Chapter Summaries

Han Jue and Lan Shuang rejected the Demon Clan's attempt to treat Guixu as part of its War Department, insisting that only those who voluntarily registered could join and that conscription could not cross the Three Lives Gate. After Lu Chen endorsed that boundary, Di Jun's Dharma Form arrived at Dragon-Suppressing Pass to discuss Guixu's relationship with the Demon Clan.

• The demon envoy proposed registering Guixu's clans in the Ten Thousand Demons Register and assigning them duties in the Demon Clan War Department, but Han Jue challenged the idea of calling him a demon soldier.
• Ao Lie, Feng Li, and Lin Yue questioned whether their clans would be counted as Demon Clan members or conscripted, and the demon envoy admitted the rules had not been fully decided.
• Lan Shuang told the envoy that Guixu allowed voluntary registration and alliance covenants but would not let the Demon Clan conscript unregistered people or cross the Three Lives Gate.
• After reading Lan Shuang's report, Lu Chen ordered that outsiders could join voluntarily but conscription must stop at the Three Lives Gate.
• Di Jun's Dharma Form arrived at Dragon-Suppressing Pass to talk, and he asked Lan Shuang whether Xuan Yuan was available.

Di Jun came to Guixu to discuss the Demon Clan’s forced registry, and he and Lu Chen agreed that Guixu residents could join voluntarily while keeping their own order. As Di Jun left, a bell sounded beyond the Northern Sea, making Lu Chen suspect Taiyi had rung the Chaos Bell.

• Di Jun met Lu Chen and acknowledged that the Demon Clan’s officials had acted too hastily with the Ten Thousand Demons Register and War Department.
• Lu Chen explained that Guixu opposed binding its many clans into the Demon Registry because they had entered Guixu first and should not be forced into another power’s rule.
• Taiyi asked what the Demon Clan would do when facing a great enemy, and Lu Chen replied that only those who joined should be expected to fight for it.
• Di Jun proposed voluntary registration, responsibilities for those who accepted Demon Clan resources, and a ban on conscription across the Three Lives Gate; Lan Shuang and Lu Chen agreed.
• Di Jun left after saying he would prove the Demon Clan differed from the three old clans, while Lu Chen worried that the Witch-Demon Tribulation could not be prevented by good intentions alone.
• A soft bell rang beyond the Northern Sea, and Lu Chen froze, suspecting Taiyi had rung the Chaos Bell.

Taiyi tested Guixu with a light strike from the Chaos Bell, and its defenses absorbed the spatial tremor with only a small wave. After Guixu and the Demon Clan parted without an alliance, Lu Chen learned that Gonggong was approaching the Northern Sea as part of his future Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation.

• Taiyi lightly struck the Chaos Bell, and Guixu’s Water-and-Land Twin Anchors and Guixu Escape Realm Chapter deflected most of the spatial tremor.
• The Chaos Bell’s impact made Northern Darkness Sea rise by half a foot before it settled, and the system reported increased stability and realm displacement distance.
• Han Jue asked Taiyi to warn Guixu before a future strike, but Lu Chen ordered Han Jue to be quiet.
• Di Jun and Taiyi left the Northern Sea after Guixu declined to join the Demon Clan, and Lu Chen returned to seclusion.
• Tens of thousands of years later, the system warned Lu Chen that Gonggong was approaching the Northern Sea as part of his future Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation.

After the Demon Clan and Guixu settled their dispute, Lu Chen learned that Gonggong had come to the Northern Sea to investigate its changed water veins. Gonggong met Lu Chen and asked to see his true form, so Lu Chen summoned a colossal Black Tortoise phantom.

• The Demon Clan and Guixu maintained their agreement, and Lu Chen prepared to refine Guixu’s realm-shifting ability in seclusion.
• The system warned Lu Chen that Gonggong had entered the Northern Sea to study the changed water veins and the Ruins Sea Eye.
• Han Jue and Ao Lie spotted Gonggong approaching Dragon-Suppressing Pass, while Feng Li cautioned Han Jue against provoking him.
• Gonggong explained to Lan Shuang that he had come to study the Northern Sea’s water changes and see the Black Tortoise living in Guixu.
• Lu Chen met Gonggong in an Old Shell Avatar, and Gonggong asked him to reveal his true form.
• Lu Chen conjured a colossal Black Tortoise Dharma Body for Gonggong to see.

