatter, and he demonstrates several of the mantra’s sounds, whose powers range from disrupting cosmic laws to suppressing the world and strengthening the body.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun turns a dangerous inheritance into a personal breakthrough. Rather than imitate Buddhism’s path, he insists that the Dao must serve the cultivator, not control them. His emerging ambition is to cultivate and ultimately unite the myriad daos through his own path.
• Gai Jiuyou acts as guide and observer: he activates the beads and gives Jiang Yun the chance to learn from their Dao rhyme, then watches without interrupting his trial. Jiang Yun’s unconventional ambition astonishes him, though he doubts whether any person can endure such a vast path.
• The two work closely as mentor and student-in-law: Jiang Yun brings Gai the artifacts and asks for his insight; Gai provides the power and space for Jiang Yun to test himself.
• The Temple-Guarding Demon God shifts from a wrathful, ghostly presence to a peaceful figure before vanishing, suggesting the ritual’s purpose has been fulfilled.

Significant themes

• Self-determination in cultivation: Jiang Yun refuses to be possessed or redirected by an inherited tradition; he takes its strength while making it serve his own Dao.
• Learning without imitation: The chapter presents true cultivation as drawing from many traditions while forging an individual path.
• Ambition and its cost: Jiang Yun’s plan to cultivate myriad daos may exceed the limits of past sages, but Gai recognizes that its challenges—especially future tribulations—could be immense.
• Memory and return: Recovering the dead guards’ remains honors the sacrifices of the past and gives them a symbolic return to their home.

Key events

• Jiang Yun completes his enlightenment in Buddhism’s Six-Character Mantra, forming another Grand Dao star. His version lacks the Buddhist power of conversion but retains—and may even strengthen—the mantra’s offensive force.
• Gai Jiuyou advises Jiang Yun that his ambitious path of cultivating ten thousand Daos will be difficult. If necessary, Jiang Yun may abandon some Daos and preserve one; the decisive test will come at Dao Severing, when he must understand himself and find a direction.
• The two explore the Great Leiyin Temple’s underground prison. Jiang Yun takes a Human-Body Ghost-Face Lamp, which suppresses the sealed Divine Thought in his Source World, and finds starry-sky coordinates pointing to other ancient locations where demons were imprisoned.
• At the Arctic Sea Eye, Jiang Yun senses a trace of Great Emperor Wushi. Crocodile Ancestor emerges from the sealed cave and mocks them, unaware that Gai Jiuyou vastly surpasses him.
• Gai Jiuyou swiftly defeats and kills Crocodile Ancestor, sealing the area so he cannot escape. He refines the demon’s remains and gives them to Jiang Yun.
• As Jiang Yun and Gai Jiuyou investigate deeper, a bell-like resonance sounds. A voice, seemingly Wushi’s, declares that he has a successor, urges them to leave, and says, “I am here!”

Character development and interactions

• Jiang Yun gains a powerful new sacred art and practical treasures, while Gai Jiuyou’s counsel makes him reconsider how rigidly he must pursue his ten-thousand-Dao path. He remains bold and irreverent, taunting Crocodile Ancestor and eagerly claiming the demon’s remains.
• Gai Jiuyou acts as mentor and protector: he offers cautious guidance, shares his knowledge of the prison, and easily dispatches Crocodile Ancestor. His composure gives way to excitement when he senses the possibility that Wushi remains alive.
• Crocodile Ancestor, initially arrogant and convinced of his superiority, is terrified once Gai Jiuyou reveals his true strength. His defeat ends his long reign of violence.
• Jiang Yun and Gai Jiuyou’s relationship is affectionate but informal: Gai guides and protects him, while Jiang Yun jokes, bargains for useful spoils, and praises him—sometimes transparently to get what he wants.

Significant themes

• Finding one’s own path: Cultivation requires self-understanding, and Jiang Yun’s unprecedented ambition may demand flexibility rather than blind attachment to every Dao.
• Mentorship and inheritance: Gai Jiuyou guides Jiang Yun, while the apparent message from Wushi suggests a deeper spiritual or historical succession.
• Arrogance versus true strength: Crocodile Ancestor’s confidence collapses before Gai Jiuyou’s overwhelming power.
• The weight of history: Ancient prisons, relics, and the possible survival of Wushi connect present events to the vast, unresolved mysteries of the past.

Key plot points and events

• At the North Sea Demon Eye, Jiang Yun realizes entering the Strange World would be futile and dangerously expose him to the Undying Heavenly Emperor, who is stirring from Nirvana.
• Great Emperor Wushi asks Gai Jiuyou to enter the world and help restrain the Undying Heavenly Emperor. Wushi’s unmistakable Dao resonance convinces both Gai and Jiang Yun that the request is genuine.
• Gai accepts, encouraged by Wushi’s promise to teach him how to progress beyond becoming a Great Emperor. Before leaving, he gives Jiang Yun protective treasures and a way to summon him. Jiang Yun also lends him the Emperor Qing Weapon and leaves him a means of escape through the Source World.
• Gai takes the Human Demon with him, hoping to help purge the elder’s demonic nature. Jiang Yun shares his understanding of balancing Yin and Yang to aid that effort.
• After Gai departs, Jiang Yun reflects that he has become too reliant on protection and must strengthen himself. He leaves Yinghuo (Mars), travels toward Earth, and reunites with his companions on the Moon.
• The group enjoys their time on the lunar surface. Jiang Yun then brings his Dao partners and Xiao Nannan openly down toward Earth rather than hiding in the Source World. Satellite operators witness their arrival, and the extraordinary sight becomes a closely guarded secret.

Character developments

• Jiang Yun shows sound judgment by refusing a pointless, high-risk entry into the Strange World. He also recognizes his own dependence on stronger protectors and recommits to cultivating his strength. His pride and affection for his companions are clear in his decision to arrive on Earth openly.
• Gai Jiuyou demonstrates loyalty to the Human Race by answering Wushi’s call immediately. Though near Dao Attainment, he remains uncertain about the path beyond becoming a Great Emperor and welcomes Wushi’s guidance.
• Xiao Nannan begins to dream of becoming an immortal-like cultivator, inspired by the women around her; she joyfully experiments with flying on the Moon.
• The Human Demon receives renewed hope of overcoming his transformation between divine and demonic states through Jiang Yun’s advice on harmonizing Yin and Yang.

