Chapter Summaries

The Guixu group navigated the Northern Dark Water Palace’s dangers by following Lady Mingzhu’s water-vein readings and Lan Shuang’s Book of Cause and Effect, while the three clans struggled with the restrictions. At the altar holding the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl, a resentful remnant soul recognized Guixu and attacked Ao Yin after he reached for the treasure.

• Lan Shuang warned the group about the Water Palace’s baleful remnants, and Lady Mingzhu guided them along a safer route instead of toward the brightly lit main hall.
• The Dragon and Qilin clans triggered deadly restrictions, while the Guixu group avoided danger through careful coordination; Feng Li noticed and ordered the Frost Phoenix Lineage to follow them.
• The Guixu group found the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl above a Blackwater altar, where Lan Shuang revealed a powerful remnant soul beneath it.
• The Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clan forces arrived, and Ao Yin reached for the pearl despite Feng Li’s warning.
• The Blackwater remnant soul devoured half of Ao Yin’s magical power, recognized Guixu and the Black Tortoise, and flooded the altar with baleful aura.

The three clans and Guixu struggled against the Sea Devourer remnant soul, which drained their fighters and guarded the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl. Lan Shuang used Guixu Water Aura to weaken it, and the remnant soul offered the pearl in exchange for being taken to Guixu to see the Emperor.

• Ao Yin attacked the Sea Devourer with dragon breath, but it swallowed the attack and grew stronger.
• Lan Shuang’s Book of Cause and Effect identified Sea Devourer and revealed its history, while it recognized her Guixu origins.
• Ao Yin’s Black Water Spirit-Binding Array failed, and the Sea Devourer drained Dragon Clan and Qilin Clan fighters as Lin Yue and Feng Li adjusted their tactics.
• Lan Shuang had Ao Lie and Ancestor Xuan Jia draw Guixu Water Aura from Dragon-Suppressing Pass, while Feng Li froze the surrounding Blackwater to buy time.
• The Guixu Water Aura weakened the Sea Devourer and cracked the barrier around the pearl; Lan Shuang then told it the Emperor endured within Guixu.
• The Sea Devourer offered to give up the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl if Lan Shuang took it to Guixu to see the Emperor.

Lan Shuang offered Sea Swallower Remnant Soul a chance to reach Guixu if he dispersed his slaughter karma, and he accepted despite her inability to guarantee Emperor would receive him. After his soul pearl was secured and Lady Mingzhu claimed the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl, Ao Yin attacked, and Ao Lie stood against him in defense of Guixu's rules.

• Lan Shuang refused to take Sea Swallower Remnant Soul to Guixu unless he dispersed his slaughter karma, and said she could only bring his soul pearl to Emperor for a decision.
• Sea Swallower Remnant Soul recalled his origins and his defeat by the sleeping Black Tortoise, then agreed to disperse his slaughter karma for a chance to reach Guixu.
• Lan Shuang used the Book of Cause and Effect to cleanse the slaughter karma, leaving Sea Swallower Remnant Soul as a soul pearl that she took into her care.
• Lady Mingzhu caught the freed Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl as the waterways of the water palace calmed.
• Ao Yin attacked Lady Mingzhu to seize the pearl, but Ao Lie blocked him and declared that he was upholding Guixu's rules.

Ao Lie defended Guixu’s rules against Ao Yin, helping Guixu secure the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl and drive the Dragon Clan away. After the Frost Phoenix Lineage expressed interest in joining Guixu, Lu Chen learned that the Guixu Womb Membrane was beginning to evolve.

• Ao Lie confronted Ao Yin over the Dragon Clan’s treatment of weaker clans and refused to let him seize Guixu’s treasure.
• Ao Yin attacked Ao Lie, and Han Jue led the Realm Guard in forming the Black Tortoise Formation to protect him.
• Lan Shuang used the Book of Cause and Effect to weaken Ao Yin, and Ao Lie struck him back before Ao Yin withdrew with the Dragon Clan.
• Lin Yue left without challenging Guixu, while Feng Li asked whether the Frost Phoenix Lineage could enter Guixu and Lan Shuang invited them to Dragon-Suppressing Pass if they accepted its rules.
• Lu Chen learned that Guixu’s expedition had acquired the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl and that the Guixu Womb Membrane was about to undergo aquatic evolution.

Lu Chen accepted the Sea Devourer Remnant Soul as a bound guardian of Guixu’s water veins and allowed the Frost Phoenix Lineage to take refuge in the outer city after inspection. The chapter ended with Lu Chen worrying that the Qilin Clan might be next to arrive.

