Chapter Summaries

Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun discovers that the laws of the Dark Source can intertwine with the normal Grand Dao within his Double Pupils. This creates a powerful divine ability capable of combining two opposing law systems.
• His system panel unexpectedly changes “Double Pupils 100%” into “Eye of the Heavenly Dao—Double Pupils 5%,” revealing that the physique can continue evolving beyond its original limit.
• Jiang Yun learns that this advanced physique can only be improved through special imprints obtained from Tong Yue. Each tiny increase requires a large number of these exclusive imprints.
• After spending several days with Tong Yue following their marriage, Jiang Yun leaves their room and reunites with Jiang Shuanglan, Zixia, and Qin Yao. The women tease him about keeping Tong Yue inside for seven days and prepare to welcome her as a new sister.
• Jiang Yun then travels to the Reincarnation Road to investigate the mysterious technique associated with the Nine-Colored Mysterious Bird, which had even attracted the attention of the Desolate Emperor.
• He observes that the formation draining the Black Bird’s essence has become less effective because her origin energy is nearly exhausted. She has been sealed and weakened for millions of years, and the formation’s continued extraction has pushed her close to collapse.
• Instead of immediately approaching her, Jiang Yun studies the nine ancient stone artifacts surrounding the area. He recognizes a connection between them and the Stone Millstone beneath Kunlun.
• The Stone Millstone purifies and grinds away impurities, while the Nine Stone Artifacts refine the origin of life. Together, they produce a mysterious liquid capable of nourishing and transforming life.
• Jiang Yun realizes that comprehending the Nine Stone Artifacts could help purify and merge his many bloodlines and physiques, greatly advancing his Flesh Origin Path.
• Just as he begins studying the artifacts, the Black Bird’s voice suddenly enters his consciousness and asks whether he has made up his mind.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun: Gains a deeper understanding of the Double-Pupiled Physique and discovers that it has evolved into the higher-level Eye of the Heavenly Dao. He becomes more excited about exploring unknown powers and sees the new physique as a major trump card. His interest also shifts toward refining his body, bloodlines, and Dao Origin Physique.
• Tong Yue: Becomes Jiang Yun’s Dao companion and begins integrating into his group of companions. Although embarrassed by Jiang Yun’s intense affection, her favorability toward him increases. Her unique imprints become essential to advancing his evolved Double Pupils.
• Jiang Shuanglan, Zixia, and Qin Yao: Welcome Tong Yue into their circle and playfully tease Jiang Yun about his excessive time with her. Their interactions suggest that they are accepting Tong Yue as a sister and are capable of managing their relationships without Jiang Yun’s intervention.
• Nine-Colored Mysterious Bird/Black Bird: Is shown to be in a severely weakened condition. Her origin essence is almost depleted by the Spirit-Absorbing Formation, making her survival increasingly uncertain. Nevertheless, she retains enough awareness and power to communicate with Jiang Yun.

Significant Themes

• Evolution beyond limits: The Double Pupils demonstrate that bloodlines and physiques can continue advancing beyond their presumed completion, becoming part of a higher Dao-based transformation.
• Balance and fusion of opposites: The intertwining of Dark Source laws and normal Grand Dao laws reflects the power created by combining opposing forces.
• The relationship between physiques and the Grand Dao: Jiang Yun recognizes that ultimate cultivation may involve transforming all bloodlines and physiques into a unified Dao Origin Physique and Bloodline.
• Refinement and rebirth: The Stone Millstone and Nine Stone Artifacts symbolize purification, repeated tempering, and the elevation of life through suffering and transformation.
• Power and exploitation: The Spirit-Absorbing Formation provides resources for Jiang Yun but does so by draining the already weakened Black Bird, creating moral and narrative tension.
• Companionship and group harmony: Tong Yue’s integration into Jiang Yun’s household highlights the development of relationships among his companions and their willingness to accept one another.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun admires Tong Yue’s role in helping him discover the Double Pupils’ evolution and affectionately calls her his lucky star.
• Tong Yue reacts with embarrassment and resistance to Jiang Yun’s advances, while Jiang Yun responds with playful insistence and passion.
• Jiang Shuanglan, Zixia, and Qin Yao jokingly criticize Jiang Yun for exhausting Tong Yue and prepare gifts and advice for her.
• Jiang Yun deliberately leaves the women alone so they can build their relationship with Tong Yue without his interference.
• At the end of the chapter, the Black Bird interrupts Jiang Yun’s contemplation with a direct question, signaling an important upcoming decision or negotiation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun continues using an absorption formation against the sealed Xuan Emperor—the Nine-Hued Mysterious Bird—to prevent her from absorbing outside vital essence and breaking the Desolate Emperor’s seal.
• Xuan Emperor remains calm and dismissive, insisting that the formation can only drain a trace of her leaking vitality and cannot damage her origin. She alternately threatens Jiang Yun, warns him of punishment from the Darkness Faction’s Ancestors, and tempts him with a supreme secret art supposedly coveted even by Sacrificial Dao experts.
• Jiang Yun finally silences her voice transmission with the formation. However, he had deliberately listened to her earlier because her words revealed useful information: the secret art requires mastery of the Great Void Flame and the Ancient Cosmos Flame.
• Jiang Yun suspects the art may be connected to an extraordinarily powerful flame mentioned in an ancient verse, but concludes that such a possibility is currently beyond him. He decides to remain cautious and wait for Xuan Emperor to become desperate enough to reveal more.
• He then focuses on the enormous stone artifacts on the Reincarnation Road. These objects are projections of the Underworld Source and contain profound Dao Marks. Jiang Yun attempts to move them into his Source World for easier study, but they dissolve whenever he tries, forcing him to comprehend them where they stand.
• Through prolonged observation, meditation, and use of his Double Pupils, Jiang Yun begins extracting the stone artifacts’ Dao principles and using them as references for developing his own methods.
• The chapter concludes with Jiang Yun reflecting on the unique cultivation path he has created: the Flesh Origin Method. He explains that it develops a cultivator’s physique and bloodline through ten stages, ultimately guiding them toward the Immortal Dao Realm and potentially beyond.
• The Flesh Origin Method has already been tested by many cultivators. True Dragon Bloodlines and Chaotic Physiques have successfully evolved, demonstrating that the method is viable.
• Jiang Yun has incorporated numerous bloodline and physique cultivation systems into the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stems Volumes, containing thirty-six powerful physiques and thirty-six powerful bloodlines that can complement and strengthen one another.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun remains patient, calculating, and highly guarded. Rather than being provoked by Xuan Emperor’s insults or lured by her promises, he uses her emotional outbursts to gather information.
• His strategic confidence grows: he recognizes that draining a Quasi-Immortal Emperor is impossible in the short term and focuses instead on restricting her recovery and learning her secrets.
• Jiang Yun also shows increasing maturity in cultivation. He no longer depends heavily on inherited scriptures or secret arts, believing that the highest realm can only be reached by forging a path suited to oneself.
• His confidence in the Flesh Origin Method strengthens as repeated tests prove that it can genuinely develop bloodlines and physiques.
• Xuan Emperor/Nine-Hued Mysterious Bird is revealed to be proud, manipulative, and furious at her weakened, sealed condition. Her threats and seduction fail, but her loss of composure causes her to disclose valuable information.
• References to the Desolate Emperor, Tong Yue, and the Pollen Path emphasize the influence of powerful predecessors and companions on Jiang Yun’s development, even though he ultimately intends to surpass imitation and create his own Dao.

Significant Themes

• Strategy over brute force: Jiang Yun understands his limitations and uses the formation mainly to restrict Xuan Emperor rather than expecting to defeat her directly.
• Knowledge gained through conflict: Xuan Emperor’s anger and arrogance unintentionally provide Jiang Yun with clues about the secret art and the two supreme flames.
• Forging one’s own path: The chapter strongly emphasizes that copying Immortal Emperor scriptures cannot create true supremacy. Great cultivators must develop a Dao based on their own experiences, nature, and comprehension.
• Cultivation as exploration: The mysterious stone artifacts serve as references, but Jiang Yun does not simply imitate their principles. He studies them to refine and evolve his own methods.
• Creation and inheritance: Jiang Yun draws wisdom from ancient figures, scriptures, bloodlines, and physiques while transforming those influences into the Flesh Origin Method and the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stems Volumes.
• Potential and self-development: The Flesh Origin Method focuses on awakening and completing the power already present within a cultivator’s body and bloodline.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun and Xuan Emperor: Their exchange is a battle of wills. Xuan Emperor attempts intimidation, threats, and temptation, while Jiang Yun remains unmoved and manipulates the conversation to extract information. He eventually cuts off her voice, asserting control over their interaction.
• Jiang Yun and the stone artifacts: Although not a conventional dialogue, Jiang Yun treats the ancient projections as silent teachers, studying their rotations and Dao Marks in an attempt to uncover their mysteries.
• Jiang Yun and his predecessors/allies: His thoughts connect the Desolate Emperor, the Pollen Path’s female emperor, Tong Yue, and other cultivators to his own development. Their methods and achievements provide reference points, but Jiang Yun insists that his ultimate Dao must be uniquely his own.

Chapter Summary: “Thirty-Six Volumes! The Myriad Things Elucidate the Dao!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun’s Thirty-Six Heavenly Stems Volumes establish a cultivation system centered on refining and evolving powerful physiques and bloodlines. Cultivators can gradually merge these inheritances until they form a unique bloodline and physique of their own.
• Several supreme physiques are introduced:
  • Innate Sacred Physique Dao Embryo, formed from the Sacred Physique and Innate Dao Fetus.
  • Sacred Origin Spirit Physique, created by combining the Origin Spirit, Sacred, and Divine physiques.
  • Supreme Human King Extreme Yang Physique, formed from the Supreme Immortal, Human King, and Sun-related physiques.
  • Primordial Demon Jiuyou Extreme Yin Physique, created from the Primordial Demon, Jiuyou Immortal, and Taiyin physiques.
  • Peerless Battle Physique, formed by merging the Brahma Battle, Barbarian War God, and Heavenly Tyrant physiques.
• Jiang Yun has advanced far beyond his successors, successfully developing the Dao Origin Physique and Dao Origin Bloodline. Those who inherit his method are still struggling to follow the path he pioneered.
• His system differs from traditional cultivation because it focuses on the ultimate evolution of the physical body and bloodline, using physiques as manifestations of different Great Daos. For example, Yin-Yang cultivation may produce the Kunpeng Bloodline, strength cultivation may awaken the Heavenly Horn Ant Bloodline, and Chaos cultivation may manifest the Chaotic Physique.
• Although this evolutionary path could potentially lead to the Sacrificial Dao Realm, Jiang Yun realizes that it may not be the ultimate path most suited to him.
• Inspired partly by the mysterious stone millstone, Jiang Yun develops a new principle: “All Heavens as volumes, all living beings as scriptures; heaven and earth elucidate the Dao, refining a sole Source Dao.”
• He concludes that the Dao is not distant or inaccessible. It is present in everything—plants, mountains, stars, rivers, living creatures, and even ruined worlds. All things are physical manifestations of the Grand Dao and contain the experiences and truths left behind by nature and ancient cultivators.
• Jiang Yun sits before nine sets of mysterious stone artifacts, studying their projected runes. Using his evolved eyes and the laws of his Source World, he sees the artifacts as an ocean of fundamental Dao symbols and begins extracting their mysteries.