Significant themes

• Duty and sacrifice: Gai risks entering a dangerous world to help contain a threat to humanity.
• Independence and growth: Jiang Yun realizes that relying on protection cannot replace his own progress.
• Trust and mutual aid: Wushi, Gai, and Jiang Yun cooperate across generations, each offering help and safeguards.
• Home, belonging, and wonder: The Moon visit offers a peaceful glimpse of what Jiang Yun seeks to protect, while the group’s descent makes the fantastic collide with ordinary human life.

Character interactions

• Jiang Yun cautions Gai that Wushi’s summons could be a trap, but Wushi’s bell and Dao resonance reassure them.
• Gai equips Jiang Yun for safety; Jiang Yun, in turn, lends Gai the Emperor Qing Weapon and helps him prepare to rescue the Human Demon.
• On the Moon, Jiang Yun shares affectionate, playful moments with Xia Jiuyou and the others, while Huolin’er plays with Xiao Nannan and Zixia investigates traces of Taiyin force.
• Jiang Yun refuses Jiang Shuanglan’s suggestion that they conceal themselves before landing, insisting that he and his companions have nothing to hide.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Yun returns to Earth with Xiao Nannan and six companions. Earth’s sealed, layered space and weakened spiritual energy suppress the group’s power, though Jiang Yun remains comparatively strong thanks to his Source World.
• The group lands dramatically in the Pacific, accidentally causing severe waves and alarm in nearby countries.
• Jiang Yun reunites with his parents and later settles with his companions in Y City, which resembles the home of his past life. He plans to use his time on Earth to reflect on his path while the Grand Dao is distant.
• His companions explore modern life: Zixia enjoys television and fiction, Yan Ruyu studies technology, and others visit shops, amusement parks, and places associated with ancient Qi Refiners.
• Jiang Yun visits his aunt and uncle, now rejuvenated through cultivation, and shares a warm reunion with them. His aunt’s affection for him leaves Ye Fan comically sidelined.
• At a family meal, Jiang Yun reveals that he has six dao companions. This prompts Ye Fan’s mother to question her son about his own romantic life. Ye Fan admits he has no companions, explaining that he prioritizes cultivation as the Ancient Sacred Body. His mother mistakenly interprets the name as meaning he is an “ancient leftover” and becomes alarmed.

Character developments

• Jiang Yun feels little connection to the places tied to his past life, but finds comfort in Y City and in his aunt’s affection. Earth’s suppression strengthens his resolve to pursue a self-sufficient path of cultivation.
• His companions adapt to modern society and reveal distinct interests, while their diminished power exposes how strongly Earth’s unusual laws affect them.
• Ye Fan remains single and wholly devoted to cultivation, but faces renewed pressure from his worried mother.
• Ye Fan’s mother is overjoyed by her son’s return yet anxious about his future, especially after learning he has no partner or children.
• Jiang Yun’s aunt and uncle are energetic and youthful after beginning cultivation, and their reunion with Jiang Yun reinforces their close family bond.

Significant themes

• A world in decline: Earth’s Last Dharma Era makes cultivation difficult and suppresses even powerful outsiders.
• Different paths to strength: Jiang Yun’s Source World helps him withstand Earth’s restrictions, reinforcing his belief in cultivating myriad laws within himself.
• Home and belonging: Jiang Yun finds more warmth in Y City and family relationships than in places linked to his former life.
• Family expectations versus personal ambition: Ye Fan’s single-minded cultivation clashes humorously with his mother’s hopes for marriage and descendants.
• Modernity and cultivation: The companions’ curiosity about technology raises the possibility of combining mortal engineering with cultivation.

Character interactions

• Jiang Yun reassures his companions about their suppressed abilities and helps them adjust to Earth.
• His companions compare impressions of modern technology, each responding according to her interests.
• Jiang Yun and his aunt share an affectionate reunion, while his uncle expresses gratitude for Jiang Yun’s earlier message that gave them hope.
• At dinner, Jiang Yun’s six companions become the subject of family surprise, and Ye Fan’s mother turns her attention to her son—leaving Ye Fan embarrassed and Jiang Yun amusedly avoiding involvement.

Plot points and events

• Ye Fan’s parents misunderstand “Sacred Physique” as “Leftover Physique,” worrying that he will never marry. Ye Fan and Jiang Yun clarify the term, and Ye Fan explains that cultivators can live for thousands—or, if his physique is perfected, tens of thousands—of years.
• Ye Fan’s father asks which cousin is stronger. Ye Fan avoids answering, since the truth about Jiang Yun’s exceptional cultivation and six partners might only intensify his mother’s matchmaking efforts.
• Jiang Yun leaves Divine Crocodile meat for Ye Fan’s newly cultivating parents. Outside, Ye Fan asks about Earth’s cultivators and the forces tied to the impostor who has been posing as Pang Bo. Jiang Yun assures him that Earth’s strongest cultivators are gone and offers help if danger arises. Ye Fan plans to investigate the impostor’s backers with Pang Bo.
• On his way back to Y City, Jiang Yun senses hundreds of cultivators approaching. He meets representatives of major Daoist traditions—Mount Mao, Mount Longhu, and the Lingbao School—who offer him protection from a Western Crusader force.
• The Daoists explain that the Crusaders include five hundred holy knights and three powerful commanders. They may also be pursuing an ancient artifact from Mount Tai containing part of a Heavenly Book, whose secret is highly coveted.
• Jiang Yun refuses to retreat and tells the Daoists to stand aside. Using the power of the Six-Character Heavenly Sounds, he immobilizes them and arranges them beneath a tree. They realize his strength may already rival that of a Great Ability or King. Dark clouds and demonic mist then herald the Crusaders’ arrival.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Fan is protective of his parents and friends, but restless after a month at home. His concern turns cold when he discusses the forces threatening Pang Bo’s family.
• Jiang Yun is generous toward Ye Fan’s family, reassuring him and offering refuge. He also shows confidence and formidable power when Earth’s Daoists urge him to flee.
• Ye Fan’s parents begin to grasp the vast gulf between mortal and cultivator lifespans, though their immediate concern remains Ye Fan’s unmarried status.
• The Daoist representatives are courteous and sincerely want to protect Jiang Yun, but their caution also reflects their interest in the wider world he knows. They are shocked by the disparity between his apparent cultivation and their own.