• Lan Shuang returned to Dragon-Suppressing Pass with the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl and ordered the expedition’s secrets kept confidential.
• Lu Chen approved Sea Devourer’s request to remain in Guixu, binding it through the Book of Cause and Effect to guard the Northern Darkness Sea.
• Lu Chen agreed to let the Frost Phoenix Lineage reside temporarily in Guixu’s outer city and undergo karmic inspection.
• Feng Li led several thousand Frost Phoenix clanspeople to Dragon-Suppressing Pass, where the Book of Cause and Effect approved their temporary residence and granted Feng Li a Guixu Guest Official Seat.
• Ao Lie and Feng Li greeted each other at the pass as Han Jue joked that a Qilin Clan member might come next.
• Lu Chen sensed the Frost Phoenix Lineage’s arrival and worried that the Qilin Clan might also seek refuge.

Lu Chen fused the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl into Guixu, expanding its inner realm into a prototype minor world and prompting new systems for distributing resources. Just as Guixu settled into order, the Dragon Clan Main Lineage demanded that Lu Chen answer for sheltering fugitive Dragons and other alleged offenses.

• Lu Chen coordinated Guixu's water veins before merging the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl into the Guixu Womb Membrane.
• The fusion created the Northern Darkness Sea and expanded Guixu's inner realm to a radius of one million li, convincing Feng Li that the Frost Phoenix Lineage had chosen the right refuge.
• The system rewarded Lu Chen with a third-layer fragment of the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method, which introduced the idea of making the Old Shell bear fate.
• Lan Shuang announced merit-based resource allocation, and Lady Mingzhu established the Guixu Treasury to manage resources and reward contributions.
• Several hundred years later, Ao Xuan's edict ordered Lu Chen to explain himself at the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace within a thousand years or face the Dragon Clan Main Lineage's intervention.

Ao Xuan delivered the Ancestral Dragon Main Lineage’s decree ordering Lu Chen to appear at Eastern Sea Dragon Palace within a thousand years. Lu Chen chose to delay, and Guixu prepared to enter a thousand-year Calamity-Avoidance State as the threat of the Dragon Clan Main Lineage loomed.

• Ao Xuan arrived at Dragon-Suppressing Pass and accused Guixu of sheltering fugitive dragons, detaining Dragon Clan bloodlines, and taking Northern Dark Water Palace’s spiritual treasure.
• Ao Xuan announced that Lu Chen must go to Eastern Sea Dragon Palace within a thousand years or face the Dragon Clan Main Lineage’s intervention.
• Lu Chen chose to seal the decree and delay his response for a thousand years, earning a piece of Heaven-Deceiving Tortoise Shell.
• Ao Xuan left the decree as a golden dragon sigil and warned that the main lineage would come to Guixu if Lu Chen failed to appear.
• Ao Lie, Han Jue, Ancestor Xuan Jia, and Lan Shuang discussed the main lineage’s strength and the danger it posed to Guixu.
• Lu Chen ordered Lan Shuang to seal some passages, reinforce Dragon-Suppressing Pass, avoid provoking the Dragon Clan, and place Guixu in the Calamity-Avoidance State.

Guixu spent a thousand years preparing Dragon-Suppressing Pass for the Dragon Clan Main Lineage, strengthening its defenses and training its forces. As the Millennium Pact expired, Ao Cang arrived with Ao Xuan and a Dragon Clan procession, bringing the threat to Guixu’s gates.

• Lan Shuang organized Guixu’s Calamity-Avoidance State, assigning its departments and allied races to reinforce Dragon-Suppressing Pass and prepare for the Dragon Clan.
• Lu Chen refined the Heaven-Deceiving Tortoise Shell while Guixu expanded its Realm Guard, strengthened its formations, trained its defenders, and expelled spies.
• Ao Lie and Han Jue repeatedly practiced defending against Dragon Clan tactics, and Guixu Academy added a Dragon-Suppressing Pass Battle Formation Course.
• Lu Chen merged the Heaven-Deceiving Tortoise Shell into the Guixu Womb Membrane, obscuring Guixu’s heavenly secrets.
• As the thousand-year pact expired, Ao Xuan and the Great Principle Late Stage elder Ao Cang arrived outside Dragon-Suppressing Pass, and Lan Shuang ordered the defenders to high alert.