Character Development

• Jiang Yun evolves from merely studying existing physiques and bloodlines to seeking a personal, original Source Dao.
• He becomes increasingly confident and ambitious in his philosophy. Rather than passively “seeking” the Dao, he wants to actively pursue, reshape, and ultimately define it.
• His ambition is expressed in the declaration: “What I say is the Dao.” This shows his desire to transcend conventional paths and make the Dao conform to his own understanding.
• Jiang Yun is portrayed as a solitary pioneer. With no ancient Immortal Emperors or companions to guide him, he accepts that he must create his own road through continuous experimentation and accumulation.
• His Double Pupils have undergone immense refinement, allowing him to perceive even the finest traces of laws and Dao Marks. His Source World has also developed into a unique domain capable of influencing and excluding the surrounding power of heaven and earth.

Significant Themes

• Evolution through integration: Cultivators advance by studying, refining, and eventually merging many physiques and bloodlines into one individualized source of power.
• The Dao exists in all things: Nature itself is treated as a vast scripture, with every object and phenomenon revealing a different aspect of cosmic truth.
• Creation versus inheritance: Jiang Yun respects the paths left by earlier beings but seeks to surpass them by creating a path without ready-made scriptures or predecessors.
• Active pursuit of destiny: Cultivation is not passive enlightenment; Jiang Yun sees it as an intense process of exploration, struggle, and imposing one’s own understanding upon reality.
• Solitude and pioneering: True breakthroughs require walking beyond established knowledge, even when no one can accompany or guide the cultivator.
• The relationship between the Dao and existence: The chapter raises the unresolved question of whether the Dao created all things or whether all things gave form to the Dao.

Character Interactions

• The chapter contains little direct interpersonal interaction. Jiang Yun’s main “dialogue” is with:
  • The natural world, which he treats as an immense scripture containing countless Dao Marks.
  • His own Source World, where he analyzes and organizes the mysteries of different physiques and bloodlines.
  • The nine stone artifacts, whose projected runes he studies as manifestations of the universe’s fundamental laws.
• His most important interaction is philosophical: he engages with the accumulated wisdom of ancient cultivators and the traces of the Dao embedded throughout heaven and earth, using them to advance a cultivation path that belongs solely to him.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun studies the Reincarnation Road and discovers that the patterns embedded within it were left by the creator of the Nine Stone Artifacts. These patterns project Dao Marks into the rotating artifacts, gradually increasing their mysterious power.
• By examining the artifacts’ runes, Jiang Yun realizes they are not equivalent to the Grindstone beneath Kunlun. The Grindstone represents destruction, purification, and a return to the source, while the Nine Stone Artifacts represent deduction, transformation, compression, and refinement.
• He notices that the artifacts’ patterns resemble traces of the Myriad Tribulations Reincarnation Lotus. From this, he reconstructs the Underworld’s cultivation process:
  1. The Nine Stone Artifacts extract and refine the corpses of living beings.
  2. The Grindstone further crushes and purifies the resulting essence.
  3. The refined Mystic Liquid nourishes dormant seeds in insect-nest-like structures.
  4. After millions of years, the seeds are sent to the Final Land and transformed through the Reincarnation Lotus into Quasi-Immortal Emperors.
• Jiang Yun suspects that this may be the Underworld’s method for mass-producing Quasi-Immortal Emperors. He also theorizes that the Grindstone and the Reincarnation Lotus were supreme methods created to counter the threat of strangeness and ominousness.
• Through prolonged study, Jiang Yun develops a new cultivation path based on treating everything in heaven and earth as a “scripture” containing Dao principles.
• The Nine Stone Artifacts temper his body, bloodlines, constitutions, and Dao Origin Physique. Similar Dao Marks fuse together, causing a major qualitative improvement in his cultivation and physical evolution.
• During a vision connected to the Grindstone, Jiang Yun witnesses the origin of the Nine Stone Artifacts. He sees the Myriad Tribulations Reincarnation Lotus purifying and compressing its own laws, rapidly evolving, and granting transformative power to a fish that becomes a True Dragon.
• A primordial pattern from the Lotus is divided into nine parts and refined into the Nine Stone Artifacts. Jiang Yun realizes the artifacts contain less than one-tenth of the Lotus’s Dao Marks, yet even this fragment reveals astonishing mysteries.

Character Development

• Jiang Yun becomes increasingly perceptive and intellectually confident. Rather than merely using the artifacts, he investigates their origins and underlying principles.
• His understanding of the distinction between destruction, purification, transformation, and evolution becomes much clearer.
• He begins to establish a cultivation system uniquely his own, based on personal comprehension rather than inheriting an existing method.
• His body and bloodlines undergo significant purification and strengthening as he incorporates the artifacts’ Dao Marks.
• His worldview expands: ordinary objects such as dust, grass, mountains, and rivers become sources of Dao insight, while ancient treasures are understood as records of cosmic history and law.
• Witnessing the Lotus’s transformation leaves him shocked and humbled, but also gives him an unprecedented glimpse into the origins of supreme powers.

Significant Themes

• The pursuit of origins: Jiang Yun seeks to understand how powerful objects and methods were created rather than accepting them as naturally existing treasures.
• Transformation through purification: The chapter contrasts destruction and purification by the Grindstone with compression, refinement, and evolution through the Nine Stone Artifacts and the Reincarnation Lotus.
• Self-created cultivation: Jiang Yun’s strongest path emerges from his own understanding of himself and the world, emphasizing individuality and innovation.
• All things contain the Dao: Nature, artifacts, living beings, and even microscopic objects function as “scriptures” that reveal different aspects of cosmic law.
• The limits of comprehension: Although Jiang Yun gains extraordinary insight, he recognizes that the Nine Stone Artifacts reveal only a tiny fraction of the Reincarnation Lotus’s true mysteries.
• Creation and manipulation of life: The Underworld’s possible mass-production of Quasi-Immortal Emperors raises questions about artificial evolution, the use of corpses, and the deliberate engineering of powerful beings.

Character Interactions

• The chapter contains no direct interpersonal confrontations or extended dialogue. Jiang Yun’s primary “interaction” is with the Nine Stone Artifacts, the Reincarnation Road, the Grindstone, and the vision of the Myriad Tribulations Reincarnation Lotus.
• His interaction with these ancient objects is investigative and reciprocal: he deciphers their Dao Marks, while their projected power reshapes his body, bloodlines, and cultivation path.
• Through his vision, Jiang Yun symbolically observes the Lotus transforming a fish into a True Dragon, illustrating how purified Dao power can elevate ordinary life into a vastly higher existence.

Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun reflects on the origin of cultivation: ancient practitioners observed Dao patterns within all things, imitated them, and inscribed them into their bodies to gain supernatural abilities.
• For more than a year, he studies the nine mysterious stone artifacts, attempting to trace their Dao Marks back to their source and incorporate their principles into his own cultivation system.
• He develops an early method for using the artifacts to temper and fuse his numerous bloodlines. The process dramatically accelerates his bloodline evolution, though it consumes immense vital energy and leaves him physically exhausted.
• To replenish himself, Jiang Yun consumes a bowl of broth and meat refined by the Desolate Emperor over tens of millions of years. The food contains Quasi-Immortal Emperor-level energy and hidden Dao fragments, enabling him to continue his cultivation.
• Over approximately five hundred years, Jiang Yun repeatedly consumes small amounts of the precious medicine while refining a new bloodline-fusion method. He eventually combines the insights of the nine stone artifacts with his own discoveries to create the “Nine Revolutions Source-Returning Scripture.”
• This scripture increases the transformation speed of his Grand Dao origin by more than tenfold. His fourth bloodline transformation, once expected to take tens of thousands of years, is now estimated to require only six hundred more years.
• Jiang Yun begins exploring the wider universe as a source of Dao knowledge. In a forbidden region of the Reincarnation Road, he observes its patterns and derives a terrifying new offensive technique. A single punch produces cracks that sever time and space and could destroy groups of Immortal King Giants.
• He continues traveling between worlds, studying Immortal Gold, rare treasures, natural phenomena, and the laws contained within all things. His cultivation is no longer limited to fusing the bloodlines of living beings; he now treats heaven and earth themselves as an endless scripture.
• Having fully explored the Immortal King realm, Jiang Yun returns to the Hundred-Li Grand Formation, where the Black Bird remains imprisoned and slowly drained of her origin vitality.
• The Black Bird’s condition has severely deteriorated. The formation now requires nearly ten days to extract even a single strand of her bodily origin energy, though completely exhausting a Quasi-Immortal Emperor remains extremely difficult.
• Ruthless continues meditating inside the hive-like structure within the formation. Because of her weakened condition, the Black Bird has been unable to guide Ruthless toward the higher caves.

Character Development

• Jiang Yun becomes increasingly independent and innovative as a cultivator. Rather than merely inheriting existing techniques, he constructs a personal Dao based on observing and reconstructing the principles of the universe.
• His bloodline-fusion method develops from an experimental idea into a powerful cultivation system, greatly accelerating his progress toward his fourth transformation.
• By creating the Nine Revolutions Source-Returning Scripture, Jiang Yun reaches a new stage of self-created cultivation and moves beyond the framework of the Thirty-Six Source Scrolls.
• His combat ability also advances significantly. He can now transform environmental Dao patterns into attacks powerful enough to threaten top Immortal King experts.
• The Black Bird grows steadily weaker under the formation’s prolonged extraction, though her Quasi-Immortal Emperor vitality allows her to endure far longer than expected.
• Ruthless remains calm and focused on cultivation but is indirectly hindered by the Black Bird’s decline and inability to provide further guidance.

Significant Themes

• Creating one’s own path: True cultivation is portrayed as understanding existing Dao principles and then transforming them into a unique personal system.
• Heaven and earth as scripture: Jiang Yun treats all objects, treasures, and natural environments as sources of knowledge, emphasizing observation, experimentation, and synthesis.
• Perseverance and long-term progress: His achievements arise from centuries of repeated practice rather than sudden enlightenment.
• The cost of advancement: Powerful cultivation consumes enormous energy and rare resources, forcing Jiang Yun to balance immediate progress against the preservation of irreplaceable treasures.
• Transformation and limitless potential: The chapter repeatedly suggests that Jiang Yun’s bloodline and Dao may continue evolving beyond previously understood limits.
• Exploitation and endurance: The Black Bird’s imprisonment contrasts with Jiang Yun’s growth, showing the brutal cost of the formation while emphasizing the extraordinary resilience of a Quasi-Immortal Emperor.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun’s main direct interaction is with the imprisoned Black Bird. Their ongoing conflict centers on his use of the Hundred-Li Grand Formation to extract her vitality and his attempts to force her to reveal valuable secret techniques.
• The Black Bird and Ruthless are connected through their confinement in the hive-like structure. Although the Black Bird previously guided Ruthless, her declining strength now prevents her from helping Ruthless advance to the higher caves.
• Jiang Yun also interacts indirectly with the Desolate Emperor through the rare medicinal food he left behind, using the Emperor’s refined treasure to fuel his own unprecedented cultivation path.