Significant themes

• Mortality and cultivation: The contrast between ordinary human lifespans and a cultivator’s millennia-long life shapes family expectations and reveals how differently mortals and cultivators view time.
• Family loyalty and protection: Ye Fan and Pang Bo are especially sensitive to threats against their parents, while Jiang Yun offers practical support and a safe haven.
• Earth’s vulnerability and lost heritage: Earth’s spiritual decline has left its cultivators wary, while foreign powers seek its artifacts and secrets.
• Power and restraint: The Daoists approach diplomatically, but Jiang Yun’s effortless display of force establishes that he will not be controlled or frightened into retreat.

Key plot points and events

• With previous interference gone, Jiang Yun reveals his position as a force of Western Crusaders approaches to capture him and his companions. His dao companions emerge from the manor, while nearby cultivators from the Central Lands watch.
• The Crusaders declare the group heretics and launch a surprise attack, also targeting the Central Lands cultivators.
• Zixia destroys more than a hundred knights with the Splendid Mountains and Rivers Diagram. Jiang Shuanglan kills a commander with her Divine Furnace, and the other women join the battle, quickly overwhelming the Crusaders.
• Xia Weier’s Nine-Dragon Imperial Seal defeats young Crusaders empowered by forbidden holy-book techniques. Huolin’er also kills enemies with ease.
• A golden-robed elder uses a Divine Source Block to amplify a lightning art. Jiang Yun absorbs the lightning and sends it back, destroying the elder and the remaining Crusaders. The entire expeditionary force is wiped out.
• News of the defeat shocks the Western Lands and spreads worldwide. The Central Lands cultivators apologize for their earlier assumptions and warn Jiang Yun that Western traditions may possess ancient figures and sacred artifacts. Jiang Yun calmly claims that the age changed when he arrived.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun remains composed while his companions fight, confident that they can handle the Crusaders. His effortless defeat of the elder reveals that he is far more powerful than the Central Lands cultivators had believed.
• Zixia, Jiang Shuanglan, Xia Weier, Huolin’er, and the other dao companions show formidable strength and battle experience. They fight decisively, protecting their own without hesitation.
• The Central Lands cultivators, especially Zhang Zong and Lü Chang, shift from viewing Jiang Yun as someone protected by powerful women to recognizing him as a dangerous, exceptional figure. Lin Qingxuan offers a practical warning about the Westerners’ faith-based power.
• The Crusaders’ certainty that they are righteous and divinely protected collapses into fear as they face the companions’ overwhelming strength.

Significant themes

• Power and mistaken judgment: Outsiders underestimate Jiang Yun and his companions, only to discover that appearances and assumptions are unreliable.
• Faith as both strength and fanaticism: The Crusaders draw power from belief, but their conviction also drives them into a disastrous battle.
• A changing era: Jiang Yun’s claim that the age changed with his arrival suggests that his presence is altering the limits of what is possible in the Last Dharma Era.
• Loyalty and collective strength: Jiang Yun’s companions act together, each contributing to the defense while he intervenes only when necessary.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After defeating the Crusaders, Jiang Yun and his companions return to their manor. They relax together, swapping stories about Earth and Jiang Yun’s visit to his aunt.
• Zixia has taken up fashion design, creating outfits inspired by the shows she watches. At Huolin’er’s request, she designs her a striking blue ensemble. Xia Jiuyou, already wearing one of Zixia’s outfits, teases Jiang Yun about his behavior before escaping his advances.
• Jiang Shuanglan and Xia Weier decide to return to the Source World to cultivate, since Earth’s spiritual energy is too scarce. Jiang Yun promises to take them somewhere rich in spiritual resources later. Most of the companions leave; Huolin’er stays behind, and Jiang Yun adds glasses to her outfit before they share an intimate moment.
• Meanwhile, Central Lands cultivators meet in a pine forest to discuss Jiang Yun’s power and the rare materials used in his companions’ armor and artifacts. They identify him as one of the people who vanished from Mount Tai thirteen years earlier aboard the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin.
• The cultivators realize that the returned group may include other powerful figures, including Pang Bo and Ye Fan. They speculate that Jiang Yun might know a route through the Starry Sky Ancient Road that could let them leave Earth.
• News of the Crusaders’ defeat spreads through the cultivation world. Ordinary people remain largely unaware, as reports are suppressed and eyewitness memories have been altered. The event nevertheless inspires cultivators to seek Jiang Yun, Ye Fan, or other members of the returned group.

Character developments

• Zixia develops a new creative passion, showing confidence and flair as a fashion designer.
• Huolin’er enjoys Zixia’s styling and playfully savors Jiang Yun’s reaction to her new look.
• Jiang Yun remains relaxed about the battle’s aftermath, while his immense strength and his companions’ extraordinary equipment make him a figure of fascination to Earth’s cultivators.
• Jiang Shuanglan and Xia Weier prioritize cultivation, recognizing that Earth cannot support their progress.
• Earth’s cultivators move from uncertainty and fear toward curiosity and ambition, viewing the returned travelers as possible guides to greater power and the stars.

Significant themes

• The contrast between worlds: Earth’s weak spiritual environment sharply contrasts with the cultivators’ richer home and other realms.
• Power and awe: Jiang Yun’s strength, the rare materials his group possesses, and their rapid rise unsettle and inspire Earth’s sects.
• Ambition and escape: The possibility of traveling the Star Road becomes a new hope for cultivators seeking advancement beyond Earth.
• Ordinary life beside the extraordinary: Fashion, family conversation, and domestic intimacy continue even as world-shaking events unfold around the group.

Character interactions

• Zixia styles Huolin’er, while Xia Jiuyou praises the clothes Zixia made for her and jokes about Jiang Yun.
• Huolin’er teases Jiang Yun with her new appearance; he responds by adding glasses to complete her look.
• Jiang Shuanglan and Xia Weier discuss the need to cultivate and leave Earth’s depleted environment.
• The Central Lands cultivators compare intelligence about Jiang Yun and his companions, weighing whether they might be allies, threats, or a path beyond Earth.

