Chapter Summaries

Chu Bai restored the Mountain God’s body and awakened only its protective remnant will before the god returned to his Earth Vein. In Great Wall Prefecture, He Wenyan and Shen Xuance saw that Chu Bai had kindled the Mountain God Shrine and began questioning the source of his personal Merit and his true background.

• Chu Bai used Azure Nether Pearls and his own Merit to awaken the Mountain God, whose Divine Soul was gone and whose remnant will protected the land.
• The Mountain God healed the Land God, returned to the Earth Vein, and left Chu Bai with the Dark-Yellow Wu-Earth Essence and a high Merit Seal rank.
• He Wenyan discovered that Chu Bai had kindled a high-ranking Mountain God Shrine in the Azure Nether Realm, and she resolved to secure the secret realm for Great Wall Prefecture.
• He Wenyan told Shen Xuance that Chu Bai’s awakening technique had drawn on Merit he carried himself, not the Heavenly Examination’s Merit tally.
• After reviewing Chu Bai’s record, Shen Xuance and He Wenyan considered whether he had encountered a forbidden inheritance or had a powerful Divine Dao connection, and He Wenyan warned against forming ties with him.

Chu Bai used the Land God's expanded divine sense to search the Azure Nether Realm for treasures while learning that only a few dozen lesser deities and perhaps some of five great guardians remained. Elsewhere, Wu Ziqing gained the Spirit-Rearing Temple's approval to enslave examinees as human pets and set out to capture more.

• Chu Bai asked the Land God about surviving deities and the five guardians who had once governed the realm's pivotal nodes.
• The Land God sensed a medicinal stream nearby, and Chu Bai hurried toward it to gather more herbs before the Heavenly Examination ended.
• At Blackstone Small City, Wu Ziqing led the Greenstone Alliance in offering Azure Nether Pearls to revive the Night Patrol Wandering Deity and gain divine protections.
• At the Spirit-Rearing Temple, Wu Ziqing defended his enslavement of the cultivator surnamed Lin, and the Beast-Rearing Envoy praised him and strengthened his Divine Authority.
• Wu Ziqing ordered his demon beasts and enslaved follower to capture more examinees as Spirit Pets and gather blood food for the envoy.

Chu Bai learned that Sky-Suppressing Hongyuan’s obsession with freedom had driven him to tear open the Azure Nether Realm, forcing the examination officials to pull the collapsing realm into Great Zhou. As the realm contracted and void turbulence spread, Chu Bai raced to find safety and planned to refine his stored herbs to grow stronger.

• The clay Earth God told Chu Bai that gods in the Azure Nether Realm were born from obsessions and warned that reviving Sky-Suppressing Hongyuan would unleash his fury against the realm’s cage.
• Cultivators revived Sky-Suppressing Hongyuan with Azure Nether Pearls, but he ignored them, shattered his altar, and tore open the realm’s barrier while a minor god sealed its Divine Seat and fell dormant.
• Chu Bai abandoned his search for another forbidden ground and fled through the Earth Vein, deciding that reaching the Heavenly Ladder might be his only chance to survive.
• At the Examination Office, He Wenyan and Shen Xuance began forcibly pulling the collapsing secret realm into Great Zhou, knowing the contraction would kill candidates too far from the Divine Flame nodes.
• As the Azure Nether Realm contracted, Chu Bai searched for safety and prepared to refine his stored medicinal herbs to increase his strength.

As the Azure Nether Secret Realm collapsed, the awakened Night Patrol Wandering Deity slaughtered the cultivators who had summoned it, while the Prison-Suppressing Evil Flood Dragon prepared to break free. Chu Bai reached the Mountain God’s Underground Palace and began a desperate final push to strengthen himself before the world gave way.