Chapter Summary: “Xuan Emperor Transmits Her Art? A Clash!”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun continues bargaining with the weakened Black Bird for the mysterious secret art she possesses. After centuries of draining her through the formation, he believes she is close to surrendering.
• The Black Bird agrees to teach him part of the art formula if he disables the hundred-li spirit-absorbing formation and helps her recover.
• Jiang Yun immediately senses that something is wrong: the temperature beneath the Black Bird’s remaining foot suddenly rises, indicating that she is preparing a powerful counterattack.
• Pretending to trust her, Jiang Yun partially shuts down the formation. However, he secretly leaves its restrictive functions active, preventing the Black Bird from truly replenishing her energy.
• The Black Bird demands that Jiang Yun enter the sealed area and offers to teach him the formulas for condensing the Great Void Flame and Ancient Cosmos Flame as proof of sincerity.
• Jiang Yun delays entering and asks how he can know whether the formulas are genuine. The Black Bird transmits both formulas to him, using a great deal of her remaining strength.
• Jiang Yun recognizes that the two flame arts are genuine and extremely powerful, potentially reaching the Imperial Dao level. They are foundational to the more mysterious secret art he seeks.
• After receiving the formulas, Jiang Yun begins shutting down the formation and pretends to step inside. He notices the Black Bird’s excitement and nervousness, confirming that she intends to ambush him.
• At the last moment, Jiang Yun stops and claims that he needs several days to study the foundational flame arts before learning anything more advanced.
• The Black Bird erupts in anger, realizing that Jiang Yun has deliberately avoided her trap. She tries to suppress her fury and persuade him to accept the secret art immediately, warning that the opportunity may not remain available.

2. Character Developments

• Jiang Yun: Becomes increasingly cautious, perceptive, and manipulative. He uses his Source Space to detect changes the Black Bird believes are hidden and relies on psychological testing rather than blindly trusting her promises. He obtains two valuable flame-condensing techniques without exposing himself to danger.
• The Black Bird: Has been reduced from a powerful nine-colored, six-winged, three-legged Quasi-Immortal Emperor to a severely weakened one-legged form. Her desperation and humiliation grow as Jiang Yun drains her strength and repeatedly refuses to enter her trap. Although she attempts to remain dignified and calculating, her hatred and desire for revenge increasingly control her actions.

3. Significant Themes

• Cunning versus overwhelming power: Though the Black Bird is vastly stronger in principle, her weakened state forces her to rely on deception. Jiang Yun survives through caution, observation, and strategic manipulation.
• Trust and betrayal: Both characters negotiate while fully expecting the other to betray them. Their apparent cooperation is merely another stage in their conflict.
• Patience and restraint: Jiang Yun refuses immediate rewards when they might endanger him, choosing secure gains over the tempting promise of the complete secret art.
• Power and decline: The Black Bird’s fall from Quasi-Immortal Emperor to a nearly powerless captive emphasizes how even supreme beings can be weakened by time, sealing formations, and sustained exploitation.
• Knowledge as power: The flame formulas are valuable not only for their combat potential but also because they allow Jiang Yun to judge the authenticity of the greater secret art.

4. Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun and the Black Bird engage in a prolonged psychological contest disguised as negotiation.
• The Black Bird attempts to lure Jiang Yun into the sealed area by offering genuine techniques and pretending to cooperate.
• Jiang Yun counters by partially disabling the formation, questioning the authenticity of the formulas, and observing the Black Bird’s emotional reactions.
• His final refusal to enter exposes the Black Bird’s hidden intentions and provokes her anger. She then shifts from open threats to manipulative persuasion, trying to make Jiang Yun fear that delaying will cause him to lose access to the secret art.

Chapter Summary: “Weeding Out the Traitors!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Immortal Kings increasingly accept that Heavenly Court has likely fallen. Its prolonged silence, failure to respond to repeated crises, and the Dark Lifeforms’ claims suggest that its forces were destroyed or trapped in another region.
• Double-Pupiled Immortal King and the Quasi-Emperor War Spear are revealed to have been Heavenly Court’s final remaining defenses. Her severe injuries and the weapon’s limitations convince many factions that Heavenly Court can no longer protect the Immortal Domain.
• The Immortal Alliance has already fractured into five factions. Jiang Yun’s rise briefly offered hope, but his fall into darkness causes many Immortal Kings to abandon the idea of joining his Dao Origin Faction.
• Immortal King Chu Xuan gathers allies, including Crimson Soul Immortal King, under the pretext of protecting the Immortal Domain from a potentially uncontrollable Jiang Yun. Their true goal is to obtain the Quasi-Emperor War Spear and gain supremacy.
• Chu Xuan argues that the weapon should be surrendered for the sake of unity, while Crimson Soul suggests seizing the Dao Origin Faction to uncover the location of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
• Chu Xuan rejects an immediate attack on the Dao Origin Faction. Although he plans to control it eventually, he recognizes that darkened Jiang Yun remains extremely dangerous and chooses patience over reckless action.
• Jiang Yun secretly observes Chu Xuan and his followers through an intercepted scene. Rather than becoming angry, he views their schemes as a useful opportunity to identify unreliable allies and traitors.
• Jiang Yun sends the evidence to Tong Yue. Together, they continue screening Immortal Kings and True Immortals who might be allowed into the hidden Source World.
• The chapter ends by establishing that suspected traitors may later be used as decoys or infiltrators. Their memories can be altered before they are left in the Immortal Domain, where they will help maintain the appearance of normal strength before the Dark Lifeforms’ future invasion.

Character Developments

• Immortal King Chu Xuan: Reveals himself as calculating, ambitious, and highly cautious. He publicly claims to seek unity but privately intends to seize the Emperor Spear, control the Dao Origin Faction, find the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin, and eventually cross Sword Light. His restraint shows that he understands the danger posed by Jiang Yun.
• Crimson Soul Immortal King: Remains loyal to Chu Xuan after previously following Double-Pupiled Immortal King for protection and resources. His eagerness to obtain the Emperor Spear and exploit the Dao Origin Faction exposes his greed and opportunism.
• Jiang Yun: Demonstrates confidence and strategic control despite his supposed fall into darkness. He understands that Chu Xuan’s plans cannot succeed without overwhelming strength and deliberately uses the conspiracy to test the loyalty of the Immortal Alliance.
• Double-Pupiled Immortal King: Her weakened condition becomes central to the political crisis. Her injuries and possible dark corruption cause others to question whether she can still protect the Immortal Domain.
• Tong Yue: Shares Jiang Yun’s careful approach to selecting trustworthy allies. Her role in monitoring the Immortal Alliance emphasizes the seriousness of protecting the Source World.
• The Immortal Kings: Their reactions reveal that many are motivated less by loyalty or resistance to darkness than by fear, self-preservation, and the desire to control the Quasi-Emperor War Spear.

Significant Themes

• Decline of old powers: Heavenly Court’s disappearance marks the collapse of an ancient authority and leaves the Immortal Domain vulnerable to internal factionalism and external invasion.
• Power versus political schemes: The chapter repeatedly emphasizes that schemes are worthless without sufficient strength. The Emperor Spear represents the decisive authority that can transform political ambition into reality.
• Loyalty under pressure: Jiang Yun and Tong Yue test allies by observing how they behave when confronted with danger and temptation. Those who abandon their companions for personal gain are classified as potential traitors.
• Caution and long-term planning: Chu Xuan’s slow, careful strategy contrasts with the impulsiveness of his followers. Jiang Yun and Tong Yue likewise prioritize secrecy and preparation over immediate victories.
• Appearance and deception: The protagonists plan to leave altered or manipulated traitors behind to make the Immortal Domain appear defended, ensuring the Dark Lifeforms do not discover the Source World’s existence.
• Sacrifice for survival: The coming Grand Sacrifice and Dark Lifeforms’ invasion require morally difficult decisions, including using former allies as decoys and accepting that not everyone can be protected.

Character Interactions

• Chu Xuan and Crimson Soul: Their chess-game discussion reveals their shared ambition. Chu Xuan controls the conversation and restrains Crimson Soul’s greed, while Crimson Soul confirms his loyalty by echoing Chu Xuan’s accusations against Jiang Yun.
• Chu Xuan and the Dao Origin Faction: Though he intends to control the faction, Chu Xuan refuses to attack immediately because he fears provoking Jiang Yun before securing the Emperor Spear.
• Jiang Yun and Chu Xuan: Their relationship is defined by hidden surveillance and strategic opposition. Jiang Yun understands Chu Xuan’s intentions and regards his plotting with amused confidence.
• Jiang Yun and Tong Yue: Jiang Yun sends Tong Yue proof of the faction’s betrayal, reinforcing their partnership and shared responsibility for judging who deserves protection.
• The Immortal Alliance and Heavenly Court: The Alliance’s former dependence on Heavenly Court has shifted into suspicion and opportunism. With Heavenly Court apparently gone, the Immortal Kings begin positioning themselves to inherit its authority rather than defend its legacy.