Key plot points and events

• Cultivators from across the Central Lands flock to Y City, hoping to meet Jiang Yun, seek his guidance, or learn about the Ancient Road beyond Earth. His Source Arts Formation blocks access to his estate, convincing visitors that he is an extraordinary master.
• While observing the newcomers, Jiang Yun learns about the region’s major Daoist, Buddhist, sword-cultivator, and demon lineages, including Kunlun and Myriad Demons Valley.
• Ye Fan arrives with his parents and the families of Zhang Wenchang and Liu Yiyi. Jiang Yun welcomes them and reassures Zhang Wenchang and Liu Yiyi that he will settle matters with the local cultivators so their mortal relatives can live safely.
• Ye Fan’s mother meets Jiang Yun’s partners and mistakes Xiao Nannan for his daughter. The women take the elders aside to explain Nannan’s unusual circumstances.
• Pang Bo explains that a young demon had impersonated him for thirteen years while caring for his parents. Because the impostor had treated the family well, Pang Bo’s parents adopted him as a sworn son. The connection also helped protect Pang Bo’s family from other demons.
• Jiang Yun announces that he will receive visitors at his estate in ten days. Cultivators across the area hear the message and eagerly anticipate the meeting. As the gathering approaches, Kunlun representatives arrive.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun shifts from quietly observing events to taking charge, offering protection to his friends’ families and inviting the cultivation world to meet him. He intends to build relations with Earth’s factions before settling there longer.
• Huang Tiannu, a proud and perceptive Vermilion Phoenix heiress, concludes that Jiang Yun’s silence means he has a purpose and advises her followers to wait. Her subordinates’ report leads her to believe he favors beautiful women.
• Ye Fan is visibly pained by the hardship his absence caused his parents, contrasting with Pang Bo’s unexpectedly well-cared-for family.
• Pang Bo feels conflicted about the impostor who occupied his life, but his family responds with compassion rather than punishment.
• Jiang Yun’s partners warmly receive Ye Fan’s mother, while Zhang Wenchang and Liu Yiyi rely on Jiang Yun’s influence to shield their families from unwanted attention.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: Jiang Yun’s inaccessible estate and far-reaching voice establish his authority before he meets the gathered factions.
• Family, absence, and responsibility: The friends’ returns reveal the emotional and practical costs of being away from loved ones.
• Compassion and unexpected kinship: The demon impostor becomes part of Pang Bo’s family because of the care he gave them.
• A changing cultivation world: With spiritual energy scarce and old lineages still influential, factions watch the younger generation for future promise—and for opportunities to advance.

Key plot points and events

• A major gathering of Earth’s cultivators convenes at Jiang Yun’s invitation. Leading figures arrive, including Kunlun’s sect master Xue Chen, the ancient Daoist Qiri, leaders from major Daoist sects, the Vermilion Phoenix clan, and Myriad Demons Valley.
• Jiang Yun reveals an immense immortal mountain hidden beneath Earth’s formation and turns it into a venue. His power and the presence of powerful beasts leave the assembled cultivators awestruck.
• After testing visitors’ aptitude, understanding, and state of mind, Jiang Yun welcomes the leading figures into a palace and serves them spiritual fruits that are commonplace on the Big Dipper but extraordinary on Earth.
• Pang Bo describes the Big Dipper’s Golden Age: powerful factions, Emperor-blooded heirs, prodigies, and Saints. The Central Lands’ cultivators realize how limited their isolated world is.
• Myriad Demons Valley’s third master, a gifted monkey named Sun Wukong, asks how he compares with the Big Dipper’s young elites. Jiang Yun tells him of the Fighting Saint Ape clan and its near-Dao-Severing Saint Prince; Pang Bo suggests the two monkeys might someday meet.
• Jiang Yun explains that he will return to the Big Dipper within six months to two years and is willing to take a limited number of Earth cultivators with him. He refuses to take disciples, but offers routes into suitable factions there.
• The sect leaders eagerly promote their young talents, hoping to secure Jiang Yun’s mentorship or protection. Huang Tiannu makes a particularly bold attempt to become his disciple, then quickly asks to join his Dao Origin Heavenly Palace when he refuses.
• Before the gathering ends, Jiang Yun announces one hundred places for the journey back, with fifty awarded for merit in an expedition to recover Central Lands’ Ancestral Artifacts taken by the Western Lands. The leaders enthusiastically pledge support.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun demonstrates both overwhelming power and practical generosity, while remaining firm about not taking disciples. He offers Earth’s talented cultivators opportunities without promising them personal allegiance.
• Xue Chen and Qiri show deep respect for Jiang Yun; their deference signals how far his standing exceeds even Earth’s most prestigious masters.
• Pang Bo acts as an animated guide to the Big Dipper and bonds with Sun Wukong through their shared fondness for monkeys.
• Huang Tiannu shifts from proud aloofness to playful, strategic persistence, eager to secure a place in Jiang Yun’s faction.
• The sect leaders move from awe and curiosity to ambition, seeking advancement and protection for their successors.
• Earth’s young talents, including Kunlun’s Double Fish, Zhang Qingyang, and Huang Tiannu, are presented as unusually gifted despite the planet’s poor cultivation conditions.