• After a thousand Azure Nether Pearls awakened the Night Patrol Wandering Deity, it mistook the worshippers for intruders and killed them with its Black Iron Mace.
• The Prison-Suppressing Evil Flood Dragon felt the realm’s Earth Vein collapsing and drew on the incoming void currents to weaken its chains.
• As the Sky-Suppressing Hongyuan’s breach devoured the secret realm, Chu Bai fled toward the Ridge Vein Mountain God’s Underground Palace and saw the survivor count fall to 7,642.
• Chu Bai ignored cultivators who asked him to guide them and reached the stable Underground Palace near the realm’s central Earth Vein.
• Chu Bai swallowed rare spiritual herbs and used his Fate Destiny and cultivation methods to advance his Spell Power and temper his body.

As the Azure Nether Secret Realm collapsed, Chu Bai cultivated inside the Underground Palace while survivors gathered outside and Wu Ziqing led an army of enslaved cultivators and Demon Beasts in a massacre. The Night Patrol Wandering Deity arrived and clashed with the Beast-Rearing Envoy, leaving the examinees to flee around the battle while Chu Bai remained behind the palace’s closed doors.

• More than a thousand survivors gathered near the Underground Palace, and Xia Xing warned his group that Chu Bai killed anyone who approached or disturbed him.
• Chu Bai sensed the collapsing realm and wondered why he could not locate the Heavenly Ladder, while a force of enslaved cultivators and Demon Beasts pursued fleeing examinees toward Ridge Vein Mountain.
• Wu Ziqing led the rampaging army under the Beast-Rearing Envoy’s control, and the Envoy ordered them to kill the survivors and gather living vessels.
• The Night Patrol Wandering Deity arrived and attacked the Beast Tide, beginning a clash between the two Foundation Establishment Orthodox Gods.
• Xia Xing and the other survivors fled the battlefield’s center while the gods fought, and the Underground Palace remained shut and undisturbed.

As the Azure Nether Secret Realm collapsed, Xia Xing and the other cultivators fled toward Chu Bai's Underground Palace, where he opened the gates and sheltered more than a thousand survivors. The Night Patrol Wandering Deity then battered the palace with Foundation Establishment power, leaving Chu Bai searching for a way to protect everyone.

• The Night Patrol Wandering Deity and the Beast-Rearing Envoy fought as Xia Xing led his companions toward the Underground Palace, their escape route cut off by collapsing space.
• The Sky-Suppressing Hongyuan was struck down by void lightning, accelerating the collapse of the Azure Nether Secret Realm and trapping survivors near Ridge Vein Mountain.
• At the clay effigy's plea, Chu Bai ended his seclusion and opened the Underground Palace gates, letting Xia Xing and a crowd of cultivators enter behind his dark-gold barrier.
• Chu Bai sealed the gates after more than a thousand cultivators reached safety, but the Night Patrol Wandering Deity struck the palace and cracked its ancient structure.
• Chu Bai endured the blow and realized he could not withstand another for long, so he began searching for a way out.

Chu Bai rallied more than a thousand cultivators to power the Mountain God's abandoned divine body, giving him Foundation Establishment strength as the Orthodox Gods closed in on Ridge Vein Mountain. Outside the Secret Realm, He Wenyan killed the Sky-Suppressing Hongyuan, but the Heavenly Ladder remained sealed until someone achieved Merit Perfection.

• The Night Patrol Wandering Deity's second mace strike crushed the Underground Palace doors inward and killed the cultivators bracing them, while Chu Bai realized the group could not withstand another attack.
• Chu Bai proposed using the Mountain God's body as a conduit, and Xia Xing and the other cultivators poured their spiritual power into the Sacrificial Altar's formation.
• The Earth God activated the formation with Chu Bai's Dark-Yellow Wu-Earth Essence, raising the Mountain God's hundred-zhang divine body from Ridge Vein Mountain.
• He Wenyan anchored the Azure Nether Secret Realm, then destroyed the Sky-Suppressing Hongyuan with a violet divine ray, while Shen Xuance explained that the Heavenly Ladder could not open before Merit Perfection.
• The Prison-Suppressing Evil Flood Dragon broke free and attacked as it, the Night Patrol Wandering Deity, and the Beast-Rearing Envoy gathered at Ridge Vein Mountain.
• Chu Bai joined his consciousness with the Underground Palace and mountain range, rose in the Mountain God's divine body, and declared that no slaughter was permitted on its land.