Gonggong visited Guixu to inspect the Northern Darkness Sea, while the Three Lives Gate revealed a dormant future karmic connection between him and Buzhou Mountain. After a hundred years studying and improving the water veins, he left still curious about Lu Chen’s sturdy legs.

• Gonggong admired the Black Tortoise Dharma Body’s sturdy legs, then entered the Three Lives Gate and passed its three examinations.
• The Killing-Tribulation Severance gate revealed a crimson karmic thread from Gonggong to Buzhou Mountain, and the system identified him as a key figure in Lu Chen’s future Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation.
• Gonggong explored the Northern Darkness Sea and recognized the Guixu Power, the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl, and the Sea Devourer Beast Spirit sustaining it.
• Gonggong spent a hundred years studying the surrounding water veins and helped Lu Chen improve their flow.
• Gonggong asked to inspect Lu Chen’s true-body legs, but Lu Chen refused as the karmic line to Buzhou Mountain grew clearer.

After the system revealed how Gonggong's future collision with Buzhou Mountain could lead to Lu Chen's death tribulation, Lu Chen chose to study the heavenly pillar's causality rather than kill or expel Gonggong. He gained a new perception of Buzhou Mountain's role in the world's fate and began investigating whether heaven would still collapse if Gonggong died.

• Gonggong discussed the movement and laws of water with Lu Chen in the Northern Darkness Sea.
• The system revealed a causality chain linking Gonggong's collision with Buzhou Mountain to the collapse of the heavenly pillar, Nuwa mending heaven, and Lu Chen's four legs being severed to support the Four Extremes.
• Lu Chen rejected the options to kill or expel Gonggong and chose Heavenly Pillar Causality Perception.
• Lu Chen sensed Buzhou Mountain's place in the world's greater causality, while Gonggong invited him to Pangu Hall and Lu Chen refused.
• Lu Chen began examining a future branch to determine whether heaven would still collapse if Gonggong died.

Lu Chen used Heavenly Pillar Causality Perception and learned that killing Gonggong could not prevent Buzhou Mountain from eventually collapsing or remove his Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation. He resolved to divert the fate onto the Old Shell, while Gonggong unknowingly helped him clarify that path and then offered him Ancestral Witch Blood Essence.

• Lu Chen examined several future branches and saw that Buzhou Mountain could still collapse even if Gonggong died or the Witch-Demon War changed.
• The system revealed that Lu Chen's danger came from the Four Extremes of Heaven and Earth falling out of balance and the Northern Sea Black Tortoise being suited to bear fate.
• Lu Chen decided to nurture the Old Shell to bear the coming fate and avoid becoming entangled in efforts to alter the greater current.
• Gonggong compared preventing disaster to flood control and said that diverting water worked better than blocking it, helping Lu Chen confirm his Chaos Shell-Shedding Method.
• Gonggong offered Lu Chen a drop of Ancestral Witch Blood Essence in exchange for studying his turtle shell, making Lu Chen wary.

Lu Chen refused Gonggong’s Ancestral Witch Blood Essence and avoided accepting a deeper bloodline connection, while learning about Buzhou Mountain and recording Gonggong’s water-origin laws. After Gonggong left Guixu, the system locked Buzhou Mountain’s coordinates and offered Lu Chen the chance to observe it with his Old Shell Avatar.

• Lu Chen refused Gonggong’s blood essence and denied his repeated requests to strike the tortoise shell.
• Lu Chen asked Gonggong about the water veins and Buzhou Mountain, learning that Gonggong lived nearby and had trained by ramming into its walls.
• Gonggong stayed in Guixu for three hundred years, while Lu Chen recorded the Ancestral Witch Water Origin and Gonggong adjusted the Northern Darkness Sea’s water veins.
• Gonggong left Guixu and invited Lu Chen to visit Buzhou Mountain.
• The system completed its recording of Gonggong’s Water Origin, stabilized Lu Chen’s Heavenly Pillar Causality Perception, and locked Buzhou Mountain’s coordinates for the Old Shell Avatar.

