Recaps

The Demon Marshal asked Lan Shuang why Abyss’s inhabitants did not treat the Demon Clan as their primary shared identity. He learned that Abyss allowed its people to join the Demon Court, but its rules took priority while they lived within the Three Lives Gate, leaving Han Jue and the others waiting for the Emperor to clarify which identity came first when their obligations conflicted.

• The Demon Marshal passed the Three Lives Gate and saw Dragon Clan, Phoenix Clan, and Water Qilin cultivators living in Abyss.
• The Demon Marshal asked Lan Shuang why Abyss’s many clans did not primarily identify as demons, and she explained that Abyss itself was their shared identity.
• Han Jue told the Demon Marshal that the Ice Scale lineage would fight for Abyss before answering a Demon Court summons.
• Ao Lie, Feng Li, and Lin Yue each affirmed that they followed Abyss’s rules while serving in their respective roles.
• Lan Shuang said those who accepted the Demon Court’s resources and covenant had to fulfill its obligations, but the Emperor still needed to establish which orders took priority in a conflict.

Lu Chen established that Abyss’s rules came first for everyone residing within the Three Lives Gate, while their original clan and Demon Court identities remained intact. As Abyss’s shared identity took shape, the Old Shell’s Fate-Bearing Degree rose to 42%, and Di Jun praised Lu Chen’s example.

• Lu Chen set rules for the Abyss Registry, making Abyss law take precedence within the Three Lives Gate while allowing residents to retain their other identities and leave freely.
• Lu Chen ruled that Abyss would investigate outsiders who fled there after committing crimes, but would not assist the Demon Court with internal power struggles.
• Ao Lie, Feng Li, Lin Yue, and Han Jue each affirmed their clan identities and their duty to follow Abyss’s rules within its gates.
• Lan Shuang recorded the rules, and the Book of Cause and Effect sorted the identities of long-term Abyss residents who accepted the Three Lives Gate’s protection.
• The Old Shell’s Fate-Bearing Degree increased to 42% as Abyss’s shared identity took shape.
• The Demon Marshal reported the rules to Di Jun, who praised Lu Chen for showing him something good.

Di Jun adapted principles from Abyss’s registry to let clans retain their traditions while accepting obligations tied to Demon Court resources and titles, stabilizing the Ten Thousand Demons’ Fortune. As the Demon Court changed, the Twelve Ancestral Witches began emerging from Pangu Hall, and Lu Chen saw the karmic line toward Buzhou Mountain light up again.

• Di Jun studied Abyss’s rules and decided to preserve their principles without copying them outright.
• Di Jun announced that clans could keep their inheritances, rituals, and clan chiefs while taking on duties linked to the resources and titles they accepted from the Demon Court.
• Taiyi observed that the new rules steadied the Demon Court’s Fortune, and the news reached Lan Shuang, Han Jue, Ao Lie, and Lu Chen.
• Lu Chen accepted Di Jun’s changes but doubted they could prevent the Witch-Demon Tribulation.
• The system reported that the Demon Court’s order had stabilized, Pangu Bloodline Fortune had stirred, and the Twelve Ancestral Witches were emerging from Pangu Hall.
• The gates of Pangu Hall opened as Lu Chen saw the karmic line toward Buzhou Mountain light up again.

The Twelve Ancestral Witches discussed Gonggong’s visit to Abyss and considered its unusual independence from the Demon Court. Gonggong, Xuanming, and Houtu traveled north to Abyss, where Houtu’s arrival awakened the Primordial Qilin Earth-Vein Seal on the Old Shell.

• Gonggong told the Ancestral Witches about Mysterious Abyss’s durable shell, Abyss’s defenses, and its agreement with the Demon Court.
• Houtu and Xuanming expressed interest in visiting Abyss, and Gonggong offered to lead them there.
• Di Jiang considered Abyss’s position outside Demon Court control as the Witch Clan began expanding beyond Pangu Hall.
• Gonggong, Xuanming, and Houtu left Buzhou Mountain and headed north, alarming those along their route.
• Lu Chen sensed the three Ancestral Witches approaching, and Houtu’s presence caused the Primordial Qilin Earth-Vein Seal on the Old Shell to light up.