Significant themes

• Unequal worlds and constrained potential: Earth’s depleted spiritual energy and obscured Grand Dao have held back its cultivators, while the Big Dipper thrives in a Golden Age.
• Talent versus circumstances: Earth’s younger generation may rival major-world prodigies if given better conditions.
• Power, status, and opportunity: Jiang Yun’s influence makes access to factions and interstellar travel highly valuable.
• Heritage and identity: The discussion of imperial bloodlines and Sun Wukong’s possible ancestral roots raises questions about inherited power and its burdens.
• Recovering cultural inheritance: The proposed expedition to reclaim the Ancestral Artifacts frames the final conflict as both a political undertaking and a restoration of the Central Lands’ legacy.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Yun’s mountain becomes a thriving cultivation sanctuary, drawing thousands of Human and Demon cultivators. About a thousand meet the minimum requirement of the Four Extremes Realm and enlist for the western expedition.
• The Central Lands’ leaders explain why they have never matched the West’s use of Faith Power: their many competing sects and overlapping traditions prevent them from uniting around a single object of worship. Their strength instead comes from individual cultivation and powerful divine abilities.
• After ten days of preparation, Jiang Yun leads the company west, warning them not to involve ordinary people. He chooses to strike directly at the Church rather than first attacking its allied families.
• The expedition reaches the Vatican, the Church’s secluded Heavenly Cave. Western forces—including ancient families, legions of knights, and four surviving holy knights from the Dark Age—gather to oppose them.
• The pope attacks with an enormous hand formed from Faith Power. Huolin’er counters the four holy knights and badly injures them. Jiang Yun then releases a single strike from his Sword Embryo, piercing the pope’s attack and killing him instantly.
• The pope’s death shocks both sides. The Central Lands’ cultivators realize Jiang Yun’s strength is far beyond what they had assumed, while his companions react with awe and admiration.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun moves from organizer to commanding leader, rallying the expedition and keeping it disciplined. His effortless defeat of the pope reveals that his true power is extraordinary and remains difficult for others to gauge.
• Huolin’er demonstrates overwhelming strength by overpowering the ancient holy knights. Seeing Jiang Yun kill the pope deepens her admiration for her husband.
• Ye Fan and the Central Lands’ sect leaders are stunned by Jiang Yun’s power and begin to recognize how little they understand his level.
• Huang Tiannu stays close to Jiang Yun, openly showing her interest in him. She and Zixia share a teasing exchange after Zixia praises her husband.
• The pope sees the eastern cultivators as sinners and covets what Jiang Yun brought back from beyond their domain. His confidence in Faith Power proves misplaced.
• Daoist Qiri warns the expedition against being baited by the Vatican’s apparent calm, helping the group avoid rushing into a prepared trap.

Significant themes

• Unity versus fragmentation: The Central Lands’ many traditions and rival sects prevent them from concentrating Faith Power, though their independent cultivation produces formidable abilities.
• Faith as power and manipulation: The chapter presents the Church’s influence as a system that offers people both fear and hope, channeling their devotion into strength.
• Power and misplaced confidence: The West’s ancient forces and the pope’s divine display seem overwhelming, but Jiang Yun’s decisive victory overturns expectations.
• Collective struggle and discipline: The expedition is driven by the Central Lands’ desire to recover its lost Ancestral Artifacts, while Jiang Yun insists that their conflict must not harm ordinary people.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Yun conquers the Vatican after killing the Pope. The Church’s bishops try to help the Holy Maiden escape, while the God Knight arrives and offers his loyalty in exchange for her survival and the Church’s future.
• When Jiang Yun refuses, the God Knight threatens Ye Fan and Pang Bo to force his hand. Jiang Yun traps him in the Divine Furnace before he can strike.
• Jiang Yun uses the Deliverance Scripture and Deity-Deliverance Art to subdue the Holy Maiden and bishops. With their leaders gone, the remaining Church forces collapse and are defeated by the Central Lands cultivators.
• News of the Vatican’s fall spreads across the cultivation world. Western Lands powers panic, conceal or return the Central Lands’ ancestral artifacts, and fear the coming reckoning. Jiang Yun holds the Vatican while his companions and allied forces advance elsewhere.
• In the Church treasury, Jiang Yun finds the He Shi Bi seal and a Nuwa Stone bearing a clay statue of Nuwa. Sensing a powerful aura of life, creation, and Dao laws, he resolves to restore the ruined Nuwa Temple and recover its scattered contents.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun demonstrates overwhelming strength and strategic control, sparing the subdued Church leadership for their knowledge and usefulness. His interest shifts from conquest to the mysterious Nuwa artifact, which he senses may be personally significant.
• The God Knight is revealed as a gifted but disgraced cultivator: he once absorbed the Church’s sacred divine blood and later reached Dao Severing through his own cultivation. His attempt to bargain for the Holy Maiden’s escape turns into a hostage threat, and Jiang Yun defeats him.
• The Holy Maiden and bishops move from fearful defenders to devoted followers under Jiang Yun’s arts. The bishops’ knowledge helps him learn about the Nuwa Temple’s history.
• Ye Fan and Pang Bo become targets when the God Knight threatens Jiang Yun’s close companions; Jiang Yun responds immediately to protect them.
• Huolin’er, Zixia, and the Central Lands cultivators crush the remaining resistance, while Jiang Yun’s Dao companions lead campaigns beyond the Vatican.

Significant themes

• Power and retaliation: The Vatican’s defeat marks the beginning—not the end—of the Central Lands’ campaign to avenge past wrongs.
• Faith and submission: The Church’s devotion, once centered on its Pope and sacred symbols, is redirected to Jiang Yun after its leaders fall.
• Talent versus accumulated strength: The God Knight’s exceptional achievement cannot overcome Jiang Yun’s deeper foundations and superior resources.
• History, loss, and restoration: The scattered Central Lands artifacts embody past plunder, while Jiang Yun’s plan to restore the Nuwa Temple seeks to recover both cultural heritage and a deeper, mysterious legacy.

Key plot points and events

• In the Church’s treasury, Jiang Yun finds the Nuwa Stone and feels its resonance with the laws of life and creation—knowledge that could strengthen his Source World. He also claims an ancient Altar and Heavenly Book containing one section of the map to Earth’s Ascension Ground, but postpones exploring it.
• Jiang Yun takes the Church’s sacred relics, including nine Saint Weapons and the Holy Grail, which is a Saint King Weapon capable of refining precious liquids. He leaves other resources for Central Lands cultivators to divide.
• Over ten days, Central Lands forces crush the Western religious powers and recover many stolen antiquities and artifacts. A Divine Race survivor who tries to bring violence into the Central Lands is killed by a mysterious order-chain and displayed as a warning. Jiang Yun believes Earth’s ancient history hides a powerful guardian.
• The search recovers the Nuwa Temple’s scattered objects. Pang Bo also quietly adds fragments of the Fuxi Dragon Stele, Yu’s Nine Tripod Cauldrons, and the Chiyou Sword to the collection.
• Studying the temple in his Source World, Jiang Yun gains insight into a rudimentary Life Creation Technique. He creates a rabbit, then other animals, but they lack intelligence and cannot reproduce. The technique does successfully enlarge plants and enhance spiritual medicines, though its effects cost vital essence and weaken against stronger beings.
• When Xiao Nannan arrives, Jiang Yun wonders whether the technique could help her grow, but decides not to test it on her yet.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun grows increasingly fascinated by creation, shifting his attention from collecting treasures to understanding the Dao of life. His experiments bring excitement but also teach him the limits of his incomplete insight.
• Pang Bo proves resourceful and loyal: he finds the Nuwa Temple and secretly preserves the valuable imperial relic fragments.
• Ye Fan reports the newly found weapons honestly and asks Jiang Yun about the slain Divine Race expert. Jiang Yun answers that someone else protects ordinary people.
• Yan Xiaoyu becomes more openly attached to Jiang Yun, now addressing him as Palace Master.
• Xiao Nannan admires Jiang Yun’s transformation of a weed into a tree. Jiang Yun treats her affectionately but remains cautious, aware that she is both an apparently ageless child and the Dao Fruit of the Ruthless Great Emperor.
• Central Lands leaders show some restraint by sharing a few weapons with Western allies who helped locate hidden collections.