Chapter Summary: “False Prosperity! World-Purifying Great Millstone!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Over several thousand years, the Immortal Alliance’s perception of past heroes has changed. Many now foolishly claim that Jiang Yun and the Double-Pupiled Immortal King were overrated, while Immortal King Chu Xuan is the true supreme power.
• Surrounded by praise and enjoying the Immortal Alliance’s temporary peace, Chu Xuan becomes arrogant and begins believing these exaggerated claims.
• Jiang Yun observes the Alliance through the Source Ring and recognizes that its apparent golden age is built on a fragile illusion. With the major threats temporarily absent, the Immortal Kings have grown complacent and believe their prosperity will last.
• Some Immortal Kings reject the Alliance’s factional struggles and withdraw into the Sea of Realms to cultivate. Jiang Yun considers these Dao-focused recluses more trustworthy than those obsessed with authority and profit.
• Jiang Yun grows increasingly concerned about the mysterious Sword Light at the end of the Sea of Realms. It has fluctuated twice—once four thousand years earlier, triggering the Dark Lifeforms’ invasion, and again five hundred years ago without obvious consequences.
• He fears the Sword Light may collapse if the Desolate Emperor and the Heavenly Court can no longer maintain their struggle against the forces Above Heaven. Its disappearance could unleash another catastrophe, though it would not necessarily mean the final defeat of the enemy or the end of the era.
• Jiang Yun calculates that the Grand Sacrifice will not begin for at least another 730,000 years, giving the original trio time to reach the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm and fight the Four Source Lands and Soul River.
• He sets himself the goal of reaching the Immortal Emperor realm before the end of the era.
• Returning to the Reincarnation Road beneath Kunlun, Jiang Yun continues studying the golden Dao Runes within the mysterious Grindstone.
• From this comprehension, he develops a new divine ability: the World-Purifying Great Millstone, an illusory grindstone capable of extracting and destroying hidden corruption, darkness, and ominous energy.
• When activated, it removes gray and blood-red mists from Jiang Yun’s body. He realizes these dangerous forces have been accumulating inside him without his awareness, possibly due to prolonged contact with the imprisoned Black Bird.
• Jiang Yun suspects that this strange and ominous aura may be the deeper cause behind the corruption of the Dark Lifeforms, the Calamity Plateau, and the repeated Grand Sacrifices—not merely ordinary dark power.
• He imprints the purifying Dao Marks into both the Source World and the Dark Source World, cleansing some of the hidden aura within them.
• After repeatedly exhausting his divine sense and restoring himself with Quasi-Immortal Emperor meat broth, Jiang Yun gradually makes the Great Millstone more substantial and powerful.
• He wonders whether the technique could help Tong Yue, who may have accumulated even more ominous contamination over tens of millions of years. The chapter ends as Jiang Yun opens a spatial rift and departs to investigate this possibility.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun: Remains cautious, strategic, and focused on long-term dangers rather than temporary political success. He becomes more determined to reach the Immortal Emperor realm and gains a powerful new purification technique. His discovery of the hidden aura also deepens his understanding of the world’s true enemies.
• Immortal King Chu Xuan: Becomes increasingly arrogant and self-deluded because of the Immortal Alliance’s flattery and lack of immediate opposition. His confidence is presented as dangerous and unwarranted.
• The Double-Pupiled Immortal King: Though still recovering from severe injuries, his former influence continues to shape the Immortal Alliance’s politics.
• The reclusive Immortal Kings: Their withdrawal demonstrates a preference for cultivation and the Dao over political competition. Jiang Yun views them as potentially reliable allies.
• Tong Yue: Does not appear directly, but Jiang Yun’s concern for her suggests a developing intention to protect or purify her.
• The Desolate Emperor and Heavenly Court: Their ongoing battles against forces Above Heaven are revealed to be essential to the apparent peace enjoyed by the Immortal Domain.

Significant Themes

• False prosperity and complacency: The Immortal Alliance’s peaceful golden age is temporary and depends on powerful beings secretly bearing the world’s burdens.
• Power versus reputation: Public opinion has distorted the achievements of Jiang Yun and the Double-Pupiled Immortal King, while elevating Chu Xuan based on current political circumstances.
• Hidden corruption: The most dangerous threats may be invisible forces that infiltrate even the bodies and souls of powerful beings.
• The burden of unseen guardians: The apparent stability of the realms exists because figures such as the Desolate Emperor and the Heavenly Court continue fighting beyond the public eye.
• Purification and transformation: The World-Purifying Great Millstone symbolizes the removal of corruption and the possibility of restoring the world to a purer state.
• Preparation for future catastrophe: Jiang Yun’s actions show that true security comes from preparation and strength, not from temporary peace.

Important Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun observes and evaluates the Immortal Alliance through the Source Ring, contrasting his perspective with Chu Xuan’s growing arrogance.
• The Immortal Alliance’s Immortal Kings and True Immortals collectively reinforce Chu Xuan’s inflated sense of superiority through flattery.
• Jiang Yun considers forming ties with the reclusive Immortal Kings who value the Dao over political power.
• Jiang Yun reflects on his connection to the Desolate Emperor and the Heavenly Court’s defense of the Sword Light.
• His final concern for Tong Yue motivates his next move, suggesting that the World-Purifying Great Millstone may become a means of saving others from hidden contamination.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun asks Tong Yue to test the divine ability he has developed, the World-Purifying Great Millstone.
• He explains that the technique manifests a grindstone capable of drawing out and destroying sinister, ominous energy.
• Tong Yue recalls that Heaven once possessed a mysterious Grindstone coveted by an Immortal Emperor, leading Jiang Yun to suspect that Desolate Emperor may have seized it for a deliberate purpose.
• After several days of meditation, Tong Yue successfully forms a faint phantom Grindstone around herself. It extracts and grinds away an enormous amount of sinister aura hidden within her body.
• The process reveals that Tong Yue, despite her strength and experience fighting Dark Lifeforms and visiting Heaven, has been heavily contaminated by dark power.
• Jiang Yun and Tong Yue conclude that everyone should learn the technique, since sinister aura is nearly impossible to detect or avoid.
• Jiang Yun reasons that the Grindstone may not only purify contamination but also erase the traces by which the Calamity Plateau tracks cultivators. This could explain how Desolate Emperor and others managed to hide from the Plateau Ancestors.
• He doubts that complete purification is possible, but believes the technique might eliminate most of the sinister influence and preserve a cultivator’s sanity.
• Jiang Yun then examines nine newly created Chaos Minor Realms surrounding the Source World. He has secretly separated them from the Source World and covered them with his Dao laws.
• Unlike the older Dao Origin World, which contains objects and beings contaminated by outside darkness, these nine realms remain completely pure because they contain only primordial Chaos and have never been entered or influenced directly.
• Jiang Yun considers whether these realms could eventually become worlds hidden from the Calamity Plateau, though they are still empty and have not yet developed life.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun demonstrates increasing mastery of Dao laws and greater strategic foresight. He views the World-Purifying Great Millstone not merely as a defensive technique but as a possible means of concealment and survival against the Calamity Plateau.
• His concern for Tong Yue is clear when he comforts her after she discovers the extent of her contamination.
• Jiang Yun’s long-term planning becomes more apparent: his apparent “fall into darkness” and the halted expansion of the Source World are revealed to be part of a larger deception designed to protect the Source World.
• Tong Yue deepens her trust and emotional bond with Jiang Yun. Her reaction changes from curiosity to shock, then excitement, as she realizes the technique may offer hope against the dark forces.
• Her successful cultivation confirms that the technique can work on powerful beings and reveals how deeply even veteran fighters have been affected by sinister energy.

Significant Themes

• Hidden corruption: Sinister power can infiltrate even powerful and experienced cultivators without their awareness, making purification essential.
• Hope through knowledge and cooperation: The Millstone technique offers a possible method of resisting darkness, emphasizing the importance of sharing discoveries rather than keeping them secret.
• The limits of immortality: The deaths of Immortal Emperors and Brother Emperor Bone show that even supreme beings can be truly destroyed; remembrance alone cannot always restore them.
• Concealment and survival: Purifying dark aura may allow cultivators and entire worlds to evade the perception and deductions of the Calamity Plateau.
• Patience and natural growth: Jiang Yun refuses to force the development of the nine minor realms, recognizing that worlds and life require time to evolve.
• Strategic resistance: The struggle against the Plateau is fought not only through direct combat but also through deception, hidden refuges, purification, and careful preparation.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun and Tong Yue share an intimate and trusting relationship, strengthened by centuries of companionship.
• Jiang Yun teaches Tong Yue the World-Purifying Great Millstone through divine sense and personally guides her comprehension.
• Tong Yue shares her knowledge of Heaven, including its past Immortal Emperors and the mysterious Grindstone, allowing Jiang Yun to connect ancient events with his present discoveries.
• When Tong Yue is shaken by the amount of sinister aura inside her, Jiang Yun reassures and comforts her.
• They jointly recognize the importance of teaching the technique to all their allies, transforming a private breakthrough into a potential weapon for the entire resistance.

Chapter Summary: “Breakthrough! Quasi-Immortal Emperor!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun recognizes that the Source World may eventually be discovered by powerful Ancestors. To prepare for that possible catastrophe, he decides to develop the nine newly created Small Worlds into secret sanctuaries and potential escape routes.
• He conceals the nine Small Worlds within his body, making them a hidden trump card for the future. He also plans to become a Quasi-Immortal Emperor, deal with the imprisoned Black Bird, and then use the Sword Light through Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin to investigate Heaven.
• Jiang Yun distributes the [World-Purifying Great Millstone] secret art to Tong Yue and the leaders of the Dao Origin Divine Hall and Dao Origin Heavenly Palace.
• When the leaders activate the technique, it extracts strange and ominous aura from their bodies and souls. Even ancient experts such as the Myriad Dragon Ancient Emperor and the Great Accomplished Sacred Physique are shocked to discover that this aura has secretly accumulated within them for countless years.
• Jiang Yun discovers that the ominous aura is not merely connected to Dark Matter. It exists independently throughout the Heavens and Myriad Realms—in cultivators, mortals, plants, stars, essence energy, and even the environment itself.
• Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue contain relatively little of this aura because of their youth and the special protection or arrangement left by the Desolate Emperor over the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
• The purification technique spreads through the Dao Origin Heavenly Palace, cleansing hidden contamination while also refining cultivators’ essence energy and improving their cultivation efficiency.
• After several years of preparation, Jiang Yun returns to the Reincarnation Road and enters centuries-long seclusion near the Black Bird. He focuses on perfecting the World-Purifying Great Millstone and the Nine Revolutions Source-Returning Scripture, while mastering the Great Void Flame and Ancient Cosmos Flame.
• Jiang Yun eventually chooses to undergo his fourth transformation in the Dark Source World. He wants to integrate dark power more completely into his bloodline and discover whether transforming with his Dark Body will produce unusual effects.
• During the breakthrough, his Grand Dao laws are drawn out and fused throughout his body. Activating the Nine Revolutions Source-Returning Scripture, he draws strength from the countless bloodlines and physiques he has absorbed, reforging them into his Dao Origin Physique and Dao Origin Bloodline.
• A massive Grindstone phantom appears above him, purifying and reorganizing the laws within his body. His form cycles through numerous divine beasts and foreign races before returning to its original appearance.
• Jiang Yun successfully breaks through a major cultivation shackle. His fourth transformation is completed, resulting in a qualitative increase in strength and bringing him to the threshold of the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun becomes increasingly strategic and cautious. Rather than relying solely on strength, he establishes multiple contingency plans, including the nine Small Worlds as future sanctuaries.
• He gains a deeper understanding of the danger posed by the strange and ominous aura and takes responsibility for protecting the leaders and people connected to the Dao Origin Heavenly Palace.
• His cultivation path becomes more independent and refined than the Underworld’s method of mass-producing supreme beings. He personally integrates various bloodlines and physiques instead of merely borrowing or externally manipulating them.
• Jiang Yun’s mastery of the Great Void Flame, Ancient Cosmos Flame, World-Purifying Great Millstone, and Nine Revolutions Source-Returning Scripture demonstrates his growing control over both destructive and purifying powers.
• The ancient experts of the Dao Origin Heavenly Palace are forced to confront a hidden danger that has existed within them for ages, deepening their understanding of the world’s corruption.