Gonggong brought Xuanming and Houtu to Abyss, where they passed through the Three Lives Gate and Houtu’s karma revealed her care for the earth and its people. After entering Abyss, Houtu examined its land and learned how its residents settled disputes, but her attention finally fixed on Realm-Guarding Yin Soldiers patrolling beyond the gate.

• Gonggong arrived at Dragon-Suppressing Pass with Xuanming and Houtu, and Han Jue let them enter through the Three Lives Gate.
• Xuanming passed through the three gates, and Houtu’s passage revealed her history of repairing earth veins, helping Witch Clan children, and mediating disputes.
• The Earth-Vein Seal resonated with the Three Lives Gate, and Houtu entered Abyss to inspect the minor world’s land and Mysterious Peak Mountain.
• Xuanming went to examine the Northern Darkness Sea with Gonggong, while Lu Chen accompanied Houtu toward Mysterious Peak Mountain.
• Houtu learned that Abyss’s departments allocated resources and that unresolved disputes could be settled outside the Three Lives Gate.
• Houtu spotted Realm-Guarding Yin Soldiers patrolling near the Dead-Soul Register, and her smile faded.

Houtu watched the Realm-Guarding Yin Soldiers at Three Lives Gate and began considering what happened to the dead after they found refuge in Abyss. After asking whether the dead could one day begin again, she stayed behind, while the Primordial Qilin Earth-Vein Seal faintly glimmered within Lu Chen’s Primordial Spirit.

• Houtu changed course with Lu Chen and questioned a Dragon Clan Yin Soldier, who told her he had guarded the gate for ages to watch over his son and fulfill his duty.
• Houtu spoke with a Phoenix Clan dead soul and began wondering where the dead could go and what would happen when their obsessions faded.
• Houtu watched Three Lives Gate for an entire day, and Lan Shuang explained that Abyss first gave the dead somewhere to stay without claiming it was their final destination.
• Houtu asked Lu Chen whether he had planned more when he gathered the dead souls, and he said he had only meant to deal with the immediate problem.
• Houtu chose to remain at Three Lives Gate and asked Lan Shuang whether a path that let the dead begin again would be good; Lan Shuang agreed.
• The Primordial Qilin Earth-Vein Seal on Lu Chen’s Old Shell faintly glimmered within his Primordial Spirit.

Houtu and Xuanming helped improve Abyss’s leylines and rainfall, while Gonggong spent his time sparring and trading barbs with Zhurong through his Ancestral Witch Seal. After several hundred years, the witches prepared to leave, and Gonggong promised to return with Zhurong.

• Houtu advised Lin Yue on Mysterious Peak Mountain’s leyline problems, and her earth virtue stabilized a trembling main vein.
• Xuanming established a steadier rainfall system over the Northern Darkness Sea, and Lady Mingzhu rewarded her with spirit pearls.
• Gonggong sparred with Han Jue, then grew angry when Zhurong teased him about failing to knock on the Northern Sea Black Tortoise’s shell.
• Lu Chen checked the Buzhou Mountain karmic thread and found that the mountain remained stable and the great conflict had not erupted.
• After several hundred years, Xuanming and Houtu prepared to leave, and Gonggong departed after Zhurong repeatedly provoked him through the Ancestral Witch Seal.
• Gonggong told Lu Chen he would return with Zhurong, leaving Lu Chen concerned about the trouble their visit might bring.

Houtu visited Abyss and praised its sanctuary for the dead, strengthening Lu Chen's Old Shell earth-bearing cause and effect. As Lu Chen prepared to consolidate the gain, he and the Old Shell sensed the Saint's announcement that the Three Lectures at Purple Firmament would begin in ten thousand years.