Lu Chen used the Great Dream Black Tortoise Technique to frighten Ao Cang, a Great Principle Late Stage elder of the Dragon Clan Main Lineage, into withdrawing from Dragon-Suppressing Pass. Ao Cang reported Guixu to the Ancestral Dragon, whose eyes opened in the Eastern Sea.

• Ao Cang attacked Dragon-Suppressing Pass, cracking its formation, while Ao Lie refused his offer to return to the Dragon Clan.
• Lu Chen chose the Great Dream Black Tortoise Technique and used a dream of his sleeping true body to make Ao Cang bleed and recoil.
• Ao Cang rebuked Ao Xuan and withdrew the Dragon Clan group after warning that he would report Guixu to the main lineage.
• Guixu's cultivators celebrated and knelt to Lu Chen, who received a fragment of the fourth layer of the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method and stronger Guixu defenses.
• The Ancestral Dragon opened his eyes in the Eastern Sea and took interest in Northern Sea Guixu and the Black Tortoise.

Ao Chen refused the Ancestral Dragon’s invitation to visit the Eastern Sea, instead offering to receive Dragon Clan envoys at Dragon-Suppressing Pass. The Ancestral Dragon accepted the reply and decided to send only a thought to investigate Guixu.

• Ao Cang reported Guixu’s actions and his injury to the Ancestral Dragon, who concluded that Mysterious Abyss Emperor had not yet declared war on the Dragon Clan.
• The Ancestral Dragon sent a Dragon Token inviting Mysterious Abyss Emperor to the Eastern Sea Ancestral Dragon Palace to discuss the Dao.
• Lu Chen chose to answer through his Guixu Dharma Body, refusing to leave Guixu but inviting the Ancestral Dragon to discuss matters outside Dragon-Suppressing Pass.
• The Dragon Token returned to the Eastern Sea, where the Ancestral Dragon announced that he would inspect Guixu with a single thought.

The Ancestral Dragon’s Dao Thought arrived at Dragon-Suppressing Pass and questioned Lu Chen about sheltering Dragon Clan refugees and Guixu’s purpose. Lu Chen warned that the three clans’ prosperity had reached its peak and their karmic burden would bring decline, leaving the Ancestral Dragon silent.

• The Ancestral Dragon’s golden waterlight traveled through the Four Seas and manifested as a black-robed man outside Dragon-Suppressing Pass.
• Lu Chen formed his Guixu Dharma Body and told the Ancestral Dragon that his true body was in seclusion.
• Lu Chen explained that Guixu judged beings by cause and effect rather than origin, and that rulebreakers received equal punishment regardless of bloodline.
• The Ancestral Dragon recognized Guixu’s emerging order and accused Lu Chen of gathering the Three Clans’ Flame Seeds, which Lu Chen denied.
• When asked whether the Dragon Clan would fall, Lu Chen said the three clans had reached the height of their prosperity, their karmic burden was heavy, and fortune would eventually recede.
• The Ancestral Dragon fell silent after hearing Lu Chen’s warning about the three clans’ future.

Lu Chen agreed that Guixu could shelter a Dragon Clan branch only if its members passed through karma and followed Guixu’s rules, then sealed the Ancestral Dragon’s Reverse Scale as a token for them. After the Ancestral Dragon’s Dao Thought departed, Lu Chen studied a Chaos Shell-Shedding Method fragment that could help him survive the future Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation.

• The Ancestral Dragon asked whether Guixu would shelter the Dragon Clan Remnant Lineage, and Lu Chen said even the Ancestral Dragon’s bloodline would have to pass through karma and submit to the Book of Cause and Effect.
• The Ancestral Dragon offered half of his Reverse Scale as a token for one young Dragon Clan branch, and Lu Chen chose to seal it with the Heaven-Deceiving Tortoise Shell.
• The Ancestral Dragon acknowledged Ao Lie’s service to Guixu and departed after agreeing that the Dragon Clan might seek refuge there if its fortune declined.
• Lu Chen studied a fragment of the fifth layer of the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method, which described using an old shell to bear karma and fate in place of his true body.
• At the Eastern Sea Ancestral Dragon Palace, the Ancestral Dragon ordered the Dragon Clan not to act against Guixu and told its young bloodline to seek refuge there if calamity came.

After Ancestral Dragon left Dragon-Suppressing Pass, Han Jue helped Ao Lie steady his Dao heart by reminding him to follow Guixu's rules. Lu Chen realized that sheltering tribulation survivors strengthened his Old Shell's ability to bear fate, while Ancestral Dragon failed to see through Guixu and prepared a refuge there for the Dragon Clan's young branches.