Significant Themes

• Preparation against inevitable calamity: Jiang Yun’s creation of the Small Worlds reflects the need to prepare for defeat and preserve hope even against seemingly invincible enemies.
• Hidden corruption: The strange aura represents an invisible, universal contamination that affects all life, showing that danger may exist within ordinary existence long before it becomes visible.
• Purification and refinement: The World-Purifying Great Millstone symbolizes both the cleansing of corruption and the refinement necessary for higher cultivation.
• Self-created cultivation paths: Jiang Yun’s transformation shows the value of personally mastering and integrating multiple powers rather than depending on artificial or incomplete methods.
• The endless nature of cultivation: Even after mastering powerful techniques and reaching repeated transformations, Jiang Yun realizes that the Dao and the Nine Stone Artifacts still contain mysteries beyond his current understanding.
• Unity beneath different paths: Jiang Yun recognizes that his method and the Underworld’s methods differ, yet both pursue the same ultimate goal—the supreme realm.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun shares the World-Purifying Great Millstone with Tong Yue and the leaders of the Dao Origin Divine Hall and Dao Origin Heavenly Palace, strengthening their collective ability to resist corruption.
• The Myriad Dragon Ancient Emperor and the Great Accomplished Sacred Physique react with shock and seriousness after witnessing the ominous aura extracted from their bodies.
• Wushi, Qing Emperor, and the other powerful figures investigate the aura and help reveal that it exists independently from Dark Matter.
• Jiang Yun observes Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue, comparing their condition with that of older cultivators and identifying the protective uniqueness of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
• Though Jiang Yun has the opportunity to confront the Black Bird, he deliberately avoids provoking it, choosing instead to complete his transformation before attempting any further action.
• His reflections on the Underworld’s methods connect his cultivation journey to the broader struggle among ancient powers seeking to reach the supreme realm.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun’s fourth transformation reaches its climax in the Dark Source World. After months of intense bodily refinement, his Emperor Radiance becomes overwhelming before finally receding.
• He successfully breaks through to the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm, gaining power that transcends the Grand Dao. He can now destroy entire realms, influence the Heavens and Myriad Realms with his will, perceive the past and future, and travel freely through space and time.
• Jiang Yun tests his newfound abilities by appearing before the terrifying Sword Dao Radiance and then crossing the vast Sea of Realms in a single step. Although he still does not dare physically pass through the Desolate Emperor’s sword light, he can now partially comprehend it.
• Reflecting on his four transformations, Jiang Yun recognizes that he has risen from the pinnacle of immortality to Immortal King, then to Emperor Radiance, and finally to Quasi-Immortal Emperor. He realizes that a fifth transformation remains ahead, though the current world may not possess enough resources to support it.
• Finding no opponent in the Sea of Realms capable of challenging him, Jiang Yun decides to revisit the sealed Black Bird and obtain the mysterious secret art she had previously promised to transmit.
• He arrives outside the Hundred-Li Grand Formation and deliberately suspends it before appearing beneath the Hive Building.
• The Black Bird immediately senses his arrival and asks whether he is finally prepared to enter and receive her transmission. She is surprised to discover that Jiang Yun has already mastered both the Great Void Flame and the Ancient Cosmos Flame.
• Jiang Yun demonstrates his mastery by summoning and controlling both flames. He secretly observes the Black Bird’s reaction and realizes that his sudden appearance has caught her unprepared.

2. Character Developments

• Jiang Yun undergoes a major advancement, reaching the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm and becoming one of the supreme beings of the world. His physical body, bloodlines, and Dao Origin Physique have been transformed through the sacrifice and integration of many former physiques and bloodlines.
• His confidence grows substantially. He now understands that he has surpassed nearly every former powerhouse and can move through the world without relying on formations or special treasures.
• Despite his overwhelming strength, Jiang Yun remains cautious. He does not recklessly challenge the Desolate Emperor’s Sword Light and continues to plan strategically, especially in dealing with the Black Bird.
• The Black Bird has become less arrogant and more subdued after years of confinement. Rather than imposing conditions or acting domineering, she now mainly wishes to pass on her method to Jiang Yun.
• However, she is also shown to be calculating and secretive. She had intended to prepare a trump card before Jiang Yun arrived, but his sudden appearance leaves her unable to do so.

3. Significant Themes

• Transformation and transcendence: Jiang Yun’s fourth transformation represents a decisive leap beyond ordinary cultivation and the Grand Dao.
• The limits of the current world: Although Jiang Yun has reached the world’s summit, he recognizes that the Sea of Realms is too limited for his future growth and that Heaven, where many Immortal Emperors gather, must eventually be explored.
• Power and restraint: Jiang Yun possesses nearly unimaginable strength but still exercises caution before forces connected to the Desolate Emperor.
• Accumulated foundations: His breakthrough depends on the sacrifice and integration of countless bloodlines, physiques, and Dao laws, emphasizing that his power is built from the achievements of many paths.
• Strategic relationships: Jiang Yun and the Black Bird continue their mutual testing. Their relationship combines cooperation, suspicion, manipulation, and shared interest in powerful secret techniques.
• Isolation at the summit: After becoming a Quasi-Immortal Emperor, Jiang Yun discovers that almost no one remains capable of satisfying his desire for battle, highlighting both the glory and loneliness of supreme power.

4. Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun confronts the Sword Dao Radiance indirectly, testing how his new power compares with the remnant force of the Desolate Emperor.
• His reunion with the Black Bird is marked by a shift in their relationship. She no longer speaks with her former arrogance, while Jiang Yun approaches her with calm confidence and greater bargaining power.
• By suspending the formation and appearing directly before her, Jiang Yun reverses their former dynamic and puts the Black Bird on the defensive.
• His display of the Great Void Flame and Ancient Cosmos Flame serves both as proof of his progress and as a psychological test. The Black Bird is startled because she expected more time to prepare her own hidden response.

Chapter Summary: “Black Bird’s Trump Card! The Eerie Spark!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun continues psychologically pressuring Black Bird, pretending he will leave whenever she delays teaching him her ultimate secret technique.
• To buy time and retain an advantage, Black Bird first transmits the Nine-Colored Six-Winged Profound Flame Scripture, a Quasi-Immortal Emperor-level cultivation scripture. It contains powerful fire arts and methods for using Dark Source energy but is not her true trump card.
• Jiang Yun comprehends the scripture and glimpses Black Bird’s past evolution—from an ordinary Fire Fenghuang, through countless transformations and bloodline fusions, into the terrifying Nine-Colored Six-Winged Three-Legged Xuan Emperor.
• Still pretending to be dissatisfied, Jiang Yun pressures Black Bird again. She reluctantly begins transmitting the genuine secret technique, but only partway through before launching her attack.
• Sacrificial Script emerges beneath Black Bird’s foot, drawing sinister Dao Marks from the Reincarnation Road and condensing them into a tiny, eerie Starfire.
• Although the spark appears insignificant, it contains overwhelming destructive power. It immobilizes Jiang Yun, burns through the protective Dao Marks of the surrounding formation, and threatens to kill even a Quasi-Immortal Emperor.
• Black Bird celebrates, believing she has finally defeated Jiang Yun after centuries of frustration and confinement. Her attack also alarms every Dark Lifeform nearby, who sense an impending catastrophe.
• Jiang Yun, however, remains remarkably calm. Just before the Starfire reaches him, he releases the aura of a Quasi-Immortal Emperor, instantly breaking the spark’s suppressive force and restoring his ability to move.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun: Demonstrates increasing confidence, cunning, and composure. He recognizes that Black Bird is stalling and uses feigned impatience to manipulate her into revealing more of her secrets. Even when trapped by the Starfire, he remains calm because he has already advanced to the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm.
• Black Bird: Reveals both her immense power and her deep resentment. She is furious at being repeatedly manipulated and feels extorted into giving away precious techniques. Her long imprisonment has intensified her hatred and desperation, leading her to rely on a devastating sacrificial technique. However, her confidence collapses into suspicion when Jiang Yun survives her suppression.

Significant Themes

• Cunning versus raw power: The confrontation is as much a psychological battle as a physical one. Jiang Yun’s manipulation forces Black Bird to expose techniques before she is ready.
• Hidden strength and deception: Both characters conceal their true intentions and abilities. Black Bird pretends to teach Jiang Yun while preparing an ambush, while Jiang Yun conceals his full strength until the decisive moment.
• Accumulated suffering and resentment: Black Bird’s centuries of confinement have transformed her anger into obsessive hatred, making Jiang Yun’s apparent terror especially satisfying to her.
• Transformation and evolution: Black Bird’s history reflects the theme of achieving supreme power through endless hardship, bloodline fusion, opportunity, and perseverance.
• The limits of overwhelming techniques: Black Bird’s Starfire is powerful enough to threaten even higher-realm cultivators, but Jiang Yun’s breakthrough demonstrates that absolute techniques can still be overcome by a greater realm of cultivation.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun repeatedly provokes Black Bird by threatening to leave, exploiting her desperation to keep him present.
• Black Bird reluctantly passes on first a lesser scripture and then part of her true secret technique, all while secretly gathering Origin power for her attack.
• Jiang Yun sincerely values the techniques he receives, especially the secret art, but continues pretending to be dissatisfied so Black Bird will reveal more.
• Black Bird attacks him with the eerie Starfire while taunting him and celebrating what she believes is his imminent death.
• Jiang Yun responds with calm admiration rather than fear, acknowledging the extraordinary power of her technique before revealing his Quasi-Immortal Emperor aura and overturning the situation.

Chapter Summary: Secrets of Reincarnation! A Bet Is a Bet!

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xuan Emperor unleashes a terrifying secret technique, condensing an eerie Starfire capable of severely damaging Jiang Yun. Had she used it at her peak, it might have threatened him seriously.
• However, years of imprisonment and torment have weakened Xuan Emperor. Her attack can injure Jiang Yun but cannot fully suppress him after he reveals that he has advanced to the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm.
• Shocked by Jiang Yun’s unexpected breakthrough, Xuan Emperor realizes that her confident plan has failed. She had assumed he was still an Immortal King relying on powerful artifacts.
• Once he regains movement, Jiang Yun abandons the idea of confronting the Starfire directly. Instead, he retreats through Source Space, enters the golden formation, rescues Xiao Nannan, and hides with her in the Sea of Realms.
• The uncontrolled Starfire continues forward, destroying Jiang Yun’s Hundred-Li Grand Formation and cutting a blazing path toward the Hive Building. Even the Desolate Emperor’s golden formation cannot stop it.
• The Ruthless Great Emperor senses the attack from her cave and recognizes that her defensive barrier could not have withstood it, though she is unharmed because the attack is not aimed at her.
• Unexpectedly, the Starfire vanishes when it strikes the ground of the Reincarnation Road. Jiang Yun suspects that the Ancient Reincarnation Road contains mysterious powers capable of absorbing or suppressing even such destructive attacks.
• After the danger passes, Jiang Yun returns to the Reincarnation Road and establishes a stronger Quasi-Emperor formation. His former Immortal King-level formation has been rendered inadequate by his increased level of combat.
• Jiang Yun confronts Xuan Emperor beneath the Hive Building and reminds her that she still owes him the secret technique she promised to teach.
• When Xuan Emperor repeatedly denies reality by muttering that Jiang Yun’s breakthrough is impossible, Jiang Yun threatens her with the Emperor Spear. As a Quasi-Immortal Emperor, he can now attack and potentially kill her despite the sealing formation.
• Under this pressure, Xuan Emperor regains her composure and admits that Jiang Yun has surpassed her expectations. She accepts that she has lost their wager and must honor the agreement.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun undergoes a dramatic power reveal, having advanced from Immortal King to Quasi-Immortal Emperor in an impossibly short period. His new strength places him among the supreme beings of the world.
• Despite his overwhelming power, Jiang Yun remains cautious and strategic. Rather than risk a direct clash with Xuan Emperor’s attack, he chooses the safest and most efficient method: retreat, rescue Xiao Nannan, observe from a distance, and return once the danger has passed.
• Jiang Yun’s attitude toward Xuan Emperor becomes increasingly authoritative. He no longer merely threatens her survival indirectly; he can now directly hold her life in his hands.
• Xuan Emperor suffers a severe psychological reversal. Her former arrogance and confidence collapse when she realizes Jiang Yun has reached the same supreme realm while she has been weakened by imprisonment.
• She ultimately accepts her defeat, recognizing that the bet must be honored and that her status among the Dark Lifeforms may have diminished.