• Xuanming and Gonggong departed Abyss, while Houtu stayed to consider the dead souls' future and asked whether the Realm-Guarding Yin Soldiers could leave if they wished.
• Lan Shuang told Houtu that the Yin Soldiers were free to leave, and Houtu told Lu Chen she would remember his cause and effect for giving the dead a place to remain.
• Houtu's approval strengthened the Old Shell's earth-bearing authority, raising its Heavenly Pillar Fate-Bearing Compatibility and Fate-Bearing Capacity to 43% and its Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation Substitution Progress to 39%.
• Houtu left Abyss with Gonggong and Xuanming, while Han Jue and Ao Lie discussed the departing Ancestral Witches.
• As Lu Chen prepared to enter seclusion, he and the Old Shell sensed a Saint announce that the Three Lectures at Purple Firmament would begin in ten thousand years.

As the Primordial World's great powers gathered for the third Purple Cloud Palace lecture, Lu Chen sent his Old Shell Avatar while his true body remained in the Northern Sea. Hongjun began teaching the Primordial Unity Dao, leaving the expected Saint Positions unanswered for now.

• The Three Pure Ones, Di Jun and Taiyi, Nuwa and Fuxi, Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun, Kunpeng, Jieyin, and Zhunti set out for Purple Cloud Palace.
• Lu Chen ordered Abyss to follow its usual rules, then sent his Old Shell Avatar toward the lecture while his true body stayed in the Northern Sea.
• Lu Chen found his familiar seat by the door, and Tongtian greeted him while Nuwa and Fuxi sensed that his cause and effect had changed again.
• Hongjun opened the third lecture by announcing that he would teach the Primordial Unity Dao, beyond Quasi-Saint.

At the end of Hongjun’s third lecture, he distributed seven strands of Primordial Purple Qi and asked Lu Chen whether he wanted one. Lu Chen faced a system choice between pursuing Sainthood, taking Hong Yun’s strand, or continuing along the Abyss path.

• Lu Chen listened for knowledge that could strengthen his concealment and Abyss methods, while the Old Shell’s Fate-Bearing Rune began responding to Hongjun’s teachings.
• After the gathered cultivators awakened, Taiyi asked whether the Primordial Unity Saint Positions were predetermined, and Hongjun explained that their number was fixed and required Primordial Purple Qi.
• Hongjun gave strands of Primordial Purple Qi to Laozi, Yuanshi, Tongtian, Nuwa, Jieyin, Zhunti, and Hong Yun.
• Lu Chen’s system warned that Nuwa’s future Sainthood had become highly probable, increasing her importance as his future Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation target.
• Hongjun asked Lu Chen whether he wanted to seek a strand of Primordial Purple Qi, and Lu Chen’s system presented him with three choices.

Lu Chen refused Hongjun’s offer of Primordial Purple Qi and the Saint Position, choosing to preserve his distinct Dao path. Hongjun accepted his decision, and Lu Chen received a reward that strengthened his Old Shell Avatar before Hongjun remarked that his path lay elsewhere.

• Lu Chen considered the risks of accepting Primordial Purple Qi and becoming a Heavenly Dao Saint, which could expose his true body and disrupt his Dao system.
• Lu Chen stood before the assembled guests in Purple Cloud Palace and told Hongjun he would not take the Saint Position.
• Hongjun asked whether Lu Chen understood what Primordial Purple Qi signified, and Lu Chen firmly reaffirmed his refusal.
• Hongjun agreed not to force Lu Chen, and the system reward increased the Old Shell Avatar’s fate-bearing ability.
• As Lu Chen prepared to sit down, Hongjun said that Lu Chen’s path did not lie in the Saint Position, leaving the assembled great powers to reconsider him.

Lu Chen rejected the Primordial Purple Qi, and Hongjun affirmed that his path did not lie in the Heavenly Dao Saint Position. Rumors soon inflated his reputation into that of a Half-Step Primordial Unity expert, while the system rewarded his completed karmic ties; deep within the Old Shell, the mysterious eyes opened for longer than before.

• Tongtian, Taiyi, and Nuwa questioned Lu Chen about refusing the Primordial Purple Qi, and he said he wanted peace and quiet and would follow a path suited to him.
• After Lu Chen returned to Abyss, Han Jue, Lan Shuang, Ao Lie, Feng Li, and Ancestor Xuan Jia discussed why he had refused the Saint Position.
• Rumors across the Primordial World escalated from Lu Chen rejecting the Primordial Purple Qi to claims that he had long possessed a Great Dao comparable to a Saint's method and had reached Half-Step Primordial Unity.
• Lu Chen retreated into seclusion as the Old Shell merged with his true body and the system increased his Fate-Bearing and death-tribulation fate-substitution progress.
• The system granted Lu Chen Primordial Chaos Abyss Embryonic Breath, and the eyes deep within the Old Shell opened for longer than before.

