Chapter Summaries

Lu Chen chose to hide in the Ruins Sea Eye and build a secluded inner realm, avoiding the dangers awaiting the Northern Sea Black Tortoise. When the Dragon Clan pursued the Sea Spirit Clan, he chose to shelter them in his realm for a hundred years.

• Lu Chen rejected joining the Dragon Clan or revealing himself, choosing seclusion and gaining the Chaos Tortoise Breathing Method and a Ruins Womb Membrane.
• He concealed his aura, merged the membrane with his shell, and named the resulting space the Guixu Inner Realm.
• Over the next thirteen hundred years, Lu Chen cultivated in hiding and gradually nurtured a spiritual vein and grass within the barren inner realm.
• A thousand-foot flood dragon pursued the wounded Sea Spirit Clan, including a silver-haired woman carrying a comatose child.
• Lu Chen chose to open the Guixu Inner Realm and shelter the Sea Spirit Clan for a hundred years.

Lan Shuang and the Sea Spirit Clan escaped Ao Zheng by entering Guixu, where Lu Chen sheltered them in his hidden realm. After Lu Chen drove Ao Zheng away and warned the Dragon Clan to keep Guixu out of the Three-Clan Hegemony, Lan Shuang mistook his modesty for a grand plan and continued calling him Emperor.

• Lan Shuang led the fleeing Sea Spirit Clan into Guixu to escape Ao Zheng, and Lu Chen's force brought them into his hidden realm.
• Ao Zheng mistook a vast turtle shell near Guixu for a spiritual treasure, attacked it, and was badly injured by the backlash.
• Lu Chen restrained Ao Zheng, ordered him to leave, and warned that Guixu would not join the Three-Clan Hegemony.
• Lan Shuang and her clansmen thanked Lu Chen as Emperor, but he told them not to call him that because it scared him.
• Lan Shuang believed Lu Chen was concealing his plans and agreed to obey the Emperor's decree, leaving Lu Chen exasperated.

After a century of sheltering the Sea Spirit Clan, Lu Chen discovered that they had built an organized settlement in Guixu and chose to let them stay while he cultivated the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method in seclusion. As the clan quietly expanded its preparations and a rumor about Guixu spread, the Dragon Clan began investigating Lu Chen’s supposed ambitions.

• Lu Chen emerged from a hundred years of seclusion and found that the Sea Spirit Clan had built the Northern Darkness Imperial Palace and established several administrative bureaus on the island.
• Lan Shuang asked Lu Chen to let the Sea Spirit Clan remain because the Dragon Clan had occupied Cold Moon Island and their elders had perished.
• Lu Chen chose to seal Guixu for ten thousand years, received the first level of the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method, and allowed the Sea Spirit Clan to stay under rules against expanding, recruiting troops, or calling themselves emperors in his name.
• After Lu Chen entered seclusion, Lan Shuang interpreted his rules as strategic guidance and ordered the clan to expand its bureaus, compile a register of nearby clans, and establish a Realm Guard.
• A jade slip spread the claim that Northern Sea Guixu could shelter beings from the Great Tribulation, while the Blackwater Dragon King ordered an investigation into Guixu and nearby refugee clans.
• Lu Chen remained unaware of the Dragon Clan's suspicions as the Northern Sea began calling him the Mysterious Abyss Emperor.

After ten thousand years of secluded cultivation, Lu Chen discovered that the Guixu Inner Realm had grown into a thriving city of thirty-six clans. He chose to let its order develop, gave Lan Shuang the prototype of the Book of Cause and Effect, and returned to seclusion while the clans hailed him as Emperor.

• The system reported that Guixu held 36,721 living beings across thirty-six clans, and Lu Chen saw they had built Guixu Divine City with offices, guards, and an academy.
• Lan Shuang welcomed Lu Chen out of seclusion and explained that the clans had fled Dragon Clan persecution and built their own society without expanding outward.
• The system offered Lu Chen three choices, and he chose to maintain the current order rather than proclaim himself Emperor or expel the clans.
• Lu Chen gave Lan Shuang the prototype of the Book of Cause and Effect and ordered her to register newcomers, bar suspicious or heavily slaughter-tainted beings, and expel Dragon Clan spies.
• Lan Shuang and the clan leaders established the Bureau of Cause and Effect and hailed Lu Chen as the Mysterious Abyss Emperor despite his warning that Guixu must not contend for supremacy or enter the Great Tribulation.