Significant Themes

• The unpredictability of cultivation and destiny: Jiang Yun’s sudden breakthrough overturns Xuan Emperor’s assumptions about what is possible.
• Power and reversal of status: The former superior becomes the vulnerable one, while Jiang Yun rises from an underestimated opponent to a figure capable of deciding Xuan Emperor’s fate.
• Caution versus recklessness: Jiang Yun’s victory is not based solely on strength; his willingness to retreat and assess the situation prevents unnecessary danger.
• Mysteries of the Reincarnation Road: Its ability to survive battles between supreme beings—and possibly absorb the Starfire—suggests that it is an ancient, primordial existence containing secrets comparable to the River of Time.
• Honor and consequences: Despite her defeat, Xuan Emperor is bound by her promise. The chapter emphasizes that a bet carries consequences even for powerful beings.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun and Xuan Emperor: Their confrontation shifts from a contest between a sealed powerhouse and an ambitious challenger to one in which Jiang Yun clearly holds the advantage. He demands the promised secret technique, while Xuan Emperor initially responds with denial and disbelief before finally acknowledging defeat.
• Jiang Yun and Xiao Nannan: Jiang Yun prioritizes Xiao Nannan’s safety, immediately returning to the formation and carrying her away from the battlefield.
• Jiang Yun and the Ruthless Great Emperor: They do not directly interact, but the Ruthless Great Emperor witnesses the destructive aftermath and silently assesses the terrifying power involved.
• Jiang Yun and the Reincarnation Road: Jiang Yun becomes increasingly intrigued by the Road’s hidden nature after observing it neutralize the Starfire, suggesting that it may be a primordial entity or structure beyond ordinary understanding.

Summary of “The Art Is in Hand!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Black Bird, also called Xuan Emperor, offers Jiang Yun her nameless secret art in exchange for his promise not to interfere with her escape.
• Jiang Yun agrees immediately but cleverly conditions his oath on Black Bird revealing everything she knows. He swears upon the Weird Clan’s Plateau Ancestral Land that, if he breaks his promise, his Dao heart will be permanently clouded.
• Black Bird initially distrusts him, having experienced betrayal and imprisonment, but the seriousness of the oath persuades her that cooperation is her best chance of survival.
• She transmits the secret art to Jiang Yun, who memorizes it and leaves without immediately helping her, intending to decide later whether preserving his promise serves his interests.
• Jiang Yun retreats to a concealed place on the Reincarnation Road and begins studying the technique.
• He discovers that the art requires the Great Void Flame, the Ancient Cosmos Flame, sacrificial inscriptions, Dao Marks, and a mysterious substance found only on the Reincarnation Road. These elements combine to produce a tiny but extraordinarily destructive Eerie Flame.
• Jiang Yun becomes angry when he realizes the art apparently cannot be used outside the Reincarnation Road. He confronts Black Bird, accusing her of withholding information.
• Black Bird explains that the technique is newly created and still incomplete. The mysterious substance is the true source of its power and disappears outside the Reincarnation Road.
• Jiang Yun eventually accepts her explanation and begins considering whether similar substances might exist in the Four Extremes Floating Soil or on the Plateau, potentially allowing the art’s limitations to be overcome.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun: Reveals himself to be calculating and pragmatic. Although he makes a solemn oath, he does not regard promises as binding unless they continue to benefit him. He values the secret art less as a ready-made weapon than as a source of rare Dao Marks that he can study and incorporate into his own cultivation.
• Black Bird/Xuan Emperor: Moves from extreme suspicion to reluctant cooperation. Her imprisonment and past dealings with Desolate Emperor have made her distrustful, but her desperate situation forces her to gamble on Jiang Yun. She also shows that the secret art is her own unfinished creation, developed through accidental insight and continued experimentation.
• Desolate Emperor: Though absent from the immediate events, his influence remains important. His fear of Black Bird’s power led him to imprison her after recognizing the danger posed by her technique.
• Plateau Immortals: Their refusal to seize Black Bird’s secret art establishes their superior understanding of cultivation: at the Emperor Realm, genuine strength comes from personally comprehending the Dao rather than merely acquiring external techniques.

Significant Themes

• Trust, betrayal, and conditional alliances: Black Bird’s oath-based agreement with Jiang Yun shows how trust is constructed through risk and necessity rather than genuine goodwill.
• Power and pragmatism: Jiang Yun treats promises, survival, and even other people as resources to be used according to changing circumstances.
• Borrowed power versus self-created power: The chapter emphasizes that powerful secret arts are ultimately inferior to Dao methods personally understood and developed by a cultivator.
• The limits of knowledge: The secret art appears immensely powerful but is restricted by geography, scarce materials, and incomplete understanding. Its true potential remains uncertain.
• Cultivation as transformation: At the Emperor Realm, cultivation shifts from learning techniques to becoming an originator of one’s own Dao. Strength is no longer measured by how many external methods one possesses, but by how deeply one has comprehended the Grand Dao.
• Possibility and uncertainty: Jiang Yun believes the technique’s restrictions may eventually be overcome through discoveries in other mysterious realms, reflecting the chapter’s view that cultivation is full of unforeseen variables.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun and Black Bird: Their interaction is a negotiation between two distrustful survivors. Black Bird demands a binding oath, while Jiang Yun agrees but protects his own interests by requiring complete disclosure. After learning the art’s limitations, Jiang Yun challenges her, but her explanation restores a cautious working relationship.
• Black Bird and Desolate Emperor: Their past relationship is defined by fear and coercion. Unlike Jiang Yun, Desolate Emperor offered no basis for trust; he imprisoned Black Bird because he recognized her potential threat.
• Jiang Yun and the Plateau Immortals: Jiang Yun’s reflections on them deepen his understanding of the difference between external secret arts and personally mastered Dao power. Their earlier decision not to seize Black Bird’s technique becomes evidence of their advanced cultivation philosophy.

Chapter Summary: “Strange Power on the Reincarnation Road!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun studies and practices Black Bird’s secret art, realizing that it is not merely a combat technique but a method for comprehending and potentially innovating upon the Dao.
• He begins cultivating on the Reincarnation Road, carefully following Black Bird’s warning that the mysterious Starfire is extremely dangerous to create and control.
• Jiang Yun forms the Dark Source–derived patterns known as Sacrificial Script and successfully merges them with the Great Void Flame and Ancient Cosmos Flame.
• After more than ten years of research, he masters these preparatory steps but fails to sense the mysterious substance on the Reincarnation Road needed to ignite the Starfire.
• Suspecting that Black Bird may have altered the formula, Jiang Yun confronts her. Black Bird angrily swears that she has taught him everything truthfully and suggests that the technique may be uniquely suited to her.
• Jiang remains cautious because the resulting Eerie Flame could severely injure even a Quasi-Immortal Emperor. He continues investigating rather than immediately releasing Black Bird from her restraints.
• After countless failed attempts, Jiang Yun studies Black Bird’s Nine-Colored Six-Winged Three-Legged Xuan Emperor Scripture and examines the origins of her bloodline and flames.
• He notices the importance of the yin-yang powers, particularly the contrast between the Golden Crow’s extreme yang flame and the Yinmoon Peng’s extreme yin flame.
• Recalling an ancient saying involving yin and yang as “firewood,” Jiang Yun realizes that the mysterious substance may only be drawn out through the interaction of extreme yin and extreme yang.
• He activates the yin-yang powers he had cultivated within his eyes and channels them through his body and Sea of Bitterness while again combining the two great flames with Sacrificial Script.
• This finally allows him to sense the previously invisible, mysterious power scattered throughout the Ancient Reincarnation Road.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun demonstrates patience, caution, and analytical ability. Rather than recklessly attempting to create the dangerous Starfire, he spends years mastering every stage of the technique.
• His suspicion toward Black Bird shows his vigilance, but he also recognizes that she is probably telling the truth and continues to investigate the problem independently.
• Jiang’s understanding of Dao and the relationship between different power systems deepens. He begins connecting Dark Source, Sacrificial Script, yin-yang laws, bloodlines, and the Reincarnation Road.
• Black Bird is revealed to be both defensive and genuinely uncertain about whether her self-created technique can be perfectly transferred to another cultivator. Her unique bloodline and physique may be essential to the technique’s success.

Significant Themes

• Comprehension versus imitation: Jiang Yun learns that merely reproducing a secret art is only the beginning; true mastery requires understanding its principles and adapting them.
• Individual compatibility: A technique created for one person may depend on their unique bloodline, physique, and powers, making it difficult for others to practice.
• Darkness, corruption, and origins: The distinction between Sacrificial Script and ordinary Dao Runes raises questions about the relationship between Dark Source, darkness, and the forces of misfortune and strangeness.
• Balance of yin and yang: Jiang Yun’s breakthrough comes from recognizing that the secret art requires the complementary interaction of extreme yin and extreme yang.
• Patience and discovery: His eventual progress results not from brute force but from persistent experimentation, careful observation, and connecting scattered clues.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun and Black Bird maintain a tense relationship shaped by mutual distrust and necessity. Jiang needs her knowledge, while Black Bird hopes he will eventually remove the restrictions trapping her.
• When Jiang accuses her of withholding or altering information, Black Bird reacts anxiously and swears upon the Ancestral Land that she has been truthful.
• Black Bird suggests demonstrating the technique herself, but Jiang refuses to lower his guard because of the Starfire’s destructive potential.
• Their exchange ultimately encourages Jiang to investigate Black Bird’s scripture and bloodline more deeply, leading him to discover the significance of yin-yang power and finally sense the mysterious substance.