Chu Bai awakened the Ridge Vein Mountain God with the cultivators’ power, but three Foundation Establishment deities nearly overwhelmed the clumsy, edict-less body. He turned the Origin Return Formula into a way to coordinate the giant’s energy and protect a growing crowd of survivors, only for the immense spiritual currents to trigger his own Foundation Establishment breakthrough during their flight.

• Chu Bai and more than a thousand Qi Refining cultivators revived the Ridge Vein Mountain God, but the Night Patrol Wandering Deity, Prison-Suppressing Evil Flood Dragon, and Beast-Rearing Envoy attacked it together.
• Chu Bai failed to use divine arts, and the Mountain God suffered severe damage as the attacks caused deadly backlash among the cultivators inside the Underground Palace.
• Chu Bai ordered the Mountain God to focus on defense, then used his Subtlety-level Origin Return Formula to circulate the cultivators’ spiritual energy through its body and reduce the damage.
• The Mountain God fled with the three deities pursuing it, while Chu Bai gathered separated survivors into the Underground Palace until more than two thousand cultivators strengthened its defenses.
• Chu Bai absorbed chaotic Spiritual Currents to sustain the Mountain God, but the energy loosened his cultivation bottleneck and forced him to begin breaking through to Foundation Establishment while still controlling the giant.

Chu Bai broke through to Foundation Establishment inside the Ridge Vein Mountain God, forging the Superior Dao Foundation called the Cosmic Cycle Wheel while the Azure Nether Realm collapsed around him. After summoning the Heavenly Ladder, he chose to face the three pursuing deities and shattered the Night Patrol Wandering Deity’s iron mace.

• As Chu Bai circulated the Origin Return Formula, the Land God fed the Sky-Suppressing Hongyuan’s corpse into the formation, and Chu Bai absorbed its power and spatial Dao resonance.
• He Wenyan discovered that the Azure Nether Realm’s spiritual energy was rapidly vanishing, while Chu Bai received confirmation that his examination Merit was complete and the Heavenly Ladder had appeared.
• Chu Bai used his accumulated cultivation and Relentless Toil Fate Destiny to break through Qi Refining and forge the Cosmic Cycle Wheel Dao Foundation.
• After completing his breakthrough, Chu Bai summoned the Qingzhou Heavenly Ladder, giving the trapped cultivators a way to escape the collapsing realm.
• When the three deities attacked, Chu Bai stayed to fight, caught the Night Patrol Wandering Deity’s mace, and shattered it with his newly manifested Dao Foundation.

Chu Bai used his newly forged Cosmic Cycle Wheel Dao Foundation to fight three gods and escape their killing blows by leaping onto the Heavenly Ladder with the Ridge Vein Mountain God. After thousands of examinees joined the formation to support him, he climbed higher and fully stabilized his Foundation Establishment cultivation by refining the Azure Nether Realm's remaining source.

• Chu Bai crushed the Night Patrol Wandering Deity's mace, refined its fragments into Geng Metal Qi, and fought off attacks from the Night Patrol Wandering Deity, the Prison-Suppressing Evil Flood Dragon, and the Beast-Rearing Envoy.
• The Beast-Rearing Envoy fused enslaved cultivators and Demon Beasts into a three-headed, six-armed general, but Chu Bai pierced one of its heads with an enhanced Spirit Water Needle.
• As the Azure Nether Realm collapsed, Chu Bai absorbed its concentrated spiritual energy while the three gods targeted the exhausted cultivators inside the divine body.
• Chu Bai split off part of his soul to take control of the formation, launched the Ridge Vein Mountain God onto the Heavenly Ladder, and brought the survivors into the Underground Palace.
• Xia Xing rallied the newcomers to supply the formation with spiritual energy, helping Chu Bai continue climbing while the three gods remained below.
• After climbing a thousand zhang, Chu Bai refined the Azure Nether Realm's remaining core source and stabilized his Foundation Establishment cultivation.