Significant themes

• Creation and its limits: Creating a body is not the same as creating intelligence, reproductive capacity, or a complete life.
• Ancient mysteries and hidden history: Earth’s past, its artifacts, and its unseen protectors remain beyond full understanding.
• Power and responsibility: Jiang Yun’s new ability could affect others, but he chooses not to experiment on Xiao Nannan.
• Cultural reclamation and justice: The Central Lands recover their stolen heritage and overthrow hostile powers, while generally avoiding indiscriminate plunder.

Plot points and events

• After returning from the Western Lands, Jiang Yun tests the Nuwa Secret Technique. He can turn Divine Spring Fluid into fortune qi and use it to affect existing life, potentially altering its growth or origin, though he cannot create life from nothing.
• He discovers that the True Dragon and Immortal Phoenix Elixirs—through their Dragon Pearl and Phoenix Egg—absorb the fortune qi eagerly. Combined with Dao-mark radiance from the Demon God Flower, it may help them develop into human forms.
• Huang Tiannu brings Jiang Yun Python Granny, a former keeper of the Nuwa Temple. The old woman is overjoyed to see the temple again and explains its history: the temple chose gentle, spiritually gifted creatures as keepers, who regarded Nuwa as their mother and teacher.
• Python Granny gives Jiang Yun the keepers’ ancient record book, trusting him to preserve the succession. Its accounts reveal that the Yellow Emperor once brought his daughter Nüba to the temple, but it did not accept her.
• Nüba was also known as the Drought Demon. Her mind shifted between clarity and confusion; when her power escaped control, her blood qi could dry out vast regions. The temple’s records describe her as seeming “neither living nor dead,” and say that her arrival once stirred a response from Nuwa’s statue.
• The records place Nüba in the northwest, near Kunlun. Jiang Yun suspects she may be the Void Emperor’s daughter, whose awareness formed imperfectly after death. Intrigued by her possible connection to Nuwa’s legacy, he decides to travel to Kunlun and investigate the Ascension Ground.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun grows more confident in the Nuwa technique and sees wider possibilities for it, including influencing constitutions and accelerating the growth of life. The temple’s history deepens his curiosity, prompting him to pursue the mystery of Nüba despite the danger.
• Huang Tiannu works to earn Jiang Yun’s favor by using her race’s connections to locate Python Granny. Her relaxed, attentive manner contrasts with the more formal respect she shows him.
• Python Granny expresses deep, almost filial devotion to the Nuwa Temple. She entrusts Jiang Yun with its records because she senses something familiar in him and believes he will protect the temple’s legacy.
• The Vermilion Phoenix chief helps bring Python Granny to Jiang Yun and explains the keepers’ traditions. Jiang Yun, in turn, treats the elderly keeper with consideration and accepts responsibility for the records.

Significant themes

• Creation and the origins of life: Jiang Yun’s technique manipulates existing life rather than creating it outright, raising questions about how far life and evolution can be shaped.
• Legacy and belonging: The Nuwa Temple’s keepers inherit a spiritual bond across generations, while Jiang Yun is drawn into safeguarding that tradition.
• Life, death, and incomplete existence: Nüba’s unstable state—and the possibility that she is an Emperor’s Daughter with an imperfectly awakened consciousness—blurs the boundary between living and dead.
• Ancient mysteries and present-day decline: The Yellow Emperor and Nüba represent a past of extraordinary power, sharpening the contrast with the weakened cultivation world of the present.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Yun and his Dao companions reach Kunlun Mountain, guided by the Immortal Treasure Map. Its boundaries match the Kunlun range, and the group realizes the fabled ninety-nine Dragon Mountains lie within.
• Jiang Yun explains that the mountains were assembled and reshaped by an immense power—not formed naturally—suggesting an ancient, world-spanning plan to gather the Fortune of multiple stars.
• The companions connect Kunlun with the vanished Eternal Evolving Divine Dynasty, its search for immortality, and fragments of the Immortal Cauldron. Huolin’er identifies the Green Copper fragment as likely belonging to that legendary artifact, though its true immortal power may be lost.
• Huolin’er confirms that Ruthless Great Emperor destroyed the dynasty after it killed Ruthless’s brother. Jiang Yun privately clarifies that Emperor Yuhua did not found or destroy the dynasty; he was unfairly blamed because he had once strengthened it.
• Jiang Yun visits the Kunlun Sect to ask about Nüba, but finds no information. After three days studying the formations with Zixia, he locates a way into Kunlun.
• Inside, they find a vast hidden landscape of towering “Dragon Mountains.” The Immortal Treasure Map activates, enveloping the group in light and revealing a new route on its previously blank reverse side. The discovery suggests the map may contain more than one hidden design.

Character developments and interactions

• Zixia’s expertise in formations and Source Arts proves crucial in locating the entrance. She and Jiang Yun work together to decipher Kunlun’s terrain.
• Huolin’er supplies historical context from her family’s records and her own era, clarifying the dynasty’s destruction and the Green Copper fragment’s possible origin.
• Xia Jiuyou recalls Central Plains legends about an ancient path to immortality, helping connect the dynasty’s history to Kunlun.
• Xiao Nannan reacts instinctively to the name “Ruthless Great Emperor.” Jiang Yun teases her gently, while privately wondering about her connection to Ruthless and the fate of Ruthless’s brother.
• Jiang Yun’s visit to the Kunlun Sect shows his concern for Nüba, though the lack of records leaves him disappointed.