After Nuwa’s karmic thread brightened and her path to Sainthood advanced, Lu Chen’s Old Shell reached 46% Fate-Bearing Degree, moving the Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation into its “Key Figure’s Pre-Sainthood Prelude” stage. When Nuwa passed over the Northern Sea, she and Lu Chen sensed a deepening karmic connection between them.

• After the Three Lectures at Purple Firmament, Lu Chen watched Nuwa’s karmic thread become steadily clearer as her Primordial Purple Qi and Creation Dao developed.
• The Old Shell’s Fate-Bearing Degree rose to 46%, updating Lu Chen’s death tribulation stage to “Key Figure’s Pre-Sainthood Prelude.”
• Nuwa traveled through the Primordial World seeking a crucial opportunity for her Creation Dao and passed above the Northern Sea.
• Nuwa’s Primordial Purple Qi stirred near Abyss, and she sensed a profound future karmic connection with Lu Chen.
• Lu Chen and Nuwa simultaneously sensed their brightening red karmic thread across the Northern Sea and Abyssal Womb Membrane.

Nuwa followed a faint karmic connection to the Northern Sea and passed through Abyss’s Three Lives Gate. The Old Shell appeared on its own to meet her, and the crimson thread of karma settled around it.

• Nuwa arrived above the Northern Sea, where Lan Shuang invited her to enter Abyss through the Three Lives Gate.
• Nuwa passed the first gate, whose Book of Cause and Effect revealed a thin crimson thread leading into Abyss.
• The second gate showed Nuwa visions of her past and a blurry blank space, and she passed the third gate with little difficulty.
• The Old Shell sensed Nuwa’s approach and appeared behind the Three Lives Gate without Lu Chen summoning it.
• Nuwa greeted Fellow Daoist Mysterious Abyss, and the crimson thread of karma stopped upon the Old Shell.

Nuwa visited Abyss’s Young Clans Court while Lu Chen hid his true body and let the Old Shell Avatar receive her. As she watched children from rival clans learn and play together, Nuwa’s Creation Dao stirred, and the chapter left her quietly observing them.

• Lu Chen concealed his true body deep in Abyss while the Old Shell Avatar accompanied Nuwa, whose perception found the avatar more lifelike than before.
• Nuwa saw descendants of different clans living together, and Lan Shuang explained that ordinary quarrels were handled without reviving ancestral feuds.
• Nuwa’s Creation Dao stirred the Old Shell’s Heavenly Mandate Spirituality, prompting it to make a natural gesture of hospitality.
• Lu Chen and Nuwa entered the Young Clans Court, where Han Jue made two young cultivators repair a Martial Practice Arena floor they had damaged while competing.
• Nuwa watched children from different clans help, tease, and play with one another, and her Creation Dao began circulating on its own.

Nuwa’s visit to the Young Clans Court led her to reconsider Creation Dao as the birth of entirely new life, not merely the transformation of existing beings. She left with her insight deepening, while Lu Chen revealed that his original aim in establishing the court had simply been to survive.

• Nuwa listened to an Academy lesson about the differences between the bodies of various races and heard a mixed-blood child ask what he was.
• Nuwa realized that living beings could learn, choose, and grow beyond their inherited traits, and wondered about creating a new kind of being.
• Nuwa’s creation aura caused a plant to sprout, flower, and bear fruit as several young beasts gathered around her.
• A Little Black Dragon said living beings became living beings because they were born, prompting Nuwa to understand that Creation Dao meant bringing new life into existence.
• Han Jue reported that the floor had been repaired, and Nuwa asked Lu Chen what he had imagined when he established the Young Clans Court.
• Lu Chen told Nuwa that he had only been thinking, “First, don’t die.”