Chu Bai refined the Ridge Vein Mountain God's body into the Mountain God Seal, defeated three Foundation Establishment gods, and saved the earth god by granting him a higher divine rank. He won first place in the Heavenly Examination and returned to Great Wall Prefecture, where He Wenyan deferred judgment on his illegal Foundation Establishment.

• Chu Bai left the Ridge Vein Mountain God behind at the Heavenly Ladder, carried the cultivators onward, and refined its body into the Mountain God Seal.
• Chu Bai used the seal and his new powers to kill the Beast-Rearing Envoy and Night Patrol Wandering Deity, then severed the Prison-Suppressing Evil Flood Dragon with a spatial fissure.
• Chu Bai bestowed the seized divine origin and merit on the fading earth god, raising him to Principal Seventh Rank, while Great Zhou stabilized and annexed the Azure Nether Realm.
• Chu Bai crossed the Heavenly Ladder in ten breaths and entered Great Wall Prefecture as the unquestioned first-place candidate; Xia Xing resolved to climb higher to defend him against legal charges.
• Shen Xuance praised Chu Bai's achievements but condemned his unregistered Foundation Establishment, and He Wenyan questioned him about forbidden arts before postponing judgment until the examination ended.

After recovering from his unauthorized Foundation Establishment, Chu Bai learned that his breakthrough had saved thousands but had also destroyed the Astronomical Bureau’s Spirit Realm. Shen Xuance arranged for him to receive Azure Ordination before the Merit Office summoned him, and Chu Bai left for his hearing with the outcome still uncertain.

• Chu Bai inspected his Cosmic Cycle Wheel, refined the Mountain God Seal, and devoured the remains of three divine beings, strengthening his body and expanding his Divine Sense to one thousand zhang.
• Shen Xuance told Chu Bai that the court would judge his unauthorized breakthrough and the destruction of the Azure Nether Realm, while confirming he had earned the Qingzhou First title and that Great Wall Prefecture would support him.
• Shen Xuance summoned Chu Bai and eighteen other survivors to the martial arena, where he conferred Azure Ordinations on all nineteen candidates.
• Three Merit Office Judges arrived and ordered Chu Bai to attend a hearing; Shen Xuance insisted on accompanying him and joined the journey to the Merit Office.
• As they flew toward the Merit Office, Chu Bai weighed his legal offense against the lives he had saved and the factions’ competing interests.

Chu Bai faced judgment for establishing his foundation without Azure Ordination and destroying the Azure Nether Realm, but Zhu Wuji sentenced him to exile rather than death or loss of cultivation. Chu Bai left for the Far North with his official rank, rewards, authority to enforce the law, and binding orders to walk thirty thousand li and repay the Astronomical Bureau.

• Zhu Wuji reviewed Chu Bai's record while Chang Buyu, Shen Xuance, and He Wenyan argued over whether he should be executed, stripped of his cultivation, refined into a Dao Soldier, or made to repay the Astronomical Bureau.
• Chang Buyu accused Chu Bai of breaking Great Zhou law, and Chu Bai said he would have established his foundation again to save himself and the five thousand examinees.
• He Wenyan proposed making Chu Bai serve the Astronomical Bureau for a hundred years, but Zhu Wuji rejected the proposal and judged Chu Bai's legal violation and destruction of the Spirit Realm separately.
• Zhu Wuji sentenced Chu Bai to walk thirty thousand li into exile in the Far North and work for the Astronomical Bureau until he repaid its losses, while allowing him to retain his official rank and waiving the usual lightning sentence.
• Zhu Wuji awarded Chu Bai a Foundation Establishment cultivation method, Spirit Stones, a Golden Merit Scroll, and discretionary authority to execute threats and report afterward; Chu Bai's Fate Destiny manifested the effect Burdened by Sin, Tempered Dao Heart.
• Zhu Wuji sealed the exile with Golden Shackles that bound Chu Bai to his route, and Chu Bai accepted the judgment and departed for the Far North.