Lu Chen sent an Old Shell Avatar to inspect Buzhou Mountain from afar, avoiding the danger of taking his true body there. He studied the mountain’s vast karmic role before Gonggong found him and offered to bring him closer.

• Lu Chen deployed his Old Shell Avatar from Guixu, concealed its presence, and instructed Lan Shuang to keep Guixu running as usual.
• The avatar traveled through remote regions toward the Primordial World’s center and sensed the pressure of Buzhou Mountain before seeing it.
• Lu Chen observed Buzhou Mountain from a great distance and used the Heavenly Pillar’s karmic resonance to examine its immense role in supporting the world.
• Gonggong appeared and confirmed Lu Chen had sent an avatar instead of his true body.
• Gonggong offered to take Lu Chen closer to Buzhou Mountain, but Lu Chen refused, saying he could see enough from where he stood.

Lu Chen examined Buzhou Mountain and learned that its future collapse would depend on damage to its earth veins and the escalating Witch-Demon conflict, with Gonggong's impact serving only as the final trigger. As he continued recording the mountain from afar, the Fate-Bearing Rune began comparing his true body with the Old Shell, but the calculation had not finished when the chapter ended.

• Gonggong showed Lu Chen Buzhou Mountain's surroundings, while Lu Chen found the mountain and its core to be remarkably intact.
• Gonggong explained that Buzhou Mountain depended on stable earth veins and that even powerful combatants could only damage parts of them.
• Lu Chen's perception and system deduction identified the Witch-Demon Tribulation, imbalanced vital forces, and damaged core earth veins as conditions needed before an external force could trigger the mountain's collapse.
• Lu Chen spent centuries recording Buzhou Mountain and concluded that reinforcing it would bind him to Heavenly Pillar Karma without resolving his own fate.
• The Fate-Bearing Rune trembled, and the system began comparing Lu Chen's true body with the Old Shell's Heavenly Pillar Fate-Bearing Compatibility.
• The comparison continued for three days as Gonggong departed, leaving Lu Chen waiting for its result.

Lu Chen learned that his true body remained highly likely to be chosen for the future Heaven-Mending Death Tribulation, so he planned to raise the Old Shell's identity until it could take his place. After returning to the Northern Sea, he received a new long-term objective to make the shell a more convincing Northern Sea Black Tortoise than his true body.

• The system reported that Lu Chen's true body had 94% Heavenly Pillar Fate-Bearing Compatibility, while the Old Shell had 42%.
• The system explained that changing events such as Gonggong's actions or Buzhou Mountain's fate would not permanently prevent the true body from being selected if another Four Extremes Imbalance occurred.
• Lu Chen decided to increase the Old Shell's identity weight so the Heavenly Dao would choose it, while his true body escaped through the Guixu Minor World.
• The system warned that developing the Old Shell's fate-bearing compatibility could eventually give it Basic Heavenly Mandate Spirituality, and Lu Chen worried it might resist being sacrificed.
• Lu Chen returned to the Northern Sea, where the system updated his long-term objective to make the Old Shell a more fate-compatible Northern Sea Black Tortoise than his true body.

Lu Chen realized the Old Shell needed its own identity and karma to bear the future calamity, so he focused on making it more publicly recognized than his true body. After raising its Fate-Bearing Degree and separating its aura from his own, he sensed the shell might be developing a life of its own.

• Lu Chen concluded that the Old Shell had to become more closely associated with the Northern Sea Black Tortoise than his true body, and decided to keep his true body out of public view.
• Lu Chen chose to strengthen the Old Shell's identity weight, unlocking the Fate-Bearing Degree System and learning its current degree was thirty-nine percent.
• Lu Chen adjusted the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method so the Old Shell Avatar drew power from the shell and took on karma independently of his true body.
• Several thousand years later, Lu Chen summoned Lan Shuang to examine the renewed avatar, and she sensed that it seemed more present while its true body's location had become impossible to trace.
• The system raised the Old Shell's Fate-Bearing Degree to forty percent and reported that Basic Heavenly Mandate Spirituality was gestating.