• Ao Lie questioned whether the Dragon Clan would lose, and Han Jue told him to focus on guarding Dragon-Suppressing Pass and obeying Guixu's rules.
• Ao Lie regained his composure and challenged Han Jue to fight once his injuries healed, while Lan Shuang and Lady Mingzhu noted how much he and the pass had changed.
• Lu Chen realized Ancestral Dragon's Reverse Scale and the fortune of saved beings could strengthen Guixu's Old Shell and help it bear fate during Heaven Mending.
• The system reported that Guixu's Water Clan fortune had stabilized, Ao Lie's Dao heart had steadied, and Lu Chen's Chaos Shell-Shedding Method had progressed.
• Ancestral Dragon failed to deduce Lu Chen's true body and ordered the Dragon Clan to leave Guixu alone for now, allowing young branches facing calamity to seek refuge there.
• Ancestral Dragon sensed the Three Clans' coming great war and wondered whether the Black Tortoise could see its end.

Elder Zhu Yan came to Dragon-Suppressing Pass to force Feng Li and the Frost Phoenix Lineage back to the Phoenix Clan, accusing them of abandoning the war. With Lu Chen empowering Feng Li's frostflame through Northern Darkness Water Aura, she drove Zhu Yan back, but Yuanfeng's divine sense then descended upon the Northern Sea.

• Feng Li taught frostflame at Guixu Academy as the Frost Phoenix Lineage settled into life in the outer city.
• Zhu Yan arrived at Dragon-Suppressing Pass and demanded that Feng Li take the Frost Phoenix Lineage back south, while Feng Li and Lan Shuang cited Guixu's protection and rules.
• Zhu Yan attacked with Southern Bright Fire, and Feng Li confronted him with her Frost Phoenix frostflame.
• Lu Chen chose to empower Feng Li with Northern Darkness Water Aura, strengthening her frostflame enough to force Zhu Yan back.
• Zhu Yan warned that Yuanfeng would hear of Feng Li's resistance, and Yuanfeng's phoenix cry sounded across the Northern Sea as her divine sense descended.

Yuanfeng's divine sense confronted Feng Li and Lu Chen over the Frost Phoenix Lineage's decision to remain in Guixu, then left a Frostflame Phoenix Feather that became the clan's new spiritual root. The Frost Phoenix Lineage joined Guixu under its protection, while Lu Chen gained an insight into the Nirvana Shell-Swapping Technique and feared the Qilin Clan might also arrive.

• Yuanfeng asked Feng Li whether she wished to remain in Guixu, and Feng Li explained that her exhausted clan wanted to avoid the tribulation and stay.
• Lu Chen told Yuanfeng that Guixu would protect those who chose to remain, and Feng Li and the Frost Phoenix Lineage declared that they wished to stay.
• Yuanfeng left the Frostflame Phoenix Feather and recognized the Frost Phoenix Lineage's right to remain under Feng Li's command during the Great Tribulation.
• Lu Chen chose to turn the feather into a tribulation-avoiding token and received a fragmentary insight into the Nirvana Shell-Swapping Technique.
• Feng Li planted the feather, which grew into a Frostflame Parasol Tree and gave the Frost Phoenix Lineage a home in Guixu.
• Yuanfeng departed with Zhu Yan, and Lan Shuang and Lu Chen worried that the Qilin Clan might also come to Guixu.

The Water Qilin Branch fled the growing war among the three clans and sought refuge in Guixu, where the Book of Cause and Effect approved them for entry and Lin Yue took a guest official seat. As the three clans’ legacies began to converge and Guixu prepared to evolve, Primordial Qilin’s aura appeared in the Northern Darkness Sea.

• Earth-vein tremors revealed the Water Qilin Branch approaching Dragon-Suppressing Pass, and Lin Yue asked to bring his clan into Guixu for Calamity Evasion.
• Lin Yue explained that the Qilin Main Lineage had ordered his clan to build defenses near Buzhou Mountain, and the Book of Cause and Effect approved the branch for Guixu Outer City and Lin Yue for the Guixu Guest Official Seat.
• Lu Chen allowed the Water Qilins to enter under Guixu’s rules, and the system announced that their earth-vein karma, the Dragon Clan’s Reverse Scale, and Yuanfeng’s Frost Feather had fulfilled the conditions for Guixu’s land and mountain ranges to evolve.
• Lin Yue registered his clansmen and began repairing Guixu’s earth veins, while agreeing to fight Han Jue after three hundred years of work.
• Seven days after the Water Qilin Branch arrived, Primordial Qilin’s aura rose from its clan seal, and Lu Chen realized that Primordial Qilin had come to Guixu.