Lan Shuang used the Book of Cause and Effect to establish Guixu’s laws, judging the thirty-six tribes and assigning rewards or punishments according to their deeds. After the Redfin Tribe chief was expelled, he plotted revenge, while the Blackwater Dragon King sent Third Prince Ao Lie to investigate Guixu.

• Lan Shuang opened the Book of Cause and Effect and announced Guixu’s registration, patrol, reward, and punishment rules.
• Lady Mingzhu and the Mystic Clam Tribe submitted to judgment; the Book cleared them to enter the inner city and appointed Lady Mingzhu deputy seal-holder of the Guixu Treasury.
• The Book exposed the Redfin Tribe’s crimes, and Lan Shuang expelled the chief and his accomplices while allowing uninvolved members to remain in the outer city and labor for a thousand years.
• The thirty-six tribes accepted Guixu’s rules, and Lan Shuang formally established the Bureau of Cause and Effect.
• The expelled Redfin Tribe chief vowed revenge, and the Blackwater Dragon King ordered Third Prince Ao Lie to lead elites into the Northern Sea to investigate Guixu.

Lu Chen used the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Formation to stop Han Jue from abusing sparring matches and established Guixu’s rule against trouble. Han Jue joined the Realm Guard, inspiring a surge of recruits, while Lan Shuang proposed Guixu Academy and Lu Chen reacted with dismay.

• Han Jue defeated seventeen Realm Guard members and challenged the Sea Spirit Clan’s authority over Guixu.
• Lan Shuang reported Han Jue’s actions to Lu Chen, who chose to use the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Formation to suppress both sides.
• Lu Chen declared Guixu’s rules, forced Han Jue to his knees, and ordered him to join the Realm Guard as a punishment.
• Han Jue accepted the order, apologized to the injured cultivator, and agreed to guard Guixu.
• Young cultivators from several clans applied to join the Realm Guard, and Lan Shuang proposed establishing Guixu Academy.
• Lu Chen heard that Guixu Academy would soon be established and protested that no one had asked him.

Lu Chen established Guixu Academy and created the Guixu Stillness Art to teach young cultivators from every tribe how to avoid tribulations and stay alive. As the Academy strengthened Guixu, its patrol bureau uncovered a Dragon Clan spy, and Lan Shuang prepared to report the infiltration to Lu Chen.

• Lan Shuang proposed Guixu Academy, and Lu Chen chose to provide a basic cultivation method rather than personally take disciples or close the Academy.
• Lu Chen created the Guixu Stillness Art and instructed Lan Shuang to teach it only within Guixu Academy and never spread it outside.
• Lan Shuang led the Academy's first lesson, and cultivators from thirty-six tribes learned the method's principles of restraint, concealment, and survival.
• The Guixu Stillness Art improved cultivation, formation stability, and public order, while the system reported increased stability in the Guixu Womb Membrane and faster gestation of the Northern Dark Spirit Veins.
• The Bureau of Realm Patrol discovered a Coldwater Fish Clan cultivator whose karmic thread contained a black dragon shadow, and Lan Shuang identified him as a Dragon Clan spy.
• Lu Chen received the system's warning about the spy and lamented that having more people brought more trouble.

Lu Chen used Heaven-Deceiving Water Mist to alter the Dragon Clan spy Han Qi’s memories and make Guixu appear weak. Han Qi sent the false report to the Blackwater Dragon King, leaving Guixu’s true strength concealed for now.

• Lu Chen discovered that Han Qi, a True Immortal posing as a Coldwater Fish Clan cultivator, was sending information about Guixu to the Blackwater Dragon Palace.
• Lu Chen rejected killing the spy or letting him report freely, chose to alter his memories, and received Heaven-Deceiving Water Mist.
• The mist made Han Qi perceive Guixu as barren and poorly defended, and made him believe Lu Chen was gravely injured and dormant.
• Han Qi secretly transmitted his false assessment to the Blackwater Dragon King, describing Guixu as weak and its defenses as nothing to fear.