Lu Chen learned that Nuwa’s Heaven-Mending karmic thread had brightened as she advanced in cultivation, signaling that the second Zixiao Lecture was near. He sent an Old Shell Avatar to the Purple Cloud Palace, where the gathered powers entered to hear Hongjun’s next lecture.

• Lu Chen watched the Old Shell’s Fate-Bearing Degree rise as young members of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans grew up in Guixu and recognized the Mysterious Abyss Emperor as its symbol.
• Nuwa’s cultivation and Creation Dao advanced, causing her karmic thread to flare and alert Lu Chen that the second Zixiao Lecture was approaching.
• Hongjun announced the second lecture, and Nuwa, Fuxi, the Three Pure Ones, Di Jun, Taiyi, and other great powers prepared to attend.
• Lu Chen considered how Hongjun’s Corpse-Severing Method might affect the Chaos Shell-Shedding Method, then formed a Black Profound Avatar to travel while his true body remained in Guixu.
• Lu Chen arrived at the Purple Cloud Palace, exchanged nods with Kunpeng, and entered with the other great powers after Haotian and Yaochi announced that the Dao Ancestor had summoned them.

At the second sermon in Purple Cloud Palace, Lu Chen again chose his familiar place by the door, which the other guests had left empty for him. Hongjun began teaching the path of the Quasi-Saint beyond Great Principle, and Lu Chen focused on the lesson.

• The three thousand guests took their accustomed seats, and Lu Chen found the empty spot by the door had been saved for him.
• Lu Chen sat in his old place and checked the palace gates’ formation markings and escape route.
• Taiyi, Di Jun, Fuxi, and Nuwa noticed Lu Chen’s choice, and Nuwa recognized that he was examining the exit.
• Lu Chen reflected on the karmic thread linking him to Nuwa and the need to strengthen his Old Shell Avatar.
• Hongjun began the second sermon, teaching the method of the Quasi-Saint beyond Great Principle.

Hongjun taught the Three Corpses Severing method, prompting cultivators to seek the Quasi-Saint realm while Lu Chen realized its standard form conflicted with his own path. He instead found a way to adapt its principles to make the Old Shell independently bear fate, and the system offered him a chance to deduce a new method.

• Hongjun explained how cultivators could entrust their obsessions to Innate Spiritual Treasures and sever the Three Corpses to advance toward the Quasi-Saint realm.
• Lu Chen recognized that severing the Three Corpses as taught would divide the karma and fate he was gathering into the Old Shell, weakening its role as his substitute fate-bearing identity.
• As cultivators including Laozi, Yuanshi, Tongtian, Di Jun, Taiyi, and Nuwa showed signs of severing their First Corpses, Lu Chen quietly studied the method without displaying any reaction.
• Hongjun explained that the Three Corpses shared their origin with the main body and could help it comprehend different Great Daos, giving Lu Chen an idea for the Old Shell to judge and bear ordinary karma independently.
• Lu Chen considered making the Old Shell proactively conceal itself, answer calls for Mysterious Abyss Emperor, and claim the Northern Sea Black Tortoise identity when fate arrived.
• The system recognized Lu Chen's insight into same-origin independence and karmic feedback and offered him the chance to deduce a Unification Shell-Nurturing Method.

Lu Chen used the Corpse-Severing Great Dao to complete the Unification Shell-Nurturing Method, letting his Old Shell bear external karma while preserving the uniqueness of his true body. Hongjun summoned him to stay after the lecture, leaving Lu Chen wary of the Dao Ancestor’s intentions.