Summary: “The Black Bird’s Shock!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun studies the distribution of the mysterious substance along the Ancient Reincarnation Road and realizes it is densest where the Black Bird previously summoned Starfire. The area beneath the Hive Building is comparatively depleted because the Black Bird has repeatedly consumed its power.
• He discovers the final requirement for the secret technique: besides the Great Void Flame and Ancient Cosmos Flame, he must use the Power of Extreme Yin and Yang as a catalyst.
• Jiang Yun successfully summons the mysterious substance into his Sea of Bitterness, where it merges with the two flames and forms a demonic Starfire.
• By drawing in increasing amounts of essence from the heavens and earth, he enlarges the flame from tiny sparks to soybean size and finally to the size of an infant’s fist. This process drains nearly half of the mysterious substance on that section of the Reincarnation Road.
• The resulting flame contains terrifying destructive power—enough to kill a Quasi-Immortal Emperor and potentially injure or destroy even an Immortal Emperor. It can erase not only body and soul but also a person’s existence in the River of Time, rendering resurrection impossible.
• Jiang Yun realizes that the flame is unstable and continuously erodes his body. If he condenses more power, he may be consumed by it himself. Since he has no suitable target for the flame, he decides to use it to help the Black Bird break the seal imprisoning her.
• When Jiang Yun brings the flame beneath the Hive Building and appears ready to strike the seal, the Black Bird panics and screams for him to stop.
• She explains that directly using such a massive flame would destroy her along with the seal. Jiang Yun had genuinely intended to help but had underestimated how much damage the flame would inflict on her.
• After calming down, the Black Bird realizes Jiang Yun was not trying to kill or silence her. She is nevertheless deeply shocked that he can create a flame more than ten times larger than the one she managed to form at her peak.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun demonstrates major progress in mastering the demonic Starfire technique. His powerful physique allows him to contain a flame far beyond the Black Bird’s previous limit.
• He gains a potentially decisive weapon against high-level opponents, though he also learns that its power is difficult to control and dangerous even to himself.
• Jiang Yun’s strategic thinking becomes more ambitious: he considers freeing the Black Bird and then using his Dark Source to corrupt or control her, hoping to gain a Quasi-Immortal Emperor-level subordinate.
• Despite his growing power, Jiang Yun remains inexperienced regarding the flame’s practical effects. His sincere attempt to help the Black Bird nearly becomes an act of destruction.
• The Black Bird is shown to be both fearful and calculating. Her initial terror turns into relief once she understands Jiang Yun’s intentions, followed by astonishment at his extraordinary achievement.
• Her reaction also reveals the vast difference between Jiang Yun’s current capacity and her own strength at her prime.

Significant Themes

• Power and control: The flame represents overwhelming destructive strength, but its wielder cannot yet fully command or safely contain it.
• The danger of misunderstood power: Jiang Yun’s good intentions nearly lead to the Black Bird’s death because he does not understand the interaction between the flame and her seal.
• Growth beyond former limits: Jiang Yun surpasses what the Black Bird once considered the highest level of mastery.
• Mortality and irreversible destruction: The flame can eliminate all forms of resurrection, emphasizing the stakes of power that erases existence itself.
• Alliance and manipulation: Jiang Yun views the Black Bird both as someone he may rescue and as a possible future subordinate, complicating the nature of their relationship.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun approaches the sealed Black Bird with the newly condensed flame and asks how he should apply it to break her seal.
• When he moves to strike the seal, the Black Bird reacts with immediate terror and anger, believing he intends to kill her.
• Jiang Yun is confused because he genuinely thinks he is fulfilling her request to use the flame.
• Their misunderstanding is resolved when the Black Bird recognizes his sincerity and explains that the flame must not be applied directly.
• The encounter strengthens the tension between them: Jiang Yun possesses the power to threaten her existence, while the Black Bird understands the technique far better and must prevent him from using it recklessly.

Chapter Summary: “Thoughts of Going to Heaven!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun successfully tests his condensed Eerie/Starfire against the seal left by the Desolate Emperor. To avoid harming Black Bird, he places the flame beneath the Reincarnation Road, where it is absorbed and gradually disappears.
• He discovers that the Reincarnation Road can contain and neutralize the strange fire, though only up to a certain limit. A stronger or larger flame might overwhelm the road and trigger a catastrophic disaster.
• Black Bird confirms that her secret art is genuine. Jiang Yun praises it after witnessing its power, easing her fear and restoring some of her confidence.
• Jiang Yun deduces that the fire is connected to a primordial Origin of Fire and may possess a natural suppressive effect against the Weird Clan. He believes it could eventually be combined with the Time Furnace to create a weapon capable of threatening Sacrificial Dao-level beings.
• After repeated experimentation, Jiang Yun masters the secret art. While on the Reincarnation Road, he can now instantly condense firelight and gradually expand it to roughly the size of an infant’s fist, giving him a powerful defensive and offensive trump card.
• The technique’s major limitation is that it currently requires the Reincarnation Road, though fragments of the road exist throughout the All Heavens and Myriad Realms.
• Jiang Yun decides that he must travel to Heaven rather than remain passive and wait for Sword Light to weaken. He believes Heaven is the best place to gather resources and improve his cultivation before the coming All Heavens Grand Sacrifice.
• Based on Black Bird’s knowledge and his own deductions, Jiang Yun concludes that the Grand Sacrifice was delayed because the Desolate Emperor went to intercept the Calamity Plateau. The delay has bought the All Heavens valuable time, but the sacrifice remains inevitable.
• Jiang Yun estimates that the current world’s resources can support him only through about a fifth transformation, while even a sixth transformation would not bring him to the Immortal Emperor Realm. He may require a seventh or eighth transformation to reach the End of the Road.
• He predicts that Heaven will suffer catastrophic destruction during the Grand Sacrifice, eventually leading to the ruined era of the Sacred Ruins. Therefore, the present era is the best opportunity to collect powerful bloodlines and other resources.
• Black Bird’s escape remains extremely slow. Completely breaking the Desolate Emperor’s seal may require over one hundred thousand years, though freeing only her Primordial Spirit could take several tens of thousands of years.
• Jiang Yun plans to convert Black Bird after her Primordial Spirit escapes, allowing her to abandon her sealed body and create a new one later.
• Before departing, Jiang Yun teaches Jiang Shuanglan and the other four women how to condense the Eerie Flame. Though they can only produce tiny sparks, the five working together could threaten or even kill a Quasi-Immortal Emperor.
• Because their true strength is hidden and others still regard them as merely Immortal Kings, the flame becomes a highly effective surprise weapon and ensures that Black Bird will not be able to overpower them if she escapes.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Jiang Yun grows more confident after mastering the Eerie Flame. He gains a sense of security against the dangers of the Sacrificial Sea and develops a concrete strategy for reaching Heaven, gathering resources, and preparing for the Grand Sacrifice.
• His understanding of hidden cosmic mysteries allows him to identify the fire’s potential uses and origins. He thinks strategically, planning not only his own advancement but also how to control Black Bird and protect his allies.
• Black Bird becomes increasingly intimidated by Jiang Yun. She realizes that he has surpassed her even in the flame-based art she once considered her greatest strength. However, his sincere praise restores some of her pride and confidence.
• Jiang Yun and Black Bird maintain a tense but practical relationship. He helps her gather vital essence and permits her to continue damaging the seal, while keeping safeguards in place in case she eventually becomes hostile.
• Jiang Yun demonstrates strong trust and responsibility toward Jiang Shuanglan and the other four women, personally teaching them a dangerous secret art so they can defend themselves and control Black Bird in his absence.
• The women’s apparent weakness is revealed to be misleading: although they are publicly considered Immortal Kings, their enhanced power and newly learned flame technique give them the ability to threaten Quasi-Immortal Emperors.

Significant Themes

• Power and restraint: The Eerie Flame is extraordinarily destructive, but it must be carefully controlled because even the Reincarnation Road may be unable to withstand too much of it.
• Knowledge as power: Jiang Yun’s understanding of hidden histories, future events, and cosmic origins allows him to turn mysterious phenomena into usable advantages.
• Preparation against inevitable catastrophe: Rather than waiting for the Grand Sacrifice, Jiang Yun seeks to exploit the remaining peaceful era to cultivate, gather resources, and prepare defenses.
• Hidden strength and strategic deception: Jiang Yun and his allies conceal their true capabilities, preserving the advantage of surprise.
• Trust mixed with control: Jiang Yun assists Black Bird but never fully trusts her, ensuring that his allies can suppress her if she escapes.
• The urgency of time: The delayed Grand Sacrifice offers a rare opportunity, but Heaven’s eventual destruction and the decline of powerful bloodlines make immediate action essential.

Chapter Summary: Journey to Above Heaven! The Desolate Emperor’s Shock!

Key Plot Points and Events

• Five hundred years pass. Jiang Yun spends the first three hundred years guiding Jiang Shuanglan, Tong Yue, and others in cultivating and condensing their demonic flames. He also studies the Grindstone beneath Kunlun Mountain and perfects the World-Purifying Great Millstone secret art.
• During the remaining two hundred years, Jiang Yun temporarily sets aside intense cultivation to travel with his companions across the Immortal Domain, visiting famous landscapes and ancient ruins. These peaceful days become a farewell to the world he may not see again for a long time.
• Jiang Yun concludes that the Immortal Domain can no longer provide the resources or challenges needed for his advancement. His rapid rise to the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm has left him lacking sufficient combat experience, powerful artifacts, and accumulated strength.
• He decides to travel to Above Heaven, where stronger enemies, treasures, and opportunities await. He keeps his plan secret and goes alone to the Sword Light that severed eternity.
• The Sword Light, left behind by the Desolate Emperor near the peak of his Immortal Emperor cultivation, divides the Sea of Realms and blocks passage between worlds. Jiang Yun reflects on its terrifying power and recognizes the enormous gap between himself and a true Immortal Emperor.
• Jiang Yun summons the legendary Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin, the same vessel that once carried him across the Star Sea at the beginning of his cultivation journey. He enters the Bronze Coffin, and the nine dragon corpses carry it toward the Sword Light.
• The Sword Light parts before the coffin, creating a mysterious passage seemingly linking the past, present, and future. The smaller coffin releases a profound Great Dao sound unlike the scripture Jiang Yun previously heard on Mars.
• The coffin detects the darkness within Jiang Yun and triggers a devastating cleansing. Sword Light floods inside, threatening to destroy him.
• Jiang Yun uses his Double Pupils to transform his Dark Source aura into a pure, ordinary Grand Dao Origin, concealing the darkness within him and surviving the attack.
• At the same time, the Desolate Emperor is battling three Immortal Emperors in Above Heaven. He senses the disturbance in his Sword Light and realizes that Jiang Yun, the person who once drew out a fragment of his thought, has become a Quasi-Immortal Emperor.
• The Desolate Emperor is stunned when he discovers that Jiang Yun can contain both Dark Source power and normal Grand Dao Origin, switching between them through his Double Pupils. This causes him to reconsider the true nature of darkness.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yun becomes more mature and resolute. Although he recognizes his lack of accumulated experience and artifacts, he no longer hesitates to face greater dangers. His farewell journey shows his affection for his companions and the Immortal Domain, while his decision to leave demonstrates his willingness to sacrifice peace for growth.
• Jiang Yun’s greatest hidden ability is revealed: he can coexist with both darkness and normal Grand Dao power. He is not merely a Dark Lifeform but a unique existence capable of concealing and transforming his nature.
• The Desolate Emperor shifts from detached confidence to genuine shock and intellectual excitement. Jiang Yun’s existence challenges his understanding of darkness, leading him to suspect that darkness may only be an external manifestation, while the truly dangerous essence is the bizarre and Ominous power hidden within it.