Significant themes

• Immortality and its cost: The dynasty’s pursuit of eternal life ended in catastrophe, and the group questions whether Kunlun holds any genuine path to immortality.
• Ancient schemes and hidden history: Kunlun’s constructed Dragon Mountains and concealed formations imply a design whose scale exceeds ordinary human understanding.
• Cause, blame, and karma: The dynasty’s crimes provoke Ruthless’s vengeance, while Emperor Yuhua bears undeserved blame for its actions.
• Mystery and identity: The map’s awakening and Xiao Nannan’s response to Ruthless’s name deepen the chapter’s unresolved questions about Kunlun, the Immortal Cauldron, and Nannan’s past.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Yun and his companions enter the true Kunlun, whose immense mountain ranges and intricate formations reveal it as the source of all veins and an almost unimaginable spiritual landscape.
• They encounter gigantic ancient beasts. Xia Weier subdues them with Imperial Dragon Qi, and Jiang Yun learns from their memories that Kunlun contains forbidden regions and rare treasures.
• Following the Immortal Treasure Map, the group reaches a shattered mountain. Its ancient ruins trigger visions of a vast Mythological-Era battlefield, with powerful beings and Emperor-like figures fighting among celestial palaces.
• Jiang Yun uses his Source Heavenly Eye to recognize that the battlefield is a recorded illusion, not a present danger. A later vision shows an Immortal Phoenix wielding the Five-Colored Heavenly Saber, the collapse of the Heavenly Court, and the fall of the South Heaven Gate. A voice declares that the Heavenly Emperor is dead and the court has been destroyed.
• The group concludes that the visions preserve real history. Jiang Yun suggests Earth was the birthplace of the Ancient Heavenly Court’s lord; the others speculate that the Undying Heavenly Emperor may have appeared in that era and that the Heavenly Court may have been connected to the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yun’s command of Source Arts lets him read Kunlun’s terrain, control the beast encounter, and identify the visions as historical records. He remains curious and tries to recover more of the past from the ruins, though even his powers cannot fully reconstruct it.
• Jiang Shuanglan, Huolin’er, and the other Dao companions express firm faith in Jiang Yun’s future, reinforcing his confidence and showing their close support.
• The ancient beasts initially attack but submit when confronted by Xia Weier’s overwhelming Dragon Qi.
• The visions frighten the group: Xiao Nannan hides in Jiang Yun’s arms, and the others draw close to him. He reassures them that the apparitions cannot harm them.
• Afterward, Yan Ruyu and the others question what they witnessed, while Jiang Yun offers a tentative interpretation of Earth’s forgotten past.

Significant themes

• Buried history and recurring ages: Ruins and visions reveal that Earth once held a civilization of extraordinary power, now lost to time.
• The limits of knowledge: Even Jiang Yun’s abilities cannot restore the full story, leaving the origins and fall of the Heavenly Court uncertain.
• Power, ambition, and destruction: The scale of the ancient war—and the destruction of the Heavenly Court—suggests that the pursuit of supreme power may carry catastrophic costs.
• Trust and companionship: The group’s reliance on Jiang Yun, and his companions’ confidence in him, provides emotional steadiness amid the terrifying revelations.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Yun and his companions travel deeper into Kunlun, collecting ancient ruins and rare herbs while avoiding deadly formations. The mountains’ immense life force is being drawn toward the Immortal Land at their center.
• Xiao Nannan notices a sentient, centuries-old Fo-Ti Root following them. Jiang Yun captures it, promises to protect it in exchange for work, and stores it in his Source World. The herb guides them to a cliff associated with the Ruthless Great Emperor.
• At the cliff, they find a Chaos waterfall, a star-forged stele, and a bloodstained robe bearing the message: “I’m going to die… but what will happen to my little sister?”
• Despite warnings about the danger, Jiang Yun allows Xiao Nannan to touch the stele. It responds to her, and the resulting vision recounts the Ruthless Great Emperor’s childhood: her brother was taken away, leaving her alone, but she eventually overcame her lack of talent and became a Heavenly Emperor.
• The vision then shows Jiang Yun’s first encounter with a hungry, destitute Xiao Nannan in Yan Capital. Ye Fan buys her soup dumplings before moving on. Xiao Nannan remains asleep and glowing as the chapter ends.

Character developments

• Jiang Yun acts both pragmatically and compassionately: he captures the Fo-Ti Root but offers it protection, and he trusts Xiao Nannan’s wishes even when touching the stele seems dangerous.
• Xiao Nannan is revealed as deeply connected to the Ruthless Great Emperor: she shares her face and the lonely childhood shown in the vision. Her unusual response to the stele suggests an intimate bond with the Great Emperor’s legacy.
• The Fo-Ti Root shifts from frightened captive to reluctant helper, using its long memory to guide the group.
• Jiang Shuanglan and the other companions are awed by the Great Emperor’s history; Shuanglan is particularly alarmed when the stele’s light prevents her from reaching Xiao Nannan.

Significant themes

• Loneliness, loss, and enduring love: The Great Emperor’s rise is rooted in her devotion to her brother and grief at their separation.
• Kindness and its lasting effects: Ye Fan’s small act of feeding Xiao Nannan contrasts with the Great Emperor’s harsh past and reflects the value of compassion.
• Fate, identity, and transformation: Xiao Nannan’s connection to the Great Emperor raises questions about whether she is a separate person, a manifestation of the Great Emperor, or part of her path to immortality.
• The cost of greatness: The Great Emperor’s power and glory emerged from profound hardship and a life marked by regret.

Character interactions

• Xiao Nannan first alerts Jiang Yun to the Fo-Ti Root; Yan Ruyu then appeals to their shared kinship as plant spirits, helping prompt Jiang Yun to spare it.
• The Fo-Ti Root earns the group’s trust by sharing its memories and leading them to the Great Emperor’s relics.
• Jiang Yun permits Xiao Nannan to touch the stele, overriding the Fo-Ti Root’s warning; the stele’s response leaves the companions astonished and worried.
• In the vision, Ye Fan responds to Xiao Nannan’s plea for food with generosity, though he disappears before she can say more.