The Blackwater Dragon King sent Ao Lie and three hundred Dragon Clan warriors to investigate Guixu, but Lu Chen’s formation crushed them. Lu Chen sentenced Ao Lie to guard Guixu’s outskirts for a thousand years, and Lan Shuang proposed building a Dragon-Suppressing Pass.

• The Blackwater Dragon King dismissed Ao Zheng’s doubts and ordered Ao Lie to investigate Guixu with three hundred elite Dragon Clan warriors.
• Ao Lie used the Dragon-Seeking Disc to inspect Guixu, mistook its disguised outer realm for a weak refuge, and led his force inside.
• The Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Formation activated and crushed the Dragon Clan force, forcing Ao Lie into his True Dragon form before the formation stomped him down.
• Lu Chen chose to punish Ao Lie by making him guard Guixu’s outskirts for a thousand years, while the Dragon Clan warriors were expelled with their memories of Guixu erased.
• After news of Ao Lie’s punishment reached Guixu, Lan Shuang ordered the clans to build a pass outside Guixu and named it Dragon-Suppressing Pass.

Lan Shuang built Dragon-Suppressing Pass as a defensive extension of Guixu, strengthening its defenses and leaving Ao Lie to guard the gate. Seven days after its completion, refugees from seventeen clans arrived fleeing the Dragon Clan, forcing Lu Chen to face a new crisis.

• Lan Shuang persuaded Lu Chen that Dragon-Suppressing Pass would secure Guixu’s existing boundary, and Lu Chen chose the system reward that strengthened the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Formation.
• Guixu’s clans joined forces to build the pass, while Ao Lie was kept under guard and clashed with Han Jue.
• After thirty years, Dragon-Suppressing Pass was completed and connected to the formation, improving Guixu’s defenses and boundary strength.
• Ao Lie gradually grew used to the clans treating him without the fear shown outside Guixu.
• Seven days after the pass was completed, refugees from seventeen minor clans begged Lu Chen to save them, and Ao Lie recognized Dragon Clan conscription marks on them.

Lu Chen used the upgraded Book of Cause and Effect to screen seventeen clans seeking refuge at Dragon-Suppressing Pass, admitting fifteen and expelling members of two clans guilty of betraying other refugees. After the expelled clans secretly reported Guixu’s growing influence to the Blackwater Dragon King, he ordered an army mobilized and prepared to confront Lu Chen.

• Han Cang pleaded for the seventeen clans to enter Guixu, and Lan Shuang sought Lu Chen’s decision.
• Lu Chen chose to upgrade the Book of Cause and Effect and set three rules for entry, including screening each clan’s karma.
• The Book of Cause and Effect approved fifteen clans, while revealing that the Blood Loach Tribe had hunted refugees and the Black Toad Tribe had used other clans as decoys.
• Lan Shuang expelled those who had participated in the two tribes’ crimes and allowed uninvolved members of the Blood Loach Tribe to remain and labor for three thousand years.
• The fifteen admitted clans pledged to serve Guixu, while the expelled chieftains secretly carried news of Guixu to the Blackwater Dragon Palace.
• The Blackwater Dragon King ordered three thousand Blackwater Dragon Army soldiers mobilized and said he would confront Lu Chen himself.

The Blackwater Dragon King led three thousand elite soldiers to Dragon-Suppressing Pass, forcing Guixu to prepare for its first true battle against an organized Dragon Clan army. Lu Chen chose to confront the invasion through a Guixu Dharma Body, and the chapter ended as the armies clashed.

• Ao Lie sensed that the Blackwater Dragon King had mobilized three thousand soldiers, including Golden Immortals and Supreme Unity Golden Immortals, and warned Han Jue that the army was too strong to stop.
• Guixu’s leaders pledged supplies and reinforcements to defend Dragon-Suppressing Pass, while Lan Shuang decided they needed the Emperor’s instructions.
• Lu Chen rejected retreating or revealing his true body, chose to face the enemy with the Guixu Dharma Body, and received that ability from the system.
• The Blackwater Dragon King arrived at Dragon-Suppressing Pass with his army and demanded that the Guixu Black Tortoise answer for sheltering fugitives, detaining Ao Lie, and building the pass.
• Lu Chen manifested his Dharma Body and told the Blackwater Dragon King to enter the formation, and the three thousand soldiers advanced to begin the battle.