Chu Bai left Great Wall Prefecture for a thirty-thousand-li exile in the Far North, where Golden Shackles forced him to travel on foot. At Falling Star Slope, he used its crushing gravity and magnetic storm to forge a new Geng Metal body art, then demonstrated its cutting power against a massive meteorite.

• Chu Bai accepted the Five Phases Returning to the Celestial Palace Art and left Great Wall Prefecture with Li Dean, while the Golden Shackles warned him not to return south before traveling thirty thousand li.
• More than a hundred surviving examinees bowed farewell to Chu Bai, while Wei Chuan abandoned his jealousy and Shen Xuance anticipated his return.
• Chu Bai crossed into the wilderness and began traveling north on foot, using the shackles' restraint to refine his spiritual power as he studied the Far North and cultivated his new art.
• After traveling more than ten days, Chu Bai reached Falling Star Slope and entered its tenfold-gravity core, enduring the Magnetic-Element Storm without relying on spiritual protection.
• Chu Bai absorbed magnetic energy to awaken the Night Patrol Wandering Deity's essence, perfected the Iron-Bone Body-Tempering Method, and created the Geng Metal Body-Forging Art.
• Chu Bai split a house-sized meteorite in two with a bare-handed strike, revealing the sharpness of his newly forged Geng Metal body.

The Ridge Vein Land God began restoring the barren land left by the Azure Nether Realm, while Chu Bai reached Sea Radiance Prefectural City during his exile and prepared to travel on foot into the Far North. There, he reunited with Xia Xing, who supplied him with provisions, a sea chart, and the Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art.

• The Ridge Vein Land God vowed to restore the wasteland, and Sun Yi agreed to bring refugees and resources to settle it.
• Chu Bai left Falling Star Slope and walked north, tempering his body through the journey until he reached Sea Radiance Prefectural City.
• The city gate guards recognized Chu Bai's Azure Ordination and welcomed him through the central gate.
• Chu Bai reunited with Xia Xing, who offered help preparing for his journey into the Far North.
• Xia Xing gave Chu Bai provisions, a chart of the Frozen Sea, and his Xia Family's Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art.

Chu Bai toured Sea Radiance Prefecture with Xia Xing while continuing his exile, learning about the local Mystic Ice market and using his Five-Element Perception to search for valuable items. He found a discarded block of ice that resonated with Geng Metal and Star Power, though its contents remained unknown.

• Chu Bai refused to stop traveling for comfort, but agreed with Xia Xing to walk through Sea Radiance Prefecture while studying the Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art and seeking Stellar Ore leads.
• Xia Xing brought Chu Bai to Profound Ice Market and explained that Spirit Stones served as hard currency near the Frozen Sea, giving Chu Bai far more buying power than he expected.
• Chu Bai watched a Qi Refining cultivator uncover Thousand-Year Ice Marrow, suspected the dramatic windfall might be staged, and decided to seek Magical Treasure fragments instead of gambling on ice.
• Chu Bai secretly used his Cosmic Cycle Wheel to sense Mystic Ice, discovering that many attractive blocks were worthless and that the Heavenly Fortune Pavilion likely screened the best pieces.
• Chu Bai found an ugly, discarded block of Mystic Ice whose Geng Metal region resonated with an immense Star Power.

Chu Bai uncovered two caches of Starshard Sand in Profound Ice Market, astonishing Rong Rong and attracting the attention of Heavenly Fortune Pavilion’s master, Shi Rou. He declined her offer to help appraise a new shipment, but agreed to inspect the remaining Mystic Ice from Demon-Ravaged Reef in exchange for half of any Starshard Sand and free artifact forging.