• Lu Chen chose the system’s third cultivation path and spent a thousand years integrating the Corpse-Severing Method with his Chaos Shell-Shedding Method.
• As other great powers developed signs of corpse severance, Laozi, Yuanshi, and Tongtian realized that Lu Chen was concentrating karma into his Old Shell Avatar instead.
• Lu Chen completed the Unification Shell-Nurturing Method, giving the Old Shell basic independent karmic-bearing and heavenly-secret-concealment abilities without dividing his core Dao Fruit.
• Nuwa sensed that her thread of future karma with the Northern Sea Black Tortoise had shifted closer to Mysterious Black Daoist.
• Hongjun asked Lu Chen to stay behind after the lecture, and Lu Chen worried that the Dao Ancestor was targeting him again.

After Purple Firmament’s second lecture, Hongjun questioned Lu Chen about using the Old Shell to bear his future tribulations and warned that it might develop its own spirituality. Lu Chen left considering how the shell could remain allied with him, but felt a faint tremor from it as if it had heard his thoughts.

• Nuwa and Fuxi disagreed over whether Lu Chen’s avatar seemed more real while his true body seemed farther away.
• Hongjun privately asked Lu Chen about the Old Shell, and Lu Chen admitted he intended it to bear his future tribulations, even a death tribulation.
• Hongjun warned that the Old Shell could develop true spirituality as more karma gathered upon it, and that forcibly extinguishing it could damage its heavenly mandate.
• Hongjun told Lu Chen that things of the same origin did not necessarily need to consume one another to return to unity, then ended their conversation.
• Lu Chen considered that the Old Shell might willingly help him bear tribulations, but a faint tremor from within it suggested it had heard him.

Lu Chen discovered that the Old Shell had begun reacting to danger on its own, then witnessed it form an avatar as its spirituality crossed a critical threshold. The Mysterious Black Daoist opened his eyes without Lu Chen's control, though no complete autonomous consciousness had yet formed.

• Lu Chen returned to Guixu after noticing that the Old Shell had independently shifted a spatial anchor to counter Chaos Astral Wind.
• Lu Chen isolated the Northern Darkness Dao Palace and watched the Old Shell, whose system status showed weak responses to external danger.
• Lu Chen released a trace of hostility near the Old Shell, and it raised a gray curtain of water to defend itself without his control.
• The system reported that the Second Zixiao Lecture had raised the Old Shell's Fate-Bearing Degree to 42 percent and strengthened its spirituality.
• The Old Shell formed a Mysterious Black Daoist avatar on its own, and the avatar slowly opened its eyes.

Di Jun and Taiyi established the Demon Court, uniting the myriad clans under the shared identity of the Demon Clan. The Demon Court then offered Mysterious Abyss the title of Northern Sea Emperor and proposed sharing its fortune with Guixu, leaving Han Jue to consider the unexpected decree.

• After the second Purple Cloud Palace lecture, Di Jun summoned the leaders of the All-Spirit clans and declared the Demon Court established.
• Di Jun became the Demon Emperor and Taiyi became the Eastern Emperor as the clans recognized the new order and the Demon Court's fortune grew.
• Han Jue and Ao Lie discussed the new titles, while Lu Chen anticipated the coming Witch-Demon conflict.
• The Demon Court's first official decree arrived at Guixu, praising Mysterious Abyss and offering him the title of Northern Sea Emperor.
• The decree promised that Guixu's internal affairs would remain independent and that the Demon Court would share fortune and protect the Northern Sea alongside Guixu.

The Demon Court offered Lu Chen the title of Northern Sea Emperor, but he again refused to let Guixu join an external court. Di Jun accepted his decision, then allowed a demon marshal to visit Guixu and question why its inhabitants did not register with the Demon Court.

• Di Jun sent Lu Chen a decree offering Guixu autonomy and Lu Chen status equal to a Demon Court supreme sovereign.
• Lu Chen rejected the title, saying Guixu would keep its own order and avoid conflict with the Demon Court.
• Di Jun accepted the refusal, but agreed that a demon marshal could visit Guixu to ask about its tribes and their registration.
• Months later, a demon marshal arrived at Dragon-Suppressing Pass with the Demon Court's Register of Ten Thousand Demons and asked why Guixu's inhabitants were not demons.