Significant Themes

• Growth through departure: Jiang Yun must leave the familiar world because peace and limited resources can no longer support his evolution.
• The cost of rapid advancement: His extraordinary cultivation speed has given him immense power but left him lacking deep accumulation, experience, and refined treasures.
• The boundary between light and darkness: Jiang Yun’s body contains both Dark Source energy and a pure Grand Dao Origin, questioning the assumption that darkness automatically equals evil or corruption.
• Legacy and continuity: The Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin connects Jiang Yun’s past as an inexperienced cultivator with his present journey as a Quasi-Immortal Emperor.
• The limits of power: The Sword Light represents the overwhelming gulf between Quasi-Immortal Emperors and Immortal Emperors, reminding Jiang Yun that his current strength is still insufficient.
• Revelation and transformation: Jiang Yun’s survival exposes a possible new understanding of the bizarre and Ominous forces that define the universe’s darkness.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun spends years teaching Jiang Shuanglan, Tong Yue, and the others, sharing his cultivation insights without reservation. Their travels together create a period of companionship and emotional warmth before his departure.
• Jiang Yun interacts indirectly with the Desolate Emperor through the Sword Light and Bronze Coffin. The Desolate Emperor had previously shown compassion toward him and passed down a technique, but now observes him with astonishment and renewed interest.
• The Desolate Emperor’s battle against three Immortal Emperors continues in parallel with Jiang Yun’s crossing. Though separated by vast distances, the two are connected through the Sword Light, and Jiang Yun’s transformation directly affects the Desolate Emperor’s understanding of the greater conflict.

Chapter Summary: The Battle Above Heaven!

Key Plot Points and Events

• While the Desolate Emperor is momentarily distracted, three Immortal Emperors launch a coordinated surprise attack. He responds with the power of his Law Pool and unleashes a devastating Sword Light.
• The Sword Light destroys one Immortal Emperor’s body, shattering his Sacrificial Script and reducing his flesh to ashes. The remaining two are horrified by the Desolate Emperor’s overwhelming strength.
• The Desolate Emperor charges all three opponents directly, using his fists and feet to overpower them. Rather than merely injuring them, he studies the origin of their power to confirm a long-held theory.
• The Immortal Emperors repeatedly unleash their strongest techniques and rely on the Sacrificial Script to revive and strengthen themselves. However, each use consumes their Immortal Emperor Origin, meaning continued resistance will eventually kill them.
• The Emperors begin to fear that the Desolate Emperor may be approaching a realm beyond the Immortal Emperor Realm. The battle devastates the space above Heaven, sealing the passage between worlds.
• Meanwhile, Jiang Yun travels inside Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin through the Desolate Emperor’s Sword Light. He nearly abandons the coffin but survives by switching from his Double Pupils’ dark Origin to his Grand Dao Body, causing the Sword Light to disperse.
• The Desolate Emperor manifests inside the coffin through a strand of consciousness. He praises Jiang Yun’s rapid progress into the Quasi-Immortal Emperor Realm and warns him never to reveal his ability to switch between two Grand Dao Origins.
• The Desolate Emperor offers to cleanse Jiang Yun’s aura and conceal his connection to the Sea of Realms before Jiang Yun enters Heaven. Jiang Yun chooses to appear publicly as a Dark Quasi-Emperor, secretly building strength until he can destroy the darkness completely.

Character Developments

• Desolate Emperor: Demonstrates overwhelming growth and confidence, fighting three Immortal Emperors almost single-handedly. His actions show both strategic intelligence—investigating their power—and deep concern for Jiang Yun’s survival and future.
• Jiang Yun: Shows major advancement by reaching the Quasi-Immortal Emperor Realm. His quick thinking allows him to survive the Sword Light, and he proves himself cautious, disciplined, and determined to conceal his true abilities.
• Three Immortal Emperors: Their arrogance collapses into fear, panic, and humiliation as they realize that their numerical advantage is insufficient. Their dependence on the Sacrificial Script also reveals the limits and cost of their power.

Significant Themes

• Overwhelming strength versus collective power: The three Immortal Emperors expect to dominate through numbers, but the Desolate Emperor’s cultivation and battle experience allow him to suppress them.
• Concealment and survival: Jiang Yun’s decision to disguise himself reflects the importance of hiding one’s true potential in a world controlled by powerful factions.
• Sacrifice and irreversible commitment: The Immortal Emperors consume their origins to survive, while the Desolate Emperor and his allies are committed to a dangerous path with no retreat.
• Legacy and mentorship: The Desolate Emperor’s treasures and guidance have been essential to Jiang Yun’s development, creating a bond based on inheritance, trust, and responsibility.
• Hope amid impossible odds: Despite the strength of the Plateau and the Weird Faction, Jiang Yun’s unique abilities may represent a hidden opportunity to break the existing stalemate.

Character Interactions

• The Desolate Emperor and the three Immortal Emperors clash in a battle defined by terror, resentment, and disbelief. The Emperors view his dominance as both humiliating and impossible.
• The Desolate Emperor and Jiang Yun share a brief but meaningful meeting inside the protected coffin. The Emperor praises Jiang Yun, warns him about the dangers of exposure, and offers practical assistance.
• Jiang Yun responds respectfully and sincerely, crediting the Desolate Emperor’s legacy for his progress. He accepts the need for secrecy and firmly declares his intention to infiltrate Heaven under the identity of a Dark Quasi-Emperor.
• The Desolate Emperor’s sigh reveals both admiration for Jiang Yun and guilt over placing him on such a perilous path.

Chapter Summary: Desolate’s News! The Current Situation in Heaven!

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yun communicates with Desolate Emperor and asks about the war in Heaven. Desolate Emperor reveals that the Weird Clan has currently sent only three Immortal Emperors from its Ancestral Land, allowing him some time to act.
• Jiang Yun realizes Desolate Emperor has not yet reached the Calamity Plateau, where the Weird Clan’s stronger Ancestors reside. He believes Desolate Emperor is nearing the Sacrificial Dao Realm but has not fully broken through.
• Jiang Yun urges Desolate Emperor to retreat and continue developing, but Desolate Emperor refuses. He explains that the approaching Grand Sacrifice will eventually destroy all worlds unless the Heavenly Court takes action now.
• Desolate Emperor and the Heavenly Court have therefore chosen to attack the Weird Clan’s Ancestral Land proactively, hoping to “find life amid death” and acquire something crucial to the future of all existence.
• Desolate Emperor explains that this decision was carefully planned by the emperors of Heaven, not made recklessly. Earlier generations, including the first female Immortal Emperor, reached the Plateau and left behind vital clues despite ultimately perishing.
• Before departing, Desolate Emperor warns Jiang Yun never to go Above Heaven—not even after becoming an Immortal Emperor—until Desolate Emperor returns.
• Their conversation also covers Jiang Yun’s ability to shift between darkness and the origin of the Grand Dao, the possible rescue of Immortal Emperors Luo and Meng, and the whereabouts of the powerful Time Furnace.
• Desolate Emperor’s projection disappears just as the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin reaches the passage toward Heaven.
• Jiang Yun arrives at the shattered Ultimate Ancient Land rather than Heaven proper. He discovers that teleportation through the Source Ring has been blocked, though communication and access to the Source Ring Forum remain possible.
• After sending the Three Lifetimes Copper Coffin back toward the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, Jiang Yun decides to infiltrate the Underworld and begins preparing for his long-term mission.

2. Character Developments

• Desolate Emperor: He is shown as calm, confident, and fully committed to confronting the Weird Clan. His decision to attack the Plateau reflects both strategic determination and a willingness to sacrifice himself for future generations. He also demonstrates foresight by protecting Jiang Yun from prematurely entering the most dangerous battlefield.
• Jiang Yun: He becomes more strategic and mature. Rather than acting impulsively, he accepts Desolate Emperor’s warning, evaluates the political situation in Heaven, and develops a plan to join the Underworld while remaining hidden. His trust in Desolate Emperor deepens, and he openly reveals his unusual power despite its potential danger.
• Immortal Emperors Luo and Meng: They are presented as weakened but still valuable allies whose possible rescue could strengthen the future resistance against the Weird Clan.
• Earlier generations of cultivators: The fallen female Immortal Emperor and other predecessors are portrayed as figures who sacrificed themselves to leave hope and information for those who followed.

3. Significant Themes

• Seeking survival through action: When every side is already targeted, passive defense is no longer enough. Desolate Emperor believes that taking the initiative may create the only chance for survival.
• Sacrifice across generations: The struggle against the Weird Clan is portrayed as a continuous chain of sacrifices, with each generation paving the way for the next.
• Hope amid seemingly inevitable destruction: Even though the Grand Sacrifice appears destined to annihilate the worlds, Desolate Emperor continues searching for a turning point and sees Jiang Yun as a possible source of hope.
• Trust and restraint: Jiang Yun and Desolate Emperor share important secrets, but their cooperation depends on caution. Jiang Yun must remain hidden and avoid exposing himself before the right moment.
• Political fragmentation: With the Heavenly Court gone Above Heaven, Heaven has become unstable. Numerous evolutionary civilizations and factions pursue their own interests, some even colluding with the Weird Clan.
• Preparation over immediate glory: Jiang Yun’s next step is not to seek open confrontation, but to infiltrate, gather information, and build strength.

4. Character Interactions

• Jiang Yun questions Desolate Emperor about the war and tries to persuade him to retreat, showing concern for the Heavenly Court’s survival.
• Desolate Emperor rejects the suggestion but explains the necessity of the Heavenly Court’s campaign, helping Jiang Yun understand the scale and urgency of the threat.
• Desolate Emperor praises Jiang Yun and tells him that he sees hope in him, establishing a strong bond of mutual respect.
• Jiang Yun asks how he can help. Desolate Emperor responds by ordering him to remain hidden and avoid Above Heaven until his return.
• Jiang Yun reveals his ability to switch between darkness and the Grand Dao’s origin, demonstrating the trust between them.
• Jiang Yun asks Desolate Emperor to save Immortal Emperors Luo and Meng if an opportunity arises, while Desolate Emperor promises to watch for the Time Furnace and help Jiang Yun obtain it.
• After their farewell, Jiang Yun reflects on Desolate Emperor’s information and decides to proceed cautiously with his infiltration of the Underworld.