Primordial Qilin questioned Lu Chen about Guixu accepting the Water Qilin Branch and whether it would claim the Qilin Clan’s fortune. Lu Chen refused to seize the clan’s fortune, and the encounter left Guixu with a path for young Qilin blood to survive the coming tribulation.

• Lin Yue admitted that he had brought the Water Qilin Branch into Guixu to protect its young from the Buzhou Mountain battlefield.
• Lu Chen told Primordial Qilin that Guixu accepted those fleeing tribulation, not those seeking the fortune of the three clans, and required them to abandon their war orders.
• Primordial Qilin asked Lin Yue to follow Guixu’s rules; Lin Yue agreed and asked that the young Qilin remain safe even if he was summoned back.
• Primordial Qilin gave Lu Chen the Earth-Vein Seal, and Lu Chen transformed it into a token for young Qilin blood, gaining the Old Shell Earth-Bearing Method and causing Mysterious Peak Mountain to rise in Guixu.
• Primordial Qilin departed after warning that bearing fortune brought tribulation, while Guixu’s creatures realized the leaders of all three clans had left tokens there.

Old grudges among the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin branches erupted into a fight at Guixu Academy, but Lu Chen established the Calamity-Resolution Hall to prevent private revenge and judge past wrongs. Guixu restored order, though a gray-robed cultivator secretly planned to exploit the clans’ lingering hatred by igniting their Heart Demons.

• Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin youths fought outside Guixu Academy over old grievances, and Han Jue and the three clan leaders stopped them.
• Lan Shuang reported the conflict to Lu Chen, who chose to establish the Calamity-Resolution Hall and forbid private revenge.
• Lan Shuang announced that the Hall would register old grudges and use the Book of Cause and Effect to determine responsibility and judgment.
• The Book of Cause and Effect revealed the victims and causes behind the clans’ grievances, and Lan Shuang sentenced those involved in the fight to a hundred years in the meditation chambers.
• Ao Lie, Feng Li, and Lin Yue joined the Calamity-Resolution Hall as mediators while Han Jue kept order.
• A gray-robed cultivator watched Guixu and planned to use the clans’ lingering hatred to ignite their Heart Demons.

Youdu, a demon envoy disguised as Xuanyou, spent centuries sowing distrust among Guixu Academy’s young disciples. His Heart Demon attack made Han Jue turn on Ao Lie, and Lu Chen awakened as the conflict threatened to erupt.

• Youdu infiltrated Guixu Academy and used veiled remarks to revive suspicions between the three clans and Guixu’s smaller clans.
• Lan Shuang investigated rising disputes with Ao Lie, Han Jue, Feng Li, and Lin Yue, and suspected the Demonic Dao was stirring emotions from the shadows.
• Youdu used a Heart Demon illusion to make Han Jue see Ao Lie leading a Dragon Clan attack on Guixu.
• Han Jue attacked Ao Lie at the Martial Practice Arena, and their anger escalated as their conflicting loyalties came to the surface.
• Lu Chen woke after the system detected demonic Heart Demon corruption in the academy and reported that Han Jue had lost control.

Han Jue fell under a Heart Demon and nearly attacked Ao Lie and the others, but Lu Chen bestowed the Mind-Cleansing Tortoise Cry to help the Academy’s disciples regain their senses. Lan Shuang exposed the infiltrator Youdu, and Guixu’s younger generation united to face him.

• Han Jue’s Heart Demon made him see Ao Lie, Feng Li, and Lin Yue as enemies, and their clash threatened the Martial Practice Arena.
• Lu Chen chose to bestow the Mind-Cleansing Tortoise Cry, which shattered the Heart Demon illusions and restored Han Jue’s senses.
• Han Jue and the others recognized that their Heart Demons had exploited their deepest fears, while Lan Shuang used the Book of Cause and Effect to find the source of the demonic aura.
• The Book of Cause and Effect exposed Youdu in the outer city as a Demonic Dao emissary who had infiltrated Guixu and provoked the three races.
• Lu Chen challenged Youdu, and Han Jue, Ao Lie, Feng Li, and Lin Yue stepped forward together to confront him.