Key plot points and events

• The vision in the Chaos Divine Waterfall reveals Ruthless the Great Emperor’s longing for the brother she spent more than 200,000 years hoping to find. Ye Fan resembled him, but was not him. Xiao Nannan’s later life with Jiang Yun and his companions appears in the vision, suggesting a link between the child and Ruthless.
• Once the vision ends, the group realizes Xiao Nannan is connected to Ruthless. Nannan is frightened by their reaction and insists she is just herself; Jiang Yun reassures her, and the others make clear their affection for her has not changed.
• The group gathers Chaos Qi and uses the Chaos River to refine their artifacts. A White Tiger Immortal Elixir then appears and chooses Xiao Nannan. She accepts it on the condition that it does not steal her spirit-fruit juice. Jiang Yun stores it in his Source World, where it discovers several other Immortal Elixirs.
• Continuing through Kunlun, the group encounters powerful beasts. Jiang Yun kills one Dao-Severed beast king with the Six-Character Mantra, while the others flee. A remarkable Dragon Horse escapes into a dangerous area, and the group decides it would be an ill-mannered influence on Nannan anyway.
• After collecting Medicine Kings and cultivating, the travelers reach the Ascension Ground: a vast valley surrounded by tens of thousands of naturally formed, dragon-shaped peaks. The peaks channel immense spiritual essence into the valley, which is filled with Immortal Qi, rare medicines, and valuable materials.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Nannan remains an innocent, sensitive child despite her mysterious connection to the Ruthless Great Emperor. She clings to Jiang Yun when she fears the others see her differently; his reassurance restores her sense of safety. She also matter-of-factly negotiates with the White Tiger Immortal Elixir.
• Jiang Yun responds to the revelation with steady affection rather than fear, and continues to protect Nannan. He is pleased by the Immortal Elixir’s arrival, though amused and disappointed that it chooses Nannan instead of him. The Ascension Ground also inspires new ideas for developing his Source World.
• Jiang Yun’s companions are briefly astonished by Nannan’s identity but quickly reaffirm their love for her. They admire the Immortal Elixir and the Ascension Ground, and share lighthearted judgments about the escaped Dragon Horse.
• The White Tiger Immortal Elixir seeks Nannan, apparently drawn by the aura associated with her connection to Ruthless. Once inside Jiang Yun’s Source World, it discovers that other rare elixirs already live there.

Significant themes

• Longing and repeated history: Ruthless’s grief shows the cost of an enduring hope that cannot be fulfilled; the vision suggests that events and relationships may echo across ages without literal reincarnation.
• Identity and acceptance: Nannan is not reduced to the legendary figure linked to her. Her family accepts her as the child they know and love.
• Fortune and cultivation: The group’s extraordinary collection of Immortal Elixirs and rare treasures underscores Jiang Yun’s remarkable luck and resources.
• Nature shaped into a world: The Ascension Ground’s vast, living terrain embodies the pinnacle of Source Arts and gives Jiang Yun a model for evolving his Source World.

Key plot points and events

• Guided by the Immortal Treasure Map, Jiang Yun and his companions explore the Ascension Ground, an exceptionally fertile but deadly valley covered by Great Emperor and Source Heaven formations.
• Jiang Yun uses the Green Lotus Emperor Weapon, Immortal Treasure Map, and Lihuo Divine Furnace to retrieve a Great Saint’s protected corpse without entering the formation. He later collects other Great Saints’ bones and broken weapons as resources for his Source World.
• The group finds a Quasi-Emperor’s shattered remains beside an unfinished pagoda made from rare Divine Mark Purple Gold. Jiang Yun takes both for the Source World.
• They reach the Immortal-Nurturing Land, where countless ancient herbs and Medicine Kings grow amid powerful killing formations. The group resists the temptation to harvest recklessly.
• They pass Ruthless Great Emperor’s cenotaph for her brother. Jiang Yun bows with Xiao Nannan but keeps her at a distance, wary of disturbing the grave or its lingering aura.
• At the Immortal Pool, they discover the badly damaged Green Copper Immortal Cauldron and discuss its history, including its connection to the Ancient Heavenly Court and the Eternal Evolving Divine Dynasty.
• Jiang Yun postpones taking the cauldron so the group can cultivate and study the site. His Source World offers a way to retreat if their practice triggers the formations.

Character development and interactions

• Jiang Yun acts cautiously despite his powerful treasures, weighing danger against opportunity. He increasingly sees himself as responsible for cultivating not only his own power but also the growth of his Source World. He believes Dao Severing is near.
• Jiang Shuanglan worries when Jiang Yun risks retrieving the Great Saint’s body and questions whether cultivating amid the formations is safe.
• Huolin’er recognizes the Divine Mark Purple Gold pagoda and Green Copper Immortal Cauldron, adding historical knowledge and expressing interest in the cauldron.
• Xia Jiuyou is shaken by the Quasi-Emperor’s death, then eagerly supports Jiang Yun’s plan to cultivate using the Source World as a safeguard. Jiang Yun responds affectionately.
• Xiao Nannan becomes unusually quiet near her brother’s grave. Jiang Yun protects her from the site’s dangers and honors the grave from afar.
• Jiang Yun’s Dao companions collect herbs and relics, but trust his judgment and remain disciplined despite the extraordinary temptations around them.

Significant themes

• Fortune and peril are inseparable: the Ascension Ground offers immense treasures, but even Great Saints and Quasi-Emperors have died there.
• Caution and preparation: the group survives by following the map, respecting the formations, and relying on layered protection rather than brute force.
• Cultivation through inheritance and stewardship: ancient remains can nourish the Source World and help Jiang Yun deepen its Dao, making cultivation a responsibility to a larger world.
• The fragility of ambition: the Quasi-Emperor’s rare treasure could not save him, and the once-grand plans behind the Immortal Cauldron were left in ruins.
• Transition and approaching change: Jiang Yun’s imminent Dao Severing marks a coming shift in his cultivation and his time on Earth.