• Chu Bai bought a block of Black-Spot Ice for twenty Spirit Stones despite Rong Rong’s warning and uncovered Starshard Sand with one cut.
• Chu Bai found a larger cache of Starshard Sand in Wolf-Fang Ice, while Rong Rong and the shopkeeper watched in shock.
• Shi Rou invited Chu Bai and Xia Xing to her private room, explained her Gold-Appraising Platform, and offered Chu Bai a partnership appraising an incoming shipment.
• Chu Bai declined Shi Rou’s offer to appraise the new shipment and asked her to recommend an artifact refiner for his Starshard Sand.
• Shi Rou offered Chu Bai half of any Starshard Sand found in three hundred remaining pieces from Demon-Ravaged Reef and promised free forging by Master Iron Hand, and Chu Bai accepted.

Chu Bai found two hidden deposits of Stardust Sand in the Heavenly Fortune Pavilion’s scrap mystic ice and arranged for Master Iron Hand to forge them into a Gold Embryo Magical Treasure. While the treasure was being forged, Chu Bai went to the Warmwater River to cultivate the Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art.

• Shi Rou brought Chu Bai into the restricted ice vault, where he used his five phases perception to select two overlooked pieces of mystic ice.
• The stone cutter revealed aged Stardust Sand and a second deposit of star materials, which Supervisor Liu appraised at up to four thousand spirit stones.
• Chu Bai reserved Shi Rou’s half of the Stardust Sand and asked Master Iron Hand to forge a Gold Embryo that could change shape and grow with his Water Method.
• Iron Hand began forging the treasure, waiving his labor fee, and Shi Rou told Chu Bai to return in three days to collect it.
• Xia Xing led Chu Bai to the Warmwater River and explained how to cultivate the Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art by merging with the current.
• After Xia Xing left for the Sea-Watch Office, Chu Bai walked along the riverbank and began matching his steps and spiritual power to the river’s rhythm.

Chu Bai mastered the basics of the Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art, received the Star-River Gold Embryo, and prepared to travel north in search of meteoric iron. After learning about the Four Seas Trade Guild's Ice Road caravan, he waited by Sea Radiance Prefecture's northern gate for its departure at dawn.

• Chu Bai used three days of practice along the Warmwater River to master the basics of the Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art and discovered it could enhance his water-phase power.
• Shi Rou told Chu Bai that Master Iron Hand had finished forging his treasure, and Chu Bai returned to the Heavenly Fortune Pavilion to receive the Star-River Gold Embryo.
• Master Iron Hand showed Chu Bai how the Gold Embryo could transform into weapons and other forms, then gave him a method to nurture it inside his body.
• Xia Xing told Chu Bai about meteoric iron on Cold Crow Island and the Four Seas Trade Guild's caravan, and Chu Bai decided to leave with it the next morning.
• Chu Bai demonstrated his condensed Water-Splitting Scales to Xia Xing, learned the Ice Road and guild's mining terms, and revealed that he intended to continue beyond Cold Crow Island on his thirty-thousand-li exile.
• Chu Bai and Xia Xing traveled underwater to Sea Radiance Prefecture's northern gate, where they parted; Chu Bai spent the night preparing to join the caravan at dawn.

Chu Bai joined the Four Seas Trade Guild convoy across the Frozen Sea, keeping his Foundation Establishment strength concealed and traveling on foot to ease the golden shackles’ suppression. When an Ice-Boring Arrowfish school attacked in the Shattered Mirror Floating Ice Belt, he fought underwater with the Star-River Gold Embryo and returned to shore alive, leaving He Wei stunned.

• Chu Bai paid a hundred spirit stones to follow the convoy on foot and met convoy leader Guan Shan before the vessels departed Sea Radiance Prefecture.
• Chu Bai spoke with He Wei, who explained the risks and rewards of Frozen Sea expeditions and repeatedly tried to recruit him into his group.
• After three days on the ice road, Chu Bai and the convoy entered the Shattered Mirror Floating Ice Belt, where the ships switched to their Floating Water Formation.
• Ice-Boring Arrowfish attacked the cultivators, and Chu Bai fell into the sea after the fish shattered his floe.
• Chu Bai used the Star-River Gold Embryo and his Swimming Dragon Water-Splitting Art to kill the arrowfish and collect their remains underwater.
• Chu Bai emerged unharmed on the ice shelf, while He Wei and the other survivors stared at him in disbelief.