The Guixu clans and Realm Guard fought the Blackwater Dragon Army within the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Formation, using its layered powers to suppress the dragons and expose their past crimes. The Blackwater Dragon King revealed his true form and challenged the Black Tortoise, and Lu Chen prepared to face him as the battle of the Great Principle began.

• Lan Shuang rallied the Guixu clans atop Dragon-Suppressing Pass, and Han Jue led the Realm Guard into formation as Ao Lie chose to defend the pass against his clan.
• The formation's Return Ruins Heavy Water, Black Tortoise Soul Suppression, and Book of Cause and Effect weakened the Blackwater Dragon Army, while Lan Shuang exposed the dragons' past atrocities.
• Han Jue and the Cold Sand Clan subdued a Golden Immortal dragon general, and the Guixu clans attacked other suppressed dragons as their confidence grew.
• A Supreme Unity Golden Immortal elder struck at the Realm Guard, but Han Jue and his soldiers held their Black Tortoise Formation and withstood the blow.
• The Blackwater Dragon King unleashed his Daluo Golden Immortal pressure and transformed into a massive black dragon, challenging the Black Tortoise to appear.
• Lu Chen answered the Blackwater Dragon King's challenge, and the king launched his Dragon Pearl as the battle of the Great Principle began.

Lu Chen's Guixu Dharma Body defended Dragon-Suppressing Pass against the Blackwater Dragon King's assault, then struck back and wounded him. The battle remained unresolved as the Dharma Body brought down a second stomp.

• The Blackwater Dragon King attacked Dragon-Suppressing Pass with his Dragon Pearl, cracking the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Formation as Lan Shuang used the Book of Cause and Effect to suppress him.
• The Blackwater Dragon King sent nine black dragon phantoms at the pass, and the Guixu races helped reinforce its defenses.
• Lu Chen's Guixu Dharma Body raised a foot, summoning Return Ruins Heavy Water chains that dragged the nine phantoms away and shattered them.
• The Blackwater Dragon King pressed his laws against the pass, but Lu Chen used the Guixu Womb Membrane to shift the region and dodge the attack.
• Lu Chen's Dharma Body appeared above the Blackwater Dragon King and stomped him down, bursting his scales and scattering his blood before bringing down a second foot.

Lu Chen’s Guixu Dharma Body defeated the Blackwater Dragon King and drove the Blackwater Dragon Army away from Dragon-Suppressing Pass. Ao Lie chose to remain at the gate, while the Dragon Clan retreated wary of Guixu’s mysterious Emperor and tried to conceal its defeat.

• Lu Chen’s Guixu Dharma Body stomped the Blackwater Dragon King into the seabed twice, then claimed to be in the Seclusion Realm.
• The Blackwater Dragon King withdrew his army and demanded that Ao Lie return, but Ao Lie chose to finish his punishment at Dragon-Suppressing Pass.
• Lu Chen ordered Ao Lie to keep guarding the gate, and the Guixu clans celebrated the Dragon Clan’s retreat.
• On the journey home, the Blackwater Dragon King and his elders discussed the Dharma Body’s power and the possibility that the Seclusion Realm was an ancient cultivation path.
• The Blackwater Dragon King ordered his forces to avoid Guixu and suppress news of the battle, postponing Ao Lie’s matter and deciding not to inform the Ancestral Dragon yet.

After the Blackwater Dragon Army retreated from Dragon-Suppressing Pass, the Northern Sea clans began to recognize Guixu as a refuge from the Dragon Clan. Lu Chen received a fragment of the fourth layer of the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method, then learned that the Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe had come seeking their ancestor.

• Lan Shuang and Lady Mingzhu discussed the Emperor’s path as a Calamity Watcher, while Han Jue and Ao Lie reflected on Guixu’s order and renewed their rivalry.
• Lu Chen received a fragment of the fourth layer of the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method and began comprehending it.
• Lan Shuang told Lu Chen that Northern Sea clans were arriving with gifts and that Ancestor Xuan Jia had brought the Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe to meet their ancestor.
• News of the Blackwater Dragon King’s defeat spread through the Northern Sea, and clans discussed Guixu’s power, its protection of weaker races, and Ao Lie’s punishment.