By the Northern Darkness Sea, Nuwa asked Lu Chen why Abyss had welcomed the weak, and his practical answers helped her consider whether a fragile new clan could survive through learning and choice. Nuwa’s idea of creating a new form of life began to take shape, though Lu Chen left its future in its own hands.

• Nuwa asked Lu Chen why he had taken in the weak, and he explained that they carried less karma and caused fewer troubles than powerful contenders.
• Nuwa observed Abyss’s young clans and children, and she recognized them as its future despite their humble origins.
• Nuwa asked whether a clan’s past mattered and what a clan born without a past could do, while Lu Chen told her that the living had to move forward.
• Nuwa created a tiny spirit fish from a drop of seawater, then asked whether a weak new clan could survive by learning and choosing its future.
• Lu Chen told Nuwa that being born was easy but staying alive was difficult, and that she could provide a starting point while the clan walked its own road.

After Nuwa left Abyss, her perception of the Mysterious Abyss Emperor shifted toward Lu Chen’s Old Shell Avatar, strengthening its fate as the future Heaven-Mending sacrifice. Nuwa continued south, contemplating how to create new beings untouched by the old era’s causality.

• During her thousand years in Abyss, Nuwa witnessed former enemies’ descendants building new lives and deepened her understanding of creation.
• As Nuwa departed, she told Lu Chen she believed their unexplained karmic bond might not be a bad thing.
• The Old Shell Avatar returned Nuwa’s farewell without Lu Chen controlling it, and the Heaven-Mending red thread wrapped around the shell three times.
• Lu Chen’s system reported that Nuwa’s perception had shifted toward the Old Shell, raising its fate-bearing and Heaven-Mending progress by one percent each.
• After leaving the Northern Sea, Nuwa formed a crude human shape from soil and considered creating beings free of the old era’s causality.

Lu Chen realized that his Old Shell could fulfill the future role of supporting the Four Extremes of Heaven and Earth while earning him the resulting merit, allowing his true body to survive. He left the idea to develop over time, knowing the shell still needed to become a complete Black Tortoise body.

• After Nuwa left the Northern Sea, Lu Chen examined the Old Shell and saw that the Heaven-Mending Causality attached to it had grown stronger.
• Lu Chen wondered whether the Old Shell could support the Four Extremes and earn him Heaven-Mending Merit rather than merely serve as a decoy for his true body.
• The system confirmed that the Old Shell's fate-bearing identity belonged to Lu Chen and that using it to suppress the Four Extremes would earn merit directly for him.
• Lu Chen realized the plan could spare his true body and its four legs while allowing him to claim a share of Heaven-and-Earth Merit.
• The system warned that the Old Shell could not yet fully support the Four Extremes, so Lu Chen planned to raise its identity, Earth-Bearing Cause and Effect, and authenticity of its Heavenly Mandate.

Lu Chen deduced a way to earn Merit during the future Heaven Mending tribulation by proactively offering his Old Shell to support the Four Extremes, while keeping his true body safe. He left the plan waiting on the Old Body’s completion and sensed that Nuwa had failed another attempt at creating life.

• Lu Chen concluded that he could let Nuwa mend the heavens while his Old Shell stabilized the Four Extremes, earning Merit without exposing his true body.
• Lu Chen saw a faint second future path appear in the system, in which the Old Shell proactively stabilized heaven.
• Lu Chen judged that the plan still lacked a complete Old Body and set aside the attempt to condense its four legs.
• Lu Chen sensed Nuwa’s fluctuating Creation aura and suspected she was trying to create living beings.
• Lu Chen felt a distinct burst of Creation from Nuwa’s direction, then sensed it dissipate as another attempt failed.

Nuwa repeatedly failed to create a new race, learning that strong bloodlines and overly perfected bodies could not provide the adaptability and independent learning she sought. When her Creation Dao stalled, Lu Chen chose not to guide her, while his Black Tortoise Old Shell briefly opened its eyes.