After the battle at Dragon-Suppressing Pass, Guixu expanded its defenses and accepted more clans under Lu Chen’s policy of upholding righteousness and avoiding calamity. The Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe arrived seeking refuge and offered to guard Lu Chen’s dojo, prompting a new system choice.

• Lu Chen approved expanding the Realm Guard to three thousand, with orders to defend Guixu but not wage war or pursue external enemies without authorization.
• Lu Chen instructed Guixu to accept new clans only after strict screening and to maintain a defensive posture, and Lan Shuang summarized his policy as “Uphold righteousness, avoid calamity.”
• Ancestor Xuan Jia led the Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe away from Blackshell Ridge after Blackwater Dragon Palace demanded its young turtles for armor.
• Ancestor Xuan Jia brought his entire clan to Dragon-Suppressing Pass, knelt before the gates, and requested an audience with the Turtle Clan’s ancestor, offering to guard Mysterious Abyss Emperor’s dojo.
• Lu Chen wondered how to respond when the system announced that the Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe had come to pledge allegiance and presented him with a choice.

Lu Chen accepted the Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe into Guixu and gained the completed second level of the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method. After Ao Lie and Ancestor Xuan Jia clashed over guarding Dragon-Suppressing Pass, Lu Chen assigned them separate gates and used a Northern Sea-Calming Stele Fragment to strengthen the pass.

• Lu Chen accepted the Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe, completing the second level of the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method and learning to transfer some of his karma onto his Old Shell.
• Ancestor Xuan Jia led the Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe into Guixu, where the Book of Cause and Effect approved their entry and identified him as an Early Daluo Golden Immortal.
• Lu Chen approved Ancestor Xuan Jia to guard Dragon-Suppressing Pass after Lan Shuang recommended him, and the tribe settled within Guixu.
• Ancestor Xuan Jia and Ao Lie argued over the Dragon Clan's treatment of the turtles and began clashing at Dragon-Suppressing Pass.
• Lu Chen established a dual-guardian system, assigning Ao Lie to the outer gate and Ancestor Xuan Jia to the inner gate, and forbade them from fighting.
• The Northern Sea-Calming Stele Fragment strengthened Dragon-Suppressing Pass, while Ao Lie and Ancestor Xuan Jia agreed to obey Lu Chen's decree.

Lu Chen strengthened Dragon-Suppressing Pass with a dual-guardian system, then chose to send a Guixu expedition to the newly emerged Northern Dark Water Palace for the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl. As forces from the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans gathered, Lan Shuang organized the expedition while Lu Chen stayed behind and warned them to retreat if the danger became too great.

• Ao Lie guarded Dragon-Suppressing Pass's outer gate while Ancestor Xuan Jia guarded its inner gate, and their constant bickering made them more diligent.
• The Black-Shelled Turtle Tribe settled in Guixu, stabilizing its earth veins and strengthening the Guixu Womb Membrane.
• An azure pillar revealed the Northern Dark Water Palace and the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl, drawing the attention of Guixu's leaders and powerful figures from the three clans.
• Lu Chen chose to send Guixu's people to pursue the pearl while keeping his main body uninvolved, and he ordered Lan Shuang to retreat from powerful enemies and not invoke his name.
• Lan Shuang interpreted Lu Chen's orders as a test, then assembled an expedition with Ancestor Xuan Jia, Ao Lie, Han Jue, and Lady Mingzhu as the three clans' forces converged on the palace.

Guixu's expedition reached the Northern Dark Water Palace, where the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans also sought the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl. The four factions entered the palace together, while a mysterious presence deep inside sensed the Black Tortoise's aura and wondered if it was still alive.

• Lan Shuang led Guixu's team, including Han Jue, Ao Lie, Lady Mingzhu, and Ancestor Xuan Jia, toward the Northern Dark Water Palace under Lu Chen's order to avoid unnecessary risks.
• Guixu's team encountered Dragon Clan elder Ao Yin, Frost Phoenix cultivator Feng Li, and Water Qilin descendant Lin Yue outside the palace, and Ao Yin clashed verbally with Ao Lie and Han Jue.
• The Northern Dark Water Palace opened, and Lan Shuang told Guixu's team to enter while prioritizing their safety over the treasure.
• The four factions entered the palace at the same time, and a pair of scarlet eyes opened deep within as a voice recognized the Black Tortoise's aura.