• Nuwa's first clay body collapsed when the powerful bloodlines she had mixed into it clashed.
• Nuwa's second clay body followed commands but showed no curiosity or independent desire, so she returned it to soil.
• Nuwa's third clay body displayed simple emotions and initiative, but its rigid life structure failed when the valley's spiritual qi changed.
• Lu Chen sensed Nuwa's bottleneck and chose to let her comprehend creation herself rather than send advice through their karmic connection.
• Lu Chen received a Creation Insight Mark, and his Black Tortoise Old Shell briefly opened its eyes.
• Nuwa sat in meditation for a thousand years as ordinary scenes from Abyss repeatedly returned to her mind.

Nuwa reflected on the young clans in Abyss and realized that life should be able to learn, change, and choose its own path rather than be defined by a powerful bloodline. She shaped a weak, adaptable Innate Dao Body and, as Creation Dao gathered around it, resolved that survival was its first necessity.

• Nuwa remembered a Little Black Dragon patiently teaching the Little Deer Spirit to cultivate and children from different clans settling a dispute over a spirit fruit by playing rock-paper-scissors.
• Nuwa recalled a mixed-blood child asking whether it was a dragon or a bird, and the instructor telling it to cultivate according to its body and choose its clan registration when it grew up.
• Nuwa concluded that her earlier creations had been too completely designed, leaving them little room to adapt or determine their own futures.
• Nuwa used Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and Three Lights Divine Water to shape a deliberately weak Innate Dao Body without strong bloodline traits or fixed cultivation abilities.
• Remembering Lu Chen's advice to first survive, Nuwa decided the clay body was sufficient and let Creation Dao surge as spiritual energy gathered from the southern Primordial World.

Nuwa created the first humans, watched them learn and help one another, and realized that life’s own unfolding completed her Creation Dao. After she named them the Human Clan, immense merit gathered, and Nuwa announced their creation across the Primordial World.

• Nuwa awakened her first clay creation, which learned to stand and walk by observing and trying for itself.
• Nuwa created many more beings, who learned from one another, explored their surroundings, and helped a companion out of the stream.
• Nuwa realized that living beings’ choices and developing stories were the true completion of creation, and she named them the Human Clan.
• Heaven and Earth gathered immense merit as the Human Clan’s birth shook the Primordial World, drawing the attention of great powers and Lu Chen’s group in Abyss.
• Nuwa announced that she had created the Human Clan, and golden merit began descending across the Primordial World.

Nuwa became a Saint after creating the Human Clan, while Lu Chen concealed his true body and chose to assign Abyss’s genuine Creation Dao inspiration to the Mysterious Abyss Emperor’s Old Shell. After protecting the newborn humans, Nuwa sensed the benevolent cause linking her attainment to Abyss and headed north.

• Nuwa merged the Primordial Purple Qi with her Dao, attained Sainthood, and protected the newborn Human Clan with a Creation Barrier.
• Taiqing, Yuanshi, Tongtian, Di Jun, Taiyi, and the Twelve Ancestral Witches sensed Nuwa’s transformation and recognized her new power.
• Lu Chen hid his true Black Tortoise body deeper in Abyss after sensing Nuwa’s Saintly pressure.
• Lu Chen chose not to claim Human-Creation Merit or sever Abyss’s connection, assigning its genuine Creation Dao benevolent cause to the Mysterious Abyss Emperor’s Old Shell.
• A trace of Creation Saintly Destiny entered the Old Shell, strengthening its authenticity, while Nuwa sensed the connection and traveled toward the Northern Sea.

After attaining Sainthood, Nuwa went to Abyss to thank Mysterious Abyss for inspiring her understanding of life and the Human Clan’s freedom to grow. She acknowledged Abyss’s benevolent cause, then noticed that Mysterious Abyss’s manifested form seemed more like a true living being.

• Nuwa arrived above the Northern Sea soon after becoming a Saint, and Mysterious Abyss went out to greet her while hiding his true body deep in Abyss.
• Nuwa and Mysterious Abyss walked along the Northern Darkness Sea, where she explained that observing Abyss’s young clans had influenced her decision to leave the Human Clan room to learn and choose their own paths.
• Nuwa bowed to Mysterious Abyss in gratitude, and he accepted Abyss’s benevolent cause while rejecting any claim to the Merit of creating humanity.
• Nuwa looked toward Abyss and told Mysterious Abyss that his manifested form seemed more like a true living being.